“A male chauvinistic joke,” groaned Joan. “Why am I surprised?”
“Are you two gonna be bursting into song later,” Marvin pointed at Joan and Kelly, “singing sisters are doin' it for themselves?”
“Just stop acting like a pervert and maybe we can be reasonably civil to one another,” said Joan. “We're in this together. We're gonna be back out there tomorrow. You watch our backs and we'll watch yours.”
“Very well said.” Gordon nodded.
“Oh, I'd love to watch your backs,” Marvin giggled, “especially when I'm doing you from behind.”
Kelly sighed, “What's the point? Once a cunt, always a cunt.”
“Hey, that's my brother,” Lloyd said jokingly, trying to diffuse the heated situation.
“I won't hold it against you.”
*
After much arguing, they had decided, to Marvin's disgust, that the two women should have the bed upstairs. The guys were downstairs and Lloyd and Gordon were thankful that the inside of the main door had a bolt. The door was bolted before they attempted to sleep. Junior and Marvin were on the couch and Lloyd and Gordon opted for the floor.
Some struggled to sleep, except Marvin. Joan and Kelly tossed and turned most of the night, and Gordon didn't sleep properly at all, occasionally drifting off and having an hour nap before waking up again.
It was a long, nervous night and early morning for all of them.
Chapter Thirteen
Friday 8th June
As soon as Gordon Burns scanned around where he was, he knew he was dreaming. It was raining hard, dark, and he was back on the road again, in the middle of the Pennines. It was like the first day all over again. He looked behind him and could see his Mazda, sitting idle. He went over to it and tried to open the door, but it wasn't budging. It was hard to see where he was going, but he decided to walk along the road and see if he could get help.
He kept on saying to himself, as the rain hit his frame, “This is only a dream. This is only a dream.”
He followed the bend that curved to the right and could see a strange figure standing twenty yards away from him, looking his way. It was a dream. What could be the worst that could happen if he was attacked? Possibly a cardiac arrest and die in his sleep? Nothing? Or waking up a little sweaty?
What if he was wrong? What if this wasn't a dream?
Gordon took a few steps forwards and could see very little, but he knew that the man facing him was the man from days ago, dressed in a green patient's gown. Gordon always thought that patients from hospital wore blue gowns, but wasn't entirely sure.
He made a slow walk and called out, “Who are you? What do you want?”
There was no response.
He continued with his walk, his nerves increasing with every step closer he was making towards the gowned man. He decided that if the individual made a run for him, he'd stand his ground and wait to be attacked. Maybe he would then wake up from this nightmare.
He was only ten yards away now and could feel his bowels loosen once the gowned man shifted a little. It had been the first movement he had seen from the individual, and had made his hands tremble with fear. The gowned man then took a step backwards as if he was about to run at Gordon, then he did.
Gordon gulped as the figure hurtled in his direction. For a whole second Gordon could see its face. It was a young man, dark beard with his eyes bloodshot and full of rage. Gordon Burns then woke from his sleep before the gowned man sank his teeth into his face.
*
His eyes opened and he slowly lifted himself up from the floor. He looked around in the darkness and could see three shapes, and assumed correctly that Marvin, Lloyd and Junior were sound asleep. He guessed that it was now the early hours of Friday, possibly three ... maybe four in the morning.
He stood to his feet and tried to go through Lloyd's bag for a bottle of water. He had forgot where he put the bag that he was carrying, and winced every time he made a noise. He wasn't doing anything wrong, he just wanted a drink, but he felt like a thief in the night.
Both bags were rammed full of supplies. They hadn't been emptied and put away in the cupboards. Lloyd told them that if they were staying just for the one night, then there was no point.
Gordon couldn't find a bottle. His hand felt tins and packets of stuff, but no bottle. “Fuck it,” he whispered in anger. He stood up straight and suddenly froze, even his breath was held, and could hear the sound of the woodland outside being disturbed.
He began to panic, despite there being a chance that the noise was coming from deer or foxes that dwelled in the woods, and Gordon feared the worst. He turned his head at the main door, remembering how those things had simply ran through the window of the Horton's guesthouse a few days ago. He continued to stare at the door but nothing happened. He walked over to the only window that the cabin/house had, and pulled back the dusty curtain that covered it.
He peered out, now breathing again, and could see some of the trees. The sky was a dark blue and it seemed like there was a full moon out because of the light, but he couldn't see it anywhere.
“Shit,” he said too loudly.
He held his breath once more and saw four Runners going by, oblivious that they were near the cabin, and looked to be a few yards from the perimeter of the barbed wire fence.
He knew they were Runners and not human.
He just knew.
Witnessing their presence only lasted a matter of seconds. He continued to watch as the four infected disappeared into the trees. He had no idea where they were going, if they had seen something, or ... he just didn't know. But they were gone, and even though he was pleased that they had disappeared, he wondered how many more were out there.
How many would they come across once they make their journey into the woods? Would they find a place with more food and water? Gordon could understand why Lloyd wanted to move on quickly. There were six mouths to feed and the two bags weren't going to last long, but because of fear Gordon would have agreed to staying in the cabin for another two days, even if it meant not eating on the second.
But Lloyd was right.
Going out there with empty bellies, especially when no one knew where to go, would be a recipe for disaster. Gordon just hoped that they could get somewhere without an incident.
“What's up?”
The query made Gordon gasp. He swung his head around and could see it was Joan that had asked him the question. “Jesus Christ!” he snapped, a little too loud. “I nearly shat my kegs.”
“Sorry,” she said, but couldn't help a snigger.
Gordon shook his head at the woman and placed his left hand on the left side of his chest, expecting to have an attack. He could feel the muscle hitting his palm, but as the seconds went by, he was beginning to calm down and his anger was beginning to reduce.
She stood next to him and looked out of the window with him. “Did you see anything or did you just get spooked?”
“Both,” he sighed.
“Really?” Joan was surprised by his one word answer. “Did you see ... them?”
Gordon glared out into the darkness whilst Joan waited for an answer.
It seemed like an age before Gordon opened his mouth, but eventually he answered, “Yes. About four of them.”
“About?”
“Okay,” he huffed, getting sick of the questions already. “There were four of them.”
“And where did they go?”
Gordon could hear the panic in Joan's voice but couldn't help a sarcastic response. “I think they were off to Alton Towers.”
“Gordon, fuck off.”
“Well, I didn't get chance to have a chat with them, did I? Stop asking stupid questions.”
Joan moved away from the man and walked through the duskiness to go back upstairs, to the bedroom where her and Kelly were sleeping.
Gordon, not realising that she had already disappeared upstairs, turned around and was about to ask why she was awake in the first place and
why she had come downstairs, but she had gone.
He would have to ask her in a few hours, when they were all awake. He also owed her an apology.
He tried to go back to sleep. Within a few minutes he was gone.
Chapter Fourteen
Lloyd Dickinson opened his eyes and immediately got to his feet. He looked around and could see Marvin, Junior and Gordon fast asleep. The room was reasonably bright with the daylight that filtered through the curtains, and the forty-three-year-old went over and pulled the curtains back, spilling more daylight over the faces of the three males. His action was greeted by groans, but Lloyd wanted to move once they had all drank and had something to eat. He didn't know how far the next house, cabin or village was, and didn't want to waste a single minute more of daylight.
It had taken fifteen minutes for all, including Joan and Kelly, to be ready for the outdoors, and Lloyd threw his much lighter bag over his shoulder, ready to leave. Gordon did the same with the other one.
“Right, troops.” Lloyd looked at the beleaguered group. “Ready to go?”
He was answered with a chorus of moans and groans from the other five.
“What's up?” he snickered. “It's not like it's the end of the world, is it?”
“Was that supposed to be funny?” Joan scowled, unimpressed.
Lloyd hunched his shoulders with an embarrassed smile. “Kind of.”
Gordon had to ask, “Is this really necessary? Do we really need to do this today?”
Lloyd nodded, his face now straight and showing no emotion. “We've just had breakfast and my bag is light. If we stay here and the six of us have lunch, then dinner...”
“They'll be fuck all left.” Marvin nodded and looked over at Joan and Kelly. “The only thing that would be left to eat is pussy. I like eating pussy, but it ain't gonna fill my belly.”
Before Joan and Kelly had a chance to respond to Marvin's vile comment, Lloyd said, “Don't say things like that in front of Junior.”
Marvin laughed, “Why?”
“Because...”
“Because..?” Marvin was perplexed by Lloyd's naivety. “Do you honestly think that Junior hasn't logged onto porn sites or—”
“That's not the point! You're supposed to be his uncle.”
“I've said shit like that a few times in front of the boy—”
“I'm not a boy,” Junior protested meekly.
“Just...” Ignoring his son, Lloyd said to Marvin further, “try and keep it down. It's constant with you. We've just woken up and you're talking about eating pussy, for fuck's sake.”
Marvin said, “Oh, so now it's okay to swear in front of your boy—”
“I'm not a boy,” Junior repeated.
“Look,” Joan raised her voice, stopping the petty squabble. “Any chance we can fuck off? This sibling quarrel is boring me.”
The room fell silent. Lloyd and Marvin lowered their heads as if they were pupils that had just been told off by their headmaster.
Gordon unbolted the door, pushed it open and was the first to step outside. He took in a deep breath and had a scan around the area. It was an overcast day but dry.
A perfect day for their trek, Gordon thought.
They weren't going to get soaked from rain, or were going to sweat too much from intense heat. The temperature was no more than 20 degrees celsius/68 Fahrenheit. It was mild, but only the morning. Moving first thing was probably for the best. They'd have more daylight to play with and less heat. The day's heat, however, could intensify as the hours progressed. They needed to move quickly.
Lloyd followed Gordon out, with Junior by his side, and Marvin was next. But there was still no sign of the girls.
Marvin Dickinson released a loud yawn, making Lloyd and Gordon glare at him with venom, and began scratching at his balls. “I'm dying for a cigarette,” he moaned, but nobody responded. He then turned around and looked at the opened main door of the cabin and yelled, “Hurry up, bitches! Daylight's wasting away!”
Lloyd couldn't hold his tongue. “Gonna keep it down, bro? Please.”
“Sure,” Marvin said with a smirk.
Lloyd was sure that the yelling and the loud yawning was done on purpose to simply wind everyone up. It was a stupid and unsettling thing to do, considering the circumstances the group were under, and he had no idea why his big brother would get off on doing something so dangerous.
Kelly and Joan finally left the cabin, and all six strolled to their right and began heading into the woodland. It was the same direction that Gordon saw the Runners go in when he was by the window. He didn't want to say anything to Lloyd, because Junior was by his side and Gordon didn't want to upset the teenager. He didn't think it was important anyway. Those things had ran by the cabin hours ago. They were well-gone by now, Gordon thought.
Their feet traipsed through the bracken for half an hour until they reached a wide dirt path. The trees had become spacious, they could now see many yards around them and could see there were no infected about.
The path led the six of them to a small cluster of trees. Neither one of them could see in this huddle of trees, and were unsure whether to go through them or around.
“What do you all reckon?” Joan asked.
“If some of them were in there ... they would have heard us and attacked us by now,” said Gordon.
Kelly agreed and scratched at her red hair. “I'm guessing these thing aren't into ambushing.”
“We only know what we've been told on the TV,” Lloyd said.
A rustle was then heard, making all six gasp. They froze in fright, and held their weapons tight, ready for any of the contaminated humans to sprint out and attack them. All six sets of eyes gazed into this eerie part of the woods, but nothing happened until a badger ran out. The group smiled and all could feel their hearts decreasing their beats and their nerves settling a little.
“For fuck's sake,” Gordon laughed, looking as the badger scurried away. One little creature had almost caused six heart attacks.
“Fuckin' pussies,” Marvin sniggered, cleared his throat and spat on the floor, releasing a slimy green number. The years of smoking were doing his health no favours.
“Pussies?” Lloyd gave his brother a dirty look. “You were shitting yourself just like the rest of us, man.”
Conveniently changing the subject, Marvin asked, “So what now?”
“Stay there,” Lloyd told the group, then pointed at his son. “And that means you.”
Lloyd went into the trees and disappeared within a minute. Everybody stood in silence and not a single protest was made when Lloyd went in, not even from his son.
No one spoke. No one made a sound.
All had their ears on high alert, hearing for anything untoward.
Gordon whispered to Joan, “Do you—?”
But Joan shushed him, forcing Gordon to cut off his sentence. A little annoyed with Joan, he was going to try again, but the sound of branches being disturbed and bracken being trodden on had made all of them shiver with dread.
Was it Lloyd?
Eventually, Lloyd Dickinson made an appearance and the first thing Junior did was go over to his dad and give him a hug.
“Calm down, son.” Lloyd broke away from the embrace. “I was only gone for a few minutes.”
“Well?” Marvin asked and raised his eyebrows.
“Fine, thanks.” Lloyd smiled. “And you?”
“Har-de-fucking-har. What did you see?”
Lloyd changed his joking attitude and said, “That cluster of trees doesn't go on for long. And I think, ladies and gentlemen, we are at the edge of this particular part of the woods.”
“So what's beyond those trees?” Joan asked.
“Follow me and I'll show you.”
Because Lloyd had already been through this area of the woods, they walked through the trees with confidence. Lloyd was right. They had only walked for a couple of minutes and could see that this area was thinning out already. They stepped out the other
end and were all now standing on a grassy bank, a fresh breeze went over their faces and cooled their body temperature. They looked around where they were standing and could see miles and miles of fields and hills.
Lloyd pointed down the grassy bank, and they could all see a small village, about a hundred yards away. It looked like an archaic village, hundreds of years old, and the buildings and houses looked to be made of stone and rocks.
“I can see a hotel,” Joan said with a beam on her face. “There could be supplies down there, people even.”
“There could be Runners down there as well,” Marvin scoffed.
Lloyd turned around and smiled at the group. “Shall we?”
“Is it safe?” Gordon was unsure whether walking into the village was a good idea.
“Only one way to find out.”
They obediently followed behind Lloyd, weapons drawn, and walked along an abandoned football field once they reached the bottom of the hill. They finally had their feet on the main road that ran through the village, and moved with more eagerness in their steps. They crossed over an old bridge and wondered what the river beneath them was called.
The village looked desolate. This pleased Lloyd. There could be people hiding, but the Runners themselves weren't known for their hiding abilities. He was sure that if those things were in the village, they would have seen some by now.
It was a small place. A place that would only take a minute to drive through, but it was a picturesque area and was no doubt drenched in history.
“It's eerie,” Joan sighed and noticed that there wasn't just a lack of people in the place, there was also a lack of vehicles to suggest that maybe the small population of the village had fled.
But where?
“It's beautiful,” said Kelly, as they were just yards from entering the place.
They were all still on the main road and stone houses were on either side of it.
Lloyd looked at the welcome sign and shook his head at the name of the village.
He had never heard of it before. “Blanchland.”
The Monsterland Trilogy [Books 1-3] Page 21
