The Collector of Remarkable Stories (25 page)

Escape from the Dog Beasts

Margie had no idea in which direction she was running. All she knew was that she needed to run. She needed to get away from the Dog Beasts which were quickly gaining on her, howling and barking as they thundered ever closer.

Margie knew that the Dog Beasts could keep on running indefinitely. They were mechanical; would never grow tired and never grow hungry. There was no way she could outrun them.

The trees were growing thicker now; the sky darker. Margie hoped that she might lose them if she ran far enough into the forest. The Dog Beasts were master hunters, but they were robots too. They couldn't climb trees.

As she raced haphazardly through the woods, she rapidly scanned the branches, looking for one that might hold her weight. It was a risk. If she slowed down too much, the Dog Beasts would be on top of her in seconds. She had no idea why they were chasing her but she knew it couldn't be good.
From a safe distance, she'd heard them demanding to know where she was. Watched them drag Viljar down when he'd pleaded ignorance. Then she'd watched them angrily tear the camp apart like wild animals.

Archie's last frantic words to her as the Dog Beasts neared the camp were 'run, run,run'. And that's exactly what she did. On and on she raced, tripping and stumbling over tree roots; reaching and grabbing at branches which whipped and scratched her face and arms. Once or twice she attempted to climb a tree but the branches snapped, dropping her to the ground like rotten fruit.

All of a sudden, and quite unexpectedly, she ran out of the forest into a clearing which was cloaked in a dazzling brightness, the intensity of which brought her to her knees. Unable to see or run, Margie panicked. What
was
this place? There had been no warning. It was like she'd simply run into a brick wall of light. Disorientated and frightened she wanted to keep on moving. The Dog Beasts would surely be gaining on her. But her eyes, still clenched shut, were either unwilling or unable to open.

She was about to set off running blind when she sensed a shadow descend. Any scrap of hope she still had left, sank into her boots.
Was this the Dog Beast?
She listened intently. Not daring to move a muscle. Then, after a moment or two (and realising she hadn't been attacked) she slowly opened her eyes.

The shadow had been caused by a huge dark cloud in the sky. No longer blinded by the sun, Margie was able to see what lay before her. And with that, her last vestige of hope disappeared as rapidly as a drop of rain on the parched earth.

What lay before her was a vast open expanse of sand that extended as far as the eye could see. Illuminated by a midnight sun, it offered nothing in the way of protection from the hoards of dog beasts that were chasing her. No rocks, no dunes, no prickly desert plants. If even prickly plants couldn't survive here, she thought, in
this
desert then what hope was there for her?

It was over. Margie knew this. And in that moment she felt a sense of overwhelming peace. The desert was silent, still and calm. There was no sound. And as she released the agony of the recent events and let them float away, Margie thought she remembered something. A memory. It was like an arm that reached out but that never connected with her. Only it was a voice that she couldn't quite grasp.

A familiar and ominous noise snapped her out of her trance. It was the sound of the Dog Beasts barking and howling. They were very close now.

For a moment Margie contemplated making her way back into the forest but she knew it was futile. The Dog Beasts would sniff her out in an instant. The battle was over. Margie lay down on the ground, staring up at the sky as the sun slowly burnt its way through the dark cloud and listened to the sound of the Dog Beasts drawing near. She didn't notice the ripple in the ground. Or how the ground seemed to lurch upwards then downwards as though some great creature was moving below its surface.

Margie only noticed when a giant black claw emerged from the sand and rose several metres into the air. It was quickly followed by the vast black armoured body of a scorpion; the same scorpion that had snatched and devoured Grandma Doyle from the Circus of Freaks only weeks earlier. Margie was rooted to the spot, her body rigid with fear, her eyes wide with terror as the scorpion stood over her, its body rocking backwards and forwards, its stinger twitching aggressively.

"Don't move nothing," hissed someone from the edge of the forest. "It can’t see you but it will feel you if you move." Margie recognised the voice instantly and had never felt more relieved. It was The Giant.

So overwhelmed to hear his voice, she turned her head. She didn't care for one minute about the scorpion. If it snatched her, she wanted The Giant to be the last beautiful face she saw. But The Giant looked sad and exhausted. His shoulders hung forward and his arms hung loosely.

"Oh Giant," she cried, "I'm sorry. Really I am."

The Giant shook his head. "You ain't got nothing to be sorry for. You ain't done nothing but be kind to me. You're my best friend Margie May Langley. I just ain't been much of a friend to you."

"FAIL!" roared a voice from behind him.

Alpha and his army of Dog Beasts had finally caught up with them.

"You just couldn't do as you were told, could you!" shouted Alpha edging closer to The Giant. "You’re just a stupid circus freak. A nobody."

"You tricked me," yelled The Giant. "You said you was here to help us."

Ignoring the danger, The Giant took a couple of steps towards Margie. An expression of panic tore across her face as she waited for the scorpion to attack. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

The Giant gently motioned for Margie to remain still then turned slowly to face Alpha. The two looked at each other in silence for a while before Alpha growled, "You think
you
can protect her."

"I ain't a nobody," The Giant retorted. But he wasn't fooling anyone. Alpha was right. He
was
a nobody. He always had been. What was he
thinking
? Of course he couldn’t protect Margie. He couldn’t even protect his beloved twins. He was just a stupid weak minded Giant with his head in the clouds – that’s what people had always told him.

Sensing The Giant’s uncertainty, Alpha continued. "You can walk away from this and you won't be harmed."

The Giant turned back to Margie and scrabbled anxiously in his pocket for the small leather satchel. A glint of pride flashed across his face as he held it out to her. Margie stared at the bag, completely lost for words.

"It's yours," urged The Giant, "the one you've been looking for."

Margie could barely catch her breath. A thousand emotions coursed through her body and she forced back the tears. "Giant," she gasped, "It's not the one. It's not the bag in the photo."

The Giant looked at Margie then turned to look at Alpha.

Alpha started laughing. Then one by one the other Dog Beasts joined in too until they were all laughing.

The Giant had never been so humiliated. Rooted to the spot with shame, everything around him seemed to slow right down. He couldn't focus; couldn't think. But he could see, hear and smell everything in high definition; the laughter, Margie's horrified expression, the old leather satchel ...

Then as suddenly as he started, Alpha stopped and lowered his body into a half crouch. The Giant, anticipating an attack, pulled his knotted fists close to his torso like a boxer. But the assault never came. Instead of launching his powerful machine of a body at The Giant, Alpha bowed his head and backed away slowly.

The Giant should have felt relieved, but he sensed that something was wrong. He glanced at the scorpion. Much to his surprise it hadn't moved. He glanced at the army of Dog Beasts. They had all assumed a submissive position; bodies half crouched, tails between their legs. Then he glanced at Margie. Her eyes, wide with fear, were focussed on something behind him.

The Giant spun around. In the shadow of the forest stood a creature shrouded in a dark swirling mist which took the form of a hooded cape. As the creature stepped slowly out of the darkness, The Giant could see its face clearly and what a terrible vision it was. Half alive and half dead, its flesh was a deep grey; its eyes just empty sockets. The face had no expression, but the mist which enveloped the creature showed nothing but contempt. The creature moved towards The Giant slowly, silently, its body floating several inches above the ground. As it drew closer, The Giant could hear its rasping breath. It was whispering something to him that he couldn’t understand. The voice seemed to be coming from somewhere far away.

The Dog Beast, which was still half crouched let out a low, impatient growl. "Take him ... you’ll be doing us all a favour!"

In a flash, the creature had tripled in size and reared up over the Dog Beast emitting an otherworldly scream that seemed to bring even time to a standstill.

Alpha whimpered and bowed his head even lower. This was more than just a Shadow Herder.

The creature swiftly returned to its original size then turned its attention back to The Giant. For a second the creature’s face softened then in one swift movement it grabbed The Giant and dragged him off into the forest like a bullet, ricocheting off the trees before disappearing into the ground. Margie heard him scream but before her brain could register what she had just seen, the dark creature and The Giant were gone. Oblivious to the dangers that now awaited her, Margie raced towards the forest (and the Dog Beasts) in search of her beloved friend. But as she reached the edge of the forest she collapsed on the floor in a sobbing heap. In front of her The Giant’s clothes in a neat pile on the floor.

It didn’t take long before she could feel Alpha’s deep, rasping breath on the back of her neck. She even managed a small smile as she imagined the tiredness and the fear and the sadness being taken away from her. The reality was that Margie didn’t care anymore. She was tired. Spent. As she lay slumped on the ground she willed Alpha to take her. Quickly. She didn’t want to go any further. She was at the end of her strength. She imagined herself floating in a great white cloud, a boundless freedom that filled her with peace for the first time in a long time.

Alpha smiled to himself as he inched towards Margie. He couldn’t believe his luck. The Giant had been dragged into the darkness, the scorpion had come to a standstill and now it was just Margie and him. Oh, he couldn’t wait to take his prey back to The Great Torquere. He would be rewarded for sure.

"Stand up," he ordered. "You must come with me to the city of Limbuss."

Margie ignored his demand.

Alpha growled. "I order you to stand up!"

The words smacked Margie in the face bringing her crashing back to earth. Those words had been said to her before. She knew it. Was this a memory? Could this be something of the past she’d forgotten? Somewhere in the deepest darkest recesses of her mind she could visualise a man; a police officer shouting at her ...

*****

Following the death of her beloved friend Mona Malone, Margie found herself on the streets without a penny to her name. She knew she couldn’t return to her parent’s house. It had been so long, she couldn’t even remember the name of the town. She couldn’t remember what her parents were called, or what they even looked like. Hell, she didn’t even know if they were still alive.

And so she continued to exist, wandering the streets in search of food or a shop doorway for shelter. She didn’t feel fear at what lay ahead of her. Years of sweeping floors, scrubbing windows, cleaning toilets and ironing linen had sweated every last drop of emotion from her fragile body. She didn’t have the energy to think or feel any more. She’d existed for so long she’d forgotten how to live ... and it showed in the deadness of her eyes.

More often than not she found herself sleeping in the local graveyard where there were plenty of nooks and crannies in which to hide. She wasn’t afraid of the dead. By now, the dead were afraid of
her
. But as time went by, the loneliness kicked in and the voices returned. She tuned in like listening to a radio, occasionally offering a piece of advice, usually rude. She laughed at the dead and chided them. But still they came; desperate to be heard. Desperate to make contact.

It was one such night in the graveyard, whilst talking to the dead, that she found herself being rudely startled by a large man shining a light in her eyes. Blinded and confused, she covered her eyes.

"I order you to stand up," shouted the man. "Up now, come on."

Margie scrambled to her feet and as her eyes slowly adjusted to the light, she could see that the man was in fact an officer of the law.

"What’s your name? Why aren’t you at home? How old are you? Don’t you have a coat? Aren’t you cold?" The questions came thick and fast.

Margie, tired and hungry, said nothing.

"Are. You. Mad?" asked the officer, talking slowly as though talking to someone from a foreign country.

Margie smiled.

"Come with me," he said.

Before long, Margie found herself in Clattergate Mental Institute sitting before the eminent Dr Clarence Malvern.

Dr Malvern nodded a lot. All the time in fact. Like a nodding dog. A gentle rhythmic nod that seemed to draw the innermost feelings of people from deep down inside, like a heavy duty stirrup pump.