The Basement

by Tom Clarke

  As Danny placed his hand on the circle he rolled his shoulders forward and leaned into it as though he was trying to push through it. Darrel got to his feet as Danny was getting ready to put his other hand on the circle and then hit Danny with a body check knocking him away from the circle and towards the stairs.

  As soon as Danny’s attention was knocked away from the circle he again went limp and fell to his knees. Darrel, knowing that I had the three people in the basement with us covered, slung his rifle against his chest, and started to get Danny to his feet. I looked behind me and saw Darrel sitting Danny on the stairs when I heard him yell “Look out….knife!”

  I looked back and saw that the person in the center of the three was now armed with a large curved knife. “Police….drop the knife!” I started yelling.

  All of the sudden out of the darkness I started hearing a chanting. It was quite at first but progressively got louder and louder, “He’s waiting for you, he’s waiting for you, he’s waiting for you.” It was almost hypnotic; I could feel my focus fading from the guy armed with the knife. I could feel my grip on the rifle start to loosen. My trigger finger, which had been indexed just above the trigger well was slowly moving back, away from the trigger, to the rest of my grip.

  Then I heard another radio transmission in my ear piece, “Dispatch 1425 and 1448 plain clothes arriving with 1432!” It was Rick and Keith, my attention snapped back. It felt like I had been hearing the chanting for several minutes when in fact it had only been a second or two. I put my focus back on the male armed with the knife and his two friends.

  They were now about 12-feet away from me. My attention came crashing back as I muzzled up on center mass of my target, the threat encroaching on me, Darrel and Danny with a large knife.

  “Police Officer, drop that knife and get down on the ground!” I yelled. “Stop, don’t come any closer or I will shoot you!” I yelled again. The three males continued walking slowly towards Darrel, Danny and I.

  I exhaled, pulled the stock of the M-4 tight into my shoulder, lowered my hips, bent my knees and leaned forward into an aggressive forward stance. I squeezed the trigger three times; all three rounds hit the man with the knife square in the chest. The male went down to his knees, then looked up at me and in an almost growling tone said, “He’s waiting for you. That one, that one is mine!” pointing at Danny.

  “POLICE, stay down, drop the knife!” I yelled.

  The male started getting back up, he raised his knife in front of him and started to yell something as he stepped back into a fighting stance.

  I fired three more rounds into his chest, elevated the muzzle slightly and fired a fourth round which struck the male just above the bridge of his nose. The fourth round killed him instantly, he crumpled to the ground in heap.

  The noise of the rifle being fired in the basement was deafening. The concussion of the gunfire had stirred up dirt and dust from the floor and walls. Suddenly I noticed that the basement started to get a little darker, it was almost like the light bulbs in the basement were dimming. I shook my head and gritted my teeth in an effort to refocus myself. I pulled the rifle in close to my body, rotated the muzzle down, and pivoted at my hips, scanning the area around me for the other two attackers. I knew they were there, I had seen them, and I could almost feel them, but I could no longer see them.

  “1425, shots fired!….shots fired!” I could hear Rick reporting over the earpiece I had. I looked back and saw Rick and Keith coming down the stairs with their handguns out.

  “Grab Danny!” I yelled to Rick. He and Keith grabbed Danny and hauled him up the stairs.

  Darrel, who was back on his feet stepped forward, grabbed me by my shoulder and we started moving back towards the stairs. As Darrel and I started moving back up the stairs I could hear the other back-up units arriving, we moved to the top of the stairs and held that position knowing that there were still two other people in the basement.

  Rick and Keith had pulled Danny outside, then I heard the patrol Sergeant on the radio, “1-Charlie-1, the scene outside is secure, get the ambulance up here 1-Charlie-25 is non-responsive, starting CPR!” Just then a contingent of four uniformed officers came running into the house and over to where Darrel and I were.

  “There are still two more in the basement, I shot the one with the knife” I said.

  Rick came back in and told Darrel and I to come outside and let the uniformed officers deal with clearing the basement. One of the officers turned to me and said “Go ahead, we got this, go check on Danny.” Darrel and I both switched our rifles to safe and followed Rick outside.

  When we got outside I could see the medics loading Danny into the back of the ambulance. Keith came over, “Jim, what the fuck! Are you guys okay?”

  I replied “Yeah bro were good, how’s Danny?”

  “They got him breathing again” Keith said, “so I think he’s going to be okay.”

  Then Rick came over, “Jesus Jim, are you guys okay? What the hell is going on, what are you guys doing here?”

  I unslung the rifle had been carrying and sat down on the bumper of one of the patrol cars, “Rick, Darrel and I were rehashing this case with King and saw what looked like some devil worship. We went to the university to talk to someone who knows about this stuff, and” I was cut off by the patrol Sergeant who had come over.

  “Rick, you and your guys better come look at this” the Sargent said.

  “What is it?” Rick asked.

  Before he could answer I chimed in, “Sargent did your guys find the other two in the basement?”

  “No” he replied, “we got the one that you dumped secured. He’s expired, but we didn’t find anyone else.”

  “Did you recover the knife?” I asked

  The Sargent raised an eyebrow and replied, “You mean the small sword? Yeah we did.”

  Before I could say anything else Rick spoke up, “Jim why don’t you and Darrel stay out here, I’ll go see what’s up.”

  “Thanks Rick” I answered, I had no desire to go back into that basement ever again.

  After taking a few moments to collect my thoughts I looked over at Keith, who was standing there looking at the open back door of the house, “Keith, what are you guys doing here?” I asked.

  “Rick and I were going to get some lunch, you know how he is what that damn Police radio in his rig, never shuts it off. Well anyway we were just getting ready to get out and go get some BBQ when we heard you on the radio, so we hauled ass up here….figured you would buy lunch.”

  We both laughed a little, “You got it brother….you got it” I said.

  Darrel went over and told Karen and Professor Cowley that as soon as the shooting investigators got there and were able to get their initial statements they would be able to go home for the night. Darrel then, in no uncertain terms made it very clear to Cowley that he was not to say anything about demons. Cowley agreed that would be best.

  After a few minutes Rick came back outside and over to where Darrel, Keith, and I were standing. “Well Jim, I would have shot that fucking guy too, that was one big knife” Rick said. “Listen, fellas, whoever these people are had written Danny’s name on the back wall of the basement, written it in what looks like blood. Jim, Darrel, if I had to make a guess I would say that you guys saved Danny’s life.”

  Darrel and I just looked at each other. “Listen Jim, you and I need to have a sit down about all of this, but not right now.”

  I looked at Darrel and back at Rick, “I agree Rick, there are some things that developed yesterday and today that took a very unexpected and unanticipated turn.”

  “I should say so” Rick replied. “Listen, the shooting investigators are on their way over, I will hang out with you until after they finish.”

  “Thanks boss” I said, “what about Darrel?”

  Rick replied, “Darrel, I called your RAC and told him what was going on. He’s on his way over too.”

  “Okay, thanks Rick” Darrel replied.

&nbs
p; Rick shook his head, “You guys are welcome, and don’t worry Jim, damn fine shooting if you ask me.”

  When the shooting investigators arrived they first spoke with Karen and Professor Cowley, got their statements and then sent them home. They then talked to Darrel and then me.

  After they interviewed me they started working with the homicide detectives who had arrived to process the scene. After everything was said and done I was cut loose and sent home with instructions to report to Rick Monday morning.

  I had been involved in shootings before, two resulting in fatalities, I knew the process. I would report to Rick Monday morning, we would chat and I would be placed on administrative leave for three-days after which I would meet with the department psychologist to determine if I was fit to return to duty. I knew the process and I knew how I had felt during and after.

  This, this was different, it felt different. Those other two crooks made their choice, they choose to use deadly force, I just responded in kind. This guy, I felt almost as though it was not his fault, he may not have been in full control of what he was doing. It just did not feel right.

  As Darrel and I were leaving we passed the tow truck which had come to get Danny’s patrol car.

  One of the other officers had told me that they were going to take it back to the storage yard and then Monday one of the traffic officers was going to process it, see if they could figure out what had happened. As I was driving by all I could think of was how it had come to this. What the hell was going on!

  It was coming up on 8pm when I got home. I found a note on the kitchen table from my wife saying that she had to go back to work for a little bit and that she had fed the dogs. I let the four-legged protectors out for a little bit, walked into my bedroom, laid down on my bed and closed my eyes.

  The next thing I knew my wife Shelly was shaking my foot telling me to wake up. “What the fuck!” I yelled as I jumped out of bed. I was shaking, my entire body was clenching up, my heart was racing and I was sweating like I had just got done in the gym.

  “Take it easy Jim, you were having a bad dream, that’s all” Shelly said. I looked at my wife and the anger in my eyes turned to fear, “Jesus Jim, are you okay…what’s going on with you?”

  I didn’t say anything, I just walked into the living room and sat down in my recliner. Shelly came out and sat on the couch across from me. “Jim, what’s going on?” she asked again.

  I looked up at her and said “Danny got hurt, he’s in the hospital, and I was forced to kill a guy today.”

  Shelly took a deep breath and said, “Oh no, Jim, are you okay…I’m sorry, what happened?”

  I sat there and told my wife the entire story leading up to the shooting in the basement. She didn’t say a word, she just sat there and listened, and when I was done she asked “Jim, do you really believe in that stuff?”

  “I don’t know” I replied. “I do know what I saw, but do I believe in demons and spells and other planes of reality….I don’t know.”

  Shelly put a hand on my should and said, “Jim, when you were having your nightmare earlier you were saying something. What did you mean by he’s coming for you?”

  All of the sudden I started to remember my dream, it was like suddenly remembering where you left your car keys, it was just there. I was dreaming that I was back in the basement staring at the circle like Danny had been doing. I turned around and there was a black void, then I was fighting like I had never fought before, and I was losing.

  I heard that chant “he’s waiting for you” over and over. I was scared, I had not been scared in a long time, and as I sat there in my recliner looking at my wife, I was scared.

  6. Stevie

  Saturday morning came with no other sleep related incidents. None that I could remember anyway. I walked into the kitchen, it was late morning “I slept a while huh?” I asked.

  “You looked like you needed it” Shelly answered. “By the way your phone has been ringing.” I looked at my work phone and saw that Darrel had been trying to reach me since about 6am this morning. As I sat down to have coffee my phone again started ringing again, “What’s going on Darrel?” I answered.

  “Dude I need to see you and Keith ASAP!” Darrel said.

  “Slow it down bro” I said. “You know it’s Saturday, we’ve all had a long, and very weird week. Besides Keith is probably not even awake yet.”

  Darrel didn’t even miss a beat, “Wake him up then, Jim this is important!”

  “Okay, shit dude, let me call him, where are you at?”

  “Come to my office, call me when you are on the way.”

  “Okay Darrel, you better have some coffee you home wrecker” I said looking at my unhappy wife.

  “Uh, listen Jim, you and Keith bring some coffee too okay?”

  “You suck Darrel, see you soon” and with that I hung up the call.

  I looked up at my wife, she just shook her head, “Jim, you need to retire…seriously.” The thought had been lurking around in my brain for a few months now, and after all this weird shit, why not.

  I took a deep breath and then another sip of my coffee, “Well if you’re going to call Keith you better do it, I don’t want you pissing Darrel off, he may start bothering me next” Shelly joked.

  I looked back up at my wife, she just smiled, winked, and then walked into the living room with her coffee.

  I called Keith, who surprisingly answered almost right away, “Jimmy what’s going on?”

  “Hey bro I just spoke with Darrel, he wants to meet with us at his office this morning” I said. “Sounds pretty important so put some clean underwear on and I will be by to pick you up in 20.”

  There was a slight pause and then Keith replied, “Hey listen Jim is that a good idea, I mean after what happened yesterday?”

  Keith was right, all too often impressions played a big role in reality, or at least how other people viewed reality. Someone may try and form the wrong idea of why I was over at the ATF office meeting with the agent who had been involved in a shooting with me the day prior, and all this on a Saturday.

  “Yeah, that’s some good thinking my man. Let me call you back” I told Keith.

  I then hung up and called Darrel, who after I explained the situation to him, agreed to meet Keith and I at my house instead. I called Keith back who agreed to meet, especially after I told him that Shelly was going to make some breakfast.

  Keith showed up at my house in almost record time, it was as though the smell of cooking bacon and eggs was calling to him. Shortly after Keith arrived I saw Darrel pull into the driveway, he was carrying a messenger style bag, and did not look happy.

  “Keith, Darrel’s here and he does not look happy bro” I said.

  “Give him some bacon and eggs that will cheer him up” Keith replied. As Darrel walked up to the porch I opened the front door,

  “Hey man, where’s the coffee?” I asked.

  “No...no” Darrel said. “Jimmy when you changed plans you relieved me of any obligation to provide you with coffee, besides it smells like you got some in there.”

  I laughed and said, “You know it, come on in.”

  After having some breakfast, the three of us each grabbed a mug of coffee and sat down to discuss whatever business Darrel had needed to talk with us about so urgently. “So, Darrel what’s so important that we are meeting on a Saturday and we don’t have any booze in front of us?”

  Darrel looked at me, and then he looked at Keith, “Ahh shit!” Keith said “This is about that nonsense at Hollow Crest isn’t it?”

  “I’m afraid so” Darrel said. “Jim did you bring him up to speed about what Professor Cowley told us?”

  I took a deep breath, clenched my jaw and shook my head, “No I have not.”

  Keith got up from the kitchen table we were sitting at, filled his coffee mug and said, “Okay Jimmy, give it to me…what?” I looked at Darrel, who opened his eyes wide, raised his eyebrows and motioned for me to start talking.

  I
took a sip from my coffee, sat the cup down, and then replayed to Keith what we had learned from Cowley in regards to what had been going on. Keith didn’t say a word, he just sat there and listened.

  When I was done Keith shook his head, looked up, and sarcastically uttered a number of expletives. He then took a couple of deep breaths and said, “I hate both of you! Okay now what?”

  I looked at Darrel who had reached into his bag and pulled out a file folder with an ATF symbol on the front. I looked back at Keith, and then we both looked at Darrel.

  Darrel started, “Fellas, one of the things we do at arson scenes is take pictures of the crowd, if there is one. Often times an offender will return to the scene to admire their handy work, it’s a weird sort of a gratification deal for them.”

  Taking a long sip form my coffee I said in a guarded tone, “Go on.”