by D. R. Mather
“No chance for witnesses, huh?”
“That’s the idea hun. Ready?”
“Ready boss, toss away.”
Kevin threw the two pieces of scum into the street. This was the first time that Alex and April could see what was going on. It never occurred to them that if they became invisible as well, they would have seen both Kevin and Beth.
The bodies hit the pavement and were half fried as they landed. Beth did a twisting thing with her wrists and in a few seconds, all that remained were two piles of very light ash.
“There ya go boss, two chicken fried pieces of shit to go!”
Judy walked out and over to them, “I got her calmed down, but she might need something extra big boy.”
“On it sweets.” Kevin ran back into the house. He got into the bedroom and found that Judy had even managed to get Mrs. Olsen dressed. Kevin went to her and hugged her as she stood crying,
“There, there, nothing to cry about, you’ve lost your ring before. Did you check over at the kitchen sink?”
She looked back at Kevin, “Oh, the sink, no I didn’t, I…I…”she looked down at her hands, “Oh look, boy am I stupid, it’s right here on my finger. I swear, I must be getting old or something.” She walked out of the room and never questioned who Kevin was, why he was in her house, or her bedroom.
Kevin walked across and got in the truck, “Time to move out, pilgrims.”
Judy was in her seat already, “Hun, you know I love you with all of my heart, right?”
“Yes baby, I do.”
“Then please try to understand that I say this because I have to protect you from embarrassment. Please, please no more John Wayne impersonations; you’re really, really bad at them.”
Kevin looked at her and then the others; they were all nodding their heads.
“Well, that sucks.”
Everyone burst out laughing. As Kevin began to drive away he had to wait for a car to pass. The car blew the dust pile into nothingness. They headed for home.
When they arrived back home, it occurred to Kevin that he hadn’t been paying much attention to the work being done, so he and Judy took a slow tour. The elevator was finished, which they all knew would make Cindy very excited when she was out of hospital. As they made their way into the kitchen, Kevin noticed the back of the elevator wall was open again, so he walked over and looked in.
“The guys are using the back of the elevator as a raceway.”
Judy looked at him funny, “What’s a raceway?”
“They use the cavity around the elevator to run wiring and venting. If they do plumbing, they can’t do wires and vice versa. Hazard, ya know my dear.”
“Kevin, was that an impersonation of Clark Gable?”
“What, you didn’t like it either?”
“Well, to be honest, your John Wayne was better.”
“There has to be a voice I can do well.”
“Try Woody Woodpecker, that should do it.”
As Kevin spun to look at her, Judy was already on the run and laughing her ass off.
Kevin walked off to follow her, murmuring something about, “Woody Woodpecker, I’ll give her Woody Woodpecker…..”
Judy was looking around the kitchen when Kevin found her. He walked up and wrapped himself around her from behind, “What do you think, impressive or what?” he asked.
“It’s going to be beautiful, but what are those three things?” Judy pointed over to the corner. What stood there now were three side-by-side set of walls. Fairly big, each about ten feet squared.
“Those, my dear, are on their way to becoming a walk-in refrigerator, a walk-in freezer and a walk-in dry storage.”
“Oh freaking neat honey, how did you know so much about all of this?”
“Well, I was a builder once, remember? And with some modern help from Cindy, we both decided what this place was going to need.”
“What do you mean, what its ‘going to need’?”
Kevin kissed her neck, “That, my dear, is mine and Cindy’s little secret.” He moved over to the walls, leaving her alone in the center.
“I see, so now you and Cindy have secrets?”
Kevin turned only his head to her, “Aha.” He turned back around to the wall.
“So that’s how you’re leaving it?”
“Aha.” He didn’t even turn around this time.
“Well, I never!”
“Yes you have sweetheart. I was there, remember?” He turned and winked at her.
“Asshole,” she smiled and went over to stand beside him.
“It’s waiting for the stainless steel upper storage assembly to come now, it couldn’t be ordered until we knew what we had first. From what I can see, everything looks wired in, plumbed in, and the plaster is on; a few coats of paint and it’s ready for everything.”
The nuggets in the ballroom beam were staying. In fact, Kevin wanted to go to a craft shop and devise a magnifying set up so that they could be seen from the floor. It was a tale worthy of telling over and over again. And now Kevin had another room to set up as well – the secret room could be another bedroom. Judy had wandered off with Beth, Alex and April, more than likely they were practicing in the basement. Kevin worked out a schedule on the way home from Cindy. They should practice at least an hour a day; Alex would need to have one of them because he needed an opposite action to even work with his skill. Beth and April agreed to switch off with him, that way they got their hour each, as well as Alex.
Then there was Judy. Now how the hell did you practice that? Did Kevin have to start shooting everyone????
No, Judy was kind of on her own with her skills.
***
By 2 p.m. the next day, there was, as one builder put it, one ‘big shit load’ of lumber sitting just in front of the entrance to the Inn. A crane was lifting lumber up to the super large hole that was now in the roof of the Inn. Men were guiding the lumber into the hole. After an hour, the crane was gone and so was the lumber and supplies. Kevin came out and looked up to the roof. There was about twelve guys all building in large holes in the roof. Kevin saw that the shed dormers were going to be completed that day. Well, short of the roofing materials. They’d poly cover it to protect the unfinished roof for the night. By Kevin’s calculations, the dormers would be on the back roof by tomorrow evening. Kevin went back in and Steve was there in the main entrance.
“Kevin, question, when are we going to move this dining room table?”
“As soon as I can get the boat guy here with the shrink wrap system. I’m figuring the beginning of next week.”
“Good, good, because we have to get into this room soon or it’s going to screw me up.”
“I’ll tell you what Steve, I’ll give you the next two days in the basement to get the storage room finished, and then it can go as soon as the boat guy gets here.”
“Good, good, did you get any tables in yet?”
“Yip, all of them, they’re sitting in boxes in the ballroom.”
“That damn ballroom has saved our asses, you know that Kevin?”
“Boy, do I.” Steve had no idea just how much the ballroom saved the entire Inn; one only needed to look up at one of the beams and squint to see it.
***
Everyone was gathered around Cindy in the hospital room. She looked glum; she was worried because they wanted to keep her until it was time to have the children.
“This will take all the money we have, we don’t have health insurance. I guess I can kiss college off for now.”
Kevin leaned into her and kissed her forehead, “Not on you frigging life kid.” He backed up and left the room.
He came back an hour later. It seemed the girls, without his knowledge, had decided to give Cindy a baby shower right there in the hospital. Cindy was in a private room so they only had to promise, ‘no loud noises’.
“How the hell did this all happen in an hour?”
Everyone looked at Kevin, who was standing in the door to Cindy’s room
.
Judy said, “You aren’t the only one with a car you know? Didn’t you notice all of us girls were missing yesterday?”
Kevin smiled. He’d been so busy with the renovations, that he hadn’t noticed a thing. “Sneaks!” he said. He sat in a folding chair that someone had brought into the room. There were enough chairs for everyone.
“When did these get here?”
“About twenty minutes ago,” said Beth; “Nice of them, huh?”
Kevin thought about twenty minutes ago. He was already done in the administrator’s office by then.
’I guess special money means special treatment,’ he thought to himself. He stood and faced Cindy and Roland, who were both in the hospital bed; they seemed to have opened all the gifts so now was a good time.
“Cindy, Roland, I just made a ‘sizable’ charitable donation to the hospital’s children’s wing. In fact it will be enough to cover your expenses here, until after you have the babies and come back home.”
Everyone stared at Kevin, dumbfounded. Then Cindy started to cry. Then Judy joined her. They were followed by April, Beth, Alex and Roland. Kevin just stood there with a very satisfied grin on his face.
***
Kevin sat on a chair in the living room. Judy and Beth were trying to figure out a way to make boxed meals using a microwave when the only cooking directions were for a stove, which they seem too short of around the mansion. As April sat reading her magazine, Kevin decided it was time to try it. He got up and walked over to April.
“I’m wondering if you could help me make a ‘phone call’ April?”
She put down the book, “Amm….sure, did you forget how to use a phone?”
“I wish I had sometimes. No, this will be a ‘special’ call, one you couldn’t use a regular phone for.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I kinda need you to help me find someone using your ‘built in phone’,” he touched a finger to her head.
“Ohhh……that kind of call. Sure… who, where and when?”
“Well now, that’s the tricky part; I think I know the ‘who’ and the ‘when’, but I don’t know the ‘where’. The ‘when’ would be now, the ‘who’ is Stan.”
“Stan? Why would I want to find him?”
“Because I believe he’s with Benny. In fact, I believe he may now be Benny’s number one pet.”
“Well Kevin, let’s give it the old college try then, shall we?” She turned to face Kevin; he took her hands into his and watched her close her eyes. After a bit of time, she saw something.
“Hum…I think I’ve found Stan. He’s talking to someone, a short guy, thin moustache. I see someone else with them. The guy’s a freaking monster, he’s got to be at least six and a half feet tall. He’s standing next to the little guy and he towers over him. They are talking to each other, Stan seems to be sitting and watching them.”
“Excellent April, can you tell me where they are?”
“Well, it looks like an old house, I can make Stan look around if you’d like?”
“You can do that?”
“Ummhum!” April said in a cheery voice.
“Then do that for me please.”
April started to turn her own head left, then right, “Well, it seems to be an old farm house. I can get Stan to look towards the window, and I can see a huge barn way off across a big yard.”
“April, we need to find a way, a way to figure out exactly where they’re located. Can you do that?”
“I’ll see if I can get Stan up and have him look at something that’s around the house.”
April got Stan up and he began to walk past Benny and their new friend.
“Where the hell are you going numb-nuts, we’re in the middle of a meeti…” Benny trailed off. He took one look at Stan and he knew.
April heard Benny ask, and then she was slammed by something, something black and horrible.
“Ummmaaaa….”
It was all she let out before she began to vibrate. Then it turned to violent shaking. Blood began running from both nostrils and she started to slide off the chair.
“SHIT!” Kevin wasn’t being quiet anymore. “APRIL!” He shook her by the shoulders now, “April, let Stan go, let him go now!” April was beginning to bleed out of her mouth and ears as well.
“JUDY, BETH, HERE, NOW!” They had already been on their way since they had first heard Kevin, now they were both running hard. Kevin had April on the floor; she was shaking violently and Kevin was trying to get her back.
“April, god damn it, let him go.” The shaking was slowing, and April’s body was beginning to relax, but her eyes were still closed. Kevin turned to the girls, “I think she let him go, but I’m not sure yet. Judy, help her.”
Judy got down beside April and took her arm, “Oh, oh my…she’s perforated.”
“She’s what?”
“Hun, she has tiny pin like holes in her lungs, her liver, her heart, you name it. It’s like she was being dissolved from the inside out.”
“Judy, can you fix her?”
“I’m trying.” Judy’s hand was almost translucent, so was April’s arm around where Judy had her. Judy cussed and grabbed April’s arm with her other hand as well. Both of Judy’s hands were blue with white streaks roaming around them. Kevin could see the bones in April’s arm. And just like that, Judy pushed back and plopped her butt on the floor.
“I think I got it all Kevin. What the hell happened?”
Kevin told them both. Beth ran out to get some paper towels and a wet cloth to clear April up. Once Beth had all the blood off of April, Kevin picked her up and put her on a sofa. It took the better part of an hour to get her awake again.
“April, do you remember what happened to you?”
“Yeah, and I don’t ever want it to happen to me again, thank you very much.”
“Can you tell me?” Kevin asked.
“I was walking Stan out of the room and I noticed Benny had seen Stan walking, then a blackness hit me. It was the most horrible thing I’ve ever felt, I felt like nothing living on this planet mattered to me, I should just burn it all to the ground. I felt hate, deep-rooted hate, for all of us. And then I felt pain, all over, as if someone was trying to rip me apart, to show….well, to show you, Kevin, not to screw with it.”
Beth and Judy looked from April to Kevin, and then back to April.
“I fought it the best I could,” April continued. “I tried to get away but I couldn’t, until I heard a voice.” She looked at Kevin, “Your voice. I turned and started going to your voice, whatever it was that was hurting me started screaming your name, not mine. It yelled out to leave me alone, it was finished with me, but then it was gone.”
“Well, now there’s no doubt that the evil knows we’re trying to get to it. It also knows we are trying to destroy it. We are all going to have to be more careful from this point on. If Benny and Stan are hiding out, then we have time still. I think he’s recruiting though.”
Beth looked into Kevin’s eyes, “Just like you, huh?”
“Beth, I told you, I never lied to you, you knew why I was here.”
“So how come it just happens that everyone you need is here, at this Inn? Were we just picked at random?”
“Actually Beth, you were picked because of who you are inside. Your coming here was being planned long before I ever knew about it. They knew who they were choosing. Why do you think that this place just happens to be the home of a former savior? No Beth, there is a reason you all ended up here; this is like battle ground central. You weren’t forced here, you were helped here, the same as Judy, April, Alex, Cindy and Roland. Will and Barb were chosen for this too. We are the ones, the ones entrusted with this task.”
Beth had tears in her eyes now, “Why? What the hell is so special about us? Who the hell are we?”
“I told you, it’s what’s inside of you, it’s what’s inside of all of us, something that the ‘beings’ believe in.” Kevin saw her face begin to change as maybe she
started to understand. “It has to be people who face this. It is, after all, our planet to fight for.”
“Well it still sucks big time Kevin.”
“Yeah Beth, it does, but if not us, then who?”
She seemed to get that question most of all.
“Listen, all of you, if anyone wants out, now is the time. Nothing will happen to you, unless of course whoever replaces you fails; then what happens will affect us all.”
Kevin got no takers.
Chapter Thirty
Vince was a big man, even by ‘big men’ standards. He was thirty-four years old and one inch short of seven feet tall. But it wasn’t just height; Vince had more in common with silverback gorillas than he did men. He did some ‘specialty’ work for the mob until they decided they were having a hard time hiding Vince from sight when it was needed. The man stuck out like a man tossing flower petals at an anti-gay march.
Was Vince strong? Many witnesses once saw him roll a full size sedan over so that his ‘target’ couldn’t get away. And that was the problem with Vince; there was always a witness around because he just stuck out too damn much.
The mob finally decided that Vince was not the man for them. Oh sure, they let him out of his contract with them, they were very nice to Vince about it, then even explained why. Vince seemed to understand. They parted ways on equal terms, no harm, no foul; they even gave him a nice chunk of change during his going away party. The only problem was, Vince liked what he did, so he started freelancing as a ‘hit for hire’. The payoff had worked well so far. That is, until now. What he had to do now, he wouldn’t be getting paid for.
“Looks like a freebee,” was what Vince called it.
Beside him stood a man that Vince must surely have considered a midget. He seemed to be only about five feet tall. However, he scared the shit out of Vince and the man couldn’t for the life of himself figure out why.
Benny looked up at the tower in front of him, “Vince my man, you and I are going to make beautiful music together.”
“Thanks boss. I hope we play a nice tune, I like music.” The instant Vince saw Benny; something in his mind just knew he’d be calling him the boss.
