From The Darkness

BLOOD-PREY-1

The hot sun hitting her cheeks, Melissa Greene's horse tore through the recently ploughed field after the hounds. Her horse leaping over a broken fence, she heard the hounds catch their prey and urged her horse forward to see the slaughter.The swiftness of the kill left her dissatisfied. The fox was ripped apart in seconds, blood and torn flesh discarded over the small stream. Her blue eyes focusing on the slaughter, she watched the hounds being recalled, leaving the mangled pieces of flesh.

She glanced at the other people on horseback and shook her head with disappointment, ignoring the boys hurrying into the gulley with plastic bags to remove the evidence. "It's over."

Riding to the edge, Gail Shaver focused on the boys removing the torn carcass. "Can we go?"

Depressed that the hunt was too quick, Melissa looked across the field at the protesters. Watching them shove the mutilated fox parts into the bags for a couple of seconds, Melissa directed the horse back through the field, churning up the loose soil again. Eventually reaching the muddy yard outside the stables, Melissa climbed down from the horse and walked through a narrow path between the trees onto a concrete car park. She watched the girl leading the horse into the stables until she reached her gold Capri. Opening the trunk, she exchanged her mud covered riding boots for some clean running shoes. Slipping out of her black riding jacket, she locked the trunk and entered the pub. Reaching the polished counter, she heard glanced at the rest of the group, busily complaining about the less than satisfying afternoon.

Gail handed her a glass of bitter and she had a small sip. "It could have lasted longer." Gulping down her lager, Gail managed to hide her boredom of the hunt. This was the only part that she really liked, the booze up afterwards. "Live your life, Mel." She paused, playing with the prospect of just having a day of wicked fun. "I've got an idea. Let's blow off college tomorrow, head up to Leeds tonight and find a couple of studs."

Melissa knew she had to concentrate on her college homework, "I wish, but I've got too much work to get through. It's for Mrs Blaylock; it'll be a hanging offence if it's late."

Contemplating changing her plans, Gail took another gulp of her lager. She figured there was plenty they could do just by staying in together, "A girl's night in, cool."

Emptying her glass, Melissa slid her hand to the back of her neck. "You don't need me to hold your hand, do you? I thought you were a big girl."

Gail finished her lager and placed the glass on the counter, "Great, you stick to your books. I'll stick to having fun."

Melissa said her goodbyes and left the glass as she walked out to the car park. She noticed the dark clouds overhead as she unlocked the door to her Capri and settled behind the wheel.

Having spent an hour trying to come up with something to follow her name written on the top of the writing pad, Melissa yawned and leaned back on her chair, a plate of half eaten Yorkshire pudding next to her papers on the small desk. She stared at the rack of compact discs on the table near her bed, trying to figure out what the hell she was forgetting.

The constant barrage of rain making the windows rattle, she approached a bookcase near the daisy patterned curtains. Searching the rows of books, she remembered returning the book she was looking for to the college library the other day.

When she glanced at her watch, she realised the evening classes would have started by now and hastily grabbed a disc from the rack. Hurrying through her bedroom door, she hoped no one else had checked out the book. Rushing down into the lounge, she grabbed a thick rain coat draped over the back of a chair and wrapped it across her floral patterned sweater.

Checking she had her keys, she opened the door and saw the downpour. She fastened the coat tighter and pulled the fur lined hood over her head, the rain soaking her tight jeans as soon as she stepped out.

Slamming the car door shut, she tried to make out the digital figures of her watch amidst the heavy rain to make sure she still had time. She unlocked the door and slipped inside, her waterlogged jeans drenching her skin as she sat down. Removing her hood, she looked at the rain covered windscreen as she turned on the bright headlights. Taking the compact disc from the thin box, she placed it in the player and turned on the deafening music. Starting the engine, she backed out onto the country lane and began easily breaking the speed limit in her rush to retrieve the much needed book.

Her car raced past the old cemetery. The windscreen obscured by the downpour, she caught a flash of a man appearing from behind a large hedge. She slammed on the brakes.

The car skidding across the wet road, she screamed as she saw his body smash into the windscreen and roll limply off the hood as the car crashed into a tall oak. She sat behind the wheel for a moment, trying to decide whether to just drive away and leave him behind. She looked back, able to see that he was not moving.

The rain drenched her crimson hair as she climbed out of the car, focusing on the body lying in the mud soaked ditch. Her hand covering her mouth with the horror that she had killed him, the thoughts of leaving returned to her mind. She knew that she would not be able to live with herself if she did that and began to approach him.

Reaching him, she extended her arm to feel for a pulse.

He trembled.

She remained frozen to the spot for who knew how long, eventually gathering her nerve to try again. She lifted his hand and tried to find a pulse.

The hand came to life and grasped her, steel like fingers encircling her wrist tightly.

She screamed as she struggled to free herself, her hands slippery with rain.

The man caught hold of her coat collar, pulling her back toward him.

Feeling his cold breath on her wet throat, Melissa screamed as she felt her flesh being brutally ripped open. She managed to push him away and made a dash for her car, her neck gushing with blood.

Glancing back frantically as he rose, she saw that he appeared unhurt from the impact with her car. Her fingers fumbling to open the door, she felt him grabbing her again. Forced to face him, she saw the pointed teeth between his lips and screamed.

Gail rode her motorcycle past the open wooden gate into the yard. Pushing it into the barn to keep the seat dry, she didn't give a second thought about the usually closed gate. Locking the barn door, she ignored the slight drizzle as she approached the farm house. Removing her keys from the pocket of her damp leather jacket, she unlocked the dull red front door.

She stepped over several letters as she entered. Checking the time on the video, she was surprised that Melissa was getting her daily helping of 'Neighbours.' Expecting a response when she shouted upstairs, she picked up the mail and dropped it on the table near the window.

The silence puzzled her; it wasn't like Melissa to miss her favourite show. Relentlessly tapping her fingers on the banister as she walked up the stairs, she arrived outside a green door with glittering letters spelling out Melissa's name. She knocked on the door with another force to wake the dead.

No reply.

Ignoring Melissa's golden rule about privacy, she opened the door. The bed was still neatly made, that was enough to convince her that something was wrong. She remembered Melissa joking about how she never made it until she got back from college. She found the writing pad on the desk, but it took a few moments for it to sink in that this was the assignment that should have been handed in this morning. She got worried.

Rushing down the stairs, she ran out to the barn and straddled her motorcycle. Starting the engine as she slipped the helmet over her head, she roared out of the barn and past the gate onto the country lane.

Parking her motorcycle in the near empty car park, Gail rushed past the sparse row of shops. Hurrying between a bakery and computer shop, she approached the police station hidden in a small yard behind the shops.

Removing her helmet before she barged through the glass door, she entered the small office and made for the single window used for inquiries. She stopped to look around; it had been the first time she had been in this part of the building. She was clearly unimpressed by the plain white brick walls and single locked door confining her to this one small room.

She pressed a buzzer on the wall, keeping it pressed hard until the glass partition in the small window was opened.

"May I help you?" The Officer was clearly agitated by her finger still pressed against the buzzer.

Having a vague recollection of him hounding her when she was a teenager, Gail began tapping her fingers on the wooden frame. "I want to report my friend as missing."

Her constant tapping beginning to get on his nerves, the Officer scratched his bearded chin. "And when did this exactly happen?"

Gail began tapping harder, getting pissed that he was wasting time on pointless questions. "What has the time have to do with anything?"

The Officer tried staying calm, "Please be patient. When did you last see your friend?"

She leaned forward, "The hunt yesterday."

The door opened behind her and a man in a damp brown coat entered. His blue eyes focused on the agitated Officer's face, "What's going on?"

The Officer made no attempt to hide his contempt of the sport, "She claims that her friend has disappeared, after one of their foxhunts."

His tone gave Gail the impression that he might have been one of these namby-pamby protestors against having a little fun. "Don't make me gag. That's what this is all about, isn't it?"

Detective Sergeant Paul Jarvis removed his damp coat to reveal a faded navy blue suit, "Why don't we go to my office and talk about this." He glanced at the Officer as he walked toward the interior door, "Buzz us in then."

Her hand twitched involuntarily as Melissa lay on the slab, her throat caked in dried blood.

Her blue eyes opened and she gulped desperately for breath.

Dazed as she rolled off the stone sarcophagus onto the floor, she tried to stand. Taking in the ancient walls surrounding her, she turned and saw what she had been lying on. She began looking around, afraid of the eerie sounds of the wind rustling through the worn crypt.

Standing among the dust covered tombs, she backed into something soft and sticky. She screamed as she scrambled to brush off the mass of thick cobwebs, feeling dozens of hairy little legs scurrying over her skin and hair.

Disentangling herself, she swept the spiders off her clothes, shaking at the thought of any of them remaining on her. She squirmed out of her coat and tossed it onto the filthy stone floor, still shuddering from the thought of the spiders crawling under her sweater or jeans.

As the spiders scurried into the cracks on the floor and walls, Melissa held the back of her neck as she turned. She saw the rusted iron door at the top of a flight of stone steps, offering the chance for run into the sunlight.

Vague memories of what happened began to flash through her mind as she became confident that she was alone in the crypt. She climbed the stairs and grabbed the rusted bars.

The sunlight hit her skin.

Caught between a mixture of surprise and shock, she watched her skin begin to blister.

Snatching her hand back, she lost her balance and stumbled. Her head smashed into a stone slab as she crashed back down the stairs. Feeling a cut on her forehead, her leg erupted with searing agony the instant she tried moving. She glanced down at her leg, feeling sick when she saw the bone emerging from just above her ankle. She attempted to avoid looking at the blood as she focused on trying to reach the door. As she looked up, she realised that it was slowly beginning to go dark outside.