The Deadlock Trilogy Box Set

by P. T. Hylton

  “Certifications for what?”

  “They call them certifications, but most of them are more like exceptions. If you're certified for a certain Regulation, that means you're allowed to break it. Will runs that program, by the way.”

  Frank ran his hand through his hair. He always did that when he was nervous. “And the people agreed to follow these rules?”

  “Yeah,” Sean said. “They… we did. It seemed like a long shot, but we didn’t have many options at that point. So we voted to approve the Regulations. As soon as we did, one of Zed’s weird disciples came out of the crowd and handed him this little box. Zed said he needed a room with some privacy, so me and a couple other cops showed him to an empty office in City Hall. A few hours later, Zed came out and said everything was all set. He said no one is to go in that room and he asked us to lock the door.”

  “So what happened after that?”

  Sean smiled. “Nothing. Nothing at all. There were no killings that night. Or the night after that. Or in the eight years since. At least not in Rook Mountain city limits. Regulation breakers haven't always been so lucky.”

  “So who killed those people?”

  “It wasn’t a who. It was a what. The killings were done by these...animals.”

  “What kind of animals?” Frank asked.

  “We’ll get to that,” Sean said. “But to understand that you have to understand a little more about what’s happened to the town. With the killings stopped, the Regulations took on this holy significance. We started enforcing them even though they had never officially been passed into law. Regulation 18 says that anyone who knowingly fails to report a Regulation breaker is just as guilty as the one who committed the crimes. There were these in-depth investigations into who knew about which crimes and when they knew it.”

  “That’s why you told me to be on the defensive?”

  Sean nodded and then continued. “Zed’s disciples started getting elected into public office. It’s gotten to the point where no one outside of his inner circle has a prayer of being elected to the board of selectmen. Officially, Zed runs nothing. In reality, he runs everything.”

  “People like Becky Raymond?”

  Sean smiled. “Yeah. She’s got ambition, that’s for sure.”

  “And my brother?” Frank asked. “What do you know about what happened to him?”

  Sean shrugged. “On that, I’m not much of an expert. I only know what I’m told. He killed three people. Two police officers and Todd. Then he disappeared.” Sean tilted his head at Frank. “Wait a minute, is that why they let you out? Is it about your brother? Is it because of the thing with Sally Badwater?”

  “Yeah. They want me to find him. If I do, I get to stay out of jail.” Frank took a long pull on his beer. “But I’ll tell you something. I know Jake, and there is no way he stuck around the scene of the crime. Maybe he did duck back into town to give Sally his cryptic message, but he is holed up somewhere else. If I am going to find him, I need to leave Rook Mountain.”

  Sean held up his hand. “Whoa, Frank. That’s a really bad idea.”

  Frank felt his face flush with anger. “It’s the only one I’ve got. I’m going to find my brother. He needs my help. And I’ll tell you something else. I wasn’t around to get brainwashed by Zed and his weirdo disciples. I never agreed to his Regulations and I don’t see why I should have to follow them. Jake’s hiding outside of town somewhere, and I’m going out there to find him.”

  Sean sighed and shook his head. He grabbed the phone and punched in a number. Ice filled Frank’s chest. Had he misjudged his friend? Was Sean turning him in? Was he about to be sent back to jail?

  Then Sean spoke. “Hi Christine, this is Sean. Listen, does your neighbor still sell rabbits? Could Will pick one up for me and bring it to the edge of town over on Dennis Cove Road? Frank needs a little demonstration.” There was a long pause where Sean did not meet Frank’s eyes. Then finally, “We're finishing up our dinner. Can he meet us in twenty minutes? Perfect. Goodbye.”

  Sean took a bite of his steak and then motioned to Frank’s. “Eat up, my friend. We have somewhere to be.”

  6.

  It was full dark when they pulled over to the side of Dennis Cove Road in Sean’s Subaru Forester. Will was already there. He was parked perpendicular to the road, the headlights of his sedan pointing into the woods fifty yards off the road. Sean eased his vehicle onto the gravel alongside Will’s. With the headlights of both vehicles pointed toward the grassy area off the road, it was lit up like day.

  A wire-mesh cage sat on the ground next to Will’s feet. In the glow of the headlights, Will looked grim and uncomfortable.

  Frank opened his door and stepped out before Sean had come to a complete stop. He raised a hand in greeting to Will. “Hey, roomie.”

  Will nodded back to him. “So I take it Sean’s been telling you about the Regulations?”

  “Yeah,” Frank said. “I’m not sure how much to believe, but he’s been telling me.”

  “Good,” Will said. “Look, Christine and I should have been the ones to give you the rundown. I’m sorry. Things last night were a little…”

  “Weird,” Frank said. “I know.”

  Will nodded. “Yeah. Sorry about that. We’ll do better tonight.”

  Sean stepped up beside Frank and patted him hard on the shoulder. “Will, your boy here has been taking this whole thing in stride. He hasn’t freaked out on me once.”

  “Night’s not over yet,” Will said.

  “That’s for damn sure,” Sean said. “But really, Frank, I’m proud of you. You seem to be taking this better than I ever would.”

  “Thanks,” Frank said. “It’s all a bunch of crazy-talk of course, but bits and pieces of it make sense. This whole Regulation thing happened about the same time they stopped letting us prisoners have any contact with the outside world. Guess now I know why.”

  Will pointed at something on the pavement. “You see that white line going across the road? That’s the town line. We are on the Rook Mountain side. Whatever happens next, do not cross that line, you hear me?”

  Frank nodded. He heard a little chirping-like sound coming from the cage, and he bent down for a closer look at the rabbit inside. It was a fat little thing with long floppy ears hanging down on either side of its face. It huddled in the corner of the cage farthest from Frank.

  “Cute little bugger,” Frank said.

  “Don’t get attached,” Will said.

  Sean patted Will on the back. “Thanks for coming out, man. Frank was talking about maybe leaving town. He said he wasn’t sure that the Regulations applied to him. I didn’t know how to explain. I thought maybe we needed to show him.”

  “I figured it was something like that,” Will said.

  Frank crossed his arms. He couldn’t help but smile at his two friends and their clandestine plan. “I’m game. This is the first time I’ve been outside after dark in years. Just seeing the stars is enough of a demonstration for me. Ain’t nothing better than freedom on a warm autumn evening.”

  Sean grinned at Will. “He thinks he’s free now. Isn’t that cute?”

  Will lifted the wire-mesh cage and walked toward the town line. “It’s like the old saying, I guess. Out of the frying pan and into the fire.” Will set the cage down on the white line. He put his foot on the back of the cage and slowly pushed it forward until it was completely on the other side of the line.

  “Okay,” Frank said. “What’s supposed to happen?”

  Sean put a hand on his arm. “Shhh. Listen.”

  Frank watched the cage and tried to listen. He didn’t hear anything besides the oscillating whine of the cicadas. He stood like that for about thirty seconds, listening, but wasn't sure what he should be listening for. Then, under the cicadas, there was something else.

  “Here it comes,” whispered Sean.

  At first it was just one sound, like a man singing a wordless melody in the distance. Then it was joined by another. And then
another. It vaguely reminded Frank of a Gregorian monk’s chant, except this tone was aggressive instead of worshipful. The pitch of each of the voices was different, but the notes of the song fit together into an unsettling and beautiful harmony. More voices joined the throng and the clamor grew louder. Frank tried to count how many distinct voices he heard, but he quickly lost track. He became aware of something else under the sound of the many-tuned song. It was a sharp snapping sound, a fluttering sound. It was the sound of wings.

  Quick as a flicker of light, a shape appeared in front of the cage. Frank could see it all too clearly in the beam of the headlights. The creature was about four feet tall, and it was bone thin. It had a face of a bird and a large curved beak. Its bat-like wings reached from its shoulders to the ground. It had no feathers, and its skin, its beak, and even its eyes were all the purest white. Its beak was wide open and pointed toward the sky as it sang its song. Others of its kind soon joined it.

  Frank stepped back and felt himself taking sharp, quick breaths. The creatures were less than five feet in front of him.

  Will put a hand on his shoulder. “You’re safe. They won’t cross the town line.”

  Frank forced himself to stand with the other men though his every instinct told him to run. He reminded himself that he was the stranger here and he didn’t know the rules. Will and Sean did. If they were confident in their safety, Frank should be too, right? He clenched his fists and stood fast, but his heart thumped so loudly in his chest that he felt sure the creatures would hear it and attack.

  “What the hell are they?” Frank asked, his voice betraying his fear.

  “Zed and his crew called them the Unfeathered,” Will said, “which I always thought sounded sort of lame. Most people call them the Birdies.”

  “Both pretty good band names,” Sean said.

  There were eight of them gathered in a semicircle around the cage. They were crowded in tight. The backside of the cage was flush against the town line, the line the creatures appeared unable to cross, so Frank had a clear view of both the cage and the Birdies.

  The creatures stood stone still, their heads raised, singing their terrible song. All the beauty Frank had heard in it before was gone now. It sounded as much like a cacophony of screams as it did music. It grew louder by the moment, filling Frank’s ears and worming its way under his skin, making him feel unclean.

  Frank turned to Will. “I thought you said things weren’t going to be as weird tonight.” He had to speak loudly to be heard over the singing. He heard the quiver in his own voice as he spoke.

  “I guess weird is a relative term,” Will said. “I’ve seen a fair amount of these guys in the last nine years. I ain’t seen you once.”

  Frank nodded, conceding the point.

  As if by some undetectable signal, the creatures all stopped singing at the exact same moment. Silence ruled the night. Even the cicadas had gone silent.

  Then, as one, they struck.

  Their heads snapped into the cage, tearing into the mesh wire like it was wrapping paper. The rabbit huddled near the back of the cage, shaking violently. Soon the creatures had torn open a hole big enough to allow their beaks access to the back of the cage.

  The creatures slowed then. The mad hunt for food was over and it was time to enjoy their meal. Their beaks still moved with an uncanny quickness, but they paused between each thrust, as if savoring the moments before the kill.

  The one in the middle shot forward, its beak too quick for Frank’s eyes to follow. Just as fast, its head was back outside the cage, a strip of furred flesh dangling from its beak. The others quickly followed, tearing off flesh, then muscle, until the panicked rabbit was finally silent. Less than a minute later the rabbit was nothing more than bones on the bottom of the cage.

  One of the creatures took a last half-hearted lunge at the carcass. The Birdie in the middle straightened up, shook itself off with a shudder, and launched into the air, cutting a graceful arch into the sky and back into the forest beyond the clearing. The others each gave an identical shudder, and then followed their brother into the night sky.

  None of the men spoke for a long while.

  Finally, Frank said, “Those are the things that killed all those people in town?”

  “Yeah,” Sean said.

  “They do that to anything that leaves town? Animal or human?” Frank asked.

  Will said, “They come out quicker in the nighttime, but they’ll attack during the day too, albeit a bit more slowly.”

  “There’s no way past them?”

  Will and Sean exchanged a look. “There’s a way,” Will said. “Zed and his Resource Expansion team are able to venture out.”

  “How do they do that?” Frank asked.

  “We don’t know,” Sean said.

  Frank thought for another moment. “Are all the other towns like this too? Are these things gathered around Elizabethton and Bristol and, hell, Washington, DC?”

  “We don’t know,” Sean said.

  “Why don’t they cross the town line?” Frank asked. “What exactly did Zed do to keep them away?”

  “We don’t know,” Sean said.

  “But we're hoping you can help us figure it out,” Will added.

  IN THE BEFORE (PART 3)

  A pounding noise woke Frank. It was as loud as a church bell, and he could feel it in his brain, his teeth, and his balls. He pulled the pillow over his head and tried to ignore it, but the noise didn’t stop. If anything, it grew louder.

  Frank didn’t want to open his eyes. He knew the pain would be worse when he did. He wanted to drift back to sleep. He had been dreaming of the Cassandra lock. In the dream, he had finally figured it out. He’d discovered how to make it work.

  But now he was awake, and he knew that the solution had been nothing more than a dream. The Cassandra lock was still a fantasy. He knew it would be perfect, but he couldn’t visualize it quite well enough to make it a reality.

  It had been a rough night filled with liquor store moonshine, the stuff they produced for the tourists. It wasn’t only his raging headache that made him want to stay curled up under the covers. Getting up would mean coming into contact with three items he would rather not deal with: his text messages, his outgoing calls list, and his email. Wendy had broken up with him four days ago. He didn’t remember the events of last night too clearly, but he was certain he would see Wendy’s name on at least two of those three lists.

  The pounding continued, and now a voice joined it. “Frank! You in there? You awake, buddy?”

  Frank sighed. It was Brett.

  It wasn’t that Frank didn’t like Brett. He enjoyed hanging out with him most of the time. There was something kind of cool about having three bachelors living in the cabins. There were many late nights of poker, whiskey, and non-judgmental slothfulness. Frank had never been to college, but he imagined this was what dorm life would have been like. It was the perfect environment for a recently dumped guy like Frank.

  But Brett had boundary issues. He came over at all hours, and he never took the hint. He simply kept knocking and shouting until Frank opened the door. It had been that way even when Frank and Wendy were together. He had been meaning to talk to Brett about it, about how it killed the vibe a bit when Brett came knocking on the door wanting to play Madden when Wendy was over. But, Frank supposed, there was little need now. His nights could use a little filling, even if it was playing Madden with his socially clueless neighbor.

  Frank tried to shift his mind to something more positive. Every morning he tried to think one or two positive thoughts before getting out of bed. Lately, it was getting harder and harder. This morning all he could think of was the Cassandra lock. He had the whole day in front of him without any plans. That meant he had the whole day to spend in the vacant cabin that served as his workshop. He was getting so close. A few more days and he would have it finished, he was sure of it.

  Frank sighed and got out of bed. He glanced at the t-shirt and running shorts on
the floor and then decided against them. If Brett wanted to talk to him so bad this early, he would get Frank in boxers.

  Frank shuffled his way to the door and opened it, squinting into the sharp morning light.

  “Hey man,” Brett said. “You up?”

  Frank blinked hard. “Yeah. I’m up. What’s going on?”

  Brett looked anything but remorseful. His face was straight, but a gleeful grin was beginning to peek through. “I wanted to make sure you were up. He’s here.”

  “Well, mission accomplished—wait, who’s here?”

  Brett’s grin widened. He was no longer attempting to hide it. “You know. That guy Zed.”

  “Zed? The naked guy Zed?”

  “The very same. I knew our turn was coming, I just didn’t know it would be so soon.”

  Frank stepped back from the door and gave Brett a nod. Brett scurried inside.

  “Okay,” Frank said, shutting the door. “Talk.”

  Brett moved to the couch and sank into it. “About twenty minutes ago, there was a knock on my door. I figured it was you or Will. 'Course I heard you playing guitar and singing at the top of your lungs pretty late last night, so I figured it probably wasn’t you.”

  Frank rubbed his eyes, trying to keep up with Brett. “Yeah, sorry about that. I was celebrating freedom.”

  Brett waved him off. “No, it’s cool man. Anyway, I open the door, and there he is. He’s so tall that I have to crane my neck to look him in the eye. I’m not used to that. And he’s dressed in a long sleeve shirt, buttoned all the way up to the top. The shirt is one of those heavy wool jobs. He looks cool as a cucumber, though, I’ll tell you that. A man wearing that shirt on a day like today, and he isn’t sweating even a little? I’m not sure what to think of a guy like that.”

  Frank walked to the bedroom and pulled on his shorts and t-shirt. “What did he want?” Frank called back over his shoulder.

  “It’s like everybody’s been saying. He says he wants to introduce himself, but then he starts talking all weird, about blood in the streets and I don’t know what else. Guy’s a real loony, I’ll tell you that. He’s talking to Will right now, poor guy.”