by Gord Rollo
Kelly screamed.
Long and loud.
She’d tried her very best not to, but ever since seeing what Joshua had been doing to Lizzy upstairs she’d been on the verge of losing her mind. Seeing Pat like this pushed her even closer to the brink, hovering right on the edge of the abyss. Dan clamped his hand over her mouth and she quickly regained her focus but the damage was likely already done. No matter where the beastly reverend was, unless he’d traveled far off into the field already, he’d have heard Kelly scream and knew where they were hiding.
Dan switched the light back off and they huddled together in the darkness.
“I’m sorry,” Kelly said, starting to cry. “I…I just…I couldn’t…”
“Shh…it’s okay. Maybe he didn’t hear you?”
Within seconds they heard the sound of someone running, of footsteps climbing the outside stairs and entering the church, of labored breathing just on the other side of the coatroom door. Even though it was too dark to see, Dan and Kelly could both hear the knob into the room start to turn and the door slowly start to open.
Dan used the only weapon he had—the flashlight—to defend them, standing up and swinging it as hard as he could a little over his own head, up where he believed the face and head of their would-be killer was. The metal-handled flashlight was fairly hefty and would put a decent-size dent in Joshua’s head if he was lucky enough to catch him unprepared. Dan’s hand passed right by where he was sure Reverend Miller’s head would be and thudded hard against the wooden door frame, the impact accidently turning the flashlight back on, illuminating the room. There was someone standing there in the doorway all right, but it wasn’t who’d they’d been expecting. The demented scarecrow was nowhere in sight.
Shivering in the doorway was Malcolm Tucker.
Kelly’s grandfather was soaking wet and looked totally exhausted hunched over in the doorway, seemingly oblivious to the fact—or just not giving a damn—that he’d barely missed having his head taken off by Dan’s metal flashlight passing inches above his head a few seconds earlier.
“Gramps?” Kelly said, bewildered to see him standing there. She even went as far as to reach out to touch his arm just to convince herself he was actually there. She’d already witnessed a man dead for over seven decades come back to life tonight, so why not a ghostly visit from her grandfather as well? This was no apparition though; Kelly’s hands touched his wet raincoat and held his icy, trembling hands and knew that for whatever reason, Malcolm had come back to Miller’s Grove for real.
“What on earth are you—?”
“There’s no time for talk,” Malcolm interrupted. His journey today had been long and had nearly killed him, but he knew he’d arrived without a moment to spare and that time was of the essence. He tried his best to not look at the battered corpse hanging on a hook behind his granddaughter, choosing to focus only on her in the hopes she’d concentrate on what he had to say. “Listen, I’ve seen him…the reverend. Outside. He was halfway across the field, out behind your tents, and I just had time to lie down and he somehow ran right by without noticing me. Transformed into God knows what, but I recognized him the moment I saw him. I let him run out of sight before I dared get back on my feet, and then I heard you scream. We don’t have much time, angel. If I heard you…chances are he heard you too. We gotta get out of here.”
“That’s what we’re trying to do,” Dan said, fiddling with the flashlight but having some sort of difficulty.
“What’s wrong?” Kelly asked.
“I can’t shut the light off. Banging it against the frame dented it and it’s stuck on. We can’t walk out there like this.”
“Leave it then,” Malcolm said. “Maybe it will draw Joshua to the church and give us a chance to slip past him.” Nodding to Pat’s dead body behind them, he asked, “Anyone else still alive?”
Both Dan and Kelly shook their heads no.
“Let’s go then. Follow me.”
Dan put Kelly between them and took up the rear, leaving their flashlight burning brightly in the coatroom just as Malcolm had suggested. At least the rain had stopped, but it was still a cold, miserable night outside. At the doorway, they paused only long enough for a quick peek, and once they saw no one standing in their way they made a run for it. If they could make it into the cornfield without being spotted they just might have a chance.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. Joshua Miller silently stepped out of the tall stalks thirty feet to their right, holding in his clawed hands a wicked-looking scythe with a long wooden handle. Just the site of the dripping-wet seven-foot-tall scarecrow with smoldering green eyes carrying a deadly weapon froze them in their tracks, not sure whether they should head for the cover of the corn or try to make it back into the church. Neither prospect seemed advantageous, both of them almost certainly leading to the same inevitable conclusion.
Reverend Miller just stood still. Daring them to make their choice.
“Run for the field, Dan,” Malcolm said. “Take Kelly and try to make it back to your quads. If you can get to them—”
“What quads?” Dan asked. “We came on foot. Let’s head back to—”
“No. Listen to me. I saw a pair of 4×4 ATVs on the trail just inside the woods, beside the big rock with the White Magic carving on it. Fifteen or twenty minutes from here. Did you come that way?”
“Yes,” Kelly said. “I know the clearing you mean, but we’re not leaving without you. We can all go.”
“We can’t. We’ll never make it, but you two might if I can hold him off for you.”
“No way, Gramps. I’m not leaving you here. Why would you even say that?”
“Because I’m the one with the gun.” Malcolm pulled the Smith & Wesson from the inside pocket of his jacket and showed it to them. Its blue steel barrel shone like black ice in the dim light of the moon trying to break through the clouds. “I’ll either kill him…or die trying. To be honest, I’m okay with either one. I’ve lived too damn long anyway. It’s you two that have a future together so get moving.”
“No. I…I can’t leave you here.”
“I love you too, angel, but please do this for me.” Malcolm hugged Kelly and kissed her on the forehead good-bye. “Get her out of here, Dan. Even if you have to drag her. This is the only chance we’ve got. Move!”
Dan nodded, tears in his eyes too, and took hold of Kelly’s hand. “We’ll wait for you at the quads. Kill him and get your ass over there.”
Malcolm and Dan exchanged a glance, both of the men knowing it would never happen but trying to say something to get Kelly moving. “Okay, I will. If I’m not there in half an hour, leave without me…but I’ll be there.”
“You promise?” Kelly asked, reduced to a child again, her heart winning the battle over her head, hoping somehow the two men she loved more than any others in the world were telling the truth.
“I promise. Now get your ass moving.”
Dan started running for the field, at first having to pull Kelly behind him but she steeled her nerves and turned away, keeping up with her boyfriend as they made their escape.
Malcolm watched them disappear into the tall cornstalks and out of the corner of his eye he saw what had become of Reverend Miller start moving for the field himself.
“Wait, Joshua!” he cried out, seeing the hulking man-monster stop to look his way. “They’re only kids. It’s me that you want…not them.”
Joshua started to laugh, amused by the old man’s bravado. “And just why would I possibly want a broken-down old fool like you, pray tell?”
“Because my name’s Malcolm Tucker and I lived here in the Grove. It was my father who did this to you…and I’ve come back to finish what he started.”
The scarecrow’s laughter died away. He took a few steps in Malcolm’s direction, away from the field. For every minute Malcolm could keep him talking, Kelly’s odds of getting away from here went up.
“You’re the hell spawn of Angus Tucker?”
> “If that’s what you want to call me, yes. He was my father and ten times the man you ever were.”
“He was a filthy backstabbing coward. Him and the rest of the elders. They destroyed the beautiful life we had here, everything we’d worked so damn hard to accomplish. If I ever see him again, I’ll tear him from—”
“He died forty-one years ago, back in 1969, surrounded by people who loved him. He’s in heaven now, a place you’ll never get to see, so you won’t be doing anything to him. Besides, it wasn’t he who destroyed the Grove…it was you and your evil greed. You brought this curse upon yourself. You and the Man in Black. Only the fires of hell wait for you now, Joshua. Eternal damnation.”
“Maybe so, Tucker…but I’ve got a feeling that might be a better future than what fate has in store for you.”
The scarecrow started walking toward Malcolm, finished talking and coming for blood now. Malcolm steadied his nerves, said a quick prayer, and aimed his father’s gun at Reverend Miller’s massive chest. His first shot went high and wide, grazing Joshua’s left shoulder, but all of the other five bullets found their mark, the rounds striking one after the other into the bloated gray stomach and chest of the abomination closing the distance between them.
Powerful bullets like that would have ripped a normal man’s flesh ragged, tearing through his internal organs and exiting out his back through holes the size of a fist. Joshua Miller was far from normal though.
They barely even slowed the scarecrow down.
His body just seemed to absorb the bullets and kept moving forward. Malcolm could have tried to run, but decided not to bother. His entire life he’d been running from this evil place, always so scared of coming back here but now that he was, he wasn’t nearly as afraid as he’d always assumed he’d be. What could Reverend Miller do to him other than take his life? Dying wasn’t so bad. He had made his peace and was more than ready to hopefully join his father in a better place. Besides, he was too old and too damn tired to run anymore.
When the scarecrow walked within striking distance he raised the sharp scythe high in the air, pretending he was about to end the old man’s life, but he had other plans and only wanted to see his bitter enemy’s son cower in front of him. It didn’t happen. Malcolm stood his ground, ready to die with dignity and without fear. Joshua tossed aside the weapon and instead punched Malcolm square in the jaw, knocking the elderly man unconscious. The scarecrow caught his body as he slumped toward the ground, hefting him easily into the air and carrying him toward the open front door of the church.
“It’s not going to be that easy, hell spawn,” Reverend Miller said, laughing again as they disappeared inside. “No…not for you, Tucker. I’ve got something extra special in store for you.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“We can’t just leave him like that,” Kelly said. “We have to go back and help.”
They’d been running for fifteen minutes through the muddy cornfield and had just exited the crops and made their way up the embankment leading to the forest trail when Kelly pulled to a stop. She badly needed a rest, sure, but mostly she was just worried about her grandfather.
“Come on,” Dan said, easing her into a walk. “We have to keep moving. It’s too late for going back anyway. Malcolm’s either already on his way to meet up with us at the quads or he’s…not.”
“You think he’s dead?”
“I’ve got no idea. All I know is we’re not and your grandfather would want you to keep it that way, right?”
Kelly only nodded, tears streaming down her already wet and dirty cheeks.
“Let’s move then. I know this is hard for you, but you’ve gotta try and toughen up. We’re not even close to being out of trouble yet.”
At least the woods were easier to travel in. Even though the rain had stopped, the fields had been slippery with mud and every time they’d bumped against one of the massive cornstalks, a cascade of water would rain down upon them, soaking their clothes and chilling them to the bone. At least inside the forest, the trail was still relatively hard and dry, the branches and leaves above having kept the worst of the storm at bay. Their biggest problem here was seeing where they were going. Without the flashlight Dan had left back in the church, it was really hard to see the outline of the path in the dark, and several times they nearly walked straight into the trunks of unseen oak trees. Luckily, their eyes soon adjusted to the gloom a little and there were patches here and there where the moonlight was filtering in through gaps in the trees.
Kelly soldiered on beside her boyfriend as best she could. It was so damn hard leaving her grandfather to face that demon alone but she hadn’t been given any other choice. It was driving her crazy not knowing what had happened back at the church or whether Malcolm was alive or dead. Dan was right though; it was too late to do anything about that now. All she could do was hope for the best and concentrate on finding these 4×4 ATVs that were supposedly out here. She willed herself to stop crying. There’d be time enough for tears later.
If she was lucky.
They found the quads parked right where Malcolm said they’d be, sitting in the small circular clearing near the large carved rock. They were identical blue Yamaha Raptors, which meant nothing to Kelly other than they looked like big powerful machines that could get them out of here and back to their car fast. What they were doing here was a mystery to her, but obviously at least two other people had been in these woods in the last few days since they’d found Miller’s Grove. There was an open backpack lying on the ground near her feet, and off to her left some sort of strange-looking piece of equipment made from a set of metal tanks, a plastic tube, and a thick leather harness to presumably wear the contraption on your back. Who all of this stuff belonged to or where they might be right now was unknown and, in the grand scheme of things, unimportant. They were stealing the quads either way.
“Fuck,” Dan said, examining one of the quads.
“What’s the matter?” Kelly asked.
“No keys. How about in yours?”
Kelly didn’t even know where to look but as soon as she stepped over to the other ATV she saw that they were in luck. A pair of shiny gold keys were hanging under the handlebars just above the top of the gas tank. “Yes! They’re still in the ignition.”
“Great,” Dan said, hurrying over beside her. “We only need one. Climb on back and let’s hope it has enough gas to get us far away from this bloody place.”
“What about Malcolm? We’re supposed to wait for him, remember?”
“He’s on his own. We have to get out of here.”
“You think he’s dead, don’t you?”
Dan considered another sugarcoated answer, but he knew they were running out of time. Reverend Miller would be all over them any minute. “Yes, I do. Sorry that’s not what you want to hear, but it’s probably the truth. It’s been a long time since we heard those gunshots, Kelly. He’d have been here by now if he was coming. You know that.”
Kelly just stared at her boyfriend, not knowing what to say or do. Deep down she knew what he said was true, but she still couldn’t accept it.
“Get on,” he tried again. “Malcolm said to drag you out of here if I had to, and I will, dammit. We’re running out of time!”
Dan had no idea how prophetic his words were. Seconds later they heard noises deeper into the forest and turned in time to see Joshua Miller running toward them, his long arms flapping as he ran like a huge carnivorous bird of prey along the path they intended to take home, effectively cutting them off from leaving the Grove. Somehow he’d circled around them, not willing to let them go. With the one working quad facing back toward the church, there was no time to try turning it around and somehow getting by the reverend. They’d have to head back into the cornfield and try to lose him in there.
“Get your ass on here!” Dan screamed, cranking over the Yamaha’s engine, and dropping it into gear the second he felt Kelly’s weight touch the seat. “Hold on tight!” he yelled over his sh
oulder, gunning the throttle without waiting for a response.
The powerful machine leaped into action, nearly jumping out from underneath them when Dan cranked the throttle. He held on tight though, and soon they were fishtailing out of the circular clearing and tearing off down the trail they’d just come from. This particular model machine didn’t come equipped with headlights so Dan was driving semiblind but thankfully he could see just well enough to get by. Kelly held on for dear life, and once she realized she wasn’t going to fall off she risked a glance behind them to see where the creature that was chasing them was. Joshua was still on their tail, running at an ungodly rate of speed, but it seemed to her like they were slowly outdistancing him little by little, the distance between them growing ever so slightly by the second.
We’re faster than he is, she thought, but yelled to Dan, “Keep going, keep going…he’s still coming after us.”
Dan nodded and dropped the quad into another gear, revving the engine for all it was worth, kicking up a plume of dirt and stones behind them in their wake. They exited the woods quicker than expected, hitting the big down slope into the field at over forty miles an hour, launching them airborne a full twenty feet before their spinning wheels touched back to earth. Kelly and Dan both screamed, but somehow they managed to stay on the quad and carry on into the corn.
When they crashed through the wall of massive cornstalks and disappeared into the field, Dan began to hope their chances of losing their evil adversary were getting better. They just had to find some way of getting on the other side of Reverend Miller so they could backtrack into the woods again. Surely the reverend wouldn’t be able to find them in this maze and there had to be a way of fooling him. The 4×4 made a lot of noise and he could probably follow their tracks in the dirt, but he’d have a hard time staying close enough to be able to see them, much less catch them. Not on the quad. Sure, the rain had soaked the field and the mud was slowing them down a bit, but they didn’t call these things all-terrain vehicles for nothing. Dan tore off into the field, tires spinning and engine growling as they headed for the church.