Either way, he would find out very soon. It was here in town and so were they.
Chapter 52
Putting water between himself and Gossamer Falls was perhaps the greatest feeling in Eugene Allgood’s life. Of course he was regretful that his town had fallen to chaos and death, but he could hardly be blamed for that could he? No one in the world could have predicted the insanity that had arisen from nothing over the last week.
Casting his eyes away from town, Allgood surveyed the expanse of water and began thinking about plotting a course somewhere. Gossamer Falls had been good to him, but it was time to look to the future now. As he thought about this, he aimed the boat to the north-west to a tiny little harbour he knew of from where he’d be able to get north to a decent-sized town while the dust settles over Gossamer Falls. Once the course was set, Allgood lay down on the side bench for some much needed rest after his exertions this morning.
The sky above looked so tranquil, but the view was spoiled by the noises of gunshots and screaming drifting still from town. Car horns were causing a lot of a ruckus too and he guessed the roads were jamming up with idiots trying to escape. He felt pleased at his own foresight and being able to get to safety. Of course he’d explain it away in some heroic fashion later on. He couldn’t have just left on a boat alone now; that wouldn’t be very heroic. He’d have to come up with some story, something good. It might even involve leaving his boat on the lake and swimming to shore, but there was plenty of time to think on it.
Allgood’s own money was not in the small Gossamer Falls bank. Instead it was spread about the State in different bank accounts under slightly different names depending on where the kickbacks and ‘donations’ had come from. Financially he would be fine, but if his story didn’t hold up or if Garrick kicked up a fuss once the chaos was over, Allgood’s name could be muck in this area. Perhaps the best thing he could do would be to take all his money and go out west somewhere, find a small town in California or New Mexico and establish himself in business for a year before running for office there. He was sure he could be mayor of somewhere again, and since it was extremely unlikely anything like the clouds would ever happen anywhere ever again, that town mayorship would be the kick-starter of his political career that might see him as a State Senator someday.
Perhaps leaving this lousy town would turn out to be the kick in the pants he needed all along.
Sitting up once more, he checked his bearings and then looked back at the rapidly shrinking town. He couldn’t see any people anymore, or anything moving. His eyes followed the landscape to the west, the road sloping up the hills and disappearing into the canopy of trees. Then the Clear View hotel came into view, small and abandoned looking.
Then all the horn honking stopped and simultaneously - or at least very close to it - large numbers of people started screaming in horror and pain from the roads outside either side of town. Allgood felt sick at the sound and he covered his ears. It was the most pitiful sound he’d ever heard, and he knew at once he’d never forget it no matter how long he lived. He shut his eyes as though that might somehow block out more of the sound, and he willed the tiredness to flood over him and take him off to sleep, if only for five minutes until this terrible din abated. He lay back down on the bench and curled up, feeling the tears wanting to force his eyes open again.
For what must have been five full minutes, Allgood cowered down like a baby against the world. Without taking his hands from his ears, he listened a little and was glad to find the mass screaming had ceased, replaced by the intermittent ones of before. Those he could cope with. He stood up and looked at the town, much slower now after another five minutes of drifting away, and he swore at this moment he would never set foot back there no matter what happened later on.
At that moment, a new sound reached his ears and for a moment he thought it was the creaking hull of his own boat, but as he turned around he saw with horror that another sailboat was coming right at him, the long arrow tip of its bow aimed at him like a spear.
There was no time to stop the collision, but Allgood jumped to one side to stop himself being impaled by the long nose of the boat just as the hulls met in a terrific crash.
The other boat had been moving at speed, and it crushed through Allgood’s hull on the starboard side and there was a thunder of splintering boards and bending steel. Glass shattered and sprinkled all around, and Allgood was rolled about as the two beasts rocked against each other in the now choppy water.
After a short time, the boats seemed to have settled into a single unit and were bobbing on the water, though clearly also taking the liquid on as well. Allgood staggered to his feet. His head was hurting and he put his hand to it; it came away slick with blood. This angered him as much as the crash had, and he looked to the other boat to see who had been guiding it.
From where he was, he could see no one at the helm of the other boat and he didn't hear the sound of anyone talking or groaning in pain. Was it possible this boat had been cast off in the panic of people leaving town and he’d just been unlucky enough to be struck by it when he wasn't watching the lake around him?
One second later, he knew this was the most optimistic scenario he could have imagined.
The reality was very different.
It started as a low scratching noise that first Allgood felt could be someone clawing at a board or plank that shattered on them, but then as the noise grew louder and seemed to multiply, he knew the worst had happened.
As a scream of terror filled his throat, hundreds of the tiny white spiders flooded from the other boat onto his. He backed away, stamping at the first incomers and killing them with a tiny tinkle underfoot.
But there were too many, and try as he might, like everyone who had tried, Mayor Allgood was only able to kill one spider for every ten that managed to reach him. Within seconds they were swarming up his body, and he could feel their horrible sharp legs gripping into his skin at his neck and face as he still tried to crush and kill them all, flailing about in the hope that some of them would lose their grip on him.
None did.
It turned out that Eugene Allgood was never destined to be a US Senator after all.
Chapter 53
“Stop!” Tammy suddenly cried out. Garrick jammed on the brakes of the cruiser and scanned through all the windows and mirrors of the car looking for the danger that had alerted her so.
“What is it?” Lawrence asked, and Tammy pointed to a row of stores just over a small green.
“There are people in there,” Tammy said, “They look scared.” Garrick looked and saw the window she’d been looking at and at once knew what he was seeing.
Inside the room, in one corner, was a huddled group of seven or eight people - it was hard to tell from here - and on the other side of the room, disappearing from view now and then was a lone man pacing.
“He’s holding them hostage,” Garrick said, his heart tripping on the idea Jenny might be in there. They’d driven by here earlier and hadn’t noticed this, and it was within walking distance of his home. And on the way to the Sheriff’s Office. He narrowed his eyes to see better into the room, but it was too far to see the faces properly.
“What do we do?” Lawrence asked him.
“You two don’t do anything,” Garrick said, “Stay in the car and keep an eye out for any spiders, or any other crazies who might show up.” He was looking at the hostage situation the whole time he spoke. “If things go wrong, I want you two to just drive away at once, you got it?” Now, he did look at each of them straight in the eye. Of all things he wanted was this to be clearest of all. They were not to try help him if he was shot or captured. They nodded but didn’t answer him.
Garrick moved the car a little farther down the street. He didn’t think the hostage taker would give a rat’s ass about it if he saw it, but he had to be sure he wasn’t going to cause unnecessary hardships for himself.
“Wait here,” he said as a final warning before getting out of the
car and making his way back to the store.
Garrick had never been involved in a hostage situation before, and had very little training for it either. He knew, though, that one of the hardest things to do in a case like this one was to get an accurate picture of what was going on inside. It wasn’t just the hostage taker he had to avoid being seen by, but also the hostages. If they saw him, they could cry out or even just indicate unwittingly with their eyes to the hostage taker and bullets could be flying before Garrick would even know what was going on.
He stood with his back to the wall of the store next to the one everyone was in. Taking in some deep breaths, he calmed himself, or tried to at least. He could both feel and hear his own heart pounding around his sternum.
As scared as he was about what he was going to have to do, Garrick was more scared that it would turn out Jenny wasn’t in there at all. If she wasn’t, all was lost.
Cradling his weapon, Garrick dropped down low and peered slowly past the brickwork at the entrance and saw the door to the store. As he’d hoped, the wooden bar between the top and bottom panes of door glass prevented those held hostage from seeing him, but it had the same effect for him. He could see their bodies up to about chest height but none of their faces. He leaned back out of view, and a tear of joy ran down one cheek. Though he hadn’t been able to see her face, he was sure Jenny was in there. She’d been near the middle with her arm over a child’s shoulder and her other hand gripping that of an elderly woman. That was his Jenny, caring for others even while being held at gunpoint.
Garrick checked his gun one last time. He wasn’t sure who the hostage taker was, but they were pacing a very steady circuit. They had to be affected by the spiders; that could be the only explanation. As unfortunate as it was, he didn’t see any other way of sorting this out without shooting right into the room to take the man down. The hostages would see this, but he supposed they’d seen plenty of other things today they wouldn't soon forget
Crouching, Garrick took another look, longer this time to get the rhythm of the man’s movements. It was then that Garrick knew he had to act at once; the pacing was getting faster, more agitated, and soon the lid would come off and God only knew what he’d do to those people in there.
When the man came close to the door this time, Garrick stepped out into his view. There was a momentary look of shock in the man’s eyes (It was Alvin Barber, the local butcher whose store was a few down from this one) before he inexpertly raised his gun. Garrick shot him twice through the chest before Barber’s gun was even half raised, and the colossal man stumbled backwards and fell to the ground on his back as those inside screamed in fright.
“Alan!” Jenny called out as she ran to him.
“Everyone out, get out of town any way you can. Head for Emerson and tell the police there what’s going here!” Garrick was shouting at the people as they rushed around and past him to their freedom - if running around a town infested with killer spiders and crazy people looking to kill could be called freedom.
Jenny got to him and Garrick took her in one arm and kissed her, his other hand with the gun still trained on Barber in case he wasn’t dead yet.
“We need to go,” Garrick said to her almost in tears at the relief of finding her. It wasn’t an announcement he planned to make, but as of this moment with her safe by his side he was no longer planning to carry out any policing duties. His sole responsibility was getting Jenny away from Gossamer Falls for good. Jenny nodded, happy to be led anywhere right now. “The car’s over here,” Garrick said as they left the building.
He glanced back into the store one last time and saw the white spiders oozing out of the orifices of Barbers head. At least he wouldn’t be suffering any more.
Chapter 54
Tammy was watching Garrick intently as he made his way over to the building to save the hostages. It didn’t feel right for them to be just sitting here doing nothing, but she didn’t know what they could do. Lawrence was in the driver's seat and he looked jittery and nervous - hardly surprising considering the twenty-four hours he’s had. Still, he seemed more agitated than he’d been since coming out of the fever. Was there something he was not telling her?
“Is everything alright?” she asked him. He looked at her and her heart sank at once with the truth evident in his eyes. She didn't know what he was going to say, but it already made her feel sick, her stomach dropping horribly. “What is it?” she rushed out.
“I don’t know,” he replied, giving her some pause for hope. “I have this nagging feeling that I need to go back up to Mercy to end this thing. I feel like I’m forgetting something that happened up there, but it’s such an intense feeling, I can't ignore it if I think I can sort this.”
These were not words Tammy wanted to hear, but as she looked at him and saw his anguish she could feel his pain. He believed what he was saying; he thought he could end everything. But could he do that without getting killed or marauded by spiders?
“We’d be killed trying to go up there,” she said flatly, hoping that by insinuating herself into his plan he would have to give it a serious second thought.
“I couldn’t take you with me,” he replied, peering into her eyes. “The only reason I’d be going at all would be to ensure you’re safe.”
“And I don’t get a say in it at all?” she snapped, looking away from him. Then she felt his hands on her own and she looked down at them as the feelings between them stirred.
“None of us gets any say in any of this,” he answered. Tammy looked up at his face again and saw tears in his eyes. Putting a hand to his cheek, she said,
“We’re going to get through this.” He nodded and then looked outside the car. She did the same, understanding they had let their guard down a moment and it had been a very stupid thing to do. “You see anything?” she asked, looking around and thankfully seeing no spiders approaching them.
“Nothing,” Lawrence, “Looks like the Sheriff is about to make his move, though.” Tammy followed his gaze.
Shots rang out and people began to flee the store in all directions. They could see Garrick and his wife embracing through the doorway and they were happy with this outcome.
“I’ve loved you for years,” Lawrence suddenly said to Tammy and she was taken completely by surprise. She’d kind of always felt he was a little attracted to her, but a lot of guys did and mostly they were just interested in trying to get into her pants.
As the surprise faded quickly, Tammy Dern found that the words coming very naturally to her lips in response were,
“I love you too, Lawrence,” and it was true. She didn’t know when it had happened, but she knew how she felt.
Lawrence was sitting sideways in the driver's seat to look back on her and she leaned forward and kissed him in the gap between the front seats. It was the most tender moment of her life, but it had the terrible heartstrings of knowing it was fleeting. Danger and death were all around them, and she could feel him being drawn away from her. He wasn’t going to be able to stop himself from trying to save her.
In a perverse way, this made her feel light and happy despite the chaos and dread. No one had ever made her feel like this before; no one had felt about her like this before and it was hugely flattering. That a good man was willing to lay down his life to make sure she was safe was about as big a compliment as you could get. But it was a compliment she was not willing to take.
“They’re coming back,” Lawrence said and then added, “I’ll get in the back with you and let them in the front.” Tammy nodded as the car door swung open and Lawrence stepped outside.
“Come on,” he urged Garrick and his wife, who were coming across the green.
Tammy looked at the couple and the joy in both their faces on finding each other was evident. It was a happy ending - or middle at least - the ending hadn’t come yet. They were just about at the car when Lawrence stepped to the window where Tammy looked out. He leaned in and kissed her quickly and said,
“I’m
going to stop this and I’ll find you in Emerson. Just make sure you get there!” and he turned and ran.
“Lawrence!” she said as she tried to grab hold of his shirt, “No!” Her hands went for the door handles but didn’t find them. He was getting away, and her hands ran back and forth over the door in confusion until she looked down and saw that there were no door handles on the inside - she was in a police car. Lawrence had known she wouldn’t be able to come after him until she was let out from the outside, she thought, but he’s forgotten the window was broken. She plunged her hand through the open hole and lifted the door handle. Just as she started to push out, though, the door slammed shut against her.
“Stay in there,” Garrick said, pushing his body against the door as he opened the driver's seat door.
“Lawrence is going to get himself killed!” Tammy wailed, barely cognizant of Jenny Garrick getting into the passenger side of the car.
“We’ll get him,” Garrick said, putting the car in gear and starting off. “Where does he think he’s going anyway?”
“Back up to Mercy; he’s convinced there’s something up there that can stop all this.”
“Did he say what?” Garrick was driving steadily, and Tammy saw they were gaining on the still running Lawrence. He must have known they were coming after him, though, for at that moment he made a sharp turn and ran down between two houses and into the back yards where they lost sight of him. Garrick kept on driving and turned right at the next junction, but there was no sign of him. He stopped the car and they looked along the row of back yards in the hope of seeing him jumping a fence, but it was quiet all the way down.
“We lost him,” Tammy said as the heavy tears started to fall.
“Not yet, we didn’t,” Garrick said, putting the car into reverse. “You said he’s going back to Mercy, didn’t you?” Tammy nodded, “Well, there’s only one road that will get him up there!” They sped off in the hope of heading Lawrence off before it was too late.
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