Speaker 1: Hello, I'm welcomed stories all the time. Glad you are here.
Let's get into it. My taxi driver made good time
between the airport and the quaint little town of Ridgeville.
I was happy to learn the driver was a chatty
fellow who liked to answer questions as much as I
like to ask them. I gained all sorts of trivial
knowledge about the little town I'd be living in along
the way. I remember him saying something along the lines
of people don't usually care to hear about old Ridgeville.
I'm sure you'll learn pretty quick. This is a quiet
place for quiet folk. That doesn't bother me one bit.
I told him I could use some quiet in my life.
Which will sits between two large hills. I wouldn't call
them mountains, but someway. They make the whole town feel
like it's being kept in the oath's pocket. The hills
create a feeling of isolation that is not unpleasant. At
least it wasn't unpleasant that day. While driving to my
new home, just outside of town, we passed a huge
cemetery sprawled at the base of the north hill. The
spiny black gate enclosed the graveyard, and a stoic brick
building sat beside it. That's a lot of graves. I said, Oh, YEA,
don't worry, we don't got that many people dying out
here in Rudeville. The driver said, so where do they
come from? All over? The funeral home is one of
this town's biggest businesses. He pointed to the stowic brick building.
People for miles away arranged to have their loved ones
buried here by the hill. Can't blame them. It's a
nice spot to come visit. It's got to beat this
erry municipal cemeteries in the city. We took a left
to race stop sign and enter the downtown area. I smiled.
The town already felt like home. There's something about a
historic downtown that makes me feel nostalgic. For a time
before my mother even thought of me. It was getting
late and I only saw one person on the sidewalk,
A dirty, cheerful man. He rested on toomusmatch backpacks against
a bank's wall. He was drinking discolowed water from Reu's
plastic bottle. If I had followed my gut instincts, I
would have turned away from that man and pretended not
to see him instead. I fought this reaction and studied
the grubby man as we passed by. As if reading
my thoughts. The driver said that there's Sam. Some call
him Uncle Sam as a sort of joke. You know,
what do you know about him? I asked, A not much,
the driver replied, I try not to get too close,
Know what I mean. I don't mean to be cruel
or nothing. Just never got a good feeling from old Sam.
He sort of gives me the creeps. Think that makes
me about guy? No, I answered slowly, No, he gave
me a weird feeling when we passed him too. We
exchanged pleasant for wells. As the driver dropped me off
in front of my new house, I made sure he
noticed how well I tipped him, because he seemed like
the kind of guy I might run into at a
bar or a diner. Since he was also a talkative
guy and potentially a gossip, I thought he would be
a good friend of As I got myself syncd up
with the town, I've done plenty of research on Ridgual,
but there are certain things about a town you can't
find online. Some things you have to learn by diving
at first into the deep end. What was your name again,
I asked him Bill. He told me and yours paddock. Well, Patrick,
I'll be seeing you around. With that, he left me
standing in front of my new home. I was fully
settled in by the end of that week. I got unpacked,
filled the fridge and pantry, and got all my entertainment
set up, as well as my office. The entire time
at homeless Man Sam kept intruding on my thoughts. I
couldn't explain why then, or even now, why the filthy
stranger remained so prominently fixed in my mind, but I
thought of him several times per day. I made up
my mind to go talk to him, but continually put
it off for another day, then another week. Finally, on
a rainy afternoon, I gazed blankly through my rain speckled
office window and thought of some out in the weather.
Since he was already on my mind, I knew I
wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I didn't so
much as check on him, So I grabbed my jacket,
walalert and keys, and got in my car. Three minutes later,
the bank's iron came into view through the drizzle. Sure enough,
I saw Sam propped against the wall near just as
he had been the day I arrived in town. I
pulled up to the curb on the wrong side of
the road, cracked my window, and shouted, how about a
hot meal. I'll never forget the way Sam looked at
me when I called to him through the rain. His
reaction made me wonder if I had been the first
person to talk to him in months. Maybe its He
looked like he didn't believe it could be talking to him.
He pointed at himself, and I gave an affirmative nod.
He didn't smile or give any indication he understood. He
just got up, left his belongings and walked over to
the side of my car. You don't have anywhere to go,
I asked, once he was situated in a passenger's seat.
He didn't speak, but shook his head. No. Well, am
mewed to town. But I did see there's a nice
looking diner over on Fifth. Ever been there, I asked again.
He shook his head. I put the car in gear
and made a left on to Fifth. The diner was
wolit and inviting, even so, we were the only ones
there when we went inside besides the cook and one waitress.
I ordered meat pulsubs for both of us. The waitress
seemed uneasy around Sam and quickly jotted down our order
before disappearing into the kitchen. We didn't see her again
until she returned with the food. Then she disappeared again. Listen,
I said to Sam as he bit into his sand,
which like an animal. I'd like to know about you,
how you got here, how you ended up. Well. Didn't
mean to sound insensitive, but I was truly curious. Sam
didn't seem put off, thankfully, He grunted why. I told him,
I'm a writer. Right now, I am working on a
book full of stores from interesting people in small towns,
rural areas, anywhere off the beaten path. Really, I'm thinking
of calling at hidden gems at the mention of my
working title, The Men's Marked. Why you don't like it?
I asked, mostly just trying to get him to converse.
It's a little contrived, he said. I was shocked to
hear worldlike contrived come from a man like Sam let
alone news. Correctly, I suppose it is, I said, laughing.
What would you recommend? Well? What kind of stores are
in it? He asked back. Yours would be the first,
I told him. Sam seemed to consider the seriously as
he took his next bite. I got excited, thinking I
had stumbled upon a gold nugget for the book. Sorry
to disappoint, but I've got no story, Sam said. I
prompted him to explain how he had gotten into Richel,
how he had ended up on the street, why he
stayed near the bank, et cetera, but Sam continued to
eat his sandwich in silence. When he finished, he started
fiddling with an old watch on his wrist. Does it work?
I asked him. He jumped like I had scared him.
He covered the watch with his hand and bowled his
arm toward his chest. I've raised my hands like a
surrendering soldier. I like you, Sam said, unexpectedly. You act
like a good person, but you've got selfish motors behind
your good deeds. You don't even try to hide that,
do you. His words took me aback. There was no
sarcism or astility in his tone, just curious observation, and
I had to admit he was right. I thought so,
he said. He turned his wrist and latched the watch.
He held it over the table, saying, I want you
to have this. I tried to refuse, but he insisted
I take it. He said he felt guilty, he didn't
have a story for me, and wanted to pay for
his meal this way instead. I graciously accepted the watch
and offered to drive him somewhere where he could take
shelter from the rain. Oh I'll be all right, he said,
as he slayd out of his booth with his back
turn as he walked away, Sam said, you'd better stop
working on that book while there was still time. I
was about to thank him when those last few words
hit me. I turned to ask what he meant as
the door bulging gold, and he was gone. As I
finished my own sandwich, I studied the watch. It had
a crack face and worn leather band. I couldn't find
any brand or I coon to indicate its make, so
I assumed it probably had no value even when it
was in good condition. I tried to wind it, but
the gears made a pitiful clicking sound and the hands
didn't move on the back. Someone had crudely inscribed the
letters b l Z b L, too many letters to
be initials, I thought. I tried a quick online search
of the letters, with no likely results. I figured the
next time I was downtown, I just asked Sam what
they meant. That turned out to be the following morning.
I wanted to stop into the local police department and
see if I could make any friends there. I thought
the police might have the most interesting stories from Ridgel
if I could convince any of them to talk. On
my way, I passed the bank and saw Sam's belongings
drying in the sun. Sam was nowhere in sight, though.
I pulled over and got out to walk a round
the block. I thought Sam might have just gone and
up to stretch his legs and maybe seek out a meal.
You gonna take that stuff? A high, mean voice asked
from behind me. I turned to see young blond boy,
maybe eleven or twelve years old, wearing cleats, chink guards,
and a blue soccer uniform that said virtual Writers. He
had one foot perched on top of a soccer ball.
M no, and just looking for my friend. I told
the boy, gross, your friends with sick o Sam? He asked, well,
we just met, but hey, you know it's mean to
call people names like that even when they are not
around to hear it. Whatever, man, I just wouldn't go
calling that guy your friend around here? The kids started
kicking his ball down the sidewalk, and my gut told
me to let him go. He told me I didn't
need to bother myself with a braddy compassionates kid. But
I didn't listen. Why not, I shouted down the sidewalk.
I saw the back of the kid's uniform, said Worthing seventeen.
He spun around and shouted back, are you talking to
me again? Yeah? I said, why shouldn't I call Sam
my friend? Worthing seventeen kicked the ball to me and
I just barely caught it with the tip of my
sneak before it rolled into the empty street. I tapped
it back to him when he was close enough that
I've felt confident in my aim. You want to know
why we call him Sicosam, Worthing seventeen asked, sure, Well,
he sits here all dight and watches us like he's
counting us kids. I mean, he always seems to know
where we'll be and who will be with and at night,
if one of us is outside alone, he finds us
and tries to take us into the woods. Does he
say what he wants to do in the woods, I
asked Worthing seventeen scrunched his face and scoffed, What kind
of grown up are you? He doesn't have to. It's
obvious it's sick, and that's why we call him Sickosam.
Has he done this to you? I asked. Worthing seventeen
shook his head. No, but he's asked like all my friends,
they've all talked about it. I don't think he's done
it to me because I know to stay away from
sick as like him. I'm too smart and he knows it.
I'm sure I got to get to practice good luck.
I guess Worthing seventeen kicked his ball down the sidewalk
around the bank, where I lost sight of him. I
wasn't convinced he was telling me the truth, but I
made a note to keep my budding friendship with Sam
quiet until could learn more about him. If he was
a non pervert, I think Bill, my cab driver, would
have mentioned that. I pulled up to the police station
ten minutes later. An officer was near his open trunk
checking some medical gear. He nodded at me as I approached.
I asked if he had seen Sam that morning, and
he said he hadn't. The guy usually hangs out at
the bank all day a night. We've always wondered if
he ever eats or sleeps. Seems like he's always just there,
the officer said. I told him, well, he's not there
to day. The officer shrugged and said, well, I need
to get going, but I'll keep an eye out for him.
All right, your friend, he asked. I told him I
just met Sam the day before, was all. I decided
to drive around for a while and see if I
could find Sam myself. It didn't take me long to
cover most of the main roads unless he had gone
inside some place. Sam was really gone, and since he
hadn't bothered to go inside during the rainstorm the day before,
I assumed it was unlikely he was indoors. Now. When
I pulled into my driveway, my heart skipped a beat.
My front door was wide open, and some of my
belongings had been tossed out on to the front lawn. Stupidly,
I ran inside to see what had happened. I found
most of the house untouched. My office had specifically been
targeted by whoever came in. As I dialed nine hundred
eleven and looked around to see what was missing, I
noticed Sam's watch sitting in the middle of my desk.
It was just about the only item that hadn't been
moved during the break in. After going over the house
with the police, we determined nothing had been taken. There
were no signs of forced entry. Some one had come in,
somehow torn apart my office and then just left. The
officer I had asked about Sam was there. He asked
me if maybe I thought there was any link between
the brak and the homeless man. I told him I
couldn't imagine there would be, but asked him to question
Sam about it the next time he saw him. Once
I got my office back in shape, it was as
if the breaking never happened. I went about life as
usual for the next few days. I made a habit
of drouting down town every day to look for Sam,
but never saw him. But the third day of his
disco appearance, some one had removed his belongings from the
bank wall. The only evidence I had of the man's
existence was a watch he gave me. I had started
worrying it as a sort of good luck charm. It
became a reminder to do good, and not just for
my own motives. I saw at having problems during the
next few days. First nearly sent me to the hospital.
I had poured myself a glass of water from the
kitchen sink with the tap pushed all the way to
the cold side. The water that poured from the glass
into my mouth was almost boiling hot, though I didn't
notice the steam rising from the glass until after I
had nearly swallowed the scorching water. I played with the
tap trying to get cold water to come out, but
all I could get was hot. I was able to
get some cold water out of the bathroom sink, thankfully.
My electricity became spotty as well. The house had frequent
blackouts that lasted one or two seconds. There didn't seem
to be any rhyme or reason to them. They just
happened randomly. An important note before we go forward. I
like to sleep with a white noise machine. It produces
a constant, static like sound throughout the night to block
outside sounds out. One night ight, I woke up to
use the bathroom. I don't remember anything different from any
other night, except that when I returned to my bedroom,
the constant drone of white noise was sort of pulsating,
fading in a knout in an inconsistent rhadom. I was
going to unplug it and run it on batteries, thinking
it was probably just another electrical problem. But when I
bend over to grab the plug, I heard something underneath
the white noise. A voice. It was deep but sounded
thin through the cheap speaker. Its words sounded purposeful, but
I couldn't understand any of them. I didn't even recognize
whatever language it was speaking. I told myself the voice
must have been coming from some broadcast that got picked
up by a machine, like when someone gets a metal
plate in their head and claims they can hear radio stations.
But when I pulled the plug in silence the white noise,
the voice continued to come through. I took the white
noise machine out of the living room and left it
in the couch. It had gone silent as soon as
it was out of the bedroom. I went back to
sleep without it, but not before tossing and turning for
some time. I dared to put the white noise machine
back in the bedroom the following night. To my relief,
no voices came through the speaker when I turned it on. However,
I woke in the middle of the night again. This
time it was a bodily urges that took me out
of sleep. Silence did total silence that somehow seemed louder
than the absent white noise. Another power outage, I thought.
I stumbled through the house in the dark, wishing I
had thought to put a flashlight by my bed. There
was enough ambient light in the house for me to
make it to the basement, but I stared down into
total blackness from the top of the stairs. If I
hadn't been worried about the food in my freezer, I
would have just left the electricity off until morning. Not
knowing what else I could do, I stepped down into
the darkness. I felt a run for the electrical box
on the wall, naking my finger on its corner. I
slid my hand towards the latch and bumped into something else.
It felt soft and warm. I retracted my hand and
stifled a yelp. Then I convinced myself I was just
tired and delusional. When I reached back out, my hand
landed right on top of another hand that was holding
the electric box shut. I screamed and ran back up
the stairs, slamming the door behind me. Then I ran
to the bedroom and grabbed my phone to col Nige
hundred eleven. I paused when I noticed the charging icon
at the top of my phone screen. Then I noticed
the white noise machine was working again. I flipped the
light switch, and sure enough, the electricity was back on.
I cautiously returned to the basement door, opened it, and
flipped the basement light onto. There was no sign any
one else was or ever had been inside the house.
Had I dreamt the whole thing starting with the power
going out. It didn't seem likely, but I told myself
that's what had happened anyway. I performed a quick sweep
of the house, found nothing worrisome and returned to bed.
At first, seemed the odd occurrences were only happening at night,
but I started to recognize a more intricate pattern emerging.
When I took inventory of each time the power went
out or I felt something strange in the house, I
realized each event was linked by one thing, me removing
Sam's watch from my wrist. I had taken it off
to wash dishes at time the water turned hot. I
took it off every night before bed. I also had
a habit of taking it off when I got hot,
because my wrist was well and press against the band,
I decided to do an experiment. When I finished a
day's work on my book, I got up from my
desk and removed the watch. I left it on my
desk while I went about my usual routine. Almost immediately,
something felt off. It almost seemed one side of the
house had dropped about an inch. My steps felt uneven,
I felt slightly off kilter, and all of this made
me feel quite vulnerable. It was as if my body
had fallen drunk. While my mind maintained its faculties, the
imaginary tilt of the house kept directing me back towards
my office, like my home was a giant ball with
the office at a center. At one point, I rested
against the closed office door, just to relax for a minute.
But I heard something moving inside the room. It sounded
like something hard scraping against wood, like something sliding across
my desk, maybe the watch. I turned the door knob
and nearly fell into the room. Sure enough, I caught
the watch sliding on its own towards the edge of
the desk. I ran forward and slammed my hand down
on top of it. It was ice cold, and when
I retracted my hand in shock, I heard a girl
behind me. I spun around and saw the dark shape
of some one crouching behind the open door. At first
I thought it was Sam, hunched over and snarling at me,
but as the creature stepped into the light, I saw
it was a mangy black dog. Its eyes were yellow
and its bare teeth were stained with blood. It watched
me from the doorway, growling and slobbering. I felt like
if I even breathed in a way the dog didn't like,
it would rush in and disembowel me. I snatched the
watch from the desk, ignoring its temperature, and shouted, is
this what you want? Go fetch and I tossed the
watch through the door. It bounced off the wall and
landed somewhere down the hallway. The dog tore after it.
I darted to the door and sound it shut. Then
I took a moment to catch my breath. As I rested,
I listened. After a while of hearing no sounds outside
the room, I put my head into the hallway. The
dog had vanished, but the watch still lay on the
floor where it had landed. I slowly crept down the hall,
peering around every corner and listening intently. But I couldn't
see or hear the dog any more. Something unnatural was happening,
of that, I was sure, and I was also sure
whatever it was revolved around Sam's watch. I rubbed my
finger over that inscription once more, beel Zebiel. I still
couldn't figure out what the letters might mean. I stopped
the watch to my wrist to prevent any further incidents.
As I got into my car and headed down the street.
I had passed an old church numerous times and decided
it was time to stop and for a visit. I
pulled into the dirt pucking lot, bouncing as my front
tirees hit the pocking box. I shut off my car,
got out, and nervously approached the door. Maybe it was
my elevated blood pressure, but I could have sworn the
watch band tightened around my wrist. As I entered the church, HULLO,
I think I need some help, I called out into
the empty auditorium. It looked far more modern than the
church's exterior, with hedther brogundy carpet, white walls and cushioned
black seats all in neat rows. I heard a door
close somewhere, and soon after the shuffling of feet, a
short man in khakis and a green polo appeared in
a doorway near the humble pulpit. What can I do
for you, he asked, I need to speak with the
priest or somebody. I'm no priest, but i'm the pastor
of this congregation. If you need something, I'm mere guy,
he replied cheerily. I introduced myself and gave him a
quick summary of everything that had been happening. The pastor
hadn't even Roussand's disappearance, and offered a brief prayer for
forgiveness for the oversight. When I finish, he asked to
take a look at the watch. As I removed it
from my wrists, he said, you know, we aren't really
big believers and cursed objects for witchcraft. Around here, Padrick,
we tend to stick to more. He trailed off as
a watch fell away, revealing its under side. He snatched
it out of my hand and stared at the etching
with wide eyes. Yeah I'm not sure what that's all about,
I said, his eyes slowly raised to meet mine. Felsible
he said, I replied, yea b l ze No, he said,
cutting me off. Felsible, a demon once said to have
led a revolt against Lucifer himself. I stayed quiet. I
wanted to laugh off the past's dramatic reaction. Was he
toying with me? I half expected some televangelist style sales
pissed to come next. But I also couldn't stop thinking
about the dog. Something to Monica not was certainly attached
to that watch. Could it be this Beelsible, I wondered.
I asked the past if I could leave the watch
with him. Since he seemed to know more about it
than I, I hoped he might be more qualified to look
after it. He said, yes, he'd best leave it here.
I'll lock it up until some one with more expertise
in this area can take a look. Do you a Christian?
I hadn't been asked at question by anyone but the
occasional door to door evangelist in quite some time. I
was baptized in my teens, went to church on and
often early adulthood. I suppose i am. I've never really
thought of myself as anything else, I answered. The pastor
nodded quickly. As if my answer was exactly what he
had expected to hear. Bought any crucifixes, rosaries, that sort
of thing at home? He asked, Well, I have this.
I pulled on a silver chain that ran around my
neck and under my shirt. A little cross emerged from
my collar. I had worn this necklace since my baptism
nearly fourteen years ago. Putting out on had become as
much a habit as wiring underware. It was easy to forget.
It was even hanging on my neck most days. That
should work for now. It could be what's protected you
so far. I thought she didn't believe in cursed objects
our holy objects different we I at least believe both
God and demons will always find a way to do
their work. That means that while most of the times
humans try using curses or summoning demons and why not,
it doesn't work, but it can. Supernatural forces just don't
operate upon our whims. However, if a supernatural being such
as a demon were to decide a certain human's actions,
provided an opportunity, it very well could take advantage. I'm
not saying one way or another way of this watchs couspasse,
But if fevil is at work here. I just have
to trust God to counter it with his goodness. So
keep a cross close. What's your name again? It's Patrick,
Patrick Newell. Ah. Yes, Patrick, I'll remember for the next
time I see you, which I hope will be Sunday morning.
With that, I went back home, back to my quiet, peaceful,
normal home. I spent the remainder of the day without incident,
and slept through the night understoubed. My piece may have
continued through the next morning too, if I hadn't turned
on the TV while making breakfast. The screen showed the
ashen lop where the church had stood the day before,
chov remains of its pious structure, where all that will
left now. A reporter was in the middle of describing
a harrowing overnight battle against the fire. The cause of
itch were still under investigation. As I watched, someone knocked
on my door. I answered it, still dazed and nearly
didn't recognize the pastor as he stood, sweating, dirty and
bleary eyed on my front porch. His crisp khakis and
clean pullow had been replaced by Grace whitson a plain
back hoodie that smelled like smoke. Do you have it,
he asked. Did the watch come back here? Come back here?
I echoed, Why would it be back here? And how
did you know where I live? It's gone, the pastor said,
ignoring my second question. It was in a safe box
when I left it before the fire. Now it's gone.
Could it have burned up? Couldn't of That box was
designed to protect its contents against fire. Specifically, it was
locked when I left, but open after the fire. Marshal
brought it out to me. Well good, Reddin's right, I said.
The pastor's pale face didn't change. No, no, not good,
he said. Now that watch and the evil attached to
it or out there again. He gestured to the world
to around him. We aren't safe, No one is not
until we find that watch and let the proper authorities
destroy it. Who would that be? I asked? He paused,
taking time to breathe. He looked like he wanted to answer,
but couldn't. Finally, he said, I don't know. The tragedy
of the day wouldn't end with the church burning down.
The police recovered Sam's body later that morning. He was
naked and horribly burned from the neck down. Police Chief
fredman Stone held a press conference and announced there would
be an extensive investigation into both the fire and Sam's death,
but at that time the department assumed the two were
directly connected. The prepared statement that she freedomplied that Sam
had burned down the church as an act of meaning
at Saracen and had fatally injured himself in the process.
I went to the press conference with the pastor, whose
name alone was Isaac. The press conference was held just
outside the police station. Isaac had been invited to speak,
but had declined the offer. He told me he would
rather deal with the aftermath of the fire privately with
his congregation. We had hoped to learn more about the
circumstance answers of the fire, but the chief and later
the mayor were both incredibly vague. They made it sound
like Sam, who had lived peacefully in town for years,
had suddenly turned into a deranged criminal. The bress seemed
to eat this narrative up. All of their questions pride
at how Samba in the church down and not why.
Isaac and I had a few questions of our own,
but decided to wait until the official conference ended to
ask them. The chief tried to vanish as soon as
the mayor concluded the event. Luckily, Isaac had the force
sight to start walking to the police station's side door
as the last journalist was asking her question. Before the
chief could grab the door handle, Isaac was saying, excuse me, sir.
The chief turned toward us slowly. He looked exhausted. I
had never considered how tiring it must be to stand
up and answer questions for an hour, and that, on
top of managing an awson investigation in a small town,
were crimes of any sort of seldom committed. What do
you want, he asked rudely. I saw you two standing
in the back over there. What's the deal? You can't
watch the press conference on TV like everyone else. We
just wanted to get a little more info. I said. Well,
I hate to say it, but I told the reporters
everything I know. That's not true, iiske said the chief.
Grimerston looked at his boots bashfully. He looked like a
small child caught in a lie. I made a mental
note to ask iysciff the chief was in his congregation later. Look,
we knew Sam had been missing for a few days
before the fire. I told one of your officers Sam
had disappeared, I added. The chief snapped and pointed at me.
You were that offer who just got into town. Your
house was broken into, he said, putting everything together. Oh right,
I guess I can give you a little more inver
since your technically part of this investigation. I am not
here the underground seven hundred thirty, just you too. I
am not going to have this conversation in uniform. The
chief left us there bewildered. Isaac finally shruged and said
he should probably get to the church and deal with
insurance or whatever else needed to be done reguard in
the fire. I lied and told him I had plenty
of business of my own to attend to, but I
ended up at home, being in the office instead. It
was a show I liked to put on, like a blanket.
It warmed and comforted me. They knew the episodes well
enough to alluw my mind to wander away and find
its way back when it felt safe. I might have
looked slovenly and bought an observer that afternoon, but inside
my gears returning as my mind processed speculation after speculation
on what the police chief might tell us Later that night,
Isaac and I arrived at the underground, the lesser frequented
of Ridgefal's two bars, promptly at seven point thirty. I
had a habit of shoring up exactly on time, and
I felt anxious about a particular meeting. I privately wondered
if the pastor's timeliness was a symptom of his own nervousness. Together,
we entered the bout through the door under its pink knee,
and sign Ic looked visibly uncomfortable as he scanned the
small crowd. Thankfully, but not surprisingly, he didn't see any
members of his congregation. The chief stood up from a
table in the back corner and came to meet us
by the door. I almost didn't recognize him under his
Hikogobert's baseball cap. Heap your heads down, the chief said,
as he came near enough to be heard over the
thumping baseline of the red hot chili Pepper's rendition of
higher ground. His gap tilted down towards the sticky for
as he led us to the corner table. Have a seat,
he said, gesturing to the booth with its back to
the door. He sat down opposite us under a green
lamp a quart. A full picture of beer sat in
front of him in a puddle of foam. Once we
were seated, he slid two glasses toward me and gestured
to the picture. I emptied at remaining contents into one glass,
which I shallly offered to Isaac. He held up his
hand and shook his head. Much to my delight, I
pulled the glass back towards myself and took a lawn's
wake before my glass hit the table again. The Chief said,
Now I want to stick to facts during this conversation.
Is that clear? Isac and I looked at each other
incredulously Under normal circumstances, I would wholeheartedly agree. But first,
I'm curious why you feel the need to say that, sir,
I said. The Chief stirred me down. I could feel
disdain filling his booth, threatening to overflow across the table.
All right, he finally said, slapping his hand on the
table in front of himself. I'll probably regret talking to
you two it all, but let's just see where this goes.
For stadters, I don't believe Sam was at the church
when the fire started, but he told the reporters. The
Chief interrupted me with the raised hand. I gave them
a simplified narrative to run with. It wasn't a lie,
but the whole truth is hard to believe. That's why
I dragged you two out here instead of talking at
the station. Oh and by the way, if you try
to run to anyone else with a word of this,
they'll just think you're crazy, So don't bother. It sounded
more like he was trying to convince himself than us.
Just tell us, chief is sac said. The Chief gave
us each long stairs in turn, then lean back in
his seat. Just call me Red. I'm going to need
to abandon my official title for this conversation to proceed.
I sick and I agree to this, although I didn't
think it really mattered. And Red continued. The witness who
called nine hundred eleven says the whole church went up
at once, the whole building just He threw his hands
in the air, imitating fire shooting upwards. One second, everything's normal,
the next the entire building is in flames. The fire
department investigated this claim. I asked the fire department, some
of my guys, yeah, we looked into it. Trust me.
I made sure they were thir I'm sure it was
your church too, Isaac said, confirming my earlier suspicion. So
did this witness see any one go in or come
out of the church, I asked. Red shook his head. No.
Now we asked if she saw any body, and she's
pretty convinced no one went in or out. So what
Sam could have gone out the back or something, Isaac said,
I don't think so, Red reply. The only evidence Sam
was there at all o the burns he had done him.
That's pretty damning evidence, though, isn't it, I asked. Rad
took a long swig from his glass, entering it before
he continued. It would probably make this whole conversation easier
if I just laid out the facts as we know them,
he said. He folded his hands on the table, drew
a deep breath, and began call. Came in around three
in the morning. The witness hallowed despatch what I just
told you about the church coming up in flames. Six
minutes later, one of my officers gets there and secure
as the scene while fire starts showing up and works
on putting the church out. They have the fire extinguished
by three point forty five and we start investigating I've
four arm the dot. Another call comes in as one
is from a guy up in the hills says he's
found a body. We get somebody up there and figure
outed Sam. His arms are burned so bad we can
see child bones in his hands. This torsa was blackened
and everything else was charred pretty good creepier still, he
was laying in the middle of a star he drawn
in the dirt. There were a few little ashpiles scattered
around the star, so I'm guessing some other stuff cut
burned up to It was like something out of a
horror movie. You know, a watch maybe is cast. I'm sorry,
if Rid replied, could one of the other objects in
the star have been a watch? I clarified, Red squinted
his eyes. I'm not sure if he was thinking or
trying to read our faces in the dull greenish light.
Not unless it was made of something that could totally
burn up. I'm telling you all, that was Leffer's ash.
So you think Sam started the fire, burned himself, and
ran up into the hills, I asked. The chief shook
his head. Not possible, he said. Where Sam's body was found.
As a two iro walk from the church and that's
for a normal, healthy person. If we see him he
got burned in the church fire, that means he made
that warp double time with his injuries. It just doesn't
add up. What about the guy who found him? Could
he have set Sam on fire or driven him up
the hill? Maybe it's just a coincidence that Sam was
killed and the same night the church burned down. That
it'd be a hell of a coincidence around here. No,
I don't think so. The guy who found him is
a hunter. He was out getting an early start. We
did question him, no doubt, but he's innocent. He's far
enough up in those hills. He could have just buried
some rather than call lost to come get him if
he didn't want us poking around in his business. Well,
Chief read, sorry, Why don't you just give it to
us straight? What exactly do you think happened last night?
Off the record? Of course, Isac said? Was any of
this on the record, the Chief asked, raising an eyebrow
at me. I raised my hand to show I was
figuratively unarmed. If I ever write about this, I swear
you won't even be mentioned, I said, Red nodded, But
I thought I caught a hint of indignition in his eyes.
I wondered if the closed up, tough guy we were
being presented with was an act. I wondered if he
might actually want a little attention. Well, his eyes flicked
to me again. Off the record, I don't think Sam
started the fire directly, but I still think he's responsible
based on the scene we recovered his body fro him.
I believe he was attempting some sort of a cult ritual.
And here the chief paused on the precipice of a
crucial moment. He searched us both with his eyes, especially
the pastor. He was looking for something trust. Maybe his
face didn't hold the stern hardness I would have expected
from the ten stop carp It slowly dawned on me
that Ray was about to say something completely ludicrous and
what he was looking for from us for safety. Go ahead, Chief,
I encouraged, We'll believe you read, furrowed his brow and
leaned all the way back in the booth, sliding a
little sideways. Well, boys, I think his ritual actually worked.
A pregnant pause lingered while Isaac and I process this statement.
Just to be sure, I understand he thinks Sam was
able to set the church on fire for miles away
with some kind of what magic, I asked. I tried
to make sure I sound a curate, but not doubtful.
I think he together at church like a snapper on
a hilltop. Sorry, Pastor, I don't mean to be glad.
It's just no need to apologize, red. I've done my grieving.
It was just a building. However, there's one missing item
that still bothers me. A watch, and we need you
to be on the lookout for it. That's why I
asked about a watch, droller. We think it's connected, I added.
Sam gave it to me right before my house was
broken into. I'm weird stuff kept happening at home after that.
I gave the watch Isaac for safekeeping because I thought
it might have been cursed. For lack of a better term,
rad that watch was in a fire safe box and
is the only item that went and accounted for after
the fire. Isaac reiterated, All right, a watch really just
an ordinary watch, The chief asked, isa Can I remain
flat and serious? The chief shrugged inside. I thought it
was silly of him to believe a dark ritual could
burn down a church, but drawed a line at cursed watch.
Maybe he realized this too, because he leaned forward again
and adopted a Mowson posture. This watch, what's it look like?
He asked? Cheap? I said, nothing special, brown leather band.
The face is cracked. It doesn't work, Isaac jumped in.
Most importantly, it is an inscription in the back that
looks like it was scratched with a knife or something.
It's the letters b l's b L all capital. Does
that mean anything to you? Should it? Red asked? I
believe it's short term for beeasible that that demon right
the chief scratch his bare cap as he tried to
remember an old sermon the pastor had given in which
this particular demon was mentioned. Correct, Isac said, And now
it's my turn for insane theories. I believe Sam was
an unwitting pawn in this demon scheme. I don't think
it is a coincidence that the church caught fire on
the very first night the watch was being kept inside.
I'm not sure where Sam got the watch, but I
think he was instructed to get it to you Patrick,
and I think you were influenced to bring it to me.
I think the demon beausible needed to get that watch
inside the church to burn it down. All that work
just to destroy a little church in Ridgeville. The chief asked,
think about it. This is a small town. My churches
was the only one here. Without it, my faithful congregation
doesn't really have a place to gather to feel close
to God. We scattered Unless I can figure out where
I can gather everyone together. How would that help a demon?
It's pretty simple, really. I imagine some type of violent motorcycle
gang came to town and set up a club us somewhere.
Let's just say you where I was in the edge
of town. You and your cops need to capture these guys,
but they are aren't and dangerous. Would you charge on
to their turf and try to arrest them on the spot,
or would you try to separate them and pick them
off one by one on your terms? Am Okay, I
think I see what you're getting at. The chief said,
this demon wants to waltz into our town without a fight, exactly,
so it separated all the people who might get together
and pray away or whatever. Basically, the Christians here will
be weaker without each other support. So now it's up
to the three of us to fight it. The three
of us sat silently for nearly a minute while Alan
Jackson sang at five o'clock somewhere through the overhead speakers.
Bread was right. We had to fight the evil a
right air of a pastor and a cop. The duty
had somehow landed on her shoulders. If I had stopped
to consider it, I might have realized I bore no
real responsibility, not on paper. I hadn't taken any oath
to protect this little community of Ridgeville. I could have
just gotten into my car and gotten the hell out
of there if I had wanted to. Instead, I studied
the other two men's faces, first the chiefs, then the pastors,
and couldn't help but admire the courageous resolve I saw
in their eyes. They were committed to doing battle, and
something within me, some instinct, I thought I had lost
in the blurry transition from childhood into constantly was an
adult life. Set down the risk, down the consequences. Let's
do this. I down the rest of my beer in
one gulp and slammed my glass down on the table
as I asked, so, how do we fight a demon?
My phone rang While I was watching the news. The
following morning. I knew who it was before I even
picked it up. Have you heard I succast I'm watching
it now, I said. I've been with his mother all morning.
I told her I needed to go to the bath room.
I had to lie just so I could have a
second to call you. Do you think this is related
to you know? I stared at the TV screen and
a young blond boy, maybe eleven or twelve, wearing a
blue ritual Rider's soccer uniform stare back. The ticker read
local boy. Waitworthing reported missing. Overnight search preparations under way.
It was little Worthing seventeen, maybe, I said. I met
that kid once. Coincidentally, I talked to him right where
Sam used to sit at the bank. He told me
he and his friends called Sam sick o Sam because
he tried to locate into the woods at night. Wait. Really,
that seems like the kind of thing that would get
around his community pretty quick. I don't think people would
have been so tolerant of Sam if that were true.
Who knows kid to mix stuff up? I said, but
it's hard to ignore the possibility, knowing what we know now. Well,
hold on ISAC said, Sam's dead? We know that for
sure this kid could have just wandered off and gotten lost.
She hasn't said this publicly, but his mom told me
they had to fight yesterday evening before he left. That
ease might worry a little. With everything else going on,
I had immediately jumped to the worst case scenario. It's
like I forgot kids could run away on their own.
I looked at the kid's smiling picture hanging out on
the screen and hoped that was the case. Patrick, Patrick,
were you there? I scrought me back. Yeah, sorry, we
should join the search party. Red will be coordinating it.
I'm sure I think the three of us should all
be together out there. Good idea, I'll clear my calendar,
I said. There was a long pause on the other
end of the line. Finally I scaced, was that a joke? Yes? Yes,
it was at least an attempt at one. Probably not
the best time, I suppose. I'll see you there. We
met up a trailhead where the police were organizing a
search party. An officer handed us each an orange vest,
like one a hunter might wear. I sick and I
walked round the crow to get a round to the chief.
He looked Haggar I'm guessing he was trying to manage
a slight hangover as well as the growing search party.
Oh good, I hope you two might show up, he said.
When he saw I say and I you could have
called us, I said, Yeth been a little busy today,
in case you hadn't noticed. Sorry, what can we do?
You choose stick with me while we search. I'm going
to have the rest of this bunch comb in the
woods in a grade, but there's a spot I want
to check personally. Let me guess you want to check
the spot where Sam was found. Oz casped. Red praysed
his lips and raised his eyebrows, silently recommending the pasture
keep his voice down. Over the next ten minutes, officers
organized the crowd into jews and spaced them out evenly.
They were instructed to walk straight through the woods and
call out if they found anything ridgel Pid didn't have
anything as fancy as whistles to hand out to the party.
While the rest of the civilians were still receiving their instructions,
Red told iacon I to follow him back to his car.
We loaded into the back like a couple of drunks.
He pick up for bar fighting lose those vests. He said,
I don't want anyone spotting us and asking why we're
separated from the party. But you're the chief, I pointed out, Oh,
you think that means I'm top dark, can do whatever
I want. Listen, Ardy, I still got answer to the
may at the city camp, even the frigin education board.
I thisy fit to ask what's going on? If anything,
I am under more scrutiny than the average cop, so
we gotta be careful. He started the car and we
drove around the woods to a gravel road leading up
into the hills. It took about five minutes to reach
a spot where saw mudy ti tracks pointing various directions
dug into the mud on the shoulder. This is it,
the chief said, Why have the rest of the town
searching the woods if you think the boys up here?
Isaac casked, just in case I'm wrong, the chief replied, God,
I hope I'm wrong. Sadly, the chief was dead right almost.
I was the one who actually found him. We had
stopped where samperformed as ritual, but found the area empty.
Safe for a few stakes and police tape warning civilians
like me and Isaac to keep out. However, someone had
ignored the bowl black words and had recreated the pentagram
in the dirt and something else. The five pointed star
was darker than the rest of the ground. It looked
like it had been recently saturated and hadn't yet dried.
I noticed one point of the star overlapped the circle
around it and touched the root of a tree. I
followed the route to it trunk, and half way out
the trunk, I spotted the rope. It was old and frayed,
and the second pentagram was carved above its coils. With dread,
I searched the trees branches for Poor Worthing seventeen's blue uniform.
I realized now it was silly of me to assume
he would have worn his soccer uniform to hike up
into the hills and hang himself. I didn't find his
body in the tree, though well, he was definitely here.
I heard Red say, or at least some one was,
Isaac replied, I was too busy to participate in their conversation.
I was walking towards the tree to investigate the rope.
I still felt it was important. Turned out it was.
The rope didn't run up into the tree branches, like
I had initially suspected, it ran back down the hill
and disappeared into the leaves and brush on the forest floor.
Eg eyes, I shouted back to the other two. They
came running. Is it him? Isac casped? Maybe? I answered.
I gave the rope a quick whack and we watched
it in silence. Its vibrations created a wide helix and
slowly shrank along the rope's length. Looks long red observed
down to the creek. I suck and I shared concerned glances.
The other two must have been weighed down by the
burden of what we were all sure we were about
to discover. They fell behind as I took the lead,
following the rope down the hill around trees and bushes.
Soon I could hear the water bubbling up onto the
creek bed. Just as soon as I could see the creek,
I found Wade Worthing. He was floating in the six
inch deep creek with the rope tied around his neck.
He was face down. I only recognized him from his
shaggy blonde hair and the blue rider's uniform with Worthing
seventeen on the back, which he had actually been wearing
when he ran out the night before. In the short
seconds before the others caught up with me, I wondered
if anything that had happened to me since I'd arrived
in Ridgel had been a coincidence. I had met Sam
first and Weighed second, the same order in which they
had died. Wade had been weirring the same uniform in
which he now floated before me dead, and to the
watch Sam gave me being inside the church the night
it burned down, and I couldn't ignore the odds any more.
I decided in those short, quiet seconds, something bigger had
been at work long before Sam had given me the watch,
maybe even before or I have come to tell some
one watched beside me and brought me back to the creek,
the rope, the boy bobbing at the end of it.
It was Icic who had made the noise. When he
steadied himself, Red came up to my side and asked,
you think it was suicide or murder? You were asking me,
I replied, involuntarily, glancing at his badge as it winked
in the sunlight. I'm just thinking out loud. We can
check this out for a minute. But I'm on duty
and there's a devastated mother wondering where her child is.
I can't hold off on coalin this and for too long,
I understand, I said. I slid carefully down the embankment
and took off my shoes. I rolled up my jeans
and started wading towards the body, Thankful it was downstream.
Red followed, but didn't bother to remove his boots or
roll his pants. The body was stiff, bloated an extra
coal from the water. Its skin was great and sort
of translucent. Can we roll him over? I asked Fred.
We really shouldn't disturb the scene, but Red winced and
grod wade saturated uniform. He looked up at me expectantly,
and I reached down and grabbed my own handful of
wet fabric. Red gave a threecount, and we turned the
body over. Way's eyes were open and collless. His face
was purple and puffy. His tongue had swelt, filling his
mouth and forcing its way between his blue lips. Now
it was my turn to wretch despatch. This is a chief.
I've got a body approximately two miles up blown a creek.
I heard Red make the call, but I had otherwise
dissociate it from the present re's radio crackle in a
voice said something to him, but it all sounded like
a noise coming through a wall. My ears started ringing
and my vision shrank. I realized I was about to
black out. I woke up laying on the hard plastic
buck seat of Red's police cruiser. All the doors had
been left open to give me some air. I later
learned that Isaac had noticed me looking pale and starting
to sway, and I jumped into the creek just in
time to catch me before I fell face first into
the water. He and Reddad dragged me back up the embankment. No,
absolutely not, do not, under any circumstances allow that woman
up here, I heard Red say, sternly. Got it. Chief,
a voice I didn't recognize, replied his consciousness slowly picked
me back up. I noticed the hurried sounds of many
people all around me. I sat up slowly and took
in the scene. Uniform cops were everywhere, Most of them
appeared to be down by the creek, where one was
wrapping police taper round trees. An ambulance had backed up
as far as it could toward the embankment. Ah, good,
you are awake, I sick, said, I jumped. I hadn't
noticed him sitting perfectly still in a passenger seat up front.
How long was I out, I asked, A while, at
least fifteen minutes. I guess while you were out, we
got some bad news. Bad enough of the town, but
probably worse for us. What do you mean there was
a freak accident at the funeral home. It's the most
ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Honestly, It's like something out
of a bad movie. Oh, for crying out loud, just
tell me what happened, I snapped. There was a water
main break near the edge of town. It flooded the
street in front of the funeral home and overflowed all
around it. Apparently there was a sinkhole no one knew
about right next to the funeral home. When the water
came up and soaked the ground, it all just collapsed,
the ground, the building just gone tip. Poor burn is
down with it. Who's Burness, I asked. She was a
mortician there, a sweet old thing. You'd never have been
able to guess what she did for a living. Jeez,
I said. I processed this news for a moment, he said,
it was worse for us. What did ye mean by that?
Think about it Isac said, Sam burns about here, and
my church burns down way Erans, and a freak flood
takes down the funeral home. Patrick, I think the demon
is making these people perform ritual sacrifices of themselves. I
think he's using them to assault the town. Oh my god, Sam,
I said, icick ray is an eye brought me his body?
Where would his body have been kept? Well, they would
have taken it to the oh. Isa went quiet as
he came to the same realization I just had. Sam
would have been inside the funeral home when it collapsed.
I wondered if any of the bodies had been lost.
Do you think it's trying to destroy the evidence? I asked.
Driver's door opened suddenly and made me jump again. I
guess I wasn't quite as conscious as I had thought.
Yet we got to go, the chief said, as he
sat in front of the wheel Way's mother is causing
a scene down at the bottom of the hill, and
you too, really shouldn't be here anyway. As we drove
down the hill, Isaac filled Reddin on the conversation we
had just had OK, here's what we do. Red said,
I'll deal with miss Worthing. You two head over to
the funeral home and check it out. There won't be
much of a police presence this since I've got almost
every one up here dealing with the kid. Still, if
you see anything worth worrying about, call me. But we
agreed to the plan. I couldn't look at Morrel Worthing
as we rounded the bend and came to the bottom
of the hill. I knew my face would give everything away.
Not that she needed another hint about what was happening.
She must have already known her son was dead. She
ran at the car and read quickly got out to
intercept her. Isaac and I took hock you and started
walking back to my house to get my car. It
feels quiet, doesn't it, Isaac asked, as we enter town
on foot. Yeah, I agreed. The already low energy of
Virtuel had seen we dissipated, leaving perfect silence behind. There
wasn't one car in the road or a single person
out in the yard. Most blinds and curtains had been closed.
Almost every door was shut. I wanted to shout out, pillow,
can anyone hear me, but I was too afraid. I
was too afraid there would be no answer at all.
My car was in my driveway, and I already had
the keys in my pocket, so we got in and
headed to the funeral home. I wondered whether the road
would even be open, and decided just to get as
close as I could. First person we came across was
a public works man from the city, sitting in the
cab of his pickup. I pulled up alongside him and
asked what the situation was up ahead. Roads closed down
to one lane. He said, half the highways collapsed. You
can go on ahead, but don't be surprised if they
send you packing back this way. I thanked him and
moved on. There was a fire truck in a single
police car up ahead, and I drove on towards them.
Not surprisingly, a young police officer stopped us as soon
as we got close. She held her hand up until
I came to a complete stop. Then she approached my window.
The road's not safe until we can figure out how
big the sinkhal is, she told me. So is there
any way I can get out of town? I asked,
you'll have to go back the way you came up
through the hills. Eventually you'll come to another road and
come back track, but that'll take at least an hour,
I argued. I know, sorry, I wish I had a
better solution, but honestly we're a little overwhelmed at the moment.
All right, thanks, officer, I said, and rolled up my window.
Why do you want to get out of town? Ice
cast I don't, but now I know if I did,
it would be a long time before I could get
somewhere safe. You think that's by design? Has anything that's
happened felt round unto you? I asked, regrettably, displaying my
frustration to the pastor, of course, I think it's by design.
He's killing people one by one, and now it's cut
us off. You realize what this means, right, Medical AI,
back up for the police, additional fire trucks. All of
those things that were only ten minutes away will now
take over an hour or to get here from the city.
I sick, looked totally defeated. For a moment, I felt
bad and was about to apologize for being too when
he perked up. Do you see that, he asked? I
followed his gaze through the windshield, and up the north hill.
Oh my god, I shouted, that's the dog I saw
in my house. We finally arrived. The black dog was
inspecting us from a rocky outcrop about half way up
the hill, maybe two hundred feet from the ground. Is
sick and I were too far away from me to
actually see its eyes, but I could fill them. They
were scanning us, threatening us, warning us to leave everything alone,
let things be. We couldn't just walk away. I know
now as well as I knew then, but I can't
tell you how badly I wanted to heed the black
Dog's warning. Well, I guess this is what we signed
up for, I muttered as I shifted the car into gear.
Patrick Ic sounded nervous. He had every right to be.
I must have looked like a maniac, staring up the
hill through the windshield, leaning over the steering wheel like
I was trying to keep it from floating away. I
floored the gas and the car road then lutched over
the curb. We rocked back and forth as we rumbled
towards the base of the hill of a pockwark Dead.
Patrick were going to get us both arrested. Isaac shouted
over the bellowing engine. By who I asked. The cops
were all busy, and besides, I figured Red would just
get us out again. No one's following us up the
silk pastor, I heard a siren wind up behind us.
In the vibrating rear view, I watched a single police
courspind in the dirt and start hustling in our direction.
Here they come, get ready to run, I shouted, what
Ic looked pale. I wondered if this was the greatest
sin he had ever committed in different circumstances. I might
have reminded him that we were working for a good cause,
but there was no time for comforting word. As we
rushed to the base of the hill, I slammed the
brakes a few feet from the hill's craggy vase Vero,
I shouted and gave Isaac a strong persh. I left
my door open as I stumbled out of the car
and ran toward the hill. My pacing top with the
cars dinging an obnoxious reminder to shut the door. That
sound faded away, and soon all I could hear were
our footsteps and breaths and a rapidly approaching siren. Isic
and I climbed over the first batch of boulders and
began the steep ascent through the thick pines that gave
the hill its furry appearance a distance. Up close, they
were rough and harsh, like wooden bullies. We used protruding
roots as handles and footholes and managed to scale fifty
feet or so before the pursuing cop got to my car.
Stop climbing and come back down. You are under arrest,
the officer shouted, as soon as he opened his door
and got her Sorry it, officer, we can't do that,
I shouted back. I heard him curse and mutter something
unintelligible into his shoulder mounted microphone. I hope Red would
hear whatever message the officer put out and either tell
him to stand down or go to our aid. I
heard something coming down toward us and made myself as
flat as I could. My first thought was of a
falling rock tumbling down the hill, but a black, panting
blow rushed by instead. It was the dog. Surreal relief
came over me as it by passed both me and
Isaac and ran all the way down. I looked back
and saw the officer still had his head tilted down
towards his radio. I tried to call out to him,
but it was too late. By then he looked up
right before the giant black dog launched itself off the
rocks and landed with a heavy hymp on top of him.
His throaty death gurgles lasted only a few seconds before
as body went limp, the dog turned a stripping, bloody
muzzle up towards us. When it was finished, the smeared
gore gave the grotesque impression of a grinning clown. It
stepped off the officer's body, giving us a full view
of his bloody corpse. It looked like he had been
nearly decapitated by the animal savage jaws. The dog had
completely torn out his throat. I figured we were next climb.
I shouted, but Ice was already moving. I had a
feeling the dog was a much more proficient climber than us,
but going up was our only option. As I climb,
I searched for a rock or a stick to defend
myself with when the creature inevitably caught us. I finally
saw stern necker juice off to the side and stretched
to reach it. My fingers had just wrapped round the
stone when a guns it ran out and made me
retract my outstretched arm. Ti it rained down on top
of my head. A second shot sounded, and this time
I heard a zipping sound before the dirt two feet
to the left of me exploded. I was being shot at.
I stole one quick glance down the hill and nearly
blacked out again. The officer was somehow standing the black
dog at his eye. It had hung limply to the
left by his unsupported spine. His pistol was raised and
pointed directly at me. The trees growing out of the
hillside were far too small to hide behind. I could
only hope demons went great shots and keep climbing. Isiic
had gone a step further than hoping, and had begun
to beseech God for salvation. But as I resumed my climb,
he followed suit. The next bullet stuck in a tree.
The one after the exploded a rock between us. My
hands were growing slick with sweat, and I feared I
wouldn't be able to maintain a grip much longer. Over Here,
I sick shoudered out of the blue. I shimmered over
to him and saw what he had found. The narrow
mouth of a small cave was yawning as from a
jagged out crop. I sik slid into it first. Normally
I wouldn't blindly dive into a small, enclosed space, but
a bullet struck the dout four inches from my right
hand and gave me all the encouragement I needed. The
cave's narrow mouth had been deceptive. When I slid through it,
my feet dropped down far enough that when they finally
hid the ground, I was able to stand upright. Isaac
and I both stood beneath the opening for a minute
and caught our breath. We should try to warn Iac
finally suggested. He pulled out his phone, tapped the screen
a few times, and held it up to his ear.
I could hear it faintly ringing, and then read stale
voice saying you've reached Rigel. Police chief read and Ica
hung up. He called back when he sees you, called
I hope aloud. Isaac kept his phone in hand and
turned on its flashlight feature. He shone it into the cave.
It had a throat which descended a shot grate into
the bowels of the hill. It wanted to swallow us,
and I wanted to let it purely for the sake
of survival. Where do you think it let out, he asked.
I'm not sure, I said, honestly, but wherever it has
to be safer than here. We might have escaped the bullet,
but this cave WoT stopped. That dog, agreed, Isaac said,
and slowly made his way toward the throat. Going down
was much faster than coming up, but not necessarily easier.
The stone esophagus had been smoothed by censuries of erosion.
A glistening layer of moisture made it surface quite slick. Thankfully,
there were a few stretches where the slick surface came
in handy, and we could simply slide down. Soon we
were both down in the belly of the hill. I
was surprised to see what looked like daylight up ahead,
and to hear dripping water away out Aaac wondered aloud
as he pointed towards the light. I smiled and gestured
for him to lead the way. I felt like we
had slid down a secret tube in super Mario and
by passed the danger above. My relief had given birth
to a fat, slimy confidence baby that I was about
to learn couldn't survive the cold, dark world inside the hill.
Asak and I crept toward the light, I kept waiting
to hear the black dog following us, but it left
us alone. Speculating as to why the dog had given
up so easily made me sweat. I couldn't help but
wonder if it had left us to a worse fate.
A wide turn lay just ahead. We could tell the
light shining down and across the cave floor were spilling
from a source around the bend. I'll go first, I
told Isaac. He fell in line behind me, and we
both hugged the icy wall as we slid around the curve.
The drooping sounds were amplified the closer we got to
the light. If we hadn't been underground, I might have
thought it was raining. Up ahead. I took a few
more steps before stopping abruptly in surprise. Up ahead was
a splintered door of a crumbling brick facade, uttered windows,
and the traumatized roof of the funeral home. Water was
dripping down all around it from the edges of the
sinkhole that had brought the building down into the cave.
There were no lights on inside, obviously, but I was
horrified to hear movement behind the walls. Do you think
she's still alive? I sic passed from behind me. Who,
I asked bareness the mortician. They said she was inside
when the funeral home went I suppose we have to
check now, don't we, I replied bitterly. Judging by the
orange tailor glowing above the sunken funeral home, the sun
was beginning its trip to the other side of the world.
Night time was coming, and I wanted to escape the
cave before it arrived. We'll be quick, I sac said. Besides,
I bet all those corps of firefighters are still standing
around up there. We can shout for help if anything
goes wrong, as long as they don't want to kill us,
I said, Lead the way. Ic approached the door confidently,
but then seemed to shrink against the funeral home's hollow presence.
He shone his light into the darkness inside, but it
barely cut past a welcome mat, which lay as hue
and folded over itself. Hello, I, Sike, murmured into the darkness.
We both jumped back when a metal tree crang out.
It was followed by a loud echoing clank berness. I
s hold, sounding stronger now, at least now he knew
there was definitely someone inside. Maybe she's hurt and count respond,
I offered, we should hurry, Ic reply, follow me in
stay cloths. I've been inside this building far too often.
Is dark and crooked now, but I can still find
my way around. The wet and even floor made our
exploration precarious. It would have been quite easy to slip
and t astore brick an angle ice glad me past
the entryway into sort of foy where coffin unrollers its
mass to hold the size of a truck tire in
the drywalk. The coffin itself now lay on its side,
with the bottom facing ass I involuntarily held my birth
as Ike approached the Capsay's Copp's vessel. It's empty, he said.
I felt moments relief before he uttered it. Dismayed, Oh, oh,
but it hasn't always been, not now, Isaac, I really
don't have the patience for jokes. Isaac turned to me,
and the sunken corners of his mouth assured me he
was most certainly not joking. Come see for yourself, he said,
Those smears in the liner its foundation. Burness puts it
on bots before a visiting to disguise the discoloration and
make them more laugh like. But it's not. Actually the
first thing I noticed. Look here, he pointed to a
spot along the insideline. They're easily seen in the flask
light's glow, was thin print of a hand. Based in
the size, it belonged to an adult man, not Burness.
Full ride pastor think who's died recently? Who should be
in here? Well? This sam, obviously another scraping sort of
sand echoed down the hall. Another clid punctuated it and
chilled my blood. It wasn't Sund. Sund died too recently
to have been all dauled up. If that's even possible
to do to a guy who burned to death, I whispered.
Iiske and I were both staring down the hall where
the sound had come from. I think we have to
go down there, ask said chickily. No we don't, I said,
we can leave right now. If we climb up the building,
I bet we can get outside, and you just want
to abandon who I was back there a skat before
it was burnas now it's however, Isaac, if it's not bonus,
then it is to be. I was going to say
a dead guy, but my tongue refused to even form
this insane word. The very idea should have seemed ridiculous,
but down there in the dark, damp funeral home, it
seemed to horribly possible, especially having just been shot at
by a dead cop. Just Go, Isaac said, I have
duty to protect the people of this town against evil
and evildoers. You've got nothing but a drunken pack to
hold you again to Bok just Go. We had made
a pact, drunken or not, and I intended to uphold
my end of the deal. I still thought the best
option would be to leave the funeral home behind them
get back to the surface, but I gestured for us
to lead the way down the hole. Anyway. He drew along,
deep breath and stepped forward. There was another loud scrape
and to slam. This time, now we could pimpint the noises.
They were coming from a pitch black room at the
end of the hole to the right. I wanted so
badly to ask Kaysak what was in the room, but
I dared not speak. Even a whisper, I feared could
allow whoever or whatever it was in that dark room
terror approach. Iasac stopped when we reached the black doorway,
and I bumped into him. We were so close to
each other I could hear the whispers of his shirt
rubbing against the wall as he shivered with fear. Someone
was definitely moving around inside the room. This sounded slow,
und in us, like an elephant in a zoo. Again
there came a graving sound. This time I could hear
another sound beneath it. It sounded like small rocks tumbling down
a hillside. The noise that seized momentarily then repeated at
double or triple speed, and ended with a reverberating clank,
not rocks. I decided to roll us wheels beneath the
large drawer. Now it was my turn to shiver as
I realized what kind of giant draws could be found
in a funeral home. Asked put his hand over his
light and slowly moved it into the doorway. Then he
carefully potted his fingers to allow lead a light rue.
There were four of them, and three were naked. They
all went still when the Wagli brushed their skin. They
were all colored by different shades of gray with dull
blotches here and there. Than the first woman, who I
didn't recognize. Purple spots were pulled around her eyes, mouth,
and stomach. The next in line was also a woman.
She was clothed in liveler looking besides a sword of
yellow discoloration around her mouth. I assumed this was Bernas.
The third was to friendly taxi driver who had brought
me to riddvel Bill. I nearly allowed a gasp to
slip through my teeth when I saw him. He had
a reddish patch around his chest and for it that
looked like a crop total neck. I bet you didn't
know he was dead, did you? The voice of the
fourth most horrifying body I could my thoughts. I stumbled
back against the opposite wall. I hadn't been able to
tell whether this body had belonged to a man or
woman until he spoke. His skin had flaked away from
ninety percent of his body. His bones were like charcoal.
His skull had when hollow, socket and one were just
a loose with a eyeball, and his voice, the voice
that had been do small fear than the body's appearance,
belonged to the man I had shared a meal with
one rainy day, the man who had given me the
Curst watch and kicked this whole thing off. The voice
belonged to sam as Sund stepped forward. Ask told me
to run. At the sound of Icek's voice, the other
three boarders awoke, their eyes flashed as I spun around
to run back the way we had come. We run
out of the collapsed funeral home, round the cave bend
and up to the steep slope we had slid down
to escape the dark. There's no way we can climb this,
I said, I know, Aasak said. We looked at each
other stupidly for a second. Then I searched the cave
around us. Finally, I said, turn off the light and
get behind the rock. Let's just wait them out. I
pointed to a boulder about five feet away. We made
our weight before Ask shut off the flasklight. Maybe you
should try the chief again, I whispered, while Aasak still
at his fur nap. I don't have a signal, he replied. Wait.
I shushed Disk and held my breath. I thought I
had heard a commanding voice shutting in the distance. Then
we both heard it. I couldn't make out what the
man was saying, but he sounded it scared. Then came
the gunshots, dozens of them. It sounded like a fireworks
display popping off just above us. That first I was scared,
Then as the last shots faded away, I allowed myself
to hope had we just been rescued. We waited a
few more minutes, but when the fresh silence lingered, we
crept back into the open. Asked didn't turn the flasklight
back on, and I didn't ask him to. There was
enough light coming in from the sink hole to see
where we were going without giving ourselves away. While we
made our way back to the opening, I asked, Isaac,
did you know there's other dead people? Isa cleared his
ferorud and said, I recognized two of them. One was
a woman from my congregation. She always came alone to
her husband. Well, let's just say he could have used
the Lord's light in his life. This isn't a time
to be vrake. Ask what did her husband dear? He
he was a drunkend, a wife beater. She always wore
a loose clothes to hide the bruises. Apparently he took
the abuse all the way this time. But you didn't
hear about her death, I asked, it must have been
in the last day or so. I've been so caught
up with the fire, and you don't have to make excuses.
I understand. I'm just trying to put everything together. I
need the other man. His name was Belled. He was
a taxi driver. Yeah, I know, he was the type
you only see a church on holidays. But he was
such a friendly guy. I couldn't have forgotten him. So
you think he was also killed recently, I asked, Isak, shocked.
We had reached the funeral home again and stopped to
listen for movement. The whole world felt dead on my lead,
who scaled the lopsided building, climbing the collapse roof and
reaching the precipice of the sinkhole. I pulled myself out
and turned to Graveask's hand. The look I saw on
his face paralyzed me. I had to read his lips.
He made practically no sound, as hem out, don't move.
I heard a creaky, popping noise behind me. Now, Isaac screamed, duck.
I dove to this side and rolled over to see
a police officer with a hole in his chest, point
in his service weapon where I had just been. I
crab walked away from him into the hole and saw
the rest of the emergency crew, firefitters, waterworks, m's and Bernice,
all covered with copious amounts of blood, all with fatal injuries,
and all with the same hateful energy full in there
otherwise void eyes. The gun in the officer's hand went off.
The bullet missed me by inches. Three other dead officers
raised the guns in my direction. I called into a ball,
making myself as small as I possibly could. I didn't
know what else to do. Stand down, A commanding voice
shouted through the radios attached to every emergency worker. Half
a dozen and dead heads turned to look at the
radios as if they had never seen them before. I repeat,
stand down. The voice shouted again, this time that I
recognized it, his writs. The reanimated cup nearest me seemingly
decided to ignore the strange talking object on his shoulder
and trained his weapon arm me once again. That sit
the radio crackled. I heard sirens wind up as an
engine rod just out of sight to the west, the
Chief's car rushed into view, going seventy maybe eighty milesborough ire.
He hit the waterworks crew first, sending them both flying
over the car. Reds light Boire was damaged, but he
kept coming. He flattened one cup and center firefighter, flying
before striking another one firefitter, and two E and T later.
The cop with his gun trained on me was the
only demon's on me left that was too light. Red
had cleared the rest of the danger, but the gun
was aimed right at my head and I had zero defense.
I could hear the soup to prow of a chief's
car barreling toward me in a feudal attempt at rescue,
but I knew he wouldn't make it. I chose not
to look into my killers as knowing I would not
see a police officer but a demon. Instead, I chose
to look straight down the bowel of the gun, not
giving beals whatever the satisfaction of seeing my fear. The
cop was already squeezing the trigger when icac obupted from
the sinkhole and grabbed his ankles. He went down hard.
Red score car flattened his body a second later, spraying
me with blood and little bits of soft warm tissue.
I didn't even notice. I had been expecting death and
was simply stune to still be breathing slowly at the
veil that had descended upon the world around me. Lifted
and I heard ask saying no, shouting my name over
and over and over. I wanted to throw up, but
instead I laughed. I laughed so hard I fell onto
my back. Icek looked scared rightfully so in handsight, and
it just made me laugh harder. I continued to laugh
until the Chief walked over, grabbed my collar and smapped
me across the face. Get up, he said, you're just
dumping adrenaline. This is far from over. I collected myself
and stood. The Chief was looking out at the field
of manual, the bodies and muddy tracks. Tis felled his
eyes as he growled. You wouldn't answer. You're a damfron
We'd tried to call, but we had no signal. Isaac
said we were. It doesn't matter, We've already lost. What
do you mean, I asked, Come with me, he said grimly.
We loaded into his blood spattered car. His wipe a
blade squeaked across the red street. Winchelton got stuck halfway
with a grunt of red sprayed wipe a fluid on it.
And freed them. He had to repeat the spray white
cycle four times before he could see clearly enough to drive.
Even then, the sunset looked a little two red through
the glass, not that there was much of a sunset
left to see. The sun looked like the tip of
a finger and nail slipping away between the hills. We
were minutes from darkness when Red sped us back into town,
as if he was aggressively trying to capture the last
bit of light. Red. There was a guy down there,
a taxi driver named William Fetterman. Yea, he was killed
in the job last night. I just found out a
couple of hours ago. He's a part of this. Now.
Was there a woman killed? Two? Isa casted, not sure
she was from the city. I think I didn't recognize her.
You saw her, I asked, I hit her, and I
think I stopped her. She almost got away with Bill.
By then we had gotten downtown. The town felt lifeless.
Not one person was outside or in the windows of
any building we passed. The automatic street lamp supplied the
early light as the sun made his final descent. Where
is everyone, I asked? A lot of them are probably dead,
Some of them have probably locked up and hidden themselves.
The rest they're probably going to bed with no idea
what's going on outside. Chief, We don't even know what's
going on. Are you going to fill us an any
time soon? Or just keep sight seeing? Red pulled over
and killed his head lights. Then he unbuckled and turned
in his seat to better face us. Both. My entire
force has fled or been killed, not that it was
that big to start with. Were the rest? Did you
have to? I succeeded struggle with his question, did I
have to kill all my people? Is that what you're wandering?
Red asked, Isaac nodded nervously. Most sim stool got away
there now. To be clear, they were dead before I
had to put them down, like the ones who were
just trying to kill you back there. I think their
bodies are being used, or controlled or possessed, Isac said.
Demonic possession of living people is a well documented phenomena
going back centuries millennia. Even However, I'm unaware of any
incident where a demon took over a dead person a
whole gang of demons, I said, Well, not necessarily, ask
replied thoughtfully. I'm wondering if this one Beuzibo, who we
already know has an unholy amount of power and a
tendency towards breaking the rules, is able to control multiple
human vessels at once if they are already dead. I
just seem it takes less focus and energy to power
corpse than to manipulate a living, wilful person. Well, we
can't exercise the whole town, can we? Red asked, No,
not me anyway? What about the watch, I asked, It's
how he got Salmon almost got me right. If I
had kept worrying it, it probably would have been me
laying face down in that creak instead of the worthing. Boy,
it's not a genie, Isac replied. Demons are confined to
objects the way you see and move as the concert
and the utilized physical items to concentrate their power, which
is what I'm guessing happened with the watch. She said.
Bad things happened whenever you took the watch off, right, Yeah,
that was the path. And and what did you do
about that? Well, before I brought it to you, or
I just started wearing it all the time, it seemed
to keep the bad stuff at bay, and that's what
it wanted. He started wearing a watch like Sam, and
it convinced you to bring it to me. But Sam
burned down the church, didn't he How was he still
possessed if he had given up the watch. That's what
I'm saying, Patrick, the demon doesn't need the physical item.
To just think about a magnifying glass in the sun.
It doesn't create sunlight. It just focuses it and makes
it stronger, more dangerous. By bringing that watch to me,
you essentially pointed a magnifying glass at the church. When Sam,
under the demon's control, performed his ritual. All that evil
energy had a perfect target. If you're right, shouldn't the
watch have been inside the funeral home? Red asked, going
along your theory, that was little Wade Worthing's target. Probably.
I bet if we had searched in there a little longer,
we would have come across it Iske said. Somewhere uphead,
a woman screamed her cries, peaced acquired outside and echoed
off the still buildings. Red pulled his seat, brought back
into place, and put the car and drive. He left
his headlights off there. We said nothing as we rushed
from block to block, searching for the woman who had
screened he spreading. Isaac muttered, Hey, Red, do you have
a loud speaker on this thing? Yeah? Red or bled absently.
All of his attention was on the windows. We need
to get on it and warn everyone. Maybe we can
still get the survivors out of here. Be My guest
were detached a hand held microphone from his Centa console
unit and handed it to me. Since Isaac was in
the back seat, I couldn't pass it to him. I
pressed a button on the side and heard the loud
speaker squark above us. Every one, get in your curs
and get out of town. You are all in serious danger.
To nunt talk to anyone and leave now there. Red
shouted as he jerked the wheel to the left. He
had seen a woman running for her life. He hid
a switch in the world outside started flashing red and blue.
The woman stopped running and a look of relief came
over her. She waved us down as Red pulled up.
Get in the back, he yelled through his clothes window.
A woman ran around the cart and opened the back door.
Come on, Isaac, her at her. She got one foot
into the car before something grand her. She screamed bloody
murder as she was dragged away from us, leaving the
back door wide open. I heard a sick, wet crunch,
and then the screaming stopped. Isaac shouted, Red, we got her.
He cut himself off with a choked shouted Bell. Naked
and Blooded appeared next to the door. Help me, Isaac screamed.
As Bill tried to get inside the cage back seat.
Isaac helt him off with a couple of kicks, but
it wasn't enough to keep the undead taxi driver out.
Hang on. Red grunted. He threw the car into a
reverse and floored it. Dal's feet went out from under
him and his head splattered in the inside of the door.
The car jolted as the front tire on Red's side
bounced over Bill's body. Before Red could put the car
back and drive, the other back door was opened from
the outside. The screaming woman appeared again, with half of
her skull bashed in within human strength, she pulled I
scout of the car. Red and I got out simultaneously
and rushed to his aid. The woman was already trottling
him by the time I got my hands on her
and tried to pull her away. Red went for her
hands struggling to open them so Eyaac could breathe. His
eyes were wide and reflected the flashing emergency lights as
he stared at me, begging me to save him. I
wrapped my own arm around the woman's throat and put
all my weight into dragging her down. Red finally loosened
a few of her fingers enough to get one hand off,
and she fell on top of me, thankfully. Red, though quickly,
he got behind the open car door and began bashing
against her. Three blows were enough to knock her off
of me. One, he shouted, Ic had already taken off.
I started to follow, but then I saw Bill's body.
He was laying with one arm beneath himself and the
other stretched on his wrist. I saw the watch go on,
I'll catch up. I yield. I crouched near Bill and
started removing the watch. Then I heard Ike and Red's
footsteps stop. I looked up. The road was blocked by
a wall of walking corpses. Sam was leading the pack.
I recognized the waitress who had served Sam, and I
meet Will subs Amon the dead, as well as others
I had only met briefy during my time in Ridgail.
They were all walking towards us, closing in. I stowed,
and I ske and Read. Both turned to run the
opposite direction, but that was also blocked by stupefied crowd.
This one was led by little Weightworthing number seventeen. The
three of us huddled together, unsure of what to do next.
You have witnessed the beginning, Sam said, in a deep
voice that rattled the windows around us. Give up now,
and I will bear you from having to witness the end.
All right past her, you're up. Red muttered, what do
we do now? I sick looked back at reds car,
but Wade Grip had already overtaken it. There were no
doors in the sides of either building. To our left
and right here, I said, handing Isaac the watch. Can
we use this? Sam saw this and laughed like a
magnifying glass ice it mumbled what I shouted at him.
It concentrates the power sunlight reflection a mirror. We can
turn his power against him if we can redirect it back.
But we need something. I Sick, spun around and reached
for my neck. I shoved him away, assuming he had
just been possessed. No, he shouted, your necklace, I need
your crucifix. I didn't know what he was getting at,
but I pulled my old necklace out from under my shirt.
Isac snatched it, pulling it hard enough to break the chain.
He clutched the little cross and the watch together in
one hand. Lord, hear my prayer, he said, loudly, show
this demon you strength. Both approaching groups halted. Suddenly. Some
of the body stopped in mid step and toppled over.
Others stood balance for a moment before they too fell.
Sam was the only one who remained standing. He seemed
to grow. His physical stature remained static, but his presence increased,
making it feel like he was leaming over us. All
the demon's energy had filled his feeble body. Let your
light overpower this darkness. Sam raised a hand, and a
glow emanated from ISAC's palm. Let your goodness overcome this evil.
His prayer was punctuated by an anguish fry. His hands
started to smoke. I clasped my own hands over his fists,
keeping the watch firmly enclosed and pressed against the cross.
The heat was nearly unbearable, even from me. I couldn't
imagine the pain ice must felt with the objects directly
on his skin. Just when I thought I couldn't hold
on any longer, where it clasped his hands over mine.
You will all burn in hell, Sam growled. He dropped
on to all fours and opened his mouth wide. Black
hair spurted from every pore on his body. A wiry
tail grew behind him. Before our eyes, he transformed into
the black dog. All of our hands burst into flames.
Red fell away, I stumbled back, Ia collapsed. His hand
hit the ground and opened the fire at that of
his palm flew through the air and hit the dogs
squarely in the mouth. Immediately, the flames turned a blinding white.
We all had to look away as the animal howled
in pain. By the time its cries faded away, the
fire flickered and vanished. Where the dog had stood, nothing
remained but the tiny steel cross, not even ash. Even
the necklace's chain had been burned up. We sat in
stun silence for what might have been a minute, maybe five.
Then Red laughed. The sound was so contagious I found
myself joining in a moment. Later, soon even Isaac was
laughing with relief. Tears of agony, but the laughter didn't last.
At some indefinable moment, it turned to sobbing. We cried
for ourselves, for our lost friends, and for all of Ridgeville.
The final had count found that out of Ridgeviell's three
hundred or so residents, only two dozen survived, including isoc Redemi.
The other survivors had all locked themselves into their homes
near the west end of town. Apparently the demon scourge
hadn't reached them yet. When I had put out the
message on the loudspeaker that had drawn them all back
to us. Isa classed his left hand to the burns.
His right, along with my hands and reds, were covered
with time and critical treatment. There was a sweeping cover
up to eave the fears of those nearby. Unexplained the
deaths of so many people in a single night. The
governor released the statement saying deadly chemicals from the funeral
home had leaped into the water supply after the water
main break had caused it to collapse. These chemicals were
said to have been consumed by almost every every one
in town, killing most of them. Those who know the
truth has stayed quiet until now, out of fear of
being labeled lunatic. Or having the authorities shut them up.
I'll admit I'm not sure what will happen to me
once have published this story, but the reality is whatever
happens won't be worse than what would have happened that
night if we hadn't stopped it. Now, I'm just trying
to tell everyone i can, to let them all know
how we put an end to that evil, and that
is the end. Thank you for listening, and I will
see you in the next one.