Demon Town, page 34
Milo sniffed. “No, it’s definitely me.”
After 15 arduous minutes, they arrived at their destination. Mikey pulled over about a quarter of a mile short of the driveway to the old Sharp place and Mac got out and walked back to the closest vehicle.
“That’s the place up there.” he said pointing to the old house. There’s an old barn behind the trees, the vehicles are inside there. There’s two brothers tied up with duct tape in there...well, at least they were when we left at about 11:00. They tried ambushing us earlier. We were lucky to survive. We saw them kill the two guys who drove the Ford truck about two weeks ago now. It wasn’t until we were here in the barn tonight when I saw the Camaro that I remembered the flyer at the Turbo.”
“We’ll go check it out.” the driver said. “You stay right here.”
Mac wasn’t sure what to think of that comment. ‘Stay here so we know you aren’t fucking us around’ or did he mean ‘stay here so we can wipe out any witnesses to the biker execution if need be?’
The two vehicles drove past them and turned up the laneway to the abandoned farm. The 3M’s watched from Mikey’s truck and in the distance through an opening in the trees they could see Dawg and Bear emerge from the barn just as the two vehicles pulled up to the barn. Bear just stood there, but Dawg went running towards the two vehicles with what looked like a 2 x 4. The 3M’s all cringed when the bikers shot Dawg and he fell to the ground. It was disturbing to see even if he was a fucking psychotic asshole.
For the next ten minutes they watched as three bikers held guns on the Olson brothers and kept them in check while the rest examined the contents of the barn. From there Dawg and Bear were moved back inside the barn and two of the bikers were sent back to correspond with the 3M’s.
“Fuck, this is the part where they take out all the witnesses.” Milo whispered, echoing Mac’s thoughts. “This might be a good time to make us all invisible, Mac.”
Mac was already preparing himself for the worst-case scenario. If the bikers were here to kill them, he would turn the two biker’s guns on each other. He would wait for the scenario to present itself before he did anything, though. The vehicle pulled up on the other side of the gravel road and the passenger climbed out and started walking towards them. Mac recognized him as the driver that he had talked to earlier at the Turbo.
“Mac, have you got this?” Mikey asked.
“Yeah.” Mac replied.
The biker stopped within a few feet of Mikey’s truck and Mikey rolled down his window ever so slowly.
“You guys can go. The vehicles are there like you said. We’ll take care of things from here.”
Mikey breathed a sigh of relief and noticed that the biker was holding up a wad of hundred dollar bills.
“No thanks.” Mac replied before Mikey or Milo could say anything. “Believe me, you’re doing us a favor.”
The biker shrugged. “Whatever. Don’t make no difference to me. You never saw anything, though. Are we clear?”
“Understood.” Mikey replied. He turned the ignition and pulled his truck away and never once looked back.
“You know what they’re going to do them, right?” Milo asked.
“I have a pretty good idea.” Mac replied. “So be it.” He tried to sound nonchalant about it, but his stomach was twisted in knots. Dawg and Bear were criminal lowlifes that he had witnessed kill two men in cold blood and they had just tried to murder him and his friends several hours earlier. It would have been easy to say what goes around comes around, but that didn’t make it any easier knowing that he had a hand in what was about to happen to them.
“Hey, it was either them or us.” Mikey pointed out. “They would have come after us again and again until they killed us or we were forced to kill them.”
Nothing more was said during the ride except for Mac asking Mikey if it was okay if he drove to his parent’s place and dropped him off there.
“I’ll get my dad to look at my truck today sometime.” Mac said as he was getting out of Mikey’s vehicle.
“What happens now?” Mikey wondered out loud. “Are the demons going to keep pursuing this?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” Mac replied. “Be prepared for anything.”
“That’s easy for you to say.” Milo mumbled.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that you’re packing heat with all the mind power shit that you can do.” Milo looked over to Mikey for support. “I’m crapping my pants every two seconds afraid that somebody’s going to take me out. Hell, it’s got so bad that I don’t like to close the bathroom door anymore when I’m taking a shit.”
“Really?” Mikey said with a look of disgust on his face.
“It’s just an expression.” Milo replied.
“Well, that’s an image that I’m not going to get out of my head any time soon.”
“Bite me.”
They all laughed for a moment, but Milo wasn’t finished yet. “Seriously though, I can’t talk to anyone anymore without wondering if they’re a demon or associated with the demons. I feel like I can’t trust anyone other than you two.”
There had been so much going on that Mac had never really considered the full extent that the stress was having on his friends. He had spent so much time trying to come to terms with believing that this was all actually happening in the first place that Mac never thought it fully through what Mikey and Milo must experiencing.
“I’m sorry, Milo. You too, Mikey. I didn’t mean to drag you to into all of this. I wouldn’t blame you if you both just said fuck it and got as far away as possible from this place.”
“I’ve thought about it, believe me.” Milo looked down at the floor of the truck and tried to avoid eye contact with Mac and Mikey.
“That’s nothing to be ashamed of, Milo.” Mikey put a big hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I’d be lying if I said that I hadn’t thought the same thing.”
“Me, too.” Mac added.
“The shitty thing is that as fucked up and unbelievable as all of this is, after what happened in Southby doesn’t lead me to believe that we can truly get away from this. We know too much.” Milo pointed out.
“So, we’re stuck here?” Mac asked.
“I’m afraid so.”
“Great. I feel much better now.”
“Listen, I wish that I had a solution, but right now I can’t think of anything.” Mikey shifted the truck into drive. “I just want to crawl into my bed and sleep. I’m tired and I’m achy. Let’s talk about this later. I need some rest.”
“I agree.” Mac said and backed away from the truck. “I’ll phone you guys tonight.”
As the truck pulled away, however Mac had already decided that he wouldn’t involve Mikey and Milo in any more of this. He would leave them out of whatever lay ahead and go it alone. He spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how he was going to keep his friends free and clear of this mess. It was difficult trying to focus on a solution as his thoughts drifted from the demon threat to wondering what the bikers would do to Dawg and Bear. Lisa crossed his mind often, as well. It wasn’t his fault that the Olson brothers kidnapped her to get their money from Kyle. Mac had risked his life to save her, but she was more upset than grateful for what he had done. For the life of him, Mac would never figure out women.
It was just after supper time that evening and Mac was home alone watching the television. His father had his truck up and running again after replacing the fuel filter with a new one and his parents had gone over to visit the neighbors after supper. Mac was watching M*A*S*H when the phone rang.
“Mac? Hi, how are you feeling?” Uncle Pete. For a week now, Mac hadn’t gone into work at Big Mac’s Electrical. He had his mom phone Uncle Pete for the first couple of days to say that Mac was feeling under the weather. For the past few days, however he hadn’t bothered to have her call him, though. Mac was still upset about the Southby run-in with Manson. The 3M’s had been set up and Uncle Pete was the one who had arranged for them to go to Southby in the first place. He was the one who suggested that they go to Cosmo’s. It was more than a coincidence that two total strangers lead them right towards a psychotic clown demon. Mac still didn’t want to believe that Uncle Pete would do that something like this, but the facts were hard to ignore. In any event, he had been avoiding all contact with his uncle.
“Good.” Mac replied.
“Good. I was starting to worry when you never returned any of my messages.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah, didn’t your mom tell you that I called?”
“No.” Mac lied. “It must have slipped her mind.” There were two different messages posted on the refrigerator that Mac had chosen to ignore.
“No matter. So, how are you feeling? Been fighting the flu?”
“Yeah, something like that.” ‘Just recovering from some psycho clown demon trying to kill me, but you wouldn’t know anything about that now, would you?’ Mac thought to himself.
There was an awkward silence as Uncle Pete sensed that Mac wasn’t in a talkative mood.
“Well, when you’re up to it, I could use some help. The flower shop is renovating and needs all their wiring and electrical updated.”
Mac twisted the phone cord around his finger, not sure how to respond without telling his uncle to either go to hell or to pretend that nothing happened and forgive and forget. “I’ll let you know.”
“Okay. Hey, I never did say thank you for picking up my supplies. I guess that I haven’t really seen you since then. Did everything go okay up there?”
Mac shook his head. ‘Are you for fucking real?’ he thought to himself. ‘You know how it went. Wait...maybe you don’t. Maybe you’re fishing for answers wondering why we’re still alive?’ The 3M’s had been careful for the most part about not saying anything about what really happened in Southby. Other than Milo’s occasional loose lips, nobody had really said anything about what took place up there. So, Uncle Pete probably really didn’t know the gory details of the run-in with Manson and was trying to find out what he could for the demons.
“Yeah, everything went fine.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I suppose that I should let you go and get some rest, Mac. Give me a call when you’re feeling better.”
“Okay. Goodbye.” Mac hung up before Uncle Pete could respond. A part of him felt like an asshole for talking to him like that, but another part didn’t really give a shit. His uncle had sold him out and now he has the nerve to call Mac up like nothing happened? ‘Kiss my ass.’
The following afternoon saw Officer Dale Walters out on routine patrol on Highway 19 west of Paradise Flats. He needed to get away from all of the chaos that was taking place at the police station. The disappearance of the two Olson brothers had everyone there in an uproar, but he wasn’t exactly sure why. They were criminal lowlifes in every sense of the word and the town would be better off without them. Every encounter that he had ever had with them had been anything but pleasant. Good riddance was all that he had to say on the matter.
Walters wasn’t sure what all the commotion was about concerning them, however. Yes, they had vanished, but he didn’t think that Paradise Flats would be rid of them that easily. They were sure to show up again. The Olson’s had been a diseased presence in the town for much too long now to just fade away. As much as everyone wished that they would go away, Walters couldn’t ever see it happening. His father used to like to say that you could flush shit down the toilet, but the smell still lingered. The Olson’s would be back. Paradise Flats wouldn’t be that fortunate.
The way that he figured it was that the heat had finally got to the two brothers with all of the drug trafficking rumors and they decided to skip town while they still could. That’s what Walters thought anyway, not that he was allowed to take part in the investigation of their disappearance to begin with. He was assigned to maintain a police presence at the station while everyone else searched the Olson farm and the old Sharp place. None of his fellow officers would tell him what they had found in the past day and a half, so he learned what he could by eavesdropping on their conversations. Walters had become accustomed to being left out in the dark. Whatever was going on in Paradise Flats didn’t concern him, so he would be the good soldier and not rock the boat, so to speak and simply put in his time until he was transferred out. One, maybe two years if he was lucky.
While the search for the Olson’s was being conducted, Walters was to man the station in case someone came forward with information on the two brothers’ whereabouts. He was to also continue monitoring the drug trafficking rumors, just in case something else came to light. This seemed pointless considering how Joe Brooks admitted that he was the one who started the rumor in the first place. It didn’t sound like he had done it intentionally, however and that was what confused Walters. The MacIntosh kid had something to do with it, he was certain of that. Just as he had been involved in the snake episode at the Turbo a few months back. Maybe the kid was some kind of prankster, but it was bordering on criminal the things that he was doing if he was indeed involved.
Walters had asked Charlie if he wanted MacIntosh and his buddies brought in for questioning, but like everything else there were more pressing matters to deal with. They were the least of their worries right now, so just leave them be. This made no sense to Walters as everyone had been up in arms over who started the malicious rumors not that long ago, but now it was inconsequential? So be it. Two more years and then maybe he could do some real police work somewhere else.
In the meantime, Walters was tired of twiddling his thumbs and listening to the office secretary’s monotonous one finger typing as she filled out reports.
“I’m going for a drive to get some fresh air, Mona.”
“Okay,” she replied without taking her eyes off of her typing. “Let’s be careful out there.”
He headed west out of town with no particular destination in mind. Just a quick little jaunt for a change of scenery he thought to himself. Walters would be back in the office before anyone missed him. Springston was a twenty minute drive away, so he could do a quick check of the village while he was there. He was five minutes away from reaching his destination when he met a blue Ford Mustang headed the opposite way. It was going way too fast as it came around the corner and didn’t look like it was slowing down any after it had passed Walters’ police car. He flipped his lights on and turned his vehicle around in pursuit of it.
The flashing blue and red lights caught the attention of the driver of the Mustang and he started to slow down. After signaling, the car turned off of the highway and rolled to a stop on a secluded gravel road. Walters pulled in behind it and made a visual inspection of the vehicle in front of him. Just the driver, no passengers. Definitely nobody local.
He exited his police car and walked up to the driver’s side door of the Mustang. The window was rolled down already and the driver held up his license and registration.
“Good day, sir.” Walters reached for the driver’s credentials. “Do you know why I pulled you over?”
“Was I speeding, officer?”
“Just a bit, Mister....Lopez?” Walters studied the driver’s license photo and compared it to the side profile of the driver of the Mustang. The person in the car looked straight ahead and avoided any eye contact with Walters. “Are you sure that this picture is up to date?”
The man in the driver’s license photo sported a moustache and short hair, whereas the person in the car was clean shaven with long, greasy hair.
“Oh, sorry.” He grabbed another driver’s license card from the console of the car. “Is this one better?”
Walters took it and read the information on it. Wilma Abbott. 74 years old. Female.
“Are you trying to be funny, sir?”
The driver turned his head towards Walters and smiled. “Do I look like a funny guy to you, officer?”
The police officer jumped back, startled by the sight of the driver’s face. Gruesome looking scars criss-crossed his face and a haphazard stitch job appeared to be the only thing holding everything together.
“What happened to your face?” Walters gasped.
“Would you believe me if I said that I cut myself shaving this morning?”
Taking another step backwards, Walters reached down and placed one hand on his revolver.
“I’m going to have to ask you to step out of the car, sir. Nice and slow. Keep your hands up where I can see them.”
“Of course, officer.” The driver smiled and opened up his door and climbed out. He held his hands high above his head and winked at Walters. “Is this high enough?’’
“Turn around and place your hands on the car.”
Walters sensed that there was something seriously wrong with the individual in front of him. A warning voice in his mind was screaming at him. He needed to get some handcuffs on this guy immediately. Mr. Lopez or whoever the hell he was stood motionless as he stared at Walters.
“Manson.”
“What?” Walters asked.
“Manson. My friends call me Manson.”
“Okay, Mr. Manson. Turn around and place your hands on the top of your vehicle like I asked you and keep them there.”
“Very well.”
Manson shrugged and turned to face the Mustang as Walters fumbled for his handcuffs. He turned his attention away for a second and in the next instant Manson spun around back towards him. Walters had just enough time to notice the two deadly looking axe’s hurtling towards him. The first one caught Walters square in the chest and embedded itself there. The second axe sliced through half of his throat and the police officer stumbled backwards clutching his throat with both hands before collapsing into the ditch on the other side of the road.
The demon knelt down and studied Walters’ body as it began to spasm uncontrollably. Between the gargled gasps from the police officer, Manson glanced around for any passing traffic. Satisfied that no one was going to happen upon them, the demon waited for Walters’ body to take his last breath of life and then pulled the embedded axe out of his victim’s chest. He stood up and walked over to the police car and grabbed a jacket from the passenger seat and used it to wipe the blood off of his two axe’s. The demon then climbed into the driver’s seat and shut the flashing lights off.
