The Brutality Pack: An extreme horror collection

by Ian Woodhead

  He turned and peered over, staring in disbelief at the sight of more of those sub-human things running through the middle of the town, each one carrying a weapon.

  “What the fuck is going on?”

  The other man smiled at him. “Welcome to the real world, friend. Your games above ground are just a pale imitation of the true source. The creatures are constantly killing, torturing, and eating each other. The game plays in an endless cycle. That is a first family raiding party, friend. I suggest that you sit back down. Unlike the others, they won’t ignore you—or me, for that matter.”

  Phil watched them all file past the stone circle, ignoring their injured comrade as if he didn’t exist, before he sat back down. “What is your deviation, friend?”

  Phil glared at the freaky bastard. “What the fuck are you talking about; why do you keep asking me that?”

  The man chuckled. “Oh, good grief, you really have no idea who I am. That is really funny.” He then grabbed Phil’s wrist again, this time the touch was not so gentle. “Tell me your fucking deviation, you jumped up cunt, or I’ll break your fucking arm.”

  Phil bit down hard, trying not to scream out. Oh fuck, the pain was so intense. This clown was a lot stronger than he looked. There was something else as well; that voice had sounded so familiar when the freaky bastard added a bit of aggression to it. Oh bollocks, he did know that voice.

  “Has the cat got your tongue, boy?”

  “I like to hurt things,” he said through his clenched teeth.

  The man released him. “Yeah, I thought it would be something like that. You never were the gentle type, Phil.” The man looked at him and grinned. “I remember thinking that when I interviewed you for the job.”

  Phil did a double take. He leaned closer, not believing this. Oh yeah, he could see it now, take away the mass of long white hair and add more than a few pounds and he’d be looking at the ex-director of the meat factory. “Alistair? Alistair Harris? Jesus, man. What happened? You were such a big fat cunt.”

  Alistair giggled. “My, you really haven’t lost your eloquent use of the English language, boy. Look around you, how many hotdog stands and cake stalls can you see? Okay, you enjoy inflicting pain. That will explain why Daniel’s power wore off so quickly.”

  “Yeah, thank you, Einstein, I’ve already figured that bit out.”

  “Good for you, so what? You’re going to find others like you and kick Daniel’s arse?”

  Phil nodded. “That’s the general plan.”

  “There are no more like you, Phil. Well, except me, and they won’t let me leave.” Alistair got to his knees and peered over the wall. “Oh, that’s a shame, they have the little girl.”

  Phil jumped up and watched the subhuman drag the girl through the camp. “I don’t get it, why the fuck aren’t the others stopping them?”

  “They have to play by the rules, Phil. Nobody can break the natural order, just as you couldn’t stop torturing kittens when you were a kid. Nobody, that is, except Daniel. You need to stop him.”

  “What, by myself?”

  The man shook his head. “No, there are still some townsfolk not born here in town. Daniel hasn’t caught them all, but he is close.”

  He yanked Phil up and led him through the town towards a huge set of stairs. “Even if they did allow me to leave, as soon as I reached the surface I’d be affected. Hurry, Phil. Sort this mess out. My brother is waiting for me in my cellar; he’ll be all dry now and beginning to smell. He needs me to look after him.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  It felt like an age had passed instead of just five minutes. Dave slid his phone back into his pocket and peeled his ear off the door. Nothing beyond this storeroom stirred, and he began to wonder if he had heard anything at all now. It still didn’t give Dave the assurance to prove his theory and actually check.

  He turned and slid down the door, stretched out his feet, and rested the back of his head against the wood.

  “It might not have been someone looking for us, you know.” Amber passed him a tin of corned beef. “That’ll be easy enough to open; the key’s on the side. We don’t know where we are, Dave. This could be somebody’s pantry, and all we heard was one of the residents getting up to go to the toilet.”

  Dave had considered that idea as well.

  “Although, I’m probably wrong on that score. Most of the tins in here are out of date. That corned beef ran out two months ago. Sorry, it’s the only one I could find to open; none of the others are ring pull. This place hasn’t been used in years”

  “You could have used the sword, Amber.”

  She chuckled. “Give over; you prised that out of a dead man’s hand. It’s not exactly clean, is it?”

  “Are you for real, Amber?” he asked, smiling at her. “After all the blood, muck, and shit that we’ve had on us tonight, do you think it’ll make that much difference?”

  She placed her hand oh Dave’s thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I am so tired of this, baby. I’m so tempted to just lie down on your lap and go to sleep. This is the first time since this nightmare started that I have felt reasonably safe.”

  “I’m not stopping you.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t. Not yet.”

  Dave opened the can, dug his fingers into the tin, and filled his mouth with the cold meat. He didn’t care how out of the date it was, he hadn’t tasted anything so delicious in his life.

  He silently agreed with Amber, Nobody had been in here for a long time. Dave only saw his and Amber’s footprints on the dust-covered floor. “This town is a maze of secrets.”

  “I don’t give a shit what it is,” she muttered. “I just want to leave.”

  “I’m sure the worst is over, baby. We’ll be out of here before you know it.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Almost five.” That had come as a bit of a shock to him. They had been travelling under the town for almost four hours. They didn’t have long to wait before dawn.

  He so ached to see the sun again. There had been countless occasions, running, crawling, and hiding down there when he believed that he’d die without feeling its comforting warmth on his face. Dave sighed, and then placed the now empty can on the shelf beside him.

  His desire must have been just an emotional response for it made little practical sense. Dave somehow doubted that the presence of daybreak would dissuade the locals from chasing them down. Brutality had shred its thin skin of lies; there’d be no going back now. The presence of daylight would make their life so much harder to hide from their pursuers.

  “Dave, I think we had better get a move on.” She looked up at the food on the shelves. “If we don’t go now, I’ll not want to leave here.”

  He silently nodded. She’d already explained that she had to find out if her father was still alive, and that maybe the tramp had got it all wrong about the fires and nearly every outsider was now dead. He could see why Amber had doubts; after all, they had survived, so far.

  He leaned across and gave her a gentle kiss. “I’m ready when you are, baby.” His practical side had already told Dave that the chances of her father still being alive was slim to none, and even if he were alive, the man would be hiding just like they were and certainly wouldn’t still be at home, drinking tea and watching telly. They needed to get the hell out of this hell, and not waste time looking for anyone else. The longer they stayed in Brutality their chances only increased that some of those freaks would find them.

  If he had been in Amber’s position, though, he would have wanted to do exactly the same.

  Amber choked back a sob. “I know what you’re thinking, sweetheart, and yeah, I do know that this might be a waste of time. I would understand if you chose to stay here. I mean, you’ve only known me for a few hours, I’m still a stranger to you.”

  “Don’t say stuff like that, Amber!” he hissed. “Of course I won’t leave you, and I don’t think we are strangers, not anymore. I love you, Amber. It’s that simple
.” Dave kissed her again, not wanting to let her go. “You have got me forever now, sweetheart. Where you go, I go. Look, we’ve just been chased by a bunch of giant meat-eating monkeys and crept through a tribe of sleeping cannibals. These jokers in town are nothing compared to those.”

  He got to his feet and helped Amber up. “Let them try to fuck us over,” he growled. “I’ll ventilate the bastards”

  He stuck his head against the door, just to be sure. There was still no sound. At least that was good news. Dave grabbed the handle, pulled it down, and poked his head through the gap.

  Dave had not expected to recognise their new location. “You have got to be shitting me,” he murmured, stepping out into the corridor. He held the door open for Amber while looking from left to right.

  “Where are we?”

  It had been years since he was last in here. “This used to be our favourite place to eat until it closed down a few years ago. It used to be the only shop in Brutality where you could grab yourself a half-decent sandwich during your work break. To be honest, I had forgotten all about the shop.” Harsh white street lighting streamed in through cracks in the wooden board nailed across the windows. It didn’t give them much light but enough for him to work out that they weren’t the only occupants in the abandoned shop.

  Three pale faces stared at them from behind the counter, and now that they’d been seen, all three stood up; the boy on the side of the big kid in the middle placed his hand over his mouth and giggled.

  “I told you, Tony. Didn’t I say that they were hiding in here?”

  The boy in the middle nodded. Dave knew this one all right; he was at the club earlier. In fact, he knew all three of the thugs. The whole town knew of Tony McAllister, Zachary Bird, and Danny Harlan. These schoolboy bullies ran riot around the centre every Saturday night. He tried to quiet his beating heart, for just the thought of what these three evil bastards wanted to do to them now that the restraints were gone made him wish that he was still in those tunnels. “Aren’t you up past your bedtimes?” he said. “Tell you what, if you fuck off right now, I won’t tell your mums.”

  “You’re funny. No really, you’re fucking hilarious.” The large boy pushed the companion on his left in the shoulder. “Don’t just stand there, you fucking moron, bring me that girl.” Tony licked his lips. “You ain’t as pretty as your blonde mate, but you’re better than nothing.”

  “He’s got a sword!”

  Dave grabbed Amber and backed away, keeping the sword held out in front of him. “Well spotted, dickhead. Now, unless you want to see your insides, outside, I suggest you leave us alone.”

  “He suggests,” laughed Zachary. “Ain’t that so polite.”

  Tony pushed Danny out from behind the counter. “Go on, you cowardly fucker. He ain’t going to do anything.”

  Danny smirked. “I might not even hurt you if you give me your sword, fuckface.” He then snatched up a tin of beans off the glass counter and threw it at Dave before charging him.

  Dave jerked to the side and the tin flew past his head, He screamed and lifted the sword, watching the arrogant boy run at him. This bastard wasn’t going to stop; the arrogant boy really did believe that Dave wouldn’t have the nerve to use it. Rage boiled away his rationality, and he wildly swung the blade, gasping in shock as the tip of the sword sliced through the boy’s throat. It opened up like a burst pipe, spraying him with thick warm blood. The body dropped to the floor, landing on Dave’s feet. The blood continued to piss out, mixing with the dust.

  “Tony, oh fuck,” gasped Zachary. “It isn’t supposed to happen like that.” The boy glared at Dave. “You’re not supposed to kill him, you fucker!”

  Dave slowly looked up and found to his utter astonishment that the other boy was grinning at him.

  “Yeah, I did kinda notice that the poor cunt has bought it,” Tony replied. The boy gave a noncommittal shrug. “So what of it? He was beginning to get right on my tits anyway. Besides, with him out of the way, it makes my plan a bit easier.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a large pistol. He giggled. “Look what Daniel had given me.” He pointed the weapon at Dave. “Oh, it’s real.”

  Dave squeezed Amber’s hand, kept his eyes fixed on that very large barrel, and slid his feet out from under the body. The cocky little bastard wasn’t even looking at him. He took a step backwards; the door was only a few steps away. Dave wasn’t going to stay here, that bastard was going to kill him.

  “Who the fuck said you could move?”

  Dave stopped. He got ready to throw the sword at Tony; it would do a lot more damage than a tin of beans.

  “Listen to me, Zack; put away your whinging voice. It’s simple. We both know that it was Danny who let the bitch fucking run off. I only came down hard on you cos you’re my second-in-command. Look at this bitch. She’s just as tasty. We can share her; I don’t mind a spit-roast.” Tony chuckled. “Come on, Danny would go fucking mental, he had to die.”

  Dave pushed Amber towards the door; he knew he was going to die but didn’t care anymore, as long as she managed to get away. He braced himself, waiting for the fatal shot when the door slammed open. The gun in the boy’s hand bucked, it sounded like a bomb going off. Dave screamed out, astonished to find he was still alive. He dropped to the floor, taking Amber down with him. Just as a large object flew through the open door, the boy fired again. Dave looked at the large rucksack lying in front of the counter and crawled back; he had no idea what was going on, he just didn’t want Tony to remember that he was about to shoot him.

  He stopped and stared in disbelief as a large man charged into the shop holding another rucksack against his chest. He threw the package hard at Tony and dived on the lad, wrestling the gun out of his hand. When Tony lifted his head, the man head butted him down.

  “Stay there, you little shit!” screamed the man.

  Dave didn’t believe it; he knew that voice. It was Phil.

  The man swung around, glared at Zack, and then fired. The back of his head splattered against the wall. He turned, aimed at Tony, and pulled the trigger. The man looked so upset when the gun failed the fire.

  “That’s a bit shit,” he muttered. Phil booted the boy in the head then leaped over the counter. “Fuck me,” he said, grinning at Dave. “How did you two losers manage to stay alive?” He held up his hand. “Don’t bother answering that, I couldn’t really give a shit. Have you seen anyone else?”

  “Why the hell should we tell you anything, you bastard?”

  Phil glared at Amber. “Cos if you don’t, I’ll pull off your tits.”

  “We haven’t seen anybody, Phil. We’re about to check out Amber’s house.” Dave sighed. “He saved our lives, honey.”

  Phil laughed. “Oh, please, look at you two lovebirds, where’s the fucking vomit bucket? Well, don’t just fucking stand there. Lead the way before any more of the town’s fucktards show up.” He threw the gun over his shoulder. Phil pushed them out of the door. “Fuck, what part of ‘move your arse’ did you two not understand?”

  Dave didn’t quite know how to feel. He looked back at the last few hours that he’d spent with Amber, being on the verge of facing death at every turn. He knew that he had changed; this beautiful woman hurrying along the road beside him had changed as well. Phil hadn’t changed though; he was still the same as he’d always been. Dave thought back to Max’s tale about the locals being unable to change and saw that now.

  “Fuck,” Dave said, lurching to a stop. He turned around and watched Phil glare at him. “What are you playing at you big, stupid clown? You’re one of them, you lot have been trying to kill us all fucking night!”

  He expected the big lad to lose it, to pull out a knife, stab him or at least growl, and throw a punch. Instead, he just burst out laughing.

  “In all the years I’ve known you, Dave, that’s the first time that I’ve seen you lose your temper. You ought to do it more often, it’s fucking hilarious.” He turned to Amber. “Tell me we’re close
to your gaff; my legs are fucking killing me.”

  Amber shook her head. “No, we’re just about here.” She led Dave over to the small terraced house. “I had a feeling that I might be taking you home, Dave.” She kissed him. “Just not like this.”

  He pushed open the gate. “Look, do you want me to go inside, sweetheart?”

  She shook her head, pushed past Dave, and ran over to the front door. He followed her inside, listening to Phil sighing behind them. He just couldn’t work out what his game was, if he had one at all.

  Phil caught his breath. “Fuck,” he whispered. The man grabbed the back of Dave’s shoulders and wrenched him back. He tried to scream out to Amber to warn her, but the lad clamped his hand over Dave’s mouth.

  “Don’t even fucking dare!” he hissed. Phil pushed him to the floor and lunged forward.

  Dave watched Phil push past Amber and race over to the stairs. What the fuck was he playing at? He was already at the top of the stairs before Amber had a chance to pick Dave off the floor.

  “Can’t you smell it?” Amber cried. “Oh, my God, it’s Lisa. I’d recognise her perfume anywhere. That bitch is in my house!”

  Amber raced after Phil with Dave right behind her. He could smell the scent now. He almost felt bad about believing that Phil was about to murder the pair of them as soon as he stepped foot over the door—almost, but not quite. Amber ran through the door opposite. For all he knew, they could be walking into a set-up. Maybe the outsiders were the prize, and the locals were killing each other to bag the last ones. Oh fuck, yeah, that made sense. Dave wildly looked around, desperate to find some sort of weapon. A brief scream coming from the bedroom cut short his attempt to find anything. Dave ran forward.

  “I thought you’d be behind them, Dave,” said Lisa, grinning. “You fucking little coward.”

  The girl held a loaded crossbow in her hand, and Dave saw her wave it from side to side. Amber wasn’t looking at any of them. His stomach knotted up at the sight of a small man spread out against the wardrobe door, covered in sticky blood. Dave saw the man’s throat cut open. He couldn’t fall to the floor because two nails driven through his hands and into the wood held him upright. He knew without asking that Amber was looking at her father.