"Darkness Within" Chapters 13-14

13

Tyler put four T-bone steaks on the outside grill, and was listening to Marilyn Manson on an expensive boom-box, singing something about “jumping on our shortswords”, which in turn had him thinking about Earl Hansford, and the possibility of him getting off work early enough to join the group out at the cabin.

It had been awhile since he had played a kick-ass game of Dungeons and Dragons—or Rendered Realities as he called it, having adopted the depiction from another friend—and utilizing rules not found in the game, and Tyler would have loved spending some part of the evening going through one of Earl’s kick-ass campaigns, and it was no secret that the rest of the group would have looked forward to it as well.

Everyone loved Earl’s campaigns; he was like a Dungeon Master god that had countless modules ready, and everything he needed on his laptop—including, but not limited to—sound effects, music for mood, and images of creatures and surroundings that he designed and illustrated himself. Earl was a hell of an artist, and currently worked at another friend’s body shop air-brushing designs and images on cars; he was a writer as well, and he breathed life into his kick-ass campaigns that was embraced by the players.

Tyler hoped that Earl could make it. There was still plenty of time left to the weekend.
He was turning the steaks over when he heard the blood chilling cry for help. Cutting through the peace of the afternoon like a ragged knife. It was coming in the direction of the pond. He recognized the voice immediately as having belonged to Jason. And when Tyler looked up reflexively from his steaks, he saw him flailing in the water like one who couldn’t swim. Tyler knew however that Jason was a fine swimmer, so the problem would have to be something else.

A cramp maybe.

Not allowing himself much thought to mull over, Tyler kicked off his sneakers, threw down his hat that made him look like Jimmy Bufett, and leaving his Hawaiian-print shirt on, he ran toward the shallows and dived into the pond. He swam swiftly toward Jason. He had almost reached him when suddenly Jason stopped his splashing and sank beneath the surface of the water.

With a purpose, Tyler submerged and kicked forward, he could see Jason in the vague environment of the water, he was perhaps fifteen feet away, and sinking like a stone. Tyler swam to him, grabbed Jason about the pit of the arms, pulled him toward the surface.

The ghoulish fiends were gone from Jason’s sight, fading away into the reflection of the sky, melding into the clouds whose smiles now looked none-too friendly.

X-X

Brandon crashed through the waterfall and dived into the pond. When he broke the surface he observed that Tyler was assisting Jason, and moving toward the edge of the pond, where the younger man coughed and sputtered frenetically.

As soon as they were on dry ground Tyler caught sight of Brandon. Tyler called out to him, “Do you know what’s going on here? Jason almost drowned.”

“It’s a long story Slim,” came Brandon’s reply. “And I don’t think that you’re going to believe any of it.” Especially after he finds out that we’ve been dropping acid.

As it turned out Jason didn’t need CPR, he just needed his chance to breathe properly again. And when he was allowed that chance, air came to him like a comforting whirlwind.

“Easy,” Tyler cautioned, turning back to Jason. He noticed that his eyes were like kaleidoscopes. “Take it easy, man. Catch your breath.” After a moment he asked, “Did you get a cramp or something?”

“Nha-nha-no cramp.” Jason sputtered. “It was a…demon.”

Brandon reached the edge of the pond, climbed out. “He’s telling the truth, man. We were chased by demons.”

Tyler looked at Brandon askance, “Demons?” he was pretty sure that he heard them both correctly, it was just hard to believe what he was hearing. Was it some kind of stoner joke? If it was, Tyler didn’t appreciate it. He scratched his left temple. “Come again?”

“You heard the dope right, man. They looked like something out of Nosferatu. All gnarly and shit.”

“They climbed the walls like spiders.” Brandon added.

“What walls?” Tyler wanted to know. “Where?”

“Inside the alcove.”

“Actually it was through the wall of the alcove.”

X-X

“I’m going to lower you down into the water, Lanny. Grab the ledge if you have to. I’m right behind you.”

And he was, a moment later both young man and young woman were in the water. Lanny was shaking in spite of herself. She knew that one of the ghouls had breached the veil, the question is what happened to it? Where were Brandon and Jason?

“Now wrap your arms around my neck, ride my back, and I’ll pull you across the pond.”

Lanny followed Jessie’s instructions, and a moment later, the two were around the water fall, and skimming across the pond.

Tyler saw them almost immediately. And he noticed that Lanny seem to be holding onto Jessie in a romantic fashion. Further scrutiny let him know however that something was apparently wrong with her legs. He saw no blood in the water, so he hoped it wasn’t too serious.

“Hey!” Tyler called out to them. “Over here!”

Jessie turned, and moved in Tyler’s direction, there he spotted Jason and Brandon. Tyler continued to wonder why Jessie was towing Lanny. He noticed that Lanny needed help finding the edge of the pond. Just what the hell happened here?

14

Between the four of them they relayed their experience in the cavern to Tyler. He watched them with mixed expressions alighting his countenance. If the young man were anybody else, he might have thought that he was being duped, and laughed at their story. It sounded ridiculous. Preposterous. It sounded like they had all been off on one helluva’ toot. Oh—but they had; they all dropped acid, remember? That would explain a few things, but it would not rationalize the story away in its entirety. Brandon and Jason might be stoners, but they weren’t dishonest.

But demons? Paaa-leeeaase… Come on.

_
_What the hell is going on?

“What happened to the fiend that followed you through?” Lanny asked Jason.

Jason looked around in a frantic panic, as if expecting the creature to jump out of the trees at him at any moment. “I-I-I didn’t know that one did.”

“It did, alright,” Brandon said. “It was right on your ass.”

“I must have lost it when I hit the water.”

“Okay,” Tyler said. “Slow down, let me catch up here.”

The four waited.

Tyler rubbed his eyes in a tiresome manner. Then he looked at the four directly, soberly. His eyes then turned strictly toward Lanny. “Okay, let me see your hand.”
With deliberation Lanny opened her hand.

A short burst of adrenaline surged through Tyler involuntarily in a chilling fashion as he saw the green, incandescent jewel, now the size of a quarter, embedded in the palm of Lanny’s hand.

X-X

It looked like a life-clock, something out of Logan’s Run, only a bit larger. It was really quite pretty with its inner green fire flickering; resting flush in Lanny’s palm, and it somehow reflected the enormity of the situation.

Tyler had no words.

Where was the ghoul that had chased Jason?

It could be anywhere by now.

Unless…

It had some enmity to the sun. And if it did, it wouldn’t have long to wait before it went down.

The story, validated by the credibility of the strange, alien jewel in the palm of Lanny’s hand, sent all possibilities of jokes or hoaxes scattering to the winds. Something extraordinary was on the verge of occurring, Tyler could feel it in his bones, something otherworldly.

It was at that time decided by the five that the rest of the group had to be informed about the experience, and that a contingency of some kind needed to be initiated; in the event that something else decided to come through the veil, as well as the likelihood that one of the ghouls was lurking somewhere around them, out of sight.

Lanny wanted an ice-pack for her knee.

“Do you have any guns?” Lanny asked, sounding cryptic.

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Tags:

adventure, demone, devil, horror, intense, magic, monster, suspense and water