The Thing Down the Road
by
T.L. Smith
An Imprint of
Musa Publishing
The Thing Down the Road
By T.L. Smith
Copyright © T.L. Smith, 2012
Smashwords edition
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All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher.
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This e-Book is a work of fiction. While references may be made to actual places or events, the names, characters, incidents, and locations within are from the author’s imagination and are not a resemblance to actual living or dead persons, businesses, or events. Any similarity is coincidental.
Musa Publishing
633 Edgewood
Ave
Lancaster, OH 43130
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Published by Musa Publishing, February 2012
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This e-Book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of International Copyright Law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines and/or imprisonment. No part of this ebook can be reproduced or sold by any person or business without the express permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-61937-878-0
Published in the United States of America
Editor: Stephen Morgan
Cover Design: Kelly Shorten
Interior Book Design: Coreen Montagna
Warning
This e-book contains adult language and scenes. This story is meant only for adults as defined by the laws of the country where you made your purchase. Store your e-books carefully where they cannot be accessed by younger readers.
“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy…”
All four little monsters screamed from the back seat, one inspired by the next, the youngest at a shrill yowl. Shrill enough Del wanted to claw the window open and jump for freedom on only the second day of their family vacation. He loved his family, but for his own sanity, he was starting to wish he’d stayed on duty, where people made sense. Unfortunately, leave was mandatory; one month for every year tour of duty took him away from home. Looking over his shoulder, he couldn’t help thinking the littlest one had been just a bug when he had left. Back then, she hadn’t found her voice yet.
The other three had taught her well and together their volume somehow rose to a whole new decibel. “All right!” Del looked at their mother, who seemed totally oblivious to the noise. “We’re never doing this again.”
She turned around and the fracas ended with her glare. “We’re not stopping for every freak show.”
“This is the best one, really Mom. The sign says this one’s alive.” Her oldest son looked back at her so seriously. “I promise not to ask again if we see this one.” His younger siblings nodded, eyes wide with excitement.
She looked at their eager faces and turned back around. “We need lunch anyway or they’ll start howling for that next.”
Del unclenched his teeth as they started to hurt from grinding them. “It was tacky and disgusting when I was their age. If I had my way—”
“They’d all be closed down already.” She looked out at the rough countryside, at the openness forgotten in hectic city lives. “They’re just old tourist traps, but they’ll disappear eventually. Not many families go on road trips anymore.”
“Not fast enough.” Del continued to simmer in silence, angry for giving in, angry they wanted to stop. When they got to the resort, he’d sit them down and have a serious discussion. He held his tongue as they shouted out the distance every time they blew by another sign announcing “The Thing—Live Alien Beast.” The agonizing countdown only ended when he swung off the route and parked.
They bounced gleefully as they clung to their mother’s hands, towing her towards the restaurant. Del followed silently and grudgingly into the tourist gift shop, disguised as an artifact museum. He paid the entrance fee, picked up their smallest and entered the dark passageway behind the counter.
Del thought back to his own childhood and the few times he’d been drawn into these places. He’d paid to see the desiccated remains of some poor creature, or worse, some trapped animal pace its cage. He figured out early that most of these specimens were just deformed or imported animals. His children hadn’t learned that lesson yet. His daughter squirmed in his arm and he let her turn around to look as the curtain slowly drew back.
He heard his children’s murmurs as they looked into the cage, their little eyes adjusted now. His oldest found it first and his little hands hit the glass wall as he pointed to the nest of rags in the corner. Del stared too, something about this cage made him uneasy. He half-listened to the proprietor as he studied the layout, the nest against the back wall, food supply, litter and waste, all present, but neat. Too neat, even for a nice zoo. At the press of a button on the remote held by the proprietor, the nest of rags started to move and without more prodding the creature crawled out.
The awe of his children matched the appalling sick knot in his stomach. Del didn’t say anything as he watched the creature pace the cage. Each time it turned he could see eyes, dark and deeply recessed, but hateful at its captivity, at its degradation. More than hate, maybe insanity at this point. The creature paced, but a few times stopped to stare back out of its prison. Del felt those deadly eyes cut through him and felt grateful for the heavy glass wall that separated it from his family. He had no doubt that creature could and would kill if it escaped this instant. He held his daughter tighter.
Del let his children look until their time ran out. He’d needed the time to gather his own emotions. When they returned to the gift shop he remained near the counter while they ran around to look at souvenirs. He picked up the little brochure that he hadn’t noticed going in and flipped it open. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like…that before.” He tried to sound impressed.
“Yes, I’ve had him for a while.” The proprietor leaned on his counter to watch the children’s continued enthusiasm. Like most of these tourist trap vendors, Del knew he hoped to add a few trinkets to the sale of tickets. “If you’re coming back this way in a week it should be more interesting, worth the stop again.”
“Oh yeah, why?” Del closed the brochure and picked up a little vial that appeared to have a tooth rattling around in the bottom. “Seems quite the draw already.”
“It is, but his last mate died, so I’m getting him a new one in a couple days. By the time you get back this way, she should be settled in.” The proprietor saw how Del quit shaking the vial, more interested. He picked up another vial. “If you want one of their teeth, I don’t have many left. This is it.”
Del looked at the vial and shrugged. “Sure, why not. My oldest will like the souvenir. He’s into this kind of thing right now. I’m sure you’ll see us again on our way back through.” He paid and slipped the vial into his pocket, then went to collect his family. He didn’t speak for the rest of the trip and they arrived late enough that the kids were asleep. He helped tuck them in and slipped silently into the other room.
Del started to sit down, but felt the vial in his pocket. He took it out, staring at the tooth. The creature in the cage had been alone since this one died, but how long had they been imprisoned away from their real home, away from their own kind? Del felt selfish and guilty for feeling aggravated by his noisy family.
He closed the vial tight in his fist, turning to face his wife. “I hate to do this, but I need to check in. Why don’t you go to bed?”
Del’s wife stopped as she settled into bed, exhausted from the long trip, now annoyed. “Really? You’ve been gone forever and we haven’t had a vacation in years. We haven’t even unpacked and you’re trying to get back to work? What about me? What about your children? Is this how your whole leave is going to be?”
This wasn’t the first time his job caused an argument. “You know I’m never off duty. I have to check in.” Even after all these years, she didn’t understand what his work meant to him. He went to her and stroked her cheek. “I need another day or two to get acclimated. Then I’ll—we’ll—be fine.”
She sighed and leaned her face into his touch, then turned away and slipped deeper into bed. “Do what you have to, so we can have you back.”
Del turned the light down and went into the sitting room, before letting out an exasperated, but quiet growl.
With the bedroom doors closed, he made his call. After a few transfers, he got the person he wanted and took the vial from his pocket, along with the brochure. He activated the scanner on the desk. “Sir, sorry to wake you up, but they forwarded me to you to file this report. To be direct, I’ve found an illegal specimen. An H48392. It’s alive, male. To make matters worse, a female is being brought in.”
“When? Where?” The officer on the other end was awake now.
“The next couple of days.”
“Son of a…” Del heard grumbling curses and could only visualize what went on at the other end of his call. “Give me details!”
“I have the advertisement and what looks like a tooth from a dead specimen.” Del ran the brochure over the scanner and forwarded it through the open comm line. “I just sent the information through. It has the exact location for an extraction team. I’ll warn you, the male looks pretty gone, not that I’m any expert on this species, but I could see it in the eyes. With luck, you might salvage the female and capture the smugglers.”
“You got close enough to identify what he was, to see his eyes. Did he see you?”
“I was about an arm’s distance away and that was too close, if not for the cage wall.” Del felt the same revulsion he’d fought in the observation room. “He stared me down a few times, but I’m not sure what he saw. On one pass he looked ready to kill, but on the next pass there was nothing.”
There was a moment of quiet on the other end, then a string of particularly vulgar curses, half of which Del had no idea what they meant. He overlooked the language, having said enough to himself, in the dark as he stared back at the creature, into those eyes that still haunted him. The officer finally spoke to Del again. “Got your info. It is an H specimen. Glad someone pays attention to the crime advisories.”
“Yes, sir! I try.” As much as he genuinely cared about his work, getting recognized was tough. This discovery was to his advantage. “Sir, I can’t imagine what you’ll be able to do with him, if you can even get him out alive. I’d suggest getting someone there as soon as possible, to see if my eval is accurate, before you try any recovery.”
The officer was quiet again, for too long. “I want you there. I know you haven’t worked with H specimens, but your file reflects great experience. You’d be the Officer-in-Charge.”
“Sir, even if I was qualified, I’m on vacation with my family.”
“That’s the ropes in the CWS. You’ve been looking for a promotion opportunity, and here it is. I want you because the H has seen you. It might make him more pliable to rescue. If you want to turn this down—”
“No, sir, I want it.” Del buried his annoyance. This was his job, regardless of the species involved, and he couldn’t refuse an order. He agreed to meet a ground team the next morning and ended the call, then sat at the table with the little tooth vial. As much as he’d objected, or tried to, he knew before he made the call his vacation over. It was going to be harder to talk himself out of this one, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to.