A Deafening Silence In Heaven - Thomas E. Sniegoski Page 0,151

tightly, using the love he felt for her as his focus. It would be so easy to let it all go, he thought, his identity slowly dwindling as he infused himself into the very universe he was creating. No longer would he be only who he was.

He would be everything, and everything would be him.

“Remy.” Linda whispered his name once more. He looked down at her and into her eyes.

“Is it really you?” she asked.

Feeling the tug of a universe upon him, he hesitated only briefly. “Yes, it’s me,” he said, pulling her up to him, and they kissed.

As a universe took shape around them.

• • •

Linda awoke with a gasp, having witnessed the birth of a universe.

For a moment she simply lay there, in a kind of shock, as she attempted to adjust to her new reality. Her body felt stiff, achy, and she rolled over on the bed, onto the body of her lover, who was incredibly still.

And cold to her touch.

She couldn’t find the words as she looked at him, the memories of what she had done and why rushing back to her now.

“Oh, Remy,” she said, bringing a hand to her mouth to stifle the flow of emotion.

It was the sound of a single gunshot that brought her fully back to the moment at hand. She looked away from the body of her lover to the front of the room, staring in abject horror at the sight of her friends as they attempted to keep monsters from forcing their way in.

She looked back to Remy, saying a silent good-bye before bounding from the bed to help her friends. Having just witnessed the birth of a universe, she was filled with a sense of wonder the likes of which she had never experienced before, and was not yet ready to surrender.

Desperate to hold on to the life that still remained for her.

• • •

Floating in the midst of creation, Remy began to truly understand how God worked.

For great things to happen there is always a catalyst, something that jump-starts the process of change, a spark struck to the gasoline.

Unification was to be the start of something glorious, the next phase of something amazing that began with creation itself.

But for that next chapter to begin, for the new to be ushered in, the imperfections in the old plan must be found.

The flaws—those nasty bugs—those annoying defects that seemed to arise whenever the process of change began.

They had to be driven into the open, drawn from the shadows, and once exposed . . . destroyed.

As dramatic as it all was, as reality took shape around him, Remy understood the method to God’s madness.

And his place at the head of the asylum.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Mulvehill’s bullets were gone, but that didn’t mean the gun was useless.

Holding the .45 by the barrel, he used the weapon as a bludgeon, cracking skulls and faces and any other appendages that might be broken with a solid strike from the gun’s grip.

He was painfully aware of the direness of their situation; it wouldn’t be long at all until they were overrun. He couldn’t speak for the others, but he could feel himself growing tired, his brain becoming fuzzy, his response time slowing. He chanced a quick glance at Ashley, seeing her stab the short sword into the throat of a Bone Master that was attempting to crawl into the room between the legs of another. It went down gasping, clutching at its throat, but still managed to make its way farther into the room. Marlowe leapt upon it, pinning the demon to the floor, and then Linda stepped forward, jamming the sharp end of a broken drawer into the Bone Master’s eye, taking it out for good.

It was good to see her back as well. If only Remy . . .

Mulvehill pushed the sad thought aside, returning to the moment at hand. They were like a well-oiled machine, he thought, watching a blood-soaked Squire hack limbs away with abandon, but he, too, looked as though he might be slowing down.

But he couldn’t think like that. They had to keep fighting—fighting for Remy.

He chanced another look over his shoulder to the bed, where his friend lay, wishing that he would miraculously wake up and save the day, but he knew that wasn’t about to happen.

About to turn back to the battle at hand, something caught his eye, and he hesitated. A shadow passed before the window in the corner of the room that looked over the small