Dugan felt the bitter sting of tears well up in his awakening eyes.
“For ever and ever?”
Larry laughed. “Nothing is forever, buddy. You know that. You better than most anyone know that. And believe me, if you ever need me for anything, you know that all you have to do is ask, and I’ll be there. Just think about what I’m saying, is all I’m asking. I honestly think you’ll agree it’s for the best.”
At that moment, Dugan couldn’t imagine that was true, but if Larry asked him to think about it, he would think about it.
“Anyway, pal,” Larry went on, “daylight’s wasting. I gotta make tracks, and so do you.”
“Yeah,” Dugan said, remembering the travel he had in store. “You’re right. And thank you, man. I mean it. Thanks for everything.”
“You’re welcome, my friend. You’re very welcome.”
Dugan felt sensation on his body once again. His eyes twitched. He was seconds from awakening.
“I love you, Larry,” he said shyly, realizing then he had never before told his friend that. “Goodbye.”
From very far away, before he said his own goodbye, Dugan heard the voice of his long dead friend tell him that he loved him too.
4
The more than two decade old but still reliable Dodge Dart wended it’s way purposelessly north, taking backwater roads through small towns separated by miles of empty space. There had been very little conversation since Dan picked Dugan up that evening, and what there was of it was stilted, as both worked their way through coming to terms with all they had lost, and fearing what might be to come.
Dan had made the phone calls that resulted in the girl’s rescue. Before doing so, he stopped by a local convent and explained the situation in detail to the Mother Superior, who sprang into action, ordering her charges to gather blankets and food and taking her brood with her as they followed Dan in their van to the ranch. Only after arranging that did he call the authorities to alert them. Before leaving, he donated the chunk of hundreds Dugan had given him to the convent, to be used however they deemed fit. He did not follow them all the way to the ranch. He couldn’t bring himself to.
For Dugan’s part, his melancholy had been exacerbated by taking one last stroll through the ranch house and walking through the room that Pruitt had occupied. He once again mourned the death of that haunted man before stepping outside and walking toward an artist’s studio situated about a hundred yards from the house. It was there he had made his sleep chamber, the place he felt most comfortable and safe.
But safety was a seemingly unnatural condition for those of his kind, he was learning, and soon turned and walked away, wondering where they would go and what the future might hold.
In due course, Dugan knew, conversation between he and his uncle would again flow free and easy. They would compare notes on what each had experienced, Dugan in Central America, Dan in Mexico City. Dugan recalled then that his uncle had answered cryptically when asked how his stay with Esquinaldo had gone. Dugan would ask him about that when the time felt right.
About two hours into their wanderings, Dan finally broke their silence by asking, “So, did you learn anything on your trip?”
Dugan smiled, but was unsurprised to find his uncle thinking along the same lines as him. However, reflecting on the broadness of the question and at least one possible answer, he realized he wasn’t yet prepared to share anything about Teresa or the miraculous gift she had given him. Someday, maybe. But not today. He decided to stay on safer ground and maybe smooth off some of the rough edges with a little humor.
“Yeah,” he answered. “I believe I did. Now, keep in mind, I’m not really sure yet, and I do need to consider it further. But I think I might be a communist.”
Turning, Dan raised his eyebrows before laughing. “Well, that is some big news. But hey, you know what? I’d still love you if you were.”
Dugan smiled, knowing he could always count on that. Whatever else happened to him, regardless of what he became, he knew he could always count on that.
Some miles later, on another back road, with the car rambling aimlessly but still headed north, Dan asked, “So where do you wanna go?”
Dugan thought long and hard about it before answering. “I hear San Diego is nice this time of year. Maybe we could try our luck there.”
Dan smiled. For a moment, he was almost overcome. San Diego. It was where a college classmate of his worked on blood-borne diseases. It was the place they might at least begin the process of finding a cure for his nephew. It had been their destination and his dream for so long, it had become a kind of Emerald City or Shangri-La in his mind. Try as they might, they couldn’t reach it. They still might not reach it.
But it was worth a shot.
About The Author
Brendan P. Myers is the author of several novels, whose stories have appeared in the Northern Haunts anthology from Shroud Publishing, Malpractice: An Anthology of Bedside Terror from Necrotic Tissue, and Dead Worlds: Undead Stories from Living Dead Press.
Books by Brendan P. Myers
The Mound
Troubled teen Dani Hogan believes she is about to be made queen of a fairy tale kingdom. And you know what? She may just be right . . .
Levi Hogan, the new police chief in Bixbie, Massachusetts, is trying to stay off the booze and start a new life. Bixbie doesn’t have much in the way of crime anyway, that is, until people start disappearing. While investigating, Hogan learns Bixbie is also home to “New England’s Stonehenge,” a mysterious mound thousands of years old. Though its purpose is unknown, it becomes clearer when Hogan’s runaway daughter comes to town.
Because what Hogan doesn’t know is Dani believes she is to become queen, and local teen Ian Sinclair is to become king, of a fairy kingdom populated by elves and pixies and helpful brownies. Before long, even Hogan starts to believe that maybe, just maybe, the Scots-Irish founders of Bixbie brought something along with them.
Sincerely Dead
When a mob hitman learns his boss is about to turn squealer, he takes it upon himself to use the zombified version of the man he was sent to kill to take out the boss, but soon discovers that taking even a single zombie into the Big Apple can lead to devastating consequences. And when the zombie apocalypse is inevitably unleashed, an epic adventure of survival unfolds, as a small band of the still living make a desperate bid to escape this now city of the dead.
21C and Other Sordid Tales
Her badge says, “I’m a People Person!” Don’t you believe it . . .
Meet Jill. She’ll be your flight attendant today. A word of caution, though. Do NOT irritate her or make her angry in any way, because if you do, you may find your flight turned into a living hell of abuse and intimidation and humiliation . . . that is, if you survive at all.
Hell City
Dick Londergan is a private detective from the old school, the kind who likes his women leggy, his scotch neat, and his coffee black. When summoned to Telegraph Hill to investigate a murder, he finds himself thrust into a mystery so deep, even his old school methods may not be enough to solve it.
Among the sinister questions confronting him: Why was his town suddenly so popular with racket boys and hoodlums? For what nefarious purpose had the two biggest criminal bosses in town set aside their differences? Who was the blond English chef berating his cooking skills? And why was Londergan himself constantly being hounded by television cameras?
These and other questions will (mostly) be answered in this comic novella, an homage to the iconic private detectives of the past, about a guy who finds himself lost in a world where lines of reality and fantasy blur, one in which the greatest mystery of all might be, who is Dick Londergan?
Swash!
When a late winter storm unearths an ancient shipwreck, the sleepy seaside town of Sully’s Rump is turned upside-down, first by the media, then by the resurrected pirates who come back to reclaim their ship.
Local historian Arthur Cobb wants the ship for
himself, but so does his nemesis, gazillionaire businessman Barney Zimmerman. Caught between the two is young Chris Duggan, the boy who found the wreck, who just wants to help the pirates get home.
He realizes the only way to do that is to rebuild the ship and fulfill the pirate curse, but soon learns dislodging the pirates from the Rump may prove more difficult than was deciphering the curse that brought them there.
Spanning a magical summer in the life of an isolated beach community, filled with indelible characters, this rollicking and heartfelt tale is sure to leave you feeling good.
Applewood
Twenty-five years ago, a mindless act of teenage vandalism reawakened a long dead nightmare in the small Massachusetts town of Grantham. When Sergeant Lombard finds a mutilated body by the side of the road, he knows the horror of his youth has returned. He calls upon his damaged friend Dugan, who has never forgiven himself for what happened back then, and has lived ever since with the terrible consequences.
Delighted at first by the disappearance of the town bullies, Dugan and his outcast friends soon realize that as the undead begin to surround their own neighborhood, they must do battle against a growing vampire army led by the town’s long dead Civil War hero. Along the way, they find clues in the diary of a young boy not unlike themselves, and strength in their own unique friendship.
And as the battle reaches its climax, for some, life will never be the same.
Fledge (Applewood: Book II)
The APPLEWOOD saga continues . . . Fourteen-year-old Scott Dugan is both desperate survivor and hunted casualty of a vampire outbreak that decimates his small Massachusetts town. His uncle believes science offers hope and takes the boy on the run from shadowy forces tasked with exterminating those like his nephew.
But when the two separate, Scott embarks on an epic journey that takes him from cheap carnival sideshow act to comfortable refugee in the home of a wealthy and reclusive man with his own dark tale to tell.
As the chase moves from the low deserts of Arizona to the high peaks of Colorado and into the White House itself, Scott must avoid becoming a pawn in someone else’s deadly game. And when he learns that self-discovery for those like him is found only by embracing all he has become, he must weigh his longing to remember who he was and where he came from against the certainty that in doing so, he will never see the sun again.
Adamson’s Rock and Other Stories
A detective investigating a suicide comes away with more than he bargained for . . . a routine clinical trial goes horribly wrong . . . an avid book collector learns to just what lengths he will go to hold on to a treasure . . . and a close-knit New England family comes to terms with the end of the world. From the author of “Sumner Gardens” come eight spine-tingling tales of terror and wonder.
Hope Town
In the sleepy village of Hopeton, at the end of a bad day, Parker nurses his wounds at a local watering hole. There, he meets a woman. Turns out her day was almost as bad as his. Almost. But soon, they find themselves thrown together in a deadly race for survival. From the high-rises of downtown Boston, to the high seas of the Atlantic, events move inexorably toward a pulse-pounding climax.
A Truck Story
What would happen if a fanatic Red Sox fan and his two nephews became trapped in the back of the equipment truck as it begins its 1487-mile journey to spring training? Aside from the kidnappings, the car chase, an Elvis impersonator, some hungry alligators, and a few other surprises, the trip itself is relatively uneventful. A charming and hilarious tale sure to delight baseball fans of all ages.
Sumner Gardens
It’s October of 1970 and twelve-year-old altar boy Conner O’Neil has a few problems. He’s dodging some oddly personal questions from his parish priest and learns he has to kiss the creepiest girl in class after getting the lead in the school play. But only after his father has another heart attack do his real troubles begin. A heartwarming and life-affirming coming-of-age tale.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Prologue
Part I – Mexico City
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Part II – Nicaragua
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Part III – El Salvador
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Part IV – Mexico City
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
About the Author
Books by Brendan P. Myers
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Prologue
Part I – Mexico City
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Part II – Nicaragua
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Part III – El Salvador
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Part IV – Mexico City
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
About the Author
Books by Brendan P. Myers
Applewood (Book 3): The Space of Life Between Page 30