Valley of the Scarecrow

by Gord Rollo

  “The church!” she said. “We found it!”

  Far larger than Kelly had been expecting, the Miller’s Grove Brethren in Christ Church sat in the dead center of the field, a majestic white castle in a sea of green. Its painted white boards were cracked and fading, and even from this great distance, the gang could see the front door and all the windows on this side of the structure were sealed up with rough wooden planks. On its sagging roof and bell tower, a moving layer of crows covered every square inch.

  Kelly noticed the crows, but they weren’t what scared her at the moment. She was looking at those boarded-up windows and entrance door and wondering if Joshua Miller was still inside, and if so, would he really be crucified on the altar cross? She believed he would be; what was left of him anyway. So far, everything Malcolm had told her was true, so there was no reason to think anything would change from here on in.

  “You think he’s really in there?” Lizzy said, someone finally saying out loud what they were all probably thinking about.

  “Cliché time,” Rich said with a grin. “But there’s only one way to find out.”

  Everyone in the group looked expectantly toward Dan, eager to move. Dan winked at Kelly and gave a quick nod, leading the happy gang of friends down the slope into the corn and heading straight for what had once been the dark heart of Miller’s Grove. Inside the dilapidated church they all hoped to find adventure and incredible wealth, but unfortunately something else would be waiting for them inside those desecrated walls.

  Something that had once been holy.

  Something that stood watch over this corrupted and forgotten place.

  Something that straddled the razor-thin line between man and beast, life and death, heaven and hell.

  Dan walked the gang into the field and within seconds the towering rows of corn had swallowed them whole.

  Chapter Fourteen

  It was difficult to know which direction they were heading inside the massive rows of corn. The stalks towered over their heads, making it impossible to see much of anything except the sky straight above their heads. There was a dizzying, claustrophobic feel to it, like they were walking in a fun house maze, but thankfully Dan had taken a compass reading and kept them moving in the right direction. They broke free of the corn sooner than anyone expected, and came out onto a flat area of hardy grass that appeared to circle the perimeter of the church.

  Up close, the main building had weathered the years remarkably well, the paint peeling away but the wood underneath still seemed fairly solid and free of rot. There were remnants of red paint here and there on the walls as well, perhaps from when the Grove teenagers had vandalized the church all those years ago. On the roof, some of the crows were squawking at their arrival and taking to the air, but for the most part the birds remained calm and in place, content to just look down on the new arrivals and keep an eye on them.

  “Whew! Would you look at that?” Rich said, pulling Lizzy into his arms. “Pretty cool, huh, sweetie?”

  “Creepy, if you ask me. Impressive…but definitely creepy. Do we really have to go inside?”

  “’Course we do,” Dan said, “but not yet. Let’s drop our gear here and have a walk around the outside first.”

  Everyone did as he instructed, with Pat immediately grabbing his camera to silently start taking pictures before he lost all his light. Everyone just watched him do his thing, relieved not to have to hike any farther.

  It felt great to drop her heavy backpack, and Kelly stood up to lift her arms high in the air and curled her sore back like a stretching cat. “God, that feels good!”

  “Sure does,” Dan said, taking a minute to stretch as well. “Glad I gave you the heavy pack.”

  “You would, you bastard,” Kelly smiled, punching him tenderly, knowing he was only joking and that all the boys’ packs had been considerably heavier than the girls’. This was one time she wasn’t going to complain about women’s rights and was completely fine with the guys thinking they needed to prove how strong and macho they were. Dan had always been a bit of a Neanderthal that way, but that was one of the things she loved about him. He always put her best interests and needs in front of his own, the polar opposite of that rich butthead, Blake Wheeler, back in Cedar Rapids.

  Kelly pulled Dan’s face down toward her and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. It wasn’t something she’d planned to do, but she didn’t regret it. His lips felt warm and smooth and familiar, instantly stirring up dozens of warm, fuzzy memories and excited feelings inside her.

  “What was that for?” Dan asked, his eyes searching hers, happy but confused.

  “No reason. Just for being you.”

  “Well in that case…remind me to be myself more often, okay?”

  “Will do,” Kelly said, and kissed him again.

  “Hey, break it up, lovebirds,” Lizzy said, all smiles. “You guys are supposed to hate each other, remember?”

  “We do,” Kelly said, slightly embarrassed. “I was just showing him what he’d been missing out on these last few months.”

  Everyone laughed except Kim, who stood back from the group and secretly pouted. Dan caught her shooting daggers at him with her eyes, but he ignored her, happy that Kelly seemed to be warming up to him again. He’d waited a long time to kiss her lips again, and he already missed them but romance would have to wait. They were losing their light and he really wanted to have a look around before the sun set behind the trees.

  “Come on, guys, let’s have a quick walk around the church to see what we can find. If we’re lucky every window and door will still be sealed shut.”

  “Why’s that?” Pat said, snapping a flash unit to the top of his camera.

  “Because it will mean we might be the first people to find this place. If someone else has already been inside, I doubt they’d have stopped to reseal the door when they went home, right?”

  “And the treasure might still be inside,” Kim said, the exciting thought erasing most of the anger off her beautiful face.

  “Exactly,” Dan said. “If this is where Reverend Miller hid the gold, that is. Let’s check it out.”

  As the sun continued its plunge into the western sky, the gang took a leisurely stroll around the outer limits of the church. Just as Dan had hoped, the windows and doors on all sides were nailed tight, presumably still sealed by the hands of the village elders after committing their sins inside on that fateful night nearly three-quarters of a century earlier. Behind the church, directly opposite where they’d left their belongings, Lizzy spotted a well-worn trail leading from the church into the fields and looking like it might head all the way into the woods on the far side of the clearing.

  “Maybe that’s where the village is?” she said, proud of her discovery.

  “Was, you mean,” Rich said, slapping her lightly on her backside.

  “Is…was, whatever. You think I’m right?”

  “Probably,” Dan said. “But that’s something we can worry about tomorrow. It’s almost seven o’clock and it’ll be dark soon.”

  “We gonna try to get inside the church tonight?” Rich asked.

  Dan took a hard look at the darkening western sky. “I don’t think so. It’s too late and it’ll be pitch-black in there. Let’s wait until tomorrow. Besides, we better get back out front and see about setting up camp. Last thing we wanna do is try messing with those damn tents at night.”

  “I hear you there, brother.”

  Returning to their backpacks, Dan and Rich started unpacking the tightly rolled tents and started setting up camp in the short, stubby grass near the front steps of the church. Pat was there too, but he ended up snapping more pictures for his photo journal than actually helping out. Nothing wrong with that though. Dan and Rich had things under control and didn’t really need any help.

  While they were busy, the girls worked on making another meal, hopefully the last they’d have to eat cold. The plan was to collect firewood for tomorrow but everyone was too tired to worry about
it for tonight. Lizzy had packed a container full of Kentucky Fried Chicken, which a lot of people preferred to eat cold, and they mixed a big bowl of romaine lettuce and croutons to go with it. Their frozen ice packs had held up fairly well, but they wouldn’t be much good to them for long. Best to eat the things that might spoil first, and the Caesar dressing was certainly one of them.

  It wasn’t until the tents were up and they were all sitting down to eat that Kelly finally keyed into the fact there were only three tents to use. Rich and Lizzy would obviously grab one of them, and surely Pat was hoping to jump in with his sexy new girlfriend Kim. That would mean she and Dan would have to sleep together in the last tent. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem and there was a huge part of her that really wanted to fall into his strong arms tonight—especially after their recent kiss and how great they’d been getting along—but she wasn’t ready to do that. Not tonight. Not yet. As much as she wanted things fully back the way they’d once been, she was determined to stick to her guns about making him earn his way back into her life and heart. Not to mention her pants. If she gave in to him tonight, she’d be furious with herself in the morning and it could potentially ruin all the progress they’d been making. She could at least make him suffer through one night on his own.

  The new girl, Kim, was the only person Kelly could approach about this. She didn’t want to bug Rich and Lizzy, and although Pat might be a little pissed off, Kelly figured he and Dan would get over it. Besides, if all went well, Kim and she could make it up to the boys soon enough. She waited until they’d all finished eating before bringing the matter up. It was quite dark now, the moon overhead thankfully casting a decent amount of light on their makeshift camp.

  “Hey, guys? Hate to do this but I’m hoping to grab a tent with Kim tonight if that’s okay?” Kelly heard Pat groan and saw the disappointed look on Dan’s face, so she hurried to add, “Just for tonight, Dan. Nothing against you, I’m just trying to do what I think is right. Please, baby, don’t be mad. We’ve taken some great steps. I don’t wanna wreck it. Just this one night, okay?”

  Kelly thought for a moment that Dan was going to get angry and yell at her, but she should have known better. He was disappointed, sure, but not mad. “Okay, Kel…whatever you think’s best.”

  Relief flooded through Kelly’s heart and she hugged him, whispering, “Thanks,” in his ear. “I’ll make it up to you tomorrow night. Promise.”

  “Wait a minute,” Pat said, realizing he’d somehow just had a potentially great night with a smoking-hot woman yanked away from him. “Don’t I get a vote on this?”

  “No,” Dan told him, and everyone started laughing. Even Kim, who seemed to be fine with the idea.

  “That’s what I thought!”

  With no wood to build a fire, and everyone exhausted after the long day of hiking, they decided to just hit the sleeping bags and get to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day and the plan was to take a crack at getting inside the church as soon as the sun came up. They’d also have to make several trips into the nearby woods to stockpile some logs for a fire. If all went well, they’d find the treasure and by this time tomorrow night they’d be celebrating.

  Rich and Lizzy disappeared into their tent first, already kissing each other and playing grab-ass before they’d even made it inside. Kelly just hoped she wouldn’t have to listen to them grunting and moaning all night, but they were just as tired as the rest of them and Kelly figured everyone would probably fall asleep in minutes, soon as their heads hit the ground. That was her plan, anyway—lie down and crash. As much as she missed the thought of lying in Dan’s arms, a good night’s sleep sounded even better. Unzipping her tent, she missed the wink and the smug look Kim gave Dan before she followed Kelly into the tent.

  Twenty minutes later, everyone was asleep and Oak Valley settled in for another long, cool night in lonesome October. Even the crows on the roof soon drifted off to sleep, silent sentinels waiting on high for the sun to return and warm their wings. There was only one thing still awake and aware in the Grove tonight.

  …And he was still strapped tightly to a wooden cross.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Wednesday morning came knocking long before any of the young campers hoped it would. It arrived without the need of any modern electronic alarm clocks or tape-recorded wake-up calls, instead choosing to use the high-pitched screeching caws of 250 black birds launching into the dawn sky to announce that it was time for the group of young men and women to get their lazy butts out of bed. The noise of the crows was deafening for ten or fifteen seconds—like a multilayered air raid siren stuck on top volume—but eventually the birds climbed higher into the air and sped away from the church to presumably hunt for their breakfast in and around the nearby fields.

  “Fucking nasty-assed buggers!” Rich yelled to the sky as he stumbled out of his tent, shooting his middle finger at the crows flying overhead. “Bloody hell!”

  Dan, Pat, and Kim also came outside to see what was going on, with Kelly and Liz content to just stick there heads outside their respective tent flaps. With their hearts still beating a mile a minute, no one in the group looked overly cheery to have been woken up the way they had but there wasn’t much any of them could do about it. Once the majority of the crows had flown off, it was quiet enough that the campers could have fallen back asleep if they’d wanted to but since they’d been so rudely jolted awake, none of them wanted to lie back down. Besides, they had a lot of work to do.

  And they all knew the first order of business was getting inside the church.

  Originally they were going to gather some wood and have a hot cup of coffee with their breakfast, but everyone was far too excited to wait around so instead they just drank water. They grabbed an apple each and passed around a can of mixed nuts, quick and easy and more than enough to keep them going until lunch. When everyone was ready, they grabbed a handful of flashlights and met over by the stairs leading up to the double front doors of the church. Having no real plan in mind, the front door seemed like the logical best place to try first. Dan was the only one of them carrying a tool. It was a small steel hatchet—the only equipment they’d brought that might help them get inside.

  “Too bad we didn’t bring along a few big crowbars,” Dan said, looking up at the thick planks nailed over the doorway, then distastefully down at his tiny ax. “Sure would have made this job a whole lot easier.”

  Rich nodded, but they all knew this had been thoroughly discussed before they’d even left home, the fact that there was no way they would be able to carry along a bunch of heavy tools on their hike. It was the same with packing a big cooler. Their packs had been more than heavy enough, just with their clothes, food, sleeping bags, and a few luxury items like flashlights and disposable lighters. Dan’s wooden-handled hatchet was the only tool included, and the only reason it had made the cut was simply because they figured they might need to chop down a few sticks and branches to eventually build their fires with. Maybe it could also help them chop their way into the decrepit church? Certainly worth a try, at least.

  The girls stood watching, and Pat—as usual—was documenting everything from behind his camera lens. That left Dan and Rich to do the slug work, heading up the stairs to get to work. The stairs sagged with every step, rotted from years out in the elements and feeling like they were stepping on rubber mats.

  “This wood gonna hold us?” Rich asked. “I got a bad feeling.”

  “It’ll hold,” Dan said. “It’s lasted this long, surely it’ll last another few days.” There was a big creak under Dan’s foot on his next step. “I hope.”

  Rich laughed and they both gingerly climbed their way to the top and across the platform to the sealed doors. “Look at that, man. That say what I think it does?”

  Dan followed Rich’s finger up above the doorway and felt a tiny shudder travel down his spine, not that he’d admit that to his longtime friend. Above the door in large faded red letters several messages had bee
n written but there was only one that could still be made out. Barely legible, someone had written a blasphemous message in a shaky scrawl. It said:

  GOD DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE

  “Creepy, huh?” Dan said. “Can you imagine what it must have been like here on that night it all went down?”

  “Well, we don’t know that anything went down yet. Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. We won’t know squat until we can get these boards off. Let’s get to work.”

  “After you then,” Dan said, handing his friend the hatchet. “I’m the brains…you’re the brawn, remember?”

  “Why change a good thing, right?”

  “Exactly. Get hacking!”

  Fifteen minutes of hard labor later, Rich had managed to chop his way through three of the thick oak planks barricading the front doors. The good news was that it was a decent effort, what with the inadequate tool he had to work with and the thickness of the hardwood he was trying to get through. Even after all these years, the wood was putting up a hell of a fight. The bad news was there were still nine more boards to go. Sweaty and tired but never one to bitch and complain about a job, Rich was about to start working on the next plank when Dan tapped him on the shoulder.

  “Take a break, my friend. Let me show you how a real man does it.”

  “Oh…okay. And fuck you too! I guess I could use a rest. I’ll just grab a quick drink of water and come right back.”

  “Sounds good. Take your time.”

  “Don’t worry, I will.”

  Rich handed over the hatchet and started back toward the staircase but on his third step the boards beneath his feet gave out and he fell through. One second he was there, and then he was gone, disappearing out of sight down into the area beneath the front porch of the church.