by Jason Davis
There was a loud crashing sound, metal screeching in protest. It screamed into the night and then, with a grunt, the metal gave way and there was the sound of the sudden release of tension. The car door, forced apart by the Jaws of Life, popped open.
Carter watched as Jimmy, one of the local volunteer firemen, stepped back to keep from getting caught by any of the metal. He was the most junior on the squad, but also the biggest as he went to the local community college and was one of the running backs for the football team. He was not one of those small running backs; he was the guy you handed the ball to when you wanted someone to bully their way through the line. He was a big boy.
“You gotta be fucking kidding me,” Carter heard the big man say.
He looked in the direction of the now open door. It hung off of its remaining hinge by a tiny sliver of metal. Just a strong wind, or even someone breathing on it too hard, and the metal would tear away, and the door would fall to the road. This was one hell of a mess.
When Carter had first gotten the call, he had been asleep in his car behind the sweet shop, hidden in the dark alley where he stayed on most nights between one and six a.m. It was a nice little hideaway. Hardly anybody ever went down that little stretch of alley, and when they did, it was often some local teenagers dumb enough not to know that they always woke him up. When they did, he knew it was time for him to write tickets. Since he was just behind the main street, he’d also know if they were to start drag racing.
The area was central to the town, one block away from the little office he had set up in the local cop shop. Between one and six, things were typically so quiet, he didn’t need to waste gas driving around town. It was quiet enough that he could hear a car start from just about anywhere within six blocks. That was a quarter of the town. The rest of it, well… They could just call him if they needed him.
Which they had. Just a little after three, he had gotten a call that a car was found wrapped around a telephone poll on the south side of town. Phone lines were down, which was why Sue Linkston had to drive five miles to Patty’s house and wake her up in the middle of the night. Why the old women didn't just get herself a cell phone so she could call him was a mystery.
Of course, he wouldn’t give his personal cell phone to anyone in this damn town, other than those who absolutely needed it. However, the state dispatch had it. Emergency calls always went to them first, then they would call him, either on his radio or his phone. Lori, the state deputy who was answering calls and who had been lucky enough to receive this one, had called him on his cell phone to tell him about the accident. She was also the one responsible for calling the fire truck, as there was the possibility of electrical lines being down, as well as to let him know an ambulance was en route and that if he needed LifeFlight, it was currently on the ground and ready to go.
He didn’t know how Jimmy and Earl had beat him out there because when the call came in, he was in the squad car. For them to get there, Lori would have had to call them each at home and wake them up. Then they had to go to the station, get the fire truck, then race out there. They had both arrived and were inspecting the mangled car before he had gotten there. Jimmy had already been holding the Jaws of Life.
Carter had stopped, making sure his lights were aimed at the car to light up the area, then had climbed out. Earl had hurried past him. He knew the older man would get on the radio to call in the status of the victim. Earl was a short man, but big all around. He made Carter think of that old musical, the one with the Oompa Loompas or whatever they were called. He imagined Earl lying on his side and rolling away, a chorus of small men singing behind him.
Carter looked around. He was surprised the cranky ol' Sue Linkston wasn’t out there to gawk at them all. Thank God for small favors.
He then took the time to look at the car. It had slammed into a wooden telephone poll, which was now bent back. It looked like it was an old 1980’s Plymouth, although he would have to look at the hood or the trunk to make sure. If so, it was a tough car. It should have been hard to damage it, yet the front end of the car was in a “V” around the pole, the hood pushed back into the spider-webbed windshield.
Whoever was driving must have been going way too fast, lost control, shot down the hill, and slammed into the pole. He didn’t expect there to be anyone alive, and with how fast Earl moved to call it in on the radio, he could tell the other man shared his opinion.
Now that the door was open, Carter worked his way over to the car. At first he couldn’t really see in the car. When his eyes adjusted, he could make out the general shape of someone in the driver’s seat.
“Who is it?”
“I can’t tell you who the fuck it is. It’s like they got melted together,” Jimmy said. Carter looked at him. The man was green and looked like he was getting ready to throw up.
Carter took another step towards the car and pulled his heavy-duty flashlight from his belt. He shined the light into the driver’s seat. At first, he couldn’t tell what the hell he was looking at.
“Oh, heavenly Jesus,” he heard Earl whisper from over his shoulder. He, the one who many had heard would soon be running for mayor, must have come back from the fire truck. He had been talking with the hospital, letting them know they were at the location and giving the area state police a heads-up on whether they needed medical LifeFlight.
Carter could see they weren’t going to need the helicopter. The driver’s head had been smashed open, tattered skin hanging from his face. Brain matter leaked onto the front of the man’s shirt and down on the back of the head of whomever had been in his lap. Carter hoped it had been good because that was the last blow job he would ever get.
His stomach churned as he worked his way closer to the bodies. He couldn’t see the woman’s face, the mouth still wrapped around what was left of the man’s penis. He saw where blood had spurted from the man’s pants. She must have bitten down as some point.
Then the smell hit him. The foul odor that happens when a body loses bladder control. Now that the car was open, it came out in waves, attacking them.
“Damn. These are the nights I hate,” he said under his breath.
“Well, you can’t sleep away every night,” Earl said.
Yeah, ya bastard, and you are going to be mayor soon. You are a fucking asshole, he thought, reaching out to gently touch the metal of the door, leaning into it as he eased his way over the shards of broken glass.
The woman’s face was turned down from him, but he knew he wasn’t going to be able to tell who she was through the face anyway. It had smashed into the wheel so badly, there really wasn’t much of a recognizable face left. Carter was going to have to move her, see if he could tell who she was, then get her out of the way so he could find the man’s wallet. Maybe he would be lucky and she would have her purse nearby. He took a second and scanned the front seat. He didn’t see one, but it might have flown out of the car when it hit.
“Hey, can you guys look around, see if you see her purse at all. I’m going to need it for identification.”
“Sure. You don’t need a Christmas bonus.”
Carter turned and flashed the light straight into Earl’s eyes. He quickly got his hand up and blocked the beam.
“Fine,” Earl grumbled. “Jimmy, go check around the front, see if you see any purses over there.”
Carter turned back to the couple in the car, bending over so he could start to pull her off the man's crotch. Suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed his wrist. The grip was hard and like steel. He tried to pull back, but it held on. He looked and saw that it was the man’s hand, grabbing his own. The rest of him wasn’t moving, just his hand.
Then the woman slowly looked up. Her eyes were white orbs that stared deep into his soul. He felt something grip his insides, freeze him to his core and lock him there.
She started moving toward him, crawling across the bloodied waist of the guy. He saw her face as it moved closer into the headlights of his squad
car. He knew he had seen her before, but wasn’t quite sure who she was. Her face was a mess, the back of her head had been smashed into the staring wheel, and the man’s blood was splattered across her. It looked like grotesque road kill, and the only thing missing was the tire track across her face.
Carter didn’t know how she was moving, but was surprised even more when she opened her mouth. The bloodied penis, still in her mouth, hung down in a mass of flesh, and she spoke in a harsh and raspy voice. However, it didn’t sound feminine. It was deep and disconnected.
“Death. Death comes and all belong. Death comes and all descend. Death comes and we all fall down. We all fall down. We all fall down.”
The woman was almost on top of him. His feet had started to slide under the car as he tried to pull himself away from the iron grip that still had him. Where the fuck were Jimmy and Earl? Why the hell weren’t they helping him? They needed to get their lazy asses over here and get this fucking thing off him.
“Just shoot it,” a tiny little voice inside his head tried to scream at him. Why hadn’t he? He should just pull out his revolver and shoot them both.
He quickly reached over to the gun in his holster and fumbled with the snap release. It was on the wrong side so he had to reach across his body, the man’s grip on his wrist throwing his weight off. He couldn’t get to the damn snap release. She was getting closer. He felt the warm flesh of the penis remnants as they dripped down onto his uniform pants.
Carter got his leg up to the bottom portion of the car door and pulled even harder. He felt himself falling back. The grip didn’t loosen, the man and woman tumbling out of the car after him.
“We all fall down,” he heard her say. Then he heard laughter, but it didn’t come from her. It came from somewhere else, like in his head. A laughter that screamed at him, howling in anguished joy. Everything faded to black as Carter passed out.
Chapter 4
Tina listened to the crackle of the gravel in the parking lot, the familiar snap, crackle, pop. There was always gravel around—loose rocks, pieces of the town falling apart, remnants of life that was fading out. In the silence of early morning, the gravel crunching seemed louder. It almost sounded like the little rocks protested as the heavy car drove over them. She cringed at it, not wanting to wake anyone.
She pulled into the front parking lot of the only doctor in town, the nearest hospital being an hour away. One doctor was as good as any other, and small towns only ever seemed to be able to support one. She knew the doctor’s office wasn’t open more than three days a week, so he probably traveled to the hospital to supplement his income. She knew his office wouldn’t be open until around eight or nine and, even then, wasn’t sure if today was one of the days the office was open. Damn, she should have taken Lucy to the hospital last night when she had first woken her up. She looked worse now.
She looked at the little girl in the back seat. Lucy was so pale, the rosy, bright little girl missing, and she had been complaining that her mouth ached and her muscles were sore. If it hadn’t been for the fact that Tina’s other sister, Mary, had visited just a couple days ago with the same symptoms, they never would have thought it was anything more than an infected molar. However, they knew better now that Mary had been diagnosed. She couldn’t remember the name of what it had been called, some meningitis-type disease, but the symptoms were there. Lucy had it. Tina was sure of it.
It wasn’t anything serious, or so she had been told, but with Lucy’s mom being out of town and leaving Tina to watch after her two children, she didn’t want to take any chances. Terry would kill her on the spot if anything happened to her. Lucy was the angel, Terry’s little princess. She was born on the same day as her grandmother, which had always made her special in all their eyes. The whole family felt that way about her. They were all there to protect her. She was going to be the one to save the world someday. Or so they always told her. The little angel who would grow up and save them all.
So that was why they came there early. Get Lucy looked at, hopefully getting there early enough to catch them just as the little office opened the doors. Since they didn’t have an appointment, she hoped he would still see her. Sure, they were there hours early, but Tina planned to park out front and walk around to the doctor’s house and see if she could maybe catch him as he headed in.
She was surprised when she had pulled into the parking lot to see that there were lights on in the front reception area, and that there was movement through the windows. They were in luck. Someone was already there.
She had a quick thought that maybe someone had broken in, but she laughed it off. Who would break into a doctor’s office? It wasn’t like there would be money lying around. Drugs? How many samples of Viagra did someone need to steal to make it worthwhile?
“I guess we’re in luck,” Tina said, pulling into the closest non-handicapped space in the parking lot. “It looks like their already in the office this morning.”
Lucy smiled weakly. “Good. Maybe I’ll be fine enough to go to the game later today.”
Tina grimaced. She knew Lucy had wanted to go to the junior high exhibition basketball game. After all, Bobby was going to be playing, and Lucy liked Bobby. As far as Tina was concerned, she was getting too old, too fast. She shouldn’t be thinking about boys yet. She should still find them gross and full of cooties.
“We’ll see what the doctor says,” Tina said. “Stay here while I go and see if we can get you in.” Tina got out of the car and walked toward the front door.
****
Lucy watched as Tina walked up the front stairs. She didn't want to go to the doctor, but had a hard time ignoring the dull throbbing pain that had started to grow in the left side of her mouth. When she woke Tina up in the middle of the night, she had hoped, well… She wasn’t sure what she had hoped. She guessed she had hoped Tina would have some magical miracle cure. Some grandmother’s special recipe that would make her not feel so sick to her stomach and would keep her mouth from aching. She did not want to go to the doctor or the hospital. Tina hadn’t wanted to go to the hospital, either, which was why she hadn’t tried to force that on her. Tina regarded hospitals with a fear that Lucy held for snakes. She didn’t know why her aunt hated hospitals so much, but she knew it was one reason she hadn’t dragged her there last night.
Besides, if she went to the hospital, there would have been no way for her to make it to the basketball game later today. Bobby would be starting and, no matter how bad she felt, she still wanted to watch him play.
Her mom liked to tease her, saying Billy was her first boyfriend. Lucy, of course, would always correct her. He was not her boyfriend. He was only a boy who was a friend. One that she really liked to be around and found to be very cute. She didn’t know why yet, but she found an attraction that made her want to stay with him. When she was around him, she felt her cheeks get red, and she would sometimes find it hard to find the right words to say to him.
So Lucy figured that as much as it pained her to do so, literally, she would have to play down how bad she felt if she wanted to make it to the game. After all, if she could get the doctor to say she was fine and good enough to go, Tina would have to let her. She would just say she felt okay.
At least she saw they wouldn’t have to wake the doctor because he was already in, so she wouldn’t feel guilty about lying to him and getting away with a lollipop. She supposed she was getting to old to get a lollipop but knew he would still give her one if she asked. Sick little girls wouldn’t ask. She’d ask him for one. It would help sell to him that she was not too sick and could still go to the game.
Lucy looked away from the front of the small building and turned to look at the distant horizon. The sun was about to rise, streams of red flowing from the east. They caught the clouds and were dazzling in their brilliance. In fact, with how the red, orange, and yellow light caught and danced among them, it looked like flames ragging across the sky.
Lucy saw a flash of fire,
crossing the sky in a broccoli cloud of flame. She blinked, then it was gone.
She turned back toward the doctor’s office and saw Tina waking back outside, motioning her to come to the door. Lucy grimaced and opened the car door.
****
So many before her had tried and so many before her had died. They all wanted out. They wanted to get out and expand. Food was growing scarce. If she were to survive and lay her eggs, she needed to escape and find a new host. She needed to get out of there and live where so many others had died.
They were all starving. They needed more. The walls grew tight with their masses. All her older sisters were dying and becoming food for the hatchlings not yet born. New eggs would soon hatch and there would be more of them without food.
But that would not happen to her. No, this little spider was stronger, its legs thicker than its brethren that had fallen before it. This little spider was going to make it because it was faster. It wasn’t going to fall and wither. With every generation, with every spawn, they had all felt it—the strengthening. They all felt they were expanding and spreading as far as they could from their current shell, and they needed to move forth.
The first of them, the ones who first ventured from the shell, had barely made it for a couple labored breaths before withering and fading into dust, blown away in time. The next generation had gone a little further, but as time passed, they also died. Generations came and went, each containing the knowledge, the single-minded purpose to spread and expand. And this little spider was going to do just that. After all, she was one of the new generation. They had already started to eat and expand, taking their sustenance.
