Mark woke early the next day after a restless night.
He sat up in bed, his bare muscular chest exposed from the duvet, and turned on the television, ‘Lets see what bullshit their spouting out today shall we boy’. Harry opened an eye then went back to sleep, clearly not interested.
‘Another body has been found in the sleepy village of Congleton, this time a young woman was found…’
Mark leaned forward, suddenly wide awake, and turned the television up.
‘Police have arrested the ladies husband who neighbours witnessed verbally abusing his wife shortly before she left in her car. The man was also said to be having an affair with the victims’ sister’.
Without saying a word Mark jumped from his bed and scrambled to get dressed in whatever was lying on the bedroom floor and then threw himself, almost literally, down the stairs and out the front door. He ran as fast as he could towards the country lane where the latest victim had been found.
As he suspected the lane was closed to the public so before the officer guarding his post saw him, Mark jumped the picket fence and into the field. The barley immediately acted as a place to hide as he scrambled his way up the field on all fours.
Mark could hear the sound of talking a little way ahead, it was muffled but he could recognise Parker’s snarly whisper anywhere, ‘If this thing is back again I don’t want it getting out do you hear me?’ Mark could hear muffled agreement,
‘I want it dealt with quickly and quietly, we have beaten it before we can do it again’. Parkers’ tone meant he didn’t need a reply and Mark could hear the footsteps moving away in different directions, minions desperate to perform a masters biding. Mark moved on slowly, listening too intently to realise what he had done until it was too late. The warm oozing feeling that enveloped his fingers made him look down at the remains of someone’s lower intestine strewn across the ground in front of him. Mark had to clamp his mouth shut with his clean hand to stop him screaming. He threw up into his hand whilst trying to move away from the remains so he could try and catch his breath.
Eventually he came to a small clearing in the hedge that was just big enough to see the road in front of him and a mass of police officers legs. A little further up he saw a burnt orange mini cooper convertible, its nylon roof ripped open and its windscreen cracked. Mark knew no human could have done that, it would be madness to think otherwise. A little to the right of the mini there was a dense pool of dark red blood, still wet from the kill. A young officer was trying, unsuccessfully to hose the mess down without throwing up.
Having realised he had seen enough, Mark turned to go home but something caught his attention. A tooth lay glistening in the morning sun a meter away from his hand. He reached out for it and pulled it closer to him, he knew enough to know it was canine, the thing that bothered him though was the size. It was a big as his outstretched hand and as sharp as a butcher’s knife.
He made it home without being recognised, he looked a mess. Bloody, muddy and dusty. Mark took the tooth from his pocket and ran its serrated edge across his palm, it was bloody sharp and cut his hand without force, he didn’t want to guess what it could do with hunger and contempt behind it. He placed the tooth on his sideboard, undressed and jumped into the shower. The warm water washed over his head and down the length of his tired body and his mind began to clear a little. He knew for certain no human had killed either of those people but what the hell was it? He had heard of the beast of Bodmin, everyone had, practically every rural village in the U.K. had a story to tell about killer cats that roamed the moors, none had ever been found.
Was this the first?
None of it made sense.
Why would the police want to cover it up?
He needed to investigate this a little further, but he needed help and he knew just the person to call.
He stepped out the shower and begun to dry off. Realising he had left his clean underwear on the bed he walked back into the bedroom to find the tooth missing.
Harry was still asleep.
Shit guard dog!
Mark ran downstairs, with just a towel wrapped around him, to find the back door was wide open. He called out, but of course got no reply. He moved into the kitchen and on the worktop he found a note that read simply,
Leave it alone,
before you get hurt!!!
Chapter Seven
Louise Banner hung up her phone in shock. She pinched her arm, but she was not dreaming. So she made herself a strong coffee and sat down to contemplate the conversation she had just had.
Louise had known Mark Scott for almost ten years since they had shared a house together whilst at university in London.
Louise was tall with a slender, voluptuous figure, full breasts and long dark hair that hung straight across her rose white face. Louise had had a very big thing for Mark back in the day, now they were just very good friends. She was the first person he came out too at eighteen and the bond had lasted though the years and across the miles.
Louise had studied biology and evolution at university and had eventually gained a doctorate in the subjects but her true passion lay in the more weird and wonderful things life had to offer. The books in her library ranged from The Lock Ness Monster to the Yeti and from Witchcraft to the Holly Grail. What she didn’t know about these topics wasn’t worth knowing. Mark had called the right girl.
Marks details were sketchy at best, he was obviously shaken by it and in a rush to get off the phone. He had told her that there had been two killings within the same twenty four hour period, that the local police seemed to be covering something up and that Mark had found an animal tooth the size of his hand that someone had now stolen from his house.
It was enough for Louise though, she had already packed a bag and was on the way to the train station by the time Mark had gotten dressed.
Chapter Eight
Mark walked to the back of the library where he was told he would be able to find the microfilm and back copies of newspapers. He didn’t hold much hope into finding anything but he thought it would kill a few hours until Louise arrived. He had heard Parker say ‘if it was back…’ so this had obviously happened before, at some time in the past another group of murders would have occurred. He started going through the microfilm year by year. The odd strange death was recorded. In 1997 a man was found hanging in his garage with just his wife’s underwear on and an orange in his mouth.
‘Very Michael Hutchence’
In 1992 a girl was found dead in a class room. She had found herself bleeding between her legs and in panic sharpened two pencils put them into her nose and banged the ends on the desk. The pencils entered her brain and killed her instantly. Mark thought it strange she knew such a strange way to kill herself yet didn’t know what a period was. By the time he got to 1990 and the lady who had thrown herself from the top of the church whilst set alight because she thought she was the devil incarnate Mark was getting bored. He decided to go to 1980 then stop. He needed only to get to 1985. Within a month seven murders had occurred in and around Congleton all blamed on outside sources, all claimed to be solved, case closed. Mark knew this was what he needed it all fit into place and what was even better the police officer handling the case was Leslie Parker. It was too much of a coincidence, he knew he had what he needed. This information was all well and good though but he needed to find out what was killing these people, what exactly Parker was covering up. Another story kept cropping up among the murder stories about a factory that had opened just outside Congleton. Mark had never known there had been one, it was certainly never talked about in the village very much. According to the archives it opened in 1985 and had shut and relocated abroad by 1987 and was greatly apposed by the villagers.
‘Everything ok there son?’ the old librarian asked. She had obviously seen the bewildered look stretched across his face.
‘Erm…yeah I think so’ he replied, unconvincingly. ‘Actually’ he exclaimed making her jump slightly, ‘do you know anything about the factory that opened in Congleton in the eighties, seems to have got the residents wound up tight?’
The librarian pulled a disgusted face.
‘I certainly do young man, terrible place that, terrible, had the residents in uproar’
‘It was only open for a few years though?’ Mark asked,
‘Yes thank goodness, money trouble apparently, no one cared really round here, so many people against it you see. All except that fella that worked there, what was his name…? Ah that’s it Jacob Lyte, no sorry Lyle, Jacob Lyle that was it. Only remember ‘cus he got fired, next day won fifty gee’s on the horses, him and the missus moved away lucky bleeders hey’.
Mark suddenly perked up. ‘You know someone that worked there, at the factory?’
‘Well not so much know as know of, small village you see. The wife worked in the bakery sold me my buns every morning, nice lady, can’t remember her name’
‘Do you know where they moved to’? He asked hopefully. ‘Yorkshire somewhere close to the city I think…’
She continued to talk to him but Mark was no longer listening to her, he had already found out the yellow pages for York. Lyle wasn’t that popular a name was it? He was wrong there were over a hundred entries but only three had the initial J before them. Mark excused himself and left the librarian mid sentence. He rushed home as quickly as possible and started dialling.
The first number was disconnected, the second rang and rang but the third answered
Chapter Nine
Jacob Lyle threw his copy of the York Post down in disgust. Two murders within a day of each other just didn’t seem right. It was a quiet, sleepy village, things like this didn’t happen. The story bought with it old memories for Jacob that were all but twenty years old now.
Jacob had worked hard all his life in various cleaning and care taking roles. Born to a working class family, Jacob never had many luxuries. His only indulgence had been his wife Emily. They had met when they were seventeen and it was love at first sight. Jacob doted on Emily and within a year they were married and living together in a modest two bedroom cottage in Congleton. They lived happy enough. Jacob working at the local school and Emily in the village bakery. They soon realised that children were not an option as Emily was sterile. They didn’t mind though they had each other and that was all that mattered.
In 1985 Jacob was offered a job as caretaker at a new factory that was opening just outside the village. Local objections to the factory were immense but they were in no financial situation to object and so Jacob took the job. He was never privy to much all he knew was it was much more than a factory but his employment and generous wage depended on his complete discretion. He knew nothing of what went on in that place but Jacob heard the howls and cries every night.
One night he was cleaning the managing directors office, all the staff had gone home for the night and he realised the door to the filing cabinet had been left open. He knew he would get the sack if he was found snooping in confidential files but in the end curiosity got the better of him and he began riffling through whatever he could get his hands on.
Most of it was boring mundane stuff, nothing to write home about. Jacob was about to close the cabinet as he resigned himself to the fact that he really did work for a run of the mill paper company but the last file caught his attention and what he found in it shocked him and excited him more than he could have ever imagined.
A few days later a body was found close to the factory, it was that of a young woman who worked in the canteen. The official report said that she was murdered, stabbed to death with a kitchen knife. No one really paid any attention to the murder, it was unusual because it was a quiet village but when the police said a man had been arrested outside the area people moved on. A few months later another body was found, this time a man from the village itself. He had been walking his dog over the barley fields as many did in those days when, police say, he was attacked with a blunt instrument. The murder was blamed on a family member, apparently over a money issue. The next day a third body was found, but this time by Jacob himself. He was walking home late from work when he found the body of a twelve year old boy strewn across a quiet country lane. The sight of it made him sick to his stomach. The boys entire insides were missing, the boy lay face down, he had drowned in his own blood.
The next day the official line was that a twelve year old had been found dead and the boys’ estranged father had been arrested over the murder. Jacob knew that he hadn’t been killed by a person and the reality of what he had seen in the files finally begun to sink in. He knew he needed to get another look, if he could steal the file he knew he could take it to the press and get the truth out.
The next night Jacob broke into the M.D.’s office again and looked for the file, but it was no where to be seen, it was as if it had never existed. He knew that it had been destroyed to stop what was in it leaking. Jacob felt useless now he could never prove his wild claims.
The following day Jacob was called in front of the board of directors where he was fired for breaking into the managing director’s office and attempting to steal files that had the potential to bring an international and widely respected company into disrepute. Jacob protested of course, said that he would go to the police, the press, the government, anyone who would listen to him. It was only when they threatened to hurt Emily that Jacob changed his tune. He wanted the truth out, people had a right to know that the police were lying. Jacob loved freedom of speech and a democratic society but he loved his wife more, and he knew that after what the company had already done they were more than capable of killing Emily. So instead he agreed to keep quite and took a cheque for fifty thousand pounds. Jacob felt dirty, it was wrong but he knew this was a chance to get away with Emily and start again so with the money they moved to Yorkshire and bought a new house where they lived happily for many years.
Now as he looked at the paper he knew he had done the wrong thing, it was happening all over again. In the end seven people were killed before the police got the situation under control. Obviously this thing was back and he had the information to do something about it. Emily was no longer a concern, she had died of cancer three years ago, he had nothing to lose.
When he received the phone call from Mark Scott he knew what he had to do.
Chapter Ten
Officer Cyril Petty was not a happy man when he left work that Thursday night.
Parker was becoming obsessed with covering these two murders up. Obsession bordering on neuroticism was closer to the truth he thought as he left the station. This creature that was running loose over the fields needed to be stopped before it killed again but all the rest of the officers were more worried about the truth getting out and ruining the family name. The thing was all the officers at the station were one way or another related. Petty was Parkers cousin and he was uncle to Officer Davies. It was only a small unit, seven altogether and it had always been a family affair. Petty knew it was wrong but his hands were tied. If this got out it would throw the village into disrepute and that couldn’t happen, Parker wouldn’t allow it. It had almost happened before but they had nipped it in the bud before it did. None of them wanted the creature out there they all wanted it dead, the unnecessary by product of a failed experiment they all thought long gone.
Petty walked through the deserted street, it was only half ten but the village was all packed up and ready for bed. If Petty had been honest with himself he would have said that he was uneasy, maybe even scared at the minute. He knew the beast was out there, he knew what it looked like and he knew what it was capable of. He quickened his pace a little and jumped when he heard a dustbin lid crash to the ground, his heart was beating so fast he thought it might go into arrest, but he chuckled as a black cat ran out of the shadows and out into the road. He laughed at his stupidity, he was still laughing when something black but much larger dashed out of the shadows. The creature stood in front of Petty just like the pictures, four feet high, piercing red eyes that bore into your conscious and paralysed you with fear. Its jet black coat moved silently, menacingly in the light breeze. Petty stood transfixed for a moment even in his scared state he couldn’t help but notice how beautiful she was. A noise from his left startled him and he yelped as a second creature came from out of the shadows. It was slightly smaller than the first but still as frighteningly beautiful. The smaller one was the first to pounce. This must have been its initiation kill as the larger creature didn’t move. It jumped at Petty as he turned to run. The creature must have misjudged the angle of his jump because it missed Petty by a mili-second which gave him time to dash behind a car. Still the larger of the two stood still. The smaller creature rounded on Petty who was backed against the Land Rover Discovery. The beast jumped at him and pinned him to the car. It was obviously shocked by its luck because for a second Petty swore he could see surprise and confusion in its eyes. But before he could do anything about it the creature followed instinct and bit Petty on the face. He could feel the sharp teeth bite down on his lower jaw. Razors pressed against it until it cracked. Petty had never known a pain like it, blood splattered behind him against the car and down his uniform. He stood there for a moment, his lower jaw completely removed from his head, before he fell to the floor. He was already dead when the creature bit again crushing his skull completely, brain oozing out across the tarmac floor as the body fell onto its side. A trickle of blood began to make its way down the hill, small at first but it grew into a small stream.
The taxi that drove past a few minutes later carrying Louise Banner never even noticed as the beasts fed on their prey in eerie silence.
TO BE CONTINUED...
