A Crying Shame (145 page)

Joe lifted his eyes, fear-filled eyes, to meet the Link's stark, accusing gaze.
My mother is in Laclede, not out here in this godless pesthole.”

The Link shook his head sadly.
Shame, shame.” He gestured with his hand and walked away, his shoulders slumped in sorrow.

Joe was pushed into the pit.

He screamed for only a short time.

And the Crying Swamp grew silent.

 

Over sixty men,” the newscaster intoned gravely,
all residents of Laclede, a small town in south-central Louisiana, are feared dead. The men, led by a former deputy sheriff, went into what is known as the Crying Swamp after creatures who—”

Dr. Lewis flipped the TV off.

It is your belief that the Links will go on the offensive, Jon?” Karl asked.
Tonight?”

The six of them sat in the den of Despair Plantation house. They had carefully cleaned their weapons and placed them close-by. It was late afternoon in Fountain Parish, the sun a hot, bubbling ball of blood red as it sank slowly into another cauldron, to bring light to yet another continent that waited for its share after its allotted period of darkness.

Now the creatures of night began to stir in Fountain Parish, to flap their wings in the air, to slip silently through the swamps and bayous, to slither on the ground in search of prey.

To watch. To wait.

To kill.

They'll have to,” Jon replied, his tone confident.
It's their only chance. But they won't strike here. They've lost too many of their kind around this estate. Some of them—perhaps many of them—may be insane, but they most definitely are not stupid.”

And the ones who are not insane, Jon?” Debra asked the question Jon knew was coming.

Say what is on your minds ... all of you. Don't step lightly around the issue. You all know I detest pussyfooting about.”

How will you tell those who are maddened—diseased—from those who are not?” Dr. Lewis inquired.
That is something I have been mulling about in my mind all afternoon.”

Jon leaned back on the couch, beside Linda.
Well, obviously, I can't . . . won't be able to distinguish between them. But we will not—I will not—be dealing with a race of productive, intelligent beings. We all know who and what they are—and what they represent. They are a threat.”