In The Season of The Damned (Book One)

by Shannon Allen

  “Must be rabies,” Tabitha spoke up, stepping over the corpse. “Ugh, the smell. Do you guys smell that?” she frowned, covering her mouth.

  “Yeah, it’s disgusting,” Marly said. “Are you alright, Jose?”

  “Yeah just a few bites and minor scratches.”

  “Maggots living in a dog? Has anyone ever seen this?” I asked,

  “Maybe he had an infection?” Jason said, looking squeamish again.

  “Let’s just get back to it guys,” Jose begged. “This night has been weird enough, and I don’t want to spend anymore time here than I have to. Do you guys see the fog? You can’t make heads or tails of anything. Going to be tough finding our way out of here without bumping into headstones.”

  “Give me the shovel,” Jason shook his head. He grabbed the shovel and hopped in the hole, digging with renewed urgency. Jose just sat there, and the girls cleared the dirt from the side of the hole.

  The temperature seems like it had dropped twenty degrees since we started digging; you could see your breath. In the distance, the wind was making creepy, ominous sounds. It sounded like the top was trying to rip off a shack or something.

  “So, anymore ideas on who the person in the grave is?” I asked Jose.

  He looked up, lighting another cigarette. “The family paid the cemetery to keep people away from the grave; they didn’t even want people walking on it. It used to have a little fence around it, that rotted away I guess. It was ordered that once a year a small layer of new dirt was added over the grave. Then there’s the incidents…”

  “Errr, what incidents?” Marly asked.

  Jose had peaked the group’s interest now. “Deaths, three deaths,” he said.

  “Deaths?” Marly exclaimed. “And you’re just telling us this?

  “Okay, I’ll tell you guys about each one of them.”

  “We’re at about three feet!” Tabitha yelled excitedly.

  “Jason, here, let me give you a hand.” Jose rushed over. “And you probably better hear this, too.” Jose helped him out of the grave.

  Everyone flinched watching the long, stretching worms mingling on Jason shoes.

  “There have been three deaths around this grave.”

  “Wait,” Tabitha said, “this particular grave? Would you describe exactly what happened?”

  Jose looked a bit uneasy, but he began to speak: “A groundskeeper, Mr. Barlow St. Jean was found dead with a tree branch stuck through him, he was impaled. The branch was stuck so far in the ground they had to use a cherry picker to remove it. That was in the seventies. Just a freak accident, they thought. The branch was stuck right through the side of this grave. The second person was found dead right there in the children’s cemetery, another freak accident. One of the stones had fallen on her, a heavy one. A groundskeeper found her, The groundskeeper said he could hear laughter and someone calling him into the fog, but he was too afraid to go, and ran to get help. The final person…Well, the final person…”

  “Go on, Jose,” Marly chided impatiently.

  “Well, they found a guy mauled to death, they found canine saliva all over him.”

  “What? A dog?” I asked. “Like what happened tonight?”

  “Yeah, that’s why I sat there, stunned. What are the chances? That was some years ago, before you guys started here. If any of you don’t want to go on, I understand. But we are about in, those incidents were likely just coinci…” but before he could finish, a tree branched crashed to the ground.

  “Okay guys, that’s about enough for me,” Jason said. “We need this thing open, NOW!”

  After all of us stood for a few seconds, looking afraid and startled, I jumped into the grave and shoveled. Part of me wondered if the tree falling to the ground wasn’t some kind of omen. What were the chances? The tree, the dog, and the incidents that had happened before? All of that, and yet greed and curiosity were stronger than the fear I was feeling. One heap of dirt after the next the muddy shovel penetrated the tension we all were feeling; we communicated without saying much. The idea of a nice warm bed also kept me going. Nice bed and a nice cup of tea, with a thick, fluffy blanket over me. Maybe some old TV.

  All of a sudden, the shovel hit something with a loud kaching. Everybody stood at attention. “Jackpot!” Jose screamed. He jumped into the grave and started clearing the dirt with his hands. What he uncovered was a huge, steel-looking coffin. “It’s in here, I know it is,” he said as he looked for an opening. Lightning illuminated the scene. “It’s locked from the inside,” he said. “We deal with these kinds all the time. We’ll need to see if we can break the lock. Give me the shovel.”

  For the next twenty minutes, he worked with the lock. Marly and Jason worked on it for ten. Tabitha handed me a brick we’d unearthed and I hit the coffin in the middle, trying to make the lock release. All of this was to no avail. Damnit, silly of us not to bring a crowbar or something. Tabitha asked if she could give it a try. Marly shook her head as if to say no, but she wanted to, and we were tired, so we lowered her into the hole. She began hitting it and there was a loud click. “I got it, I think!” she said, waving the brick around, only to see her hand was bleeding again. She anxiously lifted the lid open before any of us had a chance to say anything.

  “What is that,” Marly asked, looking into the coffin, “a cape?” Tabitha reached her bloodied hand into the coffin. At that very moment, there was a growling noise, and Tabitha screamed as something rose up out of the coffin, something big. Tabitha tried to crawl up, but it was too late. It grabbed her, and we saw as it ripped the skin from her leg with a whooshing, tearing sound. Her blood leapt into the air like a dolphin springing from the water. The caped figure grabbed her head and snapped it right off of her neck in one horrifying crunch, and then it plunged its fangs into the center where her neck used to be and stuck its mouth around it like a straw. Its wild, yellow eyes glowed as it made slurping noises, and you could smell the blood as it greedily sucked out her bodily fluid.

  The scent alone of this thing was enough to drown you, but we all just watched in stunned disbelief as four other things rose out of the coffin. It seemed like we watched forever, but it must have been seconds; it all happened so quickly. That was when I grabbed Marly’s arm in fear. Jason was the first to break away and run. Marly, Jose, and I all ran behind him. There was nothing we could do for Tabitha, and seeing their strength there was no way we could win in a fight.

  As we ran, we could hear what sounded like Tabitha’s bones breaking and the sound of flesh being eaten and shared, it was so horrific, and made even more disturbing by the sound of children laughing. You could hear the sound of something large following us, something stalking through the bushes. Jason was moving so fast that none of us could keep up. Jose, Marly, and I toppled over into a freshly-dug grave in the children’s section. We just lay there, twisted up, for at least a minute, shaking with fear.

  I whispered, “Do you guys think we should try to get out of here or wait?” The fog was covering us.

  Marly whispered, “I think just wait a bit, maybe they’ll leave the cemetery, or think we made it out.”

  Jose whispered, “Just wait. My leg is hurt, not sure I could get out of here.”

  “Still no phone signals?”

  Everyone checked; they were still dead. Just then, we heard screams, and it sounded like Jason. “Help me, help me, please!” he screamed. “I can’t find the way out!” You could hear the panic in his voice, the fearfulness as if he almost was crying. I climbed up. With the help of a root, I just barely could see two of the things surrounding Jason. He looked like a trapped animal, as one of them reached their hands into his stomach and pulled out his intestines like a string of Christmas lights. The other seemed to vanish into the fog, or it became the fog. I saw Jason being carried up a tree by an invisible force, but I was too afraid to move. I could hear his final squeals as he hovered over a branch, his body seemed like it was being crushed, and it rained down blood and broken bones. I climbed ba
ck down into the hole and was too afraid to speak, but managed to utter, “They got Jason.”

  “Nooo!” Marly said.

  After a bit of silence I whispered, “Two of them surrounded him and did what they did to Tabitha. They aren’t going to let us out. It does not make sense, but it’s like they are the fog.”

  “The groundskeeper’s room isn’t that far away from here,” Jose said, about to light a cigarette, but thinking the better of it. The smell of the flickering lighter rose into the air. “The door to that isn’t that hard to pick. Don’t ask me how I know that,” he said, with a nervous tone. “Just takes a credit card. There’s a pick axe in there, and fuel. If we can make it to there, maybe we’ve got a fighting chance.”

  “Okay then, let me take a look out to see if they are gone,” I said, wishing I didn’t have to, imagining them ripping my head off.

  “Be careful,” Marly whispered. I climbed up very slowly. As I peered out, I noticed the trees swaying in the wind, but there was nothing to see but fog. It was a dark, swirling fog that I didn’t trust, seeing what I had. “We’ll have to go past where they got Jason.” Maybe they were done? They could be anywhere in that fog, but I didn’t get the feeling that staying was a good idea, either.

  “Okay,” Marly grabbed Jose by the arm, “we’ll boost him out first.”

  We helped Jose up, and then he and I helped Marly. They both helped me. “Come on,” Jose said, checking around us, “it has to be this way.” We crept through the fog, past where they got Jason. A familiar odor hung in the air, unmistakably the insides of a human body. After a while, you could make out the building. We all probably had the urge to run to it, but we tiptoed, scoping it out.

  Then we heard it, a loud boom, and then another, as if something was trying to knock down the trees, and it was getting closer and closer. I gave Jose the credit card; his hand was shaking. There were two more loud bumps. Marly and I turned to see black silhouettes coming toward us in the fog, when just at that moment, the door popped open. We pushed in, closing the door. Something pushed against the closed door and groaned, as if it was hurt. Then, the smell of burning flesh lingered in the air.

  Find a hiding place, I thought. So odd that whatever it was didn’t seem like it could follow us in. “Why didn’t it come in?” Marly said, scoping around.

  “Weapons,” Jose said, “weapons. Pick axe should be in that closet.”

  “Phone?” I asked. “Phone?” We raced around, looking for the phone. There it was, on a small table. “A dial tone!” I said, rushing to dial 911. “I’ll take my chances with the police.” Just then, the phone clicked, and there was the sound of a tree falling outside. We raced to the window, and sure enough, the phone wires dangled about off the building, popping and fizzing. “We’re trapped!”

  “What next?” Jose whispered, limping to a chair in the corner.

  “Are they toying with us? Why don’t they just come in and finish us?”

  “Maybe they are demons,” There was another moment of silence “This place use to be a chapel, which is holy ground.”

  “But wait, isn’t the whole cemetery holy?” I asked Jose.

  “No, when the deaths occurred, they were supposed to resanctify the land. I’m guessing maybe they never did. Maybe there was a reason.”

  “Are you kidding me,?” I asked.

  “Don’t you see?” Marly said, “on the doors there were crosses! You’ve seen the old movies; evil hates the cross. When it hit the door, it sounded like it was in pain. I think the cross burned it.”

  “Did you guys notice the teeth, the sucking of blood?” Jose said, finally lighting the cigarette. “I’ve heard stories across the border…” but before he could finish, we heard a voice.

  “Marly!” it called. The sound of it was something out of my worst nightmares, unearthly. Marly looked stunned at the fact this thing was saying her name. It continued, “I can smell your blood.” The voice seemed to echo and reflect. “We wonder how your flesh tastes.” And then there was a loud voice, one that drowned out the other. It seemed to be speaking another language.

  Jose looked stunned. “Jose, what is it?”

  “I understand what he’s saying,” Jose frowned, looking at Marly. Marly, looking like she’d seen a ghost, asked Jose what he heard. “I love Mom and Dad. I’m sorry, Marly.” It knew about the case that Marly never could forget: the girl who had I love Mom and Dad pressed into her skin. Jose flattened the cigarette, looking like he knew something I didn’t. “We wait till sunlight,” he said. “Maybe these creatures will be gone by then. Right now I’m really tired,” Jose said, shaking his head. “Really.” We could hear the sound of the creatures leaving.

  “Yeah, we all are tired,” I said. “There’s a bench over there, and two comfortable chairs. I say we wait them out over there. Everyone grab a weapon. We’ll all take a small nap soon.” It seemed like thirty minutes had passed. It was very quiet outside. Marly was still upset about the last event.

  “You can go first,” Marly said to Jose. “I don’t feel comfortable enough to sleep yet, though it seems they can’t come in.” Without much pause for concern, Jose nodded off surprisingly quickly, and at that moment, the rain began sloshing down. Marly scooted her chair close to the wall. “Poor Tabitha,” she said, shaking her head. “After all the things she’s been through. I don’t know how I’ll tell her family; she just managed to leave an abusive relationship. Guy would beat her up pretty bad. I thought being around people and doing something like this might get her mind off of it. Also, I have to admit that I keep hearing things, like something trying to will me to open the door.”

  “You just want to get out of here,” I said to her. The lightning lit up the room. “It’s not your fault,” I comforted her, putting my hand over her shoulder. “Who could have foreseen something like this? Nothing could have prepared me for that, and I’ve been working on bodies for seven years now. I’ve never seen anything with that type of strength.”

  Marly looked transfixed by thought. “When Tabitha was young, she began having these dreams that someone was following her. It got so bad she was afraid to go out. Three weeks later, she went to a party with a friend, she was fifteen, and some guy grabbed Tabitha into his car. The only thing that saved her was that he was speeding and got pulled over. The police found Tabitha duct taped in this guy’s trunk, and they also found pictures of her and other girls. He had been following her for weeks, apparently, from home to school. She was very strong to be able to get over that. I just don’t know how I’ll stop missing her.”

  I noticed the water from the storm had begun coming in from under the door. I got up, walked over, and noticed that in the muddy water, maggots were flipping about. I picked up a tool belt and put it around my waist. There were pretty long screwdrivers on a shelf, though I was not sure how effective anything would be against these things. I sat down, and Marly put her head on me. “There’s something I been wanting to tell you,” she said. “Remember when you brought that girl Angela to see where you worked? Well, I was so jealous, if you couldn’t tell. I guess I feel free to say that now. I thought that one day I’d tell you I always liked you, Jack. Since you came here, things have been so much easier.”

  “I like you too,” I said, removing a tuft of hair from her face. “I’ve been working up the courage to ask you out. I even told Jose, who loved the idea and has been threatening to tell you before I was ready. I was convinced I’d have more time.”

  “Wow,” she said, “I wish you had asked me out.”

  “What time is it?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I noticed that my watch stopped almost as soon as we got in here. It feels like it should be getting closer to daybreak.”

  “Mine stopped too,” Jose said. We’d not noticed he had awoken. “How could both of our watches stop?” he asked in disbelief. “What are the chances? What the hell?” he gasped, noticing the maggot rainwater dripping and swirling under the door. Even the clock on th
e wall had stopped.

  “Cell phones are still off and frozen,” I said, checking. “Your turn to get some sleep, Marly.” She lay on my shoulder. It seemed like she was more beautiful today than I’d ever known. Or maybe it’s because everything makes sense in the last moments of your life. Before I knew it, it was my turn, and my thought was that if I die in my sleep at least I probably won’t know what happened. Not like poor Jason. I thought about telling his girlfriend but how do you tell someone this?

  Jose was pacing, and every now and again he’d stare out the window. I grabbed a pillow and stretched out on the floor. It felt better than the chair at that moment. I listened as Jose and Marly chatted. Drifting away, one of the final things I heard him tell her was that he had dreamed of children pulling him towards the children’s section, and they all were looking down on him and frowning. Next thing I knew, Marly was shaking me awake. “You’ve been asleep for awhile. We heard something.”

  At that moment the, door flew open. We all jumped, startled. It was George, the groundskeeper. “What the hell are you guys doing in here?” he asked, walking over and putting his old-fashioned lunch bag on the counter.

  “Close the door!” Marly screamed. I ran over and shut it.

  “Did you see them?” Jose asked.

  “Who?” George said, rubbing his neck. “What is this about? Are you guys robbing the tool shed?”

  “There are these things out there,” I said. “They, they killed two of our friends!”

  “Are you guys high? I smell smoke.”

  “Actually,” Jose said, looking at me, “I smell smoke, too, seems it’s coming from back there.” Jose pointed to the window in the office and we could see smoke pass by.

  Just then, we heard Marly scream, George had a pair of lawn shears at her throat and was holding her like a hostage. Marly wiggled, but couldn’t free herself.

  “Let her go, George,” I told him, now noticing the blood tricking from his neck onto his shirt.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, “I can’t. They won’t let me.”