Authors: Wodke Hawkinson
Will drove steadily, stopping often
at gas stations and convenience stores as he continued his search for Sue. He
phoned Roxie from the picturesque town of Belle Springs, Vermont, to update her
on his lack of progress. “I’ve run across one clerk who
thinks
she may
have seen them,” he told her. “But she wasn’t sure. However, if it was them,
then they weren’t in any hurry. The couple she saw was leisurely, taking photos
and eyeing the sights.”
“What now?” Roxie asked.
“I get back on the road and keep
going south. I don’t know what else to do. Melvin find anything of interest for
me?”
“Nope. He’s still searching out
abandoned buildings and such.”
“I’ll check in with you later.”
Will disconnected.
He stopped in Abbeville for gas and
spent the night in a comfortable motel in Wilkes, the same city where Sue and
Zeke had stayed just one night earlier.
It took Zeke less than three hours
to break through Sue’s cold silence. Somewhere along the way, they had crossed
over into West Virginia. As they sped down the winding highway, he sang along
with songs on the radio, made fun of commercials, and reached over to give her
frequent soft touches and pats. He even made her laugh at some of his
silliness. Finally, she could hold onto her anger no longer.
“I knew it. You can’t stay mad at
me.” He smiled. “You love me too much.”
She felt her rage melt away. Zeke
could think what he wanted, but she
did not
enjoy the experience in any way,
shape, or form. She finally gave in to his attempts to charm her simply because
she blamed herself for not fighting her attackers. Zeke was to blame for her
rape
,
but
she
hadn’t done anything to stop it. On some level, she must have
perceived that she had never been in real danger. It was the only explanation
that allowed her to retain her sanity.
She wondered if Zeke had told her
he wanted her to be with those boys if she’d have gone along willingly, like
she had with Ernie. Maybe. She wasn’t sure. But he hadn’t given her the choice.
The fact that Zeke allowed her to be with other men ought to feel liberating.
She should just relax and go with it. She should appreciate the freedom. She
tried to talk herself out of the deep sense of disappointment that squeezed her
heart like a steel band. The way he’d tricked her, and caused her such mental
distress, would make it difficult to trust him.
One thing was certain: she didn’t
need to rehash the episode. “Where to next?” she asked, ready to put the
incident behind them.
“You’ll love this.” Zeke slowed the
van, searching for a particular turn. “That abandoned mental hospital I told
you about is right around here.”
“How’d you find out about it?”
“Internet. Whoa! Here’s the road.”
Zeke made a sharp turn into an overgrown driveway, which ended at a partially
fallen gate that left just enough room for the van to squeeze past.
The first building on the other
side of the rusted gateway appeared to be a small guard shack, the windows
broken and its door banging forlornly in the wind. Weeds grew around the
foundation and vines crept up into the eaves of the tiny structure.
Little remained of the long
graceful drive, except two ruts between which lay a strip of dead field grass.
Far to the left of the drive, across the grounds, were several outbuildings.
They included an enclosed sitting area with torn window screens, a few
crumbling utility sheds, and a large carriage house in a state of advanced
disrepair, its once beautiful doors hanging askew on the tracks. Following the
curved driveway around a tall stand of trees, they found themselves on a gentle
downward slope, and approached the main lawn.
Behind the trees loomed an enormous
wooden building, gray and weathered as the others. It combined an odd
assortment of architectural features, including soaring towers with arched
openings, high windows with broken shutters, layers of second and third-story
balconies, elevated galleries, and walkways with broken railings. On the ground
floor, a warped door huddled under a slanting portico. Small windows stretched
to either side of the entry like a row of lidless eyes, situated at a height
impossible to reach. The immense structure did not appear square and true. It
was as if it were built deliberately crooked with misaligned edges and corners
just short of plumb.
An ambitious poplar had shot past
the lower windows before veering into the side of the house, growing through
the wall midway between the second and third floors. Clumps of bushes, shrubs,
and tall weeds surrounded the base of the structure. The yard was overgrown,
littered with shattered fixtures, rotted boards, and rusted bedsprings.
Zeke whistled in amazement as they
rolled to a stop near the front entrance.
Sue gaped. “It looks like Hermann Munster’s
house, only bigger. And scarier.”
Zeke grabbed the camera and a
flashlight from the glove box, opened the van door, and stepped out. “Come on.
Let’s go in.”
“I don’t know...” Sue found she was
talking to herself. Zeke was already halfway to the building. She pulled on her
coat, got reluctantly from the van, and rushed to catch up with him.
Zeke stopped in his tracks as the
front door creaked open. From the doorway of the great building, a gathering of
bizarre-looking people began to slowly emerge. They stopped in the shadow of
the porch and stared wordlessly at Sue and Zeke. Each one could easily have
been a patient of the facility, had it still been operational.
“What the hell! Who are they? I
thought this place was abandoned!” Sue huddled closer to Zeke’s side and took his
arm.
“It’s supposed to be.” Zeke
narrowed his eyes. He took several pictures of the group.
They were all extremely thin and
appeared sickly, with wild hair and vacant eyes. Each one, male and female,
wore a similar pair of loose-fitting white pants with a baggy white shirt. They
swayed slightly as if struggling internally for balance.
“Hey,” Zeke addressed them in a
friendly tone, his voice bouncing off the edifice behind them. They held their
silence. “Odd,” he whispered in an aside to Sue.
He took a few steps forward. “Say
something!” he shouted at the figures. They didn’t respond, nor did they move
to retreat.
“Let’s get out of here,” Sue said.
“These people are strange. I don’t think they want us here.”
“No,” he said calmly. “I came to
see this place and we’re going inside. Just walk slowly and hang onto me.”
Sue held back, clinging to his arm.
“What if they hurt us?”
“They don’t
look
like they
could hurt
anybody
,” Zeke replied, a touch of mirth in his voice. “What
do you say, freaks? Are you gonna hurt anybody?” he asked loudly. “Just in case
you’re thinking about it, I want you to know I have a gun and I’d
love
a
little target practice.”
Sue gave him a sharp glance. She
hadn’t seen any gun and he didn’t pull one out now. Hopefully, he was just
trying to scare them. The idea sure as hell scared her.
With halting steps, Zeke and Sue
approached the building, Sue trying to become a part of Zeke, staying as close
as she could. But, the figures didn’t move as they passed, didn’t reach for
them, didn’t even blink.
A large reception room greeted them
as they slipped inside the open doorway, empty except for filthy cots arranged
randomly around the edges. Zeke clicked a close-up of the disgusting beds. A
thin light slanted in from the high windows, barely penetrating the gloom. Dust
and chunks of plaster caked the floor. Across the room, a wide staircase led to
the upper levels. Zeke pulled Sue to the foot of the stairs and stared up into
murk. The middle section was missing; a gaping hole yawned darkly. Shaking his
head in disappointment, Zeke guided Sue down a grimy tiled corridor.
On either side of the hall were
various doorways leading to what appeared to be old examination rooms. A file
room floor lay strewn with yellowed papers. One treatment room held a sinister-looking
narrow bathing tub, long enough to submerge even a tall person. Zeke took
several photos of a high-ceilinged area dominated by a chilling contraption
fitted with restraints and studded with broken electrical gauges. Thick frayed
cords hung from one end and the stained top leaked stuffing.
Sue repressed a chill as they
stepped back into the hallway. “I don’t like it here,” she whispered. Looking
over her shoulder, she uttered a small cry of surprise. The group of people had
quietly followed her and Zeke and now lined the passageway, leaning against the
dirty walls as if too weak to stand without support.
“Come on.” Zeke tugged on Sue’s
arm. “I want to see the autopsy room. It’s supposedly in the basement.”
Shaking with apprehension, Sue
gripped his hand and walked with him. She could hear the soft shuffling steps
as their audience followed behind. She pushed Zeke along, trying to hurry him,
but he seemed completely unconcerned.
Sue glanced over her shoulder.
“They’re following us,” she whispered urgently.
“Who cares?”
I do
,
Sue thought, but she
said nothing.
Passing through a dining hall
filled with echoes, leaves, and dust, they entered a huge kitchen, outfitted
with industrial-sized appliances from another era, all standing open and
ravaged by time and decay. A rear exit revealed a wild lawn scattered with
crumbling fountains and cement benches that tilted unsteadily on broken legs.
The sound of scrambling drew Sue’s
attention in time for her to catch a quick glimpse of a gray creature scurrying
under the stove. A chill settled between her shoulder blades; she could feel
the eyes of the silent people on her back as they filed into the kitchen behind
her and Zeke.
Inside the cupboards, Zeke found
rows of canned food, bottled water, and other items. Sitting on the counter was
a propane camp stove and a number of grubby pots and pans. Several grocery bags
contained provisions that had yet to be unpacked. “Holy shit! Someone is
feeding these freaks. This is strange as hell.”
Sue looked at the group in
astonishment, unable to imagine any of them being able to cook for themselves.
“Who does it? Where are they?”
“I don’t know, but we better keep
our ears and eyes open. Ready to get out quick if we have to.” Circling the
room to avoid their followers, Zeke led Sue back the way they had come, through
the dining hall, and down a short corridor that ended abruptly at a closed
door.
“Here,” Zeke said triumphantly. “I
think this is the way to the basement.”
He pushed on the old door and it
swung open easily with only a small metallic groan, revealing a wide dark
stairway leading down. Sue could hear the rustling of the people behind her as
they passed slowly across the dining room toward the now open door.
Zeke dug the flashlight from his coat
pocket and switched it on. In its narrow beam, they could make out cracked
cement steps leading to a shadowy lower level. They proceeded with caution,
stepping lightly, as if the stairs might open up and swallow them at any
minute.
“If we’re gonna find it anywhere,”
Zeke said. “This would be the room.”
“Find what?” Sue asked.
Zeke turned to her and shone the
flashlight under his chin, casting his features into shadow. “The troll.” He
gave a wicked laugh.
“Stop that.” Sue swatted his arm
and drew a shaky breath.
Zeke went dead still and stared at
Sue with flat eyes. “Don’t ever hit me, Sue.”
“I didn’t. I mean, I was just
playing. It was a playful slap.”
“Don’t do it again, or you’ll
regret it.”
“I’m sorry.” Sue was uncertain
whether he was serious, but she quickly reassured him. “I won’t do it again.”
Zeke slowly relaxed and Sue began
to breathe again. They continued on down the stairs.
They reached the bottom of the
steps and looked around. A row of dirty windows was set deep in the walls near
the ceiling. Shafts of weak light filtered through the weeds outside. The first
room stretched out on all sides to dark distant walls, one of which had several
doors. This area seemed distinctly cleaner than the rest of the property,
although it was still in poor overall condition. In the middle of the room were
three metal tables with drains in the center; several deep sinks lined the wall
next to some tall cabinets.
Zeke turned slowly, taking in their
surroundings. “This is so cool. Hey, climb up and lay on one of these tables.
Pretend to be dead.”
“Zeke! I can’t do that!”
With a withering look, he turned
his back to her and clicked several pictures of the empty tables in rapid
succession, the flash sending strobes through the room and temporarily blinding
Sue. “Sometimes you really piss me off. You know that?” He walked on without
waiting for a response.
With Sue dragging her feet behind
him, Zeke strode over and opened the door to the first cabinet.
Stacked along the shelves inside,
they found rows of jars containing body parts suspended in formaldehyde. Next
to the shelves stood a beat-up table lined with surgical pans and tools,
gruesome reminders of the autopsies once performed here.
“Damn! This is way cool.” Zeke
clicked more photos.
“It wouldn’t be too bad, if not for
them.” Sue nodded at the people lining the walls, watching.
“You know what would be kind of
fun? Maybe we should have sex in front of them.” Zeke flashed a depraved grin.
“Up on one of these tables.”
Sue was horrified. “Let’s just
leave. Please.” Sue grasped Zeke’s arm, imploringly.
“Not just yet. I’m not done here.”
He peeled himself away from Sue’s grip and strolled over to the doors, trying
each of them. All but one were stuck shut. With a grunt, he finally opened the
last one and shone his flashlight inside.