Jeff Strand - Graverobbers Wanted - No Experience Necessary

I had to cancel that thought. Even if they were inside, I had a feeling that getting them back would be anything but easy.

I opened the door and stepped inside. If ever a house looked like a perfect site for a haunting, this was it. It had obviously been abandoned for quite some time, as there was a thick layer of dust over everything and cobwebs in every corner. Between the dust and the fading, I couldn't even tell what color the furniture was.

I took a step, and the floorboards creaked. I wondered if this is where I'd been tied to the chair. No, probably not...I hadn't noticed the thick musty scent before that Iwas smelling now. Even with the burlap sack over my head I should have been able to smell it.

The dust wasn't actually everywhere. A reasonably clean path ran from the doorway to the staircase, as if somebody had made several trips back and forth, enough to wipe away the dust and not so few as to leave individual footprints.

I could go ahead and explore the rest of the first floor, but it was pretty clear that if there was anything to find, I'd find it upstairs.

I flipped on the light switch, not really expecting it to work. I was correct. Even with the curtains closed, enough light streamed into the house that I could see where I was going, though upstairs would probably be a different story.

I began to ascend the stairs slowly, one at a time. They groaned with each step, but seemed sturdy and unlikely to collapse and send me plummeting into darkness beneath. A small pile of bones rested on the second-to-last step, possibly belonging to a bird.

At the top of the stairs, I turned left and found myself in a narrow hallway, with two doors on each side, and one door at the end. All of the doors were closed. There were no windows, and the light from downstairs provided only the faintest illumination. If only I'd known I'd be creeping around an abandoned house, I'd have brought a flashlight. I didn't even have Roger's lighter anymore. I could go buy one, I supposed, but there might not be much time. I'd have to make do with the little light available.

I slowly walked over to the first door on the right and opened it. The door made a horrible creak as it swung open, loud enough to awaken any slumbering ghosts. The room hadn't been entered in a long time. Dust covered the crib and the rattles on the floor.

I opened the door on the other side, wincing again at the creak.A bathroom.Vacant.

I continued down the hallway to the second set of doors. The first led to a bedroom. The mattress on the queen-sized bed had been torn apart, with stuffing flung everywhere. I couldn't see well enough to tell if the dust had been disturbed or not.

"Hello?" I called out.

No answer.

I listened carefully for a few moments.Total silence. Nobody was here.

I opened the opposite door, which also led to a bedroom. Once again, I listened and heard nothing.

Theresa and Kyle could be underneath the bed, blood pooling beneath their bodies as spiders scurry over theirfaces ...

I almost had to hit myself to break the thought process. I turned to the door at the end of the hallway and opened it.

No creak.

It opened to a closet. Empty, except for a ladder leading up to the attic.

I stepped into the closet and looked up. No light at all.

I had to get a flashlight. Borrow one from a neighbor or something.

"Hello?" I called out. "Is anyone up there?"

Nobody responded.

"Theresa! Kyle! Are you there?"

Something in the attic rattled.

Then I thought I heard something else.Maybe a voice, but faint and muffled.

Screw the flashlight. I was going uptherenow.

I gripped the ladder tightly and began to climb. It held my weight fine, and I made it to the top without breaking any bones. The attic was completely dark, except for a tiny bit of light streaming in from underneath some curtains. The window was only a couple of steps away from the ladder, so I carefully put my foot down on the attic floor. It seemed like it would hold me. I walked the two paces to the window, and pulled the curtains, filling the attic with light.

It wasn't difficult to figure out what I was here to find.

The attic looked like a zoo hitting hard times, loaded with cages but not enough animals to fill them. There were at least a dozen cages up here, but only four of them were occupied. And the inhabitants of these cages weren't animals—they were people. None of them were Theresa or Kyle.

Bound and wrist and ankle by thick chains, the four prisoners suffered in cages barely large enough for a human. The captives seemed to be in their street clothes, except that their heads were completely covered with black leather masks, as if they were executioners who found themselves on the wrong side of the chopping block. The masks had openings over the nose, but no eye holes, and only a closed zipper over the mouth.

I took a step forward. "Can you hear me?" I asked in a loud voice.

There was an immediate reaction of writhing and muffled groans. I knelt down next to the first cage, which held a dangerously thin woman whose blouse was covered with dirt and mostly unbuttoned. I rattled the door of the cage, but a padlock held it shut. There were padlocks around her chains as well. Fortunately, the bars of the cage were far enough apart that I could squeeze my hand through. I put my hand on her shoulder, and the woman flinched as if my hand was an ice pick jabbing into her flesh.

"It's okay," I whispered. "I'm here to help."

A zipper ran up the back of her mask. I twisted my arm into a good position, and then slowly, so as not to startle her, I unzipped it all the way and slid the mask off her face. The zipper caught on her tangled, dirty blonde hair, but I removed it gently and let the mask fall to the floor.

The woman squinted and let out a whimper as the light struck her eyes. There was an ugly bruise on her chin, but otherwise she seemed physically unharmed.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"My name is Andrew Mayhem. I'm going to get you out of here, I promise. But I need your help. Do you know who did this to you?"

She shook her head. "There was more than one. I never saw any of them." Her voice grew frantic. "Please, you have to get me out of this place before they come back! They've come and taken away most of the others already! Please! I can't stand it anymore!"

"I need you to calm down for me," I said, not raising my voice. "What's your name?"

"Tracy."

"Tracy, you'll be free before you know it. Now, what about the keys? Do you have any idea where they are?"

She shook her head rapidly.

"How long have you been here?"

"I don't know...days...weeks...the mask never comes off. It was so hard to breathe. I thought I was going to die. They take us out of the cages sometimes, once a day, I don't know, and let us walk around for a few minutes. They shove some food down our throats, give us some water, yank down our pants and shove us on a bedpan, but then we're locked up again."

"Would you recognize any of the voices?" I asked.

"No. They never talk in front of us."

"Okay, look, I don't have anything to cut the padlocks with, but I'm going to..."

I stopped in mid-sentence as I looked across the attic and saw a wood-chopping axe lying on the floor. Either a forgetful lumberjack had been in the vicinity, or that was what I was meant to use.

It seemed a little too easy. The killer had to have a surprise waiting.

But I certainly couldn't leave these people here, so I made my way across the attic and retrieved the axe. It was a nice, solid tool, which I was happy to note was not covered with blood. I stopped at the nearest cage, which held a man who sat pressed against the corner.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I said. "I'm going to take that mask off,then I'm going to set you free."