The Dead-End Road, page 5
part #1 of The Seven Talismans Series
“Looking forward to having you out with us tonight, man,” Derek gripped Marc’s hand firmly.
Marc greeted them all in turn and hopped into Brian’s Honda. “Kate’s cute,” Marc noticed, “What’s she doing hanging out with you guys?” he laughed.
“Yeah, man, she’s really into the paranormal stuff, wow,” Brian’s dimpled smile stretched from ear to ear. “She’s also sensitive to ghostly energy. She’s empathic.”
“Too bad she’s a smoker, that’s like kissing an ashtray,” Marc joked.
The SUV followed Brian’s car out through the country. About twenty minutes later, they pulled off the road into a gravel turnaround near the bottom of the entrance to the dead-end road. There was no way that either vehicle could make it up the hill, so this is as close as they could get. Everyone got out and started grabbing their backpacks and equipment; they would have to
hike up.
“Marc why don’t you and Brian lead the way, we’ll follow,” Derek said. He motioned to his team, and they fell in behind him.
It was already dark, and Marc knew they would end up in the graveyard when it was completely black since it was cloudy, and there was no moon or stars to give any light. Perfect, he thought. As Marc stood at the entrance to the road, the team’s nervous chatter ended abruptly as they took out their flashlights. Everyone stopped and gazed quietly up the hill, the pathway becoming obscured by the bent trees and bushes which seemingly reached towards them. A trickle of muddy water ran down the center of the path, and a cool gust of air, smelling of rust, drifted out of the hollow above.
Each person stepped through the muck, trying to keep out of the worst of it, and made their way along the steep grade by staying out of the center of the road. In the distance, Marc could faintly hear a dog’s howl carried down from the ridge, and he stopped and whispered, “Did you guys hear that?” Brian nodded, and everyone kept moving. Just ahead, a felled tree partially blocked the path that wasn’t there just a week ago. Marc stooped under it and came up on the other side and couldn’t help but feel that he entered another world.
Brian smelled a dead animal, and everyone made faces at the stench that grew stronger as they moved up the road. Marc expected to find some worm-eaten carcass oozing and bubbling with maggots, but the stench dissipated, and he couldn’t determine what it was. In fact, it had gone away so quickly that it seemed to be moving away from him, even though there was no wind. The darkness continued to thicken as if someone draped a blanket over the hillside, and Marc peered into the depths of the forest. He continued to lead quietly forward while the team scanned to each side, and Brian started to fall behind. The only sound now was the crunching of the gravel beneath their shoes. Marc suddenly felt the distinct feeling that they were being watched or followed or both.
In the distance, the dog howled yet again, and Marc couldn’t tell exactly which direction it came from. “This is too creepy,” he thought. Marc felt very on-edge, and the hair was literally standing up on the back of his neck, and he felt silly for wanting to turn around and run out. He hadn’t experienced that feeling since he was a boy; he had almost forgotten what it was like. Finally, Marc emerged into a clear part of the path and saw the field up on the hill to the right where the old farmhouse was. The fork in the road was just ahead, and the left side led to the church. Marc turned to see if everyone had caught up. The team was concerned that they were on someone’s property, which it was obvious they were; however, there was no need to worry because Marc believed them all to be dead.
As Marc started up the left fork, there was suddenly a huge swishing sound in the trees above, and everyone was startled. Kate grabbed onto Marc’s arm, ducking down in fear. High on the cliff to the right, a wake of vultures took flight, alerted by the group’s movement on the road below. The whooshing sound continued as the large carrion birds flapped their wings, blowing the upper branches of the nearby trees, as they fled their nightly roosts in the rocks. Kate put her hand on her chest and laughed nervously, while the others looked up to see what happened. They were gone. Marc took a deep breath while the group gathered their wits.
A short while later they arrived at the church. Marc was sure to warn the team about the pit, and they stuck a few sticks in the ground to mark it and tied some paracord in an attempt to rope it off. Everyone was quiet and intrigued by the site and spread out to look around. Brian showed the team the graveyard, and they started breaking out their equipment.
“This place is incredible,” Derek said. “You guys really found a great spot to investigate. Let’s get the equipment set up. As soon as everyone is ready, we’re going dark, so look around and get your bearings, I don’t want anyone getting hurt out here.”
Gavin and Kate wandered around the graveyard, noting the cemetery organization was segmented with the older graves in the courtyard. The Chair must be outside the walls in one of the other segments, so Kate hopped over the wall, and Gavin followed. They walked through some trees to the west and discovered another cemetery section. “Hey, we found the Chair,” Gavin yelled. He and Kate focused their attention on it, and the graves surrounding it, and Kate started to take rubbings of the Chair with a roll of thin paper and some sticks of charcoal. Gavin began snapping pictures in rapid succession.
Back in the courtyard, Jay and Derek set up three cameras, one in the church, and two in the graveyard, with different angles. They had to use a sarcophagus to set their equipment on because it was the only flat surface available. The team didn’t want to bring a generator to power the cameras, because the sound would ruin the mood. They had a limited supply of battery power, so they could only record for about ninety minutes. The large portable battery was heavy, and they only had one. Derek started running power and cables to the cameras while Jay set up the DVR and laptop monitor. Brian took out his Fluke Ti450 Pro infra-red camera that he borrowed from his work. All Marc had was his trusty flashlight, and it felt awkward not having a more critical role in
the investigation.
“Is that a thermal camera?” Marc asked, “That’s an expensive piece of equipment.”
“Yeah, about fourteen thousand dollars,” Brian grinned, “My boss lets me borrow it for ghost hunting.”
“We go dark in five,” Derek said loudly. “After that, please be quiet so the audio recorders can pick up any voices.”
“Now I see where you get your ideas,” Marc mused. “You better not trip and break it, or you’ll be working the next six months for free.”
“I know, I know, don’t jinx me.” Brian laughed and started to show Marc the video camera’s features.
“Okay, everyone, please get in your positions,” Derek said. Marc and Brian walked towards the entrance of the church building. “Lights out,” Derek yelled, and everyone shut off their flashlights. It went completely black and silent. Everyone stood still for several minutes waiting for their eyes to adjust as much as possible, but with the clouds and trees overhead, their eyes didn’t adjust much. An eternity passed while they stood motionless in the dark cemetery.
Jay was situated in the corner of the graveyard inside a black portable improvised hunting blind, so he could watch the monitor and take notes without causing light pollution. Derek sat on the wall across from everyone, just listening and observing in silence. In the background, Kate started asking random questions for the electronic voice phenomena recording. Gavin continued to take pictures in random directions of Kate talking, the graves, and the church building.
Marc and Brian slowly stepped into the auditorium of the church, testing the floor. The boards creaked softly but seemed solid. Brian scanned the IR camera around the room. It was inky black inside the building, and they had to be extremely careful. The smell inside the building was a combination of dust and mold. Marc reached out his right hand for the brick wall to maintain his sense of balance, but the wall was covered with cobwebs, and Marc shook his hand rapidly to get them off. Brian crept towards the center of the room and scanned the hole in the ceiling. The screen of the camera was black, purple and dark indigo except for a small red-orange blob. Brian zoomed the camera in, and the blob separated into three dots way up in the attic. Brian leaned towards Marc and whispered, “Bats.” “Oh, that’s great,” Marc thought. Just then, one of the bats took flight and darted across the screen, and the other two followed soon afterward. The two men sat down on a broken pew, and Brian shut off the camera. They stared into the darkness.
Outside, they could hear Kate going through her questions again, each time waiting a few seconds to allow for a response.
“Is there anyone here that wishes to speak to us?” Kate asked as she held up a wand with a portable stereo boom microphone in one hand and a digital recorder in the other. “What is your name? How old are you? Why are you here? Are you alone? How many spirits are here with us? Do you like scaring people? How did you die? Kate tended to get good responses from EVP sessions. Over the past few investigations, it seemed the other team members didn’t have any luck. Kate was able to sense spirits, although she didn’t claim to be a medium. Sometimes ghostly answers to her questions were picked up by the recorder even though you couldn’t hear any responses with your ears. It was a strange thing. Kate had captured several Class A EVPs, which were the best quality, with voices that were easily distinguishable. The words that were picked up could be eerie, sometimes ghastly whispers. Class B EVPs were much more common, and sometimes people disagreed with the interpretation of what was being said. Kate had a talent for getting spirits to communicate.
Derek and Gavin came into the church and asked Marc and Brian if they could step out, so they could take some pictures. It was nearly midnight. Marc and Brian made their way back into the graveyard to observe Kate’s work. Marc thought her voice was soothing and comforting. Sometimes people conducting EVPs will try to provoke spirits, but only if they seem to be hostile. Kate didn’t like to provoke them; she always tried to be as respectful as possible. So far, other than being thoroughly creeped out, the team hadn’t experienced any direct contact.
Burial Mound
1:15 A.M.
Willie Murphy felt terrible about leaving Steve, but he was terrified of what they had seen. He reluctantly decided to head back to the mound and see if Steve was alive and bring him back if he could, but he figured Steve would have gotten away if he were okay, and he hadn’t heard from him, so he assumed the worst. Willie drove his truck back down the gravel roads to where they parked the night before near the fields, but this time, he took the chance of leaving the truck on the roadside, so he could get away quickly if he needed to. He didn’t intend to stay long. No telling if that thing was still around or not.
Willie walked slowly into the woods, wary of any noise he sensed, and he jumped when he heard dogs barking at a nearby farmhouse. He paused from time to time to listen for any other noises and only moved on when he was satisfied, he was safe. Willie could see the mound through the trees but waited for a decent amount of time to see if there was any sign of movement. He was desperate to get Steve out of there.
As Marc was listening to Kate speak, he remembered the burial mound that he had stumbled upon during their last visit. He beckoned Brian to follow him as they hopped over the wall and walked past some grave markers towards the mound. Unable to see or use any lights, they made their way slowly into the brush about forty yards, when Marc could make out the vague shape of the mound ahead.
Willie crept up to the mound from the other side, but he saw no trace of Steve. He looked at the side of the mound where he last saw him, but it was as if the earth had swallowed him. Willie was afraid to try to dig him out, so he picked up the bags and a few tools, and then he heard some movement on the other side of the mound, so he quickly retreated to nearby cover and watched to see who or what it was.
Brian and Marc walked around the mound in opposite directions, carefully following the ring of stones until they met on the other side, and Marc grabbed Brian’s arm and whispered, “Come here, quick,” dragging him along.
There was a huge hole dug into the mound, with a pile of dirt about three feet high. They stared at it in disbelief. “We’ve got to tell the team,” Brian said, and he turned and skittered frantically back to the graveyard.
Marc was reluctant to take out his flashlight, but it seemed there was an opening at the back of the hole into the center of the mound. Marc squatted down to feel the dirt with his hands, which was loosely piled to the side, as he waited for Brian to return with the others. He could feel the marks of a shovel used to dig into the mound. He also felt something sticking out of the dirt that wasn’t a rock. Brushing the dirt away, it was a four-inch metal disc with a design that was too hard to see. Marc tucked the object into his cargo pocket to check out later.
Derek and the team arrived with lights shining that hurt Marc’s eyes. He squinted as the team was shocked to see the mound and the hole dug into it. Flashing their lights into the cavity, there was clearly a tiny room at the center big enough for one, maybe two people lying down, with a ceiling made of a rock slab and foot-high walls around the sides. It was an ancient grave, and it appeared the looters took what they wanted. Derek crawled into the hole and shone his light inside.
“Derek don’t touch it; get out please!” Kate screamed, startling everyone. Derek looked back, but it was too late; he was holding a long bone. “Drop it, drop it!” She started crying as if some agonizing pain overwhelmed her. “No…,” she cried, and nearly fainted as Jay and Gavin kept her from falling over. Derek threw the bone back in the hole and jumped up to console her, but she recoiled when he tried to touch her. “Stay away,” she moaned, and Jay had to carry her back to the graveyard.
Willie watched the events in horror and took note of the people he saw at the mound. He intended to sell what he had recovered, but one of those people took the talisman. He knew he had to get it back. It seemed that whatever he saw at the mound yesterday was gone. Poor Steve. He cursed under his breath and vowed to recover the item and made his way to his truck.
Marc looked at Brian, knowing something terrible had gone wrong, and the group hurried back to pack their equipment. Kate lay in the grass sobbing, and Gavin sat with her while the others hurriedly rolled up the cables and haphazardly threw everything into their bags. They had to get Kate out of there as quickly as possible. Marc knelt near her, trying to protect her from some unseen horror, but he felt helpless for the second time in his life. The first was when his wife had the accident, and it was a feeling he dreaded. Even now, the sight of Kate writhing in pain nearly brought him to tears. It was a far too vivid reminder of this most painful moment.
After everything was packed, Marc instinctively took the lead, “Let’s go, follow me,” he said as his military leadership skills took over. Derek and Jay were next, followed by Gavin and Brian, helping Kate down the path. Everyone was still nervous as a foreboding feeling overcame the group. Marc reached the forked path, and suddenly, Brian’s LED flashlight shut off. He clicked it several times in disbelief because it was brand new, and he had just put fresh batteries in it before he left the house. “LEDs don’t burn out,” he said. Everyone waited impatiently while he pulled out a pack of new batteries. Marc held his light, so he could see to change them. The flashlight still didn’t work.
Without warning, the other team members’ lights went out one by one, except for Marc’s. You could sense the shock as they all tried repeatedly to turn them back on, but the lights wouldn’t work. Gavin snapped a few pictures. Marc sensed their fear and said, “Keep moving,” hurrying them along in the dark past
the clearing.
Marc stopped in shock and held his breath, and raised his hand in a halting motion, not sure if everyone could see it. The only sound was Marc’s heartbeat in his chest, pounding. Derek and Jay stopped immediately, and the three men stared ahead at a shadow creature looking back at them in the middle of the road about twenty feet away. Marc shined his light straight at it, and its silhouette blocked out the night sky. The creature let out a deep rumbling growl that they felt more than they heard. Brian and Gavin held Kate upright and stood quietly behind them after sensing that something was happening that they couldn’t see.
The shoulders were about three feet high, but the puzzling thing was that Marc could not make out any details. He could see the road around it as if it were an inky spot blocking their way. Marc, Derek, and Jay continued to stare at it for nearly a minute, as it stood motionless, just staring back, preventing them from passing. A wave of fear and nausea swept over them. Abruptly, whatever it was turned and walked right off the cliff to the right, through the barbed-wire fence. As it turned, the image was gone and had just noiselessly disappeared into the ravine.
Marc whispered, “Did you guys just see that?” Derek and Jay nodded but said nothing. Brian and Gavin couldn’t see anything from behind them. Brian continued mumbling and clicking his light oblivious to what just happened. Marc thought it was an animal, maybe a deer. He noted that it was standing on the road right next to a tree, and he walked over to gauge its height. He looked down into the ravine and saw that the cliff was over twenty-five feet high, with the fence blocking the edge. Below, fallen leaves and debris covered the bottom of the sheer drop-off. Marc wondered how it was possible for any animal to go through the fence and down that drop without making a sound. Everyone continued to listen, but it was eerily still, and Marc felt like he was being watched again. Marc turned to motion everyone to follow, and he kept moving, pushing them along the road and down the hill towards the vehicles.
Once the main road was in sight, Marc stood at the bottom of the hill until everyone passed him. He turned to shine his light back into the darkness while everyone stood silently at the road’s edge. Strangely Marc caught sight of the shadow peering out from a tree not far up the hill as if it was watching them leave. Everyone bolted for the cars and threw their bags in the trunks. Gavin and Brian loaded Kate into the back seat of the SUV, and she collapsed from sheer exhaustion. Brian hopped in the car, and they
