The Devil Lives in Beth by Denver Merlin

Author:Denver Merlin [Merlin, Denver]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cooper Stone Productions
Published: 2020-08-19T22:00:00+00:00

Ephraim

“I already checked,” Boss McGregor whispered into Ephraim’s ear. “There are people in there. Tread carefully.”

Ephraim kept a sawed-off shotgun in a holster strapped to his lower back. He hadn’t needed to use it during the scuffle, but the darkness of the cave gave him worry enough to draw it. If Boss McGregor had seen people inside, then there were people in there. Boss McGregor didn’t lie to Ephraim about serious things; not since he had died.

Ephraim hadn’t slept in six months. He had yet to feel the need. Boss McGregor kept him company on account that the dead didn’t sleep, either. Sometimes Ephraim worried he had died too, but he knew Quincy had died, and when Quincy came back, he was a shell. Ephraim wasn’t a shell, and people could still see him, unlike Boss McGregor, so it seemed Ephraim was still alive.

The gang let Quincy into the cave first. Ephraim took up the rear, and when he looked back, he saw that Pedro had left them. Boss McGregor wandered away to find the missing man, so Ephraim continued on with the rest of the gang.

The cave narrowed around a corner, perfect size for a child, but a man of Ephraim’s height and girth had to squeeze between the rocks in such a way that a tinge of panic rose inside his chest. The twins held lanterns, but the darkness was consuming. They came across Crenshaw around the next bend, where the cave widened and the ceiling expanded so far they couldn’t see its end. A voice filled the space, and not even Ephraim could track its source.

“Bastards and vile things!” the hoarse voice called from everywhere at once. “Ya come into my home? My children’s home? Fuckin’ vile cunts! Get out! Away with ya!”

“Higgs, ya snake!” Crenshaw yelled. “Come out and make this easy!”

Higgs growled and coughed, his voice lowering but all the more permeating every gap in the air. “Too late. Too late. Ya won’t leave here alive, fuckers. Yer surrounded. They’ll rip out yer guts. They’ll tear off yer skin and spit in yer wounds. I won’t have none of this home-invasion bullshit. I won’t have none of it. Ya came in here, and now they’ll get ya. They’ll get ya. You’ve done fucked up, ya stupid bunch o’ cunts.”

“My name is Solomon Crenshaw. You remember me, Higgs? You remember what ya did to me? You know why I came here? To kill ya.”

Higgs laughed and coughed. “Come on then, Crenshaw, ya right old cunt. Ya won’t make it two more steps before yer dead. Fuckin’ bitch-ass cunt. Come on then!”

Ephraim clutched his shotgun close while he watched shadowy figures slither between the rocks just beyond the reach of the lanterns’ light. Crenshaw took the bait and stepped forward, only for a hairy beast to leap at him from the darkness. Half boy, half bear, the creature clawed at Crenshaw’s face with two powerful arms. Ephraim had been the first to raise and fire his weapon, and the beast lurched back with a yelp and lay dead.

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