Three Mile Drove, Chapter Twenty Seven (standard:horror, 1403 words) [28/29] show all parts
Author: Brian Cross	Added: May 14 2008	Views/Reads: 2680/1908	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
For Darren Goldwater, the turmoil that has plagued Three Mile Drove is almost over, but will he survive it?

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

hear her breathing, slow and controlled. It was as if she was daring 
Tomblin to pull the trigger, in the faint light he could see his son 
hunched and expectant, in both faces never had the inherent madness 
been more apparent. 

It was true that in darkness there was light. 

And those words rang now from the back of the barn as Endleberry
emerged, his body a ball of flame, rolling over and over on the straw 
littered floor, his dark cloak gold in the heat of the fire. Old man 
Tomblin glared in anguish and then horror as the burning figure rose 
and rushed, its fiery arms stretched towards him. He shot blindly into 
the air but in his panic he'd found only the barn roof. He felt hands 
on his face like hot coals from hell; he felt the flames burning into 
it with a savage swiftness as the raging inferno turned itself on his 
son. But it was the cloak that caught Shaun Tomblin, a black scorching 
mask across his face, searing his eyes in a sheet of white blindness. 

Claire recoiled from the scene around her, feeling for her daughter in
the dazzling heat of the fire that spread like an uncoiling snake 
across the barn floor. Darren gripped her arm; this time there really 
was no way out. 

His senses reeling, he felt Claire's tug, urging him backwards, becoming
aware of her throaty cry, ‘Back here, the way David must have come. He 
must have realised what I did...' 

Darren felt the scorching heat in his lungs and smelled the sickly
stench of burning bodies but he couldn't resist a backwards glance to 
where Jacob Tomblin, Shaun Tomblin and Endleberry had merged into one 
solid wall of fire. But the fire was all encompassing now, ‘Endleberry 
must have fired the barn and set himself alight in the process, the 
bloody fool,' Darren gasped between breaths that felt like dagger 
thrusts. 

Claire heard Darren's words but she didn't reply. Urgency over-ruled it.
The small exit at the rear, the one she and Endleberry used, was their 
only hope. But that was where the fire had started before in the 
darkness, Claire had no doubt; Endleberry had turned it on himself. And 
there, seemingly unafraid of the flames that leapt from the ground 
licking his huge warped frame stood Joseph, a forbidding sentry denying 
their escape. Darren pulled her up sharp, seeing the glare in her eyes 
as he did. 

‘What the hell are you doing?' Claire tightened her grip on her
daughter. 

‘You're not going to run at that thing,' Darren panted as Joseph's
twisted mouth curved into a leer, ‘it would be like taking on a wild 
dog.' 

‘What other choice do we have...' 

‘Then let me,' Darren thrust himself in front of her before she could
react, her own bravery fuelling his actions he launched himself through 
the acrid air but the huge Joseph held his weight with just a slight 
stagger backwards towards the exit he'd guarded. Darren felt the 
powerful arms squeeze tightly about him, feeling the constriction in 
his stomach then so tightly into his lungs he feared they would burst. 
Suddenly and just as quickly he felt the hold slacken and eyes widening 
in disbelief saw Joseph slump to the burning floor. 

‘Grab my hand!' the urgent call cut through the crescendo of the fire
and snatching hold Darren felt himself pulled into the welcome relief 
of the night air. He saw the policeman, his bulletproof suit as dark as 
the night, and seeing the gun in his gloved hand realised Joseph's 
demise. 

‘Claire – she's still inside, I can't see her!' Darren shouted at his
rescuer, his eyes fixed on the wall of flames that encompassed the 
narrow exit. Then he heard a child's scream, he heard its mother's 
urgent shout and then both of them were outside, propelled by their own 
momentum to roll on the soaked peat outside the barn. 

Darren's feet were scorching but he couldn't have cared less about that.
Claire was free and hauling herself shakily to her feet, am arm clasp 
around her crying daughter. He closed his arms around them both and 
closed his eyes to the rain filled night sky; his heart was beating two 
to the dozen while around him the hopeless task of abating the fire 
began. 


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