“Meaning?” Jacob queried, turning towards her with a quizzical expression.
Her eyes sparkled with a swell of excitement. She held back her response for a moment, one lasting long enough to prod Jacob’s impatience. They had worked together long enough for him to know she was onto something of significance, and he had a strong notion what it regarded.
“On a hunch, a few of us took the liberty of a little jaunt into the woods after dinner. I think we might’ve found something,” she replied. “Only about an hour of moderate hiking away, deeper into the woods to the north of here. We marked it on our GPS’s.”
“Found what?” Jacob pressed, as her smile spread wider, his curiosity piqued. “What’s deeper in the woods?”
“The chronicles were accurate,” she declared, giving him a wink.
On parchment, Saxon monks recorded the defeat of a sizeable Viking incursion right in the area where the skeletons had been found. Yet the chronicle entry said the Viking war band came up river on eight longships, indicating a group much larger than the mere 23 skeletons excavated. The disparity added a subsidiary quest to the grand expedition.
Jacob wondered where the other bodies were, if the raid was the rout described by the Saxon monks. He also found it strange that all the skeletons found in the pit had been treated alike. A captured warrior of high status would normally have received a different handling from the others.
As the area was close to the old boundary between Saxon lands and Viking-held territory known as the Dane Law, it was possible the body of a high status warrior had been taken away under the cover of darkness, for a more proper burial. If that was so, all the archaeological team had to do was find the pagan burial mound. Dr. Grayson, the head of the excavation, was more interested in what the team had in hand, but he had not thought Jacob’s theory entirely implausible.
“The chronicles were accurate? How do you know?” Jacob asked.
“Let’s just say there’s a mound … where there really shouldn’t be one,” Brenda replied, grinning. “So, you wanna go see it?”
“Yes, of course,” Jacob said, his mind completely off the remains before him. “When can we go?”
“Let’s wait for daylight,” she said.
“Can’t wait that long,” Jacob said. “You’re an academic, so you should understand. We don’t keep discoveries waiting.”
“Impulsive,” she responded with a teasing lilt. “Jacob, it’s almost eleven now. It takes an hour to find the place, if we can navigate without tripping over ourselves in the dark.”
“A few of us with flashlights should do fine. Skies are pretty clear. Nearly full moon overhead. We won’t stay long. I promise. I just want to see it for myself,” Jacob said impatiently.
Brenda sighed. “I thought that might happen. Which is why I told Kendrick, Gwen, and Trey not to go to sleep yet, until I’d talked to you.”
Jacob chuckled. “In the case of Gwen and Trey, I don’t think they were planning on sleep anyway.”
She laughed. “No, they probably weren’t.”
“Explorations of a more amorous kind,” Jacob remarked, laughing. “But let’s rouse them anyway.”
“Let’s!” Brenda agreed, with mischievous enthusiasm.
-----
“What did I tell you … right here, in the marshy area,” Kendrick proclaimed triumphantly, strolling along the top of a prominent mound rising out of the wetland.
Jacob shook his head, his boots already soaked through, but had to grin. The mound was an anomaly in the surrounding terrain. Having been to many barrows and burial mounds across England, Ireland, and continental Europe, he had little doubt what it was.
“Looks pretty intact. Can’t find any signs of digging … anywhere,” Brenda said, from Jacob’s side. She idly passed the beam of her flashlight across the side of the mound. “Unsullied, and ready for our team to uncover what lies beneath.”
“We’ll need to come back during the daytime, and cordon this area off,” Jacob replied, eyeing the oblong mound with swelling interest. His mind was already racing with possibilities regarding the artifacts that might be found inside.
“Probably won’t find a ship burial, but you might find a few very nice implements,” Brenda said. “They wouldn’t bury a leader without a few extras.”
Kendrick put his hands on his hips, staring down at the others. “Do we really have to wait that long?’”
“We have to wait that long,” Jacob replied firmly. No matter how much he desired to delve right into the mound, it was best to wait until it could be approached properly. The dig at the road cut was spiraling into an incredible archaeological event.
Kendrick reached into an outer pocket on his jacket, pulling out a short-handled digging tool with a spade-shaped end. “I saw this mound first, so I’m going to break the ceremonial ground before we head back. It won’t hurt your plans, but I’m not conceding that privilege, Jacob.”
“Hothead,” Gwen called back, laughing.
Trey said nothing, content to keep his right arm wrapped snugly around Gwen.
Jacob waved his hand towards Kendrick in a dismissive fashion. “Then indulge yourself, Kendrick. But no more than a little scraping off the top. Don’t want to damage anything that’s been stored so faithfully for us … for well over a millennium.”
Kendrick crouched down, and drove the small spade into the ground, wrenching up a scoop of dirt. He held it forth for the others to see.
“Okay, we’ve broken the ground,” he declared, before looking immediately down, and becoming quiet. He uttered in a low voice, “That’s pretty interesting.”
Jacob watched Kendrick attentively examining the ground, where he had dug through the loamy surface. Just above the area, tendrils of light gray mist had begun to rise upward, slow and sinuous. The moonlight caught the mist as it wound its way higher, the little silvery columns growing thicker by the moment.
“Looks like some mist has been trapped underground,” Kendrick jested. He waved his hands in front of his face, laughing, “Believe me, it stinks bad. Really bad! Breaking the ground might’ve been a bad idea.”
“Well, it’s a boggy area,” Jacob said, a moment before the pungency encompassed him as well. He gagged reflexively, making a face. “Oh, god, that is awful!”
Brenda, Trey, and Gwen all made loud exclamations as the stench reached their noses. It reeked of rot and decay, potent enough to make the eyes water.
“Another reason to come back in daylight,” Jacob stated, retching for a second.
“No argument here, but I’m breathing through my mouth until we get clear of these woods,” Brenda said. “Kendrick, come on down! Let’s get out of here!”
Jacob followed Brenda’s advice as he neared the cusp of vomiting. Stabilizing, he looked up towards Kendrick, and his eyes narrowed. He felt a wave of light-headedness pass over him, struggling to understand what he perceived.
It appeared as if a man-shaped shadow of considerable height was looming behind Kendrick. Even stranger, the shape appeared to be darkening, as if transforming from a misty substance into something solid.
Kendrick rose from his crouching position, an airy hiss penetrating the stillness. He turned around slowly and the shadowy figure’s arm lashed out, just as Jacob mustered a cry of warning.
Gasping at first, Kendrick was reduced to pitiful gurgles as he was jerked off the ground. The shadow-being used only one arm, its hand clenching Kendrick about the neck.
The hapless archaeology student’s legs kicked out and flailed, his hands grabbing desperately for the wrist of his assailant. It was to no avail, as the thing was astonishingly strong.
The shadow-figure’s head tilted to the side as Kendrick was brought in closer, clearly seeking purchase at his neck. A horrid sucking noise arose, and Kendrick’s legs kicked feverishly for a couple moments, before going limp.
A sharp crack filled the air a second later, as the shadow-being drew its head back. Kendrick’s head lolled to one side,
right before he was hurled through the air towards the others. Screams and cries burst from the group as the body landed with a heavy thump a few feet in front of them.
Jacob did not need to examine Kendrick to know that he was dead, but Brenda and Gwen rushed to his awkwardly-twisted body, kneeling down.
“He’s dead! Oh god, he’s dead!” Gwen cried out, sobbing.
“His … throat’s … been torn out,” Brenda stammered, as if she could not believe what she saw.
Jacob’s mind spun, but he had enough presence of it to look back towards the shadow-figure. The entity had not taken so much as a stride, and was quietly gazing down on the group of humans. Whether fanciful imagination sparked by the events, or accurate perception, it looked to Jacob as if two tiny, reddish embers rested where the being’s eyes would be.
The eerie, rattling hiss filled the air again, and the tall being stomped forward, taking long strides down the slope of the burial mound. It was heading straight towards them.
“Get outta here! Let’s go!” Jacob called to the others.
His knees felt weak as he resisted a surreal paralysis threatening to take hold of his body. Panic shrouded him, inducing his heartbeat to quicken, and his breath to shorten.
Gwen and Brenda looked up, screaming as they saw the massive dark form storming towards them. Brenda stood and started hurrying, as did Trey. Gwen’s eyes were wide with fright. She looked like a rabbit caught within the mesmerizing gaze of a predator, freezing in place and uttering whimpering sounds that danced on the edge of hysterics.
Trey ran back, reached down, clutched her upper arm, and wrenched her up to her feet with a robust heave. “Get moving! Now!”
He gave her a little shove forward, enough to break her free from her immobilizing trance. Keeping Gwen just ahead of him, Trey hurried away from the mound, with Jacob following behind.
The naked, late-fall trees allowed enough moonlight through that the group had little trouble keeping their footing. Jacob’s breath quickened, as his body was not in condition for the frenzied pace demanded of it. Breezes whipped about his ears, as his boots pounded on the forest floor. The cold air bit harshly into his lungs, and he threw several glances back, fearing the shadow-man would be on his heels.
The four ran onward, their legs tiring fast as their shoes squished and sloshed in the water-logged soil. The land became more solid as they continued. Jacob’s legs burned and his lungs were raw when they finally exploded from the treeline, streaking across open ground.
“I … can’t … keep this … up,” Trey exclaimed between prodigious gulps of air, grabbing at his side with a pained expression as he slowed.
Jacob looked back towards the forest. The woods were quiet, but he was not about to assume anything. A great tension clung to the air, and he knew inside that the night was far from over.
“Just keep moving,” Jacob urged.
They proceeded at a brisk walk for a while, gradually recovering their breath. On the open ground, Jacob knew it would be easy to see pursuers, and he threw periodic glances over his shoulder.
As the distance from the trees grew, it was hard for him to tell if any movements he registered were just trees swaying in the night breezes, or the emergence of the fetid monstrosity.
Looking over to Brenda, he saw she was tapping on the touch screen of her mobile device. She frowned, cursing under her breath.
“No frickin’ signal,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“Keep trying,” Jacob said. “Anyone else have theirs?”
Gwen and Trey shook their heads.
“Fantastic,” Jacob lamented. “Just keep moving, we’ve got to get Dr. Grayson.”
-----
“What the hell are you doing!” barked Dr. Grayson, his face thick with irritation, and eyes bleary as he pulled himself up into a sitting position.
“Dr. Grayson, we have an emergency! We need to get out of here, right now!” Jacob replied urgently. He and his companions crowded around the mattress on the ground. “You’ve got to come with us, right away!”
“Get out of here? What on earth are you talking about?” Dr. Grayson responded sharply, clearly incredulous, and becoming angrier by the second.
Jacob, Brenda, Trey, and Gwen spoke quickly, stammering a few times as they related the details of their ill-fated sojourn to the burial mound. Dr. Grayson scowled, and Jacob had the strong impression the professor felt as if he were being made the subject of a practical joke.
Even when Brenda pulled her mobile device out in the midst of the telling, stating that she wanted to make an emergency call, it was patently clear that Dr. Grayson did not believe the story. She uttered several expletives, and Jacob’s spirit sank, when it was again revealed that there was no network connection to access.
“A monster coming out of the swamp, you say? One that threw Kendrick all the way down a burial mound with one arm,” Dr. Grayson growled, after they finished with the bizarre tale. “Thank you for your concern, but I have to get up at 5:30 a.m. and get some paperwork done before the curator of the museum arrives!”
His voice trailed off as he cocked his head to one side. His expression became more pensive than angry.
“What’s that … sound?” Dr. Grayson suddenly asked, tilting his head a little further.
Jacob blanched as a low, breathy hiss carried to his ears from outside the tent, faint but unmistakable. “Oh God … that’s it!”
“We’ve gotta get out of here, Dr. Grayson, please, trust us!” Brenda pleaded.
“I swear this isn’t a prank!” Gwen added.
“If this is some elaborate hoax, know that you’re all going to face severe disciplinary action, starting with immediate dismissal from this excavation. Don’t try me,” the professor snapped, though his face exhibited more tension, as the rattling hiss slowly rose in volume.
“I swear Dr. Grayson, this is no joke,” Jacob said.
Getting up from the mattress, the professor slipped on some walking shoes. He went with the others as they moved to the flap of his tent.
The revenant figure was upon them as they emerged from the interior, and Jacob heard cries of alarm as hands clutched onto him with iron-strength. He caught the sight of a large arm swiping through the air, and heard a grunt and heavy thump, as someone was knocked to the ground.
The acrid stench was overwhelming as he stared into the cavernous gaze of the macabre figure. Wisps of hair clung to the entity’s leathered visage, and its long, blackened, blood-stained teeth were bared in a mask of rage.
There was no spark of life present in the thing he saw before him. Rather, it was a mockery of life.
Balling up his fist, and reacting with alacrity, Jacob slammed flesh and bone into the thing’s face. The heavy blow thundered into the lower jaw of the creature, but it did nothing to affect it.
Recalling his father’s advice to ‘always go for the knees’, Jacob kicked out at the right knee of the creature. The crunching impact caused the thing to buckle slightly, though it emitted no outcry or sound of pain.
An ear-piercing shriek came from the creature, just as Jacob felt himself being released. Rotating swiftly, it locked its hands on Trey, who had barreled into its side.
Trey was lifted off the ground by the hulking figure. A crunching, tearing sound emitted as it leaned in and bit into the right side of his face. He loosed a high-pitched scream, as the skin covering half of his face was ripped free, leaving him with a ghastly, permanent expression.
Jacob flinched as Gwen hurled herself at the entity, shrieking in a fusion of rage and terror. The being caught her in mid-stride with one hand, and shoved her unceremoniously to the ground.
Trey screamed again, as the entity brought its jaws down on his throat. The sucking sounds came again, as if the entity was quenching a parched thirst. Blood began dripping from Trey’s shoes onto the ground.
Trey was thrown aside like a discarded sack of garbage. The shadowy figure whirled towards Gwen, who was just getting to her f
eet. She screamed as it surged at her, the noise becoming a pitiful sound as the revenant burrowed its hands into the flesh of her stomach, driving its crusted fingernails deep.
Jacob’s eyes burned hot with tears. He saw that he could do nothing for her. Her head was at an unnatural angle, and she made no sound as her killer ripped out chunks of her flesh, feeding ravenously.
Jacob yelled, putting his helplessness and sorrow into the cry. He looked around and saw where Brenda was working to help Dr. Grayson, who had a bewildered look as he tried to get to his feet. He was evidently the recipient of the sweeping blow when the group had emerged from the tent.
“Hurry, get up!” Brenda implored, trying to lift the disoriented professor.
Jacob raced over, and together they pulled the professor to his feet.
“Brenda, here, this way!” he urged.
Assisting Dr. Grayson, they moved as fast as they could away from the campsite. After about a hundred strides, the professor was able to support himself, shedding much of his grogginess.
Jacob looked back towards the camp. What he saw would be forever emblazoned in his memory. The macabre entity was standing still, its body silhouetted in the moonlight. Its arm was thrust high into the air, holding aloft a morbid trophy: Trey’s severed head.
To Jacob’s eyes, it was like the thing was taunting them. He began to slow down, feeling a sense of hopelessness.
“What are you doing Jacob? Run, just run!” Brenda yelled at him, keeping her legs pumping as tears streaked down her face.
Snapping out of his stupor, Jacob hurried forward with the other two survivors.
-----
Despite coming close to tripping several times in his haste, Jacob reached the waist-high gate enclosing the front yard of a one-story house. Its lights had beckoned from afar, where it perched in the midst of a modest plot of land, just outside a quaint, rural village
Before he could reach over the gate to open the latch securing it, a man’s voice cut sharply through the darkness.
“Stop! Don’t come closer!”