Creatures of Darkness E-Book

Ernest Polmateer

• Herausgeber: Ernest Polmateer
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Beschreibung

Gabe was staring at something out of a nightmare. It was supposed to be an urban legend, but there it was, staring right back at him.

How was he supposed to deal with something that appeared out of nowhere and then disappeared before he could react?
Dealing with one of these things was going to be more than tough. Now he had three of them to chase through this immense factory.

What had Nabiha gotten him involved with this time? She looked to him as the go to man for answers.

Now, all he had to do was come up with some that wouldn’t get them both killed.

Leseprobe

Creatures of Darkness

By Ernest Polmateer

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Copyright © Ernest Polmateer (2017). All rights reserved.

http://ernestpolmateer.com/

Introduction

There are a lot of urban myths. Some seem to have some amount of truth in them. Then there are others that seem totally ridiculous. They run the gamut from ancient tales of ghosts and deities. There are even some that have to do with monsters. Some of these myths have all of these traits in combination.

There are a few that keep popping up in mainstream news and other publications. You have to wonder why the continuing interest. Some have supposedly been debunked by careful observation and scientific study. However, not all the stories can be put to rest quite so easily.

Myths and many old stories have some basis in reality. Most have been so distorted over time that the real story is lost to time. There are some stories that are of a more modern time that are not so hard to trace back. What if some of these stories’ true meanings are actually of a more spectacular or unbelievable nature?

This book is a work of fiction.  Characters, dialogue, and events are all constructs of the author’s imagination.  Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

A New Job

Old Stomping Grounds

Lay of the Factory

A Pattern of Death

The Mystery Begins to Appear

Search for an Urban Myth

Close Encounter with Terror

Too Many Puzzle Pieces

New Recruit and a Plan

Night Attack

All the Players Revealed

The Creature Retaliates

The Cavalry Arrives

Final Preparations

Everyone’s All In

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Other Books by Ernest Polmateer

A New Job

Damn! He had busted his knuckles for the third time today. Gabe thought it about time to give it up for the day and go tend to his, by now, bleeding hands. Along with his knuckles, he had just scraped and bruised, he had a gash on his forearm and a cut that wouldn't stop bleeding on one of his fingers.

“You having trouble with your truck?”

Not having heard anyone come up behind him, he jerked around in surprise. “No, the truck is fine. It's the engine on the welder generator that is broken.”

Nabiha edged closer to have a look. “That looks pretty old,” she noticed. “Why don't you get a newer model?”

“Talking is the easy part. All I have to do is come up with the money for it. This old Wisconsin has seen better days. It only cost me a few hundred bucks. Now I'm going to have to figure out a way to fix it before I take on any more jobs.”

“I thought you were making money on the blogging,” she said.

“I am, but it’s no where near enough to pay for everything. I still need to work. By the way, what brings you out here with no heads up?”

“I thought you might be interested in a job,” she smiled.

Gabe could not help himself from laughing. “A job? You mean like the one we just finished? I am not sure I want to take on any more monsters from another world. In fact I am still wrapping my head around that one.”

“Isn't it better than thinking you are crazy?” she asked.

“Yeah, it is, but just barely so. What do you have going on that makes you want to bring me along?”

“I thought you would find this job pretty easy and perhaps a bit interesting.”

“Oh? Do tell,” he said.

“Are you familiar with urban legends?”

“You mean like vampires living in the cities and neighborhood witches and the like?”

“I'm not sure about that stuff. What I do know is that there are some people disappearing and the local police have no idea where to begin looking. All the leads they have are dead ends.”

“So, how does that involve me?” he asked. “Also, what is the urban legend this time?”

“I don't really know, but my boss thought it was worth investigating. More than likely it is just people deciding to leave for some reason. No one knows, but from what the police have been able to gather, these folks are all pretty normal.”

“How did your group get involved?”

“The local police asked the state and they asked the FBI. They took one look at it and sent a request to our group, asking us to look into it for them.”

“Well, that's fine, but I am in a kind of a predicament right now. I don't see how I can afford to take off right now.”

“What if I were to say I could have that fixed?” she asked, while nodding at the engine he had torn apart. “Also I am sure they would pay you pretty well for helping. Besides, it shouldn't take more than a couple of days.”

Gabe sighed and leaned against his truck. “I'm about done here anyway. I need to go take care of some wounds I got in the line of duty,” as he headed towards the house with Nabiha in tow.

After they got inside and after Gabe had been able to remove most of the grease and oil from his hands and forearms, Nabiha put bandages on his wounds.

“I'm surprised you just did not go there yourself, since you are not expecting anything unusual. Give it the once over and call it a day.”

“I thought about it,” she answered. “On the odd chance there is something going on out of the ordinary, I might miss it. I think you sense things,” she finished, glancing at him.

“Sense things? I did not sense you out there in the garage,” he said.

“I don't present any danger to you,” she responded.

He thought about it a moment before answering. “Well, if that is true, then that might explain how some guys never seem to get ambushed.”

“Good, then it's settled.”

He caught himself smiling. “OK, sure, let's go for a drive. I am assuming it is not that far from here. What is this place we are going to visit anyway?” he asked.

“It is a paper mill,” she answered.

“Oh, that's why you wanted me to come along,” he said.

“Partially. I knew you had worked at one a couple of years before joining the Marines and thought you would know your way around better than I ever would in one short visit.”

“That is probably true,” he agreed. “What do you have on this paper mill and the disappearances? You must have something more to go on than just missing people. That would be handled better by the police.”

“What we know so far about the missing people is that they were all considered solid citizens and did not have any serious financial troubles, nor did we get any reports of any family problems. By all accounts these were young men that were raising families and going to work to support them and seemed basically happy.”

“There are some other reports the police had, but were not anxious to let the FBI have them,” she added.

“What kind of reports?” he asked, his curiosity up now.

“Well, they are kind of odd, really. There are reports here and there about animals dying for no reason. Pets, mostly, but there are some reports of farm animals being found dead. None of those were from any disease that the local vets can tell.”

“Do you happen to have any pictures?” he asked.

“Actually, I do have a few. I brought them with me as I though you might like to see them for yourself,” as she pulled her briefcase over and pulled out a folder, which she handed to Gabe.

He began thumbing through them. “I don't see anything obvious,” he said. “Other than lying on the ground, they seem perfectly fine. Were there any odd marks on the bodies?”

“A couple of the reports said that the cows that were found had a couple of puncture wounds on one side of the chest cavity and one on the other side. No one seems to know what to make of that.”

“Did any of the vets make a determination as to what was the cause of death in any of these animals?” he asked.

“They're not sure, but it appeared to one of them that much of the animal's blood had been drained and replaced with some other fluid. He only noticed it because he cut one open and thought the blood looked pinker than normal. Still, he offered no firm conclusion,” she finished.

“This whole thing is not making any sense,” he said. “Have there been any reports of anyone seeing something unusual?”

“There are the usual reports of folks seeing homeless people wandering around where they do not belong and the things you see kids doing now and then. The only really odd things showing up are a couple of reports about chupacabras.”

“Chupacabras? Now this is getting silly, Nabiha. There are reports about those things all the time and they turn out to be either feral dogs or coyotes with an advanced case of mange. They sometimes get it so bad it even affects their appearance.”

“Several ranchers have either shot or trapped them and all the tests show they are just diseased dogs and coyotes. Where do they get these stories?”

“I kind of thought that is what you would say, but there is always a starting point for every legend or myth that makes the rounds. The trouble is finding what the original story was,” she added.

“Are these reports considered reliable?” he asked.

“One was from a homeless man. He spends most of his time drunk.”

“And the other” his eyebrow went up.

“The other is from some kids who were out past their curfew and said they saw something killing one of the neighborhood dogs.”

“OK. Let's forget the chupacabra connection for the time being. I don't think we are going to make any headway using that as a basis for our investigation,” he said. “Where are we going, by the way?”

“A place called Longview,” she replied.

“Then we'd better get moving or we won't get there until late. I would like to get there this evening and have time for something to eat before getting some rooms.”