The Night is Long and Cold and Deep

by Terry M. West

  “There’s only one thing I can’t figure out,” Cecil said. “And that’s how the two of you knew where to dig it up.”

  “You want to know? Okay, Huckleberry. I’ll tell you. The judge kept a journal,” Bennetts explained, arrogantly. “He documented everything. He insisted on his deathbed that his notes be burned, but his wife refused. The journal was discovered about a year ago, and it hit my radar. A friend of a friend gave the judge’s descendant a large finder’s fee and the journal came my way. Is the puzzle complete enough for you now?”

  “Almost. But I got another picture that needs painting here. There’s something else I saw,” Cecil continued, eyes burning toward Bennetts. “And I am sure it is something your partner would want to know.”

  “And what would that be?” Bennetts asked, suspiciously.

  Cecil turned to Hanson. “When you guys dug it up, you poked its eye. And your partner here gave you a handkerchief to clean your hand.”

  Hanson was stunned. He looked to Bennetts and then back to Cecil. “How could you know that?”

  “I was looking through the thing’s eyes,” Cecil said. “It wasn’t dead. It has had a spark, this whole time. And then something gave it the strength to rise again.”

  “What could have possibly done that?” Bennetts asked, his free hand searching his pockets nervously for gum.

  Cecil and Bubba looked at each other. They knew the curse was behind the events of that night, but both silently agreed not to explain.

  “I don’t know, man. Maybe it was atmospheric conditions,” Bubba offered. “Or planetary alignments.”

  Cecil spoke to Hanson. “Your partner was planning on cutting you out of the deal. In a permanent way.”

  Hanson’s face contorted in frustration and confusion. “You know, I think I am seriously losing it here, Leonard. What is this guy saying?”

  “He’s screwing with you. He’s trying to turn us against each other,” Bennetts assured his partner.

  “Leonard there said he couldn’t trust you,” Cecil continued. “He must like the sound of his own voice ‘cause he talked like that alien could hear him. And it did. I did.”

  “These guys are just trying to save their asses,” Bennetts argued. “We’re going to waste them, right now, and tear this shit hole up until we find the alien.”

  Hanson turned his weapon on Bennetts. “You shoot them, you die, Leonard.”

  Bennetts looked to Hanson. He had a genuinely hurt expression on his hard face. “Come on, kid. What the hell are you doing?”

  “I’m not a killer,” Hanson said. He grabbed his wrist and steadied his aim. “Getting rich is one thing. But I am not going to bathe in blood to get there.”

  “Think about it,” Bennetts said, pulling his gun back and pointing it to the floor. “Do you really think we can let these losers live? They’ll turn on us in a heartbeat.”

  “No sir, you let us live and we’re square, man,” Bubba said, turning his frightened eyes to Hanson. “We don’t know shit. We’re all three monkeys on this.”

  “No one dies,” Hanson said. “You promise me, Leonard. You were my father’s partner. You’re like an uncle to me. It’s not worth this. Tell me we’ll go another route.”

  Bennetts sighed and looked to the ground. “You had to bring your old man up, didn’t you?”

  “Come on, Leonard,” Hanson pleaded, lowering his gun. “You’re a good man. We don’t have to do this.”

  “You’re right,” Bennetts said, quickly raising his gun and shooting Hanson between the eyes.

  Hanson fell backward, crashing into a comic book rack, and then he slumped to the floor.

  Bennetts turned back to Cecil. “That’s on you, Sunshine.”

  Cecil shook angrily. Bubba stared at Hanson’s fallen body.

  “He was young,” Bubba whispered, shaking his head.

  “This was the plan all along,” Cecil said to Bubba, wanting to unleash his fury so severely that his fists flexed in the air. “I was just trying to warn the guy.”

  Bennetts backed up to Hanson’s body and knelt down, scooping up his partner’s gun. He shoved it under his belt.

  “Now, before I start assigning pain, I am going to ask nicely one more time; where in the fuck is my alien?” Bennetts snarled.

  Hanson’s corpse jerked. Bennetts glanced back, and his partner’s fallen form bounced against the floor. The dead body twitched and vibrated. Bennetts moved his gun between the quivering body and his hostages. Bennetts’ eyes were wild with fright. Cecil thought about rushing the bastard, but he was cautious of the twitchy corpse. He figured the alien behind this dark magic.

  Hanson rose up, as if pulled to a standing position by invisible wires. His head bobbed and he took clumsy steps toward his murderer.

  Bennetts fired three rounds into Hanson’s body. The reanimated corpse bounced around and then continued its slow, labored march.

  “Look over there, man!” Bubba screamed, pointing to the window near the Invasion machine.

  The alien was staring inside the store. Its fingers glowed and circled the air.

  Bennetts aimed toward the creature. The alien shrieked and hissed. It bolted away. As soon as it disappeared, Hanson’s corpse crashed back to the floor. Bennetts stared at his dead comrade, biting his lower lip and thinking. He turned his face back up toward Cecil and Bubba.

  “Okay, I believe you,” Bennetts conceded. “And I guess I need you apes to get through this. So you get to live. For now, anyway.”

  Bennetts motioned to Hanson. “Get your asses over here. Pick him up.”

  “What do you want us to do with him?” Bubba asked, as the pair approached the fallen man.

  “Well, evidently Sparky out there can use the dead as weapons. We’re going to lock this body up in the van. He can’t do any harm there,” Bennetts explained. “Now come on… move.”

  Bubba looked down at the dead man, and then his concerned eyes drifted back toward Bennetts. “But what if he goes plan nine on us again while we got him in the air?”

  “Don’t make me regret not putting you down, Wide Load,” Bennetts said. “Get it moved.”

  Cecil and Bubba each grabbed an end. Cecil wrapped his arms around Hanson’s ankles while Bubba slipped his large hands under the dead man’s armpits. They toted him to the garage and stuck him in the van, next to the cylinder. Bennetts followed them closely, his gun favoring them. After they locked the van up, Bennetts motioned to the bay door.

  “Open it.”

  Cecil rolled the door to the sky. The night air was not nearly as cold as before. It felt lukewarm on Cecil’s skin.

  “Let’s march, boys,” Bennetts said, motioning for the duo to walk in front of him.

  “What are we doing now?” Cecil asked, as he and Bubba stepped side by side, their arms raised.

  “We find the bastard and put it back on ice. I have a payment to collect,” Bennetts explained. “You two are going to be my shield and bait.”

  Cecil sighed in frustration. “This thing aims to make us all a meal and you’re still looking to score. We need to chop this beanstalk down, man.”

  “In case you didn’t notice back there, Cecil… I killed my best friend’s son. Okay?” Bennetts said, roughly shoving Cecil in the back. “I’d skin a busload of nuns for this much cash.”

  “You’re sick,” Bubba said, disgusted.

  Bennetts gave Bubba a shove as well. “Enough talk, assholes! Let’s find this thing.”

  Cecil took a look around the store and gas pumps. “Wait a second,” he said, pausing.

  Bennetts stepped to the side and looked around the pair. “What’s going on?”

  Cecil motioned to a tree near the store. It was dead and withered. “All the plant life and the grass…”

  The men looked down. The grass, yellowing from the weather as it was, was now dark and brittle.

  Cecil motioned again, this time toward the entrance to the store parking lot. “Shit is still alive up there.”

&n
bsp; Bubba and Bennetts looked and saw what Cecil meant. There was a clear division of healthy and blackened vegetation. They walked over closer to the sight.

  Cecil regarded Bennetts. “Now, I’m just testing the waters.”

  Cecil knelt down, pried a rock from the earth, and pitched it forward. It bounced off of an invisible wall mere feet in front of them.

  “Holy shit,” Bubba said. “It’s got us in a force field.”

  “Probably around the whole perimeter,” Cecil wagered, dusting off his hands. “I wonder what would happen if we touch it.”

  Bennetts shoved Cecil into the transparent wall. He flattened against it, and then fell to the earth.

  “Did you feel a shock or anything?” Bennetts asked.

  “No,” Cecil grumbled, pulling himself up. “It was like hitting a brick wall.”

  Suddenly, a pair of headlights turned from the Jacksboro feeder and onto the driveway entrance.

  “Shit, that’s your Pontiac, Bubba,” Cecil said.

  Bubba looked alarmed and waved his hands. “It’s Hattie Mae. She’s going to crash into the wall!”

  Cecil and Bubba tried to wave her down.

  “She can’t see us!” Cecil realized, as the headlights blinded him.

  Cecil and Bubba darted in different directions as the Pontiac pierced the invisible barrier. Hattie Mae, her eyes no longer cloaked, stomped the brakes as the car slid into Bennetts. The agent rolled off of the hood and landed on the ground.

  Hattie Mae lurched fearfully from the car. “Oh my God! I didn’t see him! He came out of nowhere!”

  Bubba rushed up and steered Hattie Mae away from Bennetts. Cecil walked over and quickly picked the man’s weapon off of the ground. He pressed it against Bennetts’ forehead. Bennetts stared helplessly at Cecil.

  “I’m hurt,” Bennetts complained.

  “Give me the other gun,” Cecil demanded.

  Bennetts painfully dug the weapon out and handed it over.

  Bubba let go of Hattie Mae and angrily walked over to the fallen man. “Well, what do we have here? Ain’t so tough without a piece in your hand, I bet.”

  Bubba grabbed Bennetts by his jacket lapels and pulled him up. The man screamed in agony. Hattie Mae quickly stepped up behind Bubba and tugged on his big arm.

  “Turner! Stop it, you’re hurting him!” she cried.

  “Let him be, Bubba,” Cecil said. “Stomping him ain’t going to help us.”

  “Your ass is lucky there’s a lady present,” Bubba said as he let Bennetts go. Bennetts crumbled back to the dirt, tears streaming down his cheeks.

  Bubba turned toward Hattie Mae. “At least you’re okay. The car sailed right through that force field. It must be soft on the other side of it; let’s you in but not out.”

  “It’s a damned roach motel,” Cecil concluded, his eyes and aim still on Bennetts.

  “What are you two talking about? What’s going on here?” Hattie Mae demanded, motioning to Bennetts. “That man is hurt. Why are you holding a gun on him, Cecil? And why were you being so rough on him, Turner?” She noticed the bruises on Bubba’s face. Hattie Mae immediately cupped Bubba’s cheeks. “What happened to you?”

  Bubba took Hattie Mae behind the car and gave her the abbreviated version.

  Bennetts closed his eyes and favored his side. “I think my ribs are broken,” he said, hiccupping with pain. “I need an ambulance”

  “You need to stand,” Cecil instructed Bennetts. “We’re taking our asses back inside.”

  “What are you going to do?” Bennetts asked, his voice strained with pain and concern.

  “I’m gonna figure out a way to stop that thing. And then I am going to turn your sorry ass over to the law,” Cecil replied firmly.

  “There is a fortune here, Cecil,” Bennetts said. “And, despite the drawl, I know you’re not stupid. Fifty-fifty, man. We deliver that thing, alive or dead, and we won’t ever want again.”

  “Hey, man, you’re talking to one greedy son of a bitch, okay?” Cecil confessed. “I’ll stomp Bugs’ head back down that fucking rabbit hole and I’ll yell ‘mine!’ as I do it if the riches shine bright enough, man. But I need a planet to enjoy my fortune on. We gotta destroy that thing. Maybe we can put it back into hibernation and sell it like you want, but something might just wake it up again. We’re taking it out. And when I’m done with it, there ain’t gonna be nothing left to bury or pin in a light box. Now get on your damn feet.”

  Cecil kicked Bennetts’ foot.

  “I don’t think I can do it on my own,” Bennetts said, still guarding his ribs.

  “Bubba, come give Agent Bennetts a hand standing up.”

  Bubba smiled, and a mean streak shined in it. “That’ll be my pleasure.”

  “No, no, no,” Bennetts said, holding his hand up to ward the big man off. “I’ll do it. Just, please don’t touch me.”

  “See, man,” Bubba said to Cecil. “Yankees can be polite; if you pound on them long and hard enough.”

  Bennetts stood, grimacing and whining.

  Cecil handed Bubba one of the guns. Bubba pulled the clip out, checked it, and shoved it back in. He looked at Bennetts and motioned toward the store entrance. “Lead the way.”

  Bennetts stumbled painfully toward the building. The boys and Hattie Mae followed.

  “Once we get inside, we’re gonna have a war room powwow,” Cecil instructed. He stopped, suddenly, and thrust his arms out to halt his friends. “Wait a minute.”

  “What’s wrong?” Bubba asked.

  “There’s a disturbance in the God damn force, man. That ugly beast is close,” Cecil reported, looking over his shoulder.

  “How do you know?” Hattie Mae said.

  “How does a rabbit know when a hawk is near?” Cecil said, taking in his surroundings. “I just do. Maybe it was the mind jam I had with the thing.”

  Bennetts, paused at the store entrance, turned back to the trio behind him. “All right, listen to me. I think I have a way out of…”

  Before he finished his sentence, two spindly, long grey arms shot downward from the canopy of the store. They reeled Bennetts upward. The alien stood up on the flat roof and howled at them. Bennetts struggled painfully as the beast raised the man above its head.

  Cecil and Bubba began shooting at the alien. The bullets struck it, but didn’t appear to have an effect. The alien quickly pulled the agent down in front of itself for cover. The boys emptied their weapons into Bennetts’ body.

  “Stop!” Hattie Mae screamed, clutching at the boys. But they kept firing until their guns clicked hollowly. They lowered their empty firearms. Cecil and Bubba were horrified that they had shot Bennetts several times. The alien gave them a fang-filled smile and a wicked chuckle. Then it turned and disappeared on the roof with Bennetts’ lifeless body in tow.

  “Inside!” Cecil commanded. “Now!”

  They rushed into the store. Bubba pressed his body against the entrance, as it needed a key to be secured.

  “The garage! Go to the garage!” Cecil urged, tugging on Bubba’s shirt.

  They moved quickly. Cecil bolted the side entrance behind them. He noticed the bay door. “Close it, man!” he said to Bubba.

  Bubba hustled over and lowered the bay door. Once down, he kicked in the foot latch, locking the door in place.

  It was considerably darker in the garage.

  “My daddy keeps a lantern,” Cecil said. “He stores his camping shit here.”

  Cecil reached up and pulled it from a rickety metal shelf. “Give me your flame, Bubba.”

  Bubba dug out his lighter and handed to Cecil.

  Cecil got the lantern going, and perched it on the tool counter. “All right, we need a game plan,” Cecil began.

  Suddenly, Cecil cocked his head and reached to the tool counter for balance.

  Bubba steadied him. “What’s wrong, Cecil?”

  Cecil shook whatever it was out of his head. “That alien bastard tried to get control of me again. But somethi
ng stopped it. There’s some kind of interference.”

  “It’s the woman,” Bennetts said.

  The proclamation startled all three of them. They turned to the sound of the voice. Bennetts’ head was on a nearby tool shelf. It was wedged between an electric saw and droplight. The eyes and mouth on the head were shut and it sat there, quietly.