Terror Town (14 page)

The dog was dead, bleeding a pool of gore that was expanding by the second. The fur around its nose was bunched together in clumps. The snout was crushed. Hellboy’s skull was cracked.

Cameron had killed it.

He looked toward her with anger and hate stamped across his eyes. He lifted the crowbar off the ground and stood up. Blood dripped. Drywall dust fell from his pants. Not surprisingly, he seemed to be unsure of what to do next. His knees were shaking and his teeth were clenched.

As Daniel fought with Cameron he caught a glimpse of William’s face. Revenge seemed to be written beneath his features. Dan wondered if William was thinking about hitting Cameron with the heavy iron stick, making her pay for her outrage. Maybe he wanted her to scream in pain and feel what Hellboy must have felt when she killed him. But that didn’t seem right. Cameron wasn’t a stranger, or some escaped psychopath from a nearby penitentiary. She was William’s family and friend. She was a good person that had lost her way, and William always said that violence was a tool of the weak minded, and was only to be used as a last resort.

William raised the crowbar up, holding it in both hands.

Perhaps his beliefs had changed.

Cameron snapped her teeth like an animal. Her eyes were large and her nose was crumpled into a sneer. Daniel couldn’t believe it. She was acting like a werewolf. He tried to talk her down but it was no use, she was out of control.

Cameron twisted a hand free and clawed Daniel’s face.

Daniel pulled back, cringing in pain. His weight shifted and Cameron took advantage. She pulled her other hand free and pushed him off balance.

Trying to recapture his poise, Daniel fell.

Fingers clawed his face. A mad scuffle occurred and suddenly she was on top of him, in control, attacking him with her fingers.

With a sinister grin, Cameron laughed. She clawed him twice more, once with each hand. Daniel grabbed one of her wrists. In response, Cameron grabbed his neck and squeezed it, compressing his neck muscles and trapping the air in his throat. For a moment he was afraid he’d never breathe again. Mercifully, it didn’t last. He knocked her arm away with a fist and lifted a knee, pushing her to one side.

Confused and distraught, William turned away from the scuffle and looked at Beth. Fear and confusion was in her eyes. The trapdoor bounced beneath her again. How long could she hold the creature off by kneeling on the door––a minute, maybe two? Something needed to be done.

All four of them needed to get out of the basement before things went from bad to worse.

Sadly, Daniel knew what had to be done.

Will adjusted the crowbar in his hand, eying Cameron. He seemed to know what needed to be done too. Or did he think that smashing Cameron with the iron was too dangerous?

Dan’s eyes shifted from Cameron, to Beth, to the dog.

The dog kept bleeding. The poor thing was lying in a red lake.

Cameron fought like a rattlesnake backed in a corner. Her eyes were sunken. Her neck muscles bulged beneath her skin like tightly wound cables. Blood and puss hung from her mouth as her fingernails dug into Daniel’s shoulders.

“Don’t just stand there, Will!” Dan shouted, struggling to keep Cameron from ripping his head off. “DO SOMETHING!”

The trapdoor bounced up and down.

William threw the crowbar in the corner. It banged off the wall and hit the floor with a clang, leaving a skid mark in the dust. He took two quick steps forward and kicked Cameron in the face just as hard as he pleased. Red and white dots puffed the air as her lips split open. Sounded like a kicker punting a football.

Cameron tumbled back in a daze with both hands in the air.

If Will could see into her head, he’d know that a million tiny shimmers of light sparkled before her eyes.

2

“WILLIAM!” Beth screamed, shocked by the unexpected violence. “STOP IT!”

William ignored her, which was okay with Daniel.

Beth clearly didn’t understand the situation and neither of the men had time to explain. Truth was, William wasn’t trying to hurt Cameron. He was only trying to stop the insanity. Dan knew it; Beth needed to know it too.

It seemed to Dan that William’s anger had subsided, his outrage had settled (as much as it could in such a short amount of time, anyhow), and with a moderately clear mind he made an assessment and came to a conclusion that was both simple and straightforward: he needed to change the current situation, and knocking Cameron out would accomplish that. Dan couldn’t have agreed more.

Yes, he felt bad for Cameron. She was obviously hurting and leaving a wake of blood everywhere that she went. Worst than that, she was out of her friggin mind. However, Cameron was dangerous and impulsive, a threat to herself and those around her. She needed help. She needed medication. She needed treatments and supervision––even if that meant putting the boots to her.

Cameron sat up like Dracula in his coffin, arms across her chest, snapping her teeth like an angry wolf. Irate. Her eyes had turned black, completely black. Her skin looked bloodless, like fair paper.

Daniel couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He said, “Oh my––”

Then Will stepped past him, hoisted a leg and blasted Cameron in the face a second time. Cameron’s head snapped back, smashing against a large piece of broken drywall. Her feet lifted into the air.

Daniel threw up his hands. Then, with William sprawled out on top of him, he looked Cameron in the face and felt his assessment of the situation change. Cameron’s eyes were cold and emotionless, like an insect, like she had no soul. For a moment he wondered if she was possessed by the devil but quickly dismissed the thought. Possession was out of the question.

The situation was obviously fantastic, Daniel accepted, but it was also uncomplicated. They had encountered a species that was either previously unidentified and unknown to today’s scientific community,
or
, known, but not publicized. If he were a gambling man he’d put a thousand bucks on unidentified. In today’s media savvy world, things didn’t stay unpublicized for long. But even if he was wrong on this account, the point was this: the creature––mammal, he assumed––had poisonous stingers, like a wasp, and Cameron had been stung. Nothing more. Shame the poison was giving her a violent reaction.

William, slightly shocked by Daniel’s suggestion, seemed to acknowledge the fact that they needed to end this pointless battle before the trap door blasted apart and the
real
danger showed itself. Because Cameron wasn’t the
real
danger––the
real
danger was below Beth, trying to get in and eat them alive.

With an unsteady voice, she said, “Don’t you dare hit Cameron! You leave the iron on the floor!” Murder––was that really happening here? It couldn’t be. Things were happening too fast.

Cameron fell forwards. She was on all fours, eyes wide, mouth agape, puss and blood dribbling from her lips, crawling towards Daniel like a creature at war.

Daniel, still sitting on the floor, tried to move away from her. He pushed away with his arms, sliding back a few inches. He didn’t get far before Cameron grabbed his leg, yanked the pant leg up, and bit into his shin. He didn’t have a chance to stop her. She was too quick and he was too overwhelmed by her actions. As the skin tore open, he screamed. His eyes watered and a pain he had never known made him yank his leg away. The skin tore apart more, spilling a splash of blood across the floor.

William stood up with the crowbar in his hand. He approached Cameron, pursed his lips, raised the iron above his shoulder, and did what he had to do: he brought the weapon down hard and fast, hitting Cameron in back of the head, closing his eyes as the connection was made.

Cameron went down, arms wide, face against the floor. Bleeding now, not just from her leg and back, but from her skull too. And this time, the assault came from someone that loved her.

3

The room fell silent.

Seconds passed.

“Did you have to do that?” Beth’s voice was composed and calm, given the circumstances. She thought Cameron was dead. “Was there no other way?”

“No,” William said, panting and shaken. “There was no other way. I had to do it. She’d gone mad.”

Beth looked at Daniel for confirmation.

Daniel nodded. He was holding his wounded leg with both hands. Blood ran through his fingers; he’d need stitches for sure. Almost apologetically, he said, “Cameron was trying to kill me. I know it’s crazy but it’s true.”

“But why?” Beth asked, on the verge of crying.

Daniel looked at the trapdoor before answering. There were no noises now, just the sound of the room. Everything was eerily quiet; he wondered how long they had until the next attack. “I’m not entirely sure, but I’m guessing that
thing
in the basement poisoned her. She needs a doctor.”

William crouched beside Cameron and quietly placed the crowbar on the floor. He took her by the hand, feeling for her pulse. He wasn’t sure if blood pulsed through her veins or not but she looked alive and that made him sigh with relief.

Gently, oh so gently, he put a hand to the back of her head.

There was a goose egg, a big one that would likely grow bigger as the evening wore on. Blood ran through her hair, making the strains clump together. There was a chance that Cam’s skull had been fractured. With this in mind, William started to weep. He’d never forgive himself if he literally cracked her head open.

“She seems okay,” he whispered between sobs. “What about you Dan? Your face is bleeding too, you alright?”

“Yeah,” Dan said, touching the marks on his cheek. “I’m fine. What about Cameron, she all right? That thing stabbed her, you know. Poisoned her too. She needs the hospital.”

William’s face seemed to sag. He didn’t know she’d been stabbed, poisoned,
and
throttled with the crowbar. He knew she was bleeding and acting crazy but he hadn’t put it all together.

He decided to have a look at Cameron’s wounds. He pulled Cameron’s shirt up a few inches, exposing her back. Her destroyed muscles looked like chopped liver. On a positive note her bleeding had all but stopped. It was almost like the gash had been cauterized.

“No,” Beth responded. “The reception in Cloven Rock sucks so I don’t own a cell, probably never will.” She looked at her feet and the door beneath it. Referring to the trapdoor, she said, “I want off this thing.”

“That’s understandable,” Dan said. “Let’s take Cam to the hospital. Get off the door, but do it slowly and quietly. The last thing we need is that thing in here with us.”

Beth did just that. She pulled one foot off at a time, trying to be noiseless. At one point the door sounded like a rusty door hinge squeaking. Thankfully, the beast never stirred, never pushed its way into their sanctuary.

“Where’s Roger?” William asked, looking like he had aged twenty years in the last ten minutes. “Was he here?”

A shiver crawled down Dan’s spine as the memories of Roger being devoured came rushing in.
He was eaten like a cookie
, he thought.
Like a fucking cookie!

“Daniel?”

“He went to the store.” Dan lied, looking at the floor, avoiding William’s eyes, ashamed of himself for evading the truth. But he didn’t want
that
conversation. Not yet. Not so soon.

William sighed with relief. “Thank heaven,” he said. “I figured he was in that well with you guys.”

Desperate to change the subject, Dan grabbed Cameron’s feet. “It’s not a well, it’s a bomb shelter. Now take her other end, will ya? Let’s get Cameron upstairs. And for God’s sake, do it quietly.”

William lifted Cameron, holding her beneath the arms. It was a struggle to move her but they managed. She made it upstairs without too much trouble. Once they were in the living room they placed her on the couch carefully. Daniel slid a pillow beneath her head. Beth closed the basement door.