After a few seconds of hollering from Paul, every single one of the dead headed towards him. He had to go deeper. When it was time for Pickle to head back, with or without the three, he was going to need that road to be clear.
He looked ahead and a smile emerged on his face. Ten yards away, he could see that Julie and Bell were waiting for him. They were both smiling, both human, and were waving at him. Paul waved back and looked to his right to see his beautiful Kyle. He placed the large blade under his belt, then took his son's hand and Paul whispered, "Hello, big chap."
Kyle's perfect round face, scattered in freckles across his nose and cheeks, smiled at his daddy. Paul placed his hand on his son's soft cheek and kissed his head.
A groan from behind startled Paul. He quickly turned, making his neck crack, and could see that he had stopped walking and the first ghoul wasn't very far away at all.
"Shit." He turned to Kyle and said, "We better keep moving, big chap."
Kyle wasn't there. Paul looked behind and could see that his wife and daughter weren't there either.
"Jesus." He rubbed his head in confusion and asked himself, "Am I going mad, or what?"
Swallowing his hurt that was strangling his throat, Paul Dickson began to feel the rage build up inside him. Paul pulled out the machete, lifted it up, eyes wide with anger, and walked towards the herd.
Chapter Thirty Six
Jez and Craig stepped into the house that Craig had been staying in and both went into the living room. Jez sat on the couch and stared at his feet. He could feel his eyes welling and didn't want to look at Craig. Despite being alive in the third month of this disaster, Jez had never experienced something so horrendous. Burying people was bad enough, but with a child involved... And it wasn't even the dead that had caused this carnage; it was human beings, or so-called human beings.
Tears fell and he cleared his throat, still staring at his feet.
"You okay?" he heard Craig ask him. Jez couldn't see for sure, with his blurry eyes, but he was sure that Craig was now sitting in the armchair, opposite him.
"I don't know," Jez spoke. "I don't think so."
"Anything I can do?"
Jez shook his head.
"In time, you'll get used to the horrors of this new world." Craig didn't want to come across as patronising, but he felt like he was with someone who lacked experience of this world, despite being alive in the third month. Craig was interested in Jez's background and how he had survived, considering he was so soft.
"I don't want to get used to the horrors of this new world," Jez finally responded.
"You're gonna have to, otherwise you're not gonna last another three months."
Jez lifted his head, eyes glassy and full of tears, and asked Craig, "Not going to last another three months? Is that a bad thing?"
Craig smiled. He knew what Jez meant. "Depends on the person, I suppose."
"I'm too weak for this world. Come October, I won't be here."
"Yeah, you will." Craig nodded confidently.
"You think?" Jez began to wipe his eyes.
"If you stick with me, then yeah." Craig looked over with sympathy and added, "And I've decided that going back to my old flat, to Horsefair, is probably a bad idea. So, are you happy to hang around here for a little longer?"
"Whatever you think."
*
"I reckon another hour and we'll be there," said Karen. She gazed up to the cloudy heavens and then turned and looked over her shoulder, waiting for a response from the beleaguered-looking Vince and Stephen who were behind her.
"Have you two fallen out with me?" she giggled.
"We're just knackered," Stephen Rowley grunted.
"My feet are aching like a couple of cunts," Vince moaned, and wiped the back of his sweaty neck with the palm of his left hand. "When I get back to Haywood and see that Freddie..."
"That's if he's made it." Karen brushed her dark hair behind her ears, turned to the side and emptied both nostrils.
"He better have made it." Stephen twisted his face and said, "Don't wanna be losing that motor-home and the medical stuff inside it."
"I'm certain the little prick's made it," Vince spat.
"I think it'll be a while before Lincoln puts him out on another run."
"I wonder what story he made up when he got back." Vince licked his dry lips and was getting a thirst already, despite being looked after by Sapphire and her crew. "I tell you something. I bet he wishes we don't make it, especially if he's told Lincoln some bullshit story, and then we turn up with the truth."
"He's not that bad, chap." Stephen cleared his throat and added, "Just because you don't like each other, doesn't mean he wants you dead. He's young. He panicked."
"I'm not so sure." Vince added, "That Freddie hates my guts. I heard a couple of days ago that he told his friend Danny that I had a face that looked like it had been drawn on a scrotum."
"It does," laughed Karen.
"You just have to ignore it," Rowley intervened. "They talk. They're young boys and bored most of the time."
"Danny's not that young. He's twenty six."
"Yeah, but he doesn't act like it."
"I think he has his eye on Karen," Vince began to tease, but Karen never responded and remained facing forwards, still walking in front of the two men. "I've seen the way he's been looking at her."
"Really?" Stephen scratched his head innocently, unaware that Vince was teasing. "I can't say I've noticed."
"Oh yeah," Vince guffawed, still unsure if Karen was listening or not. "If Karen was a washing machine, I'm sure he'd love to put his dirty load in her. I bet he'd love to use her thighs as earmuffs and then play hide the sausage."
"Jesus, Vince," Karen began to laugh. She was listening. "You always tell the same jokes."
"So you was listening."
"Of course."
He sighed, "I'm bored. That's all."
"I remember the old Vince, when we first met." Karen had a reminiscing smile and looked upwards in thought. "He was a lot vulgar a couple of months ago."
"Was I?"
"Oh yeah," she giggled. "Remember when you told me to get on my knees and smile like a doughnut? Or the time you asked if I was a plumber because I was making your pipe leak?"
"Yeah," Vince beamed. "I like that one."
"And what about when you said to Shaz that you're no Barney Rubble, but you was sure that you could make her bed rock?"
"I think you're disgusting." Stephen stared at Vince and shook his head.
"Jesus, it's just a laugh." Vince looked at Stephen to see if he was serious or not. He was. "Are you telling me that you've never said things like that when you were in a relationship, or even in the workplace? Just for shits and giggles?"
Stephen shook his head.
"You've never asked a woman to lie down and pretend her legs hate each other? Or asked if you could kiss her in the rain so she could be twice as wet?"
"No." Stephen had his hand on his forehead and shrugged his shoulders. "Why would I say something like that, chap?"
"For a laugh."
"Shush." Karen stopped walking and placed her hand up, stopping the two men in their tracks.
"What is it?" laughed Vince. "You thought of another one?"
Four dead creatures stumbled out of the woods and onto the road. Three were females, all dressed in jeans and a tattered T-shirt. All three looked no older than forty. The remaining one was a male, dressed in black, had long black hair and wore round tinted spectacles.
"Fuck." Vince narrowed his eyes. "Is that ... Ozzy Osbourne?"
Karen pulled out her machete and the two men also pulled out theirs and strode forward. Karen made the first strike, putting one down. Stephen was more hesitant and eventually rammed his blade through the skull of another, whilst Vince hacked at the other two like a crazy person. The three of them bent over, panting, as the dark blood ran down their blades.
"Well..." Vince was the first to stand up straight. "I hope t
hat's it."
Three more came through the woods, in front of Karen, Vince and Stephen.
"I'm too tired for this shit," sighed Vince, making Karen and Stephen look.
Still panting, the three of them approached the dead and Vince led the way. He pulled the machete behind his head and brought it down. The blade went through the middle of the skull, down four inches, but Vince couldn't get the blade free. The thing dropped to the floor and Karen told Vince to move out of the way.
Stephen was grabbed before he had time to strike. Vince ran over to help out whilst Karen had struck the other one twice at the top of its skull. The twenty-three-year-old woman was exhausted and staggered over to Vince and Stephen. Vince had a hold of the dead creature's hair and was trying to pull it off of Stephen. Vince eventually pulled the ghoul to the ground, freeing Rowley, and both Vince and the creature hit the floor.
Vince punched the Snatcher on the cheek and pushed it away with his feet. Exhausted, he crawled away from the being, towards Karen and Stephen, and stood up. All three were trying to catch their breath, especially the men, and watched as the stubborn creature got to its feet. Karen looked at the two men that were short of breath and told them that she'd take care of it.
"If there's gonna be anymore surprises after this one," she said. "We're gonna struggle."
"We're struggling now," Vince panted, just about managing to find the words.
The remaining ghoul was an elderly being and Karen released a long breath out and grabbed her machete with both hands, ready to put this thing down.
Karen took reluctant steps towards the Snatcher and gasped when an arrow flew out of the trees and struck it at the right side of its head. It stopped moving and seemed to take an age to fall. And once it did, it collapsed into a heap.
Karen turned and stared at Vince and Stephen. They both hunched their shoulders and had no answer for her. Vince glared at the arrow and shuffled his feet forward. He hadn't seen anything like this since...
Karen also scrunched her head in bewilderment and touched the pine arrow, then gazed into the dense woods where it came from.
The sound of rustling made their hearts drop and all three released a frightened gasp.
Vince released a sigh. Oh, fuck. More of them!
"I hope that's a fucking deer," Karen snapped, still trying to get her breath back from killing the dead earlier.
Stephen Rowley grunted and said, "I don't think it's a deer, Karen."
"Fuck this." Vince retrieved his blade and put his machete into his belt. "We're running."
Rowley and Bradley nodded in agreement.
Before the three of them began to run and move away along the main road, three humans emerged out of the woods, all females, making Karen and Vince stare in disbelief. Stephen was confused.
"What the..?" Vince recognised all three of them; so did Karen, especially the young girl. She was in front, holding a bow and wearing a black poncho, her blonde hair tied in a ponytail. She was with two other women, both holding baseball bats that had seen better days.
"Hello, Vince," was the young girl's greeting.
Karen gasped, "I don't believe it."
"What is it, guys?" Rowley was confused, but nobody gave him an answer. "Do you know them?"
Vince Kindl couldn't believe his eyes and took a step forward, screwing his face. One by one, he looked at the three females. His eyes then remained on the youngest of the three that had emerged from out of the woods, and now couldn't keep his eyes off of the young blonde girl who was smiling at him. She said, "How have you been keeping?"
Vince's eyes narrowed and took a step further forward. "It can't be."
The young girl smiled. "It is."
"Stephanie?"
Chapter Thirty Seven
Paul Dickson was dizzy, panting, and slowly sat down with his legs crossed. His face was soaked in dark blood. He didn't care about this. There was a brook near by, he could hear it, and once he had the energy he was going to make his way over and splash his face. Maybe he would even try a risky drink before washing off the blood.
He lowered his head, trying to catch his breath and slowly lay on his back, staring up at the sky. His chest rose and sank as his breathing and heart rate was on its way to becoming normal. He tried to come to terms of the magnitude of what he had done. Suddenly, a groan could be heard, making the forty-one-year-old sit up.
Paul stared at the fourteen bodies that were lying on the floor. Pickle claimed killing fourteen between the pair of them was a difficult task. Or was he just being cautious? Killing fourteen is too many was Pickle's exact words.
Paul sighed and struggled to get to his feet. He strolled over to the bodies, clutching the bloody blade in his right hand, and tried to see where the groaning was coming from. The heads all looked to have been penetrated by the machete. He was sure he didn't miss one out.
Suddenly, he could see some movement. It was a female ghoul, at the back. He walked around the lying dead, just in case there were others still active, and stood over the groaning beast. He was grabbed, and continued to gaze as the creature tried to crawl closer to Paul.
Taking his time, Paul finally rammed the blade through the back of its skull, pulled it out, then went over to where he was sitting before. He sat back down with a slump and looked at the carnage he had created.
The whole episode of killing these things was a blur.
He remembered hacking at the things like a madman, and yelling and screaming as he did it. Now he had calmed down, and he realised what he had done was stupid and reckless. If any of that contaminated blood that was flying about had got into his eye, or if he had been bitten...
Whilst he sat, he wiped both sides of the blade on the grass that was in front of him, then placed the machete by his side. He needed to get back to the main road, but Paul couldn't move. Not yet. He was exhausted, and shifted backwards on his backside until he was up against a tree. He leaned his head back on the trunk and closed his eyes.
The woods were almost silent, apart from the noise in the background of a running stream. He was going to wash ... eventually, in that very same stream. But not yet. He was going to rest for five minutes. Then move off of his arse.
At least that was the plan.
*
Vince had given Stephanie Perkins a long hug when his brain realised who it was. Karen was next. Although she didn't know Stephanie as well as Vince, she was glad to see another Sandy Lane survivor.
"We thought you were dead," Karen said, her eyes wide with astonishment.
"I nearly was." Stephanie sighed, thinking back to that frightening episode when her, Bentley and Paul had left the school and reached the back of the Horns pub. "Bentley was killed, but Paul..."
"Paul made it." Karen smiled and added, "He's with us at this new place."
"That's great news." A smile stretched over the youngster's features, making Vince smile.
Vince and Karen shook hands with Stephanie's two other accomplices, Elza Crowe and Ophelia White. Karen had met the girls before at the Church of the Good Shepherd when she was with Sheryl. Vince's first and only meeting with them was when they were at the Lea Hall building on Sandy Lane.
Stephen Rowley was confused and demanded an explanation, which he got from Vince.
As they walked along the road together, Stephanie told Karen and Vince about how she escaped with Bentley and Paul, when Sandy Lane was attacked. She told them about Bentley dying and was pleased that Paul had made it.
By the time they had reached the Wolseley Arms pub, Vince put his arm around Stephanie and pointed at the place. "Remember that?"
Stephanie nodded, making her blonde ponytail swing gently. "How can I forget?"
Vince explained to a perplexed Rowley, "I went on a run and ended up in the River Trent. This girl had saved me and took me into that place. Then we were attacked by the Rotters. Some car had crashed, but it's not there anymore, and we hid for hours. Then we tried to fight our way out and two of your lot,
" Vince nodded at Rowley, "came along and saved our arses. I think it was the Ferguson brothers."
Stephen cracked a smile and said, "I remember hearing about that. I think I was out on a run with Nick Gregory when they brought you back."
"We had some laughs, didn't we?" Vince said to Stephanie.
"I'm not sure about laughs." Stephanie tightened the band on her ponytail and added, "I do remember going down the canal and you telling awful jokes."
Karen smirked. "No change there, then."
Karen went into detail about the Sandy Lane massacre from her point of view and told Stephanie who had died to her knowledge. She told the girls that when they left they decided to go to Haywood, but on the way there they accidentally hit a woman that belonged to a gang and Sheryl had been shot as a result of this, even though it was Pickle that was driving.
Karen looked at Elza and asked her, "So how did you and Stephanie meet?"
Elza smiled and told them that she and Ophelia had a 'little problem' in the woods, involving a few of the dead. They were struggling and Stephanie helped them out.
"You still at the church?" Karen asked Elza, remembering that Ophelia didn't speak.
"Yes." Elza nodded. "We're still at the church. This is quite far out for us, but the food that's available in the houses on the Pear Tree is pretty low. Looks like we're gonna have to travel to keep on getting food."
Karen stated the obvious, "It won't be long before winter."
Elza sighed, knowing Karen was right. "Maybe if we get through the winter, we could set up a few vegetable patches round the back of the church."
"How's things, Karen?" Stephanie nodded at Karen's middle.
Karen knew exactly what Stephanie was asking and placed her arm around the fourteen-year-old girl and said softly, "I lost the baby."
"Oh God, Karen." Stephanie pulled away and looked like she was going to burst into tears. "I'm so sorry."
Vince went over to comfort Stephanie and Karen kept on telling the teenager that it was okay.
"For what it's worth," Elza began, "I'm also sorry."
Snatchers (Book 10): The Dead Don't Care Page 15
