The Collected Horrors of Tim Wellman (19 page)

"Girls," Steve said so only they could hear.
"Did you learn anything from that?"

"That your dad is very brave or very stupid,"
Kimberly said.

"I mean about the old man," he said.

"A couple of things, but nothing that would help
you yet," Tamara said. "We have to put together a lot of little
things before it will make sense to you."

****

He didn't come back the rest of the night and by
daybreak everyone was rousing from their blankets and sleeping bags
and milling around the park. Some had already gone home. The light
of day brought a little normalcy and security with it.

"Y'all be on guard," the chief yelled. "He can
work just as easy during the day as the night."

Several of the men began to nervously check
their guns, count the cartridges, cycle through the actions. The
heavy dew of dawn was burning off quickly and the day was going to
be a scorcher and they all knew they were going on a manhunt.

Steve found Susie sitting on one of the benches
with the girls asleep and leaning on either side of her. "I'm being
held captive by girls!" she said and smiled.

"Girls?" he knelt down in front of them and
shook them both awake. "It's morning."

Tamara slowly opened her eyes and yawned. She
looked up at Susie. "Sorry."

"Sweetie, you can lean on me anytime," she
said.

"Kimberly," Tamara said. She reached across
Susie and shook her arm.

"What?" Kimberly didn't open her eyes. "Leave me
alone, I'm sleepy."

"Kimberly!" Tamara said. She wasn't yelling but
was whispering very loudly.

She popped her eyes open and jumped up. "Oh,
sorry," she said as she looked up at Susie.

Susie patted her on the head. "Come on, you two
cuties, let's hit the bathroom."

She got up and grabbed the two girls in her
arms. "We'll be right back," she said.

"Oh," Tamara said. "Steve, he seems to gather
his strength from fire."

He thought for a moment. "Holy shit, you're
right!"

Susie carried the girls away before they could
talk any more.

"Hey Dad," Steve said. He took off running
toward the area he had last seen his father but he wasn't there. He
turned around. "Anybody seen Dad?"

"He were right there a minute ago," someone
said.

"Dad?!" he yelled, hoping to rouse him out of a
conversation across the lawn. "Dad?!" He was starting to panic. He
had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach and the world around
him seemed to be narrowing, folding in on itself so that all he
could see was what was directly in front of him. "Dad?!"

"Hey Steve," Susie said as she brought the girls
back. "What's wrong?"

"It's Dad," he said. "I can't find him."

She pointed. He was driving his old truck and in
the back were a dozen or more men with guns. "He ain't right
sometimes, you know that," she said.

He felt stupid, like a young kid who had gotten
lost at an amusement park and could only shout out for his dad.
But, his old man was all right. "Hey dad, the girls got some
info."

"Yeah?" he said as he pulled up next to Steve,
Susie, and the girls. "Whatcha got, little ladies?" His truck
suddenly stalled.

"Uh yeah, that happens," Steve said. "They're
kinda self-concious."

"Sorry," he said.

"Anyway, the girls figured out that the old man
gets some sort of power from fire. Every attack has involved a fire
somewhere."

"Oh, okay, that's helpful," he said. His truck
suddenly restarted on its own. "Ah!" He stuck his head out of the
window and looked at the guys in the back. "Y'all hear that back
there?"

"We hear'd it, chief," Tom said as he hopped out
of the truckbed. "Let's take the old bastard down!"

"We're gonna head up ta the Perry house and see
if'n we can find a cabin er anything around there in the woods,"
the chief said. "Steve, you and Jerry get the rest of the men and
start spreadin' out from the center a town and see what ya can see.
Take a radio," he said as he handed a walkie-talkie to his son. "Ya
see anything outa the ord'nary, let me know."

"Don't reckon you girls would wanna split up,
would ya? One of ya go up with us and the other help Steve?"

They both shrugged and Kimberly stepped forward.
"I'll go with you."

The chief smiled. "Thata girl," he said. He
opened his door and jumped out and then grabbed Kimberly around the
waist and sat her across the seat.

"You take good care of her, dad," Susie said.
"She's a good friend of mine."

"Y'all don't worry," he said. "I'll be dead
b'fore I let anything happen to her." He climbed back up and
slammed the door.

"Y'all be careful," Steve said. Tamara waved as
they drove away. "Don't worry about her," he said. "My dad will
take care of her."

"I know," she said. "Kimberly said he just
started singing."

"You can communicate with each other?"

Tamara nodded. "Not always, but if there's not
too much noise."

"Noise?" Susie said.

"The world you
can't
see is very loud
sometimes," she said.

"Hey Steve, we got everybody rounded up and
armed ta the teeth," Jerry said as he walked up behind him. "Y'all
ready?"

"Yep," he said.

"You leaving Tamara with me?" Susie said.

"No, that old man will be looking for her, so
she needs to be with us so we can protect her," he said. Besides,
she can sniff out the old man," he said. "Owe!" He grabbed his leg.
"Leg cramp!"

He looked at Tamara who was smiling. "I'm not a
dog," she said.

"Sorry,
sniffed out
was the wrong words,"
he said. He waved all the guys closer. "Listen up, guys, I figure
we can leave a couple of y'all here in town just in case the old
bastard slips by us and comes back this way, but the rest of us can
start making circles around the town until we get out to the
outskirts on Fifth Street. That way we'd be moving him out away
from the town like a deer drive. Tamara can tell where he's at so
she can pick up on him if he gets by us." He sniffed and scratched
his head nervously. "If he does get by us, that might even be
better since we can close in on him, then."

"I reckon me and John-John can hole up here in
town, then," Brian Wilcox said. "And we'll keep ol' Charlie here,
too. Ya don't need him puttin' his two cents in every time
somethin' happens."

"Good deal," Steve said. "So, let's the rest of
us fan out and start walkin'."

"He's not in town," Tamara said. "I... Kimberly
says he's coming down the hill from our house right now."

"Dad and 'em must have flushed him out from the
hilltop, then," Steve said.

"Hey Steve, why don't I get up in the church
steeple over there and play sniper with my varmint rifle," Tom
said. "I got the twenty-four power scope on here and this 22-250
slug would rip his heart out from four hundred yards away or
better."

"Yep," Steve said. "That's a plan."

"Steve, you there?" the chief came over the
radio.

"Here, dad."

"We found his cabin," he said in a shaky voice.
There was a long pause. "This guy is one sick fuck. They're dead
kids up here, little girls chained ta the walls and..." There was
another long pause. "It just ain't nothin' like any human bein'
would do."

"Jesus," Steve said. "You must have run him out
'cause Tamara said he was on his way down the hill."

"Yeah, that's what Kimberly said, too," the
chief said. "I got her outa there before she seen anything too bad.
But we're gonna have ta get the FBI and shit up here," he said. "I
ain't never seen nothin' like it. They'll... they'll need ta figure
out who these kids were so they can... fuck, I don't know what,
bury 'em or somethin'. Their parents don't need ta know they was
found like this."

"If he's heading down the hill, we might just
have him covered on both sides," Steve said. "Don't worry dad,
we'll get the sick bastard." He motioned several guys to follow him
and he started toward the hill. "Can ya get rollin'?"

"Yeah, we're spread out already and headin' your
way."

"Same here," Steve said. "Let's try not to shoot
each other." He looked up at the church tower and saw Tom setting
up his position. "Can he reach the field from there?"

"Probably 'bout four hundred yards," Sam said.
"Would be a hell of a shot. But I seen him hit a groundhog at five
hundred b'fore."

It was getting hot and almost everyone was
sweating, either from the heat or fear or a combination of the two,
but they started off at a brisk pace. It was bright and clear which
aided the hunter more than the hunted, but Steve wasn't sure which
one he had become. But Tamara stood stoic, searching the area and
distant woods with her small, darting eyes, but she didn't appear
to lock onto anything in particular.

"You're safe for a while," she said. "He is
confused, now."

"Confused? Why?"

Tamara shrugged then cocked her head and seemed
to be listening to something. "He knows your dad has discovered the
children he tortured," she said. "The sad children. We could hear
them screaming from our room.  He could draw power from them
as long as they remained his secret. They were our substitutes,
sorta like voodoo dolls. But when they were found he lost his
control over them; their souls were released."

Steve shook his head and wrapped his hand around
her head and pulled him close to him. "Sorry," he said. "But no
matter what happens, the sick bastard is through hurting people."
He tried to smile but found himself holding back tears. "I guess
your family was right to keep you locked up; but there should have
been another way to handle it."

"We loved them," she whispered. For the first
time since their first encounter, Steve watched her eyes fill with
tears as she started sobbing.

"Steve? Kimberly wants to know what's wrong with
Tamara," his dad said over the radio.

"She's okay, just thinking about her family," he
said.

"Okay," he said. "Same reason ours is
cryin'."

He rubbed Tamara on the head. "Come on, tiger,
let's go kick some ass."

They started off again and crossed the last
sidewalk and stepped into the field. There were still spots that
were smoldering, but mostly the hillside was one long black scar
running all the way up to the house on the top.

"Hey, we lookin' fer fire?" Jerry said.

"Well, I think so," Steve said.

Tamara nodded. "He will need it to attack since
the children have been released." She suddenly became alert and
stiffened. "He's behind them!"

"Dad!" he yelled into the radio, but his voice
would have easily been heard even without the radio.

"I know!" the chief said. "He's behind us."

"Fire!" Jerry yelled. He was pointing to the top
of the hill and almost immediately, the sky was filled with
smoke.

"He set fire to his house," Tamara said. "It's
the most powerful magic he could do, the only thing he had left
except me and Kimberly. He will die or kill us all, now."

"Dad! Run!" Steve shouted. "Get down the hill!
Tamara says he might be more powerful now."

They could see the men running down the hill,
now, and Steve and his team were running up to meet them. The chief
was holding Kimberly and was actually leading the retreat, nearly
stumbling his way down the steep hillside. But, as he watched his
father and the others, he spotted the old man. He seemed to zip
across the fields, stopping in places, then moving on, with each
place he stopped bursting into flames. There was something surreal
about him, now, not human, not even animal, he had become something
else. Then he stopped again, directly in front of the chief.

"Mine!" he snarled and before the chief could do
anything, the old man had grabbed Kimberly out of his arms and was
holding her up in the air by the throat. "Hello, my little child!
Ready to help make me a god?"

"No!" Tamara yelled and took off running, nearly
as fast as the old man had darted around. But he was too fast and
before she could react, he had her in his other hand. The girls
were struggling, squirming to try to break his grip, but they
couldn't get loose. The chief lunged at him, but the old man darted
out of the way.

Steve threw up his gun and took aim but there
was no clear shot with the men behind him. No one had a clear shot.
"Drop down, guys!" He kept aiming but all he could think about was
the men behind the old man.

But as they hit the ground, the old man darted
off and paused a hundred feet or so away. "Stupid people!" He
looked up at the girls, still being held over his head and losing
their last breaths. "That's it, my lovelies, gasp in the last air
you'll ever taste! I'll use your little souls until they scream a
path to hell!"

The girls reached out and held each others
hands, ready to die together, as they had lived. Steve and several
others were running toward them but they were still too far away to
get a clear shot at him. But then suddenly there was a slight
popping sound behind them and Tamara dropped to the ground and lay
still. There was another pop, and Kimberly did the same.

"Fuck!" Steve yelled. He took off running toward
them, not caring anymore about his own safety. "That fucking Tom
has killed them both!"

But as he got closer, he saw both girls scramble
away from their grandfather. It had taken a few seconds for the old
man's body to realize it was dead, but he soon dropped to his
knees, and then fell face forward and was still.

"Girls!" Steve said as he got closer. He could
hear Tom cheering in the background and several people in town were
clapping. There were two bullet holes in the old man's back and by
the way the ground under him was covered in blood, the bullets had
ripped his entire chest open.