The Maple Town Murders Part 3. The Cycle Begins (standard:horror, 1909 words) [3/3] show all parts
Author: Richard J Cobain	Added: Jun 02 2003	Views/Reads: 2636/1989	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A young drug dealer is chased into the forest by a cop after a terrible car crash and comes across something quite sinister.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

him back to reality. He had to get out of here.  He got to his feet and 
ran through the trees unaware that he tore a section of fabric from his 
right leg as he did so.  He ran on for a while guided by the light of 
the moon before he ran out of breath.  Would the cop chase him or not? 
That was the question he was asking himself.  Now a new thought 
occurred to him.  His boss would kill him when he found out that the 
drugs and the rented car were history.  "Shit" he cursed.  He 
considered going back to the car to search for the drugs but that was 
just too risky with the cop around.  Anyway the whole forest looked the 
same so he couldn't be sure of even finding his way back to the car, 
hadn't he heard somewhere before that when you were lost in the woods 
you had to walk with a limp to prevent you from going around in 
circles.  He doubted this but it could be true.  He was wondering what 
course of action to take when he thought he saw something large and red 
out of the corner of his eye.  He turned around and saw nothing but 
trees, but that didn't mean nothing was out there.  "Did i just imagine 
it?" he asked himself.  "Is anyone there?" he called timidly with 
crippling nervousness but received no reply.  Cold sweat began to pour 
down his face and he repeated the question but again got no response, 
but he could feel someone or something out there watching him, maybe 
hunting him.  Suddenly he heard a twig snap somewhere to his left and 
losing all sense of reason he ran away with a scream of terror as fast 
as his legs would carry him. 

Trent was just about to turn back and give up when he heard the scream. 
He was never so frightened before as he was now in his life.  He knew 
it had to be the man from the car crash and he also knew that he had to 
keep going on now whether he wanted to or not because that was a scream 
of absolute fear.  He walked on carefully pushing his way through the 
large branches with his gun in his right hand and his flashlight in the 
other.  He began to get the feeling that something wasn't right as he 
followed. 

Mark ran for what seemed like eternity before he was forced to stop.  He
was delirious with fright but he felt that he had left whatever that 
thing was behind.  But now a new fear inflamed him he could hear voices 
and they weren't that far away, he walked on a small bit and now he 
could see a fire through the trees.  "What the fuck is going on here?" 
he asked.  Although he was terrified curiosity got the better of him 
and he crept forward being careful not to make any noise.  "Oh my God" 
he gasped when he saw what was going on.  He was crouched behind a 
tree, which was one of many that were perpendicular to a massive 
circular treeless area in the forest, well there was one tree there and 
it was around this that the men were dancing.  There were six of them 
in total all wearing large red cloaks, which covered them from head to 
foot.  They had tied a woman who was apparently in the process of 
giving birth around the solitary tree.  She wasn't moaning too much and 
she looked terrible, Mark knew a trip when he saw one.  This woman was 
after having a lot of drugs, and Mark didn't think she took them 
willingly either.  Was that some kind of a castle behind them surely 
not, he rubbed his eyes but it was still there fading in and out of 
reality.  "Where am i?" he asked in confusion.  And then suddenly the 
baby was born; Mark couldn't believe what he was seeing.  A woman 
giving birth in the middle of a forest with a load of men in red robes 
around, what was happening here? Was it some kind of hick town 
tradition? He didn't think so.  Then one of the men picked up a black 
bag and pulled a crying lamb out of it.  Without a hint of remorse he 
cut the lambs throat wide open, then he walked over to the mother and 
began pouring the gushing blood onto the new born baby and as he did so 
the other men gathered around with black candles in their hands and 
began to chant in a strange language.  The only word that Mark could 
understand was Jack.  "I'm getting the fuck out of here" he said and 
got to his feet but when he turned to leave there was a man in red 
right behind him with a knife raised.  His violent scream was cut 
short. 

The second scream turned Trent's blood cold, it was worse than the first
if that was possible.  "Jesus Christ" he squeaked, "what's happening up 
there?”  He seriously considered turning back but knew he wouldn't be 
able to live with himself if he did; it was his duty to carry on.  He 
walked on with his heart pounding in his chest.  The scream had been 
closer this time and he had a good idea of the direction it had come 
from.  In a while he saw a dying fire ahead of him through the large 
trees.  He turned off his flashlight and placed both hands around the 
gun.  He stepped out of the tree cover with a deep breath and couldn't 
believe what he saw.  A man who was more than likely the escapee was 
hanging from a tree along with a woman in bloodstained clothes.  Both 
of their necks had been savagely cut.  The slashed body of a lamb lay 
at their feet.  The ground beneath them was saturated with dark blood.  
Trent began gasping for air thinking he was about to have a bad asthma 
attack, unknown to him two of the hooded men were standing behind him 
savouring the moment of kill. 

THE END. 

Richard J Cobain 


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