The House upon Eagle Rock

Eagle Rock, South Australia, November 10th 1962.

Colin Davison sat inside his car. He stared in fear at the old farmhouse that stood before him. The house resided upon a small treeless hill in the middle of a grass paddock. It was constructed from limestone, had an old rusted corrugated iron roof along with a rusty corrugated iron water tank to the side. It leaked a dark shadow over the town of Eagle Rock that was nestled between other treeless hills and the sea.

It had been on that hill ever since the founding of Eagle Rock just shy of a hundred years.

From the outside the house appeared as nothing more than a decrepit reminder of the pioneer days. To the locals of Eagle Rock however, it had become a house of horror over the years. No one ever dared to visit the old man whom lived inside it due to their fear.

Colin browsed through the information he was given about the owner of the house. He stroked his moustache as he flicked through the pages.

The old man’s story sounded quite normal for many of the elderly people in the Eagle Rock district. The old man, who went by the name of Peter Hartnell, was born to a family who owned a massive portion of land for farming, but due to an uneven rainfall pattern was mainly restricted to cattle. The old man had spent his entire life in the area. He had married the daughter of a local farmer and took ownership of his family’s land, losing pieces of it every year to the bank.

But there was something different about this old man, something that made Colin shiver. The old man had bought the house upon the hill overlooking Eagle Rock in 1946. He brought it after he received a payment for severe mental trauma after fighting in the Pacific Theatre during the Second World War.

It wasn’t long after the move to the house that his wife mysteriously vanished and reports from the locals of a sinister presence that had descended into the town.

The reports were odd. They ranged from small cases, like, residual hauntings in the local pub to more serious cases, such as several locals going missing and car windows being smashed. The strangest report however was the sight of unearthly creatures in the area close the house.

The mention of creatures sent ice through Colin's veins. He had never liked anything to do with monsters, especially those with the bug eyes he had seen in the movies. It didn't help either when the locals described in the reports that these creatures to be as tall as Frankenstein’s monster, and an appearance similar to the Gill-Man from The Creature from the Black Lagoon.

He wondered though why would the sheriff of the town hire a State Police Sergeant and not a skilled paranormal investigator instead. Even stranger was why would they specifically choose him out of all the skilled policemen in the state. These were questions he considered asking when he returned into town.

He took in a deep breath. As he exhaled he placed his hat on and checked for his gun. He swung open the door of his new EK Holden sedan, and began his trek towards the house. A musty unnatural smell hit him immediately. There was something evil in the air.

As he walked up the steps onto the front verandah the sun disappeared behind the clouds, casting darkness over the land. He stopped at the front door. A metal taste was in the back of his throat. He wished that someone had come along to aid him in the investigation. He would’ve thought they would’ve surely have sent up at least a local deputy to aid him with a case as unusual as this one. But it appeared not to be that much of a concern to the local police force.

He took in another deep breath as he knocked on the wooden door. It echoed through the solid eucalyptus wood. His heart thumped as he waited for a reply.

Why send me, he thought. Why did they want me and not a paranormal detective?

'Who is it?' The old man asked. He refused to open the door.

'Mr Hartnell, I’m Sergeant Colin Davison of the South Australian Police,' he said remaining confident, 'I've been sent up from Adelaide by your sheriff to investigate a range of cases dating back fifteen years ago. May I come in to ask a few questions?'

There was a long silence before the old man spoke again.

'Oh, I don't think that's a good idea, Sergeant Davison,' the old man said, 'I think you should leave here right now.'

'Why should I?' Colin asked. He wondered why he didn’t take the old man’s advice instead of asking him why.

'They don't take friendly to strangers, especially when they're nosey police officers from the city.'

'Who don't take friendly?'

'The creatures who dwell in this house, Sergeant Davison. The same creatures for whom brutally murdered my wife, and who have terrorised me and Eagle Rock these past fifteen years.'

Colin’s terror grew stronger while the old man spoke. It wasn’t long before his terror turned to anger.

'Look mate, I have a search warrant that has been approved by the head of the South Australian Police. Now let me in or I will have to press charges for obstructing.'

'Get out of here now, Sergeant Davison. One of them is behind you now; it won't be long before the rest get you too.'

Colin heard an ear piercing screech in his right ear. As he turned around, three gigantic claws appeared from out of the thin air, slashing him across the face. The claws, sharp as a butcher’s knife tore across his face. They sliced deep into his facial muscles, narrowly missed his eyes.

He fell to the dirt beneath the verandah. He screamed in agony from the hot searing pain from the scratch. Warm blood ran down his face.

Glaring through his blood covered eyes he saw an unearthly creature standing before him. It was exactly how the locals described him; only this one had tentacles reminiscent of a squid across its face. The smell from the creature was putrid and its slimy green scaly skin made his stomach churn wildly.

He clutched his bleeding face, cursing repeatedly as he made a run for the car. He looked back to see that it was running towards him. Alarmed, he picked up his pace.

He swung open the car door, and grabbed the speaker to the two-way radio that hung beneath the dashboard

'This is unit four requesting backup. Over,' he yelled into radio. He was being pulled away from it by the creature while speaking into it.

The creature clawed at his right leg. Its claws sliced through the skin. Fresh blood poured onto the dirt. He screamed and cursed as his felt the claws shred his skin.

'Copy that unit four what is your current location?' The person on the other side answered. They were a moment too late.

The creature had pulled Colin hard enough that the speaker cord had snapped. The only communication line was cut. With backup now impossible, Colin realised the only way he could survive was to fight the creature.

Groaning in pain from his injuries, he drove his left foot into the groin of the creature. It slid across the ground away from him.

This gave him the split second opportunity to withdraw his gun and aim at the creature. He pulled the trigger. Blood splattered everywhere as the bullet pierced through the creature’s scaly head. He smiled in relief. The creature was dead.

His victory was short lived though.

The creature rose up. It appeared to have been unharmed from the bullet shot to the head. Jaw dropped in terror; Colin pushed himself into the car and slammed the door.

He attempted to switch the car on while the creature began to claw at his door. It claws were shredding the metal. The car engine switched on. He shifted into first gear and planted his foot as soon as the hand brake was released. Making a wild left turn, the creature flew off the car, taking a chunk of the door with it. He kicked up a dust storm and he sped off towards the main road.

He drove off the property and onto the main road back to town. He looked at the massive gape on the side of his car. He was thankful he was in a sturdy car. The power of those creature’s claws would’ve crumbled a weaker one to pieces.

He shifted his eyes to at his bleeding face in the rear vision mirror. He felt sadness as he looked at himself. The creature had gotten him good. There were three long scratches that went across his eyelashes, nose, moustache and lips, one scratch deep enough to require stitches. His once charming appearance was now ruined by a creature which he thought once only ever existed in horror films.

He was thankful though that it hadn't scratched his eyes or he wouldn't be alive now. He inhaled a deep breath, exhaled, planning to go straight to the local police station in town, call the Flying Doctor Service to bring him back to Adelaide and be treated a long way away from this awful place.

The smell of slime returned before he got completely down the hill. He tasted fear combined with blood on his tongue. He pulled the car off to the side and put on the handbrake. He looked into the rear vision mirror, terrified it maybe nearby. There was nothing outside. If it wasn’t around why could he smell it? Unless it was hiding in the…

It came out from the back seat. It screeched loudly and drove its green slimy claws through the seats into him. The green scales felt rough against his skin. The slime burnt his wounds as though someone had just poured betadine on them. Its slimy facial tentacles tickled as they ran down his neck.

All he could now was watch in terror as his blood splattered across the dashboard and windscreen of the car. As he started to lose consciousness, he saw a policeman step out of a sky blue Chrysler that had appeared in front of him. The policeman, originally from the local police station appeared to neither be frightened nor bothered about the monster was tearing him apart. The policeman stood on the driver’s side. He had a sinister smile.

‘Thank you for your help, Sergeant Davison,’ the policeman said, ‘your sacrifice today has saved the residents of Eagle Rock from these sinister creatures until the next full moon. I’ll let the sheriff know that our lies to get one of you city constables out here worked just as planned. I’ll make sure he marks today, November 10th 1962 as the day of your death as well. Oh, and don’t worry we’ve filed your death under a car accident so none of your nosey mates from Adelaide come up here snooping around for you. Farewell, Sergeant Davison.’

Anger built within Colin as he watched him walk away. They had tricked him. They had set him up as a sacrifice so their citizens would remain safe.

‘Bastards,’ he muttered silently.

The creature tore his rib cage open. His blood and organs splattered throughout the car interior.