And this was why Dana was getting weaker and sicker every day. Gradually they were making her into one of them. Actually the baby was doing it. That's why it was taking longer. That was why she was so possessed by the child. It wouldn't be long before she would be dead, or, to be more accurate, one of the
undead
.
Instinctively Colleen reached down and pulled up the cross that Audra had given her, the one Nurse Patio made her keep under her clothing. If ever she needed the power of prayer, she thought, it was now. She held it in her hand and whispered.
"Oh, God," she said. "Please, God. Help me. Help me." As she spoke, she backed farther and farther away from the house. How was she going to convince Harlan of this? Would he come up here with her? Could she get him now? How much longer would they be there, anyway? How could she expect him to believe any of this if he didn't believe the simpler things?
She had to go somewhere else for help, maybe to Dr. Lisa, her psychologist, or maybe to Lieutenant Reis. Would either of them believe her? Teddy… Teddy would listen, she thought. She had to get to Teddy and get him to come back up here with her. Maybe together… sure, if she could get someone else to corroborate what was going on, everyone, including Harlan, would listen. Maybe there was still time to do something to stop all this. There had to be time; there had to be.
She turned to run back to her car but hesitated because she heard the definite sound of someone coming around the house. Her heart was beating so fast, she couldn't get her legs to move fast enough. She started to walk away, afraid to look back, but she sensed that whoever it was, was coming fast, almost flying.
She broke out into a trot and then into a sprint. Even in the bright moonlight it was hard to see exactly where she was going. She tripped over some discarded piece of equipment and went flying into the grass. The ground here was softer, wetter.
She had difficulty getting back to her feet. The damp earth smelled sour. The wetness on her hands felt more like blood than water.
She was talking to herself now, chanting words of encouragement and comfort between prayers, promising herself it would be all right, fingering the cross as she did so. "Just get back to the car, lock the doors, and start it up. It's easy," she said. "Oh, God, please be with me. Please. Easy. Then you'll get help. Don't stop; don't look back. Get your breath. It'll be easy."
Whoever it was who had come after her went off to her right and passed her in the darkness. She didn't see anything, but she sensed it, sensed him or her moving by quickly, flying. She hoped that meant she hadn't been discovered.
Cheered by the possibility, she got into a smooth rhythm again and sprinted over the grass to the gravel road. Once there, she caught her breath and headed quickly for her car.
But just as she approached it, she saw that someone was waiting for her. The moonlight seemed to intensify, as if the moon itself moved to direct more of its illumination onto the creature. The darkness was peeled away, and Colleen stopped only a few feet from the car.
It was Jillian, dressed in the nightgown and robe she had been wearing the night of her disappearance. Of course, the moonlight changed the color and texture of her complexion, but she looked as young and alive as ever.
"Jillian?" Colleen said. "Oh, Jillian. Thank God. Did you find out about Dana too? Have you brought anyone with you? Harlan? The police?"
Jillian stepped forward and smiled, and when she did so, she pulled her lips back as far as those people in the old farmhouse had. And the same long, sharp teeth emerged.
Colleen screamed and grasped the silver cross around her neck as Jillian continued toward her. Jillian seized Colleen's hair to pull her forward. When Colleen raised both her hands to push her away, the silver cross glittered in the moonlight, and Jillian's grip softened. She put her right hand over her eyes and reached forward with her left to grab at the chain around Colleen's neck. Her prehensilelike fingers and long nails caught it and pulled at it. Instantly the heavy cross fell from Colleen's neck to the gravel road below.
Jillian reached forward once again to seize Colleen's hair, pulling her head and neck toward her. Colleen twisted away, but when she turned to run, Jillian caught some of her hair in her fist and pulled her back so hard, Colleen fell backward, hitting the gravel road hard. Jillian started tugging her to her feet.
Colleen saw the cross on the gravel. It seemed to capture the moonlight and call to her with its reflection. Eagerly she reached out for it, taking it in her hand. When Jillian knelt down to take a firmer hold on her, Colleen swung her fist around, the neck of the cross extended like a knife, and caught Jillian in the cheek.
Colleen was amazed at how the cross pierced Jillian's skin, which seemed as if it were paper. She felt it stop when it hit her jawbone. Then, as if it had control of itself, the cross continued to tear a long gash down through her cheek until it emerged.
Jillian screamed and fell back, covering her face with her hands. Colleen sat back on the gravel road and watched in amazement as Jillian's body began to shake. In moments it began to crumble. Because she was bathed in the moonlight, every aspect of Jillian's demise was visible to Colleen. She would wish later that it hadn't been.
Her skin, which looked as thin and as translucent as a thin lamp shade, fell into her body as if it were being consumed by a fire burning within. Her eyeballs rolled out, leaving two deep, dark caverns from which poured a greenish slime, running down and into her mouth. The skinless skeleton collapsed into itself as she silently fell into a heap of dust, now covered by the turquoise robe. In moments it was over, and once again all was deadly quiet.
Sobbing, embracing herself tightly, Colleen stood up and inched her way around the pile of bones and dust under the robe. She was afraid it might all take form again and become one of those horrid creatures. Had it really been Jillian, or had it assumed her form and image? That was definitely the robe she had worn, the robe she had seen dangling on the dried corpse in the shed.
She stuffed her hand into her mouth to keep herself from crying out and backed up to her car, afraid to take her eyes off the pile. When she felt her body against the car, she reached behind herself to take hold of the door handle. Once she grasped it, she turned quickly and got into the car, locking the doors immediately. She put the cross into her pocketbook.
For a moment she sat there, unable to take the correct action, unable to make her fingers turn the key in the ignition. Ahead of her, the farmhouse loomed as before, its few lit windows still lit. It remained just as desolate-looking. She neither saw nor heard anyone or anything moving around. Finally she turned the key and the car started. No longer caring about whom she would alert, she put on her headlights.
As soon as the light hit the turquoise robe covering the pile of dust and bones on the gravel road before her, she screamed. It seemed to her that it was indeed moving. She fumbled with the gearshift to get the car into reverse. Then she accelerated, but a little too hard and fast. The car jerked backward, the tires spitting up the gravel, and she flew across the driveway into a ditch on the other side. The rear tires dangled. No matter how hard she accelerated, they did not make contact with the ground. The car would not move.
"Oh, God, no," she cried. Her body shook uncontrollably. She had been sobbing ever since Jillian's decomposition, but she hadn't been aware of it. Positive now that she had made enough noise to make everyone aware of her presence, she stopped trying to get the car moving, turned off the ignition and lights, grabbed her pocketbook, and slipped out quickly. Without hesitation she started running down the gravel road toward the highway. She didn't look back once.
She tripped twice on the gravel driveway, each time catching herself before her face hit the ground, but the gravel tore into the palms of her hands and the resulting pain was excruciating. Gasping for breath, she stopped when she reached the main highway. It felt like little pins and needles were being pressed into her ribs. When she looked back up the driveway, she saw only darkness and heard nothing. The headlights of an oncoming automobile cheered her. She stepped farther into the road and waved, but the driver, either afraid of stopping for someone on such a deserted road or not seeing her altogether, drove right on by.
She moaned, looked back up the driveway once more, and then started to trot down the road in the direction of Old Centerville Station. Another car came by, and the driver did the same thing, even speeding up when she waved at the vehicle. Although the moonlight lit her way, she felt the darkness closing in around her, swallowing her up, digesting her into the horror of what had just happened.
She tried to run harder, faster, now driven by an overwhelming fear. She sensed that if she stopped, if she tried to rest, she might not start again. Every shadow in the road, every dark shape ahead, looked ominous. As she ran, she avoided looking back, terrified that if she did, she might see one of the creatures running right beside her, smiling, its teeth gleaming in the moonlight.
A closed service station appeared ahead. She vaguely recalled it and slowed down as she approached. Perhaps someone lived behind it or perhaps was still there. She ran right up to the office window and pressed her face against it, but all was dark within. She shook the door handle and called out. "Anyone here? Please! Anyone?"
There was no response. She looked back up Church Road toward the driveway that led to the horrid old house. As far as she could see, there seemed to be no one coming, but the shadows still looked very threatening. Frantic now, she prayed for another oncoming vehicle. She vowed she would throw herself in front of it to make it stop.
But none came.
After a moment she looked toward the other side of the service station and saw a pay phone. She charged forward like someone who had been lost on a desert and had just discovered water. When she reached the phone, she rifled through her pocketbook quickly, locating some change, but when she found it and lifted the receiver, she hesitated.
"Who should I call first?" she wondered aloud. "Harlan? Maybe they have control over him already. Maybe…"
She thought again and searched through her pocketbook, holding some paper and cards up so she could read them in the moonlight. She found the one she wanted and dialed the number. A deep female voice answered.
"Police."
"I have to speak to Lieutenant Reis immediately," she said.
"Who's calling?"
"Colleen Hamilton. He'll know. Please, hurry. It's an emergency."
"One moment."
There was what seemed to be an interminable delay until Reis finally announced himself.
"It's Colleen," she said.
"Oh, Colleen. Sure. What have you got?"
"Do you know Church Road outside of Old Centerville Station?"
"Sure."
"I'm at a service station. It's closed."
"Shell?"
"Uh-huh."
"I know where it is. That's Carnesi's place. What about it?"
"Hurry here and you'll see," she said. "You'll see it all," she added. "But hurry."
"Exactly what—"
"Hurry," she said, and hung up before he could ask anything else. Then she leaned back and closed her eyes. Something startled her, and she opened them again, screaming as if she were being attacked. After a moment she stopped and looked around. There was nothing. The road was quiet and the garage just as still and deserted.
She found some more change and quickly dialed Teddy's number. When he answered, she just started to cry, mumbling his name between sobs.
"Where are you? What's happened now?"
She got hold of herself and told him where she was.
"My car is stuck in the driveway," she said.
"What driveway?"
"Come quickly. You'll see."
"Be right there," he told her. "Take it easy. I'm coming."
She hung up and just leaned against the wall of the phone booth and let herself slide down into a sitting position. Then she embraced her knees, pulling her legs against herself protectively, and leaned her face against her thighs. She closed her eyes, sobbed silently for a few moments, and then grew quiet.
She was unaware of any movement around her, so she didn't see or hear the bat slide through the night air. It landed on the garage rooftop and closed its wings around itself protectively.
Silhouetted against the fire-red and orange moon, it looked enormous. Moments later it was joined by a second, and then by a third. The nocturnal trinity hovered beside one another like pigeons preparing to swoop.
Colleen raised her head slowly. Sensing the danger, she fumbled through her pocketbook until she located Audra's cross. She held it up toward the moonlight, and it glittered brightly, holding back the darkness like a single candle. She gathered up all the faith within her and willed it down her arm and into the cross. It fed the gleam as she waited and waited and waited…
Since he lived closer, Teddy was the first to arrive. He found her squatting by the phone, frozen in position, her arm extended as she held up the cross. She didn't appear even to have heard his car. As soon as he saw her, he got out and approached, calling to her; but she didn't turn to him. He had to squat down beside her and touch her shoulder to make her aware of his presence.
She screamed. Then, realizing it was Teddy, she embraced him, holding him as tightly to her as she could.
"Teddy, oh, Teddy. Teddy."
"Hey," he said, pulling back from her. "Easy, easy. What's going on? Where's your car?" he asked, looking around.
"It's back there. On the driveway. I got stuck."
"Driveway." He squinted at the darkness. "What driveway?"
"The one leading to the old farmhouse."
"Farmhouse?" He shrugged. "Well, where is it? Let's go see if I can get it out."
"No!" She pulled away from him and stood up.
"What? Why not?"
"Wait. Let's wait. Lieutenant Reis is coming. I called him before I called you. He should be here any moment."