Only after the nurses left did Blake become aware of the patient’s ragged breathing. He turned his head to the side almost involuntarily. There was a man lying there, thin, extremely pale, with black hair slicked back away from his forehead, where stood a map of veins standing out in bas relief, like three dimensional highways to the cliffs of his shaggy brows. His chest was rising and falling in slow syncopation along with his ragged breathing, when the breathing seemed to change slowly, imperceptibly to syllables, as if he were trying to speak. “B…B…”
Fulton Blake watched from his bed in a kind of awe.
“B… Blake,” the thing finished in a hush, as if it were releasing steam, and turned its head to the side to look at him.
Blake’s eyes opened wide. The thing that was once a man sat upright in the bed, shedding the bed sheet that lay across its chest. It fell to the floor as it swiveled to face Blake.
“Blake,” it hissed again, “I’ve come for you.”
The silver-haired hunter leapt up from his bed as if he was spring activated, his debilitating weakness for the moment forgotten.
“You’ve made such a fine mess of our kind, you musssst pay.” The vampire cocked its head to the side as if eyeing an insect it was intent on swatting, its mouthful of sharp teeth spread wide in a grimace.
As it came toward him, Blake circled around to the other side of the bed, putting a barrier between them. His hand stretched out behind him, reaching, his eyes never leaving the vampire’s sight. Fumbling in fright, Blake found what he was looking for- his cane. He raised it up waveringly in the vampire’s general direction.
The creature burst out laughing. “What are you going to do with that old man? Beat me over the head with a stick?”
“Not quite,” Fulton said. The stick, of which the vampire spoke was nearly an inch in circumference, made of solid oak. Blake could barely lift it, but he turned it over now, hook side down, and twisted the silver screw-in cap at the tip, revealing a sharp wicked point underneath.
The vampire threw itself across the room at him, soaring over the bed. Blake lifted the cane, pointing it up into the air. The vampire collided with him, flying directly into its path, the point of the stick sinking into the creature’s chest. They tumbled onto the linoleum, the creature shrieking something fierce. Blake didn’t have time to use the alarm button, so he assumed that was the sound that eventually brought the nurses in. No one appeared to be rushing to his aid at the moment.
Incredibly Blake was able to push himself up on his hands and knees. The vampire was still rolling around on the ground, the bare point of the improvised stake piercing his heart. Dazed and dizzy Blake staggered backward, steadied himself. He looked down at the struggling vampire with loathing and an undeniable anger gave him the adrenaline and renewed strength he needed. He grasped the cane’s handle and pushed down on it with all his might. The vampire screeched.
“Die,” Blake spat, “Die you cocksucker!” He sounded old and bitter, even to himself. The vampire, in its death throes looked up at him with a hate that would be frightening to most. But Blake had seen that look hundreds of times, and this was no different. He jammed the stake in further.
“Goddamned vampires; won’t even let me die in peace!!”
Now officially dispatched, Blake knew he had little time. He thanked God for once, for the nurse’s blessedly slow response time. He bent down as far as he could and snapped the cane, leaving an inch or so protruding from the vampire’s chest. Quickly, with an effort he kicked the body under the bed. He breathed heavily, his body overworked, and swayed perilously. Suddenly his body stiffened. It felt as if something in his brain misfired, and a lead weight had suddenly hit his chest. He realized he was going into cardiac arrest. He fell sideways into the bed, in spasms.
The nurses finally came. They must have assumed that he’d been the one doing the screaming, and that this “event” was the reason why. He didn’t hear much of what they said. He was in and out for those few seconds, although he thought he heard the nurse furthest away ask distractedly, “Where’s the other patient?”
The part he didn’t hear, because he was unconscious at that point, was the nurse’s reply: “Who?”
“The John Doe, the one that just came in? He was practically a walking corpse.”
The other nurses shrugged, and the doctor that came in after attempted to stabilize him. No one noticed the body under the bed, hidden by the overhanging sheets, as Blake was lifted and wheeled off into another room. Fortunately there was little blood, and by morning light there would be nothing but ash beneath the bed, the only telltale sign there had ever been a struggle the broken pointed cane, which one maid by the name of Consuela found and kept to herself as a curiosity to show and tell her friends.
2
October
The door to the dining hall cracked open with a minute squeak as the first of them arrived. Jeremy looked up from his seat at the head of the empty table. A man poked his head in, the dirty blonde hair streaked through with black instantly recognizable, though slightly disheveled and a tad longer in the back.
Jeremy rose from his chair. “Johnny,” he said.
“Jeremy! Holy shit man! It’s good to see you bro!”
They met halfway. Jeremy offered his hand which Johnny shook, and they briefly hugged.
“It’s good to see you too man,” Jeremy replied. “You look good Johnny.”
“Yeah, you too. Guess time has been good to us.”
“Yeah,” Jeremy said, “At least in the aging department.”
“Right, right.” Johnny bowed his head as if ashamed.
“Well. Come on over, let’s sit.”
Before they could the door opened again. Another instantly recognizable form stepped through. He hadn’t really known what to expect, but Jeremy supposed he wasn’t expecting Tony to keep up his exercise regimen into his 40s. The muscular behemoth that entered
the room proved him wrong.
“Tony!”
“Jeremy!”
The two of them hugged fiercely. Jeremy was nearly crushed.
“Okay, ease up big guy. These ribs don’t need any cracks.”
Tony laughed. “Wow, Jeremy, man it’s been too long.”
“Yeah, too long.”
“Johnny,” Tony said, noticing him fully for the first time. He clapped him on the back.
“Tony,” John smiled. “How’s it going?”
“Good, good,” he lied. The truth was he did feel good, right now.
“Don’t let me interrupt this love fest,” Staci said from the doorway.
“Staci!” they all called out at once. They each walked over and hugged her. No one failed to notice that she held onto Jeremy just a little longer. There was a brief evocative eye contact between them as they broke the embrace.
“It’s good to see you Staci.”
“It’s good to see you too Jeremy,” she said, and turned her head both ways. “It’s good to see all of you.”
Jeremy shook his head, “We’re not all here yet. We’re missing…”
“Myron,” Johnny finished.
The door had automatically clicked shut, although it was unlocked, but within seconds there was a knock.
“Could that be…?” Staci giggled. They were all chuckling a little.
“Come in,” Jeremy said.
It was Myron. But they were more surprised to see him than he was to see them.
The man that stepped through was well dressed, in a cable knit sweater and slacks, meticulously groomed, and handsome in an unassuming manner. A far cry from the gawky, stereotypical nerd they all knew. He’d even got rid of the glasses.
“Myron?!” they gasped.
“Oh my God!” Staci squealed, delighted.
“My man!” Johnny said, impressed, clapping him on the back as he entered.
“Looking good,” Tony said. Jeremy nodded.
“You look so handsome,” Staci said.
Myron blushed. “Thank you gu
ys.”
There were hugs all around.
“All right,” Jeremy said, feeling good again, “Let’s all sit and chat. I’ll let the server know we’re ready and to bring us some menus. It’s all on me. Well… not me, really, Blake.”
“Blake,” they murmured in hushed reverence. Jeremy saw the question in their eyes.
“Later,” Jeremy said. “Let’s eat and catch up. There’ll be plenty of time for formalities later.” He got up to fetch the server. “There’ll be someone else joining us in an hour or so. For the moment, let’s simply enjoy each other’s company.
3
Food on its way, and all seated and waiting patiently, Jeremy spoke. “I guess I’ll start and we’ll just go around the table, since I brought you all here.”
“I thought we were skipping formalities,” Johnny said, smirking. They laughed.
“Okay fine, you can start wise ass,” Jeremy said. “Tell everyone what you’ve been up to.”
They watched him expectantly. Johnny shifted, momentarily uncomfortable with the spotlight on him. He got over it quickly.
“Well, okay. I moved to Missouri a few months after I graduated from Liberty High. My stepfather was living with us again. He got a job there and we all moved to St. Louis. I met a girl when I turned eighteen and moved out of the house, moved in with her, mainly to get away from my stepdad.”
Staci nodded with complete understanding.
“We were together for like three years or something. We were both working odd jobs to make ends meet. Then I got a job as a bounty hunter.”
“No shit,” Tony said.
“No shit,” Johnny agreed. “She actually left me a few months after ’cause I was gone a lot, chasing criminals and whatnot.”
“What made you want to do that?” Staci asked.
He looked at her for a moment, intensely, as if he hadn’t thought of that before.
“I think mainly I wanted to do something positive with my life. I’d wasted most of my youth being bitter and angry, hating my stepfather, running with the Dragons. I thought if I bring in criminals for a living, it’ll keep me from becoming one again. And it was an outlet for my rage. I could take it out on people that actually deserved it.
Anyway, I did that for a few years and got tired of it. I think it was emotionally exhausting on me, dealing with so many low-lives. You wouldn’t believe some of these sickos. I worked in construction for like six or seven years; highways and bridges, that kind of stuff. It paid well and kept me out of trouble. Between my years as a bounty hunter and a construction worker I must have gone through at least half as many women as Gene Simmons.”
“Nice Johnny,” Staci said, “Real nice.”
“Hey! I’m just being honest.”
Tony smiled, despite himself. Myron chuckled.
“Then I met Lori.”
“Lori?” Jeremy asked.
“Yeah, my last real relationship. We dated for almost a year before we decided to move in together, and get married.”
“How’d that end up?” Myron said.
“Not well. We had a boy together.”
“Johnny with a kid,” Tony said, “Will wonders never cease?”
“It didn’t go well because you had a boy together?” Staci asked.
“No,” Johnny responded. “Because we did have him, and we’re not together.”
“Oh,” she said. Johnny was confused. He knew Staci and he were different in a lot of ways, but they’d generally gotten along. She seemed intent on picking a fight with him. Of course he didn’t know of Staci’s vision, of Johnny attacking her. It kept running through her head as she watched him speak. He looked exactly as she’d pictured him, aged the same, hair grown out the same. It was disquieting, to say the least.
“Anyway,” Johnny continued, “Cody, my boy, he’s eleven now.”
“What happened with Lori?” Jeremy prodded.
Johnny shook his head. “Mainly, I fucked everything up. When he was about eight or nine I got back into bounty hunting. I needed more excitement in my life. I felt too… domesticated. That, of course, meant I was out a lot, often out of the city, even out of the state.”
“So she left you?” Myron guessed.
“No, that wasn’t it, although things were starting to unravel then. I…” He looked over at Staci, sensing the recrimination to come.
“I cheated on her while I was out on the road, chasing an escaped convict.”
Staci frowned, but said nothing. The others waited to hear him out, forbearing judgment.
“I screwed up, and I know I screwed up. I love my kid. I don’t want any of you to think that I don’t, but I wasn’t around for him anymore, not like before. I was too busy with my job. And Lori didn’t understand why I would go back to that line of work when it paid so much less money than my construction work and kept me away from my family for long stretches of time. We were falling apart as a family, growing apart as a couple. I know that’s no excuse…”
“No, it’s not,” Staci interjected.
“Guess I was having my midlife crisis.”
“Do you still see him?” Jeremy asked.
“My son?” Johnny said. “Rarely.” He cast his head down. “We never fought for custody. I just moved out, because she wanted me to. We got divorced, because she wanted to. I decided to move from Missouri to LA. I needed to drastically change my landscape, and I knew I could get more work there. It looks like all I can make is one mistake after another. Lori didn’t deserve it, and Cody definitely didn’t deserve it.” His eyes started to water, and he looked away, ashamed. “I just miss him so much.”
Despite her reservations Staci was the first to get up and hold him, comforting him. They all went over to where he sat and hugged him. This brought on the waterworks for real, and he shook with sobs, embraced in the arms of friends.
“It’s okay Johnny. It’s okay,” Myron said.
“Things will get better,” Staci said.
4
Tears dry, food on the table, and the hungry pack eating voraciously, Jeremy said, “Okay, whose next? Let’s go around the table. Myron?” He extended his hand toward him. “I think we all want to hear from the new improved Myron.” Cheers and claps accompanied that statement.
“Here here,” Tony said, raising his glass.
While his physical appearance was improved, some of his old shyness still remained. Myron looked down, blushing, but with a great big grin on his face.
“Well… I…” he started. “It’s been so long now that I’ve seen you guys. Staci and Jeremy, I saw you guys last at my graduation. I stayed in town for a while afterward. I lived with my parents while I went to the community college. The plan was to transfer to a state college. I wanted to become a big scientist, but it never happened. My parents ran out of money after I did just three semesters, and I couldn’t make enough to pay my own way. For one reason or another I wasn’t able to get financial aid, or grants, or a scholarship, and I didn’t want to take out loans. I simply gave up.”
“We’re sorry Myron,” Staci said.
“Yeah,” Jeremy added, “We always thought you’d make it big.”
“It’s okay,” Myron said. “In my early twenties I started to change. I got taller, less awkward, gained some weight. My acne improved, my face… changed. I became more human.”
“C’mon Myron,” Staci scolded.
“No, it’s true. I know I wasn’t very attractive. But I started to feel more confident. I saw that girls were noticing me. Some of you probably think that I got plastic surgery or something, but I think that God, or whoever it was that played this cruel joke on me, was finally giving me a reprieve. And when I started making more friends I quit talking like such a nerd all the time.”
“You were just smart,” Jeremy said.
“I was a nerd. And remember how I almost never used contractions, except when I was angry or upset?”
“Well, that’s a good thing you never got pregnant Myron,” Johnny chimed
in.
“Ha ha,” Myron said. “I meant instead of saying stuff like ‘aren’t’ I would always say ‘are not.’ Well, I stopped that, because everyone would always look at me weird.”
“Well, you shouldn’t have to change for anybody,” Tony said.
“But you see,” Myron said, “I wasn’t. I was getting tired of being so proper and grammatically correct all the time. It was freeing. You guys accepted me as I was, and I loved you for that, but I didn’t always like me as I was.”
“We still love you Myron,” they said, almost in unison.
“I appreciate that,” he said. “I got a job, got my own place. I began to date. I wasn’t rich, or by any stretch of the imagination famous or successful, but I was doing all right for myself. I was happy, or at least contented.”
“What age did you lose your virginity?” Johnny inquired.
“Jesus Johnny!” Staci said.
“It’s okay,” Myron said. “There’s no reason to keep secrets between us. I think I was twenty-four.” This only evoked mild surprise.
“I met my future wife Donna, in my late twenties. I know it’s stupid and probably corny to say, but she was, and is, in every sense of the word my soul mate. We got married in about a year and a half I’d say and had our first child, my girl Karen, a few years later.”
“How many children do you have?” Jeremy asked.
“Three. Karen’s eight, then there’s my boy Tyler, who’s six, and Jess is five. His name’s actually Jesse, but we always call him Jess.”
“You sound happy,” Tony said. “Like you don’t have any regrets.”
Myron beamed. “I don’t. I’m in a good place right now.”
“Well, not right now,” Johnny reminded him.
“Yes, right now,” he said, looking round the table at his childhood friends. “A little later, that may be a different story.”
The Pit in the Woods: A Mercy Falls Mythos Page 35
