The Cemetery Game by Joseph J. Christiano

Author:Joseph J. Christiano [Christiano, Joseph J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horror, supernatural, occult
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2022-12-20T00:00:00+00:00

III.

Diane

Chapter Twelve

The Barrier

* * *

Diane had no idea where she was. She stood on a deserted street with dark storefronts. The street was devoid of any vehicles. No sounds reached her ears save for the litter skipping across the blacktop, propelled by a slight summer breeze. If not for the streetlights, few and far between, she might have been in some post-apocalyptic city, the last surviving person on Earth.

She looked one way, then the other. She took a step forward, stopped. Which way to go? Trust in Google Maps, she thought and reached for her phone. Her back pocket was empty. She cursed when she realized she left it in the van. Just before she and David tried to contact Emily Andrews …

David.

It hit her all at once. Diane staggered until her shoulder found the side of a building. She nearly slumped but her legs refused to buckle. She stayed that way for several moments, panting, legs and arms shaking.

They had managed to make contact with Emily Andrews, she remembered that much. Everything else was a blur.

(David?)

She got the merest impression of him. She could feel he was out of the fog but not much more. He didn’t answer.

She tried again and a third time with no reply. Could she have wandered that far from him? She had no memory of leaving the fog—nor of the reason—and she couldn’t remember how she came to stand on this deserted street. She assumed she was still in Lansing. Beyond that she couldn’t begin to guess. He should still be close enough to pick up her call. So why didn’t he answer?

Because he can’t. He might have made it back to the real world but that doesn’t mean he’s okay. He’s probably face down in the street somewhere, about to become a spirit himself.

“Shut up,” Diane mumbled.

Her legs and arms were steadied. She pushed herself away from the building and once again examined both ends of the street. “Six of one, half-dozen of another,” she whispered, and chose a direction.

She stayed close to the buildings as she passed them. She felt much better than she had even a few moments before, but she didn’t yet trust her legs not to dump her onto the sidewalk. Her right hand brushed the brick and stucco facades of the buildings and glided across the glass windows as a cross street presented itself roughly 150 feet ahead. She heard no traffic, saw no lights. Still, it had to lead back to civilization.

A man stepped onto the sidewalk at the corner ahead of her. He stood directly in her path, between her and the cross street, which seemed at least a mile distant.

Diane froze. Gooseflesh rose on her arms and her heart skipped a beat. The man—she could see no features but something about the figure suggested a male—remained perfectly still. He simply stood in her path. He appeared to be dressed in a long coat; it undulated in the breeze, shortening and lengthening the shadows around him.

Diane backed up.

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