CHAPTER ONE
PART ONE
The Thing in the Rain
THE AWAKENING
THE BUNKER
The corridors were covered in moss and mildew from the constant dripping water, the pipes overhead were rusted and corroded the group of surveyors wandered around treading carefully one of the group Tom shone his torch at the pipes above “This place looks like a death trap” the team leader Carl kept his eyes on the ground to avoid tripping over any debris “Well if anything happens the guys outside will come in to get us out” the third man Eric ran his fingers along the damp walls feeling the rough surface of the brickwork he looked down the hallway which was a void of pure black even the torchlight couldn’t penetrate it “Jesus how far do these corridors go down?” Carl spoke “From the history of the site the bunker runs for about a mile but before it this was a massive labyrinth of caverns previous surveyors have recorded some of the caves passages running more miles and go as far as 150ft down” Tom gritted his teeth “So definitely not a place you want to get lost down, why are we checking this place out?” Carl spoke again “The council wanted someone to check it out to see if any renovations could be made to allow access to the public…but from what I can see this place it would cost a King’s ransom to fix just this section alone with all the mould and water damage” the other men agreed with the observations. Carl noticed a couple of open doorways ahead “Let’s check these out before we put the final nail in the coffin for this place” the men separated into two Carl with Eric and Tom by himself. The other two seemed to arrive in some sort of abandoned office it appeared to be fully furnished with a large oak writing desk and a torn leather back chair, papers were scattered along the floor Carl looked at the room with historian enthusiasm “Imagine the type of people that may have been in this office during the war?” Eric nodded shining a light on a picture frame on the wall he spoke over his shoulder to his comrade behind him “It’s a shame that no one will ever be able to see this” Carl nodded in agreement “Never say never maybe we could send a couple of remote drains with cameras to film the interior and recreate it digitally”.
Tom entered an area with looked like it could have been used as a meeting room although it was completely empty except for a few scattered papers and a couple of rats, he swept the light of the torch across the ground not noticing the large crack along the floor as he wandered into the middle of the room when suddenly the floor gave way, the man yelled as he fell into the plume of dust hitting the ground below as chunks of rubble fell all around him voices from the other two men came from above Carl yelled out “TOM?! Tom!” they ran into the board room to a haze of dust and a large gaping hole in the floor Eric called out “Tom! Tom are you alright?!” they stood at the edge of the hole looking down into the dark. Tom winced from the pain of the fall he rolled onto his back and could feel the water raining down on his face “fuck” he could hear his colleagues shouting down “I’M FINE!” he yelled unconvincingly, he rolled over again to get onto his knees and noticed the torch next to him, shining the light around Tom noticed that this passage wasn’t part of the bunker but the original cavern system that Carl was talking about before. After regaining some composure he called out to his companions “It seems I found the caves you were talking about Carl!”. The cave was filled with heavy air and stunk of damp as Tom began to follow the pathway, further down the cave his footsteps squelched in the muddy ground “The river must flood down here”, as he slowly wandered through the caves he reached a passage that was filled with black roots and vines all intertwined on the walls and ceiling.
Down at the end was large mass of roots that had formed what looked like some kind of cocoon, Tom could see in front of the cocoon was a large stone block and on top of it was a carved wooden statue. The idol was depicting a woman who was holding a metal wheel with symbols carved upon it “This is some weird shit” he approached the cocoon and could see the that there was a Celtic symbol carved on a large disc made of clay, Tom touched the clay to feel the indentation of the symbol but touching it caused the clay disc to crack and fall apart “Oh hell!” he went to pick up the pieces when a horrifying shriek came from inside the cocoon. Tom fell backwards hitting the ground hard as the twisted cocoon writhed and cracked, the black roots began to reseed back into the twisted shape when suddenly it burst open and something spilled out onto the ground, something alive. The form quivered and writhed it’s joints twisted and cracked, it’s skin was black and slender and it’s face had no features it scrambled onto its hands and knees quivering and convulsing , Tom began to scramble backwards “Holy shit” as he moved the figure stopped and turned towards the cowering man Tom held his breath with shock. The creature was still shivering slightly then with a burst of energy it scuttled over to Tom taking his face into its long fingers, Tom’s chest heaved rapidly with fear as the thing took its slender fingers an ran them along his teeth. The faceless appearance began to change as a split appeared where its mouth should be the split got wider cracking and peeling away revealing a huge maw of grinning teeth, the figure stroked the frightened man’s face the mouth of teeth opened with a deep guttural growl “Hungry” the teeth lunged forward biting down on flesh and with a quick jerk the creature tore out Tom’s throat with blood gushing out.
Carl and Eric were becoming concerned that they couldn’t hear Tom anymore, Carl leaned over the hole and shouted into the dark “TOM?! ARE YOU OK?!” no one replied Carl turned away taking out his phone “I’m going to try and call someone” he stepped away leaving Eric looking down. Eric couldn’t see anyone in the pit he called out “Tom! Can you hear me?” the silence was long until a voice called out “Tom’s…not…here” a chill tingled its way down Eric’s spine, as Carl turned around dialling the phone he saw Eric turning to face him then suddenly pulled Eric by the leg. Eric yelled as he hit the ground hard winding him, he coughed and gasped for breath as his legs dangled over the side of the pit, Carl cursed and he put the phone away “Shit! Hang on Eric!” as he ran to help his colleague Eric screamed as he was pulled down into the darkness, Carl stood motionless there was nothing but silence expect the sound of his heartbeat pounding in his ears.
Staring at the gaping hole in the ground, Carl didn’t know what to do “Christ, I need to get someone…I need to get help” he began stepping away from the hole and as he turned around he was met by the black skinned figure which was stood by the entrance, it’s head jerked and twitched as it stepped forward, Carl spoke with fright “What the hell is this? This is some prank you, Tom and Eric have cooked up?” the figure kept walking towards the grin slowly emerged revealing blood covered teeth Carl realised that this wasn’t a joke “What the fuck?!” the figure continued its writhing it’s just joints and bones cracked again as it climatized from being trapped for so long Carl called out again “What the hell are you?” the figure spoke in that deep inhuman voice “I am ancient as the sky…the feeder of flesh…the lurking nightmare, I am finally free to feed again before the next moon approaches” Carl couldn’t retreat any further for he was right next to the pit. The figure was now upon him still grinning, it’s fingers touched the fabric of the frightened man’s suit “Is this the garment your tribe wears now?” holding its arms out wide the flesh quaked and the black suit began to form until the figure was dressed similar to Carl “It will be very satisfactory” Carl started to tremble as the figure took him in its arms as if to embrace him “Let us begin” the pain in Carl’s shoulder suddenly screamed out and he realised that the figure had sunk its teeth into his flesh, the fingers grew into pointed claws and began to pierce into his back, Carl yelled and managed to knock the figure away and he ran for his life through the many corridors of the bunker from deep inside he heard a deep inhuman scream, it was coming for him as he reached a passage with an opening that led to an alternate exit, the metal door was bolted shut he fumbled at the lock frantically.
The light of the day was already fading the street lights had already come on, metal door opened and Carl scrambled through the dirty passageway and when he emerged he fell into the shallows of the river which was to the Old Dee Bridge, Carl waded through the shin high water as he reached the slope that led up to the village something slammed against him and he tumbled into the water as the thing from below began to bite and tear at him, the water in the shallows began to turn red.
HARRISON
With night falling Harrison had packed up his tools and his equipment to finish for the day, he had been plastering an apartment at Salmon Leap near the Old Dee Bridge, he picked up his tool bag and spoke with the owner of the apartment which was a man in his 60s “Alright I’m almost done with the dining room Mr Ford, but I should be able to get it all finished and out of your hair by tomorrow” the old man smiled at the news “Wonderful you’ve done a brilliant job already, I will see you tomorrow then” Harrison smiled back in return “See you tomorrow Mr Ford”. Harrison left the building and walked round to reach the path that ran along the river back, he had park on the main road due to the size of his van so he had no choice but to walk. The area was quiet with only a few lampposts to illuminate where he was walking but he could see the main road and bridge up ahead. He listened to the rushing flow of the water as it cascaded down the weir, whilst listening another sound caught his interest it sounded like a crunching sound, as he walked down the path it got louder it seemed like it was coming from near the bridge. As Harrison reached the bridge the low light made it difficult to see but he could make out a shape that was huddled over on all four it jerked at the mass that was beneath it, Harrison could hear something being ripped or torn and the dark shape seemed to be eating “What the fuck is that?” he tried to focus his vision to get a better look at first he thought it was some sort of animal but almost looked human he called out “Hello?” the creature stopped and it’s head slowly turned to look over it’s shoulder the teeth were faint in the darkness but Harrison could see the twisted jagged jaws as a deep growl rumbled out. Harrison seemed startled by the creature’s teeth and he quickly rushed up the steps by as the creature barked a roar at him, he jumped the last steps and felt safer in the glow of the lamp posts, he looked back down the steps whatever the animal was it hadn’t followed him, a voice came from behind him “Hey mate are you alright?” Harrison turned round to see a couple that had gone on a walk looking at him with slight concern. Harrison pointed down the steps mumbling his words “There was…down there…the river” the woman spoke calmly “Was someone following you?” Harrison kept looking at the dark he finally find the words “No, there was some kind of animal down on the river bank, it was huge with freaky teeth and eating something” the man was curious and stepped forward “What did it look like?” Harrison shrugged “All I saw was those teeth” the man patted him on the shoulder “Let’s get a look at it” he and Harrison went down the steps as the woman remained at the top she called out “Be careful please”. The two men had reached the top of the river bank and Harrison pointed to the water by the closest archway were he saw the animal “It was down there, but I can’t see it now” the man took out his phone and turned on the torch which illuminated the river and the bridge, the was nothing just the sound of the river flow “Must have gone, probably a fox” Harrison shook his head “It was way too big to be a fox” the torchlight scanned across the bank and came across the passageway into the underground the man noticed something “Wait down there” on the stonework there was small spatter of blood and a hand print that seemed to have claw marks “Looks like a dog may have caught one of the birds that roost here, there seems to be a footprint and a bit of blood, must have dragged it away” he switched off the torch and laughed “I’m glad I’m not that dog’s owner when it brings that dead bird home” Harrison chuckled as well “Yeah definitely” the two of them went back up the steps and the couple went off on their merry way as Harrison reached his van which was parked just passed the barber shop. After putting his bag away before getting in he stopped and looked back to the steps and was convinced that something was watching him from the darkness, he shook it off and got into the van and made his way home.
The creature had dragged the corpse of Carl back down into the underground to finish its feeding, it needed to regain its strength and rest for the full moon when it resume the hunt and choose its next victims.
THE FIRST FULL MOON
DOUG
Doug was naked but sat up in his bed texting on his phone the fan slowly rotated trying to cool the room from the summer heat, the bedroom door open with the light from the hallway sweeping across half the room the thin man that he had just had sex with as a hook up walked in wearing a vest and boxers the man grabbed his trousers from the bedroom floor “Fuck that was amazing” Doug keep his gaze on his phone “Yeah was a fun night” the man finally got dressed “If you fancy another go sometime give me a shout” Doug looked at him with smile “Yeah sure thing” the man left the room Doug could hear the footsteps heading down the stairs and out the front door, Doug looked out the window “I should shower and wash the lube smell off my dick” he paused for moment “Fuck it I’ll wash it in the sink, I really need to get something to eat” Doug got up out of the bed.
After putting on a pair of jeans and a hoodie Doug left the house to go to the corner shop to get something to eat, he took a cigarette from the pack in his pocket and placed it in between his lips and stepped into the night along the rain stained streets the neighbourhood was rows of semi-detached houses illuminated with street lamps and trees running along the pavements, Doug fumbled for his lighter in his other pocket with two clicks the flame sparked to life against the end of the cigarette Doug took two puffs as he reached an alleyway which was a short cut to the shop. As he turned the corner he looked up to the stars, approaching at a junction in the alley Doug looked down the passage on his right then stopped to look at the figure standing far in the shadows, it was a slender figure wearing a black suit and tie and black hands with long fingers but it had a faceless black head but with a large grinning smile it stood there just looking in Doug’s direction Doug took the cigarette from his mouth “Creepy mate but little early isn’t it? Halloween isn’t for another two months” the figure didn’t move it just kept smiling “Cool look though, are you supposed to be that slenderguy thing?” when the figure remained still Doug sort of smirked and gave a quick wave “Well goodnight mate” As he left the alleyway another man thin and in shorts, t-shirt and cap walked past both of them nodded politely to each other Doug carried on down the street. The corner shop was quiet as Doug opened the door which beeped to notify the cashier of a customer, he wandered over to the crisp section as the shop worker walked past “You alright love?” Doug glanced at her “I’m good you?” the lady walked behind the counter “Yeah be glad when this shift is over” Doug picked up a bag of crisps and a can of coke from the fridge “Another late one eh?” she nodded “One of the girls called in sick so I agreed to cover…paying by card love?” Doug took out his wallet and paid for the snacks he put them in his hoodie pocket and smiled “Thanks take care” the lady replied back “you too lovely” Doug returned to the cool streets setting out for home as he re-entered the alleyway he spotted something on the ground it was a cap, it look like the one that the man was wearing when he walked past him before. Doug looked around but couldn’t see anything “Maybe he’ll come back to find it” Doug placed the cap on top of a wooden fence post of a back door to a house and carried on walking out of the alleyway leaving the shadows behind , the man with the cap lurched out of the shadows covered in blood he collapsed onto the ground as the Grinning Man slowly emerged from the dark the white smiling teeth stained red. The shiny black shoes clicked against the concrete floor as a long arm reached out with long crooked fingers curled around the man’s leg, the creature began to drag the man back down into the alley a soft but gravelled voice spoke “Come now, we’re not done yet” the man began to claw at the ground trying to escape he tried to call for help but he choked on a mouth full of blood, he screamed silently as he was enveloped by the darkness from the shadows the silence was broken from the crunch of bones.
THE BODY IN THE ALLEY
Tape had been stretched across all the entrances of the alleyway, Erika Marshall lift the tape and crouched under to head to the crime scene as she turned the corner she saw the forensics examiners and another police detective Paul Alton was standing several feet from the scene he turned when he heard Erika approaching “Morning, a nice way to start the day” Erika was feeling her colleagues pleasant early morning demeanour “So what have we got here?” Alton pointed to the victim who was down the alley “We have a young Caucasian male, early 30s possibly wallet had an ID as Dean Wallace” Erika started approaching the body “Was it a mugging? Drug deal gone wrong?” Alton winced at the answers “Uh no…murder but with an unusual twist” the body was being kept in a tent to hide the body from public view, when Erika entered the tent the forensic examiners pulled back the cover to reveal the body. Erika recoiled slightly from the sight of the mangled body “Holy Christ!” the body had gashes across multiple parts of the body but majority of the flesh had been taken down to the bone, she looked to Alton “What the fuck happened to him?” the man spoke whislt indicating to the body “Well according to the examiners this poor sod had flesh and muscles removed but what is freaky is that because there are signs of teeth marks which means that he was eaten” Erika stood over the body and looked and the shredded remains “Eaten? What the hell would do…this kind of mess?” Alton shrugged “Some kind of wild animal?” Erika spoke mockingly “Like what a badger or a hedgehog pretty sure they only eat dog food” he shrugged again “Maybe a really aggressive dog” Erika nodded at the possibility “To do this it would have to one angry dog” Erika walked out the tent and her colleague followed after her, she stood there taking in deep breathes Alton stood behind her “Are you ok?” Erika looked up to the sky “Is it just me or is there something wrong with this fucking town?” Alton shook his head “Not that I’m aware of why?” Erika continued “I feel there is something wrong with this scene, there’s more to it that we are not seeing, but weird things seem to be happening like that girl we found in the Roman Garden a year ago” Alton replied “I think you’re looking way too into it” Erika turned to face him “Maybe but that girl said some weird and there are many stories that people whisper in this town like the farm down on Eaton Road” Alton smirked “Hey every town and city across the world have urban myths and creepy stories” Erika relaxed more “You’re probably right, we need to start asking round the nearby houses see if they heard or saw anything” both her and Alton left the scene to begin the investigation.
THE SECOND FULL MOON
THE MANSFORD HOUSE
Rain pelted the window of Ellie’s bedroom as she put on her pyjamas, she wandered around the bed other to the far side by the window. As Ellie she looked out through the glass something caught her eye, distorted in the fall drops she could see a man standing underneath the shelter of a tree on the other side of the road, the man was creepy looking pitch black shin but no face only a grinning smile but even though it had no face she knew it was looking directly her.
Her father walked into the room “Hey sweetheart I thought you’d be in bed by now” Ellie looked to her father looking a little spooked “Dad there’s a man outside looking at me” Her father looked at her puzzled and then ambled over to the window and looked to where Ellie was pointing, the figure was gone Ellie’s father turned to his daughter with a pacifying smile “There’s no one there now, he must have been trying to get out of the rain” he placed a hand gently on Ellie’s shoulder “Come on now get into bed”. Ellie climbed in under the covers her dad leaned over and kissed her on her forehead “Goodnight sweetheart” he stroked the hair out of his daughter’s eyes and smiled before leaving the room. When the door closed Ellie shuffled in her bed trying to get comfortable after a quiet moment something made Ellie opened her eyes, it was a strange cracking noise she tried to sleep thinking it was coming from a bird in the trees knocking branches until when it came again she realised that is was coming from inside her room. Ellie looked to the cracking noise coming from the corner of her room, she sat up slightly holding the cover close to her she was terrified to close her eyes as the tall thin man loomed out of the darkness the teeth emerged from the behind the black lips as they peeled away to show the grin he had when he was stood outside in the rain. Before she could say anything the man raised a long finger up to his mouth to shush her, he then spoke in a deep inhuman voice “Hush now let’s play a game…do you want to play a game?” Ellie was frozen as the grinning man crept closer to the bed “You will enjoy this game” the creature reached out its long arms and began to slowly crawl onto the bed until he was right in front of Ellie still grinning “It’s called scream and I’ll kill your family”. Ellie’s eyes began to tear up as she trembled with terror staring at the faceless monster as it’s face contorted slightly the grin splitting wider and the teeth shifting into more sharp and crooked forms with drool dripping onto the sheets, the creature spoke with a drooling guttural growl “DON’T…SCREAM!” but without any control Ellie was already letting out a horrified screech.
Doug wandered out of the bathroom but before heading back to bed he could hear the sound of someone crying, from the hallway Doug could see outside from the window in the study at the front of the house a little girl ambling down the road “Holy shit” he quickly trudged down the stairs and threw on his rain coat and unlocked the door. Opening the door and stepping out into the rain Doug saw that it was Ellie Mansford from down the street “Ellie?!” he ran over to her placing a hand gently on her shoulder “Ellie sweetheart, are you alright?” she seemed to be in some sort of shock just repeating the same words “I didn’t want to scream…I didn’t want scream…I didn’t want to scream” Doug tried to wipe the rain from her face then realised that she was covered in blood which was beginning to wash into the street marking it faintly with red “Jesus Christ” he took off the coat and put it around Ellie’s shoulders “Come on Ellie let’s get you inside”. Back in the house Ellie was sat on the couch whilst Doug got his mobile “Hello…I’d need an ambulance and the police come to Appleyards Lane, I think something has happened”, after giving further details he looked to Ellie who just stared into nothing still trembling.
Blue lights flashed illuminating the street in a flickering strobe, Erika and Paul stood outside the house as one of forensics examiners came out and approached them “You can go inside…but prepare yourselves” as they went into the house another examiner handed them pairs of shoe covers which they put on and began making their way up the stairs. It didn’t take long heading up the steps to begin seeing the blood as it dotted partially across the wall that loomed over them as they got closer to the top, as they reached the final step the wall which were their usual white were now red Erika had scene murder scenes before but nothing as brutal the body of a man and woman were in the hallway completely eviscerated similar to the body they found in the alleyway nearby a few weeks ago. Erika look at the two victims “Jesus” she glanced around at the blood, with the amount that had been sprayed on the walls and ceilings it wound have given the impression of the intruder using some sort of bladed instrument to hack them to death, she looked at one of the examiners who was taking photographs “Do we have a murder weapon?” the examiner looked up and shook her head “No, it’s weird they weren’t killed with any weapon if I had to guess looking at the marks I would say that the body had been…” “Eaten?” Erika was swift to finish the sentence and was met with a nod of agreement, she looked to Paul who responded “Same as Dean Wallace” Erika was concerned at the thought she had running through her mind, an animal attack was one thing but this was a break into a locked house no animal could do that this was the twisted actions of something human. Erika and Paul came down the stairs to let the forensics team finish and stood at the doorway Erika looked to Paul “This can only get worse, first Dean Wallace and now a home invasion” Paul nodded and replied “But how did they get in? From what they could get from the girl was that the house was locked and she had to open the door to get out, so how did the intruder gain access?” Erika looked to the ambulance where paramedics were tending to young Ellie who had Doug standing nearby, she made her way over to them.
Doug was watching all the police in the street and looked down to Ellie as the medics checked her for any injuries, although he’d probably get some trouble for cleaning the blood of her for evidence reasons there was no way he was going to let a child sit around covered in the blood of her parents, he had also given her one of his old t-shirts and a hoodie that even though it didn’t fit him anymore it still was large for her but it was clean and something warm to wear. Doug glanced up and saw Erika approached “Hello I’m Detective Erika Marshall, are you the one who called this in?” Doug nodded “Yeah I called as soon as I found Ellie in the street” Erika continued “So you’re acquainted with the family?” Doug nodded again “Yeah everyone in the street is, I’ve babysat Ellie when Karl and Elaine had late shifts or had plans” Erika quickly looked to Ellie who was seemed expressionless she looked back to Doug “Is there anyone that may have wanted to harm the Mansford family?” Doug frowned shaking his head “No they are a lovely family, always friendly and saying hi when you’d walk past. I couldn’t imagine anyone who would want to heard them” Paul also questioned “Did you see anyone around when you found her outside?” Doug turned to the other officer “No it was just her, covered in blood and just repeating the same words over and over again” Paul asked further “What did she say?” Doug replied “I didn’t want to scream, she just kept repeating that its why I thought I needed to call the police as soon as possible” Erika nodded “You did the right thing” she turned to the paramedics “Is she alright if I can ask her a few questions?” the medic closest to her nodded “Sure but keep it short she’s still in a bit of shock, we need to take her in soon” Erika agreed and sat next to Ellie and spoke in soft tone “Ellie…my name is Erika I work for the police, I wonder if you can answer my questions?” Ellie gave a slight nod but remained quiet, Erika gave her a reassuring smile “Did you see who it was who came into house?” Ellie nodded again “Was it a man or a woman?” Ellie didn’t reply, Erika spoke again “Ellie any information will help us to catch whoever did this…was it a man or woman?” after a pause Ellie finally spoke “A man” Erika smiled “Excellent Ellie, now what did he look like?” Ellie replied faintly “He had no face” the comment caught Doug’s attention as Ellie continued “He had black skin” Erika was curious at the description “So you sure his skin tone but his face was hidden” Ellie shook her head. Doug remembered the figure he had seen a month ago and felt a chill down his back, could it be the same man? He crouched in front of Ellie taking her hand gently “Ellie, the man you saw even though he had no face…did he have a large smile full of teeth?” the little girls eyes widened as if she saw something down the road watching her making Doug and the others turn quickly but there was nothing, Doug asked again “Did he smile and wear a suit?” Ellie nodded bursting into tears and flung herself at Doug who hugged her tightly he spoke calmly “Hey it’s ok” he stroked her hair as she sobbed into his chest he glanced at the other officers.
The ambulance took Ellie away leaving Doug with detectives, he looked to Erika “Can I visit her, as far as I know she has no other family she’s all alone” Erika nodded “Of course I’ll take you through to The Countess after we are finished here” Doug continued watching the ambulance “What will happen to her?” Erika replied “If there isn’t any other family to look after her then child services will take her” Doug’s heart sank at the idea “Can see stay with me, she knows who I am and this is her home, its where her school and her friends are” Paul gave a comment this time “We can look into you providing temporary guardianship after a CRB check” Doug nodded as Erika looked at him curiously “There’s one thing I want to ask you, how did you know what she saw in the house?” Doug glanced over his shoulder towards the alleyway where he saw the figure, he felt that something was watching him, he turned back towards Erika “Because detective…I’ve seen the same man” he looked scared and even Erika was feeling a sense of worry wondering was this was leading to. In the darkness of the river at the to the bunker the black flesh peeled away revealing the teeth of The Grinning Man as it let out a deep low chuckle as it began to fade away into the depths of the tunnels to be ready for the next full moon, to feed again and he already had a few in mind who were to be next.
TO BE CONTINUED…
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