Hell Town

Chapter Eight

Lani couldn't breathe. Rick was dead. And the last thing she did was scream at him.

"We need to get out of here," McNair said. He pushed her over into the passenger side and took the wheel. She didn't resist just slumped in the seat.

McNair turned the truck around and headed back the way she had come. As they approached the diner Lani asked McNair to stop.

"No, we should keep going."

"If you don't stop the truck I'll jump out," she said.

He sighed and pulled over outside.

Audrey and Shelley were still there. Shelley was trying to convince Audrey to get into a waiting car.

"I'm not leaving without her," Audrey screeched.

When she saw Lani approach she grabbed her, "Where the hell have you been?"

Lani crumpled and started crying. Audrey hugged her, "What is it? What happened?"

"Rick," McNair said.

The look on his face told her everything.

"Oh, baby. I'm so sorry," Audrey said.

More of the winged creatures appeared in the sky above them. The car at the curb screeched away and they had no choice but to go inside the diner.

The four of them hid behind the counter.

"Where's your gun?" Audrey asked McNair.

"I emptied the clip back at Route 4. I got knocked off my feet and I lost it."

Lani saw Audrey search the counter for hers.

Lani pulled it out of her pocket. She was going to hand it to McNair but Audrey snatched it from her and held it down by her leg out of sight. McNair missed it, he was busy looking out the window.

Lani gave her a questioning look but Audrey shook her head to silence her.

If anyone should have the gun it should be the cop but no she had to be in charge of that too. Shelley was rocking back and forth.

Lani didn't feel like comforting her. What she really wanted was to go upstairs and crawl into bed and sleep. Maybe when she woke up she would find that it had all been a nightmare.

Audrey squeezed her hand, "It's going to be okay, sweetheart. We'll get out of this, I promise."

She wanted so badly to believe her.

"What was it? The thing that got Rick?" Lani asked McNair.

"I don't know. It...did you ever see that movie troll hunter? Like that but smaller."

A freaking troll. What the hell was coming next? Dracula? The Wolfman? She had a nasty feeling she knew what was coming up last. She had gone to Sunday school.

"It won't matter if we get out of town. If those things get out into the rest of the world, we're all fucked," Lani said.

"What do you suggest?" McNair asked.

"Shelley, how did Trent open the pit?"

"I don't know exactly. He was reading from an old parchment that he got off e-bay."

"Where is it now?"

"Still in the woods. He dropped it when the pit opened. He didn't mean to do any of it. He was just screwing around but somehow it worked."

"Tell us exactly," Lani said.

"Okay, um, we met just before midnight. Me, Trent, Suki, Jan and Ian. He made Ian draw an inverted pentagram in the dirt and made us stand on each of the points. He claimed he could raise a demon but really he was just trying to scare the others. He started reading from the parchment. Nothing happened at first then the ground caved in where we were standing. When the hole opened Ian fell in. The rest of us scattered. I don't know what happened to the others. I was too scared to go back."

"Well you're going to have to."

"What?" she said, her eyes wide.

"We need to see if we can close the hole. If the parchment is still there it should tell us how."

"No! No way, I'm not going back there," Shelley cried.

"Damn right she isn't and neither are you," Audrey snapped.

"We have to. There's no one else who can."

"The army will come eventually, let them take care of it," Audrey said.

"Not like you to shirk your responsibilities. Oh, wait. I'm going. McNair you in?"

He nodded, "Yeah, I want payback on those fucks."

"I'm sorry Shelley but we will drag you there if we have to."

Shelley was crying now, but she looked defeated. McNair went to check the coast was clear.

"Lani this is suicide. We can all get in the truck and go right now."

Her eyes were desperate, pleading. Probably how her own had looked as she clung to Audrey's leg when she was leaving all those years ago. She gently removed Audrey's hands from her shoulders.

"I want you to get out of town. Find the cavalry if they're out there and tell them everything. If we fail someone has to know how to stop it."

"No, I'm coming with you. I won't let you go out there by yourself."

"Mom, please, do as I ask. Please?"

Her shoulders heaved as she fought back tears, "I wish your dad was here. I'd thank him for raising you right."

Audrey hugged her tightly, "I'll find them and tell them everything. Then I'm coming back for you."

Audrey took her own car and headed out of town. The others got into the truck. Lani felt bad for her mother. She thought this was some noble act, it wasn't. It was revenge. She wanted to find whatever freak creature had killed Rick and give it a one way ticket back to hell.

����_?�)/J