“That was never there before!” shouted Ricky.
When I looked over to the direction the statues indicated, there stood a crypt, a real graveyard crypt made of stone with an iron fence surrounding it. The creatures were not only behind us but all around us a distance, coming closer. There was nowhere else to go, so everyone in the group ran for the crypt. It was shelter at least and well-built; it seemed to be the only place for us to hide. However, when we reached it, the gate of the fence refused to open, only ‘giving’ a little to prove it was stuck and not locked.
“This latch is rusted!” cried Antonio.
“We’d better get it unstuck soon,” said Kenny. “Look what’s coming our way fast!”
Down the path, and now surrounding us, the ghouls were getting closer, their miserable moans of “help me” getting louder.
“This gate’s not opening,” said Timothy. “We’ve got to find someplace else to hide and fast!”
“We’ve got to stay together,” recommended Robert. “How about over there?” he said, pointing to a clump of trees in the not too far distance.
As soon as they backed away from the tomb the heavy iron gate opened on its own.
“C’mon, everybody!” yelled Ben. “It’s open!”
The group, now in total panic, ran into the crypt, for the ghouls outside were at our heels, growing closer. As soon as the entire group entered, Antonio yelled, “C’mon Kenny. Close the door!”
“It’s stuck now, too! It won’t close!”
“Ah, shit!” yelled Antonio.
“Guys,” Antonio announced to the room, “they’re almost here. There’s no time for us to run anywhere else. So we’ve gotta push this door closed from the outside, okay? You guys pull on the handle. We push, you pull. We gotta get this door to budge!”
Antonio and Kenny stayed outside to push as the rest of us, except for the Sisters, who seemed not quite to understand the gravity of the situation, watched and giggled. As the ghouls came ever closer, the door began to give a little, but still it did not close fast enough, for the two ghouls that led the dismal parade touched Antonio and Kenny.
“Oh, fuck,” said Kenny as he went down. Antonio was silent as his legs slid out from under him.
The two ghouls stopped moving forward, high off their energy “hit”, as they had been with me. In the seconds remaining until the rest of the zombies caught up with the first, we grabbed the two men and pulled them inside.
As the rest of the ghouls walked toward the nearly open door of the crypt, we still could not pull it shut. When they were on the verge of entering, as the tomb came close to fulfilling its intended purpose, the door slammed shut by itself, leading to a collective sigh of relief by those of us inside. The things outside began scratching to get in but eventually gave up. We suspected that they were hovering by the door, just waiting for us to come out.
“We’re trapped,” Robert remarked.
“We didn’t have a choice,” Ricky replied. “Those new ones seemed to come out of nowhere. I guess they were hiding behind those trees. Anybody remember those trees being there? I sure as hell don’t.”
“But there’s no exit,” Robert said. “What do we do now?”
“It doesn’t matter that there’s no exit right now,” Ben pointed out. “We’re surrounded by those creatures anyway. Let’s look around and see what’s in here. If worst comes to worst, I’m sure we’ll see Arrosha by the morning at least and she’ll provide us with a way out.”
In the relative calm that followed, we examined Antonio and Kenny to see how badly they were hurt. They were both emaciated from the attack and in much worse shape than I had been upon my first arrival at the mansion. For the first time ever, I understood just how much the amulet had protected me. The devastation of the creatures’ touch had already spread throughout the two men’s systems, leaving them barely breathing statues of stone and ice.
“Oh, dear God, no,” was the only thing that Illea could say as she gazed upon their pitiful, withered bodies, for there was nothing that could be done for them.
“You poor little things,” said the first of the Sisters as she finally grasped the situation.
“Pitiful,” said the second.
“Yes, so very pitiful,” added the third.
We tried to get our collective wits back at this point, taking advantage of our relative, albeit temporary, safety. We looked about the tomb to take stock of our surroundings. Three stone coffins stood within the center of the crypt, empty, lids open. At the far end rested a dark area fenced off by an iron grate.
“It’s probably just another chamber,” said Robert.
“Or hopefully an underground tunnel out of here,” Ben finished for him.
“Has everyone been accounted for?” asked Timothy.
“Everyone except for Geoffrey,” Ben answered. “I sure hope that he’s alright. I haven’t seen him all day.” Ben’s worry for his true love revealed itself upon his face as deep lines in his forehead. “I hope he got away from those zombies, or whatever those things out there are.”
Everybody in the room was shaken, including the Three Sisters, who simply sat in a corner, rocking back and forth as they chanted in unison, “Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear.” Of the others, some were praying to Arrosha for rescue, some were bargaining with her. Things along the lines “if you let me get through this, I promise I’ll be good from now on” emanated from the lips of more than one person.
Illea seemed to be the most stunned of all the followers. She clung fast to Ricky.
“I can’t believe Arrosha would allow this, Ben,” I heard her say in a somnambulistic manner.
“She didn’t, Illea,” was Ben’s misguided answer. “I don’t know where those things come from, but they didn’t come from her.”
I wanted to tell him that Arrosha was exactly the one who sent the creatures and that she had even more nasty surprises in store to send our way, but I couldn’t. The faith onto which Ben clung at this moment was paper-thin and it was the only thing he had. Arrosha was going to break his heart into a thousand little pieces tonight. I just didn’t want any of that news coming from me.
Whatever his reason, Ben kept going. Always a tower of strength, he checked to make sure that the others were okay and taken care of, although there was nothing that anyone could do for Kenny and Antonio. Not exactly dead, they were definitely dying and seemed to be beyond hope of any kind.
The Three Sisters had huddled together, chanting as they rocked back and forth, consoling each other as best they could, while Timothy and Robert just looked stunned.
“Ashley,” Ben asked. “Do you want to explore this place with me?”
“Sure,” I agreed.
“I’ll come with you, too, Ben. I feel like I need to do something,” said Illea, waking up from her stupor. “Ricky, come with me, please. Don’t leave me.”
Illea took Ricky’s hand in one of her hands, Ben’s in the other. Ben then took my hand in his free hand and together as a daisy-chain, we went to explore what was past the interior iron gate.
“Hey, guys,” he said to the group. “This seems to lead to a tunnel. Maybe we can get out of here this way.”
“How can you be sure?” asked Robert. “It’s so bloody dark in there, you can’t see a thing.”
“Yeah,” agreed Timothy. “Maybe it’s a dead end. You don’t know.”
“No. Now that I’m getting used to the light level in here, I can see a little bit in here. It’s really dim, but just enough for me to see that it goes on for a while. I’m hoping it turns out to be a tunnel of some sort. There’s only one way to find out and that’s to explore it. Besides, with those things out there, staying here’s not the answer.”
“We can’t go with you,” said Robert. “We’ve got to look out for the Sisters. Besides, Antonio and Kenny are still alive and need us to watch over them.”
“That’s fine,” Ben said. “This route may not even pan out. The four of us will check it out. If it’
s a dead-end , we’ll come back and join you. If it does lead to a way out, we’ll come back to get you. You’ll need help moving Kenny and Antonio anyway. For now, just stay here and look after them.”
“Sounds good, Ben,” Robert said, still stunned. “Let’s go with that.”
It was with caution that the four of us entered into the dark recesses of the crypt. Without my enhanced night vision, I would not have been able to see past the first few feet, but as it was, I could tell that we were heading down a tunnel that continued for a while. Once we cleared the gate, though, we heard it slam shut behind us. We ran back, trying to get the passageway to reopen yet unable to, impotently watching those still trapped inside, unable to rescue them.
The main room began to shrink, becoming smaller and smaller. Robert and Timothy ran up to the gate, struggling against it, as powerless to open it from their side as we were from ours.
We stared in horror, helpless, as Kenny and Antonio disappeared into the walls as the room seemed to consume them. An invisible force pulled the Three Sisters each into one of the empty coffins, the heavy stone lids snapping shut behind them, sealing them inside. As the room continued to shrink, the walls closed in, absorbing the coffins. Robert and Timothy clung to the gate as long as they were able. We watched, terrified, as the shrinking walls swallowed them whole.
Not content to stop there, the walls continued to shrink even faster, encroaching now upon the rest of us. Whatever served as a light source around here was also eaten and soon it became pitch black. The four of us, holding hands to avoid separation, ran into the tunnel. It was so dark that we could not see, but still we ran. At one point I stumbled and Ben’s hand slipped out of mine.
“Ben! Ben!” I cried. “Illea! Ricky! Where are you?”
There was no answer and I was left to run alone in the darkness.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Surrounded without relief by blackness, I was amazed at how even was the path upon which I walked. Although I was hyper-vigilant for any irregularity, nothing emerged to trip me. There were no potholes, there were no rocks, there was nothing in my way; so although I was both blinded and disoriented by the complete darkness, I was able to proceed with relative steadiness. Eventually, the blackness lightened to a dark, dull gray and shapes began to emerge within that grayness. I was now enveloped by a thick fog, and my pants and T-shirt had been exchanged in favor of a simple cotton dress. I could only suppose that Arrosha had not approved of my wardrobe selection.
The fog lifted quickly, and again I found myself on a rural road, this time surrounded by a deserted, flat landscape which was dotted only occasionally by a few, dead, scraggly trees. As I walked, the hot dryness of the air began to choke me, wrapping itself around me against my will. It was the dryness of an extended drought that promised no hope of ever breaking. Smotheringly quiet, there was no wind, as if the air itself forgot how to move, yet it was dusty and gritty, revealing that the drought had been around for so long that the dirt had become part of the very air itself.
I found myself in the middle of nowhere. In either direction, everything on this dirt road looked so similar that I got the feeling that the direction in which I traveled really didn’t matter. It was twilight now, but I got the impression that it was always perpetual twilight in this land without color. The total quiet was unnerving, as if the sound here depended on wind or moisture to nurture it and, finding neither, decided to remain mute.
The jump in space then happened once more. One moment I was walking along the deserted dirt road, a road with no cars, no other people, nothing around for miles. The next I was standing in front of the broken wooden gate of a broken wooden fence that bordered a broken wooden two-story farmhouse, dilapidated and eaten up with dry rot. It was in such bad disrepair that it looked as if it had never known good times. I was no longer alone any more, for Ben and Illea were standing next to me.
“Where are we?” I asked them.
Illea jumped, putting her hand to her chest. “Oh, you startled me!” she said. “You weren’t there a second ago. How did you get here?”
“I have no idea.”
“I’m glad you’re back. We thought we lost you. I don’t know where we are, either. I don’t even know how we got here.” Illea says. “Have you seen Ricky? We lost him, too, and I’m very worried.”
“No, I haven’t seen him. Sorry.”
Ben grabbed me, hugging me hard.
“Thank god you’re all right. How did we ever get separated? I was holding onto your hand tightly. Illea stayed with me but your hand just seemed to vanish. I was worried sick. Does anybody have any idea of what’s going on?”
I knew, of course. I knew that they had outlived their usefulness to Arrosha and she was finished with them. I knew that she would destroy them before the night was over, but telling them about it seemed so cruel and served no useful purpose, so I pretended to be clueless.
“I was put down on the road some ways back and then I just popped up here somehow. Don’t know how, though,” I said. “Have you guys been here long?”
Ben got a confused, disturbed look upon his face. “No. And I don’t know how we got here. There was a fog and then I lost your hand and then we were somewhere, I don’t know where, for awhile…” His voice trailed off into silence. “You changed clothes,” he added, changing the subject as he noticed my dress.
“You, too,” I said. They weren’t wearing their robes anymore, but regular street clothes.
“How did that happen?” asked Ben.
“We never changed clothes. Did you?” Illea asked.
“No,” I told her. “Just like you guys, I looked down and they were different.”
Illea shook her head and I could tell that on top of being perplexed, she and Ben were afraid.
“So, should we go in?” asked Ben.
“I don’t know,” Illea answered. “That house, it looks so unhealthy.”
“Yes,” Ben said, “but I don’t see that we have much of a choice.” Looking around, he added, “This seems to be the only shelter that’s around for miles. I don’t know where else to go. It looks deserted, but maybe we’ll find something in there that can at least help us find out where we are.”
“I don’t know, Ben, I don’t like this place,” Illea said. “I’d rather not go in. It feels bad to me. Let’s start walking. Maybe there’s someplace better down the road.”
“No,” I replied. “There isn’t. There’s nothing better down the road. Not in either direction.”
“How do you know?” Illea asks.
“I just came from that direction,” I said, pointing behind me. “As for the other one, I don’t know how I know, but I do. There is nothing else. This is it. I’m sure of it. This is where whatever brought us here wants us to be.” Again I resisted telling them it was Arrosha’s doing. “We could walk for miles and we would just wind up back here again. I’m certain of it but I don’t know why I’m certain of it.”
With no other options, we opened the decomposing gate, barely hanging on by its last hinge. It managed not to fall apart completely and we walked up the sidewalk to the house, whose windows were sloppily boarded up with unpainted slats. We stepped up on the small, creaky front porch, treading carefully to avoid the holes and missing boards in the porch, eaten away by decades of rot and neglect. We went up to the front door and knocked.
When no one answered, Ben carefully opened the door, ducking just in time to avoid two thick boards whizzing through the air, one from either side. Both boards stopped mid-air, and we heard a nervous, relieved laughter. Behind the board were Robert and Ricky.
“Thank Arrosha, it’s you guys!” said Robert, relieved. “We thought you were dead!”
“Baby,” Ricky said to Illea, hugging her. “I thought I lost you. Are you alright?”
“I’m as good as I can be, I guess,” she answered. “I just wish I knew what was going on.”
When we went inside we saw that the interior of the house was as dismal as
its exterior.
Ben asked, “Robert, we saw the walls suck you in. How did you survive?” Ben asked them.
“My guess is as good as yours,” Robert replied. “All I can remember is that one minute, the wall trapped Timothy and me and the next, I just wound up next to Ricky on the road outside this house. How did you guys get here?”
“Pretty much the same way,” Ben said. “We were running down a corridor one minute and the next, we were here.” Ben said. “And speaking of Timothy, where is he?”
“We haven’t seen him since that incident at the tomb. Or the Sisters, either, for that matter. And I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Ben, but nobody’s seen Geoffrey since before all of this started. I really hope they’re all alright,”
“So do I,” Ben answered.
“I don’t understand,” Illea commented. “Timothy and you were both sucked into that wall at the same time. Shouldn’t the two of you have wound up here together in the same spot?”
“You’d think, Illea, but we have no idea of what’s going on,” Robert said.
“Those are some nice boards, guys,” Ben said as he examined the weapons. “And some reception, too. You could have really hurt somebody. Just who’d you think we were?”
“We didn’t know. Those creatures maybe,” answered Robert.
“We’ve been hearing some freaky sounds coming from outside,” noted Ricky. “We didn’t know who it was that was coming in.”
“Do intruders usually knock?” said Ben.
“That was a knock?” Ricky said, confused. “It sounded like you guys were trying to break down the damn door of an echo chamber!”
“We didn’t knock loud,” Ben replied. “Just normally.”
“I guess sounds aren’t what they appear to be here, either,” I said as the others looked at each other, confused.
“So tell me, have you guys been here long?” Ben asked after a few minutes.
“No,” Ricky answered. “We got here just a little bit before you guys showed up.”
“Have you looked around the house yet?” wondered Illea.
The Nightmare Game Page 55