Hexad by Andrew Lennon, Matt Hickman Page B

white face – it was a picture of pure evil. Her dead, white eyes were rolled back into her skull, displaying no pupils. She blinked and a speckle of blood dropped to her cheek from her tear ducts and then began to roll freely down her face like the slow trickle from a tap. She leaned her head back a few degrees and opened her mouth, a steady trail of thick, dark green liquid slowly started to sluice from her mouth between her rotten black teeth, dribbling down her chin and splashing down her filthy grey nightgown. The foul stench hit Glen’s senses like a truck.
    With his feet unable to move, he was frozen to the spot in absolute terror. The woman raised her arms out in front of her. Her long, filthy finger nails had grown long and looked like razor sharp talons. Turning over her hands, she displayed deep cuts on both of her wrists exposing severed veins and ripped muscle, both wounds squirting fresh blood.
    His body became alive with panic; he dropped his torch and span round in an attempt to retreat from the wretched woman. He began sprinting towards the door, his feet slipping on the patch of water on the ceramic floor beside the bath. Quickly falling sideways, he was unable reach out to soften his fall. The sickening sound of his jaw snapping echoed as his face hit the corner of the bath. Agonisingly, his broken jaw hung limp to the side of his face between the torn flesh of his cheeks, several of his teeth had been shattered on impact and knocked out of his mouth. They plinked on the tiled floor beside him as he turned over and groaned in pain.
    The last thing that he saw before losing consciousness was the dreadful sight of the woman in the filthy nightgown stood above his twitching body, the blood leaking from her wrists onto his face.
     
    Four
     
    Mart and Adam ran down two flights of stairs, stopping on the landing on the second floor. Both men shone their torches back up the stairs, unable to see anything through the darkness and dust that had been unsettled.
    Breathing heavily, Adam turned to Mart. “What the fuck was that about?”
    “I don’t know. I didn’t see anything. All I know was that someone shouted run and then there was a stampede of people.”
    “Did you see where everyone else went?”
    “No, everyone began falling over each other and panicked and headed off in different directions.”
    “What do you reckon we should do?”
    “Let’s head downstairs to the main entrance, that’s where Karl said to meet if we got split up.”
    “Good idea.”
    Both men began to head towards the downward flight of stairs, when they heard someone shout.
    “ Hello! ”
    Both men looked at each other. Adam asked, “Who’s that?” Is it coming from down there?" He pointed with the beam from his flashlight.
    Mart replied and nodded down the corridor that ran in the opposite direction. “I’m not so sure, I could have sworn that it came from over there.”
    “ Guys, stop fucking around ,” came the same voice again. Both men listened. Adam pointed down his corridor. “Yes, it’s definitely coming from down that way.”
    Mart replied. “No, it’s from over here .”
    Both men stared at each other, unsure of their next move. Neither man could say for certain that the voice had come from their chosen direction.
    “Tell you what,” Adam began, “you quickly go and check down that way, I will check down there. If you don’t find anything I will meet you right back here in two minutes, right?”
    “OK,” Mart replied. “Two minutes and then back here.”
    Headed in their separate directions, the two men walked off, their torches shining out in front of them, leading the way. Mart followed the direction of the corridor in silence, listening out for the other voice. He passed several rooms on the way, each of the doors wide open or hanging from their hinges. Scanning quickly through the darkness, he saw no one.
    As he rounded a corner, he slowed down as he started to feel dizzy and nauseous. He