Read Online Charnel House by Graham Masterton - Free Book Online Page A

come back to civilization,” said Jane.
    â€œOh, I’ve done worse than this,” said Bryan. “Sewers are worse than chimneys any day of the week.”
    â€œCan you hear anything now?” I asked him, kneeling down on the floor next to the fireplace.
    â€œSsshh!” ordered Bryan. “There’s some kind of noise building up now. The same kind of thudding.”
    â€œI still don’t hear it,” I told him.
    â€œIt’s quite clear inside here. There it goes. Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud . It’s almost like a heart beating. Thud-thud-thud —why don’t you time it? Do you have a second hand on your watch?”
    â€œI’ll time it,” put in Dr. Jarvis. “If it’s a pulse, then it’s my line of country.”
    â€œOkay,” said Bryan, with a cough. “I’m starting now.”
    He kept his head right up inside the hood of the chimney, and groped his hand around until he could touch Dr. Jarvis’s knee. Then as whatever he could hear began to thud in his ears, he beat out the time, and Dr. Jarvis checked it on his watch.
    â€œIt’s not a pulse,” commented Dr. Jarvis, after a couple of minutes. “Not a human pulse, anyway.”
    â€œDo you have enough?” coughed Bryan. “I’m getting kind of claustrophobic up here.”
    â€œMore like Santa Claustrophobic,” joked Jane. “Will you bring a sack of toys out with you?”
    â€œAh, nuts,” said Bryan, and started to shift himself out.
    Abruptly, horribly, he screamed. I’d never heard a man scream like that before, and for a second I couldn’t think what it was. But then he shouted, “Get me out! Get me out! For God’s sake, get me out!” and I knew something terrible was happening, and it was happening to him.
    Dr. Jarvis seized one of Bryan’s legs, and yelled, “Pull! Pull him out of there!”
    Freezing with fear, I grabbed hold of the other leg, and together we tried to tug him out. But even though it was only his head that was up inside the chimney, he seemed to be stuck fast, and he was shrieking and crying and his whole body was jerking in agonized spasms.
    â€œGet me out! Get me out! Oh, God, oh God, get me out!”
    Dr. Jarvis let go of Bryan’s leg and tried to see what was happening up inside the chimney hood. But Bryan was nailing around and shrieking so much that it was impossible to understand what was going on. Dr. Jarvis snapped, “Bryan! Bryan, listen! Don’t panic! Keep still or you’ll hurt yourself!”
    He turned to me. “He must have gotten his head caught somehow. For Christ’s sake, try to hold him still.”
    We both got a grip on the fireplace hood and tried to wrench it away from the tiles, but it was cemented by years of dust and rust and there was no getting it loose. Bryan was still screaming, but then suddenly he stopped, and his body slumped in the fireplace.
    â€œOh God,” said Dr. Jarvis. “Look.”
    From under the fireplace hood, soaking Bryan’s collar and tie, came a slow stain of bright red blood. Jane, standing right behind us, retched. There was far too much blood for a minor cut or a graze. It dripped down Bryan’s shirt and over our hands, and then it began to creep along the cracks in between the tiles on the fireplace floor.
    â€œCarefully now,” instructed Dr. Jarvis. “Pull him down carefully.”
    Little by little, we shifted Bryan’s body downward. It seemed as if his head was still firmly caught at first, but then there was a sickening give of flesh, and he came completely out of the chimney, collapsing in the grate.
    I stared at his head in rising horror. I could hardly bear to look but then I couldn’t look away, either. His whole head had been stripped of flesh, and all that was left was his bare skull, with only a few raw shreds of meat and a few sparse tufts of hair remaining. Even his eyes had gone