The Lurker at the Threshold : A Horror Mystery by Brandon Berntson (books under 200 pages .txt) 📗

inspector said.  “That’s no ordinary hound, Macky.  We couldn’t get close enough.  We would see it as it disappeared around the corner. Or it would just fade into the shadows.  It’s smart.  Too smart.”

“Unnatural,” Newt said.

They’d been backing down the alley toward the office.

Duke nodded.  Macky looked at each of them again.

“I’m scared, Dev,” Millie said.

“Yeah,” he said.  “Me, too.  Let’s get out of here.”

They turned and ran back to the office.

—

“What do you think, Dev?” Millie asked, once they were inside.

“I’ll check it out,” he told Duke and Newt.  “But I’m not sure what I can do.  It’s my responsibility.  I’ll try to clean it up.  Just don’t say that to the Captain.”

“We’re here to help, Dev,” Newt said.  “We’ll stay with you.”

Macky nodded.   “I was thinking that.  You guys have tracked this thing already, but the three of us might have better luck.”

“Four of us, Dev,” Millie said.

He looked at her and raised his eyebrows.

“I’m sorry I got so mad at you about the book, Dev,” Millie said.  “But I’m not staying here by myself.”

He nodded.  “I get it.  I think I deserved it anyway, Mill.”  He looked at her and noticed her eyes were wet.  She was being sincere.  It puzzled him.  “After everything we’ve been through, I should’ve known better.  To be honest, it never felt real, that night I got the book.  I thought I was dreaming.  Even the fog moving in . . . the hound.  Nothing seemed real.  I was going with the flow.  Something had a hold of me, which spooks me because that means something else is pulling the strings.  I don’t like that.”

Millie nodded.  “So what’s next?”

“Track down an elusive hound,” Macky said.  “I need to see how it operates.  At least we can try and prevent it from getting anyone else.”

“I’m coming with you.”

He shook his head.  “This is too dangerous, Mill.  We don’t even know what we’re up against.”

“But I have the gun,” she said.

“I’m not sure that’s going to make any difference.  Duke and Newt have guns, too.”

“We never got a clear look at it, so we didn’t fire,” Duke said.

“I don’t want to be here by myself, Dev,” she said.

“I’d feel safer knowing you were here in the office, Mill.”

“I don’t feel safe being alone.  Not right now.”

“You loaded?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Come on,” he said.

—

“No coat?” he asked, as they stepped into the alley.

“My adrenaline is keeping me quite warm.”

“Suit yourself,” he said.

“Very funny.”

“Huh?”

They headed down the alley in the dark.  Macky had the flashlight.  Millie carried the gun.  Duke and Newt were on either side, guns drawn.

“So, what are we supposed to do?” Millie asked.  “Walk until some giant dog jumps out of the shadows and rips into our entrails, licking our vitals off the ground like chunky soup?”

They all stopped and looked at her.

“Too graphic?” she asked.

—

They walked for several blocks in silence.  The traffic had thinned on nearby streets.  It was feeling like a waste of time until the hound bayed.  Fog materialized and curled around the buildings.

“Is it me, or does that sound like more than a hound?” Macky asked.

“The fog isn’t helping,” Millie said.

They moved deeper into the alley.  The fog gathered, thicker.  The chill settled.  Footsteps sounded, the soft patter of padded toes on the sidewalk, the scrape of nails.

“Do you smell that?” Newt asked, looking around.

Macky nodded.  “Like a tarry sort of stickiness.  Ripe.”

“It might’ve been better to stay back in the office,” Duke said.

A vibration was coming from the sidewalk—a tremor in the stone.

“Dev, what is that?” Millie asked.

“If I knew the answer, I’d be dead,” Macky said.

“Don’t say things like that,” Millie said.

“Like what?”

Duke took Macky’s left.  Newt was on Millie’s right.  Flashes of lightning, like bluish light were beyond the fog.  Around them, the buildings faded, replaced by desert sand, dunes, and a full, luminous moon.  A parallel world was pushing its way through the setting of Innsport and into the alley where they stood.  Just as quickly, it faded.  They were back in Innsport.

“Did you guys see that?” he asked.

Duke nodded.  So did Millie and Newt.

A low growl issued ten feet in front of them, the quiet patter of feet.

“Dev?” Millie said, panic in her voice.

“I know, Mill.”

“It’s like this,” Duke said.  “It teases.  It plays games.”

The fog thickened.  The footsteps were closer. The thing was standing right in front of them, but they couldn’t see it.

“Aim and fire,” Macky said.

“Fire at what?”  Duke said.  “I can’t see anything.”

“Just fire.  Aim at where you think it is and fire.  Three guns ought to help.”

“Dev, I can’t,” Millie said.  “I’m shaking like crazy.”

“You’ll do all right, Miss Millie,” Newt said.  “We’ll do it together.  On the count of three.”

“I don’t think we have till the count of three,” Macky said, sweating.

“One,” Newt said.

“Two,” Duke said.

“Three!” Millie said.

Newt, Duke, and Millie fired into the fog.

—

“Is my throat torn out?” Millie asked.

“No.  But I think I just soiled my—”

“That’s enough, Dev.”

“There’s nothing there,” Duke said.

“It’s gone,” Newt said.

They stopped, all of them holding their breath.  The clicking of the nails, the jangle of the collar, the low growl was silent.  There was nothing there.  The fog pulled back, revealing more of the alley, but there was no hound.

“Dev,” Millie whispered.

“I see them, Mill.”

“Good Lord, what’s going on?” Newt asked.

Glowing orbs gathered.  Several were in the alleyway, the greenish-blue, membranous globes emitting translucent light.  The stench of tarry stickiness was coming from them.

“Let’s get out of here,” Macky said.

—

Before they started back toward the office, the