Fortunately, he wore a dark blazer that covered up most of the mess he was making. The pain brought him a little comfort but not much. On the fifth time he looked at the dead dog, he noticed a green tag stuck to one of its hind legs that had been snapped awkwardly backwards. He quickly snipped the tag off and studied it. It simply had a name and a mobile telephone number on it and the words, “Property of...” written in red italics above. The handwriting was quite beautiful.
Ernst spent a long time studying the message. The name meant nothing to him but he couldn’t help feel that somehow he had no choice but to – what? – dial the number?
In Ernst Stranger’s head, things started to take shape.
He picked up the phone and dialled.
It rang twice before a gruff female voice answered.
“Yes?”
“Amanda Harker?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve got your dog here.”
Chapter 21
Alix hadn’t notice her hand grip Ash’s arm tightly.
The sound of the flesh flies feeding on the dead enveloped around her. They were the first on the scene. Flocking in their hundreds to the feast.
Alix had never smelt death before but she knew what it was. Our ancestors had no other way of protecting themselves against disease than interpreting the chemical reactions in their brains associated with the smell of death as something bad , something to be avoided. That same response survives today and it is the reason why death is instantly recognisable to us even when sensed for the first time.
It was repulsive and she clasped her hand to her mouth and felt her stomach churn violently.
The pile of bodies was stacked before the altar. Man and woman dumped unceremoniously on each other in a bloody mass of mangled flesh. Their clothes had been torn from their bodies. Dried blood stained every exposed limb; every bulging, fat stomach; every repugnant wound. The bodies were so tightly packed in the human pyre that it was impossible to tell what appendage belonged to what torso; what foot to what leg; what head to what neck. Areas where deep wounds had been opened revealed parts of organs, intestine, tissue and muscle. The victims appeared to have been horribly mutilated before being dumped together.
Alix ’s eyes glazed over and she thought for a moment that she might faint. Nothing could have prepared her for the rush of fear and horror that had jolted her so intensely and so intimately. She found it difficult to focus on any particular part of the macabre jumble of cadavers. To her, it just looked like one pulsating, deformed entity; an indistinguishable mass of pinks, whites, reds and purples. Occasionally, part of a face peered out, the expression contorted in the way that a face would contort when staring through into the valley of Hell. An automated response flickered at the back of her mind. It was a statement, a bold and unequivocal statement.
She collapsed on a pew and slid towards the far end of the building. She had wrapped her arms tightly around her as if in some way it protected her from the revulsion she had witnessed. The sudden force of sitting down, the blood rushed from her head and the feeling of nausea overwhelmed her. She bent forward and vomited.
Ash had stood beside the final pew staring blankly at the pile of naked bodies for several minutes before speaking. Keera had been right. He had never seen anything like this.
“Does anyone else know about this?”
“Not as far as I know.”
“Get on the radio and get me as many people up here as you can. I want roadblocks stopping all access to this village. I want warrants to search every house, farm, shed and building. I want a forensics team. I want Maurice Reid leading it and I want the coroner here. I want a list of every resident in this Hell-hole and I want some identification to start.”
Keera nodded and turned to walk away before stopping and l ooking at him over her shoulder.
“By the way, your girlfriend spewed on a pew.”
Chapter 22
“I’m
Ernst spent a long time studying the message. The name meant nothing to him but he couldn’t help feel that somehow he had no choice but to – what? – dial the number?
In Ernst Stranger’s head, things started to take shape.
He picked up the phone and dialled.
It rang twice before a gruff female voice answered.
“Yes?”
“Amanda Harker?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve got your dog here.”
Chapter 21
Alix hadn’t notice her hand grip Ash’s arm tightly.
The sound of the flesh flies feeding on the dead enveloped around her. They were the first on the scene. Flocking in their hundreds to the feast.
Alix had never smelt death before but she knew what it was. Our ancestors had no other way of protecting themselves against disease than interpreting the chemical reactions in their brains associated with the smell of death as something bad , something to be avoided. That same response survives today and it is the reason why death is instantly recognisable to us even when sensed for the first time.
It was repulsive and she clasped her hand to her mouth and felt her stomach churn violently.
The pile of bodies was stacked before the altar. Man and woman dumped unceremoniously on each other in a bloody mass of mangled flesh. Their clothes had been torn from their bodies. Dried blood stained every exposed limb; every bulging, fat stomach; every repugnant wound. The bodies were so tightly packed in the human pyre that it was impossible to tell what appendage belonged to what torso; what foot to what leg; what head to what neck. Areas where deep wounds had been opened revealed parts of organs, intestine, tissue and muscle. The victims appeared to have been horribly mutilated before being dumped together.
Alix ’s eyes glazed over and she thought for a moment that she might faint. Nothing could have prepared her for the rush of fear and horror that had jolted her so intensely and so intimately. She found it difficult to focus on any particular part of the macabre jumble of cadavers. To her, it just looked like one pulsating, deformed entity; an indistinguishable mass of pinks, whites, reds and purples. Occasionally, part of a face peered out, the expression contorted in the way that a face would contort when staring through into the valley of Hell. An automated response flickered at the back of her mind. It was a statement, a bold and unequivocal statement.
She collapsed on a pew and slid towards the far end of the building. She had wrapped her arms tightly around her as if in some way it protected her from the revulsion she had witnessed. The sudden force of sitting down, the blood rushed from her head and the feeling of nausea overwhelmed her. She bent forward and vomited.
Ash had stood beside the final pew staring blankly at the pile of naked bodies for several minutes before speaking. Keera had been right. He had never seen anything like this.
“Does anyone else know about this?”
“Not as far as I know.”
“Get on the radio and get me as many people up here as you can. I want roadblocks stopping all access to this village. I want warrants to search every house, farm, shed and building. I want a forensics team. I want Maurice Reid leading it and I want the coroner here. I want a list of every resident in this Hell-hole and I want some identification to start.”
Keera nodded and turned to walk away before stopping and l ooking at him over her shoulder.
“By the way, your girlfriend spewed on a pew.”
Chapter 22
“I’m
Similar Books
