Scream Queens

It was well past 8 pm at night on the freeway between Oregon and California, the occasional flicker of a white stripe running down the black road while nothing but trees at either side was all there was to see. Overhead the moon was half out and obscured by heavy clouds, making it so dark even the high beams could only show the first 15 feet ahead while driving. Nothing to see but road and trees and the pitch black ahead of it all.

Business trips were always boring.

“Hey Carl, what time is it?” asked the man in the passenger seat, his seat bent down with his hat over his face to help him sleep while his friend was at the wheel. Looking down briefly at the dashboard clock, Carl squinted in the darkness and nodded back to him while keeping an eye on the wheel and road.

“It’s coming on 8:15 Dennis.”

“Well let me know when it gets to be 10, I’ll take the wheel for you, get some shut eye in between.”

Keeping his eyes back on the road, Carl spotted a sign claiming there was a stop about 20 miles up. Looking down at the fuel gauge of the car, it was already coming close to being less than a quarter full and they still had a day’s worth of driving left if they wanted to get to where they had to be. Not to mention the cloud cover was only getting thicker as the night went on. Deciding, Carl kept up on the drive, keeping his eyes open for the stop mentioned earlier.

About thirty minutes later, Carl slowed down and looked up at the wooden sign to his right, one showing the pit stop on the freeway leading into California state lines. Coming to a stop at the parking lot in front of what appeared to be a hotel or bar, Carl looked around to find over a dozen transport trucks parked out front. Inside the building there appeared to be music playing.

“Hey Dennis, get up.” Carl nudged his passenger in the shoulder, making the man blink and take his hat off his face to sit up and look around, squinting his eyes to the truck stop and hotel nearby.

“Wait a minute, this isn’t the sales expo in Cali, why’d we stop in the middle of nowhere?”

“We’re getting low on gas and the weather’s gonna turn Dennis.” Carl pointed up to the dark cloudy skies. Getting out of their car they heard the grumble of thunder in the distance and the quick spark of lightning buried in the overhead clouds. “We’ll stay the night and get gas so we can get into town for the expo.”

Stepping out of his side of the car and gripping at his tie once he was out into the muggy humidity brought on by the coming storm, Dennis joined his co-worker and stepped up to the bar they were parked in front of, the sound of rock music thrumming behind the walls as they both got to the double doors and looked up at the sign overhead. A little confused, Dennis squinted to make sure he was reading it right.

“Huh… Scream Queens?”

“Maybe it’s a shock rock bar or something.”

Opening the heavy wooden door and stepping inside, the two men learned VERY quickly that was far from the case. Neon lights flashed throughout the entire interior of the large room where a walkway stage was surrounded by dozens of truckers cheering and hollering to a dancer swinging around a polished silver pole. Waitresses went between the cheering men, serving drinks or getting tips as they navigated the crowds. What stood out however were WHAT the women were. The dancer swinging circled around the pole wore a cherry red bikini, one that clashed with her muddy green chitinous skin and tentacled hair. The waitress serving a tray of drinks to five men at the table by the wall did so with four arms, her skin a metallic black with teal highlights as she bent at the waist provocatively and shoved her tip down the space of her top. Her long, barbed tail flicking behind her as she left and went out of sight to the back of the bar.

“Wow… Didn’t expect THIS.”

“Yeah… Maybe… Maybe we should head to the bar, see if we can rent a room for the night.”

Carl and Dennis were about to make another step when a muscular arm raised up and blocked them both from entering the bar. Looking to their left, the two men were to crane their necks up to see the towering woman step out of the dark of the corner of the entrance and stare them both down with reptilian eyes. Her skin was a burnt brown with black spots like a leopard… Only she wasn’t a cat. Not with those mandibles framing her mouth like a pair of tusks. There wasn’t a lick of hair on her save for the cornbraided mohawk she was sporting that cascaded down the left side of her head. She wore a sleeveless denim jacket and matching pants that had rough rips down her thighs, her jacket left open where the two men could see a black sports top that barely contained the woman’s chest. Though to call the 7’5 creature in front of them a woman would be VERY generous since she had more muscle than the two of them combined and looked like some terrifying creature from some horror movie.

“You two have I.D?” She asked in a firm voice, her hands at her side as she tilted her hip and caused her top to jiggle somewhat, Carl swore he thought he saw a tail sluggishly move behind her but he was too intimidated to look anywhere other than the narrow gaze from the hulking door woman.

Getting an elbow nudge from Dennis, Carl nodded and looked down into his wallet where he and his co-worker produced their I.D.s to her, seeing her make a face of boredom and snort from her feline nose, she gave the I.D.s back to the two.

“Welcome to Scream Queens gentlemen, if you want a drink just head to the bar… And between you and me? Keep your noses clean.”

“Kay…” Carl said, he and Dennis finally stepping inside and looking around the place now that they could pan around and see better, avoiding looking back at the entrance.

“That’s some fucking costume!” Dennis whispered under the beat of the music. “The hell is this place a themed bar or something?”

“I dunno…”

Making their way to the bar and taking a stool each, both men looked back over to the stage where the act ended and the dancer sashayed off the stage with her earnings, blowing a kiss to the audience over her shoulder as she disappeared behind the curtain. The music dying down and being replaced with another tune as a new woman stepped out into view. Her skin was pale white, contrasted by oil black hair that reached down to her lower back. She wore a black bikini that revealed her perfectly smooth skin just as black as her hair and sporting a black collar around her neck with a red bat in the center. Her eyes were hypnotic as she swayed and gyrated to the heavy beat. Out of all the staff there, she looked the most human… Save for the shimmer in her eyes, like when moonlight reflects off an animal’s eyes.

“Got to admit, Leandra likes to show off to her fans. Then again, she’s the closest these mammals have to someone looking like the same species as them.”

Carl and Dennis heard a woman’s voice behind them. Getting a shock when they turned around to meet the bartender who wiped the table with a chitinous claw holding a dish rag and her other hand holding a masque that obscured her real face to the two men. She wore what appeared to be a stylish dress, one that unlike the dancers and waitresses was a little more conservative and came down to her feet, which were also obscured. The material seemed unusual… At first glance it seemed like embroidered silk with green gemstones but at the same time it looked like the wings of a dragon fly wrapped around her waist and legs. Looking back to the masque she held up, bore the face of a woman which smirked and raised an eyebrow at their reactions.

“Welcome to Scream Queens gentlemen, what’ll you have to drink?”