Dead Spots

by Rhiannon Frater

  “Do you see it?” she asked. Her fingers trembled against the paper.

  “Most of us enter along major highways, trucking routes, and in cities.” Lucas grinned. “Which matches the high activity of wraiths in those areas. I mean, I saw it, but I thought the reason for the high activity was because of the population. More people, more dreamers.”

  “I think the activity is because wraiths are swarming to the dead spots that are luring people in. Grant was in a dead spot waiting for it to snare a victim.”

  “It definitely looks like those dead spots are bringing in more people, and the wraiths must be latching on to them when they enter.” Lucas ran his hands over his face. “I was doing this all wrong. I was thinking of all the dead spots as being equal. That each one was a possible way out.”

  “I don’t think they all are.” Mackenzie gazed at the map seeing the same pattern forming. Lucas had marked all the dangerous high-activity areas on the map and always traveled around them. Yet, those were the ones with the most notations. It was easy to just assume that because of the higher population there was a more likely chance of someone stumbling into a dead spot, but Mackenzie was now convinced those dead spots were just able to trap humans more efficiently and were therefore stronger. “I don’t think we even need to wait for a door to actually be opened by a human, Lucas. I think the truth is that the dead spots open themselves when they sense possible prey.”

  “I’m thinking you’re right. The common lore among the people trapped in here is that the door has to be opened by someone on the other side, but what if the dead spots do it themselves? How can we know what’s the truth? No one has left and come back in. I do know both doors definitely need to be open at the same time to allow entry. I’ve seen that myself.”

  “Right, but it has to be more than just the two doors being open. It’s about the dead spots rolling out the welcome mat, creating a link. Maybe they’re drawn to a particular type of person and that’s when they open. Maybe that’s why not everyone disappears when they enter an abandoned building. I don’t know. But if we can manipulate the dead spots, shouldn’t we be able to link the two doors ourselves?”

  “Yeah, definitely.”

  “We need to find a location where we know the door will open on the other side and then force our way out. Where is the area of the Hill Country where you said it’s bad?” Mackenzie handed him the map. She was shaking so hard from the adrenaline rush she could barely hold it anymore.

  “Right here. Trosclair. It’s actually a good-sized town.” Lucas pointed to a spot on the map that was surrounded by notations.

  “It’s not the town,” Mackenzie said, her voice dropping in awe. “It’s the theater!”

  “Huh?”

  “Trosclair was an oil boom town. They built a ton of fancy buildings to entertain all the oil barons and employees flocking to the area. There was this massive hotel that they knocked down in the early eighties. See, most of your interviewees date back to before the hotel was knocked down, but there is another building there that is very famous for being haunted. It’s a massive theater where they had all sorts of famous people perform in the vaudeville days.” Mackenzie could picture the building in her mind. It was a gorgeous gothic building that was heavily influenced by the Bavarian pioneers that settled the area.

  “And you know this how?”

  “Tanner was into having day trips and adventures. He wanted to go on a ghost tour, and we went to this theater when we were still living in Kerrville. It’s abandoned and completely creepy. The only people who go in there now are the ghost tours. They happen every two weeks and you have to reserve in advance. Those tours have been going on for years. It’s a huge draw to the area.” Mackenzie stared into Lucas’s eyes, her vision blurring with tears. “If we can get both doors open at the same time, can’t we get out?”

  “Oh, God, Mackenzie!”

  Lucas dragged her out of the car and into his arms in a crushing embrace. She clung to him, weeping into his shoulder. Not to be left out, Johnny wrapped his arms around both of them.

  “You found the way out,” Lucas whispered in her ear. “You found it!”

  Trembling with happiness, Mackenzie clung to him and Johnny. Without a doubt, she knew she had found their way out, but it was not going to be as simple as they wished. To get out, they would have to risk entering a very dangerous territory where wraiths were actively hunting for prey.

  Lucas pressed a firm kiss to her forehead and released her. “We know where we need to go. Any chance you have any idea when the next tour will happen?”

  Sliding onto the seat, Mackenzie snatched her purse from behind the driver’s seat and looked for her phone. She had remembered to charge it the night before, and she hoped it would still work. “I keep everything in my Google calendar. We went a year ago, so I’ll have the date we went on the tour and we can figure it out from there. A little math should give us a date. As long as this world runs alongside the other like we assume it does.”

  “I don’t like math,” Johnny said, making a face.

  “Me neither,” Lucas agreed.

  “Wusses.” Snagging one of Lucas’s pens, Mackenzie fished her journal out of her purse. Flipping it open, she realized the list she had started when she entered had never been updated. She took it as a very good sign. With a wry smile, she flipped to a new blank page and scribbled numbers. Johnny leaned against her while Lucas remained crouched beside them. It took her a few minutes to find the date of the ghost tour, then extrapolate the next possible date. “Okay, if I figured this out correctly, it’s tomorrow!”

  “We can be there well in advance, but that’s a very dangerous area. There are a ton of wraiths and it’s … crazy. Incredibly dangerous. If any of us die, we won’t know where we might resurrect. We’re risking getting separated.” Lucas rubbed his chin.

  “Is there a place with low activity where we can hole up?” Mackenzie asked. “Somewhere near Trosclair, but not too close?”

  Lucas frowned, rubbing his furrowed brow. “Let me think.”

  “Macky!” Johnny gasped, his fingers digging into her side. “He’s here!”

  The black-and-white zombie staggered across the dusty street toward them.

  Lucas jerked to his feet, his hand swiftly moving toward his holster.

  “I got it,” Mackenzie said confidently, sliding past Lucas and stalking toward the zombie. “Besides, I need the practice.”

  Lifting her hand, Mackenzie imagined her mother’s old sawed-off shotgun. It materialized in her hand, primed and ready to fire. The zombie didn’t pay any heed to the weapon or her. Its dead gaze rested squarely on Johnny cowering next to Lucas. It was a few feet away from her when Mackenzie fired into its face. The zombie jerked and fell to the ground. Imagining a baseball bat, Mackenzie felt the shotgun transforming. She raised the bat over her head.

  “So sick of this bullshit,” she growled, punctuating each word with a swing of the bat, pulverizing the zombie’s head.

  When she was done and the zombie was dead, she tossed away the bat. It dissipated before it hit the ground.

  Turning she saw Lucas holding Johnny in his arms, both of them staring at her in awe.

  “I think I’m getting the hang of this,” she said, blushing slightly, but feeling rather proud of herself. “Now, let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “I told you,” Johnny said to Lucas. “She’s Wonder Woman.”

  CHAPTER 30

  “I never dreamed it was this bad,” Mackenzie said in sad awe.

  Lucas and Mackenzie stood next to the Mustang staring over the wide pasture between the road and the ranch-style home of Mackenzie’s mother. The ranch looked strangely empty with the horses, trainers, and students absent from the corrals.

  The area around the house was another story.

  It was swarming with nightmarish monsters that kept playing out hellish scenarios. Though Johnny had already seen his fair share of horrors, she had ordered him back into the car.
He didn’t have to see her mother’s fears played out in vivid detail. Her mother’s nightmares featured hellish acts upon different incarnations of Mackenzie at every age. Apparitions killed Mackenzie in every vile way imaginable. In one scenario, her car crashed into a truck over and over again. In another repeating image, Mackenzie was dragged off by men with axes.

  “I’m speechless,” Lucas said, disgust in his voice.

  “She must be sleeping for it to be like this. Maybe they sedated her. I’m sure she’s freaking out about my disappearance,” Mackenzie said, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

  “Look away,” Lucas said. “Just look away. She’s mentally ill. It’s obvious.”

  Mackenzie forced herself to face Lucas. He looked sickened by the display below.

  “I know mothers worry, but this seems so extreme,” she whispered, her stomach knotting.

  “Disturbing. Rather sick.”

  Shivering, she looked toward the descending sun. They had decided to drive into the Hill Country and take refuge in an old bed-and-breakfast dead spot. They’d be on the outer edges of the activity and able to make it to the theater in good time to hopefully meet up with the ghost tour. Even though there was the possibility of seeing her mother again very soon, she’d had the inexplicable urge to stop by the horse ranch. Mackenzie now regretted doing so. Having a clear view into her mother’s paranoid mind was not comforting at all, yet it made her realize how far removed she was from Estelle’s version of reality. None of the manifestations were grounded in truth. Staring at the ranch, Mackenzie knew that her future didn’t lie there even if she got out of the dead spot.

  “We should go,” she said.

  Lucas agreed, somberly nodding his head. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of this growing up. It couldn’t have been easy.”

  Mackenzie hesitated, glancing back at the house one more time. “No, it wasn’t. But those are her fears, not mine.”

  Giving her a small smile, Lucas said, “Exactly. You’re stronger than her.”

  “Yes, I am.” Mackenzie caught Johnny trying to sneak a peek, and placed her hand over the window. “None of that.”

  “That’s not as scary as the shark,” Johnny said, rolling his eyes.

  “Well, then, don’t look.” Mackenzie climbed into the car and pulled the seat belt on. It took all her willpower not to look again at the terrible ways her mother imagined her being killed, raped, and beaten. The shark had been terrifying, but seeing her mother’s fears manifested was chilling in a different way. She’d always considered her mother’s paranoia to be born of love, but now she saw it was grounded in Estelle’s illness.

  In silence, Lucas slid behind the wheel, turned on the car, shifted gears, and the Mustang roared along the winding road.

  “Where are we?” Johnny asked.

  “Close to Fredericksburg now,” Lucas answered.

  “Is that where we’re going?” Johnny was slouched in the rear, his shoeless feet propped up on the back of Mackenzie’s seat.

  “Yep. There’s basically no dead spots in the city limits, so it’s perfect,” Mackenzie said, reaching back to tickle his feet.

  Giggling, Johnny flexed his toes under his socks. “I want to be there already.”

  “Me, too, Johnny. Me, too.” Mackenzie was tired of the road and ready for a nice evening. The sun would soon drop behind the high hills and she wanted to be at their destination before darkness claimed the world.

  The revitalization of Fredericksburg, Texas, had been so successful there were hardly any derelict buildings in the area. The only one was a bed-and-breakfast that had burned on the outskirts of town that had yet to be renovated. Lucas had stayed there twice in the last few months. It seemed like the best place for them to seek shelter without them being too close to the hub of massive activity to the north.

  Each small town they’d passed through on their way to Kerrville had looked like a postcard someone had sent while on vacation. Flat, lifeless, and empty, the towns were eerie. Now they were speeding along the winding highway that connected Kerrville and Fredericksburg and the farms and houses set off from the road looked like overgrown dollhouses. Mackenzie caught a few glimpses of creatures lurking in the shadows of the trees, but as the sun continued its downward descent, more bizarre creatures and dream constructs began to appear.

  “That’s creepy,” Lucas muttered.

  A massive destroyer floated over a house on a hill. It was burning, explosions ripping through the hull while fiery figures leaped from the decks into the churning dark mist below.

  “A lot of veterans are in the area,” Mackenzie said, the sight chilling her.

  “Are we there yet?” Johnny asked in a weary, overly dramatic voice.

  Lucas chuckled, winking at Mackenzie. “Ah, our parents are now avenged.”

  “Classic kid line,” Mackenzie agreed.

  “But are we there yet?” Johnny persisted.

  “Just about to hit the city limits,” Lucas answered. He finally removed his sunglasses and tossed them onto the dashboard. The sun glimmered on the horizon, but the world was now muted in shades of gray and purple.

  German settlers had founded Fredericksburg in the 1800s. It was a major tourist attraction due to its restored downtown area loaded with amazing shops, cultural museums, the rich German pioneer history, and the National Museum of the Pacific War. It was always so vibrant with life that Mackenzie dreaded seeing it dead and silent in this world.

  When the Mustang finally cruised down the Hauptstrasse, the official title for Fredericksburg’s main street, Mackenzie shivered at the stillness. Though banners and signs announced Oktoberfest, the sidewalks were devoid of life. Cars were parked along the street, but the roads were quiet and empty.

  “This looks like my hometown,” Johnny decided. He pressed his nose to the window to stare out at the muted tranquility.

  “It’s like the perfect snapshot of small-town America,” Lucas said.

  The roar of a plane engine startled them seconds before a Japanese Zero swooped out of the twilight sky, closely followed by another plane.

  “Fuck me! A P-38 Lightning!” Lucas slammed on the brakes, shifted into park, and they all clambered out of the car.

  “Wow,” Mackenzie breathed.

  The sky on the south end of town was filled with an aerial battle. Allied planes and Japanese Zeros clashed in a massive display of firepower. Explosions rocked the skies, and debris rained on the still town. Sirens and screams drifted through the smoke.

  Johnny clung to Mackenzie’s side, staring in awe at the dogfight. “Who’s winning?”

  Lucas leaned against his car, his face lifted to watch an American bomber’s fiery descent. “No one. It’s an endless loop. This is someone’s memory, playing over and over again as they sleep.”

  Mackenzie realized he was right. She began to spot the areas of the battle that were repeating at regular intervals. “It’s horrible.”

  “This was someone’s reality once.” Lucas folded his arms over his chest and watched, enraptured.

  “But the sun isn’t even all the way down. Why are they dreaming?” Johnny protested.

  “Because old people like to go to bed superearly. Remember Luby’s? That place we ate where they had blue Jell-O? It’s always swarmed at four o’clock by the elderly. They’re eating dinner so they can get home, watch the news, and tuck in,” Lucas explained.

  “I like blue Jell-O,” Johnny said.

  “Kind of a stereotype, don’t you think?” Mackenzie found it difficult to look away from the planes whirling about overhead.

  “Well, both sets of my grandparents are all about early to bed, early to rise.”

  “I want to stay up all night! That would be so cool!”

  “Well, I want to get some dinner and relax before I go to bed and sleep all night. Get in the car. Both of you.” She shoved the reluctant kid into the backseat and gestured at Lucas.

  “Awww,” Johnny protested. “It looks cool.
”

  “I’m with him,” Lucas said, playfully pouting.

  “I don’t want to be out after the sun is all the way down, okay?” Mackenzie gave them both a stern look as she buckled her seat belt.

  “She’s just no fun.” Lucas leaned into the backseat to make sure Johnny was buckled in properly.

  “She’s like a mom,” Johnny grumbled.

  The comment both wounded and elated Mackenzie.

  “Yeah! No fun.” Lucas jabbed her with his elbow.

  “I’m going to ground both of you. What do you think of that?”

  Lucas winked at Johnny. “Sounds just like a mom.”

  It was a relief when they reached their destination, and Lucas restored the burned-out remains of the bed-and-breakfast. It was a large rustic cabin with a big porch complete with a swing and heavy shutters over the windows. Inside, it was decorated in a combination of rustic furniture and more modern leather couches. There were two suites, a kitchen, dining room, and large living room with a flat-screen television hidden behind a panel in the wall. Johnny was enraptured with the paintings of the pioneers who had settled in the area and an old saddle that sat above the fireplace. Mackenzie was just glad to find shelter before the dreamers of the nearby town unleashed their nightmarish fears upon the world in the form of terrible beasts.

  After some discussion, it was decided that Johnny would sleep in one suite with Lucas while Mackenzie took the other one. The small sofas in both suites opened into beds. The tension and excitement of the day had worn Mackenzie down and she felt utterly exhausted. It was difficult to keep her eyes open, and she found herself snoozing on the sofa while Lucas and Johnny noisily made macaroni and cheese and a zesty meatloaf. During dinner, she tried to concentrate on the conversation, but her thoughts kept drifting. Maybe it was seeing her mother’s fears realized, or her glimpses of the women in white throughout the day, but she kept thinking about Grant. To make matters worse, the memory of her dream made her feel angry, violated, and yet aroused all over again.

  Lucas’s hand settling on her wrist startled her. “Mac, you look exhausted. You should go to bed.”