Chapter 25 Chapter VII

"Wow!" Mike Hulubeck turned the corner and drove forward for a mile when he burst out laughing.He memorized the position of the brake pedal, pressed it lightly, and slowed the car down to ten miles an hour. "Look!" He leaned forward, his face pressed against the windshield, and he looked up at the sky.Countless flying raindrops reflect the colorful colors of red, white and blue. "Ah, God, what does that mean?" He flushed with excitement and smiled.Mike pulled over to the side of the road.He got out of the car and walked into the rain, walking straight toward the parking lot as if directed by a god.He stopped under the sacred object, folded his hands on his chest, and looked up reverently at the sky.He reached into his backpack and discovered that there were two remaining skulls.He picked one of them and placed it at the foot of the billboard.

A voice nearby said, "Hello, Mike." The young man was not surprised at all. "Hi, Dr. Dick." The thin man sat on the hood of a white car where fifty cars were parked side by side.He's so small and wet, Mike thought.He remembered the wild badger he had killed.These little things—badgers, and this man. Dr. Dick Kohler approached. Mike glanced at him, but his eyes were drawn to the spinning neon advertisement above his head. Mike didn't pay attention to the middle of the ad, just staring at the top and bottom two lines, blue, like the color of government army uniforms.At the top is "Ford".The bottom end is "Lincoln". (Both are car plate names.)

"That's where you killed him, didn't you, Mike? In the theater." It was nothing short of a miracle.Ah, Almighty God... "Ford . Shot him in the head. The president survived until the next day." "You yelled, 'The tyrant deserves what he deserves'." "They've been chasing me ever since." Mike looked at his doctor.He's not pretending, he's the real Dr. Dick, Mike thought.I woke up and you were still asleep.He looked up at the billboard again. "I want to help you." Mike grinned. "Follow me back to the hospital."

"I don't do stupid things, Dr. Dick. I just ran out of the hospital. Why should I go back?" "Because it's safer to go back. Someone's after you, and they're trying to kill you." Mike retorted, "That's what I've been telling you for months." "Yes, you are right." The doctor smiled. Mike drew a pistol from his pocket, and Dr. Dick glanced down, then back at his patient. "Mike, I've helped you a lot. I got you a job on the farm. You like working there, don't you? You like working with the cows, I know." The gun was warm in the hand, and it felt nice and stylish, he thought. "I was thinking, this is so weird, could this be the gun I used."

"The gun that killed Lincoln?" "That's the gun. Do you like the smell of blood, Dr. Dick? When does the soul go to heaven? Will the soul stay here for a while?" Why is he getting closer?Mike thought.The closer he was, the easier it was for him to read my mind. "I have no idea." Mike raised his gun and sniffed the metal. "You killed Lincoln, didn't you, Mike?" "Of course. I have the desire and ability." "Why didn't I hear you say it when I was treating you?" Mike was so anxious that he panicked. "because……"

"why?" A sense of dread came over Mike and he gasped, "It's terrible. I did a terrible thing. He was such a great man. Look what I did! I'm sick!" Stop fucking asking." "What's so terrible?" Dick Kohler asked softly. "Is there anything you dare not tell me?" "Lots of things. Too many." "Tell me one thing." "No." "Just tell me one of those things, Mike." "No." "Mike, tell." The skinny doctor's eyes became serious.He ordered: "Quick, speak!" "The moon," Mike blurted out. "moon……"

"What's the matter with the moon?" "The moon was red as blood when it rose. The moon was a blanket of blood. Eve was wrapped in a blanket of blood." "Who is Eve?" "Okay, you bastard. Don't try to talk me out of it." Mike swallowed, looking around nervously. "Where did the blood come from?" "From the moon. Ha, I'm kidding." "Mike, where did the blood come from? Where?" He lowered his voice and said, "From...from the head." "Whose head, Mike?" Dr. Dick raised his voice. "Say, whose head?"

Mike was about to speak when he sneered again. "Don't play this with me, bastard. His head. His his. Lincoln's head. The head of the sixteenth President of the United States." "You mean, someone got a head wound, didn't you, Mike? Who? Anyone else but Lincoln?" "No!" "Think about it, Mike. Recall. You'll tell me." "No!" Mike covered his ears. "no no!" "Where does the blood come from? It's everywhere!" whispered Dr. Dick, leaning forward. "So much blood covered the moon, layer after layer."

Mike yelled, "So much blood." "Who else? Who else got killed, Mike?" "I tell you, you'll send a telegram to the CIA!" "Just the two of us, Mike. I'd never tell a third person." "I……" "Mike, tell me! Why are you crying?" Dr. Dick grabbed his arm. "What are you thinking?" He's thinking: I go in, and Mom's in the bedroom, still in that pajamas.Very trendy.She was lying on the bed with the gun in her hand.Seeing me, she sat up.She pointed a gun at her own blonde hair.The blood rushed high and fell on her head like a hat and onto the blanket.Then he bent down and awkwardly took her trembling hand.It was the first physical contact between mother and child in years.

Then, as if at the push of a button, the memory faded away.Mike looked down at Dr. Dick who was only a step away from him. The doctor closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. "Okay, Mike." He was silent—yes, and said, "Shall we go back to the hospital together? I have a BMW. We said we'd go for a drive together, and you said BMWs were nice." "That's a Nazi car," Mike said. "Let's go." "Oh, no, Dr. Dick. I'm going to see Liz. Well, something happened over there. I have business tonight." "What are you going to do?"

"She's Eve of Betrayal," he said with confidence. Dr. Dick's face softened.Mike noticed that the look on his face brightened, only the eyes remained clouded. "Look over there," said the doctor casually, "look at that row of cars. They're all Lincolns." "Interesting, Dr. Dick," Mike agreed, keeping his eyes on the doctor's face instead of the car. "But, more interestingly, why do you keep hiding your hands behind your back, you bastard?" "God, no!" Mike snatched the syringe from the doctor's slender hand, and the doctor swung his left fist on Mike's broad chest, but it had no effect at all. "What is this? It's shiny and beautiful. Is it a gift for me? Hmph, you think I don't know your trick? You come here alone and give me a needle in the back, and then hand me over to the spy. No one knows where I'm going, no one knows Dr. Dick's secret, wait until you make up a lie before you announce it, right? You want to stab me in the back and put me in a body bag, don't you? asshole?" "Oh, don't do that!" Mike leaned forward and held the sharp, beveled needle up to the doctor's eye level.As the needle moved closer and closer, the doctor struggled desperately but to no avail. "Please, don't!" The needle was pointed at the doctor and moved toward his chest. "do not!" Using techniques he had learned over the years through observation, Mike then inserted the needle deep into the doctor's flesh and pushed the injection. Dr. Dick Kohler uttered a whimper, less a moan of pain than a moan of resentment—like a dying man who sees someone he once loved betray him. Owen Chissen was driving at seventy miles per hour. When going uphill, the pointer on the instrument panel was close to the red warning zone, and the engine whistled painfully.The car drove past a housing development and past a Ford dealership whose red and blue neon signs flashed like beacons in the night sky. In the hills on the edge of Ridgetown, Route 236 curves.These hills are geologically part of the towering rocky mountains of Indian Sacrifice.Sacrificial Cliff is a two-hour drive away, where Robert Gillespie died tragically. Owen slowed down to turn around the bend in the road, accelerated to fifty miles, and rushed through the red traffic light at the intersection with 115.The road rose to the top of a hill, and he caught a glimpse of the dark water thirty feet below his right foot.He slowed down and turned a sharp bend, then let off the brake pedal and accelerated down a long downhill road leading to the center of Ridgetown. The beige van seemed to float slowly out of its hiding place among the trees.But Owen saw the rear wheels of the car spinning, throwing muddy water behind the car, indicating that it was speeding.Before the crash, Owen thought he could get away with it, because the two cars almost missed each other.But the car hit the Cherokee's waist, and the force twisted Owen's neck so badly that he twisted his face in pain, and saw stars in front of his eyes. The beige van was parked next to the cliff, but the Cherokee went over the edge of the cliff, where it seemed to seesaw for a long time, and Owen Aitchison had plenty of time to see Mike Hurubek's face.The two were only six feet apart.He laughed heartily, tapped the steering wheel, and yelled as if to say something to Owen.Owen stared at him, unable to guess what he said.At this moment, the Cherokee fell forward and began to tumble and fall into the river below.