by Jim Goforth
Corey was looking over his shoulder between Serena and Caroline out the back window, keeping an eye on the following headlights, when he saw sudden movement flash from the woods at the side of the track.
A pale hunched figure seemed to charge across the dirt strip and regardless of Ryan's best efforts to avoid the abrupt obstacle, it couldn't be done.
There was a deafening bang as the van connected then the headlights tipped up on an angle, the vehicle thumped down and stopped still.
Alarmed, Pete gazed in the rearview.
"What the fuck was that?"
"Shit, stop the car!" Corey said, panicked. "They've hit something. Or someone. It came out of the bushes right between us and them!"
Pete slammed on the brakes a fraction too exuberantly and Dennis King nearly went catapulting through the windshield.
"Fuck, was it an animal? What the fuck was it?"
Yanking up the handbrake Pete wrenched his door open.
Blaise's door was already open and she was gone, heading for the stalled van.
Corey struggled with a stubborn seatbelt buckle as Desiree followed Blaise out into the chill night air.
By the time Corey got his seatbelt undone and his door open he was last out of the vehicle.
Dennis jogged with him across the rocky uneven terrain into the beam of the van headlights.
Ryan crouched in the headlights, examining the damage done by the sudden impact.
In the light cast on the ground by the globes there was no sign of the mystery creature that caused the accident, and looking right to where Melissa and Blaise were searching Corey still couldn't see anything.
"What happened man?" Pete was quizzing Ryan. "What'd you hit?"
"Fucked if I know. One second we're cruising along then this big shape just comes out of nowhere. I couldn't have avoided it. Hard turn either way and I'd be wrapped around a fucking tree right now."
"Corey saw it," Dennis said.
"Did you? What was it, a dog or something?" Asked Lee, joining them.
"Nope. Wasn't a dog."
"It was a Pleb wasn't it?" Jess said.
"You see it?"
"No, I was turned around talking to Rachel in the back."
"I think you're right," Corey said.
Jess's take on the situation seemed eerily correct.
Though he could hardly really recall exactly what the Plebs looked like, the big hunched pale shape moving rapidly across the road could well have been one of the nightmarish brutes.
Desiree, Melissa and Blaise returned from the thick scrub at the side of the track where they’d vanished in order to spy the culprit.
"We can't find anything," Blaise said.
"Jess thinks it was a Pleb," Corey relayed. "I think she might be right too. I caught a glimpse of it before the crash and I reckon that's what it was."
"Shit."
Wary glances were cast into the woods either side of the track and most people edged away into the centre of the rough road.
Britt however, didn't move fast enough.
As she lingered on the far said of the stationary van a huge powerful shape burst from the scrub in literally the same place as the other, snatching and grabbing at her with massive claw tipped hands.
CHAPTER 35
Britt gave voice to a shrill panicked scream of terror, sending all eyes shooting in her direction, but by then she'd already been yanked backwards, dragged out of sight in the woods.
"Oh fuck!" Screamed Dennis with a shaking pointing finger. "Help her, something's fucking got her!"
Not too many of the gathered assemblage had seen Britt get snatched, most of them only heard her bloodcurdling shriek, but Dennis witnessed it all.
While most of them had merely seen a quick flicker of movement as Britt vanished into the undergrowth, Dennis had seen the long pale sinewy arms tipped with jagged black claws lunge out of the bush to ensnare the hapless maiden.
He'd even caught a glimpse of the horrific nightmare beast attached to those impossibly long appendages and the vision had him quaking in fear, pointing and babbling mostly incoherent phrases.
Corey was nearest to Dennis and, without thinking too hard about it, he clasped a hand over the terrified fellow’s mouth to stem any further noise.
One single scream ringing out in the night might not be sufficient to alarm Haskell and his assortments of company and alert them to any suspicious goings on since the entire Spot and its surroundings were indeed a place custom built for nightmares, but any more noise than that might bring them to the scene in droves.
Corey and his friends were still a little ways off from the exact location of the church building, but he didn't want to be too careful, he wasn't certain just how far sound might carry through the woods.
Dennis tried to fight Corey off, struggling mightily, his eyes boggling wide, his mouth moving incredibly fast against Corey's palm.
"Be quiet!" Corey told him.
"Where'd they go?" Desiree demanded of Dennis who specified with a shaking finger.
Desiree and Blaise exchanged glances then vanished into the bush.
Letting Dennis go Corey blundered after them, but not before issuing a curt command for the others to remain where they were.
Dennis refused to do so.
Though he was blatantly petrified out of his mind, he trailed after Corey like a shadow.
With so many trees in close proximity, their canopies tended to block out any moonlight from above and it was virtually pitch black off the weather-beaten track.
Corey didn't even know why the hell he'd elected to charge blindly after the two women, most likely because he couldn't bear to have Desiree out of his sight chasing some mutant killer.
A flicker of light ahead and just off to his left showed him where they were, obviously one of them had a flashlight.
He headed that way then heard crackling leaves and snapping twigs behind him.
Heart beating impossibly fast, Corey snapped the safety off of his gun and prepared to lay the imagined Pleb to rest.
Of course the approaching Pleb was none other than the foolish Dennis King.
"Dennis! What are you doing?" Corey said, annoyed by Dennis' refusal to stay put, but also somewhat relieved that he had a companion and not a rampaging Pleb. "I thought I told you to stay."
"Yeah I know, but I don't really fancy just sitting there waiting to get grabbed. I thought I'd be safer with you since you're good with a gun and I don't really know about the others."
Corey wanted to be mad with Dennis, but he could hardly fault the guys logic could he?
"Okay, that’s fair enough, but be quiet."
"Where are the girls?" Dennis enquired in a stage whisper, attempting to remain in line with Corey's request for quiet.
Corey pointed out the beam of illumination playing through the trees.
They headed in that direction, Dennis hanging so closely by Corey he was virtually on top of him.
Almost immediately they stumbled up behind Blaise.
It was she who was holding the flashlight, her beam of radiance lighting up a sickening gruesome scene.
Hunched only mere metres from where she stood, shotgun in her hand, flashlight in the other was the rogue kidnapper Pleb gazing balefully back at her, making no attempt whatsoever to either run from her or run at her.
The light of the torch shone directly on its nightmarish face, reflecting in its eyes and perhaps it was this light which entranced the beast and prevented it from moving.
Corey had forgotten exactly what these mutated freaks looked like, but now his memories of them were promptly jolted back.
This beast was so pale in colour it was virtually white, a thick bodied albino horror with a flat pug-like face, a simian nose and short black tufts of hair growing sporadically atop a soccer ball head.
From the nose down the entire bottom half of the bestial visage was red with fresh blood and rivulets streamed down the jaw line, trickling onto a barrel chest.
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The beast was in the process of chewing on something and gazing down the creature’s torso to what lay at its feet, Corey realised with abject horror that both the blood coating the terrible face and whatever it was masticating were derived from the same source.
Britt's body was the lifeless object at the feet of the Pleb, lying flat on her back, a great big bloody hole punched in her chest.
As Corey stared in helpless horrified fascination, the munching Pleb raised a hand to its mouth, wrenching off another morsel of meat.
Flecks of blood flew from the segment, bright red in the flashlight beam.
The hand gripping the flesh was completely covered with blood way up past the wrist, suggesting that the appendage had been driven right through Britt's chest in order to yank out the succulent meal the murderous freak was now enjoying, most likely the heart of the deceased girl.
Corey was tremendously relieved that Blaise hadn't elected to shine the light down upon the corpse of the woman for even in the shadows the sight was truly awful.
Of Desiree there was no sign.
Dennis stepped out around Corey to see what vision it was that stopped his partner dead in his tracks and immediately regretted it.
There was some strangled garbled incoherent noise on Dennis' behalf followed instantly by tortured sounds of dry retching.
Hearing the ensuing splattering of material on fallen leaves and such almost resulted in Corey throwing up himself, though he managed, only just, to keep his nausea at bay.
"Where is..." Corey started to speak, but Blaise cut him off very succinctly.
"Shut up!" she snapped. "Don't move, don't say anything."
Corey instantly shut his trap, silencing his query about the whereabouts of Desiree.
Obviously Blaise didn't seem too alarmed about the absence of Desiree so Corey assumed the redhead knew exactly where her partner currently was.
Then he saw her.
She materialised out of the trees, directly behind the bloodied feeding Pleb.
She did so soundlessly, no twigs or dried leaves crunching underfoot, no evidence of noise that she was even there and constantly blinded by Blaise's spotlighting the oblivious Pleb carried on with its horrific feast, making awful chewing noises as it did.
Desiree looked as painstakingly gorgeous as ever, but her beautiful face wore an expression of single-minded purpose which was truly frightening.
In one smooth rapid motion which happened so fast it looked liquid, Desiree drew a long thin bladed knife that momentarily glinted in the glow of the torch and then snatched a handful of the Plebs scant hair, yanking the bestial cranium back.
Half masticated red slop spilled from its gaping maw as it grunted in surprise.
Desiree slit the Plebs throat from ear to ear in such a savage scything slice that the monsters head was virtually decapitated, instantaneously fountaining blood in a gruesome geyser.
Only then did Blaise turn the flashlight beam ground-wards as Desiree released the lolling head and jumped backwards to avoid getting splashed by gouting blood.
Next to Corey, Dennis whimpered like a severely chastised child expecting punishment.
Though it was true that the Pleb was a callous fiend who'd butchered Britt with no thought of reprisal, watching Desiree's calculated despatch of it was no less chilling or atrocious than if it had been an innocent human.
Only now did Corey move towards Blaise, who was crouching alongside the corpse of Britt evidently searching for something in her hands.
Both hands were empty.
"Shit, where's her gun?" Blaise wondered.
"Maybe she dropped it," Corey suggested helpfully. "When the Pleb nabbed her."
"Maybe," Desiree agreed, joining them, her knife wiped clean and back in its sheath. "Can it be tied to you in any way if it is found by anyone? Serial numbers or the like?"
"No," Corey was adamant. "None of the guns we have are registered in mine or my dad’s name. All the registered ones are safe at home."
"That's good I suppose. Maybe one of the others picked it up back by the track."
Corey tried to avoid gazing upon the slaughterscene, but morbid curiosity dragged his unwilling eyes back to the bloody ground.
Fortunately Blaise was directing the beam of light elsewhere, but the two bodies sprawled on the forest floor still looked pretty appalling even bathed in shadows. Britt lay flat on her back with what looked like a great black hole in her chest, trickling black residue out to stain her clothing.
If Corey wasn't mistaken, the heart wrenched from within her breast wasn't the only delicacy the brutal Pleb sought to feed on.
She also possessed two empty black holes where her eyes should have been, the optical orbs evidently having been scooped out by the fiends claw tipped fingers.
Corey swiftly looked away. but his line of vision carried him to the other grisly corpse, the virtually beheaded Pleb lying crumpled alongside Britt.
The grotesque head of the creature was now hanging on by threads of gristle and vertebrae, its mouth gaping open still trailing half chewed sections of Britt.
Corey had seen enough; nausea clawed in a very unwelcome fashion at the pit of his stomach.
"Let's get back to the others." Desiree decided, looking deep in Corey's eyes, perhaps trying to ascertain if he now thought differently of her having seen her dark side emerge in all its violent glory.
"Yep," said Blaise while Corey merely nodded.
"W...what about...her?" Dennis aimed a shaky finger at the remains of Britt.
"She's dead Dennis, we can't do anything for her," Blaise told him. "If we can we'll come back and get her body after."
"Oh man," Dennis moaned. "This is fucked."
"Yes it is." Blaise couldn't disagree. "See, your chum Haskell has got himself tangled up with some very very nasty shit and if he isn't careful this sort of thing is gonna happen to him even before we get to him."
"Fuck, fuck," Dennis babbled. "Man, what the hell was that thing?"
"A mutant," Blaise explained it as simply as possible. "They come along with the people your friends have hooked up with."
"What, there's more of them?"
"Lots more."
"Oh no!" Dennis moaned, his face twisted up into a perfect representation of the fear he was experiencing. "I've had enough of this. I think I want to go home now."
"We all do Dennis," Blaise said. "Unfortunately we don’t have a home to go to anymore which is part of the reason we're here tonight."
"Yes you do," Corey interjected.
"Yes we do what?" Blaise and Desiree both stared in puzzlement at Corey.
"You do have a home."
"I beg to differ; Raven and her fucking whores burnt it to the fucking ground!"
"I'm talking about my house," Corey elaborated. "That's your home now."
The expressions which blossomed upon the respective beautiful visages of the women were priceless.
"Are you serious?" Asked Blaise.
By this stage the foursome were stepping back out of the woods onto the rough dirt track where their apprehensive friends waited.
Before the stunned pair of Desiree and Blaise could bombard Corey with further queries regarding his very generous offer, the returning quintet were engulfed by a litany of questions from the group they'd left behind to wait.
Most importantly was the query posed by Rachel, the pink and blue haired girl gazing with some consternation at the four who really should have been accompanied by another member.
"Where's Britt?" Asked Rachel.
Blaise shook her head curtly, the answer to that query lying in her dark green eyes.
"No!" Rachel wailed. "It can't...how can it be?"
"It is," Desiree said bluntly. "She's gone. And we know we're in the right spot because it was a sonofabitch Pleb which got her."
"You get it?" Melissa asked, though from the splash of blood on Desiree which she hadn't quite avoided it would appear obvious.
"Did s
he ever," Dennis chimed in though he was still looking a fraction green around the gills. "Damn near cut the ugly fuckers head off."
"That was clever. No unnecessary gunshots to tip off our enemies."
"These people are fucking idiots," Blaise ranted. "You'd think Raven would know better than letting the Plebs run wild here, but obviously she doesn't give a fuck what other people are going to get slaughtered. She's going all or nothing."
"So are we," Desiree said. "And it looks like we're going to have to hunt down every single Pleb now because like Blaise said, evidently they've just brought them here and turned them loose."
Melissa shook her head in disgust and anger.
Most of the other girls were sobbing or simply too shocked to speak.
Even in a pack they hadn't been safe. The crafty Pleb managed to snatch Britt from right under their noses, killed her and scoffed down her eyes before Blaise and Desiree cornered it.
"We have to keep moving," Blaise prodded. "And we aren't taking the cars."
"What?" Chorused the majority of the group, most prominently Ryan and Lee. "You're joking?"
"No, I'm not fucking joking!" Blaise snapped, clearly on the knife edge of her temper. "We're walking. Quieter. No chance to give ourselves away and we might be able to pick off some stray Plebs along the way because trust me, where there's one there will be more."
"Well there was at least two around here," Corey said. "The one Ryan hit with the van probably wasn't the same one that took...that Desiree finished off."
"Yeah, you'd be right. So let’s get moving before the injured one brings a whole tribe of them."
"It's too cold to be walking around," Serena whined.
"Rather be dead would you? With your eyes gone and your heart ripped out?" Blaise snarled and Serena blanched white, recoiling from the redhead’s vitriol.
"Shit, that was harsh," Pete murmured to Corey.
"That's what happened to Britt," Corey whispered back.
"Jesus, what the fuck are we doing here? This is madness."
"Let's walk!" Melissa commanded.
"Forgetting something?" Corey piped up.
"Like what?"
"Like Wesley Drake in the van?"