The Talisman

On December 10th, Sloat sits by Lily in the Alhambra and asks her to sign the papers which will relinquish her ownership in the company. He thinks about how proud he is of his train, which is the same in both worlds. He hopes that Jack will make it to the Talisman, which would mean that “Jack Sawyer and the Talisman would be broken in half” (533). After Sloat snorts a line of cocaine, Lily spits in his face when he offers it to her. He suggests that he might frame her death as a suicide, but Lily says Jack will save her.

Richard speculates that he has a brain tumor to spare himself the reality of the Territories. As he looks around, Jack realizes that he is close to the location in Speedy’s photograph. They look at the train in the shed. Anders thinks the batteries are “devils” (538), and he calls the cargo “devil-things” (539) for the corrupted Wolfs. Jack realizes that Richard will play a critical role at the hotel. Jack believes they are transporting guns; Morgan wants to arm the Wolfs. Anders says the trip will take two days, and feeds them before they go.

At first, Richard refused to get into the cab. Jack eventually gets him in, then guides the train out of the shed. The land quickly changes as the color drops away. It begins to stink and soon the trees are twisted as they enter a red desert. After a few hours, Jack sees movement in the periphery, but he can’t tell what it is.

He sees a massive fireball on the horizon, 10 feet across, headed for the train. Jack remembers radiation poisoning and wonders if the fireballs are what cause it. As it approaches, the fireball illuminates the creatures following them in the dark. They look like mutated dogs.

Soon, Jack sees a large human figure with a tail standing in front of a shed. Richard screams in his sleep. Jack sees black water with a creature swimming through it, then sees a giant worm coming towards him. It eats one of the dogs and veers off course. Next, he sees a giant head look over the rim of a hill, and there are many other mutants on the outskirts of the valley. Richard wakes and admits that he’s not dreaming. Jack watches his friend and wonders if Richard is Rushton’s Twinner.

They stop the train briefly to try to open the crates. They get guns from the boxes and return to the cab. Richard wakes him later and tells him they are also carrying plastic explosives. Jack notices that Richard has sores on his mouth. The next day, a manlike figure appears in the rocks ahead of them and begins shooting at them. Jack kills it—a man with the head of a snake—with a gun as it tries to board the train. 12 hours later the sun rises. That evening, Jack smells saltwater in the air.

When they stop to gather more ammunition from the crates, Jack notices unfamiliar constellations in the sky. Grain reappears as the Blasted Lands end. Jack thinks they are headed into a Wolf ambush but doesn’t believe that Sloat knows that they’re on the train. Hours later, they arrive at a guardhouse with a Wolf standing watch. It wears a uniform and has an X on its forehead. Jack shoots it in the eye with an Uzi. He tells Richard to get a gun.

They hit the gate with a train, starting a ferocious fight with many savage creatures that come roaring towards them. Richard throws grenades as Jack shoots with his guns. Jack hears Osmond screaming somewhere in the distance, and sees that Elroy is with him. A deformed, worm-like version of Reuel Gardener is there, trying to reach the train. Jack kills Elroy with a gun, then presses the coin—which has begun to burn in his pocket—into Reuel’s forehead as it tries to climb onto the train. Reuel dies as Osmond screams. The ripping sound begins in the air. Jack grabs Richard and they flip out of the Territories.

Jack doesn’t know where they are at first, then sees that they’re in Mendocino. He shows Richard the bites from the worms that came out of Reuel’s head, which finally convinces Richard that everything is real. Richard sees something familiar and believes that they’re near a survivalist camp owned by his father.

Jack shoots the plastic explosives on the train, which causes the locomotive to explode. Two miles later, Richard starts to faint. Jack carries him. As Jack walks, Richard says he knows Osmond from when he was a kid. Osmond always came to the back door and scratched when he arrived. He grew more afraid of Osmond after the thing touched him in the closet; he knew Osmond was connected to the monster.

Richard remembers that Osmond came every night for a week before Jack’s father died. Jack is angry at Richard for not believing him since he has had these memories all along. Richard says that he is mistaken; if he believed what Jack said, he thought it would mean that he would have to stop loving his father.

Richard says his father owned the survivalist camp, but that Sloat said never to tell Jack about Camp Readiness. He thinks some of the people training there were Wolfs. As they approach Point Venuti, they see a sign: “GOOD BOYS MAY FLY; BAD BOYS MUST DIE. THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE. GO HOME” (604).

Richard remembers the Kingsland Hotel. It was called the Agincourt and was made of black wood: It is the black hotel. He says his father was obsessed with the hotel, although he never went in. Gardener was often there, however, and Sloat often said there was something valuable the hotel. Sloat called the thing both “The axle of all possible worlds” and “Phil Sawyer’s folly” (608). Jack says that Sloat can’t go in the hotel. He realizes that there must be many worlds, not simply the Territories and his own realm. He understands that some things are “single-natured,” (610), like the Talisman and Jack. Now Jack understands that Rushton was Richard’s Twinner. Because Richard is also single-natured, he could send Richard in to get the Talisman if necessary. As they approach their destination, they see Lily’s face on a billboard for a B Movie festival.

Jack feels that the Talisman knows they are coming. Richard’s rash worsens as Jack tells him that they’re going into the hotel no matter what. He knows he cannot protect Richard’s innocence. He says Richard is the herd now. They see one of the twisted trees that Jack knows only from the Territories, which means they are close; the worlds are overlapping in Point Venuti. Richard’s back is now covered in red welts; his condition is worsening, and he is weaker with every moment.