The Collected Horrors of Tim Wellman (31 page)

She stepped off his body and pointed her bloody
finger at Jerry and spoke, though the words were unknown to him,
not human-sounding at all, more like the sound of hard stones
clanged together. But as he was trying to figure out his next move,
the mummies had reached Bob's body and yanked it back through the
hole, the rotting flesh causing it to pull apart and string out
along the floor. But even more sickening, they began devouring the
rotting flesh. All the time, the little girl kept yelling at
him.

"I don't understand you!" he yelled. "Whatever
you are, I cain't figure out what your sayin!"

But it didn't stop her.

"The shit we took!" Steve yelled. "Give it back
to her!" He reached into his pockets and started throwing the
jewelry and other things toward the little girl and Jerry caught on
immediately and started doing the same until everything was on the
floor in front of her.

"That's everything!" Jerry said.

A couple of the mummies dropped to their knees
and began picking up the things but the little girl was still
pointing at them and talking.

"Did... did that do it?" Steve said.

"I don't know," Jerry said. "I don't think so
the way she's still so pissed off."

She suddenly turned and motioned two of the
mummies toward her and it caused Steve and Jerry to back up until
they were against the wall.

Jerry glanced down. "The pick-ax in the head
seemed to slow her down," he whispered.

"That's right!" Steve said. And before Jerry
could stop him, he reached down and grabbed the ax and ran toward
the girl, ready to bury it in her head. But one of the mummies
reached up quickly and grabbed his hand, stopping him immediately,
then with a horrible crunching sound, ripped his arm off and at the
same time another mummy grabbed Steve's head with two hands, and
twisted. His head came off in the mummy's hands before he could
even scream. They, too, began eating.

But the little girl then turned her attention
back to Jerry. He figured it was just a matter of time, now, before
it was his turn to die. But she started talking again and pointed
to the marble table with the unknown writing on it. He understood
she wanted him to walk to it. "I can't read that," he said. She
pointed again and he walked across the room. "It's some ancient
language," he said. "No one remembers it. No one remembers you!
You're forgotten, now."

She didn't understand him any more than he
understood her, but she stood next to the table and put her hands
on it. She said something and nodded her head. He put his hands on
the table and as he did the small child sprouted dark, feathered
wings and her black hair flew back as if she were standing in a
strong wind, even though the room was stiflingly hot and still,
apart from the horrible sound of the mummies. But, he could
understand her now.

"My name is Eranielle, the Plague Angel. You
have unlocked the way and I am grateful," she said. "After ten
thousand years' sleep, I shall once again take my place as the
destroyer of mankind."

"Does that mean I can..." He was unable to
finish the sentence. She had pushed her fingernails into his
throat.

Love
Struck

"They ain't nothin' out yonder 'ceptin' that old
goat," the old man said and smacked the back of his grand
daughter's head. She had been pacing and looking out the windows
for the last hour and it was starting to annoy him.

"I'm tellin' ya, old man, there's something out
there and it's gettin' closer ta the barn right now," Susie said.
"Right as we're a speakin', it' a creepin'." She pointed through
the torn wire of the kitchen screen-door and narrowed her eyes so
she could see better through the glint of the porch-light. The
evening had faded quickly as a storm was brewing over the Ohio
River and heading directly for Wayne County. The rain would be
welcome to break the oppressive heat and humidity, but she didn't
like the way it had darkened the woods behind the house so early in
the evening. "I seen that thing out there, and I'm a swearin' on my
momma's grave."

"Well, ain't nothin' I can see," he said.

"Ya cain't see nothin' even in broad
daylight."

Ya sure are gettin' snippy," he said. He patted
the child on her head. She was his, now, he figured, since his
daughter had died down in Mingo County and left her in his care;
and though he didn't figure on a twelve year old girl in his life
at his age, he wasn't unhappy she was there. She brightened the old
place up after twenty years of just living 'good enough'. Though
she brought a new world with her, he was trying as best he could to
understand it. But he still couldn't see what the heck she was
talking about. "I thank ya's been on that inter-web thing again at
school and got all spooked inta believin' in monsters. Just like
last month when ya told me there was pixies in England."

"This thang ain't no damned pixie, Grampa," she
said and shivered. "What I seen... and, mind you, seen it with my
own eyes... was one a them bigfoots, sure as shootin'." She shook
her head and pointed. "He was right in there, and then walked over
closer t'ward the barn past them milkweeds and the wheel
barrel."

The old man pointed with the barrel of his old
poke-stalk twelve-gauge. "Right in there?" He tried squinting and
then put a hand over his bad eye and looked again. He still
couldn't see anything except the trees and a few chickens scattered
about the bare ground. "That's 'bout where the well pump used ta
be, ain't it? So it's prob'ly that old salty water a seapin' up and
attractin' the whitetails."

Suddenly something huge and black moved from the
treeline and crossed the bare ground and stepped behind the corner
of the barn. Susie was silent. She simply pointed with her mouth
open, looked over at her grand father, and then looked back.
"Ooh..."

"All right," he said. "We might just got us a
problem ta deal with."

"Ya think?!" She stepped behind him and looked
around. "That ain't no deer, old man. We gotta do something!" She
started jumping around and punching the air. "Gotta whack 'im good!
Comin' 'round here and messin' with us Adkins; he's askin' fer
it!"

He pulled off his old B&O railroad cap and
scratched his bald head. "I reckon we..." He was at a loss for
words and ideas. "Well, if we..." Still nothing.

Susie took off running through the house. "I
gotta get my camera!" she yelled. "And a baseball bat! And we still
got that machete?"

The old man suddenly felt very alone and backed
away from the door. He had seen it; he was certain it wasn't an
illusion or shadow or anything other than a huge, hairy, hulking
beast out there and it seemed to be getting closer. "Susie?"

She touched his back and he jumped all the way
back to where he had been standing earlier. "Got my camera!" she
said. "Let's go!"

"Go?"

"Yep, we gotta go catch a bigfoot," she
said.

"Thought you was lookin' fer a machete?" he
said. "Losin' yer nerve, girl?"

"No!" she said. "Just ain't no use bein' stupid
'bout it. I need me somethin' with a longer reach."

He moved his head around so he could get a clear
view through the holes in the screen. "How ya figurin' we're gonna
get 'im?" he said. "That damned thang could squish you like a
bug."

"Yeah, but I figure that shotgun could blow a
big ol' hole clean through 'im," she said. "And I'll whack him with
somethin' when he's down. I'll need ta take pictures so I can send
'em in ta that website! Then we get rich, you get personal grooming
lessons, I get video games, the end."

"That simple, huh?" he said. "I'm thinkin' we go
out there, he grabs us, bends the gun in half, eats us both, the
end."

"We gotta do somethin'," she said. "I seen TV
shows and you gotta do somethin', 'cause doing nothin' leads to him
reaching through your windows, grabbing you, and dragging ya off to
a love nest. You wanna be that thing's girlfriend? 'Cause I
don't!"

"Well, I guess I could go out there and take a
quick look-round," he said. "You can stay here."

"No way!" she said. "I might be little fer my
age, but ya know I'm as strong as you are with your bad back." She
pushed him forward and forced him through the doorway and out on to
the old rickety wooden back porch. They both bounced on the old,
rotting planks until they reached the single stone step, and
stopped when their feet hit the red and yellow clay ground. "Just
keep that gun pointed that a way."

"Pointed at what?" he said.

"Anything nine feet tall and hairy that wants ta
marry me," she said. She sniffed the air. "You just let one,
grampa?"

"That ain't me," he said. He sniffed. "That's
comin' from out near the barn." He started walking, slowly, one
measured step at a time as his grand daughter held on to the back
loop of his overalls and studied the area for anything unusual.

There was a loud grunt and they both jumped. "He
might just be in the barn, now," she whispered. "I
think
that came from in there and your old mule is over there; I can
see
her." She pointed across the yard at the mule, grazing,
but the whites of her eyes were showing. She was scared, too. There
was another grunt, louder than the first, and they could hear a
chicken bawking, panicked, then nothing, silence. "I think he just
got hisself a snack. That there's five bucks he owes us."

He looked at the small, delicate face framed in
long straight blonde hair and smiled. He could hear the fear in her
voice, even though she was trying to be brave. He wondered if she
could hear the fear in his voice, as well. "We got this covered,
right? Ain't no good come from lettin' a damned chicken thief get
off without payin'."

She nodded and smiled, but as they both turned
back toward the barn, there he was, only a few feet away from them,
blood dripping from his huge gorilla-like mouth and his massive
arms outstretched and threatening. Susie screamed so loud the
creature actually took a step back, but then roared at them,
spitting saliva and chicken blood all over them. The old man acted
the only way he knew how. He scooped up Susie in his arm and took
off running for the house. Susie was looking over his shoulder.
He's just standin' there! No! He's comin', now! Run faster,
Grampa!"

The old man was running as fast as his skinny
old legs would take him and one foot hit the stone step and the
other was halfway across the porch in a single stride. He yanked
open the screen-door, nearly tearing off its hinges, and darted
inside and Susie literally jumped out of his arms as he spun around
and lifted his gun.

The beast was coming fast. He seemed to stop
just before he got to the porch, but then took a big jump and
landed only a foot from the screen... and fell through the
planking. He growled and grunted, but he seemed stuck and very
confused.

"Blast him, Grampa!" She put her fingers in her
ears and squinted.

The old man braced himself and pulled the
trigger and the buckshot caught the creature in the shoulder with
an explosion of blood and fur. And though stunned, the shot just
seemed to make the monster even more angry and determined to break
free and get inside the house. "Shit!" he shouted. "I cain't aim
good 'nough ta hit 'im in the head!" He looked back to make sure
the girl was safe, but she was gone. "Susie?! Ya hidin', girl?" He
was fumbling to break the gun down and load another shell but his
hands were shaking so much it was proving difficult and he had
already dropped two shells. "Ya ain't gettin' us, you furry
bastard!" But as he looked toward the beast again, there she was,
standing outside, behind the bigfoot and getting closer.

"Hey buttstink!" she yelled and as he turned
around, she swung an old wooden two-by-four she had picked up by
the front porch and it landed solidly on his forehead, with several
old rusty nails driving themselves into his skull.

He let out a blood-curdling scream, and then
began to wobble, lost his balance and fell over, his pinned legs
tearing up several planks and freeing him from their trap. But he
was in no mood to continue the attack. He lay on the ground,
bleeding profusely, his eyelids blinking and he almost seemed to be
crying.

Susie quickly made her way around him and across
the busted porch and through the door. She grabbed the old man
around the waist and couldn't let go.

He patted her on the head. "Ya okay?"

She nodded.

"Good. Ya's grounded the rest of yer god damned
life!"

She nodded and they both watched as the beaten
animal pulled himself up on all fours and began to crawl away,
eventually managing to get to his feet and stagger into the
woods.

"Ya think that got him fer good?" she said.

"Don't know," the old man said as he finally got
his gun reloaded. "But I need ta get myself a double-barrel or
somethin' if the wildlife 'round here has started fightin' back, I
know that!"

"You thinkin' he'll be back, then?" She stepped
closer to the screen and peered out, searching the woods."

"Not tonight," he said. "But I wouldn't bet agin
him showin' up again after he's healed up."

Susie suddenly turned around. "Shoot! I forgot
to take pictures!"

"There goes my groomin' lessons, I reckon," he
said with a chuckle. "Didn't need no damned groomin' anyhow."

Suddenly there was a loud clap of thunder that
brought a hard downpour of rain and made the lights flicker, then
go out. They were in the dark. "Ya goin' on ta bed early?" she said
after a long pause.

"No. No, reckon I'll sit up a while and think,"
he said.

She nodded. "Me to. Just do some thinkin'. I'll
dig the candles outa the kitchen cabinet drawer."