“We’d just started to climb the pub’s hill,” Jerry said, “when we heard growling. It started off just like a dog’s, and that may have been what it was at first…but then it got louder. A dog can’t make your bones rattle like this did. We started to get our asses out of there, but Jess slipped over.”
“I tripped on something under the snow,” Jess explained, embarrassed. “That’s when we saw it.”
“Saw what?” asked the elderly man. “What did you see?”
There was silence for a few moments and it became unclear who would be the one to answer first. Jess decided it would have to be her. “It was big – bigger than anything wandering around a council estate should be. It had thick, oily fur that was totally clean from snow, as though any flakes that tried to settle on it just melted. In a way, it really did look like a dog, but it was just way too big…plus its face was all wrong.”
Jerry supported her as her voice began to weaken. She appreciated it and had already started to consider him a friend. Relationships forged easily at times like this, she realised. “Yeah, I remember,” Jerry said. “Its face was much flatter and rounded – more like an ape than a dog, except its mouth took up half its face. It was full of teeth; rows and rows of them like those chomp-monsters in The Langoliers. You ever see that flick?”
Damien scoffed. “How could you make out all that detail in a blizzard?”
Jerry shook his head. “I don’t know. It was as though there was a glow around it. A sphere of light.”
Damien shook his head, obviously not buying any of it, but said nothing. Jess saw a similarly incredulous expression on Kath’s face as well. Screw you both, she thought.
The others stayed quiet too, until Jerry finally said, in a croaky voice, “We haven’t even told you about the sick bastard that murdered my best friend – turned him right to dust.”
Everyone looked at Jerry.
###
When the teenagers, Jess and Jerry, had finished telling their wild story about a hooded figure turning their friend to dust, Harry was speechless. Of course, he didn’t believe such a ridiculous tale – such a thing was impossible – but the story still managed to unsettle him. Whether or not it was true, something had obviously sent the kids running inside the pub.
Harry swigged his beer as he stared into the fire, listening to the conversations of the group rather than participating in them. He tuned in to the sound of Kath who was busy berating Jess about what the girl had just told them.
“You silly, attention-seeking, twit,” the woman told the girl. “You’re just trying to frighten everybody. I’ve never heard such codswallop in all my life.”
Jess slapped her palms against her forehead in dismay. “I watched Jerry’s best friend die. If you hadn’t been too busy abandoning me then you may have been there to see it too.”
“How dare you! I did nothing of the sort. I shouted and looked everywhere for you, but you’d wandered off carelessly.”
Jess sneered. “Bollocks!”
“That is it, young lady!” Kath’s voice quivered with rage. “Don’t you bother coming in to work tomorrow because you are fired, young lady!”
Jess laughed. “We’re in a pub, Kathleen, not at work. I can say what the hell I like to you. Don’t worry though because I quit anyway.”
“Music to my ears. Now I can employ someone with half a brain.”
“Actually, you need to hire someone without a brain, then they won’t mind working for a pathetic bully like you. I understand though, Kathleen, it must be difficult being a spinster.”
“You spiteful little bitch! You know nothing about me.”
Harry watched as Kath threw off her duvet and leapt to her feet. For a second, it seemed as though the older woman was going to go for Jess, but instead she turned away from the group and departed towards the toilet.
“You two don’t get on then?” Lucas quipped from the edge of the group.
“No shit,” Jess replied. “Got to tell you though, it felt really good saying that to her.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” said Harry. “Maybe you should just let things lie for now though. Who knows how long we’ll be stuck in this situation together.”
“I know. I’ll leave her alone, so long as she doesn’t get in my face. I need to ask her where the warehouse guy went first though. She treats Peter like dirt and I need to make sure he’s alright.”
Jess shoved herself up onto her feet and headed after Kath. Once she’d taken half-a-dozen steps, a body crashed through the window.
Chapter Sixteen
“Peter!” Jess screamed.
Harry watched the girl drop to her knees, scrambling over to the body now splayed across the pub’s wooden floor. The boy was barely conscious, covered in blood, and murmuring deliriously in a foreign language. Cold air flew in through the broken window and extinguished any minor warmth that had managed to remain inside the pub.
Harry clambered across the room, skidded to his knees, and came to a stop beside Jess and the injured boy. Did she say his name was Peter?
Jess looked at Harry; a hollow stare consumed her delicate features, while tears dripped from her grief-stricken blue eyes and stained her cheeks. “Help him, please.”
Harry choked on his words. “I…I…What’s…What’s happened to him?”
“I don’t know,” cried Jess. “Just please make him alright.”
“I’ll tell you what happened,” said Jerry, rushing over to join them. The others in the pub – minus Kath who was still in the toilet – stood on the periphery, watching. “It’s those demon-fuckers outside,” Jerry continued. “The evil monk and his pet dog.”
Harry blinked. “You’re speaking gibberish!”
“You reckon?” Jerry contested. “Then why don’t you tell me what can chuck a guy through a pub window like a ragdoll, huh?”
Harry had no answer and that worried him, but before he could send himself deeper into anxious musings, Jess shoved him hard on the arm. “You’re not helping.” She beat her fists against his arm again. “You need to help him.”