The Deadsong by Brandon Hardy Read Free Book Online Page A

strange town, Alan. I can’t say for sure what it is about the place, but I just get the heebie jeebies thinking about it.”
    “And what if I get the heebie jeebies once I get there?”
    “You’re young and ambitious. And you’ve got the stomach for it. Besides, I don’t have that kind of zest or patience for discovery anymore.”
    Alan looked him over carefully and knew he was lying. The whole episode seemed like something from a old movie that he didn’t want to be a part of, but his academic reputation was suffering from a lack of legitimate publication, and whatever was going on in this little country town might shoot him to stardom if he caught one of these snakes. Hell, he’d been catching and playing with snakes since he was a boy. This should be no trouble at all.
    But he had a lot of questions and he felt he’d get no clear answers from his professor and mentor. The answers were far beyond his ability to grasp and, if he were truly honest with himself, Alan didn’t really want them. All of the details floated in the air like poisonous brown spores threatening to settle in his vulnerable lungs.
    “But why do you think it stopped in Harrisburg and started in Hemming without any similar incidents in between?” Alan finally asked.
    Sedgewick took a deep breath. “Do you really want to know what I think?”
    Alan leaned forward, his young face taking on a sick, weathered look, as though he was contracting a terminal illness and watching it happen.
    “I think someone up there brought them here.”
     
    5
    Gina called shotgun and climbed into her mom’s Buick. Dylan sat in the back with his headphones on, listening to a new pop song by Selina Porter, one about being a hero. Her angelic voice carried him away, far from the pain still throbbing between his eyes. Aside from a sharp wheezing sound that came when he laughed, his nose looked pretty good. He imagined it would probably be another color come tomorrow morning, but he could take care of that with some of Gina’s makeup. If she wouldn’t let him use any, he’d sneak into her room while she was out. What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.
    Linda decided to take the back roads into Durden since the sky had opened up into a bright blue dome only marked by a few smoky jet tails and mockingbirds. Whippoorwill Road was the scenic route you took when the days were nice and you felt like gliding through God’s country, parts that had not yet been scarred by the greed of Man. Once you eased over the railroad tracks and crossed Goodman’s Branch––a connective filament of water that ran from Goose Creek all the way past Youngstown and into Lewiston––you’d be in Durden before you could say Reese’s Pieces. It stayed dry most of the year, but the rainfall had been particularly generous since July. As the sedan swept over the branch, Gina saw it gushing out from under the bridge––a rich chestnut-colored watercourse garnished with debris.
    Linda turned up the volume on the car stereo. Bobby Billings was talking about the Monroe girl again. Apparently the radio station had enough goodwill to ask the listening public to send money for the girl’s family since she didn’t carry a life insurance policy. Gina closed her eyes and saw Ashley in a satin-lined casket, her head on a soft pink pillow. The tiny pin marks stood out in pairs around her face and neck where she’d been bitten–– like a vampire , Gina thought, and shivered. She popped open her eyes. They were passing the Shop-and-Save on the right, McDonald’s on the left. Soon they’d be parking at the Glendale Department Store on Redwood Avenue beside the sporting goods store her father use to take her to, the one where he’d spend hours window shopping for camouflaged goodies he didn’t need, but wanted just the same.
    It wasn’t that she hated this town; as a matter of fact, she had grown quite fond of it over the years. This was home. Memories cascaded over her––visiting her