Chapter II

Allowing the door to swing shut behind him, Logan exited the school and into the bright car park, swamped in the orange light of a summer sunset. It was strange he thought, that sunset was happening so early, though frankly that was the least of his worries at the moment. Along with this premature sunset Logan also had to wonder at the eerie silence, it was like the school had only been a gloomy forerunner to this incredible isolation. Everyone was gone. The cars were effectively abandoned, the usually busy road in front of the school lay silent and the only noise was a faint humming coming from near the entrance of the school. Logan could not stand the haunting quiet, walking through the empty school having seen his classroom blood-soaked and destroyed had disturbed Logan and he could still feel his knees and hands shaking slightly; he ran over to the faint humming. It was a car engine; a chance to find people!

            He rushed to the open door of the car and looked inside a surge of hope rising through his body as he laid his hands on the steely body, its metal frame heated from the burn of the sun. “Damn! Damn! Damn!” Logan slammed his palms against the roof of the car in frustration. The car was abandoned too. He wanted to scream, to yell out until his voice was hoarse ‘Where are you all’ ‘come out this isn’t f*****g funny’, but it would have been a wasted shout, no one was around; it was ridiculous to think that the entire area, not far from the main road to the city centre, would be all trying to play a prank on him. What was going on? Logan was about to leave when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. The back seat of the car had white writing all over it, it was misshapen writing and was filled with smudges and smears. Logan leaned into the car and, with some difficulty, made out the messy writing

 

‘THEY HAVE COME TO RECLAIM THEIR PARADISE LOST…WE STOLE IT FROM THEM? THIS WORLD…O…ONCE THEIRS? GOD CANNOT SAVE US….RUN!’’

 

“What the hell?” Logan exclaimed aloud, “Has everyone lost it?” ‘What if it’s me who’s lost it?’ his mind suddenly surmised. Logan checked himself, he couldn’t go jumping to conclusions like that, he’d been fine before entering the bathroom and he was fine now, surely. Something else had to be going on. He began to search the car for anything useful; it was just like his more troubled days, except this time there was no one around to catch him stealing. The search turned up nothing except a map, unnecessary since he knew the town of Emerald Springs like the back of his hand, and some business documents in the glove compartment.

He sighed and dropped one of the files when a photo came sliding out of it and nestled into the fold of the seat. Pulling it out Logan saw that it was a black and white photo with all kinds of blurs and distortions, it was clearly very old. The photo showed a stone tower on a street, it was taller than could be seen in the photo, could it be the old clock tower on Hunters Street? It looked a lot like it, it disturbed him seeing the foreboding building depicted in this archaic looking photo, like a feeling of melancholy connected to an old memory that he couldn’t quite make out. Logan put the photo carefully into his jeans pocket “Better take it, just in case”

 

XXXXX

 

It could not have been more daunting if he’d imagined it so, all the houses on either side of the street stood exactly the same as they had when he had left his sisters house this morning, and yet everything was idle and silent, not a curtain swayed in the light breeze, nor did a single car drive past or a single voice make any kind of attempt to make itself heard. His footsteps provided the only other noise to compliment the slow whistle of the wind; he could swear he could hear his own quiet breaths at some points. As he reached the end of the cul-de-sac he saw the three houses and headed for the one on the right with its simple white painted wooden exterior and blue door on the porch. Logan had lived with his sister, who was ten years older than him and a successful editor, for the last two years after leaving the care scheme. His parent’s death six years ago had sent him into a spiral of crime and bad grades. He shuddered to think of that whole chapter of his life, he could still recall the bitterness of his days after his parent’s death, the loneliness and anger that he just couldn’t get rid of no matter how hard he tried to drown it with reckless living. Angela’s intervention had been the rejuvenation his life had needed. Things had generally been better for him since returning to Emerald Springs and his life there.

Logan unlocked the door and stepped inside the door, the sudden fear of why he was there was beginning to creep upon him like a spider crawling up his spine, freezing him with the thought ‘what if Angela’s disappeared?’ Logan called out “Angela” “Angela!” “Come on out this ain’t funny woman!” He ran upstairs and searched his room, her room; nothing. “S**t! S**t! S**t! Oh my God where is everyone!?” Logan ran back to the living room, again there was nothing. What if he was alone? What if he was isolated? What if he had lost his mind from grief or something else? He kicked the CD rack over and thrashed his hands against the air. ‘no, no, no, no…I have to get a grip, gotta stay calm’ sitting on the sofa he buried his head in his hands and took long slow deep breaths, he couldn’t jump to conclusions, something was definitely going on but he couldn’t assume what, he had to find Angela and Lexie. His breaths were shaky and his hands were also, but after a few moments he felt a lot calmer; time to start thinking; to think rationally and keep calm was his only hope against the loneliness.

Logan walked into the kitchen and began to rummage through the draws, looking for any clues as to where Angela might be; maybe she’d left a note or something? ‘Unlikely’ was the only thought he could muster, but he had to look anyway. As he searched to no avail he noticed something very odd on the kitchen wallpaper, it was a small, but rather strong, circle of damp. The rotting water seemed to be fresh, which was very odd, the house was well kept and any signs of dank would have surely shown up on the clear white wallpaper sooner. No, this was very recent indeed. Every other room in the house, whether the colour was turquoise, brown wood, light blue, was fine and clean, why was this new section of thick damp oozing from the kitchen? Logan shook his head, ‘what the f**k?’ why was this distracting him?

As he turned and faced the back door which led to the garden he saw through the glass and stopped dead in his tracks. He ceased his search and took in the beauty of it all. This was not his garden, his garden was a large area with concrete, a small stone wall and a pond area at the back, the trees were few and the grass was only mildly green. But he was looking at something different, a luscious green forest with trees obscuring every view of the neighbour’s gardens. It had to be a hallucination surely; there were lavender plants in the branches mixing perfectly with the vibrant green leaves, red tulips and other beautiful flowers adorned the sea of green grass. Logan rubbed his eyes, no, it was not a trick, he was really seeing this. His garden had vanished and been replaced with this gorgeous scene, his inhibitions were scattered by the breathtaking sight; he walked towards the door without fear and stepped onto the back porch.

Logan noticed that the weather was warm, warmer than it had been before but not enough to induce a sweat, it induced a blissful lethargic sensation. Then he saw them, emerging from behind a bush that was seasoned with roses, a tall man with shoulder length brown hair and broad shoulders and a woman of real beauty, her dark black hair flowed to her upper back and her skin looked as smooth as the leaves that littered the trees, her lips were crimson and her body as slender and sensual as anything that he could be imagining; both wore long garments that would not have looked out of place in the 17^th century. Logan could not help but notice that the man looked slightly like him, the hair was the giveaway, he couldn’t really see the face, but what shocked him was how much the woman looked like Lexie, it could have been a slightly older and more curvaceous version of her. He had to approach them.

“Hey wait, who are…” Logan stopped dead, a frightening chill suddenly covered his body inside and out as the pair looked at him, like he was looking at a terrifying apparition that knew the very depths of his soul and was glaring at them. Then a loud wind blew, he couldn’t feel it but he heard it and watched in fear as the wind swept over the surprised looking couple and they suddenly blew away in a swirl of mist. “What the…” the leaves began to shrivel and fell to the ground in brown, crispy fragments and, to his excelling shock, the trees began to seep scarlet red blood and wither. Logan looked back, the kitchen inside his house was still the same as it should have been but the dying labyrinth was now part of it, it belonged to its own world. He turned back to face the landscape but it had vanished, the only thing visible was his ordinary garden.

“Christ…not again” Logan noticed that he was now sweating,   each step he took he could feel his limbs shudder slightly as the cold chill of the shock ebbed slowly away from him. His thoughts were slowing down to a pace wherein he could actually think clearly instead of trying to juggle an endless stream of questions. He was now roughly in the centre of his garden, the grey concrete miles from the luscious greenery he had just seen, "Hello! Hey, where did you go!?" his shouts fell upon the deaf silence; the couple he'd seen were nowhere to be seen. Logan looked at the ground in despair and let out a quivering sigh as he sunk down and sat with his head in hands again. Was he crazy? He had to be, normal minded people didn't see these things surely, but then again why the sudden onset of utter insanity, it would build up over time; so many thoughts and not enough time to go through them. Just then, in a moment of clarity, he heard a sound coming from the back of the garden, from behind the concealed pathway between the two wooden fences, that sound was real, not in his head, he wasn't insane he decided with as much conviction as he could muster.

The sound itself was a kind of choking guttural sound, the sound of someone trying to regain air, but it was also accompanied by a creeping sound of shuffling footsteps like the person was dragging their feet as they walked. They were coming out of the pathway and toward him whoever they were. Logan, with slightly more curiosity than caution, moved toward the back of his garden. A shadow emerged from behind the fence, it was slightly hunched and showed two long thin arms protruding a slightly emancipated chest, Logan swallowed his fear "Hey...excuse me, who are you?" The shuffling suddenly stopped, as did the guttural noises, the shadow could be seen to stop suddenly and its head, which didn't seem to have any hair, turned sharply in his direction; the person let out a loud throaty cry, a cry of hostility and anger. Logan judged that it was a person who was, for some reason, loitering in his garden and felt quite angry at him "Look I don't know what’s going on here but why are you in my garden? Just tell me who you are" Another cry, this time it came as the man emerged fully from behind the fence, he kept his head bowed so Logan couldn't make him out clearly, not to mention some slightly overgrown bushes were at either side of him. But even from here Logan could tell the man was not well, his hair was gone and his skin had an unhealthy grayish complexion, in fact no it was almost completely grey from grime and he continued to shuffle along making those foul noises. "Hey! Don't get pissed with me! You're in my garden!"

Logan walked toward the stranger with half a mind to punch him right there and then, but frankly he needed answers as to what was happening and this was the only person he'd seen. Now the distance was narrowed and the two were at close enough a distance to talk, the man still refused to look up, but suddenly Logan noticed the detail in the man's skin, he was no longer interested in talking. The skin was grey like no other skin he'd ever seen on another person, covered with dirt and it looked like it had been stretched over his bony frame to the point of tearing, the stretch lines highlighting the overall feeling of pain that was visible. The man's hands had long sharp fingers that were thick and had no nails, they only extended out into what looked like claws; the person was wearing tattered rags. Logan was rooted to the spot "What the hell are..." then the stranger looked up at him.

"Jesus Christ!" Logan exclaimed in shock as a feeling of white terror seemed to punch him in his gut, he felt himself lean backwards, just managing to keep from falling. The sight physically repulsed him, he felt his stomach churn and felt his throat grow moist with disgust. The stranger had no face. The only sings of any humanity were the two hollowed out holes where his eyes should have been, otherwise it was just a straight cover of that stretched, worn and dirtied skin; and yet the creature continued to let out those terrible noises; that sounded increasingly like muffled screams. The hunched, pained body continued to shuffle its way toward him with surprising speed. Logan took slow steps back, terrified to move to suddenly in case he moved the beast to anger. It fell to the ground, lying on its knees it looked up at him, into him, despite having no eyes its proverbial gaze was fixed upon him with malice; it unleashed a snarl that would reduce weaker people to tears with its sheer animosity. This snarl broke Logan from his state of caution and into a state of primal panic.

Logan sprinted back towards the kitchen door, it was a place of safety from the guttural, monstrous thing behind him, its low gargles and choking had evolved into fully fledged cries and wretches. The panic reached its peak as Logan's body painfully lurched forward as he tripped over and hit the cruel concrete with a nauseating thud. Adrenaline kept the pain at bay, he realized the creature was now mere yards away from him, if it had had the appropriate features it would have no doubt worn a sickening look of warped pleasure. Logan looked around desperately for something, anything that would help him fight it off, he wriggled away from the creature as he looked to both his sides, his breathing now at a terrific pace, his hands and forehead clamped in sweat "Get away! You b*****d, get back!" he shouted in fear. Then, by some act of grace, he saw a spade on the grass to his left, with a quick stretch to his side he grabbed the spade and, as the creature leant down to savor its prey, Logan threw his arms to his right and struck it across the head.

Seemingly stunned, the creature stepped back as Logan got to his feet, it let out a loud scream of rage before Logan lunged forward and slammed the spade against its chest. The creature was knocked back but undeterred, its claw reached out as it swung a terrifying grab at him, Logan jumped to his side to dodge, went to strike it again; but the creature intercepted. The two were deadlocked, the creature held onto the spade with surprising endurance, Logan pushed forward and growled with fury as he tried to overpower his foe. The creature was brittle of frame and yet it had strength due to its sheer ferocity, Logan finally forced it back and as the creature fell to its knees he raised the spade high and let loose with a powerful hit. The creature toppled down and screamed a blood curdling scream of agony, the force of which made Logan freeze in discomfort, it saw its chance and reached up, scratching him with its bestial claws. "aaagghhh" Logan shouted. The creature went to stand and make a lunge for him, but Logan reacted quick enough; he thrust the spade forward with as much power as he could muster and stabbed into the creatures hollow stomach. Pungent, thick black liquid poured forth from the wound, another horrific scream as the stricken being looked down at its split stomach. Logan wretched and stepped back from his weapon embedded in his enemy’s stomach, the blood spilled onto the ground causing a cloudy dark steam to rise form it and, with a stifled choke, the faceless monster died.

On his knees Logan vomited loudly and violently, the stench of the monsters blood filling his nostrils and making his stomach revolt and his eyes water. After a few moments he stood up and looked down upon it, "what in God's name...it..." Logan couldn't find the words, whatever he'd just killed it wasn't human and it had been intent on murder. The mere sight of it was enough to make him want to vomit again, and yet he couldn't look away, for a good few minutes he could do nothing but stare at it, wondering if what he'd seen was real, running the fight through in his mind to make sure it had actually happened. "What was that? Is this what's caused all this? A monster...i guess that's the only word for it" Logan didn't really care that he was talking to himself. He turned away, the image still as clear in his mind as though he were still looking at it, but he slowly made his way back into the house, now was now the time for fear, as weird as it seemed, the fight had given him some much needed urgency, it had made him realize what danger he was in, 'Oh my God...Angela, Lexie...' what if they'd gotten to them? A panic and need to protect came over him, he ran over to the shed and found a long thin piece of metal with a sharp point lying by the door, it was light enough to wield with some skill, but strong enough to deal good damage to whatever it hit; this would have to protect him; there were bound to be more of them out there. Logan walked back into the house and began to search for whatever he would need to he would need to search for his loved ones. As he hurriedly scowered the countertop in his kitchen he saw a note, the writing was slightly messier than usual, but it was definitely Angela's 'Gone to the green, see you later peaches'

The note made him want to scream in pain and loneliness, his loving sister, the person who'd helped him turn his life around, and all he could find of her was this single note; still adorned with her affectionate nickname for him, he punched the fridge door in fury and knew, that above anything else he had to find her and everyone else who mattered to him.