The Wilds

by Kit Tinsley

  ‘No,’ he said. ‘I need to know.’

  Karl looked at the young man; he didn’t know whether he and Jason should make him go back. It was clear that his emotional state was deteriorating rapidly. The puddle of blood was not a good sign. Karl worried that if they actually found the girl dead there would be no way they would be able to control the young man. At the same time, though the concern Karl felt for Tim was distracting him from his own worries for his brother.

  Tim stared back at him, and through the tears in his eyes Karl saw something, a flash of strength and determination. No matter how bad it got he knew that the young man had to see this through to the end. Karl respected that and nodded to him.

  ‘Let’s keep moving then,’ he said.

  Jason nodded and took the lead while Karl walked alongside Tim. The young man dried his eyes on his sleeves and then resumed scanning the floor for more clues.

  Pearce found the pool of blood next to the makeshift marker. When he had seen the small amount on the grass in the bag that Flynn and Morgan had brought into the station, he had hoped that the reporter had made a mistake, but as he crouched down next the sticky liquid, which had turned a rusty brown colour, he knew full well he was looking at blood. He had seen more than his share of it over the years.

  His phone began to ring in his pocket. He saw it was Booth and answered in his usual manner.

  ‘Pearce,’ he said into the phone.

  ‘It’s Booth, sir,’ she said in reply, as if he hadn’t seen her name come up on his phone. ‘I’ve just left the Sampson farm.’

  ‘Find anything?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes, sir. There was a puddle of fairly fresh blood in the shed.’

  Pearce sighed. Things were getting worse by the minute.

  ‘I’ve just found the one that Flynn was on about,’ he said. ‘It’s definitely blood, no way of knowing whose or what’s, though.’

  ‘Mrs Sampson saw it,’ Booth said.

  Great. Pearce could see the trouble he was going to have. The Sampson woman would pester them to investigate. Flynn would latch on to it, and Pearce would have field some very awkward questions.

  ‘So she wants us to organise a search no doubt,’ he said.

  ‘No, sir,’ Booth said. ‘I managed to persuade her it was probably the blood of the animal he was looking for. She said she’s going to take her girls away for a few days so that they don’t know their father is missing.’

  This was some of the best news he had received all day.

  ‘Well done, Booth,’ he said.

  ‘What should I do now?’ Booth asked.

  ‘Get back to the station and do some paperwork,’ he said. ‘I’ll get back to you later.’

  As always he hung up without saying goodbye. He looked back down at the rusty pool of blood. Phil Morgan’s blood, he was sure of that. He wondered whether he should have ordered a search of the field the day before, but what good would it have done? If his suspicions about Philip Morgan’s disappearance were correct then there would be nothing they could have done to help him. Besides there was no way of knowing whose blood this was, it could even belong to an animal for he knew. They would only know it was human when the results came back from the lab.

  He pulled an evidence bottle out of his bag, and scraped some of the liquid into it, just to make sure it really did come from the same source as Flynn’s evidence. Despite what the reporter thought, Pearce was always a stickler for following proper procedure.

  The sound of heavy breathing in the long grass to his right made him drop the evidence bottle and put his hand to his hip. With a speed his eyes could barely perceive, something shot out of the long grass, it clawed at his face, cutting deep trenches into his flesh. The force of the blow made Pearce fall backwards, and the pain in his face made him scream as he fell.

  Tim vomited uncontrollably at the sight of the internal organs lying on the ground. Karl watched as the young man dropped to his knees, shaking violently and sobbing. Jason covered his mouth and nose and knelt down to get a closer look at the carnage on the ground. He poked at it with a stick and lifted bits.

  Karl tried to comfort Tim, but there was nothing that could be done to ease his hysteria.

  ‘Julie. It’s Julie. Oh God, no, oh God,’ he muttered over and over.

  Jason motioned for Karl to join him. Karl didn’t relish the thought of going any nearer to the bloody viscera, but stepped over to Jason anyway.

  ‘What is it?’ he asked.

  ‘Hard to tell,’ Jason said. ‘They’re some intestines; I think a liver, maybe a heart. I don’t know if they’re human or not.’

  ‘It’s Julie,’ Tim said once more.

  ‘All I can say is this hasn’t been here that long,’ Jason said. ‘There are only a few bugs crawling around on it. If it’d been here any length of time then it’d be riddled with them.’

  Karl nodded, this made sense.

  ‘So whatever they belonged to was killed recently?’ he asked.

  ‘It’s Julie,’ Tim repeated.

  Jason ignored the young man and looked at Karl and shrugged.

  ‘I don’t know how long ago the owner of these...’ He paused, struggling to find the right word. ‘Parts was killed. All I’m saying is that these parts haven’t been here long.’

  ‘It’s Julie!’ Tim screamed at them.

  Karl turned back to the young man.

  ‘We don’t know it’s her for sure,’ he said as reassuringly as he could manage under the circumstances.

  ‘I know it is,’ Tim sobbed. ‘Something ripped her apart.’

  ‘It could be anything,’ Karl said. ‘None of us are doctors, there’s no way we can even tell if they’re human remains.’

  Tim shook his head, his grief had taken such a hold on him that he was unwilling to listen to any other explanation. Karl could understand that, when they had first spotted the pile of organs his mind had convinced him that they belonged to his brother. He also had the idea of Jason’s big cat in his head. His imagination had created graphic tableaus of Phil being torn apart by an enormous, demon panther. The creature his subconscious gave birth to in these vision was far larger and fiercer than any big cat he had ever heard of in reality.

  Jason tapped him on the shoulder.

  ‘You stay here with Tim,’ he said. ‘I’m going to go a bit further ahead and see if there’s anymore.’

  Karl nodded, this was a good idea. If these organs did in fact belong to Tim’s girlfriend and a little further up the path they found her hollowed out remains, the young man would surely lose his mind forever. If he was honest, there was also an element of fear that the organs belonged to Phil, and as much as he wanted to know the truth, he was unsure whether he could face the sight of his brother’s mangled corpse. Jason was the only one without a connection to either of the missing people.

  Jason wandered away and Karl knelt down next to Tim.

  ‘She’s gone,’ the young man whimpered.

  Karl put his arm around Tim’s shoulder. He could feel how violently the boy was shaking. For the first time that day Karl suddenly wondered what the hell he was doing. Surely they should have left this to the police? They weren’t prepared for this, especially not Tim, why had they dragged this poor young man on their stupid quest for the truth? It was starting to seem like the truth they were looking for was worse than they could have possibly imagined.

  Leon finished his second cup of coffee and looked at his watch. It had been twenty minutes since they had broken down; he wasn’t sure whether this was long enough for the car to have cooled down.

  ‘What are we going to do if the car doesn’t start?’ Maria asked, putting the flask back in the boot.

  Leon shook his head.

  ‘I guess we’ll have to call your Dad to come and help us out,’ Leon said. ‘He’ll love that I’m sure. He’ll have proof that I’m not capable of looking after his baby girl.’

  Maria laughed.

  ‘Oh, grow up,’ she said with
a smile. ‘My Dad thinks you’re great. It’s just I’m his only daughter.’

  ‘And don’t I know it?’ Leon said, smirking. It felt good for them to be joking. Things had gotten so serious. He had driven her away. Looking at her now, he knew they would make it. He noticed a frown replace her smile as she looked around.

  ‘Where’s Annie?’ she said.

  Leon had not seen her for a while. He scanned the field she had gone to play in. It was still and there was no sign of her. He had felt fear before in his life, but nothing like the terror he felt at that moment. It was as though a giant, ice cold hand had reached inside of him and grabbed hold of his soul in a vice like grip.

  Without another word between them they were both running into the field.

  ‘Annie?’ Maria called out, the desperation in her voice barely concealed.

  ‘Annie?’ he shouted. His voice was much louder than his wife’s, and he hoped that their daughter would hear him, even if she couldn’t hear her mother. There was no response to either call, though.

  In his youth, Leon had been part of the athletics team for his school, and, though it had been many years since those days, he found himself running quite a distance ahead of Maria. When he was halfway across the field he noticed something. There, just inside the tree line of the woods, was a small blob of red. He had spent so much time looking for that particular red blob over the years that he would know it anywhere, it was Annie’s favourite toy, her red ball.

  Blood ran down Pearce’s face as he laid on his back in the field. The pain was almost unbearable. He touched one of the deep trenches that had been gouged into his face. They would need to be stitched and undoubtedly he would now be scarred for life; however, he was thankful he still had both eyes and a nose. His vision was impaired by the blood running into them, stinging as it did, but there seemed to be no actual damage to his eyes themselves. There was a loud growl from the long grass and the sound of something moving towards him rapidly. Whatever it was, it was coming back for more; he was certain it was coming back for the kill.

  He pulled the gun out of the holster on his hip. He quickly took off the safety and lifted the gun towards the direction of the sound. His vision too bad to aim, he had to squeeze the trigger and hope. The sound of the gun shots was deafening in the quiet of the field. He fired another shot, and another, and another. There was a yelp, and the sound of something scurrying away from him.

  Pearce kept the gun held up for a long time. He was certain that whatever had attacked him would return. The weight of the gun was becoming difficult to keep held up. His head felt light, and Pearce knew he was going to pass out. He tried to get to his phone; if it was blood loss that was causing him to feel like this, then he needed to get help or he could bleed to death. He rummaged blindly in his pocket. As the darkness of unconsciousness was about to take him, he grabbed his phone, but before he could dial a number, the darkness took him.

  Leon reached the ball and picked it up. He looked around; there was no sign of his daughter. He turned back to see Maria making her way to him. He could see the tears streaming down her face as she approached him.

  ‘Annie!’ he screamed.

  There was the sound of movement in the undergrowth next to him, and Annie crawled into view.

  ‘Jesus Christ, Annie,’ he said sweeping the girl into his arms.

  The girl burst into tears, scared by his reaction to seeing her. Maria reached them and grabbed hold of her as well. For a long time they stayed there in that three-way embrace, a family joined together. Finally Leon set the girl down. Maria knelt down in front of her.

  ‘Don’t ever scare us like that again,’ she said to the girl. ‘I told you to stay where I could see you.’

  The girl looked at her wide eyed.

  ‘I went to look for the fairies who gave me my ball back,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t fairies, though, it was a monster, but he was lonely so I thought I should keep him company. Then I heard Daddy calling, and I came back.’

  Maria looked at her, then looked to Leon. He shook his head and smiled. It was obvious that the girl had one hell of an imagination. That was the best excuse for her disobeying them she had come up with yet. Maria smiled and hugged the girl again.

  ‘Just don’t run off like that again. Okay?’ Maria said.

  ‘Okay, Mummy,’ the girl said.

  With that, the three of them walked back across the field to the car. Periodically on the journey Annie would stop and look back towards the woods and wave. Leon was amazed at her commitment to the story, that was for sure.

  When they got back to the car, Maria decided to strap Annie back into the car; she did not want to take any more chances. Leon sat in the driver’s seat and turned the key in the ignition. He prayed to the god of broken down cars to help him out just this once. The car sputtered, but then started to tick over. Leon sighed with relief.

  ‘We’ll drive into town then get it checked out before we go any further,’ he said.

  ‘Good idea,’ Maria said leaning over and kissing him on the cheek.

  For the first time since he had learnt about the affair, he felt no disgust at her kiss. He felt no reminder of her betrayal; he just felt the love of his wife.

  ‘Ready to go Annie?’ he called into the back.

  ‘Yay!’ The little girl said excitedly.

  ‘Then let’s go,’ Leon said.

  And with that the Hayes family departed, unaware of just how close they had come to facing a horror they could not even imagine.

  Jason quickly found a trail of blood splatter after he left Karl and Tim. He followed it through the woods.

  Several loud pops off in the distance attracted his attention. They echoed around the woods. At first he thought they were gunshots, but soon figured out it was probably just a bird scarer.

  He could feel his heart beating in his chest. He had been investigating this story for months now, but was he finally getting some answers? Was he finally about to find some evidence that it would be impossible for Pearce to refute or was he blindly following a trail of blood that could lead him to a creature more than capable of killing him?

  Though he believed in the existence of the big cat, the Darton beast as he had dubbed it, it had always been something he was removed from. As he followed the trail of blood, he noticed that the distance between him and the beast was disintegrating. He was now putting himself in harm’s way for the story. It wasn’t just the story, though, anymore. He felt a responsibility to Karl, and to a lesser degree Tim. He had promised them answers, and given what they had been through they deserved his commitment.

  The trail of blood veered off the path and headed into a thick patch of brambles.

  ‘More thorns,’ he said to himself as he got down on his hands and knees and started to reach into the bush. The blood trail went a little way into the overgrown brambles. He was glad of his jacket. The thickness of the material protected his arms from the thorns, but his hands took a few scratches as he rooted around blindly in the tangled bush.

  He felt his hand touch something cold and sticky. Instinctively, he jerked his hand back out. Congealing blood covered his fingers. There had been something in there, some frayed fabric or something; that was what was bloody.

  There was the sound of voices behind him. Karl and Tim had begun to follow him. He moved fast to see what was in the bush. He didn’t think Tim would handle it if he saw anything else that suggested his girlfriend was dead.

  Jason reached back into the bush and quickly found the moist, frayed fabric he had touched before. He started to pull, and was surprised at how much effort it took. Whatever the hell it was, it was heavy. He tugged harder until his hand became visible once more. A gasp escaped him as he saw that he was tugging on hair, brown hair.

  His mind filled in the gaps, this was the body of either Tim’s girlfriend, or Karl’s brother. Either way, one of them was about to lose it completely. Jason believed that Karl, though distraught, would be easier to deal with that Ti
m, who was already on the verge of a breakdown.

  ‘Jason?’ he heard Karl calling from back along the path.

  ‘Yeah?’ he replied.

  ‘Have you found anything?’ Karl asked.

  What could he say? He couldn’t lie, they had all come too far for that.

  ‘Yeah,’ he said.

  Quickly he grabbed the blood-matted hair and began to tug with all his strength. He dug his heels into the ground, and used his body weight to drag the remains out. The muscles in his arms and back burned with the effort, but finally it slid.

  As he looked down Jason felt an amazing mix of disgust and relief. Disgust at what he was seeing, what he was touching. Relief that it was not the remains of either missing person.

  ‘Fuck,’ Karl said, appearing at Jason’s shoulder.

  Jason turned around and saw Karl stood behind him. Tim was hanging back, propping himself against a tree as though he couldn’t quite manage to stand unaided.

  ‘Is it her?’ Tim said without looking over. ‘Is it Julie?’

  ‘No,’ Jason said. ‘It’s just a cow.’

  In truth, it was a cow,s head. The body was nowhere to be seen. The head looked as though it had been torn off by something with incredible strength.

  ‘A cow?’ Tim said in disbelief.

  ‘Just a cow,’ Karl said.

  The young man slumped against the tree. that time his tears were ones of relief.

  ‘I guess we were following the wrong trail,’ Karl said turning to Jason.

  Jason looked at his watch.

  ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘It’s going to start getting dark soon. I think we should head back to the car.’

  Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of the theme tune to the game Tetris. They looked around confused. Tim pulled his phone out of his pocket.

  ‘Hello,’ he said into the phone as he answered.

  There was a pause.

  ‘Okay,’ he continued. ‘I’ll be there soon.’

  Another pause.