by Jackson Lear
“You see that?”
“Yeah.” Ian squinted at the barbed wire symbol hanging from one of the branches. “Yeah, what is it?”
“I think it’s like a beacon or a warning light. Not an actual light, but something that does the same job, yeah? It’s just some fucked up shit for us to look at so the Beast knows we’re here, because when we’re looking up at this thing like dumbfucks he can watch us.”
“There’s no camera in there,” said Ian.
“Not that kind of watching us. He could be over there, behind some tree. He might be watching us right now. He came along here a few weeks ago. I followed him. I was looking at this for a while and figured he put it here for someone like me, so that he’s walking on by and can stop to see if anyone’s following him, get it?”
“Got it.” Ian squinted at the twisted barbed wire and tried to make sense of it. “It kinda looks like an angel. And it does look like the kind of thing he would make.”
“I should get one of those for my room, totally freak my mum out. Wait ...” Daniel stared at the set of barbed wire wings and raised his hands to the nearest branch. Maybe with a boost he could grab onto it.
“How about we come back for it? I don’t want to carry that thing and then look through some guy’s car.”
“Fair enough. But when we come back I am totally taking that thing.”
Ian studied the creek. The embankment on either side was steep, no question there. If someone came chasing after them while they were on their hands and knees …
“So where are we going?”
“Up here,” said Daniel. He was again grateful for the overturned tree to help steady his balance. They reached the top, stood, and surveyed the world below.
“See where the angel thing is? All along here he can see if anyone was following him.”
It sent a flutter through Ian’s stomach. “So where is he?”
“No idea,” said Daniel. “Come on.”
The ground dipped away from the bridge, rendering the whole area completely invisible to all traffic. Daniel and Ian navigated their way around the rough terrain, past several roots that were ready to snag a careless ankle and over nature’s versions of pot holes. Ian stopped at a thicket of brambles.
“Come on,” said Daniel.
“Where? Through there?”
Daniel pointed to a thick branch lying on the ground. “There’s a hole through this mess just there.”
Ian glanced over. The hole was only just big enough for the boys, never mind a full grown man. The countless thorns and stray brambles made the whole thing look like they were about to crawl through a cylinder of barbed wire.
“As if we’re going through there,” said Ian.
“There’s probably another way around but you have to be back by three, yeah?” Daniel turned to shield a grin. He ducked down and pointed through the hole. “You see through there?”
Ian joined him. “Where?”
“Past the trees there’s something like a cliff.”
“Yeah?”
“That’s where his lair is. We can almost see it from here.” Daniel studied the layout of the tunnel of brambles as he readied himself to squeeze through.
Ian stood and looked back over the way they came. “We should go back.”
“It’s not even twelve o’clock, yet.”
“What if the Beast is here?”
“Good point,” said Daniel. He cupped his hands to his face and bellowed. “Hey! Beasty man! You here?”
“Sssshhh!” whispered Ian. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Seeing if he’s here.”
“And what if he is?”
Daniel shrugged it off. “He’s not going to take on two of us.” Though, as he said that, he started to see that Warrick could have been useful after all. All he had to do was trip himself up and be the one to get caught, allowing Daniel and Ian to escape unharmed. “Besides, I brought the gun.” Daniel padded this backpack and grinned at Ian.
Ian’s tone dropped. “Is it loaded?”
“No. But he won’t know that.”
“It’s not a good idea to point a gun at someone,” said Ian. “Loaded or not, the Beast will still probably try to eat your face off.”
“Maybe. But you know what? I don’t hear him so I guess he isn’t here.” Daniel blundered forward through the brambles.
Ian checked over his shoulder. He didn’t even notice that he was holding his breath, waiting for the inevitable snap of a twig and the rush of a gaunt monster racing his way. He would end up falling back into the brambles in fright, only to have the Beast hack at his face and arms with his razor-like finger nails. He could scream as much as he wanted to but no one would get to him in time.
Ian dropped to his hands and knees and crawled after his friend.
Daniel was using a tree as cover. Right in front of him was the sorry excuse of a clearing that was someone’s home. He kept watch, trying to pick out the slightest hint of human movement.
Ian stood, dusted off his jeans, and crept over to Daniel. “Is he here?”
“No idea. Do you see that?”
Ian followed Daniel’s pointed finger. Just twenty metres away was a rusted four door sedan, bogged up to its chassis and completely unable to move.
Both boys felt the chill air fall around them. The ground at the far end rose so steeply that it was virtually a cliff surrounding the clearing. A thin rope hung from the car’s front door to a nearby tree, presumably to be used as a clothes line. Several discoloured plastic crates were laid out in a loose circle just spitting distance from Daniel and Ian.
“That’s it?” Ian asked.
“Yeah,” said Daniel. “I think that’s where he lives.”
Ian kept an ear out for trouble. Having just survived an ordeal with James catching them on his property he was in no mood to be caught like that again.
Daniel stepped forward.
“Wait!”
Daniel turned and shot a wry grin at his friend. “You want to see where the Beast sleeps?”
“He might still be here.”
Daniel sauntered forward, forcing Ian to hurry after him for protection. They stopped in front of the thirty year old Datsun. It had once been blue, but decades of sun blisters had caused the paint to bubble and peel away. The tires were all deflated and the whole car had sunk into the mud.
Inside, Ian found the twisted form of several blankets lying on the back seat. There was a pile of old clothes tossed into the foot of the rear seat. The driver’s side seat was folded down on top of the steering wheel, giving whoever lived in there a little more space to spread out.
Ian tried the door handle. Like Daniel had said, the inside was foul and stale, like sweat socks and old shoes. The trees and hills must have provided enough shade to keep the car out of direct sunlight, but it would have been miserable to sleep in.
“Check this out,” said Daniel. He had found a litter of jars at the base of a nearby tree. There was also a plank of wood on top of two plastic crates, used as a bench. Beyond that was a tarp held by some wire around a tree. Rubbish was scattered around the entire site, made up of empty bottles and cans, plastic wrappers, and shrapnel from broken up tin cans.
Daniel looked over the tarp and found some pegs dug into the ground to keep it from blowing away. “I guess he only sleeps in the car when it rains.”
“Yeah. It would be too difficult sleeping in there all the time.”
“Unless he slept with the door open and his legs hanging out.”
Ian shrugged and gently kicked the jars by the tree onto the ground. “What do you think he does with these?”
“I don’t know. He’s not right in the head if he’s living out here.”
“Maybe someone should help him,” said Ian.
“Maybe someone should shoot him and put him out of his misery.”
Ian’s mouth dropped open with a look of utter revulsion. His whole face contorted as he worked through one horrific thought to an
other. After all, they were snooping around the Beast’s lair with a gun close at hand.
“Not me,” said Daniel. “You know what I mean. Someone else, like the police.”
Ian turned away. It felt as though he was walking through someone’s bedroom. He couldn’t shake the idea that this was exactly like being caught by James again, only this time he wouldn’t be staring down the sharp end of a pitchfork, it would be a set of teeth and claws amid a psychotic frenzy.
“So why did we need the torches?” Ian asked.
“For the tunnel,” said Daniel. “It’s just over there.”
Ian had felt that pang of discomfort before. So far it had always been proven false, or at least not as bad as he first feared. He had been afraid of climbing into James’ garden and smoking. That turned out to be okay for the first month. He had been afraid of trusting James. That hadn’t turned out too badly. He had even been afraid of having sex with the girl. That ended up being a lot more fun than he expected. This time, though, he would’ve flat-out refused were it not for Daniel having the gun.
The boys left the lair and headed south along the cliff face. The ground sloped away to an area overlooking farmland and fields. Between those were the train tracks connecting Luxford to London. The boys came to a stop just before a vertical drop.
“Here we are,” said Daniel. “See?” He pointed directly down. Two metres below them was a black concrete opening with a heavy gate locking the contents inside.
Ian took one look at what Daniel was pointing at and shook his head. “No.”
“It’s right there.”
“I mean: no, we’re not going in there. That’s a kill chamber. People go in there to be killed.”
“He’s not around here,” said Daniel.
“He’s not where we can see him. He could be hiding down there. You ever see that movie where this slug man lives in the sewers and he eats people who go down to kill him? Yeah, this is the same thing.”
“There’s no slug man, that’s just a movie.”
“Same thing. Homeless man who lives in a car or a dark tunnel, slug man killing people. Going in there is stupid,” said Ian.
“We have a gun.”
“My uncle said to never go climbing through a sewer. He did it once and it nearly killed him. A storm came through and he couldn’t get out. If it wasn’t for his friend being there he would’ve drowned.”
“But he did get out and it’s not raining. Your uncle sounds like a bit of an idiot if he’s climbing through sewers when it’s raining.”
“Yeah, and we’ll be idiots if we climb through that tunnel when we know the Beast lives nearby.”
Daniel rolled his eyes and grumbled. “Fine. But can we at least climb down and shine the torches inside? Just to see how far in it goes?”
Ian looked towards the creek. It was certainly easier getting back there from here than from the Beast’s lair. It also meant there was less chance of finding the car’s owner as he stumbled back with fresh badger for dinner. Ian peered over the edge to the tunnel. “Fine. But no going back to the lair.”
“Okay. You go first.”
Ian turned and started to walk away. “Fuck that if I’m going first!”
Daniel burst into laughter and grabbed onto Ian’s arm. “I’m kidding! I’ll go first. You just watch out in case anything comes at me when I’m climbing down.”
Daniel walked to the edge of the narrow cliff, got to his hands and knees and backed his legs off the side of the sheer rock. He found something to rest his foot on and gripped the rock face with his fingers. He looked below, jumped, fell just one metre and landed without too much effort.
“Ta da.”
Ian followed suit and felt the rock scrape along his stomach as he swivelled himself over. He was taller than Daniel and had less distance to fall, but even so he stumbled back as he landed. He stood and came face to face with the edge of the Beast’s kill chamber.
Ian gulped and looked into the mouth of a long, dark tunnel. At any other time he would have been curious to see inside something like that, but not when he was this close to the Beast’s stomping ground. He just couldn’t leave Daniel to fend for himself if something went bad.
Daniel dropped his backpack to the ground and rummaged inside. He pulled out the Smith & Wesson and stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans. He fished out the small torch, clicked it on, and stared into the tunnel. “I can’t see shit.”
Ian turned his backpack around to his front, unzipped the main section, and pulled out his heavy duty torch. He twisted the knob to ‘spotlight’ and blasted the inside of the tunnel with his dad’s old torch. He flicked the light over every wall to try and make sense of what he was looking at.
“It’s not a sewer. Sewers are round pipes. This is square and concrete.”
“I didn’t say it was a sewer,” said Daniel.
“You sure?”
“Yeah. That was your uncle.” Daniel craned his head around to see if there was a sign telling them what it was, be it an abandoned power hub or a bomb shelter. All that gave it away was that it had a tomb-like concrete facade with a black metal grating over the front. The inside walls were sharp and vertical. The floor was covered with leaves and twigs from years of neglect.
“Do you think it’s a bomb shelter?” Daniel asked.
“I don’t know.” There was a smell coming from inside that didn’t sit well with him. It was like expired milk and he wasn’t keen on finding out if this was the real home of the Beast and that the car and tarp were just his weekend retreat.
“There’s a room in there,” said Daniel, seeing a corner in the far end of the tunnel. He wrapped his fingers around the grating and pulled. The hinges gave way and the grating swung open.
“Stop. Just stop. If this gate falls on us we’ll be stuck inside. If the Beast is in there he’ll kill us. If the Beast is outside and catches us inside, he’ll kill us. If we get stuck and no one comes to get us out, I’ll kill you.”
“Fine, then you stay out here,” said Daniel. “I won’t go far. Can I borrow your torch?”
“If you die, I’m not going in there after you.”
“Don’t be such a pussy.” Daniel took the torch out of Ian’s hand and flicked the light around the edges of the tunnel. Despite his bravura, his pulse had skyrocketed. The first time he found this tunnel he had spent several minutes standing at a safe distance, refusing to go any closer. Eventually he took a step forward to face his nerves, then another. At last he had been able to muster up the courage to whisper: “Is anyone inside?”
Now he climbed up and ducked under the low ceiling. The twigs and leaves crunched under his foot. He was too busy keeping the light on the distance to see that he was treading on recent foot prints.
“Don’t go far,” whispered Ian.
Daniel stood straighter. He could see the end of the tunnel just in front of him. It veered off to the left at a right angle into a larger opening. Above him, almost smacking him in the forehead, were grated fittings for light bulbs that had been smashed years ago. The smell of the leaves and twigs left him and he was greeted with a new sense, one that twisted his stomach. The only idea that came to him was that it smelled like day-old puke. He held the gun in front of him. No one else was likely to be in there but he needed a little extra moral support.
There was a crumpled blanket at the far end of the corridor, pushed up against the wall. Daniel’s heart seemed to thump against the walls of tunnel. He glanced back to see Ian staring at him. Ian glanced back over the valley.
Daniel froze.
Ian’s attention returned to Daniel.
Daniel tightened his grip around the gun and torch, mentally chastising Ian with a, ‘Don’t do that!’ He spun his head around to make sure nothing was sneaking up on his front. Only the crumpled blanket was there to greet him. He edged towards the corner.
“Fuck!” Daniel scrambled back against the wall, bounced off the edge, and retreated to Ian as quickly as he could.
“Someone’s in there,” whispered Daniel, coming to a stop in the entrance of the tunnel.
“Bullshit.”
“I saw their shoes and jeans. They were standing against the wall.”
Ian squinted inside the tunnel. There was only a five metre distance between the corner and where Daniel stood. If someone was in there and they ran at Daniel they would certainly catch him. Daniel flicked the light back down the tunnel and felt every nerve in his body scream, telling him to run like hell.
“I swear I saw someone.”
“I’m not going in there,” said Ian.
Daniel looked back down the tunnel and summoned the strongest voice he had. “Who’s down there? Show yourself!”
They waited a full thirty seconds, listening to their eardrums thump against their heads as their hearts beat wildly out of time.
“Show yourself!” Daniel bellowed.
Ian nearly jumped out of his skin. “Christ, shut the fuck up!”
Daniel panted and stared down the corridor. He had seen someone. No question. But like the blanket in the distance maybe the shapes and shadows twisted to convince him that what he saw and what was actually there were two completely different things.
“No one’s down there,” Ian whispered.
“I saw someone,” Daniel whispered. He took another step into the tunnel.
“We should go home,” Ian said.
Daniel held the gun towards the far end of the tunnel. “Keep the gate open.”
“I’m going home!” whispered Ian.
“Don’t you dare,” said Daniel. He looked back at Ian, turning his attention momentarily away from the corridor, ready to call his friend’s bluff.
“You said there was someone in there.”
“We’ll see,” said Daniel. He edged back towards the corner, feeling his heart slamming against his chest, but every step was a new rush to prove that he was better than the cowardly Ian and so much better than the chicken shit Warrick.
He wished he had kept a couple of bullets but he was empty. As long as he blinded whoever was in there with the torch they wouldn’t be able to get to him. Daniel edged around the corner and felt himself stop breathing.