Emma: Part Three

My head cannot process what I and Jeremy saw at the lake.

I know what I saw with my own eyes, but they are blinded by love. My mind cannot perceive what I saw. My mind tells me this is a long horrible nightmare.

Deep down, I know Emma is not coming back.

We head to my house in silence. The air is cool, and the streets are dark, misty and silent. The tension in the air is so thick that you can almost taste it. Jeremy is the first to break the silence.

"Come on Jake. Wallowing in self-pity won't find Emma. Besides, we need to stop what the hell is happening in this town. My business is suffering."

My blood boils at Jeremy's words.

This is one thing I do not like about Jeremy. Everything is always about the fucking money. It is all he thinks about. We could be standing in a burning building and he would rescue his money before anyone or himself.

We finally reach my house.

It isn't a big house, just a small, one bedroomed house with a basic lounge, kitchen, bathroom and a bedroom. It is situated on Littledon Road which is about a twenty-minute walk to Coolers Park where Coolers Lake lives. Emma chose it. She didn't want a big house because of her work commitments. She only works in a small office; though as she says,

"I'd rather spend my days off doing cool things with you. I do not want to be a slave to cleaning the house after a busy day or week at work!"

I remember moving here well. Emma had a big sulk because she didn't like the colour of the door. She insisted it should be painted blue. She complained that black would let evil spirits in. Emma had some very firm beliefs in the spirit world. She even insisted that we hang garlic cloves around all the windows in the house, just in case vampires attacked.

Only, the two of us had no idea what horrors were in store for us after we moved here.

Jeremy makes himself at home on the peach couch.

"Nice!" he says with a smile on his face.

I thank him. Normally, a compliment like that would make me smile, but I feel depressed and angrier than the thunderstorm outside.

I head into the small kitchen and put the kettle on. I don't really want a drink, but I won't be able to come up with a good plan with Jeremy if I don't have a Coffee right now. My thoughts are like mush, and my concentration is foggy.

I need this Coffee in order to get my brain working.

Whilst in the kitchen, I hear an icy whisper.

"Jake! You know I love you, Jake. Will you let me in?

My first thought is Emma. However, I know it can't be because we haven't found her yet.

I ignore the whisper and head into the lounge with two Coffees.

The rain is so heavy that it rattles the windows, and there is a violent thunderstorm outside.

"So, what are we going to do? Do you have any thoughts, Jeremy?" I ask, trying to break the silence so that I can distract myself from the storm which is only adding to my fear.

Jeremy takes out a notebook.

"Well, they can't be Zombies because they only exist in the imagination, books and nightmares. Maybe the lake is infected and making people crazy. We could run some tests." Jeremy replies.

I take a minute to think.

I do not believe in Zombies. I've never believed in them. However, I do know that there is something very wrong with Sarah.

Sarah was not acting like a normal human being at the lake, and those people were eating flesh. Also, I am sure I saw Emma, and she didn't even notice me even after I called her.

I turn to speak to Jeremy.

"Well, I know. However, that was more than just infected water that was causing all that commotion at the lake. People were eating flesh from the dead. Emma didn't even notice that I was there."

Jeremy rolls his eyes and sighs.

"Are you even sure that the girl was Emma? She has been gone for some time now. How can you be sure that was her?

I feel my cheeks ignite as if they are on fire.

"Don't be a fucking ass, Jake! I'd recognise my girlfriend anywhere. Also, what about Sarah? She had super-fast speed and she didn't appear normal. None of those people at the lake was normal, and there were bodies everywhere!"

I stop and take a breath.

"If we don't act now, Littledon will become a bloodbath. There will be nothing left, and if anything has happened to Emma..."

I stop, feeling tears well up in my eyes. I don't usually cry, but when I think of Emma out there, it stirs up emotions that I can't begin to conceive.

I know one thing. No matter what those bastards are. I will kill them. I will torture them, get the information I need; then I will blow them to bits until there is nothing left.

I will find Emma, with or without Jeremy.

Jeremy slammed his fist on the table in anger. He has never seen me cry before, so he knows that this is destroying me. He turns to me and says,

"Right. Okay. Maybe you are right. However, finding Emma won't happen overnight, Jake. We need to watch and find out what the fuck happened to those people, then we need to research the town and find out if anybody else is witnessing these strange occurrences. We will need to investigate the graveyards and churches. We also need to find out who has experience in the supernatural world, before we can consider weapons."

I nod in response.

I don't care how long this takes. I must find Emma. If that means armageddon, then let it be.

....

SMASH!

I hear a loud smash which comes from the direction of my kitchen. At first, I think maybe it was one of the neighbour's kids accidentally kicking a football through my window.

Things like that happen all the time around here.

The wind has become angrier and wild, and the thunder and rain are now heavier. I think for a minute, then I realize

It can't be the kids. They wouldn't be crazy enough to be out playing football in this weather anyway.

I head back into the kitchen to check the damage.

My small, side kitchen window has been completely smashed, and to my horror, it wasn't a football or anything that a kid or normal human being would throw through it. I just stare in horror without saying a word, covering my mouth in an attempt to stop myself from throwing up.

A completely de-composed and blood-ridden dead head lies on the kitchen surface in front of me. Its eyes have been gauged from the eye-sockets, and bits of flesh are tearing from it.

My breathing quickens and almost stops. I cannot catch my breath to scream Jeremy's name or even shout.

I just stand there, frozen like a body in cryogenic freezing.

Jeremy comes running into the kitchen. He doesn't see what I see straight away, though he does see that the window has been smashed.

"We need to call the police. Fucking kids, they do this all the time. Why do the parents let them get away with it?" he complains angrily.

I don't respond. My thoughts and my voice have been frozen, and I feel like I am about to pass out.

Jeremy then sees the head lying on the kitchen surface. He covers his mouth in disgust and panics.

"OH MY GOD! FUCK!!!! We need to get out of here now, Jake! We need to go to the police and report this immediately."

I find a way to force the words out of my mouth.

"Yeah, that'll do some good. What are we going to tell them? That a bunch of kids are out slaughtering people on a fucking windy and stormy night? Like they would believe us, Jeremy."

I am convinced that this is something supernatural. I don't believe in zombies, though I am sure as hell that this is a Zombie activity. You read about this in fiction books all the time;

though you don't think that it could happen in real life.

My thoughts turn to Emma.

I and Jeremy need to work on a plan. I am about to start talking to him when suddenly, I hear strange laughing in the distance. The laughing turns into wailing then shrieking.

We can't talk here.

I ask Jeremy to get the car open as fast as he can, and we bolt full speed to the bar. We haven't seen anything happen at the bar so far, so we decide that it is a safe place to discuss our plans.

Jeremy hits the accelerator, and we travel at full speed. We need to get there as fast as we can, with the hopes of starting an action plan.

....

Driving isn't easy tonight. The wind keeps pushing Jeremy's car back and you can't see a thing outside because of the heavy rain. A driver in a van peeps his horn and attempts to shout obscenities out of his window. I feel lucky that the windows are shut and that the rain and wind make it impossible to hear anything because Jeremy would have blocked him, then he would get out of the car and punch him if he heard him. We come to a stop at a red light.

"Come on, change, you fucker!" Jeremy shouts in a fit of road rage, then puts his foot down further.

I can just make out the shadow of a figure on the road.

"JEREMY STOP!!" I shout.

It is too late, Jeremy is speeding so fast, that he rams the car straight into him. The figure topples straight over the bonnet, then the roof, finally landing on the road at the back of the car.

"Oh, fucking hell! WHAT was he doing there? That is a stupid place to cross and he should have used the pelican crossing, especially on this busy road!" Jeremy shouts, feeling pissed off.

We don't really have time to stop. However, we must inspect the damage and report it to the police.

We decide to ignore it. We can deal with it later; we have bigger things to worry about right now. However, we do get out of the car so that we can inspect the body. When we do, we are puzzled.

There isn't a body on the road.

"What on earth... ?" I start.

"No time for this now Jake! Get back in the car, we need to move or it will be daylight by the time we have finished, and we need to head to the bar."

I agree with Jeremy, and we drive to the bar in silence.

....

When we finally arrive at Jeremy's Bar, we notice that the bar is surrounded by thousands of people.

Or were they Zombies?

"Shit!" I whisper under my breath.

I'm not even sure if these people are Zombies, and even if they were real,

could there possibly be that many of them already?

"Bar's closed," Jeremy yells at the crowd.

We can't get near the front door at all, for these greedy fuckers are standing right in front of it.

I suddenly have an idea

I grab my petrol lighter from the car and set the bin on fire next to me.

It works!

Zombies or not. These weirdos don't like fire. Disoriented by the smoke, they disband and move away from the door.

"Quick!" I whisper to Jeremy, pushing him through the door of the bar.

As soon as we enter the bar, we pull all the shutters down on the windows and bolt the door securely in an attempt to keep everyone and anything from distracting us from our meeting. We decide to hold the meeting in the basement where we cannot be disturbed.

"Right, now we are settled. We shall begin." Jeremy announces.

"Weapons would be a good start," I tell him.

I can't wait to slaughter these looney-raving monsters and find Emma.

"If anything happens to her, I'll burn the world down; taking every fucking monster out there with us all," I tell Jeremy.

"We need to talk to Kirk Barter first. He is an expert in the supernatural, and he is good with weapons. We are going to need bazookas, Swords, Knives, Grenades, and lightning bolts. We may need stakes, crosses, and holy water because my research tells me that where there are zombies, vampires follow." Jeremy informs me.

"That sounds like something from a fiction book," I complain.

"Look, Jake! I don't believe in zombies either, but you have seen what is going on out there. Hell just opened up right on our doorstep. We need to fight this, and we need to find Emma, otherwise, it will be the end of the world." Jeremy firmly tells me.

"This has been said to happen in other parts of the world, but not here in Littledon. Besides, it has been known as a myth for many centuries," I retort unable to keep the shaking out of my voice.

"Well, it has happened. We can't keep denying reality, Jake. The gates of hell have opened, and we are all going to be swallowed up if we don't do anything about it." Jeremy clearly informs me.

This is one thing that pisses me off about Jeremy, he has to lead in everything.

"We need to call Arlos." Jeremy continues.

"What! The great demon hunter? We don't even know whether he actually exists!" I snap.

"Anything is worth a try, Jake. Go home! Research weapons and find suppliers. I will contact Arlos. Arlos will be able to bring together a team of demon hunters, and I have a feeling we are going to need them in this war. If you want to find Emma, then you need to believe what your eyes are perceiving."

I don't argue, because I know that he is right.

Anything is worth a try if it means that we can find Emma.

There is a nightmare racing through my mind though,

is she dead or is she still alive?

....

I do as Jeremy says. I head home alone and attempt to call Arlos. I am still convinced that Arlos is a myth, so I do my research on the internet first. I find a site that states they are

'The Top Secret Directory of Demon Hunters.'

I am still unconvinced that Arlos exists, but I read the information which tells me the following:

'I am a professional demon hunter who works in a team here at Arlos Council of Demon Hunters.

My company was established in 1992 when the reign of the great vampire Dralus stormed the earth, threatening to over-run the planet with demons, and erase all humanity.

Demons, vampires and Zombies have been in existence before humans existed, though nobody knows how long they have ruled the planet. These are deadly beyond any human being's nightmares, and many live in ignorance believing they do not exist.

We have trained hunters and advanced weapons in order to attempt to eradicate these walking dead who corrupt humanity, leaving chaos in their wake. These hunters work in top secret, in order to protect their identity and the people around them.

They are protected by an invisible barrier that stops the demons from knowing who they are. Once you contact me, a hunter will be called to serve you; however, your memory will be erased so that you do not accidentally tell anyone who they are.

DO NOT CONTACT ME HERE!

In order to contact me, you must access the invisible barrier which you will see appear on your wall once you leave this page.

Arlos.

I read the information, but my mind is not convinced that this is true. I shake my head and immediately close the web page and shut down the computer. I sit and wait a few moments, and out of nowhere

A red swirling light appears on my wall.

I feel a pull and a strong urge to jump through it. I am not in control of my mind right now, so I jump straight through it without thinking. Once I am through it, the light fades and I am sitting in a strange room full of ancient books, and strange weapons that I have never seen before. To my right is an old wooden oak table which has a weird display of orbs, stakes, bows, crosses, holy water, and other weapons that I can't name. There is an old rusty chair on the other side of the table, though nobody is sitting there.

"Hello! Is anybody here?" I shout.

There is a loud WOOSH!

Suddenly a very bright swirl of red light appears in the chair, and a figure appears. The figure is wearing a smart black suit, with oval-shaped rimmed black glasses. Once the figure properly forms I can tell that it is human.

"I'm Arlos, and you must be Jake." The figure tells me.

"How do you know my name?" I ask.

"A member of my team told me you were going to be here. You are looking for information on how to fight the undead that plagues your world, and your girlfriend is missing. You must not tell anybody who we are, if you do, millions will die." Arlos informs me.

"Your team do not know me," I inform Arlos.

"We know when you call us. You called us when you came through the portal on your wall. We are human, but we are hunters. That portal is magic, it is there to protect the people working here and the people who use us."

I roll my eyes.

"You don't believe? Think about it, Jake. The things your seeing in your world, do they appear normal to you? Are there not flesh-eating beings out there? And, have you not witnessed their unnatural powers? There are forces at work here, and no ordinary human could possibly stop them." Arlos informs me.

"I am normal," I snap.

"Normal for now. We are here to grant you the power to fight these demons. You were called to us, which is the only way that you could have gained access to our web page. No human can gain access without a calling. You are called to fight the undead and restore humanity to Earth." Arlos calmly explains.

"My friend Jeremy knew who you were. He sent me here. He said that you could help me find Emma, and he said you would be able to help us fight the chaos and corruption that is occurring in Littledon and at Coolers Lake," I inform Arlos.

Arlos ponders for a second.

Jeremy was one of Arlos's team members. He was a hunter. Jake had known Jeremy since they were kids. Arlos could not reveal his identity otherwise he would risk Jeremy getting killed.

"Jeremy was contacted in secret. We use psychic thinking in order to do that. We set up mountain crystals and meditate through them which brings us to those who watch your people. Jeremy will have been unaware of who we were when we contacted him. He was chosen to send the message to you." Arlos explained.

This all felt very surreal.

I couldn't decide whether Arlos was telling the truth or not, and I had no time to find out. Emma was in trouble, and I needed to act fast in order to save her.

If I could save her.

I let out a shudder and decided to go with what Arlos was telling me. I do not know where this will lead, though I do know one thing,

Someone needs to stop hell from unleashing on Earth. Baring in mind what has happened to Emma, that person should be me.

I take a risk and agree with what Arlos tells me. He insists that I sign a none disclosure form, and then places three crystals in front of me.

"Close your eyes. When I count to five, you will be back in your hometown. You will remember me, but you will not remember coming here," Arlos tells me.

I do as I am told.

"One...two...three...four...five!"

Arlos counts, then there is a flash and I am back in my room.

.....

Jeremy is waiting for me in my lounge. I am dizzy and I feel like I have been somewhere else, though

I can't remember who I was talking to.

I take a seat on my sofa.

"Ouch!" I complain.

My head hurts and I feel nauseous.

"It's okay Jake. It will only last a minute," Jeremy tells me.

I ignore him.

"I went through a portal, but I can't remember the name of the person I was talking to!" I tell Jeremy.

"I know. What did he say?" Jeremy asks.

I'm not sure that I should tell Jeremy; though I remember whoever it was said he was

A member of a team.

Jeremy was chosen to 'get the message to me.'

Still, I must be careful.

I just explain to Jeremy that the guy knew that things were weird, and he thinks that the recent events have been caused by the undead who want to end the world.

"He also knew about Emma," I added to the conversation.

Jeremy nodded and said that a further discussion would take place with him later, and I must not miss it.

"We need to find Kirk Bartlet next," Jeremy informs me.

"How?" I ask.

"He works at the Library of Supernatural Occurrences. He studies all things supernatural, and he knows so much more than we do. We will need an appointment to meet with him." Jeremy explains.

"Do you know how to contact him?" I ask.

"Yes, but only I can go there. The security is very tight, but I used to work there so I won't have a problem getting in touch. I'll contact him tomorrow."

I nod in agreement. I still feel a little resistance when it comes to believing that supernatural occurrences are real.

Though I still need to find Emma. The only way to do that is to force my mind to believe that which it doesn't want to perceive as real.

.....

After much talking and many events, it is almost midnight.

We make a plan to get some sleep and head to the Lake tomorrow to see if we can gather more information about what might be going down there.

Jeremy sleeps on the couch, while I sleep in my room. He is the first to find his bed, as usual!

I turn all the lights out and then head to my room, hoping for a peaceful night's sleep. I am shattered after today's events.

I pull the curtains and turn off my bedside lamp.

I hear a cold laugh followed by these words.

"Dead fish in the sea! Dead fish in the sea! Won't you wake up and play with the dead fish in the sea?"

Then it goes quiet and there is nothing.

I decide that my mind is playing tricks on me. The mind does strange things when you're tired, so I ignore it and roll over in an attempt to go back to sleep.

"Jake! Jake! Please come and play with me. It's a lonely life having nobody to play with."

There is that voice again.

I attempt to shut it out, but the voice keeps repeating itself.

I turn on my lamp so that I can check my room. There is nobody there. I wait five minutes, shaking before I turn it off again.

There is a sudden loud bang, even though thunder wasn't forecast for tonight. This is followed by a bright flash. For a brief second, I thought that I could see a face in the flash.

The face looked just like Emma's, though it was seriously decayed and bloodied. There wasn't a body and her smile was hollow with badly decayed teeth, though they looked sharper than a wolf's teeth.

I screamed the entire house down.

Jeremy came running. When he entered my room, everything was normal and untouched.

"I saw her, Jake," I said in-between panting and panicking.

"I saw Emma! She didn't look like Emma; She didn't have a body." I continued.

"Calm down, Jake! There is nobody here." Jeremy told me.

"But, did you not hear the thunder or see the lightning? Emma's face lit up in that lightning, though her face was decayed. She is dead Jeremy. She's dead!" I told him through sobs and tears.

"We don't know that yet Jake. Try and get some rest! You're probably hallucinating after today's events." Jeremy tells me.

I am sure as hell that I am not. I know what I saw and that was not a hallucination. Jeremy probably didn't see or hear what I saw, but I did.

I am sure that was Emma.

I am too enraged to sleep. I know that my girlfriend is dead and it won't sink in.

How can I sleep knowing that Emma is still out there, and I have no idea what has happened to her?

Dead or not; I intend to find her and the bastards who did this to her. I need to know what has happened, and I won't settle until I find Emma.

I feel annoyed at the fact that so far, I have let Jeremy take the lead.

After all, Emma is my girlfriend. Shouldn't I be the one who leads this mission?

My blood is boiling and I can't control the raging fire burning inside of me right at this moment. I decided to try and make contact with Mr Unknown again tomorrow and demand that he tells me more about what is going on.

After all, if this is my call, then it is also my call to find my girlfriend. She is important too.

...

I fall asleep after at least thirty minutes of thinking. It is still dark outside, though it is early morning now. I wake for five minutes and turn the lamp off in an attempt to sleep a bit more. I only shut my eyes for a minute before I hear that voice again,

"Wake up Jake! I want to play. Come on, I've got chocolate and wine!"

"Why are you doing this to me? Who are you?" I shout back.

"Aaaw! Little Jakey doesn't remember! All those sweet kisses and he can't remember who I am. What kind of boyfriend are you?" the voice replies followed by a cackle of evil laughter.

Emma! I think to myself.

My mind pushes that horrid thought away.

Emma is still alive and I will find her.

I am sweating because I have been panicking so much. I know it isn't hot in here, because it is freezing outside and the heating is turned off. I head to the kitchen for a cold drink. Suddenly I hear tapping on my kitchen door.

"Let me in Jake. You know you really want to!" someone says.

I peer through the spy hole, but there is nobody there.

"Emma! This isn't funny," I shout.

"Oh, I really think it is. Besides! What makes you think that I'm Emma? Don't you know where she is? She is having fun with all the meat she can find in the lake!" The voice tells me, and then it's quiet again.

I bolt the door as fast as I can and then I nail it down. I then nail all the windows in my kitchen down, making sure that the blinds are pulled down and nailed to the windowsill.

I have had enough of these stupid games. Who would do such a fucking evil thing?

Once I am done, I pour a huge whiskey and head to the lounge.

I need a stiff drink to knock me out. I need sleep.

I have to think up another plan fast. It will be some time before Jeremy, myself, and Arlos think up a plan. We need to contact Kirk fast and get the weapons dealt with before this gets out of hand!

I have a problem...

If Emma really is now one of them, then that means I have to kill her!

The thought sends shivers down my spine.

She's my girlfriend! How the fuck am I supposed to kill my own girlfriend?

I comfort myself by realizing that we have not found her yet. Maybe we will, and hopefully alive.

What if she isn't alive? What if she is one of them?

My head can't cope with all these racing thoughts. I am still not sure what we are dealing with, or if the destiny that I have been handed is true. However, I do know,

Something is up here in Littledon. Something more evil than my brain cares to process. I must also find Emma, and in order for that to happen; I must process tonight's events.

I find myself getting sleepy, though my eyes won't shut. I am on high alert, just waiting to hear more voices and see more things. Eventually, the whiskey starts to seep into my brain, and I fall asleep.

I am at Coolers Lake. Everything is wild here. People are killing other people and eating flesh. Emma approaches me looking as gorgeous as she always does. She turns to me and says,

"Do you want to play Jake?"

I awake frozen to the bone, and in shock.

This story is part of a series. You can find the other chapters in my profile.

Thank you for reading, hearts, tips and comments are also welcome.