I backed the Bronco down the road and siphoned the gas from Mama’s van. I hated to leave her there like that, but I wasn’t going back in there with those snakes. We turned down a dirt road, Forest Road 23, and headed into the woods. We drove for hours before we saw anything. Eventually, however, we came across The Hickory Nut Camp Store. We pulled the Bronco in beside the old gas pumps. They looked like antiques more than anything else. The lights were on inside so we headed in.
“Hello?” I called, pushing open the door. I had Mama’s gun and my pipe wrench, and Vella was still carrying the mallet.
We could hear static coming from the T.V. mounted on the wall behind the counter.
The store was full of all kinds of camping gear: tents, lanterns, sleeping bags, and other odds and ends. Most importantly, I spotted guns, ammo, and snacks.
“Anyone here?” Vella called.
Puck was braver than the two of us. He trotted into the store and started poking his nose in the shelves. It wasn’t long before he’d torn into a bag of beef jerky. He sat down on the floor beside the soda cooler and chewed his lunch.
“Let me check the back. Grab some supplies?” I said to Vella who nodded.
I went around the back of the counter toward the store room. “Hello? Anybody home?” I called.
A single light bulb lit the back room. It flickered off and on. Two very dusty old windows also lit the room. The sun was setting so not much light shone in. I decided the place was clear and went to head back to the front when I spotted the toe of a shoe sticking out into the aisle at the end of the row. Someone was sitting on the floor.
“Hello?” I called. When I didn’t get an answer, I feared the worst. I whistled. A moment later Puck appeared. With my Puck at my side, I carefully crossed the store room. Whoever was sitting there didn’t move. When we got close, Puck stopped and sniffed the ground. He barked at the figure.
I raised the gun and stepped sideways to stand in front of whoever was sitting on the floor.
A man, maybe around fifty, was slumped sideways on the floor. A handgun lay beside him. I could see he had shot himself in the head. His brains were splattered all over the boxes.
“Sorry, friend,” I said, lowering my gun. I picked up the dead man’s handgun and headed back to the front.
Vella was just returning from a trip to the Bronco when I came back.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“Depends on who you ask,” I replied. “Store owner shot himself. He’s dead in the back.”
Vella looked shocked.
“Can’t say I blame him,” I said.
Vella and I loaded up the Bronco with the supplies, nearly half-emptying the store, and we headed back outside. We had given up on our map. Nothing was where it was supposed to be. By nightfall, we were completely lost. It didn’t help much that Vella had only one head-light and no high-beams. We drove through the woods and sometime around midnight, we emerged at a clearing that overlooked a valley. Something about the place, maybe the glow of the moon on the grass bending in the wind or the moon’s silver light reflected on the small field pond, made the place look almost magical.
I slowed the Bronco and put it into park.
“What now?” Vella asked me.
I looked across the horizon. Suddenly, I saw a very strange blue-green light in the field. At first I thought it was a fire-fly, but the light never went off. The orb of light bounced across the grass. I watched it for a moment. Puck barked.
“You see that?” Vella whispered.
“Yeah, I see it,” I replied.
“What is it?” Vella asked.
“Swamp gas?”
“A wisp?”
I frowned at Vella.
The light bounced playfully in the field.
“I think we should follow it,” Vella said. Her voice was thin and mystical. I didn’t like it a bit.
“I don’t know about that,” I replied.
“Just follow it,” Vella answered.
I sighed. I didn’t really want to follow the light, but I was curious. I turned the Bronco onto the grassy field and followed the glowing blue orb. It bounced over the grass and down a hill. The light went into a thick woods where the Bronco could not follow.
“We should follow it,” Vella said.
“Walk after it? Like hell,” I replied. “You do know it is night? And you do know we are in the middle of nowhere? And you do remember there are freakin’ zombie-lookin’ things creapin’ around everywhere, right?”
Vella watched the light. “We should follow it,” she said again.
I clicked off the Bronco and turned to have a very serious discussion with Vella when Puck, who had been sitting quietly between Vella and me, suddenly crawled across Vella’s lap and jumped out the window.
I saw his tail wagging as he bounded across the grass toward the glowing light.
“Fuck,” I swore and jumped out of the Bronco. I grabbed the pipe wrench and Mama’s pistol and went after the dog.
Vella was hot on my heels.
“Soon as I get the damned dog back we’re goin’ back to the Bronco,” I told her.
Vella said nothing but kept pace with me. The dog and the light disappeared into the thick, dark woods. When I reached the border between the field and the woods, I hesitated.