Skinwalkers

by Hill, Bear

  She’d taken her time setting fire to what remained of Perdition. A job worth doing was a job worth doing well, Max used to say, usually when the two of them were up to no good in order to save the neck they shared. This time was no different.

  Coyote was gone, but Maxine knew in the deepest parts of her soul that this was only a temporary reprieve. Something as evil as the Navajo witch just wasn’t that easy to kill. Not for good.

  Sooner or later, Coyote would be back. But Maxine sure as hell wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of having anything to come home to.

  “Fuck you here, now, and forever,“ Maxine mumbled under her breath. As she looked upon the town, the fires of Perdition danced in the mirrors of her eyes.

  Farnsworth adjusted the makeshift crutch wedged in his armpit. “Dry as it’s been, there’s little doubt that the town will burn until it’s scoured from the earth.“

  “And good riddance.“

  “It’s too bad,“ Farnsworth said.

  “Hmm?“

  “Too bad the others didn’t make it. Especially our friend, the bounty hunter.“

  Maxine frowned.

  “He was one annoying bastard, I confess,“ Farnsworth continued. “But the man had gumption. There was no denying that. I may have to make chronicle of it someday.“

  “How so?“ Maxine asked the question out of reflex. But she wasn’t really paying attention. Her eyes were still glued to Perdition’s flames.

  “I write books, my good lady,“ Farnsworth said. A long moment pregnant with silence passed before he continued. “I could write one about what happened here. As fiction, of course. No one in his right mind would believe the truth of what we’ve been through.“

  Farnsworth turned to study Maxine’s silhouette. “Well?“

  “Well what?“

  “What do you think?“

  Maxine didn’t reply at first. As usual, she was lost in a conversation with herself—or at least trying to be.

  We did it, Max. We kept Pablo and ourselves alive to face another day. Whether that’s good or bad, I don’t know.

  Max gave no reply. In fact, Maxine hadn’t heard from her split personality since he’d offered to dispose of Coyote for her. Somehow, Maxine knew she’d never hear her alter ego’s voice inside her head ever again.

  “I think—“ Maxine shifted her gaze to Pablo. “I think the past is best left in the past, Professor.

  “Right here and now is all we got. All that matters. Everything else is just white lies and bullshit.“

  Maxine produced a cigar from her shirt pocket and then lighted its end with her torch. She took a large drag off the cigar and then let the smoke waft out of her mouth of its own accord, the action familiar and soothing to her.

  Maxine tossed the torch to the ground, and shouldered the pack of supplies she and Farnsworth had gathered from town.

  “Let’s go.“ Maxine began to walk away. Farnsworth and Pablo followed after her.

  From an interview with Bear Hill in Fright Magazine…

  FRIGHT: The horror genre has been said to have peaked with King in the mid-80s. What made you decide to write your first book in a field that is considered to be well on its way to extinction?

  HILL: Because I was tired of writing idiotic drivel for the masses, that’s why!

  FRIGHT: You’re referring to your history as a writer for television situation comedies?

  HILL: No, I’m referring to my time as a greeting card writer for fucking Hallmark. Of course I’m talking about my work in sitcoms! That shit was for the birds. Skinwalkers allowed me to shrug off the restraints of the corporate environment and be as down and dirty as I want to be, which is pretty fucking nasty! And I hardly see horror on the verge of extinction. Sure, no one puts up numbers like King, or at least like he used to. But the man was a fucking phenomenon, the Charles Dickens of horror. So long as this book puts food on the table, I’ll consider it well worth the effort.

  FRIGHT: Skinwalkers certainly appears to be doing that. I hear Splinter’s Edge Films has optioned the book and also hired you to write the screenplay?

  HILL: You’re damn skippy. I’m excited as Rodriguez is in talks to direct. We’ve spoken over the phone and e-mailed quite a bit. He gets it; the whole transformation metaphor and the exploration of the angel and the devil living inside each of us. It’ll be an absolute dream-come-fucking-true if he ultimately comes on board.

  FRIGHT: Speaking of film, it’s become a known fact you’re understandably quite the movie buff. The influence of horror cinema seems to be very prevalent in the book…

  HILL: Absolutely! Skinwalkers is a “tip of the hat“ to films ranging from Romero’s Night of the Living Dead to James Cameron’s Aliens. Just like with those movies, in Skinwalkers, I want to reader to experience the pure, unadulterated thrill of being scared shitless with little or no complications. Horror is such a primal thing. It speaks to our lizard brains—takes us back to the days when our ancestors huddled around a fire at night not just for warmth, but to simply stay alive. I wanted to create that kind of tension in Skinwalkers—the feeling of being trapped with only paper-thin walls separating you from death. It’s a prison you loathe but also welcome. It’s a metaphor for life in general.

  FRIGHT: Another popular tenant of modern horror fiction is to make monsters commonplace and then combine the story with another genre, most notably romance or noir fiction. While skinwalkers are hardly considered every day fare for your protagonists, let me ask you what made you decide to set your horror novel in the Southwest of the 1800s?

  HILL: Four men: Louis L’Amour, Larry McMurtry, J.T. Farnsworth, and Sergio Leone. Once again, Skinwalkers owes a lot to the cinema as, although my book borrows its premise in large part from one of the dime novels by Farnsworth, of the four, Leone was probably the greatest influence on me as a storyteller. I knew from the beginning, I wanted the heightened reality of his rough and gritty west to be the setting of my book. I liked the moral ambiguity of Leone’s characters—something he borrowed from another film legend, Akira Kurosawa—and wanted that state of being for my own characters. In Skinwalkers, there are no good guys in white hats, or bad guys in black ones, for that matter. These are all flawed people who have things to answer for. But under the right circumstances, many of them rise to be better than they otherwise would be.

  FRIGHT: The Old West also seemed a natural fit your spin on the werewolf myth—the Native American legend from which your title gets its name.

  HILL: Most certainly. I’ve always dug werewolves. But it would have been utterly ridiculous to have brought its European incarnation into the American West when the folklore was already there and ripe for the picking.

  FRIGHT: Has your use of a subject considered taboo among Native Americans resulted in any backlash?

  HILL: Actually, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Especially among the Navajo. They understand my book is a work of fiction and is intended to be taken only in that regard.

  FRIGHT: Going back to Night of the Living Dead, many considered it a bold move within the context of the times for Romero to have cast a black man in the lead role. Romero later confessed there was no such political thinking at work; Duane Jones was simply the best actor available. It seems there was actually some deeper thought on your part in making your lead protagonist—Dewayne Jefferson, the bounty hunter—African-American.

  HILL: I’d like to take credit and say you’re right, but the Romero scenario is closer to the truth in my case, as well. When I decided to make the bounty hunter a black man, it simply felt right. That’s just who the character was in my mind. Now, I certainly took that aspect of his person within the context of the times and ran with it. And my giving them similar names is yet another cheap pop to Romero. Now I grant you, there may have been some subconscious desire on my part to play with convention and flip-flop the race of Farnsworth’s villain with that of my protagonist. Farnsworth’s making Black Bob, well, black, and the light in which he portrays
Native Americans are obviously devices catering to that time period’s popular opinion of white supremacy. But for the most part, Dewayne simply was who he was.

  FRIGHT: It’s rumored you camped out on the scorched earth thought to be the lost town of Perdition, New Mexico, to research your novel. Is that true?

  HILL: What, with all the shit that’s supposedly happened out there? Do you think I’m fucking crazy? Hell no, it’s not true!

  From transcript of pre-trial interview of Johanna Sims while under hypnosis in the case of The People vs. Johanna Sims…

  Hypnotist and interviewer: Kevin Lewis (Professor of Psychiatry, Purdue University)

  Interviewee: Johanna Sims (the accused)

  Representation: William Devine (Attorney for Ms. Sims)

  Security: Bryan White (Officer, San Ramirez Correctional Facility)

  Interview

  Lewis: Johanna, I want to discuss with you a bit about hypnosis. Basically, it’s a procedure that will make you completely relax. Once you’re relaxed, you will be able to hear better, see better, and focus. Upon hearing better, whatever I say to you or whatever you say to yourself will soak in more and you will remember it when we are finished. This is merely a means of creating greater awareness. You won’t be asleep. You’ll actually be in a state of heightened alert. Your subconscious thoughts and memories will be totally open and available to you. You may stop the session at any time. You can do anything in hypnosis that you can do out of it, only you’re less distracted. You won’t do anything against your will. We will try to find those memories you have that will help answer our questions, but you will watch anything unpleasant as if it were in a movie. Nothing can harm you. You will be safe. Do you understand?

  Sims: Yes.

  Lewis: Now, it’s time to concentrate and relax. I’d like you to focus on the pinwheel in my hand. Look at the pinwheel and relax. Feel the restraints on your arms and legs soften and disappear. See the room’s gray walls dissolve into nothingness…

  [Dr. Lewis then proceeded to elicit a deep hypnotic state. After ten minutes the subject was adequately relaxed. Pinprick tests verified the depth of the hypnotic trance and interrogation proceeded.]

  Lewis: Johanna, you are very relaxed now, very safe, ready to peruse the vault of memories. Now, I want you to think back to April 11, 2004, the third day of the Perdition dig. You are there, right now. Tell me what you see and hear. Trust your subconscious mind to tell the truth. Feel free to let it narrate and tell me what it is experiencing.

  Sims: I’m in the truck with Derek. He’s playing rap music. He knows I hate it but thinks it’s funny to make me listen to it. Derek likes me but is too shy to say so.

  Lewis: How do you feel about Derek, Johanna?

  Sims: He’s nice, but immature. Sometimes he can be an ass.

  Lewis: Do you wish him harm in any way?

  Sims: No. I would never want to see Derek hurt. He’s like my little brother.

  Lewis: Where are you and Derek going, Johanna? Where is the truck now?

  Sims: We’re headed toward the dig. I can see the black earth ahead of us in the distance. It shimmers like a mirage. I don’t like it. It’s already hot outside, but it’s always cold there. And the smell…

  Lewis: Okay, Johanna. Relax for a moment. The black earth is gone. You are safe. Now, I want you to think about later that day, when you unearthed the skeleton. You are there right now. Tell us what you see.

  Sims: I brush away dirt and I see what looks like the end of a bone. I don’t think anything of it at first. We’ve made a lot of finds in this area, but most turned out to be nothing but pig bones. We think this section must have been some kind of killing ground for animals; probably a slaughterhouse. I keep brushing. It’s not long before I realize I’m looking at a human ulna. A big one. I call Professor Reynolds over. He’s excited and we both begin to work the site. Soon, Derek and Sara join us.

  [The subject pauses and begins to show signs of discomfort.]

  Lewis: It’s okay, Johanna. You are calm and relaxed. Remember, you’re completely safe. Anything unpleasant will play before you like a film in a movie theater. Is that clear?

  Johanna: Yes.

  Lewis: Good. Once again, you are totally relaxed. Nothing can harm you. Now please tell us what you see.

  Sims: We scrape the dirt away and I’m shocked to see there’s not a hand attached to the arm bones, but a claw. The jagged nails on its fingers are as black as the earth it came out of. None of us know what to think. We begin working back the other way. We’re amazed to find the ulna and radius attached to a humerus. It’s as though the skeleton has been perfectly preserved in its entirety. Then, finally, we uncover the head.

  Lewis: Then what happens, Johanna? What happens when you unearth the head?

  Sims: We all crouch there, just looking at it. Sara thinks Derek has played a joke on us and says so. I know he hasn’t even before he answers.

  Lewis: Why, Johanna? Why does Sara think Derek has played a joke?

  Sims: Because the head isn’t a human at all. Professor Reynolds says it’s the skull of a coyote. I know he’s right.

  Lewis: Please, tell us, Johanna. How do you know Professor Reynolds is right?

  Sims: I just know. I look at its fanged jaws grinning up at me, and I just know. I stare in to the empty space where its eyes would be and feel like I’m falling into it, drowning where there is only darkness and…and Coyote.

  Lewis: Johanna, sleep!

  Devine: I thought you said this was perfectly safe? There at the end, she looked like she was about twist herself inside out!

  Lewis: I assure you, Counselor, she is safe. Totally and completely. Johanna’s just been through a traumatic experience. One so traumatic her mind has blocked it out. She’s just uneasy about recovering memories she’s kept locked away so tightly. But we can stop, if you wish…

  Devine: We need to know what the hell happened that night. You’re sure she’ll be okay if we continue?

  Lewis: There is no danger. Johanna will break the trance herself if things become too difficult for her.

  Devine: Very well.

  Lewis: Johanna, this is Dr. Lewis again. Can you hear me?

  Sims: Yes.

  Lewis: Good. Now, we are going to delve further into your subconscious. But there is no reason to be afraid. Nothing we find there can harm you. Do you understand?

  Sims: Yes.

  Lewis: Excellent. Now, still being absolutely calm, absolutely relaxed, I want you to move forward in time to that night at the dig, after everyone had gone to bed. You are there, right now. What is happening?

  Sims: I wake up from a dream that I can’t remember. I look over and see Sara lying in her sleeping bag beside me in the tent. Her snores are soft, as tiny as she is. I have to pee and so I leave the tent and walk to one of the portable toilets. On my way back, I feel drawn to the tent we’ve set up over the skeleton.

  Lewis: What do you mean, you feel drawn?

  [Subject does not answer for several seconds.]

  Sims: It like someone’s calling me. I feel my body moving toward the site of its own accord. Before I know it, I’m standing over Coyote.

  Lewis: Who?

  Sims: Coyote…the skeleton.

  Lewis: Do you call it Coyote because of its head?

  Sims: Yes. But it’s more than that.

  Lewis: What happens next, Johanna?

  [Johanna begins to tremble in her seat across the table from Dr. Lewis]

  Devine: Oh Christ. We better…

  Lewis: Johanna, relax. You are perfectly safe. You are still at the dig but you are surrounded by a force field that won’t let anything hurt you. Nothing harmful can pass through the force field, Johanna. Whatever you see is just playing on a movie screen, do you understand?

  Sims: Yes.

  Lewis: Good, Johanna. Now tell us what happens next.

  Sims: Coyote.

  Lewis: We don’t understand, Johanna. The skeleton?

  Sims: Yes…a
nd no.

  Lewis: Is there someone else there with you, Johanna? Someone calling themselves Coyote?

  Sims: Yes…and no.

  Devine: Where the hell are you going with this, Doctor?

  Lewis: Look, Mr. Devine. As I’ve told you, in my prior sessions with Johanna, she’s exhibited symptoms typically associated with dissociative identity disorder.

  Devine: Multiple personalities, right. And I told you that defense doesn’t have a chance in hell. This is New Mexico, not California.

  Lewis: Please, Mr. Devine…William. I think we’re on the cusp of something here. Something that might lead to Ms. Sims’s freedom. May I or may I not continue?

  Devine: I called you in as an expert witness, Doctor. Please proceed, but do not waste my or my client’s time for the sake of your own curiosity.

  Lewis: Johanna, is Coyote with you at the site?

  Sims: Yes.

  Lewis: Is Coyote part of you, Johanna?

  Sims: Yes.

  Lewis: Is he here with you, now?

  Sims: Yes.

  Lewis: May I speak to the part of you that is Coyote?

  White: Oh, sweet Jesus! Look at what’s happening to her eyes! Look at what’s happening to her fucking eyes!

  [At this point, the interview ended as the subject broke out of her restraints and attacked the men in attendance. Dr. Lewis and Mr. White were killed and Mr. Devine suffered crippling wounds before other officers arrived to subdue the subject.]

  From an e-mail written by Splinter’s Edge Films Executive Producer, Albert Smith…