314 Book 2 (38 page)

“What are you doing?” asked Paul.

“Don’t be stupid,” said Oliver. He released the large man and backed away again. He had his gun lowered but was still ready to fire. “Don’t put your finger in her mouth. She’s liable to bite it off.”

“I’m not going to just sit here and let her die,” said Paul.

“There’s nothing you can do. The sleepers don’t wake up. I’m sorry, but that’s the truth. The only time they wake up is when they’re ready to die.”

Aubrey stopped thrashing, but her back stayed as arched as she could get it. Then she slowly settled, like a hose after the water pressure ceases, until she was back down again, silent and staring at the ceiling.
White foam lined her lips.

“You piece of shit!” Paul turned on the scientist, prepared to kill him.

“I’m the only chance you’ve got!” Oliver backed into the corner, the pistol pointed at Paul. “You need me more than I need you. Just back off. Don’t think I won’t kill you.”

“Where are your fucking nurses?” Paul’s voice was nearly a growl as he forced himself to stay as calm as possible.

“I don’t know,” said Oliver. “They should be here. But even if they were, there’s nothing they could’ve done. We’ve seen this happen before. That’s why we had to tie you and your friends down. Sometimes the sleepers die, and it almost always happens soon after they went unconscious.”

Paul went back to Aubrey’s side and placed a finger on her throat in search of a pulse. He couldn’t find one, and checked somewhere else to no avail. “You could’ve sent them to a real hospital.”

“It wouldn’t make any difference, I promise. They’re not affected by an illness, or a disease. You of all people know that. You went where they are. You met The Skeleton Man.”

“Alma,” said Paul. Aubrey’s death had caused him to momentarily forget his girlfriend, and he rushed to her bedside. She was alive, and staring at the ceiling just like the others. He stood by her side and placed his hand gently on her cheek.
“Can you hear me?”

“They’ve never reacted to stimulus,” said Oliver, but Paul ignored him.

“Come back to me, baby,” said Paul before looking back at Oliver and asking, “What can we do for her?”

“I wish I knew. If she makes it through the night, then there’s a good chance she’ll be like the other sleepers.”

“I love you, Alma,” said Paul. “I love you so much. Please don’t leave me.”

Alma’s tongue clicked inside her mouth. Paul looked back at Oliver excitedly, but the scientist just nodded in sympathy. “They all move their tongues like that. It’s a sort of REM cycle thing, similar to what people’s eyes do when they’re asleep.”

Paul looked into Alma’s dilated pupils as they stared at the ceiling.

“Why do you keep saying that her name is Alma?” asked Oliver. “That can’t be true. Alma Harper died in the Jackson Reservoir. Her mother drove their car off a cliff and into the lake.”

“Fuck off with that bullshit,” Paul yelled at Oliver. “Where did you put her things? She’s got a wallet. You can check her driver’s license if you don’t believe me.”

Oliver walked to the other side of the room where a cardboard box held the various personal items that had been taken from the victims. He brought the box over to Paul and set it on the floor near Alma’s bed, and then pointed his pistol at it. “Find it for me. I don’t know which one is hers.”

Paul glared at the scientist, but did what he was told. He rifled through the items, and saw the plastic AA coin he’d given to Jacker on the bottom. Then he saw Alma’s keys, and the small teddy bear that she’d kept on a ring for so many years. He picked the keys up, and then looked for her clutch. After a few more moments of searching, he got out Alma’s driver’s license and handed it to Oliver.

“There, see.”

Oliver took the card and studied it before flipping it over as if the backside might reveal some sort of treachery. “This can’t be.”

“Well it is,” said Paul as he opened Alma’s right palm. He set the teddy bear
keychain in her hand and then closed her fingers around it. He had given the bear to her a long time ago, and despite the fact that their relationship had fallen apart since, Alma still kept it as a remembrance.

“Maybe that’s her real name, but she can’t be the same girl that was involved in the Widowsfield incident.” Oliver seemed to be speaking to himself.
“Damn it, I wish Lee were here. He knew more about what happened than I do.”

“Do you really think she changed her name or something? Or just happened to be named Alma Harper and then made up a story about how she was the same kid that was here when the fog covered the town? For fuck’s sake, pal, the whole reason we’re here is because the
two of them over there,” he motioned towards Rachel and Stephen, “wanted to do a story on Widowsfield. They came looking for Alma, not the other way around. She’s been trying to avoid this place ever since her mom brought her back here.”

“This can’t be,” said Oliver as he continued to deny the truth.

“Yes it can. Someone lied to you.”

Oliver’s confusion suddenly ceased, and his expressio
n turned to anger. “Son of a bitch! Come with me, we have to go to my office.” He used the gun to motion for Paul to go back out the door. “No arguments. We have to move fast. I have to find Lee’s notebook.”

Widowsfield

February 23rd, 2007

Nia felt nauseous as she walked past the circle of candles that were set out on the kitchen floor. The red candle was overturned, and Oliver had poured out some of the wax to mimic the moment when Alma Harper
was forced to perform the Chaos Magick that ignited her memory of her brother. She could smell a myriad of scents, but none as strong as the acrid stench of meth.

Oliver and Lee had made Nia focus on the upstairs bedroom first, and she recounted the tragedy that had taken place there. She told them about Terry’s death, and they explained that they had found her body here after the incident.

Lee constantly sketched what Nia recounted. Oliver paced, and would stare over Lee’s shoulder as he pointed out inconsistencies or asked questions about certain details.

Mindy refused to come in, still incensed by what Nia had revealed about their friend, Becky. After nearly an hour of recreating the scene, Mindy came in and asked if it would be okay for her to walk back to the compound, but Nia pleaded with her to at least stay someplace nearby, to which Mindy agreed.

After an exhausting and debilitating recollection of the events that led to Terry’s death, Oliver requested that Nia focus on the day that Amanda Harper had brought her daughter back to this cabin. He led Nia to the kitchen, where a circle of candles had been set up and a number was written in the center of them.

“We need to know why Alma and her mother were here,” said Oliver as he shadowed Nia. “What were they doing, and how was Alma able to communicate with the souls here?”

“Don’t you have video of it?” asked Nia.

“We have video, but not audio,” said Lee. “They only set up the hidden cameras back then.”

“That’s right,” said Oliver, although he didn’t sound sure of himself. “We need to know what she was saying.”

Nia did her best to recollect the scene. “Alma remembered her brother, but her mother didn’t believe her. She was furious, and accused Alma of murdering Ben. She said that Alma worked with Michael. Does that name make sense?”

“Michael Harper,” said Lee. “That was Alma and Ben’s father. Amanda Harper drove out to see him just before she came here, and shot him dead.”

“That’s right,” said Oliver, but again sounded mystified.

“We need to know as much about Alma as possible,” said Lee. “Including how she died.” The lithe man took out the blue notebook and started taking notes.

Nia
glanced at the camera equipment that was recording the scene from where she had said the television used to sit. She stared into the eye of the camera, oddly disturbed by the way the lens rotated as it looked back at her. Oliver made certain to record everything that happened in the cabin, but said he still preferred that he or Lee keep meticulous notes as well. It was easier to reference the notepad than search through videos when trying to recall details.

Also, Lee was a decent artist, and did a great job of sketching the scenes that Nia described. His recreations of the various spots around town had made it much easier for Oliver to direct the construction crew as to how to set up everything.

“She died?” asked Nia.

Lee nodded. He appeared sad as he recounted the story of the murder-suicide of Amanda Harper and her daughter. He explained that even the national news had run stories about the tragedy at the time.

“That’s why we have to go there next,” said Lee.

“Where?” asked Nia.

“To the spot where Amanda drove her car off the cliff. We want to know everything that happened that day, down to the most miniscule detail,” said Lee as Oliver nodded in agreement.

After spending more time recounting the scene in the cabin,
Oliver, Nia, and Lee met with Mindy outside, and they all loaded into the van. Lee and Mindy sat in the back, while Nia sat up front as Oliver drove. It was a fifteen minute drive up a winding road to a rest stop that looked as if it hadn’t seen a visitor in well over a decade. This area was on the outskirts of Widowsfield, but still within the area that Cada E.I.B. owned. The Jackson Reservoir was now private property, and even the hydro-electric dam was owned by Oliver’s employer.

They pulled the van up to a parking spot that overlooked a damaged section of railing. The guard rail was bent outward, and a rusted length of it hung out over the cliff’s edge. It was a beautiful location, allowing tourists to gaze out over the lake and let the setting sun’s rays warm their backs. The cliff was high enough that its shade covered the lake before the sun had even set, which is how it looked now as they all got out of the van.

A cool breeze rustled the limbs of nearby trees. The trees sprouted new buds in anticipation of spring. Oliver led Nia to the railing and then knelt beside the rusted metal. “Here’s where it happened,” he said as he ran his finger over the curve of the railing. “Amanda Harper drove her car right off this cliff because she couldn’t stand the loss of her boy any longer.”

“And took her daughter with her,” added Lee.

Oliver nodded and repeated faintly, “And took her daughter with her.”

“Mind if I…” Nia reached out to touch the
railing.

“No, go right ahead,” said Oliver as he moved back a few inches. They were both crouched as the gentle breeze brushed debris across the parking lot. “That’s why you’re here after all.”

Nia waited until Lee was ready to draw, and then leaned forward to touch the railing. She recounted the event, and described how terrified Alma had been as the vehicle careened off the edge of the cliff and down to the water below. Nia spared no detail, even describing how the catfish waited a day before beginning to nibble at Alma’s corpse, pulling the flesh off the girl’s face one strip at a time.

“They didn’t know she was down there for several weeks,” said Lee. “We own the land here, so no one knew the car had gone over the cliff until pieces of the bodies floated over the dam and got caught in the grates.”

“Awful,” said Oliver. “Just awful.”

“That’s all I can remember about that day,” said Nia. “But there’s something else weird about this spot; about this whole area.”

“What’s that?” asked Oliver.

“Well, I’m getting flashes of this spot from back in 1996, at the same time as the rest of the town.”

“And?” asked Oliver, prodding Nia to continue.

“What I’m seeing doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.” She gazed out over the lake.

Lee got his pencil ready to record what Nia said. “Go on.”

She pointed out to the middle of the lake. “I see a Navy ship in the middle of the lake, and it’s enormous.”

Oliver and Lee looked at one another before Oliver said, “Describe it.”

“It’s got to be three, maybe four hundred feet long. It’s hard to tell from way up here, but it’s absolutely massive. I can’t imagine how they ever managed to get it out here. It’s way too big to make it down any of the rivers here. They must’ve built it, right out on this lake. Does that make any sense?”

“Doesn’t matter,” said Oliver.

Nia stood, concerned by Oliver’s sudden change of attitude. The once affable man now appeared disaffected and annoyed. “Did I say something to upset you?”

“Not really,” said Oliver. “I just hate this part.”

“What part is that?” asked Nia.

Lee took out a pistol, and before anyone had a chance to react he pointed it at Mindy and pulled the trigger. Nia’s friend fell dead immediately, a hole in the center of her forehead.

Nia screamed as Lee pointed the gun at her and fired.

Oliver sighed and said, “That part. Come on, Lee, let’s weigh them down and feed the catfish.”

“My pleasure,” said Lee as he put the gun back in his shoulder holster.