by Matt Shaw
I hurried over to the front door in the hope that I hadn’t locked it. A twist of the handle revealed that it was locked. Damn. Of course it was. I moved over to the window and glanced through it. I can see the car keys on the table in the living room. The window was of no use either - also locked. It’s okay. It’s cool. There’ll be spare keys at reception.
“What’s wrong?” Tom asked.
“Nothing,” I said playing it down, “there’ll be some spare keys at the reception. We’ll just go and get them.” I glanced over to the lodge across the street and froze. The old lady was standing at her window watching us. If she was there then...It’s dark. A check of the watch on my wrist - it’s also late. Reception will be shut. Until morning anyway. I looked back towards the trees and back at the old lady’s lodge. Her curtains were shut. “Come on,” I said to Tom as I pulled him across the street towards her front door. He whinged a little - I guess from how hard I was gripping him - but I ignored it. Need to get inside at least. Ideally we’d get out of this place completely but, right now, I’ll take what I can get.
At the door I knocked hard. There was no answer. I knocked again. I couldn’t even hear her moving around inside. Was she hiding? I knocked again - harder this time. Come on... Come on...
“Hello?” I called through the door. “I know you’re in there - I saw you at the window! Come on! Please! I’ve accidentally locked us out of the lodge. Come on, please...” I waited. “Come on! I saw you! What are you... Fucking hiding from us?!” I banged, with my fist this time, on the wooden door - nearly taking it off its hinges in the process. Ah ha. Footsteps.
“Who is it?” the woman called through the door. She was buying time. She knew who I was.
“We’re from across the road. You rented me the cabin earlier...”
“The man who was traveling alone? I remember.” Was she punishing me for lying about having the boy with me? What did she want? A confession? I’m sorry for lying kind of thing? I’m sorry for lying but the boy with me is actually kidnapped? “What do you want?” she asked.
“Look, I’m sorry for charging around here but we’ve locked ourselves out...”
“Reception is shut until morning...”
“I know! Look the kid is scared...You aren’t helping... Please - can you just help us out?”
There was a long pause before I finally heard what I had hoped for - the sound of the door unlocking. It opened a crack; just enough for the old lady to peer through and look at us both.
“What do you want?” she asked.
I looked back at the woods. Would she even believe me if I told her what I had seen? “Can I come in?” I asked. “Can we come in?”
She was looking at the boy. Did she recognise him from the news? Had she seen his picture. “What’s your name?” she asked.
“Peter,” he replied. I shot him a look. He wasn’t paying me any attention. He was staring directly at the woman.
“And you know this man?”
Tom smiled at her, “Of course I do - he’s my uncle!”
The woman looked at him and then to me. A couple of seconds later and she opened the door wide enough for us to step through. I didn’t wait for a second invitation. I pulled Tom in with me and closed the door on behalf of the woman - another look back towards the woods. The woman noticed my glance. “What have you done?” she asked. I ignored her and hurried through to the lounge area so I could continue looking out of the window - watching the woods. “Did you hear me? What have you done?”
“Nothing,” I said. “Would you mind getting my boy and I a drink and then - maybe - helping us get a spare key to our lodge?” The woman didn’t say anything. She was just standing there, watching me intently. Judging me. “Please?” she mumbled something and walked from the room. Tom came over to my side and watched out of the window with me.
“What was that thing?” he asked. I didn’t answer him. Not because I didn’t want to but because I didn’t know the answer. “Was it a werewolf?”
I shook my head and changed the subject, “Why did you lie about your name?” I asked him quietly - carefully watching out for the woman. This wasn’t a conversation I needed her to hear.
“I’m not stupid,” he said. “I’m nearly nine years old.” And here was me thinking he was five or six. Jesus. He’s short for his age. “I know you aren’t my uncle.” My heart froze. “I just went along with it to keep you happy...” All this time and he knew? “I didn’t want you to hurt me.” He went to say something else but stopped short when the woman came back in with two glasses of water. She didn’t hand them over. She just stood in the doorway as though she were a waxwork.
“You need to leave,” she said. “Now.” Did she hear the conversation? Did she hear Tom? I felt my fist clench up - ready to hit her in the head. I got rid of Frank to save myself. I don’t mind doing it again if need be. Lady or not... She held up the water. “Drink this and leave, please.”
“We can’t. We can’t get into the lodge - not unless you want me to break the window? I just need your help to get into the lodge and then we’ll go. And we won’t come back. Unless you want me break the fucking window? Because I can...I just didn’t want to...”
“You crossed the fence, didn’t you?” she said. I stopped in my tracks. “I told you not to.”
I looked around, “Where are your dogs?”
“I’m sorry?”
“You knew what was over there. You knew. What the hell was it?”
“You have to leave!” she said. I ignored the fact that Tom was whimpering as I was more interested in getting to the bottom of what we had seen in the woods. “Do you know what you’ve done?”
“What I’ve done? I’ve done nothing. We saw something. We got away. Whatever it was - we lost it in the woods.”
“You stupid man!” she suddenly shouted. “You haven’t got away. You never get away. They know where you are. Once they have your scent...That’s it... I told you - don’t cross the fence. They stick to their side and we stick to our side. It’s been like that for years - more than I care to remember.”
“Well we’re back on our side of the fence now and we’re leaving - that’s it.”
“That’s not it...You’ve seen them. You can’t leave...”
“I can if you help me get in the fucking lodge...You know what - fuck this...I’ll just break the fucking window. Come on, Tom...” I froze.
“Tom?” the old lady repeated.
Thinking on my feet I told her, “It’s a pet name. A family joke.” I turned to the boy, “Come on...Peter.” I flashed the old lady a sarcastic smile as I took a hold of Tom’s hand and pulled him towards the front door. I opened it up and stopped in my tracks. My mouth fell open as my heart skipped a beat.
A growl.
13.
Tom screamed, as did the elderly lady. After the slightest of hesitations - certainly not long enough for the creature to make a move - I slammed the door in its face and backed up away from it.
I turned to the lady, desperate to ask her what the hell it was and where it had come from but knew there wasn’t enough time. A thin door wouldn’t keep that thing out for...
The door crashed open and the thing lurched in on its hind legs. It’s front paws the size of my head. Tom screamed again - even I jumped as I turned to face it. It didn’t move any closer to us. It just stood there watching - as though it were trying to figure us out. Was what the lady said true? Was this thing usually territorial? Did it usually stay on its side of the fence - hunting whatever it could find? Was it only here because we had trespassed? When my mum and dad brought me here as a child - was this thing there then? I raised my hands to show it that I wasn’t a threat. It tilted its head and looked at me as though it never once considered me to be a threat. Only food. Another growl caused the inside of my rib cage to vibrate.
The old woman pushed in front of me, “Look - I have food for you...” she pointed towards the kitchen. I followed her finger and spotted the bags of dog
food I had earlier seen her with. I backed away further. She knew them. She’d be able to sort this out. I pulled Tom close to me. “It was a mistake. They didn’t mean to cross over to your side...” Another growl. I looked over my shoulder to see if I could find another way out. Nope. The only exit was the front door which it was blocking. “They’re leaving. They came here to get the spare key to their lodge and then they’re going. They said they’re not coming back...” She turned to me, “That’s right, isn’t it? You’re not coming...” I was nodding before she finished her sentence. Her eyes suddenly went wide with fear. She opened her mouth and blood trickled out. Tom screamed again. I shot him a look. Panic on his face. Another growl stole my glance back towards the woman standing between myself and the monster. I noticed the large paw was sticking through her stomach having penetrated her from behind. Its fingers flexed wide. Tom still screaming. I tried my best to hide him behind my wiry frame. The woman made a funny, gargled noise as the paw sticking from her moved in slowly until only its claws were visible. Another gargled noise as they slowly started moving up, through her body. Her eyes were wide as she shook back and fourth - her body, and senses, fighting against what was happening. Another growl. The other paw appeared around her throat. It clenched. A cracking noise. I closed my eyes tight. A growl. A splintering noise. A wet spray hitting me in the face like a fine mist of water. I opened my eyes despite my better judgement. Her head was no longer attached to her body. It was held in the air, unblinking. The eyes rolling to the back of her head. The paw finally tore its way through the neck so it was completely out of the body. Another spray of blood as the torso, split down the middle, separated from either side as though it were a book slowly opening - the various internal organs being the pages within the leathery skin. I held Tom close behind me so he couldn’t see. The woman slumped to the floor and the beast dropped the head. It looked at me as though I were next and there was nothing I could do about it - and we both knew, there was nothing I could do. Absolutely nothing. It went to take a step closer to me but stopped dead its tracks. It growled again and brought its foot down on the head, as heavily as it could. The woman’s skull was nothing under the weight and it disintegrated as though it were nothing more than a watermelon under the wheel of a truck.
The creature stepped closer to me. I stepped back until Tom and I were backed against the wall. No way out. Two more of the creatures appeared at the doorway. No way out...
“I’m sorry for everything,” I said. Not to the creatures but to the little boy cowering behind me.
The creature suddenly roared - a roar so loud that the windows shook all around the lodge and my internal organs vibrated within my body once more; an unpleasant feeling. I tried my best to tuck Tom against my back to try and protect him without even thinking about it and I closed my eyes. If Death was coming, I didn’t want to see his face. I just hoped he’d be quick.
There was a loud bang which caused my ears to ring and my heart to skip yet another beat. I opened my eyes and watched - in both horror and gratitude - as the creature closest to me dropped to its knees. Another bang and my face was splattered with the insides of its cranium. The creature slumped forward. Faster than my eyes could cope with - the other two creatures disappeared - one through the window of the lounge, sending shards of glass flying into the campsite beyond, and towards the trees and the other up through the roof of the lodge as though it were nothing but paper.
A man was standing in the street with a large gun in his hand; some kind of shotgun which he was reloading as quickly as he possibly could. He was in his sixties and dressed in nothing more than a dressing gown.
“It’s probably best you don’t wait in there,” he said casually. “They’re going to be pretty pissed when they realise what’s happened!” He locked the barrel of the gun shut, ready for action. I looked down at the body of what he had put a hole in - no more was there a monster in front of me. Instead it was nothing more than a man. Naked one at that.
“What the hell’s going on?” I stuttered.
“Come with me,” he said as though we hadn’t got the urgency of his first sentence, “they’ll be back soon enough...Come on.” I didn’t need telling three times. I picked Tom up as though he were an infant, and carried him out of what was left of the lady’s lodge. “I always said they shouldn’t have put these lodges this close to the woods,” he said as he walked down the road towards another lodge which had the door wide open. A bright light, within, welcoming us. “They said it would be okay because it’d be for staff only and staff knew to stay away but...I knew one day they’d rent it to someone who didn’t understand and then something like this would happen. But why listen to me? I’ve only worked here for the best part of forty years. Clearly I’m not experienced enough to have a say in these things. Personally I still believe we should have gone over the fence, in force, when we knew who they were and dealt with them there and then before it became a problem. And then none of this would have happened!” He walked into his lodge and held the door open for Tom and I before closing it. He double locked it. “God knows how many of them are over there now even if we did go over. We’d never know if we truly got them all and then we’d be starting a war we couldn’t win. The whole god damn situation is a mess.”
“Thank you for coming out,” I said.
“You’re lucky. Needed to borrow some sugar and heard it all kicking off. Come on through to the bedroom - no windows in there. There used to be but I took ‘em out. Felt safer that way. Don’t like windows in the room where I’m sleeping - not whilst I’m on the ground floor anyway. Never know who’s looking in whilst you’re fast asleep. Creeps me out thinking about it.” The man was taking all of this relatively calmly considering he had just blown the head off a seven foot dog who’s corpse than happened to turn into the body of a normal man. “Take a seat,” he pointed towards the bed as he led us into the back room. I put Tom on the bed. “What’s your name, little man?” he asked. Tom didn’t say anything. For the first time since all of this kicked off, I took a proper look at him and realised he wasn’t looking too well. Extremely pale.
“Tom, you okay?” I asked him.
“He doesn’t look too well,” said the old man.
“Look - I’m sorry but we’ve just been attacked by God knows what...We’ve just watched a woman get split in half and her head ripped from her fucking shoulders. Then we watch whatever it was get its head blown off in front of our eyes too...Not to mention one of the things...One of them jumped up through the fucking roof of a lodge as though there were no roof there in the first place! You’re then harping on about not knowing how many more there are, whilst loading your gun like you’re Dirty fucking Harry... And you reckon he should look well?! Can you get a glass of water, or something?”
“Probably needs sugar,” the old man said as though he had heard nothing of what I had said. “Could be going into shock. I don’t have any sugar though.”
“Water?! A glass of fucking water! Please!” I shouted. The old man shot me a look, as though offended by my outburst, and walked from the room closing the door behind him. I turned back to Tom, “Everything will be okay, buddy. I promise.” It had been a long time since I had made a promise I wasn’t sure I could keep but, this time, I didn’t mind.
“I know why you made the story up about my mum and dad being in an accident,” he said. “I pulled the mask off and saw your face. You had to make something up to stop me from being even more scared.”
I hesitated. There was no sense lying anymore. “That’s right.” I felt as though I should apologise but I couldn’t go through with it. I doubted he’d believe me anyway considering I was the one who snatched him from his parents anyway. “Why did you pretend to go along with it?” I asked him. I wasn’t sure I really wanted the answer. I was just curious.
“Because I didn’t want you to hurt me.”
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I’m not stupid,” he said again. “At the water,�
�� he said. I didn’t want him to finish the sentence. “You were going to hurt me, weren’t you?”
I hesitated. “Yes. But...I’m not going to. I promise. I really promise. I’m not that sort of person. I want you to go home to your mum and dad. I want you to forget any of this ever happened and live a long and happy life. If I could turn back the clock...If I could change everything that happened...I would. I really would and I mean that. I just wish you would believe it.”
“But we can’t go home, can we?”
Even if I survived this night, I knew I couldn’t. Not if I wanted him to live his life. I knew I’d be back inside within hours of him going home to his parents. I was okay with that, though. I knew it was the right thing to do and I was happy with that. The way I instinctively tried to protect him, this evening, made it all too clear that I wasn’t the monster I worried I was. I’m just an idiot. A greedy idiot and I deserve everything that comes my way.
