Creepers (21 page)

Jesse nodded and said “not a problem Jack.  You just lie there and gather your strength.”  He turned to Terri and said “you go collect a sheet and the lamp from my bureau and your dresser child.  I’ll break up the coffee table and this here end table.”

Even as Jesse placed his hand on the end table nearest him, Terri had turned and was bounding off toward the back of the house.  Jesse smiled inwardly and commenced with breaking up the two tables.  As he did so, he sat each table leg on the floor beside Jack.  By the time he had a pile of broken legs stacked up, Terri had returned with a couple of sheets tucked up under one arm and an oil lamp in each hand.  She gently sat the lamps down on the floor next to the pile of wooden legs and sat down on the floor beside Jack.

“The kudzu is wrapped up around my headboard,” Terri said to no one in particular.  “That must have been the window we heard breaking earlier.”  The room was a solemn quiet for a moment. Then she and Jack began tearing a sheet into strips about two inches wide.  “We can’t keep them out, can we?” she asked.

“No,” Jesse replied.  He paused, trying to think of something more encouraging to say but couldn’t.  So he turned and moved quickly to the kitchen to retrieve the matches from his “junk” drawer.  It held odds and ends, things that didn’t have a place, and his matches.  He kept them close to the stove in case the pilot light went out.  Not that this happened all that much anymore, but it was a habit.  As he entered the kitchen, Jesse immediately heard the rustling leaves and scraping vines to his left.

Jesse glanced in that direction and saw that the creepers had gained a firm foothold in his kitchen.  They had moved back beneath the mudroom door and had found the kitchen table.  Vines twined up around the table’s legs and stretched out across its surface.  One chair was completely engulfed, and another was nearly so.  Jesse swallowed hard and turned his attention back to the task at hand.  He yanked the drawer open, and it fell to the floor.  Its contents scattered across the floor, and he chided himself.

Jesse dropped to all fours and started combing through the mess on his kitchen floor.  Eventually, he found two books of matches.  He checked each of them.  One was full, but the other only had two matches in it.  For the first time since he was a young man, Jesse cursed.  Almost instantly, he bit his lip and asked for forgiveness.  Then Jesse took the matches, stood up, and quickly walked back to where Jack and Terri had begun tying the strips of cloth around the larger ends of the broken table legs.  He knelt down beside them and quietly started to drench the finished torches in lamp oil.

In silence and with purpose, the three of them prepared a total of six torches.  Satisfied, Terri began to move them over near their escape window.  Jesse carefully moved Yancy, and Jack managed to drag himself there as well.  Jesse handed the nearly full book of matches to Jack and kept the other one.  As Jesse gave them to him, he shook Jack’s hand.

“God be with you,” Jesse said.  Then he leaned over to give Jack a hug.

“Make sure she’s safe,” Jack whispered to him.  “As soon as you get out of here, you leave.  Don’t try to come back for us.”  As Jesse pulled away, he gave Jack a slight nod and a half smile.

Terri looked at them quizzically then knelt down and kissed Jack lightly on the cheek.  “I’ll go out the window first and make sure it’s clear.” She said.  “Then Jesse can help you out, and I’ll make sure you get clear of the house.  After that Jesse can get Yancy up to the window, and I can work him out from there.  It shouldn’t take more than ten minutes or so.”

Jacked gave her a warm smile and said “we’ll be right behind you.  Just make sure you are clear of the vines.”

“Okay,” Terri said determined, “let’s do this.”  She stood and took the torch that Jesse had offered her and lowered the business end down near Jack. 

He took the cue and tried to light a match from the book Jesse had given him.  Unfortunately, his hands were damp from sweat and the match just fell apart on the striking pad.  Jack cursed at himself and dried his hands off on his pants the best he could.  He tried another one, and it nearly lit but fizzled out.  He tried again and again, and it wasn’t until his fifth attempt that he was able to keep a match lit.  Jack quickly but cautiously moved it over to the torch head, and it caught instantly.

Terri moved into position, and Jesse pushed up the window.  As soon as he did, they could hear the rustle and rattle of leaves against the house.  Jesse pushed hard and forced the screen outward.  It fell onto the porch but made very little sound.  Terri’s heart sank.  She knew that meant there was something covering the porch to absorb the fall.  She also knew it had to be the kudzu.

Terri shoved the torch out the window, and it dimly lit the area with its glow.  There were vines half way up the wall to the bottom of the sill.  They also covered the porch about three feet out from the wall.  Amplified by the flame of her torch, the vines danced in the flickering light, and their leaves seemed to tremble in anticipation.  Terri tried to push the fire into the mass of vines just below the sill, but the heat wouldn’t allow it.

So Terri leaned out the window as far as she could and moved the torch back and forth across the top of the kudzu.  The vines slowly pulled away from the flame creating a narrow path from the wall of the house out to the open porch.  Then Terri felt a light tickling sensation on her stomach.  She pulled back inside the window and saw the wriggling vines that were trying to grab onto her.  Immediately she shoved the torch down to them, and they began to back away.

“Damn,” she muttered.  “I can’t get them to move away from the window.  The fire is too hot to hold the torch there for very long.”

“Drop it,” Jesse said, “drop the torch out there at the base of the window.”

“I can’t,” Terri argued, “it will set the house on fire.”

“Not at first,” Jesse said, “the vines will keep it from doing that for a while until they move out of the way.”

Terri thought for a moment and realized that Jesse was right.  She stuck the torch back out the window and let it fall.  It dropped into the mass of kudzu and sizzled and popped.  Terri wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard a wail as well.  The heat from the torch rose up in front of the open window, so it was difficult for Terri to look out.  She did manage it though and saw that the kudzu was retreating.  It was moving back about a foot on either side of the flame.

“Hand me another torch,” Terri directed.  She took it from Jesse and touched it to the flame of the first one she had dropped.  It caught instantly, and she tossed it out onto the porch, about a foot past the first one.  The vines immediately began to pull away, but still only about a foot on either side.  Terri figured she needed one more to clear enough of a path for them to make it across the porch. 

She asked for another torch and did the same thing with it.  This time though, she tossed it close to a foot past the last one.  “It’s working,” she reported.  “The vines are making a small path.  We can get out.”  With that, Terri quickly but carefully climbed out the window.  The vines tried to move toward her, but the heat of the torches kept them at bay.  Gingerly, Terri tip toed past the vines and eventually made it out onto the porch beyond their reach.  Crazily, as she crossed the flames she was reminded of the old nursery rhyme ‘Jack Be Nimble’.

Jesse moved up to the window.  He saw Terri waiting anxiously about four feet away.  Even now, the creepers were moving slowly toward her.  He knew then that Jack was right.  He looked down at Jack and said “God bless you son.  Can you close the window after I leave?”

Jack was already struggling to get to his feet.  “I’ll get it,” he reassured Jesse.  “Don’t let her try to come back in here.  Can you do that for me?”

“I will Jack” Jesse agreed.  “I will get her into town and get help.”  He paused for a moment then said “thank you Jack.”  He turned back to the window and carefully climbed out onto the porch.  He could hear Terri screaming at him, but he ignored it.  Jesse knew what he had to do, and he put all of his concentration on making it through the narrow path.  Even as he stepped away from the window, Jesse heard a loud sizzle and pop behind him.

He glanced back to see that the creepers had moved in and snuffed out the fire of the first torch.  The kudzu had sacrificed some of its tendrils and put out the torch against the wall of the house.  Jesse looked down and saw more tendrils advancing on the other two torches.  Jesse took two giant paces and skip-hopped the last several feet to the safety of the front yard.  Behind him, he could hear the other torches die out as he did so.  He glanced down at them, then back up to the window.  Jack was standing there looking past Jesse.

Behind him, Jesse finally registered that Terri was yelling “No!”  He turned on his heels just in time to stick an arm out to catch her.  Terri was trying to run past Jesse back toward the house.  However, he managed to wrap one arm around her before she set foot on the porch.  “You can’t!” Jesse yelled at her.  “The torches are out!”

“No!” Terri screamed again.  “We have to get them out of there.  We have to get Jack out of there.”

“We can’t,” Jesse said again.  “We need to go for help.”

“How could you?” Terri yelled at Jesse as tears filled her eyes.  “You were supposed to get them out of there.”

“We couldn’t have made it Terri,” Jesse said soothingly.  “The path wasn’t wide enough and you and I barely made it out as it was.  Jack knew that we could never get them both out.”

“You didn’t even try,” Terri accused.  “You just saved yourself.”

“You know that’s not true Terri,” Jesse tried to explain.  “There was just no other way.”

“I hate you,” Terri sobbed, “I hate you.”  Jesse tried to hold her, to hug her, but she would have none of it.  Instead, she pushed away from him and turned her attention to Jack.  “Light the other torches,” she demanded.

“It won’t work Terri,” Jack replied.  “The kudzu will put them out the same way.  The only way is for you to go and get help now.”

Terri paced back and forth, tears streaming down her cheeks.  “Damn it Jack,” she said at last.  “I don’t want to lose you.  I know we’ve only just connected, but I want a chance.  I want a chance for us.”

“I want that too,” Jack said honestly.  “I think there is something there between us, something I wish to explore.”

“How?” Terri demanded.  “How can there be something when you’re dead?”

“I’m not dead yet Terri,” Jack replied. “And there still could be something for us, but you need to act fast.  Go and get help, and I will do what I can here to hold them off.”

Terri stopped her pacing and now stood beside Jesse.  This time, she did not pull away when Jesse put his arm around her.  Deep down she knew it was the right decision, even if she didn’t like it.  “You promise me you’ll be alive when we get back Jack,” Terri demanded, “promise me.”

“I promise I’ll do everything I can Terri,” Jack said.  “That’s all I can promise.  You know that.”

“I know,” Terri relented.  “I’ll take it.  You be careful, and we’ll be back with the help as soon as we can.”  Terri watched as Jack closed the window and gave her a gentle smile.  As he disappeared into the house, Terri turned her attention to Jesse.  “I’m sorry,” she said.  “You know I love you, right?”

“I never doubted it,” Jesse said as he hugged her.

“Terri dried her eyes on his shirt and said “we have to save him Jesse.”

“I know,” Jesse replied, “Now let’s get some help.”  He turned her and directed her to his car.  As they crossed the yard in the dark, Terri nearly tripped over the lawn mower.  Jesse caught her and said “for heaven’s sake.  I meant to put that away yesterday.  I guess too much has happened, and it just slipped my mind.”

Terri smiled inwardly.  “Way too much has happened for my taste,” she said.  She thought for a moment then added “well, some of it was good.”

Jesse gave her a squeeze and said “I know honey, I know.  We’ll get him out of there; I promise.”  Just then they had reached his car, and Jesse let go of Terri so that she could go around to the passenger side.  As she did so, Jesse dug into his pants pocket for the keys.  Panic quickly filled his mind as he found the pocket empty.  He quickly dug into the other pocket, and it was empty as well.  Jesse’s heart sank.

His heart racing from his panic, Jesse quickly patted all of his pockets searching for any bulge that might be his car keys.  They were all empty.  He had gotten dressed so fast that he had never even thought about filling his pockets with his personal items, but he remembered holding his car keys.  At some point, he had held his car keys.  Jesse just couldn’t remember when.  His only hope, Jack’s only hope, was that Terri had her keys with her.

“Terri?” Jesse said in a fearful voice.  “Do you have your car keys on you?”

Terri looked over the roof of his car in disbelief, fear seeping into her expression.  “I don’t know,” she admitted and started to check her pants pockets.  Her fear quickly turned to terror as she found her pockets to be empty as well.  She thought back, trying to remember where they were.  Not that it mattered now, but she just couldn’t keep her mind from going there.  “No,” she said at last, “mine are on the hutch next to my purse.  I put them there when I got back from the store.  What about yours?”

“I must have dropped them somewhere in the house, in all the confusion,” Jesse replied.  “I don’t know where.”

There was a tense moment of silence as the two of them stood there staring at each other across the roof of the old Buick, dumfounded.  Terri finally broke the awkward moment and asked “What about the phone in the church?  We can call for help from there.” She said hopefully.  “Then we can go and help Jack somehow.”

“Sorry child,” Jesse said dolefully, “the phone line is shared with the church and the house.  If it’s out at the house, it’s out at the church.  I’ve had creepers wrapped up all around that phone line for a couple of years now; you know how they do that.  I had meant to cut them creepers off that phone line this summer, but I just never seemed to get around to it.  They must have drug it down somehow.”

Terri’s eyes opened wide, and she said “Jesse, you’re a genius.”

“What?” Jesse asked, excited.

“I have an idea,” Terri replied.

***

Jack closed the window just as a kudzu tendril had found the sill plate.  He latched the window and looked longingly out at Terri.  Jack gave her a last smile then slowly backed away from the window.  He turned to survey the room.  The kudzu that had entered through the side window now had a stronghold on that wall.  It covered about a third of the wall from the window down and was encroaching onto the floor, slowly squirming its way toward him and Yancy.

Jack looked across the room to the kitchen doorway.  He didn’t yet see any vines creeping around the corner there, but knew it wouldn’t be long.  He looked down at Yancy and then at the torches and other materials left from making them.  One of the oil lamps still had some fuel in it, but that wouldn’t do much he decided.  There was also a sheet left over that they hadn’t used.  Someone had shoved it out of the way over by the front door.  Probably to sop up some of the water they had thrown there he surmised.

Dismayed, Jack eased himself onto the floor beside Yancy.  Things looked bleak and for the first time since this whole nightmare began, hopelessness crept into Jack’s mind.  Almost as if in agreement, Yancy moaned just then.  Jack regarded the mummy like figure lying on the floor next to him.  He wondered how much Yancy understood what was going on.  He hoped, for Yancy’s sake that he was unconscious and oblivious.

Jack sat there for what seemed like hours, pondering his fate.  In reality, it had only been about fifteen minutes, but either way he had made a decision.  Jack didn’t much like the idea of being paralyzed again and then feeling himself being dissolved and sucked up by the kudzu.  He didn’t figure that Yancy would like it that much either, not again.  Neither did Jack like the idea of just giving up.  He was a fighter, and he was bound and determined he was going to go out like a fighter.