a well, dead as a door-nail.
But how he must have died!
His arms were pulled out, like people pull flies’ wings. Pins had been stuck in his eyes and there were other tortures too horrible to mention.
As they covered his body (what was left of it), and trouped away, it actually seemed that they heard laughter coming from the bottom of the well.
8
THE STRANGER
Kelso Black laughed.
He laughed until his sides were splitting and the bottle of cheap whiskey he held clenched in his hands slopped on the floor.
Dumb cops! It had been so easy. And now he had fifty grand in his pockets. The guard was dead - but it was his fault! He got in the way.
With a laugh, Kelso Black raised the bottle to his lips. That was when he heard it. Footsteps on the stairs that led to the attic where he was holed up.
He drew his pistol. The door swung open.
The stranger wore a black coat and a hat pulled over his eyes.
“Hello, hello.” he said. “Kelso, I've been watching you. You please me immensely.” The stranger laughed and it sent a thrill of horror through him.
“Who are you?”
The man laughed again. “You know me. I know you. We made a pact about an hour ago, the moment you shot that guard.”
“Get out!” Black’s voice rose shrilly. “Get out! Get out!”
“It’s time for you to come, Kelso” the stranger said softly “After all –
we have a long way to go.”
The stranger took off his coat and hat. Kelso Black looked into that Face.
He screamed.
Kelso Black screamed and screamed and screamed.
But the stranger just laughed and in a moment, the room was silent.
And empty.
But it smelled strongly of brimstone.
9
THE CURSED EXPEDITION
“Well,” said Jimmy Keller, looking across to the gantry to where the rocket rested in the middle of the desert. A lonely wind blew across the desert, and Hugh Bullford said, “Yeah. It’s about time to leave for Venus. Why? Why do we want to go to Venus?”
“I don’t know,” Keller said. “I just don’t know.”
The rocket ship touched down on Venus. Bullford checked the air and said in amazed tones, “Why, it’s good old type Earth air! Perfectly breathable.”
They went out, and it was Keller’s turn for amazement. “Why, it’s just like spring on earth! Everything's lush and green and beautiful. Why...
it's Paradise!”
They ran out. The fruits were exotic and delicious, the temperature perfect. When night fell, they slept outside.
“I’m going to call it the Garden of Eden,” said Keller enthusiastically.
Bullford stared into the fire. “I don’t like this place, Jimmy. It feels all wrong. There’s something...evil about it.”
“You’re space happy.” Keller scoffed. 'Sleep it off.'
The next morning James Keller was dead.
There was a look of horror on his face that Bullford never hoped to see again.
After the burial, Bullford called Earth. He got no reply. The radio was dead. Bullford took it apart and put it together. There was nothing wrong with it, but the fact remained: it didn’t work.
Bullford’s worry doubled itself. He ran outside. The landscape was the same pleasant and happy. But Bullford could see the evil in it.
“You killed him!” he cried. “I know it!”
Suddenly the ground opened up and it slithered toward him. In near panic, he ran back to the ship. But not before he got a piece of soil.
He analyzed the soil and then panic took him. Venus was alive.
Suddenly the space ship tilted and went over. Bullford screamed. But the soil closed over it and almost seemed to lick its lips.
Then it reset itself, waiting for the next victim...
10
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FOG
