In The Dark Of Night

Chapter Fourteen - Jesebelle

Chapter Fourteen

Jesebelle

Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have immortal longings in me.

~William Shakespeare

The bikes sputtered to a stop along the abandoned streets of Brooklyn Avenue, stilling on the sidewalk in the midday sun, refusing to go an inch further.

It was Faye who noticed it first - the cold smell to the air, the rotting of the leaves hanging over the dismally lit park alongside them, the Gothic-like church-building sitting at the centre of the enclosed area, with headstones littered all around it... It was so obvious; it was peculiar they hadn't instantly made a note of its presence.

"It's... a cemetery." Wynella breathed, her eyes glazing over slightly as she stared through the metal bars into the enclosed yard beside the useless bikes. 

Even in the sunlight, the dark feeling of death crept into the atmosphere, freezing the coherent thoughts around them, only allowing them to suck in and whoosh out the cold air running like soup about them. 

"Should we... should we go in?" Faye muttered, locking her fingers together in an attempt to prevent them from trembling. 

Cale's eyes ran up and down the chained wall of the graveyard, until they rested on the gate, a few blocks down the road. 

Before he could respond however, a putrid scent hit the air.

The smell of rotting eggs, decayed flesh and year-old sewage - all tied up in one, disgusting, sopping bow.

It didn't even take him a second to pinpoint exactly what had caused the suddenly shift of smell - he whirled, and instantly, his eyes locked on hunkering figures only feet away from them. 

Their bodies - discoloured and grey - were hunched over, and they slumped along, jaws unhinged and breath coming out in foul, short pants as they hunkered along... right towards the trio. 

Ghouls. 

And there were tons of them - all bundling together, moving as one.

With each step, the smell got worse.

Wynella gagged, hand flying up to cover her nose as she squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again - as though she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. Faye reeled back, face looking slightly green as she shot the narrow-eyed Cale a look.

"What in the hell - where did they come from?" She gasped out, eyes watering from the stench.

He didn't respond - he didn't have an answer. 

Just like the cemetery, the Ghouls had come up out of nowhere. It was like everything was suddenly catching him off guard.

They were shuffling faster now - picking up speed; and their moans were getting louder, paling eyes now trained on the fresh meat before them.

Cale fingered the gun strapped to his waist - a few bullets would be all he would need to take down the horde... But Ghouls never travelled in large numbers like these unless they were being controlled by something... Something a hell of a lot more powerful than they were.

And killing off all of the Ghouls might just make whatever it was angry. 

He couldn't protect both Wynella and Faye if that happened.

The moans grew louder as the Ghouls came closer - so close that he could see the pus-filled sores and lesions on their dead, mottled skin, see the torn bits of flesh peeling from their mouths and eyes and ears, smell the death and sickness radiating from their congealed pores.