Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

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danger ous than himself, so that Le?Ap had sur vived against the odds.?Ther e have been deaths up ther e it is tr ue.? The law yer continued.?Not just thesuicides. But in the same way that I think the suicides themselves may help you, sotoo the other deaths have ser ved a pur pose. Stor ies have been allow ed to gr ow thatser ve a gr eat many people. Dur ing the war and indeed after war ds, let us r ememberthat bad men lived ther e. Their ow n inter ests w er e ser ved by maintaining obstaclesto pr event other s appr oaching them. Bad men, Mr Denholm. It w ould not havebeen unusual in those times, had one or tw o deaths not been the r esponsibility ofthe type of char acter s that lived ther e. You must also r emember that it is isolated onthe mountain. Ther e w er e many deaths w hen it was a hospital. Ther e was diseaseand not enough medicine or car e. Ther e is not an easy way to descr ibe it my fr iend,but locally since the war , ther e was also the ?Infection Muer tas?. Per haps that is thebasis of belief in the cur se.???Infection Muer tas?? A plague of some sor t???Pr ecisely. One that is no longer ther e, mind you. But a par ticular ly nasty one allthe same. One w hose r eputation was played up by bandits and war cr iminals, w homur der ed and hid as best they could in hill, cloud and r umour. But no mor e thanthat. Thieves, cr iminals and the illnesses of pover ty, these ar e the r eal spectr es upther e, Mr Denholm. So despite the misgivings of the super stitious, no ... I believether e is nothing to fear up ther e above and beyond some r ather tedious paper w or kfor both of us.?Lucky watched Denholm closely, finger ing a few sheets of paper w or k on the desk.It gave him the air of a man confident, though mildly impatient to pr oceed beyondthe inconvenient embar r assments they had just shar ed.?A plague though, Lucky? One that may still be ther e? A plague that mendescr ibe as a cur se and live in fear of? Our futur es w ill be tied together if w e62
pr oceed w ith this ventur e. If ther e is mor e to know , I w ould r ather know now thanto find w e have both been ill-pr epar ed.?The law yer ponder ed for a few moments, and as if decided in his ow n hear t, hesighed mildly and looked Denholm squar ely in the eye.?Per haps not a plague, Mr Denholm, cer tainly not a cur se. An infection. One notseen for many year s now. The ?Infection Muer tas?caused death to any w ho caughtit. Ther e was no know n cur e. It was caught only by people w ho had been to themountain top, and all that is ther e is the casino. It star ted after the war. Per hapspoor hygiene. Too many dead and dying, uncar ed for , up ther e w er e the cause. Itacted sw iftly and was ter r ible to behold. Within a day of r etur ning fr om the casino,the infected per son w ould simply r ot away. Quite r apidly. Within a matter of hour s.Open sor es w ould appear and w iden, skin w ould waste and melt fr om bone untilther e was little to contain the or gans and finally until ther e was nothing left tocover the bones. It was a ter r ible sight to see. The Infection Muer tas was ver y easyfor people to see as a cur se. City doctor s advised good cleanliness and the bur ningof the dead. No-one was infected fr om contact and no-one contr acted it w ho did notgo to the mountain. What is cer tain how ever is that many have been ther e since;myself included, Mr Denholm, and have come back w ithout har m. The illness hasgone. The bandits have gone. It is only oppor tunity that r emains, for the man boldenough to climb ther e and gr asp it fir st.?Ther e was no mor e talk of ghosts, bandits or bodies that r otted and died.Denholm finished his cigar. The law yer talked mor e of contr actor s, schedules, legalr equir ements and the inevitable costs. The investor mentally tr immed andr edefined the same costs and deals, r esolving in his ow n mind to pr oceed. TheBlack Casino was to be r ebuilt and r e-opened. It was cer tainly a gamble. Denholmwas pr epar ed to bet high.63
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Christmashorror stories from Horrif
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For my w ife, Sascha, Hor r ified's
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132.140.158.164.181.199.T he D ead
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ter r ifying and occasionally, quit
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9
Page 11 and 12: anything of impor tance off the oak
Page 13 and 14: Lily nodded, peer ing back at the o
Page 15 and 16: Lily asked.The r esponse to her que
Page 17 and 18: w or ked up. It was common know led
Page 19 and 20: only a few minutes ago it was mid-m
Page 21 and 22: Lily took a few seconds to ensur e
Page 23 and 24: books in the fr ont of the bookstor
Page 25 and 26: Pointing.Then, a click.The glass do
Page 27 and 28: About the authorWhen he isn?t at th
Page 29 and 30: had fallen. One boot sopping w et.W
Page 31 and 32: Oh, tidings of comfort and joy.The
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Page 35 and 36: I got to see her mor e and mor e, w
Page 37 and 38: "What ar e you doing, Rose?" Henr y
Page 39 and 40: After a w hile, I began to calm dow
Page 41 and 42: A gr and dr essing table sat over i
Page 43 and 44: as quickly as possible.On the last
Page 45 and 46: L onely this Christmasby Robert Edg
Page 47 and 48: six-panelled Geor gian black gloss
Page 49 and 50: br ow n beer in fr ont of him next
Page 51 and 52: They w er e falling in and out of t
Page 53 and 54: 53
Page 55 and 56: youth, in an age w hen class and po
Page 57 and 58: neither w ill nor excess enough mon
Page 59 and 60: ?I know about its name, ?The Black
Page 61: Denholm appear ed unfazed by Le?Ap?
Page 65 and 66: ?Per haps,? they said w hen pr esse
Page 67 and 68: w ish this casino to r e-open and t
Page 69 and 70: said, I am a man of business. So, a
Page 71 and 72: ?What do any of us want Denholm?? C
Page 73 and 74: They w er e not mer e appar itions
Page 75 and 76: undiminished. It spr ang fr om the
Page 77 and 78: this. Le?Ap is in debt to us for a
Page 79 and 80: w or ds? Will you seek some expensi
Page 81 and 82: Still, just to be on the safe side,
Page 83 and 84: He felt something snap as he fell.
Page 85 and 86: Good- N ightby T he Somnambulist So
Page 87 and 88: I tuck her into bed, in the spar e
Page 89 and 90: spilling into his br eakfast. My si
Page 91 and 92: After br eakfast, I mar ch out the
Page 93 and 94: headstone, w hile my sister holds a
Page 95 and 96: and the thing in fr ont of me sags
Page 97 and 98: Ghosts of Kersal Moorby Ellis ReedV
Page 99 and 100: I shudder ed.?I don?t think I?d lik
Page 101 and 102: it was my job to walk Din-Dins, and
Page 103 and 104: O, unless you are a vicarHell will
Page 105 and 106: that they w er e happy w ith their
Page 107 and 108: Now we hide on Kersal Moor?Via, ver
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Page 111 and 112: and the r apid hammer ing r esponse
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closed his eyes against the sun, w
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The chur ch was emer ging now , and
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?Photo album.??Oh my God!? Cassy sq
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joined like cher r ies w ith a stal
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She?d dr eamt of Adam again. He had
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Quercu de Cordibus Vestrisby John C
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then, I ask you, do you w ish to be
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and family, as this stage of the pr
Page 129 and 130:
blur r ed eyes, I could see that it
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131
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"This is the house w her e the par
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fuzzy at the edges with every drink
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"Oh my god," he heard himself say o
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About the authorBased in the heart
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?Do you think you should talk to so
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I was alr eady tir ed of gr appling
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?Alex??I told him I was fine and th
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smear ed w ith r ed. A cold w eight
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He nudged my knee w ith his foot, a
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mushr oom nesting in r ibcage. Inse
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We r eached the end of The Fields a
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thr ough the r ooms, putting on lig
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157
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The war den show ed me to a pile of
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I called for the war den to r etur
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and did not stop until I r eached t
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the cosy blanket of the cottage? op
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?Wher e is it, then?? Simon said, s
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They appr oached the lar ge, pointe
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they mind if she built the fir e up
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?It?s not r eally the done thing to
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them, although she could not see th
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skilfully befor e cocking it r eady
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stomach dr enched in the blood that
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First Footersby Jim Mount fieldI gr
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?Yous?ll be lucky if yous find anyo
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only the bellies of a few r ainclou
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w ir e shopping basket, dr essed in
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betw een those walls festooned w it
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?What do ye mean???Well, after all
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The fur ther -away half ser ved as
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and the w or ktable lay not one pie
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He leapt off the ver anda and char
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T he W ind on the Waterby D avid Pa
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And he?d aim a punch at their heads
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w er e ther e, and he could see the
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Against that, w hat could he do? Wh
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He does love prophesying a misfortu
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Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

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