David Golemon - The Supernaturals

Damian Jackson tossed his nine millimeter away and placed his hand over the crack that had formed in the door. Suddenly the state policeman screamed and then pulled his hand away. Even in the dark Jackson knew that at least two of his fingers were missing.

“The goddamn thing bit my fingers off!” He threw his weight against the door.

“Hell of a special effect, isn’t it?” Gabriel said as the door bulged inward once more.

“Yeah, just about as good as your theory that ghosts never really harmed anyone!” Jackson screamed back.

“You got me there,” Kennedy said as he strained against the wood.

“Jesus, what the hell is that thing?” Peterson whined. He slid down the door and pushed his back to it, keeping pressure on it.

George and Julie turned from the window. The psychic grabbed a chair and slammed it against the glass. The wooden chair bounced back and struck Julie in the arm. She let out a small yelp.

“It’s not a ghost,” George said, out of breath. He examined the glass, which hadn’t broken into a thousand pieces like he thought it would. He tried to catch his breath. “It may have been, once…and it may have also been human…but not now.” He straightened, pulling Julie further away from the window, and once more picked up the wooden chair. “No one has ever dealt with anything like this. Nowhere in the annals of the supernatural is anything like this mentioned. Its power is building from our fear of it, I can feel it. It wants out of Summer Place and it’s going to go through us to do it!”

“He’s right,” Kennedy said. The entity laughed out loud in the hallway, bringing a spate of shivers to the people trapped inside the room. The laugh was booming and hardy, as if it was amused by what it was hearing. “The goddamn thing has evolved into something that’s never been seen before.”

“Well, may I suggest we get the hell out of here and allow it to go on its merry way?” Jackson said, cradling his mutilated hand.

“Where? We’re trapped!” Peterson screamed as the mass struck the door again, this time breaking the crystal doorknob from its stem.

A tendril of mist entered the room through the crack in the door and slapped Kennedy away. With his weight off the door, the entity was able to push the thick wooden door inward by three inches, breaking away a portion of the frame.

As Gabriel crawled hurriedly back to the door, the roar of an enraged animal sounded from the hallway. They knew that the next time it struck the door it would give completely.

Whatever walked the halls and rooms inside of Summer Place was mad and very hungry. It was tired of hiding amongst the wood and mortar of the old summer retreat and wanted to break away for good.

The entity smashed into the production van from the side, bulging the thin steel inward and shorting out several of the monitors. Harris Dalton threw himself over a production assistant just as the overhead fluorescents shattered, sending the van into darkness with the exception of the few still-functioning monitors left. With all thought of the Halloween special purged from his mind, Dalton went into a mindset he thought he had forgotten. Just as when he’d been on assignment in Afghanistan, it was now time to try and stay alive.

The entity had smashed a large hole in the center of the ballroom doors in its attempt to get inside and stop the only being in the world that could cause it harm — John Lonetree. Leonard Sickles was throwing anything he could find at the large double doors; he was terrified, and that was the only action he could think of to take. Wallace Lindemann was sitting behind the bar with his hands over his ears, rocking back and forth, his mind slowly leaving him.

Jennifer was shaking John as hard as she could, but all Lonetree was doing was shaking his head and sweating cold moisture from his pores.

“John, wake up!” Jenny cried.

At the large double doors, Leonard froze with a barstool raised as the top half of the left door smashed inward and flew into the ballroom. The stool slowly slipped from his grasp as the entity showed its face. It grabbed both sides of the opening with its black swirling hands and leaned its head through the opening. Leonard stumbled backward as the beast roared in animal triumph. Its obsidian eyes settled on John.

John felt Jenny shaking him, but he knew if he ended the Dream Walk now the beast would get them all. It would become powerful enough to leave Summer Place forever.

John watched the scene in the hallway. The entity was smashing into the large door over and over again. He heard his friends inside. Suddenly the beast turned its black eyes on John. He couldn’t see it in the darkness, but he knew it was staring at him. It roared like an animal and John knew it was about to spring at his dream-self. John closed his eyes and remembered what he needed to remember. When he opened them again, the entity was gone — not far away, but not after him any longer. He knew what he had to do. He had to help Gabriel and George, and then he needed to get help. There was only one place that he knew of that could provide it. He reached out with his hand and pushed.

“Look!” Julie Reilly called out.

Gabriel, still helping to hold closed what was left of the door, looked up in time to see the large closet door slowly swing open. Warmer air permeated the cold room. He knew immediately it was John.

“George, put that chair down and get inside that closet. Feel around. I think Lonetree is trying to tell us something!”

Cordero slammed the chair against the window one more time. As it bounced off, he turned and ran for the closet. He also felt the large Indian’s presence, and shoved aside the aging black sequined gown on its lone hanger. As George struck the back wall of the wooden closet, he felt something give. He heard a squeak and then he felt a draft of even colder air. He reached out just as a loud boom sounded from the bedroom.

“George, we’re running out of time here!” Kennedy shouted. “I think old F.E. Lindemann wants this bedroom!”

“In here! There’s a passage of some sort.”

“Julie, go!” Gabriel shouted. The door gave another two inches inward.

The reporter scrambled over the bed and hit the closet and without hesitation. She ducked inside.

“Peterson, get in there and follow,” Gabriel said. He grimaced with the effort of keeping the entity out.

“You don’t have to tell me twice. Good luck!” Peterson scrambled to his feet and vanished into the dark closet.

“Don’t even say it, Kennedy. You get out of here!” Jackson screamed over the grunting and roaring of the beast outside of the bedroom.

“I wasn’t going to say anything. Neither of us can leave without Mr. Wonderful coming inside and chasing down the others. I’m afraid we’re pegged to be the heroes here.”

“You could have at least argued for me to leave,” Jackson said with a snarl.

The entity crashed into the door, and this time it gave way.

John moved back out into the hallway. He didn’t know exactly how to get the mass of darkness to pay attention to him, but that became a moot point as he felt the black mass back away from the door. It had finally succeeded in cracking the wood to splinters. It turned toward John and roared. Forgetting all about the bedroom, it turned and came forward. John backed away. Then the beast roared in anger and came at him in earnest.

“Now, Gabe. Run, get to the sewing room, the answer is in there!” he shouted as he ran for the staircase.

Gabriel pushed broken shards of wood off his hurting body and turned his attention to Damian, who was covered in the remains of the door. When they both heard the call for them to run, they didn’t hesitate. They covered the floor to the closet in moments and smashed inside the dark space that was their escape.