Stay Dead: A Novel (29 page)
Once home, Jerry was ready to party. He
locked the door and headed for the kitchen. He fished out a few
beers, a plate, a razor, and a bag of the sweetest candy this side
of the street. He handed her a beer and they clinked rings and took
swigs.
Jerry took the plate and emptied out a few
little piles of coke. He took the razor and began to smooth them
out into nice narrow little lines as Red dug through her purse for
a single. By the time he was done she had rolled up a dollar into a
tight tube and was ready for it. He slid the plate over to her and
she took a nice long smooth snort of it, coughing when she
finished. She handed him the rolled up dollar and he did the same,
only chasing it with a chug of his beer. They both did another line
and found themselves high and numb and ready to fuck.
They began to probe each other’s bodies,
pushing, pulling, grabbing, clawing. They tore each other’s clothes
off in minutes and he was fingers deep in another. They moved at
each other so quickly that Jerry found himself wondering what the
rush was. To him everything was foreplay. It was all ritual. All a
build-up to the climax. He could go right now if that was how it
was going to play out and the coke would make sure he could go all
night long if he wanted. He just couldn’t help himself, and as if
hearing his thoughts she stopped.
“Jeez, tiger, you’re ready to pounce,
huh?”
“Can’t help myself, babe,” he smiled, “just
looking at you drives me nuts.”
“Well, then watch this…”
She walked over to her picnic basket and
pulled out her usual stage outfit. She began to perform a little
reverse strip tease for him, putting on one article of clothing at
a time, as slow as she could. First the panties, then the leggings,
the skirt, the bra, the shirt, and finally she donned the cloak,
lifting the hood over her head. This was what he wanted. He wanted
a show, the fantasy to become reality, the real to become unreal.
And here she was standing before him, dressed in red and paled to
perfection snorting another line of blow, as Jerry couldn’t take it
another minute. He got up and began to undo everything she just
did, but he left the cloak on. He thrust into her and it felt like
everything he ever wanted, the perfect drug wrapped wet around his
throbbing member. They did their dance and when it was all said and
done Jerry collapsed onto the couch. He couldn’t believe how great
it was, and how tired he felt. He did another line and pounded a
beer, but he still felt so damn tired. Red came over to him, still
cloaked and spoke to him in that soft seductive sales-pitch for the
champagne room tone. Her face was blurry, and then all he saw was
black.
She picked him up and carried him to his bed
upstairs. She placed him gently on the bed, covered him up and as
she turned around she saw Kate standing in the doorway.
“Hi, Kate,” she said, “I’ve heard so much
about you.”
“Hi…umm…”
“You can call me Lilly.”
“I thought you were Red?”
“That’s what your daddy likes to call me,”
she smiled.
“Is that because you dress like Little Red
Riding Hood?”
“Exactly. I’m an actress at the Downtown
Theatre Group.”
“That’s not what my daddy said. Daddy said
you’re a whore from the strip club.”
“That’s no way for a little lady to
talk.”
“I can talk however I want when I home. Not
that its any of your business…can you…I just…I want my daddy to
read me a bedtime story, okay?”
“Daddy’s sleeping right now. How about I read
you a bedtime story?”
“Whatever. But daddy makes up his own. He
makes them better than they are in the books.”
“Don’t worry about that. I got a story for
you, sweetie. Why don’t you come lie down with me and we can keep
daddy warm?”
“Whatever.”
They each took to a side of Jerry. Lilly
snuggled close, making sure their skin touched. Kate just looked
agitated and impatient.
“So…a long time ago, when the world was still
new there was a man named Adam. He was made out of dirt and dust.
He thought he knew everything, but he didn’t. He was blinded by his
father and only knew the world as it was told to him. Then one day
a beautiful woman came along who truly knew the world. She knew
Adam was made of dirt and dust and didn’t care. They fell in love
and got married in a big garden. They were happy for a while, but
Adam didn’t really love Lilith, he thought he did, but he didn’t
really. He just wanted a wife because he didn’t have one. So,
Lilith left and Adam and his father wouldn’t let Lilith back into
their garden because she found another man who could love her for
her, and ever since then Lilith was called bad names. Men began to
hate her, they would throw stones at her, even spit at her in
public, but when they went home all they thought about was Lilith
and how they wanted her. After a while all the bad words they
called Lilith gave her strength and power. From then on Lilith
would take the power of men who spoke poorly of her and leave them
to die, and if they had children she would sometimes eat them. The
end, now go to sleep.”
“That’s a stupid story, my daddy tells much
better ones. His have tons of blood and guts in them.”
“How about we save the blood and guts for
tomorrow?”
“Whatever.”
Want more? Get it now:
http://www.smashwords.com
About the author
Steve Wands
lives in New Jersey with
his wife and son. He’s a freelance artist by day and writer by
night. He drinks massive amounts of coffee, and sleeps very little.
He is the author of
Horror Stories: A Macabre Collection,
Stay Dead: The Stranger and Tunnel Rats, Words Like Daggers,
Modern Nightmares, Damaged,
and plenty of short stories. He
also co-edited and contributed to
Dark: A Horror Anthology
.
Visit his blog here:
http://www.stevewands.blogspot.com
Discover other titles (Stay Dead: The
Stranger & Tunnel Rats, Dark: A Horror Anthology) by Steve
Wands at
http://www.smashwords.com
Check out the Stay Dead blog:
http://www.pleasestaydead.blogspot.com
Nice words from nice people
about the Stay Dead Series
available from
smashwords.com
“…
it's a tribute to
Steve's imagination that my attention was held from beginning to
end. I especially liked a sequence in which we find that zombies
ain't the scariest thing out there…
encouraging moments of insight into how a kid might feel if
life became a horror movie…”
Martin Gray Journalist
http://dangermart.blogspot.com
“
...focuses on atmosphere and
desperation...gruesome and really interesting, both stories oozing
hopelessness...a really strong debut.”
Corey Graham
formerly of the
Midnight
Podcast
http://www.midnightpodcast.com
“
One of the most humanizing zombie stories
since Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead.”
Bryan Wolford of the Drunken Zombie
Podcast
"This collection of short stories is brutal
and heart breaking. Steve Wands describes the state of the world in
the midst of a zombie outbreak as if he were there. These tales
will make you feel like you know the characters and are sharing in
their plight."
Mike Benedict of The Cadaver Lab Podcast
“
...one of the more intense and downbeat
endings you will ever read... endlessly fun...nothing wasted...no
pulling of punches.”
Desmond Reddick of Dread Media
“
...very well done...makes you want
more...a great read... I couldn’t put this down.”
Darryl Pierce of A Little Dead Podcast
Stay Dead: The Stranger & Tunnel Rats was
also nominated for a
2009 Mail Order Zombie Dead Letter
Award
for Best Zombie Book/Fiction.