He would never know the answer to that, and he knew he would never find peace.
It took a while, but eventually enough strength returned so that Adrian was able to drag himself to his feet and push on. He staggered through the passageway and then up the stairs to the Main Hall above.
When he got there, he saw what was left of Seymour—a desecrated mess smeared about the floor.
Adrian wasn’t exactly said to see what had happened to him, though he did feel bad for Jack, and the idea that his body would stay down below with those monsters did not sit well with him. He knew that soon enough, however, what was left of Jack would burn to nothing, along with the other lifeless creatures down in that hellish ward.
Up ahead, the door to the exit had been ripped from its hinges, revealing the open air of the night outside. Something had broken its way through there, leaving the ruined door on the floor in the hall.
But Adrian paid it no mind, too exhausted to care, feeling all but broken.
He walked out into the night, finally stepping free of the wretched place that had so tormented him for so long.
Freedom was his.
As he stepped outside, he almost slipped on a pile of gore that covered the stone floor. Something had met a nasty end here. He trudged through whatever it was and continued down the stone steps to the wide gravel driveway below.
The air was biting cold on his naked skin, and he realised he wouldn’t last long without some form of clothing.
But perhaps that wasn’t a bad thing. He was tired, so very tired, and considered lying down to let exposure claim him. Considering what could have happened to him, that wasn’t a bad way to go. At least he was out of that God-forsaken place, dying on his own terms.
But a rumbling sound up ahead drew his attention.
Lights appeared as the sounds came closer.
Headlights.
Soon a convoy of automobiles could be seen breaking through the darkness, and they pulled up to close to the building, the gravel popping and cracking under their tires.
There were five cars in all, and a large truck at the rear.
What now?
The doors opened, and people spilled free, all of them wearing odd, dark-red gowns.
‘Who are you?’ Adrian asked of the first man who approached. He was tall and gangly, with thin white hair and a hooked nose.
‘Are you an inmate?’ the first man asked, with a gravelly, old voice.
Adrian didn’t know how to answer, so he just nodded.
‘Where is the man in charge? Isaac Templeton? Or any of the others who work here?’
‘All dead, I think,’ Adrian said. He brought his arms around himself in an attempt to ward off the cold.
The man just nodded, solemnly, and turned to some of the others who were with him. Adrian saw that many of them were equipped with the same type of weapon he had used down in the basement earlier.
‘As I feared. Brother Templeton did not check in when he should have. I told him things were progressing too quickly to be properly controlled.’
‘I think you were right,’ Adrian said. ‘Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to continue past you and go on my way.’
The man just laughed and then shook his head. ‘I’m afraid not.’
Adrian had expected that answer. ‘Then what happens now?’
‘We cannot allow knowledge of what happened here to get out, and will therefore purge all evidence, so that nothing can be discovered. No loose ends.’
‘Figured as much. Does that mean you’re going to kill me?’
Two other men approached, flanking the first. ‘No need for that,’ the man said with a smile. ‘You’ll come with us.’
‘Just give the word, Mr. Ainsworth,’ one of the men said. He was tall and broad, cutting an imposing figure. Another joined him.
‘Whenever you are ready,’ the hook-nosed man said with a smile.
In an instant, the large man dove on Adrian and grappled with him, while the other pulled a burlap sack over his head. Adrian fought against them, but was quickly overpowered. He felt his arms tied behind his back, and his legs were bound together as well. He was then lifted and thrown over a shoulder.
He then heard the hooked-nosed man again. ‘There are other facilities that you will be able to call home. Though I’m afraid it won’t be much of a life for you. Goodbye, inmate.’
Adrian was carried away and thrown to the metallic floor in the back of the truck. Heavy doors were closed behind him as he screamed in anger. But it was useless—he was a prisoner again.
Now and forever.
54
For Isaac Templeton, the journey he was on with Robert Wilson seemed to take days; but it was impossible to tell as no sun ever rose here.
There was only the eternal night.
He had been pulled through cracks and valleys ripped into the ground, up over rolling hills of obsidian, and through moving forests of flesh. And he had seen horrors that had almost shattered his sanity.
There were times when he tried to talk to his old friend, to apologise for what he had done and to find out where he now was. And, more importantly, if he was stuck here.
Robert’s answers ranged from muddled and vague, to entirely non-existent. One thing Templeton found strange was that Wilson seemed to harbour no ill will towards Templeton for what he had done. For, in truth, it was because of Templeton that Robert Wilson was here.
But Robert’s concentration seemed focused purely on getting them both to where they needed to be.
Wherever that was.
And so they continued, and Templeton’s raw body was ravaged further over the harsh ground as he was forced to crawl—the exposed nerves and muscles becoming coated in black dirt as the flesh started to puss, then scab.
The pain of it all never left him for a moment.
Templeton’s body was ruined, and he was exhausted, but Robert still dragged him on, telling him that the Great God had the answers Templeton searched for. When Templeton grew tired of not knowing, he threatened to stop completely.
Robert simply shrugged. ‘Then you will be left alone to torture and damnation here.’
That was enough to get the terrified and confused Templeton moving again.
Eventually, after cutting through yet another deep ravine—where he saw something unholy emerge from a wall and pull in a group of skinless people—they started an ascent. High above, towering in the sky at the head of the climb, Templeton saw a titanic monolith—the top of which was impossible to discern.
The massive object was too wide to know for sure, but Templeton sensed it was cylindrical in shape. As they grew closer, he was able to make out details on the surface.
While it had looked smooth and black from a distance, and indeed the material of which it was formed was of an obsidian appearance, other characteristics could be seen here too.
For one, behind the glass-like structure, Templeton could see shards of red light trapped within swirling pools of black. There were also alien markings and depictions on the surface.
But those details paled in significance to what Templeton saw lining the structure.
People!
Fused to the surface, they writhed and screamed in agony. Most were misshapen and melted, almost to the point of being unrecognisable, but some features could be made out—a sobbing face, the odd limb, a trail of intestines. A few seemed more whole, perhaps newly grafted to this thing.
These poor souls stretched all the way up into the distance.
Robert kept dragging Templeton closer, but now Templeton resisted.
‘What is it?’ he asked.
‘Ashklaar,’ Robert said, with a sense of reverence. ‘This is the god that wishes to speak to you.’
‘I don’t want to,’ Templeton said, feeling a further swell of dread bubble up inside of him.
‘No choice,’ Robert replied. ‘He has summoned you, and he will give you the answers you need. There is a way to survive in this place, and h
e will give it to you.’
‘I’m scared,’ Templeton admitted, and began pulling against Robert. The man let go of Templeton’s wrist and turned to him.
‘You cannot disobey the will of the god. You learned of The Great Ailing one, correct? The thing beneath the boiling sea? Well Ashklaar is feeding on that god, slowly digesting its very existence. The thing under the boiling sea. You believed that was a powerful being? Ashklaar burrows deep within the bowels of this place and it will continue to grow in strength, perhaps one day gaining enough power to eventually ascend, to reach the heights of the eternal nightmare Vao!’
Robert pointed to the sky above, to that impossible, swirling mass of stars. And to that great, terrifying, cosmic eye.
‘What will happen to me?’ Templeton asked.
‘Whatever Ashklaar wishes. But now is your only chance. You can see what happens to those who attempt to turn away from its knowledge.’
Robert gestured to the poor souls fused to the surface of the tower.
Of Ashklaar.
Templeton’s head dropped. He had no idea what to do and was completely overwhelmed.
He felt like he was in a nightmare, only he knew better.
This was real.
Robert grabbed his arm again and pulled. Templeton submitted, not knowing what else to do, and allowed himself to be dragged onwards again, up to the base of this gigantic thing. The red light inside was mesmerising to him, every bit as much as the melted, eviscerated bodies that still lived were terrifying.
‘What do we do now?’ Templeton asked.
In response, Robert pushed him from behind.
Templeton let out a shriek as his body made contact with the scorching surface. He tried to pull away… but could not.
He felt himself pulled into the smooth face of the tower, and a white-hot pain shot through him.
‘Robert!’ Templeton screamed. ‘What have you done?’
Pain engulfed him, and Robert began to laugh as Templeton’s body moved upwards—dragged along the surface, sliding between the other poor souls stuck here.
‘Getting my revenge!’ Robert shouted from below. ‘It was you that cast me out here, and Ashklaar promised me this moment. Enjoy your eternal damnation, Isaac. You have earned it!’ The man started to bellow out a mad laugh as Templeton was pulled farther and farther up.
Finally, when he was miles into the sky and could look out over the hellscape before him, he felt his body drawn deeper into the tower. His flesh started to dissolve and split painfully, and his insides ran along the searing surface, held fast by some unknown force.
The pain was unimaginable, but he did not die.
He never died, even as his body lost most of its form, becoming little more than pools of smeared gore as he was slowly melded into the form of Ashklaar. Time had no meaning for him because his existence like this would never end.
There was no respite.
Only eternal torment.
Horror in the Woods
Horror in the Woods
FINDING THAT DESECRATED BODY WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING...
For Ashley and her three friends, it was supposed to be an adventure-filled weekend. A chance to get away from the hustle-and-bustle of city life, and experience the peaceful tranquility of nature.
But when they ventured into those woods, their trip turned into a horror far beyond what they could have ever imagined.
Because these four friends have wandered into the territory of the violent, grotesque Webb family. A group of psychopaths who have a taste for human meat. And they are hungry!
Ashley and her friends must face this evil head on, and worse, discover the shocking secret behind the family's existence...
In the vein of THE EVIL DEAD, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and WRONG TURN - HORROR IN THE WOODS will leave you exhausted and drained. A brutal, violent tale that hurtles along at break-neck pace—one that horror fans should not miss!
The Demonic
The Demonic
Years ago Danni Morgan ran away from her childhood home and vowed never to go back. It was a place of fear, pain and misery at the hands of an abusive father.
But now Danni’s father is dead and she is forced to break her vow and return home—to lay his body to rest and face up to the ghosts of her past.
But Danni is about to realise that some ghosts are more real than others. And something beyond her understanding is waiting for her there, lurking in the shadows. An evil that intends to kill her family and claim her very soul.
Experience supernatural horror in the vein of THE CONJURING, INSIDIOUS and the legendary GHOSTWATCH. THE DEMONIC will get under your skin, send chills down your spine and have you sleeping with the lights on!
The Demon of Dunton Farm
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Enjoy The Demonic?
Find out exactly what happened on that cursed land in Bishops Hill all those years ago, and relive the most grisly events in its history.
The horrifying truth surrounding the demon that dwells on the farm will be revealed in this prequel to The Demonic.
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About the Author
Lee Mountford is a horror author from the North-East of England. His first book, Horror in the Woods, was published in May 2017 to fantastic reviews, and his follow-up book, The Demonic, achieved Best Seller status in both Occult Horror and British Horror categories on Amazon.
He is a lifelong horror fan, much to the dismay of his amazing wife, Michelle, and his work is available in ebook, print and audiobook formats.
In August 2017 he and his wife welcomed their beautiful daughter, Ella, into the world. Michelle is hoping she doesn’t inherit her father’s love of horror, but Lee has other ideas…
For more information
www.leemountford.com
[email protected]
Acknowledgments
Thanks first and foremost to my editor, Josiah Davis (http://www.jdbookservices.com), for such an amazing job.
The cover was supplied by Debbie at The Cover Collection (http://www.thecovercollection.com). I cannot recommend their work enough.
Thanks as well to fellow author—and guru extraordinaire—Iain Rob Wright for all of his fantastic advice and guidance. If you don’t know who Iain is, remedy that now: http://www.iainrobwright.com. An amazing author with a brilliant body of work.
And the last thank you, as always, is the most important—to my amazing family. My wife, Michelle, and my daughter, Ella, thank you for everything, you are my world.
Copyright © 2018 by Lee Mountford
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
ISBN-13:
978-1986211291
ISBN-10:
1986211290
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