Cecil looked around, and spotted a small mallet. “Here,” he said, handing it to Hattie Mae. “You clean its clock with this.”
Hattie Mae weighed the tool in her hand and frowned. “I don’t know if I can put enough strength behind this to do any harm.”
“Do your best,” Cecil said, looking around for more weapons to employ.
“Does this sort of thing happen to you boys often?” Hattie Mae asked.
“Honestly, this here is our second foray into the fucking unknown,” Cecil said, picking up items and gauging the damage they could cause. “You were there for our initiation into the club of the cursed.”
“It’s just, being a demon for so long… and now I’m human again. And still I’m bothered by this evil mess,” Hattie Mae said. “I was hoping for a bit more normality, I guess.”
Cecil stopped what he was doing and regarded her. “Hey, well, woman, if we get out of this, you might want to consider keeping a fair distance from me and Bubba. We wouldn’t fault you, with this curse and all. And shit, you’re gorgeous. You’ll be raking it in at the Busty and Lusty. You’ll be able to afford your own place in no time.”
Hattie Mae smiled. “Thank you. But I can’t do that. If it wasn’t for you, I’d still be licking the devil’s boot. I’m not going anywhere until your curse is lifted.”
Cecil pointed a finger at Hattie Mae. “Then this is on you, okay? You see how dangerous this shit can be.”
Hattie Mae nodded, and tested the mallet in the air.
Ceil went back to rummaging through the tools. He noted that the more lethal ones required electricity or batteries to perform.
Bubba stepped back near them.
“You’re out of Dew, man.”
“So I guess you’ll have to manage,” Cecil said. “Do without the Dew.”
“I just hope it wasn’t the magic ingredient,” Bubba said, returning to his task.
***
Reginald McGee walked into the store. He felt for the light switch near the entrance. He flipped it back and forth. The store remained darkened.
“Cecil?” Reginald called. “What the hell is going on, son? You get over here and explain yourself.”
Reginald shook his head, disappointed at his son. “If I can’t trust you for a night shift, what am I going to do with you, boy?” he thought out loud. He took a step and something crunched under his foot. He noticed the Halloween candy spilled on the floor.
Reginald suddenly felt something behind him. He turned around, quickly. A tall figure stood near the entrance. Reginald squinted at the form. The alien stared back, silently studying the old man.
“Well, that is about the most spectacular costume I have ever seen. Wish I knew where my boy was. He has a camera on his phone. I’d sure like to pose with you, son. I could use a new profile picture,” Reginald said, smiling. “Is that outfit store bought, or did you make it?”
The alien growled and cocked its head curiously. Reginald chuckled.
“Staying in character, are we?” he said, reaching out and grasping a handful of candy bars from a rack. “Well, since that’s my name on the sign out there, I reckon it’ll be okay to give you these. Where is your bag, son?”
The alien struck Reginald across the cheek. His glasses flew across the store. The old man fell backwards against the candy rack and slumped to the floor. The alien hauled the old man back up and brandished his tendril fingers in front of Reginald’s face. The fingers hardened and bonded together. The tip of the hand grew sharp and pointy. The monster jammed its deadly appendage into Reginald’s gut.
Reginald bellowed in pain.
Suddenly, a stream of fluid hit the creature’s back and began to smoke. The thing screeched painfully and dropped the old man. It turned. Bubba was screaming and firing soda at it from the wand of the pest control rig. Cecil and Hattie Mae brought up the rear. Hattie Mae clutched her mallet and Cecil dropped a small electric saw that he was going to stab the creature with and he picked the baseball bat up off of the floor instead. The thing flung itself away and crashed through a store window.
Bubba looked to the body on the floor. “Man down!” he cried, kneeling, looking closer and realizing who it was. “Mr. McGee! Cecil, it’s your daddy!”
Cecil dropped the bat and rushed over. He slid to the floor. He scooped Reginald’s head into his lap and noticed the wound at his father’s belly. “Get me a towel!” Cecil cried.
Bubba and Hattie Mae looked around the store.
“Cecil?” Reginald said softly. Hattie Mae came back with a roll of paper towels. She tore off a long string and pressed it to the wound.
“Yeah, Daddy,” Cecil said, staring with worried eyes at his father. “It’s me.”
“What was that… that… thang?” Reginald asked, gripping his son’s hand.
“It’s an alien, Daddy,” Cecil said. “Some government men showed up in a van and it busted out. It intends to kill us all. You shouldn’t have been here. Why did you come back?”
Reginald’s face twisted in pain. He rode a brief wave of agony, and then he looked to his son. “I couldn’t sleep. I came back to tell you I was sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken to you the way I did. No child should ever have to hear that sort of appraisal from a father.”
“But you were right, Daddy,” Cecil said, his eyes watering. “I am a monumental fuck up. And everything and everybody is gonna die because I ain’t got it in me to beat this monster.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Cecil,” Reginald argued softly. He took a short breather, and then continued. “I lied to you before. I told you there was nothing about you I found pride in. But there is. Though I suppose it is a quality a parent shouldn’t admire in a child.”
“What’s that, Daddy?”
“Vengeance,” Reginald said. “It has always served you well. No one ever picked on you more than once. I was proud of you. They way you would serve it back to your tormentors. The extremes you would go to and the methods you would use…”
Reginald smiled, recalling it fondly. “If it were a sport, your face would have been on a cereal box.”
“I just never liked to be messed with, Daddy. I got that from you,” Cecil said, fighting the tears.
“Cecil McGee, you are going to kill this thang. You avenge me. You protect yourself. And know that I have always had your welfare at heart. I love you, son,” Reginald said, his strength running out. He closed his eyes.
“Daddy?” Cecil said, giving his father a slight nudge.
Reginald looked to his son a final time. “I’m going to rest now, Cecil.”
Reginald closed his eyes again. Cecil sat there, waiting from them to open.
Bubba took his cap off and held it to his heart. “I’m sorry, Cecil.”
“He’s fine,” Cecil snapped quickly. “He’s just resting is all.”
“Honey, I know dead when I see it,” Hattie Mae said, giving up on the wound. “Your daddy’s gone.”
Cecil nodded his head sadly as the tears came harder than he could ever recall them coming. He heaved over in grief and clutched at his father.
Bubba felt himself tearing up as well.
Hattie Mae gave Cecil a short allowance on time, and then she gently gripped Cecil by the shoulders. “I know it hurts, but we got this thang to contend with.”
Cecil straightened up and dried his face. He stood and toughened himself. He looked to Bubba. “Can you put my daddy in that storage closet back there? I don’t want him used against us.”
Bubba nodded solemnly and picked Reginald up. He carried him away.
Cecil turned to Hattie Mae. “Bennetts said you had the power to compel. You think you can reach inside that beast’s head?”
Hattie Mae thought about it. “I’m not sure. I mean, it used to be a natural inclination to charm someone. But I honestly don’t know if I am still able.”
Bubba returned. “What’s the next move?”
“I think Hattie Mae might be our secret weapon,” Cecil announ
ced.
Bubba looked at the both of them, curiously. “How so?”
“I think she still has a shine or two of demon on her,” Cecil wagered. “I think that creature is more scared of her than us.”
“But I’m human now,” Hattie Mae asserted.
“No one is arguing that. But maybe you still have abilities, deep down,” Cecil explained. “We gotta try. Our options are running on fumes.”
Hattie Mae nodded. “Just tell me what you want.”
Cecil collected the crowbar and baseball bat from the floor and led Bubba and Hattie Mae back to the garage. They walked to the center of the garage. Cecil pressed the bat into Bubba’s hands.
Cecil then put his hand on Hattie Mae’s shoulder. “I want you to reach out to it, with your mind. Bring it here. And then Bubba and I will put the boots to it.”
“Okay. But I’ll need to concentrate on it. It might take me a few moments.”
“You do what you have to,” Cecil said, and then he turned to Bubba. “Let’s stand on either side of that door and get ready to ambush the thing.”
Bubba slapped his palm with the bat and got into position.
Cecil took his own spot as Hattie Mae stood quietly, concentrating with her eyes stamped down hard. It took a spell, but Hattie Mae’s brow finally relaxed and her eyes opened. Her pupils were gone. Her white orbs stared at a sight not given to the boys.
“I see it. It’s in the woods nearby.”
Hattie Mae gasped. And then she cringed in shock. “It ran across some children. There were costumed and laughing. They were laughing at you, Cecil. And then it came upon them and it… it… what it did to them…”
Hattie Mae paused and shook quietly for a second.
Cecil and Bubba stared at each other, sadly. Cecil felt lower than dog shit. He would have never wished something like that on those kids, but he still felt he had a hand in their horrible demise. He clutched the tire iron closer to his chest and regarded Hattie Mae. “Hattie Mae, can you hear me?” he said, softly.
“It tore them to bits,” she carried on, trapped by the terrible vision.
“I know it’s a tragedy, but focus,” Cecil urged. “Bring it here, so we can stop it. No more kids need to die tonight.”
Hattie Mae nodded, silently acknowledging Cecil. She closed her glowing eyes once again. It took her a bit to swallow down the horror, but she managed to. And then she put on her familiar mask of the temptress. She smiled flirtatiously at the air.
“Well, hello,” she said, sweetly, playing with her red locks. “You poor thing. You’re so far away from home. It’s so lonely, I can imagine. Come on over here, honey. I want to have a little chat.”
Hattie Mae opened her eyes again, and looked toward Cecil and Bubba. “It’s on the way,” she reported, closing her eyes and returning to the connection she currently had going with the alien.
“My, you are big and strong. You want to what? To my what?” Hattie Mae giggled. “Honey, I don’t know if I even have a part on me for something like that. But you could look and check, I reckon.”
Hattie Mae listened to more of the alien’s dirty talk in her mind. “I’ll bet you say that to all of the girls. You’re a fresh one. What I am going to do with you, naughty boy?”
They could hear it, coming through the store. Cecil and Bubba tensed up. Bubba gripped the bug killing wand in one hand and the baseball bat in the other. Cecil twisted his anxious fingers on the crowbar.
It entered the garage, crouching to fit through the door. It walked past the boys slowly, oblivious to them. It was bigger, at least two feet taller and wider as well. Bubba looked to Cecil. Cecil held out a palm, urging Bubba to sit still.
The alien approached Hattie Mae. Her eyes opened and she stared demurely at it. The thing’s mouth opened and a series of hisses and grunts came out. Hattie Mae listened, intently.
“No,” she replied. “I don’t. What about you? Is there a Mrs. Ravager of Worlds back home?”
The alien uttered some more guttural noises, and Hattie Mae sighed in disappointment. “Yeah, yeah, like I haven’t heard that one before. Still together because of the kids, she doesn’t understand me; I’m going to leave her, blah, blah, blah. Well, sugar, I am not looking to become the other woman or a home wrecker.”
The thing reached out with its slithering tendril fingers and touched Hattie Mae. It gripped at her shoulders, and pulled her closer. Hattie Mae gasped, and pressed her hands against its chest.
Cecil looked at Bubba and could tell his friend didn’t like the display one bit.
“You are an eager one, aren’t you, sailor?” Hattie Mae said, and her eyes stared past it toward the boys. Her pupils returned and she suddenly seemed disconnected.
“I lost my hold,” she said softly. She fearfully reached toward Cecil and Bubba.
The alien shook its head, pulled her back and looked down at her. It hollered, freed of her grip, and its tendrils tightened around Hattie Mae’s throat.
Bubba took off like a shot. He screamed like a banshee and let loose at the beast with the suicide soda. The creature screamed and arched its back in pain. It tossed Hattie Mae into the tool counter. She bounced off of it and landed on the floor. Hattie Mae was knocked unconscious by the impact.
The alien turned to face Bubba. Bubba brought his bat down on the thing’s head. The bat splintered into two pieces. The creature fell back, and Bubba pointed the wand at its face. The thing reached out quickly and tore the hose loose from the pest rig. It shoved Bubba away. Cecil rushed at it, giving his own battle cry and bouncing the crowbar off of the thing’s head. It shrieked, and then lashed out with its strong leg. It caught Cecil in the chest and drove him back and into the stone wall.
Bubba shrugged off the rig and came back, punching the creature with everything he had. Its head snapped to the side from Bubba’s blow and it finally fell to its knees. Bubba hit it again. And again. Cecil gathered himself off of the floor and saw his best friend landing strong blows that would have crippled a normal man.
“That’s it, Bubba!” Cecil said, regaining the crowbar. “Tear his ass up, man!”
Bubba muttered curses incoherently and continued to pound on the monster. The big man breathed heavily and grimaced and Cecil knew there wasn’t much left in his friend. Cecil joined in, bringing the crowbar down on the creature as well. The thing bent over into a ball. Its skin gave a strange glow and a wave of invisible energy emanated off of it and knocked the men back.
Bubba charged again, quickly. He swung, but the creature caught his arm before the blow could land. The thing twisted and broke Bubba’s arm at the elbow. Bubba wailed and the alien tossed him several feet away.
Cecil, still trying to clear the cobwebs in his head, felt a grip tighten on his shirt. He looked up. The creature stared down at him. It raised its other hand. The tendrils on the end of it melded together and hardened into a spike.
“Cccceeeecccciiillll…” the alien said. It sneered as it spoke.
It drew back its deadly hand and aimed for Cecil’s head.
Cecil stared at it, defiantly.
“Kiss my Texan ass, you bastard,” he said.
Hattie Mae bolted up behind the alien. She gripped both of its temples. The creature froze and lowered its hands. It eyes flickered. Hattie Mae gritted her teeth and her skin turned grey. Her eyes darkened and enlarged, and her nose smoothed into her face. The creature began to shrink and wither and its eyes dulled. It clawed desperately at the air, but Hattie Mae maintained the contact she had on it.
Finally, it gave a heave and Hattie Mae fell backwards. It hissed at Cecil. A shadow of its former self, the thing crawled away, quickly looking for a hole to dive into. Cecil lurched up and went after it. Gaunt and sickly as it was, Cecil knew it would merely find a haven and sleep for a hundred more years, gathering its energy as it did so.
Hattie Mae grabbed Cecil’s shirt collar and hauled him back. Her alien face bayed at him.
He stared at her fearfully and he
was concerned that the thing would escape. “What are you doing? I thought you were on our side.”
“I have its strength. But I can only consume it. I can’t wield it,” she said, with a deep growl. “I can give it to you. You can use it to stop this thang once and for all.”
Cecil nodded eagerly. “How do we do this?”
Hattie Mae pulled Cecil’s lips to hers. The alien energy poured into Cecil’s body. His eyes widened and darkened. His body began to swell. His skin turned grey and he grew taller. Cecil’s fingers quivered and transformed into tendrils. Hattie Mae broke off the kiss, and her human face stared at him. Her eyes rolled back and she passed out.
Texas Strange Page 37
