“Wait until the last second to turn off,” Liv said as we approached the cars.
“What if men with guns pop out from behind the cars?” I asked, but I didn’t slow down.
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
Liv was likely one of the most brilliant scientists on the planet, but in that moment, I’d let her make me do something stupid. I had forgotten that just because someone is smart about one thing, it doesn’t mean they are smart about everything. It didn’t matter. We were too close to turn back.
I just had to hope for the best.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
I heard the tires blow as soon as we were five feet into the grass. It’d been a trap, and I’d driven right into it. My instincts about going back and going the long way had been right, and I swore right then and there that I wouldn’t ignore them again.
As soon as the car was disabled, dozens of men dressed in what looked like cheap military uniform knockoffs came streaming out of the woods. “Great,” I mumbled.
“Who are they?” Liv asked as she reached for the car door.
“What’s going on?” Chris had finally woken up. He looked terrible, and we didn’t have time to bring his fever down. I’d begun to seriously doubt he’d make it.
“I’m pretty sure those guys are militia, and if they belong to the group I think, they are violent and batshit crazy. We need to go now,” I said and started to open my door. “Follow me.”
“Will, we can’t run, they have guns.”
“We don’t have time to discuss this. I’m going. Follow me and possibly live, or wait here to be captured. Chris, those fucks are about as racist as they come. You need to follow me.”
Chris reached for the door too. He was tall, but he couldn’t weigh more than a buck five, so I might be able to carry him on my back if we made it to the trees on the other side.
“Let’s go.”
I could hear the yelling and gunfire start shortly after we left the vehicle. So much for protecting the citizens of the United States. Those guys wanted to kill us just for running away.
“Don’t run in a straight line,” I yelled at Liv and Chris. “Do like I do.”
I tried to keep myself going in a random zigzag pattern. I knew that it was hard enough to hit a moving target, and if we kept our path random, it would make us almost impossible to hit.
Hopefully.
That theory works with one shooter, but the militia men were spraying us with bullets. Still, most of them must have been used to shooting at paper targets because they managed to completely miss us. I could hear Trixie panting right behind me, and I was glad that she hadn’t tried to attack the men.
Chris collapsed as soon as we hit the tree line, and for one shameful moment, I considered leaving him behind. Instead, I dragged him back to his feet and slapped him hard.
“Ow. Why’d you do that?” he asked and squared his shoulders. Good, I thought. I was hoping his fight or flight would give him a second wind.
“We have to keep moving. We have to hide better than this.”
I wasn’t sure how far they would follow us into the woods or how many would give chase. We were most likely saved by the fact that the majority of the earth’s population hadn’t succumbed to the virus yet. If the militia chased us through the woods, it meant they might miss out on an easier target. Surely another car would be along soon.
The answer was, not very far. About five more minutes of fast walk limping and I couldn’t go any further. I had to stop, and when I did, Chris slumped against a tree and Liv dropped to her knees. Trixie sat down next to me and licked my hand.
“I don’t hear anything,” Chris whispered between sucking breaths.
“Yeah, I think they’re gone. Let’s rest for a minute and figure out what we’re going to do next.”
“The escort is still an hour’s drive away. How long do you think it will take us to walk?” Liv asked once she’d caught her breath.
“Several hours and it will be dangerous,” I answered.
“I can’t walk that long.”
“Did you bring your phone? Can you call your escort? Maybe they’ll go farther out if they know we don’t have a car anymore.”
“I’ll try,” she said and pulled her phone from her pocket.
I was relieved to see that she had her phone. I didn’t know what we’d do if we’d had to walk back. It would have been the end for everyone.
“We need to get clear of the militia. Can you guys make it two miles? My escort will pick us up there.”
Chapter Thirty-Eight
That was the longest two-mile walk of my life. Nothing in particular happened, but I could feel my body breaking down.
“Are you going to make it back to the lab?” I asked Liv through panting breaths. “You don’t look so good.”
She didn’t. Her skin was a shade of grey that I hadn’t known a living person could turn, and Liv’s beautiful, thick hair had begun to fall out. A mile back, she’d wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and her eyebrows had come out.
“I’ll call my lab assistant when the escort picks us up. Hopefully, they have a secure line. I can tell Sherry what to do. Normally, I would only do this myself, but we have no choice. She has to get the process started, and we have to hope that she doesn’t fuck it up.” Liv laughed. “Of course, in the state I’m in, I could just as easily screw us all.”
Six Months Later
She didn’t screw us all. Sherry, Liv’s lab assistant, did not mess up Liv’s instructions. By the time we made it back to the lab, the results were in. I didn’t completely understand the science behind it, but the protein that Liv introduced to the virus’s DNA shut it down.
Liv had what she needed in the lab to give Chris and me the protein therapy too. I’m sure that’s not something that’s supposed to be disclosed as it didn’t exactly get FDA approval, but we were most likely going to die anyway.
Since I saved Liv, and humanity, the government made the murders I’d committed disappear. Evan’s father was already dead of infection, and his mother had absconded to who knows where.
Lyle’s family tried to get answers, but with the whole killer plague thing going on, no one paid them much mind. They were also put at the end of the list for treatment once it was rushed through the approval process, and they died too.
There were a lot of dead bodies. Liv kept the world from ending, but the fatalities were staggering none the less. It took up until the last week or so for things to get back to anything approaching normal.
Chris decided to stay with me. He didn’t want to go home, and after the stories he’d told me since that day, I can’t blame him. No one came looking for him, either. He said that was because it was one less person for his mother to have to care for, so why would she care?
I think it’s because they’re dead. Either way, he put on thirty pounds and his already outstanding performance at school improved so much that his guidance counselor said he has a shot at valedictorian in high school. It’s amazing to me how they can know that stuff when the kid is a freshman, but hey, I guess the competition is fierce.
Everything seemed like it would be okay, and then there was a knock at the door. Liv’s hair was cut to her shoulders to hide some of the damage the virus had done, but it had grown back enough that you couldn’t see the patchy missing spots on her head anymore. Chris and I were lucky. We’d just shaved our heads to hide the damage.
She was a bit pale, but still looked much healthier than the last time I’d seen her. I smiled despite myself. I didn’t think I’d ever see her again. It’s not like we ran in the same circles.
“Can I come in?” she asked in a hushed tone.
“Sure,” I said. “Chris is here. I’m sure he’ll be glad to see you. Trixie too.”
“I don’t think any of you are going to be happy to see me.”
“Come in. Come in,” I said and shut the door behind her.
I had not seen it coming. I’d genuinely
begun to believe that everything would be alright. I hadn’t seen Kevin since the day we got Liv back to the lab. I’d almost convinced myself that he never existed. He’d been a fever dream, and I’d imagined Chris talking about him. Of course, I’d never had the courage to ask Chris. The truth was that I didn’t want to know. But there he was, standing behind Olivia in my family room. A twisted grin spread across his Kevin Spacey face.
“What do you mean there’s another virus?” Chris asked. He’d been in the kitchen and had overheard what Liv had been trying to tell me.
“The first virus was a key. It opens the door in our nervous systems for another virus. Only, it wasn’t complete when they released it. I don’t know if it was an accident or if they just needed me to finish the work.”
“Who is they?” I asked.
“Doesn’t matter. The new virus is here, and it’s using the first to infect hosts.”
“So, we’re going to die anyway?” Chris was near tears.
“That’s the thing,” Liv began. “The key virus needed a generation to mutate. So, those of us who got the first rounds of treatment are going to be fine.”
I tried to do the calculation in my head. Those who survived the initial disease were put into a lottery system. The government couldn’t treat everyone at once, so the protein therapy was done in waves. It was supposed to be random, but no one ever believed that.
Liv kept going. “So, the medical staff and the first round of the lottery are most likely fine. Everyone else was at least exposed to the mutated version of the virus. They have the key in them, and there is nothing I can do.”
“So, what happens if they get the second virus?” I asked. “That’s got to be about ninety percent of the surviving population.”
“You said your grandfather was a prepper.” Liv ignored my question. “Does he still have a place? I read about preppers after you left. They have a place where they bug out? Somewhere away from civilization where they keep their preps. Is your grandfather’s place still there? Do you know where it is?”
Oh shit, that’s why she’d come to me. That meant there was no hope, and Liv wanted me to take her to my grandfather’s place. I hadn’t spoken to him for years, but as far as I knew, he was still alive. Well, he’d been alive before the first sickness.
“Is that where we are?”
“My lab was the only place where I might have been able to find a cure or a treatment, but the other scientists decided to lock it down. There’s a bunker, and they decided to stay. I couldn’t imagine that. I didn’t want to die that way, so I escaped before the lockdown procedures finished. “
“But you could have found a cure,” Chris blurted out.
“I don’t think so,” Liv said gravely. “Not this time.”
I didn’t quite understand why we needed to run. If we were immune to the new virus, why couldn’t we just wait it out somewhere more local? And why had scientists who also must have been immune locked themselves in a bunker?
“Liv, I don’t understand,” I said. “We’re immune to the new virus, right? So why don’t we just wait it out? Why didn’t you stay with the other scientists?”
“Because, Will, they’re coming back.” Liv let out a strangled sob.
“Who, Liv? Who is coming back?” I asked in a state of utter confusion.
“The dead.”
Bump in the Night
Things That Go Bump in the Night Collection
Table of Contents
Devil Hour
The Attic
Demon Night
Devil Hour
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. – Ephesians 6:12
Prologue – The Choice
A hand shot out of the crowd and waved a fresh beer in my face. I wrapped my hand around the cold, glass bottle and contemplated whether I really wanted to drink another one.
The music was pounding, and dozens of people were swaying in time to the rhythm. Everyone around me had a slight sheen of sweat on their skin as they moved hypnotically. I wondered how we’d avoided having the cops called. Then, I remembered it was summer, and the town was abandoned since the college wasn’t in session. The only people who were left were the handful of locals, who didn’t live anywhere near this neighborhood, and the other kids who don’t go home for the break.
“I’m not sure I should have another one,” I said to Riley, but she wouldn’t take the beer back.
“Don’t be a square. You’ve had, like, one beer tonight.”
“Yeah, I’ve had one beer, but I had a shot of tequila too. I don’t want to drink too much.” I said in response.
“Drink the beer, Pollyanna.” Riley teased. “Oh, and Ryder was looking for you.”
“Ryder Collins was looking for me?” I tried not to sound too interested. “Where is he?”
“I saw him in the kitchen, but I think he said he was going to head to his room to watch some movie.” She said and playfully poked me in the arm.
“Do you think I should go?”
“Are you mental?” She said with one eyebrow raised. “He’s the hottest guy we know, and look at this place.”
Ryder’s house was more than impressive. It was one of the nicest houses in town, and he could live in it alone since he technically didn’t have to pay for it. His parents bought him the place when he’d started school, so he didn’t have to live in campus housing or rent one of the many apartments available around town. Ryder didn’t live alone, though, he rented two of the five bedrooms out to friends and pocketed the money.
“He asked me to come find him, Riley. He didn’t ask me to marry him.” I said with a laugh.
“Laugh now, Samantha, but we’re getting close to graduation. That puts us at a marriageable age and station in life. You could do a lot worse than Ryder.”
I just rolled my eyes at her and walked off. I’d only ever been in this house once before, and I wasn’t quite sure where his bedroom was located. After a few minutes, I was able to find him upstairs at the end of a long hall that partially overlooked the living area. I couldn’t believe that a college kid lived in this house, but from what I understood, it was a shack compared to Ryder’s family estate.
I knocked on the door and said “Knock knock,” at the same time. I wanted to kick myself for being such a huge dork. If I were him, I’d probably ignore me.
“Come in,” Ryder said through the door.
Pushing the door open, I was immediately aware of the distinct smell of roses. I thought it was strange, and my stomach roiled at the thought of him having just had another girl in there. I pushed it down and figured I’d give him a chance to explain before I stormed off. Just because Ryder could have any girl he wanted didn’t mean I was willing to be part of some sort of jock haram.
“It smells like perfume in here.” I blurted out as I hovered in the doorway.
“Yeah, Tiffany Granger was in here a minute ago, trying to climb me like a jungle gym, but I had to break her heart.”
“You sent her away?” I asked skeptically.
“Yeah, Sammy. There’s only one lady I’m interested in spending time with tonight. Pull up a seat.” He said and patted the bed next to where he sat.
I looked around for something else I could sit on, but there wasn’t anything I could easily scoot up to the desk. I swallowed the lump in my throat and crossed the room. It wasn’t like he was going to be on the bed with me. Ryder was sitting in a big, black leather office chair.
“I’ve heard rumors that you’re kind of into the occult. I have a movie I thought we’d watch. I hear it’s terrifying.” He said and pulled up some sort of imageboard website.
I’d never been to the website myself, but I’d heard rumors. I wasn’t sure if I was comfortable with watching anything posted there, but Ryder was so excited. I don’t know how he knew that I was into horror and the occult, but I blew it o
ff. Perhaps Riley had said something, or maybe Ryder was making it up. He had to be used to women just agreeing with him, and maybe it was a coincidence that I actually was kinda into the paranormal and occult.
“Is it a jump scare video?” I asked. “I hate jump scares.”
“I don’t know if I should tell you what it is ahead of time,” Ryder said with a wicked smile that crept across his face. “You might leave, but I think you’ll really enjoy this if you let yourself.
At this point, I’m completely freaked out. My skin was covered with goosebumps, and there was an icy chill that kept shooting from the base of my skull all the way down my spine. But, I couldn’t get up from my spot on the bed. I wanted to run, but for some reason, I couldn’t imagine not finding out what was on the video.
“I’ll watch,” I whispered.
Something in the air shifted when I said this. The air felt a little lighter, and I started to feel a bit warmer too. Just as Ryder was about to click play, someone knocked at the door.
“Damn.” He grumbled. “Give me a sec.”
Ryder minimized the window, and I guessed that was because he only wanted me to see what we were about to watch. It felt wrong, but it also made me feel perversely special.
Speaking of perverse. I noticed something that made my stomach churn for the second time in less than a half hour. One of the folders on Ryder’s desktop caught my attention. My eyes zeroed in on the words:
Kiddie Prawn
I shot up off the bed and prepared to bolt from the room as soon as he was done talking to whoever had summoned him out into the hallway. I got halfway across the room, and something in my mind stopped me.
“Maybe there’s a perfectly good explanation for it,” I whispered to myself. “Maybe it’s the name of some obscure band I’ve never heard of.” I rationalized. “I’ll wait. I’ll ask. I’m sure Ryder will explain.”
Dark Ends: A Horror Collection Page 17
