Major Tom
Part 4
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Evelyn is scared out of her wits. She realizes she needs to go warn the town about this Major Tom. She doesn't know who he is or what he does, but he needs to be at least questioned. By now the clouds have covered the sky, making the desert almost pitch black. Evelyn finds a lantern in the house, lights it, and finds her horse outside. She rides quickly back to town.
A warm wind blows through the desert. It's not the normal type of wind, Evelyn notes. This isn't right. The wind puts out the flame in her lantern. It's now too dark to travel on horseback, so she dismounts and begins to walk with the horse. Evelyn's eyes quickly adjust to the darkness and she prepares herself for whatever comes next.
The horse somehow gets scared itself, and before Evelyn realizes it, runs off. A wave of darkness far away begins to move closer to her, blacking out the distance. Evelyn begins to run, but the darkness is quicker. Somehow, though, she manages to get back to her office where she turns on all her lights, even though her deputy is there. "What's going on here?" he asks.
"I think there's something out there" she replies.
"I don't think so, but that's weird. Speaking of which, I got those files you wanted. Put in a request over the telegram. Army sent a speedboat through Panama. Made it here less than 8 hours. Here you go. Or would you rather have me tell you the surprise?"
"Let me guess. Major Tom isn't what he is to be."
"Well, yes and no. Major Tom does exist, except he isn't the man you met. He was the one supposed to be on that train. But wait! It gets better. Before he was on the train he did serve under Sherman, and in Atlanta he found a gun. He decided to keep the gun, which his superiors did because it was a spoil of the battle. Turns out that the Harris's name was on the gun, or at least an ancestor. Robert was going to buy the gun off of Major Tom. They had already signed a deal. Reynolds was on his way here to sell it."
"Then who was the Major Tom I met?"
"No idea. Maybe a rival collector?"
"Then what about the train?
"
"Lost me there. No idea. How'd it go at Harris's place?"
"Harris and his butler are dead. Well, at least the butler. But based off the amount of blood I saw, Harris has to be dead."
"WHOA! What happened?"
"Don't know. Butler let me in, went to the study, walls splattered with blood. It said creepy things. Shot rang out; butler took one to the forehead. Perfect shot. Blood was also used to write something."
"Creepy."
"I freaked and came back here for backup. The darkness in the distance seemed to follow me."
"Now you're creeping ME out. There's nothing out there though. See?" He opens the window.
"Wait, don't do that-" but it's too late. The deputy is whisked out the window by the oncoming darkness. Evelyn whips out her gun and empties her clip into the darkness. But, like the doomed men on the train, nothing happens. She runs and closes the window, but the darkness has already begun to take over the boiling system and the lights go out.
Evelyn sees that the lights in Leroy's Bar are on, and figuring that there's safety in numbers jolts to the bar. However, the darkness is like blanket of fog; Evelyn fights her way through the fog, heart pounding with every second, growing louder and louder. She cries for help but alas, no one comes. She knows better to fire at it, since there is nothing there.
She finally makes it to the bar. She opens the door and runs to the counter, blurting out words that make no sense. She realizes she is the only person in the bar. It is completely empty. Yet there are drinks on the table, where people should be. The piano is playing the sad ballad heard earlier. Major Tom sits in the corner, humming along. "You know," he says. "This is a great song. Too bad it's true."
"Who.....who are you? You're not Major Tom, that's for sure. Are you a rival of Harris? Or a magician of sort? Or one of those inventors?"
"I'm none of what you have said. My name is not Tom Reynolds, but I have no names. I have been called many names, but I think you know me better as Ryan. Ryan Lucifer."
"Ryan.....like the name of the lone stranger....Lucifer.....as in the name of the Devil?"
"Sure. Whatever floats your boat."
"Then why come here?"
Ryan checks his watch. "See," he says. "You people don't know this yet, it might get discovered, it might not, but you live in alternative dimension. A lot of things here have happened differently on other Earths. Among my jobs is making sure things don't get too out of hand."
"What do you mean out of hand?"
"Well, let's put it this way. Robert Harris is actually a serial killer. He's insane and in his dimension he found a wrinkle, and came to yours. I'm here to make sure he doesn't screw around with your universe."
"Now you're just off your rocker! You're the one that's insane! What the hell happened to the rest of the people? What about the train?!"
"Don't you understand? Of course not. You can't understand the law of the universe. For some people, it's simply time to go, whether they like it or not. Now, it may be in a particularly cruel and harsh way, but then again, it was their choice to get on the train, wasn't it? It is the hand of humans, not me or God you should be afraid of."
"No.......NO! You're absolutely insane!" Evelyn draws her spare gun from her ankle holster and fires all 6 shots from it at Ryan. Somehow, though, they seem to miss.
"You shouldn't have done that." Ryan says. Darkness makes its way into the bar, and the bar disappears and the two people find themselves in the desert. "You shouldn't have made that choice. Now, you will die." The darkness surrounds Evelyn, blinding her.
"In the desert," says Ryan. "In the desert, no one can hear you scream."
