Jackie opened the door behind the reception desk. The room inside was pitch-dark, so she stood there looking confused for a moment, peering inside. “Dr Kamiyo?” she enquired.
Then, in a flash, her body lurched forwards, an invisible rope yanking her by the neck into the darkness of the room. The door slammed shut behind her. From inside, she screamed.
The teenagers screamed too.
Hannah stood frozen. What the hell just happened? What was going on in that room? A dark room full of screams.
After a couple of seconds, it became clear that nobody was going to act. The teenagers pressed up against the walls in fear. The man watching over them did the same. Hannah decided she would have to be the one to do something, so she sprinted behind the reception desk and kicked open the door. Enough candlelight flickered on the reception desk that she could make out grey shapes and flickering shadows inside the room. People crawled along the floor. Something large and upright stalked them.
Hannah raised her rifle to the gasps of those in the cabin behind her, but she couldn’t take a shot. There was no way to know what she would be hitting. One of the shapes on the ground scuttled towards her. It slipped out of the darkness and into the small pool of light bleeding inside the doorway.
“Get me out of here!” Dr Kamiyo cried out from on his belly. Hannah reached down and grabbed his blood-slick hand and dragged him out of the room. He was shaking like a leaf, and bled from a wound buried beneath his thick, black hair.
Hannah left the doctor behind the reception desk and hurried back to help Jackie. But before she was able to rescue the woman, something swiped at her from the shadows. The blow knocked her sideways, and she bounced off the doorframe before tripping over an obstacle on floor. Something grabbed her, and she realised it was Jackie. “Help me!” the woman cried. “Get me out of here!”
Hannah was tangled in her rifle’s strap, but she managed to grab Jackie and shove her up onto her hands and knees. The two of them hurried towards the doorway, and Hannah got Jackie out into the light. Before she could reach safety herself though, the shadowy presence still in the room grabbed her belt and yanked her backwards. She threw out her hands and grabbed the doorframe and then screamed as the door slammed shut on her hands. She kicked her legs, trying to shake off her attacker, but the pain in her hands dizzied her, and made her weak. Those inside the main cabin howled in fear, but no one came to help her. Only a sliver of light existed in the room. If she let go of the frame, the darkness would consume her.
A laugh broke out in the shadows, turning her blood to ice. The evil let go of her belt and grabbed her ankles. The darkness was going to devour her. “H-Help me! Please... somebody!”
The laughter in the darkness mocked her.
She tried pulling herself through the doorway, but it was no use. The door cut into her fingers, and the force pulling her back was too strong. Her wrists would give out any second. Her fingers began to tremble. And slip.
The darkness retreated.
Hannah found herself being pulled into the light.
The laughter behind her stopped, and a frustrated snarl. A dog losing its bone.
Ted gathered Hannah into his thick arms and dragged her away from danger. He didn’t put her down until she was well out from behind the reception desk. “You have a talent for finding trouble, luv.”
“You’re the one who jumps in with nothing but a hammer and a bad attitude,” she shot back.
“This makes us even, deal?”
The candles on the reception desk blinked out. Dr Kamiyo shot to his feet and pointed frantically. “That’s how it started! The candles snuffed out and I was attacked. The thing inside that room is evil.”
Hannah flexed her hands, wincing in pain. She felt confident they were unbroken, so she got a grip on her rifle and pointed it at the open doorway.
“What is it, Doctor? A dee?”
“What the hell is a dee?”
“A demon.”
Kamiyo shook his head. “No, it’s not a demon. It’s just… it’s just a young man I pulled from the lake. He’s behaving like he’s possessed. Maybe he is.”
“Take the sod down,” said Ted. “We don’t need this aggro.”
Hannah glanced at Jackie. A bloody wound dissected her cheek, making it clear that whatever had attacked her in that room wasn’t a man. “Come out or I’ll blow your goddamn head off,” she yelled at the darkness. “I don’t want to kill you, but you’ve got a lot of people out here scared.”
Silence. The people in the cabin pressed together like spooked cattle, children in the middle, adults at the front. They all fixated on the rectangle of darkness coming from the open doorway.
Whatever was inside did not come out. Hannah cursed beneath her breath. For the first time since she’d been a recruit, her finger trembled over the trigger guard. Something was wrong about this. The presence in the room had been more than just a dee, but it wasn’t some deranged guy either. She sensed something unnatural, something that turned her stomach and sent feverish quivers across her skin.
“Okay, whoever is in there, you have three-seconds to come out. Fail to do so and I will fire and kill you. A shot from this range will cause your internal organs to rupture even if I hit you in the shoulder. It is important you understand that. Okay, I’m going to start counting. This is your last chance. Come out or I will shoot you dead.”
Candles deeper in the room blinked out, one by one, leaving the frightened spectators in near-darkness. Hannah exchanged a glance with Ted, who was the only one in the cabin who didn’t look terrified. In fact, he looked irritated. He had his hammer raised, ready for action, and was the only one in the room she would count on helping if a fight broke out. She decided being grumpy was better than being a coward.
Hannah started her count. “Okay. Three… two…” She slipped an aching finger inside the trigger guard. “One!”
“Don’t shoot! Please!” A young black man appeared in the doorway with his hands on top of his head. Sweat and grime covered his entire body, and flesh hung from his skull like it was unattached. He looked utterly afraid.
Hannah lowered her aim, but only by five-degrees. “Who are you?”
“My name is Vamps. Don’t shoot me, yeah? I’m one of the good guys.”
Dr Kamiyo moved beside Hannah and whispered to her. “Vamps is who I was talking to, before he... changed.”
Ted overheard and huffed out a laugh. “Before he changed? People don’t turn into monsters.”
Kamiyo glanced at him sternly. “I don’t think any of us know what’s possible anymore. I believe whoever this man is, he has answers that could help us. He’s not in full control of himself. There’s something wrong with him.”
“No shit!”
“I’m not a monster,” said Vamps. He looked at them desperately, a man before a firing squad. “I blacked out. I don’t understand what’s happening. Please don’t take me out, yo.”
“It’s a trick,” said Jackie. “He’s wicked.”
“He’s ill,” Kamiyo argued. “I don’t know why I’m so sure of it, but I am. We can’t kill him, he’s innocent.”
“He’s dangerous,” said Jackie, her bloodied face adding impetus to her words.
“Does he need putting down or not?” Hannah asked testily. “Because I can’t be doing this all night long. We need to make a decision.”
Vamps still had his hands held up, but he dared step out of the room and into the open. “I honestly don’t know what happened. I-I was talking to the doctor and I just... I just closed my eyes for a moment. This is the next thing I know, innit? Please, don’t shoot me, yeah?”
Hannah lowered her rifle. “Okay, okay, just keep things nice and slow, yeah?”
“He’s a monster,” Jackie yelled. She pointed her finger accusingly at the sickly young man and marched towards him. “You’re a monster!”
Dr Kamiyo hurried after her. “Jackie get back! It’s not his fault.”
She snarled at th
e doctor. “You really think that? This thug isn’t possessed, he’s a psychopath!”
The young man who called himself ‘Vamps stood there calmly, even as Jackie stormed towards him with an obvious intent to do him harm. Then he started to laugh. His eyes turned black.
“Watch out!” Hannah aimed her rifle, but the damned woman got in her way.
Jackie tried to dodge out of the way, but she was too late. Vamps grabbed her forcefully.
“Let her go!” Ted bellowed.
Hannah continued to try to take the shot, but Dr Kamiyo lunged at her and shoved her barrel towards the floor. “No! You’ll hit Jackie. Something is going on that we don’t understa-”
“He needs putting down. Move out of the way!” She stepped closer to her target, but she still couldn’t get the shot. Jackie persisted in getting in the way, squirming to escape Vamps’ grip as he sniggered in her face. He held onto her playfully, toying with her like a cat.
But the game ended.
Vamps wrapped a hand around Jackie’s throat and squeezed. She turned bright purple, the need for Hannah to take a shot becoming even more urgent. Every time she thought she had it, Vamps would wheel around and shove Jackie in the way. She was a human shield.
Jackie made no noise, suffocating quietly.
“Damn it!” Hannah knew it was now or never. Her hands shook, fingers bruised from being crushed in the door. She had to make her shot count. If she missed, Jackie was dead.
Just do it. Pull the trigger.
Clack!
Everyone in the room yelped with fright. Vamps stumbled backwards on his heels, clutching his ribs and roaring in pain. Jackie collapsed to the ground, liberated but gagging and choking. She’d been rescued from death’s claws right at the last moment.
Hannah peered through her rifle sights, wondering if she’d pulled the trigger without realising it. But her finger still hovered in place.
Ted grabbed Jackie and hustled her out of harm’s way. Then he raised his hammer and swung it at Vamps for a second time. This time its heavy copper head struck Vamps on top of the shoulder and dropped him to the ground like a lead weight. He finished the young man off with a boot to the face. “Arsehole.”
Everyone in the room had been holding their breath, but they released it now in unison. Dr Kamiyo hurried over to Jackie and checked her over. Hannah lowered her rifle.
Crisis averted.
Ted propped his hammer over his shoulder and turned a circle, taking in the whole room with a look of fury and disgust. “Do you people ever do anything to help yourselves? No one is going to save you except yourselves, so stop standing around like a bunch of spare pricks.”
Everyone’s mouths fell open, but nobody in the room said a thing. The adults were possibly even more afraid than the children.
Ted stormed out of the cabin, cursing out loud.
Hannah pointed a throbbing finger at Vamps, unconscious on the floor. “Tie him up. Looks like we caught ourselves an enemy combatant.”
Wondering if it was hope or dread she felt, she marched out of the cabin to join Ted.
He had been right; these people were useless.
19
TED
Ted spent the night in a small boat shed beside the lake. Specifically, he bedded down inside a half-painted kayak with the number 3 on it. Sleep never came fully, dashing away whenever he was about to get ahold of it. He was glad for the silence if nothing else. He usually kipped in the flatbed of his truck, so sleeping rough was not an ordeal, but when the sun rose, and brought the merry chirping of birds, he realised how exhausted he was. Yesterday had been a shit show from the moment he’d stepped out of his truck. If he’d never encountered those dees—or Hannah—he would still be on his way north. Now he’d have to make the rest of his journey on foot. With zero supplies.
Ted meant what he had said to Hannah about expecting supplies from these people before he went on his way, but now he decided he would outright demand them. Not only had he helped save the camp from a demon attack, last night he’d also put down a crazed lunatic. What was that lad’s deal anyhow? Had a demon really got inside of him?
Hannah had followed him out of the cabin last night when he’d stormed off, but he had yelled at her to leave him alone. While he admired her ability, he held no desire to stay acquainted. All that talk last night about making camp up on the hill, living in a castle…
Jesus wept!
Hannah needed to wake up and accept that nothing made a difference. Their lives were cigarettes smoked down to the nub. Ted was prepared to die, but not until he finished his business. He couldn’t afford to waste any more time here. These people were not his responsibility. His responsibilities were all dead. The only thing he needed was his hammer, and that was propped over his shoulder.
No one had seen Ted enter the small boathouse in the dark, so he didn’t expect company when he exited, but as he headed for the cabin, a young lad stepped out from behind a rack of fibreglass canoes. “Hi,” he said. “I’m Nathan.”
“Oh, um, hello.” Ted was unsettled by the lad’s sudden appearance. Nathan was thin, with an arm splinted and tied against his body. His eyes were a dark—almost black—brown that seemed to look right past Ted rather than at him. Ted realised he’d grabbed his hammer in defence, so he lowered it now and nodded to the lad. “What are you doing out here by the water?”
“You don’t feel fear, do you?” The boy’s dark eyes swirled excitedly. “You fight the monsters because you enjoy it.”
“I don’t enjoy it, lad. It’s a necessary thing.”
Nathan nodded as if he’d just heard something monumentally enlightening. “The monsters will be back, won’t they?”
“Yes.”
“They’re going to kill everybody?”
Ted sighed. “Look, I’m sure you’ll all be fine. Good luck to the lot of you.”
Nathan showed a little emotion, his face falling into a frown. “Aren’t you staying? We need you. The other adults, they don’t get it. They don’t know how to fight.”
“They’ll learn, trust me.”
“If you’re leaving, I want to come with you then.”
Ted closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He teetered forever on the edge of a headache. Why did people want to keep following him? He just wanted to be alone—was that a crime?
He studied the odd child and tried to keep his voice on the right side of compassionate. “Look, lad, the last thing you want to do is leave this forest. You’ve been safe here—and may be for a while longer. The monsters will come again, but they can be dealt with. If you fight, you’ll have a chance.”
Nathan shook his head and sighed. “The adults are too afraid, and the other kids are idiots. I’ll get to watch them all die.”
Ted frowned, wondering why the lad spoke so wistfully about such horrid things. “Nathan, you should go join the others. Leave the worrying to those older.” Before the boy could argue, Ted cut him off. “Skiddaddle!”
The lad hurried off, and Ted experienced a pang of guilt for wanting to leave. Nathan was obviously a mixed-up child, but who could blame him after living through the end of mankind? The lad had been right about one thing though, the adults here didn’t get it.
A rumble in Ted’s stomach got him moving again. He’d not eaten in over a day, his meagre supplies abandoned with his truck. If these people didn’t resupply him, he’d have a tough time on the road. They owed him.
As he approached the campfire, he saw the woman from last night. Jackie, he thought her name was. She was piling up primitive weapons beside the cabin steps. When she turned to look at him, her left cheek was purple and swollen with a thick gash running down its centre. “Stone me,” he said. “That bloody animal.”
She gave him a grim smile. “It wasn’t his fault, apparently. Dr Kamiyo contends the young man has been possessed by something monstrous, something with no qualms about hitting a lady. Honestly, I don’t know what to think. When I was cornered in that
dark room... It was like being stalked by the Devil itself.” She became teary, holding her cheek. “Not sure how I’m supposed to carry on after that.”
Ted studied the woman for a moment, torn between staying silent and speaking. It was difficult to comment on such things. “I don’t know you people, but it’s clear you’re the only one switched on here. When the demons attacked, you were trying to take charge and help instead of running around like a headless chicken.”
Jackie nodded and looked down at the ground. “I fear we were terribly under-prepared. We had no idea what was out there, what you and your friend have been going through for months.”
“Hannah’s not my friend. We met yesterday. I know her about as well as I know you. Jackie, isn’t it?”
“Yes, and you’re Ted? We owe you our lives. If you hadn’t come with that stupidly manly hammer of yours…” Her tears ceased, and she chuckled. “Thank you. I failed the children here, but you gave me a second chance.”
“You’ve kept them going this long. Trust me, Jackie, you’ve done a good job.” He looked past the campfire to where a group of adults were heaving bodies through the grass. Most of them were demon, but not all.
“How many did you lose?”
“Two children, Reece and Alexia, and one adult, Carrie-Ann. I think we’re all still in shock.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It would have been much worse without you. We’re lucky you found us.”
Here came the awkwardness, the part of dealing with people he hated. The expectation, the obligation, the responsibility. “I’m not the answer to your problems, Jackie. You need to prepare yourselves to fight. Those demons won’t be the last, and when the next group comes along, you need to be ready. Cut down some of these trees and make spike walls. Better yet, get your arses up that hill and behind those stone walls. You have a bloody castle up there and you make camp outside of it.”
Jackie’s unwounded cheek blushed, so much that it matched the purple bruising on her other one. “The castle is cold and uncomfortable. We need the lake and the forest for food.”
Hell On Earth Box Set | Books 1-6 Page 93
