by Jerry Hart
The thought had crossed his mind that Marco was avoiding him because he was having trouble getting over Curtis’s constant lectures. Curtis was always getting on Marco’s case about being such a trouble seeker. He got arrested often and Curtis couldn’t stand it, especially since he was the one always bailing Marco out.
But in Curtis’s mind, he knew there was something more, that there was something terribly wrong. Marco hadn’t just been ignoring him; he’d been ignoring everyone. Marco’s parents, with whom he lived, hadn’t heard from him since the night he and Curtis had run into Les Huntington and his weird friend at the arcade, and deep down, Curtis knew that Les had something to do with this.
A few people had told Curtis he was overreacting, that Marco had only been missing a day, but he refused to listen to any of them. He needed answers, and, though it seemed a long shot, he’d decided to give in to the rumors he’d heard about a “fortune teller” named Nikki, who lived in the woods of Baker.
He’d never believed those rumors until he heard from a good friend that she was, in fact, real. That confirmation had been what Curtis needed to go through with it.
That and the strangeness going on in San Sebastian. Some people were just acting too weird for him. Not that San Sebastian wasn’t always weird, but now things were out of control. Certain people were walking around with blank expressions, constantly muttering “huh” every few seconds, even though there was never anyone to talk to. It was like they were talking to invisible people.
And then there was the discovery of David Hernandez’s body. It was terrifying for Curtis to think that David had been murdered at the party that he himself had attended, the top half of David’s head severed. Curtis made a note to mention it to the fabled Nikki when he saw her, but for now, his mind was only on Marco.
After the twenty-minute drive to Baker, Curtis had parked his truck at the edge of the woods and made the rest of the way on foot. Once deep inside the dark forest, he had been startled by some noises behind him, but couldn’t see what had made them. At one point, he’d been certain he heard someone moan “huh,” which positively made his skin crawl. He prayed those blank-faced people weren’t following him.
Finally he had come to a clearing to discover an old abandoned amusement park. At the front of the park rested a box office, and inside was a strawberry blonde who had just revealed herself to be the person he was looking for.
“Are you Nikki?” he asked.
“Yes, sir. And who might you be?”
“My name is Curtis Merriman,” he said.
“Nice to meet you, Curtis. How can I help?”
“Well, a friend of mine is missing and I was hoping you could tell me where he is.”
“Oh, dear, that’s a terrible business,” Nikki said sadly.
At the word business, Curtis remembered the charge that was required. “Anything you can manage,” his friend had told him when confirming Nikki’s existence. “Don’t be cheap, though.”
He pulled out his wallet, but Nikki stopped him.
“No, I didn’t mean that. This one’s on the house, but don’t tell anybody.”
Curtis smiled and put his wallet away.
“Tell me about this missing person,” she said. “As much detail as you can.”
“Well, his name is Marco Garcia. He’s five-nine, a hundred and eighty pounds…”
“Your best friend?” Nikki asked.
Curtis gasped. Perhaps it was just a lucky guess, or maybe she was the real deal. Suddenly Nikki, who had been wearing a kind smile, frowned.
“Curtis, I’m afraid Marco is dead.”
Curtis’s heart suddenly started beating so loudly he could barely hear anything else. “Are you sure? How do you know?”
“I can see the link in my head. I see that another friend is also dead.”
Bile rose in Curtis’s throat. “David,” he confirmed quietly before he could stop himself. He was close to vomiting. At first, he was ready to dismiss Nikki’s claim that Marco was dead, but found it impossible once she’d mentioned David.
“I truly am sorry,” she offered.
“What happened to Marco?” Curtis asked desperately.
“He was murdered … murdered by the same man who killed David.” She looked anxious now, as if she suddenly realized something important. “In fact, there’s someone here I think you should talk to.”
A noise caught Curtis’s attention. He spun around and saw a pale figure walking among the trees. It was too dark to get a good look, but Curtis had the distinct feeling the figure was a girl.
After a moment, the figure was close enough to see. It was a young, black-haired girl. She was wearing a pale-blue dress. Her skin was ghostly white. She looked lost.
“Looks like you have another customer,” Curtis told Nikki.
“I don’t think so,” she said awkwardly.
Curtis turned back to see the fortune-teller looked a little scared. The ghostly girl was now walking toward the park entrance. That’s when Curtis noticed two more figures emerging from the woods. One was a little boy around ten years old, the other an old woman. Both were just as pale as the young woman.
“I think you should come inside,” Nikki told Curtis. She was opening the door to the box office just as he was going through the turnstile, into the park.
Nikki grabbed his arm and dragged him toward a small building to the right. It looked like a gift shop. Before they could get there, someone emerged from the side of the building. It was a pale old man. Curtis and Nikki were close enough to see the man’s face clearly. There was something dripping from his eyes. It looked black against his wrinkled white skin.
The man blocked the entrance to the shop now. Nikki and Curtis started walking back toward the box office when the old man noticed them.
“Huh?” he moaned.
The sound of that sent a shiver down Curtis’s spine. Nikki yanked him back the way they had come. She threw open the box-office door and locked it once they were inside.
They were on the floor now, just under the counter. The ticket booth was incredibly dirty, Curtis noticed. There were lots of leaves and dead bugs littered around. He was certain he was sitting on some beetles, but he didn’t dare move.
He could hear people walking around right outside. There was no apparent reason to fear the pale strangers, but Nikki seemed worried and that was enough for him.
“Huh?”
The same sound was repeated over and over in a variety of different voices, some young, others old, male and female.
“What are they saying?” Curtis whispered.
Nikki shook her head. There was a lot of movement outside now, as if more people were joining. Curtis could hear the turnstile. Whoever these people were, they were entering the park.
* * *
Owen’s head was spinning. What Nikki had just revealed to him wasn’t computing. There was no way his dad could have created the orb. Owen had memories of constructing it himself. How could that be if he wasn’t the one who had done it?
A very brief thought came to him: Perhaps he had walked in on his father building it in his workshop, where he had always been working on something. Owen liked to think he had a decent memory, but maybe some of it had been suppressed.
Darlington was about to walk out of the room, but Owen stopped him.
“Is it true, what Nikki said?”
Darlington only stared at him. His constant silence was incredibly annoying.
“Never mind.”
With that, Darlington left Owen to his thoughts. After a few minutes, Owen was also up and moving. Sitting alone in the quiet room was driving him insane.
He was standing in the main store now when he noticed Darlington staring at something. Owen followed his gaze and saw a bunch of pale faces looking back at him.
At least ten people were standing outside the shop, all blank-faced, with dark tears dripping from their eyes. Owen was speechless. There were quite a few old people, but a couple of them were
young.
Just then, something struck Owen: All of these people reminded him of Chris the day he disappeared, from the pale, blank expressions to the strange tears. Though the thought had never occurred to Owen, he now knew these people outside the shop were not customers seeking Nikki’s advice. They were something else.
But why were they here? Almost as soon as he asked himself that, the answer came to him: the orb. Whatever he’d done with it earlier had something to do with what was happening now. It couldn’t be a coincidence.
Maybe it summoned them. But who were these people? Were they suffering from the same affliction as Chris? Had they been bitten by the monster Owen and his friends last hunted? Was Chris here, too? He was bitten, after all…
Owen stepped closer to the door and peered out onto the fairgrounds. There were a few more people shuffling toward him. They reminded him of zombies. Chris wasn’t among them, though.
While looking outside, Owen noticed someone waving at him from the box office. It was Nikki, and she was terrified. He had no idea what to do.
“Do you think you can get to Nikki?” he asked Darlington.
Darlington said nothing, but gave a quick nod. Owen ran back to the reading room to grab the orb. When he returned, Darlington was already outside, trying to make his way through the zombie crowd. It wasn’t easy for him, though. A couple of people shoved him around, still wearing blank masks.
There had to be twenty people inside the park now. The ones Owen initially saw were still staring at him. The others who were entering the park were either coming toward the gift shop or joining in the shoving of Darlington. And now Darlington was shoving back. His long limbs gave him quite a reach.
He managed to knock a few down, but others were now ganging up on him. A gray-skinned boy, no older than twelve, grabbed Darlington, lifted him over his head, and threw him into the air.
Darlington landed just outside the box office. Owen saw Nikki help him inside. The zombies closest to the entrance were attacking the little shack now. Owen went back into Nikki’s reading room. There had to be an exit somewhere.
And then he saw it. He ran to it and opened the door slowly. The coast was clear.
He decided he needed a clear view of his surroundings, so he climbed to the roof of the gift shop. Once there, he saw the park was now filled with zombies. Some were attacking the box office. Others were looking up at him. It was as if the place was open for business. This was probably the most people this park had seen in years.
Something told him the orb had everything to do with this, so he held it over his head, displaying it to the zombies. The effect was immediate: The zombies at the box office stopped attacking it and turned their attention to Owen.
Without even realizing it, Owen was messing with the orb again, his fingers working blindly across the smooth surface. Something was happening. The orb began to glow from within. He looked down, not knowing what he’d just done.
Suddenly the light expanded, washing over the crowd below. The zombies swayed slightly, as if a powerful breeze had just gone by.
Then there was absolute silence. The zombies were no longer saying “huh.” Even normal outdoor noises like frogs and insects ceased. Everything just stopped.
And then Owen remembered Nikki and Darlington in the ticket booth. Had they been affected as well? He called to them, his voice cutting through the silent air like a knife.
The office door opened and Nikki poked her head out. Her face looked blank.
“Are you all right?” Owen asked, his heart beating a little faster.
She gave him a thumbs up, clearly too afraid to speak. She hadn’t been affected. The zombies were still staring at Owen. He had no idea what to do now. Why were they so still? It was like they were waiting for something.
Another question crossed his mind: What had happened to all these people? There was no question that whatever Owen had done with the orb earlier that night had called them all here, but why did it affect them in the first place?
All of these zombies had the blank, pale expression Chris had worn the night he disappeared; they were all crying what appeared to be dark tears, the same as Chris. The only thing Owen could think was that Chris had been bitten by Eric. And Eric wasn’t human.
Stephanie Polansky, Chris’s friend, had also been bitten by Eric and was currently in a coma, brought on by a toxin he secreted. Was it possible that everyone here was suffering from the same thing? It couldn’t be. The thing that had bitten Chris and Stephanie had been badly injured in an alley fight, and there were way too many people here to have been attacked by that shape-shifting creature.
Unless there were more of them out there. Owen greatly wished Eric had been the last of his kind, and though Owen hadn’t killed him for sure, there was no way Eric was responsible for this epidemic.
Nikki was walking out of the box office, with Darlington limping close behind her. And then Owen noticed a third person joining them. He looked familiar, but Owen couldn’t place him.
For some reason, the trio was walking into the zombie crowd instead of away. Owen assumed they were trying to get back to the gift shop. The vaguely familiar guy looked nervous, though the pale-faced crowd seemed not to even notice them.
* * *
Curtis couldn’t believe the situation he was in. He was surrounded by what appeared to be zombies. And for some reason, instead of turning around and leaving, the psychic and her bizarre-looking friend were heading back into the thick of it.
“What are you doing?” he whispered to Nikki.
“I’m not leaving,” she said defiantly. “Nobody’s stopping you, though.”
Curtis looked around. He was surrounded by pale, expressionless zombies who were crying what looked like syrup. They were all staring at a blond-haired boy standing on the roof of the gift shop.
Stopping dead in his tracks, Curtis watched Nikki and her friend walk away. Enough was enough. He turned around and was startled to see the path they had taken was closed in by the zombies. They were all looking at him.
“Huh?” one of them, a middle-aged man, moaned.
And then another joined in. And now several were moaning the word. Curtis started shaking uncontrollably. He attempted to push through the crowd, but they resisted.
“Huh?” another squeaked, making Curtis jump.
Why did they keep saying that? He tried to find a path on either side of him, but these zombie freaks seemed to be closing in. Curtis started to panic.
A hand brushed against the small of his back, making him yell involuntarily. Another hand touched his shoulder. Curtis shifted and the hand fell away. Apparently the zombies were coming out of their stupors and were taking an interest in him, and for the first time that night, Curtis Merriman feared for his life.
* * *
Owen noticed pretty quickly that something was happening toward the rear of the zombie gatherers. The vaguely familiar boy had turned back and was trying to leave the park when the zombies blocked his way and started harassing him. It was only a matter of time before they really started getting rough.
Knowing he had to do something, Owen set the orb down on the roof and looked for a way to the ground. The middle of the zombie crowd turned their attention toward the rear while the front suddenly became interested in Nikki and Darlington, who were near the entrance of the gift shop.
* * *
She was only a few feet from the entrance of the shop, but Nikki could feel the atmosphere change. The zombies, who had been ignoring her and Darlington, were now looking straight at them.
“Huh?” one of them said behind her.
Nikki didn’t see which one, but she tried to read anything she could from the voice. She saw nothing whatsoever. This frightened her. The person to whom the voice belonged appeared to be an empty shell. Nikki had never encountered anyone like that before. The orb had given her similar results, but objects were often harder to read than people.
Fingers brushed against the back of her ne
ck, making her shriek. Darlington spun around and grabbed that person’s arm, and that’s when a sudden violent wave of bodies crashed down upon them.
* * *
Owen saw it all: The zombies suddenly attacked Nikki and Darlington in one fierce and quick motion. Owen was about to jump down and help when several pale figures exploded outward. Darlington lifted one of them over his head. Nikki was on the ground, kicking at several as they approached.
The other guy was also in danger, so Owen decided to help him first. He leapt far from the roof of the gift shop and landed in a clear patch of land a few feet from the zombies.
The guy fought them off as best he could. Owen kicked a couple away and threw a few more. When he was close enough, he grabbed the helpless man and ushered him toward Nikki and Darlington.
Once there, the four of them ran into the gift shop and secured the doors. The zombies smashed against the windows and walls, but the glass proved surprisingly strong.
“What the hell is going on?” the new guy asked.
Owen studied him closely. He looked so familiar. And then it hit him. He was friends with David Hernandez. His name was Curtis Merriman—
The orb!
Owen suddenly remembered he’d left it on the roof. He didn’t worry that the zombies would take it, but figured it best to reclaim it anyway.
“Look,” he said to the others, “I’m going to distract these things. You guys head for town. You have a car, right?” he asked Curtis.
Curtis nodded quickly. He looked more than ready to leave this place. Nikki, however, did not.
“Don’t tell me you’re not leaving,” Owen warned.
“This is my home.”
“You told me it was temporary,” Owen said, remembering what she said the night he met her—that she was saving up to buy a place. “I think now is the time to move.”
The zombies were still pounding on the doors. The glass was starting to crack. Time was short.
“Fine,” Nikki surrendered.
Owen smiled and patted her on the shoulder. “You guys get to his car,” he said, pointing to Curtis. “Drive to the nearest gas station and I’ll meet you there.”
