Snatchers: Volume Two (The Zombie Apocalypse Series Box Set--Books 4-6) (52 page)

Paul pulled the car away and left the street. He turned left and went along the barren country road for three minutes, until he came to a junction. He turned right and Paul could see a lone member of the dead, from a distance, and decided to do his utmost to avoid hitting the thing as they got nearer to it. He dropped a gear and eased off the gas, swerved around the horrendous-looking female then continued further, his pulse racing.

He floored the gas pedal and took a quick look behind him as he headed towards the crossroads. Once he turned around, a vehicle zoomed past on the right. Paul braked and clipped the back of the vehicle, making him skid to the side and falling into a ditch, and the other vehicle toppling over onto its roof.

Chapter Forty Six

The group had now passed the two crashed vehicles, that they had first seen on the way to the hangar, and were now out on the open road. The pick-up truck was leading the way, and Karen Bradley and David Watkins followed in the Vauxhall. "You haven't said anything since we left the house," said Karen. "You okay?"

David nodded and Karen could see he was close to tears. She felt for him and said, "It's okay to cry."

"I'm fine," he growled.

"You've lost family members, the world is now a different place and there's death everywhere. It's okay to cry. It's okay to be scared."

"I said I'm fine."

"You're only fifteen."

"I said..." David suddenly placed his hand over his mouth, and Karen knew that action straightaway. She flashed the truck in front and pulled over.

David opened the door and ran to the grass bank. He bent over and spewed onto the grass. Karen climbed out of the driver's side and patiently waited for David to finish. She was leaning against her door, arms folded, and could see Shaz, Pickle and Vince leave the pick-up truck to see how the youngster was doing.

Shaz went over to comfort the boy, and seeing that Karen was standing with her arms folded, yards from the boy, Pickle joked, "I see yer haven't lost yer nursing skills, Bradley."

Karen shrugged. "He's only being sick. No big deal."

"Yer all heart."

"What do you want me to do?" she huffed. "Give him a wank?"

Pickle shook his head at her attitude and walked away, but Vince walked over with a big grin over his features. "Well, if you're offering," Vince cackled. "But I must warn you, you might need
two
hands."

Karen laughed, "Fuck off, Vince."

Vince looked Karen up and down, and said with a smirk, "Seeing you on that truck and taking that man out was impressive stuff. I've no idea if you've ever worked in Subway before, but you gave me a footlong."

"Seriously? Is that the best you've got?"

Vince took a step forward.

"Come any closer and you'll be getting a mouthful of teeth," she warned, although her tongue was planted in her cheek. Vince was back to his normal self, and his mood had elevated now that the man was relaxed and away from danger.

"Ah," Karen smirked at Vince; she knew he wasn't being serious. "Now that we're out of danger and we're on our way back to the camp, the old Vince has come back."

"Er...excuse me," said Vince defensively. "I did crack a few one liners while we were locked in that stationery room. You know, to keep up the spirits."

Karen enquired, "Did these lines actually work on women in the real world, or is it the reason you never married?"

Vince never answered her and just gave her a big smile.

Karen turned and emptied each nostril; she then turned and smiled. "You're not as hard as you make yourself out to be, Vince."

"You know what I like about you, Karen?" he spoke, while Pickle stood patiently by the car and Shaz was still comforting David Watkins.

Karen shook her head, her enthusiasm was zilch. "Nope."

"You've got an arse to die for."

She shook her head at the vulgarity that came from his lips. She should have been used to it by now, but every now and again he would say something that would make her cringe. "And do you know what I like about
you
, Vince?"

Vince took another step forward and grinned. "No. What?"

"Fuck all."

Vince threw his arms up in defeat. "Oh well. There's no harm in trying. You know what they say, Karen: If at first you don't succeed—"

"Don't take up skydiving."

"Right, kids." Pickle pointed behind them. "Playtime's over."

A lone Snatcher tumbled out from the shrubbery to their right, and Karen took out her machete. She said, "Let's get moving. We don't know how many of those things could be behind those shrubs." she turned to Vince. "Remember when we had that crash and they all came out of the woods?"

Vince had taken a more serious look on his features and nodded. That was the day they were split up and he had lost his old man, Wolfgang Kindl.

As the thing got closer, Karen could see that the dress it was wearing was dirty and tattered. Its skin was almost off its face, revealing most of its skeletal features, and the hair was so filthy it was hard to fathom what colour it used to be when the poor thing was in human form.

"Right." Vince clapped his hands together. "Move it."

Pickle, Vince and Shaz went back to the pick-up truck, and David Watkins jumped back into the passenger seat of the black Vauxhall. The creature finally reached the side window of the driver's side of the Vauxhall and slammed its hands as Karen fired the engine. Karen Bradley took one last look at the fiend before moving away, and shook her head.

"What's wrong?" David asked.

Karen could smell the vomit off of his breath and her nose twitched in disgust.

Karen finally answered, "She looked familiar."

She continued to follow the red pick-up truck and turned left at the junction. Another two minutes of mundane driving along empty country lanes continued, until Vince slowed down and had put on his hazard lights as they were approaching a crossroads.

"Now what?" sighed David Watkins.

David sat up in his seat and began to crane his neck, trying to achieve the impossible and see what was happening in front of Vince's vehicle. He groaned, "I thought this was going to be a straightforward drive. I wasn't expecting any of this. What's happening now?"

"Quit your bellyaching." Karen stopped the car and pulled up the parking brake. "Just remember that you snuck in the car. You wasn't invited to this."

"Neither was you," David whispered petulantly.

"No I wasn't," Karen said calmly. "But I made a decent contribution towards getting these guys free, while you sat in a field and pissed your pants."

Although Karen's statement was true—apart from pissing his pants, her comment upset him. He really liked this woman. He really respected this woman, especially the way she treated his dad during his final days, but at this very moment he was angry with her.

"I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." Karen opened the driver's side door. "Stay there."

David felt better already, just from that one word that had left the twenty-three-year-old woman's lips.
Sorry
. David did as he was told and threw his arms behind his head, feeling a little more relaxed.

Karen walked away from the Vauxhall and saw all three get out of the pick-up truck. She briskly walked towards the three of them to see what they were staring at. Karen had finally caught up with them and could see yet another two vehicles that had collided with one another.
They weren't there before
. As she stood next to Shaz, she pointed at the car in the ditch. She had no idea how long it'd been present.

She then looked at the other car. It was on its roof.

"I wonder what happened?" Pickle asked no one in particular.

"It's easy done. Sometimes vehicles can come out of nowhere when you least expect it," Vince stated. "There're very few cars on the road now, but because of what's happening, the Highway Code doesn't apply anymore. This kind of thing happened to Jack."

"Really?" Pickle spoke up.

Shaz lowered her head in sadness at the mention of Jack Slade's name.

"He left the camp, disgusted in the way I ran it," Vince said. "And he collided with a car. He was spotted, and me and...Claire got him out of there."

Pickle nodded. He remembered. He had heard the story before.

Shaz moaned, "I miss Jack."

Vince smiled of the very few memories he had of his short-lived friend, and added, "Jack was a good guy."

"Right," Pickle stared at the scene of the fresh crash. "There're people inside. Let's see if they need help."

Chapter Forty Seven

There was a small wooded area to the right of where the crash was. Behind that small area was a vast amount of farmland.

The group turned and stared at the vehicle that was stuck in the ditch. Karen and Shaz ran over and peeped inside. They could see a man with dark features, possibly in his forties, moaning. His eyes were closed and he shook his head from side-to-side as if he was having a nightmare. Next to him was a young boy. He was conscious. His eyes were wide and he stared at the two women.

Karen tried the passenger door, and once it opened she stared at the cute seven-year-old. She crouched down, in order not to look threatening, and asked, "Hey, little fellow. What's your name?"

The little man gulped, and couldn't find the words to answer the woman. "Er...Kyle."

"Don't be scared," said Shaz.

Kyle Dickson nodded. "Okay."

Karen began feeling around the little boy and asked if he was sore anywhere, but the little man shook his head and seemed more concerned that his daddy was asleep.

"He's fine," Karen reassured him, and assumed the man was the boy's father. "I think your daddy just hit his head."

Shaz turned around to see that Vince and Pickle were strolling towards the toppled car. The black Audi. She then turned to the little boy to ask him what had happened, but he threw in a question of his own.

"Are you..?" the boy paused and looked at the women once again. Their machetes were tucked in their belts, and sweat was evident on their faces and clothes. He tried again, "Are you two...ninjas?"

Both Karen and Shaz had managed a chuckle. Tears formed in Shaz's eyes as the young boy looked around the same age as Spencer. "No," Shaz finally answered, "we're not ninjas."

"I like your eyes," said Kyle, glaring at Shaz. "You're so pretty. You look like Rapunzel."

Shaz laughed, and noticed Karen looked confused. "Trust me," Shaz tried to explain to the twenty-three-year-old, "when you've had a child, you've watched every kids' film there is."

"I'm gonna check on the driver." Karen walked around and managed to open the driver's door, despite the dents it had received during the accident.

Karen peered in and tried to wake the man. "What's his name?" she asked young Kyle.

"Daddy."

"No, I mean his
real
name."

Kyle had to think for a while and said, "Paul."

Karen began to shake the driver and called his name. She guessed that he had suffered some concussion but nothing life-threatening. He slowly came around and his sappy eyes began to open.

He appeared to be in a drunk-like state and spoke once his blurry eyes opened. "Julie? Where's Bell?"

Kyle turned to Shaz. "Julie's my mum. Bell is my little sister. They've been missing since the monsters turned up."

Karen placed her hand comfortingly on Paul Dickson's shoulder and announced, "You're safe, Paul. You're coming back with us."

Shaz stared at Karen, but Karen's response was swift. "I don't care what Vince says. I'm not leaving this man and a young boy behind."

Shaz nodded in agreement. She turned around to see Pickle and Vince a few yards away, looking inside the Audi. The car was on its roof, and its two windows—driver and passenger—had smashed due to the collision. She then saw the two men chuckling to one another. This baffled her, and while Karen comforted the young father and son, Sharon Bailey walked over to see what was so amusing to the gentlemen.

As soon as she peered in, she said, "Oh, how the tables have turned."

In the car was a dazed and confused Gavin. It appeared that he was drifting in and out consciousness, and it took a while for him to recognise the three faces that were peering in.

Pickle was the first to stand up and asked, "So what shall we do with him?" While he was waiting on an answer he noticed that David Watkins had left the Vauxhall and began to stare into the woodland.

"Just leave him," was Vince's response to Pickle's query. "It's all he deserves."

"I agree." Shaz glared at Pickle. "I'm not a cruel person, but the way he treated young Harry Beresford..."

"We'll leave him to the Snatchers then." Pickle slowly nodded his head just the once, then looked over to Karen who was still trying to console the shocked father and son in their vehicle. "No point asking Karen. I think I know what she would say." Pickle then peered over to where David was and wondered what he was up to.

"What is it?" asked Vince.

Pickle was unsure. "Something's spooked young David."

Pickle walked towards the teenager who stood motionless. His head was slightly lowered, and he was frowning as he looked into the woodland.

"What do yer see?" Pickle questioned.

David never allowed words to leave his lips, he just pointed into the wooded area. Pickle had a look and could see two of the dead stumbling clumsily through the trees. David spoke at last. "How do they know?"

"That we're here?" Pickle wasn't certain what he meant.

David nodded.

"It's probably the crash. The banging. The screech of tyres."

Pickle walked past David and headed towards the edge of the small woodland area along the main road. As he reached the last tree, he continued walking by the farmland so he could see the back of the wooded area. He gulped and could see dozens of the things walking through the farmland, into the trees and heading towards where the crash had taken place. Another few minutes and there would be more than just two in the trees.

Pickle called over to Shaz and Karen. "Get the kid and the dad in the pick-up truck. Me, Shaz and Vince will squeeze in somehow."

"Why?" Karen stood up and began walking the little boy to the truck. "What's wrong?"

"There's two Snatchers in that wooded bit."

Karen laughed, "I can handle them on my own."

Vince also began to cackle, now leaving the Audi and Gavin.

"There're another fifty or so behind them, coming from over the hill."

Vince and Karen soon lost their smiles, and Vince began clapping his hands. "Come on, guys. Time to move our arses."

The two beasts finally stumbled out of the area and onto the main road. Once the young boy and father were helped into Vince's truck, the group went into their vehicles and sped off as the two fiends helplessly reached out for them.