The Damned Summer (The Ruin Trilogy) by Scott Weaver Page B

smoldering cigarette. Nothing but an empty
room glowed in orange for a brief moment.
    "Ain't nobody here but us
chickens!" he said with a giggle and then took a big gulp of his beer.
    He was the only thing making any noise, but
movement suddenly caught his eye in the hallway to his left. Big, like a
person, not some damn squirrel.
    "Who the fuck?" Johnny growled,
taking an involuntary step back.
    Creaking wood was all that answered him,
which could mean something, or nothing.
    It was one of those rare moments, where the
next few seconds would decide the totality of a person's life: embrace the fear
and run like hell, or stick out your chest and face whatever it is lurking in
the shadows.
    The enigma of this particular  situation was
a coward's way was the right way. Some things aren't worth pursuing, regardless
of how brave it makes you. Expecting a drunk teenage bully with a bruised ego
to figure that out was near impossible.  
    Taking the road less traveled, Johnny sealed
his fate.
    "Get out here, asshole!" he stormed
into the back bedroom, running right into the missing little girl's room.
Yellow, wrinkled drawings still fluttering on the walls.
    "What the hell?" he asked, looking
at the drawings of unicorns and rainbows, and stick figure portraits of a long
dead and broken family.
    "I didn't kill her," a voice said
from behind Johnny.
    Johnny spun around, ready to fight, but the
dark figure was sitting in the corner on the floor.
    "Nor did my husband," the shadow
said. "Do you believe me?"
    Johnny was quiet for a moment, unable to find
his voice as his stomach got cold. He took a deep swallow and replied.
    "What the fuck do I care?"
    The shadow cocked its head. "Because if
I was a killer, perhaps you would be in danger."
    Johnny let out a small laugh. "Not from
the likes of you."
    "Certain of that?" the shade stood
up, nearly as tall as Johnny and what he would classify as a hot older woman.
    "Hell ya," Johnny took the last
drag of his smoke and flicked it at her. " If you can't protect your own
daughter, what the hell have I got to worry about?"
    "You're quite the bad-ass, aren't you,
Johnny?"
    "Why don't you come over here and find
out?"
    I've got a better idea," the shade finally
came closer, holding up a bottle of Dead Ace Whiskey in one hand. In her other
hand a ball cap advertising farm equipment loosely fell from her fingertips.
"How about we have some fun?"  She used the neck of the bottle to
push off the straps of her summer dress, and with a sexy shifting of her hips
it fell to her ankles.
    Johnny smiled.
     
     
    Consciousness came back to Drew like a
night-fever: out of nowhere and not particularly wanted. He made a noise that
was a cross between a snore and a buzz-saw right before his eyes opened.
    "Shiiiiit," he hummed as his head
started to hurt, looking up at the rearview mirror, he saw a smashed, bloodied
face looking back.
    Finding the door handle, he pushed open the
door and fell out onto the dirt and bean plants that his beast of a car had run
over.
    He laid on the ground for a while before getting
up, making sure he had no broken bones.
    "Shouldn't move after a collision,"
he said out-loud. "Could have a spinal injury and not even know it."
He looked around for a moment. "Guess it's a little too late for that now."
    He sat down in the front seat of the old
Ford, leaving the door open with his feet still in the dirt, the dim dome light
made about as much luminance as a firefly.
    Running his fingers through his sticky,
bloody hair, he let out a loud sigh. The beer he had been drinking was now laying
on its side on the floorboard of his car.
    Picking it up, he could tell there was maybe
half a swig left swirling around in the bottom of the can. He downed it and
then threw the can to the ground, crumpled.
    "Just like tonight," he whispered,
looking at the crushed aluminum. "Same as my chances with Jenny."
    Lighting up, he circled the car and then
looked back at the road.
    "Should be able to back up out