Redemption Road (7) (921 hits)
Category: NoneLabels: redemptionroad
Rating: 2 on 24 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Jack McCallum (View user info) at 2006-06-28 18:56:37 EDT
Redemption Road (1) http://www.ubersite.com/m/79291
Redemption Road (2) http://www.ubersite.com/m/81591
Redemption Road (3) http://www.ubersite.com/m/81716
Redemption Road (4) http://www.ubersite.com/m/82332
Redemption Road (5) http://www.ubersite.com/m/85951
Redemption Road (6) http://www.ubersite.com/m/87886
7 - The Trial of Mud (I)
Nine people and one dog sat in the bus to wait out the rain.
The sky overhead was not black, but it was dark enough, a sullen, churning gray illuminated by threads of lightning.
The clouds obscured the strange swirling defect in the sky.
Most of the lights in the bus were off. A few of the passengers were trying to sleep, or hoping to appear asleep so they would be left alone.
In the back of the bus Addison was watching Whippet. The younger man was patiently holding the Coleman jug over a Mason jar lid found in one of the boxes of junk stored on the bus. Water was trickling into the lid slowly, and Rebel was lapping it up as fast as it appeared.
"Addy, have you crapped yet?"
Addison shook his head. He and Whippet spent a considerable amount of time discussing their bowels. Whippet just thought he was stopped up. Addison thought there was a darker explanation for their lack of thirst and hunger and the accompanying processes that followed eating and drinking.
"I feel like I got a little ball of lead lodged in my colon," Whippet said. "Man, I never thought I'd miss taking a dump, but I'd pay fifty bucks to drop a mud slug right about now."
It had taken Addison quite a while to realize who Whippet was, despite Tim mentioning that the man had a few albums under his belt. Country wasn't Addison's thing, although he did enjoy guys who straddled the middle ground between country and rock, Mellencamp, Steve Earle and such.
He didn't know any of Whippet's songs, but Addison did remember him now, in a vague way. He remembered seeing that face on the cover of People, and every now and then Whippet had popped up on Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood. Addison only remembered a few images.
A photo of Whippet barefoot and shirtless, wearing old jeans and an expression of incoherent rage as he was cuffed by Sheriff's deputies in some shitkicker state. Footage of Whippet yelling at a girl outside a bar and then chasing the cameraman filming the incident.
And now that same waste of space was calmly filling a makeshift bowl with water so a three-legged dog could drink its fill.
Maybe he just needed to get away from his demons, Addison thought.
"The hell, writer-man? You goin' fag on me? What's with the long look-see?"
"I was just thinking," Addison said with a smile. "You aren't half the despicable shithead you're made out to be."
Whippet thought on that a moment and then said, "Give it time, daddy-o. Sooner or later I always screw the pooch."
Rebel raised her face and gave him a questioning look.
"Sorry darlin'," Whippet said, scratching the dog under her chin. "Figure of speech."
"She is problematic as well," Addison said. "I thought I was getting close to coming to terms with where we are. And animals don't quite fit into the equation."
"You got a spooky look on your face," Addison.
"I'm thinking spooky thoughts, Cullum."
*
Ben Sugarman was sitting up front with Julianne, Tim and Robbie. He had the little girl giggling, having switched on a single light over the driver's seat so he could make hand shadows on the floor of the bus.
"You're from Atlanta, Ben?"
The older man glanced at the weary but still pretty nurse. "Yes ma'am. And you. That voice is saying... Texas Panhandle? Or are you an Okie?"
"The latter," she said. "OK City."
"Uh-huh," Ben said, peering out at the storm. From the bus they could all see the washout, but they couldn't see a lot of detail through the rain speckled windows. For that, Ben was glad. The things in the water were mostly snakes. And Ben could have wrestled with a grizzly bear before he'd ever go near a snake.
"I was walking in Grant Park, getting some sun, and..."
He ran a hand over thinning, close-cropped hair that was mostly gray.
"And now I'm here." He lowered his voice and said, "Don't mind telling you I'm on the edge of panic."
"That's okay," Robbie said. "We're all scared."
Ben raised his head. He could see feet clad in black sneakers poking out into the aisle.
"When I appeared here, and that's the only word that fits, I appeared without even breaking my stride, stepping from springy green grass under a hot summer sun to cracked blacktop in the middle of a gully-washer... anyhow, when I appeared here the young girl, said her name was Betty, she was already here, just screaming to beat the band."
"She's sleeping now," Julianne said. "Poor thing was exhausted. She told me she had always suffered from a fear of storms. She had it bad. Appearing here as we all have was bad enough, but in the middle of a storm, it sent her into a panic."
"And the old lady," Tim said, "She just died?"
Robbie looked out at the storm.
Ben suddenly looked alarmed. "Oh my... be careful..."
Robbie saw the older man looking at the floor by her feet.
"Oh no," Ben said. "Runaway fingers!"
The first two fingers of Ben's right hand ran across Robbie's shoe like a tiny pair of legs.
"Somebody stop them!" Ben said in a horrified whisper.
The fingers/legs hopped from Robbie's knee to her wrist, ran up her arm, over her shoulder, and down her back.
Ben covered his eyes with his free hand and hissed, "Now they are going to dance! I can't watch."
He started drumming his fingers against Robbie's side, tickling her just the way he did with his grandchildren.
Robbie let out a shriek of laughter, something only small children are capable of. She flopped on her side on the old padded seat, and the runaway fingers raced to the center of her back and began dancing again.
She shrieked again and Tim winced, covering his ears.
At the back of the bus Rebel started barking, Addison and Whippet chuckling in response to Robbie's unrestrained laughter.
Garvin cursed and gave up trying to sleep. He stomped to the front of the bus and fiddled with the door release until Tim easily swung the doors open. He stepped down and out of the bus, walking toward the washout.
Sitting alone in the middle of the bus, Richard Allen could restrain himself no longer. After a cautious look around, he unzipped his pants and slipped one hand inside, touching himself while listening to Robbie's shrieks and giggles.
*
A half hour later Garvin shouted, bringing everyone who was dozing or asleep to their feet.
Everyone but Betty and Richard Allen got off the bus and walked to the edge of the washout.
The rain had stopped and the on-again off-again glimmer of the defect could be seen in the starry sky. The sun was coming up, and what they assumed was the eastern horizon was tinged pink.
The washout was now almost dry, and the channel was now full of mud that looked as if it had been baked.
"Hell," Whippet said, "that stuff looks damn near solid."
He scrambled over the edge, looking for snakes and bigger things, and set foot upon the churned brown surface. It gave a little under his weight, but he was able to walk out a few feet, kicking at debris trapped in the mud.
Rebel gave a nervous whine.
Addison was looking for snakes as well. All he saw were stones and broken branches, scraps of paper and shattered pieces of wood that had been saw cut and painted, part of some bigger structures that had been destroyed.
Whippet pulled an empty tin can out of the mud.
"Peaches," he said.
"It just happened," Garvin said. "One minute it was raining and dark, and the next... this."
"Can we get across?" Julianne asked.
"Looks like the sides collapsed over there," Ben said. He pointed upstream. A hundred yards away the sides on either of the channel had fallen in, creating two natural ramps of raw earth.
"Mr. Whippet is leaving awfully deep tracks," Tim said. "What if the bus sinks?"
"Well we can't stay here," Garvin said. "We have to keep moving down the road."
As much as Addison hated to agree with the man, he said, "He's right. We have to give it a shot."
"Gonna be tricky," Ben said. "Have to ease the bus down, hope it makes it across without getting mired, and then pray it can make it up the opposite slope. I hate to think of everyone having to get out and push."
"Do we really have to wallow in the mud?" Julianne looked embarrassed, and uneasy. She closed her eyes and spoke quickly, as if admitting some horrible misdeed.
"Betty isn't the only one here with a phobia. I suffer from... misophobia. It's a fear of, well, contamination. A fear of dirt and germs. I know it is unreasonable and I know I could probably overcome it if I tried, but... It's the reason I chose to work in a field where things are clean. I really don't want to go down there."
Whippet had been pulling himself back up onto the road, and had paused until she had finished.
"I'm as dirty as it gets, honey-bun, and you sat next to me with no ill-effects."
"Maybe I just hid it well," she said. She forced a smile, but she still looked nervous, verging on afraid.
"Hey, I'll look out for you," Whippet said. "Honest. I'll be a perfect gentleman and all that shit. It'll be okay."
"See any snakes down there, son?"
Whippet turned to see that Ben was no longer a gentle old man. Now he looked like a scared kid, ashen cheeked and wide-eyed.
"No sir. Just a shitload of trash."
Betty and Richard Allen were called out of the bus, and a vote was taken. Everyone wanted to move forward, even Ben and Julianne, who were clearly frightened about what lay ahead.
Ben stood alone, watching for any movement below.
Julianne went back inside, hoping she could take a seat now and not budge from it until the bus was on the other side of the washout.
Tim thought it was interesting seeing adults so freaked out by stuff like this when Julianne had been so calm and comforting during everything they had been through so far.
Robbie thought this was just more proof that grownups were stupid. Why waste time being afraid of dumb stuff like snakes and dirt when everyone knew the real things you should be afraid of were monsters that hid in dark corners, and The Spectrum of Death, which she had once heard her dad say was a thing that came for everyone sooner or later.
"Okay," Addison said. "We wait another half hour or so, until full light, and then we all get off the bus. I'll drive it down onto the mud."
Tim was startled. "But I can—"
Addison put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You're a kid. I'm an old man. If the bus shifts and rolls... Let me do this, Tim."
Julianne was only half listening to the conversations outside. She found a seat halfway down the aisle and sat, tucking her feet under her and hoping—
There was something under her butt. She shifted, reached back, and found a wallet.
She flipped it open and saw a driver's license. Richard Allen stared back at her. She was about to call out the window to him when she realized the name on the license wasn't quite what she knew.
Richard Allen Luft.
She closed the wallet, wondering why the hell Dick dropped his last name when he had introduced himself.
"I believe that is mine," Richard Allen said.
Julianne gasped and nearly leaped out of the seat.
"Jesus Christ," she said. "You're as quiet as a cat. You scared the hell out of me."
Dick Allen gave her a slight smile and held out his hand.
She gave him the wallet.
"Not that it will do you much good out here," she said.
"Thanks," he replied. He moved a few rows forward and then sat down.
"Richard Allen Luft. You know, I think I've heard that name before."
Allen said nothing.
"Dick, you never did tell us where you were from."
"I'm in sales," Allen said dismissively. "I move around a lot."
Whatever, Julianne thought, still trying to remember where she had heard his name.
*
The bus made it down into the expanse of mud much easier than anyone would have expected.
With the passengers watching from the edge of the road, Addison eased the bus forward, and as soon as the front of the vehicle dipped down the bus went into a fast slide down the ramp of raw earth and came to rest pointed in the direction they were headed.
Hearing cheers from above, Addison hopped off the bus and took a bow.
He took one step backward, hooked his heel on something, and fell on his ass. He got up and started prying the thing out of the mud. It looked like an old roadside billboard from the fifties, but the message on it was clearly intended for all of them.
Whippet and Rebel dashed down the ramp.
"What'cha got?"
Addison stepped aside.
The sign showed a cute Eisenhower-era housewife, hands cupped to mouth, shouting. Instead of a slogan for Tide laundry detergent or Wonder Bread, there was a warning.
As the others made their way down the ramp and came closer, Julianne taking each step as carefully as possible, Addison read the words on the sign.
"Warning. If you try to cross, you'll pay a horrible price, and will say goodbye to two who are nice."
"Oh God," Julianne said.
"Two who are nice, huh?" Whippet glanced at the lawyer. "I guess that means Garvin is of the hook."
"Fuck you, cowboy," Garvin snapped.
"We have to go back," Julianne said.
Whippet shook his head. "Too late, darlin'. The bus made it down the ramp, but it'll never make it back up."
She looked back and saw that he was right. Along the path of the bus the soft earth of the ramp had collapsed far too much to allow the heavy vehicle to go back that way.
"There is good news, though," Whippet said, squinting and looking across the field of mud. "I think I see rocks and stones in the collapsed wall on the other side. That means our ramp going up will hold the weight."
Julianne nodded, and gave him a brave smile. "So we go forward?"
"Forward," Whippet said.
User Reviews
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2008-05-09 18:33:41 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by X54 (user info) at 2008-05-08 14:51:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I thought this was the best installment yet. Although, they seemed a little cavalier about proceeding in light of the warning. Maybe they're being driven by some inexplicable urge? I missed it if there was a reference to that.
Submitted by St_Jimmy (user info) at 2007-11-06 20:12:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
"Warning. If you try to cross, you'll pay a horrible price, and will say goodbye to two who are nice."
At first I didn't like that. Rhyming warnings seemed out of place in this strange purgatory land.
But now, I think it works pretty well. It adds to the overall surreal atmosphere of the place.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2007-10-19 21:01:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Susie_Derkins (user info) at 2007-10-19 20:24:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
First time I've read this series. I'm hooked. More please.
***********
Pretty awesome, indeed. . .
Submitted by Susie_Derkins (user info) at 2007-10-19 20:24:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
First time I've read this series. I'm hooked. More please.
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2006-07-12 15:00:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
then here's another +2 for the "coming soon" statement.
dying is fine, horrifying is better.
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2006-07-12 14:52:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
please, sir, may i have some more.
MORE!!!
Submitted by nrduncan (user info) at 2006-06-30 15:24:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-06-29 19:02:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I HAVE NO MOUTH AND I MUST SCREAM
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2006-06-29 13:37:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
^
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-06-28 21:42:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Pardon me for arguing with a fool on your post.
Take the hits and run.
Submitted by Caulaincourt (user info) at 2006-06-28 21:40:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
http://www.ubersite.com/m/89623
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2006-06-28 21:32:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You have got to pump this shit out faster, ot better yet wait and put it all in a book.
I brought it into the crapper to read.
That is the highest compliment I can give to on-line stories.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:46:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submitted by ThoreauMe (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:39:53 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:35:14 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by ThoreauMe (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:28:07 (#)
Ranking: 2
And she don't taste a day over 83 if'n I pinch my nose.
________
You can't count that high, critic crotch.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
You so witty.
Seriously, though. Here's another +2 like you wanted. Stop with the threatening phone calls.
________________
Yeah, I got yer number. It's OIC-U812.
Submitted by ThoreauMe (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:39:53 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:35:14 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by ThoreauMe (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:28:07 (#)
Ranking: 2
And she don't taste a day over 83 if'n I pinch my nose.
________
You can't count that high, critic crotch.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
You so witty.
Seriously, though. Here's another +2 like you wanted. Stop with the threatening phone calls.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:35:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by ThoreauMe (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:28:07 (#)
Ranking: 2
And she don't taste a day over 83 if'n I pinch my nose.
________
You can't count that high, critic crotch.
Submitted by ThoreauMe (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:28:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
And she don't taste a day over 83 if'n I pinch my nose.
Submitted by ThoreauMe (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:23:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:14:10 (#)
Ranking: 2
Gee, ThrowBlowMe, what does yoofumism mean? I are so dumbb. . .
It means your mam's cooch is a good source of vitamin C if you don't mind the seeds.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:20:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:14:10 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by ThoreauMe (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:09:08 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:04:33 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by ThoreauMe (user info) at 2006-06-28 19:46:49 (#)
Ranking: 2
But I give you a +2, so bubba doesn't run out from under the trailer and bite me the next time I visit his mam for a sweet potato pie.
________
I eat cantaloupe by the pound, so it makes me shit orange. Check the pie next time.
Uh, bubba. That was a euphemism.
But it sho tastes SWEET!
----------
GODDAMNIT, MOM, stop teaching the retard big words!! Little help here, momma.
Gee, ThrowBlowMe, what does yoofumism mean? I are so dumbb. . .
__
BTW, Pond Scum, my mom will be 86 next month. You say it's sweet?
Heh.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:14:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by ThoreauMe (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:09:08 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:04:33 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by ThoreauMe (user info) at 2006-06-28 19:46:49 (#)
Ranking: 2
But I give you a +2, so bubba doesn't run out from under the trailer and bite me the next time I visit his mam for a sweet potato pie.
________
I eat cantaloupe by the pound, so it makes me shit orange. Check the pie next time.
Uh, bubba. That was a euphemism.
But it sho tastes SWEET!
----------
GODDAMNIT, MOM, stop teaching the retard big words!! Little help here, momma.
Gee, ThrowBlowMe, what does yoofumism mean? I are so dumbb. . .
Submitted by ThoreauMe (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:09:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:04:33 (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by ThoreauMe (user info) at 2006-06-28 19:46:49 (#)
Ranking: 2
But I give you a +2, so bubba doesn't run out from under the trailer and bite me the next time I visit his mam for a sweet potato pie.
________
I eat cantaloupe by the pound, so it makes me shit orange. Check the pie next time.
Uh, bubba. That was a euphemism.
But it sho tastes SWEET!
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-06-28 20:04:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by ThoreauMe (user info) at 2006-06-28 19:46:49 (#)
Ranking: 2
I didn't read all that. I went back and tried to start at the beginning of the series. Just couldn't get interested.
But I give you a +2, so bubba doesn't run out from under the trailer and bite me the next time I visit his mam for a sweet potato pie.
________
I eat cantaloupe by the pound, so it makes me shit orange. Check the pie next time.
Submitted by ThoreauMe (user info) at 2006-06-28 19:46:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I didn't read all that. I went back and tried to start at the beginning of the series. Just couldn't get interested.
But I give you a +2, so bubba doesn't run out from under the trailer and bite me the next time I visit his mam for a sweet potato pie.
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-06-28 19:36:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Always forward, never straight. . .
Your usual top-notch stuff.