Winter Falls

by Eddie Skelson

Macgregor lifted the torch up, into the speakers face. He was returning but wasn’t yet at an advanced stage, his eyes bulged a little though and in the harsh torchlight Macgregor thought he looked like a Mackerel that lay on a fishmonger’s tray of ice.

  ‘They doubled back you fucking imbecile.’ He snarled. He wanted to smash the man’s vacant face to a pulp. His rage was building but he had to keep it in check, it was forbidden to cause harm to a returning male and the consequences were dire even by Falls standards. Macgregor cursed again and then headed back to the road with large forceful strides.

  It was as he reached the Nissan that he saw the full beam of a vehicle’s headlights sweep across the sky, then the noise of a heavy engine became apparent. Macgregor stared ahead towards the crest of the hill where the road continued on and out of the town.

  His face was a picture of confusion. No one from the Falls should be out tonight. No one from outside of the town should be able to get through the ward. Had the boy somehow got so far ahead that he had raised an alarm, bought help? Impossible. He hadn’t enough time, not even if he had been in the Nissan and managed to get further than was probable.

  ‘You lot! Get the fuck over here.’ He shouted to the remaining men who struggled with the deep drift at the stile. He turned to those already waiting for their instructions.

  ‘Right, you.’ He pointed to one of the youngest men, a youth in his late teens who everybody called ‘Coop’ and who only bore slight signs of returning. ‘You can drive right?’ Coop nodded. He had learned to drive a year ago but had yet to be allowed to travel out of the town. It would be a few years before he would receive his marks and training for the outside world.

  ‘Bring the van up and park it next to this.’ Macgregor flicked his thumb at the Nissan. Coop didn’t need to be told twice, he turned and quickly made his way to the vehicle.

  Macgregor looked up to the top of the road again, there were no lights but the sound of whatever was coming, it sounded like a strong engine, was closer.

  ‘Everyone, get your fucking weapons ready and turn your torches off. There’s something going to come over that fucking rise and when it does I want yeh to all direct yeh lights at it and let those fucking guns go. D’ya understand me?’

  All heads nodded and the townsmen took up positions around the Nissan and the van after Coop had pulled it around.

  Macgregor went to the Jeep to fetch his rifle. As he was pulling the Remington from its canvas cover the space behind him was illuminated and a volley of shots thundered through the air.

  The drift either side of the road was deeper than Tim had encountered on the route to the Cenotaph and a couple of times a substantial volume of snow was forced under the plough, causing the truck to swerve dangerously. Even over the roar of the engine Tim could hear a chorus of curses from the lads in the back each time they were thrown across each other.

  Kevin peered through the windscreen and tried to garner some idea of how close they might be to coast. The Ardach Coille loomed up to the right of them, but it wasn’t a good point of reference as it easily covered a good fifteen miles.

  A minute previously he thought he had seen a light of some kind as they had taken a long bend that followed the forests edge, but it had vanished and he wasn’t sure it wasn’t just a reflection of his own trucks headlights. His scrutiny did allow him to see that the road was about to take a dip.

  ‘Take it easy here Tim, from the looks of it the road drops up ahead.’ Kevin said.

  ‘Aye mate.’ Tim replied and eased his foot off the accelerator. He didn’t want to let the truck slow too much as a loss of momentum could cause it to struggle in the drifts.

  As Kevin had suspected the front of the truck bowed as the road became a fairly steep descent. Snow cascaded on to the windscreen as it was forced upwards by the plough and suddenly the whole cab was lit by lights from somewhere beyond.

  There was a sharp crack as the windscreen fractured almost at its centre. It was followed by the noise of distressed metal and the shattering of one of the headlights.

  Memories of side street ambushes in Afghanistan came quickly to Kevin’s mind and he ducked down pulling Tim with him.

  ‘HIT THE BRAKE! Kevin shouted and Tim fumbled for it with his feet. His hands still gripped the steering wheel and the sudden jolt made him swerve the truck. Before the Sally had finished her graceful slide Kevin opened his door and pushed it wide. As soon as truck stopped he dove out into the snow.

  ‘LADS GET OUT! GET OUT NOW AND GET TO COVER.’ Kevin shouted as loudly as he could.

  The men had first thought that Tim had run them over another lump of snow, but as they heard Kevin bawling and the sound of gunfire that punctuated his cry, they all jumped out and made for the side of the truck.

  Kevin looked into the cab. Tim was lying low and signalled that he should get out of the way. Kevin nodded and scrambled behind the truck to the lads. More shots rang out. There was the odd ‘DUNK’ as a bullet hit the cab of the truck but most appeared to go wide or high.

  ‘Well, looks like we were fuckin expected.’ Kevin grunted.

  ‘Is Timmy Ok? One of the lads asked anxiously.

  ‘Aye he’s fine.’ Kevin said, and he believed it was so. The shots coming at them were mostly shotgun rounds and if the range was what he judged it to be they hadn’t a hope of penetrating the metal of the truck. There were at least two to three rifles out there as well however, it would have been one of them that cracked the windscreen. Tim was safe so long as he kept his head down.

  ‘Ok fellas, I admit, that came as a bit o’ a surprise.’ Kev wiped away a film of perspiration. His cold hand revealed how hot and flushed his face was. ‘I don’t know how many we have doon there but I think at least six or seven. They’ve got shotguns and a few rifles and from what I can gather most of them couldn’t shoot a fucking elephant if it was sat in front of them.’ There was a low murmur of agreement.

  ‘Barney, can yer see oot?’ Kevin asked the he little tailor who was peering around the side of the back of the truck.

  ‘I can see em movin aboot Kev.’ he replied.

  A few more shots rang out and Barney ducked back. ‘I don’t think they are coming up the road though.’ He said.

  ‘Ok Cheers Barney. Give me a second lads.’ Kevin moved back around to the open cab door. Tim had turned off the engine. He looked across at Kevin as he lay on the seat.

  ‘Fancy meeting you here Kev.’ Tim said as his friend had appeared at the door.

  ‘Very good Tim.’ Kevin said dryly. He pulled his M16 from the foot well where it had dropped. ‘In a minute we are goin to light those fuckers up so much that they will think we are saving Private Ryan. As soon as we stop, fire up the engine and try to get this bitch straight.

  ‘Nae bother Kev.’ Tim replied. Kevin made to move away.

  ‘Kev!’ Tim called to him. Kev turned. ‘Yes mate?’

  ‘Could yer get a fuckin move on, I’m getting a proper cramp.’

  ‘Cunt.’ Kevin said.

  He returned to the rear of the truck and as he did there was the sound of a harsh deep voice shouting in the distance. Shortly afterwards another volley of shots rang out. A few more picked at the cab but still most flew harmlessly into the night.

  ‘Right lads they are getting bold, some cunt’s shoutin the odds down there so I think it’s about time we showed em what we’ve come all this way for.’

  He was acknowledged with stronger murmurs of agreement. ‘We are goin to unload into those lights, doesn’t matter whether we hit anything, let em just see what they are up against and that should be that.’ At this there were clicks and the shuffle of metal as weapons were cocked.

  ‘We give em a half fucking clip, then wait. Tim is gonna start up the truck and swing her round, keep her arse in front of you just in case they have a spine. And in case they do, we then deliver the rest o’ the clip to make sure they get the message. Right?’

  A series of ‘ayes’ and ‘right kev’ followed and t
he men took position as best they could on each side of the truck.

  ‘Ready em lads.’ Kevin said. He waited until the lights from the torches swept across their position. He brought the M16 up to his shoulder and gauged the drop off, the snow had become lighter and the wind had eased considerably. ‘God help you.’ Kevin said quietly, and squeezed the trigger.

  Chapter Twenty One

  As the little boat neared the Jetty Joe imagined he would see Peake stood at the front of a group who were gathered about him like evil little elves around Santa. An electric lamppost that Joe hadn’t noticed on either of his previous two visits to the Jetty was illuminated and it cast a wash of bright light over the crowd.

  ‘Welcome back Mr Clarke. I see you and my daughter decided to take in the Bay this fine evening.’ Peake called out to him. Joe realised that the old bastard couldn’t yet make out that Melanie wasn’t on the boat. No doubt he had a smug look on his face, perhaps a big shit eating grin.

  Joe’s hand had warmed a little in his pocket and he delicately ran his thumb over the outline of the pistol. Other than a few minor scrapes at school Joe had never been involved in violence at any level. An hour and a half of free weights at the gym every other day was the only period of aggression he had really had experienced in his twenties, but right now he strongly desired to watch Peake and Macgregor drop to the floor screaming.

  Torches sprang into life and blinded him for a moment. The snow had stopped all but for a few flakes that vanished as they hit an almost peaceful sea. The storm had dropped faster than Joe had thought possible. He couldn’t know that Mother Nature could pick the wind up just as quickly and because of this began to think that more of Melanie’s sorcery crap might be at work.

  Once his eyes had accommodated the initial glare of the torchlight the Joe could make out individual figures and sure enough there was Peake, almost has he had pictured him, stood with a gaggle of his henchmen gathered about him. He couldn’t see Macgregor but he dismissed this, it was something to deal with when required. For now Peake was stood right there at the front with the shit eating grin he had imagined on his face. Which remained until he could see that Joe was alone.

  ‘Where is she Mr Clarke?’ Peake shouted out to him as the boat moved steadily towards the Jetty. Joe could see one of Peake’s men had a rope curled in his hand ready to tie the boat down. He wasn’t surprised to see that at least a couple of the men had shotguns. Joe said nothing.

  ‘Did she abandon you once she had poor Billy’s skin?’ Peake smiled. ‘I’ll bet she’s giving old Macgregor a run for his money right now eh?’

  Joe collected his thoughts for a moment. Peake was fishing, he was sure of it. ‘He must mean the gunfire, but we were together, here when we heard that.’ Joe thought.

  He considered, that being the case, what Macgregor might have been firing at. He took another look into the group Peake stood in front of. There was still no sign of the giant Policeman. Joe gripped the handle of his pistol and prepared to draw it out and shoot at Peake until he dropped.

  ‘Got to be close enough to the Jetty to climb out of here fast.’ He thought. ‘Shoot Peake, climb out, shoot more if needed, run. Get to a vehicle. Shoot Macgregor if he appears.’

  It was the sum total of his plan and his execution of it went perfectly only up to the point that he pulled the pistol out and pointed it at Peake, who was now a mere three or four feet away.

  He stood up once the boat was only an arm’s length from the jetty. The man with the rope, balding and with bulging eyes had knelt to toss the hooped end of it over one of the hooks in which the nearest oar was slotted. Peake had leaned forward with his hand outstretched, still with the shit eating grin, he meant to help Joe up onto the platform. Joe reached out his right hand which Peake didn’t realise held the pistol.

  Joe paused. His finger had tightened on the trigger but had stopped. His mind screamed at him to pull, to fire the gun directly at Peake’s chest. The bullet would surely pass straight through whatever passed for a heart at this distance.

  He couldn’t do it. He felt as though he were in a Peckinpah movie, time had slowed, his vision expanded, movement on each side of the boat caught his attention. Peake’s shit eating grin dropped, his eyes widened and his thin lips formed a cavernous ‘O.’

  As Joe failed to find the courage or at least the violence within him to kill a man, something launched itself from the water to his left and grasped the wooden frame of the Jetty. Something with slick, blue grey skin, something that looked human but wasn’t.

  As it climbed the timbers the men, who couldn’t see that Joe’s outstretched hand held a pistol directed at their leader, stepped back to allow the thing room to clamber up to them. It turned its head to the side, to look directly at Joe and its large, bright eyes, set aside a batrachian head stared balefully at him, it opened its maw which was filled with small needle like teeth, and issued a low, guttural snarl.

  Time suddenly snapped back to its proper position in space and Joe found that he had lost microseconds during the event. He saw that he had swung the gun away from Peake and towards the thing that had emerged from the water. His conscience didn’t demand pause or debate as it had with Peake, who was human, instead his finger immediately twitched at the trigger and the pistol blasted out two bullets in rapid succession.

  The first shot was true and entered the things skull just above its right eye. Matter blasted up and out from it and the eye rolled upwards in its socket as though trying to see what had just entered its brain. The second shot went high and wide but the thing was already falling back into the ocean.

  Joe screamed and brought the pistol around, it was as though firing the gun had released his own safety catch. He fired two more shots at anything that was in view. Neither struck anything but air. He heard himself shouting as the deafening blasts began to fade but had no idea what words were coming out.

  He gripped the pistol with his other hand as he had seen in cop movies, bracing the weapon and steadying his aim. Peake was still close but was trying to push past the panicked men. Joe fired again, three shots roared from the pistol in quick succession, but the Doctor was already falling as he had taken aim. Peake had tripped and been sent sprawling, an accident that saved his life. Instead the man who’s legs Peake had fell against caught all of the rounds from Joe’s shots in his chest, neck and head. Joe roared in panic.

  He took a firm step across the boat and launched himself at the Jetty as the thing had done. The pistol dropped from his hand and into the black sea.

  He had been right about the men fleeing from him, even though he hadn’t taken out Peake. The plan was still good. He didn’t want to think about the creature and blanked it from his mind.

  His leap to the Jetty had been sound and he pushed himself up, lifting a leg over the side, he could see Peake, the fucker was scrambling along on all fours, trying to get away from him.

  Then there were more gunshots and they couldn’t have come from his pistol. Joe almost fell from the Jetty as he ducked thinking that they were shots coming at him from the townsfolk.

  He saw that the group of Falls men was backing up towards him, their heads were switching back and forth from him to the street and back again as though they didn’t know where the greater threat lay. More shots sounded and Joe saw at least two of the mob near the front drop.

  Macgregor appeared. He was hard to miss as he towered over all of them. The big man was taking aim with a rifle but it wasn’t pointed towards Joe, rather there must be someone or something at the end of the street.

  For a moment it appeared that Joe was forgotten and he recommenced his climb up and on to the Jetty. He hoped it was the police, the real police or even better the fucking army had come to flush this turd of town into the sea. This brought his thoughts back to the thing that he had shot.

  Something pulled at his jacket. Something had emerged from the water beneath and grabbed at him. Joe felt himself be pulled violently backwards and then went into sho
ck as ice cold water filled his world.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Macgregor tried to catch a sight of who was behind the truck. He recognised it. It belonged to one of the Roscregan lot, but even with the strong torches fixed on it he couldn‘t see anyone clearly although at least one had been skulking around by the cab. His men were appalling shots and he began to wonder if there was any chance of them hitting anything even if they moved closer. No return fire had come from whoever was taking cover but he couldn’t be certain that they didn’t have firearms. There wasn’t a farmer worth his salt in the highlands that didn’t own at least a shotgun.

  He was considering his options, they couldn’t stand about here all night that was certain, when sheer hell erupted around him. In an instant he was deafened by the sound of dozens of bullets that tore into the Nissan and his men. He hit the floor as blood, teeth and brains sprayed across him and the snow. It must have only been a few seconds but the onslaught seemed relentless. Caught completely by surprise the others had looked on in shock as an invisible wall of death descended upon them.

  Instinct took over Macgregor and he began to crawl across the slush to the Jeep. The volley ended although a few occasional shots still rang out. He climbed in to the driver’s seat, Coop had left the keys in the ignition. He didn’t think to look where the young man might be, he had no interest in the condition of any of them.

  A second volley pummelled the position and Macgregor thought that the attackers must have merely re-loaded. He dropped down below the dashboard and waited out the barrage.

  He thought that a couple of shots might have been returned by his men after the second attack from the top of the road subsided but he didn’t really care. He sprang up, turned the ignition and as soon as the engine kicked in slammed the jeep into reverse.

  He didn’t turn on the headlights so that he presented less of a target but as he reversed torches began to appear from the behind the truck and a few shots whizzed by him. One bullet passed through the windscreen leaving a hole the size of a golf ball and turning the glass into a fractured mess.