[Part I][Part II][Part III][Part IV][Part V][Part VI][Part VII][Part VIII][Part IX][Part X][Author's Notes]
TRIBAL ORDER
By Ryan Smith
In
the outer ridges of town there was an apartment building. It was
an apartment building that had been there for over twenty years
and was home to many people. The building had grown over the
years; when it was first built, the building had one level with
two apartments in the back and the desk at the front. Now it was
ten stories high and had five good-sized apartments on each
level. In total, it had fifty rooms in it. One thing that didn't
change over the years was the name; the name had lasted ever
since the grand opening. The building was known as the
'Comfortable Stronghold'. It was kind of a stupid name if you
asked many of the residents of the town. The story is based
within this building. We begin with Roger Vincent. Roger was
thirty-five and lived with his wife and child in room 47 on the
tenth floor. The very top. Roger's wife, Ruth, was thirty-four.
They had met at a bar when they were in their late twenties. Ruth
was fairly short and had curly blond hair. Roger on the other
hand, was a taller man and had black hair which had a slight
brownish tint to it. Their daughter, Beth, was only a year old.
Her screaming often woke Roger in the middle of the night and
made him very angry. He never really liked kids and had been
hoping for a boy as he wanted to pass on the family name. That
was something girls didn't really do, unless they kept their
maiden names after marriage or if they didn't get married at all.
It was twelve-thirty in the
afternoon, Roger was sitting on the couch infront of the
television with a can of beer in one hand and a lit cigarette in
the other. Ruth didn't like it when he smoked because she thought
it would do harm to the baby. Roger didn't usually listen. Roger
had a job as a mechanic, but today was Saturday, which was one of
the two days a week he didn't work, Sunday was the other. Ruth
worked at one of the local banks, but she had to take time off
for the baby. Ruth walked out of the bedroom with a basket of
dirty cloths. She set the basket down and looked at Roger in
disgust.
"Roger, you know it's
unattractive when you smoke, eh?" she said. Roger knew it
was bull, so he made a counter comment; it seemed to be one of
his talents.
"I can't remember Ruth, was I
smoking when I met you?" The answer was 'yes' and they both
knew it. "And you married me!" he added when she
paused. Then, a look of anger went across Ruth's face. Roger knew
what that look meant: he had gone too far. At this point in time
the little devil and angel, Id and Super-ego, were on Roger's
shoulders. Mister Super-ego was saying: "Look Roger, you've
made her angry, now are you happy? I think you'd better
apologize," and Id was saying: "Whoa man! She's pissed!
Look at that red face, kinda makes you think of a tomato, doesn't
it? Hehe!" Fortunately for Roger, the little angel won.
"Damn you Freud..." Roger
said under his breath. "Sorry babe, I guess I got carried
away." Roger put the cigarette out in the ash tray and
pulled the pack out of his pocket. He looked at it and sighed.
Roger tossed it to his wife who caught it.
"Thank you," Ruth said;
the look was slowly fading away now.
"I'll take the laundry down
for you, how's that?" said Roger. His wife smiled.
"Be my guest!" she
replied. Roger took one last drink of his beer and set it down on
the table. He stood up and picked up the basket.
"Au revoir, mon femme,"
Roger said in his worst french accent. He walked through the
front door and out into the hall. All Roger could hear as he
stepped into the hallway was one of his neighbours shouting
halfway down the hall. It was Buddy Green, Roger's elderly
neighbour. Buddy was a black man who lived a couple doors down in
room 49. Roger decided to go and see what all the yelling was
about.
"I pay my rent and I expect my
home to be animal free! I come out of the washroom to see a big
puddle of piss sittin' in the middle a my hardwood floor! I would
have broken a hip if I would have slipped in that!" yelled
Buddy.
"Calm down mister Green, I'll
clean it up right away," Roger heard the janitor say. Roger
walked up to Buddy.
"What's happening Bud?"
asked Roger.
"Look!" Buddy said. He
pointed to the middle of his apartment's floor where a large
puddle of liquid was sitting. It wasn't just any liquid, it was
urine. A lone animal could not have made a puddle that big, It
would've had to have been a human. As disgusting as it sounds, a
man must have broken into Buddy's apartment in the middle of the
night and urinated on his floor. This was the only conclusion the
three of them could think of. They didn't discover the true
origin of the puddle of urine until a couple days later. They
really didn't want to know what terrors awaited them.
Ralph Berg was a
stocky man. His dirty, light brown hair stuck out from his red
Budweiser hat in a 'hat head' fashion. He was single; that wasn't
hard to guess. Ralph was a slob, and not many people in the
building really liked him. Roger occasionally invited him up to
his apartment to watch football and play cards. Ralph was over to
Buddy's apartment one night about a month ago. It was a poker
party, and about nine people showed up. Ralph got pathetically
drunk and sat on Buddy's kitchen table. He broke it and wasn't
allowed back into Bud's apartment ever again. So that pretty well
destroyed their friendship.
Ralph was heading down the stairs
to the building's larndry room with a bag containing his dirty
cloths. It was once in a blue moon when Ralph washed his clothes.
The moon must have been a deep azure that day. Ralph lived on the
third level so he had to take the elevator three floors down to
the main floor. The laundry room was in the basement. The sound
of whistling struck him as he entered the laundry area. It was a
terrible, off-key tune which ripped into Ralph's hangover-beaten
head. It was Roger Vincent.
"Roger! Where the hell did you
pick up that tune?" asked Ralph. Roger looked over his
shoulder while pouring the soap into the machine. He stopped
whistling when the soap was gone and then put the lid down on the
washing machine. He threw the soap box into the garbage.
"Hey Berg, how are
things?" asked Roger. Ralph smiled and opened the machine
beside Roger.
"Pretty good, 'cept I got this
real bad hangover," said Ralph. He laughed and dumped the
bag of clothes into the machine. Ralph closed the machine and
turned it on before looking over at Roger. "I was thinkin'
last night that you should have another party," said Ralph.
He popped some money into the soap machine and pressed the button
for the cheapest soap he could get. It dropped out and he dumped
it into the machine.
"Well I would, but Ruth'd
freak. She is really sensative about this baby. I think the
damned thing could sleep through a party. Even if it did wake
up... so it loses some sleep! It's not like it works for a
living. It wakes me up every night and I'll be damned if I can
get back to sleep!" said Roger.
"Well, someone's on the rag
today! Why're you in such a bitch?" asked Ralph, sitting on
the bench and grabbing a newspaper off the shelf on the wall.
"I had to give Ruth another
pack of cigarettes today, she won't let me smoke in the house
anymore. I'll bet she goes and smokes 'em when I'm not there,
because I never get the pack back," said Roger.
"Damn," said Ralph.
"Well, I guess I'll come down
in a bit and check on the laundry. Want me to bring you down a
beer?" asked Roger.
"Sure, hair of the dog!"
said Ralph, already anticipating his first beer of the day. Roger
went up the stairs and the sound of the door closing followed.
Ralph sat alone reading the newspaper in almost complete silence.
The machines were the only things making noise and it was
starting to annoy Ralph. After a while, a rapping sound started
coming from the washing machine that Ralph was using.
TAP-tap-tap-tap, TAP-tap-tap-tap, TAP-tap-tap-tap,
TAP-tap-tap-tap. The stocky man set the paper aside and stood up
off the bench. He walked forward slowly as the noise grew louder.
TAP-tap-tap-tap, Tap-tap-tap-tap...
Ralph stopped when he was right
against the front of the machine. He slowly reached out a hand
for the lid's handle.When he made contact with the handle, Raplh
grasped it slowly and then opened it up just a crack. The crack
was about two inches wide, just enough for him to look in. The
sound didn't sound like it was coming from inside the machine. It
was like something was standing on the machine and banging on it.
But Ralph saw nothing.. TAP-tap-tap-tap, TAP-tap-tap-tap,
TAP-tap-tap-tap. Ralph opened the machine a little more but the
noise quickly stopped and there was at last a moment of silence.
Ralph let go of the lid and it
dropped down with a loud metallic thud. Then suddenly, the lid
flew open with the force of a swift punch and hit Ralph in the
chin. He flew backward and landed against the seat of the bench.
Blood trickled down his lips from his nose. Ralph shook his head
rapidly, trying to make sense of what had just happened. But he
had barely figured that out when a small pair of footprints
splatted down to the ground infront of him. No body, just wet
footprints. Like a child's footprints. Another pair followed, and
another, and another, and another. In total, five plopped down to
the ground infront of him. Then, the footprints began moving
forward as if five invisible children where walking towards him
and leaving footprints behind them. Suddenly, Ralph felt pressure
on his gut, a lot of pressure. Something was now standing on his
chest. Then the other four stepped up onto him. The pressure was
released and five pairs of footprints appeared around him. He
felt small hands grab at him.
More footprints plopped down from
the washing machine and grabbed at him. Ralph then heard a
growling which sounded a lot like hissing. A stabbing pain went
up his left arm. Ralph looked down at his arm and saw that a
large chunk had been chewed out of it. He was very confused.
Ralph continued to scream as ten other chunks were taken out all
over his body. His scream was muffled. Something had put its
child-size hand over his mouth. Then Ralph was lifted and he
began to move. He was weak now, too weak to do anything. All
Ralph could do was sit and watch this horror unfold before his
eyes. They were carting him over to the dryer. He saw the dryer
door open and made a small yelping sound. At that moment, Ralph
hoped he'd die before they did to him what they were going to do.
Unfortunatly for him, Ralph wasn't granted his wish.
Roger made his way
down to the main floor for the second time that day. This time
instead of carrying a basket full of laundry, he carried two
beers. One of the beers was for him, the other was for his friend
Ralph whom he'd left waiting in the laundry room. When he entered
the elevator, Ralph had a sudden craving for a cigarette. Before
the baby was born, Roger would have been able to just reach into
his pocket and pull out a cigarette, but now he wasn't allowed to
smoke. He pushed the button on the wall to go down and after a
few short seconds, the doors opened and the janitor, John
Brandon, walked out with his mop and bucket. He was headed for
Buddy Green's apartment.
"Hey Johnny," said Roger.
"Good day Mr. Vincent,"
Johnny replied. The janitor left the elevator and Roger went in.
Roger pressed the button that said Ground Level. The elevator
went straight down to the main floor and he stepped out into the
hallway. The door to the laundry room was on his right. Roger
opened the door and as soon as he did, a foul smell hit his nose.
It was worse than anything he had smelled before. Almost foul
enough to make him vomit. Roger heard the dryer running, but it
sounded like it was overloaded.
"Ralph?" he called down
the stairs. No answer. Were those Ralph's clothes that smelled so
bad? It couldn't have been, the smell was too strong. Roger set
the beers down on the top step and slowly made his way down the
stairs.
"Hey Ralph! What's goin'
on?" Roger called. Still no answer. Had Ralph fallen asleep
on the bench and left his clothes in the dryer for too long? No,
the dryer would have shut itself off. Roger finally reached the
last step and he stepped into the laundry room. He slowly walked
through the room. The smell was strongest here. Roger looked at
the bench and was shocked when he saw a patch of blood on the
cement floor. Roger noticed that the washing machine's lid was
open and there was more blood on the top of it. He did not see
the footprints as they were dried up by now. Roger was starting
to get frightened. He wanted to give himself a kick in the ass
right there. It wasn't like a grown man to be scared of a little
blood. Of course, it wasn't the blood that terrified Roger, it
was the fear of what he would find out.
Then, Roger noticed a red blood
trail, but it was small, as if the blood had dripped. He followed
it to the front of the dryer which was sounding extremely
overloaded. Roger reached out, plugging his nose of course, and
shut the dryer off. When it slowed down, Roger reached slowly for
the door on the front of the machine. He grasped the handle with
his right hand, his left was holding his shirt over his nose.
Roger yanked open the dryer and let
out a loud and paranoid scream that sounded like he had just lost
a limb. What he saw in that dryer was the most revolting thing he
had ever seen: Ralph Berg's body was now hanging out of the
dryer's door. He had been shoved into the dryer. His eyes were
still open and his hair was singed, as well as his eyebrows and
flesh. His mouth was wide open. Looking closely, Roger realised
that Ralph had a chunk ripped out of his left arm, which, along
with the right, was broken. Baked blood crusted around his nose
and mouth and his head looked battered. Down on the floor, beside
the dryer, was a small patch of liquid. Not water, beer, or
blood, but urine again. Roger whirled around; he couldn't scream.
He ran up the stairs and into the hallway. The first person he
saw was Phill Larson, a middle-aged man with firey red hair.
"Ralph... He.... He's
in..." said Roger. Phill grabbed Roger's shoulders.
"Roger! Get a hold of yourself
man! Calm down and explain to me what happened," said Phill.
Roger took a few deep breaths and started to talk again.
"I went down and found Ralph
Berg shoved in the dryer," said Roger, his voice was
unstable.
"Is he dead?" asked
Phill, confused.
"Yes... And he isn't
pretty," said Roger.
"All right, I'll go check it
out. You go back up to your apartment, okay?" said Phill.
Roger nodded his head. Phill had always been calm. The most
excited anyone had ever seen him was when he tried to smack a
wasp nest out of a tree and the wasps counter attacked.
Roger walked slowly to the elevator
and pressed the button. It didn't take long to open because no
one had used it since he came down to meet Ralph with the beers.
He walked in and pressed the button that had the black ten on it
and the doors closed. Roger looked up at the security camera,
like most people in the building did as they entered the
elevator. He couldn't help but wonder who was behind there. He
had never seen the security people before. Roger took a step to
the left, and the camera tilted to look at him. He noticed this
and then stepped forward. The camera followed him, fixed on his
position. Obviously, the people in the security room had noticed
that Roger had been looking at the camera. Roger smiled and
waved. It was a false smile, he wasn't happy at all. Ralph had
been his friend and seeing him brutally beaten up and shoved in a
dryer really got to him.
When the doors to the elevator
opened, Roger walked out. Buddy was in the hall, looking in his
room and pointing. As Roger walked by, he looked in the room and
saw John cleaning up the urine. At that moment, standing in that
position, Buddy reminded Roger of a Nazi SS that he'd seen in an
old World War II documentary. Roger stopped and tapped Buddy on
the shoulder. Buddy turned around and a smile spread across the
old man's face.
"What's the matter Roger? You
look like you've seen a ghost," said Buddy.
"Johnny, come here," said
Roger.
"What is it Roger?" asked
John. When John and Buddy were standing infront of him, Roger
started to talk.
"I... I met Ralph in the
laundry room a little while ago and--" Roger was cut off by
Buddy.
"Oh great, what the hell'd he
do this time?" stated Buddy.
"He does his laundry?"
asked John, looking utterly confused. As I said before, everyone
knew Ralph as a slob.
"Dammit, let me finish!"
Roger said.
"Okay, okay! Continue..."
said Buddy, waving his hands in the air like he was saying 'back
off'.
"I told him I'd get him a
beer...," Buddy made a face which looked funny on his
wrinkled face and Roger stared him down. "...I went back up
to the apartment and grabbed a couple beers. Then, when I went
back down... I smelled something funny--" Roger was cut off
again, this time Buddy was laughing fairly hard.
"Dammit! I found him in the
damned dryer with a chunk ripped out of his arm!" Roger
said, sounding almost like he was being carted away by men in
white coats. The laughter died out of Buddy and his wrinkly face
went cold.
"He's dead?" asked John.
"Was the dryer on?" asked
Buddy.
"Yes, the damn thing was on
and yes he is dead," answered Roger.
"But who would..." John
started.
"Shit... I think I'm actually
feeling sorry for the poor bastard," said Buddy.
"Phill is down there now, I
don't know how he'll take it," said Roger. "I'm going
to lay down for a while. I'm just a little shocked at this whole
thing,"
"Okay Roger, I'll come by your
apartment in about an hour. I'll go check Ralph out right
now," said Buddy. John nodded slowly behind him. He was a
bit frightened. The mop was still being held in his right hand.
Roger nodded and then walked back down toward his room. Ruth had
the ironing board all set up and the iron ready to go. She was
sitting on the couch reading a newspaper, probably the same one
Ralph had been reading prior to his eventful death. Roger walked
quickly through the door and went straight into the bedroom.
"Roger honey? Where are the
clothes?" she asked. She got no answer from her husband.
Ruth put down the paper and headed into the room. When she got
there, Ruth saw that Roger was lying on his belly in the middle
of the bed.
"Roger? What's wrong?"
she asked. Roger rolled over and looked up at her.
"I found Ralph Berg shoved in
a running dryer. He... he had a chunk missing out of his arm and
he was all burnt and..." he explained. Roger suddenly
couldn't speak.
"Oh my goodness..." Ruth
replied. "Ralph's dead?" The only answer she could get
out of her husband was a slow nod. Finally, he spoke again.
"It was the worst thing I have
ever seen in my life. I can't get the picture out of my
head!" he said.
"Well come on, let's sit on
the couch and watch some TV, that might get it off your mind. Do
other people know yet?" asked Ruth. Roger nodded the same
slow nod he had used before. Meanwhile, in the laundry room,
Phill looked down in horror at the body of Ralph Berg. Police
were there now, looking at the body.
"Sir, you'll have to leave the
area," said one of the officers.
"Sure thing," Phill said.
"Thank you," the officer
said. Phill walked up the steps and met Buddy and John halfway.
"Is it pretty bad?" asked
Buddy as they walked up the stairs.
"I'll say... Jesus, I nearly
threw up looking at him. The cops are taking care of it
now," answered Phill.
"Have they found any
evidence?" asked John.
"Well..." said Phill,
stopping on the top step. "I did see a puddle of urine
beside the dryer," he finished. After that statement, both
Buddy and John's faces looked shocked and disgusted.
"What kind of sick bastard is
this?" said Buddy. Phill looked confused.
"Buddy found a big puddle of
urine on his floor today, I just finished cleaning it up,"
said John. Phill shook his head and they headed outside.
That night Roger was lying in his
bed, looking up at the ceiling. He just couldn't get the image
out of his brain: Ralph's carcass hanging out of the dryer, all
fried up and mangled. Then, he actually pictured somebody doing
this to him. It made him sick, and the urine just confused him.
As did the chunk out of his friend's arm. It was then that he
heard Beth crying. For some reason, Ruth didn't get up. She
usually did if the baby was crying. She must have been tired.
Roger got up and was about to walk into the room when the baby's
crying stopped. He was then about to go back to bed when he heard
something slam against the wall of the baby's room. He was about
to go check when he heard little feet pitter-pattering on the
tile floor of the kitchen. Then, the feet were muffled by the
carpet. It sounded as if the baby had jumped out of her crib and
was running around. But Roger knew his daughter couldn't walk. He
turned around just in time to feel pressure pushing against his
belly. Roger fell backward and tried to scream but something had
its hand over his mouth.
It was then that he heard the laugh
of a child all around his head. And it wouldn't stop. It sounded
like fifteen children were laughing in his ears. Then, he gripped
the invisible being around what he thought was its waist and
hurled it across the room. He ran back into bed. Ruth still did
not wake up. Roger hid his head under the blanket, but he still
heard the laughter in all directions, coming closer, and closer,
and closer. He then heard the sound of sticks being hit against
the ground. And it had a beat. THUMP-thump-thump-thump,
THUMP-thump-thump-thump, and it kept coming closer. The laughter
kept getting louder. Louder and closer. And then, Roger heard
breathing in his ear. It was then that he pulled the cover off
his head and saw fourteen pairs of bright yellow eyes and one
pair of bright red eyes. He saw the face to which the red eyes
belonged. It was green and had long pointed teeth which were a
deep yellow. The creature was small and he could see its black
hair tied back. It was holding a spear and had three horizontal
red stripes under each red eye. Then, it let out a childish
laugh. Roger frightened beyond all reason.
Then, in a state of panic, Roger
reached out and grabbed the creature's spear. The fourteen yellow
eyes backed off. The red ones stood still. It was at this point
that Roger noticed the other faces. They didn't have red lines
under their eyes.The one with the lines must have been the
leader.
Roger held the spear out and the
creature grinned its pointy-toothed grin. Then, Roger drove the
spear forward and it went into the creature's guts. He let go of
the spear and the creature dropped to the floor. The other
creatures backed off and disappeared. Roger looked down at the
one he had just killed and noticed that it began to rot, rapidly.
Infact, it disappeared in a matter of seconds. Roger went back to
sleep, he was now tired.
"Oh my God!" Roger woke
up that morning to his wife screaming.
"What is it Ruth?" he
asked, sounding half asleep. Ruth was infront of the door to the
baby's room. He saw her fall down on her knees and she began
crying. Roger hurried out of bed and rushed to her side. She
pointed into Beth's room, and what Roger saw was even more
revolting than the image of Ralph in the dryer. What he saw would
take a lot longer to get out of his mind. The crib was empty and
Beth's body was lying on the floor, on her belly and she was
headless. Her veins stuck out of her neck in a horrifying
picture. Her head was on the other side of the room. Roger fell
to the ground as well. And then, when he looked up, he saw what
he thought he'd see: a puddle of urine. It was at this point that
Roger Vincent realised that the events of the night had not been
a dream...
Following the
murder of Beth Vincent, daughter of Roger Vincent, there was
turmoil. Ruth broke down; you would too if you found your baby
lying dead on the floor. It was bad enough the child was dead,
but seeing her decapitated was the straw that broke the camel's
back. The story continues with Roger Vincent sitting in the back
seat of a police car. He was angry, frightened, confused, and
depressed as he sat there.
During the crying fits that
followed the discovery of the dead child, Ruth discovered
something about her child's death. She had felt Roger get up
during the night and she knew something was going on when the
baby suddenly stopped crying. She had no reason to believe that
her own husband would do such a thing as murder his own child,
but right there on the carpet it all seemed to make sense. Roger
always hated the way the baby woke him up in the middle of the
night and Ruth had been using the baby to make Roger stop
smoking. Also, he was the only one up that night. The police also
decided that it was he who killed Ralph Berg. Roger always seemed
to be at the scene of the crime and there was a similar urine
stain everywhere there was a murder. Of course, a proper blood
test had yet to be performed. Regardless, all of this added up to
a double murder by Roger Vincent. None of his friends even
bothered to defend him. Roger wasn't really worried; he knew if
they did a blood test, it wouldn't match up.
Roger sat in the back of the police
car, hand cuffs and everything, while the police tried to get
Ruth under control. He looked through the window and saw one of
the two police officers walk toward the car. The officer walked
around the front of the car and opened the driver's side door. He
sat down in the car and waited for his partner. Roger continued
to look through the window at his wife. He was feeling a great
deal of hatred toward her right now, but he understood why she
had had him arrested. Still, he didn't like it. Roger saw Phill
walk up beside Ruth and put his arm around her. Johnny Brandon
looked from behind Phill at Roger with a frightened stare. He
mouthed something that looked like 'I know' and Roger took note
of this. What did he know?
At that moment, Roger wished he
could read lips a little better because Phill was saying
something and nodding his head. The police officer patted Ruth on
the shoulder and then turned around. He headed to the passenger
side of the car and got in. As the car pulled away, Roger looked
through the window to see Phill, Johnny, Buddy, Ruth and a bunch
of other people staring back at him. When the car turned the
corner and the group went out of view, Roger looked through the
cage and at the two police officers.
"You are one sick son of a
bitch," said the officer who was driving the car. He was
looking at Roger from the rear view mirror.
"I didn't do it," said
Roger, sounding beaten.
"Sure," said the second
officer. And there was no further discussion in the car until the
three of them reached the police station. The town was fairly
large so it did have its own prison which contained twenty cells.
The meals were made in a kitchen and then delivered to the cells
so the inmates never really left the confines of their cells,
except for showers. Both police officers got out of the car and
Roger's door was opened.
"Come on, we're gonna lock you
up now," the officer said with a look of disgust on his
face. They took him in through the front door and lead him to a
small room where he was asked to strip down. The officers
searched him for any weapons or other objects and then asked him
to put his clothes on again. He didn't have to put the prison
uniform on because he still had to go to court to figure out his
sentence. It would most likely be life. Roger was then lead out
and into the one empty cell in the prison. All nineteen others
had a person in them. He heard the sound of his cell locking and
he stepped forward stretching out his hands. The officer took the
hand cuffs off and then walked away.
Roger sat down on the metal slab
which was bolted to the wall on one of its edges. This was going
to be his bed. Currently it had no bedding on it. Roger looked
next to him and saw a bald man who looked like he was in his mid
thirties. His eyes were wide and red underneath: the signs of
insanity. Then, the man slowly walked over to the bars beside
where Roger was sitting.
"What're ya in for?"
whispered the man.
"Murder, but I didn't do
it," answered Roger.
"I'm in for stealin' money
from the bank. I sure as hell did it though, there ain't no
denyin' that!" the prisoner said with a smile. "Name's
Hank, just Hank. Ain't gave no rat's ass 'bout my last
name."
"Roger, Roger Vincent,"
said Roger. Hank extended his hand and Roger shook it. Roger was
glad he wasn't beside some guy who actually did murder somebody.
Roger knew that he was going to have to spend the night in the
prison, but he wasn't worried about that. Roger was worried about
when and where the creatures would attack again...
Part V - All in a Night's Work
_When Johnny Brandon parked his red truck in the
station's parking lot it was dark. Night had fallen hours ago and
it was now eleven thirty. He opened the door and headed for the
door to the station. When he got there, Johnny opened the door
and shoved the keys to the truck into his pocket. Once inside the
station, Johnny noticed that most of the police officers were
heading out to go home and get some sleep. The one at the main
desk was still working.
"May I help you sir?" the
officer asked when John approached the desk.
"Yes, I'd like to speak with
the officer who arrested Roger Vincent this morning, if it is at
all possible," replied John.
"You probably want the chief,
his office is right around that corner," the officer said,
pointing behind him.
"Thanks," said John as he
stepped away and started walking toward the corner. He noticed a
door that said 'CHIEF' on it. John knocked and he heard a voice
inside tell him to come in. He opened the door to see a man he
recognized sitting at a desk. The man was the officer who was
driving the police car after the arrest of Roger.
"I have something to say about
Roger Vincent's arrest this morning, but I'd like to tell you in
the sound proof room," said Johnny.
"Sure," said the chief.
Johnny was lead back out the door and into another. The sound
proof room was bright and a wooden table was in the middle of it.
Two chairs were there too. This was where they interviewed
criminals, etc. Johnny wanted to make sure no one could hear. He
pulled a small alarm clock out of his pocket and turned it on. It
made a loud buzzing sound. Johnny set it on the table and then
gestured for the chief to follow him. They left the room and
closed the door. The sound stopped immediatly after he closed the
door. Johnny opened the door again and he could hear the alarm
again. He smiled and they went back into the sound proof room,
making sure the door was closed. The chief sat down, Johnny did
not.
"As I said before, I have
something to tell you about Roger Vincent's arrest this
morning," said John.
"Shoot," said the chief.
Johnny smiled and removed a revolver from his coat pocket.
"Don't mind if I
do," said John. He squeezed the trigger. The gunshot was
loud in the room and almost made Johnny's ears ring. The bullet
ended up hitting the chief in the arm, causing him to fall
sideways off his chair and behind the table. John then aimed for
the surface of the table and fired. Splinters flew and a hole was
made in the tabletop. Johnny heard a loud grunt. He looked under
the desk and saw the chief on the ground grasping his leg and
shoulder. Fresh blood was on the ground. Johnny raised the gun
and put it in between the chief's eyes. The chief just looked at
him, utterly confused. There was no way out of this one. No one
would even hear him scream.
"You know what is funny
chief?" asked John. The chief looked at him, terrified. More
blood dripped onto the floor from the chief's wounds. "There
is a guy sitting at a desk right around the corner and he can't
hear or see anything that is going on in here." At that,
Johnny looked away and fired the gun. He didn't need to look to
know the chief was dead. He felt it, all over the side of his
face.
Johnny stepped out of the sound
proof room and into the hallway. He reloaded and rounded the
corner. Another shot was fired from the gun and the officer at
the front desk fell forward. Johnny didn't have to kill anymore
since all of the officers had gone home. Johnny went into the
chief's office and looked through his desk drawers until he found
the key to the prison cells. He left the office and walked down a
long hallway to the cell block. The men in the cells looked at
him. After all, it isn't everyday you see someone come into a
room covered in blood. It was all the more strange looking
because Johnny was still fairly young and looked like he couldn't
hurt a fly. Johnny walked over to Roger's cell. Roger walked
forward and they crouched down to speak to each other.
"I know you didn't do it
Roger," said Johnny.
"Finally, someone believes
me," said Roger.
"I have come to let you out
because I think they are going to strike again," said John.
"What do you mean
'they'?" asked Roger. He wanted to know if Johnny really
knew what had happened.
"Who do you think killed Ralph
and Beth, Roger?" replied John.
"Don't laugh please. Last
night I heard the sound of footprints and then the baby started
crying. I went to go to her room but the crying stopped. Then
there was a big thump and I was attacked by something I couldn't
see. I managed to fight it off and then I got back in my bed. I
looked up and a large group of green creatures were standing in
front of me. They all had yellow eyes except for one. This one
had red eyes and three red stripes on each cheakbone. He must
have been their leader. I grabbed his spear and killed him. They
all ran off and the body of the leader vanished. I fell asleep
after that, and I don't know why," explained Roger.
"I'm not going to laugh Roger
because I have seen them too," said John.
"You have?" asked Roger.
"I was lying in bed last night
and I heard the pitter-patter of footsteps in the hall on my
level. I got up and looked through the peep hole to see a group
of creatures with spears running up and down the halls. I made
sure the door was locked and I went back to sleep, cast under a
spell..." explained John. He trailed off after hearing a
cough from one of the prisoners and then changed the subject.
"I think they are going to attack again, but I don't know
when. It could happen tonight." As soon as he finished
speaking, John flipped back as if grabbed from behind. The key in
his hand flew and hit the ground a couple yards down the isle.
There was a sickening crack as Johnny's neck broke. Roger stood
up and walked toward his bed. He knew what was happening.
Hank stood up quickly in his cell
and looked very frightened. There was a sudden clanging sound as
one of the bars was removed with force. The creature then made
itself visible. It was a little green creature with yellow eyes.
There was a spear was on its back. It held the iron rod from the
cell in its right hand and approached the cell across from Roger.
By that time, many more creatures had burst in through the door
that Johnny had entered through. There were twenty of them. One
of the creatures grabbed the key and unlocked all of the cells.
Then, they moved in. One per cell, except for Roger. The one
standing by Roger's cell stood in front of the door, watching
him. Roger watched in horror as almost all of the inmates were
killed before his eyes. Hank had a creature clinging to his leg,
ripping at his flesh. He was screaming. Hank managed to get the
monster off his leg, but the bone was exposed and there were many
scratches up the rest of the leg. He ran out the door and the
monster followed closed behind.
Roger looked across from him and
saw the man in that cell being beaten to death with an iron rod.
Blood was a very common thing in this picture. One of the inmates
had his head slammed over his toilet. The water in the toilet
bowl was now red. Never before had Roger heard so many screams.
But it wasn't the screams that were sending shivers up his spine,
it was the laughter. The laughter of children. That was all he
could hear. And after all the screams and the laughter had
stopped, Roger watched as the creature in front of his cell
finally walked up to him. It jumped up on his lap and stared him
in the eyes. The creature gave him a punch in the face. It was
enough to take him out of consciousness.
[Ryan Smith Home]
All stories are copyright © 1999-2004 by Ryan
Smith and may not be printed or used without author's written
permission.