by Ann McCune
I was trying to hold the tears in, but I couldn’t. They came spilling out and my nose clogged up with snot. I sniffled wanting to wipe my nose on something, but I did not want to get Shawn’s jacket dirty.
“You can wipe your nose on the jacket. It’s a rental, they’ll dry-clean it before the next guy wears it.”
“Thanks.” I wiped my nose on the sleeve as he started up the Jeep.
“Do you want me to take you home?” he asked, after he put his seat belt on.
“I’m sorry, Shawn. I didn’t mean to ruin your night. You can go back in if you want. I know you were having a good time.” I looked at my dark reflection in the side view mirror. I couldn’t look at Shawn, I felt horrible for making him leave.
“I was only having a good time because I was there with you. I don’t want to be there if you’re not. Tell me what I can do to make you feel better.”
I wiped the moisture from under my eyes and looked over at him. “I don’t want to go home, but I can’t go back in there. Is there anything you want to do?”
He smiled. “I had a plan in case you didn’t want to stay the whole time. How about we go look at the stars for a while?” He put the Jeep in drive and we rolled toward the exit of the high school. “You are going to have to show me a good spot though.”
“I know where we should go. Turn left at the end of the parking lot.” I smiled, at least he wasn’t mad he was leaving prom for me.
Twenty minutes later we were parked in a wide meadow, surrounded by twisted pine trees, and flattened grass from the year before. I changed out of my dress and into my jeans and hoodie in the back of the Jeep, while Shawn changed behind a rock. Feeling more like myself, I pulled my rune out of the bag, pulled it over my hair, then tucked it under my hoodie. I tied my Chucks and walked out to the meadow and looked up at the night sky. There wasn’t a cloud in sight as I watched the stars lazily twinkle from the heavens.
Shawn came out from behind the rock and went to the back of the Jeep. He opened the rear hatch, pulled out two blankets, and a basket. He turned on a flashlight and came back to where I was standing.
“What’s all that?” I asked.
“Can’t a guy have a backup plan?” He spread out one blanket on the ground and motioned for me to move over to it, then he sat next to me, and spread the other blanket over our legs. He put the basket down in front of us and pulled out a bottle of champagne.
“Wow, is that for real? What’s the occasion?” I watched as he pulled out two glasses and a small box about six inches by four inches.
“No, it’s sparkling cider and it’s prom, I think it’s occasion enough.” He thumbed the cork on the bottle and it went flying out into the night. He held the bottle away from the blanket as some of the liquid bubbled out. He filled up a glass and handed it to me then filled his own. “To us, one more year of high school and we are done.” He clinked his glass with mine and we both took a sip.
I giggled as the bubbles exploded in my mouth, then smacked my lips together. “That’s good.”
“I’m glad you like it.” He picked up the box, opened it and offered it to me. Inside were chocolate covered strawberries.
“Those look too good to eat,” I said, picking one up, and biting the tip off. “But it won’t stop me.”
“They are so good.” Shawn turned the flashlight off and picked one out then put the box down on the blanket. He moved closer to me and took a bite of the strawberry goodness then sipped his cider.
I took a sip of mine and finished off the strawberry. “Shawn, thanks this was a great idea.” I sat my glass on the ground next to the blanket and I lay down to stare at the sky.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.” He lay down next to me. “Wow, the only time I’ve seen the sky like this was in the planetarium. It’s amazing.”
“We’re pretty spoiled. I couldn’t imagine living in a place where you couldn’t see the stars.” I found Shawn’s hand and squeezed it. How did I get lucky enough to find a guy who knew exactly what I needed to feel better? “About earlier, I owe you an explanation.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you didn’t make me take you home.” He brought our linked hands up to his mouth and kissed the back of my hand.
“No, I ruined it and you deserve to know why.” I turned my head to look at him then back to look at the sky. “You know I’m a tomboy, I have never liked hanging out with girls, well except Jo and Heather, they’re cool. Well, when I was in the bathroom, Tiffany and some other girl came in and they were talking crap about me.”
“What were they saying?” I saw Shawn turn his head to look at me out of the corner of my eye.
“They were making fun of me because I was all dressed up, that my mom must have spent a ton of money on me for me to look this good. Then they said I must be a good lay since you were with me.”
“Those bitches.” I felt him tense up next to me.
“That’s why I don’t hang out with girls. They are always out for each other. Their drama is not worth my time. I feel like an idiot because I let them get to me and ruin our night. I’m sorry.” I squeezed his hand and turned to look at him.
“Are you happy right now?”
“Yes.”
“Then they didn’t ruin our night.” He leaned into me and kissed me softly, and heat that had nothing to do with the blankets began to burn through me. I didn’t think kissing could get any better until he deepened the kiss, our mouths opened, and our tongues tangled together before breaking apart and coming together again. He moved without breaking contact until he was above me with half his body leaning against mine. His hand came around my waist and squeezed my side. I wrapped my arms around his back and tried to pull him closer without breaking the kiss.
We broke apart for a minute to catch our breath and he began kissing my neck, moving up to my ear and gently bit it. I let out a moan, found his neck then kissed and sucked at it. I wanted him closer, but there was only one way we could get closer and I was not ready for it.
“Shawn let’s slow down for a minute,” I said, with my chin resting on his shoulder.
He groaned but pulled away and lay down on his back pulling me with him, so my head rested on his chest. “You’re right. I promised your dad no ‘hanky-panky.’ Can we just lay here for a while?”
“Okay.” I kissed his chest through his hoodie.
We lay there looking up at the blanket of stars covering the night sky for a few minutes until a huge meteor streaked above us. “Wow,” Shawn said, squeezing me. “Did you see that? I’ve never seen one that big before. “
“Yeah, neither have I. Make a wish.” I told him, before wishing we could close the gate and remove my mark.
“I already did. What about you?”
“Me too.” My eyes were starting to feel heavy, I closed them, telling myself it would only be for a second.
“Are you warm enough?” He wrapped his arms around me.
“Huh? Yeah, snug as a bug in a rug.” I felt warm and safe. I let myself drift, knowing Shawn would wake me up if I fell asleep, and I’m sure he would have, if he had not fallen asleep too.
CHAPTER 32
I was standing at the mouth of the mineshaft and the voices were calling to me, inviting me to enter. I knew I was dreaming, but I didn’t remember going to bed, then it hit me, I was sleeping under the stars with Shawn. I froze, I didn’t have the protection of a dreamcatcher.
I was starting to panic. I wasn’t ready to take on the mare. I closed my eyes and imagined my favorite Colt 1911 and a holster. I found the gun on my hip and smiled at the comfort it gave me, but I was going to need more than one gun. I thought of the machete I used when I trained, and it appeared in my hand.
I didn’t want to be in the clearing, there was nothing I could do to help the voices calling to me yet. I needed to find Shawn, the goblin never showed up when I was with Shawn or Heather. I closed my eyes and thought of him. I opened my eyes, but I was still standing at the mouth of the sh
aft. Shawn must not have been asleep. I was about to look for Heather when something stopped me.
“Liz, help me,” Shawn’s voice called from the dark abyss in front of me. “I can’t beat them on my own.”
The mare was trying to lure me into the darkness. It wasn’t Shawn, if he was sleeping I would have been able to go to him. I started to walk away from the shaft, but the wind began to blow in my face. With each step I took, it became harder and harder to move forward. I was losing ground. I needed help, and without Shawn, there was only one person I could think of.
Heather. The world shifted, and I was standing next to Heather in the diner. She was shooting at a mare ten feet away. I took my Colt from my holster and began to fire at the goblin. “What are you doing here?” Heather asked, between pulling the trigger on her gun.
“Shawn and I were looking at the stars and I fell asleep without my dreamcatcher. The goblin was after me. Shawn must not be asleep because I can’t find him. I thought I would hang out with you until he wakes me up,” I said, emptying my clip and reloading it without a thought. This mare was different than my stalker, he was tall and skinny like my stalker, but he was covered with a light dusting of coarse brown fur from head to toe. Now riddled with bullet holes, he fell to his knees a few feet from us.
Heather walked behind it, pulled its head back, took a knife from her boot and cut its head off, then threw the head to the other side of the room. “Well, since you are here you can help, it’s been a busy night with prom and all. It seems like everyone in town is having a nightmare.” She walked back over to me and took my hand. “Come on, let’s get to the next one before it’s too late.”
We jumped and found ourselves in the high school gym. It was still decorated for prom, but the paper trees and animals were real, swaying and moving to a breeze only they could feel. We moved out of the trees as screams and moaning assaulted our ears.
The dance floor was littered with bodies. Blood pooled under most of them. People were kneeling over the bodies with their faces resting on the torsos of the fallen. I moved closer to one and bent a knee to comfort the mourning person. As soon as I touched her shoulder her face jerked up and she met my eyes.
“Heather, zombies,” I yelled, jumping to my feet, and pulling my Colt from its holster. I aimed and pulled the trigger hitting the zombie in the head. I put the Colt back in the holster and manifested a shotgun as I ran back to Heather. “The movies were right, a shot to the head and they die,” I yelled to Heather.
We began moving around the room shooting anything that wasn’t human. I had to constantly think about reloading the gun, and the zombies were dropping like flies. Hopefully we would find the victim before it was too late.
Something grabbed me from behind. I whipped around to see the zombie version of Billy. His face was missing its skin on one side. One of his eyeballs had been pulled out of its socket and rested on his cheek. It rolled back and forth as if trying to understand what it was seeing. Only half his mouth would close while the other half hung on by tendons and swung back and forth as he moved his head.
He grabbed ahold of my shoulder and started to pull me toward him. I pulled up the machete up to stab him in his good eye, but his arms were in the way. I kicked and punched at him, but there was nothing I could do. “Heather,” I yelled right before the zombie’s head popped covering me in brains and blood.
Wiping the grey matter from my eyes, I looked around for Heather, but my eyes landed on Shawn. He ran up to me. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just helping Heather.” I looked around for her but didn’t see her.
“You fell asleep without the dreamcatcher.” Shawn pulled a machete from the air.
“So, did you by the looks of it.” I gave him a tight smile. “Behind you,” I said, bringing my shotgun back up, but Shawn was quicker. He pulled up a Glock and shot the zombie through the eye. “Let’s stand back-to-back.”
“Good idea.” I turned and backed up to Shawn’s back as we killed zombie after zombie. Some I recognized as students or teachers, others were so disfigured, I would never know who I was killing. When there was nothing but a pile of rotting flesh, I looked around.
“Where’s Heather?” And with a thought we were standing beside the stage where the DJ booth was. There was a chunk of flesh missing from her shoulder and she was trying to stand. I bent down and put my arm around her to help her. “Heather you’re hurt. Wake yourself up.”
“No, I want to make sure you’re safe,” she said, taking a ragged breath after each word. Then she passed out, falling forward into us. We caught her and laid her on the ground.
I looked at Shawn. “What do we do? How can she wake herself up if she isn’t conscious?”
“Fuck,” he ripped off his shirt and pushed it against her wound. “Hold this and keep her safe. I’m going to look for help,” he said before disappearing.
I took my hoodie off and wadded it up to make a pillow for her. “It’s going to be alright, Heather. Shawn is going to get help.” I stood and looked around the gym for anything that didn’t belong. “Whose dream is this anyway?” I did not see anyone who needed help.
“Yours,” the scratchy voice of my stalker said from behind me. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to protect yourself forever. Now I can cross planes and eat until I am satisfied.”
I whirled around to see my goblin, disguised as Tiffany. “Good luck with that,” I said, before shooting him in the head. The bullet hit him between his eyes, he leaned back to absorb the recoil, almost lost his footing, but found it and smiled as the hole from the bullet disappeared.
The mare was stronger than last time Shawn fought him if a bullet didn’t stop it. I wanted to think about it, but he launched himself at me. I shot him again, but it didn’t slow him down. Before I had time to think of anything else I was on my back with the knees of the goblin on my chest making it hard to breathe. Panic took over my body and I was frozen as he brought his mouth to mine ready to give me the kiss of death.
This was it. Jon was right. I wasn’t even going to make it a month with this mark, I thought as my stalker’s mouth connected with mine. I thought of my friends and parents, of Shawn. He would be blamed for my death. He let me fall asleep without a dreamcatcher. I could not let him suffer for my death when it wasn’t his fault. I had to fight, I closed my eyes and thought of my hunting knife. My hand curled around the hilt and I slammed the point into the goblin’s ear canal. He reared back grabbing his head. I pushed him off me and jumped to my, feet never taking my eyes off him.
“Why?” he screamed at me, pulling the knife out of his head, and throwing it back at me.
I jumped out of the way as it passed by me. “Why what?”
“Why couldn’t I suck out your soul?” he bellowed, starting to circle me. “As soon as I touched my lips to yours I should have been able to take over your mind and dine on your soul.”
I moved as he did, confused as to why I was still alive. I felt the tug of the rune around my neck and smiled. It wasn’t broken, I just didn’t need it when I had my dreamcatcher. I picked up the machete I dropped when he got the jump on me. I ran toward him holding the primitive sword out as he ran towards me with a battle cry. I swung the blade across his neck and watched as his head fell to the ground. I waited for his body to crumble to the ground, but it still ran toward me. I brought up a can of hair spray and flicked a zippo in my other hand. I aimed before pushing down on the hairspray and a jet of fire engulfed him, but now a flaming body ran toward me, instead of just a headless one.
I thought of a running chainsaw and brought it up ready to dismember him. I waited until he was within striking range, then I cut into his body, starting at the neck, and working my way down. I felt the heat from the fire’s flames and thought of a fireman’s jacket. Protected from the burning corpse, I finished cutting the body in half. The halves fell to the ground, no longer having balance to stay upright it flopped across the floor in my direction. I went to one half and used the
saw to cut off his leg then his arm. A hand grabbed my ankle and I jumped before seeing it was the other half of the goblin.
“This is not the end, little bitch. I’ll be back before you know it,” he said, somehow able to talk even though he did not have a voice box to talk through.
“Rot in hell,” I yelled, using the chain saw to cut his head in half.
When I looked up, Jon was standing next to Heather, with his legs slightly spread and his arms crossed over his chest watching me.
“Is she going to be alright?” I asked.
“Yes, no thanks to you.” He frowned while his foot tapped insistently on the hardwood floor.
“How is this my fault?” I asked, getting mad. “All I did was fall asleep and try to outrun my nightmare.”
“Just because you are Victor’s daughter doesn’t give you the right to fight the mares. It takes years of training to be proficient at it.”
“This is my dream. What was I supposed to do, let them kill me?” I crossed my arms over my chest, ignoring the blood and viscera covering them.
“No, you could have waited for someone to help you who had more experience.”
“Heather and Shawn are the only ones I know. Where is Shawn?” I asked, looking around.
“He was here?” Jon looked around searching for his son.
“Yeah, he went to get help after Heather passed out.” I closed my eyes and thought of Shawn. When I opened them, I was back in the forest in front of the mineshaft. Shawn was standing just outside the opening, staring into the darkness.
“Shawn,” I called, not wanting to get any closer to the entrance than I had to. He didn’t move, it was almost like he didn’t hear me. “Shawn.” I ran up to him, took his hand, and started to pull him away from the opening. “Come on, we have to get away from here. There’s something wrong with this place.”
“They’re begging me for help. I need to go in there and save them.” He tried to pull away from me, but I held him back.
“No, Shawn, it’s a trick. They have been trying to lure me down there every time I dream of this place. We need to find another way to save them.” With my hand firmly holding his I thought of Heather and we were both back in the gym.