by Ben Larracey
Just as DeLeo shut his eyes and started to relax, he felt a hand on his leg and then the warm breath of someone next to him. It was Sadie. The curls of her hair brushing his face and her sweet scent gave her away. She exhaled on his neck and whispered, “shhhhhh.”
DeLeo froze. He didn’t know what to do. She kissed his lips. He felt her tongue against his mouth and her arms wrapping around him.
DeLeo quickly pulled her away. “I can’t,” he whispered, barely audible. “Not here. Not now. Please don’t.”
Sadie scowled. Her face barely visible in the dark. Then he felt Sadie slowly inch away from him, and a great sense of relief washed over him.
He had to get out of here, away from these people. As soon as the hourglass cleared and John opened the vault door, he was gone. No second thoughts. Gone. He had to get back to the Dealer.
DeLeo turned away from Sadie and closed his eyes. He needed to at least try and get some rest. He shut his eyes and drifted off to sleep. Flashes of a dingy rock club entered his mind. Dark lighting, a bar lined with brown liquor. Naked pin-up girls with retro hairstyles littered the wall next to old newspapers with music headlines from eras long gone.
The spotlight blinded DeLeo as he sat on stage singing his heart out, only his acoustic guitar separating him from the night owls high on whatever concoction of drugs and alcohol they were able to manage.
DeLeo finished the song, and someone from the crowd passed him a shot. He drank it. Suddenly more lights, headlights—screeching rubber on the pavement. A car horn.
DeLeo suddenly woke up to the sound of screaming. He was disoriented, everything was blurry.
“Help!” A woman shrieked. It was Sadie.
DeLeo looked over to her corner. There was movement, but it was too dark. He couldn’t see anything.
“Get it off!” Sadie screamed again.
DeLeo’s heart raced as a figured blurred by him. A gigantic shape. Did one of those creatures get inside? He couldn’t tell. Whatever it was, it was big, strong, and fast.
The sound of thuds and flesh hitting flesh came from the dark corner. Sadie’s corner. A loud squeal pierced the room. DeLeo couldn’t tell who or what it was. All he could make out was the jagged and violent motioned of a figure pounding something.
Suddenly the room erupted in light. Ethel had turned up the lantern. The blaze blinded DeLeo. Thumps of flesh against flesh and screams filled his ears, but he still couldn’t see anything.
A moment passed. DeLeo squinted his eyes. Ethel stood next to the lantern, a look of sheer horror on her face.
DeLeo followed Ethel’s gaze toward Sadie’s corner. John had Tucker by the neck pinned against the wall. Tucker’s feet hung a foot off the ground. His face bloodied, lip swollen, face growing more and more purple from asphyxiation by the second.
Sadie ran toward DeLeo grabbing him by the shoulder, sobbing in his arms.
“Don’t you ever touch her again,” John roared at Tucker, an inch from his face.
“Please Wes, help me! I want to go. I want to leave,” Sadie cried into DeLeo’s shoulder. He stared helpless across the vault at John and Tucker. John let go of Tucker’s neck and he fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Tucker curled up on the floor like a spider just before it dies.
John unholstered his sidearm, the lantern catching a glint of silver gunmetal, and cocked the pistol. He pointed it at DeLeo, no more than a foot away from his face.
“Did you touch her too?” John asked through a clenched jaw.
DeLeo looked to Sadie for support, who still sobbed into his chest. He wanted help, he wanted answers, but everyone seemed to be falling into hysteria.
John walked forward, the pistol now an inch from his forehead. The angle of the shadow cut across John’s square face and made him look like a madman. “I said, did you touch her?”
DeLeo started to shake his head but was too afraid. He adjusted his shoulder trying to get Sadie’s attention hoping she would get this lunatic to settled down. DeLeo stuttered, “Sad-di-die.”
In one fluid motion, Sadie flung her head facing John. Her eyes smudged with mascara, fresh tears falling. “So what if he did,” Sadie yelled, with everything ounce of passion she had in her, “I don’t belong to you!”
DeLeo cringed. His blood ran cold.
“If I want to screw everyone in the room, I’ll do it if I want. Stop trying to control me!” Sadie yelled.
DeLeo tried to step in quickly as possible, but couldn’t get any words out. He was panicking and didn’t know if it would only make things worse.
“And yes, I did fuck him,” Sadie screamed violently at John, “right before you went to sleep. How do you like that? And you were to stupid to even notice.”
DeLeo dropped his shoulders expecting a bullet through the top of his skull.
“If it wasn’t for me,” John said through his tight lips, “That thing over there,” he pointed to Tucker with his gun, who still lay on the floor in a fetal position, “would have had his way with you. That right college boy?” John continued motioning to Tucker, who was covered with tears and snot on the floor.
“I didn’t do anything!” DeLeo finally sputtered, barely getting the words out.
“Shut up!” John returned the gun to DeLeo’s face.
Stupid decision, DeLeo thought. Keep your mouth shut.
“You look strung out,” John turned the gun like a dagger twisting into a victim’s spine. “Just like all the other musicians hopped up on something. What is it heroin? Coke?”
“What are we going to do with him?” Ethel blurted into the conversation. Her red hair roared like fire and her nose was held high. She motioned to Tucker, while gently stroking Billy’s head.
John dropped the firearm from DeLeo’s face and paced around the room. “I don’t know, woman. Let me think. There has to law and order, without consequences there is only chaos.” John stopped to catch his breath. Sweat poured down his face, his eyes glossy. “We banish him,” John said, the thought seeming to come to him right at that very moment. “We put him outside. Lock the door. He could try again with Sadie or even with you Ethel. We never know.”
“But those things, they’re still out there,” Billy pointed out, struggling a little bit from Ethel’s embrace.
“They’ll be gone soon enough, child,” Ethel said, rubbing Billy’s head and admiring John’s command of the situation. “Soon enough.”
DeLeo looked at the hourglass. It was almost empty; the last grains of sand were falling. Sadie nestled up to DeLeo, caressing his neck. He pushed her away and she giggled hysterically, like some kind of mental patient.
John walked over to Tucker and kicked him in the gut. “What did you have to go and do that for, Tucker? Did you think there wouldn’t be consequences? Now you’re making me the bad guy. I hate being the bad guy.” John kicked him again.
Tucker gasped for air.
“Stop it!” Billy yelled, trying to squeeze out of Ethel’s overbearing, motherly grasp.
“Billy you’re too young to understand,” John said taking a condescending, paternal tone. “There need to be rules for a society to function. There must be laws, and Tucker broke one of those laws. He needs to be punished.” John looked to Sadie, for her opinion. “What should be done?”
“Whatever you think. Banish him then,” Sadie said indifferently, turning towards Wes again.
John grabbed Tucker by his college varsity coat and dragged him to his feet. “You can walk kid. I didn’t kick you that hard.”
“Wait!” Ethel screamed. The light from the lantern was like fire in her pupils. “Banishment? No, no, no – he needs to be punished. Even if the little whore did bring it on herself. He couldn’t survive out there,” Ethel pointed her bony finger at everyone in the room, “If we banish him...and then what? Two, three days he’ll come crawling back to us looking for redemption
? No, no, no. We can’t just cast him out. We need to stamp out this evil before it spreads and consumes us from within.” Ethel slammed her fist against the table, shaking the lantern.
John dragged Tucker to the vault door, and made him open it. He raised his pistol, preparing himself for whatever waited for them outside.
A rush of cold sulfur smelling air entered the small space. Outside it was black. A black so dark it seemed to absorb all the color in the vault. On the back of the vault door were large, inch deep claw marks leftover from whatever had chased them in.
“Please, don’t make me go out there,” Tucker begged, tears, blood, and drool flowing down his once cleanly shaved face. John shoved his pistol into Tucker’s back and they left the vault.
DeLeo scanned the faces of everyone in the room. No one made a move, everyone listening, preparing for the worst.
“Wait!” Billy yelled and squirmed out of Ethel’s arms. He ran into the darkness after them. In a flurry of panic, Ethel followed Billy, leaving DeLeo alone with Sadie.
Sadie smiled. “What a coincidence. It’s just you and me now Wes. Close the vault,” DeLeo froze. “Tell you what, I’ll make it easier on you. I’ll close it.” Sadie walked toward the entrance.
“Sadie, did you plan all this?” DeLeo asked suspiciously, “to get them out of the vault?”
Sadie smirked, “I never kiss and tell.”
A primal fear encompassed DeLeo at the thought that Sadie could be the craziest one here. This was his chance to get out and find the casino. It had to be close. He only had two options—risk it out there or stay in here with her.
DeLeo darted towards the door. Sadie tried to stop him but he pushed her to the ground and exited into the dark.
5
Wes moved quickly through the old bank. No sign of the others. They must be outside, he thought. He planned to sneak by John unnoticed, then pray to God he was going in the direction of the casino.
As DeLeo exited the bank, he heard a piercing scream. It sounded like Billy.
John had Tucker on his knees twenty feet away, curbside, his pistol pointed at the back of his head. The fog slowly snaked up their legs, putting them ankle-deep in white mist. Billy twisted in Ethel’s grip, screaming for mercy for Tucker’s life to be spared.
John’s firearm exploded like a crack of lighting. Tucker fell forward disappearing into the fog. DeLeo could hear his body hit the asphalt with a soft thud.
He stood in horror at what had just happened. He had never seen anyone killed before, let alone shot in the head. Billy burst into tears and broke Ethel’s strong grip, running to Tucker’s aid.
DeLeo stood wide-eye watching Billy cradle Tucker’s dead body in his arms screaming.
“Sorry kid,” John said. “You weren’t supposed to see that.”
“He’s dead!” Billy cried. “He’s dead and you killed him!!” Billy stared at John in disbelief.
“Quiet,” John snapped. “Those fuckers are gonna hear you. Then we’re all done for.”
Billy made eye contact with DeLeo, then gently put Tucker’s body back down in the fog. “Help me,” he mouthed to DeLeo.
But DeLeo couldn’t move. He didn’t know what to do. He just wanted to be away from all of this.
Billy ran toward DeLeo embracing him, tears gushing down his face. “Help me. Take me away from this place. From these people. And take me away from HER,” Billy sobbed, pointing at Ethel. Her hair was frazzled and red as blood.
Ethel grabbed Billy by the arm and ripped him off of DeLeo. “Get away from him,” she hissed, spearing DeLeo with her eyes. “You’re safe. You’re safe with me Billy. John did what he had to do. Tucker was a monster — he needed to be stopped. A monster just like those demons. He would have turned on us, I know it. It was justice.”
“Let’s get back quick,” Sadie whispered in DeLeo ear, startling him with her presence. She must have exited the bank unnoticed in all the commotion. “Just you and me. Those things will be here soon.” Sadie tugged on his shirt, trying not to draw attention to them.
DeLeo started to back up, slowly. He could feel Sadie doing the same thing. John snapped to attention, quickly raising his pistol and pointing it at DeLeo. “Don’t you go anywhere,” John boomed. His brow glistened with sweat, his face seemed distorted, as if madness had finally taken hold of him. Reality seemed to have no meaning for him anymore.
“Why did you have to come here and ruin everything?” John’s pistol hand shook as he spoke. A slight twitch interrupted the flow of his words. “Even if you didn’t fuck her, I know you want to. I see the way you’ve been looking at her. It’s the same way he looked at her,” John said, tilting his head towards Tucker’s limp body on the ground.
“John, there has to be rules.” Ethel screamed, her nails digging into Billy’s flesh as tried desperately to hold him back. “We need rules. How can a society function without rules? Shoot him. Shoot him in the head. He’s a drug addict, a heathen, like all his kind.”
“Shut the fuck up woman!” John screamed, momentarily taking his eyes off DeLeo to wipe the sweat from his face. “I can’t just shoot everyone you don’t like.”
Out of the corner of his eye, DeLeo caught a blur of rage move past him. It was Sadie. She charged John and screamed, “I don’t belong to you!” Hitting him with so much force he dropped his gun.
DeLeo couldn’t believe someone as petite as Sadie could move a man who was seemingly made of granite. As John regained his balance, a groan sounded in the fog, followed closely by another one.
Those things had returned, and they were close.
“You fool!” John hissed, searching for his gun in the knee-high fog. “Those things are close! Why did you do that?”
“I can take care of myself,” Sadie shot back stubbornly.
Ethel let go of Billy, pushing Sadie aside to help John search for the gun.
“It has to be around here somewhere,” John said pointing at the ground. “It can’t be far.”
Sadie looked to DeLeo, subtly nodding her head back at the bank. The groans grew closer and the fog thicker.
The unmistakable CLICK of a pistol stopped everyone in their tracks. Billy had found the gun and now stood pointing the firearm at John. Shaking, he held it with two hands, pointing it right at John. Surely, he was close enough not to miss.
John froze, slowly stood up, and put his hands out in front of him. “Billy, what are you doing? You don’t want to hurt anyone, do you? Look. Ethel is right here.”
“Why did you do it?” Billy asked gripping the pistol tighter in his hands. The fog had creeped up to his waist, the groans getting closer and closer. “Why did you kill him?”
“Billy, give John the gun, honey,” Ethel pleaded in a soft, motherly tone. “He is only trying to protect us. Now, we need to get off the street and back into the vault before the demons come.” Ethel swallowed hard, looked directly at Billy and stated, “Give him the gun.”
“Don’t call me Billy. ” He looked at Ethel with disgust. “You’re not even my mother. You can’t tell me what to do.”
“Please, Billy,” John said. “Sorry, I mean Bill.”
Billy persisted, moving forward, gun still drawn, his hands steady.
John snapped. “Give me the fuckin’ gun, you little punk.”
A mischievous smile appeared on Billy’s face. “Like you said, without rules, there is only chaos.” Without warning, Billy fired the weapon and before DeLeo could see what happened John’s body disappeared into the fog.
“No!” Ethel screamed and tears flowed from her eyes as she rushed toward John.
Shocked, she stared open-mouthed at Billy. “What did you do?!”
“Stay away from me,” Billy said backing away from Ethel. “I don’t want you to touch me ever again. Ever! You hear me?” Billy fired the gun again and Ethel’s chest exploded as she
slumped over into the fog.
Billy whipped the gun around, pointing it at Wes and Sadie. “Billy - Bill,” Sadie corrected herself. “Put down the gun. Please,” Sadie pleaded. The groans grew louder and more distinct. “We need to get off the street right now, it isn’t safe out here.”
Billy ignored her. Ignored the groans. “This is all your fault,” he yelled, glaring at Sadie. “I saw what you did to Tucker. Even before he arrived,” Billy continued, nodding towards DeLeo. “The eye contact, the smiles, the flirting. The touching here, the touching there. I saw it all. I saw what you did to him. You drove him to this. This is all your fault.” Billy raised the gun.
There was something right behind him. DeLeo saw it — in the fog. It was one of those things. “And now you’re going to die, just like him.” Billy said.
Out of nowhere, a claw-like talon yanked Billy into the fog and DeLeo and Sadie could hear Billy screaming as he disappeared. The gun flashed as it fired rapidly in all directions, followed quickly by the agonizing cries of Billy being torn apart. The crack of bones, the ripping of flesh by what amounted to a savage pack of wolves.
All of a sudden, DeLeo noticed Sadie was no longer by his side. He heard labored breathing coming from the ground. It was Sadie, she had been hit by one of the bullets. She grabbed DeLeo by the shirt and coughed up blood. “The kid,” she gasped, “I can’t believe it. The kid. He shot me.” Sadie started to shake, her eyes slowly rolling to the back of her head. The blood she coughed turned to a greenish foam.
“Sadie? Sadie?” DeLeo questioned again. He looked towards the fog where Billy had disappeared. It was silent except for the breathing of something waiting. One of those things? More figures started to take shape behind the fog and move closer.
Sadie began to shake in DeLeo arms. There was something different about her now. Her eyes were black, her skin now clammy to the touch.
What is this? DeLeo thought. He looked at her hands. Her nails were long and brown, like those things. His heart stopped.
Was she turning into one of those things?