|
The Red Right Hand
by Jake Westrum
Hadley was annoyed. He'd been walking the streets all night with Jack and they'd gotten nothing. Not even a lousy purse snatching. "Last time I ever go out with this juicer," he muttered as Jack maneuvered the pair through the dank alleyways.
"It's right through here, I swear it!" That was the fifth time in the last hour Jack had made such a claim, and Hadley was about to finish off the small mousy man. Anything to say he did something with his Saturday night. For the first time in months, he wished the cops weren't so goddamn stupid. For the last several months, the police had been slow on the call, inept in their deduction, yada yada yada. Every crook's dream. But tonight, tonight was different. Every crook's dream was literally that. Business was slow for a guy like Hadley, and he'd allowed himself to be talked into an "alley hunt" with Jack. If the cops had been doing their job, Hadley would have been able to say no much easier.
Hadley had been so busy reminiscing he'd forgotten he was supposed to be following Jack. The city's alleys were like a maze, and only an experienced guide could ever hope to walk through. "Hey Jack, where'd you go? You stupid son of a bitch, I can't get out of here!" Hadley kept on cursing him for a few more minutes, and then he finally gave up in favor of muttering to himself. "That stupid mother-".
Just as he was going to finish his sentence a small ghost like face suddenly shot up in front of him. He'd jumped back in fright just as the small face blurted out, "Hadley! I found something!"
"You sniveling little shit. If you ever scare me like that again I'll gut you and leave you to the…you what?"
"I found something. Only…I'm not sure what." Jack looked unsure for the first time since they'd entered the maze, and Hadley felt sure he would finally get paid.
From the shadows, it looked almost comical to see such a large man as Hadley depending on the small 5 foot Jack to lead him around. As Jack brought him over to his find, Jack tried to explain.
"The cops sealed this area off a few months ago. Something about a couple murders or somethin'. Who knows, but I saw a ladder and I ain't never seen a ladder there before. I've known these alleys…"
"All your life. I know. How do you think the ladder got there?"
The small figure shrugged his shoulders and paused. "I dunno, magic maybe? Normally, I wouldn't dare go in there, but I'm broke. I don't know about you. I mean, those murders were BAD, man. And they weren't all at once. I heard a ghost killed 'em."
Hadley snorted once in laughter before regaining his stony composure. Ghosts? Did this guy believe in Santa Claus too? He started to tell Jack as much when suddenly they were out of the alleys and back in the dirty streets of the city. Just to the right of their exit was another entrance. As Jack moved towards it he turned his head to Jack.
"Here it is. Back here there's a dead end, and then there's a ladder."
"OK, you first"
"No, I don't even want to go back there. You're bigger than me. You go."
Just as Jack finished talking, a small flash glinted from Hadley's hand and suddenly a butterfly knife appeared. Hadley looked large and ungainly, but he cleared the 10 feet to Jack in less than a second. Holding the knife to Jack's throat, Hadley hissed, "you go, or I swear I'll gut you and leave you here. For the rats."
Jack dropped to his knees, and out of Hadley's grasp. Instead of running he just looked at Hadley and giggled. "You are scared. Don't play that tough guy shit with me. I know you're scared. We both go, c'mon."
Hadley was bewildered by the whole exchange, and he dumbly fell into line directly behind Jack as he stepped into the darkness of the alley.
As they walked, the only light was from the dim light just outside of the alley, and Hadley could barely see his hand in front of his face. The light gave off enough light to show a glint of metal though, and he could clearly see the ladder positioned some 10 yards in front of them. The ground, despite being concrete, seemed damp and squishy underneath his feet and he had a fleeting thought of turning around and bolting when suddenly he saw Jack's hand gripping the ladder. As the hand tightened around the metal, the light from the street seemed to flicker and the alley was bathed in a soft light.
"Here's the ladder. It's never been here before. Take a look, you see what I mean?"
Hadley moved in and took a close look. The ladder seemed as old as the alleyways themselves, and even the bolts holding it to the brick were old and rusted.
"What the hell are you talking about? This thing is old as dirt."
"That's my point! Look at it, it's like it was there the whole time! But I ain't never seen that ladder before, and to be honest I don't remember seeing this entire alley before last year."
Convinced Jack was full of shit, Hadley was getting ready to climb the ladder when suddenly the lights went out.
"Fuck, what the hell is that? Jack, go get us a flashlight."
Expecting a reply, Hadley instead got a mumbled whimper from Jack, and as he looked at the smaller man he didn't see the man's normal face. Instead he saw a face whitened by pure terror. Following Jack's gaze, he looked to the end of the alley. Instead of a street, he saw a tall lanky figure standing there, its full-length jacket flickering in the soft breeze.
"Who the fuck are you? Get out of my way, you stupid bastard." The man at the entrance was nearly 7 feet tall, and his frame was blocking out all the light coming from the street. Hadley was going to yell again when suddenly Jack hissed something
"Look at him," Jack whispered. "You can't see nothin', but look at his face."
Hadley suddenly felt his eyes drawn to the man's face, and was shocked by what he saw. From the position the man was standing at, no light should have touched him. And no light did touch him. His entire body was black; his frame was a silhouette from the light behind him. But his face seemed eerily lit up, and Hadley could easily make out a face. The figure's head was slightly down turned, and his eyes were trained on the two men. Instead of a fleshed out head, it seemed as if someone had simply stuck a skull on a body. It was pale, white, and completely without a trace of blood.
"Who the hell is this…" Hadley was barely able to finish his sentence when suddenly the figure was gone. As if he'd never been there, the figure had disappeared. Jack breathed a sigh of relief, and Hadley relaxed. Looking at his companion, Hadley smiled as he said, "Halloween was months ago."
Jack smiled, and his wicked cackle reverberated throughout the alley. Hadley watched Jack's face lit up in glee, and suddenly he stopped and gasped, as if he'd been punched in the gut.
"What's wrong?" Hadley managed to whisper as he looked back in the direction of the alley's exit. Suddenly the face appeared, and it was right there. Without a noise, the guy'd appeared. Hadley looked in its black eyes, and then looked down his body toward his right arm.
There seemed to be no hand. Instead of a hand, it seemed to be a gauntlet with a large blade on it, and most of that blade was buried deep inside Jack's guts. Jack looked down and pitifully pushed at the arm. Without warning, the man jabbed his arm to the left and Hadley watch Jack split into two bloodied pieces, held together by a small strip of flesh on the right side of the body. Speechless, Hadley sucked in air in horror as the man's right hand appeared where the blade, coated in blood as if it had been deep inside Jack's belly. Hadley heard the horrible sucking sound Jack made as he finally died and the sick tearing sound that last piece of flesh made as the killer pulled it apart. The figure had dropped to his knees, and he quickly separated the two parts of Jack with his hand. As the killer seemed to gloat over his kill, Hadley was unable to move. Suddenly, the killer twitched; his hands moved back from the body and the killer's face moved from Jack's lifeless eyes to Hadley's motionless feet. As if by a miracle, Hadley found his voice then.
"HolyshitMarymotheroffuckingGoddontkillme!" Hadley's words seemed to come out as one blurted phrase, and the killer glanced up into Hadley's face in response. Looking into the killer's eyes, Hadley suddenly saw the black eyes light red with fire. He barely had time to open his mouth for the scream when the figure shot up from the ground and the red right hand reached for Hadley's throat..