After they were safely inside the house, Erik grabbed the remote and motioned to put on the television.
“No,” Dovecrest said. “That won’t help. Where it is now and what it’s doing doesn’t matter. We’ve got to think ahead.”
Erik nodded and put the remote down. Vickie sat back on the couch with Todd next to her. Her contractions, for the moment, had stopped.
“I need to get my family out of here,” Erik said. “This thing could be here any minute.”
Dovecrest nodded. “I know,” he said. “But we need you here. We need the three. Six would be better, or twelve even better still. But three is enough.”
“Let me take them to the city and then come back….”
“There isn’t time.”
“I’d rather stay here,” Vickie said.
“No. You can’t. It isn’t safe here anymore. Think about Todd. And the baby.”
Vickie looked at him for a long moment.
“Ok,” she said finally. “But I can drive myself.”
“Hon, you’re about to go into labor-if you aren’t already there…. You can’t drive.”
“I’m going to have to. Either that or I’m staying here.”
“Listen,” Erik said. “The National Guard was at the plaza. Suppose I take you and Todd there and have them drive you out?”
“Erik, we really don’t have time,” Dovecrest said.
“I can at least drive myself a half mile up the road,” Vickie said.
Erik shook his head. “I don’t like it. I hate it. I need to be with my family.”
“The best way you can protect your family is by hitting this thing where it lives,” Dovecrest said. “And we need you here for that.”
Erik looked at Mark. “Pastor, what do you think?”
“I think that no matter what we do, it’s in God’s hands,” he said. “But I think God-and we-could work better knowing that your family was safe. I’ll bet they’d send in a chopper for a woman in labor.”
Erik thought for a moment. He hated the idea of separating from Vickie and Todd. The idea frightened him. But he couldn’t bring them with him to do what had to be done. He’d be too worried about them to play his role.
This just wasn’t right, he thought. He wasn’t supposed to be a hero. He was a teacher and a writer. He wrote about characters that did heroic things. He didn’t actually do them. More than anything he just wanted to get in the car with his family and drive to safety, where he could let the people who were supposed to protect them take care of this thing. This was a job for the police and the army-and maybe even the pastor, he thought. But it wasn’t a job for a schoolteacher who wrote science fiction stories. He didn’t want any part of this hero stuff.
Yet what choice did he have? If he didn’t do it, who would? Maybe Mark could call some clergy together, but how long would it take? And Dovecrest was the only one who really knew what to do. What if the demon killed him?
“All right,” he said finally. “I don’t like it, but I don’t have a better idea.”
Vickie nodded. “Then I’d better get moving while things are still quiet.”
Erik was silent. He didn’t know what he’d do if anything happened to her. In the background, he heard Dovecrest asking the Pastor to come help him bring in something from outside. He knew they were giving him some time alone with his wife and son.
He knelt down and looked into Todd’s eyes.
“You’re going to go with your Mom and help her, ok, Sport?”
“Why can’t you come, Dad?”
“Because I’ve got to help kill this thing that’s gotten loose. Before it hurts anyone else.”
“I could help kill it, too. It tried to get me but I wouldn’t let it.”
“I know. That’s why I need you to go with your Mom. You need to take care of her.”
He hugged his son hard. Then Todd broke away from the embrace.
“Ok, Dad. But I’ve got to get my geologist’s hammer. Just in case I need it again.”
“Ok, Todd. You do that. Then come right back down, you hear.”
The boy nodded and ran off to his room.
Erik took his wife in his arms and hugged her tight, then kissed her deeply. “Vic, I don’t want to be away from you,” he said.
“I don’t want to be away from you either,” she said. Tears streaked down her face. “I’d rather stay here with you. Or go together.”
“I know. But we can’t.”
She nodded. “Do me a favor,” she said.
“Anything.”
“You kill this thing that’s been causing us so much pain. You kill it. And then you come back to me.”
“You’ve got it,” he replied.