“Joseph?”
“Yes Donald, down here.”
Donald followed the lights of the ATV through the darkness and down the stone steps. “What is this place?” he asked.
“This lodge is a fortress and this is part of its defenses. Unlike most castles, this one was designed to keep out the spirit world rather than invaders and cannon fire.”
Donald ran his hand across the cool smooth walls of the cave.
“Solid granite,” Joseph said. “The entire structure sits on granite bedrock. There are elements embedded within the stone that emit a natural radiation which prevents energy from penetrating.”
“What about the water?” Donald asked.
“These channels were carved into the bedrock to direct water flow from the river. This essence of life is an attractant to the spirit world and also a barrier against dark things which will resist crossing it. Help me with this,” Joseph said grabbing a corner of the tarp.
The two men heaved the tarp onto the stone floor.
“Now we must find Abby before nightfall,” Joseph said. “Get in,” he said gesturing to the ATV.
Joseph started the engine which created a deafening roar in the cave. He maneuvered the vehicle up the stone steps and out the front doors of the lodge where Brenda and Ima came out to meet them.
“What about Abby?” Brenda asked.
“Donald and I will go find her,” Joseph answered.
“I’m going too,” Ima said.
“Me too,” Brenda added moving towards the ATV.
“You need to stay Brenda, in case Abby shows up here,” Joseph said.
“But I can help find her. You know that Joseph.”
Joseph nodded in agreement and grabbed the controls of the ATV. Donald climbed in beside him with Brenda and Ima in the back. Ima pulled her gun from its holster, chambered a bullet and held the weapon with two hands.
“That will not help here,” Joseph said.
“Let’s see about that,” insisted Ima.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
They sped across the field and onto the bridge, the knobby tires reverberated until they crossed over and the world went quiet.
Brenda clasped her hands over her ears and began to scream, “No!”
Joseph hit the brakes and the vehicle slid to a stop.
“What’s wrong, Brenda?” Ima asked.
She bolted from the ATV and ran back across the bridge. Donald followed and found her hunched over a stone wall.
“I am okay now,” Brenda said. “The voices over there are deafening and saying such horrible things. I can walk back to the lodge by myself. Go find Abby, I’ll be fine.”
She stood up and brushed herself off.
“Be careful,” she said then turned and walked towards the lodge.
Donald re-joined the others and they continued into the woods where a dark curtain of foliage surrounded them. Sound and light were muted and the air was flat and cold. Only Joseph saw the trail that Abby had left, a transparent vapor floating above the path.
“She is this way,” he said steering the vehicle off the path.
They idled through the misty forest and found Abby lying in a pile of leaves. She wore a white nightgown and lay completely still. Joseph stopped the vehicle and all jumped out and ran to her. Ima knelt next to Abby to check her condition while Joseph removed leaves from her hair. Abby’s eyes fluttered open and she plunged a knife into Joseph’s side. Ima knocked Abby unconscious with the butt of her gun.
Donald helped Ima carry Joseph and Abby to the ATV where Ima applied pressure to Joseph’s wound. Donald started the ATV and raced the vehicle back to the lodge.
“No hospital. Get us inside,” Joseph said.
“You need a doctor,” Ima insisted.
“A doctor can’t help, get us inside,” Joseph urged.
Ima and Donald carried Joseph into the great room and placed him on the floor in front of the fireplace.
“First aid kit,” he said pointing towards the kitchen.
Ima sprang towards the kitchen and opened cabinets until she found the kit. Donald and Brenda struggled to carry Abby upstairs as she thrashed and fought to get free.
“I want her sedated and restrained,” Ima called out. “Check the back of my truck for something to hold her, my keys are on the table,” she added pointing towards the alcove.
Ima turned back to Joseph. She held a towel against his side and put pressure on the wound.
“Let me take a look,” Ima said.
He raised his arm and exposed a two-inch puncture oozing blood.
“Just a flesh wound,” he said with a weak smile.
Ima smiled back. He was a tough old guy. Living out here all these years had seen to that.
“Okay this is going to sting,” she said.
She poured disinfectant on the wound and he stiffened and winced in pain.
“Sorry Joseph,” she said.
“It’s okay,” he said with a nod.
She bandaged the wound and examined her work. As a deputy she received medical training but never had to use it before.
“We will have to change this every few hours,” Ima said. “But I still want to get you to the hospital.”
“Not safe,” Joseph said. “You saw what happened to Terry.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Donald and Brenda walked down the staircase into the great room. Joseph rested under a plaid blanket with Ima at his side, the firelight created shadows on his weathered face.
“How is he doing?” Donald asked.
“Good, he’s strong,” Ima answered. “The bleeding has stopped and the knife didn’t hit any major organs. He was lucky. The pocket of his jacket was full of stones which shielded him.”
Ima held up the worn leather jacket, the pocket was torn and stained with blood.
“What about Abby?” Ima asked.
“She’s okay,” Donald said. “We handcuffed her to the bed and gave her a sedative. She’s sleeping.”
“Something has gotten to her,” Brenda said. “Abby would never hurt anyone.”
“So what now?” asked Ima.
Donald gestured towards the hallway. “We need to bury that thing and figure out what Calvin Smith was looking for. I’m going to the study to see what I can find.”
“Ima?” Joseph called out weakly.
The fading light of the sun streamed through the back windows.
“Yes, Joseph,” Ima answered.
“We need to prepare the house for the night,” he said. “All of the doors and windows must be bolted shut and I need my bag.” He tried to get up.
“Joseph, lay still. I’ll get it,” Ima said.
“It’s against the wall. Thank you,” he said weakly.
Ima brought the bag and sat next to him on the couch.
“Now tell me what to do,” she said.
“Empty the contents on the table there,” he said.
With Brenda’s help, Ima organized the contents of Joseph’s bag into three rows of stones, medallions and bags of herbs.
“It will be coming tonight,” Joseph said. “We must be ready when it does. Secure this room by putting stones in a circle around the center of it. Between each stone sprinkle the herbs. Keep a medallion on each of you, and make sure to give one to Donald and Abby.”
Ima went to work placing the stones and herbs around the room. The mix was pungent with specks of salt and green leaves. Brenda picked up a medallion then walked to the study and knocked on the mirror door.
“Come in,” she heard Donald say.
She slid open the mirror and found Donald hunched over the desk. Books were strewn all around him. He wore horn-rim glasses and his brown hair was disheveled.
“Any luck?” she asked.
He answered slowly. “Well, yes. I now know what we need to find to stop the Raven Mocker.”
“That’s great,” Ima exclaimed. “But what’s wrong?”
“We are searching for a needle in a field of hays
tacks.”
Upstairs, Ima put a medallion around Abby’s neck. She was asleep with a bandage on her forehead. She felt bad about hitting her, but Abby had given her no choice. Turning to leave, she noticed a medallion similar to the ones Joseph had given them. It was lying in the window near Abby’s bed. She hung the medallion on the window latch and saw something shine out in the woods. It looked like a signal.
Ima went downstairs and made her way past a sleeping Joseph and into the kitchen. She found the binoculars and trained them on the woods where a woman stood at the tree line. She turned on a flashlight then stepped outside and walked across the field behind the lodge. The woman stood on the far side of the bridge holding an object that glimmered in the beam of the light.
Ima called out, “You there. I am a police officer. Please identify yourself.”
The woman swayed back and forth but said nothing. Ima walked across the bridge and trained her light on the woman. It was Abby, dressed in white, holding her medallion. She held it front of her face and stared at it as it spun on its chain. Ima holstered her weapon and walked over to her.
“Abby, what are you doing out here?” she asked.
When she stepped off the bridge the darkness enveloped her.
“Abby help me,” she said.
Ima fell to her knees fighting to breathe as Abby glided towards her with crimson patches appearing on her white dress. Her arms were covered with gashes and her face was smashed and distorted. Ima had seen these types of injuries working the highway patrol. The creature reached down and stroked her hair as if to comfort her. Then it yanked her head back and lifted her off the ground.
“No,” Ima managed to choke out.
The smell of rotting flesh and burned skin hit Ima as she was pulled forward. She aimed her gun and fired but the weapon only sounded a muted click. She pulled the medallion from her pocket and the creature released her. She fell back onto the hard stones of the bridge and let the cold air pour back into her lungs. The creature moved to the edge of the bridge and locked dead eyes on her.
“What the fuck?” Ima shouted and ran back to the lodge.
She ran in the back door of the lodge and bolted it behind her then stumbled into the great room and found Donald and Brenda waiting with Joseph.
“Ima, where have you been?” Joseph asked.
“Out back, something horrible has happened to Abby. She’s in the woods—” Ima stopped in mid-sentence.
Abby sat in an armchair in the corner of the room, eating a bowl of soup. Her ankle was cuffed to the leg of the chair. The medallion dangled from her neck as she leaned forward to spoon the soup.
“I am feeling much better now, Ima,” she said slowly.
“Maybe you saw my sister Addie. She lives in the forest now.” Abby smiled a medicated smile.
Ima sat on the floor in front of the fireplace and explained the details of her encounter in the woods.
“Ima, I told you not to leave this lodge. No one is to leave this house,” Joseph said.
“I’m sorry,” Ima said dejected.
“Let’s go get you cleaned up,” Brenda said.
She took Ima’s hand and led her upstairs.
“Donald, please go down to the cavern were we left the remains,” Joseph said. “Soak some of that gauze in the water.” He gestured toward the first aid kit. “The waters have recuperative powers. It might help the bump on Abby’s head, and this hole in my side.”
“Of course,” Donald said.
Donald walked into the hallway and unhooked a kerosene lantern from the wall. He lit the lantern and slipped into the opening behind the mirror. The lantern light glowed on the gray walls of the cavern. The tarp with its horrible cargo lay where they had left it, the nylon stained black with its oozing contents.
Donald approached the water and placed the lantern on a stone ledge. Mist swirled over the surface and danced in the yellow light. He dipped the gauze and sealed it in a plastic bag. He shot a nervous glance at the tarp, then walked up the stone steps and returned to the great room. Ima sat across from Brenda who was feeding Joseph. Abby was slumped over sleeping in a chair by the fire.
“Feeling okay?” Donald asked Ima.
“Yes, feeling human again.”
“It could have been worse,” Joseph cautioned. “Much worse.”
“What was that thing? The Raven Mocker?” Ima asked.
“Yes,” Joseph answered. “The Raven Mocker can take the form of any animal or person it has encountered.”
But why would it imitate Abby?” Brenda asked.
“It wasn’t imitating Abby. It was imitating her sister,” Joseph answered.
“The creature has a hold over Abby and is using tragic memories of her sister. It will use any advantage it can to manipulate and destroy us. Your family has fallen prey to this beast and anyone associated with your family will be used or destroyed until it is satisfied.”
Joseph noticed that Donald had brought the dampened gauze. “Ima, could you dress Abby’s wound with that gauze?” Joseph asked.
“Mine too, if you please.”
“Sure,” Ima answered.
Donald handed her the bag. Joseph spoke as Ima changed his bandage.
“When I was a young boy I was bitten by a rattlesnake. I was foraging in the forest with my grandfather when I stepped on the snake. I became dizzy and began to vomit, but we were too far into the woods to get to a doctor. Instead, my grandfather carried me to the lake behind us.” Joseph gestured towards the back of the lodge. “I remember he walked into the water carrying me. By that point I could barely move, I was dying. When we entered the water I felt a surge of energy and the effects of the venom disappeared. However, the cure did not come free. My grandfather had aged noticeably by the time we dried off. The water needed to draw power in order to heal me and my grandfather was the only living thing around.”
“What about this?” Ima said holding up the remaining gauze.
“It is safe. There are five of us here and we are not asking much of the water,” Joseph answered.
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
Rain began to patter on the metal roof of the lodge then quickly intensified into a hail storm. Chunks of ice hit the stone veranda and bounced wildly in every direction. The wind whipped across the field and uprooted trees behind the lodge, beyond the bridge the forest was untouched by the storm. Brenda joined Donald at the window.
“A bad storm is coming,” Donald said looking out the kitchen window.
The lights flickered off and the lodge was plunged into darkness.
“Shit, power’s out,” Ima said in the other room.
The light from the fireplace cast leaping shadows throughout the lodge. Donald located a flashlight in a kitchen drawer and gave it to Brenda.
“Thanks.”
“We better get back to the others,” he said.
They returned to the great room and found Joseph sitting in front of the fire. Abby sat nearby and stared into the flames.
“It is upon us,” Joseph said looking into the fire. “We need to be ready.”
He lifted his shirt and removed the dressing on his wound, then crossed the room and removed Abby’s. Both of their wounds were completely healed with no evidence of scarring.
“It’s cold in here, I’m going to check the furnace,” Donald said.
“I would not recommend that,” Joseph said. “The only access is from the outside and no one should leave this room. You can find blankets in that closet.” Joseph pointed at a set of double doors.
Donald walked to the closet, and retrieved an armload of blankets and pillows.
“Might as well be comfortable,” he said.
“Yes,” Joseph replied. “We have plenty of wood and supplies, and if things get really bad, we can go down here.”
He rolled back a Persian rug and revealed a trap door in the floor, then pulled a lever and opened the metal door.
“Ted believed in being prepared,” Joseph said.
I
ma shined her flashlight down the black opening in the floor. A metal ladder ran down the wall.
“What is it?” Ima asked.
“The building’s keep,” Joseph answered.
“Think of it as a safe room. Go on down and have a look. I will watch Abby,” said Joseph.
Ima climbed down the ladder as Donald trained the flashlight on the floor below. She found a hand-cranked generator and powered on the lights. The bulbs flickered for a moment then burned brightly. The room was windowless and made of steel with bunks built into the walls. Symbols were painted across the walls and ceiling. Donald and Brenda followed her down into the room.
“All the comforts of home,” Donald said. “Your uncle didn’t leave anything to chance, Brenda.”
The trap door closed above them.
“What the hell,” Ima said.
Ima climbed the ladder and tried to open the door. It wouldn’t move. She pounded on the door.
“Joseph, let us out of here,” she said.
Joseph’s muffled voice came from above. “I am sorry, Ima. I cannot.”
“Joseph!” She banged harder.
“It is for your own good. The creature can imitate any of us, you saw that for yourself,” Joseph said through the locked door.
“Joseph!” Ima screamed pounding harder and harder, but there was only silence now.
He placed the rug back over the trap door and examined the perimeter of the stone circle. The rain continued to pound the roof of the lodge and the wind caused the building to creak. Abby stared expressionless at Joseph with blood dripping down her manacled ankle from scraping the handcuff up and down the wooden leg of the chair.
The air was freezing cold and Joseph could now see his breath. He walked to the fireplace and added a log to the fire, then wrapped a blanket around Abby’s shoulders.
Behind the lodge, trees cracked and fell into the surging river and broken trunks jutted from the water. Joseph walked to the kitchen window and watched the storm rage outside then dashed through the great room and into the hallway as Abby cackled behind him.
Four Corners Dark: Horror Stories Page 9