The Damned Summer (The Ruin Trilogy)

by Weaver, Scott

  Steve's stomach got cold as his attention was suddenly riveted back to the recap of the campy horror flick.

  "Then the visions change to the future, where we see the couples baby being born and taken straight to the cooking pot. It also shows the other females that are in the research party being raped by the monsters so they can eat their babies too. The vision ends with it showing how these things keep the women for years, doing the same thing, over and over for the rest of their lives."

  Steve's eyes drifted back to the pit, as the cold traveled up his chest and into his brain.

  "Anyways," the worker waved back at the pit. "That was what this hole made me think of when I first saw it." His knees popped as he stood back up. "But what do I know? Every time I hear a bump in the night, I think for a moment that a zombie invasion has begun. Guess maybe I should just stick to watching reality TV, huh?"

  It took a moment for Steve to find his voice. "Yeah, maybe."

  With a smile, he patted Steve on the shoulder. "Have a good night, boss. I'll see you later."

  "Yeah, you too," he looked back at the pit, wondering what the name of the movie was that the excavator had watched. He turned back to ask, but he was gone.

  "How the hell did he disappear that quick?" he asked the empty parking lot. Maybe he had been staring at the pit longer than he had thought.

  "I need a beer," he said aloud again, making his way to his truck. It just occurred to him that he never even got the guy's name. So much for asking around for him tomorrow, he couldn't even really remember what he looked like. He was wearing a hat that was advertising something, but what hat doesn't?

  Chapter 13 False Endings

  Drew and Johnny had been sitting in the park for over an hour now.

  "He's not coming," Drew commented.

  "Lazy ass is probably sleeping it off," Johnny added.

  Drew stood up. "I'm leaving."

  Johnny watched him take a couple of steps "Smoothing things with that fat ass might make things easier in the short term," the woman from last night whispered into his head. "If the chips are down, you know Jake will side with Drew, not you."

  So it wasn't consideration for anyone other than himself that got Johnny talking. "Hey."

  Drew glanced back, not quite turning all the way around.

  "I know you and me aren't ever going to make much of a team without Jake around, but things have gotten outta hand lately."

  Drew turned the rest of the way around. "Think so?" He asked with a flat stare.

  Johnny pushed down the anger that was starting to boil. Like he needed to apologize to this chubby shit. He did that last night! Not that he meant a word of it. "C'mon man, you know I was just tryin' to have a good time, and I admit I took it too far last night. I should have been more... considerate of you and Jenny."

  Drew was speechless for a moment, utterly at a loss. At least until the absurdity of such civil words coming out of such a nasty mouth was fully absorbed in Drew's mind.

  Looking straight up at the clouds, Drew let out a deep belly laugh. "If you think for one moment, I believe that giant lo--"

  Johnny leapt from the pick-nick table, landing right in front of Drew, nose to nose.

  "Don't you fucking laugh at me!" He hissed.

  The humor was gone, as Drew was surprised into silence once again. Their eyes mere inches from one another. Drew was a good judge of character, and he had figured out Johnny a long time ago, but something in his eyes was different this time. Anger was there, fear maybe in exposing himself, but also maybe guilt.

  ”What the hell?" Drew thought to himself. "Who is this guy?"

  "Okay," Drew said, stepping back and giving Johnny a chance he didn't really deserve. "My bad, but this isn't really your way. You can understand my skepticism."

  Johnny nodded his head, going back and sitting on the table, words floated in his mind that weren't his, confusing the hell out of him.

  Drew let out a sigh. "Listen man, no worries. We're cool, I'll talk to you later." He took another step back but hadn't turned back to his car yet.

  "That shit with the waitress, that really pissed me off," the words came out of Johnny's mouth almost on their own. "I really wanted to fuck you up after that."

  Drew pointed to his bruised face. "I think you got your dues on that."

  "I just wanted you to understand why I got so hostile about everything."

  "I do man, like I said: we're good."

  "Back when my mom left home, when I was just a fucking kid," Johnny looked into the palm of his hand, picking at something. "We never knew where she went, never heard anything again."

  "Yeah, that was some horrible shit," Drew nodded his head, trying to figure out where the hell this was going now.

  "She whispered in my ear that the night mom left, she went with her." Johnny spit off to the side. "They ran off on some lesbian vacation to Terre Haute. The last time Sue saw my mom was a week later when she left her passed out at some crack house."

  "Damn, John, I had no idea Sue said any shit like that," Drew stammered. "I never would have brought that up--"

  Johnny waved him down. "I know man, I know. You got more class than that. Too bad I don't have the tact you do, then I wouldn't have said the shit I did later that night."

  "Did you just use the word 'tact'?" Drew asked.

  Johnny shrugged. "I don't know, I guess, why?"

  "Perhaps my extensive vocabulary is finally rubbing off on you," Drew smiled.

  Johnny looked off, shaking his head. "Whatever, smart-guy."

  "I'm heading out." Drew said with a shake of his keys.

  "I'd appreciate if we kept the Sue story between us," Johnny said. "If that's cool?"

  "Sure," Drew turned and walked towards his car.

  "Hey, can you give me a ride home?"

  Drew replied without turning back. "Man, I just did you one favor, now you're already asking for another?"

  "C'mon, man, it's a four mile walk!"

  Drew waived his arm. "Fine, you'll probably want a smoke for the drive as well."

  Johnny jogged to catch up with him. "Yeah, that would be cool."

  From the shadows, the demon watched them drive off. "Like candy from a baby," it said to the same squirrel Johnny had been talking to earlier.

  Steve drove home as thoughts of the stupid, damn horror flick floated through his head.

  "Baby eaters," he whispered. "How could he have reached that conclusion from some old movie?"

  How the worker had came to the conclusion was irrelevant, the simple fact was he had nailed it. For some reason the natives at the site had killed and then cannibalized their young for an as yet unknown length of time, but the evidence was present that it had happened more than once. It did not appear to be an isolated incident.

  The remains that they had excavated had shown a rise in the mortality rate across the board in all age groups in one of the older pits, supporting the theory of disease, but that had yet to be confirmed scientifically. The lab reports on the bones hadn't come back yet.

  It was the newer pit that they had just started excavating the last few months that had only bones of children. Bones that displayed evidence of being sacrificed and then stripped of their flesh, like cows at a slaughterhouse.

  "Why would killing the children have actually stopped this unknown epidemic that was killing the entire population?" He asked himself. "And even if it did work, how the hell would the tribe have been able to figure that out?"

  He shook his head in frustration, he was no expert when it came to infectious diseases and the research he had done on his own had come up empty finding a disease that's primary carrier was human children. He was slowly coming to the conclusion that he was going to have to call in a real expert to look at the evidence. Which would not only be expensive but would likely cause a media frenzy.

  "An ancient, diseased tribe that ate their own babies," Steve said with a sigh. "Sounds like the sequel to the stupid ass movie the dig worker tol
d me about."

  He had yet to come across evidence at any other site of infant cannibalism to the magnitude he had found at the dig. The reports usually involved isolated incidents at best, and even those were quite rare.

  "Nothing more than scary fairy tales, most likely." He blew out a sigh. "At least until now."

  He drove down the road to his house, passing the large rock where his daughter had lost her virginity just recently. The same place that was the final resting place of the very answer to his questions about his dig. Answers his scientific brain wouldn't have been able to really believe.

  The demon puma's claws slashed across Raven's right wrist and fingers, forcing her knife from her hand, landing on a nearby rock with a quiet tap. She got her left arm up in front of her face just in time to meet the beast's jaws. She screamed in pain as the bones in her forearm snapped under the puma's bite. Clenching her flesh ragged right fist into a ball, she jammed her thumb into the demon's eye, refusing to give in to the monster.

  The puma flinched as she pierced its eye, then snapped at her hand, catching it in her jaws, snapping more of her bones in its maw yet again.

  She didn't have another breath to scream from the pain, all she could do is let out a hissing sigh. Her vision starting to double and fade.

  That was when her brother came surging forward from the darkness. The monster sensed him, but wasn't quick enough to stop him from bringing his tomahawk down on its skull with a massive crack.

  The panther screamed in pain, rearing back to attack the boy. Its claws slamming on either side of his face as it took him to the ground. Raven saw her brother stab out at the cougar's neck right as it covered over him.

  "No!" she whispered as the demon ripped the life from River.

  The panther turned back to her, barely able to still stand, River's knife sticking out of its neck, leaking blood like a sieve. They looked at one another, fury and hatred in equal measure.

  "He ended you," Raven spoke. "Your curse ends here. You might have killed my people, but you never broke us." She swallowed blood to clear her throat. "We broke you."

  The monster tried to take another step forward, but slumped to the side, dead.

  "There will be another time, little bird," a voice whispered in her mind. "You can't escape your fate."

  "My fate is what I make it, not what you say it is," she replied right before her breath stopped and she passed on to the spirit world.

  Chapter 14 Carnival of Souls

  Early June moved into mid July in the small farming town of Storm, Illinois. An old man and his dog got better nights' sleep than they had in quite some time for an unsaid agreement; while a young woman’s sleep became continuously troubled as time moved forward. A young man and his sick mother slept the same as before the summer: sometimes in drug induced bliss, other times in wakeful torment. The strange triangle between a girl and two boys that were usually together but would never say they were friends didn't change at all. One thing they did all share was a feeling of an ominous cloud on the horizon for some unknown reason.

  July marked the coming of the carnival to town. The townspeople would be coming to the fairgrounds to feast upon delicious, unhealthy treats and throw away their money on cheap prizes and even cheaper rides. Some would come to celebrate a short-lived thing known as youth. Others would come to try and relive what was now gone from their lives. What they sought was nothing more than a phantom, and even though they knew this they always came back.

  Parents came with young children, thriving in the new excitement their children got from the rides that were much more dangerous than they ever expected. The kids squealed and laughed as the machines spun around and the gears groaned and clanked in hazardous tones. Mothers looked on with smiles as fathers took pictures with overpriced cameras. Those in love were also here. Enjoying one another’s company and making memories that they would carry for the rest of their lives.

  Pedophiles, drug dealers and others of bad intent also came to the carnival, looking for victims, customers or simple opportunity. To the carnival came both sides of the war, both good and evil. It was here that they mingled with one another, like wolves and sheep, like knights and dragons. It was at places like the carnival that hosted the beginnings of battles between good and evil.

  Shane Cooper sat at his kitchen table in the late morning, sipping a cup of instant coffee, thinking about his long gone wife, where she was and if maybe someday she might come back.

  Johnny, his one and only pain in the ass son, shuffled into the room, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Neither acknowledged one another.

  "Hey, hey," Johnny said, looking out the window at his Mustang. "You managed to get that piece of shit home, after all." He turned to his dad. "How many times did it die?"

  "None," his father replied with a glare. "If your lazy ass would have helped me more, it would be in even better shape than it is now."

  Johnny yawned. "Can only do so much with a lost cause."

  "You're walking proof of that," his dad said with a sneer.

  The demon had been working in the head of both of them for quite some time now, cultivating their dislike of one another into genuine hate, turning their self blame into being victim of the other's mistakes. As Johnny put his fists on the table, leaning down towards his dad, the fiend smiled from the shadows of the kitchen, knowing his hard work was about to bloom.

  "Yeah," Johnny agreed with a smile. "But if we wanted an even better example of that, it would be mom."

  Shane stood up, pushing his finger into Johnny's chest like it was a knife. "She never would have left if it hadn't been for that mouth of yours, you piece of shit!"

  "Oh yeah, it's all my fucking fault for having a big enough pair to tell her how much of a nasty slut she was!"

  Shane replied by slamming his coffee cup into Jonny's temple, shattering the cup that was nearly empty with coffee that was luke-warm at best, so at least the liquid didn't do any additional damage. The blow sent Johnny stumbling to the side, crashing into the kitchen counter and cabinets.

  His father came at him full speed, as Johnny tried to blink away the pain and dizziness, blood oozing down the side of his cheek.

  "I told her we should have had an abortion as soon as we found out she was pregnant," he punched his son in the stomach, doubling him over. "But the hormones had already got a hold of her, making her all sentimental. She finally agreed with me, but you were close to three years old by then, so we were stuck with you." Shane grabbed him by the back of the head, bringing his knee up towards Johnny's face.

  Johnny saw it coming, pushing the knee out to the side as it moved upwards, so it grazed past his ear instead of crushing his nose. The action caused Shane to lose his balance, making him let go of Johnny and grabbing at the counter to stable himself. Johnny wouldn't have it, grabbing Shane's other leg behind his knee, yanking up, sending Shane crashing to the kitchen floor.

  The back of Shane's head was the first part of his body to come in contact with the floor, nearly knocking him unconscious as his vision swayed back and forth.

  "Damn right you should have aborted me," Johnny replied, stomping on Shane's face, removing the sliver of consciousness he still possessed. "It's the only way you would have survived today." He stomped on his father's head three more times.

  Staggering back, he went to the bathroom, washing the blood from his face. Upon closer examination, the cut was rather small, and most of the bruise would be behind his hairline.

  "Cool," he said to the mirror. "Nobody will probably even see it." It did hurt like hell though, and he was still a little dizzy, so he sat down on the stool, giving himself a moment to rest and recoup.

  The original impact that Shane's head had with the floor had resulted in a minor concussion, the additional stomps to his head had resulted in brain herniation, which slowly causes the brain to start swelling.

  Johnny glanced down at his father, whose eyes were open, but his pupils pointed in different directions, bloo
d pooling under his head.

  Instead of being concerned Johnny giggled, walking out the door. "Got what you deserved, ya goofy fuck.

  Johnny roared down the road in his Mustang as Shane's brain slowly started to swell, leading him closer to death as he lay on the kitchen floor. He had planned on going to work after he finished his coffee, but since he showed up whenever he wanted, his employer wouldn't even notice his absence until close to four o clock, when he came by the shop to see it still locked up.

  "No pay today, ya damn drunk," Chuck said as he drove on by. "Hope you had a good time."

  And with that, no one else thought about Shane Cooper until late the next day, when his body was found by the police, when they came to tell him about Johnny.

  Jake opened the freezer and grabbed a new pack of cigarettes. His opened pack was half full but they were going to the fairgrounds tonight, so he knew he would need a lot of smokes. Easy girls always bummed cigarettes.

  “This is opening night, isn’t it?” his mother asked as she shambled toward the fridge.

  “Yeah,” Jake replied, stuffing the smokes into his shirt pocket.

  “Could you hand me the tea?” She asked, pointing towards the fridge with a cup in her hand, half melted ice cubes swirled in the near empty glass.

  “Have a seat,” he said as he took her glass and nodded at the kitchen table. “I’ll get this for ya.”

  “Thank you,” she said, nearly falling into the chair.

  He poured the brown liquid into her cup and sat it in front of her. “You need to take it easy, mom. Let the meds do their job.”