Justin Richards - The Death Collector

Sir William treated the short walk across the lawn like an afternoon stroll. He looked round with interest, peering into the fog, and all the while swinging his cane.

‘Is it a dinosaur?’ Liz asked him as they paused for Eddie to get his bearings.

‘Possibly, possibly. But I think it’s rather more unusual than that. Something more than just dinosaur, if you take my meaning.’

Eddie didn’t, but he could now see the dark shape of the shed. Before he could point it out, another hideous roar wrenched through the night.

‘That was closer,’ George said in alarm.

‘It’s coming back this way,’ Liz realised.

‘You said it was heading out, following where I went the other night.’

‘Yes,’ Sir William admitted. ‘And so it was. But I fear it may now have picked up your rather fresher trail coming in this evening.’

Eddie could feel the ground thumping under his feet. ‘What do we do?’

‘Run,’ George suggested.

‘Too late!’ Liz shrieked. Over her shoulder, Eddie could see the fog swirling away from the monster as it charged towards them out of the night.

‘This way!’ Sir William was running — surprisingly fast for such an old man, Eddie thought. But then he was, like the rest of them, running for his life.

‘Not that way!’ George cried after them. ‘Head back to the trees.’

But Sir William either did not hear or ignored him. He was leading them across the lawn. Had he seen the open shed? Eddie raced to catch him up, hoping to reach him before he fell into the pit just inside the shed. Just as it seemed Sir William would fall into the dark opening, he skidded to a halt at its edge. He looked down into the blackness, nodding with satisfaction. There was no sign of Lorimore, and Eddie guessed he and Blade had either followed the creature or returned to the house.

‘Yes this should do,’ Sir William announced. He grabbed Eddie’s hand. ‘Come on.’ He jumped, pulling Eddie with him.

Moments later, Liz and George fell after them. They all landed in a crumpled heap in the blackness.

‘Good grief!’ Liz exclaimed. ‘It stinks!’

‘I was right,’ Sir William said. ‘See, where it is even darker, there is a tunnel leading off. That and the smell would suggest that this pit connects in some way to the main sewers. Now, let’s see what we can discover about this creature. What it eats, if it sleeps — everything.’

Eddie tried to make out the patch of blackness that Sir William had mentioned. But he could see nothing except the grey square above him that was the open shed outside the pit. The grey darkened as a shape closed over it. At first he thought someone was closing the shed door. But then the darkness was shattered by the roar of the creature. Its silhouetted head swung back and forth as it struggled to find them in the blackness, snuffling and snorting as it caught Eddie’s scent.

‘I don’t think we should stay here,’ George said. ‘Or we may find out first hand what it eats.’

‘But we can’t see where we’re going,’ Liz pointed out.

Sir William was unperturbed. ‘Hold hands,’ he said. ‘I’ll lead the way. This is fascinating, absolutely fascinating.’

Eddie felt a hand close on his. He didn’t know if it was George or Liz, but he allowed himself to be pulled towards the back of the pit. The darkness deepened, and he felt the damp brick-lined walls of the tunnel with his free hand as they picked their way through. The sound of the monster’s snufflings slowly died away.

‘Right hold on a moment, let’s see where we are.’ There was the scrape of a match on sandpaper, and a tiny flame flared into life further along the tunnel. ‘That’s good,’ Sir William said.

The tunnel stretched away beyond the reach of the flickering light. ‘What’s good?’ Eddie wondered. ‘We’re trapped down here now. And that monster will be after us soon.’

‘Yes, I’m afraid he will. But there is a lot of methane in the air down here — hence the smell. I was just grateful it didn’t ignite.’

Eddie could see now that it was Liz holding his hand. Her grip tightened as she thought about what Sir William had said. But before any of them could reply, the whole tunnel began to shake. Dust fell from the arched roof and the match went out.

‘The creature,’ George said quietly in the darkness. ‘It’s coming after us.’

‘Then let’s keep moving,’ Sir William said. Another match flared into life and he led the way along the tunnel. ‘We may have to postpone a detailed investigation for the moment.’

‘Where’re we going?’ Eddie wondered.

‘Wherever it leads. But ideally I should like to find a narrower side tunnel.’ Sir William paused as another bellowing roar echoed round the tunnel. ‘And soon.’

They went as fast as they dared, hoping they could stay ahead of the monster. The tunnel was narrow — maybe it wouldn’t want to follow too far in case it got stuck. But each time Eddie thought they had gone far enough and it might have given up, another roar rang off the brickwork and brought dust down into their hair and mouths and eyes.

At one point they reached an intersection of tunnels. Their tunnel was joined by two more — a choice of directions. Sir William led them down one of the side tunnels, perhaps hoping that Eddie’s scent would be lost in the smell of the sewers and the monster would instinctively go straight on.

‘You think it can hear us?’ George asked.

‘Probably. But remembering how weak its smell was, let’s hope all its other senses are equally dulled.’

‘Some chance,’ Eddie muttered.

‘You know I really think we must be making good progress,’ Sir William announced after several more minutes.

‘You think we’ve come far enough to be safe?’ Liz asked.

‘Oh I shouldn’t think so for a moment. No, no — I mean if Lorimore is desperate enough to risk sending this animal or whatever it is through London to find us, then he must consider us to be a real threat of some sort.’

‘And that’s a good thing?’ George asked, his voice strained.

Another match flared, illuminating Sir William’s craggy face and deepening the lines across his forehead. ‘Oh I think so. What is he worried about, hmm? Something he is afraid we can do or discover or work out.’

‘The only clue we have is the fragment of Glick’s diary,’ George told him. ‘It’s meaningless.’ He had to shout to be heard above the almost continuous roar of the approaching creature. ‘We have to get out of here.’

‘No it isn’t meaningless,’ Sir William went on calmly. ‘That’s his mistake, do you see? If Lorimore had ignored us, we might well have come to that conclusion. But as it is, by his actions, he is telling us that the diary fragment is a vital clue. He is afraid that from that clue we can make some fundamental discovery. Presumably the same discovery as he himself is hoping to make. The difference is that he knows what he is looking for while we are working in the dark. In more ways than one,’ he added as the match sputtered and went out. ‘I do think someone should invent an everlasting match,’ he grumbled, striking another. ‘However, Lorimore is evidently afraid that we might deduce what he is after from that fragment.’

‘Which means,’ Liz said, glancing apprehensively back down the tunnel, ‘that we can do just that.’

More dust and ancient mortar fell from the ceiling. The tunnel was shaking in time with the creature’s thumping steps. Eddie could hear the rhythmic thud of its feet and the rasping of its breath. It had not taken the obvious route where the tunnels joined, and now it was almost upon them. ‘If we live long enough,’ he said nervously.

‘Let’s try through here, shall we?’ Sir William said, and disappeared into the tunnel wall.