“What can I do for you, son?” the old man asked, coughing and hacking up a thick wad of green mucous.
Matt was fishing around in his pocket for his wallet. “Forty dollars of premium, sir.”
“Premium?” the old man laughed. “How about forty dollars in regular?”
Tom stepped forward, nervously clearing his throat, as Greiner glared at him. “I need a mechanic to look at my truck, please. There’s something going on with my lights... they’re fading in and out,” he said sheepishly. “Do you have anyone here that can take a look at ‘em?”
“My brother has a shop out back. He’ll take a look at it for you,” he said in a flat, raspy voice. “Pull it around.”
“Thanks,” Tom said. “I’ll do that.”
As Tom went to drive his truck around back, Matt browsed around the store, seeing if there was anything he needed.
Outside, Mary and Lia had found a filthy, disgusting bathroom with floors that appeared to have never been mopped. There was no lock on the door and the walls were streaked with grime and splatters of brown, resembling that of dried blood.
Old Man Greiner heard the girls’ voices on the other side of the wall and he seized the moment, reaching down and grabbing up a mouse. For his own personal amusement, he tilted a painting that was hanging on the wall next to him and he shoved the little mouse through a hole leading into the washroom; it scurried out from behind the toilet and ran across the floor, as both girls screamed.
“I am out of here!” Mary shrilled. “I’ll pee in a can, if I have to!”
“Come on,” Lia begged. “I really have to go… watch the door for me, please!”
“Well, hurry up then!” Mary yelled back, freaking out and looking around. “This place is gross as hell! And, don’t sit on that seat… you’ll pick up something, for sure!”
Lia slowly pulled down her jeans and hovered over the seat, looking around for anything that could jump out at her. She was midstream, before she noticed that there wasn’t any toilet paper.
“Damn it!” she yelled. “What a fucking dump… I hope I don’t get the crabs… or worse.”
“Let’s go, Lia,” Mary said, hurrying her friend. “It stinks like an outhouse in here, hurry up!”
“I thought you had to go, too?”
“I’d rather sit my ass on a bear trap,” Mary replied. “I’m not catching my first STD from that toilet seat.”
Just then, the mouse ran over Mary’s foot; she screamed and kicked it off. “That mouse is gone and so am I!”
Lia quickly stood up, pulling up her jeans and she went to wash her hands in the sink. She flipped on the faucet, but all that came out was a trickle of brown liquid, that sluggishly dribbled into the old porcelain basin. “Oh, God,” she said, taking a step back. “That is fucking disgusting.”
Lia wiped her hands on her pants instead and the two girls left the bathroom, running back towards the front of the crumbling building. Joy was waiting, standing next to the van, having a smoke and she laughed at her friends, when she noticed them rushing back with disgusted looks on their faces.
Reggy was busy filling the van with gas, paying no attention to the crazy girls; he couldn’t care any less if the boogey man was after them.
“Are you girls alright?” Joys asked between laughs. “You guys look like you’ve seen a ghost, or something!”
“Not a ghost,” replied Mary. “Way worse than that! Don’t go near that bathroom,” she said, pointing to the back of the building. “Can we just get the hell out of here? This place gives me the creeps!”
“I’m with her,” said Lia. “Let’s get the hell out of here, now!”
“We can’t leave, until Tom finds out what’s wrong with his truck,” Reggy reminded them. “You girls are just going to have to sit tight, so zip it with the lips. You’re getting on my last nerve.”
The girls exchanged looks and climbed back into the van; they were not happy.
“He’s such a dick,” Lia said. “I really feel like smacking him sometimes.”
“I know,” replied Mary. “But, I’ll leave the smacking to you. He might hit me back.”
“Don’t be afraid of Reggy… he hits like a little girl, anyway.”
Chapter Fourteen
Tom pulled his truck around to the back of the building, shut it off and popped the hood. A mechanic came out, completely covered in grease, looking dirtier than his twin brother, who stayed inside the store behind the counter; either way, they both desperately needed a shower. Tom was curiously looking around at the old building, worried that it might collapse at any given moment.
“Got some problems with your truck, kid?” asked Zeke, the mechanic. “Let me have a look at it.”
“Thanks,” said Tom, as he leaned up against his vehicle. “I hope it’s nothing major… we’re on our way to Michigan for a week.”
Zeke seemed unimpressed, as he dove under hood to have a closer look. “Oh, yup,” Zeke said after a short moment. “There’s your problem.”
“What? What is it?” Tom nervously asked, rubbing his hands together.
Zeke came out from underneath the hood, wiping his hands on his overalls. “You’ve got yourself a bad alternator, right there. You’re not gonna get very far with this.”
“Can you fix it?” Tom asked hopefully.
“Fix it?” Zeke asked, sounding a bit insulted. “Of course, I can fix it! Your problem is… I’m gonna have to order one for you,” he explained. “That’ll be two days, maybe three.”
“Are you serious?” Tom dreadfully replied. “Two or three days?”
Zeke just shrugged. “Yeah, well, things move slow ‘round these parts. Get over it.”
“Fuck!” Tom shouted out, now extremely frustrated. “Fuck! This sucks!”
He gained control of himself and took a deep breath, “Okay, well… I guess we have to get it fixed. Is there a motel around here?”
“Nah,” Zeke answered. “No motels around here. I have a cabin that we rent out in the summer, about two miles out of town. You and your friends can stay there until your truck is fixed… IF you promise not to trash the place,” he offered. “That’s the best I can do for you guys. But, I swear… you guys trash that place and I’ll be keeping your truck to pay for damages.”
“Hey, thanks, that’s real nice of you,” said Tom, with a sigh of relief. “Well, I’d better go let everyone know we’re staying. Do you think our ski gear will be safe in the back of my truck?” he asked. “Where in the hell are we, by the way?”
Zeke grinned and answered, “You’re in Wolf Creek, son. And, we’re a lot of things, but we’re not thieves,” he said through a snide, yellowish smile. “Your stuff will be safe… not to worry.”
After throwing Tom a set of keys that were hanging on a nail, Zeke gave him directions to the cabin.
“Great,” Tom said appreciatively. “Thank you, very much.”
Old Man Greiner’s beady eyes followed Matt through the store as he was considering the limited offerings on the shelves. He finally decided on a bag of chips and a rusty can of pork-n-beans, along with a pack of chewing gum.
“I didn’t even know they still made Radical Red Bubblicious… how old are these?”
Greiner just shrugged and grinned, toothlessly. “I don’t know… I don’t eat that crap,” he answered. “There’s a supermarket on the other side of town, if you’re looking for quality food. My stuff is for cheap-ass stoners that wander their way in off the highway.”
Matt stuck the canned food back on the shelf and put the chips back on the rack. A cockroach suddenly ran across his hand, falling to the floor, as Matt jumped and shrieked like a little girl. He stomp his foot down, smashing it with a loud ‘crunch.’
The old man just smirked, “Something wrong?”
“No, I’m fine,” Matt replied back, looking for a place to scrape the cockroach off of his shoe.
A mouse scampered across t
he counter in front of the old man and he took a quick peek to see if Matt was looking in his direction; he wasn’t. Greiner snatched up the mouse, as a set of fangs popped out of his gum line and he quickly bit the mouse’s head off, sucking it dry within seconds.
Matt was in the middle of blowing a bubble and he looked up, catching the end of the old man’s snack. His gum flew out of his mouth, as he jerked back in shock at the sight. “Holy shit! What the fuck?”
Greiner realized Matt saw him, enjoying his reaction. “Is there anything else I can get you, son? May be some mousetraps?”
“Uh, no, just the gas,” Matt stuttered, repulsed and still freaking out. “Thanks,” he said, walking out the door, as fast as his legs would take him.
Reggy had finished pumping the gas and was screwing the cap back on, while the girls sat in the van. Sam and Stew were lounging around, a short distance from the pumps, when they noticed Matt hurrying his way back over to the van… looking pale as a ghost.
“What’s up, man?” Reggy asked him. “You alright?”
Matt just pointed towards the station. “That old dude in there just bit the head off a mouse! It was fucking gross as hell!”
“Yeah, right,” Reggy said calmly, not believing him. “That is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. You’re trippin’ out, man… no more weed for you.”
“No way, dude! I saw it with my own eyes, Reggy!” Matt argued. “I’m not shittin’ you… the old bastard had fangs! Let’s just get the hell out of here!”
“Did he suck it dry, too?” Reggy asked him, pretending to hold a tiny mouse up to his mouth, sucking and squeaking, trying to piss off Matt; it was working.
“Screw you, bro,” Matt scowled. “I know what I saw! This place is seriously wrong, dude,” he said, looking back to the garage. “Is Tom’s truck fixed yet, or what? We seriously need to get the fuck out of here… I have a real bad feeling about this place.”
Reggy laughed it off, shaking his head, as Matt hopped back in the passenger’s seat of the van, with a pissed-off look on his face.
“What a fucking dick,” Matt snapped under his breath.
Tom walked up with a few duffle bags in his arms and Stew and the other guys came over to see what was up.
“The alternator’s going out,” Tom said, disappointed. Everyone groaned in disapproval.
“Goddamn it!” Reggy yelled at him. “Tom, I told you to… aww, fuck it!”
Tom held up his hand, shaking a set of keys. “But, I got keys to a cabin and it’s on a lake. Zeke says, we can stay there… for free,” he said, hoping to cheer everyone up a little. “The guy is gonna fix my truck, as soon as possible and he’s bringing it to us when it’s finished,” he added. “That’s the best I can do guys, sorry. What else can I say?”
“We should just cram everyone in the van and go,” Stew responded.
“You really want to ride across two states with Sam’s ass all over your lap?” Reggy asked him. “There’s no room, dude. We’ll just have to stay.”
“I’m really sorry, guys,” Tom said sincerely. “You can kick my ass later, out on the slopes.”
Disappointed, everyone piled into Reggy’s van, with the girls sitting on the guys’ laps.
Sam went to sit on Tom’s lap, but he got punched in the arm instead.
“Get off me, you perv!” Tom hollered at him. “Sit on the floor, fat boy… you almost crushed my nuts!”
The side door slid to a shut and the van pulled out onto the road. Reggy drove for a short while and then he took a turn that led them to a gravel drive. He cruised down the rocky drive at top speed, causing rocks to pop up underneath the van. After a few more minutes of driving, they could see the cabin along the shores of Wolf Lake, up ahead in the distance.
“We’re almost there, guys!” Reggy called out, beginning to bubble with excitement, after he saw how nice the place looked. “Wow, that looks cool! This might not be so bad, after all!”
“It’s about damn time,” Sam replied back. “I’m ready to crack open a brewski!”
Everyone in the van cheered in agreement.
“Soon as we get to the cabin,” Tom yelled out, “the party is on!”
“I’m going to study for my finals,” Mary said, catching a few strange looks. “And, I hate beer… got any wine coolers?”
The group all laughed at her, as the van swerved to a stop in front of the cabin. Everyone became quiet, as they checked out the looks of the place. The cabin sat on a hill, overlooking the peaceful Wolf Lake below. It was old and rustic looking, but it was free and they really didn’t have much of a choice.
“Now get the hell out of my van!” Reggy shouted out. “Damn! One of you really needs a shower!” he called back, pinching his nose. “And, that was me being polite… what I really meant was, one of you smells like rotten ass!”
“That would be me,” Matt proudly admitted, with a smile.
He ripped another rotten fart at an extremely high volume and everyone started yelling and clamoring over each other, desperate to get out of the van to escape the putrid smell.
“Oh, my God!” Mary cried. “Let me out! I think I’m going to pee my pants and puke at the same time! Matt, you smell worse than that bathroom we just left!”
Matt found this hilarious and laughed so hard that he cried.
“Beans, beans, that magical fruit, mixed with a Big Mac with extra onions is what you get!” he sang out, laughing, as Mary groaned with disgust.
Mary, Joy and Lia grabbed Tom’s keys and made a dash for the cabin, while he went to the back of the van, grabbing one side of the enormous cooler; Stew grabbed the other. Tom stopped, when he heard a loud swooshing sound, coming from up above him and he looked up to an empty sky, seeing nothing but brightly-shining stars.
“What the hell was that?” Tom asked his friends, who were looking up as well. “Did you hear that, or am I losing my mind?”
“I have no idea, but I heard it, too!” Stew confirmed.
“Yeah, me too,” Sam added. “It was probably just a bird of some kind… a hawk, maybe. I mean, we are in the woods, you know?”
Tom and Stew hustled towards the cabin, scuttling like crabs with the heavy cooler.
“That didn’t sound like any regular fucking bird!” Tom threw in. “More like a pterodactyl, maybe!”
He quickly changed the subject, “This cooler weighs a fucking ton!”
“That’s because you never work out,” Stew jabbed. “You big puss.”
“Fuck you,” Tom shot back, following with an excuse. “I don’t want to strain my pitching arm.”
Suddenly, the guys stopped, when a faint growling was heard, coming from the woods next to the cabin.
“What the fuck?” Matt asked, with a huge set of eyes, as he began stepping towards the tree line. “Is that coming from those trees, over there?”
“What are you doing, you idiot?” Reggy called out. “Don’t go over there! There’s bears up here and probably mountain lions, you dumb son of a bitch!”
Ignoring Reggy, Matt walked over to the edge of the woods, scanning the darkness between the tall trees. He was about to look away, when he thought he saw a set of glowing, red eyes. Surprised, he looked again and the illuminations seemed to disappear into the thick darkness, as he turned and ran back towards the front of the cabin, as fast as he could.
“Let’s get the hell out of here!” Matt shouted. “Vacation over!”
“Dude,” Tom tried calming, “chill out. We can’t leave, until my truck’s fixed… remember, dipshit?”
“I saw these red-devil eyes out there!” Matt excitedly said. “They were staring right back at me, I swear! And, then they just disappeared, just like that!”
“You sure it wasn’t your mom coming out to check up on you?” Sam cracked.
Reggy and Stew laughed, breaking Matt’s fear… for a moment.
“Fuck you guys,” was Matt’s response. “This is the last time I go on a trip with you morons. Every time we go som
ewhere, something goes wrong and it winds up sucking ass!”
Tom set down his end of the cooler and jogged back to the van, shouting over his shoulder as he went, “Don’t worry, guys, I got us covered,” he said, pulling out a shotgun case. “Anything comes through that door or window, I’ll blow it away,” he said, holding up the black gun case to show them. “So, no more spooky stories, Matt, you’re gonna scare the girls and I don’t feel like dealing with that shit. So, shut the fuck up!” he called in Matt’s direction, grabbing an extra box of shells out of the back of the van.
“Tom’s right,” Sam agreed. “C’mon, let’s get a fire going and we’ll have ourselves a good time,” he said, trying to change up the mood. “I’m starved and I sure could go for an ice-cold beer!”
Reggy dropped his duffel bag by the cabin door and ran back to the passenger’s side of the van. He reached in and opened the glove box, grabbing his 9mm pistol and a box of bullets; he thought he was a real gangster with his Glock 9mm, but in actuality, he was just a regular white boy, with a shitty attitude… and he’d probably drop a load in his pants at the sight of his own shadow, if it ever snuck up on him.
“We can add this to our list of assets,” Reggy said, displaying his prized firearm.
“Awesome, Reg,” Matt said, slightly relieved. “That makes me feel way better.”
The inside of the cabin was aging, but was it was surprisingly clean and had all of the necessary furnishings. The living quarters of the cabin were one large room, with a bathroom off to one side and a small bedroom in the back. There was also a stereo, fireplace and an old couch, along with a couple of broken-down easy chairs; the living area’s threadbare rug defined the comfortable space in front of the fireplace, tying the room together very nicely. The small kitchen area had an old fridge, a stove, sink and a small, rickety dinner table. But, the cabin’s highlighting feature was the huge back window that displayed a glorious view of Wolf Lake.
After the guys brought everything they needed into the cabin, they shut the door and locked it behind them. Tom was already busy, getting a nice blaze going in the fireplace, blowing on the flames, trying to get the bigger logs warmed up. Lia passed out paper plates of sandwiches and chips for everyone, as Sam finally grabbed some ice-cold beers out of the cooler.
The Lycan Chronicles Page 11
