Johnny Gruesome

Johnny Gruesome by Gregory Lamberson

Book: Johnny Gruesome by Gregory Lamberson Read Free Book Online
Authors: Gregory Lamberson
Ads: Link
College. His whole future. “I need to think.”
    Gary lowered his hands. “Take your time, okay? It’s not like we’re in an uncompromising position or anything. Anyone drives by and sees us, we’ll just act cool and hope they don’t notice Johnny lying tits up in the snow.”
    Eric took in the tableau. His breathing slowed. Karen and Gary grew smaller, staring at him. He no longer felt cold.
Shock?
    “Where do you think you’re going?” Gary said.
    Stopping in his tracks, Eric realized he had backed away from them.
    Silence.
    He moved forward. “We can’t do this. We have to go to the police.”
    Gary closed the distance between them. “Johnny’s dead and nothing can bring him back. What’s done is done. We can still have our lives, though.”
    “There’s no way we’ll get away with it. We’re just high school students, not criminal masterminds.”
    “Who do you think’s going to investigate this, the cast of
CSI?
This isn’t TV, it’s Red Hill. Chief Crane’s just a small town cop who hands out speeding tickets. This situation doesn’t require Lex Luthor.”
    “Either you’re crazy or you’re still high, or both. No matter what we do, there will still be some evidence, something we miss.”
    “It’s snowing. Look at our tracks—they’re already filling in. There’s no blood, no sign of a struggle. Nobody will know what happened here but us.”
    Eric looked at Karen, sniffling and rubbing tears from her eyes.
    She locked her hands together to keep them from shaking. “Do what he says.”
    Swallowing, Eric looked at Johnny, then faced Gary. He shivered. “What do we do first?”

    The red light parts like curtains before a movie screen.
    I see them on the bridge, staring at my corpse. I see every star and snowflake in the sky; I see a snail frozen on a tree limb; pinecones littering the woods; a doe and her fawn crossing a frozen brook.
    Is this what it feels like to be God?
    KILL!
    Diving straight at Gary, I penetrate flesh and blood and bone and find myself staring at Karen.
    NO! I passed right through him!
    So I pounce on her instead—with identical results
.
    GODDAMN IT!

    Jingling the car keys, Gary stepped over Johnny’s body and opened the car door. The dome light cast harsh shadows over Johnny’s face. Gary sat behind the wheel, closed the door, and ignited the engine. He rolled down the window to see Johnny. Eric and Karen watched him back the Death Mobile off the bridge, twenty feet from the railing. Killing the engine, he got out and rejoined them.
    “Help me get him into the car.”
    Eric glanced from Johnny’s corpse to the Death Mobile and back again. Stepping forward, he stopped at Johnny’s feet while Gary moved to Johnny’s head. Crouching, they looked each other in the eye. Eric’s right hand hovered above Johnny’s left knee, then touched it with tentative fingers. He looked at Johnny’s face again, half-expecting his friend to flinch or awaken.
    Nothing happened.
    Eric raised Johnny’s knees and Gary lifted his torso upright. Johnny’s head pitched forward, his long hair hanging before his face.
    “We should have taken him to the hospital,” Eric said. “We didn’t even try giving him mouth-to-mouth …”
    Gary shook Johnny so his head rolled on his neck and his features became visible. “You want to blow into his mouth with his tongue sticking out like that? Go right ahead.”
    A cold wind rose and Eric shook his head. “Then let’s get busy.”
    They stood, struggling with Johnny’s body. Eric grimaced as they carried it across the bridge, with Karen following at a distance.

    I’m nothing but unharnessed energy.
    Scattered atoms.
    Have to focus my anger.
    Eric …
    Go Linda Blair on his ass. Use his body to kill Gary and fuck Karen.
    Penetrating his body …
    I skirt his cerebral cortex and make myself at home in his brain. Synapses trigger and flare around me, and his emotions bombard: anger, fear, guilt
.
    It’s overwhelming.
    I don’t

Similar Books

Pretend Mom

Rita Hestand

Staking His Claim

Lynda Chance

Blindfold

Patricia Wentworth

Just Another Wedding

Jessica E. Subject

Survive

Alex Morel

The Bookmakers

Zev Chafets