Come Get Me (17 page)

Slowing down so he could hear better and
coming to an almost complete halt he tried to will some sound into
existence. Waiting for some type of noise he slowly realized what
was bugging him the most about the silence. It made him feel like
he was being watched.

He quickly looked back the way he’d come and
could just barely make out Grandma’s house through the gloom. The
Christmas carol trickled through his head again causing the
beginnings of a smile to appear but something else caught his eye.
Something was moving out there. He didn’t know what and still
couldn’t hear anything but he was sure it was there. The blackness
around him gave no indication of anything but he knew something was
there.

Beginning to walk backwards he kept his eyes
on the spot he thought he’d seen something in and quickly saw
movement the minute he’d taken his first step. It must be some
animal, he thought as he walked faster. It was stalking him. The
thing, whatever it was, seemed to be keeping its distance for now
but he doubted that would last long. Glancing periodically over his
shoulder to make sure nothing was in front of him he tried to
figure out what it might be. Considering all he’d been able to make
out was one dark object moving over another dark object he didn’t
have much luck. After what seemed like forever but was actually
probably only a few minutes he still couldn’t see what it was. It
had to be some kind of nocturnal animal that hung around in the
local woods. He couldn’t remember having animal problems when he
was little but they must’ve had them considering where they lived.
He must’ve interrupted its hunting when he’d come walking by. Even
if he did and it wasn’t going to attack him, he didn’t exactly feel
comfortable turning his back on whatever it was.

After a few more minutes of walking backwards
he was beginning to feel slightly silly. He was about to turn
around and start his jog again when the far off lights from
Grandma’s house suddenly let him see the creatures silhouette. What
he had thought to be an animal had suddenly become something else
entirely.

He could see the outline of the thing only
and it was a quick look at that but just from that little bit he
wished to God he were back at Grandma’s house with Jill. Seeing the
thing he wished he’d never known what it could even possibly be. It
had a vaguely mannish shape and looked to have something pointy on
its head. That was all Jim needed to see.

He turned and started running. The lights of
Main Street beckoned in the distance. Much to his horror the sound
slapping sounds seemed to be right behind him. He didn’t know which
was scarier; the fact that he was being chased through the dark or
that thing chasing him sounded like it had hooves instead of
feet.

He somehow knew if he made it to the lights
he’d be ok and if he didn’t, well he didn’t want to think of that.
Instead he just ran. He quickly found out he was a lot more out of
shape than he’d thought. Luckily it wasn’t that far. He had to make
it.

He threw a quick glance over his shoulder and
vaguely a huge shadow that somehow seemed to be gaining on him. It
was still too far back to see clearly but he caught parts of it as
light from the street he was racing towards reflected from its
body. Everything he saw and a lot that he didn’t, made him run just
a little bit faster than he had been.

Taking too much time thinking about what was
pursuing him almost cost him his life. One minute he was running
along looking over his shoulder the next he was almost doing a face
dive onto the pavement. He’d tripped over a stick or something in
the dark and had lost some of his momentum. Hear the clopping of
the beasts hooves quickly helped him regain the speed he’d
lost.

Once more with his gaze clearly focused on
his goal he was happy to see that it wasn’t that much farther away.
It was a good thing too since he was sure the thing was breathing
down his neck. Every couple of seconds a distinctly unpleasant
smell seemed to blow up from behind him. The creature had to be
close if he could smell what was could be nothing else but the
things breathe. He didn’t want to risk another look over his
shoulder for fear of what he might see. It felt as if any second
the thing would end the charade and just reach out and grab
him.

The lights were much closer now. They were
almost calling to him. He was almost there. He only needed to stay
away from it for a few more seconds. Throwing his last burst of
energy into his legs he managed to eek out a little more speed. He
leaned into every step hoping it would be the one that would keep
him out of deaths grasp. Squeezing his eyes shut he tried to ignore
the burning in his legs and how wobbly his knees were getting.
Leaning into every stride, he peeked out of his eyes just in time
to see the lights wash over him in their welcome embrace.

Not able to go any further he hoped he’d been
right in thinking he’d be safe once he reached the town. Chest
heaving, legs barely able to hold him up he slowly looked up.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. People were walking down the
street in what he remembered was the direction the sirens had come
from. Hardly anyone even seemed to notice he’d just won his race
against death. Some people stopped to look at him but quickly saw
he wasn’t as interesting as whatever the sirens were checking
out.

Breathing heavily Jim turned to peer into the
darkness that had only minutes before almost been his tomb. Nothing
had pursed him into the light. Peering into the gloom, he saw
nothing. No humongous slavering beast, no manic dressed in camo
ready to skewer him on a huge knife, and most of all no Goatman.
There was simply nothing. The darkness had closed behind him almost
like a door, refusing to reveal whatever secrets it held. There was
no evidence of anything chasing him. He could even still barely
make out the porch light on grandma’s house in the distance.

Could he have imagined it all? Did Grandma’s
story and his own imagination get the better of him? No, that
couldn’t be it. He wouldn’t believe it. There was something there.
He was sure of it. But if that was true then why wasn’t he dead?
Why didn’t it continue chasing him? Why did it just stop? And how
did it stop so fast? Jim had run for a good little distance even
after he’d made it to the light. The thing had been right on his
tail. He was sure of it and yet nothing came out of the darkness
but him. What was going on? Was something actually chasing him or
was he just loosing it?

While trying to figure out the answers to his
questions he realized the people who’d been here on his arrival
were now quite some ways down the street. Nobody had paid any mind
to him. There was something else more interesting. The sirens he’d
heard were quiet but he could still see the lights flashing.

Putting the troubling problem of his pursuer
aside for the moment he shakily started trotting down the street.
Catching up to a kid in a restaurant uniform he decided to try his
luck at finding out what was going on.

“What’s all the noise about?” he asked in
what he hoped was a friendly voice.

“From what everybody is saying something
happened out at Freaky Pete’s,” the kid answered after giving Jim
the once over.

“Freaky Pete? Who the hell is that?” He was
pretty sure he knew the answer but he asked anyways.

“Where the hell you been?” the kids asked.
“He’s the freakin’ weirdo who lives out in the woods. Damn idiot
lives in one of those old pieces of crap they used to call a house
all by himself doing all kinds of weird stuff. He’s always trying
to set fire to the woods or doing some other satanic shit. Probably
sacrificing animals or something. At least that’s what my mom
says.” Jim wouldn’t mind having a few words with this kid’s mom.
“Cops are out there all the time,” the kid continued, “but they
never do anything to him. He must’ve messed up big this time to
deserve all this.” Jim wished he could just slap the spit out of
this kids’ mouth just for being a smartass, who knows maybe it
would knock some sense into him, but that probably wouldn’t work.
All it would do is get him into trouble. Instead he just listened
as the kids continued spouting whatever came to his mind.

“Only time anyone ever sees that freak is
when he comes to town to get food. You should see it! He so
frickin’ funny. Everybody makes fun of him and calls him names. Its
frickin’ hilarious. He don’t show his sorry ass around much but
when he does its fun times!”

Jim was pretty sure “everybody” meant this
dumbass and his friends but unfortunately there was little he could
do about it. Pete was his friend but he’d pretty much brought all
this on himself by becoming the town hermit. There was no use in
arguing with anybody. He wished there was someone else he could ask
but when he finally reached the gaggle of people they’d already
separated into little groups of their own. They gave him and the
kids a wide berth though. Jim didn’t know if it was him or the kid
they were trying to avoid. After hearing the crap coming from his
mouth though he was pretty sure it was the kid.

“There sure is some weird shit that goes on
out there,” the idiot said after a few seconds gesturing down the
road. Jim looked where he indicated and saw a faint orange glow
illuminating the sky. “See what I mean?” The teenager said making
full use of his high school education. “You see all kinds of lights
and stuff out there. It’s just plain weird.” Jim could honestly say
he now understood why the future of today’s youth wasn’t that
good.

Not wanting to be stuck with the garbage
mouth for the rest of the night Jim quickly said his thanks and
moved towards the police car stationed just beyond where all the
groups were gathered. As he passed them he heard bits and pieces of
conversation consisting of everything from rumors about the woods
being on fire to aliens having finally invaded Pete’s house and
taking him away. He almost hoped it was a fire or something but had
a feeling it was probably closer to the one about aliens than
anything else.

He’d just about reached the police car when
he did see an actual flicker of fire in the distance. That
explained the glow in the sky he’d seen. Now that he saw where the
fire was he noticed two more police cars further down from the one
he was standing near and just a little ways beyond them, a house.
The fires made the place look as if it were on fire but it must not
have been since the police cars weren’t there. They were on the
road before the house. Maybe that meant Pete wasn’t involved in
whatever was going on.

Jim could vaguely see a figure walking back
and forth between the burning mounds around the house. The figure
trudged back and forth pausing only to throw something on whatever
fire he was closest to sending sparks spiraling into the night sky.
It could only be Pete Jim thought as he wearily made his way toward
the police officer stationed next to the car blocking the road. He
hoped he could get through to make sure his friend was all
right.

7

As Jim reached the first patrol car he
noticed how cold it was outside. He was concerned about Rob and
knew he shouldn’t be thinking about the cold but he couldn’t help
it. The fires in the distance seemed like a good idea to him right
about now. The sweat he’d worked up was quickly cooling in the
night air. He wished he’d brought a jacket with him or better yet
that he had driven his rental. If he’d done that, everything
would’ve been fine. Nothing would’ve chased him, he wouldn’t have
sweated from running and he’d be nice and warm. But no, walking had
seemed like a better idea, so he being the idiot he was, had
walked.

Slowing down to a walk once again, Jim
approached the car with one hand raised to shield his eyes from the
flashing lights that were about to blind him and saw another person
who liked like a deputy but who obviously wasn’t Rob. He seemed to
be standing guard on the road. From the look of it he was pretty
worried about whatever was going on out at Pete’s.

Jim didn’t even want to imagine what Pete
might’ve done to get himself in this much trouble. True he hadn’t
been around for the past few years but from what he heard Pete was
capable of some weird shit.

“What’s all the commotion about?” he asked
the deputy as he got closer.

The guy seemed almost startled that someone
would ask him a question. Looking at him appraisingly for a minute
before informing him in a voice thick with country accent that
there’d been some type of accident down the road and that no one
was allowed down there until it was all cleared up. Before he even
started speaking Jim thought there was something familiar about the
guy. The deputy reminded him of someone. Trying not to seem like
some sort of weirdo Jim studied the officer while he spoke. Not
being exactly close enough to get a good look at him Jim slowly
shifted his body so that the lights wouldn’t be in his line of
vision and so that he was a little closer.

After a few second without the lights in his
face his eyes adjusted and he realized who he was speaking to. It
was Johnny Langill. The last time Jim had seen, or thought, about
him he’d been a kid a grade behind him in high school. When
Johnny’d finished talking Jim quickly stuck out his hand and told
him who he was. Johnny shook his hand in return a little unsure at
first but then, like a light going on somewhere in his head, seemed
to recognize Jim and shook his hand a little more heartily in
return. Johnny still looked edgy but Jim was sure that was probably
because of what was going on down the road.