by Mark Tufo
“What? Are you going into shock?”
“Would I be able to tell?” Mike asked the sheriff.
“No, I guess not. Here, lie down.”
“There’ll be plenty of time for that.”
The sheriff’s face fell when he realized the truth behind Mike’s words.
“I wouldn’t have taken the purveyor as a she,” Mike said to Paul.
“It’s not really either, just a label. Are you afraid?”
Mike nodded.
“It’ll all be over soon, buddy.”
“Am I going to hell?” Mike asked.
Both the sheriff and Paul answered simultaneously. “Absolutely not.”
“I murdered a man.”
“Self-defense goes a long way in the eyes of the law and with God,” the sheriff said tenderly. “Is there anything else you’d like to confess?”
Mike could barely focus on the sheriff, the images in his right eye began to melt and blur around the edges.
“The girl in the basement, Mike,” the sheriff said in clarification.
“That’s my wife,” Mike said, drifting in and out of consciousness.
“You never married,” Paul said.
“That cannot be your wife, Mike, she’s been gone for over a month. Don’t die with this on your conscience.”
“We didn’t mean to kill her,” Mike said.
“We?” the sheriff asked as Mike slumped over, his heartbeat making its last struggling effort to cling to a destroyed life. “No, you’re staying with me!” the sheriff yelled, beating on Mike’s chest. “I will not lose another one,” he cried as he began compressions on Mike’s chest and then pinching Mike’s nose in an effort to get life-giving breath into the teenager.
***
The carnage on the roadway was unlike anything the sheriff had seen in his fourteen years on the job. A teenager who the sheriff was sure would fail a toxicology report had taken a turn too severely and had first plowed into a young couple out for a walk and then into a tree. The couple on the ground had died instantly, two teenagers had fried in the car and the one who had been ejected had struggled to hold onto life as long as he could but the massive trauma to the side of his head where he had struck the tree had been too much for his body to sustain life.
The Flight for Life helicopter which had just found a safe place to land was waved away once it was realized that no one that was a part of this tragedy would be walking away.
An EMT came up to the sheriff and pressed his fingers on the side of Mike’s neck. He waited a few moments before shaking his head.
“He’s dead, Al,” the EMT said as he placed his hand on the sheriff’s shoulder.
“This is the first day in all my years, Lawrence, that I wish I was anything but a sheriff,” he said as he stood and walked away from the scene to get away for a moment.
Deputy Caldwell found him a hundred yards down the road. “I ran the plates sheriff, the car is registered to a Mr. and Mrs. Paul Ginson, I know them, that’s most likely their son behind the wheel. Do you want me to make the call?”
“I’ll do it,” the sheriff said as he walked back toward his cruiser, his heart nearly dragging. “What about the two on the ground?” he asked the deputy.
“Jandilyn Hollow and Durgan O’Grady, they’re locals, both graduated last year. Pretty sure they’ve been an item since school. I might have even seen an announcement in the newspaper about their engagement.”
“Damn shame,” the sheriff said as the two bodies were placed into body bags by the coroner and his assistant. “Finish getting statements by the witnesses, please,” he said as he dragged his hand across his face.
“Mr. and Mrs. Planter, just a few more questions,” the deputy stated.
“Please I’m Jed and this is my wife Grace,” the old man said.
EPILOGUE
“It’s good to see you, my friend,” Mike said as he hugged his friend. Paul reciprocated. “What happened, Paul?” Mike asked as he watched the sheriff sit down in his cruiser and grab his radio to make a call that no one should ever have to make.
“I crashed,” Paul said, putting his head down. “I killed us all, including Jandilyn and Durgan.”
“You didn’t kill my wife,” Mike said. “She died in child birth.”
“This might take a few minutes,” Paul said, motioning to a log.
“What’s the rush?” Dennis said, smiling as he came out of the backseat of Paul’s car, looking as good as the day he had entered it some six years previous.
“Wags!” Mike shouted. “I’ve missed you, man, every fucking day I’ve missed you both so much.” He stood to greet his grinning friend.
“He doesn’t know?” Dennis asked Paul.
Paul shook his head.
“Buddy, how old do you think you are?” Paul asked.
“Twenty-one, twenty-two maybe.” Mike responded without blinking.
“I know this is a lot to take in, but look around,” Paul said, sweeping the landscape with his hand, a sad smile spread thinly on his lips.
“Why have you brought me back here, Paul?” Mike asked, clearly confused.
“I didn’t bring you back, Mike, we never left.”
“Come on. What’s really going on?”
“We all died tonight.”
“Paul, that can’t be. I met Jandilyn after I got out of the hospital. Fell madly in love with her, she saved me from my constant thoughts of suicide. We moved to California, got married and were having a kid. And you want me to believe all of that didn’t happen? I can’t, that’s almost as traumatic as dying as a teenager.”
“I lived in Nova Scotia for a few years,” Dennis said as he sat down next to Mike. “Started working on a swordfishing boat.”
“When’d you do that?” Mike asked.
“Same time you were falling in love with Jandilyn,” Dennis said.
“What about you, Paul?” Mike asked.
“I stayed here, I never left. The guilt was too much.”
“How long, Paul?” Mike asked.
Paul put his head down.
“The whole time?” Mike asked Dennis.
“When the demon came I almost went willingly,” Paul said with his head buried in his hands.
“I couldn’t run fast enough or I guess swim,” Dennis said, “I was sinking in the ocean. Fell off the damn boat in a swell. I loved that boat, it was the only place I was at peace.”
“Was it haunted?” Mike asked.
“The cat saved me,” Paul said before Dennis could respond.
“Cat? Was it a seven pound runt, with different colored fur?” Mike asked.
“That sounds like Patches,” Dennis said, she was on the boat with me, weirdest thing too because don’t cats hate water?”
“I thought she was going to rip my head off. The cat, not the demon,” Paul added for clarification. “The purveyor wasn’t even moving, I was heading toward it and the cat came tearing out of the woods, got right in front of me and was hissing and spitting. One small kick and I could have sent it tumbling away. When I stopped moving the demon started coming toward me. The cat whipped around and stood her ground against that thing. It was at that point I understood what was going on. The demon is just looking for opportunities to claim unfettered souls.”
“Dude, what are you talking about?” Dennis asked.
“When you die before your time your soul is not allocated one way or the other, the Purveyor will do her best to gather you up and basically sell you off to the highest bidder.”
“I’m not saying I believe all that, but what happens now? We’re still unfettered,” Mike said.
“It’s our choice,” Paul answered.
“Are there any brochures we can look over?” Mike asked.
“I didn’t think sarcasm would travel over into death,” Dennis said, stroking his chin.
“Free will, we all have it,” Paul said.
“Do you know what was in my house with me?” Mike asked.
�
��Your soul, I would imagine,” Paul answered.
“Isn’t that what I am now?”
“But you didn’t know it then,” Dennis finished.
“I don’t know if this is ever going to make sense.”
Mike looked over at some movement, the sheriff was getting out of his car, it appeared that he was aging yearly per minute. The events of this night would haunt him for the rest of his days.
Mike’s phantom heart slammed into his chest as he caught sight of Jandilyn coming around the front of the sheriff’s cruiser, she was peering down at the body bag that contained her physical remains. Mike had a pang of jealousy when he saw Durgan standing behind her.
Tears were coming down her face as she clutched her distended belly.
“She’s pregnant,” Mike said softly.
She caught Mike looking at her and gave him a slow meaningful look as if they had shared something and then she turned to her fiancé, they clutched hands and walked down the road. Mike watched until he couldn’t see them anymore.
“You alright?” Paul asked, putting his arm around Mike’s shoulder.
“The best I’ve been in a while, Paul. I thought I was going insane.”
“I’m sorry.”
Mike didn’t know what to say, he wasn’t really angry that his life had been cut short. He was saddened for what his family was going to have to go through but they were tight-knit they would get through it. And it really did seem as if in the end they would all be reunited.
“What now?” Mike answered in repose.
“How about one more walk on Indian Hill?” Dennis asked. “And we’ll decide from there.”
The three friends laughed as if there were no tomorrow, soaking in the best of what the world of the living had to offer. When they parted, Mike and Dennis chose the light, Paul burdened with guilt, stayed to roam what the locals dubbed The Spirit Clearing. On occasion, a runtish, multicolored cat and her charge, a young sad man, could be seen wandering the road in the hopes to slow drivers down.
I hope you enjoyed the book. If you did please consider leaving a review.
For more by Mark Tufo:
Zombie Fallout 1
Zombie Fallout 2 A Plague Upon Your Family
Zombie Fallout 3 The End….
Zombie Fallout 3.5 Dr. Hugh Mann
Zombie Fallout 4 The End Has Come And Gone
Zombie Fallout 5 Alive In A Dead World
Zombie Fallout 6 Til Death Do Us Part
Zombie Fallout 7 For The Fallen
The newest Post Apocalyptic Horror by Mark Tufo:
Lycan Fallout Rise of the Werewolf
Fun with zombies in The Book of Riley Series by Mark Tufo
The Book Of Riley A Zombie Tale pt 1
The Book Of Riley A Zombie Tale pt 2
The Book Of Riley A Zombie Tale pt 3
The Book Of Riley A Zombie Tale pt 4
Or all in one neat package:
The Book Of Riley A Zombie Tale Boxed set plus a bonus short
Dark Zombie Fiction can be found in The Timothy Series by Mark Tufo
Timothy
Tim2
Michael Talbot is at it again in this Post Apocalyptic Alternative History series Indian Hill by Mark Tufo
Indian Hill 1 Encounters:
Indian Hill 2 Reckoning
Indian Hill 3 Conquest
Indian Hill 4 From The Ashes
>
Writing as M.R. Tufo
Dystance Winter’s Rising
The Spirit Clearing
Callis Rose
I love hearing from readers, you can reach me at:
email
[email protected]
website
www.marktufo.com
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mark-Tufo/133954330009843?ref=hl
Twitter
@zombiefallout
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/zombiefallout
All books are available in audio version at Audible.com or itunes.
All books are available in print at Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.com
All the Little Children
By
Christine Sutton
Copyright 2011 Christine Sutton
All rights reserved
PROLOGUE
Evelyn Rodgers sat on her front porch and cried for hours. She had let that boy, Harold, do things to her. Shameful things, her mother would say. They had felt wonderful, but now she was sitting here, in a bad way.
She didn't know what to do. She was only sixteen years old. Harold had told her he loved her, just to get her to lay with him. Once she had given in, he all but disappeared. She couldn't tell him that she was in trouble. He wouldn't care.
She had heard whispers about a place out on Pine Creek Lane. There was a lady there that birthed babies. She was also known to help out a lost soul for the right amount of money.
Evelyn had heard that sixty dollars was about the right amount. It might as well be a thousand dollars.
She would try, though. She could do some work in town. Maybe get a job as a seamstress. It was 1924, and girls like her didn't have many options. If her Mother found out, she would ship her off to the home for girls and she would have to live with the nuns and then give the baby up. Everyone would know. She couldn't have that. She would never get a suitable husband if everyone knew.
Pine Creek Lane was only about a half mile walk from town. She would go there today and talk to the lady that ran the place. Maybe she would take pity.
When she got to the big house where the midwife lived, she almost turned around and went home. She didn't though. She summoned up all of her courage and knocked on the door.
The woman that answered the door gave her a smile. Evelyn immediately felt more at ease.
She walked in and sat in the kitchen. Laura, as she introduced herself, prepared two cups of hot tea. Evelyn explained her situation through tears of shame and despair. After much consolation, Laura offered her services free of charge. Evelyn would have to help out around the place for a while, but she did not have to worry about the sixty dollars.
She was so grateful to Laura that she agreed without question. Laura told her that it would be best to do it right then. Evelyn was surprised, but agreed to handle it then and there.
Laura took her by the hand and led her down into the basement. When Evelyn got to the bottom of the stairs, her relief turned to horror as the monster materialized in front of her.
She didn't even have time to scream before the beast reached out and seized her by the throat. Her feet fought for purchase as she was lifted off the ground. The beast buried its deformed head in her stomach and took a long, deep whiff. She tried to scream again as the monster sunk its teeth into her soft flesh, but it was no use. Her air supply was completely cut off. Mercifully, she was losing consciousness as the thing ate through her.
Laura looked on and laughed as Evelyn and her unborn baby died.
1.
"Just get this shit cleaned up! I want this place ready for sale by tomorrow." Sunny Simons told the cleaning crew as they bustled about.
She was determined to get all of the crap that the previous owner had left, out of this house. They had walked away from all of their furniture, clothes, the kid's toys, appliances, everything. Sunny had no idea why they took off in such a hurry. At the time, she had been happy for the listing. Now, she wished that she had never taken it. The market was slow right now, and money was money. It had never taken this long to sell a house. It had been listed for one year and three months, and every person that looked at it, never called back.
She would sell this house tomorrow. She knew it. The twenty-somethings that were coming to look at it in the morning would be a perfect fit. Sunny could not wait to unload this place, it gave her the creeps. The listing had already been discounted three times, and it was way below market value now. She was more than happy to take the hit on the commission just to get rid of it. It was a deal that
this couple could not refuse, hopefully.
"Ms. Simons, do you want us to throw out the family pictures, too?" The head of the cleaning crew asked. She was holding a box full of framed photos. Smiling kids playing with dogs at summer barbeques. So sweet. Ugh!
Sunny picked up the first frame and looked at it. It was a picture that looked as if it had been taken in the early twentieth century. A woman in maybe her thirties, dressed in a high collared lace dress looked back at Sunny. The woman had a stern look on her face that made Sunny think she looked sad or maybe forlorn, or maybe constipated. She tossed the frame back into the box.
"Mr. Richards said everything. Toss them all out." Sunny said in a dismissive tone.
Sunny continued her inspection of the home. It appeared that all of her ducks were in a row. She would place the fresh flowers and bring the chocolate chip cookies in the morning before the Barlow couple got there. They would not be able to resist the charm of Sunny Simons, Realtor extraordinaire.
Standing in the middle of the kitchen, she got a chill up her spine. It suddenly felt as though she was being watched. She looked around at the light maple cabinets and the black granite countertops. This kitchen was contemporary and bright. Sunny had no idea why it made her feel so unpleasant. She took another look around and then quickly made her way out, her heels clicking on the tile floor. As she got to the doorway between the kitchen and the formal dining room, she quickened her pace until she was almost running. She would have sworn that at any second something was going to reach out and grab her from behind. She quickly flipped the light switch without pausing in her stride.