“Yeah, Alice, whatcha need,” Stuart Meechum said, speaking into the handheld microphone of his police band radio.
“Stu,” the voice on the speaker was Alice, the longtime dispatcher for the Harrison County Sheriff’s office. “Maggie Waterborne has called here three times today, complaining about something going on up her holler. If ya got a minute check it out, would ya?”
Disappointed in the task he was about to take, Stuart’s voice gave evidence of that fact when he solemnly said, “Alright, Alice.”
He hit the gas pedal, and in a few minutes, he was flying down state route 50. Stuart had been a Harrison County deputy for well over two years. Sure he had heard about the trouble they had up at Dark Hollow over three years ago. How the Blanchard man saved the whole town of Clarksburg by defeating some sort of Beast, a so-called vampire.
Deputy Meechum didn’t believe in Vampires and considered the whole thing a bunch of hogwash. Even though former sheriff Monty Windell quickly resigned and moved away from the town Stuart now called home. Stuart, an average height of a man, was 28 years old; he liked working for the current sheriff as a deputy.
After driving for about 5 minutes West on Route 50, Deputy Meechum slowed his vehicle once he saw the sign for Alkire Road. He turned left across the two lanes of traffic that were headed in the east direction. The deputy then drove up the dirt road now known as Dark Hollow because of the events of three years ago.
Passing four other houses on the dusty, dirt road Stuart spied what he was looking for; he quickly turned into the driveway. He stopped the forward progress of his county sheriff’s cruiser and jumped out of his vehicle. He put on his sheriff’s hat and strode up to the small-looking house, thinking, “Time to protect and serve.”
It was late afternoon when Deputy Meechum knocked on the cracked paint of the brown door in front of him. There was someone inside slowly moving to it. The door opened about two inches. An older-looking lady with blue hair stood on the other side of the screen door. Stuart noticed her hair was in tiny pin curls as the deputy spoke. “Mrs. Waterborne, my name is Deputy Meechum. I was sent here to investigate the problem you have called into our main office.”
“It’s about time,” her voice was stern and cracked somewhat when she spoke. “Something strange is going on up there in those woods.”
“What do you mean, ma’am?” the deputy inquired.
“There are lots of dead animals lying all around up there. I went up there the other day and saw them.” She cautiously stuck a finger between the 2-inch crack of the door, showing the direction he should go.
“All right, ma’am,” he said, using an authoritative voice, “I’ll go right away and check it out.”
The deputy started to walk away from the house. Stuart thought, this is a foolish thing to be investigating, but I’ll go have a look to please the ole bat. He started up the slow grade looking ahead to see the tree line. Deputy Meechum climbed the hillside straight toward the trees, following Maggie Waterborne’s direction. After about three minutes of walking uphill, he saw a well-traveled path that he wanted to see where it would go. Once on the trail for about five minutes, the deputy found the first evidence that might mean the older woman was telling the truth. Rats, literally hundreds of rats and squirrels, were lying all over the forest floor. The path was clear of animals; thus, the deputy kept walking. He then came across the carcasses of cats, small dogs, then large dogs, a few foxes, and bobcats. He stopped to examine some of the beasts and noticed it looked as if they had been bitten several times, not eaten, just bit in several different places.
He continued to follow dead carcasses until he saw a deer that was still alive but struggled to move. It balled a moment, then laid its head on the ground as if it were waiting to die. It was at this time he looked at his surroundings to notice there were several deer also lying dead in the woods. Chills crept up and down the spine of the young sheriff. He then slowly shifted his head to notice there was a crack in the hillside beside a fallen oak tree. He walked towards the opening. However, before entering, he withdrew two things, his flashlight, and his 45-caliber Glock revolver.
Slowly he entered the narrow opening in the earth. Using the flashlight to show him the way. Stuart stepped into the mouth of the cave. The deputy made a squishing sound as he stepped into a thick dark liquid. Meechum looked down and noticed fluid on one of his highly polished black boots. It was red. He kept creeping forward one step at a time, and then his flashlight hit on a shiny metal object another twenty feet or more ahead. The further he entered the cave, the more vast it became. Once he was upon the metallic object, he noticed there were not one but three. They were coffins. Pointing his pistol down at the first one, Deputy Meechum quickly threw open the lid. Nothing, it was empty. He did the same thing twice more, and they, too, were empty. That was when he heard something from an area further in the cave crack. He turned his light in the direction of the sound, and all he saw was a beast with glowing red eyes and gnarled teeth. The young man, overwhelmed by what he saw, turned and ran towards the entrance. He felt as if a hot breath was bearing down on him. He did not bother to look behind himself. He just ran. The stories are true, he thought as he was running. Once out of the cave, he felt safe. It was as if he had narrowly escaped whatever he was running from.
“Meechum to base,” he screamed into his portable radio, but there was only static. “Meechum to base,” he yelled even more loudly. However, there was still no answer. He did not realize it, but he continued to jog out of the woods, down the hill, and finally saw the sanctuary of his car. “I am safe,” he thought.
“I saw a whole lot more than that, Mrs. Waterborne,” the young sheriff was breathing heavily now. He turned to see the dark thing coming straight toward the house. Stuart turned to the old woman and pleaded, “Please, Mrs. Waterborne, let me come in and call for help.”
He practically ran to his vehicle and jerked open the door to find his shotgun barrel twisted beyond recognition. It would be of no use. He then saw further damage; something had torn his radio to shreds. The deputy suddenly realized why his radio calls had no effect. He looked toward the horizon and noticed that the sun was completely down, and it was almost dark. He turned and suddenly saw a mysterious figure about 2000 yards away from him emerge from the area of the woods where he had just exited. He quickly ran to Mrs. Waterborne’s careworn house and frantically banged on the door. “Mrs. Waterborne, please let me in. I must use your phone. My radios won’t work. I need to call for backup.”
The door opened the obligatory two inches again, “Did you see them?” She questioned. “Did you see all the dead animals up there?”
The woman seemed pleased that the sheriff’s deputy had seen what she had and agreed with her assessment of the situation. She closed the door to remove the chain and said, “Why, of course, young man come in and use the phone. I didn’t think anyone was ever going to come out here and have a look at that devastation. The phone is right over there.” She pointed to a spot on the far end of the room that she was in.
Paying her no mind, he quickly stepped into the center of the house, walked over to the phone, and picked up the receiver to use it. But there was no dial tone. He heard the door lightly close behind him. He said, “I am sorry, Mrs. Waterborne, but your phone is dead. Whatever is out there must have gotten to your phone line.”
“Oh, that ole thing,” her voice sounded stronger. As the young sheriff turned to look at her as she continued to speak, “It’s been dead for over two years. That’s why we got cell phones now.”
That was when he noticed two huge things standing next to her. They used to be human, but now all the deputy could see were giant fangs and red evil-looking eyes. He then looked at Mrs. Waterborne, whose looks had also changed. She had the same glaring red eyes and large deadly-looking teeth. She spoke, “ I really want to thank you for coming out here this afternoon, Deputy Meechum. We sure were getting tired of all that animal’s blood.”
Outside, a flock of crows took flight to the screams of Deputy Stuart Meechum as he was having his lifeblood drained while still alive. Later once they were almost finished drinking the deputy’s fear-infused liquid. With the deputy’s blood still dripping from her teeth and mouth, the old woman said, “Better hurry up and finish eatin’ boys. Looks like we got company a-comin’.”
