––––––––
“This is the Danver church? Yes!” Kyle pumped his hand in the air in celebration.
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Bryan asked. He'd never heard of it before − probably because he didn't waste his time studying ridiculous paranormal claims.
“Seriously, kid? You've never heard of Charles Danver?” Creepy Joey asked.
“First, I'm not a kid. And second, no, I've never heard of a stupid old church in the middle of redneck heaven, or of some dude named Charles Danver,” Bryan said. He might not be out of college yet, but he hated having people dismiss him because of his age. Judging from the way these two looked, he was probably more educated than both of them combined.
“Charlie Danver purchased this church, brought a bunch of his friends up here, and then killed them all!” Kyle said. His enthusiasm had skyrocketed since he'd learned the location of their soon-to-be investigation. He looked like he was doing the pee-pee dance.
“No, he most certainly did not murder his friends,” Katie said. “Though it is true that nine people came here one night, and only Mr. Danver was ever heard from again. No bodies were ever found.”
“Ok, so what? His friends are now haunting the church they may have been killed in?” Bryan asked. “That's it? How does that make this place legendary? Any prison or mental hospital in America has had more than eight murders.”
Travis was rummaging through a cooler in the back of the van. “We're going to be the first people, outside of the police, to step inside the church in forty years.” He produced a can of beer from the cooler and started taking long pulls from it.
Katie sneered at him, her disgust flooding through her voice. “You're drinking while you're on the job? No, you haven't even started working yet. You're drinking beforehand.”
“Yup.” He let out a loud, wet belch. “It's good to be the boss.”
“You little motherfu−” Katie took a step toward Travis.
“Hold on a second. I want a couple of answers before you kill him. I still don't understand the significance of the church, or why the hell a bestselling author is going to appear on a shitty television show like The Specter Slayers,” Bryan said.
From the look on Katie's face, he figured he probably just saved Travis' life.
“We're going to have a very pointed discussion about this later. You won't enjoy it,” she said, staring Travis down.
He winked at her and took another swig of beer. Bryan wondered if Travis thought that was flirting. He expected to see the two of them rolling in the dirt before the end of the night, and they wouldn’t be exchanging kisses.
Turning back to Bryan, Katie continued. “I don't particularly feel like giving you a history lesson right now. You should have been prepared for tonight. If you have no interest in being a professional, then I'm not going to humor you by wasting my time.”
With that, she walked away, moving toward the church.
Bryan turned to Kyle, his anger boiling over. “That's it, I'm outta here.” Taking attitude from two television hosts was bad enough without taking it from a know-it-all author. He walked toward his car, before remembering that it had been blocked in.
Kyle moved beside him. “Dude, where are you going? Don't blow this opportunity!”
“I didn't even want to be here. You talked me into this. Now I'm being berated by these three dipshits and a bitchy author. Thanks, but no thanks.”
Creepy Joey had been slinking around close by, his odd, shuffling gait moving him within earshot.
“You can't leave,” he said. “We need you to carry and set up equipment.”
“Go to hell,” Bryan said. He stood beside his car, trying to figure out if he could squeeze it around the Range Rover.
“We'll guarantee you several minutes of screen time,” Joey said.
“Who gives a shit? I don't particularly want to be prancing around on camera, acting like I'm scared.”
Joey looked around for help from Travis, and found him pulling another beer from the cooler. He whistled, catching Travis' attention, and nodded his head to the side, signaling him to join them. Joey nodded back and strode over, sipping at his new beer.
Bryan opened his door, intent on leaving, regardless of whether he had to tap the Range Rover a few times with his bumper. He was pissed at Kyle for forcing him into this situation, and at the moment he didn't care that he was Kyle's ride home.
Travis walked up beside the car, his can already significantly lighter.
“What's the problem?” he asked. He didn't seem particularly interested.
“The slaves... interns, I mean, want to leave,” Joey said. “I guaranteed them a little extra screen time, but this one isn't biting.”
Travis scratched his temple as he seemed to think through the problem. Bryan wondered if it made his brain hurt. He pretended that he could see smoke coming out of Travis’ ears and tried not to smile at the imagery.
“We'll give both of you an 'Associate Producer' credit. Now get out of the car and start carrying our shit over the bridge.”
Bryan stood with one leg in the car, contemplating the offer.
Helping with the show would have given him something to put on his resume, but having a producer credit would be even better, and much more impressive. Even if the episode turned out to be terrible, which it most likely would be, he would still have a leg up on everyone in his graduating class.
“Fine,” he said, closing the door.
Kyle joined Bryan as he walked around to the back of the van. “Good choice, dude. This is going to be great!”
“We don't have time to chit chat. The equipment needs to be set up before the sunsets.” Joey said. “Grab those cases and carry them across the bridge. Make sure the T and A doesn't do anything too stupid before we get ready.”
“The T and A?” Kyle asked.
“Tits and ass,” Travis said. “Now let's get this damn thing shot so I can go home, crack a cold one, and bang the old lady.”
Kyle and Bryan exchanged another glance, shocked at how brazen these men were. It didn’t seem that Travis needed to be home to ‘crack a cold one’ anyway. They each grabbed two silver cases and walked toward the bridge, coming up behind Katie.
“These guys are complete tool bags. What did you get me into?” Bryan felt like he hadn't stopped bitching since the moment they'd arrived. One ridiculous moment seemed to follow another, over and over.
Kyle wasn't paying attention to him. Instead, he seemed to be checking out Katie, who stood at the edge of the chasm and snapped pictures of its depths.
“I think she's just playing hard to get,” Kyle said. His voice trailed off, as if he merely thought aloud.
Bryan didn't bother responding.
They approached the rickety bridge and stopped at its base, giving it wary looks.
“I'm not so sure I want to test this thing out,” Bryan said.
Katie stopped taking pictures and analyzed the bridge, squinting through the deepening darkness. She examined the edge of the wood planks, putting pressure on them with her toes. Without a word, she started crossing it, gingerly planting her feet at places that looked the least rotted.
“It's safe to walk on, but you won't be able to get that equipment van across it,” she said when she reached the other side. “It will hold your weight, but most likely won't take too much more.”
Puffing his chest out, Kyle moved across the bridge, staring straight ahead the entire time. Bryan figured that having a girl go first was a detriment to Kyle's ego. When he reached the other side he dropped the cases he carried and grabbed his nose, bending at the waist.
“What's the matter?” Bryan asked.
“It smells awful over here!” Kyle said, wiping tears from his eyes.
Katie didn't seem affected by whatever stench had doubled Kyle over.
Standing alone on the other side of the giant crack, Bryan saw her watching him and remembered her demeaning attitude. The last thing he wanted was to look weak in front of her. He already felt stupid for not knowing what he had gotten himself into earlier, and he didn't need her pointing it out.
He took a deep breath and moved to the base of the bridge. Knowing that doing this for the sake of a woman, especially one so far out of his league, didn't stop him from taking a tentative step onto the first wood board. It was the same feeling he had every time he over-tipped a female bartender. He knew that he had no chance with them, yet he couldn't stop himself from doing it over and over.
The bridge sank several inches as his put his weight on it, threatening to topple him forward.
“What am I doing?” he whispered to himself under his breath.
Though it swayed gently from side to side, it felt like it was sturdy enough to get him across. He wasn't afraid of heights, but looking down the dark crevice didn't give him a warm feeling. Shuffling his feet as fast as he dared, he crept forward.
“Watch out!” Travis yelled from behind him.
Bryan's heart thundered in his chest. He could feel his pulse hammering in his ears as he stood perfectly still, anticipating the bridge's collapse.
Nothing happened.
“Just kidding,” Travis said. Ben and Joey guffawed at the stupid joke.
Assholes.
Reaching the far side, Bryan felt the firmness of the ground beneath him and exhaled, trying not to tremble in front of everyone. He hadn't realized he had been holding his breath the entire time.
That was when the smell hit him, like a punch in the face. Rot. Like a compost heap. It reeked of death. Oddly, he hadn't noticed it on the other side of the crack. His first few breaths felt labored as he tried to adjust to the stench.
“What is that?” he asked, fighting the sting of tears.
Katie's nose wrinkled slightly, but that was the only indication she gave that she even noticed it. “The smell was documented by the police during their investigation. At first they thought it could be dead bodies, but they never found any.”
With that, she dropped her bag to the ground and began pulling items from it. Bryan wanted to ask her what investigation she meant, but didn't feel like being berated again.
Then he realized that the church had nothing growing around it. No grass or weeds, nothing. Only fifty feet of bare soil surrounded the church in an odd circle. Looking down at his shoes, he observed the hardened, cracked earth that covered the area.
The Specter Slayers slowly crossed the bridge, one after the other. Ben began dry heaving as soon as he reached the other side, his face contorting from the terrible stench. The other two pinched their noses shut, but didn't seem surprised by its presence. Travis drank from his beer.
From behind him, Bryan could feel the church looming over them. Everyone turned toward it, and took in the dilapidated building, no one uttering a word as they did. Though he didn't want to admit it, Bryan felt that something really was different about the area.
The trees above the church rose even higher than those on the other side of the chasm. Their heights pushing farther than their narrow trunks should have allowed. The branches weren't leaved, but the large number of them still managed to damper the evening sky.
Though the woods stood in complete silence, Bryan couldn’t quite shake the feeling that they weren’t alone. He tried to brush the thought away, but couldn’t manage to keep himself from wondering if they were being watched.
The darkness continued to deepen as they stood there, entranced by the oddity of the scene they now found themselves in. The moment was broken as Katie snapped a picture of the front of the church.
“Let's get the generator over here and get some light on this bitch,” Travis said.