Inanimate (46 page)

As if
running out of life, each light
powered down, one by one all around him. In a matter of moments,
every light was out down here except the one above his head. If
Tony could have seen a bird’s eye view of his surroundings, he
would have thought he was under a spotlight. As all around him was
being painted in darkness, Tony felt marked. He put down his book
and his heart raced.

“
Sheriff?”

Nothing but silence responded to him. He
was about to call out again when he heard the laughter. A
child-friendly giggle sent his heart into his throat. Since Tony
had only seen Dog so far, he did not know what was laughing but he
knew it was not going to be good.

“
Peek-a-boo I see you!
Hahahaha!
Peek-a-boo I see
you!
Hahahaha!
Peek-a-boo I see you!
Hahahaha!”

Although the phrases were playful, there
was something scratchy in the voice, something dangerous. The laugh
was not that of a playful being, it was twisted, manic; Tony
imagined this was how a mad person would laugh. Slowly, he
approached the bars. As he squinted he could make out colorful
clothing in the darkness. Sitting on the ground opposite him, the
colorful chuckler had his back turned to Tony and was playing with
something but there was no way for Tony to know what that was.
Half-bathed in darkness, the intruder showed no interest in Tony;
instead it sat, playing with whatever it had in its hands. Quietly,
Tony pushed up on his tiptoes to peer over the shoulder of the
figure sitting ahead. Only a hint of light illuminated the object
in Basket’s hands but that was more than enough for Tony. His eyes
widened in horror as he saw a severed head being used as a
plaything and although he didn’t recognize Kyle, (Amanda’s
boyfriend) he wasn’t any less terrified. Basket was playing
peek-a-boo with it as if he were playing with a child. Suddenly
Basket’s head turned around completely to face the terrified
Tony.

“
Peek-a-boo!
I see you!”

The clown’s body swiveled round to match
the angle of its head and it stood up. Aggressively it threw Kyle’s
head at the bars and used the distraction to disappear into the
darkness.

Tony
was white, he felt sick and confused.
His breath quickened as he tried to call out for help. Before
yelling, his eyes darted down to the head, rolling just outside the
bars, made up to resemble a clown’s features.

“
Sheriff!”

“
Sheriff!”

Tony cries were not manly, as his size may
have suggested. There was fear in them, raw primal fear.

“
Sheriff can’t hear you down
here. It’s just you and me now, and I promise I’ll put up a better
fight than Andy.”

The giggling, mocking voice could not
evoke a reply in Tony. Instead it provoked more yelling, and this
time it was more desperate.

“
Sheriff!”

Panic stole his breath and,
forcing him to pace in his cage, thinking of a way to save himself.
Pulling back to the backpack he
brought with him he pulled out a
flashlight. Tony may have been a bully but he was very good at
preparing himself for situations.

The beam shining into the
darkness was like a hot knife slicing through
butter
.

“
Looks like you won’t be needing
this!”

The maniacal voice accompanied
the downing of the last light above Tony’s head
.

“
Help!”

Tony cried out but the sound only echoed
in the dark basement, giving him the morbid impression the sound
was unable to escape to reach helps ears. The light beam shakily
moved from to side, searching for the creature. Something ran past
giggling but Tony missed couldn’t focus the beam on it. And again,
and again he missed it. Slowly he searched the room, knowing he was
fairly safe behind the bars. While waving the beam in large
swathes, he stopped when he came across a large pair of shoes just
outside the bars. Trembling, he moved the beam upwards. The light
dragged its way up the colorful figure, until it stopped at its
face. Drooling teeth surrounded by make-up, lightly covering what
looked like self-inflicted scars was too much for Tony. Tears
streamed down his face but he could not look away at the leering
clown. Basket stared right back at him, its eyes flickering like
bar code scanners. The clowns head shook and his mouth opened wide.
With a throaty shriek he lunged wildly at the bars, its eyes veiny
with a lust for blood. Circular white teeth gnashed furiously as
all his strength was being used to shake the cell to its core.
Shaking its body furiously Basket yelled out at the cowering
Tony.

“
Come on out, I just want to
play!”

“
Fuck off!”

Tony
yelled desperately but it made no
difference, Basket continued shaking crazily. Under continuous
strain, the old bars started to wiggle in the concrete, pushing
Tony to more desperate action.

“
I just want to
have some fun with
you!”

Basket was too busy laughing to hear
Tony’s reply.

“
Oh, you want to
have fun do
you?”

Desperately, the caged bully mustered up
whatever scraps of confidence he had in him. Pulling a pistol from
his belt he aimed it straight at the clown.

“
Uh-oh”
came Basket’s deliberately comical
response as he dropped to the ground, narrowly missing Tony’s slug.
While holding the flashlight in his other hand, Tony fired round
after round at the clown who jumped back and forward, flipping and
somersaulting over the bullets, dodging each one until the clip was
empty. After a few clicks, Basket stopped in the beam of Tony’s
shaky flashlight.

“
That was a terrible
idea
.”

Baskets voice sounded more human this
time. Its face melted into an expression of pure hatred. Now,
snarling more than laughing, Basket pounced onto the bars and
started shaking again. In his haste, Tony dropped the clip onto the
dark floor. He fumbled to find it desperately as he was running out
of time. Basket’s strength was obvious when one of the old bars
came right out the ground with a lump of concrete still attached.
But he did not relent; he continued his assault on the steel, about
to wrench off another one.

Basket pulled and pulled at the
steel as Tony desperately tried to put the clip into the gun. The
task would
have been easier for Tony had he not been shaking so much.
The clown managed to pull one bar aside just as Tony loaded the
clip. Grinning, Tony aimed the gun, square at Basket’s
head.

“
Laugh at this!”

Tony did not have time to savor his quip
as Basket had almost squeezed through the bars. Tony pulled the
trigger.

Click. Click click click. Tony had
reloaded the gun with the wrong clip.

“
Fuck!”

Basket had almost squeezed through the
bars when the first shot hit him. The clown didn’t notice a second
flashlight aimed at him and neither did Tony. Oates had shot him
from against the far wall and now Murdoch was taking aim too. The
Sheriff’s party were not far away when they heard the shots.
Quickly, they had moved along the corridor to investigate. Another
four bullets hit, knocking Basket off the bars to the floor. The
clown scuttled off into the dark at the back of the cell area as
the deafening noise resounded in the small basement.

Oates and Murdoch kept their guns
trained on the darkness.

“
Tony?” Oates
called.

“
Yeah
?”

“
You alright in
there?”

“
You mean apart from shitting
my
self? Yeah
I’m peachy!”

Oates
took that as a yes and moved round
towards the light switch. He ordered Matthew to hit the switch as
he and Murdoch kept their guns at the ready. Matthew obliged then
moved back towards the corridor for safety. Oates knew the way the
lights turned on. They were wired in an odd way that meant the
furthest light turned on first. They all lit up one by one; moving
uniformly closer to the switch. Like a train speeding out of a
tunnel, Basket ran out of the darkness and whipped Kyle’s head at
Oates, striking the old man off balance and knocking him off his
feet. Still running, Basket grabbed the head while dodging bullets
from Tony and Murdoch and whipped it at the detective this time,
delivering the same effect. Tony continued firing, hitting nothing
as Basket grabbed the head by the hair and continued his escape,
with only one last obstacle to get through. Matthew had the gun
fixed on the clown but didn’t fire. He was too frightened to even
pull the trigger.

“
Shoot it!”

Tony yelled but it did nothing. Basket
simply pounced on Matthew, taking the coward straight to the
ground. The clown bared its teeth and prepared to bite when a shot
from Oates discouraged it. Basket bounded and bounced down the
corridor, dodging bullets as he disappeared out of
sight.

Oates threw his keys to Murdoch to get
Tony out of the cell.

“
So I can assume they found
a way in?”

Oates’ question was rhetorical and
everybody knew it. Straight away he got on the radio.

“
Lynch, Jacobs, this
is Oates. Be
advised, the dolls have found a way in. Repeat. We are no longer
secure.”

Jacobs
looked at MacNamee and then to
Anne.

“
Copy” he
said into the radio.

Lynch, on the roof with
Brian
leaned
into his radio.

“
Copy that Sheriff” he
said
quietly.

The roof
was dark because it sat above the
streetlights. Natural moonlight drifted down on top of them, giving
the metal air conditioning units an eerie shine. Brian stayed
beside the door as Lynch moved purposefully around the roof,
searching for signs that a little girl was hiding here.

The moonlight created shadows
all over
the
room, giving Lynch more reason to be edgy; he was trying to be
vigilant but visibility was low.

“
Jessica?”

Lynch’s voice was quiet, but he knew the
girl would hear it if she was up here. Brian ambled around the door
area; he didn’t want to find anything. He merely wanted to keep
himself alive.

The air was still, the night
quiet. Lynch systematically checked the inside of the air vents for
signs of Jessica but so far he had found nothing. Betsy was
watching him. Her dark apparel blended well with the shadows. Only
her porcelain face would be visible but she kept herself firmly out
of the moonlight
. Brian started to get nervous alone so he moved a few feet
forward spotting Lynch and instantly relaxing. The deputy thought
for a moment, he knew there was only one place left to search as he
had checked everywhere else.

“
The fire
escape.”

The old fire escape had a flat metal
plateau half way down the building and Lynch figured that this was
as good a place as any to hide. Unfortunately for him, Betsy also
knew about this area. She had spotted it earlier on and suspected
Lynch would check it at one point. As such, she had decided to hide
in a spot very close to the ladder, which led to the level area.
Lynch carefully moved round to the ladder, taking care to watch his
step in the darkness. Lynch wished he had taken the flashlight off
of Graham before he came up to the roof but there was no point
going back now. He looked over his shoulder to make sure no-one was
around; after all, he was now well aware that Betsy was not the
only doll in the building. From the shadows Betsy watched,
remaining still, knowing she would not be spotted in her
corner.

Cautiously, Lynch peered over
the edge of the building but he could not get a good view of the
plateau. He knew he had to
check it thoroughly, he wanted to find Jessica so
badly, and he loathed the fact that a child was caught up in all
this. Moving closer to the edge, he propped one foot on a slight
incline so he could see right down onto the steel area. This
sacrificing of footing was all Betsy needed. Quickly, she ran from
her hiding spot. Coursing through the night air she pushed him hard
before he even had time to turn around. With a thud, Deputy Lynch’s
head collided with the edge of the steel platform on his way to the
tarmac below. Standing on the ledge, Betsy looked down at the
crumpled heap of a person to confirm her kill before disappearing
back into the shadows.

CHAPTER 42

A dull sound caused Brian to turn towards
the car park.

“
Deputy Lynch?”

Brian
whispered harshly, hoping only Lynch
would hear him. When no response came he decided he had better move
away from his relative safety to investigate.

“
Lynch?”

Brian repeated his call but still there
was no response. As he moved round the roof he started to feel
conscious that he was being watched, and not by Lynch. The night
felt like it had a mind of its own.