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Caterpillar: A Horror Story

Chapter Twenty-seven

Caitlin hurried away from Rex Hogan with tears in her eyes. The caterpillar trilled from the side of a nearby tree to draw attention to itself. Caitlin picked it up in passing and put it around her neck. The feel of its soft fur about her throat was the only warmth she needed in the cool of the morning.

She had gotten too loud and angry. She had to get away from town. Rex had friends who would shoot her, given the chance. How could she blame them? She cut through a number of yards in the early morning quiet to the highway, wondering why she wasn't tired after having been up so many nights. She hadn't slept at all since the caterpillar had bitten her.

It fed her. It made her feel good.

Funny. All the running around she had done and her dress was too tight. She had thought she would get even skinnier than she had been. Maybe the rain had shrunk the material. If her shift had buttons, she could have opened a few, not at all ashamed to show her body to the world. Not if it would attract the wrong kind of man.

A bad man.

Because she was getting hungry again.

Caitlin walked Troll Valley Road until the sun came up. Finally, a car came by. A station wagon, rather. It zoomed on by, heading toward Orange City. She thought the driver hadn't seen her, but it slowed a quarter mile down the highway, then slowly backed up and stopped alongside her.

The man inside was not young, but he had a nice smile. "Morning, babe! Going my way?"

Caitlin got into the front seat and closed the door behind her. She sat with her hands folded in her lap, staring straight ahead.

The man gazed at her caterpillar in confusion. "What's that thing you got around your neck? Interesting pattern and color. Doesn't go well with the dress, though." He eyed her body up and down and grinned. "Miss, do you know I could report you to the society for the prevention of seam abuse?"

He laughed at his own joke and drove on, oblivious to the danger he was in. He kept his speed at fifty, most of his attention focused on his passenger. He glanced at her frequently.

"Kind of odd to find a girl wandering the highways at this hour, especially considering circumstances. And circumstances aren't too good, I can tell you. I got an empty tank of gas in this vehicle. I don't know where I'm going to get it filled. I'm sure as hell not going to make it to Pittsburgh. From what I've heard from traffic going the other way, I'm not sure if that's where I need to be."

The caterpillar sensed her reluctance to victimize the salesman, especially while he was driving the car. Her hunger was strong, but not so insistent that it couldn't be put off for another few minutes. The salesman would survive for as long as he was nice to her.

"They call this Troll Valley Road, don't they? It sure as hell is a pretty drive. I cut between the interstates here. Been doing so for the past two, three years. It's a shame we haven't bumped into one another sooner. I would have remembered you."

Caitlin eyed the man warily. If he made a move to touch her, she would close her eyes and let the caterpillar have him.

"Take a look in back, Miss."

Caitlin looked around. There were three big nylon bags in the back.

"I got a high-fashion dress consignment worth thirty thousand dollars. Every hear of Pierre Cage?"

Caitlin shook her head.

"Big time dress designer. Formal stuff. I deliver and do some on-the-spot alterations. Only girl your size I know of is this BrazIlean chick named Maria. I got something that would fit you, I'd bet, although we're talking three grand for the one outfit. I'd proposition you with that dress, if I thought I could get away with it."

The salesman kept his eye on the road, chuckling to himself. He shook his head. "I don't do so well with the women, to tell you the truth. Too easy going, I guess. Not good enough looking. Costs me an arm and a leg to get laid, that's for sure."

He drove in silence for a time, then began to frown and glance at her uneasily. "Ever get the weird notion that you're dreaming and can't wake up? Did that thing on your shoulders move just now?"

Caitlin smiled. "It's sleeping."

The man chuckled. "Right. The fur's sleeping. Green shooting stars." He smacked a CB mike on the dash. "Screwed up radio. Two to one I'm wasting my time trying to get anywhere, even if I find someone that's gonna take a credit card for gas. There's a town just ahead, isn't there?"

"Orange City," Caitlin said. "It's got a gas station."

The man sighed. "Thank God for minor miracles. Do you suppose when He created the world in six days He ever figured He'd someday have himself a universe filled with gas stations and Buick station wagons?"

Was he going to hit on her or not? It hardly mattered. Even if he did, he'd probably be too nice about it to justify letting the caterpillar have him. All she needed was the ride to Orange City and time to figure out what to do about Rex and Connie and the rest of Brighton Hollow. If there were other caterpillars around, they were all in terrible danger. Maybe she could make a deal with them to protect the town from outsiders. She wanted nothing in return except not to be feared and hated so terribly. Nothing that was happening was her fault. There was nothing she could do to stop it.

The salesman slowed the car. "Roadblock ahead. County sheriff. Yeah, that's excellent. Some old-fashioned American law enforcement for a change."

Deputy Richard Jenkins' patrol car meant trouble. He'd recognize her, and he had gotten nasty with her in the past when Leon hadn't been around to protect her. Caitlin decided to tell the deputy that she was just visiting a friend in town. Jenkins would probably be too busy to bother with her, but if he did, he was in big trouble.

There were other men with Jenkins, all armed with rifles.  The salesman stopped in their midst with a smile. "Morning, gentlemen! Mind pointing me to the nearest gas station?"

"Get out of the car," Jenkins said to the man, gesturing with the barrel of his handgun.

The salesman frowned briefly, then got out of the car and held up his hands grinning.

"Where you headed and what do you have in the back?" Jenkins said.

"Pittsburgh, and dresses, and I’d sure like to fill up while I’m here. Any chance of that?"

Richard gestured with a nod. A rough looking man in greasy denims opened the tailgate and unzipped a bag. He pulled out a fistful of neatly folded dresses of satin and lace for the deputy to see.

"Hey, take it easy with that stuff!"

Jenkins gave the salesman one of his infamous sneers of disdain. "Got any cash on you?"

The salesman turned suddenly pale. "For the gas, you mean?”

Jenkins and his friends laughed harshly.

“What the hell is going on here?" the salesman said cautiously, and without his smile.

Richard nodded to one of his men. "Run him over to the motel.”

The caterpillar sensed the approach of danger and leapt out her window. Jenkins leaned down and peered in at her. "So, what else do we have here? You out whoring, Caitlin? Picking yourself up customers on my highway? I always knew you had it in you."

Caitlin was shocked by the accusation, although it was typical of Richard Jenkins to be so crass and unpleasant.

Jenkins pushed away from the door. "Double her up with the salesman. We'll play with her later."

Caitlin got out of the car amidst catcalls and knowing chuckles. She saw other cars pushed off the road with their doors and trunks hanging open.

Jenkins was stealing from people passing through town. Gas, tires, money. It seemed such a petty thing to do, or were things so bad that a little gas was worth the effort?

The motel was a block away. In the cool, bright morning, one guard with a gun hustled the salesman down the road. Another unarmed, dirty little man kept shoving her along from behind. She resisted the temptation to hit him. She thought she saw the caterpillar moving nearby in the underbrush, following, but not about to take prey with so many other people around. Maybe it wasn't smart enough to reason for itself, but it seemed able to read her emotional state, even from a distance. It seemed odd that an insect knew so much about people to be so sneaky. Where had it come from? Why was it here?

Caitlin was thrown into an end cabin behind the salesman. The door closed and locked behind them, and the salesman paced the room in tears. "They're ripping me off, the bastards. They're nothing but highway bandits. What the hell is happening to people?"

Caitlin sat on the edge of the bed, astonished that a traveling salesman could be so stupid. If a man who drove around the country selling expensive dresses didn't understand evil people like Richard Jenkins, why did everybody think her too dumb to survive beyond the hills? She had never been so dumb.

The salesman lost his temper and tried to force the door, yanking on it and kicking it. A guard out front banged the door from the other side, and the salesman backed away and didn't say another word. They weren't fed for the rest of the day, and the sink in the bathroom only gave up a few drops of rusty water. Former occupants of the room had filled the toilet with filth. The bathroom window was thrown open wide to deal with the odor, but she peeked and saw a guard pacing out back as well.

Caitlin heard a few other people being taken to other rooms during the course of the day, and she could tell that the ones who got loud got hurt. Finally, she heard Richard Jenkins talking to his men out front. She heard the conversation clearly, but the salesman sitting on the edge of the bed seemed oblivious to the low hum of voices.

"Round everyone up," Richard said. "Take them just east of town and send them into the hills. Tell them if they come back this way we'll shoot them."

"What about the girl?" one of the men said with a chuckle. "Can we split her six ways?"

"Caitlin's my bonus for six years of putting up with Leon Biggs. Touch the young lady before I'm done with her, and I'll break your fingers one at a time. But, yeah, you can split her six ways, or as many ways as you want, afterwards."

The salesman danced about in a panic when they came for him. It took two men to drag him screaming out the door. He glanced back at Caitlin in genuine concern for her welfare, and Caitlin was glad then that the caterpillar hadn't taken him. There was far more worthy prey in Orange City.

Caitlin sat cross-legged on the bed and waited for something more to happen. Richard Jenkins came barging into the room at dusk. He tossed one of the large nylon bags from the station wagon onto the floor. "Caitlin, why are you wearing that ridiculous dress? Did it shrink in the rain, or are you just getting to be a really big girl? Get your beautiful ass up off that bed. Stand up."

Caitlin stood for the man.

Jenkins shook his head in exasperation. "You've grown three inches since the last time I saw you." He kicked one of the bags at his feet. "Find something more suitable to wear."

Caitlin's curiosity coaxed her into playing along with the man. She dropped to her knees and unzipped the bag, systematically transferring its contents to the bed. She then inspected the dresses and gowns. She brushed tears from her eyes holding them one at a time before her body. They were silk, satin, and lace of all colors, some encrusted with jewels and sequins. Caitlin had never seen such beautiful clothes in her life. One of the dresses was big enough to fit, probably the one the salesman had mentioned, a black gown trimmed in silver and dark crimson thread with a collar of small diamonds sewn in.

"Put it on," Richard said.

Caitlin pulled her torn and stained shift over her head, not at all caring that Richard Jenkins saw her naked. She put on the salesman's dress, then looked up into Jenkins eyes to see how he was reacting. If he liked it, then Rex Hogan, too, would like it.

She saw more than she expected to see, disdain, lust, but a glimmer of fear as well. Jenkins had been a tall man just last month. How had he gotten so much shorter?

"Now take it off," he said quietly.

Caitlin took a step back, surprised that he could be so bold. Leon would have killed him for what he was thinking.

"Fight if you want," Jenkins said. "Scream, even. We'll make a real party of it."

Richard Jenkins rose to his feet and started to take his clothes off. It wasn't a pleasant sight. He wasn't as fat as Leon had been, but he was flabby and wrinkled all the same, and as pale as a hairy worm.

Caitlin's disgust was the trigger that signaled to the caterpillar that the person in her presence had become suitable prey. She hadn't noticed it at her feet. She didn't understand how it had gotten past the guards. Or were the guards still alive?

The gray tongue struck at an upward angle and, ironically, it buried itself between Richard Jenkins' legs in the worst of all possible spots. Caitlin had heard of the thing called poetic justice. This, she was certain, was what it meant.

Paralysis stopped Jenkins in his tracks. Parts of him turned black before he fell over. She watched the agony of approaching death on his face. And then she turned away so that she would not have to witness the rest.

Caitlin didn't understand why the caterpillar needed to feed so much. It would have grown to a gigantic size by now, if it had used all that nourishment just for itself. But caterpillars made her think of butterflies, and Caitlin wondered if it was storing up at least some nourishment to become a magnificent butterfly. It would be, she suspected, a very dangerous butterfly.

When the caterpillar was done feeding, Caitlin went outside. The guard waiting in front of the door swung his rifle around to bear on her. She smacked the barrel aside with enough force to send it flying from his hands, then hit him in the face, breaking bones and sending his body reeling backward.

She went around back. The guard there had his back to her and didn't see when she cut across the grass and vanished into the trees.

She let the caterpillar take care of itself for the time being. She wasn't desperately hungry yet, and it always seemed to be nearby when she needed it. She had a mission to accomplish first.

Some men deserved to die. Others, like the salesman, she wanted to live. She liked the idea of having the power to decide the life or death of men like Richard Jenkins and the salesman, but it humbled her when it occurred to her that she had no power at all to make Rex Logan love her.

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