The legacy of the dark blood

Chapter 13

Back to the ghost town

Chris was driving calmly along a road that at first sight seemed to have been built for pedestrians, horses and carriages. Liz did not understand how they had managed to get the vehicle to that point, but having escaped that attack by the possessed villagers, joined by those bloodthirsty wolf-like beasts, made the former unimportant to her.

In an attempt to forget the group left behind holding off the threat and eliminate the tension, the agents discussed aspects of their lives. Bernard was generally reserved, devoted to his faith, unlike his brother Jake. Liz commented on her training as an FBI agent and how she had been recruited by her new group thanks to her brother after solving a difficult case in Arkansas linked to disappearances and murders of children.

No one had noticed the time until they saw the vehicle's clock reading a little after three in the morning; by then the place was in complete darkness and the road they were driving on was only lit by the van's headlights. The path to that area was similar to crossing the barrier between the real world and a dimension in which nothing but pain, death and gloom reigned, all recreated in the form of an atmosphere.

The cobblestone road that connected the different sectors of Reich der Finsternis led to another kind of ghost town that was deserted. They assumed that Max had followed the same path to reach a specific point where he could find something important.

They had arrived at a new village where a sepulchral silence prevailed, slightly interrupted by the blowing of the wind. In the light emanating from the vehicle, wooden huts with deteriorated facades could be seen; in the opinion of the agents, it had not been visited for decades. From the entrance to the gloomy place stretched a small pendant with dwellings on either side of them, not far apart.

-Well," Chris addressed the group, "for the moment this is the first place we could look, we must search the area carefully and as much as possible, avoid drawing attention to ourselves.

"That will be more difficult than it seems" Liz answered a little in a tone of irony "Look at this place. A fly couldn't even buzz around here without someone more than two kilometers away noticing it."

"That's what we thought," said Chris, not totally convinced by Liz's analysis, "But you saw what happened with your friend. I really don't know what to expect from this deadly hell."

"I don't either," said Bernard, containing the overwhelming sensation of being immersed in that gloomy place, "But, is there any plan to look for Max unnoticed?"

The question posed by Bernard created uncertainty, since the picking of locks or other similar things could arouse suspicions of whoever was there. The cabins were close to each other, as was customary in the area, so moving between them was not easy. The agents assumed that, as in several of the villages surrounding the area, there would be a square with a small church where the gruesome bloody rituals were probably carried out. Chris, for his part, stood back to make a quick analysis of the area from his current location, but except for a corridor, the dwellings and a small gothic style tower that was barely distinguishable from a few meters away, there was nothing to imply any relevant data.

"Well, I think it's obvious that we don't have enough time to search each and every one of the dwellings," suggested Chris, "look, I understand that this could be leaving us in a state of considerable vulnerability, but I think it would be best if we search them separately and meet back here when we're done."

Chris's idea was not to the liking of either Liz or Bernard, who showed a noticeable gesture of dissatisfaction at the thought that he would be facing the sinister presence of death on his own. The adventure that had taken place in the village with the villagers, the hunters and especially with Holzmann's executioner, had been a consequence of their state of vulnerability that the split had left them in, but before they could protest, Chris resumed his speech.