Mary and Gary watched in horror as Howard Trenton walked past their hiding place, carrying Shark over his shoulder.

“Fucking hell, he’s got her with him… shit… I thought that he’d just leave her back where he knocked her out.” Whispered Gary.

“Yeah, well he hasn’t… we’ve got to do something, Gary. We’ve got to do something now.” Mary replied, with rising panic in her voice.

“Yeah, I know… but he’s got that fucking knife.” Gary pointed out.

“I don’t care, Gary. We’re just going to have to take our chances, hope that we can get the weapon from off him. Look, now’s our chance.” Said Mary. Howard Trenton was moving away from them, facing the opposite direction. “Let’s rush the bastard, take him down from behind.” Mary suggested.

“Okay.” Replied Gary, but before the pair had the chance to even emerge from the bushes, Howard Trenton had stepped off, sidewards, and was no longer in sight.

Mary looked at Gary, alarmed.

“Where did he go? Where the fuck did he go?” She said.

“I don’t know… he was right in front of us just a second ago.” Gary replied.

“What are we going to do now?” Mary asked.

“Well, he couldn’t have gone far.” Answered Gary, climbing out of the bushes. He took Mary’s hand, and helped her out from the undergrowth. “Come on.” Said Gary, moving in the direction where they had last seen Howard Trenton.

“Fuck, it’s gonna be pitch black soon.” Gary commented; it was a prospect that unnerved him deeply. He wasn’t aware that Howard Trenton was approaching both him and Mary fast, from behind. Howard had dumped Shark Mako not far away. He was now holding the knife in his other hand, and it was raised in the air, ready to be plunged down into the back of Gary Ackley’s neck. The very last thing that Gary heard was a sudden, familiar, fluttering sound in the distance, overheard. The final words he ever spoke were,

“Can you hear that? Can you hear that, Mary? It’s a helicopter.” Then there was a sudden, savage pain in the base of Gary’s skull, followed by an incredible, blinding light. Gary Ackley’s short time on the Earth was over, but a new journey for him had just begun.

***

Howard Trenton carried Shark Mako over one shoulder, and Mary Broderick across the other; the former was still unconscious, but the latter wasn’t, though she may as well have been. Mary was in a complete state of shock, having watched her friend, Gary Ackley, be butchered to death just moments earlier.

“Do you want to know something funny?” Asked Howard. Nobody answered him. “We’re only about a quarter of a mile from the Black Pathway. Isn’t that something? If you lot had just reached the trail, you could’ve back-tracked a little, into Knighton. You would have been safe. There wouldn’t have been any of this. What a bitch, eh? I bet you find that annoying, hey Mary?” Howard chuckled to himself. “The place that I’m taking you and Shark to… well, I think you’re gonna like it there. I stumbled across it a while back, in the summer. I’m always doing that… finding stuff. There’s this derelict farmhouse… I won’t tell you where… that I visit quite a lot. Do you remember, Mary, when I told you that I loved decay? Well, this farmhouse, it’s a proper stunner, absolutely falling to bits… an ideal place for someone like me to find some comfort and solace. The building where we’re going to now is similar. I don’t visit it as much as the farmhouse, but then it’s much less accessible, difficult to get to. Which is ideal for us three, as it means we won’t be disturbed.”

Mary stared down at the ground, blankly, as Howard Trenton continued to talk to her.

“The good news, Mary, is that you’re gonna get out of this forest alive. That’s something that I’ve already decided on. Unfortunately, the bad news is that your pal here… this feisty little bitch… is gonna have to go, but not until after we’ve all party’d for a while. I promise now though, I’ll make things quick for her, just like I did with Gary. You have to admit, Mary, I made it quick for Gary, didn’t I?” Howard asked. “That was good of me, wasn’t it? See? I can be nice sometimes, even though you probably all think that I’m some kind of fucking monster.” He was met with silence. It didn’t matter. Not to Howard. “Yesterday, I gave away most of my inheritance to a little boy who lives with his mom in Coldsleet. They’re poor… except they won’t be going without any more. I’ve seen to that.” Howard thought briefly about little Jack. “I love that kid. I love his mother, too.” He added. And it was true. Howard Trenton may have been a monster, but his love for Anita and Jack was very real.

From somewhere nearby, a police helicopter could be heard.

“Don’t worry about them, Mary. They’ll probably be scouring the Black Pathway looking for us, except we’re not on it, are we? Fucking coppers… actually, that’s one of my regrets. I know that I’m either gonna be dead or under arrest by the time that this is all over - I’ve got no stomach for going ‘on the run’, or any crap like that - it’s just a shame that I won’t be able to get to that cunt, Tom Grogan. He’d got me bang to rights, Mary, he really had! He knew, KNEW, that I’d murdered Alfie Whitehouse. I guess he had that coppers instinct that they’re always going on about. Who’d have thought that a fuzzy-faced twat like that would be the person to bring my world crashing down, eh? It makes you wonder, doesn’t it, Mary? Jesus, I wish you’d say something. I’m fucking lonely, rambling on to myself like this. Hell, I spend enough time in my own sodding company as it is… that’s all I wanted, Mary. You know… for us two to be together. Well, that’s not strictly true. I had that stuff with Kate Williams going on, too, except that was more of a sexual thing, rather than a proper relationship. The bitch cheated on me, so I…”

“JUST FUCKING SHUT UP, YOU ANNOYING, SELF-PITYING LITTLE SHIT!” Screamed Shark Mako suddenly, whilst at the same time grabbing, and then squeezing, with all of the strength that she could muster, Howard Trenton’s private parts.

Howard Trenton instinctively clutched down with both of his hands, letting go of both Shark and Mary. Shark slid from off Howard, so that she was standing right in front of him. She slammed her fist hard into Howard’s face once, twice, three times. He went staggering backwards, dropping Mary to the floor in the process. Shark ran across to Howard, grabbing at his broken arm as hard as she could. His scream pierced the silence of Skerrington Forest. The young woman wrenched down again on Howard’s limb, completely dislocating it from his shoulder. Howard slumped to the floor, clutching at his arm, almost crying with the pain that he was experiencing. Shark ran over to Mary, who was still in a catatonic-like state.

“We have to run. Now. This is probably our last chance.” Said Shark. Mary stared through her friend, as if she were invisible. Shark grabbed Mary by the shoulders and shook her, roughly. “Did you hear me, Mary? We have to run. Do you understand?” Asked Shark. Mary slowly gazed towards Howard Trenton.

“He murdered Gary, too.” She whispered.

“We’ll be next if we don’t run. Are you ready to run, Mary?”

“I’m ready.” Mary answered. The pair took one last look at Howard, who was in too much pain to do anything, and then they took flight, disappearing into the darkness of the forest.

“You’re wasting your time!” Howard called out. “I can track you by your scent! Did you hear me, bitches? I can track you by your fucking scent.” He repeated. Howard Trenton began to giggle to himself, before waving dismissively in the direction where the two women had fled. “Get yourselves a good head-start. It won’t make any difference. I’ll still catch up with you. I’m gonna kill you, Shark, and Mary, you’re gonna watch me do it. Then when I’ve finished with your friend, I’m going to fuck you, Mary… fuck you in a way that you’ve never been fucked before!” Howard shouted. Then, for just a brief moment, and for no particular reason, he thought about his cousin, Lucas. The man who’d taken him in when his mother had died. Howard felt a small pang of guilt, before blocking the emotion out, and focusing on catching up with the two girls.