Run to Ground

by Bark, Jasper

  When the lips were removed, the hand of one figure produced a tiny chisel and held it over the guy’s front tooth. It was the sort of delicate tool a sculptor would use to apply the finishing touches to a marble bust. The other figure’s hand brought a mallet into shot.

  The camera pushed in to a close up of the guy’s open mouth and throat. The mallet struck the chisel on his front tooth, with such swift force, that the tooth was not only knocked out of its gum, it embedded itself in the lining of the guy’s throat.

  The guy choked and yelled in agony, his throat going into spasms. The figures continued to knock his teeth out, angling the chisel with such precision, and striking it with such power, that each of the teeth was driven into a different part of the guy’s throat. When they were done the whole of his gullet was raw and torn and lined with teeth.

  “Jesus this is fucking hardcore,” said Farshad. “Is this for real?”

  “Dunno,” said Ashkan. “Ain’t seen this bit before.”

  “Thought you said you’d watched it all the way through? Twice now.”

  “I have, I just ain’t seen this bit before. Must be some glitch or something.”

  The camera pulled back from the ruined face of the Mediterranean guy. The figures left him and moved on to the woman. Two more figures joined them at her side. Sam started to cry and tried not to watch as they went to work on her. Jimmy started to hyperventilate next to him.

  What they were doing to the woman was a hundred times worse than the damage they’d inflicted on the Mediterranean guy. She didn’t scream or fight them, and that made watching even worse. She just opened her mouth and let out a silent cry of anguish so profound it transcended the desecration of her flesh.

  “Aww man, that ain’t right!” said someone behind them, his voice loud with disgust. “That ain’t right.”

  Every time Sam or Jimmy tried to close their eyes or turn away Ashkan punched them both in the back of the head. “Ashkan, please man,” said Sam. “You don’t need to show us anymore. You’ve made your point; you’ll get your money. Honestly, even if I have to sell everything, you’ll get your money. Just don’t make me watch any more. Please don’t make me watch anymore.”

  The drug in Sam’s system made him even more susceptible to the footage. He could feel everything they were doing to the woman. Ashkan ignored his pleas; he was mesmerised and appalled by what was happening on the laptop.

  There were groans and cries of disgust from the other men in the room. “Turn it off man,” said one. “Turn it off, we’ve seen enough.” Another man started wailing and broke into a sob.

  “Can’t turn it off,” said Ashkan. “They’ve got to watch this to the end. They have to learn.”

  But the men in the room had all had enough. Jimmy heard two of them turn to leave the lock up. “Alright,” said Ashkan. “We’ll leave them to watch the end of it and we’ll go for a smoke.”

  Ashkan and his men were standing behind Sam and Jimmy. It was more intimidating that way. It also made it hard for Sam to work out what was happening. He glanced away from the screen to look at Jimmy. Jimmy had his eyes tightly shut. He’d had enough, but Ashkan was too distracted to notice.

  Sam closed his eyes too. He didn’t want to watch any more footage; it was becoming unbearable. The drugs had left his nerve endings raw.

  Someone’s footsteps approached them. Sam winced automatically, expecting a blow, but the footsteps went straight past him. He heard tapping on the laptop keyboard. Were they trying to switch it off?

  “Fuck,” a voice said in front of him. Sam didn’t recognise it. “Fuck NO! FUCK!”

  The sound of something very sharp going into flesh followed. Then a sudden release of breath, as if the air had been knocked out of someone. Cries of alarm and disbelief rang out behind Sam, then broke off, becoming throttled chokes and coughs.

  Sam pulled his chin into his chest and hunched his shoulders. Trying to make himself as small as he could while still taped to a chair. He could feel tears welling up behind eyelids that were screwed shut.

  The whole lock-up was filled with the wet ripping of torn flesh and the crackling snap of fractured bones. It was like someone had recorded a slaughterhouse and then played it at triple speed. Only the sounds weren’t coming from the tinny laptop speaker, they were all around him.

  Sam couldn’t look, couldn’t open his eyes. He just froze. Every sound made him shake more. What were Ashkan and the others doing to Jimmy? Why didn’t he scream? How could the noise be so deafening?

  Sam was next, he knew that. He gritted his teeth but it didn’t hold back the sobs that were breaking from his chest. The front of his jeans became warm and wet as his bladder emptied.

  One single thought went round and round in his mind.

  Please let it be quick.

  Please let it be quick.

  Please let it be quick.

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  THE QU’RM SADDIC HERESY

  by Nicola Tanthus PhD,

  Associate Professor, Camford University

  The Qu’rm Saddic Heresy, also known as the ‘Faith that Comes Before Man’ and the ‘Oldest Truth,’ is one of those enigmatic by-roads travelled by scholars of antiquity, especially those interested in lost and ancient beliefs. As with other heretics such the Gnostics, the Bogomils and the Cathars, most of what we know about the heresy comes from its harshest critics. But whereas many works have come to light, in the case of Gnosticism, that allow the heretics to speak to us across the ages, no document has yet been discovered that belongs to this heretical set of beliefs. Though the ancient Greek scholar, Achaikos of Thebes, informs us its adherents claimed all religious beliefs stem from this heresy and are a mere corruption of the more profound truths it contains.

  This belief is mirrored in the writing of Italian scholar and Catholic priest Marsilio Ficino, who proposed the doctrine of the Prisca Theologia, which asserts that a single true theology exists, one that underlies all world religions, and was given by God to man in antiquity. Ficino, the first modern translator of both the Corpus Hermeticum and the works of Plato, never directly referred to the Qu’rm Saddic heresy in his writing. However, later commentators on his work have inferred certain references to it. Given the precarious political situation that Ficino operated in, and given that he was a proponent of pagan philosophers in a highly Christian power structure, it is not surprising that he would not make any direct reference to a heresy that, if the rumours are to be believed, has been brutally suppressed since religion became organised and allied to the state.1

  Ficino’s brilliant, but ultimately doomed disciple Giovanni Pico Mirandola is also said to have made veiled allusions to the Qu’rm Saddic heresy in his much feted 900 Theses and his Oration on the Dignity of Man.2 There are some that have hinted that Mirandola’s mysterious death by poison at the young age of 31 may have been linked to the heresy. That other most famous Renaissance philosopher: Giordano Bruno, was also rumored to be in possession of certain scrolls that pertained to the ancient heresy. Given that Bruno was subsequently burned at the stake for heresy himself in February 17th, 1600, some fringe historians have speculated as to the truth of these rumours.3

  Ficino, Mirandola and Bruno were scholars who rescued ancient pagan philosophies and made them available to early Enlightenment audiences. By the time they were doing this, the Qu’rm Saddic Heresy was already considered impossibly old. One of the earliest references we have to the heresy comes from the Ebla Tablets, 1800 clay cuneiform tablets found in the Syrian city of Ebla. The tablets speak of an incident in the Mesopotamian city of Harran, one of the oldest human settlements and the site of perhaps the world’s first university, or centre of learning. Harran was linked to Elba due to the marriage of an Harranian city ruler to the Eblanian princess Zugalum.4 Even when the tablets were written, the incident was said to be ancient history. It concerns the expulsion of a school of heretics, from the university, who were said to be misleading the student body with their bl
asphemous teachings. This is the first time the heresy is referred to as the Qu’rm Saddic heresy, though no explanation is given as to where this name originates. The heretics in question were summarily stoned to death.

  Although I stated earlier that no actual texts outlining the beliefs of the heretics have survived, Johannes Hennenbloch, the 17th century Swiss scholar, claimed that the mysterious Voynich Manuscript was in fact a copy of a text central to the heresy. Dating to the 15th century, the manuscript was purchased by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph from Dr. John Dee in 1586. Believed to have been written by Roger Bacon, the volume contains many pages of an indecipherable text accompanying strange botanical and zodiacal drawings. No one has ever been able to decipher the writings but Hennenbloch makes an interesting argument for them being part of a lost cannon of the Qu’rm Saddic heresy.5

  Subtle allusions to the heresy have appeared in many occult writings down through the ages. Most notably in the works of Christian Rosenkreuz and other Rosicrucians, then later in the writings of the Theosophists Madame Blavatsky and Rudolph Steiner as well as the mystic G. I Gurdjieff. Perhaps the most interesting development in the history of the heresy was its adoption by weird fiction writers in the early 20th Century.

  Little is known about the life of Herbert W. Soames, other than that he lived in Schenectady, and published in the pulp magazines of the early 20th century, most notably between 1919 to 1931. Many of his most salubrious and sensational stories featured references to the heresy that, in spite of their many literary faults, suggest the author had a knowledge of the more esoteric strands of the Qu’rm Saddic beliefs. Titles such as Murder in the Name of Monanom, Blood for the Byrflings and My Heart Beats Fast for the Heolfor thrilled readers of such forgotten publications as Racy Tales, The Red Book and All Male Stories.

  In contrast, L.P. Hartington was a Don of the University of Camford, who in 1940 published a slim collection of stories entitled Late in the Day it Came to Pass. The stories are very much in the vein of M. R. James, Walter De La Mere and Lord Dunsany. While they lack the power and artistry of those same writers, one or two of them are eerily effective, especially the haunting and morose Why the Willows Weep for Me. All but two of the eight stories in the small volume deal in one way or another with concepts that are central to the Qu’rm Saddic heresy.

  Both authors are long out of print. Soames’s work was never collected, and Hartington’s had a limited print run. As a consequence, the stories never appear online and are seldom to be found in the back catalogues of booksellers. If you do come across a copy of Late in the Day it Came to Pass, or a pulp containing Soames’s work, be warned, despite their scarcity and novelty, their literary merits do not match the exorbitant prices that are asked for them.

  In spite of the Western occult revival that began in the 1960s, the Qu’rm Saddic heresy was almost completely ignored by esoteric writers in the latter half of the 20th century. I am reliably informed, however, that it has recently come back into favour as a fictional theme in the early part of the 21st century. I have not read the works of such writers as L.L. Smith, Jasper Bark or Simone Lastwick, whose work is said to touch upon the heresy, but I am reliably informed that there is little there to recommend them, other than a macabre ingenuity and a tiny amount of scholarship.

  What is most astonishing about the Qu’rm Saddic heresy, is that a belief system that was said to be old when our most ancient records were made, should still exert a hold on the contemporary imagination. There is an allure that surrounds forbidden truths and a certain mystique about banned beliefs. A sense of longing pervades their study, a yearning for deeper answers and a better glimpse into the darker matters of the cosmos.

  This is perhaps why they inspire such frightful fiction (in both senses of the word). It’s also why the unwary and the foolhardy seek to learn more about them. There is something within human nature that can’t help but question the perceived wisdom of its age. That’s why there will always be heretics and heresy, and why we seek out dark truths that may best be left to antiquity.

  Crystal Lake Publishing would like to thank the author for her kind permission to reproduce this work.

  * * *

  1 Yates, Frances Giardano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (1964) pp 15 ISBN-10: 041527849X

  2 Ibid

  3 Lachman, Gary The Quest for Hermes &sot;Trismegistus (2011) pp 210, ISBN-13: 978-0863157981

  4 Moorey, Peter Roger Stuart , A Century of Biblical Archaeology (1991), pp 149, ISBN 978-0-664-25392-9.

  5 To view the Voynich manuscript and decide for yourself go to http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/collections/highlights/voynich-manuscript

  THE END?

  Not at all.

  If you want to read more from Jasper Bark, don’t miss out on Stuck on You and Other Prime Cuts—A word of caution gentle reader, these tales will take you places you’ve never been before and may never dare revisit. They’ll whisper truths so twisted you can only face them in the darkest hours of the night. They’ll unlock desires so decadent you’ll never wash their taint from your flesh.

  Or The Final Cut—Follow the misfortunes of two indie filmmakers in their quest to fund their breakthrough movie by borrowing money from one dangerous underground figure in order to buy a large quantity of cocaine from a different but equally dangerous underground figure. They will learn that while some stories capture the imagination, others will be the death of you.

  If you enjoyed this book, I’m sure you’ll also like the following titles:

  Blackwater Val by William Gorman—a Supernatural Suspense Thriller/Horror/Coming of age novel: A widower, traveling with his dead wife’s ashes and his six-year-old psychic daughter Katie in tow, returns to his haunted birthplace to execute his dead wife’s final wish. But something isn’t quite right in the Val.

  Tribulations by Richard Thomas—In the third short story collection by Richard Thomas, Tribulations, these stories cover a wide range of dark fiction—from fantasy, science fiction and horror, to magical realism, neo-noir, and transgressive fiction. The common thread that weaves these tragic tales together is suffering and sorrow, and the ways we emerge from such heartbreak stronger, more appreciative of what we have left—a spark of hope enough to guide us though the valley of death.

  Devourer of Souls by Kevin Lucia—In Kevin Lucia’s latest installment of his growing Clifton Heights mythos, Sheriff Chris Baker and Father Ward meet for a Saturday morning breakfast at The Skylark Dinner to once again commiserate over the weird and terrifying secrets surrounding their town.

  Tales from The Lake Vol.2—Beneath this lake you’ll find nothing but mystery and suspense, horror and dread. Not to mention death and misery—tales to share around the campfire or living room floor from the likes of Ramsey Campbell, Jack Ketchum, and Edward Lee.

  Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast by Jonathan Winn—where the secretly guilty go to die. All thrown into their own private hell as every cruel choice, every deadly mistake, every drop of spilled blood is remembered, resurrected and relived to feed the ancient evil that lives on Eidolon Avenue.

  Wind Chill by Patrick Rutigliano—What if you were held captive by your own family? Emma Rawlins has spent the last year a prisoner. The months following her mother’s death dragged her father into a paranoid spiral of conspiracy theories and doomsday premonitions. But there is a force far colder than the freezing drifts. Ancient, ravenous, it knows no mercy. And it’s already had a taste . . .

  Children of the Grave—Choose your own demise in this interactive shared-world zombie anthology. Welcome to Purgatory, an arid plain of existence where zombies are the least of your problems. It’s a post-mortem Hunger Games, and Blaze, a newcomer to Purgatory, needs your help to learn the rules of this world and choose the best course of action.

  Little Dead Red by Mercedes M. Yardley—The Wolf is roaming the city, and he must be stopped. In this modern day retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, the wolf takes to the city streets to capture his prey, but the hunter is clo
se behind him. With Grim Marie on the prowl, the hunter becomes the hunted.

  Flowers in a Dumpster by Mark Allan Gunnells—The world is full of beauty and mystery. In these 17 tales, Gunnells will take you on a journey through landscapes of light and darkness, rapture and agony, hope and fear. Let Gunnells guide you through these landscapes where magnificence and decay co-exist side by side. Come pick a bouquet from these Flowers in a Dumpster.

  The Dark at the End of the Tunnel by Taylor Grant—Offered for the first time in a collected format, this selection features ten gripping and darkly imaginative stories by Taylor Grant, a Bram Stoker Award® nominated author and rising star in the suspense and horror genres. Grant exposes the terrors that hide beneath the surface of our ordinary world, behind people’s masks of normalcy, and lurking in the shadows at the farthest reaches of the universe.

  If you ever thought of becoming an author, I’d also like to recommend these non-fiction titles:

  Horror 101: The Way Forward—a comprehensive overview of the Horror fiction genre and career opportunities available to established and aspiring authors, including Jack Ketchum, Graham Masterton, Edward Lee, Lisa Morton, Ellen Datlow, Ramsey Campbell, and many more.

  Horror 201: The Silver Scream Vol.1 and Vol.2—A must read for anyone interested in the horror film industry. Includes interviews and essays by Wes Craven, John Carpenter, George A. Romero, Mick Garris, and dozens more. Now available in paperback, as well.

  Modern Mythmakers: 35 interviews with Horror and Science Fiction Writers and Filmmakers by Michael McCarty—Ever wanted to hang out with legends like Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, and Dean Koontz? Modern Mythmakers is your chance to hear fun anecdotes and career advice from authors and filmmakers like Forrest J. Ackerman, Ray Bradbury, Ramsey Campbell, John Carpenter, Dan Curtis, Elvira, Neil Gaiman, Mick Garris, Laurell K. Hamilton, Jack Ketchum, Dean Koontz, Graham Masterton, Richard Matheson, John Russo, William F. Nolan, John Saul, Peter Straub, and many more.