by Ben Farthing
He noticed Cessy and Kate come in, and stopped his argument midsentence.
The second man--in jeans and a tucked-in polo shirt--turned around. He was twelve year’s Cessy’s senior. His wiry frame hid how quickly and with how much force he could take down a fleeing suspect. Detective Landis’ expression filled with relief when he saw Cessy. “Oh, thank God.”
He strode across the creaky wood floors, but stopped short of hugging her. They shared an awkward handshake. “Timms. I feared the worst. Your parents claimed you never came by.”
Landis turned to Kate. “And you found your sister. Fantastic news.”
The trooper approached, chest thrust out like a weekend gym rat. “This is Cecilia Timms?”
“Timms,” Landis said through gritted teeth, “Meet Sergeant Quill. He agreed to meet me here. It only took three calls, emailing over all the evidence you sent me, and calling in favors with my FBI contacts to lean on them. Guess they were too busy handing out speeding tickets.”
Cessy knew cops like Quill. They believed “might makes right,” and so to keep their jurisdiction safe, they took it upon themselves to be the mightiest man around, both in stature and attitude.
Kate interrupted. “You have to help.” She leaned on Cessy. “We have to evacuate the town.”
Quill ignored Kate. “Cecilia Timms, you’re under arrest for the attempted murder of Sheriff Reginald Miller.”
“What?” Kate stepped in front of Cessy. Cessy caught her from falling backwards.
Landis stepped in front of them both. He managed to look imposing, despite Quill’s height advantage. “Whoa! Back up, son.”
Betty craned her neck to see down the hall behind her, then looked to the front door, as if judging how quickly she could bolt.
“You heard what he said.” Quill unhooked his handcuffs from his belt.
“And we both saw his skin.” Landis pushed Quill, walking with him away from Cessy. “We need to call the CDC.”
“My lieutenant can make that decision once he gets here.” Quill allowed himself to be pushed a few feet back, then held his ground. “She tried to kill an officer of the law.”
“She’s a better officer of the law than anybody in this backwoods shithole,” spat Landis. “I’ll hear her version of events of before you go arresting anybody.”
Landis’ anger surprised Cessy. She must have stressed him out disappearing from cell service like she did. Her view of him as a supplementary father figure must have extended both ways.
From down the hall, boots tapped on the wood floors. “Everybody calm down.” A smoker’s raspy drawl.
Sheriff Miller stood in the hallway. “Detective. Sergeant. What’s this about calling Hamlin a shithole?”
Cessy stepped back. The old man filled the doorway. His uniform was pristine, his skin unblemished, except by age. No sign of their fight, or his fall and disappearance into the base of Maul Rock. No sign that he’d been trapped inside the mine, calling for Cessy’s help, less than an hour ago.
Betty pushed her chin to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut.
Sheriff Miller noticed Cessy and Kate. “Why are these two wanted criminals standing here uncuffed in my foyer?”
A swarm of perforations slid across his face.
57
Cessy pulled Kate behind her. “Landis, this man tried to hang me yesterday.”
Sheriff Miller’s tall frame was imposing. Perforations slid around his skin. His cheeks drooped more than yesterday, unnaturally so. He was as stiff and straight as the antique wood paneling walls.
Detective Landis kept himself positioned between Sergeant Quill and Cessy, apparently seeing more danger in the state trooper who had one hand on his cuffs, and the other on his pistol. “Like with a rope?”
Kate tried to push Cessy aside, but lacked the strength. “What else would he use? Everyone needs to leave Hamlin. Don’t listen to this old man.”
“I don’t appreciate your tone,” Sheriff Miller said. “I expected better of you, Kate. But the big city can make any good-hearted, small-town girl stuck up and disrespectful.”
Sergeant Quill spoke into his radio on his shoulder. “All units in and near Hamlin, backup requested at the Sheriff’s Office. Armed suspect resisting arrest.”
Landis said, “Count to ten, there, son. You’ve got two conflicting stories, both from law enforcement. Let’s all go sit down and talk this out.”
Quill’s radio buzzed a reply. “I’m on fourth street. There’s a murder scene in an open house. Three victims.”
Another reply. “Two more dead on Rag Hill. Sarge, you seen anybody alive in this town? Everyone’s hiding like they’re afraid of us.”
Sergeant Quill paused. He removed his hand from his cuffs, then turned to face Sheriff Miller. “You didn’t finish explaining what’s been going on here. Five murders? That’s more than in the last five years.”
Sheriff Miller smiled. Holes slid across his teeth. “I told you we have it under control. Our primary suspects just walked themselves in our front door.”
“Bullshit,” Landis said. “I’ve been in contact with Detective Timms. She was searching for a missing person.”
“Was she?” Sheriff Miller asked. “If she were searching for her sister, wouldn’t she have gone to see their parents?”
“I did,” Cessy said.
“Didn’t her parents tell you she never came by?” asked Sheriff Miller.
Cessy caught Kate’s eye. She nodded toward the front door. If Sheriff Miller could turn Landis against them, they needed to be gone.
“They did tell me that,” Landis said. “Which was weird, because her Washington Nationals t-shirt was sitting in their front room.”
The Sheriff’s smile turned wicked, like a mischievous child excited to have his rule-breaking found out.
“What’s even more weird, is I came straight from there. Not thirty minutes ago. Did they call you to say I’d be coming? Why would they do that?”
Quill took another step away from Sheriff Miller. “What are you saying?” he asked Landis.
Landis shrugged. “Maybe Detective Timms can tell us more. But I can tell you,” he pointed at Sheriff Miller’s face, “I’ve never seen anything like those moving holes in his skin. You got some kind of disease making you crazy? Is he contagious?”
“That’s one word for it,” Kate said.
At the receptionist desk, at Sheriff Miller’s side, Betty gathered the courage to lift her chin from her chest. Her smeared mascara made her young face look older. “Can I leave?”
Sheriff Miller touched her shoulder. “Your shift’s not over yet, honey.”
Quill unstrapped his holster. “She’d better head out. Too many itchy trigger fingers in here, don’t you think?”
Sheriff Miller closed his hand around Betty’s shoulder. “Is your trigger finger itchy, Sergeant?”
“Let the girl go,” Landis said.
Quill spoke into his radio again. “Situation has changed. Hamlin Sheriff has taken a hostage.”
Betty’s eyes went wide. She flinched away, but Sheriff Miller’s powerful hand squeezed tight.
Quill’s radio buzzed. “Come again?”
“Let’s not let things get out of hand,” Sheriff Miller said. “Maybe you had the right idea, Detective. We should all sit down and talk this through.”
Kate swore under her breath. “He’s stalling.”
Cessy exhaled. She was right. The longer they stayed, the less time they had to get out of Hamlin before the thing in the mine destroyed everything. “Why? I thought it was indifferent.”
Kate shook her head. “It is. But he isn’t. Oh god, look.”
Perforations slipped down Sheriff Miller’s shoulder, down the sleeve of his tan uniform, towards Betty.
Cessy drew the revolver.
Quill saw, reached to stop her. Landis saw Quill’s reaction, turned to see what was happening.
Cessy fired twice. The first round took Sheriff Miller in the chest. Th
e impact knocked him backwards, but he held fast to Betty’s shoulder. Perforations swarmed toward her. The second round shot higher--Cessy wasn’t expecting the kickback from the high-caliber rounds. A dime-sized bloody hole appeared next to Sheriff Miller’s nose. His head jerked back. Blood and brain splattered down the hallway behind him.
The man stayed on his feet.
Betty screamed--the sound muffled after the gunshot. She shrugged free of Sheriff Miller’s loosened grip to run for the door.
Kate grabbed her.
Quill pulled his pistol on Cessy. Landis grabbed the state trooper’s arm. A shot went into the ceiling.
Cessy stepped toward Sheriff Miller.
Behind her, Kate yelled to Betty something about getting her family and cutting town.
Cessy aimed the revolver at Sheriff Miller’s standing corpse. His head lolled backwards. The perforations swarmed wildly, accelerated, carved a winding path through the old man’s skin.
Kate ushered Betty out the front door. The hinges creaked, sunlight poured in, and then the antique wooden door slammed behind them.
Quill turned to see the sheriff’s body, rigid, standing. “What the fuck?”
“Landis.” Cessy backed toward the door, pistol aimed at Sheriff Miller’s body. “Let’s go. Don’t let those holes get near you.” She lifted her shirt to show the scabbed and muddy wound in her gut. “They’re tough to get out.”
“Good god,” Landis backed away from Sheriff Miller.
Quill followed.
Perforations multiplied on the sheriff’s body. They swarmed faster, over his chest, down his legs, back up to the sagging skin on his face. The faster they moved, the more his skin sagged.
“What the fuck?” Quill repeated.
Sheriff Miller’s left cheek fell loose, exposing muscle and sinew from his eye to his chin. Blood pooled in a pocket of skin and then poured over his uniform. Perforations glided down his arm. Skin flopped out of his sleeve like a thick latex glove.
Cessy decided against putting another round in his chest. She only had three left. “Come on.” She ran outside, Landis and Quill close behind.
58
Outside, the afternoon light had taken on a shadowy tint.
Cessy limped to the 4Runner, where Kate hugged Betty and whispered to her. “Go get your family, then drive out of town.”
“The roads are closed,” Betty sobbed.
Landis and Quill ran down the Sheriff’s Offices steps. They kept their guns trained on the doors.
“How did you get into Hamlin?” Cessy asked. “Which roads are open?”
“I cleared a bunch of fallen trees off Mud River Road,” Landis said. “There’s one bridge over a creek that’s been collapsed, but you can get a car across if you go upstream twenty feet.”
Kate squeezed Betty. “Did you hear that? Your truck can clear that, easily. Grab anyone who’ll go with you.”
Betty nodded and headed for her truck, eyes glued to the pavement.
“Only people you trust,” Cessy said. “If anyone hesitates to come with you, leave them behind. They might be like Sheriff Miller.”
Kate glared at Cessy. “Take as many people as will fit in your truck.”
Betty climbed into an old Silverado and drove off.
Cessy reared on her sister. “And if she invites Valerie’s parents? Or someone else who’s been in on this whole thing from the start?”
Kate folded her arms. “Betty’s been near Sheriff Miller from the start. She knows what she’s risking. It’s up to her if it’s worth it to help someone.”
“They don’t deserve help,” Cessy said. “Not from the problem they caused themselves.”
“They were tricked.”
“Willingly.”
Landis touched Cessy’s shoulder. “Argue about this later. Let’s put some distance between us and... whatever that was.” He kept one eye on the office doors.
Quill was already getting into his cruiser.
Landis called, “Hey, where are you going?”
He peeled out, tires squealing as he fled down Main Street.
“Coward,” Kate said. “We needed his help.”
Cessy exhaled. “You still want to try to save everyone? What if that means we can’t save Mom and Dad?” It was mean to challenge Kate like this, but Cessy’d tell her anything if it meant helping her escape.
Landis looked nervously at the Sheriff’s Office front door. “Seriously. You want to explain what’s going on?”
Cessy trusted Landis implicitly. They relied on each to stay alive. But she needed him to act without hesitation, and there’d be a lot of hesitation if she told the whole story. “Some kind of parasite from the mountain. It has an effect like rabies.”
Kate looked at Cessy like she was an idiot. “Don’t make up some dumb story. If they think it’s a disease, they’ll quarantine the town. We need everyone to leave, not stay.”
Landis tightened his lips. “You lying to me?”
“Fine,” Cessy said. “You hear that radio broadcast?”
Lockler’s ranting still came from inside the building.
“There’s an infinite worm in the mountain using that broadcast to lure in the citizens of Hamlin. Makes them hate each other.”
“Except for the infinite worm part,” Landis said, “that just sounds like talk radio.”
“She’s not getting it entirely right,” Kate said. “It fed on the people it could make hate. Killed the people it couldn’t, or the people who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now it got what it wanted, and it’s leaving.”
“So that’s a good thing, right?” Landis half-smiled, waiting for the punchline.
“Imagine you had an extension cord unraveled through a messy garage. Grab it at two points, and pull as hard as you can. You’ll trash the place.”
Landis shook his head. He sighed. “Don’t repeat this when the rest of the State Trooper show up. The rabies thing was better.”
“Help us get everyone out,” Kate pleaded.
“At least, anyone who’ll listen,” Cessy said. “Too many have embraced it. We help who we can, then we leave.”
Landis leaned on his truck. He wiped his forehead. “Obviously something bad went down here. Your Sheriff had some kind of infection, and then a mental break.”
“He’s dead, standing up straight,” Cessy said. “You know I’m not crazy.”
“Of course you’re not. But something’s got you believing crazy things. Infinite worms inside mountains?” Landis turned to point up to Black Gold Peak. “If you were anyone else, I’d already be calling in the... calling in...”
He stared up at the mountainside.
Cessy and Kate followed his gaze.
“What am I looking at?”
The bare dirt patch was two-thirds of the way up the Appalachian peak. Around it, the trees were far enough away that they were just barely distinguishable from each other. To the east of the bare patch, the green treetops were hard to focus on.
Cessy blinked. The mountainside folded in on itself, leaving a second vacant spot without trees, without the ground beneath it, without a hole to mark anything missing. It wasn’t another landslide. Her eyes simply glided over a section of the mountain, like it wasn’t there. She squeezed her eyes shut, then looked again.
It was like trying to spot something in her peripheral vision, except it was right in front of her.
Roiling movement coming down the mountainside.
Then, calm treetops.
“Did you see that?” Landis asked.
Behind the Sheriff’s Office, wood creaked, and then a monstrous crash roared. A dust cloud plumed over the buildings. A spurt of thick shadow drifted upwards, hung low over the town, then dropped a brief but unnatural rain. Library books fell from the sky, accompanied by chunks of coal. The worm was dragging reality behind it.
“We’re out of time,” Cessy said.
59
A few blocks away, another house collapsed.
Lockler’s ranting came from everywhere and nowhere. “...rioting like this is some urban ghetto. I’ve warned you there will come a time when we have to defend our families...”
Cessy snapped her fingers to grab Landis’ and Kate’s attention. “Landis, you follow us to our parents’ house. We’ll try to convince them to leave. If they don’t come, we leave without them.”
Kate started to protest.
Cessy cut her off. “That’s the best I’m offering. I’ll drag you out of this town if I have to.”
The state troopers’ sirens howled.
“Can you get them on the radio?” Kate asked.
“That’ll slow us down,” Cessy said.
Landis nodded. “I know their channel. Why?”
“Me and Cessy will go find our parents. You get those cops to broadcast an evacuation order. Do you have a megaphone in your truck?”
“I still don’t know what’s going on.”
“How about a massive sinkhole?” Cessy asked. “Would you believe that? They mined for coal under the town, and now the whole valley’s going to collapse.”
“That’s what’s happening?”
“Sure,” Cessy said. “The important part is that we need to get out of here fast.”
“Drive through the neighborhoods and tell everyone to evacuate,” Kate pleaded. “Get the state cops to help you.”
Two blocks away, the ground beneath the old bar opened up. The boarded-up building fell in on itself. It kicked up red brick dust and children’s toys. Cessy briefly wondered whose childhood bedroom the worm had just torn through.
Lockler’s voice grew louder. “...band together but don’t expect your neighbors to stick with you. There are vermin under every doormat...”
“Where is that coming from?” Landis asked.
“We told you already,” Kate said. “Will you help?”
“Yeah, okay.” He turned to Cessy. “Is your radio in your truck? I didn’t drive all the way out here just to leave you behind.”
“I’ve got it.” Cessy agreed. “Make a quick pass and then get out of here. These people brought this on themselves.”