Contents
8:39 Atlantic Time Zone (AST)
Overview
Allie confronts Horation in the 747’s upper cabin, posing as another marked survivor to gain his trust. After he briefly throttles her, Horation boasts he is protected by prayers from his crucified pastor and plans to cleanse himself at St. Helen’s Well. He refuses any diversion or disturbance. The scene locks Allie beside a fanatic who believes the plane is safe, raising the stakes against Sorrow’s midnight deadline.
Summary
In worsening turbulence, Allie stumbles into Horation Matthews’s row and introduces herself. Calling him by his devotional name unsettles him; he seizes her throat until she claims Sorrow also hunts her. She lies that she riddled with the King and was told finding Horation is her only chance to live.
Horation, drinking milk and radiating calm, quizzes Allie about her mark and motives. She plays along, inventing a wager over her grandmother’s life, and probes why Sorrow targets him. Horation frames himself as a crusader against government and conspiratorial “enemies,” then launches into a paranoid litany of clichés about Jews, federal power, and culture.
Pressed on his confidence, Horation reveals his plan: he was advised to reach St. Helen’s Well near Hastings to cleanse an “evil taint.” He recounts the legend of a martyred novice and claims the waters can wash away marks. He also declares spiritual protection because he and his brothers nailed their pastor, Jacob Weyland, to a cross to power prayers on his behalf.
Allie challenges the horror of crucifying an elderly man, but Horation insists his wives and brothers sustain the pastor and that faith shields the flight. He mentions confederates, “Parker and Bridges,” already in motion, and asserts Sorrow fears them more than they fear him.
As the plane pounds through rough air and midnight in the Atlantic Time Zone approaches, Allie urges forcing an emergency landing—faking illness or starting a scene. Horation refuses, focused on reaching the well and then “taking the serpent’s head.” Trapped beside him, Allie recognizes he will not deviate as Sorrow’s deadline closes in.
Who Appears
- AllieConfronts Horation on the 747, feigns shared marking, seeks a way to force a landing but is rebuffed.
- Horation Matthews ("Randy")Extremist target; throttles Allie, expounds conspiracies, claims protection via crucified pastor, bound for St. Helen’s Well.
- King SorrowSupernatural threat outside the plane; imposed midnight deadline and compels Allie to kill Horation.
- Pastor Jacob WeylandHoration’s pastor; allegedly nailed to a cross to empower prayers guarding Horation’s flight.