by Tim Waggoner
She opened the driver’s side door and got out of the Lexus. Aaron sat in the passenger seat for several more seconds before finally opening his door and joining her at the rear of the Lexus. He looked into the open trunk and saw that the sheet had come partially unwrapped during the drive, revealing Bryan’s withered remains. Aaron wasn’t certain, but the husk looked even smaller, as if it had continued to shrink in upon itself as they’d driven.
Caroline gave him a look that was half-expectant, half-sheepish. “You brought him tonight, Aaron. Or at least, you were the reason he ended up at Penumbra. That means — ”
“It’s my responsibility to dispose of him,” Aaron finished.
“Would you mind? I know I sound all girly for saying this, but I hate touching them when they’re like … that.” She nodded toward Bryan’s contorted, desiccated form, her nose wrinkling as if there was a foul odor in the air, though as far as Aaron could tell, the corpse didn’t smell at all.
Awfully thoughtful of the Overshadow to process its waste in such a way that it doesn’t stink.
Aaron couldn’t tell if this thought was his or if it had been something his father said. He glanced through the Lexus’ rear window and saw the backseat was empty. Good. He had enough to deal with right now without having to put up with the overly critical hallucination of his dad.
He reached into the trunk and did his best to re-wrap Bryan. Then he got a grip on the corpse and lifted it out. He knew the body would be light, but he was surprised by just how little it weighed. If you straightened out the arms and legs and tied a string to it, you could probably fly the damned thing like a kite. The resultant image that passed through Aaron’s mind nearly made him giggle, and he wasn’t sure whether that was due to his still being somewhat intoxicated from the Overshadow’s touch, or from mounting hysteria over what he was about to do. Maybe a little of both, he decided. He managed to repress the giggle and cradled the sheet-wrapped thing to his chest as if it were a sleeping infant and not the remains of a man that had been alive only a short while ago.
“Now what?” Aaron asked.
Caroline closed the trunk hard, and its loud chunk! echoed through the night.
“Follow me,” she said, and started walking. Aaron trailed her as she made her way through a grassy field. There seemed to be a path, but the grass was so high here it was hard to tell. The nightbreeze was cool, and the sky above was cloudless, and out here, away from the artificial lights of town, the stars shone clear and bright. Birds sang and insects chirped in the darkness around them, and Aaron was struck by how beautiful and perfect the night was. Given the grim errand they were on, coiling wisps of fog and eerie silence would’ve been more appropriate. It seemed almost obscene that the setting should be so pleasant considering what they were here to do.
The ground sloped downward from where Caroline had parked, and Aaron walked carefully, not wishing to trip and fall. The idea of losing his footing and dropping Bryan — or worse, actually landing on the dry, brittle remains — made him queasy.
What’s wrong, boy? The happy-happy of the Overshadow’s touch starting to wear off?
Maybe. Or maybe even the ecstasy granted by the Overshadow could only emotionally insulate a person so much.
A thought occurred to him then. “Does everyone who’s touched by the Overshadow dement?”
Caroline, who’d been walking slightly ahead of him, glanced back over her shoulder, but she didn’t slow down. “I’ve been going to Penumbra since I was seventeen, and I brought Phillip in a few years after that. Do either of us seem demented to you?” She faced forward again before Aaron could answer. He wondered if she did this because she thought the answer was a foregone conclusion, or because she preferred not to explore the issue too deeply.
As they continued down the sloping hill, Aaron saw two rows of parked vehicles not far ahead: four cars, two SUV’s, a van, and a pick-up. Engine and lights off, silent and dark.
Before he could ask, Caroline said, “This is where we keep the vehicles that belonged to our … temporary guests. Whenever possible, we try to drive our guests to Penumbra ourselves. But when that doesn’t work out, when the Overshadow is finished with them, we take their keys and drive their cars here.” She looked back at Aaron and smiled. “We can’t have the Valley View Shopping Center’s parking lot filled with abandoned vehicles, can we?”
“What about Bryan’s car?”
“Assuming he didn’t get a ride with someone else or walk to the bar, Wyatt will use the man’s ID to check on his vehicle registration. In fact, Wyatt’s probably doing that right now. Once he’s identified Bryan’s car, we’ll bring it here.”
“I only see eight vehicles,” Aaron said. “I’d think they’re would be a hell of a lot more considering how long Penumbra’s been around.”
“Oh, we don’t keep vehicles here long,” Caroline said. “Wyatt has connections to several chop shops around the state. We sell the cars to them cheap, but we’re careful not to get rid of too many at time so we don’t arouse too much suspicion. We usually have only a couple cars here at a time. Wyatt’s gotten a bit behind in his work, I suppose.”
“You’ve really got this down to a science, don’t you?”
“Well, we have been at this a long time.”
They reached the parked vehicles and walked between their rows. A dozen yards on the other side was an opening in the ground, a pit ten-feet across. Caroline walked up to the edge and stopped.
“This is it,” she said.
Aaron joined her and gazed down into the pit. It looked to be about ten feet deep with sloping sides. At the bottom, resting in a shallow pool of muddy rainwater, lay two cloth-wrapped bundles. Aaron couldn’t see any identifying features beyond one withered claw-hand sticking out, but he assumed one of bodies belonged to the stripe-shirted young man Caroline had taken to Penumbra the other night. But Aaron didn’t need to know who they were for certain to know what they were: the Overshadow’s leftovers.
“You just throw the bodies in there?” Aaron asked. “After everything I’ve seen about how Penumbra operates, this seems a bit … primitive. Not to mention risky. What if someone runs across the pit and discovers the bodies?”
“I’ll admit it’s a minor risk,” Caroline said. “But like I told you earlier, we’re in the boondocks here. My folks used to own this land; now I do. And it’s fenced off all around, with No Trespassing signs posted everywhere. And on the off chance someone did find this place and went to the police, Wyatt would deal with them.”
Aaron wondered just what Wyatt would do. He had the feeling that whatever it was, it would end with several more bodies at the bottom of this pit.
“There’s a practical reason why we do it this way,” Caroline said. “Once the Overshadow has finished draining the lifeforce from someone, their body is changed. Not just physically, but chemically. After a few days’ exposure to the elements, they basically turn to slime. The bones, too. I don’t fully understand the process, but Wyatt assures me that after seventy-two hours, what’s left can’t be identified as human, let alone as the remains of a specific person.”
“What about their clothes and the sheets they’re wrapped in?”
“It takes a bit longer, but the slime the bodies turn into eventually dissolves their clothes and wrappings, too.” She smiled. “Another of the Overshadow’s blessings.”
Aaron looked down into the pit once more and realized that though it had rained some in the last few days, the muck in the bottom of the pit wasn’t mud. Or at least, not only mud.
“Go ahead,” Caroline said. “Toss him in.”
Aaron hadn’t known Bryan as anything other than a drunken, belligerent asshole. But even so, he’d been a human being, and he deserved something better than being thrown into a pit like he was nothing more than garbage to be disposed of. But Aaron couldn’t think of anything else to do with him, and the thought of saying a few words of farewell before throwing him into the pit — not that Aaron had any
idea what to say — somehow seemed as if it would only make the situation worse. So he did as Caroline suggested, and tossed Bryan’s cloth-wrapped remains into the pit. They landed in the slime next to the other two with a thick, wet splat that reminded Aaron of the sound vomit makes when it strikes a hard surface.
Bryan’s head hit only inches away from another body, and the impact caused a flap of sheet covering it to roll back, revealing a woman’s black low-heeled shoe. Aaron stared. There was something almost familiar about that shoe, but he couldn’t —
Caroline took hold of Aaron’s shoulders, turned him away from the pit, and then kissed him. Her lips felts cold at first — cold as the Overshadow’s touch, cold as he imagined the slime in the pit must feel — but they quickly warmed as they moved over his. He didn’t want to respond to her, not after he’d learned the final harsh truths of Penumbra, but he couldn’t help himself. Warmth flooded his body, and blood rushed into his penis, bringing him instantly and painfully erect. Caroline reached down to rub his cock through his pants, and a soft moan escaped from the back of his throat. Their tongues met, circled, probed, jousted, and then Caroline drew back, breaking their embrace. She stood looking at him for a moment, her expression unreadable. Then her mouth curved into a half-smile, and she raised her hand and wiggled her index finger in a “come here” gesture. Aaron took a step forward, and then Caroline — like a deer that’s suddenly been startled — whirled around and dashed toward the cars. Grinning, Aaron took off in pursuit.
Caroline ran toward the closest vehicle in the bunch, an Accord. Blue, Aaron thought, though the night made the car look black, as if it had been formed from shadow. Caroline stopped as she reached the car, turned around, and leaned back on the hood, breathing hard, sweat trailing down her face and neck. Aaron half-expected pseudopods to emerge from the Accord’s dark surface and reach for her, but of course they didn’t. The Overshadow was confined to the back room of Penumbra, and this car was nothing more than a simple machine.
Caroline had already removed her top by the time Aaron caught up with her, and she started undoing her jeans. Aaron pulled off his shirt and tossed it to the ground, shivering as the night air caressed his bare skin. He then yanked down his pants and underwear in a single motion, setting his erection free. Caroline, completely naked now, grabbed hold of his stiff penis and pulled him toward her as he stepped the rest of the way out of his pants. Caroline leaned back against the hood of the Accord once more, her bare ass flattening against the metal. The hood must’ve been cool, for she took in a hissing breath as her flesh came in contact with it.
Diane drove an Accord just like this, Aaron realized. No big deal; it was a common enough car, and lots of folks in Ptolemy had them. Yet a warning signal went off somewhere deep in his subconscious, telling him that something was wrong here. Seriously wrong. But before he could tease the thought to the surface of his mind, Caroline spread her legs wide, tightened her grip on his cock, and yanked him forward hard, as if she didn’t care whether he came along with the organ or not. He stumbled forward and nearly fell on top of Caroline as she vigorously rubbed the head of his penis back and forth against her wet clitoris. Then she moved his cock into position, reached around to grab hold of his ass, and pushed him inside of her cunt. She was warm and slick as honey inside, and after experiencing the full force of the Overshadow’s gratitude this evening, Aaron’s nerve-endings were still so stimulated that he nearly came at once. He might have, too, if at that moment they hadn’t heard the sound of gravel crunching beneath car tires and hadn’t seen the harsh glare of approaching headlights.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Aaron pulled out of Caroline, his dick making a soft squelching sound as it withdrew. He was already beginning to soften, like a cock-shaped balloon with a serious leak.
“Who’s that?” he said, unable to keep an edge of panic out of his voice.
Of course you’re panicking, the Dad-Voice said. You’re standing there naked, in the process of fucking a woman that you just helped get rid of a dead body, AND you’re screwing her on top of a car that used to belong to yet another dead person. Talk about getting caught in a compromising position!
Caroline sounded more frustrated than concerned as she replied. “It’s probably just Wyatt bringing Bryan’s car. He no doubt wanted to give us a scare before getting a chance to fuck me too. He’s a dear, but he can be a little greedy at times.”
Aaron relaxed a bit, though Caroline’s words didn’t completely reassure him. “From the sound of it, Bryan’s car must be a real junker. The engine’s rattling so hard that …” He trailed off as he remembered where he’d heard that half-dead engine before. “That’s not Wyatt! It’s that bald guy I told you about, the one that attacked me in the parking lot outside my office the other day!”
“What? You can’t be serious!” Caroline pushed Aaron away from her then bent down to snatch her clothes off the ground. The car came to a rattling, chuffing stop next to where they’d parked the Lexus. From where they stood, Aaron couldn’t get a good look at the vehicle, but he had no doubt it was a powder-blue Volkswagen Beetle.
The bug’s headlights went out and the engine burbled as it died. For several seconds there was only silence, and then came the creaking sound of an ancient car door opening. The door chunked closed, followed by a raspy voice calling out, “Caroline! It’s Gerald! Did you miss me?”
Caroline had her top back on and was pulling up her panties when the bald man’s words echoed through the night. Even with the enhanced nocturnal vision granted by the Overshadow’s touch, Aaron couldn’t tell for certain, but it seemed to him that Caroline went pale.
“Oh god,” she whispered.
“What’s wrong?” Aaron grabbed his pants off the ground and started putting them back on. “Do you know this guy?”
“He used to be one of us, a member of Penumbra. But he demented about a year ago, and we haven’t seen him since. I’d hoped he’d killed himself by now, but I guess not. More’s the pity.”
Aaron saw Scab-Head — Gerald — start to make his way down the hill toward them. The man moved clumsily, his bulk a hindrance when it came to maneuvering the slope, and he was forced to go slowly.
“Is he dangerous?” Aaron asked.
“All dements are dangerous in some way,” Caroline answered. She hadn’t bothered putting her pants on yet, just left them sitting on top of the Accord’s hood. From the fearful tone in her voice, Aaron expected her to crouch down and attempt to hide behind the car. But instead she said, “Stay here. I’ll go see what he wants. Don’t worry, he won’t hurt me. I was the one who originally brought him into Penumbra; he has a thing for me.” She gave Aaron a quick wink and then stepped around the Accord and started walking toward Gerald, moving with a languid grace that was as calculated as it was sexy.
Aaron — still barefoot and bare-chested — stood and watched her go, torn as to what he should do. The protective male part of him wanted to rush forward and interpose himself between Gerald and Caroline, to guard her from this potentially dangerous lunatic. But the dispassionate, rational part of him understood that Caroline knew far more about dements in general, and Gerald in particular, than he did. He might well make things worse by confronting the man, might set him off into a maniacal rage.
“Whatever you do, you’d better decide quick. He’s almost reached her.”
Aaron turned to see his father leaning against the Accord, hand resting on the side panel.
“And you do realize this is Diane’s car, right?” Martin Rittinger asked. “I mean, you may be kind of slow on the uptake sometimes, but surely you’ve figured that out by now.”
Aaron stared at his father, unable to fully process what he was saying. But before he could reply, he heard Caroline speak.
“It’s been a while, Gerald. What have you been up to?”
Aaron pushed the matter of Diane’s car from his mind and turned to watch Caroline and Gerald. They stood a dozen yards from the parked cars, only a
n arm’s length between them.
“Nothing much,” Gerald said. “Making sure you and the other Insiders don’t catch me and feed me to the Overshadow, spying on you with the help of my good buddy Aaron over there …” Gerald nodded in Aaron’s direction.
Caroline looked back at Aaron, surprise and suspicion mingling on her face.
Aaron felt a sudden need to defend himself. “I don’t know what this crazy sonofabitch is talking about! I’m not spying for him or anyone else!” He started toward the two of them.
“Watch yourself,” his father warned as Aaron walked away from the Accord. “That fucker looks fruitier than a nutcake.”
“It’s all right,” Gerald said. “The time for secrecy has passed. The knowledge you’ve acquired will allow myself and the other Forsaken to plan our final assault and retake Penumbra once and for all.” He turned to Caroline. “And there’s nothing you or any of the others can do about it.” He stuck his tongue out at her, and Aaron was close enough now to see that the tip was bifurcated, as if it had been cut.
Caroline took a step back as Aaron drew closer. “I thought it was luck that brought us together … that you just happened to see me go into the club the other night and got curious. I never imagined that you were working with Gerald and the other dements.”
Aaron stopped when he was within five feet of the two. “That’s because it’s not true! It was coincidence that I saw you the other night, and I approached you because I’ve been attracted to you for years. The first time I ever met Gerald was in the parking lot outside my office the other day. I told you about that, remember? For Christ’s sake, you said it yourself — the man’s a dement. This is just some sick fantasy on his part, a delusion conjured up in his diseased mind!”
“You’re a fine one to talk about diseased minds!” his father called out.
Aaron almost whirled around and told the old man to shut up, but he didn’t. That was the sort of thing a crazy person would do, and he wasn’t crazy.