The Mural

by Michael Mallory

  Creeley was now kneeling on the ground. “Hey, take a look at this,” he said. “Whoever’s in charge of this nightmare covered up the road, all right, but they missed these.” Jack and Dani squatted down on both sides of the policeman and saw the unmistakable pattern of rubber tires in the dirt. They could also see that the tracks stopped at the very edge of a thick wall of vegetation and trees, so thick that no vehicle could possibly pass through. “What do you make of that?”

  “Can we make it through this on foot?” Dani asked.

  “Yeah, I think so,” Creeley said, rising. “But that’d mean we’d have to carry those jugs of acid with us.”

  “Let’s get going, then,” Jack said. Climbing back into the truck bed, he carefully unhooked the bungee cords that were holding the bottles, and then two at a time, handed the gallons of acid to Dani and Creeley. “Remember,” he said, jumping down, “we need to be ready for anything.”

  They began squeezing through the tangle of brush and branches. With each step the thicket became even denser, like a deliberate hedge, and right about the time Dani was beginning to wonder if they were really going to make it through, the vegetation began to clear. Soon they were standing on the road itself, looking back at the wall of green through which they had managed to pass. Creeley was kneeling down again, examining the road. “More tire tracks. We might not be alone in here.”

  He set down his acid jugs and pulled out his gun, then carefully picked the jugs back up with one hand. As loudly as he was able, Creeley shouted: “If there is anyone within the sound of my voice, I want you to know that I am an officer of the law and I am armed.” When he stopped, the forest swallowed his voice. “I will use my firearm any time I need to. I would advise you to present yourselves immediately.” There was no response for a moment, and then a sound was heard, far up the road.

  “What was that?” Dani asked.

  “Might have been a hawk,” Creeley said.

  “Didn’t it sound like a voice?”

  “I don’t know. Helloooo!”

  The sound came again, stronger this time.

  “That was a voice,” Dani said.

  Jack Hayden said nothing. He was trying with all his might to dissuade himself from the terrible notion that the cry sounded like Robynn. But like her image inside the Saddleback, it had to be an illusion. Robynn was safe with Tim Kinchloe.

  “Well, if someone’s here, we warned them,” Creeley said. “That’s about all we can do. Let’s go.” The three trudged up the dirt road, penetrating the woods more deeply with each step.

  “Has this road gotten steeper, too?” Dani said, panting.

  “No, but we’re usually able to drive on this part of it,” Jack said. “It levels off closer to the town.”

  Not only did it level off, the road was now wider than he had ever seen it, and not as much of a washboard. “Goddamn,” Jack said. “It’s like the road itself has been re-graded.”

  After what was starting to seem like an endless trek, the first of Wood City’s houses came into view. Jack stopped dead and stared at it. It was as new. Four solid walls on a sound foundation, newly painted windows and doors, and on the roof perfectly straight rows of wood shingles topped by a sturdy brick chimney, from which a wisp of smoke was emerging.

  “It’s come back,” Jack whispered. “The whole town has risen from the dead.”

  “There are more houses up ahead, Jack,” Creeley said. “A whole slew of them, from the looks of it.”

  “They appear to be inhabited,” Dani said.

  Jack nodded. “Welcome to Legion City.”

  “Do you think anyone’s really inside?”

  “I don’t know, but just for safety’s sake, let’s assume so,” Creeley said. “If either of you see a door or window move, even a crack, even peripherally, shout.”

  “I’ll watch the houses on this side of the road,” Jack said, jabbing left. “Dani, you watch those.”

  She nodded and they proceeded.

  Each house the passed looked the same: they had identical designs, were painted the same colors, had similar tiny vegetable and flower gardens out front and each one had a wisp of smoke coming from the chimney. “Smell that?” Creeley said, as they walked past a cluster of the small houses. “It’s like the smell of a lit match.”

  “It’s sulfur,” Jack said. “Brimstone, if you’d rather. It’s faint, but it’s there.”

  “Guys, can we stop for a second,” Dani asked, setting down her jugs of acid. “Carrying this thing is playing hell with my shoulder.”

  “Oh, sorry,” Jack said, having forgotten about her injury. “Let me take one.” He rearranged his two jugs in one hand, as Creeley had done, and then took one of hers. “Can you manage the one?”

  Dani nodded, picking it up, and they started up again.

  Soon they were in the main part of the residential district. “Jesus, if Resort Partners could only see this they’d piss their pants with delight,” Jack said. “This is exactly the kind of development they were planning on doing here. The houses aren’t as log-cabin rustic as they wanted, but it’s already here.”

  “And what a great place to spend a holiday,” Dani added.

  “I can see their brochure now. ‘What happens in Legion City stays in Legion City...especially the souls of the dead.’”

  “I’m glad you two can laugh about this,” Creeley said sourly.

  Jack stretched out his left arm, which was carrying two of the jugs, now fully understanding Dani’s complaint about what it did to one’s shoulder, even an uninjured one. “Laughing at evil may just be the way we survive this,” he said.

  They were now approaching the business area of Wood City. Their destination, the City Hall building, could be seen up ahead. In the dappled light of the forest, it appeared to be glowing, so new and bright was the white marble from which it was made. The three stood in silence and took in the building. “Are either of you as scared as I am?” Dani asked.

  “Probably,” Creeley answered.

  “Do we really have the strength to fight this thing?” Jack asked.

  “We’d better,” Creeley responded, “because I didn’t arrange for any backup.”

  Jack was thinking. “Maybe we should make our own backup, then.”

  “How so?” the policeman asked.

  “Let’s leave some of these jugs behind, just in case,” Jack said. “That will be our backup. If we go marching up there with all six, and something happens to each one of them, they break or don’t hit the target, we’re out of ammo and Legion hasn’t even begun to fight. This way we would have at least the hope of a second wave of attack.”

  “Works for me,” Creeley said. “Where to you want to stash them?”

  “Somewhere around here, I guess,” Jack replied. Spotting a thicket of brush that would make good cover, Jack carried his three jugs over to it and tucked them behind the branches, to the point where they were completely obscured. “Now all we have to do is remember where they are ourselves.” He had an idea: Jack pulled out his cell phone and set it down by the bottles. “If we can’t find the bottles, just call my number, Cree, and we’ll follow the sound of the ring.”

  “Your cell works in the middle of the woods?” Creeley asked.

  “That’s the most unnatural thing of all,” Jack replied. “If we come out alive, I’m going to call my carrier and offer a testimonial.”

  “Maybe it’s not the carrier,” Dani said. “If the other side can make paintings change and write things on mirrors, maybe our side can offer phone service in a forest.”

  Divvying up the three remaining jugs of acid, one each, they strode toward the city hall. When the reached the gleaming marble steps, Dani stopped and called out: “There’s a car over there.” Following the direction of her finger, Jack and Creeley saw a cleared spot in the forest a couple dozen yards away from the side of the stone building, and the abandoned car that sat it in. The driver’s door was hanging open.

  “Doesn’t look l
ike anyone’s there,” Creeley said, pointing his gun in the general direction, just in case.

  “Who’s is it?” Dani asked.

  “It almost looks like the one that...oh my god, no, NO, NO!” Jack screamed, breaking and running towards the car.

  “Jack!” Creeley screamed, but he showed no signs of stopping, so Creeley charged out after him, with Dani right behind. When they got close enough to the car, they realized why Jack was so alarmed.

  It was Tim Kinchloe’s rental car. The vehicle in which Robynn had last been seen.

  “Robynn!” Jack screamed. “Robynn, are you out here? It’s Daddy, punkin!”

  Dani screamed then, and Jack jumped, dropping the acid jug, which bounced on the soft moist earth but did not break. Dani was pointing at something under the car.

  Feet.

  “Get back,” Creeley commanded, setting down his jug while he got on his hands and knees and examined the body that was underneath the rental. Reaching under, he found and arm and put his fingers on the wrist, but the temperature of the flesh told him all he needed to know. Grabbing the arm as best he could, he began pulling, dragging it out from under the car. When the face was revealed, Jack sank to his knees. “Oh, my god,” he moaned.

  It was Tim Kinchloe, his glazed eyes staring straight up, his shirt drenched with blood from the gash that nearly separated his head from his torso.

  Dani screamed: “Jack, she’s here!”

  “Robynn? Where?”

  “Not Robynn!”

  Jack looked past the car to see his wife standing there. Her left temple bore a nasty bruise, and in her right hand was a long, lethal knife, dripping crimson.

  “Hello, darling,” Elley said.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  “Ma’am, drop the knife and put your hands up,” Creeley said, leveling his gun at her heart. “You are under arrest.”

  Elley looked toward the policeman with an absent, and said, “Lick me, Smokey.”

  “I could shoot you right now and save the country the cost of a trial,” Creeley said.

  “You could do that, but if you did, how would Jack ever find out what happened to Robynn?”

  “What have you done with her?” Jack demanded, his fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his palms.

  “My guess is she’s in the City Hall,” the policeman said.

  “Maybe, maybe not,” Elley said, smirking. “But there is definitely something in there you should see.”

  “All right,” Jack said, “we’ll go inside.”

  “Wise choice,” Elley responded. “Only choice, actually. And to prove my sincerity....” She dropped the bloody knife on the ground.

  “I’ve still got this,” Creeley said, gesturing with his gun.

  “Woop-de-doo,” Elley muttered, unconcerned. “What I’ve got is the knowledge of what’s going to happen out here, and it doesn’t involve those jugs. So drop them.” No one made a move. “Or else,” she added. Slowly, Creeley bent down and set his jug on the ground. Dani similarly left her jug on the ground, but Jack refused to drop his.

  “I said drop the gasoline, Jack,” Elley demanded.

  Gasoline! Jack thought. She doesn’t know what’s in here! “Fine,” he said, desperately trying not to reveal his elation.

  “I’m surprised the juice made it this far before Jacko drank it,” Elley said. Then turning to Dani she added: “Or haven’t you figured out yet, Hedwig, that Boytoy here is a barely functioning alcoholic?”

  “Maybe someone drove him to it,” Dani said.

  Elley gave an unintelligible, mimicking response that sounded like Beaker from The Muppets. “Okay, let’s go, kids,” she added, turning and walking to the City Hall building. The three followed, but before they entered, Jack rushed to keep apace with his wife.

  “Elley, I’m only going to say this once,” he uttered. “I know you cannot be held entirely responsible for your actions. But if you have done anything to harm Robynn, I will kill you with my bare hands.”

  Elley Gorman Hayden ignored him.

  The knob of the great brass door to the City hall building turned and the door slowly swung open, without any of them touching it. Then Elley, Jack, Dani and Creeley went inside.

  * * * * * * *

  Robynn had finally stopped crying, not because she was no longer scared, but because there were simply no tears left in her to come out. She was inside one of the small houses that were out in the woods, lying on the floor. Her mouth hurt because the handkerchief had been shoved inside it and she felt like throwing up, but managed to keep from doing so because she didn’t want to keep tasting it on the cloth. Her chest ached from all the sobbing she had done while locked up in this house and she could feel the boogers running down from her nose. What really hurt were her wrists and feet, where she had been tied up. And she had to go pee. Robynn desperately tried to think of something happy, anything, like Dora the Explorer or Elmo, but the images would not pop into her mind. She couldn’t cry out, she couldn’t move, she was stuck in a strange, dark house, and worst of all, it was Mommy who brought her here.

  I’m supposed to kill you, Mommy had said. I should, too, but.... Then she said a bunch more words that Robynn didn’t really understand, but it sounded like she was arguing with herself. Then Mommy tied her up. Robynn cried when she did so, and mommy stuck the handkerchief in her mouth, and then left.

  Robynn whimpered when a brand new thought flooded her mind: she was stuck in the middle of the woods...what if a bear showed up and found her and wanted to eat her? Oyster Cracker was lying on the floor, but he couldn’t protect her. She closed her eyes and squeezed them tight, hoping that when she opened them again it would all be just a bad dream. But deep down inside she knew better, and wondered what she had done to be punished like this.

  That was when she heard a voice saying: “Who are you?”

  Robynn opened her eyes and saw someone standing over her. It was a girl, a little older than herself, maybe a second grader, with long blond hair and a very plain blue dress. She looked sad.

  Robynn tried to say something but could not, because of the gag.

  “You must have done something really bad to get tied up,” the blonde girl said.

  Robynn shook her head forcefully. I didn’t! she thought. I didn’t do anything that bad!

  “Here, let me help you,” the girl said, walking around behind her. Robynn felt herself being lifted up to a sitting position, and pretty soon, the handkerchief that was all but choking her was taken away. “Take the ropes off,” Robynn pleaded.

  “I’m trying,” the girl said, “but I’m not very good with knots.”

  It took a few minutes, but finally the girl had managed to get the ropes that were binding Robynn’s arms and feet loose. She tried to stand up but felt dizzy, and sat back down.

  “Who are you?” the girl asked.

  “Robynn Lee Hayden,” she answered. “Who are you?”

  “My name’s Victoria. I used to live here.”

  “I have to pee.”

  “There’s a bathroom over there.”

  Robynn made it into the tiny bathroom, which was barely big enough for the tub, and closed the door. She sat down on the potty and tried very hard not to start sobbing while she peed. She didn’t want to act like a baby in front of Victoria, who was nice and who had helped her. When she was finished she went back into the room where she had been tied.

  Victoria was still there, but now she was holding Oyster Cracker, who Robynn had clung onto while her mommy had dragged her here.

  “Hey, that’s mine!” Robynn said.

  “I know,” Victoria said. “I just think it’s neato. I’ve never seen a toy like this one. I have a dolly.”

  “I have lots of dollies.”

  “Really? I just have one.”

  Robynn didn’t know any other kids who had just one toy. “His name is Oyster Cracker,” she said.

  “Oyster Cracker. That’s funny.”

  “You really l
ike him?”

  “I think he’s the cute.”

  Robynn thought very seriously, and then asked: “Do you want him?”

  For the first time, a wide, beaming smile broke out on Victoria’s face. “Really? You’d give him to me? Just like that?”

  “Yeah. You let me loose.”

  “You’re nice,” the blonde girl said. “I wish I’d known you when I was alive.”

  Robynn did not know what to say, or even what to think. The girl in front of her certainly looked alive, but she said that she wasn’t, and she did not seem like the kind of person who lied. Besides, Noni had come to her when she wasn’t alive anymore.

  Then with a small wave, Victoria vanished, like she had never been there, taking Oyster Cracker with her.

  Robynn didn’t want to be in this house anymore. She wanted to find Daddy. She walked outside and saw that there wasn’t anybody standing around. Not even her mommy. She didn’t really want to see her mommy anyway. Way off in the distance she could see Uncle Tim’s car, but she knew that Uncle Tim wasn’t going to help her. Not anymore. She was sad about that, but she wasn’t sad in the same way she would have been if Mommy had killed Daddy.

  Don’t even think things like that about Daddy! she ordered herself.

  Robynn knew there was a highway somewhere nearby. Maybe she could get to it and get out. Maybe somebody nice would pick her up and help her. She knew the road that ran through the woods would eventually lead to the highway, so she started down it. She really wished she still had Oyster Cracker for company, but Victoria really, really liked him. She wasn’t sorry she’d given him away.

  As she walked, it seemed like the forest was never going to end, and Robynn started to get scared. Maybe she should just turn around and go back to the house. Maybe another friendly ghost would show up and play with her. She stopped and turned around, surprised at how far she had walked already. But it seemed like there was so much more forest between here and the highway.

  Robynn was about to take the first step back when she heard a sound that she’d heard lots of times before: it was Daddy’s cell phone. But what was it doing out here in the woods? Following the sound, she finally came to a bunch of brush, and lifting part of it up with her hand, saw the three bottles, and the phone sitting next to them. She picked up the phone and pushed buttons until the ringing stopped, then said: “H’lo?”