Chapter Twenty-Four

Despite my hopes, Rita didn’t stick around for long. Once Aggie had gone, the majestic racoon glow worm monster turned and darted back into the woods before I could even say “Thank you.”

I went back inside, tried to calm down, and worked out what my next move should be. After what I’d just seen, I now knew exactly what we were dealing with (more or less). Aggie was replaced. She was one of them. One of those things. She was strong. She was fast. She was able to regenerate and willing to kill. And for some reason, she had it out for me.

There were dozens of others that the radio had already identified as being replaced, and those were just the ones we knew about. This was shaping up to be a lot worse than I’d thought.

A part-timer named Daniel came in to start his shift a few hours later. When he saw me, he froze and asked, “You know your ear is bleeding?”

I touched it and winced at the pain. He was right. A piece of Aggie’s mirror must have sliced it open after the bullet hit it.

“I was not aware. Thank you.”

“Were you also not aware that… uh… you look like a bear slashed open your chest?”

I looked down at my t-shirt and the large circle of dried blood around the four deep scratch marks.

“Oh yeah, I guess you’re right. Probably a little too late to get stitches, huh?”

“Dude, are you okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

Daniel looked around the room, then asked, “Why don’t I take over the register and you can go get cleaned up?”

“Great idea.”

I hit the bathroom and ran some hot water, then I stripped down to my underwear and counted the bruises and scratches. That fight to the death ended up being a lot weirder than I’d expected. And in the end, the only person to die was some random passerby. Sure, he was trying to kill me, but I’m not completely sure he deserved to get slug-tongued to death by a headless Aggie vampire. I cleaned my wounds best I could in the given situation, splashed some water on my face for good measure. Suddenly, I started shaking.

My knees buckled and I hit the ground, shivering, convulsing, sobbing. The night’s rebound effect was finally coming back all at once. I pressed my hands to my face and tried to stay as quiet as possible while the tears and snot poured through the cracks in my fingers. When I was finally done, I felt everything. The aches in my bones. The pounding in my head. The bone-deep scratch marks that still hadn’t clotted all the way.

And then an unusual moment of clarity. A completely unrelated thought. What was that object those bounty hunters took from on top of the time clock? 

It looked an awful lot like a bug (the invasion-of-privacy type, not like the ones steadily colonizing the insides of the walls). Were they spying on us? Were they listening to me this whole time? What was the last thing I said before…

Oh shit! The conversation with O’Brien. I told her that “Jerry” was at the “Mathmetist compound.”

I wiped away the snot and blood, got dressed, and went back out to the front of the store. Before I reached the register, I looked outside and knew something was wrong.

Once Daniel saw me, he blurted out, “Hey, Jack, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about my paycheck.”

“Where’s the truck?”

“What?”

“There was a black Toyota Tundra parked outside by the pumps. Where is it now?”

Daniel looked outside. “Oh, I guess he must have moved it after he finished pumping gas.”

I walked closer to the door. Close enough to see that the truck was still in our lot, only now it was parked in the spot by the ice machine.

“Who? Who moved it?”

“What?”

“Who moved the truck?”

“You’re really trying to avoid answering this paycheck question, aren’t you?”

“God dammit, Daniel, just tell me who moved the fucking truck!”

“Jesus! Alright! It was that guy.” Daniel pointed down one of the aisles, at someone I couldn’t see. I walked slowly until I had eyes on him. The man at the end of the aisle. The man dressed in all camouflage, with a camo hat on top. He was crouched down next to the fishing supplies, and his hands were full of junk food. He grabbed a lure, then stood and walked up to the register.

Brian Locke didn’t even acknowledge me as he walked past. He dropped his items on the counter, let Daniel ring him up, then went outside to his truck and drove away.

“Everything okay, Jack?”

I circled behind the counter, reached down and picked up my notebook where I’d written down all the names of everyone who had been replaced. I added Brian’s name to the bottom of the list with an asterisk next to it.

Daniel tried again. “Jack?”

“You’re fired, Daniel. Business is slower than a dead turtle and I simply can’t afford to pay you anymore.”

“Wow. Okay.” Daniel nodded, took off his name badge, and dropped it on the counter. “Well, that’s alright, I guess. I was planning on quitting anyway.” He grabbed a roll of lottery scratch-offs and said, “By the way, I’m keeping these.”

“Knock yourself out.”

With that, he left the store. I picked up the phone and dialed Jerry’s number.

It rang. And rang. And rang.

And rang.

And rang…

And rang…

 

***

 

I tried Jerry’s number a few more times before deciding to take a break. I had to remind myself that it was still very early in the morning and most people in this town actually sleep and I didn’t have any real reason to start worrying yet.

Well, except for the fact that someone had scratched up the generic man’s perfectly generic face… and that’s a Jerry-move if I ever heard one. Plus, even if he hadn’t been arrested, there was still that nigh-indestructible slug-tongued monster grandma out there looking for murder.

I tried O’Brien’s phone next. When she answered, she was out of breath and sounded slightly aggravated, “Hello?”

“Hey, sorry, is this a bad time?”

“Yeah, I’m a little busy.”

“Everything okay?”

“Not trying to be rude, but when I said that I was a little busy-”

“Got it.”

“What do you need?”

“Jerry isn’t answering his phone. I tried calling his cell. I tried calling the compound. Now I’ve got a really bad feeling. I was wondering—”

“You want me to drive out and check on him.”

“Would you mind?”

“Is there a reason you think he may be in some kind of trouble?”

“Well, this is Jerry we’re talking about.”

“Was there a specific reason?”

I’ve never been very good at lying to her. But I tried my best anyway, “Noooo.”

Somehow, I could hear her rolling her eyes from the other side of the call. “Okay, here’s the deal. I’m not going to be able to tear myself away from duty right now. But I’ll send somebody out to check on him and report back. I’ll call you once I know something.”

“Thanks, Amy. You’re the best.”

I waited for a response, but none came. I soon realized that she had already hung up. Whatever she was in the middle of, it must have been important.

An incredibly uncomfortable half-hour passed without any new information, sending my lingering sense of dread into overdrive. With nothing better to do, I called the Mathmetist compound’s number again and let it ring for almost five minutes straight until—

“Hello?”

My blood ran cold. Somebody had picked up on the other end, but that wasn’t Jerry. The words fell out of my mouth, “What did you do with Jerry, you dickhead?!”

The man on the other side of the phone asked, “Who is this?”

“Who is this? No. Who is you?! I mean, is this… uh... Who are you?!”

“What?”

“This is Jack.”

Damn. He’d tricked me. Whoever this was, he was good.

“Oh, from the gas station?”

“Maybe. That depends. Who wants to know?”

“It’s me, Deputy Love. I’m here doing a drive-by wellness check for O’Brien, but if this is the right place, there’s nobody here.”

“And you just… answered the phone?”

“Well I wasn’t planning on it, but it wouldn’t stop ringing. O’Brien didn’t say what it is I’m supposed to be looking for here. Would you mind telling me what’s going on?”

“You don’t see any puddles of blood or signs of, like, a fight or anything, do you?”

“Hang on, let me check. Nope.” He didn’t actually take any time to “check,” and I couldn’t help but feel like he wasn’t taking this seriously.

“Jerry isn’t answering his phone, and I’m worried that he’s in some kind of trouble.”

“Why?”

“What?”

“Why are you worried? Did he say something? Is he involved in some kind of illegal activity? It’s okay; you can tell me. I’m a cop. Anything you say stays between us.”

“Does… does that actually work?”

“More than you’d expect. I deal with a lot of stoners. Look, here’s the deal, I’d be willing to bet your pal is probably off somewhere hanging out or worshipping the devil or whatever it is you kids do for fun. But if you think his failure to check in with you constitutes the need for a missing persons report, you’ll have to come down to the station and go through the process just like everybody else. We can’t treat you special just because of whatever’s going on between you and O’Brien. Understand?”

That took me by surprise. “What’s going on between me and O’Brien?”

“None of my business.”

“Will you at least go and check to see if his wallet and cell phone are sitting next to his bed?”

“I’ve walked around this place like ten times. Gotta be thirty beds here at least. You’ll have to tell me which one is his. While you’re at it, mind telling me what the hell this place even is?” I found it very strange how little Deputy Love knew about his own town or its history. Before I could fill him in, I heard him say, “Hold on. There’s something here.” He screamed this next part, “Sheriff’s department! Stay right where you are!”

“Who is it? Is it Jerry?”

“Oh shit. OH SHIT! I’ll call you back,” he yelled before hanging up and leaving me in total suspense. I took a second to allow the momentary panic wear off, then I dialed another number.

Rosa picked up on the third ring with a sleepy, “Hello?”

“Hey Rosa. Did I wake you?”

“Jack? No, I was just… sleeping.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. What’s up?”

“Have you heard from Jerry recently?”

“Not since yesterday. Why?”

“I can’t get him to answer his phone, and I’m getting worried.”

Rosa was the first person not to stop and question why I was worried. She already understood. She just said, “I can be there in fifteen.”

“Great. Thank you. And one more thing, would you mind bringing an extra t-shirt?”

 

***

 

Rosa showed up twenty minutes later looking a little frazzled, but maybe that was just her natural reaction to seeing me in my current state. She’d brought an oversized t-shirt with a cartoon bug-eyed dog beneath the words “pug-life.” I threw it on directly over the bloodied remains of the shirt I was already wearing, then zipped up my hoodie.

“Thanks,” I said.

She looked around the gas station for a second, then asked nervously, “What’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… Why do you look like you just lost a fight to a lawnmower? And where’s O’Brien?” Her eyes got big as a thought hit her. “Is it Spencer? Is he back?”

“No, not Spencer.” The part I didn’t say was, this is much worse than Spencer.

“Then what?”

“I had a couple of unruly customers last night. Had to ask them to leave.”

“Oh my god, are you okay? Did you call the cops?”

Right then, almost like it were following some cosmic cue, a sheriff’s department cruiser pulled into the parking lot. I noticed it before Rosa, and instantly reached under the counter to make sure the baseball bat was still there.

“Rosa, come around here with me,” I said with eyes trained on the vehicle. I could see now that it was Deputy Love behind the wheel, pulling into the closest spot. He left the car running as he stepped out.

“What?” Rosa asked, confused.

“Come over here and stay close behind me.”

“Why?”

Oh great, she’s going to pick now to start asking questions again.

“Please.”

She must have detected the urgency in my voice, because she did as I asked, walking behind the counter and standing right behind me.

She whispered, “Is this another Casper Van Dien moment?”

I doubt my answer was much comfort, but it was the truth.

“I don’t know.”

Love squeezed himself through the front door and came right up to the counter. That short walk from the car to here was enough to leave him out of breath. Was this the same guy I was speaking with on the phone less than half an hour earlier? Or was he another one of those things?

“Hey there, Deputy. Long time no see. What brings you in this morning?”

“Boar.” He said, angrily. I slowly started to pull the bat from its spot beneath the register, trying to be careful that the deputy didn’t see what I was doing.

“I don’t know what that means,” I responded in a friendly, unassuming, totally not-suspicious manner.

The deputy closed his eyes and rubbed them with the palms of his hands. This would have been the perfect opportunity to get a surprise attack in, but I couldn’t do something like that without being certain, so I waited.

He looked at me like he had no idea I was considering all the ways to kill him. “There was a wild boar in there. At your friend’s place. It chased me up one of the bunk beds. I tried calling for help but apparently cell phones don’t get service out there.”

Rosa peeked out from behind me to ask, “How did a wild boar get in there?”

Deputy Love seemed startled at the sight of her. “Oh, hello, Marta. I didn’t see you there.” I took a small step to the side to cut off their line of eye contact. I still didn’t know what I was dealing with, but I wasn’t going to drop my guard just yet. Luckily, Love didn’t seem to notice or care. “As for the boar, I’m tempted to believe your friend Jerry lured it in there on purpose.”

“Why would you think that?” I asked.

“Well, it had a bow on top of its head, and its hooves were painted with nail polish, so I’m going to go out on a limb and say your crazy-ass friend was keeping that thing as a pet. I’ve seen tweekers do some stupid shit, but that takes the cake.”

Rosa stepped out from behind me, but stayed close to my side. “You didn’t hurt it, did you?”

“I’m fine. Thanks for asking. No, I didn’t hurt the stupid boar. I had to outrun it back to the car. That thing was mad as a cut snake.”

Now I knew he was lying. “You outran the boar?”

“Yeah.”

“You outran the boar?”

Deputy Love crossed his arms. “Well, you don’t have to be mean about it, but no. Okay? I had a protein bar in my pocket. I threw it on the ground and got out of there while the thing was distracted.”

“A protein bar?”

“Alright, fine! It was a Snickers. Are you happy, now, Jack? Does that really matter? Does it change anything at all? Jesus. I thought we were cool!”

Right then, I had a bad idea and took it on impulse, grabbing a praline from the display and tossing it at the deputy’s face. It smacked him right on the nose and bounced off onto the counter.

“Ow! Shit, Jack! What the hell?”

He didn’t have that same unnatural reaction time that Evil-Aggie had shown. I could assume that meant he probably wasn’t another one of them. And if he was, he probably hadn’t come here to kill us, yet. I went ahead and pushed the bat back into its place, hoping Rosa would have the good sense to at least wait until we were alone before asking why I had it.

“Sorry, I meant to offer you a free praline, but it slipped out of my clumsy fingers.”

“You can’t just go around fast-balling candy into people’s faces like that! Jesus, Jack. You know that’s a felony, right? Holy crap; today just keeps getting better and better. Am I bleeding?”

He tilted his head back and gestured for me to look up his nostrils.

“No, you’re not bleeding.”

“Consider yourself lucky.” He reached down and took the praline. “I will take this, though. Blood sugar, ya know?” He opened the package and took a bite, talking as he chewed, “Anyway, I just wanted to come out here and get the ball rolling on your friend’s missing person report. Because when he shows back up, I’m going to smack him upside the head for playing with dangerous animals. Those things carry rabies, you know.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Love finished the snack in two bites, licked his fingers, then pulled a notepad and pen from his breast pocket. “First off, what’s your friend’s whole name? Jerry…?”

“You know, it’s funny you should ask that. We don’t know. He never actually gave us a last name. Just a whole bunch of firsts.”

Rosa chimed in, “What? No, his last name is Pa-”

I reached out and pinched her arm. She squeaked and jumped back. I tried to offer an innocent smile to the deputy while he bounced his eyes between the two of us.

He said this next part slowly, “You don’t know your friend’s last name?”

“Is that absolutely necessary?” I asked.

“Well, technically no, I guess. But it sure would help. Why don’t you just tell me everything you do know about him. Where’s he from? Does he have any family?”

“No, no family. And not local.”

“Has he got anywhere he likes to go and hang out?”

“Just here.”

“Really?” he muttered something under his breath that sounded like that’s messed up.

“Does he have any friends? Anybody he likes to spend time with outside of work?”

“Just us.”

He mumbled again. Then, “Is he dating anybody? Girlfriend? Boyfriend?”

“I don’t think he’s seeing anyone at the moment.”

“Alright. Can you at least tell me what he looks like? Because right now I don’t even have enough to start a report.”

“It’s Jerry. You’ve seen him here a hundred times. You remember.” 

I could see from his face that he did not remember.

I turned to Rosa. 

“Well,” she said, “let me think… He’s tall, but not that tall.” 

I tagged in. “Scraggly blonde hair, but it still looks like that intentionally unintentional look. And he’s usually in need of a shave.”

Rosa added, “Athletic.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “But not overly so. Definitely not buff. He looks like he plays soccer. But, like Mexican soccer, you know?”

Rosa elaborated, “He’s thin, but fit. He’s got, like, a dancer’s body. Really blue eyes. And he’s normally smiling. Like, I bet he probably smiles in his sleep. Smells like cigarettes and breath mints. Surprisingly good posture.”

“Yeah, I noticed that too,” I said. “And he’s got a few tattoos, but you won’t see them unless he’s shirtless, which he might be.”

Rosa picked it up next, “His teeth are totally movie-star straight, which is annoying because he’s always smoking and he’s going to ruin that perfect smile and he acts like he doesn’t care, but I think he secretly does.”

I nodded, “But that’s just the way he carries himself in general. Like he doesn’t care. Totally doing his own thing.”

“It’s so frustrating sometimes!” Rosa blurted out. “But he’s also extremely caring. The kind of guy who will always take the time to catch a giant spider and put it outside instead of killing it. Or catch a giant rat and put it inside because he thinks it’s cold.”

Love wasn’t writing any of this down. Instead, he just stared at us. “Do you two have an actual photograph of him? I think that might work out better than... whatever the hell this is.”

“Oh,” Rosa said, catching herself, “Yeah, sorry. I’ve got a recent one on my phone, but it’s in the car. Hang on. I’ll be right back.”

Love watched as she hurried outside, then turned to me and said, “Damn, Jack. How many girlfriends do you have?”

“What? She’s not my girlfriend. Why does everybody always think—”

“I was making conversation. I don’t actually care.”

“Gotcha.”

“While I have you alone here, let me ask you this. Was Jerry depressed?”

“No. No, I don’t think so.”

“You sure? Because based on everything you just told me—”

“Where’s O’Brien?”

The mental gearshift seemed to take him by surprise. That was fine by me, I didn’t care for the direction he was taking things, and it was already obvious that he wouldn’t be much help anyway. After a few long seconds, he responded, “I’m not supposed to say, but she’s on some kind of super-secret assignment. Supposedly it’s over Clyde’s head even. Not that I would know any of the details. Nobody around here tells me anything. But she probably won’t be available any time soon. Now, back to your friend. The reason I’m asking is because it makes a difference if we’re looking for a missing person... or if we’re looking for a body.”

Now I felt something I hadn’t felt in a while. Real anger. I tried my best to keep it tied down as I responded, “Well if it’s not too much trouble, Deputy, let’s assume he’s alive.”

Love stuck around for about ten more minutes, asking pointless questions and wasting precious time. When he finally left, it was with a warning for us to “leave this to the professionals.”

As soon as he was out of the building, I turned to Rosa and said, “I’m going to Jerry’s place. Do you mind watching the gas station?”

“What? No!”

“Good, thank you.”

“What? No! I meant yes; I do mind.”

“Rosa…”

“I’m coming with you! He’s my friend, too. Besides, how were you planning on getting there? Walking?”

Honestly, I was planning on stealing her car, but now that the thought had time to marinate, I realized how bad of an idea it was. I’d wasted enough time already, and there was no point in arguing.

“Fine.”

Right then, Old Bob Hoover appeared on the other side of the counter with an armful of canned beans. Like most days, the only thing he had on was a pair of overalls and several days’ worth of musk. He dropped his supplies in front of me to ring up.

“Old Bob!” I said, loud enough to make him flinch, “I need you to watch the store for us for a few minutes, okay? It won’t take long. An hour, tops. The register is super simple. You scan things here and put the money in here.”

He uttered a nervous, “Wh-What?” as I handed him my name badge and the keys to the cash register and pulled the bat out from its hiding place.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. I owe you one. Thanks!” With that, Rosa and I hurried out of the gas station to the parking lot, where we jumped into Rosa’s car and hit the road.