The Collected Horrors of Tim Wellman Page 14

  What was that, sweetie?" Susie said.

  "Tell Steve that grampa can be killed," she said. "Grampa Perry almost killed him once."

  Steve was close enough. He heard, and so did the chief. "So, I reckon we wait."

  "I think you should call in the National Guard or something," Mister Williams said. He had taken his place in the frontline like every other man and some of the gun-savvy women in town.

  "And tell 'em what? We got a demon-crazed old man on the loose?"

  "Tell 'em it's zombies!" Charlie said. "They'd come if it was zombies!"

  "Charlie does have a point, chief," Williams said. "Not zombies, they'd probably nuke us if ya told them that, but make up some lie to get them here. Tell them it's Arabs."

  "Let's just get through the night," he said. "We'll be on the offensive in the mornin'."

  "Fire!" someone yelled. But no one needed to be told. They could see a big blaze on the hillside behind the town. "What is there up there ta burn?"

  "Just trees and brush as far as I know," the chief said.

  "Hey, y'all keep your guard up, now!" Steve yelled. "Remember, he can move incredibly fast! He outran an ambulance. He could be down here already!" He walked into the park and looked around. It was well-lit but the long shadows from artificial light and small fires made it hard to see anything but basic shapes. "Tamara?! Kimberly?!"

  "Over here, Steve," Susie said and motioned with her hand.

  "Oh." He walked toward his sister. "Hey, girls, do you feel him anywhere close?"

  They both shook their heads and then hopped off the bench and walked over to where he stood. "He's up at our house, now," Tamara said. "Trying to get into our room."

  "Trying? But, he can just open the door, right?"

  They both shook their heads. "We sealed it."

  "Sealed it?" he said. "You can do that?"

  "Barely," Kimberly said. "It can only work against someone with our blood and will only last a few minutes, but maybe he doesn't know that."

  "Why's he trying to get in there? He knows you're down here," he said.

  They nodded again. "He's looking for something to draw us to him," Tamara said. "But I think we took everything he could use."

  "So that's why you were so determined to go back there?"

  "And why it needed burned," Tamara said.

  "Okay, y'all's like bloodhounds on this old fucker," the chief said. "We'll be on 'is ass at daybreak."

  "If we ain't all burned up by then," Charlie said.

  "Charlie, why don't you go back there and help with handing out water bottles," Steve said. "Before I fucking kill you myself."

  "Okay guys, no sleeping tonight!" the chief yelled.

  "He's coming back," Tamara said. Even though she spoke softly and barely above a whisper, everyone seemed to hear her clearly.

  "Ready up, boys," the chief said. "Who knows what the hell we're in for."

  As he turned around, the old man was standing only inches away from him, face to face. "Looking for me?"

  The chief didn't flinch. "Get the fuck out of my face you piece of shit!"

  And just as quickly as he had appeared, he disappeared before the chief could get out his gun.

  "Wow!" Steve said. "Way to go, dad!"

  "You can't eat and drink like I do if you have any regard fer your personal health," he said. He laughed, but Steve could tell he was scared and nervous, even if he managed to hide it from everyone else.

  "Why don't you drop back, dad," he said. "Get yourself a cold beer and take the weight off your feet for a while."

  "I think I'll do that," he said. He turned around and looked through the crowd of townsfolk. "Hey Charlie, ya got a cold beer fer me?"

  "Girls," Steve said so only they could hear. "Did you learn anything from that?"

  "That your dad is very brave or very stupid," Kimberly said.

  "I mean about the old man," he said.

  "A couple of things, but nothing that would help you yet," Tamara said. "We have to put together a lot of little things before it will make sense to you."

  ****

  He didn't come back the rest of the night and by daybreak everyone was rousing from their blankets and sleeping bags and milling around the park. Some had already gone home. The light of day brought a little normalcy and security with it.

  "Y'all be on guard," the chief yelled. "He can work just as easy during the day as the night."

  Several of the men began to nervously check their guns, count the cartridges, cycle through the actions. The heavy dew of dawn was burning off quickly and the day was going to be a scorcher and they all knew they were going on a manhunt.

  Steve found Susie sitting on one of the benches with the girls asleep and leaning on either side of her. "I'm being held captive by girls!" she said and smiled.

  "Girls?" he knelt down in front of them and shook them both awake. "It's morning."

  Tamara slowly opened her eyes and yawned. She looked up at Susie. "Sorry."

  "Sweetie, you can lean on me anytime," she said.

  "Kimberly," Tamara said. She reached across Susie and shook her arm.

  "What?" Kimberly didn't open her eyes. "Leave me alone, I'm sleepy."

  "Kimberly!" Tamara said. She wasn't yelling but was whispering very loudly.

  She popped her eyes open and jumped up. "Oh, sorry," she said as she looked up at Susie.

  Susie patted her on the head. "Come on, you two cuties, let's hit the bathroom."

  She got up and grabbed the two girls in her arms. "We'll be right back," she said.

  "Oh," Tamara said. "Steve, he seems to gather his strength from fire."

  He thought for a moment. "Holy shit, you're right!"

  Susie carried the girls away before they could talk any more.

  "Hey Dad," Steve said. He took off running toward the area he had last seen his father but he wasn't there. He turned around. "Anybody seen Dad?"

  "He were right there a minute ago," someone said.

  "Dad?!" he yelled, hoping to rouse him out of a conversation across the lawn. "Dad?!" He was starting to panic. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach and the world around him seemed to be narrowing, folding in on itself so that all he could see was what was directly in front of him. "Dad?!"

  "Hey Steve," Susie said as she brought the girls back. "What's wrong?"

  "It's Dad," he said. "I can't find him."

  She pointed. He was driving his old truck and in the back were a dozen or more men with guns. "He ain't right sometimes, you know that," she said.

  He felt stupid, like a young kid who had gotten lost at an amusement park and could only shout out for his dad. But, his old man was all right. "Hey dad, the girls got some info."

  "Yeah?" he said as he pulled up next to Steve, Susie, and the girls. "Whatcha got, little ladies?" His truck suddenly stalled.

  "Uh yeah, that happens," Steve said. "They're kinda self-concious."

  "Sorry," he said.

  "Anyway, the girls figured out that the old man gets some sort of power from fire. Every attack has involved a fire somewhere."

  "Oh, okay, that's helpful," he said. His truck suddenly restarted on its own. "Ah!" He stuck his head out of the window and looked at the guys in the back. "Y'all hear that back there?"

  "We hear'd it, chief," Tom said as he hopped out of the truckbed. "Let's take the old bastard down!"

  "We're gonna head up ta the Perry house and see if'n we can find a cabin er anything around there in the woods," the chief said. "Steve, you and Jerry get the rest of the men and start spreadin' out from the center a town and see what ya can see. Take a radio," he said as he handed a walkie-talkie to his son. "Ya see anything outa the ord'nary, let me know."

  "Don't reckon you girls would wanna split up, would ya? One of ya go up with us and the other help Steve?"

  They both shrugged and Kimberly stepped forward. "I'll go with you."

  The chief smiled. "Thata girl," he said. He opened his door and jumped
out and then grabbed Kimberly around the waist and sat her across the seat.

  "You take good care of her, dad," Susie said. "She's a good friend of mine."

  "Y'all don't worry," he said. "I'll be dead b'fore I let anything happen to her." He climbed back up and slammed the door.

  "Y'all be careful," Steve said. Tamara waved as they drove away. "Don't worry about her," he said. "My dad will take care of her."

  "I know," she said. "Kimberly said he just started singing."

  "You can communicate with each other?"

  Tamara nodded. "Not always, but if there's not too much noise."

  "Noise?" Susie said.

  "The world you can't see is very loud sometimes," she said.

  "Hey Steve, we got everybody rounded up and armed ta the teeth," Jerry said as he walked up behind him. "Y'all ready?"

  "Yep," he said.

  "You leaving Tamara with me?" Susie said.

  "No, that old man will be looking for her, so she needs to be with us so we can protect her," he said. Besides, she can sniff out the old man," he said. "Owe!" He grabbed his leg. "Leg cramp!"

  He looked at Tamara who was smiling. "I'm not a dog," she said.

  "Sorry, sniffed out was the wrong words," he said. He waved all the guys closer. "Listen up, guys, I figure we can leave a couple of y'all here in town just in case the old bastard slips by us and comes back this way, but the rest of us can start making circles around the town until we get out to the outskirts on Fifth Street. That way we'd be moving him out away from the town like a deer drive. Tamara can tell where he's at so she can pick up on him if he gets by us." He sniffed and scratched his head nervously. "If he does get by us, that might even be better since we can close in on him, then."

  "I reckon me and John-John can hole up here in town, then," Brian Wilcox said. "And we'll keep ol' Charlie here, too. Ya don't need him puttin' his two cents in every time somethin' happens."

  "Good deal," Steve said. "So, let's the rest of us fan out and start walkin'."

  "He's not in town," Tamara said. "I... Kimberly says he's coming down the hill from our house right now."

  "Dad and 'em must have flushed him out from the hilltop, then," Steve said.

  "Hey Steve, why don't I get up in the church steeple over there and play sniper with my varmint rifle," Tom said. "I got the twenty-four power scope on here and this 22-250 slug would rip his heart out from four hundred yards away or better."

  "Yep," Steve said. "That's a plan."

  "Steve, you there?" the chief came over the radio.

  "Here, dad."

  "We found his cabin," he said in a shaky voice. There was a long pause. "This guy is one sick fuck. They're dead kids up here, little girls chained ta the walls and..." There was another long pause. "It just ain't nothin' like any human bein' would do."

  "Jesus," Steve said. "You must have run him out 'cause Tamara said he was on his way down the hill."

  "Yeah, that's what Kimberly said, too," the chief said. "I got her outa there before she seen anything too bad. But we're gonna have ta get the FBI and shit up here," he said. "I ain't never seen nothin' like it. They'll... they'll need ta figure out who these kids were so they can... fuck, I don't know what, bury 'em or somethin'. Their parents don't need ta know they was found like this."

  "If he's heading down the hill, we might just have him covered on both sides," Steve said. "Don't worry dad, we'll get the sick bastard." He motioned several guys to follow him and he started toward the hill. "Can ya get rollin'?"

  "Yeah, we're spread out already and headin' your way."

  "Same here," Steve said. "Let's try not to shoot each other." He looked up at the church tower and saw Tom setting up his position. "Can he reach the field from there?"

  "Probably 'bout four hundred yards," Sam said. "Would be a hell of a shot. But I seen him hit a groundhog at five hundred b'fore."

  It was getting hot and almost everyone was sweating, either from the heat or fear or a combination of the two, but they started off at a brisk pace. It was bright and clear which aided the hunter more than the hunted, but Steve wasn't sure which one he had become. But Tamara stood stoic, searching the area and distant woods with her small, darting eyes, but she didn't appear to lock onto anything in particular.

  "You're safe for a while," she said. "He is confused, now."

  "Confused? Why?"

  Tamara shrugged then cocked her head and seemed to be listening to something. "He knows your dad has discovered the children he tortured," she said. "The sad children. We could hear them screaming from our room. He could draw power from them as long as they remained his secret. They were our substitutes, sorta like voodoo dolls. But when they were found he lost his control over them; their souls were released."

  Steve shook his head and wrapped his hand around her head and pulled him close to him. "Sorry," he said. "But no matter what happens, the sick bastard is through hurting people." He tried to smile but found himself holding back tears. "I guess your family was right to keep you locked up; but there should have been another way to handle it."

  "We loved them," she whispered. For the first time since their first encounter, Steve watched her eyes fill with tears as she started sobbing.

  "Steve? Kimberly wants to know what's wrong with Tamara," his dad said over the radio.

  "She's okay, just thinking about her family," he said.

  "Okay," he said. "Same reason ours is cryin'."

  He rubbed Tamara on the head. "Come on, tiger, let's go kick some ass."

  They started off again and crossed the last sidewalk and stepped into the field. There were still spots that were smoldering, but mostly the hillside was one long black scar running all the way up to the house on the top.

  "Hey, we lookin' fer fire?" Jerry said.

  "Well, I think so," Steve said.

  Tamara nodded. "He will need it to attack since the children have been released." She suddenly became alert and stiffened. "He's behind them!"

  "Dad!" he yelled into the radio, but his voice would have easily been heard even without the radio.

  "I know!" the chief said. "He's behind us."

  "Fire!" Jerry yelled. He was pointing to the top of the hill and almost immediately, the sky was filled with smoke.

  "He set fire to his house," Tamara said. "It's the most powerful magic he could do, the only thing he had left except me and Kimberly. He will die or kill us all, now."

  "Dad! Run!" Steve shouted. "Get down the hill! Tamara says he might be more powerful now."

  They could see the men running down the hill, now, and Steve and his team were running up to meet them. The chief was holding Kimberly and was actually leading the retreat, nearly stumbling his way down the steep hillside. But, as he watched his father and the others, he spotted the old man. He seemed to zip across the fields, stopping in places, then moving on, with each place he stopped bursting into flames. There was something surreal about him, now, not human, not even animal, he had become something else. Then he stopped again, directly in front of the chief.

  "Mine!" he snarled and before the chief could do anything, the old man had grabbed Kimberly out of his arms and was holding her up in the air by the throat. "Hello, my little child! Ready to help make me a god?"

  "No!" Tamara yelled and took off running, nearly as fast as the old man had darted around. But he was too fast and before she could react, he had her in his other hand. The girls were struggling, squirming to try to break his grip, but they couldn't get loose. The chief lunged at him, but the old man darted out of the way.

  Steve threw up his gun and took aim but there was no clear shot with the men behind him. No one had a clear shot. "Drop down, guys!" He kept aiming but all he could think about was the men behind the old man.

  But as they hit the ground, the old man darted off and paused a hundred feet or so away. "Stupid people!" He looked up at the girls, still being held over his head and losing their last breaths. "That's it, my lovelies, gasp in the last air y
ou'll ever taste! I'll use your little souls until they scream a path to hell!"

  The girls reached out and held each others hands, ready to die together, as they had lived. Steve and several others were running toward them but they were still too far away to get a clear shot at him. But then suddenly there was a slight popping sound behind them and Tamara dropped to the ground and lay still. There was another pop, and Kimberly did the same.

  "Fuck!" Steve yelled. He took off running toward them, not caring anymore about his own safety. "That fucking Tom has killed them both!"

  But as he got closer, he saw both girls scramble away from their grandfather. It had taken a few seconds for the old man's body to realize it was dead, but he soon dropped to his knees, and then fell face forward and was still.

  "Girls!" Steve said as he got closer. He could hear Tom cheering in the background and several people in town were clapping. There were two bullet holes in the old man's back and by the way the ground under him was covered in blood, the bullets had ripped his entire chest open.

  "We're okay," Tamara said. They both got to their feet and ran toward Steve as the other men caught up from behind. "It's over now, isn't it." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Everyone nodded.

  "What happened?" the chief said. "What the fuck happened to him?"

  Steve pointed back toward the town. "That bastard Tom just made the luckiest shots of his life." He grabbed the girls in his arms and lifted them both up just as Susie got there and hugged them all three.

  She was nearly breathless. "I was... I was running up the hill when I heard Tom fire the first shot," she said. "I saw one of the little ones fall... I was so scared."

  Everyone stood around the body and was silent. He was a demon, small and wrinkled, and smelled like sweat and shit and piss and every other abomination they could think of. A devil, he was completely removed from everything human. Even though most had not seen what he had done to the young girls in his cabin, everyone seemed to know just how evil he had been, none more than Tamara and Kimberly.

  "Burn him," Tamara said. "Finish it so he's not even a memory."