TDI Tales From The Crypt

Chapter 1

The scene opens to the Cryptkeeper sitting at his desk. He reached down and picked up a wriggling cockroach, and looked it over for a second, before popping it into his mouth and eating it.

"Hello boils and ghouls, its me, your old friend the Cryptkeeper here again," he said, picking up a book. "Our first tale tonight feature a boy genius named Noah who's love of reading leads him to find a rather… peculiar book that takes Noah past the cliffs of madness, in a little something I like to call, A Good Read."

He opens the book to show a picture of Noah looking in horror at a book in his hands, while several pairs of menacing eyes stare at him from behind.

A Good Read

"Well that's another title off the list," Noah said, his voice oozing sarcasm, snapping a copy of Twilight shut. "So many snappy comments I don't even know where to start."

Standing up Noah went and put the book back on the shelf. As he turned to walk away, Noah felt a hand shove him hard in the back, causing the skinny teen to bump into the bookshelf, causing it to tilt.

"Watch where your going dingus," Duncan growled, as he walked away. "Or next time I won't just push you."

"Neanderthal," Noah grumbled. Up on top of the shelf a book that had been lying almost to the point of falling off, finally gave way. Noah yelped in surprise as the book hit the floor. "What do we have here?"

Picking it up, Noah looked it over. The book was old and musty, the cover looked like it had a face. Opening the back he saw there was no barcode.

"Strange," Noah said, flipping through the pages. The words were almost ineligible, and the gruesome illustrations were faded. "No barcode, it must be an old book."

Noah glanced around to see if anyone might be looking, before slipping the book into his backpack.

"I doubt they'll miss this," he said, heading for the door. "It's in such bad condition I'm probably doing them a favor by taking it."

Later that night we find Noah bent over the book at his desk. He'd spent the last few hours pouring over the aged pages, skipping dinner and his homework to read. The pages spoke of a dimension outside of our own, where dark and deadly creatures prowled the void. Rubbing his eyes Noah glanced over at his clock to see it was past 4 AM.

"Gotta get some sleep," he mumbled, before yawning, and closing the book. After changing for bed he climbed in and shut off the light.

He awoke a short time later breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Turning his bedside lamp on Noah sat up and looked around his room. Lying back on his pillow the boy genius thought about what had awakened him. The dream.

Noah had been running, he didn't know where, and he didn't know what from. But; he knew he had been chased. A soft tittering laugh had followed him, as a formless shape relentlessly pursued him. In the enveloping darkness he could hear great things moving around, shrill screams punctured the darkness as something met its end. Once, he thought he heard a human voice chanting in a language Noah could not understand.

"Just a dream, it was just a stupid dream," Noah said, as he flipped his light off. "Dreams are not real."

Slipping back into the embrace of sleep. He found himself in a dark desert. In the distance he could see a glow of a campfire. Noah made his way across the black sand until he reached the edge of the campsite. A circle was drawn in the sand around the campsite with various sigils drawn on either side of it. A robed figure sat hunched by the fire, clutching something tightly against his chest Noah could make out the shape of a book. The man was muttering in Arabic, but; Noah somehow was able to understand it.

"Castle Kandar is only a few miles away," he muttered, before looking around fearfully. "He will not have the Necronomicon."

Noah swallowed hard before stepping over the circle, almost immediately the robed man shot a glance over his shoulder and looked at Noah with a gaze of pure terror. Noah took a step back, accidentally wiping part of the drawing away with his foot.

"Back demon!" the man roared, as he jumped to his feet and pulled an curved dagger from his belt and held it over his head. "Take this message to your master Abdul Alhazred, tell him that Kumar Bashir is taking the accursed book to Castle Kandar, far outside his reach!"

"Calm down, I'm human," Noah said, holding his arms out to his sides. "I'm no demon, and I don't know who Abdul Alhazred is."

Bashir eyed his closely, looking for any sign that Noah was lying.

"Hold out your arm," Bashir said, moving closer. "Do it."

Noah held out his arm, he watched wordlessly as Bashir pressed the flat of the dagger against his forearm and held it there for several seconds before pulling it away.

"Apologies my friend," Bashir said, putting the dagger back into his belt. "I can not be too trusting these days. His servants are everywhere."

Bashir led Noah to the fire and told him to sit.

"Whose Abdul Alhazred?" Noah asked.

"He is the writer of this accursed Necronomicon!" Bashir said, holding the book out to Noah, he was shocked to see the same book he'd taken from the library. "It is a dark tome, bound in the flesh of virgins and written in human blood. It tells of a dark void where name less horrors stalk. Some of them even manage to pierce the void and slither into our dimension."

"If he wrote the book. How did you get it from him?" Noah asked.

"I had heard Alhazred was near the village of Bakseer to the south," Bashir said. "I found him sleeping, but; he was no fool. He had summoned guards to protect him, great hairy creatures with long, trunk like arms and fangs like scimitars. I was fortunate, as my mule fled, drawing the beasts away. I took the book from him, and would have plunged my dagger into his dark heart had the creatures not returned, causing me to flee. Now, I take the book to Castle Kandar, a holy place where Alhazred and his minions cannot go-"

A sardonic tittering drifted through the air. Bashir's face lost all color, and sweat began dripping down his face. Noah looked around but; saw nothing.

"What is that?" Noah asked, the sound was familiar, but; he could not remember where he'd heard it.

"The Shambler From The Stars," Bashir said, his voice low and serious. "We are safe as long as we do not leave the circle and it stays unbroken the creature cannot get us."

Noah looked at the edge of the campsite, a knot was drawing into his throat, as he saw the space his foot made when he stepped back. Before he could say anything, Noah watched as Bashir was lifted screaming off of the ground. He watched as Bashir was crushed and his blood was drained from him by a shapeless creature.

Noah couldn't look away, as the blood slowly began to spread, revealing the monster, a mass of tentacles and suckers, great talons were carved into Bashir's body as the man continued to scream.

That's when Noah woke up.

END CHAPTER 1