Chapter 12 - Into the Crawlspace
The sound of bone splintering under Sarah’s strike was wet and hollow, like stomping on rotten balsa wood. The corpse let out a high-pitched, porcine squeal of rage and collapsed sideways against the banister, clawing wildly at Sarah’s robe. Long, decomposed fingers tore through the fleece, leaving deep, burning scratches across Sarah’s ribs, but Sarah didn't flinch.
She pushed past the writhing monstrosity, shoving Toby through the nursery door ahead of her and slamming the heavy wood shut.
She didn't bother trying to lock it; the deadbolt had already proven useless. Instead, she dragged the overturned, splintered crib across the floor, jamming its heavy oak frame beneath the brass doorknob as a makeshift barricade. Outside in the hallway, the heavy, dragging footsteps immediately resumed, followed by the sound of wet fists beating a frantic rhythm against the exterior panels.
""Toby, the nail! Give me the nail!"" Sarah gasped, falling to her knees beside the exposed cavity in the floor.
The nursery was unrecognizable. The star projector on the table was dead, but the room was illuminated by a sickly, greenish luminescence rising directly from the dirt hole between the floor joists. The smell was overpowering—a suffocating stench of an open grave under midsummer heat.
Sarah set baby Brendan on Toby's floor mat. The infant’s eyes were half-closed, his tiny chest barely hitching. ""Watch him, Toby. Keep your hands on him.""
Toby knelt beside his brother, tears streaming down his face as he placed both palms over Brendan’s chest. ""Hurry, Mom! His heart feels like a dying bird!""
Sarah gripped the heavy iron nail and peered into the four-foot abyss.
Inside the trench, the chained wooden chest had shifted. The lid was now propped open by nearly three inches. Through the gap, Sarah could see nothing but velvet-lined darkness, yet from within that darkness, two tiny, skeletal infant hands, bound together at the wrists with dried twine, were slowly reaching upward toward the opening.
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The ground was claiming its second installment.
Sarah swallowed the bile rising in her throat, gritted her teeth, and lowered her upper body directly into the freezing dirt of the crawlspace.
