Orpheus - Haunting the Dead.pdf - Dice

HAUNTING THE DEAD
ALLEN RAUSCH
The hooded figure made a sharp left and began to
walk away. As he did so, the form shifted, at first it was
the skeleton, then she was looking at the back of a
small, nondescript man wearing a prisoner’s orange
jumpsuit. The voice remained the same, however.
“Have you ever read the Bible?” he asked.
“Isn’t that a rather unusual thing for an Aztec god
to ask?”
The man in the orange jumpsuit stopped but did not
turn. “From the Book of Isaiah, chapter 14:
“Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee
at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all
the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their
thrones all the kings of the nations.
“All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou
also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us?
“Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the
noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and
the worms cover thee.”
“What the He—” Eileen suddenly changed her
mind. “What on Earth does that mean?”
“Hell from beneath is moving to meet thee, Eileen—
and she’s very, very hungry.” The orange shape began
to walk away.
“We’ll stop you, you know,” Eileen shouted at the
retreating form. “Orpheus is not going to sit back and
let the world be threatened by the likes of you!”
“The likes of us? You work for killers and bring down
stone and earth on the citizens of Guadalajara. Do you
really think you should be making moral judgments?”
“We’ll fight,” she said, but her voice sounded hollow
and empty even to her. She was too aware of the
tangled remains of the construction site, now the tomb
for the Arguelles women and Francisco’s followers.
The twisted iron reminded her of the steel and glass
remains of a car.
The spirit turned around one last time and smiled at
her. Somehow, the power and menace of this little man
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