Brian Keene - Ghost Walk

“Are you okay?” she asked him.

“I’m fine.” He screwed the cap back on the empty bottle. “Tonight’s occurrence took a lot out of me, and I’m tired. That’s all. But I’ll be okay. I just need to prepare myself.”

Maria sipped her iced cappuccino. “For what?”

“For what’s to come. For what I have to do next. I like it even less than flying.”

“You don’t like to fly?”

“No.”

“I love it,” Maria said. “I always ask for a window seat.”

Levi shuddered.

They passed through another intersection.

“At the next light,” Adam said, “there will be a gas station on the left. Go straight through it and then, about twenty feet later, you’ll see the fire house on the right. Turn down that alley.”

Maria followed the directions. The gas station was closed for the night. As they drove by it, Adam pressed his palm against the window. His expression was full of grief.

“Did you used to go there for cigarettes or something?” Maria asked.

“A friend of mine worked there. Leslie.”

“Did she visit you while you were in the hospital?”

Levi started to speak, but Adam interrupted him.

“The last time I saw Leslie was when she had Merle’s dick in her hand. She cut it off with a rock, trying to protect Hylinus.”

“Oh…”

“She was shot by a police detective named Ramirez,” Levi explained, taking over for Adam. “On the night of the fire, Detective Ramirez and Adam, along with several of their friends, confronted Hylinus during a mating ceremony. Mr. Senft’s wife, his friend, and several other women were…accompanying the satyr.”

“Ramirez,” Maria said. “I spoke with him on the phone earlier today. Seems like a week ago already.”

“He knew the truth,” Adam whispered. “And he let them railroad me anyway. Because he didn’t want to admit that he’d been wrong. He didn’t want to believe, even after being confronted with the proof. He was a coward.”

Maria slowed as they approached the alley. She switched her turn signal on, but before she could make a right into the alley, Adam flung the car door open and leapt out into the street.

“Adam!” Levi shouted.

Maria slammed on the brakes. “Oh shit.”

Before they could react, Adam had fled into the alley, disappearing from sight.

“What should we do?” Maria yelled.

“Go after him—drive!”

She turned into the narrow alley and her headlights speared the fleeing man. Maria floored it, and the car shot forward. But as they closed the distance between them, Adam stopped running. Holding his sides, he walked a few more feet and then stopped at the rear of a two-story house with gray vinyl siding. The house was sandwiched between the alley and Main Street. There was a detached garage and a driveway at the rear of the property, and a large oak tree in the center of the yard. A red Toyota and a blue minivan were parked in the home’s driveway. Adam glanced at them and then collapsed, kneeling in the driveway. He clawed at the stones, his hands curling into fists.

Maria glanced around. To her left was the community Fire Hall’s parking lot. Beyond it lay a grassy vacant lot and a playground with swings and monkey bars. Beyond the playground was a dark line of trees. To her right were a row of houses, including the one Adam knelt in front of.

“Pull into the parking lot,” Levi said. “Turn the car off. And the headlights, too. We can’t attract any attention.”

“Tell that to him.”

“I’ll handle Senft.”

He got out of the car and quietly shut the door behind him. Then he crouched down next to the crying man, put his hand on Adam’s shoulder, and whispered something in his ear. Maria rolled down her window, trying to hear the conversation.

“They changed the siding,” Adam said.

“I know,” Levi sighed, patting Adam’s shoulder. “But we have to be quiet. Okay?”

Shaking her head, Maria crossed the alley and parked the car. She yawned, realizing just how long it had been since she’d slept.

“Jesus…”

She was beginning to wonder if she’d ever have a good night’s sleep again. How could she, with all that she’d seen today?

Terry and Tom made their way along the winding trail, passing by the papier-mâché Bigfoot cave, the pterodactyl’s nest, the haunted out house, the guillotine, and a grove of trees with fake skulls dangling from their branches. The creek flowed silently as they crossed over the little footbridge spanning it. The forest was absolutely silent and their high-powered flashlight beams barely penetrated the darkness. The blackness was so dense that the lime outlines along the path were almost invisible.

“We should have changed the batteries in these things before we left,” Tom said. “I can’t see shit out here.”

“It’s not the flashlights,” Terry replied. “They’ve got fresh batteries.”

“Well, then why is it so fucking dark? This is like walking through tar.”

“I don’t know, Tom. Maybe because it’s nighttime.”

“You don’t have to holler at me, Terry. I was just asking.”

Terry sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just worried, is all. Didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

They cupped their hands to their mouths and hollered for Cecil, Russ and Tina. The echoes ceased abruptly, swallowed up by the gloom. When their cries went unanswered, they reluctantly continued on their way, reaching the maze house.

“Ain’t no way I’m going in there tonight,” Tom said. “I get lost in it during the daytime.”

“Me, too,” Terry admitted. “Let’s go around.”

They stepped off the trail and skirted the edge of the sprawling, ramshackle building. Twigs snapped and leaves rustled under their feet. Tree branches scraped slowly across the tin roof of the maze house, making them both cringe.

“Man, that’s a horrible sound,” Terry said. “Like nails on a chalkboard.”

Tom tugged on Terry’s arm.

“What’s up?” Terry asked.

“Just had a thought. What if they’re inside the maze? Maybe Cecil had some kind of spell, got disoriented and is stuck in there?”

“Shit. I hadn’t considered that.” Terry raised his head and called out. “Cecil? Russ? Tina? It’s Terry and Tom! You guys in there?”

Again, the darkness seemed to muffle his echoes. Then they heard a new sound.

“ Noooooooo …”

“Jesus Christ!” Tom dropped his flashlight. It rolled away across the forest floor.

“That sounded like Tina,” Terry said. “But where is she? Tina! Tina, are you there? Sound off, hon!”

“ Here…we’re over here… ”

Tom retrieved his flashlight and made sure the lens wasn’t cracked. “Sounds like it’s far away.”

“It’s coming from that direction.” Terry shined his light into the woods. “Come on.”

Dispensing with caution, they charged deeper into the forest. Branches tugged at their clothing and whipped their faces. In the darkness, the foliage twisted into sinister, menacing shapes. Tree limbs became outstretched, grasping arms. Late-season ferns became claws thrusting up from the dirt. Roots became serpents. Terry’s flashlight beam glanced across a blurred, moving shape. White teeth flashed amidst the black.

“The fuck was that?”

“Just an animal,” Tom panted. “A coyote or a fox, probably.”

“I didn’t see any eyes,” Terry said. “The light should have reflected off its eyes.”

Pausing, he shined the beam around the area, but the creature was gone. The woods grew colder.

“Could be rabid,” Tom said.

Terry frowned. “Rabies makes their eyes nonreflective? What kind of bullshit is that, Tom?”

“It could. You don’t know. You weren’t a veterinarian last time I checked.”