...
... it
0:05
Without warning, the trapdoor beneath Swain dropped away.
0:04
The Karanadon's fist hit nothing but air as it came rushing down, missing Swain's nose by centimetres as he dropped unexpectedly from beneath the massive beast, falling like a stone into the belly of the stage.
Swain landed with a dusty
0:03
He saw the Karanadon on the stage above him, standing in a square of light, glaring down at him through the hole that only moments before had been the trapdoor.
He looked right and saw a vertical sliver of light in the darkness -- a sliver of light that indicated the small wooden door that led out from underneath the stage.
0:02
Swain scrambled toward the little wooden door, firing his gun as he did so, pockmarking the door with holes, hoping to God he would hit the padlock on the other side.
0:01
And then he rammed into the door with his shoulder and it burst open before him and he flailed out into the pouring rain and landed clumsily on the wet grass that surrounded the stage.
0:00.
Cataclysm.
----ooo0ooo------
The explosion from the wristband -- white-hot and blinding -- blasted out horizontally, like a thousand-mile- an-hour ripple in a pond.
Swain scrambled on his hands and knees and pressed himself up against the concrete base of the stage as the white-hot wall of light expanded laterally -- and spectacularly -- above his head. He saw Holly on the ground over by the trees, her hands covering her ears.
The Karanadon simply disappeared as the brilliant white explosion shot outward from it, shattering all six of the pillars supporting the domed roof of the rotunda -- reducing them to powder in an instant -- and the massive white dome, without its supports, came crashing down onto the stage.
Behind Swain's back, the thick concrete base of the stage cracked under the weight of the explosion, but held.
White concrete dust and about a billion flakes of paint fluttered in the air before the pouring rain broke them up, dispersing them.
Swain stood up slowly and stared at the rotunda, its huge domed roof now crumpled flat on its stage, the rain beating mercilessly down upon it.
There would be nothing left of the Karanadon, the explosion had been too big, too hot. The Karanadon was gone.
Swain hurried over to Holly and picked her up.
He saw NSA agents running toward them through the rain, and was about to break for it, when it happened.
Suddenly.
Unexpectedly.
Concurrent explosions -- six of them -- white-hot balls of light, bursting spectacularly from different sections of the library.
The biggest explosion came from the Third Floor. It seemed to be a combination of two separate explosions, twice the size of the other white fireballs that boomed out from the Ground and Second Floors of the library.
Glass blasted outwards from nearly every window of the New York State Library. People all around the building were diving for cover when suddenly an
Shrouded by a veil of slanting rain, the whole library was ablaze with fire now. Flames poured out from every window and as Stephen Swain led his daughter inconspicuously away from the pandemonium, he saw the Third Floor cave in on itself and crumble downwards, crushing the Second and First Floors.
The building's roof was still intact when the sixth and last explosion rocked the library and the strangest sight of all appeared.
An empty elevator -- rocketing upward through the shaft -- burst through the roof of the building and shot up into the sky, reaching the height of its parabolic arc and then falling, flying, crashing, back down onto the roof.
It was then that the roof itself caved in and the New York State Library -- amid the sound of girders creaking and explosions multiplying and fires burning -- collapsed in a blaze of glory and, despite the pouring rain, began to burn itself into oblivion.
James Marshall stared in dumbstruck awe at the fiery demise of the building that had promised him so much. There had been nearly thirty agents inside that building when the explosions had gone off. None could have survived.
Marshall just stood there, watching the building burn. They would get nothing from this building. Just as they would get nothing from the rotunda. Marshall himself had seen the big black creature crash through the main entrance. And he had seen it explode.
A white-hot -- micro-nuclear? -- explosion like that would not leave much behind. Christ, it wouldn't leave
Marshall put his hands in his pockets and walked back to his car. Phone calls had to be made. Explanations had to be given.
This night had been the closest they had ever come to contact. Perhaps the closest they would ever come.
And now? Now what did they have?
----ooo0ooo------
Stephen Swain sat on the subway train with his daughter asleep in his lap.
At every jolt of the train, they would tilt and sway with the other four passengers in their carriage. It was late and the near-empty train would get them to the outskirts of New York City. From there they would catch a cab -- an expensive cab -- back to Connecticut.
Back home.
Holly slept peacefully in Swain's lap, occasionally rolling over to make herself more comfortable.
Swain smiled sadly.
He had forgotten about the wristbands that all the contestants in the Presidian had to wear. When the electrified walls had disappeared, their wristbands -- like his -- must have also been set to detonate. So when the Karanadon had exploded with Swain's wristband, the other wristbands had gone off, too,
Swain looked at his clothes -- greasy, black, and in some places, bloody. Nobody on the train seemed to care.
He laughed softly to himself. Then he closed his eyes and leaned back into his seat as the train rumbled off through the tunnel toward home.
EPILOGUE
