The Brutality Pack: An extreme horror collection

by Ian Woodhead

  Jackie then saw where everyone was going. A faint orange glow flickered through the row of large trees that lined the main high street. She slowed down and pushed her way through the tight knot of people crowded around her. They were burning something, and had built up a huge bonfire in the middle of that nightclub carpark.

  Her stomach did slow summersaults when she saw a writhing figure at the top of the fire. “Oh no. No please. Not that.”

  The people around had stopped as well; they were all turning to stare at Jackie. She looked into their eyes, and it felt as though she was staring into the eyes of dolls. Jackie backed away, not stopping until a streetlamp blocked her progress. She moved around it, keeping her eyes on the other people, and when she reached the alcove of a butcher’s shop, Jackie saw them turn one by one and continue walking towards the fire.

  Oh, shit, they only reacted when she started to speak. Jackie placed her hand over her mouth, watching the rest of the people pass by her. She squeezed away her tears, determined not to break down and collapse right here and now. It might not be what she thought it was; they couldn’t be burning people down there, nobody could be that evil, could they?

  Jackie watched the last of the people disappear from view and moved out of the alcove. Despite the danger, Jackie needed to find out. She passed an Indian restaurant and looked in through the window. The place was deserted, yet the tables were still full of uneaten the food. Jackie noticed that the door was wide open. She ventured inside and walked over to the first table. Jackie picked up a large knife from the surface. It wasn’t exactly a machine gun, but it was better than nothing at all.

  She looked around the empty restaurant, trying to see if there was anything else she could use. Jackie’s eyes lit up when she spotted a telephone hanging from the wall just behind the bar. “Oh, thank you, sweet Jesus, that’s just what I wanted.” She rushed over and picked up the receiver. There was no dial tone. “You show me just one glimmer of hope before shitting it back into my face!” she cried.

  “Fuck you all,” she snarled. They weren’t going to beat her, no way, not after what they had subjected her to. Jackie tucked the knife into the back of her trousers, picked a chicken breast off a plate, and stuffed it into her mouth, trying not to choke on the meat. She looked at the rest of the food just going to waste and sighed before running out of the restaurant.

  It didn’t take her long to reach the outer limits of the crowd. It looked as though everybody who lived in this town was here. Jackie ducked down when she spotted the blank faces of Ada and Betsy not too far from her. She instinctively reached behind her back, knowing full well how easy it would be to push her blade into the old bitch’s hateful heart. Jackie took in a lungful of cold smoky air, trying to clear away the rage. She needed to find her brother before this group of zombiefied bastards realised there was a stranger in their midst.

  Jackie leaned against a Ford Escort van and counted to three before pushing her way through the crowd, heading towards the next parked car. Nobody stopped or questioned her. She followed their line of sight and saw they were all staring at the flames.

  Above the noise of the flames crackling, Jackie realised that she could hear the sound of a man’s voice. She stood on her tip toes and could just make out a cloaked figure standing beside the fire with his arms stretched out. Her heart then sang with relief when she saw her brother was down there, still alive. They had bound his arms and legs and placed him against the nightclub building along with several other people.

  Jackie’s voice almost betrayed her when the crowd surged forward, pinning her against the van. Suddenly, the people around her moved back. She looked to her left and saw some of them part to allow several men through.

  She dropped to the floor when Jackie saw the men were not acting drugged like the rest of the townsfolk. This did not bode well. They had their wits about them. Her heart leapt into her throat when she caught sight of that tramp tailing them.

  Jackie rolled under the car when the men approached and watched their feet pass just inches from her face. There were nine of them, and Jackie now wished that she had found a machine gun in that restaurant; what bloody use was her silly knife against nine thugs? She jumped at the sound of one of the men passing her cry out in pain. Jackie scrambled as close to the edge as she dare. Three of them had a dark haired teenage boy in a bear grip. He was begging them to release him. One of the other men lashed out with the back of his hand.

  The sudden punishment did not silence him; instead, it just made him worse. Jackie silently groaned when she watched a large youth at the front stop walking. He turned around and rushed over to the youth and then smiled at him before drawing out a long sword from behind him back. If made her knife look like a toothpick.

  “Please, Phil!” cried the teenager. “Look, I’ll be quiet; I promise I’ll be good. Just don’t hurt me!”

  Jackie thought that he was just going to threaten the teenager with his sword. Instead, he thrust the blade deep into his stomach. The men holding the teenager let him go, and the dying man fell to the ground, rolling about on the road, trying to stop his intestines from spilling out over the tarmac.

  The men stopped and grouped around the teenager. His face was just inches from hers now. She saw that he didn’t have long before he left this mortal coil. Jackie wished that she could just hold him and give him some reassurance that not everybody in this town wished him harm. The boy opened his eyes and bellowed out a single ear-piercing shriek before his body stopped moving for good.

  The men chuckled before jogging into the carpark. Through tear-blurred eyes Jackie watched them grab her brother and drag him over to the fire. She shut her eyes and slammed her hands over her eyes, trying to block out her brother’s screams.

  Chapter Twelve

  Gavin waved the torch beam along the roof of this abandoned mine shaft, looking in distrust at the decaying wooden beams, and trying not to think of how much weight must be above them.

  “Why have you stopped?”

  He shone the torch along the lichen-encrusted walls before he stopped at Gloria’s feet. Gavin tried to give the woman a reassuring smile then gave up when he realised that she couldn’t see his attempt in the dim light.

  “I’m just checking to see if I can see any more chambers,” he replied, lying. Gavin had stopped because he thought he heard something that sounded suspiciously like footsteps. He wasn’t going to tell her that, though; the last thing he needed right now was for the woman to get hysterical. Gavin shone the torch behind Gloria, trying to work out how far they had travelled, but it was impossible. He couldn’t even see the entrance to the mine shaft anymore. He flicked off the light.

  “Be quiet,” he hissed when the woman gasped. Aside from her harsh breathing, Gavin could detect no other sounds apart from the steady drip of water coming from somewhere in front of them. He doubted that any of those men would have followed them in here.

  At least he hoped they wouldn’t. What he wouldn’t give for a decent firearm or even a blunt instrument. He wasn’t scared to tackle Andy or any of the others, but he wasn’t an idiot, those guys would make mincemeat out of him if he didn’t have anything to defend himself with. He turned the torch back on; he was confident that they hadn’t been followed.

  Gavin was getting very nervous now. The men from town weren’t in here with them, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that somebody was here, hiding and watching. His copper’s instinct kept telling him that they needed to get out of here right now. His instinct had been wrong on the rare occasion in the past, but he had never felt it this strong before. Gavin shivered, he couldn’t help it.

  “I felt that,” said Gloria. “It’s not that cold, you know.”

  “You had better tell me why you were confident that your husband and the others wouldn’t come in here after us.” He wanted to kick himself. Why the fuck did he not ask this one before they were so deep inside the mine?

  “You’re going to find this very silly, Gavin.”<
br />
  Somehow, he thought his reaction would be opposite to her next words.

  “Well, it’s not just Andy and the others in the station, the whole town is terrified of coming down here. I’ve lived in Brutality a long time, and as you have found out, they don’t tell us anything, even me, despite marrying Andy. Even so, you do pick up bits of information and catch snippets of rumour. They all seem to think that something else lives under the town.” She chuckled. “Some sort of bogyman, I think.” Gloria grabbed his hand. “You see, I said it was silly.”

  Gavin played the light across the lichen-encrusted walls; he didn’t think it was silly at all, and it scared him shitless. His training and common sense told him that the locals were all just playing a prank on this rather dull woman, the same woman who probably fell foe to the striped paint prank. His deeper feelings, his cop instinct, informed him otherwise.

  “Look, why don’t we just go back, Gloria? It has been ages since we entered this mineshaft. Those men would have left long ago.”

  “No, we can’t go back” she gasped. “They’ll still be waiting for us, I just know it. Gavin, you have to trust me here. This is the only way out. They have cut off the town. I’ve been down here before. I used to come here when I was a kid.” Gloria caught her breath. “Brutality was not a nice place to grow up in if you weren’t born here, Gavin. This was my playground.”

  The woman put her arms around Gavin’s waist. “This tunnel leads to just a couple of miles short of Eastmere, and you need to trust me on this.”

  He nodded. “Okay, we carry on.” Gavin gently pushed her arms off him and wrapped his fingers around hers. He looked at this middle-aged woman, trying not to think about how lonely her childhood must have been. He wouldn’t wish growing up in this fucked up town on anyone. “Have you been down here recently, Gloria?”

  She shook her head. “Good Lord, no. I’m not even allowed out of the house without Andy’s permission.” Gloria shivered. “I must have been mad. Andy, why on earth did I stay here? Why did I go marry some guy who was going to treat me like crap for the rest of my life?”

  Gavin didn’t answer. From what he had seen, observing this woman, he figure that it wouldn’t have mattered where she lived; Gloria would have ended up with a man who wouldn’t treat her like a lady. He guessed that it was a little ironic to have grown up in a town where nearly all the men were complete bastards.

  She dragged her finger down the side of one of the wooden supports. “You know, I used to wish that I had the guts to run away. Back then, I wasn’t so much of a doormat. I still had a bit of defiance left in me.” Gloria wiped her finger down her dress. “We had better get a move on, Gavin.”

  “We’re not going to get lost down here, are we?”

  “No, we won’t. There are no intersections or dead ends. It is one long tunnel that leads away from this evil place.” The woman laughed. “Can’t you feel the change in yourself, Gavin? I know that you haven’t been in the town that long, but just being here is enough to start to alter you. The further we get from the centre, the easier it is to think. Its influence is diminishing. Believe me; we are going the right way.”

  He closed his eyes and tried to take in her words. She was making sense. Since being in Brutality, Gavin hadn’t given his old life back in Eastmere that much thought. His parents lived there and so did all his mates, so why had he not once considered getting in touch and asking how they were? Hell, he and a few of the guys from the station used to go out drinking to the local pubs at least once a week.

  “Yeah, I think I can see what you mean,” he whispered. Ten miles was not that long. Going by his calculations, they had been down here for about an hour, that meant they could already be halfway there.

  The old memories flooded into his brain. How was it possible for this town to suppress his desire to leave? God, the sooner he was out of here, the better. Gavin shivered; he couldn’t shift that thought that someone was watching them, no matter how hard he tried. Putting it down to simple paranoia wasn’t helping either.

  He felt Gloria wrap her hand in his. He smiled, reassured at her warmth. How on earth did Gloria have the guts to come down here alone when she was just a kid? This place was creepy; the girl had more balls than he gave her credit for.

  Gavin trudged ahead, following the rusted metal rail between his feet. The desire to pick up the pace ate into him like acid, yet he dare not. The thought of one of them tripping up and breaking a couple of bones pushed all thoughts of running out of his head. An injury like that could finish the pair of them.

  “Oh fuck, what the bloody hell is that?” shouted Gloria.

  He caught his breath and stopped, getting ready to run; he thought that the woman had just stopped his imaginary watcher.

  “Over there, Gavin, can you see it? Shine the light on that wall. I’m sure that I saw something shiny.”

  Gavin raised the torch and played the beam along the wall. The light picked out a couple of wooden supports and rough rock; nothing looked any different. He was about to ask her exactly what she thought she had seen when his light reflected right back at him. “You have got to be fucking kidding me,” he muttered, gazing at the silver metal door embedded into the stone face.

  “I’m telling you, that door was not there the last time I was down here, Gavin.”

  He kept his mouth shut, not wishing to mention that it must have been over forty years since she last set foot in this mine, and it would have been just as dark as it was now. Gavin stepped over the rail and walked over to the door. His brief thought of using it to get out of here vanished when the first thing he noticed was the lack of a handle. Could this be a fire exit? As stupid as it sounded, it sure did look like one.

  “Wait, I think this could tell us something,” he said, reaching up and wiping his hand along the surface. Beneath the wet fungal growth Gavin found a small rectangular metal plate bolted to the door. He shone the torch over it, seeing words embossed into the plate. “In the event of a lock-down, call the duty manager.”

  “Shit,” commented Gloria. “Look at that.”

  He turned and saw the remains of a phone hanging from the wall. “This is seriously weird. I didn’t think this town could creep me out anymore. Are you sure this wasn’t here?”

  She shook her head. “Of course I’m sure.” Gloria stood beside him, “Shine the torch on that sign again, Gavin. Oh wait; I know where this goes to. Don’t you recognise that logo?”

  He shook his head.

  Gloria sighed. “It’s the meat processing plant. This must be one of their fire exits.”

  “Because spending all that time, effort, and money creating a fire exit that leads to the middle of an abandoned mine shaft is normal? There is something else going on here, Gloria.”

  “I’m sure there is, but does it really matter though?”

  Gavin took her hand and led the woman away from the door. “No, I don’t suppose it does matter. Nothing in this crazy town makes any sense to me anymore. It’s just my cop curiosity getting the better of me.”

  She pointed to the other side of the mine. “There’s another door there.”

  He nodded and dragged the woman away; his cop curiosity wasn’t the only instinct trying to get the better of him now. That being watched feeling had returned, stronger than ever. It was making his skin itch. “Come on, you,” he hissed, trying not to panic. “We need to get a move on.”

  Gloria stopped dead and looked wide-eyed over his shoulder. “No!” she gasped.

  “We can’t stay here!” he growled. “Have you lost your mind?”

  She spun him around. “I was not talking about the doors this time. Gavin, just look at that!”

  He shone the light along the new opening cut into the rock next to the original tunnel.

  “What do you mean that wasn’t there before, Gloria.?”

  “What part of that did you not fucking understand? This tunnel has no intersections.”

  Gavin saw marks around the smaller tu
nnel and nodded to himself. She was right, the tunnel was recent, and he didn’t really see a bunch of townsfolk deciding to start up mining for coal. He shook his head and tried not to think about where that tunnel would lead to. He headed over to the original tunnel, still following the line.

  “Gavin!” she screamed, grabbing his arm. “What the fuck are they?”

  He shone the torch down the tunnel and saw three figures loping towards them, and his light reflected from the creature’s amber eyes. He spun around and saw that he’d been right all along, there were another half a dozen behind them, and they must have been following them for hours. “Come on,” he said, dragging her into the new tunnel.

  “Are they behind us? Please don’t tell me they are following us, Gavin.”

  He squeezed her hand. “Just hush,” he whispered. “Look, if they wanted, those things could have run us down ages ago.” Gavin glanced behind him; he couldn’t hear them. “They’ve been following us for ages.”

  “We’re heading into hell!” she hissed, gripping his hand tight. “Oh, we should turn back right now. I don’t like this one bit.”

  Gavin dragged her further into the tunnel, the silly woman was right. HE could make out more detail as they ventured further in. He sighed and pointed at the ceiling. “Just hush, Gloria, that’s the best idea.” Gavin looked at the red light bulbs set into the roof of the tunnel; he was beginning to see some of what was happening now. Most of the situation made no sense but he did guess that this channel was connected to the factories. This was human built; he couldn’t imagine those monsters screwing in a light bulb. Gavin skidded to an abrupt halt when he turned the corner.