Night Monsters by Lee Allen Howard

Author:Lee Allen Howard [Howard, Lee Allen]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Horror
Amazon: B0079Q6C00
Goodreads: 13488479
Publisher: Lee Allen Howard
Published: 2012-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Keeping Cool

by Lee Allen Howard

Terry Fleischman raced down the Boulevard of the Allies, windmilling his arms, but his last bus home was gone. Gone. Its taillights disappeared in the sweltering darkness like the eyes of some creature retreating into its lair.

“Shit.” He stopped to catch his breath, leaning on a signpost.

When he recovered, he pulled out his wallet. Only five bucks. Not enough for cab fare. His ATM card was cracked, and he hadn’t received the replacement yet. No one he knew who worked in town stayed this late. No cash, no ride home. He swore again.

He considered going back to work to call, but only certain people could enter the building after eleven—“important people”—and he wasn’t one of them. As much as he hated to, he needed to call his wife.

Melinda often complained about his long hours, and it was a sore subject between them. Waking her and expecting her to drive all the way to downtown Pittsburgh at nearly midnight was beyond the call of duty. Yet he had no choice. She would probably give him an earful when she picked him up but, hey, it was better than walking home fifteen miles.

He pulled his cell phone from his pocket. It still had a sixty-six percent charge, but no bars. He dialed home, but it failed to ring or connect. Damn local carrier. Frustrated, he stuffed it back in his pocket.

He spotted a telephone booth on the corner of Smithfield and headed up the empty street to make a call, steering clear of doorways where strangers could be lurking.

Terry worked as a sysop for DataLogical Systems, a data services firm that dealt mostly with hospitals such as Allegheny General. During his two years there day-to-day operations had gone smoothly, despite the long hours. This month, however, local hospitals were doubling and tripling their off-site DASD. Did the need for increased disk storage have anything to do with the recent sickness that had filled all the area hospitals? It was some kind of wasting influenza sweeping Allegheny County. If so, it added meaning to what Terry otherwise considered a rather humdrum job.

He reached the phone booth but stopped short of opening the door. Someone was in the booth, a tall, skinny man in a herringbone tweed sport coat. Why wear that in this heat? The weather had been miserable for the entire month of August; Terry’s clothes were already sticking to him. Maybe the guy couldn’t get cell reception either, and that’s why he was using the payphone. Terry looked around as he waited for the man to finish his call.

The sidewalk was dotted with blackened coins of chewing gum and cigarette butts smudged with lipstick. Reeking garbage overflowed a city wastecan. The entire Boulevard was deserted as far as Terry could see. No cars, no pedestrians—not even any homeless people. Downtown Pittsburgh was still a place everyone abandoned on weeknights.

What was taking the guy so long? Terry considered pounding on the phone booth door but noticed Slim wasn’t even using the phone.

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