Box Set: Scary Stories- Vols. 3 & 4 (Chamber Of Horror Book 8) Read online

  Box Set

  Scary Stories:

  Volume 3 & 4

  Chamber Of Horror Series

  By

  Billy Wells

  Scary Stories:

  A Collection of Horror

  Volume 3

  Chamber Of Horror Series

  By

  Billy Wells

  Scary Stories: A Collection of Horror

  Volume 3

  Chamber of Horror Series

  Copyright © 2014 by Billy Wells

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Dedication

  I dedicate this book to Matt Nichols, a fellow writer who tried to make me see the light on passive voice. Sometimes he succeeded. Thanks, Matt.

  .

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  SCARY STORIES-VOL.3

  THE RECKONING

  When two friends are trapped in a hole in the rocks by a grizzly bear, the devil offers to save one of them for a price.

  ABSOLUTELY NO FISHING

  Two friends from the poor side of town come to fish at Manchester Cove, a luxury community of estates located on a beautiful lake during the off season. They ignore the sign, “Absolutely No Fishing.”

  NEVERMORE

  A billionaire builds an island paradise for his family to live when the zombie apocalypse has wiped out most of humanity.

  SOMETHING IN THE SKY

  Strange things happen to two college students on lovers lane after a meteor cuts a path through a nearby cemetery.

  YOU REMEMBER, I’ll FORGET

  A serial killer who murdered thirteen children as a teenager is released after twenty years of rehab in a sanitarium.

  THE ROCK

  Two lives change forever when a young boy puts his best friend's eye out with a rock he meant to throw over his head.

  THE RIPPER

  Gang members who played a prank on an elderly man on Halloween are harassed by someone calling himself "The Ripper."

  FEELINGS

  A motorist seeks revenge on a TV news reporter whose ambition to be a star caused an accident that killed the man's wife.

  POWDERPUFF

  A couple with a Doberman seek refuge in a cabin on a desolate mountain top when zombies take over the city where they lived.

  HOMICIDE MAINTENANCE

  A detective goes into the homicide crime scene cleaning business when he learns about the obscene fees businesses pay for the service.

  Scary Stories-Vol. 4

  CRAWLSPACE

  Two reporters interview a strange humpbacked man in a house where gruesome experiments were conducted by previous owners.

  NO REST FOR THE DEAD

  A gravedigger provides fresh cadavers for medical research and makes a killing.

  JUMPER

  A patrol officer discovers a lovesick young man on a bridge contemplating suicide.

  THE ABHORRENT CLUB

  A group of depraved multimillionaires sponsor a freak show for their annual event.

  DEAD

  A young man killed in an automobile accident ten years ago visits his parents.

  VAMPIRE

  After a woman and her son move to town, a serial killer begins a reign of terror.

  BUG

  A professor is propositioned by a student who offers him sex for an "A.”

  STRANGER IN THE RAIN

  Two strangers meet in the deserted pool area of a large resort hotel with a storm threatening.

  CONVERTIBLE BANDITS

  Two travelers take a tip to save time by taking a shortcut on a lonely road not on their map.

  PANDORA’S BOX

  A man learns the love of his life can only marry him if he promises never to open her black box.

  THE MONSTER NEXT DOOR

  An apartment dweller is convinced his next door neighbor is a monster.

  THE WALL

  A rich playboy discovers an island with an enormous wall, Japanese soldiers, and a village of pygmy cannibals.

  THE GREAT SANDINI

  A man hypnotized in a nightclub act becomes involved in a murder plot.

  THE RECKONING

  Claude Jarvis and Cory Phelps had been climbing at Seneca Rocks in the Appalachian Mountains most of the day. On the final descent on their way back to camp, Claude had cut his wrist on a sharp rock. The deep, nasty gash bled like a son of a bitch even after he wrapped it tightly with a pair of socks from his rucksack.

  They were miles from the visitor’s center and the ranger station where they could have gotten first aid, but once the flow of blood had finally subsided, they decided to continue toward their camp. They hoped to be there well before dark.

  Cory, who had been Claude’s best friend since the fifth grade and his roommate all four years in college, kept looking nervously at the bloody bandage and peered at the landscape with obvious trepidation as they trudged down the mountain. Finally, he stopped, lit a cigarette, and asked, “Has it stopped bleeding yet?”

  “Almost, but it sure took a while. My socks are still wet with blood.”

  “If it has stopped bleeding, maybe it’s time to get rid of the bandage.”

  “We still have a few more crags to maneuver,” Claude explained. “I don't want it to get infected.”

  “I know, but I’m afraid a bear might smell the blood and come after us.”

  “It’s pretty much stopped, but it’s still bleeding some. What made you think of a bear all of a sudden?”

  Cory flicked the ash off his cigarette. “The ranger at the station said a grizzly escaped into these mountains yesterday when the truck transporting it to a zoo overturned on a hairpin curve. He told me a grizzly can smell blood from a long way off and have been known to come after an injured person if they smell it. Didn’t you see the movie, The Edge with Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin?”

  “No, I missed it. What happened?”

  “A black dude accidentally cut his hand with a knife and disregarded the warning about bears being drawn to blood. From out of nowhere, this huge monster of a grizzly came right into their camp and tore the dude apart with its massive jaw and claws.”

  “No shit! And you think it could happen to us because I cut my wrist?”

  “I don’t know, man. I'm just telling you to ditch those bloody bandages as soon as you can.”

  Claude didn't have anything to replace the bandage, and his arm was black with dirt from holding onto the rock face and scrambling up and down in the crevices all day. He looked concerned, but ignoring Cory's warnings, he continued down the slope toward their camp.

  It was late afternoon when they returned to their campsite and entered the tent. Although he hadn’t mentioned the bandage again, Claude could see the worry on Cory’s face. Consequently, he took a towel from his rucksack, spliced it into pieces, and replaced the bloody bandage.

  Afterward, he placed the bloody socks in a plastic pouch and put it under his sleeping bag. Then, he strode off toward the cover of a clump of bushes with a roll of toilet paper in his hand. He saw Cory collecting kindling to make a fire to cook dinner.

  When Claude emerged from the bushes, he saw an enormous bear barreling down the mountain path toward Cory, who was in the process of lighting a fire.

  “Cory! Bear!” Claude shouted, and started running into the trees.

  Cory turned and saw the awesome beast moving at breakneck speed toward him. He quickly joined Claude in a mad dash toward a stand of rocks.
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  Cory had been a member of the track team in high school and college and was in much better shape than Claude. He quickly increased the distance between him and the grizzly as Claude struggled up the slope panting for breath.

  The speed of the enormous beast barreling across the rocky terrain was astounding. Claude knew he was in trouble as the bear continued to narrow the distance between them, and the incline became harder for him to negotiate.

  Cory kept screaming for Claude to stop looking back and to keep running. At the top of the rise, Cory discovered an indention in the rock face big enough for them to climb into, but not big enough for the bear. He screamed for Claude to suck it up if he wanted to live. Claude veered toward Cory standing atop a huge boulder.

  Claude’s legs were screaming with pain. He thought his lungs would burst as he climbed the last pile of rocks. He could almost feel the bear’s breath on the back of his neck.

  The stench of dead fish and spoiled meat hung heavy on the wind. The roar of the beast’s bellowing screeches coursed through their ears like fingernails on a blackboard. Suddenly when all seemed lost and the distance too great for Claude to reach his friend atop the boulders, the bear squealed as a rock bounced off its enormous nose. The momentary interruption caused it to hesitate just long enough for Claude to crawl to the spot where Cory had hurled the stone.

  They scrambled through the vertical crack in the wall as deep as they could and waited for the onslaught that was sure to come.

  No sooner were they spread-eagled against the inner wall than a fistful of claws swiped the air only inches from their noses. They scrunched and strained to get as far away from the raging beast as they could. The enormous brown 1,200-pound Goliath rushed at the boulders again and again. With each teeth-rattling thrust, the claws seemed a little bit closer as the earth moved under their feet. The bear appeared to be ravenous or possibly rabid as it relentlessly tore at the gigantic boulders blocking its way from reaching them.

  Finally, the bear sat on the ground and peered at them through the crack in the rocks. Its soulless eyes had a fire of feral fury neither of the young climbers had ever seen in an animal, even on TV. It seemed to be driven with a hell-bent determination to tear them limb from limb.

  “Look at those eyes. It's like he’s boring a hole through me. Do you think he knows I threw the rock that bounced off his snout?” Cory asked, still visibly shaking from head to toe.

  “Hell if I know. He’s got one thing on his mind. Chow. And we’re it. I was a goner, until you saved the day with that rock. You saved my life, Partner, that’s for sure.”

  “What are friends for, Big Man?” Cory scanned the behemoth standing over ten feet tall before him and stammered, “This must be the grizzly. It looks twice as big as the bears I saw in the pictures at the station. Can you believe it? This monster traveled over fifteen hundred miles from the Rockies to find us on a mountain where we’ve never been before.”

  “Forget what shitty luck we’re having. What are we going to do now?” Claude asked, his eyes bulging with unbridled terror.

  “Hopefully, we can wait him out.”

  “Do you think he'll just get up and go away?”

  “Damned if I know. But one thing’s for certain, we can’t outrun him.”

  “He looks lean, mean… and hungry. I don't think he's going to give up that easily.”

  “Hey, Big Man, it's the only chance we have. If he doesn't give up, we’re fucked.”

  Eight hours later, they were still standing against the rock face. The bear had dozed off a few times, but now he was ogling them like a juicy piece of meat, sitting about ten feet away.

  Cory said, ”We're going to need a little shut eye ourselves. It’s hard to keep standing erect for so long. Do you see that elongated opening at the base of the wall?”

  “Yeah, I see it, but it’s not very deep.”

  “Maybe not, but I think there's room for one of us to crawl inside and take a load off. You go first, then you can stand watch while I take a little nap.”

  Claude crawled into the place Cory had mentioned and was relieved to take a break from standing. The movement aroused the bear from his post. He moved closer to the crack and sniffed, but after looking and smelling for a time, he sat back down and seemed to doze off again.

  As Claude lay on the ground, he tried to let the tension in the shoulders relax. Would either of them make it back alive? It was all his fault. The grizzly must have smelled the blood just like Cory had feared.

  Suddenly Claude heard a voice in his head, “Claude?”

  He didn't understand where the voice was coming from. Certainly there was only the two of them in the hole.

  Claude heard the voice again, “Claude?”

  “Who are you?” he whispered.

  “I have many names. You can call me Bob,” the eerie voice said telepathically.

  “Bob?” Claude said softly, not wanting Cory to think he was losing it. ”I hear you, but I can't see you. Where are you?”

  “I'm inside your mind, Claude. Let's say I'm your guardian angel.”

  “And your name is Bob?”

  “Don't dwell on my name. It's not important. You’re in trouble, Claude. Some deep, deep shit. Are you ready to die?”

  “Of course not,” he answered in his mind. “I don't want to die. I haven't lived yet. I haven't even had sex with a girl.”

  As soon as he said this mentally, Claude couldn't believe he confessed such a thing to anyone, let alone his guardian angel.

  “What would you give to have a second chance at life?”

  “I just graduated from college, and I start my new job next week. I haven’t saved any money yet, and I have college loans to pay. So far my only employment has been working part time at McDonald's and delivering papers.”

  “I'll take your word as payment for my services.”

  “My word?” Claude said confused.

  “That's all it takes.”

  “To do what?”

  “To give you another chance at life.”

  “You mean you can get us out of this predicament?”

  “No. I can only save one of you.”

  “I don't understand. What about Cory? Without him, I’d already be dead. He just saved my life.”

  “Forget everything but the sound of my voice, Claude. What would you give not to die here today? And believe me you will die today, if we can’t make a deal. And it won't be pleasant. I promise you. So… what would you give?”

  “Anything. I guess.”

  “Does that mean you will do anything I ask if I save you?”

  Claude didn't like the scary emphasis of the words he was hearing in his head. Was this a dream? He didn't know. He’d never heard a voice in his head before. Somehow, the voice didn't seem to be what he imagined a guardian angel would sound like, if there were such a thing.

  He hesitated and finally said, “Are you the devil?”

  “Who I am is not important. All that is important is for you to simply promise me you will do anything I ask not to die here today. Do we have a deal?”

  Claude had never believed in heaven, hell, God, the devil. He considered all of these things fantasies humans created to feel better, when a loved one dies and to make themselves believe they will live on after death. George Carlin had put it all in perspective in one of his routines on HBO when he said, “There's an old man with a long white beard in the sky who loves you.” Consequently, whatever this was in his head could only be a figment of his imagination. What difference would it make what he agreed to?

  “Well?” asked the voice impatiently.

  “Okay, Bob. We have a deal. Work your magic.”

  Suddenly a vast, empty feeling enveloped Claude. A sense of dread so profound he couldn't get his mind around it. In the real world, he heard Cory whisper to him, “Claude, wake up. You won't believe this. The bear just got up and headed into the woods.”

  “What?” Claude said dreamily.

  “Let's wai
t here a little while longer. I don't know if bears are smart enough to decoy us into the open and then attack, but let's not take any chances.”

  After a half an hour passed, Claude and Cory emerged from the hole in the rocks. They continued to watch the terrain warily to see if the grizzly would reappear knowing all the while if it did come for them, they would have no chance to outrun it back to the hole in the rocks.

  When they finally arrived at their camp, they took down the tent, packed up everything inside, and scurried down the mountain as fast as they could.

  When they reached Cory's Honda Accord, they piled inside and locked the door securely. They sat there for a few minutes and peered out at the wilderness with a new sense of what being alive really meant. Cory finally exhaled loudly, started the engine, and they drove away. As they headed toward home, Claude wondered if his guardian angel, the devil, or whoever had been a figment of his imagination or had he really saved them from the bear.

  * * *

  When they arrived in Charlottesville three hours later, Claude and Cory parted company for the last time.

  * * *

  The next morning Claude boarded a train departing for Washington, DC to start his new job as an apprentice with Apex Photographic Ltd. Cory drove his Honda to New York City and began his career as an architect with Poirot, Marlowe, and Holmes, a prestigious firm who specialized in designing tall buildings.

  Claude and Cory never saw each other again. They never spoke on the phone or sent emails to one another after their near death experience in the mountains in 1988. Claude never understood why their brush with death had made them strangers, but that was the reality. He never blamed Cory for his lack of communication. He could’ve tried to reach Cory himself, but never did.

  Claude married Lydia Hamilton, a meteorologist. They reared two children, and lived happily in Northern Virginia. Cory married the publisher of Celebrity Nights, a well-known gossip magazine in the Big Apple. They also had two children and lived happily in a luxury apartment on Park Avenue.

  In 1993, Claude earned a prestigious appointment as one of the White House photographers under Bill Clinton and continued with each new president up to the current administration. In recent years, he had taken many photographs of President Obama, the first lady, and their children. He found his position rewarding, and he and Lydia enjoyed being social butterflies in the nation’s capital. They loved meeting all the celebrities and foreign dignitaries.