The Howardsfield Horror

by Jay Mason

  “Yeah, but Joe might,” muttered Rusty. He followed Alex round the back of the trailer. “That’s high,” he commented.

  “God, you’re an athlete,” said Alex. “Even I could make that. I’ll give you a boost.” She held out her hands. “C’mon, you might be tall, but you’re skinny. You’re not going to be that heavy.”

  “How will you get in?” said Rusty.

  “You’ll have to pull me in obviously. Now move, before someone comes along.”

  “Oh what the …,” said Rusty. He took Alex’s boost and disappeared through the open window as neatly as a letter goes through a letterbox. Alex stood back impressed. A moment later an arm came down to reach her. Alex took a run at the trailer, caught the hand and flung herself through. She landed hard on the floor all tangled up with Rusty.

  “I’ll say something for you,” said Joe, “you always amuse.” He grinned. “Any reason you didn’t want to use the door?”

  Alex and Rusty unfolded themselves from each other and stood up. Cat sat on Joe’s sofa clasping an open box of sushi, dressed in her cheerleader uniform and wearing a furious expression.

  “What the hell are you doing?” she demanded. “This is a private conversation.”

  “Why the hell aren’t you wearing more clothing?” demanded her brother in return.

  Joe looked from one to the other with a half amused, half wary look. “Now, calm down. Of course I’d never take advantage of your sister, Rusty. She’s just a kid. I was trying to get her to leave.”

  Rusty caught sight of the chopsticks in Cat’s hands. “Were you feeding him?” he said in outraged terms.

  “I was about to,” spat Cat. “When ….” Then she stopped and her eyes opened very wide. Alex had taken advantage of their discussion to move discreetly behind Joe and apply her home made chloroform. Joe passed out almost immediately landing with a heavy thump on the floor of the trailer.

  “That’s gotta leave a bruise,” said Rusty.

  There was a bang at the door. The three awake members of the scene froze. Cat moved first. “Yes,” she said through the door.

  “Let me in. It’s Leonda,” came a whiny voice.

  “Joe’s busy with me,” said Cat. “Go away, bitch!”

  Leonda said something astoundingly rude. They all held their breaths until they heard the sound of her heels tap-tapping their way down the steps.

  “That wasn’t wise,” said Alex. “You’re way too young. No one would think Joe …”

  “I sound older,” said Cat. “Besides you weren’t doing anything.”

  “One thing’s for sure,” said Rusty, “we can’t stay here like we planned. We’ll have to take him somewhere else to do it.”

  “Do what?” asked Cat.

  “Deprogramme him,” said Alex shortly. “But we can’t go out the door. We don’t know who might see us.”

  “Window it is then,” said Rusty.

  “We can’t,” said Alex.

  “We can’t go back now,” said Rusty. “We’re committed. Besides he’d never give us another chance to get near him.”

  “He’s been programmed?” said Cat confused.

  “I saw a trolley on the set,” said Alex. “I’ll go out and bring it round the back. You two be ready to push him out the window.” She climbed onto the back of the couch. “I’ll be as quick as I can.” She lowered herself quietly out the window, took a quick look around and then ran off towards the set.

  ****

  There were several heart stopping moments, but Rusty, Alex and Cat managed to wheel Joe off the set in the trolley with a blanket over him.

  “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” asked Cat as they made it to the edge of the field. Rusty drew the trolley around the back of a large tree trunk. “No further,” he panted. “I’m done.” He collapsed to the ground. “There is no way I can wheel him across the field.” He took a few more breaths. “Even if I could and not get spotted, he’s too heavy.”

  “It’s the trolley,” said Alex. “They use it for shifting the bigger lights. It weighs a ton.”

  “Oh good,” said Rusty. “I was beginning to think he had a whole alien army inside him waiting to break out … like the movie?” He gasped the last word. Sweat poured down his face. “Just so you know, I’m not having fun,” he said.

  “Whose having fun,” said a woozy voice from the trolley. “Are we at a party?”

  Alex came forward quickly. She pulled a hip flask from her bag. “Here,” she said offering it to him, “sit up and drink this.”

  “Can’t drink alcohol when I’m on set,” said Joe, sitting up, but swaying from side to side.

  “It’s coffee.”

  “Okay,” said Joe. He took a sip and spluttered. “Hot,” he said. He blinked and peered down at Rusty. “Hi Rusty, you bought those mags over for me yet?”

  “See,” said Alex. “He’s asking about your UFO magazines. That proves he’s been conditioned. The more he comes to the more he’s going to go back to the programming.”

  “Rusty,” said Cat. “I don’t understand.”

  “Why are we in a field?” asked Joe.

  “Lie down, Joe,” said Alex, whipping the flask out of his hand at the last minute.

  “I like lying down,” said Joe. “Can I have the blanket back it’s cold. Why is the party outdoors?”

  Cat picked up the blanket, that had fallen off when Joe first sat up, and placed it over him. Joe turned his head to look at her. “Thank you Kitty Cat,” he said and grinned a wide silly grin.

  “Rusty, if we can’t move him, you’ll have to do it here.”

  “Can’t,” said Rusty. He bent over and put his head between his knees. “Think I’m going to be sick.”

  “Should I get help?” asked Cat.

  “Ssh,” said Alex impatiently. Rusty made retching sounds. “Shit,” said Alex. “Joe, can you see any nice twigs up in the trees. I mean one that makes an interesting shape.”

  Joe screwed up his eyes. “That one looks like a flying nun.”

  “Okay, concentrate on the flying nun,” said Alex. “I want you to count out loud backwards from twenty, but keep your eyes on the nun. It doesn’t matter if you make a mistake keep going.”

  “Twenty, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, seventeen,” murmured Joe obediently.

  Cat sat down and rubbed Rusty’s back.

  “Say Alex, are there any snacks at this party. Don’t know why but I want some sushi. One of the runners can get some.”

  “The nun, Joe. Watch the nun and count.”

  “Will something exciting happen?” asked Joe.

  “Yes,” said Alex. “If you do what I tell you something very exciting will happen.”

  “Good,” said Joe and began counting again.

  It took Alex four more further attempts to coax Joe into a trance, but finally she succeeded. Rusty gave a large burp and was copiously sick. He sat back and leant against the tree. His face was white and covered in a sheen on sweat. He closed his eyes.

  “What do I do now?” Alex said softly.

  “Take him back to the Centre,” said Rusty. “Ask him what he remembers?”

  “That could take ages,” said Alex.

  “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but we need to get Rusty home. He’s not at all well,” said Cat. She paused, “Did you hear that?”

  “Joe,” said Alex desperately, “what’s your earliest memory?”

  “Easy, being abducted by aliens,” said Joe. Then he added more uncertainly, “I think.”

  “Do you find aliens interesting, Joe?” asked Alex.

  “Oh yes,” said Joe. “and the paranormal and monsters and role playing games and comics, but I’m not allowed to mention the last two in interviews.”

  “Did you give him a truth drug?” asked Rusty in a thin voice.

  “No,” whispered Alex. “I told you. He’s a straight forward guy.”

  “Then be straight forward with him,” suggested Rusty.

  “Jo
e,” said Alex, “you went for a tour of the Centre with Straker, do you remember?”

  “Sort of,” said Joe. “I remember parking outside. I remember him coming to meet me. Then it gets a bit hazy.”

  “That’s because he hypnotised you, Joe. He made you think you weren’t interested in aliens and that you wanted to be a health ambassador.”

  “I do want to be a health ambassador,” said Joe.

  “Shit,” said Alex. “It’s not going to work.”

  “But I do believe in aliens,” said Joe. “And ghosts. And zombies. Well, maybe not zombies, but something like zombies. Things have been dead and come back. And I believe in lucky dice and wearing my red shoes when I’m learning lines. If I don’t wear red shoes then I forget everything.” He paused. “And I think pigeons are smarter than people think. I think they plan …”

  “Sounds like he’s back to factory settings to me,” said Rusty pushing himself up to standing against the tree. “Bring him out, Alex, and we can get out of here.”

  “It’ll have to do,” said Alex. “I hope the effect of the chloroform has worn off or he’s going to keep talking nonsense.” She began the script to bring Joe back to full consciousness.

  While she did so, Rusty started to explain to Cat what was happening. “So you get it?” he said finally.

  “Get what?” said Cat.

  “You weren’t listening to a word I said,” complained Rusty.

  “No,” said Cat, “I was listening to that.”

  All of them heard the sound of heavy paws thudding onto the ground.

  “That’s it,” said Cat. “It’s the Howardsfield Horror. It’s come back!” And she ran heading for the last part of the field yet to be harvested.

  9. Splitting the Party

  Cat legged it ahead of the others. As she reached the edge of the crop she turned to see Rusty staggering behind her. He clutched his side and moaned. Behind him she could see Alex half pushing, half supporting Joe and behind them she caught sight of a large shadowy creature. She grabbed Rusty by the arm and pulled him into the cornfield.

  In the fading light of the day, the stems of corn provided a deep, dark cover. They pushed their way in. “What the hell is it,” shouted Rusty.

  “Howardsfield Horror,” called Cat, her voice trembling with fear.

  “No bloody idea,” said Alex, “and for once I don’t want to know.”

  Cat dived through a break in the rows and squatted down. The others joined her. Although the fittest of all of them she was pale and shaking. “We’ll never outrun it,” she said.

  Rusty put his arm around her shoulder. “You did last time,” he said quietly. He looked at Alex. “Do you think if we stay here and are extremely quiet, it might pass by.”

  Alex shrugged helplessly. “I have no idea what it is,” she said.

  “We did see that open grave,” said Joe. Cat gave a small whimper. Alex frowned at him. “Whatever this is, it’s moving quickly and I can’t imagine a decrepit corpse doing that without shaking itself to bits!”

  “Are we saying we are being chased by something supernatural,” said Rusty. “But it’s daylight.”

  “Twilight,” corrected Joe, who seemed to be coming back to normal self. “That’s the time for a lot of weird things to happen.” Cat shrunk further into Rusty.

  “Not helping,” said Alex. “Did anyone get a good look at it? Cat?”

  “I heard it more than saw it,” said Cat. “I remembered the sound. It’s a thudding noise and a hissing noise.”

  “Doesn’t sound like a dog,” said Joe.

  “It’s meant to be a cat from hell,” said Cat.

  “Okay, that fits better,” said Joe.

  “All I saw was a big shadow,” said Rusty, “but it was running on all fours.”

  “This would be so cool if it wasn’t happening to us,” said Joe.

  Alex sat on the ground thinking and listening to them whispering around them. Partly, she felt guilty for not following up properly on the legend as she had promised Rusty she would, but mostly she felt disbelief.

  “Ssh,” she finally said. “I can’t believe this is some myth come to life. It has to be something to do with something changing — like the film coming here.”

  “Or be an experiment from the Centre,” said Rusty.

  “Maybe,” said Alex, “but whatever it was, it was running free. I can’t believe they would be so careless.”

  “I can,” said Rusty. “We’ve seen them out hunting stuff before.”

  “Those helicopters when we had that moonlit picnic,” said Joe.

  “What?” said Rusty and Cat in unison.

  “It doesn’t matter,” said Alex. “What matters is if what is out there is hunting us or it’s simply been released by mistake.”

  “Why?” asked Cat.

  “If it’s a mistake we can wait it out and hope it doesn’t come into the cornfield. The fact it hasn’t yet I hope means it has other things on its mind.”

  “How do we know it isn’t here?” said Cat looking around her.

  “We’d have heard it,” said Joe.

  “But if it’s hunting us,” said Rusty.

  “Then we are going to have to move,” said Alex, “because it will search and search until it does find us. Our only chance will be to move, but if we do it’s going to notice.”

  “You taught me how to creep through a cornfield,” said Rusty. “You can show the others.”

  “I’m hesitant to suggest we crawl through the stems,” said Alex. “Once you’re on the ground it can be impossible to get up if something finds you.” Even Rusty swallowed hard at that.

  “So what do you suggest,” said Joe.

  “I’m going to go to the edge of the cornfield,” said Alex. “I’m the most skilled at sneaking. If I can’t see it then when I come back we can work our way slowly and as quietly as possible back to film set. The last bit will be a dash, but with something like this getting among other people is our only hope.”

  “And if you do see it?” said Joe.

  “If I have time I’ll come back quietly. If not you’ll hear me dashing across the field. That will be your sign to run,” said Alex.

  “I can’t let you lead it away,” said Joe. “That’s what I should do.”

  “Honestly,” said Alex, “this is the one time I think going different ways will give us the best chance. Normally I’m all for sticking together but …”

  “It can’t chase us all,” finished Rusty for her.

  Alex nodded. “It’s not a great plan, but I can’t come up with anything better. There’s so much we don’t know about whatever it is.”

  “Can you remember anything about what you originally saw, Cat?” asked Rusty.

  “It was big and it had a sort of aura around it and its eyes glowed red,” said Cat.

  “No chance it was a tractor,” said Joe.

  Cat didn’t laugh. She began to moan softly. She threw her arms around herself and began to rock slightly. “We’re going to die,” she said, her voice rising in distress.

  Before Alex could slap her, Rusty took her in a bear hug. “It’s going to be fine sis,” he said. “I’ll stay with you. I’ll protect you.” He looked up at the others and shook his head. “She’s not going anywhere soon,” he said. “She’s too scared. If it’s out there, Alex, you and Joe are going to have to get away and get help.”

  “I’m the fastest,” said Joe. “And I’ve got a lot of stamina.” Then for a moment Joe became all cocky film-star, “I run you know.”

  “There’s no saying you can outrun whatever it is,” said Alex. “You should do your best to avoid being seen.”

  “No,” said Joe adamantly, “I’m the decoy.”

  “Aren’t you scared,” said Cat.

  “I’ll be acting,” said Joe with a grin. “Besides it can’t be scarier than Leonda in a sex scene. That woman is all hands!”

  “I’ve got more experience with these things,” said Alex. “I should be the
decoy.”

  “No,” said Joe, “your job will be getting help for these two.”

  Alex thought back to her earlier conversation with her mother. “No one will believe me.”

  “Tell them Cat is injured and needs help,” said Rusty. “Whatever that is has never been seen in the town, so I’m guessing it doesn’t like a lot of people. Bring enough people over and it’ll flee.”

  “That’s a big assumption,” said Alex. “At least let me go and check out the lie of the land first.”

  “Nope,” said Joe, rising into a crouch, “if I don’t do this now I’ll succumb to stage fright. Good luck everyone. See you on the flip side.” He bolted away through the corn towards the field.

  “Shit,” said Alex, “I have to go or the beast might come to you.” She stood up and began to run along the row away from Rusty and Cat. “This is a bad plan,” she muttered to herself. “A really bad plan.” What she hadn’t voiced to the others was her fear that there might be more than one whatever it was. At the moment she thought it was most likely to be some kind of automated drone on a test from the Centre.

  The corn leaves whipped against her face as she ran. She could imagine Straker explaining how there had been an accident, a first aid machine or a reconnaissance machine, that had run into a group of people — literally. Since she and Rusty had first seen the drones in the night sky she had been suppressing the idea that the Center might be working on military projects. She didn’t want to believe it because her parents worked there. And having chemists and biologists who worked on military projects in the family didn’t bear thinking about. Except that was all she could think about now. Nerve gases. Biological weapons. Generally things you wished no one ever made let alone your own parents.

  She continued along the row. Over to her left she could hear Joe crashing about, but no cries of distress. Maybe they’d be wrong. Maybe it had gone. As she was thinking this she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She flew up into the air and landed several feet away in another row. Alex sat up and checked her stomach. A black line ran across her midriff. She eased up her t-shirt to reveal a raw red patch underneath.

  Her thoughts couldn’t coalesce. She screwed up her eyes and rubbed her temples. A burn. A burn line. Gradually it dawned on her that she had run into an electric fence. But she couldn’t think of a reason why there would be one in the corn.