Beneath the Veil (9 page)

B
arry sat on an upright wooden chair, which according to Jimmy, was designed to make sleep impossible. They were halfway through a quiet shift and hadn’t seen or heard anything. Suddenly, Jimmy leveled his rifle towards the dark road outside the gates.

“Looks like we got a customer,” he said. “Remember, don’t shoot unless they breach the gate. Bullets will take em down, but they’ll come back unless you torch them and scatter the ashes, and I sure as hell don’t want to go out there to collect any bodies tonight.”

In the distance, something limped towards the compound moving slowly with jerking movements. Jimmy trained the scope of his rifle on the target, ready to fire.

“Holy cow,” he said. “It’s Bobby Edwards.”

Bobby stumbled toward the gate, injured and dragging a leg as he walked. He was unarmed and his checkered shirt was stained with blood.

“We need to help him,” Barry exclaimed.

“No dice,” Jimmy said. “No one leaves the compound after dark, no exceptions.

A creature emerged from the shadows behind Bobby. He limped faster into the brush along the road, but the thing was nearly on him. Jimmy trained his scope and was ready to fire when the creature disappeared from view. Bobby had led it into one of the traps set up along the roadside. He placed most of them himself and knew all their locations. The creature thrashed on the ground with its leg nearly severed by the trap. Bobby limped back onto the road one hundred yards from the gates.

“Behind him!” Barry shouted.

Jimmy swept the scope from the woods line to the road where a pack advanced on Bobby. He fired the rifle, methodically shooting creatures until Bobby was ten yards from the gate.

“Quick, open them gates!” Jimmy shouted.

Barry removed a chain from one of the gates and then opened it wide enough for Bobby to stumble through. He slammed the gate closed and locked the chain. One of the creatures, a teenage girl in a shredded yellow dress, was a few feet outside when Jimmy downed her with a shot to the chest. Barry crawled forward and pulled Bobby behind a wall of sandbags.

“Let’s get him inside,” Jimmy said.

Bobby was barely coherent when they dragged him into the building. Jimmy closed and bolted the metal door behind them. A dozen creatures roamed outside the gates looking for a way into the compound. Barry balled up his coat and placed it behind Bobby’s head while Jimmy pulled out his flask and gave him a swig.

“Stay with him a minute,” Jimmy said.

“Sure,” Barry answered.

Jimmy unbolted the door, stepped outside and trained a pair of binoculars along the woods line. Seeing no one else, he walked back into the building and locked the door behind him.

“No sign of Ralph,” he said, then walked over to Bobby and grabbed his head in both hands. “Bobby? Where’s your brother?”

Bobby didn’t respond. His eyes were vacant and staring.

“Bobby, where’s Ralph?”

He finally focused his eyes on Jimmy.

“Good as dead,” he answered. “Them things took him and messed him up real bad. They’re fixin’ to take him to root.”

Jimmy stood and looked at Barry.

“There’s nothin’ we can do for him,” he said. “Those things have had their taste of him. They’ll feed off what they can, ears, fingers, and toes, but won’t eat enough to kill him. Then they’ll take what’s left of him to the cemetery and bury him alive.”

“Can’t we stop them? Barry asked.

“It’s no use. Some of the fellas dug one up a few years back. But the roots worked fast and the body was shriveled up like paper by the time they got to it.”

C H A P T E R  T H I R T Y - S E V E N

D
oc walked into the dining tent and sat at one of the tables next to Jen with Jackson and Sully across from them.

“Cup of coffee?” he asked.

“No thanks,” Jen answered. “What’s this all about? You said you needed to speak with us.”

“Jen, your brother mentioned you came up this way looking for his birth parents,” Doc said.

“That’s right,” she answered.

“And you’re his stepsister?”

“Yes. Why all these questions about Barry?”

“Well, he claims to have done something quite amazing,” Doc said.

“Which is?” Jen asked.

“He left this place,” Doc answered. “Something no one’s done for decades.”

“Well then there must be a way out,” she said.

“Or, your story isn’t true,” Sully added.

“Hold on a second, Sully,” Doc said, raising his hand. “You can understand why we have questions.”

“No, I can’t,” she answered. “Why would we lie?”

“The Rhodes family was born of deceit,” Sully answered. “And your brother is a Rhodes.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. My brother’s sick and he only came here to find a suitable transplant.”

“The Rhodes curse is what he’s got,” Sully said.

Jen still looked haggard with matted hair and dark circles under her eyes. Doc turned to face her.

“Open your mouth,” he said.

“Why,” she snapped.

“Jackson, would you mind opening your mouth?” Doc asked.

“Sure...I guess so.” Jackson opened his mouth while Doc leaned over the table and looked inside.

“Okay, thank you.” Doc sat back down and turned to Sully. “He’s good. Our friend Jackson here has a filling which means he’s from the outside.”

Sully nodded in agreement.

“I am guessing your brother has the same condition that afflicted the Rhodes clan,” Doc said. “There was a time when few of them made it to adulthood.”

“But old Ezra Rhodes fixed all that,” Sully added.

“Unfortunately, his cure turned out to be worse than the disease itself,” Doc said. “Most of those creatures out there are what’s left of your brother’s family.”

“We caught us one once,” Sully said. “One of them, a woman, tried to climb down the walls of the quarry but ended up falling. She was hurt real bad and could barely move when we found her. We made the mistake of tying her up and the next day she was gone. But she was still in the quarry; people reported hearing voices and seeing apparitions that day.”

Doc removed a fishing hat from his head and wiped his brow.

“She came back that night, good as new, and attacked a family sleeping in one of the tents. They were all killed. Some of the men managed to corner the creature and kill her. We burned the body and scattered the ashes past the fields up top.”

“Doc got to examine her,” Sully said.

“I did, that first day when we found her. Her heart rate was five times faster than normal and her pupils were pinpoints within black eyes. She had blackened gums with teeth reduced to sharp nubs.”

“Could she communicate?” Jen asked.

“Yes,” Doc answered sadly. “It was a person once, we know that for sure. She told me her name was Ellen Rhodes.”

“According to county records, she was born in 1916, which made her ninety five years old,” Sully added. “But other than those teeth and eyes, she didn’t look much older than twenty.”

“I spoke with one as well,” Jen said. “A young girl named Willow.”

“Where?” Doc asked.

“In the cellar of the old house where I was held. She visited me often and tried to help me. During the day she was amorphous, but at night she took a physical form like the woman you described. She helped me escape when one of those things attacked me.”

“Them things vaporize during the day and can’t be hurt,” Sully said. “As far as we figure, they can only be killed at night when they’re the most dangerous.”

“What’d this house look like?” Doc asked.

“It was a plantation of some kind,” she answered.

“Must be the Rhodes place,” Sully said. “Ezra Rhodes built that place after he returned from the war. His family owned everything, hotels, banks and mines, including the one we’re in. But as the years passed, people saw less and less of Ezra and the rest of his kin.”

“Children started disappearing and rumors about the family began to spread,” Doc added. “A group of men rode out to the plantation to confront Ezra and were nearly massacred. A few escaped and were able to warn the rest of the town. People tried to flee, but soon realized they were trapped here.”

“Trapped like prey.” Sully stood up and circled the table. He was becoming agitated reliving an old conversation had in the camp over the years.

“How’s this all possible?” Jackson asked.

“It’s possible because Ezra Rhodes made a deal with the devil himself,” Sully face was now the color of a newly ripened tomato.

“We don’t know that, Sully. There could be a pathological reason for these occurrences. Something we don’t understand,” Doc said.

“What disease could explain this?” Jackson asked.

“Acute physical reactions have been found in certain strains of the rabies virus,” Doc answered.

“This ain’t rabies, Doc.” Sully slapped a callused hand on the table. “And you know it.”

C H A P T E R  T H I R T Y - E I G H T

B
arry and Jimmy rode the elevator to the floor of the quarry in silence. Bobby remained up top, determined to work the day watch, despite his grief and exhaustion from the night before. Jimmy didn’t argue because Bobby was stubborn as hell and there’d be no convincing him. He’d stay up top and deal with his grief by shooting at anything that moved. When the platform reached the bottom, Barry spotted Doc leaving the dining tent.

“Doc,” Barry sprinted off the platform after him.

“Hey there, how’d the watch go for you?”

“Not so good. Bobby came back, but we lost Ralph.”

“Dammit.” Doc removed his hat in disgust. “Those two have been reckless as hell since the day they got here. How’s Bobby?”

“Seems okay, but he wouldn’t let us tend to him,” Barry answered.

“Sounds like Bobby.”

Barry shielded his eyes from the bright morning sun. “You have a few minutes for that exam?”

“Sure. Let’s go over to my tent, I have my things there.”

Barry followed Doc to a canvas lean-to built against the wall of the quarry. Inside the tent was a cot, a desk and a wooden trunk. The bed was neatly made with a ragged quilt. Doc lit a lantern hung from a metal hook.

“Please have a seat. I have to warn you, my equipment is rudimentary. I found most of it around town.” He held up an ancient stethoscope and then hung it around his neck.

He slid a chair in front of Barry and then held the stethoscope to his chest. Barry’s heart pounded rapidly, two hundred beats per minute. Doc stood and opened the flaps of his tent.

“Turn towards me, Barry,” Doc said. He wore a tarnished head mirror that reflected the sunlight streaming into the tent.

“How’ve you been feeling?” He shined the mirror into Barry’s eyes then felt the glands on his neck.

“Better lately. I actually feel great.”

“I’m sorry I can only check your vitals right now. I need to get up top to have a look at Bobby. Maybe we can finish up later on.”

“Sure, Doc. Thanks.” Barry stood and left the tent.

The exam had confirmed Doc’s worst fears. A racing pulse wasn’t uncommon when examining a patient, but Barry’s pupils were reduced and his gums were darkened. He would soon become like the others in his family. Doc opened his desk drawer, retrieved his revolver and then set out to find Jimmy and Sully.

C H A P T E R  T H I R T Y - N I N E

D
oc found Jimmy napping in his tent. He grabbed his shoulder and shook him awake. Sully was standing outside holding a shotgun.

“No shit?” Jimmy responded, after Doc told him about Barry. “What about the other two?”

“They’re fine.”

“So far,” Sully added from outside the tent.

“They’ll be fine as long as they don’t interfere with what we have to do.” Doc poked his head out of the tent and looked straight at Sully. “Is that clear, Sully?”

“Fine by me, Doc.”

The men walked into the dining tent. Word had already spread throughout the camp and most people were out of sight.

“I’ll do it,” Jimmy said.

He flipped open the tent and found Barry sitting inside by himself.

“Where’s everyone else?”

“Jen and Jackson took the kids fishing.” Barry didn’t look up as he spoke. “You’re here for me anyway, right?”

His senses had changed, evolved, and every sound and smell was sharp and defined. He could smell sweat and fear coming off Jimmy like waves of heat. He leaped onto the table in an impossibly fast jump. His eyes were white and veins and muscles were visible through his translucent skin. Jimmy stumbled backwards onto the dirt floor.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Jimmy.”

“Good.” Jimmy pulled the rifle from his shoulder and aimed it at Barry.

“Doc! Sully! Get in here!”

The two men ran into the tent with their weapons drawn.

“Feeling better now, Doc.” Barry’s face had a vacant animal like stare. He smiled and revealed teeth reduced to jagged points.

“Barry, you need to come with us,” Doc said. “So you won’t hurt yourself or anyone else.”

The kids burst into the tent laughing and holding homemade fishing poles. Jen and Jackson were close behind them.

“Get back!” Doc yelled.

“What the hell is this?” Jen screamed.

Jackson pulled the revolver from his jacket and pointed it at the men. “Put down your guns.”

Barry slipped under a side of the tent when the men lowered their weapons.

“He’s gettin’ away!” Sully yelled.

“Don’t move,” Jackson said.

A woman screamed somewhere outside in the camp, then Jimmy spun and hit Jackson in the jaw with the butt of his rifle.

“Find him!” Doc yelled, scooping up Jackson’s revolver.

Jen screamed, cradling Jackson’s head in her hands while the three ran out in pursuit. Doc spotted Barry running towards the elevator which was empty and moving towards the surface. Barry jumped and caught the bottom bars of the cage, hanging with his legs dangling. Doc reached the voice tube and shouted for the men above to stop the elevator. After a few confused seconds, the elevator jerked to a stop. Barry climbed to the top of the cage and then started up the chain. Jimmy shouldered his rifle and squeezed off a shot, hitting Barry in the leg. Unfazed, Barry kept climbing until he reached the top of the chain and then disappeared from view. Moments later, screams echoed through the voice tube.