Accidental Evil (31 page)

“Stop,” a voice said from behind him.

Kirk turned.
 

The man at the top of the stairs was formed of blood. The liquid swirled and roiled in his human shape. The only part of him that wasn’t shiny red blood were his eyes. Those were black, like holes in the air. Kirk raised his guns.

The man’s blood hand rose at the end of his blood arm.
 

Kirk shot.

He saw the bullet splash into the liquid torso—a perfect hit. The man stood unperturbed. Kirk’s next shot hit the man’s raised hand, right in the palm. He saw the bullet impact the hand and, an instant later, splash into the torso.
 

The figure of blood took a step towards him and Kirk backed up.

His eyes went to the floor. None of the liquid was left behind in his wake. Kirk looked into the depths of those eyes and felt his own stream of hot liquid leaving his body. His fingers squeezed on their own and the room filled with the sounds of his guns.
 

He never missed. Each shot was absorbed into the liquid man and disappeared.

Kirk’s hearing returned as his fingers tugged at the impotent triggers. The magazines were empty. The blood man kept coming. There were solid things swirling in the fluid. Kirk’s eyes moved down to the thing’s chest and saw one flash by, caught in some weird current. It was dark gray metal. It was one of the bullets he had just fired. The blood man had absorbed them.

Kirk screamed and threw a gun. It missed and sailed over the balcony.

The blood man was close now.

When he swung the second gun, the blood man’s arm came up and his hand caught Kirk’s wrist. He stopped Kirk’s swing easily, like he was a petulant toddler trying to hit daddy.

Those eyes were so close. Kirk wondered if they were portals to the depths of space. He imagined that he could feel the cold air leaking through those eyeholes.
 

For the last time in his life, Kirk screamed.
 

[ Disbelief ]

V
ERNON
TOOK
HIS
SON
by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

“We’re leaving town. We’re going to catch up with your mother and we’re not going to stop until we get to Maine General, do you hear me? She’s going to get her ankle zapped and we’ll have them take a peek at your brain while they’re at it.”

Vernon knew he was losing his temper, but it felt good. He needed to let a little of it out so he could cool down and think rationally again. He spun Ricky towards the road and gave him a hard shove. There was too much crazy talk going around.

“We need her,” Ricky said.

“Too bad,” Vernon said. “She’s on her own.”

“They don’t know, Dad. They’re going to use her up like she’s a regular person, but we need her. She’s special.”

“Ricky, I’m starting to really lose my patience here,” Vernon said. He didn’t shove again. He reached forward, ready to do it, but he stopped his hands. Instead of pushing his son up the hill, he took him by the upper arm and walked with him, escorting him by the bait shop. He wasn’t going to get in the truck—he wouldn’t fall for that again. The two of them would walk. Mary wouldn’t be moving very fast. They would catch up to her eventually. He tried to remember where he said they should meet—was it the cemetery?

He glanced at his son. The kid was quiet now. Sometimes dealing with teenagers was like trying to balance an egg. You could work all day to get them in the right position and then one wrong breath would send them tipping over again. If Ricky would just keep his mouth shut, then Vernon would be okay.

Vernon glanced back at crazy April. She was still standing there by the dock, looking nervous. She looked like she would crawl out of her own skin if given the chance. Her eyes didn’t stop darting around. With a few more steps, he would put the building between himself and April. Then he could go back to not thinking about her anymore. People like her were a sad tragedy that couldn’t be helped. It was best to move on and try not to think about her.

Ricky stopped.

“I told you,” Vernon started.

“We need her,” Ricky said.

“I told you I wasn’t in the mood to be trifled with,” Vernon said. He jerked Ricky forward by the arm. The boy was growing bigger every week, but he wasn’t yet big enough to resist Vernon’s strength. Vernon had worked a lot of years with heavy lumber. He still had the calluses to prove it.

Still, when he tried to pull Ricky along, the boy resisted.

Vernon jerked again.
 

The boy had turned into a piece of iron mounted in concrete. Where strength failed him, intimidation would certainly prevail. Vernon squared his shoulders to his son and let his hottest anger light up his face.

“Ricky, I am done screwing around. We’re not playing at something here. It is time for us to catch up with your mother.”

Ricky whispered something too low for Vernon to hear. Vernon was encouraged—if the boy was so frightened that he couldn’t speak, he would certainly start to obey. Vernon pulled his arm again. The boy still didn’t yield.
 

His hand was still on Ricky’s shoulder when the boy began to lift off the ground. Vernon looked down at his son’s feet. They weren’t touching anything. He was getting a first-person view of the trick that Ricky had pulled at the magic show, and it was impossible to deny.

“Ricky, what are you doing?” he asked. The anger was beginning to bleed out of his voice. It was replaced by fear. “Ricky?”

His son’s voice was too loud and too authoritative for his frame. “We
need
her!” Ricky said.

Vernon’s hand fell away as Ricky rose higher and seemed to grow bigger. His son spread his arms to the sides and tilted his head back up to the sky. When he looked down at Vernon again, Ricky’s teeth were bared in an evil smile.
 

“Go get the woman. Bring her along,” Ricky said.

Vernon held his ground. He wanted to yell at Ricky again and order him back down to the ground. The absurdity of the idea kept his mouth closed. How could he order his son to stop defying logic and physics? How could he yell at the world to start making sense?

“GET HER!” Ricky growled.

“No,” Vernon said. He shook his head slowly and kept his eyes pointed defiantly up to his son. “No.”

Ricky’s hand came out, pointing down at Vernon.
 

Vernon’s knees were weak. He didn’t know how long his legs would continue to hold him up. He couldn’t bear the weight of Ricky’s gaze. The thing in front of him was no longer his son. Ricky was levitating in the air and had grown to twice his normal size. Shame washed through Vernon as he realized that he couldn’t stand up to his own son, or whatever his son had become. Vernon let his eyes fall shut.

“Dad?” Ricky asked. Vernon felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Dad?” The boy sounded afraid.

Vernon opened his eyes. Ricky was back to normal—standing on the grass and a perfectly teenage size. Vernon blinked at the sight. He tried to picture the massive creature that had floated in front of him. The notion was absurd.

“Dad, I think we need her,” Ricky said.

Vernon nodded. He couldn’t stop his head from bobbing. He swallowed. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re probably right,” Vernon said. He pulled away from Ricky, still afraid of the boy’s touch, and moved around him. He jogged back down to the dock where April still stood.

“Hey, April,” Vernon said. “You should probably come with us. It’s safer.”

“You won’t let them get me, will you?” April asked. She was still darting her eyes around, scouting for possible attacks.

“No,” Vernon said, “of course not.”

[ Moving ]

Vernon walked down the middle of the street with Ricky on one side and April on the other. He expected more of a fight. He expected his son to insist that they take the truck. He expected April to run off at any instant. She seemed content to stay with them. In fact, she seemed less crazy than normal. Maybe all the craziness of the day had finally put her back in her element.

“I need to change my dress,” she said. “I’m soaked.”

Vernon sympathized. He was still feeling damp and out of sorts. He had been walking around in wet clothes ever since Ricky had taken his impromptu swim. At least the boy had been changed into tourist gear from Louise’s shop.

“We’re already past your house, April,” Vernon said.
 

“Are we?” she asked. She looked around, like she was seeing the town for the first time.

“They have t-shirts and sweatshirts at Dawn’s,” Ricky said.
 

“I don’t want to turn around,” Vernon said. He turned back to April. “You’ll dry out eventually.”

“Okay,” she said.
 

The whole exchange was perfectly reasonable. Again, Vernon was confused why things were going so easily.

[ Bikes ]

“H
OLD
STILL
,”
HER
FATHER
said.

“Would you let me do it?” Lily asked. She looked at Sarah for help. Her friend was useless. She was standing over near the car and staring at the house. Lily would be the first to admit that what was happening to the house was disturbing and strange. But focusing on that wouldn’t get them on the road any faster.

Her father couldn’t even seem to work the tire pump. Lily, the only one who actually had experience maintaining a bicycle, was relegated to holding the wheel.

Mr. Endicott was moving slowly, but clearly backing away from the rest of them. He looked like his brain was rejecting everything. He couldn’t handle what was going on.

“I think that’s it,” her father said.

“No, Dad, we have to go at least to forty,” Lily said. “Keep pumping.” She looked up at her mom for help. She was no use either. Like Sarah, she was preoccupied by the shifting surface of the house. Lily rolled her eyes. Every so often, the things on the house would flash a different color. The effect hypnotized Sarah and Wendy.

“Dad, could you get the other bike down? I’ll finish this one if you get Elizabeth’s bike out.”

Mercifully, her father attached himself to that idea. He gave up the pump and Lily took over the job.

“We’re still going to be one bike short,” her father said.

Initially, Lily had figured she would just ride double with Sarah. They had done it before, at least for a short distance. Now, looking up at the way Mr. Endicott was backing away, she doubted that it was going to be an issue. Mr. Endicott was removing himself from the equation.
 

Just like that, he turned and ran. Mr. Endicott couldn’t handle looking at the house anymore. He ran south, towards the woods that separated the Hazard’s property from the Susan Gates’s house. Lily thought about mentioning it to her parents, but decided to keep her mouth shut. She was in favor of everyone sticking together and helping each other out, but Mr. Endicott was clearly not going to be of any use to anyone. He was losing it.

Her father rolled Elizabeth’s bike over. It had some air in the tires. Lily was finished with the tandem. It had been a long time since her parents had ridden it. Lily hoped they still had the knack.

“Where did John go?” her father asked.

Lily shrugged. “Can you take off the caps?” she asked her father, to keep him occupied.

Her mother approached and took the handlebars of the tandem.

“I hope we still have the knack, Bruce,” she said.

Lily almost smiled. She added a little air to the front tire and then moved to the back. With that done, she called to her friend. “Sarah, this one is for you.”

Sarah looked over but her eyes returned quickly to the house. She walked sideways over to Lily.

“What are they?” she whispered to Lily.

“I don’t know,” Lily said. “They’re probably like those other bugs, but different. Let’s get out of here and let someone else worry about them, okay?”

“What if they’re everywhere? What if they’re in the whole world?” Sarah asked.

“Not possible,” Lily said. “Who could make that many? I think there’s probably a reasonable explanation that we’re not thinking of.”

Sarah eventually took the bike. It was like trying to get a kid to eat Brussels sprouts.

They heard a scream from the road. Lily looked back—her parents had their bike, and Sarah was holding Elizabeth’s. She threw her leg over her own bike and pedaled for the road. It had sounded like a young woman. If it had been Mr. Endicott screaming, she probably would have stayed back, but there was something familiar about the sound.

“Help!” she heard. She turned and waved for the others to follow. They were just standing there while Lily rode away. She shook her head.

As she got farther down the driveway, she saw the shape of the person through the trees. Lily rode faster—she
did
recognize the voice.
 

“Jenny?” she called.

“Help me!” Jenny yelled. When she cleared the trees at the corner of the drive and saw Lily, Jenny veered away. After a moment, she recognized Lily and changed course again to run towards her. Lily skidded to a stop and put her feet down.

“It ate my dad!” Jenny yelled through her tears. “Ate him!”

“What? What are you talking about?” Lily asked. Her imagination immediately sparked up the image that Mr. Endicott had described. She saw Jenny’s father being sucked dry by one of the little robots.
 

“The bloody man ate my father,” Jenny said. Tears and snot were streaming down her face. Her hair was sticking every direction, like she had tried to tear it out. It wasn’t too far up the road to Jenny’s house, but she looked like she had run a marathon.

“Slow down,” Lily said. She glanced back and saw that the others were finally getting their act in gear. Despite her bandage, her mom was in front on the tandem. Sarah was figuring out Elizabeth’s bike.

“Shut up!” Jenny said. Her face scrunched up and she covered her eyes with her hands. “Just shut up. The bloody man is coming.”
 

Jenny started to run towards town.

“Jenny! Don’t go that way. There’s bad stuff in town,” Lily called.