Free Darkness Falls by Jeremy Bishop, Daniel S. Boucher Page A

aid kit. He tore open one of the pads and soaked it with alcohol. The tip of a bright red wound poked out just above Dana’s jeans, on his right hip.
    Sam remembered what Dana had said: Bit me on the hip, fuckin’ perve.
    Kyle wiped the pad just above the wound. The blood and vomit disappeared, but the black veins and red infection stayed.
    Next, Kyle took the scissors from the first aid kit and looked at Sam. “Open a few more of those pads and soak them good.”
    Slipping a finger through a belt loop on the front of Dana’s jeans, Kyle pulled. He carefully slid the scissors into the opening and cut a straight line down about six inches.
    Dana moaned.
    Kyle set the scissors down and spread apart the jeans.
    Sam finished soaking the cotton pads and looked over. Dana’s hip was a red swollen mess of teeth punctures and leaking puss that throbbed in time with his pulse.
    Sam looked at Wyatt and then Laurie. “Take him to another room, won’t you, Laurie?”
    Laurie took Wyatt’s hand without a word and led him to the kitchen area behind the counter.
    With Wyatt away, Sam reluctantly turned back to Dana’s wound. It stared back at him, like some grotesque mocking smile. Kyle snapped a finger at Sam, reaching for the cotton pads. He passed them over, the scent of alcohol a welcome reprieve from the rotten stench coming from Dana’s hip.
    Kyle started wiping, working from the outside in. The blood cleared away, revealing gnarled, leaky flesh. Kyle continued to wipe, but he stopped when he hit something solid. He cleaned around the area, careful not to dislodge the object. It was a tooth, still stuck in one of the puncture holes. He gently wiped around the tooth, and then he gripped it inside the cloth. He looked at Sam for approval. Sam didn’t want to nod. He knew this was going to haunt him for the rest of his life. But it had to be done, for Dana’s sake. He nodded and watched as Kyle tugged. There was a slight pop of escaping wretched gas and a tiny stream of blood.
    Sam waited a few seconds, then let out a breath of relief.
    Kyle lifted the tooth away, but it slipped from his cotton grip. He tried to catch it, but struck the wound in the process.
    The flesh around the freshly unplugged hole swelled upward, spraying tiny jets of fluid, and then, like some sort of septic volcano, erupted in a lava of puss and blood. Dana cried out and slapped a hand on the infection on his hip. He scratched at the wound, tearing away skin, oblivious to the further damage he was doing.
    Sam fell back, gagged and then vomited under one of the booths.
    “Get away from him,” Kyle said, on his feet. “Now.”
    “What? No,” Sam said. “I’m fine.”
    “You may be, but he isn’t,” Kyle said. He pointed at Dana’s hip.
    They all turned and looked. Under the skin that Dana had scratched away, a patch of inky black spread out in all directions. The dark flesh grew thicker and started to swirl about, lifting up off the body like a black flame. Sam recognized it immediately. It was the same thing that had consumed all those people in the woods. It was taking Dana, too.
    Dana’s body convulsed and shook, his feet jittering on the tile floor. His eyes snapped open, and he reached up to Jimmy, catching hold of his pant leg. “Help me, Jimmy. It hurts. It hurts so fuckin’ bad.”
    Jimmy’s eyes swelled with tears. It was obvious he felt as helpless as Sam did. He took Dana’s hand, despite the darkness claiming his body, and squeezed it. “I’m here for you, brother.”
    Sam watched in horror as the roiling darkness was sucked inside Dana’s body, like a piece of dust in a vacuum. Dana gave a final jerk and then lay still, his lifeless eyes staring at Jimmy.
    Jimmy reached down and closed Dana’s eyelids with a sigh.
    “The fuck is goin’ on ’round here, Sam?” Jimmy said, starting to lose control. “You!” Jimmy said, pointing at Kyle. “You shoulda done more!” Jimmy stood, his tall frame looming heavily over