“But look at her. He’s tied her to the post. This river’s tidal. Soon the water’s gonna be over her head; she’ll—”
“We’re not allowed to intervene. It’s mandatory: we never touch people or in any way influence events.”
“And have this on my conscience?” He looked shocked.
“What else can we do?”
“I’m going to help her.”
“No.” I grabbed his arm.
He shook himself free and went down to the shore.
And, yup...I had to follow. Had to somehow talk him out of doing anything stupid. Ham was green as spinach soup. He didn’t know the repercussions of intervention.
By the time we reached the couple on the shore the tide had turned. The girl sat with her long, bare legs splayed out in front; her hands tied behind her back to an iron loop set in the post. That in turn was rooted in the riverbed. And, boy-oh-boy, the tide came in fast. Already it washed over her thighs. Her eyes locked on to those of her abductor’s. They blazed in the moonlight as if halogen lamps burned inside her head. Let me tell you, that was pure terror.
I could see Ham wanted to do something to help. But it was the “how” that was foxing him. He stood beside the brutal-looking guy and the girl. And all the time the water is lapping higher and higher around her. Now at her waist. She sucked in her bare stomach as ice cold water touched, probed, licked.
The guy moved to a camera set on a tripod back up the beach, safely away from the water. I hadn’t noticed it before. What’s more, I saw that the camera was cable linked to a laptop computer resting on a crate.
The guy said, “Don’t you realize you’re going to be famous, honey lips? This webcast’s going out live on the Internet. You’re going to be Global. How’s that feel?”
She tried to cry out, but could only make a Mmmm sound through the tape covering her mouth.
“That’s right. I’m going to stand here next to the camera while all those boys and girls out there in Webland watch the water come up higher and higher, up over your juicy breasts, up over your throat.” He was panting.
This got the brute turned on. “The water’s soon gonna stroke your chin, then up over—”
“Stop it!”
The guy was startled by the closeness of the voice. This he didn’t expect.
“Who’s there?” He slipped a revolver from his pocket. “You betta come out here.” He cocked the hammer. “You betta show yourself.”
“Yeah, as if.”
Again the closeness startled him. He spun round, pointing the gun in the direction of Ham’s voice. Only he didn’t see anything, of course. Even though Ham stood only five feet from him.
Ham. You’re not supposed to meddle. I mouthed the words at him so brute-guy wouldn’t hear. But I knew Ham wasn’t going to halt now. Stuff was in motion. All I could do was watch. After all, I knew the penalty.
The girl squirmed as the tide flooded across the shore. The water had reached her midriff. I saw her eyes searching for the man who’d challenged her captor. They glittered with a wild kind of hope now. Maybe she was thinking she had a chance to survive after all.
“You’re not going to get away with this,” Ham told the guy. “You sadistic pervert.”
The guy snarled. “Come on out. Or haven’t you the guts to show yourself?”
“I’m right behind you.”
The guy whirled again, holding the gun out straight. Only he saw nothing but the river. Ham spoke to the pervert in a soft voice, goading him, taunting him. As he talked he crouched down to where a rock the size of a football lay on the beach.
No! I tried to signal him with my hand. If he lifted the rock the guy with the gun would see the rock floating in the air by itself. Looking at that brute I didn’t think the sight of levitating stones’d so easily spook him. He’d more likely loose off a few shots then work out the physics of it all later. It’d only take one lucky shot to finish Ham.
But Ham was smarter than I thought. He cupped his hands round the rock, allowing the power that made him invisible to seep from his skin into the stone. I noticed he kept glancing back at the girl bound to the stake. Water lapped at her breasts. Delirious with fear, her head rolled from side to side, while her hips thrust upward, as if she tried to arch her back out of the chilling river.
Despite what was happening to the girl Ham didn’t budge. The rock was the thing now. As I watched the rock it suddenly disappeared.
I knew I’d soon be able to see it again in a few seconds. Any Invisible would as their eyes adjusted to the correct physical plane, but the sadist wouldn’t. Even if dangled in front of his eyes, he’d see nothing.
By now, the tide had reached the girl’s throat. Her legs thrashed the water. I glanced at the camera that would convey her suffering to voyeurs the world over. More than anything, I wanted to kick the damn thing to shit. But I know the rule. I know the punishment, too.
Ham said to the guy, “I’m not here...I’m there.”
“You little creep.” The guy spun round. Confusion ran riot across his pervey face. “Come out. Show yourself.”
“Hey, fartpants. Did you know your zipper’s down?”
Like all men he automatically glanced down at his crotch. As his head ducked Ham struck. He swung the invisible rock down onto the back of the guy’s skull. The sound of skull bone shattering is a startling thing. Even the girl stopped writhing as the sadist belly-flopped onto the beach, his concave head leaking brain fluid and blood in a gory mess. Sheesh. What did the audience watching the webcast make of that?
Minutes later Ham had the captive untied and the tape peeled off her mouth. He laid the dripping girl high on the grass bank where she lay, half-conscious, panting. As he leaned over her, rubbing her cold wet hands, that’s when I did what I had to do.
It is our law, you see.
Picking up a branch I whacked Ham’s noodle, knocking him cold. Then after some dragging and panting of my own I had Ham just where I wanted him.
The cold water woke him up. He seemed surprised that he now sat with his back to the post, his hands tied behind him to the iron ring. Confused, he looked up at me as I stood on the bank, away from the incoming tide.
“Kate, what’s happened? Who put me here?”
“I did. I’m sorry, Ham.”
“But why?”
“It’s the law. If you intervene to save the life of a Visible you must take their place.”
“Kate?”
“I wish I didn’t have to do this. Good-bye.”
I walked back along the riverbank. Behind me lay the girl. She’d wake up cold to the bone, but she’d be OK. As for Ham Masen? The last I saw of him he was kicking his legs like he could drive the incoming tide back. He couldn’t of course.
And that’s where I’m going to leave it. Of course, if you’re deadly curious about what happened to Ham, as the water crept up over his chin, then I’m sure there’s the webcast somewhere out there in cyberspace. All you need do is shoot ‘Ham Masen’ into your search engine of choice.
That’s me done now.
Well...before I go, I might just gently blow into the back of your neck, while you think of lonely midnights and cold, cold river water shivering against your belly.
There...what did you feel? A breath of cool air perhaps?
Gina Osnovich
DON’T KNOW DICK, but his legend has left me with an untainted knowledge of who he was.
I don’t know Dick, but the friends he made, the family that exerts endless positive energy, helps me discover more.
I don’t know Dick, but if he was anything like the boy who just hit puberty that wrote his books, I would have reveled in knowing him.
Dick died a few weeks after I joined the HWA. I didn’t know Dick, but I cried. Perhaps no one can express their thoughts of loss and hurt better than a horror writer, and when Dick died, I knew him. I knew everything about him from others, and yet I hadn’t even scratched the surface.