Tommy Nightmare(98)

“I don’t like this,” Tommy said.

“Oh, the cops aren’t looking for you, Tommy,” Ashleigh said. “Stop being so self-centered.” She rubbed the back of his neck. “Now, get ready, because Jenny’s going to come busting out in about a minute. You can draw power from me. I’m like a battery for you.”

“If you say so.” Tommy scrunched up his forehead and squeezed his closed eyes, like he was concentrating hard. Staying focused had never exactly been his strong point, Ashleigh remembered.

Far below, Jenny ran down the front porch steps of the hotel and onto the sidewalk, bumping carelessly into everyone in her path. She was covering her eyes with one gloved hand, and her mouth was trembling hard.

“There she is, Tommy,” Ashleigh said. “She’s outside, bawling her ass off, poor thing. Are you ready?”

“Just a second…” Tommy raised a finger, his eyes still closed.

“We don’t have any time left! She’s already out!” Ashleigh glared at the small, pathetic figure of Jenny, trying to get through the crowd.

A police car pulled alongside Jenny, moving very slowly. It blasted Jenny with the spotlight, and she turned toward it, looking confused, blocking the light with her arm.

“Oh, what the hell?” Ashleigh said. “Not yet. We need to have the big show first. Tommy, do it now! The cops are on her!”

Tommy opened his eyes. Ashleigh felt most of her strength drain out of her, and she slumped against the railing and struggled to stay on her feet, practically fainting like some stupid lady in an old black-and-white movie. Esmeralda hurried to support her.

Tommy leaned out over the railing, looking down on the crowd below. He opened his mouth, and out flowed what looked like a stream of very dark blood. It corkscrewed over the heads of the crowd like a ribbon curling in the wind, and then it burst into a cloud of tiny, blood-red spores, drifting out over the festival like gruesome confetti.

The cops had gotten out of the car to chase Jenny on foot, but Jenny didn’t yet notice them behind her.

Tommy made a choking sound and stumbled back onto the balcony, and then he fell on his ass, bleached and sweaty and shivering.

Below, the churning of the crowd slowed as Tommy’s fear took hold of them.

Jenny’s power, when applied to a crowd, created an epidemic.

Ashleigh’s power, applied to a crowd, had been known to cause orgies.

When you applied Tommy’s fear to a crowd, you got a panic. Maybe even a riot.

Every mob needed a booster, so Ashleigh had brought an electronic megaphone, which featured the jaunty Fallen Oak High mascot Sonny the Porcupine on the side.

“It’s the girl wearing the gloves!” Ashleigh shouted through the megaphone. She pointed at Jenny. “See her? She’s the one! You have to get her! You have to stop her! You have to kill her!”

Five stories below, Jenny gaped up at the unexpected voice. Ashleigh wondered if Jenny could recognize her pal Darcy at this distance, shouting for a crowd of people to kill her.

A hippie girl with dreadlocks and a nose ring screamed and punched Jenny in the mouth. “Corporatist pig!” the hippie girl screamed.

“That’s right, the girl with gloves!” Ashleigh shouted. “Get her! Get her now! She’s the one you want. She’s the one behind all your problems!”

More people attacked Jenny, punching her in the head and back and stomach, kicking at her legs. The cops arrived as Jenny doubled over, and one of them bashed Jenny in the face with his knee. The panic had hold of everyone, and the crowd crushed in around Jenny, frenzied and eager to attack. Somebody smashed a beer bottle across her head.

“Now we have to get the fuck out of here,” Ashleigh said. “You don’t want to be here when Jenny does her thing. We could all die.” Ashleigh smiled. “But this time they’ll catch Jenny. Way too many witnesses, too many cops. They’re going to lock her up tight after she mutilates all these people.”

“Or they’ll kill her,” Tommy said.

“That’s not so bad for a second-best.” Ashleigh turned to Esmeralda. “Are you ready?”

“Oh, yes, I’ve been waiting.” Esmeralda gave Ashleigh a big smile.

Ashleigh cupped Esmeralda’s face in her hands. Then she leaned in and kissed Esmeralda hard on the mouth.

“I thought we were in a hurry,” Tommy said.

Ashleigh ignored him. She concentrated on disentangling her mind and spirit from Darcy’s body. After a minute, she was loose, just a discarnate spirit, and dangerously close to drifting away from these human bodies altogether. Maybe back to the deep and hellish void from which they’d come. She felt a moment of panic.