Don't Read After Dark: Keep the lights on while reading these! (A McCray Horror Collection)

by McCray, Carolyn

  “We’ve told ‘em a thousand times to take the sign down,” the man replied. “But you know the government.”

  Um, Leo was pretty sure these people didn’t have much contact with the “government.” If they paid taxes, Leo was Liberace’s son. Although, Leo did have to admit, they both looked fabulous in sequins.

  Tamra stomped her little foot. “So what are we supposed to do?”

  “Well,” The man looked at the setting sun, then to Bitsy, and then back to Tamra “You’ll never make the main road before nightfall. You might as well come on in for supper.”

  Jonathan glanced around the yard with the half dozen cars up on blocks. “That is so generous and all, but you guys don’t have any gas lying around? We’ll pay you whatever you want for a few gallons.”

  Bitsy shrugged. “Look at ‘em. Pa’s been saying he’ll fix them up for years. The only good truck is with him.”

  “He took some hogs up to the market and won’t be back until the morning,” the man added.

  Tamra grinned a pretty wicked grin. “I say we send Stacey to hike out and get the gas.”

  “What?” Stacey stammered. “Why me?”

  “I just thought you needed the exercise,” Tamra said, straight-faced, although Leo thought he caught a little spark in her eye. The one she always got when she jerked Stacey’s chain.

  Stacey shook her head, as if trying to wrap her head around the blonde’s logic. “You seriously want me to head out onto that road, in the dark, by myself?”

  Tamra shrugged. “Take Leo with you, then.”

  “Leo, what?” he said now invested in the conversation.

  Yes, that was a great idea. Send the virgin brunette and the black guy out onto a deserted road in the south. Brilliant, Tamra. Just brilliant.

  Bitsy intervened. “There’s all manner of creature running around after dark. No, you should have some supper then spend the night.”

  Right about now, Leo’s aunt Leykisha would be screaming for him to run. Forget the dark road. Forget the creatures. Forget manners. Just run. And his nine-times-a-week at-the-gym conditioned legs wanted to, but Leo did not want to give those two on the porch the satisfaction.

  Besides, how bad could dinner be?

  * * *

  Stacey hesitated at the threshold. Leo held the door open for her. Jonathan had, of course, already disappeared into the house with Tamra. The inside was cloaked in cobwebs. People did live here, right?

  She glanced back down the long road as the sun set, casting fingerlike shadows. There was no going back in that direction. Stacey looked up. Leo gave her a reassuring smile, although the edges of his lips seemed to quiver a bit.

  Having to endure another meal with Tamra would do that to you.

  “Don’t let the flies in, girl!” the man said, hobbling over.

  He reached a hand out to hurry her along, but Stacey awkwardly leaned to the side to avoid his touch. Who knew where those hands had been? The man guided them through a living room where all the furniture had dusty cloths draped over it. And the wallpaper? Though it was stained and shabby, Stacey thought she could make out the faintest pattern of an old English garden.

  Um, that was about the exact opposite of this dingy, sad farmhouse. Newspapers, yellowed with age, sat stacked up against the fireplace and even inside of it. Again, they lived here, right?

  “Don’t get many outsiders in these parts,” he explained as he nodded toward the furniture… and not much cause to use the good furniture. Not with Ma…”

  The man didn’t finish his sentence. Instead, he gulped and gimped his way into the kitchen. Stacey almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

  By the time they got into the kitchen, Jonathan and Tamra were already seated, right next to one another, probably playing footsy under the table. Great. She had to admit though that dinner, sorry, supper, did smell delicious. It was like the whole room was infused with its aroma. Sometimes down-home cooking was the best.

  Unlike the living room, which felt stagnant and burdened with years of disuse, this kitchen seemed well traveled. And the kitchen table? It was set as if royalty were dining. Bitsy scurried about the room, getting extra place settings, aligning them perfectly on the bright, flowery place mats.

  “Cliver, get some extra chairs from the porch,” Bitsy instructed the man. “Ruf is bringing Ma.”

  He nodded awkwardly, like he was trying to almost bow or something. Weirdo.

  Quickly, though, as Stacey and Leo sat down opposite their friends, Cliver came back into the kitchen with a chair in each hand. He placed them next to the chair at the head of the table.

  But wait. That would make a total of ten chairs. But even with the absent Ruf and Ma, that left two chairs unaccounted for. Who were the other two people?

  Tamra’s asinine giggling brought Stacey’s gaze back to the table. Already, wilted greens, buns, and fried okra were set on the table. A large bowl sat ready for what Stacey could only assume was going to be soup. Her stomach rumbled. How long ago had she eaten the pepperoni stick? Three hundred miles ago? Well before they turned down that long-abandoned road—that was for sure.

  Jonathan and Tamra had their heads bent together sharing some completely titillating secret. Make that heavy on the “tit” part, as Tamra pushed them together so that they formed a shelf practically under Jonathan’s nose. How very convenient. He didn’t even have to bend over to stare at them.

  “Ruf!” Cliver called down the hallway. “Supper is on, and we don’t want our guests waiting on you!”

  He turned back to the group, readjusting his horn-rimmed glasses and smiling apologetically.

  “I’m comin’!” a loud voice announced from out of view.

  Then the house groaned under a footfall. Then another. With one hand, Stacey grabbed the edge of the table. With the other, she felt for the purse she had set down at her feet. Finding it, she brought the handbag onto her lap. She liked the weight of the pepper spray inside of it. Because right now it sounded like an elephant was coming down that hallway.

  And if it turned out that they had to knock out a wildebeest, she wanted to be prepared. But what lurched around the corner was no wild animal. It was way freakier than that. A Clydesdale-version of a man, she could only assume it was the aforementioned, “Ruf,” lumbered into the room carrying what must have been a five- hundred-pound woman. If her girth wasn’t exaggerated enough, she was dressed in a white and yellow polka-dotted muumuu.

  That couldn’t be a real person, could it?

  Everyone at the table sat shocked as Ruf haltingly, one booming step at a time, crossed the room, and then set his mother down on a chair. The wood complained so loudly that Stacey feared that the legs would smash beneath the woman. Bitsy clearly held the same fears.

  “Cliver! The chairs!”

  The man rushed over and lifted several rolls of fat from Ma’s right side and put a chair under them, and then repeated the process on the other side.

  Oh, my God. Stacey thought. Those chairs weren’t for two extra people, but for two extra sides of Ma.

  Then Ruf leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

  There was something so incredibly sweet about the gesture, juxtapositioned against the absurdity of the scene, that made Stacey feel vaguely guilty about judging the poor woman and her family.

  Clearly, Ma was ill. Her left eyelid drooped nearly down to the corner of her nose and that side of her mouth sagged and pooled with thick saliva.

  Stroke. Stacey had seen it in her grandfather. At least Bitsy, Cliver, and Ruf were taking care of their invalid mother. Hell, her parents had put Grandpa Ralph into a home faster than you could say “additional care needed.”

  Maybe she had misjudged this family.

  “Ruf, can you get the bowl?” Bitsy asked from the stove.

  Once her brother brought over the enormous dish, the woman began ladling out the soup. Stacey could smell oregano, potatoes, parsley, and another ingredient she couldn’t identify. Whatever it was, it
was mouthwatering.

  Ruf brought the filled bowl over and set it into the center of the table. As their hosts took their seats, Tamra reached for the ladle, but Cliver frowned.

  “Around these parts we always say grace first.”

  Tamra blushed, but Stacey didn’t think it was from embarrassment. Turning her cheeks red was just one of the many weapons that Tamra had in her arsenal to disarm men.

  “I am so sorry!” she said averting her eyes. “I’m just starving.”

  And yes, even this crumpled, bespectacled little man softened. “Ain’t no worry. Just want to give our Lord his due.”

  Damn! In under three minutes, Tamra had charmed this crusty guy. Maybe she should rethink her “no plastic surgery” stance, Stacey thought as the family took hands.

  Then Stacey realized her order in this prayer procession. Panic spread over Stacey in waves of gooseflesh.

  She didn’t mind going along with the show just to be polite. And holding Leo’s hand was like holding her really hot, gay, older brother’s hand. But Ma? Stacey was supposed to hold Ma’s hand?

  How did she get in this position?

  Oh, wait. Another epic-Stacey-fail. She had taken the chair to be able to sit across from Jonathan, but, of course, he hadn’t even looked up from Tamra’s boob shelf to notice. And now everyone was staring at her. Even Jonathan had taken Ma’s other hand.

  As much as she felt sorry for the chick, Stacey did not want to hold hands with Ma. Gawd, did that make her totally a hypocrite? Even if it did, Stacey felt her stomach flop over just thinking about it.

  “Stacey…” Jonathan prompted, his eyes sliding over to Cliver. “Be my good girl.”

  Now, she should have been totally pissed off that Jonathan talked down to her that way, but something about how he said it tugged at her. And the way Tamra’s eyebrows knit together and her lips turned down. Oh, yeah. Stacey definitely liked it.

  Gritting her teeth, she took Ma’s hand. And by took it, Stacey meant that she had to pick it up and put it in her hand. The limb was cool and felt like deadweight in her palm until it would twitch, nearly spasming. Each time it happened, Stacey nearly jumped out of her chair. She knew that it was just Ma’s brain misfiring, sending signals down her arm that forced her fingers to flex, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t creeping Stacey out.

  As Cliver mumbled a prayer full of Jesus and God and something about their bountiful life, Stacey tried really hard not to flinch each time those chubby, sausage-rolled-in-a-pig’s-blanket fingers dug into her skin.

  Seriously, how much prayer did this family need, as Cliver droned on and on? Was this dinner, or a church service? And would there be wafers if it was?

  Trying to distract herself, Stacey scanned the table. She wished they had toasted sourdough bread instead of buns, but they seemed out of the oven, that was if they got to eat them anytime this evening. The soup looked hearty as well. Chunks of potatoes and mushrooms and carrots bobbed on the surface.

  Then something bright red floated to the surface. A turnip? No it was flat and shiny. Was that a fingernail?

  “What’s that?” Leo asked, his dark eyes even darker as the pupils dilated fully.

  “Amen,” Cliver finished before glancing to the soup. “We had Ma stirrin’ earlier, must have chipped off.”

  Stacey looked down at the hand she was holding.

  Ma did not have nail polish on.

  Suddenly, Ma seized Stacey’s wrist. There was no mere spasm. This was a full-on viselike grip.

  Stacey went for her pepper spray, but it was too late.

  * * *

  Leo tried to push himself up and back, but Ruf’s meaty fist slammed into his face. It was like getting hit by a Costco-sized pack of Porterhouses—bone in. Still, Leo caught Stacey’s chair, righting himself as his other hand went for his knife, but another bare-fisted punch broke his nose.

  Blood gushing and vision spinning, Leo tried to stay upright, but his knees gave out from under him. He took a kick to the jaw, which lifted him up and slammed him against the set of cabinets. Pans rattled on the impact.

  It all happened so fast. Cliver had Tamra by the hair. Bitsy had Jonathan at cleaver point, and Stacey was on the ground—with Ma’s tree-sized leg holding her down. This was not how today was supposed to go.

  Wouldn’t Auntie Leykeisha be proud?

  With the world spinning and Ruf towering over him, there was no point in struggling. At least not now. Instead, Leo moaned and slumped to the ground. It was only a quarter of a ruse. Leo wasn’t sure if he could get up if he really wanted to, anyway.

  Tamra, however, screamed as she kicked and clawed and scratched at Cliver. Leo slit his eyes open, watching their struggle from under the table. The bitch was giving the guy a run for his money, but suddenly Tamra’s feet stopped their frantic motion.

  Leo could hear Cliver hiss, “You are mine.”

  Tamra was a self-admitted backstabbing whore, but not even she deserved that fate. As Ruf’s feet turned toward the other side of the room, Leo carefully edged his way back. He propped himself against the cabinet so that he could see more than just feet.

  Ma gurgled something as her eyes darted from Bitsy to Leo. Whatever that was about, Leo was certain he did not want to know. Maybe he should have stayed on the floor. Leo panicked. With the world still spinning lazily to the left, he had to play it cool. For himself. For all of them. They were fucked up, but they were alive. He bet most, if not all, of the others who found themselves here with an empty tank of gas could not say the same.

  “Ma’s right,” Bitsy said as her cleaver dug against Jonathan’s T-shirt. “I get to go first.”

  But the obese woman gurgled some more, her eyes straining in Leo’s direction.

  Cliver shook his head. “No, Ma. That one doesn’t like girl parts.”

  Leo tried not to throw up in his mouth. He was unsuccessful, as Ma’s one eye studied him. After a moment, she grunted and gave the faintest nod. Internally, Leo sighed with relief. It looked like he’d dodged a bullet on that one.

  “I say we give him to Ruf,” Bitsy said. “He doesn’t know the difference half the time anyway.”

  “No, no, no, no, no, no,” Leo repeated as he tried to scramble back, but the cabinets blocked any escape.

  Ruf, however, clapped gleefully, shaking the fat of his arms. The big man giggled as he bent over to grab Leo.

  Jonathan shouted, “Now!”

  Leo didn’t have to be told twice. He pulled the knife from his sock and stabbed upward, burying the stainless steel deep into Ruf. Leo knew everyone else was in motion as screams and cries echoed off the small kitchen, but he was more concerned with the fact that Ruf didn’t seem all that bothered by the knife gutting his stomach.

  Leo scrambled and grabbed another knife from the table.

  “This is for Jerome,” Leo said as he sank that hilt into Ruf’s belly as well.

  The big man clapped again, though. Seemingly delighted, Ruf picked up another steak knife and stabbed himself.

  “That tickles!” Ruf said, picking up a knife from the table. “My turn!”

  * * *

  Stacey wanted to do her part, but the pepper spray was under the table, and she could barely breathe with Ma’s leg firmly planted on her chest. And the woman still had a death grip on Stacey’s wrist.

  Helpless, she watched Ruf raise the knife over his head, aiming downward at Leo. This was so not the plan. This was supposed to be a fact-finding trip. How could they have known that the family would pull a blitz attack at supper? And they certainly hadn’t factored Ma into the equation.

  The knife sliced through air as Jonathan shouted, “Stop!”

  Stacey watched as he broke free of Bitsy’s hold, pulled his gun and aimed it at her head.

  “I said, stop!”

  Ruf’s arm was in motion, though, and the sheer weight of it brought the knife down. Leo, however, blocked the blow and then twisted Ruf’s wrist, causing the big man to scream like a little ba
by as he dropped the blade.

  Stacey used the only weapon she had. Her teeth. She bit into that huge “cankle,” drawing sweet, sweet blood. Ma yelped, pulling her leg back. Breaking free, Stacey crab- ran over to her purse, pulling out the pepper spray. She hurried to her feet.

  Stacey pointed the nozzle at Ma.

  Glancing up, Stacey caught Jonathan’s gaze. A tight smile spread across his lips. Jonathan had lost a sister to this place, and Stacey had lost a brother. Leo had lost a lover, and Tamra, well, Tamra had lost a distant cousin whom she didn’t really know all that well. She was more of a revenge groupie.

  They shared their sorrow over the Internet, in support-group chat rooms, uniting in their grief. If the police couldn’t find any evidence of what had happened to their loved ones, then they would.

  On the last week of summer vacation, they had come here to find out the truth.

  Of course, they’d found out way more than even they had expected.

  “Now we are going to call the cops and shut you motherfuckers down,” Jonathan growled, never sounding so sexy as he flipped open his phone.

  Cliver pulled Tamra’s face next to his and licked her cheek. “Go ahead.”

  “Not your police,” Stacey spat. “We know you are all related. We’re calling the State Police.”

  Behind those thick glasses, Cliver’s eyes dilated. She and the rest weren’t stupid. With all the missing coeds in this county over the years, clearly law enforcement was helping to cover up this family’s favorite hobby. And now to find out that the Tullocks were cannibals, to boot? Stacey gulped down the revulsion. She couldn’t think of her sister ending up in that soup pot. She just couldn’t.

  Cliver looked at Bitsy, then Ruf, and then Ma. Clearly, he was calculating his odds. Sure, he might have Tamra, but the rest was an even split. Guess the family had never expected anyone to show up prepared. Sure, Ruf could probably give Leo a run for his money, but not before Stacey would pepper-spray Ma’s good eye, and Bitsy would be shot dead on the floor.

  How much did Cliver love his family? Stacey and her friends were betting on a lot.

  But Cliver’s fingers dug deeper into Tamra’s hair.