The Third Antichrist by Mario Reading Read Free Book Online Page A

centrifugal throw out. The jack looped up towards the summit of the cliff. At the very last moment Abi rammed himself back against the cliff face and jerked the rope forwards, timing it so that the jack would get a precious extra bit of lateral leverage. The jack pitched onto the ground above him with a dull thud, and the rope went slack in his hands. Abi stood on the ledge, breathing deeply.
    ‘You realize when I pull on this, and when the jack doesn’t snag on anything, it’s going to topple off the edge of the cliff, hit me on the head, and pitch me into the water?’
    ‘Not if you pull hard enough. That way the jack will fall clear of you. Then all you have to do is not let it unbalance you when the rope tightens on the way down. It’ll give you a second bite of the cherry.’
    ‘That’s okay then, Nawal, is it? That’s all clear? I just yank for all I’m worth, and hey presto?’
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘Can anyone think of a prayer?’
    ‘Just pull it, Abi. Let’s get this over with.’
    Abi gave the rope a yank. The jack came skittering over the edge of the cliff and launched itself into the void.
    ‘Fuck!’
    The extinguisher missed Abi’s head by a foot or so. At the last possible moment he threw himself back against the cliff face and braced himself for the shock of the rope straightening. But instead of dragging him over the side, the dead weight at the end of the rope merely scythed across below him, dissipating much of the energy of the drop.
    ‘Jesus, Joseph and Mary. I thought it was going to jerk me off.’
    ‘Abi, if you don’t manage to swing that thing up there and get it to snag, I’m going to jerk you off.’
    ‘But, Nawal, you’re my sister.’
    ‘Enough with the jokes, Abi. You know what I mean. Don’t be so gross. We’re living on borrowed time down here. At least you’re free of the water. Believe me when I say it’s getting harder and harder to keep ourselves afloat. If you don’t succeed with this, I shall drown myself. It’s a better bet than slowly starving to death. Or dying of exposure.’
    ‘Okay, Nawal. I get the point. I’m going to give it another shot.’
    ‘Check the tyre irons first.’
    ‘To hell with the tyre irons. This time it’s going to work.’ Abi began the second swing. The tow rope jerked into pendulum effect. Abi gave it a lot more elbow grease this time around, swinging as hard as he could on each extension, and forcing himself tightly back against the cliff face so that he wouldn’t overset.
    At the last possible moment he hauled upwards and outwards. The weighted jack twisted at the end of its extension, and drifted over the lip of the cliff.
    The moment he heard the jack landing, Abi dragged downwards with his hands. He expected the jack to come swooping over the edge of the cliff again, but this time the jack snagged onto something solid. Abi didn’t know what it had snagged on. A body, maybe? But the rope felt taut in his hands for the very first time.
    ‘Right. We’ve got a response. I’m not going to jerk it anymore. I’m not going to test it. I’ve only got so much strength left in me, so I’m going to give it my best shot before I lose faith.’ Abi swarmed up the rope. He could feel his crotch tightening in anticipation of the fall he figured for a near-to-odds-on certainty.
    Six feet into his final climb, the rope slipped a little, as if whatever it was biting into had moved.
    ‘Oh, Christ.’ Abi hung for a second in mid-air. Then he restarted his upwards ascent. He could see the lip of the cenote maybe four feet above his hands.
    ‘Go on, Abi. You’re nearly there.’
    ‘The fucking thing’s moving.’
    ‘Ignore it, Abi. Keep climbing.’
    Abi scrambled up the final four feet. He made a wild grab for the cliff edge just as the rope and anchor broke away from whatever it had snagged on. Abi was left with one hand gripping the ledge, and one hand still on the rope.
    He dropped the rope and lunged for the cliff edge with his free