Ghostland (Book 3): Ghostland 3

by Whittington, Shaun

  “And after that?”

  Hando hunched his shoulders. “I don’t know yet.”

  The two men were motionless for many minutes. Then Hando began to move without saying a word to Benny. Both men could feel their knives pricking their thighs as they crept through the plantation with hunched backs. Immediately they could see a cabin and people outside of it. Hando shushed Benny and whispered to him that they would have to walk around so they wouldn’t be seen. At the moment they were too close, and if they stayed where they were, it’d only be a matter of time before they would be spotted.

  Once they had reached a suitable location, both men got to their knees and could see the cabin.

  “There’s the guy that we followed,” Benny spoke with a whisper, pointing at the burly Donald Brownstone. There were three females sitting around a freshly lit fire and a male adding more wood to it. Then Dicko and Yoler appeared out of the cabin, raising a devilish smile from Hando. Yoler was holding the hand of a minor and this sent a rattle down Benny’s vertebrae.

  “So what’s the plan?” Benny asked a question he didn’t really want to ask, but he needed to know what was going through Hando’s head. Hando didn’t answer straightaway and watched as Gavin went into the cabin. He then exited the wooden place with four tins, two in each hand.

  “There, brother.” Hando pointed at Gavin. “These people have food and, I’m guessing plenty of it.”

  “If they have so much food, where did they get it from and how did they move it?”

  Hando hunched his shoulders, unsure of the answer. He had a few theories, but not a specific answer for his young protégé.

  “Maybe they put so many tins in bags and walked back with them,” Hando tried to explain to young Benny. “Or maybe they have a vehicle somewhere and they’ve hidden it.”

  “Shall we look for it?”

  “What’s the point?” Hando shook his head. “To sabotage it?”

  “You wanted revenge, right?” Benny scratched his head, unsure what was going to happen.

  “What’s the point of sabotaging it? If they have the keys, we would have the vehicle, the food. Fuck, even the cabin itself once the whole thing dies down.”

  “I’m not with you, Hando.”

  “We wait till the evening draws in.” Hando put his hand in his back pocket and pulled out a lighter. “Just until it’s enough for us to see.”

  “Shit, Hando. You can’t burn the place down. There’s a kid there.”

  “Relax, brother.” Hando released a chuckle and could see the consternation on Benny’s face. “We’ve seen the odd Canavar on our travel, haven’t we?”

  Benny nodded.

  “So the plan is...” Hando paused and cleared his throat quietly. “We use the lighter to entice the dead.”

  “How?”

  “We make a fire, hide, and once there’s enough, we expose ourselves and they’ll follow us. We’ll walk to the camp, while they follow us, and bust that cabin door open. They’ll pile in and a massacre should take place. If they fight back and a couple are left standing, we take them down. But one thing is for certain, I can’t take them all down on my own.”

  Benny allowed Hando’s plan to sink in and began to shiver with nerves. He was cool with killing the dead, even humans if they deserved it, but there was a boy with the group. He couldn’t be a part of that. He couldn’t be responsible for the death of a minor. He had killed his neighbours in desperation, for his own survival, but this was a minor as well as six other people.

  And what for? A few tins from the cabin? The cabin itself? Both?

  Hando obviously had some beef with one or two of the residents, but they had done no wrong to Benny.

  Benny kept his mouth shut and could see Hando looking up to the sky. The evening was drawing in.

  He looked around the ground and picked up a small branch, four feet in length, and asked Benny for his shirt. Without querying Hando, Benny did as he was told. He took his thin jacket off, then his t-shirt, and passed it to Hando before putting his jacket back on and zipping it up.

  Hando tightly wrapped the shirt around the branch and then pulled out some bracken and stuffed bits of the bracken into the wrapped cloth.

  “We’ll wait an hour or so,” Hando said. “You get some rest, if you want. We’ll wait till it gets darker before we make a move.”

  “And then what?”

  “We’ll go out of the woods and get this thing lit. The flame will entice the dead and they’ll follow us as we walk back into the woods and into the camp.”

  “A bit risky.” Benny’s words were soaked in doubt and Hando could pick up on the negativity of his younger compatriot.

  “Even if we only attract three or four, brother,” Hando continued, “it’ll be enough to cause a bit of damage to their tiny community. They’ll be weakened, and it’ll make our job easier if we attack them and their numbers are fewer.”

  “Attack them? I’m not sure, Hando.”

  “You remind me of a guy I once knew,” Hando said with a chuckle. “His name was Q. He was weak, like yourself, but I can teach you how to survive. I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long.”

  “I’m not weak.” Benny was finding it hard to control his anger. “I told you about my neighbours, didn’t I?”

  “That was a bad thing that you did.” Hando nodded the once after he finished the sentence. “However, you have to be consistently bad in order to survive long term. There is no karma, and there is no God to judge you. Be bad and you’ll survive longer than most. Your conscience is your weakness.”

  “I can’t do it, Hando.”

  “Brother, listen to me.”

  Benny was adamant. He snapped. “I won’t do it.” Within seconds, Benny had gone from can’t to won’t.

  “Okay.” Hando released a sigh. “Let’s get out of these stifling woods and get some air. I think there may be a road up ahead.”

  Hando picked up the branch that had Benny’s shirt wrapped around it, as well as bracken, and put the branch into the side of his belt.

  The two men walked, bags still on their backs, and were out of the woods after a few minutes. Once upon a time the woods in the area were dense and stretched for miles with no interruptions, but that was thwarted when men knocked down a lot of trees to make roads. The woods still stretched for miles, but there were gaps where the roads were present.

  Both men stepped out of the woods and onto the road. The carcass of an animal could be seen to their right, but they ignored it and tried to enjoy the cool wind that glided over them.

  “It’s good to be alive,” Hando sighed. “To feel the wind on your face is a blessing, yet people over a year ago took it for granted. You could experience more joys like this, brother, but you need to up your game.”

  “I’ve told you.” Benny was exasperated and huffed, “For the last time—”

  “I know, I know.” Hando held up his hand, gesturing to Benny to calm down. “When we first met and you told me you killed your neighbours to survive, I was impressed.”

  “This is a step too far. Not with a kid there.”

  “I understand.” Hando looked genuinely disappointed. He got closer to Benny and put his arm around the young man and added, “And you definitely won’t change your mind?”

  Benny shook his head.

  “Fine.”

  Hando pulled out his knife from his right pocket and plunged the blade into Benny’s chest, straight through the heart. Benny collapsed onto all fours and Hando flipped him over. Benny was now lying on his back. Hando reached and pulled out the blade, and then wiped the steel on Benny’s clothes.

  “Sorry, brother.” Hando placed the knife back into his pocket, took the branch out of his belt, and took a seat on the grassy bank as Benny’s corpse lay in the middle of the road. “I really am.”

  Chapter Thirty Eight

  Donald sat on the side of the bed where young David lay and smiled at the young man. The cabin was dark and he could just about see the bo
y. Helen had been in and tried to settle the boy, but he asked for Donald, a man that David had grown attached to over the months.

  Donald went in after Helen made the announcement. It was the first time she had spoken to the man, but she did it only because she had to. Once Helen sat down with the rest of the group, all talking about stories from the past, Donald was inside and it was just him and David.

  “How are you feeling, little man?” Donald asked the boy.

  “Not bad.” David took in a deep breath and released a heavy sigh for such a young boy. “I was just thinking...”

  “What about?”

  “About everything.”

  Donald could hear the emotion in the child’s voice, but decided to keep quiet and allow David to speak further when he was ready.

  “I was thinking about dad.” The young fellow paused for a moment and then added, “I sometimes forget about him. I don’t think about him everyday. Do you think about your son, Donald?”

  The question took Donald by surprise and the burly man could feel his throat tighten. Donald gulped hard and replied, “Yeah. I think about my son every day, every hour of every day.”

  David lowered his head and wiped his eyes. “When mum was in here, I became a little upset.”

  “Did you, little man? Why?”

  “I know you two aren’t getting on. I can sense it.”

  “Oh.” Donald lowered his head and patted David’s legs. “To be fair to your mum, I’m not the easiest person to get on with.”

  “I know, Donald. I sometimes hear some of them out there talking about you, when you’re not here, saying bad things about you.”

  Donald released a gentle laugh. “Is that right?”

  “I was thinking about Imelda earlier and then the people that used to live here. Especially Hayley, Jamie and Gary.”

  “Well, hopefully something like that won’t happen again. The trouble is, there’s danger wherever you stay.”

  “What do you mean?” David began to sit up and leaned his back against the wall. “Are you talking about the Canavars and dangerous people?”

  “I’m talking about locations.” Donald cleared his throat and wiped his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “You see, it doesn’t matter where you stay, there’s always going to be hazards. If you stay in the country, there’s less people and the dead, but also less places to go to for supplies. Kind of frustrating if you don’t have the wheels. Thankfully, Yoler and Dicko brought back that van. If you live in the city, the amenities are better, but densely populated places means more of the dead and more desperate people. Being in the woods keeps us hidden, but it still has its dangers.”

  “Like when the Canavars came and we had to flee?”

  “Exactly.”

  A silence enveloped the two and Donald stroked the boy’s head.

  “I hope you’re feeling better,” the boy moaned.

  “Feeling better?” Donald stopped stroking the boy and narrowed his eyes in confusion.

  “Yeah. That’s how you got those bruises, right?”

  Donald was unsure how David knew about his tussle with the three individuals, let alone the meat wagons, and opened his mouth to query the boy, but David began to explain before Donald could get the words out.

  “I overheard Dicko and Yoler talking.”

  “What did you overhear?”

  “I heard about the meat wagons, people who kill others for food.”

  “You overheard or you eavesdropped?”

  David never answered, telling Donald that it was probably the latter.

  “There were people out there that did those things,” Donald began to explain to the minor. “But they’re not around anymore.”

  “I know. You killed some and Yoler and Dicko killed some before.”

  “Oh. You know about that as well, eh?”

  “Is that really how you got your bruises? You told me you’d fallen over.”

  “Yeah, well...” Donald didn’t know how to respond to the boy and stayed silent for a bit before saying, “Get to sleep. I’m gonna join the rest outside.”

  Donald stood up and bent over to kiss the boy on his head. Once he did this, they both exchanged ‘goodnights’ and Donald walked away, heading for the door.

  “Donald?” the boy called out.

  “Yes...” Donald nearly called David by his own son’s name and had to bite his lip.

  “I don’t care what they say about you. I’ll always like you.”

  “Thanks,” Donald snickered.

  He shut the door behind him and sat on the steps of the cabin once he was outside. He looked over to the group around the fire and clocked Dicko’s face. Dicko used his head to beckon Donald over, but Donald smiled and shook his head. He was happy where he was.

  He wanted to get Helen on her own. He wanted to apologise to her, but the last thing she wanted was to be alone with Donald Brownstone. She had her back to him and turned around. He smiled thinly at her, but her face remained hard and without emotion. She turned back around to converse with the rest of them and Donald continued to sit alone.

  “Fuck it,” he muttered under his breath.

  He stood up and went back into the cabin. He was going to talk to young David for a while longer and then turn in for an early night. There was nothing else to do.

  An hour later, everybody had turned in.

  *

  Hando had been whistling a tune on and off for the last twenty minutes, and could at last hear movement coming from the woods opposite where he was sitting. He stopped whistling and stood up. Taking his branch with him, he retreated to the woods behind him, crouched down behind a tree, and looked over the road to the woods on the other side. A Canavar staggered out from the trees and stumbled out onto the road. But it wasn’t alone; two others were following behind.

  Hando smiled on seeing this and decided to leave them be for now, hoping one or two more would appear for the feast. The first Canavar spotted the body of Benny lying on the floor, and dropped to its knees once he was by the corpse and began to feast. The other two had now exited the woods and made their way over to Benny.

  “Three.” Hando grinned and released a light chuckle. “That should do. That should cause a bit of damage, and then I’ll kill the rest myself.” He patted his pocket where his knife was. “That’s if there are any left.”

  Now all three were on their knees, pulling out Benny’s insides and stuffing the bloody findings in their mouths. Two more emerged from the woods and copied the three before them. The first three that emerged from the woods were male, but these two were female. One had a torn and ripped yellow summer dress, but the other had lost her clothing and wore nothing but a dirty bra and pants.

  Hando twisted his face when he clocked the discoloured body of the woman and got a waft from the rotten walking corpses. He would never get used to that smell.

  He waited and waited, and could see that the sky was dimming, and if there were clouds in the atmosphere, it would have been darker. He had no idea of the time, but guessed it was probably around eight or nine

  As the first Canavar stood up straight, looking like it was ready to leave, he pulled out his lighter and lit the branch that had the bracken and Benny’s t-shirt tightly wrapped around it. It took a while before the head of the branch was on fire, and once Hando was confident the gentle wind that was present wouldn’t blow out the flame, he stood up and began to wave the branch gently from side to side. One by one the flame was noticed, and almost a minute later all five Canavars were walking away from Benny’s body and heading towards the flame, towards Hando.

  “Come on, you smelly bastards. Follow your Uncle Hando.”

  He waved the branch and began to make small backward steps into the woods. Once the five ghouls were in, he turned and jogged his way through the trees and turned to see how close they were. They were ten yards behind him but were all trying to follow him. The five were making a sufficient amount of noise and he hoped that this wouldn’t be heard by th
e people in the cabin. The security system had been removed by Hando earlier, by simply cutting the rope and allowing the tins to fall to the floor. It wasn’t difficult.

  He ran ahead and was near the spacious part of the woods where the cabin was based. It looked like everyone had turned in. The five Canavars weren’t far behind. Hando crept to the cabin and went up the steps. As soon as the five began to stagger their way to the cabin, Hando tried the door, but it was locked. He kicked the door in and grabbed the first Canavar and threw it inside and then did the same with the second.

  He climbed to the roof of the place, two Canavars were inside the cabin and three were making their way up. Screams filled the place and a grinning Hando threw the branch away, jumped off the roof of the cabin, and began to make his way back into the woods. He hid in the darkness, behind one of the trees and watched the carnage unfold.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Dicko’s dreams were plagued by horrors of the past year. In his dream he was staying at Sandy Lane, a place where he had stayed for a month with people he had met after the apocalypse had broken out.

  The dream wasn’t fictional; it was a replay on an event that really happened some eight or nine months ago. At this point he had lost his daughter and wife, but still had his son. Dicko had a shotgun as the two of them had gone for a walk along the field in the large secure camp, and his son Kyle was bursting for the toilet. Dicko told him to go where they stood whilst no one was looking, but the little boy didn’t want to.

  Kyle ran over to the changing rooms, at the other side of the field, and Dicko went looking for him once he realised his son had been away too long. He bumped into a fellow resident called Karen, told her the predicament, and the pair of them entered the changing rooms. He knew the changing room door was stiff, so Kyle may have unwittingly locked himself in and couldn’t get out.

  His mind produced vivid images of him pushing the door of the changing room open as wide as it could get, spilling daylight into parts of the room. Karen, the woman that was with him, quickly turned away from the door and felt sick from the smell that hit them both. The foul stench tortured Paul Dickson’s nose, but his concern for his seven-year-old son was more of a worry for him. Poor thing’s probably frightened to death being alone in the dark, unable to find the door to get out. His face then twitched as he took in a deeper breath. Jesus, it stinks in here.