"Relax, Karen," Pickle tried to appease. "She's just a young girl."
"She's older than me!"
"I mean...this is all new to her."
"I don't wanna hear her bitching, that's all. We've all got people we care for. My Gary turned into one of those things as soon as it happened. My dad and my stepsister, Kelly, are stuck somewhere in Glasgow, my mother is…well, God knows where—"
"That's enough," Paul scolded Karen, still comforting a clearly upset Jade.
A silence enveloped the group; each one was nervous, some more than others, and their backs were soaked with perspiration thanks to the unwanted exercise session and the muggy climate. The clouds were dressed in grey, but the day was clammy and made all four irritable.
"I need a wee drink," Pickle announced.
The group all took their sports bags off that were full of contents from the vending machines, and dumped them onto the floor. They had four bags, one each, and the only food and drink that was on offer was fizzy drinks, sports drinks, chocolate bars, crisps and protein bars. It wasn't great, but it'd have to do for now. Out of a bag that was packed by Karen, Pickle took out a bottle of cherry coke, opened the bottle that fizzed everywhere and took a generous gulp, belching quietly with every swig he took.
The group were lost in silence.
Now that they were safe, temporarily, and their adrenaline had begun to subside, they all remained sitting and continued to be silent as Pickle finished off his drink. Karen ate a squished chocolate bar, and Paul and Jade just sat and stared at the grass. For minutes this continued, until a snap of a twig could be heard in the suffocating silence. All four turned their heads correctly in the direction where the noise was coming from. Jade quickly got to her feet and released a gasp.
"Calm down," Pickle said. "It's just the one."
The group glared at the lonesome figure stumbling through the wooded area. It was one of them, and thankfully there didn't seem to be more of them.
"Looks like somebody got lost." Paul Parker looked around on the floor and picked up a rock. It was a large rock, enough to cause penetration if enough forced was used.
The lone Snatcher picked up speed as it clocked the group, even though it was a hundred yards away. It was a mess, they all were, but this particular one's skin was peeling away. Its eyes were sunken in, an ear was missing from the left side of its head and it was so gaunt, its face almost looked like a skull that had been painted a dirty yellow colour. It was hard to fathom what the age of the thing was when it was in human form, although it was definitely a male and dressed in a now dirty suit that would have been a navy blue colour when first put on.
Jade shook with fear; Karen looked at the young fitness instructor with sceptical eyes. Karen knew how Jade felt, but she had to toughen up quickly, because Karen Bradley didn't want any passengers involved. Everyone needed to be able to fight if need be.
Paul stepped forwards with the rock in hand; Karen got to her feet and placed her opened hand on his chest, stopping him from progressing any further.
"What are you doing?" Paul and Pickle asked in unison.
"Give me the rock," she demanded.
Paul looked at Pickle. Pickle shrugged his shoulders.
Without saying a word, Paul handed Karen the rock.
Karen then handed the rock to Jade, who refused to take it.
"Take it!" Karen snapped.
The frightened Jade looked at both men who were now on their feet, and were wondering what the hell Karen Bradley was up to. She reluctantly took the rock off of the twenty-three-year-old former nurse, and shook with fear. Karen then walked towards the infected being with long strides, which in turn excited the thing. As soon as it got close, she swiped its legs from underneath it, making it immediately fall to the floor, face down. Karen placed her hand on the back of its head and knelt on its extended arm, making it impossible for it to get up. She gazed over in Jade's direction. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
Jade looked to Paul and Pickle. They stepped back and Pickle nodded in Karen's direction; it was as if they knew what she was trying to do. This was some kind of half-arsed initiation test, but what if Jade failed? Would they leave her to her own devices if they thought that she would be nothing more than a hindrance to the group, a weak link? Jade stepped towards Karen, clutching the rock tightly. Tears rained down her cheeks, but she had already made her mind up that this was something that she couldn't go through with. This world was too much for her, and she cursed the group mentally for breaking into the sports centre. She was doing just fine before they turned up. Bastards!
"Do it!" Karen urged. "It's rotten; you'll find the head is quite soft. It ain't as hard as you think."
Jade looked at the thing that struggled, snarled and gnashed away. She shook her head and dropped the rock onto the floor. She sobbed and Paul consoled her. Karen got up on her feet and walked to the group. The thing began to scramble to its feet, while Karen casually picked up the rock. Paul looked at Pickle as if to say: What the hell's she doing? but Pickle shook his head at him, telling him to leave it. He trusted Karen.
The thing managed to get to its feet and slowly trudged its way towards them from ten yards away. Karen sighed and said to Jade, "You're gonna have to toughen up, or you won't last an hour out there." Karen then turned away from Jade who was still being consoled by Paul, then marched forward towards the being and rammed the rock into its forehead. The rock obliterated the front of its skull. It fell to its knees and hit the floor face down, then Karen turned to Jade, wiping two specks of gunk off of her cheek. "Because I'm not gonna be your babysitter."
Pickle sighed, "Okay, let's keep moving."
"Where?" asked Paul.
"I don't know."
"What's that noise?" Jade said.
All individuals stood motionless with their ears pricked up, investigating the noise.
Pickle answered, "Sounds like planes. Come on," he urged his comrades. "I think there's a road further up ahead."
*
Jack Slade looked up to the skies as the two Panavia Tornados screamed and roared above him. A smile emerged on his face, and although the scene that he had just witnessed didn't help him personally, it made him smile when he saw the planes above, because it gave him hope.
Nobody knew what was going on, but surely that was a sign that the whole of the country hadn't been decimated by the virus, unless it was a couple of pilots escaping from an infected base, but Jack tried to convince himself that that wasn't the case. He looked up to the heavens, urging the sun to sneak from behind the clouds so he could get his clothes quickly dried. He shivered as he felt the cold torment him, and although it should have been the last concern in this new world, he was hoping that he would avoid a stinking cold.
Still soaked, a playback of the events from when the outbreak was announced went through his head, which darkened his mood so much that he crashed to the floor and hit the dirt. He broke down and cried; he cried so hard he thought his heart was going to break. He couldn't believe after all he had been through, he had lost his little boy.
He looked ahead of him and could see that the woods where he was heading seemed miles away; it would certainly feel like miles with the wet clothes that he had on.
He staggered through the ploughed field; his steps were lazy and clumsy, the steps of a tired man. His feet scraped their way towards the wooded area and once five minutes had passed, he eventually got there. He looked into the woods and saw that the area was quite open which pleased him, as the chance of a surprise attack would be rare, unless he was attacked while he was asleep.
With it still being the afternoon, he felt exhausted. He had hardly slept in the last twenty-four hours, and had used a lot of energy with the escape. He was tired and could have murdered a drink.
He continued for a while until he decided to stop; ahead he could see a deceased being. He took tentative steps to get nearer to the being, and saw by the side of him, an empty cherry coke bottle.
<
br /> They were here.
He laughed at himself. He should have gone with them, but it was too late now. They were probably an hour ahead of him, maybe just half an hour, but they might not even be in the woods anymore.
He walked away for a further minute to escape the stench of the dead body. He sat down and rested his back against the tree trunk and thought that maybe he was better off on his own anyway. He had lost his son and Kerry, possible most of his other family members, and connecting with the group could be a recipe for more heartache once he got to know them, because disaster seemed to be always round the corner.
He had only known Gary for just over a week and felt like he had lost a brother; the group at the village hall seemed pretty solid, until the things overran them. What if he got close to Jade, Karen, Pickle, and got to know Paul even better, then one of them was killed? There seemed to be heartache whatever happened. He was glad the belt had slipped and he had crashed into the swimming pool; he did want to live despite losing everything and everyone. Deep down, something inside of him was urging him to continue to live.
It was only the afternoon, but he needed a sleep. It seemed crazy to do so, but he would rather sleep during the day than through the night, especially if he were to remain in the woods. Looking around in the spaced area, there wasn't even a sign of a bird. Confident that he would be practically sleeping with one eye open anyway and any kind of rustle would probably alert him, he decided to close his eyes, and once he did, he broke down again.
After ten minutes, once his breakdown was over, he tried to control his breathing and lowered his heart rate, while opening his eyes every other second just to make sure. This went on for a few minutes until Jack was eventually swallowed up by tiredness.
One hour later, he woke up, and was ready for his journey, his next adventure. He was alone in the woods; he had no food or water, and wondered if he was going to survive by the end of the week.
Only time would tell.
Book Three: The Dead Don't Cry
Chapter One
June 23rd
The four pairs of feet pounded the earth as the dead had taken them by surprise while they slept. Jade Greatrix was put on watch for four hours, and even that had proved a hard task for the sleep-deprived, twenty-five-year old.
It was nearly five in the morning when a hand grabbed Paul Parker, who was startled and released a shriek—a shriek that woke the rest of the group and pumped adrenaline quickly through their veins. They were awake for a matter of a second or two when they quickly got to their feet.
Pickle was the first to run and they all followed, like obedient dogs following their master. They didn't know how many ghouls were behind, to their side, or in front, and the darkness in the woods did not help to ease their consternation or dilute their confusion. Even though the group followed the silhouette of their leader, they could see ahead that the forty-three-year-old was unsure where to go himself, as he occasionally banged into a tree and sometimes stumbled as his weary feet would occasionally enter a ditch or a small hole.
Over a period of time, all four had been carrying a thick wooden branch each for protection, but amidst all the panic and confusion, and also only having a second or two to find their bearings, Karen Bradley was the only one out of the four that grabbed her club when they were rudely awoken. It was an automatic reaction to grab that thick branch that had been lying to her right, next to her thigh—the other three branches had been left where the group had slept.
They had been in the woods for three nights and they had spent their time walking, sleeping, and eating what had been taken from the sports centre. For the last couple of days, their sleeping arrangements consisted of being snuggled together by a tree, as the cold wind was becoming bitter during the night, and blankets were something they did not possess.
Not one Snatcher had bothered them over the days, until now.
"I can hear a stream," Pickle bellowed to the group.
He ran into the direction of the stream that could be faintly heard among the heavy breathing and snapping of twigs, and veered to the right. Karen, Paul and Jade followed him and were now confident that the docile creatures had been outran and were many yards behind, but the darkness in the woods still fuelled their paranoia and wouldn't allow them to relax. The freaks from behind may have been outran, but what was to the left or the right of them? What was waiting for them up ahead? The darkness meant that their vision had been disabled.
The stream could be heard up ahead more clearly, and despite the cluster of trees, the full moon had shone down on the water, creating a little light. Pickle stopped in his tracks and could just about see a man-made set of stepping stones that would allow them to cross to the other side without dampening their feet.
As soon as the remaining three got to the bank of the stream, he slowly made his way across the other side. He knew that the running water in these woods weren't deep, but he also didn't want to unnecessarily dampen his shoes and feet if he could avoid it. Wet shoes meant eventual decay of the footwear, and spare footwear was something that they didn't have. They didn't have much of anything else either.
The last one to get to the other side of the stream was Paul Parker. Once he stepped onto the bank, he copied the rest of the group and bent over to catch his breath.
"Three days." Pickle shook his head. "Three days and we haven't seen a single one o' them, and this happens." He then turned to Jade and scrunched his eyes and slurred, in his usual manner, "How come yer didn't hear them comin'?"
"I don't know." Jade shrugged her shoulders. She felt useless to the group as it was, without admitting that she had fallen asleep. She was on guard and had the lives of three other people in her hands for four hours, but she still fell asleep! Keeping guard was a simple task to do, and she couldn't even get that right.
"You didn't hear a snap of a twig or nothing? That is strange." There was huge scepticism in Karen's voice, but Jade chose to ignore it.
"Let's just keep moving." Paul sighed and placed a comforting hand on Jade's shoulder. He was pretty sure—they all were—that Jade had fallen asleep, but it wasn't as if she had done this on purpose. Pickle was calm about the situation; Paul was more sympathetic towards Jade, but Karen was certain that this young woman could be a very big thorn in their side. Karen thought that Jade's negligence could eventually lead to someone's death.
Without uttering a word, Pickle began walking up the bank and made slow steps into the deep blackness of the woods; the group followed. He quickly held his hands up to halt the group from progressing any further, and they all adhered to his silent command. Karen whispered into the darkness, "What's up?"
Pickle never spoke at first. His eyes remained looking ahead into the woods, and then he shook his head, and spoke, "There's something up ahead; something had caught ma eye slightly to the right o' me."
All four stared into the darkness until a solitary figure could be just about seen stumbling its way, unknowingly at first, towards the group. Pickle took a step back and squatted to the floor, feeling for something to use as a weapon.
Karen placed her hand on his shoulder and said, "It's okay. I've got it."
They had no idea what it looked like, but could see that it was wearing some kind of dress to suggest that the thing was, or used to be when it was human, female.
It got nearer to the group, only five yards away now, and Karen approached it, her thick branch being held with both hands. She brought the club up, as if she was waiting for someone to pitch, and swung the thing to the side of its head. It fell to the floor immediately with a noisy thump, and released a groan to suggest that it wasn't quite finished yet. Karen brought the club down three more times on its skull. The group could not see the damage that had been created, but they certainly could hear it. The cracks, the splinter of bone and a squishing sound was heard.
Karen had pummelled it to death.
"I hate doing that." Karen began wiping the bloody club onto the grass.
Pickle nodded in agreement. "It's pretty risky, that's for sure. When yer bludgeon these things, there's more of a chance o' mess. If any o' that blood gets in yer eye..."
Pickle allowed his sentence to trail off and immediately thought of Thomas Slade. He then thought about Jack. Karen also thought about Jack once Pickle had mentioned the blood getting in the eye, and asked no one in particular, "I wonder how he got on?"
Paul sighed with sadness, "I just hope it was quick, whatever way he went."
"He might not be dead." Jade provided the only positive remark amongst the group, and began to follow them as they started walking through the woodland once again.
Added Pickle, "Yer didn't see Jack's eyes before we left, Jade. I did." Pickle then turned to Jade and rested his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "He's gone. He'd given up. He'd lost everything and had given up."
The thought of Jack's demise placed a blanket of melancholy over the group as they trudged silently through the woods. Four sets of eyes scanned the darkness of the condensed area that was capable of hiding these things, although what worked in the groups' favour was that stealth wasn't the Snatchers' strong point. These things could be heard from a distance with their dragging feet, and the environment of the woods wasn't the best for such creatures. They were killers, but they weren't predators in the sense that they were capable of some kind of ambush.
Five minutes later, Paul was the individual to break the silence.
"I'm knackered." Paul's feet dragged along the ground and was making enough noise in the woods for the four of them. Pickle could see that this wasn't Paul Parker being petulant and that he was doing this on purpose; he genuinely looked exhausted.
The dark blue sky that sat above their heads suggested that daylight wasn't far away. Pickle stopped and looked around. It was time for a change, he thought to himself. Dwelling in the woods was going to have to come to a close eventually. They had no vehicle, no weapons, and the food was now running short. The group were going to have to leave the place and head for different surroundings, because if they didn't soon, starvation and dehydration was going to draw them out eventually anyway.
Snatchers: Volume One (The Zombie Apocalypse Series Box Set--Books 1-3) Page 59
