After Darkness Falls: A Paranormal Story

By Dallas Releford

Jan Evans rushes to the emergency room after learning that her husband Frank Evans, a homicide detective with the Cincinnati Police Department has been shot. For weeks, she eagerly watches over him as he recovers vowing that they will move out of the city to a safer place.
Months later, after a painful recovery, the family moves to Clinton Falls, West Virginia hoping for a better life. Unable to sleep during their first night in their new home, their fifteen-year-old son, Joel Evans sees four strange creatures in the woods and follows them. He discovers they are doing something in a cave nearby. Terrified, he returns home. Afraid to tell his parents, he lingers on the deck and falls off to sleep. The next morning, he shows up at the back door looking as if he spent all night in a swamp. Under pressure, he finally tells the family what happened. Frank promises to investigate. Their horror has begun.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dallas Releford
• Release date: Jun 24, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458019820

Book preview

After Darkness Falls

A Tale of the Paranormal

By:

DALLAS RELEFORD

Published by

Dallas Releford at Smashwords.com

After Darkenss Falls

A tale of the Paranormal

Copyright (C) 2011 Dallas Releford

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Mystery-Paranormal

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Disclosure

This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, places, events, organizations, areas, or locations are intended to provide a feeling of authenticity and are used in a fictitious manner. All other characters, dialogue and incidents are drawn from the author’s imagination and shouldn’t be accepted as real.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without explicit permission from the author or publisher except in brief quotations used in an article or in a similar way.

Smashwords Edition, License notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. The ebook may not be re-sold or given to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Dedication

I would like to thank my wife Sharon for her understanding while I was writing this book. She passed away on August 18, 2010. She is dearly missed.

I would also like to thank my agent and typist, Harriet Smith and Martin Smith, my advisor and typist. Their hard work and dedication has made this book much better than it would have been without them.

Credit is also due to my lawyer, Daniel C. Atwood and my financial advisor Ova Helton, Jr. for their sound advice.

I am also grateful to many other people who kept me going through tough times I have faced in the last seven months.

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After Darkness Falls

A Tale of the Paranormal

By:

Dallas G. Releford

After darkness falls, the small town of Clinton Falls becomes a haven for creatures that are determined to destroy the human race. A victimized family moves to Clinton Falls to escape the horrors of city life. Soon, they face a terrible adversary that wants to destroy them.

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Prologue

Bernice Saylor, a light-haired young woman with freckles and dazzling blue eyes looked at her boyfriend, Jason Pike as they sat in his blue Chevrolet Impala. His sandy brown hair, green eyes and bronzed complexion impressed her although his drinking habits intimidated her. Sometimes, she thought he went insane when he got a few drinks in his gut. This was the second time in two weeks he had parked with her on a lonely country road. She knew what he wanted and had resisted his efforts to get into her pants. Just an hour ago, he knocked at her door and asked if she wanted to go out to dinner. Now, she found herself in the car with him parked somewhere in the woods with mountains and creeks all around them. She knew what was in those woods, or at least, she had a pretty good idea. Rattlesnakes, copperheads, bears and monsters dwelled there. She would have laughed at the thought of monsters in the woods any other time, except for two things. In her present mood, laughing was beyond her ability and her uncle had told her about the monsters that ate people who wandered into those woods. All her life, she had heard rumors and tales about people who went there and never returned. Had Jason brought her here knowing that she wouldn’t be dumb enough to walk home in the dark? Why had he waited until eight o’clock—one hour before dark—to bring her here?

Considering her few options, she sat in the passenger seat staring at the invading twilight as a red sun hunkered over the western horizon peering at her through thick trees. Knowing that she had to convince him to take her home, she thought of the right words to say to him. The wrong word might provoke him into harming her.

Rolling her window down, hoping for a breath of fresh air, she frowned when hot, humid air struck her in her face. He had turned the engine off on purpose. With the air conditioning off, the hot muggy air would force her to ask him to turn it back on again. He would use the request as leverage to get what he wanted. You do what I want and I’ll turn it back on, he had told her the last time he parked with her against her wishes. Getting out of his car, she legged it home, more than five miles. Now, she was more than twenty miles from home and most of the way was through heavy woods, few houses and dangerous heat.

Can we go now? She turned her head toward him and doubted that he heard her. Jason was sucking on his fourth cold beer. A twelve pack was on the back seat. Jason, I want to go home. His glazed eyes stared straight ahead into the gathering darkness.

Maybe. Maybe I’ll take you home, later, he said. If you have a few beers with me. We can neck in the backseat when it gets a little cooler. Nobody will bother us, you know. We’re miles from the nearest house. Nobody ever comes out here, except the boogey men.

Leaning over toward him, she slapped him hard on his face. He ignored her as if she hadn’t even touched him. I want to go home now. You can bet that when I get home, I’m filing charges against you for kidnapping me.

Turning his face toward her with his lifeless eyes focused on hers, he belched. No, he said. You are my girl and you always have been. Now, the way I understand it, when I want a little, you should give it to me. We’ve been going out for almost a year now and you haven’t even let me touch you in that special—

Yelling at him was out of the question, she knew. He was stronger than she was and provoking him wasn’t a good idea. Neither was slapping him, except she had lost her temper as she normally did. Before he could finish the sentence, she fought back the tears that were swelling up in her eyes and said, Jason, we are not going to have sex. You can just get that out of your head. I’m not having sex with anyone until we’re married. The way you act, I can’t see that ever happening, so you can just put that out of your feeble little mind.

Bernice, you’re the stupidest bitch in Clinton Falls, West Virginia, I reckon. Here have a cold beer and try to relax. Why of course we’re gonna’ get married one of these days. I have it all planned out. Wait and see. I’ll graduate from school next year, get a job at that motorcycle repair shop in town and you won’t even have to work. I’m good with my hands. I can fix things. You should let me show you how I can fix you so you’ll feel real good. Reaching into the backseat, he pulled out a beer and popped the tab. Almost spilling it on her, he offered it to her and when she refused it, he became angry. Well, just one more for me, he added.

Anger swelled up in her and she couldn’t control herself any longer. Knocking the beer out of his hand, spilling it all over him and the car, she grabbed the door handle and started to get out of the car. Before she could get out, he grabbed her arm.

Let me go, you bastard, she yelled. I’ll scratch your eyes out.

Stunned, nearly intoxicated, he sat looking at her a few moments before rage erupted from him. Look what you did to me and my car. It’s a damn mess. I’ll make you pay for that, you little hussy. Before she could escape, he put his hands on her button down white blouse and ripped it to shreds. Tossing the empty beer can on the floor, he grabbed her hair and held her while he tore her bra from her struggling body. Within minutes, he had his hands on her pants as she managed to get the door open. Lying on the seat on her back, her head was almost touching the ground. Bernice flung her arms around helplessly trying to grab something she could use to pull herself out of the car and out of his grip. As she resisted, she felt him removing her shoes. Attempting to kick him, she realized that he had her in a vise-like grip and wasn’t about to let go. When he grabbed the legs of her pants trying to remove them, she put both hands on the seat and pushed herself out of the car leaving him holding the empty pants.

Landing in sharp gravel, weeds and briars alongside the road, she jumped up and ran barefoot into the woods. Crickets were chirping and an owl screeched a warning as she ran for her life. She knew that if he caught her, he would rape her and then kill her. When he had a few beers in his gullet, he was a mad man.

She didn’t know where she was going except she was going away from him. If she got lost, she could always find a stream and follow it. Somewhere, she would find a house where she could get help. As she ran, she felt her feet being torn by sharp rocks and broken branches. Fighting the pain, wanting to scream, she forced herself to endure the suffering knowing it was nothing like she would endure if he caught her.

As she watched, the last rays of light vanished in the west and were replaced by almost complete darkness. Running tirelessly through the thick growth, she stopped a couple of times and listened. She could hear nothing, not even crickets or other night creatures. She felt alone. Yet, she wondered where he was. She knew he would never give up.

After what seemed like an hour to her, she stopped running and looked around. The woods behind her had disappeared and she stood in a meadow surrounded by trees and a trickling little brook to her right. Maybe she had lost him, she thought. As she stood in the darkness, clouds moved across the sky permitting a full, golden moon to shed its light down on her and the meadow. In the distance, she thought she saw movement. A dark figure was standing near the little brook. Maybe it was a fisherman or a hunter, she thought. Should she approach the man and seek his help?

Remembering her nudity, her bleeding feet and the welts branches and briars had left on her shivering body, she moved toward the dark shadow by the creek. He can’t possibly be any worse than Jason Pike, she whispered to the passing wind. Covering her breasts with her arms, she walked toward the man. With a little luck, she thought, he’ll be a family man who understands these things.

Approaching the figure, she felt that something was wrong. Yet, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Attributing her irrational emotions to stress from the eventful evening she was having, she walked closer. When she was less than ten feet from him, the man turned toward her and she saw his face in the moonlight. Forgetting her bared breasts, she put her hands up to her face and screamed. He wasn’t a man at all. He was a monster with large bulbous eyes, long sharp teeth and he was as gray as the early evening twilight.

Wanting to turn and run, she discovered that she could not move her legs. Her heart pounded so fast she thought it might plunge right up her throat and out of her mouth. The creature moved toward her so quickly that she thought it was a shadow. Its movement was one continuous blur. Bernice tried to scream. As he led her away, she felt the scream lodged in the bottom of her throat unable to escape.

With her feet bleeding and her mind racing, she tried to cope with what she was experiencing and hoped that it all was just a nightmare. Something deep inside of her—a tiny voice she had never heard before—told her that it wasn’t true. This wasn’t a nightmare. This was the real thing and she was going to die. When the reality hit her like a two hundred mile an hour wind, she began to struggle. The creature tightened his hold on her and dragged her through the meadow when she fell to the ground. Bernice felt rocks and twigs tearing at her soft flesh. She was going to die. Bernice was never so sure of anything in her entire life. Her uncle had been right, there were monsters in the woods and they had found her.

When they finally stopped, she found herself at the entrance of a cave in the side of a stone mountain. A metal door opened and the creature shoved her into a long dark hallway. She could see a bright blue light at the other end of the tunnel. Was she really in heaven? She doubted it as the creature shoved her down the tunnel. Finally, they came to a large room bathed in blue light and filled with electrical equipment and machines. Bernice wanted to scream when she saw the naked man hanging from an overhead beam.

She wondered how they had captured Jason so quickly. They must have known they were in the forest and had waited for them. He was naked and several of the creatures were standing around him as he dangled from the beam as helpless as she had been when he attacked her. For an unknown reason, she felt sorry for him.

One of the creatures walked over to her and jerked her panties from her body. They stood looking at her for a few minutes before one of them pointed toward a glass tank in a corner. She struggled as they grabbed her and put her in the tank. The last glimpse she had of Jason was one of horror. One of the creatures held a long silver tube in his hand. Pointing it at Jason’s stomach, he pushed something, maybe a button, she thought. Red light touched Jason’s chest and he screamed. Her eyes were fixed on Jason as they strapped her into the tank. His chest and stomach burst open letting his entrails fall out. She screamed as a thick liquid covered her body. Darkness surrounded her and she knew nothing else until next day when she awoke. Bernice Saylor found herself in a world of horror that she could never have imagined. She was inside a tall glass cylinder with tubes and cables running from every part of her body. Her mind was not as it had once been. She shared it with something else, something that was more evil than she could have ever imagined.

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Chapter 1

Frank Evans glanced over at his partner, Theresa Padgett as she steered the silver Malibu through rain-soaked Cincinnati streets. Voices echoed from the police radio and drivers honked their horns to show their frustration with the slow-moving early morning traffic. Theresa hit the brake and steered to the right to avoid a collision with a red Ford that pulled in front of her.

You should give him a ticket, Frank said grabbing his coffee cup from a holder on the dashboard preventing it from sloshing all over him. Some people got all the nerve. Just another day riding mean streets with my mean partner, Frank thought.

I don’t feel like chasing him in this traffic, Theresa commented. Forced to the curb, she sat with her hands clamped around the steering wheel, glaring at the vehicle that had nearly caused her to have an accident and her knuckles turned white. Acting as if this were an every day occurrence, she tried to keep her face expressionless as she waited for an opening so she could get back into the traffic. It wouldn’t do to let Frank Evans know she was pissed. He’d tease her all day about it.

Some cop you turned out to be, Frank teased. First, you speed all the time and now you’re letting dangerous criminals run all over you. What will you do next?

Get a better partner, Theresa threatened taking a sip of her coffee. You know I’m a good driver, maybe a little better than most men, so why do you harass me all the time. My driving is impeccable.

Ah-ha, Frank said, pointing his finger at her. Now you’re using words I can’t understand. You’ve only been my partner for six months and already you’re trying to make me look bad. If you work with me, you have to drive carefully and use words I can handle.

If you weren’t so dangerous to work with, you might be able to find a partner that liked you, she accused. What is this? I’m the third partner you’ve had in six years. That’s not a very good record, Frank. Without waiting for him to answer, she pulled into the traffic when she saw an opening in the long line of vehicles.

You’re the first woman partner I’ve had, Frank pointed out. Maybe you’ll last longer. I hope so, anyway. I sort of like you even if you are a terrible driver.

Who says I’m a terrible driver?

Oh, the guy you just pulled out in front of, for one, Frank said. He’s behind you chewing on his fingers right now.

Do you want to know something, Frank? If you treat your wife the way you treat your partner, I wonder why she even lives with you.

Frank Evans felt as if she had punched him in his face as he thought about his wife, Jan. The realization that things could be better between them brought back the pain in his heart he had managed to suffer through for a long time. She was the most precious thing in his life, except for their two kids, Tammy and Joel. A sudden emptiness drifted over him as he grasped the thought that life would be difficult without them. Spending countless hours working when they were home made him feel alone. Perhaps that was the reason he was always teasing and harassing Theresa, it took his mind off his family and drove the loneliness to the back of his mind where it couldn’t bother him. A knot as big as a frog crept up his throat, his eyes watered and he could not answer her.

His silence, unusual in their daily relationship, provoked a feeling of awareness in Theresa. Come now, pretty boy, she taunted him feeling a little guilty about bugging him when he was feeling down. Is your wife mad at you, or are you just thinking about how nice it would be to be with her instead of me?

She’s slightly perturbed, he replied gruffly.

Theresa put her coffee cup in the holder by the gearshift and glanced at him. Something definitely was wrong with Frank. His cheerful face and warm smile was now gloomy and she sensed that he was hurting. Why would she be perturbed?

Aw, she thinks the streets in Cincinnati have turned deadly and wants me to find another job, preferably in another town.

They are deadly, Frank. We’ve had thirty-five homicides in a month. It’s safer in Baghdad than it is here. Statistics don’t lie.

What makes you sure it’s safer anywhere else?

I guess you’re right, Theresa agreed just as a garbage truck pulled out in front of her. Gunning the engine, she pulled into the left lane and honked her horn at the driver of the truck. Even the drivers are crazy.

Then you have to contend with the weather, Frank complained. "Ice and snow in the winter, tornadoes are around most of the year and if