Still, she knew she owed him an explanation. "They're all still a little shell-shocked you know, but they're starting to ask questions. 'Where am I?' What do we tell them? A crazy man hypnotized you, enslaved you and turned into a killing robot?
"But that's the easy question. Today, a man asked me if I knew where his wife was. How do I answer that? How do I tell him…" She couldn't finish.
"You are not responsible for any of the bad things that happened, Molly. He did this to them; always remember that."
"I'm a doctor, Dodge. I'm supposed to heal people, not—"
"You know that you can't save everyone. Every doctor knows that. But you helped a lot of people today."
"I know." She took a deep breath. "Dodge, I'm not going back to New York."
He said nothing and for about a minute, she was grateful that he didn't try to talk her out of it. After that, the silence unnerved her.
"I want to help people that really need help. There's a whole class of people here — the outcasts, untouchables — people that are born and live and die with nothing. But there's a man who wants to change that. He calls them 'Children of God.' " She laughed, trying to cover a very different emotion. "Sounds like something Dad would say, doesn't it? I want to help them, Dodge."
"There are a lot of people like that in New York, Moll. People with nothing left. They could use a good doctor, too."
"I don't belong there. And here at least, I can be close to Dad."
There was another long silence, but Molly knew she had said what needed to be said and finally allowed her head to rest against his chest.
"I could stay here with you."
"Oh, sure. You'd stay for a while and then pretty soon you and Hurricane would run off to save the world." She tried to make it sound like a joke, but somehow it came out all wrong. "But hey, you've got the Catalina. You can come visit whenever you want."
"How long will you stay?"
"I don't know," she lied.
"I love you, Moll."
"I love you, too."
EPILOGUE — A PLACE OF SKULLS
Deep beneath the Udayagiri caves, sealed away for all eternity, Nathan Hobbs wrestled with demons.
He lived now only in a dream — his or theirs, he could not say — and he knew not to trust anything that he saw or heard. Yet, for all their schemes, they did not lie to him.
You should have let the Skull Child fulfill his destiny, they whispered. You have denied your world a merciful fate, in favor of great suffering.
And then, they showed him the darkness to come.
The Skull's agents, deprived of their mastermind's guidance, free to execute their own depraved and insane desires, would bring about the death of millions. A second Great War, more terrible than the first, would kill tens of millions and end with a weapon more terrible than anything Hobbs would have thought men capable of creating. From the ashes of that war, a time of false prosperity, in which millions more would die — some victims of malevolent intention, but most sacrificed on the altar of greed. And then… something unspeakable.
You are God's instrument to end this suffering, they whispered and he knew that this too, was not a lie. Will you release us?
Or will you make the world a place of Skulls?
They already knew the answer, of course. They knew the exact moment when he would fail and set them free. They knew exactly how many years he would endure the suffering of humanity before finally surrendering to the inevitable.
They knew, but he did not.
He recalled his promise to Dodge. I will hold the line until such time as it no longer matters.
"A little while longer," he whispered. "A little while longer."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SEAN ELLIS is the author of several novels. He is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resources Policy from Oregon State University. He lives with his wife and two sons in Arizona, where he divides his time between writing, adventure sports, and trying to figure out how to save the world.
BOOKS BY SEAN ELLIS
Ascendant
Descendant (forthcoming)
The Shroud of Heaven
Into the Black
Fortune Favors
The Devil You Know (novella)
In the Shadow of Falcon’s Wings
At the Outpost of Fate
On the High Road to Oblivion
(with Jeremy Robinson)
Callsign: King
Underworld
Blackout
Prime
Savage
Oracle (with David Wood)
Changeling (with David Wood-forthcoming)
Dark Trinity — Ascendant
Magic Mirror
WarGod (with Steven Savile)
Hell Ship (with David Wood)
Destiny (with David Wood)
Flood Rising (with Jeremy Robinson)