He disrobed from the waist down. His pubic hair was still a damp mess. He dried himself off with his underwear as best as possible then buried the soiled clothes in the bottom of his closet. He’d have to wash them himself when his mom left the house for something longer than a cigarette run.
He put fresh pants and underwear on, slipped his shoes back on. He looked at his computer. He had absolutely no desire to play Redemption. What was the point now, anyway? If he couldn’t fend off temptation in real life, then there was absolutely no hope of him doing it in the game, where the risks weren’t even real.
He went back downstairs.
“Where are you going?” his mother asked.
“Maybe over to Crank’s.”
“You’re walking?”
“Yeah. I can’t drive by myself.”
“Why’d you change pants?”
“The other ones were dirty.”
“You just put them on this morning. You have to change pants for Crank?”
“I just like these better, okay?”
“They’re exactly like the other ones. Same brand. Same style. Same color.”
“Why does it matter?”
“Because I want to know what you’ve been doing.”
“I just came back from driving lessons. You can call and ask.”
“I don’t want to bother them. They’re busy doing both the Lord’s work and teaching people to drive.”
“Then you believe me?”
“I still want to know why you changed pants.”
“Maybe it’s embarrassing, okay?”
“See. That’s all you had to say.”
“I might not be back until later.” His hand on the front doorknob, he was nearly free.
“And Doug?”
He gritted his teeth. Turned to face his mother.
“Be careful. People are dying left and right.”
He was glad the obligatory warning about the evils of the world was the only thing she had to say. He forced a smile and said, “I think I’ll be okay.”
“You’d better be. I don’t know what I’d do if anything ever happened to you.”
Doug stepped outside and closed the door behind him.
Twenty-eight
Amanda awoke at dusk. The sweet smell of honeysuckle floated in through the window. She distinctly remembered drawing the curtains and the blinds but had probably left the windows open with hopes of Lawrence Kansas coming back. Of course, she didn’t really think it was Lawrence Kansas. It was that other person. She didn’t know exactly who that person was and wasn’t sure it really mattered. He made her feel good. Just thinking about what they had done the past two nights made her wet. She thought about touching herself but was afraid that would dull her sensitivity and then it wouldn’t be as powerful the next time they did something.
She wished she knew his name. Wished she knew who to thank. It was only a few days ago she had felt so trapped. And now she felt so free. Like she could do anything. Feel anything. Right now she felt blissful. Just the thought of being with that mysterious creature again made her smile.
She felt anxious. Surely he would come back for her. He had told her she was to be a witness. And while she had witnessed one of their rituals, she didn’t think that was the only thing she was supposed to witness. She hadn’t thought the Church would be mixed up in all the things happening to her, but it was. Even though it was a haze, she could still remember much of what had happened to her at the Church before the funeral ceremonies. She would have thought that seemed evil. But now she saw it for the beautiful thing it was.
Beautiful things were all around her. They probably always had been, but she couldn’t see them beyond Perry and her diseased mother. Now the veil, along with most of her other clothing, had been lifted.
Yes. Beautiful things were everywhere.
Maybe she just needed to seek them out.
She slid out of her clothes and left them in a heap on the floor of her living room. She opened the front door and walked out into the fragrant night.
Twenty-nine
Crank powered his bike through Doug’s suburb, a case of Old Milwaukee strapped to the back of the seat, hidden by flapping plastic bags, all of it from America Pantry. He couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to live in these horrible suburbs. Even in a small town like Clover, it still felt like there were too many people too close together, watching you.
He saw a naked woman wandering down the sidewalk and stopped the bike a few feet in front of her. Initially he was just going to ogle her, maybe ask if he wanted him to fuck her, but as she got closer he saw that her body was covered in scratches and bruises.
“Hey, lady! You okay?” he called.
She quickly turned her head toward him as though she hadn’t even noticed he was there until he said something, and then came padding over. She didn’t look at all like she was in trouble. She looked ecstatic.
“Are you okay?” he asked again.
She now stood within arm’s length of him. “Oh yes. Why wouldn’t I be? I feel ... I feel great.”
Crank couldn’t help but stare at her breasts, her hips, her well-trimmed pubic mound. As if hypnotized, he reached out to touch her breast. She wasn’t as young as he preferred, but she was still put together pretty nicely and probably only on the near side of thirty, if that. She gently touched his hand and placed it on the grip of his bike.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “but my body is not for you. It is for the powerful one. The one who... changes.”
“Whatever. You’re fucked up, lady.”
Crank revved the bike with a twist of the grip and roared off in the direction of Doug’s house. By the time he reached Doug’s street, he was shaken. It is for the powerful one. The one who changes. Like that guy at Chloe’s the one night? What had she said his name was? Daniel? Did she even say? Did it matter? Crazy shit was finally happening in Clover. That was what mattered to Crank.
Thirty
Doug raised his hand to knock on Whitney’s front door when he heard her say, “I’m around here.”
“Oh. Hi.”
“Hi. Follow me.”
Doug still felt out of it. Until his encounter with Mindy earlier, he’d been looking forward to seeing Whitney, even though he had no idea what pretense it was under. She had certainly been nice to him the other morning but that didn’t really mean she liked him. He thought she was cute but, regardless of what he had done with Mindy, sex before marriage was still out of the question. He supposed they could just be friends and talk, but that was only if she turned out to be less crazy than he thought she was.
He followed her through the back yard. Their street was at the edge of the neighborhood and there wasn’t anything but woods behind it. He smelled fire. She continued leading him toward the smell. Once they entered the woods he saw the fire burning. A quilt was thrown on the ground a decent distance from the fire.
She reached the quilt and stopped. Doug could smell something that went beyond the perfume of nature. Incense, maybe. She turned around to face Doug. He said hi again.
“You don’t have to keep saying that.”
“Okay. How are you?”
She rolled her eyes and said, “Fine, Doug. I’m... fine. How are you?”
“Confused.”
“I know you’re probably wondering why I wanted you to come over. Especially when I’ve been such a bitch to you at the store.”
“Yeah, kinda. But that was nice what you did for me yesterday. I think you kept me out of a lot of trouble. Mom didn’t say anything.”
“Okay, yeah, you’re welcome.” She breathed shakily. “I want you to fuck me.”
Doug’s face turned red. He immediately felt really excited and really scared. He said, “Ummm.”
“Look, I know you may not find me attractive but you’re a boy so it shouldn’t really matter. You told me you’ve never done it and neither have I so I think it’s something we need to do together.”
“I can’t.
” But already his mind was racing. He didn’t know if he was saying that because of what he did with Mindy—like maybe he really, physically couldn’t—or if he said it because of how he felt about sex before marriage. Or because of how the Church felt about sex before marriage.
“Why not?” She didn’t look hurt. She looked... maybe angry?
“It’s a sin.”
“That is shit.” She advanced on him, grabbed him around the neck and planted her lips on his. Then her tongue was in his mouth and she was grinding her bony hips against him. It felt really good but nothing was happening and he knew if they were to proceed it would only end in embarrassment. But he liked what they were doing and they sunk down onto the blanket. The fire crackled beside them and the insects made music in the woods around them and the incense continued to breathe its perfumed breath. Time melted away. Whitney was very good with her hands. Probably since Doug didn’t respond the way she wanted him to, she undid his pants and pulled them down, kissing him on his penis. He should have told her to stop. Why didn’t he? Because it felt so good. And he would become erect briefly before it would deflate. He had no doubt he would have done what Whitney wanted him to if he had been able.
He heard a buzzing in the distance and thought it sounded like Crank’s dirt bike but he dismissed it, trying to supplant it with the sounds of Whitney’s slurping.
Then he heard, “Whoa! Fuck that throat, bro!” and any hope he had of an erection was gone completely.
Thirty-one
Whitney quickly stood up, wiping her mouth and turning her back to them. Crank continued his crooked walk toward the fire. Doug was already standing, tucked, and buttoned. He felt bad. He was pretty sure Whitney was embarrassed.
“Girl’s got skills!” Crank said. Whatever he was on, it was making him shout.
Doug punched him on the arm.
“What? You’re all over the place. First that bitch at the driving school and now sweet little Whitney. Soon I’m not going to have anything on you.”
Whitney, realizing they probably just weren’t going to leave, turned back around and joined them.
“Great timing,” she said.
“I didn’t realize tonight was the night you were going to deflower our precious Dougie. You can keep going. I’ll wait.”
“No,” Doug and Whitney said simultaneously.
“All right, when are we going to start drinking?”
Neither Whitney nor Doug answered him.
“Right,” he said. “We need something to drink and I left the beer on the bike. Whitney? Would you be a good little woman and...”
He couldn’t finish before she had spit on him, the bulk of it landing in his increasingly bizarre hair.
“Dammit.” He turned and walked back toward the house.
“Did you... invite him?” Doug asked.
“Yes. Well, he kind of invited himself. He has ways of making you tell him things you don’t want to.”
“Like?”
“Like I just mentioned you might be coming over tonight and then it was like he was there. I was assuming he would bring somebody and we could sneak off and be alone. Actually, I was pretty sure we’d be finished by the time he got here. Besides, what was that about you and the driving instructor?”
She sounded mad. Doug certainly didn’t want to give her any indication of what had happened earlier.
“Is that why you couldn’t get it up?” she practically spat. “Because you were fucking her? Was I licking some other girl’s cunt off your dick?”
“Calm down. She’s just a woman who invited me to a get together.”
“A woman. Is she like fifty?”
“I don’t know. She’s in her twenties, I guess.”
“But she’s cute, right? What’s her name?”
He was glad she asked two questions so he didn’t have to answer the first. “Mindy. Um, I don’t remember her last name.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Is she cute?”
“She’s all right. I don’t think she’s really interested in me.”
“You’re so full of shit. Mindy Astan’s the only Mindy I know and she’s gorgeous.”
Doug didn’t say anything.
“So Mindy Astan invites you to a party and you don’t think she’s interested?”
“It’s not really a party party. She’s a church person like me. It’s a graduation party or something. She’ll probably have family there and everything. It’s really no big deal.”
“So are you allowed to bring a date?”
“No, um, she told me to come by myself.”
“Then it’s a date!”
“How did you turn this around?” Crank was shuffling through the yard. “You invited Crank. Crank’s like... the Devil or something. And if I hadn’t come, which wasn’t a definite, you’d be alone with him.”
She rolled her eyes. “And probably getting fucked.”
“It feels too heavy around here,” Crank said. “I’ve got the prescription for that.”
He sat the case of beer on the ground, savagely ripped it open, and pulled one out. He also pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one up.
“Can I bum one?” Whitney asked.
He offered the pack to her. She took one and he offered the pack to Doug. Doug shook his head.
They sat on stumps were arranged around the fire and were silent while they sipped their beers.
Thirty-two
Amanda continued to walk as if hypnotized. She realized why she thought the air smelled so fragrant. It was blood. It was all around her. Maybe on her. Maybe she even smelled the blood coursing inside her. It smelled delicious. When she reached the edge of town, a car, a red convertible with the top down, pulled up beside her.
Mindy and Kristen sat in the front seat. Angie sat in back.
“Amanda!” Kristen called.
Amanda was already walking over to them.
“Hop in.”
Amanda hopped in the back without opening the door.
Mindy hit the accelerator and they were speeding outside Clover.
“Here, take this.” Angie proffered a pill to Amanda.
“What is it?”
“It doesn’t matter. It’ll make you feel great.”
“I already feel great.” And she did. The night was warm, the air rushed over her naked skin. The only way she could feel better was if Lawrence Kansas were here.
“This’ll make you feel even better.”
There certainly wasn’t any harm in that. She took the pill and, after only a few miles, it was like a whole other level opened up inside her and she did feel even better. She felt powerful. Indestructible.
“This is our last night of freedom,” Angie said. “Tomorrow we must begin preparations.”
“Preparations for what?”
“To become brides of Satan. To pledge ourselves only to him.”
“Glorious,” Amanda said. Laughed and then said, “Glory glory.”
“So you must witness this as well.”
“Of course,” Amanda said, knowing that to witness would also mean to take part in whatever they had planned.
Eventually everything began to feel unreal.
They drove to a strip club in Newport. Mindy and Kristen got out of the car and approached a group of frat boys on their way into the club. Amanda thought they looked common and normal. They seemed reluctant at first. Then Amanda corrected herself. They looked common and normal, but they also looked like meat. Young, healthy meat. And she thought about the youthful, rock hard cocks undoubtedly hidden in their clean boxer shorts. Once Mindy brought them back to their car and they caught a glimpse of Amanda, naked and semi-conscious, they were ready to follow them anywhere.
The frat boys piled into their huge SUV. There had to be at least eight of them, all smiling and laughing.
On the way back into Clover, Amanda lay in the backseat while Angie buried her head between Amanda’s legs and lapped at her vagina. The s
ensation lasted, building until they reached that place in the woods, never climaxing.
The frat boys, drunk and giggling, followed them into the Tabernacle.
Soon no one was wearing any clothes. Things were blurred and swirling around Amanda. Everyone was sweating and moaning. Cocks slid easily into her mouth and her dripping cunt and even into her asshole. The same thing happened to the girls with her, their eyes ferocious and intense, riding every moment, every thrust, every moan. It reached a fevered pitch. One cock filled Amanda’s ass pushing her just to the brink of pain, while another cock stared her in the face, semen shooting out of it, onto her nose, her lips, dribbling warmly onto her breasts.
Then there were screams.
Explosions of blood. Red mist hanging in the candlelight. The blood coated the walls, mixing with the semen on the floor, on the girls, in the girls.
She didn’t know when the goats had arrived. But they were there too. White fur quickly pinked, before they too became part of the sacrifice and just when Amanda thought she couldn’t take it anymore, the beast was there, lapping at each of them, filling them with pleasures the frat boys never could.
The night went on.
Thirty-three
Doug made it through the first half of his beer fairly quickly. The only sounds were the crackling fire and the insects. He wasn’t sure he’d ever not heard Crank be quiet this long.
“So,” Doug said, lifting the beer in front of his eyes, “you probably could’ve stolen it from the cooler. Then it’d be cold.”
“Beer’s beer, man. Patel was there. I had to take it from the store room. Sometimes it’s a good thing he makes me keep my bike back there. I really want to fuck his wife. Mainly because I’ve never fucked anything except white girls but she’s pretty cute.”
“Is that racism or reverse racism?” Whitney said.
“Fuck if I know. It’s love.”
“That I’m sure it’s not.”
Satanic Summer Page 10