Frazer Lee - The Lamplighters

“Gross.”

Marla lifted her foot and took a couple of steps away from the bird.

Scrunch.

Jessie had halted in her tracks and turned back again, her annoyed look turning to wide-eyed horror as she drew near enough to see what Marla had blundered into.

The carcasses of dead birds lined the forest floor beneath Marla’s feet in a messy spiral that spread out over some ten feet in diameter. At the center of the spiral of little corpses stood the stump of a tree. Its wood was blackened, as though the thing had burned down alive and every inch of it was riddled with writhing maggots. More dead birds covered the ragged surface of the tree stump, their ruination apparently the source of the colony of maggots that had taken root there. It was as though a tree full of birds had perished along with it, struck down by lightning or a death curse. Looking down at the little burst balloon of a bird’s stomach, Marla saw disgusting, fat worms the color of blood writhing there. She tried not to shriek, biting her fist in revulsion. She stepped back and moved towards Jessie, hearing that dreadful scrunching sound with every step, tiny skulls imploding beneath her feet.

“So many birds. What on earth could do that?”

Jessie’s question hung futile in the air. Marla did not want to linger for fear of discovering the answer.

They reached the House. Emerging from the dense green, out into the shade of gigantic wild palms, Marla felt as though she’d stumbled onto a ludicrous stage set in the middle of an amphitheater. The creepers and palms surrounding it added to the effect, looking like huge ropes and pulleys with their leaves and branches forming an umbrella of curtains and living scenery. Looking back the way they’d traveled, she could now see the curvature of the land surrounding the house. It banked gradually upwards in all directions forming a bowl-like crater around the building, which sat castle-like at its center. From this vantage point, the house had the aspect of a great meteorite that had crash-landed just meters from where she was standing and eroded over decades. The building was much older than the others she’d seen on the island so far, eschewing the millionaire’s white stucco and double-fronted windows for more traditional materials. Old gray stone, weathered to an almost turquoise hue, made up the bulk of the structure with old timbers framing each dark window. Exquisitely crafted eaves supported the slate roof. Each length of timber had the undulating curves of driftwood and was carved with subtle designs evoking waves, night skies and the surrounding forest. As Marla studied them her eye delighted at the discovery of hidden details—a branch carved here, a driftwood parakeet perching there.

The snap of a branch and the spell was broken. Marla looked around for the source of the sound, and found Jessie standing dead still a few feet away from her and gazing into the treeline nervously.

“We have to get inside right now.”

Then another sound, this time from behind them, coming from the house. This noise was different, man-made, like grinding gears and cogs of some ancient fairground ride. Turning to look, Marla could now see great metal shutters coming down slowly over every window frame—and in front of the door.

“Run Marla…”

Jessie’s voice was so laden with fear that Marla quickly broke into a run for the door. There’d be time for explanations later. Looking over her shoulder to make sure Jessie was following, Marla saw the source of her fear. Black clad figures were crashing through the undergrowth, heading straight for them.

Marla ran into the solid wooden door with a thud and wrenched at the exquisitely carved handle with both sweaty hands. The grinding metal shutter continued its steady descent above her. Marla’s teeth ground together in time with the mechanism as she gripped and wrenched the handle as tight as she could and shouldered the door with all her might.

Nothing. The door just wouldn’t budge.

Then Jessie was on her and together they repeated the action, two frantic little human battering rams shoving against the door for all they were worth.

The door gave, flinging itself wide open with a sharp crack as the two surprised interlopers tumbled inside onto the floor.

“Godammit!” cursed Jessie. The impact had taken the door off one of its hinges.

Wriggling to her feet, Marla crouched, peering out through the remaining gap at their pursuers as the shutter continued to descend. Fowler’s men were almost at the house, with weapons at the ready. One of the men, realizing he was now in range, skidded to a halt and aimed his weapon at the gap where Marla and Jessie stood crouching.

There was only one thing to do. Jessie got to the shutter a fraction of a second before Marla, pulling down on it with all her remaining strength. Marla helped her, wincing at the loud squealing protests of the shutter as they aided its descent. The man fired his weapon and a small cluster of wires exploded from its tip—a taser gun. Just then, Jessie applied her foot to the metal lip at the bottom of the shutter, forcing it down. Something snapped inside the mechanism and Marla was lucky not to lose a couple of fingers as the shutter crashed into place, sealing them off from the outside world. The taser projectiles rattled off the metal shutter like hailstones, followed by a thud and several muffled voices.

Jessie rushed over to a wall-mounted box and flipped the cover open. She peered inside at what looked like a complex home security alarm. An array of tiny LED lights danced, reflected in her gleeful eyes.

“The lockdown worked. You check all the window shutters on this floor, make sure they are secure.”

“Secure? How do you mean? Aren’t they secure?”

“Just make sure there’s no debris stopping the shutters from closing properly.”

“Debris?”

“Like dead birds. Stuff like that.”

“Dead birds?” Marla shuddered.

“Look, just check the damn windows okay? I’ll check the back door and upstairs.”

Jessie turned and quickly headed toward the rear of the house. Marla nodded, then counted her fingers, to make sure they were all still really there. Now for the windows. She’d feel reassured to know they were all sealed tight. Maybe Jessie had set her the task to achieve just that. Whatever, she didn’t have to be so damn bossy about it. As she began to check off the windows one by one, Marla heard a scream rip through the dust and stillness of the house.

Jessie.

Vincent tried hard to blink himself awake through the heavy red fog clouding his eyes. He listened to Fowler grunting an instruction to his men and seconds later felt the bitter kiss of cold water hitting his face. The empty bucket made a hollow metallic clang as one of Fowler’s boys set it down on the floor. It sounded like a boxing ring bell. Round Five and the old guy has had the fight knocked out of him, they oughtta put a stop to it now, that’s a pretty bad cut over the old timer’s eye, looks like he’s popped a lip too by the amount of blood on him. Vincent’s eyes rolled back and his body tried desperately to fall off the chair, but to no avail. Tied up as he was, he’d have to take whatever Fowler and his cronies had in store for him next. Ding ding, gotta come out fighting, the roar of the fight fans, then blackness.

Running out of cruel ways to punish the old man was not an outcome Fowler could have predicted in a million years. But here he was, drenched in salt sweat, knuckles raw and bloody and still the old fucker was tongue-tied. Maybe he really had lost it after all the years up here alone, retreated into some dark cove within his thick skull unable, or simply unwilling, to come out and face the music. Fowler upturned the empty bucket, placed it rim side down and used it as a seat. Looking up at the bleeding old man, he shuffled forward as if at some routine progress meeting. Close enough to whisper, he spoke clearly and softly, pausing only to wipe a small fleck of crimson from his lapel.