’Mum, The Barbara has just been in the classroom,’ Bob said. There was silence, and then there was a scream. The next voice Bob heard was his father’s voice.
’What’s going on?’ Tony said.
’The monster from the Moors came into the classroom. The Barbara, the female one, and it hit Mr Pugh up the side of the head. Right here in the Art room Dad. And now it’s taken Mr Pugh through the fence and onto the donkey path,’ Bob said.
’Are you okay? How is Adam?’ Tony asked nervously.
’We are both okay. We’re just sort of really shocked. We didn’t do anything Dad. We didn’t try and stop it from taking Mr Pugh,’ Bob blurted out. ‘We could have saved him. We’re supposed to be the big heroes in here, and we didn’t even lift a finger.’
’Well thank God for that. Or you’d probably be dead,’ Tony said. ‘We’re on our way anyway.’
’It’s on the donkey path!’ Bob shouted. He couldn’t say any more. Tony knew that he was trying to say be careful because you’ll be walking past the exit on Church Road.
‘All right lad. Everything will get sorted. Just wait there, we’ll be there in five minutes,’ Tony said.
Sue was pulling on Tony’s coat, and he calmed her down momentarily and told her the story as they walked. They didn’t see The Barbara or Mr Pugh on their way down.
When they got to Adam and Bob, they were clearly in shock. They didn’t know who to tell or what to say in the School, so thought it was best to say nothing. Who would believe them if they told the truth? It seemed that no other parent, teacher or child had witnessed the abduction.
Sue and Tony took them into the cafeteria that was serving tea, coffee and refreshments for the Parents Evening. Sue bought four cups of tea with sugar and four Eccles Cakes.
’Now we eat all this,’ Sue said to them. Before she took even a sip of her drink, she picked up her phone and called Wee Renee. With an eye on the other patrons of the cafeteria, she very quietly told Wee Renee about it all.
Pat was sitting at her kitchen table with Jackie. She had a feeling all last night, since she had seen the beast that this was not all over. Pat had been telling Jackie all day about this theory, and Jackie did not want to know whatsoever. She was talking about it right then.
’I tell you, Jackie, I’ll eat my hat if this is all over. Something is going on still. I can tell. I have these shooting pains down the sides of my bust when something’s going to happen. I have them when there’s going to be a storm too. Well, I’ve got them now, good and strong,’ Pat said.
‘Psychic Boobs! Whatever next!’ Jackie said. Pat’s phone rang. Her eyes found Jackie’s and she tapped the side of her nose, then pointed to her bust.
Pat got up to answer it. She didn’t really expect that her premonition would come true so soon. Her face went grey as she listened. After she had put the phone down, she spoke to Jackie.
‘Bob’s Art teacher has been taken from the School by The Barbara, right under his nose,’ Pat said. ‘The swine smacked him up earhole and knocked him out. It’s dragged him off to murder him, I reckon. Poor bastard.’
’What are we doing to do?’ Jackie asked.
‘Wee Renee is going to ring as many people as she can and set the jungle drums going. We are meeting at the donkey path in fifteen minutes. That’s where it was last seen,’ Pat said. ‘Where’s my club hammer?’
28. Stray Dog
The first thing that Mr Pugh remembered was waking up in what smelled like a very old dusty industrial building. He could smell oil and old machines that had been hot at one point. Mr Pugh felt himself drift off again.
The Berberer had taken a chance by crossing the road very quickly with Matt over its shoulders. She had been seen by at least two at the School. The small one and his companion. There Berberer had broken the rule – never attack when there was more than one. She reasoned out that it would be worth it as everything was ready.
If she waited for the right time, the dog wouldn’t be fresh and viable, the girl would not be sweet to eat. The skin could go missing again. Being seen wouldn’t matter if the payoff was good enough.
She had to get him to a particular stage. If she could quickly get him to this holding stage it wouldn’t matter what anyone did. She knew that this was the right match and he would be happy soon. The Berberer knew that he hadn’t been happy for a while. That was part of its attraction. The physical match, the scent and also the extreme unhappiness. It felt like a mournful cry in the universe. She could smell strong feelings. This was the right person.
Mr Pugh awoke for a moment again but did not move. He was dizzy and nauseous, like a nasty feeling of drunkenness. He thought he had a concussion. His head felt wet. I’m bleeding he thought. Mr Pugh also felt that he had a broken bone or two. Maybe ribs.
If he had to guess, he got the feeling he had been thrown down a set of stairs. Perhaps he had, but he remembered that on his way here, he had opened his eyes for a second and saw that he was being dragged over a wall.
He tried to look around the room. When he moved his head, he felt himself passing out again. His eyes hurt to open them, even though this place was so dark. Mr Pugh thought this was due to his injuries and not the light. He squinted, and they seemed a little better.
He inched his head to one side and looked across to his right. He could see a dark figure doing something. Was it cooking? Or was it making something? It seemed to be taking stuff from one place and putting it into another, on some kind of a table. Mr Pugh realised it wasn’t a table, it was just some kind of a container in the building.
His consciousness started to come together. He was in a building with a high ceiling. From the looks of it, an old factory or mill. There was a little light coming through the windows and no light source in here. He tried to move his body, but it hurt so much. His limbs didn’t seem to connect to his brain correctly.
Mr Pugh was panicking now. He realised he was hurt very badly and tried to shout for help. He needed to alert the person over there working. They mustn’t know he was here. He couldn’t quite see who it was in the dark.
The worker at the makeshift table made a noise. It sounded just like a guttural moan and didn’t seem to make any sense. Mr Pugh thought it might be the worker actually talking. He was being spoken to, but his ears didn’t understand it. He really must have banged his head, as he had brain damage.
It made sense that he had fallen down the stairs at School, he couldn’t remember. Was he somewhere inside the School? Perhaps the boiler room. No, he had been pulled over the wall. He wasn’t on School premises.
Finally, and thankfully, he heard the worker coming towards him. He could now get help, call an ambulance, find a paramedic or something like that.
He felt the worker get closer, kneel down, and then there seemed to be a strong smell about him, near his head. The guttural groans came again, it made some kind of a yak yak noise. It was no known language or at least no language that Mr Pugh knew of. It crossed his mind that it was English, but he just didn’t understand it. He had lost his ability to understand his mother tongue. He had a thought that he wasn’t speaking English either. His brain was hurt, and he was talking gibberish. His helper couldn’t understand him.
’Help me,’ Mr Pugh begged. It was the last words he ever spoke.
When the worker came into view, he remembered what had gone on before he had woken up. It was in here with him.
The nightmare was real, a nightmare he had every night, where he was this thing that ran across the Moors. The nightmares that had haunted Matt Pugh night after night.
The creature put its strong hands at the side of Matt’s face and squeezed his jaws. Matt didn’t know what was going on. He was still in shock at what was happening. Matt was still in shock from his life-threatening injuries.
His mouth opened and immediately the monster dropped something cold in there. Matts' mouth was flooded with a foul liquid. Matt swallowed it, he had no choice. He was lying on his back and could
hardly move. He couldn’t shut his mouth as the monster still held his jaws. He couldn’t move his head from side to side. He couldn’t spit it out. He couldn’t breathe through his mouth or nose. So, Matt Pugh swallowed it. The picture faded, as mercifully he passed out again due to the violation.
Sometime later, Matt woke up to find it was even darker. He seemed to be inside something. His surroundings were small, touching him on nearly all sides.
Matt wondered whether he might be in a coffin. It must have holes in it, as he could breathe. He felt so ill and weird. He felt so broken. The more conscious he became, the more he realised that he had something in there with him. This other presence was tied to him. He didn’t know what it was, but it was smaller than him. Was it another small human, a child? Please don’t let it be a child.
Then Matt drifted back out of consciousness, and he was on the Moors again, and he was running, and it was wonderful. Finally, he was free, and he was happy. He didn’t have emotions or pain.
He came back to reality again. He felt far away from his place, but he was here, deep inside his skin somewhere. His skin. Yes, there was something wrong with his skin. It felt weird – loose, not attached. His name was Matt Pugh, and he was in a box. The thing tied to him was furry, and it wasn’t that big, and it was cold. He was in pain, he was dizzy, his heart was beating faster.
He drifted off again, and he was on the Moors. He was climbing past the stone circle, over the spiky branches. He was nearly home. What! This was his home?
And he came around again He had found his body in the sea of ghosts on the Moors. He was not going to pass out again. Coming back was getting harder. Finally, he realised that the thing was a dog. A dead dog was tied to him. Matt screamed, and he was still Mr Pugh, and then he lost consciousness again, and he was on the Moors. He was on the Moors forever.
29. Skinless
The Berberer knew that it only had a short window of time to do its work. It sat at the side of the box with its hand on top. Sometimes the man made a noise. The noises got louder and more frequent. This got worse and worse.
When she thought it had made its final noise, she opened the box. She had to work quickly and she had to work with the special knife.
Looking down at her own work, she smiled. Or as much as her kind could. The potion had worked. The match’s skin was loose and would come off easily. She had to do this properly, but soon she would have a new mate. And she wouldn’t be lonely again.
The first person that Wee Renee called was Gary. She wanted someone else to make the phone calls as well as her. She relayed Sue’s tale to Gary.
’Mr Pugh? The teacher? Do you mean the one with the grey ponytail, Matt?’ Gary asked.
’I don’t know his first name, love. I just know he is Mr Pugh the Art teacher and he’s been taken. The Barbara has taken him, it’s not over. We need to save him, we need to get a posse to try and rescue him. It wasn’t enough that The Barbara took the skin. I don’t know what it wants with Mr Pugh, but it was gunning for him. It would be interesting to find out if he is the reason she was in those other places that didn’t match up with Bob.’
’He’s a lovely bloke as well, Matt is,’ Gary said. ‘His wife left him not long ago. He has been right depressed since, and now all this has happened! What’s next for him? They say things come in threes.’
’Let's hope we find him to ask him. I want you to call as many of our gang as you can and tell them all to call a person,’ Wee Renee said quickly.
‘Oh no Wee Renee, I’ve just remembered,’ Gary said.
‘What?’ She asked.
‘Matt does have a red car. He does live on Mount View,’ Gary said.
‘That is enough confirmation for me,’ she replied.
’What are you going to do, Wee Renee?’ Gary asked.
’I’m going to try and find us a dog,’ Wee Renee said.
She put on her boots and a coat and went outside. Just a few steps down the pavement showed her that Suzanne and Tommy’s car was definitely gone. They had already made their way to Whitby, and she couldn’t use Bella.
She was on our way back into the house when she realised that Our Doris had told her that she was going to go to the pictures tonight. She was going to take Wee Renee’s advice and sit in the Cinema on her own, now this matter was over. Everyone had thought it was over. Even Wee Renee had been trying out her new crimping irons this afternoon and now stood with crinkly hair on the pavement outside her house.
Apart from Tilly, who had never picked up the scent, and who Alan and Ann seemed unwilling to let them use due to her health, there was only one dog left. Little Bambi. Wee Renee put her hands on her gatepost and rolled her eyes. If only so much didn’t depend on it. She ran inside and rang Beryl’s number.
’Hello, Beryl. There’s a bit of trouble of sorts. How’s wee Bambi tonight?’ Wee Renee asked.
’She’s fine yes,’ Beryl said. ‘Yesterday’s illness was just because I’d gone out and left her. She likes her own way, Wee Renee. She’s forgotten about it today. She is here with me now, snuggling. We’re thinking about what to put on the television.’
’Oh, I’m sorry love, I desperately need you and Bambi. Particularly Bambi, as a sniffer dog again. It’s nothing she hasn’t done before. It is a matter of life and death, or I certainly wouldn’t ask that little wee missy to do anything,’ Wee Renee said.
’What’s happened?’ Beryl asked. ‘We’ll come.’
The Berberer grabbed its match out of the container and laid him on the dusty floor at her feet. She untied the dead dog and discarded it. She didn’t know why this was a part of it, but it seemed to be, and she did not want to miss any part out that could ruin this. All the components of the transformation had come together, and now it would be right. Her loneliness would disappear in a few minutes.
She turned Matt over onto his front and cut off his clothes at the back with the flint knife. The match had strange, small black crosses on his arms - markings. She had never seen anything like this. Were some people born like this? If so, maybe this was why he had been so unhappy. She would put an end to that. Or were they black scars? Soon he would have a new skin, and he would never feel miserable again.
She put the flint knife into his coccyx and slit straight up to his skull. He was breathing, unconscious and his life was already hers, ready to go on the Moors. The skin did not belong to him anymore. He felt no attachment to it. In fact, removing it would be a relief – exposing his true self. His true skin lay not too far away.
His old skin was already coming away, and she put the knife underneath to loosen it all the more easily. It just slid off easily, like skin on an overripe banana. Now it had an opening, it pulled entirely away, and she left it on the floor. She didn’t need that.
If the thing that had taken the inside of her other mate had any use for this, she did not know it. If she had, she would have got rid of the skin. Out of respect for the match.
As various people had thought that this fight was over, they had gone out. Not only as a form of celebration but also that they were no longer under obligation to save their Village. It was just so marvellous to finally feel safe again.
They began to arrive in their groups. Tony and Sue, with a tearstained Bob and Adam were already there. Maurice had walked as quickly as he could, considering he had to depend on his stick so much and had joined Ernie.
‘Maurice, look at the state of me. I’m not presentable at all,’ Ernie said. Maurice looked him up and down, he wore a pair of old suit trousers, which had a very shiny seat and a bright blue t-shirt with yellow writing. It said the legend ‘Pontins, Winner, 2010’ on it.
‘How do you keep up with the washing and ironing? I forgot totally and am down to these, which have been at the bottom of the ironing pile for about five years. I’ve had to wash everything I own today. Now I can’t get the blasted things dry,’ Ernie said, quite stressed.
‘Just do a load every couple of days. Then it’s got a chance to dry
before the next. You’ll get the hang of it. Worse things happen at sea. I bet no-one will notice the shine on them trousers,’ Maurice reassured him.
Lauren had to look after the Pub, but Rick had arrived with Joe, who were two formidable opponents for anyone.
Liz and Andy arrived looking a bit forlorn. Liz had been in bed with a headache. Andy had decided to have a beer. So, when they got the call, he had to get her out of bed to drive them both. They weren’t speaking to each other, and she was in her pyjama’s, tucked into brown boots.
Jackie and Pat were there, and Gary had arrived too. They had picked up what weapons they had. Adam, Sue, Tony and Bob had not gone home, which meant they had not picked up Tony’s gun, which probably would have been the most use.
30. Tattoos
The Berberer kept looking down at the black crosses. They drew her eye, constantly. She was sure he would be glad to get rid of them.
She placed the skinned carcass on top of his new skin and began to shove his arms in one by one. Carefully pushing his fingers into the skin, like gently putting on a pair of gloves. Even when she was smoothing the pelt up his arms, she could already see that it was bonding to his fingers.
She put both arms in and then the head in next. She pushed in both legs and squeezed the skin around each side of Matt, with the flat of her hands, so it made contact everywhere. It helped that the preparation she had made, shrank his body, and this skin was so much bigger than him anyway.
Finally, she pressed the furry spike that they had down their backs across the wound. All of it would be bonded soon. She rolled her mate over. She had been slightly worried that the skin might have pieces missing. Even if it did, as long as the majority was there, the match could grow the rest once he was inside.
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