Beneath the Veil Read online

  “Tell ‘em about the sermon book you found, Sully,” Jimmy added.

  “She claimed to be the hand of God and taught a literal interpretation of the Bible. The good book says whoever feeds on flesh and drinks blood gets eternal life. In her sermons, she taught her followers to do just that.”

  “That’s when the killing started,” Jimmy said.

  “She quickly showed her true self,” Sully said. “But by then, it was too late. She had already unleashed the evil within the people of this town and they became what you see, monsters.”

  “Then the gold dried up and this place became a ghost town,” Jimmy added.

  “Except the ghosts here can kill you,” Sully said. “The regular folk went into hiding, stalked by those things.”

  “We tried hunting them during the daytime. But they were just vapors.” Jimmy stood and added another log to the fire. “They couldn’t hurt us, but we couldn’t hurt ‘em either. Bastards can only be killed before dawn and you got to burn ‘em before the daylight or they go to vapor again.”

  Jackson reached into his pocket and felt the handle of his revolver, listening intently as the men spoke.

  “What do they want from us?” Jen asked. “Why can’t they leave us alone?”

  “She won’t allow us to be left alone.” Doc walked up to warm his hands by the fire. “They need us to sow their crops.”

  “I seen it first hand,” Jimmy said. “They caught poor Nat Phillips a few years back. We couldn’t help him, there were just too many of them. They set on him like a pack of wild dogs, but kept him alive. They dug up a grave, threw him in and buried him. Those things used his flesh to sow their seeds.”

  “That’s why we burn the cemeteries,” Doc added. “Whatever they’ve become, they still need to eat.”

  “We got trouble!” Jesse stared out a peep hole in the front door.

  The men scrambled into position around the cabin. Jimmy dimmed the oil lamps, while the others aimed their weapons through shooting holes cut into the walls of the cabin. Doc looked through the scope of his rifle and saw movement in the trees.

  “They’re in the trees heading for the roof!”

  The men scrambled around inside the cabin and took aim at a second floor window. A creature dropped onto the roof, then remained quiet. Doc walked through the cabin peering through the sight holes, but didn’t see any movement. Minutes passed, and then someone began to cough. Doc turned and found the cabin engulfed in smoke.

  “Kill that fire!” he shouted.

  Jimmy smothered the flames with a bucket of water and the embers sizzled as the water vaporized. Jesse, choking, ran to the front door and removed the boards secured to it. He opened the door and stumbled onto the porch, gasping for air. Smoke billowed from the open door as others staggered out of the cabin. Suddenly, a rope was flung around Jesse’s neck. He was pulled off his feet and dragged towards the tree line. He fought desperately, trying to pull the noose from his throat. Sully and Jimmy fired repeatedly into the woods trying to save him. Screams erupted as creatures dropped onto the ground around the cabin. Jackson ran inside to protect Jen and the others, leaving Jimmy and Sully alone. Several creatures emerged from the woods, pulled Jesse to his feet, and then tore into him. He shrieked in pain until a shot rang out and he fell forward with a bullet hole in his forehead. Doc, positioned in the second floor window of the cabin, wiped tears away, then reloaded his rifle.

  C H A P T E R F O R T Y - S E V E N

  Barry watched the evening’s events from the safety of the woods. He and the others found the cabin by following the scent through miles of forest, fields and pastures. Any concern for his sister and Jackson was all but gone, tucked away in a dormant place in his mind. When they caught Jesse, Barry’s senses sharpened in anticipation, but he was denied the feast he craved. A dead body wouldn’t do; once the life was gone, the flesh was ruined and could not be used for the crops.

  When Barry and his kin returned to the plantation, the festive atmosphere of the hunt was over. Evangeline was gone and Ezra paced in front of the mansion. There was no music or wine, and the dark house began to look rundown again. Daybreak would soon be upon them, but before it arrived, someone would have to pay for the evening’s failure. Ezra walked over to an older woman, her black eyes narrowed as he approached.

  “No,” she hissed.

  “I choose you, Emma Rhodes.”

  He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the house. The other relaxed, knowing only one would be taken. Barry stood near the back of the crowd and watched his hands become translucent as the sun rose behind the shadow of the mountains. Others around him changed, drifting away from the mansion with swirls of mist flowing around them as they moved. Willow emerged from within the house and came to him.

  “Hello,” she said.

  He paused for a moment, and then answered. “Hello.” His voice was distant and weak.

  “Who are you?”

  His memories came flooding back with the sunlight.

  “My name’s Barry.”

  “I am Willow.”

  Barry saw the vague image of a little girl when he looked closely. He wondered if he looked the same as she did now. She moved around him in flowing circles. When the sunlight hit her, she vanished and then reappeared in the shadows of a tall oak tree. The house had returned to a dreadful state in the light of day, its grounds were overgrown and lined with dead trees. An ornate fountain lay in ruins, filled with brackish water.

  “Where has everyone gone?” he asked.

  “Back to their homes,” she answered.

  “What about you? Don’t you have somewhere to go?”

  “Not anymore.”

  “What about your family?”

  She slowed her movement and briefly took shape. “They have been gone for a long time.”

  “Maybe you can help me. I need to get to my sister and my friends. They are in the cabin with the others.”

  “I will help you. But we need to be back before it turns to night. If Evangeline finds out, she will be very angry.”

  “It’ll be our secret, Willow. Where is she now?”

  The girl gestured behind the mansion. “She’s in the ground. Evangeline doesn’t turn like we do in the daytime. She turns into her real self.”

  “What do you mean?” He felt a twinge of fear for the first time since his change.

  The girl looked around at the empty grounds. “She’s a monster. I’ve seen her.” Her voice was a whisper.

  “What did you see?” He felt weightless and vulnerable.

  “She is a black void. I saw her moving in the cemetery, sinking into the graves. I think she was eating the people in them.”

  “Maybe we can find our way out of here together?”

  “Yes,” she answered.

  He reached for the girl’s hand, but swept through it like water.

  C H A P T E R F O R T Y - E I G H T

  Jackson woke to the sound of a chainsaw rumbling. He spent the night on a torn blanket, and a hard wooden floor under it. People were busy moving around the cabin getting the place patched up from the night before. He climbed to his feet and stretched. Jen stirred from the noise, then fell back asleep.

  “Get any sleep, Jackson?” Jimmy asked, walking up.

  “A little...more than I thought I would,” Jackson answered.

  “Got some coffee out on the fire pit,” Jimmy said. “Cups are over in the kitchen. Hope you don’t mind it black.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  Jackson walked into the primitive kitchen which had been cleaned and organized. Bobby and his brother stocked the cabin with supplies from the quarry and other sources they never mentioned to the others. Behind the building sat a half dozen vehicles abandoned in the woods. Mostly trucks destined for deliveries that were never made to stores and warehouses in nearby towns.

  Jackson took two cups and carried them out to the fire where a silver coffee pot hung over the flames. The dark liquid steamed in
the cold air as he filled the cups. Nearby, Sully was trimming the branches that extended over the roof of the cabin, while Doc nailed spiked boards to the trunks of nearby trees as additional deterrents. Jackson glanced at Jesse’s body, covered with a tarp, then walked back into the cabin and found Jen folding up the blanket they had slept on.

  “Coffee?” Jackson asked.

  “Thanks.”

  They sat on the stone hearth of the fireplace, drinking the coffee.

  “We need to help my brother.”

  “Jen, something’s gotten to him. You heard what they said.”

  “I don’t care what they said. He’s still my brother. We can’t abandon him.”

  “We won’t, I promise. But we need to be careful. Those things...we don’t know what we’re dealing with.”

  Doc walked in and greeted them. “Hey folks, a few of us are going back to the quarry to bury Jesse. The camp meant a lot to him. I think that’s where he’d want to be. We also plan to see what we can salvage while we’re over there.”

  “Need a hand?” Jackson asked.

  “Nah, we should be alright. I don’t expect well find much.”

  When Doc walked out the front door, Jen jumped to her feet and said, “Let’s go.”

  “Go where?” Jackson asked.

  “To find my brother.”

  She walked to the door and swung it open. Doc and the others drove away from the cabin with a plume of dust following their truck. Jackson caught up to her near the Rover.

  “I’ll drive,” she said. “Just get it started.”

  Jimmy walked up carrying a box of canned vegetables.

  “You headin’ to the quarry?”

  “No, the plantation,” Jen answered.

  They climbed into the truck and drove off before Jimmy could say another word.

  “I think we should wait until we sort this out,” Jackson said.

  “It’ll be too late by then,” Jen answered. “You still have that gun?”

  “Yes,” he answered, exasperated. It was no use arguing with her.

  He looked out the window and then up at the sky. The morning sun was low and the sky clear. The truck’s rear tires broke loose momentarily on the icy road, but she managed to control the skid.

  “Dammit, Jen. Be careful!”

  She slowed the truck and then turned to look at him. “Thanks for going with me.”

  “Like I had a choice.”

  C H A P T E R F O R T Y - N I N E

  Barry followed Willow through the crossroads and down a desolate country road. His memories from the evening before were clouded, but he recalled having the agility of a wild animal. Now, even moving in a straight line was challenging. Willow flowed effortlessly, while he fought clumsily against the breeze. He followed her through a field where she passed with ease through tall weeds and dried up corn stalks.

  “How do you move so quickly?” he asked.

  “You need to forget the olds ways and concentrate on where you want to go.”

  He thought for a moment, and then took a step forward with a misty foot.

  “No,” she said. “That’s the old way. Things are different now. See?”

  She glided forward through dense vines. He tried again, moving forward smoothly until he was stopped by a metal gate.

  “That’s it,” Willow said. “Except, you cannot pass through an inorganic object.”

  He tried lifting the gate’s rusted latch, but couldn’t move it.

  “You cannot pass,” Willow said. “Not that way.”

  She moved along the ground until she found a hole in the fence, then glided through it. Barry followed, and was able to slip through behind her. He was a stranger in the daylight as the physical world was now unavailable to him. In the darkness, the physical world returned, but his cognition was lost with any connection to the living severed.

  “Willow, were you in the mansion with the others last night?”

  “No, I don’t like to be around them when they do bad things. Most nights I hide in the woods by myself.”

  She moved past the field onto another nameless road. Barry looked around, despondent. He needed to warn Jen and the others, to tell them what he had seen. The key to the dark veil covering the town was Evangeline and if they stopped her, then maybe they could all be free.

  C H A P T E R F I F T Y

  Doc let out a long sigh and stared into the flooded quarry. The water was close to the rim and filled with debris. Years of effort were put into making the compound their home, and now it was gone. He suspected the storm was an effort to prevent them from pursuing Barry. Years before, the camp endured a week of darkness with the sky covered in black clouds. The creatures manipulated the atmosphere and prevented any sunlight from reaching the camp. They were able to attack at will, day and night, until the weather broke and daytime returned.

  “Hey, Doc. We found some good stuff,” Sully said, returning from a rusted metal hanger located on the south rim of the quarry. “We have plenty of fuel and ammo. The crops are rough, but we can salvage some of them.”

  “Good, how about the livestock?”

  “Bobby’s trying to round ‘em up. Fences held for the most part, but some of the cows scattered into the fields.”

  A series of gunshots echoed across the quarry. Doc pulled a revolver from his pocket.

  “Relax, Doc. That’s our cowboy trying to scare the critters back into the barn.”

  “Something’s not right with that boy,” Doc said with a brief smile.

  “You’re telling me?”

  The two men shared a laugh at Bobby’s expense, a momentary reprieve from the devastation surrounding them. When Bobby returned, they were loading supplies on the flatbed. Doc threaded a rope through a line of gas cans and tied a double knot.

  “How’s it looking, Bobby?” Doc asked.

  “Ain’t too bad. The animals are fine and I don’t figure we lost any. Fish are jumping. Least somebody’s happy with the change.”

  Doc walked over to the waters edge, where fish and turtles were swirling around the debris in the water. They had been careful not to store any chemicals or fuel near the living areas, which prevented the water from being polluted with toxins.

  “Look over yonder,” Sully said. “The ledge leading to the mine tunnels is above water, we should get down there and give it a look.”

  Doc walked to the truck and grabbed a metal tool box. “That tunnel’s blocked up with a gate. We’ll need to be able to get it open.”

  “That’s right,” Sully said. “I remember when it was welded shut.”

  Doc took a hammer and chisel out of the toolbox, while Sully pulled two lanterns from the back of the truck. They walked towards the surface entrance of the mine. Doc held the tools in one hand, and his gun in the other. When they reached the opening, he turned to face them.

  “Fellas, can you lower those weapons? We don’t need any shooting in here. It could cause a cave-in or worse.”

  He said it to both men, but meant it for Bobby. Both men shouldered their weapons. Doc nodded and then stepped into the mouth of the tunnel. They treaded through knee deep water until they reached the rusted iron gate.

  “Damn,” Doc exclaimed, stumbling back into the other men.

  He covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve, then stepped forward into the dim light of the lanterns. A putrefied body was wedged between the gate and the stone wall of the mine. It was Owen Bigsby, who drowned trying to escape the quarry. His skin was a bluish white and his eyes were bulging and opaque. Sully’s lantern swung from side to side, bathing Owen’s contorted face in alternating patterns of light and dark. Doc set his tools down and then reached out to stop the lantern’s movement.

  “Man, he smells like shit,” Bobby said. “Worse than when he was alive.”

  Owen preferred drinking to bathing most days, and was widely considered to be the camp drunk.

  “Bobby, do you mind standing back over there?” Doc said, clearly aggravated.

>   He gestured towards the far wall of the tunnel. Bobby and Sully stepped away from the body, while Doc chiseled the welded seam holding the gate closed. After a few minutes of hammering, the gate swung free. Doc walked through the doorway and then waived Bobby and Sully forward. Both men walked past with their hands cupped over their noses.

  “Why don’t you wait down the tunnel a bit?” Doc asked. “Sully, leave me your light.”

  Sully set the lantern down next to the tools and hurried away from the ghastly scene. Doc walked over and examined the body. Owen had been liquored up and unaware of the storm until the water woke him. Desperate, he tried to escape through the tunnel and got stuck.

  “Sorry, Owen. You shouldn’t have gone out this way,” Doc said aloud. He picked up the tools and lantern and rejoined the other men.

  “We should pull him and give him a proper burial. But he’s bloated up pretty badly. It might have to wait a few days before we can get him out of here.”

  “I say we leave him right like he is buried in this here tunnel,” Bobby replied.

  “We’ll get him in the ground, Doc. When the times right,” Sully said, ignoring him.

  They continued deeper into the mine, only to find the path to the ledge still submerged.

  “End of the road,” Sully said.

  “Yes. That’s it,” Doc said, sadly. “I was hoping we’d find some of the others still alive.”

  C H A P T E R F I F T Y - O N E

  “Jackson, I think we’ve been this way already,” Jen said.

  After driving for hours with no sign of the plantation, Jen pulled over to the side of the road and turned around.

  “We just came this way,” Jackson said.

  “I know. I don’t think it matters.”

  She turned onto another road and saw the intersection in the distance.

  “What the hell?” Jackson asked. “We just drove up this road.”

  “We did. I remember that farm,” she said, gesturing at a barn with weathered gray boards.

  They came to a stop in the middle of the crossroads.