Authors: James Roy Daley
Terror Town (44 page)
Beth shrugged. “It’s in a ditch.”
“Where’s William?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you have his car keys? Because his car is still in my driveway, and if you have his keys with you––”
“No, I don’t have them. William has them.”
“Where do you think he is? Is he at the hospital? Is he––”
Beth interrupted. “Dan, we never made it to the hospital. I think William is dead.”
“Dead?”
“I not positive, but… yeah. I’d be surprised if he survived the night.”
“My God, what happened?”
Skirting the question, Beth looked over her shoulder to make sure there were no crab-critters around. “Where are you going right now?”
“Town,” Dan said flatly. “And if you don’t have the keys to William’s car, I think we should start walking.”
Beth nodded.
They started walking.
“Where in town are you thinking?” Beth asked.
“Honestly, I haven’t been thinking. I just woke up and Patrick… ” Daniel trailed off, trying to find the right combination of words. Somehow saying that ‘Pat was inside a cocoon’ sounded absolutely insane, and he didn’t even want to admit the things that were happening. It was all too much.
Beth said, “Who’s Patrick?”
“What, you didn’t meet him?” A slight pause. “No, I suppose you didn’t. Pat’s just a kid, but he’s also a good friend of mine. His parents have a cottage next door, and he was in that bomb shelter when Cameron and I escaped.”
“Bomb shelter? Is that what that thing is?”
“I think so. It might be something else. I don’t know what it is.”
Beth noticed two crab-things crawling up a tree together. She nudged Daniel, and he saw them too.
“Some of them are aggressive,” Beth said.
“Yeah. And some of them aren’t. Killing the small ones is easy enough. I’ve stomped a whole bunch of them with my shoe.”
“I’ve got this,” Beth said. She showed him the gun.
“I noticed.”
“I’m sure it’ll do the trick.”
“It will, but it’s overkill.”
Something was on the road behind them. Hearing it approach, they turned around.
A van was racing towards them––a
white
van.
“Oh thank God,” Daniel said. He raised his arms, waving the vehicle down.
Beth’s face became fortified with concern. The van was traveling too fast, and she couldn’t help thinking that she had seen that van before.
She had. It was sitting in Nicolas Nehalem’s driveway.
“Oh no,” she whispered.
Dan looked at her confused. “What’s wrong?
The van was accelerating, heading straight for them.
Beth screamed, “DAN! LOOK OUT!”
She pushed Daniel towards the side of the road with her free hand and bolted in the opposite direction.
Dan stumbled, not realizing what was happening.
The van swerved towards him as he was stumbling. He didn’t have his balance. And the van was close, too close; it was going to hit him. If he didn’t do something quick he was going to get run down!
His mouth opened and his eyes widened.
He whispered something inaudible.
At the far side of the road Beth turned around. The van, she could easily see, was
not
going to hit her. It wasn’t
trying
to hit her––it was aimed at Dan. And oh sweet, sweet, mercy, it looked like it was going to hit him dead on.
Dan raised an arm and opened his mouth wide.
Beth caught a glimpse of Nicolas behind the wheel. His face was contorted into an evil smile that seemed more reptile than man.
And that was it.
The van slammed into Daniel.
Dan fell back. His body was sucked beneath the front bumper. The back of his head slammed against the road and his left knee got caught on something beneath the vehicle. Perhaps it was the muffler. His body snapped in the middle and rolled into a ball. Arms and legs went spinning. A loud, terrible CRUNCH sound was heard. The van bounced up and down and when it was finally finished driving over its victim Dan appeared to have no head. It seemed to be missing, but it wasn’t. His head was packed into his chest.
Beth screamed, “NOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo!”
It didn’t matter; what was done was done. Daniel had been crushed into something that looked like 180 pounds of raw, pulverized, blood pudding. Broken bones stuck out from all angles. His fingers were twitching. A pool of red liquid was rapidly expanding across the road.
Beth looked away from Dan and clamped her teeth together.
The van was driving away.
“FUCK YOU!” she screamed, pointing the gun towards the van. Her voice sounded so upset her own mother wouldn’t have recognized it. Her hands were trembling. “FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!”
She pulled the trigger four times quickly.
The first three shots went wide.
The fourth one hit home, shattering the back window, puncturing one of the many boxes.
Nicolas turned his head.
The explosion was enormous.
∞∞Θ∞∞
And Cameron––buried deep in the earth––opened her eyes.
“No,” she whispered. But there was nothing she could do; she was trapped in her tomb until darkness fell, and by then the town would be lost.
∞∞Θ∞∞
∞Θ∞
~~~~ CHAPTER NINE: EPILOGUE
June 3
rd
Cloven Rock––
A series of explosions in the little town of Cloven Rock has caused a massive fire, forcing thousands to evacuate while creating a growing concern across the country. Hundreds are feared dead, as over one thousand people remain unaccounted for. The cause of the explosions is yet to be determined and officials are now speculating that foul play may be at hand. City workers have been called in from four separate states, and while over two hundred firefighters and firefighter volunteers are working around the clock to contain the blaze, many believe that things are going to get worse before they get any better.
Geoff Walter, a witness to what he believes was the first of over eighty-five explosions in the town best known for its annual country music summer fair, is quoted as saying, “I was in my car when that first one happened, and I couldn’t believe the size of it. Damn thing was thirty stories if it was a foot. One minute everything was fine and the next, BOOM. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Cloven Rock, with its population of 1,690, has been all but wiped off the map, and not since the fires of…
∞∞Θ∞∞
June 3
rd
Cloven Rock––
A grisly discovery has been made in a gas station on the outskirts of Cloven Rock. Paul LaFalce, 19, was found mutilated in his workplace. Other than saying that the young man is still alive, officials are giving little in the way of information on this one. They are quick to point out, however, that at this time there they have found nothing to suggest that there is a connection between Mr. LaFalce’s condition and the massive fire that continues to rage only a few short miles away.
Schoolteacher James Monogyny, the first person to arrive at the scene, said that…
∞∞Θ∞∞
June 4
th
Cloven Rock––
Fires continue to spread as thousands are forced to evacuate their homes in what is quickly becoming one of the worst fires in North American history. Maplebrook was the first of nine towns to receive its evacuation notice. The town’s police chief Fabian Levin was quoted as saying, “It’s not surprising that the people in the neighboring towns are stepping away from the disaster. At this point, the cause of the explosions has yet to be determined, and although the fires will likely not spread much further, the amount of smoke that the fires are causing is nothing short of troublesome.”
So far there have been thirty-four confirmed deaths in relation to the blaze, including local billionaire Peter Holbrook’s wife Penny Holbrook, mother of two. Peter Holbrook is one of over six hundred people still considered missing. The number of deaths caused by this tragedy is expected to rise.
Rumors continue to mount, and questions remain unanswered in regards to what originally ignited the inferno. Chemist Morris Penniman, great grandson of Russell S. Penniman, who invented ammonium dynamite in 1885, has gone on record as saying, “Whether or not these explosion is an act of terrorism is yet to be determined, although it is now safe to say that nitrating glycerol has been used in at least some of the blasts.”
∞∞Θ∞∞
June 6
th
Cloven Rock––
Five people have been reported as missing since the search for survivors began three days ago in the now infamous Cloven Rock. Tempers among the locals are rising, and speculation continues to mount, forcing government officials to reevaluate their policies concerning…
∞∞Θ∞∞
July 14
th
World news––
It’s been six weeks since an abundance of explosions in the little town of Cloven Rock caused an estimated 845 million dollars worth of damages, killing 834 residents, injuring 44 more, and leaving 407 people unaccounted for––and now the infamous Cloven Rock is in the news again. It seems that the remains of unknown species has been found among the wreckage. Scientists are calling this newly discovered mammal the Clade Thoracotremata Chelicerata; also labeled the Buccal Crab.
The hard-shelled, multi-legged carcass, weighing in at seventeen pounds, three ounces, is being described as a cross between a giant spider and a crab. It has several extremely unique attributes, the most amazing feature, most scientists agree…
∞∞Θ∞∞
JAMES ROY DALEY ~
The Dead Parade
, James Roy Daley’s first novel, was released in a trade paperback edition in 2008 by Permuted Press/Swarm Press, and once again by Bad Moon Books in a limited edition hardcover edition in 2010.
Best New Zombie Tales Volume One
is Daley’s first anthology. Other books include
Terror Town, Best New Zombie Tales Volume Two, Best New Vampire Tales Volume One
, and
Into Hell.
∞∞Θ∞∞
Preview of:
STILLWATER, MINNESOTA
Five Years Ago…
Black.
The suspect had painted every inch of his house black.
Obscured by snowfall, it looked like nothing more than an apparition in the storm, but through the binoculars its sinister presence loomed as large and solid as a monolithic tombstone.
Homicide detective Frank Atkins lowered the binoculars and handed them to his squad partner as the remaining S.W.A.T. officers took up positions to their left and right.
“This is it,” Frank said. He unslung the HK sub-machinegun from his shoulder and flicked off the safety. “We’re going to need to move fast to cross that field without being spotted. This psycho is a slippery son of a bitch. We can’t give him the slightest opportunity to get past us.”
Martin DeAngelo peered into the binoculars. “You do your thing, Detective. We’ll do ours.”
“I mean it,” Frank replied. “I want this bastard taken down once and for all.”
The officer smirked. “Just because you’re qualified for this shit doesn’t make you my commander. Follow my lead and leave the noble quest for vengeance up to the prosecutors, okay?”
Frank looked to the house with the word on the forefront of his mind.
Vengeance.
That’s exactly what it came to. Vengeance for Christine Mitchell. For Katie Hart. For Sean Edwards. Vengeance for the adolescent boy they still couldn’t identify. Vengeance for all of them.
“Jesus,” DeAngelo commented, still gazing through the binoculars. “I can already hear the insanity plea.”
Frank racked the first round into the breach of his weapon. “If I find him first, he won’t be going to court.”
Maybe it was the hiss of contempt on Frank’s tongue, or the soft squeak of rubber as his hands wrung the handle grip of is weapon, but DeAngelo’s stare broke from the house and regarded him with a creased look of uncertainty.
“You don’t really mean that, do you?”
Frank held his gaze. “Like you said, lieutenant: You do your job, I’ll do mine.”
The man opened his mouth to reply when the voice of the taskforce commander came to life on their radio headsets.
“Move in! Everyone, move in!”
The tactical team plunged out of their cover of evergreens and charged toward the farmhouse, plowing through snowdrifts to the war-drum beat of the twin air-units approaching fast from the south.