Spriggan: Dark horror fantasy Read online

  Rick walked down the rows of vines and stood in front of the flowers. He seemed to be searching in them, looking at the soil and the growth of them. He wanted this one, he’d plant the seed in his corpse and let it grow from his rotting body, he’d make a fine brother, but first, he needed him to sin.

  His silent prayers were soon answered, he heard a loud crunching sound and felt a flash of pain from the ground.

  ‘shit’ Rick said in the dark

  His massive boot had just stepped on a lone snail. Its shell crashed into it, and it died in moments. He smiled in the dark; the brave creature had given its life so he could take him. The man stood and turned back. He didn’t wait, he let his hands shoot out in the dark, and he pulled his feet out from under him. Th man fell over, to the ground.

  He put his hands on the ground, the earth was filled with life, and he thought ‘grow’ black berry bushes nearby heard his call and the flood of power he sent to them. They grew out from the ground and the roots that were always there and lashed out.

  The man screamed and kicked, but his hands and feet were soon lashed to the very earth. Red blood dripped from his wrists and ankles were the spiky plants bound him the ground. The more he fought, the more he bled. He sent another to wrap around his neck. It pinned his head down hard; now he was helpless.

  It went to stand by him, his eyes were looking up, and he could only see the stars. His mind was a cloud of fear and terror. He heard the footsteps but what could he think, the ones couldn’t believe anything.

  ‘Is someone there? Jim?’ he said.

  His confidence was washed away; now he had to face a world he couldn’t understand. He wished he could speak to him and say, ‘no it’s not Jim, it’s your death.’

  He was far down the path of vines, but he heard Jim coming out of the house and going to the generator, He had his gun, it seemed like he was going to protect it That wouldn't do at all. He needs to be able to move in the house. He needed all night to take and plant them all.

  He looked at Rick; he’d come back for him. He sat again and aced his hands on the ground, he reached out and felt all the creatures nearby. Hundreds and hundreds lived in the dark, so much more than people knew. Spiders, scorpions, centipedes, worms, even birds, and snakes, asleep.

  He found the ones he wanted and said, ‘come and avenge yourselves’ they knew not what vengeance was or even had minds to grasp the concept of life, but still, they were precious. He saw as they started to come. Slowly so slowly. Hundreds and hundreds of snails started to slide out from the vines and the long grass. He guided them, and they slowly started to slide up his body and towards his mouth.

  It was a shame he had to leave. He stood and turned, leaving the man struggling and screaming. Snails, slowly climbing up to his face leaving lines of slime, as they sought his mouth and throat.

  He could hear Jim in the barn, and he had to be stopped.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Jim didn’t like any of this, they had to stay all night, and he just knew that Roger would try to do something stupid, in a way he was going out to the generator because he knew he would be waiting or come to it at some point. He walked to the front of the house first. His flashlight on the ground. Most of these country places had underground wires, and they just ran next to whatever path they had.

  He shined his torch and expected to see the ground dug up and the cable cut with an axe or something. Instead, he saw, that the ground just had a stab wound in it. It was like someone knew where the wire was and just force a metal rod down into it. He couldn’t imagine Roger was that strong. He drove in his fair share of fence posts, and you needed a cap and a big hammer, still then it took an age and was loud.

  Nothing about this was making sense. He left the front and walked to the side of the house, where the barn and generator were, he could hear it, running, and chugging along. He opened the door to the barn; the lights were on thankfully. His gun was drawn, and he slowly looked around the large room. The generator was a big diesel thing and sat in the corner churning out power. The rest of the barn was full of machines parts. Shelves with tools and old saws and bits.

  In front of the generator was a chair, an old crappy wooden thing. He dragged it right in front of it and sat down. Looking out, he felt like a sheriff in an old-time movie sitting on the porch defending the house. He knew this was the most important thing to guard.

  He had always felt he had a good nose for criminals. He could have told you that Roger lynch was off, but a killer, and capable of playing such an elaborate game, no. He was clearly enjoying this and slowly shutting them off from the outside world.

  Jim sat for a long moment, scanning the room. His gun sitting on his lap, he sat in a small circle of weak light cast by the bare bulb that hung from the ceiling, the barn was vast, and beyond his vision, it was black. He heard something as his hearing adjusted to the silence. It was like breathing, he lifted his torch and shined it.

  There was nothing in the dark, but he was getting worried he had the feeling someone was watching him.

  ‘you’re not going to escape’ he said, ‘you should give up while you’ve only damaged some property.’

  He shined the torch onto the ground again and almost jumped, he thought there was a snake on the ground, he looked at it, it was a vine. He stood and looked at it, it was long and connected to something, it just ran in a huge line across the floor and away into the dark. His memory flashed back to that day, finding the bodies of the French family, those vines, fig tree.

  He reached out and took it in his hand. The thing sprung to life in his hand, and he did scream now, but within moments it wasn’t alone. Another vine snaked across the ground from the darkness and then another. They wrapped around his feet and legs, he raised his gun to fire, but one wrapped around his wrists and pulled it to his side. In moments, his entire body was covered in vines, and he collapsed to the ground. Suddenly, a vine shot out from the dark; it almost looked like a hand and arm to him. It crashed into the generator and ripped a hole in it, in seconds. The big machine stopped in a final chug and died, the lights in the barn went dead.

  He struggled against his bondage and tried to yell again. Now they started to wrap around his face and cover his mouth; he couldn’t scream, he could barely draw breath through a blocked nose. He was in a world of terror, what was happening. His mind couldn’t explain it at all.

  The vines wrapped him tightly, and then he felt the tug. His heavy body was being dragged back into the darkness. He was pulled in jerking tugs like he was a big fish on a line. He tried to yell to the others, he tried to kick and scream, but he was totally covered in the vines, he felt them tightening around his mouth and face, his vision started to go black, and his thoughts were racing all over the place. All he could think was he had been drugged somehow, and this couldn’t be happening.

  He felt another pull, and he was now totally in the darkness, helpless and useless. He heard something, like a hissing sound and tried of looking out through the vines, but he was face down now and wrapped up tightly like a helpless baby in a blanket.

  In moments, he felt something take him. He was lifted from the ground. One smooth movement. It felt like he was thrown over someone's shoulder and he tried to look, but all was black and darkness. It seemed to be running. He felt the breeze, heard branches and twigs snapping as it leaped and ran with him. He just kept thinking how could Roger do this. He was bumping on that shoulder, or in the back of a car, for minutes and then it stopped.

  He still couldn't see properly but was dropped hard onto the ground. He landed on soft grass and managed to look up, the vines around his eyes loosened a bit when he’d fallen, and he managed to look in front of himself. It was dark, but he could make out the massive spindly shape. He'd seen it before. His eyes slowly adjusted to the dark and he saw it fully.

  He could cry, he was in front of that fig tree.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  There was a male scream, then a huge thud and then the po
wer went dead. Everybody screamed, even Kim, which wasn’t at all reassuring. Vicky screamed as well. She flicked on a torch she had in her lap and looked at the scared faces all around her. Bree looked at her, and she seemed sad.

  ‘Well you were right’ Bree said.

  Kim drew her gun ‘I have to go and check on him’ she said and stood up.

  The Italian girl, spoke in some broken English, ‘you no leave, we need you’ she said.

  Liam now looked scared as well, ‘she’s right if you leave we’re all sitting ducks.’

  ‘He could be injured and needs help, here, this a major breach of protocol but who cares.’

  She reached down to her belt and handed them things off it. Australian police officers had a lot of shit, her belt looked like the tv show Batman’s, loaded with stuff. She handed the girl her pepper spray and Vicky her taser.

  ‘what about me?’ Liam said.

  She also had an extendable baton and passed it to him.’ You know how to use it?’ she asked.

  ‘’I’ve seen movies, you flick it out hard and hit them.’

  She stood up and flicked it hard. It extended with a loud click. ‘Now I’m going out, you should all lock yourselves in your rooms and hide, until I come back’ she said.

  ‘yes, that’s a great plan, let’s all split up so he can take us out one by one’ Vicky said.

  The Italian guy, burst out. ‘Why is he doing this?’

  Liam almost laughed ‘because he’s crazy, why does anyone do any shit like this? they are mad. But I agree with Vicky, splitting up is a bad idea.’

  ‘Fine, then what?’ Kim asked.

  ‘we’ll all go’ Vicky said, ‘we need to stick together.’

  Gareth had been sitting watching them all ‘I know you don’t care, but I’m staying here, if my brother has really snapped, this is all over, the farm, the business, it’s all going, I’m not going out there to get killed, if any of you come back, I’ll be here.’

  Kim walked to the door, and they all gathered behind her. It was stupid, A ragtag group, shit weapons, versus a crazed killer. She had to hope Jim was alive. She’d seen those bags in Rogers shed, the girl’s luggage. She knew that the English lug, Nick, had never shown up again. He was probably buried in the bush somewhere. Who knows how many people he’d killed. Bill had disappeared as had that girl from the first night.

  She held her taser in hand and drew her knife from her pants.

  ‘Vicky and Bree, guard our backs’ Kim said.

  Oh, yes guard our backs. Kim was in the lead with Liam and his baton, scared idiots in the middle and them at the back.

  They opened the door and walked out into the dark. Kim had her own torch, a big police issue black thing and she walked shining it around, everywhere, looking hard into the dark. She’d never used a taser before; it was one that shot out two cords and fired a charge, she hoped it worked.

  ‘We’ll be ok you know’ Bree said.

  ‘Why aren’t you scared’ Vicky asked her, she wasn’t acting scared at all, she just seemed like she was struggling with something in her mind.

  ‘you’ll see’ she said.

  They made their slow way across the open area of the farm and walked towards the big barn. The big metal door was opened. The room was black and empty, Kim shined her torch in. There was the generator, and it had a huge smoking hole in its side. It looked like it had been shot with a shotgun, or something bigger, a big ragged hole ripped in the side.

  The torchlight on the ground showed the wooden chair, was toppled over and there were drag marks in the dirt on the concrete floor.

  Kim looked at them, but they all could see what it looked like. It looked like someone had been dragged out by their ankles. Jim was a big man and Roger would have trouble to move him.

  ‘No blood’ Vicky said.

  ‘No, I think that’s a good sign, he’s still alive.’

  ‘What, he got knocked out and dragged off, a psycho now has him tied up and captured, that’s better is it?’

  ‘I’m going after the tracks’ Kim said.

  Man, this lady was pissing her off. She was like 32, barely older than Vicky and she had the only gun, and she was acting like a complete tosser.

  ‘Are you tougher than Jim? can you do what he didn’t? why should we creep around in the dark waiting to get hit, when we can go back, get our back against a wall and wait until daylight?’ she said.

  Kim wasn’t even listening, but she did have tears in her eyes ‘Look, I’ve known him for years, he wouldn’t leave me, and I won’t leave him’ she said and started to walk off after the drag marks.

  ‘Give us the gun, then’ Liam said.

  ‘No way, you can come or go back, it’s up to you’ she said.

  She wasn’t waiting for an answer, she just walked into the rows of shelves, torch leading the way. Everyone went with her. Soon it was just Bree and her alone. Bree looked at her.

  ‘We should go with them’ Bree said.

  ‘Why she’s an idiot’ Vicky said.

  ‘Yes, they all are. Liam hunts when he’s back home and has killed a snake here, the Italians did all that weeding are always spraying bugs in their rooms, Kim I’m sure is just as bad’ she said.

  ‘Why mention all that’ Vicky said.

  ‘Look I don’t think he kills for no reason, I think it’s like natures revenge’ Bree said.

  ‘Roger? Why would he care?’ Vicky asked.

  ‘Because he’s crazy because it’s his farm. But you’ll be safe’ she said.

  Vicky followed quickly after the group if only to escape the conversation, she caught up with them soon. The drag marks stopped at the other exit. That door hung open as well. Kim shined her torch at the ground and into the trees.

  ‘He must have loaded his body into a car and taken him somewhere’ she said, ‘what is out there of any importance?’

  ‘A cabin, a murder shack, another caravan’ Liam said.

  ‘Ok let’s go back, we can’t search a forest at night, we’ll lead the team here tomorrow.’

  The first smart thing she’s said, Vicky thought.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  None of them realized the danger they were in, surely Roger had escaped he believed that but what choice had they given him. He’d gotten a call from him a few days ago, to tell him to stop. He thought he’d killed some Asian kid who hung himself and some other boy who had gone missing. He would never do that, why kill a boy? Only women could make you that mad, surely?

  His brother had covered it up, which was good, they’d stop work if they knew a suicide had happened, but he thought it did sound suspicious if he hadn’t done it, Roger certainly hadn’t. That meant there was a killer out there and he was staying in this bunker until it was over.

  Roger wasn’t smart enough to have a hidden camera set up, it was strange people didn’t see that, he just took the wrap, but he didn’t know the half of it. Gareth had waited until they had left the house. It was the first time he’d been left alone since he’d arrived in the morning. He was scared that the was a killer out there, but he was also scared that the cops would be here in the morning and one thing they would do was search the place from top to bottom.

  Once they were all gone, he waited until he couldn’t hear them anymore and went to the back door through the kitchen. He opened the door to the backyard and looked out. It was clear, and he ran in a straight line to the shed. It had a lock on it that Roger took off sometimes. He took out his phone and shined it around. He saw her suitcase, he really shouldn’t have kept it, but he liked to look at it, Sarah, she was called, one of the girls who had stayed here a few years ago.

  She was Swedish, blonde, young and funny, a natural beauty of a girl. She wasn’t stuck up, she drank and laughed and had fun with him. She was truly something very special, he still thought that was true, and he thought about her almost every single night.

  He moved the suitcase full of her clothes and photos, it was on a wooden small table, and he pushed
that aside, there was a small red rug and he also pulled that aside. He looked at the trap door; this place had an old school bomb shelter. No one knew about it, but old Mr. French was a bit of an end of days nut. It had a lock, but he had the key, he put it to it, and turned the bolt.

  He went down it and took the suitcase with him. It was a big room, big enough for living a few weeks. He looked and saw his computer was dead, it was on a small desk, and with no power, it was flat. That was a shame, they had only found the one camera, he had a lot more in the house, or rather Roger did. He had lots and lots of videos of Sarah, she’d been his favorite, but she’d not understood.

  He thought she’d be different, she was so confident and happy to show off, but she had yelled at him when she found out about the cameras, she’d called him a freak and his big hands were around her throat before he knew what was happening.

  Now she was at the bottom of the old mineshaft, and he had no worries that the police would find her. They’d shut down his cameras when he could prove who was doing this if they gave him access. He had ones in every room and on all the doors. But now this room was his safety. He’d stay in here until morning and then come out. He’d pretend he was hiding in the shed and be safe.

  He knew his brother wasn’t behind this all; it was all too clever and sadistic. Cutting the phone and power, it was smart and the actions of someone who wanted to hurt, not someone who had snapped and gone crazy.

  He could remember Rogers reaction when he’d told him about Sarah. His brother had cried, he’d helped him carry her body to the hole and dump her, but he’d never looked at him the same after that, he knew he wasn’t a killer, but someone was, and they were winning.

  He moved to sit on a small single bed and took down a hunting rifle off the wall, he held it in his hands and waited, looking at the doorway, no one knew it was in here, but he was going to survive this. The room was big enough for all of them. He could let them in, and they would all be safe, but then they would see his computer, they would know he was behind the cameras, and the would see his photos of Sarah on the walls.