Nowhere Blvd: A Horror Novel by Ryan Notch Page B

down with a yelp of pain. 
    Spencer hesitated.  It was less than a second, but it seemed as if in that moment everything slowed down and he could think with crystal clarity.  This guy was down, attacking him now just wasn’t right . 
    It’s not honorable, he thought.  But the moment he thought the word, it just seemed so childish.
    He stabbed down with the fork, into the small of the once-kid now-creature’s back.  It cried out in pain, but even under Spencer’s weight the fork only dug in a tiny bit.  Not enough to kill even with a thousand hits.  Only enough to make the thing mad.
    The bully started to get up and Spencer got ready to stab again, but he didn’t get the chance.  Something knocked him aside and he found himself amidst a crush of bodies, things pressing in on him that were terrible and unnatural to the touch.
    When he fought free he saw that the crowd had surged in on the fallen monster.  They had pounced on his weakness and now were tearing him apart, eating him alive.  His screams were muffled, but still terrible to hear. 
    Spencer saw he was being ignored and grabbed his original prize under the corpse's limp dead arms again, making his way towards the forest as best he could.  The sounds of unbearable pain and panic following him. 
    That night was the longest of his life.  He dragged the body through the woods, knowing by the distant and not so distant sounds that he was being followed in the dark.  The burden under his arms was heavy from the start, and grew heavier by the minute.  He wanted to stop and rest but knew he couldn’t.  He pushed himself in a mad rush, far beyond the point of exhaustion. 
    Navigation was easy, since he continually stayed within visual distance of the edge of the forest.  He went south around the curve of it, then east until he was directly south of the shops.  Having reached his goal he did the thing he had been dreading almost as much as the mutilation of the body he had been spared.  He traded clothes with the corpse.  He was tempted to just through away the corpses bloody clothes, which got even more gore on them as he undressed the body.  But nights in Nowhere Blvd. were still cold, and he didn’t intend to freeze.  So suppressing his revulsion he put the dead boy’s clothes on himself and his on the dead boy.
    He then dragged the body to the edge of the woods, confident that it was close enough to town that the Rejects wouldn’t follow.  In fact he was pretty sure they had stopped following him a while ago.  He made his way across the short jaunt north to the candy store.  He could have climbed to a high spot and tried to pierce the dark with his telescope to see if patrols were nearby, but didn’t think he had the time and instead made the calculated gamble that someone would be in the area.  Moving quickly but quietly, forcing his footsteps to be silent as he'd learned in his candy stealing days.  Peeking around each corner, making sure not to be spotted until he was ready.
    Finally he reached the candy store.  He hesitated, trying to think if there was any other way.  If  he’d overlooked any obvious holes in the plan. 
    It was now or never. 
    Spencer opened the door, hard and fast.  The bell above the door rang out loud and clear, squeezing a cold claw of fear and anticipation around his stomach.  He slammed the door and opened it again and again, ringing the bell as loud as he could.  Then he let it fall silent and listened. 
    Tap tap, tap tap .
    They heard him all right.  Now for another gamble, he had to run for it and hope they saw him, but not soon enough to catch him.  He ran south, trying to make as much noise as possible.  The ploy was almost the end of him.  As he passed the last building on the edge of town he just missed running headfirst into a second Hollow Man who was rounding the corner at the same time.  He’d been so intent on making noise that he hadn’t heard the thing.  It reached for him with