The teen chuckled, and a swarm of flies escaped from his lips when he opened his mouth. “Yep. My mama there would have told me the story whenever she got piss drunk every night. Said you were the best lay she ever had. Pity you skipped out on us...or you would have. But we both know where I’m really gonna end up, don’t we?” He glanced down at the Jacklight in Gary’s hands, then back up at him with a knowing look on his face. The teen threw Gary an exaggerated wink as he began to decompose before his very eyes, his features dissolving into a thick white sludge that reminded him of...
No!
Gary cringed away, pushing himself as far against the door as he could. He subconsciously began to paw at the handle, realizing that splattering himself across the road was preferable to sitting with this leering phantom, who was rapidly becoming a puddle of ghostly jizz.
The car lurched to a halt.
“We’re here.”
Gary jumped at the voice, then looked to find he was once again alone in the back seat. Not only that, but they’d arrived at his destination—the final leg of the trip having seemingly taken place while he was praying that the creature next to him didn’t want a hug. He didn’t even want to contemplate that.
“So... I’ll wait for you?”
Gary didn’t answer. His hand finally caught hold of the door handle, opening it and dumping him out ass-first onto the parking lot.
He was horrified to see some of the contents of the Jacklight leak out onto his shirt in the process.
“Oh no!” he cried. “Stay with me. Daddy will take care of you!”
He quickly picked himself up, ignoring the confused looks his driver was throwing his way, and raced in through the front door.
Several receptionists were seated behind a long counter as various patients filled out medical forms.
Gary was tempted to barrel through them all to the front, but then he saw one spot was open.
“Next,” the pleasant faced woman said, waving him over.
He stepped up, shaking so badly that he was certain he’d drop his precious cargo. He had to use two hands to keep it clutched to his chest.
“Do you have an appointment?” the woman asked dubiously.
“W-walk in,” Gary sputtered, glancing around and expecting to see dead children staring at him from every corner. Amazingly enough, though, the only child present was a baby busy fussing in its stroller while his mother and father filled out some paperwork. He turned toward it, certain in his fractured state of mind that it was another one of them, when the nurse behind the counter spoke to him again.
“Are you here for a consultation? If so, I’ll need you to fill out form 26-A in triplicate...”
“No,” Gary replied. “I’m here to make a deposit.”
“Excuse me?”
“You know, a deposit,” he said, his voice rising in pitch. “You’re a sperm bank, right?”
The woman raised an eyebrow. “Yes. That is one of our services, true, but it’s not that simple. We have certain standards we have to adhere to. You have to apply, and then we have a rigorous screening process, and after that, if you’re chosen to continue, which...” She eyed him up and down. “...I can assure you, we’re very selective about, we can...”
“I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!”
“Sir, if you’ll just fill out this application, then we can begin the process.”
“You’re not listening.” Gary slammed the Jacklight down onto the counter, the contents sloshing audibly from within. “I need you to take this and get some women pregnant, any women. It doesn’t matter who. I can’t wait for forms or applications. You need to do this now.”
“Sir...”
“Before they come back!”
The confusion on the nurse’s face turned to immediate disgust as it finally sank in, not only what he was asking, but what he was trying to hand her in the process. Her professional demeanor dissolved in a heartbeat. “Jesus Fucking Christ! What the fuck is wrong with you, you fucking perv?”
“Nothing is wrong with me,” Gary snapped. “And I’m not a pervert! It’s them. I got this from a store that isn’t there anymore. My mother said God would curse me, and she was right. They come for me every time I even think about talking to a woman like... oh shit.”
Two children, a boy and a girl, twins it seemed, stepped out from behind the receptionist on either side of her. They looked up at Gary with unblinking eyes. “We were just trying to be like Mommy. All we wanted to do was play doctor, but you yelled at us.”
“No, I didn’t!” Gary shouted.
“Or you would have...” Both children turned their unseeing gazes upon the Jacklight on the counter.
In Gary’s periphery, he saw the nurse pick up her phone, but he was too horrified to hear what she said as the children began to melt before his eyes.
“Why didn’t...”
“Please stop!”
“...you love us, Daddy?” The children both dissolved into piles of pulsating white goo that spread out and covered the shoes of those working behind the counter, unseen by all, all except Gary.
That was it for him. He let out an ear-piercing scream and threw the Jacklight at the remains of the children, splashing the receptionist with its foul contents as well as the security guard who’d responded to her call.
“Oh, you did not just fucking do that,” the burly man growled.
Moments later, Gary was tackled to the ground where he was mercifully pummeled senseless until the police arrived.
♦ ♦ ♦
Gary was booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon. He was fingerprinted, photographed, read his rights, and then questioned for an abnormally long time. It didn’t matter much to him, though, because he didn’t really notice any of it. He kept waiting for more of his children to appear, giving nothing but one word answers to anything asked of him...at least until the subject of his choice of weaponry was brought up.
During this time, he learned that the retail space where Pop’s Stuff had been mere days earlier had been unoccupied for the last three years. Apparently, the strip mall owner was unable to find a tenant willing to share space with Titty City Bang Bang.
There was no record of Pop, or his stuff for that matter, having ever set up business there.
“Then how do you explain my cursed Jacklight?” he’d asked accusingly. The police, in turn, had no answer to that other than to order a preliminary psychiatric evaluation for Gary.
“Y-you need to give it to the sperm bank, m-make sure they use it,” he told the staff psychiatrist later that day, his voice slurred from the multitude of anti-psychotic drugs they’d shot him up with.
“I’m sorry, but that’s not going to happen.”
“Then burn it! Send it back to Hell!”
“Mr. Handler,” the psychiatrist asked, “do you know what’s really going to happen to it?”
“You’re not going to give it back to me, are you?” Gary replied with a small voice and visible shudder.
“It’s going to be locked up as evidence.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s going to be locked up...”
“You mean I’m not getting it back?”
“Not for the foreseeable future, I’m afraid.”
“And you’re sure of that?”
The psychiatrist looked at him over his notepad, a mix of disgust and pity in his eyes. “Yes, I’m sorry to say, but I’m quite certain of that.”
Gary immediately felt better. If that thing was kept from him and he did his damnedest to resist the urge for stress relief, then maybe he could break the curse.
He knew his life was most likely shattered beyond redemption because of his actions, but suddenly it didn’t matter. All that mattered was not seeing those dead eyes and not hearing those watery voices accusing him of flushing them away.
Despite what awaited him, he actually felt pretty good once his evaluation was finished. It didn’t matter that he was still cuffed or that he was stripped of his
shoes, wallet, and belt. He didn’t care that they planned to toss him into a tiny box and throw away the key until such time as a judge decided what to do with him.
As the officers walked Gary to his cell, he spied Cathy Nuttal, the squirrel lover. For a moment, fear twisted in his gut, but no children appeared—not even after he threw her a quick wave with his cuffed hands. She quickly turned away and pretended not to see him, but that was fine so long as he was free.
Gary soon fell asleep, enjoying a dark, dreamless slumber, one that he very much needed.
He woke up at one point and turned over to face the cell wall, groggily adjusting his pants and enjoying the momentary feel as his hands idly brushed against the hardness within.
Sleep was just beginning to claim him again when there came a metallic clang on the floor behind him, as if something solid had been set down.
Gary’s eyes opened wide in horror as he heard the pitter patter of little feet, followed by a soft voice that whispered in his ear.
“I think you dropped this, Daddy. I missed you. We all did.”
THE END
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Copyright © 2018 Rick Gualtieri
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the author. Your support of author’s rights is greatly appreciated.
All characters in this novel are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The use of any real company and/or product names is for literary effect only. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.
Edited by Melissa McArthur at clickingkeys.com
Cover by John Luther Davis
Created with Vellum
About the Author
Rick Gualtieri lives alone in central New Jersey with only his wife, three kids, and countless pets to both keep him company and constantly plot against him. When he’s not busy monkey-clicking words, he can typically be found jealously guarding his collection of vintage Transformers from all who would seek to defile them.
Defilers beware!
Rick Gualtieri is the author of:
Bill the Vampire (The Tome of Bill - 1)
Night Stalker: A Tome of Bill Series Companion
Scary Dead Things (The Tome of Bill - 2)
The Mourning Woods (The Tome of Bill - 3)
Holier Than Thou (The Tome of Bill - 4)
Sunset Strip: A Tome of Bill Series Companion
Goddamned Freaky Monsters (The Tome of Bill - 5)
Half A Prayer (The Tome of Bill - 6)
The Wicked Dead (The Tome of Bill - 7)
Shining Fury: A Tome of Bill Series Companion
The Last Coven (The Tome of Bill - 8)
The Tome of Bill Series: Volume One
The Tome of Bill Series: Volume Two
Bigfoot Hunters
Lycan Moon
Midnite’s Daughter
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Melissa McArthur and Clicking Keys for her editorial help, and John Luther Davis for his amazing cover.
About Authors & Dragons
Authors & Dragons is a collective of science fiction and fantasy authors who get together every couple of weeks to play Pathfinder (poorly) and mock each other relentlessly. You can find their efforts recorded as a podcast of the same name wherever you find podcasts. Come on, you’re smart enough to download an ebook, you’ve got to be smart enough to manage a podcast, right?
Authors & Dragons are:
GM - Drew Hayes
Bjorg Bjornssen - Joseph Brassey
Brandon Thighmaster - Steve Wetherell
Fandingo the Fantastical - John G. Hartness
Klaus Richter - Robert Bevan
Silas Kane - Rick Gualtieri
The Arrow of the Gods (much cooler than Silas Kane) - Rick Gualtieri
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Find out even more here -
www.drewhayesnovels.com/authorsanddragons/
Gary's Children (Shingles Book 2) Page 7