She saw Pete clench his jaw and step forward, but one of the men restraining Jim simply looked up to Pete with a stern gaze. The shaven-headed man slowly shook his head, eyes serious and jaw set. Pete backed off.
‘Let’s go, lads,’ he said to his friends, and they all slowly filtered out the way they had come in.
‘Aiden,’ William called down, ‘see them out. Then you can busy yourself with scripture.’
‘Thank you,’ Aiden said, and an excited grin broke over his face. The young man then hurried along to complete his task. Beth and Jim were forced up the stairs and up to the waiting group, who moved further aside to let them pass.
‘Take them to see him. I’ll be along shortly.’
Beth and Jim were then hauled down the corridor to their left. The floor was carpeted as the stairs had been, and the walls were covered in that same red wallpaper from the stairwell downstairs. Many pictures were hung along the wall, dominating the vertical planes. Beth stared at the paintings as she was dragged past, but could scarcely understand what she was seeing. It wasn’t traditional art, but rather horrific images that had clearly been painted by a troubled mind.
One was of a hellish landscape, with mountains of black and perfectly cylindrical towers that touched a star-filled sky. Creatures of magnificent size could be seen roaming on the edges of the titanic mountains, but the centre of the piece was the sky itself. The stars there swirled together to a point, forming a great eye that looked down over everything. Amazingly, the title of the picture, embossed on a brass nameplate at the bottom of the frame, was Heaven. The artist’s name was beneath: Aldrich Kent.
Then there was a depiction of a room, walls papered similarly to the walls of the corridor Beth was in. In this picture, four bodies hung from the ceiling by their necks. The corpses’ bottom halves were gone, and their insides hung to the floor. Their arms were bound behind their backs, their throats had been cut, and the eyes were empty sockets. The hanging bodies were spaced equally apart, like the vertical corners of a cube. Beneath them, on a wooden floor, a white outline of a square had been drawn, and the corners lined up with the bodies above. This square was filled with cryptic marks and symbols. Sat centrally to the shape, and hungrily devouring a pile of heaped meat, was a strange figure. It was almost human, and sat cross legged in a pile of gore. It was multi-armed, and its head, with a low-hanging mouth, had multiple eyes over the cranium, like that of a fly. This was called Ascension Begins.
One painting displayed a sickening scene on a beach, with people gathered round at night. They were robed in plain, simple cloaks. Beth actually let out a small gasp as she saw a pile of infants—babies—that were heaped on the stony ground. Three mounds of bodies were spaced out equally, like points on a triangle. The tip pointed inland, away from the sea behind. One child was held aloft—its face locked in an eternal cry—by one of the robed figures. The title of this piece was Ritual of Moloch.
Another showed the interior of a cave, and the sea beyond it. The cave, however, was a bloody mess, with three skulls sat in white circles. These circles all had markings within them: an inner ring, and also symbols that were alien to Beth. The skulls were connected by chalk lines, and it did not take Beth more than an instant to recall the scene Jim had described. Worse still, she saw a giant, monstrous figure half-hidden by the dense fog above the sea and just breaking through the mist. It had many legs, as well as curling tentacles that punctured the fog. Any face it had was hidden, but Beth recognised its form. It was titled The Harbinger Comes.
The artist of all the pieces was Aldrich Kent. The pictures were dated, and all were from the early eighteen hundreds.
There were other paintings lining this wall as well, all as grotesque and as nightmarish as the last.
Eventually, Beth and the others stopped outside of a door, midway down the hallway. It was just as the others were: dark oak panelling. One of the men pushed the door open and forced Beth and Jim inside.
The room was, for the most part, empty. The floorboards were old and stained. The wallpaper, too, was worn, and some of it was hanging loose. It was a room that appeared to have received no care or attention in a long time.
A window sat on the far wall, tall and narrow, and a thin strip of daylight—the only light source in the room—shone in through it.
Two men were sat central to the room, each facing forward, and both bound to their respective chairs. They were naked and bloody and had burlap sacks covering their heads. One of them groaned.
It was the man on the left who drew Beth’s gaze, however. Even without seeing his face, she knew instantly who it was.
Chapter 26
The men that were holding Beth released her, and she ran forward towards her brother.
There were multiple cuts and lacerations on Josh, and blood ran freely from each. However, even though she wasn’t medically trained, her initial, panicked conclusion was that they were all surface level. His body was also covered with a layer of sweat and grime, and the hairs on his chest were matted down. She quickly pulled the burlap sack free of his head and, for the first time in a long while, looked down at her brother’s face.
Tears erupted from her and she started to sob.
It was him, without question. Even after so long, Beth recognised the strong jaw line covered with black stubble. His greasy hair was slicked back, messy and wild, and it fell to his shoulders. Josh also had their father’s thin nose. And, even though he looked terrible—with a swollen and beaten face—his blue eyes locked onto hers, and Beth saw a wave of realisation wash over him. She cupped his face delicately with her palms.
He coughed, then wheezed out a word. ‘B… Beth?’
‘Yeah, it’s me, Josh.’
‘You came?’
Beth nodded, tears still running from her eyes. ‘I did.’
He shook his head and started to cry as well. ‘You shouldn’t have. You made a mistake. Go. Please. Run.’
‘But you called me,’ she said.
‘I know,’ he replied. ‘I shouldn't have. Get out of here, Beth.’
‘She isn’t running anywhere, Josh,’ a voice said. Beth swivelled her head to see William Kent step into the room. ‘She’s staying right here. You three will be needed tonight.’
‘No,’ Josh said, pain evident in his voice. ‘Let her go, please. Just let my sister go. You don’t need her for any of this.’
William, flanked by the four men in black, shook his head. ‘Afraid not, Josh. You know that isn’t true.’
‘What the fuck are you talking about?’ Beth snapped. ‘What the fuck is going on?’
‘Please,’ Josh said again, fighting against his bonds. ‘I’m begging you.’
‘Too late for that,’ William said. ‘You made your choice, and now you will live and die by it. You should have done what was instructed of you. Instead, you ran—even hurt a number of our brethren in the process. What? Did you think you’d stop what was coming? Stupid, Josh. Naïve. You were destined for something truly magnificent, boy. Your role would have changed things forever. You could have brought about permanent change and opened the door to the Gods, but you threw all that back at us. For what? A misguided sense of right and wrong?’
‘I’m sorry!’ Josh cried. ‘Let me make it right.’
‘Oh, that will happen,’ William said with a sinister chuckle. ‘It will all be made right. The ritual will be completed. Then—and only then—when your blood is spilled and flesh is torn and the doorway is open… then you will have made it right, Josh.’
‘Beth,’ Josh said, turning his wild, wet eyes to her. ‘You need to get away. I don’t care how. You need to escape. I shouldn’t have brought you here. I shouldn’t have called.’
‘But you did, Josh,’ William said. ‘The blame for all of this lies with you for your betrayal. You could have been one of us, you could have seen true paradise, but you threw it away. And you should know, Josh, that we aren’t the forgiving type.’
William then walked over
to the other restrained man in the room, whose body was shaking. The burlap sack was quickly yanked free and the man’s face was revealed. He was young, in his early twenties, and had dark hair and wide, terrified eyes. A length of duct-tape covered his mouth.
‘For example, take Kyle here,’ William said, and ruffled the man’s damp hair. ‘He had the chance to stop you that night, Josh. Do you remember? When you tried to run, Kyle here actually showed a little initiative and stepped out in front of you to stop you. However, when you held up your knife, Kyle failed. Despite us giving an order to attack and stop you, Kyle put his own well-being before the needs of the group. He showed fear and stepped aside. If Kyle had simply stood his ground, I think we would have caught you. But he failed, and he let you escape. That is something we cannot forgive.’
The young man started to thrash around in his chair, fighting against his bonds. Tears started to fall, and though his cries were muffled by the tape, Beth knew he was begging for mercy. William retrieved his phone and stepped back a little, holding it up and pointing it at Kyle.
‘Kyle, my boy, you know what your punishment will be. I will record your death so that the others can see the price of failure and cowardice. And it will also show our guests here just how serious we are.’ He then turned his head to the group of four men who were with him. ‘Proceed.’
One of the men stepped forward, and a disturbing smile grew over his face. It was the first show of emotion Beth had seen from the zealots. The man stopped just before Kyle, reached behind his back, and pulled something free from the waistband of his trousers. Beth let out a gasp when she saw the size of the Bowie knife. The blade was huge and looked horribly sharp. Kyle started to thrash with renewed vigour.
‘Stop,’ Beth pleaded.
‘There is no stopping any of this, my dear. Something you would do well to keep in mind.’
The three other men stepped in front of Beth and Jim, blocking them off from Kyle. Not that Beth would have tried.
William chuckled, then turned to the man with the knife. ‘Have fun, Brother Sutton. And make the boy feel it.’
Brother Sutton’s smile increased, but his gaze was a manic one. To Beth, it seemed like there was no humanity behind his eyes, only darkness.
The knife was brought up, and the tip pressed into Kyle’s cheek. Sutton made a quick swipe sideways, nicking the skin and drawing blood. Kyle yanked his head back and squirmed in pain. The knife was then pressed into the young man’s chest. Another nick.
And again.
‘Let him go,’ Beth said to William, but the older man just ignored her and instead concentrated on recording.
Brother Sutton took hold of Kyle’s head and forced it to the left. He then grabbed Kyle’s ear with one hand, while he used the knife in his other to begin cutting. Beth winced as Kyle’s muffled screaming intensified. Blood flowed down the side of his face. Brother Sutton worked furiously, with violent sawing motions, and hacked at the ear, forced the blade through cartilage. Eventually, the ear came free, and he dropped it to the floor. Once Kyle’s head was released, he shook it frantically and continued crying out behind the tape in absolute agony. Beth saw a glimpse of the raw and exposed flesh where the ear had just been.
Brother Sutton then grabbed the chair Kyle was bound to and spun the man around so that his tied hands were facing William. Sutton took hold of the index finger on Kyle’s left hand, and the tip of the knife was moved beneath the fingernail. Sutton thrust the blade forward.
Kyle exploded in a fit of writhing muffled screaming, but it was useless. Sutton took his time in pushing the large blade deeper beneath the nail, and started to twist the knife as well. Most of the fingernail was forced away from the bed, and dangled uselessly as blood dripped from the finger.
The process was then repeated on three other nails. After this, Sutton grabbed the small finger on Kyle’s right hand. But he didn’t use the knife this time. Instead, he just quickly snapped it back, breaking the digit completely. Beth heard the crack. Her body tensed and she started to sob, unable to cope with the violence.
‘Very good, Brother Sutton,’ William said above Kyle’s moans of pain. ‘But I don’t think this young man has learned his lesson just yet. I think we need to step things up a little.’
Sutton nodded, then turned Kyle back around to face everyone. The large man wrapped an arm around Kyle’s head to keep it still, then again brought up the knife.
This time to Kyle’s right eye.
The blade was forced in beneath the eyeball, cutting through the skin of the lower lid as it moved. Sutton was slow and deliberate, wiggling the knife as he pushed it in deeper. The tape over Kyle’s mouth came free at one side, and his horrible screams of agony were allowed to bellow out unhindered. Kyle desperately tied to pull his head away, but Sutton was far too strong.
The knife was pushed farther in, but was too big and cumbersome for any kind of delicacy, and only succeeded in cutting into and partially mashing-up the eyeball. With a twist, the mangled eye was popped free and dangled down on a fleshy cord.
William chuckled at the sickening torture. ‘Oh, Kyle, if you could only see what you look like.’
Sutton then smiled and took hold of the ruined eye. He lifted it and twisted it around, so it was pointing back at Kyle.
‘There you go,’ he said in deep voice.
William and the other three men all erupted in laughter. The sight of such violence had Beth on the cusp of vomiting, but the sheer joy these people were getting from the pain and suffering only made things harder to deal with.
‘Just kill him,’ Beth said. ‘Put him out of his misery.’
‘Not a chance,’ William said. ‘Keep going, Brother Sutton.’
And like an obedient dog, Brother Sutton got to work cutting off Kyle’s lips.
The top was first, which was stretched out before the sharp blade messily cut through the flesh, leaving a small jagged flap just above the now exposed teeth and gums. The bottom lip was then taken. Blood smeared Kyle’s disfigured face, which was then relieved of its nose. Next, Sutton got to work scalping poor Kyle, whose screams and cries continued to get higher and more intense. With the younger man’s hair pulled back in Sutton’s grip, the cultist used the sharp edge of his knife to hack and saw at the skin as he yanked it free. A large section of skin and hair was cut loose, revealing an expanse of bone wet with blood.
With each feature lost, Kyle’s head looked more like a twisted skull than that of a living human. His one good eye flittered around in utter panic and anguish.
‘Okay,’ William finally said. ‘I think we can draw this to a close. But make it good, would you, Brother Sutton?’
Sutton nodded, then thrust the knife deep into the gut of Kyle in a quick and savage motion. Kyle drew in a gasp of breath, then Sutton forced the knife upwards, cutting the young man’s stomach open as Kyle screamed. Brother Sutton then dropped the knife and, with both hands, forced the newly created wound open, pushing the two sides apart and letting guts and glistening-red intestines spill to the floor. A pile of gore lay at Kyle’s feet as his single eye rolled back into his head.
‘You fucking monsters!’ Beth screamed. ‘You’re a bunch of fucking animals!’
‘No,’ William said, shaking his head. ‘What we are, is devoted.’
‘I don’t see much of a difference,’ Beth shot back.
William just chuckled again and put his phone away. ‘That might have seemed savage to you, my dear, but that is only because you are blind to the truth. Soon you will learn. This base, animalistic savagery is needed. It is to be both understood and embraced if we are to ascend.’
Beth’s head was spinning. The insanity was all too much. ‘I don’t understand what you’re talking about! What the fuck is going on, here?!’
‘I can show you,’ William said. He then addressed the men under his command. ‘Follow me with the girl. The other one,’ he pointed at Jim, ‘leave here. Tie him up with this traitor.’
‘
Let me go!’ Jim commanded as two of the men grabbed him. There was fear in his voice. Beth fought, but she was quickly overpowered by the other two men—one of whom was Sutton. Beth was then dragged out of the room and away from her brother.
‘Beth, I’m sorry!’ Josh cried out just before the door between them slammed shut.
Chapter 27
Beth was led across the hallway by the two guards, one either side of her. She struggled against them, but they were both too powerful, and were able to keep her held with what seemed like minimal effort. The journey was a short one, into a room opposite. William Kent stood inside, still wearing that infuriating grin.
This room was larger than the last, and in pristine condition. There was no peeling of the wallpaper or stains on the floor like the one that Josh—and now Jim—were held in.
But despite its size, it seemed cramped, considering the number of things that were crammed inside. Like the public area Beth had visited earlier, the large room also served as a display area, with bookcases, glass cases, chests, and cabinets. Two large windows would have let in a healthily amount of natural light, except wooden shutters were pulled closed over them. The ceiling and wall lights gave the only luminance to the area.
Beth was in no mood for research or investigation, however—she just wanted to get Josh and Jim away from this madness. ‘What the fuck do you want from me?’ Beth asked William Kent through gritted teeth.
‘I’m actually going to bestow on you a huge honour,’ William said. ‘Despite what I said to your brother, you may yet have a way out of this. He was destined for something, but no longer. Perhaps you are more worthy.’
‘Worthy of what?’ Beth asked, exasperated. But he avoided the question and moved on to something else.
‘Those people who were with me back on the landing? They are very important people.’
‘More Kents?’ Beth assumed.
The Extreme Horror Collection Page 56
