Long ago I had read the book and to my disgust, the plaques about Dashwood and other members that plastered the entrance way. I mean, I was that bored right now I could find joy reading a take-away menu! In fact I was just in the process of reading how many calories were in the brownie cake bar when I heard the rumble of an engine.
I got up and dusted myself off to walk to the gate, when I saw there was more than one motorbike coming closer to the main gates. My eyes widened as reality sank in and I crouched low so that they wouldn’t see me. I scrambled to the ticket barrier and used that as cover to see what was happening.
I saw one of them flip the kickstand and dismount the bike. He walked over to the gates and with a swift kick in the middle they thrashed back, admitting the rest of the bikers into the courtyard. Well, unless Sigurd was in a ‘Hell raiser’ biker gang he forgot to mention, I knew I was in deep shit.
I looked to the tunnel that was my only means of escape and then back at the first guy who was pulling off his helmet. I swore out ten types of screwed in my head as I saw who it was. The same black mountain of a man, who had chased me around London’s underground, had now found me and from the look of the scowl etched on his face, I didn’t think he had forgiven me for giving him the slip.
I had two really bad choices ahead of me and only one of them meant not getting immediately kidnapped or worse, being the furthest place from Hell I could get…which depending on how the Gods looked at letting me in at the Pearly Gates… Well, there are all the new ‘break ins’ to consider! Ok, humour kept me from crying like a helpless little girl right now, but it didn’t help with putting the bad decision into plan. So with that in mind, I took in a steady breath just as I heard the big dude’s threatening declaration,
“If she’s here, we will find her.” That’s when I whispered,
“Oh Hell, no.” And in the words of a good old western, I got the Hell outta Dodge! I picked my timing right as they all turned to watch a larger bike roll in, one with its rider having silver flames on his helmet before I took my shot. I stayed as low as possible while still moving and managed to grab the strap of my bag before running for the tunnel. I ran into the dark abyss, feeling along the walls for support until I was far enough away to fumble with getting the torch out of my bag.
In my panic I dropped it on the floor before I had chance to click it on. I dropped to my knees feeling the gravel floor digging in through my jeans and frantically felt round for the little plastic torch that would save my life in this Hell hole. I felt it not far from my own boot and tried to get my shaking hands to co-operate long enough to click the bloody thing on!
The small beam of light was like seeing the sunrise after a lifetime of obscurity. I spun it one way and couldn’t contain the scream when I saw a dummy dressed up like a steward stood behind a caged door. I fell back into the plastered wall in shock and had to get a grip for a few wasted seconds in order to brave going further.
“It’s just a dummy Keira, get a grip girl…don’t freak out now.” I whispered in the dark feeling slightly comforted by the sound of a voice, even if it was my own. I didn’t wait around to see if the guys outside had heard me. I just lifted my bag strap over my head and gripped the torch in a death grip.
“Be brave…be brave…be brave.” I repeated as I continued on and took the most frightening steps I ever had before in my life. The echoed crunch of each step beneath my feet made it impossible to tell if anyone was behind me without stopping and that was just something I wasn’t willing to do. It wouldn’t take them long to guess that I had braved hiding in the caves, so I needed to use what little time I had ahead of them and hide somewhere.
My little torch offered me a small amount of comfort but only enough that it stopped me from walking into any walls. Anything other than that and I was on my own. It just wasn’t powerful enough to penetrate this level of darkness. I had never encountered anything so frightening before. It was almost thick enough to reach out and touch. With each foot further the harder it became to breath at a normal rate. The temperature was so cold, I could no longer put down my shaking to just the intense fear.
The last time I remembered being this cold was when being pushed into the frozen lake by Layla and being convinced I was going to die. Well, right now I was not far from the same feeling. I didn’t actually know what was still making my legs move further on, but I didn’t think I was that far from crumbling to the floor and praying for this nightmare to end.
It felt like the heavy blackness that surrounded me was weighing me down and a brick wall at my back was preventing me from escaping. I felt trapped in my own fear and I needed to calm myself down if only so that my breathless panting wouldn’t give away my position. I tried to take deeper breaths…in…out…in…out they came and went but no matter what I tried telling myself, my heart wouldn’t cease its hammering against my chest cavity.
I had to stop for a second, I had to just try and control this dread. I leant against the wall with the flash light shaking in front of me, so I used both hands in an attempt to gain some control. That’s when I realised I was silently sobbing and the tears I left behind were like an invisible trail of bread crumbs.
“Control…breathe and control breathe Keira…darkness can’t hurt you…remember back…Why are we afraid of the darkness when the light shows us more of the land of nightmares?" I let this mantra sink in and used it to ease my deep set fear, twisting it into something else. The grip on reality started to seep back in and I convinced myself that the danger wasn’t down here but back up there and it…well… it was coming for me!
So I decided to use the darkness as a tool, a means of hiding like a friend that would shield me against the real threat. I needed to trust the shadows like I trusted that Sigurd would come. He would save me, I just knew it but until then I needed to be strong. I needed to let go of the fear.
I wiped away my tears, gritted my teeth and my breathing became that of determination. I lifted my head and with a steadier hand, aimed my way to take firmer steps into what I now considered was my escape. And so I moved. Strong and sure onwards I went until I found one of the plaques on the wall. This time when I saw another dummy I didn’t freak out other than let my breathing hitch at the unexpected. This was Franklin’s cave and if I remembered correctly not far from the banqueting hall. This was going to be my aim, as I knew exactly where I was going to hide.
As I stopped at the junction I started to hear other people in the cave and knew it wouldn’t be much longer before they were upon me. I picked the right tunnel and moved as fast as I could, all the time resisting the impulse to look behind me with the flash light. I knew that would be another way to give them my position if they were close enough behind me, so I put a lock down on that urge. I was just coming around to where the left side would have brought me and that’s when disaster struck. The light from my torch started to flicker as the power started to diminish.
“Shit!” I whispered and started to work the dynamo to gain more power but the noise it made was too loud. I knew it wasn’t far now so decided to continue on quicker. The dim light flickered off mid-step making me inhale sharply. I had to pump it a few times to get it back and I shrieked out when the light lit up two figures of small children right in front of me. I only just managed to keep hold of my bladder let alone the torch!
My mind quickly started to process what it was seeing and I remembered back to earlier. This was the children’s cave and the small mannequins I saw now demonstrated how some children would find their way down here to play…which sounded just plain bonkers to me.
I moved on from this disturbing display pretty quickly, hating anything creepy that included kids, but in my haste I didn’t see what was in front of me. I went straight into the wall ahead and let my hand save me from knocking myself out. I looked up to see something in the wall that didn’t make sense…A face? I moved back and raised the flickering torch only to freak myself out again enough to scream. Right in front of me was some we
ird skull shaped head that had been carved into the stone. It looked like someone had created the eerie picture by using their fingertips to gouge into wet clay. The stark white face of chalk dripped with condensation almost like it was crying for my distress. Green moss grew around the top and framed its shocked features. Why would anyone make this?
I whipped my head round as I heard once more the distant voices coming from the passages behind me and wondered how long I had. Needless to say I did this thinking whilst on the move. I aimed what little light I did have and saw straight ahead of me was an opening, so I ran. I held on to my bag to stop it beating around my body with the movement and made it into the massive open space that was the banqueting hall. It was the largest space in the caves and it was easy to see this was the main hosting area for Dashwood and his friends.
I didn’t really care about that now, as my thoughts were more along the line of, ‘I hoped I had made the right decision to hide here’. I scanned the area just as my light started to completely give out on me but at least managed to find one of the deep alcoves before it did. Soon the dark wall at my back surrounded my entire body in a black cage of terror.
I felt around the rock until I was sure of the ledge I was about to hoist myself up onto and lifted my bag over before using my puny upper body strength to lift the rest of me up. I scrambled forward until I felt the bars on the door that kept me from going any further.
“Damn it!” I said in a frustrated whisper. I wrapped my fist around the metal and gave it a shake that echoed in the empty space. I cringed at the sound and knew I couldn’t get away with doing that again. It didn’t help that the ceilings in this room were about thirty foot high, giving every movement a boost in sound. I shifted my weight and sat with my back to the bars, with my legs tucked up tight to my chest.
Well, this was it. I could do no more and didn’t have time or the light to find another spot to hide in. I had remembered the alcoves but forgotten about the bars preventing you from getting inside them. All the men needed was a decent torch and I would be done for. Ok, so a gun was now going on my new list of must haves…because those night vision goggles would have come in pretty handy right about now!
Waiting was another form of torture. Being sat in the dead silence with despair as my only friend was not an experience I would ever like to relive any time soon. There was nothing worse than waiting for the unknown to find you scared out of your ever loving mind and unable to fight for your life. What could I do against Demons the size of wrestlers on steroids? Well, one thing I would be doing and that was throwing this piece of shit torch at them…fingers crossed I took out an eye!
When I first saw the light coming from beyond the passageway I had to slam my hands over my mouth so as not to scream. I even had to bite down on to my bottom lip to prevent the trembling. I knew this was it and what other choices did I have…? I was out of time and luck was no longer my friend.
“In here.” A voice travelled to me and I tried to stay as still as the air in this room. I focused on my breathing but it was difficult when my lungs felt like they couldn’t get enough air to circulate around my body and to my pounding heart. I finally got my first glimpse of who was after me as a black figure had to almost bend double to get through the opening. I was lucky in the sense that they were only armed with the small flare of light from the lighter he held.
I didn’t want to get my hopes up but I knew that thing wouldn’t be giving him much to go by. As he stretched up to his full height he lifted it up closer to his face and I saw the single flame reflected in the mirrored lenses he still wore covering his eyes. My stalker walked further into the room to allow the others at his back to also enter. Three big guys spread out as each took a space in the room that was on either side of the archway.
“Give it up girl, we know you’re in here.” The black guy stated in a firm authoritative tone, which told me he was the one in charge. Which begged the question…who the Hell was this guy?!
“She’s here, I can hear her little heart pounding…we won’t hurt you girl.” I wanted to shout out, ‘yeah right’ but decided to bite my fingers instead. I heard him release a breath through his nostrils in frustration before he started moving around the room.
“The light isn’t for our benefit.” He told me as he made his way round. The sound of the gravel under his booted feet danced along my tightly strung nerves until I want to shout out not to come any closer.
“It’s for yours pet, so you know where we are…it’s for your fear...” He stopped and the small flame let me see enough of his face to witness him sniff the air like an animal sniffing out its prey.
“…The fear I can smell and…” He licked his lips before snarling the word,
“…Taste.” He then smiled, flashing a fang that grew in length from his gums and down his chin. He stopped and waited, as though trying to judge something and then when obviously coming to a decision, he did something that nearly made my heart stop beating.
“It was your choice, pet…” His grin grew and he turned his head to the lighter he held and finished his sentence,
“Now it’s mine.”
Then…
He blew out the light.
Chapter 40
Twenty Two Steps for the Brotherhood
Now with the only light long gone and four men in the room with me in their sights, my chances plummeted just as my fear skyrocketed. I could hear the crunch, crunch, crunch of each footstep getting closer and I wondered if everyone else could hear the deafening chorus of my heart beating out like death’s drum.
The irrational part of my brain wanted to close my eyes tight and repeat ‘there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home’. Thankfully though I didn’t give into the compulsion and remained as still and silent as I could.
“Be sensible now, girl.” His gruff voice surprised a sharp breath from me at how close it sounded. I reached down by my side until I felt the gravel there and so, so slowly grabbed a fistful of the tiny stones as my only means of a weapon. I knew it was a wasted effort, but I just didn’t have it in me not to try and fight, even if it meant my death. These bastards wouldn’t take me with ease!
One, two, three more crunching sounds, the last one being the loudest so far told me where he was in the room. My hold on the stones tightened until it hurt but it was a pain I welcomed. If anything it brought me comfort to know that these little pebbles could hurt someone.
Then suddenly he was there! I screamed out as the lighter lit his face right in front of me and if that was his way to elevate my fear, then he couldn’t have been more wrong! But the one thing it did at least do was give me a target. I turned my scream of fright into one of outrage and threw my handful of small projectiles in his face, watching with satisfaction as one cracked the lens of his shades. He took a few startled steps back and I took my chance. I jumped from the ledge, leaving my bag and in exchange reaching for the zippo lighter that still had flame. Then I legged it for the opposite exit into the next set of caves.
“RAAAHHH!” The roar echoed round the walls and I almost expected them to shift with the force and come crashing down on us all. I panted out my panic and kept running with one single flame to guide my way. I soon found myself torn between my haste and the light that wasn’t taking kindly to my speed. It kept threatening to go out and at one point it hit its limit. I stopped, frozen in the dark and through my shaking hands, fumbled to try and re-ignite it.
“Come on! Come… on!” I shouted at it through gritted teeth until I got it the on the third try. The tight space of the tunnel reflected with an orange glow but was only enough light to show me a foot in front of me. However, I kept running. I could hear the shouting of angry voices coming at my back but knew I couldn’t stop now. All ideas of them not hurting me after what I had done were long gone.
I quickly came to a junction and didn’t think about the decision as I took the right, pushing away from the rock I bumped into. It hurt but my mantra then turned away fr
om being afraid of the dark and more towards…
“It’s just bruises Keira, it’s not a severed head, which is what you will get if you don’t get the fuck outta here!” I no longer cared if they could hear me anymore as there was only one place I could go and one place for them to follow. My mind started to work like a damn steam engine as I thought back to today. Where else could I hide, what else did I see?
“Wait…the river!” That was it! I remembered the river that bent round out of sight. The water was shallow enough to walk through and surely they wouldn’t think to look there…would they? Well, there was only one way to find out. I bumped along the tunnel, propelling myself off the sides whenever I would get too close.
“God, where is it!?” I asked frustrated with not knowing what was around the corner and desperate to see the next section that would bring me out by the Inner Temple.
I finally came to the point where both ends met and when I rounded the corner a high pitched scream exploded out into the caves! It actually took a second to figure out it came from me as a shadowy figure came at me. A ghost looked as though it came straight from the rock wall and came charging right at me. I tried to turn and I covered my head with my arms in a protective manner out of reflex.
“O…oh…GGG…od please…” I stammered through my arms knowing soon my legs would give way and I would no longer be able to move. All the things I had seen in my life and never once had I seen what I considered to be a ghost. It just proved that the things we fear the most in life was the unknown.
“Calm.” A gentle voice spoke as it neared and I screamed again when I felt it touch me.
The Quarter Moon (Afterlife saga) Page 45