Bill Foster felt nervous as he sat at the small round table in the dark corner of the Fallen Angel Tavern. Not only was this corner dark but it was also cold. As his body shivered he was wishing that he had put on something warmer that the thin black jacket over his black AC/DC T-shirt. Even the black jeans and biker boots that he had on did not protect his legs and feet from the chill. He felt a cold draft blowing through his shoulder length black hair.
Bill looked up at the mysterious dark figure that walked over to the table and sat down across from him. A man dressed in black pants tucked into black knee high boots. He was wearing a black long sleeved shirt and necktie. And black gloves. He was wearing a black hooded cape. The hood prevented Bill from seeing the features of his face. This was the same dark image that Bill had seen on a website on the internet. But now this person was actually sitting across from him. This person was known as the Sandman.
“So Bill. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the Sandman’s cheerful greeting.
Feeling apprehensive, Bill cleared his throat. “The pleasure’s all mine. Thanks for agreeing to meet with me.”
“So from your E-mail I understand that you’ve got a bit of a complicated problem that you want me to deal with. Care to fill me in on the details?”
“The details are a bit sensitive,” said bill. “I’m trying to figure out the best way to tell you.”
“A sensitive nature?” asked the Sandman. “How sensitive can it be if you need my help? What have you got? head lice? Crabs?”
“No. The problem is with my best pal. Snake Lindstrom. His real name is Jacob. But everyone calls him Snake. That‘s hic nickname.”
“I get that part, Bill. Most parents usually don’t name their kids after animals.”
Bill continued. “Anyway, Snake and I used to run together. We did everything. We partied. We fought together when somebody tried to mess with us. And we were also in business together.”
The Sandman nodded his hooded head. “Yeah. I know all about your business dealings. Stolen cars. Burglaries. Small time drug dealers.”
Bill gasp in amazement. “How the hell do you know all that? I mean…assuming that it’s true.”
“I like to get a little background info on all my clients. And don’t try to act so modest. You’re not here to apply for the priesthood. So finish telling me about your pal, Snake.”
Bill cleared his throat again. “Well, Snake and I did a lot of things together. Especially our business dealings. But the problem was that we were always small time players. So one day Snake comes up with this idea for us to expand into the big leagues. He wanted us to set up our own lab and start making our own meth. That was gonna be our chance to finally break into the big time. But our only problem was that we needed money to get things started. So the easiest way that we could come up with was to do these bank jobs. We did three of them the same day. We hit this one bank on Fifth avenue. Then this one bank on the South Side. Then we did this one in Oakland. Snake was as cool as an ice cube the whole time. But I was scared out of my mind the entire day. Between the three jobs we netted $8,000. The plan was to do the jobs, hide out and lay low until the heat dies down. Snake took the money and hid it. But the problem was that a few days later he got killed in a gunfight with the cops before he had the chance to tell me where he hid it.”
“Ok Bill. Let me get all this straight. You and your pal, Snake pull off these bank jobs to get some quick cash for a meth operation. Your good pal, Snake takes the cash and then hides it. And he doesn’t share the location with you. Doesn’t that tell you something?”
“I don’t know,” said Bill. “What do you think it means?”
“It could mean a lot of things. Perhaps Snake didn’t trust you as well as you thought. That maybe you two weren’t close as you thought. That maybe you’re a dumbass.”
Bill was angered by the Sandman’s theories. “Wait a second. Hold on. You didn’t know us. Snake and I were tight. He was my bro. We shared a lot together.”
“Yeah. I see that. You guys did share a lot. Like, for example, Snake was pretty generous in sharing his wife, Mindy, with you. At least I’m assuming that he knew that you two were seeing each other on the side.”
Bill became nervous and sank down in his seat. How in the hell did he find out about that? he asked himself. His mind struggled to come up with a believable excuse. “Hey. It’s not what you think. Mindy and I were just friends.”
“A friendship like yours could net you a feature photo spread in Playboy,” The Sandman replied.
Bill was at a loss to find a suitable response.
The Sandman continued. “And just out of curiosity did you ever tell your bro, Snake that you were holding out on him when you scored a few drug deals? After all. You two were supposed to be partners.”
Bill was now becoming even more nervous. He felt like hiding under the table. He was still at a loss to conjure a suitable excuse to tell the Sandman.
The Sandman held up his hand. “Hey. No problem. Maybe you were just holding on to it to share with him later. I get it. Happens all the time in these situations. So lets get back to your little problem with Snake. If he’s dead then how can I help you?”
“I need to ask him where the money is hidden,” replied Bill. “I owe this guy in Oakland some money. And he wants to get paid soon. Real soon. Or he’s gonna send his guys out to break my legs. And maybe worse. I really need that money.”
“So you need to speak to dearly departed Snake. And I take it that the batteries in your Ouija board are dead?”
“I know that this all sounds a bit out there. But if you can pull this off I’d really appreciate it.”
“Hey. No problem. Out there is my trade mark,” the Sandman assured Bill. “Your appreciation is all well and good. But if you want my help then I’m going to need something that’s a bit more substantial. And you already know how I operate.”
Bill gave a nod. “Yeah. I remember from your website. I give you one of my dreams or nightmares and you’ll grant me a wish.” Bill took a few seconds to search through his mind for his most recent dream. “Here’s one. I remember this one that I had last week. I’m walking along this road out in some desert someplace. I look around but there’s nothing else out there except rocks and a few weeds at both sides of the road. The air is really hazy because the wind is blowing all this dust through the air. So I keep walking along the side of this road. Then I see this black car coming. I try to wave the car down so I can get a ride. But the prick who’s driving the thing just passes me by. Then I keep walking until this white car comes down the road. I try to wave this guy down, but he passes me by too. Then I keep walking. And I keep walking. And the road doesn’t seem to end. And the wind starts blowing harder. And the air gets hazier. Do you have any idea what a dream like that means?”
“Yeah. it means that smart people don’t pick up hitchhikers,” the Sandman answered. “I mean. seriously. Even I wouldn’t pick you up. Just look at you. A bank robber that cheats with his best friend’s wife behind his back.”
Bill was again insulted by the Sandman’s assessment. “Hey. Hold on. That’s a bit harsh.”
“Hey. You can’t put peanut butter on a snakebite and expect it to feel better. And I’ve actually tried that on some people. But regardless, that’s a pretty decent dream. And It will net you your wish. So you need to speak with your buddy, Snake. Ok. I can arrange that. But I just hope for your sake that he’s in a good mood.”
Bill lowered his head. Turning his gaze to the table. He realized that the Sandman was telling the truth about his past underhanded dealings behind Snake’s back. For a moment he began to feel guilty. But he was at least secure in the knowledge that Snake had never found out. “Yeah. I hear you. There were a lot of times that I did dirt behind Snake’s back. There were plenty of times that I held out on him when I scored a deal on my own here and there. I always told myself that I’d make it up to him later. But the thing that always ate at me was cheating under the sheets with Mindy. Snake was like my brother. We ran the streets of Pittsburgh together. We fought side by side. Made deals together. And here I go cheating with his wife behind his back. And there were times when I cringed at the thought of what would happen if Snake ever found out. I don’t know what would piss him off the most. Cheating with his wife or cheating him out of money. Snake really valued money. He always told me that if he ever kicked the bucket then he would try to take it with him. What’s mine is mine, he’d always say.”
Bill looked up from the table and saw that the Sandman was sitting quietly with his arms folded against his chest.
“Are you finished?” the Sandman asked Bill. “Is this the end? Or are you just getting to the part where the iceberg crashes into the boat?”
“Sorry. I sort of ran off at the mouth,” Bill told him. “So tell me. When can I talk to Snake?”
“He waiting for you outside,” The Sandman told him as he pointed a gloved hand towards the door.
"Then I’d better haul ass out of here,” Said Bill. He jumped up from his seat and headed for the door.
“Don’t spend all that money in one place,” The sound of the Sandman’s voice called out to him.
Bill did not divert his attention from the bar’s front door and the prospect of meeting his old and very dead friend, Snake Lindstrom. Once Bill was outside he looked to the left and right sides of the dark street but found that he was the only person out here. His black pick up truck was parked in front of the bar. He walked over and stood next to it and waited for another ten minutes. As the time passed he was expecting some ghostly phantom to appear before him and announce itself as Snake Lindstrom. But so far nothing happened to disturb the quiet darkness of the street.
What the hell is this? Where the hell is he? Bill wondered. I’m not standing out here all night. The Sandman said that Snake would be here. I’d better go back and talk to him.
Bill went back inside the bar and returned to the table in the dark corner. The Sandman was not there. Bill walked over to the bar. The bartender, a tall bald man wearing a black Pittsburgh Penguins jersey approached him.
“Hey my man. Where’s the Sandman?” Bill asked.
The bartender shrugged his shoulders. “Beats the hell outta me. He just stepped out.”
“He stepped out? What the hell? Did he say where he was going? I need to talk to him.”
The bartender shrugged his shoulders again. “He didn’t say. I don’t poke my nose in his business. I just tend bar. You want a beer or something?”
“No. I don’t want a beer. I need the Sandman,” said Bill. Now growing impatient.
“Like I said. I can’t help you,” replied the bartender in a now stern tone.
Bill turned and looked at the patrons sitting at the bar and the tables. He wondered what to do next but had no answers. With his mind in an angered state he left the bar and got into his truck. His drive home was going to be a bitter one. He was in desperate need of that hidden money. And only a dead man had the solution to his problem. Bill almost felt like laughing at the bizarre predicament that he was trapped in.
As Bill was driving down the darn neighborhood street he noticed the headlights of another vehicle reflecting off of his rear view mirror. At first he paid little attention to them. Just another driver, was his thought. Then he took a second look at the mirror and noticed that the headlights were bright red. Red? What kind of idiot has red headlights?
Then Bill noticed that the headlights were making a fast approach to his truck. The force of a powerful impact shook Bill’s body as a vehicle hit the back of his truck. Bill was thrust onto the steering wheel. Pain stabbed through his chest. He lost control of the truck and watched it swerve to the left. Running across the road and heading for a collision course with a tree. At the last second Bill’s foot mashed the brake pedal to try to at least slow the truck’s momentum as it plowed into the tree. There was a loud boom. Bill’s body was again jerked forward.
Bill sat back in his seat and took a deep breath. His body was trembling after his harrowing experience. He looked to his right and saw a black camaro with bright red head lights screeching to a stop just a few feet from his truck. There was a bright red glow coming from the car’s windows. It was so bright that Bill could not see the driver. But whoever was behind the wheel of this car Bill was intending to confront them face to face. Bill got out of his truck and inspected the damage. It was not as bad as he feared. Pressing against the tree the front of the truck was slightly bashed in. “Thank God for them brakes,” said Bill.
Bill walked from around his truck and approached the camaro. His hands were balled into tight fists and heady for a fight. “Hey buddy. What the hell’s your problem? Get the hell out here!”
As Bill drew closer to the camaro the driver’s side door opened. Bill halted in his tracks when he saw a large cloud of fire shoot out from the car. Then the driver stepped out from among several burning corpses inside the car. He appeared to be a man standing six feet tall. Dressed in a black T-shirt, boots and jeans. And a black leather jacket. All of his clothing were both ragged and ablaze. But his most shocking feature was the body beneath the clothes. His skin was dark and withered. The torn right sleeve of his jacket revealed the bones of his forearm exposed through a patch of his decomposed flesh that had fallen off. Swarms of small white maggots were squirming over his skull-like face, with his lips rotted away and baring his blackened clenched teeth. His blazing red eyes were fixed upon Bill. This decomposed thing stormed over to Bill and reached for him with it’s withered hands. It’s bones sticking through the tips of it’s fingers. Bill was paralyzed with fear as this thing grabbed him by his throat. The powerful stench of rotting human flesh caught his nose while he felt the heat from the fires dancing over it’s pants and jacket. Bill was even more shocked when this thing opened it’s mouth to speak.
“Bill. My old pal. My buddy. my bro,” the thing said is a raspy voice.
Bill’s mind was in a state of panic. Hardly able to breathe with the thing’s grip on his throat he chocked out a reply. “Hi. Do I know you?”
“Yeah you know me, you jackass!” the thing roared back. “It’s your old pal, Snake!”
Bill was dumbfounded. “Snake? Snake Lindstrom?”
“You don’t recognize me? Maybe it’s the maggots.”
Snake brushed his hand over his face and scraped several maggots onto his palm. He then wiped that same hand over Bill’s face. Bill was now fighting the urge to vomit as the tiny white vermin were now squirming over his skin.
“Snake. My man. You’re looking good,” A jittery Bill gasped out.
“Looking good? What are you? Blind?” Snake shouted at Bill.
“You seem a little pissed off,” Bill told him.
“Pissed off? Why sure. I died and woke up in hell one morning. What the do you think?”
Bill was still trying to accept the fact that Snake was now here standing before him. But not in the form that he expected. But he still had to take advantage of the opportunity. “Snake. Since you’re here there’s something I wanted to ask you.”
“Like what? How’s my day going? They’re giving me a short break from hell. So it’s going pretty damn well.”
“That’s great. But actually I wanted to ask you about that $8,000 we made from those bank jobs. You never told me where you hid it.”
Snake laughed. Spitting a black, fowl smelling bile onto Bill’s face. “Oh, you wanna know where I hid the money. Is that all? Why sure. I’d be more than happy to tell you, pal. After all. You are my partner. My bro. My best pal who was holding out on me when he was making his own little deals on the side.”
Snake knew one of Bill’s dirty little secrets. He felt as though his heart had stopped beating. “Oh that. I can explain. I think.”
Snake continued. “And I’d be more than happy to share the loot with my best pal who was cheating with my damn filthy skank of a wife behind my back.”
Seized by fear, Bill stopped breathing for a moment. Snake knew his second and worse dirty little secret. “You mean Mindy?”
“No! The refrigerator!” Snake bellowed in a rage. “Yeah, my wife! Who the hell do you think I’m talking about?”
Snake sent a punch into Bill’s face. Bill fell back, blinded by pain as his head hit the hard pavement. Snake began to kick and stomp at Bill’s legs and groin while admonishing him in a fury.
“You two faced, lying dog! You dirty double crossing pig! You were so stupid that you never thought about why I never told you where I hid that money! I never trusted you, you moron! I was planning to pop a cap in your head and dissolve our stupid partnership! Then take the money and go into business for myself without having to carry your dead weight! And as for the money, I always told you that what’s mine is mine. And If I kick the bucket then I’m taking it with me. And I meant what I said. I did take it with me. Straight to hell. And now I’m gonna drag your ass straight to it.”
“No!” Bill screamed out. He had only one meager defense to use against the undead Snake Lindstrom. He reached into the right pocket of his jacket and brought out a switchblade. He jumped to his feet and plunged the blade into Snake’s chest. Bill took a step back. Leaving the blade sticking into Snake’s chest. But Snake was unharmed.
“Are you kidding me?” said Snake. He pulled the knife out of his chest. “I’m already Dead stupid. Didn’t that sink into your brain yet? Maybe I should sink this pig sticker into your rotten hide and see how long you stay standing.”
Bill turned and ran for his truck. He was in such a panic that he did not even make an effort to close the door as he sat down behind the wheel. He turned the key in the ignition twice. Frantic for the truck to start.
“Come on! Go! Go! Go!”
Bill looked to his right and saw Snake walking towards the truck. The knife was still in his hand. Upon the third attempt Bill’s truck started. He shifted the truck into reverse and backed a few feet away from the tree. He then shifted the truck forward. his foot pressed the gas pedal to the floor. His truck sped from the area with it’s tires screeching.
Bill lost track of how long and far he was driving. His only hysterical thought was about Snake. An enraged living dead thing from hell that was bent on revenge.
Bill looked up at his rear view mirror. The red reflection of the camaro’s head lights appeared. And they were making a fast approach to Bill’s truck. Bill heard a loud bang. His body was jolted forward as the camaro rammed into the back of his truck. The camaro rammed into Bill’s truck a second time. Then a third. Bill was not sure of how much more of this he could take. He knew that if he wanted to survive then he would have to go on the offensive.
Bill hit the brakes to slow his truck down. He jerked the steering wheel to swerve the truck to the left. The camaro was now running along the right side of his truck. It moved in and rammed into the side of his truck. Bill took the opportunity to retaliate by ramming his truck into the side of the camaro. The camaro pulled away from Bill’s truck. Then moved in to ram him again. Bill’s truck made a sharp swerve to the left. Then swerved to the right to ram into the camaro a second time. The camaro veered off to the right side of the road and crashed into a tree with a loud boom and exploded into a ball of fire.
Bill continued to speed off in his truck. He was overjoyed at the sight of losing Snake. he looked back at the now blazing camaro.
“How do you like that, buddy? How do you like that?” he shouted in triumph. “That’s what I’m talking about! You stinkin’ heap of trash! Kiss my ass!”
Bill turned back to the road ahead. That was when he received another surprise. A large crater was suddenly opening in the middle of the road. Directly in the path of his truck. It belched out a mushroom cloud of fire that lit up the area as bright as daylight. Bill screamed. His foot jammed the brake pedal. With it’s tires screeching his truck came to a halt halfway over the edge of the flaming crater.
Bill was now trembling beyond all control after his close call. He looked into the flaming crater and blinked his eyes in disbelief over what he was seeing. A swirling sea of fire and the skeletons of both humans and animals. Several of the human skeletons were reaching up towards him. Also among the fire and skeletons Bill saw writhing snakes, huge spiders and centipedes. He even caught a brief glimpse of a shark. And the crater emitted a strong rotting flesh odor that was nauseating.
“I gotta get outta here,” said Bill. He reached for the handle of his driver’s side door. That was when the truck began to tilt forward. Bill froze. The truck started to teeter-totter between plunging into the crater and remaining where it was. After a few seconds of this movement the truck remained still.
“Ooookaayyy. Not a good idea,” was Bill’s nervous assessment. He was now trapped in his own truck. His next movement could cause to truck to fall into the crater. His only options were to remain still, attempt to calm down, then try to figure a way out of the truck.
Bill jumped in this seat as he was startled by a sudden loud noise from behind him. Then it came over his head. Like a large rock had crashed down on top of the truck’s roof. Then he screamed out as he saw a figure with it’s clothes on fire jumping down onto the hood of his truck. It was Snake.
“This is hell! Glad you could make it!’ Snake yelled out to Bill.
The added weight of Snakes body on the hood caused to truck to lean forward into the crater.
“I got news for you, bro! If you think it looks bad then just wait! This is just the front porch!” Snake warned Bill.
Bill let out a long and loud scream as his truck took it’s long plunge into the mouth of hell.
