Chapter 35

Jack reaches Mary in Lazaro and extracts the crossbow bolt lodged in her thigh, improvising a tourniquet to slow the bleeding. He tells her Ry is dead and, despite mounting danger and the Gullet’s growing push, honors Mary’s demand to bury Ry at dusk. As night falls, Jack finds a flamethrower among their weapons and they see the Gullet’s image blazing on the clouds.

Mary burns with fever and infection; together they consider the push-pull and the nature of the two gray plasums. Concluding the boxes are halves of a single thing, Jack carries Mary to Lazaro’s cargo. When he lays her on El Grande Plasum, it turns brilliant pink and begins to heal her. Jack briefly immerses his head in Sorcerer’s plasum and is overwhelmed by returning memories of the Talisman and his mother’s healing.

With both plasums fully awakened, Jack and Mary back the trucks close. A glowing pseudopod bridges them; energy transfers until one mass shrinks into a single gray attache case—the reunited Doom Box. The push from the Gullet pauses. By a tire-and-tarp fire, Jack recounts his recovered past with the Talisman; they share a last meal, speak frankly about the plasum’s power, and make love.

At dawn the push resumes. Jack gently sends Richard away to spare him the coming clash. Mary, fully healed and pain-free, accepts that redheads are waking and that time is short. Jack gifts her a single bullet and stows the flamethrower as requested. Mary insists this must end as foreseen: in separate trucks, as they head for the final run to the Gullet.