Blood of the Forsaken

by David Horrocks

  Aaron did his best to recover the conversation, but found himself quickly stumbling. “We’d be quick. It's really important for us to make sure that they're alright and we've got a few questions about Sam.”

  Ellis frowned. “Those folks have enough to worry about without being questioned by strangers, however pure your intentions.”

  His answer peaked Aaron’s curiosity. “What did Sam do to them?”

  “You're out of line, son!” The Sergeant barked his displeasure.

  Aaron kept the questions coming, trying to catch the officer off guard. “Did he bite them?”

  His tactic seemed to work, if just a little. “Now how would you know about something like that?”

  Tommy mumbled something unintelligible, pointing towards the officers arm and catching Aaron’s attention. “What’s up, Tommy?”

  He spoke a little louder and clearer this time, still pointing down at the cops arm. “Did… did he bite you too?”

  Aaron looked exactly where his friend was pointing, and sure enough the police officer’s sleeves were rolled up, displaying a bandaged forearm that he hadn't noticed until it had been pointed out to him.

  Sergeant Ellis didn't appreciate being the center of attention and snapped at them. “What of it?”

  Aaron tried to examine the wound from a distance. “Is it a puncture wounds or a regular bite mark? Does it itch?”

  The officer looked puzzled. “What kind of stupid question is that? Of course it's a 'regular bite mark’. He's a human being, not some sort of rabid animal.” He seemed to study Aaron’s face for a moment. “You two seem to know more about this than you're letting on.”

  Ellis looked back and forth between the pair of them. “You’re not his cousins, are you… Maybe I should take you down to the station for questioning.”

  Aaron raised his hands defensively, trying to diffuse the situation. “That's not necessary, Sergeant. We're just… We have an internet blog about weird goings on and… were just curious.”

  Sergeant Ellis huffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest in annoyance. “I should have known… Nothing but troublemakers and thrill seekers. Get out of here and stop wasting my time before I arrest you both!”

  Tommy was ready to move and turned to walk back towards the truck. Aaron on the other hand stood his ground. “So there’s nothing unusual about the bite at all?”

  There was obvious frustration on the Sergeants face now as it turned beet red. “No. As I said, it's a 'normal’ bite, if you can call a man biting another man ‘normal’.” He raised an arm and angrily gestured towards Tommy, his other hand resting on his gun. “Now get the hell out of here and stop wasting my time. Don't make me tell you again, boy!”

  Feeling a little stubborn, Aaron followed through with one final question. “Do you know where Sam went?”

  The officer was almost spitting now as his voice raised in to a yell. His movements were increasingly animated as he waved his arms around wildly. “He skipped town! Like you boys will if you know what's good for you! This is a small town with friendly and trusting folk. We don't need your kind here causing trouble! If I hear you've been disturbing the peace, I'll put you both in a jail cell and throw away the key!”

  Finally taking the extremely unsubtle hint, Aaron turned and hurried to catch up with his friend who was still walking away through the graveyard. Even though he was in a rush, it didn't stop him from getting some final words in as he called back to Sergeant Ellis. “Thank you for your time, Sergeant! Enjoy the rest of your day!”

  Sergeant Bob Ellis declined to answer, merely grunting instead. He stood there sternly and stared at the two of them as they wandered back to their waiting vehicle.

  Tommy elbowed Aaron in the ribs with some force, not hard enough to wind him, but just enough to cause him to stagger. “Dude, you almost got us in serious trouble. You're a dick.” He spoke quietly enough to make sure that only his friend could hear his words.

  Aaron grinned widely, mimicking Tommy’s infamously wicked smile. “Oh, I know. I learned it all from you.”

  They both stifled a laugh, trying to look serious as they knew that they were still being watched.

  “Hungry?” Aaron asked, opening the passenger door of the truck.

  Tommy nodded. “Always! You know me.”

  “Unfortunately…” Aaron’s witty reply came much quicker than either of them anticipated.

  As Tommy got in the driver's seat, he stopped for a moment and stared at his friend in mock anger. A second later and they broke down into a fit of hysterics.

  Taking a few deep breaths to recover, Aaron brought up the area map on his phone. “Come on, there's a diner down the street with decent reviews.”

  Tommy simply nodded. He turned the key in the ignition and began to drive down the gravel path towards the exit. As Aaron looked back, he could still see Sergeant Ellis glaring at them as he cradled his wounded arm. From the way he was acting, it definitely didn't seem like a normal bite at all.

  **********

  Whatever happened to them, no matter what each day held, Aaron could count on his best friend for one thing. Tommy Hughes knew how to stuff his face. No-one else could see things that would turn most people insane and still be able to fill their stomach to bursting with a full stack of pancakes. It had luckily been a quiet day for them so far, which meant that Aaron was able to keep his food down too.

  Aaron sat quietly, sipping his coffee as his best friend jammed fork fulls of food in to his face without chewing much in between mouthfuls. Tommy was working on a massive plate of food across the booth in the retro styled, fifties diner they had found, that had clearly seen better days. The decor left a lot to be desired and the fluorescent lighting was far too bright. Despite the state it was in, the restaurant seemed to be popular with the locals and was pulling in a decent sized crowd.

  “Did you see the size of the bug that hit the windshield? It was as big as my fist!” Tommy was in his element and didn't even stop for a sip of his soda to wash his food down. He loved to eat, which was hard for some to believe as his fast metabolism left him slim and athletic in build. Some people had all the luck. Aaron actually had to work out to stay thin and didn't eat anywhere near as much as his friend.

  “Remember Bradley Wells?” Tommy’s thought came out of nowhere, with his mouth still stuffed to almost bursting.

  Aaron queried his friend's question with a raise of his eyebrows. “Sure, but why bring that up now? It's ancient history.”

  Finishing his mouthful, Tommy considered taking another bite but thought better of it and decided to play with his food instead. “Well… he had that invisible thing that followed him around, watching out for him.”

  Aaron remembered it like it was yesterday, when in reality it had happened over fifteen years ago. “His 'guardian angel’ or however he put it, yes. That's the first time you started to actually believe me about supernatural stuff.”

  Tommy loaded up his fork and prepared himself for another huge bite. “You mean I thought you were a fuckin’ lunatic and needed help. But yeah, we never worked out what the hell it was... You think we’ll have the same shit luck this time? I've no idea what's with this Mitchell kid.”

  Smiling thoughtfully at his friend as he stuffed his face once more, Aaron laughed. “We've come a long way since then, Tommy. The Shadow House, the Gulag, Tsang and his creepshow motel, that vampire nest in the foothills… even the farmhouse.”

  Tommy's face quickly changed from a look of wonder and amusement to an uncomfortably somber expression. “Christie…”

  A feeling of guilt washed over Aaron as he realised that mentioning the farmhouse wasn't the brightest idea. “Sorry…” He paused for a moment, sipping his coffee. “My point is, we've been through all that and more. We've learned a great deal and have grown from our experiences. If we encountered Bradley now, I'm sure we could solve the mystery before his dad pulled him out of school.”

  Tommy put his fork down on his empty pla
te, having finally polished off the last of his food. “So you think we’ll find out what the hell kinda monster this guy is and track him down?”

  Aaron nodded. “Exactly. It’ll be a cakewalk.”

  Leaning back, Tommy dabbed the edges of his mouth with his napkin before taking a long and noisy sip of soda through his straw. “If it's so easy, genius, what do we do next?”

  There wasn't time for Aaron to answer before they were drowned out by the loud conversation of some gossiping locals just one table over. “Ah heard it was the ghost of the Mitchell kid, coming back from the dead to kill his folks, but they weren't there no more.” The statement came from a particularly loud and arrogant man, dressed in denim overalls.

  His skinny friend didn't take long to voice his own noisy opinion, tweaking the peak of his old baseball hat. “Nah. Ah heard he was dug up by some drifter and they’re goin’ ‘round wearin’ his face.” Aaron and Tommy stayed silent, listening for any possible truths in the hearsay, but not taking much stock in the rumour mongering of suspicious townies.

  A well dressed woman, who was sat at a seperate table with her husband and two boys, decided to turn her head and join in. She addressed the others with a clear feeling of superiority. “Actually, I overheard that the Mitchell's boy was brought back by demon worshippers and that he acted under their evil influence.” She seemed more than pleased when all other conversations ceased and all the attention fell on her. It was if she had waited her whole life for that moment and that she didn't waste a second.

  The woman stood up from the table, leaving her husband slack jawed with embarrassment as she adjusted the bun of her hair and proceeded to preach as though she was all high and mighty. She seemed to revel in the moment and was quick to come up with new ideas. “It's obvious that the police are hiding the truth from us! The evil girl has come back to town and has brought her witch cult with her!”

  Someone called out from the other side of the diner. “The Delaney’s girl?”

  The woman nodded enthusiastically, gesturing in the direction that the voice had originated from. “The one and the same!”

  A wave of whispers passed around the room as everyone seemed to suddenly agree with her, with no actual evidence to back up her words. Aaron and Tommy exchanged a nervous glance, realising that they were out of their depth. They knew that they didn't belong there and hoped that no-one would notice them tucked away in the corner.

  The woman continued her rant, wagging her finger as she spoke. “She's come back to corrupt our children and kill everyone else. She’ll harm us just like she did the Mayor’s boy! The devil girl is back!” It sounded as though she was trying to incite a riot or invoke mob justice, even though there was no obvious target within sight.

  Everyone within earshot began to gossip between themselves, their murmurs increasing in volume as new theories were tossed around. It was then that the woman realised there were strangers in their midst and she turned everyone's attention towards the unprepared Tommy and Aaron who had been keeping a relatively low profile up until that point.

  “And what do we have here?” The woman strolled over with the confidence of a tyrant as the talking in the room died out around her once more. She stopped just shy of the edge of their booth and looked at the pair with accusing eyes. “You're both new in town... It's interesting that you both turn up when trouble starts. I suspect that you're in league with the Delaney girl, aren’t you? What do you have to say for yourselves?!?”

  Aaron didn't have an answer as he knew that she wouldn't believe anything that he had to say.

  Tommy didn't even look up at the woman as he took a sip of his drink, placed it down on the table and spoke clearly and calmly. “Listen, lady… We just got here today. We haven't done a thing, so why don't you walk back to your table, sit the fuck down and spend some quality time with the beady eyed swamplings you call a family.”

  The woman’s jaw dropped as she was left feeling flabbergasted, but she still somehow managed to come back with a retort. “I should have expected such blatant rudeness from out of towners… but this proves it! You’re in league with the cult, I know it!”

  Tommy didn't like being accused of something that he didn't do, yet he still refused to even acknowledge the woman by looking at her as he spoke. “You still here? I guess it's true what they say about people from the south... Slow in the fuckin’ head.”

  Aaron almost facepalmed. “Tommy, don’t…”

  It was too late. He knew that Tommy didn't mean what he said, as they had made plenty of friends on their travels in the Southern States, but his friend knew how to push people's buttons. The guy was a well practiced jerk, but he also had a certain talent for angering crowds of people.

  The woman was clearly mortified by Tommy's words, but her husband wasn't the one to come to her defence. “That's no way to speak to a lady!” The bellowing voice came from an overweight man in a tank top, sat at the counter near the kitchen with his back to the room. Behind him, the waitress and cook had ceased all activity to watch the events unfold. He pushed himself up from his stool and turned to face the strangers from New Hampshire, using the thick hair of his forearm to wipe his mouth clean. “You take that back and then get outta here before we throw you out!”

  Aaron gulped. The man towered over everyone else in the room, but his sheer size didn’t phase Tommy one bit. He just tensed his fists, ready for a brawl as he looked over with an unsettling glint in his eye. “Sit the fuck down, Hightower! Just finish eating your greens like mama told you, so you can grow big and strong like a real boy!”

  The giant of a man shook with rage and Aaron was pretty sure that he was close to charging at them. However, today was their lucky day, as the door to the diner swung open and Sergeant Bob Ellis walked in on the proceedings. “What in the God's name is going on here?” The Sergeant didn't look pleased, but his powerful presence seemed to instantly pacify the townsfolk and caused Tommy to freeze up, finally shutting his big mouth.

  The large man sat himself back down without a word and even the loud mouthed woman made her way back to sit with her family who looked as though they wanted to pretend that nothing happened. They all appeared to have a great deal of respect for the authority of their local police force, despite any complaints.

  Aaron cringed, looking back at the Sergeant who was making a beeline for them, while Tommy stared back down at the table, trying to ignore the fact that they were mere moments away from being carted off to the police station.

  “I had a feeling you two couldn't stay out of trouble.” Sergeant Ellis’ shadow loomed over them as he stopped at the edge of the table where the woman had been not long before. Aaron could feel the eyes of everyone in the establishment staring at them, their untrusting gaze boring holes in to the side of his skull. “Stand up and leave without another word.” The Sergeant was clear, concise and straight to the point. “You two are coming with me!”

  **********

  “I want you boys to promise me one thing.” Sergeant Ellis wasn't happy, but for some reason he wasn't dragging them to jail and that was good enough for Aaron. He had escorted them out of the diner and into the parking lot where he stood them both next to his car, away from prying eyes.

  Aaron answered quickly. “Yes, sir. We promise.”

  He nudged Tommy who blurted out his own response. “Promise. Yessir.”

  The officer stared both of them down, neither wanting to make eye contact and attempting to avoid it at all costs. “If I tell you what you want to know, you need to leave town and don't come back. The people here are God fearing Christians and they don’t like strangers much. It’s for your own protection as much as theirs.”

  Aaron wasn't so sure of himself anymore, but he still had a desire to know more. “We’ll leave, sir. But if I may ask, what happened here? They mentioned a girl?”

  Ellis sighed loudly, removing his hat to allow himself to scratch the top of his head. It was dark outside now, so his aviators were now tucked away
in his shirt pocket. “Alice Delaney… Quiet girl and Sam Mitchell’s only friend. They were thick as thieves as children, but then her parents were killed by a drunk driver and she moved in with the Mitchell family. Not sure what happened after that. They grew up, graduated and Sam ended up leaving town, but she stayed behind. Got a job at this very diner.”

  Tommy and Aaron looked at each other and then back to the Sergeant with renewed interest. They waited patiently for him to continue. “Well then news reached town that Sam died. Drug overdose or some such. It was a crying shame... His folks were heartbroken and left for family in Florida.”

  Aaron knew this part of the story, but found himself increasingly curious about the girl in the story. “And what happened to Alice?”

  The Sergeant put his hat back on, shaking his head slowly. “With Sam dead and the Mitchells gone, the poor girl had no-one. No idea why she didn't just go with them, but I kinda wish she had. She was quiet and kept to herself. Kind of an outsider in town, you see. People knew her, but she was still a stranger. She was just odd.”

  Sergeant Ellis began to pace a little while they stayed still watching him intently as they listened with open minds. “We got called to the diner as there was some incident between Alice and the Mayor's son, Drew. She claimed he’d assaulted her, but she wasn't the one beaten half to death in the bathroom. There were no witnesses, but she was distressed and I was inclined to believe her. The Mayor didn't take kindly to the whole situation and turned the whole town against her, using his own influence to demonise the girl in their eyes.”

  Aaron found that he was beginning to understand, but felt disturbed by the fact that the people could be easily swayed to open hatred. “The Mayor has that much power over them?”