Three Mile Drove, Chapter Twenty Four (standard:horror, 1872 words) [25/29] show all parts
Author: Brian Cross	Added: Jan 30 2008	Views/Reads: 2802/2175	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Darren Goldwater is captive in a world he never knew existed. Approaching the conclusion of a serialisation of Three Mile Drove

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

Goldwater, pop musician turned hero in her eyes. There he lay, groping 
her daughter in full view of the whole ghastly herd of morons that were 
assembled like a weird audience watching a grotesque cabaret. 

‘You bastard.' She pushed past Tomblin to set about Darren. She would
have placed her hands around his scrawny neck and squeezed for all she 
was worth, but Darren had seen his chance. He rolled away from the girl 
and out of Claire's reach, and springing to his feet grabbed the gold 
chain that hung around Tomblin's neck. It pulled Tomblin forward and he 
lost his balance as Darren brought his head down hard on the bridge of 
his nose. 

‘I'll explain, but this isn't a good time,' he shouted at Claire. He'd
seen the wild look on her face but with Tomblin grounded, his face 
splattered with blood, he was more concerned with Joseph, who came 
screeching at him, egged on by the wailing of his kindred. 

He was no match for Joseph's power, but he grabbed the only weapon to
hand. The oil lamp. He smashed it into the bulbous face just as the 
thing mounted its frenzied attack. Cries of anguish and spittle came 
out of its twisted mouth, flames lit the air around them and thunder 
and lightning crashed, before it went eerily dark. 

Darren, dazzled by the glare and contrasting darkness, saw only spots
before his eyes, while all around came the sound of moaning and 
wailing. 

He heard the child whimper, and as his eyes began to recover, searching
the darkness for what little light there was, he saw Claire's 
silhouette crouched beside it, he saw the whites of her eyes. She 
seemed like a cat preparing to pounce. 

He swung round. Joseph, shrieking with pain had bolted for the door, the
other creatures, crying in alarm followed close behind. 

Tomblin murmured something. He was coming round. 

Darren raked his boot into the side of Tomblin's face. Suddenly all was
silent. He turned back to face Claire, arms outstretched, ‘Look, I know 
what it looks like, but it isn't like that.' He met the girl's 
wide-eyed stare as she turned towards Claire, ‘He told me not to worry, 
that he wouldn't hurt me, just to trust him.' The girl's voice broke 
the silence, ‘I couldn't do it. I was too frightened, but I think he 
meant it.' 

Darren was gob smacked at her fluency, and suddenly the anger in her
eyes subsided a little. 

‘They tried to make me have intercourse with her. I wouldn't have done
that I promise you. I was just trying to play along, hoping that 
something would happen. Something like this I suppose.' 

He looked hard at Claire, willing her to believe his words, ‘I couldn't
do it with a child.' 

Darren sensed that she wanted to believe him, but wasn't certain that
she did. Despite the awful sights, the frightening scenes he'd 
witnessed, it was important to him that she believed that. 

Her eyes met his for a long second, then remembering that she still had
McPherson's torch she searched her pocket, then finding it, shone it on 
Tomblin. ‘You put the boot in well there, he's out cold. But what do we 
do now?' 

Darren swung round; the torch threw its beam on the barn support to
which he'd been roped. He stretched an arm out towards Tomblin, 
beckoned to Claire to do the same. ‘We'll turn the tables on him I 
think. Lend a hand.' 

They dragged Tomblin across the barn floor, his feet trailing in the
muck, grime and faeces that had accumulated there over years, perhaps 
decades, Darren thought. 

‘I should thank you for coming to my aid,' he said, thankful for her
resourcefulness. 

‘I was coming to the aid of the girl,' Claire blushed over the partial
lie, but Darren had not seen it, though it wasn't only the poor light 
that had caused that. 

‘Yes of course,' Darren glanced at the young girl behind them, stared at
the similarity between them, realising why the face had seemed so 
familiar, coincidence of course, but a striking likeness all the same. 
Thunder boomed from above, so loud it shook the rafters, as Darren 
clamped the rope around Tomblin's hands and secured it to the support, 
while Claire held him rigid. 

‘I called the police on Tim's radio,' she said, ‘they should be here any
minute.' 

Darren gave her an awkward glance, checked the knot. ‘Let's get out of
here, I can't stand the stench a moment longer,' he paused, ‘where is 
McPherson then?' 

Claire shone the torch towards the open door where Joseph and the other
creatures had fled, ‘He fell down a ditch and broke his ankle.' 

‘Just as I thought,' Darren got to his feet and offering a hand, pulled
her up, ‘the sort of guy you can count on in a crisis.' 

‘If that was supposed to be a joke Darren, it's not the time, and it's
in rank bad taste.' He saw the glare in her eyes return and experienced 
a mounting resentment that she should be sticking up for him. He fought 
it back. 

‘So you came alone. You're one very brave lady.' He led Claire, her own
hand trailing her daughter, to the barn entrance, and then as lightning 
flared continuously onto the circular clearing outside, they froze. 

In the clearing stood Joseph, his face bloated from the impact of the
oil lamp, his twisted mouth open, his hooded eyes fixed firmly upon 
them. He was ringed by at least a dozen of what were supposedly his 
family, whose number seemed to have been swollen by the contents of the 
huts. 

Darren glanced at Claire and swallowed heavily, ‘We can slip past them
if we're quick, lose them in the dark, as well as you know this place.' 


‘No we can't,' Claire shot Darren an agitated glance, ‘There's somebody
else there, I saw him in the lightning.' 

‘So what? Things can't get any worse than they are now.' 

‘Can't they, I'm not so sure.' 

‘Why?' 

But Claire wasn't listening. Taking her daughter's hand she edged back
into the barn, Darren following, a cautious eye on the clearing but 
seeing only darkness. He shut the barn door as Claire shone his torch 
into the darkness, checking that Tomblin was firmly secured. ‘I don't 
think we should run, that's just what they'll be expecting us to do. 
Darren, these people might seem as if they haven't a brain cell between 
them, but they aren't totally stupid, they know the area as well as I 
do. We  won't make it,' she lowered her eyes to her daughter, 
‘especially not with her.' ‘We can't just stop here either,' Darren 
said edgily, feeling his way in the darkness. ‘We're sitting ducks. And 
anyway, who or what was it you saw.' 

Claire raking her fingers through her daughter's tousled hair, seemed to
evade his question, ‘I've told you. It's only a matter of time. The 
police are on their way.' 

‘It seems to be taking a hell of a long time. I don't understand all
this. It's like being dropped into another world. And you know more 
than you're letting on, don't you. How did you get mixed up in all 
this?' 

Claire sighed, ‘It's a long story. I don't feel up to it right now.' 

‘Perhaps I can help then,' a gruff voice spoke. 


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