Chapter 72 Chapter 71

It was almost midnight on September 17th.Randall Flagg is in the desert, rolled up from head to toe in three layers of blankets.A fourth blanket was placed over his head like a cover, leaving only the eyes and the tip of his nose visible. Gradually he shuts out all kinds of thoughts and he becomes calm.The stars are like cold fire, witch's light. He sent the eye out. With a slight, painless pull, he felt it leave him.It flew away as silently as a hawk, and now he disappeared into the night.He is the eyes of the crow, the eyes of the wolf, the eyes of the weasel, the eyes of the cat, he is the scorpion, he is the pompous spider.He is a deadly arrow through the desert air.No matter what might happen, the eyes never left him.

Flying in the sky, things on the ground look like a skin. They're coming...they're almost in Utah right now... He flew high and wide, and flew silently over a cemetery.Below him, the desert was like a white grave, cut by interstate highways like black ribbons.He flew east, now on the state line, far behind, his eyes gleaming. Now the surface begins to change.There are hills here, grotesquely weathered hills and square hills like desktops.The highway goes straight ahead.Bonneville, Salter, Flat, all far to the north.The skull-like mountains stretched westward and continued to fly.The sound of the wind, dead and far away...

Somewhere south of Ridgefield a hawk perched on the top of a branch of an old pine tree, something hissing in the night, flew away fearlessly, only to be repulsed by the cold.The eagle nearly hit the ground before recovering. The eyes of the man in black went eastward. The freeway below is now Interstate 70.The surrounding towns are deserted save for cats and deer that sneak in from the forest.The names of the towns are Fremont, Greenriver, Seguin, Thompson, etc.Small cities were also abandoned.Grand Junction, Colorado.Then…… There is a campfire due east of Grand Junction. Eyes circled down.

The fire was about to go out, and 4 people were asleep around it. This is real. Watching them coldly.Here they come.He couldn't go down to find out, but they did come.What Nadina said was true. There was a low barking sound from below, and his eyes turned to the other direction.There was a dog far away from the campfire, with its head down and its tail drooping.The dog's eyes widened.The barking was getting louder and louder, like the sound of tearing cloth.stare at it, and the dog stares without fear.It also opened its mouth to show its teeth. One of them sat up. "Kojak, shut up."

Kojak was still barking, his fur bristling. The man who had been awakened—it was Glenn Bateman—looked around, suddenly alert. "Who's there, boy?" he whispered to the dog. "What's happening?" Kojak was still barking. "Stu!" He pushed the person beside him.The man muttered something and fell asleep in the sleeping bag again. The man in black knew he knew enough.He circled up, leaving the dogs barking behind him.The deep bark was very loud at first, and gradually became smaller and smaller, until it was inaudible. Silence and darkness. After an unknown time, he pushed open the door in the desert and looked at itself.He descended slowly, into the body, and then into himself.There was a strange feeling of vertigo, and then the eyes disappeared, and what remained were his own eyes, staring at the cold and flickering starry sky.

They are coming, yes. Flagg laughed.Was it the old woman who called them?If she lay on her bed before she died and asked them to commit suicide the way in that novel, would they obey?He guessed they might obey. What he had forgotten at first was so simple: they too had their problems, they too were afraid...they were making a huge mistake. Is it possible that they were expelled? He lingers contentedly with the idea, but in the end he doesn't quite believe it either.They came voluntarily.They came here like an expeditionary force marching into a cannibal village. Oh, how cute it is!

Doubt is over.The fear stopped.All one has to do is see the four of them hanging from the nails in the MGM Hotel's Grand Fountain. He wants to gather all the people in Vegas to line up to see.He wanted to take pictures, and put them in newspapers, and sent them to St. Francis and Spokane and Portland. 5 heads.He's going to hang that dog's head up too. "Good dog," said Flagg.He laughed out loud for the first time since Nadina provoked him and threw him off the roof. "Good dog." He laughed again, smiling. He slept soundly that night, and in the morning he issued orders to triple the number of inspectors on the roads between Utah and Nevada.They are no longer just looking for one person going east, but four people and a dog going west.And they're going to be captured alive.Take it alive at any cost.

Oh, yes.