Seti wore a loose shirt that only half-covered the nasty growth that was throbbing and bubbling on the back of his neck. He felt like Quasimodo as he drove through the small town. The place was Hicksville, he thought, with its tiny one-room library, a miniature post office, and a small greasy spoon restaurant lining what they thought of as “main street.” What a joke, he thought. The new plaza up the road was larger than this downtown. At least it had a convenience store and a dry cleaners.
He drove through main street and out onto Route 102, which would lead him to Route 6 and into Providence, less than 20 miles away. He had to recruit a twelfth follower, now that Tony was gone. But the voice in his mind-which now came from the growth on his neck, it seemed, had warned him not to take anyone from the town. Another disappearance would be noticed, and it wasn’t quite strong enough yet to have too many questions asked. Later, it wouldn’t be a problem-Seti was given a quick preview of what was going to happen to this town, and the sight wasn’t very pretty-but for now they needed to be discreet. There would be lots of fun later, but not until the time was right.
The thing had also told him to begin looking for another pregnant woman. It had chastised him severely for killing Rhonda’s unborn child. She herself had almost bled to death, and probably would have died if Monique hadn’t been able to stop the hemorrhaging. The monster had tortured him for hours after he’d done that, making the growth on his neck burn as if it had been set on fire with gasoline. The next time he disobeyed, it would be worse, it had warned him.
He followed Route 6 until it turned into Hartford Avenue, certainly not the best part of town. This was what he was looking for. Anyone missing from here would probably not even be missed. He passed the section 8 housing projects, which looked like they had seen better years when Federal Funding had been available, and then passed an intersection where several hookers stood half-naked and revealing their wares. A man would have to be quite desperate to stop, he thought, and continued past, despite their best efforts to flag him down. Perhaps if he needed a woman, he thought. But he needed a sixth man to replace Tony. The numbers had to be correct. He didn’t exactly know why, but he wasn’t about to disobey the thing again.
He went through a section of town with a few boarded up stores and a closed down textile mill, and then he saw what he was looking for. Standing beside the on ramp to Interstate 195 stood a homeless man with a sign-“will work for food.”
Oh, I’ll feed you all right, Seti thought, slowing down. You’ll eat better than you’ve ever eaten in your life. I just hope you like your meat rare.
The man was dirty, hadn’t shaven in weeks, and smelled like a sewer, but he would do. Seti would clean him up and he would serve his purpose. Then, when he was no longer needed, he’d be gotten rid of.
Seti rolled down his window.
“Hop in,” he said. “And I’ll get you a hot meal.”
“Are you a religious nut?” the guy asked. “If you’re gonna preach to me I’d rather stay hungry.”
Seti laughed. “I promise I won’t preach to you. Hop in. I’m going to take you somewhere where you’ll be happy-and welcomed.”
The man appeared skeptical until Seti held out a bottle of wine. Then he grinned and crawled into the car.