by Bryn Roar
Rupert eyed the morbidly obese kid with open disdain. Fatty looked as if he’d been chasing an ice cream truck. His flinty eyes flicked slyly back to Bud. “Bud here says you two been out in the Pines today. Said you saw a strange dog yesterday, too. That right, Baby Huey?”
Tubby looked to his friend. “Gee, I’m sorry, Bud, but I can’t tell a lie to the police.” Everybody in the lobby held their breath. “We’ve been hanging out here, most of yesterday and today, sir. In fact, I’ve never even been inside the Pines! My mom won’t let me.”
Henderson flipped his notebook shut. “Uh-huh. And those dirty clothes you’re sporting?”
“Bud and I were wrestling back there, sir.”
Rupert stuffed the notebook into his back pocket. He nodded his head and chuckled juicily as he headed to the front door. “All righty, now. Y’all have your little laugh at my expense. But we’ll see who laughs last. I know y’all are lying to me, and as soon as I can prove it…I’ll be back.” Rupert smiled and tipped his Smokey hat, wondering if still had time enough for that nap.
Chapter Twelve:
How Terribly Strange to be Seventeen
Josie put in an old movie for Joel to watch up in the clubhouse and then gathered with the rest of theCreeps down in the lobby. Rusty had been just as surprised as Bud to hear of Dr. Bidwell’s involvement with the Center. Tubby had never met the man before so the news meant nothing to him. The simple fact that the local law enforcement appeared to be coordinating efforts with the Research Center concerned him enough.
“What’s to stop the sheriff from coming up with a witness of his own?” he asked.
They were huddled together at the concession stand. Rusty and Josie sitting atop the counter, Bud and Tubby behind it, filling up on ice cold Fresca.
“My dad, for one,” Rusty replied. “Deputy Dawg ain’t gonna risk his job with some half-baked lie. Pops would boot his sorry ass right off this island.”
“Yeah, Tubs. That stuff he said going out the door was bullshit,” Bud replied. “Rupert was just trying to save face. As long as we stick to our story, we’ll be fine.”
Josie eyed Bud suspiciously. He was holding back on them again. “You can’t fool me, boyo! You’re going to tell your father, aren’t you?”
He sighed. “I have to, Red.”
Josie hated to admit it, but it did make sense. After all, Bilbo already knew that they hadn’t in fact spent most of yesterday afternoon, here at the museum, as they had just informed the sheriff. For that reason alone it was imperative they get Bilbo up to speed. “Jaysus pleezus. I guess you do at that,” she relented at last.
Bud leaned in between her and Rusty and told them about his and Ralph’s close encounter with the chimpanzee.
“A rabid chimpanzee! Well, fuck a duck!”
“So they did say something about a chimp,” said Josie. “And I thought I was hearing things out there. Why didn’t you tell me this on the way here, Bud?”
“After what you told us? Another rabid animal, even if it was a damn monkey, seemed trivial at the time.”
“Ape,” Rusty corrected him.
“Huh?”
“Chimps aren’t monkeys. They’re apes.”
Bud looked at Rusty as if he had Play-Doh coming out of his ears. “I don’t give a shit if they’re apes, monkeys, or hairy looking Girl Scouts!”
Rusty could tell Bud wasn’t really mad. “What if they were monkeys selling Girl Scout cookies…would you give a shit then?”
Everybody but Tubby laughed. “You’re telling me they’ll lock us up just for seeing those things. Gee whiz, guys! That doesn’t make any sense!”
Bud shrugged wearily. “Why’s that so hard to believe? For Christ’s sake, they were shooting at us today! If you ask me, they seemed pretty desperate to detain us.”
Rusty adjusted his glasses nervously. “They were, ahem…shooting at you?”
Bud filled them in on the rest—the unexpected headshot that had taken out the rabid ape; their sprint through the Pines, with the Center personnel hot on their heels; and finally, their desperate drop in the dirt den. “I always knew messing around in those sinkholes would come in handy one of these days,” Bud laughed.
Tubby failed to see the humor. For him, that sinkhole had been a frightening thing, and he was certain it would visit his dreams in the nights to come. Along with that strangely smiling chimp.
Josie looked at Rusty. He nodded. She grabbed Bud’s arm. “There’s something I haven’t told you yet, either, Buddy boy.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“That thing you took a shot at last night? Well…turns out you hit it. Square between the eyes.”
“Was it a chimp, too? That would explain why it looked six feet tall! It probably just jumped into a tree!”
Josie lowered her head, unable to tell him.
Rusty cleared his throat. “No. It wasn’t another chimp, Bud. It was one of those techs from the Center.”
“W-what?” Bud blinked. “You’re telling me that was a…a man I shot last night?”
“You okay, sweetie?” Josie put her arm around Bud when he stumbled on his feet. He took a deep breath and practically held it as Josie told him everything she knew about the incident—including the virus victim’s name.
“Virus victim? Wait a second! You mean they’re not treating it as a homicide?”
Josie wrapped her cool hands around the back of his neck. “Did you hear Rupert ask one question about the dead guy? Besides, Ham never told me it was a homicide—just that the man was…you know…shot between the eyes.”
“An unarmed man with a bullet hole in his coconut? C’mon, you’re gonna tell me that isn’t murder?” Bud fell back against the counter and buried his face in his hands.
Josie pulled away at his fingers and forced him to look at her. “I’ve been thinking about this since Ham told me, and I keep coming back to the same thing.”
“Yeah? What’s that? That I really am mental?”
“Stop feeling sorry for yourself, you big dummy. It doesn’t suit you. Do you remember what you told Rusty and I the first time you showed us those firearms of yours?”
Rusty piped in like a contestant on Jeopardy: “You told us the only way you’d shoot another person was in defense of yourself or someone you loved!”
Josie smiled and nodded. “That’s right, me Buddy boy. And do you recall what I was yelling at you last night, right before you finally shot that feckin’ thing?”
“You said to shoot it.” Bud shrugged, as if that proved nothing at all. “But Josie, it wasn’t an It or a Thing…He was a human being.”
“The feck it was!” Josie said, shocking them all with her vehemence. “That thing with glowing red eyes was no human being, Bud Brown! Maybe once upon a time, but not last night it wasn’t. By the way, even though they’re not treating it as a shooting, you probably need to get rid of that .38. you just stowed away in your bedroom.”
Josie was right. It had been kill-or-be-killed. Fact was, if it happened again, he’d do the very same thing again: Shoot that red-eyed fucker right between the eyes…
Rusty rubbed the bridge of his nose, where his heavy glasses left a lasting indent. “Man, this shit is getting pretty intense. Maybe we should steer clear of the Pines for a while. What do you think, Buddy boy?”
“I was just telling Joe that last night. I also think it would be wise to travel together for the time being. At least in pairs. Call each other when we’re home for the night.”
“Why’s that?” Josie asked him.
“Because if this thing runs as deep as I think it does, between the Sheriff, Dr. Bidwell and the Center, then I think they might try to catch one of us when we’re alone.”
“Divide and conquer,” Rusty said.
“That’s right.”
Tubby looked at them askance. “Y’all are talking as if this is some kind of government conspiracy!”
“No,” Bud said, taking a seat on the counter. “If it was
a government conspiracy the street outside would be full of armed soldiers. From what Josie overheard, I’d say that’s the last thing Bidwell wants. He’d be out his winning lottery ticket then. No, this is a local conspiracy at worst. That said, there are evil men at work here, and we all need to be very careful until this thing has safely passed us by.”
Josie frowned. “Passed us by?”
“Yeah. Until they’re convinced we aren’t sick.”
Tubby wasn’t ready to accept all this. He turned to Rusty for help. “C’mon, Gnat, you don’t buy into this paranoia, do you? Evil men and all. It’s a reasonable assumption on their part to consider quarantining us. For all they know we’re infected with some sort of monkey virus!”
“Then why were they shooting at us?” Bud asked him. “Even if they were correct in that assumption, Tubby, shooting at innocents is not a reasonable response.”
“They weren’t shooting at us—they were just...” Tubby was unable to finish the thought. It was too lame to say out loud. He didn’t want to even contemplate the idea that Bud had killed someone last night, much less discuss the matter. He wondered idly, what’s on TV right now?
“What kind of virus do you think they’re working on out there, Opie?” said Rusty. “Something that made that Gray, that chimp, and that poor man decomposing in our woods right now so damn sick. A rabies virus?”
“Yeah? So? Maybe they’re looking for a cure! Maybe one of their test subjects got loose. Like you said, that dog and chimp. Come on, guys! Think about it! They just want to make sure we’re okay!”
Rusty shook his head. “You’re only half right. Yeah, they’re concerned…but not for our welfare. If they were really worried about us, or this community, they would’ve called in the CDC by now! Instead of trying to contain this thing on their own. Nope…they’re just covering their own asses. Keeping this thing hushed up so it won’t upset their billon dollar apple cart. My guess is they’re cooking up some kind of biological weapon for the military. Something, I might add, that’s against international law! A perfect reason for them to want to keep this thing under wraps, wouldn’t you say, Opie?”
Tubby sighed. “Please stop calling me Opie.”
Patting Rusty on the back, Bud smiled at Ralph. “As usual, Skeletor here is right on the money. My father and I have always had a bad feeling when it comes to the Research Center. It’s all so secretive out there. Even after my mother's murder, when the killer’s tracks led right into the Pines, the Center refused to allow my old man or the sheriff to search their grounds. They claimed their own security force had combed every square inch of the base, that there was no sign of any blood soaked maniac.”
“The sheriff didn’t argue with them, either. Did he, love?” said Josie. “And now we know why.”
“And don’t forget that Jenkins kid,” Rusty said. “His friends claimed to have seen him climb over that fence on a dare. Poor little fucker was never seen again.”
“That’s right,” Bud said, nodding his head. “You know, I never believed that story. Those assholes the Jenkins kid hung around with, you couldn’t believe a word that came out of their mouths. Now…I’m not so sure.”
“If what you’re saying is true, then what hope do we have? They could claim that we’ve all become infected! My God, they could be on their way to pick us up right now! Jeepers! This is just like The Stand!”
“No, Ralphie,” said Josie, in that calm, soothing way she had about her. “It isn’t just like The Stand. And the Center is nothing like that Stephen King creation called The Shop. They’re a research facility on the brink of insolvency. Their manpower is limited to a few scientists and one clumsy Keystone Cop. Their only true power lies in their invisibility. And they’d lose that invisibility the instant they snatched up Ham Huggins’ kid without some sort of due process! You may not know this, but Hambone has some powerful friends in the State House.”
“Don’t forget about my old man,” Bud said, grinning savagely. “There’s no way he’d let them take us without a fight either. Legal…or otherwise.”
“That’s right,” Rusty said. “The Center is probably cooking up some biological time-bomb for the military, and while everyone knows that sort of thing goes on in the world, it’s still illegal as crack. Consider it from their point of view, Opie. Those lab rats don’t want any attention shined on their illicit operation if they can help it.”
“Then why do we need to be so careful?”
Bud screwed a cigarette in the corner of his mouth but didn’t light it. “Because, as my grandpappy Bud Brown used to say: ‘A cautious man lives to fight another day.’”
An odd philosophy coming from a tunnel rat.
*******
They hung around the lobby for a while longer, talking about their plans for the night. Tubby had to work for his father, and Rusty was looking forward to helping them out.
“I’m going home to take a bath,” Tubby said, moving away from the group. “I’ve got enough dirt in my drawers to plant potatoes.” He stopped at the door and looked back at Bud and Josie. “Would ya’ll like to come to the Drive-In tonight? My guests.”
Bud smiled over at Josie. “Want to, Red?”
Josie cocked her head in that fetching way of hers. “Hmmm. Our first date.”
“Now look what you’ve done.” Rusty said, throwing up his hands in mock despair.
Bud grabbed Rusty in a headlock. He grinned at Tubby. “We’d like that. Thanks, my man.”
Tubby looked out into the street. “Are you sure they won’t come after us, Bud?”
“Yeah. It’s gonna be all right. Don’t sweat it, Hoss. You’ve got friends watching your back from now on.”
Tubby smiled at the thought and went out into the street, feeling a little braver now. Bud had called him “Hoss” again! Just like big Dan Blocker on Bonanza.
Now that’s a nickname to be proud of!
Bud looked down at Rusty in the crook of his arm, and made a gesture at the doorway.
“Hey, Opie! Wait up!” Rusty caught up with Tubby at the door, and then looked back at Josie. “I’ll drop off that book later today. Okay, Joe?”
“What book?” Josie said, before remembering. “Oh! Yeah! Thanks, love.”
“What book is that?” Bud asked, noticing the deep blush on Josie’s face. Big Red just smiled mysteriously.
*******
Josie looked in on her brother while Bud went to his apartment to take a much-needed shower. The boy smelled like the inside of a dirty towel hamper. She wanted to wash the sweat and stink off, too, but Bud had insisted she stay until his dad returned from Beaufort. That way he could drive her and Joel home. In the past she would have simply showered in Bud’s bathroom, and then worn some of his clothes until later—but those days were gone. The sexual tension kept ratcheting up with every passing moment between them now. Especially heavy and humid whenever they were alone. Josie was all too aware of Bud’s eyes; how they crept along her chest, ran lightning quick up and down her legs. And for once it didn’t bother her at all. Truth was she liked it when Bud looked at her That Way.
Even if it frightened her at the same time.
She was relieved to find Joel asleep on the sofa. No troublesome questions that way. And knowing her brother, with his one-minute-attention-span, he would forget all about that little scene in the lobby if she didn’t bring it up again. The TV screen was full of hissing snow. Joel lay curled up with her jacket on top of him like a blanket.