B008GMVYA4 EBOK (18 page)

A piercing pain shot up her arm from the spot where Rich had
gripped it, her body became weightless - air born. Madison was flying through
the air, over the Corridor at the stop of the staircase. Rich had launched
Madison into the air, thrown her across the corridor and into his room. She
glided through the open doorway, only catching a glimpse of the doorframe as
she pasted it, bracing herself for impact. Rich had grabbed and thrown her
without warning, he launched her into the air as if she weighed no more than a
tennis ball. She flew in slow motion, only hearing the rush of air past her
ears. She turned in mid flight to see the wooden floor growing closer to her
fragile body. The left side of her body impacted with the wooden floor causing
her to scream out in pain. She slid across the wooden floor, the arch of her
back impacting with the base of an old brown sofa. She gasped several times as
the air was knocked out of her. Struggling to breathe through the severe pain
in her back and along the left side of her body, she fell forwards, her chin
impacting with the hard wooden floor. She cried out in pain, tears streaming
down her cheeks.

Bernie entered the room followed by Rich who shut the door
behind him. Suddenly Madison became aware of a foul smell that filled the air.
It was the same smell she had smelt on the upstairs corridor of the house many
times, but ten times stronger. She gagged, swallowing down a mouthful of vomit.

Bernie laughed as Madison fought to settle her stomach and
stop the vomit from rising.

Once she had controlled her gag reflex she looked up to see
both men circling her like a bird of prey. She eyed them both wearily. Rich on
her right side and Bernie on her left, she scanned the room frantically for a
way to escape.

Rich’s room was bigger than Madison‘s, the walls were
discoloured like the rest of the house. In right corner by the door was a
kitchen counter that was stained brown with a sticky black substance caked over
it. A vile smell of dirty water flowed from the sink, setting off Madison’s gag
reflex yet again. The cooker that sat in the centre of the counter was covered
in thick black grease, a lot worse than the cooker in Madison room had been.
Another green sofa which was similar to the one in Madison’s room was centered
in front of the big bay window. 

“You really should be more careful who you make friends
with...” Bernie said, slowly kneeing down beside her.

“Please… Why are you doing this?” Madison whispered, tears
spilling down her cheeks. A sharp pain flooded into her chest as she spoke
making her words crackly.

“You led a Vampire to our home. I’m sorry it has to come to
this... I had other plans for us, but it’s too late now...” Bernie said running
his fingers through Madison’s hair lovingly.

“Don’t. Touch. Me” Madison spat, flinching at his touch.

“You are so beautiful, you know? Such a waste… And to think
I thought that maybe I could turn you” Bernie went on, ignoring Madison’s
repulsion towards him and beginning to trace the outline of her jaw with his
finger tips.

“Enough!” Rich cut in.

The door at the end of the room which led through to the
bathroom flew open, Suzie stepped through. Madison’s eyes moved from Suzie’s
feet up her body to her face. She gasped in terror as she caught a glimpse of
Suzie’s eyes that were now a ghostly, milky white. Her skin had become grayish
and her mouth was parted reliving a set of razor sharp teeth. All the usual,
normal features of the small Chinese girl had now diminished. What now stood in
the doorway was not even close to human, her skin and eyes gave the appearance
that she had been dead for days. The set of teeth in her mouth was like
something out of a horror movie, every tooth a brownish black with dark
translucent salvia that flowed down between each tooth.

Madison became distracted by something that Suzie was
holding that glimmered in the light. She focused on it; Suzie gripped a bread
knife in her hand, it was stained with fresh blood. A few droplets of blood
fell to the wooden floor next to her bare feet.

Panic spread across Madison’s face, her senses ran out of
control causing her mind to spiral into complete chaos. She was helpless; there
was nothing she could do to escape her fate and she didn’t know exactly what
she was dealing with. It was becoming clear that her house mates were not
human.

Rich and Bernie smiled widely with satisfaction at her
Madison’s eyes flashed full of fear and panic. An even worse smell flowed out
from the bathroom behind Suzie - a smell of rotten flesh. Madison had never
smelt anything like it before; it was the foulest smell she had ever smelt. She
couldn’t hold back the urge to vomit this time, she leant forwards gagging, and
vomit flowed instantly out of her mouth onto the wooden floor in front of her.
As Madison sat there, injured on the hard wooden floor, a pool of vomit in
front of her, she found a strange sense of clarity in everything she had
experience while living in the hell house for the last three weeks. The constant
smell that lingered around the corridors and it always got stronger when Rich’s
bedroom door was open. And the smell that had been present in her bathroom when
she had first moved in, at the time she had never been able to put her finger
on what the smell was, but now it started to make sense. The strange sleeping
patterns of the three housemates, and how they never seemed to leave the bedsit
until the middle of the night - Madison had always suspected there was
something not right about them. Originally she had come to the conclusion that
it was drugs, but it was clearly much more than that. Like the two boys in the
train station, they were something else unnatural. The faces of the two boys
hadn’t been a hallucination, what she had seen had been real. Whatever the two
boys were they were different from her three house mates.

Mystified by the new revelations that had been brought to
light, Madison didn’t know what to do or how to escape. She sat back upright
and wiped the vomit away from her mouth. Her eyes flickered back towards Suzie.
She gazed past her small, dead, frail body into the open bathroom. Blood was
splattered up the walls and a large puddle of blood covered the small bathroom
floor. Madison stared in silence for a second; fear had sunk in, rending her
paralyzed.

“Oh my god...” Madison whispered, not fully coherent. She
let her head roll backwards and her body lean against the front of the green
sofa. The room began to go black around her, and her thoughts were consumed by
people she would leave behind when her housemates killed her. Tears trickled
down her cheeks; she closed her eyes tight in sorrow. Even though
subconsciously Madison had accepted her fate, her body tensed itself -
preparing to fight whatever was coming next. She opened her eyes to find Bernie
had left her side and was now towering above her next to Rich. Their eyes had
transformed into the white milky colour Suzie were. Their skin the same
grayish, corpse like, and their mouths parted relieving a set of razor sharp
teeth.

Unable to contain her fear - Madison screamed at the top of
her lungs. She prayed for someone to hear her and hoped that Brendan was still
nearby. But these old houses were built differently to new houses - the sound
stayed inside and didn’t escape through the thick concrete walls.

“Please……I’m sorry! “ Madison screamed, frantically looking
from each of her three housemates.

“Fresh meat…” Suzie hissed her voice unnatural and wild with
hunger.

“I’m sorry it has to be this way…” Bernie muttered a spark
of humanity in his voice.

“Bernie, please! I won’t tell anyone, I promise!” Madison
cried.

Rich held his hand out to Suzie and slowly she placed the
bread knife into his hand.

“No! Please!” Madison shouted.

“I’m really going to enjoy this” Rich said walking towards
her.

Pain circulated in Madison’s lower back and ran down her
legs as she tried to rise from the cold hard floor. She pushed her limp body up
with the palms of her hands, but
Bernie’s pressed down on her shoulders
- forcing her back down on the floor. She lunged at Bernie, throwing her fists
at him wildly. Bernie deflected her onslaught, laughing mockingly at her
attempts. He straddled her, pushing her body flat on the floor and holding her
still.

“Get off me!! Please!! Get off!!” Madison screamed, the
tears flowing fast and fear heightening her voice.

Bernie was too strong for her to fight off, she couldn’t
even move under heavy body. There was no hope left, she was powerless and fate
had dealt her an unjust hand.

Rich lent over Madison’s head, covering her mouth with is
hand preventing her from screaming. However, this didn’t prevent Madison from
trying - muffled screams sounded through Rich’s chubby fingers.

Rich held the bread knife to Madison’s cheek. He applied
pressure, not enough to break the skin but enough so Madison could feel the
grooves of the serrated knife. Her eyes widened as her blood ran cold. Every
feeling she had before had now vanished, what was left was a bitter plague of
dread for the enviable. The sound of Bernie and Rich’s heavy breathing above
her and Suzie’s erratic laughing and clapping ecstatically was now drowned out
by the sound of her heart beat thumping loudly in her ears.  She screamed
as Rich applied more pressure to the bread knife, piercing her skin. A few beads
of blood spilled out and dribbled down her cheek.

SMASH!!!

The window exploded, shards of glass rained down on all four
of them.  Heavily feet landed with a thud on the solid wooden floor. Rich
removed the bread knife from Madison’s face and Bernie loosened his hold. She
struggled under the weight of Bernie turning her head in the opposite direction
to see what had caused the window to smash.  Brendan stood motionless at
the foot of the window, his feet surrounded by glass. Bernie rose to his feet
in astonishment, Suzie lunging to his side in flash. Both of their bodies
positioned defensively towards Brendan - preparing for a fight. Rich kept one
hand on Madison’s shoulder keeping her flat on the floor, like a feline
protecting its prey. Rich raised the bread knife and directed at Brendan. Suzie
opened her mouth exposing her black razor sharp teeth; an unholy howl erupted
from her throat spilling out into the room. It pierced Madison’s ears, causing
her pain and sending her into a dizzy spell. It was the same howl she had heard
many times when walking alone down the alleyway towards the house. It was the
most unnatural, animal-like howl she had ever heard, causing every hair on her
body to stand on end.

Brendan didn’t flinch, his face was lowered towards the
floor but his crystal blue eyes stared straight towards Rich. Suzie flinched
and leapt up into the air, flying over Madison and Rich landing right in front
of Brendan. Brendan stayed motionless and relaxed until she had fully landed.
Suzie jabbed at Brendan. He moved fast dodging side to side, deflecting her
jabs and kicks. In an instant Brendan lunged towards Suzie, she responded by
flying forward to meet him. But she was nowhere near as fast and as strong as
Brendan. He punched her in the stomach; she instantly doubled over - winded.
Brendan quickly stretched his arm around Suzie’s neck and twisted it. A loud
crack echoed through the room as Suzie’s neck broke in his arm. Madison winced
at the sound and shut her eyes tight removing the sight of Suzie’s lifeless
body falling slowly to the floor. Slowly Madison began to open her eyes; she
was confronted by the sight of Suzie pale, twisted body led at Brendan’s feet.
A loud pop sounded as Suzie’s body exploded into thick black ash that rained
down over the floor between Brendan and Bernie. Madison stared in disbelief as
the ash scattered the floor before her. Suzie’s body had now completely
vanished – nothing remained but the thick black ash that you get after a
bonfire.  

Rich and Bernie stared at the pile of ash on the floor. Rich
slowly rose from where he knelt by Madison and joined Bernie at his side.
Madison lay motionless for a second and then slowly pushed her body back up
against the old sofa, curling up into a protective ball. Both Bernie and Rich threw
back their heads, opened their mouths and released the same unnatural,
animal-like howl Suzie had. Madison screamed as the noise pierced her ears
again. She flung her hands up over her ears and struggled to see through the
dizziness it caused. Bernie and Rich’s black teeth grew bigger and sharper than
before and suddenly without warning, Bernie darted towards the bedroom door
throwing it open and running out into the hallway. Rich glanced confusingly
towards the Rich who was now darting over the corridor towards the staircase.
When Rich had disappeared from sight, Rich redirected his gaze back to Brendan
- flashing his teeth. He leapt towards Brendan continuing to flash his teeth
wildly. Brendan dodged out of the way, and punched Rich in the side of the
face. The strength of Brendan’s punch forced Rich up into the air and across
the room into the opposite wall - knocking him unconscious. Rich fell to the
floor and resurface. Brendan watched carefully for a second making sure Rich
wasn’t going to get back up and grab him unexpectedly. When Rich didn’t move
after a few seconds Brendan rushed towards Madison, his eyes full of panic and
sorrow. Madison stared at him blankly, her eyes cold and emotionless. Her ears
still rung from the high pitched howls of her housemates and she was in deep
shock. Her heart was still accelerated, causing Madison to now hyperventilate.
She took in short sharp breaths of oxygen; it hurt her lungs as she desperate
tried to inflate them. Her shell shocked body lend lifelessly on the dirty
wooden floor, Brendan scooped her up in his arms. She allowed her limp body to
be cradled again his cold chest; he gripped her body tightly as he carried
Madison out of Rich’s room into the corridor. Slowly Madison’s eyelids became
heavy and her mind began to shut down allowing the darkness in close in around
her. Madison faded into the calm, peaceful blackness – allowing it to consume
her completely.