Wicked Summer is a novel I have been working on for a while.
Raven:) |
Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 1 May 12, 2008 Nevada Desert The coyote stopped eating the small animal he was feasting on and smelled the air. There was something there that he couldn’t quite make out. The crackling in the rocks above him caused him drop his meal and jump back. Feeling edgy, he turned to look around. A big black shadow flew from above and landed on him. He fell on his side, feeling a warm liquid on his snout, it began running down his chest and the pain in his head was unbearable. The big coyote tried to whine, but nothing came out. He made a futile attempt to bite at whatever held him on the ground. But his jaws wouldn’t work. As it lay there, knowing he was being eaten, the coyote listened to the last beats of his own heart. May 21, 2008 Houston, Texas David Nigh loved to feel the power from his 1978 Hog rumbling under him as he sped down the highway, especially at night when there was less traffic on the roads. He was traveling around 80 mph. He saw a light up ahead and slowed down to about 50. As he came closer, he could see that it was a car parked in the middle of the road. “Now what kind of jack-off would park like that in the middle of a highway?” He said aloud. He stopped at the back of a car, trying to see if anyone was in it, but he couldn’t see the front seat. Pulling the bike over to the shoulder, he turned off the hog and walked toward the car. Red liquid covered the windshield. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Obviously, something Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 2 wasn’t right. David walked slowly to driver’s door, noticing the glass from the window was laying on the ground. He opened the car door slowly seeing a pale arm lying on the seat. He leaned his six-foot frame into the car. On the blood soaked seat, he followed the arm to what was left of a body, every part was covered in thick wet blood. Not knowing if it was a man or a woman with the face completely chewed off, David gagged, moving his gaze to a gaping hole where a chest should have been. He was a medical student and knew the organs and brain were gone. Shakily, he backed out of the car, turned and took fresh air into his lungs. May 26, 2008 Mountains of West Virginia “Stop Rags!” Ten year old Jimmy called out to his hound dog as he bolted ahead of him.. He must be on to a big coon, Jimmy thought as he ran after him. They had come up here to do some fishing at old man Sumpter’s lake, but Rags had other plans. Jimmy ran around the bend with a fishing pole his hand looking for him. He could hear Rags bark up ahead but couldn’t see him. As he was running, he heard a terrible shriek from the dog and hoped he didn’t get caught in a bear trap. There were lots of those up here and you had to be very careful. Jimmy dropped his pole and ran up the hill where the sound had came from. When he got to the top, Rags was lying on the ground with his back to him. Jimmy called out but the dog didn’t move. He ran to him and squatted to check him out. The minute he saw Rag’s stomach, a scream left his mouth. A basketball sized jagged hole, where his stomach should be, left his insides on the ground. Fighting nausea, Jimmy leaned in closer only to see his insides had been chewed on. Something had been eating his dog! Sweating and really pissed off, he Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 3 jumped up and looked around for the culprit. Suddenly the world became quiet. Tilting his head, Jimmy listened for the sounds of birds and insects, but heard nothing. He turned back to his dog with tears in his eyes. “I’ll come back for you. I promise I will,” he pledged. Turning to leave, he lunged forward as pain pierced his back. Something had attacked him and it felt as if they had dug knives into his back and he was in the clutches of......something or someone. Whatever had him, held on tight. He tried to turn his head and look at whatever trapped him, but his head wouldn’t turn, he was paralyzed. Feeling himself being lifted into the air, he was being carried towards Rags. Glancing down, he saw what looked to be an arm, but it was gray and bloated with skin hanging and flapping back and forth. The arm reached for Rags. Don’t touch him! Jimmy tried to scream, but his throat was closed. He watched in horror as the It grabbed the dog’s intestines from the ground and brought them to Jimmy’s face. He couldn’t believe this was happening. His young mind just couldn’t comprehend this horror. Tears were streaming down his face as the beast shoved the intestines in his face, he could smell the hot blood. ************************** May 29, 2008 Piedmont, South Carolina Deputy Bob Mackle sat in his car on the side of the road , tracking the speed of passing motorists. His stomach grumbled loudly, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten lunch yet. Bob hated sitting out here on I 95 by himself. Aside from being hungry, he was bored as hell. He looked at his watch again for the tenth time in five minutes, and it still wasn’t close to twelve. Parked away from the road, motorists couldn’t see him but he could still track their speed though the weeds. Bob sighed and leaned his head back against the headrest and closed his eyes. He Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg.4 must have dozed off for a minute, because he was brought back upright by a loud bang on the back of his cruiser. Looking around he couldn’t see anything, so he took off his seatbelt and opened the door. He got out of the car and went around to the back, nothing there. He scratched his head and thought, What the hell was that? Maybe it was a bird that flew into his car, but there was no bird on the ground. He went back to his seat and closed the door. As soon as his belt was fastened, something landed on the roof of his car with a loud thud. He looked up and saw the roof dent in from the weight of whatever was up there. Bob wasn’t a stupid man, so he started the car and drove out of the weeds fast. Whatever was up there would hopefully fall off. That was not the case, as he pulled out onto the road, it rammed sharp claws down through the roof, narrowly missing Bob’s face. He backed up as far as he could go in the seat and pushed the gas, and then braked suddenly. The thing on the roof flew out in front of him and ran into the woods. He didn’t get a good look at it because he had already slammed on the gas and got the hell out of there. But as he drove away, he was thinking it looked like a creature he’d seen in a horror movie, something like the Wolfman meets the Exorcist. Bob couldn’t wait to get to the station and tell the other guys what had happened. They probably won’t believe me, Bob thought. June 2, 2008 Bourbon Street., New Orleans Madam Lovue was a voodoo priestess and owned her own mystical shop on Bourbon Street. She did readings for clients from nine a.m. to twelve p.m. and took a break. It was eleven-forty-five a.m., and she was reading for her last client. Suddenly the crystal ball, sitting in the middle of the table, exploded. Thank the Gods she or the client wasn’t harmed, but it scared the client so bad she got up and ran from the shop. Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 5 As Madam Lovue cleaned up the glass she got a sudden sharp pain in her head. A sign the visions would soon hit. She sat on the floor among the shards of glass so she wouldn’t fall. Her eyes rolled up into her head, leaving only white orbs exposed, and the vision appeared. A coyote was being eaten by a creature, and then the vision changed into a young girl being ripped apart and eaten by a similar creature. Her last vision was of a young boy being made to watch another beast eat what looked to her like intestines from a small dog lying on the ground. She came out of the vision shaking and disoriented once again. “Oh Goddess, what is this evil that has come to our world?” She said to the empty room. June 5, 2008 Deerfield, Ohio The creature lay in the hayloft of the abandoned barn his insides burning from need. Hunger. It hadn’t fed all day. The little one, it had consumed yesterday, had not kept the need at bay for long and the dog lasted even shorter. The creature was afraid to leave the barn in case one of the talking ones saw him and would surely end it’s existence. It had traveled a long way since the boy and the dog and it was tired of hiding........and running. It knew there were others out there like him, It could sense them but couldn’t find any on his journey. The need was overwhelming to rip and rip soft flesh with Its claws and sharp canine teeth. The creature was made for this, to maim and mutilate and eat. In its small brain it knew not where it had came from or what form of creature it was, but the need for thick red blood and flesh were all it knew. He would have to find more soon, very soon, it thought as drool ran down its chin. Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 6 June 6, 2008 Deerfield, Ohio Becky parked her Jeep Liberty next to the rocks for a little shade. She and her sister, Jaime, were going to be hiking up to the lake and she didn’t want the interior of the vehicle to over-heat. They got out and grabbed their packs out of the backseat. “Don’t forget the canteen, Jaime.” Becky said. “I’m not that stupid, Beck.” Jaime said laughing at her older sister. Becky smiled and clapped the other girl on the back. “Let’s go, I want to get to the lake before it gets too hot.” They started up the hill toward the lake. It was behind an old farmhouse, about a mile through the woods. It was nine in the morning. They should make it in about twenty minutes, if they walked fast. Jaime couldn’t wait to go swimming in the cool lake. She was sweating already from the abnormally hot day. It was about hundred degrees in the shade, way too hot for the first part of June. The way up the hill was quite easy with a path made by other kids for years trekking to the lake. Although the farmhouse was abandoned, part of it still stood. The barn was still there and Becky knew that teenagers and their friends still partied there. Becky remembered her days there with her friends, which was where she had lost her virginity to an ex-boyfriend. She wondered about Jaime, if she was still a virgin. They were three years apart but very close, Becky always looked out for her sister. But they didn’t talk about sex to each other, it just never came up yet. “Hey there’s the barn, Beck. Almost there.” Jaime said. “Yep, let’s go see if anyone is at the barn,” Becky said, heading in the direction of the barn. She looked back and Jaime was standing there, unmoving. “Come on, Jaime,” She said. Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 7 “I don’t know Becky, I’m getting a bad vibe or something,” Jaime said, still looking at the barn. “Bullshit, let’s go Jaime, quit with the “bad vibe” shit, okay?” Becky retorted. “Okay, whatever. But, don’t say I didn’t warn you, if we get killed by some psycho,” Jaime said then laughed. Laughing, Becky pushed the heavy barn door open, listening to it screech loudly. There was light streaming in from missing boards in the roof of the barn so they could see that no one was on the main floor, but they couldn’t see the loft from where they stood. “Let’s go see if anyone left any weed up there,” Jaime said. “Jaime! You don’t smoke grass do you?” Becky asked, smiling at her sister. “Nah, just messin’ with you. I wanted to see the look on your face,” Jaime said, barely containing her laughter. “Whatever, smart ass,” Becky said. She walked to the ladder that led up to the loft and started to climb up. “Beck, maybe this isn’t a good idea, really. Bad vibes coming back.” She said, biting her nail, like she did when she got nervous. Becky turned back to her, gave her a smirk and continued up the ladder. When she was at the top she turned to look at Jaime and everything seemed to being happening in slow motion. Creeping up behind Jaime was the most horrifying thing she’d ever seen. It looked like a man walking upright but hunched over slightly with a huge back and chest, it was gray in color and had long hair on its head. Its face was long like a wolf but had a human appearance, with long fangs on the top and bottom incisors which dripped a slimy substance from them like venom. She froze and her voice left her until the thing grabbed Jaime from the back of her hair and finally she shouted, “Jaime!” Jumping down at least ten feet off the ladder, Becky rolled on the ground attempting to protect Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 8 her ankles, but as she landed she heard a loud pop and knew her right ankle was broken. She screamed and was in excruciating pain. Trying to stand on her damaged ankle, she yelled at the thing as it began to choke Jaime. “Leave her alone you fucking freak! Get the fuck off her!” She fell to her knees, crawling over to them as Jaime gasped for what little air she could with the creature’s hands around her neck. Grunting, struggling to get to them, she watched her sister fall still. Dropping Jaime like a rag doll, the thing turned and came straight at Becky. Her instinct was to run, but it reached out for her and she ducked before it could grab her hair. Howling, it lunged again, tackling her by the mid section, knocking her over. Then, it was on top of her, pinning her down, dripping drool into her face as it snarled. “Get the fuck off me, you sonofabitch,” Becky said, as she tried to buck it off of her. It didn’t even budge. It was heavy and strong. Grabbing both of her wrist in one of his, he held them above her head. With it’s free hand it raked sharp claws down her chest and abdomen, shredding her clothes and cutting through her skin. It made a strange guttural noise as it touched her skin with its clawed hand. As a scream left her mouth, the creature dug its claws into her belly and withdrew, licking the blood from its dagger-like nails. She tried to squirm out from under it, still screaming, but found she was paralyzed by fear or its weight, she wasn’t sure anymore. Shutting her eyes, she prayed for Jaime to get away, as it repeatedly stabbed at her flesh, bringing wave after wave of excruciating pain. Becky fought until all she saw was darkness. The sound of her sisters screaming brought her out of her unconscious state. Becky slowly turned her head to see Jaime, feeling her body still paralyzed. The creature was ripping the flesh from Jaime’s body and stuffing it greedily into its mouth. It looked right into Becky’s eyes while she screamed in horror. The demon seemed to be laughing at her, mocking her. Her sister’s premonition of psycho killer coming after them, haunted her. Only this was worse, much worse. Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 9 When it was done with Jaime, it would come back to her and no matter what she’d promised, what she’d thought her whole life, she couldn’t protect Jaime and she cried for her failure. May 22, 2008 Houston, Texas David Nigh sat in the police station going over his story again to the keystone cops. He was getting pissed at their casualness over the situation. “Can’t you just get off your ass and go check it out? I mean the girl must have family out there, looking for her!” He said, exasperated. “Calm down son. We’re getting ready to go out there now. We would like you to go, so you can show us where it is.” The Police Chief said. “No, fuck that, I never want to see that again. Man you can’t miss it, the car is in the middle of the road,” David said, shaking his head violently. “You are going and that’s an order,” Police Chief Cafferty said. “This is fucked up!” He got up from the chair and grabbed his keys. “Let’s go now then. It’s 3:00 a.m., and I’m tired of being in here.” He waved his hand at Cafferty. “Lead the way officer,” David finished sarcastically. Cafferty gave him a stern look and grabbed his hat as they left the station and headed for the cruiser. “You can ride with us, leave the bike here. You can pick it up later,” The Chief told David. “Fine, whatever you say,” David said and got in the car. They arrived at the scene fifteen minutes later. Upon inspection of the car and the girl, most of the hardened cops that were there, were puking in the ditch. “Don’t puke on my fuckin’ crime scene,” Cafferty yelled.. All eyes turned his way, shocked by his lack of sensitivity. Cafferty picked through the girl’s . Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 10 purse with a pair of tongs so he wouldn’t contaminate the scene, oblivious to their stares. “I’ve found her wallet and an I.D. Name’s Jennifer Wyley, address 1432 Euclid Ave. Houston, TX, phone number unknown. Jeff get on the radio, call it in. See if we can get a number from DMV,” He barked out while looking at the rest of the car. Margret Downer, the coronor, showed up, walking past David to the car. He eyes followed her, as most men’s did, as her long black hair swung back and forth across her hair. She was trim and atheletic with the face of a goddess. David thought she should have been a model rather than a medical examiner. She looked to be in her early thirties and he wondered if she was single. She walked directly up to Cafferty. “What have you got for me Chief?” She asked. “ Damned if I know, you might want to just take a look and tell me what you think.” He said. The coroner bent down to look into the open door and instantly stepped back, seemingly assaulted by the smell emanating from the interior of the car. It was hot for May and the smell of decay had overwhelmed him as well. She pulled out a little container of menthol and applied it under each nostril. David had used this tactic many times. It helped with the smell, most of the time. He watched her take out her plastic gloves, a pair of tongs and plastic zippered bags. Leaning back into the car, she spoke, “What’s her name Chief?” She asked. “Jennifer Wyley, age seventeen, address is here in Houston about fifteen to twenty miles south of here.” She looked at the savagery in front of her once again. “What could have done this?” She murmered. “These bites don’t look human. I’ll run tests, but from what I can determine they look like animal bites. Have to be a pretty damned big animal though for this much damage. And, look at the bite range!” “Never saw an animal smash out a car window to get to it’s prey either,” Cafferty said, standing behind her, causing her to jolt slightly. She took swabs of the slimy substance clinging to ragged bite marks and put them in a baggie. She scraped under the nails of the girl, putting that in a baggie also. And then got out of the car. Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 11 Wiping the balm from her nose with a tissue, she turned to Cafferty. “I’ve never seen anything like this....and I hope I never do again. I’ll have my team bag her and tow the car to our garage. I won’t know anything until later tonight, but I’ll call you when I do,” she told him. “I’m counting on you to solve this Maggie,” he said affectionately. Cafferty cared a great deal about her after knowing her for as long as he had. He thought of her as a daughter. She patted him on the back and said, “I will, I promise you, we’ll find whatever did this. “Are you calling her parents or do you want me to?” she asked. “No, thanks. I’ll do it when I’m done here. I hate this part of the job,” he said. “I know, me too. Take care. I’ll call you later,” she said walking to her car. She spotted David and stopped. “Hi, are you the one who found her?” she asked. “Yeah, what the hell could do something like that?” David asked her. “I don’t know but I sure as hell am going to find out,” she said. “Yeah.....,” he said and watched as she walked to the coroner’s van. May 28, 2008 Mountains of West Virginia “Jimmy!” There were different voices yelling above the noise of a fast-moving creek. “Jimmy!” “Rags!” “Jimmy!” “Jimmy!” Frantically Jimmy’s parents and neighbors had been combing the area for two days now and haven’t found any sign of him or his dog. “Jim, where could he be? I don’t understand where he could’ve gone. And Rags wouldn’t have let him get hurt, that dog loves him. If he got in trouble, he would have come home to get us. You know it’s true.” Jimmy’s mother said, sniffing back her tears. “I know ,Mary. He’s got to be here. We’ll keep looking, we will find him darlin’, don’t you worry,” he said, putting his arm around his wife. But there was doubt in Jim’s eyes as he said it. He didn’t want to think of the other possibilities that could have happened to his son, but they Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 12 crept into his head. A pervert might have got him like that poor Adam kid a long time ago, and they found him with his head cut off and raped. He shook his head no. That couldn’t happen to his son, his only boy. No way, he was out there somewhere, and he would find him. The sound of someone yelling broke through his thoughts, “Jim, come up here! I think we found something!” Jim’s neighbor, Bill, called. Jim told his wife to stay there and ran up the hill. He didn’t want her seeing anything bad if that’s what was up there. He got to where Bill was standing. “What is it?” he asked looking around. Bill held something in his hand. He took it and looked. It was the blue collar that Jimmy had bought Rags for Christmas last year and his tags were still attached. He stomach moved into his throat when he looked again. The blue collar was now red, covered in a thick, metallic smelling fluid. “I think that’s blood ,Jim,” Bill whispered. “Yeah Bill, I know.” He felt a tear escape from the corner of his eye and hurriedly wiped it away. “Let’s not tell Mary about this okay?” Jim said, looking at each person standing by him. They all nodded there heads in unison. Bill took the collar from Jim and wrapped it in his hankey and put it in his pocket. “Let’s go find my boy, or what’s left of him,” Jim said. Everyone stared at him for a minute and then followed him down the hill. “What was it Jim?” Mary asked. “It was nothing, let’s go before it gets dark,” he said. They walked down the path, disappearing around the bend. May 29, 2008 Piedmont, South Carolina Bob Mackle came back to the station and told everyone what he had witnessed. No one Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 13 believed him, they thought he was smoking weed or drunk and laughed at him about it. Even Chief Tyler thought he had been doing drugs, and told him to piss in a cup. But then he remembered the claw marks in the roof. He took everyone outside and showed them the ragged marks in the top of the cruiser. “What the hell?” The Chief said. He turned to two of the other deputies, “Get out there and take a look aroun,” he said. “Make sure you take a few MP 5's. Whatever made those, is pretty fuckin’ big!” He barked out orders to the other deputies as well. “Get on the phone and call Animal Control and have them meet us out there. We don’t know what we’re dealing with.” The Chief told them. “Tell ‘em to bring a BIG net,” Bob chimed in. Half an hour later, Bob and his comrades were back at the spot he had seen the creature. Chief Tyler told everyone to stay in their cars until Animal Control arrived, which happened to be five minutes later. They had brought two vans and five Animal Control officers to the scene. The lead investigator came up to the Chief’s window. “Hey Chief, John Townsend at your service, what’s the problem? What kind of animal are we dealing with here?” He said shaking the other mans hand. “Well, I really don’t know what it is. My deputy was up here earlier today and had a run in with some kind of animal, didn’t get a really good look at it. But it tore up the roof of his cruiser really good with its claws. The car is right there if you wanna look at it.” He said pointing on the left side of his cruiser. John went over and opened the door to stand on the runner to get a good look at the roof. He ran his hand over the torn metal, and whistled. “I’ve never seen an animal that could do that to metal. Are you sure it wasn’t a man with a blade of some sort?” He asked the Chief. “Bob!” The Chief yelled. “My deputy could tell you more than me, he was the one who saw it.” He said. Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 14 Bob walked over to the two men. “Yeah, Chief?” He asked. “Bob this is John from Animal Control, tell him what you saw run into the woods,” The Chief said. “Well sir, I didn’t really get a good look, because I got the hell out of here when it flew off the car. But I could swear it could’ve come from Hell itself. It was about seven feet tall, three hundred pounds or so. It scared the shit outta me. I ‘bout pissed myself when I saw it run into the weeds right over there,” he said pointing out the spot. “Are you sure it wasn’t a man?” John asked. “No way, no man ever looked like that. I’m tellin’ you. Straight outta’ Hell is where that thing came from,” Bob said with a faraway look in his eye. John turned back to the Chief. “ I’m not so sure we can do anything about this. We take care of animal calls not beasts from Hell,” he said with a smirk. John walked back to his van, leaving the Chief looking around at his men. “What the fuck do we do now Chief?” one of the men asked. The Chief shrugged his shoulders, “I guess we go poke around a bit in the woods, see what we see. “Charlie, go get the guns outta the trunk, and get my nine millimeter,” he yelled at the deputy standing closest to him. Charlie ran back with the MP 5's and the Chief’s nine. He gave out the guns and him and three deputies walked to the spot where Bob had seen the beast disappear. “You other men stay here and make sure nothing gets out of here past us,” he said. The other five deputies all shook their heads. “Let’s go men. Be careful and stay close to each other,” Chief Tyler said. They walked into the woods in a tight line looking left to right, and nervous as hell. “Bob. You watch our backs. I don’t want the fucker sneakin’ up on us,” he said. “Sure thing boss.” Bob replied. He kept watch behind them as they walked forward. Two minutes into the woods, they heard what sounded like gunfire from behind them. . Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 15 “It’s attacking the men by the cruisers. Hurry, run!” Chief Tyler yelled. They all ran back to the road where they had left the other deputies. The gunfire stopped before they stepped out of woods. The scene that greeted them was like something out of a war movie. Body parts were laying every where they looked. Cruisers were overturned and on fire. There seemed to be no one left alive, everyone was massacred. Just then they saw movement behind one of the cruisers. Like a demon coming out of Hell, and out of the fire that surrounded the car, was a creature unlike any could have thought up in his worst nightmare. It looked exactly as Bob had described it. And the fucker was huge, not just tall but muscles bulging from its body. It picked up the car as if a toy and threw it aside and came toward the Chief and his men. “Open fire, shoot to kill. Don’t let it get away!” He shouted, as he began popping shots off with his nine millimeter straight at its chest. It kept coming like they were bb’s or pellets pinging off of it. “Shoot at its head!” Tyler shouted. That seemed to slow it down some but it still came. Bob was the first one it got to. He screamed as it ripped off his arm and hit him in the face with it. Jumping on him, the beast pulled his head from his shoulders with its big wolf-like mouth. As it devoured Bob, the other deputies continued firing a barrage of bullets at it. Finally Chief Tyler said, “Fuck this, get back to the truck. Save yourselves. Send help if you get out of here.” They all looked at him uncertainly and then ran for the truck, started it and ran through two burning cruisers to get away. Chief Tyler stood there shooting at this beast and it acted like it didn’t care in the least. It was hungry and all it cared about was eating Bob. His gun was empty now and he didn’t have another weapon. He knew at that minute he was going to die, and he hoped his wife and daughter would be all right without him. And his last thought was that he should have brought a bigger gun. The beast finished with Bob and turned on Tyler all teeth and smelling of brimstone. Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 16 June 7, 2008 Bourbon Street, New Orleans Madame Lovue was checking all of the doors and windows for the night at her shop. She was glad to going upstairs to her apartment. She had done fifteen readings and four rituals for clients today and was worn out. As she turned the light off and headed up the stairs, a vision threatened to make her pass out. She saw an old barn and two girls being mutilated and eaten and then quickly the vision changed to many law officers being massacred by a beast she had seen before. But then the vision changed again, and showed a young man with blonde hair and glasses sitting in what looked to be a library, his name came to her in a whisper, David. She then saw in the vision an older man with long black hair, an outlaw type, riding a Harley down a highway, she received his name in the same way as the first. Damyn, the voice whispered.. She came out of her vision and stood on the stairs still holding onto the banister for support. Who are these men? And what significance did they hold? She asked herself. June 7, 2008 Indiana State Line Damyn Wyley sat a Diner on the highway eating an early breakfast. It was just past four in the morning, but he was wide awake. His ex-wife Diane had called him on the road and told him that their daughter Jennifer had been murdered. She was almost incoherent when she was trying to explain to him what happened to their daughter. He just wanted to get to Texas and find out who the fuck killed his baby. The sonofbitch would pay, whoever it was, that was certain. The chief wouldn’t give Diane all of the details, but he would give them to him. He’d make sure of that. Damyn was an ex marine trained in the special forces division. Finding this fucker would Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 17 come second nature to him. He remembered all the missions he was on. Especially the one about the girls in Beirut. Some sick fuck was mutilating, raping and keeping the girl’s eyes for his souvenirs. Damyn tracked him down and tortured him by cutting him up slowly and watched as he bled, before finally putting a bullet in his brain. He shook his head leaving the memory behind as he pushed back his plate. He stood, stretched and headed to the counter to pay for his breakfast. Handing the waitress a five dollar tip, he went out the door. As he started the Harley, he couldn’t help but shiver at the thought of what his daughter had went through. Damyn knew he would find out soon enough. Starting the bike he headed back out onto highway on his way back to Houston. June 7, 2008 Houston, Texas David sat in the library looking at various animal books. He just couldn’t let what he’d seen go without trying to figure out what had torn that girl apart. Looking through bite mark books he couldn’t find a picture that resembled what was on her body. He headed for the computer on the other side of Library, figuring on checking the web for something he could use to compare the bite marks to. Punching in his I.D. number he logged on and went to a search engine. Looking at the info on the web he didn’t hear his friend John come up behind him. John touched David’s shoulder making him jump around, “Jesus John, you scared the shit out of me.” “Sorry bud, didn’t mean it,” he said laughing and clutching his belly. “Why are you so jumpy?” David motioned him over to a table and they both sat down across from one another, “I haven’t told you what happened to me last week. John looked at him and motioned with his Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 18 hand, “Do tell Dave, what happened? David told him the whole story from beginning to end including the way the girl looked and what he was doing here in the library tonight. And also the dream of a creature he had a nightmare about. “That doesn’t sound like an animal would do that sort of thing Dave. I mean break out the window like that. It sounds like a human, but the way you described the scene, it doesn’t sound like a human could do that to a person without some sort of weapon. And I’ve never heard of a weapon that looks like a bite pattern. Weird. Definitely weird,” John said. John was a paranormal major that David had known for years, going back to grade school. David looked at him now and he could almost see wheels turning in John’s head, “What are thinking John?” “Well, you’re probably going to think I’m nuts. But what if what your looking for isn’t of this world? What if it’s some sort of Demon that someone has conjured up for the purpose of killing and torturing people?” John asked. David sat there a minute and pondered the thought. It somehow seemed right, not that he really believed in all that mumbo jumbo, but what else could it have been. “I don’t know why John, but I think you might be right. It’s just a feeling I’ve had ever since I saw the girl. I could almost feel an unexplainable evil when I stood there by the car.” “Wait here I’ll get a book from my room. I’ll be right back.” John got up and left the library leaving David to think. About ten minutes later John returned with a big leather bound book. He put it on the table in front of David, “ Look through it while I look up something on the net.” David pulled the book over to him and looked at the cover. In large red letters it said The Book of Demonology. He opened the book and saw that it had been written in the 1200's by a professor of Demonology. It was republished in the 1600's and again in the 1800's. It was a very old text by any standard, which fascinated David. He went on to read the next few pages and then Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 19 began leafing through looking at the various pictures, names and descriptions of many Demons that the professor said resided in Hell. Halfway through the book David’s hand began to shake and he felt as if couldn’t breathe. The pages of the book took on a life of their own and began turning faster and faster until they came to rest on a picture of a Demon. The name above it said Asmodeus, which means Destroyer. This Demon looked just like the one in David’s nightmare. The book slammed itself shut with deafening force. David jumped back feeling like he had just woken up from a trance or something. “John. John!” He shouted. John ran over to him, “What is it? Something happen?” He asked. David told him what had happened and opened the book to show him the picture. John looked at it without saying anything for a few minutes. “Dave old buddy, if this is your Demon. We’re in a lot of fucking trouble,” he said, still staring at the book. June 8, 2008 Deerfield, Ohio Daymn continued on his way back to Texas, crossing into Ohio. A marker on the side of the road said he was entering Deerfield, population, twelve-hundred. Little town, he thought as he passed the sign. He came to a fork in the road, looking on his map he took from his pack, the road on the right led into town; while the other was a back road to where he was headed, out of Ohio. The back way looked as if it would be faster so he took the left. The light began to fade as he was about a quarter of a mile down the road. He turned his headlight on and took off his ray ban’s, putting them away. When he looked up from his pack he saw something run across the road, braking he came to a Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 20 stop on the shoulder of the road. What the hell was that? No way that was a deer. Too big and fast, Daymn thought as he reached into his boot for his gun. Grabbing a light from his pack he got off the Harley and walked to the edge of the woods. Daymn carefully looked through the weeds and into the woods were the thing had run. He could see a little with the light and there was a full moon out. The trees cast eery shadows across the forest floor, the light playing tricks on his eyes. He thought he saw something moving away from him and then he would see it again out of the corner of his eye to the left or right. He started to back out of the woods when he heard a growl or what was similar to a growl. Shit, it’s probably a wolf or coyote, he thought as he looked around him. The sound was getting closer with every step he took backwards. The sound came again, but this time it was behind him. He whirled around ,the 45 colt pointed at the sound. As soon as he saw the things eyes he fired. The gun kicked in his hand sending his arm upwards, but in a split second he pointed and fired again. He knew it was head shot, because he was so close to the target, he could smell the things rancid breath. Backing away he watched it fall to one knee, it was bleeding from the two wounds in its head. Falling back on its haunches it sat there and glared at Daymon with red eyes. He was about ten feet away when it got back up and ran up a slope deeper into the woods. He didn’t know why, and he knew he shouldn’t, but he ran after it. He kept it in sight until they came to an old barn and he lost it as it went inside. He came to the door, and peeked in the barn door, seeing nothing close he went inside. The moon light shone through the holes in the roof, so he could see the interior. A sound in the loft made him look up. As he did he saw the thing’s shadow moving against the back wall. He aimed and fired two shots at it’s head. It stumbled and fell off the ledge of the loft, ten feet or so to the barn floor. But as it fell, Daymn noticed a sling blade stuck in a log, in the direct path of the beast. It fell perfectly onto it, slicing through its back and out the front of it’s chest. It was still alive but pinned, it couldn’t get free. Daymn took his cell phone out from his back pocket and dialed 911. Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 21 As he waited for the police he sat and watched the thing try to get off the blade with no success. That’s when he noticed the smell coming from everywhere. It was the acrid coppery smell of blood and a strong smell of decay. He got up from the hay bale he was sitting on and turned on his flashlight. Keeping an eye on the beast, he looked around the barn. He came to a spot where the smell seemed worse, pointing the light in a now empty horse stall, he found the cause of the smell. What looked like two corpses were scarcely hidden behind some hay. He looked around for something to move the hay, and found a shovel leaning against the wall of the stall. Scraping the hay away he saw more of the bodies. They were two girls from the look and they were ripped apart from throat to sternum, all of their insides were gone. Eaten, was what came to Daymn’s mind. He gagged a little from the stench and backed out of the stall. Just as he made it back to where the beast was, he heard the police sirens coming up the overgrown road, that he had seen before coming into the barn earlier. The uniformed officers came in with their weapons drawn, asking to see Daymn’s hands. One of them was in plain clothes. Must be a detective, Daymn thought. He put his hands in the air, “It’s not me you want, it’s that.” He said pointing to the beast. They all turned to look where he pointed and every one of them went slack jawed at the same time. Daymn smiled, “See, told you. You guys thought I was some kinda freak on the phone. Didn’t ya?” They seemed to wake up then, and the one in plain clothes said, “You’re the one who called this in?” he asked. “ That would be me,” Daymn said, putting his hands down. Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 22 The police officers were all gathered around the beast trying to figure out exactly what it was. Daymn watched them as he sat on a hay bale. They don’t have any clue what it is or how to deal with it, he thought. One of the deputies walked back over to the guy in the suit. “What is that thing, Sir?” “I have no idea, son. But I we need to get it out of here and away from people. We don’t want more bodies like the ones in the stall over there. I put a call into the agency , they are sending all available agents to help us out,” he said. Daymn found out the ‘suit’ was an FBI agent named Jack Hyatt. He was called when the police notified them of the thing in the woods. Apparently there had been other sightings of the beast from people in the area. They were reported, but not taken seriously until now, because no one from law enforcement had seen it. He watched Jack as he walked towards him. “So, what’s going on? You think you got a cage big and strong enough to hold that thing? It’s not going down with guns, I can assure you of that. I put sixteen bullets in that thing, three in its head, and it still came for me,” Daymn said. Jack shook his head, “ I don’t know, to tell you the truth. In my twenty plus years of duty, I’ve never seen anything like this. Definitely a first for me. Well, a first for all of us, I’m sure,” he said. “So where the hell did that thing come from? Do you think it’s some kind of mutation? It looks almost human somehow, you know?” Damyn said. “Yes, I know what you mean. The body structure, the head and the eyes. You can almost see that it’s thinking behind them. In my line of work, I’ve seen all kinds of psychotic criminals with that same look in their eye. I’ll tell you one thing, I don’t like this one damn bit. It’s in the pit of my gut, and it’s going to be bad. That I can assure you.” Jack said. “Are you a religious man, Jack?” he asked. Jack looked into Daymn’s eyes, searching. “Not really, I was raised a Catholic, but I’m not devout or anything, “ he said. “Why do you ask?” Wicked Summer Billie DeVore Pg. 23 “I don’t know. It just kind of popped in my mind. I’m a born Atheist myself. Never been one for all of the religious hype. But, for some reason, I think that thing over there is evil, in it’s purest form imaginable. The worst thing about that, is I also think it was made. For what purpose, I don’t know yet, but that someone or something has sent it here.” He said. Raising an eyebrow, Jack said, “Oh, come on, Damyn. You think someone or something as you say, has unleashed it on us, on purpose?” Daymn threw his hand in the air in frustration, “I don’t know, man. Just got this feelin’ in my gut and it just won’t go away.” |