Time's Speed Limit

Chapter 4

Day Three

            I was so eager to get my last 600 or so miles over with that I decided I would drive without stopping.  My final destination would be Toluca Lake, and I would finally rest there.  I also decided I would call Howard and invite him over.  I would figure out how I really felt about him…this weird mixed feelings bullshit was starting to get on my nerves.  I didn't trust him, I thought of him constantly, and I lusted after him like a bitch in heat.

            I drove through the entire day and into the night quite uneventfully…traveling is a weird experience…and traveling alone can make for some very strange happenstance.  I'd suffered just a little too much highway ghost stories for one trip, and I was beginning to doubt my sanity, actually.  Maybe I really was burned out from a life of too much stress.  Could someone really go insane like this?  I dismissed the idea.  I just needed to rest.  The dreams, hearing and seeing things, all were probably just fatigue.  I waited for dawn to return.  I was glad for the pink, red, and purple sunrise when it finally showed itself.

            After a few miles (30, maybe 40) of more straight-ahead driving, I saw a sign on the highway indicating another little greasy spoon.  This one was oh-so cleverly named, "Fuel-N-Food."  My stomach piped up angrily at me, demanding nourishment.  I followed the signs and knew I was there when I saw two 18-wheelers and several pick-up trucks.  Ah, the sublime culture of the redneck.  Well, at least it provides entertainment.  Besides, I wasn't afraid of these people.  Sure, pulling up in such an expensive car, and me, as good-looking and well built as I was (am), was surely "asking for trouble."  But I didn't believe in that crap.  I had money to spend, a hunger to quell, and besides, I was armed.

            So I entered the diner, ignored the heads turning toward me, helped myself to a local newspaper and sat down at a booth.  I looked over at the bar to my right.  There was an older-looking waitress, and a younger one pouring coffee.  The old bag came over to my table.  "You want coffee?"

            I looked directly at her.  Her gaze was empty.  "Yes."

            She poured it silently.  I noticed the room was quiet.  Why weren't these assholes going back to their meals?  The waitress in the pink smock with the nametag "Bettie" stood there for a moment.  She pulled a menu out of the front pocket and slapped it down on the table.

            I put a hundred dollar bill on the table.  "Bettie, that whole thing is yours if you bring me bacon, eggs, and toast and leave me alone."

            "Uh…oh…okay, ma'am.  How do you want your eggs?"

            "Over hard, and white toast."

            I ate my meal and finished reading the saddest little paper I'd ever seen.  The entire thing was all about local farm news, crops dying, and how the high school team was going to be a big loser three years in a row.

            "You're the monster," said a voice.  I looked up sharply to meet the eyes of a clearly retarded man.  The eyes were gray, filmy, and rather blank, like  a mud puddle.

            "Gee, thanks," I replied.  I put my hand on the butt of my gun, "now get out of my way so I can leave."

            "Monster!"  He shouted.  I had started to get up, but sat back down and looked around the room.  Everyone was looking in our direction.

            "Look, buddy, I'm no monster.  I'm just here on vacation.  Passing through.  Now please get out of my way."

            Bettie came over quickly, apparently jump-starting from behind the bar.  "C'mon, Dale," she began, "leave the nice lady alone."

            Ha. 'Nice lady.'  Wonder what she would have called me for another hundred.

            Dale moved.  I got up and headed out, suddenly feeling my food trying to come back out through the point of entry.  I held it down and swallowed.

            Was it my imagination, or did everyone in the room seem to have that mud-puddle stare about them?

            "Get out of here, Missy.  You're in trouble.  We don't want no trouble."

            I got in my car and sped off, checking to make sure none of those fuck-ups were tailing me.  They weren't.  I was glad to be out of there, not because I was frightened, but because I was pissed, and I knew if I had stayed there, there would have been trouble.

            I would have killed someone.

            I don't know who, how, or why, I just knew it.  I would have done it, likely to protect myself from those inbred cousin-fuckers.

            I had to get to Silent Hill.

            I finally managed to settle down, and, after about an hour, I was back on the highway hypnosis trip.  I was really close, and thought I could almost smell the water of Toluca lake.  I pulled over and consulted my map of the town itself.  It looked like County Route 73 turned into Nathan Avenue, but I wanted to be absolutely sure.  So I consulted my OnStar directions to get me to the hotel.  The computer, in her remote but pleasant voice, said, "Follow County Route 73 for the next 70 miles.  County Route 73 becomes Nathan Avenue.  Follow Nathan Avenue toward the dead children.  The Hotel is located on the left."

            No.  That couldn't have been what she just said.  I knew at that moment, I might truly be insane.  "Repeat directions," I commanded.

            "You heard me, Miss Wallace.  You will dismember the children of Nathan Avenue.  You will eat their organs.  You will gnaw on their bones.  You will wear their skins in the name of Cthulhu.  You will be His mate, eternal, in the name of the Elders."

            I felt a wave of nausea rush over me, the breakfast deciding it wanted to take the projectile exit.  "What?  What is this, some kind of fucking joke?"

            "You are Li-li-tu…"

            "OnStar technical support, dial now."

            "You know who you are, and you know what to do."

            I screamed in frustration and perhaps a bit of fear.  "What in the fuck is going on here?!"

            I heard chanting all around me, words or sounds that I didn't quite understand, but could almost make out as it swelled in my ears.  I became dizzy and wanted to puke again.  "Ia, Ia, Cthulhu Fthagan, Dagon Drak!"

            A slick, black oil hit my windshield.  I screamed again and grabbed my gun.  But what would I shoot?

            I awoke with a start.  I had fallen asleep on the side of the road.  I looked around, disoriented.

            I was at the Welcome Station in Silent Hill.