So, even though it had been a couple of decades since I last had to call upon this gift, that’s exactly what I did. He made a dive for my legs, just as I knew he would, and at just the right moment, I launched myself into the air, pushed off his back with the palms of my hands, and leap-frogged right over that mother-fucker.
Now, Newton tells us that an object in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted on by an outside force. Well, Mr. Referee was the object in motion, and Clarice fuckin’ Hudson? She was the outside force, man.
I looked back just long enough to see the two of them crash into one another like the Keystone Cops or something. They were all tangled up on the ground, arms and legs flyin’ everywhere, and that’s when I knew I was gonna make it. By the time she detangled herself, I’d be halfway to the car. No way she could cover that much ground in such a short amount of time.
So I’m running down the little connector hallway that leads from the mall to the parking garage and they’ve already closed the doors that kind of divide the corridor into separate little pieces. I remember thinking that if they’d locked them as well, I was fucked, but when I threw myself against that metal push bar thingy, the door flew wide open and then banged shut behind me.
By the time I’d run through the second one, I’ve got this stitch in my side. Feels like someone keeps jabbing me with a knife and I was running with my hand pressed against my ribs, favoring the other side when I throw myself against the doors and what have you. But then it occurs to me… that bitch isn’t chasing me anymore.
If she was, I’d hear her busting through those doors as well. But everything back there is silent, so I think that maybe I can slow down for a second and get my wind back, ya know? I mean, I’m close enough now that I could bolt to the car and be locked inside before she even made it through the second set of doors. Hell, for all I knew she was beatin’ the hell outta Referee for getting in her way, and since I have a kind of early warning system, her chances of a sneak attack are nil.
Now, part of me felt like laughing because I’d done it. I’d really done it. I’d stared the infection in the face and emerged unscathed. I was alive, disease free, and knew that the next time I saw Ms. Clarice fuckin’ Hudson I’d be better prepared. So yeah, those endorphins were going crazy and I just wanted to cackle with relief, but all I could really do was stand there with my hands on my knees and pant as I struggled to catch my breath.
After about a minute or so, I decided not to push my luck. Best to get while the gettin’ is good. So I start walkin’ down the hall and I pass this little inset door that has a sign on it that reads The Brass Candle, which reminded me that I needed to pick up more candles and incense at some point during the next couple days. Funny what will go through your mind in the wake of a super intense experience, isn’t it? I mean, here I was, just moments after being chased through an empty mall by a plague-ridden sack of infection, and I was thinkin’ about meditation and shit.
Anyway, I was debating the merits of Nag Champa versus sandalwood as I pushed open the glass door and stepped into the parking garage. Now I don’t know if you’ve ever paid attention, but the garage at the mall is like a rapist’s wet dream. You got these little pools of light, some of which are flickerin’ like they’re about to wink right outta existence, and a little ambient glow from the rest of the city… but for the most part shadows just cluster everywhere in these tight little packs, man. It’s so dark that someone could be lurkin’ just behind the silhouette of that van. Or behind one of those concrete support columns. Or even the big green box that emits a hum so low it almost seems like it’s comin’ from somewhere inside your own head.
On top of all this darkness, the security cameras are mostly for show. I’m sure a few of ‘em might still work, but—with the economy bein’ what it is and all—management has cut a few corners to keep the overhead down, ya know? No, man… it’s true. I know this cat who made a killing last Christmas. Dude learned the security schedule and between the times when they were makin’ their rounds, he was sliding a slim jim into windows, poppin’ the locks, grabbin’ the bags of goodies from the back seat, and a week later returned all that loot for cash. If those cameras were on the up and up, they woulda nabbed his ass within the first fifteen minutes. He did this shit all weekend long, see?
But I’m gettin’ away from the point, again. Said point being that I’d just stepped into this gloomy, under-secured area when I heard this bang behind me. Now, it wasn’t like the double doors I’d crashed through, those had a distinctive boom-like quality when they flew open. No, this was similar but sounded more solid, ya know? Like the door was forged from a single piece of metal rather than being hollow inside.
I kinda spin around to see what’s up just in time to see the door in one of those alcoves bouncing off the wall like it was trying to close itself again. There’s a blur of movement streakin’ outta that door and I only have enough time to think oh, shit before that blur is crashin’ into me.
Bitch hit me so hard that all the air kinda whooshed outta my lungs. She’s got her claws hooked onto my shirt and we’re falling backwards, and when I hit that concrete it was like everything went black for a split second. If it would knocked me plum out, I probably wouldn’t be here talkin’ to ya today, man. But it was more like reality disappeared just for the amount of time it took for my head to ricochet off that concrete.
Clarice fuckin’ Hudson is all over me, man. Her eyes had this wild look like she was hopped up on meth or something and spit was just sprayin’ outta her mouth as she half-growled, half-shouted words that woulda made a sailor blush. And she’s yankin’ me up by my shoulders and slamming me back down like she was playin’ a game of jacks and my head was the ball.
Every time my skull cracked against that floor, I got these flash bursts of light that exploded in my field of vision. Then that darkness would come surgin’ back in like the waves of a dark sea. But the pain cut through it all and pulled me back just in time for my head to be slammed down again.
By this time, I got this ringin’ in my ears and everything else doesn’t exist. There’s just me, this crazed bitch straddling my body, and a floor that even I can tell is starting to get a little sticky.
Because I’m bleedin’, that’s why, asshole. The human body wasn’t designed to withstand this shit. I mean, it was like that whore was tryin’ to break through the concrete with nothin’ more than my head. And I can feel these tiny pebbles and pieces of grit grinding into the wound, tearin’ away at the crags of meat each time my head smashed down again.
And that infective cunt is kinda chanting now—die, die, die, die.
There was no doubt in what was left of my mind, man, that’s exactly what was going to happen. In an empty parking garage, without even the benefit of security bein’ able to see what was going down, I was gonna have my head caved in by the snarling animal on top of me.
And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Ocean felt the words swell inside her. At first, nothing more than a nervous flutter in her stomach and heart, but those undulations formed a pressure that seemed to push out against her skin, as if her body were filling with escaping gas. At the same time, she grew lightheaded and the world rushed away from her at a speed much too great for her to follow. She was going to do it, she was really going to do it. Whether or not Gauge and Levi believed her no longer mattered, she simply wanted to expose that bastard Corduroy for the monster he truly was. To show him that he simply couldn’t get away with what he’d tried to do.