Guardian's Rise by Matthew Renard

Author:Matthew Renard [Renard, Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-14T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Gnarlers

‘Where’s the car?’

‘I don’t know!’ I shook my head. ‘I was with you in the house, remember? I didn’t ask it to drive off.’ I turned to the estate agent, to ask for a lift back to the city, to see her speeding off, mild panic on her face.

‘Oh, excellent.’ I sighed. ‘Well done, Sammy. You scared off the only person around for miles.’

‘Except the ghost.’

‘There is no ghost!’

‘Whatever, man. Let’s just get back, okay?’ He brightened momentarily. ‘Hey, I could really get my step count up! That should help with my A.P.Ps.’

‘With your what?’

‘AwaTen Potential Points.’

‘I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.’

‘Well-’

A soft moan echoed through the air, interrupting Sammy from whatever he was going to talk about.

‘Please tell me that was you.’ Sammy eyed me.

‘Did it sound like me?’

‘A little, yeah.’

The moan came louder, from our left. Through the rapidly descending mist, I could just about make out the shape of a person. They looked elderly, as they were stooped over gently, in that way old people sometimes do. They were moving at a fair pace, although the moaning suggested they weren’t happy about it.

‘We should go see if they’re alright...’ I started towards the old person when a hand on my shoulder stopped me.

‘Don’t go.’

‘Why not? Do you hate old people now, too? This isn’t Blazing Saddles, Sammy. Just because one cop is a racist arsehole doesn’t mean little old ladies will be, too.’

‘What? No.’ He pointed with a shaky hand. ‘That’s not an old person.’

‘Of course it...’ I trailed off, looking - and I mean really looking.

As the outline got closer, details started to form. The right foot, which had been giving it the shambling appearance, was at an unnatural angle - despite this, it didn’t seem to cause the figure any pain. The right shoulder was far higher than the left, which I hadn’t noticed at first because the head, which looked a little misshapen, was also lopsided. As it came through the mist (seriously, where the hell did this come from?) it stretched out with greying fingers attached to gnarled, twisted hands that looked like tree bark.

A Gnarler!

‘Oh, crap.’

Sammy glanced at me. ‘Still want to go and say hello?’

‘Hell no.’

‘Maybe you should. “Gnarlers are people too”, remember?’ He gave me a faux innocent look, and snorted, turning away.

I looked around for shelter. ‘We could...’

‘No. We’re not going back into the haunted house.’

‘It’s not haunted!’

Sammy shoved me slightly. ‘If you’d seen what I’d seen...’

I shook my head. ‘Trust me. It’s not haunted.’

‘I’m still not going in there.’

‘Okay.’ I pointed to the Gnarler. ‘Then how do you propose we deal with that?’

It was close enough now to make out clothes. A blue floral dress under a white cardigan, the tattered remains of a red baseball cap on it’s... her... it’s head.

‘Look at it. It was probably someone’s grandmother once.’

It turned its head slightly, staring at us. The jaw of the Gnarler swung down slightly, and it let out an un-naturally loud cry that had Sammy and myself clutching our ears.

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