by Brett McKay
I was reminded of the time I’d snuck into the family room while my older brothers and their friends were watching Night of the Living Dead. Even in black and white, the movie had been nightmarish. This was much worse. I was in it.
I turned and ran blindly into the fat man, who was still squealing. I bounced off his chest and fell to the ground, landing hard on my tailbone. Pain flared through it. The odd couple lurched for me and grabbed at my collar and hair. My heart raced, and I twisted around, guns in hand, and sprayed them with rounds of salt water. They pulled at me, snarling through gray teeth, and finally, the salt absorbed into their bodies enough to cause them pain. Tiny wisps of smoke wafted from the spots the water hit. They shrieked, released their hold on me, and clawed madly at their wounds like they had an itch that couldn’t be scratched.
The fat man dropped to the ground and crawled toward me. When he grabbed at my feet, I yelped and kicked his face several times before hopping to my feet.
I tore off in the opposite direction, careened around the front porch, and bolted in through the front door. The slanted floor of the Crooked House caught me off guard, and I nearly toppled. I ran for the kitchen, toward the basement door, in a last desperate effort to save Dawn.
Todd Harrison appeared in the kitchen doorway, wearing a devilish grin. I aimed both guns and fired. He jerked back from the burning liquid, and I heard the sizzle, but it wasn’t enough to keep him from wreaking his vengeance upon me.
With one sweep of his arm, he knocked the pistols out of my hands, and the other fist hammered against my left cheek. Airborne, I twisted completely and plopped to the floor.
“Ouch.” I heard Lester’s voice as he entered. “That’s gotta hurt.” He laughed. “Boy brought his water pistols?”
I rolled and looked up at them both. Todd frowned, one eye solid red from the fiery salt. The left side of his face was peppered with red dots from where he’d been shot with the rock salt the other night. He was not happy. Todd kicked my forehead, and the back of my head slammed against the floor. Then my world went dark.
I WOKE UP LYING NEXT to Dawn, hands tied behind me with duct tape. Dawn was still blindfolded, but they hadn’t bothered with me. I struggled to a sitting position and took in my surroundings as they came into focus. The basement was cold and damp, and the only light came from the magic pool and its blue aura.
All the living dead, including Harrison, were with us, standing against the opposite wall, watching and waiting. The lady in the dress continued to struggle; she bent over and gagged on black sludge.
I felt something bulky next to me, against my thigh. I looked down and saw my satchel. I was perplexed why they’d leave me my bag, but I don’t think they knew it was a danger to them.
“Dawn?” I said. “It’s me.”
“Ret?” Dawn’s voice shook. Tears streaked from underneath her blindfold, and her lips were wet with them. Dirt mixed with sweat smeared her forehead and cheeks.
“What are you doing here?” Her voice rose in panic.
“I came to save you. Some rescue, huh?”
She frowned and shook her head. “You shouldn’t have. Nobody should. They’ll end up like them.”
She nodded to the living dead across the room. They continued to grunt, groan, and shuffle around awkwardly.
“The whole town is looking for you. So many people love you. My dad said the police came and searched this whole house. Why couldn’t they find you?”
“Beaumont did something so they couldn’t find me. I was right here the whole time. I heard them, they called out to me, and I called back. I screamed, I cried, but they couldn’t hear me. They were right here! Right in front of me! I kicked and yelled and rolled my body around!” She gulped. “Something is evil here. Can you feel it?”
My body tingled. I knew what she was talking about. It weighed the air like an electric charge. “Yes.”
“They dug up those bodies. Lester said they were the freshest ones he could find. I recognize Mrs. Jones from the grocery store.”
I looked at the lady in the flower dress again. Dawn was right—she worked one of the registers, but she’d quit months ago because of cancer. She must have passed away, and the bastards dug her up then stuffed the soul of one of their friends into her body.
“Beaumont is really mad at Lester,” Dawn whispered to me. “They had a big argument about the bodies and how they’re not fresh enough. I think that’s why they can’t talk or walk very well. He also said they hadn’t eaten in days.”
With a shiver, I thought about Lester’s threat to feed Dawn or me to them.
“When the police came, Lester blindfolded me and left me down here with these dead bodies, and Beaumont chanted some strange words. Like a spell or something. I think that’s why the police couldn’t see me or see them.”
“I’m sorry.” My head drooped.
“Me too.”
We took a break from speaking for a moment, and then she leaned her head to me and rested it on my shoulder. I snuggled my head back into her. It felt warm and good.
The basement door opened, and a sliver of light sliced the darkness. Beaumont and Lester marched down the stairs and halted in front of the living dead. Mrs. Jones was curled on the floor, coughing and gagging uncontrollably.
Beaumont bent down and softly ran a hand along her cheek. She looked up at him, eyes horrified, chest heaving rapidly.
“Chokanna,” he spoke in his tongue lovingly. “Mo seeka, vi cobiki soka Asson. Mi mo vana.”
Tears ran from her eyes. “Ki! Ki jee!” She choked words out passionately. “Ki ki jee!”
Beaumont closed his eyes, pursing his lips, and a tear ran from one eye. He kissed his fingers and placed them on her forehead. He turned and looked at Lester with disdain and hatred, then burned the same glare at me.
He stood up, crossed the room, and picked up a long-handled axe. Mrs. Jones’s body shuffled on her back, and the others stepped out of the way. Her chest pumped up and down faster.
“Mi mo vana, Chokanna!” Beaumont said his last words to her then buried the axe in her head with a sickening thuck.
I turned away, and Dawn shuddered at the sound.
“What was that?” Dawn asked me.
“You don’t want to know.”
Confused, the others looked down at the lady on the floor. The water in the pool shimmered, and rings spread as if a rock had dropped into the middle of it. Beaumont looked at the pool as his friend’s spirit raced home to the other world.
“You see now, Lester? Does it finally make sense to you?” He hammered his words into the shorter man. “I need fresh bodies. You gave me one plagued with sickness!”
“It’s all I could find,” he whined. “You don’t give me enough time.”
“We’re out of time!” Beaumont threw the axe, and it clattered next to us.
“I’m sorry!” Lester yelled sheepishly. He looked around the room then pointed at us. “We still have them!”
His gaze burning into us, Beaumont pointed at us and said, “We were going to use their souls for food. We need energy.” He stepped closer to us, looking us over. “They’ll have to do. I’m out of choices. One can be my Chokanna, and one can be the food.” He turned to Lester. “It better work this time.”
“It will for now. Until we find another one. A better one.”
“Shut up!” he snarled.
Sickness boiled in my stomach.
Beaumont crossed the room and tore off Dawn’s blindfold. Her eyes fluttered and squinted, adjusting to the light.
“You said it’d be just one of us,” I said. “Lester said if I came, I’d take her place and she could go.”
Beaumont shrugged. “Things change. I’ll still give you a choice, though. Do you want to be the food or the vessel? Either your soul will be torn to pieces and eaten, or it will be trapped in a dark void forever. You decide.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The Tormentor
I didn’t consider either of
those much of a choice. No matter which I chose, we were both going to die. “I’ll be the... food. Just let her go. Like Lester promised you would.”
He grabbed the back of my collar, lifted me off the floor so that my face met his, and snarled, “I promised nothing.”
“You son of a bitch!” I spat.
He gripped the back of my hair and shoved my face in the water. I held my breath and squirmed. I was helpless. Not having my hands free was a frightening feeling. I tried to pull my wrists apart, twist, and fight to break the duct tape, but I was at his mercy.
My face hit the water with a hard smack, and I felt my spirit rip away from my body, leaving me empty. My spirit self floated far below the surface of the water. I still felt my body outside the pool, but it was far away from me and struggling to breathe.
I am dead, I told myself. This is it. I gulped in fear. You’re not dead, my other inner voice argued. Just hold your breath.
While immersed, I opened my eyes and saw a dark figure far below. It was a giant monster with hundreds of arms and jagged claws that reached up to the surface. After a second, I recognized the shape for what it really was: an immense tree several feet below—in their world. The arms and claws were branches. No—not branches... tree roots. It was an upside-down tree with its roots planted in our world, feeding from our world.
Entangled in the roots was a small, dark creature. Though humanoid, with arms and legs, its form was as black as the night and thin like a stick. Its face consisted of only a nose, no mouth or eyes. It sensed I was there and moved its head in my direction. It was his beloved Chokanna!
Beyond her, I saw their realm below. I was amazed at the clarity, as if the water had no effect on my vision, and I saw mountains in the distance—tall, narrow, and jagged monoliths of stone. Purple lightning shot out and electrified the tops of them, revealing a dark form of immense size approaching the tree. Then Beaumont suddenly jerked my head back.
As if pulled by a powerful force, my soul flew back into my body. Tingles of life returned to my fingers and toes, and I felt different, reborn somehow.
I gasped for air desperately once Beaumont pulled my head out of the water, and I burped from the water I’d swallowed.
Dawn was screaming my name. “Ret!”
Beaumont chuckled. “How should I murder you? Should I drown you?” He brought a knife to my throat and pressed the blade to my skin. “Slit your throat?”
“No! Please no!” Dawn pleaded. “You can’t do this!”
“You could use a new grin.” He chuckled. The muscles in his arms and hands tensed, and he made a hissing sound between his teeth. He was going to enjoy killing me. He raised the knife, and mere seconds of my life remained.
Mathilda popped up out of nowhere. The ghost of the Crooked House ran through me, and her face materialized in front of Beaumont’s. Her face pressed against Beaumont’s, and he stared back at her, stunned. She opened her mouth wide and loosed a wretched, high-pitched wail that shook the house.
The shock was enough to cause Beaumont to release me, and he stumbled back. I crumpled to the floor, gasping. I felt blood run down my throat. The bastard cut me! I didn’t know how bad yet and hoped it wasn’t fatal.
“Bitch!” he howled at the ghost in frustration.
Gunshots rang out, and Beaumont’s body shuddered as two bullets pounded his chest. He looked down at his body. Blood blossomed through the torn holes in his white shirt and tie, but he had no reaction to the pain or damage.
He looked up at the assailant. I turned and saw Sheriff Packard halfway down the stairwell. He crouched and aimed his gun.
There was silence for a moment before Packard broke it, speaking slowly and forcefully. “Nobody move.”
“You’re not the threat you think you are,” Beaumont said. “You kill this body, then I’ll just take yours.” He pointed then glanced at Todd Harrison and commanded him with a nod.
Packard turned to Todd, shock in his eyes to see Harrison alive.
Todd took five stairs in one massive leap, grabbed Packard’s gun hand, smashed it against the wall, and swung his other fist down to hit him. Sheriff Packard blocked it with his other arm and was quickly engaged in a fight with a man nearly twice his size and powered by a demon inside. Mathilda continued to distract Beaumont with screams in his face, despite his attempts to move and run from her.
I saw the axe next to Dawn and rolled my body over to her. She turned herself so her tied hands could pick up the blade of the axe. I turned my back against it and, with my fingers, guided the blade of the axe toward the tape that bound me. It was slippery with blood. I sliced my finger, but after a few tries, the blade made contact with the tape. The axe cut through the tape like butter, and I yanked my hands apart.
I turned and quickly freed Dawn. We shared a glance, and my first panicked thought was to run, but I knew we wouldn’t get far. The fat guy and the old man had been slow to react at first, but they charged us.
I grabbed my satchel, pulled out the baggies of salt, and handed two to Dawn.
“Wha—”
“Trust me. Open the top, then throw it at them. In the face would be best.”
The fat man grabbed for her, and she did as I’d instructed her. The bag hit him square in the face. A cloud of salt covered his entire head, and he backed away, yelping like a hurt dog.
The old man grabbed my shoulders and pulled on me. I twisted and smashed a baggie against his face just as he sucked in air. He fell back, gasping and coughing. With sizzle and smoke, holes opened in his throat, and vapors escaped.
Lester cowered in the corner, staring in awe at the crumbling plan.
Packard snapped a foot into Todd’s gut, doubled him over, and smashed two roundhouse punches to his face.
“Help him!” Beaumont shouted to Lester and pointed at Todd.
Finally ignoring Mathilda altogether, Beaumont marched toward us and the axe. He kicked Dawn in the ribs, and she fell. I withdrew my knife from the satchel and sliced it at him. It cut open his hand, but he still picked up the axe.
Packard had dropped his gun during the fray, but after managing to pick it up again, he aimed it at Todd, who twisted his body out of the line of fire just as Lester ran up the stairs to help him.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Four bloody wounds popped open in Lester’s chest and stopped him cold. He shivered and gasped, eyes pleading for mercy, then he toppled. Packard’s revolver was out of bullets, and he didn’t have time to reload before Harrison lunged at him.
Packard stood and smacked the butt of his pistol against Todd’s temple then brought it around again, crashing into his nose. Blood sprayed from Todd’s nostrils as his head was knocked back. The sheriff shot a kick to Todd’s chest and sent him flying. He dropped to the floor at the foot of the stairs.
With madness in his eyes and clenched teeth, Beaumont charged toward me, gripping the axe with both hands. I backpedaled and was stopped by the wall behind me. He raised the axe high above his head just before Dawn threw her second bag of salt into his face. He winced, trying to cover his eyes, and released the axe. He sucked in the cloud of salt and coughed, stumbling backward.
“Ret! Dawn! You two okay?” Packard ran over to us.
Reeling from how close I’d come to death, I needed a moment to respond. I took a deep breath as Dawn shuffled to my side, and I turned to Packard.
“You came?” I said to Packard.
“I got your message. I figured you’d be here.” He smiled, and Dawn wrapped her arms around him in relief.
Harrison stood up and shook the cobwebs from his head.
“We gotta go,” the sheriff said.
A deep, guttural growl from below us shook the floorboards and the walls. It was heavy and loud, like the horn of a locomotive, but with a low baritone. The sound reverberated throughout the cellar, toppling old jars and cans from shelves in the back corner. Cracks in the concrete floor spread like spiderwebs as if a colossal force were trying to enter from below.
I looked at Beaumont. His face shook with more terror than I had ever seen. All the blood drained from his face, his mouth dropped open, and his bloodshot eyes widened. A tear ran from his right eye. The others shared the same look.
The wailing growl came again, louder and more forcefully. The entire house shook. It threatened to crumble on us at any moment. The pool bubbled and splashed. Blue rays of light bounced off the walls and throughout the basement.
“It’s coming.” Beaumont whimpered and looked at his friends sorrowfully. “It found us!”
“What’s going on?” Packard asked.
Beaumont started to run but grabbed his chest in pain. The gunshots were starting to take their toll on him.
I remembered the form I’d seen approaching the bottom of the pool in the other world, and I knew we had to make a run for it, but Harrison and the other two things were blocking the stairs. Beaumont was on the other side of the well, backing up.
“This thing is here for them. Let’s stay out of his way, and maybe we’ll be all right.”
We backed up as far as we could to the opposite corner and crouched. A geyser shot from the well and sprayed all of us. Rising from the pool, so gigantic it filled the entire opening, was a beast so tall that it had to bend its head from the ceiling. It planted muscled arms flat on the floor on either side of the pool. Black claws six inches long curled from the tip of each finger and clacked against the cement floor. Its head was similar to a man’s, but it had wide nostrils and a mouth full of sharp teeth. A thick vine covered with sharp three-inch thorns was wrapped around his face in an uneven fashion, pressed so tightly against its skin that flesh bulged and leaked blood. The thorny vine ran down its neck and continued around its torso and arms. Its black skin was coarse with scales, and long hair draped its shoulders.