The Dark Horde (26 page)

Closer...

“C’MON SPAZ, CATCH UP!” Nathan yelled.

Spaz looked up to see his group twenty or so metres ahead of him. He tucked the map into his waist, secured by the wide belt of his pack and jogged forward to catch up.

“You can look at the map later,” Nathan said.

“Just don’t lose it,” added John.

The track wound its way through a dense forest of gum trees and bracken, staying mostly level as they passed Red Hill, before following Black Dog Creek down a gully to where it met the Howqua River.

In the shadow of the mountain ridge, the forest was much cooler and wetter, blanketed by heavy dew. Manna Gums towered over them, bark hanging off their ebony trunks like flesh peeling from the bone. The air, thick with the smell of eucalyptus, was strangely still, like a breath held.

Nathan paused a moment to look up at the trees...

Wonder where all the birds have gone?

The group hiked on through the silent landscape, minds too laboured to talk or to admire the serene beauty around them...

Oblivious.

The track became overgrown with ferns, rocks and fallen trees. There was no sign of the orange markers or the other hike groups.

Kev was at the front and stopped to look back at the others. “Are we going the right way?”

“I dunno,” Mouldy answered. “I was following you, Kev.”

“Oh, that’s fucking great, isn’t it,” Nathan said.

Richo seized the opportunity to remove his pack and rest.

“Well, let’s check the map,” said Kev. “Who’s got it?”

“Spaz had it last,” John said.

Everyone’s gaze turned to Spaz...

“I didn’t have it last, did I?”

“Spaaaz! You spaz! Haha!” said Richo, sitting on his pack and pulling a muesli bar out of his pocket.

“Spaz, you idiot!” said Nathan. “You were looking at it before instead of where you were walking!”

Spaz made a goofy grin. “Oh yeah.”

Nathan clipped him over the head in frustration.

Then something large crashed ferociously through the trees nearby. It passed quickly, heading in the same direction they were...

Unseen.

“What the fuck was that?” Kev said.

“Kangaroo, I hope,” John answered.

Richo stood shaking. “Bullshit it was a kangaroo! Sounded more like an elephant!”

“Not that we have any of them here,” Kev said. “Whatever it was, it’s going the same way we were.”

Nathan raised steadying hands. “Well, we need to establish whether we were even
going
the right way.”

“I reckon we were going the wrong way,” Richo said.

Nathan turned to Richo. “Well, nice of you to tell us that
now,
isn’t it, Richo?”

Richo raised his pitch. “Oh, fuck off! You were following too!”

John stepped between them. “C’mon guys. Let’s figure out where we’re supposed to go.” He turned to Spaz, who was looking in the direction of noise they’d heard. “Spazzy. Where did you put the map?”

Spaz rummaged through his pockets, getting more agitated the longer he searched. With everyone’s reproachful gaze on him, he took his pack off and began to search its contents.

“Hey, that’s right,” Nathan pointed to the now unclipped belt of Spaz’s pack. “I saw you put the map in your belt there.”

Spaz made another goofy grin. “Oh yeah, I did too.”

Nathan squeezed his face in his palm. “Spaz, you’re a
fuckin’
idiot!”

Spaz scanned the ground in the vicinity: a vain attempt.

Nathan looked at the others and shook his head. “He’s fuckin’ lost it. I don’t believe this shit!”

No one said anything.

Distant thunder erupted. The sky grew darker.

Nathan spoke again, “Whose idea was it anyway to give this fuckin’ retard the map?”

Kev started to rub his arms. “It doesn’t matter now, Nathan. I say we start going back. This has to be the wrong way.”

“Nah, we seemed to be following a track.” John said. “I reckon we might as well keep going for a bit and see where this one leads. It’ll probably join back up with the right path further on.”

“Not with that fucking thing out there!” Richo protested.

“Richo, we have to go that way
anyway
,” John answered him.

“Well John, why can’t we see anyone else here?” Kev said. “We must have missed a turn.”

“Look, how about John goes up ahead to see where this path leads and whether it joins back up. The rest of us will wait for him here,” suggested Nathan.

“Nah fuck this, I’m not waiting,” said Kev. “I’m gunna head back the way we came. This is bullshit!”

“Kev, I’ll only be a few minutes and you know we’re not supposed to split the group,” John said. “Just wait here, will ya?”

Kev sighed and rolled his eyes. “Alright then. Be quick.”

John threw off his pack and started jogging down the track, disappearing into the forest soon after...

It began to rain.

The five of them sat in sombre huddles among sodden puddles. Steady rain fell, dripping off the limp skin of trees and soaking through their raincoats and into their bones. They called out for John a few times, but had no reply.

“How long’s John been?” said Richo, his teeth chattering. “I’m freezing!”

“At least twenty minutes,” said Mouldy.

“Maybe I should go up ahead and see where he is. He might have hurt himself,” suggested Nathan.

“He might have found that thing,” said Richo.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

“Shit Nathan, we might as well all go,” said Kev.

The others agreed: no one wanted to be left alone.

Lightning flashed nearby them, sending strobes across the gloomy sky. The rain got harder, driven by wailing gusts.

They set off down the slippery path in pursuit of John. Weaving through bracken, boulders and the leering branches of Manna Gums, they reached a grassy clearing after a few hundred metres. It disappeared into a thick, churning fog ahead.

Kev stopped to look back at the others, raising his voice over the wind and rain, “Can anyone see a path here?”

“Nup. But that fog’s weird!” said Richo.

Nathan called out for John again: a forlorn hope.

Spaz wandered away to a discrete tree. Despite cold, unresponsive fingers, he managed to open the front of his pants and began to relieve himself.

Something stumbled through the bushes behind him, incoming.

Spaz pissed on his leg as he craned back over his shoulder...

And saw John standing there smiling.

Spaz relaxed. “John! You scared the shit out of me!”

“Wanna see something really mad?”

Spaz finished and turned to face John. “Like what?”

“C’arn, I’ll show ya.” John tugged Spaz’s raincoat sleeve.

Spaz hesitated. “We better tell the others you’re here. They’re still looking for you.”

“Naaah, they’ll be alright. This’ll only take a moment. Don’t worry, it’ll be worth it. It’s mad!”

“Oh, ok then,” Spaz said and followed John into the churning mist...

Spaz felt like he’d stepped into a dream. His head spun trying to comprehend the sudden darkness, the heavy sound of chanting, the burning torches, the fornicating bodies...

A great crowd of people danced naked and bleeding with hundreds of hulking, hairy, dog-faced creatures, groaning, screaming and growling in a sadistic orgy of blood. Central to them was a figure in purple bloodstained robes upon a blackened pedestal, chanting.

One of the towering beasts turned to fix its red demonic gaze on Spaz and licked its lips.

“See, I told you it was mad! Haha!” John said.

WEDNESDAY 5:05
PM

Brian called from the open doorway of his house. His new accomplice Jason waited outside in the driveway, sweating in the driver’s seat of his silver Valiant Charger.

After escaping Howqua Hills Police Station in Jason’s car, the pair of them went to get loved ones, but neither Brian’s partner Sasha nor his ex-wife Julie that his two children lived with, were home. Jason’s parents weren’t home either, leaving Brian and Jason alone to face the world. Struggling to contain the panic enveloping them, fellow victims became comrades in times of turmoil. With everything that mattered in their lives at stake, they had no choice but to fight.

They checked into a motel to examine the police files they grabbed as they escaped. The files on the Weston killings pointed to the involvement of Henry Wilcox: a twenty-three year-old man from Melbourne with a history of psychiatric illness. His mother reported him missing two days ago and his abandoned Torana was found yesterday at Frank Weston’s house on the outskirts of Howqua Hills. Brian phoned the office of forensic pathologist Dr David Dawson, but there was no answer, and when he called Henry’s parents’ house, he got Henry’s former psychiatrist, Dr Bernard Russell, instead. Desperate to make sense of events, Brian organised to meet him in Melbourne that night, hoping to find David too.

Back in the present, there was no reply, or any signs of activity inside his home. Brian stepped into the hallway of the house...

As a groan issued from behind the closed door of the master bedroom to his immediate right.

Brian pivoted to face the sound. “Sasha?”

Another groan came in answer.

Don’t think. Just be ready to do what you may have to do.

Brian reached for the doorhandle with one hand and drew his pistol with the other...

“Is that you, Brian?”

Brian quickly holstered his pistol. “Yes it’s me, Sasha.” He opened the door.

Sasha was sitting up in bed next to the phone, her long brown hair tumbling down the front of her faded pink T-shirt. A filthy fetor lingered...

The familiar fetor of foul demon-spawn.

She smiled. “It’s so nice to see you!”

“Is everything ok, Sasha?”

“Yes, everything’s fine! I was really tired from work today, so I was just having a lie-down for a bit.”

Brian glanced around the corners of the room. He turned back to her. “So everything’s fine?”

“Yes! That’s what I just said, honey! Why, are you surprised?”

Still that smell...

“Um, yeah maybe. Has anyone called?”

Sasha shook her head. “Not a soul... Look, I know you’ve been really busy and stressed with work–”

“Yeah I–”

“And I’m sorry I haven’t been nicer to you lately and more understanding.”

Brian raised his eyebrows. “Well, thanks!”

“You’re having such a tough time at the moment with everything, the last thing you need is someone nagging you about what’s going on and what you’re doing, when even you don’t know!”

Brian laughed. “You
do
understand!”

“Of course, honey! I love you!”

A moment’s hesitation. “I love you too, babe.”

She reached forward and embraced him. He felt the warmth of her body against his cold skin, the soothing aroma of her perfume, the softness of her breath.

Hang on. Isn’t this all a bit
too
easy?

“You’re not mad at me anymore, then?”

“No honey,” she murmured.

“That’s good.” Brian gave her another squeeze and stepped back. He looked her in the eyes. “But why the sudden change?”

She returned his gaze. “I haven’t changed.”

Outside, the sky darkened as grey clouds rolled in on stormy gusts to cover the setting sun.

Brian looked over at the dressing-table nearby. He turned back to her. “Sasha. I’m going to do something which is going to seem a bit strange, but trust me on this one, okay.”

Sasha wrinkled her brow. “What are you going to do?”

Brian stepped over to the dressing-table and opened the main drawer. He pulled out a pin from the sewing kit there and turned to face her. “Just need to test something. It won’t hurt.”

“Brian, what the hell are you on?”

Brian moved towards her, pin in hand.

Sasha leapt from the bed towards the door.

Brian lunged across the bed and grabbed her right wrist. “I’m sorry, Sasha. But I have to do this.”

Brian held onto her wrist as he pricked her finger.

“For fuck’s sake, Brian! What’s wrong with you?”

Please God, let it not be her too.

A bubble of blood began to form on her fingertip... Purple.

Unmistakeably purple.

Still holding her wrist with one hand, he drew his pistol with the other, his hands shaking.

It has to be done.

“BRIAN! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?”

“What has to be done. I’m–”

Sasha swiped the phone from the bedside table and twisted past Brian’s aimed pistol. The gun went off as she smashed the phone on his head as hard as she could.

Brian slumped on the bed, releasing his grip on Sasha. She tried to wrestle the pistol from him, but he quickly recovered and pulled back.

She staggered to her feet, facing him, incredulous. Her right arm hung limp and bleeding from a gaping bullet wound in her shoulder, drenching her shirt. “You just tried to kill me.”

Tears welled in his eyes as he raised the gun again, but she was quicker, bolting out the door.

“HELP! HELP! SOMEBODY HEEELP!”

Sasha ran out of the front door and into Jason coming the other way. “My God, you’ve been shot!” he exclaimed as he grabbed her.