Chapter 11

Danny followed Gloria out of the store. She ran across the street and jumped the fence into the city park. Danny’s side knotted in pain as he climbed the fence, keeping one eye on Gloria as she ran into the forest. He cleared the fence and broke into a dead sprint. The night was cold. It braced him, pushing his senses up a notch. He weaved through the gray, colorless tree trunks of the forest. It took everything he had to keep Gloria in sight. Each breath brought a bright stab of pain to his side, but he didn’t have a chance to yell for her to slow down. When it got to the point where he didn’t think he could run another step, she slowed to a walk. He jogged up behind her and started walking, hands on hips, sucking air, wondering if she was a mindreader. Ten more yards and he would’ve fallen to his knees.

“When did you get so fast?” he said between gasps. She looked over with a smile. A spark of pain shot through his side. He pressed his hand against it. Her smile disappeared as she glanced at his side. He thought about telling her how bad it hurt but decided to suck it up. There was nothing he or anyone else could do about it right now. But with the way it was throbbing, it was hard to ignore.

Gloria turned and walked away. Danny followed, holding his side. Every step turned a knife between his ribs. A cold sweat broke over his forehead. As soon as they got out of these woods, he was going straight to the hospital to check on Joseph, and then he’d have a doctor look at him.

Gloria ducked under the branches of a small tree. Danny grabbed one of the whip-thin branches to push it aside. The branch didn’t move. It was as solid as iron. He ducked under it and lengthened his stride to keep pace with Gloria.

He recognized the area. They were walking along the edge of the park’s swamp. Gloria was leading them to the middle of the forest where the tree trunks were three feet wide. It would be tough going for about another hundred yards through this stunted growth, but once they got to the big trees it would be easy traveling. And the jogging path wasn’t far after that, which was a good thing. It led straight to the hospital where Linda took Joseph. Everything was going to be fine.

The pain in his side dulled as he walked. Gloria led the way with a spring in her step, so light on her feet she seemed to be floating. As beautiful as she was, she’d always been as coordinated as a plow horse. But now she was jumping over fences and running like a rabbit. It didn’t add up. He started to ask her when she’d become an athlete when he heard Clay catching up to them.

Clay fell into step with them, breathing hard, but not gasping for air. That bothered Danny. He still hadn’t caught his breath.

He stared at the ground, concentrating. If he took it one step at a time, he’d get through this. The top of his head clipped a branch that was as thick as a pencil. It felt like he’d banged his skull into a wrought iron railing. And when he tried to push the branch out of his way, it wouldn’t move. He ducked under it, wondering what was going on. He concentrated on short breaths, each lungful an effort. Something was really wrong. With his side, these trees—with everything.

“Why are we running through these woods?” said Clay. “And what was that thing back in the store?”

“You’ll understand when we get there,” said Gloria.

“Get where? Where are we going?”

“No one’s making you come,” Danny said. “You can leave whenever you want.”

Clay’s eyes widened. “Take it easy. I’m just asking where we’re going.”

Danny shook his head and moved closer to Gloria. He looked back to make sure Clay wasn’t in earshot, then nudged Gloria. “What happened to you?” he whispered.

“What do you mean?”

Danny bit his bottom lip, searching for the right words. There weren’t any. He spit it out. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

Gloria turned. Her face glowed in the dark, her eyes huge and white. She smiled. “Danny, you trust me, right?”

“Sure, but you need to know what’s going on. Linda’s at the hospital with our son, Joseph. He’s sick. If I don’t get there soon… well, you know how Linda is.”

“I do. She needs you. Joseph isn’t doing well.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do.”

Danny nodded. “Then you know we need to hurry up.”

Gloria smiled. “I can move as fast as I want. Can you?” She broke into a sprint, disappearing into the dark forest.

Danny started to run. He stumbled. Everything spun for a moment. Clay grabbed him by the shoulder and helped him to his feet. His legs wobbled, knees buckling.

“You okay?” Clay asked.

Danny nodded, leaning against a tree for support.

Clay dropped the bag of money. “You don’t look good. Just stay here. I’m gonna get your cousin.”

Danny watched Clay run into the darkness after Gloria. He tightened his grip on the tree and looked up. The silhouettes of branches were clear against the moonlit night sky. He focused on the trees. The sky. The clouds—

Something wasn’t right.

He stared at the clouds.

They didn’t move. They were frozen in place.

He lowered his gaze to the forest. There was no noise. No birds, or squirrels, or raccoons, or mice scurried about. There wasn’t even a whisper of a breeze. Just the distant rustle of Clay running through the forest. He reached up, touching a leaf. It could have been poured from concrete. He touched a small, paper-thin curlicue of bark on the tree’s branch. It was as hard and sharp as a razor. He rubbed his thumb over a pearl of sap. It was stone. He poked the leaf. It didn’t move. Every piece and part of the tree was fixed, hard and immovable.

Gooseflesh ran up his spine. The air seemed charged. Heavy with a whiff of ozone. He breathed deep. His nostrils tickled then burned. His eyes began to water, and he bent over, racking his lungs in a coughing fit.

His pulse pounded as he straightened, mind buzzing. Gloria appeared before him. He stumbled back.

“Where’d you come from?” he said, holding his side.

She grabbed his hand. “Come on. You have to keep moving.”

Danny closed his eyes. “Give me a second,” he murmured, feeling the ground sway. “I don’t feel good.”

He lost his balance and fell against Gloria. It felt like he’d hit a wall. She held him steady, then eased him back to his feet. His legs settled under him, wobbly, but they held.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” he said as he bent down to pick up the bag of money. “Nothing seems real.”

Gloria nodded. She laid her hand on his injured side. He tensed, expecting pain, then relaxed, feeling the pain fade. She stared at him. “It’s only a little longer, Danny. You have to be tough, like you used to be.”

She grinned and then and laughed, shaking her head.

“What’s so funny?” he said.

“I was remembering how we used to go to that club, ‘The Ice House,’ ever Friday night, down the street from Uncle Billy’s. I couldn’t bring a boyfriend there because of you. You scared every one of them to death. You were tough back then, remember?”

He grinned. “Those guys were losers. And, if I remember correctly, you were nothing but trouble yourself. Someone had to keep an eye on you.”

“I was bad,” she said. “But I knew how to have fun. We both did back then.”

They turned their heads toward the sound of Clay’s voice echoing through the woods, yelling, “Gloria! Where are you?”

“Are you still tough?” Gloria asked, taking Danny’s hand.

“I don’t know,” Danny whispered. “Used to think nothing could stop me. Learned different this past year. Got my ass kicked by—I don’t know—life.” He waited a beat, then looked at her. “But I’m still here. I’ll keep trying, no matter what.”

“Good,” she said, tightening her grip on his hand. “For Joseph and Linda’s sake, you need to keep trying.”

“What do you mean, ‘for Joseph and Linda’s sake?’” he asked.

Her eyes glittered. “You’ll see.”

~

The undergrowth cleared as Danny followed Gloria deeper into the old growth forest. Ten minutes later they were walking on the lighted jogging path. It was easy going, and yet Danny was exhausted, sweating like crazy as he and Gloria stopped. Clay was up ahead, standing in a pool of light under one of the poles.

Danny waved at Gloria, telling her to go on without him. He leaned against a tree to catch his breath. A knot twisted in his side. Something was really wrong. Maybe it was time to tell Gloria to forget it, that he couldn’t walk any farther. That she and Clay were going to have to go on without him and bring back help.

He looked down the path. Gloria and Clay stood together. Their voices were out of earshot, but he could see that Clay was doing most of the talking. They walked toward him. Danny pushed off the tree, straightened and held out the bag of money toward Clay, and said, “Take this, Clay. Give it to Vincent to clear your debt. You can start fresh. Build a whole new life.”

Clay stepped over and took the money.

Danny smiled, and then he put his hands on his knees. “I think I need help. Call 911.”

Clay shook his head. “My cell’s not working. I tried to call when I saw—" He glanced over his shoulder, then back at Danny, lips pressed tight. He pointed down the jogging trail. “Some people are on the ground over there. I think they’re dead.”

“For real?” Danny said. He took a step forward. His left leg buckled. Clay grabbed him, slipping an arm under his shoulder. Gloria did the same on his other side. “Lean on us Danny,” she said. “It’s just a little farther.”

The pain wasn’t so bad with Clay and Gloria supporting him. They walked him down the path. Up ahead, two men were on the ground. One was on his back. He wore a baseball cap and a green army jacket. The other man lay twenty feet farther down the path. Danny walked toward the man with the baseball cap, leaning his weight on Gloria and Clay. The man’s face came into view. Danny shook his head in disbelief. It was Clay. He wore the same army jacket, had the same scruffy beard and even had a gap between his front teeth.

Danny watched Clay kneel and touch the body’s face with an unsteady hand. Then Clay began to shake. Danny held his breath. None of this seemed real. The body on the ground was an identical duplicate of Clay.

If a duplicate of Clay lay here, who was the other man, sprawled on the ground farther down the path? Danny turned and stared at the other body. The bottom of the man’s boot caught his attention. A chunk of rubber was missing from the heel.

A spark of panic tightened his chest.

Part of the heel of his boot was cut off when he stepped on a masonry wheel at Swan’s fabrication plant two years ago.

He walked toward the body, stepping through a cloud of smoke. A slight pressure pushed against him, as if the cloud didn’t want to move. His nostrils burned with the smell of gunpowder. He stifled a cough and covered his nose and mouth, pushing through the smoke, then he walked next to the man on the ground.

It was him.

He was looking at himself.

He kneeled and touched the face. The skin was clammy, the unshaven cheek rough. He traced his finger over the right eyebrow and stopped at the corner of the eye. There was a little scar there. He couldn’t breathe. He’d gotten that scar in high school during a pick-up football game. It was so small that no one ever noticed it except Linda, who always gave it a kiss. Not the kind of thing that could be faked.

He pulled his hand away and looked up at the sky. The clouds hung motionless. Everything was so still it could have been a painting. He closed his eyes.

This can’t be real. I’m dreaming.

He opened his eyes. Through the frozen haze of gunsmoke he saw Clay, standing next to his double. There was even a bag of money lying on the ground next to Clay’s lifeless twin. Danny looked at the bag in Clay’s hand.

It seemed to be changing, becoming more and more transparent. Clay set it on the ground next to the other bag. It shimmered and melded with the bag lying next to Clay’s twin.

Danny’s mind froze.

This wasn’t possible. He was going crazy.

Clay’s voice jarred him out of his trance, saying, “What’d we do?”

Danny looked up. Blood flowed down Clay’s face. Images filled Danny’s mind.

Running after Clay. Pointing the gun. Watching Clay reach for his gun. The kick of the gun in his hand as he pulled the trigger again and again. A punch of a bullet hitting his side. Then falling to the ground.

Gloria walked over. She stood over him and said, “It’s hard, Danny. I know. But you’re going to be okay.”

He turned his gaze to Clay whose face was clenched in grief.

“We shot each other,” said Clay. “Why’d we do that?”

Danny ran his hand over his twin’s body, finding the bullet hole in his side. He glanced up and saw Clay grab the bloody face of his lifeless twin. Clay’s hands, then arms, then all of him begin to shimmer. Danny’s mind tilted. He looked at his doppelganger, lying shot and motionless on the ground.

Is this me?

He touched the bullet hole in his double’s side. An electric shock squeezed the breath out of him. The pain in his side flared. His teeth rattled as a current filled him. He felt like he was going to explode. He looked at Clay, who was becoming more transparent, melding into his body on the ground.

Then Clay was gone.

Danny’s pain was gone.

Everything was gone.