Dominion by Greg Gifune

Author:Greg Gifune [Gifune, Greg F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: technological horror, occult
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2018-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-ONE

Look Again Books was closed by the time he got there, but Bryce hadn’t yet left. Daniel found him sitting alone in the dark, feet up on the counter. Bells jingled as he stepped inside. “Why are you sitting in the dark?”

“Closed up a while ago,” Bryce said, “forgot to lock the door.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Sales sucked today, they weren’t anywhere near what I was hoping for. Holiday traffic’s got to come through or I could be screwed.”

“I thought you said business was good.”

“It was for a while, but lately it’s been shit.” He shrugged. “Still got a few weeks between now and Christmas. Long as it picks up I should be OK. But hey, if not, there’s always suicide, right? Jesus, look at you, drenched freakin’ rat.”

“Coming down pretty good out there.”

“Hadn’t even noticed, got a big piece of self-pity in my eye.”

His coat still dripping and his hair soaked, Daniel took up position on the other side of the counter. “I didn’t know things with the store were so close to the wire. If you need a couple bucks to help ride it out I’ve got some saved I can front you.”

“Thanks, man, but it’s not that bad yet.” He struggled to his feet. “You don’t even have a job. I should be lending you money. Besides, you’ve got enough of your own shit to deal with. What’s going on, you were really vague on the phone last night.”

“Some things are happening,” Daniel said flatly. “Things I can’t ignore or pretend aren’t there anymore.”

Bryce looked at him a moment, as if to assess the response. “OK.” He grabbed a hefty ring of keys next to the cash register. “Come on, let’s go get something to eat, I’m starving. You can catch me up over dinner. Just let me set the alarm, throw the night deposit in the safe and lock up.”

“I think we better talk here first.”

He dropped back into his chair. “You mad at me about something?”

“Why would I be mad at you?”

“I don’t know. You look like you’re ready to rip somebody a new asshole.”

“I got a weird message on my machine. Womb sounds.”

“The guy sent you a tape of womb sounds?”

“I don’t know for sure if that one came from the same guy. The really strange thing is, the answering machine recorded it, but the caller ID missed it. There’s no record of the call coming in.”

“Had to be the same sick fucking bastard,” Bryce said, spitting the words. “Who the hell else would do that? What’s it supposed to mean?”

“I think maybe it’s to signify rebirth—I don’t know—but then I got another call, this one definitely from him. It was like the others, more of the same. And now someone’s been following me.”

“Following you? Who?”

“Some guy in a Ford Explorer. This morning I caught him watching the house, and then he followed me when I went to the zone to meet Bedbug.”

Bryce squinted as if he were losing sight of him. “Who the fuck is Bedbug?”

“A guy I met through Elliot.

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