The Ride

The Ride


         It was almost midnight. He knew his ride would be along anytime now so he threw his hiking boots on and checked his pack for a final time. He yawned as his anxiety grew. “This is no time to get tired”, he said aloud hoping it would help him fight his groggy state. “No turning back now”, he called out still trying to snap out of his state of exhaustion. The egg timer in the kitchen chimes , he takes a deep breath as he heads towards the French press he’d gotten from the local thrift shop a few weeks earlier. “thank God for coffee”, he thought as he poured his favorite brew of black coffee. As he sat at the dining room table flicking his pocket knife open and closed, his mind began to wander. What if he was wrong? What if all the training was for nothing, what if none of it mattered at all? He quickly realized he was letting his anxiety get the best of him, so he did a few breathing exercises to calm himself.
         There was a sudden bang on the door followed by a few more hard knocks, he glanced at his phone. “Five past midnight, time to get my ass in gear” he thought as he made his way to the window. He turned the porch light on and saw Donald awkwardly standing on the porch trying to light a cigarette. He was an average sized fellow, a bit wiry but he had a certain air about him, you got the sense that he could handle himself in a jam. Paul had met Donnie a few months back, in the thick of winter. Since then they were pretty much inseparable, as close as brothers. “It’s funny how close you can get to someone you’ve only known a few months considering I’m not one to make friends.” Peter thought to out loud, something that was unintentionally becoming more of a habit lately. “I’ll meet you in the car.” He called out. There was no response but he could hear footsteps on the porch begin to fade as Donald made his way back to the car.
          “This is it” thought Peter. As he finished his silent goodbyes with his family he turned out the light and locked the old oak door for what might turn out to be the last time. It was time to fulfill his destiny, and finally be a part of something good. “What took ya so long man we’re already pushed for time.” He quickly softened his tone as Peter flashed a grimace at him. “Had to say goodbye to the wife and kids Donny, you of all people should know its not the easiest thing to do.” “Yeah your right I’m sorry I guess I kind of forgot.”
The two rode in silence as the little charcoal grey accord made its way down the dark desolate highway.“Hey we should pull over here and get the gear ready,” said Peter as he unbuckled his seatbelt to reach in the back for his bag. As Donny slowly pulls off the heavily wooded road a state trooper pulls behind him and hit his lights. Whoop Whoop! “Awe shit”, Donny exclaimed as he grabbed his .45 caliber derringer from his boot. “Calm down, we got this, just tell him we heard a clanking noise and we just wanted to check it out,” said Peter just before the officer knocked on his window. Knock, knock, knock. “Sir could you please roll down your”, “Sorry officer”, Peter cut him off, I’m used to you guys talking to the drivers since I’m assuming we were pulled for a driving violation”, he said with a hint of defiance in his manner. License and registration please driver, and if I could see yours too sir, “Sure no problem officer here ya go.” Donny replied. “We were just checking out a funny sound we heard from the back of the car, see we’re…”
         “Alright, Mr. Rayfield is it? And Mr. Peter Balto, well this wont take but a sec could you please smile for money shot.” Just then a bright flash from the officers phone went off. “Hey man what the fuck was that?” Peter yelled as he squinted. “God damn it Pete he’s going to try to. Just as Donny finished his sentence he heard two loud cracks, his ears began to ring as his face was sprayed with chunks of Pete‘s head. Donny stumbled out of the car disoriented from the bang of the gun and wound on the side of his head. Ears ringing he fell to the ground as the officer walked toward him cocking his weapon. “Now, Danny boy this is your one and only warning. Get your shit together and if you cant recruit a descent fucking partner soon, well we will just have to move forward without you. Now your piece of shit friend that I just laid the fuck out, he was a fucking nut job. Hey Danny! Are you listening?! The officer said in an off-putting cool calm tone. That sick son of a bitch killed his wife and kids before he left, while you were waiting outside. You would have been able to prevent it from happening had you been paying attention, now…”Wha, what? Donny grumbled still unsure of what had just taken place. “Oh I’m sorry, am I boring you? Do you have something to say? I guess I forgot to introduce myself I’m none of your God Damned business, and this here is your dead fucking friend Pete, say hi Pete.” He hacks whats left of Petes head off and tosses it at Donny.
          “Now that we all know one another I’m gonna need you to just shut the
fuck up and do exactly as I say.” Donny, finally comes to his senses and realizes Petes head is in his lap. “Pete! What the fuck?! “That a boy snap out of it, we, correction you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you. Now Danny, Donny, or whatever the fuck your name was take this hatchet and this machete and finishing hacking your friend there up. When your done wrap the pieces up individually, you’ll take half and Ill take half and we’ll go our separate ways. You got that? Yeah, I got it. Donny didn’t want to make things worse as he started to figure out just who the “cop” really was. He took the hatchet and went to work on his troubled friends remains. “What the fuck were you thinking man? I mean god damn the kids too?” It was all Donny could do not to think about what Pete did and why. He felt sick at the fact that it was so easy for him to move on and butcher his friend like a pig. “Oh god”, he exclaimed. “What have I become?”
         As the sun began to peak out over the foothills and the dense fog began to rise and dissipate Donny felt a bit of relief. For all the things that go bump were now headed for slumber, and he was free from their grasp. At least for the day.
His mind drifted back to Pete’s family and the terror they must have experienced the night before. His eyes tearing up as memories of the children drifted around his head. “God damn you Pete! God damn you!” he whimpered as he pulled off the exit heading toward the nearest motel. “I’ve got to get my shit together here. I’m falling apart.” After exiting the interstate he passed by several hotels before turning onto a long gravel road that seemed to get lost in the woods. There were no signs and no distinguishing landmarks to assure anyone as to what was at the end of this narrow winding road. That was just fine for Donny though, he needed a discrete place to lay low, and having stayed there before he knew this would be the perfect spot. That is if he could still get in without Pete. After about ten minutes of being on the road to nowhere he came to a fork in the road. There was no sign; only an old post stood in between the two paths and it had a bunch of symbols carved into it. They had no meaning at all to Donny and he didn’t remember them even being there before. He stopped to study the roads a bit, it had been quite some time since Pete had brought him to the mysterious little Inn and he wasn’t quite sure which path to take. “Come on Donny think! What did he do when we first arrived?” Donny closed his eyes and tried to visualize everything he and Pete had done when they arrive at the fork in the road. There was a sudden cracking sound behind him that made him jump what felt like ten feet. As Donny whipped around to see who, or what could be there he heard a whisper, “oooooaaaaaak”. “Who’s there?” he said as he slowly pivoted in a circle trying to figure out what was going on. Again he heard the whisper, “ooooooooooooooak tttttree.” This time he understood what it said but he couldn’t figure out why. “Oak?” he called out still puzzled at what was transpiring . Then heard the very recognizable voice of an old friend. “Oh for Gods sake you blithering idiot the god damn oak tree. You know the big gnarly mother fucker right behind the post, directly in front of you. Looks as though its been here since the beginning, yeah that oak you nitwit.” Donny spun around in horror and disbelief as he instantly recognized to whom the voice belonged, it was Pete.
“No fucking way man I saw that cop blow your brains out; and you, you massacred your entire family. How in the hell are you talking to me right now?” Donny asked as he locked eyes with his old partner. “ There’s not a fucking scratch on you. Hell you look ten years younger. This, this just isn’t right. I-I must be asleep. In some kind of nightmare. I need to wake up.” “Oh stop it Don, jeez you’re acting like you’ve never seen a ghost before.” Pete exclaimed. “You know as well as I do that ghost exist.” “Yeah and so do vampires and werewolves and fucking literally anything else that can kill you in a terrible way. That doesn’t explain you being here now. I can’t see your aura, its like your still actually living.” “Well see that’s where we need to talk you and I, you see I’m not actually dead and I technically can’t be killed by um let’s see how shall I put this your conventional methods.” Said Pete as he paced in front of the car. “So that means Jim and Sarah they’re still alive as well?” “No my friend I’m sorry they are not, and as fond of them as I was I can’t let that slow me down. Not while this disease spreads through our world. I know you had grown attached to them Donny but they’re gone now and its up to us to kill who did it.” “ It was you; you son of a bitch! You killed them!” Donny screamed at Pete who was now just inches away from his face. “ I don’t know what you are or how you came back, but I’m going to send you straight to hell you fucking bastard!” Donny drew his silver machete from his side and hastily swung it at Pete’s neck slicing his head completely off in one swift motion. He dropped to his knees after the deed had been done and broke into tears. “I never realized how fast you were until now my friend. My, my haven’t you come a long way from Winston.”
         It was Halloween night, roughly two years ago when I met Pete for the first time. I had just gotten my first gig at the biggest haunted trail in the Triad. I was doing pretty good considering this was my first acting gig. Hell some nights I’d out do the guys wielding chainsaws and scare the living shit out of everyone with just an old clown costume that I had found in my grandfathers old things. At the time I just thought I had some type of natural talent for acting, it wasn’t until that last night that I discovered it wasn’t acting that came naturally to me. Nothing could have ever prepared me for what went down when my boss Rick and coworker Steve showed up for our final meeting.
I was still getting into costume when they walked in so they had no idea I was in the dressing area, which was in perfect earshot of the break room. That’s when Rick started to rant about how important the night was and how we would never be the same after the ceremony.
“My friends, I would like to start this meeting by thanking each and everyone of you for helping to make this season our biggest one yet. Although this place has been around for over fifty years now and we’ve experienced our share of ups and downs. There is no doubt in my mind that its you kids and your passion for scaring the shit out of people that makes this place a true success. Never before have I worked with actors that have such passion for the horrors of this trail. So again I thank you all. I ask that everyone stick around after the last guest leave for a little party that I put together with some of my buddies as a token of my appreciation. There will be a quick raffle drawing, you can grab a ticket from the fish bowl as you exit the barn after this meeting. Also their will be drinks, limit two if your driving home of course and well I guess that’s all for now so lets go scare the shit out of some people!” The crew began to applaud as they fell into line and each grabbed a ticket on their way out. I don’t know if it was fate or what but immediately after the last person was out of the tent Steve started arguing with Rick about who was going first which peaked my interest, so naturally I grew very still and just listened.
“Look man when the others arrive we’ll just draw straws to see who gets first pick I mean that’s fair right?” “No fuck that, you always win, and you always get to go first . It’s not fucking happening this time if we draw straws you sit this one out.” Said Steve angrily. I started to smile a bit; Rick could be a real dick sometimes I mean he was nice enough but something always bothered me about him. I had never heard Steve speak up like that before needless to say this intrigued me and I listened more intently as Rick began to chuckle. I found myself peaking around the corner of the dimly lit makeshift barnyard break room. I could see Ricks tall slender frame stand and walk toward Steve smiling the whole while. As he drew closer to Steve his stare growing cold, I could see a look of fear come over Steve all at once. He took a step back and lowered his gaze as if here were submitting himself to Rick. I immediately began to regret my eavesdropping, and started scan the area for a better spot to hide myself. Rick spoke again , “You get to hunt, you get to feed your urges no matter how dark; and you can pretty much do as you please as long as you don’t draw attention. Correct.?” I peaked back around the corner as Steve nodded and took a small step back.

Rick continued on, “You Steven, have become very bold in these last few months. To the point that I’ve noticed a few others questioning now starting to question my authority as well. All that ends tonight”! The door to the front of the building quickly slammed shut as he opened his palm revealing a small black stone. “No please I’m sorry I can’t go back”. “Oh Steven my poor friend I’m not going to send you back. Where would the fun in that be? Your of no use to me up there with those devils, oh no. I’ve got plans for us. He-he-he.” He chuckled. “You may be like me now but remember you were once like the rest of these vermin.” His tone became more sinister with every word, and although I had been terrified at this point, I couldn’t bring myself to look away. Rick continued on with his rant. “This isn’t for sending you back you fool. This stone actually belongs to you. I took it from you the day we met. The day you became free” Steve’s look of terror had turned to confusion. “What is it?” He asked reluctantly. “Why it’s what made you human my dear boy. It’s your heart.
“My heart?” Steve asked. “Yes your heart and I’m giving it back to you so you can feel what its like to be human again.” “But I don’t want to be human again.” Steve exclaimed taking another step back. “Oh you’ll still be an immortal like me, but you’ll be able to experience life and wonder again. You’ll have the best of both worlds, and you’ll be of better use to this organization you’ll be able to get closer to the right people this way. All you have to do is take it from my hand.” “I don’t get it.” Said Steve. Why reward me in this way? I thought you were upset?” “Son, though I may a bit short tempered at times I have never been short sited. I give you this and you keep the others inline. It’s as simple as that, they seem to listen to you and it would mean me not having to deal with another attempt to take my place. So what do you say? “ Rick asked, as he attempted to flash a half smile Steve’s way.
“Ok, I’ll do it. As a matter of fact it would be an honor. I don’t know what came over me Rick, I think it’s just the hunger its been awhile you know.” “Yeah I know, here it’s yours to take.” Steven reached for the stone; as he touched it it disappeared in a flsah leaving a small cloud of red smoke behind. Steve immediately fell to the floor grabbing his head in agony he screamed. “No, No, No make it stop! He screamed. “No, god no what have I done.” He yelled no sobbing into the ground. “Oh, silly me. I forgot to mention you’d get all of your memories back, I guess that’s the downside to all this. Well it’s not a very big one there’s nothing to miss I don’t know why you’re so hysterical Steve. Unless?” “Why?!” Steve yelled out why would I have done such things?” “Oh dear it was you wasn’t it.” “I killed them! I killed them all! Aah!” “Alright that’s enough of that! You pathetic worm. How stupid do you think I am? Did you think I would let you go unpunished for your insolence? Those memories are yours now and forever! It’s all you will ever see now and forever. The fact that you flayed your wife aand devoured the flesh of your children will haunt you forever. For I have given you what god never could, now suffer Steven. Suffer your eternal life by my side. For that is your purpose now, and when you finally succumb to sleep out of pure exhaustion you wil relive your sins as if they were happening all over again. Now get the fuck out of my sight before I do you worse. Steve ran up the stairs of the old barn to sob into the hay as Rick began putting on his costume for the trail. By this time it was all I could do not to make a run for the door. No longer peaking out all I could do was hold my mouth and my breathe in fear. Just then there was a knock on the door.