Too quickly.
His stomach churned and blood rushed to his head. The nausea passed after a moment, but the disorientation remained. Where am I? The multi-coloured houses and unfamiliar view threw him for a moment, until he realised he was looking at the back of his street. His house, with the white cob walls and grey tiles stood in stark contrast to the greenery around him. He was in Frank’s field, the one that ran behind his house. On his right, proud on top of the hill, he could see the tall spire of the church.
The church.
Edwards.
Oh shit.
There was a faintly metallic taste in his mouth – a taste that was horribly familiar to Jack. He’d last tasted it when building a fence in his garden. He had slipped with the saw and cut across the back of his hand. For a moment he’d thought he’d got away with it, then blood welled out of the wound and he’d licked it like you do when you’re a kid.
Same taste.
Jack turned to be sick, but nothing came up. He had expected his stomach to do a somersault, but it didn’t. Instead, he felt instantly energised, like he had run three miles and eaten a good breakfast.
That’s probably not a million miles from the truth.
He stood up, this time with no head rush or nausea. He felt his arms and could feel muscle rippling there. Bare arms. He reached down to his legs and felt hair and muscle. His breath frosted the air, but he wasn’t cold.
He looked around the field. He couldn’t see his clothes anywhere. The field was empty: no sheep, no dogs and no clothes. Best get indoors as quickly as possible – how the hell am I going to explain this?
He ran across the field and vaulted the fence into the neighbours’ garden. From there he jumped over the hedge into his own garden, cursing the conifers they’d planted at the rear of their garden. He moved quickly to the back door, hoping that no-one had seen him. That would take far too much explaining. He pulled the handle of the back door.
It was locked.
3
Katie turned the television on. The silence was killing her slowly – even Ginny wasn’t making a sound. Josh had gone to sleep so she’d put him in his cot. The TV seemed unnaturally loud even when she turned it down. She had tried to sit still, but lasted less than a minute before she was up and pacing again.
On the TV, she flicked to the local news channel. A female presenter with an obviously fake tan and too many teeth grinned out at her whilst wearing something that wouldn’t have looked out of place in an old people’s home. Katie almost turned it off but then she saw the ticker tape scrolling across the bottom of the screen.
..body found in Huntleigh, Devon…. Suspected animal attack…. Police-
She let out a cry and another police car roared past. Sirens and lights shattering the peace. Oh God! She forced herself to calm down. Jack wouldn’t – couldn’t – be dead. No way, not after everything that had happened this week.
How do you know for sure?
She ran upstairs and pulled on yesterday’s clothes. Josh was still asleep so she scooped him up and almost sprinted back downstairs. She laid him on the sofa, silently thanking God that he stayed asleep. Back in the kitchen she set up his buggy and turned back to the living room.
A man was standing at the back door staring at her intently.
4
Jack looked at Katie through the glass. She had never looked so beautiful to him. Her dark hair sat tussled around her face and her eyes almost glowed. Clothes hung loosely, but clung in the right places to emphasise her newly curvaceous figure. For a moment, he thought of her on their wedding day, but then she screamed.
“It’s me.” It came out so low it was almost a growl. She unlocked the back door and started to hit him, tears rolling down her face.
“You fucking bastard! Where the fuck have you been? I’ve been worried fucking sick!” Each word was punctuated with either a punch or a slap.
He pulled her to him and held her tight until the struggles stopped. She rested her head on his shoulder, tears of relief running down her face. Her body was warming him and-
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Katie said pulling away from him. “Where have you been?”
“I woke up in Frank’s field,” he mumbled in the low voice again.
“Frank’s field? Where are your clothes Jack? What happened?” She started to cry again. “They found a body. I thought it was you.”
A body?
Edwards.
Jack held her tighter. “I don’t know what happened, Katie. I was walking home and someone hit me. I think it was Graham.”
“Shit, Jack.” Her vocabulary had always been second only to sailors.
“I know. I ran and woke up in Frank’s field.”
You almost believe that don’t you?
“I was so worried.” All the anger seemed to have left her now.
“I’m sorry honey.”
“What happened to your clothes?”
“I don’t know.” That, at least, was the truth.
She pulled away from the embrace and looked at him carefully. It was her bullshit detector and it was in full flow.
“Jack?”
“I’m cold. I need a shower.” Her face fell. “Please Katie. We’ll talk later.”
5
They sat on opposite ends of the sofa, a distinct chill covering the distance between them. Jack was now in jogging bottoms and a t-shirt. His hair was still damp, but he managed to scrub away the dirt and smell of the field. Katie was clearly still fuming.
“I had a few beers with John and left early, like I said I would.” The words came out slowly, like he was thinking carefully about each one. In truth, he had no idea what he was about to tell her.
“I cut through the church yard, but Edwards was there. At least, I’m pretty sure it was him. He hit me round the back of the head with a bar or a bit of wood or something and then started to kick me on the ground-”
“You haven’t got any bruises.”
“I know. I can’t explain it. Anyway, I got up and hit him a few times then I ran. Next thing I know, I woke up in the field.”
“Maybe you’re concussed.”
“Maybe. I was thinking of ringing that Dr Baxter who saw me after the fall. He said it was a miracle I wasn’t more hurt. Maybe this is the same thing.”
Even as he said it, he didn’t believe it. No, this is all to do with that bone.
Then there was a very loud, very firm, knock on the door.
6
“You better come quick, Major Smith is on the blower.” Carruthers burst into his bedroom. Knowles sat up quickly, took off his headphones and pulled on some shorts. He had slept with headphones for years. Choose an album, put it on repeat and go to sleep. It had drowned some of the noise in Ghanners. For a second, the only noise in the room was a tinny version of ‘Sweet Child O’Mine’, then he switched the music off. He was out the door and downstairs only thirty seconds later.
“Stadler’s been out all night. His missus is having a fit. It’s like listening to the end of a squaddie’s marriage too.”
“Hang on a second,” Knowles said, taking the satellite phone from Meyers. “Morning, Sir.”
“Sit rep, sergeant.”
“Stadler seems normal sir.” He paused, unsure what to say next. Oh, Carruthers saw a big dog that none of us have seen since, I saw his arm sprout hair and Jones and Scarlet heard an animal and found a mutilated body. Yep, he’s normal alright. “Happy new dad, wife looks good. They seem happy. I’ve just been informed they’re having an argument, but it’s only just started.” He winced as he said it: This isn’t going to look good.
“Someone has been killed.”
“Yes sir.”
“What is Stadler’s involvement in this?”
“Unknown sir. We lost eyeball on him last night.”
“Why are you there, Knowles?”
He didn’t answer; he knew a rhetorical question when he heard one.
“Sort yourself out S
ergeant. I want a full report within the hour.”
The line went dead.
Carruthers gave him a stern look. “Why did you lie?”
“What am I supposed to say? It’s all a bit fucked here isn’t it? And we don’t know for sure that Stadler is involved.”
“If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and tastes good with hoi sin sauce, it probably is a duck,” Meyers said.
“Turn the box on.”
Four of them watched TV in silence for a couple of minutes, whilst Meyers continued to listen to the Stadlers’ argue. The twenty-four hour news channel was leading with the latest crisis in Afghanistan, but the ticker tape at the bottom said that a mutilated body had been found in a village in Devon. Knowles swore quietly.
“What are you going to do?” Scarlet asked.
“Tell Smith the truth.”
Five minutes later, he used the radio to call Smith back. Carruthers took over from Meyers, whilst Knowles told Smith everything that they’d seen so far. Well, not the part about hair growing on his arm – that’s just too weird.
Smith seized on one part of his story, excitement obvious in his voice. “A big dog?”
“Yes sir. None of the rest of us had seen it but-”
“There is a dead body and you’ve seen a big dog. You don’t think the two are related Sergeant?”
“We don’t know what to think, sir. The dog has only been seen once. We looked all over the Stadlers’ house, but could find no trace of it.”
Carruthers started waving his arms frantically, trying to get Knowles’ attention.
“Just follow your orders, Knowles. You are to keep Stadler under close observation. I want eyes on that man at all times – am I clear?”
“Yes sir.”
“No more mistakes, Knowles.”
Carruthers waved even more frantically. Scarlet wandered over and listened in on the spare set of headphones. His mouth dropped open. Knowles finally saw Carruthers.
“Sir, I think we have a situation developing.”
“Go, Sergeant. Remember – eyes on, no matter where.”
7
It was John. He came in as soon as Katie opened the door without waiting for an invite. He made a beeline for Jack, sweat rolling down his face. He tried to get his breath back, but failed miserably.
“Do you want water John?” Katie asked, a concerned hand on his back. John shook his head.
“Jack,” he gasped, “what have you done?”
“What have I done?”
“They’ve found Edwards in the churchyard.”
Katie let out a gasp.
“He’s been ripped apart apparently. Father Keeling found him when he went to open the church this morning.”
Katie sat down, her face pale.
“What’s that got to do with me?” Jack said.
“How do you know this?” Katie asked simultaneously.
John turned to Katie first. “I went to get the paper, like I always do.” John liked fresh air in the morning. “I saw a couple of police cars turn up and went to have a look. I heard them talking about it – I’m glad I didn’t see the body. Father Keeling is a bit shaken up apparently.”
“I still don’t see what this has to do with me,” Jack said, but there was something in his voice: a lack of conviction that the other two heard clearly.
“They found your clothes around the body. They were also ripped to pieces. I recognised them as they were carrying them away in evidence bags.”
“What?” Katie asked. “You said you ran away from him.”
“I did,” Jack said. He was close to tears.
“I thought you were dead, that’s why I ran all the way here.” John had finally got his breathing under control. “But when I saw you…”
“You what? When you saw me, what?”
“Edwards is dead, Jack. Your clothes are all over the scene.”
“Do you think I killed him?” Jack tried to put indignation into his voice, but failed. John looked at his friend with a pained expression on his face.
“Last night, you said you’d happily kill him.”
“That was just talk, wasn’t it Jack? Tell him.”
Jack put his head in his hands. What the hell do I do now?
“I did not kill Edwards. I don’t mean to speak ill of the dead but he was a complete wanker and you know it. I’d loved to have punched his lights out, but not this. I didn’t kill him.”
John and Katie exchanged uneasy glances. Katie was grateful that Josh was staying asleep.
“I know he hit me, I remember that much. I don’t know what happened next, then I woke in the field.”
“You woke in a field?” John asked.
Jack nodded. “Yeah. I was naked. At least I know where my clothes are.” He attempted a smile but it fell on stony gazes.
“What are you not telling me, Jack?” Katie asked, a single tear rolling down her cheek.
“Nothing Katie. I swear I didn’t kill him.”
No, something inside me did. Something I can’t explain – something I don’t understand.
“So who – or what - did? And who ripped all your clothes off you without leaving a scratch on you?”
8
The soldiers listened intently. They had all heard similar tones in their partners’ voices over the years: I don’t believe you. Be careful what you say next Jack, Knowles thought, this might be the point of no return for your marriage. For him it had been a point blank refusal to talk about Afghanistan that had done for his marriage. From his wife’s point of view, she hadn’t seen him for six months and then he wouldn’t talk to her. From his perspective, there was nothing he could possibly say: he wanted to believe he was protecting her, but in reality he was protecting himself. No point in dragging those memories up. His wife had used the exact same tone of voice when berating him for excluding her from his life.
She had no idea.
Was Jack linked to the animal attack? Knowles wasn’t sure, but it was a hell of a coincidence that Edwards was killed just seconds after Jack had left the pub. Then there was the bit that had got the others excited: what exactly had happened to his clothes?
He watched the grainy images on the monitor and listened more.
This op was getting weirder by the second.
9
Jack took a deep breath and considered his options. You don’t really have any choice here, Jack. Tell the truth.
“I did hurt myself when I fell,” he began and then stopped. They are not going to believe me.
“What?” Katie gasped.
“I fell onto a table made of stone, like a slab. It had carvings on it and there were bones on top. One of them went right through me.”
“I should go,” John said standing up.
“Sit down,” Katie shouted. “I want you to hear this too.”
John sat down without another word but with an expression on his face like someone had asked him to chew on a wasp.
“I pulled it out without thinking really, but there was no cut once I’d pulled it out.”
“What do you mean? How can it go right through you without leaving a mark?” Katie’s voice was breaking. The single tear had been joined by a few more.
“I didn’t say that. I said that there wasn’t a cut afterwards. It definitely went through me.”
“Do you have any idea how that sounds?” Katie said, voice rising now. Jack nodded. He felt exhausted.
“Yeah. But I swear it’s true. The bone went through me without leaving a mark.”
“How do you know it went through you mate? You were concussed maybe, seeing things-”
“No,” Jack said more sharply than he’d intended. “I know exactly what happened.”
“Did you tell the doctors this?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because then they’d be looking at me like you are.”
10
Knowles looked at Scarlet. “Get your climbing gear together. You�
��re going into that cave tonight.”
“Why?” Scarlet looked puzzled.
“Let’s have a look at what he fell onto.”
“Come on Knowles, he’s lost the plot.”
Knowles shook his head. “The Major said that we were to watch him. We can do that, but I want to know more. If he’s telling the truth, then that cave is important. If he’s crazy, then we lose a few hours and you get to go caving at night. Could be fun.”
Carruthers sniggered. “If he’s telling the truth. Priceless.”
“Square that away Carruthers,” Knowles barked.
“Ok, who comes with me?” Scarlet said.
“Carruthers and Meyers,” Knowles said without a moment’s hesitation.
11
Katie started to cry, quietly and without histrionics. It was worse that way. Tears rolled down her cheeks, more of a flood than the earlier trickle. Jack felt his stomach knot and his heart rate go up. His legs started trembling.
“Jack, I think we need to take you back to the hospital,” John said, his voice barely above a whisper.
“I’m not crazy,” he said, tears of his own welling. “I’m not. I don’t know what’s happening to me, but it all started there, in that cave.”
“The fall must have done more damage than you first thought,” John said, a little louder now, as if for Katie’s benefit.
Jack just shook his head. “No. I’m fine. That doctor said I was his first miracle.”
“Tell me about the cave,” Katie said, wiping tears away. Anger was back in her eyes now.
“Like I said, I landed on a big stone slab. It had carvings on it.”
“What kind of carvings?”
Jack shrugged. “Not sure really. One kind of looked like the Devil, but with really big horns.”
Both John and Katie’s mouths dropped open. In different circumstances it would be comical.
“Jack, seriously mate, you do know this is out loud and everything?”
Nobody laughed.
“What has this got to do with your clothes being ripped?”
“I don’t know,” Jack said. “I’m just saying that weird things have been happening since I fell down that hole. Bad dreams for a start.”
The Original's Return (Book 1) Page 9
