Byron Starr - Doppelgänger

Outside, the beast had released its grip on Tina and was now repeatedly slamming its body into the front door, but it was an old solid oak door and was holding up. Finally, after the beast slammed into the door a fifth time, the hinges gave way. When the door fell, the beast’s momentum sent it to stumbling to the floor. It quickly regained its feet and lurched toward the hall.

Megan was facing down the hall when the thing that looked like her mother started down the hall running on all fours. Once again caught in the coils of terror, Megan stood motionless, like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. Her mouth opened slightly in a half-hearted attempt to scream, which only came out as a squeak that would have been hard to hear even if there weren’t four girls in the room next to her screaming away and a monster-mom-thing grunting loudly as it ran toward her.

Just as the beast was preparing to pounce, the door to Lisa’s room opened. Crystal’s hand darted out, grabbed a fistful of Megan’s ponytail and jerked her through the door.

The beast leaped, but caught nothing but air. Its momentum caused it to pass Lisa’s room. As it landed the beast’s claws tried to grab the hardwood floor, causing long, deep grooves in the wood as it slid along. It stopped and returned to the door to Lisa’s room which was now once again shut and locked.

Since the beginning of time old men have voiced the opinion that things just aren’t made like they used to be. What happened next would give great credence to their argument. The beast slammed into Lisa’s door, but it didn’t give. Apparently, when this house was built — back in 1932 — even the inside doors had been made of solid wood and were supplied with heavy bolt locks.

The beast braced itself against the wall across from Lisa’s room and flung itself into the door again. The girls inside screamed and cried, but the door continued to hold. Over and over, the beast launched itself into the door. With every blow, the screaming inside the room would take on a louder and more frantic tone. The lock and the hinges on the door were holding, but soon a popping sound was heard and a large crack could be seen running from the top of the door almost halfway down. The girls screamed. Another blow was landed, followed by a cracking sound. The crack lengthened past the halfway point. The girls’ screams reached a new level and remained there.

Just before the beast landed its next blow on the door, Shelly cried out, “Look!”

The other four girls stopped screaming and turned toward the window. They could see red and blue flashing lights reflecting on the trees in their front yard.

The beast landed another blow, and the crack increased in size until it was fully three-quarters of the length of the door.

The girls started screaming again.

In the hall, the beast had been so busy working on the door it didn’t hear Darren Woolford come through the front door. Darren could hear the screaming coming from the hall and started in that direction. When he came around the corner and started down the dark hall, he found himself almost face to face with the dark shape. Luckily, the beast was just as startled as he was. Instead of launching itself into Darren while he was unprepared, the beast turned and fled into Tina’s room.

Darren raised his gun and fired, but it was too late. He heard a crash in the bedroom as the beast leaped through a window and disappeared into the darkness.

Jana Parish’s assignment in Newton certainly hadn’t been the high point of her career. Her efforts to get someone in the Newton County Sheriff’s Department or the Newton Police Department to inform her of developments in the investigation had come to naught, as had her efforts to find out where the autopsies were sent. None of her interviews had been worth the effort; all she was able to get were a few locals telling how they were keeping their shotguns near their beds and the occasional city or county official saying “no comment.” Although rumors and gossip sometimes make the best news, the rumors currently floating around this town were so far fetched she didn’t think even the paper tabloids would touch them. Some said the creature doing all the killing was a rabid mountain lion — and this was one of the more believable tales. Others said it was a deranged serial killer who wore disguises to get people to let him in their houses — and, yes, most of them actually believed he was eating his victims. Dozens of people swore they had seen a creature of some sort, but every one of them said they saw it just as it rounded a corner or disappeared into the woods and could give no description. One man told that her he had seen large human-like tracks that had claws extending from the toes. One little old man spun a yarn about how this thing had gotten in a pen with someone’s hunting dogs at little village called Liberty and killed them all. An elderly black woman even claimed it was the Ku Klux Klan from Vidor doing all the killings, never mind the fact that only one of the five victims had been black. And at least two people shared the belief it was an alien similar to the one that kept chasing Sigourney Weaver around in the movies.

Alice Pender had proved to be Jana’s only real asset in Newton County, and even this was a mixed blessing. Alice was the source of all of the gossip Jana had heard. It amazed Jana how Alice seemed to be able to hear all of this gossip and believe every single bit of it, even when it contradicted itself. Jana was sure if she asked Alice what she thought was doing the killings, the little old beautician would say it was a rabid mountain lion with a large supply of Halloween costumes, with clawed human feet, that ate dogs, was a card-carrying member of the KKK, and chased Sigourney Weaver around spaceships in its spare time.

Despite her faults, Alice Pender was still one of the best informants Jana could ask for. The woman lived for gossip and the new spurt of rumors, and, combined with the special attention she was getting from a real live reporter, the current crisis had opened up an entirely new side of Alice. She went from being a simple gossipmonger, to the virtual gossip guru of Newton County. During the day she asked anyone she met if they knew anything new about the killings, and during the night Alice sat by the scanner until she fell asleep in her chair, sometimes as late as four in the morning.

The phone rang in Jana’s room. Lana looked over at the clock beside the bed: 1:31 a.m. She reached for the phone. “Hullo?” she said groggily.

“Mrs. Parish!” Alice said on the other line, almost shouting with excitement. “There’s been another killing! They called all cars to Tina Beck’s house and now they’re not talking on the radios.”

Jana was awake now. She turned on the light and got a pen and paper. “Okay, Alice, tell me where they are.”

Alice started rattling off the address, but she was chattering too fast for Jana to understand her.

“Alice!” Jana said sharply. “Slow down, and give me the address.”

When Jana got the address, she hung up the phone and opened the door into Bob’s room. She walked over to the front door to his room and turned on the lights. “Get up, Bob. We’ve got a lead.”

Jana and Bob were dressed and in their van in no time. Bob drove with one hand while he held Jana’s scribbled directions in the other. Jana put her makeup on using the center rearview mirror.

“Will you quit driving like that!” Jana snapped. “How am I supposed to put on my makeup with you swerving and hitting your brakes every two seconds?”

“Do you want to drive?” Bob shot back.

The distance from the hotel to the street they were looking for was only a few blocks — in fact the distance from one end of Newton to the other was little more than a few blocks — but Bob had misread Jana’s directions. It was not until they passed the city limits sign on Rusk Street that Bob had figured out they were heading in the wrong direction. Bob was now trying to make up for the time lost by the wrong turn.