Good Home Cookin': A Novel of Horror (3 page)

The improvised spike strip was draped
across the highway, waiting to deliver to him his next victim.
Using the tools his father kept in the old shed and bits of metal,
glass, and thick nails, he had created his own unique version that
worked surprisingly well. There was that one incident, near the
beginning, where his contraption had failed miserably, enacting
quite the beating from his father. Bed bound for a few
days.

At twenty eight, Gabe didn’t know
anything other than working for his parents at their restaurant.
His job was simple: to provide the meat. He’d watched his father
round up hitchhikers and the like, but as of late hitchhiking was
going out of fashion. Gabe was proud of the fact that the current
method they employed was his brain child. His baby.

It was one of the few times his father
had said the four words he yearned to hear: I’m proud of
you.

The only time to put the strip to use
and avoid any unwanted attention or notice was at night. Less
traffic meant the chances of being spotted were significantly
lower. Gabe had no trouble subduing travelers. At six feet, three
inches and two hundred and thirty five pounds… he could hold his
own. The gender of the unfortunate person made little or no
difference, but he did tend to hope that the person was of a
huskier stature. They were able to get more out of them.

No headlights approaching in either
direction. Crossing his legs, he averted his eyes to the stars once
more, listening to the engine of his truck tick as it idled down.
It was tucked away off the side of the road so that drivers coming
from either direction wouldn’t notice it. A memory from years
before crawled its way to the surface of his mind.

* * *

“
Do you think you can
handle it by yourself Gabe?”

His father was entrusting the
important task of finding their supply of meat to him. The norm was
for him to accompany his father, observe him, and do the heavy
lifting. Gabe nodded his head eagerly and couldn’t help but be
thrilled at the chance to prove himself to Jameson, who expected
nothing less than perfection from his family. His mother’s smile
boosted his confidence and reassured him.

“
Well, get to it
then.”

Gabe had roughly three
hours to find someone and bring them back to the restaurant. They
opened at ten and it wouldn’t do well for business to have screams
coming from the back room.
No need to
worry Mr. Thomas. That’s just your entrée refusing to
cooperate.

It didn’t take too long to find either
a hitchhiker or someone broken down on the Alley. It wasn’t a
question of if but more so of when. Due to the lessons high school
provided, Gabe had become a master at wearing masks. Having
practiced smiling in the mirror long enough… eventually it became
an involuntary function such as breathing.

The headlights of the truck captured a
figure walking along the shoulder with a bag over one shoulder.
Gabe pulled up next to them and rolled the window down. The figure
turned towards him and he nearly swallowed his tongue.

She was undeniably beautiful.
Sparkling green eyes, shoulder length chestnut brown hair, light
tan face. She was wearing a dark blue tank top, and a black skirt
that ended a couple of inches above her knees. The words he wanted
to say wouldn’t come. A small part of him urged him to roar off
into the night, leaving her behind. There would be someone
else.

“
Are you going to offer me
a ride or just sit there staring at me?”

Even her voice was lovely.

“
Sorry. Yes, of
course.”

She tossed the bag into the bed of the
truck and eased herself into the truck. Now he was fucked. How
could he tell her to get out of the car and not look like an
asshole? He was at war with himself and picturing his dad’s angry
visage did wonders for narrowing down his options. She maneuvered
herself in the seat, getting comfortable before offering her
hand.

“
I’m Megan.”

“
Gabe,” he responded after
a slight pause. “Where are you headed?”

“
Anywhere. Been on my own
for a couple months now. I just had to get away from my parents,”
she said, staring out the window. “Do you get along with your
family?”

Gabe shrugged his shoulders. “As much
as any normal person I guess.”

She snorted and Gabe
cringed inwardly.
Really, even her snorts
are cute.

“
Compared to mine, I bet
your parents would win the parents of the year prize.”

Gabe grunted in response. Sweaty
palms, dry mouth, nervous grunts. She was turning him into a basket
case. They were just two miles from the turnoff and he felt as if
he was being pulled apart on the inside. Two sides of him were
battling it out over his next decision. The side that wanted to
please his father dealt the winning blow.

He slowed the truck and pulled to the
side of the road. The confusion on her face was evident but he
acted before she could voice any concern.

“
I’m sorry.”

His hands were around her throat and
squeezing within seconds. From her angle she couldn’t put up much
of a fight. Eyes bulging with fear, she scratched at his arms,
drawing rivulets of blood which only made him increase the
pressure. Her strength ebbed as she began to lose consciousness and
he removed his hands. A tear dropped onto his cheek and he
hurriedly wiped it away before checking for a pulse. Slow, but
there.

The look on his father’s
face when he handed over his prize was almost worth it. Almost. Her
head moved slightly as he watched her from across the room.
Please don’t wake up until I’m out of the room.
Please! Please!

A moan from her throat signaled her
arrival back from dreamland. Silently, he backed up and crept to
the door.

A soft but scratchy voice called to
him. “What’s going on?”

He could hear his father and mother
talking in the other room. His sister was probably asleep in her
room. She never had to do any of the hard work. Daddy’s little girl
was allowed to get her precious sleep.

“
I’m sorry.” he
whispered.

Her memory came flooding back and she
looked at him with apprehension, anger, fear, and
confusion.

“
Just let me go. Please. I
won’t tell anyone. I don’t even know who you are.”

She continued to plead her case. To
his astonishment, his weaker side started to listen and rationalize
it. Who would she tell? He could say she escaped and then find
someone else to take her place. One moment of compassion led to him
having a kind of outer body experience.

He watched, bewildered, as his hands
undid the rope and his voice whispered, “Don’t say a word. Go out
the door to your left. Stay away from the woods. Get to the road
and just keep going.”

What the hell was happening? A small
part of him was relishing this moment and felt good, while the
other part was experiencing a mixture of shock and curious
fascination.

She stood and hugged him tightly and
kissed him on the cheek then whispered in his ear, “Thank
you!”

He found himself standing alone in the
store room, watching her close the door quietly behind her before
seeing her shadow streak off towards the road. A commotion from the
direction Megan had run distracted him from his thoughts, and he
rushed outside.

Elena was standing over Megan, who lay
sprawled among the trash cans. From what Gabe could tell, Megan had
come around the corner at the same time as Elena and his sister had
thrown or knocked her into them.

“
Look what I
found.”

The glee in her voice was
unmistakable.

His father’s voice echoed from
inside.

“
What the hell is going on
out there?!”

Gabe lowered his head. He couldn’t
bear to look in Megan’s eyes or his sister’s. It didn’t take a
genius to put the pieces together. His father stormed out and
looked among the three of them. Realization sunk in and he looked
to Gabe with disdain. Elena had Megan’s hair twisted in her hand,
keeping her in place on her knees. Seething, Jameson went back
inside. His outline could be seen walking to the living quarters
which were connected to the restaurant. Heavy breathing was the
only sound as they waited.

Jameson returned with his shotgun in
his hands.

“
For a moment I was
actually proud to call you my son. Elena, go inside with your
mother. I need to talk to your brother alone.”

Always the obedient one, she released
Megan and darted inside without a word. Megan’s eyes darted back
and forth between Gabe and Jameson.

“
Run.”

Megan didn’t move, not sure whether
she’d heard him right. His eyes were wild fury and he nodded his
head once. She looked to Gabe for some sign of what to do but his
head was still down. She stood up, gave one last look to Gabe, and
then took off towards the road at an awkward run. She must have
injured her leg when she fell.

Jameson roughly grabbed his son by his
hair, pulling his head back so that he could see Megan.

“
I want you to remember
this the next time you decide to defy me,” he said, raising his
shotgun to his shoulder.

Chapter 6

Windows down, hair blowing
in the warm breeze, Dylan sped down the highway. According to the
directions, he was about two hours away from the club. Occasionally
the Mustang would veer to one side or the other but he quickly
corrected it. Opening the glove compartment to check for a second
bottle frustrated him.
One bottle will
have to do.

He tossed the empty bottle to the back
seat and directed his attention back to the road. It had been at
least half an hour since he’d passed another car. His mood
instantly brightened upon remembering that he had stashed two
bottles upon leaving the bar the previous night. Checking to make
sure no one was coming the other way, he began foraging around in
the center console. The first few seconds resulted in nothing as
his hand brushed cassettes, food wrappers, something sticky that
caused him to cringe at the thought of what it could be, but no
bottle.

“
What the hell?” he
muttered, wiping his hand on the seat.

Searching for the mysterious,
vanishing bottle, he failed to see the strange obstruction in front
of him that stretched across the width of the road. The tires blew
upon impact, throwing him forward and to the side. At eighty seven
miles an hour, what else could one expect? Sparks flew as the metal
grated noisily on the road. Not knowing what happened or really
what to do, he struggled to regain control of the wheel but
overcorrected. The car fishtailed left, and then spun to the right.
As the ruined tires lost contact with the road, the car flipped,
and time slowed to a crawl for Dylan. He had a moment to recollect
that the second bottle was lying empty in the trash bin of his
hotel room before his head connected with the roof and all went
black.

Chapter 7

Young, decent build, minor head wound
that wasn’t life-threatening. Gabe was proud of his catch but at
the moment was sweating heavily as he threw the man over his
shoulder and marched towards his truck. The bed of the truck was
spacious and clear of any clutter. He placed the man in the back
before covering his body with a tarp. He grabbed the can of gas and
a set of matches for this next part.

“
Looks like I fucked up
your vehicle real good,” he said to himself. “Damn lucky the crash
didn’t kill you. Pops would have had my head for that!”

He stopped before giving the car a
healthy splash of gas. Something glinted from the interior and he
smiled at his luck: an empty liquor bottle. Peeking in through the
side window that had shattered, he assessed the situation as best
he could. Unable to find any remnants of alcohol on the seats,
roof, or floor led him to believe this man had been intoxicated
while driving.

“
That would explain the
reckless driving,” he said, nodding to himself as he decided not to
douse the car and strode back to his truck. He wasn’t the sharpest
tool in the shed. The thought and issue of the missing body when
someone eventually came across the accident scene failed to
register any significance in his mind.

A light moaning issued from under the
tarp. Gabe whistled as he hopped into the bed of the truck, looking
upon the outline of the man under the tarp as it moved slowly. The
squirming stopped as Gabe let loose with a few swift kicks to the
general area he assumed was the man’s stomach.

“
I know you can hear me.
If you so much as move a finger, or make a sound, I will gut you
like a pig and dump your body in the water for the gators. You
understand?”

A nod brought a smile, and he kicked
him once more for good measure and to make his point.