The Dark Horde (29 page)

Brian followed his gaze, just as the bartender called out, “PHONE CALL FOR MR BRIAN DERWENT? IS HE HERE?”

Bernard attracted the bartender’s attention with a jerk of his head at Brian.

Brian turned to Bernard. “You’re a fool if you think I’m gunna answer that.”

Brian didn’t move. The bartender paused before speaking again to the caller.

“There really is no use fighting, Brian, it makes no difference,” Bernard said.

Brian’s face began to boil.

Try telling me that when I put a bullet in that fat gut of yours.

The bartender put the phone down and walked over to their table. “Excuse me, sir,” he addressed Brian. “I hate to interrupt but–”

Brian turned briefly to the bartender. “No, my name is
not
Brian. You’ve got the wrong person.” He turned back to Bernard, staring daggers.

Bernard laughed awkwardly and the bartender fidgeted for a moment before saying, “I’m sorry sir, but the caller, a young boy, said to say his name is Howard.”

Brian’s heart sank at the mention of the name.

“He says that his father Brian is here and that it’s very important he speak to him. Are you sure it’s not you?”

“You can’t win, Brian. So just play the game,” Bernard said.

Brian stormed over to the phone behind the bar. “Hello?”

“Hello, Brian,” came a calm response. The voice was that of an adult man.

“Who is this?”

“We’ve yet to meet, but you know who I am.”

“Are you gunna tell me? Or are you just gunna waste my fucking time?”

“You don’t recognise me, but you’ll recognise this...”

“Look pal–” Brian began.

Another voice came over the phone. Howard’s. “Daddy?”

“Howard! What’s happened?”

“I’m scared, daddy... The monsters have really got me. They’re horrible, daddy and–”

“I’m coming to get you, Howard. I won’t let them hurt you. Where are you?”

The adult male voice answered again, “Yes you are, yes we will, we’re in Howqua Hills.”

Brian reeled back from the phone, his pulse an endless drum roll in his ears. The bartender was now serving another customer, whilst Bernard remained sitting at their table, staring into space and stroking his white beard.

“Is this Henry Wilcox?” Brian said.

“Good guess. Surprised?”

“What the fuck are you doing with my son?”

“Oh not just your son, your daughter Samantha too.”

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT WITH ME AND MY CHILDREN!”

“Actually, it’s not just your children I’ve got here... Sasha, Julie and I wouldn’t bother going to your parent’s house tonight, ‘cos they won’t be there.”

“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT? TELL ME!”

“I want you to come back to Howqua Hills now and be reunited with your family.”

“Oh, I’ll be doing that, YOU FUCKING ARSEHOLE! I’m gunna fuck you up too for this! WHERE ARE YOU?”

“Just drive back into Howqua Hills, you won’t miss us, haha.”

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THEM?”

“Nothing really yet. I was saving that until you got here, but don’t keep me waiting ‘cos I’ll get bored.”

Henry hung up.

WEDNESDAY 9:55
PM

Lucas floated on gentle waves that rippled under a cool, soothing breeze: oceans of tranquillity stretching out to blue infinity. Consciousness immersed in transcendental timelessness, the outside world ceased to exist.

Seagulls flitted across the clear sky, catching the morning sun on their white feathers, flying in ones, twos, threes...

Now an exodus in one direction: north.

As Lucas watched the trickle transform into a flood, he felt panic seeping into his thoughts. Now the seagulls moved swiftly past him in huge numbers, flapping and squawking frantically.

A desperate flight.

Then Lucas became aware of something rising from the unknown depths below, something so huge that its dark form obscured the sea just as clouds cover sky. Incomprehensible, unstoppable...

Evil.

Lucas’ eyes flicked open as he became re-acquainted with his surroundings. His heart racing, he knelt alone in prayer on a square woollen hassock, in the front pew before the candle-lit chapel altar at Timberhome. In the darkness beyond the fifteen-metre-high windows of the prism-shaped chapel, Lucas looked onto the lights of the rest of his school, bordered by an expanse of eucalypt forest, stretching away down the hill.

Then in steady sequence, the lights along the tree-lined drive to Mueller Road and civilisation, began to go out. Approaching...

Ominous.

Lucas fled the serene sanctuary of the chapel and ran down to the central courtyard, around which the other school buildings clustered. Gathered in the light outside the dining hall, were Matron Susan Inglis and about twelve school children. Fear and exhaustion painted their faces. Among them was Danny Malone.

Susan turned to Lucas as he arrived, her eyes heavy with tears. “Oh Lucas, thank goodness you’re here!”

“What’s happened?”

“Something’s attacking us Lucas, some kind of werewolflike aliens! These children have run all the way back from the campsite to escape them and many at the campsite have already been killed! There’s no answer from anyone at the staff village and to make things worse, I can’t even get through to the police because the line’s busy!”

Lucas was too stunned to speak.

Werewolf-like aliens? What in God’s name is going on?

Then came a chorus of growls, its source somewhere beyond the far end of the dining hall. Then the dining hall lights went out. A heavy animal stench rent the air, foreboding.

“We’ve got to get out of here now,” Lucas said.

“But what about the others?” Susan answered.

“Susan. We can’t stay here.” Lucas cringed at the guttural sounds approaching and looked across the school carpark. “We’ll take one of the minibuses and get these kids into town where they’ll be safe and come back for others if we can, or at the very least we can send for help.”

Susan shivered and rubbed her arms. “Okay, how about you take the kids and I go in my car? I’ll get there more quickly then and can go to the police station for help.”

“Agreed. Let’s meet there.”

The sound of breaking glass came from the dining hall. In the darkness alongside, a horde of hairy figures crept forward, their red slits for eyes catching the light of the full moon...

Menacing.

Ignition.

With shaking hands fighting to steer the key into the lock, Susan started the engine of her red Ford Laser. She looked over and saw Lucas ushering the last of the children into the minibus...

And alien figures running in the gloom of the gum trees around the carpark. Encircling them.

First gear.

Susan stamped the accelerator pedal, slammed the gearstick into first and lifted the clutch. The front wheels spun on the loose surface of the carpark before gaining purchase. The car charged forward towards the dirt driveway on the far side that lead out of the school grounds. Lucas managed to wave goodbye as she passed.

Second gear.

Wiping sweat from her brow, Susan steered the car towards the exit. Something black and huge leapt between the two venerable Manna Gums flanking the exit. Then another.

Third gear.

The accelerator flat to the floor, Susan gripped the steering wheel in two fistfuls of white knuckles as she launched the car through the gap in the trees where the carpark exit was. She glimpsed red eyes watching her from the shadows...

Too many to count.

She accelerated down the hill and around the wide bends, unleashing a spray of dust as the car skidded sideways on each corner... Ever faster and closer to losing control.

Top gear.

At the bottom of the hill now and with the school gates a few hundred metres ahead, swarms of black figures began to leap across the road in front of and around her. Huge muscular beasts with piercing red eyes, covering the hillside like locusts.

Inescapable.

There was a loud crash and skitter of claws as one of them landed on the roof. Susan screamed, fighting to control the car and see the road. It smashed its claw through the passenger side window, showering her with glass. Another landed on the back of the car.

Susan screamed again and shook the steering wheel, desperate to dislodge them. Speeding on the dirt road at one-hundred kilometres per hour, the car swerved violently and pitched over sideways, rolling many times.

The world spun to a stop.

Danny was the last to get into the minibus. All the seats in the back were taken. He hesitated at the edge of the open side door.

“Jump in the front, Danny,” Lucas gestured to the front passenger seat as he rolled the side door shut. By the time Danny clambered into the front seat, Lucas had dashed around to the driver’s side and jumped in too.

Susan spun her wheels as she passed them in her red Laser hatchback, disappearing out of the driveway soon after. He managed to wave.

Then he turned the headlights on and saw what surrounded him:

In the forest shadows at the carpark’s edge, hundreds, if not thousands of the hulking demonic beasts lurked, their red eyes lighting up like stars in the night sky...

Creeping closer.

“DRIVE!” shouted the children from the back seats.

Lucas snapped from his brief trance and drove the minibus forward, struggling to pick up speed.

A futile effort.

They were halfway across the carpark when one of the creatures landed on the side of the minibus, not far behind where Lucas sat. Lucas strained to concentrate over the din of screaming children and the beast clawing at the window. As he neared the exit, it smashed the window next to his head.

Lucas steered the bus close to one of the gum trees flanking the exit, scraping paint, the side-mirror and the demon hanging on in the process. Torn from the side of the vehicle, the monster fell into the dust trailing from the back of the minibus and began to give chase...

Others followed.

The minibus leapt from the carpark into the driveway beyond. Lucas spun the wheel and careered down the dirt road to the bottom of the hill, thronged by the horde on all sides. Through a blur, he heard their blood-curdling roars, saw their swift movements and their awful faces leering at him from the moonlight.

Enjoying the thrill of the chase while it lasted.

The minibus surged out of the school gates, struggling to maintain a top speed of one-hundred kilometres per hour. The way ahead looked clear. Lucas dared to look in the rear vision mirror...

At the waves of black demonic beasts, fading into the murk behind. They seemed to be laughing.

My God, we might just get out of this alive.

Lucas raced down to Mueller Road and followed its mountainous bends towards Howqua Hills. The surfaced road sliced through the side of Mount Warrambat, its sheer mountain face plunging away on his left, adorned with Manna Gums and Peppermints.

A strange quiet fell over the minibus. Salvation was now only a few minutes away.

Danny broke the silence, “Thank you, Lucas, for taking us. You’ve saved us quite a lot of time and effort.”