TO WAKE THE DEAD

by Richard Laymon

For a second she’d stared uncomprehending at the figure in the smaller cage, the one nearest the steel roller door. It was the woman she’d followed through the woods.

  Now she stood there in the center of the cage. A dark emaciated body. Long copper hair.

  She stood almost casually, as if her surroundings didn’t faze her.

  Then Grace realized why.

  She’s dead.

  Grace stared at the corpse standing their motionless. Her eyes swept over the corpse. It was naked. Ancient-looking. Its breasts had shriveled. Around the neck the flesh was wrinkled, then further down the chest it became smooth. For some reason it reminded Grace of melon skin.

  A melon-skin torso; a beef-jerky neck? Gross.

  Then, framed by beautiful copper hair that glinted in the light, was the most hideous face…

  Little more than a skull, its lips shrunk to expose the teeth. There were no eyes in the head. Where they should have been were empty sockets that plunged twin pits of darkness deep into the head. Across the corpse’s stomach was a long gash that had been crudely stitched.

  Grace’s own skin suddenly felt as if it wanted to crawl off her back. Her stomach shriveled. Her knees went weak.

  Hanging from one claw hand was a dead baby. Held by one leg, it swung gently. Apart from that motion, the figure didn’t move.

  Grace had seen things like this in museums. In history books. On TV.

  She was looking at a mummy.

  An ancient Egyptian mummy that had been stripped of its bandages.

  But why the baby?

  Why here?

  Why now?

  In this madhouse?

  She realized the guy laying on the platform and the girl in the adjoining cage were staring at the mummy too. Trying to work out in their heads what was happening.

  They seemed to guess. Both wore expressions of disgust melding with horror.

  I wanna go now.

  I wanna run from this place. Never look back.

  This is a place that should be burnt to the ground and the earth sown with salt. That’s what you do with haunted houses, isn’t it? That’s the Biblical way to deal with evil places.

  Silence settled onto the big room.

  All Grace heard were soft moans from the wounded woman on top of the cage. She’d grown feeble now from the blood loss.

  It was the thing in the third cage that had gotten everyone’s attention.

  It was during this pregnant silence that it moved.

  The mummy slowly raised its face, as if those eyeless sockets could gaze up at the lights in the ceiling.

  Slowly the head lowered. Rotated left. Rotated right.

  Looking at its surroundings.

  It uncurled its fingers. The baby fell with a thud to the concrete floor.

  In no hurry, it moved.

  Dear God, the mummy walked.

  It crossed the cage, long tresses curling down its back, bouncing softly as if they moved with a life of their own. It stopped. Reached slowly out. Fingertips brushed the bars of the cage. The mouth parted slightly as if it said something to itself.

  Grace moved with her back pressed to the wall. She’d get past the caged mummy, then race for the roller door. She’d heard it clank as it rolled down. She knew she could find the control that opened it.

  Then she’d be away from here.

  She wouldn’t stop running until…

  “Please help us.”

  Grace’s head jerked back. The girl in the second cage was speaking to her.

  “We’ve been held here… we’ve been prisoners. Find a key to unlock the cages.”

  The man nodded furiously. “Please help. We’re dead if we don’t get out of here.”

  “But…” Grace pointed at the mummy that ran a claw finger down the bar of the cage.

  “Don’t worry about that.” The woman talked quickly. “It’s in a cage, it can’t hurt you.”

  “But it’s dead… it’s dead.”

  Only, she saw the dead thing move. Saw the copper hair flow out of the skull and down its back. She saw dead, hard flesh that was beef-jerky brown.

  Saw holes in the torso.

  Bullet holes?

  “Please help us!” The guy let go of the spike. Bloodstained, he slithered from where he’d been sandwiched between the platform and the glass roof of the cage and let himself down to the concrete floor. The blind woman flopped down onto the cage roof. Lay still.

  The guy reached out a bloody hand through the bars of the cages toward Grace. She looked in horror at the slick fingers, the drips of crimson forming on his fingertips.

  “Help us.” His eyes were huge in his head. “Help us… Hey! Where are you going? Don’t leave us here. Please don’t leave us…”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  Brace ran by the cages. She gave the one containing the mummy as wide a berth as possible.

  The bloodstained man shouted, “Where are you going? You can’t leave us here… we’re dead if you go.”

  “Come back,” called the woman in the second cage. “Please!”

  Grace ran to a shelf on which stood a metal box. “I’m not leaving,” she panted. “I’m looking for tools. I’ll need something to break open the cages.”

  The woman in the second cage reached through the bars to grip one of the pair of padlocks that sealed the doors. “These are tungsten. You’d need dynamite to smash them. See if you can find a key.”

  “A key? Where?”

  The guy spoke up. “There’s gotta be keys somewhere nearby. Look for them.”

  “But they could be anywhere in the house.” Grace shrugged. “It’d be like looking for a needle in a—”

  The woman jerked her head at the mummy. “The padlocks on that one were unlocked sometime in the last half hour… the keys must be close by.”

  Grace ran around the room looking at the walls for a hook. Those elusive keys might be dangling nearby. Or were they slipped into a drawer in the desk that was just around the corner? Did the harpooned woman still have them?

  Unlikely. Sure as hell don’t have pockets in a flimsy negligee.

  Even so, Grace craned her head to look at the blind woman. She wasn’t moving. Her lips had turned blue and her whole body was a glistening mass of blood.

  Grace turned again, searching through shelves. Dozens of shelves. In seconds she was dizzy with the exertion. Blundering by the cage with the guy, she decided to start her search again at the entrance to this chamber of horrors.

  The guy gripped the bars of the cage, shouting encouragement.

  Breathless, her head spinning, she ran down the other side of the cages, thinking only about the key that must be somewhere nearby.

  Then something appeared to block her path.

  She stopped blinking, then screamed.

  It was a thin, dark arm.

  Hell and damnation!

  The mummy had lunged out at her. She’d been focused on finding the key; she’d almost forgotten the monstrosity in the cage. Only, now it had suddenly gotten mobile. Its fingers slashed through the air, reaching out, flexing, trying to grasp her.

  Grace screamed again, stumbled back as the fingers swiped, catching the material of her T-shirt. She looked down—the thing’s sharp nails had slashed four vents in the cotton. She glimpsed her own skin.

  And God, that hurts. The monster has scratched me.

  Don’t let it come close again. Don’t!

  As the mummy lashed out at her once more, Grace flung herself back against the wall.

  “Keep your distance from it,” called the woman in the second cage. “It can’t reach you if you keep away from it.”

  Damn right.

  I’m not going near that thing again.

  Grace stumbled to the far end of the room, her heart thumping hard in her chest. Dazed, she found herself hitting the steel roller door. The crash reverberated in her head. Taking a deep breath, she looked for what must be there.

  And there it was.

  Come to Momm
a.

  Set in an oblong panel beside the door were buttons marked Up and Down. With her balled fist she pounded Up. Immediately she heard the hum of an electric motor. With a rattling sound the roller door began to scroll upward. But it was slow… too slow.

  She willed it to move faster.

  Inch by inch it rose.

  But at last moonlight spilled between the bottom slat of the door and concrete floor. A cool breeze stroked her ankles.

  I could leave, she told herself in surprise. I don’t have to help these people. I don’t have to stay in this place with the dead creature with copper hair and its dead baby. I could slip through the gap between the door and floor now. Then I could run.

  I could leave this chamber of horrors. Never look back.

  But…

  Conscience. She knew she’d have the fates of the two people laying heavily on her for the rest of her life if she ran out now.

  Had to help.

  Got to.

  She backed away from the door, her gaze searching the wall as she did so.

  Got ‘em!

  There by the door was something like a coat hook. Hanging from it was a large steel ring that held a dozen or more keys.

  She glanced back at the guy and the girl in the cages. They weren’t saying anything. But they were staring hard at her. Perhaps fearing that she would simply run out through the now-open doorway and into the night, never to be seen again.

  Instead, she grabbed the key ring.

  This time she moved by the mummy’s cage with caution, walking with her back to the wall and facing the emaciated creature in the cage.

  Uh, but now that’s bad… that’s really bad.

  As Grace walked, the mummy rotated its head. It had no eyes, but Grace knew the thing was tracking her. Watching.

  In case she got too close again. Got within striking distance of those raking fingernails. The mummy’s upper lip curled back. The thing was snarling at her.

  “Virginia,” the guy cried, “she’s got the keys.”

  “Great,” the one he’d called Virginia breathed, “but get us out of here real quick, huh? Something tells me time might be running out.”

  Grace advanced on the guy’s cage. He gave her a winning smile. “Thank you. You are an angel.” He moved to the cage door as if ready to run the moment she released the padlocks. “My name’s Ed, by the way. My roomie’s called Virginia… oh, thank you, thank you…”

  He beamed with such gratitude that Grace felt herself blushing.

  “My name’s Grace,” she said, studying the keys. “It looks as if you’ve got yourself into a situation here?”

  “A situation and a half…” He nodded at the key ring. “It’s probably one of the smaller ones. Something like a Yale.”

  “Make it quick,” Virginia pulled the blanket round her, looking suddenly cold. “I don’t think our new neighbor’s gonna be patient for long.”

  But which key?

  Now that she had them in her hands, there looked to be nearer two dozen. The key for the padlocks might not even be among this bunch.

  “Try one at random,” Ed suggested. He flashed her a grin. “Process of elimination.”

  Tried one with a green fob.

  “No go,” she said. “Doesn’t even go in.”

  “Okay, go to the next.”

  Her hands were shaking. She’d grip a key. Then the thing would slip from her fingers, clinking around the ring.

  Got a grip, then tried it in the lock.

  “It goes in. But I can’t turn it.”

  “Must be getting close,” Ed encouraged.

  “Hurry it up, guys.” Virginia sounded worried. “The new girl’s making a move.”

  Grace started back.

  “Don’t worry,” Ed told her. “Whatever the damn thing is, it’s staying put. It can’t bust out of the cage. It’s—”

  Clang!

  The noise was terrific. The sound of a hard object slamming into metal.

  All three whirled round. The mummy had moved across the cage. With the flat of its hand it struck the cage door as if to knock it open. The whole cage shook with each blow.

  “Don’t worry,” Ed shouted. “It’ll hold… it’ll hold.”

  Grace saw him turn back to her. Fix her with his eyes. In a calm voice he said. “Just work through the keys, Grace. It’ll be there, trust me.”

  Her hands shook so much that when she tried the next key, the entire bunch slipped from her perspiring fingers to the floor.

  Take your time, she told herself. Concentrate. Don’t panic. You can do this. You can really do this.

  She selected a key with a yellow plastic grip.

  Now nice and easy does it. Slip the key into the padlock.

  “This is it!” The words burst from her lips. The key turned easily.

  She pulled open the padlock hasp and slipped it from the steel loops that secured the cage door.

  “Well done,” Ed told her. “One down one to go.” He smiled. “Knew you could do it, Grace.”

  Grace smiled, encouraged. “Piece of cake.”

  Then she did the wrong thing.

  She glanced across at the mummy. Her insides turned to water as she watched the creature extend one of its beef-jerky paws through the cage bars. Then without any hurry, without any fuss, the fingers crept around one of the pair of padlocks.

  The hand tightened into a balled fist around the tungsten padlock. For a second the hand quivered as the monster applied pressure, then—

  Crack!

  The padlock snapped as if it were made from nothing stronger than pastry.

  Slowly the monster uncurled its fingers, allowing the destroyed padlock to fall to the concrete floor.

  Then it paused.

  Grace looked into the twin pits of darkness in the thing’s face.

  And she knew.

  That monster’s watching me. It’s thinking, “I’m coming for you now… I’m going to finish what I started…” Grace felt the tingle on her stomach where the monster had slashed her with its razor nails. Gonna be more of the same soon. Slashing, scratching, ripping.

  “Grace,” Ed spoke firmly. “Snap out of it.”

  “Uh?”

  “You’ve got to unlock the padlocks.”

  As if awakening from a dream, she shook her head. Then she selected another key. Tried it.

  “Not the right one,” she said.

  “You can do this, Grace. We trust you.”

  She tried another.

  And another.

  No luck… no Goddamn luck.

  Her heart began to hammer again. Her respiration quickened.

  Beads of perspiration slid down the small of her back.

  Next up. A key with a white plastic grip.

  She tried it.

  Then stood there blinking. Not believing what happened.

  “Way to go, girl!” Ed was jubilant. “You’ve done it.”

  He reached through the bars, worked out the hasp, then flung the padlock to one side. He pushed open the cage door. Free at last.

  He breathed deeply as if the air outside the cage was so much sweeter.

  “Hey, guys…” Virginia sounded nervous. “You won’t forget me, will you?”

  Grace turned to see the mummy reach through the cage door again. It snapped off the second—and final—padlock.

  Slowly it pushed open the door.

  “What the hell’s going on here?”

  Grace turned sharply when she heard the familiar voice.

  “Pix?”

  “What’s with the cages?”

  “Pix, get out of here… run!”

  Grace waved her sister back as she walked through the doorway. She saw Cody at the girl’s side.

  “Both of you… run! Get away from here!”

  Cody started to walk toward her. “What’s the matter, Grace? What’s going on here; you—”

  Then the thing leapt. Its copper hair flared out behind it as if the monster had somehow caught f
ire.

  Then it was on Cody. Pix screamed.

  Grace ran to help. She saw, in horror, the thing knock him flat to the ground. Then it was crouching on his chest, its bare, shriveled rump pressing on his stomach as it gnawed at him.

  “Leave him… let go!” Grace shouted at the creature.

  For what good it would do.

  Grace saw its teeth gnawing.

  Cody screamed, his arms went out spasming.

  Then came a fountain of blood from his throat.

  His body convulsed, twitched, then lay still. Eyes staring at the ceiling.

  “Cody!” Pix screamed. She hurled herself onto the mummy, punching, clawing.

  The creature sprang to its feet, turning as it did so. The savage movement threw Pix clear across the concrete floor. Dazed, she went sprawling.

  “Bitch! Murdering bitch!” Grace yelled.

  “Grace,” Virginia warned. “Don’t go near it! Keep away!”

  Ed moved so the cage was between him and the mummy. “Grace, come this way around… don’t let it spring at you.”

  “I’ve got to help my sister.”

  By this time, Pix had managed to sit up. She looked groggy from the blow.

  “Hey, don’t forget me, guys,” Virginia pleaded.

  Grace remembered the keys in her hand. She threw them through the bars of the cage. Virginia picked them up.

  Ed jerked his head toward the mummy. “I wouldn’t be in a hurry to get out just yet, Virginia.”

  “Don’t worry… I’m going to bide my time.”

  Grace cast a despairing look at Cody. He lay in a growing pool of blood.

  He was my first love… he was the first man I’d slept with… now this…

  Pix groaned. “Oh, my head hurts.”

  The mummy turned. It must have noticed Pix move.

  In a weird way… almost gliding… it crossed the concrete toward her. Even as it moved, it altered its posture. Tipping its top half-forward, hand coming up… This was attack mode… it was going in for the next kill.

  “Pix! Run!”

  “Run? Can’t even stand… my head.”

  With a yell, Ed charged. Intercepting the mummy, he grabbed it by the waist, lifted it from the floor with it facing him.

  Grace watched in disbelief. It looked almost as if he danced with the creature. The mummy opened its mouth… its teeth dripped crimson. Then it plunged the head downward so fast the copper hair rippled in the air behind it.