Outsider

by Stephen King

  Ralph didn’t need to be a mind reader to know what Holly was thinking at this moment: Every time you and the others talk about the outsider, it’s conditional.

  Ralph turned around in his seat. ‘Listen to me now. No more ifs or maybes. For today, the outsider does exist. For today, he can read Claude Bolton’s mind any time he wants to, and unless we know differently, he’s in the Marysville Hole. No more assumptions, just belief. Can you do that?’

  For a moment, no one replied. Then Howie said, ‘I’m a defense lawyer, son. I can believe anything.’

  7

  They came to the billboard showing the awestruck family holding up their gas lanterns. Howie drove slowly up the cracked asphalt entry road, avoiding the potholes as best he could. The temperature, which had been in the mid-fifties when they set out, was now edging into the seventies. It would go higher.

  ‘See that knoll up there?’ Holly pointed. ‘The main cave entrance is in the base of it. Or was, until they plugged it. We should check there first. If he tried to get in that way, there might be some sign.’

  ‘Fine with me,’ Yune said, looking around. ‘Jesus, this is desolate country.’

  ‘The loss of those boys and the rescue party that went after them was terrible for their families,’ Holly said, ‘but it was also a disaster for Marysville. The Hole was the town’s only job provider. A lot of locals left after it closed down.’

  Howie braked. ‘That must have been the ticket booth, and I spy a chain across the road.’

  ‘Go around it,’ Yune said. ‘Give this baby’s suspension a workout.’

  Howie drove around the chain, his seatbelted passengers bouncing up and down. ‘Okay, folks, we are now officially trespassing on private property.’

  A coyote broke from cover at their approach and sprinted away, his lean shadow racing beside him. Ralph spotted the remains of wind-eroded tire tracks and assumed that local kids – there had to be at least a few of them left in Marysville – brought their ATVs out here. He was mostly focused on the rocky bluff ahead, site of what had been Marysville’s one and only tourist attraction. Its raison d’etre, if you wanted to be fancy about it.

  ‘We’re all carrying,’ Yune said. He was sitting upright in his seat, eyes fixed straight ahead, on alert. ‘Is that correct?’

  The men answered in the affirmative. Holly Gibney said nothing.

  8

  From his perch atop the bluff, Jack saw them coming long before they reached the acre of parking lot. He checked his weapon – fully loaded, with one in the pipe. He had placed a flat stone at the edge of the drop. Now he lay at full length with the barrel resting on it. He sighted through the scope, putting the crosshairs on the driver’s side of the windshield. A sunflash momentarily blinded him. He winced, drew back, rubbed his eye until the floating spot was gone, then peered into the scope again.

  Come on, he thought. Stop in the middle of the parking lot. That would be perfect. Stop there and get out.

  The SUV instead trundled diagonally across the parking lot and stopped in front of the cave’s boarded-over entrance. All the doors opened and five people got out, four men and one woman. Five little meddlers, all in a row, lovely. Unfortunately, it was a shit shot. The sun in its current position cast the cave’s entrance in shadow. Jack might have chanced that – the Leupold scope was damned good – but there was the problem of the SUV, now blocking at least three of the five, including Mr No Opinion.

  Jack lay with his cheek against the rifle stock and his pulse beating slow and steady in his chest and throat. He was no longer aware of his throbbing neck; the only thing he cared about was the cluster of meddlers standing below the sign reading WELCOME TO THE MARYSVILLE HOLE.

  ‘Come on out of there,’ he whispered. ‘Come out and look around a little. You know you want to.’

  He waited for them to do it.

  9

  The Hole’s arched entryway was blocked by two dozen wooden planks, attached by huge rusty bolts to the cement plug beyond. With such double coverage against unauthorized explorers, there was hardly any need of No Trespassing signs, but there were a couple, anyway. Plus a few fading spray-paint tags – left, Ralph presumed, by the same kids who brought their ATVs out here.

  ‘Anyone think this looks tampered with?’ Yune asked.

  ‘Nope,’ Alec said. ‘Why they even bothered with the boards is beyond me. You’d need a good charge of dynamite to put a hole in that cement plug.’

  ‘Which would probably finish the job the quake started,’ Howie added.

  Holly turned around and pointed over the hood of the SUV. ‘See that road on the other side of the gift shop? That goes to the Ahiga entrance. Tourists weren’t allowed to go into the cave that way, but there are many interesting pictographs.’

  ‘And you know this how?’ Yune asked.

  ‘The map they gave out to tourists is still online. Everything is online these days.’

  ‘It’s called research, amigo,’ Ralph said. ‘You should try it some time.’

  They got back into the SUV, Howie once more behind the wheel with Ralph riding shotgun. Howie started slowly across the parking lot. ‘That road looks pretty crappy,’ he said.

  ‘You should be okay,’ Holly said. ‘There are tourist cabins on the other side of the rise. According to the newspaper stories, the second rescue party used them as a staging area. Plus there would have been lots of media people and worried relatives once the news got out.’

  ‘Not to mention your ordinary garden variety rubberneckers,’ Yune said. ‘They probably—’

  ‘Stop, Howie,’ Alec said. ‘Whoa.’ They were a little more than halfway across the parking lot now, the SUV’s stubby nose pointing toward the road that went to the cabins. And, presumably, to the Hole’s back door.

  Howie braked. ‘What?’

  ‘Maybe we’re making this tougher than it has to be. The outsider doesn’t necessarily have to be in the cave – he was hiding in a barn out there in Canning Township.’

  ‘Meaning?’

  ‘Meaning we should check the gift shop. See if there’s signs of a break-in.’

  ‘I’ll do it,’ Yune said.

  Howie opened the driver’s door. ‘Why don’t we all go?’

  10

  The meddlers left the boarded-up entrance and returned to the SUV, the stocky bald guy walking around the hood to get back to the wheel. That gave Jack a clear shot. He laid the crosshairs on the guy’s face, took a breath, held it, and tightened down on the trigger. It didn’t move. There was a nightmarish moment when he thought something was wrong with the Winchester, then he realized he’d forgotten to release the safety. How stupid could you get? He tried to push it without taking his eye from the scope. His thumb, greasy with sweat, slid off, and by the time he released the safety, the stocky bald man was in the driver’s seat and slamming the door. The others were back in, as well.

  ‘Shit!’ Jack whispered. ‘Shit, shit, shit!’

  He watched with increasing panic as the SUV started across the parking lot and toward the service road that would take it out of his line of fire. They would crest the first hill, they would see the cabins, they would see the service shed, and they would see his truck parked beside it. Would Ralph Anderson know to whom that truck belonged? Of course he would. If not from the leaping fish decals on the side, then from the bumper sticker – MY OTHER RIDE IS YOUR MOM – on the back.

  You can’t let them get up that road.

  He didn’t know if that was the visitor’s voice or his own, and didn’t care, because it was right either way. He had to stop the SUV, and two or three high-powered slugs in the engine block would do the job. Then he could start shooting through the windows. He probably wouldn’t get them all, not with the sun glaring on the glass, but the ones who were left would come spilling out into the empty parking lot, maybe wounded, dazed for sure.

  His finger curled on the trigger, but before he could fire the first shot, the SUV stopped on its own near the abandoned g
ift shop with its fallen sign. The doors opened.

  ‘Thank you, God,’ Jack murmured. He applied his eye to the scope again, waiting for Mr No Opinion to emerge. They all had to go, but the chief meddler was going first.

  11

  The diamondback emerged from the crack where it had taken refuge. It slithered toward Jack’s splayed feet, stopped, tasted the warming air with its flickering tongue, then slithered forward again. It had no intention of attacking, its purpose was only investigatory, but when Jack fired the first shot, it raised its tail and began to rattle. Jack – who had forgotten shooter’s plugs or cotton for his ears as well as his toothbrush – never heard it.

  12

  Howie was the first out of the SUV. He stood with his hands on his hips, surveying the fallen sign reading SOUVENIRS AND AUTHENTIC INDIAN CRAFTS. Alec and Yune exited the backseat on the driver’s side. Ralph got out of the shotgun seat to open the rear door for Holly, who was having trouble with the handle. As he did this, something lying on the cracked pavement caught his eye.

  ‘Damn,’ he said. ‘Look at that.’

  ‘What is it?’ Holly asked as he bent down. ‘What, what?’

  ‘I think it’s an arrowhe—’

  A gunshot rang out, the almost liquid whipcrack of a high-powered rifle. Ralph felt the passage of the slug, which meant it had missed the top of his head by no more than an inch or two. The SUV’s passenger side mirror shattered and flew away, hitting the cracked asphalt and tumbling across it in a series of brilliant flashes.

  ‘Gun!’ Ralph shouted, grabbing Holly around the shoulders and dragging her to her knees. ‘Gun, gun, gun!’

  Howie looked around at him. His expression was both startled and bemused. ‘Say what? Did you—’

  The second shot came, and the top of Howie Gold’s head disappeared. For a moment he stood where he was, blood coursing down his cheeks and brow. Then he toppled. Alec ran toward him and the third shot came, throwing Alec back against the hood of the SUV. Blood burst through his shirt above the belt line. Yune started toward him. There was a fourth shot. Ralph saw it tear away the side of Alec’s neck, and then Howie’s investigator dropped out of sight behind the car.

  ‘Get down!’ Ralph shouted at Yune. ‘Get down, he’s up on that bluff!’

  Yune dropped to his knees and scrambled. Three more shots came in rapid succession. One of the SUV’s tires began to hiss. The windshield cracked into a milk-glaze and sagged in around a hole above the steering wheel. The third shot punched through the rear quarter-panel on the driver’s side and blew an exit hole as big as a tennis ball on the passenger side, close to where Ralph and Yune now crouched, flanking Holly. There was a pause, then another fusillade: four shots this time. The rear windows broke, spraying nuggets of safety glass. Another of those ragged holes appeared in the rear deck.

  ‘We can’t stay here,’ Holly said. She sounded perfectly calm. ‘Even if he doesn’t hit us, he’ll hit the gas tank.’

  ‘She’s right,’ Yune said. ‘Alec and Gold, what do you think? Any chance?’

  ‘No,’ Ralph said. ‘They’re—’

  Another of those liquid whipcracks. They all flinched, and another tire began to hiss.

  ‘They’re gone,’ Ralph finished. ‘We have to run for that souvenir shop. You two go first. I’ll cover you.’

  ‘I’ll do the covering,’ Yune said. ‘You and Holly do the running.’

  A scream came from the shooter’s position. Of pain or rage, Ralph couldn’t tell.

  Yune stood up, legs spread, pistol held in both hands, and began to fire spaced shots at the top of the knoll. ‘Go!’ he shouted. ‘Right now! Go, go, go!’

  Ralph stood up. Holly stood up beside him. As on the day when Terry Maitland was shot, it seemed to Ralph that he could see everything. His arm was around Holly’s waist. There was a bird circling in the sky, wings outstretched. The tires were hissing. The SUV was settling on the driver’s side. At the top of the knoll he could see a stuttery, moving flash that had to be the scope of the bastard’s rifle. Ralph had no idea why it was moving around like that and didn’t care. There was a second scream, then a third, the last one almost a shriek. Holly grabbed Yune’s arm and jerked him. He gave her an amazed look, like a man rudely yanked out of a dream, and Ralph knew he had been ready to die. Expected to die. The three of them sprinted for the shelter of the gift shop, and although it had to be less than two hundred feet from the mortally wounded SUV, they seemed to be running in slow motion, like a trio of best friends at the end of some stupid romantic comedy. Only in those movies, no one ran past the mangled bodies of two men who had been alive and healthy only ninety seconds before. In those movies, no one stepped in a puddle of fresh blood and left bright red tracks behind. Another shot rang out, and Yune shouted.

  ‘I’m hit! Fucker hit me!’ He went down.

  13

  Jack was reloading, his ears ringing, when the rattlesnake decided it had had enough of this bothersome intruder in its territory. It struck him high on the right calf. Its fangs penetrated Jack’s chino pants with no trouble at all, and its poison sacs were full. Jack rolled over, holding his rifle high in his right hand, screaming – not at the pain, which was just beginning, but at the sight of the rattler slithering up his leg, its forked tongue flicking, its beady black eyes intent. The slippery weight of it was hideous. It struck him again, this time in the thigh, and continued its sinuous upward trek, still rattling away. The next strike might be into his balls.

  ‘Get off! GET THE FUCK OFF ME!’

  Trying to get rid of it with the rifle would do no good, it could evade that, so Jack dropped the gun and seized it in both hands. It struck at his right wrist, missing the first time but hitting on its second try, leaving holes the size of colons in a newspaper headline, but its poison sacs were exhausted. Jack neither knew nor cared. He twisted it in his hands like a man wringing out a washcloth, and saw its skin split. Down below, someone was firing repeatedly – a pistol, by the sound – but the range was long and nothing came close. Jack flung the rattlesnake, saw it thump to the rocky scree, and slither away once more.

  Get rid of them, Jack.

  ‘Yes, okay, right.’

  Was he speaking, or only thinking? He couldn’t tell. The ringing in his ears had become a high hum, like a steel wire being stroked until it vibrated.

  He grabbed the rifle, rolled onto his belly, placed the barrel back on the flat rock, peered into the scope. The remaining three were running for the shelter of the gift shop, the woman in the middle. He tried to put the crosshairs on Anderson, but his hands – one of them repeatedly snakebitten – were trembling, and he got the olive-skinned guy on the end instead. It took two tries, but he got him. The guy’s arm flew back over his head like a pitcher getting ready to throw his best fastball, and he fell on his side. The other two stopped to help him. This was his best chance, and maybe the last. If he didn’t take them now, they’d get behind the building.

  Pain was flowing up his leg from the initial bite, and he could feel the flesh of his calf swelling, but that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was the heat that was now spreading like a flash fever. Or the sunburn from hell. He fired again and thought at first he’d hit the woman, but it was only a flinch. She grabbed the olive-skinned man by his unwounded arm. Anderson got him around the waist and yanked him to his feet. Jack pulled the trigger again, and got nothing but a dry click. He fumbled in his pocket for more shells, loaded two, dropped the rest. His hands were going numb. The leg that had been bitten was going numb. His tongue seemed to be swelling in his mouth. He screamed again, this time in frustration. By the time he applied his eye to the scope again, they were gone. He could see their shadows for a moment, then those were gone, too.

  14

  With Holly on one side and Ralph on the other, Yune was able to make it to the splintered side of the gift shop, where he collapsed with his back against the building, panting. His face was ashy, his forehead dotted with pearls of sweat. The l
eft sleeve of his shirt was bloody down to the wrist.

  He groaned. ‘Fuck, doesn’t that fucking smart.’ From the knoll, the shooter fired again. The bullet whined off the asphalt.

  ‘How bad?’ Ralph said. ‘Let me see.’

  He unbuttoned Yune’s cuff, and although he pulled the sleeve up gently, Yune yelped and bared his teeth. Holly was on her cell phone.

  When the wound was revealed, it didn’t look as bad as Ralph had feared; the bullet had probably done little more than crease him. In a movie, that would have left Yune ready to rejoin the fray, but this was real life, and real life was different. The high-powered slug had gotten enough of him to do a job on his elbow. The flesh around it was already swelling, turning purple, as if it had been smashed with a club.

  ‘Tell me the elbow’s only dislocated,’ Yune said.

  ‘That would be good, but I think it’s broken,’ Ralph said. ‘You still lucked out, man. If it had gotten any more of you, I think it would have torn your lower arm right off. I don’t know what he’s shooting, but it’s big.’

  ‘My shoulder’s dislocated for sure,’ Yune said. ‘Happened when my arm whipped back. Fuck! What are we going to do, amigo? We’re pinned.’

  ‘Holly?’ Ralph asked. ‘Anything?’

  She shook her head. ‘I had four bars at the Boltons’, but not even one here. “Get off me”, is that what he shouted? Did either of you h—’

  The rifleman fired again. Alec Pelley’s body jumped, then lay still. ‘I’ll get you, Anderson!’ came floating down from the top of the knoll. ‘I’ll get you, Ralphie-boy! I’ll get all of you!’

  Yune looked at Ralph, startled.

  ‘We messed up,’ Holly said. ‘The outsider had a Renfield after all. And whoever he is, he knows you, Ralph. Do you know him?’