Brief Nine

Dead Of Night

The were all going. No one had the guts to admit they were scared shitless. I liked my reputation as a semi-tough guy but when it came to teasing the dead, I opted out. They laughed at first, thinking I was just trying to be funny. But when I didn’t follow they realized I was serious. Dead serious. Matt started at me first. “C’mon Leo, joke’s over. Let’s go.” I wasn’t going anywhere. I have tremendous respect for death and its captives and I wasn’t about to disturb them in their eternal rest. And I was scared shitless. Matt began to get a little irritated. “You coming man or what?” No, I wasn’t. Matt looked at the rest of the pack with that look on his face which I knew well. The look that says I’m getting my way. They came closer and circled me around. Matt stepped inside the circle with me. “Let’s go Leo.” The dead scared me more than Matt and his gang and I stood my ground. I wasn’t going anywhere. “You’re fucking coming, OK?!” Matt yelled and grabbed me by the right arm. I tried to break loose from his grip but he was a bigger guy than me. And stronger. And definitely more determined to get where he wanted to go.

The group began moving slowly towards the fence, staying together as a pack. Matt started dragging me along with him. All the while I fought fiercely to get away from him and that slowed him down considerably but he was still holding on tight and we were making progress although far behind the rest. By the time we hit the gate, there was no sign of them. The night was black despite a three quarter moon and all we saw were shadowy shapes. Fear gripped me tighter than anything Matt could manage. My heart beat erratically. There was a large hard lump in my throat. I knew once we make it through the gate there was no turning back. I writhed my body violently and tried with all I had in me to break free of Matt but he held on. In the darkness, his eyes shone with a strange lust as he grinned at me. He was a mad man high on adrenalin. “Calm down Leo boy” he croaked, “We’re almost there.” I didn’t like the sound of that.

Matt dragged me through the gate and along the paved path towards the large building ahead. A couple of shadows slithered past us and hurried towards the building. We could hear subdued giggling and incoherent gibberish as we caught up with the group. This was wrong. This was evil. Madness. Disrespect . Half way up the path, Matt cut through the lawn and headed towards the north end of the building. I dragged behind. Heart pounding, breath coming in short gasps, mind racing a mile a minute. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t go through with this. I had to break free. I looked around desperately. And that’s when I saw my salvation. We were approaching a tiny young tree. If I could only grab on. I’ve always had strong arms and hands and I knew that if I grabbed onto this tree they would need to cut my arm off to get me loose. I concentrated and timed my move. We were going to pass the tree on its left. Not ideal but doable. Couple more steps.

When I was even with the tree, I reached out with my left arm over my right and tried to grab on. I missed. It was over. My one and only chance and I missed. The horror of my situation came over me like a wave. No. In the last second, I twisted around extending my left arm and grabbed onto the tree. Matt jerked backwards and fell on his butt letting go of me. “What the hell are you doing?” he hissed as he got up. He grabbed my arm again and started pulling me with all his strength. The young tree-ling bent under his pull and its branches touched the grass but I did not let go. “Let go you asshole!” Matt’s face was a grimace of anger, hate and disbelief.

Suddenly, a horrible shriek came from the direction of the building. Another followed. A figure came out of the darkness and sprinted past us. Then another and another. The whole group was running for the gate. Vince was the last to run past us. He looked at us over his shoulder. “Get the fuck out of here guys!” he yelled “Hell broke loose in there!” Matt let go of me and looked towards the building. A shadow moved across the north wall and disappeared in the darkness in front. “Fuck this.” Matt swore and ran.

I stood there still gripping the tree as tight as I could trying to catch my breath. A cold, bony hand gripped my shoulder from behind. “Go home Leo.” A man’s voice said hoarsely. He let go of me. I walked towards the gate never once turning around. The gang was gathered outside engaged in a heated discussion with Matt. They halted and looked at me as I came out through the gate. “Go home.” I said and started walking back towards the city.