The Twilight Zone: Complete Stories (61 page)

“Look,” he said, his voice shaking, “there’s the Goddamn highway. It hasn’t changed. It hasn’t changed a bit.” He whirled around, and grabbed Farwell by the shirt. “Mastermind! Big brain! So instead of a hundred years, it’s maybe an hour—and we’re still hot. And all that gold back there is so much garbage, because everybody and his brother’s going to be looking for it—”

Farwell flung off DeCruz’s hand and turned around, staring back into the cave. “Erbe,” he said. “We forgot Erbe.”

The three men ran to Erbe’s coffin. Farwell was the first to see what had happened. He picked up a large rock and stared at it. Then he looked up toward the ceiling and then down to the crack in the glass cover of the coffin.

“This is what did it,” he said softly. “It cracked the glass and the gas escaped.”

He looked down at the skeleton in the glass coffin.

“Mr. Erbe has proven my point, gentlemen. He’s definitely proven my point...
the hard way
”

Brooks and DeCruz stared. Neither of them spoke for a moment. Finally DeCruz asked, “How long...how long would it take”—he pointed toward the skeleton—“for this to happen?”

Farwell made a gesture. ‘‘A year, or a hundred years.” He looked toward the entrance to the cave. “But the odds are, Mr. DeCruz, that we’re now in the year twenty sixty-one.”

The three men walked into the sunlight.

“Now the next step, huh?” DeCruz’s voice was urgent. “We get the gold into the car and we take it into the first city we find. And we either find a fence, or we melt it down some way.” He faced Farwell. “That’s the deal, isn’t it?”

Farwell stared at him, and then looked at DeCruz’s hands. There was something in the look that made DeCruz drop them to his sides.

“Why is it, Mr. DeCruz,” Farwell asked him, “that greedy men are the most dreamless—the least imaginative—the stupidest.”

DeCruz’s lips tightened. “Listen, Farwell—”

Farwell jerked his head toward the horizon. “For the first time, DeCruz,” he interrupted him, “for the first time in the history of men we’ve taken a century and put it in our hip pockets. We’ve taken a lease on life and outlived our stay. We’ve had our cake, but we’re still going to eat it.” His voice became thoughtful and quieter. “That’s quite an adventure out there, Mr. DeCruz. Though you’re a little insensitive to it, that’s quite an adventure. That’s a world we’ve never seen before. A brand-new exciting world we’ll move into.”

DeCruz’s features twisted. “But with gold, Farwell,” he said, ‘‘with two million bucks’ worth of gold. That’s how we’re going to move into it.”

“Of course,” Farwell said quietly. “Of course.”He continued to stare across the vast expanse of desert. “I wonder what kind of a world...”

He turned and went slowly across the ledge toward the cave, conscious of this incredible moment; feeling an almost wild exuberance as his awareness whispered to him that they, of all men, had conquered time.

DeCruz followed him and began to scrabble in the pit. Each time he found another bar of gold, he gave an exclamation of excitement and joy. Brooks helped him, and the two men shared enthusiasm as they continued their digging.

But to Farwell the gold seemed no longer important. He watched them pile it up and then remove the cosmoline from the car. There was a tense moment when DeCruz sat in the front seat and turned the ignition key. The car engine roared back to life. It purred as if it had been parked not an hour ago—a belated testament to the dead Erbe’s efficiency. But Farwell was only vaguely aware of the engine noise or of the gold being loaded. What preoccupied him was what lay beyond the desert, beyond what they could see—the hidden new world waiting for exploration.

DeCruz shut off the ignition and asked, ‘‘All set?”

Farwell looked at him. ‘‘All loaded?”

DeCruz nodded. “She’s all ready.” He turned away, his eyes unsubtle reservoirs of deception. “Maybe,” he suggested, “I oughta drive her up and down a little. See if she runs okay.”

Brooks, stripped to the waist, sweat pouring from him, took a step over toward the car. ‘‘Ain’t you the most thoughtful little fella that ever come down a pike! You wanna take her for a little ride, huh,” he mimicked, “and see if she’s okay. Just you and the gold. Why, I wouldn’t trust you with gold if it was the filling in your own mother’s tooth. No, buddy boy—when we move outta here, we move out together.” He turned to Farwell. “Where’s the water can? We might as well load that up.”

Farwell pointed toward it a hundred feet away. “It’s over there where we buried Erbe,” he said.

Brooks nodded and started across the sand toward the metal can that sat beside a freshly filled grave.

DeCruz watched him, his eyes narrowed. He very carefully and unobtrusively turned the ignition key and started up the engine.

Farwell was closing the entrance to the cave when he saw the car shoot ahead across the ledge. Brooks saw it at the same moment and his initial surprise gave way to a wild fear as he saw the car, like some malevolent beast, close in on him.

“DeCruz!” he screamed. “DeCruz! You dumb bastard—”

DeCruz’s eyes remained set, focused directly in front of him, staring through the windshield. He saw Brooks make a frantic sideways leap—but too late. He heard the thump of metal hitting, jarring, tearing. And with it the scream of the mangled man. He let the car surge forward, keeping his foot on the accelerator. Then he glanced over his shoulder to see Brooks’s body face down in the sand a hundred feet behind him. He took his foot off the accelerator and put it on the brake.

Nothing happened. DeCruz’s throat constricted as he realized the far ledge was only a few yards ahead of him. Again he slammed on the brake, and reached desperately, frantically, for the emergency. Too late. The car was doomed, and it was during the few seconds before it plunged over the far ledge that DeCruz managed to open the door and fling himself out. The impact knocked the breath from him and he felt sand, harsh and gritty, in his mouth. And at the same time he heard the sound of the car smashing hundreds of feet below against the rocks.

DeCruz got to his feet and went over to the far end of the ledge, staring down at the car, which now looked like a toy destroyed in a child’s fit of anger. He looked back at Farwell, who was standing over Brooks’s broken body. Their eyes met and Farwell came over to him.

“DeCruz...DeCruz, what in God’s name!” Farwell looked down at the car lying on its side, and then back toward the dead man. “Why?” he whispered. “Tell me.
Why?
”

DeCruz stared back intently into Farwell’s face. “Brooks had an accident...or hadn’t you noticed?”

“Why did he have an accident? Why did you do it?”

DeCruz nodded perfunctorily at the car. “That I didn’t plan to do, I wanted Brooks dead—not the car.” Then, challenge in his voice: “Deadweight, Farwell. So much deadweight.”

He smiled, the comers of his thin mouth drew up—and Farwell noted the evil in his face. He remembered when DeCruz had joined them. This was the one man who would bear watching, he had thought. But he had remembered too late.

He looked at the battered body of Brooks, half buried by the sand, both legs sticking out at incredible angles. Too late for Brooks. Again he looked into the dark eyes that continued to challenge him Maybe too late for himself too. He turned deliberately and started to walk back toward the cave. “I keep underestimating you, Mr. DeCruz,” he said as he went.

“Farwell!” DeCruz shouted at him.

Farwell stopped without turning around.

“We do it my way now, huh? Take all we can put in two knapsacks and then hit the road.”

Farwell was silent for a moment as his mind worked. Then he shrugged. “I can’t think of any other alternative at the moment.” He thought of the car far down in the gorge lying on its side, then he began to laugh. “The obvious,” he chuckled. “The simple idiotic ridiculous obvious.”

He laughed again and kept shaking his head as DeCruz stared at him, puzzled. “Even if it had run, Mr. DeCruz,” he explained, “even if you hadn’t wrecked it”—he motioned toward the gorge— “the license plates are a hundred years old. We would’ve been picked up the moment we hit the highway.” He chuckled again, this time more softly, and looked up at the hot sun. “We’ll load what we can, but it’s going to be very warm walking. Very warm.”

He smiled at DeCruz. “So you’re quite right, Mr. DeCruz. Now we’d better hit the road.”

The two men walked for hours down the sandy slopes toward the; highway. They plodded along silently, each carrying a knapsack full of gold bullion; each feeling the hot sun beating down on them. Early in the afternoon they reached Highway 91. It crossed the flats of Ivanpah Lake, running east and west. Farwell and DeCruz paused briefly on one of its shoulders, and it was Farwell who pointed east. They hoisted their knapsacks higher and started walking along the side of the road.

An hour later, Farwell, stumbling, held up his hand and stood there slumped over, his face a red mask of pain and deadening fatigue. “Hold it up, DeCruz,” he said, breathing heavily. “I’ve got to rest.”

DeCruz looked at him and smiled. Anything that took strength, will, resolve, resilience—this was what he understood and could conquer. He was a young animal with no breaking point. “How’re you doing, Farwell?” he asked with an enigmatic smile.

Farwell nodded, not wanting to talk, his eyes glazed with overexertion. “The map said...the map said twenty-eight miles to the next town. At this rate we won’t reach it until tomorrow afternoon sometime.”

DeCruz continued to smile. “At this rate, you may
never
reach it. I told you you should’ve stayed back there and watched the gold. I kept telling you, Farwell.”

This time it was Farwell who smiled. “Oh, yes—you did, didn’t you, Mr. DeCruz?” His own smile now was twisted. “But I don’t think I’d have ever seen you again. I think I’d have died back there.”

He looked down the limitless stretch of highway and his eyes narrowed. “There hasn’t been a car,” he said thoughtfully, “not a single car.” He let his eyes scan the distant row of mountains and there was a hint of incipient terror creeping into his voice. “I hadn’t thought of that. I hadn’t even thought of that. Just like with the license plates. What if—”

“What if what?” DeCruz’s voice was harsh.

Farwell stared at him. “What’s happened these past one hundred years, DeCruz? What if there’s been a war? What if they dropped a bomb? What if this highway stretched to—” He didn’t finish. He simply sat down on the sandy shoulder of the road and removed his knapsack, turning his head from side to side as if trying to slough off the heavy weight of heat and sun and the desperate tiredness.

DeCruz came up close to him. “Stretched to what?” he said, and his voice sounded frightened.

Farwell half closed his eyes. “Stretched to nothing, DeCruz. “Stretched to nothing at all. Maybe there
isn’t
any town up ahead. Maybe there
aren’t
any people,” He began to laugh, shaking uncontrollably until he fell over on his side and lay there, the laughter still pouring out of him.

DeCruz shook him, then took hold of him and forced him upright. “Knock it off, Farwell!” he said tightly. “I told you to knock it off!”

Farwell looked into the dirty, sweaty face that was close to hysteria and shook his head. “You’re a frightened little man, aren’t you, DeCruz? You’ve always been a frightened little man. But it’s not your fear that disturbs me. It’s your greed. It’s because you’re so greedy that you have no appreciation of irony. None at all. And wouldn’t that be the irony of all ironies to walk until our hearts burst, carrying all this gold.”

He stopped abruptly as a distant sound suddenly broke the quietness of the desert. It was so faint that at first Farwell thought it might be his imagination. But it grew in intensity until it took on its own dimension. DeCruz heard it too, then, and both men looked up toward the sky. First it was a speck, and the speck became a form—a jet aircraft with a vapor trail stretched across the blue desert sky Then it disappeared far off in another direction.

This time DeCruz laughed. “There’s a world left, Farwell,” he said triumphantly. “That proves it. And that means there’s a city up ahead. And we’re gonna make it, buddy. We’re gonna make it. Come on, Farwell, let’s get moving.”

He went back to his own knapsack and hoisted it to his shoulder; then he reached down for his canteen, uncorked the top, and took a long gurgling drink, the rivulets of water pouring down his chin as he sucked greedily on it. But halfway through his enjoyment he took a look at Farwell and smiled.

Farwell’s hand had rested on his belt, but now he was staring down at a small chain attached to nothing. Farwell looked up. His voice shook. “My canteen came loose,” he said. “I must’ve left it back on the dunes the last place we stopped. I don’t have any water,”

He tried to keep his voice even—his face unrevealing; but no pretense, however subtle, could cloak this kind of reality. He knew it, and the thin smile playing on DeCruz’s face told him that his companion was well aware of it.

DeCruz hoisted his knapsack higher on his back. “That’s tragic, Mr. Farwell,” he said, the smile persisting. “That’s the saddest story I’ve heard all day.”

Farwell wet his lips. “I need water, DeCruz. I need it desperately.”

DeCruz’s face took on a look of exaggerated concern. “Water, Mr. Farwell?” He looked around like a bad actor. “Why, I believe there’s some water around that you could drink.” He looked down, farce-like in his concern, at his own canteen. “Why—here’s water, Mr. Farwell.” He looked across the shimmering heat at the parched face of the older man. “One drink—one bar of gold. That’s the price.”

“You’re out of your mind,” Farwell said, his voice cracking.”You’re out of your Goddamned mind.” “One drink—one bar of gold.” DeCruz’s smile faded. These were the ground rules and he was laying them out.

Farwell stared at DeCruz, and then slowly reached into his knapsack, hoisting out a gold bar. He threw this on the road, “I continue to underrate you, Mr. DeCruz,” he said. “You’re quite an entrepreneur.”

DeCruz shrugged, unscrewed the cap of his canteen, and carried it over to him. “Ain’t it the truth”, Mr. Farwell,” he said, offering the canteen.