Fear: 13 Stories of Suspense and Horror (16 page)

“Ain't gonna happen, Tony!”

Tony—dark, heavyset with a thick mustache—jumped out and began kicking the water in a rage.

“Save it, man,” said the other guy as he splashed past him, heading toward the rim of the cripple. “We're gonna have to off-load this stuff to get outta here.”

“How'd this happen, Sammy? We marked the trail!”

“Must've made a wrong turn. Or . . .” He stopped and looked around. “Or somebody moved the markers.”

Tony stared at him. “Who?”

“Wiseass locals, my guess. Probably out there right now having a good laugh.”

Uh-oh, Jack thought. Time to leave.

“Yeah?” Tony reached into the truck cab and pulled out a revolver. “Well, laugh at this!”

He began firing wildly. One of the slugs zipped through the brush between Jack and Saree, narrowly missing them. Jack froze in terrified shock while Saree let out a shrill yelp of surprise.

“There!” Sammy shouted, pointing their way.

Levi yanked on Jack's arm. “Run!”

Jack didn't need to be told twice—or even once. The next half minute became a riot of crouched running, snapping brush and branches, darkness ahead, shouting behind, and then a high-pitched scream that brought everything to an abrupt, panting halt.

“Saree?” Levi said, looking back. “I thought she was—aw, man, they got Saree!” He turned to Jack. “Go with El for help!”

“You're staying?”

He nodded. “Can't leave her.”

Jack wavered. Why had he come here? He wanted to be home. Then Saree screamed again.

“I'll stay with you.”

“No way. You go—”

“El doesn't need help. Saree does.”

El was already at the car, starting it up. He wasn't waiting. That settled it.

“I don't get it,” Levi said as he turned and started back toward the cripple.

“What's there to get?”

“You don't owe her. She's not kin.”

Jack couldn't see what that had to do with anything. He wished he'd stayed in bed, but he was here now.

“We came together, we leave together.”

Levi didn't reply. They were almost back to the cripple.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” a voice was singsonging. “We got your ugly girlfriend.”

Jack peeked through the brush. The moonlight and backwash from the headlights revealed Tony standing on the rim of the cripple by the rear of the truck. He had his gun in one hand and a fistful of Saree's hair in the other. She looked terrified.

Sammy, standing a few feet to his right, shouted, “The rest of you get out here now. We ain't gonna hurt you. Just put you to work. You got us into this mess, so you're gonna get us out.”

Jack saw three options. Help was on the way, so until it arrived they either could do nothing, find ways to distract them, or show themselves and do whatever they wanted.

“Get out here or this could get ugly,” Tony said, twisting Saree's hair and making her wince. “You don't wanna see
how
ugly.”

Jack winced, too, and crossed doing nothing off the list. He decided on distraction. He could always show himself if that didn't work.

“Stay here,” he whispered. “Gonna try something.”

“Wait—” Levi grabbed for his arm but Jack pulled out of reach.

He moved counterclockwise along the tree line, feeling around the ground until he found a fist-size hunk of shale.

Perfect.

He backed up, cocked his arm, and let fly toward the truck. The rock bounced off the tarp with a gonging sound, then splashed in the water.

“Son of a bitch!” Sammy yelled, flinching.

“You guys deaf?” Tony shouted. “Remember what I said about things getting ugly?”

Oh no. Jack's gut knotted as he saw Tony yank Saree backward. She lost her balance and fell into the water. Tony stayed with her and held her head under the surface as her arms and legs thrashed and splashed. It was only a couple of feet deep, but plenty enough to drown her.

“She stays under till you come out!” Tony yelled.

Jack couldn't take it. Only option three remained.

“Okay! Okay!”

His bladder ached to empty as he jumped out of the bushes with his hands raised.

To his left Levi also stepped out, hands high, saying, “Let her up!”

As Sammy started toward them, Tony pointed the gun their way and grinned. “When I'm damn good and ready. You kids—
aah!”
He dropped the gun and released Saree as he grabbed his right hand with his left. “She broke my finger!”

Saree sat up, choking and gasping and crying. Jack had seen one of her thrashing arms come near Tony's hand, but no way it touched him. She lurched to her feet and staggered away toward dry ground.

Tony started after her. “You little—my gun!” He turned and bent, feeling around underwater.

As Sammy turned to look at his buddy, Jack took off toward Saree. He grabbed her outreached hand and pulled her up the bank of the cripple.

Sammy started toward them. “Hey—!”

Suddenly he tripped and fell face-first into the water. But instead of rebounding to his feet, he stayed down and began kicking and thrashing as Saree had. He couldn't seem to get up.

Tony finally noticed. “What the hell are you doing?”

He started toward Sammy but tripped himself. He went down and stayed down, too. Were they stuck in the mud? No, their arms and legs were free. It almost looked like they were being held down. But—

Jack saw Levi on his knees, white-faced, eyes focused on the men in the cripple. As Jack headed for him, Saree grabbed his arm.

“Leave Levi be.”

Jack pulled free. As he neared he could see the boy's lips pulled back in a snarl. His face and hair dripped sweat, his shirt was soaked, and air hissed between his clenched teeth like he was bench-pressing twice his own weight.

“Levi . . .?”

He glanced at Jack and just then the two men in the cripple got their heads back above water. But not for long. Before they could draw a full breath, they plunged their faces back beneath the surface.

And then everything seemed to happen at once. Elvin roared out of the trees in the buggy followed by a pickup full of rough-clothed men with shotguns. Levi let out a breath and slumped forward onto his hands; the two men in the cripple got their heads out of water and sucked air.

When they caught their breath and looked around, they found themselves staring into the headlights of the buggy and the pickup, and down the muzzles of half a dozen shotguns. One of the Piney men, tall with a gray beard and features that looked like they'd been taken apart and put back together wrong, had lifted the tarp and was looking at the barrels hidden beneath.

“Not good,” he said, shaking his head. “Not good ay-tall.”

“You don't wanna mess with us,” Tony said, still panting. “We're connected, if you know what I mean.”

“I'm right sure of that,” the old Piney said. “And we'll want to know who to.” He swiveled and his gaze fell on Jack. “Who's this 'un?”

“Friend of ours,” Levi said, rising to his feet. He'd caught his breath. “He set the trap.”

“Well, we're right grateful for that, but he ain't one of us. Take him back wherever he came from.”

“What about them?” Jack said, pointing to Tony and Sammy.

“You forget about them. We're all gonna have us a nice chat, then we'll send 'em home.”

“But—”

Levi grabbed his arm and pulled him away. “No questions. Let's go.”

El and Saree were already in the buggy. As soon as Jack and Levi settled on the rear couch, El put it in gear and they roared off.

“What happened back there?” Jack said.

He was feeling weak and shaky. That guy had almost drowned Saree, and he'd never been shot at before—never dreamed it would ever happen and never wanted it to happen again. Ever.

Levi shook his head. “Nothing. And don't go yakking about it.”

“You kidding? Tell my folks I snuck out tonight to see some toxic dumpers we trapped and wound up getting shot at? Yeah, right. Soon as I get home I'm gonna run into their bedroom and blab all about it.”

Levi laughed. “Okay.”

Of course he'd tell Weezy. She'd eat it up.

But he hadn't been talking about the dumpers.

“I meant you. What did you do to those guys?”

The smiled vanished. “Nothing.”

“But I saw—”

Levi stared straight ahead. “You saw a couple of guys slipping around on a mucky cripple bottom and getting stuck. That's all.”

Jack was sure it had been more than that. But what exactly?

Saree turned to face him. “Yeah, that's all it was, Jack. But what about you? What's your talent? Is it being able to hide? Is that why I can't see you?”

What was she talking about?

“I don't have any talent.”

“Maybe you just don't know about it yet. You're hiding something, but that's okay. You came back for me. I never expected that. I still can't see you, but I like you.”

Jack had no idea how to respond to that, so he didn't.

They dropped him off about a block from his house. As they raced off he saw their bumper sticker flash in the moonlight.

PINEY POWER.

 

He had an idea why those kids liked the sound of it.

I
can't believe all that happened without me,” Weezy said as they entered Jack's house through the kitchen.

He'd waited till after school to tell her about it.

“Believe me, you were better off at home.” He shuddered at a vision of that Tony guy holding Weezy's head underwater instead of Saree's. “While it was happening, I wanted to be anywhere but there.”

As they stepped into the front room where his folks were watching the six-thirty news, a TV reporter said,
“The two bodies found inside those barrels of toxic waste have been identified.”

Jack stiffened as he recognized the mug shots on the screen.

He nudged Weezy and whispered, “That's them!”

The old Piney's parting words came back:
We're all gonna have us a nice chat, then we'll send 'em home.

He hadn't mentioned
how
they'd be sent home. Jack glanced at Weezy and found her staring back with wide, dark eyes.

“Piney justice,” he said, feeling a chill.

His father looked up. “What?”

“Nothing.”

Dad pointed to the TV. “That's why we live out here. To get away from scum like that. You don't have to worry about running into any of their sort in these parts.”

“I guess not, Dad.”

At least not anymore.

▼ MEG CABOT ▼

 

 

 

 

 

O
verton's was the only place that was hiring the day Nina found out her mother had lost her college fund. But, if she wanted anything more than a secondary education, she had to go looking for a part-time job.

So Overton's it was, even though ordinarily, Nina wouldn't have been caught dead in a preppy store like that.

Which is why Nina was stuck working at the mall that Friday night with Angela Overton. Who was, as usual, trying to get Nina to tell her where all the major parties were that weekend.

“I heard Lauren van der Waals's parents are going to Boston for the weekend,” Angie was saying as she hogged the only stool behind the register. “Misty Johnson and Feather Haynes were talking about it in the ladies'.”

There'd been a big sale at Overton's, and Nina was tired from the rush of customers. Her feet hurt. She wouldn't have minded a turn on the stool.

But Angela's parents owned Overton's, and if Nina didn't want Angela to complain to her mother about her, there wasn't much she could say in protest. She didn't think Mrs. Overton would fire her—Nina was one of Overton's best employees—but Mrs. Overton might reassign one of her valuable weekend shifts. Nina couldn't afford to lose either of those. Saturday and Sunday were the only eight-hour shifts she could take, because of school.

Nina told herself she didn't care too much about not getting to sit down. She'd kept her mind off her sore feet by calling the mall radio station approximately every fifteen minutes and asking them to play her favorite song, “The Night Hunter.” Jerry, who was on duty at the sound desk, kept saying, “No problem.”

But he never played it. Nina hadn't really expected him to, since “The Night Hunter” wasn't exactly the kind of song the Calder Mall played over its sound system. Still, it was a local favorite. Everyone in Eastport loved hearing stories about the Night Hunter—whether they were true or not ( . . . and Nina suspected the Eastport Police Department wished they weren't)—Everyone was just as wild as she was about the song local band Witch Hunt had written about him.

Nina's calling Jerry every quarter of an hour also served as a way to interrupt Angela as she droned on about Lauren van der Waals's party.

“Huh,” Nina said now, in response to Angela.

“You and Lauren are tight, right, Nina?” Angela asked. “You must be going to her party. It's tomorrow night. I heard Ryan Calder might be going. You know him, right? Or you've at least heard of him. Everybody's heard of him. He's so rich . . . and
hot
. And I heard Lauren say he'd be dropping by. I've just got to meet him. . . .”