Winter Falls

by Eddie Skelson

  Macgregor popped his head around the corner of the building that covered him and could see Joss lighting another bottle. He took careful aim and fired as the man prepared to throw the bottle. Too late, Curly saw Macgregor and tried to push Joss out of the way but the shot caught him in the side of the chest, the bullet tumbled through Joss’s body and exited through his neck. He fell to the floor. The bullet had killed him instantly.

  Brian screamed in horror and anger, he had too had seen Macgregor take aim but had no chance to get to either of them. He scooped up the bottle, its taper still burned. He tossed it towards Macgregor, the big man dodged back into the alley and the missile exploded against the corner of the building sending a shower of flames down onto the retreating Deep ones.

  Kevin reached the cab and jumped in, his pistol had emptied as he had pressed forward and he changed the clip as he lay down across the cab seats for cover. When that was done he fished out Tim’s keys from his pocket, opened the passenger side door and fired up the engine.

  He shouted to the others, only then realising that more of them had been killed by the Falls men.

  ‘Get in, get in!’ He screamed. Mike Simpson the village carpenter and Curly, sprinted for the cab and leapt in, squashing up against Kevin to allow the others to get inside. Curly turned to Brian who was throwing the remaining the bottles at buildings on the other side of the road and bawled at him, ‘Brain! Come on man.’

  ‘Go.’ Brain shouted ‘I’m not finished here.’ His face was wet with tears and when the last bottle was thrown he unslung the AK47 from his shoulder and began to fire into the defensive positions of the Falls men.

  He gave a ‘Whoop’ as a head, with large eyes staring at him appeared above a pallet of metallic containers. It exploded as a round entered its skull, tearing it apart.

  ‘What do we do Kev?’ Curly shouted. ‘They got Joss.’

  ‘We stick to the plan.’ Kev said. He put the truck into gear and punched the accelerator. With any luck the town would burn to the floor while he and the others escaped. He had to get them out of here and to the army. They would raise the whole place and vaporise whatever the evil fucking things were that had attacked them.

  The truck picked up speed as he headed down the road. He expected the road to turn and head back up to the town at the end, away from the harbour and back to where they had first entered in pursuit of the jeep. He hadn’t expected to see the big man step out from an alley ahead of them and fire into the cab.

  Having no other choice available Kev slammed on the brakes and tried to turn the vehicle but he hadn’t the skill at the wheel of Tim. Instead of a steady swerve the truck shook violently and as the back end flipped around its weight forced the whole vehicle to go over on to its side and then its roof.

  Kevin, Curly and Mike were thrown about the cab like coins in a washing machine. The truck came to a rest twenty feet from where Macgregor stood with his rifle. The big man advanced, keeping the weapon trained on the cab door. It swung open, a man dropped out of it onto the floor with a thud. Macgregor didn’t hesitate, he fired two shots into the man’s chest. He waited for another to emerge, backing up a little so that he could see if the door on the other side opened.

  ‘Come on you fuckers.’ He shouted towards the cab. ‘It’s time to die so why not make it quick.’ He glanced around to the other door again, which remained closed. ‘If you are alive when I get you I promise that you’ll spend the next few weeks being skinned alive, so why don’t you just...’

  Four shots rang out like knocks on a door. Macgregor’s arms flew up in the air and the impact of the shots turned him, the rifle flew from his grasp as he spun and he dropped to the floor.

  Kevin stood with his pistol still pointing at the big man’s body. The policeman hadn’t realised that the windscreen had popped out of the truck and Kevin had been thrown through the now open frame as the truck had rolled. Poor Mike had been dead already when the door had sprung open. His lifeless body had to the floor, he hadn’t climbed out. One of the rounds Macgregor had fired at the cab had taken him out as they approached.

  Kevin walked up to Macgregor and to his surprise the giant was still breathing. His eyes were open and saw Kevin as he stood over him. Macgregor gave a rumbling laugh and then wheezed a little.

  ‘You know what little man, you and your...’ Macgregor began. Kevin put a bullet into his head. Macgregor trembled a little as if he was cold.

  ‘Cunt.’ Kevin said.

  He expected to be shot at any moment but didn’t bother trying to take cover, he was filled a rage that nailed him to the floor. A sound came from the cab. When he looked towards it he saw Curly gingerly dropping down next to Mike’s body.

  Kevin looked around. He couldn’t see anyone, no townsfolk, no creatures. Had they run? He wasn’t sure. Down the road the fire was seriously taking hold of the buildings they had bombed which pleased him, but he couldn’t see any sign of Brian.

  A movement caught his eye further down, in the direction that they had been headed. A large brown door belonging to a three-storey building swung open and from it a figure in a white gown or cassock emerged.

  Kevin raised his pistol at the figure, at this distance and in such poor light it was unlikely he would hit but it wouldn’t be for lack of trying. Before his finger could tighten on the trigger Kevin realised that the pale, blinking figure was Joe Clarke.

  A second person came out from behind Joe. A woman. Clearly a woman as she wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing and Kevin almost felt compelled to look away out of decency.

  He dropped his gun arm to his side and wondered if he was tempting fate too far to wonder if the day had now gotten as fucked beyond belief as it could possibly get.

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  As Joe opened the door the first thing that came to his attention was the raging fire at the end of the road. Buildings on both sides were covered in an angry orange flame and plumes of smoke rolled into the dark sky. He saw the upturned truck, two men were standing by it and one of them appeared to be pointing at him.

  ‘Is that Kev?’ He thought. As if reading his mind the man stopped pointing. Melanie stepped up behind him and pressed her body against his, her hands on his shoulder. ‘They should leave.’ She said quietly into his ear.

  ‘No shit.’ Joe replied. He began to walk forward to meet with his friend when he heard Melanie gasp a little. A dull pain sang a song through his ears. His knees went weak and he dropped down onto them. As he reached his hand to the back of his head and tried to clear his now blurred vision he saw that Kevin was pointing at him once again.

  ‘Don’t you fucking move Government man.’

  Peake’s voice. Joe understood now that he had been struck across the back of his head. Despite the instruction Joe couldn’t help but turn and look up at his attacker, a solid kick from Peake’s foot was what he got for his trouble. He fell heavily to the floor.

  Peake was stood behind Melanie, a hand around her throat and a pistol to her head. It could just have easily been Billy Duggan stood there the scene was so familiar.

  ‘You there,’ Peake shouted. ‘Roscregan. Put your weapon down or I’ll pop her brains just like you did to poor Macgregor.’ Kevin didn’t move.

  ‘Come on now, you couldn’t hit a barn door from that distance and by the time you go for a second try, after the first probably hits her anyway, I’ll have but a bullet of my own in each of them.’

  At first Kevin remained still but when Peake pulled back the hammer on his pistol he dropped his arm to his side once again.

  ‘Good. Very good.’ Peake said and looked down at Joe who was slowly getting to his knees. ‘Well, what a fucking disaster you have brought to my little town.’ He said. ‘You can’t even begin to imagine the shit I’m going to get for this.’ He increased his grip on Melanie’s throat and shook her neck a little, ‘and you, you devious little cunt, I’ll bet you are source of all this mayhem.’

  He looked back to Joe. ‘Well I hope she fuc
ked you well enough that it was worth you having to eat your own eyes young man.’ Peake chuckled. ‘Oh the delights that await you.’

  ‘Now,’ Peake directed his attention back to Kevin and Curly. ‘You two can fuck off back to your little rats nest. I’ll have some friends take care of you at a more appropriate time.’

  ‘I’m going nowhere you arsehole.’ Kevin shouted back to him. ‘I’m going to watch this place burn to the ground and then I’m going to burn you on top o’ those fuckin things.’ He cocked his head back indicating the pile of Deep One corpses he had helped to create.

  ‘In that case Roscregan I don’t suppose there is any point in me wasting time keeping your friend alive is there?’

  Peake took the gun from Melanie’s head and pointed it directly at Joes face. He said quietly, ‘You know, just between us three I’m actually quite hard right now,’ and squeezed the trigger.

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Had the Jetty and boathouse not exploded into thousands of pieces at that moment the shot would have smashed through Joe’s face as intended, but the fantastic destruction and subsequent cascade of detritus from the ancient structures was enough to completely throw Peake’s aim.

  The bullet slammed into the floor some distance behind Joe and without looking to see what had caused the distraction he jumped up and charged at Peake.

  As a massive spray of sea water, fishing weights, and large splinters of timber crashed all along the road, wrecking remaining harbour buildings and some of the nearby homes. Kevin and Curly threw themselves under the space made by the flatbed of the upturned truck.

  Joe grabbed the hand in which Peake held his pistol and bit into it as hard as he could. The Doctor screamed in agony and dropped to the gun to the floor. Melanie pulled herself free as Peake’s grip on her neck slackened and quickly stepped away from him. Unbalanced, Joe and Peake fell backwards against the wall of the lodge.

  ‘Joe come to me.’ Melanie said firmly. But Joe wasn’t listening, he regained his posture and with a forceful push managed to straddle Peake, his knees locking the Doctors arms down. He began to punch at Peake as hard and as fast as he could. Peake’s thin face crumpled as each blow hammered into it. His nose had broken from the first swing and with each subsequent punch blood splashed out and spattered against Joe.

  ‘Joe!’ Melanie screamed at him now, ‘Come to me now.’ Joe stopped although mostly because his already shocked body was simply too tired to continue beating at Peake. He leaned back from the bloodied Doctor and stood and as he was about to turn to Melanie his dazed mind recalled that something had exploded on the harbour. He turned to look and saw the impossible.

  The creature towered above the remains of the harbour buildings, a lithe, muscular thing, its scaled skin glistened in the moonlight. Its form was humanoid. It stood on two huge legs that were slightly crouched, its arms were out from its sides as though it were about to leap and grab at something. The head was a terrifying vision, eyes the size of a small car turned slowly. Its mouth held two rows of teeth like sabres and great webbed plumes draped down across its shoulders from the head.

  The behemoth stared down at them impassively, the enormous saucers reflecting the fires that continued to spread across the town. Mother Hydra brought a huge webbed hand swinging across her front and the remaining harbour buildings were swept away in a single terrific crash.

  ‘Mother!’ Melanie called and a smile that appeared beatific to Joe beamed from her face. The great hand which had just disintegrated the harbour buildings now reached down and Joe stood stock still in abject fear.

  The vast fingers of Mother Hydra’s hand came within a foot of Joe and delicately plucked the groaning Peake from the floor.

  Mother Hydra let Peake fall a few feet into the palm of her other hand and the great eyes swivelled back to Melanie, ‘Yes, Mother,’ Melanie cried out, ‘Yes that’s him.’

  Joe could hear Peake moaning, remonstrating with the creature, invoking the name of Father Dagon, ‘Lord and Master of us all.’ he whimpered.

  Mother Hydra closed her fingers into a fist and Joe watched horrified as Peake’s guts oozed out of his mouth as the thing squeezed the life out of him. Done with him she tossed the Doctor’s destroyed body into the sea behind her and as he watched its descent Joe was sure that he could see creatures, other kinds of creatures, leaping up to snap at the bloody corpse as it fell to them.

  Melanie laughed and uttered words in an alien tongue. As she did this the creature lowered its body a little and stretched out its hand onto the floor, the palm up. Joe could see that the scaled skin was slick with Peake’s blood.

  Melanie turned to Joe. ‘You can leave here now Joe, leave and forget this place. There is a room inside the lodge filled with the treasures the Deep Ones bring to the town. Enough to make you rich a thousand times over. Take it, make a new life’

  Joe couldn’t speak. His terror was so great that he was still rooted to the spot and thoughts of anything other than listening to Melanie were unable to form in his mind.

  ‘Mother wants nothing more than the sea for our home, but Dagon wants it all because He wants it all. You will be safe if you keep away from the seas. The Great Mother will protect me.’

  She stepped forward and placed her arms around his neck. She kissed his lips but Joe couldn’t respond. He could see her neck and noticed discreet dark lines across her skin that seemed to pulse a little.

  ‘One day you will see your daughter, and she will be beautiful, a child of both worlds.’ Her arms released him and she caressed his cheek with her fingers. ‘Goodbye Joe,’ she said, and stepped onto the waiting palm of Mother Hydra.

  The creature lifted Melanie up and a strange sonorous voice travelled through the night air. Melanie sat, crossed legged, still watching Joe. The melodic song ended. Mother Hydra turned and began to walk back into the depths of the sea.

  The creature held Melanie before her as she waded out into the harbour and stopped once the swell was at her chest. Melanie stood and with an agile leap, dived from the monsters claw. Mother Hydra’s vast bulk disappeared into the black sea after her. Both of them were gone.

  Joe collapsed to the floor as though a spell had broken. His breathing was course and heavy, shock threatened to drive him all the way to unconsciousness but he fought it off with thoughts of the others who needed him, Kevin and the Roscregan men who had come to rescue him. Unsteadily, he got back to his feet, almost tripping on the long robe.

  He walked away from the lodge and could see Kevin emerging from under the truck, the other man followed him but more slowly, terrified of what might still be out there. They met by the body of Macgregor.

  ‘What the fuck was that Joe?’ Kevin said. ‘What did I just see?’

  ‘I don’t know. I don’t know what any of this is.’ Joe replied. ‘I should have listened to you.’

  ‘Aye.’ Kev replied. They stood silently for a moment. The only sound was that of burning timbers crashing down along the road and the swelling sea that crashed against the ruined harbour.

  Finally Joe spoke. ‘What do we do?’ There are others here...this place... it’s rotten to the core,’ He looked at the inferno that had taken hold ahead, ‘do we burn it?’

  ‘Do you have a better idea?’ Kevin replied.

  ‘No.’ Joe answered shaking his head.

  ‘Then let’s burn it all.’ Kevin said. ‘And when we are done here maybe we should find out where else these things have infested and put a fire to them as well.’

  Joe nodded. London had never seemed further away to him and now he no longer cared.

  THE END

  About the author

  Eddie Skelson has been a doorman, a nightclub manager, a store manager, an office manager and an extra for untold BBC dramas and soaps. He plays board games and card games, is a gracious loser and an awful winner. He studied his MA in Creative Writing at Keele University and has Degrees in both English Literature and History.

  He has two children, a do
g and a seemingly immortal goldfish. His partner Suzanne makes him write this stuff. So blame her.

  Other works:

  Crowley: The Ravensblack Affair (novella)

  Crowley: Mad Dogs and Englishmen (novella)

  Due out late 2015

  Crowley: By Day and By Night (novella)

  New York Zombie

  The Whitby Horror and other tales (anthology)