by Jason Brant
The weight of the train shifted, signaling their acceleration.
Opening the cylinder on his Peacemaker, he checked his ammunition. Nothing. At least he still had the gun.
"Empty?" Karen asked.
McCall gave her a slight nod before holstering the gun.
"So much for your good luck charm."
"That gun is empty?" the conductor asked.
McCall turned back to him. "I don't need bullets to put a hurt on you."
"We're going to see what the shouting is about. If I feel this train slowing down, you'll answer to my friend here," Karen said, bobbing her head at McCall.
The conductor held her gaze for a moment before lowering his eyes in submission.
McCall went into the passenger car, leery of the next turn of events. A boy of no more than fifteen charged up the center aisle with blood smeared all over his shirt. He held his left hand tight against his chest.
"What the hell is the shouting about?" McCall asked
The kid was nearing hysterics. "He bit me!"
"Who?" Karen asked. McCall could tell from the tone of her voice that she was thinking the same thing he was.
"The man we let onto the train!"
"What? Who did you let on?" she asked.
"He was stumbling around, just outside the door to the car behind this one. We opened the door and tried to pull him in, but he bit my hand! The guy is shithouse crazy! He was injured real bad! His nose is gone! It's just gone!"
"Where is he now?" McCall asked.
"They've got him tied up back there, but he bit eight or ten of us before we got the ropes around him."
McCall and Karen looked at each other, their shoulders slumping simultaneously.
"Goddamn it..." Karen said.
*****
The Gate
Bryan Armstrong and Kyle Detwiler, two college students on the cusp of graduation, are the lucky winners of a contest to become interns on the paranormal television show The Specter Slayers.
Their excitement turns to jubilation when they discover that they'll be aiding in the investigation of The Danver Church, one of the most haunted places in America. Nestled in the remote mountains of Pennsylvania, the church is world renowned for the massacre that occurred there forty years earlier.
Accompanied by best-selling horror author Katie Upshaw, they attempt to survive a dream job that quickly turns into a nightmare. The church, adorned with satanic symbols and imagery, is the home of things far worse than any of them could have imagined.
Chapter 1
“Dude! We got it!” Kyle sashayed across the cafeteria and jumped onto the table, swiveling his hips in an odd celebration dance.
Everyone in the room turned and stared at him. Some laughed at his little show and others sneered at him in typical college student condescension. A few people pulled out their cell phones and tried to record him, indubitably hoping to capture some YouTube hits.
Bryan, who had been sitting at the table alone while cramming for his last final, gave the staring crowd an apologetic look while gesturing toward Kyle. His friend constantly tried to embarrass him, and succeeded once again.
“First, I never want to see you swivel your hips like that again. Second, you stepped in my mashed potatoes.”
Kyle lifted his foot and examined the bottom of his shoe, his considerable size teetering precariously on the table. “Crap.”
He jumped to the floor and kicked his foot toward the wall, sending globs of potato splattering against it. The splat hit considerably close to a young student seated a few tables away, and she turned in anger, intent on putting the culprit in their place. When she took in Kyle’s massive frame the anger slid from her face, replaced by the usual doe eyes he had grown accustomed to seeing.
“Dude, I can't believe it. They picked us,” he said, grinning from ear to ear.
“Who picked us for what?” Bryan asked. He pushed his food tray away, eyeing the giant footprint in the middle of it. There went his idea of studying in silence while grabbing a quick lunch.
“The Specter Slayers! Come on, man. We talked about this weeks ago.”
Bryan's forehead wrinkled as he tried to remember the conversation. “I have no idea what you're talking about.”
“I told you I was signing us up in their intern contest. The results just came in. We freaking won. We’re going to work on the next episode of the Specter Slayers!”
“Wait a second. You signed us up to be interns on a stupid ass show about haunted houses?”
Bryan had seen three or four television shows based on finding evidence of the supernatural, and they all sucked as far as he was concerned, but The Specter Slayers was by far the worst one. From what he could tell, they didn’t have any kind of scientific background, but that didn’t stop them from parading around with bizarre instruments and making grand claims.
“Hell yeah I did.”
“Was I drunk when we discussed this?”
“Of course. That's when all of my good ideas hit me.”
“Forget it. No way am I going to carry coffee for two morons acting like they're seeing ghosts every time the camera is pointed in the opposite direction,” Bryan said. His major required that he complete an internship to graduate, but he’d be damned if he would do it for an awful production like The Specter Slayers.
Kyle plopped in a chair on the opposite side of the table from Bryan and spread his hands out in a give-me-a-break movement. “What else are you going to do? Sit around and mope about Christine?”
“No.” Yes. She'd left him three months ago, but he just couldn't move past her. His entire life had been one never-ending downward spiral every since. He spent most of his time studying, hoping to keep his mind busy, but failing miserably.
“Damn it, Bryan. She's not coming back. You're about to graduate with a bachelor's degree and you have absolutely no plans on what you're going to do with it. Face the facts, you planned your entire life around her, and she screwed you.”
It was true. He'd turned down a job offer in Los Angeles at a production company to stay back East and marry Christine. When she left him, it had wrecked more than just their relationship. He had put his future career aside for her and now had nothing to show for it.
“That has nothing to do with this. That show sucks ass and I don’t want to be associated with it. I’m already pissed off that I have to intern for someone, and the last thing I need is to do it for a couple of shysters.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Kyle said, holding his hands up in mock disbelief. “That show doesn't suck. They have video evidence of the existence of ghosts. Just because you don't believe in anything, doesn't mean they're a couple of shysters.”
Bryan had seen the show several times and never saw a shred of evidence of anything supernatural, outside of their uncanny ability to always see something when the camera was pointed in the other direction. They weren’t even good actors – it was painfully obvious when they just pretended to spot a ghost.
“Not happening.”
“It's only one night, and you'll get on TV. That's why they held a contest instead of just taking applications online through Monster or some crap like that.”
That was interesting. Most of the internships Bryan had applied for wanted real world experience, which he didn't have. The fact that employers won't hire college kids without prior related job experience wasn't something they tossed around at orientation. He still didn’t understand how they expected you to have prior experience for an internship anyway. One night didn't exactly constitute a job, but it would be killer for his demo reel.
“Just one night, and we're guaranteed to be on screen?” he asked.
“Yup. And it's guaranteed to be better than sitting around here touching yourself to pictures of Christine.”
“Remind me why I'm friends with you again?”
“Because I'm awesome.”
Maybe he was right. Bryan had basically cut off all his friends in his grief over the broken enga
gement. Kyle was the only one stubborn enough not to go away. No matter what excuse Bryan made to seclude himself in his room, Kyle always saw through it and dragged him out. Getting away for a weekend might not be too bad. It couldn't hurt his nonexistent career either.
“If I were to agree to this, when is it?”
“Tomorrow.”
This was typical. Bryan was fairly certain that Kyle had never studied a day in his life. He couldn’t care less about bailing for the weekend in the middle of finals week. Though he had no proof, Bryan wondered if Kyle’s football scholarship provided him some leeway on his grades.
“What? I can't do it this weekend. I have my last final on Monday.”
Kyle leaned back in his chair, inspecting the table of girls to his right. They had all been trying to watch him inconspicuously since the moment he walked into the cafeteria.
“You've been going to college for four years, surrounded by hotties like that, and you dated the same chick the entire time,” he said, never taking his eyes from the ladies.
They heard what he said, and giggled when they saw him eying them up and down. Kyle always had a way with women. They responded to him. Bryan had trouble just talking to them.
“Now you're single, about to graduate magna cum laude, and you're going to turn down an opportunity like this because of a stupid test?”
“I can't just—”
“Yes you can,” Kyle said, cutting him off. “You can do whatever the hell you want. Stop being a pussy, prepare your best Bill Murray impersonation, and come catch some ghosts with me.”
Bryan laughed at the absurdity of his little speech. He did have a point though. Because his relationship had lasted his entire collegiate career, he now felt like he'd squandered what could have been the best time of his life. Besides, even if he bombed the final it wouldn't be enough to cause him to fail the class or ruin his GPA.
“OK, you win. I'll go stumble around in the dark with you and pretend like I'm scared. But if I don't get on screen I'm going to be pissed.”
Kyle winked at the girls. “You see this guy right here? He's going to be on TV.”
Bryan's cheeks reddened immediately as he tried to look everywhere but at them.
“Dude, can you forget about the girls for two seconds?”
“Forget about the girls? I have so much to teach you.”
“Where is the filming taking place? Can we make it there by tomorrow?”
Kyle rolled his eyes, making a show for his audience. “It's in Somerset County. We can be there in a few hours, no problem.”
“And we'll be back on Saturday?”
“That depends on if we survive the night or not. This place is supposed to be crawling with spooks,” Kyle said, trying to make his voice sound ominous.
“I won't hold my breath. All I expect to see are a couple of assholes acting scared and pretending to hear footsteps.”
Kyle had already turned his attention back to the enraptured college girls, flashing a grin. “You ladies enjoy football? I’m a three year starter at linebacker.”
Bryan snorted by accident and tried to block his mouth with his hand. Kyle used that line every time he tried to pick someone up, and it almost always worked. Pretty soon he will have used that on most of the girls at their school.
“He’s my personal assistant,” Kyle said, cocking his thumb toward Bryan.
“Oh you bastard,” Bryan said. He scooped up a spoonful of mashed potatoes and launched them at Kyle.
Chapter 2
Their GPS didn't seem to know where it was trying to go. They were in the Appalachian Mountains, somewhere south of Laurel Mountain State Park in Pennsylvania.
The trip had only taken about two and a half hours, but they'd spent the past twenty minutes driving up and down a gravel road, trying to find a driveway or mailbox for the church they were looking for.
“Where did you get this piece of shit?” Kyle smacked the side of Bryan's navigation system, knocking it sideways in its holder.
“I bought it on Craigslist. Look around man, we're in the middle of nowhere, I'm surprised it even has a signal.”
Bryan looked at his gas gauge. They had less than a quarter of a tank left. He didn't know this church was going to be so secluded or he would have filled up before they started up the mountain.
“We need to find something soon, or we're going to have to turn around. The last thing we need is to get stranded up here in hillbilly country. There are probably ravenous cannibals watching us right now.”
“No shit. I think I can hear Dueling Banjos playing. Stop!”
Bryan slammed on the brakes, his aging and rusted Ford Taurus sliding in the gravel. A large cloud of dust kicked up from the road and billowed around the car. “What?”
“I think I see something,” Kyle said, hanging his head out of the window. “Back up.”
Putting the car in reverse, Bryan went backward down the middle of the road, though he couldn’t see through the dust. He wasn't concerned about traffic because they hadn't seen another car in three quarters of an hour.
“Right there,” Kyle said as he pointed toward a thicket of dead bushes beside the road. “I think there's a path through those trees.”
Bryan squinted, trying to see through the foliage. “I don't see anything.”
“I’m pretty sure this is it.” Opening his door, Kyle walked over to the bushes and peered through them. He reached through the foliage, grabbed something behind them, and pushed. The entire row moved at once, swinging inward, screeching like a banshee. The branches were connected to a large gate, hiding what could best be described as a path.
Two rock covered tire tracks led into the forest, a growth of weeds and grass jutting out between them. The forest seemed darker somehow, more dreary. Bryan shrugged it off; assuming the cloud of dust played a role in his skewed vision.
“Nice work, Holmes,” Bryan said from the car.
“It's a talent.” Kyle climbed back into the passenger seat. “Why the camouflage?”
“Guess they don't like visitors.”
Bryan swung the car onto the path, easing onto the protruding rocks that formed the tire tracks, cringing as twigs and branches scratched the side of his Ford.
“Dude, your car is a rolling shit box. A few more scratches aren't going to be noticeable,” Kyle said. He loved making fun of Bryan’s Taurus even though he didn’t have a vehicle of his own.
They rolled forward, slowly bouncing over the large humps in the driveway. The canopy of trees grew thicker and darker ahead as they approached a bend in the road, leading left.
“That looks ominous as hell, man,” Kyle said under his breath.
Bryan had to agree. Though he wasn't prone to irrational fears of the paranormal or the unseen, he was a little spooked by the setting. A haunted church, nestled in the middle of the mountains, surrounded by the darkest forest he’d ever seen, was straight out of a movie. The trees overhead seemed to grow taller as they moved forward; gaining a long, thick quality that seemed unnatural for Appalachia.
“No one in their right mind would live back here,” Bryan said. “Whose place is this?”
“I have no idea. They just sent me the address.”
As they rounded the bend, the forest seemed to change colors, growing even darker. Bryan flipped his headlights on, shocked at how dense the woods were becoming. It seemed hard to believe that hours of daylight remained. The path took on a gradual incline as they continued forward. Looking down at his odometer, Bryan noticed they were more than a mile into the woods.
“Maybe we should turn back.”
Without taking his eyes from the path, Bryan could feel the shit-eating grin on Kyle's face.
“I thought you didn't believe in all of this stuff? Now you want to turn around?” he asked.
“I'm not scared that a werewolf is going to jump out and grab us; I'm concerned about my piece of crap car getting stuck in one of these big ass holes. We're getting really far out here and I do
n't particularly want to walk the entire way back to civilization.”
“Stop being such a pu−”
Through the overgrowth, they could see an old stone church appearing a few hundred yards ahead, stopping Kyle in midsentence.
“Whoa...” Kyle said.
Their distance from the building and the darkness descending on the area made it difficult to nail down details beyond the shape and size of the church. Its styling seemed simple, consisting of a rectangular foundation with a slanted roof.
“If any place in the world is haunted, this is it,” Kyle said. His hushed tone and round eyes exuded awe as he stared through the windshield.
“Even I have to admit that it is creepy as hell.”
The air seemed to thicken as they approached, the humidity rising rapidly. The foliage, still incredibly dense, went from a healthy green to a sickly brown, leaves hanging limply from their branches. Everything appeared wet; the trees and rocks covering the tire tracks became slick and slimy.
“How is it so dark back here? The sun isn’t going to set for a couple more hours,” Bryan said. He tried to see the sky through the incredible tree canopy above and managed to spot only a few slivers of grey clouds. Had it been cloudy during their drive, or sunny? He couldn’t remember.
“I don't have such a good feeling about this. It's almost as if the forest is trying to hide this place,” Kyle said. “And what psycho would build a creepy church in the middle of nowhere?”
“Someone who wants you to think it's scary,” Bryan said. The initial shock at the sight of the church and the impossibly tall trees still hung with him, but his rational mind fought against it.
Two hundred yards before the church, the driveway stopped, opening into a small, flat area where Bryan pulled off to the side and put the car into park. At the edge of the tiny clearing there was a large crack in the earth that blocked their path to the church.
Without saying a word, Bryan and Kyle got out of the car and approached the crevice, incredulity on their faces. The ravine was twenty-feet wide and at least twice as deep. The darkness surrounding the area made the bottom impossible to identify.