Satan's Hunger

11

Stumbling in the blonde man's wake, Kaitlyn looked back at the truck desperately as the men began to drag Jacob out of it. He was so limp that if she hadn't seen for herself that he was breathing, she'd be convinced he was dead.

They were following an overgrown path. Stick-like branches scraped through her hair. The trees stood so tightly together that it was hard to see where she was going, only glimpses of moonlight penetrating the canopy. Sticky leaves stuck against her shirt and pants. Sticks snapped beneath her footsteps. An insect was making a high-pitched whirring noise in the bushes to her right. A bat squawked and flew away from the branches above. Kaitlyn wrinkled her nose at the sickly-sweet smell of a dead animal rotting somewhere close by. Mixed in with that was the faint and yet sharp sting of something burning.

The air was so cold that it hurt to breathe. Her throat ached.

Finally, they pulled away from the trees, entering a small clearing. Up ahead were the remains of an old gate. At one point there might have been a fence, but it was gone now. All that was left of it were two short posts built of uneven brick. They looked so wobbly that a gentle shove would have sent them both toppling. Sitting atop the brick posts were statues. Kaitlyn stared. They looked like stone gargoyles. One was poking out a spear-like tongue. The other was baring its sharp teeth in a salacious grin. But the creepiest thing was their eyes—they were just holes, as though somebody had drilled their real eyes away.

Their eye sockets seemed to follow her as she approached. Just as she passed between them, she felt a shiver rack her body. A tingle ran down her spine. Kaitlyn reached up to touch her neck. For a moment it felt like someone had a hold of her throat. As quickly as it had come, the feeling vanished.

The driver didn't seem to notice. Kaitlyn stared at a mark on the back of his neck. It looked like a tattoo but she couldn't see what it was amid the darkness. They continued to follow the path. Then she saw their destination. Ahead and at the bottom of a sharp drop was a stone house, hardly discernible beneath the trees crowding over it. It was only small and looked like it was on the brink of collapse. If it wasn't for the grey smoke coiling out of the chimney, Kaitlyn would have thought it abandoned.

It should be abandoned. Who would live out here?

They paused at the top of a steep set of stairs. Kaitlyn swallowed as she looked down. The steps were just stones jutting out of the earth, all uneven and covered in slippery moss. It looked dangerous and unstable. It wasn't high but it made her fear for Jacob.

'How are you going to get Jacob down this?' Kaitlyn asked.

The man's only answer was a light shove in the middle of her back. Kaitlyn gasped as her foot swept over the edge.

'Move,' he growled.

Kaitlyn licked her lips nervously as she peered down the steep stairs, considering her options. She decided to drop to her butt and ease her way down. Reaching out her left foot, she braced it against the first stone. It held her weight. Slowly she climbed down, step by careful step. Moments later, her feet touched ground. She heard a thud as her captor jumped down the last two steps. Seizing her arm, he dragged her onwards.

The door was timber. The windows were shuttered. Thorn-covered vines coiled up and through the stonework. Knee-high weeds edged the house.

The man pushed the door open. Kaitlyn reeled back at a pronounced smell—both sickly and sharp, as though someone was burning incense and cooking meat at the same time. Kaitlyn gasped as the man yanked her inside.

The door slammed shut behind them. It was gloomy but not utterly dark, light flickering from a room up ahead. The hall they followed was short and narrow and on either side were rooms. Kaitlyn looked into them. They were filled with beds. Well, mattresses with blankets thrown on top. It looked like a lot of people lived here.