'Then we're almost ready,' Dalton's smile was nasty. 'With that psalm-singing sheriff dead, Walter in office, all we have to do is get rid of John Benton, and the law is ours.'
'How much longer do we have to wait?' Otto asked, his free hand busy between Michelle's legs.
'Not long,' Dalton said, one hand touching the medallion about his neck, the other hand caressing Michelle's breasts. 'Not long.'
'Stop the car!' Michelle said. 'Pull over there behind that hill. I want you both.'
They were kids, teenagers, out on a date. A couple of hours spent at the local teen hangout—the only one in town—followed by a few bottles of beer, then some necking and petting in the cab of the boy's pickup truck, borrowed from his father. Early spring in Fork County, the cab of the truck steaming and fogging up from the heavy breathing, most of that coming from the young man.
'No!' the girl said firmly. 'And I mean NO!'
'Aw, come on, Joan. You gotta do something. I'm hurting!'
'Larry, NO!' she wriggled from his damp clutches. 'Come on, let's stop.' She buttoned her blouse. 'I'm sorry, Larry. I really am. I told you, I didn't want to come out here and go through all this.'
A heavy sigh of resignation from Larry. He was whipped; he knew it. But he didn't feel all that bad. At least he had tried.
'How 'bout a walk, Joan? Clear our heads some.'
'My head is perfectly clear, Larry,' she said, attempting a primness in her voice. She fought to hide a smile, then giggled.
'Yeah,' the boy said disgustedly. 'Real funny, Joan. Come on.'
They walked, hand in hand, strolling through the cool night. For Larry, it was to be his last walk.
Larry whistled an off-key version of a popular song. 'You still listen to the radio station, Joan?'
'No. Not anymore. It—I don't know—I got kind of nervous listening to it, you know?'
'No. I mean, I don't listen to it anymore, either. But I know what you mean about the nervous bit, though. Me, too. Are the rest of the kids acting, you know, kind of funny to you?'
'Yes, they are, most of them. I don't want to hang around with them anymore. They're kind of way-out to me.'
'I know what you mean, I think. The kids around this part of Fork used to be cool. Now—I don't know. Seems like all they want to do is—strange stuff.
'I know. Even my folks are acting funny. Daddy looks at me kind of—ugly, I guess is the word.'
'I'm sorry about—back there, Joan.'
'It's okay. Forget it. I just didn't want things to get out of hand.'
'Yeah.' I'll probably have to take mine in hand when I get home.
The thought of beating off didn't appeal to Larry; he always felt guilty afterward. Maybe he'd go talk to Father Haskell about it; see what the Priest had to say.
He had tried, back in the truck, to guide Joan's hand to his erection. But she wouldn't cooperate. She would let him feel her breasts, but only through her brassiere, not under it. Well, he had tried. Everybody said that Joan was the original Ice Queen. No way you'll get the pants off her, boy. She won't even let you feel 'down there.' And Larry would have liked to have felt 'down there.' He had never felt any girl's 'down there.'
He never would.
They walked further in the night, further from the truck, deeper into the unknown that stretched in front of them—waiting. Two young people, full of life, kidding each other, laughing, talking of the summer ahead of them. A summer neither of them would know.
'You will go out with me, won't you, Joan? I mean, again? You're not going to let—you know, what happened tonight—I mean, you're not mad at me?'
'Of course not, Larry. Sure I'll go out with you. You're nice—I like you. You're not like the others; what they've become lately. Just ask when you want to go out.'
They walked into the night, stopping at a tall fence. No trespassing signs bolted onto the chain-link.
'This is Tyson's Lake, isn't it?' she asked.
'Yeah. Supposed to be deep caves in there. You wanna see them?'
She hesitated for just a moment. 'Sure! Let's go.'
They climbed the tall fence, Larry helping her get unstuck when her jeans snagged on a piece of wire, ripping off a small piece of denim. They walked up a small hill, stopping at the crest to catch their breath. Below them, a small lake glistened in the night. A pearl in a cup of blackness.
'It's beautiful,' she whispered. 'I've never seen anything like it.' She tugged at his hand. 'Come on, I want to go down there.'
Larry pulled her back. 'I don't know, Joan. People say funny things happen around here. Nobody
She laughed at him, not meaning to hurt his pride. Not knowing she was bringing out the boyish macho in him. 'Oh, come on! You don't believe all that old gossip, do you?'
He laughed. 'Yeah, you're right. Let's go.'
They walked down the hill to the lake. Two young people, unafraid, unaware of the silent evil watching them. Unaware of the heavy breathing and the dripping of hot, stinking saliva from yellowed fangs. 'What is that smell?' she asked. 'Yuck! It's gruesome.'
The odor wrinkled Larry's nose. 'Something dead, I guess. Maybe a cow.'
'Come on.'
They ran toward the lake. Suddenly, the night seemed to grow darker around them, engulfing them. The young people sensed evil around them. Sensed it, but could not put it into words. They were still full of innocence, still too young, and they would not grow much older.
The moment of evil-sensing passed. A spirit of adventure filled them as they looked at the dark stand of timber a few hundred yards from them.
'Where's all the caves that's supposed to be around here?' she asked.
He shrugged. 'I don't know. I just always heard they were here. I've never seen them. I've never been out here before,' he admitted.
'This place is not as big as I thought it was.'
'Yeah. Maybe a hundred and fifty acres, I guess. 'Bout that. But it musta cost old man Sorenson a bundle to put up a chain-link fence around this much land.'
'How much?'
'I don't know, Joan.'
Small red eyes watched them from the timber. Huge hairy arms hung down, clawed fingers working in anticipation. One of the intruders was female, they sensed that. A breeder, perhaps. The other they would eat.
The Beasts knew only survival. They must survive, for He was near. He would soon loose them.
Come closer, the Beasts willed.
The teenagers left the silver lake. They walked slowly toward the dark timber.
'Larry? That smell is making me sick. I don't want to go in there. I want to go home.'
'Aw, come on! Don't get all spooked-out. Nothing to be scared of. I'm here.' Maybe this is the way, he thought. Maybe if something happened, then I could protect her from—whatever.
He fantasized himself saving her from—it.
Outlaws, maybe. He would beat them up. Then Joan would kiss him and maybe give him some. He got a slight erection just thinking about it.
She stopped their movement and his erotic thoughts with an arm across his chest. 'You hear something?'
