Here Comes The Flood


When the flood calls

You have no home, you have no walls

In the thunder crash

You're a thousand minds, within a flash

Don't be afraid to cry at what you see

The actors gone, there's only you and me

And if we break before the dawn, they'll

use up what we used to be.


Lord, here comes the flood

We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood

If again the seas are silent

in any still alive

It'll be those who gave their island to survive

Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.


Peter Gabriel/Here Comes The Flood



Simon came to the sundial and touched the front of it. It opened under his fingertips, lifting up and revealing a winding staircase underneath. Knowing she couldn't making it down herself, he threw her over his shoulder and carried her down into the darkness, closing the sundial behind him. He took the steps with ease, knowing it by heart and followed it down until he was on the concrete bottom. Putting her back on her feet, he lifted a torch off the wall and carried it in front of them as they walked. He wound through the underground tunnels which seemed to go deeper and deeper the further he went. Jan, her thoughts fuzzy, decided that they must be going to the center of the earth. The air was stale and the stench was horrible, filled with death. For the first time she began to feel scared. "Where are we going, Simon?" she pleaded, "I don't like this place." She felt like a little girl afraid of the dark. Simon stopped in his tracks, turned to her and slapped her across the face sending her to the floor. "Don't speak, do you hear me, not a sound." he hauled her back to her feet and half dragged her along behind him. Up ahead she could hear voices, low moans and whispers, horrible sounds. She tried to pull away from Simon's grasp but it was impossible. He was just too strong and she was too weak.

They entered what appeared to be a large domed room covered in wet moss and filth. She thought she would vomit, so great was the smell. She recognized Thomas there, but the other faces were alien to her. They cheered when Simon entered because they knew that with her death their future was guaranteed.

Phil landed back at that little café he visited before, the one with the hot coffee. He had to find Jan, but he had no idea where to look first.

"So, what did you think of our sundial sir?" the annoying waiter said.

"If you've seen one sundial you've seem them all." Phil replied, trying to concentrate on picking up her trail.

"Oh no sir, there is no other sundial like this one." he commented as he calmly cleaned off the tables.

Phil was really getting annoyed now, he didn't want to be rude but he had more important things on his mind than a damn sundial.

"Look, I told you no mind stuff, okay?"

"But sir, you weren't thinking about the sundial."

Phil had to admit that he was correct.

"But then again sir, you WERE thinking about the sundial in a roundabout way." the waiter looked him straight in the eye.

"The sundial!" Phil said, understanding what he meant.

"Hurry sir, you are almost out of time!" he heard the waiter say as he disappeared in a flash and reappeared at the sundial in the park. It had started to hail and some of it was as big as tennis balls. They battered at him as if on purpose but he ignored their strikes.

"You're not going to keep me away this time" he said as he knelt down and touched the sundial. It burned his palm and he recoiled from it. He closed his eyes and tried to go through it to the other side but it was as if an invisible barrier had been set up to keep out intruders. He looked up at the sky and asked for a little bit of assistance. He closed his eyes and gathered his strength, reached down and took hold of the cover of the sundial in his hands. Immediately his hands felt like they were on fire but this time he didn't pull away. He just kept pulling. He begged in his heart for the power to keep it up, to bear the pain in his hands and arms. Suddenly, the cover moved just a crack. He let go for a second, took a deep breath and grabbing it again pulled with the last bit of strength he had inside. The sundial cover pulled away revealing the staircase. Phil didn't have time to recover, he scrambled down the stairs and into the darkness below.

Part 26