Brian Keene - Ghost Walk

“ Terryyyyyy…Tommmmm… ”

“We’re coming!” Terry shouted.

They started running again, following Tina’s frantic cries. The strange sound-dampening effect cleared. Her wails became clearer as they got closer. Several times, they heard branches snapping behind them, but neither man turned around. Instead, they just ran faster.

“It’s just a fox,” Tom repeated. “Probably as scared of us as we were of it.”

“If it is,” Terry gasped, “then it’s the first one we’ve had around here. That and the whip-poor-will.”

Pressing on, they smelled a faint hint of burned wood. Soon, the terrain sloped downward and the vegetation cleared. The towering, looming trees turned into splintered, broken stumps. In the darkness, they looked like broken stone pillars. The ground beneath their feet grew softer, like they were jogging on baby powder. Terry coughed, tasting ashes in the back of his throat. The darkness deepened, becoming almost palatable.

“Terry?”

“What?”

“You know where we are, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

Tina’s voice rose out of the darkness, very close by. She sounded weak and tired. “Terry? Tom?”

“We’re here,” Terry yelled. “Where are you?”

“I’m here. Just a little farther. Please hurry.”

“Are you okay? Are Russ and Cecil with you?”

“Yes, we’re all here.”

“Hurry up,” Cecil called. He also sounded like he was in bad shape.

They shined their flashlights ahead of them, sweeping the darkness, but saw nothing. The beams did nothing to dispel the gloom. It was as if the night had become a solid wall, and the beams of light were bouncing off it.

“Terry,” Tom whispered, stepping closer, “I don’t like this. My butt is puckering.”

“I don’t like it either. Something’s not right here. I can’t see shit.”

“Then what the hell are we doing? Let’s get out of here.”

“Where are you?” Tina called.

“Coming,” Terry shouted. “Just give us a minute. It’s hard to see.”

“Yes.” This time it was Russ who spoke. “There is no light.”

“What do we do?” Tom asked.

“Fuck this.”

Terry turned off his useless flashlight and pulled out one of the road flares. He snapped and twisted the end, activating it. The flare burst to phosphorescent life, hissing and spitting sparks. Its tip glowed red. Still, the darkness held. He tossed the flare ahead of them. As it spiraled through the air, they caught glimpses of human figures. There were six of them. As the flare began its downward descent, something long and black whipped through the darkness and seized it. The obsidian tentacle coiled around the hissing flare and the red glow disappeared, snuffed out.

“Holy shit…” Terry started to back away.

“No light at all,” Russ called.

“What do we do?” Tom whimpered.

Terry spoke quickly and quietly, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.

“Go back to the exit. Call the cops, the paramedics, the goddamned National Guard. I don’t care who. Just get them down here, now.”

“But what about what you said before? The Ghost Walk—”

“Fuck the Ghost Walk,” Terry said. “Just do it. We just saw a black who-knows-what out there. And hurry up. But don’t wait for me. I’ll be right behind you.”

“What?”

“I’m gonna find out what’s going on. Now go!”

Tom turned to leave and something stepped out of the darkness behind him. It padded forward, growling, until it was only inches away. Tom shined his flashlight on the creature. It was a coyote—sickly and suffering from what appeared to be an extreme case of mange. Most of its fur was missing, and its hide was covered with raw, red sores. Its eyes were two black holes, but its teeth were white—and looked very sharp.

“T-Terry…”

Moving slowly, Terry turned around. His eyes widened when he saw the animal, but he didn’t panic. He inched his hand toward his pocket, intending to grab the second flare. Noticing the movement, the coyote growled louder. Terry stopped, lowering his hand to his side. Then they heard something slithering toward them from the rear.

Both men turned in time to see the darkness move. Dozens of black tendrils hurtled toward them. Behind the darkness, their friends stepped forward. They saw Russ and Tina and Cecil, as well as Sam and Rhonda, and another man that neither of them knew. All of them seemed to be suffering from the same illness that plagued the coyote. Beyond them was a stone circle. The darkness seemed to be clustered there, seeping from the circle like water through a sieve. It bulged, as if there were an invisible bubble still holding its bulk at bay.

Terry closed his eyes. “Oh, Ken. I’m sorry, man. I’m so fucking sorry.”

The darkness hovered inches from their faces, twisting and writhing. It looked solid and yet incorporeal at the same time, defying natural law. The tentacles waved at them, waiting, stoking their fears higher. Tom began stuttering through the Lord’s Prayer. Terry screamed.

Terry?

This voice was different. It took Terry a moment to recognize it.

He’d lied to Ken earlier. Yes, he’d slept with Ken’s prom date, Alicia Hartlaub, on the night of their junior prom. What he hadn’t told Ken—what he’d kept secret all these years—was that she hadn’t been awake when it happened. After the prom, they’d all gone back to Artie Lewis’s house. Artie’s parents had been gone for the weekend, and the teens held a four-keg party in their absence. Bobby Marsh and Chris Sipe had brought along a bottle of Boones Farm Strawberry wine, and Terry traded them an ounce of weed for it. The party was in full swing. Everybody was hanging out and laughing, having a good time while Foreigner and Foghat and David Cassidy blared from the stereo. Ken wanted to go out into the backyard and get stoned with some other kids, but Alicia had declined. Ken asked Terry to keep an eye on her while he was gone. At first, that was exactly what he had done. But as Alicia drank more wine and chased it down with beer, she’d begun to get sleepy. Terry had escorted her upstairs to an empty bedroom, and stayed with her to make sure she was okay. But he was horny and drunk, and when she passed out, he’d taken advantage of it. It wasn’t rape—or at least, it hadn’t seemed so at the time. But later, when he’d sobered up, Terry felt guilty for betraying his friend. He lied about it for weeks, before finally confessing what he’d done to Ken.

He’d never given Alicia the same respect.

The guilt had haunted him for years.

The darkness changed, forming a human shape. Alicia stood in front of him, looking exactly as she had all those years ago. She was close enough to kiss. He smelled the wine on her breath and saw the tears in her eyes.

Those eyes were black.

Now it’s my turn, Terry .

“I’m sorry…” he sobbed. “I was drunk, Alicia. I didn’t mean to.”

“Terry!” Tom screamed. “Help me. It’s my uncle. He’s back, just like when we went camping!”

Terry couldn’t tear his gaze away from Alicia. She leaned closer, her lips pursed.

Kiss me, Terry. Kiss me like you did that night …

“Get away!”

“Terry!” Tom shrieked. “Stop him! He’s going to put his thing in me again! Oh, God, help me.”

As their fears peaked, their ghosts laughed. Then the darkness lunged forward and consumed them, leaving behind only withered husks.

“There.” Adam pointed at a garage two houses away from his former home. “Behind Merle’s wood shop.”

The three of them huddled together in the driveway, hiding behind the blue minivan. Levi had convinced Adam to pull himself together.