The Bad Country Read online

  David took another look at the Mazda and let the hand that was resting on his head fall down to his side again.

  “Ok, I guess that’s what we’ll do then,” he said after a prolonged silence. The words came out slowly and lacked any real confidence, and to Mary it was obvious that the repair bill would hurt a lot more than he was willing to admit.

  Then after receiving a curt nod from the mechanic, he removed the key from the ignition and retrieved the two black duffel bags containing their clothes and toiletries from the boot and stopped next to Mary. The mechanic gave him the directions to the B&B, told him how to find the garage and informed him that he could pick up the car tomorrow morning at any time after nine.

  Then the two of them walked out of the parking lot, crossed the trafficless Main Street and made their way over to their new home for the next twenty hours.

  “Well, I guess this is it,” David said and put the two duffel bags he was carrying down on the rough concrete surface of the sidewalk. They had been walking for just under five minutes and come to a stop in front of a small wrought iron gate outside a white two story building.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” Mary responded as she let her eyes wander across the house. She was surprised to see that it was almost an exact replica of her grandparents’ place in Wyoming.

  The house was situated on a half acre lot, about three quarters of the way down a residential street. It was bordered on either side by considerably more modest looking houses on smaller lots.

  There was a wooden sign with the words ‘Safe Haven B&B’ chiselled into the timber. It was attached to the wall just below one of the two dormers facing the street. A gravelled path led up to a wooden staircase that ended at the top of a porch that ran the entire length of the house. It was the type of place she wished she would be able to move into one day.

  “Well, let’s find out if we can get a room for the night,” David said as he swung the gate open and put the straps of the duffel bags over his shoulders again. Mary nodded and followed him up the path, making sure to close the gate after her.

  A few moments later they entered a tiny room that had been converted into a reception area. There was a cheap wooden counter, roughly eight feet long on the left-hand side, and an opening in the wall leading further into the building right next to it. On the walls were various scenic pictures of the surrounding area.

  David took a few seconds to look around, before walking over to the counter and ringing the little brass hand bell that had been positioned on top of it. The noise it made when he shook it was so loud that it made Mary jump.

  A few moments later they could hear footsteps approaching, and a few seconds after that an old lady appeared.

  “Good afternoon,” she said in a shrill voice, giving Mary a cursory glance before her eyes came to a rest on David. “What can I do for you?”

  Unlike the other people they had come across in town, the old lady was actually smiling. But even so, there was something about her that made Mary feel wary. Something wasn’t quite right. It took her a few seconds to figure it out, but when she did, she felt that same cold sensation come over her. It was the old lady’s eyes. They were just as cold and resentful as all the others, but it was harder to notice because they were hidden behind a fake smile.

  “We’re just looking for a place to spend the night,” David said, and went on to tell her about the issues they were having with their car. The old lady listened attentively, and grabbed a form from somewhere under the counter and handed it to David.

  “I can give you a room with a master suite facing the street,” she said after David had filled her in on all the details. “It’s fifty dollars a night, breakfast included.”

  David looked over at Mary, pursed his lips and nodded before turning back to the old lady again.

  “Sounds good to me,” he said and started to fill in the registration form.

  When he was done, he fished out five ten dollar notes from his wallet and handed them over to the old lady. Half a minute later the two of them followed her up the stairs to their new temporary quarters.

  They were shown into a room that was spacious, but dated. The sash window in the dormer ensured that the room had a steady supply of natural light, which helped to offset the darkness of the red wallpaper.

  Two bland looking single beds were pushed up against the wall on the right hand side of the door and were separated by a small bedside table. There was a cabinet with an old TV tucked in the left hand corner of the room, and an L shaped couch positioned a few yards in front of it.

  The old lady quickly showed them around, before handing David the key and informing them that breakfast would be served between seven and nine the next morning. Then she walked back to the door, wished them a pleasant stay and left the room.

  David waited until he could hear the footfalls from the staircase before he said in a low conspiratorial voice;

  “I guess the old bird doesn’t like couples to share the same bed when they’re staying here.”

  He shot Mary a quick grin and walked over to the bed closest to the TV and sat down.

  “Yeah, I guess not,” Mary said, returning the grin and sat down next to him. She leaned her head against his shoulder and was debating whether to tell him about the bad vibe she had received from the old lady. But after a quick deliberation, she decided against it. There was no need to burden David with any more of her concerns. He had enough on his plate as it was.

  Their situation wasn’t ideal, but given the circumstances, it wasn’t dire either. And even though the town and its inhabitants gave her the creeps, it was not like she was forced to spend the rest of her life here. Soon this town and its inhabitants would be a distant memory that could be pushed out of her consciousness. She had dwelled too long on the negative things. Now it was time to focus on the positive aspects. By this time tomorrow, they would be halfway to Billings.

  Her renewed optimism was also one of the reasons why she didn’t object when David suggested they go for a walk half an hour later. They had been relaxing and coming to terms with the unexpected change to their itinerary when he brought it up. And truth be told, she was starting to get bored. It wasn’t like there was that much to do up here, other than watching TV and spending the next twenty hours looking out the window.

  “Do you want to ask the old lady if you can use her phone to call your parents?” Mary asked.

  David nodded.

  “Yeah, I’ll ask her on the way out.”

  He had tried to call them on his cell phone, but had been unable to contact them due to the poor reception in the area. He stood up and put on his jacket. Then he grabbed the room key and wallet from the glass table in front of the couch and placed them in his pocket.

  “We’ll get some groceries too on the way back,” he said as he held out a hand and helped Mary get up from the couch.

  “She probably just popped out for a few minutes to do some errands,” Mary said.

  They were standing by the counter in the reception area. David had rung the bell four times, but no one had come out to serve them.

  There was a telephone behind the counter, but neither of them wanted to use it without first getting permission from the old lady. Mary was certain that she wouldn’t mind, but you just couldn’t tell how she’d react if she walked in the door and saw them using it without her consent. In a worst case scenario she might even evict them, and then they would have nowhere to spend the night.

  “Oh well,” David said and shrugged. “I guess we can call them when we get back. It doesn’t really matter whether we tell them now or later. They aren’t expecting us until this evening anyway.”

  “Maybe there’s a payphone somewhere in town,” Mary suggested.

  “Yeah, there probably is. Let’s get out of here.”

  They walked down the little gravelled path and turned right after having gone through the wrought iron gate. Then they casually strolled down the quiet street with no particular destination in mi
nd.

  The wind had picked up and several grey clouds had swept in from the south, and Mary pulled the zipper on her jacket all the way up to her chin and put her hands in her pocket. The American flag, which was hanging from flag posts attached to the exterior walls on pretty much every other house they walked past, was flapping gracefully in the breeze and occasionally made harsh snapping sounds that reminded her of when her mum used to shake their bed linen out on the back patio when she was growing up.

  “Don’t you think it’s a little bit strange that we’ve hardly seen any people or cars since we arrived?” Mary asked as they turned the corner and began walking down a street which ended at the start of the forest about a mile further along.

  David looked at her for a moment without saying anything, and when he finally answered, he spoke slowly.

  “I don’t know. And to be quite honest I hadn’t really noticed. Nor do I think it’s all that strange. Most of them are probably at work. Doing what, I don’t know, because there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot going on around here.”

  He gave her a quick grin.

  “But considering that the people we’ve met so far haven’t exactly made an effort to be super friendly, I’d say that’s not a bad thing.”

  Mary let out a little giggle and leaned her head against his shoulder.

  “I guess so,” she said.

  David put his arm around her shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.

  “Or maybe they’re all at home strung out on Oxycodone or heroin,” he said in a sheepish voice. “Isn’t that what people tend to do in places such as this.”

  “David! That’s not a very nice thing to say.” Mary pulled her head away and pretended to hit him on the shoulder with her fist. David looked at her and grinned, and expertly stepped aside before her fist hit its target. Then he raised his palms in a mock conciliatory gesture.

  “I know, I’m awful. But sometimes I just can’t help myself.”

  Mary shook her head and pretended to be upset, but the smile on her face indicated that she thought it had been quite a funny remark.

  They saw the entrance to the park about halfway down the street, and crossed the road and walked over to it. Two big logs had been driven into the ground about five or six yards apart, and a big curved wooden sign were attached to each log. The words ‘Minden Town Park’ was painted on it in bright red letters. A wide dirt path had been carved out through the forest that surrounded it on either side, and it disappeared out of view about fifty yards further in where it formed a bend.”

  They stopped in front of the entrance and gazed inside.

  “Do you want to check it out?” David asked.

  Mary turned her head and looked back in the direction they had come from. The street where their B&B was located was at least half a mile away, and her legs were starting to get tired. The extra weight inside her tummy was starting to make its presence known and affect her ability to walk long distances without having to take a break. It was something she had started to notice in the last few weeks. She thought about walking to the end of the street, turn right and then make their way back via Main Street, and found it less appealing than turning into the park and possibly sit down and relax on a bench while gazing out over a quiet pond.

  “Yes, let’s go in and have a look,” she said.

  They followed the path, walking at a leisurely pace. The trees on either side of it were tall, and with the overhead clouds that had appeared in the last hour, it almost felt like early evening, despite only being one o’clock in the afternoon. The path eventually hooked up with a slightly narrower trail that followed the contours of a crescent shaped lake.

  Mary was impressed by its size. The trees just behind the bank at the other end had to be at least half a mile away. She didn’t particularly care to walk all the way around it, but they could at least walk across to the other side. She turned her head and estimated that the lake had to be around sixty or seventy yards across.

  Her eyes briefly fell on an area about halfway down the lake where there appeared to be an opening in the tree line, and what looked like a path going into the forest. She wondered where it would take them, but quickly pushed the thought aside.

  A stone’s throw away, a group of swans were gliding around on the surface of the lake, no doubt preparing themselves for the journey south to escape the harsh winter months that were just around the corner. Mary wished that she’d brought along some bread.

  Other than the swans and the occasional birds they could see resting in the treetops and on branches covered in green needles, they had the park entirely to themselves.

  “Are you ok to walk around the lake?” David asked.

  Mary sighed and rubbed her neck.

  “Well, let’s just walk across to the other side first,” she said. “Then if I feel up for it, we can continue all the way around.” She had spotted a park bench on the other side, just before the opening in the forest and she intended to sit down there and have a rest when they got to it.

  They turned right and started walking toward the other end of the lake and the tiny strip of sand that sloped gently down toward the water about a hundred yards away from their current location. Mary guessed that it had to be a popular spot during the summer months - which could get extremely hot up here in the mountains - and the townfolks were definitely blessed to have access to such an area. There weren’t that many places where you could go for a swim a mere five minute walk from the downtown area, and especially not in towns located several hundred miles away from the nearest beach.

  They reached the bench ten minutes after they first entered the park, and just sat there and enjoyed the scenery and breathed in the fresh mountain air, completely unaware of what was about to happen. And had they known, they would certainly not have paid the park a visit, nor would they have pulled into Minden. But they’d had no reason to suspect that anything was wrong, and thus their fates were sealed.

  It all began when they arrived at the path that Mary had seen from the other side of the lake. When David saw it, he suggested they find out where it would take them. At first Mary had hesitated. She would have preferred to just turn around and walk back to the entrance again, but at the same time she also wanted to please David. And besides, what was the harm? They would just follow the path for a minute or so, then turn around and head back again. It would only prolong their stay in the park by a couple of minutes, so in the end she had agreed. And from there on there was no turning back.

  “Hey look, there’s a building in there,” David said after they had covered about fifty yards or thereabouts.

  Mary squinted and could vaguely detect what looked like a white structure about a hundred yards further in. It was hard to tell with any certainty, because it was heavily obscured by the thick branches of the trees.

  “It must be some type of community centre, or a shed where the park management store their machinery,” she said.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” David answered.

  They continued onward toward a bend up ahead where they would be able to get a good look at the white building. Once that was taken care of, Mary would insist that they return to the park entrance and make their way back to the B&B. She had done all the physical exercise that she intended to do for the day, and was more than happy to spend the rest of her time in Minden slouched back on the couch, reading magazines and binging on TV.

  About fifteen seconds later, they cleared the bend and saw the sign attached to the side of the white timber structure and came to an abrupt stop, as if they had walked straight into an invisible wall. And at that exact moment Mary forgot all about what she was going to do when she got back to her room. She also forgot about how tired she felt, and how unlucky they had been to get stuck here in this god forsaken town. The only thing she could focus on there and then was the sign.

  She put a hand over her mouth and a loud gasp escaped from somewhere deep inside her.

  From his position next to her, she could hear D
avid utter a muted, “Oh my god!”

  Mary automatically clutched his wrist, before she took a step backwards and noticed that David did the same.

  The sign said ‘Church of Satan’ and it had to be at least six by ten feet. It was written in big black gothic style lettering, and above it was a hand painted goat’s skull with large, curved horns protruding from either sides of its temple.

  Mary removed her hand from her mouth and placed it subconsciously over her chest, where the crucifix on the necklace she always wore where hidden under her jacket. Then she looked at David with eyes that were filled with fear and incomprehension.

  “What kind of place is this?” she said, barely managing to get the words out. Her hand was still gripping tightly on to her husband’s wrist.

  David put his free hand up to his mouth and kept looking at the building, seemingly not paying any attention to what Mary was doing to his arm.

  “I guess it’s what the sign says,” he said at last and looked at her.

  “The tiny little town of Minden has its own satanic church.”

  “But why on earth would the town allow these people to have a ....,” Mary hesitated for a few moments, refusing to use the word church to describe the place she was currently looking at. “To have such a … building in town? And as if that wasn’t enough, allow it to be located in the middle of a public park. For heaven’s sake, it is situated on municipal land.”

  The initial shock had seemed to subside ever so slightly, and she had managed to get her breathing under control again. The only visible sign of her unease was her facial expression, and her head, which she was shaking slowly from side to side.

  “I don’t know, but they have obviously received the blessing of whoever pulls the strings. Maybe the church has a large following in town? I mean look at it. I wouldn’t exactly describe it as a tiny building. I reckon you could probably cram a couple of hundred people in there if you wanted to.”