Jigsaw World Read Free Page B

see if there was anything in the
travel bag that he could use in this situation, and that is when he
saw him. There was a small, dark haired man with arcane symbols
tattooed across every bit of skin he could see. He was calmly
sitting on the couch as though he had been there all day, watching
football games.
    “ Who the hell are you?” He asked
Tom.
    “ Just what I was going to ask you.
There is some sort of growling animals outside, and we were about
to take a powder.” Tom replied.
    “ Last I remember I was lying down
to take a nap.” The man said. “Oh, I get it. You are in my
dream.”
    The man listened to the sounds of the growling
for a bit. “They sound a bit like the Dark Stalkers that hang out
around Ulthar. All you have to do is draw a square or a circle and
stay inside it. They can’t cross them. Running water works,
too.”
    Tom went to the bag and rummaged around until
he found the can of spray paint. He quickly laid down a square with
the paint that included the couch and extended to the front wall
just inside the door.
    “ I understand now. You are in my
dream, and this is the hard world adjacent to the dreamlands.” The
man said. “I am going to wake up now.” He silently disappeared as
soon as he completed saying this. Tom was looking directly at him
as he did so, but he could not distinguish any stages to the
process of disappearing; one second he was there and the next
second he was not.
    Tom looked over at Susan, who seemed to be
frozen in place just in front of the coffee table in front of the
couch. She apparently did not even notice our brief visitor, and
she looked about ready to bolt in a wild panic run at any moment.
Tom went over and took her by the arm.
    “ Susan, come over and sit on the
couch. I have it on good authority that we will be safe as long as
we stay inside the square that I painted on the floor.” Tom gave
her arm another tug toward the square.
    The growling outside suddenly became much
louder, almost as if the monsters were about to break into a fight
to see which one got to eat them first. The sound was almost
deafening, and it was exactly the wrong time. Susan shook Tom hands
off her arm, and ran for the door. Reaching the door, she grabbed
the doorknob and jerked the door open.
    With a small sound somewhere a scream and a
whimper, she darted out into the darkness. Almost as soon as she
crossed the threshold, she was suddenly jerked to the left. A
tormented scream came from her as parts of the darkness seemed to
form claws and ripped her body apart, in front of Tom’s eyes. In
seconds, it was over, and she was gone.
    Tom eased over and used a broom to push the
door closed. Even Bailey seemed to have no desire to go out to
confront the owners of those claws. They sat in quietness until the
darkness had fled the countryside. Somewhere during the darkness,
they slept where they sat.
    With the dawn Tom and Bailey woke. While Tom
made coffee, he cooked up the last of the bacon, giving a few
strips of it to Bailey. Tom made a mental note to pick up some dog
food on the road, although he really preferred to give dogs actual
meat as a nod to their carnivorous natures. When they stopped at
nights, he planned on buying ten pound bags of Chicken thighs at
the Walmarts he found. That would give the dog a decent supper and
a heavy breakfast each day. If people ate cereal as a meal, then
the meat flavored dry gravy that serves as American dog food world
probably be okay for Bailey once a day.
    “ Okay, Bailey. Susan won’t be
coming, but we will still be driving east in the van, just you and
me. Everything is packed up and loaded, the van is healthy and full
of gas, and time is a’wasting. Did I miss anything?”
    Bailey looked into Tom’s face, and barked. He
started wagging his tail and frisking about. He went over to the
door and gave it an exploratory scratch.
    “ I guess that means that you are
ready to go. I’ll get the lights and the bag. Why don’t you drive
for the