Creeping Terror by Justin Richards Read Free Book Online Page A

don’t seem to be in any order,’ Maria noticed. ‘They’re not alphabetical. Just in families.’
    ‘Most important first, perhaps?’ Knight suggested.
    ‘Maybe they just signed when they turned up to church,’ Gemma said. ‘The vicar signed first. Look. Reverend Josiah Oaken.’
    ‘Rector, more likely,’ Growl said. ‘Anne Oaken must be his wife. Then his son probably – James Oaken.’ He leafed through the book, reading off some of the names. ‘Jack Willow, Matthew Pine, Emily Heather …’ Growl clicked his tongue thoughtfully. ‘That’s interesting.’
    ‘What?’ Knight asked.
    ‘So many of these names are trees or plants. Anthony Beech, Belinda Appleseed, Marcus Wood … Coincidence or history, I wonder?’
    ‘Derived from a few common roots, maybe? If you’ll forgive the pun,’ Knight said.
    ‘Could be, could be.’ Growl dusted off the chair beside the desk and sat down. ‘Now this willbe invaluable if I am to build up a picture of life in the village before it was evacuated. We know who was here. The registers can give us dates of birth, or at least christening, as well as any recent deaths, marriages and so on. I might even be able to identify the people Tommy and his father saw. Gemma, you can help by reading out the names in the registers, then I’ll cross-reference them with this list of the parishioners in 1943.’
    ‘We’ll fetch the car,’ Knight said to Maria. ‘At least then we can start getting a bit more scientific.’
    ‘What did you bring?’ Maria asked as they left the vestry.
    Knight’s answer echoed in the empty church: ‘The usual stuff. Digital video and sound recorders, thermometers, motion detectors …’
    She didn’t fancy the walk back to the car. But it had to be better than looking through dusty old books with Growl, Maria thought. Gemma was going to be so bored.
    *
    The high hedges along the side of the narrow road made it difficult to judge how far they had come. But they had long since passed the painted-out village sign.
    ‘Can’t be far now to the car,’ Knight said. ‘If weget to the checkpoint we know we’ve gone too far.’
    Maria didn’t reply. She was bored and it was starting to rain. She wondered whether Gemma would be able to see the ghosts still leaving the village, walking with them along the road. Would she herself have seen them a year ago? A month ago? Had she lost the ability in the hour since they arrived?
    She was tempted to get out her phone and see if the ghosts were there. But she couldn’t bear the thought of Knight knowing how weak she’d become. She couldn’t bear her own inadequacy.
    The road curved, rising gently. Round the hedge, Maria at last saw the checkpoint – the wooden barrier lowered across the road.
    ‘Strange. We must have passed the turn-off where we left the car,’ Knight said.
    ‘I didn’t see it,’ Maria said.
    There were two soldiers standing at the end of the barrier. They turned as they saw Knight and Maria approaching. One of them slipped his rifle off his shoulder and took aim.
    Maria skidded to a halt. She recognised them – both the soldiers had been there when they arrived. She could see Knight’s car pulled in off the road beyond the barrier.
    ‘Careful,’ Knight said quietly, his hand on Maria’s shoulder. ‘I don’t like this.’
    ‘Who are you?’ the soldier shouted. ‘State your business and show us authorisation or I’ll fire.’
    ‘You can’t just shoot people,’ Maria yelled back.
    ‘It’s all right,’ Knight called. He walked slowly towards the barrier. ‘You remember us. We came through earlier. I have authorisation from Colonel Greene.’
    ‘Never heard of him,’ the other soldier said. He had his rifle levelled at them now. ‘And we ain’t never seen you two before neither.’
    Knight stopped. ‘What’s the date?’ he asked.
    ‘You what?’
    The two soldiers glanced at each other.
    ‘It’s a simple enough question,’ Knight said, backing away