Ravenous

by West, Terry M.

  It was Ben. He waved at her.

  Jesse sat there stunned. Eventually, curiosity replaced that feeling as she got up and walked around the bed. It was then that she realized she was almost naked and ran to the far closet out of sight. She opened it and put on an old, oversized t-shirt that said Put on a Happy Face. She came back to the window and saw that Ben was looking away. He was just as embarrassed as she was. It was sweet in a way. She opened the window.

  “Ben?”

  “Yeah. . . Hi, Jesse. I was just in the neighborhood. I thought you’d be at the party but. . .”

  “Shhh. Not so loud. If my dad hears you, he’ll freak. You can come in, but you’ve got to be quiet.”

  He shook his head. “No way, Jesse. I was hoping you could come out here. It’s pretty warm out for being so late. I don’t want to wake your dad.”

  “Well-”

  “I was hoping you’d be at the party, because I really wanted to talk about stuff.”

  “Stuff?”

  “Yeah. Stuff. You know? With us.”

  Oh, my God, she thought. This is really happening. He likes me.

  “Okay. I’ll come out. Can you just turn around? This might be awkward getting out.”

  He nodded, backed up, and turned around. She lifted up her t-shirt a little and stuck one of her legs out the window, knocking a worn paperback copy of The Infant Killer by Trevor Hughes to the floor. It was easier to get in than get out. She ended up sticking her other leg out and backing out. She knew her ass was probably quite visible. She hoped Ben wasn’t peeking. Or maybe she wished he was. The thought excited her a little. She thought about giving him a little wiggle, when she slipped out suddenly and her feet hit the wet grass.

  6.

  It was done. David looked around at all the carnage before him. Blood and bone, and fur and faux jeweled collars covered the stained carpet. Scratch marks tattooed his arms and hands as well. Not one cat had escaped him though. He had to chase a few, but they had nowhere to go. Now tired, David slumped down in his chair and waited.

  And waited. Nothing was happening

  He looked at his watch and shook his head. How long is this supposed to take? I’m on a deadline here.

  Friday night used to be date night for David and Linda, but now, it was date night for Tyler and her. About seven o’clock every week, Linda would drop Haley off at her grandmother’s. At about eight, she and Tyler would most likely go out to eat at some romantic, expensive restaurant that David could never afford to take her when they were married. Around ten, they were back home and David didn’t want to think about what they were doing, because he knew what he and Linda used to do on Friday nights when Haley was gone. It was at twelve that Tyler left to go to work at the casino.

  If this demon, monster, or whatever the hell it is doesn’t appear soon, Tyler will be gone, he thought. I can deal with it getting just Linda and the other assholes in the park, but I was hoping to get him too.

  David looked at his watch again. Only a few minutes went by, but they felt like hours.

  7.

  “I really hope you kept your word, Ben because I really looked-“

  She turned around to come face-to-face with more than just Ben. From the looks of it, there was most of the football team and their girlfriends. Before Jesse could even decide to say something or jump back in the window, the closest girl, Ashley tossed the contents of a bucket at her. The sticky liquid covered her half naked body and she fell backwards. She coughed and spit the noxious mixture out of her mouth.

  Heather, dressed in her blue and gold cheerleading outfit, stepped forward. “You couldn’t come to the party, so we figured we’d bring the party to you. Did you really think we’d want to hang out with you?”

  Amanda, also in the same outfit, came forward with Ben and put her arms around him. They locked lips for what seemed like forever to Jesse. When they were done, Amanda looked at Jesse and said, “Oh, I’m sorry. Did you think he liked you? Did you think a piece of trailer trash like you had a chance?”

  The football team came forward and now, Jesse could see that they had trash cans gathered from the neighborhood. One by one, each dumped the contents over her head. Used napkins, dirty diapers, fast foods bags with half-eaten food covered her and the ground around her. She tried to knock things off, but she was too sticky. All she could do was sit there and cry.

  She didn’t notice the light come on in the master bedroom of her trailer.

  8.

  David picked up one of the dead cat carcasses and flung it at the wall. It thumped against taped up pages and slid to the floor, leaving a trail of gore behind.

  I’m so stupid, he thought. Why did I ever think this was going to work? It’s just some stupid Urban Legend from the internet. Why do I always-

  The sound of a shotgun blast cut off David’s thoughts. He ran to the window, sliding momentarily on bloody fur, and tore away the papers from the window. With his binoculars in hand, he searched for the source of the noise.

  9.

  “What the hell did you do to my daughter?”

  Truth be told, Flint Carmichael was a hard man that enjoyed his liquor, his hunting, and his wrestling. The only thing that was more important to him than all that now sat before him half naked and covered in garbage. The warning shot got their attention. They would not be getting another; Ammo was expensive. Now, the gun was leveled at the group’s leader.

  “Holy shit! We’re sorry,” said the blond haired boy closest to Flint. The taller and wider boy behind him dropped his garbage can and ran. With that, all the girls and all of the other boys except the blond haired one followed his lead and took off in various directions. Even the girl that was holding onto him broke free and ran.

  Flint approached the boy that was rooted to the ground in fear. “What’s your name, son?”

  “B-B-Ben, sir,” he stuttered as he looked at the ground.

  “Ben, I’d like you to look at me like a man and get down on your knees.”

  “Dad? What are you doing?” asked his daughter.

  “Hush, baby girl. Ben, you best do what I say.”

  Ben started to whimper as he dropped onto the wet grass. Flint’s shotgun followed him.

  10.

  Well, isn’t this interesting, David thought. Here I was trying to conjure some demon from another dimension to go on a killing spree and it looks like the other park drunk, Flint Carmichael might go about it the old fashion way.

  David put his binoculars down. He actually felt a pang of jealousy. He wanted revenge for so long, but he had complicated it. He spent so much time plotting and planning when he could have just done what Flint did. He had his own shotgun in the hall closet with lots of ammo.

  This whole Car Nex thing is a bust. I guess I should have bought a goat. Time to go to plan B, he thought. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid.

  He chuckled to himself as he walked towards the closet.

  11.

  “Flint, what the hell are you doing?”

  Flint looked up from the boy that now smelled like piss to see Dale McDermott heading towards him with his pistol. Looking around, he could see more people had come out to see the commotion, but were keeping their distance. Dale was the only one with enough guts to approach him.

  “This boy needs to be taught a lesson for messin’ with my baby girl.”

  Dale took another step forward. “Can’t teach him a lesson if he’s dead, Flint. Just put the gun down and we’ll call the police. They can deal with him.”

  Flint backed away from Ben and stood next to his daughter. He lowered his gun and shouted loud enough so everyone could hear him. “I wasn’t going to shoot him! I just wanted to humiliate him like he done my daughter. Sorry if my warning shot scared the lot of you. Ya’ll can go back to bed now. Ain’t nobody going to die tonig-“

  There was some movement followed by whoosh. Before Flint could finish his sentence, his head was torn from his neck and sent tumbling forward. Out of instinct, Ben caug
ht it like a football and screamed. Seconds later, Flint’s body fell to the ground and everyone else’s voices joined in with Ben’s. Their eyes went to the sky where there was something nobodies’ eyes could quite focus on. That something roared and descended upon them.

  12.

  David had just reached the bottom of the hill, shotgun at his side, extra shells in his pockets, when he came upon a group of three girls in cheerleading outfits hiding a broken down camper at the edge of old section. They heard the crunch of his work boots, turned around, and gasped. They looked around in all directions, like they were about to call for help.

  “Shhhhh,” he told them. “It’s okay. I heard all the commotion. What’s going on?”

  The girls calmed down a little, but still looked unsure about the man with the gun before them. The one with short blonde hair said, “This guy pulled a gun on my boyfriend and we ran away. We hid here and we were-“

  A single scream cut her off and then, the night was filled with dozens of screams.

  “What the hell is going on?” said the brunette. “We need to get out of here. Can you help us?”

  David put his hand to his chin and acted like he was in deep thought; as if he was contemplating the best way to take them. “No.” He leveled the shotgun and pulled the trigger. The brunette’s probably perfectly toned and tanned stomach exploded in a brilliant burst of red. The other two cried out and fled in opposite directions.

  “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Kill three cheerleaders in a row. One bullet for each, like a pro. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe!” He pulled the trigger and hit cheerleader with long, blonde hair that hadn’t spoke. Her head popped like a gore filled water balloon, sending blood, brain matter, and shards of bone against the back of a metal shed.

  He turned towards the direction the remaining girl ran and reloaded his shotgun. Before he could take one step, a deafening roar brought his attention back to the center of the trailer park. He couldn’t quite make it out what he was seeing, but he knew and a smile crept across his face.

  “It’s here.”

  13.

  Jesse ran as fast as her legs could take her. She knew she should be crying. She just saw her father decapitated, but fear was all she felt: fear of whatever that thing was. It looked like a twister, but she swore it had fangs and claws. She heard feet following her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Mr. Booth from two doors down. Behind him was Ben and behind him was the dark funnel cloud. The athletic Ben easily overtook the retired barber. Jesse looked straight ahead, focusing on not tripping. There was screaming coming from everywhere, but she could definitely hear it from behind her, and then, she heard it above her. Both she and Ben stopped running and couldn’t help but stare at the sky. Mr. Booth tumbled end over end, climbing higher and higher, until he joined up with several other trailer park residents. It was as if they were being juggled by the creature. All at once, the people in sky exploded. Blood rained down on the two.

  Jesse ducked down and covered her head, as mangled body parts hit her and the surrounding area. Ben took off between two trailers, but didn’t get too far. The tornado-like creature dropped from the sky in front of him. He did a quick U-turn and headed back towards Jesse. He didn’t make it more than a few steps. A massive claw shot through his chest. All the fear and terror drained from his face. He was torn down the middle and each half of his body was slammed against the vinyl siding of those trailers.

  Jesse finally got her legs to move and took off behind another trailer. She could literally feel the heat coming off the creature. After putting a couple of trailers between herself and that thing, she dove under a rundown trailer with no skirting. She crawled towards the center and looked behind her in the direction where she thought the creature was.

  It could be anywhere, she thought. This thing is fast.

  A growl drowned out all the screams and the trailer next to her began to rock. Then, it was torn from the ground and launched into the sky. She looked to her left and saw another trailer sway before it too was rocketed into the sky. The trailers hit the ground in thunderous crashes.

  Oh, God. It’s looking for me, was the last thought that went through her head before the trailer above her started to shake.

  14.

  Damn. I think I lost her, David thought as he made his way towards the center of the trailer park. All around him, screaming people were running in different directions. Trailers were flying up into the air and coming down hard. Everyone was afraid, but not him. He was on a mission and he planned on joining in on the fun.

  “Oh, my God! Mr. Morgan! Mr. Morgan! Help me!” The woman running towards him was Mrs. Habitt. All he could remember about her was that her son was some great college football star and she helped Linda with her gardening. David pulled the trigger and kept walking. He knew he hit her and if she wasn’t dead now, she would be soon enough.

  There it was.

  The Car Nex took his breath away and his legs almost buckled as they turned to jelly. He could feel heat pouring off the creature. It felt like a warm embrace. This was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen and not quite seen. It looked like a dark storm cloud sitting on top of a trailer with its claws tearing into the siding as it rocked the house back and forth.

  “Drop it, Dave.”

  David turned around and saw Dale standing there holding his pistol at his side. “I saw you shoot Gerty. What the hell do you think you’re doing? Do you have something to do with that thing?”

  David smiled. “You could say so. He’s kind of like my pet. He and I are going to make sure this whole trailer park pays for what you all did to me.”

  Dale raised his gun. “I can’t let you-“

  Dale never got to finish his sentence. The Car Nex flew off the roof of the trailer and sliced Dale across the stomach before it turned its attention to another nearby resident and gave chase. Dale’s intestines spilled out of the gaping hole and he dropped to his knees, trying to scoop them back in. He looked up at David as he approached.

  “Come on, Dale. Keep it together. You’re falling apart at the seams.” David walked away from him. Once again, he knew there was no coming back from that sort of wound.

  Everywhere he looked there was more and more carnage. Above his head, Mr. Crabtree’s giant television antenna came into view. Several Pleasant Palaces residents were impaled on it. The Car Nex flew by overheard, sending the antenna and bodies spinning like a macabre merry-go-round. David took a detour around a pile of smashed cars to avoid getting splashed with gore from above and ended up walking right into a pile of football players. One might have thought they were playing an actual game and had tackled somebody. It was only when you looked closer, you saw that the tangle of arms and legs weren’t attached to the bodies of the players. David sidestepped the mountain of flesh and had almost made it to his destination when he dropped to the ground in laughter. Ahead of him lay the massive body of Mindy Morrison. Her bloody, four hundred pound frame sat atop Mrs. Fendly’s vegetable garden; something she’d probably never eaten a day in her life.

  The rev of an engine bought him back to reality and gave David an idea. DeadAware435 had mentioned that the Car Nex will die if the one who summoned it dies.

  The Car Nex had left what it was doing and took out Dale when he aimed his gun at me, he thought. How far will it go to protect me and in turn itself?

  David stood up and casually walked in front of the headlights of the speeding pickup truck. Just before its bumper was about to hit him, the Car Nex came down on its hood, sending it flipping end-over-end above his head.

  David looked around and shouted, “I’m invincible. You hear me? INVINCIBLE! Nothing can stop me. As long as I’m alive, the Carnivore from the Nexus is alive and as long as the Car Nex is alive, I’m a king, king of this trailer park. Now, it’s time to sit upon my throne.”

  David reached his destination and sat on the green and white lawn chair. He set the shotgun across his lap and lifted the binoculars to his eyes. The trailer was un
touched. He was excited. He didn’t want the Car Nex to kill Linda and Tyler. He wanted to do it himself.

  15.

  From her viewpoint, Jesse saw and heard it all: the murder of Dale, the manic fit of laughter, the flying pickup truck, his grand speech about this Car Nex creature. Now, that crazy man from the hilltop sat right in front of her. She had to get out of there, but between him and the flying monster, she didn’t know how.

  Though quite a distance, she could still see her house since a few trailers had been uprooted. Guilt shot through her body as she spied a mound outside her home: her dad. She finally allowed the fear to slip away for a moment and cried; her tears mixed in with the blood and mud on the ground.