Curse of the Fallen - 6. Chapter Six: The Family That...

Chapter Six: The Family That…

Jack Grimms sat behind the counter of Jack’s Bait and Tackle waiting for his last customer to hurry up and leave. He and the wife planned to get hot and heavy to celebrate their 3^rd anniversary.

So far it had been a good marriage. Yes the two would fight and he had to slap her once in a while to put a stop to her yammering. But with a baby on the way, he couldn’t do that. He wouldn’t want his wife to lose the grandchild his mother-in-law was so desperate for them to have. It had been so they could support a family that his father-in-law had given him the store. With his younger brother-in-law having come out as a faggot the only hope his parents had for a grandchild to carry on the family name rested with Jack. It’s not that he minded having a little rug rat. It was the money and freedom it would cost having one. No more telling his wife what’s what or late nights chugging down beers. He had to be responsible husband and father… something he wasn’t prepared for. “Hey Doug, you about done, or should I just throw you the key and have your run the store? You pretty much already live here.”

“Hold your horses… been looking for that new tackle I saw here three weeks ago.” Old Doug replied in his patented craggy Upper New Englander voice.

“If you saw it why didn’t you buy it three weeks ago.”

“You know me… worked minimum wage my whole life. Got no pension other than what I get each month from social security.”

“Yeah I know old geezer but its closing time.”

“Closing… why when your father ran this store there was no closing time. All it would take is a phone call or a knock on his door and he’d come running back and open the shop even if it was to sell just a box of night crawlers. By the way, you got any.”

“Sure old man… It’ll be just a minute.” When Jack came back he noticed the tail end of the new lure that had come in a couple weeks ago sticking out of Old Doug’s pocket. “Seems you’re ready to pay.”

“Of course… how much is it?” Old Doug asked as he took out his coin purse.

“$30.”

“Thirty for a box of worms? That’s highway robbery!”

“Five for the worms, twenty five for what you got stuffed in your pocket old man.” Jack pointed to the lure hanging out of Doug’s pocket.

“Are you calling me a thief?” Doug demanded in a way that ironically sounded like one of those carpetbagger snake oil salesmen Jack had seen on an old Western TV show last night.

“Of course not Doug… thieves don’t pay. You on the other hand are going to pay and be happy I don’t ban you from the store.”

“Ban me!” Well I never. To think the kid I used to bounce on my knee is threatening to ban me from my second home. I have a good mind to never shop here again and spend my good hard earned money elsewhere.”

Jack called his bluff. “You go do that old man. So are you going to pay or what?”

Doug slammed took the lure out of his pocket and slammed it on the counter. “I’ll pay but you can keep the worms. Only asked for those to get you out of the way so I could do my business.” He reached into a sock and pulled out a wad of dollar bills. “Safer than any bank.”

“But probably stinks just as bad.”

“True… If I had a pension I’m sure those Wall Street scumbags would have hidden it in whatever sewer they crawled out of.”

“Ha… you’re not all bad old man.”

“You just remember that the next time something happens to slip into my pocket.” Doug gave him a sly wink.

“No way in hell old man. You pay just like everyone else does. Got a baby on the way.”

“Really? How far along is she?”

“Not so far that I can’t do a little poking and prodding. It’s our 3^rd anniversary.”

“Well I’ll be damned… here’s an extra twenty. Don’t spend it all on beer. A rose would be nice. A dozen would be even better.”

“One will have to do. The rest goes towards the beer.”

“Remember… fetal alcohol syndrome is no laughing matter.”

“Fetal what?”

“You heard me… that doctor guy in TV says no more than one drink a week or else your child will be born stupid.”

“No son of mine is going to end up a retard. You just wait. You’ll see. He’s going to be as smart as Albert Einstein, and grow up to be a doctor and take care of his folks… not like my no good faggoty brother-in-law.”

“That would be a sight to behold but I don’t think these old bones will last that long. Just remember what I said… get her roses. Show her you love her and she’ll let you poke and prod her until the baby comes popping out of her. You just see if she don’t.”

“Yeah, yeah. Here you go old man.” Jack handed him his bag. “Now I don’t want to see you here until well past noon.”

“Why?”

He began ushering Doug toward the exit. “Because I’m going to be so tired from screwing that I’m going to need the extra sleep.”

“Remember… roses.” Doug said just as Jack slammed the door on him.

Too eager to get him going himself, Jack didn’t bother cleaning up the shop before grabbing all the cash from the register and hightailing it back to his place. Along the way he picked up a 24 can case of beer and a bottle of tequila. He didn’t bother getting any roses.

On arriving home he found June in the living room watching QVC. That didn’t please him one bit. The last time he had caught her watching the channel she had bought a bunch of fake jewelry, a dice-o-matic, and a limited edition replica tea set supposedly used in Buckingham Palace. After he had slapped her around a bit he was sure she had learned her lesson. Apparently she hadn’t. “What the hell is going on here?”

“Nothin’.”

“Looks pretty expensive to be nothin’. Give me the remote,” Jack demanded.

“Not done watchin’.” June didn’t even bother to look at her husband.

“Now listen woman… I work too hard putting food on the table and a roof over that pretty head of yours for you to go wasting my god damn money on a bunch junk you don’t really need. Now give me the god damn remote!”

“You want the remote.”

“Damn right I do.”

“Then here, take it.” She threw the remote as hard as she could at him. It hit him directly in the eye.”

“Damn it woman. Whatcha do that for.” He picked up the remote and noticed it felt lighter than normal. Shit June… hand over the fucking batteries?”

“Batteries?”

“The ones that go with the god damn remote.”

“Oh those… they seemed to have run dry so I threw them out.”

“You threw them away?”

“Sorry sug. Can you go to the store and pick up some fresh ones?”

“Oh I’ve had it.” Jack began removing his belt. “You’ve gone too far this time. Baby or no baby it seems I need to teach you another lesson.”

“Go ahead and do your worst.” Unlike before there was no fear in her voice. That confused him.

“Eager are we? Well I’m more than happy to oblige. Not get over here and take your medicine.” Jack was really going to beat her hard this time. And to think Old Doug had wanted him to buy her a dozen roses. By the time he was done with her, her whole backside would be bleeding as bright as one.

June looked at her husband. She had a wicked grin on her faced that had a happy form of malice to it. “How about you take your medicine first.”

“What the hell…” He had been so angry with his wife he hadn’t notice the figure sneaking behind him. He did however notice the teeth that ripped into his throat.

He didn’t scream long before blood filled up his lungs and throat. June watched calmly as the figure ate his fill from her now very dead husband. After the figure had taken the body away to be burned June recovered the remote and popped the batteries back in. She then turned off the TV.

“Well Steve… ready for a night out on the town?”

“Sorry about the mess sis. Steven apologized. He had been doing a lot of apologizing as of late. As the only survivor from the Harvard research facility upstate he had picked up the nasty habit of eating those who had the misfortune of crossing his path.

“You always were more polite than your brother. I hope that sewer rat didn’t taste too bad.”

“Doesn’t make a difference. So long as you keep the bodies flowing everything will be just fine.”

“We both will. But with Jack gone someone is going to have to mind the store. Got to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table.”

“Don’t worry about that… got at least two hundred thousand saved up from my job at the lab.”

“You never did tell me what happened there.”

“You really don’t want to know sis.” Steve didn’t want to know himself but as the only survivor at least he could hope he was the only one who would ever know what really happened.

“But…”

“Let’s sleeping dogs lie June.” Even after going to Harvard, Steven had yet to get rid of his rural accent.

“Well first we need to clean you up we can then drive into Boston and start hitting the clubs. You think you can take me to one of those gay bars? I don’t think I’ll be looking for any poking and prodding for a while. You of course could do with a good dick to sit on. You’re still gay right?”

“Still gay and hot and horny as ever.”

“Good.”

Steve might have a PhD in bioengineering but he had been born trailer trash. It had not been easy being the smart one in the family. That was especially true in a family where neither his mom nor dad graduated from high school. While his parents had first been proud of how well their son did in school it became very clear to Steve’s teachers that his smarts didn’t come from his folks. It didn’t take long before his father understood the reason why his teachers talk to him in such a condescending manner. The teachers pitied Steven and had no problem letting his folks know how they thought their son deserved better than them. By the time he was in junior high and it had become clear Steve was already more educated then his parents the whipping had begun. Steven had done what he could to stay silent about it but his teachers, who already had a very negative view of his parents from the beginning quickly guessed what was going on. Soon enough Steven was shoved into the foster care system and rarely saw his folks often.

He and his younger sister June would talk on the phone often enough and sometimes meet in secret. She had been the first person he had come out to. When he had been accepted to Harvard he became the state’s foster care program’s poster-boy. He was still disgusted by how they had praised his foster parents and themselves by how well he had turned out. In reality his foster parents had about as much to do with him getting into Harvard as his biological parents had teaching him how to read. He knew his foster parents had only taken him in for the money the state and the federal government paid them to keep a roof over his head.

While Steve washed up, June took care of the mess in the kitchen. It wouldn’t do for someone like the police to find her husband’s blood on the floor. By the time Steve returned she had finished bleaching the floors and dumped the rags, bucket and mop into the fire that had already consumed her husband. It wouldn’t healthy for her to be expected to keep two zombies fed. “Ready to hit the town?” June ask after her brother came back.

“Ready… but I got to do something about Jack’s taste in clothes… flannel and plaid aren’t really my style.”

“I don’t know… you look pretty hot to me.”

“I’m gay June… don’t press your luck.”

“Wasn’t going to press anything. I’ll leave that to your next boyfriend.” The two left in Jack’s truck. Later they would dump it where it wouldn’t be found too quickly. By noon tomorrow they would have twenty thousand in cash, another hundred thousand in certified checks and two train tickets to D.C. Steve was certain that if there was a cure to be found, SecCon’s research labs outside Washington was the best place to start looking.