Authors: Colin Griffiths
Lily, Ivy and Delyn were huddled together strapped in and frightened, 3 young ladies brought together among different circumstances, Nathan was sat next to Samuel, thankful he had found a friend to help him through this, Eileen and Rebecca were strapped in together in another seat.
They held hands tightly, everyone had their hearts in their mouths, full of fear and anticipation, the thought of taking a trip into the unknown terrorising their minds, but at the same time filling them with adrenalin and expectation, freedom seemed so far, yet it could be so near, there was just Tony and Sandra to come and of course the storm, Peter could see Tony and Sandra now, They was running towards the bus, behind him the sheriff, chasing them and he was gaining ground.
Panic stricken Peter put the bus in reverse, screeching the gears as he did so, he could hear Tony shouting for Peter to go, but even if Peter wanted to leave Tony and Sandra he couldn’t, he had nowhere to go, Sandra was lagging behind, the storm not yet strong enough to take them into the woods, the poison hadn’t worked he had to help Tony stop the sheriff, Peter slammed on the breaks as he approached Tony and the sheriff and got out of the car amid the screams of Eileen and Lily telling him not to, Lily tried to undo her seat belt to follow her father but both Ivy and Delyn stopped her.
‘Dad’ she screamed.
They all recoiled in horror as they saw the sheriff catch up with Sandra as he caught her by the shoulder pulling her to the ground with a force and strength of a lion, he picked her up held her high over his head, Sandra tried to kick and punch, but she moved no more as the sheriff slammed her head first onto the ground, where she lay, her shattered skull forming a pool of crimson, Peter ran with a rage in his belly.
He noticed Tony was stood in front of the Sheriff ready to take him on, how he admired this man, he couldn’t let the sheriff get to the bus, not now, not after all they had been through, he stood beside Tony, like comrades in arms,
‘What you doing here go’ Tony shouted, not taking his eye off Allan Herapath,
‘Not without you’ Peter said through gritted teeth,
‘I’m dead anyway’ Tony screamed ‘I don’t live beyond this world’
The sheriff stood before them and he smiled, but Tony and Peter could see it was not a confident smile, they could see something that they had never seen in the sheriff before, and that was fear, the sheriff was scared,
‘There is no way out’ the sheriff said as he smiled, he made a lunge towards the two men stood before him,
Both men embraced themselves preparing to fight to the death if need be, not that they had any choices, but they didn’t have to fight as Allan Herapath fell to his knees at the foot of Tony and Peter, with the poison still inside him, it had taken all his strength he had left to kill Sandra Skellam.
Tony went to pull his knife out of his sheaf, Peter put his hand on Tony’s shoulder to stop him, they both looked at the sheriff, he didn’t look in pain, he just looked as if he was fading away like some dream, and as they looked the sky lit up and the thunder roared and all of a sudden the sheriff wasn’t there any more, it was the vicar they were looking at and he was on his knees and still the rain fell and the thunder clapped and the lightening momentarily lighting up the streets of Underwood, then the vicar changed into the judge and he too had the same smile on his face as he faded away and before the two men there was nothing, and as the lightening lit up the skies again, they could see 2 British army officers and an army chaplain floating up into the skies, no longer lost souls in a world that really should not exist.
The creature in the woods, the Wolfe of Underwood, knew he had to sacrifice those he chose to rule Underwood, he had to transfer the poison into them to give him the strength he needed, the woods was his domain, he would not survive without them, now he had to stop those that were escaping, they were his future food source, he had to stop them and like the wild animal he was, he raced through the woods after his prey, confident and hungry, strong and fearless, he was feeling hungry and he could see his prey ahead, he could taste there blood.
Tony and Peter got on the bus, Peter taking the driver’s side, they strapped themselves in, the storm was building up now and they guessed it wouldn’t be too long before they found out if his plan worked, Tony was still spooked about his own death, he just wanted to see his wife one more time, to tell her how much he loved her.
They could feel the bus being drawn like some magnet, Peter turned the engine off, thinking that might somehow make it safer, let the storm do its worse, let the woods take them to freedom, the trees started swaying heavily and the trees started to move, they hoped there wasn’t anyone on the other side being swept in but that was out of there control, and as the bus rose from the ground, Peter thought that it might be a better place with those three gone, everyone held on to each other, hearts in their mouths as the bus lifted from the ground.
They all could feel the force from inside the bus as the landscape turned and the bus was being drawn into the woods, they just all hoped this would work and soon they would be on the other side, the nightmare over, the two young boys closed their eyes, the rest in the back seats sat open mouthed, the two men in the front determined to see it through.
As the wheels rose further off the ground and was being dragged by some magnetic force at speed into the tree’s everyone screamed other than the two men in front, if they had screamed it would have been for different reasons, for in front of them in mid-air was the most frightening sight they had ever seen as the monster from all nightmares stood before them in mid-air.
The creature stood tall and proud, half the size of the biggest tree as he raised himself on his haunches, the roar being heard above the noise of the storm and the force of the bus being pulled towards it, his eyes glowed orange and appeared to resemble a hornets nest aching to be set free, the beast knew he had the power and the strength to stop it, but then he saw something he wasn’t expecting to see.
Peter and Tony looked out of the front window of the bus, they could see the creature before them, ready to pounce, they were heading straight for it and the creature seemed to be welcoming them, waiting for its dinner, they were going to hit it, they had no control over the vehicle that was flying through the air, using the steering made no difference, Peter braced himself as his life flashed before his eyes and all he could see was that he had brought his family to certain death.
Tony Griffiths opened the passenger side door, the suction was tremendous as his seat belt kept him in his seat, and he grabbed the knife from its sheaf,
‘Good luck’ he shouted to Peter as he cut his belt and was sucked out of the passenger side door, everyone screamed as the force from the opened door was trying to suck the occupants out, they held on to each other.
The creature was confused as he saw this figure in front of the bus lunging towards him and his own instincts told him to attack as he leapt into the air and sunk his long yellow razor teeth into the body, devouring the taste of fresh blood and flesh, and as the bus flew past the Wolfe like creature, if the occupants could have seen the last look on Tony’s face, they would have seen that he was smiling,
The bus hit the floor with a bang and toppled on its side and slid down the incline as the occupants were thrown from side to side, Peters window view now showing the road that they slid on, the screeching deafening those insides and the screams like those of a horror movie as the bus slowly ground to a halt.
With no more than bumps and bruises they stood beside the bus, in the lay by, brushing themselves down, checking for injuries, all wondering how it was possible to survive the crash as they looked at the beaten mini bus on its side, it was no longer raining, the storm had stopped, the moon was shining and to the right was a grave yard, they all stood there in a state of shock, not sure what had actually happened,
‘Are we out’ asked Lily
Peter looked at the surroundings around him, he recognised where they were,
‘Were out’ he simply said, the three girls and Rebecca hugged each other as did Nathan and Samuel, Eileen took her husband’s arm,
He didn’t make it then he said then’ she said, referring to Tony Griffiths,
Peter thought about his new buddy,
‘Actually I think he did’
Lily started jumping up and down, doing the silly dance that she was famous for, she grabbed Ivy’s arm and pointed to the sky,
‘Is that a plane’ Ivy asked as she looked in wonderment,
‘Where to now dad’ Lily asked,
‘There’s a services a couple of miles away, we will have to walk, first I got to do something’
He walked into the church yard amid the protests of those there, Lily didn’t protest, she followed her dad in, and at that time he was glad she did, she knew he was looking for answers and she thought some answers might help her as well, beside she wasn’t going to let her dad leave her side until they were well away from Underwood.
Peter knew where he was going but another gravestone caught his eye, one he was sure wasn’t there when he visited it last, as he read the words a sadness came over him, the stone was of Susan Bradshaw, she had died in 1908, the next stone, again which Peter was sure Wasn’t there before, was of June Murphy who died in 1910, he thought of the evening he had spent in Underwood with them, he hoped somehow their spirits had been lifted, then he smiled when he realised that where ever they were, so long as the wine flowed they would be fine.
‘Who are they dad’ asked Lily, Peter embraced his daughter,
‘Just two old ladies we used to know’
Lily looked at the stones, she got it now.
Peter bent down beside the grave stone, he had come to pay respect to, Lily bent down with him with a tear in her eye, Peter reached out and touched the name on the stone with his other hand, he wished he had known the man when he was alive, he knew he would never forget him,
‘Thank you my friend’ he said ‘thank you for saving us.’
3 weeks later
Steph and Ian had no idea how they got there, all, they can remember was a storm, one of many that had occurred during that strange summer, after following diversions because of flooded roads the next thing they knew they were in a strange place being picked up by a mini bus, thank full that the storm had stopped and they were now safe, it was only a short journey from Newport to Caldicot, they had only gone that way so they could turn around in the layby as the road was flooded, but then the place appeared to change and the layby had gone, the fields had gone, all they had seen were trees.
No one had told them anything and the young couple was starting to feel scared as they were told to sit in the pub and Wait, they knew of Underwood, they had never been there, they knew it was a council estate and that was about all they did know, but it was nothing like they ever imagined, they felt like trespassers waiting to be processed, they were both given a drink and a sandwich, but the people did not seem friendly, there seemed to be a fear in their eyes and the barman looked nervous, it felt like a ghost town.
The only normal people that appeared to be in the place was two elderly ladies sat in the corner, sharing a bottle of red, they were laughing and joking over something.
As they sat drinking and eating their sandwich, they heard a voice behind them, they both turned around and saw the biggest man they had ever seen in a uniform, it did not look like a British police uniform and the man was carrying a gun, his voice was deep when he spoke.
‘Hello my names Tony Griffiths and I’m the sheriff of Underwood.
If you really enjoyed this book, please review it from where you purchased it, this can help the author considerably.
The names in this book are made up characters and bear no resemblance to real people.
But Underwood is real, a place I lived for 40 years, I hope the good Underwood I tried to portray in the book is a fair reflection of the place I love.
The two elderly wino’s in this book are based on two lovely sisters, Sue and June, I’m sorry for portraying you the way I did, but I know you won’t sue.
Also by Colin Griffiths
Never say Goodbye
There was no Body
To all the people of Underwood
“There’s no place like home.”
Colin Griffiths 2015.