185 INTERIOR: ROBBIE'S HAND, FROM ROBBIE'S POINT OF VIEW, CLOSE-UP.
The gun is gone. He's holding a WRITHING SNAKE. ROBBIE SCREAMS and opens his hand.
186 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.
We see the rest of this from HENRY BRIGHT'S POINT OF VIEW, which means we see things pretty much as they are. It's the gun ROBBIE drops, not a snake, and it's LINOGE in the cell, now off the bunk and walking toward the bars.
LINOGE
I'll be waiting for you in hell, Robbie, and when you get there, I'll have a spoon. I'm going to use it on your eyes. I'm going to eat your eyes, Robbie, over and over again, because hell is repetition.
Born in sin, come on in.
HENRY bends for the gun. LINOGE looks at it, and it slides all the way across the floor. LINOGE
looks back at ROBBIE, looks hard, and ROBBIE suddenly goes FLYING BACKWARD. He strikes the wall, rebounds, and goes to his knees.
175
HENRY
(horrified whisper) What are you?
STORM OF THE CENTURY 219
LINOGE
Your destiny.
He turns and lifts the mattress of the cot. Beneath it is the cane. He takes it and raises it. As he does, a BRILLIANT BLUE LIGHT begins to shine from it.
HENRY backs away, raising an arm to shield his eyes. ROBBIE, who has managed to get up, also shields his eyes. That GLOW becomes BRIGHT, BRIGHTER, BRIGHTEST. The constable's office now SCREAMS WITH LIGHT.
187 INTERIOR: THE MARKET SIDE OF THE DOOR.
LIGHT streams through the keyhole, around the hinges, and through the gap at the foot of the door. The three men step back, afraid.
JACK What is it? What's happening?
HATCH
I don't know.
INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.
HENRY and ROBBIE stand on one side of the room, cringing against that BRILLIANT FLOOD OF
LIGHT. In it, we for the first time see LINOGE for what he is: an ancient wizard whose upraised cane is his chief instrument of magic an evil version of Aaron's staff. It is shedding that BRILLIANT
LIGHT in waves.
On the bulletin board, papers come loose and FLOAT in the air. MIKE'S blotter rises from his desk and also FLOATS. The desk drawers open, slowly, one after the other, and the objects inside rise up and begin to circle the desk: pens and paper clips, handcuffs and a forgotten half of ham sandwich.
The in/out basket waltzes with HATCH'S PowerBook in midair.
On the far side of the room, the pistol ROBBIE meant to use on LINOGE (what a foolish idea that seems now) rises, turns its muzzle to the wall, and discharges six times.
220 STEPHEN KING
189 INTERIOR: THE MARKET SIDE OF THE DOOR.
HATCH, KIRK, and JACK react to the shots. HATCH looks around, sees a display of hardware, and grabs a hatchet from it. He turns and begins hacking away at the area around the doorknob. JACK
grabs at him.
JACK Hatch! Maybe you shouldn't
HATCH shoves him backward and goes on hacking. Maybe he shouldn't, but he's going to do his duty if he can.
190 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.
The home-welded bars start FALLING AWAY from the cell door one by one, almost like falling leaves. ROBBIE and HENRY watch, numb with terror. The bars fall faster and faster, creating a man-shaped hole. When it's complete, LINOGE steps easily through. He looks at the two COWERING
MEN, then turns and raises his cane toward the door leading to the market.
191 INTERIOR: THE MARKET SIDE OF THE DOOR.
176
HATCH is raising the hatchet for another blow when the door suddenly OPENS ON ITS OWN.
BRIGHT BLUISH SILVER LIGHT streams out.
LINOGE (voice) Hatch.
HATCH steps into that FLOOD OF LIGHT. JACK grabs at him.
JACK Hatch, no!
HATCH ignores him. He goes into the light, the hatchet slipping from his fingers as he does.
192 EXTERIOR: THE MARKET NIGHT.
The Island Services four-wheel drive turns into the front parking area. The storm shutters are down over the market's display windows, but we can see BRILLIANT BLUE LIGHT shining through the door.
193 INTERIOR: THE ISLAND SERVICES VEHICLE.
It's crammed with BEEFY GUYS. MIKE is at the wheel.
r
STORM OF THE CENTURY 221
What in the hell is that?
JOHNNY
(awed)
MIKE doesn't bother answering, but he's out of the truck almost before it has stopped moving.
The others follow, but MIKE is first up the steps.
194 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE.
HATCH sleepwalks into that BRILLIANT LIGHT, heedless of the objects floating and swirling in the air. The PowerBook bumps his head. HATCH bats it aside and it floats away like something underwater. He reaches LINOGE, who is almost blindingly bright.
LINOGE is in reality an old man, we see, with ragged white hair falling almost to his shoulders.
His cheeks and brow are carved with lines, and his lips are sunken, but it's a strong face, all the same . . . and dominated by the eyes, which SWIRL WITH BLACK AND RED. His ordinary clothes are gone; he is wearing a dark robe that gleams with SHIFTING SILVER PATTERNS. He continues to hold his STAFF UP with one hand (there is still a SILVER WOLF'S HEAD at one end, but now we see the shaft is carved with magical runes and symbols) and grips HATCH'S shoulder with the other . . . only it's not really a hand at all, but a talon full of claws.
222 STEPHEN KING
LINOGE brings his face down until his brow is almost touching HATCH'S. His lips part, revealing his pointed teeth. During all of this, HATCH stares at him with wide, blank eyes.
LINOGE Give me what I want and I'll go away. Tell them. Give me what I want. . . and I'll go away.
He turns, the hem of his robe flaring, and strides toward the door that leads to the loading dock.
195 INTERIOR: THE MARKET, LOOKING TOWARD THE MAIN DOORS NIGHT.
They burst open, and MIKE runs in, followed by his posse. He moves up the center aisle, jumping the overturned card table, and grabs KIRK FREEMAN.
177
MIKE What happened? Where's Hatch?
KIRK points numbly into the constable's office. He is beyond words. MIKE plunges through the doorway . . . then stops.
196 INTERIOR: THE CONSTABLE'S OFFICE, FROM MIKE'S POINT OF VIEW.
Looks like a cyclone struck it. Papers and office supplies are strewn everywhere, fluttering in the draft from the open loading-dock door. HATCH'S PowerBook lies shattered on the floor. The jail cell is empty. A litter of bars lies in front of the door, which is still locked but gaping wide, all the same.
The hole is vaguely man-shaped.
ROBBIE and HENRY stand against the wall, their arms around each other, like small children who are lost in the dark. HATCH stands in the center of the floor with his back to MIKE and his head lowered.
MIKE approaches cautiously. The other men clog the door to the market, watching with big eyes and solemn faces.
MIKE Hatch? What happened?
STORM OF THE CENTURY 223 HATCH doesn't respond until MIKE actually touches his shoulder.
MIKE
What happened?
HATCH turns. His face has been changed in some fundamental way by his close encounter with LINOGE stamped by a terror that may never leave him, even if he survives the Storm of the Century.
MIKE (reacts) Hatch . . . my God . . . what . . . ?
HATCH
We have to give him what he wants. If we do that, he'll go away. He'll leave us alone. If we don't
. . .
HATCH looks toward the open loading-dock door, where SNOW is SWIRLING IN. ROBBIE joins them, walking slowly, like an old man.