Andy rolled from side to side experimentally in the net hammock, feeling it sway beneath him. There was a dubious expression on his face as he looked up at Debbie, standing over him.
“How do we do it?” he said.
“Well, first we take off our clothes,” she said, with a perfectly straight face, “then you get on top of me or I get on top of you.”
He grimaced wryly. “I know how to do it. I mean, how do we do it in a hammock?”
With a sly smile, Debbie removed her blouse. “I think you can figure something out,” she said.
“I’ll think of something,” Andy said as she came into his arms and the hammock started to sway from side to side.
Chuck stirred groggily on the couch in the living room. He glanced over at Chili, out like a light as she sprawled back against the couch next to him. He grinned. Good shit, man, he thought. It zonked both of us right out. He glanced around the room. Except for him and Chili, there was nobody else around. The room was dark and the fire was starting to die down. Stretching lazily, he got up off the couch, threw some more logs onto the fire, and went out the back door. He walked the short distance to the outhouse, opened the door, and pulled the light chain inside. The yellow bulb came on, and he looked around at the interior of the outhouse, grinning at the graffiti written on the walls. HELP! I’M BEING HELP PRISONER IN THE OUTHOUSE, one said. THROW DOWN A CAN OF AIR FRESHENER AND A ROPE! He chuckled, then turned around as he heard the sound of footsteps on the gravel behind him.
“Shelly?”
No answer.
He couldn’t see very far into the darkness. He shrugged, went into the outhouse, closed the door, and sat down. He pulled a joint out of his shirt pocket and lit up, inhaling deeply. As the first blast hit his lungs, the whole outhouse seemed to shake.
“Heavy shit!” he said, taking the joint out of his mouth and gazing at it appreciatively.
Then the outhouse shook again and he realized that it wasn’t the dope. Someone was leaning on the outhouse wall outside, rocking it back and forth violently.
“Who’s there?” Chuck shouted, feeling slightly alarmed. “Shelly, if this is another one of your tricks . . .”
A moment later, he was pulling up his pants and bolting out the door, looking all around angrily. There was no sign of anyone, but the door to the barn was slowly swinging closed, as if someone had just gone inside. Damn that Shelly, Chuck thought, him and his constant screwing around. Suddenly he turned and almost jumped out of his skin when he bumped right into Chili. He gave out a startled yell.
“Aaah!”
“It’s just me!” she said.
Chuck exhaled heavily. “Between you and Shelly, I’m lucky I haven’t had a heart attack already!”
“What’s butterbull up to now?” asked Chili.
“I don’t know,” said Chuck. “He just ducked into the barn.”
Chili grinned. “Come on, let’s give him some of his own medicine.”
She took his arm and pulled him toward the barn. As they entered the dark building, every shadowy form within suddenly looked ominous to Chuck. He started to get an attack of paranoia.
“I don’t think he’s in here,” he said uneasily, backing away slowly toward the door.
Chili made a face and grabbed his arm, pulling him back in. Chuck suddenly wasn’t sure that it was Shelly who had gone into the barn. He hadn’t actually seen him . . .
“Hey, maybe that wasn’t him, Chili . . .” he said nervously.
“Sssh!” She held a finger to her lips, and with her other hand, she picked up an iron crowbar. She crept forward and pushed open one of the stalls.
She brought the bar up as if it were a baseball bat and leaped into the stall with shrill yell. But the stall was empty and she dropped the bar, disappointed that Shelly wasn’t there.
“I guess he must’ve left,” she said, with a shrug.
“Come on,” said Chuck, anxious to get out of there. He didn’t know why, but he had a sudden powerful feeling that they were not alone. He half expected someone—or some thing—to come leaping out at them from the shadows.
“Let’s get out of here!” he urged her.
She turned and smiled at the frightened expression on his face. She put her arm around him and hugged him close. “I’m not going to let anybody hurt you,” she said.
“Gee, thanks,” said Chuck wryly. “I feel a lot better.”
As they turned and went outside, their arms around each other, the gate to the second stall inside the barn swung open and Jason stepped out, watching them with glittering eyes. The blood was pounding in his ears, filling them with a roaring sound as he kept clenching and unclenching his fists. His massive rib cage rose and fell as he breathed heavily, gulping in deep lungfuls of air to try and ease the tightness in his chest. The blood fever was upon him once again. He seemed to hear a small, insistent voice deep within his twisted brain, a voice that commanded him to kill. He stared at Chuck and Chili with utter loathing as they walked back toward the house. For the moment, they had escaped him.
But only for the moment.
Chapter Seven
Vera sat on the edge of the boat dock, dangling her legs in the water. It was so quiet and peaceful out on the lake, she didn’t really feel like going back inside and having it out with Shelly. She sighed. Why couldn’t he simply take the hint? Any other guy would have realized long ago that she simply wasn’t interesting in him, at least not that way, but Shelly couldn’t seem
