by Matt Shaw
“Hey! Hey! It’s me! Wait! It’s okay! Don’t you recognise me?” I had blurted out. He stopped fighting me more or less as soon as I started talking to him. I was thankful for that. I remember Frank looking at me as though he had no idea what I was up to. Rightly so too for I didn’t have a clue. From that moment on I was making it up as I went along. All I can say is - it was a good job his name was written on a book which fell out of his bag when I pulled him in otherwise it would have been game over straight from the start. “Tom...It’s me...Your uncle...” To think, all this time and the kid knew I was lying - just playing along to save me from hurting him. To save himself from me. Given the situation we’re in - that’s quite ironic. I wonder what he’d prefer to be standing in front of - one of them or me.
I jumped as the sound of claw on wood, along the back wall, started again - sending a shiver down my spine. I raised the gun to the door. Whether they’re toying with me or not...The moon will start to go down soon enough to be replaced by the sun...They won’t be teasing us with the prospect of death for much longer. Soon they’ll have to make their move and, when they do, I’ll be ready.
16.
The rest of the night went without incident - other than a few strange noises here and there - and the night turned to day just as it always had done before, much to my relief and surprise. Maybe they just wanted to scare us away? What we saw in the old lady’s lodge and the stories of the old man, not forgetting his disappearance, being enough to ensure we never speak of what we saw? I walked back into the bedroom, where Tom was stirring on the bed.
“It’s morning,” I told him. I couldn’t help but to smile. Only a few hours ago I was sure that neither of us would be seeing the morning again. A strange look on his face - almost as though he was disappointed. “What’s wrong?” I asked him. “You know what - it doesn’t matter...We’re going home. I’m taking you home, Tom. In time for Christmas just as you originally asked. You excited?” He didn’t say anything again. Maybe it’s the shock of the situation, he just doesn’t know what to make of it all. Everything’s happening pretty fast, to be fair. One minute I...Well....The next minute we’re being hunted by a pack of some make-believe creatures and then it’s all over and we’re headed home. I put the shotgun down and extended my hand to Tom, to help him off the bed. He took it and stood up. “We just need to get the spare keys from the reception area and get out of here before anyone discovers the other lodge.” More specifically - we need to get out of here before the police come and recognise the boy. I guess I’m still hoping there’s some way both of us can go home - free.
I left the room first, with Tom following closely behind. We didn’t waste any time of getting out of the lodge and stepping into the brisk morning air. Damned cold again. Feels like it should be snowing. A strange scent lingering in the cold, still air. I purposefully stood between Tom and the old lady’s lodge to try and shield him from seeing anything else which might corrupt him further. As we headed down the road a general feeling on unease crept over me. Normally, in places like this, you’d always bump into someone early in the morning - someone out for an early morning stroll, perhaps with a dog and perhaps by themselves with a newspaper of some description under their arm. There was no one around. Stranger still was the lack of noise. Again, at this time of the morning, you’d usually hear birds singing as they nestled in the many nearby trees but they were all silent. A quick scan of the trees revealed them to appear naked. Just the odd dead leaf here and there and empty bird’s nest. Another scan of the sky - nothing flying around either. I looked down at Tom who was staring dead ahead as though there was something bothering him. I didn’t say anything, I just turned my attention back to our surroundings and tried to place my finger on what was wrong. After a few more steps, I noticed... The doors to the lodges which lined this section of the camp, the only lodges I could see from here, were all open. More than that - they were hanging from their broken hinges. I didn’t say anything to Tom - I didn’t need to. Going from the look on his face, he had already seen the damage to the lodges.
“Where is everyone?” he asked. He looked at me like he was expecting me to have the answers for him but I had none to give. I only had my suspicions - my worst fears - and I didn’t want to share those with him; the horrifying idea that the creatures had gone through the camp during the night - leaving only myself and the boy. He asked me again obviously hellbent on getting an answer, “Did you hear me? Where do you think everyone is?”
“The breakfast buffets are amazing here,” I said. I don’t know why I said what I did. I regretted the words as soon as they came from my mouth. Tom, rightly so, frowned at me. I sped up a little to try and get away from any further questions.
“Should we check on the people?” he asked. He hadn’t followed me. He had lingered back - his eyes transfixed on the broken doors of the buildings around us.
“The lodges are empty,” I told him, “it’s check out day today. Most people have probably left early to beat the traffic.” The moment the lie escaped my lips I couldn’t help but think back to when Tom told me that he knew I was lying when I first told him about his parents’ accident. The way he saw through it - did this mean he was able to see through all of my little lies. I looked back at him again. He was looking directly at me. He nodded as though he went along with my lie. I smiled. He knew it was a lie though. That much was clear. I continued it regardless, “We’ll just get the keys and get out of here,” I said, “get you home in time for Christmas Day with your mum and dad.” I wanted to talk to him to see if he was going to give me up to the authorities but thought it best to approach the subject when we were out of here and in the clear. After all - it would be easier to have a quiet chat without knowing we were only a few feet away from potential death.
* * * * *
I forgot how big this campsite was; easily over a hundred lodges dotted around the site as well as space for people to pitch their own tents and caravans. It took us forty minutes to walk through to where the check-in building was - forty minutes of passing lodges with their doors off the hinges. I was going to crack a joke about people being in a hurry to get out of here but thought it best to keep it to myself. I was sure Tom had noticed that all the lodges were broken into but, on the off chance he hadn’t, there was no sense in highlighting it and raising his possible fears.
Finally we came to the reception. I stopped. A strange sight - the door was on the hinges. Perhaps whatever was breaking the doors, as if I didn’t know, didn’t bother going into this building as it was shut. They knew people weren’t in the building so little point of breaking in? I don’t know. I raised my shaking hand to the handle - a quick twist and the door swung open, hitting a small bell above it which would usually inform the people within that they had a customer. I had a sneaking suspicion that no one would be coming to greet us.
“Good morning!” said a voice. My heart skipped a beat. A man appeared at the back of the office, via a door. He had blood smeared around his face as though he had recently walked into a wall or feasted upon a bloody steak. “You look tired,” he said as he approached us, “tough night?” I pulled Tom close behind me, not that he needed much encouragement to hide himself away like a shy child. “I wish I could say tonight was going to be easier...”
“Who are you?” I asked. Six foot two. Bulky. Dark hair. Stubble. Dark, dark brown eyes which could almost be mistaken for black in this light. I didn’t need to know who he was.
“Me? Well I’m the guy whose property you trespassed on last night and....oh, sorry, I just realised I must look a state...” he wiped his mouth and looked at the gore which was smeared onto his hand, “Yeah, just as I thought...Sorry, boy, don’t mean to scare you,” he said to Tom. “That’s his job.” He looked back at me, “It was a good hit though. I’ll give you that. Got some balls on you.” There was definitely no need to ask who he was. He was the one hiding in the bushes. “Tell me, though, if I hadn’t come along and seen you - how would have last n
ight ended?”
“It would have ended with us going back to the lodge and going to bed - him on the bed and me on the floor,” I said.
“You sure about that? From where I was, it looked as though only one of you would have been going home last night. Anyway, only fair to say, we were going to kill you last night. It was going to be messy. No sense lying to you now. The only reason we didn’t is because you have our curiousity...”
“What do you mean?”
“Just wanted to know how the mind of someone like you works I guess.”
“Someone like me?”
“A kidnapper. A murderer.”
“You’re a murderer.”
“I’m protecting my family besides I haven’t actually killed anyone.”
“The old lady? The one who had her head torn from her shoulders?”
“Not me. That was my brother. And, think it’s fair to say, he paid the price. You, though, you’ve yet to pay the price...”
“The old man...”
“What old man?”
“The one who shot the mongrel!”
“Mongrel?” the stranger shook his head. “The old man isn’t dead. He’s just going through some changes. As are, I hasten to add, the rest of the residents in this camp site. I mean - sure - some of them may not survive the process but those who do - they’ll be part of our extended family...” he stopped himself.
I didn’t know what he was talking about and I didn’t care. I just wanted to get out of there, with Tom. “Look, I’m sorry we trespassed...”
“You. The boy - he was just doing what you told him to. He’s the innocent one.”
“Just let us get the spare key and we’ll leave...We won’t tell anyone...”
“And don’t be sorry,” he interrupted me, “you made me realise that this isn’t going to work - living so close to the camp site. We were silly to even try, really. This new plan - bringing the two places together - we should have done that back at the start...”
“Just let us go. Let us get the spare key to our lodge and let us go...”
“Another question,” he said, “you’re here to get the spare key to what...The lodge?” I nodded. “Why didn’t you just break the door? Your lodge must be the only one, other than this fine building, where the door is actually still on the hinges. You could have just broken it down and been on your way.”
I didn’t answer him. I didn’t know what to say. My mind was in a million different places. Obviously it was hard to think straight, not that I wanted him to know that. I chose to ignore his question, “Look - just give us the key and let us go.”
“Can’t do that - sorry.”
“I need to get the boy home,” I said. “I promised to get him home in time for Christmas Day. I said I’d take him back to his parents. Let me keep the promise.”
Again, the man shook his head, “He’ll have a new family. He’ll have a good life.” The man smiled and his eyes slowly turned a bright yellow colour. “Perks of being old - the moon encourages the change but isn’t a necessity anymore.” He suddenly roared in pain and clutched at his stomach. He dropped to his knees. A strange cracking noise from his joints. I didn’t move straight away. I couldn’t help but stand there and watch as his body contorted to different, agonising shapes - his skin getting darker and darker as small hairs grew through the skin. A slamming sound, from behind, made me jump and spin around on the spot. Tom was gone. The door to the building was closed. He’d run off.
“Tom?!” I called out.
I threw my weight against the door. It was about now I wished I had been slightly bigger so as to have a little more weight behind my charge. Needless to say - the door didn’t budge. I tried again, and again, but still nothing.
“Come on!” I shouted out of desperation.
I threw myself against the door once more but, again, it didn’t budge. Suddenly I heard a knocking sound on the window. I looked across. Tom was standing there with the old man from the previous night. The old man’s eyes were gleaming yellow. A fresh looking claw mark was down the side of his neck - some long hairs sticking out from the congealing gore. Both he and the boy were smiling at me as though they were happy to see me trapped. The old man held the key up for me to see and then pointed to something behind me.
I didn’t need to turn around. I knew what he was pointing too. I could hear the growling. I slowly turned around. The man was gone. In his place - a large beast standing on its back legs. Its mouth slightly agape to show the full extent of the fangs waiting, I’m guessing, to pierce my flesh. The beast didn’t move straight away. It just waited there, as though toying with me - making me wait for death. Part of me wanted to beg it to leave me be. Part of me wanted me to end up giving it an upset stomach. I turned back to the window and took a few steps closer. The boy was still smiling, as was the old man. The first smile I had seen on the boy’s face that I actually believed. Did the boy know this was going to happen? Did he and the old man plan it last night? Was he happy to see that I was about to die? I thought the evil was lurking within me, then I thought it was within the woods and now - all this time - was it really lurking within him?
A bolt of pain shot through me.
I head-butted the floor. The boy was laughing now. The old man looked away. I turned back and saw my feet. I looked up. My body was standing there, behind me. And behind the body - the wolf...His claws dripping in fresh blood. My fresh blood. My body slumped to the floor with a thud.
Slowly I closed my eyes. My last thought being one of regret - not that I took the boy but that I couldn’t get him back to his real parents...I’d taken an innocent child and turned him into a monster - leaving him with a new family of monsters.
God only knows what happens next.
~ FIN
