Shannon turned to see a large figure in torn clothing, its face and neck almost completely covered in police badges driven through the skin. Only black eyes and wicked, broken teeth showed as it began to raise a police service revolver at her.
“I remember you! You’re a great lay, bitch!” it screamed wickedly at her.
The bum leaned over Ethan’s shoulder. “Funny, you’re the only one without a gun, and you’re the only real psycho here…”
Chapter 26
“You sick son-of-a-bitch!” Shannon screamed, and then began firing at the new arrival. The small pistol she carried was extremely loud in the fog, and Kayla began screaming at each shot.
Ethan grabbed the girl and huddled back into the store with her. Another gun went off, this one firing in an impossibly quick progression. Something began to scream in many voices, a chorus of damned and tortured souls screaming for their ends. The gunfire continued for many rounds, many moments, and many deafening explosions before Shannon ducked back into the doorway crying. The automatic doors tried to close over and again, but reopened after sensing someone there.
She fumbled in her pockets for another clip, her face a mixture of unbridled rage and vengeance, sorrow, and violation. Her hands shook so violently she could not fit the new magazine into the gun before the gunfire stopped. Ethan reached over and steadied her hands. Shannon screamed and lashed out, striking Ethan along the jaw with the pistol, then screamed again, dropping the gun. She embraced Ethan quickly, almost crushing Kayla. “I’m so sorry, Ethan, I didn’t even see you, I’m sorry… Oh my God! I remembered him! I saw him! I remembered what he did to me! Fuck!”
Kayla continued to weep softly underneath her, and Ethan lifted Shannon just enough that the young girl could work herself free.
“You’re bleeding, Ethan, you’re bleeding…” Shannon sobbed.
“I’m fine, Shannon, really. Give me the gun.”
Shannon grabbed the gun and handed and handed it to him with the clip before even thinking of it, then grasped Kayla like a teddy bear.
Ethan slid the clip in and released the breach, slamming it into place. “I’ll be right back; stay here.”
Ethan rose and eased into the fog. The other man, possibly a police officer by the look of his equipment, was inspecting the bloated badge wearer with his foot.
“You hurt?” Ethan asked which spun the man around with lightening speed, the gun leveled right at Ethan’s chest. Ethan raised both hands but did not drop the gun. “I’m not your enemy. Is it dead?”
The man paused a minute before returning to the bloated pile of badges. “Yeah, it took a lot of ammunition, but it is dead. Who are you?”
“I am Ethan, the woman with me is Shannon, and the girl is Kayla.”
“You a family?” he asked, still staring at the body.
“No, we sort of found each other…”
“Like me, huh?” the man arched an eyebrow at Ethan.
“Yeah, who are you? Are you a cop?”
“No. My name is Stan. I live outside of town. Tell you the truth, I did not expect to find anyone alive down here. How did you survive?”
“I was a prisoner in a hospital, Shannon was beaten unconscious in the streets, and the girl hid in a dumpster all night.”
“Hospital? Are you nuts or something?”
“No, not really. I have problems, but I am not insane—at least I don’t think I am. You’re real, right?”
“Uh, yeah, I’m real,” Stan replied flatly.
“Then I am still sane.”
“Is it dead?” Shannon asked as she carried Kayla out of the store.
“Yeah,” Stan replied flatly. “Is there any food around?”
“Not really,” Ethan answered as he offered the gun back to Shannon.
“No, you keep it. I’ll hold onto Kayla. In fact, here…” She offered him the other clip and handful after handful of bullets.
“Do either of you know what is going on? Was there a chemical spill or something?” Stan asked with his eyebrows arched high on his forehead.
“You know the Heart House?” Ethan asked.
“Yeah, up on the top of Black Water Mountain, right?”
“Right. There was something inside the mountain. I think it’s loose now.”
“What kind of thing?” Stan asked with incredulousness.
“Well, monsters, actually…”
“Oh,” Stan replied, his face frozen in a that-is-why-you-were-in-the-hospital expression.
“You can believe me or not; up to you. I know what I saw, and this thing here is nothing like what’s up there.”
“This was just a guy, some sick-o…” Stan began, trying to shore up his own sanity.
“How many times did you shoot him before he died?” Ethan asked defensively.
Kayla broke from Shannon’s grasp and ran back into the store. “Kayla, wait!” Shannon shouted as she chased after her.
“Are you talking something like the boogie man?”
“No, more like something from a Japanese horror movie, you know, one of those anime things?” Ethan cut back at him.
“You’re serious about this, huh?”
“Yeah.” Ethan was becoming irritated at everyone asking that.
“Well, what’s your next move then, Ethan?”
“We were looking for food, and then we were going to get the hell out of here.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. Do you know how far this…I don’t know, thing…how far it has spread?” Again, he held one eyebrow higher than the other.
“Not a clue.”
“I listened to my ham radio all night, and no one was talking about it. I am thinking it is just local.”
“Well, we looked all over for a car, but every one we found was vandalized and looked like it’s been sitting for a long time. The strange thing is that there aren’t many of them about, like people did escape.”
“That would be good. Maybe they will send help,” Stan hoped aloud.
Kayla came rushing back from the store carrying a white plastic jug almost too big for her to lift. Shannon came out a short time later with a small first-aid kit.
“What do you have there, sweetie?” Ethan asked the little girl.
She unscrewed the top, pulled the small foil cap off, and spilled some on the bloated body. It immediately began to scream and buck. Kayla screamed and ran back to Shannon as a white smoke began to plume from the corpse. Ethan and Stan backed away in unison, like synchronized swimmers in gray fog-like water.
The thing bucked and screeched in agony as its flesh began to melt away, releasing the badges to surf down and into the parking lot on gore-filled waters.
“What did she pour on it? What was that, Kayla?”
“It was bleach, Mr. Ethan. He was dirty and Mom always said bleach cleans best.”
Ethan looked at Shannon a moment. “Did you know it was going to make all that smoke?” he asked the little girl.
“Uh-huh,” Kayla said while jerking her head up and down. “He was dirty.”
Stan approached the corpse slowly. “He’s pretty much gone.”
“Gone?” Shannon asked.
“Yeah, sort of a puddle now,” Stan replied.
