The Lot on Route 6

By Anthony Renfro

Kill for me. A terrifying request, but Gavin will take this request and do his best to complete it. He will suffer. He will reach the edge of his sanity. He will live in pain. But he will do all he can to protect the people and the town he loves. 

 

Bonus Story: Gas Station of the Dead

 

Big hearted Cal, a former tanker truck driver, decides to use his driving skills to help those in need during a Zombie Apocalypse. Delivering much needed hope in desperate deadly times.

 

Bonus Story: The Headless Fountain Man

 

A simple photo. A quick snap shot. One woman's perfect picture is about to become her scariest nightmare.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anthony Renfro
• Release date: Jun 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393674023

Anthony Renfro

Anthony lives in Apex, North Carolina. He is a self-published author, reader, writer, runner, husband, father, and stay at home dad - one of the toughest jobs anyone could ever do.Contact Anthony: [e-mail]

Book preview

The Lot on Route 6

October

Gavin Douglas strolled down the street, smiling at the kids dressed up for Halloween, enjoying the decorations filling up the front lawns and windows. The macabre was on full display. Skeletons were the hit this year. They could be found in coffins, coming out of the ground, hanging from trees, and perched on mail boxes. But it wasn’t only skeletons; there were plenty of vampires, zombies, and ghosts. In fact, an abundance of ghosts were scattered about. And all the lights he could see (porch lights and street lights and little dangling lights) were filled with the colors of orange and black.

Hey, Gavin! A man yelled as he passed a young couple, hand in hand. He waved back and smiled in their direction. He knew everyone in this town and everyone knew him and he loved the place he had been born and raised in. He was proud of it, proud to be a part of it, proud to call it home, and he knew when the worms came calling that he would be glad to be buried in it as well.

Gavin moved on toward his house, a small white ranch with two bedrooms, one bath, and enough living space to call it a home. He walked up his lawn, past all of his own crazy Halloween decorations (he too had caught the skeleton craze), and entered his house.

Honey, I’m home, he replied, and the smart speaker by his door filled with light and then a second later it took his command and filled his home with warm white light. The speaker began to play music from his favorite holiday, Christmas, the day he was brought into this world a healthy 8 pounds. Every year on Halloween, he started up the Christmas music and continued playing it until New Year’s Day – never once growing tired of it.

He kicked off his shoes, took off the coat that had protected him from the late October chill, and made his way into the kitchen. He walked over to the counter, humming along to Jingle Bells, and began to make a single man’s dinner – ham and cheese sandwich, light mustard, white bread and chips, and a cold beer to wash it all down. He laid all of the items on the counter and was in the middle of figuring out how to get them to the table when the room changed. It was suddenly colder, filled with an evil chill. The air was crawling with black molecules, they were crawling over everything, squirming, writhing about in an orgy of dark lust. He tried to shrug it off as just Halloween jitters, picked up his plate and beer, and turned to take his dinner to the table. He nearly dropped everything when he saw what was sitting at the table, looking up at him. The thing at the table was dressed all in black with a hood covering its face. Underneath the hood were two eyes, one glowing red, and the other glowing green.

You will feed my trees, the thing replied in a deep husky male voice. And you will meet me at this spot in one hour or you will die, and then so will your town. It slid a piece of red paper across the table. Its hand was ashy and grey, with sharp talons on the ends of the fingers.

Gavin had no words, no breath, nothing to say. He just stood there, mouth open, food about to slide off the plate. The being or thing or ghost, whatever it was, evaporated into thin air. When it was gone, the evil air in the room vanished and Gavin was once again left with a peaceful home echoing the sounds of Christmas music. He put his plate down on the counter and, with shaky hands, picked up his sandwich. He was scared and frightened, but he was also hungry. The stomach has no knowledge of fear. When it wants food it must have it no matter the circumstance.

Gavin walked over to the table while he ate, and looked at the piece of paper the creature had left. On it was a hand drawn picture of Gavin’s house with a big crimson X across it and from this X a jagged blood red line ran across the page to another X, connecting the two. The second X was placed over a picture of a field and underneath the picture were the words Route 6. He realized where the creature was leading him. His family owned a piece of land on Route 6 that now stood empty and unused. It had been in his family for generations, and had at one time in history been a thriving farm. Now it was nothing but weeds and tall grass. The farm and everything on it was either sold, destroyed, or left to ruin.

He sat down hard in one of the old chairs while he stared at the map. He finished his sandwich while he looked at it and wondered what he should do. Call the police? They all liked Gavin. He thought they wouldn’t mind helping him, even if the situation was as bizarre as it seemed to be. But what would he tell them? What could he say? What could he possibly say that wouldn’t make him sound crazy? No, he decided, he couldn’t do that. This was his problem and his alone. All he could do was go out and see what it wanted. It was his only option.

Gavin finished his sandwich, downed his beer in one gulp, and then stood at the counter a moment letting the happy Christmas music fill his ears. When he felt calm enough to drive, he climbed into his car, and drove in silence to the old family farm.

+

 An hour or so later, Gavin pulled his car into an empty field, following a path that once used to be a dirt road. Now that road was filled with weeds and tall grass that swished against the sides of the car as it moved slowly forward. When he reached a good stopping spot, he turned off the engine and sat there in silence for a moment trying to calm his nerves. It was spooky dark. Shadows were deep and vast. The moon almost non-existent.

Why me? Gavin asked himself. Why me?

Something caught his eye. He turned his gaze towards the sky as a brilliant, bright round object floated down toward the field. He climbed out of the car, eyes still fixed on the sky, watching the object, holding his breath, filled with a mix of curiosity and fear. Then, as the object approached the ground, he was knocked onto his back with a sudden rush of hot stinging air. The object settled gently onto the Earth with a soft hissing sound.

Gavin sat up, as something crashed to the Earth in the distance. He assumed it was the old farm house finally crumbling to the ground, unable to withstand the sudden burst of wind, the old boards and nails finally stopping their effort to hold the place together.

A second later, Gavin stood up and looked at the round object. It was covered in silver and there were no windows, no doors. It looked like a pinball from some giant’s pinball game. A soft yellow light circled the bottom of the machine, casting a faint glow on the ground around it.

A sound found his ears.

Something was happening inside the ball. It sounded mechanical, like something sliding on a tract.

Time passed.

Gavin waited.

How long did he stand there? He was unsure, but when whatever was inside was done doing what it was doing, the ball lifted up off the ground and evaporated into the night’s sky. When the ball was gone, Gavin turned his eyes toward the place where the ball had sat moments before. In its place was a tiny house, surrounded by an empty fenced yard. A path of candy cane colored bricks split the yard in two.

Thank you for being punctual, the thing from his kitchen replied, appearing out of nowhere. It was standing there, dressed all in black, one eye burning red and the other green inside its hood.

What do you want with me? Gavin asked, terrified and angry at the same time. For the first time he realized how alone he was. There wasn’t a sign of civilization around him for miles. He might as well have been on the moon.

I told you. You need to feed my trees.

What trees?

The thing waved its hand; inside the fenced in yard, twenty trees abruptly appeared, springing forth from the Earth, green and lush, and extremely plump. Gavin walked up to the fence and peered into them. He then turned from the Christmas tree lot to the thing standing several feet behind him. Okay, so I see them. How do I feed them?

Such a willing host this year. A lot less trouble than those who came before.

This isn’t the first time? Gavin asked, confused.

Never you mind all that business. Just know that you’ve been chosen and it is up to you to fulfill their needs this year.

So, how do I feed them? Gavin asked again, fearful for the answer, not really wanting it, knowing deep down that it wouldn’t be a good one.

"Humans. It is what they desire the