Eventually, thankfully, his pathetic screams, which had turned into high-pitched squeals, fell away, and Benjamin stopped moving. What remained was a smoking black and red body, mostly stripped of its flesh.
The family all looked down, subdued and scared.
Ashley had begun to assume, after all she had seen, that this family could not die, that somehow they could defy nature and just keep on going and going. Now, she knew, that was not the case. The very thing that seemed to give them their longevity and resilience could very easily strip it away. The man who had once acted as the patriarch to the family was now dead.
She looked back to the beast that had somehow caused such destruction. She saw its deep breathing begin to ease, and the eyes all swivelled away in different directions once more.
Any remaining hope she had of escaping was extinguished in that moment. Battling against seemingly unkillable cannibals was one thing, and it had been hard enough to keep fighting them with any kind of belief she would survive. But seeing the thing down here, Grandpa, something that was even more of an impossibility than the Webb family, kill one of them in such a way...
What chance did that give her?
None, she heard a raspy voice say in her head.
Some of the thing’s eyes looked directly at her, and once again the vile abomination formed a twisted smile.
Then its mouth opened.
The family stood in silent shock, unmoving. Henry kept glancing at his now dead father. Though he was a literal giant, he looked like a terrified child. Ashley understood why. Up above ground, where the Webb’s only had to deal with people like her, people who were food, they were in charge. They were powerful. They could be hurt, sure, but they would survive. Down here, with this thing, with Grandpa, they knew that they could be killed, at any time, and with horrifying ease.
Finally, Adela spoke. ‘We’re sorry,’ she said, her voice quivering. ‘Won’t let anything like this happen again.’ She then paused, as if listening to an unheard sound, and nodded. ‘Yes, I understand. We’ll make sure we get more, and quick. No matter what. We’ll get you food. We’ll send Tim back out as soon as we’re done.’
‘No,’ it said, this time physically. ‘Her.’
All eyes fell on Ashley.
‘Really?’ asked Ted, still holding Ashley. ‘Is she to be turned?’
‘Yes,’ it said. The thin tendrils at the end of its wrists began to wriggle and writhe, almost excitedly.
Ashley heard Ted let out a small laugh. ‘I knew you would like her, Grandpa.’
It was a stupid thing to think about, given the situation, but it seemed so odd that they called it that. Grandpa? It wasn’t human, so why give it some kind of family connotation. And, given how this family seemed to grow and add members, she had half an idea that none of these people were actually related. Not by blood.
Clever girl, the thing said to her, and only her. It was again in her head. The family connects through my bloodline, not their own. Blood that will soon fill your veins. When that happens, you will give yourself over to me. You will be mine forever. A mere puppet for me to toy with. And you will thank me for it.
‘What are you?’ Ashley asked again, gritting her teeth. If she was going to be turned into one of these cannibals, then she at least wanted to know what this thing was.
The thing, it seemed, decided to humour her.
Noting you can understand. The body you see before you is the remnant of the first man who found me down here. He could not comprehend me, your kind never can, not fully, so I took him as my host. His son was with him. He was the second, and he now lies on the ground beside you, stripped of his flesh. He was the first of my servants, and though he is of no more use to me now, he brought me more of you meat puppets to control. In return, I granted them certain gifts.
‘Why?’ Ashley asked. ‘Why do you need this?’
My existence in this place is not without effort, and for that I need sustenance. The family gathers the food we all need to go on.
Ashley noted the term; existence in this place?
She didn’t think it was referring to this cave.
‘A family this big seems overkill just to bring you sacrifices.’
A pack of dogs will defend their master much more effectively than a single hound. My pets serve me well... usually. Until now. Until you.
‘So where do you come from?’ Ashley asked. ‘Where are you from?’
A place of chaos. A place of horror. And of desecration and torment.
‘Hell?’ Ashley asked. The word spilled from her mouth before she had a chance to consider the absurdity of it. Then again, the situation she was in was far beyond absurd, anyway. Was it really such a stretch?
There is no such place. Hell is just a term. The place I am from is very real and full of horrors that would break your small mind. Things exist there that you could not understand. But once I turn you, I will open the door a little, and you will gain some small measure of true knowledge.
‘I won’t let you,’ Ashley said, trying to back up. Ted held her firm. ‘I’ll die first.’
Only if I allow it.
Then the abomination opened its mouth again and physically spoke to its family.
‘Bring. Her. To. Me.’
Chapter 34
Ashley fought against Ted, but it was in vain; the man that held her was just too strong. Against her will, she was forced forward, ever closer to that grotesque thing.
‘Let me go,’ she screamed, trying to dig the heels of her boots into the ground to halt her progress. Ted simply pushed her harder.
‘Don’t fight it,’ he said, ‘it’ll hurt much less if you just let it happen.’
The idea of letting this happen to her, of them having their way with her, of becoming one of them and doing the things they did, sickened her. She couldn’t let it happen.
Ashley knew now that survival was just not possible. And she didn’t count becoming one of these monsters as true survival. That wasn’t survival, it was submission.
And it was not an option.
The only way to truly save herself was to choose death. If she were dead, then they could do what they wanted with her husk of a body, but she would be free of them, somewhere where they couldn’t touch her.
The otherworldly thing before her slowly drew one of its arms out of the pulsing wall, holding out the long appendage before her. She saw the thin, snakelike tendrils all had small mouths, or suckers, that puckered at the air. Dark liquid began to ooze from these mouths, dripping to the floor.
Grandpa’s blood.
She knew it intended to infuse her with its blood—that was how she would be turned—and she was forced closer to the wriggling things as they wormed their way towards her mouth.
Desperate, Ashley let her legs go limp and tried to drop to the floor. Ted still held her arms, which were twisted behind her back, and when she dropped she felt a sharp pain in her wrists and shoulders as they strained against her body weight.
Ted then pulled at her arms, trying to hoist her back up, increasing the pain as he did. Ashley refused to budge, flopping like a puppet with its strings cut, or like a disobedient child who did not want to be held.
‘Fucking move,’ Ted said, trying to push her forward, but Ashley just flopped farther to the floor. Ted had to adjust himself and grab at her shoulder to keep her from falling face first. He then stepped ahead of her and began to drag her forward, again by her arms.
‘Silly games like this won’t work,’ Ted said.
Ashley felt like her shoulders were about to dislocate, but she welcomed the pain. It was a sign of her struggle, something she could cling to.
‘Now stop fucking around,’ he yelled, exploding in anger. It seemed he was a little embarrassed to be seen having so much trouble with her in front of Grandpa. He stepped towards her, grabbed Ashley’s hair, and raised a hand to slap her around the head, releasing one of her wrists.
‘Fuck you,’ Ashley said, her body still a
dead weight. He hit her, the blow powerful enough to dizzy her, but through it all Ashley kept her focus and worked her free hand behind her back.
‘Fine,’ Ted said and spat at her, ‘I’ll carry you, if I need to.’
He released her other arm and reached down for her body, ready to grab her and lift her up, but Ashley’s hand found what it was looking for.
She pulled the knife free from the back of her trousers. With a scream, she thrust it upwards, remembering how Kim had fought off the now dead father, and aimed directly for Ted’s throat.
Ted’s eyes opened wide in shock and he let out a gasp as the knife plunged into his neck. Everything seemed to pause. Blood pooled around the protruding steel and ran down its length and down his throat. No one moved in that instant, clearly surprised at her actions.
At her resolve.
Ashley then took the handle in both hands and yanked sideways as hard as she could.
Red liquid slopped from the yawning wound she had opened up, and it coated her chest. Ted instinctively brought up his hand, but the gash was so deep that his fingers sunk inside, getting lost to the knuckle. Blood ran from his mouth and he fell sideways.
She knew he wasn’t dead, but at least he was down.
Then, however, the shock began to wear off of the family.
‘Get her,’ Adela screamed.
Ashley sprang up to her feet and held the weapon out before her as Henry boomed forward. She backed up, and an idea formed in her mind. One that would cost her her life, but would ensure she would not become one of these things.
She turned her back to the approaching Henry and ran in a different direction.
Towards the thing in the wall.
Towards dear old Grandpa.
‘What’s she doing?’ the mother yelled, frantic. Ashley ducked under the thing’s outstretched arm, feeling the writhing tendrils snap and drool at her back, and thrust the knife forward, throwing her body weight behind the attack. The knife ricocheted off the edge of an eye socket, striking bone, and found its way completely inside of it with a squelch. She pushed hard and buried it up to the hilt.
Again, everyone froze. She expected some kind of reaction, some kind of screams or roars of anger from the family or from the thing, but there was nothing. The family didn’t know what to do, and the thing didn’t seem to be affected by the knife protruding from its head. It moved its arm back towards Ashley, and again she ducked, pulling herself back and drawing the knife with her. She managed to scramble away just as the arm tried to take hold of her.
Looking at the steel of the blade, she saw it was coated in a dark, almost black substance, one a little too thick to be blood.
Silly girl, the thing called to her, mocking her, from inside her own head. I cannot die. But you can.
‘I welcome it,’ she said. ‘I won’t become a monster.’
So be it.
‘Kill. Her,’ it said aloud to the family.
Ted tried to get to his feet, but he was struggling to stand, still preoccupied with his open throat, but Henry and his mother started to advance. Ashley held the bloodied knife out to ward them off and looked past them, seeing the path back towards the tunnel.
They were going to kill her, that much was certain. It was what she wanted, but that path was a potential way out. Did she really have to just lay down and accept death?
Could she actually fight her way through and get free?
The giant and his mother slowly stalked towards her, closing the gap, but evidently wary of her.
Showing her a grudging respect.
Ashley assessed the situation. Out of the two of them, given Henry’s mass and bulk, she guessed Adela would be the faster of them, so if it came down to a direct foot race, she would have a better chance against Henry. Which meant she needed to take out the mother, or at least slow her down.
She twisted the knife in her grip, taking the tip of the blade in two fingers of her stronger right hand. She had no idea if what she was planning would work, but what did she have to lose? Ashley pulled her right arm back and held her left out before her, both to aim and to balance herself. She then flung her right arm forward and launched the knife toward Adela.
Ashley’s heart was in her mouth as the blade spiralled through the air towards its target.
She half expected to see it sail past the old woman and fall harmlessly to the floor, but it didn’t. After all the shitty luck she and her friends had suffered this weekend, it seemed some was finally on her side. The knife found its target, blade first, and Ashley heard the wet thunk as it squelched into the woman’s stomach. Adela let out a cry of pain and dropped to all fours.
Ashley heard that thing in her head again, seemingly amused by everything.
Very good, little girl. You have a gift for this. A shame that you cannot be one of my pets. You would have excelled. And you would have learned such wonderful truths.
‘Ma,’ Henry screamed and ran to Adela.
Ashley set off, waiting around no longer, but quickly cast a glance back to the thing in the wall. She saw that it was again breathing deeply, and all of its beady little eyes were looking at her.
She felt it again, that charge in the air.
‘I’m fine,’ Adela wheezed out as Ashley sprinted past her and her giant son.
As she ran, she began to smell it. Faint at first, then more potent.
Cooking meat.
Then the pain struck. Ashley held up her hands and saw that the skin had started to blacken.
She remembered what had happened to Benjamin, only moments ago, and realised her fate.
She was to be burned alive.
Chapter 35
Ashley screamed in agony as the sizzling pain began to spread.
This is going to hurt, the thing taunted. Stay still and accept your fate, and the pain will be much less. That I promise you.
Adela was still coughing on the floor, but motioned to Henry. ‘Get her,’ she groaned, waving her arms.
Ashley ran.
She couldn’t avoid the agonising death that had already begun. She knew the meat would cook and fall from her bones and she would be alive to feel it, as Benjamin had been, and that terrified her. But she was too scared to stop and simply let that agonising end just happen to her.
So she ran, sprinted for all she was worth, because there was nothing else to be done. She pumped her legs as hard and fast as she could. Through it all, the hot pain grew worse and seared and boiled through her. She screamed as she ran, seeing blisters form on the back of her hands and arms.
Come back, you bitch. You fucking cunt.
The thing sounded angry, furious even. But more than that, Ashley was sure there was a hint of desperation.
She heard Henry’s heavy footfalls behind her as he gave a laboured chase.
The pain was like a hot lava rolling over her flesh.
She continued to sprint.
The smell of her own burning skin grew stronger and turned her stomach.
This is it, she thought as she ran around a large rock formation, out of view of that horrible thing, readying herself for the worst of it. I’m going to die.
Return to me, you pathetic husk. Do it now and I may yet let you live.
She ignored the empty promise. Thoughts of seeing Benjamin’s skin melt and hang from his body were fresh in her mind, and she knew she could expect the same excruciating end, but all she could do was focus on the exertion of running and hope it could block out some of the pain.
For a little while, at least.
Up ahead, illuminated by the writhing, glowing worms from the ceiling, she saw a dark opening in the rock wall; the opening to the tunnel. As she ran towards it, Ashley briefly wondered if those glowworms were just a natural phenomenon, or if they were somehow related to that thing that was now burning her alive.
She was quickly through the hole and into the tunnel, jumping down to all fours and scrambling forward, before she realised something.
The searin
g pain that had been building and building was no more. Well, that was wrong, the pain was still very much there, but it didn’t seem to be getting any worse. Ashley didn’t want to stop to check herself over, as there wasn’t time for that; she could still hear Henry running after her. In fact, she soon heard him enter the tunnel behind her, but she was almost certain that whatever was starting to happen to her had stopped.
The burning smell had faded and, she noted, the voice was no longer with her. The monster’s taunts and demands had ceased. She tried to look down at her hands as she crawled, to see if the black patches and blisters, blisters she could still feel, were still spreading, but it was just too dark.
Could it be? Could she let herself believe that maybe she had gotten free of the abomination’s influence?
Again, she thought back to what had happened to Benjamin, and she remembered how the thing in the wall had acted when it ended him. It had started to breathe heavily, as if exerting intense concentration or strain, but she also remembered that all of its horrible little eyes had spun to lock directly onto him.
And maybe that was the key.
When she ran around the rock formation, she had broken its line of sight, and hopefully also broken whatever link or ability it had to scorch her from this earth. Perhaps she had cleared its range?
Perhaps there was hope?
But that hope was precarious, because even now she heard Henry thundering through the tunnel behind her.
How can anyone that big move so fast?
‘You’re going to be sorry for that,’ he shouted, his voice sounding close. ‘You stabbed Ma, and I’m going to make you sorry for that. I’m going to twist your head off like I did with your friend.’
Up ahead, Ashley felt the tunnel close in, and she remembered the section from earlier. Things were going to get a little tighter.
If she could just keep going, perhaps Henry would be slowed down, giving her a chance to get farther away.
She pushed herself through and, just as she was about to give an extra burst of speed, she heard Henry roar from behind. The sound startled her because it was so close, closer than she thought he’d been to her. Ashley spun her head and could just make out Henry’s form in the darkness, almost upon her.
The Extreme Horror Collection Page 18
