Last One Alive
Page 17
He looked over his shoulder. Gearhart stepped halfway into the hall; the other part of his body was hidden behind the doorway. Grasped in his left hand was a butcher knife. “Where are you going?” he shouted. Gone was his polite tenor. Gone was his smile, his friendly eyes. What occupied his face now was an angry scowl.
“Oh sorry…I’ve gotta go!”
Gearhart shook his head. “No!”
Tobe jumped back as if something hot had been thrown at him.
“You can’t leave!” He wasn’t saying this like a man attempting to persuade someone into staying longer. It was an order. “You will not leave!”
“Fuck you man…I’m going!” Tobe shoved the screen door open, giving one more look over his shoulder. Gearhart was charging towards him, and moving a lot faster than Tobe expected him to be. “Shit!”
The warm, muggy air slithered over him as he raced across the porch and down the steps. He lost his footing when his shoes hit the gravel of the driveway, but he managed to stay up. For a flare of a second, he had forgotten where he’d parked. There was only one place he could have and that was in the driveway, which was located directly in front of him.
And there sat his Jeep, waiting for him like a kind friend. His phone continued to clamor from his pants pocket. He didn’t want to slow down long enough to remove it, so he allowed it to constantly ring at his hip.
The door busted open behind him. “Stop!”
Oh shit oh shit…he’s coming!
“I trusted you! Glenda liked you!”
“Glenda’s not real,” shouted Tobe without looking back.
“How could you say such a thing?!”
Tobe bumped against the Jeep, said, “Because it’s the truth,” then he twirled around to the driver’s side, his hands fumbling with the door handle before finally yanking it open. He was so thankful he’d forgotten to lock it.
He didn’t forget, though, once he was inside.
The staccato sound of four doors and a rear gate locking was glorious. Through the windshield he could see Gearhart had slowed his pace. He was hardly running now, not even trotting, more like a brisk walk.
Tobe fished his keys out from his left pocket, then his phone from the right. When he shoved the starter key into the ignition he noticed Gearhart had turned his back on him and was heading back to the porch.
What’s he doing?
He kept his eyes aimed at Gearhart while he cranked the car. Air rushed out from the vents. It was warm at first but it quickly transformed into cooler buffets. He cranked the dial back up to high.
Gearhart was watching him from the porch, a shadowy shape under the eave. He had his hands on his hips, the blade of the knife angled away from his body like a gleaming tail. He no longer looked mad. He was frowning.
Ashamed? Embarrassed?
Possibly.
Most likely he was just sad.
Tobe felt crummy. He hadn’t done anything wrong; in fact he’d done exactly what anyone else given the same situation would have done. He might have even saved his own life. So why did he feel like he’d stolen stacks of money from Gearhart’s hidden safe?
Putting the car into reverse, he backed around a light post, and turned the wheel sharply to the left. He shifted to drive and sped away, throwing up gravel behind his tires.
He stared in the rearview mirror. Gearhart became smaller and smaller until eventually the sagging tree limbs filled the glass completely and he could no longer see him.
Once he has at the mouth of Windy Circle where it met the paved road, he answered his phone which had started to ring yet again. Back at the house, Tobe couldn’t get Kaylyn to call once when he wanted her to, but now she wouldn’t stop.
“What’s going on?” asked Kaylyn without a greeting.
“I’ll tell you later.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah…I suppose…” He sighed. “I don’t know.”
“You sound awful. What happened?”
“I can’t talk about it right now…I just want to get home.”
“Was it the John Gearhart you wanted it to be?”
Tobe sighed. “Yeah…”
“Was he an asshole?”
He laughed, though it was lacking humor. “No. Actually…he was…” What should he say?
“What?”
Sighing, he said “He wasn’t what I thought he would be.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay…I’ll give you all the details when I get home.”
They said their I love yous and hung up.
As Tobe drove the scenic route back home, he decided that once he reached civilization again, he would find a gas station and pull in.
He needed cigarettes.
Kristopher Rufty is the author of the books Angel Board, Pillowface, The Lurkers, and A Dark Autumn. He has also written and directed the independent horror films Psycho Holocaust, and Rags. He also hosts Diabolical Radio, an internet radio show devoted to horror fiction and film. He is married to his high school sweetheart and is the father of two crazy children who he loves dearly, and together they reside in North Carolina with their 120 pound dog Thor and a horde of cats.
Popular horror website, Arrow in the Head, cited Angel Board as the best debut horror novel in a decade.
For more about Kristopher Rufty, please visit his Website www.lastkristontheleft.blogspot.com
He can be found on Facebook and Twitter as well.
Praise for Kristopher Rufty
“A powerhouse debut novel. Rufty's prose will suck you in and hold you prisoner!”
—Ronald Malfi, author of Floating Staircase, on Angel Board
“A creepy, gripping tale of horror. And it's got one of the best death scenes I've read in a long time!”
—Jeff Strand, author of Pressure, on Angel Board
“An occult thriller with a new twist. Rufty juggles captivating characters, breakneck suspense, and insidious horror in a macabre story that will leave you feeling possessed by the end of it. Next time you think about taking that old Ouija board out...forget it!”
—Edward Lee, author of Lucifer’s Lottery and City Infernal, on Angel Board
“Kristopher Rufty delivers the goods yet again!”
—Bryan Smith, author of Kayla Undead and The Late Night Horror Show
“Rufty knows how to bring the scares and mayhem like a charging bull with chainsaws for horns. No one is safe!”
—David Bernstein, author of Machines of the Dead and Amongst the Dead
“Pillowface is the best book I have read in a long time!”
—Hunter Shea, author of Forest of Shadows and Evil Eternal
More titles from Kristopher Rufty
Novels:
Angel Board
PillowFace
The Lurkers
Novellas:
A Dark Autumn
The Night Everything Changed