Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

T he Hunting L odge
by A.J. Black
Years ago, I saw a painting on an antiques programme depicting a scene
of a deer stalking ?accident?. I never forgot it. I live in the Scottish
Highlands, where Scots Baronial hotels are haunted by their former lives
as hunting lodges. Together, they begot this story, where Nature, or
rather, a super-Nature, exacts a terrible revenge upon humanity.
It was m adness? pi tch dar k and a bl i zzar d bl ow i ng l i k e whi te f ur y agai nst a bl ack
cur t ai n, and Si m on?s k nuck l es, whi te and t i ght , gr i ppi ng onto t he steer i ng wheel .
It was madness, being on the r oads on a night like this. Nobody else was. But w hat choice
did they have now ? They could not stop now ? they had dr iven themselves into now her e.
Thr ee o?clock had been far too late in the after noon to set off fr om Edinbur gh at this time
of year. And w hen the fir st fat flakes of snow had intensified to a thick, fast blizzar d, they
should have sought r efuge for the night or tur ned back to the city. But they had car r ied on,
telling themselves they w ould make it.Their plans w er e r uined. Ever ything was w r ecked
and w r ong. Their joint denial of it was the bond and the bait that kept them moving w hen
they r eally should have stopped. And as the snow had dr iven faster and faster , they had
dr iven slow er and slow er until it was now the middle of the night and the w hitewashed
Highlands could have been the moon, so distant, so inhospitable, so uninhabited had they
become.
?Even if w e get ther e now , it?s too late to pick up the keys,? Beth said, quietly.
Simon did not answ er. All his concentr ation was devoted to keeping the tyr es somehow
adher ed to the r oad and the r oad somehow discer ned in the w hiteout.
It was not meant to be like this. It was Chr istmas Eve. By now , they should be dr aped in
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