Free Four Corners Dark: Horror Stories by William McNally

towards a dark figure on the lakeshore. “Maybe it is someone who can help us.”
    “No,” he said weakly. “That is not the way.”
    It was the Raven Mocker and he sensed its hunger.
    He shuddered and said, “We need to go now.”
    Pulling the swamped canoe slowed them considerably and the best they could manage was a slow crawl. Joseph feared they would be trapped on the water after dark, but Terry needed to stabilized and brought into their vehicle.
    An island came into view, and on the shore was a burning building with people jumping from its windows.
    “We are not going there are we?” Abby asked.
    “We must,” Joseph answered. “I will land as far away as I can.”
    Joseph landed in a thicket fifty yards from the building and then drove onto the shore scraping the canoe over the rocky beach. He climbed out and arranged a circle of stones around them.
    “This will provide protection, but we must be fast. There is too much pain in this place and we cannot remain for long,” Joseph said.
    He opened a trunk in the rear of the ATV and retrieved a first aid kit and a blanket. He placed the items on the front seat and said, “Help me lift him.”
    “Please be careful,” Abby said through tear-filled eyes. “His leg…”
    When they lifted him into the backseat, he came to and thrashed wildly, his injured leg a twisted mess of blood and bone.
    “Abby, please hold him still,” Joseph said.
    Abby pressed down on Terry’s shoulders. Joseph found a sedative in the first aid kit and injected him. He quieted which allowed Joseph to fashion a splint on Terry’s damaged leg.

CHAPTER TWENTY
     
    I ma arrived at the lodge shortly before sunset. She walked to the front door and rang the doorbell, but no one answered. A Jeep sat parked in the driveway, she felt the hood of the truck but it was as cold as the air around it. She walked around the back of the lodge to an outbuilding. Both doors were open and tire tracks led out of the building. She followed the tracks across a stone bridge and reached the edge of the forest. There, the tracks abruptly disappeared.
    “Sheriff?” Ima called into the trucks radio.
    “Hey Ima,” Sheriff Turner answered.
    “I’m up at the James Lodge. There’s something strange going on here,” she said.
    “What’s up, Ima?”
    “We received a call that the folks up here couldn’t be contacted. I’ve searched the grounds and there’s something you should see.”
    “Any signs of foul play?” Sheriff Turner asked.
    “No,” Ima answered.
    “Okay, then we need to pick it up in the a.m.,” he said.
    “But Sheriff,” Ima started to say.
    “In the a.m. You hear me deputy?”
    “Yes sir,” Ima answered. “Over and out.”
    She knew him well enough to predict his response. The sheriff’s office patrol area ended way short of these parts after hours.
    Ima opened the door of her truck and prepared to leave when she heard the sound of a car approaching. Moments later a silver Honda turned up the drive, the car’s radio shattered the quiet. The car pulled to a stop and a slim, dark-haired woman emerged.
    “Any sign of them?” Brenda called out.
    “And you are? “ Ima replied.
    “My name is Brenda Collins. My friend Donald called your office.”
    “Sorry Miss Collins, we have not located them yet. Did you just arrive in Silverton?”
    “Yes, I drove up from Louisiana.”
    “A loud radio helps keep me awake on a long trip as well,” Ima said.
    “Oh, yes. Yes it does,” Brenda said.
    Falling asleep was not the problem. The radio helped her mute the distractions, the sounds had been deafening since she drove into the mountains.
    “I know you’re probably tired from your drive, but if you have a few minutes, I would like to ask you some questions,” Ima said.
    “Certainly,” said Brenda.
    The two women walked to the front of the lodge. Ima grabbed the carved wooden handle of the door and pushed it open. She braced herself when she stepped inside. The claustrophobic