The Paupers' Crypt (15 page)

Jenny paled slightly. “Me?”

Leo nodded. “Oh yes. It seems you angered Josephus when you shot him.”

“He deserved it,” Jacob said around the cigarette, slapping at some ashes which landed in his beard.

“Undeniably,” Leo agreed. “However, he is rather intent on revenge.”

“What do you suggest?” Shane asked.

“We should avoid being caught,” Leo replied.

“Can we get out?” Brian asked.

Everyone looked at Leo.

“Of course,” Leo said.

“Alive?” Jenny asked.

“We have an excellent chance of getting out of here alive,” Leo said.

Brian shook his head. “Okay, Leo. What do we need to do?”

“Follow me,” Leo said, and he turned away. They all scrambled off the small dry patch, splashed into the still water, and followed him as quickly as they could.

Faintly, Brian heard whispers. Once more, he and the others formed a single line, with Leo at the head and Shane at the back. Jacob smoked happily, flicking the butt off to the side when he finished it. Brian could see shapes in the fog, and he knew they were getting closer. They weren’t the curious abominations which had chased him and John through Wood’s Cemetery.

A huge hand lashed out of the fog and tried to grab Brian’s forearm. A face appeared. Gruesome, pox ridden. Sores around the mouth and nose, flesh hanging in strips from the man’s cheeks. Brian could see where teeth should have been, a swollen, wormlike tongue twisting in the ghost’s mouth.

Brian brought his right hand up and smashed the ghost in the face. The iron connected and the ghost vanished. Jenny pumped a round into the chamber of the shotgun.

“Hold your fire,” Shane said softly. “It’ll just bring the rest running.”

Brian glanced at Jenny and saw her loosen her finger on the trigger.

“Wait,” Leo said, and he vanished.

They stood still and listened.

Several high-pitched shrieks filled the air, and a flash rippled through the fog.

“What the hell?” Jacob asked, looking around.

Leo reappeared, his face paler than usual.

“Come,” Leo said with some effort. “We must continue.”

“Leo,” Brian said. “What happened?”

Leo gave him a small smile. “There were a dozen or so of them. I had to expend a great deal of energy to disperse them. They would have taken me otherwise.”

“You don’t want to be brought to Josephus,” Jacob said softly.

“No,” Leo said. “I most certainly do not.”

Once more, Leo led, and they followed.

Chapter 48: No Sympathy

Josephus, when he had been alive, had been quite adept at feigning sympathy. This was how he had been able to obtain a position as a pastor. How he had been able to convince young girls to trust him. Sympathy had been an effective tool to aid in his hunting.

Being dead, Josephus no longer had a need to pretend. He had undeniable power and control over the afterlife, which the residents of the cemetery and the crypt found themselves in.

He was a harsh and cruel god.

Failure was met with instant and brutal punishment.

With the challenge of the living in his domain, Josephus was even more brutal. When Guy Wetherbee appeared, all six foot six of his pox ridden flesh, Josephus had never hesitated. He had shredded the man’s spirit, littering the floor of the crypt with Guy’s remains. The man would serve as an abject lesson to any who returned without the prize Josephus demanded.

And they began to come back quickly.

First, nearly a dozen of them. Then in ones and twos. They were shocked, numbed and surprised at their defeat.

Josephus gave them no time to explain. He didn’t care. He wanted results, not reasons and certainly not excuses.

Fortunately for the crypt dwellers, none of them attempted to explain. It would have resulted in decades of torment. It was far better, they knew, to accept their punishment submissively. The quicker the punishment was done, the sooner they could hide and weather out this new storm of Josephus’.

Or so they thought.

As he finished shredding a pair of young twins, Josephus caught sight of Wetherbee. The poxy ghost staggered forward, and Josephus grabbed him.

“Back into the fog, wretch!” he yelled, and he hurled the man through the open door.

There would be no refuge from this storm.

Each cast back to the crypt would be sent once again after the living.

A flicker of motion caught Josephus’ eye and he turned in time to see Brian’s one-time traveling companion, John, stand up.

“Get out,” Josephus hissed. “Into the fog with you, and find them.”

John hesitated for a moment, and then he hurried past Josephus and out into the cemetery.

Josephus ached suddenly.

The effort it took to keep the fog in place was tremendous. He wouldn’t be able to continue doing it indefinitely. If Josephus were to withdraw the fog, any of the dead not in the crypt would be trapped in the marsh.

And it would also mean Brian and his hateful wife would have gotten away.

Away
.

The thought enraged Josephus, and he waited impatiently for his wishes to be fulfilled.

Chapter 49: Trying to Get Out

Shane kept pace with the others, his hand tired from the steady grip he was forced to keep on the knuckle-dusters.

The dead were attacking more often.

He had struck down three of them, and Brian another two. Jacob was unarmed, yet he was skillful enough to avoid the arms of the dead. Jenny had taken down four of them, and not with the shotgun. With the iron ring, on her right hand, she had beaten the ghosts down with powerful blows. The woman was definitely capable of handling herself.

Leo would occasionally dispatch some, then he would have them stop, and he would slip away. The curious light would flash, and the strange little man would return, looking worse than before. Whatever Leo was doing, Shane realized, it was taking a lot out of him.

We’re all tired,
Shane thought. His legs were cold, and they ached. His boots felt as though they weighed a hundred pounds each and his pants seemed to have been cut from concrete. Occasionally, Shane’s stomach growled, but he ignored its rumbles as best he could.

We’ll be done soon,
he told himself, unsure whether he was telling himself the truth or a pretty lie.
Make some nice hot coffee, give it a good shot of brandy, and drink it down as quickly as you can.
Shane smiled, picturing the steaming mug.

And then the image was shattered.

Dozens of ghosts swarmed out of the fog. Within a heartbeat, he found himself fighting for his life. He struck the dead repeatedly.

Brian was swinging wildly and Leo was battling five of the dead at once.

Jenny destroyed another with a vicious backhand, brought the shotgun up and had the weapon knocked from her grasp by a teenage girl.

Horrified, Shane watched the weapon spin away, and get snatched out of the air by Jacob.

Everyone, living and dead, paused to look at the ragged, thin man.

Jacob smiled at all of them. He brought the shotgun up to his shoulder with one smooth, fluid motion. After the first shot, while the red shell casing spun lazily through the air in a loose arc, the battle began anew.

But it was too late for the dead.

Shane turned his full attention to the ghosts who tried to drag him down. With his attention focused on them, he couldn’t spare a glance to his friends, but he heard the shotgun. It roared again.

The dead were gone.

Shane looked at Jacob, who still had the weapon at his shoulder. The look on the man’s face was grim and hard. It was a killer’s face, the expression of a man who had fought long and dirty for his life, and had always come out on top. Jacob slowly lowered the weapon, then he handed it over to Jenny.

“Thanks,” she said.

Jacob nodded, pulled at his beard and smiled. “Well, guess we best be on our way.”

“Yes,” Leo said. “It would be wise. I am afraid the noise of the shotgun probably alerted the dead to our exact location. They, like us, have difficulty navigating the fog. But with the firing to act as a beacon, they will be here shortly.”

“Leo,” Brian said. “Are you alright?”

“No, Brian Roy,” Leo said tiredly. “I am not. If I must exert myself any more, I will be forced to retire for a short time in order to recuperate my strength.”

“How much is a short time?” Jenny asked.

Leo smiled nervously. “I am unsure, Jennifer Roy. It may only be a few hours. Or perhaps weeks.”

“Well,” Brian said, “let’s just make it out of here.”

“Alright,” Leo said. He turned to lead again, and Jenny reloaded the shotgun.

A shape came out of the fog towards them, approaching Leo. Shane tightened his grip on the knuckle-dusters even as Jenny chambered a round. Leo stiffened.

When the figure came close enough to be fully visible, Shane saw it was a woman, perhaps the same age as himself. Then he heard Jenny gasp, the weapon dropping slightly in her hands.

“Oh my God,” Brian said.

“No, Brian,” the woman said, smiling. “It’s just me, Sylvia.”

Chapter 50: The Return of an Old Friend

Jenny nearly dropped the shotgun into the marsh water, and she wanted to give Sylvia a hug. Neither action would have worked out well. They still needed the shotgun, and Jenny was fairly certain that she would go right through her.

Instead, she reached out, found Brian’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

Leo smiled, walked to Sylvia, and rested his head against her arm.

“You’re in a bad place,” Sylvia said, “in case you guys haven’t figured it out yet on your own.”

“No,” Brian said, shaking his head. “We got the memo.”

“Good,” Sylvia said. “We’re not far from the exit. Even with this creature controlling the fog, I know the way back.”

“How did you get here?” Jenny asked. “I didn’t think you had left Nashua.”

“The fog leads into the shadow world, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have Leo show me the path,” Sylvia said, smiling.

Sylvia turned to Leo and said, “If you push now, I’ll help you.”

“Alright,” Leo said softly.

“Push what?” Jacob said, asking Jenny’s own question.

Sylvia smiled. “Watch.”

She interlaced her fingers with Leo’s and held onto him. Jenny watched as both Sylvia and Leo closed their eyes. A curious, electric feeling spread out from them, and it was followed by a pulse. It rippled outward, pushing the fog back.

Screams erupted from the marsh and the hairs on Jenny’s neck stood on end. She held onto Brian and the shotgun tighter and stared at the small passage Leo and Sylvia had created. Perhaps fifty or sixty feet ahead, Jenny caught sight of the old pickup truck they had climbed through to get into the fog.

They were just a few steps away.

Sylvia held onto Leo and led the way, power radiating from her. Shadows lurked within the fog on either side of the tunnel Sylvia had created, yet they didn’t try to reach through. They just hung back, seemingly afraid.

Jenny kept a firm grip on the shotgun, though, and she looked from left to right and back again. Shane kept pace behind her, and Brian and Jacob stumbled in front of her. When they were nearly half way to the truck, somebody stepped out of the fog.

It was a middle-aged woman, her face fat and puffy, and her clothes were plain and simple. She tried to step around Sylvia, reaching out for Jacob.

Sylvia made a small gesture with her free hand, and the woman shrieked.

Jenny watched in horror as the ghost was turned inside out, its screams of pain and horror vanishing after a moment. The sounds seemed to be swallowed up by the fog.

The other ghosts, who lined the path, stepped back until they were no longer visible.

Within a matter of moments, they were only ten feet away from the truck, and Jenny’s heart thumped erratically in her chest.

“Just keep moving forward,” Shane said softly. “Don’t think about anything else. Don’t worry about anything else. Just walk.”

Jenny nodded.

She watched as Leo passed into the cab and Sylvia took up a position on the right of the open door. Then Jacob and Brian, and finally Jenny went through. She scrambled across the old, rotten bench seat, and out the other side.

Cold descended upon her instantly, and Brian helped her. A bit of fog clung to the truck, but above them. The night sky was dark and beautiful. There was no moon, only the light of the stars shining down on the marsh.

Shane appeared a moment later, and then Sylvia.

Jenny looked to her dead friend, and Sylvia smiled.

“How?” Jenny asked. “How are you so strong?”

“It’s not that I am so strong,” Sylvia said, “but they’re so weak. Josephus feeds off of their energy, what little of it they are able to muster. If he didn’t siphon their power, Leo and I would never have been able to stop the attacks, let alone beat them.”

“Oh,” Jenny said. “Wow.”

“We have to go, though, but I’ll see you soon, Jenny,” Sylvia said. Then she took Leo’s hand and the two ghosts slipped away into the night.

Jenny looked to Brian, and he smiled at her. Jacob stood on the other side, nose wrinkled.

“Christ almighty,” Jacob said.

“What?” Shane asked.

“Is it the marsh that smells so bad, or is this what America smells like now?” Jacob asked.

Jenny laughed, surprised at the comment.

“No,” Brian said, “pretty sure it’s the marsh.”

“Fair enough,” Jacob said. He looked around, eyes darting everywhere. He grinned, most of his teeth missing, the others stained with age and lack of care. “So, where the hell can I get a cold beer?”

“My house,” Brian said. “And we can all get a shower there, too.”

“A shower,” Jacob said, his voice dropping to a whisper. “An honest to goodness shower.”

Jenny reached out, took Brian’s hand, and said, “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

Brian nodded, and the four of them headed towards a street light in the distance.