When Two Worlds Collide

by Jerome Sitko

  Through all of the confusion and excitement, the kids did not even have a chance to look around at their surroundings. Jeremy is the first to notice that they are not at the slaughterhouse in Baker City, Oregon. In fact, they don’t know where they are. They can see buildings off to the south surrounded by desert, but the kids are on a hill in the middle of nowhere. It reminds the boys of the red desert they traveled through for days the last time. The city below them is a couple of miles away and in this heat, walking will be slow going.

  Lance pulls a blue Boy Scouts canteen out of his backpack and takes a swig and hands it to Jeremy. They pass the canteen around and when it gets back to Lance; he automatically kneels down to give Bear a drink, but Bear is nowhere in sight. Panic sets in and Lance is frantically calling his best friend and the other kids join in the search. After about five minutes they stop. They are out in the middle of nowhere so if Bear was near he would be easy to spot. Lance doesn’t know what to do and is beside himself. He wants to cry, and he tries his best not to, but tears begin to bubble and it will only be a matter of seconds before they roll down his face.

  During all of this, Reno has not stopped looking. She loves Bear as much as Lance, and she won’t stop until they find him. She’s about a hundred yards from the boys when they hear her yell for them. They all run toward her and she points to the ground. Lance fears she’s pointing at his dog, dead lying in the dirt, but it’s a hole, maybe from a badger or fox. It could even be a coyote den. And then they hear it: Bear barking.

  How did he get down there? Lance wonders when he’s close enough to see.

  The entrance to the hole is caved in and Bear is stuck. Lance drops down to his knees and frantically begins shoveling dirt away. Bear’s barking gets louder and louder. First, they see his snout, his wet nose covered in red dirt, and then he comes flying out the hole and into Lance’s arms, safe. Lance scolds him in his baby voice and gives him a healthy drink from the canteen. The kids begin their long walk to the city below, hoping that is where Ryan will be found.

  The sun’s sweltering rays bounce off the hot asphalt and distort the city view. They’re in Las Vegas, or Sheol’s version of Las Vegas. This is not a happy place, no bright lights, limousines, pretty women, or an abundance of money to be won or lost. Not here. Many of the buildings resemble the real Vegas, The Golden Nugget, The Dunes, Frontier, Stardust, and more, but these buildings are dilapidated. Many of the neon signs lay on the ground or are haphazardly secured to the facade, the bulbs long ago broken and never replaced. A few of the signs blink erratically, keeping tune to a psychotic rhythm nobody can hear. There is one building that stands out, Circus Circus. It looks as fresh as the day it was built. The neon winking in chorus invites all to come and enjoy what’s inside; it’s sure to be a fun time.

  As the kids make their way through the streets, they observe something else that’s strange: no cars are driving on the streets. There are plenty of cars parked alongside them and in the massive parking lots, but none are moving. They do see people coming in and out of the buildings and walking down the sidewalks, but they’re odd. They are not talking or laughing, and they appear to walk without a purpose like they have nowhere to go, to be. The whole town has an eerie feeling like it’s been overrun by zombies. As the kids get closer to a man walking by himself, he does not look up or acknowledge them in any way, simply passes by them. Bear’s nose is working overtime and lets out a slight whimper as he dashes around to the other side of Lance, far from the passing man.

  Reno is the first to notice it and says, “I don’t want to be rude but that dude needs a shower. He stinks really bad. And is he missing his nose? And I did see green slime on his face like he’s rotting, right?”

  No answer from the boys.

  She continues. “Is he part of a show or act in one of the casinos? My mom told me about the great shows here.”

  Jeremy, looking visibly shaken, finally answers her. “He’s dead, real dead, not fake. He’s a groupling, all of these people must be grouplings. We have to be careful. We should avoid them; they might be communicating with Charlie.”

  “Jeremy’s right. We should get off the street and hide until we figure out where Ryan is. Circus Circus looks like the best place, let’s go there,” Lance says, still turned around, watching the groupling to make sure he doesn’t double back.

  Joey nods in agreement and already has his knife out, blade open. They take a side street where they feel there will be less activity and also gives them a better chance to run if needed. They arrive at Circus Circus and enter the building through the back. Lance notices that this place is the opposite of the gas station/diner they went to last time when Charlie had them. That place was rundown looking on the outside and brand-new inside. Circus Circus looks new outside and as he scans the inside, he can see it hasn’t been operational in quite some time. All of the slot machines are off, some of them tipped over; the red felt on the card tables are ripped and stained, and the once bright carpet on the floor has met the same demise as the tables.

  “Okay, now what?” Joey asks.

  “I don’t know. I just wanted us to get somewhere safe where we can think. We need to try and figure out where Charlie has Ryan,” Lance answers, still looking around the vacant building. As he’s scanning, he sees movement out of the corner of his eye and it startles him.

  Lance didn’t really see anybody. It was the specter showing himself to Joey, and Lance felt him.

  The specter tells Joey that Ryan is not in this city. If they want to find him, they must go to the epicenter—the factory. Joey doesn’t tell the others; he can’t because he has to figure out a way to tell them without them figuring out he’s being fed information from one of Charlie’s underlings.

  “I didn’t see anything,” he says, scanning the area that Lance is pointing, a corner of the slot machine area that’s dark, darker than the rest of the building. All of the lights are out. Lance picks up a brass tube, a piece of railing that broke off long ago, and starts walking toward the corner where he thought he saw someone. Bear runs ahead sniffing and exploring everything in the room, doing what dogs do, which includes hiking his leg and peeing on a capsized Keno machine.

  Nothing.

  When they get to the corner, there is nowhere for someone to hide so Lance knows that he couldn’t have seen anyone.

  Bear starts growling and barking at a door about ten feet from where they are standing. Someone or something is in there. All of the kids immediately go on high alert and Jeremy produces a knife from his back pocket and flips the blade open. Reno pulls a six-inch fixed blade hunting knife from her purse.

  Lance looks around at the three of them holding their knives and says, “Am I the only one that didn’t bring a knife?”

  He lets out a weak laugh as all of them stare back at him steely-eyed and serious. They begin moving toward the door, imagination running wild about what they will find on the other side.

  Bear is still scratching and barking as Lance approaches. Reno hands him her knife and takes the brass tube.

  Before he swings the door open, he thinks, Can I really stab someone, kill someone? But then he remembers he’s in Sheol and grouplings are already dead, or undead… and can come back. He decides he can if it means saving himself and his friends.

  “Reno, grab Bear. I don’t want him to get hurt if there’s something bad in here,” he says as he simultaneously jerks the door open and closes his eyes for just a split second.

  It’s Joey’s worst nightmare come true, a killer clown, or better put, a groupling dressed in a soiled and ripped Circus Circus clown costume standing in the middle of the hallway looking back at them. Joey is pretty sure the red around the clown’s mouth is blood and not makeup.

  He screams and retreats backward, tripping over one of the upturned chairs and popping up with a frantic look on his face. Lance and Jeremy slam the door shut and start pushing a slo
t machine over to block it.

  “We got to go, we got to go! Let’s get the fuck out of here!” Joey yells, his voice cracking with fear. The others agree as they run toward the back of the casino, Joey leading the way. From the front there’s a cacophony of broken glass and wood splintering as more grouplings flow into the casino. Once outside, the kids and Bear run across the parking lot. Grouplings seem to appear out of nowhere. It reminds the boys of their first journey when Charlie ordered his undead to converge on the factory.

  Why aren’t we taking one of these cars? Reno thinks, struggling to keep up, still holding Bear, abandoning the brass tube long ago.

  She stops and tries the door handle of the next car she comes across. It just happens to be a black-on-black 1969 GTO Judge. Amazingly, the car starts and roars to life shooting black smoke out of its tailpipes, clearing its lungs, ready for the next road trip. She pulls up next to the boys who are still running and they give her a big smile and thumbs up as they all cram into the vehicle.

  “Holy shit, this is cool. What is it?” Joey asks, squirming into the back seat behind her.

  “I don’t know, but it looks fast, and it’s the first car I came to, so I tried it.”

  “Good job, Reno. It’s a Pontiac GTO, the Judge. Brian has a poster on his wall of this same car, except it’s orange,” Jeremy says.

  “Cool car, but now where are we going?” Lance asks, slightly deflating everyone’s newfound enthusiasm.

  Joey decides he has to tell the group what the specter told him in the casino. He just doesn’t know how to do it without raising suspicion.

  What Joey doesn’t know is that it was the specter that summoned all of the grouplings that came crashing into the casino, hoping to capture the boys.

  He decides to keep quiet and not say anything, at least for the time being.

  They are outside the city limits now and entering the desert.

  Reno, now keenly aware how important gas is to a running car, looks at the gas gauge. All of the gauges are pegged to the left, nothing registering. “Guys, I don’t know how much gas this car has in it. None of the gauges are working.”

  “If it’s anything like last time, we won’t have to worry about it. For some reason, cars here don’t need gas at least that we know,” Lance says, glancing out the rearview mirror to see if they are being followed.

  They are not; it’s barren.

  Why is it both times we are the only ones driving cars? he wonders.

  The answer is simple. The grouplings don’t have the mental capacity to drive. That’s why all of the cars in Vegas sit vacant.

  It’s eating Joey up inside not being able to tell the others that Ryan is at the factory. He decides he just needs to come out with it. “I have a feeling that Ryan is at the factory, the one we escaped from the first time. Maybe, we should try there first.”

  “What makes you think that?” Reno asks.

  “I don’t know, it’s just a feeling. It makes sense, sort of.”

  “Yeah, I guess it does make sense, but man, I don’t want to go back to that place,” Jeremy adds.

  As the three of them discuss Joey’s feelings, Lance is trying to have another conversation, but not with them, with Emma. He rubs the talisman hanging around his neck as he tries to shake the feeling of déjà vu, riding in the backseat of a car staring at a red desert heading toward some ungodly, evil place.

  Emma, we really need your help right now. Where are you? Where is Ryan?

  Nothing.

  He’s getting frustrated, tired of trying to communicate with her and it’s fifty–fifty whether she responds.

  Damn it, answer me, please. We need help.

  Still nothing.

  Emma hears Lance, but the kids need to figure out where Ryan is on their own. It’s another weird decree she is obligated to follow so she remains silent.

  Without any help or direction from Emma, Lance decides that Joey’s option is better than no option at all.

  “Let’s go to the factory,” he says as he visibly cringes.

  All three boys are solemn, none of them looking forward to finding what awaits them.

  CHAPTER 6

  Goodbye Bear, I Love You…

  The road ahead of them is straight, straight and even, no hills, no bushes, no landmarks for miles. The orange hue of the sky and red dirt of the desert is surreal and holds nothing but bad, bad memories for the boys.

  Reno is indifferent, but only because she still has not come to grips with her new reality. She’s excited, scared, and right now miserable, wishing she brought a headband for her hair. There is now no doubt in her mind that the boys have been telling the truth, especially since their adventure in Sin City.

  The heat from the black car with black interior is sweltering and puts everyone on edge. Jeremy swears that the milk he drank at home before leaving is now curdling in his stomach and turning into yogurt. Bear is on the floorboard between Lance’s feet panting with his tongue lazily hanging out of his mouth.

  “Is it always like this?” Reno asks.

  “We don’t know. This is all we remember. It must mean we’re on the right road to the factory,” Lance answers as he secretly shakes his canteen, confirming to himself that it’s empty.

  “Wait. What is that?” Lance is pointing off to the right side of the road at a gas station.

  “Fuck, that can’t be the same gas station. Please don’t let it be,” Jeremy squeaks out as he follows Lance’s finger.

  And then they see the sign, Shell Gasoline ~ Diner, and a smaller sign reads, Owned and operated by Garland and Genevieve Parsons.

  “Shit, it is. I don’t want to stop. Please don’t stop,” Jeremy says as he sinks down into his hot seat.

  “Why? Maybe it has water or food,” Reno replies.

  The boys know it will have neither. The only thing that wicked place has is bad memories. Each of the boys remember it in their own way. Walking in with Charlie and seeing the three pretty girls behind the counter. At first they were excited, sure they were going to get lucky. In a way, they kind of did. The trio was eventually making out with the girls. For Joey, it was extra special. He was making out with Wendy, his crush from earlier in that purple apartment. And then all hell broke loose. Charlie changed the girls back into their true groupling selves and they started rotting right in front of them. Lance vividly remembers making out with his crush, Toni, and her rotting lip somehow ended up in his mouth, and he chewed on it before he realized what it was.

  “I agree. I don’t think that place has anything we can use in there,” Lance says, twinging as he wipes his tongue with his hand. The tainted flavor of rotting meat is as prominent as the day it happened and is giving him a case of dry mouth. He looks down at Bear and has a change of heart. “Actually, maybe we do need to stop to see if there’s water. Bear is dying down here.”

  “Hopefully there’s a spigot on the outside. If not, who’s going in? Not it!” Joey yells as he places his finger on the tip of his nose. The others automatically play along. Lance loses.

  “Jo-Jo, you’re the only one that’s been in the kitchen area. Did you see a sink or anything?” Jeremy asks.

  “I don’t fucking know. I was passing second base rounding third before Wendy’s fucking face rotted the fuck off.”

  “We’re all going in and that’s that,” Reno demands.

  Case closed.

  They park in the back next to the kitchen entry. A rusted ten-yard green dumpster is guarded by two fifty-five-gallon drums used for old fry grease. The door is smudged and oily from years of faithful service, the screen door long gone. When Reno turns the engine off and swings open her door, all three boys look at each other, not saying a word, but understanding what the other is thinking. They’re scared and don’t want to go in. They reluctantly get out and immediately pull their knives.

  “Wh
o’s going in first? It sure the fuck ain’t me,” Joey says as he moves behind Lance and Jeremy.

  Lance takes the lead. He lost the game and throws open the door and yells, “Hello, anyone in there?”

  All of them wait, quietly listening. Hearing nothing, Lance walks in knife forward like he’s holding an épée preparing for a duel. The kitchen area is clear, no grouplings. He finds the dishwashing station and three stainless steel sinks, dirty dishes stacked in every available basin and counter teeter haphazardly waiting for a slight breeze to blow them over. He turns the handle to the faucet, and at first, there’s nothing, and then the pipes clank to life as rusty water makes its way through clogged arteries. It explodes out of the small nozzle shooting red liquid everywhere.

  “You have to give it a minute to clear up if it hasn’t been used in a while; the pipes might be a little rusty,” Joey offers the group.

  “Thanks, Jo-Jo, but we know,” Lance says out loud, but is thinking, Fucking hurry up, my mouth is so dry I can drink a gallon of water right now.

  Eventually, the water clears and Lance shoves the dirty dishes onto the floor and sets Bear on the counter to drink.

  At the same time, Reno hears a scratching noise outside and unwisely leaves the boys without telling them. As soon as she exits the building, she’s face-to-face with two male grouplings that must have been part of a motorcycle club in their prior life. They have long hair, long beards, and are wearing matching denim cuts with red and yellow colors of the Norse fire giant sitting on the sun. They grab her and she starts screaming.

  Bear hears her first and immediately leaps off the counter and runs out the door. The boys arrive just in time to see one of the grouplings grab Bear by the neck, choking him, and then drop him and kick him like a football with his big, black, pointed boot. Bear lets out a whimper and flies fifteen feet through the air, landing on his side, motionless.

  Lance screams as he charges the groupling, plunging the hunting knife into its chest, the momentum taking both of them to the ground. Jeremy pulls Reno out of the arms of the other groupling and Joey stabs it multiple times in the shoulder and neck pushing it onto the hood of the GTO, blood spraying everywhere. Jeremy kicks it in the balls and it releases a high-pitched gurgling as it slides to the ground. All three boys turn their attention to the groupling that kicked Bear and begin circling it like sharks attacking wounded prey. They mercilessly kick it in the torso and head, their rage overwhelming them.