by Matt Drabble
The waves came faster now as the tide rose further up the beach, and more of the man was covered permanently. Caleb watched on as bubbles rose from Anderson’s submerged face until the last one popped and he drowned.
Quinn kept her foot on his chest until she was sure, and only then did she turn back to Caleb, her face an inscrutable mask but her job done. After all, islanders took care of their own.
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Epilogue
PC Warwick Lewis kicked his heels in boredom. As per usual, he had drawn the shit detail. Sergeant Huffman seemed to permanently have it in for him. So what if his record was spotty at best? So what if his paperwork was sloppy? There were more things to life than work. Just because the old bastard didn’t have a life didn’t mean that he couldn’t.
A life on the mainland had led to more than one crazy rumour about the island of Clayton and it hadn’t come as much of a surprise when the calls had started to come in. The only shock was the sheer size and scope of it all.
Soon, stations from all over were having their resources diverted as boats from the surrounding area were commandeered to take emergency services over.
Warwick had only been in the police service - official guidelines prevented them from calling it the police force - for a little under a year, but his superintendent had insisted on every available body reporting for duty.
As such an expendable and - quite frankly - officer of little use, he had been posted on guard duty around the old monastery.
The rumours about this place were off the scale and PCs liked to gossip more than old women across a garden fence.
They had been pulling bodies and dazed residents out of the remains for a day, a night, and most of the next day. While it was still unclear what had caused the explosion, the casualties were countless.
As was to be expected, the town residents were tight-lipped about what had happened, but word was that some kind of infection had spread throughout the island, causing abnormal behaviour. Warwick guessed that with all the inbreeding these hicks did, it was only a matter of time before they all went nuts and killed each other anyway.
He stamped his feet against the cold, feeling the second night creeping in around him. Normally, he wasn’t one for flights of imagination, not sober ones at least, but now he was starting to feel a little freaked out by his surroundings.
The silhouette of the monastery sat several hundred feet away from him, but the looming mass of rubble and ruin gave him goosebumps.
Apparently, those who’d been affected had all been rounded up by now and treated. That sounded fine in the light of day, but the lengthening shadows now looked like a fine hiding place to shelter those who’d creep up on a young police officer still wet behind the ears.
The whole island was on lockdown until the government’s Department of Health scientists gave the place the all clear. Warwick had been issued with gloves and a face mask, which seemed grossly inadequate given the amount of body bags he’d seen being brought over on the same boat when he’d arrived.
The government suits weren’t talking to anyone or at least not beat coppers like Warwick. As a result, the rumours were spreading like wildfire about the amount of casualties and the state of the bodies. Dougie Kearns had sworn that he’d overheard some of the doctors saying that several bodies had been partially eaten. But Dougie was often full of shit, enough to make his shoes squelch.
Warwick wandered out for a stroll again, partly to take another patrol around the perimeter but mainly because he hated standing still and being made an easy target.
He walked down through the open fields that had been farmed presumably for the monks.
He was desperate for something to warm his bones and settle his nerves on the icy night, but he knew that Sergeant Huffman would be happy to write him up for his third strike. He had a top-class joint tucked away in his inner pocket, but he needed a little privacy for the job.
Looking around, he spotted a rickety-looking shed building down at the bottom of the slope and he headed towards it. The door was hanging off and it smelt funny inside, but he figured that needs must when the devil drives.
His mind and body were spooked and he just needed to settle his nerves and put a smile back on his face.
He took a quick look around but couldn’t see any telltale flashlight beams and so he ducked inside.
There was a multitude of cuttings and pots about the place, baby growers that would surely perish now they had been abandoned.
A thought occurred to him and he started to check further into the plants, hoping that one of the monks might have had a need to grow his own particular favourite herb.
He came away disappointed and figured that he’d have to settle for the one he’d brought with him when he spotted a door at the back of the shed. Secret areas often hid secrets inside and so he prised the door open and looked inside.
There wasn’t any weed aroma to greet him but there was something else pungent. The smell was strong but the earth had been torn apart as though someone had taken what was growing in a hurry. He checked and double-checked and got lucky the third time when he spotted a lone small brown object cast upon the ground. Whoever had ransacked the place in such a rush had dropped something on their way out.
Warwick bent down and picked up the mushroom. He turned it over in his hands and enjoyed the aroma it left on his skin.
“Psilocybe cubensis,” he breathed to himself. “You, my friend, are magic and no mistake.”
He slipped the mushroom in his pocket and forced himself to wait. He’d be back home tomorrow on the mainland. Something told him that home-grown varieties such as this deserved to be enjoyed in peace and quiet. These monks probably had a higher tolerance to things such as this; one mushroom alone could probably do some serious damage and he didn’t want to waste it. Besides, if Sergeant Huffman caught him high, then he’d get shitcanned for sure.
There was a girl who lived in the apartment next to his, a girl he’d been obsessed with for the past 6 months. He knew that she liked to party. Maybe he could tempt her over with his new friend. Something instinctively told him that it could be a night he’d never forget.
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OTHER BOOKS BY MATT DRABBLE
ABRA-CADAVER (free Kindle edition)
Winner of a prestigious Indie Book of the Day Award
A 2015 Kindle Book Review Award Finalist.
A 2016 Book Excellence Award Winner
Tommy, Dixon, McEwen, PJ, and Alison were always a close-knit group until Tommy's 12th birthday party. Tragedy strikes when a magic trick goes horribly wrong and a woman lies dead.
A local magician, Albert Trotter, is railroaded during a rigged trial and locked away. Forever protesting his innocence, and after a vicious assault in prison, he is eventually sent to a mental institution in a catatonic state.
Now Tommy is 36 and heading home for the first time in over two decades, but he's not alone. Someone is slaughtering the residents of Denver Mills with magic trick themed murders and holding those involve
d with the Trotter trial in a steely grip of fear.
Tommy will have to find the strength to bring his old friends together as secrets and lies are exposed throughout the small
town of Denver Mills.
Something evil is coming home, and it’s bringing a whole new bag of tricks.
"The perfect slasher novel, someone make the movie! 10/10" SCARYMINDS.COM
"This will serve to excite and thrill gore fans"
THE BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY
"A suspenseful, on the edge of your sit, thrill ride. A great read that will leave you sleeping with the light one!"
FAERIETALEBOOKS.ORG
THE LAST RESORT
The Paradise Resort is the ultimate in exclusive luxury island resorts. A private haven for only those deemed worthy enough to attend.
Landon Verger is a titan of industry, a man who casts a long dark shadow and founder of Paradise. The resort's opening weekend should have been a celebration of wealth and excess, but without warning the resort has gone silent.
Sam Verger knows his father only too well; the great man casts a long and dark shadow. He also knows that Landon Verger's enemy list is long and varied, any one of which would love to see his father dead.
Sam seeks to employ a professional to investigate the island, Mac is one such woman. An ex-military officer she works dirty jobs and doesn't ask questions if the money's right. With her like-minded team they travel to Paradise.
Mac thought she'd seen everything that death had to offer, she was wrong. What started out as a simple mission will quickly become the most desperate fight for survival she's ever faced. There's only one thing that she's sure of, not everyone is getting out alive.
"Without a doubt this is my favorite book by Matt Drabble ... Horror, chills, and plenty of thrills ... Oozing with suspense ... Easily a 5 star read!"
Sage Adderley
"The plot is strong and the characters are well developed. This book is not for faint-of-heart. It's a thrilling action packed adventure. This book lives in the heart of horror. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a good read." DormaineGBlog
"This book is phenomenal... it will keep you on the edge of your seat... the world he paints is magical, the way your attention is captured is mind blowing, you will be kept rooted to your seat neither wanting to keep the book down nor wanting the story to end" EnthrallingDimple
"This is not the first book of Drabble's that I read - and it certainly will not be the last! If you're a fan of thrillers and horror - this is definitely a book you'll want to pick up" Book Fidelity
ASYLUM – 13 TALES OF TERROR
A US Horror Chart #5 best seller
Voted #5 on The Horror Novel Review’s Top 10 Books of 2013
& a 2014 Readers Favorite Gold Medal Winner
Blackwater Heights is a building with a long dark history, some of it is well known but more is shrouded in myth and legend. None more so than that of its founding father Horace Whisker.
Martin Parcell is an ex-journalist with shattered dreams of an author's career. Sidelined through a car crash's injuries, he finds himself forced through governmental austerity measures having to take a custodians position at a private mental health hospital. A writer with undoubted talent, but an author without a story.
He begins his new job deep in depression and drowning under waves of his lost dreams. On his first night he meets Jimmy, his elderly supervisor who has spent most of his life within the hospital walls. Jimmy is nearing retirement age and desperate to rest his weary bones. Jimmy offers Martin a way out for both of them, access to the background histories and stories of the hospital's patients.
A collection of 13 tales from the darkly disturbed minds of the residents of Blackwater Heights.
As the long night unwinds, Martin finds himself deeply troubled as the tales unfold before him and threaten to drag him down into their insanity.
"Matt Drabble is nothing short of a genius when it comes to painting a picture of his characters. This novel was sensational! I started reading and couldn't stop" LITTLE BLOG OF HORROR
"Consistently very, very strong like Stephen King, or Clive Barker, there's simply no telling what the man will deliver in a package of this nature" HORROR NOVEL REVIEWS
"It takes skill to make the short story format work and Matt Drabble has mastered it as he is able to establish both character and story in a matter of pages while conveying a sense of horror and terror" REELYBORED.COM
"Turn down the lights, turn off the TV and cuddle up with these stories tonight - talk about being afraid of the dark!" BOOK FIDELITY
ASYLUM II - 13 MORE TALES OF TERROR
2016 Readers Favorite Silver Medal Winner
Welcome back to Blackwater heights, it's time to take another tour.
After a breakout and a devastating fire, the private hospital is finally refurbished and opening its doors for business again.
But the evil that has blighted this place runs deeper than the concrete foundations. its very nature attracts darkness and now another storm is brewing.
Some of the most disturbed minds sit within the padded walls of Blackwater heights. each has a tale to tell and each is more shocking than the last.
Dr Hilary Meeker is about to take up her position on the staff. an ambitious woman looking to make her mark and climb the professional ladder with little regard to those she steps upon.
Dr Elgon Perrin runs the hospital, an unusual man with a unique style. but is he all that he seems? are his methods too extreme? and is he more dangerous than the inmates that he stands guard over.
"A perfect read for Halloween... A riveting and unmissable anthology" READERS FAVORITE
"Matt Drabble doesn't disappoint when it comes to horror... Any horror fan will want to take the time out to read this book... Unrelenting suspense" BOOK FIDELITY
"The stories are gruesome, terrifying, and intelligent... This is a great horror book" ENTHRALLING DIMPLE
ASYLUM III – CROWTREE MANOR
The third installment of the best selling & multi award
winning unique anthology series
It begins with an enticing invitation, a private preview for the first guaranteed haunted house tourist attraction.
Skeptical minds brought together in a building steeped in a bloody history, all with their own dark secrets to protect.
It had been a long time since this building was a private hospital and housed the most dangerous and deranged minds. Now it has a new owner and a new purpose
It is a house that feeds on darkness and only attracts the very worst in humanity. Stone floors and walls that have witnessed the brutality of man and has blood seeped into its very foundations.
The doors are open and the rooms are ready to receive its first guests, welcome to Crowtree Manor.
International praise for the Asylum series
"Sensational! I started reading and couldn't stop"
LITTLE BLOG OF HORROR
"Consistently very, very strong like Stephen King, or Clive Barker"
HORROR NOVEL REVIEWS
"It takes skill to make the short story format work Matt Drabble has mastered it"
REELYBORED.COM
THE MONTAGUE PORTRAIT
Hugo Montague was a man of boundless cruelty that lived on beyond his mortal days. The portrait that he commissioned has hung on many walls, but has always overseen tragedy and murder.
The painting was long thought destroyed in a fire, but now there are those desperate to find the portrait if it still exists
Travis Parker was an insurance investigator, but now he is a widower trapped within his own pain and broken promises. When he is approached by the mysterious Telfer Vargas to track down the portrait he reluctantly agrees to one last case.
Charlotte Goode has a long personal history with the painting and will let nothing stand in her way to avenge her family.
The race across Europe to find the painting soon becomes littered with death as dark supernatural forc
es converge and threaten to consume those foolish enough to look.
"Once again, I was impressed with the rich background of each character in this suspenseful plot, never taking away, but always adding to the excitement. Matt is feeding my need for horror through the written word." SAGE ADDERLEY
"Matt Drabble is immensely talented... Again & again he has provided his readers with exceptional content & books we cannot put down!... I literally flew through this one because I just couldn't put it down... It's definitely a 5 star novel" DEVOTED MOMMY OF 3 (blog)
GATED
A UK & US Horror Chart Top 10 Best Seller
Full Moon Awards 2014 Horror Book of the Year
2015 Readers Favorite Gold Medal Winner
Michael and Emily are a happy and contented English couple, a writer and a school teacher. Their lives are complete when Emily falls pregnant, however their dreams are shattered one cold winter night by a car accident that robs them of their happiness.