Her Prius was located in the staff car park that was up top, rather than the public one down below by the Rainforest Café. She hated the narrow, two mile road that would take her down the hill and back to the lower altitudes of the nearby villages. She wanted to get going sooner rather than later to tackle it. The longer she waited the more tired she would become.
As she headed towards the upper car park, which was located behind the park’s Jacobean manor house, Ripley Hall, Annaliese spotted a pair of young lovers amongst the sycamore trees on the lawn. They had obviously spilled out of the manor after some boozy function or wedding party.
Half the money that the park made was from hiring out the many rooms and facilities of Ripley Hall and its grounds. There was a lot of profit to be made by supplying yuppies with ample amounts of booze and a warm bed for the night. From what Annaliese gathered from members of the house-staff, most of the bosses who hired the property out for their functions were only interested in playing away from home with whatever colleague had been catching their eye most recently. Most of the snooty soirees eventually devolved into the kind of drunken debauchery that would have been right at home in ancient Rome. It made Annaliese feel embarrassed. Embarrassed for those people and their lack of priorities.
People like these two, snogging each other’s faces off in the freezing cold.
Annaliese cleared her throat loudly as she neared the two lovers on the lawn. There was no way to avoid them on her way to her car, and she was damned if she was going to be the one who felt uncomfortable. Let them be the ones to feel awkward.
But the young lovers ignored Annaliese’s approach. The male of the pair was really going for it; nuzzling at the woman’s neck with animalistic passion. She could hear the wet, slopping sounds from several feet away.
Charming. I’d say go get a room, but you already have one. So maybe you should go use it!
Annaliese had seen quite enough. She didn’t mind a bit of passion, but she wasn’t about to accept their rudeness of ignoring her presence.
“Excuse me,” she said. “Perhaps you should take that back inside. The park will be opening up soon. You should probably call it a night.”
The couple continued necking.
Annaliese spoke louder. “Hey! Time to wrap it up, you two. Party’s over.”
Finally, she got a response. The male ceased his fevered nuzzling of the woman’s neck and turned sideways to look at her.
Annaliese went weak from the knees upwards. The sudden fright sent a shockwave of adrenaline though her veins.
What the hell?
The man’s face was smeared with blood. A sliver of what looked like flesh hung from his cracked and splintered teeth. The young woman he was with slumped to the ground as he released her, her neck torn open and gushing fluids.
Holy shit!
Annaliese took a step backwards, shaking her head and fighting the urge to vomit. Vet or no vet, she had never seen such a horrific sight in all her life. It was like a scene from a Clive Barker novel.
“Back the hell away,” she shouted at the approaching man. “Stay back.”
The man kept coming.
She was forced backwards as he came at her with outstretched arms. Her heel caught on a root and she went stumbling down onto her rump. Shooting pains ran up her spine, emanating from her coccyx.
She saw stars.
The man was on her immediately. He fell down on top of her and started clawing at her shirt. She fought back with her arms and knees, trying to push herself free. But the man was too heavy; all her effort was focused just on keeping his jaws away from her neck. It was crazy, but it seemed like the man was trying to bite her, just like he had the dead woman lying on the ground.
Annaliese was trapped.
She let loose a scream, crying out for help. Her arms began to ache and the man on top of her seemed to get heavier and heavier. She pushed with all her might, but it was no use. The man was too strong.
“Jesus, somebody help me! Help!”
“Anna?”
Annaliese craned her neck back and saw Bradley racing towards her.
“Bradley, help me. Get this psycho off.”