The Void by Michael Bray, Albert Kivak Read Free Book Online

hummed Itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out. Her pupils dilated and Tina sprung back on her feet. She had heard something menacing, hiss through the hole into her left ear. What had it said? Join us? Was that it? She stepped back and nearly slipped, falling backward. Suddenly, all the cars in the lot growled to life. The engines sputtered, hitched, and turned on. Headlights cut through the dimness, splashing Tina and revealing the hole behind her.
    Tina stared in disbelief. All the cars lined up and down the street were coming alive—by themselves. The cars transmission gears dropped to drive. They began to roll linear at a slow pace like insects at a cafeteria, as they steered along the side of the road. She couldn’t believe it. They were all going into the hole. Stretches of cars, SUVS, trucks, big and small, disappeared inside the opening of the yawning chasm, one by one, plummeting into the darkness.
     
    III
     
    Nancy Robins checked on her three children, opening every door to their rooms in turn. First was Madeline’s. The ceiling lights flooded the two separate beds, the computer desk, and the bookshelves full of stuffed animals and YA fantasy stories. In one of the beds, Madeline slept soundlessly. The second bed that was supposed to Candy’s was empty. Down the hall, Nancy rushed to another room. Victor, the youngest child, awoke and rubbed his eyes.
    “Mom?” he said in a tiny voice.
    She went in and hoisted him up on her chest as she returned to rouse Madeline from her sleep.
    “Is everything okay?” she asked. The ground moved suddenly. “What was that?”
    “I’m scared, Momma,” Victor said.
    “Kids get your most important things and go. We have to move,” Nancy said, rushing around in a flurry of activity. She set Victor down on the floor. “I think it’s an earthquake,” she said, pulling luggage bags, opening the wardrobe cabinet and the dressers, dumping clothes inside the bags. “You two, take all your necessities the most basic stuff you need.”
    “Where we going, Mom?” Madeline cried. “Are we leaving?”
    “Hurry up and do as I say. We don’t have much time.”
    “But Mom—” Victor started. “What about Dad?”
    “I said NOW!”
    Nancy left the bedroom. She crossed the narrow hallway and stood in front of the master bedroom. She heard a shuffling noise from inside.
    “Mom,” a voice called out to her behind the doorframe. It sounded exactly like Candy, but that didn’t make sense because her daughter was lying in a pool of blood downstairs.
    “Candace, is that you?”
    Silence.
    She twisted the knob and entered the room. It was dark in there. Cool air blanketed her face and prickled the hairs on her skin. They stood up, goose bumps forming. She flicked the light switch. No light came on. The nightstand where Nancy’s favorite lamp was positioned glowed feebly. Next to the table, the blankets on Nancy’s bed bulged as if someone was sleeping underneath it. The coverlets undulated with each respiration, rising and falling. The sheets rippled.
    “Who are you?” she whispered.
    Clamping a hand over her mouth, Nancy grabbed the blanket with her other hand and yanked it away from the lumpy contours. That’s when the overhead lights snapped back on and something hideous and bulbous slithered out from under the covers. Nancy reeled as a slim figure with shadowy legs crawled out, rising on its hindquarters.
    It darted to the back wall and rushed up to the ceiling, where it stared at Nancy with unblinking eyes. Then, as Nancy watched, it turned into a man. It was Eddie. He crawled on the ceiling and passed over the light bulbs spreading an incandescent yellow. As he passed over it, grinning upside down, the bulbs shattered. Glass tinkered downward. Nancy was screaming.
    The door slammed shut behind her. And, as she tried unsuccessfully to open it, the thing came closer to her. It was right behind her. She tried the knob