“From the zombighosts?” Eliza asked. “Is that what you called them, Steven?”
“Yeah,” Steven said. “That’s what they are. And they’re fast, and they’re vicious. If you see a ghost, don’t antagonize it. They turn on you fast.”
“It’s easier if you just avoid them altogether,” Deem said. “Try not to be seen by one.”
“We’ll go in after sundown,” Winn said. “No tourists, and less chance of running into the ghosts. They all go to a meeting at the hotel every night around sundown. They disband after a couple of hours, so we’ll have some time to work.”
“Once I identify the body,” Eliza said, “the plan is to dig it up and transfer it to the cave?”
“Devil’s Throat,” Steven said.
“It’ll take a couple hours to get out there,” Deem said, “because you can’t drive straight across to it. We’ll have to go back up to Mesquite and down.”
“We’ll be OK once we get out of St. Thomas,” Winn said. “We can take our time and do it right after that. But while we’re in St. Thomas, everyone’s got to be on their toes.”
“Sounds so bizarre,” Eliza said. “An entire town out there, existing only in the River.”
“It’s pretty creepy,” Steven said. “And the ghosts make it worse.”
“So we bury the body in the cave, then what?” Eliza asked.
“We’re done,” Roy said. “We hope. If the curse moves with the body, which we think it will, St. Thomas will be free of it, and should disappear. And the Callers should revert back into ghosts. Or, if we’re lucky, they’ll move along to the other side.”
“That’s our theory,” Deem said. “But who knows.”
“Curses are tricky things,” Eliza said.
“And who knows if that journal is accurate,” Winn said. “Maybe his mother cursed the ground itself as evil, in which case St. Thomas will stay, regardless of what we do with the bones. We’re putting a lot of faith in that journal.”
“The authorities will go in and remove the bodies from Devil’s Throat, at least,” Steven said.
“I wonder if they’ll find the Caller’s bodies,” Deem said. “If they’re under rock, I doubt it.”
“Their graves might become exposed once Ira’s buried there,” Winn said.
“If the cops become aware of those bodies,” Roy said, “they’ll search every square inch of those caves. They’ll find the Callers.”
“There are a lot of assumptions going on,” Eliza said.
“It’s the best shot we have at the moment,” Steven said. “But none of it will work without Ira’s body.”
“Well,” Eliza said, “I’ll do what I can.”
“You’re all welcome to stay at my mom’s place until tonight,” Deem said.
“I could use a nap,” Eliza said. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“We’ve got the quietest basement on the block,” Deem said, smiling at Eliza.
“Alright then,” Winn said, standing up. “We’ll meet in the parking lot right here at 9. An hour to get out there, and a couple of hours to try and find those bones.”
They all rose from the table and walked outside. Steven caught Eliza watching Winn as he walked to his Jeep. Deem stopped next to them, and noticed they were watching him.
“He’s an interesting one,” Steven said, seeing if he could elicit a comment from Eliza.
“The way his body moves inside those jeans,” Eliza said. “It’s disarming.”
Deem let out a semi-disgusted grunt. “Let’s go,” she said, opening the back door to Steven’s car.
◊
Winn, Steven, and Roy rode in Winn’s Jeep, and Eliza and Deem followed in her pickup truck, snaking along the small Old St. Thomas road. They parked at the end of the road, and after Winn gave the ranger a wave, they continued on with shovels, tarps, and lanterns in hand.
At the edge of St. Thomas, Steven encouraged Eliza to drop into the flow and see what they had been talking about – the sides and tops of buildings seeming to rise magically from the empty concrete foundations sticking out of the dry lakebed.
“They might have buried him anywhere,” Winn said. “So I suggest we do this systematically, and work our way from the northwest corner to the southeast. Let’s start here.”
Eliza closed her eyes and concentrated. After a moment she opened them again. “Nothing, just animal bones,” she said.
Winn turned around and walked a hundred feet east. He was standing next to another old foundation. Steven dropped into the River and saw that it was an old two-story house.
“Nothing,” Eliza said.
Again, Winn turned and walked. Every time he turned, Steven caught Eliza staring at Winn’s backside.
I wonder if she looks at me like that when I’m walking away, Steven wondered.
Eliza dropped back to where Steven was walking and leaned over to him. “Yours is nice, but his is magnificent,” she whispered.
Steven blushed. “You like him?” he asked her.
“He’s nice enough,” Eliza whispered.
“You want to sleep with him?” he whispered back.
“No!” Eliza said. “Really, Steven! Why do men always make that leap?”
“Because we’re men, I suppose,” Steven whispered.
“You’re all pigs!” Eliza whispered back, smiling at him and giving him a wink. It made him smile, too.
“I’m not the one checking out his ass,” Steven said.
“You’re the one checking me out checking out his ass,” she said. “Worse.”
Winn turned. “Eliza, can you check again?”
Steven stifled a snicker and Eliza closed her eyes.
“Nothing,” she said.
Winn turned and they marched on.
They continued for half an hour, slowly crisscrossing through the town. Eliza had checked dozens of times. Winn stopped in front of a foundation that was larger than the others. Steven slipped into the River; it looked like a schoolhouse. Eliza closed her eyes. “Well,” she said, “there’s a skull in there. Towards the middle. Want me to walk to it?”
“A skull wouldn’t be it, would it?” Winn asked Deem.
“Could be, I don’t know,” Deem said.
“There’s nothing special about it I can detect,” Eliza said. “I usually know if there’s something odd about it.”
“Skip it,” Winn said. “We’ll come back if we don’t find anything else.”
They continued on another hour. The process was becoming tedious, but Steven kept himself on alert by dropping occasionally into the River and seeing the ghostly town appear before him. As they got closer to the Gentry Hotel his alert level raised, and he stayed in the flow longer.
Winn stopped for what seemed like the hundredth time, about two blocks away from the Hotel. Steven dropped into the River and looked around. He was horrified to see ghosts leaving the hotel.
“Winn!” Steven said. “We’ve got a problem!”
Winn joined him in the River and they watched as three ghosts left the hotel and walked down the street towards them.
“Back behind this building!” Winn whispered to the group, stepping twenty feet back in the direction they’d just come and waving for the others to follow him quickly. They all dropped into the River and watched as two of the ghosts passed in the street ahead of them.
There was a third, Steven thought. Don’t know where it went.
Where are they going? Roy thought.
To their homes, here in St. Thomas, Winn thought. They sleep in them like they live here. If the meeting’s over and they’re all heading home for the night, we’ll soon be penned in with ghosts all over the town. Eliza, do you think a ghost would know when you’re checking, if it was inside your radius?
They absolutely would know, Eliza thought. I’ve seen it happen.
We only saw three ghosts, Steven thought, and two of them have passed into the part of town we’ve already checked. That means there’s only one out th
ere. We can keep going.
Let me take a look at the hotel first, Winn said. He crept around the back of the building and slipped between the next two structures, poking his head out to look in the direction of the hotel. After a moment he returned.
Looks clear, Winn thought. But look, if I make the decision to bolt, you all need to follow me without question, OK? Remember, I’m the one with the EM gun.
They all nodded, and Winn returned to the pattern they’d been following. Eliza checked again, with no luck. They kept on.
After two more crossings, they were only a block from the hotel. Winn stopped at the back corner of a building opposite the hotel and asked Eliza to check.
There’s something here! Eliza thought. And it’s unusual, it’s glowing.
Like the one in Oregon? Steven asked.
No, not evil like that one, Eliza said. Could be a curse though. It’s definitely not normal.
Sounds like we’ve hit it, Roy thought.
Where exactly? Winn said.
Come with me, Eliza thought, and walked towards a back door of the building. She dropped out of the River and saw that she was simply walking up and over an old foundation. She led the group about five feet inside, and stopped.
It’s about seven feet down, she thought, originally under the wooden planks of this room. Whoever buried it didn’t want this body found.
Steven slipped back into the River. They were inside a back room of a store. There were no windows or openings between them and the front of the store, but two large windows faced towards the side of the building and the back. Ghosts walking outside those windows might be able to see in.
Start digging, Winn said. Who wants to go first?
I will, Steven said, grabbing one of the shovels.
Eliza, would you mark it out as exactly as you can? Winn asked. We can get a second shovel going. We’ve got to move quickly.
Eliza took the other shovel and used it to mark out a rough square about six feet by six feet. Steven began shoveling at one corner, and Winn took the shovel from Eliza and began shoveling at the opposite corner, careful not to bump into Steven.
Someone needs to keep an eye on the hotel, Winn thought.
I’ll go, Roy thought. He made his way out of the room, following the layout of the building. It seemed to act as an effective block from the sight of ghosts, though he knew they could pass through the walls if they chose. He dropped out of the flow to check where he was walking, then he flipped back into the flow. He felt Deem’s hand on his back.
I’ll come with you, she thought, so you can stay in the River. I’ll watch where you walk.
Roy walked through a small room and then into a third, which was a large open space at the front of the building. It was laid out like a small commercial shop, with a large open area in front facing the street. There was a small staircase running up to a second level, and the front of the shop had large windows that started at waist level and went up to the ceiling. Roy walked to the extreme right edge of the shop so he could look out in the direction of the hotel.
Shit! he thought. Two more, coming this way.
Back, Deem thought, and grabbed Roy by the back of his shirt. He began stepping back until they reached a door that passed into the back room. Deem pulled Roy just inside the door, and Roy closed the door leaving only a crack open.
He watched through the crack, waiting for the two ghostly figures to pass the front of the shop.
Roy could hear the sound of Steven and Winn digging in the room behind them. You should stop shoveling for a second, Roy thought, and the shoveling ceased.
Roy watched as the ghosts appeared at the edge of the shop windows at the left, and slowly walked towards the right. What if they turn and go between the buildings? Roy wondered as they passed out of his sight. They’d walk right past the windows in the back! I need to know where they go!
He opened the door and quietly walked back into the front room of the shop. He approached the windows from the left side, hugging the wall where the staircase was. He saw the ghosts disappearing from view, walking further down the main street away from them.
In the clear, he thought. After a moment he heard the sound of the digging resume.
He shifted his position to the right side of the windows to once again look at the hotel a block away. There were no ghosts coming from it at the moment.
How far along are we? Roy thought.
No bones yet, Winn replied.
Three more feet, Eliza thought.
We’ve got to speed this up, Winn thought. We’re coming up on midnight. There will be a mass exodus from the hotel any moment.
Steven and Winn redoubled their efforts. Roy craned his neck to get a better view of the hotel. It looked calm. The lights were still on inside, and if you watched a window long enough you could make out movement behind it. Roy looked at the grounds surrounding the hotel. From around the back, a group of four ghosts emerged. They passed by the shrubs that lined the walkway in front of the hotel and began heading down the street towards him.
More company, Roy thought. Get ready to hold off again.
Roy ducked down below the level of the windows and raised his head just enough to keep an eye on the ghosts. They continued to walk in his direction, silently floating down the street. One peeled off and turned left, disappearing down a side street. The other three kept coming.
They’re a hundred feet away now, hold off on the shoveling, Roy thought. The ghosts continued to advance. As they approached where he was hiding, one of them broke from the other two and began to walk towards Roy.
The other two continued walking straight down the street, but the one that had broken off was coming straight for the shop where Roy was crouched behind the window. He ducked his head down, afraid he might have been seen.
One’s headed into the building, Roy thought. I’m gonna need the gun, Winn.
THIS building? Winn thought.
Yes, this goddamn building! Roy thought. He raised his head just enough to look over the window sill. The ghost was coming through the front door.
Roy froze, pressing his body against the wall under the window, hoping the ghost wouldn’t turn. It was a man, dressed in tattered old clothing. The flesh around his face looked mottled and leathery. He didn’t turn to look around the room. Instead he headed straight for the staircase and began to float up it.
It’s going up the stairs, Roy thought. It’s going to be right above us.
Shit, Winn thought. We’ve got to keep digging, if we stop we’ll never get out of here. We’ll have to dig as quietly as possible. Slowly, try not to make any sound.
Roy watched as the ghost turned at the top of the stairs and drifted down a hallway beyond his sight. I can’t see it anymore, Roy thought, but it has to be right above you.
Deem, Winn thought, take this gun out to Roy. It’s an extra. Do it as quietly as you can.
Deem alternated between the real world and the River every two steps to make sure she didn’t step on something wrong and lose her balance. After a minute she reached Roy and handed him the EM gun, then she started back.
Anything to know about how to work it? Roy thought.
Aim and pull the trigger, Winn thought. Then run. You saw how long it takes to work.
How far are we now? Roy asked.
I don’t dare check, Eliza thought, with the ghost upstairs.
Roy raised his head above the window’s edge once more, going back on lookout for passing ghosts. There were no new ghosts in the street, but he felt the hair on his neck rise, as though he was being watched. Maybe Deem stayed, he thought. He turned to look.
The ghost had returned at the top of the stairs. It was looking down at him.
He froze again, hoping a lack of movement would fool it. It’s seen me, Roy thought. It’s looking right at me. Deem hadn’t yet made it back to the other room; she was slowly taking a step at a time. Roy watched as the ghost shifted its gaze from him to Deem. Then he saw its face snarl.
>
Deem! Roy thought. Above you!
Deem stopped and looked up. The ghost began to descend towards her, not bothering with the stairs.
As Deem started walking backwards towards Roy, Roy ran towards Deem, his arm extended with the EM gun. As Deem backed into him, he reached his arm past her and aimed at the ghost, still five feet from the floor but rapidly descending. He fired. There was an electronic hum that quickly built into a loud pop.
You go left, Roy thought to Deem, I’ll go right.
What’s going on out there? Winn asked. He dropped his shovel, climbed out of the hole, and dug his other EM gun out of his backpack. He ran into the front of the shop.
Deem and Roy splitting directions confused the ghost for a moment. It snarled again and decided to head for Deem. It reached her within a couple of seconds and slashed at her back. They heard Deem scream as she went down.
Winn appeared at the doorway to the room as the ghost landed on Deem. He yelled at the ghost, trying to get its attention. The ghost looked up at Winn and snarled. Deem was lying face down on the ground, not moving. Winn yelled again and waved his arms. The ghost left Deem and went for Winn.
Winn turned to run. Roy watched as the ghost chased Winn through the doorway. He ran to follow, unsure if shooting the ghost a second time would speed things up.
As he passed the doorway, he saw Winn on the ground, face down like Deem. The ghost was on top of him, but changing. As Roy caught his breath, the ghost became translucent and faded from sight.
Winn stood up.
Deem? Winn thought. Are you OK? It’s gone.
Roy walked back into the front room and saw Deem rising to her feet. He released a sigh of relief.
I’m scratched on my back, Deem said.
Winn joined them and looked at Deem’s back. It’s light, you won’t need stitches or anything. We should clean it, though. I’ve got alcohol in my backpack.
I thought you were a goner, Roy thought to Deem. You hit the ground so hard.
It’s the best defense if you can’t run, she thought. At least, that’s what Winn told me.
Devil's Throat (The River Book 6) Page 14