Ignoring her, Alan began to back up again. He had no time for the town's problems tonight; he had his own. Let them slaughter each other like stupid animals, if that was what they wanted to do. He was going to Mechanic Falls. He was going to get the man who had killed his wife and son in revenge for a piddling four years in the Shank.

Polly grabbed his doorhandle and was half-pulled, half-dragged, out into the debris-strewn street. She punched down on the b.u.t.ton below the handle, her hand shrieking with pain, and the door flew open with her clinging desperately to it and her feet dragging as Alan made his reverse turn. The nose of the station wagon was pointing down Main Street. In his grief and fury, Alan had totally forgotten that there was no bridge to cross down that way anymore.

"Alan!" she screamed. she screamed. "Alan, stop!" "Alan, stop!"

It got through. Somehow it got through in spite of the rain, the thunder, the wind, and the heavy, hungry crackle of the fire. In spite of his compulsion.

He looked at her, and Polly's heart broke at the expression in his eyes. Alan wore the look of a man floating in the gut of a nightmare. "Polly?" he asked distantly.

"Alan, you have to stop!"

She wanted to let go of the doorhandle-her hands were agony-but she was afraid that if she did, he would simply drive away and leave her there in the middle of Main Street.

No... she knew knew he would. he would.

"Polly, I have to go. I'm sorry you're mad at me-that you think I did something-but we'll sort it out. Only I have to g-"

"I'm not mad at you anymore, Alan. I know it wasn't you. It was him, him, playing us off against each other, like he has just about everyone else in Castle Rock. Because that's what he does. Do you understand, Alan? Are you hearing me? playing us off against each other, like he has just about everyone else in Castle Rock. Because that's what he does. Do you understand, Alan? Are you hearing me? Because that is what he does! Because that is what he does! Now stop! Turn off the G.o.dd.a.m.ned engine and Now stop! Turn off the G.o.dd.a.m.ned engine and listen to me!" listen to me!"

"I have to go, Polly," he said. His own voice seemed to be coming to him from far away. On the radio, perhaps. "But I'll be ba-"

"No you won't!" won't!" she cried. Suddenly she was furious with him-furious at she cried. Suddenly she was furious with him-furious at all all of them, all the greedy, frightened, angry, acquisitive people in this town, herself included. "No you won't, because if you leave now, of them, all the greedy, frightened, angry, acquisitive people in this town, herself included. "No you won't, because if you leave now, there won't be a G.o.ddam thing to come back TO!" there won't be a G.o.ddam thing to come back TO!"

The video-game parlor blew up. Debris stormed around Alan's car, parked in the middle of Main Street. Alan's talented right hand stole over, picked up the Tastee-Munch can, as if for comfort, and held it on his lap.

Polly took no notice of the explosion; she stared at Alan with her dark, pain-filled eyes.

"Polly-"

"Look!" she shouted suddenly, and tore open the front of her blouse. Rainwater struck the swells of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and gleamed in the hollow of her throat. "Look, I took it off-the charm! It's gone! Now take yours off, Alan! she shouted suddenly, and tore open the front of her blouse. Rainwater struck the swells of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and gleamed in the hollow of her throat. "Look, I took it off-the charm! It's gone! Now take yours off, Alan! If you're a man, take yours off!" If you're a man, take yours off!"

He was having trouble understanding her from the depths of whatever nightmare it was which held him, the nightmare Mr. Gaunt had spun around him like a poisonous coc.o.o.n... and in a sudden flash of insight she understood what that nightmare was. What it must must be. be.

"Did he tell you what happened to Annie and Todd?" she asked softly.

His head rocked back as if she had slapped him, and Polly knew she had hit the mark.

"Of course he did. What's the one thing in all the world, the one useless thing, that you want so badly that you get it mixed up with needing it? That's That's your charm, Alan your charm, Alan-that's what he's put around your neck." what he's put around your neck."

She let go of the doorhandle and thrust both of her arms into the car. The glow from the domelight fell on them. The flesh was a dark, liverish red. Her arms were so badly swollen that her elbows were becoming puffy dimples.

"There was a spider inside of mine," she said softly. " 'Hinky-pinky-spider, crawling up the spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out.' Just a little spider. But it grew. It ate my pain and it grew. This is what it did before I killed it and took my pain back. I wanted so badly for the pain to be gone, Alan. That was what I wanted, but I don't need need it to be gone. I can love you and I can love life and bear the pain all at the same time. I think the pain might even make the rest better, the way a good setting can make a diamond look better." it to be gone. I can love you and I can love life and bear the pain all at the same time. I think the pain might even make the rest better, the way a good setting can make a diamond look better."

"Polly-"

"Of course it has poisoned me," she continued thoughtfully, "and I think the poison may kill me if something isn't done. But why not? It's fair. Hard, but fair. I bought the poison when I bought the charm. He has sold a lot of charms in his nasty little shop this last week. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d works fast, I'll give him that much. Hinky-pinky-spider, crawling up the spout. That's what was in mine. What's inside yours? Annie and Todd, isn't it? Isn't Isn't it? it?"

"Polly, Ace Merrill killed my wife! He killed Todd! Todd! He-" He-"

"No!" she screamed, and seized his face in her throbbing hands. "Listen to me! Understand me! Alan, it's not just your life, can't you see? He makes you buy back your own sickness, and he makes you pay double! Don't you understand that yet? Don't you get it?" "Listen to me! Understand me! Alan, it's not just your life, can't you see? He makes you buy back your own sickness, and he makes you pay double! Don't you understand that yet? Don't you get it?"

He stared at her, mouth agape... and then, slowly, his mouth closed. A sudden look of puzzled surprise settled on his face. "Wait," he said. "Something was wrong. Something was wrong in the tape he left me. I can't quite..."

"You can, can, Alan! Whatever the b.a.s.t.a.r.d sold you, it was wrong! Just like the name on the letter he left me was wrong." Alan! Whatever the b.a.s.t.a.r.d sold you, it was wrong! Just like the name on the letter he left me was wrong."

He was really hearing her for the first time. "What letter?"

"It's not important now-if there's a later, I'll tell you then. The point is, he oversteps. I think he always always oversteps. He's so stuffed with pride it's a wonder he doesn't explode. Alan, please try to understand: Annie is oversteps. He's so stuffed with pride it's a wonder he doesn't explode. Alan, please try to understand: Annie is dead, dead, Todd is Todd is dead, dead, and if you go out chasing Ace Merrill while the town is burning down around your ears-" and if you go out chasing Ace Merrill while the town is burning down around your ears-"

A hand appeared over Polly's shoulder. A forearm encircled her neck and jerked her roughly backward. Suddenly Ace Merrill was standing behind her, holding her, pointing a gun at her, and grinning over her shoulder at Alan.

"Speak of the devil, lady," Ace said, and overhead-

10.

-thunder cracked across the sky.

Frank Jewett and his good old "friend" George T. Nelson had been facing each other on the courthouse steps like a pair of strange bespectacled gunslingers for almost four minutes now, their nerves tw.a.n.ging like violin strings tuned into the ultimate octave.

"Yig!" said Frank. His hand grabbed for the automatic pistol stuck in the waistband of his pants.

"Awk!" said George T. Nelson, and grabbed for his own. said George T. Nelson, and grabbed for his own.

They drew with identical feverish grins-grins that looked like big, soundless screams-and threw down. Their fingers pressed the triggers. The two reports overlapped so perfectly that they sounded like one. Lightning flashed as the two bullets flew... and nicked each other in mid-flight, deflecting just enough to miss what should have been a pair of point-blank targets.

Frank Jewett felt a puff of air beside his left temple.

George T. Nelson felt a sting on the right side of his neck.

They stared at each other unbelievingly over the smoking guns.

"Huh?" said George T. Nelson. said George T. Nelson.

"Wha?" said Frank Jewett. said Frank Jewett.

They began to grin identical, unbelieving grins. George T. Nelson took a hesitant step up toward Frank; Frank took a hesitant step down toward George. In another moment or two they might have been embracing, their quarrel dwarfed by those two small puffs of eternity... but then the Munic.i.p.al Building blew up with a roar that seemed to split the world in two, vaporizing them both where they stood.

11.

That final explosion dwarfed all the others. Ace and Buster had planted forty sticks of dynamite in two cl.u.s.ters of twenty at the Munic.i.p.al Building. One of these bombs had been left sitting on the judge's chair in the courtroom. Buster had insisted that they place the other on Amanda Williams's desk in the Selectmen's Wing.

"Women have no business in politics, anyway," Buster explained to Ace.

The sound of the explosion was shattering, and for a moment every window of the town's biggest building was filled with supernatural violet-orange light. Then the fire lashed out through through the windows, the windows, through through the doors, the doors, through through the vents and grilles, like merciless, muscular arms. The slate roof lifted off intact like some strange gabled s.p.a.ceship, rose on a cushion of fire, then shattered into a hundred thousand jagged fragments. the vents and grilles, like merciless, muscular arms. The slate roof lifted off intact like some strange gabled s.p.a.ceship, rose on a cushion of fire, then shattered into a hundred thousand jagged fragments.

In the next instant the building itself blew outward in every direction, turning Lower Main Street into a hail of brick and gla.s.s where no living thing bigger than a c.o.c.kroach could survive. Nineteen men and women were killed in the blast, five of them news-people who had come to cover the escalating weirdness in Castle Rock and became part of the story instead.

State Police cars and news vehicles were thrown end over end through the air like Corgi toys. The yellow van which Mr. Gaunt had provided Ace and Buster cruised serenely up Main Street nine feet above the ground, wheels spinning, rear doors hanging by their mangled hinges, tools and timers spilling out the back. It banked to the left on a hot hurricane thermal and crash-landed in the front office of the Dostie Insurance Agency, snowplowing typewriters and file-cabinets before its mangled grille.

A shudder like an earthquake blundered through the ground. Windows shattered all over town. Weathervanes, which had been pointing steadily northeast in the prevailing wind of the thunderstorm (which was now beginning to abate, as if embarra.s.sed by the entrance of this avatar), began to whirl crazily. Several flew right off their spindles, and the next day one would be found buried deeply in the door of the Baptist Church, like a marauding Indian's arrow.

On Castle Avenue, where the tide of battle was turning decisively in favor of the Catholics, the fighting stopped. Henry Payton stood by his cruiser, his drawn gun dangling by his right knee, and stared toward the fireball in the south. Blood trickled down his cheeks like tears. Rev. William Rose sat up, saw the monstrous glow on the horizon, and began to suspect that the end of the world had come, and that what he was looking at was Star Wormwood. Father John Brigham wandered down to him in drunken loops and staggers. His nose was bent severely to the left and his mouth was a ma.s.s of blood. He considered punting Rev. Rose's head like a football and helped him to his feet instead.

On Castle View, Andy Clutterbuck did not even look up. He sat on the front step of the Potter house, weeping and cradling his dead wife in his arms. He was still two years from the drunken plunge through the ice of Castle Lake which would kill him, but he was at the end of the last sober day of his life.

On Dell's Lane, Sally Ratcliffe was in her bedroom closet with a small, squirming Conga-line of insects descending the side-seam of her dress. She had heard what had happened to Lester, understood that she had somehow been to blame (or believed believed she understood, and in the end it came to the same thing), and had hanged herself with the tie of her terrycloth bathrobe. One of her hands was thrust deep into the pocket of her dress. Clasped in this hand was a splinter of wood. It was black with age and spongy with rot. The woodlice with which it had been infested were leaving in search of a new and more stable home. They reached the hem of Sally's dress and began marching down one dangling leg toward the floor. she understood, and in the end it came to the same thing), and had hanged herself with the tie of her terrycloth bathrobe. One of her hands was thrust deep into the pocket of her dress. Clasped in this hand was a splinter of wood. It was black with age and spongy with rot. The woodlice with which it had been infested were leaving in search of a new and more stable home. They reached the hem of Sally's dress and began marching down one dangling leg toward the floor.

Bricks whistled through the air, turning the buildings some distance away from ground-zero into what looked like the aftermath of an artillery barrage. Those closer looked like cheese-graters, or collapsed entirely.

The night roared like a lion with a poisoned spear caught in its throat.

12.

Seat Thomas, who was driving the cruiser Norris Ridgewick insisted they take, felt the car's rear end rise gently, as if lifted by a giant's hand. A moment later, a storm of bricks had engulfed the car. Two or three punched through the trunk. One bonked on the roof. Another landed on the hood in a spray of brick-dust the color of old blood and slithered off the front.

"Jeezum, Norris, the whole town's blowing up!" Seat cried shrilly.

"Just drive," Norris said. He felt as if he were burning up; sweat stood out on his rosy, flushed face in big drops. He suspected that Ace had not wounded him mortally, that he had only winged him both times, but there was still something dreadfully wrong. He could feel sickness worming its way into his flesh, and his vision kept wanting to waver. He held grimly onto consciousness. As his fever grew, he became more and more certain that Alan needed him, and that if he was very lucky and very brave, he might yet be able to expiate the terrible wrong he had set in motion by slashing Hugh's tires.

Ahead of him he saw a small group of figures in the street near the green awning of Needful Things. The column of fire towering out of the ruins of the Munic.i.p.al Building lit the figures in tableau, like actors on a stage. He could see Alan's station wagon, and Alan himself getting out of it. Facing him, his back turned to the cruiser in which Norris Ridgewick and Seaton Thomas were approaching, was a man with a gun. He was holding a woman in front of him like a shield. Norris couldn't see enough of the woman to make out who she was, but the man who was holding her hostage was wearing the tattered remains of a Harley-Davidson tee-shirt. He was the man who had tried to kill Norris at the Munic.i.p.al Building, the man who had blown Buster Keeton's brains out. Although he'd never met him, Norris was pretty sure he'd run afoul of town bad boy Ace Merrill.

"Jeezum-crow, Norris! That's Alan! Alan! What's going on now?" What's going on now?"

Whoever the guy is, he can't hear us coming, Norris thought. Not with all the other noise. If Alan doesn't look this way, doesn't tip the s.h.i.tbag off- Norris's service revolver was lying in his lap. He unrolled the pa.s.senger-side window of the cruiser and then raised the gun. Had it weighed a hundred pounds before? It weighed at least twice that now.

"Drive slow, Seat-slow as you can. And when I tap you with my foot, stop the car. Right away. Don't bother to think things over."

"With your foot! foot! What do you mean, with your f-" What do you mean, with your f-"

"Shut up, Seat," Norris said with weary kindness. "Just remember what I said."

Norris turned sideways, stuck his head and shoulders out the window, and clutched the bar which held the cruiser's roof-flashers. Slowly, laboriously, he pulled himself up and out until he was sitting in the window. His shoulder howled with agony, and fresh blood began to soak his shirt. Now they were less than thirty yards from the three people standing in the street, and he could aim directly along the roof at the man holding the woman. He couldn't shoot, at least not yet, because he would be likely to hit her as well as him. But if either of them moved...

It was as close as Norris dared go. He tapped Seat's leg with his foot. Seat brought the cruiser to a gentle halt in the brick-and-rubble-littered street.

Move, Norris prayed. One of you please move. I don't care which one, and it only has to be a little, but please, please move.

He did not notice the door of Needful Things open; his concentration was too fiercely focused on the man with the gun and the hostage. Nor did he see Mr. Leland Gaunt walk out of his shop and stand beneath the green awning.

13.

"That money was mine, mine, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Ace shouted at Alan, "and if you want this b.i.t.c.h back with all her original equipment, you better tell me what the h.e.l.l you did with it!" you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Ace shouted at Alan, "and if you want this b.i.t.c.h back with all her original equipment, you better tell me what the h.e.l.l you did with it!"

Alan had stepped out of the station wagon. "Ace, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Wrong answer!" Ace screamed. "You know exactly exactly what I'm talking about! Pop's money! In the cans! If you want the b.i.t.c.h, tell me what you did with it! This offer is good for a limited time only, you c.o.c.ksucker!" what I'm talking about! Pop's money! In the cans! If you want the b.i.t.c.h, tell me what you did with it! This offer is good for a limited time only, you c.o.c.ksucker!"

From the tail of his eye, Alan caught movement from below them on Main Street. It was a cruiser, and he thought it was a County unit, but he did not dare take a closer look. If Ace knew he was being blindsided, he would take Polly's life. He would do it in less time than it took to blink.

So instead he fixed his sight-line upon her face. Her dark eyes were weary and filled with pain... but they were not afraid.

Alan felt sanity begin to fill him again. It was funny stuff, sanity. When it was taken away, you didn't know it. You didn't feel its departure. You only really knew it when it was restored, like some rare wild bird which lived and sang within you not by decree but by choice.

"He got it wrong," he said quietly to Polly. "Gaunt got it wrong on the tape."

"What the f.u.c.k are you talking about?" Ace's voice was jagged, c.o.ked-up. He dug the muzzle of the automatic into Polly's temple. Ace's voice was jagged, c.o.ked-up. He dug the muzzle of the automatic into Polly's temple.

Of all of them, only Alan saw the door of Needful Things open stealthily, and he would not have seen it if he had not directed his gaze so stringently away from the cruiser which was creeping up the street. Only Alan saw-ghostly, at the very edge of vision-the tall figure that came out, a figure dressed not in a sport-coat or a smoking jacket but in a black broadcloth coat.

A travelling coat.

In one hand Mr. Gaunt held an old-fashioned valise, the sort in which a drummer or a travelling salesman might have carried his goods and samples in days of old. It was made of hyena-hide, and it was not still. It puffed and bulged, puffed and bulged below the long white fingers which gripped its handle. And from inside, like the sound of a distant wind or the ghostly cry one hears in high-tension wires, came the faint sound of screams. Alan did not hear this horrid and unsettling sound with his ears; he seemed to hear it with his heart and in his mind.

Gaunt stood beneath the canopy where he could see both the approaching cruiser and the tableau by the station wagon, and in his eyes there was an expression of dawning irritation... perhaps even concern.

Alan thought: And he doesn't know that I've seen him. I'm almost sure of that. Please, G.o.d, let me be right.

14.