The Berserker

Sandra Fleming walked from her office on Blaise High Street and lit up a cigarette, inhaling the burning tobacco with her eyes closed in relief.

She had been a secretary at Horner and Sanford Solicitors for three years, since she graduated from university with a Bachelor of Laws degree, and it was the worst decision of her life. She could cope with the sexual innuendo’s that would be passed around the office, and she could just about put up with one half of Horner and Sanford grabbing a handful of her backside if she happened to be caught bending over when one of them was passing, but what she couldn’t be bothered to even attempt to enjoy was the bitchy, bad tempered assholes that she had to call work colleagues.

The constant bickering and word fighting between them all would drive her insane on a daily basis, and she promised herself more than once occasion that she would do herself a favour and make an escape one day soon.

Her only escape would be her daily visits to the field, just past Blaise Knoll Abbey, where her most treasured possessions would graze all day.

Her father had bought her the two white foals as a graduation present, and for three years she had nurtured them into two beautiful thoroughbreds.

There was a sign on the gate that led to their field, and their names were etched into it and painted gold.

Kolby and Kalem it read.

She slid in to her Audi coupe and drove the 5 miles to the field, smoking three cigarettes along the way, and pulled up to the gate with the golden sign.

The first thing she saw was the claw marks in the top of the gate that looked like an oversized cat had been clawing away it, so she climbed from her car and walked slowly across the gravel lay-by.

“What on earth,” she said, as she ran her fingers along the jagged splinters that stopped at the golden sign.

Inside the field, to the right of the gate, was the stable that her father had constructed for Kolby and Kalem, and Sandra opened the gate and walked to it with her heart beating heavily in trepidation, as she wondered what could have made those deep gouges in the gate.

She did her usual call out to the horses by pursing her lips and kissing loudly into the air.

Now what would normally happen is that the two studs, both standing at 15 hands a piece, would come bounding across the field and dance playfully around her as though they were trying to impress a mate in to choosing one or the other, but what happened today was nothing. There was no bounding and no dancing around her, because there were no horses.

“Kolby,” she called out, “Kalem, come on then.”

She surveyed the field, which was about the size of a decent sized football pitch, to check that there wasn’t a break in the hedgerows or that they were stuck on the barbed wire, but she could see no sign of them at all.

At Sandra’s feet was a large indentation in the mud that had flattened down the normal hoof prints, and was now in the shape of a three toed foot that was over two feet long.

She reached the door of the stable and stopped when she heard the clopping of hoofs on the wooden floor.

“Kolby, is that you?” she asked into the gloomy stable, shielding her eyes from light so she could see better into the dark. “Kalem, here boy,” she called.

She was startled into a scream when her horse stampeded past her, knocking her over in the process and hitting her head on the wooden step that led down into the field.

“Kalem,” she called after the horse, but he was galloping across the field, neighing loudly and frantically kicking its legs as though he was in pain.

Sandra got to her feet and brushed her office clothes off, inspecting her forearm where she had landed and grimacing when she saw the long cut that was trickling blood.

She looked into the stables again, still unable to see much in the lack of light, and called her other horses’ name.

“Kolby, are you in there?”

The boards creaked as she walked into the stable, that had a musty smell of straw and urine, and she squinted her eyes to make out the carnage that was in the far corner.

Her first thought was that Kolby had had an accident and was lying on the straw bed in pain, but she saw movement from something on the other side of him, something that was definitely not a horse.

The Berserker lifted its head and grinned at Sandra as it chewed on the intestines of Kolby. Its eyes were a shining red, which was almost sparkling in the light that was coming from the door behind her, and its skin was a grey colour that had several lumps all over it.

She stood there for a minute, unable to move, as she watched this monster eat her horse hungrily, slobbering it loudly as it tore away at Kolby’s insides.

As Sandra's eyes adjusted to the light in the stable, she curdled a screamed that stopped the Berserker still, whilst still holding the intestines in its hand, until it shrieked back at her, a loud wailing noise that made her turn and run.

The Berserker threw down the meat and jumped over the remains of Kolby, screaming at Sandra as it did, and it emerged from the doorway of the stable, smashing the frame to pieces as it giant arms were too big to fit through.

Sandra was running toward her car, and apparent safety.

As the angry troll bounded after her, it was leaving deep dents with every stride, and every stride was getting longer as the trickling blood from her arm was sending its odour into its nostrils, causing the excitement to heighten and the blood soaked saliva to drool from his sharp teeth.

Sandra reached the gate as the Berserker stretched out its long claws, which extended 6 inches from the ends of its stubby fingers, that was covered in the horses’ blood, and the tip of its middle claw caught her on the back of her neck, piercing her skin and making her writhe against the pain as she reached behind with her hand.

The Berserker took advantage of her pain and grabbed her by the hand that had reached around to her back, dragging her towards it as it raised its claws into the air to strike down on her and slice through her, like he had done so many times before.

A darting white came from the side and the Berserker fell backwards, releasing Sandra, and falling with a thud and a growl as the hoofs caught it across its oversized head. It rolled across the grass and then jumped to its feet, almost causing the ground to shake, and it stood upright with its hands in the air, screaming a deep gravelly howl that sprayed blood and saliva into the air.

Kalem came around again as the Berserker grabbed out to Sandra, and it caught the troll square in the back, forcing it to fall forwards and giving Sandra time to rush to her Audi and jump into the driver’s seat.

The Berserker stood again and hissed at Sandra as she fumbled for her keys with her shaking hands.

Kalem was on another attack circle as the car burst to life and Sandra accelerated away, looking in her mirror in time to see the Berserker swipe a chunk from the side of her beloved horse, and force him to the ground.

She screamed at the top of her voice as the tears flowed from her closed eyes and her heart broke in two.

Sandra had escaped.