ANOTHER SLAUGHTER
“Please, slow down,” Alister said to the sergeant, but the landscape he saw whizzing by with his peripheral vision told him that the sergeant had no intention of listening. “I have a lot to tell people, and I don’t think you’re giving me enough time to write it.”
“I’ve given you plenty of time. Besides, I’m going as slow as possible.”
Alister sighed and pressed the pen onto the paper. The vehicle seemed to locate every pothole, and he struggled to write. He jotted down the words as quickly as possible and tried to keep his thoughts organized. One thing he knew he needed to request was a grace period where no one would talk to him after the sergeant left. He explained that if the sergeant lived longer than twenty-four hours, then anyone could talk to him because he had somehow outwaited the curse. But if the sergeant didn’t survive the full duration, he forbade anyone else to speak to him, and he should be placed in isolation.
In conclusion, Alister went into as much detail as possible about the specifics of the curse and how he thought it functioned.
Satisfied that his message was clear and legible, he signed his name and folded the pages with care. “Thank you,” he said to the sergeant. “I’ve completed my message.”
“And just in time, too,” the sergeant said, and he turned the vehicle into the parking lot of a hospital.
“But please,” Alister said, “take a moment to read it over before you take me inside. I want to make sure my note is perfectly clear so that someone who knows nothing about it beforehand will be fully aware of what it is they are up against.”
“Why don’t you just tell me what your message is?”
Alister sat motionless, dumbfounded. “It’s everything I’ve told you, and it explains what people should do if something were to happen to you.”
The sergeant smirked and looked at Alister through his rearview mirror. “And what do you think is going to happen to me?”
“I hope nothing,” Alister said. He looked to his dirty bare feet. “But I’m certain you’re going to die by the end of this day.”
Alister watched the sergeant’s facial expression change in the reflection of the rearview mirror as he read through his letter. He scowled, raised a brow, curled his lip and mouthed each word.
“Is my handwriting legible?”
“I can read it just fine. What do you expect me to do with this?” the sergeant asked as he refolded the pages. He met Alister’s gaze in the mirror.
Alister held back a sigh. “I would like you to give it to the physician that’s going to be caring for me.”
The sergeant shook his head. “Once I get you inside, you can give it to him yourself.”
Alister closed his eyes and leaned back. “What will it take?” He pulled himself close to the cage that separated them. “I can’t speak to anyone else but you, or more people will die. Remember? I’ve explained that in the note. Wasn’t I clear enough?”
The sergeant nodded. “Yeah, your letter is clear enough, but you can’t expect people to believe this.”
“I can and do because it is all true.” He settled into the seat. “I’m sorry I got you involved in this, sergeant. But as fate would have it, you were the one sent to my house. You seem like a nice guy who cares for people, and the world doesn’t have many like you.”
“Thank you,” the sergeant said. He looked out the window and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “I’ll pass your note along,” he said, and he returned his gaze to the mirror. “But I can’t make any promises as to how other people will respond to it.”
Alister looked out the window and watched a young mother pushing her baby in a stroller. He noticed the full head of blonde hair the young toddler had and thought of his precious Becca. Like that child, she was young and innocent and had nothing to do with whatever hell was on a rampage. He did not want to see that happen again.
Ever.
“The bad thing that is going to get you is my fault. If there were a way for me to get rid of it myself and change your fate, I would, but I’ve done everything to escape it, and nothing seems to work. I’ve tried locking myself away from the world so I would starve to death, but as you know by my being here with you today, that didn’t work.”
“I understand your concern for me,” the sergeant said as he took his eyes away from the mirror. He opened his door. “But I’ll be fine, and so will you.”
Alister shook his head and rested his forehead against the cage that separated them. “I don’t think you understand the significance of what you’ve learned today. This thing that follows me does not discriminate, and you can’t escape it. The only thing we can do is try and contain it. And please, whatever you do, don’t make it angry by mocking it because it might make you suffer.”
“Why would it want to make me suffer?”
Alister stared back at the sergeant in astonishment. What was so difficult to understand?
“Because it can.” Alister saw a little gray in the sergeant’s hair and guessed he was somewhere in his mid thirties. “And it doesn’t want you or anyone else around me. And when you doubt its existence and power, it will demonstrate for everyone what it is capable of doing.” Alister sat upright and stared at the back of the sergeant’s head. “It is bad to taunt a wild animal that occupies an unlocked cage. This is why I’ve asked no one else but you to talk to me and I’ve taken the necessary precautions to protect anyone that might get the urge to. People have a tendency not to believe in it until it is too late.”
The sergeant eyed Alister, and a stern look crinkled the skin on his forehead.
“The look you’re giving me tells me you still doubt what I’ve told you to be the truth. I’m only trying to save lives.”
“I believe you think you are,” the sergeant said, and he got out of the car. He walked to the back door and opened it for Alister. “And I will do what I can to help you relay your message. But I want to get you inside first so you can get the attention you deserve.”
A surge of frustration tightened Alister’s hands into fists that he wanted to pound on the cage, but he refrained. “I’m afraid I might have misjudged you.”
“I’ve done a lot for you, and you should be thankful.”
“I’m afraid what you’ve done isn’t enough.”
Alister meshed his fingers into the weaves of the metal cage and squeezed. “I will not go in there unless you pass along my note and I am guaranteed that no one but you is going to talk to me. I assure you that you will come to understand why I have to do this. I just hope you start to comprehend it before it’s too late.”
The sergeant rested a forearm on the hood of the car and leaned inside. “Listen, I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me, things that I normally wouldn’t do because I sympathize with whatever it is you are going through. I give you my word if you come with me without trouble, I will speak to the doctors on your behalf. But if you don’t, all bets are off.”
Alister felt small and weak, but what he had said meant something, and it was worth the fight. One life saved this day would be a victory. “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”
“Not another word of protest, Mr. Kunkle. Now let’s go inside and get you the help you need.”
Alister shook his head. “I can hear your frustration, but I’m not going anywhere without that assurance.”
The sergeant stared at Alister and sighed. “Have it your way,” he said, and he slammed the door closed. He walked toward the hospital, and Alister watched him unfold the letter he’d written. He eased his grip on the cage and sat back and flexed his fingers. The metal had cut into his fingers deep enough to draw blood.
“Please, let this work.”
So far he had been able to elude the full wrath of the curse, and he was confident he could keep the casualties down to a minimum if he were to remain smart and manipulate the cop for as long as he remained alive.
Alister watched the sergeant emerge from the hospital with two officers in tow. Alister figured it was the same two men that had left his house because of the things they had seen. The idea of being able to get out of this situation with only one death on his hands suddenly seemed impossible. Death would get its fill this day, and he would get another harsh reminder that the thing that plagued him was inescapable and violent.
He shivered.
He felt as though the black shadow of death had sat down next to him. He quickly moved away, and although the seats around him were unoccupied, he knew it was there. He could sense it. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and he got goose bumps.
“Leave me be,” Alister said. “I can get out of this. I just need some time to think this through.”
A faint laughter that was deep and sinister quickened his heart and roused his fears. He wanted to run but knew he couldn’t because he was locked up with the wild animal.
“Control yourself.”
He groaned, looked to the floor and flexed his toes. The thunder of his heart was in his throat and so loud he could no longer hear the laughter.
The sergeant opened Alister’s door and stood with his head inside the car. “I’ve done all I can. I’m sorry.”
“It was in here with me, but you just let it out,” Alister said.
“I need you to show me the same respect I’ve shown you and come inside the hospital so the doctors can have a look at you.”
“Please, don’t do this to me.” Alister rocked back and forth. His focus remained on his feet, and he continued to flex and relax his toes.
“I’m just asking you to come with me.”
Alister looked at the sergeant. “I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Who were you talking to then?”
“Death.” He licked his lips. “It is here, and I’m hoping it will show you mercy.”
The sergeant looked around. “I think you’ll start to feel better after we get you inside.”
Alister scooted as far away from the sergeant as he could and could no longer sense death’s whereabouts. “I’m going to have to decline going inside that hospital and stay here.”
Alister closed his eyes and latched onto the cage. “I mean you and the other officers no disrespect.” The cage sliced into his cuts, but no amount of pain would make him let go.
The sergeant directed one of the officers to the other side of the cruiser, and that officer opened the door. “I’m going to have to ask you to step out of the car, Mr. Kunkle,” the other officer said.
In that instant, all of the fight left Alister and he loosened his grip on the cage. The sound of the other officer’s voice hit him like an unexpected punch to the gut.
“If you don’t come willingly,” the officer said, “then we’re going to have to use force. We don’t want to have to do that.”
Nausea made Alister’s stomach roll. Nothing about the moment felt real, and the sounds around him had become muffled and slow. A tremble deep inside his body built and threatened to surface.
“Get your ass out of the car,” the officer said, and he yanked Alister out by his arm. He pushed Alister against the car and forced his face onto the hood and one arm behind his back. “Because you are no longer cooperating, I’m going to have to place cuffs on you.”
Alister’s eyes bulged and his legs wobbled. His head snapped up, and he focused his gaze on the sergeant. “You!” he said, and spit flew from his mouth. “I’m holding you responsible for this man’s death! I did all I could to prevent it from going after him, but you just wouldn’t listen!”
The young officer cuffed Alister’s other wrist and pulled him off of the car. He faced him in the direction he wanted him to walk and gave him a shove. “Keep your mouth shut. You’re a crazy son of a bitch, you know that?”
Alister turned in time to see the cop stagger as if someone had landed a punch to the side of his head. He watched the shadow of death jump inside the man and make his body convulse.
Alister stumbled backward. “Did you see that?”
The young officer looked from Alister to the sergeant, confused and afraid. “My God, please help me.” He wiped the blood that began to trickle from his eyes.
The sergeant ran to a middle-aged doctor walking across the parking lot.
“Please, help me.”
The doctor followed the sergeant past Alister, who was on his knees crying and shouting his protest heavenward. The sergeant brought the doctor to the fallen officer lying facedown in a small pool of blood. The doctor immediately went to work on the police officer.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know,” the sergeant said. He looked to Alister. “He was staggering around, and he started to bleed from his eyes.”
“Do you know of any medical condition he might have?”
The sergeant looked to Alister, unable to respond. He was consumed with the realization that the man that had tried to warn him wasn’t so crazy after all.
“I’m sorry,” he said to Alister. He fell to his knees. He felt dizzy and could hear laughter all around him. “I could’ve helped you stop this.”
The laughter was booming and something out of his worst nightmares.