“No. It was a monster. I tried to kill the monster.”
“I see, and…what did this monster look like?”
“Which one? There were three that I counted…well then there was Madison, so four—but others were in that cave, also.”
“Cave?”
Ethan stopped at the very edge of the parking lot, his eyes locked on a number of heads hanging from the store’s façade. Driven into the mouth of each was some enormous nail, more like a railroad spike and all of them were upside down, their hair hanging limp and scabby. “This is insane, really…”
Shannon’s eye locked on one of the faces, one that she recognized even though it was hanging inverted. She could not remember who it was. She knew only that this woman was important to her, someone who had played a major role in her life, but someone she just could not remember. Nevertheless, the sight of her head hanging on a storefront filled Shannon with a smothering sorrow. “I know her…” she said softly as she pointed on the third heard from the left.
“Who is it?” Ethan asked before considering.
“I don’t know,” Shannon replied, as a tear broke free of her eye, “but I know she was important to me.”
“Let’s just get in there and get what we need, alright?”
“Yeah,” Shannon said in a sad voice.
They walked beneath the heads and into the store. The lights still worked in many isles, and the stock was for the most part still on the shelves. The problem that faced them now was that everything seemed to be aged by years. The strange aging that had been going on outside made him wonder if the food might no longer be edible.
“Alright, I’m going to go look for food. You head over to the first aid stuff and get what you need to take care of yourself. We will meet back here in a few minutes,” Ethan offered.
“I don’t know what I need,” Shannon whispered, still fighting with the unremembered head nailed to the front of the store.
“Ah, well, where are you hurt? Is it just the face?”
“No, they raped me.”
“And you hurt…down there?”
“Yeah, a bit.”
She looked like a lost child, a puppy too brutally beaten to come when his master called. “Do you have any bleeding?”
“I don’t think so, not sure though…”
Ethan’s head swam. He had never had to deal with something like this, even as a volunteer medic. In rape cases, they regarded the groin as evidence unless the patient’s life was threatened. He knew the mechanics, though: bleeding, infection, bandaging. It would have to do.
“Do you want me to take a look?”
“No, Ethan. I got that part,” she shot at him dryly.
“Fine, you will need some panty liners and two douches, one vinegar and the other saline. Are you menstruating?”
“No.”
“Then that should do. You might want to take some Tylenol or ibuprofen for pain.”
“You need anything?”
“No, I just need something to eat. Back here in five minutes?”
“Yeah,” Shannon replied as she worked her way down an aisle.
Ethan walked towards the left side of the store were the large browsing refrigerators stood in a silent row. They were still powered and the foods within still frozen. This, to him, was a good sign. As he rounded the last fridge, he was presented with the dairy section: a collection of molded cheeses, bloated cartons of milk, and a sickening odor.
Ethan coughed back a deep belly gag and turned back toward the dried goods. Perhaps granola bars or candy had survived. He walked the length of a few isles, testing the foods with his hand, finding most in a dried ashy state. That was until he reached the processed desserts isle with the cellophane wrapped treats. There, in the middle, were his coveted Twinkies, along with Ding Dongs and Susie Q’s. They appeared to be fine, untouched by age. He tore open a box of Ding Dongs, removed the plastic, and tried it. He then collected a number of boxes and continued searching for bottled water.
“Ethan! I got what I need!” Shannon called from the front of the store.
“I’ll be right there; just looking for water!”
“There is a pallet of it up here! Didn’t you see it when we came in?”
Ethan turned back to the front, not bothering to answer such a silly question. He grabbed a wool coat from a stand he passed and a pair of work boots in his size. He carried all of this in a stack up to the registers.
“What kind of drug store sells coats and boots and fishing tackle?” he asked Shannon.
“This store has everything. Mr. Jerkins runs his store like a miniature Wal-Mart.”
“Mr. Jerkins?” Ethan asked as he sat to lace up the new boots.
“Yeah, he and his wife own this store…” Shannon trailed off as she realized that a memory had just broken through the wet velvet curtain and stumbled to a halt in front of her. She had worked here for many summers, the Jerkins had helped to send her off to college to get her degree in marketing, and that head on the front of the store was poor Mrs. Jerkins. “I worked here during the summer when I was in school…”
Ethan stopped lacing for a moment and looked at Shannon. Even with the bruise and the swollen lip, she was a lovely girl, much like Abby but just a measure more slender, more elegant than the tomboyish look Abby had worn. He reached over and put his hand on her shoulder.
She, in turn, looked at him through strands of fallen blonde hair and locked eyes. To Shannon, Ethan was an attractive, if not younger, guy. His eyes looked almost artificially green, theatrically intense, but deeply caring and intelligent. She smiled weakly at him, “I’m fine…I just knew these people, but didn’t know I knew them, you know?”
“Yeah, I understand; it’s okay. Your memory is coming back.”
“Soon, I hope. You almost done?”
“Yeah,” Ethan replied as he pulled the last boot on and began tying it.
“Hey kid, wanna see something really gross?” a gravelly voice asked. It was sinister, distant, and immediately recognizable to Ethan, even before he looked up.
He stilled his thundering heart as he brought his head up and looked past Shannon’s shoulder. There, just a few steps behind Shannon stood the obese, greasy bum, still in garbage-collected clothing, still with the stained brown fedora, still with the hideous skin affliction that made him seem as if hell spawned.
The grotesque homeless man began to chuckle deeply. “…and you thought you got rid of me with those stupid pills didn’t you?”
“Ethan?” Shannon asked, puzzlement etched around the swelling of her face.
Ethan swallowed hard, his mouth now much too dry. He knew fear, had known it since the bum first appeared, but that was over, done with, and gone. How could this thing be back, this creation of his own dark thoughts when the doctor had promised him banished? He was going mad, Ethan decided, but then again, he could still question his own sanity. Confusion swamped him for a moment, but he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, something darted between two isles at the far end of the store.
“Ethan?” Shannon asked again.
“There is something in here with us. I just saw it duck behind those shelves,” he whispered, his voice still shaking.
“We should go,” Shannon urged as she began to stand, her voice thick with fear.
“I think it was a child.” Ethan stood and began to walk toward the far side of the store.
“Ethan! Wait!” Shannon hissed.
Ethan raised his hand to her as a response and continued.
Shannon cursed softly and pulled free the pistol in her pocket as she followed him. “Ethan…” she hissed again.
“Well, hello there,” Ethan said pleasantly down one of the aisles. “No, wait, don’t run. I won’t hurt you! Shannon, it’s a little girl.”