Showing her a grudging respect.
Ashley assessed the situation. Out of the two of them, given Henry's mass and bulk, she guessed Adela would be the faster of them, so if it came down to a direct foot race, she would have a better chance against Henry. Which meant she needed to take out the mother, or at least slow her down.
She twisted the knife in her grip, taking the tip of the blade in two fingers of her stronger right hand. She had no idea if what she was planning would work, but what did she have to lose? Ashley pulled her right arm back and held her left out before her, both to aim and to balance herself. She then flung her right arm forward and launched the knife toward Adela.
Ashley's heart was in her mouth as the blade spiralled through the air, towards its target.
She half expected to see it sail past the old woman and fall harmlessly to the floor, but it didn't. After all the shitty luck she and her friends had suffered this weekend, it seemed some was finally on her side. The knife found its target, blade first, and Ashley heard the wet thunk as it squelched into the woman's stomach. Adela let out a cry of pain and dropped to all fours.
Ashley heard that thing in her head again, seemingly amused by all of this.
Very good, little girl. You have a gift for this. A shame that you cannot be one of my pets. You would have excelled. And you would have learned such wonderful truths.
'Ma,' Henry screamed, and ran to Adela.
Ashley set off, waiting around no longer, but quickly cast a glance back to the thing in the wall. She saw that it was again breathing deeply, and all of its beady little eyes were looking at her.
She felt it again, that charge in the air.
'I'm fine,' Adela wheezed out as Ashley sprinted past her and her giant son.
As she ran, she began to smell it. Faint at first, then more potent.
Cooking meat.
Then the pain struck. Ashley held up her hands and saw that the skin had started to blacken.
She remembered what had happened to Benjamin, only moments ago, and realised her fate.
She was to be burned alive.
35
Ashley screamed in agony as the sizzling pain began to spread.
This is going to hurt, the thing taunted. Stay still and accept your fate and the pain will be much less. That I promise you.
Adela was still coughing on the floor, but motioned to Henry. 'Get her,' she groaned, waving her arms.
Ashley ran.
She couldn't avoid the agonising death that had already begun. She knew the meat would cook and fall from her bones and she would be alive to feel it, as Benjamin had been, and that terrified her. But she was too scared to stop and simply let this agonising end just happen to her.
So, she ran, sprinted for all she was worth, because there was nothing else to be done. She pumped her legs as hard and fast as she could. Through it all, the hot pain grew worse and seared and boiled through her. She screamed as she ran, seeing blisters form on the back of her hands and arms.
Come back, you bitch. You fucking cunt.
The thing sounded angry, furious even. But more than that, Ashley was sure there was a hint of desperation.
She heard Henry's heavy footfalls behind her as he gave a laboured chase.
The pain was like a hot lava rolling over her flesh.
She continued to sprint.
The smell of her own burning skin grew stronger and turned her stomach.
This is it, she thought, as she ran around a large rock formation, out of view of that horrible thing, readying herself for the worst of it. I'm going to die.
Return to me, you pathetic husk. Do it now and I may yet let you live.
She ignored the empty promise. Thoughts of seeing Benjamin's skin melt and hang from his body were fresh in her mind, and she knew she could expect the same excruciating end, but all she could do was to focus on the exertion of running, and hope it could block out some of the pain.
For a little while, at least.
Up ahead, illuminated by the writhing, glowing worms from the ceiling, she saw a dark opening in the rock wall; the opening to the tunnel. As she ran towards it, Ashley briefly wondered if those glowworms were just a natural phenomenon, or if they were somehow related to that thing that was now burning her alive.
She was quickly through the hole and into the tunnel, jumping down to all fours and scrambling forward, before she realised something.
The searing pain that had been building and building was no more. Well, that was wrong, the pain was still very much there, but it didn't seem to be getting any worse. Ashley didn't want to stop to check herself over, as there wasn't time for that; she could still hear Henry running after her. In fact, she soon heard him enter the tunnel behind her, but she was almost certain that whatever was starting to happen to her had stopped.
The burning smell had faded and, she noted, the voice was no longer with her. The monsters taunts and demands had ceased. She tried to look down at her hands as she crawled, to see if the black patches and blisters, blisters she could still feel, were still spreading, but it was just too dark.
Could it be? Could she let herself believe that maybe she had gotten free of the abomination's influence?
Again, she thought back to what had happened to Benjamin, and she remembered how the thing in the wall had acted when it ended him. It started to breathe heavily, as if exerting intense concentration or strain, but she also remembered that all of its horrible little eyes had spun to lock directly onto him.
And maybe that was the key.
When she ran around the rock formation, she had broken its line of sight, and hopefully also broken whatever link or ability it had to scorch her from this earth. Perhaps she had cleared its range?
Perhaps there was hope?
But that hope was precarious, because even now she heard Henry thundering through the tunnel behind her.
How can anyone that big move so fast?
'You're going to be sorry for that,' he shouted, his voice sounding close. 'You stabbed Ma, and I'm going to make you sorry for that. I'm going to twist your head off like I did with your friend.'
Up ahead, Ashley felt the tunnel close in, and she remembered this section from earlier. Things were going to get a little tighter.
If she could just keep going, perhaps Henry would be slowed down here, giving her a chance to get farther away.
She pushed herself through and, just as she was about to give an extra burst of speed, she heard Henry roar from behind. The sound startled her because it was so close, closer than she thought he'd been to her. Ashley spun her head and could just make out Henry’s form in the darkness, almost upon her.
A large hand thrust out and grabbed her ankle.
'Gotcha,' he said. She heard him groan as he slowly squeezed himself forward. The pain in her ankle from his grip was immense, like the bone was actually being crushed in his hand. He grunted again and Ashley realised they were sounds of exertion, as he was trying to push himself through the narrowing gap. It would have been the ideal time to put some distance between them, but he had hold of her tight.
She was going nowhere.
Unless...
Without thinking, or really caring anymore, Ashley acted. Instead of pulling away from Henry, as he would have expected, she twisted herself in the tunnel and lunged herself forward towards his bulk. She heard a surprised grunt as the hand released from her leg and grabbed at her waist. Ashley fell into him, face to face, feeling his breath on her. It made her gag.
'Decided to give up? Well, too late, I'm not going to go easy on you.’ His grip tightened, squeezing her waist. 'I'm going to make this hurt. Going to pull your arms and legs off, make you suffer like the insect you are. In fact, I'm gonna-'
He stopped his taunting and began to scream.
Ashley did not wait around to listen to him any longer. While he had been letting her know what he was going to do, she had already acted, and brought her hands up to his fat face. His rubbery skin wa
s sweaty, but her hands felt their way into position, and she plunged her thumbs into his eyes, as hard as she could.
As her appendages pressed into his eyeballs, Henry shrieked and howled, and brought up a big arm to swat her away. Ashley expected this, and pulled her thumbs free and ducked down. His large arm sailed over her, and she was quickly up again, continuing her attack, again burying her thumbs, digging the nails in first, into his beady eyes. The first time she had felt a resistance, this time she felt a gooey pop.
Warm liquid ran down the heel of her hands. Ashley screamed in anger, in absolute fury, and pushed harder and harder, letting out every bit of pent-up aggression that had, so far, been repressed by fear.
Henry's hands rose again, but she had done what she needed to. She quickly turned and scampered away as the large, grotesque monster continued to howl.
Through his screams, Ashley heard another voice grow close. It was Adela, the mother, and she was yelling at her son, telling him to move. Henry just continued his childlike wails.
'I can't get by you,' Adela screamed at Henry, 'and she's getting away.'
And so she was.
Ashley crawled as fast as she could up the tunnel, much faster than she had on her descent, renewed by an adrenaline rush borne from genuine hope. Against all odds, she knew she now had a chance at escape.
On and on she went, pushing up the incline, forcing her muscles to work harder for her. Soon, she saw a dull light source in the ceiling up ahead, one that lit the end of the tunnel.
It was the hole Kim had pushed her down earlier.
Ashley crawled to the light and looked up. The heavy, metal grate was open, bent into an odd shape. She took a moment to steady herself, got to her feet, and jumped, managing to grab onto the lip of the opening. She used her legs to give herself purchase against the dirt wall and, with great effort, pulled herself up, back into that room of desecration.
It was horrifying to once again see what had become of Craig, but Ashley stopped dead in her tracks when she saw poor Kim's headless body sprawled out on the floor. An enormous pool of blood nestled at the torn and bloodied stump of her neck.
Ashley then slowly walked through the room, trying to keep her eyes forward, not wanting to look at what had become of her friends. Especially Kim, who had given her life for Ashley.
As well as ripping Kim's head from her body, the family had evidently decided to feed on her as well. Her coat had been removed, piled next to her body, and patches of skin were savagely torn away. Her stomach, too, had been pulled open.
The thought of leaving Kim's body here like this didn't sit well with Ashley, but what else could she do?
An idea struck her, but she would have to be quick. Maybe she couldn't get Kim out of here, but she could at least bring back something her friend valued. She would make sure that one item didn't stay here in this hell with these things.
Ashley squatted next to her friend, but looked away, not wanting to see too much. It was a mistake, though, and she pulled in a disgusted gasp. She had turned her gaze to the side, but only succeed in seeing Kim's dismembered head in the corner. It lay on its side, eyes wide in horror, mouth open.
Like it was mid scream.
It looked both real and like a cheap dummy at the same time.
'I'm sorry,' Ashley whispered, and dug through the pockets of the coat, quickly finding what she was looking for; the gold lighter left to Kim by her mother.
Ashley put it in her own pocket and got back to her feet. She couldn't hear anyone else approach through the tunnel, but knew she still needed to be quick. She set off running again, up the stone steps, back to the basement. While the hanging bodies of victims past was still a macabre and gruesome sight, given what Ashley had just escaped, this felt like a step closer to sanity.
A step back towards the real world, and out of this nightmare.
She ran past the hanging meat and bones, as carefully as she could, and took the timber steps two at a time back up to the kitchen, back up to the main level of the house.
She paused for breath, leaning against a wall in the hallway. Soon she would leave this place behind, forever.
But before she did, an idea grew in her mind, worming its way to the surface.
An idea of how she could get revenge on these people.
Leaving this place standing, after what had happened, not just tonight, but over who knows how many years, seemed wrong.
These fuckers, what was left of them, shouldn't get to just carry on doing this. Something had to be done. And she had an idea of what that could be. She had seen one of them die. And how had it happened?
Fire.
That, and some horrific, impossible being that had abilities she couldn't comprehend. But what if fire was the key to it? What if that was the element that could actually hurt them? She remembered how Tim had always been afraid of fire, and the story he had told as to why. Clearly a lie, used to build sympathy, but what if the fear was real?
The jigsaw pieces fell into place.
Her mind was made up, now driven more for revenge for her friends than to save her own life.
Ashley would scorch this place from the earth.
Working quickly, she retrieved Kim's mother's lighter. The kitchen was littered with junk, some of which were old rags of clothing; rags which were quite dry. She held the small flame to these bits of cloth until a flame took hold. Then she did the same again and again, to whatever she could find that was flammable.
Small pockets of fire began to grow, but she needed more, and there was another place here she knew would be a good place to go next.
The library.
A room they had investigate earlier, back before this nightmare had started in earnest.
It seemed like a lifetime ago now, not just a few hours.
She ran to that room and again got to work with the lighter, getting most of the books and loose sheets of paper to take, quite easily. However, as she worked, a particular book caught her eye. For the first time in a while, Ashley thought ahead, to what she would do if she actually made it back to civilisation.
She would need to tell the police about what had happened. Her friends were dead, not something she could ignore, but how was she supposed to explain it all?
She picked up the leather-bound book, which had been sitting on the small writing table, and quickly skimmed through some of the pages. Flames danced their way around the shelves, crawling over the wood and books like liquid, but that did not impede her concentration. Ashley quickly realised this book was a kind of journal, written by Benjamin. She saw passages mentioning other places, not of this earth, and there were sketches of things that were absolutely not human; one of which she recognised.
A crudely sketched rendition of the thing below the ground.
Grandpa.
The rapidly spreading fire begin to give off a strong heat, and Ashley realised she had to go. She tucked the book under her arm and ran outside, onto the porch, into the night air.
Into freedom.
Almost.
As she broke free of the threshold, a fist swung from beside the door and caught her hard on the side of the chin.
The force of the blow shook her jaw and rattled her teeth, and she fell sideways to the porch floor. The book spilled from her grasp and she rolled to her back, dazed and disorientated.
Tim looked down at her, his mouth smeared with blood.
'Hello, little mouse.'
36
Tim couldn't believe it.
Surely it was impossible.
No one had ever returned from seeing Grandpa, at least not as the same person they were before going down.
Mother, Ted, and Henry had all gone down there after her, and even Father had followed, in his pathetic state, clutching at his neck. She was outnumbered by things infinitely superior and stronger than her.
So how was it she was able to escape?
And her, of all people?
The fucking mouse?
It was insanity.
After Mother had ordered them all down after her, Tim had hung back. He'd made as if to follow, but after she dropped down, he simply waited. They were all too distracted to notice he wasn't with them.
And besides, he knew he only needed a little time.
The food left in that room would soon spoil, and Tim was not a fan of waste, so leaving it like this was a crime. He had approached Kim’s headless body.
And started to feed.
At first, he just wanted a small amount, just enough to fill him a little. More than the meagre scraps he'd been given.
But as he tasted the succulent, salty flesh, he couldn't stop. The hunger, the desire to feed, took over.
So, he got to work.
Tim didn't care if they all came back and found him like this. Fuck them, he'd waited long enough for this and was tired of being on the fringe.
He was one of them, one of Grandpa's children just as much as the rest were, and as far as Tim was concerned, that meant getting what was promised.
No more waiting.
He gorged.
And kept going until he heard commotion in the tunnel.
The noise, which sounded like Henry and Mother, snapped him back to reality. They would find him like this and see he had disobeyed them.
He remembered Father's threat of a trip down to see Grandpa.
Fear of what that meant, and what would become of him, forced him to flee, and he ran from the house, hoping to give them time to calm down.
He hadn't eaten enough to change him, hopefully, so there was no need to overreact. He could still do his job, just as he always had.
So, he hid in the trees.
Watching.
Waiting.
Then, Tim saw something he couldn't quite believe.
Ashley, the little mouse girl, was free. And, judging by her actions as she set fire to Father's books, she had clearly not been turned.
But at the same time, she wasn't her old self, not the doormat Tim knew.
She looked full of anger and hate and... purpose.
He couldn't even begin to comprehend how she had gotten away, but he saw an opportunity, an opportunity to prove himself again to the family, make them forget, or not even notice, what he'd done. He would capture her, the girl who had obviously given them the slip, and prove he deserved to be among them. Not as a little worker ant, but shoulder to shoulder as an equal.
Horror in the Woods Page 18