Part 2

Richard rattled the doors. They wouldn’t budge. He kicked at it, and rammed it with his shoulder. Nothing.
There was no escape. They went in there to seek refuge from monsters. They ended up trapped like mice.
He looked around for something. Anything he could use to get out. Maybe he could stack the pews so as to reach the window. That’s when he noticed, the floor on one particular spot was stained with dry spots of red. He approached, taking a closer look. They looked fresh, but he couldn’t know for sure.

Something dripped on his neck. Lovely. Rain was exactly what he needed when in a building with no roof. He rubbed the back of his head. It felt warm. And slimy. Something was wrong.
He looked at it, and found his palm smeared in blood.

Reflexively, he wiped it against his coat. He looked up. The sky was still clear. However, he stood just under the belltower.
Richard bolted up the stairs. He found the large brass bell swaying in the wind. Something hid behind it. Whatever it was, it dangled from the beam too. He circled the platform, his breath hanging in the cold air.
What he saw before him was beyond mortifying.
The disfigured body of his fellow traveller… Dead. Strung up like a piece of meat. With his bony spine jutting out. Richard’s already pale face drained of any remaining colour.
Morgan Abrupt.
So it was true. It was all true.

“Richard!”
Behind the bell a familiar face strutted into view. It was the nun from before.
“Look at that!” She pointed at the corpse, “I knew we should never have stepped foot inside here!”
“...We need to escape.” Richard managed to utter, “Now.”
“That spirit… That… thing…” The nun wrestled to describe what it was she meant, “Whatever he is, he will never let us leave. Not until we are all dead.”
She pointed towards the ledge, “He is down there. Waiting for us. Mocking our every attempt to run from him.”

Richard walked over to the edge of the tower, leaning over the ledge to look down, “I cannot see anything.”
“He is down there… I’m sure of it.” Said she, sneaking closer to him as her disguise shifted away to reveal the horrid seared flesh of Morgan Abrupt. Even as Richard stood clueless, staring into the garden beneath.
The murderer raised his knife… Stepping ever closer…

The real Carmille rushed into the belltower. She saw the reprehensible abomination, aiming his knife hand at her oblivious friend.
“Richard!” She cried, “No!”
DONG!!!!

“GWUAAAH!” Morgan covered his ears from the thunderous chime of the bell.
DONG!!!

Richard turned around, seeing he was inches away from being flayed.
DONG!!!

Morgan recovered, ferocity glowing in his eyes like charcoal.
DONG!!!

Carmille was rushing in, as Morgan charged forward too.
DONG!!!

The nun pulled Richard back to safety, just as the corpse was about to plunge the knife into his torso. He rammed into nothing instead, crashing into the railing and off into a free fall.
Fifteen ells down.

Carmille gasped, her legs shaking, leaning on to the man she had just rescued.
“Are… Are you fine? Are you hurt?”
“I think so…” Richard answered, still bewildered, “Thanks to you.”
Carmille sighed in relief. She was finally able to breathe.
But while she was breathing, she smelled something funny.
It smelled like coal.
Smoke?
The air had become hotter as well.

She looked down.
The entire church was ablaze. The flames licked the stones along the looming walls of the belltower, illuminating the sky with an early dawn.
“What do we do!?” She shouted.
Richard looked around. The cord to the bell. He took it.
“It’s not long enough!” He cried.
Carmille looked around. The rope from which Mattias hung.
She clenched her teeth, asking the Chief God for forgiveness. She pulled the cord, and let the corpse collapse to the floor once again.

They tethered the ropes together and let it fall down the belltower wall. Richard slid down first, and then Carmille. Just in time too. The flames had reached the top already, shooting out from beyond the ledge.
They slipped down, piece by piece. Looking down, they saw fire at the bottom, its undulating arms reaching towards them.

Richard looked up. The flames above had already reached the rope.
“IF WE DON’T JUMP NOW WE’LL BURN!” He yelled towards Carmille.
Looking down, it seemed like a long fall. But maybe they could make it. Maybe.
“AIM FOR THE BUSHES!” She cried, “ON THE COUNT OF THREE! ONE!”
“TWO!”

They kicked themselves off the wall, throwing their weight towards the bushes, landing ontop with a crash. The foliage looked soft, but was really nothing. It felt like they hit the ground without no cushion whatsoever. Pain coursed throughout their bodies.
But Richard was alive. He pulled Carmille up into his arm.
“Carmille!” He shook her gently.

She blinked, “Y-yes. I am fine… Ugh….” She winced at the touch of her arm, clearly now a sore spot.
She thought she could finally breathe out, that the nightmare was over. But then it occurred to her, “Richard… Where is Douglas?”
“I… I don’t know.” He admitted, “It’s like he vanished into thin air…. Just before that thing arrived.”
“Richard… You don’t think that…?”

Before she could answer the question, the charred monstrosity sprung out from the bushes and slashed at Richard.
A long strand of red was drawn on his shoulder…