by Vaughn Ashby
“Where are we?” Jason repeated, “You told me you’d give me answers, this isn’t the TV show Lost, this is real life, spill it already.”
She hugged him, “Home.” She let go of him and she ran towards the house.
“Wait!” he yelled after her, but she either didn’t hear him, or didn’t care and continued on to the house. Jason looked at the car and frowned. Great, they were home, where the fuck was home and why was the sun so god damn big? He starred up at the sun. It still looked larger as it rose or set, or whatever it was doing. It was hanging at the midpoint of its trip across the sky.
He knew it was impossible but had the earth somehow moved closer to the sun? No, they’d be cooking right now, the grass wouldn’t be green it would be either on fire or sand. Right? The Goldilocks zone for planets isn’t that big. But then again he was just in the middle of some farmer’s field at about midnight, now he was here. Again where was here? He missed Shane, this was his part of things.
Jason watched as Jessica peaked through the windows of the house. He slowly made his way towards her. The grass was long; he didn’t want to step on anything or fall into anything if he could help it. He navigated around old farm equipment, trying his best to follow the path he’d watched her take.
He nearly tripped on what looked like an old burned down shed of some kind, not much remained of it now, mostly just a floor and an outline. Mold devoured the remaining wood. No bigger than a mattress, and no obvious pipes or anything to it. He kicked a few planks and noticed something under the wood floor, or what used to be the floor before it became the mold Vegas of the area. Reaching down he pulled a few boards out of the way.
He’d done enough weird trips with Shane to know when to be ready for something to jump out at you. He unclipped his gun, his hand ready to pull it if needed. He lifted with the other hand. Slowly at first, then once it became clear that if anything was under here these soggy wood boards weren’t going to hold it in he flung the board off and out of the way.
Jason peeked in the gap he created and thanked God he hadn’t stepped on the thing now formally known as the shed. A hole about a meter wide smiled back at him. He wasn’t sure if it was a well, maybe a bomb shelter or something. Images of that damn girl from that freaky movie with well flashed in his head, he was always terrible with movie names. He clipped his gun strap closed and noted to not step on anything he didn’t have to around here.
The door of the house slammed shut and he looked up in panic. Jessica was nowhere to be seen. He approached the house slowly. His hands brushed against the top of the grass. What was he doing here again? Why had he come with her? He had to be under her mind spells, right?
Other then the house the only other thing of note in the yard was a light pole. Nearly as tall as the house, it held a single very old looking light at the top. An electrical wire ran down the pole, circling it as it descended. As he past it the light flickered to life and he looked up.
“At least not everything around here is broken,” he said looking at the light. It flickered again, then remained on. He figured Jessica had done something in the house, maybe flicked a breaker on or something.
He looked up at the light again, then turned back to the house. He figured that he better find her and find out just what she was doing here and why she brought him along.
Then everything went black like someone had flipped the sun off. He looked up to where the sun used to be. The oversized sun he had seen just minutes ago was gone. The sky was dark, no stars or moon anywhere. The light from the pole shone down on him. He panicked and looked around, the broken car trailer merger was sitting at the bottom of the hill. He’d give anything to have it working right now. He reached for his phone and pulled it out. Full connection bars and battery. He was about to call Shane when he noticed a shape out in the darkness. Jason backed towards the pole. He unclipped his gun and pulled it this time. He pointed it at the darkness.
Jason watched as slowly more and more figures approached him. They were people, maybe? He squinted and wished he could tap his shoes together to bring Shane here. The people slowly walked to the edge of the light and stopped. Jason moved his gun from person to person. There were well over a hundred around him, with more coming behind them.
They said nothing, just looked at him with fixed eyes.
He did the math, not enough bullets for them all if needed. He raised his phone and dialled Shane.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
1982 Moe: Where We Were
Nicole refused to let go of me, I'm sure I was just as scared as her, but I had to be the brave father. The clearing around the cabin wasn't very large and pine needles carpeted the area. I looked at the cabin, it seemed normal, maybe a little run down. Moss grew on the roof and grass tried to climb up the sides. The whole thing was mostly wood. It reminded me of the hunting cabins my father used to take me to when I was younger.
There was no sign of the Taurus anywhere or it's driver for that matter. The sun was starting to set and it was getting chilly fast. Nicole's teeth were starting to chatter. Then it donned on me that it had been night when we left, why was the sun up at all? It didn't matter it was getting cold.
I picked her up and went for the cabin door. The door opened, the thought of it being locked never occurred to me, most hunting cabins my dad and I had stayed in were left unlocked too. He told me it was in case someone was lost in the woods and needed a place to stay. The cabins never had anything nice in them so there was nothing to steal.
From the entrance, we moved into the main room of the cabin. Some couches with blankets and a wood burning fireplace. I put Nicole down on a couch and grabbed a blanket. She was reluctant to let go, let alone to let me get her a blanket, but she did and I did and her teeth stopped chattering soon after.
There were matches and wood already next to the fireplace. So I started a fire. The cabin warmed quickly. Then I set to work trying to find out where we were.
The cabin only had three rooms. A bathroom, a bedroom and the main room that was half kitchen half everything else. There was also a locked door leading to the cellar. I’d seen way too many horror movies at the drive-in, so I pushed the kitchen table in front of the cellar door.
I searched everywhere for any hints, bills, phone books anything with names or places in it. I found nothing. To say I was concerned is an understatement. You see I found nothing. The cabin looked well used and well stocked. I found absolutely nothing pertaining to where we were.
Oh and when I say the cabin was well stocked, well doesn't do it justice. The kitchen cabinets were loaded with none perishing food. There were dozens of blankets in the bedroom. And the guns, oh the guns. Most were in the bedroom so I closed the door to keep Nicole out. The guns were definitely abnormal for a cabin like this. Lots of guns and no locks on the door.
While I did go hunting with my father when I was younger, guns just aren't my area of expertise. I could tell there were a lot of different models, that’s about it. The closet in the bedroom was filled from top to bottom with bullets, or shells, or whatever you call them. I assumed they were for all the guns I'd already come across.
After closing up the bedroom I returned to Nicole. The fire had died down low and the sun had set. Without the glow of the town around, it was dark. I moved towards the fireplace trying not to trip over anything.
That's when I noticed someone standing over Nicole. It was a woman with long red hair. I quickly called to her but she ignored me or didn't hear me. For all, I knew this was her house. Slowly I approached and placed a hand on her shoulder. All the while talking and telling her what I was doing. You see I've had experience dealing with difficult people, communication is important.
I touched her shoulder and she quickly turned to me. Her hands going to my face and she kissed me. Her arms moved around my body and she kissed me more passionately. I wanted to stop but couldn't. My body was reacting. Finally, I think she sensed my rejection and stopped.
She smiled at m
e, then drove her hand into my chest. I yelled in pain. Surely waking Nicole up. I could feel her hand caressing my insides, my heart. I looked down. No blood, but her hand was indeed inside my chest. I tried to pull back but she squeezed and shook her head.
She kissed me again, her hand rubbing the edges of my heart like it was my manhood.
Then something struck her from behind. I looked down to see Nicole had hit the woman with her pillow. The woman turned and blew Nicole a kiss. With her distracted, I threw a right hook. I never hit a woman until this point in my life and she would be the last. I grabbed her shoulder and hit her again. Square in the face. After two hard blows, she dropped off her feet and released my heart. I spit blood as her hand left me.
Without thinking I scooped up Nicole and went for the door. My only thought was to get my little girl out of there. Looking back and knowing what I know now I wish I'd have killed that woman right then. But I didn’t. We dashed out into the cold and dark with nothing.
The air was freezing and I could feel it in my lungs. Each breath cooling me from the inside out. The cabin door slammed behind us. I looked back but the woman wasn't following. That was good.
Without the light of the fireplace it was near pitch black outside, no moon to be seen. I nearly tripped over something but regained my footing. I paused to look back at the cabin, I thought of going back but didn’t. Then I backed into something. I turned and found I had backed into not something but someone. I panicked and stepped away. I didn’t know at first if it was the woman? No, I’d bumped into someone else. That's when I noticed even in the dark light that there were people around us. A lot of them. They filled the area around the house.
My heart started to race and I dropped to a knee. God, it hurt so much. Nicole whispered in my ear if I was ok. Kids have the ability to sense when you are really going through something. I remember countless time when I'd dropped something on my toes at the shop and Nicole had come over to check on me. She always seemed to know the ones that really hurt. Or maybe I just have a really bad poker face.
I told her I was ok and that I was going to get us out of there. She kissed my neck and I got to my feet. Dozens of people crowded towards us. None saying anything and none harming us, yet.
I squinted to look at their faces, I thought the darkness had hidden their features until I noticed they had none. No eyes, no nose, no mouth. I panicked and kicked the one standing between the woods and us, right in the gut. He bent over because of the force, but started to straighten himself as if he felt no pain.
I gripped Nicole tight and using my shoulder I plowed my way through the group to the tree line. I could feel their bodies giving away to the force I was providing. Either they didn't care to stop us or couldn't. Either way, we made it to the tree line. I glanced back to see if they were following us. They weren't, but they were also gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
2014 Shane: Can I Tell You Something?
Shane slumped into his seat at the bar. He so badly wanted to go to sleep, but he had to find Jason. There was no way his brain was ever going to give in to rest until he knew where his buddy was. For all he knew Jason could have been sold into some sort of sex slavery, and was being forced to have sex with all kinds of really attractive women. Oh, the humanity.
Everyone had separated once they hit the hotel. They’d chose to avoid the one the so-called cops had suggested. So they went to the town’s one and only Inn instead. Kristen had gone back to their room to take a bath, she claimed she always thought better in the bath. Shane was sure it was just to “enjoy” herself, he still wished he was brave enough to join her, or that she would invite him. They had only gotten one room so any chance of any adult fun tonight was zero. But the room wasn’t really the point of them stopping, it was the Wi-Fi and the food.
Pratt had gone off to call Bill and give him an update. From what Shane understood Pratt was supposed to check in every couple hours or Bill would call the coast guard, or boy scouts, or something. Pratt had taken his backpack full of some dude’s head with him. Which was fine by Shane, the head actually really creeped him out. They’d caught the guy’s body doing some pretty adult stuff to some poor woman in the woods earlier, now Pratt was buddy buddy with him. He wasn’t sure what that said about Pratt or himself for letting it go on.
Travers too had gone to make a phone call as soon as they stopped. He’d lost his phone, along with the rest of his clothes, in the woods. Shane wasn’t sure who he was calling, only that until they actually got here, and Travers got time to think, he’d been quiet.
The waitress had brought Shane some drink with Red Bull in it. He couldn’t remember the name. She’d told him that it would keep him riding all night. He didn’t know what that meant, but he ordered it anyway. He slowly and methodically worked his way through the document Bill had sent him. Then he compared it to the book that had arrived at his desk earlier that morning. Had it only been that morning? He rubbed his eyes. The notepad he was scribbling things on looked like it had been written on by a three-year-old. Apparently, his penmanship goes out the window when sleep isn’t provided in the appropriate doses.
The only parts of the book that had interested him were the parts that talked about a man named Moe. He read all about the man at the trailer shop. Then he compared that to the notes Bill gave, those were mostly police reports and news clippings. No first-hand stuff from Bill. The story lined up for the most part between the two, but he had no idea how this related to Jason.
He finished his drink as Travers pulled up a seat beside him. “Can I tell you something?”
"Sure what's up," Shane said, but really just wanted to be alone.
“So Liz that woman you work with,” Travers said and looked around as if he was spilling national secrets.
Shane nodded, “did you bone her?”
"Why would you assume that?" Shane gave him a look that could only be described as cut the shit fucktard. "Fine, yes, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Ok.”
"I sort of like her, and I sort of lost her."
Normally Shane would take the opportunity to harass Travers about the first part of that sentence but he was tired and wanted all conversation in the world to end as soon as possible. "Define lost?"
Travers flagged down the waitress and ordered himself a drink, as always scotch. Shane didn’t understand scotch and Travers didn’t understand how someone couldn’t understand it.
“So when you picked me up on the side of the road nude and all. I was out looking for the damn station again.” The waitress returned with his drink. He sipped it and continued. “Liz was out there with me. We found the source of the signal. It was this strange looking post thing. Only we weren’t the first to find it.” He sipped his drink again.
“You mean another team found it?” Shane was actually half interested now.
“Kind of,” he took a deep breath in and very quietly told Shane everything. “The post was wrapped in some sort of wire so we checked it out, only someone attacked us and knocked us out, then when I came to this cult or something was working on an opening or portal that seemed an awful lot like that bear spray portal you told me about. They told me Liz had been taken but something that came through in their first attempt of the portal, then they knocked me out again and this time when I woke up they were all dead. So I ran, called you and well, you know the rest.” He took a big drink of scotch this time.
“So you lost Liz from my work,”
“Yes.”
“In the woods”
“Yes”
“And something that came through a portal, a cult or something opened up took her.”
“Yes.”
“So why are you only telling me this now?”
Travers paused and finished his drink, “I don’t know.”
“Did you call the cops or anything? Shane asked.
“No, since the moment I ran from the woods until now it’s like I couldn’t remember it.”
“Do you think the signal or that post thing could have done something to your memory?”
“Maybe, I was also hit in the head a lot. So there’s that too.”
They looked at each other, they’d been looking into stuff like this for a long time, and had known each other even longer. But this was the first time Shane questioned Travers’ judgment. “Why now? What made you remember it now?”
“It was when we saw the cops, I started to remember things after that.” Travers waved at the waitress for another drink.
“Why then?”
“I don’t know, but I like her Shane, I honestly do. It’s killing me that for the last couple hours she’s been missing and I’ve done nothing about it.”
Shane believed him, he’d seen Travers with a lot of women, sometimes when he was actually with with them. But he believed that Travers actually cared for this one. “Ok so let’s assume that something there, either the signal, the cult, the post, the cocks to the head or heck maybe something else in the woods, caused you to forget her. What about those cops made you remember her?”
The waitress returned with Travers’ new drink, she took the old glass and when she left. Shane noticed the ass on the waitress looked like Kristen’s and then noticed Travers not noticing it. Maybe he really did like Liz.
“Maybe it wasn’t the cops, maybe it was the building?” Travers said sampling his new drink.
“They don’t build them like they used to Ray,” Shane said in his best Bill Murray voice.
“No they never built them like that,” Travers said completing the incorrect quote. “Shane I don’t know if she is dead or not, they told me she was, but I don’t know if I believe that.”
Shane took a deep breath, he already had too much to worry about. He closed his eyes and rubbed them. Now he had two people missing. He rubbed them harder. When he opened them he was surprised to see Pratt sitting next to Travers. And the thought of two missing people returned back to one. The thought of Liz was gone for both Travers and Shane.
