Chapter Fifteen
The houses made of stone were to either side of the group, but neither one of the individuals from the group were in a mood to admire them. The small village of Blanchland only had a population of 140 back in the days when the world was normal, but this historic place looked like it had no dwellers anymore. With the murky weather and the lifeless village, it was an eerie sight to behold, and all six sweaty members of the group shivered with dread at what could greet them around every corner.
Lloyd stopped walking once they went past a church, and peered at a building with a smile on his face. “I've heard of this place.”
Junior looked up at the hotel and read the name out, “The Lord Crewe Arms.”
Marvin shrugged and said, “Never heard of it.”
“That doesn't surprise me.” Lloyd walked over to the main door and added, “This place dates back to the 12th century. Jacobite leader Tom Foster hid behind the inn's gates great fireplace back in 1715.”
Marvin pulled a face. “So what?”
“So ... it's drenched in rich history.”
“Shall we go in?” Joan said sarcastically. “Or are you going to give us a history lesson?”
Lloyd smiled and shook his head. “Uncultured swines. And you lot have the cheek to pick me up on some of my mixed up sayings.”
Lloyd tried the door and looked back at the group with wide eyes once the door moved. It was open.
“I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing,” confessed Gordon.
“Me neither.”
“Do it,” Junior urged, noticing his dad's hesitancy.
“Okay.” Lloyd pushed open the door and took a step back with the crowbar in both hands. The bag on his back wasn't as heavy as the other day, but with all the walking, his back was still breaking and he was trying his best to ignore the discomfort.
He stepped in and even though this hotel was dusky inside, it was a thing of beauty, archaic, yet had something about it that impressed them all.
It took the group nearly half an hour to search the establishment. Even though they were there to check for danger, they couldn't help but admire the place. It had 21 rooms, each one with a bath, TV, bathrobes, ironing facilities and a desk. Each room had its own key, but was opened with a skeleton key from behind the reception's desk, which was checked by Marvin, Kelly, Joan and Gordon, whilst Junior and his father remained on the ground floor and checked out the facilities.
The hotel also had a dining area, restaurant, kitchens and a bar area. Lloyd checked the kitchens and could see there was food available. The place also had a large back garden.
“Where the fuck are all the people, the owners?” Junior asked, forgetting he was talking to his dad.
“No idea.” Lloyd sat down on the couch, near where he had left his bag in the lounge area of the bar. “Don't care either. And don't use language like that, if you can help it.”
“Sorry.”
Both father and son sat on the couch, both with their heads back as the rest of them were making their way downstairs. “All clear,” Lloyd heard Kelly say as she entered the lounge area. She was followed by Joan, Marvin and Gordon. “Also looks like the power is out.”
Lloyd had a huge smile on his face and Marvin had to ask straightaway what was amusing his little brother.
“Have a look in the kitchens,” Lloyd urged the four of them to go in. They did. And they all came out five minutes later with smiles on their faces. “I think this is going to be our home for a couple of days.”
Gordon said, “I reckon this place would cost you about two hundred quid a night, back in the day.”
“Well, for the foreseeable future it will be free.” Lloyd began to cackle. “You might struggle to get the TVs working. And I don't think the maids are on this week.”
“Why did they leave?” Gordon never asked the question to anybody in particular, but Lloyd queried him.
“Who? The owners?”
Gordon nodded. “And the staff, the people who were staying here—”
“Probably went back to their families, or at least tried. As for the owners...” Lloyd hunched his shoulders. “No idea. We're in the middle of nowhere. You'd think this village would be perfect.”
“Maybe the people didn't leave initially,” Kelly Bronson spoke up. “Maybe those things came into the village. Maybe the residents were bitten and had turned into those Runners. Maybe that's why there's no one here. They've all turned and ran to ... fuck knows.”
“Whatever the reason,” Joan sat next to Junior on the couch. “Their loss is our gain.”
Gordon could be seen behind the reception area where individual keys were kept for the rooms. Lloyd asked him what he was doing. Gordon then pulled out a set of keys and gave them a shake, “To lock the door tonight, while we sleep.”
“Good thinking.” Lloyd smiled.
Kelly bent down to tie her shoe lace and could feel eyes burning in the back of her head. She quickly turned around and saw Marvin gazing at her.
“Problem?” she said with anger in her tone.
“Yes.” Marvin nodded with an unsettling smirk. “I haven't been balls-deep in you yet.”
“Oh please.” Kelly shook her head.
“Just ignore the prick,” said Joan.
Marvin laughed, then announced that he was going to 'curl one out' in the toilet in the reception area, but everyone ignored him.
He walked out of the lounge area of the pub and into one of the cubicles. He locked the cubicle behind him, dropped his trousers and began to tug on his semi-erect penis, dreaming of taking Kelly from behind. Once he had finished his short wank and came all over the wall, he urinated and tucked his still-dripping cock back into his pants. He felt better and walked back out into the lounge, ready to tackle some of the spirits that were hanging behind the bar.
“We're gonna take a look around the village,” Lloyd announced to Marvin once he'd returned. Marvin could tell that the group had been discussing it whilst he was away, but it didn't bother him.
“Is that wise?” asked Marvin.
“I don't believe there're Runners about, but there could be survivors hiding.”
“I don't know.”
Lloyd appeased his big brother, “The more numbers we have, the better chance we have to survive.”
“Survive? Those things aren't dead, you know.”
“You know what I mean.”
Marvin sighed and took a look at the hanging bottles that were behind the bar. He tried his best not to smile, then nodded his head. “You know what? The more I think about it, the more I think it's a good idea.”
“Great.”
“But you guys go without me. My head's banging. I think I need a lie down.”
Lloyd and the rest were gone within minutes and Marvin wasted no time, went behind the bar and pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels. “Come to papa.”
He slumped on the couch and opened the bottle. He put the rim just under his nose and sniffed a drink he hadn't smelled in days. He took a large gulp of the liquid, enjoying the burning sensation that was occurring inside of him, and took another.
He was feeling better already.
Chapter Sixteen
“Where are all the cars?” Gordon asked as they all strolled along the road that led and went through the village.
“Where do you think?” Kelly scoffed and answered her own question. “The people have fled.”
“To go where?” Joan almost laughed and looked around the area. “Why would you want to leave this area, especially with what's been happening? Where else could be safer than a tiny village in the middle of the country?”
“Maybe nowhere is safe.” Now Lloyd had joined in on the conversation. “Maybe the village was attacked and they decided to try somewhere else?”
Lloyd pointed at the end house of the small village and told Joan, Junior, Gordon and Kelly that they were going to knock on every door, but they were not going to break into any of the houses. I
t would be too dangerous and there was no need anyway, now that they were staying at The Lord Crewe Arms.
Lloyd told them that he and Junior were going to start on the houses on the left side of the road, and Joan, Gordon and Kelly should start on the right.
“What about the church?” Gordon asked.
“Houses first,” said Lloyd. “We'll all check out the church before returning to the hotel.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Kelly nodded and clocked Junior staring at her chest. She placed her hands on her hips and asked Junior, “Anything in particular you're looking at?”
Almost hypnotically, Junior answered, “Your tits.”
“What?” Kelly wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or hit the lad.
Junior blushed and lowered his head whilst Kelly and Joan walked away, with Gordon walking behind them, all three laughing at what had just happened.
Lloyd cackled and gave his son a playful nudge. “You're a chip off the old block, aren't you? Patience, son.”
“Patience?” Junior gazed at Kelly's backside as it swung like a pendulum whilst she walked away. “There'll be no one left the way things are going.”
“You're only fourteen anyway.” Lloyd could see that his son looked crestfallen and tried to cheer him up. “Still, with a bit of luck they'll still be some sheep or goats around, if the mood catches you right.”
Even though Junior knew his dad was joking, he couldn't help responding. “Dad, I'd never shag an animal. I'm not Uncle Marvin.”
Lloyd released a raucous laugh, maybe too loud, that echoed through the village.
Lloyd knocked on the door of the first house on the right whilst Junior stood still, sulking. There was no answer, so he left the area and stepped onto the front garden to look through one of the front windows. Nothing.
He tried the second house down. He knocked the door whilst Junior remained behind him, still feeling sorry for himself. Lloyd did the same procedure. After knocking the door, he looked through one of the front windows and then went on to the next house.
Once he reached the fifth, he turned around, now losing patience with his stroppy teenage son, and called over, “Not much use, are you, son?”
Junior, with his hands in his pockets, pouted out his bottom lip and petulantly shrugged his shoulders. Lloyd laughed, making the fourteen-year-old angry. Lloyd knocked the door and, not even bothering to wait for an answer, he went over to the front window and peered inside. He looked away, scrunched his eyes in puzzlement, then had another look.
Lloyd turned and whistled at his son, urging him to be by his side. Junior strolled over, knowing that something was up.
“What is it?” asked Junior.
“Come and take a look.”
Lloyd knew that in normal circumstances he would never allow his son to witness such a thing, but the world had changed. Junior had to grow up quick, and he also had to toughen up if he wanted to survive in this world. If the government didn't take control and the country, possibly the world, eventually turned to shit, Junior would have to grow a huge set of balls. Because one day he could be all alone, and his dad might not be there to protect him anymore.
Junior gaped through the window, too shocked to turn away. “Not everyone decided to leave.”
Lloyd said, “She left. But in a different way.”
“Shall we go in?”
Lloyd shook his head and stood next to his son, now staring into the window. The dead individual was a female, slumped in an armchair, both wrists had been slashed and blood was present over the woman's legs and on the chair itself. The woman was in her forties, eyes closed, and was pale as snow.
Lloyd sighed, “Let's try the next house.”
“Dad.” Junior pointed over by the side of the house. A sheet covered a large object that was obviously a vehicle underneath, and was sitting at the left of the residence.
“I never noticed that before.” Lloyd stroked his chin and looked back at the house.
He walked over to the sheet and pulled it off, revealing a black Hyundai jeep. It was the first time he had seen a vehicle in the village.
He looked at the jeep, then back at the house. It must have been hers. There was one vehicle left in the village, and she had remained behind. Coincidence? Maybe. Only one way to find out.
Lloyd went back over to the door and, without warning, ran at it with his shoulder. The door managed to give way after just one attempt.
Junior looked aghast and asked his dad, “What are you doing? I thought you said—”
“If that's her jeep,” Lloyd answered, “then the keys should be inside.”
“But we're not leaving.”
“No, but what happens if we have to leave. I'll grab the keys and keep them near me, just in case.”
Junior nodded in agreement.
Lloyd told Junior to stay outside, then put his shirt over his nose, expecting there to be a deathly smell, and he wasn't wrong. He walked past the slumped corpse and went into the kitchen. He didn't have to search for long and took the car keys that were sitting on the woman's microwave.
He walked past the woman, with his shirt still over his nose, and decided to go upstairs for a quick look now that he was inside. When he reached the next level, the bathroom was the first room he peered in, then the main bedroom. It was a beautiful house, and had an obvious archaic and historic feel about the place.
He came to another bedroom and opened the door. The smell was overpowering, making Lloyd Dickinson gag. He pulled his shirt down and turned to the side and threw up, the vomit hitting the carpet with a splat. The steamy pile of vegetable soup-looking puke made Lloyd wince. He then turned around and looked into the room, staring at what was causing the smell.
His eyes watered and a lump formed in his throat when he saw two single beds. In the beds were two boys. One in each. The duvet of each bed was tucked under the chin of each boy, but their pale faces, as well as the odour, confirmed that they were dead. The boy on the left had dark hair, was no older than six and looked to be the youngest of the two. The boy on the right was nine or ten, and had similar features as his younger brother.
Lloyd walked over inbetween the two beds and wondered how they died. He assumed correctly that the boys had died before she did. He looked at the pale face of the boy in the left bed and pulled the duvet back. He had been stabbed three times in the chest, and Lloyd dared not to look at the state of the boy to his right.
It appeared that the mother couldn't bear to live in this new world that had been thrust upon the human race and had done what a lot of people had done, Lloyd thought. She had killed her children, then herself. She had given them a premature death, but she had prevented them from having a life of fear, horror and eventual starvation.
Lloyd lowered his head to say a prayer, and then realised he didn't know any. He cleared his throat and although not a believer, he mumbled, “God bless.”
He went downstairs and returned to the living room. A part of him wanted to pick the woman up and put her in the same room as her sons, so they were together, but they were dead and putting them together wasn't going to help any of them. They were gone.
He stepped outside and put on a brave face, then tapped his pocket, telling Junior that he had the keys to the jeep if they should need it in the future. Junior smiled and followed his dad to the next house. Fifteen minutes later they had completed their side of the main road and had found nothing else that would benefit them. Gordon, Joan and Kelly told Lloyd that they had found nothing.
They met up outside the hotel and peered over at the church.
Gordon said, “Might as well check it out.”
Joan and Kelly both nodded. Junior remained silent and tried to stifle a yawn. Noticing this, Lloyd told his boy to go back inside the hotel. Junior didn't need to be told twice.
Lloyd then turned to the other three. “Shall we?”
They all walked over.
Lloyd pulled the metal circular handle of one of the church doors and was
surprised how easy it opened. He stepped inside and could see that it was like any other church: benches to either side, separated by a wide aisle. A pew was at the end, and a door to the left of the stage was present. The church was called St Mary's.
Lloyd guessed that the door by the stage was an office of some kind. Maybe the office of the pastor or the reverend.
He looked at the windows of the 13th century building and gaped up to the high ceiling. He whistled, impressed, and it echoed through the place. He walked over to the door and said to Gordon and the girls that had followed him, “What do you think?”
“Try it,” urged Kelly.
“Go on,” Joan said.
They all pulled out their weapons, apart from Lloyd. He was certain that there wasn't going to be any need.
Lloyd looked at Gordon, who gave him a nod of approval, and pushed down on the door handle. It was locked. Lloyd got to his knees and peered through the keyhole. The room seemed barren and he got back to his feet and announced, “Seems to be clear.”
“Dad!”
The voice echoed through the church and all four turned around to see Junior standing inside the place, a few yards behind the main doors.
“What is it?” Lloyd asked.
“It's Marvin,” cried Junior.
“Uncle Marvin,” Lloyd corrected.
“What's up?” Joan asked Junior.
Junior gulped and looked teary. “Uncle Marvin ... he's out of control.”
“What?” Lloyd scratched his head in confusion and had no idea what his son was babbling on about.
“He's drunk.”
Chapter Seventeen
Lloyd stormed away from the church, crossing the road, and went into the hotel with the rest quickly following behind. His anger was something that he couldn't hide and suddenly stopped moving once he was in the reception area. Before he had a chance to ask Junior where his brother was, Junior tapped his dad on the shoulder and pointed to his left.
“Oh, you've got to be shittin' me.” Joan dropped her head in her hands and added, “What's wrong with him? Does he have a death wish or something?”
The Monsterland Trilogy [Books 1-3] Page 22
