The Purchase

by Amy Cross

  Suddenly she heard another snarl, and she turned to see the figure lunged at her. She managed to pull herself out of the way, but in the process she realized that the figure actually seemed to be lunging not at her face but at the hand she was using to hold the coins.

  “Take them!” she screamed, before throwing the coins at the figure and then pulling a little way further back. “They're yours! Just take them and leave me alone!”

  The coins hit the figure's chest and fell to the ground. For a moment, the figure looked down at them, but then it turned to Chandler and snarled again. This time, as it lunged at her, she was forced to roll away, although in the process she slammed her ankle against the figure's trailing chain. Crying out, she tried to get up onto her hands and knees, but the pain was intense and for a moment she felt as if she might never be able to get up again. Then, slowly, she realized she could hear the chain getting closer.

  Turning, she saw the figure lunging at her once more.

  She tried to pull away, but this time the creature managed to grab the back of her shirt. Crying out, she tried to get loose but instead she felt herself being lifted up. Her right arm became caught in the chain, but she was powerless to keep herself from being slowly raised from the ground, and a moment later she felt the figure place a hand on her throat.

  “No, please!” she yelled. “What do you want from me? I gave you the coins!”

  She twisted and turned, and after a moment she managed to slam herself against the front of the cart. This wasn't enough to get her free, but she was at least able to slip her right arm loose and suddenly she spotted a wooden post on the front of the cart. Realizing that she might only have one chance, she slipped the chain over the post and then she slammed her elbow into the figure's chest, with enough force to send her slumping back down to the ground.

  Landing hard on her elbows, she quickly began to scurry away, before spotting the coins. She turned back and grabbed them both, and then she crawled away until she was sure she was safe. Then, turning, she looked back and saw that although the creature was struggling to catch her, its chain was caught on the cart. And no matter how hard the creature tried to break loose, it seemed unable to understand why it was being held back.

  Scrabbling to her feet, Chandler limped over to her car. When she tried the door, however, she found that it was locked, which meant she must have left her keys somewhere else. She checked her pockets again, but then she spotted the keys dangling in the ignition and she realized she'd locked herself out.

  “No!” she screamed, slamming her fists on the window before limping around and heading to Doctor Levant's car.

  She tried the door, but this too was locked.

  Realizing that the cars were going to be no help, she looked out across the clearing. The nearest road was miles and miles away, and she felt as if she'd pass out before she could get there. For a moment she imagined herself unconscious on the ground, far from help, and she realized she might never be found. Her only hope was to stay at the cabin and to wait for Clark and the others to arrive in a few hours' time. Slowly, she turned and limped back around the cars, and then she stopped as she saw the figure still trying to free itself.

  “Are you...”

  She stared at the figure for a moment, but she could no longer deny what she was seeing.

  “You're dead,” she whispered finally.

  The figure let out an angry groan as it tried again to break loose.

  “You're dead,” Chandler said again, as a sense of hollow horror spread through her body. “You've been dead for a long time, haven't you?”

  She kept telling herself that there had to be some other explanation, but deep down she knew that the man had to be dead. Long dead. She'd never believed in anything like this before, but now she understood that somehow a dead man had come back to life, filled with what seemed like an unstoppable anger. And the anger was clearly directed at anyone who possessed the coins.

  “Doctor Levant!” she shouted, turning and looking toward the forest. After a moment she cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled again. “Doctor Levant!”

  She waited.

  All she heard was the dead figure's continued frustration.

  “Why did you do that to him?” she asked, turning to face the figure.

  She waited, but there was no indication that the figure had even heard her.

  “Do these belong with them?” she shouted, trying desperately to understand what was happening. “Is that it? Do the coins belong with those bodies?”

  The figure snarled at her, but still it couldn't get free.

  Chandler looked down at the coins, but she still couldn't quite make out the markings. They were like nothing else that she'd ever seen, and – although she was certainly no numismatist – she was surprised that absolutely nothing about the coins seemed familiar. After a moment, she was just about able to make out parts of one word on the first coin's side.

  “Inferno?” she whispered, her mind racing to figure out why that would be relevant. “Infernu? Something like that.”

  Suddenly she heard a loud bumping sound, and she turned to see that the figure was struggling harder than ever to get free from the chain. She took a step back, but the urge to run was countered by another, stronger urge to end this madness as quickly as possible. If she ran, the figure might just come after her. If she could stop everything right now and make sure nobody else got hurt, then she told herself she should do that now and ask questions later.

  “If these coins belong with them,” Chandler said, struggling to her feet and still trying to keep from putting too much weight on her damaged ankle, “and if they keep getting separated, then... I'll fix it.”

  Limping back over to the other side of the cart, she made her way to the collection of tools that Clark and the others had left, and after a moment she found one of the shovels. Wincing as pain burst up from her ankle, she nevertheless forced herself to limp to the front of the cart, and then she immediately started digging in the soft, muddy ground. Her body was filled with pain, but she'd read plenty of mythology texts over the years and deep down she was starting to understand that the two bodies on the cart clearly needed to be reunited with the coins. Just tossing them onto the bones wouldn't be enough, and she knew she had to do something more permanent.

  She pressed the tip of the shovel-head into the ground, and then she tried to use a foot to push it down further. Realizing that this would be impossible with one ankle broken, she hesitated for a moment and then she began to dig as best she could manage, tottering mostly on one leg while digging as fast and as deep as she could manage with her arms. Every few seconds she heard the chains banging against the side of the cart, but she told herself that there was no point constantly running back to check that the figure was still trapped. She'd only be wasting time, and the most important thing was that she found a way to dig a grave.

  Morning light continued to spread across the clearing as Chandler worked. Her progress was slow, and – by the time she was even halfway done – the sun had risen above the distant forest.

  Glancing briefly at the figure, she saw that it was still struggling.

  “Nearly there,” she muttered under her breath. “Just hold on.”

  Finally, exhausted and in agony, she tossed the shovel aside and stared down into the shallow grave she'd dug. Sure, it wasn't six feet deep, it was barely even three, and muddy water was already starting to pool at the bottom. Still, she figured that the pit would do for now.

  Turning, she limped over to the cart and looked for a moment at the two dead bodies, and then she began to carefully maneuver the female to the edge. She could barely manage to think straight as her pain became stronger, but eventually she managed to send the woman thudding down into the mud. The whole process was ungainly, and the woman landed in an awkward position, but Chandler had no time to climb down and arrange her properly.

  “Sorry,” she whispered, before grabbing the woman's foot and starting to slid
e her toward the pit. It took only a few minutes for her to get the body in place, and then she went back and did the same for the man.

  As she pulled the man into the grave, she glanced again at the figure and saw that it was still trying to get the chain free from the cart.

  Once the two bodies were in place, Chandler immediately tossed the coins down to join them.

  “Is that to pay the ferryman?” she whispered, unable to keep from trying to figure out the puzzle. “You've been dead for a while, so why didn't you do that already? What were you waiting for?”

  She paused for a moment.

  “Maybe losing the coins meant that your journey was undone,” she continued. “I'm sorry, but now you won't be disturbed again. I won't mark the grave, I won't let anyone ever know that it's here. You'll finally be able to rest in peace.”

  She began filling the grave. Her arms were burning with pain now, but she knew she had to keep going. Finally she slipped, falling down hard on her hands and knees, and this time she wasn't sure she could get back up. So she started using her hands to push the dirt into the grave. Even this process was difficult and took a long time, and she had to make her way around the grave's edges in order to cover the bodies, but at least she was managing to get the job done. In the back of her mind, she told herself she could lead a proper team back some time, to investigate properly. For now, though, she just needed to survive.

  And then, suddenly, she heard a loud bumping sound coming from the cart.

  She turned, and to her horror she saw that the figure had finally managed to get free.

  “No!” she screamed, frantically getting back to work. “I'm doing it! See? I'm doing it for them!”

  As the figure stumbled closer, Chandler finished filling the grave, using her bare hands to push as much dirt and mud as possible into the hole. There were still a few patches where the dead bodies were showing through, but she worked to cover those too. Finally, as the figure loomed behind her and let out an angry snarl, Chandler pushed mud onto the final protruding body-part, and then she turned just as the figure's snarl cut short.

  For a moment, the figure merely stood unsteadily against the early morning sky. For the first time, however, something seemed to have checked its fury.

  “I ended it,” Chandler said, her voice trembling with fear. “See? It's over. They're at peace now. I'll make sure no-one ever disturbs them again.”

  She waited. The figure remained on its feet, although it looked set to collapse at any moment. Its right shoulder dipped slightly, as if the cosmic strings were loosening.

  Finally, slowly, Chandler turned and looked once more at the hastily-filled grave, and she couldn't help but think about the two bodies she'd just buried. She had no idea who they'd been when they were alive, and she realized now that it might be best to not research this site too much. Instead of risking a fresh disturbance, she'd make sure that the site remained untouched.

  “It's over,” she said, slumping down exhausted against the cold ground. “There's no -”

  Suddenly the figure snarled and grabbed her once again by the throat.

  “No!” Chandler screamed, as she felt the tight grip starting to block her airway. “I did it! I buried them!”

  Unable to get free, she watched as the figure leaned past her and plunged its left hand into the mud. It seemed to be searching for something, and finally it pulled out one of the gold coins.

  “What are you doing?” Chandler gasped, struggling to breathe. “What are -”

  Before she could finish, the figure moved the coin closer, letting mud from its hand drip down onto her face. Chandler struggled, but now the figure grabbed her jaw and forcing her mouth open, and then it began to slip its fingers inside. No matter how hard she tried to get away, Chandler was unable to fight back – unable even to scream – as the dead man fed his muddied hand deeper into her mouth and finally forced the cold gold coin down her throat.

  Twenty-Six

  Three hours later

  “Okay,” Chad Clark said as his car bounced along the dirt track that led to the site, “I'm there now so I'll talk to her, and we can meet up back at the campus in a few days. I just thought I should come and help out some more, that's all.”

  “And you're sure this isn't because you've got a slight crush on her?” Muriel replied teasingly over the phone. “Don't deny it, Chad. Everyone sees the way you look at her.”

  “You're so immature,” Clark said, and now he could see the cabin ahead. “Speak to you later.”

  He tapped to cut the call, and then he steered the car past the tree-line and over toward the cabin. He glanced around, keen to see what Chandler was working on, but so far there was no sign of her. As he finally pulled the car to a stop next to the pile of equipment, he figured she must be doing something inside the cabin, so he unfastened his safety belt and climbed out of the car, before slamming the door shut and then leaning down to check his hair in the rear-view mirror.

  Once he was satisfied that he looked good, he made his way past the car and over toward the cabin, although he stopped when he noticed that there was another car already parked nearby.

  “Great,” he said with a sigh as he realized that this car belong to Doctor Levant. “Just my luck.”

  Feeling a little annoyed that he wouldn't be alone with Chandler, he nevertheless tried to look on the bright side. He hurried toward the cabin, but he stopped again when he saw to his surprise that the two bodies had been moved from the cart.

  He turned and looked around again, but there was still no sign of Chandler. Something felt different, although he couldn't quite put his finger on what was wrong. Hesitating for a moment, he tried to figure out what was gnawing at the back of his mind, but he quickly forced himself to stop being so paranoid. He told himself that Chandler would only have moved the bodies if she'd had a good reason, so he walked around to the side of the cabin and pulled open the door.

  “Hey,” he said as he leaned inside, “I just thought I'd -”

  He stopped as soon as he saw the cabin's empty interior. There was no sign of Chandler at all, and no sign of Doctor Levant, although the dead old man remained in place on his chair, looking toward the broken window.

  “Chandler?” Clark said after a moment, as he began to notice that the cabin was in disarray. The table had been overturned, and the battery-operated light had fallen to the ground and lay smashed. “Doctor Levant?”

  He hesitated for a moment, before stepping back and trying to work out what could have happened. He didn't want to panic just yet, and after a few seconds he realized that – for whatever reason – Chandler and Doctor Levant must have headed out to the forest. That wasn't entirely unlikely, since they might have discovered something nearby that shed light on the site as a whole, although as he looked toward the forest he couldn't help but note that the entire area seemed eerily quiet.

  Stepping back around to the front of the cabin, he reached into his pocket for his phone. He'd tried a few times to call Chandler that morning, but there was only partial, patchy signal at the site. As he brought her number up again, however, he noticed what looked like a freshly-disturbed rectangle of mud on the ground just a few feet away, with a shovel having been tossed aside.

  Concerned, he took a step forward.

  Suddenly he heard a bumping sound over his shoulder, and as he turned he felt a rush of relief as he saw Chandler staring at him from the side of the cabin.

  “Hey,” he said, slipping his phone away and taking a step toward her. “I was starting to get a little creeped out there for a moment. What've you been up to?”

  He waited, but Chandler simply watched him. There was a curious expression on her face, and her brow was slightly furrowed. Something seemed different about her. She usually stood proud and tall, but now she was a little hunched and her head was tilted slightly to one side. Her arms were hanging loose, too, whereas she usually kept them tucked in her pockets.

  “I saw Levant's car,” he continued.
“I didn't know he was going to be here.”

  Again he waited, and again Chandler didn't reply.

  He took another step toward her.

  “So what's the deal with those bodies?” he asked. “I noticed some of the stuff's damaged in the cabin. Did something happen during the night?”

  He waited.

  She stared him.

  He was about to ask her again, but then he noticed a patch of mud smeared against one side of her mouth. In fact, he was starting to realize that she looked quite disheveled, with a few scratches on her face. Her hair was unkempt, too, and there was some tears on her shirt.

  “What's wrong?” Clark asked, as his concern grew. “Catherine?” He reached out and put a hand on the side of her arm. “Tell me what's happening?”

  She stared for a moment longer, and then she looked past him.

  “Catherine?”

  He watched the same expression on her face, and then he turned to try to see what she was staring at. For a moment, however, all he saw was the clearing and – in the distance – the tree-line.

  “I don't get it,” he said cautiously. “What is it? Is Doctor Levant here?”

  “Your clothes,” Chandler said behind him, her voice sounding throaty and scratched. “They're funny looking.”

  “Huh?”

  He began to turn to her.

  Suddenly Chandler grabbed his throat and pulled him back, and then she forced him down onto his knees. He tried to get free, but she already had a hand on his face and she quickly slipped a gold coin into his mouth before clamping her her hand tight.

  “Now you're going to get a new body too,” she said with a grin, as Clark tried but failed to get free. He was struggling to breathe, and finally the coin almost choked him as it slipped down his throat. “Welcome back, darling,” Chandler continued, watching as the fear in Clark's eyes suddenly gave way to a shocked, glassy expression. “We've been waiting for this moment for a long, long time.”