Accidental Evil (35 page)

“This is all my fault.”

Vernon felt himself surrounded by people. In his periphery, he recognized that Trina, Gerard, Lily, Sarah, and even crazy April were still with him. Why weren’t they running? Why weren’t they trying to get as far away from that thing as they could? Some part of Vernon wanted to do just that. It was his younger self talking. It was the part of him that hadn’t met Mary and hadn’t produced two boys. That younger version of Vernon told him to run and not look back. He recognized that person in himself. That young man was selfish, intelligent, and probably right. Any sane person would be running.

“I thought I could contain it,” Ricky said. “I wanted to be great, and at first I thought it was a hoax. Then, I thought that it was me. And then I figured that even if it wasn’t me, I would be able to control it. I never thought that it would go all the way.”

“Go tell your mother,” Vernon said. The boy still wasn’t going.

“Lily!” Wendy Hazard yelled.

Vernon had never heard that woman sound so frightened. She was always the one in control. She was pedaling as hard as she could. She looked like she wanted to break her half of the bike away from her husband so she would be free of his weight.

“Lily, keep going. Why are you just standing there?”
 

In a moment, Wendy and her husband would be fixing to pass their daughter.
 

Vernon heard the crunching of gears as Lily and Sarah finally came to the their senses and began to ride again. He heard Gerard whispering to his cousin.

Trina spoke out loud. “No. If he’s staying, then I am too. You go ahead if you want, Gerard.”

“Don’t let him stay,” April said. “He’s marked.”

Vernon saw Wendy steer the bike around the corner. He saw the shadow figure flowing forward; not quite walking, but moving forward anyway.

“Go, Ricky,” Vernon said.

“It’s my fault,” his son said.

“I don’t care whose fault it is. Go find your mother. Help her get George out of here. Understand?”

Ricky didn’t answer, but he finally followed after the girls.
 

[ Meeting ]

Vernon stood alone by the time the thing approached. He was starting to make some sense of the way the thing moved. It wasn’t a solid. It was a constrained liquid. Instead of eyes, the thing had black holes in the shape that made up its head. Vernon locked his eyes on those holes and had the sense that something in that darkness was focused on him.

“Stop,” Vernon said.

When the thing stopped, it smiled. Vernon was shocked by the sight of the bright white teeth.

“I don’t take orders from mortals,” the thing said.

Vernon had one goal—delay the thing as long as possible. The younger version of Vernon, still buried deep inside, had a second goal—survive.

“I guess I’m not a mortal then,” Vernon said. He sensed that the thing was looking over his shoulder. “Hey there,” he said, snapping his fingers until the thing returned its attention to him. “Your business is right here.”

“Vernon Matthew Dunn,” the thing said. “I have no business with you.”

Vernon released the snap on the sheath of his knife. He pulled the blade and brought it between himself and the thing. They stood maybe five yards apart. Vernon would wait for the thing to close half the distance before he made his move. But what exactly would that move be? As far as he could tell, the man was just a swirling collection of blood. There was no skin, muscle, or bone that he could discern. All he saw were currents moving through the shades of red. Still, there was a chance that he could hold it off. Maybe whatever force held together that blood could be pierced by his blade. Maybe he could spill that volume of blood out onto the street.

“I’ve watched these millennia as tooth and claw progressed to fire, blades, guns, and so much more. Do you think I’m threatened by a weapon that men have wielded for two-hundred generations?” the thing asked.

With each word, Vernon’s confidence grew. In his experience, men who could fight were usually not interested in standing around and talking. If this thing really wasn’t afraid, it would already be coming for him.
He held his ground and studied the thing as the seconds ticked away. With each moment, his son was putting more distance between himself and this monster.
 

The urge to turn away from the thing was nearly overwhelming. Vernon kept his eyes locked on it, as if he could hold it there with his eyes.

Movement beyond the creature tugged at Vernon’s eyes. He flicked his eyes over the thing’s shoulder, down the road, for just an instant.
 

The glance came with another realization. Vernon had thought that he was delaying the creature so that his son could get away. But the creature was also delaying Vernon. It was holding him there until its reinforcements could arrive. There was another man made of blood, and he was coming down the road to join the first.

“Vernon Matthew Dunn, what are you looking at?” the thing asked him.

“What are you?” Vernon asked, returning his eyes to the first creature.

The thing smiled again.

“You can go ahead a make up a story to comfort yourself. It’s what men have always done. Your opinion about my nature is just as valid as my own.”

The swirling currents of blood were beginning to speed up. They were locked in a stalemate. Vernon held the knife out with a hand clenched so tight that it was beginning to ache. The blood thing stood there smiling as its clone approached it from behind. Vernon took a step forward before he fully decided to do it. Whatever was going to happen, he preferred his odds against just one of the things. Maybe he could do some damage before he faced two at once.

The thing didn’t move.

Vernon took another step.

Its smile grew wider.

He hesitated for one more second. The opportunity was escaping. If he waited any longer, he would have to contend with both of the monsters.

Vernon lunged forward with his arm extended. He swept the knife through the thing’s midsection. If it had been a man, that man would have been picking up his guts from the road. It didn’t even flinch as the blade passed through its stomach. The knife made a strange sound as it cut. It sounded almost like tape being pulled from a roll.

Vernon pulled back.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, the smile disappeared from the thing’s face as a waterfall of blood flowed from its midsection and splashed down on the pavement. As he watched, the thing looked like it was deflating. He was sure that it was shrinking when he could see over the monster to its approaching twin. The other one didn’t seem at all concerned. It had the same big white grin on its face.
 

Vernon adjusted his grip on the knife. He was ready for the second one.

Meanwhile, the first one was still bleeding out. The outline of the thing looked like a deflated balloon. It was only half of its original height and blood was still flowing. Vernon took a step back from the spreading pool. There was something disconcerting about the blood. It didn’t seem to be soaking into the cracks, or spreading very far. It had too much of an edge to it, like it was still being contained by something.

Vernon slid back another step and understood the geometry. It was a five-sided thingy, like that building down in DC. He looked back up as the first monster drained out. The twin stepped into the center of the pentagon of blood. Vernon wanted to slice it open like its brother, but he didn’t want to step in the red mess.

Instead, he stood there, holding his knife at the ready and waiting.

“Come a little closer,” Vernon said. “Let’s see if you’re as weak as your brother.”

“Vernon Matthew Dunn,” it said. Vernon tilted his head in confusion. It was the same voice, but was it a little lower? Why should any of this make sense? “I still have no business with you.”

“Maybe I have business with you,” Vernon said. He wondered how far his son had made it. He could only hope that Ricky was far enough away that this thing wouldn’t catch him. If he could just dispatch this second monster, maybe he could join him.

“Perhaps there is a use for you,” the thing said. The voice was deeper—Vernon was sure of it. It had an echo to it as well, like the thing was talking into an empty oil drum.

Vernon glanced down at the pentagon of blood and came to a realization. The pool that the thing was standing in was shrinking. At a slower pace, the monster standing in front of him was growing. It was growing and it was smiling. The monster looked at its own hand and Vernon saw something flash in the red liquid. The blood was flowing around something. When the monster held its hand up in front of its face, Vernon saw the flash of something solid again. Under all that swirling blood, there were bones.

[ Hiding ]

J
ENNY
FOUND
THE
BACK
door of the camp open. She let herself inside and closed the door. The place was full of lumber and supplies. Her father demanded a clean worksite, but there was nothing that could be done about all the clutter. The building supplies had to go somewhere.
 

She still felt vulnerable. Jenny spotted the ladder and climbed. It was stuffy in the loft. She crawled over to the rectangular window in the short wall under the eaves. It gave her access to fresh air and a way to spy on the road. She wanted to make sure she could see that thing if it was coming.

There was movement on the road. Jenny held her breath for as long as she could and then let it out as a shiver ran through her.
 

She kept picturing how her father died.

When the door had slammed shut, separating them, she had run to the side of the house looking for another entrance. She gave up her search when she found the window and saw what was happening inside.
 

After the loud reports of the guns, her father had thrown one of the weapons at the blood man and missed. When the blood man approached, Jenny watched her father swing at him. It stopped his hand easily. Jenny screamed along with her father as the blood man leaned in and opened his mouth. It kept getting wider and wider, like a snake trying to work its jaws around a mouse.

Jenny covered her eyes as the thing began to ingest her father.
 

She turned and ran back around to the front of the house, screaming and crying as she stumbled down the driveway.

When the sound thundered behind her, Jenny turned and saw the door crack and swing inwards. The blood man stood in the doorway and regarded the yard.
 

Jenny had run.
 

Eventually, in the loft, she blinked as the figures on the road began to resolve themselves in the distance. It was five people walking. One of them looked like Ricky Dunn, so that made the tall man his father. She didn’t recognize the others until they drew closer. Then, she was able to pick out her old teacher and the woman who cleaned Lily’s house.

Jenny began to form a plan. She would wait to see if the five made it down the road okay and then she would follow. If the blood man didn’t get them, she would go find her mother.
 

Her mom was probably down at Shelly Palange’s house. The two were becoming inseparable.

Jenny caught her breath when she saw the shapes moving down the hill. It was none other than the entitled Lily Hazard and her bestie, Sarah Cormier. They were still riding their bikes, which meant that the blood man hadn’t gotten them. A flash of shameful hope flashed through Jenny’s mind. She wished that maybe the blood man had caught Lily’s parents.
 

She held perfectly still and watched the silent movie through the camp’s window.
 

Mr. Dunn was holding his hands up. He looked angry at everyone. Jenny frowned a little at the sight of Lily’s parents coming on their giant bike. Once everyone was together, they split up. Mr. Dunn stayed put and the others kept going.
 

Jenny saw why.

Tears began to leak from her face as she saw the blood man approach.

She nearly cheered when Mr. Dunn sliced him in half, but then her heart fell again when she spotted the second one. Jenny whipped around and looked behind herself, suddenly convinced that the blood men must be everywhere. She was alone in the dusty loft—alone with her own sweat and fear.

She couldn’t watch. The second blood man was growing. He grew until he was even taller than Mr. Dunn, and it didn’t seem like he was going to stop.
 

Jenny let out a little whimper as she pulled back from the window. She had already seen her father eaten. She couldn’t bear to see it happen again.

She crawled back to the ladder and climbed down from the loft.
 

Jenny knew that as soon as she looked towards the door or through one of the windows, the blood man would be there. Tears leaked down her face as she tiptoed to the door on the other side of the camp and turned the handle. The yard was empty. The blood man was on the other side of the camp. She prayed that he was too busy with Mr. Dunn to spot her slipping out of the little camp.
 

She didn’t look in his direction. Jenny sprinted through the yards of the camps, following the shoreline as it curved away from the main road. Jenny ran until the main road was lost behind buildings and trees. The only way to get to these camps was via a tired gravel road that was only usable in the summer.
 

She slowed and turned in a slow spin. The shoreline should have been alive with people in lawn chairs and kids playing at the edge of the lake. Boats should have been cutting across the water, pulling wakeboarders and tubers. The world was empty.
 

Jenny walked slowly with shock written all over her face. Her mission of tracking down her mother was, for the moment, forgotten. She saw a cluster of people between a little camp and its boathouse. Jenny stopped. There was something wrong with the people. They were all standing and facing each other, like they were huddled around a candle and they didn’t want it to go out. Something scurried between their legs. Jenny narrowed her eyes and tried to see what it was, but it moved too quickly and disappeared into the shadows under the camp.