Parasite ; Sleeper Cells ; Kingdoms of the Dead

by Ian Woodhead

  He dropped to the floor and rolled to the side when Samuel smashed his sword down. The blade missed Dan’s head by inches. He leapt back and threw his knife at the laughing man. It spun harmlessly passed Samuel’s ear.

  “Oh, now you’re fucked,” cried Samuel, running at him.

  Dan snatched up a fist-sized rock, he jumped out of Samuel’s way and slammed the rock into the side of his head. The man dropped to the floor, not moving. Dan kicked the sword out of Samuel’s hand.

  “No fucking way,” he gasped, “It can’t be that easy.” The man had not moved. He ran over to the other side of the cavern and picked up his own knife. Dan mourned for the loss of his lamp. “How the fuck am I going to get out of here now?”

  He picked up the lamps main body, and headed for the door, maybe they wouldn’t notice it was broken. Fuck, what other choice did he have? Dan had to get out of here. He pushed the door open and fell back in terror as the turned villagers pushed their way inside. None of them touched him, they all headed straight for Samuel’s stirring frame. Dan watched them, fascinated as they took a single bite each from the screaming man before falling onto the cavern floor. Before his eyes, the villagers lost their crimson eyes and their teeth returned to normal.

  Dan jumped out into the outer chamber and raced through the building. As he reached the main door, he stopped dead, crying out in relief as dawn’s fingers lit up the roofs of Colbeck. Dan saw his friends stood at the edge of the carpark and ran towards them, flying into Alison’s open arms.”

  “Is that it?” asked Ethan. “Are we safe now?”

  Dan gazed at each of them in turn and shook his head. “No, the bastard wasn’t in there. I don’t know where he is.”

  The archaeologist spun around and pointed at a blue range rover speeding through the village. “What do we do now?”

  The End

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