As I started the engine, huge flames erupted from the chapel windows and through the roof. The cries of the chimera grew faint. The heavy rain slowed to a soft drizzle.
I switched on the headlights and emergency strobe lights, and while I drove the car around the circular driveway, the chapel collapsed. I peered at the side mirror and watched the flames spread throughout the rest of the building.
“I’ll call the fire department,” Maria said.
“No,” I said, my eyes meeting hers in the rearview mirror. “Let it burn.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
New Beginnings
Six weeks later…
I rode the elevator to the third floor of Brackenridge Hospital with a brown Dairy Queen bag dangling from my hand. The elevator came to a slow stop, and with an electronic chime, the doors slid open. I stepped aside to let a nurse push an elderly gentleman in a wheel chair inside the elevator.
As I exited, the head nurse greeted me, her smile wide and welcoming. “Well, hello, Detective Sanders.”
“Ah, don’t be so formal, Pam. You know you can just call me Aaron. Besides, I’m still on medical leave.”
“How’s the shoulder feeling?” Pam asked.
“Which one?” I stepped up to the nurse’s station and set the brown bag on the counter.
Pam laughed and apologized. “I almost forgot how much overtime you and your family have given us this past month.”
“We’re just friends. That’s it.”
“Mmm-hmm,” she smirked and then jested, “And I’m Queen Latifa.”
“Good-bye, Pam.”
“Bye, Sugar. Say hello to your girlfriend for me.”
I shook my head, grinned and headed down the east wing to Room 306. I knocked on the door and cracked it open. Maria and Dr. Pierce were inside. The doctor was filling out a piece of paper on a clipboard.
“Is that lunch?” Maria asked, pointing to the Dairy Queen bag.
I set the bag on the table next to the hospital bed. “It’s for Cody. I owe him a banana split that hasn’t already melted.” I sat down next to the bed and said, “How you feeling, kiddo?”
“Better. My chest itches a lot, though. I look like a freak too.”
Dr. Pierce informed, “He’ll need a couple of more skin grafts to remove the… well, the—”
“I understand,” I said, thinking about the scars on Cody’s chest. “Other than that, what’s the status?”
“I see no reason to keep him hospitalized any longer.”
“Really?” Cody said, pulling the cover off him.
“Whoa there, buddy. You’re still tethered to that IV. Here, let me get you unhooked first.” While the doctor removed the IV and the monitoring wires, he said, “For someone who arrived with a dagger sticking out of his chest, you sure are peppy.”
“I hate hospitals.”
“That’s just because you don’t like the food,” I teased.
Cody jumped off the bed, reached inside the Dairy Queen bag, and pulled out a plastic container that housed a banana split, covered in chocolate syrup, diced strawberries, pineapples, and extra nuts.
“Maybe you should get changed first,” Maria advised.
“Fine.” Cody grabbed a pile of folded clothes off the counter, moseyed into the restroom, and shut the door.
The doctor handed me a prescription for Cody’s medications.
“You can pick those up at the pharmacy across the street. If you don’t have any further questions, I’ll get Pamela to prepare the release form. Then you can be on your way.”
I shook Dr. Pierce’s hand and thanked him.
“I have a surprise for you,” Maria said, reaching into her purse. She handed me an envelope with a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services logo on the front of it. “Is this what I think it is?” Maria shrugged.
I pulled three folded sheets of paper out of the envelope and skimmed through the contents. The last page had notarized signatures from a judge and the director of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. I smiled and placed the document back inside the envelope.
†
Maria and I followed Pam as she wheeled Cody outside.
“You be good, okay, sweetie,” the nurse said, helping Cody out of the wheelchair.
Cody gave Pam a big hug and told her how much he enjoyed having her as his nurse. “I wish all the nurses were as nice as you.”
Pam laughed and said, “Well, honey, some nurses just don’t know how to deal with kids.” She gave Cody another hug, and ordered, “You just make sure that overpaid policeman don’t fill you up with junk food all the time.”
I raised my eyebrows at her comment and smirked.
“I know. I’ll eat my fruits and veggies,” Cody promised. Then his eyes settled on a black vintage Corvette parked in the drop off zone in front of the building. “Awesome! You got it fixed!”
While Cody ran towards the sports car, Pam glared at me with both hands on her hips. She shook her head and reprimanded me, “You know that’s a ‘No Parking’ zone, Aaron.”
“I’m a cop, so—”
“An off-duty cop who’s on medical leave.”
I smiled and kissed Pam on her forehead. “You know you love me.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Pam said, and then gave me a warm hug. “You take good care of that boy, Detective.” Then in a whisper, she said, “And don’t you let that beautiful woman get away from you, you hear?”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Don’t wait too long, either, honey,” Pam said and winked at Maria before she headed back inside the hospital.
“What was that about?” Maria asked, her eyes glinting with suspicion.
“Just a bit of friendly advice I needed to hear. I’ll tell you about it later.” I opened the passenger side door for Cody and said, “Let’s go home, kiddo.”
Cody glanced back at Maria and then grinned at me before getting into the car. Not only had we shared dreams, but I also had a distinct feeling that we shared the same feelings about Maria. And as I locked eyes with her before leaving, I think she also had the same feelings about me. Time would tell.
† † †
IF YOU ENJOYED DEVIL’S NIGHTMARE…
The mystery surrounding Cody’s curse continues in Devil’s Nightmare: Premonitions, which picks up nearly two years after the massacre at Saint Hedwig Youth Home. Aaron has taken his family from Austin to their new life in Lost Maples, Texas where he’ll work as a small town cop. But evil knows no boundaries and Aaron learns that as he discovers the nightmares from his past have followed him to his new home. Has the chimera returned or has Hell unleashed something even more sinister? Here’s a peak into Devil’s Nightmare: Premonitions…
† † †
“Over here!” Dylan yelled to his friends as he pushed away a pile of burnt rubble with a shovel, revealing a metal trap door. “I found it!”
The teenagers ran towards him, each with small spades in their hands.
“Can you open it?” Jeremy asked.
Dylan grabbed the handle and pulled, but the door wouldn’t budge. “No, man, it’s stuck, but maybe we can pry it open together.”
Each of the boys positioned the edges of their spades into the slits surrounding the ingress and pushed. After the blades dug in about an inch or two, they forced their collective strength down on the handles. At first it wouldn’t budge, but after several tries, it finally creaked in protest and jolted upwards, knocking all three boys back on their rear ends in the process.
“Oh, man! What’s that smell?” Jeremy held his hand over his nose.
“Smells like something died in there.”
“Hey,” Dylan said, nudging Jeremy. “Why don’t you go down there and find out? Maybe it’s one of those kids, still rotting, with worms and bugs crawling all over his body.”
“Yeah, right. Whatever.”
“You chicken?”
“No.”
“Then go.” Dylan lifted the door w
ith his foot and kicked it open. The strong, putrid stench made him wince, but it didn’t stop him from grabbing Jeremy by the shoulders and giving him a playful shove towards the hole.
“Cut the crap, guys,” Chris said. “Probably just a dead rat or something. We gonna do this or what?”
“You really think it’s down there?” Jeremy asked. “I mean, come on, man. Don’t you think the police would have found it?”
Chris glowered at his friend, and pulled a necklace from underneath his shirt. It had an antique key hanging from it. “Yeah, well, they didn’t have this.”
A reverse pentagram formed a pentacle inside the key’s round head. Chris slipped the key back underneath his shirt and pulled a small flashlight out of his pocket. He turned it on and aimed the small beam into the darkness below. “I don’t see a ladder, but maybe we can just hop inside.” He sat on the edge of the opening and dropped into the room.
On his hands and knees, Dylan peered over the opening. “See anything?”
Jeremy mimicked Dylan’s position. “Any dead bodies down there?”
“Very funny.” Chris scanned the room with the flashlight, his shirt pulled over his mouth and nose. Something on the floor got his attention. He grinned, picked up the corpse of a possum, and tossed it at his friends. “Catch!”
The stiff possum bounced off Dylan’s shoulder and landed on Jeremy’s hand. They both screamed and fell backwards, triggering laughter from inside the room below.
“You jerk!”
“Asshole!”
Two maggots crawled out of the possum’s snout, causing Jeremy to double over and regurgitate his dinner.
Chris laughed harder. “You wimps sounded like a couple of screaming little girls up there.”
“Screw you, Chris!” Dylan yelled. “Just find that stupid safe so we can get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”
“Well, if you two losers would come down and help, it’d be a lot easier.”
The rumble of thunder echoed low in the distance as a gust of wind blew across the charred ruins of the building. The air cooled, and raindrops sprinkled from the sky. Lightning spread like a web of crooked fingers in the heavens, and illuminated the darkening, late afternoon sky.
“Is that rain?” Chris asked.
“Yeah, a little,” Jeremy said. “Maybe we should come back later.”
In a desperate attempt to find what he came for, Chris swayed his flashlight around the room, but all he found was a few dusty pieces of furniture and some books scattered across the floor. Then a large crack in the southern wall caught his attention. “Hey, I think I found something.” As he investigated, thunder clapped, and both of his friends screamed violently.
Chris glanced up at the trap door opening. “Oh, cut that out. It’s just…” He stopped when Dylan appeared over the entry and reached downward, a deep gash on his face.
Terror filled Dylan’s eyes. “Help me,” he pleaded.
Chris dropped his flashlight and stretched out his arm. Dylan screamed, his eyes rolling back. Chris used both hands and pulled Dylan’s hand hard, but something stronger yanked Dylan back the other direction. Chris pulled even harder, but it was no use. Whatever worked against him was too strong. He fell backwards onto the floor, his friend’s hand still in his. Dylan landed at his feet with a thump and the screaming stopped.
“Dylan? You okay?” Chris’s voice was shaky. His hand searched the ground for his flashlight. When he found it, he shined it toward Dylan. He stumbled backwards and gasped at the sight of his friend’s torso lying in an oozing pool of blood.
A guttural growl from above enveloped his body in fear. Whatever had done that to Dylan was still up there. With his heart pounding and tears dripping from his eyes, Chris backed himself into the corner of the small basement and listened to those horrible growls for what felt like hours. When ripping flesh and crunching bones replaced the growling, he cowered further into the corner, struggling to stop the whimpering from escaping with each breath. It was almost impossible as he listened to the beast above devour what must have been his other friend, Jeremy.
The feeding was quick, stopping within a few short minutes. Rain flowed into the basement and, though the thunder was faint, the shower continued for another hour, flooding the room with four inches of bloodied water.
Chris stayed hidden in the corner, his shoes, pants and the lower part of his shirt soaked from the rising mixture. He remained still, except for the shivering, for several hours, until he’d finally built up the courage to move towards the opening. He worked to hoist himself to freedom, but slipped every time he tried. His flashlight battery had long since died and his eyes needed to adjust to the dark. He grasped at the table and, though it wobbled, it supported his weight enough for him to pull himself up. Mid-pull, he stopped. There, near him, sat the decapitated and dismembered carnage of a mangled torso with exposed ribs.
Chris vomited.
His body chilled at the familiar growl behind him. Without hesitation, he grabbed the edge of the trap door and pulled it shut, dropping backwards toward the basement floor. He crashed through the table and landed on Dylan’s partial corpse.
The door rattled and shook as the creature pounded, clawed, and roared with a mixture of a high-pitched bray. Chris screamed as the trap door crashed into the flooded basement. Fire shot inside the basement and engulfed the small room in flames. Chris cried out in agony as the flames scorched his body. He rolled in the shallow water in a failed attempt to douse the flames, but the chimera kept exhaling its dragon fire until the screaming finally stopped.
Find out where to buy Devil’s Nightmare: Premonitions
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share my first work of horror fiction with you. I hope you enjoyed reading Devil’s Nightmare as much as I had fun writing it. Please consider leaving a review where you purchased the book to let others know what you thought of it. It doesn’t even have to be a detailed analysis of the plot. You can just share a few words stating that you enjoyed the story. I appreciate every review. You can also drop me a line at www.SharkbaitWrites.com if you’d like to send me your thoughts. I always enjoy hearing from my readers.
A few more words of appreciation…
I’d like to give a special thanks to my beta readers for volunteering your time to read my manuscript and providing helpful and honest feedback. To my editor, Carolyn Aspenson Ridder, and proofreader, Bill Campbell, your professionalism and talent have helped shape Devil’s Nightmare into a much better story for fans of the horror genre. And to my cover designer, Laura Hidalgo, you created the perfect package for my novel.
And most of all…
To my family and closest friends—and to you, the reader—who have taken this journey with me, your belief and interest in me as an author are what keeps me doing what I love most… writing fiction and sharing my imagination with the world. Thank you!
~ Robert “Sharky” Pruneda
DISCOVER OTHER FICTION
WRITTEN BY ROBERT PRUNEDA
Novels:
Devil’s Nightmare: Premonitions
Devil’s Nightmare: Redemption (Spring, 2017)
Pursuit of a Dream
Short Stories:
The Secret Diary of James Killborn
Sharky’s Book of Horrors (Fall, 2016)
Flash Fiction:
Dead in Pink
Get them all here:
www.SharkbaitWrites.com
Robert “Sharky” Pruneda is a native Texan, video game “enthusiast” [addict], and fan of all things horror. He left a career in the newspaper industry in 2011 to pursue the life of a nocturnal author, brainstorming new and creative ways to creep out his readers. He doesn’t only write horror though. He also pens the occasional family-oriented tale just to keep from going completely nuts with all those creatures of the night whispering in his ears. When he’s not pulling ideas out of his twisted brain, you’ll likely find him on social media or fighting alongside his fellow gaming buddies where their enemies shoot them up into Swiss cheese… or Sharky turns them into little bite-sized chunks because of his obsession with explosives. Medic!
Pursue your dreams… and never look back!
www.SharkbaitWrites.com
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Devil's Nightmare (Devil's Nightmare, Book 1) Page 34