Chapter Forty-one
The first two bands took the stage later than scheduled with minor audio issues, but Erik Smythe had gotten a handle on things midway through Mankiller's set list. The turnout was phenomenal. The perfect summer weather helped, but so did the cause. It was incredible to see so many people in the community giving their support and having a good time in the process. They'd taken a moment of silence in between the second and third bands to remember everyone who had lost or taken their lives because they'd been bullied. Erik had noticed quite a few tears. He hoped the feeling would last beyond today.
“How many you think are out there?” Darren asked.
While Erik checked the soundboard for the next act, he scanned the crowd. It was hot, so there were a lot of people in bathing suits. The smell of fried dough and sausage and peppers wafted over the fairgrounds, making his stomach rumble. All he'd had today was coffee. He needed to get something in his stomach soon.
“Maybe five hundred,” he said. “Which is about four hundred more than I thought would come.”
Darren laughed. “You're such a fatalist.”
“My worldview keeps me full of surprises when things go right. How are you doing with that thing?”
Darren was fiddling with the controls of a drone that he had borrowed off their ninth-grade earth science teacher, who was at this moment staring at a couple of college girls in cutoff shorts, eating frozen bananas. Erik figured if he charged guys to watch them eat their treats on stage, he'd raise enough money to launch anti-bullying awareness campaigns twice around the world.
“It's not as easy as I thought it would be,” Darren said. “When I look at it in the sky, I'm okay. The moment I check the video feed, I get disoriented and screw up the flight pattern.”
There was a small video screen on his lap, displaying the concert from a hundred feet above. The near silent drone circled the event. To Erik, it made the concert look even bigger.
“That is just so cool,” Erik said. “And it's recording?”
“Yep.” The tip of Darren's tongue poked out of the corner of his mouth as he maneuvered the drone to sweep over the stage, capturing the tops of the heads of the band as they plugged in their guitars and assembled the drum kit. “I'll have to recharge it later because I want to get some night shots. With all the lights we have set up and everything, it'll look awesome.”
“Just don't break it. Mr. Berenson will kill you.”
“That I can live with. As long as he can't flunk me.”
“Those days are behind us, brother.” Erik shielded his eyes to look at the drone. It was pale blue, so hard to pick out in the clear sky. It looked like something out of
Star Wars
, a round flying droid hovering over them. The video it was taking was going to sell like crazy.
“I'm going to take it out over the beach,” Darren said.
“Don't go over the water,” Erik warned him. “If something goes wrong, you don't want to lose it in the friggin' ocean.”
“You worry too much. Check this out.” He handed Erik the monitor.
He watched the fairgrounds disappear in a blur as the drone turned toward the beach. Soon it was sand and sparkling water, rippling waves foaming at the shore. The drone dipped, getting closer to the beach. Erik could see people sitting in beach chairs and lying on blankets, soaking up the sun. He watched a particularly busty blonde apply sunscreen to the back of a tan brunette in perfect clarity.
“Sweet.” As much as he'd like to stare at girls all day from the safety of the monitor, he had work to do. “Bring it back around here.”
The angle tilted up as a gust of wind buffeted the drone.
Erik saw something big and brown zip across the screen. “What the hell was that?”
“What? What?” Darren said, concentrating on controlling the drone.
“Turn it so the camera is pointing that way,” Erik said, showing his friend which way to go.
“Why? What did you see? Was it some chick who lost her bikini top?”
The drone leveled out, but all he could see was blue sky and the tops of the buildings to the south of the fairgrounds.
“No, I have no idea what it was. Maybe it was a kite or a balloon or something.”
Someone on the microphone on the stage said, “Erik to the stage. Erik to the stage.”
He looked over to see the girl lead singer of the next group waving him over. Handing the monitor back to Darren, he wove his way through the crowd, every now and then glancing up at the sky.
* * *
Joanne and Noah were down to their last fifty fliers. After the visit from Norm the cryptozoology dude, Noah said they had to get their asses in gear now. The music fest was packed. When people took the time to glance at the flier, saw it was a weekend Jersey Devil tour, she could tell a lot were interested. Some even asked for extra fliers so they could give them to their friends.
Noah chucked the empty box in the garbage. “This is a good sign,” he said.
“What's a good sign?”
“I don't see any of our fliers in the trash can.”
“Come to think of it, I haven't seen them littering the grass, either.”
He pulled her in for a kiss. “What do you say we hit the beach after we hand the rest out? Might as well take advantage of it before tour requests start rolling in.”
“Good thing I have my bathing suit on under here,” Joanne said. “Always prepared. But first, I'm hungry. You mind getting me some sausage and peppers?”
“By your command,” he said with an exaggerated bow. “I'm sure you'll be out of fliers by the time I get back.”
She watched him disappear into the crowd, heads bopping to a techno band she'd never heard of but was pretty good considering everyone in it looked to be twelve.
All the fear of going back in those woods had been replaced by excitement the past couple of days. Noah's enthusiasm was contagious, and she was having fun riding with it. Today being so beautiful seemed like a good sign.
“Jersey Devil tours,” she called out above the unceasing beat. Two people in their early twenties turned around.
“Cool, let me check that out,” a guy with a scraggly mustache and hipster fedora said, plucking a flier from her grasp. A girl next to him did the same.
Noah was right, she was going to be out before he got back.
* * *
Gordon Leeds hadn't said a word since they'd crammed into the van. The first step would be getting Heather, Daniela and Jane to a hospital. Sam wondered how many orderlies it would take to get Jane in the building. She was still out, but from what Daryl told him, she could fight like a hungry tiger.
For a moment back there, he thought he'd be taking Leeds to the emergency room as well. Lord knows he'd like to give Gordon Leeds a reason to end up on a gurney. The man had been protecting the Jersey Devil, along with some of his relatives, past and present, while covering up what it had been doing to young women all along. The fact that the Devil out there now was the same one born into this world over two hundred years ago worried Sam. Despite what he'd said, there was a niggling of doubt. Maybe it couldn't be killed. Or perhaps it had only survived because it could hide in the Barrens seemingly forever while being protected whenever it sought a mate to procreate. And this was the first time, if Leeds was to be believed, that an entire family had grown with the mark. Three generations were gunning for it now.
What kept Sam from hurting the man was knowing that he'd held on to his own secret as well. He'd never told his family about the child Lauren had lost, because they were both ashamed and terrified of what had come out of her that dayâLauren's shame that a monster had been her first. Sam's constant worry was never knowing the full extent of what it meant not just to Lauren, but their healthy children who came into this world branded by a beast.
Every family had their secrets.
The Leeds family had harbored what to most people was an amusing legend.
Until now.
Something was different this time around, though. Even all the Leedses in the world couldn't sweep this under the rug.
Rocking in his seat, Sam looked to him and said, “You just wanted us to weed out the young ones, didn't you?”
“Your anger and desperation seemed a good fit to the task that had to be done. Look, I'm sorry about what's happened to your family. I really am. But you have to remember, this is
my
family we're talking about. You can't erase three hundred years. Things run too damn deep for that.”
Sam leaned in close so the others couldn't hear, lowering his voice to just above a whisper. “If you were the last of your line, I'd kill you right where you sit, Gordon. Wipe everything clean. Short of that, I'll just take care of your family's dirty little secret. Future generations of the Leeds family will thank me.”
Leeds returned a cutting glare. His rifle was safely stowed away. If he made one menacing move, there'd be hell to pay before he could draw a breath.
“You won't find him now,” Leeds said, leaning back in his seat with a look of grim satisfaction. “He's smart. He knows enough to hide now. All you'll find out there are what's left of his twisted kin.”
“I think you're wrong,” Daryl said. He was holding his side, a sleeping Jane leaning against him. “This isn't like all those other times. First, as long as we're out here, it'll be drawn to us. We have Jane and the girls, which it wants. And there's one more thing I saw that I think explains what's been going on.”
April turned around from the front seat. “What was it?”
“Jane tricked me into falling into this pit. It was deep and filled with all kinds of bonesâanimal and some human. I think it's where these things have gone to feed. In that pit, I saw empty barrels, you know, the kind of steel drums that factories use to seal up and transport liquids and stuff. They had all kinds of signs about the contents being toxic. If I'm right, the Jersey Devil and all those other things have been feeding from it. Maybe it's done something to their brains. The Devil's never killed before, but that's no longer the case. I think whatever was in those barrels altered them. It may also be why there are so many of them. You know when doctors mess with women at fertility clinics, a lot of times they have twins or triplets? Maybe that's what's been going on here. Whatever was in those barrels is creating multiples.”
“Even with that, she couldn't have given birth to all of them,” April said. “There's just no way.”
Jane murmured something, her eyes still closed. Daryl bent his ear closer to her mouth.
“What did she say?” Heather asked. She and Daniela were wrapped in a foil shock blanket April had found in the first-aid kit.
“I said there were five of us,” Jane grumbled. She still leaned into Daryl, looking like she was asleep.
Sam, wanting to seize on one of her lucid moments, asked, “There were five of who, honey?”
“Women. It kept us there. Whenever we tried to escape, it's like it knew ahead of time. We'd be punished. It got to where we were too scared to even try anymore. But I knew, it was sent for me. For what I did to my husband. I had to endure, to set things straight. Hell is here, not after we die.”
Everyone held their breath, waiting for her to continue. They'd be at the hospital pretty soon. Sam had to know the rest before they let her go.
“Where are the others?” he asked.
She flicked her hand. “Dead. They couldn't handle it. The babies. So many of them. They hurt when they come out. Sometimes you bleed a lot. Not me. I was stronger. Always twins. One time, triplets. It wasn't so bad. They didn't stay in for long. Not long at all. They grow so fast, inside and out, you know? Nursing was harder. Too many mouths. When the others died, it was only me. But I miss them. And I'm afraid of them.”
Her eyes flew open and she clutched Daryl's arm. “Take me to them! Take me to my babies!”
Heather and Daniela backed as far away as they could from Jane, afraid of what she might do. Norm did his best to pry her hands from Daryl. Sam saw the wild look returning to her eyes. They could take her from the forest, get the docs to patch her up, destroy the monster that had done this to her, but she would never be free. If she was lucky, she'd spend her days in an institution, too drugged up to remember.
“I knew something was wrong,” Leeds said, shaking his head. “Toxic waste. And here all I thought people dumped in the Barrens were bodies.”
“You still feel the need to protect it?” Sam asked. “Knowing that its brain may be fried?”
“I don't rightfully know. He comes from a power greater than anything on earth. We've safeguarded him mostly out of fearâfear of what he could become if we didn't keep him to the shadows. Maybe he's impervious to whatever we can cook up. The same can't be said for his offspring and, because of that, I hope you can finish what you started. But I don't think you'll get him in the end. We'll be dust and bones before he ever shows his head again.”
“Don't be so sure,” Sam said. “It appears your rule book no longer applies.”
The van swerved hard to the left.
“We're here,” Ben announced, coming to a shock-rocking stop.
He pulled right up to the hospital's emergency room entrance, the front bumper just missing a cement pole. “April and I can get some wheelchairs.”
“I'd prefer to walk,” Heather said.
“It's better if we wheel you in,” Ben said, jumping out of the van with his sister close behind.
Jane was wide awake now and struggling. “No! No! Take me back! Take me back!”