The Invaders

Chapter Seven

Helen had narrowly escaped the old woman when there was an explosion of lightning hitting the tree, filling the air with the scent of scorched sap. The sudden, swift in the atmosphere started a severe winter storm that caught Helen unaware. She walked briskly down the abundant street when the clouds started to build, giving the sky an overcast look. She looked around for anything that she could huddle under. She thought about going under one of the stalls but she didn't want to come across another person like the old woman so she considered a large, dead oak tree but at the severity of the storm she decided against it. She reached an area in the old derelict town by a lake. Almost all of the houses on this abandoned street were too badly damaged for her to take shelter in, except for one building, an old church. It had the look of a gothic church with the arches stained. It loomed impressive and morbid in the gray-black sky, the old bell rang as the wind blew against it, she stood there becoming soaked as she pondered upon her dilemma. Whether to go stay under the tree and risk getting hit by lightning or should she go into the old church…

A flash of lightning briefly illuminated the church and Helen quickly pushed her way through the storm, the wind blew furiously clawing its way trying to pull away from her hijab. The door slowly opens with a creaking sound. The weather just dropped like 40 degrees, Helen doesn't like this at all. The windows were broken, but the superstructure seemed to be in good condition.  She might as well get comfortable so she lay there motionless in the darkness and listened to the night. It was unsettling, menacing darkness, full of dancing shadows and the occasional creak and rustle from the church. A tingling sixth sense warned her not to move. The cold, shivering wind blew on the back of her neck and ears like the touch of cold fingers. Suddenly, the whole world seemed unnaturally dark, as if it had been drained of all light. The wind was ferocious, gaining in power all the time until it screamed over the church and beat like a fist against the walls. The world was completely still. Nothing moved, not a leaf quivered, but over the silence brooded a ghostly calm and the whisper of his breath as it rose in gasps and lingered in the frosty air. Her foot kicked something round, hollow, something which rolled away into the shadows. She cupped her fingers around her nose and mouth, but the stench of graveyards and decay wafting up from the darkness seeped through her fingers and made her retch but the shuffle of footsteps, the scrape of metal made her sit up alert but then it was. Silence. It was quiet. Too quiet! The owls had fallen silent and even the wind seemed to have died down. All was as still as death and dark as the grave but then a shadow loomed over her. She dropped to her knees. Silhouetted in the flickering light was…