The Wilds (18 page)

Jason was sat pressing the tissue to his swelling lip when the interview room door opened. Holly walked in first. She offered Jason a sly wink as she came through the door, her little way of telling him that everything was going to be alright.

Pearce followed her in a few seconds later. He looked a little sheepish as he came into the room. He had his head bowed, this was not the figure of authority that he had always known. The Detective Chief Inspector, who once upon a time had been Jason’s favourite uncle, stepped towards him.

‘Okay, Jason, you’re free to go,’ he said, still looking to the ground.’

‘What?’ Jason couldn’t believe his ears.

‘We’re not going to be charging you. It’s quite clear you had nothing to do with these disappearances.’ Pearce said, he looked up but still couldn’t bring himself to look Jason in the eyes, instead he gazed around the room. ‘If you want to press charges against me for striking you, then please talk to Brody on the front desk on your way out. I won’t deny it.’

For most of his adult life, certainly most of his career at the chronicle, Jason had been waiting for Pearce to do something he could lose his job over. He never expected that Pearce would offer him the opportunity to end his career without a fight. If Jason reported what Pearce had done, and he admitted it, he would almost certainly get fired, and probably face criminal charges.

For so long the man stood in front of him had been the enemy. Pearce had been a figure of hate. He represented all that was wrong with the world in Jason’s eyes. He was a bully, and he was not beyond falsifying evidence for a conviction.

Now , though, with Pearce giving him this chance to finally put an end to it all, Jason found he couldn’t. Pearce had his flaws, and could be a vicious bastard, but he wasn’t a bad man. All the stories he had written about the good things Pearce had done over the years came flooding back into his mind, as well as memories of how he had worshipped him as a child.

‘No,’ Jason said finally. ‘If I was going to report you to anyon,e Jon, it would be my Mum. She’d kill you for hitting me like that.’

Pearce finally looked Jason in the eyes. He was trying to read what Jason was thinking. He was looking for the angle. Jason understood that Pearce distrusted him as much as he distrusted Pearce.

‘I thought you would take any opportunity you got to ruin my career?’ Pearce said.

‘So did I,’ Jason said nodding. ‘Thing is there’s something far worse than you out there, Jon, and it needs to be stopped. We think it lives somewhere near the Pritchard Farm. Karl Morgan is probably out there already looking for it. Could you give me a ride down there?’

Pearce looks concerned.

‘The Pritchard Farm?’ he asks.

Jason looked to Holly, she seemed as confused by Pearce’s reaction as he was.

‘Yes,’ Jason said. ‘Out on Maltham Lane.’

‘I know where it is,’ Pearce snapped. ‘Shit! Why didn’t you say something sooner? Booth, go and get the car.’

Holly looked at him for a few seconds.

‘Now!’ he shouted.

Holly left the room in a hurry.

‘Come on. Let’s get your things from the custody suite.’

Karl stood by his car for a long time. He had listened intently after Mrs Pritchard had entered the house. There were no further howls of pain and no more thuds, but he still felt uneasy. When he had spoken to Mrs Pritchard the day before, she had left him feeling warm and at ease, like a friendly old grandmother. Today, though, something in her demeanour had changed; he could not put his finger on it. The friendliness was still there, but it seemed somehow strained and false.

There was a smell, too, around where he was parked. It made him think of hospitals. He had looked for the source of the smell and it seemed to be coming from the ground itself. Why would anyone disinfect a gravel driveway?

Karl jumped at the sensation of his phone vibrating in his pocket. He really was on edge. He pulled the phone out and saw that it was Jason finally calling him back.

‘Hello?’ he said as he answered the phone.

There was a disjointed and crackling response from the phone.

‘Hello?’ Jason?’ he tried again.

‘Can you hear me?’ he heard his friend say on the other end.

‘Yes. I hear you now,’ Karl said. ‘Where have you been?’

‘Long story, mate,’ Jason replied. ‘Where are you?’

‘Still at the Pritchard Farm’ Karl replied.

‘Okay, I’m on my way,’ Jason said. ‘Is Tim there?’

Tim. Since arriving and speaking to Mrs Pritchard, Karl had completely forgotten about Tim. The young man should have been there ages ago.

‘No,’ Karl answered. ‘I’ll try calling him in a minute. Hurry up , though, Jason, something’s not right here.’

‘We’re on our way just be...’ The call was cut off. Karl looked at his phone and saw that he still had a signal. It must have been Jason that lost his. This was often the case when driving along the country lanes, mobile signals came and went at random.

He wondered who Jason was bringing with him? He had said ‘we’, but was not with Tim. Once more remembering the young man, Karl searched his phone book for Tim number. He pressed the green button and it dialed.

For a few seconds he didn’t even notice it over the sound of the ringing tone in his ear, but slowly he began to register he could hear a familiar tune. The theme from Tetris was playing somewhere nearby, the sound was faint and unmistakable. Karl remembered where he had last heard that piece of music; it was as they were leaving the marsh the previous day. It was Tim’s ringtone.

Karl followed the sound, it was coming from the other side of the courtyard, away from the house. The sound suddenly stopped as Tim’s mobile went to answer phone. Karl quickly ended the call and redialed. He waited for the call to connect and then listened for the music. When it started up, he followed it to the large double doors of an old brick built barn.

The doors were wooden. The paint on them was peeling, but they looked strong and in good order. The music seemed to be coming from inside the barn. Karl put his ear to the door and became certain that Tim’s phone was inside. This close to the door he noticed the smell. It was a thick and sickly stench. He had never smelt anything like it before. The nearest thing he could liken it too was an infection he had got in a cut on his leg in childhood. The yellowish brown pus that had leaked from that cut had been the most foul smelling thing he had encountered, until he stood in front of that barn.

He knocked gently on the barn door, not wanting to attract the attention of Mrs Pritchard, or her son in the house.

‘Tim?’ he half whispered. ‘Tim? Are you in there?’

There was no reply.

Karl braced himself, knowing that he had to open the door. He pulled the bar, that held the door shut, off and set it against the wall. Slowly he opened the door. The smell hit him even harder as the door creaked in his hands. The stench was now almost overpowering, It took all of his will power not to stop. He knew that something that smelled that bad could never be good.

The few windows scattered around the barn had been painted over with black paint. This meant that the only light he could see by was that coming from the door he was opening. The contrast of the bright sunlight outside and the dimness within the barn meant it took a few seconds for his vision to adjust. The horror he saw in the barn revealed itself to him slowly, fading into his vision.

The concrete floor of the barn was stained all over with what was obviously pools of blood. They ranged in freshness from still red puddles, to dry brown stains. Against every wall were stacked human remains. In some places they were stacked at least four deep. There must have been nearly fifty bodies with the uncountable body parts. Arms, legs, torsos, heads, hands and feet all piled up, with no way of telling who they belonged too.

Some of the bodies were decayed almost to the point of mummification, while others were still fresh enough to look almost alive. Every stage of the degradation of the human form between these points was on display in that barn. Bodies dripped unimaginable green liquids as the flash began to slide, and as maggots gorged themselves on the corruption.

There was a pile that was just bones, virtually gnawed clean. The smell and the sight was too much for Karl, he doubled over and the contents of his stomach were ejected onto the bloodstained floor.

He saw Tim off to the left. The young man had been mutilated beyond belief. His face was perfectly intact, but it looked like his entire torso had been hollowed out like a human jack’o’lantern.

He fumbled in his pocket for his phone. He wanted to call the police, but his fingers wouldn’t work and as he pulled the phone from his pocket it slipped from his grasp and slid across the floor, almost to the other side.

He followed it, and was about to pick it up when he saw something that stopped him in his tracks. There, staring at him with dead eyes, stacked in between to other corpses, was the body of his older brother.

‘Phil!’ he screamed and dropped to his knees.

He had known that he was dead; he had become certain of that, but coming face to face with his part eaten body was too much for him to take. He screamed, a horrific vocalisation of emotional pain to rival any of the physical kind. He pounded the concrete floor with his fists unable to do anything but cry out in anguish.

‘Quite a mess, isn’t it?’ Mrs Pritchard’s voice came from behind him. He turned to see her stood there in the doorway. ‘He gets so upset when I try to throw out any of his things , though.’

Karl saw the full horror of this. Not only did she know what was going on, she was protecting the animal.

‘You’ve been keeping it as a pet haven’t you?’ he screamed at her. ‘A man eating big cat, and you’ve been covering up for it all of these years!’

Mrs Pritchard laughed and shook her head.

‘Just like that idiot Altman,’ she said, pointing across the room. ‘Obsessed with big cats.’

Karl followed the line of her finger and saw the ravaged body of Altman propped on a pile, recognisable only by his trademark yellow sweater.

‘Jesus Christ!’ Karl said.

‘He’s not a cat , though,’ she said.

‘What?’ Karl was too far in shock to manage anything else.

‘He’s my son,’ she said. ‘They called him the cat boy in the circus, because of his deformities. My husband and I were cursed with children who were malformed, Mr Morgan. Miko was the youngest, the only one I still have.’

She turned back to the door and looked back at the house.

‘Miko!’ she shouted, then she turned back to Karl. ‘What was I supposed to do, Mr Morgan? Turn him in? I brought him into this world, I raised him, I could forgive him anything. Even when he killed my husband.’

Karl heard a low growl and then a nightmare made flesh walked into the barn. it was clear that he was human, but never before had Karl seen such an abomination of the human form. Miko, as Mrs Pritchard called him, stood well over six foot tall. His waist was wretchedly small, yet his upper body of chest and shoulders seemed disproportionately large; they rippled with taut, twisted muscle. His thighs seemed larger than seemed natural, especially against his slender legs. His body was coated in a mass of coarse, black hair that could be easily mistaken for fur.

His face, though, was where the worst deformities lay. His ears grew large and misshapen out of his rounded head. His chin came to a point below a mouth that seemed too large for his face. As it looked at him, Karl saw the large jagged teeth the mouth contained. These were not fangs, but human teeth that had broken into points from years of biting into bone.

Miko had a hair lip that had never been treated properly, it caused a scar that ran from the septum of his pudgy nose all the way to his mouth, splitting the top of his lip. It was this, combined with his large, almond shaped, milky eyes, that most strikingly gave him the appearance of a cat.

His hands contained barely formed, stumpy fingers, that were topped off with this pointed nails, they had the appearance of paws.

There were bandages on his upper arms and shoulders, this must have been where he was injured.

‘Goodbye, Mr Morgan’ Mrs Pritchard said with rueful tone.

Karl was not waiting around to see what happened next. He set off running and barged past them. Neither Mrs Pritchard or Miko had seemed to expect this reaction. They both looked shocked as he set ran towards the woods.

‘Get him, Miko!’ Mrs Pritchard yelled.

Karl turned back and saw Miko drop down onto all fours, making him even more feline, he gave chase at a speed Karl could not hope to match.

The car virtually flew down Maltham Lane. Jason, sat in the centre seat at the back, wished had had listened to the advice to do up his seatbelt as Pearce threw the car around the bends. Jason was sent crashing sideways, his head connecting with the glass of the window with a thud.

‘Shit,’ he said as he sat back up.

Holly looked back at him with a disapproving look.

‘For God’s sake, strap yourself in.’

He grabbed the waist belt in the centre seat and pulled it around himself it fastened with a satisfying click.

‘Hurry up,’ Jason said.

‘We’re nearly there,’ Pearce said, his eyes fixed intently on the road ahead.

‘I hope we’re in time,’ Jason said.

Pearce turned to Holly

‘If things get out of hand there,’ he said to her, ‘only use your gun to protect Jason and yourself, and keep well back.’

Holly looked offended, she was well trained in the situations, and one of the bests marksmen in her class.

‘I’m more than capable of looking after myself, sir,’ she said.

‘I know you are,’ Pearce said. ‘But what you told me earlier changes everything, all right?’

She couldn’t argue with that, and silently nodded her agreement.

Jason was confused. He felt out of the loop once more.

‘What does he mean?’ he asked her.

‘Nothing important,’ Pearce said before she could answer.

Miko was gaining on Karl, how he could run so fast on all fours was astounding. If it wasn’t for the bandaged wound on his shoulder, which appeared to be slowing him down, he would have caught Karl by now. The other advantage Miko had was this was his home, Karl was on unfamiliar ground. He just hoped he could make it into the tree line, then perhaps find somewhere to hide.

He ran past a heap of rusting farm machinery, piled up against the side of a corrugated iron shed. There was a large spanner sat on top of what looked like part of a plough. Karl snatched the tool up, it’s weight was reassuring in his hand. He could see that Miko was catching him up, his only hope was to try and slow this monstrosity down.

Karl pulled his arm back and used all of his strength to throw the spanner at the advancing killer. The tool flew through the air, spinning as it went. The throw was better than he could have hoped. The spanner collided with Miko, hitting him on the side of his misshapen head with an audible thump. Miko let out a yelp of pain, more animal than human, and dropped to the ground.

Karl saw Mrs Pritchard appear around the corner; the old lady had followed them at a much steadier pace. She looked and saw her monstrous child laying on the floor.

‘Miko!’ she screamed in despair and began running towards him.

Karl stood there watching the scene unfold. He was unsure what to do next.

Mrs Pritchard reached Milo’s crumpled body, she bent down and put her fingers to his neck to check for a pulse. Her response gave Karl no indication of whether the man/monster was dead. She did not scream out in anguish at the loss of her child, nor did she show any sign of great relief. She merely got up and ran off, back towards the house.

Karl knew that he needed to get out of there, but found himself stood waiting to see what happened next.

Miko twitched. He was alive. Karl watched as the cat like man slowly raised his head. He shook it as though trying to wake up from a deep sleep. Karl saw where the tool had hit him, it was just above Milo’s left eye. The spanner had torn into the flesh and a deep cut was pouring a steady flow of blood down his deformed face. He lifted one of his paw like hands to the wound. He flinched in pain as he touched it. He looked at the blood the covered him pour from the wound, and then looked into Karl’s eyes. Miko’s face twisted into a grimace of pain and anger and he let out and almighty roar and jumped to his feet.

‘Oh fuck,’ Karl said, he set of running without a seconds hesitation.

They sped down the dirt track that led from Maltham Lane to the Pritchard farm. The farmhouse appeared in view up ahead, there was a car parked outside the house.

‘Is that Mr Morgan’s car?’ Pearce asked.

Jason looked and saw it was indeed.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘He must still be here.

Pearce pulled the car to a sharp stop next to Karl’s Mum’s car.

Pearce and Holly jumped from the car. Jason tried to open the door, but they would not budge. He banged on the window, and Pearce pulled the door open from the outside.

‘Child locks,’ Pearce said.

Karl could see the edge of the Pritchard farm approaching as he ran. The woods lay just beyond the boundary. The only problem was that the boundary was marked by a six foot wooden fence. Karl scanned along it, trying to see where it ended, or at least somewhere there was a break in it, but it was useless. The fence ran all along the edge of the farm for as far as he could see. His only hope was to get over it. He had never been great at climbing but he hoped that running as fast as he was he would be able to leap up and grab hold of the top of the fence to pull himself over.

Miko was running behind him. The way he used those muscular legs and arms in unison meant he could run at an incredible pace. If Karl didn’t make the jump first time he doubted he would have time for a second attempt.

His heart pounded in his chest and he was panting, but he had enough left in reserve for one final burst of energy. Karl lowered his head and began to pump his legs faster, using that last drop of strength for one last increase in speed.

The fence was now only six feet ahead of him. It was time to get ready. He summoned all his strength into his legs and pushed himself away from the ground; he saw the top of the fence and stretched his arms towards it. His fingertips brushed against the rough wood, but he failed to grip it. His face collided with the fence and he slid down it to the ground, still on the same side.

He jumped to his feet and turned back. Miko was close now, showing no sign of tiredness, or weakness of any kind. The only thing discernible on his hideous visage was anger and determination.

Karl turned back to the fence and began to scramble up it. He shimmied his feet against the lower part of his fence, while his hands desperately searched for some kind of purchase.

He could hear Miko approaching now, the thud of his powerful feet on the damp ground, his rhythmic breathing. Karl prayed for a miracle, and somehow he managed to grab hold of the top of the fence. Once he had this used his upper body strength to start pulling himself up. His legs braced against the fence for support, he managed to rise quite quickly.

Not quickly enough, though. Miko leapt at him with impossible grace. His long, sharp nails dug into Karl’s back. Karl let out a scream of agon, as the weight of Miko pulled him down again. He had no choice but to let go of the top of the fence. He dropped to the floor, Miko still on his back

The scream of pain that Karl released echoed across the farm, losing none of its clarity when it reached the courtyard.

‘What was that?’ Holly asked.

Pearce shook his head.

‘I think it was Karl,’ Jason said, he began moving in the direction the sound came from. Booth looked to Pearce. The senior detective nodded , and both of them drew their guns.

Mrs Pritchard stepped out of the house, holding up a shotgun, without any warning she fired in their direction. Holly jumped forward and grabbed Jason and pushed him to the ground.

She dragged him behind a tree and saw Pearce was behind the car.

‘The mad old bitch is trying to kill us!’ Holly shouted to him

The old woman let off another shot, this one hit the tree and sent splinters of bark spraying over Holly and Jason.

‘Keep him safe and stay out of sight,’ Pearce called back. ‘She must be reloading. I’m going to make a run for it.’

Holly nodded to him, and watched as Pearce disappeared behind the other side of the car, crouched low to the ground.

There came another gut wrenching scream from the distance. Holly looked in the direction the sound came from then looked down at Jason.

‘We have to help him,’ he said pleading with her.

‘We will,’ she said. ‘Just keep your head down.’

Jason did as she said.

Miko had turned him over quickly so that Karl was laying on his back on the dew moist grass. Despite Miko’s advantage in size, weight and strength, Karl had managed to get his legs up, so his knees were holding him away. Miko lunged forwards repeatedly, trying to get his teeth to Karl’s throat, but with Karl’s legs braced the way they were it was too much of a stretch.

Enraged, Miko started to claw at Karl’s face, dragging his jagged nails through his flesh and gouging deep. Karl screamed and started to punch upwards. The blood from the clawing ran into his eyes and Karl was blinded. Still he kept punching at Miko. Most of his blows landed on the monstrous man’s muscular chest, and seemed to do little but anger him more.

Finally, Karl felt his knuckles connect, full force, with bone. Miko fell backward off Karl, making a choking sound. Karl rubbed the stinging blood from his vision and saw the beast man rolling around holding his throat. Karl had punched him under his jaw, breaking several teeth and hitting his windpipe.

Karl rolled over and began to scramble away.

Mrs Pritchard clicked the gun closed, reloaded and ready to fire. With a roar Pearce charged at her. the old woman tried to raise the gun, but her reactions were to slow and Pearce used all of his bodyweight to collide with her. She fell to the floor hard, knocking herself out as her head connects with the ground. The gun flew from her hands and down the path. Pearce regained his balance and managed to stay on his feet, he quickly grabbed the shotgun.

‘Booth, Jason. Come on!’

Holly and Jason appeared from behind the tree and ran to catch up with Pearce who was already heading in the direction of the screaming.

None of them noticed the old lady open her eyes. She got to her feet and set off after them.

Karl dragged himself away from Miko, who was still struggling to breath. He wanted to stand and run, but could not manage it, the best he could do was to crawl on his hand and knees. He looked up and saw three figures rushing towards him.

‘Karl!’ one of them shouted in a familiar voice.

‘Jason?’ Karl mumbled.

The three figures continue to run towards him. He soon saw it was not only Jason, but Pearce and Booth. He offered them a little wave, and then dropped his eyes to the floor. The cavalry have arrived.

Jason saw Karl wave and then look as though he was going to collapse. At that moment he saw the animal, the horror, whatever the hell that malformed thing was. It stood upright like a man and then threw itself onto Karl’s back. It bit down hard, tearing flesh away from Karl’s shoulder.

Karl let out an agonised scream.

Pearce took no time to hesitate. As the beast raised itself up to pull the flesh away, he squeezed his trigger. Pearce fired twice, both shots hit the monstrosity in the head. It looked at them with confused eyes. The chunk of Karl’s flesh rolled out of its mouth, and it fell backwards to the ground, dead.

Jason and Holly ran over to where Karl was laying. The pain was finally too much for him and he had passed out. Holly pressed hard on the gaping wound on his shoulder blade. Thick, dark blood seeped through her finger.

‘Hold on, mate,’ Jason said, stroking Karl’s head.

‘He needs an ambulance,’ Holly said. ‘He losing a lot of blood.’

Mrs Pritchard appeared and ran over to the thing Pearce had killed. She howled in grief and hugged it to her chest. She turned to Pearce, her eyes afire with rage.

‘You murdering bastard!’ she screamed at him. ‘You killed my son! My baby boy. I’ll tear your fucking heart out for this.’

She made no attempt to move despite the threat. She merely sat the cradling the monster in her arms, stroking his head and sobbing.

Holly turned to Pearce, who was looking around nervously.

‘Sir,’ she said, ‘he needs an ambulance.’

Pearce shook his head.

‘We have to go,’ he said anxiously. ‘Carry him to the car.’

Jason was perplexed at the sudden alarm Pearce seemed to be showing.

‘That thing is dead,’ he said. ‘Karl is going to die if he doesn’t get medical attention now. Pearce, it’s safe now. Look at him.’

Jason pointed to the body that Mrs Pritchard was still holding.

Pearce shook his head.

‘Safe?’ Pearce said. ‘Do you think I didn’t know what was going on here? Killing him has just made everything worse. The shit is really going to hit the fan now.’

Jason looked to Holly for some explanation. It was clear that she had no idea what Pearce was talking about.

‘What do you mean?’ Jason asked confused.

‘Think about it,’ Pearce said. ‘Do you think that thing could be responsible for every disappearance around here? There has to be more of them...’

Before Pearce could finish there was a deafening bang. They turned to see one of the fence panels being knocked to the ground. Behind it stood a group of eight or nine figures. If up until that point in his life Jason had never seen a more wretchedly deformed being than Miko, the figures that now appeared on the farm made him look normal. They were the most hideous collection of freaks you could imagine. They were looking directly at them. The biggest, a man mountain of nearly seven feet tall with a protruding, bulbous forehead stepped forward. He was holding a large iron chain. He looked at all of them then fixed on Mrs Pritchard.

‘Mother,’ he said.

‘Harry,’ the old woman said with a look of joy on her face. ‘I’m so glad you came, but look what they did to your brother.’

The giant man looked at Miko’s lifeless body in his mother’s arms. He craned his muscular neck towards Pearce, Jason and Holly. His lip curled in anger as his eyes fixed on Pearce, the only one holding a weapon.

‘You did this?’ he said in a booming tone.

Pearce nodded unapologetically.