exist.”
“And I’m Elvis in drag. And I’m walking out of here right now. Navonna, come on!”
Keith shrugged. “Doesn’t really matter if you believe me. This was to have been an experiment to gather together a group of near-death survivors. I wanted data. I hoped for a possible spiritual manifestation from your combined experiences linking to the gateway here. Nothing like this, however. Together you created too much power. I was only doing research.”
“And I was the one locked up in the nut house,” Niane said.
Someone else was screaming from the direction of the kitchen. There was the sound of breaking glass. Something hit the front door. Hard.
“You’re doing it,” Keith said.
“What? What am I doing?”
Keith removed his tie. He seldom wore one. He mopped his forehead with it. “My theory is that when you die, you fall into a universe of absolute evil. Its denizens demons, if you will—formed by your imagination, descend upon you. No heaven, only hell. When you die and are returned to life, they will try to follow you back into life. You’ve been dead twice, Niane. And we’re standing at a portal. They’re following you. They re here. Its all out of control.”
Keith whipped his tie around Niane’s throat. “I’m sorry, Niane, but this is the only way. I never meant for the experiment to end like this.”
Niane clawed at him, gasping for breath.
Navonna rushed to help her, but Dr Greenfeld tackled her. They rolled about on the floor. Niane could hear more screams, but had no breath for her own. Keith ignored her clawing and struggling. He pushed her to the floor, knees on her chest, tightening the tie about her throat. “Third time’s the charm, Niane.”
Niane lost consciousness. It was all black. It was snowing. She saw a snowman. A very poorly constructed snowman. More like a cone. Its face was covered with icy tentacles. It began to move toward her. Its arms stretched out like thick ropes. It grasped her throat. She couldn’t breathe. The darkness thickened.
Niane was able to draw breath again. Navonna was shaking her, her face desperate. “Baby! Baby! Come on, baby! Just hold on for me!”
Niane coughed and sat up. Her throat ached. She gulped air.
Dr Greenfeld was in worse shape. Navonna had crushed her skull with a table lamp.
The door was smashed open.
“Where’s Dr Ashford?” asked Niane, holding her throat. She was barely conscious. A tie was wrapped loosely about her throat.
“He’s gone. Something broke through the door. I was trying to get away from Dr Greenfeld to help you. All I saw was something like pieces of thick rope reach in and drag Dr Ashford away. Dr Greenfeld turned to look, and I hit the bitch with that lamp. I think I may have killed her.”
A frosted tentacle snaked through the broken door, curled about Dr Greenfeld’s leg, dragged her into the snow.
Navonna was still too stunned to know panic. “Girl, we’ve got to get out of here.” She said it as if she were speaking of leaving a bad singles bar. There were more screams from upstairs. Navonna didn’t seem to hear. Her nose and lips were bleeding, unheeded. She just hung on to Niane, out of it.
“We’ll never make it just now in the snow,” Niane said. “We’ll lock ourselves in our room. I think they won’t harm me.”
“Who?”
“My death fantasies. They only followed me from the other side. The others lacked the power to escape them. Let’s hurry. I think I can protect us both now.”
They huddled together throughout the evening and a sleepless night, hearing an endless barrage of screams and crashing sounds.
“From ghoulies and ghosties and things that go bump in the night, dear Lord preserve us.” Navonna must have said that prayer a hundred times as they clutched each other and shuddered at every sound. Niane seemed much calmer now and kept reassuring her. Navonna gave them both some Demerols.
By daybreak it had all stopped. Except the snow. Just flurries.
They crept out cautiously. The smell of death hung over the decaying hotel. There were no sounds.
“Are they all dead?” Navonna wondered.
“Do you want to look?” Niane fussed with the telephone. Yes, the lines really were down. She begged a Demerol off of Navonna.
“All right. We’ll hike it to town. Maybe we can hitch a ride once we hit the highway, if it’s clear. I’m not staying here another moment.” Niane tugged on her coat.
“Are those... those things gone?” Navonna worried.
“Let’s not wait to find out. I think they got what