Harmon urinated in his pail. Mark had to go as well, and so he took his business outside. The air was lifeless, but he welcomed the respite from the reek of the shack. His gut was swimming.
He stepped around the shadowed side of the house. The meager light guided him, and he discovered a well-used cavity in the snowy ground. The same slime that lined Harmon’s piss bucket lay in thick, dark pools. The stench was raw.
Mark held his breath as he relieved himself. As he zipped up he turned away, nearly tripping over a log. He looked down, and staggered back in horror.
That was no log.
~
“Guess you found it,” Harmon said, as Mark sat down.
“Thanks for the warning.”
“You look kinda white. Even for you.”
“You’re just going to leave it?”
“You want it? Mount it on your wall.”
Mark could still taste the vomit on his lips. He couldn’t strike that image of the man’s severed arm out of his head. He checked his watch.
“Been doin’ that since you got here,” Harmon told him. “You better get a move on.”
“Not just yet,” Mark said. “There’s a lot more you haven’t told me.”
Harmon settled back. Suddenly, he didn’t seem like a man ready to surrender a secret. He seemed more like a man who had lost his will, ready to take that secret to the grave.
“I’m running out of time,” Mark said. “And I think you know what I really mean.”
“More’n you can ever know. But you gotta promise me somethin’. You okay with that?”
“I guess it depends, doesn’t it?”
“Only on you. Don’t need to get this off my chest, if that’s what you been thinkin’. Don’t need none of this no more. You get me?”
“Yes.”
“So we’re good?”
Mark considered, then nodded. “We’re good.”
“All right, then,” Harmon said. “This don’t go no further. No further than this table.”
Mark agreed.
“When they first come,” Harmon said, “the eyes, I’m talkin’—I remember thinkin’ deer, maybe. Tried sniffin’ whatever it was, but I come up empty. Just that dead air. That’s when I heard it. Sound I’ll never forget. A man don’t forget a scream like that.
“I run inside like my ass was on fire. Found Louise upstairs in our little girl’s room. She was holdin’ our Rosa for dear life. I never seen so much blood.
“He cut her. Carved up his sister’s face with that stick.”
“My God,” Mark said.
“I tore into his room. Doubled right over, like I was suckered with a ten-pound sledge. Didn’t know then how I got so sick, but you’re smart enough to figure it. The Dark was protectin’ itself. Tryin’ to keep me away. Anyway, there he was, holdin’ that thing in his hand. So help me, if that kid wanted to bleed me, there wasn’t a thing I coulda done.”
Mark studied the long scar that ran down Harmon’s cheek. The disfigurement had been overrun by the advancing growth, but the tender skin there was darker, a reminder even now.
“This he done later,” Harmon said, angling his head for a better view.
“What happened next?”
“Crawled my ass outta there. Lucky for me, he didn’t come after me. Thing was, soon as I shut that door I was able to get back on my feet. All that sick in my gut was gone.
“I went to see how my Rosa was. Them cuts were bad. Bad.
“Louise cleaned her up best she could. Said flat-out no about a doctor. I told her she was crazy, but I saw the scare in her eyes. She wouldn’t stand for me takin’ a chance with people like you. Don’t take that wrong. Besides, she cleaned up our baby pretty good. I mean, she was cut and all, but the bleedin’ had stopped. We figured she’d have to live with them scars for the rest of her life, but at least she’d get that chance.”
Harmon looked squarely across the table. “I got your word on that promise.”
Mark Pedersen nodded … and wondered if he could keep it.
~
Harmon sat very still, as if reconsidering his decision to go on. Finally, he did.
“The next mornin’, Rosa started to turn. Ain’t nothin’ could stop it. Later, after sundown—”
“Harmon?”
A small tear had formed in Harmon’s eye. He sniffled. “The boy come out. Louise an me were sittin’ right here, too scared to breathe. He never said boo … but he did. Got in my head like a bullet. Got in me.”
Harmon stopped then, and Mark had to coax him to continue.
“Got in me,” Harmon repeated. “Made me hurt my woman. Didn’t want to. You believe that, don’t you?”
Mark nodded.
Harmon swallowed. His gaze fell. “Dragged her screamin’ upstairs. Beat her and raped her. All night.”
He drank. “I’m damned for it. But I done worse.”