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“Was the company that bought the land named
Cada E.I.B.?” asked Stephen.

“Yeah, that’s it,” said Aubrey.

Stephen smacked Jacker’s arm. “How about
that?”

“That’s creepy,” said Jacker.

“What? What’s creepy?” asked Aubrey.

“Nothing.” Stephen quickly answered to stop
Jacker from revealing anything else.

“Are you two keeping secrets from me?” asked
Aubrey. “Do I need to pour a few more of these to loosen those
lips?”

“No,” said Stephen. “I’m about four past
done already. Hey, Aubrey, are you busy for the next few days?”

She smirked, and then squinted as she tried
to figure out why Stephen would ask something like that. “Yes, I
have a job and a life. Why?”

“I’d pay you to come with me,” said
Stephen.

“Wow,” said Aubrey as she took a step back
and held out her hands. She smiled and was joking when she said,
“This conversation has taken a turn for the worse. I’m not that
kind of girl, Stevie.”

“No, not cum with me,” said Stephen.

Jacker just then realized why Aubrey was
startled by what Stephen had said. “Oh! That’s fucking funny. He
doesn’t mean it that way.”

“I mean, come with me in a van,” said
Stephen.

“Yeah, not getting any better,” said
Aubrey.

“What he means to ask is if you’d want to go
with us to Widowsfield,” said Jacker. “Show us how you used to
break in.”

“Yeah, that,” said Stephen as he pointed at
his nose and then at Jacker.

“I know what he meant,” said Aubrey. “I was
just fucking with him. Like I said before, I’ve got a job. I can’t
just up and leave.”

“Then call off,” said Stephen. “I’ll make
you internet famous.”

“Who says I’m not already?” asked Aubrey,
but then her smile faded to a grimace. “Ew, that makes it sound
like I’m a porn star or something.”

“Look,” said Stephen as he sat up and tried
to pretend like he wasn’t drunk. “I’ll pay you two hundred bucks a
day for three days. All you have to do is take us to Widowsfield
and do an interview on camera about what you saw there.”

Aubrey studied them and crossed her arms.
“Two fifty, and no funny stuff.”

“Deal,” said Stephen before he shook her
hand. “We’re leaving in the morning, around eight. Give Jacker your
number. I’ll have a contract for you to review in the morning, but
right now I need to go pass out.”

He leaned on Jacker’s shoulder and then
whispered to him, “You owe me, big guy.” He waved back at them as
he headed out of the hotel bar and tried to remember his room
number.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The End Begins

March 12th, 2012

“Everyone,” said Stephen as he stood beside
the van to greet the group. “This is Aubrey.”

The petite, young girl smiled at waved. She
was even shorter than Rachel, and had dyed blonde hair that was
tied up in ponytails on either side of her head. She had studs in
both cheeks that sat perfectly within her dimples when she smiled.
There were colorful tattoos that adorned her chest and arms, and
she was wearing a frilled, black skirt that revealed nearly the
full length of her pale legs.

“Aubrey’s from this area, and she’s going to
tell us about some of the things she’s seen out in
Widowsfield.”

“Are you coming with us?” asked Paul.

She held up a green bag that Alma assumed
was packed with clothes. “Yep.”

“Do we have the room?” asked Paul.

“Well, I thought Alma could ride with you,”
said Stephen. “And if she wants to be in the van, Aubrey said she’d
be willing to ride on the bike with you.”

“No, that’s okay,” said Alma. “I’m fine
riding with Paul.” There was no way she was going to let a cute
little thing like Aubrey ride on Paul’s bike.

Paul must’ve sensed Alma’s thoughts because
he snickered as he put his arm around her shoulder. “We’ll be fine
on the bike. Good to meet you, Aubrey.”

“One other thing,” said Stephen before Alma
and Paul walked off to where Paul’s motorcycle was parked. “Aubrey
says the town is fenced up. It got bought by Cada E.I.B., so we
might run into some security out there. We’ve got a plan if we
do.”

Rachel came out of the hotel and walked past
everyone. She went straight to Jacker’s van, which was parked in
the roundabout outside of the hotel’s entrance, and got in. Her
anger was apparent to everyone, but only Stephen seemed to know
what was wrong. Alma thought about trying to talk to her new
friend, but decided to wait until later to confront her.

“Everyone ready?” asked Stephen. He seemed
apologetic for his wife’s behavior, if not a little
embarrassed.

“We’ll be right behind you,” said Paul as he
headed for his motorcycle.

Once they were far enough away to avoid
being heard, Alma turned to Paul and asked, “What was that
about?”

He shrugged and then spit off to the side.
“Hell if I know. Rachel looked pissed. They must’ve gotten in a
fight or something.”

“I’ll have to try and talk to her
later.”

“Or you could leave it be and let them sort
out their own problems,” said Paul as he took Alma’s helmet off the
handle of the bike and offered it to her.

She sneered as she took the helmet from him.
“Don’t be an asshole.”

“Sorry,” he said as he put on his own
helmet. “I just don’t think we know them well enough to get mixed
up in their marriage.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“Like always,” said Paul and he moved away
as Alma tried to punch him on the arm. “So, are you ready for this?
No turning back after today. You sure you want to go through with
it?”

“For the hundredth time, yes.”

“All right, I just wanted to make sure.”

Alma looked back at the van as Paul got on
the bike. “What do you think of the new girl?”

“I don’t know. Haven’t said more than a few
words to her. Why?”

“Do you think she’s cute?” asked Alma.

Paul paused and hung his head low, fully
aware of the trap Alma was setting for him. “I don’t know what you
want me to say. I only have eyes for you, sweetie.” He looked at
her and gave a goofy, toothy grin.

“I bet she has something to do with why
Rachel’s so pissed off.”

“Oh yeah?” asked Paul, disinterested. “Well,
I bet neither of us know the facts and shouldn’t speculate. That’s
what I bet.”

Alma rolled her eyes and sighed as she got
on the bike behind him. “Wow, did you have a special cup of
dickhead-coffee this morning or something?”

“It did taste a little funny. Did you
backwash into it?” asked Paul before he started the bike, muffling
any response from Alma. She just slapped him on the back as he
chuckled.

Widowsfield wasn’t far from Branson, but the
trip felt like it took longer than it should have. The winding
roads that cut through the Ozarks slowed their progress, but
provided scenery that kept Alma’s mind off what they were headed
out to do. Every time she thought about the cabin, her heartbeat
quickened and her palms started to sweat.

“I’m coming for you, Ben.” Her whisper was
lost in the noise of the road.

They passed a sign that had once read,
‘Widowsfield 10 Miles’ but had been riddled with buckshot. Each
hole was rimmed with rust and the sign’s post had been bent
backward, as if someone had run into it, perhaps in an attempt to
further erase the town from history.

After the sign the road descended. It was a
precipitous decline, and one she remembered from her childhood.
This hill always caused her stomach to lurch, which had become a
sensation that she learned to despise. She even avoided carnival
rides in fear of causing the same sensation and that it would
remind her of Widowsfield.

The woods lay beyond, and Alma recalled the
fog that had enveloped them sixteen years ago. She thought about
her father as he screamed at her to be quiet. And she thought of
the creatures in the woods, whose shapes were but shadows in the
mist, running along side their car as they tried to escape.

Fear choked her and she felt her body start
to shake. She struggled for breath and had to close her eyes as
Paul drove down the hill and into the woods that preceded the
border of Widowsfield. She tried to concentrate on the hum of the
motor and the whistling wind, but her mind seemed determined to
think of the creatures in the woods. Those hulking ghosts haunted
her, crawling through the trees and reaching out toward the car as
if trying to pull her out and into the mist with them.

Then she focused on the only thing that
could quiet her fearful mind.

314.

She thought only of the number, and imagined
it written in black ink on her arm. Her fear subsided as the number
drew her in. Chaos Magick taught that symbols could be used as a
focal point to assist in a person’s ability to shut out the world
around them. For Alma, it was a journey along a razor’s edge. There
was something wicked hidden in that number, and she wasn’t certain
she wanted to know what it was.

She tried to come up with a different symbol
that she could focus on, and the first thing that came to mind was
the teddy bear keychain that Paul had bought for her. She could
feel it in her coat pocket, pressed into her abdomen as she held
onto Paul. For some reason, the thought of losing him occurred to
her, and she held onto him tighter.

Paul slowed the motorcycle and Alma dared to
open her eyes.

Jacker pulled off the road ahead and parked
on the gravel shoulder. They were out of the woods, and Widowsfield
was ahead of them. There was a tall, wire fence that stretched up
over the hills to the right, and down into the cover of woods off
to the left. It appeared like there was a guard shack and a gate
further up the road, but they were too far away for Alma to be
certain. The road went on for another couple hundred yards before
being cut off by the fence, and there was a second road that turned
off the one they were on. It went off to the right, up over the
hills and around Widowsfield.

Stephen got out of the van’s side door and
came over to speak with Paul and Alma. Aubrey followed behind him
and Jacker got out as well. Rachel stayed in the van.

“Aubrey was right,” said Stephen. “There’s a
guard shack up there.”

Paul and Alma got off the bike and tried to
look at the fence that blocked their way.

“You okay, Alma?” asked Stephen. “You’re as
white as a ghost.”

Paul looked back at her and took off his
sunglasses. “He’s right. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” said Alma. “I guess I was just a
little cold or something.”

“Want to ride in the van for a bit?” asked
Stephen.

“No, I’ll be fine.”

“So what’s the plan?” asked Paul. “How are
we going to get in if they’ve got it all fenced up?”

“That’s where Aubrey comes in,” said
Stephen.

“My friends and I used to sneak in all the
time,” said Aubrey. “There’s a small dirt road on the north side of
town that used to belong to a farmer. It goes through his field,
and into the town. They’ve got a gate up there, but I’ve never seen
a guard.”

“And we can get the van in through there?”
asked Paul.

“No, not yet,” said Stephen. “We’re going to
have to leave the van and your bike in the field for now. We’ll
head into town on foot, and find the cabin that you used to stay
at,” he said as he looked at Alma. “Then tonight, after dark, we’ll
come back out and use a bolt cutter on the gate’s lock. We can
probably get away with driving the van with the headlights off, but
we might have to push your bike in. We can’t risk the noise.”

“I don’t know,” said Paul. “This seems kind
of risky. Are you even going to be able to use any of the footage
you get in there? If it’s private property, can’t they sue you for
airing anything you record?”

“You sound like my wife,” said Stephen. His
tone revealed at least part of why Rachel was acting angry. They
must’ve been arguing this same issue last night. “It’ll be fine.
Anything that we film in the cabin could’ve been filmed anywhere.
No way they can prove we went in the town, as long as we don’t get
caught.”

“I don’t know, man,” said Paul. “This seems
like a bad idea.”

“I never thought of you as the law-abiding
type,” said Stephen. “Aren’t you up for a little adventure?”

“I’m not in this for adventure,” said Paul.
“I’m in it to help Alma.” He looked down at her and asked, “What do
you want to do?”

Alma looked down the road at the fence, and
then back at the woods that they’d passed through. It felt like
she’d already taken her first step into this nightmare, and if she
soldiered on then she could put an end to this part of her life.
“We’re already here,” she said. “Might as well get it over with. I
say we go in.”

It was clear that Paul didn’t agree, but he
stood beside her and nodded. “Then it’s settled, we’re going
in.”

Stephen clapped his hands once and looked
delighted. “Let’s go!” He didn’t bother prolonging the
conversation, fully aware that once the customer was sold it was
time to shut up and take the money. He ushered Jacker and Aubrey
back to the van and within a minute they were back on the road.

They headed north and Alma looked out at the
fence that had been erected around the town. It looked like a
prison, with razor wire looped around the top of the outer fence,
and a second barrier behind it. The road curved closer to the fence
and Alma saw movement from within the town. There was a white truck
with a yellow light bar on top driving through Widowsfield. She
assumed it was a security patrol, which didn’t help ease her
tension about their plan.

Soon they passed where the fence turned, and
entered another wooded area. Aubrey was leading Jacker as the van
turned off onto a dirt road that went up a slight incline. Once
they crested the hill there was a wide field beyond. It was once a
farm, but had been overgrown with tall weeds, though no trees had
made their way into the acreage.