Found things

A lone 1999 Volkswagen parks along the side of the country road. It is October. The leaves of the trees have turned a hue of dazzling colors. The air, still warm but with a slight chill, hinting of the coming of winter, is fresh and clean. As the engine of the car is turned off, four college students exit the vehicle laughing and carrying on. They open the tiny trunk of the vehicle and take out a cooler, a picnic basket, some flashlights and two blankets. They walk, carefree into the woods.

"How far is it Brad?", the dark haired youth asks. "Not far, just over this hill." he replies.

"Well," Jasmine, replies, "let's get there. Its getting cloudy and I don't want to get my hair wet."

"Don't worry," replies Myra, chuckling, "Daddy will pay for it." They all laugh as they continue to climb the hill.

As the group climbs down the other side, they spy an old church lying in ruins. "I take it this is the place." asks Myra sarcastically. "Gee you think so." replies Jake as he trips over some underbrush. "How did you find out about this place, Brad?"

"Watch your step bro",Jake says as he catches Brad "my uncle is a hunter and he and a buddy of his found this place during one of their trips." "Eeew..", Myra makes a face as she says, "your uncle kills little animals?"

"Shit," says Brad, "Where do you think hamburger comes from?"

"For your information, I'm a vegetarian. I don't eat meat."

"That's not what you said last night in the bedrooom." says Jake laughingly.

"Oh shut up." Myra retorts.

"Well, here we are. Where is it?" asks Jasmine.

"In the church, under the pulpit." says Brad, "My uncle says it looks like it was a storeroom or something at one time. Some old crates and boxes are still down there."

"Cool deal," says Jake, "Let's go. My arms are getting tired and I need a brew."

The four enter the abandoned church. It is run down and in need of bad repair. The roof has caved in and the walls show signs of a fire at one time. They continue to walk towards the pulpit. "Down here," says Brad as he spies a set of stairs behind the pulpit.

"This place is creepy."says Jasmine.

"It ain't any worse than my bedroom." says Brad.

"I know, I've seen your bedroom."

They walk down the stairs. The flashlights illuminating a large, dusty storeroom with four crates lying on the floor. Spiderwebs run from ceiling to floor. "Woo-hoo," yells Jake as he opens up a beer, "Party time". The girls spread out the blankets and Myra takes a battery operated radio out of her knapsack and plays a Type-O Negative CD. They drink some more beer then begin to undress each other in the gloom, the music pulsating off the walls. Their primordial moans fill the chamber as their bodies intertwine.

An hour later, the youths lay on the blankets basking in the afterglow. "That was a pretty wild orgy." says Jasmine. "Hell yeah," says Jake, "I'm ready to go again." "You always are." says Myra.

Brad inhales deeply on a marijuana joint then says, "Hey Jake, I ever tell you the rest of the story about this church? My uncle told me some cool shit." "Like what bro?", Jake says as he fondles Jasmine's breasts. "Like he said that a long time ago this used to be a pretty popular church but then there was a scandal and it closed down." "Really?", says Myra, "what happenned?"

Brad stands up and stretches. "My uncle said that the church priest got caught boffing the alderman's wife. Needless to say, the alderman was pretty pissed. Apparently, he came here one night with a bunch of his buddies to teach the priest a lesson, but they ended up running away scared."

"hmm....Scared of what?", asked Jasmine becoming aroused by Jake's attentions.

"My uncle said that they found the priest conducting some kind of satanic ritual. When they came back with the sheriff, they found the priest dead ontop of the altar with his throat torn out."

"Whoa....that's cool.', says Jake.

"No it isn't. That's sick", says Myra.

"No, I'm talking about Jasmine's tits. What bullets!"

"Oh shut up." says Jasmine as she stands up and begins to get dressed,grabbing a pair of jeans. "Listen, I don't like it here anymore. Let's leave."

"What's the rest of the story, Brad?" asks Jake.

"My uncle also said that during the investigation they found a ton of jewelry that the priest apparently had hoarded. They took the priest's body to the morgue and when they came back, the jewels were gone."

"Probably taken by the local hicks.", says Jake.

"Hell," Brad says buckling up his jeans, "the jewels could still be here. They might even be in those crates."

"Hey," Jake says,"You think so? Let's find out."

"No," says Jasmine,"Let's leave."

"C'mon, Brad. Give me a hand and lets open up these crates."

"Well, you guys go ahead," Myra speaks, "but we are going back to the car. This place is starting to give me the creeps too."

"Chicken shit." says Brad.

Jake walks over to the nearest crate and tries to pry it open. "Damn. Its nailed solid. C'mon Brad check out the other ones. Hey, there is an old iron bar here. I bet I can open it with this."

Jake begins to hammer on one of the crates while Brad walks over to one of the others. "Hey, did you hear something?" asks Brad. "Don't you start that shit too Brad." says Jake.

"Damn, its gotten cold in here." says Jasmine starting to become more worried. "Hey guys, leave them alone. Let's get out of here."

"No man, I've almost got it." says Jake hammering away.

<The hammering grows intense. Weakened by slumber, it begins to draw upon its reserves. Prey....the prey is near it whispers.>

Jake smiles triumphantly as the corner of the crate breaks. "See, man? Nothing to.....", he says as an explosion of wood flies upward into the air. The girls scream as a paleish arm grasps Jake by the throat closing off his windpipe. "Bbbraaaaa...." Jake attempts to yell, unable to break the vise grip around his throat. Brad watches petrified and unable to move as a whiteish figure rises from the box. Its hair is pale white and it is dressed in rags. The rags of a priest. Its eyes glow silvery and stare at Brad briefly before it opens its mouth, showing two very sharp canines. It then lunges at Jake's throat and bites deeply, blood spurting upon the chamber walls. Silently, the lid to the other three crates begin to lift upward and 3 more figures step out.

"Jake!", screams Myra, "Brad watch out! Behind you! Oh my God.....Jake!" Jake gurgles a last reply before crumbling dead in the grip of the creature. Unceremoniously, the creature then tosses Jakes body casually aside.

Brad, still unable to move due to fright, stares horrified at what he has seen. Unknowingly, a pair of female hands wrap themselves tenderly around Brad's shoulders. Turning around, Brad looks into a face from hell. Her eyes too are silvery, predatory looking. Like the other, her hair is pitch white. At the corners of her mouth, two sharp fangs appear. He looks over her shoulder and spies the two remaining creatures: one male and another female. He hears the girls screaming and wonder why they don't run. He tries to scream but cannot. The creatures eyes stare deeply into his. For a moment, he begins to think of his life and everything he had done and had hoped to do. He thought of his Mom and Dad, of his little sister. For a moment, he thought of a peaceful surrounding. Then the creatures eyes changed a dark red....and all hell opens loose on him.

The girls begin to run up the stairs. Jasmine trips and falls, viciously twisting her ankle."My ankle.....oh God ....it hurts...I broke my ankle....Myra ....stop...help me....help me." Myra, adrenaline pumping through her veins, does not hear her friend. She only thinks of getting away. Of getting to the car and driving away. To get away from the monsters down below.

Jasmine tries to crawl up the stairs but is unable to crawl fast enough. She looks behind her to see one of the creatures standing nearly on top of her. He reaches down and grasps Jasmine by the back of her neck and lifts her high in the air. Tears running down Jasmine's cheek she pleads, "Don......don't kill..kill....me .....please....don't." The creature looks whimsically at her, almost as if it were studying her, then speaks in a rasping voice, "Don't worry Jasmine. Daddy will pay for it." Jasmine screams a high pitched scream as darkness falls upon her.

Myra runs half blind through the woods to the car tripping several times. It has begun to rain and it has grown dark. Gasping, nearly out of breath she finally reaches the car. She digs in her pocket for her keys to unlock the door and then realizes....these aren't my jeans, they're Jasmine's. "No...no...no...no", Myra talks to herself, pulling at her hair as she crumbles to the ground. "no...no...no...no" she repeats to herself. "This isn't happenning...this isn't happenning." She cries and whimpers there on the ground for what seems an eternity. She dreams of her mother. She dreams that her mother has come to take her from the monsters. Her mother always had. She had always chased away the monsters. "Myra dear," a voice whispers. "Don't fear. Mommy is here."

Half in shock, Myra looks up in the darkness and sees her Mother's face. "Ooooh...Mmmooommmy. Th...the monsters....they're real....they are really real." tears streaming down her face. Her mother looks lovingly upon Myra's face. Her hands, unusually cool, wipe aways Myra's tears and brush at her hair pushing it away from Myra's neck. "Of course they are my dear!" Myra looks and her Mother's face changes. Suddenly, Myra realizes that its not her Mother. Silvery eyes glare back at her and the voice rasps, "we were always real!". Myra screams one final scream.....and then silence returns to the woods. Only the sound of the rain upon the forest's leaves can be heard ....and a faint, whispering laugh.

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