The Bottom Feeders and Other Stories by Aaron Polson

her
doubled-over boyfriend. “Jimmy …who's that?” she asked,
shivering.
    Jimmy let a pathetic little groan slip out
of his mouth as he rubbed his knees. “Just some guys. They can help
push the car.”
    Three figures shimmered in the moonlight.
They appeared to be teenage boys, somewhere between sixteen and
nineteen, but they all seemed strange. Their faces were pinched
together, too gaunt and pale, even in the moonlight. Maggie tried
to muster a friendly smile, and the boys’ lips cracked open in
response. They wore dirty clothing, streaked with dark stains.
    Most likely
mud , Maggie thought. Gross .
    One stepped forward and stretched out a
withered hand. His fingertips were stained black. “I’m Dan. This
here’s Lonnie and Earl. We can help,” he said. Maggie couldn’t see
his lips move. A taint floated with his voice, like the sound of a
light wind cutting through a strand of old trees. The other two
stood behind him like chimps; the one introduced as Lonnie poked a
finger into his mouth and scratched at his gums, digging out
something black that shone in the moonlight.
    A rancid odor oozed off the boys. It was wet
and fishy—the scent of a riverbank after a flood.
    Maggie quickly slipped into the car and
slammed the door shut. Jimmy said something to the three, and
sloshed through the mud to the driver's side. He tried to shake the
thick muck from his shoes before shutting the driver’s door and
slipping the gear shifter into neutral, but it was no use.
    “ Who are those guys?” Maggie whispered.
She caught herself with one hand against the dash as the car
lurched forward. The back of her neck burned like some dull razor
had plucked out the hairs one by one. “I haven’t seen them around
school.”
    Jimmy shrugged, maintaining a solid grip on
the steering wheel. “Probably home-schooled or something.”
    “ Home-schooled? Really?”
Maggie cast a curious glance at Jimmy’s profile. “They look a
little freaky to me.”
    “ Yeah, well, some of those
home-schooled kids are religious fanatics, you know. Maybe these
guys are part of some wacky cult. They seem nice enough,
though.”
    Maggie turned to look over
her shoulder. The yellow faces of the three strangers grinned in
the back window, showing bent and browning teeth. Their eyes were
cold and black, so she quickly snapped her eyes back to the front
of the car. “They make me feel dirty . The way they leer at me.”
    “ Babe, if they’re religious
zealots, they probably aren’t used to seeing hot numbers like you.
Really.” Jimmy leaned over and kissed her on the neck. Maggie
pushed him away and flashed a tepid smile.
    “ Look, we’re almost there,”
Jimmy announced. He straightened in his seat and peered into the
cone produced by the headlights. “We still on for that dark, quiet
spot?”
    “ I’ll think about it,”
Maggie muttered, crossing her arms across her chest. She couldn't
shake the crawling sensation of the boys’ eyes on her
back.
    “ See, safe and sound,”
Jimmy said as the headlights lit up the yellow sign at the end of
North 1800. “I’ll just thank them, and we’re off.”
    “ Jimmy, don't
….”
    “ Just a quickie. They
really helped us out of a jam.”
    Jimmy stepped out of the car.
    Maggie stared at her feet for a moment,
looked at Jimmy's open door, and slowly brought her gaze to the
window next to her. A flat, leering face with bloodshot eyes and
stretched, chapped lips floated an inch from the window.
    “ You're purdy,” the face
gibbered, its voice muffled and cold. Maggie let out a small gasp,
quickly turned away from the window, and reached for the door lock.
Her thumb flicked the switch, but the lock wouldn’t cooperate with
Jimmy’s door hanging open.
    Jimmy poked his head into
the car. “Hey, Maggie. This guy owns a ‘57 Chevy—stock everything . They other
guys have nice rides, too. Vintage. They say I should come out
sometime, race with them.”
    “ That’s nice, Jimbo. Once
you get that old