Blood will run forever

Zach Baker awoke from his nap. Something had disturbed him. Looking around the room, he saw his Lauren sleeping like an angel, and Angela and Bruno sleeping just as peacefully, intertwined on the sofa bed, little Johnny snoring in the hammock. He took care not to wake anyone as he got up off the couch, fishing in his pocket for his cigarettes. Thinking he would relax outside in the night air of Colorado, he quietly made his way to the front porch. Lighting up, he pondered the very reason he was here. He had worked as a paranormal investigator for many years, since he was a teenager. He had dealt with some relatively harmless cases, and some not-so-harmless cases. But this one was different, he mused to himself. No entity had made its prescence that obvious upon immediate contact. Though he hadn't seen it yet, the description given by Madeleine, Bruno and Angela was enough to unnerve him, yet excite him. He, like his wife, could feel an entity's presence. He immediately felt a terrible anger emitting from the yet-to-be-identified spirit upon entering this house.

A soft creaking noise from within the house brought him back to reality. Curious, he decided to investigate while everyone else was sleeping. He peeked into the hallway to see that the door leading to the basement was slightly ajar. A wave of nervousness hit him- should he dare venture down? He immediately decided yes- he was here to find the ghost, not on holiday.

Zach quickly and quietly made his way to the basement. Upon entering, he immediately was overwhelmed with the presence of something dark, something... sinister. Gripping the torch in one hand and the butt of his .45 Colt in the other, a present from his departed father that gave him a feeling of safety in any situation, he began to look for the light switch. Finding it, he flicked it on, and gasped in horror.

It was the body of a woman, hanging by her neck, hands tied, deep gashes in her wrists, swaying on the end of a noose. Zach nearly shouted in fright, but quickly regained his wits. Shaking slightly, he approached the body, and turned it around... only to stare into the face of his Lauren.

Except that it wasn't the Lauren he knew. She looked as if she had been burnt alive. Eyes were nearly drooping out of her sockets, her mouth flowing a river of blood. Began screaming at Zach; "Look what you made me do Zach! LOOK AT YOU! MR HIGH AND MIGHTY GHOST HUNTER!" Zach, in a complete state of horror, found his voice- "Lauren! You can't be dead! I just saw you up there!" "IDIOT BOY!" the "Lauren" cackled repeatedly, its eyes sparkling with malice, its voice getting deeper... "You should have minded your own business ghost buster" were its final words in a deep, male voice, before bursting into flames. Zach's screams were accompanied by a new screech. Zach turned on the spot, staring into the face of who could only be Madeleine's ghostly attacker.

Zach only had time to reflect on how accurate Madeleine's description was before the thing grabbed him, throwing him across the room, rushing him again. Zach didn't even think; he fired his pistol 3 times at the monster, sending it flying back across the room. Zach quickly spotted a door almost hidden in the dark and made for it, easily kicking it open just as the monster went to attack him again. He could hear it pounding and screaming against the door as he sprinted up a passageway, determined to put as much distance between himself and that thing as possible. He knew this passageway, having explored it with Lauren the day before. He knew it led to a barn-like shed on the property. Panting, gun in hand, he found the stairs that led to the door to the shed and almost leaped up them 3 at a time, kicking the door down. He was met with another unwelcome suprise.



Madeleine could hear a pounding behind the door that led to the basement of the main part of the house, growing ever so louder. She was lucky she was still conscious at all, given that her 2 captors had waterboarded her and interrogated her for what seemed like hours, never physically striking her but inflicting more refined forms of crueltry on her. She began to scream, trying to break free of her bonds, but was instantly grabbed by the Slavic man who she now knew as Roman. The second man, Michael, was aiming a 9mm Uzi at the door, ready to kill whoever came through there. Though whoever it was came crashing through the door with such force that both him and Roman were caught off guard.

Zach was staring at Madeleine, bound to a chair, screaming, flanked by 2 of the scariest people he had ever seen, apart from the thing in the basement. One was short and clean cut, the other was tall with a beard, looked kind of Russian. Both were in expensive business suits, holding guns. Zach and the 2 men stared at each other for a few seconds before Zach reached for his gun. But the tall man was quicker, shooting Zach once in the shoulder, the impact of the bullet effectively dropping Zach to the ground.

Zach groaned with the pain as the tall man stood over him, silenced handgun pointed at his head. "Roman, c'mon man, let's fly!" begged the shorter man. "Just a second" the man called Roman said in a quiet, yet chilling voice. Zach gulped as Roman bent down, lightly gripping Zach's throat.

Notes