GENESIS (GODS CHAIN) (11 page)

Daylight had nearly gone
when
the floodlights suddenly switched on.
The
lights
shone upwards towards the
boys
from
the ground below
,
dousing
each
red sandstone
wall with
an
amber
splash
.
L
ooking
over the edge,
Cameron began to feel a bit dizzy as it was a very steep drop!

The gargoyle replicas
crouched
on the walled perimeters and quietly watch
ed
the
boys
with imagin
ed
stony intent.
These small
,
carved caricatures cast queer silhouettes over the stone turret
;
the boys had
almost entirely
forgotten their legendary menace.

             
Suddenly, the air pressure increased
.
The atmosphere s
eemed to become
heavier
.

‘Do you feel it
,
Scott?
My ears are hurting!’
Cameron
shouted in pain, holding both sides of his head with his palms.

‘Yes!
W
hat is
happening?
’ screamed Scott as the increasing atmospheric pressure intensified sharply and
he was overwhelmed with the
feeling
of
being on an a
i
rplane in steep ascent
.

‘Hold your nose and blow into it!’ Cameron shouted again, his face screwed up in complete discomfort
as he
attempt
ed
to equalise the pressure inside his head
.

Scott plugged his nose and blew.
Pop!
I
t worked!
Just as he began to grin with relief
,
Scott heard
a
deep
and low rumble
that shuddered
through the ground and reverberated also in the clammy air
.
A
colossal and incredible
BANG!
floored him as a
wild explosion
shook the monument
!

The sky flashed brightly with white sheet lighting.
The
tormented
countryside
was
instantly illuminated for a split second
,
dazzling
Scott’s eyes.
The blank and startled faces
of the
villagers
in the streets
were suddenly revealed,
highlighted
along with
the macabre and ill-omened stone devils
.

The village
rs
waited with bated breath to
see
what
would
happen next
.
Their questions were answered
with another low rumble a
s
the
earth
began to slowly wobble and then
undulate
in long waves
, which flowed like a sheet flapping in the wind
.
Scott collapsed as the building buckled beneath him
,
riding up and down with
the trembling landscape
.
W
ithout any warning
,
the ground suddenly stopped heaving and was completely still.
A deathly silence instantly ensue
d
, washing over the frozen shire
—
the atmosphere eased and
the air
pressure
returned to
normal.
Birds began to squawk and whistle, flying from tree to tree in a mixture of alarm and relief; dogs barked and yelped
to each other
in the distance.
The winds calmed to no more than a
cool
breeze.
The tremor was over in less than half a minute
...
.

‘What happened?’ Cameron held his
still-churning
stomach
with both hands
.

‘It was an earthquake
, I think,
’ Scott replied in disbelief, bewildered as an eerie hush fell over the shaken village.
A fire engine siren and a flashing blue light pass
ed
quickly
below them
, charging down the road and into the village
,
mingling with
the distant
, distressed
shouts of village folk
.

‘
Let’s use the
telescopes’ shouted Scott
, wanting to see more of what had happened in the village
.
The telescopes were positioned at each corner of the tower and
the
boy
s
took
turns
at each
vantage point
to
observ
e
as best as they could where the fire engine was going
. Scott watched as the truck
disappear
ed in
the narrow
village streets
and
then
head
ed
up
the steep
hilltop road.

Scott
ran over to the other
telescope
at
the west viewpoint
,
t
rying to spot
what
damage
had been done. His eye was distracted by
a darkish mist
that seemed to
shift slowly over the moor near the disused sandstone quarry
.

What is that?
he wondered. The
low
-
lying mist appeared to be hugging close to the
crags of the
deep red-sandstone quarr
y...or
was the deeper dark grey
actually coming from within the quarry
?
In th
e
low light, Scott was unsure
.
Perhaps
the earthquake
had
fractured something deep inside the quarry
, and gas was now escaping....

‘I think you should go now
,
’ came a stern voice from behind them
.
I
t was the caretaker
, who stood
over at the tower door,
his face pale and serious.
‘I will take you home
—
we must go quickly!’ the man insisted.

‘What is happening?’
Cameron
asked anxiously. The man did not answer and
instead
guided them down the spiral staircase
,
his
former
friendliness
disappearing into a
frosty
sternness that seemed almost more horrible than the earthquake
.
After he slipped into
his heavy coat
,
they all
started
walking fast down the road. A few automobiles
swerved
wildly
around the sharp corners of the rural roads, and
people walked quickly
toward the village,
all talking excitedly
and sharing worried glances
.

The old man
t
apped the front door of Scott’s home and his mother appear
ed
within seconds. Her face lit up
the moment
she saw
Scott
.
She was so glad that h
er son was safe she gave him a big hug
,
to his complete embarrassment.

‘Where have you been, young man?
’
s
he spoke sternly
.
‘You should have come home straight from school! And you too
,
Cameron
!
Y
ou
,
my lad
,
are in big trouble
—
your mother has
been
phon
ing
here
ever since it happened.
W
e had no idea where you
boys
were!’
Scott’s
mother
finally seemed to notice
the caretaker,
and she seemed to shake off her panic.
‘I hope these boys have
n’t
caused you any trouble
,
e
r
,
Mr
...
Mr
...I’m
sorry, I don’t know your name
.
’ the woman
said
hesitantly.