Darling (35 page)

They duckwalked down the hall, the gun aiming at shapes in the smoke. A high-pitched scream hit them. Grunting. Wet slapping sounds.

A mass of flailing limbs slowly came into view. A snarling, soot-covered face cut through the smoke. Dennis had met him and his girlfriend a few weeks earlier. “Cody?”

Cody Tate ignored him. They crawled closer and he could see Melissa on her back, her face purple and swollen, Cody between her legs. Other men crawled toward her. She screamed.

“Shut up, whore,” Cody grunted. He coughed hard. “This is what you want, isn’t it?”

One of the other men fought with his zipper as he inched toward her. She shook her head and he punched her.

Eileen screamed and swung the Maglite into the man’s face. There was a loud crunch and he fell into a black pool of shadow on the wall. Dark arms erupted from the plaster and jerked him into the black like there was a hole in the wall. He was gone.

Dennis hit another man in the face with the butt of the shotgun. The man stumbled, lunged back for him, but Dennis swung the gun around and broke his jaw. He fell through an open door and black shapes swarmed over him.

A thick, dark ribbon peeled away from the ceiling and wrapped around Cody’s neck. It yanked him away and he vanished into the smoke.

Shadows danced around in the hall, bulging from the walls.

Even with the fire raging around Dennis, his skin had gone cold. He met Eileen’s eyes. They were wide, her face as pallid as bone.

She grabbed Melissa and pulled her into a sitting position. “Honey, I know this is hard but we have to get out of here. Okay?”

Melissa nodded, her sobbing, beaten face shaking. The three of them rushed toward the door.

The groundskeeper stood in the doorway. He raised an axe and brought it down on a small, crying shape in front of him. Dennis thought it was one of Reynaldo’s sons. The axe stuck in the child’s chest with a wet
thump
. Reynaldo fought to pull it back out, blood arcing through the air and splattering across his face. He brought it down again.

Dennis aimed and fired. The shot punched a giant hole in Reynaldo’s chest and took him off his feet.

The three of them darted out the door.

Freezing rain pelted them like a hail of bullets. They stood in shock.

The statues in the courtyard had come to life.

They twisted and rolled over one another, moaning, grunting, an orgy of stone covering the path.

Melissa screamed again and pulled her hand free of Eileen’s. She backed toward the door, shaking her head.

“No! Don’t!” Eileen took a step toward her.

A black dog slammed into Melissa’s back. She hit the stone stairs face first, one of her teeth chipping away, as the dog tore into her back. Its brethren scrambled out over her, ripping into her flesh.

One of the dogs came toward Eileen.

Dennis fired.

Its hindquarters exploded. It yelped, howled, but didn’t stop, crawled toward her on its front paws, guts trailing behind it.

They turned, ran through the courtyard, dodging the nightmarish obscenities around them.

A nymph was on all fours, one satyr in her mouth and another behind her. One satyr took another while reaching around and stroking him. They maneuvered through the horrid maze, slipping in the soggy ground.

Patty Malone lay in the mud, her eyes peeled from her skull. Vibrant flowers grew around her, red roses and blue orchids, piercing her flesh and sprouting from a hundred wounds. Weeds slithered from her empty sockets. As they watched, a white bud sprouted from her mouth and bloomed.

A nymph rose into their path, smiling, its arms open for a lover’s embrace.

Dennis fired off another shot. Chunks of stone showered the air, its arm puffing into dust. He had aimed for its head, but considered himself lucky for every shot up to and including this one. It watched them, still smiling, as they darted by.

There was a crash behind them and he turned to see someone fly through a broken window on the third floor. Their body hit the ground with a loud
crunch
. It reminded him of crushing the roaches.

Outside the safety of the courtyard, the wind crashed against them so hard that they struggled to stay on their feet. The freezing rain soaked through their clothes in seconds. They slipped on the steps twice while running down the hill, but managed to stay on their feet until they reached the parking lot.

Dark clouds surrounded the hill. Rain pounded into their eyes. It was impossible to see. They splashed through the parking lot, careening between cars, trying to find one of theirs.

Dennis rushed to her Prius. “Keys!”

“Dammit. They’re in Jason’s apartment.” They might even still be in Jason’s collarbone. She wasn’t sure.

One of the dogs slammed down hard on the roof of the car. Hot breath hit Dennis in the face and stank with death.

“Where do you think you’re going?” It seemed to grin.

“Here!” Eileen tugged on the handle of his convertible. He stepped back from the dog slowly and fumbled his keys from his pocket.

It jumped down from the car and kept pace with him, sidestepping as it followed, attempting to circle him.

He fought his keys out and tossed them to Eileen.

“You smell tasty,” the dog said, bloody drool dribbling from its mouth.

He heard the engine start and the tires squeal behind him.

Was she leaving him?

The dog laughed.

He raised the shotgun.

His foot caught a puddle and he slipped.

The dog rushed him.

His convertible plowed into the thing with bone-crushing force. It flew into the side of a minivan and his car slammed in after it. Metal crunched and bent.

He rushed over to the car. “Eileen!”

“I’m okay,” she said, blood trickling from her forehead. She backed the car up. The front end was mangled and the glass over the headlights was broken, but she clicked them on and the bulbs still worked.

Dennis ran around to the passenger side and climbed in. She locked the doors. Rain smacked like pebbles against the car. They were quiet, their lungs fighting for breath the only sound.

The flames crawled up the side of Raynham, lighting the stormy skies over it like a fiery sunset.

They held each other and cried.

* * *

He smelled smoke. The dark around him receded, pain flooding in to replace it. His body was bathed in agony. He tasted blood.

Cold porcelain pressed against him.

His vision slowly came into focus.

A roach sat on the edge of the tub and stared down at him.

—I’m not done with you yet—

* * *

The convertible sloshed through the parking lot. Eileen twisted the wheel and floored it, skidding onto the driveway. The back end of the car slid back and forth and she fought hard to straighten it. The wipers and headlights were both on high, but she still couldn’t see farther than a few feet in front of the hood. She worried that the rain would short the exposed headlights out before long.

A gunshot fired from behind them. The back passenger side window sprayed broken glass across the seat. Eileen screamed. The bullet punched hard into the console, sending plastic shards flying. She ducked and pressed the pedal harder.

The bottom of the hill was a sea of black.

Her chest tightened. “What is that?”

Dennis was silent.

“WHAT IS IT?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is it those shadows? Is it?”

A woman darted in front of her. She slammed on the brakes. Tires squealed. The car slid down the wet hill.

The woman kept running. She waved a golf club over her head. A fat man limped over the curb. She swung the club into his back. They vanished into the rain.

The car continued its slide down, weaving back and forth. She pumped the brake, the gas, cut the wheel one way then the other.

The black came rushing toward them.

She tensed. “Jesus Christ, please protect us from—”

They hit hard. Her head bounced from the steering wheel. Dennis hit the window. A tide of dark water crashed against the windshield. She shook her head, wiped the white sparks from her eyes. They were still moving. She pumped the brakes. Nothing happened.

A tree limb floated by her window.

“It’s flooded,” she said. Water came up to the door handle. It leaked into the floorboards from somewhere.

Dennis rubbed his head. “The engine?”

“The valley. Look.”

He stared out the window. “Shit. Are we floating?”

“I think so.”

He grinned.

She started to laugh and then he did too. Once they started they couldn’t stop, cackling until they were out of breath.

* * *

The water level reached the windows within a few minutes. It sloshed in through the broken rear window, splashing into the seat.

Dennis looked around. “We’ve gotta get out.”

“I’m not getting in that water. I can’t.”

Behind them, the hill was a furious bonfire. The red and orange glow had sunken into the very earth. Dennis thought of documentaries he had seen about volcanic activity. The hill was awash in what could have been a lava flow. It was as though he watched the early days of the planet as it fought to form itself, to create something from

—from the void He said “Let there be light”—

the chaos.

The shadow of Raynham Place rose from the flames.

“We need to climb onto the roof. The car’s sinking.”

She looked around and nodded.

“I’ll go first. Hand me the shotgun and the flashlight and then I’ll pull you up from the window. You won’t have to get into the water. I promise. Okay?”

“Okay.”

He rolled his window down and cold rain invaded the car. He gripped the slick fabric roof and shimmied out, splashing into the freezing flood. A current gently tugged at him, urging him to float away, but he kept his grip on the car. He pulled himself around to the hood and crawled up the windshield.

He knocked on Eileen’s window and she rolled it down. She handed him the shotgun and the flashlight and he set both to the side. “Now give me your hands.”

She reached up and he gripped her wrists.

“Pull yourself up onto the door.”

She shimmied until she sat in the open window. Dennis tugged her up onto the roof.

His foot slipped and he fell on his chest.

Eileen’s legs crashed down into the water.

“Dennis!”

“I’m sorry. Just pull yourself up.”

“DENNIS!”

“It’s okay—” The words caught in his throat when he saw why she screamed.

* * *

Tiny hands gripped her calves under the water. Their little fingers dug deep into the muscles. An unnatural cold seeped through her flesh and into her very bones.

She glanced down and saw a pale blue shape under her.

Dennis tugged on her arms. “Pull!”

She tried to pull herself up, but its grip was too strong. “DENNIS!”

The water splashed up onto her chest as the thing’s head crested the surface. It was a boy, his face bloated and blue.

“Mommy?” the Blue Boy asked. Filthy gray water spilled from his mouth.

Dennis’ hands grabbed her under the armpits. She dug her fingers into his back. She heard the fabric under him rip. He pitched to one side, jerked her upwards, and she pulled hard. Her foot came down on the open window and she pushed off. The tiny fingers loosened and she slipped from their grip and flopped onto the roof of the car.

Dennis held her and they watched over the side as the pale blue shape swam away.

The fabric top tore at one end from their weight. They scooted toward the windshield, their weight evenly spaced across the glass and the spine of the convertible’s top.

“Look.” He pointed toward the trees.

She squinted through the rain and saw twin balls of light rising through the branches. They rose higher and the faint noise of whirring engines could be heard.

“Helicopters?”

“Yeah. Police or rescue I guess. Hell, I don’t care if they’re news choppers. Grab the flashlight and shine it up so they can see us.”

She clicked the Maglite on. She was afraid it wouldn’t work, but the bulb came to life. She shined the bright beam straight into the air. “Thank God.”

Another splash and something scurried up the hood.

* * *

He turned to see Jason, his naked body a tangle of fresh wounds, scrambling on all fours up the hood.

Dennis grabbed the shotgun. Aimed. Fired.

Click.

He pumped it and squeezed the trigger again.

Click.

A blade flashed. His thigh screamed as a butcher knife pounded into his leg. Dennis roared from the pain, tried to kick Jason in the face with his good leg, but Jason pulled the knife out quickly and slashed at Dennis’ throat.

Dennis fell backwards out of the way of the blade. Before he knew it Jason was on him, grabbing his wet shirt and pulling himself up over the windshield, his broken face slick with blood and black water, his busted mouth a snarl. The blade shot up over Dennis and fell toward his chest.

Eileen swung the Maglite into Jason’s face. There was a sickening crunch and he tumbled over backwards onto the hood. He fought himself up. Dennis struggled to one knee. Eileen flashed by him.

She brought the heavy flashlight down into Jason’s skull again. He dropped the knife. She slipped, falling on her ass. He struggled to his knees and she swung wildly, hitting him under the jaw. He flew onto his back. She dove onto him, bringing the Maglite down over and over into his face. She growled and cried.

The beam of light arced up and down from the tree line to the water as she bashed him in the skull.

Blood and bone erupted into the air. His hands reached for her neck. She crashed the light into his elbow, shattered it. He moaned. She cracked him in the face. His hands fell to his sides. Arms twitched. Body went limp.

She didn’t stop, screaming through her tears, her arm a blur, the blue steel dripping gore, the light filtered through a red sheen of blood. His skull disintegrated.