Abstract Island Read online

  Abstract Island

  John Ledger

  Edited by: J. Ellington Ashton Press Staff

  Cover Art by: David McGlumphy

  http://jellingtonashton.com/

  Copyright.

  John Ledger

  ©2015, John Ledger

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book, including the cover and photos, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher. All rights reserved.

  Any resemblance to persons, places living or dead is purely coincidental. This is a work of fiction.

  Table of Contents

  Short Stories

  Mason Lane

  Anarchy Camp

  Father

  The Mountain of the Frozen Bus

  One Sunday Morning in Hell

  A Drowning Whisper

  Storm Warning

  Jenny

  Full Moon 666

  Novellas

  Animals

  The Davenport Chronicle

  Mason Lane

  I’m one of the few survivors from the ‘Mason Lane Massacre.’ My name is Ethan and I was the weird kid who lived on the corner. Every neighborhood had their stereotypes and that was my part to play. Thirty years later I’ve graduated to the weird old man who lives on the corner. I don’t lose any sleep over that though. I don’t have time to worry about anything other than death. We’re all going to die. He told me.

  January 1984

  I was a month away from twenty-eight at the time but most of the people in our neighborhood were old so I was still considered a kid. I’d recently broken up with my girlfriend and moved back into my mother’s home. Mom didn’t mind because she needed plenty of help around the house and enjoyed the company. I didn’t mind because she was cool and my dog Bentley was still there. I’d left her to keep my mom company years ago when I moved out. Bentley was an enormous rottweiler that looked like she would tear your head off but in reality she was a big teddy bear. She came in handy the night it all went down though. She saved my life.

  It was New Year’s Day and they were calling for snow, lots of it. Mom was watching television and Bentley was sleeping so I decided to go out for a bit. I didn’t feel like driving anywhere so I went for a walk up the street. Mason Lane was a dead end with homes on both sides. At the top of the lane there was nothing but woods and a lone house inside of them. Nobody lived there anymore, but the Mason family had built it many years ago, naming the road as well. I walked along smoking a cigarette as I noticed you could smell the snow coming. The air always took on a different scent when a storm was on the way and this smelled like a bad one. I stood at the top of the street staring into the woods for a while before I saw the first flake. Within a matter of minutes it was coming down fast. It was going to be dinner time soon so I headed back to my house. We had meatloaf that night and watched the news and about a half hour after dinner Bentley started howling like a wolf. She’d never done that before. I looked out the living room window making sure no one was out there. At first I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary other than a lot of snow falling fast. Our street was covered already. Bentley was still howling like crazy when I finally looked down towards the corner of our street. She had every right to.

  II.

  A figure whom appeared to be a man was slowly stumbling up the street. He was surrounded by a pack of dogs or wolves; to this day I’m not sure what they really were? I’m convinced they were the hounds of hell. The man was wrapped up in multiple garments and some kind of cloak covering his head. He reminded me of a homeless version of the emperor from Star Wars. I felt like I’d dropped acid or something watching the events unfold from the window of our living room. It was insane what happened next. The hounds all lined up and faced their strange master as he motioned at them with his hands. The hounds turned around and marched up the street, each one of them stopping in front of someone’s house. It seemed as if they were guarding the homes of Mason Lane for their master. He faced our house and moved towards the driveway. I almost pissed myself as I quickly got my mother and Bentley into one of the bedrooms and told her to lock the door. Running back into the living room I heard him knocking. I never should’ve answered but I did. Of course I was afraid to but I was more afraid not to. When I looked into his face I was hypnotized by some unknown force. The stranger very well might have been death or the devil himself and I’ll probably never find out for sure. He had no face under that cloak; it was complete darkness I stared into as the figure touched my arm and spoke to me. His voice sounded old, very old. It was the sound of pain and misery; the words some kind of curse.

  “Remember you will die,” was all that he said before moving on to the next home. I slammed the door shut and locked it, immediately noticing a change. His touch or his words were like some kind of drug. I was feeling very strange and not like myself at all. I’m a good guy pretty much all the time. Sure, I’m lazy and I’m an underachiever. I watch porn and read messed up stuff but deep down I’ve got a big heart and I care about my family and friends. You can ask anybody who knows me and they’ll tell you the same thing. The stranger did something to me and everyone else he came across though; he changed us.

  The thoughts that were going through my head were not my own. Everything was scrambled in my mind and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to control myself. Going outside didn’t seem like a very good choice at all for my sake but I was more worried about my mother and Bentley. The urges I was experiencing were unexplainable and unavoidable so I had to get away from them. I bundled up in a hoodie and a winter coat as I headed out the side door towards my garage. I made it inside safely and locked the door as I grabbed a bunch of items and threw them in a gym bag. I had knives, a baseball bat, a croquet mallet, a bow and some arrows. I was ready for war. I headed outside and snuck into the neighbor’s backyard. My mind told me it was time to kill.

  III.

  I figured if I stuck to the backyards I’d be out of sight and safe from the hounds and their master. I wanted to see what was going on next door because he had to have visited there already. I looked into the kitchen window but I didn’t see Betsy or Earl. They were a sweet old couple so I’d hoped they were safe. Earl probably barricaded himself and Betsy in their basement with all of his slot machines. I said a prayer for them and moved over the fence into the next yard. Taking a glance out at the street I saw one of the hounds watching the house that I was headed to. The Kunkle’s were most likely home. Old Katy and her two sons Ronnie and Donnie were a strange bunch. She was in her 60’s now and the boys were both around forty years old. They were obsessed with motorcycles and fixing things in general. Their mom looked like the stereotype witch from any cheesy horror movie you could think of but she really wasn’t. She was a nice lady.

  I noticed the light was on in their garage so one or both of the boys were probably out there messing with their bikes. I crept up to the opened door and took a peek inside. The stranger had definitely visited them. Ronnie and Donnie had their mother nailed to a gigantic piece of plywood hanging in the garage. They were standing back from her laughing and drinking as they threw darts at her body. I couldn’t watch anymore of this. It was so hard to fight the feeling to join them. I knew how wrong that was though so instead I simply ran onto the next house with my bag of goodies.

  The Carter’s were in their den. I could see them through the patio door and they were both in recliner chairs either sleeping or dead. My guess was the latter. The next
yard brought me to the Smith residence. Harry was in his underwear smoking a cigar. His wife Linda was lying next to him in a wheelbarrow. Her head was busted open and blood was pouring onto the snow covered ground. He didn’t even acknowledge me as I walked up to him. Harry was in some kind of trance puffing away on his cigar. I shook my head at him and the whole situation as I fought off the urge again and hopped another fence. The Wilt family had all their lights on inside. They were most likely huddled together somewhere in the house praying. Knowing Mr. Wilt he probably thought this was the apocalypse. Of course at the time, I couldn’t have totally disagreed with him. He and his wife Cindy were both annoying as hell but their daughter Megan sure was something to look at. She was home on Christmas break from college and what a fine young lady she had turned into. The urge couldn’t be contained any longer. I stood in their yard thinking about Megan and her tight little body and I had to see her. I broke a window and climbed inside their home.

  IV.

  I was in Megan’s bedroom but she was nowhere to be seen. The family was probably holed up together somewhere in the house, most likely the basement. I was ready to go look for them when I realized I should be prepared. I opened my bag and grabbed one of my knives. Placing the bag on Megan’s bed I left her room and began my search. The further into the house I wandered the stronger the scent of blood became. I found the kitchen and a door which led to their basement. Opening the door I heard muffled screams from below and cautiously made my way down the steps. I was ready to strike with my knife but when I got to the bottom I couldn’t believe what I’d seen. Had the whole neighborhood gone insane? Evidently I was having more success resisting the evil among us than others were. Eric and Cindy were tied to chairs and Megan was torturing them with a pair of pliers. She was naked and savage looking but that didn’t stop her from being unbelievably hot. She looked up at me with her big blue eyes and a smile as she said, “Hey want to join me?”

  “What?” Was all I could think to say? She shrugged her shoulders and went back to twisting her father’s nipples with the pliers. This was worse than the redneck dart game going on down the street. I don’t know why I didn’t kill her but I just couldn’t do it. She was gorgeous like an angel gone mad. I had to put her parents out of their misery though. I walked up behind her mother with my knife and slit her throat. Megan looked surprised at first but then she lit up with excitement as she pointed to her father. “Do him now, do him! Go with God daddy, he’ll save you.”

  I listened to her and ended her father’s misery as well. She was like a little schoolgirl jumping up and down. But she wasn’t, she was a college girl with long golden hair and perfect breasts that I couldn’t take my eyes off of as she bounced in place. She knew it too and she loved every second of my attention. Megan went to the stairs heading upwards. She paused for dramatic effect and bent over for my enjoyment as she looked back over her shoulder at me.

  “Are you coming?” She asked me with a playful smile on her face.

  “Oh yeah.” I replied and I followed her back to her bedroom.

  V.

  I’ll spare you all the details but needless to say Megan rocked my world in her bedroom. The frightening part came after we finished. This whole time I was under the impression Megan had gone crazy because of the stranger. Hell, I was still trying to figure out why I wasn’t completely insane like everybody else I’d run into. I guess I have more self-control than I’d ever realized before but not when it came to Megan. I was like a lost puppy in her presence awaiting her every command. We got dressed and she started digging through my bag.

  “Can I help you?” I asked her?

  “I’m just seeing what you got. We’re going to go kill this old fucker right?”

  “Wait, what? You know what’s going on? You’re not affected?” I was in shock. What was going on here?

  “No we hid in the basement as soon as we saw him outside. My mom and dad started praying and shit as usual, fucking lunatics. I finally had my chance and I hopped on it. I knocked them both the fuck out and tied em’ up. Then you came in a few minutes later when you found me fucking with them.”

  “So there’s nothing wrong with you but you were torturing your parents so obviously there’s something wrong with you. Holy shit! Everything is all fucked up and now I’m with an actual true blue psycho.”

  “Hey fuck you buddy! You weren’t calling me psycho a few minutes ago when your dick was inside of me. What are you doing in my house anyway? Who’s the psycho you pervert?”

  “I admit it I’m fucked up because that freak touched me. He came to our door and I opened it like a dumbass and now I can barely control myself. I broke into your house because I wanted to see you. I’m sorry.” Megan stared coldly at me for a moment before a smile formed on her face.

  “That’s beautiful. I think I love you. Let’s go kill this fucker. Grab your bag and let’s go lover boy.” Megan smacked my ass as she walked past me. We bundled up and headed into the storm, literally.

  VI.

  Next door to Megan lived the Cromwell’s. They were away on vacation so we kept moving up the street, through the backyards. I wondered where the stranger was at this point. He seemed to be making his way up my side of the street but then what? Was he going back down the other side? There was no way we were going into the street to find out though. Ms. Lawson was most likely safe as we heard her two Saint Bernard’s going crazy inside when we checked her house. The next home was vacant and up for sale so that’s where we decided to make our post. It was perfect because we were at the top of the street and hopefully we’d be able to see what’s going on out front.

  We broke in through a back window and made our way into the front of the empty home. We watched out the front and for about twenty minutes we saw nothing. Finally the stranger appeared, moving up the street once again. This time he was escorted by only a handful of hellhounds. I was confused because by my estimation he had over a dozen. Of course that’s based on the fact that there’s sixteen homes on Mason Lane. We watched and waited until he passed and led his hellhounds into the woods at the top of the street. There was one house left for him to visit.

  I told Megan I needed to get back down the street to check on my mother and Bentley. We decided to brave the warzone since it appeared the evil had escaped into the woods. As soon as we headed down the street though I realized we had to check on the houses on the other side. It was the right thing to do. Megan agreed so we headed to our first stop, the Stephen’s home. Ken, Julia and their daughter Madison were in the backyard when we found them. They were playing soccer with a Chihuahua and laughing their asses off. Megan and I looked at each other and I believe we shared the same feeling. Opening up the bag I took the croquet mallet and gave her the bat. Megan sprinted at Ken and hit a homerun with his face as I chased Julia with the mallet. Eventually she tripped and fell face first in the snow. By the time she turned over I was pounding her skull in with the mallet. Little Madison grabbed the dead dog and ran away into the house.

  We let Madison go and moved on. The next two homes were both older couples, the Barton’s and the Stakely’s. Unfortunately we found them all dead. The good news is on our travel down the road we saw several dead hellhounds in the street. They appeared to have suffered from gunshot wounds and after making it to the next house we found out why. The Bowen brothers were armed with shotguns on their front porch. Jacob and Dean were ready to shoot us when we approached until they realized who we were. Jacob was a big, bearded mammoth of a man and Dean was his opposite, a skinny white boy who thought he was black. They were like Garth Brooks and Eminem.

  “Yo what the fuck man, we almost capped yo ass fool!” Dean was waving his gun around in the air as Jacob put his hand across Dean’s chest pushing him backwards.

  “Shut up idiot.” Jacob mumbled as he walked off the porch and came over to us.

  “What’s up Jacob, you kill all those hounds man?” I asked him.

  “Yeah me and this dipshit over here. It
’s the fucking apocalypse or something man. You got any guns?”

  “No. No guns. We just have blades and a bow and arrow.”

  “That’s not gonna help much but luckily that freak went up the street with the dogs that are left.” Jacob replied.

  “So there’s only five left, that’s what we saw?”

  “Yeah but we’re almost out of ammo.”

  “I gotta go check on my mom. Megan you stay here you’ll be safe with them. They have guns. When I get back we’ll finish this thing.”

  “Finish it how?” Megan asked?

  “I don’t know yet. We’ll figure it out.”

  VII.

  I headed home but on the way I realized there was three houses left unchecked. Brian Kirkland ran out his front door as I approached yelling my name. “Ethan, Ethan! Thank God dude. I’m going crazy man. I need help, you got to help me dude!”

  “Settle down Brian. Everyone’s going crazy man, just settle down.”

  “You don’t understand man, I did something real fucked up dude.”

  “What Brian? I’m sure I’ll understand. I’ve seen plenty of fucked up shit in the last couple hours.”

  “I killed my parents’ dude. I killed them in their sleep. I stabbed them both to death right after that guy came here man. Fuck! I don’t know what to do man.”

  “Brian, just settle down. I understand. Come with me brother. Everything’s going to be alright.” Brian calmed down slightly and followed me next door. I knew enough about Brian to know he was simply some stoner kid who was obviously affected by the curse. Under normal circumstances there’s no way this kid would’ve killed his parents. We stopped next door at the McLaughlin home to find Paul and Bev dead as well. There was only one house left on the block and they were the new arrivals.