Edward Lee - Slither

Eventually, Annabelle walked off again with her camera. "See you guys later, for dinner," she said.

Which I hope you choke on, Nora thought.

"Well, so much for the big excitement of the day," Loren said. "A friggin' froghopper. Shit, I almost wish it was something interesting, like a rhino beetle or a black widow."

But Nora had already turned toward the woods. "Do you… smell that?"

"Smell what?"

"Something in the air…

"You mean the pot that Trent just burned?"

"No, no." She felt sure. "The breeze is blowing south, and this is coming from the north." It seemed vague but very familiar. "I can swear I smell something cooking. Like hot dogs or hamburgers."

Loren sniffed the air, then shrugged. "Beats me. I don't smell anything."

Must be my imagination, Nora concluded.

(I)

Leona flipped the burgers on the grill; at least, she guessed she was doing it right. She pulled another Zima from the cooler, then looked into the woods.

Where are those assholes?

The burgers sizzled, their aroma eddying into the trees. Leona wasn't much of a cook. How long per side? she wondered. This weekend party had sounded like a great idea…

Damn them!

Leona did a good job hiding her insecurities, but the truth was she couldn't stand to be alone. At once she felt foolish, dressed only in flip-flops and her cutoffs. I'm cooking burgers topless and I'm by myself! What happened to the party? Her thoughts trailed back to Alan. Sure, he was cute, popular, and seemed very connected to her, but she'd always had the tiniest suspicion that his true interest was Carol.

My best friend, Leona reminded herself.

All was fair in love and war, she knew, but she also knew Carol, especially after a couple of drinks…

Alan's probably bofng her right now. Hell, Howie's probably in on it too. She's got them in a three-way, the ho! And here I am, cooking hamburgers in the woods with my tits out!

She shrieked as something scratched up her bare shoulder. She imagined the most disgusting bugs, but when she flung it off, she saw that it was only one of those little green lizards.

"Oops. Sorry," she said.

The lizard landed on one of the burgers. When it tried to run off the grill, it got about two inches before the heat claimed it.

Gross… A few moments later, the smoking remains fell into the grill. She looked at the burger it had landed on, then decided, That's Alan's.

"Come and get it!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. Some birds cackled back at her, as if inconvenienced by her shout. "Where are you!"

Sexual excitement wasn't the only thing that hardened Leona's nipples. Anger did too, and said nipples stuck out firm as coat pegs when her gaze fumed back into the woods. They're out there laughing at me, the fuckers! And Carol, that sleaze! Some best friend. I know she's doing both of those guys-

She screamed hard when two clammy hands landed on her bare back and shoved at her. Instinct made her grab the spatula for a weapon but just as she would take a swipe-

"Howie?"

Howie collapsed against a tree.

My God! When her own shock wore off, she was seized again merely by the look of him. Hair pasted to his brow by sweat, and more sweat drenching his shirt. There was something else on the shirt, too…

Did he… puke on himself?

He stared up openmouthed for a moment, silent, shaking.

"Howie! What happened to you? And where's Carol and Alan?"

"Carol, Carol," he stuttered, "out in the woods, I had to leave her. She had these-these-these things on her, and-"

"What things?"

"Ticks or something, I don't know-"

Leona didn't process the information very well. "You left her in the woods!"

"I-I-I-I had to, 'cause-'cause she passed out, and these ticks, er, well, I don't know what they were, but they were this really disgusting yellow color with red spots on them and I think they were poisonous or something-"

Leona fell to her knees and shook him by the collar. "And you left her? You asshole!"

He yammered on, eyes wide open and bloodshot. "Had to come to get Alan, I couldn't carry her by myself but then-then-then I found a dead body-"

"What!" Leona bellowed.

"I got lost trying to find you and Alan, and there was another inlet with a boat, not Alan's boat, but just a little boat, and that's where I saw the body floating in the water. It was some chick just floating there, her eyes out of her head, and-and-and there was a really long snake wrapped around her, and oh Jesus God, I think it was one of those girls who disappeared a few weeks ago!" And then Howie's torment-twisted face fell into his hands, and he sobbed aloud.

Dead bodies. Ticks. Missing persons.

This… was too much for a girl like Leona.

"Howie! You're on drugs! Look, I know lots of peo ple at school are doing the Ecstasy and crystal and this Oxycontin stuff-"

"No, no, no," he blubbered. He hadn't even seemed to notice that Leona was topless as she leaned over to talk to him, the orbs of her breasts practically bumping his face. "Do you remember?" he stated more declaratively. "A couple, three weeks ago. It was in the local papers and the paper at school-"

"What?"

"Robb White." He cleared his throat, rested his head back against the tree. "Do you remember that name?"

Do I remember him? Shit, she thought, embarrassed. I fucked him. Robb White was one of the classier jocks at school, nice guy for a jock, and, yes, Leona had hooked up with him at the Easton dorm mixer several months ago, after Alan had petered out after too much tequila.

"The papers said… he was officially missing," she recounted. "He and a bunch of other kids from school disappeared."

Howie shoved a piece of paper in her face.

What? It was a -credit card receipt, for gas at the marina.

"I found that in the boat," Howie declared.

"In our boat?"

"No, no, no, in his boat. A little skiff anchored at one of the other inlets on this island. It's here now, Leona. And that receipt is from three weeks ago, when he and his pals disappeared. I think that corpse I saw with the snake around it was one of the girls he was fooling around with."

Leona's mind ticked further… rather slowly, but at least it was functioning. Corpse, she thought stonily. Snake.

"And-and… what about Carol?" she asked. What had he said? Ticks?

She had ticks on her tits. Yellow ticks…"

The idea, the very image, made Leona swoon in disgust.

.But that's not all. After I found that body, I saw… this guy-"

Leona's anger rose. She was too confused. "What guy? Robb White, you mean?"

"No. A guy in a gas mask and hood. Military."

Yes, this was much too much…

"I don't know what the hell's going on…" Howie's shock was finally wearing off; he was getting his reason back, and this was a good thing for Leona. "We have to start somewhere."

"We have to get off this island!" she blurted back.

"I know. But first we have to find Alan and we have to find Carol, and we need to do that now."

Just as Leona helped him up-

What's that smell? she thought.

"Something's burning!" Howie yelled.

He was up and running toward the Coleman grill.

Holy shit!

Boy, had Leona fucked up! The leaves and sparse brush around the grill had somehow caught fire.

And the fire was crackling toward the shack.

"Jesus Christ, this whole island'11 be on fire!" Howie snapped. "The smoke'll kill us before we can get to the shore!"

Leona stood paralyzed, ludicrous now since she was topless.

Howie pointed to the end of the shack. "Turn on that faucet! I'll get the hose!"

Another second, and the seriousness kicked in. This island, this time of year? It was dry as tinders. A fire could engulf everything… including them.