Crimson Falls (The Depravity Chronicles) (8 page)

“I think it’s
time for us to get back to the house,” Jake said.

Tim’s face
turned white. Jake knew that everyone believed he was fearless. He tried to
maintain his cool, but he was sure they were somehow outnumbered. And whoever
these freaks were, they were close by.

“Dude, you don’t
need to tell me twice. Let’s get outta here,” George pushed. After getting the
dogs to start walking, they moved as quickly as they could toward the house.
Every sound around them seemed amplified, every animal in the woods seemed
malevolent. They weren’t going to feel safe until the rest of their colleagues
were in sight.

A few minutes
before Jake knew they would see the house, he shuddered at his thoughts.
What
if we’re being followed by some backwoods deliverance family?
He pushed it
out of his mind. All of a sudden leaves began falling all around them from the
trees above. Jake looked up and terror gripped him. In the darkness he thought
he saw a shadow jumping through the trees like a monkey. He shined his light
into the branches.

“Quick, focus
your light up here with mine,” Jake ordered. He looked to his right and saw the
faint glow of Alan’s house in the distance.

I’m not gonna
die in this forest
,
he thought. More limbs began to break and something large landed about thirty
feet behind them. The dogs unexpectedly sprinted toward the house, and were
quickly out of sight.

“Whoa!” George
shouted.

“They’re not
horses, asshole,” Tim yelled back. No matter what he did, he could not get the
dogs to return.

The three officers
stood alone in the dark. With only half of the moon above them, and most of
that blocked by trees, it was difficult to see in front of them.

“Anyone have
their lights?” Jake asked, hoping someone had managed to hold onto theirs. No
one said a word. Then they heard the sound of something running toward them.

“Oh, holy
Jesus,” Tim moaned.

Jake could see a
shadow closing in quickly on them. “Run!” he screamed, and they took off toward
the house. As he ran, he tried to look behind him. The shadow was there, almost
on top of him. He could make out a head, broad shoulders, and a long arm
reaching toward him.

“What is that?”
Tim screamed from directly beside Jake, pointing toward the house. Running
toward them were two officers. Their flashlights bounced as they moved.

I’m not going to
make it
,
Jake thought to himself. Adrenaline pumped through his system, and he felt like
he was running at record speed. Just as he thought he was going to be safe,
something tore at the back of his jacket. He heard a loud ripping sound, but
tried as best he could to keep moving. Whatever it was that grabbed at him had
missed. Finally they reached the other officers, but the three of them kept
running. The other two followed suit without question. Jake tried to relax as
he saw the strobe lights of his patrol car. He fell against it, panting heavily
and unable to catch his breath.

Without warning,
small lights began blinking in the woods. With a burst of energy, Jake removed
his pistol and began firing randomly into the woods.

“What the hell
are you doing?” Tim screamed.

“Do it! Do it!
Do it!” Jake shrieked. Tim and George pulled their weapons and began firing.

“Jake!” his
radio announced. He could hardly hear it over the gunshots. “Jake, goddammit!
Stop shooting!” Anna cried through the radio.

After he had
fired his rounds, Jake grabbed his radio and turned it off.

“Did you just
cut her off?” Tim asked.

“Shh, listen,”
Jake ordered. Everyone stood still and peered into the woods, listening for
movement.

“Do you think we
got it?” George asked.

“I sure as hell
hope so,” Jake said. “But I’ll be damned if I’m going back into those woods
before the sun comes up.” He grabbed his radio again and turned it on.
“Sheriff, we’ve got a problem,” he said between breaths.

“I know, Jake.
We saw everything,” Anna said. “The cameras.”

“The cameras are
ours?” he asked.

“Yes, Sheriff
Kelly’s handy work.” And suddenly it made sense to Jake. He had seen a few
cameras before, but Ron had said it was just Acorn Alan being paranoid. And he
had believed him. He began to wonder what other lies were hiding behind those
cameras. The lies that almost killed him.

1

Father Matthew
and Pastor Amy arrived at the Brickton estate and were surprised that there
were only two officers on site.

“Where is
everyone?” Matthew asked Officer Lionel Flowers.

“They’re in the
woods, searching,” Lionel responded. “Can I help you?”

“Yes, we’re here
to do some investigating,” Matthew said. “Sheriff Blackwood gave the go ahead.”

“Well you’ll
understand that I need to follow up with her,” Lionel said as he held out his
hand to stop them from entering the house.

“That’s fine.”
They waited as Lionel disappeared into the house to verify their story.

“I am still a
little unclear as to what you expect to find, Matthew,” Amy said.

“I am not
looking for anything specific per se,” he said flatly. “But if it’s here, we’ll
find it.” Amy shook her head, smiling at Matthew’s cryptic nature.

“Okay, you’re
cleared,” Lionel said as he walked out the screen door. It creaked as he opened
it and slammed shut behind him. “Here, put these on,” he said as he shoved
latex gloves at them. “Don’t touch anything. If you need to touch something,
come and talk to us.”

“Sure thing,”
Matthew lied. “Come on, Amy. Let’s go.” They walked into the house, following
Lionel. When Matthew was confident that Lionel could not see them, he leaned
toward Amy. “Where is his altar room?”

“Altar room?”
she asked, confused.

“Where does he
take communion?”

“Oh, in his
library.”

“Show me,”
Matthew said.

The original
part of the house was nearly 200 years old and over 4,000 square feet. Over the
years the family had added an additional 5,000 square feet. The library was in
the back corner of the original structure, close to the entrance to the woods. Although
a bit run down since Alan had taken over, the house still retained an old,
classic charm. Matthew wondered how Alan could have been comfortable living in
such a large space alone. Then again, he figured Alan wasn’t that comfortable anywhere.
Large spaces tend to make people feel small, and he felt a great deal of
sympathy for him.

“This is quite a
house,” Matthew said.

“You haven’t
been here before?” Amy asked.

“Yes, but it’s
been at least a decade. Just before Alan’s father died. You know, he was Catholic.”

Amy laughed. “We
can’t all be perfect.”

She led Matthew
into the library. He gasped at its size. “It’s something, isn’t it?” she asked.

“Wow.” The
library was two stories tall, almost like a movie. There were ladders on all
four walls, with shelves of books reaching the ceiling.

“And I swear
he’s read every single one of them,” Amy insisted. “Twice.”

“Well what else
would he have been doing all these years alone?” he laughed.

“And here’s the
kicker,” she said as she pointed around the room. “They’re not only in
alphabetical order, but they’re also divided into sections.”

“All I can say
is ‘wow,’” Matthew said, awestruck. “Who would have taken him for such an avid
reader?”

“You can’t judge
a book by its cover, Matthew,” Amy said, waving her finger at him and smiling.

She led him to
the far corner of the room by one of the large windows. “And I assume this is
what you’re looking for?” She pointed to a dusty label that read ‘Religion and
Spirituality.’

“How far does
this go?” Matthew asked, daunted by the task of trying to find anything related
to demonology.

“It’s this
entire section,” she said.

Matthew’s heart
sank. The section comprised half of the wall and stretched to the second story
of the room.

“I wonder if he
divided religion into sections,” he mused.

“Good question,”
she said. “I’m not sure.”

“Well, one way
to find out,” he said. He walked closer to the shelves and began browsing
through the books. Hope was renewed when he realized that they were in fact
divided into categories. “Holy shit!” Matthew cried. “They’re even labeled!”

“Father
McMillan!” Amy teased. “Such language for a priest!”

“Quickly! Help
me find anything related to evil, demons, the occult, stuff like that.”

“Okay,” Amy said
slowly. But she did as he asked.

After thumbing
through bindings for several minutes, Amy called him over to where she was
standing on the ladder. About halfway up the wall, she pointed to a group of
books. “This is marked ‘Exorcism,’ but I don’t think there is anything of
substance here.” She climbed down to allow him a closer look.

“I think you’re
right,” he said after a few moments. These are your basic books about the Roman
Ritual. Nothing significant.” He looked around the room. “Do you think there
might be some sort of secret hiding place?”

Amy laughed so
hard it echoed through the room. “That’s pushing it a bit, don’t you think
Matthew?”

“Consider the
source. If Alan had anything strange going on here, it wouldn’t be that much of
a stretch.”

She admitted he
had a point. Matthew scanned the room. “There!” he said as he pointed toward
the opposite corner of the room. He quickly climbed down the ladder and walked
toward the large, square table.

“This is where
he took communion,” she said.

“Of course,”
Matthew said with a grin.

“You going to
enlighten me, Father?” she joked.

“Watch and
learn, Reverend,” he said. The table had a long cloth draped over it. He pulled
the table toward him as hard as he could. “It’s bolted to the wall,” he said.

“Interesting,”
she retorted. Matthew lifted the cloth and crawled under the table. “Go Father,
go Father,” she cheered.

Matthew stuck
his head out from under the cloth, shaking his head and laughing at her.

“I’m sorry. I
suppose that’s kind of strange to do under these circumstances,” she said with
a sheepish grin.

“Think nothing
of it,” Matthew shrugged as he peered out from under the table. “I lived at the
Vatican. Nothing is strange to me anymore.”

“I can believe
that,” she agreed. She stood patiently as Matthew felt around for some kind of
latch.

“Jackpot!” he
shouted. “Come here.” Amy got down on her hands and knees to crawl under the
table.

“It’s going to
get a little crowded…” she began to say, but stopped when she saw what Matthew
had found. “I’ll be damned.”

Matthew huffed
in a mocking but friendly tone. “You won’t be damned, but I bet you a million
bucks we’re about to see a few things that are.”

“I’m hoping
not,” Amy said in a more serious tone. She watched as Matthew finished removing
a panel from the wall, revealing a small door knob.

It opened with very
little protest. “Thank the Lord,” Matthew sighed. “It wasn’t locked.”

“I doubt he
thought anyone would find it,” she laughed. Matthew began crawling through the
small opening.

“This is
absolutely insane,” Amy said as she followed behind him. Matthew didn’t say
anything, but he had to confess that it wasn’t a normal day in the life of the
clergy.

“Look at it this
way,” he said. “You are about to see a whole new side of religion.”

“That’s what I’m
afraid of.”

* * * * * *

2

Trevor couldn’t
believe it. Seeing the shadow was one thing, but this shit was insane. The
television screens kept changing, but there were only three scenes. Each of the
groups of televisions was showing an area of the forest as if it were a giant
camera. And what they were watching was straight out of the movies.

“Trevor, dude,
get back here,” Tommy ordered. Trevor just shot him the finger from behind his
back and continued watching. Tommy walked up to retrieve him, but when he saw
the screens he froze.

“Crazy, right?”
Trevor whispered.

“What’s going
on?” Tommy asked.

“The shadow is
chasing the cops through the woods,” he said. “I feel like I’m watching a
horror movie.”

“Then maybe we
shouldn’t be watching it,” Tommy said. But he couldn’t pull himself away from
it any more than his twin. They watched in amazement as the events unfolded
before them.

“Thank God we’re
in here, safe,” Trevor murmured.

“I second that,”
Tommy quietly agreed. Their mother was too involved in the action to notice
they were standing inside the door. Tommy glanced behind him to make sure
Trisha was okay. She wasn’t in her chair. “Shit!”

“What, bro?”
Trevor said as he shoved his brother.

“Trish isn’t
there.”

“Then go find
her,” Trevor barked.

Tommy turned and
ran through the office toward Janet’s desk. He was relieved to see Trish eating
pizza and gabbing with Janet, oblivious to the drama going on all around her.
When he felt confident that she was safe, he returned to his brother’s side.

“What did I
miss?” he said as he leaned toward Trevor. But the moment he looked at the
screen he already knew. Something large and fast was gaining on one of the
cops.

“Oh, shit!” one
of the cops in the room yelled. “He’s not gonna make it!”

“Hush!” Anna
growled. Trevor and Tommy grabbed each other’s arms in horror. The shadow
reached toward the cop and ripped his jacket. Everyone in the room either
jumped or screamed.

“He made it!”
Geraldine cried. “Praise Jesus!”

“It isn’t over
yet,” Anna said as she raised her hand. She quickly changed the screens so half
of them showed the officers and the other half remained on the shadow. Trevor
and Tommy stared at the predator. They were pretty sure everyone else in the
room was doing the same thing.

“Can you zoom in
on that?” Trevor asked his mom.

“Yeah,” she
said. Tommy was surprised that she didn’t chastise them for being in the room.
He figured she had more pressing issues on her mind. As delicately as she
could, Anna began zooming each camera toward the mysterious figure. For a
moment the screens were unfocused until they were each at the same distance.

“Who the hell is
that?” Rick asked.

“More like
what
the hell is that?” Trevor corrected. Everyone leaned closer to the screens,
as if they could somehow get a better look. Suddenly the shadow stared directly
at the group of cameras focused on it. Everyone in the room reacted violently.
A few people gasped, Geraldine screamed, Anna pushed her chair back with both
feet, and the twins jumped backward and out of the room.

“Jesus Christ!”
Damien screamed as he pointed at the screen. The figure had raised a large
hand, as if waving at the camera. “Who
is
that?”

“It’s too dark!”
Trevor yelled.

“Here,” Anna
said. A few years ago she had small lights installed in the cameras. Although
they had excellent night vision capacity, lights would add additional
enhancement. She turned on each light as quickly as possible. Slowly, the
figure was being revealed.

“Sweet holy
God,” Anna gasped.

“What?” several
people asked in unison.

“But…how?” she
continued.

“What the hell
are you talking about, Anna?” Geraldine burst.

In an instant
the figure disappeared. Anna tried to find it through the cameras, but it was
like it had vanished into thin air. She leaned back in her chair. “That looked
like Matthew McMillan!” she said.

“What?”
Geraldine shouted. “I thought you said he was helping you? He was just here
twenty minutes ago.”

“You don’t
understand,” Anna said, shaking her head.

“Obviously,
Sheriff,” Rick said.

“Father Matthew
is a junior,” Anna said.

“A junior?
What’s that?” Damien asked.

“It means his
name is the same as his father’s, dumbass,” Trevor laughed.

“But he’s been
dead for more than twenty years,” Rick said. “Everyone knows that.”

 “No shit,” Anna
said. “I was at his funeral. I sat beside Matthew as we watched them bury his
father.” She pushed a few buttons and returned to the dimly lit portrait of the
shadow.

“He doesn’t look
dead there,” Trevor whispered.

As everyone
looked at the figure illuminated by the lights of the camera, the sound of gunshots
startled them.

“What the hell?”
Anna bellowed.

“They’re firing
into the woods!” Trevor cried. Anna quickly grabbed her radio.

“Jake,
goddammit! Stop shooting!” she bellowed. He cut her off. “Bastard!”

“What a dick,”
Trevor said to Tommy, who nodded in agreement.