Kara dropped her head but kept her eyes steadfastly upwards on her abductors as she swung her legs to the side and dragged herself, a few inches at a time, into the direction of the tunnel to her right. But she couldn’t stay down on the ground; she had to make a run for it. Straining her muscles with the effort, she leapt onto her feet – and bit into her tongue to cut off a cry as a hand clutched her ankle and pulled her back. Impulsively, she attempted to kick herself free – until she realized someone else could still be alive; afraid to speak, reaching out for help the only way they knew how. With a shudder, she sank back onto the ground and looked down.
There was nothing remotely human about the body in front of her; ravaged with hunger, an emaciated cadaverous being with burnt fragmented skin and flesh that erupted with spasms – a squirming thing bound with rope around its arms and chest, and around its knees. Helpless, erratic in its efforts to break free from the restraints, a dull glimmer in its blood-red eyes, yet repulsive, still the crawling thing in her nightmares – it belonged here hidden in the darkness. It didn’t deserve to be free.
She kicked her leg back. Restricted in its movements, the creature couldn’t sustain its grip – its hand slipped away and fell to its side. Pulling herself up, she reached again for the tunnel. But it was too late. From behind, a shadow stretched past her, and, before she could respond, a sharp object struck the back of her head – the force threw her forward and brought her back onto her knees.
I’m not going to plead, came the thought, as her vision shifted out of focus and she wanted to retch with the effort to bring herself up – as she was thrust against the ground, bringing her side by side with the creature, and the edge of a knife slid across her neck and stayed there in readiness.
And then came other thoughts.
The creature’s mouth was closing and opening, but there were no audible sounds. It was in her head – a relentless incoherent stream of alien thoughts, palpable intrusions flooding into her consciousness and imploding – a connection that brought the taste of warm blood to her mouth; a comprehension, a startling moment of comprehension, before the edge of the knife entered her throat.
"Kara!"
Adrian’s voice. Her eyes started open. Standing over her, he stooped down and reached out. But the sensation of the knife lingered on her skin – she didn’t want to be touched. Scrabbling to her feet, she shook her head and recoiled from him, held herself as her eyes swept the room to ensure they were alone – there were no murderers who refused to stay in the past, no devils crawling out from nightmares, and no spirits of the dead reaching out from their graves – she wanted to be left alone, and for a good part of an hour they stood apart from each other, in an uneasy silence, until, finally, a strained calm returned to her mind.
"Do you believe me?" she said, and realized she had deliberately kept her voice quiet. Even now, she didn’t feel safe.
He pulled a chair to him and sat down. "Yes,” he said hoarsely, lowering his head. “Did you know this would happen?"
"No," she protested, "of course I didn't."
"You told me the past couldn't hurt us."
“I’m sorry – ”
"They were as real as anything could be,” he interrupted, looking up. “We could have both been killed.”
“I know.”
“What the hell were they?” he demanded, angry now. “They wanted to hurt us. The woman forced you between her and the man who was trying to kill her. For God’s sake, I was thrown up against the damn wall. If this happened in the past, why didn’t we just see the events being played out – how the hell did we become part of it? We’re lucky to be alive.”
“I don’t think the intention was to hurt us,” she responded, struggling to make sense of it in her mind. “It went too far, yes, but maybe it was the only way...” She paused. Even after what he had witnessed tonight, she was unsure of his reaction. But he had to know everything now. “The intention,” she continued, “might have been to communicate with us – or, I think, me.”
His jaw tensed. “Why – what would they have to communicate?”
"The woman wasn’t trying to save herself by sacrificing me,” she said. “We changed places so I could witness what happened. The attack didn’t end in this room – she wasn’t killed here. I may have appeared unconscious to you, but when I came to I was being carried through the village, and I saw the massacre – saw the villagers being murdered, heard them screaming for help – people trying to escape. I saw what she saw.”
The sensation of being watched drew her eyes to the window. There was nothing there. She drew a deep breath to steady herself and went on.
“He took me to the coalmine. That’s where they were hiding – they didn’t leave the village. The villagers they abducted were there. Most of them were dead. The bastards were hoarding the bodies like food, piling them on top of each other – if you had seen what they did to them. God, it was exactly like the nightmares I’ve been having – it was there as well - the creature I saw, Adrian – it was - ”
Kara broke off as he jumped to his feet. His face was strained and pale. “No,” he spat out. “This is too much. If you expect me to believe - ”
“It’s real,” she persisted.
“How can such a thing exist?”
“I don’t know what it is,” she said honestly. “It made its way out of the coalmine – maybe it was always there, millennia before the village was built, before anything human existed – that can’t be so difficult to believe now, not after everything that’s happened.”
“What’s the connection then? Are these men killing for the creature?”
“No, they’re killing to satisfy themselves,” she replied. “This started when the creature was discovered. Matthew told me the men who came into contact with the creature communicated with it. The day after the encounter they denied its existence, despite there being witnesses to claim otherwise. There must have been an attempt to make a deal. They drank the creature’s blood – I saw it myself in one of my nightmares. They expected the blood to transform them. They have superhuman strength and their lives have been extended – I suppose in a way they got what they wanted. But the blood was contaminated; it changed them in ways they didn’t expect – the degenerative disfigurement in their features, the violent craving for human flesh. If they made a deal, it went wrong. They’re keeping the creature prisoner – it can’t fight back in its debilitated state. That’s why it’s been trying to communicate through my nightmares – and I think it’s helping the people who died to reach out - that’s why the manifestations have been so strong.”
“What could it want from you?”
“The creature wants me to help it to escape.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because it spoke to me – in the coalmine. It was inside my head, speaking to me in another language, yet I understood everything. I know what it wants now.”
He studied her with disbelief. “What – why would it think you would set it free?” His tone was almost accusatory.
“I know this is a lot to take on,” she said steadily, trying to prepare him. “But we’ve got no choice. There’s going to be another massacre – the creature knows what they’re planning and when it’s going to happen. We’ve got two days. If we help the creature escape, it’ll stop them – that’s the deal.”
“You want to go into the coalmine – where they are?”
“Yes,” she answered plainly.
“What chance have you got against them?”
“We’ll have to think of – ”
“No,” he shouted angrily. “It’s too dangerous. We have to get out of here while we’ve got the chance.”
“We can’t leave the people here to die” she argued. “We have to do something.”
“We warn them. That’s all we can do.”
“It’s not enough.”
“Kara, listen to me,” he pleaded. He came forward and placed his hand against the side o
f her face. “What chance do you stand against these men if they can’t be killed? The best we can do is warn the people here of what’s coming. I’ll help you. We can’t fight this. Do it for me.”
He was afraid. “Yes,” she said reluctantly.
“Thank you.” He kissed her on the forehead. “This is a warning to run. We can’t ignore it.”
“Yes,” she repeated mechanically. But he was wrong; it was more than a warning, and she couldn’t help thinking of the creature’s response when it realized its only chance of escape – the only person it had managed to reach out to in the village – was about to leave it to its fate.
"Why should we leave?”
Sensing her frustration, Adrian took her hand and squeezed it. Behind the counter, Vanessa and her husband, Carl, sharing the same vacant stare, had listened as Kara told as much as she thought was safe to do so, silent but exchanging quick glances, inching closer together as she went on.
But they had known it was going to be difficult. That was why they had contacted Detective Inspector Thomson first, with the vain hope they could somehow convince him of the danger. Openly hostile, foul-tempered, he threatened them with arrest if they did anything to obstruct his investigation, and so they had been compelled to proceed with their original plan to warn the villagers – without palpable evidence, warn them of a threat they had to accept on trust – a diluted warning of a supernatural threat that their minds, entrenched in the mundane, were still incapable of grasping.
"I know it’s difficult to accept," Kara continued wearily. "But if you don’t your lives will be in danger."
"Why should we be concerned about something that happened so long ago?” Vanessa said. “The massacre was in 1938, wasn’t it? I don’t understand how these men can still be a threat. If they’re still alive, I’m sure they’re too feeble to do anyone any harm - even if they wanted to.”
“They haven’t aged,” Kara said, and immediately regretted her answer. This was one of the facts she had planned to leave out.
“Really?” Vanessa laughed. “They haven’t aged. How have they managed that then?”
“The point is,” she said evenly, “they’re still out there.”
“Where?” Vanessa demanded. “If they’re still out there, where have they been hiding?”
“The coalmine.”
“Why are they in there?”
“That doesn’t matter – ”
“They’ve been pretty quiet all this time, haven’t they?”
“No, they haven’t,” Kara said, raising her voice. “There have been disappearances around here - in the town as well. Prior, for crying out loud – what do you think happened to him?”
Vanessa smiled. “I’m sure he was the kind of man who had a lot of enemies. I don’t think we need to look for the living dead for an answer to that one.”
“You fool,” Kara shouted. “You’re going to die if you stay here.”
Another mistake.
“Get out,” Vanessa ordered. “Go on. You should be ashamed of yourself. People here don’t want to know about the massacre. You shouldn’t be allowed to go around scaring people with these stories.”
Kara was about to answer, when Adrian grabbed her shoulder and pulled her away from the counter. “We’re not going getting anywhere,” he whispered into her ear. “Let’s go before she calls the police.”
Her heart raced erratically as she allowed herself to be led out of the store. In the middle of the road, they turned to each other. “This isn't working," she said. "What are we going to do?"
“Kara, we’ve done all we can,” he said quietly. He watched cautiously as a couple they had spoken to a short time ago passed by, whispering to each other, throwing quick looks in their direction. “We’ve got to get out of here,” he added, when they weren’t in hearing distance.
“The police – ”
“No, Kara,” he snapped. “For God’s sake, they’ve made it abundantly clear what they think of us. If they didn’t listen before, what makes you think they’re going to listen now?”
“We can’t just leave,” she cried. “If we could get into the coalmine – ”
“We’ll die sooner than the rest of them,” he finished. “There’s nothing else we can do. We have to go.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “I – can’t stand it – leaving when I know what’s going to happen. It’s too much.”
He shook his head. "I know it’s hard,” he said gently. "When we’re away from here we can still get in touch with these people and make another attempt to persuade them. We can even give the police another try. But I don’t want us to be here when these bastards start murdering people again. We can’t fight them. We’ll die trying.”
Looking past him, she noticed Vanessa and her husband peering at them through the store window; caught, they drew back and pretended to go about their business. Embarrassed, she lowered her head. At the end of the day they had only succeeded in humiliating themselves - working their way through the village, they had exposed themselves to people’s amusement, ridicule and hostility – not one of them had listened or been persuaded it was in their interest to leave. There were others left to warn, but she was sick and tired of the stubborn resistance, and the alternatives – were there any alternatives? Had she honestly intended to walk into the mine and set the creature free – they would have killed her before she had the chance. Maybe the only option had been to flee all along. There had to be a point where they decided enough was enough. There had to be an end to it.
"Alright," she relented, and grasped his hand as she realized it was easier to surrender than she had expected. “We’ll leave. But we have to warn Rachel and Luke first.”
“Thank God,” he said, and the relief flooded his face. “Thank God.”
"Do it."
Kara snatched back her hand as the familiar disembodied voice resonated through her arm – placed itself between them. But she wasn’t the only one to hear it this time. Adrian frowned. “Did you hear that?”
There was something coming. “We’ve got to get away,” she said urgently, reaching out to him again.
But it was too late.
Night jarred with day as long, thick shadows swept in every direction around them, rapidly discolouring the air. Beneath her, the ground shook and lurched away, sending her stumbling onto her hands and knees. Barely recovering, her mind reeling, she threw her head back, and watched powerlessly as the present collapsed in on itself and the past rocked precariously in and out. They were the only ones left alone as the disturbance, with each shift, momentarily liquefied, drained the colour of the passers-by in the road, snatched them away and replaced them with malformed, thrashing half-shadows with clumps for hands and unfinished faces – vague impressions missing eyes, a blackness like liquid splashing inside their open mouths.
Each shift in time impressed a little more detail in the countenances of the apparitions. But she didn’t need to wait for them to reach their completion to know they were running for their lives.
“Kara.”
Standing in front of her, straining to maintain his balance as the past threw back the present, his eyes darting nervously to the apparitions as they went by, Adrian bent down and stretched out his hand. But he should have looked back like the other apparitions; he couldn’t see what she could see – another half-life swelling out and assembling itself with a deliberate purpose, propelling its existence as the night rolled forward and settled, throwing them into the past – an entity with familiar features, with a diseased, bleeding face and wounds exposing glimpses of bone.
“Run,” she cried out.
Instead, following her stare, he wheeled around, and could only stumble back with his arms crossed in front of his head as the murderous entity rushed toward him and grasped his neck; with one hand, lifted him kicking and punching into the air - and thrust a knife up through his chin, and, with another brutal effort, further into his head, splintering bone and contorting his face.
With a tremor, the murderer yanked the knife out of Adrian’s head – spilling profusely from the gaping wound, rivulets of blood ran down his face. He opened his mouth to swallow some of the liquid before he threw the limp body roughly aside, watched as it slumped heavily onto the ground; and then, as the present swung back and their surroundings exploded with flashes of light, the murderer walked on down the road, searching for his next victim, blackening and shrinking into a vague half-life, evaporating into the air as the present shifted back for the last time and settled around them.
"Adrian."
Her frantic cry drew the attention of the people in the road, and they surrounded her as she scrambled over to him. He was on his side with his back to her. Bracing herself, she grasped his shoulder and pulled him over on his back. There were no visible wounds - no blood. But he was unconscious; his eyes were half open. Tears streamed down her face as she took him in her arms. "Please," she pleaded, her awareness of the people around them slipping away as she rocked his body with hers; stifling the scream that climbed up into her throat because she knew it wouldn’t stop.
"Wake up."
Still holding onto his hand, she sat on the edge of the bed and watched for the slightest sign he was still alive, a twitch of the hand, movements in the muscles of his face – any sign at all. It was six in the morning. Since his admission to the town hospital yesterday afternoon, there had been no improvement in his condition. Afraid to leave him alone, she had sat beside him; a vigil through the night; when she wasn’t crying, doing everything she could to reach him – when speaking failed, pleading to him to wake up. But she wasn’t even sure if his mind was still intact. He had been murdered in the past. Maybe his mind was still there. Maybe he was dead inside, and wouldn’t wake up again.
They had been taught a lesson.
"Kara..?"
Rachel entered the room. She glanced up at her, and fresh tears stung her eyes as she looked back at Adrian.
“Kara, I’m so sorry,” Rachel said, approaching the bed, squeezing her arm. “I heard about what happened at the store. They said Adrian collapsed in the middle of the road, that he had some kind of attack.”
The Devil's Dead and More Tales Page 6
