Brindle's Odyssey

by Nicholas Antinozzi

I awoke to a black sky with only a sliver of the moon lighting the darkness. I quickly got to my feet and gathered myself. I shook my head, wondering how I had been able to fall asleep with everything going on. I stood there for a long time in the silence. Not even a cricket stirred on this black night and there wasn’t so much as a puff of wind. I had absolutely no idea where to go, nor did I have any idea of what to do. I felt naked and defenseless in the pale and brooding moonlight.

  “This way,” whispered a familiar voice. It was Abe Steinman, I was sure of it. Yet, I could not see him anywhere. “Come on,” he beckoned. “Follow the sound of my voice…”

  I began to do as he asked, not getting it right for the first few steps. “Where are you?” I asked. “Why don’t you walk with me?”

  “Sorry, kid, can’t do that. A little to your right, there, now just keep moving forward. We have a long way to go and we don’t have time for small-talk.”

  I felt my strength returning and my eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. I began to jog in order to keep up with the mysterious voice without a source. “To your right,” it commanded. “A little to your left, that’s it. Come on, Huckleberry, you’ve got to hurry!” I was soon running across the open prairie. I continued running even as we entered the woods and it became as black as sackcloth. Somehow, the voice guided me cleanly through the ancient forest and I didn’t even brush a stray limb. Abe’s crackling voice continued to guide me and I followed it without ever once feeling tired. It seemed as if I had become part machine.

  I have no idea how long I ran, but it was certainly hours. Gray light slowly crept over the darkness and I could see the tall pines standing in the shadows. I continued following Abe’s voice and he began to say that we hadn’t much further to go. I slowed my pace to a jog as we came upon the last in the long line of abandoned vehicles. I knew exactly where I was.

  “You have to finish what you started,” whispered Abe’s voice. And then it was no more.

  I walked along the ghostly shapes of the cars, minivans, and trucks, and tried to steel myself against what lay ahead. The line seemed endless, had more arrived since I’d last visited this place? It sure seemed like it. More light fell from the sky and fog swirled inside the woods. At one point I needed to drag my hand across the side of a few cars to keep my bearings straight. I continued walking as the fog grew thick before me. I suddenly walked out onto the short grass of the lawn and nearly tumbled right into my Buster.

  “It’s about damn time,” grunted Buster. “He and I were just about to give up on you. Where the hell have you been?”

  “Stop that,” called the high-pitched voice of my Swinger. “You be nice to Huck, don’t forget everything he’s done for you. How are you, Huckleberry? Are you ready to get this show on the road?”

  I couldn’t yet see the Swinger, but I nodded my head. I indeed was ready and I didn’t plan on making the same mistake twice. This house was going down. Dawn had yet to arrive and the fog that had rolled in off of the lake was thicker in the open. After a brief search, I found the Swinger where I had left it and I climbed up into the cab. I was going to need a little more time to be able to see my target and I prayed that it would pass quickly.

  I should have never waited.

  When dawn finally broke the fog began to swirl about the cab like smoke going up a chimney. The inside of the cab grew cold and the windows began to steam up. Overhead, the sky was turning purple and dark shades of orange, and then, even the top window fogged over. I opened the door to the cab and hoped that the fresh air would help clear the windows. The mysterious mist crept inside with me and it seemed as if it were replacing the air. Soon, I could barely see my own hands before my face. This was no natural phenomena, this was Soliah’s doing, I was sure of it. The temperature dropped even further and ice began to form on the controls.

  And from somewhere much too close for comfort, I heard the all-too familiar sound of Soliah’s laughter. It began as a low chuckle and built in intensity. Soon, the sound of his maniacal laughter began to echo inside the cab. I covered my ears and tumbled out the door onto the track. The sound was threatening to burst my eardrums. I took a step and slipped on the ice-covered track. I found myself lying on the frozen earth staring up into the gray shroud of emptiness. The laughter slowly began to diminish and then it stopped, altogether.

  “Welcome home, Huckleberry,” greeted Soliah, sounding as if he were right on top of me.

  I scrambled to my feet, but I was as blind as a bat inside the fog. I rubbed my bare arms and tried to warm myself, the temperature seemed to have fallen well below zero in only a few minute’s time. I knew that I didn’t have much time and that soon I’d be frozen like a TV dinner.

  “Aren’t you going to say hello to your old grand-pappy?”

  “What have you done with my wife?” I asked angrily, feeling the steam rush out with each word.

  “Your wife?” Soliah replied, the sarcasm clear in his voice. “My dear boy, as long as you continue on with this foolishness, that woman will continue to be my property. Why don’t you just give up? Surely, you have to know that you can’t possibly win. Be sensible, why don’t you just come over here and give me those earrings? You can have your precious Man Killer back and I can finally get out of your hair. What could be wrong with that?”

  The cold had crept into my bones and I was shivering uncontrollably. “I’ll never give them to you, you son-of-a-bitch! You’ll have to kill me first!”

  There was a long silence before Soliah finally spoke. “I was afraid you were going to say that,” he said in a voice that sounded nearly sad. “All right, have it your way.”

  For some reason I took hold of my earrings and held them, protectively. Relief flooded over me as my field of vision began to increase. I could make out the dark shape of the Swinger and could see the icy fog creeping away. I held them tighter and a ray of warm sunlight fell on my head. The air seemed to warm seventy degrees in the blink of an eye.

  “Very good,” said Soliah, who was still hidden somewhere in the mist. “I really didn’t want you to miss any of this. Here, let me help you with that…”

  I heard something that sounded like the snapping of fingers. The fog began to swirl around in a tight circle and then it was suddenly gone. Soliah stood ten feet away. He wore a wicked smile on his bearded face. He stood there with his muscular arms crossed under his Charles Atlas chest, his tomato-skin nearly glowing in the early morning light. The fur that covered his lower body looked old and mottled, like the fur of a long-dead black bear. His long red tail swung back and forth behind him. The sight of him made my knees weak.

  “What’s the matter?” Soliah asked, trotting a few steps closer on his cloven hoofs. “I’ll bet I know. You’re wondering what I plan to do with you, aren’t you? That’s a fair question, my boy, a fair question, indeed!”

  I began to back away, still holding the ends of my earrings. I had never felt such fear. Had it all come to this? I backed straight into the tracks of the Swinger and I could move no more.

  “Do you like bugs, Huckleberry? I only ask because I’m thinking you don’t. That’s too bad, bugs are quite remarkable creatures. Oh, yes they are. They are nature’s way of disposing of useless matter. Things like you, my boy.”

  I watched as he hopped a few feet closer. He now stood only five feet away and my back was against the Swinger. The smile on his candy-apple face was a terrible thing to see. The horns at the sides of his head began to slowly corkscrew. “I’ll give them to you,” I whispered. I had always hated bugs. Soliah had to have known that. My heart was pounding inside my chest as he took another leap in my direction. There was no pity on his face.

  “Too late for that, my boy, I gave you every chance in the world and you’ve done nothing but disappoint me. No, it’s time to take the bull by the horns, if you can excuse the pun. I just wanted to be sure that the last face you see on this earth is mine. I promise you, this will be extremely painful…”

  The ground at my fe
et began to move and I fell to my knees, banging my head hard on the steel track of the Swinger. I felt dizzy and disorientated, and I began to crawl around like a punch-drunk boxer on my hands and knees. Tiny things were crawling all over my body and I frantically tried brushing them off. When my vision had cleared I could see that I was covered in leeches, beetles, and fat, grimy night crawlers. I screamed.

  “Farewell, Huckleberry, I can’t say that it hasn’t been fun. I’ll be waiting for you on the other side.”

  I looked up, but Soliah was already gone. I clawed at my skin, but the worms and the leeches clung to me like a second skin. I could feel a billion tiny teeth sinking into me and the pain was unbearable. I rolled on the ground, my head still ringing from the rap it had taken when I fell. I could feel things crawling into my nose and ears and I clamped my mouth shut. A leech tried attaching itself to one of my eyes and I took a swipe at it. I could feel it clamp onto my eyelid and I let out a terrified moan. I thrashed around and could feel the weight of a million more of the squirming things wiggling their way on top of me. They were hungry and I could feel the blood being drained from my body. I continued to roll and I felt something heavy hit the ground. I squinted my eyes open to a slit and found myself staring at the wrecking ball. It had missed me by barely an inch.

  I rolled over again, clawing at my face. My mouth was covered in yuk and slime and I wanted to puke my guts out, but I knew that if I opened my mouth that a thousand slithering creatures would crawl inside. The ground shook again and I heard a loud plop. The wrecking ball from the swinger had dropped again.

  “Get up, Huck!”

  I stumbled to my feet and continued to claw at my face. I felt like the insects had covered me in a thick cocoon and I fought to free myself from their grip. I dug my fingernails across my face and was finally able to open my eyes. Buster was speeding directly towards me, blade down, tearing up six inches of lawn and slaughtering the crawly things as they poured from the ground.

  “Use the earrings!” cried Swinger. “Hurry up, Huck, it’s the only way!”

  I grabbed the ends of the earrings and I prayed for help. For a long moment, nothing seemed to happen and I wondered if I had waited too long. I closed my eyes and continued to stumble around as I grew weaker by the second. Exhausted, and perhaps on the brink of death, I fell to my knees and slowly pitched forward into the blackness.

  How long I lay there was anyone’s guess. When I came to, I found myself staring up at the hot sun. My skin seemed as if it was on fire and I held my hand up to block out the glare. That was a mistake, for I could see that my skin was covered with something that looked like a frightening case of acne. I felt the skin of my face, testing it with my fingertips. Thousands of angry bumps covered my cheeks and forehead. The bugs were gone, but they had left me an oozing mass of pus and infection. I scrambled to my feet; the blood left inside of me was already beginning to boil. I stumbled over to the Swinger and crawled inside the cab.

  “Let’s do it,” I said, grabbing the controls tightly.

  “I thought you’d never ask,” cooed Swinger.

  Chapter Thirty