Up to then Sheriff Lindsey Hill who had not spoken a word—but it seemed as if she was endowed with the faculty of perceiving the huge volume of the words which she had left unuttered. “The town is in ruins, most of the citizens we’d thought left on their own in evacuations are more than likely underground if they aren’t already dead. My career is over, my life may not be far behind it and I’m completely lost at what to do next.”
At this point Gary Chapel felt that at all hazards he must interpose a question. “Is the monster really dead? Did we make sure? I’d hate to think that beast may come back and finish what it started.”
The sheriff took it better than he feared she might.
For the moment, so far as Chapel was concerned, the query was unanswerable.
The mental strain which he had been recently undergoing was proving too much for his physical strength. The disappearances of the women and the battle under the earth bade fair to be the final straw. He felt convinced that unless something was done quickly to relieve the strain upon his mind he was nearer to a state of complete mental and moral collapse than he himself imagined. Had he been under doctor’s orders he should have commanded him to at once. Feeling that suspense was for him the worst possible form of suffering Gary Chapel resolved to explain, so far as he was able, precisely what it was he feared, and how he proposed to prevent it from happening again.
“We have to go back down there,” Chapel said. “To confirm the fucker is dead.”
“I’m not going back down there ever again!” Deena exclaimed.
Chapel knew perfectly well, but he understood the mental attitude which induced him to prefer that the information should seem to come from him. “I get that. But it has to be done.”
“I’ll go down there,” Detective Sergeant Robert Townsend spoke up much to everyone’s surprise.
“Take a team with you,” Sheriff Hill was quick to suggest.
“Fine.”
Gary Chapel, Deena Hopping, and the Sheriff went back to the comforts of the Dauphin County Sheriff Department station house to get themselves and the town on the road to recovering leaving the sergeant and his small team to reenter the tunnels beneath the town to confirm the death of the monster—Deros.
It took the better part of the next hour for the team led by the Detective Sergeant to enter the tunnels and locate the site of the epic battle.
“Spread out and search for some clues to the beast’s death,” Townsend ordered as he stepped up to the lake’s embankment. He placed his hand in the black water then took a glance of the team members to make sure that no one was within ear shot before he spoke. “I’ve brought you some nourishment, Master—four healthy human males to begin your recovery.”
Good, you have done well. I will retreat into the earth once more, for now, while you help prepare for my next attempt at conquering the world.
Detective Sergeant Robert Townsend smiled and nodded his head as he said: “Yes, Master, as you wish.”