click one of the titles below.
By Brian Barnett
Grass and mud pelted the headstones as the car sped away.
“Woo!” A chorus of cheers filled the vehicle.
Perry Dobbs weaved through the cemetery in his parents’ Buick Roadmaster.
His two drunken college friends continued with their cheers and shared high-
fives.
Perry scanned the hillside for the trail that led to the gate that they had broken
into two hours prior. The headlights were very little help in cutting through the
near absolute darkness. “Guys, I hope I don’t get caught. My parents will -”
“-I can’t believe you did it, man!” Jerry interjected, “You actually went through
with it! You’re a beast, man!” Jerry shoved Perry’s shoulder jubilantly.
“Well, I can’t believe it either, quite frankly.” Perry responded soberly, “Do you
know how much trouble we could get in?” His face began to flush as he
realized the seriousness of their actions.
He looked in the rearview. He saw the shadowed outline of the dilapidated pine
coffin that rattled and slid on the worn out carpet in the back of his parent’s
vehicle.
The smell of mud and mildew filled the car. There is no way my parents won’t
know I’ve done something terrible, he thought. He felt his stomach turn. His
nerves were getting the better of him.
The wheels chirped as they met the narrow driveway that led to the gate. The
groundskeeper’s light flicked on in the distance.
“Oh God, guys, look!” Perry’s heart leapt.
“You’d better hammer it, Perry.” Dave laughed the words.
Why don’t these guys take anything seriously? Perry thought while gritting his
teeth.
The Roadmaster’s engine roared and Perry darted onto the highway. There
was no traffic. At three-thirty in the morning, most people were in bed, Perry
assured himself. His friends cheered him on as he got away presumably
unnoticed.
Perry quickly pulled onto a two-lane, tree-lined road. “Hopefully we can get this
done quickly, guys. I seriously wish you would’ve picked something else for us
to do.”
Perry’s friends’ plan was to dig up a celebrity’s body and leave it in the middle
of town. They had claimed that it would be a Halloween prank for the ages. As
always, Perry reluctantly agreed to their antics. They had never planned such
a terrible prank before. Perry decided this was to be the last time, assuming
they don’t get caught. He dreaded the thought of his parents having to bail him
out of jail. His stomach turned again.
The contents of the casket seemed to toss with every curve in the road. Perry’
s stomach did the same. “Guys, I’m going to need to stop at the cabin.”
“Yeah, yeah. Make it quick,” Jerry never seemed to be in a patient mood.
Perry turned onto a narrow gravel drive. It led to a small cabin that was
secluded by trees. He pulled to an abrupt stop and jumped out of the car. His
friends laughed at him as he darted through the headlight beams and ran
inside. A pale light illuminated in the bathroom window, inciting more laughter.
Jerry and Dave stepped out of the car and trudged inside. They had run out of
beer and needed a new batch, they had decided. The cabin served as their off-
campus home for most of the year. It always smelled very rustic. Its wood had
grayed over the years. The fireplace had long been stained black with soot.
When Perry stepped out of the bathroom, his face reddened. “I guess I’m
ready.”
“You sure?” Jerry jabbed, “I mean, we can wait on you all night if you want.”
Dave snickered silently.
Perry rolled his eyes and laid his hand over his gargling stomach.
Dave opened the door to leave, but noticed the rear hatch of the car was open.
“Hey guys, look at this.” Dave had a hint of worry in his voice.
Perry tensed. It was unlike Dave to worry . He was always so care free and he
made light of nearly everything. Something must be seriously wrong, he
thought.
“I’ll check it out.” Jerry walked out to the car with a fresh six-pack of beer. He
walked to the rear of the car and observed that the casket had been disturbed.
“Uh, guys,” he hesitated, “the casket is open. There’s nothing in there.”
Perry paced the floor frantically. “I’m going to jail. Plain and simple – I am going
to jail.” His hands began to shake.
“Did you even look and check if there was anything in there to begin with?”
Dave asked Perry with narrowed eyes and mild irritation in his voice.
“You felt how heavy it was! It had to be four hundred pounds!” Perry
swallowed hard and continued his pacing.
“Hey, you!” Jerry yelled at someone in the distance. He dropped the beer into
the car and ran around the cabin.
Dave glanced at Perry and shrugged. They both ran to the back room and
attempted to peer out the back window. They could not see anything aside
from their own reflections. Dave ran around to the back door and flicked on the
rear porch light and returned to the back room.
The single yellow light bulb illuminated a large bald man in a tattered suit as he
lumbered through the field. He seemed to sway from side to side with each
step. His arms were outstretched and his mouth was agape. His eyes seemed
completely white.
“That guy’s huge.” Dave observed. He chuckled, “Jerry better grab a big
stick.” He was back to making light of a heavy situation, Perry noticed.
Dave and Perry watched as Jerry shouted something unintelligible to the man.
The glass nearly muted him completely. Dave and Perry strained their ears
and leaned closer. The man did not answer, so Jerry lowered his head and
jogged closer to him. When he got near the man, he looked up and
immediately tried to run away.
It was too late. The man grabbed him around the neck and began to strangle
him from behind.
“No way, man!” Dave looked incensed. He sprung into action, “We’ve got to go
stop that dude!”
Perry was white as a sheet. He grabbed Dave’s arm as he tried to run past him.
“What’s wrong with you?” Dave fumed as he jerked his arm out of Perry’s half-
hearted grasp.
“Don’t you remember whose grave we dug up?” A trickle of sweat dripped from
his nose, “Can’t you remember the person we specifically picked out of all the
people we could have dug up?”
Dave hesitated. Then his face lit with sudden clarity, “Oh my God! No way!”
He leaned past Perry and squinted as he peered through the window. “He’s
gone. So is Jerry.”
“No, they’re not,” Perry began to cry. “They’re not gone, they’re right here.”
The floorboards creaked and screeched under the four hundred pound man
who carried his kill. He scanned the interior of the cabin with his wide, undead
eyes. As if in a trance, he dropped Jerry’s body and continued toward the back
of the cabin.
Dave slammed the back room door and slid the dresser against it. “Come on,
man, help me!”
Perry cowered backward against the window, and continued crying hysterically.
“This can’t be happening!” he wailed repeatedly.
The door heaved. Splintered fragments ejected from the splitting wood. Dave
dropped to the floor and pushed his back against the dresser with all his weight.
Perry met eyes with the ghoulish man. He was right about the white eyes.
There was no color, only blank, soulless eyes. The man moaned and Perry
screamed some more.
Dave tried to kick Perry to get his attention to no avail, “Help me!” he cried
desperately. Perry did not acknowledge his efforts. He was too terror-struck
by the gigantic, raging man.
The dresser and Dave slid away from the door violently. Dave recovered and
scanned the room for a make-shift weapon. He found an old, battered
Louisville Slugger in the corner. It was covered in dusty spider webs.
He could hear the man’s inhuman moans behind him. The man stepped
through the hole in the door and shuffled toward Perry, who continued his
hysterical screaming. Dave ignored the dead bug carcasses on the handle
and gripped it tightly.
Dave swung the bat and met the back of the bald man’s head with a sickening
hollow thud. The man swayed and then turned toward Dave, his face curled
into a sneer. Dave swung the bat again and caught the man in the shoulder.
The man continued shuffling toward Dave, unfazed. He grabbed the bat and
flung it against the lamp, instantly darkening the room after a bright blue
explosion. Dave whimpered as he retreated into the corner. There was
nowhere to escape.
Perry could hear his screams as he ran from the room. They stopped abruptly
when he made it out of the cabin and into the cool night air. He flung the car
door open and attempted to start it. His heart sank when he realized the keys
were gone. He remembered leaving them on the sink in the bathroom.
He slumped down and leaned his head onto the steering wheel and cried
again. He wished that he was at home and had never agreed to do such a
stupid thing as dig up a corpse. The smell of mud and mildew was nearly just
as strong as before. He felt nausea climbing in his throat.
The glass shattered from the driver’s side door. Perry screamed, “No, please! I’
m sorry! I’m sorry!”
His pleadings went unheeded. He was dragged out of the car. The last things
he saw were the white, vacant eyes of Tor Johnson.
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