TORMENT - A Novel of Dark Horror

by Jeremy Bishop

  Garbarino took Mia’s arm and tried pulling her up. But she didn’t want to stand. Her will to live had been decimated by Elizabeth’s death. She’d been acting on survival instincts since then. But now, knowing what she would become upon her death, all hope had left her. Her betrayal of Matt had cursed her to a life of perpetual violence. She saw herself wandering the woods naked, trusting everyone she came across, murdered, mutilated and raped for eternity.

  Her body sagged in defeat, resigned to let the violence begin shortly. She deserved it.

  “Get up,” Garbarino said. “They’re coming.”

  “Let them come,” Mia said.

  Garbarino got down close to Mia’s ear. “Look, I get it. You fucked around on somebody and think you’re going to end up like her. But we’ve all done bad things in our lives. Collins sure as shit did. Even the priest. Right now we’re still alive and from where I’m sitting that means we have a chance to turn things around.”

  “I don’t deserve it.”

  “None of us do,” he said. “But some of us, for some reason, escape from this place and don’t come back.”

  “Get moving!” Austin whispered back to them. Melissa wasn’t stopping and he wasn’t about to lose track of her.

  “The way I see it,” Garbarino said, “is that the people who don’t come back go someplace else. If that’s true, we’ll see the people we lost.”

  “How can you be sure? My sister is probably here. My parents. Matt. What if they’re all here?”

  He took her chin and turned her face toward his. “There’s no way to know about any of them, but I can say for certain that Elizabeth is not here. And wherever she is, she wants you to join her.”

  “What if you’re wrong?”

  “Then we die and stay dead. Cease to exist. That’s still better than living here.”

  “Mark knew,” she said.

  The voices grew louder still. Garbarino looked into the woods. He couldn’t see anyone yet, but he knew they were out there. He looked for Austin and found him nearly one hundred yards away, waving them on. He’d be out of view soon. “Knew what?” he asked.

  “That we weren’t ready. That we would stay here.” She looked at the ground. “And that he wouldn’t. He knew where we were. I figured it out this morning. Before I woke up.”

  Garbarino actually smiled. “I thought you were smarter than that.”

  “What?” she looked up at him, confusion in her eyes.

  “I figured it out two days ago.” He picked her up and was relieved to find Mia helping this time. “We’re in Hell.”

  “On Earth. But still alive.”

  He looked beyond her for any sign of the killers. He still couldn’t see anyone, but heard the crack of branches beneath their feet. “And for some reason, we’ve been given a second chance to make things right.”

  “I’m not sure that’s possible. Not after what I did.”

  “A question to be answered another day,” Garbarino said. He ducked low and pulled her down. The top of someone’s head was moving beyond a distant ridge. “And to answer it, we need to live. Are you with me?”

  “Let’s go,” she said.

  The pair hurried away, keeping low to the ground. But Austin was no longer in sight. Garbarino led them toward where he’d last seen Austin, but there was no way to know if Melissa had kept the same course. Once they were positive they were out of sight of the mob, they sprinted through the woods.

  Three hundred feet later, they stopped. There was no sign of Austin or Melissa. “Dammit,” Garbarino said.

  “I’m sorry,” Mia said.

  Garbarino shot her a stern look. “Don’t say that.”

  “But it’s my—”

  “I know it’s your fault, but it makes you sound like one of them.” He motioned behind them, toward the voices. “Scared the shit out of me.”

  An aberration on one of the trees caught her attention. “Over here,” she said. The dead bark had been pulled away and dropped on the ground. Knowing what to look for, she searched the area and found a second tree in the same condition, leading away from the voice. Then a third. “He left a trail.”

  “Let’s hope we’re the only ones smart enough to follow it,” he said before following the trail himself.

  They moved swiftly, doing their best to stay quiet while increasing the distance between themselves and the wall of voices. The woods ended abruptly and opened up into a patch of dirt on a rise where the trees had recently been cleared. Austin and Melissa were there, laying on their stomachs, looking over the edge of the rise.

  Austin rolled onto his back at their approach and thrust his handgun in their direction. Once he saw their faces, he relaxed and motioned for them to get down.

  Mia and Garbarino crawled up to the edge of the rise and lay on their stomachs. The view below them made them wish they’d taken their chances in the abandoned foundation. A city stretched out before them. Tall buildings now in ruins stood in the middle. A line of old, red brick mills lined a river filled with yellow, stagnant water that no longer flowed. Inner city buildings mixed with malls surrounded that. Suburbs lay beyond. A construction site sand pit lay directly below, and that, thankfully was devoid of movement.

  The rest, however, was hell.

  45

  A piercing scream turned Mia’s gaze to the street that crossed the far end of the construction site. A woman ran across the pavement, one way, and then the next—a frantic retreat. “She’s like Dwight Cortland. A runner.”

  “But what’s she running from?” Garbarino asked.

  “More friends,” Melissa answered, pointing further down the road where a crowd of killers streamed into the road and gave chase.

  The runner went into convulsive fits as the apologetic shouts of the killers reached her. She started in one direction, but a loud shout startled her and she turned around. This happened twice until she had become so blinded by raw panic that she ran into the arms of the killers.

  “They’re not your friends,” Garbarino said to Melissa.

  She waved a hand at him. “Pish. Look, they’re hugging her.”

  The runner disappeared beneath the mass of clawing, horrified killers. Mia was thankful for the distance between, not just because they were hidden from the mob, but because they couldn’t hear the tearing of skin or smell the fresh blood. “Did they somehow get past us?” she asked.

  “Those are the same people that have been tracking us,” Austin said. Before she could ask him how he knew, Austin pointed deeper into the city. “Watch the streets. And listen.”

  Mia focused on the city beyond. Then she saw it.

  There were hordes of killers everywhere, their screams creating a high-pitched white noise in the background she hadn’t noticed before. Running in front of most crowds was a single person, sometimes a pair. More runners. A wail cut through the background noise. Mia saw nothing, but recognized the roar as being similar to that of the hunter, Henry Masters. A second cry answered the first from the other side of the city.

  The mob below moved on, most of them now weeping in anguish for what they’d just done. They left a mangled body in their wake—torn limbs, a pool of blood and a trail of entrails. Mia was once again thankful for the distance that obscured the gruesome details. But when the body started moving, she longed to be closer, to see how it happened. From a distance she could only register the subtle movements below. Then the woman rolled over, coughing. She pushed herself to her hands and knees while looking all around her, the panic returning, perhaps with a fresh memory of how she’d just died. She got to her knees, gathering her trailed, eviscerated intestines and stuffing them back in her gut. Assembled once more, she stood and ran.

  Straight toward them.

  “She’s going to lead them to us,” Garbarino said.

  Mia tensed. She had as little desire to meet this runner as she did the killers. “Maybe she’ll turn around.”

  “Hey friend!” Melissa shouted. While Mia, Austin and Garbarin
o were distracted, the woman had stood and cupped her hands to her mouth.

  The runner below screamed and turned around, bolting back out of the construction site.

  Melissa took a deep breath and opened her mouth to shout again. Austin rose up behind her, a large rock in his hand. He swung the stone around and cracked it against the side of her head. The woman dropped to the ground, silenced, but not unconscious. She stared at Austin with the eyes of a woman betrayed. Tears ran down her dirty cheeks, leaving clean streaks. Her jaw shuddered as she began to weep. “How could you?” she said, “Why did—”

  Austin struck her again. This time she fell silent as blood gushed from a dent in the side of her head. He crouched down again and looked at a shocked Mia and Garbarino. “Sometimes to save people you have to hurt other people, the latter of which I’m not sure she even qualifies as anymore.”

  When neither of them replied, he added, “Don’t worry, she’ll be back to her trusting self in no time.”

  That resonated with Mia and Garbarino. Despite not being violent, she was one of them, one of the damned, destined to be betrayed for an eternity.

  A scream turned their attention back to the road. The runner had been caught again. The horde did their work, tearing the runner apart. Thirty seconds. That’s all it took. Then they were moving on again, leaving human road kill and a fresh stain of blood.

  The whole world is going to be covered in blood soon, Mia thought. Then the female runner collected her body, waited for it to finish knitting together, stood and ran toward the city where several more killer mobs and at least two hunters waited.

  “We can’t go down there,” Garbarino said.

  Austin stared out at the hellish city. “No choice.”

  “The fuck there isn’t,” Garbarino said.

  “He’s right,” Mia said.

  Austin turned toward them, his face grim. “You both need to start listening to things or you’re not going to last much longer.”

  Mia and Garbarino both held their breath and listened.

  Tortured screams from panicked runners drifted out of the city first, mixing with the background noise of the thousands of killers. The occasional roar cut through the din. But there was something else. The voices of the killers grew steadily louder. But the noise wasn’t coming from the city.

  It came from behind them.

  From the forest.

  The horde of killers pursuing them since they’d dropped from the sky would soon be upon them.

  Mia felt a sudden and rising panic and for a moment knew what it felt like to be a runner. She nearly got up and ran like a wild woman. Instead, she controlled her fear and asked, “Why are they still following us?”

  “Dunno,” Austin said and then pointed to the city.

  “Maybe they can sense we’re still alive?” Garbarino said. “Maybe it draws them toward us.”

  “Let’s hope not.” Austin motioned to the city. “Because we need to find a way through. If we can stay hidden long enough, and make it through the city, they’ll get distracted by the other killers, or runners.”

  Garbarino nodded, but Mia wasn’t so sure. The horde tracking them had killed Dwight the serial killer and Pastor Billy and hadn’t looked back. The distraction was only momentary. This horde and Henry Masters had eyes for them and them alone. Maybe Garbarino was right. Maybe they were attracted to the living. Or maybe Masters remembered Austin and Garbarino from his former life as a war protester and was following them out of spite. It didn’t really matter. They were all dead eventually.

  What did matter was what happened post-death. Would she wake up like Melissa, become one of the mob and kill her friends? Or would she stay dead? I’m not ready, she thought.

  “If forward is the only direction we have left, then let’s start walking before we have to run. I don’t know about you two, but I don’t want to run head long into a mob of killers. Doesn’t work out so well for the runners.”

  Mia moved into a crouch, looking for the best way down the ridge into the construction site. From there they would have to cross the road, a few neighborhoods, and the yellow river. Then they would have to pass through the core of the ruined city.

  “Are we going somewhere,” said a sugary sweet voice. Melissa had returned, all smiles and trust, Austin’s betrayal forgotten.

  Austin looked at the other two and made a face that said, “See!”

  A shout from the woods behind them made everyone freeze. The horde was close.

  Austin spoke fast. “Down the hill as fast as you can. Stay close to the sand piles in the construction site. We know there’s a second group of killers close by so we’ll need to scope out the road for cover, then stay close to the houses in the neighborhood.”

  A stick snapped in the woods.

  “Melissa,” Austin said.

  She turned to him, smiling wide. “Yes, hon?”

  “You have friends waiting for you in the woods. Go run and see them.”

  Mia and Melissa gasped in unison, Mia in shock, Melissa with excitement. Then the woman was up and running. As she disappeared into the woods, Austin slid over the edge and started down. Mia and Garbarino followed.

  “That was messed up,” Garbarino whispered to Mia.

  She nodded in agreement, but when Melissa shouted, “Hey there, cutie-pie,” a moment later, she knew the distraction Melissa would cause just might save them. Hopefully long enough for her to get right with whatever creator was sick enough to conceive a hell like this, but merciful enough to provide a way out.

  “What are you doing?” Melissa said, her voice tinged with an uncharacteristic fear. “Why would you—that hurts!” The scream that came next chased them down the hill and haunted their thoughts as they entered the construction site.

  46

  Austin led the way through the mountains of sand, gravel and shattered stone strewn around the construction site. He did his best to keep their position concealed from the horde behind them, but he also had to worry about the killers stalking the road. He stopped at the bottom of a large mound of sand and crouched, waiting for Mia and Garbarino to catch up.

  “We clear up ahead?” Garbarino asked, hiding behind a toppled over, rusty bulldozer. The road lay twenty feet away.

  Austin hadn’t seen nor heard any killers ahead and gave a nod. “How’s our six?”

  “Haven’t seen anyone,” Garbarino replied. “But the sand piles are blocking out the sound.

  Austin listened. Garbarino was right. The giant man-made sand dune was muting the shouts and screams of the killers behind them. “Once we hit the road, keep running until we reach the river.”

  “Banking on them not being able to swim?” Garbarino asked.

  “And hoping there isn’t a bridge nearby, yeah.”

  Mia frowned. She knew they didn’t have a lot of options, but she wasn’t keen on the river plan. “And if there are drowners?”

  “We’ll wait for them to drown.”

  A miniature avalanche of sand slid down the sand mound behind Austin. Mia traced its path with her eyes. “Look out!” she shouted before drawing her weapon and firing two rounds. The first missed the man running down the sand-hill, but the second caught him in the chest. He spun hard, fell and crashed onto the hard packed dirt next to a wide-eyed Austin.

  “Two more!” Garbarino shouted before popping off two shots and dropping a man and woman rounding the sand pile.

  Austin stood and shoved Mia ahead of him. “Run!”

  As they cleared the cover of the construction site, each looked back and each saw a human waterfall pouring over the ridge that they’d come down. The three they’d just shot had been the front runners.

  The group at the top was suddenly struck from behind. Three of them shot into the air and fell. Then Henry Masters stood at the top of the ridge, his eagle looking more like a fiery phoenix, shimmering in the light of the continuous heat lightning.

  Masters roared, scaring Mia enough to trip when she reached the pavement
. She fell to her hands and skinned her knees. Garbarino stopped, took her by the shoulders and hoisted her. As he did, he looked down the long, straight road and saw an army charging toward them, drawn by the gun fire.

  “Go,” he said. “Follow Austin!”

  Mia listened without hesitation. Austin had just entered the woods and she stayed right behind him. Thirty seconds later she noticed there weren’t any footsteps behind her. She stopped and turned around. “Garbarino?”

  He wasn’t there. She looked back to the road, but couldn’t see it, or Garbarino.

  Austin stopped and turned around. “What happened?”

  “He’s gone.”

  Two gunshots rang out from the road followed by, “Come and get me, you sons-a-bitches.”

  The voices of the condemned responded, shouting their sorrows in unison.

  “No!” Mia took a step back the way they’d come.

  Austin caught her arm. “Nothing you can do for him now.”

  “But—”

  “When a man sacrifices his life to save someone, it’s reprehensible to throw that life away.” Austin looked into her eyes, locking her in a stare that would have made a bull elephant think twice.

  She pulled her arm away. “Fine. Let’s go.”

  The woods thinned as they approached the residential neighborhood. The houses were mostly vinyl sided capes sporting two car garages. Most of the buildings leaned toward the woods as a result of being at the outskirts of a nuclear explosion’s blast radius.

  Austin climbed over a small white picket fence and made his way into the backyard of the nearest house. A swing set lay on its side behind an above ground swimming pool that had burst. “Stay away from the houses,” he said. “They look like they could fall if a butterfly lands on them.”

  Mia slid over the fence. “Good thing there aren’t any butterflies left in the world.”

  Austin frowned at her, but said nothing. He led the way through five more backyards before stopping behind the second to last house on the street. He hugged the back wall and peeked around the corner. Mia knelt next to him.