Ashton Daigle

Ryan Hendrickson watched Max as he clipped his web belt on. Max was completely blacked out in full nighttime combat fatigues. Ryan, only wore dark jeans and a black, heavy, pullover sweater.

“I have extra sets of fatigues,” Max said, as Ryan fumbled with the communications headpiece they would be wearing while walking sentry duty.

“No, I should be allright,” Ryan said, also tugging his sweater. Underneath, he wore a Kevlar vest, at William’s insistence. “Admit it Max, you don’t feel just the slight bit foolish decking out in full combat gear.”

“Max grinned and said, “Little bit, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. It’s that button to the left, flip it to channel nine.”

“This thing is harder to program than my DVD player and I gave up on that four months ago,” Ryan said.

Ryan got it adjusted and Max then handed him an M-16 with night scope.

“I hope you remember how to use one of these,” Max said.

“Oh, I do,” Ryan said. “Some things you never forget. It’s those night vision goggles I’m not so sure about. They look like something out of a B-movie. It isn’t going to interfere with the radio set?”

“No,” Max said, as he helped Ryan slide the goggles on.

Just then, William walked into the room.

“I just picked up some sort of movement near camera A,” William said. “Would you two girls hurry up, you’re both pretty. Now get a move on.”

“We’re starting early tonight, huh boss?” Max asked. “What did it look like?”

“This was actually moved clumsy,” Chambers said. “It actually could be an animal of some sort this time. Be careful, I wasn’t kidding the other day about bear and catamounts.”

Max checked his M-16 and chuckled, “Lock and load.”

“Good hunting,” Chambers said as they opened the door and slipped out into the night.

The first thing Ryan noticed as they stepped outside was that it felt like the temperature had dropped about ten degrees. He almost commented, but decided to keep radio chatter to a minimum. The fog had also thickened considerably, but the night vision goggles also helped with that to a certain degree.

Max nodded for Ryan to follow him and then broke into a slow jog, moving west, down one of the many sloping hills on the grounds. Although he worked out fairly regularly, Ryan felt his heart quicken as the cold air pierce his lungs. Twenty minutes on a gym treadmill was one thing, but twenty minutes on that same treadmill weighed down with battle gear was quite another.

His calves began to ache slightly as Max finally slowed down. They both crouched down and Max finally said, “The fence line is just down this hill about thirty yards, dead on. The gully we were talking about, where I’ve placed the traps, is about another twenty yards to the right of that; the path sort of meanders.”

“Where are the cameras?” Ryan asked.

“You’re practically standing on top of one now,” Max said, pointing to the elm tree Ryan was leaning on.

Ryan looked but still couldn’t see it, until Max tipped it ever so lightly with the tip of his M-16, a resounding thunk filling the night air. Barring the sound of his own breath, it was practically the only noise Ryan had heard since the left the security station.

“Damn,” Ryan said. “I can still barely see the damned thing.”

“That’s sort of the point,” chimed in Chambers’ voice on the headset. “Did you expect us to paint them day-glow orange and shout here I am?”

“Forever the comedian,” Ryan muttered. “Sure is quiet out tonight. I don’t even hear any crickets.”

“Too cold,” Max said. “We’re supposed to get our first frost tonight. You back off this camera about twenty yards, over to the left and watch it. I’m going to go check on camera B.”

Ryan nodded, walked a few yards to his left and hunkered down. He was surprised by how little noise Max made as he walked away. Max was literally silent for someone of his considerable size.

Ryan blinked and tried to acclimate himself to the goggles. Eventually, he could make out the fence line, just downhill from his position. Max had been right about that feeling of being watched. Ryan felt it for the first time, like a cold bristle pricking his spine, as soon as they stepped out of the guard shack. But now, as he sat alone waiting to radio silence, it became more acute, forcing him to look around nervously.

He gripped the M-16 for comfort and then almost laughed at himself for being foolish. There were no boogie men, or catamounts out here. The camera malfunctions had to be explainable. And as far as the security guy was concerned, maybe he was just unstable. It wasn’t impossible for people to slip through psych screenings.

He himself had slipped through psych screening for his last job.

You didn’t slip through anything, he then muttered to himself. The boys at Langley knew you had literally become a bottomed out drunk after 9-11. That wasn’t any secret.

“Guess not,” Ryan said.

“Come back,” Chambers said.

“Sorry, just talking to myself,” Ryan said.

They fell back into silence. Max hadn’t reported back in yet. Ryan wondered what the hell was taking him so long. He was just about to break radio silence when he heard what sounded like the snap of a twig to his left, near the camera. For an instant, Ryan was frozen in horror, despite the weight of the M-16 cradled in his grasp. He couldn’t bring himself to look but then Chambers’ voice filled his ear set.

“Be very still, Ryan, but your camera just went out,” Chambers said.

Finally Ryan looked but there was nothing there.

“There’s nothing here William,” Ryan said. “Repeat, nothing is obstructing the camera at all.”

“Are you sure?” Chambers asked. “Look again.”

—– —— —— —–

Bertha paced the floors of the kitchen muttering. She hadn’t expected Mr. Chambers to invite her, much less demand her presence on the Thanksgiving camping trip. Now, given the dreams she and Ethan had, she was extremely nervous.

Something didn’t feel right in her bones, in her soul. And it wasn’t just the business of the trip. She felt it when she’d gone out the back door of the kitchen to throw a bag a trash into the dumpster shortly after everybody cleared out after the meeting. She had felt a presence out there.

And now, even though she was locked up tight, back inside, she still felt it. It felt like every nerve in her body was on fire, warning her.

She opened a kitchen drawer and removed her rosary and began reciting the Lord’s prayer.

—– —— ——- ——

“I’m telling you there’s nothing here,” Ryan whispered into the receiver of the head set, as he broke out into a cold sweat and a violent wave of nausea coursed through him.

“It’s both now,” Chambers said, excitedly. “Both cameras are blacked out. Max, do you copy?”

“Yeah boss,” Max said, breaking his own radio silence for the first time since he’d left Ryan’s side. “There’s nothing here either, I’m staring straight at the camera but…I don’t know. I feel something.”

“Me too,” Ryan said, jumping as he felt something that felt like a hot rush of air brush past his cheek.

“Shh, quiet,” Max said.

All was quiet for a few moments. Ryan’s heart was now pounding loudly in his chest. The feeling came again, this time more urgent and Ryan shrieked.

“Something’s on me, something just brushed past me,” Ryan said.

“Me too,” Max suddenly screamed into the receiver. “Get over here now.”

Relieved, Ryan burst into a full run, happy to be away from whatever it was that was out there. He practically ran over Max, who motioned for him to quiet.

“Listen, I hear something,” Max said.

Ryan heard it too. It sounded like something heavy crashing through the woods, except the sound was coming from behind them, not from the other side of the fence.

Both Ryan and Max spun around swinging their M-16’s into attack positions.

“You see anything,” Max asked.

“No,” Ryan said. “Wait, right there.”

“There’s nothing there,” Max said. “But I heard it.”

It could have been the sound of the breeze brushing the tips of the spruces and firs. But then it was slightly louder, still gentle and delicate but it might as well have been thunder booming in Ryan and Max’s ears.

And then was the unmistakable sound of a child laughing, eerie, creepy laughter that seemed to echo off the wind.

Both men looked around, but there was still no one there.

“What the fuck was that?” Max asked. “What is it? It sounds like kids.”

—— —— —— ——

Bertha heard the children too as she paced in the kitchen. The voices were faint at first. She could barely hear them. But, they quickly grew in clarity and intensity, forcing Bertha to sit down.

In her minds eye, she could see them too, as if through a haze. They were a bunch of ratty looking little kids, dressed in rags, playing some sort of jump rope game as they continued to laugh and play.

Goody Cole Won’t you go back,

Won’t you go back to the devil,

Step on a crack, break her back,

Send Goody back to the devil

Their voices continued to grow in intensity, frenzied, as the every day sounds of her own kitchen, like the whistle of the now-steaming tea pot, began to fade away. The song continued but Bertha began to see other things too.

She saw Ethan, his brow wet with sweat as he tossed and turned in fitful slumber, as he no doubt also saw the ghostly children sing their jeering, cruel song.

Goody Cole Won’t you go back,

Won’t you go back to the devil,

Step on a crack, break her back,

Send Goody back to the devil

Bertha also saw Mr. Ryan and the security guy, Max, creeping around the grounds carrying guns.

She saw Dr. Davenport, walking into a bathroom, where there was a man in the bath tub. The man was Mr. Davenport, who had died years ago.  His body was ghost-white with purple splotches and Dr. Davenport screamed as her dead husband screamed, “You stay way from him you stinking whore.”

She saw Mr. Chambers’ nephew, Jason, standing under a porch light with Trisha, Mrs. Ellis, as she traced her single index finger from his lips down his chest.

And then Bertha didn’t see anything else until she woke up on the floor, on her back, the tea pot whistling furiously.

—— —— ——– ——-

The fireplace roared and crackled as Trisha Ellis ran her fingers through Jason’s long black hair, clenching it frantically. She screamed and pushed his head, his face deeper into her as she her back arched. She wanted him inside of her, not just his cock, but all of him from his head to his toe.

She writhed and continued to scream as her body undulated, coiling and recoiling beneath his tongue. Her entire body heaved, flinching as if in the throes of dry heaves, even after she came.

Jason kneeled up, into the light, where she could see his face, his beautiful handsome face. It glistened in the firelight with sweat and her own juices. He reached over to the side, grabbed the bottle of champagne and took a big swig, before pouring it over her chest, and lapping it off her nipples like a thirsty dog.

She groaned, in spite of herself, when he took her nipple in his mouth, biting it gently.

“Give me more,” she said. “more of the blow.”

Jason untied the baggy and dropped a small lump of it onto the base of his cock and Trisha smiled. She snorted it in one fell swoop and then took him into her mouth, reveling in the way his cock seemed to throb and hum. It was electric.

“You like that huh?” he said, taunting her a little.

“Yeah, what are you gonna do about it,” she taunted right back.

He clumsily rolled her over onto her stomach and her ass rose up to meet him. He poured out some of the cocaine onto her ass and snorted it and then placed his hands on her hips.

“Easy,” she said, and reached from around, guiding him into her.

She half expected him to ram it into her. But he slid himself into her slowly, purposefully.

“God you feel so fucking good,” she screamed as she came again. “Now I think you know what to do. Fuck me like you’ve never fucked anybody else in your entire life.”

Jason was happy to comply.

——- ——- ——- ——–

No sooner had Max had begun to speak, when he fell to his knees and began vomiting.

“Get up Max, we have to get out of here,” Ryan screamed.

Meanwhile, William Chambers was also screaming into the head set, “What is it, what the bloody hell is going on out there?”

“Max is sick,” Ryan said. “Max is sick and we’re not alone.”

Ryan was able to get Max to his feet, and they both ran as fast as they could back to the guard shack…