Terror Town (6 page)

“Duh,” Cameron said, making a silly face. “What do you want from me? I’ve got energy. I’ve got drive. I’ve got nothing better to do, so… yeah. I’m kind of hyper about this one. Excuse me for living.”

Cameron tore into the conversation like a hungry lion. “That no-good, two-timing, cheating, asshole! Don’t get me started on him! That liar! I want to tear his balls off and feed them to his mother. He’s such a jerk! Such a stupid
JERK!”

“Yikes,” Dan said. “Sorry I asked. Let’s find a better topic, okay?”

“Yes, please.” Roger said with a groan. He had heard it all,
several
times. The last thing he wanted was to have Cameron bitch about her ex again.

“His name,” Cameron said, “is Paul LaFalce, in case you run into him. He works at Hopper’s Gas over on the 9
^th
Line.”

“Jay Hopper was just here,” Roger interjected. “Sitting in the corner. He’s a nice guy; big football fan.”

“I know who Jay Hopper is,” Daniel said.

“Yeah, whatever,” Cameron spat, taking back her story. “Paul pumps gas for Jay. And he’s a prick. He screwed Missy and Bridget and he’s dating an ugly whore named Julie Stapleton.”

“Okay, Dan said. “I understand. He’s an asshole and he cheated on you. Got it.”

“More than once! Way more than once! He didn’t just cheat on me. Apparently he was doing every girl in Cloven Rock, again and again… the bastard! OH! He makes me so mad!”

Roger said, “Cam. Please, honey, no more. Okay?”

Cameron didn’t listen. “I kept thinking it was me, you know? He wouldn’t touch me; he wouldn’t talk on the phone. I couldn’t understand!”

“Cam, honey. Please. Calm down.”

Daniel put his hand on Cameron’s arm, and with the kindest voice he could muster, he said, “If you don’t shut up about your boyfriend you won’t be invited to my place. You’ll have to sit here alone, crying by yourself until your eyes dry up and fall from your head. Is that what you want?”

Cameron was stunned. As her jaw unhinged, she said, “What?”

“You heard me. You’re more fun when you don’t think about old ghosts. Go back to being hyper and crazy, would you? This side of you grosses me out. It makes me feel bad.”

“It’s like that, is it?” Cameron asked, smiling.

“Yes,” Daniel said, mocking her with his voice. “It’s like that. This conversation is…” Dan paused, trying to find clever words. He settled with, “Is not the droids I’m looking for.”

Dan nodded. “I’ve got two Wookies, a Jawa, and a big bag of light-sabers, hiding in my basement. Do you want to help me find them or cry about the gasman? It’s your choice.”

“I don’t like you,” Cameron said playfully.

“I don’t like you, either,” Dan said, flaunting his used car salesman smile. “But it’s nice to see you know about
Star Wars
.”

This man, she decided, was hilarious… and completely full of crap. He probably liked The Sex Pistols more than she did. And not only that, he had drained her anger away almost magically. He was a Jedi, that’s what he was. He was a shit-disturbing, mind-altering, Jedi.

Acknowledging this, Cameron realized something: she liked Daniel. Yes, he was too old for her, ten years off the mark from her point of view. But he was funny and cute, maybe even hot. He looked cool in his Black Sabbath t-shirt; his hair was dark and his muscles were strong and lean. He was city, not country. He had character, and baby, that shit mattered. From what she had seen, Dan was sensitive, smart, and able to read people perfectly. He was fun to be around, too.

She liked him all right, liked him a lot. And she was single now, looking for love, a little remuneration to help ease the pain of a terrible break-up. Maybe she needed a
man
in her life, not another boy. Maybe she needed someone like Dan. Was it possible the attraction was a two way street? She thought that perhaps it was.

Silence claimed the room.

Roger disrupted it: “Should we get going?”

Cameron heard the words, but their meaning did not register. She was thinking about Daniel now, wondering if she could find a way to get him alone.

5

Nicolas Nehalem sat in his car across from the Laundromat, eying
The Big Four O
. He had a squirrel lying on the seat beside him. He had driven past the rodent, then decided to go back and scoop him up. The poor little guy was still alive, gasping for air, and squealing in pain. The squirrel had been run over by a truck. Its back legs were crushed. Intestines were sticking through a long grisly tear in its stomach. Its tail was twisted awkwardly. A little pink piece of meat hung from its mouth, surrounded by fur that was sticky with blood.

Nicolas felt a connection with the rodent, and named him Fuzzy.

But it wasn’t Fuzzy that brought Nicolas to
The Big Four O
. It was the girl behind the counter: Cameron.

She captured his interest a week earlier.

Rewind: Last Wednesday Nicolas had lunch at
The Big Four O
and Cameron served him. He ordered a hamburger without the bun, three hardboiled eggs, and a glass of chocolate milk. She said it was a strange order. He said she was beautiful. She smiled politely and walked away. When she returned, Nicolas said, “What’s your name?” She told him. Nicolas smiled and said nothing more. And as the day wore on, Nicolas repeated her name over and over inside his mind. It was rattling around his thoughts for hours.
Cameron, Cameron, Cameron…
All at once, it was decided: he would fill his empty cage with Cameron.

Fast forward: Nicolas was excited.

Inside the car, he pressed a button. The automatic window rolled up. He hit another button. The window rolled down. This went on for over ten minutes, and all the while the squirrel wheezed and cried and felt more pain then most people can imagine.

Then something happened, something that made Nicolas smile with delight: a fly landed on the steering wheel and when Nicolas slapped it, the fly fell onto his lap. The insect was stunned, but alive.

Delicately, carefully, Nicolas lifted the fly by its wings. This was so good it was making him dizzy. He had a fly, a squirrel, and soon he’d have Cameron too.

How lucky can one man be?

He kissed the fly and petted it and held it by its legs; and when nobody was looking he opened his zipper, pulled his pants to his knees and pressed the insect against his manhood.

“That feels
good
,” he groaned psychotically.

After a moment he looked out the window. The coast was still clear. He pressed his shoulders deep into the seat, tightened his muscles and licked his lips. And when he grew tired of his strange little affair he placed the fly onto his tongue and sucked it down his throat.

Fuzzy gasped and Nicolas picked his nose. When his nose began bleeding he licked the blood from his finger. He liked the taste of blood. Sometimes he would bite his fingers just to taste the juice inside. Sometimes he’d cut his babies fingers off for similar reasons.

Inside the restaurant, lights dimmed.

It seemed as though Cameron was getting ready to leave.

Nicolas pulled his pants up and started the car. He put a hand on Fuzzy and Fuzzy bit his finger. The bite didn’t bother him. It didn’t make him upset. He imaged himself as a God and the rodent was one of his many creations, and he was a merciful God, powerful and tolerant, compassionate beyond comprehension.

Today he’d fill his empty cage.

6

Roger scribbled a note on a napkin and left it in a place that was easy to see. The note said:

Hey William, guess who’s back in town? Dan McGee!

Cam and I have to gone to his place for a while.

You should come. We’ll be in the basement (don’t ask).

~Roger.

Dan watched him write. “Is your brother going to see that?”

Roger nodded. “His time is divided between home and work. He usually pops by after we close. Sometimes he cooks. Sometimes he checks inventory and makes sure things are turned off. It’s his routine.”

Roger went behind the bar, pulled beers from the fridge and placed them in a bag. Dan and Cameron stepped outside. Roger turned off the lights, stepped outside, and locked the door. Dan and Roger jumped into Dan’s car and drove, making a pit stop at Roger’s place for more supplies. Cameron followed.

Inside Roger’s garage they found two more flashlights, one 25-foot extension cord, one 20-foot extension cord and one 15-foot extension cord. They also found two 500-watt work-lights in Roger’s basement; each of them had a yellow casing and was designed to blast a serious amount of light into dark places.

“Perfect,” Daniel said. He looked at Cameron and quickly looked away. “This stuff will help for sure.”

Roger made a joke about sending him the bill as Cameron toyed with her hair. They returned to their cars and drove to Cameron’s place.

Cameron changed vehicles.

They drove on.

Dan noticed a car in the rearview mirror, following along like it was heading to the same destination. It seemed unusual but not extraordinary; he wondered if the car was following on purpose. A moment later the car pulled off the road and disappeared from view, which seemed to answer his question.

Once they arrived at Dan’s cottage they went straight to the basement.

Roger carried the extension cords and the flashlights. Dan carried the work lights. Cameron carried the bag of alcohol in one hand and a radio in the other. When Roger asked what’s the radio was for, she replied, “So we can listen to music, stupid.” Dan laughed and Roger said, “Very funny.” Dan opened the trapdoor with a grunt as Cameron plugged the radio into an outlet. A song by
Joy Division
came on, making Dan wonder if Cameron enjoyed anything from her own era. Cameron turned the volume low and approached the pit with a smile. All three of them looked down the hole. And when they saw the darkness that seemed to have no end, nobody said a word.

7

Nicolas followed Cameron’s car, humming along with a song on the radio. When Cameron made a pit stop at Roger’s place, he turned the radio off and drove around the corner. He parked, waited, and followed them once they were driving. When they stopped at Cameron’s place he slowed but kept moving. Through the rearview mirror, he watched Cameron change from one car to the next. This wasn’t good. He wanted her to be alone at some point soon. Following them undetected could only become harder now that they made two pit stops.

He turned the car around, waited a few seconds, and followed Dan’s car to Stone Path Road. He knew Stone Path very well. He lived on a small, nearly uninhabited loop called Stone Crescent, and the two streets were attached. Stone Path Road and Stone Crescent were shaped like a lollipop on a stick. Stone Crescent was the lollipop. Stone Path was the stick. This meant both streets were a dead end, and there was no way for Cameron to escape without him knowing. No way at all.

Cameron was trapped.

Nicolas pulled next to the ditch, turned his engine off and let Dan drive away. He waited a few minutes, giving Cameron time to settle down, get comfortable, and kick off her shoes. During this time he lifted Fuzzy by his broken legs and squeezed the rodent as hard as he was able.

Still clamping his fingers like a vice, he changed gears inside his mind. Nicolas smashed the rodent against the dashboard three times, causing animal innards to explode against the window and floor. Guts splashed everywhere. Now Nicolas’ feet were kicking, his mouth was wide open and his glasses fell to his lap. He slapped the animal’s mangled body against the passenger’s seat repeatedly, bouncing it against the padded fabric.