by Fred Crawley
“Nathan get up!” she said.
Nathan tried to stand but before he could raise himself from the ground, he felt powerful arms grab him and yank him to his feet. He tried to resist, but it did no good. He was pulled up and turned around and then he was face to face with the ghouls again.
“Let him go!” Audrey said.
The world seemed to spin, but Nathan did not regret his decision to return to it. He saw now that this was real and real was where he belonged, regardless of what it cost him.
The old woman approached them and the men parted to let her through. Her expression was something like a smile. She spoke to him in imperfect English with an accent that he didn’t recognise.
“You made a mistake coming here,” she said. She followed that with slick clicks and growls which Nathan took to be a translation for the creature’s around him. “Now you are going to die. In front of the pack so they can see you aren’t a threat to them.”
“I’m not a threat,” Nathan said. He pulled at his arms to test the strength of the creatures who were holding him. “I don’t care what you do, just let us go.”
This time, the old woman spoke to the ghouls and didn’t bother to translate it for his benefit. A moment later he was being dragged back along the underground platform and Audrey was dragged right along beside him.
Nathan knew that it was a waste of time trying to overpower the ghouls. They were about a hundred times stronger than he was. He wouldn’t be able to beat them in a fight and it had been foolish to come armed with only a knife. For the time being, he had to be content to conserve his energy and let them drag him away. He would wait for the opportunity to escape and he would be ready for it.
The opportunity to get away came more quickly than he had expected. As they began to walk along the narrower section of the platform two of the ghouls were forced to let go of him. At first this sudden advantage was tempered by the fact that it was darker than ever, but his sight gradually recovered.
The ghouls were no better, and perhaps much worse, that he was at walking along the narrow space between the wall and the track. Scruffy distorted posters hung from the curved walls and brushed across his face. He heard one of the ghouls who was holding him grunt and then a momentary slackening of pressure on his arm.
Nathan twisted and turned and pulled away from the creature. It shouted in surprise and, as he had hoped, the other one let go of him as well. Nathan ducked beneath its solid arms, which he could see quite clearly in the dark now, and made his way back along the platform edge.
“Audrey?” he said.
“Nathan where are you?” she said.
He followed her voice. The two ghouls that were holding onto her were smaller but still strong. It took the combined effort of both of them to wrench one of her arms free and all the time they had to duck and weave to avoid the others grabbing hold of them.
“Run!” Nathan said to her when she finally had both of her arms back.
She started to run and he followed her, but he could feel the ghouls catching up with him and knew that it was only a matter of time before one of them caught him.
“Just keep going,” he shouted. “Get out of here and get as far away as you can.”
She turned away and he reached the part of the platform where it was wider. There were more ghouls ahead of them, but he couldn’t do anything more to help her. If she kept running them, she would be okay.
Nathan managed to stay ahead of the ghouls that were chasing him, but he couldn’t avoid the one’s in front. He saw them coming towards him but the only thing he cared about now was that Audrey got out okay. If anything happened to her it would be his fault and he didn’t know that he could live with that. If it came down to it, he knew, the ghoul’s wouldn’t give him the chance.
Audrey reached the door, but there were more ghouls coming towards her now. Nathan wanted to look away, but he couldn’t. They swarmed around her so that she had nowhere to go and she came to a sudden stop. It was all over, he realised, neither of them were going to get out of there alive.
CHAPTER 48
THE MAN CAME OUT OF THE DARKNESS AND it was only after a moment that Nathan realised it was a man at all and not another ghoul. He must have been hiding down there but why and for what purpose, he couldn’t say. At least he got an answer to one of those questions.
Audrey had disappeared behind a wall of ghouls and Nathan could feel the hot rancid breath of the others on his neck. The man ran across the platform towards Audrey and he was carrying something that Nathan could only work out from context was a weapon.
The man hacked and slashed at the ghouls that surrounded her and beat a path to where she was cowering on the floor.
“Stay back, all of you,” the man said. His voice was familiar, but Nathan couldn’t place it.
The ghouls stayed away from him, looking at one another and perhaps wondering what to make of the strange man. They weren’t used to taking orders from humans, that much was clear.
“Nathan get over here,” the man shouted. Nathan realised, with surprise, that the voice belonged to Courtney. He needed no second invitation and limped across the station to join them both.
“I thought you were dead,” Nathan said.
“Yeah, you weren’t the only one,” Courtney said. “These fuckers thought they could get rid of me like that.”
Nathan didn’t know what Courtney was talking about but now did not seem like the time to ask for further details.
“Nathan?” Audrey said.
Nathan turned to look at her and then back at Courtney. Courtney nodded and he turned back to Audrey. “Get out of here.”
She looked at him as if he was mad, but she didn’t argue. He watched her run to the door and disappear. He turned back to Courtney.
“This is no time to be noble, son,” Courtney said. “I’m an old man, my life’s more than half behind me whatever way this turns out. You could still have a life.”
The ghouls were beginning to get up the courage to approach them.
Courtney reached into his pocket and took out a small round object. Nathan recognised it from countless films and television programs. “Is that a grenade?”
“You think they know that?” Courtney said.
Nathan looked at the ghouls. There was a chance that they did. They were certainly being cautious. He looked back at Courtney.
“Go after her, be happy that you’re alive. Let me take care of this.”
Nathan nodded, but he didn’t move.
“I said go, boy, you deaf or something?”
Nathan nodded again. He began to back away from Courtney and the ghouls and the egg sized rock that was going to blow them all to Hell.
“Thank you,” Nathan said.
“Just remember,” Courtney said.
Nathan nodded. When he felt the door behind him, he turned around and opened it. He closed it behind him and stopped on the stairs for long enough to hear Courtney say: “Alright you fuckers, come and get it.”
He was halfway up when he heard the explosion. Felt it would have been more accurate. It was a vibration in the air that went through his chest and passed out the other side before he felt the fire.
Nathan turned around and then he started to run. The flames chased him up the tight narrow staircase and into the station. They shot out behind him like a dragon’s breath. The windows were shattered, but he couldn’t hear anything.
He skidded along the ground but managed to stay on his feet and run. He went up the final staircase and before he felt the cool breeze on his face he knew that he had made the right decision.
CHAPTER 49
THE MAN IN THE LONG BLACK COAT SEEMED to separate himself from the crowd. He strode towards them with purpose and stopped in front of them.
“Mr. Custer?” the man said.
Nathan nodded. The man carried himself as if he had authority, but he didn’t look like he was with the police.
“My name is Thomas Shaw,” he said.
Nathan nodded. He didn’t know who the man was.
“Can I buy you a coffee, Mr. Custer?” Thomas said. Then he glanced at Audrey. “You too Miss Solomon.”
Nathan nodded again and Thomas led them away from the station to one of the new coffee shops that had sprung up since the railway station had been rebuilt. It was empty when they arrived and they took a table at the back. A barrister arrived with drinks that they hadn’t ordered.
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” Thomas said.
Nathan nodded, but he couldn’t think of a single one. He picked up his coffee and sipped it. Years seemed to have passed since he had last had a good cup. He closed his eyes. He was suddenly exhausted and wanted nothing more than to sleep.
A moment seemed to pass and then the man was laughing. Nathan opened his eyes. He thought he’d known the man’s name, but now he couldn’t remember it.
“Anyway,” the man said and slapped him on the shoulder. “I’m sorry to interrupt, I’ll let you two get back to your date.”
Nathan nodded. He felt as if the world had shifted beneath him. He looked up and saw that Audrey had an equally confused expression. They both turned and saw the man whose name he couldn’t remember walk out of the shop.
“Shall we go?” Nathan said. He couldn’t remember why he felt so tired. His body ached.
Audrey nodded and stood up.
He reached for her hand. She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek and then they left the coffee shop together without either of them knowing what had driven them in there in the first place.
About the Author
Fred Crawley is an open pen name used by James Loscombe for publishing horror fiction.
Fred / James lives in the UK, which might go some way to explaining why he finds horror stories so fascinating.