Into Terror (chapter 2)

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heinzs
The Fat Cat
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Into Terror (chapter 2)

Post by heinzs » Sun Jun 12, 2011 2:38 pm

This was actually written in 2007

Chapter two: Hollywood?

November 14:
The next morning I rose early, determined to speak to the people in charge at the castle before noon. The innkeeper procured for me a horse that I could maintain throughout my stay in the village. It had belonged to the traveler who was killed by the vampyr. The inn had a fine stable and the animal was in excellent condition. I had suggested hiring a car, but aside from the one police vehicle, the only other car in the village belonged to a distant relative of the Baron who lived several miles south of town on his estate where he grew wine grapes. The stable boy saddled me up and my horse and I clip-clopped on the cobblestones heading north to the Baron's castle.

I soon left the village and the cobblestones behind. The road was a well maintained hard-packed dirt. To either side the fields stretched off into dark woods. Only occasional dwellings dotted the landscape, and it was for the most part devoid of human habitation. Rabbits started in front of me, and the horse snorted at them but did not respond to the bevy of quail that suddenly ran across the road. Soon I reached the end of the cultivated land and I found myself in a darkening wood. The road became less well-groomed, and periodically the horse would snort and shake its head rattling the reins.

An unearthly silence permeated the forest. Except for the rustling of leaves in the breeze, not a sound of life stirred. There were no birdcalls or the chattering of squirrels that I would normally associate with such a place. At last I came to a clearing, and in the distance I could see a dark gray stone edifice perched snugly upon a small hillock surrounded by low shrubbery and a walled garden. I could see tire tracks in the road and I assumed they belonged to the filming crew's vehicles. The horse snorted again and the foul stench of a rotting carcass assailed my nostrils. There, not more than 5 feet from the side of the road, lay the remains of a stag that had met with an untimely and gruesome end. The neck was reduced to vertebrae, all the flesh being torn away from it, and the bloated body oozed thick ichor. Remarkably there was no sign of magpies or other carrion eaters, but maggots had definitely found a succulent home there. I estimated it had been dead at least a week prior to my arrival.

I proceeded on to the gate, which lay open and hanging from one hinge as if someone had departed with a vehicle in a rush without stopping to open it. The metal was definitely warped where it had been impacted, and I could see fresh scratches in the gate's ancient patina. This semblance of anxious haste did not bode well, and I proceeded on with caution.

As I neared the castle, I espied a van lying almost on its side, the front end smashed heavily into a large tree, the doors all ajar or torn off, and the windshield in shards. I approached the vehicle, and my horrified eyes saw the remains of two passengers... both horribly mutilated as if by some demonic beast. It was quite obvious that the vampyr had been at work here, though what could have brought it to this location was not yet clear. I left the van, and with the horse snorting heavily proceeded to the castle.

The massive front door was off its hinges, so I let myself in. The interior was a shambles. Furniture lay strewn about the great hallway and the rugs were crumpled and torn. I made my way through the main floor. In the grand ballroom all the mirrors that had once lined the massive walls were smashed. The glass lay on the floor where it had fallen. One leg of the grand piano was broken and it leaned precariously as if drunk. A window on one wall was also broken, and the cold breeze wafted in furling the lacy curtain as if it were a white flag of surrender.

The kitchen fared better. Most of the pots and pans appeared to be in place, and towards the rear there was a great walk-in cooler. I tried the door, but it seemed to be locked. Just then I heard a sort of small whimper from inside the closed refrigerator. Determined to see what it was, I picked up a large iron ladle and forced it into the lock. After about three fruitless tries, it suddenly caught hold of the pin, and I was able to pry the door open. A pall of cold air fell about me and I peered into the foggy gloom. Hams, turkeys and sausages hung on hooks suspended by chains from the ceiling. I called out "Is anyone here?" A muffled cry came from a crumpled pile of blankets in one corner of the box. "F-f-Freddie?" It said.

"No, I'm not Freddie." I answered the voice, "But I'm here now and everything will be alright. You're safe, for the moment." The blankets moved and a lovely young blonde girl, she couldn't be older than 20, slowly stood up. "W-w-who are you?" she stammered, partly from the cold. "W-w-where's F-f-Freddie?" she asked. "I don't know anything about your Freddie... I haven't seen anyone alive other than yourself as yet, but I haven't finished exploring the castle and grounds either. Who might you be? I'm John... John Carpenter." I said. I took her into the front room where I proceeded to light the fire that was already set in the fireplace. The kindling took to my match right away, and within a few minutes we had a warm cozy blaze.

"I'm Elaine Day." she said. "I'm both a secretary and an actress for the Hazeltine film group. Freddie is my co-star." I continued to reassure her and begged her to fill me in on what had happened to the crew and the castle. Elaine had been in the refrigerator for about two days by her reckoning. The events leading up to her being locked in were both terrifying and disturbing.

The Hazeltine filming company was trying to get some new on-site backdrops for some short films to sell to the larger studios back in Hollywood. They had gotten permission from the Baron's relative south of the village to use the castle, as it was virtually uninhabited and derelict for most of the year. The Baronet only used the castle at the height of the summer when he was hunting deer or boar on the vast grounds. The castle had been electrified for about 3 years, and that came in handy for storing the spoils of the hunt in the large refrigerated room where Elaine had hidden. In addition, the castle was still in sufficient condition for the Baronet to hold several large parties per year, and to that end he had kept the kitchen well stocked. The film crew would want for very little while staying there.

The crew had set up their filming in several rooms of the castle as well as on the grounds. At first they were attempting to create a light love story with Elaine and Freddie as the lovers. Then, about a week after they had arrived, one of the crewmembers had stumbled upon the family crypt behind the castle. Upon breaking the locks on the doors and entering in, the director, Walt Hazeltine, immediately hit upon the idea that the crew could film a dark gothic horror story. All the materials were there at their disposal. A large castle, rampant unkempt gardens, a family mausoleum that contained any quantity of skeletons and caskets they might want, and such a film was potentially more salable than the original love story.

Everything was going quite well. But the film just wasn't horrifying enough. Walt finally decided that they would introduce a bit of witchcraft into the story to spice it up. They broke into the large casket in the crypt. There they found the headless desiccated skeleton of one of the Baron's family members. A crude wooden cross dangled loosely from between the ribs. At the feet of this coffin they found a small sarcophagus, which, to their surprise, yielded a skull, with dried skin and black hair still clinging to it. They took their cue and with the cameras rolling they laid the corpse out, laid the head in its proper position on the body, and as a special touch of authenticity, while chanting nonsense words for the sound recorder, killed a squawking chicken from the garden, held it by its feet, and let its blood trickle generously onto the dried flesh of the corpse. The filming done for the day they had retired, leaving the scene for further camera workups in the days to come.

They repeated the scene a few more times from some different camera angles just to get the maximum effect. Then they proceeded to work on the rest of the story as Walt created the script on the fly. They moved from the crypt to the castle and continued filming for the rest of the week, thinking nothing further about the desecration of the tomb they had committed or any consequences their actions might, in the long run, have for themselves or others.

It all started to fall apart as the moon moved into its full phase near the end of the week. During the night a frightening howling was heard from behind the castle, and even the intrepid film crew dared not leave the safety of the stone walls. In the morning, upon exiting to do some daylight shots in the garden, they were astonished to find the mutilated body of a large stag not more than two meters from the entry door. Its entire neck had been torn away to the vertebrae, as if ripped off by large talons or fangs. Walt had the crew remove the body, and although shaken, decided to continue the filming. There had been no more incidents after this first strange event, and the crew simply put it out of their minds. They concentrated on filming in the castle and on the grounds for the rest of the month.

Then at the coming of the full moon once again, things got strange once more. The nighttime howlings resumed and several more deer were found mutilated like the first. Three nights previous there had been a scuffling and scratching at the castle door. Suddenly a horrendous howl pierced the still of the night, and the crew huddled for comfort near the fire in the great room. No one dared leave the castle for fear of what might be lurking in the darkness. Eventually the howling ceased, and the next day the crew determined that they were done with their shooting and began to load their equipment back into the van and the truck. The sunshine and coolness of the day lifted their spirits somewhat, but they carefully barricaded the doors to the castle as night approached once more.

That night all hell broke loose. Once darkness had fallen and with the moon fully risen, the howling of the previous night commenced anew. It came right up to the castle in quick time. A crash came from the great ballroom as one of the huge windows was smashed in from the outside. The crew was collected in the main room, and all started at the noise. Those that had brought them with them drew their firearms and four of the men moved towards the noise. Freddie stayed close to Elaine for protection. Shots rang out and terrible screams came from the ballroom. Walt and the last two crewmembers edged towards the door. Suddenly it burst open, and an enormous wolf-like beast sprang through the opening. It spun and tore the head clean off one of the crew men as the second one turned and ran with Walt close behind. Freddie and Elaine raced the other direction towards the kitchen.

Apparently Walt and the crewmember managed to find the front door. They raced out and made it to the waiting van. They started the engine, but as they tried to drive away the beast sprang upon the hood of the vehicle. As they swerved to try to shake it off, their van ran into the tree in the front garden, spilling itself onto its side and smashing the windshield. I gathered that the two bodies I had found still in the van were those of Walt and the crewmember. Freddie quickly collected some blankets from the hallway, took Elaine to the kitchen and closed her into the cooler. He promised to return as soon as the coast was clear, and Elaine had survived there until my arrival. Of Freddie or the other crewmen there was no sign to be found.

"Elaine, you have no idea what you and your friends have done here." I told her. "The headless body you discovered in the family crypt was the hundred-year old corpse of the Baron who lived in this castle. He had been infected by the bite of a vampyr, and in his death his body was preserved so as to prevent his rising from the dead to kill again. Your friends not only managed to provide the means for his resurrection, but offered him the blood he needed to fulfill this terrifying destiny. I suspect none of your friends have survived."

"But..." Elaine interjected, "I thought I heard the truck start this morning and drive away. I tried to call out but no one could hear me from inside the cooler."
"I saw evidence of a vehicle leaving in a great hurry, smashing the front gate in the process, so that must have been the truck leaving this morning." I told her. "Apparently someone survived this attack besides yourself, but I have no idea where they may have gone to."
"I'm sure it must have been Freddie!" Elaine's voice held out a feeling of hope. "He must have waited until dawn and then gone for help... but why he didn't come to release me from the refrigerator I surely cannot imagine."
"If it was indeed Freddie," I replied, "he must have had a serious reason for his actions. I'm sure he will inform you when we finally catch up with him."

The livery stable behind the castle contained a lovely two-wheeled pram, and I wasted no time at all in hitching up the horse to the carriage and Elaine and I headed back to the village inn. I left the horse and carriage in the care of the inn's groom and got Elaine situated in a room across from mine on the second floor. I recounted the story to Marijke and her father while we sat at dinner. We all concluded that the wayfarer who had met with such an unfortunate fate the previous month, resulting in my ownership of such a fine horse, must have been killed that second night of the full moon that had been so quiet at the castle. After dinner we retired to our rooms for a well earned rest. Marijke's father once again sealed all the inn's orifices with garlic flowers as a precaution against vampiric incursion, and I sank gratefully into the soft featherbed to sleep and dream my troubled dreams.

November 15:
The night had passed uneventfully. I came down to breakfast to find Marijke and Elaine sitting over coffee having a "girl talk" conversation. Marijke had never met a "movie star" and Elaine was telling her all about the wonders of Hollywood and life in California.
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