Nightscape Page #3

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if it comes to it, cario.

Ever since I come back to life,

it's like I'm bound

to a new fate.

I just don't know

what it is yet.

It's like when you're a kid

and the days stretch on and on.

You can't wait to catch them

up and come into your own.

Time has that kinda weight

now. The weight of a reckonin'.

You gonna tell me how it is now?

Your friend...

to save him, we have to stop

La Muerta Blanca.

Most likely, he will turn again.

That for certain?

Who knows? It is a prophecy

of chaos, this car.

But also your main chance.

If you got your driver,

what do you need me for?

I ain't about to drink

outta the same bottle

as you dirty dogs.

Hey, I already told...

You, okay, I get it.

You were in a bad skin.

But you... you I got some

Old Testament anger for.

Cario, it is impossible

without your luck.

La Muerta Blanca travels a

vast and crookback road.

We could follow its violence

forever and still never find it.

It has been seen on both

coasts- at the same time.

With your talent...

You think it an accident you

find yourself here...

at this moment,

with this choice?

Hungry?

Still touchy as a teased

snake, I see.

You don't hear nothin' else,

I want you to know...

'preciate you doin' this for me.

Is that what you think?

I felt bad for playin' him mean.

But his gratitude

made me ashamed.

As much as I want to save him,

I'm afraid to get too close.

No tellin' what I might have

to do before it's all over.

Cario, now!

Why would it rile us and run?

Here is comes.

Let's go back.

This car...

it is equipped special.

For police, mostly.

Now we see about

La Muerta Blanca.

Almost there.

Almost.

Now.

Hold tight.

What's wrong?

Jammed.

It should come free to blind it.

Here, take the wheel!

For what? From here?!

Put a steady hand on it!

There's someone in there!

Everything just fades away...

Except the dead pitch of night.

The burden

of being conscious...

Knowin' we're men of parts...

We're the only animals with

that foreknowledge.

We know we don't belong.

She looked in pain.

I seen her before...

in a dream the other night.

Back in the sixties,

during Vietnam...

there was a woman

disappeared.

She was said to have

gone with it.

But there are many rumors.

She claimed to ba a psychic,

this woman.

She thought La Muerta Blanca

was a mental projection...

The spirit of la revolucin

made real.

Some say it appears

when the system presses

too much on us.

Who know, cario?

You gotta have some idea.

A means to translate me

out from this corrupt earth.

A final escape,

sudden and solemn.

This is my hope.

Ain't there any relief for him?

It affects the ones

run the ragged edge the most.

The ones with a headful

of doubts.

Nights under the stars,

he was always thinkin'...

Stung again, huh?

Like the deuce.

Now I have repairs.

Chasin' it this way,

on the open road...

You thinkin' to corral it?

Somehow, she draws it out.

I believe she saved me

this time...

her presence.

I need a shot at it.

How well do you know

this country?

If you wanna box it in, there's

a place less than an hour off...

Old lumber mill on the river.

From the highway, looks like

one way in, one way out.

I bring the fire.

Say your car roll

back up the hill.

Supposed to be

a witchy woman

outside of Natural Bridge,

Alabama

after truckers what killed her.

Then there's a stretch

of highway in New Mexico,

US 491...

where cars flat-out disappear.

Used to be 666.

You probably know

most of these.

Some are known as places

where other worlds

show through.

I seen the other side.

When I gone to the bad.

Sometimes I see me there,

movin' fast...

almost peaceful.

Like I'm up above the noise

of the world.

As terrible as they are,

I envy you, chamo,

those visions, the

inspiration.

La Muerta Blanca tries me.

It tests my worth to be

translated out.

I tell you true, chamo,

the sun will lose it's glory,

and the moon is gloss,

before I let it go.

There's no helpin' him,

is there?

Even if we fail,

he could be useful to me.

Yeah, you're a cold bullet,

alright.

Those actual bombs?

Landmines.

Lordy, you did come prepared.

How come they look so weird?

They come special.

I'm ready to activate 'em.

First the radar...

then earth,

water,

air,

fire,

and the control mechanism.

Together, they make

white noise for the mind.

We will see if it disrupts

La Muerta Blanca's defenses.

These go in the first row.

In the second...

anti-tank mines.

You see?

First we confuse

the phantom powers,

then we blow the metal shell.

What happens

to the woman inside?

You see a woman, okay.

I see a messenger...

maybe a chariot.

And that one...

he sees what?

A means to fly the tracks

of the world?

I get it, it's just...

I got this feelin' like she's

the end of my black luck.

Or maybe the only thing

can survive it.

Thanks.

Good as the last coke

in the desert.

Even in a cold glass.

Sorry 'bout this...

'bout everything.

Ain't your fault.

When it happens...

You get these jag snakes.

You can't get your mind

off the fool trick of it...

this life.

Routines, hobbies...

any defenses you got

against your own mortality...

they all just waste away.

I wanna go out

takin' it to the limit.

That race talk?

This is as close to the pure

risk as I'm ever gonna get.

Leastways we lived

by our own lights.

That counts for somethin',

right?

Guess we each have

our own chances to take.

Hold on!

Wai...!

Dear diary, I made up my mind.

I'm goin' after my fate.

By that, I mean this phantom

car, whatever it is.

I think it's what my luck

is for.

Maybe if I make my own ruin,

I'll finally break the curse

of mine.

I never expected life

to be crackerjack sweet.

I'm not fool enough

to think that.

But maybe this will turn

loose my black luck.

I'm not hopin' for much.

Just a chance for the good

in me to shine out a little.

Would you not take me

with you, cario?

Pastor.

Well...

Looks like we're both

dependin' on high charity now.

Where you headed, pilgrim?

To the nearest telephone.

I you're amenable...

Help with the baggage,

please?

You might think this lucky,

but...

in my book, luck is living

under Christ's kindness.

You in town sacerdotisa?

Nope. Out west.

Working vacation.

Are you still hunting

the Leviathan?

It is no good to me now.

Time for other means

of salvation.

I need a car or a ticket.

You lost another one?

I'll wire you a plane ticket.

Can you ask the doctor

to fire up the O.R.?

Are you hurt, too?

Hmm.

No more than usual.

I got some raw material.

Is that really necessary?

Sharp-shooter,

good with a knife,

expert driver,

wields a juju hand

that would turn the devil green.

At what point are we

showing off, eh querido?

The doctor?

I will make the

arrangements...

if you do this next job,

no questions asked.

Hmm?

The target?

An artifact...

that could start a flood that

even Noah could not outlast.

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