Journey’s End

Disclaimer: The characters of the Phantasm movies belong to Don Coscarelli. I'm merely borrowing them. That aside, this fic is told from Reggie's POV after the fourth film, reflecting on everyone he's lost. To anyone who argues, I know part IV didn't end as I've written it, but I'm basing the aftermath on rumors I've heard on the upcoming fifth film. Enjoy!

What do you do when the driving force behind your actions is gone? I’ve been asking myself that a lot this past year. Strangely, it took the loss of the very person who started me on this path to make me question if the years on the road, fighting this war, were really worth it.

I’ve spent this last portion of my life on the highway, chasing after someone I only know as the Tall Man. At first, I thought he was just your average mortician, if a little creepy. But, no. What he’d really been doing was harvesting the dead, shrinking them down to half their normal size and reanimating them to serve as slaves in whatever dimension he’s from. Not to mention the spheres he had around him -- nasty little flying buggers, they would slaughter anything in their path. I lost a wife and daughter to the bastard, and I’ve been after him ever since to try and take him down.

I can’t help feeling that I did more damage just by being there. How many lives could have been altered, could have been saved, if I’d just kept out of it? Granted, the loss of my family couldn’t have been avoided, but how many innocents would have gone on if I’d just stayed home to grieve?

First of all, there’s Jody, who was taken away even before the road trip began. For years, I’d believed he’d died in a car wreck, that the Tall Man had had nothing to do with it. I should have learned that you’re not safe even if you’re dead and buried, and one of my closest friends had become a pawn of the Tall Man under my nose. I’m still not clear on the specifics, but Jody had been transformed into one of those damned killer flying spheres. He nevertheless rebelled against his master and his own nature to help me and his younger brother, Mike. But, maybe that nature was something that even Jody couldn’t turn away from forever. Mike told me that his brother had betrayed him to the Tall Man in the end, and Jody was killed in the ensuing showdown.

At the very least, I hope that Jody’s spirit is at peace, but with the Tall Man in the picture, you never know. The son of a bitch can come back from whatever we throw at him, and I sometimes wonder if the same isn’t true for his followers. Lord, I hope not, for there are some I’d be happy not to see again. Alchemy, for instance...

She called herself Chemy for short, and she was a hitchhiker I just had to pick up during the journey across America, during my initial pursuit of the Tall Man. She was a pretty young thing, and part of my problem was, I couldn’t resist her, or the temptation. It seemed a dream come true when she showed signs of liking me in return. Little did I know she’d turn out to be an agent of the very guy I was chasing. That last night, driving away from the latest mortuary that was his lair, she showed me that she was already dead. I’m not sure when the Tall Man got her, but I hope it was sometime after I’d picked her up from the side of the road. Otherwise... I don’t think I fancy the idea that Chemy was able to fool me for days on end.

Of course, thinking of Chemy inevitably leads to Liz. She was a sweet kid, and a psychic who sent out signals for Mike to come and help her. She’d dreamed about him -- and me, and the Tall Man -- for years. Her visions of the future told her that the Tall Man was coming for her and her grandparents, and she felt that Mike and I were the only two people who could help. We didn’t reach her in time to save her relatives, but at least Liz was spared the same fate... temporarily.

Mike and Liz were already sweet on each other by the time they’d met face to face, given the connection between them that spanned time and space. I sometimes wish they could have been given more time; they both deserved some happiness after what they’d been through. If not for Chemy’s defection and attack, Liz just may be alive and well to this day.

I take responsibility for what happened to Liz, for bringing Chemy into the fold. Both their lives ended when the latter crashed the car, when it exploded into flames. Mike and I, fortunately, were thrown clear of the wreckage, although I think Mike just might have wished he’d died along with Liz. It would have spared him a lot of grief, and certainly would’ve put an end to his living in fear from that point on.

After Mike’s recovery in the hospital, the Tall Man came for us again, and despite my best efforts, the bastard took Mike. Thanks to the appearance of Jody at this point, I at least got a clue of where to find my friend. Following the trail of the Tall Man led me to Tim, and then Rocky, two other people who may have been better off not knowing me. Maybe I felt I could protect them both from the horrors to come, or maybe they would have gotten along just as well on their own. Rocky, I’m sure of; it would take a lot to bring an army brat trained in martial arts to her knees.

Tim, on the other hand, was an orphan I happened upon by accident (or maybe it‘s the other way around). The Tall Man got his parents too -- Lord, how many lives (or deaths) has that bastard destroyed? Too many to count, it seems -- so I couldn’t help but take the kid under my wing, viewing him as a replacement of sorts for Mike. Tim was pretty handy with a gun, surprisingly, and had developed a pretty fool-proof system to defend himself up to that point we met.

Rocky, too, lost a friend to one of the SOB’s followers, but she joined the team much more reluctantly. I’m sure having me constantly trying to get her in the sack was a big turn off in and of itself, and I’m surprised she stuck around as long as she did. The ironic thing is, SHE helped keep ME alive. There were several times I might have been a goner if not for her.

At the end, after I’d found Mike, the newfound group seemed to just fall apart. Rocky couldn’t handle everything she’d seen, didn’t fancy a life spent fighting the living dead, and she just took off. Poor kid. I wonder where she is now -- Hell, if she’s still alive, I’d give her credit. I like to think she’s smart enough to steer clear of small towns, where the Tall Man’s more likely to pillage cemeteries, but I’m still never sure.

Tim, on the other hand... I don’t what happened to him. I was pinned down by an army of the flying spheres that the Tall Man always has near him, and Tim tried to save me, one last time. Before he could get off a shot, one of the dwarves grabbed him and dragged him kicking and screaming into the night. The Tall Man called his drones off of me -- I still don’t know why the bastard let me go -- and when I searched for Tim, I didn’t find him. I don’t hold out much hope in that case.

Then, there’s Mike. This is where I got a clue on where the spheres come from. Somehow, Mike had one of them implanted in his head. At some point, the Tall Man must have killed him and brought him back with his mind still intact. After I’d rescued him, Mike found he had embalming fluid in his veins, that the Tall Man was only keeping him alive to eventually collect the damned sphere. Mike fled that night into the desert in a fright, telling me to stay away from him, trying to escape his fate.

I almost gave up at that point. If Jody hadn’t appeared to tell me that Mike still needed my help, I would have. I could no sooner abandon Mike than I could pretend the last years hadn’t happened. He was all I had left -- my only friend. He’d been there through it all, when the Tall Man first appeared in our town, when I lost my family... I started this journey as much for Mike as myself, to give us both peace of mind. If I’d known how things were going to develop...

I caught up to Mike within a few days, despite some obstacles that the Tall Man threw at me to, I don’t know, slow me down...? I got there too late, and I couldn’t do anything to protect Mike from the son of a bitch. We’ve done everything, frozen him, blown him up, pumped him full of acid, and even buried him in a mineshaft, and nothing seems to stop him! Weakened from that last fight, I could only lay there and listen as Mike’s screams echoed in the air, as the Tall Man mercilessly opened up his skull and retrieved what he’d come for. In all the nightmares I’ve had since, it’s that moment that stays with me.

Once the bastard had disappeared through one of his dimensional gateways with the sphere, I immediately went to Mike’s side. I was hopeful at first since he was still alive, but he told me it wouldn’t be for long. In one last ditch effort, I followed the Tall Man through the gate for one more stand. I don’t know if getting that sphere back would have helped, would have saved my friend’s life, but I may never find out. I never found the bastard, no matter how many of his portals I’ve since located and jumped through. Eventually, I figured he can deter unwanted visitors to his planet at any time.

When it proved useless, I could only return to where I’d left Mike and bury him. It hurt like hell, having to do that. Of everyone I’d lost to the Tall Man, this last death cut the deepest. I can’t imagine how I’m going to survive alone; I’ve had Mike as a companion through so much of this journey that it’s hard to adjust. I don’t even have Jody now coming around to act as a guide. I guess Mike wasn’t lying when he said his brother was dead -- permanently dead, that is.

Yet, I know that the Tall Man is still out there somewhere, and I’m still keeping my eyes and ears open for some indication of where to find him. Sometimes, I think of giving it up altogether, but then I remember Mike, and the pain over that memory continues to fuel me. I’ve even tried checking my own blood, even if only to see if he has some excuse to come for me personally -- still as red as ever.

I may never find him, may be wasting my time, but something tells me he’s not going to stay low profile for much longer. The Tall Man can’t be killed. Hell, Mike even tried wiping him out before he even came into existence, according to a journal of his that I found out in the desert. Obviously, that attempt, too, has failed. Nothing works. And bottom line is, if you can’t be eliminated, there’s nothing to stop you from continuing with the same pattern.

I don’t know what lays ahead or if I’ll find some way to finally beat the guy, but one thing’s for certain. No matter how it turns out, at least it will be the end of the journey...