Downpour(III:6) The Cavalry

6. The Cavalry

     Gabriel led them down the winding spiral staircase and into the shop landing. “As I said, you are lucky that he is so close, or you would have to take ‘public transportation’.” He said the last word with a shiver.

     Nick had never much liked riding the bus, but he expected that in the land of the dead it was markedly worse. Being crammed into a metal tube with a host of rotting corpses seemed unpleasant, even if there was no smell. “Guess we should count our blessings then,” he said, beginning to feel trepidation at seeing James again for the first time since his death. Would he be angry? Nick had no way of knowing.

     “Yes indeed,” said Gabriel, pushing aside a large stack of books, and revealing a small panel with numbers on it. He bent over to type in some numbers and then looked back at Nick suspiciously. “If you don’t mind.” He twirled his fingers indicating for them to turn around.    

     Nick and Lopsang obliged. As Gabriel typed in the numbers, Nick took another look around the shop. Tucked in between the volumes of records, were other odd books, with faded spines. It looked as though Gabriel had amassed quite the collection. Nick wondered just how long it had been since his passing, and how long he had held the shop for. How does one even come about owning a shop in the land of the dead? he thought, but there was no time to ponder it further, as Gabriel had finished entering the code.

     “Alright you can turn around again,” he said somewhat hastily.

     Nick would have thought it odd, but understood that harboring two fugitives under the watchful eye of what he could only assume to be the devil was dangerous. The image of the two tall creatures with large skulls from the Book of the Dead rose in his mind. Rather than feeling scared of them, he felt a pang of regret for the money he would be losing.

     “Through this door you will find your friend, but alas, this is where I must leave you.” Gabriel seemed saddened by the prospect. “If we had more time, I think there are a great deal of interesting things we could discuss. If you wish, seek me out when that final day does come to you.” He looked hopeful, as if company in the Land of the Dead were not the best.

     “I’ll be sure to do it,” said Nick, not looking forward to the day when he would have to face his own judgment. “That is, if the devil doesn’t have me roasting on a spike for all eternity.”

     “The American life after death is so macabre,” said Gabriel, tilting his hat, and forgetting for a moment that it exposed his fractured skull. “I do wish you luck in your travels, and I hope you find your friend.” He turned to Lopsang. “While you really are a quiet fellow, I will say that it was also a pleasure to meet you, as you have not proven yourself to be an unintelligent git.”

     “Thanks?” said Lopsang, quizzically, and stook out his hand to shake Gabriels.

     Gabriel looked at it as though it were a spider, and shrugged away from it. “Alright, no time to be wasting.” He put his hand on the doorknob and flung it open. A swirling vortex of light buffeted from within, and it looked as though it took him great effort to hold the door open. “Best hurry now. I can’t keep the portal open for long, or I risk things coming back.”

     Nick nodded to Lopsang and then started forward. “Be seeing you Gabriel,” he said cheerily, and stepped forth into the vortex. He would have thought the sensation odd if it had not been the second time he had done it that day. There was a brief moment of dizzying color, and then he stood, upright, in what appeared to be a stone living room.

     Lopsang popped in right beside him and nearly knocked him over. They brushed themselves off and looked around. The scene was odd. It felt like someone had decorated a dank stone chamber with the effects that would be found in a college dorm room. “Where do you think he is?” asked Nick.

     “Nick?” called a voice from outside his vision.

     Both Nick and Lopsang wheeled around to see James sitting casually around a table with a small group of men and women, playing poker. He was wearing the same climbing gear he had been when he died, including the heavy jacket that seemed far too hot for the occasion. Long cuts ran across his face, and still looked as fresh as the day they had been made. Large black splotches of blood had soaked into his clothes, making for a rather grizzly sight.

     “James?” asked Nick, in complete shock. To see him again, alive, and speaking was almost too much. Despite the gruesome visual he presented, Nick could not help but feel elated. They had finally done it, and after all the time spent slogging through the jungle, they were here.

     James stood up from the table, dropping his cards. The other members of the card game turned in their seats to get a better look. He stepped forward toward Nick, unspeaking, and staring at him as if he had seen a ghost.

     Nick could not read James’s eyes, as they seemed glazed over in deep thought. What’s he going to do? Nick’s heart beat raised, and he felt sweat beading on his pores. He did not know how James was going to react to seeing them both, and could only hope for the best. Screwing up his face, ready to get punched, he felt a sigh of relief and revulsion as James ran over to him and wrapped him in a hug. There was a sickening squish as he did it, and Nick could not help but remember the gutting blow he had been given by the yeti. All the same, he held on tight, clapping the kid on the back.

     “God I’ve missed you,” he said in a rare moment of emotional clarity.

     “Me too,” said James, and pulled away to look at Lopsang. “And you came too?” he asked, half surprised. Then his mood changed slightly. “Let me guess, you had to rope Nick into coming.”

     There’s the sarcastic kid I remember, thought Nick, trying to shake the heavy emotions he was feeling off. He was not to feeling anything so intense without a few drinks in him.

     James hugged Lopsang as well.

     “Actually,” Lopsang said, “it was Nick who convinced me to come.”

     James looked shocked, and then touched. “I can’t believe it. Come on and have a seat. Just a minute, I’ll go and get some more chairs.”

     Nick tried to protest, knowing that they were running short on time, but James had already bustled out of the room, and left them with the dead people sitting around the table.

     “Howdy,” said one of the men in a thick Spanish accent. He wore a comically large cowboy hat, and looked as though in life he might have been a John Wayne impersonator. He grinned at Nick and started laughing. The other men joined in and motioned for Nick to sit with them.

     While he desperately wanted to get moving and get out of the Land of the Dead, Nick obliged and sat down. “Howdy,” he said, returning the man’s greeting, and gave him the gesture of a finger pistol. This elicited another round of laughter from the men, who immediately went back to playing their card game, not waiting for James.

     It took less than a minute for James to come back carrying two stone stools that looked desperately uncomfortable. “Sorry, it’s really about all we’ve got. There’s not much to decorate with down here other than what you can scavenge. Found a couple of cashes from teens who were content to throw away all their worldly possessions when they died,” he said motioning to the room, “but, haven’t found any decent furniture in months. Trouble is, someone has to die in their sitting chair, and then be willing to give it up.”

     James sat down and faced Nick, who was still speechless, unable to take in the surroundings. It was one thing to see the Land of the Dead, and entirely another to see a friend there. “You seem to be doing quite well here,” he said, trying to hide any misgivings he had about James’s living arrangements.

     James did not notice them. “Oh yes, it’s actually  not that bad down here once you get used to it. It’s the first thirty or so days that are really a drag. Takes a bit of getting used to, being dead and all.”

     Nick noticed the tiniest hint of a frown as he mentioned it. Seems way too happy, he thought. He’s hiding something from us. “Who are they then?” He wanted to keep James in a good mood. It was the key to convincing him to come back with them to the land of the living.

     “Oh these guys?” said James, motioning to the group behind him. “They’re my cousins.”

     “Your cousins?” blurted Lopsang, unable to contain himself.

     “Well, not my real cousins, but I haven’t got any real family that was born in Peru, so when I turned up, they just assumed I was related. Never bothered correcting them.”

     One of the men smiled a toothless grin, reveling what appeared to be a fatal neck wound in the process.

     “I see,” said Lopsang.

Once more, the conversation fell into awkward silence. Unable to contain himself, Nick addressed the elephant in the room. “You uh, took quite the blow from the yeti,” said Nick motioning to James’s scars and giving a nervous laugh.

     “Oh yeah, he really got me good,” said James, laughing all too hard for something that wasn’t that funny. There was a sudden ripping sound as his park burst open, followed by a sickening squish as his insides fell out and onto the ground. He looked down at them, then to his coat, and then up at Nick.

     Here it comes, thought Nick, seeing the crack form in James’s false happiness.

     “God damnit,” he yelled, bending over to scoop up his innards and put them back in.

     Nick could not help but turn away. The sight was revolting to look at. Lopsang made a gagging noise beside him and also looked away. The men at the table pointed at the incident, laughing loudly once more.

     There was a merciful zip, as James did his parka back up, and Nick turned around to face him. “Alright, I give up, being dead sucks. I can’t walk more than ten feet without my insides falling out again. Yeti really did a number on my stomach lining, and no amount of sewing can fix it. Believe me we’ve tried,” he winced in pain at the thought of it.

     “It’s alright kid,” said Nick, trying not to look disgusted.

     “It’s really not,” James said, panting as if under great exertion. “Do you know what it’s like wearing a parka here?” his voice was raising, and Nick could not help but smile.

     He hates it here. The thought brought joy to his heart, as he knew it would make it easier to get him to leave.

     “It’s hot here Nick. I went from the top of one of the world’s tallest mountains, freezing my ass off and bleeding to death, to the humid pit that is the underworld. All the heat from the jungle has to go somewhere, and it filters down here.” He stopped, catching his breath.

     The childish anger that Nick had come to know so well through their travels was painted clearly across James’s face. “What are you guys doing here anyway?” he asked, exasperated, and seeming demoralized. “Come to get some last words in and assuage any guilt you’re feeling?”

     Nick laughed at this. “Oh come on James, you know me. I don’t feel any guilt.” He paused a moment to let the implication sink in. “We’re here to take you back”

     James’s face lit up, “Oh thank god, let’s go.”