II. The Devil's Work

Officers Mike O'Malley and Tom Kacinzki arrived on the scene with a man who identified himself as Reverend John Hathorne around five thirty. The parked the squad car by the side of Route 66 and went down through the gap in the foliage made by the careening big rig. The truck itself lay on its side at the end of the trail.

"Well, we'd best see if there's any survivors." said Kacinzki, switching on his flashlight. "Looks like we'll have to climb up on top of the cab to be sure."

"Hang on a second, Tom." said O'Malley. "Look at this."

The driver's side door of the rig's trailer lay flat to the ground. Inside was a pile of glass, paper, and needles.

"Shine your light in there." said O'Malley.

The flashlight's beam revealed piles of medicine stacked on top of each other, many of them shattered when the trailer tipped over. Or at least, it was in medicinal containers. All of the visible liquid was thick and black, more like motor oil than any sort of tonic or injection.

"What the hell is that? Uh, pardon my language, Reverend."

"You are forgiven, Officer." said Hathorne. "It looks like medicine, but not like any I've ever seen. Let me get a little closer."

Hathorne poked his head inside the trailer and immediately pulled it back out again. He coughed three, four times. "There is no way on God's green earth that whatever's in there will cure anything. Stinks like...well, like motor oil and manure mixed together. Just like I thought."

"What?" asked O'Malley.

"I've seen this before. Not exactly the same, but close enough. You're gonna want to burn all this. It'll kill just about anything it comes in contact with. And I don't think we're gonna find any survivors, I'll tell you that right now."

"You say you've seen this before? Medicine turning into--whatever this sh--garbage is?"

"I haven't seen medicine before; so far it's been food, wine, even a bargeload of Coca-Cola. Medicine's new."

"Wait, you're saying this stuff used to be medicine? How could it--?"

"I think it's the Devil's work, but that's just me."

There was silence for several seconds before Kacinski spoked up. "We'd better check the cab. It's gonna be dark soon."

"Right." said O'Malley.

Kacinski gave O'Malley and then Hathorne a boost up onto the cab. Hathorne pulled the door open and O'Malley shone the flashlight inside.

"Dear God..." said O'Malley.

Hathorne scowled. "Just as I suspected."

"Shit, how long has he been here?"

"Probably not as long as it looks." said Hathorne.

"What's up there? Is he all right?" yelled Kacinski.

Hathorne knelt above the open door and began saying a prayer.

"Hell no!" yelled O'Malley. "Hell no!"