Scribner Horror Bundle: Four Horror Novels by Joshua Scribner (77 page)

#

Jacob knows where he is. It’s downtown
Nescata. Behind him is Ledbetter Bar, where he had dropped Sonnie
off a few hours ago. Across the street are the bank, the library,
and the post office. Down the street, on the corner, stands the
mechanics’ shop that has been there ever since Jacob can remember.
Off in the distance, are the familiar grain elevators and the town
park. These things are the same as they always were.

Two things are not the same, the cars
and the death.

There are a few cars that Jacob
recognizes, like the red 1997 Mustang convertible parked across the
street. Jacob remembers how he had coveted one of these. But he
does not like this one at all. This one’s paint is cracked in
places and faded all over. There is little tread left on any of the
tires and the dual exhaust is brown with rust.

Most of the rest look like they came
straight from a futuristic car show. The carnage is massive.
Corpses of various small animals line the streets. Jacob is glad he
has been spared the odor.

As far as he can tell, none of it is
human. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be any people—dead or
alive—around at all.

Across the street, there is something
posted on the post office door. Jacob starts to cross, carefully
watching where he steps, not wanting to feel the corpse of a dead
animal crumble beneath his feet. He makes it about halfway before
everything begins to fade out. He stops in his tracks and waits for
the scene to come back. It doesn’t. He is left standing in the
driveway at his parents’ house.

“Not now, huh.”

He walked back inside, gathered up the
newspapers, and put them away.

#

Jacob arrived at Ledbetter Bar right
at 2AM. The parking lot was empty and the lights out. Sonnie came
out a door adjacent to the bar entrance. She was dressed in a long
nightshirt and her hair fell down, straight and clean, all about
her. Jacob’s imagination went wild.

“Do you always dress like this for
work?”

“No. Sometimes I wear
panties.”

“Oh. I guess that could be
good.”

Sonnie laughed giddily. “Come on
up.”

She let him lead her through the door
and up some stairs. They went into an apartment that was
surprisingly nice, considering the look of the outside.

“Wow!” Jacob said. “I didn’t even know
this place existed.”

“It’s a little known
secret.”

“I see.”

“Have a seat and I’ll make us a
drink.”

Jacob sat down in the living room and
waited. After a little while, Sonnie came back with two glasses
filled with a murky liquid.

“What are we drinking?”

“A little something I’ve been
tinkering with. It’s not too different from a Long Island
Tea.”

“Long Island Tea. Sonnie, are you
trying to get me drunk?”

“Maybe.”

Jacob downed half of the glass,
thinking of how it tasted all too good. “Thanks. I needed
that.”

“Yeah. I think so.”

“And it’s really good. You can hardly
taste the tea at all.”

Sonnie laughed and took a large gulp
of her own.

“I think you should call it Sonnie
Tea.”

This time, Sonnie only smiled. She lay
back on the opposite side of the couch. She lifted a petite foot up
to his cheek, revealing what was underneath that nightshirt. Jacob
could only stare and feel himself burn down low. Sonnie threw her
head back and giggled.

“Well, Sonnie. I do believe you’re
just a bit drunk already.”

She giggled again and slowly lowered
her foot into his crotch. Then she began caressing him. “Oh no. Not
me. Never.”

Jacob shook his head.

“It must be hard to tend bar and drink
at the same time.”

“Didn’t have to. Closed the bar
early.”

“Is that legal?”

Sonnie popped up and was on his lap.
She took his chin in her hand. “I am the bar queen. I can do
anything.”

“Oh really?”

She nodded slowly and heavily,
mimicking his usual seriousness. Then she wrapped her arms around
his neck and pulled herself into him. Her breasts rubbed against
his chest, and she began to slide her midsection firmly against
him.

Jacob nudged her and she slipped to
his side. While kissing her, he took the lower rim of her shirt in
his hand and thought about what he wanted to do. After pulling the
shirt over her trim dark hairs, he started down on her. He kissed
the top of her goosebumped thighs. She moaned sweetly. He suddenly
felt guilty. He stopped and covered her with the shirt.

“Sonnie?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t think we should.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re drunk.”

“So?”

“So, not the first time back,
okay.”

There was a pause. Then she began to
caress his face. “You know I made up my mind before I got drunk,
don’t you?”

“That’s not why.”

“Then why?”

Jacob looked for the answer and found
that he was more confused than he originally thought he
was.

“Jacob. I’m sorry. I’m pushing you.
You don’t have to explain.”

He kissed her.

“You’re so funny, Jacob.”

She kissed him on the neck. “Will you
still stay the night?”

“I don’t think I could make myself
leave.”

Sonnie laughed gently. “You know what,
Jacob?”

“Hm.”

“Dad’s giving me the bar.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. He’s going to retire this year
and give it to me. And I get this place too.”

“Sonnie, that’s great. I mean, isn’t
it?”

She looked at him with tired eyes. “I
guess. But I think I’ll change the name.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. I think I’ll call it Sonnie’s
Place,” she said with just a hint of sarcasm. She laughed with
exasperation and then rested her head on his shoulder.

Jacob pretended not to know what she
meant. He closed his eyes and waited. After about ten minutes, he
was satisfied that she was asleep. He carried her to bed. He lay
down beside her.

#

There is only the sweet scent of the
woman in his arms and the strange illogic that comes with half
sleep. The scent fades away and Jacob awakes completely. He cannot
feel her, but he can see that she is resting on his chest. He
slides through her. He looks back at the bed and sees that his body
is still with her. With the form that is left, Jacob moves forward
in the odorless room.

Air is coming in through the open
front door. Jacob walks, scantily dressed, into the stair corridor.
The air is much stronger here. It's cold, but it does not chill
him. He's invigorated.

Outside is the futuristic downtown
Nescata. Jacob spots the sign still posted on the front door of the
post office. He crosses the street, hearing the sounds the corpses
of dead creatures make as his feet move over them. The death that
is everywhere is mostly insects and other small creatures. There
are a few dogs and cats and what seems like hundreds of birds. The
animals are mostly in the late stages of the decaying
process.

From the post office steps, Jacob
spots the first human corpse. It’s off in the distance, inclined in
the driver’s seat of a car that had pulled up on the library steps.
He spots a second, half buried under the corpse of a large dog, on
the post office lawn. He realizes that he had walked within a few
feet of it only moments earlier.

He shakes his head in an attempt to
rid himself of these images. He turns and reads the
sign.

This and all other
Government institutions are temporarily closed. Your local
authorities wish to remind you to stay inside of your home until
further notice. Any person who approaches a law enforcement
official or sanitation worker WILL BE EXECUTED. Thank you for your
cooperation.

Jacob thinks of the article written by
the nurse. He tries to remember what the doctor said? Something
about a flu that could not have serious repercussions if it was
detected early.

Suddenly, the wind whistles and the
door across the street flaps. He thinks that, maybe if he walks
back through that door, he will end up back inside Sonnie’s
apartment. He takes off slowly at first. Then it all begins to get
to him. He’s alone and afraid. He sees another human corpse under a
car. It is small and covered with what looks like the remains of a
Sunday dress. Its bare skull almost seems to stare at
him.

Again, he hears and feels the dead
creatures break beneath his feet. But he hears something else as
well. He thinks it may be the wind. But he also thinks it could be
the sound of a distant engine. Whatever it is, it’s moving
closer.

Jacob works his way up to a dead
sprint. He climbs the steps and flies through the door. For an
instant, the inside of Sonnie’s living room is there. Then the door
shuts behind him and there is nothing but black.

#

Black everywhere. But there is noise.
It’s barely audible, but it’s there. It sounds like a voice. Jacob
cannot make out what the voice is saying, but he can hear it from
time to time, and in between the times he hears the voice, there is
a low humming sound.

Jacob
slowly drops down to his hands and knees so he can have more
balance and peace of mind. The surface is smooth but curved, hard
and cold. Once again, there is no odor. He moves forward slowly, in
the direction from which he thinks the humming sound emanates. He
clears about ten feet before he touches something. He leans back,
startled by the contact. For about half a minute he waits and then
slowly pushes his right hand forward again. What’s in front of him
is soft and fibrous.
Fur
. He presses down harder and feels
what he is sure is the stiff outer surface of a dead animal. He
rubs his hand to the left, moving his body with it about five feet
over until he can feel the contours of its head.

A bear. Too big to be
anything else.

He keeps to his left until he’s around
it. After about thirty feet, he feels something again, but this is
hard, like the floor. A wall. There is no way to know for sure, but
he thinks that, since he has already moved to the left several
feet, the odds are better that he will find the end of the wall
faster if he continues moving left.

The air is cold and it does affect him
now. When he had left Sonnie’s, he only had boxers on. It’s his
shoes he misses the most.

Jacob makes his way further to the
left, along the wall. It curves out after about twenty-five feet.
He moves with the wall, back a little ways, and then he feels it
start to curve back the other way again. After moving a few feet
back toward the noise, he feels the ground turn into nothing. Lying
flat on his stomach, Jacob leans over the edge until there is
nothing underneath him from his belly button on up. Reaching out
with his hand, he tries to see if he can feel what is on the other
side of the gap. Nothing.

Sitting back up on his rump, Jacob
notices the numbness setting in. “I can’t kill anybody for you if I
freeze to death!” he yells.

“I can’t kill anybody for you if I
freeze to death!” the cave echoes back and fades off. “I can’t kill
any . . .”

“
Fuck you!”

“Fuck you!”

“Fuck you!”

“Fuck . . .”

After a few moments’ rest, he begins
to feel his way back to the right. After a while, the wall curves
in the direction from which Jacob thinks the sounds are coming. It
continues to slope until it levels off directly in the direction of
the sound.

Jacob keeps moving, straightforward
now. It is about fifty steps before he comes to yet another wall.
This one slopes inward, though. Jacob follows it until it
straightens out again. Just as the path straightens out, Jacob
brushes another creature with his right hand. This one is much
smaller than the first. And it has a bushy tail.

“Rreeeeee. “Rrrreee.”

Jacob jumps back and lands hard on his
rump.

“Rreeeeee.” This time it isn’t as
loud. And the creature is not moving away. “Rreeee.”

It’s sick.

Jacob stands up. He hates the sickened
sound. He wants it to stop. He decides to kill the creature the
rest of the way.

“Rreee.”

Jacob kicks it, low and forward, like
a field goal kicker trying to hit a fifty-yarder.

It comes back.

He feels it brush against his body.
Flailing backwards, he knocks it away. Then he shakes with disgust.
He walks forward about eight feet until feels the wall that sent
the rodent back toward him.

“Damn,” he whispers. This one does not
curve in. “I’m in a fucking maze.”

He moves to his right, along the new
wall. “It has to give. The noise is closer now.” He fears that he
could be wrong, though. And he wonders how much more he can
take.