Redcoats

Chapter 7

Simon Tiff and ran down the stairs and towards the back of the house. The door to the backroom swinging open nearly scared them to death. Mike and Sarah emerged from the room confused and barely put together.

"Dude, what the fuck is going on?" Mike said as he walked into the hall.

Simon grabbed him, "Something was there man and it followed us, dude it was scary as shit."

Mike's face went slack and the fear from that night crept back on him, "Wait something was there?"

Tiff and Barbara nodded, their eyes worried.

Simon called back over his shoulder to the stair, "Dave, We found Mike, they're down here."

Mike looked past Simon, "Dave's upstairs? Where's everyone else?"

Before Simon could answer Dave's scream echoed from the stairwell followed by the sickening thud of his body smacking the floor of the main hall. Mike rushed to his side trying to check and see if he was ok. Dave's eyes were locked at the top of the stairs, he wasn't breathing.

Tiff and Barbara screamed at the sight, while Simon stood motionless. Sarah came out of the bedroom to see Mike knelt over Dave's body. In her hand she had Sammy's Colt .45, which she slowly dropped as the realization of what happened came over her.

"Call an Ambulance," Mike choked out, when there was no response he bellowed at Simon, "Call a fucking Ambulance Simon."

Simon flinched as if Mike's voice was a physical slap returning him to reality. He ran into the kitchen and grabbed the phone off the wall. He waited for a dial-tone, but there wasn't one. He hung up the phone and ran to the living room where he knew there was another phone, once again there was no dial tone, the phone lines seemed to be dead.

"Mike, the phones are dead," Simon said running back into the room.

Mike was still knelt over Dave's corpse, blood had begun to leak from his ears and mouth. Dave's eyes were still wide open staring back up the stairs at nothing. Mike slowly tried to close them, before standing.

Quietly he walked into the bedroom and grabbed a sheet from the floor where it had landed earlier. He came back out and solemnly laid the sheet over Dave. He knelt there for a minute saying a silent prayer for his friend and steeling his resolve.

"Ok," he began rising to his feet, "We need to get help, go bang on a neighbors door or something to call the cops, If anything we'll grab one of the cars and ride down to the police station."

Simon shook his head, "I'm not going out there man, you didn't see it."

Tiff wiped her tears, "Mike it's not safe out there, you can't ask us to do this."

Sarah and Barbara hugged her and tried to calm her as best they could. Mike ran his hand through his hair in frustration and paced the floor. He looked at the others and then into the main hall of the house.

"Ok what if we hide out in the basement, Jasmine used to do all kinds of weird wiccan stuff down there, and maybe she put up some kind of protection?"

Simon nodded, "Dave said they had someplace safe, you think that's what he meant?"

Mike walked over to a large bookcase in the hall. "Simon help me move this."

Simon grabbed the other side and the two strained to lift the weight of the large oak piece. They slowly slid the bookcase away from the wall revealing a large vent in the floor of the hall. Mike knelt down and began to pull the vent up exposing a two foot by two foot square hole.

He looked at Sarah and Tiff and could tell they would fit. Barbara was more endowed than the two of them and he knew she wouldn't make it through the hole. Simon being much slimmer than he was would definitely fit.

"Simon, you go first, I'll lower down Tiff and Sarah." he said motioning to the hole.

Simon looked down into the barely lit basement, "How did you know that was there dude?"

"I used it to sneak in to hook up with Jasmine when we were younger."

Sarah gave Mike a disapproving look, and walked over to him, "So this was your hookup hole, is that it?"

Mike shook his head, "Babe now really isn't the time, also didn't you sneak into Jason Conners house several times?"

Sarah smacked the back of his head and then stepped up to the hole, "I'll go first", she said, leaping down through the opening.

Simon and Mike exchange a look before Simon lowered himself down. Finally Mike lowered Tiff into Simon's arms so he could get her the rest of the way into the basement. Mike gave them a nod and then closed the vent back before turning to Barbara.

"Come on I think me and you can make it to Sarah's car and go for help ok."

Barbara looked at the front door, "What if they're waiting out there?"

Mike pointed to a large window in the sitting room they had been telling ghost stories in, "We're not taking the door, we're jumping out right next to the car."

Mike ran into the bedroom he and Sarah had been in and grabbed her car key. He also grabbed his boot knife and Jasmine's stun gun she kept in the drawer. He picked up his cigarette and lighter and made his way over to the window.

Out on the street it seemed as quiet as can be. There were no signs of anything moving. Mike slowly opened the window and checked again to see if the coast was clear. Satisfied he leapt out the window and waited for Barbara.

Barbara lowered herself out of the window and into Mike's strong arms. The two rushed to get into Sarah's car and lock the door behind them. Mike fumbled momentarily with the keys before turning the ignition and firing the engine to life. He checked his rearview and for the first time beheld the spectors that were hunting them.

It came around the front of the house and slowly lumbered towards them. Almost translucent, it looked like a long dead corpse reanimated and given a will of its own. It's sunken features resembled a skull and it's eye were hollow black pockets of nothing.

Mike put the car in gear and stomped on the accelerator pulling away from the house and down Duke street towards the police station. As they passed the graveyard more of the creatures bled through the walls towards them. He shifted into second and then third hoping speed and distance would keep them safe.

He passed by Billy's house and thought momentarily about stopping, but decided against it. Instead he turned up Orange street and then on to Prince . It was a straight shoot to the Police station, his only hope was that the police would believe them and be able to help.

The mistake Mike made was not taking Highmarket, if he had he would have passed the police heading to where Billy and Julia were. He might have been able to help the others before it got too late. As it was Mike pulled into the Police station to find it empty, the police obviously already responding to an emergency.

He did the only thing he thought he could do, Mike ran next door to the fire department and began banging on the door. He didn't know if they could help or even if they would. He didn't have a choice though, this is his last ditch effort.