Throwaway People

The Building Begins to Feed

8:30 PM

Andy and Jorge sat in a white construction van. Big and Little C. were in his pick-up parked down the canal road. According to Little C. the crew had not left the building from the canal road all evening. That didn't mean that they wouldn't have gone out through the gate this evening. Andy would know soon enough.

Two of his crew went down to the gate. They spotted the Jeep there and ran back to Andy to report that it was still there. Which meant they were home. Why else would the Jeep still be in the parking lot.

The four of them walked up to the gate. Andy got on his cell phone and called Carlos.

"We are ready to go." Andy said.

"Same here." Carlos replied. Little C. and two other men were with Carlos at the edge of the path that led back to the camp.

"Okay we go." Andy said.

Andy opened the gate and stepped into the parking lot. It was empty except for a makeshift picnic table with several folding chairs. There were stupid Christmas decorations all over. Andy pulled his gun out holding it arm extended with one hand. His finger on the trigger ready to shoot.

He looked at the window and saw no one in the office. Although it was dark. Something was nagging at the back of his mind. He didn't know what. Andy went to the door and kicked it in. The office beyond was old. Smelled of mold and mildew. A rusty, beaten up desk stood in the center of the room. Jorge and the rest of Andy's crew followed him in.

That was when lightning ripped through the sky and the rain began to pour down. The door to the office slammed shut with the wind. Andy wondered where the hell it had come from. This was not the rainy season. At least not a down pour like this. There had been no sign of it before.

Andy told the two members of his crew to check the downstairs while he found the stairs to the upper story. Andy went through the door to the little storage area. Dust, cobwebs covered everything. There were unidentifiable lumps on the shelves that might have once been something important. There were stairs leading up in this room. Andy almost fell through one of stairs.

Andy and Jorge reached the apartment upstairs to find it empty. Andy looked at the empty room and wondered how they lived here with no furniture. There was a short hall past the main room. Andy strolled into it. He kicked in the door of the room across from other door in the hall. It was empty as well. The other room had been a bathroom. It's plumbing had been pulled out. The room at the end of the hall had it's door open. Beyond the ceiling had caved in. There was nothing in this room either.

That left the stairs going up to the attic. Water flowed down from the stairs going to the attic. It too was empty. Andy came down from the attic soaked and pissed. Jorge wasn't in a better mood. The people had to be down stairs. No one could live on the upper stories.

Searching the garage and other rooms downstairs Andy and Jorge couldn't find their two flunkies. The storm had become stronger, it was much darker inside than it was before. Andy wished he'd brought a flashlight he couldn't see anything. He turned on his cell and used the light, but all he could see was his hand in front of him. It was a bolt of lightning that had kept Andy from stepping into the mechanic pit. He had been right on the edge.

Inside he found his two missing crew, they had been drowned. Not just drowned. There was a terror on their faces that Andy had never seen before. Andy was an expert on terror. He had seen the terror on the faces of his young victims for years. It had aroused him. Inspired him to create new horrors for the children who fell in his hands. Seeing this kind of terror on his own crew made him feel a little sick.

Andy had to wonder what it was they had seen before they drowned to cause their faces to freeze in that position of horror. Jorge had backed away and threw up. Andy decided that it was time to get the hell out of here. He grabbed Jorge and went out the door to the office.

8:32 AM

Carlos and his two crew went into the narrow path of vegetation that Jim and Patty had used on a regular basis. Little C. had hung back to see what would happen. They didn't believe him about the brujo, but they would.

The path appeared to have become overgrown with branches since the last time Carlos had used it. He had a man get his machete out of his truck. Carlos thought that once he hacked his way through the vines and branches he'd use the same machete on that dog if it attacked him again. Teach it a lesson for mauling his arm so badly.

Little C. watched as the men seemed to disappear down the path he was reluctant to follow. He knew that if he waited in the truck he'd get in trouble. He decided that he'd have to follow them in. C. went into the path and disappeared.

The other two men came stumbling out. Covered with insect bites. Their red, swollen faces were distorted with bites, but the horror on their faces was clear. Terri came from the canal she looked at the two dead men on the ground. The building was getting serious. It was sending each of them to their own private hell. Feeding on their terror.

Terri went down the path and disappeared.

Alternative Place and Alternative Time:

Carlos came out in the same place he had before. It looked the same as it did before. He looked for his two people, but they hadn't come out of the fence. It was the growling that caught his attention. There were the dog. It charged again and Carlos cut at it with the machete. The force of the impact turned Carlos around and knocked him on his ass.

Someone started to come out of the gate. A skeletal hand emerged along with the rest of the bone woman. Carlos felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see the dog standing on two legs, standing over him. His forepaws had become hands. His snout elongated and his eyes were like glowing amber.

"That is the bone woman." The dog said. "Do you know what happens when you encounter a bone woman. She takes your flesh. At least that is the legend."

The bone woman placed a skeletal hand on Carlos' forehead. Carlos began to scream as the flesh peel off his body and merged with the bone woman. The look of horror that Carlos had on his face would only be seen by Terri and Coyote. They left the man's bones in the parking lot and went back through the gap in the fence to their own reality.

Jorge had been right behind Andy as he went through the door. Where old 'Mad Dog' went to he didn't know. He looked out the window of the office and saw a bright beam of light coming through the window. Jorge didn't think they had been in the building all night. Jorge saw that the office wasn't in that bad of shape in the light of day. He looked at the old calender on the wall. It said 1947 and looked to be in good condition. The cute little retro pin-up girl over the calendar caught Jorge's eye. He might have to take that with him when they were done.

He stepped outside to see a town somewhere in the Southwest. Jorge knew it was impossible, but he was in a abandoned town somewhere in the desert. The building behind him disappeared. As Jorge turned to see that the building was missing he realized that something was wrong.

The light came first to sear out his eyes. Blinded Jorge heard the winds next. As the fire carried by the winds seared his skin Jorge died with a look of terror permanently etched on his charred face. Those who found his body never revealed what they found. It was kept top secret.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case. No one knew how the man had turned up on the blast site of a hydrogen bomb. Of course the blasts could be seen from Las Vegas, it was possible that this man decided to ignore signs, evade patrols, and simply got to the blast. Just some poor fool who wanted to see one of the modern miracles of the 1950s.