“Oh fuck,” he said in a whimper. He was wavering and put his hand on his head.
“Quick,” said Alma. “I’m bleeding all over the carpet.”
He snapped out of his momentary daze and nodded. “Okay, sure. Towel. Sure thing.” He spun in a circle in search of the bathroom, which happened to be right next to him on the left. “In here, right? Yeah, of course it is.” He retrieved a towel and then offered it with his arm extended out of the doorway, as if hiding his face from her.
Alma hopped forward and swiped the white towel away from him. She wrapped her foot and waited for Jacker to come out of the small bathroom so that she could go in. He stayed hidden in there.
“Are you okay?”
“Me?” he asked. “Yeah, fine. Why?”
“I need to go in there.”
“Oh, sure. Okay.” He hurried out of the bathroom with his hand held against the side of his face, shielding his view of her.
She glanced down at herself, worried that her odd position, with her leg lifted so high, revealed more of herself than she realized. “What’s wrong?”
“I got up too fast. I’m woozy. I’m not great with blood.”
“Oh, okay,” said Alma as she hopped toward the bathroom. “I thought my underwear was ripped or something.”
“No, no,” said Jacker. His voice was weak, as if he’d grown tired all of the sudden. “I just have a bad habit of…” He stopped talking and started to lean against the wall.
“Jacker?”
He slumped and then collapsed in Alma’s direction. She cried out and hopped to the side as the titanic man crashed down, out cold.
“God damn it, Paul,” she cursed her ex-boyfriend for his choice of stalwart bodyguards.
CHAPTER SIX
Going Upstairs
Widowsfield
March 14th, 1996
“What are those things?” asked Winnie Anderson, the owner of the used book store on Main Street. She was trembling as she held up a letter opener as if it could protect her.
“I don’t have a clue,” said Walter, the UPS driver that had stopped to chat with Winnie after delivering several packages of books that had been sent to Winnie from a library a few towns over. Walter had pushed his L-Cart, still loaded with boxes, against the inside of the shop’s door to block it.
Winnie and Walter had watched the bizarre green fog roll down the street minutes earlier, and saw the shadows of child-like creatures running through it. The howls of dogs, and then the breaking glass, had alerted them to danger. Walter decided to go out onto the street to see what had happened, but Winnie had pulled him back in the shop. She had a long-standing affection for the delivery man, and didn’t want to see him hurt.
Walter had laughed off her concern moments before the first creature tried to attack them. It had charged through the fog on all fours, like a dog, but its body was that of a human. The creature was nude, but its skin was ripped as if something had been clawing at it. Its hands were mangled, and looked like they’d been smashed, with bones protruding from the flesh and hunks of meat dangling off the ends. Worst of all, the child-sized creature had the head of a hairless dog. Foam and blood dripped from its maw and the monstrosity was throwing itself against the glass in a desperate attempt to get into the shop.
More of the demonic creatures appeared in the fog and started to circle the building. The Anderson Used Book Store was situated on the corner of the street, with floor to ceiling windows set in tall arches three feet apart lining the wall. Within moments, the creatures crowded every window and the fog thickened around the building, eclipsing the light and leaving them in darkness.
Winnie’s business was suffering hard times, and she’d been trying to save money by turning off the lights during the day, which she now regretted.
“Where’s the light switch?” asked Walter as he moved behind the counter to join Winnie.
“Near the front door.”
“Forget that.” Walter put his arm around Winnie’s shoulder as the daylight dissipated. The darkening room revealed light coming in from up the stairs near the rear of the shop. “There’s a light on up there. Let’s go.”
Winnie’s modest apartment was situated above the shop. She was certain that she hadn’t left a light on up there, but the wooden stairs were indeed illuminated. She followed Walter as he held her hand and guided her to the stairs.
The wooden stairs flashed with green light and Winnie pulled her hand out of Walter’s. She took a step back in fear. He turned, but she could only see his silhouette framed by the light from upstairs.
“What’s wrong?” he asked and held out his hand for her.
“What’s up there?”
Walter looked up the stairs and then back at Winnie. Green light flashed again and was reflected in the oil on Walter’s shaved head. “I don’t know, but we can’t stay down here.”
Glass cracked from one of the nearby arches and Winnie cowered from the noise. She still gripped the letter opener in one hand while steadying herself against the counter with the other. “I don’t want to go up there.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Winnie.” Walter took a step toward her.
She swiped her letter opener at his hand and he recoiled from the strike. Winnie wasn’t sure if she’d hit him, but apologized anyhow. “I’m sorry, Walter. I can’t go. I won’t go up there.”
“Why not? What do you think is up there?”
She shook her head, uncertain how to explain how she knew that something bad was waiting for them upstairs. “I don’t know. I think it’s worse up there. I don’t know why. I just know it.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
“Don’t go up there,” she said as one of the windows of the shop shattered. The creatures poured in and their mangled claws scrambled against the bookshelves as they crawled through the darkness.
“Winnie!” Walter screamed at her as he rushed to the stairs.
Winnie curled up on the floor and wrapped her arms around her legs to pull them to her chest. She was in a fetal position, staring at Walter as he ascended the stairs into the light.
“Come on!” He continued to yell at her as he left her behind.
Winnie closed her eyes to avoid seeing the light. She was warm and comfortable in the darkness, and didn’t want to know what Walter was about to see. She would rather let the demons devour her than witness the truth. She would rather die than go up those stairs again.
“He’s out cold.” Alma stood in the frigid night air in a pair of sweats and a flimsy jacket. She had her arms wrapped around herself as she stood beside the van where Paul had been sleeping. “I tried to call you.”
Paul rubbed his eyes as he climbed out of Jacker’s van. “Sorry, my phone died. Stupid thing can’t hold a charge for more than a few hours. Now, tell me again, what happened?”
“Your friend bashed in my door and then I cut my foot on a knife. He saw the blood and freaked out. He fainted right in the middle of the hallway.”
Paul smiled. “Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously. Stop smiling, this isn’t funny.” She tried to look stern, but couldn’t help but grin along with him. She slapped Paul’s chest to get him to stop chuckling. “I can’t believe you made the poor guy stand guard outside my door.”
“Jacker didn’t mind. He needs something to keep his mind off some shit that’s been going on in his life lately.”
“I didn’t want you to post guard at my door.”
Paul stretched and yawned comically loud. “I wasn’t going to leave you here without protection.”