Nowhere Left to Run - Part Two
Chapter 1
"FUUUUCK!" shouted Dougie as he struggled to hold the church doors shut as the vampire bitches that had pursued him through the forest pounded relentlessly on the doors behind him.
He had barely made it in there with his life. He shut his eyes and gritted his teeth, concentrating with all his might on keeping them out. He fought back the tears as he thought about what had just happened. He had helped Tom and Danny kill Harry, who had turned out to be a vampire. Tom hadn't followed him out of the studio and in his panic; he had left Danny alone in the courtyard, shouting after him, standing over Fletch's body. He realised with a lurch in his heart that they were probably all dead by now and he grasped he was alone.
He was small, but he was strong and the adrenalin that coursed through him gave him the strength he needed to keep them at bay. After what seemed like hours, he realised that the banging had stopped. Cautiously, he turned around to face the door. He put his ear to it and listened. Nothing. Had they gone away or was it a trick? Had they found a different way in?
He still had his ear to the door when the banging started again. He leaped away from the door in fright. Then he heard a familiar voice; "Dougie! You in there? Let me in, for fuck's sake!"
Danny!
He started to lift the bar that was holding the door shut and then stopped. What if it was a trap? What if Danny had also become a vampire and was trying to get in to kill him too? "What the hell!" he said out loud and moved the bar to allow the door to open.
Danny fell in through the door and quickly turned to replace the bar. He looked at Dougie. "Mate, didn't you hear me shouting to you?"
"Yeah" said Dougie "'don't go into the woods!'" He spread his arms, hopelessly. "I panicked!" he said and shrugged.
Danny hugged him. "I'm glad you're ok!" he said. "Now we got to figure out what the fuck we're going to do now!"
They both slid down to the floor with their backs to the door and sat staring into space. "Harry's dead!" said Danny quietly, like Dougie didn't already know.
"Yeah" agreed Dougie, "and probably Tom too!"
"And Fletch" replied Danny. "Just you and me then!"
"Lads on tour!" said Dougie softly. Somehow the line wasn't as funny as it had been earlier.
Danny rested his head back against the door. "So now what?" he said, turning to look at Dougie.
"No idea" he replied. "I just ran!"
"We need to get back to the house, get to a car and get out of here!" said Danny.
"How did you make the vampires go away?" asked Dougie, suddenly remembering his earlier fear that Danny had also been turned.
Danny reached into his pocket and pulled out a rosary with a crucifix on it. He smiled and waved it at Dougie. "I took this from Fletch" he said. "Figured he wouldn't need it anymore. When I showed it to the vampires, they took off!"
Dougie ran his fingers through his hair. "But they'll be back!" he said. He looked around him. Something caught his eye. "Over there!" he pointed, "under the pews, there's a grate! Reckon it leads to a sewer or a tunnel or something?"
"It might do," replied Danny.
Just then, the banging and screeching started again on the doors behind them. Scrambling to their feet, they looked at each other in horror. Shoving his shoulder into the door as hard as he could, Danny yelled, "Go check it out! I'll hold them off!"
Dougie ran across the floor and skidded to a halt by the first row of pews. He tried to shove the benches out of the way, but the heavy wooden seats wouldn't budge. Dropping to his knees, he reached under the pew and scrabbled his fingers at the grate. It hadn't moved in years, centuries even, but somehow, he managed to hook his fingers into the intricate metalwork and yanked as hard as he could. He cried out in pain at the feeling in his fingers and then in joy as the grate began to move.
He looked back at Danny. He was watching Dougie as he forced his full weight against the door but Dougie could tell from the look on his face that he was running out of time. He reached for the grate again and gave it an almighty tug. It slid free of its resting place and clattered across the stone floor beside him. He commando crawled under the pew and looked down. It was pitch black and he couldn't tell what was down there.
Leaping to his feet, he grabbed the nearest object, a metal collection plate and dropped it into the abyss. He counted "one, two, thr..." he heard it hit the ground with a loud clatter. "It's not too deep!" he shouted to Danny. "I think we should just go for it". He rushed back over to the doors.
"Let's pile some stuff in front of the doors, give us a bit more time!" said Danny.
"Good idea" Dougie replied and they both left the doors and sprinted across the church and grabbed one end each of the first of the pews. Between them, they managed to half-carry, half-drag it across to the doors. They both scrambled back across to the hole in the floor. Dougie dragged the grate cover back towards the hole. "After you" he said, motioning towards the dark hole.
"Thanks!" said Danny sarcastically. Hesitating slightly, he turned around and swung his legs through the hole. Dropping down on his arms, he cautiously let go and was pleased when he only dropped a few feet. "I'm all right!" he shouted back up through the hole.
Dougie turned and grabbed the only candlestick that had remained lit and leant down through the hole to pass it to Danny. "Good thinking!" he said as he took it from him.
Dougie turned and dropped down through the hole. "Let me climb on your shoulders" he said to Danny, "Pull the cover back over the hole".
He struggled as he reached back up through the hole, but managed to position the cover back in place.
They both looked around them. They were in some kind of passageway. The light from the candles was better than nothing, but not by much. Danny suddenly remembered his iPhone in his pocket. He switched it on and found the flashlight app. That gave them more light.
As they looked around them, they wondered should they stay where they were until daylight or follow the passageway that might lead nowhere or might lead somewhere worse. Their decision was made for them as they suddenly realised the banging from the room above had now been joined by the sound of breaking glass. The vampires had clearly given up trying to break the door down and were now throwing things at the windows to try and get in that way instead.
Luckily, the windows in the church were all well above eight feet off the ground and were intricate leaded stained glass windows. Dougie was sure that it would be difficult for them to gain entry that way. Suddenly, all noise stopped and then the ominous silence was replaced by a crashing sound. They had finally managed to break through the door and were coming into the church! Dougie quickly extinguished the candles and Danny locked his phone with a snap. They were suddenly in almost complete darkness except for the small amount of light coming through the grate from the church above them.
Should they stay or should they go? It wouldn't take long for the vampires to figure out where they had gone, so between them they decided to try to find out where the passageway led. They headed to their left, which was slightly uphill; in the hopes it would return them to the mansion.
They half ran along the passageway, wary of what they might run into, the light from Danny's iPhone guiding them as their eyes became accustomed to it. After running for five minutes, they suddenly saw a shaft of light radiating down from the tunnel ceiling. They slowed and approached it cautiously. As they peered up at the light source, they could see it was another drainage grate. Danny put his hands together and gestured to Dougie, "Climb up, mate," he said. "I'll lift you up so you can take a look"
Dougie used Danny hands as a step and then clambered up onto Danny's shoulders. He grunted with the effort of trying to move the grate and although he was trying to be careful, his movements were making Danny wobble as he struggled to keep his balance.
Eventually, Dougie managed to shift the grate far enough to look out. He looked around, his eyes struggling to adjust to the light. The sun was beginning to rise and the view had the grey hue of dawn. With a start, Dougie realised what he was looking at. He looked down at Danny "We're in the ornamental garden! Just down from the parking area outside the main door to the house!"
He slid the grate fully away from the hole and pulled himself up and out of the hole. He lay on his stomach and extended his arms down to help Danny up. They both strained as Dougie conjured all of his strength to help lift his friend to safety. Eventually, Danny scrambled up and they both lay on the ground, breathing hard.
After a few moments, they had both recovered enough and, remembering the very real danger they were still in, sprang to their feet and sprinted across the lawn and back towards the house. The scene was exactly as Danny remembered leaving it only a few hours before. Fletch's body laid flat out on its back, next to the open door of the car that had failed Danny when he had needed it most.
Dougie and Danny just stood and stared for a few moments and then the sound of a blackbird heralding the dawn made them both jump. As they looked around them, they realised the colour was starting to return to the scene as the sun began to rise on the new day.
Visibly relieved, Danny said. "The sun's coming up! We should be safe now, right?"
"Yeah" agreed Dougie. "Vampires and sunlight definitely don't mix!" with a pang, he remembered the events of the day before, how they had first discovered what was really going on with Harry, when Lucy, their presenter friend had turned to a fireball and then ash in front of them.
Danny looked around him. All seemed quiet and there was no sign of the vampires who had pursued them so relentlessly coming after them. "So what now?" he asked, almost rhetorically.
"I think we should bury the bodies," said Dougie, quietly. They had lost so many people who were so important to them and it just seemed wrong to him for them to leave, abandoning their bodies to rot in this house of hell.
"OK" agreed Danny. "Let's go and find Harry and Tom..." his voice cracked slightly with emotion as he thought ahead to what they were about to do. He shook his head in disbelief and turned on his heel and headed back towards the house.
Dougie followed Danny in silence as they made their way back to the studio. The scene that greeted them was just like something out of a horror movie. Blood was spattered all over the walls; their guitars and Harry's drum kit. Danny looked wildly around him, "Where are they?!" he exclaimed.
Dougie looked behind Harry's drum kit, expecting to see the prone body of his friend. There was a huge, dark puddle, but no Harry! Dougie looked at Danny. "Harry's gone!" he said in disbelief.
"Yeah!" replied Danny. "So has Tom!" he indicated a second large puddle on the floor.
"So what does that mean?" asked Dougie. "They're still alive? Or someone has already been in and cleared up?"
"Harry definitely can't be alive!" said Danny. "You saw him! He was a full blown vampire and we drove that neck straight through his heart!"
"And no way could any living person survive losing that much blood!" said Dougie, indicating the patch on the floor where the cleaning girl had finally shown Tom how much she really wanted him.
Dougie shivered. "So where are they?" he looked around him, suddenly creeped out by not knowing what had happened to their friends.
"I think we should just get out of here, while we still can!" said Danny. Dougie nodded in agreement.
They went back out to the front of the house. The sunlight was now starting to appear over the treetops to the east. They both regarded the elderly Vauxhall. This was their only hope of motorised escape, but as Danny tried to start the engine once again, the starter motor span but the engine just wouldn't fire into life. The driveway was flat, so bump starting the car was out of the question. Danny pulled the bonnet release catch and they both peered into the engine bay as if the answer would suddenly appear.
Then it did, "Look!" said Dougie, pointing at the distributor cap. It was not clipped fully into place. He reached across Danny, who moved out of his way and allowed Dougie to close the clasp that held the cap closed. After carefully checking the back seats, Danny climbed into the driver's seat and tried the engine once more. It was a little sluggish and reluctant, but eventually it fired into life!
"Yes mate!" exclaimed Danny, clapping his hands together. Dougie slammed the bonnet shut and ran around the car. He jumped into the passengers seat and Danny wheel span away from the ill-fated house.