Ascension

scared Bill.'

'Scared? Why?'

'Well if it's all true, I haven't been a very good Christen.'

Bill snorted, 'You and the other eight billion people on the planet. I wouldn't worry about it.'

'This is everlasting, unending afterlife we are talking about. If I end up in hell…well as the kids say today, that would suck.'

Laughing Bill said, 'You're not dead yet, can't you repent?'

'I already have.'

'So you should be all set. Are you trying to save me now?'

'No, I sat through enough sermons to know I ain't a preacher. But Bill, I have to tell you something.'

'Shoot.'

'I prayed a lot over the years and never saw anything come of it, I never got an answer. But lately, Bill, I've been getting answers.'

Bill stared at the old man for a minute, 'Like, voices in your head answers? Or 'prayers coming true' sort of answers?'

The old man looked out into the night, focusing on something that Bill couldn't see, he cleared his throat before answering, 'I'm not crazy, at least I don't think so. At first I ignored them. It's like, well you ever been to a baseball game?'

'I've been to a few I–Cubs games, but never to a major league game.'

'It's kind of like that, the crowd just sort of murmurs in the background, making a noise you just overlook to get on with your own talking. But when you are at a game and your own conversation stops, you might pick up on what people nearby are saying. You following me?'

'Yeah, or even at a restaurant.'

'Yes, like that. Well if I kind of stop thinking about anything in particular, I can hear people. I thought it was just people like you and Stewart the other day. But it's not just them. It's people I can't see. People I am pretty sure are dead.'

'And you think it is God?' asked Bill.

'I know. Crazy. Not all God. But yeah, I think he is using them to talk to me, to give me advice. To tell me things I should otherwise have a way of knowing.'

'What kind of things?'

'Where people are, where zombies are, what they are doing. If I can make a difference in any given situation…or not.'

'That's how you found Stewart. But how did you get over the fence?'

'There was a hole cut through it by the side of the building, it was hard to see from where we were, but they, the voices, told me it was there. They said Stewart would need my help and I had to go to her.' Ruben said.

'They said 'would need', so they told you the future?'

'Sort of, maybe they were guessing. With Stewart that isn't much of a guess, is it? She's always in the thick of things.'

Bill laughed, 'Aren't we all?'

Javier finally stopped pacing and asked, 'All what?'

'In the thick of things. How's your leg?' Bill asked.

'Good, I think I am okay, but I am still hungry.'

'You better wait at least fifteen or twenty minutes, I don't know how much more you can hold.'

'The meals aren't that big. How about I wait ten?' said Javier, eyeing the trunk.

'Your call, I won't stand between you and food. We'll have to see what we can pick up locally in the morning to make sure you have enough.'

'Okay.' Javier set off on another loop around the parking lot.

Ruben finished his cigarette, 'So Bill, am I crazy?'

'Near as I can tell, yes. You should have stayed in Iowa old man.'

'I couldn't do that, not when people half my age are running around trying to save the world. Not when I could make a difference.'

'Ruben, just watch what you are doing, okay? I mean if the voices tell you to do anything crazy just think about it before you act. Don't just give in to them.'

Ruben nodded and tapped another cigarette out of the pack. As he smoked he thought about a pop song he had heard so many years before, one that wailed on about good advice you just couldn't take.

Chapter 33 — Katie

'Anything?' Katie asked as she frantically rifled through the office on the ground floor.

'No, this isn't my thing. I was never good with computers.' Randy said.

The two stood in the office surrounded by pulled down books and papers spread over every flat surface. They were looking for an address of the clinic the doctor worked at. Both had thought it would just be a matter of finding the location on some stationary or other paperwork, but so far they had found nothing.

'He'll send someone for us. How far do you think it is from here?' Randy asked.

'Now how in the hell would I know that?'

'I dunno, how do you know you are looking for him in the first place? How'd you know this was his house?'

Katie slumped into an overstuffed chair, looking defeated in the near darkness. 'Fuck if I know, I just do.' She stared up at the portrait hanging behind the desk where Randy was sitting. 'Who do you think that is?'

'His father? The founder of modern medicine? His former lover?'

'Thanks, for that last image. I bet he lives about half an hour from where he works. We've spent ten minutes at this, so we should have another ten, then we gotta get out of here.'

'Well, I can't get into his computer.' Randy was staring at the log in screen in front of him. He was able to type in passwords, but noted, with some amusement, the keys didn't depress when he hit them. So far he had tried a variety of combinations with no luck. The two of them had kept the lights off in the house and the generator was still running in the garage, providing them with power if they needed it. From the bottom desk drawer they had found a notebook scribbled full of numbers and letters and Randy had tried every combination off of the pad as well.

'You know what we haven't found?'

'What?' asked Randy.

'A safe. Move, would you?' Katie stood and walked over behind the desk to the painting. The wall behind the desk was lined with built-in bookshelves. The painting was hanging on a section of wall built out from the shelves. Katie grabbed the bottom corner of the picture and tried to lift it off the wall. It didn't want to move.

'Bingo! There is something here.' Katie tugged on the edges of the painting, until the left side pulled free from the wall. The picture acted as a door with a heavy duty magnet keeping it from swinging open. Behind it was a wall safe with two dials. 'Gimme the sheet with the numbers.' Katie said.

Randy reached for the pad of paper on the desk, but was unable to move it. 'Sorry, that seems to be beyond my ability.'

Katie whirled and picked up the paper, but paused to lay one hand on Randy's face. He felt solid to her touch. They stared at each other for a moment before Katie turned back to the wall with the pad. She went right to the bottom, skipping the crossed off numbers.

'Fucking idiot. If this works, I mean.' Katie said, 'See how the numbers are split here, like these four are in a group and then there is a bit of a space to the next group? I bet this is the combo for the two dials.'

'Do it.'