The Interloper

"The Interloper" is a short story by acclaimed British horror author Ramsey Campbell, which is set in the expanded Cthulhu Mythos. It was published in the 1973 Arkham House collection Demons by Daylight.
== Synopsis ==
Two teenage boys attempt to find a trendy subterranean music venue while on a lunch pass from their school. In a dirty back-alley they find a secret door leading to a tunnel - "accidentally" revealed by a passing newspaper vendor - and and think they have found their place, but discover instead a catacomb of desiccated human remains, and the malevolent entity which calls the tunnels home. 
The creature corners and, presumably, captures one boy while the other flees, finding his way back to the surface and running back to the school. However, when he reaches this supposed safe haven, he comes to the shocking conclusion that the visiting school inspector is not who he seems to be, and that he too is doomed to become a meal for the creature…
== Mythos Connections ==
"The Interloper" is set in the fictional town of Brichester, as evidenced when the boys come across a vendor selling copies of the Brichester Herald. Brichester is located in the Severn Valley, a backdrop created by Campbell and used as the setting for many of his Cthulhu Mythos stories.
== Trivia ==
* Although the nature of the creature is never revealed, it is capable of mimicking human form in order to procure human prey, as seen when it disguises itself as the school inspector, and when one of the boys realises that it was in fact the newspaper vendor who gave away the secret door's location.
Category:Ramsey Campbell works
Category:Expanded Mythos Works