“Because of the fissure.” Still smiling, Taylor turned and walked toward the nearest cabin and Eric, having not been given any instructions on what he should do next, followed.
“So you guys are what? The honor guard or something?”
Taylor stepped into the open doorway and surveyed the interior of the cabin for a few seconds before pulling the door closed. Turning around, he replied, “Something like that.”
Eric followed him to the next cabin. “What is this place? Or was, I guess.”
Taylor stopped and turned to face him, his smile broadening. “About forty years ago, it was a naturist resort.”
“Naturists?”
“Naturists, nudists, whatever you want to call them. This was Gold Sunshine Resort.” He turned and continued to the next cabin. “Clothing optional. Naked people everywhere. Naked swimming. Naked sunbathing. Naked volleyball. Naked basketball. Naked campfire singing.”
Eric laughed. He couldn’t help it. It just seemed so completely absurd that he should find himself in an abandoned nudist resort of all places. And then there was the way Taylor kept pronouncing the word “nekkid.”
“I didn’t know there were nudist resorts in Wisconsin.”
“Well, I can’t imagine it was all that popular a hobby in the wintertime, to tell the truth.”
“I wouldn’t imagine so, either.”
Taylor stepped into the second cabin and Eric followed. A piece of plywood that had been mounted over a broken window had fallen and was lying on the floor. Taylor picked it up, produced a hammer and some nails from his belt and fixed it back over the window. That done, the two of them exited the building and Taylor closed the door firmly behind them.
“Something happened here,” Taylor said as he walked back out into the sun. “Something bad. I don’t recall which story was true and which were just rumors, but the place closed down. It’s been sitting here empty ever since.”
The idea that something bad had happened here was unsettling.
Eric turned and caught sight of the two creatures that had been following him. They were standing between the farthest two cabins with their backs to the cornfield. Apparently they were hiding out there. They had probably been watching his every move. As he eyed them, a third crept out into sight.
Taylor followed his gaze. “I see you’ve got some admirers.”
“Looks like it.”
“They’re real curious creatures, but pretty well harmless.”
“Are they?”
“Oh yeah. Like most animals, really. I’ve never heard of them attacking a person. Not even in large packs.”
“Huh.”
“Ugly suckers, though, ain’t they?”
Looking at their too-large heads and mangy hides, he couldn’t argue. But there was also something almost endearing about them, too, now that he knew they weren’t determined to tear out his throat. They had a characteristically puppy-like quality.
Remembering the cell phone’s camera, he pulled it out and snapped a picture of the three animals. “I still have reception,” he noticed.
“Yep. We’re in Wisconsin.”
Eric sent the picture to Karen, thankful again for the opportunity to prove that he wasn’t completely out of his mind. Obviously, he was only partially nuts at best. “Speaking of Wisconsin,” he said. “How far have I gone this time?”
Taylor gave him another endearing smile. “You’re about eighty-five miles north of where you left Grant.”
“Sonofabitch.”
“Pretty cool, huh?”
It wasn’t entirely un-cool, he had to admit.
Eric glanced around the resort. “So where do I go now?”
Taylor scratched the gray stubble on his chin. “Well… That’s the problem, isn’t it?”
“There’s a problem?”
“There is.”
“Of course there is.”
“You see, you’re supposed to follow that guy.”
Eric turned in time to see the bald man making another trip into the largest of the seven buildings.
“But I’m not supposed to trust them.”
“I know. But he’s standing between you and the path to the cathedral.”
Eric’s heart sank. “So this…him…whatever he is…set another trap for me. Except this time I can’t avoid it.”
“Looks that way.”
“Another wardrobe monster?”
“Wardrobe monster?”
“The thing back in the farmhouse…” He shook his head. “Forget it.”
Taylor shrugged. “I don’t know what you saw back at the farmhouse and I don’t know what you’re going to find in here. But I’m sure it’s going to be nasty.”
“Great.”
“If one of these things starts after you, it’ll keep coming until it catches you or loses its focus. If you can find a way to distract it, it’ll forget about you and go back to sleep.”
Eric nodded. He recalled Grant telling him that the wardrobe monster wouldn’t harm him as long as he didn’t go back in to stir it back up.
“It’ll have to be something big, though. You won’t be able to just throw a stick. It’s got to be something it won’t see coming. Something sufficient to tear its attention away from you utterly and completely.”
“Like a tractor coming through the front door?”
Taylor laughed heartily at this. His voice carried over the open fields around them and startled one of the curious, coyote-deer creatures into retreating a few steps toward the safety of the cornfield. “Oh damn…” he gasped, nodding. “Good old Grant. Yep. That’d definitely do it.”
Eric recalled how close that stunt had been for him. If Grant’s timing had been just a little off, things could have turned very bad for him. At the time he hadn’t known why he would take such a risk, but now he understood. Anything less than that and the thing would’ve simply kept coming. It would’ve chased him down and killed him.
Now he stared at the main building, wondering if he might not be running dangerously low on luck. He didn’t like the idea of going in there. He had no clue what might be waiting for him. And he didn’t have a tractor.
Looking back the other way, he saw that all three of the creatures were still watching them. One was lying down, its oversized head resting on the ground in front of it, its big eyes staring back at him.
“I’m not going to have any help for this one, am I?”
Taylor was wiping at his eyes. The smile quickly faded from his kind face. “I’m afraid not.”
“Do you at least know what I’m looking for? Where I’m supposed to go?”
“The stairs at the back of the kitchen shouldn’t be there.”
“I’m sorry?”
“They shouldn’t lead anywhere. But they do.”
“Oh. I get it. Thanks.”
“Sure thing. And as for what he left for you… Just trust in yourself. You’ll find a way. Use the advantages you have.”
“I don’t have any advantages.”
“That’s not true.”
“Not unless blind ignorance and dumb luck count for anything.”
“They do, actually. But you have more than that. For starters, you have the dream.”
“The dream,” Eric repeated. He recalled Grant telling him that the dream would help guide him. It would show him things that were different between now and when he should have come. But he already knew something was different. The difference was precisely what concerned him.
“Trust in yourself,” Taylor said again.
“I’ll try.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
Eric glanced back one more time at the creatures that were watching him and saw that they now numbered four. Another had joined the first three while he was looking the other way.
He was willing to take Taylor’s word that they weren’t dangerous, but he still didn’t care for the idea of them gathering in large numbers.