Ghost Walk

by Brian Keene

  Then she remembered the voice on her digital recorder. She felt the blood drain from her face.

  Maria halted, afraid that she was going to pass out. When the dizziness had passed, she hurried to the car. She climbed behind the wheel and handed the bags to Adam without speaking. Then she gave them each a bottle of water and started the car.

  “Thank you,” Levi said. “You must have read my mind. I was indeed thirsty.”

  “Yeah,” Adam agreed. “Thanks.”

  “There you go,” she said. “You’ve got a new suit of clothes. Sunglasses and a hat, too. You’re a new man.”

  “Cool shades.” Adam pulled the items out of the bags. “I really appreciate it. I’ll pay you back when I can.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Maria said. “You can pay me back by helping us out.”

  “Should I change now, or wait till later?”

  “Wait,” Maria said. “Let’s get this over with first.”

  “We’re not far,” Adam replied. “Just a few more minutes.”

  “I know the way,” Levi said.

  “You were really at my house?” Adam asked him as they pulled out of the parking lot.

  Levi nodded. “Yes. Right after your arrest and once since then. I was looking for the book.”

  “The…people that live there now. What are they like?”

  “They seemed like a very nice family. Husband and wife. Two kids. A dog. Good folk. I didn’t speak to them for very long, I’m afraid. Just asked them a few short questions.”

  “That should have been us,” Adam whispered. “Me and Tara and Big Steve. That should have been us. The only thing missing were the…kids. We miscarried several times. That’s why, when Tara got pregnant after Hylinus, I just…”

  He stopped talking, unable to finish. Moaning, he buried his face in his hands and wept.

  “Adam,” Levi said softly, “I know that you are hurting right now. And I know this won’t be easy, seeing your old home. But I need you to keep your wits about you until we’ve retrieved the book. Then we’ll talk about this, okay?”

  “You don’t understand,” Adam cried. “The ultrasound…the picture…the baby had horns! She said it was mine, but it had fucking horns, man! That’s why she tried to hide it from me. What was I supposed to do?”

  Maria’s grip tightened around the steering wheel. She stared straight ahead, slowing as they approached a red light.

  “I know,” Levi soothed the distraught man. “I know. But we need to focus.”

  “It should have been mine,” Adam wailed. “I was supposed to be the father—not him! Not the satyr.”

  “Which way?” Maria asked, stopping at the light.

  “Left, and then straight through the next light,” Levi told her, turning back to Adam. “Mr. Senft, I need you to be with me. Put this behind you for just a little longer. Can you do that for me?”

  Sobbing, his face still hidden, Adam nodded.

  “Good.” Levi turned around again and stared straight ahead.

  When the light turned green, Maria made the left. The streets were deserted. Levi opened his bottle of water and drained it without pausing for air.

  “Are you okay?” she asked him.

  “I’m fine.” He screwed the cap back on the empty bottle. “Tonight’s occurrence took a lot out of me, and I’m tired. That’s all. But I’ll be okay. I just need to prepare myself.”

  Maria sipped her iced cappuccino. “For what?”

  “For what’s to come. For what I have to do next. I like it even less than flying.”

  “You don’t like to fly?”

  “No.”

  “I love it,” Maria said. “I always ask for a window seat.”

  Levi shuddered.

  They passed through another intersection.

  “At the next light,” Adam said, “there will be a gas station on the left. Go straight through it and then, about twenty feet later, you’ll see the fire house on the right. Turn down that alley.”

  Maria followed the directions. The gas station was closed for the night. As they drove by it, Adam pressed his palm against the window. His expression was full of grief.

  “Did you used to go there for cigarettes or something?” Maria asked.

  “A friend of mine worked there. Leslie.”

  “Did she visit you while you were in the hospital?”

  Levi started to speak, but Adam interrupted him.

  “The last time I saw Leslie was when she had Merle’s dick in her hand. She cut it off with a rock, trying to protect Hylinus.”

  “Oh…”

  “She was shot by a police detective named Ramirez,” Levi explained, taking over for Adam. “On the night of the fire, Detective Ramirez and Adam, along with several of their friends, confronted Hylinus during a mating ceremony. Mr. Senft’s wife, his friend, and several other women were…accompanying the satyr.”

  “Ramirez,” Maria said. “I spoke with him on the phone earlier today. Seems like a week ago already.”

  “He knew the truth,” Adam whispered. “And he let them railroad me anyway. Because he didn’t want to admit that he’d been wrong. He didn’t want to believe, even after being confronted with the proof. He was a coward.”

  Maria slowed as they approached the alley. She switched her turn signal on, but before she could make a right into the alley, Adam flung the car door open and leapt out into the street.

  “Adam!” Levi shouted.

  Maria slammed on the brakes. “Oh shit.”

  Before they could react, Adam had fled into the alley, disappearing from sight.

  “What should we do?” Maria yelled.

  “Go after him—drive!”

  She turned into the narrow alley and her headlights speared the fleeing man. Maria floored it, and the car shot forward. But as they closed the distance between them, Adam stopped running. Holding his sides, he walked a few more feet and then stopped at the rear of a two-story house with gray vinyl siding. The house was sandwiched between the alley and Main Street. There was a detached garage and a driveway at the rear of the property, and a large oak tree in the center of the yard. A red Toyota and a blue minivan were parked in the home’s driveway. Adam glanced at them and then collapsed, kneeling in the driveway. He clawed at the stones, his hands curling into fists.

  Maria glanced around. To her left was the community Fire Hall’s parking lot. Beyond it lay a grassy vacant lot and a playground with swings and monkey bars. Beyond the playground was a dark line of trees. To her right were a row of houses, including the one Adam knelt in front of.

  “Pull into the parking lot,” Levi said. “Turn the car off. And the headlights, too. We can’t attract any attention.”

  “Tell that to him.”

  “I’ll handle Senft.”

  He got out of the car and quietly shut the door behind him. Then he crouched down next to the crying man, put his hand on Adam’s shoulder, and whispered something in his ear. Maria rolled down her window, trying to hear the conversation.

  “They changed the siding,” Adam said.

  “I know,” Levi sighed, patting Adam’s shoulder. “But we have to be quiet. Okay?”

  Shaking her head, Maria crossed the alley and parked the car. She yawned, realizing just how long it had been since she’d slept.

  “Jesus…”

  She was beginning to wonder if she’d ever have a good night’s sleep again. How could she, with all that she’d seen today?

  Terry and Tom made their way along the winding trail, passing by the papier-mâché Bigfoot cave, the pterodactyl’s nest, the haunted out house, the guillotine, and a grove of trees with fake skulls dangling from their branches. The creek flowed silently as they crossed over the little footbridge spanning it. The forest was absolutely silent and their high-powered flashlight beams barely penetrated the darkness. The blackness was so dense that the lime outlines along the path were almost invisible.

  “We should have changed the batteries in these things b
efore we left,” Tom said. “I can’t see shit out here.”

  “It’s not the flashlights,” Terry replied. “They’ve got fresh batteries.”

  “Well, then why is it so fucking dark? This is like walking through tar.”

  “I don’t know, Tom. Maybe because it’s nighttime.”

  “You don’t have to holler at me, Terry. I was just asking.”

  Terry sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just worried, is all. Didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

  They cupped their hands to their mouths and hollered for Cecil, Russ and Tina. The echoes ceased abruptly, swallowed up by the gloom. When their cries went unanswered, they reluctantly continued on their way, reaching the maze house.

  “Ain’t no way I’m going in there tonight,” Tom said. “I get lost in it during the daytime.”

  “Me, too,” Terry admitted. “Let’s go around.”

  They stepped off the trail and skirted the edge of the sprawling, ramshackle building. Twigs snapped and leaves rustled under their feet. Tree branches scraped slowly across the tin roof of the maze house, making them both cringe.

  “Man, that’s a horrible sound,” Terry said. “Like nails on a chalkboard.”

  Tom tugged on Terry’s arm.

  “What’s up?” Terry asked.

  “Just had a thought. What if they’re inside the maze? Maybe Cecil had some kind of spell, got disoriented and is stuck in there?”

  “Shit. I hadn’t considered that.” Terry raised his head and called out. “Cecil? Russ? Tina? It’s Terry and Tom! You guys in there?”

  Again, the darkness seemed to muffle his echoes. Then they heard a new sound.

  “Noooooooo…”

  “Jesus Christ!” Tom dropped his flashlight. It rolled away across the forest floor.

  “That sounded like Tina,” Terry said. “But where is she? Tina! Tina, are you there? Sound off, hon!”

  “Here…we’re over here…”

  Tom retrieved his flashlight and made sure the lens wasn’t cracked. “Sounds like it’s far away.”

  “It’s coming from that direction.” Terry shined his light into the woods. “Come on.”

  Dispensing with caution, they charged deeper into the forest. Branches tugged at their clothing and whipped their faces. In the darkness, the foliage twisted into sinister, menacing shapes. Tree limbs became outstretched, grasping arms. Late-season ferns became claws thrusting up from the dirt. Roots became serpents. Terry’s flashlight beam glanced across a blurred, moving shape. White teeth flashed amidst the black.

  “The fuck was that?”

  “Just an animal,” Tom panted. “A coyote or a fox, probably.”

  “I didn’t see any eyes,” Terry said. “The light should have reflected off its eyes.”

  Pausing, he shined the beam around the area, but the creature was gone. The woods grew colder.

  “Could be rabid,” Tom said.

  Terry frowned. “Rabies makes their eyes nonreflective? What kind of bullshit is that, Tom?”

  “It could. You don’t know. You weren’t a veterinarian last time I checked.”

  “Terryyyyyy…Tommmmm…”

  “We’re coming!” Terry shouted.

  They started running again, following Tina’s frantic cries. The strange sound-dampening effect cleared. Her wails became clearer as they got closer. Several times, they heard branches snapping behind them, but neither man turned around. Instead, they just ran faster.

  “It’s just a fox,” Tom repeated. “Probably as scared of us as we were of it.”

  “If it is,” Terry gasped, “then it’s the first one we’ve had around here. That and the whip-poor-will.”

  Pressing on, they smelled a faint hint of burned wood. Soon, the terrain sloped downward and the vegetation cleared. The towering, looming trees turned into splintered, broken stumps. In the darkness, they looked like broken stone pillars. The ground beneath their feet grew softer, like they were jogging on baby powder. Terry coughed, tasting ashes in the back of his throat. The darkness deepened, becoming almost palatable.

  “Terry?”

  “What?”

  “You know where we are, don’t you?”

  “Yeah.”

  Tina’s voice rose out of the darkness, very close by. She sounded weak and tired. “Terry? Tom?”

  “We’re here,” Terry yelled. “Where are you?”

  “I’m here. Just a little farther. Please hurry.”

  “Are you okay? Are Russ and Cecil with you?”

  “Yes, we’re all here.”

  “Hurry up,” Cecil called. He also sounded like he was in bad shape.

  They shined their flashlights ahead of them, sweeping the darkness, but saw nothing. The beams did nothing to dispel the gloom. It was as if the night had become a solid wall, and the beams of light were bouncing off it.

  “Terry,” Tom whispered, stepping closer, “I don’t like this. My butt is puckering.”

  “I don’t like it either. Something’s not right here. I can’t see shit.”

  “Then what the hell are we doing? Let’s get out of here.”

  “Where are you?” Tina called.

  “Coming,” Terry shouted. “Just give us a minute. It’s hard to see.”

  “Yes.” This time it was Russ who spoke. “There is no light.”

  “What do we do?” Tom asked.

  “Fuck this.”

  Terry turned off his useless flashlight and pulled out one of the road flares. He snapped and twisted the end, activating it. The flare burst to phosphorescent life, hissing and spitting sparks. Its tip glowed red. Still, the darkness held. He tossed the flare ahead of them. As it spiraled through the air, they caught glimpses of human figures. There were six of them. As the flare began its downward descent, something long and black whipped through the darkness and seized it. The obsidian tentacle coiled around the hissing flare and the red glow disappeared, snuffed out.

  “Holy shit…” Terry started to back away.

  “No light at all,” Russ called.

  “What do we do?” Tom whimpered.

  Terry spoke quickly and quietly, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.

  “Go back to the exit. Call the cops, the paramedics, the goddamned National Guard. I don’t care who. Just get them down here, now.”

  “But what about what you said before? The Ghost Walk—”

  “Fuck the Ghost Walk,” Terry said. “Just do it. We just saw a black who-knows-what out there. And hurry up. But don’t wait for me. I’ll be right behind you.”

  “What?”

  “I’m gonna find out what’s going on. Now go!”

  Tom turned to leave and something stepped out of the darkness behind him. It padded forward, growling, until it was only inches away. Tom shined his flashlight on the creature. It was a coyote—sickly and suffering from what appeared to be an extreme case of mange. Most of its fur was missing, and its hide was covered with raw, red sores. Its eyes were two black holes, but its teeth were white—and looked very sharp.

  “T-Terry…”

  Moving slowly, Terry turned around. His eyes widened when he saw the animal, but he didn’t panic. He inched his hand toward his pocket, intending to grab the second flare. Noticing the movement, the coyote growled louder. Terry stopped, lowering his hand to his side. Then they heard something slithering toward them from the rear.

  Both men turned in time to see the darkness move. Dozens of black tendrils hurtled toward them. Behind the darkness, their friends stepped forward. They saw Russ and Tina and Cecil, as well as Sam and Rhonda, and another man that neither of them knew. All of them seemed to be suffering from the same illness that plagued the coyote. Beyond them was a stone circle. The darkness seemed to be clustered there, seeping from the circle like water through a sieve. It bulged, as if there were an invisible bubble still holding its bulk at bay.

  Terry closed his eyes. “Oh, Ken. I’m sorry, man. I’m so fucking sorry.”

  The
darkness hovered inches from their faces, twisting and writhing. It looked solid and yet incorporeal at the same time, defying natural law. The tentacles waved at them, waiting, stoking their fears higher. Tom began stuttering through the Lord’s Prayer. Terry screamed.

  Terry?

  This voice was different. It took Terry a moment to recognize it.

  He’d lied to Ken earlier. Yes, he’d slept with Ken’s prom date, Alicia Hartlaub, on the night of their junior prom. What he hadn’t told Ken—what he’d kept secret all these years—was that she hadn’t been awake when it happened. After the prom, they’d all gone back to Artie Lewis’s house. Artie’s parents had been gone for the weekend, and the teens held a four-keg party in their absence. Bobby Marsh and Chris Sipe had brought along a bottle of Boones Farm Strawberry wine, and Terry traded them an ounce of weed for it. The party was in full swing. Everybody was hanging out and laughing, having a good time while Foreigner and Foghat and David Cassidy blared from the stereo. Ken wanted to go out into the backyard and get stoned with some other kids, but Alicia had declined. Ken asked Terry to keep an eye on her while he was gone. At first, that was exactly what he had done. But as Alicia drank more wine and chased it down with beer, she’d begun to get sleepy. Terry had escorted her upstairs to an empty bedroom, and stayed with her to make sure she was okay. But he was horny and drunk, and when she passed out, he’d taken advantage of it. It wasn’t rape—or at least, it hadn’t seemed so at the time. But later, when he’d sobered up, Terry felt guilty for betraying his friend. He lied about it for weeks, before finally confessing what he’d done to Ken.

  He’d never given Alicia the same respect.

  The guilt had haunted him for years.

  The darkness changed, forming a human shape. Alicia stood in front of him, looking exactly as she had all those years ago. She was close enough to kiss. He smelled the wine on her breath and saw the tears in her eyes.

  Those eyes were black.

  Now it’s my turn, Terry.

  “I’m sorry…” he sobbed. “I was drunk, Alicia. I didn’t mean to.”

  “Terry!” Tom screamed. “Help me. It’s my uncle. He’s back, just like when we went camping!”