Route 666 Page 6

  “While you get that out, I’m going to just go make sure the sign isn’t busted or something,” Connie said, rubbing the swollen red bite on her face, hoping to dispel the itch.

  “Okay,” Lexie said. “Aha! Here it is!” She unzipped her case and began rummaging through it. “Eye drops, Vicks, Tylenol, ohh, here it is...Benadryl. She opened the cardboard box and slid out one of the blister packs. Popping out one of the pink and white capsules, she called out, “Nelson, please tell me the Yoo-hoo’s are still cold after you two took the lid off the cooler.”

  “The ice has melted but the two bottles in it are still cold.”

  She put the capsule in her mouth, pocketed the box so as to have it to hand once Connie returned, and went around to the side of the car. Soon, the cold, chocolatey soft drink was making its way down her throat, washing the allergy medication down with it. She’d drained nearly half the bottle before coming up for air. “Damn, I needed that.”

  “I’d ask for some, but I think it’d kill this body,” Nelson said mournfully.

  “Uh, yeah, chocolate is a no go for animals, especially dogs,” she said apologetically. “It’s got milk in it, too, also not a good thing for dogs.”

  “I thought so. And yet, you didn’t think to pick me and my buddy Nash here any soda we could have.”

  “I’ll get you one from the soda machine,” she promised. “There’s always a soda machine.”

  “Hey,” Connie said, swinging a long piece of plastic with a room number imprinted on it and a key attached to a ring on one end.” “I got us one room with two single beds. No pets, so you guys have to not let yourselves be seen, okay? You know the drill. I just need to move the car, we’re down on the far end.”

  ”Is it close to a soda machine?” Nelson asked as she parked the car outside of their room for the night. “Funny you should ask that. They had one of those old fashioned ones inside the lobby. Looks like a cooler, right? Only with a bottle opener attached and a coin slot. Guy who owns the place must be a collector.”

  Lexie got back out of the car. “He probably got it from the same place where Ricky-Cooter-mabob got all his stuff.”

  “Oh, yeah. You might be right. Oh, hey, there’s a Coke machine a couple doors down, and an ice machine.”

  “Yeah, either the guy’s a collector or this stuff was taken real good care of,” Lexie observed. “That’s some vintage 80s looking hardware right there.”

  “As long as they got modern soda and ice in them for me right now, I don’t care,” Nelson sniped.

  “How about you two go in and Lexie can get you your soda, hmm?”

  Nelson hopped down out of the car and made tracks through the open door. Nash looked at Connie expectantly. “The dirt will get stuck in the peanut butter.”

  “Oh! Hang on.” Connie lifted him out of the car and hurried him inside. I’ll run you a sink bath in just a minute, okay? Let me bring our bags in.”

  “Here’s your soda,” Lexie informed Nelson. I even got your bowl from the car.” She popped the tab on the soda and slowly poured it into the dog bowl before placing it on the floor. Nelson bounded over and began to slurp. A bubble made its way into his nose and he lifted his head to sneeze. A moment later, that was followed by a burp, which in turn became a series of hiccups.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Lexie said. “I am not listening to that all night.”

  “Aww, poor Nelson,” Connie sympathized. “I’m sure it’ll settle down in a little bit. She placed their two largest suitcases on one of the beds.” “Here,” Lexie said, passing Connie the box of antihistamines and the soda can. “You take yours, there’s about half a can left so plenty to wash it down with. I’ll fetch the other cases.”

  “Thanks,” Connie replied, taking them.

  Lexie brought in their two smaller cases, which contained their toiletries, pyjamas, and undergarments. “Oh, I was going to do that,” she said as she saw Connie turning on the tap in the bathroom sink.

  “He was getting peanut butter everywhere,” Connie said, reaching for a washcloth and soaping it up. “Okay, Nash, let’s see those paws.”

  Once Nash was clean and nestled in a towel for a bed, Connie and Lexie took turns using the shower. They hadn’t driven very far but it had still been tiring. “I’m for an early night,” Connie said.

  “That’s the Benadryl talking,” Lexie countered. “Me, too.”

  “That and I’ve been worried in the back of my mind about Turner. It’s exhausting.”

  “Well, I’m sure that dancing dude will tip us off soon enough. He seemed to be too full of himself to keep quiet in his next host.”

  “Lexie’s right,” Nelson said, his hiccups having subsided. “He loves attention.”

  “Oh, okay,” Connie said.

  “Besides, once they know Turner is fine, they’ll be releasing him,” Lexie reminded her.

  “True,” Connie said, the word distorted by the large yawn that escaped her. She folded down the bedspread and the top sheet. “Is nice. It’s got a sheet,” she mumbled sleepily. Climbing under the covers, she closed her eyes and began to snore softly. Nelson jumped up onto the armchair by the bed. “I’ll sleep here.”

  “Okay, Good night, guys,” Lexie told the two animals, climbing into bed and turning out the bedside lamps. Lexie didn’t know how long she'd been asleep when something woke her. She froze. There was someone getting into bed. “Connie! She whispered furiously. “Wrong bed!”

  “Oh shit, man, there’s someone in my room again!” came a young man’s voice.

  Lexie screamed. Connie bolted upright in bed and snapped the light on.

  “Sorry, sorry, they rented my room out by mistake, I think. That’s totally uncool. I assure you, I am a righteous dude.”

  Lexie and Connie stared at the young man. He wore a white t-shirt with the word RELAX in black across the top. Under the words was an image of Snoopy sleeping on top of a dog house. He wore his hair in one of the retro 80s hairstyles currently coming back into fashion. Given his tight jeans, ankle boots, guyliner, and gloss, he had been for quite the night out. He also appeared to be quite drunk.

  “I know, I know. Just give me a minute. I really hate it when they do this.”

  “When they do what?” Connie asked him.

  “Rent my room out. Usually they rent out the empty one on the other end, but sometimes they get mixed up and book people in here instead.”

  “So, you live here?” Understanding dawned on Lexie’s face. “I am so sorry!”

  The young man raised his hand. “No, no, it’s quite all right. Give me a few moments and I’ll be ready to go. Or you will. It depends.”

  “It depends on what?” Lexie asked. “It’s your home, so we’ll get dressed and have them move us to the correct room.”

  “No. I mean, yes, you can do that. You’ll probably get to sleep and check out and everything then. The last guy did,” the young man continued vaguely. “The couple before that, didn’t though, because I decided to take a shower. Oh, I’m Reece, by the way. Reece Everard.”

  “A shower is a good idea. No offense, but you look a bit, well, tiddly. A shower just might help you sober up. And have a glass of water after,” Connie said helpfully.

  “Oh, I always sober up in the shower. I get that moment of perfect clarity before it all goes to hell,” Reece said. “So, if you want a good night’s sleep, no shower for me,” he said firmly.

  Connie and Lexie exchanged a concerned look.

  Nelson came over and gave him a sniff. “Hey, you’re out of sync,” Nelson said to him.

  The sisters stared at him horrified.

  “Oh, hey, so are you,” Reece said, looking intrigued. “Are you one of those interdimensional travelers?”

  “You know about those?” Connie burst out.

  “Yeah, but something seems to have gone awry for them. Or did you jump into a dog on purpose?” Reece asked, his voice filled with blatant curiosity.

  “It was an accident,” L
exie replied. “So they tell us.”

  “There’s another one?”

  “I’m trying to sleep, here, people,” Nash called out from his towel on the floor. He realized what he was seeing. “Oh, man, you're not supposed to be here.”

  “Well, no, but neither are you,” Reece said.

  “Crap,” Nash said. “Is this a repeater?”

  Reece scratched his chin. “Well, it does keeps happening. I can stave it off if I don't make myself go shower, but I eventually will find myself there and then boom!”

  “Boom?” Lexie asked. “What is this boom?”

  “I don’t like the sound of that,” Connie agreed.

  “We need to get out of here,” Nelson told them. “Just grab the stuff and let’s go. Now.”

  “Why, is it a bomb?” Connie's voice held an edge of panic to it.

  “Might as well have been,” Reece said, his tone morose. “So, you don’t know how I can stop it?”

  “Only if you’re able to travel far enough to make it to a rift,” Nash told him. Lexie was sliding her shoes on, not bothering to change. Connie was following suit.

  “I don’t know where one is. I once got as far as the gator farm, but that was a whole other problem.”

  “I thought there was something off about that place,” Lexie muttered, tying her shoe laces. She stood up and grabbed both of her cases. “I’m glad I put the shampoo and stuff away after we used it,” she said, stalking to the door.

  “You mean the dinosaur and gators place?” Nelson asked, surprise in his tone. “I saw no indication of anything amiss. Well, not interdimensionally, anyway.”

  “We were too hot and busy trying to cool our brains,” Nash replied, scurrying to Connie, who popped him onto her shoulder before picking up her own two cases.

  “If you’re right, there’s a rift somewhere nearby. Probably a natural one that’s unstable,” Nelson said, following Connie out the door.”

  “And it’ll work if I go through it?” Reece asked.

  Nelson turned to give Reece a final look, “It should, but-” he stopped because he was suddenly speaking to thin air. He cocked his head, aware that he heard the shower running. He took off frantically jumping against the back door of the car. “Just throw them in the back seat, we need to go now!”

  “What?” Lexie said as a large bolt of lightning struck the motel’s fluorescent sign.

  Bang! The sign blew, sparks hitting the roof. The wind howled and a branch came hurtling down, hitting the car parked two spaces down.

  “Shit!” Lexie hastily threw her bags in and slammed the door shut. Connie was already in the car, turning the engine over. Lexie jumped in.

  “Everybody in?” Connie shouted as she peeled out of the parking space.

  “Yeah,” called Nelson. “I’m here.”

  “Me, too,” said Nash.

  Lexie frowned. “Will somebody please- oh fuck!” she screamed as another fork of lightning struck, this time hitting the roof of the motel. It began to smolder. She fumbled for her phone, “I’m calling 911!”

  “They’ll be years too late!” Nelson barked.

  Connie floored it out onto the highway, praying no one was coming the other way. Only once the motel was far behind their tail lights and out of sight did she remember to breathe.

  “Connie, what the hell, Reece and the others-”

  “They’re dead.” Connie said. “He wasn’t channeling the 80s for club night, Lexie. There’s no night clubs here in this part of rural Florida! He was from the 80s. Didn’t you get what he was trying to say? He died in the shower!”

  A chill suffused Lexie. “What? No.”

  “She’s right. We were caught in a localized rift phenomenon,” Nash informed her from his perch on Connie’s armrest.

  “It’s why the storm stopped once we were clear of the motel’s boundaries,” Nelson added.

  Lexie shook her head. That couldn’t be true, could it? She gazed out the windshield. They were right. All traces of the sudden, wild storm were gone.The night sky was clear and stars shone brightly. She twisted to look behind. The pine trees on the sides of the road behind them were standing straight and tall.

  “Well, shit. You telling me the motel and the Dinorama place are caught in a rift zone? Like that rift/portal/whatever place that melting witch boy called ya’ll through?”

  “Yeah, only it doesn’t lead to our dimension and he’s caught in a sort of event horizon.”

  “Repeater,” Connie said softly.

  “Yeah, it makes the period of time that the rift opened repeat, with variances. Is why I told him, make it to the rift and go through, because it’ll free him of the horizon.”

  “Poor kid, he keeps dying over and over.”

  “Fuck that shit. Someone needs to go tell them they have a ghost in that room.”

  “The whole motel is part of the repeater episode,” Nash replied. “Just, the rift wasn’t all the way open as we entered the zone so we didn’t realize.”

  “What, so then everyone at the hotel is actually dead? Including the guy who rented me the room?” Connie asked indignantly. “Why did he do that if he knew what was gonna happen?”

  “They probably made it out,” Nelson answered. “So, you met an echo. Just Reece is stuck there.”

  “I interacted with a goddamned echo?”

  “Yes. It has just enough of the memory embedded that it went through the motions. Someone must have arrived that night and inquired about a room,” Nelson said.

  “Yeah,” Nash agreed. “They must have left though, because the echo gives living people who stop a different room each time.”

  “This is insane.” Lexie had heard enough.

  “Look it up,” Connie asked her softly. “Shit, says the road ahead is closed, we’ll have to turn around.”

  Lexie pulled her phone out of her purse where she’d thrown it while fleeing the room. “There’s no listing for the motel on Yelp,” she whispered.

  “Google it, Lex.” Connie’s tone was pleading. “I gotta turn around, I’m so sorry guys.”

  “Oh, it’s probably done for now,” Nelson replied. “He said the boom would hit while he was in there and the echo time skipped. He was in the shower as we left.”

  “Nothing on Google either.” Lexie closed her eyes. “Go ahead and turn around, Connie. We can’t just sit on the side of the highway in our pjs all night. Look,” Lexie peered through the headlights, ‘The sign says to turn around here and follow diversion signs to the Interstate.”

  “See, those have appeared so the rift is currently closed,” Nash said.

  “What? You mean I was driving down a haunted highway, too?” Connie screeched.

  “Through an echo,” commented Nelson.

  “I can’t do this, Lexie,” Connie stopped the car and began to cry.

  “Okay, you climb over the seat, right, and get into the back. Guys, give her room.”

  “With the suitcases back here, it’s a bit squished,” Nash observed.

  “Just do it,” Lexie ordered.

  Connie and then Nelson scrambled to get into place safely. Once Connie was in the back, Lexie slid over to the driver’s seat. “Nelson, you can come sit on my seat while Nash stays on the armrest or sits with you,” Lexie said.

  Nelson hastened to comply.

  “Connie, you buckled in?”

  “Yeah” came the reply. Lexie could hear the tears being held at bay.

  “It’s gonna be okay, Con.”

  “Was it a rift on the cruise, too, you think, Lex?”

  “Probably something like that,” Lex agreed. “You take your phone out and pick us some driving tunes. I’m turning this sucker around and we’re going to take the Interstate all the way to Tallahassee and then find us a nice, sensible Hilton or Hyatt or some shit and it’s not gonna be haunted. Got me?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Nash said, agreeing with Connie.

  “Something bouncy! To chase away the ri
ft blues,” Nelson said.

  “I got it, let me put it on the bluetooth,” Connie sniffled.

  Lexie grinned as the strains of The Beach Boys filled the car with “Fun, Fun, Fun”. She turned the key in the ignition and when it caught, executed a three point turn. She glanced in the rearview mirror, turning it to glance at Connie. Connie had her eyes screwed tightly shut but seemed otherwise relaxed, singing along softly to the song. She readjusted the mirror for driving, then rolled down her window and readjusted her side mirror. The other one was fine, she decided and she kept going, following the signs.

  It didn't take long for her to get back to where the motel was. Or rather, had been. There was no sign of the Bide-a-Wee Road Motel now. In its place was a tall fence surrounding an empty lot. It had been empty for quite some time too, from the looks of it. She drove on past it, slowing as she approached an area with bright lights. “What the hell? Nelson, we didn’t pass the dinos, did we?”

  “No,” he said. “It was where this truckstop is.”

  As she got closer, she saw he was right. Where once there had been nothing but trees and grass with a few tired plaster statues of dinosaurs and a ratty old trailer, there was now no trees for several acres. It was all now a new branch road with an enormous truck stop at the crossroads.

  “Yeah, this wasn't here before,” she murmured.

  “What wasn’t?” Connie asked, muting the music. Lexie knew when she’d seen it when she heard, “Where are we?”

  “At the diversion. That road there will take us to the interstate,” Lexie said, pointing at the highway sign. “I’m going to stop here at the truckstop, we can get some gas and change in their bathroom,” she decided. “No sense riding down the Interstate in our pjs and then trying to get a room at a decent hotel. They’ll think we’re nutjobs.”

  “Will you come in with me?”

  Lexie’s heart seized. Poor Connie was still shaken. So was she, to be honest, but Connie had been fragile over anything vaguely spooky ever since that Tiger cruise. “Yeah, Con. We can change when I go in to pay, how’s that?”