Hush Little Baby
Dead Again
"There were stories. More than that they were legends, urban legends to be exact, spreading across the continental USA like a wildfire in summer. There was this family that was heading through the New Mexico desert on a road-trip to god knows where when their truck carrying a motor home breaks down leaving them stranded. To make matters worse there was no cell phone reception that far into the desert and after a day of waiting for another car to come down the sun beaten road night rolls through the desert. With the starry skies grotesque abominations of people began coming from the rocky hills picking the family off, one by one. The lucky ones died firs-" The blonde woman's dark, lyrical voice was silenced by a playful shove.
"Cut it out Tiane, you know I scare easy," The short dark haired woman whined.
"I believe I was in the middle of a story, Lola, so if you would keep your hands to yourself we could get on with making you wet yourself some more," Tiane said shooting her a devilish smile.
"Scaring Lola is one thing but my boyfriend is another, although it might just be that this story is amazingly similar to our situation", The driver's voice drifted from the front of the jade colored van to the back where Tiane, Lola, Dan and Michael were all sitting.
"You know what Candice? Just because I like to check around the hills doesn't mean I'm scared, I'm just cautious… so fuck you," The red head with dreads down to the small of his back sitting shotgun said looking over at the brunette driver beside him before casting his gaze back towards the red mountainous surroundings.
"Come on baby you know you're just a big old pussy with long hair… and I love you", Candice voice was high and whimsical; she kept her eyes on the road. It was like driving on mars, the sun was high beating down on the little van jetting across the dusty red desert on a lonely road, in fact they were the only ones on the road.
"Yeah… I love you too babe", Mark said a little distracted looking over at the tiny cave openings in the hills.
"You can check all you want but they don't come out until nightfall," Tiane said leaning in between the driver and passenger seats looking at the back his head.
"Blow me, bitch," Mark responded not even looking back at her, Tiane and Mark always did everything they could to bug each other since she was born, he had been torturing her as all brothers do but the older they got the more she got one over on him and began turning the tables. Meanwhile, Dan sat with his back pressed against on of the bland interior walls of the van just behind a wheel well with Lola leaning on him wearing one of his zip-up hoodies which was far too big for her. Both had been sleeping since the last gas station a few hours ago. Michael kept quiet leaning on the opposite wall of Dan and Lola listening to Mark bickering with Tiane, a smile crept across his face. This had to be the billionth time he'd seen them get into feud but it was always a gong show and one that never stopped being entertaining.
"Would you two shut the hell up? I am trying to drive here", Candice would always end it to, otherwise it could go on for days. It had before. Mark and Candice stopped talking, she drifted back into the back of the van lying across the dark carpeting bumping along with the van. Suddenly a loud blast almost like an explosion rang through the van which now skidded on it's hubcaps shooting sparks high into the air for a little over fifty feet before finally stopping, there was no fire or smoke and the sound was too low to be the engine. The event woke up Dan and Lola who were thrown forward violently but the sudden lurching of the van, she flew off of Dan and into the outline of the wheel well with her leg sending a jagged gash across her calf. Dan was right behind her flying into the wheel well as she bounced off of it, the edges of the well found its way in between his ribcage knocking the wind out of him. Candice had it the worst being on the floor with nothing to grab on to she was sent sprawling into the drive shaft splitting her head wide open and knocking her out cold. Michael who had his feet on the wheel well on his side so when he slid forward he simply fell against his brace screaming out of shock and fear for the moments they fell prey to the lurching before it finally stopped. Mark and Tiane had been wearing their seatbelts so when the fell forward they were saved from going through the windshield and getting to know the dashboard up close and personal. Her nails dug into the rubber driver's wheel and the two of them had matching bruises striped across their torsos and waists from the violent stop.
"What the fuck just happened?" Lola's shaky voice cut through the groaning and gasping resounding throughout the inside of the van.
"Oh shit! Candice are you okay?!" Mark broke out of his groggy state when he saw his sister's figure crumpled like a rag doll against the drive shaft and fought against the seatbelt for a few moments before unclipping it and rolling her over revealing the wide gash pumping a deep crimson liquid down her face and dripping to the reddening carpet below.
"Oh god, wake up… PLEASE wake up," His voice was shaky and uneven, Lola pulled herself over to him and Candice trying to calm Mark down.
"Don't worry Mark she'll be fine I'll take care of her, me and Dan will make sure she's okay so just calm the fuck down, okay? Lola said sitting up near Candice looking up at Mark who nodded quietly with hot tears dripping down his face. Dan was still gasping slightly when he came over to see what had happened to Candice when she suddenly arched her back and let out a scream startling everyone particularly Michael who had been there stroking her hand before Lola had managed her way to them.
"Holy hell, Candice! Shit, hang on baby we'll get you bandaged up," Michael was shouting as Candice coughed and tried to sit up but was stopped by Mark's arm putting her back down in her bewildered state. Michael ripped off his sleeve and tied it around her forehead making a crude bandage, he pulled it so it was taught but not enough to hurt. Tiane unclipped her seatbelt and opened the driver side door so she could step out stumbling slightly she braced against the door frame looking in for a moment.
"I'm going to see what happened, you guys stay here and watch Candice alright?" she said before groggily stepping towards the front end of the van noticing the shredded tire.
"We blew a tire…" she started before noticing the back tire was blown too so she hurried around the front to check the passenger side tires, both were flaps of rubber barely hung onto the metal hubcaps.
"Shit we blew all of the tires and I only have one spare," she said opening the passenger door to Mark who turned around and grimaced at the news, this meant they were stranded until someone came by.
"Wait I have my phone we can call for an ambulance and a tow truck!" Dan said excitedly fumbling through his pockets for his black and blue slide phone only to have his demeanor change, his shoulders sagged with his next words.
"I got no reception out here…" his words caught everyone's attention so they all checked their phones except for Candice who was still unsure of what was happening from one moment to the next. All had the same result.
"So what now?" Michael asked still stroking Candice's hand "Where was the last town? How long ago?" he was looking up at Mark since he couldn't see Tiane behind the seat.
"I guess it was like a half an hour drive since our last fill up? I don't really know, we can't really walk that far, especially not with Candice in her condition," she said turning around and leaning against the green van's outer wall.
"I'll go and get some help then, an-and I'll come back just don't worry it'll only take a day or two and i'll bring some water bottles and I'll come back with help don't worry I'll be back", Michael let go of Candice's hand clearly frantic and drifted past Dan to the back of the van grabbing a couple of water battles from the red cooler strapped to the luggage back there before climbing over it all and opening the back door falling to his feet in the dusty red desert.
"Michael… you can't g-," Tiane began but was cut off by Michael.
"Don't worry I'll be fine, everything will be fine you'll see. Just take care of Candice for me and I'll be back," He said wearing a smile but still clearly panicked he closed the van doors and jogging down the road despite Tiane's protests. She walked towards the back of the van watching him as he went down the dusty road shaking her head, Dan was looking over Lola's leg which was still bleeding. He went through the luggage finding a maroon suitcase, he brought the suitcase closer to Lola opening it and taking out a plain white t-shirt he wrapped her calf and tied it off tight like Michael had done with Candice.
"Ow… damn it Dan, not so tight," Lola called back at him while he was tying off the reddening shirt around her leg.
"Sorry…. I didn't mean to…" He responded a little disheartened as he retied the shirt a little looser but still taught and sat back up against the van wall.
"It's okay, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to snap at you it's just that this is one fuck up of a trip after another, how the hell did we even blow all four tires anyway!?... wait, how did we blow all of tires?" she said looking over at Mark who was hanging out the door looking at Tiane. She froze for a moment staring up at Mark before the two of them dashed over to the back of the van then began jogging down the road, the same direction as Michael and after around fifty yards he noticed something glinting on the road.
"Jesus…" he muttered kneeling down and brushing off a layer of dust off of an old police issue spike strip running the with of the road, little bits of black rubber is hanging off of some of the spikes.
"What does these mean? Tiane asked leaning over Mark to see the spike strip closer.
"It means someone wanted to make sure we couldn't get out of the god forsaken value," he replied dropping the strip kicking up dust as it clattered to the road. Meanwhile Michael drenched in sweat from the heat and the constant jogging had just made it up to the stony hills, one of the water bottles had been emptied and left behind on the road somewhere a little while back. His other water bottle was already half empty and as he was regaining his senses Michael knew he had to go back so he stopped short of having to climb over a small cliff edge and turned around.
"What the fu-," Michael started to say after coming face to face with a grotesquely distorted face, it was like a human except his face was bulbous and had an overpowering brow but what really got Michael were the eyes, one of them was bigger by a few centimeters and completely empty inside as if it was dead and the other was beady holding only contempt. He was frozen in place, time seemed to drag on forever but it couldn't have been more than a second before the creature swung his arm up but as he tried to back away from the impending blow he noticed out the corner of his eye. The slender wooden shaft of a pick axe wrapped in fat warty fingers coming with the upswing, the head of the pick axe crashed into the bottom of Michael's jaw smashing it into the base of his skull and the piercing metal ripped through his head shooting up from the other side drenched in blood spilling brain matter and more of the crimson liquid through the humid air. The creature pulled Michael down to the ground and began dragging his body into one of the cave openings disappearing into the long forgotten mines.
"Who would want to strand us out here in the middle of nowhere?" Candice spoke up first after Tiane and Mark had come back to the van with their new, those were the first words she had said since the accident that made any sense.
"Probably some sick, perverted motherfucker watching us from the mountains, waiting for nightfall when we're tired and can't see two feet out from the van," Tiane jumped into the passenger seat looking back at Lola and Dan who shared apprehensive looks with each other.
"That or it's some long forgotten police barricade type thing, I mean it's not like anyone really drives through here so who knows how long it could have been laying there," Dan spoke up sensing the tension and distress filling the van, it seemed to calm Candice down at least. Mark came around the front of the van and hopped into the driver's seat closing the door behind him, Tiane did the same for fear of the unknown lurking in those hills. In a small, crudely dug trench near the base of the hills to the van's right was another mutated person, her face looked as if it had been pulled back making her face taught and pulling her nose into nothing more than two slits in her face. A pair of large binoculars was set in front of her beady eyes as she watched the five teenagers sitting in their van, she couldn't see much but she grabbed the old military style walkie talkie at her belt and spoke into it with a gruff voice.
"There are five of them now, one went off but he won't make it far… George was out that way, yes, we'll wait for night," a buzzing on the other end was her communication. She never took her eyes off of them until the sun fell below the horizon casting an eerie darkness throughout the valley.