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The Evil Dead The Next Generation Chapter 3
By CastorTroy
Chapter 3: Searching
The following morning, Yvonne awoke to panicked voices. She rolled over to look at her boyfriend, but found the bed empty of any one else. She climbed out of the bed and walked out into the living room, where everyone else was up and standing next to the devastated doorway. The door had been removed from its hinges and was laying on the loose rocks of the driveway.
“What happened?” She asked, not even trying to keep the fear from her voice. She dreadfully remembered when she woke up for a snack the night before and realized that she had forgotten to lock the door when she came back inside. Even though she wouldn’t mention the incident, she feared that somehow the current situation was her fault.
“We don’t know,” Hillary answered as she turned to the other girl. “It was like this when we woke up.”
“Did anyone…” Yvonne fumbled with her fear. “Did anything get in?”
“Not that we can tell,” Jeff said. “Nobody was hurt or anything. Actually, it’s quite odd cause nobody even heard anything.”
“Not even me, and I was sleeping just a few feet from the door,” Brandon piped up.
“Whatever it was, it’s gone,” Michael stated. “The diary…” he trailed off when he saw Jeff look at the floor sadly at the mention of his mother’s diary. “It said that this thing doesn’t come out during the day. We’re safe for now.”
“We need to try to find Rasmus,” Jeff said as he looked back up. “And my mom while we have light. I’m not leaving until they’re found and there’s no way in hell anyone’s leaving the Cabin once night hits. I’m going to walk up the road a bit and knock on a few doors. See if anyone knows anything.”
“I’m coming,” Hillary quickly spoke up.
“You don’t have to,” Jeff said to her. “I can do it myself.”
“You’ll need company.” Jeff shrugged, knowing from experience that it was useless to argue with Hillary.
“We’ll put the door back on its hinges,” Michael suggested.
“Good idea,” Jeff agreed. “You’ll find all the tools you’ll need in the shed out back.”
Michael nodded and Jeff, along with Hillary, started their trek out to the main dirt road and then followed it. Michael and Brandon walked out to the shed while Brandon, with Yvonne’s help, retrieved the door from the driveway.
Michael had been to the cabin many times with Jeff and his family when they were growing up, so Michael knew the layout of everything almost as well as Jeff did. He led Brandon to the shed and opened the door.
Although he turned on the light upon entering, it didn’t brighten up the inside of the messy shed very much at all. Michael told Brandon where he thought the screws and screwdrivers were, while he gave himself the task of finding the square metal joiners that connects the door to the doorframe.
Michael stepped over extra car parts and around toppled boxes, passing by a grease-covered table with a chainsaw resting on it. As he made his way through the haphazard obstacles, he stopped to look at a poster on the wall. It was for a Star Wars Fanfilm titled Threads of Destiny, which he, Jeff, and Rasmus were working on for a school project at the University.
Brandon walked over. “I found the stuff. Here,” He gave Michael two Joiners. As it turned out they had been in the same spot as the screws and screwdrivers. Michael pushed his worried thoughts of Rasmus away from the time being and made his way back to the house with Brandon and started to get to work on putting the door back up.
***
Jeff and Hillary walked up the lonely dirt road, nothing on either side of them but thick trees. They walked in silence for a while, until Hillary placed a comforting hand on Jeff’s shoulder.
“We’ll find them,” she reassured him. “I can feel it. We’ll see them again.”
“I’m glad one of us is sure,” Jeff mumbled. They reached an area that had three cabins near it – Two cabins on one side of the road, one cabin on the other. The first two had nobody currently occupying them, which Jeff and Hillary found out when they knocked on them and nobody answered, but just when they were about to try the third cabin, which had a truck parked in front, they heard voices coming from behind it.
They walked around the corner and came across an older retired couple tending to a garden of bright beautiful flowers. Jeff felt awkward interrupting their argument about which flowers would look good next to the lithianthums, but cleared his throat anyway and said, “Um, excuse me.”
“Oh look dear, we have guests!” The kind-hearted Native woman exclaimed.
“Yes Naninou, I have eyes. I can see them.”
“Well that’s no reason to be rude, Kyle.”
Naninou got to her feet nimbly and Jeff wondered if maybe she had arthritis. “How can we help you?” she asked.
“We were just wondering if you’ve seen or heard anything strange lately,” Hillary said kindly.
“Strange?” Naninou probed. “What do you mean?”
“Like screaming in the middle of the night,” Jeff answered. “Or weird noises, or some all round odd occurrences that are out of the ordinary.”
“Not that comes to mind, no.” Naninou looked back at her husband. “Have you, Kyle?”
“Only if you count your cooking,” Kyle chuckled.
Naninou ignored him and turned back to the two youngsters. “No, sorry. Why do you ask?”
“We’re staying at a cabin down the road a ways,” Jeff replied. “And some people have gone missing. My parents have bee gone for the last couple days and last night one of our friends disappeared right before our cabin was broken into.” Jeff refrained from mentioning anything about his mom’s diary or the Necronomicon. The last thing he needed was for people to think he was crazy.
“Hmm, that is odd indeed,” Naninou voiced.
“Wait,” Kyle spoke up, much more serious this time. “Now that you mention it, something did happen a few nights ago. I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and I heard this noise that sounded like something running through the woods, but when I looked outside, I couldn’t see anything. But it’s not unusual for a moose or a bear to come around these parts so I never thought anything about it.”
Jeff thanked both of them and he and Hillary went back out onto the road, continuing on. “What do you think?” Hillary asked as they left the cabin behind.
“It was the same night my mom disappeared,” Jeff said, his mind turning like a set of gears. “Maybe she was running from something and he heard her.”
“You think maybe we should go back and ask to search the woods on their property?”
“That’s a really good idea, but we’ve gotta pass by it on the way back anyway, so we’ll do that then.”
***
After the hard sweaty work of re-installing the door, while waiting for Jeff and Hillary to return, Brandon, Michael, Ethan, and Yvonne decided to blow up the rubber boat that Brandon and Michael had found in the shed while putting the tools back, and take it out onto the pond.
Yvonne considered herself an expert fisherman, having grown up in one of the small fishing communities around the island, and thought she’d contribute by catching some dinner. Ethan figured that would be a good time to get some swimming in, so he put on his trunks and went out with the rest in the boat, only to jump overboard and into the water, splashing and swimming around.
Brandon joined Yvonne in fishing, having finally managed to get a slimy squirming worm from the bucket of worm-infested soil and onto the fishing rod. With Yvonne fishing off one side of the boat and Brandon off the other, Michael simply sat on the side, watching them. Ethan swam over and rested his arms on the side of the boat, next to Michael.
“I hope they find him,” Michael stated. “I really don’t want to have to deal with the cops. A hundred bucks says they’ll blame us.”
“Oh, I have no doubt they’ll find him,” Ethan said as he spit some water out and wiped some more off his face with his hand. “Right after they find themselves, if you know what I mean.”
Michael shot him a look. “Oh please. Grow up.”
“What?” Ethan asked. “Have you not seen the way they’ve been? They’ve been all over each other ever since we got out here. And sleeping in the same room? Come on. It’s bound to happen.”
“Rasmus is missing and all you can think about is if Jeff and his ex are going to have sex?” Michael felt his short temper begin to grow even shorter.
“Excuse me if I still want to salvage something out of all this. I mean, they’re out looking for him right now. There’s nothing we can do so we may as well enjoy ourselves in the meantime.”
“Ethan’s right,” Brandon spoke up. “No point in sitting around and worrying. That’ll drive anyone insane.” He turned to Yvonne. “Any bites yet?”
“A few, but nothing more then nibbles,” Yvonne said back without turning her head from the water. Brandon put one hand up and rested his head on it as he let out a yawn. “The best time to go fishing is in the evening and real early in the morning.”
The sound of car tires crushing the rocks of the driveway drifted down to them and everyone turned their head to look up the hill, but realized that there were too many trees in the way to see anything but the top half of the cabin.
“Who could that be?” Ethan asked, but received no answer as everyone else was thinking the same thing. Some bushes rustled slightly, all the way down the hill, one after the other, until a short twenty-two year old male with black spiked hair emerged from the trail and onto the wharf.
“Tom!” Ethan shouted.
“Hey guys!” Tom Lee waved to his friends. It wasn’t easy and it had posted him his days off later on in the week, but he had managed to leave work early and get the following day off.
Ethan pushed away from the boat and swam over to the wharf, climbing out and standing next to Tom, dripping wet. “Sup, man?” Ethan asked. “Got the weekend off?”
“No, I’m just out here cause, you know, I’m really at work right now,” Tom replied sarcastically. Ethan silently mocked him with his face. Yvonne and Brandon reeled the fishing lines in and rowed the boat back to the wharf. After they and Michael tied it to land, they went with Ethan and Tom back up to the cabin. Ethan tried to put his arm around his girlfriend, but Yvonne pulled away, laughing, not wanting to get wet.
“So where’s the others?” Tom asked as they walked across the driveway towards the cabin. Everyone exchanged glances.
“Tommy, um, how about you sit down?” Brandon suggested.
They reached the front patio and Tom sat down in one of the few chairs there. Brandon and Ethan sat in the other two chairs, with Yvonne sitting on Ethan and leaning in against him, and Michael leaning against the patio side.
They spent the next while bringing Tom up to speed on the current situation and that Jeff and Hillary were currently trying to find Rasmus and Jeff’s mom. At the end of the story, Tom broke out laughing. “Oh man, you guys have got something going here. Which one of you came up with that story? Or was it a joint thing. Oh dudes, you have to write it all down before you forget about it. Halloween is coming up and there’s that Halloween Story contest at the school that day.”
“Tom, we’re completely serious,” Michael said with a frown. “Look, we’ll prove it to you.” While Tom continued to chuckle, Michael went inside the cabin and came back out with the diary and the Necronomicon. “Look, see?”
He handed the books to Tom. Tom cracked open the diary and briefly glanced through it. “Oh man, these are so good,” he exclaimed as he flipped through the Necronomicon. “We’re sure to win the Halloween Story prize now. I doubt if anyone else has props for theirs.” He continued flipping. “Whichever one of you sick fucks came up with these pictures really needs help,” Tom laughed again and closed the book. “What material did you use to make the cover with?”
“Tommy!” Brandon shouted. “We didn’t make those. Those are real.”
“Nice try,” Tom said back. “But please, save the pranks for someone not so stupid.”
A crow cawed loudly above them, diverting their attentions to it as it glided through the air. “Funny how that’s the first animal we’ve seen out here,” Michael stated. “Normally there’s squirrels and rabbits all over the place. Even foxes sometimes.”
The crow flapped its wings and then glided onto a tree branch in the distance. It let out a loud caw once more, but never got to finish it for a split second later, the tree branch quickly curled up, wrapping the crow up in it, and snapped its head. The branch uncurled, the dead crow’s body rolling off it and to the ground below. One of the massive thick roots emerged from the ground and scooped the dead bird’s body to under the tree.
Tom’s eyes widened to the maximum. “We should get back inside,” Michael stated.
Everyone agreed, now with Tom onboard as well, and quickly moved inside the cabin, locking the door behind them.
They sat around at the kitchen table, playing Poker for the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening, constantly looking out the window.
Jeff and Hillary returned shortly before dark. Only a couple of the cabins they had come across had people currently in them, and none of them could help. When they stopped by Naninou and Kyle’s cabin again on the way back, they found that the old couple had left, so they helped themselves in searching the forest section on their property, but found nothing beyond broken branches and a couple shoeprints in the mud. When they returned, they were quickly briefed on the event that happened earlier that afternoon.
“The…The tree…” Tom stuttered. “Trees can’t do that…”
“Well it did!” Ethan snapped. “Take your head outta your ass and admit that we weren’t joking!”
“We’re all going to die,” Yvonne whimpered. “It’s not going to let us leave.”
“Hey, we’re all going to leave,” Jeff assured her. “Me, you, Ethan, Michael, Brandon, Tom, Hillary, Rasmus…Well maybe not Rasmus.”
There was a knocking noise coming from the living room table and everyone rushed out of the kitchen and into the living room, shadows caused by the recently-lit fire licking the walls. The Necronomicon was rocking back and forth on the table, gaining momentum and force with every knock.
“What’s going on?” Hillary asked, voice tingling with fright. The book instantly stopped moving and remained still.
“Fuck this shit,” Tom stated as he grabbed his jacket and put it on. “I’m out of here.”
“Not yet,” Jeff argued. “We still need to find Rasmus and my parents.”
“Hey, that’s your problem, Jeff, not mine.”
“At least wait until daylight.”
“I’m not waiting for anything,” Tom continued. “I’m getting out of here tonight and anyone is glad to join me.”
“We’re coming,” Ethan stepped up, his arm holding the shivering Yvonne close.
“Get your stuff,” Tom told them. “I’ll go start the car up.”
While Ethan and Yvonne went to quickly pack, and Tom opened the door and stepped out into the night, Jeff called out, “This is a very bad idea!” But none of the three said anything back to him.
Just when Jeff stepped out onto the outside patio to try to talk some sense into Tom, Tom slammed his car door, cutting off any sound from Jeff. Tom liked to think that he wasn’t an all around frightful guy. Not many things in life ever scared him, but what he was witnessing take place at the cabin had him ready to scream. Nothing and nobody was going to convince him to stay.
Tom put the key in the ignition and turned, but the only sound he got was the engine trying, but failing, to start. He turned it off and then tried to turn it on again, but with the same result.
Ethan and Yvonne appeared in the doorway, but stopped just short of going outside when they saw the trouble that Tom was having as he constantly, one time after another, tried to get his car to start.
Tom, frustrated and admitting defeat, took the keys out and stepped back outside his car. As he walked around to the front and opened the hood, he was left with a gasp. His engine had been crushed, as if some Giant had placed it in his palm and squeezed.
“Something destroyed my engine!” Tom shouted back to the others without looking away. He could hear Yvonne’s sniffles and whimpering.
“Try my car,” Jeff suggested. Tom slammed his hood down harder then he meant to and went over to Jeff’s car. His engine was in the exact same state. After checking the other two car engines with the same result, and hearing a few branches snapping loudly from the forest, Tom quickly rushed back inside with the others.
“Yvonne was right,” he said as he slumped onto one of the couches in despair. “It’s not gonna let us leave.”
“We didn’t even hear anything,” Brandon stated. “We were here all day, but we didn’t hear a single that should have went with destruction like that.”
“Like the door last night,” Ethan added. “Ripped right off the hinges and thrown half-way across the driveway, but not one person heard a single thing.”
“With any luck,” Michael said. “Tonight will be as uneventful as last night. Only one thing happened last night, and so far one thing’s happened tonight. If tonight’s like last night at all, then hopefully nothing else will happen.”
Yvonne felt like informing them of her small adventure the night before, but decided against it as she’d have to admit she went outside, and she wasn’t all that sure if she had locked the door or not, and she really didn’t want people blaming her for what happened.
“I say we should all get some sleep,” Jeff suggested. “The sooner we go to bed, the sooner daylight will be here and things won’t seem so scary.”
Tom scoffed. “Speak for yourself. You weren’t here earlier when a tree came alive in broad daylight and ate a damn bird.”
Jeff ignored Tom’s sentence and said to him, “You can sleep on the other couch out here.” And with that said, he stood up and went into his room.
“Jeff’s right,” Ethan said to Yvonne. “The sooner we sleep, the sooner morning will be here and we’ll be able to leave.” Yvonne nodded her head in agreement but didn’t say anything. Ethan said his good-nights to everyone and went off to bed with Yvonne.
Hillary walked over to the shrank and opened up one of the person-sized closet doors. She reached up onto a shelf and pulled down some blankets and a pillow, passing them to Tom. “Here you go.” Her and Michael walked down the hall and said their good-nights to each other as Michael turned off into his room and she continued onto hers.
***
Chapter 4: Rasmus Returns coming soon!
8/22/2006 12:27:07 PM
(Updated: 8/22/2006 12:30:04 PM)
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