The Moon Stealers Box Set. Books 1-4 (Fantasy Dystopian Books for Teenagers)

by Tim Flanagan

  ‘Mr Knight, this is Doctor Carter, the Home Office Pathologist from Harrogate,’ said Sergeant Allen introducing Steven to the older man, trying to appear cooperative.

  ‘If I could have a word please, Sergeant,’ asked the Pathologist, not wanting to talk in front of Steven.

  ‘You can speak in front of Mr Knight. What have you found?’

  ‘Very well. So far all we have is the left arm of a male, which is slightly swollen from being in the water but from the size of it I would say it looks too large to be the boy’s and more likely to be that of a man, possibly over 40 years old. No identifying marks or jewellery. Some patches of hair so I should be able to get some DNA samples from them. There is quite a bit of dirt packed under the fingernails, some of which are broken consistent with clawing at the ground.’

  ‘Is that all?' asked Sergeant Allen.

  ‘At the moment, yes. Once I’ve examined it more closely I will be able to tell you more,’ there was a troubled look on the Pathologist's face. ‘Although, there is something strange. It looks like patches of the skin have been melted, almost like it’s been dissolved in acid. The flesh below the skin looks like it’s been eaten away but there are no teeth marks that I can see. Sometimes fish nibble away at flesh if it's been in the water long enough to make it soft. But this looks like it may have only been in the water for a day, if that.’

  Steven listened with great interest, remembering what Coldred had said about how the alien bacteria was acting in the same way as the flesh-eating bacteria. This could be relevant to Steven's enquiry after all, especially as Sir Adam had said that they had already found traces of the bacteria in the river water.

  ‘What about the crime scene, have the Underwater Search Team found anything else?' asked Sergeant Allen.

  ‘Not yet. The divers are going along the river as well as the banks, but so far no sign of other body parts. Because of the water current it’s likely the arm was washed down from somewhere further upriver.’

  ‘What do we have further upriver? The church, a few cottages and fields?' said Sergeant Allen thinking aloud.

  ‘It depends how far upriver you go. There is the industrial area towards the outskirts of town, then farm lands and moors beyond that.’

  ‘Where is the arm being taken?' asked Steven interrupting the two men.

  Doctor Carter looked at Sergeant Allen for confirmation that he should answer, not knowing who Steven was or what authority he had to ask questions. Sergeant Allen frowned but reluctantly nodded his head for the Pathologist to answer.

  ‘It’s being taken to Harrogate General Hospital Mortuary where I will examine it more closely together with the Forensic Scientists. The police station in Parsley Bottom is too small to handle things like this,’ replied Doctor Carter, still cautious about Steven and his reasons for being there.

  ‘I would like to see the report if that’s alright with you both. I will get my Commander to clear it at your headquarters in Harrogate.

  ‘So this might also be something to do with your field research then?’ asked Sergeant Allen sarcastically.

  ‘Possibly, but I’m not entirely sure,’ replied Steven.

  Doctor Carter looked back to the river. ‘I will leave the divers to keep looking around the scene whilst I go over to Harrogate with the arm. If they find anything else, please arrange to have it sent over to me immediately.’ He walked back towards the river and discussed something with one of the divers, directing them to search other parts of the river, before walking towards the car park together with the chilled evidence box and its gruesome contents.

  ‘Please can we go?' Georgia asked the Sergeant with a pleading look in her eyes.

  ‘I suppose so, but I will need the name of your Commanding officer as well as the address of where you are staying.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Steven replied with a smile on his face. He didn’t want to make an enemy of the local police force. ‘I’m staying at the Fox and Hound if you need to talk to me again. Don’t forget a copy of the Pathologist’s report when you have it, please.’

  Sergeant Allen picked up the metal detector and fabric bag containing the water samples and held them up for Steven to take, then escorted them towards the car park that was now overrun with police cars.

  ‘Are you alright?' Steven asked Georgia, knowing she was still shocked by her discovery. ‘I’ll drive you home if you want.’

  Georgia passed the keys to Steven who put the metal detector and the sample bag into the boot of the car. As he walked her round to the passenger door he noticed that it already appeared to be open slightly. For a few seconds he assumed he hadn’t closed it properly when he got out of the car, but when he saw the gap on the seat where the box of meteorites had been, he realised that the car had been broken into and the meteorites had been stolen.

  18. The Escape Tunnel

  Edgar led the children along the passageway, whilst constantly listening to the sticky and wet sound that seemed to be following them. Scarlet could feel the air inside the tunnel getting colder as the tunnel sloped down and away from the castle. Max wondered if Edgar knew where they were going and kept nervously looking over his shoulder to try and see what was following them, but every time he turned round he seemed to stumble forward. The paleness of his skin shone in the flashlight like the warm wax from a candle, whilst his nervous breathing echoed in the enclosed tunnel.

  Edgar swung the flashlight rapidly from side to side, looking for alternative tunnels to dodge down. But all there was, was one route forward. He didn’t know when or where it would end, if it actually did, but all he could do was keep running and try to lead the children to safety.

  Suddenly they found the tunnel blocked by another iron gate. Edgar ran into the gate, the flashlight fell from his hand, landed on the ground and rolled forward beneath the gate and into the tunnel on the other side. As its beam of light spun round and round, it finally came to rest facing the ceiling above Edgar and the children. A light dusting of old stone fell from the wall around the gate.

  The noise continued to move towards them and would very soon be on top of them.

  ‘What do we do now!' shouted Scarlet panicking.

  ‘It’s like the other gate we got through,’ said Joe rapidly as he noticed the rusted metal hinges that had absorbed the moisture from the rock. ‘If we push it hard enough we should be able to get through.’ With that he sat on the ground and began kicking at the rusted hinges as hard as he could.

  The little light that shone in their direction, gave Edgar just enough visibility to be able to examine the lock. He took his penknife from his pocket and slid it into the keyhole of the lock, wiggling it around a little trying to release the catch.

  Nothing happened.

  Behind them the sound seemed to get closer.

  Max closed his eyes, not wanting to see what was coming towards them, whilst Joe continued to kick at the hinges, his head darting around as he kept glancing at Edgar’s progress as well.

  One of the hinges suddenly buckled, the brown and rusted hinge twisted and snapped. Spurred on by Joe’s success, Scarlet now joined him, concentrating all their effort on the second hinge.

  Edgar tried twisting the knife slightly inside the lock as if it was a key, but it stubbornly remained locked. Frantically he began to wriggle it until the blade of the knife snapped and remained wedged inside the lock. There was no way the lock was going to be opened now, even if he had the key. Edgar turned away from the lock and began kicking at the remaining hinge.

  ‘Joe! Edgar!’ shouted Max. The outline of a dark shape was coming towards them from further down the tunnel.

  With one huge effort Edgar slammed his shoulder into the gate forcing the remaining screws to fall to the floor and the gate to spring back against the wall on the other side of the tunnel.

  They all desperately scrambled through just as the dark shape emerged into the beam of flashlight that reflected off the tunnel walls.

  Edgar leapt for the gate and p
ushed it back into position then forced his broken pen knife through one of the empty screw holes and into the stone wall with the heel of his hand until it was wedged stuck.

  As soon as he withdrew his hand a black shapeless body slammed into the gate with a wet gurgling noise. Thankfully the penknife stayed in position holding the gate and preventing the creature from getting through. In the limited light they could make out a single cloudy white eye reflecting the limited light and staring back at them all through the iron bars. The creature let out a loud gurgling sound from a round mouth.

  Scarlet screamed, startled by the noise. She shuffled backwards on the floor trying to get as far away from the creature as possible.

  Despite being scared, curiosity had the strange effect of making them stay on the floor on the other side of the gate staring at the unknown creature, amazed at what it actually was, but also feeling safer knowing there was a gate between them and it. It was a bit like looking at an animal in a zoo.

  ‘We need to keep moving, the penknife won’t hold it forever,’ said Edgar as he brushed the dirt from his trousers and retrieved the flashlight from the floor. He then started walking away from the gate.

  ‘What is it?' asked Max. A little bit of colour was starting to come back to his face.

  ‘I don’t know what it’s called,’ answered Edgar, ‘but I think creatures similar to this were in the graveyard the night Peter was there. Now come on, we need to get out of here.’ Edgar continued to encourage the children to leave, but they seemed transfixed by the creature.

  ‘Look at the slime its releasing,’ said Joe. ’It’s like the slimy trail we saw on the floor inside the church.’

  Max took a step forward to take a better look at the black creature.

  ‘Don’t get too close,’ shouted Edgar urgently to Max and pulled him backwards towards the rest of them.

  ‘I’ve never seen anything like it before,’ said Max. ‘Is this a creature from the unseen world?’

  ‘No. Let’s get out of here.’

  ‘Maybe it’s from the moon?' said Max jokingly. ‘The eye certainly looks like a moon.’

  Whilst they had been talking, the creature had done nothing but stare back at them. It stretched its claw like fingers through the bars, testing to see if it could reach the children, but all it did was grasp at thin air.

  ‘What’s that smell?' asked Joe, raising his hand to shield his mouth.

  Edgar noticed it at the same time and automatically covered his face with the fabric of his jacket. There was now a harsh smell inside the tunnel that made the back of their throats sting. A brown coloured smoke had begun to appear around the creature.

  ‘It’s acid!’ said Edgar. ‘Come on, we have to keep moving. If the tunnel fills up with these fumes it could kill us. The creature must be using some form of acid to break through the gate. Come on, hurry!’

  Panic set in once again and the children began running along the passageway trying to get as far away from the creature as possible.

  The darkness swallowed them up once again as they headed further into the tunnel not knowing what lay ahead of them, but at least now they knew what was following them. After several minutes of running in silence Edgar noticed that there was no sound of anything following them, so he slowed down to a quick walk, allowing the children chance to catch their breath.

  ‘Where does this tunnel go?' Max asked the question everyone else was thinking.

  ‘I’m not entirely sure, but we’ve been moving constantly down hill and away from the castle. This could be one of the escape routes built into the castle rock in case it came under siege. Remember we went through that junction where three tunnels came together? Above it was the Royal Palace. Royalty could leave the castle undetected via underground passages. If this is one of them, it should lead to somewhere outside the castle’

  Behind them a loud clang of metal echoed off the sides of the tunnel walls. They all froze, realising that the creature had managed to get through the gate and was now inside the tunnel and following them once more.

  They started to run again.

  Suddenly the passage came to a dead end.

  They were trapped, faced with a solid wall of stone with nowhere to go except back the way they had just come and straight into the path of the creature. Edgar frantically swung the flashlight around desperately looking for an exit.

  ‘Up there!’ shouted Scarlet who noticed a gap in the ceiling. ‘We need to go up.’

  Edgar shone the light into a narrow tunnel that climbed up and into darkness. There was a metal ladder fixed to one side of the tunnel. It was their only option.

  ‘We have to climb,’ Edgar said as he picked up Scarlet so that she could reach the bottom rung of the ladder, ‘and we have to climb quickly. Go!’

  As soon as one of the children had gone up several rungs of the ladder Edgar lifted another to start immediately after until there was just himself left in the tunnel alone. The damp bubbling sound was getting closer all the time. The last of the children finally cleared the bottom of the ladder so Edgar could now begin to lift himself up. He started to climb as quickly as he could and soon came to the feet of Max who was directly in front of him.

  ‘Come on, keep moving as fast as you can,’ said Edgar, desperately encouraging them on. He swung the flashlight to shine above where the Scarlet was climbing at the front of the line. Edgar could see where the ladder finished and it looked like there was night sky above them.

  ‘Keep going,' he said. 'Look above you. This takes us outside. I know your arms are probably hurting but we’re almost there.’

  He swung the flashlight back down beneath his feet and saw that the creature had now arrived at the dead end of the passageway. It looked up at the light then something very peculiar happened. It spread its arms out and a thin flap of skin unfolded from beneath its armpits like skinny bat wings. It flapped hard pushing air beneath its body in swirls of dust, allowing it to rise off the ground.

  ‘It’s got wings!’ said Edgar in surprise. He watched as the creature attempted to fly up the tunnel, but it was too narrow, its wings kept hitting the side of the tunnel causing it to slip back down. On one attempt, as it fell backwards it managed to hook one long finger onto a rung of the ladder and hold on. Now it began pulling its body up the tunnel at an alarming speed.

  Scarlet had now reached the top. She pushed her shoulder against a grate that covered the hole and lifted her weary body out onto wet grass. Joe followed closely behind her and they both sat there panting for breath as Max's head also appeared above the hole.

  Edgar’s progress was delayed as he waited for the children to move out of the tunnel, but the creature had rapidly gained on them. Edgar shone the light back down the tunnel to see how far away the creature was and was surprised to see that it was just two rungs below his feet. He saw a thin clawed hand begin to reach up for his foot but as the light from the flashlight shone directly into its eye it seemed to retract back almost squinting in an attempt to shield its eye from the bright light. Edgar didn’t need to wait for a better opportunity than this; he pulled one foot off a rung of the ladder and slammed it into the head area of the creature which then fell backwards down the tunnel.

  Above him he noticed that Max had now managed to pull himself out of the tunnel allowing Edgar chance to climb the rest of the ladder. He lifted his body out onto the wet grass beside the children and beneath the castle wall.

  ‘Where are we now?' asked Joe.

  ‘It looks like we have come up through the Castle Rock and this is probably Princess Street Gardens,’ answered Edgar.

  ‘There’s no moon tonight,’ said Scarlet as she stared up at the sky.

  ‘Maybe that creature’s eye really is the moon,’ replied Max who lay beside Scarlet staring up into space. ‘Maybe it stole it from the sky. It's a Moon Stealer.’

  The smile on his face suddenly turned to horror as a thin fingered hand reached up out of the tunnel hole and gripped Max around his ankle
like a spider's legs contracting together. He was pulled with amazing strength towards the hole, despite Max clawing and grabbing at the slippery grass with his hands.

  Suddenly there was a flash of brilliant white light that sliced through the air and separated the creatures arm from its body. Holding a sword firmly in both hands Edgar then leapt to the tunnel entrance and thrust it deep into the tunnel and into the eye of the Moon Stealer.

  Max seemed to be in shock and continued to stare at the creature’s black skeletal hand that was still attached to him.

  ‘Quick, take off your trousers,’ Scarlet shouted to Max. Coloured acidic smoke had begun to drift from the creature’s hand that remained frozen around Max’s ankle.

  Panicking, he quickly rolled his trousers down and threw them across the grass.

  Edgar examined Max’s ankle. Apart from the red marks where the creature's fingers had dug into his flesh, the material from his trousers appeared to have protected his skin from coming into contact with the acid.

  19. A Restless Knight

  After their encounter with the creature, Edgar gone Max his coat as it hung longer than his own so that it covered his bare legs. He then found an available room in the top floor of an old pub, consisting of no carpet, several mattresses on the floor and a single cream coloured wax candle for light. The weather had got progressively worse. Heavy raindrops fell onto the roof drumming a constant rhythm while thunder grumbled in the sky above like the scrape of heavy furniture moving across a wooden floor. Edgar had become quite protective of the children and sat watching them as they turned peacefully beneath their blankets. Part of him regretted bringing them with him on this quest, not truly knowing the dangers it could put them in. But, for all he knew, the dangers were no different to those Peter had encountered in Parsley Bottom.