Tandem of Terror (8 page)

The man was almost on him.

Struggling to draw his pistol, Daniel felt an
icy hand grab his thigh. Its jagged nails cut into the flesh of his
leg through the tough material of his pants. Daniel fought against
the hold of his safety rope, trying to get his legs into a kicking
position. The heel of his boot lashed out smashing into the dead
man's face.

The blow shattered the thing's nose. Black,
stale blood seeped from the wound. The thing appeared to smile and
at him with renewed fury. Daniel knew his situation was hopeless.
Still unable to free his pistol, he panicked snatching a knife from
the top of his boot. With a quick slash, he cut the rope holding
him in place and fell from the tree. Daniel landed on his left
shoulder to sound of breaking bone. His scream was long and thick
with pain.

Before he could right himself, a heavy weight
landed on top of him. Gnashing teeth tore away the better part of
his right ear. His own warm blood wet his hair and ran down his
neck. He hurled himself over slinging the thing off of him. Daniel
drew his pistol as the man leapt onto him again. He shoved the
barrel of the weapon under the man's chin and squeezed the trigger
as the nails of a grasping, rotting hand tore slashed down his face
from his forehead to his chin. The nails scratched his eyes
horribly, leaving him unable to see as the thing toppled over onto
the dirt.

Daniel sat still, his breath coming in gasps.
Tears of blood rolled down his cheeks as he sobbed knowing his life
was over. He heard movement in the trees and the distant snarls of
more of the dead as they drew closer. He smelt the stench of decay
and death all around him. Several pairs of cold hands latched onto
him, shoving him face first back down into the dirt. He screamed as
the first set of teeth ripped a hole in his chest, taking away a
chunk of his skin and meat. Daniel kept screaming until one of the
things bit through his wind pipe and his heart finally stopped
beating.

Special Delivery

John Grover

Cameron Vesner filled his watering can to the
brim and walked into his living room to begin his daily ritual.

His home was filled with plants of every
variety and size, a veritable greenhouse without the glass walls or
solar panels built into the roof. Ivy, Ferns, African Violets,
Dusty Miller, Creeping Myrtle, every type of hanging and potted
plant lived here with him, from prickly cactus to little bonsai
trees. Even one entire side of his house grew thick with ivy and
fungus.

He tipped the nozzle into a myriad of pots
and let the water trickle gently. He murmured softly to some of his
plants while others he stroked as if they were pets, even the
prickles of the cactus. "And how are my beauties this morning?" He
cooed. "So beautiful. I love you all. I'll get your food in a
moment but how about some music?"

Cameron switched on his radio just as the
doorbell caught his attention. Without much of a fuss, he opened
the front door to greet the smiling face of a deliveryman dressed
in forest green from head to toe. He held a clipboard in one hand
and a small cardboard box in the other.

"
Special delivery," the man
announced as he glanced down at his clipboard. "For Cameron
Vesner."

"
But I didn't order
anything," Cameron said, puzzled.

"
This is 23 Malloy
Road?"

"
Yes."

"
And you're Cameron Vesner,
right?"

"
Yes."

"
Well, this is for you. I
just read the form and deliver the packages. So if could just sign
here?"

Cameron took the outstretched clipboard and
signed the form with the attached pen. "Okay." Cameron signed while
taking the box into his free hand. He watched as the deliveryman
hurried back to his truck. The side of it read "Earthly Pleasures,
Inc." Cameron had never heard of it.

Before he had finished closing the door, the
delivery truck had vanished down the street. Cameron cocked his
head and shook the box. "Odd," he mumbled.

The box was relatively light and something
jiggled inside as he shook it. He turned it over and looked at the
mailing label. His name and address were handwritten on it but it
was so messy he couldn't possibly recognize it. In the corner was
an ink stamp reading "Earthly Pleasures" but there was no return
address.

"
Kind of exciting." Cameron
smiled as he tore the brown wrapping paper from the package.
Underneath the actual box was plain and uninteresting. It only
seemed to open at one end.

He ripped it open without hesitation and
reached inside.

After fishing around a bit, he pulled out a
small plastic bag. The bag was filled with seeds. They were the
size of pumpkin seeds but a more fleshy color almost like the hue
of human skin. It was the only thing Cameron could think of as he
stared at them,
skin.

A piece of paper fell out of the box and
sailed to the floor. He bent to the floor and picked it up. There
was some writing. It looked as if had been typed out with a
typewriter.
Place seeds into soil. Water. Enjoy.

"
Enjoy huh?" Cameron scoffed
as he searched his house for an empty pot. "We'll see."

Finding an appropriate pot, he brought it to
the back porch having to find his way through the jungle-like area.
Vines and plants hung from the rafters, climbed over the windows
and doorways, patches of green grew upon the floor like rugs. He
fished around the floor until finally finding a bag of fresh soil
to use. He filled his pot half way with a spade.

He ripped the plastic bag open allowing the
new seeds to fall into the palm of his hand. They made his skin
tingle and he found it both curios and concerning but put the seeds
into the soil anyway.

He filled the pot with the rest of the soil
and searched for his watering can. "Now where did I put that down?"
He started back through the kitchen and into the living room. "Ah,"
he spotted it resting on top of his TV. He snatched it up and
eagerly watered his special delivery, the newest addition to his
house. He couldn't wait to see what kind of plant it would be or
flower or...

He cleared a spot on the edge of his bay
window in the front of the house. Some of his older babies took
second place as he gave his new child the best spot in the house,
the one that got the most sunlight. Excitement poured out of him as
he stared down at the pot as if he expected it to sprout
immediately.

For a week Cameron kept watch on the pot with
its curious seeds but nothing happened. Not even a sprout. He
played soft music in the living room for it, he sprinkled the soil
with plant food and Miracle Grow but still nothing happened.

Cameron sighed, "I can't just sit here and
watch a pot." He was hoping that at least something would show
itself before Adam and Nikki came to dinner, but it was not to be.
It was his turn to host them tonight and he would have to wait to
show off his newest addition to the family.

The dinner went well and as usual Cameron was
an exquisite host and as usual, Adam and Nikki had way too much to
drink and were as loud and boisterous as ever. Cameron insisted
that they stay the night. After all he enjoyed the company since he
lived alone and had an ample guest room.

His two best friends were only too happy to
accept and it wasn't until after the late morning hours that they
finally decided to go to bed.

Cameron dragged himself to his bedroom. He
knew the morning was going to be hard. "Those two are crazy," he
mumbled with a hiccup or two and thanked God it was the weekend and
he didn't have to be up for work.

He passed out as soon as his body hit the
mattress. Hours later he felt a tickling on the bottoms of his
feet. He lifted his heavy eyes. A fog cluttered his mind as he
tried to focus on what was happening.

He watched in confused terror as vines
squirmed over his feet and began to tie them together. "What the
fu..."

Other vines slithered from underneath his bed
and entwined his arms, restricting his movement. Dozens of vines
coiled over his body, tight and restrictive. He opened his mouth to
call for help but a vine snaked into his mouth, silencing him.

The mattress ripped open as more vines and
stalks coiled out of it dripping with thick fluid. Beetles, aphids,
ants and centipedes swarmed over the leaves and spilled on top of
the helpless Cameron.

In a frenzy Cameron bit down on the vine in
his mouth, chewed and spit it out, white pus coated his lips and
cheeks. "Get the hell off me you bastards!" He looked down at his
body and all that was there was the sheet he went to bed with,
tangled around his legs.

"
You gotta be kidding?" He
wiped the sweat from his brow and searched the room. It was just as
he remembered, potted plants sitting silently around the room. He
got out of bed and left the bedroom.

He walked sluggishly into the living room and
glanced at the shaft of moonlight that fell in through the bay
window. It picked something up in the new pot of seeds. Something
had grown!

Cameron ran to the pot as fast as he could
but it was more than just sprouts that he saw, actual stems had
grown full blown out of it and nearly trailed to the floor. "My
God," he said as his eyes widened. He giggled a bit as he examined
the leaves that grew on the hanging stems.

They were speckled with fleshy pink-colored
spots and had prickles. He had never seen anything like it. He knew
of no such plant in all of his studies and growing, and he thought
he had seen it all. "Overnight growth?" he said as the prickles
twinkled in the moonlight. He giggled again to himself as if it
were the moonlight that started the growth instead of sunlight.

He brushed a finger against the leaves of
this strange new plant, attempting to caress it as he did all of
his other babies when he drew his hand away sharply. "Ouch! Damn."
A prickle stuck his finger and he winced. Blood oozed from the
wound.

Enjoy.
The word from the typed note
flashed in his mind and he wondered when the enjoyment was really
supposed to begin. "That's it." He reached for his cell phone
charging on the end table. He dialed information. "Yes, I need the
number for a business called Earthly Pleasures."

He waited and wasn't all that surprised that
they had no listing for any such company.

"
Cam?" the voice came from
the doorway. His friend Nikki stood there, her hair tussled, eyes
half closed. "Is everything okay?"

"
Ah yes, I'm fine, Nik. Just
couldn't sleep." He shut off his cell and slipped it into his
pajama pocket.

"
Too many
cocktails?"

"
Something like
that."

She walked over to him and looked around at
all his plants. "You have been growing things ever since college,"
she began. "But then, they weren't all legal like they are now,"
she chuckled.

"
Oh, the good old days," he
laughed. "I just have the greenest thumb in the country I
guess."

"
I'll say. Look at this one.
It's beautiful." She reached out to touch the new plant with its
spotted leaves and razor sharp prickles but Cameron grabbed her
hand.

"
Don't touch that one. The
needles are too sharp. I just got one hell of a prick, and boy does
it sting."

"
Wow, what kind of plant is
it?"

"
I have no idea. It was sent
in the mail to me. I didn't order it. It just showed
up."

"
Really, that's weird. Well,
Cam, I really should go back to before Adam misses me. I just
wanted to make sure everything was alright."

"
Oh yes, everything's
fine."

"
Good. Thank you again for
letting us crash. You are such a sweetie."

"
No problem, anything for
you guys. If it weren't for you guys I'd have nobody to talk to but
my plants."

"
Not true. What about what's
her name...Melissa?"

"
She thought I loved my
plants a little too much."

"
Well her loss, you
know?"

"
Yeah, I know."

Nikki gave him a peck on the cheek and headed
back to bed. Cameron sat and stared at the plant. He hadn't thought
about Melissa in a long time. Truth be told, she didn't just think
he loved his plants too much she thought he was an utter freak. Ah
well, who needed her. He had his friends and his plants. That was
enough.

He headed back to bed himself to try to get
some sleep.

Just as he drifted back to sleep a thump
pulled Cameron awake again. He listened attentively as he glanced
back at his alarm clock. An hour had passed unnoticed to him. More
thumping caught his attention and he left his bed to
investigate.

Cameron was struck mute as he entered the
living room. All of his plants were brown and wilted. They had all
died in a matter of hours. Tear formed in his eyes as he noticed
the only plant still alive was the new one. Not only was it alive
it had grown even more, spreading around the room, covering the
walls and the floors, entangling the furniture with its
tentacle-like vines. Its roots broke the pot and burrowed into the
floor and under the house.

He noticed that the vines of the prickle
laden, spotted plant invaded all of his other plants, smothering
and killing them, apparently sucking the life from them in order to
grow.

"
No, no, no!" Cameron
finally found his voice in a panic. "Not my babies, my babies..." His
head spun as he ran to his precious, dying children. Leaves
crumbled at his touch, petals fell to the floor and roots
disintegrated. Cameron eyeballed the massive spotted plant that
covered most of the room.
Enjoy.