I finally got back to editing my photos

The Cicadas have taken over and they sound like a low budget alien invasion

 

The Unblessed Ch. 12 Ending

 Unbeknownst to all, Collin has been watching the fun from a hill overlooking the mine. Once Dan drives the truck inside he makes his way to a small body of water that leads into the mine through the flooded tunnels. He has a full wet suit, three air tanks and an underwater scooter. And he knows how to use all of it perfectly. He makes his way through the dark water and finds the cavern where the Satan beast is just about to eat Samantha and I'm just going to finish this.

He fakes having a dead man's switch hooked to explosives in Dan's pack and Mr. G lets Dan and Samantha go. Collin lets Mr. G know that he has explosives in a nearby pumphouse that will blow up the dam and flood the mine and town, drowning the creature which is completely immobile without help. They make their way back through the flooded tunnels. Collin sends Samantha and Dan to the helicopter with a last envelope of instructions and orders to evacuate town.

Mr. G got the location of the pumphouse from Dan's mind and sends his people to intercept Collin while the possessed get, like, a forklift to move the creature out. One of them needs to get the truck out of the mine entrance but everything is welded shut (how did Dan get out?) and they need to torch it open.

Mr. G, Weston and several other cultists have a running gun battle with Collin up the mountain. Dan lifts off in the helicopter while Samantha provides cover fire. The envelope tells them to fly back over the mine and press a switch a couple times. Mr. G and Collin face off, with Collin with his gun and knife and Mr. G with a large rock.

Mr. G manages to maneuver his way around Collin, into the pumphouse and rip out the explosive device which he then takes and throws off a cliff at which point the truck itself explodes and, presumably kills the creature that was waiting to get around it. I'm really not certain of the point of the switch in the helicopter except as another feint to distract Mr. G. But the truck was the plan all along. It was wired to blow when it was moved. Somehow.

Collin pushes Mr. G off the cliff and collapses into unconsciousness figuring he'll see the aftermath tomorrow. And that's it. That's the end. It read like someone who has seen a lot of action movies. But hey, it was fun. Stupid, but fun.

The Unblessed Ch. 11 Part 2

 In the meantime Dan Hunt is also in Montana following Collin's directions one step at a time. He's piloted another helicopter over to outside the mine. (In a previous chapter we learned that both he and Raymond were helicopter pilots in the Army so at least it explains how they can fly them if not how they keep affording them.) He finds a heavily armored, silent-running truck that Collin rigged up, presumably by learning how with books from the library. It's so fortunate he can just do everything.

All Hunt knows is he has to drive the truck to the mine entrance, get inside and wedge it in. He's spotted almost immediately, of course, but there are several buttons he has to press in order and he has no idea what they do. He just hopes Collin planned for his escape.

The possessed and cult members start firing at him and the first switch starts a tape recorder. Collin tells him to put a gas mask on. He drives into a whole group of people, flips the second switch and bombs go off. He just runs over the next group of people. "Hunt drove right over them when they refused to give way, watching in fascinated horror as their skulls ruptured under the advancing wheels." p.347 Can you see under your own wheels when driving? No? Me neither. But I've never driven a "massive armored flatbed" before.

He continues to drive into the mine, possessed and deluded skulls bouncing off his windshield, until he gets all the way inside where he flips the third switch. Out pours some sort of gas, presumably lethal, because everyone seems to die. Hunt waits a bit before grabbing some grenades, the key and an assault rifle before making his way deeper into the mine.

Samantha and Weston have watched this whole attack from the hotel. She decides it's now or never and puts into effect a clever act to escape her guard. You've seen it a million times on tv. She "seduces" him.

""I...I don't know how to say this, but," she gave him a shy look, "I'm a virgin, you know. All these years saving myself for the right man, the special man. Someone I'll never meet, now." She stretched out in a subtly provocative, vulnerable posture. "I never wanted to die a virgin...never to know what it is like to...to make love," she said the last words in a husky, ashamed whisper, glancing at him sidewise like a frightened little girl." p.349-50

He falls for it, of course. He gets a couple buttons on her top undone and then she strikes him in the nads and runs. The front door is locked so she keeps going, eventually finding, of all things, a lit candle. She makes her way down to the cellar where she finds a tunnel has been dug between the hotel and the mine.

Making her way in she comes across a scary figure with big eyes and a trunk which turns out to be Dan in a gasmask. They embrace and he gives her a gasmask so they can head back into the mine. But who do they see? Mr. G! He gets around. Also he is unaffected by the gas as are the reanimated dead that come up behind to capture them.

Dan wants to know why the gas didn't work. I mean, other than the fact that the demon can bring the dead back to "life" did he mean against the Satan beast? Mr. G tells him that the demon can control the wind currents in the tunnels, obviously, and blew the gas away from them. So simple. Now they will be brought to the sacrifice. 

Samantha is at her wit's end and Mr. G is really sorry is has to end like this. We get another reassurance that there's no hard feelings. "His eyes, though displaying cool knowledge of personal power and ruthless intent, contained no trace of cruelty. He was truly alien" p.357 No, he's just an asshole. Somehow that makes it worse. This has been emphasized before, in other chapters. He's not evil, he just works for evil.

Off their taken further into the mine.

The Unblessed Ch. 11 Part 1

 Samantha has arrived at the old hotel outside Melville, Montana and the Newhope Mine where she has been tricked into going because none of these people can remember that their enemy can fool their minds.

The place is abandoned but she sees "the yellow sedan that Collin said he had rented" and notices the passenger door is open. Looking inside she finds a little girl whose heart has been ripped out and her throat slit because someone couldn't choose between one cliched horror death and another.

Horrified she backs up and takes her gun out only to hear her car starting behind her. This is where we get into old horror flick imagery. The engine guns several times before swinging around to come right at her. She shoots through the window only for it to have no effect and lo and behold, the driver is "the moldering corpse of Mason Raymond" "sitting with a mocking, demonic grin."

Running for safety as the car passes by something grabs her and when she manages to knock it loose she sees the "decayed forearm and hand of the corpse." She makes it to the hotel entrance but doesn't want to go inside figuring at some point the car has to run out of gas when suddenly, a scream from within! And it sounds like Collin! So off to the rescue she goes, gun in hand, following the screams. Thumps and creaks fill the decaying hotel which is rotting awfully fast for a place that has been abandoned for only a month or so.

She gets upstairs and walks down the hall with its "seemingly endless row of gaping doorways" and inexplicable wind, knowing that she will not emerge unchanged from this ordeal of palpable evil. She arrives at a door. "Though she was on the third floor, the number on the door panel appeared to be 666, the number of the devil." p.336 Now I'm imagining a cultist going down to the hardware store and braving the puzzled looks of the employees to order a specially made plaque to nail to the door.

She gets inside and sees a horrible sight. A humanoid, hissing, rotten, fanged monstrosity. She shoots it and runs. Hearing more screaming she runs to another room only to find it empty. There are no more noises and she's convinced Collin is dead which is too bad because she is, in fact, in love with him.

Suddenly, she hears groaning from the closet. Opening it she finds, instead, her long-dead mother, "impaled on a sharp metal pole that had been forced into her body at the anus and ran up the length of her spine". p.338 Her body is "virtually chalk white" and her face was "deep green" and there's blood on her mouth. "Hello, my daughter." And then she projectile vomits blood at Samantha who turns to run in horror only to be confronted by the rotting thing from the other room.

Shooting it has no effect but she suddenly remembers her amulet and her training so she starts to chant a prayer she learned realizing that she actually has not been bothering to keep up the practices she learned because she just figured she was done, I guess. You know, you get your level 3 certification in "African Priestess-hood" and you're protected forever, only occasionally having to do a continuing education webinar to keep your mastery level. However, it turns out you do need to practice it regularly for it to work.

She breaks through the illusions only to be confronted with Mr. G. He's happy with how well she's done and mentions that centuries ago he went through a similar "crucible" to become what he is now. For her, though, they're seasoning her to make her a delicacy for the demon. Weston, a follower who is "a psychopathic killer" as well as a "sexual deviant" has been ordered to make sure she stays in this room. He won't hurt her as long as she stays put. At this point, it's all too much and she pees herself. She's wearing "Levi jeans", of course. All jeans in this book are Levi. "She looked at the Guardian defiantly, but his look conveyed neither derision nor amusement." p.343

Mr. G lets her know that Chris isn't here, wasn't ever here and that Dan is on his way and he's convinced Collin is dead and they aren't sure why because they didn't kill him but some sort of ill-conceived plan seems to be in motion. Then he leaves her alone with Weston.

The Unblessed Ch. 10

 This chapter supports my observation that Collin sucks at plans.

It starts off with a dream - Smith and Raymond telling Collin to "go back". So when he wakes up he flies back to Montana with no word left to his friends.

So naturally we join him three weeks later in Louisville, Kentucky. We get a long, drawn-out scene where Collin quizzes an old miner who used to work in the Newhope mines back in Montana. The mine closed, and his son was killed, when part of it flooded. Collin has maps and gets some inside information on where the entrances are and what tunnel connects where. I just summarized seven pages of mine talk. You're welcome.

Meanwhile, Samantha has been making the satanic cult rounds in an attempt to find the particular one they want. We don't get any insight into how you find hedonistic cults. It's just that she has "contacts". She meets Denver McGhee at "a tacky bar on Fifth Street, and talked for a time over a couple of weak martinis." p.313 Her thoughts indicate that she has been through this routine with other possible leads a number of times and is not looking forward to him putting the moves on her, especially when he invites her to his "temple". But when they get there she finds it quite nice and sporting "a garage containing a variety of expensive and elegant automobiles."

Inside is as elegant as outside and "one of the most beautifully decorated houses the young anthropologist had ever seen". There are a lot of people about, of all types, just relaxing mainly.

"Denver called to a beautiful black girl, clad in the skimpiest possible bathing suit." p.315 I just want to remind you it's January in New York "on the outskirts of the city". Anyway, she's Jenny and she serves no purpose here.

Denver gets them a couple of drinks, goes into the office not of "the master" but of the "master's guardian" so you know she's in the right place. He makes his formal introduction of Samantha, who is calling herself Carol Cooper and she heads in to face the man alone for a cult interview. It is, in fact, Mr. G.

"She realized with something of a shock that this man was handsome, profoundly so, and there was something in the way he idly held the pen in his hand that bespoke elegance and breeding." p.318 No mention of his Latin looks? I'm disappointed.

Mr. G, of course, (and I don't know why this wasn't planned for) immediately starts probing her mind and discovers she's an imposter. Because that's the biggest terror that this whole affair brings with it: the fact that this demon has and imparts the ability to read and control minds. Maybe Collin forget to really hammer that point home before running off to play lone hero.

However, Mr. G is intrigued by this new woman. She's not like the other "shallow and oblivious" people who come seeking a loose, hedonistic lifestyle. There's something different about her. For one thing "this woman knew who and what he was."

This is an interview, though, so Samantha Carol gets to ask questions to determine if she really wants to join. His group follows Satan who "Through the worship of the master, as we know him, the ordinary problems of life are swept away, and the rewards are great...alliance with the master brings with it real, tangible rewards. Gratification is instant..." p.321

Just as Samantha is finding Collin's enemy to be very smooth and urbane and intelligent and, let us not forget, good-looking, so too does Mr. G think "Carol" is pretty rad. "She was far more complex and powerful than the hollow females who usually found their way to his dens." p.321 Well, maybe if you had a business that didn't truck in people who want no responsibilities and instant gratification in return for giving up control of their lives to a being that is seen as the one responsible for all evil maybe you'd meet nicer girls.

"Here was someone who, if he were still mortal, he could have loved." So, great, this is heading in a direction I didn't anticipate. I don't know why; I should have seen this coming. Mr. G has a crush on Samantha, same as Hunt and Collin. Anywho, he begs off answering any specific questions about what kind of ceremonies they perform and lets her know they'll be leaving for more private accommodations soon. He lets her get a glimpse of the map of the Newhope Mine on his desk and she takes her leave.

"It was then that she became aware of an intriguing truth about the Guardian: His presence was most acutely sensed when it was withdrawn." p.324

Back to Collin in "a filthy garage he had rented in the outskirts of New York City." He's working on some machinery and a truck and who knows what else. He calls up Dan Hunt to ask if he and Samantha want to have dinner so I guess he's been in contact with them. Unfortunately Samantha left for Montana six hours ago because she got a call from Chris (remember his first name?) telling her to meet him there. Collin swears it wasn't him, Dan rewinds his voice recorder that he was using to dictate notes and realizes that the phone never actually rang. The demon (or Mr. G?) has discovered their location and used telepathy to make them think there was a phone call.

Dan is understandably pissed when Collin reveals that he's known for weeks that the demon was still in Melville. Collin tells him that he left an envelope with instructions in it behind their TV. Dan has to get out now and meet Collin in Montana to rescue Samantha. Suddenly Collin says someone is coming, Dan hears gunshots and Collin screaming. Horrified, he realizes that someone is also coming for him, and grabbing his gun, he makes his way to a balcony and down a rope.

Back to Collin in the garage. He faked the whole attack to make Dan think he was on his own, for reasons. He isn't happy that the timeline of his plan has accelerated but he hopes Dan follows his marching orders. Collin sets out to finish his preparations and pack.

I feel like a lot of their problems involve lack of clear communication and remembering that their enemy can influence minds.

The Unblessed Ch. 9

 Last we left our heroes they were staring at the dead body of Hesepti in horror. He's suddenly turned into a demon ghost from a Japanese horror movie - you know, twisting about unnaturally to push himself up while grinning inhumanly. I'm just going to say this chapter is bonkers but not for the reason you'd expect.

The blood bullets keep Hesepti from being able to reanimate completely so Collin has the chance to tackle him and cut his head off with "his blood-quenched hunting knife". It continues to smile and try to speak.

"It was a moment no human being could experience and remain unaltered. But Collin had been through worse, and he did not release the head. He gazed down with a face that could have been carved from stone and said coldly and quietly, "Fuck you."" p.276

He drops the head, the lights come back on and everyone stands for a bit in shock before deciding that they need to go back to Zaire and talk to Hasha.

They get there a week later and discover something awful: Everyone has been gruesomely killed, apparently by each other. Hesepti and the demon could communicate from a distance and read the minds of Egan and Hunt and it learned the location of the village, bringing destruction as retribution. And it never did this before because... The priestesses were shielding Hasha's mind despite the connection they shared? It never bothered to take it from Smith or McPhearson? I guess the demon doesn't think of everything while simultaneously thinking of everything. (I'm just going to mention that they also refer to the monster as the Satan or the Satan animal. All evil things are this and this is the basis for all evil things.)

Samantha is, of course, devastated. She'd been living with these people for the better part of a year, I guess. They try to work out if they can tell where the creature could have gone by checking boat or plane manifestos and I have no idea how any of this works, really. The demon is in one place and Mr. G another and the cultists a third or everywhere but the demon's influence can spread over the world? Or does he have to physically send a possessed person before having power in a place? Also, are the cultists then different from the mind-controlled people?

Samantha says she learned that the demon has difficulty reading minds where there are a lot of people so they head to New York City. She has $500,000 and Collin has $5,000 and I have no idea how far that would stretch in 1970.

We rendezvous with them three weeks and three condos later - they move every week. Collin has been accumulating "explosives and illegal weapons", Egan has been tapping into Raymond's sources to track down missing person leads and Hunt has been putting them in a computer so it can "know or guess the locations and characteristics of its hideouts."

Collin grabs a beer, watches a vampire movie for a few moments and then joins Samantha for a swim.

Switching locations, to the other side of the city, we check in on Mr. G and 15 "members of the Guardian's entourage" where he is watching the same vampire movie "with a boyish fascination equal to Collin's" and the followers are having sex. Sex and "nameless, terribly potent drugs". Mr. G "lost the last remnants of sexual desire" centuries ago and finds "the corrupt, perverted practices of most of his followers mildly disgusting." I like the implication that some of his followers apparently have tame, conventional sex.

A man named Weston comes in and reports that they found one of the condos that the trio was using but that they had already moved on, that they've acquired a lot of equipment and that Hunt is growing a beard. Mr. G threatens him perfunctorily and dismisses him.

Back at the ranch, Collin and Egan swim. "He...could not help but admire Samantha's trim figure, revealed nicely in her dark brown one-piece swimsuit..."

"Collin smiled. "I better mark this day on my calendar, " Samantha said... "Why?" "You actually smiled, " she said good-naturedly. "Am I that bad?" She pretended to consider for a moment, frowning. "Pretty bad." He splashed water in her face and laughed. "So, I'm a cad, am I," he said with exaggerated dramatics. "Take that!"...For her it was a surprise to see him so relaxed, so human." p.289-90

Ok, one: this is "flirting". Two: Collin doesn't know what "cad" means. Three: What did I say? What did I say about the next woman to show up? Samantha has plans to go to her brother's wedding but discretely because a major event involving a close relative is totally not the first place someone hunting for you would look. They flirt some more, Collin mentions he hasn't been on a date in a long time and they go inside where Hunt looks at them funny. Collin is pretty sure Hunt is in love with Egan. Love triangle! Oh blargh. Collin, however, feels he can't trust either of them because he is the only person whose mind is safe from "the Satan beast".

Samantha brings beer and backgammon to Collin in his room and they play for a bit when she suggests they go get Italian food. "Collin took another drink of beer. "Dan hates Italian food."..."Then he can stay home.""p.293 Then she kisses him and after a moment he gets into it "with the pent-up force of his long suppressed emotions" and, of course, Hunt walks in on them. Drama!

Dan is hurt and starts shouting about how they've been fooling around while he's been working hard. Collin tries to placate him when we get this hilarious diatribe from Dan. 

"I'm not going to have you take advantage of this girl, Goddammit. I know what kind of man you are! A killer! A man with no roots and no hope, nothing left but hate in you. You can't love, and you can't trust, and by heaven I'm not going to let you use this woman, not Samantha. She's too good for that." And: "Can't you see that he just wants to use you?" p.295

What? He talks about Collin like he's a hardened mercenary with no past, not a journalist whose life up until a few months previously was entirely normal. And he does have roots. He mentioned a family and friends and colleagues in an earlier chapter. They might not be happy with him because he's been difficult to get ahold of and he's borrowed a lot of money without paying it back but presumably he has a place to stay if he needs it. It's all just a tad silly.

Anyway, things get heated even further and ends with Collin belting Hunt across the face "out of sheer reflex". He's immediately sorry and basically has a breakdown, cradling Dan's head in his lap, "sobbing pathetically" "completely unmanned" while brokenly talking about "Ever since they got Sandra, my fiancée...I haven't been...I haven't been-" At this point Samantha realizes he's not over his dead girlfriend.

Dan comes to, they all make up, both Dan and Collin are embarrassed and ashamed. Samantha apologizes for making Dan feel rejected. "But don't ask me to choose between the two of you...Not now."

Dan finally gets on with what he came to tell them about. There's a pattern to the Satan beast's relocations. "Two long-distance relocations, say in excess of three thousand miles, followed by a short move, generally not more than a few hundred miles." Why? Dunno.

Anyway, Dan takes an aspirin and goes to sleep leaving Collin and Samantha to talk. Collin says he'll do anything to kill their enemy because he wants revenge. Samantha tells him he never let himself deal with his feelings. He says he'll make any sacrifice. Then we get a "romantic" moment where he tells her he could love her and she lets him know that's not necessary and to take her to bed. Off they go. For the sex, I guess.

The word of this book is "trim".