314 Book 2 by A.R. Wise Read Free Book Online Page B

did we get ourselves into? Stephen!” Her questions turned suddenly accusatory. “What did you get us into?”
    “They’re not just going to let us leave,” said Alma. She was nearly hyperventilating as she stared out the back of the van.
    “We’ll see about that,” said Jacker as he stepped harder on the gas, revving the engine as the van hurtled forward.
    “Fuck,” said Stephen. “There’s fog ahead. That can’t be good.”
    Alma turned her attention back to the front of the van to see what they were headed into. A flash of a memory stung her with near physical pain as she saw the thick mist rolling over the roadway ahead, shrouding the woods that bordered their exit. A green light burst within the cloud and revealed a silhouette of a man standing on the side of the road. Then she heard chattering of teeth in the distance.
    “He’s here,” said Alma.
    “Who?” asked Rachel.
    “The one the children follow,” said Alma. “He controls the mist.”
    “As if I weren’t freaked out enough already,” said Jacker, never bothering to slow the van down as they entered the fog.
    Alma remembered the day her father drove her away from Widowsfield. He was frantic, and yelled at her to stop making noise i n the back seat, although she’d been unaware that she was even humming. The fog seemed to devour them, closing in around the car as if they’d plunged into cloudy water, and there were things floating in the air around them. Shapes slipped through the fog, providing only scant glimpses of the creatures within. Alma saw claws, and undulating, arched backs that had spikes protruding from the spine, along with eyes that flashed when the green electricity zapped. Then there were the children, just silhouettes in the fog ahead until her father drove through them, causing them to dissipate with the parted cloud. And always present, hiding in the mist, was the presence of the one the children would come to call The Skeleton Man. She had stared at the fog until the black wires started to descend from the sky, and that’s when she couldn’t stand to watch anymore.
    “Alma!” Rachel shook her friend and Alma gasped as if she hadn’t been breathing.
    “What’s going on?” asked Alma. “What’s wrong?”
    “You were humming with your eyes closed the whole time we were in the fog,” said Rachel.
    Alma looked out of the van’s windows and saw that they were driving through a neighborhood, and the mist was gone. “Did we make it out of Widowsfield?” Alma took her hand out of her coat pocket and realized that she’d been clutching her keys while humming.
    “I don’t know where we are,” said Stephen. “We came out of the fog and now we’re here. Wherever ‘here’ is.”
    It was overcast and the street was empty as they drove through the unfamiliar town. There was no sign of life and Jacker slowed down as Stephen dug out a map from the glove box.
    Alma stared at the plain, ranch style homes, with wire fences separating the backyards and manicured bushes decorating the front. Some of the lawns were cut short, while others had been allowed to grow for a few weeks, each property line delineated by the differing height of the grass. Then she saw a plastic deer beside a rose bush outside of a green home, and knew exactly where they were.
    “This is Widowsfield,” said Alma.
    “Are you sure?” asked Jacker. “I drove straight. We should be on our way back to Branson.”
    “We’re not,” said Alma. “I remember this street.”
    “Damn it,” said Stephen. “We must’ve gotten turned around somehow.”
    “No,” said Alma. “We’re on the other side of town, near the cabin. I remembe r driving past that green house before, when I used to come here with my father.” Her voice trembled. “The cabin should be up here on our right.” She leaned forward, between the driver’s and passenger’s seats and then pointed to a white house. “There, that’s it.”
    “Are you sure?” asked Stephen,