F is for Feral
Author: Iain Rob Wright
Date: 2015-03-26 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Horror
Description: Thirteen-year old Max is interested in one thing only: girls. Which is why his dreams come true when his lame caravanning holiday with his parents is interrupted by the arrival of three pretty girls his own age. They think Max is cute and want to hang out with him. It’s just too good to be true.They visit the nearby woods. It’s supposed to be haunted, ever since a girl died there. Max doesn’t care about that, though. He’s only interested in one thing: girls.They’ll be the death of him.Short Story by bestselling author, Iain Rob Wright,
Publisher: SalGad Publishing Group

BOOK SUMMARY

Thirteen-year old Max is interested in only one thing: girls. Which is why his dreams come true when his lame caravanning holiday with his parents is lightened up by the arrival of three pretty girls his own age. They think Max is cute and want to hang out with him. It’s too good to be true.

One of the girls wants to go to the nearby woods. It’s supposed to be haunted, ever since a girl died there. Max doesn’t care about that, though. He’s only interested in one thing: girls.

They’ll be the death of him.

“Other than dying, I think puberty is about as rough as it gets.”

– Rick Springfield

“They’re all gonna laugh at you.”

–Margaret White, Carrie (1976), United Artists (based on the novel by Stephen King).

-1-

Max was attracted to girls like a dog was attracted to a bright yellow tennis ball. Whenever he saw them he would get a fuzzy feeling all over and suddenly his actions and behaviour would become very deliberate. He wanted to be cool, wanted to be noticed. Which was why he jumped down off the climbing frame now and hurried over to lean over one of the adventure playground’s benches. There were girls coming.

The three females were all about his age – maybe a year or two older – and were each beautiful enough to make his heart flutter. Two brunettes and a blonde with very large breasts. Max’s mouth went dry. He needed to get a drink, but no way was he leaving the adventure playground while there were girls around.

At almost fourteen-years of age, he hated being dragged along on holiday with his parents every year, especially to a Hamley’s caravan park. His friends at school all went to Florida or someplace else that was hot, but Max’s family were too poor to leave England. The south coast of Devon was as good as it got. At least he had finally found some girls his own age, though. It might actually be time to start having fun.

There were a couple other kids at the park, and when Max realised that he was the eldest of them all, he blushed. He must look such a loser hanging around the swings and climbing frame with a bunch of children, but there had been nowhere else to go. It was too cold to swim in the outdoor pool and the clubhouse wasn’t open until later. He’d started out in a small amusement arcade he’d discovered, but had run out of money quickly and been appalled at the age of the machines. There was even an original MK1 machine and that had come out before he was born.

“Hey?” said the blonde, flanked either side by one of her brunette friends.

Max froze. The girls had seemingly made a beeline for him. It had been exactly what he’d wanted, but it terrified him now that it had happened. He stood there like a freak, staring at the three girls with his mouth wide open.

Say something, Max. Come on, man.

Anything.

Just say anything at all.

Okay, I’m not saying anything. Why am I not saying anything?

The blonde girl frowned. “I said, hey?”

Max spluttered, coughed, then smiled madly. He finally managed to speak. “Hey, hi, hello. I’m Max.”

All three girls chuckled. He wanted to die. Just fall down right there on the spot and stop existing.

“Hi, Max,” said one of the brunettes. “My name is Hannah and this is Kerry and Shav.”

Max looked at the second brunette – very dark featured with deep brown eyes – and frowned. “Your name is Shav?”

She nodded. “My mother is Indian. My name is Shabnam, but everyone calls me Shav. Pleased to meet you, Max.”

Max nodded at her and smiled, then he focused his attention on the blonde with the huge tits. She was Kerry.

“So…” he said. “What’s up?”

“Not much,” Kerry replied. “Just chilling, innit? This place is really lame.”

Max folded his arms and laughed in as manly a way as he could muster. “Innit? Totally sucks, man. My parents dragged me here.”

“Yeah, mine too. I begged them to go to Ibiza, but they said I would get drunk and disappear with boys. I would have, of course, but what the hell is their problem.”

Hannah laughed. “I think all parents are lame. My parents are thinking of buying a caravan permanently here. That would suck so bad.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Shav. “I think it’s beautiful out here in the countryside.”

There was a brief pause, then Kerry looked at Max and said, “You wanna get out of here?”

“Okay.” Max was about to say that he needed to tell his parents, but thankfully stopped himself. Instead he said, “Where do you want to go? There’s nothing to do around here.”

“We’re heading to the woods behind the putting green,” said Hannah. “Kerry said it’s haunted.”

Max raised an eyebrow and looked at Kerry. “Who told you that?”

She shrugged. “Read it on the Internet, innit. They say a girl went into the woods and got torn apart by a stray dog. It was in the news about ten years ago. I looked it up. Girl’s name was Sharon or something. She haunts the place now.”

Max chuckled.

Shav rolled her deep brown eyes to the side. “There are no such things as hauntings. Ghosts do not exist.”

Kerry shook her head adamantly. “They so do. My auntie’s house is haunted. Lights turn on in the middle of the night and doors open and close.”

“Maybe the electrics are faulty,” Shav suggested dryly.

Kerry bristled. “Come on, let’s get going and we can see for ourselves.” She grabbed Max by the arm and pulled him, which sent a jolt of electricity through him that was pure excitement. A girl was touching him.

They all headed away from the adventure playground, following Kerry’s lead. The blonde took them through a row of caravans until they came out at the park’s 9-hole pitch ‘n’ putt. An elderly couple in tartan bobble hats were currently on hole-4, but the greens were otherwise empty. The weather was drizzly, the temperature cold.

“This way,” said Kerry, pointing to the treeline beyond the golf course. “I checked it out yesterday, but I didn’t want to go in on my own. I was too freaked. I reckon I heard the dead girl whispering through the trees.”

Max puffed up his shoulders. “Don’t worry. I’ll look after you.”

Kerry fluttered her long eyelashes at him and stood in a way that seemed to make her breasts larger. “You promise?” she purred.

Max blushed. “Yeah, of course.”

Hannah giggled and rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you two go in alone and get it over with. I’ll keep watch.”

Kerry giggled. “You bitch.”

For some reason, Shav looked a little annoyed but didn’t say anything. Max shared eye-contact with the girl for a moment and felt his heart beating fast. When he looked away again, Kerry and Hannah had already started towards the trees.

They all entered the woods and started trouncing over the weeds and fallen twigs. Max lived in the city so he didn’t get to spend a lot of time amongst trees and grass, but he had to admit that he liked it. Now that he was walking amongst the thick trunks and vibrant green bushes, he found himself quite at peace. There was something calming about being surrounded on all sides by nature. It bought out something wild in him, a confident part of himself that usually lay buried.

“So, how long you girls staying here for?” Max asked smoothly, hoping they wouldn’t dash his dreams by saying they were leaving tomorrow.

“I go home Friday,” said Hannah. It was only Tuesday.

Kerry nodded. “Me too.”

They all then looked at Shav who merely shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll still be here when you all leave.”

“I leave on Saturday,” Max said. “So I’ll be able to see you girls off.”

“Who says we’ll still be friends by then,” said Kerry with a cheeky smirk.

Max stuttered. “W-well, I…”

Kerry shoved him playfully. “I’m just joking you tool. Chill out.”

Max managed to smile.

They strolled casually, deeper into the woods. Suddenly it became like night. The trees were thick and formed a canopy overhead. Only thin shafts of light made it through now and the ground became a shadow. Max shivered, but tried to hide it.

They came upon a small clearing with a large, fallen log. Max went to sit on it.

“Don’t sit there!” Kerry urged. “That’s the log where they found the dead girl ripped to pieces.”

Max grimaced and looked down at the log, but there was nothing unordinary about it so he sat down. Kerry was just making stuff up. “Doesn’t bother me,” he said. “Are you too afraid to sit next to me?”

Kerry huffed. “No way.” She went and took a seat on the log right next to him, close enough that their thighs touched. The warmth aroused Max and he felt a tingling through his lower abdomen. When Hannah came and sat down on the other side of him, just as closely, he felt his breath quicken.

Shav remained standing, a slight smile on her face. Max found the dark-featured brunette interesting, if a little unusual. She seemed very confident in herself, not eager to fit in or be cool like Hannah or Kerry.

“When did your mother come to England?” Max asked her.

Shav smiled, seemed happy at his interest. “When she was a young girl. My grandparents were both teachers and came over after the war to teach. They taught History. My family has always been interested in old things.”

Max blinked slowly, finding History very dull. “Do you like old things? I think the past is boring”

Shav stared at him intensely. “Old things have memories – things they have seen, stories to tell. It is new things that are dull and boring. They have no spirit.”

Max didn’t know what to say, so he just chuckled and said, “I suppose so.”

Kerry, on the other hand, was more defiant. “Old things suck, Shav. Give me my laptop and phone any day.”

Shav didn’t say anything, just stared disapprovingly. There was an iciness to the girl that Max found unnerving. It must have been an Indian thing.

“So, tell us more about the girl that died here,” Hannah asked Kerry, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

Kerry scooped her golden hair behind her ears and grinned. “Okay, what I heard was that there was this fourteen-year old girl, Sharon, who was getting it on with one of the lifeguards from the pool. The guy was hot with a massive dick.”

Max shifted awkwardly. “How would you know that?”

“I dunno, I just do. Anyway, Sharon’s parents would have gone mad if they knew and the lifeguard would have lost his job and gone to prison, so they arranged to meet up in secret, in these woods. The lifeguard said he would bring beer and condoms so that they could fuck like animals all night. Well, Sharon was excited; I mean why wouldn’t she be? She was so excited that she couldn’t bear waiting, so she headed to the woods an hour early to wait for the lifeguard. She found her way to this very spot and hung around to wait.”

“Then what happened?” Hannah asked eagerly.

Kerry waved a hand. “Hold your horses. I’m not sure I should tell you. Your parents will come after me if you have nightmares tonight.”

Hannah tutted. “It’s only me and my mum, and she’ll be on the prowl for a lifeguard of her own. She only comes on these holidays to pull. She’s gross.”

Max laughed. “That is gross. I don’t even think my parents have sex anymore. My dad is a hospital administrator and is hardly ever at home, which is good because he’s an asshole. My mum isn’t much better, just does what she’s told. I don’t even think they really like each other anymore. I hear them arguing more often than I hear them having sex.”

Kerry nodded at Shav. “What about you, Shav? Do your parents still get along?”

Shav gave no expression, but answered the question without pause. “My parents are like animals. Every night.”

Max whistled. “Damn! Indian women must be horny as hell.” Kerry and Hannah laughed, but Shav did not. She stared at Max and his skin crawled. He cleared his throat. “Sorry, that was probably racist.”

Shav finally smiled. “That’s okay. I suppose my mother is a horny monster. Maybe I’ll take after her.” She flashed a sly smile at Max that made him gush and giggle involuntarily. God, he was such a loser.

Kerry seemed to take offence to the flirting and placed her hand on Max’s leg and squeezed it to get his attention. “Anyway, back to my story. Sharon waited for the lifeguard in the woods at this exact spot where no sunlight makes it through the trees. In the shadows she thought she saw something move. She thought it was the lifeguard with a huge cock, so she smiled and ran towards the movement. But when she got there she didn’t find the lifeguard, she found a snarling beast. It wasn’t a wild dog like the newspapers reported; it was a demon from hell. It had a big long snout like a vicious dog, but the body of a woman, with great, long talons that it used to pluck Sharon’s eyes from her head.”

“That’s horrible,” Hannah said, covering her mouth.

Kerry sniggered. “Yeah, the poor cow ended up staggering through the woods, blind and screaming for help, but these woods are evil and swallowed up all the noise. Nobody heard her cries. Nobody came to help. She eventually made it back over to this log we’re sitting on, but the demon was right behind her, having finished chomping on her eyeballs. It tore open Sharon’s stomach and pulled out her intestines while she was still alive. When the lifeguard finally arrived an hour later, she’d had her entire insides ripped out. Nobody ever found them. The police blamed it on a wild dog and sent hunters into the woods, but no dog was ever found. They say that Sharon haunts the woods now, forever searching for her lost insides.”

Hannah screwed her face up in disgust, but Max was laughing. He loved horror movies, and hearing spooky tales was a lot of fun. He didn’t even know if a girl really had died in the woods, but the way Kerry told the tale, she certainly seemed to believe every word.

“If the woods are haunted,” said Shav, “why have we not seen the girl? We are here, aren’t we? Where is Sharon?”

Kerry rolled her eyes. “She only appears around young lovers sneaking off into the woods alone. She blames the lifeguard for what happened to her so she takes out her ghostly vengeance on those who remind her of her fate.”

“Good thing Max isn’t here to have sex with us, then,” Hannah said.

Max blushed. “Yeah, good thing.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Shav. “Max seems like quite the ladies man to me.”

“Is that true?” Kerry asked him, fluttering her eyelashes and doing that thing with her breasts again. “Are you a player?”

When Max replied his voice was croaky. “I do alright.”

Hannah wrinkled her nose. “I reckon you’re a virgin. Have you ever been with a girl, Max?”

Max was angry at the accusation, despite it being true. He stood up from the log and folded his arms tightly across his chest. “I’m not a virgin. I’ve been with a ton of girls.”

Hannah was laughing now and it made Max feel like running off into the woods and crying. In a single second these girls had reduced him to humiliation.

“I bet he hasn’t even kissed a girl,” said Hannah.

“You are being unkind,” said Shav.

Kerry stood up from the log and ambled towards Max. For some reason, Max wanted to back away from her, but she excited him too much to move his legs. His heart beat faster as she got close to him.

Without any warning, Kerry leant forward and put her lips against Max’s. Her tongue darted into his mouth and immediately he grew an erection against the zipper of his jeans. Still kissing him, Kerry slid one of her hands down to his crotch and squeezed. He moaned in shock and almost flopped to the floor, unable to take any more.

Then she broke away suddenly and sauntered back over to the log where she sat down again. “Well, girls, Max certainly knows how to kiss. Maybe he’s telling the truth.”

Hannah sniggered. “No way. He’s a virgin.”

“I am not,” he once again lied. He’d never even kissed a girl until three seconds ago, but he wasn’t about to admit that. “I’ll prove it.”

Shav looked at him strangely. “How would you prove such a thing, Max?”

“I dunno,” he shouted. “You tell me.”

Shav shrugged. “It is of no interest to me.”

“Maybe you can show me your moves,” Kerry suggested with one eyebrow raised suggestively. “That would prove it. Show us what you’ve got.”

Max swallowed a lump in his throat and looked at Kerry. “What, here, now?”

Kerry shook her head. “With people watching? Ew, no. I mean tonight. My parents will be in the club later, watching the cabaret. You can come meet me here and show me what you got.” She winked at him.

Max knew he was pale because he felt pale. His stomach begged him to vomit, but if he did that it would be the end of everything. This girl wanted to have sex with him, tonight! This was everything he had ever dreamed of. Wait until he told the guys at school. He would be a legend. Maybe Kerry would even let him take some pictures on his phone as proof.

But another part of him was terrified. What the hell did he do? Kerry was a little older and obviously a lot more experienced. Max had never done anything with a girl, so how would he know if he was doing it right? Would he make a fool out of himself? Was it worth the risk?

No question.

Max shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t care. “Yeah, fine, alright. I’ll meet you at eight tonight, right here. Sure you can find it?”

“I’m sure,” Kerry said, grinning.

“You don’t have to do this,” Shav said to him, sounding more like a caring adult than a teenage girl.

“Shut up, Shav,” Hannah chided. “What’s it got to do with you?”

“Nothing,” she admitted. “I just think that Max has been goaded into a situation he may later regret.”

Hannah huffed. “Goaded? Who even uses words like that? Stay out of it. If Max and Kerry wanna fuck, then that’s their business.”

“Indeed it is,” Shav said. “I will say no more.”

“You’ll have to watch out for the dead girl,” Hannah said.

Kerry looked a little worried then. “Yeah, I didn’t think about that.”

Max wasn’t going to let the opportunity slip away. He quickly said, “You’re not scared of your own ghost story, are you?”

Kerry removed the look of concern from her face and looked once again confident. “No, of course not,” she said. “I’ll see you at eight, big boy.”

“It’s a date,” said Max, clicking his fingers then walking away. Silently he cursed himself for being such a loser.

It’s a date? Seriously, how lame can I possibly be?

-2-

Disaster almost struck at about 7PM. Max had been inside the static caravan with his parents when his mother turned to him and said, “Get dressed.”

He was already dressed, so he asked what she meant.

“We’re going out to dinner.”

“Where?”

“Your dad thought we’d go into town and look for an Indian.”

Max immediately thought of Shav, but then shook his head and protested. “No.”

“What do you mean, no?”

“I don’t want to go.”

His mother looked at him quizzically. “Why not? You love eating out.”

“I have plans.”

“What plans?”

“I’m meeting someone.”

His father came into the room then, washed, shaved, and ready to go out. “You not ready yet, Max?”

“Mum only just told me.”

“He doesn’t want to go,” his mother said.

His father’s face darkened. “Why not?”

“I have plans,” Max said timidly. It was a bad idea to argue with his father.

“No, you don’t. You’re coming out with us.”

“But…”

“But what?” he snapped. “What would you rather be doing than coming out with your dear old mother who barely gets to see you?”

“I don’t mind,” said Max’s mother, sighing. “It would be nice to have dinner on our own. It’s been a while since we had a night out just the two of us.”

“He’s coming. No arguments.”

“Dad, please. I agreed to meet someone.”

Max’s father grew angrier, but then his expression turned curious. He looked at Max for a moment, then asked, “Are you meeting a girl?”

Max said nothing, but his blush gave him away.

His father grinned. “Hell, why didn’t you say, lad? Go on, then. Might make a man of you.”

“I can go?”

“Be back by ten.”

Max nodded his head enthusiastically. “I promise.”

“Max,” said his mother. “Who is this girl? Have her parents met you?”

“No, mum. She’s just a girl I said I’d hang out with.”

“Well, maybe I should take you to meet her, say hello.”

“Leave the boy be,” Max’s father said. “He’s growing up. About time, too.”

“Okay, okay. Have fun, Max, but be careful.”

“Thanks, mum.” He flew out of the caravan door and raced down the road in the direction of the golf course. Night was just about to fall and everything had taken on a bluish-grey tint that would soon turn to black shadow. He couldn’t remember the way exactly, so he took a few wrong turns before he spotted the triangular flag peeking out above a hedge. By the time he reached the golf course, it was almost 7.30. Still plenty of time left. The thought of sitting and waiting for thirty minutes gave Max anxious butterflies, so he hoped Kerry would already be there, waiting him for him at the log. Maybe she’d be naked. But when he finally made his way through the trees, he found nothing waiting for him but the old log. He went and took a seat and immediately his knee began jigging up and down. His hands couldn’t help but fidget.

His father had been right; Max was going to become a man tonight. Just so long as he managed to keep his nerves under control and not embarrass himself. How hard could it be, though? Everyone had sex eventually, and everyone had a first time. Maybe if he just came out and admitted that he was a virgin, Kerry would take it easy on him and show him what to do. Yeah right, he thought. If he admitted that she would laugh in his face and leave him standing there like the loser he was. Women liked strong men, his father had always told him that.

The sound of a twig snapping.

Max looked up and saw movement in the trees disturbing the shadows.

“Hey, Kerry? Is that you?”

No answer.

Another twig snapped.

“Kerry?”

Maybe she was lost, nearby yet unable to pinpoint the exact spot where the old log lay.

“Just follow my voice,” Max shouted, but was once again disturbed when he still received no answer.

There were more twigs breaking and the snapping sounds seemed to be coming from both in front of and behind him. The shadows seemed to shift and dance and even if the sun had been up, there would have been no light beneath the canopy of the trees. Night had fallen.

“Who’s there? Kerry, I’m here. Come out.”

Max did not want to go into those trees, but his heart was beating too fast to stay perched on the log. He leapt up and his skittish legs started pumping. He headed towards the shadows where sticks continued to snap. Ready to run at any second, he swallowed his fear and tried to keep calm. If Kerry was still coming, he had to keep his shit together.

His ankle bumped against something and made him yelp, but he was relieved, and embarrassed, when he saw it was just a tree stump. He stepped around it and continued to see movement up ahead.

“Kerry,” he shouted, unable now to disguise his growing anger anymore. “Stop pissing around.”

“Help me!”

Max froze, his one foot still off the ground mid-step.

“Help me!”

“Who’s there?”

“Help me find them.”

Max swallowed. “Find what?”

“I need to find…” Something leapt out at Max, grabbed his throat and screamed in his face. “My insides!”

Max screamed so hard his throat hurt. He spun around and sprinted away, back towards the small clearing with the log. When he got there, a pale-faced girl was waiting for him. She reached out to him with her clawed fingers and where her stomach should have been was a bloody mess.

“Do you have my insides?” she moaned. “Help me.”

Max’s screams became continuous. He turned around to run away, but was once again faced with the dead girl looking for her guts. “Give me my insides.”

“Leave me alone,” Max screamed, looking around for someplace to run. It was then that he noticed the dead girl was in two places at once, emerging from the woods in front of him and also sitting on the log behind him.

Then he heard the laughing.

“OMG, Kerry, I think he shit himself,” said the dead girl arriving from the trees.

“That was so epic,” said the dead girl by the log.

Max managed to catch his breath, but felt like he was going to throw up. He felt tears form in his eyes and was powerless to stop them from falling down his cheeks. “Wh-What? What’s happening?”

“You just got pranked,” said the dead girl by the log who he was quickly coming to realise was Kerry in make-up. “You should have seen your face.” She rubbed at the red on her stomach and showed her stained palm to him. “Just red felt tip pens they use for Bingo at the clubhouse. Hannah swiped a whole box of them.”

Max wiped a tear from his cheek and sobbed. His voice was full of upset when he spoke. “Why? I thought-”

“You thought I was going to fuck you?” Kerry said nastily. “Ew, dream on. I prefer guys much older than you. You’re just a kid.”

Max turned to walk away.

“Hey, don’t be such a baby,” Kerry said. “It was just a joke. Maybe Hannah will give you a handjob if you stop crying. Hey Hannah, what you think about giving little Maxie a tug?”

There was no answer.

As Max walked away, he glanced at the spot in the trees where Hannah had been standing and saw that she was now gone.

“Hey,” Kerry shouted. “Hannah, come on out, you cow. Max is going off in a str-”

There was a scream. It was accompanied by the sound of something savage – an animal noise.

Max turned around to face Kerry, expecting it to be another joke at his expense that he was not going to fall for, but the sight of her wide, feral eyes in the darkness showed him that she didn’t know what was going on. Hannah continued screaming, somewhere off in the woods. It sounded like she was being torn apart by a bear.

Kerry and Max said nothing. They just stood side-by-side, staring into the shadows.

Then something flew out of the trees.

Hannah’s body hit the ground in front of Max and Kerry like it had been launched from a cannon. There were no marker pen tricks this time; the blood was real. So was the fact that one of her arms had been torn off, leaving a ragged hole on the left side of her torso, and that only an empty hole remained where once had been her midsection.

Max looked at Kerry in horror. Then shouted at her to run.

-3-

Max found that Kerry took off in the same direction as him, reaching out and clutching at his arm as the two of them ran screaming. After humiliating him, she was now looking to him for protection. Strange though it was, Max felt obligated to keep her safe. Something in the woods had killed her friend, and now it was after them

Max realised that he had no idea where they were heading. Only shadows and trees in every direction.

“It’s behind us,” Kerry shouted in terror.

“What is?” Max asked, as mortified as she was.

“It’s the monster in the woods,” she cried. “It’s real. It killed Hannah just like it killed Sharon. It’s a demon.”

Something leapt out of the shadows ahead and stood in their way. Max was running too quickly to stop and the thing struck him in the ribs and sent him sprawling in the cold, hard mud. Kerry fell downright beside him, bleeding from a wound on her temple. She murmured something to him like she was drunk, then lay still, glancing around like she was in some kind of daze.

Max went to get up, but the monster stood in front of him and blocked his escape. Instead of attacking him, though, it spoke. “I am no demon.”

Max’s eyes went wide as he realised it was Shav standing in front of him. Blood coated her chin and lips and dripped down her naked body. Her breasts were small and round but the nipples were erect and surrounded by swollen pink circles. A thatch of brown hair stopped him from seeing what was between her legs.

Max shook his head in confusion. “Shav?”

Shav showed her teeth that were more wolf than human. “Hello, Max,” she said in a growl. “Did you get what you were promised?”

He shook his head.

“I suspected as much. Teenage girls are not to be trusted. Believe me, I used to be one. Are you okay?”

Max frowned. “Am I okay? No. I…what have you done?”

“Only what my nature requires. These woods are my home.”

“Your home? What?”

“For a hundred years I have lived here, ever since my family moved from India, hunted by the local tribesman there and forced to flee. These woods were much bigger then.”

Max shuffled on his butt backwards in the dirt, moving away instinctually. Kerry was murmuring to herself again and he reached out to shake her awake. But when she did not wake, he looked back up at Shav. “What are you?”

“I am Yakshas. I am a protector of Mother Nature’s treasures, and a warden of men. So too were my mother and father until a local farmer shot them dead whilst they were hunting for food. I have been alone for two years now, forever destined to be a young girl with no parents. It is a curse.”

“What do you want?”

“A boyfriend.”

Max choked on a laugh that became a confused moan. “You want a boyfriend? Are you crazy? Why did you kill Hannah?”

“Because I want you to be my boyfriend, Max, and she and Kerry hurt you. I knew they would. I could smell the spiteful intentions coming out of their pores.”

“Y-You ate Hannah.”

“Only a bit of her. Human flesh is a rare need in order to continue living on. You heard about the last time my family ate. It was a long time ago. As I said, it is a rare need.”

Max understood what she was saying. “Sharon?”

“Yes. My father killed her and brought back her life force to feed my mother and me. It pained him to do so, but we receive our extended years by taking the life force of the young. Sharon’s years were divided amongst my family.”

Max got up suddenly, hoping to make a run for it, but Shav swung a fist and launched him back to the ground. He wheezed, clutched at his ribs, feeling like he’d been hit by a car.

Shav’s face had changed. Her mouth had lengthened into a snout and her eyes sunk back into her skull. She snarled like a vicious dog.

“Please don’t kill me,” Max pleaded.

Shav allowed her face to return to human form and shook her head sympathetically. “I don’t wish to kill you, Max. I told you what I want.”

Max rubbed at his ribs and sat up. “For me to be your boyfriend?”

“Yes?”

“How? I mean, you’re not even human.”

“Neither will you be, if you accept me.”

Max felt like he was dreaming. Thinking it was the only way he could keep going along with this bizarre conversation. “What will happen?”

“We’ll lie down together, be as one, and you will awaken tomorrow morning more than you ever were before. You will live forever, if you are smart, and you will never again be alone. I will be yours and you will be mine, forever. We will protect this place with our lives, for it is special.”

“Special?”

“Yes? The Earth has gates that must be guarded. That is the sworn duty of the Yakshas. There are caverns beneath the very ground on which we stand. There is my home.”

Max shook his head, feeling dizzy. “Gates? Gates to what?”

“To the darkest abyss imaginable. My kind keeps out the darkness and allows the light of man to continue. One dead girl, here and there, is a small price to pay for the protection the Yakshas give this world. Join me, Max. Be more than you are.”

“Can I stand up?”

“Be mine and you can do whatever you want?”

Max got to his feet slowly, still winded. He clutched his ribs and looked down at Kerry who had now fallen unconscious – sleeping it seemed like. “What will happen to her?”

“She humiliated you. I would give her to you as a gift.”

Max shook his head in despair. “A gift?”

Shav stepped closer to him, making him shiver. The air seemed to vibrate around her and her eyes were purely animal as they bore into him. “I will never hurt you,” she purred. “I am alone and need a mate.” She leant in and kissed him, and Max was disgusted at himself for allowing her to. Within seconds they were tonguing one another savagely, the blood on her lips mingling with their saliva. Max felt himself slip away, felt something powerful come over him. He threw the inhuman girl down on the ground and entered her right there on the ground, knowing exactly what to do. As he climaxed for the very first time inside a woman, Max felt more than mere ecstasy jolt throughout his body. He felt something ancient, something primal attach itself to his soul. An ancient energy coursed through his veins and he knew that he was changed forever.

He finally had a girlfriend.

-4-

Kerry Wetherspoon, Max Cooper, and Hannah Wilkes had been missing for more than forty-eight hours when the search party formed up and headed into the woods. The town of Redlake had seen horror in these woods before. They did their best to cover up the stories, but the police chief had a bad feeling that something awful had happened again. The caravan park was supposed to put a fence up to keep people out of the woods, but it was one of those jobs that just never seemed to get done. So many years had passed since Sharon Oxley had died that it hardly seemed important anymore, but now that a bunch of kids had disappeared, the woods were the first place anyone thought of searching.

Although none of them discussed the reasons why, they all headed right to the small clearing with the fallen log. That was where Sharon had been discovered ten years ago, her guts ripped out and missing. It was the police chief who was the first to find her after the lifeguard called it in.

And it was the police chief who found two of the three missing teenagers today. The boy was missing.

Kerry Wetherspoon and Hannah Wilkes lay side by side on the old log. Their bodies were drained of all blood and each had gaping holes in the centre of their stomachs, insides torn away and gone. The killer was long gone, just like ten years before. Perhaps he had taken the boy.

Max Cooper was nowhere to be seen, despite being seen associating with both of the victims. Little did the police chief know that the teenage boy was lurking beneath the very ground he stood on now, making love to a young girl that was far older than any man alive. One day, more dead teenagers would fill those woods.

END.

About The Author

Iain Rob Wright is one of the UK's most successful horror and suspense writers, with novels including the critically acclaimed, THE FINAL WINTER; the disturbing bestseller, ASBO; and the wicked screamfest, THE HOUSEMATES.

His work is currently being adapted for graphic novels, audio books, and foreign audiences. He is an active member of the Horror Writer Association and a massive animal lover.

Check out Iain's official website or add him on Facebook where he would love to meet you.

www.iainrobwright.com

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ANIMAL KINGDOM:  UK  US

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Reality TV turns deadly.  12 competitors but only 1 winner.

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Nonstop Thriller where the future of the United Kingdom is at stake.

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Copyright

* * *AN SG HORROR RELEASE* * *

Part of the SALGAD PUBLISHING GROUP

Redditch

UK, Worcestershire
www.SALGADPUBLISHING.com

F IS FOR FERAL copyright 2015 by Iain Rob Wright
www.IAINROBWRIGHT.com

Cover Art Copyright 2015 Iain Rob Wright

All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the consent of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

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About The Author

More Books by Iain Rob Wright

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