Dread (Dovetail Cove, 1978) (Dovetail Cove Series)

by Jason McIntyre

  We cowered from the rain inside the light room now, and I stumbled on unsure legs. Moort let me fall. I was never meant to be off the sea. I needed the tide under me.

  Metal floor grates led to metal stairs down to the doorway I had come through. I tried to reach for something to help me up but the door squealed open and we stopped. The ol’ doc emerged, panting from all those stairs. He started to say something, I thought, but then he clutched at his arm and his black eyes widened. His breath turned to a gurgle. His heart pills, I thought, and then the old bugger buckled and collapsed with a stunted gag. He fell forward with a whoosh of air and nearly fell on my feet. His head cracked on a piece of the big lamp and sliced open his forehead with a big red flap and a squirt of blood, like tomato sauce from a can.

  Frank Moort reached past me and pulled the last big shard of mirror from the spot lamp’s rim. He moved over to Doc in the darkness and rolled the man backwards. Then he drove the dagger of reflective glass into the fat old doctor’s gut just as he had the goat. He sliced up from the doc’s crotch, bleeding his own black blood into the widening gash.

  I wasn’t going to let this happen to me. Not like Mac. I got up and started to the doorway, past them, but Frank Moort’s other hand snaked out to my ankle. It was burning hot and I yelled out. Behind Doc, the door whined open again. It was Zeke. And he was upon me.

  14.

  My last memories before the voices started to crowd out my real thoughts buzzed in a haze of in-and-out, in-and-out. I felt drugged and thought of that needle on the tip of the white crustacean’s little mandible. That might not make much sense, but I guess that would be, what do they say? Par for the course?

  I was back downstairs in the under part of the lighthouse. A giddy Frank Moort clapped his hands together and said, “Let’s get this done up! I gots me a hot date to get ready for.” Then he hollered, “And Franklin W. Moort is hornier ‘n hell. Woooo!”

  The brick floor was up close. I struggled. I know I did. The translucent sac was torn open by Frank Moort’s gnawing yellow side-teeth. Goosh. And then a blurry black blob spilled out. When it uncoiled and came close to my eye I recognized it as another of the blood worms. But I had no way of pulling away from it. My head told me to run. To run, dammit. But my body wouldn’t move. I’m nearly certain Zeke had me locked up in a wrestling hold like the doc had used on Mac.

  Things shifted after the black worm-thing snaked under my lower eye lid.

  Whatever held my arms and legs receded like the tide going out. I don’t know if time passed or not. In a hazy cataract, I saw Zeke lay down on the cold floor beside me and close his black eyes as if he was willfully going to sleep in his own coffin. The throng of white crickets had returned and moved over him like a blanket, covering him completely. He was just a man-shaped shroud of crickets that floated along the floor and out into the breakwater tunnel...

  My mind wandered. This feeling? It wasn’t elation. Not like when you get your teeth worked on and the pretty girl puts a mask over your mouth. This was a helpless euphoria. I felt something coming, an impending weight. A pall to bear. I was scared of it, still am.

  I couldn’t see Moort but I could hear him say, “Give yer sister a kiss for me next time ya see ‘er...” He capped his words with a puckered smooch sound. There was a burning heat in my rectum. No doubt, it was one of those white-plated crustaceans, ripped from the belly fat of ol’ Doc Sawbones, clawing its way through the pathway of my anus. As Frank Moort had said, it would begin rebuilding things.

  Hmm? What? Oh yes, I’m getting to that part. You’ll have to excuse me. I’m receiving the signal now and it’s hard to concentrate. After the critters found their way into me, I had only shallow memories of Frank Moort giving weird instructions before I staggered out of the lighthouse and through the pelting rain to my brother’s white Ford truck up on the hill. He had said things like “You didn’t think you was the only brothers on the island we wanted, didja?” and “The signal will guide you. They gotta be in pairs, though. Singles won’t please the hive, Y’hear? You’ll go out...and you’ll find ‘em. Find ‘em all and bring ‘em back...bring ‘em back for the King.”

  Mac’s keys tumbled from the flipped-up visor, just where he always put them. I started the engine and drove slowly through the rain, the wipers whining and struggling to keep up with its steady sheets.

  Frankie Moort had said one last thing that I could hold on to before memories went away from me, just poured off my twisted mind like thick, black blood.

  He had said, “May the road rise to meet ya.”

  I hear the same voices Frank Moort does now. And I know what he meant when he called it “the hive.”

  ~ fin ~

  The Dovetail Cove saga doesn’t end here. In DEATHBED (1971), go back in time and discover how the madness began in Dovetail Cove. In BLED, journey to 1972 with Frank Moort and Teeny who serve up more than pineapple cheesecake at the Highliner Cafe. In ZED (1975), Tom Mason learns what evil truly looks like. In UNWED (1976), Bexy McLeod faces off against the entire town. In SHED (1977), we find Simon and Rupert dealing with the trials of a new stepfather. And in DREAD (1978), Mac and Dave McLeod return home to the island and embark on a murder mystery of sorts, revealing even more terrible truths about the island.

  *All Dovetail Cove books tie to each other but can be read in any order.

  DEATHBED (Dovetail Cove, 1971) LEARN MORE >

  The Dovetail Cove saga begins here—in July, 1971. Farrah’s on summer break and she’s sure to tell you she’s NOT twelve, she’s TWELVE-AND-A-HALF, thank you very much. And tonight, she’s sneaking out to visit her Gran and show her a ‘mystery box’ she’s stumbled across at the Main Street Summer Market, dead certain there’s a story hidden within. And she’s right. Events reach back to 1956 and a shadowy ‘incident’ that started the darkness on the island. Only a handful know the true details of the incident. And even fewer have witnessed this new darkness, but Farrah will catch a glimpse of it tonight…at the edge of her Gran’s DEATHBED.

  BLED (Dovetail Cove, 1972) LEARN MORE >

  Tina McLeod is on the cusp of a new life. Extraordinary change is rare in her world but this newsflash means she can finally leave her small island town for good. No more pouring coffee for townsfolk in Main Street's greasy spoon, no more living under the weight of her born-again mother. That is, until Frank Moort comes in for his usual lunch and dessert on an ordinary Friday in May.

  FLED (Dovetail Cove, 1973) LEARN MORE >

  In this noir chapter of the Dovetail Cove saga, it’s May Day, 1973, and Charles Scobie finds himself hitched to Chrissy Banatyne, the daughter of the wealthiest and most talked-about power couple on the island. And, of all the rotten luck, Chrissy’s honeymoon destination of choice brings her home, while bringing Charlie back to an icy batch of memories he’s trying to leave behind. Desperate to finally outrun a violent childhood, a disastrous start to his career, and his estranged family, Charlie believed he could finally set everything right after one last backroom deal, executed on a snowy night—right here in this very island town. Now, Charlie’s gotten used to the high life. Newlywed and wealthy, he has everything going for him. Still, it seems, no matter how fast Charlie runs, he finds himself right back where he started.

  REDHEAD (Dovetail Cove, 1974) LEARN MORE >

  “My name is Frances Margaret Banks and I’ve killed two men.” So begins the account of Dovetail Cove’s most notorious Lady of The Red Light in her rented room above Lowballs Pub on Beacon Street. When she meets Sean, a seemingly noble client who takes her services despite his beautiful young family waiting at home, she knows the relationship needs to end. And yet, drawn into his world of security, mystique and, yes, even love, Fanny is compelled to maintain ties with Sean, even if they turn out to be fatal.

  ZED (Dovetail Cove, 1975) LEARN MORE >

  It’s the waning dog days of August, 1975 and Tom Mason’s in Dovetail Cove for the last few weeks of his summer job at the group home. His boss and the hom
e’s owner is Karen Banatyne, one of the wealthiest folks in town. It seems like she’s got it in for Tom; she's the only one standing in his way as he scrimps for a new camera. But Karen has her own problems. A regulatory agency might cut off her funding, plus her hubby hasn’t been seen in a few weeks, and she’s not saying why. Most ominous of all, it seems as though something’s hiding in the hot spring north of the main beach and one of Karen’s ‘houseguests’ is about to come face to face with evil. Tom is too.

  UNWED (Dovetail Cove, 1976) LEARN MORE >

  It’s January, 1976 and Bexy McLeod gets roped in to helping Dovetail Cove’s retired doc as he deals with St. Dominic’s latest problem. Having tangled with the town’s church-going community for years, Bexy knows she shouldn’t get involved. Wheelchair-bound after an accident left her a paraplegic, she might be the least-sensible choice. Trouble tends to follow the widow and the last thing Bexy needs is confrontation. But now she’s finding herself enamoured with the young woman she’s helping. Bexy may just have to go toe-to-toe with one of the most prominent members of Dovetail Cove’s upper crust…and its head priest.

  SHED (Dovetail Cove, 1977) LEARN MORE >

  Simon and Rupert spend their days playing in the fields out near the old power station but at night, a visitor comes for them. Older brother Simon shoulders the burden of their stepfather Everett and his greedy dominion over their Mama. But the brothers must now stand together to heal the wounds of their real father’s departure and brace themselves for a harrowing showdown with Everett.

  DREAD (Dovetail Cove, 1978) LEARN MORE >

  Mac and Dave McLeod are thirty-something bachelor brothers, back in the tiny island town of Dovetail Cove after more than a decade away. They're here for a funeral, despite Mac's looming feeling that things aren't quite right in their childhood home, nor anywhere else across town. It doesn't take long for a mysterious visitor at the wake to embroil the McLeod boys and the island doc in a game of whodunit involving one of Police Chief Birkhead's unsolved files. Things get macabre when the boys discover a link to their parents in the mess. And the visitor who starts it all might just be a walking cadaver gone missing out from under the coroner's nose.

  INSTEAD (Dovetail Cove, 1979) LEARN MORE >

  It’s New Years, 1979 and a freak snowfall marks the return to Dovetail Cove of one of its lost residents. North of town, at Grandpa Danny Hellegarde’s house, his granddaughter and daughter reunite with him, bringing family secrets, buried trauma and a new turmoil. Danny’s beloved golden retriever has made the wrong kind of friends — and when they arrive at the Hellegarde house in the woods, they bring with them a secret…and a terrible, dark figure.

  <> <> <>

  If you’ve enjoyed this story, why not spend a minute to leave a short review where you bought it? It helps the independent author who wrote it to be able to keep writing and delivering the stories you love. And, hey, it’s good karma!

  Special Offer

  Right now, for a limited time, if you leave a short review at the retailer where you downloaded this story, and send a link for the review to me at jason@thefarthestreaches.com, I’ll send you a free copy of any other of my paid stories you like.

  Reviews don’t need to be long! A sentence or two is all it takes to explain why you liked the story and whether you’d read more.

  <> <> <>

  About the Author

  Jason McIntyre has lived and worked in varied places across the globe. His writing also meanders from the pastoral to the garish, from the fantastical to the morbid. Vibrant characters and vivid surroundings stay with him and coalesce into novels and stories. Before his time as an editor, writer and communications professional, he spent several years as a graphic designer and commercial artist.

  McIntyre's writing has been called noir and sophisticated, styled after the likes of Chuck Palahniuk but with the pacing and mass appeal of Stephen King. The books tackle the family life subject matter of Jonathan Franzen but also eerie discoveries one might find in a Ray Bradbury story or those of Rod Serling.

  Jason McIntyre’s books include the #1 Kindle Suspense, The Night Walk Men, bestsellers On The Gathering Storm and Shed, plus the multi-layered coming-of-age literary suspense Thalo Blue.

  Learn more about the author and his work at:

  www.theFarthestReaches.com