Out There: A Rural Horror Story

by Cademon Bishop

  Michael read her lips. He rushed back and grabbed the two boxes near Denver's belongings. Bullets trailed like breadcrumbs along the ground. The lights outside of the gas station strobed with the ones inside.

  Lara took in a deep breath and kissed Denver, walked to the bullet ruptured door. He saw her take a few steps back, then aimed her pistol.

  The entrance swung open. Denver watched a large man creep into the room, then jump back. As Lara pelleted him with bullets. Michael wanted to duck or turn around but both him and Denver remained glued on Lara.

  Side A Track 14

  On the Burning Shore

  The three remaining biker gang members blipped in and out of life under the white flickering lights of the gas station’s overhang. Lara watched Leonard dance back, then fumble onto the pavement. He outstretched an arm towards the group and let out a long smoker’s cough wail.

  The two next to Lucy stepped forward to help, but she forced them back. She stared at Lara with a feverish grin. Lucy’s leather jacket shimmered with each flicker, and her red hair rippled in the wind. She dropped the helmet in her hand and let it roll like a bowling ball towards the gas stations pumps. Lara focused on what her father taught her about aim but replaced the pistol’s grip with the sparks in her hands.

  Lucy outstretched her pistol and let it hang in the air like a sour note. She hovered her fingers on the trigger but let her gun float.

  Lara was calm—as calm as she could be. Her lip rested like a dead pulse; her eyes were infinite pools of water.

  Lucy had fire on the corner of her lips. She lowered her gun, letting the barrel point to her foot, “Lara, thank god you’re safe!” She said in a poor portrayal of pity. “Where is Denver?”

  Lara didn't respond. A tear fell from her eye and glimmered in the strobing light.

  “Jesus Lara, he wants to kill you. Don’t you see that?” I don’t know when, but he’s planin’ on somethin’.”

  Lara let go of her pistol and raised both hands in the air. The two men stepped forward, but Lucy ushered them back. Sparks dance around Lara’s palm. She focused her aim on Colin and Cain.

  Lara felt that channel changing state in her head as she swapped the boys guns, making one disappear and one replaced with a much older version. She had no clue how she knew of this or where they were swapped. All she knew was that they were here. Lara whipped out Butch’s old pistol and gave a quick loose fire towards Lucy. She missed.

  Lucy shot towards her.

  An uncountable reflex came to Lara as if she were tensing her body for a fall. Her body flicked out, just as the bullet would have ruptured her stomach. She felt her mind go numb as she saw a vision of a similar gas station, then flashed back to her own. Michael and Denver ducked behind the counter.

  The two by Lucy’s side prepared to fire. The stronger, older man reached blindly where his gun once was. The scrawny younger one pulled the trigger, and a bone-white ball of light flashed as the gun exploded in his hand. The barrel spin back and missed his head. The burst burnt his skin. Cain grasped his arm in disbelief—his pointer finger and thumb were missing.

  Lucy stepped forward, shooting as much as she could. Bullets zipped into another window and past the door frame. One almost struck Lara’s chest, but she flicked out of existence just in time.

  Lara fired again, swearing she shot Lucy in the abdomen, but just Lucy just flinched and and kept walking. Lara lunged out of the doorway and crouched into an aisle of truck supplies. The lights stayed on as she took in shaky breaths. Lara and her parents were separated only by a metal shelf. She tried to let it go, but the untouchable thought kept thudding on the walls of her mind. Your parents are dead, all because you didn’t die. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t grasp that they were gone. Like a flick of a switch, and that was it.

  Lucy stepped forward and froze. She saw the way Lara looked into the pistol’s barrel. Lucy crept towards her, like a cat just finding its next meal. “Ya can’t do that yourself!” A wide grin slithered onto her face, “Why do ya think, I went through all this mess—” She kicked something wet as she walked down the opposite aisle. Lara stood up, old fashion pistol pointed at the bottom of her chin. Lucy, trailed a warm, wet hand on the side of Lara’s face, “It’s not gonna be fun if you want to end it all, at least let it be worth somethin’.”

  Within the span of a second Lara spun the gun towards Lucy and fired. Running out of bullets never crossed her mind in the dreams.

  Lucy snickered and thrusted her hands on top of the aisle, almost tipping it over. “Like that’ll work.” She waved a blood-stained hand at Lara. “You can fuckin’ beat me down as much as you want, but I can-”

  Denver made a commotion behind the counter. Lucy turned, but it was too late. A bullet pierced through one ear and out the other. Crimson sprayed in a line across the bags of food. She fell on the floor like a sack of coal. The buttons of her jacket clicked as she collapsed. Denver’s hands shivered. The lights stopped strobing. An engine roared outside as Collin and Cain drove off. Everyone in the gas station was out of breath and speech—none of them had the strength to look towards the bodies.

  Lara and Michael tossed their clothes and supplies in the truck bed. Denver went back inside to grab more food. The headlights coated the gas station in a murky white glow. Lara pulled up her sleeve and examined her hand. There were scars down her forearm. This power of hers was tearing her apart.

  It was raining—harder than usual. Michael’s gaze was glued to the window. The ditches on the sides of the highway began to look like creeks.

  Lara’s eyes were fixed on the gas station. The building became a black hole of meaning, “Why?”

  Michael failed to pretend like he didn’t hear.

  “Was it worth all of this?” Lara wiped her eyes with her shirt collar. “Why was I worth all of this?”

  “Lara, none of us knew this was gonna happen… We just thought we all could help ya…” Michael gulped and felt his throat.

  “Well, it all ain’t worth it.”

  “Lara, I know. We can plan things once we’re all away from here… We just gotta get everyone safe, then we can decide what, we, were, wha-” Michael choked on something inviable.

  “We were wrong!” Cassiel’s voice echoed from Michael’s body. “We need you to stay for as long as you can!”

  “No…” Lara looked down at the wheel. “I’ve been runnin’ too far.”

  “The government could never save this place. The gods have.”

  Michael took in a deep gulp and gasped as if he had just emerged out of water. “Lara this ain’t, uhhchh-”

  “The heavens have let go of this place and decided to flood the evil out of the land.” Cassiel spoke. “ It is a cruel fate and their last resort… I still see a way where you and the town are saved.”

  “It ain’t worth shit!” Lara beat a fist into the car’s console. “Not like this,” she fought her heavy breaths. “Why should I believe you, anyway? Ya lied hundred years before this, so why go on now. Ya don’t care how I feel, only that ya get your money’s worth.” Her eyes snapped back to the gas station.

  Denver stumbled out the wooden paneled front door, “Lara.” His voice wavered with fear and uncertainty.

  Lucy stood behind him. Blood coated her face in thin stripes, “Oh, LARRAA!” Crimson and insanity seeped through her grin. Lucy licked the blood off her front teeth and bit the bottom of her lip. “Looks like I found your man… ya picked a juicy one. Ain’t he?” Lucy had a gun into Denver’s cheek—Lara’s gun. “Hand over the keys. I’ll drive.”

  Lara had laid it on the counter while she was packing the boxes. She saw the horror in Denver’s midnight black eyes. The truck’s headlights faded away as she took out the keys. Lara’s heart twisted as she raised her hands outside the truck’s window, the keys jingled.

  “Don’t ya two get any ideas in the dark,” Lucy crept a cold, bloodstained finger over the top of Lara’s hand and snatched the keys. She tossed Denver in
the front seat and turned on the car. The headlights hummed back to life. “Yeehaw,” Lucy said between stained teeth as she drifted the car back down the highway.

  Lara and Michael sat in the back seat, Lucy drove with one hand on the wheel and the other aimed at Denver.

  “I’m surprised you’re still with this piece of shit, ya know what he did, right?” Lucy waited. “You did get the letter? He killed Johnathan, thought you’d figured it out.” The rest of the drive was silent.

  Lucy stood in the back as they walked towards the gang’s hide-out. I could just teleport outta here, Lara thought, she would shoot Denver if I made any moves, shit! Lucy stepped forward and creaked open the metal entrance and guided them with the pistol. A wet dirt smell hit Lara as she descended the stairwell. The light at the top of the stairs blanketed her in neon crimson.

  The Collin bandaged Cains wounds as the group stumbled in. “Taadaa!” Lucy waved her hand towards them.

  The Collin stood up, “Well, if it ain’t Denver Flynn.” His tone edged sadness.

  “Cain! Collin! Grab one of them and help me take em to the back.”

  “I got the girl,” Cain scampered towards them—Blood trickled down his banged left hand. He grabbed a white link of rope and rung Lara’s fist together. Collin lumber towards Michael and simply held one hand around his wrists. Michael made no effort to resist.

  “Didn’t we already toss her out?” Cain asked as they entered the dark central hallway on the far back wall.

  Collin nudged Cain, “I guess she escaped.”

  Lara felt like blurting something out, but pain and horror sealed her lips. The gang’s banter bounced off the walls. As they turned right, Lara saw the glowing outline of a door frame. The light shimmered red along the brick’s texture leading up to the doorway.

  “Hey, Cain, swap for a second!” Lucy called as she shoved Denver into the brick wall. Lucy’s thin fingers wrapped around Lara’s wrist, feeling cold and almost skeletal, “I’m assumin’ you got it?”. Lara had no idea how to respond. She seized as Lucy slid one of her fragile fingers down Lara’s pants pocket and dragged up a key, “I was fuckin’ right.”

  The glowing outline of the door felt as though it was floating in the dark. Lucy inserted the key, but it didn’t go all the way through. She slid into Lara’s other pocket and found another key. It worked like a charm. The red light was blinding as they stepped out of the pitch black and into the neon red.

  The walls of the large room were coated in crimson velvet curtains. Four cherry-red lights lay in the corners of the room. Along each corner were black chairs, books, and empty bourbon bottles. The lights—if not already bright enough—were intensified by the mirrored ceiling. In the center of the room was a stone statue of Mother Mary, a neon red halo hung around her head, and her face coated in dripping black spray paint. In the center of the room was a black painted bathtub. Lara watched the scene around her through the ceiling.

  “Pin-up the others,” Lucy ordered. Lara slipped out of Lucy’s grasp and ran. Only to be yanked back. “Ya ain’t goin’ anywhere! Cain! Turn it on.”

  Cain spun a turn crank that poked between the curtains. A shrill hiss filled the room as liquid trickled out of a pipe on the ceiling’s center, then rushed out in a chugging spray, filling the ceramic pool. The water rippled in rhythmic red rings.

  “This is how I was gonna take you out before things were cut short,” Lucy said. “Rainwater… This is the only way we can let the town live on. There are about a hundred people out there. You ain’t want them dead, now do ya miss Glass. The government can’t do shit. So, I took matters into my own hands… and made a deal with the devil. How the hell you think I got this room? We’re two sides of the same coin, from what they’ve told me. You get to be a little stupid little angel, and I…” Lucy leaned Lara over the pool. Lara felt faint flicks of burning water dance along her face. She saw a pentagram painted white inside the tub. “You were the lucky one,” Lucy yanked Lara upwards.

  “Get off her!” Denver shouted.

  “Well, shit. Ain’t you one to talk,” Lucy snapped. Lara tried to swivel towards the door, hoping to use Denver as a distraction. “Don't you dare,” Lucy chimed as she held Lara. “Oh shit,” They saw an outline of a person from the pitch-black rectangle of the hallway—A man sporting a camo raincoat, rough dirty blond hair, and a mustache.

  “Hey, Lucy,” Harvey called, waving the shot off handcuff on his wrist. “Thanks for watching her, but I can handle it all from here.”

  Lucy’s gaze remained fixed, watching that all too confident grin, “Hey, Collin?” Lucy barked; her eyes still fixed on Harvey.

  “Yeah?”

  “Shoot em’.”

  “I, I can’t”

  “Cover y’alls ears then,” A muzzle flash went off in the blinding red light. Denver cried and shudder into the red curtains. Lucy spun the pistol back on Lara.

  Everything went silent for Lara. Her breath disappeared, her thoughts faded, her control-

  Lara’s palms burned as sparks danced around her hands. She gripped the white rope and made it vanish, then elbowed Lucy.

  Lucy flailed backward, arms spinning as she tumbled into the water. Collin and Cain bounded forward to help her. Lara turned towards Denver. There was a bloody hole glinting from his back as he leaned against the wall, his head was down as if in prayer. It was at the moment she realized: She never told him she loved him. Lara’s hands shook with violent disarray. She looked up in the mirror and saw Collin and Cain failing to get Lucy out of the burring water. Lucy’s arms melted out of their grasp. Her face was a disfigured mound, as if her skin were melted cheese.

  Lucy let out a gurgling, splintery scream.

  Harvey shot at Lara. She flicked in and out of existence, missing the bullet. Lara felt the sparks surge towards the ground, a muscle tearing pain roared through her arms as she aimed her hands towards Denver and Michael. He bolted forward and was caught in Lara’s shot.

  Harvey teleported along with them.

  Chapter 15

  Track Mix down

  Ever last pt.1

  Harvey felt the air tug around him. He found himself in a similar sized room. The place was stripped clean of any decorations. Only the bathtub remained, empty and white in this timeline. Yellow florescent lights hung above the metal exit door. A dull waft of metal and dust replaced the stale human stench.

  Denver sunk into the ground, still breathing. Harvey saw Michael and Lara rush to Denver. He spun out his gun faster than a flame ignites.

  “Lara Glass, you demon! Your reign of terror has gone on far enough.” Harvey shot three times at her. The first shot missed, which scared her into teleporting out of the second and third.

  Lara looked at him with pained confusion. “Demon? Hell, Lucy’s the demon. Have ya seen what she can do?”

  “Oh, no, no, don’t you try playing any tricks with me! I know what you can do…” Harvey shook his pistol like a conductor’s baton as he spoke. “What’s in it for you? Huh! What made you so confident on destroying this shit town?”

  Lara let out a series of wild, exasperated breaths, failing to speak.

  “She isn’t meaning to do any of this!” Michael cried.

  “Shut up. Answer me, goddamn it. What made you-”

  “It wasn’t me!” Lara cried; her hands shook. “It wasn’t me… Can ya please.” Tears streamed down her face as she looked at Denver. He’s, he’s alive, but for how long? “Please I’ll, I’ll, do whatever I can!” Lara’s voice came out in a harsh series of wails. “Just please, something is coming for this town. We got to stop it!”

  “It’s because that’s what you wished on this town,” Harvey whipped the gun in a horizontal arc in front of her face. “That is your demonic plea; to get your kicks one last time before you terrorize some other place.”

  “No, I just need to figure things out…” Lara’s words fluttered into fierce sorrow-filled weeps. “They killed my parents. They killed my fucking parents… You
think I’d want that… you think I’d want to be alone for the rest of my life?”

  Harvey felt off-put by Lara’s tears. Alone, he thought, she’s got some human side to her, right? No, that’s just an act… But why act when she can just dodge all my bullets, she could have just killed me right here… Who is she?

  “You understand? Right?” Lara clung onto Denver. “What it’s like to be alone?”

  A deep emotional pain struck Harvey’s heart. “Agh, you god damn demon!” Harvey fired once. Lara dodged the shot effortlessly. However, Denver was in no shape to dodge.

  “Stop!” Lara Shouted.

  Harvey stepped forward and cocked back his gun.

  A surge of energy broke through Lara’s arms, causing the group to flick out of the room. Harvey shot and struck the ground where Denver’s head would have been.

  They appeared at the bottom of a moonlit, tree infested hill.

  Harvey’s head swayed as he tried to piece together where he was. Lara saw a tear streaming down his left eye. “Please!” She shouted as she pulled Denver to her chest.

  The world danced around them. Flicking from light to dark, forest to desert, space to spaceless, within to without, like images on a line of film. “You know what it’s like, don’t ya? To see your family, go up into smoke.” Lara kept her eyes on Harvey as the world stormed around her. “That’s what’s got ya ain’t it.”

  Harvey didn’t respond. He simply stared at her, chest heaving. Somewhere at the top of the hill, an owl’s hoot cut off as they flicked to another timeline. Michael stepped back, hiding behind a tree in that flick of reality. A brash, yet beautiful show of light flicked around them as they hopped from timeline to timeline.

  “That gang took the only family I had. Ya want to talk about the devil, you want to talk about evil shit. What were ya planning on when you strutted in here and shot at me and my friend.” Harvey’s head sunk in thought. He slid his last bullet out of his pockets and danced it between his fingers. “What was your fuckin’ plan!” Lara screamed. Tears streamed from her eyes. Her hand shook over Denver’s chest. Denver’s body shivered as it moved from terrain to terrain.