“Bastard,” Vince said under his breath, once he recognised that it was the same guy that was holding the canister of petrol at their gate.
“What is it?” Rowley asked and stood next to Vince.
“That cheeky cunt over there,” Kindl cussed and pointed over at the ginger fellow.
“They didn’t flee very far,” Rowley said, then grunted, cleared his throat, and twisted his neck, making Vince wince in disgust.
Vince said with a snarl, “In some camps people would have been killed for what they did.”
“Well, you know what Pickle said, chap. About not holding a grudge.”
“But they set fire to all of our vehicles.”
“I know,” Stephen said. He smiled thinly and placed his hand on Vince’s shoulder. “But they never targeted people, did they, chap?”
“It’s not the point.” Vince could see that Joanne was oblivious to what was happening and what they were talking about. She had already started washing the clothes whilst the men were conversing with one another.
“Even if you did go over there, chap,” Rowley began. “Are you gonna butcher three people because they set fire to a few cars. Really?”
“They’re staying at the house. Don’t you think it’s a bit too close to comfort, a little cheeky and disrespectful, after what they did?”
“Mmm.” Stephen rubbed his chin and added, “I think you may have a point there, chap. Maybe when Pickle gets back he could go over there with some others and threaten them to leave and go elsewhere.”
Stephen didn’t seem irked about the presence of one of the guys that had taken out all of their vehicles, and took the bag off of his shoulder and began to take some of the garments out. He dropped to his knees and leaned over. He pulled out a bar of soap from the bag, dipped the first item of clothing into the river, and then rubbed the soap against the fabric, dipping it once again.
Vince gazed at Stephen and said, “Doesn’t it bother you that they’re just a few hundred yards away?”
“Just need to get on with it, chap.”
Vince continued to look over and gulped when he had been spotted. From afar, both men gawped at one another, both unsure what to do next.
The ginger guy began yelling, and seconds later the other two guys appeared from out of the house. The three men left the premises, crossed the barren road, and began to make their way over.
“Er … guys,” Vince said, watching the three men descend down the hill and by the canal. “I think we may have a little problem.”
Both Joanne and Stephen were on their knees, dunking clothing, and turned to their left and could see what Vince could see. Both were shocked and nervous and quickly got to their feet.
“What do we do?” Joanne said with a shiver.
Vince shook his head. “Dunno yet.”
Joanne and Stephen stood next to Vince and watched as the men walked briskly towards them, and only stopped once there was ten yards between them.
“You’ve got a nerve coming over here,” Vince began, his hand on the handle of his machete. “Especially after what you’ve done.”
“And you’ve got a nerve for turning us away.” The leader with the thick eyebrows spoke up, and was only a few feet from Vince, with Rowley and a petrified Joanne now lingering behind.
Eyebrows and his other two pals reached into their pockets.
“Don’t bother.” Vince nodded down to his large blade. “I may not be able to take the three of you out, but I’ll give it a good fucking try.”
“You should have let us in,” Eyebrows snarled.
“And you should have gone somewhere a bit further away. When Pickle finds out...”
“Pickle?” The ginger guy scratched at his head. “Pickle? Is that the guy that turned us down?”
Vince nodded. “And with the way you lot were behaving, I think it’s justified, don’t you?”
“Selfish cunts, the lot of you!” Ginger yelled.
“We’re just looking after ourselves. It’s nothing personal; it’s just that we—”
“Save your fucking speech.”
“Now, now. Let’s not be nasty.”
Without warning, the leader with the thick eyebrows ran at Vince and rugby tackled him to the floor. Yells filled the air and Rowley kicked at the man that was on top of Vince, whilst Joanne screamed out. The leader with the thick eyebrows started to rain punches into Vince’s face and the two men rolled around on the dirt. The two men standing stood back and watched Vince and their pal roll around on the floor like a couple of boys in a playground. Suddenly, a scream came from the man on the floor with Vince, alerting Rowley and the other two men, and making Joanne gasp.
Vince stood up and all of them could see that his mouth was covered with blood, but the blood belonged to Eyebrows and had had his cheek torn open with Vince’s teeth.
Ginger and the quiet guy pulled out their blades. They ran at Vince as he stood up, but Rowley kicked the quiet guy in the shins as Vince reached for his machete and spat out the piece of flesh he had in his mouth.
As Eyebrows was still hunched over, screaming and holding his face, Vince took a swipe with his large blade at the quiet man and tore out his throat, almost severing his head.
Joanne screamed out at the grisly sight, but it never deterred Ginger from running at Vince. Both men fell to the ground, both dropping their weapons, and Rowley could see the injured leader, Eyebrows, running at him.
Rowley, who had never been a fighter in the old world, clasped his knife nervously, waiting for what was about to occur, and both men began to swipe their knives at one another, only cutting the air and some of their clothes. Stephen then caught the leader on the chest, tearing open his shirt, but the wound was superficial. Eyebrows had lost his balance and Stephen saw an opening and rammed his knife into the leader’s side, just below his liver. Leader looked down at the knife sticking out of his body in aghast and staggered away, trying to escape.
Suddenly, Joanne came to life. She saw that Vince was still struggling with Ginger. She picked up the knife that he had dropped earlier and released a scream as she drove the knife into the man’s back. He collapsed on top of Vince and both Joanne and Rowley helped to drag him off.
Vince sat up, trying to get his breath back and looked at the carnage.
He saw to his right, just on the edge of the river, that Ginger was dead, knife sticking out. To his left was the quiet guy who lay in a bloody mess, almost decapitated form Kindl’s solitary strike, and could see the leader of the rabble, staggering away from the three of them, clearly injured.
Vince stood to his shaky feet and asked if everybody was okay. Both Stephen and Joanne nodded, but they both looked clearly shaken, especially Joanne.
Vince nodded down to Ginger’s body and asked Joanne, “Is that your first time killing somebody?”
She nodded. Too upset to release words.
“Right,” said Vince. He picked up his machete and pointed over at the staggering leader. “Time to finish him off.”
“He took a knife in the belly, chap,” Rowley commented. “I don’t think he’ll be going far.”
“Good.” Vince pointed at the bag and clothes that were lying on the grass. “Let’s pack this shit up. Washing has been cancelled for today.”
Vince began to walk along the bank whilst Rowley and Joanne were packing up and throwing their bags over their shoulders.
“Chap!” Rowley called out, as he could see Vince heading in the same direction as the last remaining member of the gang of three. “Leave him. He’s a goner.”
“We need to walk this way anyway to get back to Colwyn.”
“Oh. Of course.”
Vince gazed at the struggling man who was now a fair distance away, and began to jog along the bank. The further he got nearer to the bridge, the less he could see of the injured man.
Vince then heard a scream pierce the air. He pulled out his machete and increased his pace as he hit the incline to get to the main road.
<
br /> He reached the road and could see two of the dead attacking the guy, pulling him to the ground. Still holding his machete, Vince turned away as he heard that familiar cry of pain, and didn’t turn back round until the screaming had stopped.
He released a sigh and was about to do what he had done many times before. The two dead were females and he stood over one of them, bringing his machete back, over his head. One strike was enough to put it down. He then side stepped to the final one and did the same action, but he didn’t bring the blade down straightaway.
He paused.
He could hear noises, shouting, and heard them growing ever so slowly. His name was being called and he turned and could see Stephen and Joanne waving whilst running. It was them that were shouting his name, and it wasn’t until a few more seconds had passed that he realised that they were trying to warn him about something.
He looked to his left and could see a horde coming over the bridge and more were behind, passing the Wolseley Arms pub.
“Where the fuck did they come from?” he muttered, and then his eyes answered his question for him.
Behind the pub was a field and it appeared that there was a least thirty scattered about, heading down the hill. Vince had no idea what made them turn up in this area in the first place, but knew the screams from the leader of the three had now alerted the dead from the field and whatever was on the road.
He turned and could see that the female ghoul that had attacked the man was still bent over, putting her diseased hands into his torn open stomach and stuffing its mouth with whatever she pulled out first.
He put her down, and then looked back over to Stephen and Joanne who were still yelling and waving, but they were also pointing. But they were not pointing to where the horde were coming from, they were pointing the other way.
Vince looked and could see some of the dead spilling onto the road from the field. The herd was at one side and now there were six at his other side.
He was now surrounded, almost. The only way to escape was to go back down the hill, back down the river, but the bank ended a few hundred yards up ahead. The bank simply disappeared, and all that was by the side of the river was a concrete wall. And going into the river was a no-no. There could be some dead in there, and he had almost drowned the last time he had to jump in a river. No! Jumping into the Trent would be a death sentence for certain this time.
He could see the horde getting near. Twelve of them so far, and there were now six to the other side of him. Stephen and Joanne managed to get up the bank and were now by Vince’s side, out of breath, still carrying their bags.
“What now?” Rowley panted.
Vince nodded to his left, opposite the horde, up the road that led back to Colwyn.
“We need to get the fuck out of here, kids.”
“But that horde behind is gonna follow us home, chap,” Stephen cried.
Vince pointed over to the six advancing ghouls that had come from the field. “Let’s get by these six and worry about that later.”
Chapter Forty Five
“We need to get through these bastards to get back to Colwyn!” Rowley yelled, nodding to the six advancing beasts.
“Nothing like stating the obvious, Steve,” Vince laughed.
“It’s Stephen,” Rowley corrected, pulling out his knife.
Joanne also carried a knife, but Vince wasn’t sure how much use she was going to be. She was shaking and the enormity of what she was facing was suffocating her.
The six dead were yards from them, and the bigger problem, the herd, were twenty yards away.
“We’ve got a minute to take care of these six,” said Vince, raising his machete. “Otherwise we’re gonna be dead meat once that horde over there catches up with us.”
Rowley scoffed, “Now who’s stating the obvious, chap.”
Ignoring Stephen’s remark, Vince front kicked the first advancing ghoul of the six and struck another one from behind, the blade sticking into the top of its head. Rowley had killed a fair few in the past when he used to go out with Nick Gregory, and showed his experience when he confidently stuck his knife in the temple of an advancing one. He punched the next one in the face, looking to the side to see that Vince had finally managed to free his blade.
Vince barged by Stephen and, like his old days, he was like a man possessed. He swiped at two of them, both dead falling from the injuries to their heads, and could see there was two left. He was getting tired and this time Stephen pulled Vince back. “I’ve got this, chap,” he said.
Panting, Vince looked over his shoulder and could see the horde not far away. Joanne stood in shock, holding her knife, and she barely moved.
Stephen’s blade snapped as he tried to penetrate the side of the skull of one of the dead, but failed, and the other one grabbed him by the shoulder and fell forwards, the two of them falling to the floor.
Vince could see the standing Snatcher, only yards away, heading towards the other dead being and Stephen who were still both on the floor.
Vince brought his bloodstained blade back, ready to put the female advancing ghoul down, but panicked when he felt something touch his ankle. At first he thought he had been bitten by the Rotter that Stephen was trying to fight off, but it appeared that the fiend had grabbed his ankle with Stephen underneath it, trying to push its head away to stop him from being bitten.
Seeing that Stephen was struggling and had no blade, Vince decided to take care of the Snatcher that was on top of Stephen first. Kindl rammed his machete into the back of its head, like a spear, and had to make two attempts to pull it out.
Vince then felt his arm being grabbed from behind. Drenched in panic, he turned around and lashed out at the remaining female Snatcher, catching her shoulder, and took a step back as it almost lunged for him.
Weakening, Vince pushed its face back and could feel his fingers slipping. The creature snarled and waggled its head like a distressed animal and caught Vince’s thumb in its mouth.
Vince screamed out even before the beast bit down, and he fell over, dropping his machete, and stared at his missing thumb in disbelief. Blood began to pour down over his hand as he raised it up, and could see Rowley kicking the beast over and picking Vince’s machete off of the floor and destroying the ghoul.
Stephen bent over and grabbed Vince with his free hand to help him up, then noticed that Kindl was injured and exclaimed, “Shit! Oh no! Not you, Vince! Not you, chap!”
Rowley took a step back and could see that the six Creepers were bleeding out on the road, but the horde that had come from over the hill were just seconds away from ripping all three of them apart.
Joanne began to back away from the horde, passing Rowley and Kindl. Vince was sitting up and had his hands flat on the ground and saw Stephen standing over him and raising the machete over his head.
With tears in his eyes, Vince nodded. “Just do it.”
Stephen paused for a couple of seconds. “I don’t think I can.”
“I don’t wanna turn into one of those freaks,” Vince snarled, but had tears in his eyes, “so just do it, you fucking pussy.”
“I’m sorry, chap,” Rowley said.
Vince closed his eyes and Joanne looked away once Rowley brought the blade down, striking Vince Kindl.
Chapter Forty Six
Drake had told one of his men to show Pickle and Karen around the hospital, and seemed quite pleased with himself at what he had built. Drake told his two guests that he wanted someone else to give them a tour because it would give them a break from looking at his ‘ugly mug’. He then came clean and told them that he had something to do and he would meet them both back at the staff room.
Pickle and Karen’s guide was a man of average height, had a dark beard, and was hairy all over. He had hairy arms, and Karen guessed that the man could probably do with a back wax as well.
Of course, Karen already knew the layout of the building, but the front part where the reception, A and E, and Outpatients department was h
ad changed. The rest of the building was abandoned, but had been cleared of the dead that had been put on a huge pile at the back of the hospital, on the grass, and had been set alight many weeks ago.
Also, behind the hospital was where they kept the vehicles. Pickle and Karen never counted them, or asked their guide how many vehicles they had, but there were many mopeds, a couple of black jeeps and five pickup trucks, as well as a row of large solar panels that stretched for many yards.
The area where the ninety or so people lived seemed immaculately clean, and the pros of taking over a hospital was that it already had generators in case of a blackout; it had cloakrooms, where people had left their jackets, many beds, and hundreds and hundreds of clean sheets in the laundry room.
Pickle turned to his hairy guide and said, “Yer seem really well set up.”
“We are,” the man spoke up. “In the beginning, admittedly, we had to rob to get what we wanted, but now things are falling into place and we’re growing our own food as well.”
“Really?” Pickle queried, but Karen remained silent.
She couldn’t stop thinking about her old work colleagues with every door and corridor they went through. The hospital visit had produced an avalanche of memories for the young woman, and she was becoming upset now that she was back.
“That’s right,” the male guide answered Pickle’s short query. “We’ve also set up greenhouses outside, near where the maternity unit used to be.”
“Definitely better set up than we have.” Pickle nodded and said to the guide, “Yer would think that going to a hospital during this kind o’ apocalypse would be the last thing yer should do. After all, when people got sick in the beginning, these are the kind o’ places they went to.”
“Coming here in the beginning would have been pointless, and dangerous,” the guide admitted. “But we came here months after. It was bad then, but it was more than likely worse in the first couple of weeks.”
Snatchers Box Set, Vol. 4 [Books 10-12] Page 73
