As much danger as he was currently in, Kim couldn’t help but curse her boyfriend. His fuck up had screwed them all. No, scratch that, his three fuck ups had screwed them all. If he had just left the man alone, or let her take the swing, then they would have been able to get away. Still, as useless as he was proving to be, leaving him wasn’t an option.
She readied herself again, about to dive in with nothing but her bare hands in order to help her boyfriend. But before she did, she saw Tim get to his feet, his face bloodied and full of anger.
‘Tim,’ Kim yelled, ‘we get him together. Ready?’
But Tim wasn’t listening.
Soon, she saw why.
He strode towards the faceless man and heaved up what was in his hands. A weapon of his own; a large, angled rock. One that took two hands to hold.
‘Tim!’ Ashley yelled. ‘No!’
Tim ignored her and brought the rock down into the back of the man’s head with incredible force. The sound of impact—a dull thud with an audible crack—was sickening. The faceless man’s head lolled and his arms dropped to his sides. He remained motionless for a second before eventually flopping face first into the dirt. His body twitched on the ground as Craig scrambled free.
Tim moved to stand over the man and again brought up the rock, holding it high above his head.
‘Tim, stop!’ Ashley cried.
But Tim didn’t stop. Instead, he brought the rock down, again and again, onto the man’s fragile head, screaming like an animal as he did.
They could hear the faceless man’s skull crunch and crack beneath each blow. A messy hole formed in the back of his head, exposing grey and red mush beneath, mush that spattered out after each strike. The head cracked and split further into a sickening mess.
Finally, Tim stopped and dropped the bloodied rock carelessly to his side. His eyes were wild with fury and he took quick, shallow breaths.
‘My God,’ Ashley said, her voice trembling. ‘What have you done?’
Chapter 9
Shit.
He had been careless.
The girl had seen him.
He’d been too greedy in his curiosity, wanting to know everything that was going on, and he’d assumed they would all be too engrossed in what they were seeing to look back towards him.
He’d been wrong.
That assumption may have cost him everything.
The redhead had looked back and, even though he’d pulled back as quickly possible, she’d spotted him. Worse, she had alerted the others.
A fucking stupid mistake, and one that could ruin everything. If things went to shit, and one of them died before he got them back, then he would be made to suffer for it. He may even be denied his feed.
The family all liked their food alive and aware, as he did. As it was meant to be. Dead meat didn’t have the same effect, the same taste. If he brought back cold meat, then Father and Mother would make him feel it.
Hell, the whole family would.
Thankfully, it might not come to that.
Things had developed, enough to draw their attention, and the group was forced to fight for their lives. It had allowed him to slip from his position behind the large tree and into a thick section of undergrowth.
Once he settled into place and was sure he was out of sight, he drew out his blade. As penance for his mistake he pushed the dull metal into the meat of his thigh. There was some initial resistance before the blade sunk in, drawing forth a stinging pain.
He then twisted the blade more, wanting to cry out, but knowing he couldn’t.
His eagerness had nearly cost the family.
Father always said that impatience was a weakness. That it was something they needed to fight.
He knew this impatience, this craving, was something that would only grow stronger the longer they went without feeding.
And it had been so, so long since they had indulged. Long enough that the family were now close to tearing each other apart, or trying to, just to appease a fraction of their desires.
They had a chance now, though, a chance at fresh meat, and he would be damned if his impatience was going to cost them that.
He watched the events unfold. The savage act of a skull being crushed, exposing the ruined brains beneath.
He smiled and ran his tongue over dry lips, following the split that branched off up towards his nose.
The carnage excited him.
It made him want to run out and join in the fun.
But he couldn’t do that, not yet.
He had to abstain.
For now.
His time would come soon enough.
Chapter 10
Ashley was rooted to the spot, unable to move, scarcely able to comprehend what she’d just witnessed.
How could she look at Tim, the man she’d just told she loved, in the same light again after what he’d done?
Tim wasn’t a killer.
Yet there he stood over the body of a man who now had a large, ugly hole in the back of his head. One that Tim had caused.
The situation had been dire, granted, but were his actions justified? The first time he brought the large rock down had been shocking enough, but it was what followed that really scared Ashley. The man was down after the first blow, helpless it would seem, but Tim had kept going. The anger on his face as he did so, that pure animalistic fury, was like nothing Ashley had ever before witnessed.
‘What have you done?’ she asked again, her voice quiet.
Everyone looked at Tim, who was finally slowing his breathing into a steady rhythm. As he did, some tension seemed to release from his body.
‘What was I supposed to do, Ashley?’ he asked. ‘Didn’t you see what was going on? He was going to kill us. He was about to kill Craig.’
‘But... but,’ Ashley struggled to put into words what it was that scared her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Kim standing beside to her.
‘It’s okay, Ashley,’ she said. ‘It’s over.’
‘It’s over?’ Craig said, pulling himself up to his feet. His voice sounded ravaged, like he had been smoking a hundred cigarettes for half a century. ‘A man is dead,’ he added and cast an accusing glance at Tim.
‘And you would have been, too,’ Tim said, ‘if I hadn’t acted. Because I’m sure as shit no one else was going to do anything.’
‘You didn’t have to kill him, though,’ Ashley said. ‘That was... it was... just savage.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, throwing his hands up into the air, ‘am I missing something? You do remember that he wasn’t stopping, right? Nothing we said slowed him down. He just kept on coming. You remember that, don’t you, Ashley? We tried to talk him down. We tried to run. But we still ended up in the shit. Do you think I wanted to do it? You think I woke up this morning thinking, gosh, I really hope I get to kill someone today? For fuck’s sake, get a grip. What do you suppose I should have done?’
Ashley had no answer. Well, that wasn’t true, she did have an answer. Once the man was down after the first strike they could have all just run. That would have been enough. But no, Tim continued and crushed the man’s skull. She didn’t know how to vocalise that, though. Or rather, she didn’t want to.
‘It’s just…’ she began, but trailed off, deciding instead to remain silent. She looked to the ground.
‘I did what I had to,’ Tim said with an air of finality, like that was the end of the subject. But Craig wasn’t as willing to let things drop, it would seem.
‘No,’ he said, ‘you went too far.’
Tim turned to Craig and marched up to him, making the smaller man shrink back.
‘You,’ Tim said through gritted teeth and jabbed a finger into his chest, ‘nearly got us all killed. Twice.’ He then shoved Craig back, punctuating his point with a physical exclamation mark.
‘Bullshit,’ Craig said.
‘He’s right,’ Kim cut in.
‘Excuse me?’
‘For fuck’s sake, Craig, what the hell was
that? First, you had to go and examine him like you’re some kind of forensics expert. Then, you tried to talk him down, as if you had any idea what you were doing. And to top it all off, even after the fucker tried to rip your head off, you wasted a clean shot to help Tim and ended up in trouble again. Three fucking times we could have just run, and three times we had to pull you out of the shit.’
‘No,’ he said, but Kim just held up a dismissive hand and turned to Ashley.
‘Honey, I know that was scary,’ she said, ‘but Tim is right. That situation was beyond fucked up. I don’t know what was wrong with that man, maybe he was just scared and fighting for his life, but regardless, he was still trying to kill us.’
The words did make some kind of sense to Ashley, somewhere in her brain, but still, in her gut, it didn’t sit right.
But the fact was they still needed to get out of here, and Ashley was still aware of what she saw, or thought she saw, behind that tree.
‘None of it matters,’ she said, putting her concerns into words. ‘We need to get out of here. Quickly.’
‘Agreed,’ said Tim, but he didn’t look at her.
‘Yeah,’ Kim echoed. ‘Whoever did this to him might still be out here.’
‘Hang on,’ Craig said. ‘Ashley, didn’t you say you saw someone?’
Ashley pointed over to the tree. ‘Yes. Over there.’
What she’d seen hadn’t been much, but it had been enough.
Enough to be certain.
A face; peeking out from behind the tree trunk, which in and of itself would have been bad enough, but it was how the face looked that really horrified her.
‘Only one person?’ Tim asked.
Ashley nodded. ‘I think so.’
‘Should we go check it out?’ Kim asked. Ashley didn’t like that idea. ‘There are four of us, we’d have the upper hand. Surely it’s better to know.’
‘You getting a taste for this, Kim?’ Craig asked her.
‘What do you propose?’ she shot back. ‘What if there is someone there?’
‘If someone’s there?’ Ashley asked. ‘I know what I saw, Kim.’
‘I know, honey, and I believe you. Which is why I think we need to be sure. If we need to deal with something, then I’d rather we do it when we’re ready for it.’ She turned to Tim. ‘What do you think?’
Tim took a moment, then let out a sigh. ‘You might be right.’
‘I’ll go,’ Craig said.
‘No,’ Kim said and grabbed hold of his jacket. ‘You’ve done enough. We all go together. So wait.’
She then walked over to the body of the dead man, near to where Craig had just been lying, and grabbed the heavy branch that he had wasted earlier.
‘All tooled up now, are we?’ Craig asked.
‘Better than giving it to you,’ she said. ‘Now let’s move.’
Ashley was reluctant, but she knew it had to be done. Kim was right; if someone was watching them, then chances were the person had malicious intent. Otherwise, why not come out and show themselves? Especially after what had just happened.
The four of them grouped up and slowly made their way over to the tree. Ashley shivered as they walked, both from the dropping temperature as darkness set in and also from the horrible sense of foreboding that was worming its way up from her gut.
She felt bare and exposed and scared. She wasn’t a fighter, never had been, and hated any kind of violence. On that front, she and Craig were very much the same. Still, she did wish she had some kind of weapon to hand, even if it only served as a show of force. She quickly scanned the ground for something to use, but found nothing.
In short order, they stood before the large tree. Its circumference was wider than Ashley’s arm length, its height dizzying. It was immense, dwarfing any other tree around it, and Ashley noted its aged and worn bark.
‘Anyone there?’ Kim asked loudly. There was no response. Only the eerie noise of the woods; the chirps and tweets of whatever wildlife lived here.
‘If you are there, don’t move,’ Craig added. ‘We won’t hurt you.’
‘If we don’t need to,’ Kim stipulated. She turned to the others. ‘Okay, on the count of three, we go. Ready?’
Ashley tensed up; she wanted things to slow down, but Kim carried on the count.
‘One. Two. Three.’
Kim and Craig sprinted round the tree first, and from their reaction alone Ashley knew there was no one there. Kim’s frown had quickly melted away to confusion.
Ashley ducked around and saw for herself; no one was hiding. No one was waiting for them, ready to leap out. There was no man with a cleft lip.
The face she thought she had seen wasn’t there.
They were alone.
‘I was certain,’ Ashley said, the first to speak. ‘I know I saw someone.’
‘Well,’ Craig said, ‘they aren’t here now.’
‘Maybe they ran off,’ Ashley said.
‘They might have,’ Kim said in a tone Ashley couldn’t read. She didn’t know if her friends believed her or not, and that bothered her.
‘I’m not lying,’ Ashley said. ‘And I’m not confused. Someone was there.’
‘Well, we need to deal with the here and now,’ Tim said. ‘They’re gone, so we can’t do anything about it.’
‘Agreed,’ Kim said.
‘And I say we stick to the original plan and get out of here,’ Tim finished.
‘But do we agree on which way to go?’ Craig asked, looking between Kim and Tim.
Kim took a moment, then nodded. ‘Yes. We follow Tim. He knows the way, so we get to town as quickly as we can.’
Tim looked a little taken aback—they all were—but nodded and smiled his thanks.
‘Let’s go,’ Tim said. ‘We’ll make town before you know it.’
‘Then what?’ Ashley asked, a new worry dawning on her.
‘What do you mean?’ Kim asked.
‘When we get to town? Then what?’
‘Then we get help,’ Craig said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Ashley nodded. ‘Okay. And what do we tell them?’
‘We tell them what happened,’ Craig answered.
‘Really? Do we tell them how that man died, then? How his head got bashed in like that?’
To that, no one had an answer, and the reality of Ashley’s point sunk in.
‘It doesn’t change anything,’ Tim said eventually. ‘We get help and we tell the police what happened. Everything that happened.’
‘But what’ll happen to you?’ Ashley asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Tim said with a shrug. ‘What will be will be. In my view, it was self-defence, but if the police see things differently, so be it. I’ll deal with the consequences.’
‘Tim,’ Ashley began, but he cut her off.
‘It’s okay,’ he said, holding up a hand. ‘It’s the right thing to do. And the situation isn’t exactly normal. But right now, we need to focus on what’s important. We need to move. Everyone agreed?’
It seemed everyone did agree, keen to just keep moving, but Ashley was worried. Worried that things were never going to be the same again between them. And she was worried about Tim. It was an honourable gesture, to own up to what had happened like that, but she still couldn’t forget what he had done, and the look on his face as he had done it. Would he really be so eager to face up to any consequences that would come?
For the next few hours they walked on in silence, and the darkness grew deeper. Keeping their footing was difficult, and progress was slow due to Craig’s injury. His ankle had swollen badly, and they’d had to stop numerous times for him to rest. Tim said it looked like a sprain, not a break, but Craig still couldn’t bear much weight on it. It slowed their progress considerably, but Tim shouldered his weight and helped him along the whole way.
Without complaint, Ashley noted.
As more time passed, she began to feel more and more guilty for judging him so quickly. Yes, his actions ha
d been extreme, but they had been in an extreme situation. She made a mental note to talk to him the next chance they got, to try and figure it all out.
What little light there was in the woods began to wane drastically, so much so that vision was becoming an issue.
‘Do we switch on the flashlights?’ Craig asked.
‘It could draw attention,’ Kim answered.
‘It could,’ Tim agreed, ‘but we won’t get far if we can’t see where we’re going. I don’t think we have much choice. We only need put on one, keep it to a minimum. I’ll take the lead, because I know where I’m going, and I’ll have the light. The rest of you just follow my footsteps.’
Tim pulled out his mag light, which was big and heavy enough to be a useful weapon in itself. She was surprised he hadn’t thought of using it earlier. They still had Kim’s large branch, but Craig was using it as support, not that it really helped.
The beam from Tim’s light punctured the growing darkness and illuminated a small spot off in the distance. He arced it around to scan the area up ahead, and they began to move again. As they moved, Ashley watched the beam of light sway this way and that, fully expecting the light to reveal that horrible face again, staring at them from behind a tree.
Waiting for them to walk right up to him.
It made her shudder.
As well as the dark, the cold was getting worse too. They all wore thick, waterproof jackets fit for hiking with layers underneath, but even so Ashley could feel the chill of the night seep into her bones. The sounds of the forest changed, too, as the nocturnal animals came out to play.
‘How long till we stop?’ Craig asked, breathless, clearly struggling. Tim was helping him along up ahead, leaving Ashley and Kim walking in a pair just behind. Another thing that Ashley didn’t like; being at the rear. The whole time she was expecting to feel a pair of hands grab her shoulders and yank her off into the shadows. Every so often she would cast a glance behind to see if she could see anything, but there just wasn’t enough light left to be of any use. Someone could have been not ten feet away and she wouldn’t have know. Not unless they made a sound.
‘There is a clearing not too far ahead,’ Tim answered. ‘Somewhere we can take a break and rehydrate. Just keep going a little longer, okay?’
The Extreme Horror Collection Page 5
