Snatchers (A Zombie Novel)

by Shaun Whittington

  He rubbed his stubbly face, and decided he needed a shave, as the hairs growing in the chin were visibly grey despite the stubble only being a few days old.

  Jack had never been married, and although he had had plenty of girlfriends who were not worth mentioning, there was not one he ever loved, not properly. The only girl that had meant something to him was Kerry Evans. He had met her ten years ago, and was surprised to have got her pregnant a few years later.

  When she had his son, Thomas, they decided to get married. However, typical Jack Slade managed to mess things up, as he had a one-night stand with Kerry's best friend. Jack was content with keeping the shame a secret, but Kerry's best friend had other ideas. Overcome by guilt, she turned up at their house and confessed all, resulting in Jack packing his bags, as well as receiving superficial wounds to his face when a coffee mug hit him in the chin and shattered, causing minor lacerations. The marriage never happened.

  There were good days with Kerry; they weren't all bad. His fondest memory was when he came out of the shower one evening, and nakedly marched toward the living room while she sat and watched TV. She took one look at him and asked him what the hell he was doing. Jokingly, Jack placed his hands on his hips and nodded downward toward his family jewels, and said, "Well, it's not gonna suck itself. But careful while you're down there, as it may contain nuts." She burst out laughing and told him to 'piss off.'

  Snapping out of his daydreaming of the past, he sighed, and after draining his bladder and drinking a pint of water from the tap, he felt a little cold and strolled out of the bathroom and went to the wardrobe to put on his jeans and a plain black T-shirt. He preferred plain T-shirts, especially black, as it made him look slimmer; other coloured shirts showed off his definition and bulges.

  He sat back on the bed and pulled out his phone; there was one bar left on it, he needed to get home and charge it. However, he wasn't home; he was three miles from home. He was standing in a hotel room in Glasgow City Centre, and had hardly any recollection of where the weekend had gone.

  It was now Sunday morning, and he had started drinking Friday night. He popped into the town and began drinking in a public house called, The Drum and Monkey. Two hours later, he began chatting to an older woman of about forty-five, who was with friends. As it was time for her friends to leave for another bar, she decided that she wanted to stay and talk some more with this reasonably attractive man that made her laugh thanks to his dark, sometimes cruel, sense of humour. Her friends were not happy with the decision, as she was a married woman. She won in the end, and her dispirited friends left and warned Jack to look after her.

  After booking a night at the hotel and spending the night with the woman, she left the hotel at around 2am, and made it clear she didn't want to see him again. Jack admitted to himself that it was the worst sex he ever had since his twenties. During it, she constantly moaned about his breath, and when she told him to get off and give her oral pleasure instead, he did what he was told.

  She enjoyed it and came within a minute. When he asked if she would finish him off, she said she was too tired and left the room, leaving him in limbo.

  Feeling lucky, and possibly a little arrogant, he decided to splash out and booked the room for another night. He had plans to go out once again in the city centre, after all, it wasn't everyday he turned forty. The night itself felt dark, there was extra police about the city and Jack had seen some violent skirmishes between policeman and members of the public, which ruined his night for him.

  As he now sat on his bed, for some reason his mother drifted into his mind. He had stopped having a relationship with his mother and his sister years ago since he moved to Glasgow after meeting a Glaswegian girl in a club in Stafford.

  He simply lost touch with his mother and sister, which was a pathetic excuse in this day and age with the technology that was available, and although it sounded harsh, the truth was that he just couldn't be bothered with them anymore, and he hadn't had a relationship with his father since he was ten years old. He wanted to be with the girl he had met and ended up moving up north with, although he felt guilty for leaving his son in Rugeley with Kerry, he still wanted to have a life. He saw his son once a fortnight and thought the move wouldn't make a jot of difference to him. His relationship with the girl didn't last long, but he decided to remain in Glasgow, as he enjoyed his office job and life in the 'big smoke.'

  He looked at his watch; it was early. The maids were due in at 11am, which meant he needed to get out eventually and head for home, his real home. He headed for the bathroom for the second time, had a quick frantic shave and then it was time for a shower. He took off his black T-shirt and his jeans and stepped in the warm, welcoming shower.

  The hot jets gently massaged his back and shoulders, and he slowly spun around so the whole of his body could experience this pleasure. He didn't want this experience to end, but decided to be strong and eventually turned the apparatus off. After his shower had finished, he got dressed on his bed, putting on a fresh set of underwear and socks, followed by his jeans and the black T-shirt.

  He sat and thought about his weekend experience. It was kind of sad that a man had to spend his fortieth alone in a hotel, he thought to himself. Then again, at least he got laid, well...kind of.

  He looked at his phone and snickered. There wasn't one message on his phone, despite this weekend being his birthday. He did, however, have seven missed calls, all from Kerry. He thought about his son for a second and wondered if anything had happened to him. He looked to his left as he remained sitting on the bed and then suddenly his phone chimed telling him that he had received a text message. He opened the message and sighed, it was from Kerry.

  What have I done now? Thomas' birthday isn't till next month, so it can't be that.

  He wasn't due to see Thomas until next weekend. Maybe it was a belated happy birthday from his ex-lover? If it were, it would be his first one.

  He read the first six words and smiled. Even in text form, Kerry always preferred to use, what she would call, proper English.

  It read: How are you? Hope you're okay?

  His eyes then narrowed in befuddlement when he read the next line, he read it again to make sure it wasn't the drink that was messing with his brain.

  Thomas and I are going to barricade ourselves in until this stops. Keep safe.

  He shook his head and read the whole message again. It didn't make sense. Keep safe. What did she mean by keep safe?

  He had little life left in his phone, and decided to use it to call Kerry. Before he could implement his decision, the phone went off again.

  Another message from Kerry!

  Thomas keeps on asking after you. Are you okay? If so, please don't call me.

  Jack scratched his head. Please don't call me? That doesn't even make sense.

  Jack text back: I'm fine. What's going on?

  His phone received another message: You don't know?

  He text back: No!

  Ten seconds later, he received another message from his ex: Turn on the TV.

  Chapter Three

  H wing had been unobtrusive all night.

  Usually, when Janine Perry worked night shift, the buzzers would constantly go off between 10pm and 3am by prisoners wanting paracetamol for their headache, etc, and then it would quiet down. She despised twelve-hour night shifts, but with doing these shifts, she got more days off in the month.

  She was on with Jamie Thomson, also known as JT. He was okay, she thought. Just okay. He had dark short hair, thirty-nine years old, quite muscular, but she didn't find him attractive. He looked like ex-military with his look, but she didn't know him well enough to be aware of his background.

  Sure, they talked while on the night shift, but any personal questions directing in his vicinity, he would shun by asking a question of his own. She took the hint, and kept the conversation to basic topics such as the prisoners, television, music and films.

  Their shift started at 10pm, they would turn
up on the wings, sign the handover sheet, then their colleagues would perform lock-up and then go home at ten in the evening to leave Janine and Jamie to it. There was two house blocks within the prison. On each house block there were four wings that consisted of seventy to ninety inmates. Once the wings were locked up and the roll count had been performed and the numbers collated, the four-slider doors that led to each wing were opened, and the officers sat in an office that they nicknamed, the bubble.

  The bubble was the control section for that particular house block which, by computer and touch screen, opened and closed the doors to the wings and to the house block itself. This would be used constantly during the day with officers needing access to get on and off the wings, especially if prisoners needed to be escorted out of the wings to the canteen, the gym, the health centre, the education department or the visits area.

  Janine had a reputation amongst the prison staff that she couldn't care less what she said, as most times she spoke her mind. Sometimes this had got her into trouble, but she wasn't caring. The money wasn't that great anyway, and even if she were sacked, she would just get another job. There was no pressure on her, as at the age of twenty-seven, she had no boyfriend and still lived with her mum and dad, so she had no mortgage to pay for.

  This was the longest part of the night. The time between 7am and 10am was the longest three hours of the shift, because they couldn't wait for it to finish and this was also where the tiredness would kick in.

  Janine gave off a loud exaggerating yawn to break the quiet tension that had been smothering the two officers for the last hour. The conversation had dried up by 6:30am, and the officers still had a while to go. As the hours dragged by, the boisterousness from the inmates had begun to grow as the minutes progressed. Inmates were talking through their doors to communicate with their nearest neighbours. Janine began to sit up her fatigued body, and widened her eyes in a pitiful attempt to keep herself awake. The noises were becoming more audible from all four wings; some were now beginning to slam their hands on the doors.

  "What time is it?" Jamie asked Janine. "I think the other shift should have been here half an hour ago."

  Because no one had turned up, it meant that the two of them were powerless until the other officers arrived. It wasn't till 9am until they could shut the slider doors that would seal off the wings, and then they could start opening the cell doors.

  The clamour coming from all four wings mounted so much, that Janine thought that if they hadn't been in the bubble, the noise would be resounding to human ears if they were on the wings. Something was wrong. Being in their cells for an extra thirty minutes wasn't helping, but the cons had never acted like this before, not collectively, not all three hundred of them!

  Jamie looked at Janine, his concerned face made Janine's face drain. Jamie wasn't a guy that scared easily, he was one of the toughest officers there was, and the angst carved on his face made Janine gulping a challenging job. The pair of them sat in the bubble on their seats in front of the screens.

  Jamie looked to the floor in thought, shook his head softly and looked up at Janine.

  He said, "Something's not right. The inmates are sounding scared, and the other shift ain't even turned up."

  "What do you think it is?"

  He slowly shrugged his shoulders. He didn't have the answer. "I think we should call the Governor."

  Jamie stood to his feet and stretched, arching his back and raising his arms in the air. The stretching lasted seconds, before he walked over to the phone. He looked up at Janine, and she nodded her head. She was sure Jamie's look was asking if they should really call the Governor, as he didn't like to be bothered for minor incidents. In his twelve years experience, Jamie had never experienced this kind of noise and panic coming from all four wings. Before he could dial the number, the phone went off. It was an officer from house block one—Janine and Jamie was situated in house block two—and Jamie immediately picked up the phone.

  "We've got a situation up here," the man from house block one announced over the phone.

  "We have also," Jamie spoke. "What's going on?"

  "You don't know?"

  "No, otherwise I wouldn't be asking." Jamie could feel his temperature rising, his blood simmered.

  The man on the other line said, "The TV channels are not working, so turn on the radio and call me back in ten minutes. We need to talk."

  Jamie walked over to the radio and switched it on. Janine didn't say a word; they both sat and listened to the information that was being projected.

  For ten minutes they sat and listened, Jamie shook his head throughout most of it, Janine gently sobbed through some of it.

  Janine remained sitting and her left hand that flopped by the side of her body opened up, Jamie instantly held it and looked at her and his strong face told her that it was going to be okay. As for the morning shift, it seemed there wasn't going to be another officer to walk through the gates of the prison.

  The two of them sat slumped in their seats; the information had mentally drained them, and were both finding it difficult to take it all in. No wonder the prisoners were going mental. They all had access to radios and were probably listening to the information also.

  "You have family?" she questioned.

  "Thankfully, no. Well...not really. You?"

  She nodded. "My mum and dad, my brother."

  "No point going home, you live miles away and they'll be barricaded in their house, either that…"

  Jamie allowed his sentence to trail off, he wasn't thinking. His thin smile to Janine was his way of apologising for his crass, yet realistic, comment. He continued to hold her hand.

  "We should stay here," Janine suggested. "There's a canteen. Fuck everyone else."

  "And what about the prisoners?"

  Jamie had now let go of Janine's hand, not because she made a comment without engaging her brain—that was understandable as she was in shock, he simply let go because their palms were becoming clammy.

  Janine thought about her male colleague's question. They couldn't stay in the prison and eat what was left in the canteen, while six to seven hundred inmates from both house blocks slowly starved to death. Their conscience wouldn't allow that. If they did leave them, it would make them mass killers, worse than Seung-Hui Cho or Anders Breveik.

  Janine opened her mouth, and she was ready to ask her male colleague what his next plan of action was. The phone in the bubble prevented her from beginning her sentence. Jamie walked over to the phone and picked it up.

  She stared at Jamie Thomson as he listened intently to the other officer on the line. Jamie quizzed, "What about the prisoners?" He hung up and looked over to Janine.

  She had to ask. "What is it?"

  "They're leaving," Jamie announced.

  "What about the prisoners? Our keys are different to the ones in house block one, they won't work."

  His body language suggested that the inmates in house block were going to be left to their own devices.

  "What are we going to do?" She stood to her feet, awaiting his answer. This was a unique situation and she wasn't embarrassed to admit that she was frightened.

  She had already made up her mind that wherever Jamie Thomson went, she would go. It was selfish, but being by Jamie's side would enhance her own survival. She had seen him in action; she had seen him take down four prisoners in one go, he was a beast of a fighter and she wasn't going to leave his side. She just prayed her own family were okay.

  Jamie at last had finished his pause, and finally answered Janine's question. "There's nothing we can do about the guys in the other house block. But we're gonna release our prisoners."

  Chapter Four

  David Pointer had been given his first lie-in for months and embraced it with open arms. By day, David Pointer was a driving instructor and worked five days a week. His shifts were unpredictable as he worked for himself.

  His wife, Davina, worked night shift as an auxiliary nurse at Stoke hospital. She only wo
rked two nights a week, and spent the rest of her time keeping the house in order, shopping, taking care of the bills and looking after their four-year-old daughter, Isobel.

  Their daughter was still too young for Primary school, so the routine was to take her to nursery at 8:30am, then pick her up at 11:30am and then to think of things to keep her entertained, such as jigsaws, painting and playing with her toys. Davina preferred the old fashioned way of entertaining her daughter; she didn't want her four-year-old hooked on computer games before she was even in her first year at school.

  David was awake, he looked over to the alarm clock and although it stated that he had slept for eleven hours, a personal record that David never even achieved when he was a teenager, he still felt powerless to get his body to move. He remained on the bed, his eyes glaring at the ceiling. He noticed a slight brown stain on the ceiling and made a mental note that that was his first job he was going to tackle, once he had had his breakfast.

  He swung his legs to the side of the bed and managed to sit up on the side with his feet touching the floor. He looked over to a bag that was sitting in the corner of the room. He forgot it was Sunday, which meant it was swim day.

  Every Sunday morning David would take Isobel to the local swimming baths; it was the highlight of the four-year-old's week. It was just her, spending the day with her daddy.

  He got off the bed, and fully naked, he walked over to the bag that had been made up by Davina only an hour ago. The small Minnie Mouse rubber ring stood next to the bag that had the usual swimwear in it as well as shampoo and some towels. David pulled out his top drawer and put a pair of shorts on. On the front, was a picture of Animal from the Muppets, a fun Christmas present from Davina. He also had matching socks, but decided to go for plain black.

  He opened the blinds, took a glimpse out into the garden and gawped to the left and right, scanning the neighbours' gardens. The sun shone brilliantly and David sighed with contentment. It was going to be a glorious day, he thought to himself.