We rolled away, and stood, just as the door slammed open and the gray wolf bounded through, coming straight for us.
We didn’t think about it. We pulled the belt around our waist. The clasps clicked into place, just as the wolf hit us in the chest and sent us tumbling.
My world went silver-gray.
I’d lost my connection to the Elf, but I was past caring. I smelled blood in the air, blood and sweat and urine. Above that, the fresh odor of pine trees.
My joints cracked and swelled, wiry hair forcing its way out all over my body in a fiery tingle like an electric shock.
My nose felt too big for my face, my teeth too big for my mouth. But overall, what I felt was free.
I tugged against the shackles, hard. They didn’t give, but a fine sprinkle of dust fell into my eyes. I sneezed it away and howled.
Around me, the hanging youths howled along.
My feet scratched on the old straw at my feet, but couldn’t find purchase. I wanted… I needed… to run. Nothing mattered but the running, with the wind in my face, the moon on my back, and a quarry ahead.
Once more I howled, this time in frustration. And once more I tugged hard at the shackles. Something gave this time, only a fraction, but enough to give me hope.
Around me the youths danced at the end of their chains, snouts dripping blood and mucus as we howled and thrashed, desperate for freedom.
I’d never enjoyed myself so much with my clothes on.
It didn’t last.
The barn door creaked, and the big gray wolf entered, back end first, dragging behind it another wolf, its body broken and torn, blood leaking from numerous wounds, its left front leg almost hanging off. A huge deep hole in its neck oozed blood out in a growing pool on the straw. The dying wolf looked at me. I smelled blood, and shit, and fear.
McBarnette dumped the body where we could all see it and, with one bite, took the Elf’s head off.
The color came back into my world, but took most of the life out of it. I looked down at the Elf’s head, and the staring, dead eyes looking up at me.
We had failed.
Ten
THE LONG GOODBYE
McBarnette hadn’t had it all his own way. There was a suppurating wound at the wolf’s left shoulder, and its rear left leg threatened to give way as the wolf walked back to the Elf’s body. Taking care to avoid the silver, it ripped the belt off and tore the hairs apart in a frenzy. The silver clasps fell unnoticed to the straw as the belt came to pieces and the hairs scattered in the breeze.
The change left McBarnette. He slumped, panting, as it went, and almost fell as his leg refused to take his weight. Blood poured down his left side from a deep wound at his shoulder. He forced himself upright, and walked towards his clothes.
Arcand stood naked in the doorway, watching, as McBarnette struggled to get dressed. Arcand didn’t offer any help, and McBarnette didn’t ask, but there was more blood on the straw when he was finished.
A lot more blood.
McBarnette left without speaking, but I scarcely noticed. I felt wrung out, as if I’d run several miles then had a spell in the gym. My legs wobbled like a party jelly in the hands of an octogenarian. My heart pounded heavily in chest and ears, making me acutely aware of the blood that hid inside me, just waiting for a chance to break out. Or be let out.
But most of all, what I felt was an acute sense of loss.
I’d been free. Free from worry and doubt, free from anxiety about work, money, even free from these shackles that held me. I’d tasted the wild.
And I wanted more.
It seemed the youths around me were having similar thoughts. There were no shouts, no curses, only soft weeping from more than a few.
One of them started to sing.
Always look on the bright side of Life.
He got shouted down, but kept whistling the song softly to himself.
Broken Nose looked up at me.
“What the fuck happened?” he said softly.
“Another of the Elf’s whammies,” I replied. “A big one this time.”
He looked over at the headless body.
“Well, the evil fucker won’t be doing that again in a hurry.”
He spat in the direction of the severed head.
“You got off lightly,” he said. “I would have kicked your arse.”
“You’d have had to get in line,” I said.
He spat at the head again.
“So, what happens now?”
I looked at the barn door.
“Whatever it is, I don’t think we’re going to like it.”
He laughed.
“Well, it’s not as if it’s been a barrel of laughs so far, is it?”
He tugged at his shackles.
“I thought… back then, when we were different…I thought I was close to getting free.”
I nodded.
“Me too.”
I tugged at my own chains.
There was a loud crack, as if wood had split. I pulled again, hard, and looked up. The bolt through which my shackles ran had worked loose from the rafter. I gave it one last tug, and it came free, almost hitting me on the head on the way down.
I was loose, if not exactly free.
“Fucking A,” somebody shouted. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
I wasn’t sure about that. I was still shackled, and the chain that ran between my wrists was so heavy I could barely lift it.
“Come on then,” someone else shouted. “Get us the fuck out of here.”
I rattled my chains at him.
“One thing at a time, eh?”
I wrapped as much of the chain as I could in my arms and shuffled towards the barn door.
“Hey. Get back here,” Broken Nose shouted.
“Would you shut the fuck up?” I said. “This is supposed to be an escape.”
“Not without us it isn’t,” he shouted back. The rest of them joined in cursing at me. The racket was going to alert Arcand any moment now.
I half-ran, half-shuffled for the door. Something caught my eye in the straw… a glint of sliver.
I bent. Both clasps of the belt lay on the ground near the Elf’s body. I didn’t want to, but I dropped the chains. The silver was the only weapon I knew worked, and I couldn’t pass it by.
I put the clasps in my pocket, and lifted the chains again. The effort was almost too much for me. I was weak, my head throbbed in time with my heart, and I needed a smoke.
“Come back here, wanker,” Broken Nose shouted.
What I didn’t need right now was a bunch of Glasgow wide-boys shouting at me.
I left the barn and shut the door behind me.
My only thought was to find something to help get me out of the chains. Everything else was secondary at that moment. Until I’d lost the shackles, I couldn’t do anything about the youths in the barn.
Ahead of me was the light from the main ranch house. I saw figures moving in front of windows, so I moved quickly away from the barn door and into the shadows.
I walked to the left, heading towards some outbuildings I could see in dark shadows.
Straight ahead of me, twenty yards away, was the entrance to an underground area, hopefully a car-park. The entrance showed like a black hole, a cave that would shelter me from the cold that had now started to bite through my clothes.
I shuffled across the clear patch of ground as fast as I could.
When I had almost reached the entrance I could see that it was unlit, a black hole down to whatever lay below. It wasn’t inviting, but it looked like my best option to stay hidden. I shuffled forward, hoping to get inside before I was seen. The ground underfoot was icy and treacherous. Progress was slow; especially as I took time to look back every few seconds to make sure no one followed me.
Finally I reached the entrance and started to descend below the level of the lip of the drive. I looked back again. All I could see was the silvery sky, shimmering, a sea of stars.
Shadows
shifted, and suddenly two wolves stood there, silhouetted against the night sky. They raised their snouts in the air and howled, the unearthly wail echoing and reverberating like a feedback howl in the enclosed concrete tunnel.
I tried to break into a shuffling run; barely more than a walk, but even that proved to be too fast in the slippery conditions. I fell over onto my back. A second later I slid, ever faster, tobogganing down the slope, aware that, at any second, I could slam full on into a wall.
I hurtled down into darkness.
I finally came to a halt when the slope leveled out to join the concrete floor of the parking lot.
I got gingerly to my feet, checking for broken bones. I seemed to be fine except for some tenderness where some links of the chain had pressed hard into the flesh under my ribs.
Looking back up to the entrance I could only see a faint gleam of the starlit sky. There was no sign of any wolves, nor was there any noise.
It wasn't quite dark down here on the parking level. A generator was on somewhere. Red spots overhead lit the whole area in dim pink hues.
I knew better than to call out. Somewhere, not far above, the wolves were still around. I couldn't count on them staying outdoors for long.
I walked into the parking area, and almost shouted in glee.
A long line of vehicles stretched off into the distance. The ones closest to me were 4x4s, including two I recognized… the red jeep, and the black pickup truck. But in the shadows I could see a larger, bulkier vehicle. I broke into a stumbling run.
Hold on lads. I'll be with you soon.
I almost cried with relief when I got close enough to see that it was a small delivery lorry, more than big enough to hold all the youths.
Come to Daddy.
And there was more luck to come when I looked in the back. There was a large toolbox in there, and what looked like a set of bolt cutters. I managed to snip most of my chains off to free my arms, but that there was no way for me to get the proper leverage to use them on the rest of the shackles. Even so, when I pulled the roll-up door closed, and headed for the cab I was starting, for the first time, to feel something like hope.
The keys weren't in the ignition… but they were stuck behind the overhead sun-guard.
I had to manhandle the remaining chains into my lap to get behind the steering wheel. It was a tight squeeze, but once I closed the door of the cab I felt immediately safer. My mood was helped by the pack of cigarettes I found in the well beside the driver’s seat. Once I discovered where the built in lighter was located I was almost happy.
And the fuel tank was full. The engine purred like a contented cat when I switched it on.
I inched the truck out of the parking space and turned it onto the main alleyway as I sucked in some very welcome smoke, and sang to myself.
I'm on my way, from misery to happiness again.
My elation was short lived. When I flicked on the headlights they illuminated four golden eyes.
Two wolves sat on their haunches in the middle of the alleyway, directly in front of the exit.
I locked the truck doors and checked the cab for a weapon. I hoped that out here, some of the workers might like to have something with them, especially in winter. I was out of luck.
When I looked back out, the wolves hadn't moved. They sat there staring at me.
Only one thing for it.
“Look out boys,” I said. “I'm coming through.” I floored the accelerator and headed straight for them.
The bigger wolf, a male with a shaggy, lion-like mane, leapt in the air, rear legs clearing the bonnet.
My view filled with snarling teeth as it hit the windscreen head on.
“Reinforced glass dick-head,” I shouted as the creature bounced off, leaving behind only a smear of blood.
I hit the brakes.
The wolf slid off the bonnet, down beneath the truck. I slammed my foot on the accelerator and the truck jumped forward. There was a crunch and a bump as the front left wheel ran over something unyielding.
I quickly left them behind. In the wing mirror I saw the large gray change, until it was little more than a pale squashed and deformed thing on the concrete. The other fled, fading like a ghost into the shadows.
I almost let out a whoop of joy, but I had enough sense to know that the one that got away was the important one.
I don’t have much time.
I pumped the truck's accelerator as I speeded up the ramp and out of the garage.
I didn’t bother getting out to open the barn door. I went through it at thirty kilometers an hour. The door swung open as I went through, and swung back into place with a bang behind me.
The youths started shouting again as soon as they saw me behind the wheel, but I had no time to listen. I jumped out of the cab, got in the back of the van and started throwing toolbox and tools on the round.
Every second I expected the barn doors to fly open, and our deaths to come through.
I was breathing heavily, panting, having to lug the tools across the van floor, but finally I had emptied everything out onto the straw.
I climbed back into the van and backed it up against the barn door, firmly, hoping that would be enough to hold it. For all I knew there was a door out back that the pack could just walk through at will.
But a man can only do so much.
And right now I had to do more.
I carried the bolt-cutters over to Broken Nose. I held them up to his chains, and paused.
“Just so we’re clear,” I said. “When I broke your nose, it was the Elf I was hitting.”
“Just get me the fuck doon,”he said. “We can argue the toss if we ever get out of here.”
I cut him down. Between us we managed to get the rest of my chains and shackles off. We had just started on the next in line when a high wailing howl rent the air.
It was answered, three times, from a distance.
Broken Nose and I looked at each other.
“We’re royally fucked,” he said.
“We are if we don’t get more of these lads free,” I replied. I handed him the cutters. “Get moving down the line. I’ll see if there’s anything else we can use.
The next two to be freed joined me in sifting among the tools. We didn’t find anything we could use to break chains. There was only a small handsaw that would have taken all night to get through one link.
We did find several long screwdrivers that might be good offensive weapons, and one of the youths hefted a spanner that was longer than his forearm.
“Let’s see them try anything,” he said. The voice was full of bluster and bravado, but when I looked in his eyes, I saw what I was feeling. Fear. Fear and a rising panic that threatened to engulf me.
A howl rose from outside. Louder this time, more voices joined in baying at the moon. It was cold, high and ethereal. In other circumstances it might have been beautiful.
Our search got more frenzied.
I did a quick tour around the barn. It was solid wood all around with no windows. It didn’t even have a skylight. Basically it was a big box with a door in it. Bales of straw were packed up the far end, but there was nothing else of note.
I went back to looking through the tools with the others. Someone found a good-sized hammer, and another wielded a spade as if it was an axe. I was looking for something that might do a bit more damage.
The last place I looked was in the toolbox itself, and it was in there that I found my hope.
Lying on the bottom was a small box. It didn’t look like much…just a 10x6 metal box. I nearly didn’t open it, thinking that it would contain washers or bolts.
But inside, wrapped in cloth, I found six emergency flares, the kind with drawstrings. One pull and a miniature sun would be unleashed.
I needed a cigarette to celebrate, but I wasn’t given time. Broken Nose walked up to me.
“Five down, ten to go,” he said. “Lawrence is taking care of the rest.”
“Good,” I said. “Watch t
he door. If anything looks in, shove one of these in its face. Just pull the string and poke the bright end away from yourself.”
I handed him three of the flares.
“Don’t waste them.”
He nodded.
“Christ, I could murder a tab and a beer,” he said.
“I can’t manage the beer, but I can manage a fag, if you’ve got a lighter?”
I gave him a cigarette from the pack I’d found in the van and we lit up.
I looked at the flaring tip of the cigarette, then down to the dry straw at our feet, then over to the far end of the barn where the bales had been stacked against the wall.
He saw me looking.
“Don’t even fucking think what I think you’re thinking,” he said.
I didn’t get a chance to reply.
The first scratching started outside the barn door.
The scratching quickly turned to banging as first one, then two heavy bodies threw themselves against the door. It opened, only by an inch before the van blocked it. I could smell them, out there, a heavy musk, like a heady perfume in an enclosed space, tickling at the back of my throat.
A snout poked through, sniffing, testing the air. One of the youths leant over and drove a screwdriver deep up a nostril.
The beast fell away. A piteous wail came from outside, and a ragged cheer echoed inside, followed by a football style chant.
One-nil for the Scottish Goths.
One-nil for the Scottish Goths.
The euphoria didn’t last long. Loud thuds rang around the barn, first to the left, then the right. It felt like we were inside a huge drum.
The beasts were testing for weaknesses.
And God help us if they found one.
God wasn’t listening.
Two of the beasts hit the barn door hard. The van moved forward… nearly six inches.
“Shit,” Broken Nose shouted. “Did you put on the hand-brake?”
Truthfully, I couldn’t remember.
The beasts hit the door again, and it opened a few more inches as the van jumped. The gap was less than a foot, but it was enough for one of the beasts to get its head and shoulders in. It started to scramble with its front feet against the back door of the van, filling the air with metallic screeching.
The Midnight Eye Files: Volume 1 (Midnight Eye Collections) Page 59
