by Joshua Grove
“Damn,” Aaron commented.
“But right now we need to get that door open to see what’s there,” Tim reminded them. “So let’s get to it. But everyone stay in this room. We move and work as a team.”
They spread out in the kitchen, working diligently to find the keys. Over the sound of drawers opening, utensils rattling, and cupboards slamming shut, a loud Thud! came from the cellar door. Everyone froze.
“I’m assuming you guys heard that,” Tim said. They nodded. Tim wasn’t sure what they should do. After Jake and the others had discovered Michael, who had been tied up and fiercely bitten, Tim wasn’t sure it was wise for any of them to still be in the house. Whoever was stalking them had an intimate knowledge of the house. Tim couldn’t even be sure that the door actually led to a wine cellar.
Thud!
“What should we do?” Geraldine whispered.
“I’m not sure,” Tim answered.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
“Oh, shit,” Ralph moaned. “I don’t like this.”
“It could be a trap,” Lionel added. They waited and listened for more sounds. All of a sudden the heat kicked on in the house, making everyone jump a little.
“Old houses,” Tim said, shaking his head.
“Do you think someone’s down there?” Geraldine asked. “I think we have to check it out.”
“Who else could be down there?” Aaron asked. “No one has been reported missing.”
“Yes, but the only reason we knew that Alan Brickton was dead was because of the anonymous call,” Geraldine pointed out. “And we have many citizens who live alone and wouldn’t be missed for perhaps a day or so. I think it’s our job to investigate.”
“Geraldine’s right,” Tim said. He drew his gun and nodded for everyone to follow him. They crept slowly across the kitchen and, step by step, down the staircase. When Tim reached the door, he stood to the left with his back against the wall. Geraldine and Aaron stood on the bottom step while Ralph and Lionel stood in front of the door.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
Lionel fired his gun into the wooden door, scaring the shit out of everyone.
“Jesus!” Tim shrieked. “Are you out of your mind? You could have killed someone!”
“Oh, shit,” Lionel whimpered. “I’m so sorry.”
“Put that away!” Ralph said as he pushed Lionel’s arm down.
As they gathered themselves together again, they heard the sound of the deadbolts being unlocked from the other side of the door.
“Oh, hell no,” Lionel said. Waiting for the door to open, everyone but Lionel had their guns ready to fire at anyone who would open the door.
“This is the police!” Tim shouted. “Step back from the door and get down on the ground! We are prepared to fire!” Tim nodded to Ralph, who grabbed the doorknob. They waited, listening for a response. “On the count of three, we open the door. One…two…three!”
Ralph opened the door. It was too dark to see anything, so no one moved. Geraldine took her flashlight and shined it into the room. Still, the room was not revealing any of its secrets.
Thud!
This time it came from somewhere in the room, though the echo was so thunderous Tim couldn’t be sure of the source.
“We are going to open fire! Tell us where you are and surrender now or we will kill you!” Tim felt certain that whoever was toying with them was not going to reveal himself. He knelt to the ground with Ralph, while Lionel, Geraldine, and Aaron stood over them.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
“Fire!”
Everyone fired half of their chambers into the room. The sounds of exploding glass and splashes of liquid filled the room. The shots only lasted around four seconds. Tim stood up and entered the room.
“Think there’s a light switch in here?” Geraldine asked.
“Hopefully we didn’t shoot out the light,” Aaron said.
As Tim entered the room, he felt along the wall on his left and sure enough, there was a light. Everyone was silent as they took in the scene. The smell of alcohol was potent. A significant stream of several brands of fine wine flowed on the floor toward a large drain in the center of the room.
“Stay together,” Tim reminded them. The room was circular, with massive wine racks lining the walls. Wine continued to trickle from broken bottles still on the racks.
“There must be another hidden doorway,” Ralph said. “How else could someone have been in this room?”
“Let’s try to find it,” Tim said.
Several minutes passed as they searched in vain. As they met in the center of the room, everyone looked down at the drain. Tim knew that if someone had been in the room, this was the only way out.
“Help me lift this,” he said to Aaron. They leaned over and tried to lift the cover.
“Damn, this is heavy,” Aaron said as he strained against its weight. Ralph and Geraldine helped to lift it.
“I don’t see how one man could lift this by himself, and so quickly,” Geraldine said. “This shit is heavy.”
The four of them shuffled to their left and dropped the drain cover. The loud Clang! echoed through the room. Tim shined his flashlight into the hole that measured approximately three feet in diameter.
“Anyone see anything?” Aaron asked.
“I can’t see a damn thing,” Tim groaned. “Geraldine, grab one of those wine bottles and hand it to me.”
When she brought him back a large, black bottle, he tossed it into the hole. Two seconds later they heard the sound of splashing water.
“It can’t be too far down,” Lionel said. “But is it a good idea to go down there? We don’t know who, or what, might be waiting for us. It’s suicide for sure.”
“I agree,” Aaron said. “We were at the station when Jake and the others were running through the woods. They almost didn’t make it out. I can’t imagine we would stand a better chance in some dark drainage system.”
Tim knew they were right, but he was frustrated that there was nothing he could do. Just as he was about to suggest they return to the main level of the house, Lionel dropped to his knees and pulled a small flashlight from his belt.
“What the hell are you doing?” Geraldine asked.
“I’m going to stick my head down there and see what I can see,” Lionel said forcefully.
“That’s a bad idea,” Tim said.
Lionel ignored him. He put his head into the drain and lowered an arm to shine his flashlight.
After a moment, Tim figured it was relatively safe. Aaron grabbed Lionel’s back legs. His eyes were closed and Tim could tell he was not comfortable with Lionel literally sticking his neck out.
“Do you see anything?” Tim asked.
“No, nothing yet. But there’s a ladder here that can take us down there. Just looks like a stream that runs under the house. There’s a lot of dirt and tree roots.”
“Okay, you’ve seen enough,” Tim said. “We don’t need someone else disappearing or getting hurt.” Just as he said that, Tim felt Lionel’s body being pulled downward. He lost his grip on his jacket and Lionel began screaming.
“Jesus!” Aaron cried as he held on to Lionel’s legs. Ralph and Geraldine joined the struggle to keep Lionel’s body from being dragged into the hole.
“HELP ME!” Lionel screamed in desperation. As hard as they tried, they couldn’t stop whoever was pulling Lionel into the drain. Tim heard low growls coming from underneath them.
Thud!
Thud!
The same sound that had unlocked the door to the wine cellar thundered around them in the room. It startled them so badly they fell onto their backsides. Amidst the barely audible growls, the thuds against the walls, and the sound of running water, Lionel’s body disappeared into the dark hole.
“Oh, Jesus!” Geraldine breathed. “What the fuck is going on?”
Thud!
Thud!
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The sound was getting louder, and it seemed to come from all directions.
“We need to go down there and rescue Lionel!” Aaron cried, beginning to panic. He crawled toward the hole, but Tim and Ralph held him back.
“You need to calm down and pull yourself together,” Tim said. “We can’t go down there halfcocked.”
“He’s right,” Ralph said.
“I’ll go down first,” Tim offered. “Cover me as best you can.” He pushed the safety button on his revolver and steadied his feet on the top rung of the ladder.
Here goes nothing, he thought to himself.
The ladder was slippery, but he managed to get down without much difficulty. It was about six feet to the bottom. The water only came to his ankles, which was a relief. He unlocked the safety button and turned in a circle, ready to fire at anything that came toward him.
“All clear!” he yelled up. Slowly, Aaron, Ralph, and Geraldine climbed down until they were all standing together, shining their lights against the darkness. The tunnel was narrow, only about six feet across. Long roots twisted through the dirt around them, with rotting wooden beams running along the midsection of the walls. They could hear Lionel screaming for help in the distance.
“We’ve got to get to him,” Aaron said anxiously.
“You need to get your shit together,” Geraldine demanded with authority. “We will move together and save him together. Otherwise we’ll all end up six feet under in a much different way than we are now.”
Lionel screamed again.
“Wait, didn’t the first scream come from that way?” Tim asked, pointing to the left of the ladder.
“Yeah, I think so,” Ralph said. “But the last one came from the opposite direction.”
“Could it be the acoustics down here?” Aaron asked.
“Acoustics in a dirt tunnel with water running over our feet?” Geraldine said. “I seriously doubt that.”
Thud!
Thud!
They could hear what sounded like footsteps above them in the wine cellar. Suddenly several wine bottles crashed to the floor. Within seconds they were getting soaked from a waterfall of alcohol.
“Oh, Christ,” Aaron said. “How many of them are there?”
“It could have just been a rack falling down,” Tim offered. “Let’s focus on getting Lionel and getting out of here.”
“Help!” Lionel screamed from the original direction.
“Let’s move slowly,” Tim said, leading the team forward. He raised his hand quickly when he thought he heard something in front of them. He waited, trying to identify any abnormal sounds.
“Do you hear that?” Geraldine asked quietly. “It sounds like someone is walking through the water just ahead of us.”
“But I can’t see anything,” Tim said.
As they looked around them, a sizeable splash caught their attention about ten yards ahead of them. They crept toward the sound. Tim saw something large lying in the water. He didn’t want to believe it, but he felt sure it was Lionel’s body. As the group stood over the body, Tim realized it wasn’t Lionel. The body was lying face down, so no one was able to identify it.
“I’m going to see if he’s alive,” Tim said, leaning down. He reached toward the body and gently pushed it. “Can you hear me?” He felt foolish talking to a body he instinctively knew was dead. But he didn’t want to simply turn it over just in case the person wasn’t dead. “Are you conscious?”
No response.
“I’m going to turn the body over,” Tim said. As he did, he almost retched. The body was decomposing. Small, slimy bugs crawled from the mouth and nostrils.
“Jesus,” Geraldine said.
The body was unrecognizable. From the facial structure and torn dress shirt and slacks, Tim knew it was a man. But he had been dead for several months, if not more.
“HELP!” Lionel screamed. The sound seemed to come from above them. Tim looked up, and sure enough there was a large hole overhead.
“That must be where the body fell from,” Tim said as he shined his light above their heads. Tim jerked his flashlight and shined it in front of him when they heard the sound of someone running in the water not far from them. A dark shadow stood not twenty feet from them.
Thud!
Thud!
The sound was coming from above them, near the perimeter of the hole from where the corpse was dropped.
Splash!
Splash!
The dark shadow in front of them sprinted past them, knocking Aaron down.
“Ugh!” he mumbled, standing up and rubbing his behind. “That bastard is fast.”
“So if he’s down here with us, then who’s up there?” Geraldine asked, taking turns flashing her light into the hole above them and into the dark behind them.
“HELP ME!” Lionel screamed. This time his voice came from above them.
“HELP ME!” And now the voice was behind them.
Tim’s flashlight began to lose power, followed by Geraldine’s.
“Oh, you’ve got to be joking,” Tim said. “This seriously cannot be happening. I just changed these batteries!” He felt like he was trapped in a dream, or some Hollywood movie. He almost laughed to himself when he expected Ashton Kutcher to jump down from above and tell him he had been Punk'd. He shook his head, as if the madness would seep out of his ears and into the wine water flowing over his boots.
Thud!
Thud!
Splash!
Splash!
“HELP ME!”
“Lionel!” Aaron shrieked. “Where are you? We can’t find you!”
Ralph began shaking his flashlight. Although it didn’t die completely, it didn’t have much juice left. “We need to get back to the house,” Ralph said as he continued to shake it. “We’re gonna be stuck in the dark and I don’t want to be down here when these blasted lights go out.”
From above their heads, someone started to laugh. Tim shivered at the sinister tone. It sounded like Lionel. Without warning, the shadow reappeared behind them. It was blocking their path back to the cellar. It stood motionless, except for the occasional heaves from its heavy, raspy breathing. Tim could hear it even over the running water.
“Get ready to shoot,” Tim whispered. The shadow must have heard him because it sprinted toward them. In less than time than it took him to blink, it was standing in front of them.
“Jesus!” Geraldine shrieked as she came face to face with the shadow. She tried to raise her gun but it knocked her down. Tim didn’t even see its arms move when it shoved her. He drew his gun and fired, but all he hit was the wooden beam. He felt breath on his neck and smelled a terrible stench. Another gunshot fired, this time from Ralph, and he too missed the target.
“We need to get out of here,” Tim said. “Now, on my count, we put our backs together and begin moving toward the ladder. Make sure you have your guns drawn.”
“It’s too fast,” Geraldine breathed.
“Do you suggest we stay down here?” Tim asked. He didn’t wait for an answer. “Back to back, now!” The foursome walked in unison toward the ladder, with Ralph’s light shining toward the ladder and Aaron’s behind them. When they reached the ladder, Ralph was the first to climb into the cellar. He shined his light around the room to make sure it was clear.
“All clear!” Ralph said as he reached the top. He reached his hand down to grasp Geraldine’s forearm. Tim took the flashlight from Aaron and nodded at him to go up the ladder. Once the third rung was free for him to begin climbing, Tim put his hands on it. He looked forward and the shadow was staring at him from the other side of the ladder. All strength seemed to flee his body and he felt a cold chill travel down his spine. Tim was sure he was about to die. He shined the light in the shadow’s face, but the shadow flicked the flashlight from his hands. It abruptly ran into the darkness, leaving Tim standing on the ladder and breathing heavily.
“Give me your hands!” Aaron and Ralph screamed, their arms reaching toward him.
Tim lifted his arms and they pulled him up into the cellar.
“Did you see it, too?” Geraldine asked.
“Yeah, but now’s not the time to talk about it,” Tim said.
“But what about Lionel?” Aaron shouted. He began to climb back down the ladder.
“You can’t go back down there!” Tim yelled.
“But Lionel!”
“He’s gone!” Tim yelled as he pulled Aaron back up and shook him. He looked Aaron in the eyes and spoke calmly and soothingly. “He’s gone, Aaron. He’s gone. If we’re going to save him then we need to get backup, or else we’re all going to be dead.”
“He can’t be gone,” Aaron said, almost sobbing. “He’s still alive, just like Michael. We heard him screaming!”
“If he’s alive, then we’ll find him. But we cannot find him without more backup and a shitload more weapons,” Tim insisted. He knew Aaron and Lionel had become like brothers. As much as he could understand Aaron’s argument, the fact remained that if they went down into that drain the chances were good that none of them would come back.
Once Aaron had calmed down enough to stand, they made their way back up the stairs and into the kitchen.
Thud!
Lionel screamed in the distance.
Thud!
“You couldn’t pay me to go back down those stairs,” Geraldine said, laughing nervously. “Not when that thing is down there waiting for us.”
“What are we going to do now?” Aaron asked. Everyone looked to Tim for an answer.
Tim took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “We call Sheriff Blackwood and tell her we’re coming to the station. We need to regroup and put together a search party. A heavily armed search party. Even civilians would be helpful at this point. We just don’t have the manpower to handle this. That’s Lionel’s only chance of survival.” Geraldine nodded, followed by Ralph and Aaron.
“We’ll take my cruiser,” Geraldine offered. She removed her gun from its holster and walked toward the side door. She stayed at the top of the stairs and covered everyone as they made their way cautiously toward the cruiser. Geraldine was the sharpshooter of the group, with consistent, pinpoint precision. Once in the Explorer everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief.
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Tim reminded them. He didn’t begin to feel safe until they had pulled out of the driveway and onto the main road that led to the station. Since he sat in the back, he told Aaron to call Janet and let her know they were on their way to the station.