Snatchers (A Zombie Novel)

by Shaun Whittington

  It was followed by a long and exaggerated beep.

  It was Jemma's voice. "Hello, this is Jemma Marlow," at this point, Gary broke down and shouted 'yes.' "If you're listening to this, then you're in my house. There are twelve of us. We are all well, considering, and we still have a small amount of food left from what we took from our homes. The names of the people I am with are Jason Barton, Kevin Houston, Oliver Newton, Karen and Sean West, Yoler Parkinson, Ian Jenson, Paul Parker, Lee Haywood, myself Jemma Marlow, Clare and Kerry Evans and Thomas Slade. If anyone is related to these people, please ring or come to us at the Longdon Community Hall, just outside of Hazelslade near Cannock. I'm calling from the hall's landline as our cell phones have either gone flat or the signal is impossible. The number is 555 63524."

  Gary looked to his side and saw Jack with his head in his hands, he was crying. Gary sat slowly and placed his arm comfortingly around his older compatriot.

  "Thomas is with Jemma. They're alive," Gary whispered.

  Jack nodded and lifted his head up to reveal his stained cheeks and his bloodshot eyes. He struggled to find words at first and stammered. "I c-can't b-b-believe it. If I hadn't of met you…" Jack pulled himself together. "Where is the place?"

  Gary grinned. "About a mile up the road. It's in the middle of nowhere and quite secure."

  "What are we waiting for?" Jack stood quickly to his feet.

  Gary raised his hand. "We're not going anywhere tonight! I need to ice this leg; I'm knackered and we now have no transport and it'll be getting dark soon."

  "I can't stand here knowing my son is up the road."

  "Well, you're gonna have to. We're knackered. Let's get a decent night's sleep, and I'll steal a car in the morning and we'll make our way up. I'll give them a ring right now."

  Gary shook as he picked up the phone and felt similar to the first ever time he spoke to Jemma on the phone.

  Jack watched him intently as he slowly dialled the landline number that Jemma had given out on the message. As soon as he pushed the last number, he stood up straight and blew out an overwrought breath that would have been strong enough to blow out sixty candles on a sixtieth birthday cake. Jack was unsure whether to call them at all in case the phone alerted outside predators, but Jemma had given out the number, so he assumed that it must be reasonably safe where they were.

  "Hello," Gary greeted. Jack could see from Gary's glassy eyes that it was Jemma that had picked up the phone.

  The conversation was teary and short. Gary explained very briefly that he had escaped from prison and he also informed Jemma that he was heading their way first thing in the morning.

  "One more thing," Gary said to his girlfriend, as the short conversation was coming to a close. "You have a little boy called Thomas Slade there, put him on. I have his daddy standing next to me, believe it or not."

  Gary passed the phone over to Jack, and Jack held the clammy handle of the phone. "Hello."

  There was a pause on the other end, and Jack waited another few seconds and opened his mouth to say hello once more, when he was cut short by a voice he so desperately wanted to here.

  "Daddy?"

  "Hi son," Jack sniffled, and was finding it desperately difficult to restrict his emotions. "How are ya?"

  "Okay, I suppose. Mum's been crying a lot. She keeps on saying she has something in her eye."

  "What are you doing?"

  The question wasn't needed, but it was hard to engage in a conversation with a six-year-old-boy, Jack just wanted to hear his voice, even if it was balderdash, he didn't care, as the last time he heard his voice he seemed scared and mentioned the 'monsters' trying to get in. This time he seemed a lot more relaxed and his voice demonstrated to Jack that his boy was in a safe place.

  "Not a lot. My mum says I'm on holiday, but they won't let me outside, and there's no swimming pool."

  Jack chuckled and shook his head at his innocence. That's what he loved about kids. They saw the good in most people and were completely unaware of what a shitty world they actually lived in, and this was before the infection had taken place.

  "I love you, son."

  Thomas had no time to respond as the voice on the other end had been replaced with Kerry's.

  "What are you doing here? How did you find me?" There was genuine concern in Kerry's voice for her ex-lover, and Jack was touched by this.

  "I needed to see him, Kez. I went to your house, but it was empty. I thought about checking your mother's. I met a guy called Gary, he's Jemma's boyfriend."

  "As long as you're okay. Jemma told me that you and this Gary are coming up tomorrow morning?"

  "That's right."

  "Just be careful."

  "Careful? I managed to travel from Glasgow without any hitches, didn't I?" He lied, trying not to worry the mother of his child. "We'll be up first thing, as soon as we get a car."

  "I'll see you then. Stay safe."

  Jack hung up and didn't have time to emotionally collapse, as they were both immediately distracted by the sudden screaming in the distance that was coming from outside. He and Gary looked at one another and ran upstairs, heading for the bedroom window that would give a better view of what was occurring.

  They both peered out and saw a father and young son running out of the house, whilst being slowly chased by a group of seven creatures along the main road that was clear only minutes ago. The boy looked no older than ten and Gary and Jack felt for the poor soul who was probably wondering, like everyone else, what was going on?

  He and his father disappeared up the road as they went by the last streetlight and then were swallowed up by the darkness that had quickly arrived. I wonder where the mother is? Gary thought.

  Jack moved away from the window and sat on the bed. He rubbed his tired eyes and reminisced over the last four days of his life so far. It had been a surreal weekend, even by Jack Slade's standards.

  He had never drunk so much in one weekend; then suddenly the epidemic materialised, or was it a pandemic? He wasn't entirely sure.

  The lack of technology left people in the dark whether this was a European or global problem. He had also been attacked numerous times by beings trying to eat him; he had killed, and had been the proud owner of a BMW motorbike. And he was now finally going to be reunited with his son.

  Any other man would have had a breakdown by now, he thought.

  "Looks like there's a few hanging around, now it's getting dark." Gary spoke, still staring out of the window.

  "We better start barricading a little bit better downstairs."

  Gary agreed with Jack's comment and spotted a silver Mazda that sat lazily on a drive opposite the house. "I think I've just spotted our wheels for tomorrow."

  Chapter Fifty Two

  June 13th

  The hours went by like days, as the monotony crept upon the camp in the mid-afternoon, and as the hours passed, like a leech, it sucked all the enthusiasm out of them and refused to go away.

  It was now a new day, not quite dawn, and the dark blue sky stretched over the area with a fat grinning moon hanging above the camp. The wind was relentless and the noise coming through the trees was eerie.

  It was Jamie's turn again on watch duty, and he was beginning to feel his eyes shut, then his body would jump in fright and he would be awake once more. Again, it reminded him of the visits section.

  When he first started the prison, he was in visits permanently and had to stand in one spot for most of the twelve-hour shift, and keep his eye on any prisoners passing drugs or any other contraband. Some of the things he witnessed in there was a real eye opener, watching desperate people resort to desperate things, just to get drugs onto the wings.

  Babies were used to pass drugs, as wives and girlfriends would put their hand in the baby's nappy and pull out a wrap of narcotics, place it in their mouth and pass the substance to the partner by kissing them, moving it from mouth to mouth and allowing the inmate to swallow the substance.

  On other occasions, wom
en wearing short skirts, would put their hands in their panties and pull out a small bag of drugs and again, place it in their mouth and pass the drug. Even grown men had done this, brothers and fathers kissing their own flesh and blood just to pass drugs.

  The unfortunate and frustrating thing was that once the drug was passed and swallowed, there was nothing the prison could do about it, even if it had been seen. It had to be grabbed before the passing would take place.

  Jamie looked around the creepy area, and thought where he was now was much worse than in the prison. The shifts were not as long, but the creepy place was making it impossible to concentrate on anything but sleep, and at least back in his old job he wasn't in danger of being eaten by the prisoners.

  He ogled at his wristwatch and it instructed him that there was another hour to go before Pickle's turn. He looked to his left and now that the Pointers had gone, the camp seemed empty. The Renault Clio was no longer there, and all he could see was the silhouette of the bulky van sitting by the entrance where his four friends slept inside. He thought about Davina; he felt sad for the woman.

  He peeped to his right to stare into the woods, but all he could see was blackness. It was an eerie sight to behold and he couldn't wait for the sun to arrive.

  The sky was cloudless, making the area not as dusky as it could have been, but it was still a frightening place to stand alone. Jamie had never shot the pistol since the supermarket incident, and still wasn't confident he could take out one of those things on his own if he really had to.

  He remembered how he shook when he fired it for the first time, and how his confidence grew as they eventually fell, but that was in a group situation. He was now on his own and knew the camp would be in better hands with someone like Pickle standing guard, who was used to shooting people, as it was part of his job description.

  He could feel his eyes going again, but this time a shot of adrenaline helped to spring him back into life as a snap of a branch appeared to the side of him that he could just about hear through the sound of the wind whistling in his ears.

  God, what was that smell? He wondered.

  He stared into the blackness and could see spots appearing before his eyes. His gaze continued as he began to attempt some breathing exercises in order to lower his irregular heart rate.

  He was surprised how he was feeling, as on the prison wings, he was fearless, feared and respected by most of the inmates. That was in a controlled situation; he was now in an alien situation where relentless creatures were out there, and were programmed never to stop unless they received irreparable damage to their brain.

  He was holding the weapon that could do exactly that irreparable damage, but his confidence was lacking. Another rustle was heard; this time it happened in front of him, and this had caused another surge of adrenaline to sprint through his arteries.

  Whatever it was, he could hear it getting nearer and then he heard an animal-like squeal, which caused chest pains on both sides of the ex-prison officer. He clutched the left side of his chest where his heart was situated and was bent over.

  Every time he breathed in, the pain intensified and he winced whenever the cramp increased. He decided to hold his breath and was on his knees now, still staring in the direction of the noise, and whatever it was, it was getting nearer. He tried to breath in gently, and this time the pain wasn't as intense, so he got off his knees and staggered to his feet once more.

  Shall I warn the group?

  Whatever had caused the tension that had temporarily crippled Jamie Thomson, it had finally darted out of the woods at such a speed that Jamie let out a frightened yell. His eyes quickly followed the anxious animal that had ran out of the wooded area; it looked like an adult deer, and although the pain had returned and he had gone back to his kneeling position, he managed to raise a smile. He was glad that he hadn't called for back-up, as he thought he would have looked like a coward. He was pleased to be in a group situation and wanted to play an integral part in it.

  The back door of the van opened and out came Janine. "You okay?" There was concern in her voice for him, as all she could see was the silhouette of Jamie on his knees.

  "It's okay, I'm fine." He raised his arm high, knowing that from that distance, she would find it hard to see him properly. "It was a deer! It gave me a bit of a scare."

  A bit of a scare? You nearly shat yourself, Jamie boy!

  Jamie could then hear the voice of KP coming from within the van. "For fuck's sake, shut the door. It's freezin' in here."

  Jamie was sure that KP's scolding was exaggerated and uncalled for.

  Jamie thought that the night, despite the shower earlier, was actually quite humid, and he had spent the night himself without asking to borrow a coat or an extra piece of clothing. He had his suspicions that KP was being tortured with the guilt of what happened to Davina, which also drove the remaining Pointers away. Jamie thought that if all of that guilt were feasting away on his mind, he wouldn't be able to sleep for days.

  The wind continue to blow, and whistled into Jamie's ears and teased him to the point that its teasing was getting beyond annoying, and this was the downfall to being at the highest point of the area. His nose twitched as the awful smell grew stronger and assaulted Jamie's snout; it was so bad now that it was making him feel sick.

  Suddenly, he released a small frightened gasp as a pair of icy hands grabbed the back of his neck, and he could feel his frame being dragged by a strong presence to the floor. Jamie tried to turn around and he could smell and hear the groaning of one of the creatures, as it was centimetres away from his face.

  It was a surreal few seconds, but the surreal moment had evaporated once he felt the first bite into his shoulder. The pain brought him back to an unwanted reality. He released a composed shriek as the wound began to smart almost immediately. He, at last, managed to fight the strong ambusher off, and he ran a few yards before collapsing to the sandy floor, dropping his gun.

  The pain in his shoulder was of something he had never experienced in all his days. He remained sitting on the floor, his hand hopelessly covering his wound. The thing was ten yards away from him and staggered toward him with little effort to speed up, almost as if it knew its prey was defunct anyway.

  Jamie was finding it increasingly difficult to control his breathing, and his eyes widened to the shape of golf balls as he saw silhouettes of more of them slowly scrambling out of the woods. At first he thought that his tired eyes and the dusk was playing tricks on him, and when he stared into the woods, he thought that the trees were slowly dancing and moving toward him.

  It had now turned out that there was an army of the things, and it looked like to his eyes that the woods had come alive. He had no time to count them, but he estimated that there were at least thirty of them, and God knows how many were following behind making their way up. Jamie could feel the scream of fear lodged in his throat, but found it impossible to release it.

  Why now did they choose to come through in their hundreds? What attracted them? Jamie wondered. Was it Pickle's shooting from earlier? Did one hear the sound and make its way up, while dozens followed? Or was it Isobel's screaming? Was it something else that had attracted their attention to walk up Stile Cop?

  The original being that had attacked him, shambled forward toward him and it almost looked like that this creature, who in human form looked like a male in its twenties, was responsible for leading the rest into the woods and further up.

  Jamie placed his hand on the floor to lift himself back up and felt the stinging pain shoot through his arm. He managed to let out a scream of fright, and this caused the remaining four individuals in the van to jump out of the back.

  "Jamie!" Janine screamed. "Oh God, Jamie!"

  She ran toward him, forcing Pickle to run after. She felt two strong hands grab each of her shoulders, which pressed down and stopped her in her tracks; she then twisted herself around to face Pickle.

  "Get off me," she yelled, and slapped him across the face
. "I can't leave him there."

  Unruffled by Janine's slap, Pickle pleaded, "If you have to go, then take this. Don't shoot until I say!"

  He handed Janine her Browning, and he raised his shotgun. KP came out running behind and could see the small army appearing in numbers out from the trees; a sound coming from behind him forced his head to turn around as he heard the van being pounded by a hundred fists.

  "They're everywhere!" KP exclaimed. "They're not just in the woods. They're at the entrance banging on the side of the van trying to find a way in. Quick, let's all get back in the van, Jamie's fucked."

  "I'm not leaving him!" Janine screamed.

  "We're gonna have to leave." Karen was the last to emerge from the van, and without hesitating, she ran up to Jamie's attacker and from ten yards away she squeezed the trigger once. This had been the first time she had fired the pistol and she had not an ounce of hesitation in her. Jamie's attacker fell to the floor.

  "For Christ’s sake!" Pickle yelled over the dozens of moans from the dead, and glared at Karen with demonic eyes. "Why don't yer set off a flare and let them all know where we are?"

  "Too late for that," Karen sniped back, and nodded toward the woods, to see dozens upon dozens still spilling out of the darkness onto the sandy area.

  Janine ran over to Jamie to pick him up, not caring that a swarm of them were literally yards away from her. It was a struggle, and as she managed to eventually get him up, she used her left hand to throw her own Browning to the feet of Karen and she shouted. "Cover me!"

  Karen and KP released slugs from their pistols and saw heads exploding, before hitting the floor with a deathly thump. Pickle's shotgun was causing the most damage; sometimes two went down as the cartridge hit them, producing a domino effect of exploding heads occurring in a straight pattern.

  Karen had used up her magazine, and instead of reloading, she put the empty gun into her trouser side pocket, and began using Janine's. Two more shots were fired from the gun, and two more heads at close range burst open, spilling black gunk onto the floor as they continued to fall, but they were all aware that there were too many of them.