Stockers: Book One

By K.James

Raised in the wilds of Scandinavia, Ingrid and her brothers must do as they’re told to survive – Even if they think it’s wrong.

Following the instructions given by her distant father, Ingrid knows she must stay in the house and out of the way of the family business. But after learning the truth about what her brothers get up to when they leave for work, she’s finding it harder and harder to stay quiet.

Ingrid’s three older brothers, Johan, Mikael, and Lars, dote on her whenever they have the time and try their best to keep her from the realities of their jobs. But when she involves herself in their new assignment, family secrets become exposed and their father’s fury cannot be detained.

What has their frail, aging father been hiding from them all this time?
What darkness is hiding among the dense forests of Scandinavia?

Find out in Stockers, a gripping psychological horror story filled with unpredictable plot twists and an ending you won’t see coming.

Scroll up and click ‘Buy Now’ to get your copy today!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Nov 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9781387499144

Book preview

Maybe for most kids, the most important thing about birthdays is the party and the presents. Emily, on the other hand, was different. The little girl was turning six, and the family was preparing a party at her uncle’s cabin in the woods. Before last year, this used to be Emily’s favorite place. The combination of nature, animals, and her family’s joyous laughter filled her with all the happy feelings a little girl could need. The little girl still dreamed of those happy moments when she would leave the house at dusk to see the animals, and her grandmother would be waiting for her with hot chocolate.

The family did not take the grandfather’s death well, and his three children fiercely disputed the inheritance, separating as a family until Emily’s great-grandmother practically forced them to settle their differences. On her birthday, the young girl decided not to invite friends, and while everyone tried to make her happy, she watched out of the corner of her eye as her father and other uncles laughed together, and with the complicity of her mother, Emily was happy.

After a day full of fun, gifts, and joy, Emily was setting the table. Her father and aunt were helping her, while another of her uncles went outside with his partner to check the generator, as there had been small power outages and strange animal noises a few minutes before. Emily’s excitement about her aunt’s chatter was short-lived; despite her happiness, she was still a child who hated helping around the house.

Emily was always a very attentive girl for her age. The young girl had excellent grades in school, and one of her main hobbies was playing chess with her grandmother. When they both had free time, she would play brain games with her mother and compete for who could solve them first.

These things gave Emily great insight and enormous curiosity, so looking for almost any excuse to distract herself, the girl looked in surprise at a silhouette that stood out in the window. As she got closer, she could not contain her smile as she saw a squirrel moving behind a log, happily moving from right to left as if happy to meet the human. Emily was about to turn around and call mom so she could also enjoy the show, but something strange made her stay.

After looking at it carefully, she noticed that the squirrel was not looking at her. Emily moved even closer to the window and noticed that her whole body was not visible and that her movements did not seem natural. After some reasoning, Emily came to a horrible conclusion: the squirrel was dead, and someone under the log was grabbing it and playing with it. Before Emily could react and run to her parents for help, a human silhouette stood up. A human silhouette rose from behind and violently threw the squirrel against the window. The girl could only watch in shock as the figure hid again in the forest while the window filled with blood from the small animal began to shatter. After a few seconds of shock, the young girl went running to alert her family of what she saw, but after a few steps, a loud bang like a firework going off sounded from outside, and the lights suddenly went out.

Crying, Emily ran across the room to find her mother. The girl was too upset to tell her what had happened, so she hugged her as tightly as possible. Her mother, who was talking to the rest of the family, did not need her daughter to speak. Her terrified face already alerted her that something was wrong since Emily was rarely ever frightened by most things at her age. Concerned about her daughter, the mother suggested that only one man should investigate while the other stayed behind to watch the house. In response to this, her uncle, armed with the house shotgun just in case, decides to be the one to go out.

On his way out, the man quickly reached the generator, which was just unplugged. The family sighed in tranquility upon seeing the uncle quickly at the door, but from one moment to the next, that tranquility turned to screams of pain and panic as the entire family watched as three men appeared out of nowhere and began stabbing him savagely. As he faded to the floor, barely reacting to what had happened to him, the three assailants continued to sink their knives into him. All three wore jumpsuits with blue paint smeared across their face. Their eyes denoted an unjustified hatred for her poor uncle, who did not even get to defend himself. When his wife and brother ran to the victim, the three assailants had already disappeared into the darkness.

After dragging his body into the house, the family wept inconsolably at the loss of the young father, whose baby was sleeping in the upstairs bedroom. The broken wife cried in anger and constantly spewed hateful words, saying that if the criminals did not escape, she would kill them herself. Suddenly, loud screams interrupted the family’s sadness. Emily’s mother took the child of the young father up the stairs with the grandmother and Emily alongside her. Emily obediently accepted and went upstairs on her own.

Her grandmother’s reassurances only upset Emily more, for as much as the old woman tried to reassure her, it was clear that she was terrified and did not believe her own words. Emily remembered the faces of the three assailants and could not help but wonder how such a strong man died so easily. A loud noise that sounded like a tree falling echoed from outside and stopped the girl’s thoughts. She ran quickly to the window to see what was going on. As she peeked out, in the distance, she saw two bright-colored eyes in the forest staring at her. These eyes were not like those of the assailants. They had no malice or hatred; they just watched her intently, like a hunter measuring the steps of his victim. Suddenly, Emily heard screams coming from the opposite direction, and in that moment of distraction, the eyes disappeared. As confused as she was frightened, Emily ran quickly at the screams, disobeying her grandmother, who implored her to stay.

As she ran down the stairs and encountered the source of the screams, her mother’s hand quickly covering her eyes could not prevent Emily from seeing what was happening. In front of her was the main window, which led to a small hallway on the way to the forest where her two uncles, who had first disappeared, were on the floor while two of the three criminals were around them. The woman was motionless on the floor with blood all over her body. Next to her, the man was still alive but naked and being ferociously kicked by both men. Emily could never forget her father’s face at that moment, full of anger and pain for the loss of her brother, who was still breathing but could not go to save his family.

Instinctively, Emily ran to the kitchen to get a knife to try to protect her family, and as she grabbed it, she saw the third criminal. He was standing behind the window, watching her carefully with a big smile on his face and holding out a hand to greet her. Emily grabbed the knife and ran desperately to her mother, and on the way, she turned around to check on the man who was still there, staring at her and sticking his tongue out. That is when the girl was the first in the house to realize something terrible. The man could have come in if he wanted to. They had no intention of robbing them, nor were they having any difficulty getting into the house. They were just playing with their victims.

Returning with the knife, Emily saw through the window her two uncles were motionless. She immediately heard many more banging noises and screams and ran to the front door, where her father was holding the door while someone tried to force it from the other side. After a few seconds of struggling and banging, the banging from the other side of the door stopped for a few seconds, only to give way to a large booming sound that knocked on the door and the girl’s father behind it. It was the sound of the shotgun that the criminals had stolen from the girl’s uncle. Following that impact, her father fell to the floor, with several holes in his body. Then the door opened, and the three men entered. The one with the shotgun saw that Emily’s father was dying, so without thinking twice, he finished him off with another shotgun blast. Then, the gaze of the three men fell on the women who were still alive and began to walk in their direction.

Filled with rage, Emily’s aunt snatched the knife from Emily’s hands and ran to attack the men. The one with the shotgun almost effortlessly stopped her in mid-stride, hitting and cracking her head open with a single slash of the weapon. The woman fell dead instantly while her body was still moving instinctively. Knowing what was coming, Emily’s mother told her to run to her grandmother and hide, to which the girl obeyed without complaint. On the way to the stairs, Emily decided to walk around the kitchen and quietly run out the back door, which her mother did not think of. On the way out, the girl ran desperately, not intending to escape but rather in search of a weapon she could use to protect the few remaining members of her family.

The only thing the girl could find was a pointed stick. She knew it would not do any good, but she could at least try. She approached the house again, only to see on the other side one of the men throwing her mother, still alive, into the trunk of a previously missing car. Emily desperately ran