Page 10 of The Queen of Nightmares

Surprised, I held out my hands to take the box. I couldn’t think of a single reason I would have anything delivered to me, and definitely not at the clubhouse. “That’s strange. I haven’t ordered anything, and no one I know would send me mail.” As I took the box, I was even more confused by how light it was. It almost felt empty.

“Well, maybe Bones ordered you something. Anyway, I’ve got to go. See you later!” She walked away with a wave.

“Yeah, see you later, Kara.” I shut the door and stared at the box as I carried it over to the desk. The shipping label had my name and the address of the clubhouse on it, but I didn’t see a sender. The return address was in Pumpkin Patch. “So strange,” I murmured. I searched Jack’s drawers for a pair of scissors with no luck but grinned when I found a small switchblade. “Typical.”

I sliced through the tape and set the knife down, then opened the flaps of the cardboard box, only to see another box inside. The inner box was red and even lighter as I lifted it out. It felt like it was made out of a thin cardstock that could easily be crushed in my hands. There was a strange design on it, making the box look like it was one large die with black skulls instead of dots. I held it up to my ear and shook it gently.

At first, I didn’t hear anything and thought that it truly was empty, but then I listened to the faint sound of several small objects bouncing around. I set the box back down with a frown. I didn’t have a single solitary clue what it could be. I looked at where the flap was tucked in and reached to lift it. My hand froze for a second as a cold sensation went down my spine. I shook off the feeling of dread, telling myself that I was being ridiculous.

I slid my finger under the edge, sliding the lid out of where it was tucked in, and gripped the thin sides carefully. For a long second, I leaned over and stared into the interior, my mind unable to comprehend what I was seeing. My mind had stalled, maybe from the horror, maybe because what was inside was so unexpected. It wasn’t until the insects began to crawl onto my fingers and up my hands that I reacted.

I screamed as my brain finally understood what was happening. In my panic, I brushed my hands against each other, trying desperately to swipe the bugs off me. As I shook my arms frantically, I knocked the box off the desk, the small thud as it hit the floor drowned out by my terrified screeches. I didn’t notice more insects escaping the box until I felt them crawling up my legs.

The first bite took me by surprise. I slapped at my thigh, where the pain flared to life. Then I smacked my upper arm, where a second sting lit up my nerve endings. I was shaking, still screaming, and slapping at my body when I felt one on my scalp. I could feel it digging through my hair and immediately bent over to shake it out. I didn’t know where to slap anymore. My hands were trembling, and my heart felt like it was going to explode out of my chest when the door flew open.

“What the fuck?” Doc stood stunned for a moment as he took in the scene. Bugs were all over me, crawling under my shirt, in my hair, and even on my face as I jumped around wildly. “Fuck, Sally!”

Doc ran over and immediately began to brush the insects off my arms. He began stomping his heavy shoes, doing a much better job than I had been at squashing anything that fell to the floor.

“Get them off! Get them off me!” I screeched with all the horrified panic I felt as I batted at my hair, shaking my head wildly. It took several long minutes for Doc to free me from most of the insects as I shook and cried.

“What the absolute fuck, Sally! Where did these bugs come from?” he demanded as he stomped on several more creepy crawlies as they tried to scatter once they hit the floor.

“I don’t know!” I wailed, still rubbing vigorously at my skin, still feeling the ghostly sensation of a million tiny feet crawling all over me.

“How did they get in here?” His tone was incredulous as he smacked another bug off my shoulder and stomped on it.

I lifted a shaking finger and pointed to the red box that was lying on its side on the floor, now empty. “They were in there. I don’t know!” I cried. “A package came addressed to me. When I opened it, they swarmed all over me.” I let out a sob and held up my arm so I could look at it. I had red bite marks all over my arm. When I glanced at the rest of my body, I could see I was covered in insect bites. “Oh my god! Doc!”

“Shit. Are you allergic?”

I trembled. “I don’t know. I don’t even know what those bugs are!”

He pulled me into his body, wrapping a comforting arm around me. I rested my forehead against his chest as I sobbed. I needed Jack. Having Doc hold me was calming my racing heart, but I knew I wouldn’t settle until I was in Jack’s arms.

“We should get you to the hospital, just in case.” He pulled back, peering down at me, “You’re pregnant. This kind of trauma might not be good for you.” He looked down at the floor to see all the mangled bodies of the bugs. “Fuck. I need one of them so we can identify what they are.”

I backed away from the bodies, a shiver racking my body. I didn’t want to see another bug as long as I lived. “I don’t think anyone could identify any of those,” I said with a shudder.

He sighed. “No, I don’t think so either.”

“Where’s Jack?” I tried to keep the whimper out of my voice, but I didn’t think I was very successful.

“I’ll call him and tell him to meet us at the hospital. Okay?” He put his arm around my shoulders and started to lead me to the door. I spotted my shoes and bent over to slide them on my feet when I felt a tickle under my shirt. My high-pitched scream was loud, bouncing off the walls, as I started jumping around all over again, making it fall to the floor. Doc swiftly grabbed an empty water bottle out of the trash can and scooped the weird looking bug into it before it could escape.

“That’ll do,” he announced.

ChapterEight

JACK

Istrode into the shed to see a naked and shivering Boogeyman hanging from the hook in the center of the room. I had to admit, it was pretty cold in the processing room, considering how close it was to Christmas already. There was a furnace for disposing of deer carcasses that came in handy for disposing of other things as well, but it wouldn’t be lit for this interaction. Not until later.

I wasn’t so sure all the shivering was due to the cold as I stared at the enemy biker. He was scrawny and looked young. He couldn’t have been far past twenty. I had no sympathy for his age, however. He made a choice to get in bed with the worst MC in the area. Now, he had to deal with the consequences.

“You don’t look so good.” I looked him over, taking in all of his injuries, including what looked like a knife wound in his ribs. Barrel was right; the guy wasn’t going to last much longer. I needed to get what I could out of him before it was too late.

At the sound of my gravelly voice, his whole body jerked. He slowly lifted his head, revealing an eye swollen shut and a split in his lip, with a watery trail of blood going down past his chin. When he focused his one good eye on me, it widened before he put on a brave front and sneered. Instead of an answer, he spit a wad of blood onto the floor.

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