The Toymaker

by Sergio Gomez

  He quite enjoyed being up higher and looking down on everything. It explained to him why Momma had chosen this cliff as the location of her trailer—it looked down on the towns and the very people who had cast her away.

  The faces of his pawns were pallid gray and the clunky way they got up out of their seats to grab their weapons suggested their morale for this undertaking was low. Lucas had expected this, though. They were doing this against their wills, only going along with it to regain their freedom.

  In a way, so was he.

  And in a very few short moments of time, it would be over for all of them. One way or another.

  “Outside. Into position,” Lucas commanded. “Do what you must. Kill the kids. If you don’t…”

  He left the rest of that unsaid, but they knew it would be a life for a life. If they didn’t kill the kids, Lucas would kill them.

  At the door, Ricky stopped and gave him an icy glare. Then glanced down at the pistol Lucas pointed at him, trying to judge if he could clear the space between them before he was shot dead. Lucas might not be able to read Ricky’s mind, but the intent was written all over his face.

  Don’t press your luck, Lucas thought, grinning at him.

  Ricky didn’t. Instead, he went through the door with an expression of reluctance.

  Chapter 21

  They’d been walking for twenty minutes now, and it seemed that in that short time the seasons had changed and suddenly the beginning of winter had come. It was impossibly cold. The wind cut through their clothes and gave them chills. Perhaps the shade of the surrounding trees had something to do with it, but they all knew that wasn’t the whole reason. Their nerves had a part in it.

  Behind him, Twist could hear Victor coughing and sneezing and wheezing as they trekked through the woods.

  “You alright, man?” Twist looked over his shoulder to ask him.

  Victor nodded and gave him a thumbs-up.

  Both the darkness and the football helmet obscured his expression, so Twist wasn’t sure if he was lying or not.

  “If you need a break—”

  “I’m fine,” Victor cut him off. His voice had an edge to it Twist hadn’t expected.

  Maybe he should’ve expected it, though.

  “This way,” Twist said to Jamie, pointing his flashlight down a lightly beaten path. The foliage looked like it’d been trampled, but not like a hiking trail. More like a shortcut only a few people took because they had business somewhere most people didn’t know existed.

  “You sure?” he asked him.

  “Yes,” Twist said, and led the group that way, toward a path going between two large boulders.

  Every time Twist told him that the connection was growing stronger this way or that way, Jamie kept asking him if he was “sure.” There were maybe two or three times Twist could recall ever being legitimately annoyed with his older brother, but him questioning him about the direction they were going, in front of everyone, was driving him crazy.

  It was because he knew he was right, because if he wasn’t, the others would have spoken up to protest. They hadn’t. They’d all stayed in their designated positions and had been quietly following along.

  They were all in harmony, all five of them following where their connection with Lucas felt strongest. They didn’t need to discuss it or anything, because they could feel it.

  They could feel it somewhere within them that was inexplicable—their souls, maybe. Whatever it was that feeling was touching, it told them they were on the right path.

  “Nothing beautiful about this walk, huh?” Gina turned to Jack, recalling the first time they’d gone through the woods in Myers Park.

  Back when they first met. That seemed like such a long time ago.

  Jack shook his head.

  In the distance, an owl hooted.

  Chapter 22

  Just like the children, Lucas didn’t have actual weapons—except for his gun. So he had to come up with ways to make items around the trailer dangerous. One of those was by filling a wheelbarrow with wood and bricks that had been lying around behind the trailer.

  The first line of defense was the idiot boy. He seemed the most expendable, and the least likely to be useful if they had to fight the gatekeepers at close quarters. But, he could at least throw a wheelbarrow down a hill—that much he trusted the boy could do.

  They were gathered at the top of the path that led up the cliff. The idiot boy was at the front, with the wheelbarrow. Then behind him was Cassandra and Ricky, with Lucas behind all three of them so they wouldn’t make any sudden movements.

  “Start down,” Lucas commanded the boy.

  Ricky turned to him. “Look, I think it’s best if I go with him.”

  “Why?”

  “He ain’t strong enough to push this thing down himself,” Ricky said. He could feel Glenn looking at him and prayed to God the kid kept his damn trap shut for once.

  Before Glenn could say anything, Lucas said, “Fine. Go with him.”

  It didn’t make much of a difference to him. If they both got killed down there, he still had Momma.

  “Let’s go Glenn,” Ricky said with a sigh. He turned to the boy who’d been watching the exchange with utter confusion. “It’s the same plan, boy, ’cept I’m coming with you.”

  Glenn nodded and started pushing the wheelbarrow.

  As they went down the path, Ricky said, “Let me know when you get tired, I’ll push it the rest of the way.”

  He made sure to say it loud enough for Lucas to hear.

  When they got a little less than halfway down the path, where they were supposed to set up, Ricky pulled Glenn into a hollow among the trees—wheelbarrow and all.

  “Let go of that,” Ricky said. “And shut your light off.”

  Ricky shut his own flashlight off. Now that they were down this far, they were safe from falling off the path and taking a twenty-foot dive off the cliff. Glenn gave him a stupid look. In any other instance, it wouldn’t have annoyed him, but this wasn’t any other instance. They were both terrified.

  “We’re not killing those kids for that fucking…fucking maniac up there,” Ricky said, pointing up the way they’d come.

  “We’re not?”

  Ricky shook his head.

  “We have to. We have to! He’s gonna kill Ma if we don’t do it,” Glenn protested.

  “No, he isn’t. We’re gonna make it seem like we threw this darn thing down at them, then go back up.”

  “Then what?”

  “Then we’re going to help those kids kill that freakin’ thing.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Ricky wasn’t sure himself, but he had a feeling. “Something about those kids got that thing shook.”

  “So, the kids are our friends and Lucas is our enemy?” Glenn brightened at piecing it together without any more help.

  “Yes, Glenn, exactly. Good job,” Ricky said. “But we have to pretend—make-believe, until the time is right, so that Lucas doesn’t harm us or Ma. You get what I’m sayin’?”

  Glenn nodded. “I’m good at make-believe.”

  “I know you are, Glenn. And I need you to be the best at make-believe until we’re out of this—out of this fucking nightmare.”

  “I will, Ricky. I promise, I will be.”

  “Good,” Ricky said, and clapped him on the shoulder. “When you see me aim the crossbow at Lucas, that’ll be your sign to stop pretending.”

  They grew quiet after that, and both stared at the trees at the bottom of the hill for any activity.

  Ricky was weighing his options. They could wait for the children, then march up with them to take out Lucas. But with Cassandra still up there, it was too risky. It would be better once they were out in the open grounds of the trailer for him to make his move.

  That plan wasn’t foolproof, though, on account of the teens having to deduce that Lucas was being betrayed by the people who presumably were helping him up here. They would have to process that in a matter o
f seconds, while their adrenaline was sky high.

  Ricky had no idea what kind of weapons they were coming with. Maybe guns? Lord knew that anyone could get a gun these days if you knew the right people.

  He didn’t like how the plan was shaping up in his mind.

  Then, he had another idea.

  “Glenn, I’m going to need you to stay back to let our visitors know we’re only pretending,” Ricky said.

  Glenn’s eyes grew big. “O-okay, Ricky.”

  “After you throw the wheelbarrow, wait for them to come up here. Tell them you mean no harm and that we’re helping them. Tell them about the traps you set up, too.”

  Glenn nodded, his mouth hanging open.

  “Can you do that, Glenn?”

  “I-I can do that Ricky.” Glenn said, then his expression of confusion was replaced with a big smile. “I can do that.”

  It would put the boy in danger, but if just he and Cassandra could get out of this alive, that would be better than the fucking doll having his way.

  “Up there,” Twist said when they were at the bottom of a steep path leading up the side of a cliff.

  Jamie shone his light and scanned the path. It was too narrow for them to walk in pairs, which meant they’d have to form a line.

  He didn’t like that. That would make it easier for the enemy to pick them off one at a time.

  The enemy would also have gravity on their side, if things like grenades were coming into play. That probably wasn’t the case—he had to remind himself he was in the woods of Dutch County, not on some mountainside in Cambodia.

  Still. It didn’t mean that they weren’t at a disadvantage. Danger was danger no matter where you were.

  “How close are we?” Jamie asked.

  “Pretty close,” Twist said. “I can feel the dummy nearby.”

  The others had just caught up and stopped behind them.

  “We can feel him, too. He’s up there,” Gina said.

  “Alright,” Jamie glanced over at the path again. “Which one of you is the fastest?”

  “Me,” Gina said, and nobody argued.

  “Okay. Gina, I need you to go up that path.” Jamie pointed over his shoulder. “You’re our scout. If you see anything—anything at all that looks funny—you run back here like hell. Don’t even think about it, just run.”

  She nodded, and seeing that his face was turning ash gray, she reached up and grabbed Jamie’s face with both hands. “Don’t worry. I’m a lot faster than these slowpoke boys. I’ll be fine.”

  “You better be, Homeschool,” Tommy said from behind her. He’d stepped closer to her, and now put his arms around her. She’ let Jamie’s face go and turned to Tommy just as he planted a kiss on her lips.

  “Ew!” It was Victor.

  And there was a similar murmur of disgust coming from the others (except for Jamie), but she didn’t care. She kissed him back for a few seconds before they broke it up.

  “Don’t go using up all your girl power right off the bat,” Tommy whispered into her ear.

  She giggled. “Shut up. I won’t.”

  “Good. I like having you around.”

  “You two lovebirds will have all the time to do this junk when we’re through this,” Jamie interrupted. “Let’s get a move on. The sooner this starts, the sooner it ends.”

  He was right. Gina and Tommy let each other go and she started up the path.

  They all watched with a cold nervousness building up in their stomachs.

  Jamie more so than the others. Because he knew what it felt like to lose a fellow soldier in war.

  Except this wasn’t a soldier, and this wasn’t a war. This was a fourteen-year-old girl and they were battling some fucked up demon-dummy thing.

  Losing one is better than losing the whole squad. He repeated that mantra to himself as he watched Gina go up the path.

  No matter how many times he said it, it didn’t make him feel better about it.

  The burn of jealousy he’d felt when Tommy and Gina kissed couldn’t have melted the ice-cold lump of fear forming in the pit of Jack’s stomach as he watched Gina go up the path by herself.

  He almost wanted to call out Jamie for breaking his own rule of them sticking to pairs, but he didn’t. Maybe it was the fear keeping him from doing it. Maybe it was the trust he had in him as their leader in this.

  Whatever it was, he didn’t do anything except watch his friend march up toward danger. And hope.

  All he could do was hope this would work out.

  Chapter 23

  “Now!” Ricky said, turning to Glenn, who had the wheelbarrow ready to go.

  They weren’t going to launch it down the pathway at the girl coming up like Lucas had meant for them to do, but they were going to throw it over the side of the cliff. From the angle they were on, Lucas couldn’t see what was happening, but if he happened to be listening, he would hear the bricks clattering down the side of the cliff.

  He hoped that would be enough to convince the doll.

  Glenn did as he was told and ran the wheelbarrow over the cliff. The whole load went over the edge first, before gravity tipped it forward and spilled the bricks and wood through the air.

  “Remember, Glenn. Tell her we’re on her side and tell her about the traps. Then run up as fast as you can,” Ricky said.

  He knew they only had a few seconds to spare before Lucas would get suspicious of what they were doing, so he darted up ahead of him.

  Glenn nodded, then turned to face the girl who’d been coming up the path.

  She was already running back down the hill, though.

  “Hey!” he shouted.

  Gina had followed Jamie’s orders, and as soon as she saw the front end of the wheelbarrow (loaded with a bunch of stuff she didn’t catch a good view of) coming out from the side of the path, she turned and ran.

  Now, whoever had been pushing the thing was shouting at her.

  Maybe one of Lucas’ tricks. But no, she could still feel that he wasn’t here. He was further up.

  “Hey!” the person called again.

  He was following her.

  Oh shit.

  “Hey!” he called again. “We’re only pretending.”

  What the fuck? she thought, and before thinking about it she was turning around to face the person, flashing the beam of her flashlight into his face. He was only about five yards from her and squinted against the bright light going into his eyes.

  It was a kid, younger than she was, with a haircut worse even than Victor’s. He was skinny, feeble looking, with the biggest thing on his body being his giant bucket-shaped head. There was no threat, no danger coming from him, whatsoever.

  Gina was sure she could wrestle him down and chicken-wing him with no problem. The fear she’d had coming up the path vanished. “Who the hell are you?”

  The kid’s eyes went wide, as if he hadn’t been expecting her to respond. His mouth began to twitch in a nervous tic, then he finally said, “W-we’re only pretending. And… Uh… Watch out for the traps.”

  The kid took off, running up the path before Gina could say anything else.

  Gina shook her head, then turned her attention back down the path, nearly smacking into Jamie.

  “You alright?” he asked her. He was looking over her shoulder at the boy running away from them.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. You saw Buckethead up there?”

  “Yeah.”

  “There was another guy with him. He ran off just as soon as Buckethead threw a wheelbarrow over the cliff.”

  “A wheelbarrow?”

  “Yeah, full of junk. I guess they were supposed to throw it down at me, but Buckethead messed it up or something.”

  “What the…?” Jamie considered this. It was like some kind of Wile E. Coyote shit. “What are people doing here?”

  Gina shook her head. “He ran after me and told me they’re only pretending.”

  “So…they might be on our side,” Jamie said. “But we still have to be on a
lert.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Lucas might be threatening them to help him. Offering to let them go if they help him take us out.”

  “And by take us out, you mean kill us?”

  Jamie set his jaw. “Yeah, Gina. That’s what I mean.”

  “We all know what we signed up for, Jamie. No need to sugarcoat it for us.”

  “Right,” Jamie said, but didn’t tell her that the sugar was for himself—not them. “Let’s go back down to the others. Tell them what’s up.”

  “One more thing,” Gina said before they started off.

  “What?”

  “Buckethead said, ‘watch out for the traps.’”

  Jamie nodded. “Roger that. We will.”

  “How many did we get?” Lucas asked Momma’s man as he ran up the hill.

  Momma’s man shook his head. “None, Lucas.”

  Lucas scowled. It looked terrifying on his wooden face.

  Still, he had known that before the man even came back. None of the connections with the children had disappeared. They were all still there, and he could feel them still coming. He was just testing the man.

  The idiot boy came trudging behind Momma’s man soon after, his face red with color.

  “None?” Lucas repeated.

  “They got out of the way before we could hit them,” Ricky lied.

  “No matter. The battle has commenced.” Lucas barked into the night, “Get into positions. They will be here any second.”

  Before they moved, Ricky grabbed ahold of Cassandra’s arm. She turned to look at him. Her eyes were wet with tears she was trying to hold back.

  “I’m sorry. Ricky. I’m sorry. I never thought a stupid prank would come back to haunt me like this. I’m sorry—”

  Ricky held her to him, then kissed her. “We’ll get through this Cassandra. And everything will go back to normal.”

  “Normal?” Cassandra said, shaking her head. “Do you really think anything can be normal after this?”