Four Corners Dark: Horror Stories (12 page)

He led Donald to the closet, through the panel and into the hidden hallway.

“What is this place?” Donald asked.

“It is an escape way built by bootleggers,” Joseph answered. The corridor was lined with rough timbers and mortar. Joseph continued, “It leads to various points within the lodge and the surrounding grounds.”

Donald followed behind Joseph until they reached an exterior door. Cold air greeted them when they stepped into the woods. The outer door was camouflaged to blend in with the trees, Donald watched as it swung closed and disappeared into the foliage. He followed Joseph to the Jeep parked at the end of the drive. The hatch was open with a tarp and shovels packed in the back.

“Sorry for the secrecy,” Joseph said. “I didn’t want to wake the others. Ima is in enough trouble already and I don’t want to involve her in this.”

“In what,” Donald asked. “What exactly are we doing?”

“We are going to retrieve the remains of the Raven Mocker,” Joseph answered.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

A
breeze swayed the pines along the winding ribbon of the road and the first shimmers of orange light appeared in the eastern sky.

“Where are we going?” Donald asked.

“We are going into Silverton,” he answered. The creature is weakest before sunrise so we need to move quickly.”

The road, which had no guard rails, ran only feet from the edge of a deep ravine. Donald grasped for a handhold when Joseph swerved to avoid a black bird in the road.

“Shit what was that?” Donald asked.

“A warning,” he answered. “We need to hurry.”

They reached the edge of town as the yellow glow of the sun appeared above the horizon. Founded in the 1800s, Silverton’s town square was a collection of buildings centered on a brick courthouse. Joseph pulled the Jeep into a field near the graveyard and caught the stone pile in the beam of the headlights.

“This is it,” he said.

Joseph got out of the truck, retrieved the shovels and tarp and said, “We must be fast. People do not come back into town until daybreak, but sometimes the sheriff arrives earlier.”

The two men shoveled the stones onto the tarp, and then dug into the oily black earth digging up clumps of dirt and bone. The stench sickened Donald. He stumbled away from the pile and vomited onto the ground. Composing himself, he straightened up and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief.

“Jesus,” he said. “That smells horrible.”

Joseph nodded and then began sprinkling herbs around the putrid mix. When completed, he folded the corners of the tarp and then tied them together with a strand of rope.

“Give me a hand,” Joseph said.

The two men grappled with the load and swung it into the back of the truck. The soil surrounding the empty grave was scorched black with claw marks raking the inside of the hole. They drove back to the lodge with the windows open, preferring the cold air to the stench of their cargo.

Ima and Brenda were waiting in the driveway when they returned.

“Where were you?” Ima asked when the two men got out of the car.

“We had something important to do,” Joseph answered.

“Where’s Abby?” Brenda asked.

“Not with us,” Donald said.

“She’s not in her room,” Brenda said. “We thought she was with you.”

Joseph walked off behind the lodge without saying a word. Donald was explaining what they had done when he returned in the ATV.

“Abby has gone into the woods,” he said.

“How do you know?” Ima asked.

“I just know.”

“Donald help me here,” Joseph said.

The two men wrestled the tarp into the back seat of the ATV. Donald ran ahead to the lodge and swung open the front doors allowing Joseph to drive through the great room and down the hallway to the mirror. Joseph opened the mirror and drove down to the floor of the cave. Donald called out from the hallway above.

“Joseph?”

“Yes Donald, down here.”

Donald followed the lights of the ATV through the darkness and down the stone steps. “What is this place?” he asked.

“This lodge is a fortress and this is part of its defenses. Unlike most castles, this one was designed to keep out the spirit world rather than invaders and cannon fire.”

Donald ran his hand across the cool smooth walls of the cave.

“Solid granite,” Joseph said. “The entire structure sits on granite bedrock. There are elements embedded within the stone that emit a natural radiation which prevents energy from penetrating.”

“What about the water?” Donald asked.

“These channels were carved into the bedrock to direct water flow from the river. This essence of life is an attractant to the spirit world and also a barrier against dark things which will resist crossing it. Help me with this,” Joseph said grabbing a corner of the tarp.

The two men heaved the tarp onto the stone floor.

“Now we must find Abby before nightfall,” Joseph said. “Get in,” he said gesturing to the ATV.

Joseph started the engine which created a deafening roar in the cave. He maneuvered the vehicle up the stone steps and out the front doors of the lodge where Brenda and Ima came out to meet them.

“What about Abby?” Brenda asked.

“Donald and I will go find her,” Joseph answered.

“I’m going too,” Ima said.

“Me too,” Brenda added moving towards the ATV.

“You need to stay Brenda, in case Abby shows up here,” Joseph said.

“But I can help find her. You know that Joseph.”

Joseph nodded in agreement and grabbed the controls of the ATV. Donald climbed in beside him with Brenda and Ima in the back. Ima pulled her gun from its holster, chambered a bullet and held the weapon with two hands.

“That will not help here,” Joseph said.

“Let’s see about that,” insisted Ima.

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

T
hey sped across the field and onto the bridge, the knobby tires reverberated until they crossed over and the world went quiet.

Brenda clasped her hands over her ears and began to scream, “No!”

Joseph hit the brakes and the vehicle slid to a stop.

“What’s wrong, Brenda?” Ima asked.

She bolted from the ATV and ran back across the bridge. Donald followed and found her hunched over a stone wall.

“I am okay now,” Brenda said. “The voices over there are deafening and saying such horrible things. I can walk back to the lodge by myself. Go find Abby, I’ll be fine.”

She stood up and brushed herself off.

“Be careful,” she said then turned and walked towards the lodge.

Donald re-joined the others and they continued into the woods where a dark curtain of foliage surrounded them. Sound and light were muted and the air was flat and cold. Only Joseph saw the trail that Abby had left, a transparent vapor floating above the path.

“She is this way,” he said steering the vehicle off the path.

They idled through the misty forest and found Abby lying in a pile of leaves. She wore a white nightgown and lay completely still. Joseph stopped the vehicle and all jumped out and ran to her. Ima knelt next to Abby to check her condition while Joseph removed leaves from her hair. Abby’s eyes fluttered open and she plunged a knife into Joseph’s side. Ima knocked Abby unconscious with the butt of her gun.

Donald helped Ima carry Joseph and Abby to the ATV where Ima applied pressure to Joseph’s wound. Donald started the ATV and raced the vehicle back to the lodge.

“No hospital. Get us inside,” Joseph said.

“You need a doctor,” Ima insisted.

“A doctor can’t help, get us inside,” Joseph urged.

Ima and Donald carried Joseph into the great room and placed him on the floor in front of the fireplace.

“First aid kit,” he said pointing towards the kitchen.

Ima sprang towards the kitchen and opened cabinets until she found the kit. Donald and Brenda struggled to carry Abby upstairs as she thrashed and fought to get free.

“I want her sedated and restrained,” Ima called out. “Check the back of my truck for something to hold her, my keys are on the table,” she added pointing towards the alcove.

Ima turned back to Joseph. She held a towel against his side and put pressure on the wound.

“Let me take a look,” Ima said.

He raised his arm and exposed a two-inch puncture oozing blood.

“Just a flesh wound,” he said with a weak smile.

Ima smiled back. He was a tough old guy. Living out here all these years had seen to that.

“Okay this is going to sting,” she said.

She poured disinfectant on the wound and he stiffened and winced in pain.

“Sorry Joseph,” she said.

“It’s okay,” he said with a nod.

She bandaged the wound and examined her work. As a deputy she received medical training but never had to use it before.

“We will have to change this every few hours,” Ima said. “But I still want to get you to the hospital.”

“Not safe,” Joseph said. “You saw what happened to Terry.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

D
onald and Brenda walked down the staircase into the great room. Joseph rested under a plaid blanket with Ima at his side, the firelight created shadows on his weathered face.

“How is he doing?” Donald asked.

“Good, he’s strong,” Ima answered. “The bleeding has stopped and the knife didn’t hit any major organs. He was lucky. The pocket of his jacket was full of stones which shielded him.”

Ima held up the worn leather jacket, the pocket was torn and stained with blood.

“What about Abby?” Ima asked.

“She’s okay,” Donald said. “We handcuffed her to the bed and gave her a sedative. She’s sleeping.”

“Something has gotten to her,” Brenda said. “Abby would never hurt anyone.”

“So what now?” asked Ima.

Donald gestured towards the hallway. “We need to bury that thing and figure out what Calvin Smith was looking for. I’m going to the study to see what I can find.”

“Ima?” Joseph called out weakly.

The fading light of the sun streamed through the back windows.

“Yes, Joseph,” Ima answered.

“We need to prepare the house for the night,” he said. “All of the doors and windows must be bolted shut and I need my bag.” He tried to get up.

“Joseph, lay still. I’ll get it,” Ima said.

“It’s against the wall. Thank you,” he said weakly.

Ima brought the bag and sat next to him on the couch.

“Now tell me what to do,” she said.

“Empty the contents on the table there,” he said.

With Brenda’s help, Ima organized the contents of Joseph’s bag into three rows of stones, medallions and bags of herbs.

“It will be coming tonight,” Joseph said. “We must be ready when it does. Secure this room by putting stones in a circle around the center of it. Between each stone sprinkle the herbs. Keep a medallion on each of you, and make sure to give one to Donald and Abby.”

Ima went to work placing the stones and herbs around the room. The mix was pungent with specks of salt and green leaves. Brenda picked up a medallion then walked to the study and knocked on the mirror door.

“Come in,” she heard Donald say.

She slid open the mirror and found Donald hunched over the desk. Books were strewn all around him. He wore horn-rim glasses and his brown hair was disheveled.

“Any luck?” she asked.

He answered slowly. “Well, yes. I now know what we need to find to stop the Raven Mocker.”

“That’s great,” Ima exclaimed. “But what’s wrong?”

“We are searching for a needle in a field of haystacks.”

Upstairs, Ima put a medallion around Abby’s neck. She was asleep with a bandage on her forehead. She felt bad about hitting her, but Abby had given her no choice. Turning to leave, she noticed a medallion similar to the ones Joseph had given them. It was lying in the window near Abby’s bed. She hung the medallion on the window latch and saw something shine out in the woods. It looked like a signal.

Ima went downstairs and made her way past a sleeping Joseph and into the kitchen. She found the binoculars and trained them on the woods where a woman stood at the tree line. She turned on a flashlight then stepped outside and walked across the field behind the lodge. The woman stood on the far side of the bridge holding an object that glimmered in the beam of the light.

Ima called out, “You there. I am a police officer. Please identify yourself.”

The woman swayed back and forth but said nothing. Ima walked across the bridge and trained her light on the woman. It was Abby, dressed in white, holding her medallion. She held it front of her face and stared at it as it spun on its chain. Ima holstered her weapon and walked over to her.