Grave Girl

by Amy Cross

  Fenroc listens as Sam climbs back down the hatch, while Anna hurries through to one of the other room. Seizing his chance, Fenroc slips pushes the bathroom door shut and slides the lock across, before heading over to the hatch. He waits until Sam is out of sight at the bottom of the steps before starting to climb down. After a moment, he pauses and pulls the hatch shut, and then he slides the bolt across to make sure that Anna won't be able to follow. He figures he's got enough on his hands, dealing with Faraday and Sam Marker, and the last thing he needs is for some rotten little zombie idiot to come blundering down the steps.

  "There's another rope we might be able to use," Sam says, far down below. "Anna's fetching it now. Do you know how far down the pit we'll have to go? I mean, the ropes are only so long, and even if we tie them together, we might not have enough."

  "I'm not sure," Faraday replies. "I don't think it's too far. The sounds are quite close."

  "Faraday," Fenroc whispers with a smile. "Well, this is turning out to be a good old-fashioned reunion." Making his way slowly down the steps, he stops again as he spots Sam and Faraday over by the edge of the pit, where they seem to be trying to drive a metal peg into the ground. The rope, arranged neatly on the ground, is clearly set to be lowered down so that Sam can try to make her way to the bottom of the pit, and so far the pair of them seem so engrossed in their efforts, they haven't noticed Fenroc's arrival.

  "You got any last-minute tips?" Sam asks Faraday as they continue to drive the peg into the ground. "I don't suppose anyone else has ever done anything like this before, have they? I guess most people have been specifically avoiding having to go down into this pit."

  "You'll have to keep your wits about you," Faraday replies. "You'll have to think on your feet and focus on whatever you find down there." He pauses for a moment. "I've read a lot of books about the Devil, Ms. Marker, but as you've pointed out several times, my direct practical experience is rather limited. In all honesty, I can't really tell you what we'll find down there, other than that it's probably going to be extremely dangerous. I can't think of many people who'd be willing to do this."

  "There's no other choice," Sam replies. She pauses for a moment. "Do you really think we've got a hope in hell of stopping all this? I mean, I know you said this was basically a suicide mission, but there's got to be a chance, right? If we're smart and if we come up with a decent plan, we can still stop this, can't we?"

  "Maybe," Faraday says. "With your bravery and dedication, and my historical knowledge of the beast, we might be able to come up with an idea once we're down there. It all depends on what we find."

  "We have to come up with a plan," Sam says firmly. "Failure's not an option. No matter how bad things look, we have to find some way to deal with this."

  "Who are you trying to prove yourself to?" Faraday asks suddenly. He waits for an answer. "I can see it in your eyes, Ms. Marker. There's someone on your mind, someone far away. Someone you want to impress. I've recognized it since the first moment I saw you."

  "I've got no idea what you're talking about," Sam mutters.

  "Forgive me for being so blunt," Faraday continues, "but teenage girls don't tend to move across the country and take up jobs as gardeners. Most girls your age are out partying, or at home studying. It's almost as if you've decided to remove yourself from the world, Ms. Marker. Are you running from someone?"

  "Not quite," Sam says awkwardly, as she starts to tie one end of the rope around the peg.

  "Hiding from someone?"

  She shakes her head.

  "But I'm right, aren't I?" Faraday continues. "When this is all over, and if we survive, I hope that perhaps you'll tell me the source of your bravery. I'd like to know."

  "Where's Anna?" Sam asks, clearly trying to change the topic of conversation. Glancing over at the steps, she makes eye contact with Fenroc. "I thought she -"

  "Hello," Fenroc says with a smile.

  "Get out of here!" Faraday shouts, hurrying over to him with a kind of instant, powerful rage. "How can you even be here? A creature like you can't possibly be granted passage into hallowed ground. You should have burned up as soon as you stepped across the threshold!"

  "I had a little help," Fenroc explains, holding up his vial of unholy water. "You know how it is," he continues, looking over at Sam for a moment. "We all want to go home eventually. I took a little trip and got hold of this precious little bottle. It's powerful stuff, more powerful than I'd ever imagined. You wouldn't believe some of the things it can do."

  "This isn't your home!" Faraday shouts, pushing him back. "You've done enough!"

  "Where's Anna?" Sam shouts, still working on the rope.

  "I'll hold him back!" Faraday shouts, looking over at her. "Just get down there as quickly as possible! And good luck. You'll need it!"

  "I can't go without you!" Sam shouts back at him. "I need help!"

  "I'll be there soon!" Faraday insists.

  "Let's try a different approach," Fenroc says with a sneer. Unscrewing the lid of the vial, he pours the rest of the holy water over Faraday, who steps back and screams as his skin starts to hiss and bubble.

  Standing stunned over by the edge of the pit, Sam can only watch in shock as Faraday drops to his knees. It's as if the water is burning through his skin, causing his flesh to melt and slop away from his bones. Still screaming, he puts his hands over his face for a moment as the bones of his arms begin to show. Pools of melted skin are collecting on the ground, and finally he lowers his hands to reveal that all the skin has been burned away from his face. Barely recognizable, he turns and stares at Sam, his two round eyeballs already starting to melt.

  "I'd prepared a big speech for this moment," Fenroc says, stepping toward him, "but I don't suppose you really give a crap."

  "I..." Faraday mutters, his entire body crackling and sizzling. "I..."

  "Exactly," Fenroc says with a smile, before kicking Faraday in the chest and sending his body sprawling across the ground with such force that the burned sinews in his neck are ripped open and his head comes loose, rolling several meters until it comes to a rest close to Sam. "Well," Fenroc continues, taking a deep breath, "that was emotional. I often wondered what it would feel like to finally put that pompous ass in his place, and now I know. It felt..." He pauses for a moment, as if he's trying to pick the right word. "Delectable," he adds eventually. "Divine. Fabulous. Delightful. You get the idea. The bastard had it coming for a hell of a long time."

  Unable to stop staring at Faraday's burned head, Sam tries to work out what to do next. Even though he hadn't been very useful so far, she'd been relying on him to eventually come up with some kind of idea. Suddenly she realizes, however, that she's completely alone. With Faraday dead and Anna missing, Sam turns and looks down into the pit, from which there rises another low growl.

  "Excellent," Faraday says with a grin, "sounds like the big boy's waking up. I'm sure he'll be up and about once I've given him a few more gentle pokes. And I'm so very grateful to you for setting up a rope for me. You're very kind, Sam. It's almost as if you're on my side."

  "Go fuck yourself," Sam says, standing firm.

  "Oh, come on," he replies. "I bought you a lovely dinner, didn't I? We had fun. Surely you can see things from my point of view, can't you?" He takes a step forward, while keeping his eyes fixed on her. "Granted, I was a little tough on Faraday, but the guy was no saint, if you know what I mean. He deserved everything he got."

  "Don't come any closer," Sam says, backing to the very edge of the pit.

  "Or what?" Fenroc asks. "Are you gonna jump?" He smiles. "I'd have thought you'd be looking for a smarter way out, Sam." He pauses for a moment. "I mean, aren't you interested in maybe making a deal?"

  "No deals," Sam says firmly.

  "Huh," Fenroc says. "Not even if I offer to save someone you care about?" He takes another step forward. "Not even if I offer to save poor, wee little Henry?"

  Chapter Five

  "Hey!" Anna shouts, banging on the b
athroom door. "Sam? Seriously? Are you in there? What gives? I mean, like what the hell?"

  She stands in silence, waiting for a reply.

  "Sam?" she shouts again, this time with a hint of panic in her voice. "Is everything okay?" After a moment, she sets the spare rope down before walking back across the room and preparing to barge the door down. Taking a deep breath, she tries to summon up as much strength as possible, before running shoulder-first at the door and slamming into the wood with all her might. She immediately feels a heavy crunch and hears a splitting sound, but after a moment she realizes that the door is still firmly in place.

  "Huh," she says, before looking down at her right shoulder and watching as her arm falls off. "Fuck," she mutters, leaning down and picking it up. A couple of maggots are wriggling in the stump, and she quickly pulls them out before placing her dismembered arm on the kitchen table and standing back to admire the door. Feeling a little shocked at this latest development, she considers trying to barge the door down again before realizing that she can't really afford to lose her other arm. "Okay," she says to herself, "at least it didn't hurt."

  Hearing a noise outside, she turns and looks over at the window. Convinced that there are probably various creatures out there, she hurries to the front door, ready to push it shut, but at the last moment she spots a familiar figure limping slowly toward the cottage. For a moment, she feels as if she must be imagining the scene, but finally she allows herself to believe that it's true.

  "Sparky!" she shouts with relief, as she watches the stone angel slowly making his way across the dark cemetery. Stepping out through the door, she looks around and sees that the whole cemetery is shrouded in darkness but, crucially, there seem to be no more of the creatures that were attacking earlier. Despite the mayhem and chaos taking place inside and beneath the cottage, the cemetery itself seems to be calm and quiet.

  "Where is he?" Sparky asks, his voice twisted with pain. Stone dust falls from a crack in his side, and he's forced to stop and rest against the door jamb.

  "Who?" Anna asks. "Faraday? He's down in the -"

  "Not Faraday," Sparky continues, sounding as if he's short of breath. "Fenroc. Where's Gabriel Fenroc?"

  "I don't know," Anna replies. "I didn't see anyone else, but Sam's locked me out of the bathroom. It's like she doesn't want me to go back down into the hatch with her. She sent me to fetch some more rope, and then when I tried to follow her, the door was locked."

  "Fenroc," Sparky mutters, pushing his way past her and heading into the cottage.

  "Who's Fenroc?" Anna asks, hurrying after him.

  "A former gardener," Sparky continues, wincing with pain as he has to stop walking yet again. "A man who was given a great task, and who chose to abandon his post and go in search of pure evil instead. He was a great gardener once, one of the best. I thought he was a man of wisdom and honor, but I was wrong. He turned to the dark side and now he thinks he can wake the Devil and strike some kind of bargain. This is all his fault."

  "Sam's down there," Anna continues. "She and Faraday are planning to use a rope to climb down into the pit -"

  "Are they insane?" Sparky asks, turning to her.

  "They stood around arguing quite a lot," Anna explains, "and then Sam kind of came up with the idea. I don't think Faraday really had any better ideas, so..." Her voice trails off. "I offered to go with them, but I guess they think I'm not really much use. I can see their point, really."

  "What happened to your arm?" Sparky asks.

  "It fell off when I tried to break the door down. Do you think there's any way it could get put back on? I mean, I know it's dead, like the rest of me, but I'd like to keep it for as long as possible."

  "Do you have a needle and thread?"

  "I guess so."

  "First, we need to help them," Sparky continues, stumbling forward a few more stops before stopping to rest again. "If we succeed with that, we can start worrying about your arm."

  "Are you okay?" Anna asks, looking at the cracks and broken pieces all over Sparky's body. "You look... I mean, are you in pain?" Reaching out, she runs her remaining, rotting hand across the stone of Sparky's chest. Although he feels firm and strong, the cracks in his body seem to be growing, and Anna can't help fearing that he might fall apart at any moment.

  "My fate doesn't matter," he replies. "We have to get through that door and down the hatch. Sam and Faraday won't be able to hold Fenroc back. I'll break the door down and then -" Stepping forward, he stumbles and falls, crashing down onto the kitchen floor and letting out a cry of pain as part of his left shoulder shatters. Although he still tries to pull himself toward the bathroom door, he has to give up after a moment. "You have to get through there," he gasps. "You can't leave them alone."

  "I tried," Anna says, staring to panic, "but in case you didn't notice, my fucking arm came off!"

  "Unscrew the door," Sparky continues, grimacing as the pain gets worse. "Find a screwdriver and remove the hinges. Do the same thing with the hatch if you can. I don't care what you have to do, just find a way for us to get down there!" He tries to get up, but eventually he lets out a scream of frustration and pain.

  "And then what?" Anna asks. "Even if we get down there, what are we supposed to do?"

  "We'll come up with something," Sparky gasps. "We're useless up here. You have to find a way to get us down there."

  Hurrying over to the toolbox, Anna starts looking through for a screwdriver, eventually finding one buried right at the bottom. "I got one," she says, "I can -" Suddenly she pauses as she spots something moving out in the cemetery. She stands completely still, trying to convince herself that she imagined the whole thing, but a moment later she sees it again. She desperately wants to believe that her mind is playing tricks on her, and that maybe some of the maggots in her brain are causing her to imagine things, but deep down she knows that she definitely saw something.

  "What's wrong?" Sparky asks. "We don't have much time."

  "There's something outside," Anna says, walking slowly toward the window.

  "There's nothing!" Sparky continues, raising his voice as his frustration starts to boil over. "I killed everything out there. The Volks are dead."

  "I swear to God," Anna continues, as she reaches the window and looks out into the darkness, "I saw something." Peering out into the night, she realizes there's definitely something shifting and churning under the grass, not only near the cottage but all over the place. It's as if the whole cemetery is starting to come alive, and there's a faint banging sound coming from inside one of the nearby mausoleums.

  "What do you see?" Sparky asks, his voice filled with tension.

  "I'm not sure," Anna replies, "I think -" Suddenly she sees something burst up from beneath the grass. Squinting, she sees that it's a tattered, rotten human arm, its hand reaching out toward her. "I think -" Seconds later, she sees another human arm push through the soil, followed by a rotten face that stares straight at her. "I think maybe it's people," she says eventually.

  "What kind of people?" Sparky asks.

  "Um..." Anna stares as more and more rotten bodies start pulling themselves out from the graves. As they get free, they each start lumbering slowly toward the cottage.

  "What is it?" Sparky shouts. "Tell me what you can see!"

  "It's dead people," Anna says, staring in stunned horror as the dead continue to rise from their graves and make their way straight toward her. "It's a whole load of dead people, and they're coming this way."

  Chapter Six

  "You don't know anything about Henry," Sam says firmly, staring at Fenroc. "You don't know anything about me. I..." Her voice trails off as she tries to come to terms with the way that two distinct periods in her life seem to be coming crashing together. She's always viewed her life in Rippon as a fresh start, and as a blank page unsullied by the regrets and mistakes of her past.

  "I'm sorry if I hurt you by mentioning his name," Fenroc replies. "I can totally understand why this might be an uncomfort
able topic, but sometimes we all need a little help getting these things out. It's not helpful to stuff secrets deep down and pretend they don't exist." He pauses for a moment. "I do my research, Sam. When someone comes into my orbit, I like to find out as much as possible about them. I know you kept your pregnancy hidden from the world, but there were little hints here and there. It didn't take much effort to join the dots. Eventually I managed to work it all out. The way you spent six months living along in a squat because you didn't want anyone to know you were pregnant. The highly commendable way you gave up booze and cigarettes for the baby. The fact that you never even knew who the father was, 'cause there'd been so many drunken encounters in alleys. What did they used to call you back in Leeds again? Oh, right, I remember. Sam the slag."

  "Henry's a long way away from here," Sam continues, "and he's got nothing to do with anything."

  "It doesn't matter how far he is," Fenroc points out. "The end of the world isn't a localized event, sweetheart. If the planet burns, everything on its surface burns. You, me, Henry... Well, not me. I've got a plan, you see."

  "Leave him out of this," Sam replies, trying to force back the tears that are gathering in her eyes.

  "This world is stinking cesspit," Fenroc spits back at her. "Full of piety and hypocrisy. But things are gonna change. When the old guy wakes up, he's gonna rip this place apart and start a whole new world, and I'm gonna help him out. He'll need me, you see, and he'll be grateful to me for waking him up. In fact, I'm planning to be in charge, on a day to day basis. A new world, filled with truth and beauty. Not like this crap-heap."

  "There's nothing wrong with this world," Sam says.

  "Aye, you think not? Even after everything that happened to you? After the misery you suffered? You still defend this world?"

  "I made mistakes," Sam replies, "but they were my fault. The world's still a good place."

  "I'm not here to judge you," Fenroc continues. "I know there might be plenty of reasons why a fit, healthy, intelligent young woman would abandon her new-born child. You probably thought you were doing the best thing, and who's to say that you weren't? But it's still got to hurt, hasn't it? It's still got to eat away at you. Is that why you're so willing to throw your life away by leaping into that pit? Some kind of misguided belief that you can save the world and keep Henry safe?"