Graveyard Games (25 page)

"Where did it come from?" she asked,
remembering the image from her dream.

Shane wiped a hand across
his eyes. "I don’t know. All I know is that it kills, and it
eats
what it
kills."

Silence. Outside the snow had stopped
falling. The wind whipped tree branches against the side of the
house.

Dusty stared out, her back to Shane. "We’re
going to kill it."

"What?" Shane asked from the bed.

Dusty turned to face him, arms folded across
her chest. "I want to find it and I want to kill it. Like you said,
we can't go to the police, so we're going to have to do it
ourselves."

"You don't know what
you're saying." Shane sat upright, eyes wide. "I don't even know if
it
can
be
killed."

"I want to try,” she said. “If you won't
help me, I'll do it alone."

"You’re crazy.” Shane stared at her,
incredulous. “Besides, maybe it's gone by now. There haven't been
any more murders. Maybe it went where the food was better. Or maybe
it…hibernates in the winter?”

She laughed softly. “Now who wants to
believe the lie?”

Shane got up and came over to her, standing
close. “We could both end up dead.”

“
I have to.” She swallowed
and looked out the window, her eyes overbright. “For
Nick.”

He touched her cheek, catching a falling
tear with his finger. She looked at him, not caring about the
tears, letting them fall.

"You sweet girl," he whispered. "You sweet,
stubborn girl. Do you love me?"

Dusty nodded, reaching out for him and he
held her to him, tight.

He took a deep breath and whispered, "Okay,
babe. We'll do it."

"Thank you," she said against his neck.

"I don't think you're going to be thanking
me later," Shane replied. "Not after you see."

They stayed that way for a long time, alone
in the darkness, taking comfort in the warmth they could find in
each other's arms.

Part Three

Redemption

Chapter Twelve

"You're out of your mind!" Chris exploded,
pushing away from the table. "If you think I'm going out on a
manhunt for some—"

"Keep it down," Dusty hissed, glancing
around the Starlite. It was a busy night and she had to get back to
work in five minutes.

"Listen to me, Chris," Shane said in a low
voice. "All of you, listen to me."

They got quiet. Chris sat back down. Billy,
who had been leaning against the pool table, took a chair and
pulled it up to the table. Evan sat down next to Jake.

“
I’m telling you the
truth,” Shane said. No one talked or even moved. "If we’re going to
kill this thing, we need you guys. We can’t do this alone." Shane
leaned back in his chair, surveying them.

"It's too much, man." Jake ran a hand
through his long dark hair. " I'm not a kid anymore, Shane. I
stopped believing in the boogeyman a long time ago."

"I’m telling you the truth," Shane said
again.

"Okay." Evan pushed his
glasses up on his nose with a deep sigh. "Okay, if we do, and I'm
not saying that we are, but if we
do
go…do we have a plan?"

"If you think I'm going in there without a
gun in both hands, you're crazy!" Jake said, shaking his head, his
dark hair falling back across his left eye..

"Come on, guys," Shane
smirked. “Did you think I wouldn’t bring guns?” He glanced at Dusty
and a low communication passed between them—
if guns can kill it.

"Enough for all of us?" Billy asked.

"Plenty," Shane agreed.

"And ammo?” Evan asked. “Guns don't help if
we don't have bullets."

"Ammo, too," Dusty agreed. Shane looked at
her, as surprised as everyone else. "Got it covered," she
murmured.

"All right." Shane shrugged. "So what do you
say? Are you guys in?"

They were silent. The Starlite's usual noise
level seemed to rise—the clink of glasses and bottles, the low buzz
of the T.V., the crack of billiard balls.

"For Nick." Billy was the first to speak and
his voice was low. "I'm in."

"Count me in." Jake grinned. "Who knows,
maybe we’ll be heroes?"

"All right, me too." Evan sounded reluctant,
sliding his glasses back up.

They all looked at Chris and he sighed,
leaning back in his chair. "We're probably going to end up spooking
at an owl and shooting each other—but, yeah, okay, I'm in."

Dusty let out a sigh, closing her eyes.
She’d never thought they would do it. She felt a hand in hers and
opened her eyes to meet Shane's. He smiled at her and she smiled
back.

"So when are we doing this thing?" Chris
asked. "I'd like to have time to make out my will."

That broke everybody up. It wasn’t that
funny, but it relieved the tension.

"Tomorrow night." Dusty looked around the
table at all of them, wondering if they were doing the right
thing.

"Enough of this, man, anybody up to a game
of pool?" Billy asked. Evan agreed and Jake went to find a better
selection on the juke, at Chris' request.

"Shane, this thing. This… monster?" Chris
leaned his elbows on the table. "Are you sure? I mean, are you sure
you weren't just hallucinating? You were pretty drunk when you
showed up here that night."

"I've never been more sure of anything in my
life," Shane told him.

"It’s a little far-fetched, man," Chris
said. "Either it was human or it wasn't. As far as I know, there
isn't an in between."

"I don’t know." Shane looked between Dusty
and Chris, shaking his head. "All I can say is that after you see
it, if you see it, you can decide for yourself."

"Jesus." Chris put head in his hands. Then
he looked up at Dusty. "Do you believe him?"

"He believes it," she said, looking at
Shane. “That’s good enough for me.”

"Duh-Dusty?" Sam poked her shoulder and she
jumped. "S- s-sorry, buh-but your b-b-break is over."

"Thanks, Sam." Dusty stood. "I'll be there
in a minute." Shane caught her hand and she looked at him.

"Tonight.” He squeezed her hand.

She nodded and followed Sam, who glanced
back to see if she was coming.

"P-p-problems?" Sam asked

"No," she said, taking her tray from Lee.
"Why do you ask?"

"I huh-huh-heard him s-s-say suh-something
about a muh-monster?"

Dusty looked at him, startled. How much had
he overheard?

"It wasn’t anything," she assured him. "Just
a private joke."

It was a feeble excuse and she smiled,
trying to make it more convincing. He just looked at her.

"Well, got to get back to work," Dusty
said.

Sam nodded and she moved away. Ten minutes
later, when she looked back at the bar, he was still watching
her.

* * * *

"Where did you get them?" Dusty stared at
the pile of guns on his bed. “Never mind, I don’t want to
know.”

Shane laughed, wrapping his arms around her
waist from behind. There were four, no, five of them lying
haphazardly on the threadbare bedspread. “None of them are loaded.
But I have ammunition.”

“
I told you, I know where
we can get more.” Dusty looked back at him and he gave her a
puzzled look.

“
Is that so?”

"Trust me." She turned in his arms,
smiling.

"I do." He sighed. “But I can’t help
thinking about what’s going to happen.”

"We’re going to kill it."

He snorted. “You’re so sure of
yourself.”

“
You want to back
out?”

Shane hesitated and then shook his head.
"No. I should have... I should have saved him, Dusty. It… god, it
should have been me.”

Stunned, she looked at him and then hugged
him fiercely. "Don't say that. Don't ever say that."

"It's just the truth."

"No."

"Yes!" He pushed away from her and she
stumbled from the force, turning and striding to the window. Dusty
looked at him, running a hand through her hair. He was so solid,
his arms crossed, hands cupping his elbows. His t-shirt pulled
tautly across the hard muscles of his back, disappearing below the
waistband of his Levis.

What could she say without being
hypocritical? Hadn't she always wished him dead? She’d even
threatened to kill him herself. Hadn't she thought the exact same
thing? She had used him, hurt him and she now felt very small.

Yeah, but that was before…

Before what?

Before I realized I love him. Before I
realized I’ve always loved him.

She’d once sworn she hated Shane Curtis, but
she’d discovered the old saying— there's a fine line between love
and hate—was very true. She had only to cross that line, and
without even realizing it, already had. She loved Shane—more than
she’d ever loved anyone in her life.

She came up behind him and leaned her cheek
against his arm. They stayed that way for a moment, and then Shane
drew a shaky breath and said, "Scott Summers was just twelve. You
think you're going to live forever when you're twelve years
old."

"It's not your fault." Dusty put her arms
around his waist. "You couldn't control what happened. You couldn't
have stopped it with your bare hands. We don't even know if a
bullet will kill it."

"I could have told someone." He wiped a hand
across his eyes. "Last night, when you asked me why I hadn't told
anyone, I realized for the first time what I’d done."

"What?"

He sighed. "I might as
well have put guns to their heads and shot them, Dusty. It probably
would have been a lot quicker and less... painful. Here the cops
were, looking in the wrong place for the wrong killer, and
I knew.
"

He paused, closing his eyes for a moment and
then finished. "I knew, but I didn't tell anyone. How selfish was
that?"

"Human," Dusty murmured. "Just human, that's
all."

He turned and took her in his arms, seeking
comfort, and she gave it to him, holding tight. Her kisses were
soft, her hands caressing, and she let him get lost in her, lost in
the moment, pushing away the reality of what might be.

“
I want to go away with
you.” He nuzzled her neck, her ear, whispering. “I didn’t tell
you…but I bought a little place further up north. Used the money I
got from my little hunting expeditions.”

She smiled, nuzzling him back. “Were you
planning on running away?”

“
God, I want out of this
town,” he murmured, pulling her in closer. “Would you come with
me?”.

She nodded, closing her eyes and giving in.
“Anywhere.”

He kissed her then, his mouth soft, his
tongue probing. She gave into that, too, arching against him,
moaning softly when his thigh slid eagerly between hers.

He backed her up toward the bed and then
broke their kiss, gasping, “Gotta move the guns.”

“
No, don’t,” she said with
a smile, wiggling up against him. “They make me feel
sexy.”

He laughed. “Guns make you feel sexy?”

“
Mmm.” She ran her hands
up under his shirt. “Hard steel… all that… power…”

“
Dusty,” he whispered
against her neck as she slid her hand over the crotch of his
jeans.

“
Ever had sex in a pile of
guns?” she asked, taking her t-shirt off and unhooking her bra. His
eyes moved over her, hungry, and then it was his hands, cupping and
kneading her flesh.

“
No, not on the guns,” he
said as she turned away from him, unbuttoning her jeans and sliding
them over her hips along with her panties. “Dusty,
seriously…”

She crawled up on the bed on her hands and
knees, feeling the cool metal of the .45 against her wrist as she
found a place to put her hands in the midst of the weapons laid out
on his bed.

“
Come on,” she whispered,
arching her back, sticking her bottom in the air.

He groaned and she smiled when she heard the
sound of his zipper. Then he was behind her, and then he was inside
her, and she lost and found herself with him again and again.

Dusty’s hands gripped the bedspread, and she
found her hand wrapped around one of the guns, a .38, maybe the one
that would kill the monster that took her brother’s life.

When Shane drover her forward onto the bed,
pressing his full weight into her. Dusty gasped, feeling the cold
steel of the guns biting her belly and thighs, but she arched and
took all of him as his hands dug into her shoulders to gain more
leverage. She twisted and arched underneath him, feeling the hard
steel of the guns against her skin until they were both spent, his
weight on her crushing the air from her lungs, but she didn’t
care.

“
Ouch,” she said finally,
and he laughed, standing up and pulling her with him. She had
little red marks where her skin had been pressed into
metal.

“
It was your bright idea,”
he murmured, kissing her deeply.

They got dressed again, grinning at each
other all the while.

"We need that ammunition I was talking
about," she said, looking at the clock on the night table that read
3:12 a.m. She grabbed her coat off his dresser. "No better time
than the present."

"Where are we going?" Shane asked, smiling,
bemused.

"Cougar's."

He turned to stare at her. "Cougar's General
Store? We're going to get ammunition from the general store at
three in the morning?"

"Trust me," she said again, shrugging her
jacket on. He sighed, pulling his leather on.

"Shane?" Dusty asked, watching him put the
guns in a box and store them under his bed.

"What?" He flicked out the light. The full
moon shone into the room, casting eerie shadows.