The Serial Seven

by J. D. Cavan

  “You caught me!” He cackled in weird laughter. His dogs started growling and bared their teeth. The Destroyer dropped the suitcase and it opened. He kicked it and the money went flying through the air. There were hundred-dollar bills everywhere. He pointed his gun at Luca’s head.

  “Stop!” Charlie shouted. “It’s me you want.”

  “Oh, how heroic,” he said nastily, looking through the sight of his pistol. The gun popped and Charlie yelled. But he didn’t hit Luca; he hit the suitcase of money and laughed wickedly.

  “What do you want?” Charlie shouted hysterically.

  The Destroyer seemed to relish in Charlie’s fear. He pointed one of his giant thumbs at himself. “You know what I want!” he said, enraged, before turning toward Luca and Samantha. “Now I’m going to release my Cerberus hounds, and you’re going to watch your good buddies get chewed up by them, and then I’m going to do the same to you. Because I want you to suffer.”

  Charlie watched in horror as the Destroyer bent down and unleashed his dogs, who were raging and frothing at the mouth. The beasts rushed toward them, but Charlie focused his mind quickly. Then it happened again, just like it had happened with the wolf, but this time Charlie had control. It was as if he was inside the minds of the dogs.

  They weren’t bad dogs. They had been trained to be monsters by this wicked person and Charlie could tell, as much as they were growling and ready to tear him apart, there was something in them that didn’t want to. It was like they were asking Charlie for help, for some way out of how they had been conditioned to hate and kill. If anything, the dogs hated their owner for his cruelty.

  The hounds were moments away from ripping into them when they stopped and began to whimper, walking in circles. The Destroyer’s eyes widened and he waved his head in disbelief, then shouted at them again to attack. They growled, barked and moved toward them, only to stop again and whimper in confusion. Charlie found himself half inside himself and half inside the creatures.

  “What are you doing to my Cerberus hounds?” the Destroyer shouted in a rage before walking toward Charlie. Charlie then did what he had to do—he told the dogs to do what they really wanted. One of them grabbed the Destroyer’s arm with his teeth, shocking the killer. Quickly, the other dog had his leg, tearing at it. The vicious attack continued as the dogs leapt on him.

  Charlie felt Samantha yank him and drag him over to the truck that was now running with Luca in the driver’s seat. Before he knew it they were flying out of the parking lot in the direction of the main road.

  “Stop!” Samantha ordered, just as Luca was about to pull out the front driveway of the resort. “I forgot my tips; they’re in the kitchen in the tip can.”

  “Forget it!”

  “It will just take me a second, and it’s my money!”

  Luca sighed loudly before locking the breaks. Samantha leapt out and disappeared into the front of the resort. Charlie looked out and could see Milton running back and forth trying to park cars. He ducked down in his seat a little.

  “Come on, Sam,” Luca said under his breath while he tapped anxiously on the wheel. Charlie was going to say something to Luca when he felt someone grab his shoulder through the window. He screamed out, startling Luca, who tried to put the car in gear before noticing it was just Milton.

  “You’re not leaving me!” he whined at them through the open window. Charlie was speechless when Milton’s body was shoved out of the way by Samantha, who opened the door and jumped in.

  Luca raced the pickup down the road, then made a sharp turn onto a dirt road that led to a bridge.

  “Where are you going?” Samantha asked.

  “Off the main road. If we can get over this bridge we’ll be in the next town and then we can circle back to the highway easily.”

  “What the hell, Charlie?” Samantha said.

  “Did you know that guy?” Luca questioned. Charlie could hear the anger in his voice. “No!” Luca shouted, startling Charlie. The bridge was closed, with two barriers up in front of it. Luca quickly swung the truck around and started back down the road, where headlights could be seen coming from the other direction. Charlie focused his eyes in the dead-silent cab and saw the Destroyer’s white stretch limo now parked across the road, blocking their only way back.

  “Can’t be,” Samantha uttered.

  “Can be,” Luca replied. The car was dark inside.

  “Where is he?” Charlie asked before the front door opened and the enormous killer pulled himself out of it. His arm was wrapped with something and his pant leg was shredded, his blood spilling on the ground. He had been partially torn apart by his own dogs.

  “Luca, back up,” Charlie told him.

  “To where? There’s no place to back up to,” Luca replied, his eyes peeled on the killer who was now standing in front of the pickup’s bright headlights. “What the hell is that—” Luca said, panic in his voice.

  Charlie’s heart dropped. The Destroyer had changed. He was horrific looking now, with skeletal features almost glowing through the skin on his face. He looked exactly like Lang had. His eyes were deep black and set back in his exposed skull. Charlie had wished what he’d seen with Lang wasn’t real, but now he knew for sure that it was.

  Then the Destroyer thing opened his mouth and let out an earth-shattering screech, ending in deadly silence. The ghostly creature stood motionless in front of the headlights and no one said a word in the truck until Samantha spoke up.

  “Time to fight,” she uttered, then fastened her brass knuckles to her hands. She nodded to Luca and they both got out of the truck.

  “Wait—” Charlie called to them before watching as Luca, carrying the tire iron, and Samantha, with her brass knuckles, stepped up against the gruesome zombie Destroyer. It was Luca who moved first and he was quick, smashing it in the ribs with the iron as Samantha came up behind him. But in an instant the Destroyer caught Luca by the back of his shirt, picked him up off his feet, and whipped him down and through the front windshield of the limo. In what seemed like the same instant, and before Samantha could get a swing in, the monster backhanded her across the face, lifting her off the ground. She careened through the air before crashing against the road in a heap.

  Charlie froze and neither Luca nor Samantha was moving. He tried to get out of the truck to help his friends, but he was paralyzed in terror as he watched the Destroyer pick up Luca’s tire iron from the ground and walk toward Samantha’s lifeless body. He struggled to get out, to reach for the door handle, but he couldn’t let go of the dashboard. He gripped it as if it was a life preserver. He looked over to see if Luca was up and could save Samantha, but he remained collapsed inside the limo, knocked out from the super slam.

  Samantha lay motionless. The Destroyer brought the iron above his head and was ready to bring it down and end her life when Charlie found it in himself.

  “STOP!” Charlie shouted, before finally ripping his grip from the dash, opening the truck door and getting out. “Come get me!”

  The Destroyer growled, dropped his arm and stared at Charlie. Charlie took a step toward him, but just as he did he felt a pain pierce his head, like nothing he’d ever felt. It was blinding and his world turned upside down. As he crashed to the earth he felt the dirt from the road on his face and in his mouth. He had no control over his body and the sound from the outside world shut off completely.

  In paralyzed silence, Charlie watched the Destroyer. Samantha had come to and was helplessly looking up at him as he brought the iron down. Then Charlie used all the power of his mind, forcing it to search the woods at lighting speed. In an instant, he found what he was looking for. He then felt pure power on a scale that frightened him, and the energy raced through his whole body.

  When he opened his eyes again it was as if he was in two places at once. He was watching from his frozen position on the dirt road, and from another position deep in the forest. From the woods he was moving at an amazingly fast pace, ripping past trees and shrubs and over
terrain as if he was driving a tank. His view changed again, back to himself on the ground.

  Then it came crashing out of the forest, roaring at a high decibel. A grizzly bear stepped up on two feet, towering over the Destroyer thing, Charlie using every ounce of his being to control the immense animal. Instead of swinging the tire iron down on Samantha, the Destroyer swung it at the bear. It only bounced off the grizzly’s enormous frame.

  Attack! Charlie commanded to the bear’s mind before it swiped a huge claw at the Destroyer, splitting his chest wide open. The zombie thing howled in rage.

  Luca was up now and standing on the hood of the limo. Samantha had staggered up as well. They were looking at the scene with a total state of shock on their faces.

  The Destroyer attempted to wrestle and punch the giant creature with his own massive body, but he was no match for the grizzly. It wasn’t long before whatever was left of the Destroyer lay in a heap of parts on the ground, twitching.

  Charlie’s lifeless body was propped up against the truck as he watched the bear turn away from the Destroyer’s carcass, then sniff and circle around them. Charlie had left the bear’s mind completely and felt a level of exhaustion he’d never felt before.

  “Sam, don’t make any fast moves,” Luca said quietly, remaining on top of the limo.

  “I’m going to try and get us back in the truck,” she replied, slowly opening the cab door. The animal stopped and turned toward her, and she froze. Charlie stared at it, just as he had the wolf. The bear grunted loudly and rambled towards them.

  “Charlie—” Samantha uttered in panic.

  “Stay still,” he replied. The bear walked to them and stopped directly in front of Charlie. The monstrous thing glared into Charlie’s eyes, its breath wafting over him. It stank of the Destroyer’s insides.

  Charlie managed to calm himself and allowed the communication to start again, though it was not in any words Charlie could ever explain. The bear didn’t speak that way. It spoke only in terms of belief. Charlie truly believed that they meant no harm to the animal and that the bear didn’t need to eat them—it had eaten enough already. Just as it had been with the dogs, when Charlie had believed they were good and only made evil by the Destroyer, Charlie could tell the bear understood what he believed. Animals couldn’t be that different from humans, Charlie thought. But it wasn’t in words or even thoughts, just the language of truth. It was the courage to know what he knew in his soul, the deep knowledge that still existed between animal and human.

  The grizzly was inches from Charlie’s face when it moaned and grunted again, moving its head up and down before turning away and walking off into the woods.

  4

  CHARLIE DIDN’T SAY a word in the truck, and neither did Luca or Samantha. They drove for many hours before finding a roadside motel and checking in.

  Charlie had picked up some burgers and sodas from the restaurant next door and walked back into the hotel room. Luca was sitting on a chair at a circular table, still picking small pieces of windshield glass out of his arms and trying to clean it with alcohol. Samantha was lying on the bed, holding a huge bag of ice against the side of her face that had blown up after she’d been knocked unconscious.

  “Thanks,” Samantha said, ripping open her Styrofoam container and starting on her burger. Charlie handed Luca his food and noticed he was glaring at him. He sat down with Luca at the table and ate his burger in uncomfortable silence. The food went down quickly, and Samantha finally spoke up.

  “I can’t take it anymore!” Charlie felt his stomach drop. How am I going to explain this? he asked himself. Just tell them what you know. Luca stood up and started pacing the room.

  “Start talking,” Luca demanded.

  Charlie just blurted it out. “I should have mentioned it. The dream with the boy—there was more.” Charlie felt like he was hyperventilating. Luca stood in front of him. “He warned me about something—”

  “About what?” Luca said, cutting Charlie off.

  “The Serial Seven,” he replied. It was strange to say it aloud, the words that had been running inside him for months finally spoken. “The boy Jack, the one I told you about from my dream… He said ‘the Serial Seven’ were coming. Those were his exact words.”

  Samantha’s face cringed in confusion. “What’s the Serial Seven?”

  “I didn’t know what the hell it meant, but I have an idea now—”

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Luca interrupted again. There was a pause while Charlie considered what he was going to say next.

  “I honestly don’t know why, but it doesn’t matter anyway,” Charlie said, working up the courage to face Luca.

  “It matters to me!” Luca put his hand on Charlie’s chest firmly.

  Charlie put his head down, then glanced at Luca. “Because I didn’t want to believe it, okay!”

  “Well, believe it now! And what the hell was that thing, Charlie?” Samantha asked.

  “I don’t know.” Charlie sighed. “But Lang turned into the same thing when he tried to kill me. I thought I was seeing things, couldn’t believe it was real.” Charlie looked away from them, then back again. “They’re hunting us—well, me anyway—and there’s going to be seven of these undead serial-killing monsters. You think that’s something I want to deal with? No, so I denied it!” he shouted, feeling frightened by the truth of what he was saying and the awful feeling of guilt he had for putting them into a deadly situation.

  Samantha looked bewildered and Luca beyond pissed. Charlie’s mind became clear and he spilled everything. “Lang, the hunter who tried to kill me at the Yukon camp, he must have been number one. The sedan killer, I’m thinking number two, and the Destroyer, he’s got to be number three—”

  Luca sprang at him and wrapped his hand around the collar of Charlie’s shirt, pinning him. Charlie felt pain in his back as Luca smashed his body against the motel wall.

  “What else? We need to know whatever else you’re keeping from us, right now!” Luca spat into his face.

  “Nothing, I swear…” Charlie felt Luca tightening his grip around his neck, and he started to choke.

  “I don’t believe you!” Luca shouted. Charlie put his hands up, but Luca was so strong he couldn’t budge. Charlie wanted to throw up or scream but he could barely get a breath of air in.

  “Stop, Luca,” Samantha rested her hand on Luca’s shoulder to try and calm him down.

  “Look what he’s brought us! He’s no good, bad luck.” Luca finally let him go and Charlie searched for breath, the pain of a coughing fit filling his lungs. He fell to his knees, holding his neck and hacking, sucking air in until he could finally speak.

  “I’ll leave right now,” he said.

  Luca stepped back and sat down at the table. “Good idea. Get your crap and get out,” Luca replied, coldly. Charlie found himself packing what little he had in his backpack. Luca glared at him while Samantha walked across the motel-room floor with arms folded in front of her chest. Charlie opened the door and was about to walk out when Samantha stopped him.

  “Wait,” she said, shaking her head. “This can’t be a mistake—”

  “Having seven zombie serial killers after us, not a mistake? After everything we’ve been through already, Sam? I’m not letting this do me in! That guy is bad luck, and when we have bad luck, we get rid of it!” He pointed at Charlie.

  “It’s not luck. This isn’t some accident, Luca. It means something, something we don’t know yet,” Samantha said. “We have to find out what the Serial Seven means.” Luca shook his head in disagreement.

  It was silent in the motel room and Charlie felt himself wanting to walk out when Luca’s cell rang.

  Luca glanced at the number and mumbled to himself, “Can’t be.” He scrunched his face up and answered it. “Yeah.” There was a pause. “Where?” Luca grabbed a pen off the counter and jotted something down on his hand. “Okay.” He hung up.

  Samantha was staring at him. “Well?”

  �
��It was one of my foster mothers, you know, that nice lady that used to burn me,” he said.

  “I remember her,” Samantha replied, her face seeming to darken at the memory.

  “She said social services called her, told her they found someone and she had to call me. Who knows, they probably paid her some cash. I can’t imagine she’d care otherwise.”

  “Found who?” Samantha asked. There was a pause.

  “My half-sister.”

  “You have a sister? I thought you said you didn’t have any family?”

  “I never brought it up, thought I’d never know who she was, and mostly I didn’t give a crap.”

  “I guess Charlie isn’t the only one keeping secrets,” Samantha said. Luca was speechless for a moment.

  “I don’t even know who she is,” he finally uttered.

  “Where is she now?” Charlie asked.

  “Believe it or not, Vancouver.”

  “That’s not far from here, Luca,” Samantha said, sounding excited.

  “I guess she’s a little older than me, eighteen or nineteen, has a job and is doing pretty well. Her name is Sarah.”

  “We have to find her—you have to meet her. And we have to take Charlie with us.” Luca seemed stunned by it all. He glanced up at Samantha and shook his head back and forth.

  “Don’t worry about it, I’m leaving,” Charlie said. “I was lost, and I thought finding you both had given me a chance to find out who I am. I was wrong. I’m still lost! And I’m sorry I dragged you into this nightmare of mine.” Charlie went for the door again, but Samantha stepped in front of him.

  “Don’t go!” she said. “Luca, this is something we have to solve together. It’s not right to leave it up to Charlie alone. I know you’re a better man than that.”

  Luca’s face turned red. Then he went across the room and stopped, standing in front of Charlie. “I don’t know if you noticed, but Sam and I don’t back down from anything. I trust Sam, and if she thinks you’re worth saving then whoever these killers are, we’ll help you.” Charlie went into Luca’s mind to try and see if he was telling the truth. If there was a contradiction in his thoughts, if he was lying, Charlie would have left right there. But there wasn’t. Luca was being honest.