Chasing Ghosts

by Glenn Rolfe

  “What’s your name?” Dallas said.

  “Derek. I actually live just over in Naples.”

  “Well, life leads us where we’re supposed to be, right?”

  “Yeah, I guess.” His brain tingled.

  Damn good stuff.

  Dallas clinked his beer glass to Derek’s. “Cheers.”

  ***

  Connor popped his head out onto the front porch.

  “Hey, any of you guys seen...” he said. He stopped when he saw the older guy in the biker jacket. “Anyone seen our singer? He’s short, kind of floppy, dark brown hair. Wearing a Jaws t-shirt, probably covered in puke?”

  They all shook their heads.

  Where the hell did he go?

  “Sorry, man,” Dallas said. Craig had introduced them earlier. Dallas’s mother had named him after the character in The Outsiders. “You check out back? Maybe he passed out in the weeds. They’re pretty high.”

  “Yeah, so was he.”

  A few people in the crowd laughed.

  “We were hoping to start playing now, but we gotta find him first. If he stumbles out here can you direct him inside?”

  “Sure thing.”

  “Thanks, Dallas.

  Ian looked three sheets to the wind himself. “You find him?” He swayed.

  “Nah. I’m gonna go look out back again. Maybe he went to take a piss in the woods.”

  “Or a shit. Have you seen the toilet in that closet they call a bathroom? I think I got hepatitis just looking at it.”

  “Come with me. I think you could use a little fresh air yourself.”

  “Let me grab another brew.”

  They stepped out back. All the people were either inside or out front. The backyard would have been nice if they’d cut the weeds back.

  “They must not dare to run the mower through this shit,” Ian said.

  Connor ignored him and walked over to the rail he’d last seen Jack yacking over.

  “Well, there’s his puddle of puke.”

  Ian looked over and spat.

  “You see that?”

  Ian placed a cigarette between his lips and lit it. “See what?”

  Connor started down the steps. “It’s flattened out here. It’s hard to tell, but it looks like there’s a little path…I think he might have crawled over to the woods.”

  “He’s probably passed out in the grass, man.”

  “Well, help me find him.”

  Ian picked up his beer and followed.

  ***

  Derek took Dallas up on his hospitality. Looked like it was gonna start to rain any minute anyway. He stepped through the open doorway and walked through the crowded cabin. Jeff Marston would shit a brick and crack some skulls if he saw the degradation and absolute disregard for his property going on within the cabin walls. There was puke and God knew what else in sporadic puddles on the hardwood floor. He’d be lucky to get the smell of B.O. and pot out of the walls. Luckily, he knew better than to rent the place furnished. Despite his own disgust, Derek took in the sights. These gals might be dirty, but damn if some of them didn’t look like something out of a Punk/Hippie-Cosplay convention. The mini-skirts and cut-offs they wore exposed enough eye candy to make him have to shift the front of his jeans. He was really feeling that weed.

  He couldn’t be sure, but it appeared as though the couple in the far corner were pleasuring one another.

  “Hey.”

  A curly-haired brunette offered him a mixed drink. His gaze washed over her tight tank top and down to her exposed hip bones.

  “Hi.”

  He downed the rest of the beer and accepted the proffered red cup.

  “My name’s Nina.”

  “Derek.”

  He sipped the drink, his taste buds indicating it was vodka and cranberry juice. He took a good swallow and licked his lips.

  “So, Derek, you don’t quite look like the rest of the guys here.”

  He followed her hungry gaze to the front of his jeans.

  “I, uh, I guess I’m a little more experienced.”

  He watched her tongue play against her teeth. He was glad to see a set of straight teeth that weren’t blackened. He caught sight of the little jewel-crowned piercing in her mouth. Fantasies hijacked his mind.

  “Come on,” she said.

  “I probably shouldn’t–”

  “I hate probables.” She pressed her slim body against him. Her hand found his hard on. “Let me take care of this for you.”

  Oh shit.

  He finished working on the drink and let her push him across the room and out through the back door. The cool air felt great against his flushed cheeks. She guided him back to the corner of the porch and slithered down his chest. Down on her knees, she unzipped his jeans and pulled his cock out through the front of his boxers.

  “Mmm”

  She took him in her mouth. He felt her tongue ring dance over the head of his dick.

  “Oh… God.”

  He set the empty cup on the rail. It tumbled off into the grass. He ran his hands through her hair, pleasantly surprised to find that it was clean. He opened his eyes and let his gaze drift across the weed-filled backyard. He spotted the guy from the band that had been looking for his singer over by the trees.

  A flashback of the stranger in the road hit him like a wet blanket.

  “Shit.”

  “Mmm.”

  He put out his hands to Nina’s face and gently eased her off from him.

  “I’m sorry, I can’t. I have to stop those guys.”

  “What? She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and craned her neck to see who he was pointing at. “Why? They’re probably just taking a piss.”

  He tucked his withering manhood away.

  “No, back on the road. I saw… there was someone.”

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  “When I came in from the main road. There was a guy or someone with a weapon or...”

  She stood. “I think maybe you’ve seen too many Jason movies.”

  “Excuse me,” he said.

  “Sure. I’ll just find someone else who wants…”

  Derek jumped over the railing. Nina’s voice faded as he hit the grass and hurried toward the woods.

  ***

  The man in the dark shadows smiled. He watched the two men enter his forest. His playground. They were looking for the one he tossed down to the stream. He would lead them to him.

  He picked up his pipe and quietly hurried ahead of them. When he got far enough away he spoke.

  “Help. Help.”

  ***

  “Did you hear that?” Ian said.

  “Jack?” Connor said

  There was no response.

  “It sounded like it was in that direction. Come on. He probably tripped over something and busted his ankle or some dumb shit,” Ian said.

  Connor followed him toward the voice.

  “Wait up,” a voice called from behind

  Connor looked back and saw someone approach them.

  “Who’s there?”

  “”Wait up, don’t go in there.”

  “Who are you?”

  ”My name’s Derek Gerrard. I live in town.”

  “So,” Ian said. The cherry of his cigarette reflected off his glasses.

  “I came in from the road there. There was someone out there.”

  “There are lots of people out here. If you don’t mind, man, our friend is out here drunk and dumb and most likely hurt. We need–”

  “Help me.”

  “Fuck this guy, come on,” Ian said. He started off toward the voice.

  Connor turned and felt the guy–Derek–grab his shoulder. He shrugged him off.

  “What is your fucking deal, man?”

  “The person I saw in the road back there. He didn’t seem right. He had something in his hands that he was dragging across the road.”

  “It’s probably a hiker or camper, or…” Connor’s frustration boiled thr
ough, “…or some fucking drunk asshole from the party.”

  “Go back home, man. Koko, fuck him, come on.”

  Connor took off after Ian who he could hardly see now.

  ***

  Derek knew he sounded like a lunatic. Someone out there. He would have shaken him off too. Maybe it was just a hiker. Maybe some fucking hermit who lives out here. He’d heard about a guy out in Belgrade who lived in the woods for twenty-seven years. No one knew he was out there until he got caught breaking into someone’s house to steal food. He now resided at Riverside, the mental health hospital in Augusta. After all of this, Derek thought he was probably on his way to booking a room next door.

  He started to turn away when he heard one of the guys start to shout.

  Chapter Seven

  Mike was now as big of a shitbag as Derek. Heather lay naked snuggled up next to him. She was out like a light. He’d loved her before Derek ever met her. That didn’t make him feel any better. Even if Derek had been fucking that ditz down at The Hole in the Wall, she wasn’t anybody. In the grand scheme of things, she was a speck of salt in the sandbox known as Naples. This was his best friend’s wife. His best friend who had just lost his son… if Jesse was really dead. Regardless, Mike felt like the crud at the bottom of the trash can. He was ready to wallow with the maggots.

  He eased out of bed and covered Heather with the comforter. She deserved better than Derek, but it wasn’t him.

  He pulled on his underwear and jeans, grabbed his t-shirt and flannel and walked down the hallway. Their trailer seemed abandoned. Without Jesse’s presence, the place was a hollow shell. Heather and Derek were soulless puppets wearing the couple with whom he’d shared many a beer and good times.

  He buttoned his shirt, slipped his sneakers on, and left.

  The air weighed on him like a slab of unthawed ribs. There was definitely cold rain on the way. If Derek got caught in whatever hell was coming, he’d be soaked and frozen to the bone in minutes. Despite Halloween still being three weeks away, it already felt like the end of October.

  Mike got in his car, turned the engine over, and backed out into the street. He gazed at Heather’s bedroom window. A landslide of guilt broke over him like a bad fever. Hot and cold, just like the rest of his feelings for his two best friends. He wondered if Derek was with his little strumpet. He hit the lights and pulled away from the trailer.

  A few minutes later, he steered the car into the parking lot of The Hole in the Wall. He found a spot, killed the engine, and got out of the car. He did a quick scan of the vehicles in the lot. Derek’s bike wasn’t among them.

  He stepped through the doors of the appropriately named establishment and headed straight for the bar. Melody also appeared to be missing.

  “What’s it gonna be tonight, Mike? Need an IPA?”

  “Nah, Joe, I feel like shit and grit tonight. Give me a Beast.”

  “Comin’ right up.”

  He watched the weeble-shaped (they wobble but they don’t fall down) bartender bend down and pull a can of Old Milwaukee’s Best from the fridge beneath the good booze. Mike graciously accepted the cold can and set to drowning the taste of his mistake with Heather from his mouth.

  “Another?” Joe said.

  He slammed the can down on the spilt-filled linoleum bar top. “Absolutely. Why don’t you grab me two.”

  “You got it, hoss.”

  He picked up the one on the left and raised it to his lips. “Melody working tonight?”

  Joe cocked an eye. It was a nasty stare.

  Mike brought the beer down. “I’m not looking for anything from her.”

  “Good. Your buddy caused enough trouble with that girl as it is.”

  “I’m on your side, Joe. He’s in a real bad place, right now. Don’t make it right.”

  “No, it don’t. I know he’s got a shit deal goin’ right now. If my Carson had ever… well, if I ever lost my kid, I’d be at the bottom of the well, too. Don’t give him a pass to cheat on his lovely wife and it don’t give him a pass to screw up a girl who don’t know no better.”

  “Well, I’m not about to make excuses for him, but we all got our demons.”

  Mike swallowed the last of the beer and started on the other. “Are you squeaky clean?”

  “Never said that, either.” Joe put another Beast on the bar. The phone blared to life behind him. “I gotta get that. Yell at me if you need something else.”

  “Thanks, Joe.”

  Mike swiveled on his stool and saw Melody Henderson stroll through the entrance. She was in uniform and sans Derek.

  Where did you go?

  ***

  Ian ran to the body on the ground. “Hold on, Jack. I’m comin’”

  Connor was on his heels when he noticed the size of the body on the ground. It was way too big to be Jack. The hairs on his neck came to life.

  He slowed to a walk as Ian stepped to the person calling for help.

  He hunched over, catching his breath.“You okay, man,” Ian said.

  The figure spoke.

  “What’s that?” Ian said.

  Connor came up behind him as Ian leaned closer to the guy’s head.

  “Ian back up,” Connor said. He could hear the guy on the ground whispering, but he couldn’t make out the words.”

  An odd barely audible giggle came from the large man.

  “Ian–”

  “What the fuck?” Ian said.

  The big guy sat up and swung a long object in the dark.

  Connor jumped back. He heard whatever it was connect with part of Ian’s leg. A loud snap followed.

  “Ahh, fffuck.”

  Ian dropped to the ground holding his leg.

  The man stood. He must have been well over six feet tall and just as broad. He raised the weapon in his hand up over his head.

  Connor charged him with his shoulder, not concerned about the consequences. He rammed the beast of a man. It was like hitting a mountain of sand. The guy stumbled back a couple steps, but did not fall.

  ***

  Derek watched the guy, Connor, run into the creep who struck his friend. The big guy didn’t move. Instead, he wrapped a long pole, or pipe, around the smaller guy’s neck and wrenched him up off his feet.

  “Let him go!”

  Derek grabbed a thick branch from the leaves and made his run at the behemoth. Derek jumped up over the guy squirming in pain on the ground and swung the branch with all his might at the creep’s knee.

  The creep moaned.

  Connor dropped to the ground.

  Good. At least the fucker feels pain.

  Derek spun around and jabbed the blunt end of his branch where he figured this monster’s kidney to be.

  The creep let out another moan, but spun around fast. Derek was ill prepared. The pipe in the monster’s hands smashed into Derek’s eye orbit. Derek dropped the branch as he flopped like a bag of dead cats to the forest floor. He swam toward oblivion.

  ***

  Connor dropped next to Ian and gasped for breath.

  “Here, here…”

  He reached out.

  Ian’s stiletto.

  Connor hit the release and watched the blade pop out. He heard their attacker moan out for the second time as the odd guy from the porch tried to fight him. Connor got up in time to hear the pipe connect with a thick smack against the other guy’s head. Without waiting for this big fucker to turn the fight back on him, Connor bent down and holding the six-inch blade like a dagger in both hands, thrusted the point of the blade up into the big guy’s scrotum.

  The big guy let out a howl that made Connor shrivel. Warm blood ran over his fingers. He let go of the knife’s handle and watched the monster fall forward. He screeched as his legs kicked like a dog in a dream.

  “Finish him,” Ian said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Kill that mother fucker.”

  “With what?”

  Conner saw the dark liquid drooling across the guy’s face fro
m the porch. He wondered if he was dead. Then he saw the fat stick next to his hand. He scurried over and plucked the heavier than expected stick from the soil.It felt like an adult-sized wooden baseball bat in a child’s hands.

  The big bastard, still squealing, placed one massive, shaky hand down in the dirt and tried to push himself up.

  “Do it fuckin’ now, man. Don’t let him up.”

  Ian was right. No telling of what this guy was capable. Still, Connor hesitated.

  Then the mountain of a man got one foot beneath him, yanked out the blade, and screeched. Fear stepped up, and Connor followed with the heavy tree branch. He raised the weapon over his head and brought it down on the man’s mass of black curls. It made a deep thunk. The monster’s head dropped. Connor felt a tingle run up and down his arms and down his back. The head of black hair popped back up. Connor struck it down again. This time he swung with everything that he had. He didn’t wait for the thing to spring up again. He brought the branch down again and again until the deep thuds became a series of wet smacks.

  “He’s done. He’s done, man.”

  Connor heard Ian’s voice, like a weak radio signal. He swung the branch down again. He felt the warm splatter hit his forehead and felt it drip down to his nose.

  “Connor, STOP!”

  He dropped the stick and fell to his knees.

  His hands trembled. His teeth chattered.

  Ian laid back. “What the fuckin’ fuck, man.”

  “Uhhh…”

  Connor turned. The crazy asshole that saved his life was still alive.

  Chapter Eight

  “You seen Derek?”

  Melody placed another beer in front of him.

  “No. He didn’t call me.” She dropped her gaze from his.

  “But…”

  “He was supposed to call and come over.” She looked back for Joe. Joe was laughing with Todd and Mark Cater at the other end of the bar.