Sand Trap (Haunted Series)

by Alexie Aaron

  Mia pulled the truck into the lot and positioned it to aid in a hasty getaway. Ted popped out of the truck and was snapping pictures faster than a horny fashion photographer. Mia walked slowly up to the group and stood there on the fringe. Murphy had yet to show himself.

  One of the females in the group approached Mia. She was dressed in a leather miniskirt with a halter top on, displaying a large amount of tattoo art upon her slender frame. There was a hardness to her eyes, and her over-bleached hair was dry and brittle. Her skin had seen too much sun and her lips lined from chain smoking. Mia nodded at her. The woman was surprised. “I can see you, but may not be able to hear you.” Mia pulled out her recorder and started it. “This may help me later to hear you. Do you understand?”

  The woman nodded.

  “I’m not here to do anything other than talk.”

  The woman nodded again.

  “Are there some of yours trapped in Lucky’s?”

  The woman nodded and displayed two fingers on her hand.

  “Is this your turf?”

  She nodded towards 66.

  “Just passing through?”

  She nodded again.

  “I’m going to try to find a way to get yours out of there. Honestly, I don’t know how, but I’m going to try.”

  The woman angled her head, sizing up Mia. She nodded and turned and went back to the group. Mia watched as she approached a balding man with a long beard. He looked over at Mia and sneered.

  “Ted, time to go,” Mia said as a few other men in the group stared lustily over at Mia.

  “Just a few more shots,” Ted called over from that far side of the group. “The camera’s picking up metal and leather.”

  “Now, Ted,” Mia ordered as she backed away from a trio of hell headed her way.

  “Coming,” Ted said unenthusiastically.

  The trio moved quickly and surrounded Mia. One reached over to touch her. Mia cringed. A feeling of maggots moving against her body caused her to groan. She backed away and into a biker that encircled her waist and pulled her off the ground. “No, let go!” she ordered, and the ghost just laughed at her. These men weren’t playing. They were hell bent on having her. She twisted and brought her legs up and kicked out at the third man who was working at the waistband of his pants. “Murphy!” she screamed.

  Ted alerted by her screams ran over but was waylaid by a force that pushed him back two steps with every step he made forward. “Shit!”

  CRACK! Murphy’s axe sounded. Mia witnessed the blade slicing through the two men in front of her. They fell and disappeared. The one holding her used her as a shield between him and Murphy. Mia was swung around like a rag doll, the pressure on her ribs leaving her breathless.

  Ted took off running and jumped in the window of the bar. He crawled around in the dark until he found the box of kosher salt that they left behind. He grabbed it and vaulted out of the building, fearing what was in there more than what was chasing him. Mia continued to scream and Murphy’s axe cracked again and again. Ted knew he had to do something. He rounded the building and came out on the side of the truck. He could see Mia struggling two feet off the ground. She was being tossed about as if she was being held. She was kicking and pounding her fists.

  Mia’s inability to breathe properly was draining the energy from her body. The man’s hands dug into her flesh and she felt life start to ebb away. Murphy was not only dealing with trying to rescue her, but the other bikers had come to the aide of their demented brethren and were attacking Murphy. He valiantly swung his axe and was culling the heard but not quickly enough to save Mia.

  A volley of salt hit Mia’s attacker, and he recoiled at the pain and dropped her. She crawled away and got to her feet as soon as she could and ran to the truck. Ted was behind her. She jumped in the back and opened up the equipment box and grabbed two iron fireplace tools. She was mad. “Take this and swing when I tell you. We’ve got to get Murphy out. This will stun them. Even the odds, but it won’t last for long.”

  Mia stomped over to the ghost who had mauled her, and she pounded him until he was no more before she moved into the fray. Mia held the poker on her shoulder and swung at anything that moved. “Ted, swing two feet in front of you,” she ordered. Together they hit several bikers. The spirits puzzled by the disruption of energy paused their attack on the axe-wielding farmer. Murphy was able to get a few more whacks of his axe in and those monsters dissipated. The group was dwindling but still dangerous.

  “Come on! Let’s get the fuck out of here!” she screamed at Murphy. He took a couple more whacks and followed Mia and Ted to the truck. She started the engine, swearing at her lack of wits for not having it running before she attacked the crowd. She got it into gear and sprayed gravel as she pulled out of the lot. Mia looked in her mirror and saw that several bikers had hopped on their bikes. “Fucking hell , they’re coming after us!”

  “What kind of spirit has that kind of range and power?” Ted asked.

  “I have no clue. Evil.” Mia pushed the truck until it could go no faster. She searched the highway for anything that would slow the bikers down. “Ted, I can’t think here, find me something that will zap the energy of moving ghost.”

  Ted recited, “Salt, iron, water…”

  “That’s it. We have to make the iron bridge on the other side of the diner leading into town.” She looked in her review mirror and saw that the two headlights had become four and were gaining on them. “I am sick and tired of the dead having an edge,” she complained. “Murphy, can you keep them off us long enough to reach the bridge?”

  Murphy moved through the cab and stood in the bed of the truck with axe in hand. Ted watched through the viewfinder of his camera as one biker got close and grabbed the truck to climb on. Murphy whacked off his hand. “One down,” Ted said. “Hurry, Mia, we have six lights back there now.”

  Mia negotiated the next turn, worried that the tires wouldn’t hold. She dropped her speed which put the bikers closer on their heels. She sped up again with eyes on the bridge at the bottom of the hill.

  Two bikers advanced and one got in behind Murphy as he was fighting off the other. Murphy decapitated one just before the monster, who had had a hold of Mia, got his hands on the little farmer.

  “Murphs in trouble.”

  “Almost there.”

  “Not looking good.”

  “Under the seat, find a sawed off shotgun packed with rock salt, shoot the fucker,” Mia ordered.

  Ted scrambled and found the gun lodged under the seat. He pulled it out and prepped the charge with one hand, the other hand he used to slide open the back window. He put the camera up to his eye and aimed the gun the best he could. Murphy was pulled off the bed of the truck, and Ted aimed for the biker’s legs.

  He pulled the trigger, spraying the load of salt out. A few bits peppered Murphy but most hit the biker. He let go of Murphy to deal with the pain and then came charging at Ted. Murphy swung his axe with the last of his energy and cleaved the ghost in half. It fell away and disappeared.

  Murphy fell to his knees.

  “Monster is out of play, but Murph is hurting,” Ted reported.

  Mia’s truck launched itself over a rise in the road and landed hard on the one lane iron bridge. She fought the wheel and managed to get the truck under control and sped across the water.

  “Lights have disappeared,” Ted reported.

  Mia took a chance and looked behind her to confirm that this was so before she pulled off the road. She jumped out of the truck and climbed into the truck bed in search of Murphy. Mia found him curled in the fetal position. “What can I do?”

  “Home,” was all he said before disappearing.

  Mia sat there for a moment and cried. Ted climbed into the back and held her for a while.

  “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault,” he said and pulled her closer. “I should have…”

  Mia sniffed, “It’s not your fault, nor mine, or Murph’s, it’s the element of nature we can’
t control. Here we are trying to save a building. I think we should blow the fucker up.”

  “I’m with you there. I’m beginning to not like our job so much,” Ted said. “Sure it gets one into Comic Con but…”

  “You got into Comic Con?” Mia asked, her voice brightening.

  “Yes, me and Beth. We saw George Takei close up,” Ted said with awe.

  “Cool beans,” Mia said as she pulled down the skirt of her dress. “I think it’s time for me to get Murphy home.”

  “I’m going with you. You can’t drive in this state,” Ted insisted.

  “What about our stuff? I’m not crossing that river tonight.”

  “Me either. I think we can find a route up north. Let me call Burt and update him on what’s happening. He can check us out gather our stuff, and Beth’s just going to have to drive my vehicle to Kansas all by her lonesome.”

  “Are you sure you want to do this? Beth needs you too, Ted. Mike did offer.”

  “Beth’s stronger than she looks, and Mike’s after your bod. So, I am being a grownup and that’s that.” Ted helped Mia up, and he hopped out of the bed of the truck. He put in a call to Burt while Mia fussed around putting things to rights, shifting the equipment to hide the spent gun. It wouldn’t do to have that bouncing around in the back if they got stopped by the police. She finished fussing and tried not to eavesdrop on Ted’s conversation. From the little she heard, he sounded like a grown-up. She smiled as Ted was pretty close to her age but yet lacked the maturity of other guys. Of course Whitney was a few years older and a bad example of maturity. But Tom seemed to have his feet on the ground, although, he was still living at home with mom.

  Mia shook her head and closed up the back of the truck. Her side was on fire, and she suspected one or two of her ribs were either bruised or fractured. Yes, it was time to go home. She hoped that Murphy would survive the trip.

  Chapter Twelve

  Burt put down his phone and related the adventure to Mike who was driving. They had just left the hospital when Ted called. He was shocked by Ted’s description of the events. He wanted to blame Mia for giving into Ted’s whim of filming the biker gang, but he couldn’t. Ted should have been protecting her. Now Murphy was either out of play or gone. His feelings about Murphy were more of having an asset taken away then a friend gone. Mia had the history with the ghost not he.

  “So I’ll clean out their rooms while you pack up the gear,” Mike told him.

  “You better let me take Mia’s room. The woman is a slob. I’m used to it,” Burt insisted.

  “You mind telling me why you two broke up?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, but I’m here if you need an ear.”

  “Duly noted,” Burt said gruffly. “Beth’s going to need someone to be there in the morning to check her out of the hospital. Could you handle that?”

  “I’m no substitute for Ted, but I think I can handle the job.”

  “Good.”

  Mike increased his speed as he drove past the bar. He was determined to not have any adventures with those violent buggers tonight.

  “No really, why did you two break up?”

  “You can’t let it go, can you?”

  “No.”

  “I don’t fucking know. One moment we are all cuddly and happy, the next I can’t stand to be around her. It was like a switch was flipped. She didn’t do anything that she doesn’t do normally. She’s supportive. Bossy as hell, but that’s her. She has a hell of a lot of baggage. Gifted and growing in her abilities. Her friends and family intimidate the hell out of me.”

  “Maybe that’s it. You don’t think you measure up?”

  “Could be.”

  “But it seems that who you are, or who you’re not, never bothered Mia from my observation. She’s not haughty. She eats with her hands even when forks are available.”

  “I think she’s carrying a torch for that cop too.”

  “Ah, handsome Whitney. I’m beginning to see a trend.” Mike stroked an imaginary beard and said in a Freudian accent, “It’s your ego. You want to be the best, the alpha, in your relationship.”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “So maybe you’ve done the right thing? But she is vital to our success. Can you stay civil when she works with us?”

  “I beg your pardon, I’ve been a peach.”

  “Sour apple is the closest your behavior gets to fruit,” Mike commented.

  Burt just sighed.

  Mike pulled into the parking lot of the motel, and the two set about their chores quickly so shut eye could be had before morning.

  ~

  Mia yawned and stretched. Ted, full of coffee and caffeinated power drinks drove through the night. He had let her sleep. Mia looked over at him through her bloodshot eye. He was handsome and smart. Both he knew. He valued the latter. He was a genius when it came to computers, but a novice when it came to women. She knew better than to entertain any thoughts about the tech other than sisterly. He didn’t know it, but Beth had stamped him as hers, and Mia wasn’t going to mess around with her only female friend’s man. There was the complication of him seeing her naked though. Maybe Beth would forgive her as it was an accident. She knew the tech too well for him to keep the incident secret. Well she would deal with the fallout when it happened. Right now she had to get Murphy and his axe head back to the farm.

  “Sleep well?” Ted asked when he caught her looking at him.

  “With the exception of a few nightmares reliving our little encounter at Lucky’s, I slept fine. I knew I should have listened to the waitress at the diner.”

  “The one that waited on us?”

  “No, the dead one, who waited on me.”

  “What did she say?”

  “She wrote: LUCKY’S = DEATH.”

  “Oh, yeah maybe, but I doubt if it would have stopped me if I saw it. Mike yes. Mike’s losing his nerve.”

  “I disagree, Mike is becoming sensible.”

  “Sensible? That’s a laugh.”

  “No really, a sensible person would find another line of work,” Mia pointed out.

  “True.” Ted took a swig of a Dr. Pepper. “But it irks me that he figured it out first. Take me for example. I have skills that are valuable.”

  “Very valuable,” Mia agreed.

  “But the call of the hunt is too great.”

  “I’m not disagreeing. In my case, I rather deal with things in my time instead of being surprised by them in theirs.”

  “You do have more at stake.”

  “Glad you noticed.”

  “Just stating the bare facts…”

  “Oh here we go. The naked truth?”

  “We’re just stripping the objectives from the bric-a-brac.”

  “Clever, you win. Ten points Gryffindor.”

  Ted laughed and pulled off the highway and onto the road that would lead them into the hollow.

  Mia sat up and opened the glove box and drew out the bag containing Murphy’s axe head. Ted was with her when she had retrieved it from beside Murphy’s bones. It seemed natural that he would be with her when she returned it to his resting place. “I wonder if he’s gone?” she asked Ted.

  Ted pulled the truck up beside the wood pile and looked at her sadly. “Dudette, I don’t know.” He got out of the truck and came around and helped Mia down. The two of them trudged through the brambles and long grass until they came to the mausoleum they had built together. Ted opened the vault and put the axe head in. He locked it and made sure the alarm was on before standing up. “Pretty woods this time of year. April has a nice setting.”

  “She may be selling,” Mia informed him.

  “Really? Any buyers lined up?”

  “Whit. He thinks that he could get it for a song, it being haunted and all.”

  “Maybe not now,” Ted said, wishing he could take back the words as he said them.

  Mia ignored the obvious but pointed out, “There’s always One Feather.”

 
“True, the dude continues to ride.”

  “I better make a few calls. I need a shower, and my place is off limits.”

  “Why?”

  “Ralph, my godfather, is ensconced there redecorating the place, but I’m not to know about it. He will have a heart attack if I show up.” Mia looked over at the farm house. “April’s still gone. I’ll let Whit know I’m using the place. Maybe I can borrow something to wear,” Mia said poking her finger through a tear in her dress. “You can catch some zees in one of her guestrooms.”

  “I remember the place well.”

  Mia lightly smacked her hand on her forehead, “You know, I forgot you were all over the place. It seems years ago, but it was only… Man, I am too tired to figure that out.”

  “Don’t worry, we’re on the same page. See if Whit wouldn’t mind loaning me some clean clothes. Chicago’s not going to like the post-ghost-battle look I’m sporting either.”

  Mia picked up her phone and called. A sleepy Whit answered. She explained the situation, and he agreed to the loan of the clothes and would drop them off with some coffees within the hour. She thought his voice sounded odd, but it could have been the sleep. She shook it off and walked towards the house. Ted started the truck and parked it closer to the house. Mia extracted the hidden key from a hanging flower pot and opened the door. She waited for Ted before closing it after them.

  She was too tired to sense that they were being watched. She was too tired to see the shadow cross the yard and head for the barn. All Mia wanted was a shower.

  ~

  In deference to April’s feelings, Mia used the guest bath. She would clean the room after Ted had used it and take the linen with her to launder and replace. She tiptoed by the room where Ted was snoring away. Mia entered the master suite and marveled at the feminine beauty of the room. April had done a wonderful job decorating. Mia had no interest in taking the time to find this and that. She knew her place was very basic. Maybe it was a good idea Ralph had stepped in. No one taught her how to be a girl. The best she had was gay stepfathers with good taste. She opened up April’s drawers and searched for the oldest underpants she could find. She doubted that April would want it back. April was taller but slim. Mia didn’t think with her ribs she could wear a bra so it wasn’t an issue.