After a few moments, Wilson lifted his head and said “Alright, John. Here is the situation. In about five minutes, your phone is going to ring. It will be your secretary, Jennifer calling, most likely in hysterics, to tell you about what you just witnessed in Harcourt’s office. That means we have very little time to conduct our business.”
Wilson waved his left hand and although Showalter was still unable to move, he was able to speak and asked fearfully, “What have you done? What the Hell was that? Help…” But before he could shout a cry for help, Wilson had rendered him unable to speak once again.
“As I started to say, here is the situation, John.” Wilson insisted, “I control whether or not you can speak or move. If you do what I want and you stand by our agreement, I will not harm you. If you try to fight me, you will suffer pain, the likes of which you could not imagine in your worst nightmares. I can make the horror you just witnessed in Harcourt’s office seem like a picnic. Do you understand me?”
Showalter did not seem to comprehend what Wilson was trying to tell him. He did not react, just sat staring at the man. “Perhaps a little reminder might be in order.” Wilson said.
Wilson tapped the phone resting near his heart and a tearing sound echoed in the office, as it had in Harcourt’s office. Then in mid air, right above the top of Showalter’s desk, just a few feet from his head a small rip about a foot long appeared out of nowhere. The surrounding air filled with a vile stench as the opening widened, its sides burning white hot with Hellfire. From inside the opening a long thin reptilian tentacle holding a severed human finger came forth, dropping the extremity onto this desk.
Moving his eyes slowly downward, Showalter saw that the finger was that of his boss, Johnson P. Harcourt. He could tell by the insignia ring, which the man treasured and never removed. The finger lay bloody on the desk top while the tentacle, complete with its small human-like hand slowly danced and waved in the air directly in front of his face. The tentacle reached around toward the back of his neck, positioning itself near his hairline an inch or so from his skin. Showalter began to sweat profusely as he felt the tremendous heat coming from the appendage. The flesh near his hairline began to redden, then bubbled as several puss filled blisters formed. Showalter’s eyes watered from the pain but he was unable to cry out. Wilson could smell the man’s hair and flesh burning.
Next, the tentacle pulled away back into the opening as several spider-like creatures crawled from the breach, skittering to the top of the desk, looking up at Showalter with their human-like Charles Wilson faces, and retrieved the severed finger. The things began slurping up the blood that had spilled on the desktop then carried the finger back into the hole. The edges of the opening began to fuse back together as Showalter stared at Wilson, who sat calmly watching him.
Wilson continued, “Now, I am going to release your voice once again so we can talk but you will not shout or else I will be forced to reopen my little portal and allow my friends to have their way with you. Do you understand me John? Blink once if you understand and if you agree to follow my instructions.”
Showalter blinked his eyes once and with a wave of his left hand; Wilson released the man from his inability to speak. “Please don’t hurt me. I will do whatever you want.” Showalter pleaded in a quiet, raspy voice.
Wilson explained, “What I want, John is what I came here for, simply to complete our deal. First, let me explain the current situation. As you know, Johnson P. Harcourt is now quite dead and Samuel F. Washington has been reduced to a drooling lunatic who will be blamed for Harcourt’s murder and likely spend the rest of his miserable life in an insane asylum. Your job is now secure; in fact, I am certain that this means that you are about to get a major promotion. I am sure the board of directors has no one else in available as capable as yourself to fill that roll and save the company from the barrage of bad press and financial woes, that it is about to receive. The bottom line is that this company is now yours and no one can stand in our way, John.”
Wilson reached into his briefcase and took out the contract he had prepared for Showalter’s signature and laid it on top of his desk. He told Showalter, “See? As I told you, it is still not too late. If you will be so kind as to sign my contract, you can then call and cancel your appointment with Bill Simpson and we can just go on as if none of this unpleasantness has ever happened. Oh and by the way, I won’t make you sign it in blood. Ink will suffice.”
He waved his hand and Showalter was able to move his right hand from below the wrist. Wilson placed a pen in Showalter’s hand and put the contract within his reach.
“I would suggest signing it quickly, John,” Wilson continued, “So that we can begin what I hope will be a long and profitable business relationship. You see, now that you know my little secret, it means that you are with me, or you are damned. That should make the decision-making process a bit easier for you.”
Showalter seemed to hesitate for a moment and Wilson inquired, “On the other hand, if you are having second thought and might prefer not to sign then maybe my little friends could pay a visit to your lovely wife, Jane or your sweet daughter Melissa.”
“How do you know about them? How do you know their names? I never told you anything about my family!” Showalter said anxiously.
“I know much more than you realize, John. I make it my business to learn everything about the people with whom I do business. Jane is a beautiful woman with a great figure and beautiful milky flesh… at least for now.” Wilson said in a threatening voice. “And Melissa is a pretty and innocent young teen. I would hate to think what one of those foul creatures would do with such a lovely little girl. Did you happen to notice the size of that organ?”
With out another moment of hesitation, Showalter signed the contract. Wilson stood, placing the contract in his briefcase, and waved his hand, releasing Showalter from his paralysis. Wilson reached out to shake hands with Showalter, who did not stand and sat without offering his hand. He looked at Wilson with what appeared to be equal measures of terror and revulsion.
“Very well.” Wilson said, “Have it your way, John. Nonetheless, I will keep my part of the bargain. It was nice doing business with you and I look forward to our next meeting and to building a long and prosperous business relationship. And just so you know John, there definitely will be a next meeting. By the way, I will be watching you, as you know that I can. If you do anything to try to sabotage the good work we did here today I will be back sooner, rather than later. Or perhaps I should say that I would be sending my little friends back? You do understand, don’t you John?”
Showalter nodded that he understood and Wilson offered a final, “Oh yes, and congratulations on your upcoming promotion. I am sure the company will continue to grow and prosper under your leadership, and with my assistance.”
Wilson turned to leave the office as Showalter’s desk phone began to ring. As he walked out the door, he saw Jennifer, the secretary in tears screaming incoherently into the phone. Wilson walked by, smiling at the woman who looked up at him stopping mid sentence, staring in disbelief. As with the guard at the front desk, she thought that she must have been imagining things. For a second, what she saw, or what she thought she saw was not possible. It was as if some type of demonic face was sliding around just below the surface of Wilson’s outer skin, as if he wore a translucent mask not quite covering something unearthly lurking beneath.
As Wilson walked to the elevator, he saw Showalter running from his office, startling his receptionist back into reality, and then heading down the hall toward Harcourt’s office. Wilson had little doubt that Showalter would keep his part of their bargain. After all, Showalter had just made a great deal for his company, and it was essentially going to be his company once all dust settled from this unfortunate situation.
When Wilson entered the elevator and the doors began to close he saw the elevator doors across the hall open as several police and emergency people exited, running rapidly down the hall following the directi
ons of the panic stricken H & W employees.
Wilson felt incredible, having completed good day’s work.
Chapter 19
As Charles Wilson was walking into the offices of Harcourt and Washington on Monday morning, his wife, Sarah, was back in Pennsylvania, on her way to the local UPS store located in a shopping center outside of the city of Yuengsville, to ship his business cell phone to his hotel.
Sarah and Charles lived on what was once a small twenty-acre farm outside of the city in a custom-built center-hall colonial home. Although Sarah liked being secluded and living away from everything, she often got frustrated when she was required to run into town for shopping trips or for emergency situations such as the one she was attempting to resolve for her forgetful husband. After settling into their cozy home, she quickly learned that ‘living out’ was a double-edged sword; she forfeited convenience for privacy.
One thing she did enjoy about the trip however was a three-mile stretch of road that ran though a wooded area thick with trees, the tops of which literally grew together across the highway, creating a canopy of shade and darkness. Even on the hottest days of summer, this section of road was generally cool enough to drive with the windows open and enjoy the fresh forest air.
On many previous occasions, while driving on the road she had opportunities to see wild squirrels, rabbits and every so often a box turtle crossing the highway. A slow shallow creek ran along the left side of the road and provided a perfect place for such animals to go for a drink. One thing she always watched out for, however were deer, which as all Pennsylvanians knew were overpopulated and abundant to the point of being hazardous. Deer often posed a serious threat to drivers on rural roads and on one occasion Sarah had struck and killed one damaging her car to the tune of about six thousand dollars. She was fortunate during that particular encounter that she had not been injured.
The general rule of thumb in Pennsylvania was ‘Kill the deer but don’t leave the highway.’ As cruel as that might sound, it was good practical advice. Much too often people would swerve to avoid hitting deer only to lose control of their vehicles, crash and end up dying themselves.
On days when it was dreary and overcast, the darkness inside the canopy of trees was such that headlights became necessary. Today was one of those headlight days. It had been raining steadily when Sarah left home and although her windshield wipers were unnecessary under the thick shelter of leaves; she did need to turn on her headlights as the dismal day plunged the covered road into an unnatural darkness.
Sometimes when she was driving this stretch of road she would pull over to the side of the road and just sit with her window down listening to the sounds of nature. She loved to hear the flow of the creek, the birds chirping and the rustling of the leaves. She had even become so relaxed on one occasion that she had actually fallen asleep in her car along the side of the road and a passing state trooper had to wake her when he stopped to see if she needed assistance. Today however, she was on a mission and did not have time to stop; Charlie needed his cell phone.
Since the rain was virtually non-existent under the canopy of trees, she was able to open her window to take in some of the wonderful scents that nature had to offer. She leaned her head out the window taking a deep breath of fresh air. To her surprise and dismay, something seemed very wrong with the scents in the air. She could not place the odor but it had a musky and feral smell like that of some wild animal. But, that was not the only thing she sensed. There was a sulfurous foul excremental stench, lingering just under the surface that she did not recognize but that made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end as some primal intuition warned of eminent danger.
She slowed down and watched both sides of the highway wary of what this strange feeling might mean. Then she saw something up ahead. Near the side of the road, her headlights caught a familiar reflection of bright animal eyes. “Deer” she said aloud, instinctively slowing down to allow for the slick surface of the highway. She had not gone much further when an enormous buck, perhaps twelve-points or more walked into the middle of roadway. She looked into her rearview mirror to make sure no one was behind her and brought her car to a complete stop perhaps ten feet in front of the incredible beast. It stood in the middle of the road looking at her through the windshield with eyes that appeared surprisingly intelligent; knowing. There was something in that look that was so unnatural that her arms were covered with gooseflesh, as a chill descended though her body.
She was in awe of the massive size of the beast, the bottom line of his stomach perhaps a foot above the hood of her car. Its legs were long and rippling with muscles. She looked up again to see the same strange eyes staring at her, as steam billowed from the creatures flaring nostrils in the cool morning air.
She had never been this close to a wild buck before and had never seen one anywhere as incredibly huge as this beast was. It was nothing like she had ever imagined, with its giant rack of antlers seeming to sore high into he air and its thick muscular neck leading down to a massive bulging chest. At this close distance, the foul odor she had detected earlier was even stronger and made her stomach turn in disgust. She had been close to many animals before such as cows, pigs, horses and circus animals such as elephants but had never quite smelled anything as disturbing as this. She felt that the reek emanating from the beast was not born of nature, but was spawned by something else, something foul and unclean. She covered her nose with her hand and quickly raised her window and turned off the air vent to try to keep the stench out of her car, but this did little to reduce its troubling effect.
She had no idea what she should do next, so she did the first thing that came to mind, she honked her car horn repeatedly with the hopes of frightening the beast into moving. The hulking creature simply stood, staring at her through the windshield, its eyes seeming to blaze brighter as if it had a simmering anger building inside, growing ever greater.
Sarah decided to try to drive around the animal; since it was a two-lane road and the buck was standing on her side with no oncoming traffic approaching from the opposite side of the road. She backed he car up and attempted to maneuver slowly past the creature. The buck again walked in front of her vehicle, blocking her ability to pass.
Now she was beginning to get nervous, it was almost as if this hulking beast had a level of intelligence much greater than should be available to its species. It seemed to be taunting her to be playing some type of game with her; challenging her. Once again, she backed up then tried to pass the creature on the right side of the road. However, before she could complete the move, the massive buck was once again standing in front of her blocking the road.
A cold terror began to overcome her as she realized that she was alone on this dark section of roadway with an incredibly large and dangerous animal that was behaving in a completely unnatural manor. And there was no sign of any other cars in sight; no one to offer her help. It was practically mid morning and there should have been more cars on the road, but there were none as she found that she was alone with the massive buck.
She considered picking up her cell phone and dialing 911 to ask for help, but then realized how foolish she would sound. She knew that no emergency operator would take seriously a call from a woman claiming that a large buck was blocking her roadway. In addition, when she looked at her cell phone she noticed that she must have been out of cell tower range as she was receiving no signal. She had to find a way to handle this situation herself.
She thought about simply backing up and leaving the way she came but realized that the next turnoff behind her was perhaps two miles back and since backing up was not her strong suit, she had no desire to attempt to back up for such a long distance unless she was left with no other alternative. Furthermore, she had to get to the store to mail Charlie’s phone. She began to get angry and frustrated, deciding that no stupid animal was going to get the best of her.
Once again, Sarah backed her car, further this time, and then punched the accelerator to the
floor speeding toward the deer, horn blaring. Then at the last moment, she slammed the breaks and slid, skidding directly at the animal. Despite her growing anger, she did not wish to hit or kill the beast, only frighten it into moving out of her way. The beast never bolted, or showed any sign of fear; it simply stood staring as her car slid to stop just inches from its forelegs.
Furious, Sarah pounded her hands against the steering wheel repeatedly in frustration, the horn blasting in a staccato rhythm from her irritated blows. She did not know what else to do. She could not bring herself to run headlong into the buck, knowing that doing so would either kill him or break his legs, not to mention the damage it might do to her car and that she might also be injured. Judging by its size of the beast, the thing might collapse onto her vehicle crushing both her car as well as Sarah.
Then she had an idea. Perhaps she could nudge the buck into moving. She slowly inched her car forward, barely crawling until the front of her bumper touched the foreleg of the giant beast. She thought that perhaps when the creature felt the force of the car pressing against its body it would realize that it had no choice but to move. The buck did not move or flinch. Sarah looked up through the top of the windshield and saw the creature looking angrily down at her from far above. She returned his angry stare, and in utter frustration lost all thought of concern for the animal and pressed the gas pedal to the floor. The car’s tires spun wildly as the car sat in place, pressing upon the muscular legs of the buck. The car’s engine roared as the RPM increased, but it remained unmoving as if stuck in a pile of snow, or on a patch of ice.
Sarah could not believe that the animal could be so strong, that it was able to withstand the full force of an automobile with just its forelegs. It was simply not possible. Her car should have snapped his legs like twigs and crippled the beast, but it had no effect whatsoever. Now her frustration and fear began to grow even stronger, as she sat with her heart thumping in her chest. She had to find a way off this roadway, even if it meant backing up. Something was very wrong here. She turned in her seat preparing to back up and away from the creature.
Burn Phone Page 12