The Ghoul of Christmas Past

few more seconds there wouldn’t be enough river left to carry them through the hole. He would not let this happen!
Charles Dickens fancy walking cane rose into the air and fetched down on the ghoul’s shoulders with a terrible crunch. The ghoul cried out in pain but maintained his grip on the boat. Another blow landed, but as Ronald raised the cane to land another, it was plucked from his grip.
He spun around to find four battered looking ninjas staring back at him. The nearest of them, clearly a girl, said, ‘I guess you’re the dick in Dickens.’ Then she kicked him in the nuts and punched his throat as he sagged.
Michael thumped the floor with an annoyed fist – he’d been waiting for a chance to deliver a killer line all day and Poison had just done it.
No one said anything for a second; they were all too terrified, emotionally exhausted, or just plain gagged to find any words. Then the hull of the boat hit the bed of the river and wedged there.
The ninjas were looking at the ghoul who was once again confused about what he was supposed to do. He didn’t want to hurt people, but as a child he’d been taught to do as his elders and betters told him. He was too big, too dangerous, and too dumb to think for himself so he’d always done as mummy said and when mummy was no longer there, someone else always came along to give him instructions.
Now he faced people who wanted to harm him, and he wasn’t going to let that happen. Rounding on them, he raised his fists again.
‘Kevin,’ Mary called. Getting his attention, she then addressed the ninjas, ‘Take off your masks and smile at him. He’s quite friendly really.’
Frank gave her an incredulous look. ‘He’s killed a whole bunch of people.’
Mary kept her smile and flared her eyes at him as Kevin looked their way again with menace in his eyes. ‘He was just doing what he was told.’
Frank and everyone else started smiling like crazy fools, big grins plastered to their faces. Kevin tried to copy them.
‘Now put down your weapons,’ Mary instructed.
Ronald gave a groan and tried to get up. Kevin glanced down at the man who had been his master, made a decision, and punched him in the head.
Breathing a sigh of relief that it was finally over, Mary called to her husband, ‘Michael dear, do you happen to have your pocketknife to hand?’

Aftermath. Saturday, December 24th 2323hrs
The police arrived a few minutes later just as everyone was trudging back out through the entrance of the flume ride. The ghoul was carrying Ronald, who was alive, but quite unconscious and Mary found her handbag. She took the phone from it, intending to complete the call that got cut off earlier when the ghoul grabbed her. She put it away again when she saw there was no need.
Flashlights shining in through the doors at the front of the theme park revealed the police standing just outside, but it was just the occupants of a single patrol car.
With no key to open it, Poison and Mistress Mushy had to find a fire axe to smash the doors.
‘Is this it?’ asked Mary. ‘This is all they sent? I told them we needed the cavalry and to make sure they sent Chief Inspector Quinn.’ She knew the name because Tempest was always saying it.
The two police officers were Dodds and Beaton, two female cops who would much rather be doing anything else on Christmas Eve than responding to calls. Dodds, a short woman in her early twenties with a boyfriend who was most likely right now out on the prowl for drunk, lonely women, said, ‘There’s another incident. Lots of the cops went there. What’s been going on here anyway? Dispatch said there was a call for help that got cut off halfway through. The only thing they got was the location so asked us to do a drive by.’
Mary sighed and accepted that she was probably lucky the police turned up at all.
Michael, hanging between Bob and Hatchett who were battered and bruised but in better shape than the pensioner, asked, ‘Is that when they grabbed you?’
Mary nodded and a smile flitted across her face that needed to be explained. ‘Ronald said he wouldn’t have caught me outside if I hadn’t been making a call. It never occurred to him to ask who I had been calling.’
To the cops, Frank said, ‘We’ve been through the wringer tonight, a couple of ambulances wouldn’t go amiss. Also, we have three kidnap victims here and there are several bodies downstairs.’
‘Bodies?’ echoed Dodds.
Beaton had a different question. ‘Who’s been kidnapped?’
Elizabeth stepped forward and began to explain. The two police officers listened with incredulous expressions and took Ronald Norton into custody when he came to a few moments later. He looked dazed and was most likely concussed – not that anyone cared. Once loaded into the back of the car, Dodds drew the short straw and went to look for the bodies while Beaton began checking people over. Ambulances and paramedics were on their way and phones were handed out so the shareholders could speak with their families.
The three kidnap victims would get to go home soon, but they were in the middle of nowhere on Christmas Eve and not even a taxi driver would come to get them down here.
Michael tapped Bob’s arm and asked to be put back down on the carpet. ‘Does anyone have a phone that works?’ he asked once the shareholders had all made their calls.
Frank rooted in a pocket, moving gingerly because he had so many body parts that hurt, but found the item and handed it over. ‘Calling Tempest?’
Michael shook his head. ‘Robert Whittaker. I have something he would like