The Naming of the Dead
Author: Ian Rankin
Date: 2010-11-15 00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Mystery & Detective; Horror; Thrillers; Zombies; International Crime & Mystery; Crime; Traditional; Suspense; Fiction
Description: The leaders of the free world descend on Scotland for an international conference, and every cop in the country is needed for front-line duty...except one. John Rebus's reputation precedes him, and his bosses don't want him anywhere near Presidents Bush and Putin, which explains why he's manning an abandoned police station when a call comes in. During a preconference dinner at Edinburgh Castle, a delegate has fallen to his death. Accident, suicide, or something altogether more sinister? And is it linked to a grisly find close to the site of the gathering? Are the world's most powerful men at r
Publisher: Orion (UK)

Zombies! Vampires! Monsters! Oh my!

Kingdoms of the Dead – Zombies!

Sleeper Cells – Vampires!

Parasite – Monsters!

Kingdoms of the Dead

Book One – Chemical Rot

By Ian Woodhead

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright February 2014 by Ian Woodhead

Edited by Monique Happy

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, scanning or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.

Please visit me here: https://www.facebook.com/Ian.Woodhead.Author

Prologue

He slid the tip of his forefinger down the monitor, cutting his younger brother’s frozen face in half. Ishmael-el-Siddique had never been given the opportunity to say goodbye, as all communication from the planet had ceased ten days ago. He gazed through the thick glass window down at the surface hundreds of miles below. The citystates were dying, their lights extinguishing one by one. His citystate burned, as did its neighbors. How long would it be before all of the planet’s lights went out? Ishmael-el-Siddique flicked the play switch and listened to his brother thanking him for the photograph, and how excited and privileged he must feel about being the first man from the North Arabia Citystate to reach space. He turned off the recording before his foolish brother recited his stupid verse about how the citystates from space were like a million fireflies, frozen in time.

Why was he even wasting such time on this sentimental nonsense? An officer in the North Arabian Rocket battalion should not allow the trivialities of family bonds to impede his duty to protect his citystate from her enemies.

Yet how could he fight an enemy that he did not understand? His weapons platform passed over another continent. His view showed him more citystates, each one in the same situation. Only one rectangular block of white light showed no signs of conflict. Could this be his enemy?

Ishmael-el-Siddique’s fingers glided over the control switches that gave him access to the fifteen nuclear-tipped Dragonfire missiles already prepped and ready to fire. The codes had been released when the North Arabian Citystate’s primary communications went offline. He could fire at any target at will.

The urge to lock every one of those missiles on that strange area of light gripped him hard. Just to do something, no matter how pointless. Deep down he knew that this catastrophe wouldn’t be their problem; unlike the other citystates, their forces must be better equipped to deal with this unknown terror. That must be the only reason for their continued survival.

The weapons platform passed over the surviving citystate and zeroed in on what was left of his home region. He despaired at the sight as he saw that the Persian Empire had ceased to exist. All the zones within their vast fortified boundary now burned.

He ejected the plastic recording block containing his brother’s last message and pushed in the last block that he’d recorded before the shouts for help turned into inhuman screams. Ishmael-el-Siddique listened once more to his immediate commander spouting out his lies about the dead not staying dead, about the corpses attacking and eating the flesh of the living.

The North Arabian officer slammed his fist down on the device, cutting off the recording in mid-sentence. He refused to listen to such foolishness. Ishmael-el-Siddique watched as the lights from citystates continued to snuff out, until only one light was left blazing upon the dark surface.

One single firefly refused to die.

Chapter One

His pursuer took great care not to snag his uniform jacket as he squeezed through the gap between the two columns of packing crates. Kenny Nelson dropped to the floor, hoping that he hadn’t been spotted. He crawled over to the remains of a mattress. The cramp spreading down his left leg let him know he wouldn’t be outrunning an armed constable. Cramp … who would have thought the dead would be burdened with such pain?

He pushed his face against the tattered fabric, focusing on the stinking wet stench filling his nostrils rather than the sour reek of his body odor, the dull pain in his leg, or the rising sound of those heavy bootsteps.

Even after four long, miserable years, Kenny’s mind and body wouldn’t allow him to forget his impossible resurrection. Of all the millions of souls the plague of death had taken, Kenny believed that only he had risen with his humanity hanging by a thread.

Right now, his thread had frayed to the point of snapping. If he didn’t get his injection, Kenny’s joints would stiffen and the cold would grip his body, and this time the sickness would not release him. He’d be dead for sure this time. After that, there would be no stopping that urge to bite into sweet human meat.

The scraping of metal against stone jolted Kenny back into the present. His fevered mind took a moment to orientate. Although the sensation of zoning out lingered, he retained enough sense not to laugh at the approaching figure despite his comical appearance.

The city’s founders had made these people. The position of civilian constable drew nasty fuckers like this clown like flies to a shitty blanket. They only had one purpose, to track down and ‘deal’ with any worker suspected of denying their body the drug that kept them from turning.

To any sane person, the prospect of actually wanting to change into some walking bag of rotting meat bent on the single purpose of consuming human flesh should fill their minds with horror.

Kenny took his eyes off the straggly youth and looked at his decrepit surroundings, Most of the outerzones looked just like this alleyway; greys and browns dominated the built-up landscape. The smell of unwashed bodies, combined with the stench of discarded garbage, stung his nostrils. Their world reeked of regret, debris, and despair. There weren’t many sane people in Kenny’s life. The ones he saw kept their heads down whilst eking out a living the best they could.

Some of them did allow the process to accelerate. Their lives had no meaning. For them, the change couldn’t come quick enough. If only the constables sought out these lost human souls instead of going after people like him.

That would never happen; those bastards received a cash bonus for every suspected worker they stopped. Why go after the ones that matter when any harmless vagrant would do just as well? It’s not like they could prove that their victims weren’t infected, considering everyone had that vile muck running through their veins.

Not only did this fucker have a rusted blade in his hand, the bastard also carried a portable scanner. Kenny found his fingers reaching up to the branded lines on his forehead and forced his hand back down.

No way could he allow the constable to swipe that hateful machine over his mark of shame. Even if he did give this one the slip, there’d be yet another one of them on his tail. Those bastards enjoyed hunting down the marked ones. It made their life so much easier when the bounties could be tracked down. He’d be dead in an hour.

He rolled onto his other side and looked down the length of the darkened alley. Would he be able to reach those metal drums without the constable spotting his fleeing form and opening fire?

Why did he allow such dangerous notions to tempt his exhausted body? Of course he wouldn’t get to the end of the alley without that bastard blowing a hole in his back. If Kenny did reach the other side, somebody in the square would spot him. Even from this distance, he saw the lurid images displayed on one of the city’s streetscreens. There would be somebody hanging around, watching it. There always were one or two glassy-eyed losers staring up at the building-sized screen, broadcasting an endless supply of twisted game shows.

If that fucker didn’t have the scanner, Kenny, by rights, shouldn’t have been too concerned over the sudden appearance of a lone constable. Like everyone else in the walled capital city, Kenny was supposed to keep his tired body supplied with the essential drug that kept him from changing. Thanks to his current misfortune though, the only way of getting his regular supply was to visit a medi-center, to allow one of the ‘so-called’ nurses to inject him. Kenny rubbed his forehead again. It had been two weeks since he’d last visited one of those hellish places. Kenny got his drug from other means now.

Kenny ran his tongue along his cracked lips, watching his pursuer stop to scratch his nose. The constable didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry to root him out. Maybe he just wanted to … lunging forward, he wrapped his hand around what, at first, looked like a pile of discarded clothing.

The constable had stumbled upon a sleeping vagrant. Was he a stray medi-center deserter, like Kenny? The constable shook the vagrant, like a dog shaking a rabbit, before dropping him on the ground. Kenny squeezed his eyes shut, his tiny groan lost under the gunshot. Unable to stop himself, Kenny groaned again. The bastard didn’t even scan the poor man’s forehead.

The spluttering noise issuing from Kenny wasn’t just due to him witnessing that execution; his last supply of drugs keeping death at bay were wearing off. The cold was already creeping into his body. If he survived detection for the next few minutes, Kenny wouldn’t give a fuck about hiding from some teenage government constable. He wouldn’t care that his sister was supposed to be rushing back with a fresh supply of Beldazine. All Kenny would care about was closing his jaws around that bastard’s neck and ripping off pieces of his soft flesh.

Kenny’s foot rebelled against the cramp in a spasm, knocking his leg against a rusting tin can. The constable jerked his head away from the bloodied rags by his feet, staring at where Kenny cowered behind the mattress.

The dim yellow glow coming from the old streetlight above them allowed Kenny to see a nasty smile spread slowly across the uniformed bastard’s face.

The constable teased, “Come on out. You don’t have to be scared of me. I ain’t gonna hurt you. Look, I know you’re in there.”

Kenny tried to resist the ice crystallizing in his blood. There was still a chance that his sister would come back. He couldn’t give up.

“Look, I haven’t got all night, you know. I know what you want. I have loads of the stuff.” He gripped his belt. “It’s medicinally pure as well. I bet it’s been a long time since you’ve shot-up with anything this good. Come on, friend. Out you get. You know I only want to take care of you.”

Kenny formed a tight fist, feeling his ragged nails dig into his palm; the pain helped his mind resist those hypnotic words.

Oh God. It would be effortless to let go, to give in to the disease, Even now, Kenny felt the cold dead minds of the others out there so eager for him to join their ranks. There weren’t that many of the true walking dead left within their walled city, not any more. But there were enough of them out there to have the strength to scratch at his thoughts, eager for him to join their number.

That constable wouldn’t stand a chance if Kenny did turn. He wasn’t fooled by the youth’s posturing; he was no more than a kid. Too young to have gone up against any of the risen in the initial outbreak, and he probably wouldn’t have been around during the purge that followed a few years later.

The city’s founders wouldn’t waste any of their security forces to search around the filthy back alleys, poking through refuse for runaways. Kenny was betting the little bastard had never gone up against a single living corpse in all of his miserable life.

Kenny didn’t want to bite anyone, not even a constable. He just wanted his old life back. Was that too much to ask? A single tear ran down his cheek as he watched the kid pull the other body out from its hiding place. Kenny saw a lot of blood, but somehow the constable hadn’t killed the other stray. He noticed movement in its legs. The constable then slammed the butt of his rifle down on the body. Kenny winced at the sound of cracking bones.

“I’m rapidly losing patience here. It’s simple. If you don’t show your scabby diseased face in the next ten seconds, I’ll just shoot off a few rounds into those crates. You know that I can take you back either dead or alive … I’m giving you a chance here.”

Only the sight of food, the smell of fresh human flesh occupied what was left of Kenny’s mind. He stood up, distantly wondering where the ache had gone. Even that thought vanished when he heard the strong thumping heart pumping all that hot, sweet blood through that body.

Lurching forward, Kenny saw the constable’s expression transform from menace to terror. He was faintly aware of noises—footsteps behind him. But nothing mattered now, apart from getting to his food—to feast on the flesh, to fill …

He yelped as something sharp jabbed the back of his neck. Kenny fell to his knees, and the constable dropped to the ground as if joining him in prayer.

Kenny heard distorted noises, like people shouting underwater. He gritted his teeth. It was like a fire coursing through his body. All that stopped him from falling forward was the constable kneeling in front of him, his eyes staring at something behind Kenny. His mind was a maze of flashing lights and buzzing static which were evicted by the reality of an exploding boom.

The top of the man’s head disappeared in a cloud of red mush, and the constable fell forward with grey and red lumps spilling from his skull.

“Are you with me, Kenny? Come on, say something!” Was the voice real?

Kenny lifted his arm and groaned at the dull ache that accompanied the movement. He grabbed at the back of his neck and tugged, pulling out a small syringe. Kenny started to cry; he felt arms circle his chest.

“I’m so sorry that it took so long, Kenny.” The voice was real! It was Diane, his sister. “You have no idea how hard it was to get you a ration in time.”

“Thank you,” Kenny said softly.

“Come on, you. We need to get away from here. We need to …” Diane’s voice ended with a strangled squeak.

Kenny spun around and found the cold barrel of a shotgun pressed hard against his forehead, and heard a dark voice saying, “So, you’re the big brother. I expected something a little more impressive. You don’t strike me as being enough for this sweet little girl to be offering me everything she’s got to keep you alive.”

A well-built blonde man stared down at Kenny. “Hello there, my little grave-monkey.” The man smiled, displaying a mouthful of pure white teeth. With his hard brown eyes, the stranger looked like a shark. Kenny then noticed the uniform, the sergeant stripes on the constable’s uniform. No way could this muscle-bound gorilla be part of the constabulary. This fucker reeked of power. Alarm bells rang in Kenny’s head. The face looked very familiar.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about my uniform, you grave-monkey. I just use this to get around this part of the city without any of my adoring fans from noticing me.” The man crouched down. “Now, I know that shot you just got is making you feel like you want to go flying through the clouds, but I need you to focus. This next bit is important.”

Kenny was nodding. He didn’t feel all that bad now.

“This is a booster shot,” said the big guy, shaking his long blond hair and waving another syringe back and forth. “If you don’t get this one, your high will only last a few more minutes. Do you want it, my little grave-monkey?”

“Oh God, yes please.” Kenny’s eyes couldn’t stop following the amber fluid as it gleamed in the murky light.

“Are you sure you want this? There’ll be no backing out.” He waved the syringe in front of Kenny’s eyes. “I’ll own you and you’ll do whatever my black heart desires.”

Kenny first shot was already going flat. “I got it! Give me that booster, man! I won’t interfere; whatever you say goes.”

The man chuckled before pushing the needle into Kenny’s neck. He then grabbed Diane, squeezing her breast through her thin shirt.

The drug ricocheted in Kenny’s mind like a hexagonal bullet, giving every edge in his vision a bright green outline. The big guy’s image trailed a cascade of tiny stars as he bent forward to kiss Diane.

Kenny had to shut his eyes; despite the warm chemical fuzz, he couldn’t bear to watch this gorilla molesting his sister—especially in glorious Technicolor. But blocking the vision only intensified the rage. He couldn’t let that fucker take advantage of his young sister … “Get your paws off her, you asshole! She’s only seventeen!” His eyes opened again to see the big guy’s face lit with an enormous grin.

“Oh my, we are going to have so much fun together. You’re a regular clown, Kenny.” The man released Diane and stepped over to where Kenny lay. “Oh, how rude of me, I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Rossini. But you call me Mister Rossini … and I’ll call you grave-monkey.” On his approach Rossini had pulled down his zip, and now tugged out his dick and started pissing.

Kenny had just enough of his senses functioning to roll away from the oncoming urine stream, but he wasn’t quite fast enough to avoid the splash dampening his boots and slacks.

Rossini laughed softly, then grabbed the uniformed corpse by its ankles and dragged it along the wet cobbles. The movement caused the other body to roll onto its side. The vagrant groaned, but the noise issued did not belong to one of the risen. The poor man was still alive. Still dragging the constable’s body with one hand, with the other Rossini slid his shotgun off his shoulder, aimed the gun at the moving pile of rags and squeezed the trigger.

Rags, flesh and blood splattered against a pile of plastic bags. Kenny looked up into Rossini’s smiling face, wondering if this piece of human garbage had ever possessed a soul. “What the fuck did you do that for?”

Rossini shrugged his large shoulders. “For fun, I guess … although I enjoy spreading happiness and joy, I have come to realize that I can never fully apply myself if I’m not happy myself, and I really do enjoy killing people. Slaughter the dead before they slaughter you, folks!” He blew across the top of gun-barrel, then flashed Kenny a dazzling white smile. “You see, I’ve made millions from that catchphrase. Of course, being the vacant-eyed piece of shit that you are, you won’t have a fucking clue what I’m talking about.”

Kenny stared hard at Rossini’s perfectly angled features, green eyes and shoulder-length blonde hair. There was something else too he hadn’t noticed until now. A flash of green at the cuffs of his grubby uniform suggested hints of metal beneath the fabric, like armor?

He groaned out loud when all the pieces fitted together. He lifted his eyes and gazed at the huge streetscreen at the far end of the building, facing the alleyway. It now displayed the garish images of three athletic men, dressed in bright blue one-piece garish outfits, attempting to kill a dead thing chained to a filthy wall. Oh fuck, the show’s host stood directly in front of him.

“There we are, I just love it when one of the herd actually recognizes me.” Rossini walked over to the constable, then bent down and started to go through his pockets. He paused to chuckle when he pulled out a black leather wallet. “Hey Kenny, can you believe this?”

He threw the wallet towards him. Kenny picked it up when it landed beside his knee. His fingers traced the silver-stitched logo of Rossini’s highest rated show, Celebrity Slaughter, on the back of the dead man’s wallet.

“Well, at least the little bastard died by the hands of the host from his favorite show. Not many kids would be so lucky.”

Kenny opened it and took out the kid’s hunting license, sighing when he saw that the kid’s license had been revoked.

“Yes, like I said, my mission is to spread happiness and joy, but while doing that I scout for potential guests for my show. You should be glad that your delicious sister found me and not some poison peddler. If that had happened, you would have missed out on all this glorious fun!” Rossini walked back to Diane and wrapped his fingers around hers. “Now, since you’ve already said yes, I suppose it would be bad manners not to tell you what you’ve agreed to …”

“You don’t have to, you fucker. It’s obvious that you want me on your show.”

“Well done, and I think that my terms are very generous. In fact, I think you have the stamina to last more than a couple of bouts.” Rossini chuckled. “Hell, I might even let you watch me fuck her tonight. Won’t that be something to look forward to?”

Diane was trembling, on the edge of breaking into tears, but she gulped deep breaths to control herself.

Kenny eyed the gun that had flown out of the constable’s hands when this monster had shot off the top of his head. There was no way that he’d allow Rossini to brutalize the only family he had left. Better to die than let that happen. They had to get away from this freak as soon as possible. He was bound to have some back-up waiting for him down a side street somewhere.

God, he was so weak, he needed to play this carefully and keep this fucker appeased until his strength returned. Taking a deep breath, Kenny twisted his body and gazed up at Rossini. “Thank you. Thank you for saving my life. If you hadn’t shown up, I would be dead now.”

Rossini nodded. “That’s right, you would be dead, you’d stay dead too. Now, it’s time that we made tracks. I need something to eat.”

He walked over to Kenny and wrapped his thick fingers around his wrist. “I’m surprised that you’ve lasted so long. There’s hardly any meat left on your bones.” The man then pulled out a pair of handcuffs and snapped one bracelet around Kenny’s wrist and the other around the wrist of the dead constable. “I’ll be ten minutes,” he said, pushing Diane over to Kenny, then ran down the alley.

“Has he hurt you?”

Diane shook her head. She sat down beside him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m so sorry, Kenny. I didn’t know where else to go. Our normal suppliers have gone to ground. He was the only one willing to trade.” She sighed. “How the fuck didn’t I recognize the clown, his face is everywhere. Kenny, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, you did what you promised, you got me another supply. We both know what would have happened to my body if you hadn’t found me more drugs.”

“Do you feel okay?”

He shrugged, not knowing the answer to that one. “I wish I had a saw. I’d even settle for a penknife.” He tugged on the chain, feeling the weight of the dead man pull his arm back to the ground. “It’s ironic really; zombie Kenny would have liked to have been handcuffed to his lunch. Oh baby sis, I’m buzzing on the shit the Green Knight has jacked into me.” Kenny was feeling a lot better. Though his strength had yet to return, his determinative was bolstering. “Look, we’re both alive, that’s the main thing. I promise that I won’t let him touch a hair on your head.”

“How the fuck are you going to stop him?” Diane asked, wrapping her arms around his neck. “Oh God, he could come back any second!” Leaning over Kenny she dragged the constable’s rifle off the body. “I’m not going to let him touch me, no fucking way.”

He clamped his hand over her mouth and looked up at the sight of the man rushing over to them. Kenny dropped the gun and pushed her head into his chest. Rossini’s expression didn’t falter as he raised his own gun and pointed it at Kenny’s face. There was no sign of shock or betrayal; if anything, the smug bastard looked amused.

“You’ve really hurt my feelings now,” Rossini said, chuckling. “No, really. I thought that at least one of you would honor our agreement. It looks like you’ll both have to work very hard to get back on my good side.”

“Don’t you ever shut up, you conceited asshole?” Diane got to her feet and grabbed the gun, keeping it pointed at his face. “Give me the keys for the handcuffs … right now, or I swear that I’ll blow off your head.”

Kenny saw no submission in Rossini’s eyes. He just kept his steel gaze fixed on Diane and defiantly smirked.

“Honey, you really are a feisty little piece. I’m so going to enjoy breaking you.” Switching his focus to Kenny. “Do you seriously believe that I’d leave the gun here if I didn’t know that it was empty?”

Diane tensed, like a large cat about to pounce. Rossini was still laughing. She pulled her finger and nothing happened.

“I did say.”

Screaming with rage, Diane kept squeezing the trigger. Each time a dry click sounded it was accompanied by Rossini’s chuckles.

“Okay, you’ve had your fun.” Rossini reached down for his own gun. “Time to get back to …”

Kenny was surprised when his sister rushed over to Rossini and slammed the gun butt into the side of his head. The man dropped like a brick. Kenny stared, not sure if he could believe his own eyes as Diane stood over the felled TV presenter, staring at the gun in her hands with a look of distaste and shock on her face.

She looked at Kenny. “Have I killed him?”

“Who gives a shit? Find the keys and get me off this body!”

Diane started to search through Rossini’s pockets.

The euphoria that came with the resurrection drugs was starting to flatten already. Kenny was concerned that the shot he’d been given was fast-burn.

Diane was struggling with the lock on the cuffs and cursing. Kenny turned his head just enough to see that their self-proclaimed savior wasn’t quite as dead as he’d have liked. Rossini was on his hands and knees and shaking his head from side to side. Kenny tried to shout a warning, but his reaction was too slow. Rossini’s arm lashed out and snatched a handful of Diane’s hair.

“Enough fucking about,” Rossini snarled. “Toss me my gun, or I’ll kill the fucking pair of you.”

Diane cried out and stopped struggling when Rossini’s grip tightened. Kenny felt his muscles start to lock up. If he didn’t score pretty soon he’d be back to square one … Even so, he had no intention of giving that dickhead his gun back.

“Fuck you,” snarled Kenny, lunging forward; grabbing Rossini’s leg, he sank his teeth into it. Rossini howled. “Let go of my sister, or I’ll chew your leg off,” Kenny threatened.

Rossini was quick to comply. Diane kept the gun pointed at the Green Knight while Kenny got his feet, licking blood off his teeth and said, “Time for you to go now … It’s been a fucking blast.”

First standing straight and then crouching to feel the wound just above his ankle, Rossini said, “You’ve fucking infected me, you crazy bastard.”

“That’s right, asshole. Maybe you can write that into your show?” Then as Rossini shuffled away toward the end of the alley Kenny yelled after him, “At least you got the drugs to keep you alive … you lucky dog!” knowing there was no silver lining to being bitten by a dead man.

Diane grabbed his hand. “Come on,” she said. “I know where to get you some more stuff.”

“You said he was the only one who had any.”

She smiled at him. “That was before we had a gun!”

Chapter Two

That annoying mouse, scampering around the wall of his mind, seriously wound him up. Tony Johnston wished that he could push his arm through his ear, wrap his hand around its body and squeeze until its jellied insides pushed out from between his fingers.

“Will you stop that?” snarled Tony. “This is my game. My downtime, stop it with all that fucking scratching!” His anger boiled over, almost throwing him out and back into dull reality. If anything, the furious scrambling increased.

“I told you to cut it out!” Tony’s violent scream disturbed a flock of birds roosting on the beams of the skeletal building behind where he stood.

Tony’s mental whirlwind blew away his unwelcome visitor, leaving him feeling, for the first time since arriving, clear-headed and able to focus on the task at hand.

He counted to five to ensure that his head really did contain only one mind before he opened his eyes. Tony gazed up at the starless sky, trying to follow the group of black dots as the birds swooped inside the ruined gothic church on the other side of the street.

Mice can’t speak.

The birds, buildings, none of this ruined cityscape existed except in the core of a very elaborate electronic device attached to the top of his head. He lifted his arms and chuckled when his hands slid across his smooth head; there was no grey helmet here.

It’s not your head, it’s my fucking head.

Oh, this had to stop, like right now. How could he focus with that bleating noise at the back of his mind giving him the guilt-trip every time he opened his mouth? It was worse than listening to the wife. Tony relaxed his mind just enough to let the mouse poke its head out of the hole, then dropped a lifetime of irrelevant childhood memories on it.

Get out of that one, you little fucker!

With that irritant out of the way, he believed he’d be able to enjoy this game without the annoyance of that other voice. He hadn’t a clue where it had come from, unless, somewhere in the city, somebody else was plugged into to one of these things.

“Yeah, that sounds about right, just had a crossed line or something.” Tony chuckled to himself, his voice sounded so weird, lower, much deeper. “Hell yeah!” he said, admiring the thick muscles on his right arm. “Look at me, I’m a fucking barbarian!”

With this rippling body, he’d be able to cause so much havoc on one of those stupid game shows. Tony ran his fingers down his front, feeling the hard ridges of muscle under his finger. Hell, with this body, he’d even be able to take on the Green Knight himself. Now that would be a laugh-a-minute thrill ride. He’d have to have a sword, or maybe even a double-headed axe, something sharp enough to slice Rossini’s head clean off his fat body.

“Come on now, Tony, throw yourself into this game.”

He grinned and allowed his mind to let go, just like Joseph had shown him. He closed his eyes, trying not to think about the fact that he’d just closed his virtual eyes. This is mad enough to melt my head.

The fabricated scenario memories slammed into him. “This is intense!” he managed to gasp, before alien thoughts weaved through his familiar memories, rapidly expanding, until nothing remained but the name he was born with.

***

Tony Johnston slammed his back against the brick wall and scooped in a huge mouthful of fetid air into his burning lungs. He jerked his head back to where he’d just raced from, making sure that it hadn’t followed him again. He had to find somewhere to hole up, even if it was just for a couple of hours. His body couldn’t take much more of this punishment.

He casually brushed his hand down the sweat-stained, heavily muscled arm, wondering when he’d become so unfit. Not that long ago, Tony could have completed a food run without even breaking into a sweat.

Get out of my body!

Tony blinked, not too sure if he’d just heard something. He turned and peered over the blackened bricks, seeking out any building that looked remotely secure. Even a building with a door attached would have sufficed. The chance of him finding any wood in this blighted city was about as remote as finding an open burger van in the next street. Where the hell was he anyway?

“Does it really matter?” Tony found himself shaking his head to answer his own question. All the forgotten cities all looked the same anyway: streets of charred stone, with the occasional rusted vehicle to break up the monotony of grey. Oh, and shambling dead. He couldn’t forget those fuckers. The ruined buildings stretched on forever, “Why did I venture further into the city?”

He’d had no other choice but to attempt to lose his pursuers in here.

Ever since first light, the bastards had not drifted away from his scent. The fact that he’d actually woken up without finding a dozen bites on his body was a major miracle. What the fuck possessed him to lie down in the middle of that field? Just because the high grass made him invisible obviously didn’t mean that those dead things wouldn’t be able to smell him.

The shock of standing up this morning and finding hundreds of the bastards surrounding the field had almost stopped his heart. After somehow managing to evade the grasp of all those emaciated arms, losing them in the city seemed like the only logical choice.

“Yeah, because none of them would ever think to follow you in here Tony, you dumb bastard.” At least out in the country he could see them coming. In here, there could be one, three, or twenty of the bastards just waiting to pull him down behind the next ruined building.

Sure, he’d made a mistake, another one. Even so, Tony still didn’t know how the dead were managing to keep one step ahead of him. He’d put over a mile of distance between him and them before reaching the outskirts of the city. How were they able to get in here so quickly?

You had better keep my body alive, you off-world shit-raper.

He was alone now, though. For the first time in ages, he saw no undead fuckers anywhere in the vicinity. The welcome relief of their apparent absence slowly filtered through Tony’s system. Their unusual behavior in here was really scaring the shit out of him. He couldn’t shake the feeling that those things were hunting him, like a pack of wild dogs stalking a small deer. “That’s stupid,” he muttered. Who had ever heard of any of them showing signs of coordinated activities? They operated by instinct alone, everybody knew that.

Why could he not shake the notion that no matter where he fled, that uneasy feeling of being watched would never leave him?

Tony clamped back on his musing when a pile of small stones tumbled down from the remains of a broken statue of a soldier riding a horse. His stomach lurched at the sight of three dead things appearing from around the corner of a grey, concrete tower block.

“That’s not fair!” he yelled. Tony couldn’t care less about them homing in on his voice. Just by watching them clamber over the rubble strewn across the road, they already knew where he was hiding. “Why can’t you give a guy a single break?”

His fingers curled around the barrel of the shotgun. Although he’d not found any shells for it in over a week, the weapon was far from useless. The solid wooden stock made a very effective club. “I’m not going to run from you this time,” Tony snarled, leaping over the wall and walking towards the three shambling corpses.

He stopped next to the rusted remains of a car. Gripped the barrel of the gun in both hands and waited for the dead things to shuffle closer to him. Tony focused his attention on the blond, long-haired zombie that had gained some distance over his two companions. It looked more alert than the other two. Tony lifted the gun above his head, watching in amazement as the blond-haired zombie lifted its head. “Fuck me, that’s a cool trick. I wonder what else you can do?”

Tony’s smirk fell away when recognition dawned. This was the same one who had almost caught him while he trying to get out of the field this morning. How had Tony not noticed that until now?

It’s one of the first ones! Run, you fucking retard. Turn around and get out of here. I don’t want to die when you go back to your other body.

It took another step, then halted. Tony gazed in disgust at the rotting green fabric hanging off the zombie’s thin frame. Beneath what remained of the shirt, he noticed a tight collection of circular holes just above the creature’s heart. This one had taken several gunshots already.

“Fuck you, bitch,” snarled Tony. “Your luck has just run out.”

The dead thing gazed at the other two who were now level with it before looking back at Tony. The jaw creaked open. “Honey,” it said. “Do you want two eggs with your bacon or just one?”

Tony sighed heavily and clapped his hands to deactivate the VR simulator. The constructed scenario dissolved into a mess of multi-colored pixels, leaving him standing in the middle of his recreation room. The blond male zombie morphed into his young wife, currently looking at him with a mixture of amusement and impatience etched on her face.

“You’ve been on that for over two hours,” she said, shaking her head. “Surely it can’t be that good.”

A huge blast of nausea crashed into his head when he turned. Tony squeezed his eyes shut and slowly counted to five, just like he’d been shown. When he opened them again, he found that the sickness was already leaving him.

“What the hell was that about?”

“Motion sickness,” he replied. “It’s nothing to be concerned about. Joseph did warn me that I’d feel a little queasy if I was suddenly pulled out of the sim.” He shrugged. “Don’t look at me like that, honey.” He looked into his wife’s intense blue eyes. “You did say that you’ll join me in the experience later tonight, Ellen. I’m holding you to that promise, you know. As for your initial question?” Tony laughed. “Good? It’s just incredible. Even the software’s implanted memories felt real.”

She leaned forward and brushed her lips across his. “I asked you about your breakfast, honey.”

Tony chuckled. “Sorry, I got a little carried away. Yes, Ellen, just how I like it.”

She paused. “So, it felt as though you were really there?”

He nodded. “Yeah, like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.”

“If there are any pretty girls inside this thing of yours, I will not be happy with you, Tony.”

He grabbed her shoulders. “Trust you to say that. Come on, let me show you, it’ll only take a few moments.”

“Later, Tony. You can show me your new toy tonight after work. Right now though, I want you to stop drooling and eat. You’ll be late.”

Tony stretched his legs, feeling the pleasant ache running through his lower muscles. Both his arms felt the same. He had trouble believing that this was still only the first part of the orientation program. He’d yet to even check out the combat sections. Tony really had been tempted to forgo all the training stuff and jump straight into the fun bit, but Joseph had warned him against that course of action, saying that he’d be dead within a few minutes. After what he’d gone through, Tony now saw his point.

He followed his wife out of the recreation room. “This new piece of software is going to save us both a fortune on credits and favors.” He chuckled. “Trust me on this.”

“I’m not sure how, honey. I know that you said we could use it to strengthen our skills, but I’m sorry if I seem a little sceptical.” She pointed to the framed picture of her latest certificate on the wall above their television. “Now, don’t get me wrong, honey. You of all people know how much I need to improve my talent. Coming in third in our district’s stand-off kill-zone competition just won’t cut it with the company.”

He shrugged. “Ellen, you’re the one who won’t put on the headset.”

“Yeah, I know that I’m casting doubt without even trying it out. Can you blame me though? I mean, think about it. Before the outbreak, the combined global community of computer geeks failed to get anything remotely looking like real life with their VR experiments. Yet, all of a sudden, your friend Joseph just happens to pull one out of his ass? The defense sessions are the only way for me to improve and you know it.”

“How’s your leg?”

Ellen followed his gaze down to her left ankle. “I’ll live,” she murmured, lifting her leg on the hallway step. She rolled up her dark blue leggings and pointed to a large bruise spread over her ankle. “It was your friend, Henry, who did that to me.”

“All the more reason why you should at least try out the device.” He rolled his eyes. “Wait a minute. If I remember correctly, Henry was trying to get you to the next safe zone. You’re the one who tripped up. He grabbed you before those three clamped contestants fell on you.” Tony sensed, judging by the way her glare was now drilling two holes into his forehead, that perhaps he should not have run off at the mouth.

“Now why did I know that you would leap to the defense of our district commander? There are moments like this when I seriously wonder if you’re married to me or him.”

“Come on, don’t be like that. Okay, so he’s my boss, but I wouldn’t leap to his defense. To be honest, I think he’s a bit of a dick.” He saw a slight smile creep onto her face. “Admit it, Ellen. We both have idiots for bosses.”

She giggled. “A good point. Saying that though, Rossini is a way bigger dick than your boss.”

Tony caught up with Ellen and wrapped his arms around her slender waist. “Believe me, honey. I’m only married to you. Okay, I’ll be the first to admit that my boss does have a cute ass, but yours is the only one that I want to caress.” He spun her around. “Honest.”

His wife chuckled and wriggled out of his grip. “Just you wait until I explain to your boss that you have the hots for him.”

He smiled back at Ellen, just thankful that his timely intervention had put a break on her imminent temper explosion. His muscles still ached. The last thing he needed this morning was his wife to start throwing household objects at him again.

She rolled her leggings back down to her ankle. “I just hope that the bruise will have faded in time for the party next week. I’m not going to wear slacks for anyone.” Ellen scowled at him. “Rossini’s wife has had her dress flown in, you know. Now that is just showing off.”

“It doesn’t matter where she got the dress from. She looks like a fat corpse and no dress can disguise that fact.”

He listened to her giggle whilst hurrying through the living room and disappearing into the kitchen. Tony got rid of his own smile and collapsed into his armchair. As soon as he shut his eyes, Tony found his thoughts drifting back to the simulation. When he was running through the deserted streets of that ruined city, there wasn’t much time to stop and gaze at the landscape, not when half a dozen zombies were trying their hardest to catch and eat him.

“Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle,” he muttered as the image of the wall that he’d taken shelter behind appeared at the front of his mind. As he stood up, Tony remembered the remains of what looked like an aircraft hangar just to the left of him. “It’s the old bus station!” This city was where he’d grown up. Tony vividly remembered waiting in that terminus many a night after finishing university.

It felt a little spooky to find himself running for his life in the ruins of the citystate where he’d spent his childhood. It was even stranger for him not to have noticed until after the fact. Tony sighed and shook his head. Why was it strange? After all, how can you stop to drink in the sights when you’re on the run from a horde of blood-crazed zombies?

Tony’s eyes snapped open. He took a deep shuddering breath and looked over to the kitchen. That was one thing that he hadn’t mentioned to his wife. It had felt real, that he couldn’t deny. What had impressed him more than anything was that there had been no sense of detachment involved. He wasn’t some outsider looking in. Tony had actually believed that the shit happening to him was real.

There was something else too; looking back, it felt as though he wasn’t the only one occupying that character’s body. Like he had a hitchhiker? Or was it that he was the one who’d invaded that body? Tony quietly chuckled. Listen to him, actually thinking that digital scenario actually existed.

Still, the chances of the machine constructing a sequence involving another citystate, more to the point, one where he’d grown up, were astronomical. There must be thousands of areas programmed into the device, each one supposedly randomly selected.

He’d just have to ask Joseph when he arrived at work this morning.

Tony turned on the television. Early morning was the only time when he’d willingly watch anything. After midday, all those crappy programs that his wife was involved in started up. He’d rather scoop out his eyeballs with a spoon than subject himself to any of that crap. Even when it had been his district’s turn to be highlighted for this year’s contestants in Hunt the Stray, Tony still refused to tune in, despite the fact that it had been his darling wife who’d claimed the kill.

It took Tony a moment to pull his attention away from the pretty newsreader’s deep blue eyes and focus on the live pictures superimposed in the top corner of the dark blue background.

He felt a rare flush of excitement at the sight of one of the security force’s helicopters flying across the deadzone towards the huge wall of another citystate.

The feed switched to show Tony the cockpit. He grinned at the sight of another citystate’s huge boundary wall filling the helicopter’s view. The founders had kept their promise to expand past the walls after all. The helicopter flew over the wall and the camera panned down to show hundreds of reanimated corpses milling around several metal platforms that the forces must have dropped earlier. “You’re an idiot, Tony,” he whispered, chuckling. He found himself getting caught up with the action, forgetting most of this would be staged for the audience. The off-screen gasps and sighs from the camera crew just had to be staged. They made it look as though this was the first flight into unchartered territory, the first brave souls venturing into an unexplored region.

The forces had probably been in this city for weeks before allowing the cameras inside.

A cold shiver travelled up his spine when the camera panned across the ruined city. This looked nothing like the citystate in the sim. Here, the vegetation had run riot. After four years, the color running through the place was predominantly green. Weeds, shrubs, bushes, and small trees had taken root everywhere.

Three huge men protected by black armor abseiled down from the other helicopter and landed on the roof of the only visible building in there that looked more or less intact.

“Oh hell, you have got to be kidding me. Where have all the trees and grass gone?” Tony had run past that building not that long ago. He leaned closer to the TV screen, taking in all the details that the cameras had to offer. None of this made any sense, no way could this be just another coincidence. He felt fingers of ice caress his spine as the camera panned across the landscape, tracing his route from where he’d entered the city to where he’d awakened. “Am I fucking dreaming this?”

Tony forced his eyes away from the TV and looked over to the kitchen door. “Honey, come here a minute, there’s something that I want to show you!” He dug his fingers into the edges of the armchair, fully aware he was panicking.

“Jesus, hon,” cried his wife, rushing into the room. “What’s wrong?”

He pointed at the television screen, then watched in confusion as the camera swept across the broken skyline. “What the hell?” Tony looked at his wife. “It showed a different city a moment ago. I swear, the picture has just been switched.”

“Is this some sort of joke? If it is, you should put in some more work as I really don’t understand any of it.” She hurried back into the kitchen. “Sit back down, Tony,” she shouted. “Your breakfast is just about ready.”

He did as he asked, not exactly sure what had just happened there. “Maybe that’s another question to ask my boss,” he growled. He’d never mentioned anything about experiencing any possible side effects.

Tony looked up and gave Ellen a warm smile when she reappeared from the kitchen, carrying his tray. She gently placed it on his knees. “Thank you, honey,” he said, trying not to allow his eyes to drift back to the television. “This looks great.” The smell of the hot bacon was already making his mouth water. Even now, after six months, Tony still found it hard to wrap his head around the fact that he could actually enjoy this type of luxury almost every other day. Thanks to his wife’s recent pay upgrade, bacon was no longer one of the foods only enjoyed by the rich and privileged.

She nodded back. “You have no idea how much those eggs cost me, Tony.” She chuckled. “Who’d have thought that hen’s eggs are now rarer than hen’s teeth. Still, duck eggs are a decent enough substitute.” Ellen sat down beside him. “God, what a mess. It doesn’t look much like the arenas that we use in the defense sessions.”

He forked a piece of bacon into his mouth and watched the three soldiers look up at the camera operator. It looked as though they wanted him down there on the roof with them. Wherever they had landed, Tony was now sure that this place was not where he was born. Those ice fingers were still there though, moving up and down his spine. What the hell was wrong with him?

“Do you think there could still be survivors in there?”

That was one question that he used to ask himself on a daily basis, up until a couple of years ago. Back then, the news of groups of survivors somehow escaping from the deadzones were few and far between. Now though, he didn’t think anybody could still be alive so far north. Tony had already accepted the fact that his family had been wiped out when the outbreak had almost ended the world five years ago.

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. I mean, just look at all those zombies, all crowded around the machines. Without them, keeping their simple minds distracted, the soldiers wouldn’t last five minutes in that city, and they are heavily armed. What chance would a few starving, traumatized survivors have of getting out of there?” He forked in some more food, listening to the newsreader give the usual statistics about the challenges that the purge squads would face if they did choose this citystate to clear. He sighed to himself. As the head medical officer for the district, he already knew the facts and figures. It annoyed him how she seemed to insinuate that the purge squads had an easy task and that the government was delaying the island’s cleansing.

“Are you okay?”

Tony nodded. “Yeah, sorry.” He switched the channel over, pulling a face when he saw the news had ended and this morning’s round of In the Dead House was about to begin. “People like that newsreader just make me crazy. They don’t understand that it would have probably only taken us a couple of weeks to put down nearly every single walking corpse. The problem is how to dispose of the flesh.” Tony cut into his egg. “Every single one of those things is a chemical disaster. As long as the zombies still shuffle about, their bodies stay together. It’s only when the things are truly dead when the fun and games begin. Their flesh is nothing more than a foul concoction of highly toxic and corrosive chemicals.” He looked at his wife. “How on earth do you dispose of countless millions of corpses that refuse to rot?”

Ellen silently took his empty plate and hurried back into the kitchen. Tony knew that he was going over old territory here, and his wife was too polite to tell him to be quiet. If he was truthful with himself, he did enjoy talking about the subject, especially this morning. The cold, hard facts kept his mind focused, and it stopped those thoughts wandering towards the unexplained shit that had already crashed into him.

“They just don’t understand,” he continued. “None of the uninformed have thought this through. The only way to get the things to decompose as they should is to ensure that they turn back into humans.” Tony flipped through the channels, trying to find a program that didn’t show a bunch of cityblock morons running through badly painted studios. He stopped when he found a male newsreader showing old footage of huge piles of bodies just before soldiers dowsed the pile in gasoline. “Yeah, I notice you don’t mention the tiny fact that those bodies are all full of your precious drug. Not that anyone would ever admit to that.” Soldiers carrying flamethrowers fired into the piles, then staggered back as the huge plumes of black smoke rose into the blue sky. Tony stood up and angrily switched off the television.

“Have you finished with your morning moan, honey?” asked his wife, giving him a sweet smile.

He didn’t bother to answer her. He loved his wife to death, but even she couldn’t grasp the simple problem that every one of them was living on borrowed time. They hadn’t stopped Armageddon, they had just postponed it. As each month passed, he saw reports that their miracle drug was becoming less effective in preventing the already infected from finally undergoing the ultimate change from living human to dead monster with an insatiable craving for fresh meat.

Not that he really blamed them for being unable to grasp what was painfully obvious to him. The species had only just begun to believe that they weren’t going to become extinct after all. He suspected that if they knew the truth, the suicides would go through the roof again. No, it was better for them to allow the government to keep the masses distracted with the new television shows; it gave them all a reason to live.

Tony lifted the tray off his knees and stood up, trying to put a lid on his bad mood. It seemed ironic that he believed that the lesser orders wouldn’t be able to cope with the realities of life without a routine when he was just as guilty as the rest of them.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine, honey,” he said, kissing the back of her neck. “Now, why don’t you tell me what you have planned for today while I’m over there in that big important building, trying to save the world?”

Ellen rolled her eyes. “Just listen to yourself, Tony. You make it sound as though without you and your friends, we’d all be shambling about, looking for a tasty human to munch on.” She held up her hand. “Don’t bother to reply, honey. You know I’m only joking.” His wife smiled. “Well, if you must know, I’m entertaining this afternoon. A group of us ladies are getting together just past the ruins of the old government house. Our First Lady is going to be guest of honor as well.” She chuckled. “So, it’s not just you who has friends in high places, mister. It’s not every day when you meet the wife of the country’s First Chancellor.” She winked and walked past him, smacking his bottom as he carried the tray into the kitchen. “Don’t you worry, babes, I’ll make sure that your name pops up in conversation. If you’re lucky, I might even mention just how much you enjoy kissing the district commander.”

Tony allowed a smile to play on his face. “I’m sure that will make the lovely woman blush a deep red.” He leaned around the doorway and watched her walk through the room and start up the stairs. Tony had to admit, the chance of spending some quiet time with the wife of the most important man in the county would be something that he would cherish.

Gloria Hainsworth was indeed a fine-looking woman; he didn’t know many men who didn’t have a thing for her. It was amazing what power combined with a beautiful face and large breasts did to the men that he worked with. Himself included. Tony wouldn’t have minded spending a night or four with her as well.

“Stop it, you perverted monster,” he muttered, smiling to himself. “You’re supposed to be an academic, a man who can put aside his base primitive feelings.”

The real reason why he’d like some time alone with that delectable creature would have been to try to use her influence to get that pig-headed husband of hers to remove all the red tape currently stopping his own pet project from seeing the light of day.

He turned around when the muffled sound of raised voices reached his ears. Tony wandered over to the kitchen window and pressed his face against the cold glass, grinning at the sight of four constables struggling with a fully laden cart. By the looks of it, the axle on the cart was buckled, probably due to all the weight. The lads were having problems dragging the thing closer to the huge steel gates of the recycling complex.

None of the idiots had thought about unloading the bodies of the captured strays and carrying them over to the entrance. He couldn’t see exactly how many bodies were under the improvised tent fabric, but it couldn’t be more than six. It would only take them a couple of trips.

Tony sighed deeply. Listen to him, actually believing that those poor kids had any degree of reasoned thoughts left in their damaged minds. Most of them had still been in school when the outbreak almost destroyed the world. The fact that they were able to almost function as humans was a bloody miracle. He heard more shouts coming from further down the street, and groaned at the sight of three border guards making their way to the gates as well. They too were bringing in a cartful of bodies. By the looks of it, the border guards had been busy.

Both groups served a valuable purpose. The constables stopped the infected masses that refused treatment from the medi-centers, and the guards killed anything moving that ventured anywhere near the capital’s walled boundaries.

For the first time in weeks, Tony saw that the gates were not manned. This confrontation could get ugly. There was no love lost between the two groups; despite them both performing similar roles, they both believed that their group had more prestige than the other. It was a strange belief, considering most people in Tony’s circle of friends didn’t even notice any of them.

“Honey, are you ready? I don’t want you to be late.”

“I’m coming!” he yelled back. Tony picked up his lunchbox, padded out of the kitchen and hurried over to Ellen. “Ready.” He interlocked his fingers with hers and opened the front door.

As he ushered her out, Tony heard the sound of a single gunshot echo from outside the kitchen window, and distantly wondered who had shot whom. His money was on the gate keepers rushing back from wherever they had been hiding in order to control the situation.

“Do you know when you’ll be home, Tony?”

He shook his head. “Not today, honey. Joseph says he has something of utmost importance to discuss with me. He refused to part with more information; he’s probably decided to move the entire department into the new building on the other side of the capital.” It felt a little odd to be thinking of such a banal subject, considering there was a high percentage that a human being had just been shot down directly outside his apartment. It felt weirder to even be thinking about the event. After what had happened to their species, a simple death was just a drop in the ocean to what they had all lived through.

“Are you sure you’re alright? You look a little pale.”

He turned his head, distracted. “Sure, I’m okay. I’m just a little tired, that’s all. I guess I overdid it in the new VR simulator.” As they approached the hallway attendant, waiting to let them out into the main building, Tony asked himself the same question.

“A pleasant morning to the pair of you!”

He smiled back at the uniformed gentleman who stood by the mesh partition separating the North habitat block from the rest of the building. Patrick Dawson took his job very seriously. His only role in life was to ensure that nobody passing through his gate showed dangerous levels of infection in their blood. It sounded like a very important vocation until you considered there were thousands of old men performing the same role in every large building in the city. Their job was largely superfluous, as every building was equipped with electronic scanners built into the main entrances.

“I’m really sorry to ask you to do this,” Patrick said, dropping his voice. The man picked up his scanner and waved it up and down Ellen’s body. When the device emitted a gentle beep, Patrick opened the gate. His demeanor totally changed when the device sounded a shrill alarm when the man waved it down Tony’s body.

For the first time since the old man had started working in the building, Tony felt a tingle of unease towards the attendant. The feeling increased when the man unholstered his pistol.

“Honey, you really are a silly sausage,” chuckled his wife. “You’re forgotten to take your medication.” She opened her purse and pulled out a small foil strip. “Here you go, you can have my spares. I’ll pick some more up later today,” she said, pushing the strip through the gap in the mesh. “You’d better get these swallowed before our attendant blows off your sexy little head.”

He snatched them up and dry swallowed them, trying not to shake. When the man waved the wand over him this time, the device didn’t report any ambiguities. Patrick smiled and passed him through. “Looks like everything is fine now, sir,” he said, smiling. “I hope you enjoy your day.”

Tony managed to nod before his wife grabbed his hand.

“You should be a little more careful, you know.”

His shakes were getting worse. He hadn’t forgotten to take his pills, he would never do that. He of all people knew the consequences of not keeping up with the treatment. Tony’s stomach lurched to one side, hoping that this incident was a one-off episode, affecting him and nobody else.

Chapter Three

Mortimer Crompton lifted his forefinger, then raised the rest of his digits in quick succession. Each finger revealed a crescent-shaped puncture, already filling with thick, dark blood.

“That is just awesome,” he murmured, watching hypnotized as his blood dripped down the palm of his hand. His body even registered the pain when he clenched his hand back into a fist and opened it again.

He padded over to the break in the floorboards and leaned over, watching the nine dead things shuffle about in the remains of a dining room. They had still not worked out that the huge table in the middle of the floor was the reason why none of them could reach the stairway. He grinned. They reminded him of human-shaped balls in a pinball machine, bouncing off each other.

The amusement factor was the only thing delaying Mortimer from finishing off his mission. He crouched down and picked up a dented tin can. Considering there was nothing else up here, apart from the skeletal remains of a metal bed and a lamp stand leaning against the corner, this would have to suffice. Mortimer squeezed his hand a few more times, wincing as the pain increased. He then grinned even wider, still not getting over the fact that he could actually feel the discomfort.

Mortimer held the wounds over the lip of the can, watching his life fluid drip into the bottom. He knew that he wasn’t going to get much, but the volume should be enough for what he had planned.

He wandered over to the large window and leaned out. The footsteps were still there, embedded in the soft dirt. Just two prints that stopped suddenly. They had not continued because the man leaving those prints had simply vanished. While Mortimer was watching, trying to understand how this would work into his plans, the guy, who was being chased by a group of the dead, just ceased to be.

That didn’t make any sense; how could anyone just vanish into thin air? Mortimer didn’t doubt his eyes. The fact that the mysterious man’s pursuers were under his feet was proof of that.

The dead things hadn’t sensed him, at least not yet. He didn’t have to turn around to know that his crossbow was looking at Mortimer with eyes of desire, his baby just begging him to allow its smooth bolts to push through their dead flesh. If only he could allow his weapon to get her way. Mortimer took his eyes off the paradoxical footprints and gazed out towards the dead city. There were none of them in visual range, but that meant nothing. They were there, thousands of them, all waiting for the tell-tale sounds of prey entering their domain. The dead waited, staying more motionless than any spider, until another unwary human wandered into the city.

The things below him were not going to leave. As soon as their slow minds realized that their food had slipped through their rotten hands, all the things would just slump where they stood. He’d be trapped up here.

Mortimer sloshed his blood around the tin, knowing that he didn’t have that long before it started to congeal. He needed to use the stuff way before that happened. He spat in the tin a few times before snatching up his crossbow. It was time to go.

The things below him had already begun to slow down; it was now or never. Mortimer walked back over to the gap in the floorboards and held the tin over the edge. He had to get this dead on. Three of the things passed directly below him. He quickly tipped the container, watching his blood fall onto the top of one of their heads. The reaction from the others was immediate and shocking. They all lunged forward, each one trying to get to the dead thing that had Mortimer’s blood dripping down the side of its face.

It took him just seconds to take them all out. None of them made a single sound; even the bloodied zombie fell over without any noise. He nodded to himself and hurried down the stairs, eager to get out of this hellhole. Mortimer pushed the door open and collected his bolts before leaving the house.

That had been a very close call. If any of them had known he was there, the moans would have attracted the rest of them. Within a few minutes, the building would have been surrounded with every escape path cut off. He wiped the gunk off his bolts and placed them back in his quiver. Mortimer passed the footprints without a second glance. There was enough to worry about without allowing unexplainable events to distract him. Right now, he needed to get back to base. His people were waiting for him. He’d been gone long enough already.

Mortimer stopped by the rusted hulk of an SUV and scanned the landscape. The edge of the city was only a few yards from here; once past the border, he doubted any of the things in here would follow him out. The only setback to that plan was that there was nothing alive ‘out there’—no cows, rabbits, deer, or even pigs. The area truly was a dead zone.

Desperation had brought Mortimer in here, the promise of a few tins of meat, vegetables, and fruit. He didn’t need a lot, just enough to keep them going for the next couple of days. He flattened his back against the side of the van when he spotted movement to the left of him. He notched one of his bolts and crouched down. A small mongrel dog ventured out from behind a fallen roof beam and crossed the street, heading for the building that Mortimer had just left.

This was unprecedented. He hadn’t seen a dog for over two years. How the hell had it managed to stay alive? The zombies hadn’t just gone for humans; anything that moved had also been on their menu. It seemed that the dead weren’t that fussy where their flesh came from. What shocked him more than the surprise of seeing the dog was that it looked reasonably well fed.

It must belong to somebody, that was the only explanation. The notion of a human living within the vicinity of thousands of corpses, all so hungry, didn’t seem all that likely. Then again, neither did stumbling across a plump dog. Mortimer told his mind to cease and desist with question time. The reason didn’t matter. Dog or not, that was meat. He took aim, watching the animal stop to lift his leg and piss on the head of one of the zombies that Mortimer had taken out.

A cry of fury erupted from a building on the other side of the street. Mortimer fired, then cursed as his bolt missed the dog’s head by inches and thudded into the wooden door frame. He jumped to his feet and growled in annoyance at the sight of another dead thing stumbling towards him.

Christ, it was moving at a quick pace. Before he could even notch another bolt, the zombie was almost on him. Mortimer dropped the crossbow and reached for his knife, intending to bury the hilt into its foul forehead. The thing kept on coming, its dead eyes fixed on him, growling and snarling like a rabid animal.

“Come on then, you fucker,” he growled back, crouching down and holding his long blade in his left hand. “Let’s make you truly dead.”

The zombie skidded to a halt and swung its head to the left, towards the dog. It looked to Mortimer like it had decided to go for a meal that wasn’t armed. He straightened his back, watching in astonishment as the dead thing turned and walked over to the animal, completely ignoring the fact that he was just a few meters from it.

Mortimer had never seen anything like it before. In all the years he’d been killing the things, he’d never seen one of them break off a pursuit to go after something else. The dog wasn’t moving, even its tail had stopped wagging. None of this made any sense to him. His unreal day then hit a high point when the dog padded up to the zombie, sat down and held out its paw. Astonishingly, the dead thing slowly bent over and patted its head.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Mortimer whispered. The zombie turned around and shambled back towards the building with the small dog close behind him. Mortimer’s brain casually informed him that the dead thing was the same one that had initially confronted the other human; its long, straggly white hair was unmistakable.

He could no longer afford to gape at the pair, nor could he stay here any longer; the sun was now on its downward slide. He had an hour at best before it got too dark to see. Mortimer picked up his crossbow and paused. The white-haired zombie had yet to disappear; it stood on the opposite side of the street waving at him.

It took him a couple of seconds to focus on the image, as his sight had suddenly gone blurry. His eyelids grew heavy and Mortimer couldn’t stop them from shutting. As soon as the landscape went black, he became aware of a low monotonic noise, which sounded like someone humming.

Harsh white light filled his vision when he was finally able to open his eyes. He squinted and slapped his hand over his eyes and waited for the shock to recede. When he moved his hand back, he gasped at the sight of a soft-looking, slightly pudgy hand. What the fuck was going on? This wasn’t his hand! Where were the scars and the hard calluses? More than that, though, his skin looked freshly scrubbed.

“Oh, there you are, Mortimer,” said a strange voice. “I thought you were never going to come out of that silly contraption. You do know that Martin ate your share of our dinner, just thirty minutes ago.”

His new view was beginning to gain clarity just as his fabricated world and persona faded. “Oh, my heavens,” he whispered. “That was such an intense ride.” He looked up at the wall clock and saw that he’d been under for over two hours. Mortimer then noticed that his brother was still sitting on his hard wooden chair next to the man’s favorite table. He knew from long experience that it was doubtful that Daniel would have moved away from his precious model making during the time that Mortimer had been exploring with his wonderful new toy.

Mortimer rose from his armchair, removed his visor, and placed it down on the black leather seat. Back before The Turning, Mortimer had considered himself to be a pretty decent gamer. Unlike the rest of his online buddies, he’d always believed that a good storyline combined with responsive controls would always trump superior graphics, at least in his opinion.

Thinking back to his progress through the landscape in that incredible simulation, he realized that nothing in his experience could hold a candle to the VR world. What blew his mind more than anything was that he’d actually believed he was there, living in that world.

“Fuck a dead duck,” he said. “Dude, you really need to try this out.” He watched his youngest brother continue to ignore him whilst hunting through the huge multi-colored pile of Lego pieces scattered across the table.

He looked down at his large legs, silently wishing that the physique that he’d imagined himself with in the simulation had come with him when he’d come out of it.

“Why the fuck did I come back to this?”

“It wasn’t your choice.” Daniel selected a grey brick, smiled, and clicked it in place. “Martin unplugged you. He said you looked like a big stupid whale. He also said that you were drooling and that he was going to harpoon you.”

Mortimer fought down the urge to go kick that brown-haired, lanky, weasel-face fuckwit in the balls. Not that it took much persuading. At twenty-seven, Martin was two years senior to the twins. He also had a nasty knack of getting his own back for any trick that either he or Daniel had ever played on him.

Of course, the simple fact that his older brother would kick the living shit out of Mortimer if he did try a frontal assault also played a small part in stopping him from going after Martin. Yet again, he wished that he had been able to keep the muscular frame of his game persona.

“If you go ask him nicely, he might give you back the power supply.” Daniel chuckled to himself. “Although he’ll probably ask you to wear a bib before he’ll part with your precious black plastic box of delight.”

Daniel could fuck off. Mortimer had no interest in anything that he said to him. Why should Mortimer let an almost grown man who still played with Legos bother him?

“Martin told me yesterday that he was going to set your Legos on fire.” He picked up his crossbow and calmly walked towards the huge ornate door that led out of the communal playroom and into the brothers’ bedroom.

He heard his brother’s chair scraping back and slowed down. Mortimer didn’t turn around, despite hearing Daniel catch his breath. He could well imagine what must be going through his brother’s mind. Mortimer made sure that there was no mistaking his intentions by notching a bolt into his weapon. It was odd how this was one weapon that was just the same in the game. Of course, it wasn’t the same one. Now that would be a bit of a mind fuck.

“Do I want to know what you’re going to do with that?”

Mortimer shrugged. “I’m hungry,” he replied. “I’m going to go shoot a dog.” He giggled at his little joke, knowing full well that Daniel wouldn’t have a clue as to the reference. He grabbed the handle and pulled open the door, aware that Daniel was now right beside him.

Even without turning around, Mortimer could tell that Daniel had left his high and mighty attitude back with his silly building blocks. It was about time too. The other Mortimer wouldn’t have tolerated that kind of intolerable behavior from anyone, especially from both his brothers. Why should he?

He turned his head and gazed into Daniel’s huge, cow-like brown eyes. He looked absolutely terrified. He had good reason to. Martin had always directed the majority of his aggression towards Mortimer’s twin.

Mortimer placed his finger to his lips, then made his way along the vast corridor, remembering how he’d moved in the sim. It didn’t take long for his cat-like movements to resurface. Even with the extra weight, Mortimer found, to his joy, that he could still move quickly without making any noise.

The same couldn’t be said for Daniel, but thankfully, he stayed well behind him. Mortimer passed his own sleeping quarters and crossed to the other side of the corridor. He wanted to ensure that he wasn’t going to be seen. Martin’s private little domain started about a meter from where Mortimer was crouching. Considering what he had planned, Mortimer should have been as terrified as Daniel. If this went down as planned, it wouldn’t be a severe beating. Oh no, his older brother would have murder on his mind. Strange then how it took him a stupid amount of self-control to stop himself from breaking out in a fit of giggles.

He managed to get his emotions back into some sort of order by imagining how the other Mortimer would behave in this situation. That guy would not be acting like some naughty kid about to throw some fireworks into the boy’s bathroom. He took a deep breath and raised himself up, looking towards Martin’s open door.

Judging from the moans and groans coming from inside that room, Mortimer figured that it wouldn’t have mattered how much noise either of them made. Their absent brother wouldn’t have heard them, not in the condition he was in right now.

“Christ on a bike!” gasped Daniel. “Is that sound what I think it is?”

Mortimer nodded grimly and raised the crossbow, listening to his younger brother trying not to throw up. For the first time today, he actually pitied his twin. Unlike Mortimer, Daniel wasn’t trained for this type of scenario. He approached the doorway and kept his finger resting on the trigger, daring not to take any chances. The sounds intensified as Mortimer leaned around the doorframe.

There were two of them, crowded around Martin’s slumped body, both young and female. Their actions disgusted him. Without thinking of the consequences, Mortimer squeezed the trigger. The bolt slammed into the side of the first one, causing her body to crash into a wooden chair next to the slumped man. The remaining woman opened her eyes and pulled her mouth away from Martin’s erect cock and screamed out in utter terror.

“How do you like it, Martin?” he shouted, trying not to stare at the girl’s wobbly breasts. Mortimer moved his eyes further down her body and nodded to himself in satisfaction when he saw she was now lying in a puddle of her own piss. His brother had already shuffled his body away from the now weeping female, no doubt not wanting not get any of her bodily fluids on his clothes. “I don’t know what’s worse, you stealing my power supply or calling me names.” He turned his head and saw that his other brother was grinning from ear to ear. In truth, Mortimer did feel like joining him. The sight of Martin trying to get up with his trousers around his ankles was pretty funny.

The half-naked man lunged forward, snatched the crossbow out of Mortimer’s hands, then threw it onto the floor. “What the hell did you have to go and do that for? It’s almost as if you WANT me to punch your big fat head off your shoulders.”

The threat of violence did not send his heart into palpitations like it used to. His other brother had already backed off. He obviously didn’t want to be associated with Mortimer any more, just in case Martin decided that he wanted a beating too. Not that there would be any beating, at least not from Martin’s fists. Perhaps Mortimer really had soaked some of the other him into his real body. He certainly had no fear of Martin, not any more.

“You’re the one who called me a big fat whale. I am big, but I can assure you that it isn’t all fat.” Mortimer picked up his crossbow, not too surprised to find there was no resistance. “Give me back my power supply.”

Martin spun around. “Why are you still here?” he yelled. “You’ve had your fun. Get out of my sight.” He stepped over the dead girl and disappeared further into his bedroom. Mortimer wasn’t all that surprised to watch his brother take his frustration out on the other girl. Now he understood why Daniel had retreated; he would have received both barrels if he’d have stuck around.

The girl took one look at her dead companion before fleeing from the room. It didn’t stop her from giving Mortimer a sour glare before she did leave the three of them alone. He thought that her attitude was just rude. The girl ought to be grateful that it wasn’t her who was bleeding out all over the tiled floor.

Was it Mortimer’s fault that his older brother couldn’t keep his dick in his pants for more than a couple of hours?

Martin ran after the girl and pleaded with her to stay. By the looks of it, even using his vast reservoir of charm wasn’t going to stop the girl from squeezing her body into the ventilation shaft. Mortimer lowered the crossbow and turned to gaze into the corner of the ceiling. Daniel was convinced that their keepers had placed a camera up there, but he wasn’t convinced; it didn’t stop him from pulling a face, however, just in case they were watching.

“For crying out loud, Mortimer!” Martin yelled, throwing him the stolen power supply. “What’s got into you? Hell, it was just a joke, there was no need to kill her.” He fastened his trousers. “More to the point, what would have happened if you had slipped? That bolt could have smashed into me.”

Mortimer turned the power supply over in his hands, making sure that his brother hadn’t done anything annoying like snipping one of the wires. He wouldn’t put that past the bastard. “Look, you got what you deserved,” he snapped back. It felt pretty good to be treating his older brother like an equal. It was pretty obvious that Martin had no idea how to react to this new situation. Mortimer turned around and left him to his own devices. He wanted to get back to the playroom, eager to immerse himself back into his more desirable world. He hurried back down the corridor.

***

“You had better watch yourself now, Mortimer.” Daniel picked up a Lego figure and stuck the feet to the top of one of his buildings. He carefully pinched the arm between his finger and thumb, then made the figure wave. “I know you want to go back inside your machine. I just think you might want to wait until he’s gone to sleep.” Daniel looked up. “We both know that the treatment hasn’t worked all that well on him. He’s not much different to when we were first picked up.”

“Believe me, Daniel, the treatment has altered him, just like it has with us.” Mortimer looked over to the door. “Come on, do you think he would have let me talk to him like that before those scientists picked us up? It’s all mouth with him now, it’s just bravado.” Mortimer wasn’t sure if any of this was actually sinking in. Daniel had missed most of the conversation; he hadn’t witnessed how their older brother had backed down. “Listen to me, Daniel. He isn’t going to do anything, to me or to you, not ever again.”

Daniel didn’t reply, he just dropped his eyes and started to hunt through his Lego pile. It would take a long time for his brother to stop seeing Martin as some sort of evil monster, considering how badly Martin had treated him when they were younger. Even before The Turning fucked up the world, five years ago, Martin had liked nothing better than to kick the shit out of poor Daniel.

Was it any wonder that his twin had regressed into his second childhood, considering that he never had one the first time around?

“Look, I know that I’ve said this before, and I’ll probably keep saying it until we all eventually get out of here. He’s never touched you in all the years since The Turning, has he? Don’t you think that’s a bit odd, considering we’ve all been living together? At least before, Martin could go out drinking with his mates. He can’t do that now; all his mates are dead, and they don’t let us out.”

“Mortimer, will you promise me that you’ll let him calm down before plugging yourself back into your machine?” Daniel’s hands shook as he tried to place the next brick onto the other one. “Maybe you should have let them finish him before killing that girl?” He paused and ran his tongue over his lips. “Mortimer, we both know that he’s been defying specific orders about not interfering with girls for a long time. Well, have you ever felt your own body getting excited as well?”

He gazed at Daniel, then ran his own tongue over his lips. What had prompted the sudden change in subject? Mortimer shook his head. “No, of course not,” he replied, lying. “We both know that the treatments have suppressed those emotions.”

“It hasn’t with him.”

Mortimer sighed. “Oh, I think it has, he’s just trying to prove to us that he’s still a real man. You know what he’s like, he gets off on showing off.”

“Oh, give me a break. I can’t believe that you can stand there and spout out all that bullshit,” added a third voice.

Mortimer gritted his teeth against the sense of shock that had just coursed through his body. He turned and glared at their older brother framed in the doorway, his face proudly wearing a big stupid grin. Mortimer was more annoyed at the fact that he hadn’t even heard Martin approach. Some zombie-hunting warrior he was turning out to be. The thought of ordering his brother to wear a cow bell around his neck did make him feel a little better.

“I’m not a complete idiot, you know. Standing there and preaching like some big fat ugly eunuch. You’re both guilty of spying on me while I’ve been busy entertaining my girls.”

Oh great, that was just marvellous. Now Martin thought that both he and Daniel were perverts. He glanced over at his twin, not all that surprised to see his face glowing like a red light bulb.

“Look, you don’t have to be so coy, guys. We are men, after all, and despite your transparent denials I know that you both have the urges, although I know your urges aren’t as strong as mine.”

“Haven’t you got a body to remove?” snapped Mortimer.

“Just listen to me for a moment. They said that we could have anything we wanted. Anything at all.” Martin shrugged. “It sounded like a good deal at the time, considering that if it hadn’t been for us three, the remainder of the human species would now all be shambling about, stinking up the place and looking for fresh meat.” He walked over to Mortimer and sat down opposite him. “Thing is, although the guys in white coats wanted to keep us sweet, they didn’t want us to get all emotional over girls, ‘cause that would have really spoiled the plans that they have for us.” He took a small handful of pills from his pocket and dropped them on the table in front of Mortimer. “There’s a few days’ worth of treatments there. I stopped taking them two weeks ago.”

“That really isn’t allowed!” gasped Daniel. “They said that the treatments keep us protected, and it also keeps the antidote in our blood from degrading. You’ll get into trouble if they catch you.”

“Yeah, I remember them saying stuff like that. Not long after they found out what was in our blood,” said Martin. He walked over to his younger brother and picked up a Lego figure. “I’m telling the truth here, you know. We saved mankind and this is how they reward us? They give you an unlimited supply of fucking Legos.” He turned to Mortimer. “What about you? Come on, guy. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life plugged into that stupid game?”

Mortimer stood up and snatched the figure out of his fingers. “You’re doing it again, Martin. Doing what you’re best at, you’re stirring up trouble. We’re happy here, a lot happier than anyone else could ever be in this fucked up country. Why can’t you just accept that?”

Martin sighed. “You just murdered some girl in cold blood and it hasn’t even registered with you. The treatments that they make you take are designed to keep you subdued and happy, to never question anything that they tell you. It appears that they have also eroded your morality as well. You’re both my brothers. You two are the only family that I have. Don’t you two look at me like I’ve gone crazy. We need to stick together. Those bastards have been lying to us from day one.”

“So your plan is to do what, exactly?” Mortimer should have known the bastard would try to do something like this. It was just typical for their older brother to try to mind fuck the pair of them. He didn’t really care about his two brothers at all. This was just Martin’s childish way of seeking revenge. In fact, the more Mortimer looked at those tablets, the more they looked like ordinary painkillers.

“It’s simple. First of all, we need to get you two out of here and see what it’s really like outside. Then we should get both of you laid, then perhaps find a bar and have a couple of drinks together.”

“We can’t do that,” murmured Daniel. “We’re not allowed alcohol either.”

“Oh Jesus,” exploded Martin. “Will you listen to yourself? This isn’t paradise, it’s a fucking prison. In fact it’s worse than that, at least if you were inside there was a chance that they’d let you out.” He ran over to the huge mirror embedded into the wall of the playroom and started to bang on it.

“Martin!” hissed Daniel. “What the hell are you doing?”

“You can’t treat us like this!” Martin shouted. He continued to slam his fists against the glass. “We saved your fucking lives!”

Mortimer glanced over at Daniel when the outer door silently slid open. Martin was too busy sobbing to even notice that three white-coated men had just entered their playroom. Two of them walked over to Martin. Mortimer watched one of them inject their brother with something, then they dragged the now limp body out of the room.

“Gentlemen, I’m a little upset with the pair of you. I thought we trusted each other. Why didn’t you tell me that Martin had not been acting like his usual self?”

The man looked about thirty-five. Mortimer wasn’t too sure of his exact age; he’d never bothered to ask him. Supposedly their caretaker’s name was Joseph, but even that was probably not his real name.

Standing at just under six feet, the man was still smaller than all the brothers, although his mass of light brown, curly hair exploding out of his head did give him an extra inch. Martin was at least right about the boys being saviors of the human race. If it hadn’t been for the man standing in front of them, it would be likely that right now, the three brothers would be all that was left of their species.

Joseph had been the one who had found them. It had been this man and this man alone who had kept them safe during the first few nightmarish weeks of chaos. Of course, the fact that he’d found the brothers hiding in their cellar, with a dozen dead zombies lying in close proximity must have given the scientist some clue to the brothers’ value.

Mortimer had tried to block that part of his life away. Now though, thanks to the sudden appearance of Joseph, coupled with their brother’s outlandish behavior, those last few nightmarish days played out, in full sound and color in front of his eyes.

* * *

It had only been a week after the twins’ thirteenth birthday party when the whole world had gone to complete shit. At first, both Mortimer and Daniel had thought that witnessing the dead coming back to life and eating folks was probably the most awesome thing ever to happen in their lives. Seeing all those zombies killing people on the nightly news was far better than anything that their video games could have come up with.

Their excitement took a serious blow when the news hit the Internet that a select few were turning without getting bitten. The fear became more profound when these select few began growing daily. When the outbreak reached their hometown, their terror increased exponentially.

The TV stations ceased to broadcast the next day and the Internet followed the day after. Their last message from the outside world arrived via an old radio, a single transmission asking for forgiveness.

Their family suddenly found themselves barricaded in their house, with the company of five neighbors and a terrified mailman named Geoff.

Their dad, two of the male neighbors and Geoff had made the house secure, using what tools and wood that they could find around the house. Just as well, considering there had been over a dozen attempted break-ins from hordes of the dead in the space of a couple of days.

It had finally ceased to be a game. Both Mortimer and Daniel had tried to give out helpful hints and advice, only to be shouted down by the others, mainly their older brother. In fact, looking back, it had been Martin who had done nearly all the shouting.

His dad had told the kids that they’d be able to survive inside the house for at least a month before things got a bit tight with the food, even with the extra mouths to feed. It appeared that their dad had made provisions for something like this years ago, and had prepared himself.

It seemed ironic that he was the first one to turn. Their dad, the one who had tried to prepare for every eventuality, could not do a thing about stopping himself from changing into one of those dead things. It had only taken him the better part of one nightmarish hour to infect the rest of the family. For the first time in his very selfish life, Martin had thought about others instead of himself, and had dragged his two brothers into the cellar before bolting the door behind them.

The adults had not stopped trying to scratch their way inside. The noise had been constant; for every minute of the day and night, they had worked on the wood. Looking back, Mortimer believed that if Daniel hadn’t cracked first, then he would have done it.

His twin brother had suddenly just leaped up and screamed out that he couldn’t take it anymore, and ran up the stairs, shouting that he needed to see daylight, that he needed to see the sun. Martin had raced after him, yet despite the size difference between the two boys, the older brother still hadn’t been able to stop the frantic boy from unbolting the cellar door.

The dead fell in. Mortimer had screamed out at the sight of both his mother and father biting into Martin’s arms. The mailman and Mrs. Barraclough had seen Mortimer crouching in the corner next to a box of baked beans, and, ignoring the other two, started to shuffle their way over to him. He’d felt his bladder let go. Mortimer had started to throw tins at the things, sobbing and yelling at them, ordering the zombies to get away from him. They’d only increased their speed until they reached his shivering form. Both had started to growl, and he saw the hunger in their eyes. Before the pair of them dived down and bit into his flesh, Mortimer saw his two brothers standing up, and the zombies that had attacked them were now on the floor, not moving. Mortimer had screamed out when he felt their teeth pierce his flesh, but there was no pain. The next thing he saw was the mailman and his neighbor falling down, both convulsing.

Mortimer couldn’t remember much of what had happened after that. The days had passed in a blur. He knew that all three of them had somehow managed to stay alive until a group of government officials had found them in that cellar, sharing it with the rotting bodies. Apparently it had been the foul smell of decomposing flesh that had alerted them to their presence. No zombies anywhere on the planet were rotting, and after the living dead had finished eating the humans they had caught, there wasn’t much flesh left on the bones to decompose.

The government officials had stumbled across the only three humans on the planet that were immune to the zombie plague. The news turned into a celebration of relief and hope when the scientists soon discovered that all of the kids also had the makings of an antidote in their blood. Humanity now had a chance of surviving this nightmare.

* * *

Mortimer watched the door slide shut, leaving him and his brother alone with the scientist. Until Martin started banging on that mirror, he’d been prepared to believe that his brother was just being a dick. He caught his face in the mirror’s reflection and tried to wipe the concern from his features. It was obvious now that the mirror was also a window. Heck, how could he have been so blind?

“Why are you yelling at us?” shouted Daniel. “You know what he’s like. We just thought he was doing what he always does, bullying people and making their lives a fucking misery.” He stood up and picked up some Lego pieces that had fallen on the floor. “Joseph, can you please go away? I have to finish this building. Oh, and tell the cooks that I want a large pizza. Make sure that they don’t leave out the garlic this time.”

“Well, I must say, this is not how I expected you to behave,” said Joseph. “Are you not concerned about Martin?”

“I’m more concerned about the fact that you’re still here. Martin is Martin. He’s always been a fucking dick.” Daniel glanced up from his building. “Now will you please leave us alone!”

Mortimer watched their keeper take two steps back before spinning around and hurrying out of the room. From the expression on his face, Mortimer thought he’d been about to deliver one of his little speeches, probably something along the lines of just how invaluable the brothers were to the cause of saving the human species. Joseph generally did resort to that one when tempers were a little frayed. Mortimer shrugged, thankful he didn’t have to listen to Joseph go on and on.

“Shit, some of my Legos are on the floor.” Daniel got on his hands and knees and started to pick up some of the pieces. “Come on, Mortimer. Don’t just stand there watching me, help me pick them up.”

As Mortimer bent down, Daniel took out the little notepad that he kept in his pocket. He scribbled something onto the top sheet, then pushed the paper into Mortimer’s hand, ensuring that Mortimer folded his fingers over the sheet of paper.

“Pick them up yourself,” Mortimer announced. “I need to take a piss.” He hurried out of the playroom, leaving Daniel to continue crawling about under his table. When he reached his own bedroom, he leaned against the wall, making sure that he was away from any mirrors before he opened the paper. He silently sighed when he read the hastily scribbled words. It looked as though Mortimer wasn’t the only one who believed what their older brother had said.

Chapter Four

Sharp stone cut through the back of his frayed shirt like a knife slicing into soft cheese. Kenny’s discomfort rapidly turned to hot pain as he thrust his body against the wall, pressing until he felt the stones cut through his flesh as well.

As streams of blood ran down his back, Kenny sighed in relief as all that dense fog swirling through his sleep-deprived mind left him. It didn’t stand a chance of competing against the self-inflicted agony.

Kenny tensed himself then proceeded to rub his spine up and down the wall. He couldn’t afford to let that fucking slowness back inside his head, no way. He’d already almost ended up dead again due to whatever weird shit had been used to cut the drug. The stuff had seriously messed with his head. He stood up and thrust his arms into the air, then counted from ten to one, not daring to move away until he was sure that the mist wouldn’t creep back inside his head.

“I hope you die slowly, Rossini, you fucking shit,” he growled. There would be fat chance of that. Somebody with his status would have access to all the best drugs available. Kenny stooped and picked up his leather jacket and wrapped it around his torso before picking up his gun. The feel of the cold steel barrel reminded him just how close he’d been to finding himself on the menu of a dead thing. “Oh Christ. I can’t believe that happened.”

The corpse must have been lurking in this abandoned dockyard for months. Biding its time, and waiting for some unwary idiot to decide to bed down in here for the night. What upset Kenny more than anything was that he had thoroughly searched the immediate area before relaxing. The months of sleeping rough in the outer zones had shown him the hard way what could happen to people if they let their guard down for just a few moments. Those rich bastards as well as the drones thought they were safe in their housing blocks and large houses, all cooped up in the citystate’s inner zone. They didn’t have a clue.

His eyes drifted down to the blackened mess of foul wet lumps sliding through the cracks of the wooden jetty. The tattered remains of its clothing stuck to the leathery flesh, reminded Kenny of wet toilet paper. He sighed to himself, now understanding why he hadn’t found it on his search last night. The sneaky bastard must have been under the water.

“You fucker,” he hissed, savagely booting it in the side. He grunted and cursed himself for wasting his energy. It felt as though he’d just kicked a piece of rolled up carpet.

It had lunged for Kenny from out of an open doorway as he’d passed the building. He should have died there and then, considering, at the moment it struck, dust bunnies had been operating his mind. Kenny’s thoughts had been spinning around the next planet. His body had taken over. If his finger hadn’t been inside the trigger guard at that exact moment, the dead bastard would have ripped him to bits.

The gunshot had temporarily brought him back down to earth. Kenny had seen the mashed head with the foul smelling black gunk leaking out, and his first coherent thought was wondering who had shot it.

He walked away from the revolting thing, feeling his blood congealing on the inside of his jacket. What the hell was in the stuff polluting his poor body? More importantly, how long was it going to last? Before Diane had left him last night, she had outlined her plan; at the time it sounded viable. Right now though, he wasn’t sure, even if they did get him another hit, how it would react to the stuff already in his body. Kenny had heard quite a few horror stories about what happened to people who mixed and matched.

“Come on, enough with the pessimism,” he muttered. “By rights, you should be dead by now.”

The forced happy thought failed to make an entrance, no matter how hard he pushed. He sighed to himself before stopping to gaze at the black water a few meters from his feet. He wondered if there could be any more of them lurking in there. He guessed that he must be the only piece of food that had sneaked into the docks for months. The whole reason why he chose this place last night was because he knew that no constable would dare to come in here. Come to think of it, neither would any other stray like himself; the rumors were rife about others sleeping in here, then disappearing.

Everyone knew that the docks were the only place in the city where a wild dead thing could get in. It seemed ironic that with this being the case, it would be the safest area in the outer zones to hide from the constables. Those cowardly bastards daren’t show their faces in here. A real dead thing would chew up a constable before they had time to scream for their mother.

Kenny walked up to the edge and looked towards the horizon. The odds were definitely stacked up against them though. The next piece of land was over two hundred miles away. Still, he’d just found out from experience that it was still possible. His fevered imagination cooked up a pair of cold, grey hands reaching up out of that murky water and grabbing his ankles. Kenny hurriedly stepped back.

There was nothing in there now, he was sure of it, apart from the floating detritus bashing against the jetty. “Horrible filthy creatures,” he muttered, walking back to the buildings.

Kenny’s eyes dropped to his feet. He saw a trail of wet footprints leading from the four paint tins standing on the first step of a metal fire escape. “Oh, because I don’t appreciate irony?” He had put those paint tins on the step last night. Kenny’d thought he had been such a clever boy. After filling the tins with water from the docks, he’d stepped over them and continued up the steps to sleep in the building overlooking the water. The fact that he had kneeled on the wooden dock and leaned into the water in order to fill the tins left him feeling cold. If that thing had been just under the water, he wouldn’t have stood a chance.

His genius idea had worked alright though; his perimeter alarm had not been tripped. Even so, Kenny hadn’t had a wink of sleep last night. It wasn’t for lack of trying, nor was it because he didn’t feel safe. Diane had left him the gun last night before returning to civilization. His lack of rest was something else that he blamed on the drugs.

He pulled open the door and hurried inside the decrepit shack, eager to get away from the cold air. Kenny hated this weather. The coldness settled in his chest, causing him to cough. He slammed the door shut and leaned back, checking on the time. With luck, his sister should be here in another five minutes.

The city’s residential gates had opened ten minutes ago. It would take her that long just to squeeze through the thousands of commuters, all heading towards their crappy jobs in the commercial and industrial zones. “Five minutes isn’t even enough time to eat a bacon sandwich.”

Kenny walked over to the single window and gazed out, looking to the left of his position, trying to catch sight of his sister. The metal fence surrounding the docks shouldn’t prove to be much of a deterrent to Diane; she was a better climber than he was. Close to where he’d climbed over, Kenny noticed the remains of a café. Judging from the dozens of floorboards nailed over the windows and door, he didn’t think it would be opening any time soon.

“Shooter’s café,” he said. He remembered going in there, years ago, way before any of this shit went down. Kenny recalled that the place had been packed with dockworkers and men who lived on the boats permanently anchored to the jetties. Back then, Kenny had been trying to make ends meet, taking any and every job.

Leaving his own citystate had, at the time, seemed like the only option left to him. Kenny had believed that the capital was the only place to flee to; for the first time in a decade, his home city had formed an alliance with the capital after the larger citystate between them had declared war on the capital. Kenny couldn’t give a shit about the politics of the situation, only that the alliance meant that he would be able to live in the capital without the security services shooting him as an illegal alien. It also meant that his wife of twelve years would never be able to find him. Not that Kenny believed she would, considering she had just divorced him and moved in with her mother.

The bitch had left him with a house he could no longer afford, unpaid bills that would have put Kenny in prison for the rest of his life and, to put icing on the cake of shit, the company that he worked for had just gone into liquidation.

What could go wrong in moving to the city where all your dreams were supposed to come true, as long as you were prepared to work hard? Kenny had the dedication; trouble was, so did the thousands of other migrants streaming into the capital city, every day of the week.

The café had been one of the many establishments that he’d visited, looking for any work. The only reason why that one stood out was because it reminded him of the diners that he used to visit back home, back before his life turned to complete dogshit.

Kenny tried not to laugh. To think that when he was looking for a place to bed down after first arriving in the city, he’d believed that his life could not get any worse. Looking back though, he was just one of thousands whose life had fallen apart around them. He’d been nothing special. The one thing that had set him apart from all the other poor shmucks was that he hadn’t ended up dead or eaten when The Turning swept through the city.

“Thank you for that, Diane,” he murmured. Kenny knew that if it hadn’t been for his sister helping him through these past few years, he’d have died long ago.

Even to this day, Kenny still couldn’t understand how he was able to operate as a normal human being. A sudden shiver coursed through his body; he winced as a dozen pain receptors in his back decided to use this moment to punish him. So, maybe not quite as normal as he once was before The Turning, but at least his desire to kill and eat people didn’t rule his existence.

From the corner of his eye, Kenny saw a small shadow rush out from behind a wall and leap onto the fence. He sighed with relief. Diane had made it past the checkpoints. Not that he had any doubt. His sister had proved time and time again that she was the strong spirit in their family. Nobody but Kenny knew that Diane wasn’t even a native; so much for the security force’s stringent tests.

Had Diane brought something to eat? He reached the door and felt a smile touch the corner of his lips. Where did that thought come from?

The thought of hot bacon spitting away in a big, black frying pan refused to leave his thoughts. Perhaps he shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the weird shit floating through his veins. Okay, so it had nearly gotten him killed, sent him into orbit and caused him to make his back look like he’d been in a motorbike accident, but at least it brought his ‘normal’ appetite back.

Diane ran across the docks, heading towards the stairway. She stopped and bent over the body of his previous visitor. Kenny frowned when he noticed a flash of bright purple under her filthy overalls.

She obviously didn’t want to get her smart uniform grimed up and ripped open. Kenny would have to ask her where she’d gotten the overall from. There wouldn’t have been much chance of sneaking it through gate security. Those uniformed bastards took real pride in ensuring nothing extra went through those gates.

It wasn’t until he was halfway down the stairs that Kenny realized there was something not quite right about Diane’s outfit. The last time he’d seen her ready for work, her uniform had been green.

His sister must have been promoted and he’d had no idea. Kenny stepped over the paint tins. It was probably unfair to start accusing her of withholding information. Diane had no secrets and she would have shared her good news. It wasn’t her fault that at the time, Kenny would have probably been floating around a room, doped up to the eyeballs. Would it have been any wonder that the information hadn’t sunk in?

It explained how she’d managed to get the overall through the gates. A higher pay grade brought about better privileges. Those fuckers manning the gate might have even saluted her.

Diane’s company had secured the contract to clean up the citystates closest to the capital, to make them habitable for their growing population to move into. He wished them all the best of luck with that one. His sister had shown him the real live feeds of what they looked like now. The citystates were totally fucked. Millions of dead things roamed the deadzones, as well as occupying the other citystates; their fortified boundaries had not stopped the zombies from getting inside. It had frightened the crap out of him when she first showed Kenny how it really looked beyond the high walls of their city. Like the rest of the people in the capital, Kenny had no idea that the images they showed on TV were all just graphics.

Her job role had the important title of Unit Management Officer. It sounded important, but in reality, it just meant that Diane was tasked with disposing of the bodies after the military had stopped them from moving about.

Diane’s company must have thought that giving their workers fancy names helped their employees step away from their grisly task. It dehumanized the job.

“Who’s your friend?”

Kenny hurried over and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I’m so glad to see you, Diane, and I’m glad that you got here without any problems.” He looked down at the body. “Oh him, He just appeared out of nowhere this morning. By the state of what’s left of his clothing, I think he must have been under the water for the past few months. My arrival must have woken him up. We danced earlier on but I’m afraid that my gun got a bit jealous.”

“You’re hilarious,” she replied, sighing. “Wait, where is your gun?”

“I left it up there.”

“Well, you had better go get it then.” Diane zipped up her overalls and shivered. “We don’t have a lot of time left. If we don’t get there before the first appointments, it’ll be tomorrow before we can try this again.”

“I don’t understand, Diane. I thought that’s why we needed the gun. You know, to force them at the medi-center to give me the drugs.”

“There’s no point me asking if you were listening to me last night, because you obviously weren’t.” She kissed him on the nose. “You’re my brother and I love you, but there are times when I wonder if there’s any point in explaining anything to you. We take the gun just as a precaution. We’re not going to force anyone to do anything. If this goes right, nobody will even know we’ve been in there.”

He nodded, desperately trying to remember what she had told him last night before leaving him alone on that street corner. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember anything she’d said.

“You don’t remember, do you?”

He shrugged. “Sorry, I guess my mind wasn’t working at full capacity when you told me.”

“It doesn’t matter, Kenny. It’s not like you had to do anything. Go on, go fetch the gun.”

“Okay.” He turned and then stopped. “Diane, do you, by any chance, have anything to eat? I can’t remember the last time I ate.”

His sister stared at him before a smile broke over her face. “You’re seriously hungry?” She unzipped her overalls and searched through her pockets before bringing out a foil-wrapped ball. “I was given these last night by my neighbor.” Diane unwrapped the foil and dropped the ball into his hand.

Kenny’s mouth started to water. It looked more like a small ball of tightly squeezed black earth than actual food, but the heavy spices coming from the substance told him otherwise. They engaged his senses while simultaneously telling him to stop torturing his rumbling stomach.

He pushed half the patty into his eager mouth and bit down, tasting all those exotic spices exploding in his mouth. The meat was just incredible. Whoever had made this certainly knew how to cook. It wasn’t quite a bacon sandwich; in fact, it was way better. Kenny looked at his sister.

“I guess you like it?”

He nodded, unable to speak.

“My new neighbors brought them round last night. As a thank you for saving their lives.” Diane smiled. “One of our helicopters reached another citystate last week and actually found survivors. They were able to hold out until now, before the dead hordes finally swarmed through their narrow streets.” Diane shivered. “There weren’t that many that got out alive. Our company intends to explore the rest of their city this week. I doubt they’ll find any more survivors though.” She pointed to the remains of the patty in the palm of his hand. “They sure know how to cook.”

Kenny nodded again and pushed the last bit into his mouth. It reminded him a little of the exotic burgers that he and his mates used to eat by the truckload every Saturday night after hitting the bars in the center of the city. There were always dozens of street vendors, all begging for the custom from the drunken lads as they stumbled out of the bars.

He swallowed the last of it, still able to taste the spices in his mouth. Kenny wondered where the meat had come from. Then decided that he didn’t want to know, considering that the fields full of cows, sheep, and horses went a few weeks after The Turning.

Most of their food was supplied by the government. They handed out the food bars like candy. The poorer areas of the population had no choice if they wanted to survive; they had to eat the vile tasting things, containing who knows what. The elite and their friends had their own food. Their ration bars ended up thrown away.

Kenny’s food, when he did decide to eat, came from whatever he could scavenge. He could always find enough discarded ration bars to keep him alive. If he fancied food with real taste, he knew of a few vendors who could make anything from the local population of rat, dog, or cat. While searching through the rubbish, Kenny could usually find enough miscellaneous items that he could use as trade for a burger.

He ran up the metal stairs, and for the first time in what seemed like months, Kenny actually didn’t feel so bad. When he reached the top, Kenny looked back and saw Diane pulling something else out of her pockets. At first, he thought it was going to be another portion of that delicious foil-wrapped food. But it was a small flask. She unscrewed the top and tipped it over the body. Kenny gripped the railing and watched the contents splash onto the zombie’s flesh. By this time tomorrow, thanks to the liquid, the dockside rats, cats, and other scavengers, there would be very little of that thing left, apart from a few scattered bones.

Kenny belched and tasted his food again. What a sad turn of events, to think that the zombie had now entered their food chain. Diane screwed on the cap and returned the flask to her pocket. He knew of quite a few people who would kill to get their hands on the stuff that his sister had poured onto the dead thing. It didn’t seem to matter to them that the fluid was deadly to humans; all they cared about was that, apart from the stuff they handed out at the medi-centers, the fluid was the purest known source of Beldazine. They were under the deluded idea that they could somehow succeed in removing the bonded poisonous substances where better minds had tried, failed, and died.

He headed into the building, wishing that he could remember what Diane had planned for the raid at the medi-center. Kenny walked over to his gun and picked it up. It didn’t make much sense to him. If they were only going to take the gun as a last resort and it wasn’t all that essential to her plans, then why couldn’t they have raided the place a couple of days ago before he almost turned? That way neither of them would have had to have a tumble with that fucking psychopath. God, he should have put a bullet in his head, there and then.

Kenny closed his eyes and told himself to stop worrying. Everything would turn out okay. His sister had never let him down yet. Diane had told him that she wouldn’t stop until he was back on the right track and off the injections. The thoughts of rehabilitation left him when a violent shiver travelled through his body. He shook his head, trying to calm down his heart as it beat faster and faster. Oh crap, this was not the time to have another fucking relapse.

He staggered forward, spun around and slammed his back against the wall, then slid to the floor, feeling bubbles of sweat pouring down his face. This was the third time since his sister had left him that this condition of helplessness had crept over him. He refused to let it beat him. Kenny let go of the gun, wincing as it crashed against the floor beside him.

It would have been the ultimate irony if the gun had fired, slamming the bullet with Rossini’s name on it into his head instead. Kenny rolled onto his front, then rolled back again, onto his gun. He arched his back then relaxed his muscles, groaning in agony as some metal part protruding from the gun dug into his damaged back.

It did the trick though; the malaise and the nausea suddenly left his body. He felt like complete shit but at least he believed that he would be able to function normally, well, until the spasms hit him again. With luck though he would have as much clean stuff as he could fit in his pockets, all ready to inject, and he just knew that the drug would flush out the crap that was still inside him.

Kenny made his way over to the door, sighing when he saw the tiny spatters of blood behind him. Past experience made him halt. He couldn’t afford to go anywhere if he was dripping blood. Although the vast amount of scanners all over the city made it impossible for any of the walking dead to stay intact for more than a couple of minutes, he still didn’t feel safe knowing that he was bleeding. Those things could smell fresh blood for miles away and a couple of minutes would be all it took for one of them to rip him apart.

He grabbed the door handle and counted to ten, looking behind him and watching one more drop of his precious life fluid roll out from under his jacket. It looked as though it was stopping now. As long as he didn’t re-open the wounds, he reckoned that he’d be okay.

His sister stood at the bottom of the stairs looking up at him. “I thought you’d gone to sleep, Kenny.”

“I’m fine,” he replied, slowly walking down the stairs. He couldn’t feel any more blood dripping down his back. He took that as a good sign. Kenny grinned to himself, hoping that this day would turn out to be his turning point. The marker for when he could look back and say that here was where everything in his life improved. He knew that if he could get enough of the drug, it wasn’t just the diluted shit that he’d be able to flush out; with luck, Kenny might even be able to clear out any signs of the main infection. If that happened, he’d be able to qualify for prescriptions for the highly prized pills. Kenny told himself not to get too carried away. After all, as far as he knew, nobody who actually died had come back as human. Did that not make him unique? Just what would those fuckers do to him if he did turn himself into the authorities? Perhaps it would be safer to carry on living on the fringes.

Anyone who had to resort to injections were classed as non-persons, as far as society believed; anyone using the needle was just a worthless parasite, not much better that the walking corpses. Of course, the media helped to reinforce that attitude by running the news reports announcing that his kind were murdering the rich and the well off and eating their bodies, or that they were breeding a new kind of virus in their filthy bodies. It had even been suggested that it was people like Kenny who had been responsible for the zombie outbreak in the first place.

Was it all that surprising that, no matter what tragedy landed upon their species, there was still that urge to dominate the ones weaker than themselves? He knew for a fact that the media needed the public to believe their lies. Of course they did. If their receptive customers believed that the ones on the needle were actually humans, none of the television public would watch their TV shows.

No pills meant no job, no apartment, no rights whatsoever. Even the medi-centers were a huge scam. He saw the sun breaking through the clouds. That had to be a good sign. It hadn’t stopped raining for what seemed like forever.

“What was taking you so long?”

“The shit I took last night has been rather detrimental to my already fucked body.” He shrugged. “I’ll be alright. I promise. Here, you don’t have any more of those meat things on you?”

She shook her head. “No. Come on, time to go.” Diane took the gun out of his hands. “I’ve got loads of them at my apartment. As soon as we get this over with, I’ll sneak you into the habitation zone and get you cleaned up. I’ve already got you some new clothes. Just keep that happy thought in mind.” She kissed him lightly on the forehead. “This is going to work.”

He followed Diane over to the fence and pointed to the gap that he’d found cut into the chain links by one of the posts. “You can climb over, if you want to, darling, but I’m going through there,” he said chuckling.

She punched him lightly on the top of his arm. “Oh, thanks for letting me know.”

Kenny heard the sarcasm in her tone and chuckled again. “I just did tell you. If you hadn’t given me anything to eat, I would have waited until you had climbed to the top of the fence.”

Diane squeezed her way through the hole in the fence and held the wire back so he could get out. Even with her help, Kenny still managed to catch his back on a jagged fence barb. The pain was intense enough for him to feel as though he was about to pass out.

“Are you okay?”

He nodded. “Sorry, I just felt a little faint,” he lied. “I’ll be okay in a moment.” At least the sudden pain would give his mind something else to focus on. With luck, it would stop him from visiting any other star systems on their journey. Kenny eased his body through the hole and stood up, looking back towards the docks so his sister wouldn’t see the discomfort etched on his face. It felt as though his back wound had already begun to scab over. He’d have to take it easy though, he didn’t want it opening up. “Okay, let’s go.”

He followed her along the dilapidated street, staying close to the boarded-up buildings. As they passed the old café, Kenny was sure that he heard shuffling noises coming from inside. Not that he intended to stop and check it out.

To stop and investigate. Fuck that. Knowing his luck, it would be where the rest of the washed-up dead things had ended up. He increased his pace to catch up with his sister, daring himself to glance back.

“Kenny, I want you to tape this over your tattoo.”

He looked in suspicion at the flesh-colored strip of plastic that Diane had just dropped in his hand. “Are you sure?” He ran his finger over the grooved flesh in the centre of his forehead. Anyone not designated a worker had one of these scars branded into their heads. It made recognition easy, not just for the ‘normal’ classes of the new order, but also so the machines could keep track of your whereabouts. Not that there were many working scanners in the abandoned areas of the city. Those that had been installed only lasted a few hours before mysteriously disappearing.

Inside the innerzone though, the cursed things were everywhere. “Are you sure, Diane?”

She nodded. “Yes, I’m sure. Look, don’t worry, the patch won’t burn off. You’re not the only one who’s had to hide their barcode, you know. You’d be surprised what our government gets up to.”

He peeled off the backing paper and stuck it over the barcode, waiting for the thing to heat up. The bastards that had done this to him and the thousands of others weren’t fools. They knew how easy it would be to fool the machines; it only took a large hat. To bypass this, there were sensors sewn in under the skin, as well as a heating element. If the barcode was ever covered up, the element would be activated with disastrous results. When the technician had branded him with this hateful scar, Kenny had asked what the point was. After all, if they could do this, why not just install a tracker into everybody; they’d know where everyone was all the time then.

Of course the creep hadn’t bothered to reply, but he had let some of the anaesthetic wear off before performing the simple operation. One of these days, Kenny would find out his name and pay the bastard a visit.

After a minute, he began to believe that the patch would stay on.

“It only lasts a few hours before dissolving so we had better make good of our time.” Diane pointed to the huge steel gate in the distance before unzipping the overalls and stepping out of them. She passed them to him. “I made sure they were too big for me so you’d be able to wear them. Even with the patch, you’d never pass as a worker. You really do look bad, Kenny.”

It took him a few minutes to climb into the overalls. He could smell her perfume on in the fabric. “What about the gun? It’s going to be hard disguising that.”

Diane just shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. We’ve just done some essential maintenance to one of the transmission towers close to the old dockyard. At least, you have. I’m just your bodyguard. As for the gun, we’re hardly likely to leave the safety of the innerzones without protection, now are we? There’s no telling what the locals would do to us.”

He couldn’t find fault with her story. Kenny just hoped that the guards wouldn’t decide to question it any further. Then again, considering the color of her uniform, they wouldn’t dare. “When were you promoted, Diane?”

She turned around. “Fat chance of that ever happening, Kenny. It isn’t my uniform. It belongs to the woman who lives across from my apartment. I just happen to have the key to her door and she works the nightshift.” Diane suddenly hushed and hurried across the empty street.

Kenny frowned. He couldn’t see anyone near the checkpoint. His sister stopped by the barrier, looked back at him and shrugged. He watched her manually open it and pull down on the gate while looking around. Kenny rushed over and squeezed through the gap. “This is not right,” he murmured. “I’ve never known this to happen.”

Diane pulled him through and let the barrier drop. “Let’s not question providence, Kenny. To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure that the guard would fall for my bullshit story anyway. Come on, we’re not far from the medi-center now. I think we should move before that guard does come back.”

His sister had a good point; he already knew that his fate would be sealed if he was caught on this side of the city. The volunteers at the medi-center used to make that perfectly clear when he still went there for his injections .Kenny had a feeling that Diane would probably end up next to him against the execution wall as well. He couldn’t allow that to happen.

Both he and Diane raced down the road. At the moment, the streets were devoid of people, but Kenny knew that wouldn’t last long. He remembered his last visit to the place. The other people like him weren’t too keen on showing their faces either, at least not until they reached the center. Kenny then noticed several moving shadows on both sides of the road; the morning light couldn’t penetrate the overhanging stone roofs. He nodded to himself. They weren’t alone after all. His ex-fellow sufferers were already making their way, no doubt desperate for their next injection.

Diane had seen the shadows too. He’d already seen her stiffen. Kenny didn’t blame her reaction; even with her enlightened attitude, coupled with the fact that her brother was one of the ‘deviants’, it must be almost impossible to totally dispense of all the bias that the authorities shoved down their throats every minute of the day. He slowed down when the building came into view.

A cold shiver travelled down his spine. He had hoped that he’d never set eyes on that vile place ever again. It wasn’t the sight of it that had set off the shiver; the building just felt wrong somehow. He just couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Right,” Diane whispered. “This is going so easy, watch.”

Kenny had no idea what he was supposed to be keeping an eye on, but he did as she asked. The moving shadows all ended up in the same spot, queuing up in front, patiently waiting for the door to open. Not that long ago, he would have been in that line, wanting nothing else but to experience the high after he had pushed that needle into his vein. Kenny wished that he could share what his sister had told him. Then again, would any of them really believe him? He certainly didn’t, not at first, not until she had shown him the evidence. They used to say that the camera never lies. It took a smuggled portable television to show him exactly why the government was ‘helping’ the unfortunate members of the community. The bastards were using the medi-centers as recruitment places for their vile television shows.

He’d sat there, rigid with shock, watching some show called In the Dead House. From what he could work out, the dozen contestants had to complete challenges in order to stop the audience from throwing them out of the house. The last one remaining was the winner. Not that the idea was new. Kenny remembered crap like this polluting the TV long before The Turning. It was the challenges that made him sick. While he watched, he saw two giggling teenage blonde girls taking turns to try and hit this chained-up zombie with baseball bats. The one that managed to stop it from moving was declared the winner. What made him nauseous that that the dead thing used to be one of his mates from the medi-center. He’d just stopped coming a couple of weeks ago. Kenny had assumed that he’d gone to another medi-center; after all, there were hundreds of them scattered across the city.

Kenny had started to ask Diane to turn it off when the camera switched to show more contestants running through a mocked-up version of some city street, carrying crossbows and shooting at more moving dead people. Like the poor bastard having his body bashed in by the two girls, Kenny had seen most of those zombies at the medi-center at one time or another.

“So what am I supposed to be looking for?”

Diane pointed to the alleyway that led to the back of the building. “The employees are currently processing the first batch of addicts. There’s a truck parked at the back that’ll take them through to the broadcasting house. Right now, the place where we want to go will be empty.” She produced a small key from her uniform. “And this unlocks that gate over there.”

She ran across to the huge fence that stopped anyone from going around the back and hurried over to the gate. Kenny ran after her, noticing that a couple of the ones in the queue had spotted them. He didn’t find it too surprising that the ones who had seen them turned away. He remembered what it was like waiting in that queue. The last thing you wanted to happen was to lose your place. It was common knowledge that the ones turning up later were likely to miss out on getting any of the precious drug.

“So, they always process the first batch?” hissed Kenny when he caught up to his sister.

Diane pushed the key in the padlock, twisted and opened it. She pulled him through and locked it behind them. “Yes, for them it makes sense. They want the most active for their show so they go for the ones who were able to get here at first light.”

It was weird, his sister’s statement felt so detached, so cold and clinical to the casual listener, but he could tell straight away that she was seething at the injustice of it. Hell, there weren’t that many humans left on the planet, and yet it still didn’t stop the privileged from exploiting the ones right at the bottom.

Diane looked down both ends of the low-lit passageway before reaching for the door handle. Kenny saw the keyhole and also saw that his sister didn’t possess a key for this door. He wasn’t too sure how he’d react if this door was locked as well. She looked back at him and winked before turning the handle. The door silently swung inwards. He smiled and followed her inside, sighing with pleasure. This room was so warm.

“This way,” she said, making her way through the two piles of cardboard boxes stacked up against both sides of the wall. Kenny gasped when he saw the storeroom right in front of them. Through the glass door, he saw metal shelves overflowing with glass vials full of light blue liquid. There was enough in there to cure him of the stage one infection and cure just about every other person just like him. “What the fuck?” He didn’t doubt that all the other medi-centers would be just like this one too.

“Just look at it all,” he growled. “Why should I be surprised at this?”

“It surprises me that you two are the first ones to ever get this close.”

He spun around and groaned at the sight of Rossini and four other large men standing behind him. They all carried shotguns. Rossini had a syringe in his other hand.

“Kenny, it’s time for your next shot. Oh boy, I’m so excited. I can’t wait to get you on my show. Oh, don’t worry, I’m not going to let them Turn you. I think you’re just lovely the way you are.” He turned his attention to Diane. “There’s so much love shown between you two. What a unique angle. My viewers won’t know whether to love you, Diane, or to call you a traitor to the species.” He grinned. “I’m so glad that I’ve found you two, you’re going to make our TV station very, very rich.”

Chapter Five

It felt as though he had forced a wire coat hanger into his mouth. Patrick Dawson closed the door that led to the inner habitation block and locked it. All of the house guests had finally left. He ran his thumb and forefinger down the side of his face. It still felt as though the permanent smile was affixed to his face. Patrick had to wait until the shift change arrived before he could get the hell out of there. The wall clock above the main door had decided that it would be hilarious to mock him. That could not be the correct time. The stupid boy was already five minutes late. He needed to get home; of all the times that child decided to sleep in, why the heck did he have to choose today of all days?

Patrick ran over to the main doors, jerked them open and looked both ways. All he saw was some old woman on the other side of the street, heading towards Government House. He was seriously going to kill the bastard for doing this to him. He couldn’t stay here any longer, his family needed him. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,” he moaned. “What am I going to do now?”

He knew that the longer he spent here, the more chance that he’d have no family left to go home to. Despite that, his sense of loyalty to the job wouldn’t allow him to leave his post. Family did not come before duty. Young Karl obviously didn’t care about his given role, and for that lethargic attitude, Patrick knew deep down that the kid was destined to lose his job. If that happened, the brat would be on the injections. It couldn’t come soon enough for Patrick. Shits like him didn’t deserve the pill privilege.

“I’m so sorry, Justine,” he said, watching the old woman a little longer. Patrick looked down both directions one more time before he shut the doors and came back inside to get warm. He walked over to his desk and slumped in the hard plastic seat, trying not to think about how his wife and daughter were coping right now. He had promised that he’d be home as soon as he could.

Patrick picked up his scanner and turned it around in his shaking fingers before he aimed the gun sight at his face. Did he possess the guts to press that trigger? He thought back to how it had gone off when the gentleman from the second floor had tried to get through the gate. Patrick had been as shocked as him, but his training had kicked in and Patrick had assumed the correct posture and reeled off the appropriate words. Watching Tony’s face had told him that the man hadn’t expected the scanner to go off. It also reinforced a very worrying suspicion that had been lingering at the back of Patrick’s mind for the past couple of days.

That man had been sure that he’d taken his pills. In fact, Patrick would stake his life on it. No medical officer would be so sloppy as to forget to take the one thing that stopped him from being dead. The drugs were losing their potency. He’d suspected this troubling idea for a few weeks now. Now it looked like even the pure pills that only the elite took were not working as well as they should. He remembered how the woman had casually handed Tony that metal foil through the gap in the wire.

Did she have any idea just how much those were worth? Patrick knew people that would pay handsomely for quality pills like that. It took much effort to stop himself from reaching out to snatch those pills out of her manicured fingers. He could have done the deed and gotten away with it too. Patrick could have just as easily said that they were contraband or something equally valid. He doubted that the loss would have made much difference to their privileged lives, apart from seeing it as a minor inconvenience. He was sure that they’d have plenty more in their apartment.

Grabbing those pills could have meant the difference between living and dying for his family though. Patrick reached into his pocket and pulled out another foil packet.

He glared at the things in revulsion. To think that their lives depended on these things made him sick to the stomach. What annoyed him more than anything was the obvious difference with these. Unlike the pills that Tony had rammed into his mouth, these pills were grey.

Sure, the TV adverts all categorically stated that all the pills were of the same potency and it didn’t matter about the color. What utter bullshit. Everyone knew that the white pills were purer.

The ones in his hand looked and tasted like grey chalk. He doubted that they had very little of the precious Beldazine in any of them. He looked at the clock again, dismayed that another five minutes had passed. Patrick stood up and raced over to the doors. The boy was now sixteen minutes late. His gut feeling told Patrick that the slacker had decided not to show up for his shift.

“I can’t stay any longer,” he murmured. “They need me.” The pills probably were next to useless, but they were all he could get. He had no other option. Patrick pulled open the doors; as he suspected, there was still no sign of the boy. “You’re so fucking dead,” he growled. Patrick couldn’t wait any longer. He ran back into the foyer, grabbed his coat, and ran out of the building. He closed the doors but left them unlocked in case that boy did decide to show up.

It only took Patrick a couple of minutes to pass through the normally busy pedestrian walkways that linked the several habitation blocks in this sector. He thought that, for once, luck was in his favor, until Patrick reminded himself that the lack of fast-moving human traffic was probably linked to the boy’s absence and to what was happening to his family. It was quite simple really; their bodies must have become immune to whatever chemical they had put in the pills.

He stopped and leaned over the railing, watching two huge black armored trucks thunder past, heading towards Government House. Each one would be full of exhausted soldiers, fighting the good fight to help clear those walking corpses from around the capitol’s high walls.

The bright blue sky and hot sun currently burning Patrick’s shoulders could not stop a shiver from travelling down his spine. There was just too much evidence around him for Patrick to remain blindly optimistic.

Pretty soon, those trucks would be travelling from Government House, full of soldiers, all fresh and ready for action. This time though, the truck wouldn’t be heading out of the city. They’d be fighting the good fight with freshly-turned city dwellers.

He spun away, trying to hold back the tears. There was no way that he’d let anyone hurt his family, no matter what happened to them. Patrick bolted along the walkway, just hoping that he’d be able to get home before they did turn.

It had been the irritating dog who lived with the Osmond family that had given Patrick the first clue. Just like every other morning, Jack Osmond had let out the ball of greasy black fur before the man left for work. As their block didn’t have access to any recreation area, the bastard thought that it was perfectly acceptable to let the mutt do its business anywhere it liked, which usually meant in the communal hallway.

All the residents knew, especially the Osmonds, that pets were strictly forbidden. Then again, the fact that they had a dog at all was unusual. Everyone knew that anything with four legs didn’t last long in the city.

Patrick lived in a block that, before The Turning, was due to be demolished. Most of the residents had already moved out. Patrick’s family had been promised a new apartment on the other side of the city. Now, they had no choice but to stay in their decrepit apartment; it was falling down around them, and they were surrounded by scummy neighbors with no sign that any of this was going to get any better. Unlike the elite block where he worked, or any of the perimeter blocks that separated the three zones, the people in his block were generally left to fend for themselves.

Just like the many hundreds of grey concrete buildings surrounding their block, they had one family who were supposed to liaise with a central habitat maintenance official to help keep the place running smoothly. It sounded great in theory, but most of the time the families ended up running the blocks like it was their own private fiefdom. The Osmonds were no exception. If their dog crapped outside your door, you picked it up and kept quiet. It was the only way to avoid any trouble.

The only person in the entire block who didn’t despise that vile little animal was Patrick’s little girl. What surprised Patrick was that the feeling was mutual. The dog doted on Lucy. Although his wife hated the family, she had explained to Patrick a few times that this would be the closest their daughter would get to having a childhood similar to the ones they’d had.

That friendship had been severed just three days ago. Patrick had been noticing just how slow and lethargic his daughter had been recently, and suggested that she ought to go get some fresh air. Of course, her response to this suggestion had been noncommittal so Patrick had lost his temper, dragged the girl out of the chair and pushed her outside.

The first thing he saw was the Osmond dog, chewing on the rubber tree that their next door neighbour kept outside. The dog had suddenly stopped and backed away from Lucy, growling.

A hard lump had appeared in the pit of Patrick’s stomach and he’d dragged the unresponsive girl back inside. He’d dug out his portable scanner to check her out, cursing himself for not seeing the signs earlier after the device confirmed what he’d suspected.

Patrick slipped through the open gate that separated the walkway from the rest of the habitation zone. The fact that the gate was even open gave him more of a scare than not witnessing anybody around him. That gate had never been left open. The elite don’t enjoy sharing their breathing space with normal people.

His own block was only a couple of minutes away. He increased his pace when the hard edge of his building came into view. Patrick raced towards the main doors, noticing, for the first time, a couple of young boys playing on top of an abandoned school bus. They both suddenly stood up and started to jeer at him. They were too far away for Patrick to pick out individual words. It didn’t matter to him though. The fact that some part of normality was still going on wiped away some of the heaviness that had settled on his heart.

The familiar and cloying odor of unwashed flesh slammed into his nostrils as soon as he entered the building. He held his nose and ran over to the stairwell, totally bypassing the lift. That hadn’t worked for over a decade. The smell lessened the further he climbed. He knew the reason for the stink. It meant that the building’s air con had packed up yet again. As he passed the Osmonds’ door, he wondered if anybody had bothered to report it.

”Keep calm,” he murmured, when his own door came into view. “Keep thinking of triviality.” He reached his door and took out his key, noticing just how much he was shaking. As he turned the key, Patrick reminded himself that until this morning, the worry of the air con breaking down would have overshadowed everything else. It certainly wouldn’t have been a trivial matter.

Patrick pushed open the door and rushed through the hallway and into the living room, his heart thudding hard against his chest. He saw his beautiful Veronica slumped in the armchair and dropped to his knees. Patrick didn’t need to get any closer to know that his darling wife had passed away. “Oh God,” he said. “I’m too late.” Through the flowing tears, he could see the shell of his now dead wife turn its head.

The thing leaned forward and tried to raise its body out of the chair. Patrick scrambled backwards, his numb mind refusing to take in that he’d lost the only woman he’d ever loved. Despite the endless training and preparation that every citizen was required to do, he couldn’t even find the strength to raise his arms. Patrick watched her stand up and take one tentative step forward. Somewhere, deep beneath his conscious mind, a tiny voice calmly informed him that he was watching it take its first steps. Although the sounds of Patrick’s voice had given the thing the motivation to move, it still didn’t know Patrick was in the room. There was still time for him to get out of there.

He rested the back of his head against the wall, noticing that his dead wife had yet to open her eyes. He decided there and then that this was his time. If Veronica had turned, then his daughter must have gone the same way as well; his wife had only started to show the same symptoms yesterday. There was nothing else for him to live for. The dead woman’s foot was now inches away from his body.

The pain would only last for a few seconds and then it would be all over for him. Sure, his body would still be moving, but his soul would have left this miserable fucking existence to be with the rest of his family.

The corpse had seen him. It groaned in excitement and stumbled forward, its arms reaching out.

“Come on then, Veronica!” he yelled. “Get it over and done with.”

“Daddy?”

He jerked his head towards to the front room door. “Lucy?!” Oh God, he didn’t believe it, his daughter was still alive. Patrick rolled away from the zombie and jumped to his feet. There was a long sword and a small fire axe hanging on the wall but there was no way that he’d be able to use either weapon on his dead wife. He ran over to her, avoiding the woman’s flailing arms. He grabbed her waist and spun her around, then pushed her hard before running out of the room and slamming the door shut.

“Hold on, honey. I’m coming!” he shouted, running up the stairs, taking them two at a time. When he reached the landing, Patrick saw that her door was wide open. There were clothes strewn about everywhere. As he neared her room, Patrick caught sight of something moving near the girl’s feet.

The dog jumped off the bed. It padded over to Patrick and yelped just once before returning to the bed. His daughter was sitting on the floor, surrounded by every piece of clothing that she owned. He then saw that Lucy had raided his wardrobe as well as Veronica’s drawers.

“What the hell?”

Lucy jumped up and ran over to him, wrapping her arms around his legs. “Mummy is one of those now,” she whispered. “I’m so scared, what are we going to do?”

He held her tight, trying not to think about the fact that her body was freezing cold. He lifted her up and placed the girl on the bed. “I need you to take these,” he said, digging out the foil strip. “You have to take them all at once.” Patrick passed her the glass of water which was sitting on her bedside table, then picked up another foil packet, lying next to where he’d picked up the glass. This strip had belonged to Veronica. Every pill had been pushed out of the strip.

“I took them all, Daddy,” she said, stuffing the ones that Patrick had given her into her mouth. “Make it stop!” Lucy stood up on the bed and threw herself at him, wrapping both her arms around his neck. “Daddy, I don’t want to end up like my mom.”

He returned her hug, gently squeezing Lucy’s slender waist. “Hush, don’t worry, everything is going to be okay. I promise.” He carried her into his bedroom, trying not to look at his wife’s side of the bed. Patrick glanced at Veronica’s bedside table, noticing her nearly completed romance book. A single tear ran down the side of his cheek. “Honey, Daddy has some spare tablets. We’ll get those and get you to a medi-center.”

She struggled in his arms. “No, please, not one of those kinds of people, Daddy. I don’t want to be a needle junkie.”

Patrick bent down and managed to open his cabinet door while still holding Lucy. He could hear his wife under them, moving about in the living room. She’d spend the next hour or so wandering around the room before finally stopping, becoming as motionless as the furniture around her.

“Am I going to be okay, Daddy?”

“Of course you are, Lucy.” He placed her on the bed. “Look, it really is nothing to worry about.” He did his best to give her a reassuring smile, wishing that he had someone to give him some hope. His smile faltered when he put her tiny hand in his. Her body temperature was starting to drop. Patrick turned and snatched his emergency packet. He popped out four tablets and pushed them into her mouth. “Swallow them, honey.”

Patrick picked her up and ran out of the bedroom.

“No Daddy, I don’t want to go to one of those horrid places.”

“Hush baby, they’re not like what the other kids say at school, I promise. They’ll make you better.” Patrick wished he could believe his own words. Right now, his daughter was the only thing that was keeping him alive. If he lost her, then he might as well have let Veronica end him.

He passed the living room door, trying not to think about his daughter’s flesh cooling. Patrick had no more tablets left. He pushed open the door, squinting at the bright sunlight. He looked over at the two kids and saw the older one now lying on the ground while his friend straddled him. The kid’s head was buried deep in the other boy’s stomach cavity.

Lucy’s grip suddenly relaxed. He turned his head and gazed in horror at a pair of lifeless eyes staring back at him. “Oh no,” he gasped. Patrick tried to pull the girl off his body but her grip had returned, stronger than ever.

She growled once then lunged forward, her small jaws fastening on Patrick’s windpipe. His scream died in his throat. Patrick’s last thought was of watching his mother leap on Patrick’s father during the first outbreak. He closed his eyes, feeling his strength leaving him. He hoped that he’d meet up with all of his family in a few moments.

Chapter Six

He pressed his forehead against the cold white tiles. Tony placed his hands beside his face. He had to find some way of calming down before his heart bounced through his ribcage. There was little chance of him finding any sort of tranquil state when his own body was cooling faster than a glass of water in a fucking icebox.

The sickness had awoken with vengeance. It coursed through his system, into each cell in his body. He was turning, Tony was going to join the ranks of the living dead and there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop it.

Tony rolled around and leaned back. “Stop it, for crying out loud, you baby. Get a grip on yourself.” He staggered over to the sink and gripped the edge while looking into the mirror. “Positive mental attitude, Tony. Come on, it’s what your wife keeps saying to you.” His eyes were a little bloodshot, but apart from the droplets of sweat on his forehead, he showed none of the classic symptoms. He leaned closer to the glass. “It’s all in your mind, Tony,” he whispered. “No, it fucking isn’t. The others standing in line showed no signs either. It didn’t stop the security forces from pulling them out.”

If he hadn’t been delayed, Tony knew that he would have been forced out of that queue at gunpoint, joining Kelly and Arnold in that truck. “And you even started to run because you thought you were going to be late for work,” he said to the terrified looking man in the mirror. Tony spat into the bowl. “No blood in your saliva. That has to be a good sign.”

He cast his mind back to when the entrance to Government House had just come into view. Noticing the long queue, Tony had slowed down to his normal walking pace. There was little point in overtiring his already worn down body. He’d done enough of that in the simulation, earlier.

A moment before Tony reached the end of the queue, the line began to move again. He’d never seen a queue outside his place of work before. From listening to his fellow colleagues standing at the end of the line, Tony wasn’t the only one who thought this was a bit odd.

His curiosity soon turned to fear when he saw five armed men pulling two employees out of the queue at the front of the line. Tony retained enough sense to notice that one of the soldiers carried a scanner. His gun was still slung other his shoulder.

A strange sense of calmness settled over him. It was as if he was watching the events unfold from the comfort of his armchair. Tony reached into his back pocket, pulled out the remaining tablets, and dry swallowed them. He had no intention of getting caught by another scanner today. Those soldiers wouldn’t wait for him to babble out an excuse. He’d be inside that truck along with the others before he could blink.

They dragged out two more workers that failed the scanner before driving away. As he watched the truck leave, he realized that the others in front of him cared more about saving their skins and the indignation of the soldiers treating them like commoners than the fate of their unfortunate workers.

Not one of them even gave a single comment about what would happen to the other employees. Tony kept his mouth shut. He knew where that truck was going, judging from its direction. At least he had a strong hunch.

Those poor bastards were about to be processed, killed, their corpses chemically changed back into human before final disposal. He hoped that he was wrong about that. None of them deserved ending up sharing the same fate as a needle-pushing scumbag. They were the ones who had helped to bring human society back from the brink of anarchy. Treating them like commoners or even worse, walking dead, was just despicable.

Tony’s feeling of detached reality left him as soon as he ran into the restroom. It had taken considerable effort to stop his stomach from ejecting its contents; what was inside him needed to stay there. After all, he’d just swallowed the last of his precious tablets.

His haggard reflection frowned. “So, what am I going to do now?” He hurried over to the door, opened it just enough to let the light in, and peered through the crack.

There was nobody about. All he could hear was the usual piped music coming through the tiny speakers attached to the walls. It was an oasis of calm out there, in stark contrast to the turmoil he was going through. Tony paused and decided not to leave his sanctuary just yet when he spotted movement. Six men, all dressed in the somber uniforms of building security, were escorting a young man in his mid-twenties along the hallway.

Tony stared at the figure inside that throng of dark blue-suited muscle, wondering if his eyes were actually working correctly. The man was dressed in what could only be described as outlandish. He looked like a cross between a clown and harlequin. Tony had never seen anything like it in his life.

The sudden sound of rapid gunfire blasted through the corridor. Tony jumped and let go of the door. Jesus, that was inside the building; judging from the noise, it wasn’t that far away either. So much for the oasis of calm. He pulled open the door again and saw that the man in strange clothing had tried to take advantage of the confusion by swinging his fist into the nose of the black-haired man holding his other arm. The man clamped both hands over his nose, screaming muffled obscenities at the grinning clown, who then proceeded to try and shake himself free from the other two men still holding him.

Tony watched with interest as the man desperately fought with his captors in a futile attempt to escape. He wanted to join in; the man obviously needed help, but there wasn’t a chance that Tony would leave the safety of the restroom. Although he felt for the man, it was obvious that he must be going through the same changes as Tony. Why else would building security be treating him like that? Tony also knew that if he joined in, it wouldn’t take longer than a minute to end up lying on the rough blue carpet with at least one of those bastards sitting on his chest.

He sent a silent apology to the other man, watching security rectify the situation, restraining him securely before pushing him through a door on the other side of the corridor.

Tony’s heart leapt up into his throat when he noticed several white tablets lying on the carpet. He waited until he heard the sound of the other door locking before rushing out and scooping every one of them up.

“The gods must be smiling down on me today,” he whispered, looking at the tiny white tablets huddled together in the palm of his hand. They must have fallen out of the guy’s pocket.

They weren’t like the ones that were handed out to the workers like him and his wife, and they certainly weren’t the same as that crappy cast-off rubbish that was given to the masses.

“Fuck me, the gods really are being kind to me.” That guy must belong to the inner government, the shadowy elite that ruled their huge city. He picked one up and held it up to the light.

His gut feeling told him that he had found something very special. This had to be what the elite used to stave away the sickness, what else could it be? The idea that a member of the inner council would be walking around with a handful of headache tablets was just ludicrous.

Tony held it close to his eyes. He guessed that just one of these things would probably be as strong as a full foil strip of the stuff that they gave to the admin. After all, from what Ellen had told him, the elite did demand the highest quality of everything.

His newfound pessimism then peered out from under a rock and asked Tony why it hadn’t worked for Clown Man.

“Screw it,” he snarled, before stuffing the tablet into his mouth. Fuck the pessimism. He knew he was right about this. Hell, for all he knew, the clown man might have done something totally unrelated from the sickness. Tony paused, then stuffed in another three just to make sure.

He set off running down the hallway, eager to get away from the area. The thought of one of those security guards bursting through that door, glaring at Tony and demanding back the tablets, gave him a sudden burst of energy and enough motivation to get the hell out of there. There was no way, with the state he was in, that he’d be able to offer any resistance.

“Well they can’t have them,” he whispered, pushing the remaining tablets into his back pocket. “They are mine now.” As he ran, Tony realized that it no longer felt as though he had iced slush flowing through his veins. The tablets must be working; he’d bought himself a little more time.

“Oh, well that’s great,” he muttered. How long did he have left though? He stared at a battered metal table next to a vending machine that had never worked. It amazed him that only yesterday, he’d been trying to see if any sweets were still inside it. Until a few minutes ago, those kinds of wispy thoughts were the only ones drifting through his mind. Until a few minutes ago, his work time occupied the majority of his rather sad life. He could very well go there now. Tapping in an endless stream of meaningless numbers for the next eight hours sounded to him like a death sentence. It probably would be as well. For all his boasting to his wife, he was only a very small cog in a huge machine. He paused, for the first time wondering why the head of the department had chosen him to test out Joseph’s new device.

Maybe he should go back home and see if he could sleep his way out of this malaise. He was sure that Ellen had left a dozen foil strips in the kitchen drawer, beneath her collection of tea-towels, but he guessed that there was little chance of him getting out of here without running into more people armed with scanners. Even if he did get out and survived the journey back home, what were the chances of him getting through the checkpoint?

Besides, he wanted to be fixed. Taking tablets was just delaying the inevitable. It was like sticking a plaster over a hole on a burst water pipe. He might be a very small cog in a huge machine, but there might come a day when his input could help find a permanent cure to this vile disease. He couldn’t afford to go home.

Distant screams reached his ears, followed by the sound of more gunfire. The commotion came from behind him. He guessed that the main entrance would be the likeliest location. That meant there was no chance in trying to leave just yet.

He didn’t have a clue where to turn, or who could help him. Tony felt like a rat in a maze. He’d just keep going round and round these empty fucking corridors until the tablets lost their potency. After that? He skidded to halt. After that, it wouldn’t matter anymore. He’d be dead, simple as that.

The floor looked so comforting. Perhaps he should just sit down and lean his back against the wall, and maybe close his eyes for a couple of seconds. He stared at the government issue brown wallpaper, following the parallel patterned lines up towards a black metal sign bolted to the wall next to a set of double doors. It displayed every department in the east wing; Tony must have passed it hundreds of times and not once had he bothered to read it.

The name of one department, right at the bottom, stuck out from the rest. He found that the tiny candle of hope had just been re-lit. “Research and Development – Ground Floor,” he said. He’d never been down that far, not that it mattered. Tony knew of one person who did work down there. The guy who’d given him the VR machine to try out.

“Why didn’t I think of him before? Yeah, Joseph will be able to help me out. Oh yeah, I think my problem has …”

Tony’s words dried up. He stepped back and crashed into the other corridor wall. He managed to reach into his pocket, pull out the tablets, and push them into his mouth before hitting the floor.

Tony swept his hand out in a low arc, grunting with confusion when his probing fingers found nothing but dry rubble. His eyes snapped open and he looked up at the broken roof, seeing a dozen stars through the rafters which stuck out of the top of the wall like skeletal fingers. What the fuck just happened? Where was he and where was his shotgun?

He calmed his breathing, then got to his feet. “Wait a minute, Tony. What fucking shotgun?” None of this made any sense. He fell back against the wall and muffled a scream when he felt alien thoughts urgently trying to press through a thin barrier located at the back of his mind. “Go away,” he snarled. “Get out of my fucking head!” It was no good, those other thoughts rushed into his mind, pushing out everything that was familiar.

What the fuck had he done with his shotgun? No matter how hard he looked, the weapon was nowhere to be seen. He knew that he’d left the campsite with it. Coming back into the city was stupid enough, but to come here unarmed was just suicidal. It wasn’t just the few dead things that he needed to watch out for. If the security forces caught him outside during curfew, the bastards would take great pleasure in torturing him. Those bastard off-worlders honestly believed that they were all fucking sub-human.

“Did I really leave the site without my gun?” he whispered. He must have done so. It troubled him that he couldn’t remember. The only thing he could recollect was some weird dream about him watching some clown fighting with a group of men and then pushing a load of pills into his mouth.

“I think I need to lay off the homemade beer before setting out,” murmured Tony. So, he had no weapon and his memory had deserted him. Ever the practical man, Tony pushed these worries away. There was no point in worrying over stuff he had no control over. At least there was no sign of dead monsters, so it gave him time to look for a suitable alternate weapon. As for his recent memory lapse, well, he was sure it would come back to him eventually.

Perhaps he’d banged his head? That did make some sense, considering he’d just picked himself up from the ground. Tony’s objectives hadn’t changed, no matter what the condition of his memory. He must be back in one of the forbidden places solely to look for weapons. There would be no other reason to risk death by coming into this blighted place.

Tony climbed onto the rubble, jumped up and managed to catch a low beam with his fingers. With more luck than skill, Tony eased his body up until his head was clear of the top of the structure. The ruined city’s panorama stretched out in front of him.

Beyond the forgotten buildings, Tony could make out the vast sway of green, yellow, and white fields which stretched all the way to the horizon. Each one was packed with enough food to feed a city for months. Tony growled to himself. None of this precious stuff would go to feed any of his people. This harvest would disappear through the gate, into the hateful city of those evil, fucking invaders who had arrived here five years ago, bringing the plague with them. The ones who didn’t turn into shambling corpses, eager for human flesh, were enslaved.

He dropped back to the ground, just in case their ‘master’ was watching, He didn’t want them to find him in here. Wherever ‘here’ was.

“Oh, that’s helpful,” he grinned, looking up at a metal sign just above his head. Tony brushed away the years of accumulated dirt, tracing his fingers over the embedded letters in the metal. Judging by the departments’ names, he figured that this building had been either a military complex or probably some sort of administration building belonging to a chemical factory. Why else would it have a research and development section?

For some reason that he couldn’t fathom, Tony felt compelled to go down three floors and investigate that particular section. He saw no logical reason for doing so. His priority was to find weapons, not to gaze in incomprehension at a bunch of old experiments left rotting in some forgotten building. Despite this, he’d already made up his mind.

He picked his way through the rubble, heading towards where the doorway once stood. Tony reached the stairway and shook the railings to check that they weren’t going to crumble. The metal didn’t budge. Satisfied that he wasn’t going to tumble down the middle of the stairway, he leaned over the edge to make sure that it would be safe enough to use this route.

Apart from a chunk of masonry that must have fallen from above, he saw no sign of heavy damage. “Here we go then.” This place felt so familiar; there was something about the layout and, in particular, that old sign that jarred his memory. Tony tried to shake away the irrational feeling that he’d been here before. He knew he hadn’t. Hell, until The Rising, Tony had never even left his home town.

He made his way down the stairway, keeping his ear open for any sound that he wasn’t alone. He still needed a weapon. There were plenty of stones lying about but nothing he could use. Tony felt vulnerable with his hands empty. Even a heavy stick would suffice for the moment.

Before he reached the next level, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. No obvious sounds of company had reached his ears yet, but he knew without doubt that someone or something was just behind the next door, just waiting to whack him. He flattened his back against the wall and stared at the door. It was weird; apart from obvious signs of wear and tear, it looked almost new. How did that work? This whole building must have been open to the elements for years. By rights, that door shouldn’t have even been there. “Unless someone has maintained it,” he muttered. It was probably best that he abandon this stupid venture altogether. The heavy feeling in his guts had returned. The evidence pointed to another human settlement. They wouldn’t take kindly to a stranger poking his nose into their business.

If he followed this path, Tony could very well end up losing his nose, as well as certain other parts of his anatomy. Not every person had surrendered when the invaders had come through. Some of the more resilient ones had hidden away in the forgotten cities, staying underground, only coming out at night to hunt for food. He’d heard the stories of other human settlements turning to cannibalism in order to survive. Tony picked up a fist-sized rock. He might be wrong about all of this. It was probable that his nerves were still shot. More than likely, Tony was alone in here. Even so, if he was right about someone else down here, he wasn’t going to let anyone put him in a cooking pot.

The one lesson that he’d learned the hard way was to never dismiss his gut feelings; this sixth sense that set his hairs on end and shot a load of butterflies into his stomach had saved his skin on more than one occasion.

If there was somebody behind the door, he would have to find some way to get past him. He looked behind him, back up the stairway. He’d always said there was a choice. Even if his instinct was so strong that it would be impossible to ignore, it, there should always be at least one alternative. His choice in this case was to run back up those stairs.

Tony already knew where his destiny lay. He charged forwards and slammed his body against the door, not remotely surprised to find an obstacle on the other side.

He pushed the door again and dived through the gap, listening to mumbled curses coming from a large man dressed in tattered military fatigues.

The man reached for a baseball bat just by his hand. Tony saw the movement and kicked it out of his reach. He then viciously slammed his boot into the man’s face. There was no guilt; this guy would have done the same to him if the tables were turned. He preferred it to be the other guy on the floor, pouring blood out of his broken nose.

Tony snatched up the bat. “Listen to me closely, friend. It would be in your best interest to stay on that floor. Now I know you must be really pissed because I messed up your nose.” Tony pushed the bat against the man’s forehead. “That’s mild compared to what I’ll do if you get any bright ideas. I hope you get my drift, buddy.”

He received a glare nasty enough to freeze the blood, but the guy did give Tony a slight nod. He guessed he’d have to live with that. It did feel odd how he was getting colder though.

“Just one more question, how many of you are down here?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” spat the man. “Don’t you know where you are? Just you wait until the others get here. They won’t need to use a scanner on you, buddy.”

Tony backed away from the man, not taking his eyes off his smirking face. He had no idea what any of that meant, and yet … He shook his head, trying to clear away a dense fog that was threatening to take him back to somewhere else. “Fuck you,” he snarled.

That door behind him looked so inviting. Maybe he ought to listen to his common sense and just get the hell out of here. None of this felt right at all. It would only take a few minutes to race up those stairs and get out of there.

No, screw that idea, this mission needed to be seen out to the end. There was no backing out now. Tony gave those doors one last look before bolting down the darkened hallway. His common sense could go take a running jump. It didn’t matter if he was heading towards the center of an angry hornets’ nest; this was what his instinct was telling him to do.

He shivered. That coldness flowing through his body was beginning to worry him now. It had to be in his mind, the effect of this building and that weird guard was obviously messing with his head. He gripped the bat tighter, promising himself that the next guard he met would get the bat wrapped around his head before the fucker could spout out any confusing nonsense. This part of the building was free of debris and clean. It almost felt as if the place had been resorted to its former glory. It was as if the decaying world above his head didn’t even exist. Tony ran his hand along the corridor wall, then inspected his fingers. These walls were definitely clean. Would a bunch of mad cannibals keep the place so tidy? Tony didn’t think so.

It also suggested that they were just another small band of individuals, hiding out in this ruined city, keeping their heads and wanting to stay alive.

“And you’ve just whacked their only lookout,” he muttered. “Good move, Tony. He’s probably the only safeguard they have from the real flesh eaters. Those dead things are probably on their way down here right now.”

Tony stopped running as he reached a ‘T’ junction. Where did the sudden bout of guilt trips come from? He felt, just for a moment, like a completely different person. It was this place, it had to be. Something in this building was seriously fucking with his head. He just needed to find out what it was. Tony guessed that it must be in that room, why else was his instinct guiding him towards it? “Poor starving individuals?” Hell, the guy on the floor looked as though he’d only just finished off a three-course meal.

He looked both ways down the corridor. Tony knew he needed to go left. That didn’t help either; how could he even know where he was supposed to go? These walls felt so familiar, as if he’d travelled down here many times. Before he turned, he heard something crash against the wall, back where he’d left that guy. It sounded like the man wasn’t going to take his advice after all.

Tony sighed heavily when he heard the man’s voice and, to make it worse, the guy with the broken nose had company. Judging from the sudden blast of furious shouts, the guy wasn’t all that happy about Tony stealing his bat. They weren’t wasting time in coming after him either.

“Just great,” he said, racing down the dimly lit hallway. His progress came to an abrupt stop when his ears detected another voice; this one was directly in front of him. Fuck, had they doubled back and cut him off? His blood chilled when that noise transformed into a low moan.

His fingers tightened around the handle. The men behind him were temporarily forgotten as he focused on the sound of that moaning, trying to find out exactly where it was coming from. He tuned out the shouts, hearing the clacking of teeth. Was it just one or two of them? It didn’t matter, Tony knew where it was coming from now. Judging from the long shadow growing from around the corner, there was just the one.

The muttered tones of his pursuers had now turned to shock and fear. Tony nodded to himself, guessing that there was more than just one zombie down here with them. Still, he was confident that they’d be able to deal with it. Nobody in this terrible world could last long without knowing how to put down the dead things.

He lifted his bat and ran towards the shadow. The cloying stench of bad meat, coupled with their unique chemical taint, confirmed what he already knew. Tony swung the bat hard, feeling the thick wood connect with the side of its head. The impact reverberated through his arms and into his shoulders. The dead thing slammed into the ground. This time it wasn’t ever going to get back up.

Tony stood over it, panting heavily. He looked at the dark blood staining the end of the bat. None of this made any sense. There shouldn’t have been so much blood. Just by looking at it, he knew that this zombie had been in this state for years. Its liquids would have turned to stinking black sludge years ago. This one was freshly turned.

The paradox shifted up another gear when Tony heard the sound of the other zombie closing in. So much for back up. They all must have turned tail and ran. He spun around and saw the dead thing shambling towards him. His mind threatened to give out. It was another white-haired guy. It looked just like the one on the floor behind him. Tony growled. “Who the fuck is messing with my brain?” he shouted. The thing lifted its arms. Tony ducked under them and shoved the end of the bat up, connecting with the bottom of its jaw. It flung its head back and slammed into the wall behind it. Tony stood up, raised the bat above his head, and slammed it into the top of the zombie’s head.

“Fuck you!” he snarled.

He gave the two fallen things one more glance before continuing down the hallway, hoping that behind the door of his destination lay the answers to every one of the mental fuck ups that now plagued him. He cast aside every other nagging doubt, even ignoring the horrible feeling of his body temperature cooling, and put on an extra burst of speed.

As he skidded around the corner, another dead thing blocked his path. He stopped and stared, feeling his mental gears shift again at the sight of its long white hair trailing over its shoulder. Tony blinked, not knowing why the sight of this individual sent his heart fluttering. It was only one more zombie.

The thing had sensed Tony and had its jaw already open, no doubt anticipating a mouthful of his warm flesh. “Fuck you as well,” he hissed, pushing the bat savagely forward. The end broke most of the thing’s front teeth. He reversed the bat and cracked it against the back of the zombie’s head as he ran past. Right now, Tony could not even be bothered to stop to see if his attack had finished it off. Not now, that door was just around the next bend. Tony needed to get there.

He saw his target directly ahead as he turned the corner. It was just an ordinary wooden door, with a small brass plaque positioned at eye height. With his heart beating like an Olympic sprinter, he approached the door, keeping a firm grip on his improvised weapon. He reached for the handle, twisted the metal down and pushed, watching the door swing open.

The interior revealed itself. It was nothing like what he was expecting. Tony gazed around the room, taking in the walls covered in posters of unfamiliar movies, the luxurious soft furnishing, and the weirdest thing of all, the huge table dominating the room covered in Legos.

“Where the fuck did you come from?”

He spun around and caught sight of a man in his mid-30’s. Tony didn’t have a clue who he was, and yet he did. This guy was called Joseph. His overloaded brain tilted again. He didn’t even have time to react to the man’s sudden lunge. Tony gazed down in confusion, watching a syringe fall to the floor. Tony knew he was about to follow it. He spun his head, and looked into the room one more time. Before his eyes closed, he noticed one more oddity. There was a pair of teenage lads sitting in the corner; they were both wearing what looked like black, bicycle safety helmets.

Chapter Seven

The casing from the shotgun clattered across the wet asphalt before disappearing down a drain. He looked into his brother’s shining eyes and laughed. “Come on, admit it, Daniel, this is way better than playing with all those Legos!”

The light in his brother’s eyes died like a broken flashlight. Mortimer had put his foot right in it again.

“You’re just like all the others at the camp!” he hissed. “You’re just like Martin.”

Mortimer’s eyes stayed fixed on his brother’s crossbow, watching it rise higher and higher. “Enough of the pity me act, Daniel.” He leaned closer to him. “Listen to me.” He pushed the crossbow down to face the ground. He had no wish to receive a bolt in his flesh, either by accident or on purpose. “Did you honestly think that I brought you out here to humiliate you? I’m the only one who’s ever stuck up for you. Even when Martin tried to beat you up, it was always me who jumped between the pair of you.”

Mortimer grabbed his brother’s wrist and jerked him forward. “Look at that,” he hissed, pointing at the fallen zombie. “I know you think that everyone is out to get you, Daniel, but you don’t exactly do yourself any favor by shunning the others. That is your enemy. That thing is definitely out to get you. It would have done anything to clamp its teeth around your flesh. As for the others at the camp?” He snorted. “They’re too busy trying to stay alive, nobody hates you.”

“No, you’re wrong,” said Daniel, violently shaking his head. “You don’t know what they’re like to me when you’re not around. They all hate me, and Martin is the worse one of them all. I wish he was dead.”

Why was he even bothering? Mortimer turned around and stormed off. Fuck him. He was tired of all of this shit. This conversation had been played out countless times already. Hell, even back before the invaders had brought the plague, the fireworks had always been flying between the three of them. He should have left Daniel with his stupid bricks. He was never going to change his tune. Daniel was his own worst enemy.

“Wait up, Mortimer!”

He tensed, expecting to feel the thud of a crossbow bolt thudding into his back at any second. Mortimer spun around, both his hands gripping his shotgun very tight. Daniel was running right for him, but instead of the enraged face of fury, he only saw a great big soft lump of a man who looked about as dangerous as a frightened puppy. His crossbow dangled by his hand like a forgotten glove. Mortimer relaxed his grip and took his finger off the trigger. It looked as though his brother wasn’t the only one with trust issues.

“I’m sorry,” said Daniel. “I didn’t mean to fly off at the handle like that. It’s just that back at the camp, the insults always start off with some innocent-sounding jibe and it inevitably snowballs out of control.”

“Forget about it, Daniel. Come on, we should keep moving. To be honest with you, I shouldn’t have fired off that shot. It would have been better for both of us if I’d let you shoot it or whack it with the gun butt. The noise will travel for miles. I daren’t think how many of those things will be hiding in the city.”

His brother nodded, his head moving up and down with every snippet of info that Mortimer uttered. Daniel didn’t have a clue about how to survive out in the open. Even the most basic of survival tips had flown straight over his brother’s head. All Daniel seemed to care about was his dumb models.

“It doesn’t look like there’s that many of them about, Mortimer. I can’t hear any footsteps. I thought they moaned a lot when they were close to you?” Daniel looked back at the one that Mortimer had shot. “Maybe that’s the only one around here? I mean, why would they bother to stick around when there’s obviously nobody about?” Daniel wandered over to an abandoned car. “You know something?” He turned around. “I feel as if I know this street. How can that be? I’ve never been here in my life, and yet …” He walked past the car and onto the sidewalk. “How is it that I know that there’s a huge toyshop just around the corner?”

Mortimer knew exactly what he meant, but he would have preferred not to hear his brother voicing the same thoughts that had plagued him ever since he’d started to visit the city. “I have no idea,” he lied. “To be honest, the only reason why we’re here at all is because I’m just following a standard search pattern. I’ve already checked out the other areas and found nothing of value.” He shrugged. “There’s nothing special about this place.” He had no intention of telling Daniel that he’d been drawn to this part of the town ever since coming to the city. The pull had always been there, only this time, in the company of his brother, there was no way he could resist its attraction, no matter how hard he tried.

“Bullshit.” Daniel started to walk past the abandoned shops. “I know that there’s a toyshop in the next street. I’ll prove it to you.”

Oh Jesus, their mom had raised a complete idiot! Daniel casually walked along that street without a care in the world, still holding the crossbow by the strap. He wouldn’t stand a chance if any of those things were inside any of those shops. Mortimer ran after him, looking out for anything other than Daniel moving about.

His worst fears solidified. Over a dozen shadows began to move in the grocery store that Daniel had just walked past. “Get your ass back here!” yelled Mortimer. There was little point in stealth at this point. The bastards had already sensed Daniel. He raced over, watching the shadows move towards the broken shop windows. “For crying out loud, Daniel, get the fuck over here! They’re coming after you.”

He reached his brother, grabbed the man’s collar, and pulled Daniel off the sidewalk. The first grey face appeared out of the blackness. Mortimer pushed the stock into his shoulder, took aim and fired. The roar split the sky. He didn’t bother congratulating himself on the fact that the top of his target’s head had just disappeared in a crimson cloud of gore; another dead thing had already shuffled past the fallen zombie.

“What are we going to do?”

He glanced at his brother’s terrified face, then looked back at the dozens of dead things shambling out of the shop windows. Daniel moaned.

“There’s more of them over there!”

The fear in his brother’s voice was tangible. He dare not answer him for fear that his voice might break as well. Daniel wasn’t wrong. He now saw movement in windows and open doorways all around them. They didn’t stand a chance of stopping every one of them. Mortimer tapped his brother sharply on the top of his arm before turning and pelting down the street, staying in the middle of the road. He glanced back once to make sure that Daniel hadn’t decided to stay.

His brother was right behind him, waving the crossbow at the dead things shambling after them. There seemed little point in wasting his breath informing Daniel that the zombies didn’t really understand threats.

There were about a half a dozen already in front of them now. He didn’t believe they posed much of a threat though. Mortimer raised his shotgun and fired once, watching the head of the closest zombie, a middle aged man, explode. Two more emerged from an alcove and joined the rest. He sighed, maybe he just ought to keep his big mouth shut.

“They’re getting closer!”

He turned to see his brother had stopped. He was bending down to pick up a bolt that had fallen. “Christ!” he muttered. Mortimer ran back and grabbed the man’s arm. ”Leave it,” he hissed. “We need to move. Stay with me, don’t stop for anything!”

He ran straight for two dead things while spinning the shotgun. He lifted it up by the barrel and swung it hard at the first zombie. The stock crashed into the side of its head. Mortimer jerked the weapon back, grunting in satisfaction as the barrel slammed against the other one’s neck. It wasn’t down but the movement had given the pair of them a clear path through.

“Where are we going?”

Daniel wasn’t the only one who thought he’d been here before. The sense of belonging had increased with each passing moment. He knew exactly where to go. “Just hush and keep up, Daniel. Keep your head about you, for Christ sake.”

There were a few more dead things in front of them, not many though. It looked as though they had left the bulk of the foul creatures behind them. Even so, he wasn’t going to allow his optimism to overtake his mood just yet. Mortimer slowed down to allow his brother to catch up. “I need your crossbow,” he said. “Swap, just don’t fire it. The last thing we need is to get them excited again.”

Reluctantly, his brother passed him the weapon. Mortimer notched a bolt and pulled back the bow. “Can you see that white building in the distance? The one that’s next to the …”

“Next to the clock tower, where the newspaper office is.”

Mortimer slowly nodded. “Yeah, that’s the place.”

“How do we know where to go?”

The dead things were catching up again. Glancing over his brother’s shoulder, he guessed that there were now at least a hundred bodies making their way towards them. Yet, looking at his brother’s expression, Mortimer was more concerned about how they both seemed to know where to go in this city when neither of them had ever been here before. Mortimer had no answer himself. Unlike Daniel, his practicality had taken control. “We’ll figure that out later.”

He raised the crossbow, aimed, and fired, taking out an old woman that was getting too close for comfort. He ran forward and pulled the bolt out of her forehead. “Follow me,” he said, wondering why he was even bothering to speak, considering his brother must know exactly where they were going now. He ducked under the arms of another one, jumping at the sound of a meaty dull smack. He spun around to see Daniel standing over the zombie that Mortimer had just avoided. His brother was grinning from ear to ear, holding the shotgun like a caveman gripping a club.

“Good man,” said Mortimer, turning back around. He raced across the street, happy to see there weren’t any dead things close by now. His target was just in front of him. Mortimer ran around a delivery truck and stopped under a metal fire exit, waiting for his brother to catch up. “Daniel, climb on my shoulders and try to grab the end.” He kneeled down and gritted his teeth while his brother placed his dirty feet beside his head.

“I’ve got it!”

“Yeah, great,” he muttered. “Then get off me, you heavy bastard.”

His brother jumped off him and pulled the ladders down. Mortimer looked behind them, watching the horde get closer. He shook his head. It was a horde now. It looked as though the whole city had turned out.

“There won’t be much of us to go around,” said Daniel, grinning.

Mortimer looked up, seeing Daniel was already on the next set of steps. He quickly followed him and, with Daniel’s help, they pulled the last set of ladders back up to their original position. “How do you feel?”

Daniel shrugged. “Well, apart from not being able to shift that increasing feeling that I’ve been here before, I feel pretty good.” He grinned and pointed to the crossbow. “Do you mind if I keep the gun? I promise I won’t fire it, honest.”

Mortimer sighed. “Yeah, because the last thing we want is for the zombies to know that we’re here.”

Daniel chuckled. “Yeah, that would be very bad. You know something? I think you’re right, this is better than playing with Legos.” He raced up the next flight of stairs and leaned over the railings. “The view from up here is awesome. I can almost see the camp.” He looked back at Mortimer. “I’m hungry.”

The dead things below them were hungry as well. The last thing Mortimer wanted to do right now was to push a pin into Daniel’s happiness bubble, but he might have to. If they didn’t find anything to eat in here, chances were that they might not get out of here alive. Those dead things were not going anywhere anytime soon. They knew that their food was in here, and the one thing that all those foul monstrosities possessed in vast quantities was patience.

It could be a couple of days before they were able to escape. Mortimer watched his brother grinning away. It did make him feel good inside to actually see Daniel do anything than snarl or sneer. He’d almost forgotten what his twin looked like with a smile plastered across his face.

Daniel reached the roof and disappeared from view, leaving him alone with his thoughts. “If only Martin was here to see this,” he mumbled. Mortimer watched the crowds of the dead continue to approach the building and, for some weird reason, he actually had the feeling that the rest of his family were in that mass of animated bodies. Just like the ‘been here before’ feeling, this new thought would not leave him.

The rest of their family were dead alright, but their demise had occurred over two hundred miles north of here, way before the time of The Change. Their parents had perished in a car accident two years before the world turned into complete shit. For the last few years until all this happened, it had been their brother and his girlfriend who had kept an eye on the younger brothers. Sure, they’d still lived in the same house that they’d been born in, but the painful memories of their loss had given them all deep scars. Their older brother had always been a bit dominating, but at least they’d been able to have a bit of a laugh with him. He’d got far worse after Mom and Dad had died. Although, for some unknown reason, it had been Daniel who had taken the brunt of Martin’s mood change.

Mortimer raised his eyes to the edge of the building, spotting the top of his brother’s head coming into view. It was the old Martin who would have loved to see Daniel smile. He took a deep breath and yet again wished things had turned out differently, that none of this raising the dead shit had happened.

“Hell, while you’re at it, living in fucking fantasy land, why don’t you wish that Mom and Dad hadn’t died in that crash.” He continued up the stairway, wondering how his parents would have coped with The Change. He looked back and felt himself choke up. They’d be with that lot down there.

“Are you coming, or what?”

Mortimer raced up the last set of steps, wondering if he should be grateful at the sight of Daniel’s shining face. At least when the bastard was miserable, he wasn’t so annoying.

“Come on, I’ve already found our way inside. It looks like we’re not the only ones who have been here.” Daniel ran across the roof, heading towards a raised skylight. “I think we’ll be safe here. I peered down and I can’t see movement.”

Should he feel confident in the fact that, all of a sudden, Daniel had turned into the survival expert? Mortimer followed his brother to the skylight and took a look for himself. The first thing he saw was a rope ladder, fastened to the thick metal pipe that ran across the roof before disappearing into the side of a large tank at the other side of the building. Mortimer grabbed the ladder, braced himself, and gave it a sharp tug. It felt secure, at least enough to take their weight.

He looked into the building, judging it to be at least a fifteen foot drop. If that ladder didn’t hold them, that drop could easily break their legs. He wondered if Daniel realized that, out here, any kind of injury could kill the pair of them.

“Pass me those pieces of stone next to your feet, Daniel.” He held out his hand and watched his brother carefully pick up every one, including the stones too small for the purpose intended. Mortimer dropped the smallest ones down first, followed by the large pieces. He heard them clatter across the hard floor and waited, keeping his ears open for any sound indicating that they might have company down there. Mortimer notched a bolt into the weapon and pointed it into the hole.

“Why does this place look so familiar?”

Mortimer tuned his brother’s voice out, then leaned into the hole. He put the crossbow down and grabbed the edges while lowering his head further down. The skylight led into a large storage room. He smiled at the sight of over a dozen tins stacked on a metal shelf located at the far side of the room. He saw no movement; there wasn’t anywhere for anyone or anything to hide either. “Brilliant,” he said. “It’s safe.” Mortimer picked up the crossbow, slung it onto his back, and started to climb down the rope ladder. “Daniel, wait until I’m on the floor before following me. Don’t forget your gun.”

“Is it safe?”

“Totally safe. It looks as though we might get a meal out of it as well.” Mortimer reached the bottom and released the rope. It took a great deal of resistance not to run over to that shelf to see what the goodies were. He dared not leave Daniel though. If the ladder did break, at least the big lunk would have a soft landing.

He took one step back and gave Daniel some room.

“It smells musty in here,” said his brother as he placed both feet on the floor.

“It’s better than it stinking of bad meat,” Mortimer replied, walking over to the shelf. “It means that we’re safe, at least in here.” He picked up the first tin, sighing when he saw the label had long since worn away. It could be anything from dog food to rice pudding. He gave the contents a shake. It didn’t sound too liquidy. Even so, he was still none the wiser. “Here you go, Daniel, catch,” he said, throwing the tin at him. “What do you think is inside it?”

Daniel caught the tin and shook it as well. “I’ve no idea. Why don’t we just open it and find out?” He dropped to the floor, placed the tin in front of him, and pulled out a large knife.

Mortimer quickly checked out the other tins before joining him. “Go on then, get it open, let’s see if the gods are shining down on us today.” His stomach growled and his mouth began to water as soon as the sweet scent of fruit reached his nostrils when Daniel punched a hole in the top of the tin.

“Oh Jesus,” gasped Daniel. “It’s full of strawberries!” He looked across at his brother. “Do you mind if I taste first?”

Mortimer squeezed his stomach muscles together. “You can have the tin, Daniel, I’ll grab another one.” He frowned. “It might be best if you take your time eating them, though. It’s been a while since you’ve had anything so rich.” Judging by his actions, his brother hadn’t heard a word that he’d just said. Daniel was too busy using his knife to rip off the top. Mortimer hurried back over to the shelf and picked up anther tin and shook it. If this one was full of dog food, he fully intended to throw it at his brother.

He pulled out his own knife and pushed the tip into the top. Mortimer chuckled. There was meat inside but it wasn’t for a dog or a cat. He’d just found a tin of steak. He looked over at his brother, currently holding his tin up and greedily gulping down the contents. It was such a bizarre sight, considering that back before The Change, Daniel hated fruit, especially strawberries. He carefully pushed the blade into the metal at the edge, sawed off the top and peeled the metal back.

Mortimer dug his fingers into the brown mush and scooped out a generous portion, then pushed it into his warm mouth, groaning in ecstasy. If it wasn’t for the hundreds of dead things around this building, Mortimer could quite easily name this the happiest day of the past four years. He scooped out another fingerful of food and opened his mouth to receive the joyous bounty while counting the rest of the tins. The twelve remaining tins should keep them happy for at least a week, if they could find some water. He shook his flask and sighed when he worked out that it was already half empty.

He looked back at his brother and saw that he was already eying the other tins. “Shall we see what else is in here?”

Daniel grinned. “Hell yeah.” He hurried over to the door. “It’ll be ironic if it’s locked.”

Mortimer passed his brother his tin. “Here, finish it off.” He un-slung the crossbow and crept over to the door while keeping his finger on the trigger “Get ready,” he whispered, reaching for the door handle. He counted to three and turned the handle then pulled. A gust of more stale air hit him in the face when he pulled the door open. He coughed when the disturbed dust particles went down his throat. He saw no movement out here and there was no evidence that any dead thing had been down here either.

Could they have actually found a decent place to rest up? Something like this, a safe hideout, would mean he’d be able to stay longer in the city to look for resources. Until the discovery of this place and those tins, he’d been close to giving up on the city, believing it to have been cleared out by other groups years before. Obviously, the city had seen its fair share of plunderers, but now at least he knew that some places had been left untouched. “All ready for me to plunder,” he whispered, grinning to himself.

He followed the dust-covered corridor, glancing at the framed prints of images of an old city from last century screwed to the wall. It took him a few moments to realize that this place must have been an old mill that had been converted into industrial units some time in its past. Judging from the prints on the other wall, this was a printing works.

“Hey Daniel, didn’t you used to work in a printing place?” He glanced behind him and saw his brother was once again not taking any notice of what he was saying. Daniel was too busy staring at a picture of three dogs playing pool. “Hello, Earth to Daniel, is there anybody inside?”

His brother slowly turned and looked at Daniel. “Yeah, I heard you. I heard every syllable. I now know why I knew there was a toyshop in the next street.” He hurried forward and pushed past Mortimer.

“Wait up, what are you doing?”

Daniel didn’t slow down.

“For fuck’s sake, you idiot, wait for me. We don’t know how safe it is.” He sighed and ran after his brother, watching him disappear around the corner. He skidded to a halt, almost colliding with Daniel who was gazing at the floor. There was evidence that this building had been occupied sometime after The Change. He looked at the burnt patch of green carpet that showed a blackened area of floorboard.

His brother kicked over a tin. “Now we know who put the tins on that shelf.”

“Why did you run off?”

Daniel pointed to a black panelled door on the other side of the corridor. “Go through there, Mortimer, and look at the wall behind the large antique desk that’s going to be in there, next to the window.”

Mortimer gave his brother a long hard stare, trying to work out what his game was. He then saw tears in Daniel’s eyes. He turned and grabbed the door handle and pushed. The door swung open and the first thing that hit him was the faint smell of pine.

“It’s air freshener,” whispered his brother over his shoulder. “Mr. Warner’s office always stunk of it. The fat old bastard loved the smell. It used to make me sick. Who’d have thought that the smell would still be here?”

Mortimer saw the large desk by the window, just like his brother had said. He looked back at him. This time, Mortimer saw nothing that he recognized. “Do I want to know how you knew?”

His brother pointed to the wall. “I’ve already told you. Go have a look at the pictures. This is seriously going to freak you out.”

With his heart thudding, Mortimer did as Daniel asked and walked over to the wall. There were over a dozen pictures hanging on the dark, wood-panelled wall, but Mortimer knew exactly which picture he was supposed to be looking at. Directly in front of him, he saw one gold-framed picture that showed three lines of people. Mortimer guessed, looking at the uniforms, that this was an employee shot. On the back row, standing on the far left, was his brother, Daniel. He looked back. “This is impossible!”

Daniel shrugged. “Tell me about it.” He walked over to the window. “Impossible or not, there I am, in that picture. Now I know you, Mortimer. You’re already pushing this weird turn of events to the back of your mind, no doubt thinking of a way out of here.” Daniel nodded to himself. “That’s good, no, it really is, ‘cause right now, I think my mind is on the verge of detonating. I haven’t finished either. There’s one more thing that I need to show you.” He looked out of the window one more time. “Believe it or not. I know how to get past all those dead things.”

Mortimer swallowed down the cold meat that had just decided to come back up in his throat, and followed his brother out of the room. Daniel had gotten his assessment wrong this time. Sure, normally, he would have tried to put all of this behind him. He had been getting very good at casting aside all the spooky and weird shit that had landed on his head recently, but not now, not this time. He needed to get to the bottom of this enigma. Mortimer looked back at the picture one more time before closing the door. If he didn’t work this out pretty soon, his mind would detonate as well.

The corridor opened out into a reception area. He saw Daniel staring at a large pot standing in the corner of the room. Mortimer saw a few brown leaves rotting into the moldy carpet, and walked over to his brother.

“It’s hard to believe that it managed to survive for so long,” said Daniel. He pointed to the broken window beside the plant. “I guess the rain must have kept the plant from completely giving up the ghost.” Daniel turned and walked over to a metal desk behind Mortimer. “Do you want to hear something that’s really going to blow your mind, Mortimer?”

He shook his head. “No, not really.” He stared at Daniel. “Believe it or not, my head is fairly close to breaking already.”

Daniel grinned. “I think I went past that stage a bit back. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“Wait, what about the mind blowing thing?”

Daniel ignored him and hurried out of the reception area. Mortimer rushed after him. “Come on, don’t leave me hanging.”

“You see that door on the balcony above us?”

Mortimer nodded.

“Back when I first got the job here, I knew this guy who lived on Pulse Street, the one a few roads from where we used to live. Well, he was always on time, despite me knowing that he set off to work after me.” Daniel ran up the stairs and walked over to the door. “Come on,” he said, looking down at Mortimer. “You’re going to love this.”

Mortimer followed him up and watched his brother push open the door. A blast of cool air rushed into the building. Mortimer reached the open doorway and looked out. It was another fire exit that led down to an alleyway. He grinned. The place was closed off from the other streets. There were no walking dead anywhere to be seen. “Oh, this is brilliant! Yep, you have certainly blown my mind, Daniel.”

His brother grabbed him. “No, this isn’t it, Mortimer. I wanted to make sure that at least this bit hadn’t changed before I told you.” He sighed heavily. “The reception area is at the back of the building. The reception area that we just went into is where the toilets should be.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I can’t explain better than that. It’s like the same place, only it isn’t. Like some weird fucked up dream where you know where you are but it doesn’t exist in reality.” Daniel shook his head. “Now that I’ve voiced my concern, I think my head’s going to cave in.” He stepped out into the fresh air. “Come on, Mortimer, let’s finish this.”

“Finish what?”

Daniel pointed beyond the closed alleyway. “Let’s go see if our house is still there.”

Mortimer watched his brother run down the stairs and jump onto the cobbled area. It took a few moments for him to work up the courage to follow his brother out of the building. Mortimer liked things to stay simple. Right now, all he wanted to do was to find somewhere safe, so he could close his eyes and wait for all the weird nonsense to leave him. Mortimer’s mind really was on the verge of folding in half.

“Are you coming or what?”

Even his brother now seemed like a completely different person to the one he’d set out with. He slowly made his way down the stairs, and decided that it would probably be best to go with the flow. That sentence his brother had uttered, about feeling like he was in a dream, struck a chord. Maybe he was stuck in a stupid dream. Something like that would explain away everything.

He caught up with his brother and took a deep ragged breath, trying to remember the last time a dream of his had felt so real, so detailed. He felt a stitch in his guts, not to mention so fucking painful.

“Are you okay?”

He nodded. “I’m fine,” he panted. “Go on, you’re the one who knows where you’re going. Don’t stop, I’ll try to keep up with you.” That was another thing. Since when did the Lego playing slob suddenly become super fit? More to the point, how come he was feeling so worn out? He did this sort of running about every day.

He did his best to keep up with his brother, keeping his eyes open and his ears tuned, ensuring that there were no nasty surprises ready to jump out at them on their way through the alleyway. That was one job that he did know how to perform well. It also helped him to focus, to stop his mind wandering into the other zone.

“No way can this be a fucking dream,” he muttered to himself. His brother had slowed down and stopped next to a huge set of metal gates. He watched Daniel gently pull back the bolt and swing one gate inwards. Mortimer raised the crossbow and got ready to fire, just in case there were any of the dead things close by. As the gate opened fully, he saw that there were a few zombies in the distance. By the looks of it they were making their way to the front of the building. Mortimer guessed that they must be a few late stragglers that had only just worked out where the gunshot had originated from.

Maybe he ought to be thankful for his not-so-dumb move. Thanks to him firing the weapon, Mortimer had inadvertently cleared the nearby streets. His brother tapped Mortimer on the shoulder and pointed to a row of houses on the opposite side of the street.

His mind did flip then. Right in front of him, as plain as anything, was their old house. He shook his head from side to side, refusing to believe that any of this was real. Daniel grabbed his arm and pulled him across the road towards the house.

Mortimer couldn’t stop shivering. He managed to throw the crossbow over his shoulder without dropping it and followed his brother through the open door and into the dark house. Just by looking at the state of it, he knew that nobody had lived here for years. The shakes worsened when Daniel led him towards the cellar door. No matter how much his terrified mind protested, Mortimer’s numb body continued to walk forward, drawn towards that open door. It took him a few moments to realize that the initial attraction had originated from here.

“No, please don’t,” he said, watching his brother walk through the door. Mortimer had no choice but to follow him. He reached the top of the stone stairs and gazed down, seeing the mummified bodies sprawled on the dusty cellar floor. His eyes caught the sight of one body, leaning against the wall. The flesh had long since shrivelled and the skin had tightened over the bones. But none of that stopped him from recognizing the body. Mortimer was looking at his brother’s remains.

Chapter Eight

The dazzling white light coming from the afternoon sun seared all the way through his eyelids, but he felt no heat at all. Kenny shivered and watched two seagulls fight over a rotting fish that one of them had just pulled out from a pile of brown seaweed. The birds were his only company on this beach. His sister was somewhere, but he couldn’t remember where. For all he knew, she might not have even come with him; yet, for the past few minutes, he’d convinced himself that she’d just gone to buy ice creams.

Kenny pulled the grey overcoat tighter around his body. An ice cream was the last thing he needed right now. Lord, what he’d do for a steaming cup of hot chocolate, or a big pot of black coffee. Why couldn’t he warm up?

“Come back to me!”

He twisted his head and gazed at the two birds, convinced that one of those gulls had just spoken. As soon as he looked at them, they both took off, dropping what was left of the fish. He hatched them fly up towards the sun. Kenny blinked and found he could not move his head.

“Come on, you need to snap out of it!”

Kenny’s eyes snapped open, and the bare light bulb directly above his head burned into his brain. He tried to groan and started to panic when he found he couldn’t move his head. He jerked his eyes away from the light and saw a blurred pink round shape next to him.

“Calm down,” hissed a familiar female voice. “They’ll hear you. Look, I’m going to take my hand off your mouth but you have to promise me not to make a single sound. Nod once, if you understand.”

It took him a few more moments for his confused mind to put all the pieces of his situation into their correct places. He heard his sister’s voice and he’d finally worked out that he wasn’t on a beach after all. Apart from those facts, coupled with the anxiety in her voice, Kenny decided that he could at least comply with her simple request. He nodded and took in a huge breath of stale and musty air when she removed her hand.

He turned his head to the side and looked around his new surroundings. Kenny had no idea where he was but he knew that this certainly wasn’t the center. He frowned when his roving eyes caught sight of his clothing. He sat up and stared at Diane. “What the hell has happened?” he whispered. Why was he dressed in this gear? Kenny looked down the front of his body, staring in confusion at his new dark green one-piece suit. The new threads weren’t the only change; someone had cleaned him up. For the first time in years, Kenny actually had clean hair and trimmed fingernails.

“I smell clean.”

His sister took his hand. “How do you feel?”

That question took him by surprise. Of all the thoughts cramming into his head, he had not even given the state of his health any consideration. Apart from being unable to get warm, Kenny didn’t feel as bad as he’d expected. He looked into her eyes. “I’ve felt a lot worse. What’s going on, where are we?”

Diane stood up and helped him to his feet. “We need to get off this level first. Can you climb?” She guided Kenny over to the rough stone rock face. “We have to get up here.”

He grimaced. “I hope you’re joking. I can hardly stand up, never mind climb up there.” His protests abruptly stopped when he heard the sound of a single mournful groan. Kenny snapped his head around. “Oh shit,” he whispered. “Please don’t tell me that was what I thought it was.”

Diane wedged the tip of her boot into a hole above her knee. She jumped up and managed to grab a small rocky outcropping. “Are you willing to stay to find out, Kenny?” She scrambled further up the rock and threw herself onto a ledge a couple of meters above his head. Diane leaned out and dropped her arm down. “Grab my hand.” She looked past the top of his head. “Hurry up, there’s three of them now.”

Kenny didn’t dare turn his head. He jumped up and tried to reach her hand, missing her digits by a couple of inches. The rising sound of multiple groans gave him the incentive to shake away the numbing slumber affecting his whole body. Kenny found the hole where his sister had pushed her foot in and wedged his own foot in there. He then jumped up, his fingers desperately trying to find any piece of rock to grab on to. He looked up and saw his sister leaning out even further, trying to grab him. He knew right now if he did grab her hand, his sister would probably end up back on the ground behind him. Kenny ignored her outstretched arm, pushed away the shaking panic that now infected his bones at the sound of those approaching zombies, and focused on trying to climb the rock.

Their loud groaning bore down on his hearing, drowning out even the terrified shouts coming from above him. Kenny grunted and lunged up, his probing digits grasping a rough knob of stone. He screamed out in utter fury and pulled his aching body up the rock face; his sister hooked her hand around his other wrist and pulled. Her grip suddenly went slack.

“Kick back!” she shouted.

He violently snapped his foot backwards, feeling it connect with something that broke under the impact. Kenny cried out in panic and scrambled up the last few feet of the rock and rolled onto the ledge, squashing Diane into the corner.

He lifted his head and peered over the edge, counting nine dead things pressed against the wall below them. They all had their arms raised, grasping hopefully at the air. He carefully stood up, moved a little closer to those outstretched arms, and tilted his head back.

“This isn’t natural.”

He felt his sister use his leg to stand up. Diane ran her hand over the surface, just above her head. She turned and stared at him. “Kenny, of course it isn’t real.” She wrapped her other hand around his wrist and pulled his arm up towards her other hand. “Feel it.”

The tips of Kenny’s fingers brushed over something cold and smooth, with a sharp edge. “That feels like metal.”

She nodded. “That’s because it is. Come on, Kenny, we still need to keep climbing, there’s no other way out of here.” Diane tipped her head back then stretched her arms and dug her fingers into a couple of crevices above her head. “It’ll be easier to continue now, Kenny.” She pulled her body up. “Trust me, we’ve got past the hardest bit. There’s ledges all the way to the top.”

His sister scaled the vertical surface like a human fly; it took her just moments to reach another ledge a couple of meters above his head. Kenny looked behind him, noticing that there were a few more dead things below them now. He shuddered; talk about the best incentive ever to not to lose his balance. His fingers found the holes that his sister had used and Kenny began to heft his body, taking his time. It had been ages since he’d subjected his poor muscles to any sort of rigorous exercise.

Diane was right though, compared to the first stage, this wasn’t that hard. He felt like he was crawling along rough ground, only vertically. His sister helped him onto to the next ledge. He found to his relief that the rocks above their heads had started to level out.

Kenny dropped to the floor and leaned back. “Okay, that’s it. I’m not going any further until you tell me just what the hell is going on here. More to the point, how did you know about the climb?”

She sat down beside him. “I’m still waiting, you know.”

He looked up. “Waiting for what?”

“You still haven’t told me how you really feel.”

Kenny blinked. Now that she’d asked the question again, he realized for the first time in ages that he felt quite good. “Yeah, okay, you’ve got me. Apart from being tired and my arms aching because of that climb, I can honestly say that I feel almost human.”

She nodded. “The best you’re felt for a while? I thought so. You see, Rossini wants to get the most out of his contestants. I watched him stick three needles into your arm, Kenny.”

“Wait, go back a bit. What do you mean by contestants?” No matter how hard he tried, Kenny couldn’t remember anything about the needle. He rolled up his sleeves, noting that he couldn’t remember them cleaning him up and pouring his body into this one-piece outfit either. There were no obvious needle marks.

“I think the first needle would have been more of your drug, Kenny. I’m only guessing though, it’s just that the color was the same as the one I gave you last night. It’s the second injection that scared the crap out of me, Kenny. I don’t know what it was but seconds after they pulled the needle out, you just went ballistic. Judging from how the captors reacted, I don’t think they expected you to go postal, either.”

“A stimulant, maybe?”

Diane shrugged. “I don’t have a clue. All I know is that you took two of them down and busted Rossini’s nose before the man could push the last needle into your arm. You closed your eyes and dropped to the floor after that.”

“I should have broken the bastard’s fat neck. So, come on, what do you mean by contestants? Where the hell are we?” Kenny took his eyes off the gathered dead things and gazed up towards the sky – not that they were outside, despite the look of the surroundings. That illusion fell apart as soon as he saw the metal beams high above them. “Oh shit, this is the arena, isn’t it?”

Diane followed his gaze up towards the vast roof and nodded. “Yeah, we’re in one of the game zones, honey. It’s such a weird feeling to actually be in here, instead of watching on the box.”

“You mean,” he licked his lips, “that we’re on fucking television?”

Diane wiped her forehead. “I’m not convinced about that.” She pinched the material on her arm and pulled it up. “I haven’t seen any cameras, not yet, anyway.” Diane frowned. “To be honest, I’m a bit confused over all of this.”

Kenny snorted. “You and me both.”

“No,” she replied. “You don’t understand what I mean. Thanks to my flatmate, I’ve sat through almost every one of these banal TV shows. It’s her apartment, you see, and she can’t get enough of the bilge they transmit. Now, each show has its own distinct look and a unique costume. Hell, on Celebrity Slaughter, the sick freaks even dress the zombies in bright orange jumpsuits.”

“Okay, I’m following you now. You’ve never seen anything like the things that we’re wearing?”

“That’s about the size of it,” Diane replied. She climbed up onto a stone block beside her feet and gazed over the broken landscape. “We’d better keep moving. If they are watching us, they won’t take kindly to us stopping for any great length of time.”

“What do you mean?”

She stared at Kenny. “They’ll drop nasty surprises on our heads if we don’t get a move on. Come on, follow me. I think I know where we can go.”

He tried to keep up with Diane as she scrambled over the pretend rocks. It looked as though his sister was making her way towards what resembled an old stone gothic church. Kenny belonged to the minority of the city’s population that wasn’t hooked on any of these stupid shows. He put that down to the tediousness of trying to stay living, and ensuring that he had enough drugs to keep him going until the next fix.

He wasn’t blind to any of the shows though, it was impossible to miss them. Even with him sleeping outside most of the time, Kenny couldn’t fail to notice the huge streetscreens that dominated every public square in the capital. The last time he’d actually watched a TV show was before The Turning. Back then though, the prizes were usually money, a vacation, or maybe a new car. He wasn’t naïve enough to believe that the new shows would offer similar prizes.

“Diane, wait up!” He stopped and folded over, feeling a stitch developing. When he sensed her shadow over him, he looked up and wiped his forehead. “You said we were contestants? Does that mean we could win something?”

She crouched down and looked over his shoulder. “I used that term a little wrong, I think, Kenny. Look, I still have no idea what show we’re in.”

“Does that make a difference?”

“Are you serious? Of course it does. If we were in The Last One Standing, then they’d be another twenty with us, all trying to kill each other. Or what about Infection Hunt? Three ‘lucky’ individuals are given very big guns and are told to bring down two prisoners that are about to turn. The winner is the first one to take out the prisoners with headshots.”

Kenny’s stomach rolled. “Right, so no matter what game this is, the chances are that we’re bait?”

She pulled him onto his feet. “We need to get to that building as soon as we can, Kenny.” Diane set off again. “And this time, don’t stop,” she cried, looking over her shoulder.

He tried to keep up with his sister as she raced over the broken rocks. Kenny kept his eyes and ears open for signs that they were no longer alone. His gut feelings told him that running from those dead things when he woke up would probably have been the easiest part of this fucked up game. Kenny pledged, there and then, that if he did survive this lunacy, Rossini was going to end up properly dead.

Diane had already reached the building. He slowed down and stared at it, trying to work out where he’d seen it before. Kenny sighed before running through the open door. It had taken him a few moments but the memory did seep into his brain. This was a replica of the palace that used to sit in the center of the city. The original building had long since gone. The authorities had filled the interior with chained-up convicts, cut them all and left a trail of blood up to the doors. The waking corpses in the city had converged on the palace like flies around shit. Once they’d bolted the doors, the officers had set the building on fire.

“What the hell is this doing here?”

Diane ignored him and pushed past Kenny to shut and bolt the door. He watched her run over to a large painting of some old monarch and try to pull it off the wall.

“Are you going to tell me what you’re doing?”

“Shut up and give me a hand.”

He hurried over and dug his fingers under the frame. “Wait, I can feel a draft.”

She nodded. “Yeah, it’s a secret exit.”

Did he just hear that correctly? Kenny kept his mouth shut and helped his sister lift the painting off the wall. Sure enough, he saw a large hole cutting through the plaster and stone. He pushed his head inside and ran his fingers over the bricks that lined the hole. They felt like real bricks. He expected them to be made from polystyrene. Kenny looked back at Diane. “Okay, this has totally fucking melted the inside of my brain.”

“Look, this arena is just one of a few that they use in their programs. It just happens that I remember a rerun show from a couple of days ago where three young men used this tunnel to travel from one arena to the one next door. Don’t look at me like that, Kenny. I’m serious. We could use this to get out of here.”

He sat down. “I’m sorry, Diane, this is just too much for me. I mean, if the cameras are watching us, how do you expect us to get out of here? Come to think of it, how is this make-believe bullshit tunnel going to help us, considering it just leads into another film set?”

She crouched in front of him. “We are still alive, Kenny, and we’ve not seen anyone else, apart from a few zombies since we got here.” She lifted him back onto his feet. “I know you’re not familiar with the new shows but, apart from the extreme violence, the format hasn’t changed. The audience craves thrill, spills, and edge of your seat excitement. They ain’t getting that from us, are they?”

“You think we’re not being filmed?”

“Would you tune in to watch us? Apart from the zombie chase at the beginning, not much else has happened. I’d have turned over by now and watched something else. Don’t get me wrong. I’m pretty sure that Rossini hasn’t gone to all this trouble to forget about us.”

“You think that maybe he’s gone out for ice cream before murdering us, or perhaps decided to have a bit of a nap?” Kenny smiled at his sister, glad to see a hint of a grin appearing on her face. It did feel a bit odd that, despite their predicament, he did feel pretty much okay. Before he did bash that Rossini’s head in, he’d have to find out what was in all those syringes.

“There’s no need to lay on the sarcasm. You know what I mean.” Diane reached up and grabbed the edge of the hole. “Come on, give me a boost up.”

Kenny locked his fingers, bent over, and tried not to grimace as she pushed her muddy boot into his hands. He stayed motionless as she pushed her body up and crawled into the hole.

“Okay, it’s your turn now,” she said, dropping both her arms down. Kenny wiped his muddy hands on the wall, wrapped his fingers around her wrists and scrambled up. “I don’t understand, Diane,” he said, gazing along the long, brick-faced tunnel. “What difference will it make if we go through here? None of this is real. We’re still two rats in one big fucking maze.”

Her smile widened. “I never thought that anything my annoying flatmate spouted on about regarding her obsession with these TV shows would ever be of any use.” She pointed to the ceiling. “Can you see those bare wires dangling down?”

He nodded.

“That’s where the cameras used to be, Kenny. They sold the studio next to this one to another company.”

Kenny had no wish to pop her happiness bubble but even if the next studio was owned by somebody else, they would still be trapped. He followed her along the tunnel, wondering if he ought to remind Diane that Rossini didn’t have to lock them in a studio to hunt them down. The bastard had obviously bugged them, considering he found them easily enough in that medi-center.

His sister stopped when she reached a metal plate covering their only way out. “Shit,” she said. Then again, what else did she expect? They were hardly likely to keep it open.

“It’s looks like we’re going back then, Diane.” He placed his hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, at least you tried.”

Diane brushed his hand away. “Don’t be in such a bloody rush to give up, Kenny.” She dropped to her knees and ran her fingers along the edge of the plate. “I mean it, you really do throw in the towel at every opportunity.”

He turned away from the woman and bit his lip before he said anything that he might regret. God, did she even have a clue what his life was fucking like? How could she, when she and her friends were safe in their ivory towers, well fed and comfortable? Kenny loved his sister but there were times when her naïve attitude really got on his nerves.

His teeth almost bit through his lips at the sudden deafening crash of metal hitting stone. He spun around and saw Diane staring at him with a huge smirk plastered across her face.

“Oh ye of little faith,” she said.

He hurried up to her and leaned over, looking into the room beyond then back at Diane. Of all the things he’d expected to see, a dusty store room, full of old boxes, was not one of the options. Judging from his sister’s expression, it wasn’t what she’d expected to find either.

“How old was this rerun, Diane? I mean, it doesn’t look as though anyone has been in there for decades.” He inched his way past her and kneeled down, by the edge. The stale air smelled of old paper and something very familiar. Kenny could detect the faint stench of bad meat. Kenny climbed through the hole, turned and dropped into the room, then helped Diane do the same. It looked like this discovery had really shaken his sister. She’d probably expected to find another studio set.

This was real; there were no props here. Kenny ran his index finger along one of the metal shelves, watching the dust motes caused by his disturbance rise into the air. “Come on, let’s see where that goes,” he whispered, pointing to a door at the end of the room.

Diane turned the other way and walked towards a bank of filing cabinets at the other side of the store room.

“What the hell are you doing?” he hissed. Kenny looked up at the hole, expecting to see company at any minute. “Come on, we need to move.”

“Wait,” she replied, reaching the cabinets and opening the top drawer. “You have no idea where we are, do you?” His sister didn’t turn around. She shut the top drawer, crouched down, and opened the drawer below. “Oh fuck me,” she whispered.

He ran over to her. “What’s wrong?”

“This place shouldn’t be here! We shouldn’t be here. I don’t understand any of this!”

He snatched the buff file out of her shaking hands and stared at the faded lettering on the front. Was this a joke? Kenny opened the folder and looked in confusion at the first report of the dead overrunning Government House in the center of the capital. He looked up at Diane. “This didn’t happen. I’m pretty sure I would have remembered it.” Kenny looked at the cover one more time, just to see if he had mistaken the city’s name.

“Kenny, look at the date.”

This had to be a joke; according to the file, the city was overrun over two decades ago. He looked across the room. They must have stumbled onto a movie set, it was the only logical answer. No matter how implausible it sounded, what else could it be? “They must be making a film, Diane, or perhaps a new type of TV show.” He shrugged. “Come on. It can’t be real.”

She slowly blinked. “Yeah, of course, I’m being stupid.”

“Come on, we’re still alive and there’s no sign of anyone. Let’s get as far away from here as possible, before our luck does run out.” Kenny dropped the file and walked over to the metal door on the other side of the room. He grabbed the door handle, twisted it, and pulled. As the door flew open, Kenny stumbled back as three corpses fell into the room. He cried out as he fell backwards.

“It’s okay!” said Diane, pulling him out from under the bodies. “They’re just dead, they won’t hurt you.”

He scraped away the bits of rotting fabric and other indescribable lumps before getting back onto his feet. Diane was right, these things couldn’t harm him. Kenny looked into the corridor, smiling at the sight of an open door at the end of the hallway. It looked like their luck was holding out. He turned back to his sister, intending to apologize for his behavior, but his face dropped when he looked at Diane’s expression, frozen in shock.

“What’s wrong with you?”

She pointed down at the bodies. Kenny followed her shaking arm and looked into Rossini’s decomposing face.

Chapter Nine

Tony’s stomach lurched to the other side of his body. He moaned out a single wet croak and swallowed down what felt like a lump of bile-flavoured chewing gum. The only reason why he didn’t empty the contents of his guts was the vague notion that somewhere, swimming through all that mushed up mess, were the remains of some tablets that were stopping him from changing.

He had no idea where his ravaged body lay, only that the floor was surprisingly comfortable. Apart from the overwhelming urge not to let his body eject those precious tablets, his slippery mind struggled to hold on to anything else of value. It took him a moment to remember his own name.

The situation with his mental capacity could stay just how it was, as far as he was concerned. Something deep down told him that he didn’t wish to know anything of his recent activity. He was quite content to stay exactly where he was, huddled in a tight ball, waiting for this reeling nausea to leave him the fuck alone.

“I see you’re beginning to stir. That’s a relief, I thought you were going to stay asleep for hours.”

That voice sounded so familiar. His mind opened up a crack to allow Tony to pull out a single name. He opened one eye, then promptly shut it again when the harsh white light from the fluorescents burned a hole in his brain. He moaned again.

“How do you feel, Tony?”

Was that a serious question? “I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck,” he muttered. Tony took a deep breath and slowly got into a sitting position with his back pressed flat against the wall. He opened both eyes and this time he kept them fixed on the dark blue carpet. Of all the random thoughts rushing through his head, the only one that he could focus on was that they used to have this style of carpet in their house, back when he was a kid. He ran his fingers over the long pile, trying to remember the last time he’d actually felt a carpet so luxurious.

“Okay, so you don’t feel too good. That, I can relate to. At least you’re not shivering though, not now, anyway.”

Pieces of memory flashed before him. He saw some guy wearing funny clothes dropping some tablets and he saw his hand reaching for them. “I’m not surprised, Joseph. Not after what I found.” He sighed with relief when he noticed that the nausea had diminished somewhat. “Not too sure about the fucking bad acid trip that followed though. Jesus, those things were strong.”

The young man walked over to him and dropping to the floor, sitting cross-legged directly in front of him. “I viewed the CCTV while you were recovering, Tony. I must say, your actions shocked the hell out of me, at least the ones I saw before you shifted over.”

Tony lifted his head and stared into the man’s shining eyes. Joseph’s piercing gaze unsettled him. Although he had to ask, Tony knew he wouldn’t like Joseph’s reply. “What do you mean by shifted over?”

The man turned his head and pointed at a sofa on the other side of the room. Tony’s eyes went wide at the sight of two youths jerking like puppets; the only reason they weren’t on the floor was that both boys had leather straps across their waists.

“They’re both wearing VR sets.” Tony took his eyes off their shuddering bodies and turned back to the man whose grin had become even wider. “Just like the one you gave me to test.”

“It isn’t VR, Tony. Those two men are actually somewhere else, at least, their minds are. You, on the other hand, you took your body out of this world as well. Tony, you actually moved yourself into another world.”

It took him a second to realize what Joseph had just said to him. He leaned forward, staring deep into the man’s eyes, waiting for the catchphrase. “You had better repeat that, Joseph. I’m not sure I heard correctly.”

“Oh, you heard alright, Tony.” He got to his feet and walked over to the two boys. “These things on these boy’s heads haven’t taken them into some kind of computer-generated world, Tony. Come on, do you honestly think that we possess the technology to research, develop, and produce a bunch of elaborate video games?” Joseph lifted one boy’s arm and placed it on his chest. “We spend most of our money keeping the dead things from taking over the city and trying to keep the inhabitants alive.” He shook his head. “Seriously, have you any idea the costs and resources that go into feeding half a million people every day?”

“This is so much bullshit. Come on, you have to be playing some kind of cruel joke on me here. Come on, you don’t have the technology to build a bunch of fucking video games but you can invent a device that can send people into another dimension? Joseph, just fuck off. I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous in my life.”

“Can you remember the initial outbreak?” asked Joseph, softly. “What were you doing at that moment when the news broke that the dead were coming back to life.”

The sudden question threw him. It also opened his mind, bringing all of his recent memories back to him. Tony remembered his journey down to this level, the zombies that he’d dispatched, and how everything looked so off kilter. Tony shook away the thoughts and saw himself at home, watching as the newscaster on TV delivered a news bulletin that sounded as though it has been ripped straight from a cheesy science fiction movie. The videos that followed, showing thousands of corpses shambling through all the citystates on the planet, somehow didn’t feel so fake.

“The refusal to believe that the dead had risen was the main reason why the things were able to almost wipe us out,” said Joseph. He stared at Tony. “The plague didn’t originate from this world.” He ran his hand along one of the devices. “We were visited by travellers, three desperate individuals searching in vain for a cure to their plague. Each of them carried one of these black devices. Their mission was quite simple: they needed to find three brothers, just three people on the planet who were immune to the plague. The only problem was that in their world, the brothers had already died.” He sighed loudly. “They also brought the plague with them.”

Tony thought back to his experiences whilst wearing that helmet. “Where was I then? Joseph, where did that helmet send me?”

The man took a deep breath. “It sent you to the source world. At least, we think it was where the infection originated. We do know that world was where our three visitors came from. There’s only one other world, besides this one and the source world, that we have been able to visit, both as fucked as this one. As for where you went when you physically shifted over?” He shrugged. “I was hoping you could tell me.”

Tony could now recall the thoughts going through his head whilst running through those corridors. They weren’t his, that much he did know. That hatred he felt for those invaders clung to the inside of his head like wet shit sticking to clothing. That other Tony detested the otherworlders. His blood ran cold when he realized that the other Tony must have been talking about this world. It must have been us who had enslaved them. “I saw endless fields,” he replied, slowly.

Joseph nodded. “Then you must have ended up on the other world. The third world. It’s where most of our food comes from. We set up a trade agreement with them.”

Tony kept silent.

His colleague looked back at the two boys. “We really did want to find their equivalents on the other world, you know.” He stared intently at Tony. “These guys are the reason why we are all still alive. It’s the serum that we have taken from their blood that allows us to continue living. Without them, we all would have succumbed to the infection long ago.” Joseph paused. “Have you started to believe yet?”

Tony shrugged. He didn’t know what to believe anymore.

“Do you feel better?”

“Yeah, I do, actually.” It surprised him how well he did feel. “Must have been those tablets,” he replied.

Joseph shook his head. “No, more likely the stuff I injected into you before your body crashed onto the carpet.” He pointed at the empty syringe lying on table next to a Lego house. “There was enough concentrated vaccine in there to keep you clear for a week. Those tablets that you took were designed to stop their brother from releasing too many chemicals into his body. We found that as time wore on, the purity of the vaccine that we extracted from their blood had started to lose its potency.” He sighed. “Now, I don’t think it matters, the cat’s out of the bag. Before long the whole city is going to start to change.” He stared at Tony “There might be light at the end of the tunnel though. It looks like they had a very curious side effect on you.” Joseph rushed over to the door and looked out before coming back over to Tony. “Enough talk, it’s time for you to get going, you have a job to accomplish.”

“Wait, what are you talking about?”

“Did you not listen to what I just said? You are not the only one whose body has started to grow used to the drug, Tony. A small percentage of the city’s population have already succumbed to the plague, with more people growing sick every hour.”

He nodded over at the two boys. “Those helmets were stored in the most secure vault in the city, for obvious reasons. The last time we used them, looking for another world. Trouble was, that last time opened up a rift, allowing half a dozen dead things from that world to enter our city as well.” Joseph leaned against the wall and folded his arms. “I imagine that there’s been quite a few more incursions thanks to your use and these two brothers.” He shrugged, “Not my problem though. I told the council weeks ago that we needed to look for an alternate method of survival. The bastards never listened. Then again, should I be surprised? As far as they’re concerned, the only salvation lies with the three brothers, just like our visitors thought. Those three got the shock of their lives when they found their only hope of survival had perished in a fire a few months before they arrived. At least, that’s what we told them,” he snarled. “By the time we managed to extract the real reason for their visit, the infection had already taken hold. People were dropping like flies.” He caught his breath. “They didn’t stay down for long though.”

Joseph jerked his head towards the open door. “Fuck, the others are coming!” He raced over to the door, shut and bolted it. “You need to listen to me, Tony.” Joseph pushed six more tablets into his hand. “Your mind is very special. In the thousands of people that I scanned over the last few years, you are the only person that I’ve found to be receptive to the device.”

How could he say that when it was as plain as the nose on the front of his face that those two kids were more than fucking receptive to the devices. Tony jumped when someone on the other side of the door tried to open it.

“Shit, get those tablets down, Tony!” Joseph looked back at the door. “Hurry up, man. If they find you in here, they’ll kill you.”

“What about those two?”

“They’ll hook them up to the drip, like they did to their brother. The machines only need their bodies anyway, not that it’ll do much good.”

A hard object slammed into the door. “Do you want to be fucking shot?” hissed Joseph. “Put those tablets into your mouth, you idiot. That door won’t hold them for much longer.”

When he saw the first splinters appearing in the wood and the muzzle of a weapon pushing through the hole, Tony realized that his options had run out. He didn’t want to end up as live bait in a game show. He looked at the six tablets rolling over the palm of his hand.

“Two will shift you over; keep the rest to get back. Those are not from this world. I want you to go find more duplicates, Tony. Don’t you see? We’ve used them up, their blood is no good to us anymore. Look, you’ve already visited both the worlds that we know about; there’s a very good chance that you’ll visit another world, a new one. There must be more out there.”

He did as Joseph suggested and dropped four of the tablets into his pocket before pushing the remaining ones into his mouth. His last sight before his view distorted was of the door bursting open and a huge man, dressed in security body armor, burst into the room.

His nausea had not left him after all. The transition from a hundred garish colors to an endless shade of greys also brought back the deep ache and the vile sickness. The room lurched to one side, while his guts rolled the other way.

Tony dropped to his knees, painfully aware that the soft carpet was gone. The rough stone floor slammed into his bones. He fell forward, slapping the palms of his hands against the stone, and tensed up his muscles, desperately trying to get control of his body. What the fuck was happening, this had never happened before. A stray thought whirled around his head, telling him that Joseph might have poisoned him. “I’ve overdosed,” he blurted out, feeling his saliva drop from his lips. “It must be that, what else could it …”

He abruptly stopped as he felt some of the sickness departing. The nausea quickly dissipated, leaving him feeling weak and very tired. Tony took a deep shuddering breath and counted to twenty, taking his time with each number, hoping that the nausea was not going to return.

“What the fuck was all that?” Tony lifted his head and took in his new surroundings. Nobody else was in the room; he counted that as a mixed blessing. Finding himself in the midst of a dozen security guards would not have been good for his health. Come to think of it, even one guard would have made sure that his lifespan was measured in seconds. It wasn’t like he would have been able to fight back in his ragged state.

“I’m such a mess.” Tony watched dust motes settle on the top of a wooden crate, pushed against the wall, where the sofa had been in the other world. He stopped himself right there. Did he really think that? He coughed out a single laugh. Had he really just crossed over to another place?

He got to his knees and slowly got back on his feet, using a metal table beside him as support. He looked past the crate over to a heavy wooden door that was open a crack. Through the narrow gap, Tony saw pretty much the same as what this room contained: featureless, grey surroundings coated in thick dust.

“It’s the same room,” he muttered. That much, he was sure about. The positions of the door, the room size and the height of the ceiling told him that, yet there was something else as well. Deep within him, now that his body had returned to normal, he knew that he had not moved one inch since swallowing those two tablets.

“Oh fuck!” Tony pushed his hand into his pocket, trying to suppress the bubbling panic. His tension eased when his probing fingers felt the four smooth pills, nestled together deep in his pocket. He pulled two of them out and wondered what would happen if he swallowed them, here and now. Would he return home, or would he go visit one of the other two worlds?

“What if they’re not a ticket home?” Tony rolled one of them between his finger and thumb, recalling what Joseph said about there being more than one world. He dropped them both back in his pocket and told himself to get his shit together and to stop worrying about stuff he couldn’t change.

Tony walked over to the door that led into the hallway, and opened it a little wider. The air in the hallway smelled different from the room. He detected the faint tinge of flowers. He frowned, wondering if his nose wasn’t just sending him empty promises. The vision of fields full of spring blooms, waiting for him just above this complex, evaporated when his nose detected the underlying taint of rot as well. That was one smell he was very familiar with. Shambling bags of dried-up cadavers had passed this way, not that long ago.

Tony sighed and leaned back, quietly closed the door, and decided that it would be a wise idea to take this situation one step at a time and start by exploring this room first. Finding himself a weapon would be a good idea. If there were dead things prowling about out there, he wouldn’t last that long. Hell, even a thick stick would suffice. “A studded baseball bat would be even better,” he muttered, turning around and giving this dusty place a closer scrutiny. Tony wandered over to the wooden crate and ran the tips of his fingers across the top of the wood, almost expecting his hands to find a projection. The wood felt as solid as that thick door. This was as real as it got.

Was this the same world where that device had taken him this morning before he set off for work? He understood now that the black helmet just moved his mind over, just like it was doing to those two kids. He hadn’t really been there. “I am now though,” he muttered. He tentatively pressed his hand against his guts, feeling the ache still there. “Shit, it must be travel sickness.” He resisted the urge to giggle, thinking that if he started to laugh, he probably wouldn’t stop. “Jesus, I bet the doctor wouldn’t be able to prescribe anything for that.” Tony bent over the crate, and found that it was lying on its side. “Now that will come in handy,” he said, looking into the interior. Tony reached inside and pulled out a small crowbar the size of his forearm. “That will do very nicely.”

He felt much better. Now if he did run across any zombie, at least he’d be able to put them on the floor. The two prongs would quite easily smash through their skulls. He gripped his prize tight and hurried over to the other door. Before he opened this one, however, Tony glanced around the room one more time, just to ensure that his eyes had not missed anything. He paused and ran his tongue across his lips, staring at the only object in here that wasn’t devoid of color.

“You have got to be shitting me,” he muttered, walking back over to his original position. Tony bent down and picked up two bright yellow Lego bricks and grinned to himself. He stuffed them into his front pocket and walked back over to the inner door. He couldn’t explain why he felt the bricks were so important, only that he knew that he’d need them at a later date. “You’re getting weirder by the minute, Tony, you do know that?” He slowly pulled open the door and peered through the opening, seeing not much of anything but more dust. It dawned on him that when he jumped over before, in order to interact with the dead things in there, Tony must have been in someone’s body. He blinked. That idea was creepy. Had the device somehow been able to push his consciousness into another human on the other side? Somehow possessing that person? Tony involuntarily shivered, wondering what would have happened if he’d gotten that person killed. He guessed that his mind would have either found another body or just whizzed back into his own body.

Tony opened the door wider and stepped over the threshold. There were another three doors along the short hallway. Although it was clear that nobody had been in here for a long time, this section didn’t seem so decayed. Tony ran his fingers over the faded wallpaper, tracing the faint patterns as he walked towards the closest door. He lifted the crowbar, stopped, and grabbed the handle. He wasn’t taking any chances. Just because the only footsteps in here belonged to him, didn’t mean that one or more of the dead things weren’t behind this door, just waiting for some unwary victim to stumble inside. Tony counted to three then pushed the handle down and kicked the door open.

He grinned at the sight of one unmade bed, a pile of Legos in the middle of a frayed carpet, an open cupboard and nothing else. “Looks like I really am alone.” Before he checked the other rooms, Tony walked inside, bent over and picked up another Lego block. He pulled the two yellow pieces from his pocket and tried to connect them with the piece in his other hand, not all that surprised that they weren’t compatible. “There you go,” he said. “You really have crossed over.” Tony looked inside the cupboard; the only thing inside was a yellow newspaper. He picked it up and read the headlines. The blown-up black and white image of a street taken from above showed masses of panicking people running from a crowd of walking corpses. Tony closed his eyes, remembering seeing similar photos in newspapers from his world. He dropped the paper and left the room, suddenly not all that bothered about checking out the other rooms.

“How the fuck am I going to find a set of duplicate people?” The enormity of his task now settled upon his shoulders. Tony looked down at the pile of Legos by his feet. Even if he did find them, how the hell would he persuade them to come with him? He didn’t think for one minute that they’d even believe him, never mind wanting to cross over to another world so his boss could drain out their blood.

“What the fuck have I got myself into?” he muttered. Tony felt the tablets in his pocket, feeling the inner workings of his mind begin to turn. The chances of him finding these duplicates were practically zero and he didn’t think that Joseph would be very happy if he returned empty-handed.

Tony left the room, hurried along the hallway and back into the room where he’d appeared. He nodded to himself, then left this room as well. He had no other choice but to at least make some sort of effort. Even if he didn’t find them, Tony could either stay in this world or return, just making sure that when he did go back to his world, he was as far away as he could be from Government House.

That aroma of fresh flowers grew stronger the further away he walked from the original room. He had no idea where it was coming from, considering all he saw was dust-covered tiles and grey, featureless walls. Tony stopped by the first door he reached and looked inside, frowning at the vast array of medical equipment stored on stacks of metal shelving. He shook his head in confusion. He assumed that this building would be similar to the one he’d left. Was this some kind of hospital in this world? Tony sighed and moved along. It would be a good idea for him to find a way out of this place, wherever ‘this place’ was.

He jumped when something crashed onto the floor behind him. He spun around, knowing full well that the noise had come from the room with all the stored medical equipment. Tony felt his sweat making the crowbar slippery. He transferred the weapon to his other hand and wiped the sweat away, keeping his eyes fixed on that door. Shadows began to move and the smell of death grew stronger. There was no denying what was in that room.

He waited patiently, watching those shadows lengthen. “Come on then,” he growled. “Let’s see you.”

His voice echoed along the hallway and was rewarded by the low moan of the dead. Presently another moan joined that one, and one more. Tony took a deep breath and backed away at the sight of several dead things all trying to squeeze through the door at the same time. His bowels loosened when he saw another one leaving the room where he’d appeared. Where the fuck did that one come from?

“Shit, this isn’t fair! He looked at his little crowbar, wondering what possessed him to think that he’d be able to take one of them on, let alone a dozen. It didn’t surprise him to see three more heading his way from the other direction; there was nowhere for him to go. Tony moaned himself when he saw the features of the one leaving the room. It was one of the boys, the one strapped to that helmet in his world.

Four of them had managed to stumble out of the storage room. He turned and raced towards the approaching three, just praying that there weren’t any more behind them. If there were any more, Tony wouldn’t last more than a few seconds. He charged the closest one, using his inertia to slam it into the wall. Tony then swiveled and cracked the crowbar into the head of another one, grinning savagely at the sound of its skull cracking. The last zombie managed to snag his shirt. Tony twisted around and jerked forward, leaving the dead thing holding his jacket.

“That’s mine,” he snarled, pushing the sharp prongs into its eye. The zombie gargled as Tony slammed the crowbar deeper, pushing until he felt the metal scrape on the inside of the dead thing’s skull. He pulled and staggered back as black, foul-smelling gloop gushed from the wound. Tony turned and saw the others further down the hallway were getting dangerously close.

He slammed his boot down on the remaining zombie that was still trying to get up before he raced away from the approaching horde. There were no more dead things ahead. Tony giggled, feeling the adrenalin rush through his system; he’d never felt so alive. Although he had protected himself from the zombies before, he’d never taken on three of them at once. “What a buzz!” he said, laughing.

He stopped at the next door, listening to the low moans of his pursuers echoing down the hallway. His euphoria wouldn’t last very long if he found no way out of this fucking maze. Tony tried the door, grunting in frustration when he found it locked. He then jumped back when someone or something on the other side of the door smacked the wood. Tony sneaked forward and tapped the crowbar three times against the door panel, smiling when the sound was repeated. That made it clear that at least whoever was on the other side wasn’t dead.

“Hello?” he yelled.

“How do we find a way out of here?”

Tony frowned, not expecting to hear what he’d been about to ask. Whomever it was sounded as though they were as lost as him. He looked behind him, acutely aware that he couldn’t stay here much longer. A pity, whomever was on the other side of that door had a cute voice. “I’m sorry!” he shouted back, “I don’t know where I am either.”

With regret, Tony raced away from the door, glancing behind him and watching the dead things veer towards the door. Whomever was behind there continued to bang against the wood. He sure hoped that door stayed locked now.

The urge to swallow two more of those pills strengthened when he found himself rapidly running out of hallway. There was only one more door left. If that was locked as well, he’d have no choice but to take the tablet express to get out of here. Tony had no wish to experience that nausea again but it was certainly preferable to having his limbs ripped off.

Tony skidded to a halt when he saw the door beginning to open. “Thank fuck for th…” his words dried up when he saw a figure lurching into the hallway. His eyes widened at the sight of another Tony, glaring at him before raising a shotgun. “I thought one of you fuckers would try to sneak back,” snarled his duplicate. “Goodbye, you fucking dirty thief.”

Chapter Ten

Several seconds had passed since Mortimer had taken his eyes from the corpse of his dead brother. He gritted his teeth, it wasn’t his brother. How could it be? His real brother stood beside him, shivering like a man in a bath of ice. He turned away from Daniel, unable to stay focused on that face. Mortimer wanted to somehow comfort him, to help the guy get over the shock of seeing his likeness on the floor. It couldn’t be easy to gaze down at your own corpse.

Mortimer couldn’t stand the inactivity any longer and stepped over the other two bodies to examine his brother’s duplicate.

“Get away from it, for crying out loud!” gasped Daniel. “What are you doing? Come on, we have to go.”

“He’s not going to get up and bite me, stop flapping.” Despite his steady voice, Mortimer suddenly felt as uneasy as Daniel sounded. The sight of these two together had triggered another memory, one that didn’t feel as though it belonged in his mind. “Where exactly are we going to go?” Those words left his mouth but Mortimer didn’t feel as though he had said them. It now felt as though there were two people inside his head, both fighting for dominance. He looked at the other two corpses, not sure whether he was relieved or stressed to find that his duplicate wasn’t one of them.

“Please, I don’t care where we go. I don’t want to be down here anymore.” Daniel rushed over to grab Mortimer’s wrist. “We need to go back to the camp. This is all wrong.” Daniel shut his eyes and fell into Mortimer. “Oh, that wasn’t good at all.” He looked into his brother’s eyes. “I want my Legos.”

That single word broke the dam that held back those other memories. Mortimer found his recollections of his past swapping around. He watched as the color of his first ever bike swapped from green to blue. Mortimer saw his first true love change faces. He watched in horror as his father died twice, and then he cried out at the sight of his two brothers dying before his eyes. Mortimer reeled at the assault of the rest of the thoughts tumbling into his mind.

He blinked away the fragmenting images of some now strange encampment and gazed at the figure in front of him. Daniel’s features melted and flowed like bubbling chocolate, until a stranger’s face solidified. Mortimer blinked again. The face refused to change back to his brother.

“Who the fuck are you?” He watched the stranger’s face as it copied Mortimer’s own features. He pressed his hand against his face, yelping out at the feel of facial hair against the palm of his hand. Mortimer brought his hand down, noticing the criss-cross of tiny scars covering the back of the hand. This wasn’t his body. “I feel like my mind is going to explode.”

“Mortimer? Is that you in there?”

He gazed into the other man’s slate grey eyes. It was so freaky. Despite this appearing to be another person, Mortimer was sure that he could see his brother in there, in the way he held himself, through his body language, and in the man’s mannerisms. “Yeah, it’s me, Daniel.” The guy even smiled like his brother.

“I need to …”

The smile fell from the man’s face as he looked back at the corpses once more. He then pushed past Mortimer and stumbled up the cellar steps, leaving a drawn-out, pain-wracked moan in his wake.

“This isn’t fun anymore,” Mortimer said, trying to remember how they had gotten here. He followed his brother up the stairs, the sound of Daniel’s stomach folding over reaching his ears. Mortimer swallowed hard, having no intention of joining him.

“Are you OK?” He saw Daniel’s back through the kitchen window. His brother held up his thumb. Mortimer closed the cellar door and wandered into the living room. He felt so calm, as if none of this mattered. Where were the intense emotions of terror and acute confusion?

Where was the terror hiding? Hell, he didn’t even feel all that confused about this situation. Okay, so his brother was faring a little worse than he was; even so, poor Daniel ought to be curled up in a tight ball and wanting his teddy bear about now. He looked back and watched Daniel open the door and walk back into the kitchen. His new face looked a little pale, but otherwise, the man looked pretty good.

“What do you remember, Mortimer? I mean, before we ended up here, wherever this is.” He ran his finger down the deep red doorframe. “Weird how I remember our dad painting this.” He stared at Mortimer. “Thing is, Martin repainted it yellow a few months before the shit hit the fan. Do you remember that?”

He nodded slowly. Now that Daniel mentioned it, he saw there were a few discrepancies in here. For a start, he had no idea what the black plastic tablet-shaped device on top of the wooden coffee table was. The television in the corner now curved like the cockpit of an aircraft, and there were several small, pink fluffy animals on the bookshelf next to the window. Their mom had sold that collection years ago.

“Come on, Mortimer, tell me what you remember?” Daniel shivered. “Maybe we should go outside first. This place is giving me the creeps now.”

“Listen to you, Daniel.” He walked over to the stranger and stopped right in front of his face. “When you’ve finished listening to how calm you are, look at me, look at this face. We’re not in our proper bodies, brother, this isn’t our house and it never was. You’ve already digested that info, of course you have, so why are you …” He took his breath. “Fuck, why are we acting like this sort of thing happens every day?”

His brother grinned. “Probably because while outside, it finally clicked. What happened today? I mean before we both found ourselves here.”

Mortimer lifted his thickly muscled arm, then looked down at his hard stomach and the hard tendons running down his legs. He closed his eyes, thinking back to earlier, to when these hands held a weapon. “Fuck!” He gasped, snapping his eyes open. “I had a crossbow, I remember now and I …”

He turned and ran over to the living room window. “Am I back in the game again?” He turned around. “I don’t get it, that means you must be in the game as well. How the fuck does that work? There’s only one device and it’ll be on my head.”

Daniel shrugged. “Maybe the program is imagining me? Or how about I have the device and I’m imagining you?” Daniel nodded to himself. “Yeah, that makes more sense. After all, the device already knows who you are, Mortimer, it has probably scanned your brain pattern and replicated a digital version of you to keep me company as I battle zombies in this imaginary world.”

Mortimer made a noncommittal grunt before smiling at the other man. “I don’t really think either of us are imaginary, Daniel.” He picked out details in this room that were familiar to him. The sofa hadn’t changed, nor had the wallpaper. “Just like I believe that this room isn’t a distorted digital representation of where we used to live.”

“You’re scaring me now.”

Mortimer smiled even wider. “Good, I want you to be more than a little frightened. Right now, it’s just a feeling I have.” He saw one object hanging on the wall opposite from him that hadn’t changed. He walked over and took his dad’s oriental samurai sword off the two hooks. “I suggest that we go with the flow and see what gets thrown at us.”

His brother shrugged. “I agree, I can’t think of any better plan. Wait here.” He disappeared into the kitchen and came back a few second later with two cook’s knives in one hand whilst holding a wooden broom handle in the other hand. “Why don’t you check upstairs first while I sort this out. You never know, there might even be a gun up there.”

Mortimer left his brother searching through their dad’s writing desk and opened the door that led into the hallway. From the sounds coming from the living room, Daniel had found the roll of gaffa tape that Mom used to hold down the edge of the carpet that led into the kitchen. It was strange how they both remembered about that.

So now his brother had suddenly turned into some kind of experienced zombie warrior? It did occur to him that his brother’s old personality would have known all about how to fashion an effective weapon from a few household items, they all did. As kids, both the brothers used to dream up elaborate fantasies involving surviving through a zombie outbreak, just like they imagined being on a distant planet or lost, miles from anywhere, deep in the jungle.

He climbed the stairs, listening to the sounds of Daniel wrapping the tape around his improvised weapon. The Daniel he knew though, the one who, for the past few years, never did anything more strenuous than getting up to go to the bathroom, wouldn’t dream of being so creative. “Not unless he could make it out of fucking Legos,” he growled.

Mortimer peered into each room, seeing the same as he did downstairs. Some objects were recognizable, while others weren’t. The biggest difference was that Daniel’s gear now decorated Martin’s bedroom. There was nothing of practical value up here, though. Mortimer looked out of Daniel’s new bedroom window, watching a few figures shamble out of an open doorway on the other side of the street. They were heading towards this house. He ran out of the room and down the stairs. “Time to go,” he said, bursting into the living room. “We have more company.”

“The front door?” Daniel suggested. “I’ve already noticed them, by the way. There’s about a dozen already pressed up against the back door.” He dropped the tape back in the drawer and picked up his newly made weapon. “Can’t wait to try this out, Mortimer, doesn’t it look brilliant?”

The sound of breaking windows prompted Mortimer to move. “Front door it is,” he muttered. As he opened the front door, he heard the cellar door open. His guts coiled up, imagining the bodies on that floor had somehow reanimated and were now on their way through the kitchen, eager to sink their teeth into the arm of this body. Mortimer ground his teeth in irritation before pulling his brother out of the house and slamming the door.

So much for having no emotions left. Mortimer shook his head, wanting to dislodge those vivid images of his dead brother falling out of the kitchen and attacking Daniel. The other Daniel stood in the middle of the street, twirling his new toy around like some cross-dressed cheerleader. If this really was a product of the device’s digital memories, and not his mind feeding him with all this weird bullshit, then he’d like it all to end about now.

“Come on, Mortimer, let’s go bag ourselves some zombies!”

His brother’s new attitude distressed him. There you go, Mortimer, another emotion has worked its way through the malaise. The more he figured out about this current situation, the less he understood. Mortimer raced after the laughing man, trying to suppress a whole other bundle of other emotions, all wanting to come out and play. It seemed that the cork in the dam had been well and truly lost.

“I see three dead bastards huddling around that green car.”

Mortimer tightened his grip on the sword handle, looking not at the target but at Daniel’s shining face. The man sounded drunk. Those flickers of the old Daniel that he’d seen molded into the features of this stranger’s face had all but disappeared. He didn’t know who this person was now. The man chuckled before charging towards the car, his new weapon raised above his head, screaming incoherently.

Mortimer ran after him, keeping his distance. Although he didn’t want the dead things to overpower the man, he had no intention of becoming Daniel’s unintentional victim. The knives flashed down, each one finding their target with unnerving accuracy. The dead stood no chance. The sun’s glint vanished from the blades as more black soup covered the metal.

Panting, the man turned around; his blazing eyes found Mortimer. “I’m going to call my new weapon ‘Tony’.” He chuckled to himself.

For the first time since leaving the house, Mortimer heard his brother’s voice hidden beneath the dense slabs of thick muscle. “Where the fuck did you learn to do that?”

His brother’s reply never reached Mortimer’s ears. Daniel’s mouth opened, then the man dropped to the floor. A split second later, a single shot rang out. Mortimer yelped and followed his brother’s action. He rolled to the side, then got on his hands and knees and scurried over to the car. “What can you see?” he shouted, crashing into the asphalt as three more shots blasted out.

His brother reached forward and grabbed Mortimer, pulling him behind the car. Despite the shooting, Daniel’s grin had not moved off his face. “What is wrong with you? Some bastard is trying to kill us!”

“Then they aren’t doing a great job,” Daniel replied, sniggering. “Look, they’re only a block away.”

Mortimer followed the man’s gaze and saw five veiled figures heading towards the car. Two carried long-barrelled rifles. Even from this distance, those crude things held in their arms looked as though they had been fashioned in somebody’s garage. He bit the inside of his mouth to stop himself from laughing. He’d already seen just how effective homemade weapons could be in the right hands. From behind him, Mortimer sensed a shadow moving. He turned his head, thinking that Daniel’s double-blade stick had not stopped every dead thing.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he hissed, watching his brother standing up.

“I thought that was obvious,” Daniel replied, looking down. “We need answers, and hiding like rabbits won’t bring them. Besides, if they wanted us dead, we would be. It’s that simple.”

The five figures stopped moving when Daniel emerged from behind the car. Mortimer placed his sword on the hood of the vehicle and followed him out, keeping his eyes fixed on the two men holding the guns. He sighed when he saw that Daniel hadn’t dropped his weapon.

“Why did you run from the work camp?” demanded the lead veiled figure. The man took three steps forward until only a few meters separated him from Daniel. “We had an agreement, both of you were there.” He looked back at the others. “Have you any idea what the overlords would do to us all if they find us missing?”

“I don’t even know who you are,” Daniel said.

His words electrified the five strangers. The man in front staggered back and Mortimer’s heart leapt into his mouth when the other two men lifted the rifles. He now found both barrels aimed at his face.

“Put those down!” screamed the man. He hurried forward. “Tell me who you two are,” he demanded. “Do it now, body thieves.”

“Why don’t you tell us who you are?” asked Mortimer. “I don’t mean to sound impolite here, but do you always fire on strangers?”

The lead man raised his hand. He took hold of the veil and pulled the material back. Mortimer found himself staring into Joseph’s eyes.

“No, no fucking way!”

Joseph stepped forward. “I see that you recognize me? At least, you recognize one of me. Why don’t you tell me who you are, I mean the man inside the flesh of one of my friends.”

Mortimer watched the other four men approach. He reached out and wrapped his fingers around his brother’s wrist.

Joseph smiled. “Don’t worry, although I know you don’t belong in those meat coats, even I can see that you’re not part of the security forces. I do know that you don’t belong here.”

“Is this a game?” asked Mortimer, knowing that it wasn’t, that notion had left him when they left the house and he saw the look on his brother’s face as he dispatched those shambling dead monsters. Even in another body, that face expressed utter joy at making sure his enemies stayed on the ground. Daniel hated the shambling corpses as much as anyone, but he would much rather hide, or run away. This Daniel couldn’t wait to carve up the bastards.

“It’ll be easier to show you.” Joseph looked back at their house. “Am I right to think that building holds some kind of hold over you two?”

“We used to live there,” replied Daniel. “At least, we lived in a house like that one.”

“Unreal,” grinned Joseph, “talk about providence. I think you two should follow me. It’ll be better if I show you.”

An avalanche of questions lined up, each one demanding room in Mortimer’s increasingly confused head. Did this other Joseph know how close he’d come to having that smug grin sliced off his face? Mortimer saw Daniel’s expression and guessed that he felt the same way. He picked up the sword as the group passed the car and promised himself to bottle up his feelings, just like before.

“Can you tell me anything,” he pressed, staring at Joseph’s back. “Anything at all?”

The man spun around. “Sure, how about we start with the word luck. You see, I know all about you, my friend. At least, I know where you come from. I’ve never been there, but I do know that life is pretty shitty for the general population. You live in a huge city, right? Surrounded by high walls with millions of zombies surrounding you.”

Mortimer nodded.

“And you all would have joined the dead if it wasn’t for some tiny pills that keep you human?”

Joseph’s grin chilled Mortimer’s blood.

“Sounds like a horrible place to live. Still, it could be worse, you could live here.”

“When are the shipments starting up?” one of the other men demanded.

Mortimer stared at the man holding a rifle. “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“We need more pills!”

Joseph took Mortimer’s arm. “Look at this, my friend.”

He turned and saw two rows of long, single-storey buildings stretching out to the horizon. Mortimer looked back at the man. “What am I supposed to be looking at here?”

“Should they be there?”

“There should be fields here,” murmured Daniel.

Joseph beamed. “Your friend is asking the right questions! You’re not on your world any more, my friend.” He pointed to a large black tower to the left of the buildings. “That vile-looking structure should be familiar?”

Mortimer looked closely and slowly nodded. “Yeah, it looks like one of the corner buttresses from Government House.”

“That’s because it is. That part of the building occupies the same space in three worlds, my friend. Your security forces streamed out of that building a few years ago. What was left of our population didn’t stand a chance against your brutality.”

Mortimer stood back, almost stepping on the toes of his silent brother. “Where the fuck are we?”

Joseph laughed. “Welcome to Food World! This is where all your meals come from, processed in those factories by your enslaved survivors. If we don’t work, we die, it’s as simple as that. Not only did you murder most of us, you brought your fucking plague across as well. We don’t get pills if we don’t work.”

The two men raised their rifles again.

“Now, why don’t we start with something simple, like your names?”

The man’s voice lowered in tone. Mortimer watched one of the men tighten his finger on the trigger. Several black bears roared out in anger, the landscape blurred, every color washing out of the scene and flowing towards a single point – where the muzzle of the gun ended. It took his brains a moment to understand that the man had fired the gun, and yet the shell must have somehow travelled through his chest without leaving a mark.

The colors compressed into a single spear of golden light before flowing up the barrel. He tried to turn around, to see his brother, but could not even move his neck.

His eyes closed involuntarily; as soon his sight changed from a million shades of grey to pitch black, Mortimer picked up the sound of a quiet voice by his ear. The words wouldn’t mesh but the comforting pitch helped him to lose some of the tenseness in his muscles.

“Stay quiet and try not to move. They kill you here and now if they know you’re conscious.”

Mortimer opened one eye a crack. The voice could wait for a moment. Several breathing bodies, the sense of movement as well as being unable to move his arms and legs, gave him enough information to tell him that his situation had taken a turn for the worse.

He watched the florescent light above him slide past while listening to the heavy breathing. That voice belonged to his ‘old friend’ Joseph. He opened both eyes and stared at the man, noting the slight differences between this one and the Joseph from the other place. No matter how hard he tried, Mortimer could not believe that he had somehow just travelled to a parallel world. The whole idea was too ridiculous for words. Even so, what else did that leave? Mortimer had already dismissed the idea that he’d been wondering about in a digital reality. His brain hurt.

“The others are really pissed with you, Joseph. I mean pissed enough to have your rank stripped.”

Mortimer summoned enough strength to lift his head until the strap around his neck tightened. His restricted view showed three figures above him, two walking beside this trolley, and a white-coated figure pushing another trolley. Mortimer assumed that the other trolley held his brother.

“The only one who sounds pissed, my friend, is you.”

The recognition didn’t take long to arrive. Anyone who watched television would have known the other man opposite Joseph. Rossini looked smaller in real life. Mortimer closed his eyes and tried to slow his heat beat down.

“At this rate, Joseph, you’ll end up as bait on one of my shows.”

“Threaten me one more time and you’ll be the one who’ll find himself hung upside down over one of your zombie pits.” The man put his hand over Mortimer’s wrists. “I have no respect for the others, Rossini, they’ll never see sense. You though, come on, you saw what happened to Martin when we attached him to the drip. It didn’t work for him, why do you believe that these two will be any different?”

Mortimer’s eyes snapped open at the sound of automatic gunfire. The large man standing above him was too busy looking behind him to notice that his prisoner had regained consciousness.

“We have no other choice, that’s why. They’re turning faster than we can stop it. The pills are failing. We need a concentred supply, it’s that simple.”

“It isn’t that simple, you stupid fat fool. Thinking outside of the box is all that is required.”

“You’re a fucking idiot,” Rossini snapped. “Your thinking outside of the box almost killed us all. What possessed you to reopen the gates to both Source World as well as Food World? Thanks to your meddling, we’ve lost a lot of people, including some of my prized contestants.”

“Is that all you think about, Rossini?”

The big man shrugged. “If it wasn’t for the games, we’d have a revolution on our hands. Look, you’ve tried and failed to sort this, Joseph. Let me try.”

The trolley stopped. Mortimer found himself being pushed into a bright but small room. The steel bars on the only other door in the room told Mortimer enough about this place.

“Get them prepared, Joseph. I’ll go see if I can hold the dogs off your back for a few more hours. You can thank me later.”

Rossini and the two attendants left the three of them alone. Mortimer waited for Joseph to unbuckle the neck strap before looking to see if Daniel was okay. When he sat up, Mortimer saw his brother’s eyes staring back at him.

“I wanted to stay there. I don’t like being this fat loser.”

“You two are the most important people on the planet. The most important people on all three worlds.” Joseph finished unbuckling Mortimer’s straps before hurrying over to Daniel’s trolley. “You certainly are not a loser, young man.”

“Is it true, Joseph, I mean about enslaving the population?”

“Of course it isn’t, Daniel. Is that what they told you? Look, it is true that we inadvertently brought the plague to them. I can’t tell you how much guilt I feel about that.” The man paused. “All those deaths.”

Mortimer watched the man closely; now that he’d seen the other Joseph, he began to see just how alike they were, not only in their appearance but in their mannerisms as well. Something about Joseph’s reaction felt somehow false. He looked away and gazed at the door that led to the corridor. What did it matter anyway?

They both had used Martin’s name in the past tense. It didn’t take a genius to work out what that meant. This drip thing brought up an image of a huge mechanical vampire that would drain them both dry. They didn’t have much longer to live.

“Why not just move there, Joseph?” asked Daniel. “From what I saw, there weren’t many dead things.”

“Don’t you think we tried? There are only a few who can make the physical shift between worlds.” He gently tapped Mortimer’s head. “Those devices only took your mind across, your bodies stayed here.”

It all sounded so plausible until Mortimer remembered what Rossini said about people disappearing through gates. “Are you sure about that, Joseph? I heard what that bastard said to you in the hallway.”

“Yeah, great, I’ve managed to open a couple of random holes that appear and disappear. Well guess what?” Joseph cried. “I haven’t a fucking clue how I did it.” He raced over to the door and locked it. “We need to get you two away from here,” he muttered, walking back and forth. “They just don’t get it, none of them do. Then again, what else should I expect from that bunch of clowns.” He stared at Mortimer. “I might be able to work out how to control the jumps, I just need more time.” He laughed, “That’s one luxury that none of us have right now. I still need to find a cure.”

Mortimer’s heart skipped a beat. “Wait, you said we were supposed to be the saviors of the human race.”

“Both of you are immune, but the compound in you won’t replicate in another body. That’s why we need to keep taking the fucking pills. It’s like wrapping tape around a leaking pipe. Now, even that is beginning to fail.”

“What’s going to happen to us?” Mortimer wasn’t sure that he really wanted to know the answer to his question.

“The others in the council believe that completely draining you in one go and transfusing a selected few will somehow produce a cure. I didn’t vote for this, believe me.”

“Oh fuck that,” muttered Daniel. “I’d rather you didn’t. I want my blood to stay in my body.”

Joseph sat on the side of Mortimer’s trolley and pulled out a brown plastic bottle. Mortimer knew immediately what they were. Those pills were the main cause of Daniel’s fuck up. Mortimer watched Joseph unscrew the lid and pour out a small pile into the palm of his hand.

“There’s a reason why I plugged you both into those devices, you know.” Joseph poured a pile into Mortimer’s palm and repeated the action with Daniel. “Don’t stare at them. Eat the bloody things.”

Mortimer watched his brother tip his head back and shove them into his mouth. Joseph did the same. Within a couple of seconds, his brother’s body faded away, and his sheet fell from the trolley. He heard footsteps coming down the hallway. “What the fuck have I got myself into,” he muttered, watching Joseph’s body vanish too. He opened his mouth and pushed every pill inside.

Chapter Eleven

Kenny slid down the filthy wall. The smooth, solid surface felt fine against his aching back. Every muscle and tendon cried out for rest. He wrinkled his nose as the odor of rotten meat filled his nostrils as he sank to the floor.

“That’s bad,” he whispered.

Some distant voice casually informed him the wall’s thin coating of gelatinous black fluid now covered his clothes and his palms.

Not that he cared. That voice could fuck off. Kenny no longer gave a shit about anything. Why should he let something as irrelevant as that concern him now that he could count the grains of sand left in his hourglass? Thanks to his dark friend, the sickness bubbling up to the surface, Kenny knew he only had a few more minutes left to enjoy his life.

Steady footfalls on the tiled floor broke him from his stupor. He slowly lifted his head and followed the sound until he saw the figure of his darling sister making her way back from wherever she’d gone. His apathy vanished and Kenny suddenly wished that she wasn’t coming back. He didn’t want her around when he did change. No matter how hard he tried, Kenny couldn’t move his limbs. It felt as if the stinking, cold jelly coating his skin and clothes fastened him to the wall and floor like strong glue.

How long did he have left? Kenny couldn’t answer that; hell, he had enough problems even remembering his sister’s name. Searching through his memories required way too much concentration.

She held something in her left hand. For a moment, his hopes heightened, until he realized his memories were in the wrong order. She wasn’t coming back with more of the drug. Just to be sure though, Kenny managed to lift his head enough to see a ceiling above him and not the sky.

The woman did have something clasped tight in her hand though. What the fuck is her name?

It wasn’t more drugs, so it couldn’t be that important. Kenny ground his teeth together and stared at an irregularly shaped blood spatter on the wall in front of him. His sister wouldn’t leave him, that much he did know. That meant he’d have to force the sickness back down, push the craving into a wooden box, close the lid and lock the bastard. He’d done it before, he could do it again.

He couldn’t allow his dead body to hurt her. Kenny took a deep breath, hoping that he’d be able to control himself. He turned his head and smiled at her.

She’s called Diane.

He grinned wider. He could do it, all it took was willpower and focus. Those two abilities were in very short supply; his mind wouldn’t stay on track for more than a few seconds. Wasn’t that the sad truth? Even the shock of stumbling across Rossini’s rotting corpse hadn’t fazed him.

“Not that it was the big fat bastard,” he muttered.

Even in his fucked up mental state, he knew that it couldn’t have been him. This whole notion of hers of being pulled into another world, some sort of alternate dimension, had bullshit written all over it. The idea was just too ridiculous for words.

It had to be a doll, a prop, made up to look like that nasty fucker. It all made much more sense than them travelling to another world.

“How are you doing, Kenny?” His sister stopped by him and crouched down. “I’m sorry for taking so long. You’re not going to believe what I discovered though. It has seriously blown my mind.”

Her face had lost its usual color. She looked almost as bad as he felt. Kenny stared at her wide eyes, wondering if she’d seen a ghost. Diane shuffled forward, gently opened his fingers, then placed her find in his palm. His initial thought was she’d given him a wooden ruler, until he turned the object around and found letters carved into the dark wood. The letters spelled his sister’s full name, “What the fuck is this?”

“Yeah, I thought the same words. The grime, different colors on the walls, and the unusual furniture threw me at first; even so, at the back of my mind, something told me that I should know this building.” She paused and took in a deep breath. “Oh, I know this place alright, Kenny. I work here. This is Government House, or another version of the place.” She pulled the name plate out of his hand. “I found my office and this was on the floor, next to the desk. By the looks of the dust, my other self hadn’t been around for a long time. It felt as though somebody was walking across my grave while I looked through the office. I’m not sure if I would have wanted to meet my other self.” She shivered. “From what I found, it didn’t look like she was as pleasant as me.”

Kenny rubbed the back of his neck, frowning at how soft his flesh felt under his fingertips. Could this be a part of the process, of his inevitable transformation from alive to living dead? Get the fuck away, I refuse to let you beat me. He squeezed his eyes as tight as he could until his vision exploded into a sea of colored points of light.

“Are you okay?”

He nodded while turning away from Diane so he could open his eyes. “Listen to what you are saying, Diane.” He already knew that she’d decided to believe this ridiculous story. Just as he knew that no amount of denial on his part would change her mind. Kenny knew that this whole set up had to be one big fake, it was the only scenario that made any sense. “It’s Rossini, he’s just fucking with your head, Diane. It’s what he does. You of all people should know that, considering you’re in the same business of bullshit propaganda.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Kenny shifted his tired body, pleased to see his goading had provoked the desired reaction. “Exactly how it sounded. You’re all one big happy family, sitting in your ivory towers, feeding the workers bullshit every day, laughing as we all slowly die in misery.” Her eyes blazed. Good. A furious sister meant she wouldn’t notice that his body was dying, she might even storm off and leave him here.

“I’m not going to rise to this, Kenny.” She leaned closer to his face. “You forget who you’re talking to. I know you better than anyone.” Diane stroked the side of his cheek with the back of her hand,

Her touch felt like he’d pressed the side of his face against a hot plate. Her warmth stirred a desire that he’d already tried to suppress. “Just go, leave me alone,” he snapped.

“Not going to happen, Kenny. So stop it with the lies.” She grabbed a handful of his coat and pulled him towards her. “Come with me.”

He had no choice but to allow her to drag him back along the hallway. The expression of a pouting teenage etched on Diane’s face brought back nostalgic memories of the fights they used to have back before everything turned to shit. All those petty arguments over who had stolen the TV remote; accusing each other of badmouthing their closest friends; even leaving the kitchen cupboard door open could have brought them close to a fight.

What he would give to go back to those days. Even if Diane did get her way most of the time, Kenny always took solace in climbing into his warn, soft bed, complete with clean sheets, and falling asleep while wishing his sister would fall under a speeding car.

“What’s so funny?”

He reached forward and wrapped his arms around her. “You are,” he replied. “Diane, I’m sorry, but come on, think about it. What else could this be but a studio?”

Diane wriggled out of his grasp and wrapped her fingers around his thin wrist. “I have lost count of the times when I wanted to slap you, Kenny. You really can’t see the wood for the trees, you know that?” She turned around and stormed back down the hallway, dragging him behind her.

Kenny’s stomach rolled at the sight of the body lying in front of the door. Looking at it with fresh eyes, he saw that there was no way that could be anything other than a rotting human corpse.

She stopped directly in front of the body, released his wrist and glared at Kenny. “Look at it, just look. It’s a dead body and it’s Rossini. Stop glossing over the facts and wake up.” Diane booted it viciously in the side then jumped back as foul gases burst from the ruptured skin. “What did I do that for?” she muttered whilst covering her mouth.

Kenny spun around and ran over to the wall, desperately trying to keep his stomach where it belonged. That stench had followed him; he slammed his hand over his mouth and nose and waited for it to leave him, sinking to the floor. He paused and lifted his head when he realized that the smell was coming from all around him. Kenny saw his sister pressed up against the shut door and slowly twisted his head.

Several figures, all dressed in rags, stared at them. They charged forward and took hold of his struggling sister. Two men broke off from the group and approached him. Kenny offered no resistance; his body had used its last reserve of strength running away from Rossini’s corpse.

The two men wrapped their thick fingers around his limbs, gently pulled him up off the floor, and carried him over to his sister. Kenny’s rolling stomach refused to calm down. Where these people had come from, what they had planned for him and Diane, didn’t even get a mention. All Kenny could think of was why anyone could smell so vile and not do something about it. Despite living in a world where the stench of death dominated every other aroma, the smell coming from these individuals was seriously making him ill.

The largest man holding his legs stopped and let go. He nodded to the woman holding his shoulders and she bent down and placed him gently on the floor. The woman then skirted past him and hurried to rejoin the others. “I’m sorry,” said the blonde man. “We can’t take you any further. You’re too far gone.”

Kenny watched him pull his ragged clothing to one side to reveal a dark blue jacket. The man reached inside and pulled out a long, thin knife. “No,” he muttered. “Don’t kill me.”

The man sighed. “It’s too late, you must know that already.” He shook his head. “I should end you right now. We both know that your pain will only last for a second, then you’ll be at peace forever.” He stood up and replaced the knife. “I can’t though, you’re still alive. I’m not a murderer. I’ll be back though, very soon. It’s not like you’re going anywhere.”

Kenny crawled over to the wall and sat against it, watching the man leave and taking that foul smell with him. He heard the sounds of his sister’s voice cut off in the middle of an abusive sentence. By the sounds of it, they must have muffled her. “I’m sorry, Diane,” he whispered. “I should have listened to you.” The man was right, he wouldn’t be able to stop his body from changing. He should have realized that when he felt the flesh at the back of his neck. At best, he had a few minutes of life left. He fell forwards and crawled to the closest open door. If he was going to turn, at least he should try to lock himself away so he wouldn’t hurt anybody else.

This was it, the end of the line for his mind. His body was beginning to shut down. Already he could no longer feel his legs. Kenny used the last of his strength to drag his body into the closest corner, feeling hot tears run down his cheeks. He didn’t want to die, and he didn’t want to turn into one of those monsters either. “You fucking idiot,” he wailed. Kenny hadn’t even shut the door. The muscles in his arms went as lifeless as the ones on his legs; he couldn’t even more his fingers.

His body didn’t even react when he heard shuffling footsteps outside the door, accompanied by the sound of low moaning. That was one noise that Kenny had hoped to never hear again. “Oh fuck, no. Not that,” he whispered. “Please, can’t you just leave me alone?” He gritted his teeth and mentally screamed out, ordering his body to obey his last ever instruction to move. Some movement did return, just enough for him to pull himself a few more inches towards a wooden desk in the middle of the room. If he could just get close enough, all he had to do was roll under it, he’d be safe then.

He heard another moan. This one came from him when the meager light in the room vanished. Kenny rolled onto his side. A silhouette was framed in the doorway. His weakened eyes could make out no details. Kenny couldn’t even tell if it used to be male or female. Not that it mattered, since when did gender make a difference to the dead? Kenny continued to stare, keeping his head still and attempted not to breathe too heavily. Even if he did only have a few minutes to live, he had no intention of ending up as food for one of those things.

Kenny whimpered as it jerked its head to the side before taking one clumsy step into the room. A low growl uttered deep from the thing’s throat as it shambled further into the room, heading straight for his location. He tried to roll out of the way as it dropped to its hands and knees, but the table leg was fast against his back. He was too weak to move in any other direction.

Its reaching fingers snagged Kenny’s leg. He screamed out in agony as its ragged fingernails dug into the back of his ankle before sinking its teeth into Kenny’s calf. The pain was unlike anything he had ever experienced. Kenny slammed his teeth tight, and kicked out with his other leg. His foot crashed into the thing’s face. It let go of him and flew backwards, the back of its head hitting the corner of the metal table.

It bounced back and landed between his legs, finally still. “Fuck you, dead thing,” he snarled. Not that he felt all that triumphant. His warm blood streamed out of the wound and pooled under his leg. “If I wasn’t fucked before, I am now.” He slowly lifted his damaged leg, a little surprised that he was able to move at all considering he’d truly believed that his strength had left him never to return. Kenny put it down to the adrenalin still coursing through his body. The blood had already started to clot. Then again, Kenny had always been a fast healer.

He dragged his body away from the dead thing and tried to stand up, intending to close that door. Kenny didn’t want anything else to come in nor did he want to escape after his change.

Why didn’t you let it eat you?

That would have solved his dilemma in one fell swoop. Kenny wouldn’t be able to hurt or bite anyone. Hell, it would have been the perfect solution. “I don’t want to die, that’s why!” he sobbed. Kenny spun around. “No fucking dead bastard is going feast on my …” his words dried up when he finally saw the zombie’s face. Kenny’s emotions detonated.

“This can’t be happening to me! I really can’t take any more of this.” He fell against the door frame and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the image of his dead sister lying on the floor, her face frozen in a snarl.

“I’m so sorry for doubting you, Diane,” he whispered. The truth of the situation finally sank in. He listened to the only sound in the room, his heart, steadily beating against his ribs, distantly wondering how long it would be now until even that silenced. Still, at least the door was shut. When he did change, his body wouldn’t be able to harm anybody. Kenny would be trapped in this room, with the body of his replica dead sister, forever.

The bite must have accelerated his change. Kenny felt at peace now, having finally accepted his fate. He looked across at the body, feeling the desire to crawl over there and lie with her. It was ridiculous; the thoughts going through his mind were of him holding the body tight against his while his body heat warmed her up.

He smiled at the fantasy of him now being able to breathe life into some truly dead thing. He couldn’t even save himself, never mind attempt the impossible of bringing the dead back to the land of the living.

“Why am I still alive?” Kenny lifted both his arms with ease. The pain in his leg had left him, and only a dull throb remained. He peered at the drying blood and shook his head in confusion. He found himself standing up and grabbing the door handle. The urge to lock himself away had vanished along with the pain and tiredness.

Kenny grabbed the doorframe and launched himself out of the room, falling against the opposite wall. “I’m not yet dead.” He turned his head and the other corpse caught his eye. He began to limp towards the body, not sure why it attracted him. “I’m not dead,” he repeated softly. None of this made much sense. After a bite, he should have changed within a few seconds.

His grinned faded, then vanished when he stopped a couple of feet from the corpse, his legs finally locking up and refusing to move another inch. This wasn’t him changing into a dead thing. Kenny already knew how that felt. Every muscle in his body lost cohesion and he collapsed onto the floor. Before he smacked into the filthy tiles, something inside Kenny’s mind detonated, filling his vision with blinding white light.

What the fuck is happening to me?

The intense white light faded like the dying bulb in a flashlight, leaving him staring at a medley of vivid colors coating the tile beneath his face. He’d never seen anything so profound in his life. Kenny found that he could lift his head. He blinked and gazed around the hallway, staring in wonder at the explosion of color threatening to overwhelm his dizzy mind. The muted greys and washed-out browns no longer existed for him.

Kenny rolled onto his back, smiling at the shape of a dancing woman he saw in the black mold covering the ceiling. He sat up and blinked again. The intensity of the scenery had now lost some of its vibrancy. There was no time to mourn the loss, as the foul stench coming from the bloated corpse rolled over every other sensation. He whipped his head away and scuttled back towards the open door. Kenny stopped moving as soon as the smell became more tolerable.

Was this a second chance? He closed his mouth and breathed in through his nose. The putrefying stench still filled his senses but now he detected the taint of wet mold, the sour smell coming from his own body, and something else: it reminded him of oranges. Kenny smiled; he detected the trace of his sister’s perfume in the air. This was unreal, it was like his senses had just reactivated back to their default setting, before the sickness stripped had stripped them away.

Everything was so bright, so new. “I’ve been reborn,” he uttered, tasting the words, knowing that they were true. His sickness had gone forever. He jumped to his feet and leaned down to examine his leg. His blood had soaked into the fabric, and was still wet to the touch, but as he rolled up his trousers, all he saw was an ugly scar. “Fuck me, am I really cured?”

Kenny chuckled to himself. “And there’s me berating my sister for having an overactive imagination.” He stopped and slowly lifted up his head when another familiar smell crept into his nose. “I’d forgotten all about you,” he said, watching the blond-haired man stop a few feet away from him. Kenny saw the knife in his left hand. He had meant his words about coming back to finish the job.

“I’m sorry, mate, but you’re no longer needed.” Confusion flashed across the man’s face. Kenny didn’t wait for him to assimilate this new information. He rushed forward, shocked but ecstatic at his new agility. He’d forgotten what it felt like to actually move without his muscles complaining. The man’s knife clattered onto the tiles when Kenny slammed his hand into the wall. “Sorry about that, I didn’t want you to get any funny ideas.”

The man cried out. He wrestled his arm out of Kenny’s grip, spun around, and ran back the way he came.

Kenny bent down and picked up the knife, turning it around in his hands. Just like the man, this blade stunk of whatever foul stuff they used to coat their bodies with. He wrinkled his nose, wishing that his sense of smell wasn’t so acute now. Could this be some sort of camouflage?

He’d heard of other people trying to do the same in his world, covering their bodies in rotting flesh in the hope that the shambling dead would think that they were like them. As far as he knew, the idea had not worked. The dead always knew who was dead and who wasn’t. Kenny remembered that time in the alley, just before his sister had returned. He had actually felt the thoughts of the reanimated. He lifted the knife up and held it against the light.

Perhaps these guys had figured out another way to avoid the dead things. Instead of trying to blend in, what if they had discovered an odor that deterred them instead. Kenny chuckled. Wouldn’t that be a kicker if these guys had found a formula for a zombie repellent? Maybe that wasn’t all that these guys had worked out. How had they managed to stay human without taking the tablets or having shots? He was pretty sure that he’d have noticed them lining up outside a medi-center. At least, his nose would have.

Kenny set off after the guy, intending to find out. He pushed aside the nagging doubt that perhaps he wasn’t really cured, that somehow the virus in the zombie’s blood had reacted to whatever chemicals that Rossini had pumped into him and given him an unexpected high.

“Will you stop it, Kenny,” he muttered. No matter how much he tried to flush away the uncertainty, the doubt refused to leave. It only increased when he found himself beginning to tire. “Come on, Kenny, admit it, you’re just lying to yourself.” He leaned against the wall and took a deep breath, wondering what the chances were of bumping into his alternate sister. It must be astronomical. “Oh shit, this really must be a television studio and he’s just killed his own sister. The fuckers must have turned her as soon as he was out of sight.”

“Fuck you all!” he screamed, gripping the knife tight. “I refuse to play your game.” He saw his reflection in the tip of the blade. No more messing about, no more doubt. Kenny would kill them all if he had to. He stormed down the hallway, just praying for one of the bastards to show their face. They were going to tell him what was happening here, even if he had to cut the information out of them.

He slowed down at the sight of another door set into the featureless grey wall. Was anyone in there? He stopped outside the door and pressed his ear against the wood. He heard nothing. Kenny opened it carefully, sniffing as the smell of old paper rushed out.

It didn’t feel like anyone was inside. Even so, Kenny wasn’t going to take any chances. He needed to find those people. He growled softly, hoping that at least one of them would be in here. Kenny pushed open the door and entered, gazing at the dusty metal shelves bolted to the wall. At first, he thought that he’d come full circle. This storeroom was identical to the one they’d emerged into. He reached out and picked up a sheet of paper from the shelf next to him. Kenny stiffened and spun around; he saw that he wasn’t alone, but it wasn’t one of the survivors. The individual lurching out of the gloom had been dead for a long time, judging by its appearance.

The dried-up corpse took three painful steps towards him. Kenny waited for it to move again, to let it get closer for him before putting the thing out of its misery. The zombie didn’t continue its progress. Instead the thing turned around and shuffled back the way it had come. He looked down at the blade, feeling as though he’d just been cheated out of his kill. “What the fuck are you doing?” he asked.

It paused but then continued to shamble away. This made no sense at all. Why had it not gone for him? Could it have been the knife? Was the taint clinging to the blade enough to make it turn back? There was one way of finding out. He placed the knife on the shelf next to his head and walked over to the corpse. “Come on then, you fucker,” he snarled. “Show me what you’re made of.” It didn’t react. Instead, the creature disappeared back into the shadows, shambling through a gap between the shelving on the other side of the storeroom. Kenny reached for the knife and followed it, noticing that the room was a lot larger than he’d thought. There were another two rows of shelving in here, all full of bundled-up papers.

The door behind him moved an inch. He ran forward and peered out into the hallway, catching sight of the others running past the room, all armed with weapons ranging from garden tools to shotguns. He looked at his knife and knew he wouldn’t last long in a pitched battle with that lot. Kenny jumped back when he saw two of them stop.

“That door should be closed,” one of them said. Kenny followed the dead thing further into the room. At least he would be able to handle that. He listened as they passed over the threshold. He didn’t think they could see him, unless their eyesight was better suited to dim conditions. Kenny gripped the knife tighter, swearing silently when he heard them move towards the gap in the bookcase.

He almost yelled out as the desiccated face of the dead thing appeared right in front of him. Kenny jumped to the side and watched in utter confusion as it headed towards the two men. They saw it at the same time and both fired. The explosion of both weapons in the small room almost blew out Kenny’s eardrums. He watched their mouths open and close before running back into the hallway.

Kenny stepped over the now headless corpse and waited for the ringing in his head to lessen before looking out of the open door. They had disappeared, and so had much of his anger.

“Yet, I’m still not dead,” he muttered, stepping out into the corridor. No matter what explanations his tired brain came up with, he couldn’t escape the simple fact that, by now, he should have turned into a shambling corpse. No bitten victim had survived longer than a few minutes after one of those things had sunk its teeth into them.

He needed to find out where they had taken Diane. Nothing else mattered. Kenny should just accept the simple fact that he hadn’t turned into one of those things and drop it. After he found his sister, then he could work it out. Fuck it, he’d just ask Diane, she’d know what to do.

Kenny could hear the sound of their receding feet. It was tempting to follow them, just to see what they thought of his condition. Fuck knows what the blond man must have told them. He turned and silently made his way the opposite direction instead. His sister’s safety took priority.

The walls on both sides spread out until he found himself standing in what resembled a large hall. Hundreds of candles were fastened to the walls, their yellow glow giving the rough plaster a dull golden cast. Kenny started when a shadow under one of the candles groaned. Kenny stared into the gloom; he was no longer alone. Unlike those clowns he’d avoided, these slumped individuals weren’t at all concerned that a stranger was now in their midst. His eyes moved from one heaped mound of bundled and tattered rags to the next. Were they sleeping?

Kenny approached the first slumped body, hoping that he hadn’t made a mistake here. What if they weren’t alive and he’d just stumbled into a room full of resting dead things? He looked behind him, checking to see if he hadn’t passed any more doors on his way in here. There was nothing but two unbroken lines of grey wall, so those others must have come from here. Kenny slowed down and leaned a couple of inches forwards, trying to see any signs of life beneath those folds of filthy brown rags. A single bright blue eye stared back at him.

“Do I know you?”

He guessed that the girl wrapped inside those rags couldn’t have been much older than sixteen, yet her voice didn’t sound right. The tone was all wrong, as if spoken by an old woman, or somebody zoned out. “Do you know when the others will be back?” he asked, keeping his voice steady. The girl stared back at him. After a moment, he decided that her word quota must have been used up by asking her first question. Perhaps he’d have better luck from the next pile of clothing.

“What about you, buddy?” he asked, looked down at a man that, Kenny guessed, was a few years older than him. “Can you help me out, or would you prefer me to kick the shit out of you instead? Believe me, I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.”

The man’s eyes flickered. He looked up at Kenny and giggled. “Those bastards must have spiked my recovery vial. You can’t really here, Kenny,” he replied. “We both know that you died years ago, in the first purge.” The man shivered. “Get out of here, leave my mind.”

Kenny’s stomach lurched when he realized that this man was Nathan Riley, the data operator who’d occupied the cubicle next to him. It wasn’t Nathan, just as the zombie that took a bite out of his leg wasn’t really his sister. This really was a complete mind fuck. “Where did they take the girl?”

The man closed his eyes. “Get out of my head!” he screamed.

Kenny spun around and looked for a way out; his eyes settled on a large closed doorway on the other side of the hall. He ran to it and barged through the doors.

“Who the fuck are you?”

Kenny stopped dead. He saw two men dressed in dark blue overalls, both glaring at him, and both holding an arm of his sister, Diane.

“I’ll ask you one more time, you little bastard …”

Kenny didn’t give the man who barked out the question the chance to finish his sentence. He charged forward, sweeping the blade in a low arc. The knife cut through the man’s overall. Kenny shouted in triumph as the man fell back, clutching his stomach. The other man dropped the bludgeon he held in his other hand before running through the open doors.

Diane turned. “Oh my God!” she sobbed. “I thought I’d never see you again.” She spun around and launched a kick at the man on the floor. “You utter bastard!” she screamed. Then she turned back to Kenny and fell into his open arms. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you, Kenny.”

He held her tight, enjoying her warmth. He had a pretty good idea what those two clowns were about to do to Diane. “I’m just glad I got here in time.” Her shiver travelled through his arms.

“So am I,” she replied. Diane looked into his eyes. “But, this makes no sense. How come you’re not …”

“Why am I not dead? I have no idea.” He gently pushed her back and pointed at his leg. “I should be dead, Diane, considering I was bitten by a dead thing shortly after those bastards took you away.” He decided not to mention that it had been her duplicate that had done the deed. Somehow, he didn’t think that would go down too well.

The blood drained from her face. She staggered back. “Oh fuck! No, no way.”

He sighed. “Diane, it’s okay, really it is, I haven’t felt this great for ages.” He smiled. “I’m fine, really I am.”

She took one step towards him. “When, when did you say this happened?”

Kenny shrugged, watching the man on the floor lift his head. Judging from his expression, he expected Kenny to start craving raw human flesh as well. “Like I said, about twenty minutes ago.”

She crouched down and lifted his trouser leg. “This really is a day for the impossible.” Diane looked up. “And you feel okay?”

“Best I’ve felt for a long time. I’d forgotten what normal felt like, Diane.” He pulled her onto her feet. “Maybe it’s time to leave now?”

“Wait, Kenny.” She pointed over at another door in the corner of the room.

He hadn’t even noticed it. Unlike the rest of the doors, this one had three thick bars set into the thick wood. Another face stared out from behind the bars.

“They’ll be back, you know,” Diane whispered.

He nodded, keeping his eyes on the other man. “I know you.” Kenny sighed, like that meant anything now, considering how their little trip had blown away his sense of reality.

“I’m Tony,” the guy replied. “Can you get me out of here please?”

Diane pushed past Kenny and pulled back the heavy bolt. “Kenny, we really do need to move.” She looked at the door. “Those two were only supposed to lock me in here, but apparently they read more into that command.”

Tony stood directly in front of Kenny and looked him up and down. “Is it all true, I mean did you really survive a bite?” He grinned. “This must be providence.”

“Yeah, that’s so nice to hear,” hissed Diane. “How the hell do we get out of here?”

Kenny turned to see the two men framed in the open doorway, smiling. Behind them, he saw five rifles and two pistols pointed at their heads. Although he’d somehow survived a zombie bite, Kenny doubted that his body would survive half a dozen blasts. “Can we talk about this?”

“Tell me how you’re still living?” asked the blonde man.

Kenny felt Tony push something into the palm of his hand.

“Swallow these, Kenny,” whispered Tony. “This day of miracles isn’t over just yet.”

Kenny looked at the two tablets rolling about in the palm of his hands and resisted the urge to question the man. He saw the crowd part and saw another Tony push past them. Kenny threw the tablets down his throat, seeing his sister and Tony do the same. The room around them screamed into a medley of multi-colored water.

Chapter Twelve

Stephen Haney gripped his forefinger, grinning when the bones cracked.

“Do you have to do that?” hissed his wife. “You know how much that annoys me.” She shook her head, biting her bottom lip. “We won’t get them if you’re not quiet.”

He stared back at her, waiting for her to turn away. He wasn’t going to let the old bag beat him in another staring contest. Stephen gripped his index finger and pulled; it didn’t crack but the woman still glared. “You’re the one who’s talking,” he whispered.

“You’re pathetic,” she snapped, spinning around.

He didn’t bother biting. What was the point? He’d won this bout. As for being pathetic, Stephen believed that they both looked like complete idiots, dressed in these bright yellow jumpsuits. He resembled a banana while his wife looked more like a lemon. He resisted the urge to chuckle. The analogy suited her, the sour-faced old bitch. How the hell she’d managed to pour her fat ass into the costume was beyond him. He could only assume that the material must be super stretchy. He doubted that it would be of much use after she’d finished with it, except maybe for use as a car cover.

“What are you giggling at?”

“Nothing,” he replied, instinctively inching away from her fat arms. If she got too pissed, Natalie could easily knock him into next week with her deadly swipes. “Can you see the others yet?” he said, hoping that the change of subject would stop her from digging any further.

She leaned further out from the pretend rock outcropping; it took a tremendous amount of self-control not to chuckle when she almost toppled over. Just the thought of her spinning around and bashing him with the studded club gripped in her other hand was enough to keep his big mouth shut. His wife was obviously having the time of her life in here. Not that it showed. Natalie had gotten her outward dark glower down to a fine art; only he could tell how the woman truly felt. That came with being married to her for over twenty years. He silently sighed, wondering where the time had gone. It only seemed like a week since one of the most powerful women in the city took an instant shine to the shy office boy, working away in some forgotten area of the government records office.

Stephen’s boss frightened the crap out of everybody, with good reason. Natalie’s family had connections right to the very top of the government. On his first day of employment, his supervisor and his new friend Edverd Rossini had taken pains to educate him on the proper etiquette whenever the woman paid a visit down to the records office. Rossini had mentioned, in passing, that it hardly ever happened though; she didn’t care what happened down in the bowels of the building, and had only come down there twice in the two years he’d been working there.

It took the entire workforce of thirty by utter surprise when the feared woman plus her gaggle of executives entered the records office a few hours later. Stephen remembered how the tall, dark-haired woman just stood there, like a tall marble statue, pinning the workers down with her huge brown eyes. Thankfully, he was standing behind Rossini when she’d appeared, so Stephen believed that she wouldn’t notice him. Blending into the background had always been his speciality. Being unnoticed gave him the advantage of observing how other people reacted; his other talent was the ability to usually guess what other people were thinking. He had little problem in seeing how everybody was terrified of this beautiful woman and how she patently played up to the image of the hard-faced boss. Behind that steely exterior, Stephen saw something else, a softer side. He had sighed, wondering why he was trying to get beneath her image. It wasn’t as if she’d be back down here anytime soon.

Like a bird of prey detecting a mouse scurrying through a field, Natalie Devonshire’s head had jerked away from his supervisor’s terrified face, her hard eyes gazing past Rossini and settling on Stephen. She then did something that obviously shocked everyone else in the room. Natalie smiled at the new boy. Stephen’s instincts told him immediately that the woman was flirting. He took a risk and smiled back at her, watching the woman walk towards him, parting the assembled workers like Moses parting the Red Sea.

From the body language screaming from every one of his fellow workers, Stephen had obviously broken some kind of cardinal rule about not mixing with the ones who ruled the floors above. He guessed that he should have just dropped his eyes to the floor and waited for her to scrutinize another poor worker. Stephen kept his gaze on her eyes, trying his best not to let his eyes wander down to the woman’s large breasts. This was so stupid, he was actually fantasizing about screwing her. Well maybe not that dumb, Natalie Devonshire was a deeply attractive woman, Certainly not a wafer-thin girl like his girlfriend. This woman towered over Stephen by at least a good foot and probably outweighed him by a few pounds as well.

He felt his heat deflate when she abruptly turned around and walked back towards the outer door with her followers trailing after her. He felt the whole room breathe a collective sigh of relief before they all turned to glare at the apprentice who had dared to look their main boss in the eye without showing a trace of fear. Stephen had taken all the remarks and put downs for the rest of the day with a pinch of salt, not really caring what the others thought. The only one who had treated him with an ounce of respect had been Rossini, who had advised him to be careful and to try to fit in with the rest of the crowd. He’d taken him to one side and carefully explained that he fully intended to rise to the top of the game, and that he would accomplish this with knowledge. He stood behind Stephen, grabbed his shoulders and slowly turned him around, explaining that every sordid detail of all the top players in the city were kept here. You just needed to know where to look. Rossini had then winked at him before hurrying off to join the others.

Rossini’s disclosure had taken him completely by surprise. Stephen had actually met one person who had been able to fool his senses. He’d had the youth down as just another drone, but it turned out that Rossini had a fire burning in his heart. He believed that Rossini would go places too, as long as he was very careful. People who tried to play the system usually ended up against the execution wall.

His surprises hadn’t stopped with the discovery that his friend wanted to rule the city. Just as Stephen was leaving the office, he found himself surrounded by three security personnel who had escorted him right to the top of Government House and into the room of one very powerful woman. Stephen stared aghast at the sight of Natalie Devonshire advancing on him, then pulling his trembling body over to her bed before stripping the pair of them.

Stephen turned away from his wife’s yellow-coated body and gazed back towards the contestants’ entry arch on the other side of the game zone. Oh, he had certainly gone places, thanks to this woman. Even after the plague of the dead had turned the planet into one huge human abattoir, the rulers in the city had still been able to keep the reins tight on their inhabitants.

Strange to think that from all those lowly workers down in the depths of Government House, only he and Rossini were still alive. His old friend had certainly upheld his promise to rise to the top, although, looking back, Stephen believed that the overambitious man really would had been machine-gunned.

If it hadn’t been for the minor inconvenience of the dead rising to feast on the living, Stephen knew that Rossini wouldn’t have lasted more than a couple of years. Despite his promise to be careful, Rossini’s overzealous application of the information available had pissed off a lot of the important people. It had only been Stephen’s intervention that had stopped the execution orders been signed on more than one occasion.

“It doesn’t look that strenuous from the comfort of my armchair,” complained Natalie. She twisted around and glared at him. “I really don’t know how you talked me into taking part in this foolishness.”

Stephen smiled his reassuring smile and gently took her hand. “Because, my sweet. The viewers will flock back in their droves to watch their beloved leader take out a pair of dirty deviants.” He nodded to himself, happy to see even her outer shell soften just a little. After all these years, Stephen had not lost the talent to play his loving wife like a fiddle. He knew exactly which string to pull. “Honey, think about the ratings, think about the sponsorship. After this show is broadcast, our competitors will be dead in the water, I can guarantee it.”

Her outer shell almost collapsed when she stood up and shifted her gaze from him to her body. “But, just look at me!” she cried. “I look ridiculous in this. I can see the headlines right now and every one of them will be less than flattering. They won’t care about what happens tonight, all they’ll focus on will be how I look in this stupid costume.”

That part would be true, well, it would be if, by some miracle, the bitch managed to get out of the game zone in one piece. In fact, it surprised him that Natalie hadn’t commented on his insistence to dress like normal contestants as soon as they’d entered the dressing room. “Honey, don’t you worry. This isn’t going out live. I promise you. Rossini is going to personally edit the program. Although you are just as beautiful as the day we first met. Rossini has promised to refine your actions and tweak your appearance just a little. He knows his stuff.”

She sighed heavily. “You’re not telling me the full truth here, Stephen. I know you’re up to something. I’m not that much of an idiot.” Natalie dragged a fingernail down the side of his cheek. “Just remember that if it wasn’t for me, you would probably be one of the medi-unit scumbags that we’re about to destroy.”

Stephen took her finger and kissed the tip. “I owe my life to you, honey.” He ran his fingers through her hair, wondering how long he’d be able to keep up this pretence. That last statement had really shaken him up. He now saw that she wasn’t as trusting as he’d first thought. Natalie really did believe that her husband was up to some trick. Stephen just hoped that she didn’t discover the truth until it was way too late. “Natalie, we had better be moving on.” He pointed over to another archway, to the west of them.

“They’ll be wondering why we’re not moving.” The gothic stone monument held one of the show’s many cameras. There were over ninety cameras covering nearly every area of the game zone. There were only two or three locations where you could stop and recover without being seen. This rocky outcropping was one of them. When he’d designed the set, Stephen never actually thought that he’d be participating in one of Rossini’s sick and twisted shows; then again, until last week, Stephen had never needed to make his wife disappear from his life.

Natalie set off running along the narrow stone path that cut through the high, gravel-sided valley, heading for the first archway. Stephen followed her, suddenly aware that both their movements would be under scrutiny by the collection of Rossini’s technicians in the studio on the top floor of Entertainment House. He almost felt naked, knowing that other eyes were now tracking their movements as they hurried along the pathway. He pushed away the nagging feeling of being watched and focused on keeping up with his loving wife.

The high sides were only there to stop their prey from trying to find an alternative route out of the game zone; despite being warned about the numerous pits positioned along the path, there had been more than a few who had been stupid enough to risk the climb to the top. Stephen suddenly wished that his wife wasn’t such a follower of the show now. It would have been so easy to arrange some kind of stunt to have the bitch slide past the pathline and into the danger zone. Watching her fall into one of the pits would have sorted out his problem in one stroke. She probably knew the course as well as he did though.

Natalie reached the archway and waited impatiently for him to catch up. It troubled him greatly that she wasn’t even out of breath. He, on the other hand, was already tired. He turned around and took a deep breath, feeling his heart beating hard. He’d felt like this ever since waking up. Even the morning tablets hadn’t made much difference, which had disturbed him. Stephen’s tablets were just like the rest of the elite’s medication. Almost pure Beldazine. The tablets used to make him feel super-human just after taking them; not so now though.

“Stephen, what have you stopped for? You’re the one who was saying we needed to get a move on.”

He turned around, flashed her his usual ‘nothing to worry about’ smile, and caught up to her. “Sorry, I thought I saw movement up there,” he said. Stephen smiled again. “Don’t look like that. You know as well as I do that there have been at least two occasions when the prey has been successful in scaling the gravel sides instead of following this path.”

She shrugged. “Not this time though. Remember, I was there when Rossini left them in the holding tank. The girl might have done it, but not the other one. What’s his name again?”

“He’s called Kenny,” he replied, “and his sister is called Diane.” He knew her all right, she used to work for him. It was a shame to see her put in the game zone, she had been a great asset.

“Yeah well, the man wouldn’t have been able to climb that. He looked half dead when Rossini had them bundled into the holding pen. Come on, I don’t want to stumble over his corpse just because my unfit husband couldn’t keep up.” She flashed him a cold smile. “I want to kill him myself.”

Stephen shivered, suddenly believing that the woman knew what gruesome death he and Rossini had cooked up for her. He shook away the doubt; he knew her almost as well as she knew herself. If Natalie thought for one minute that they had planned to have her killed, Natalie would have had the pair of them executed on the spot. There was no way that she’d be able to keep up the pretence of not knowing.

With reluctance, he moved killing to her, painfully aware that he was now within killing range of that deadly club, gripped in her hand. “Sorry, honey,” he said. “I have no idea why I’m so tired.”

“Could it be because you’re been living off me for the past two decades?” she answered sweetly. “You haven’t done any real hard work since that time you managed to talk your way into my panties.” Natalie spun around and marched away. “Christ knows what must have been going through my head at the time,” she muttered. “No wonder Daddy almost had heart failure when I brought you home.”

It was the same old tired speech that vomited from her mouth every time the woman became irritated, only this time, Stephen detected a trace of bitterness sprinkled over the words specially designed to hurt him.

He looked at his own club. He had completely forgotten that he even had the damn thing in his hand. He wouldn’t need her to stray from the path, it would only take a single blow to the back of her skull to put her down. He knew exactly where to hit as well. The fat bitch would go down like a felled elephant. Stephen slowed down, putting a few more paces between them, just to help him resist the temptation. Hell, he really would be put up against the wall if he tried anything so dumb.

The lights positioned high above them began to dim. Stephen blinked. He took his eyes off his weapon and tilted his head back. That wasn’t supposed to happen. The lights were fixed to simulate the coming of dusk on a summer’s day. “What the fuck?” Stephen took in a deep breath. For the first time, he found his lungs full of cold air; he detected something else too, there was a breeze now.

“Stephen!” gasped his wife. “We’re outside, how can that be right?”

He ran up to Natalie and peered at the next stone archway, a couple of meters from their position. He took one step over the pathline and ran over to the structure, ignoring Natalie’s gasp of shock. He knew that the woman had got their assessment completely right. It didn’t matter about the impossibility; they were no longer in the studio. Stephen trailed his fingers down the cold rough archway, feeling the damp stone on the tips of his fingers. “Either dew or it was raining recently,” he murmured.

“Come back! You’re between two pits.”

He shook his head. “No I’m not,” he replied. Stephen look up again. This time, he saw the twinkling of a couple of stars in the black sky. “This is just incredible. Do you know where we are, Natalie?”

His wife looked as though all her self-esteem and confidence had been punched out of her. He looked at the club in his hand, knowing that he could dispatch the woman in seconds if he so desired. Why not? There were no cameras here. That much he did know. He smiled to himself. Stephen no longer desired to end her life, not now. Looking at this miserable woman, and seeing her deflated personality staring back at him, all he wanted to do now was to go over there and hug her.

“Look at me, Natalie,” he said, walking back towards her. He lifted her chin and gently kissed her. “We’re not in the city anymore,” he said. “I know this place because I based the game zone on the layout. This is where I grew up. This is where I was born, honey.” He looked around the desolate landscape, feeling a shiver travel down his spine. That feeling of being watched hadn’t left him. Stephen pointed at the archway. “Come on, let’s get over there. I think it’s going to rain again. I don’t want to be caught in a downpour.”

She refused to budge. “No, we stay here. I want you to stop and listen to the madness coming out of your mouth. We can’t be back where you live, even if by some magical way we had travelled a couple of hundred miles out of the city.” Natalie bent down and scooped up a handful of wet dirt. “My father showed me where you were born a few days after I brought you home. I think he was trying to prove to me that you were no better than the lowest servant in the household.”

Stephen shrugged. She had never told him this information before but he had always assumed that her father had done his research anyway. “Okay, so you know where I was born, I don’t understand why you’re so agitated.”

“Oh my God,” she hissed. “You mean apart from the fucking obvious? My father specifically chose this region as one of the anchor points during the plague.” Natalie gripped his hand tight. “This doesn’t exist anymore.”

His blood ran cold. Stephen remembered the anchor points very well, they all did. It had been the city’s last ditch attempt to stop the millions of corpses from overwhelming the defenses of the last city. Hundreds of prisoners had been shipped out and secured in these chosen anchor points to guide the dead armies away from the city. As soon as those corpses had taken the bait, each anchor point was nuked. In one hour, their plan had vaporized millions of human bodies, both living and dead.

He hadn’t been that high up in the chain of command to know the specific details of the plan, either that or his wife had just not allowed him to see that one chosen site. He turned away from her and looked back at the archway. “The town’s memorial must be nuclear missile-proof,” he murmured. Stephen spun around, not all that surprised to find his urge to kill the bitch had returned with full force. “So, he decided to murder this town, just in case any of my family still lived here? After all, it was bad enough to have his daughter marry scum, the last thing he needed was for my relatives to start knocking on his door, asking for a loan.”

His next volley of insults never left his mouth. Stephen’s heart beat double time when he saw a lone figure walking towards the pair of them. The man, dressed in ragged leather armour, carried a double-bladed axe in his right arm, while holding a studded shield in his other hand. What stopped Stephen from speaking was that the man looked exactly like him.

“Stephen, what is it?” His wife’s eyes shifted from his and she started to turn her head. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

He dug his fingers into her soft flesh, feeling her whole body stiffen. “Don’t even think about it,” he hissed. Stephen pulled her close as he walked backwards, keeping his gaze fixed on the approaching figure. “Please, just keep up with me, Natalie.”

The woman responded by struggling out of his grasp and twisting her head savagely around. Her reaction to the impossible appearance of the other Stephen made his whole body feel like it had just been pushed through a giant sieve. He gaped in utter dismay as Natalie ran over to the other man, who had already opened his arm to receive her. “No way,” Stephen muttered, his saliva drying up. “I refuse to believe it.”

His wife sighed loudly and nuzzled into the man’s thick chest. She wriggled then turned around, running her hands up and down the other Stephen’s heavily muscled arms. “It’s not like I’ve been cheating on you, Stephen,” she said, giggling. Natalie purred and visibly shuddered when the man grabbed her breasts and squeezed them together. “It’s just that this Stephen knows how to please me.”

The other Stephen rested his chin on her shoulder and gave him the once over. If it came to a fight, Stephen knew that he wouldn’t last two minutes with this brute. Just one look into those hard, lifeless eyes told him that much. The fact that he also looked as though he’d been carved out of solid granite was just window dressing.

“Natalie, did you bring any more tablets?”

She turned around in his arms and kissed the tip of his nose. “Honey, I had no idea that I was going to end up in this world.” The woman snapped her head around and glared at Stephen. “You always told me that you wanted to hurt your duplicate from my world. Well, here’s your chance.” Natalie pulled herself out of his embrace. “He was up to something and I’d like to know what he had planned.”

The acid pouring from the eyes of his other self gave Stephen a pretty good idea what would happen if the meathead did grab him. Stephen turned around and raced towards the nearest building, daring not to look back. There was no point, he could hear the pair of them right behind him. Stephen found hidden energy resources from somewhere and skidded to the left, just praying that this place really was just like where he’d grown up. Stephen promptly took a left and burst through a narrow gap between two stone buildings, feeling a large degree of satisfaction when he heard both of them fill the air with harsh obscenities.

“Fuck the pair of you,” he growled, jumping onto a tipped-over bin and reaching for a set of black metal ladders. Stephen leaped up and lunged for the first rung, crying out in triumph as his fingers wrapped around the cold, round metal. He pulled them down and scrambled up and onto the fire escape. The pair of them ran into the alley, just as the ladders swung back up into place.

He raced up the rest of the ladders, heading for the roof, knowing that his lucky escape would be short-lived if he didn’t put a good deal of distance between him and his other self. Stephen pulled his tired body onto the ledge and stood on the lip of the building; he leaned over, watching the man unsuccessfully try to reach for the ladders. It appeared that, this time, the bastard’s huge bulk was not working in his favor.

“I hope you fall over and break your neck, you fat bastard,” Stephen snarled before spinning around and racing across the flat roof. His blood ran cold when he heard them finally succeed in bringing down the ladders. Stephen looked desperately to his left, seeking out a very special flat rectangular skylight. “Why are you even bothering?” he muttered. “Your special hidey-hole was vaporized in a nuclear fire.” He stopped in the middle of the eight skylights and spun around, searching for the marks. Stephen’s grin widened when he saw them. He dropped to his knees and traced the tip of his finger across the scratch marks made in the hard plastic. He vividly remembered scratching his name and the name of the girl that he was going to marry into the skylight, when he was just fourteen. He looked down and saw his name, then he frowned. “Who the fuck is Andrea?” he murmured. “It should say Debbie.”

He looked over towards the edge of the building, listening to the other Stephen’s panting. Fuck, it was the brute who had scratched this in, not him. He dug his fingers under the edge and tugged, lifting the skylight off its holder a few inches. He pushed his hands right under and pulled the plastic up, giving him just enough space to slide his body under.

“He’s going to know what you’re doing, he’s you.” No, fuck him, he wasn’t Stephen at all. He climbed through the gap and gritted his teeth at the sudden shock of the edge of the skylight falling onto the tops of his fingers. He counted to three then let go, hoping that in this world there would still be a floor beneath him.

His feet hit a pile of clothing. Stephen collapsed his knees and rolled over, watching two silhouettes run past the skylight. “Fuck the pair of you,” he whispered, smiling. “So much for the other Stephen being just like me.”

Where the hell was he? He looked around the dim room, trying to figure out just what the place held. He walked along the bare floorboards, gazing in confusion at the large wooden crates, each one overflowing with rotting clothing. The stench wafting from the material made him gag. It didn’t take a great leap of faith to work out that all of these pieces must have been pulled off corpses. Stephen had no idea why anybody would even think of doing such a pointless act.

He shrugged to himself; like it really mattered. His only concern was to find some way out of this place. The thought of him actually being in another world now scared the crap out of him, but it was also exciting. He had heard all the tales about these two other places. Everyone who worked in the upper commands had heard about them, but nobody would dare openly speak of the concept; it just wasn’t worth it. You learned from a very early age that a loose tongue could get you put into the wrong end of one of Rossini’s game zones.

Stephen stopped, bent down, and picked up a woman’s leather boot. As he turned it over in his hands, he wondered if Rossini knew about this place. He sighed to himself. More than likely, Stephen was probably the only one who didn’t know. By the looks of it, his dirty fucking wife was very intimate with this world. Now he saw what she’d meant when Stephen accused her of having an affair.

“You sneaky bitch,” he muttered. Stephen saw a flash of movement in the corner of his eyes and hurried around the back of one of the crates. Watching the familiar shape of his wife walk towards where he was hiding. Stephen slowed down his breathing, listening to their footsteps stop. They were on the other side of the crate. Even with the foul stench coming from the decaying clothing, Stephen could still detect his wife’s perfume. It annoyed and upset him to realize that he would never again smell that scent on her naked body, not now, not after what had happened tonight.

“I still don’t understand how this can be a mistake, Natalie.”

Stephen got ready to run, just in case the other Stephen suddenly decided to take a quick peek around the corner. He had no wish to meet his maker at the hands of himself. He blinked, finding a bubble of hysterical laughter rising up his throat. He slammed his palm against his mouth and thought of just how sharp that axe of his would be. The vivid thought of that blade cleaving his head in two soon helped him regain control of his traitorous body.

“It looks like one of our members hasn’t been listening to reason,” growled Natalie. “You remember Joseph? Well, he got the stupid idea that he could find more worlds, some lovely little paradises that haven’t had to suffer this fucking plague.”

Stephen heard the withering sarcasm dripping from her every word. It was obvious that she didn’t approve. He had no idea why, though; finding another world that didn’t have the living dead shambling around would solve all of their problems. He closed his eyes, remembering what it felt like to walk through fields or woodland without having that oppressive fear that an attack could happen at any moment. He’d do anything to relive that experience.

“He was warned of the potential consequences. Joseph knew full well that if he tried to alter the devices, the skin around the three worlds would start to split open.” She sighed. “Come on, Stephen, he’s not here. I want you to take me to your house. I’m suddenly very tired.”

“I don’t care about how tired you are, Natalie.”

Stephen heard the woman let out a surprised yell. It appeared that this other Stephen wasn’t quite as timid as he was. The image of his other self using his axe on her swam into his mind. Stephen smiled.

“You can sleep later on. We need to find a way back to your world. If I don’t get my clan members more of your tablets, most of them will be dead within the next couple of weeks.”

Stephen looked down at his mud-caked boots, wondering how he was going to get out of here himself. The urgent tone in the other Stephen’s voice reminded him that he wouldn’t last that long without his supply of tablets either. Although the idea of just disappearing into this world did have a certain amount of appeal, he’d much rather stay alive by going back to where he came from. He listened to the sound of their rough kissing before quietly running over to the next wooden crate.

In all the years he’d been with Natalie, he had never once raised his hand to her, no matter how much the provocation. In truth, Stephen had always been aware that the woman had the temper and strength to punch him into next week if he had decided to get violent. It looked as though the strange woman actually had wanted him to slap her around.

“I hope you’re both happy together,” he whispered, as he reached the next crate. Stephen ran around the back and leaned against the wood, trying to work out his next move. He didn’t want to spend his final hours wandering around this strange but familiar place until he keeled over and died. Stephen searched his pockets in the vain hope that he had a couple of spare tablets tucked into the corners. No such luck though, all he found in there was a single folded-up piece of paper. He pulled it out, not sure where it had come from. He knew for a fact that he hadn’t placed it in there.

There was a single scrawled word, written in blue pen: Convergence. He looked at the word for a few more seconds before tucking it back into his pocket. Stephen heard the sound of their footsteps receding and peered around the corner, watching the pair of them head back to where they’d come from.

He followed them, thinking that they would have a better idea of how to get out of there than he did. There had to be another way back to the game zone. His wife obviously thought so, and she knew more of what was going on here than he did. By the sounds of it, everybody knew more than him. If he did manage to get back, Stephen would have to have a little chat with Rossini, preferably with a gun pushed against the side of the man’s head.

Stephen reached the open doorway, suddenly remembering just how enthusiastic his partner had been about the disposal of his wife. Sure, they would both profit from the operation, but now he wondered exactly how else Rossini would have profited. He turned around, gazing at the rows upon rows of crates, each one full of clothing. Did he really want to know their purpose?

He grabbed the door frame to stop himself from hitting the floor. The shock of recent events must have decided that this was a great time to pay him a visit. His nails dug into the rotten wood as violent shakes surged through his body. It wasn’t just his present situation that had set this off, that much he did know. His whirling mind saw Rossini and he standing over that pit, watching the resident dead things finish off what was left of his wife’s body.

Only there would be no celebrations. Not from Stephen. It was obvious that Rossini would have never allowed him to live to collect Natalie’s vast family wealth, or take her seat on the council. Stephen would have found himself being pushed into that pit to join his wife for the final time.

“I’m such a fucking idiot,” he snarled, straightening his back before leaving the room full of clothes. Thanks to his decision to climb into bed with Rossini, even if he did find a way back to his world, his life expectancy would be measured in minutes if that man caught up with him. “What am I going to do now?”

Stephen followed the red-painted path between the huge, silent machines that dominated this room. Like the crates full of clothes in the other room, he had no idea what their purpose was for. He stopped and turned around, moaning when he saw there was no longer a doorway to the clothes room. “You have got to be fucking kidding me,” he said. Had he just moved back? Stephen walked off the path, subconsciously aware that this pathway might serve a similar purpose to the path in the game zone. “Don’t be so fucking stupid,” he laughed to himself nervously, still taking the time to examine the grey-pitted concrete floor just in case there were any tell-tale signs of any pits by his feet.

There was something else that he’d just noticed too. On the far stone, behind the huge hulking metal contraption, Stephen saw a tiny crack of light illuminating a patch of floor behind the machine. Curious, Stephen walked towards it, seeing that the closer he got, the more detail emerged. It wasn’t stone after all. The light was coming from a painted-over window. He stopped directly in front of it and ran the tip of his finger across the paint, stopping when his finger covered over the light. He scraped off a few more flecks of black paint, smiling as the blazing sunlight streamed through the now clean glass.

He wasn’t back home, that was for sure. It shouldn’t be daylight for at least another few hours. Stephen bent down and gazed through the glass. He saw fields and trees and in the distance, a collection of old-fashioned cottages.

“Fuck, this is so beautiful.”

“Looks can be deceiving, Stephen.”

Yelping, he spun around and caught sight of a vague human shape sitting on a metal platform that ran along the room, connecting the machines.

“Don’t be too alarmed. I mean you no harm.”

Stephen squinted and forced his eyes to the floor when a powerful flashlight beam was shone at his face.

“Sorry, just making sure that I had the right Stephen.” The man placed the flashlight in his lap. “I’m glad you’re still alive and that the others didn’t catch you. That would have been …” he paused. “It would have been most unfortunate.”

“Who are you?”

The man chuckled to himself. “That’s a very good question. Let’s be honest here, I think you’ve had enough information tonight to last you a lifetime.” He stood up and started to climb down the ladders bolted to the machine. He jump off the last couple of rungs and walked over to the man.

“You’re Joseph!” said Stephen.

The man smiled. “Well, I’m one of them. Welcome to my world, by the way.” He thrust his hand into Stephen’s and enthusiastically shook it. “Well, not that it is our world anymore. Your world kind of owns us now, I suppose. The official designation for this place is now Food World. We supply all your city’s meals.”

Stephen looked at the vast machine behind him. “I suppose that’s what these machines are used for?”

Joseph nodded. “Yes, they’re processers.”

“What do you process?”

“Our dead.”

Chapter Thirteen

His wife’s eyes grew larger and larger until they melted together to form one gelatinous ball the size of Tony’s fist. He shook away the surreal image, ordering his tremulous thoughts to stay on track and commit to piecing his body back together. Did his arm belong behind him? Why did he only possess two hands? His mind refused point-blank to help him, its nebulous thoughts only focused on the underwater noises traveling through his segmented body.

Ellen must have decided that he no longer wanted to play as he now watched her roll towards a large hole. The underwater sounds now had two beats. Tony wasn’t interested in the random announcements from his traitorous mind, he just wanted to see if his wife would actually fall into that hole. He wasn’t even sure that the vast ball of flesh was the woman he’d married all those years ago, considering that every part of her flesh had clumped together now.

Her marble-shaped body disappeared from sight, and seconds later, horrified screaming filled his ears. Too late for him to realize that she’d rolled into a zombie pit.

The sound of shrieks continued even though his perception began to alter, to take on the guise of reality. Tony fell a million miles from one inch above the ground to find his feet beneath his legs. His mind was no longer a separate entity, yet the screaming continued. He slammed his hands against his ear, silently thankful that his ears were back where they belonged. He turned around to see his two companions, both convulsing in the wet mud, their dirt-covered mouths both opening and shutting like starving fish. Their voices cut out and they stiffened like boards before sighing.

So, they’d made it. Both his new colleagues turned to the side and threw up. Tony chuckled to himself, remembering his first time travelling the tablet express. Parts of their bodies and minds were probably still catching up. When they were whole, both of them would no doubt have a few choice words to say about this method of traveling. Most of them would not be too pleasant.

Wherever they had landed, it seemed peaceful enough, which meant that at least they had time to recover. He sat up and placed his hands on the ground behind him while taking a closer look at their new environment. The first things he noticed were the dilapidated hulks of several cars a few feet away. Behind them were the remains of a row of tall stone buildings, their black windows revealing nothing of what lay inside them. Tony shivered. He couldn’t help it. Wherever they had landed, this was not a good place to stay for too long. No living human had been here for a long time. As for dead humans? Who knew.

Did this place even have walking dead people? That blind optimism popped like a blood-filled balloon as soon as the all too familiar smell of bad meat drifted past his nose. Could they be back home? Tony studied the buildings around him. He didn’t recognize any of them, but then again, the capital wasn’t the only city in his world. “Oh fuck,” he uttered, when his thoughts turned towards home. His stomach folded in two and a small panic bubble expanded at the back of his mind.

What if this was another citystate? One of the many abandoned and left to the dead, ones truly dead and the ones still moving, Just great, he had traveled from one world to another and back again, only to find himself in one of the more dangerous places on the planet. Lady Fate certainly had a dark sense of humor; either that or the bitch enjoyed shitting on his head from a great height.

He jerked his head away from his groaning companions, staring intently at one of the vehicles. He shifted his eyes from the wheels buried in the vegetation, pushing up through the crumbling asphalt, hoping that the movement he’d caught from the corner of his eye was nothing more than a patch of weeds brushing against the fender, or even better, a product of his hyper imagination.

Tony scrambled over to the others, breathing a sigh of relief at the sight of the man beginning to show signs that he was coming out of the queasiness. He obviously had a more robust constitution than Tony did.

He gently placed one of his hands across the woman’s open mouth, effectively muffling her loud moaning. He felt her soft skin under the palm of his hand and thought of his wife, immediately feeling guilty, wondering if the bizarre hallucination that he’d experienced while traveling here was just his mind reminding him that he had other responsibilities. Tony hadn’t given hardly any thought about Ellen since the incident with Joseph. The poor woman must be out of her head with worry. He stopped and re-examined his thought process. Ellen had her meetings to go to today. Even with half the capital in flames, she wouldn’t have noticed. The woman would be in her element, doing what she enjoyed, partying with the elite and cozying up with any founders that might be close by. The chances were that she probably hadn’t even noticed he was missing.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, leaning closer to her. “As you and your friend saved my life, it’s only right that I try save yours in return. It would be a very good idea not to make any noise. I think that we’ve landed in another citystate. I hate to think how many shambling dead could be close by.”

The picture of his wife’s eyes, growing larger every second, thrust to the front of his mind as he reluctantly moved his hand away. The girl must be conscious enough to realize the ramifications of his statement. He slowly removed his hand, then helped her to sit up. She muttered a quiet thanks before crawling over to the other man. Tony wondered if they were husband and wife.

He tucked himself behind the remains of a tumble-down wall, avoiding the sharp stones, and peered over the top, looking back at that car. It must have been his imagination; there was nothing moving over there. He kept watch, just in case. None of them were in any fit state to start battling dead people, all desperate to sink their teeth into their sweet flesh.

Why couldn’t he have landed back where he’d left from or, even better, in his own apartment instead of here, wherever ‘here’ was. He studied the surroundings one more time, just in case anything around him did look familiar. He sighed, irritated with himself for even allowing such a ridiculous thought to enter his stressed mind. The very few cities that he had visited before the whole world turned to utter shit wouldn’t have remained in the same pristine state, not after all these years.

Even so, it would have helped to have known how far they were from the capital. The relative distance between this city and their home could mean the difference to whether they lived or ended up as zombie fodder.

The forgotten cities closest to the capital had been largely depopulated. The dead things had migrated across the empty land, making their way to the capital’s fortified walls. In the beginning, the border guard had almost been overrun by the countless masses of corpses on more than one occasion.

The corpses had slowed down to a trickle once the authorities had detonated the nukes over the few selected cities. His wife had regaled him with quite a few horror stories from her team, of sightings of strange mutated nightmares inhabiting the lands surrounding these radioactive melted areas of twisted slag. Perhaps he should be thankful that they hadn’t appeared in one of those places.

He decided to be optimistic for a change. He hadn’t seen any walking corpses so far, and they have been here for a few minutes now. They must be close to home. If that was the case then there couldn’t be more than a few hundred zombies in this city. If they were quiet and careful, they might be able to make it out of here without getting eaten.

Kenny tilted his head back and yawned before looking directly at the woman. “How do you feel?” he whispered.

“I feel like I’ve just fallen down a flight of steps.”

The man turned to look at Tony. “Thank you,” he said, coughing. “It looks like you’ve saved our lives.” He blinked. “I’m not sure how you did that but thank you anyway. I don’t think those other people were going to treat us too courteously.”

Tony shrugged. “You’re right there. My other self had already explained to me in graphic detail where we would end up.” He shook his head, surprised at how easily he was able to believe all this nonsense of there being more than one world. “I just said ‘my other self’ like it was a perfectly normal thing to say.”

“Do you know where we are?

He gazed at the other man. “I would like to say that it doesn’t matter as long as we’re not in danger.” He paused. “Thing is, I’m not sure we really are out of danger, just yet. Not if this is one of the forgotten cities.” Tony slowly got to his feet, looking around them for anything that would serve as weapons. He wasn’t all that surprised to find it was a futile gesture. Even if there was anything lying on the ground, the weeds and wild grass would have covered it up.

“I know exactly where we are,” muttered the girl. She got to her feet and walked up to Tony. “I have good news and bad news.” She bent down, picked up a rock, and dropped it into the palm of his hand. “We are not in one of the forgotten cities. That much is obvious.”

He looked at the rock. The weight was all wrong; no rock should be this light. He looked at her grim smirk. He extended his finger and pressed the tip against the rock, watching his finger push all the way through.

“We’re in one of the city’s game zones,” she said. “By the looks of it, this is Celebrity Slaughter.”

The other man chuckled. “I don’t believe this,” he muttered, “we’ve just walked through parallel worlds, only to end up in the next fucking studio? Somebody up there really does like to play games.”

“Are you part of all this bullshit, Tony?” she asked. “If that really is your real name.” She pressed her hands against her stomach. “God, that hurt. Look, I’m thankful for you getting us out of there, really I am, but you have to admit your sudden appearance complete with a few magic pills that conveniently brought us back into the game is a bit too much to believe.”

Would this orange-scented girl be satisfied with the simple response of providence? Judging from her pout, Tony guessed not. “I don’t have any answers for you, lady,” he replied. “Only that I am not part of any bullshit. I’m in as much danger as the pair of you.”

“Come on, Diane,” chuckled the other man. “What happened to your unshakable beliefs? It doesn’t seem that long ago when you were accusing me of not believing what my eyes showed me.”

The woman’s features rippled through a medley of conflicting emotions until her face settled on what looked to Tony like defeat.

“So, we’re all in this together,” Diane stared at Tony. “And if you’re really telling the truth, I guess that means you’re not really a streetscreen addict?” She looked him up and down. “No, of course you’re not. Those clothes are expensive. Don’t you watch any of the shows at home?”

He shook his head. “No, I can’t stand them.”

“Great,” she muttered. “Well, if we don’t get our wits back, these games will soon make us all the very dead.” She walked into the middle of the overgrown road and turned to face the pair of them. “Right now, I think we’re safe. I don’t think anyone has noticed us, even the show monitors won’t be aware that they have extra guests on the show.”

“How do you know that?”

Diane smiled at Tony. “Can you hear any alarm bells? We must have ended up in one of the few areas in the zone that’s blind to the cameras. Not too sure how we’re going to get out of here though. As soon as we start to move, they’ll see us.” She walked back and extended her hand. “I’m Diane, by the way, and this is my brother, Kenny.”

Kenny nodded to him and grinned.

“I’ve already told you my name and I’ve figured out your names already. Still, it is nice to be formally introduced.” Tony turned to Kenny. “We have to get you two back into the city. There’s a man who’ll be very interested in you, Kenny. I believe that you could be the answer to all of our prayers.”

Did he really just say those words? Tony turned away from them and looked over at one of the buildings. They must think he had lost his mind. To Tony’s ears, he had just sounded like one of those Jesus freaks that used to knock on their door every Sunday morning back when he was a kid.

“I’ve already figured that out,” replied Kenny, his voice was barely audible. “I mean, we now know that these pills and tablets, as well as the injections, all come from the same source.”

Tony looked back at Kenny. “Enlighten me.”

Kenny’s sister sighed quietly. “Three brothers were discovered who were immune to the plague. They used their blood to create an antidote, a vaccine. Only it didn’t work out the way they hoped. It didn’t destroy the virus, it only took it back to an embryonic stage. Stop taking and we all know what happens.”

“Then let’s get out of here,” said Tony. He hurried over the road, trying to see a way out. “How do we escape?”

Diane pulled him back. “Not like that, you’ll only end up getting us all killed.” She pointed over to a street corner. “We need to go that way. Just not yet. Listen.”

He heard approaching footsteps, Tony ducked behind the car, watching a man and a woman skid around the corner. The woman stumbled and would have fallen if it hadn’t been for the timely intervention of the thickly muscled man who grabbed her. Tony felt Diane’s hand grab the back of his shirt.

“Stay down,” she hissed. “I know her.” Diane looked back at her brother who looked more scared than she did. “Look at his clothes.”

Kenny nodded. “Oh God, I see it,” he whispered. “I think we just escaped from all of his pals.”

Tony watched them slow down, both of them continuously looking behind them. He knew what the others meant. That man looked just like those bastards who had thrown him in that room. Thing is, how the hell did he get here?

“Believe or not, that’s my boss,” whispered Diane. She looked at the pair of them. “She is one of the city’s major players. Hell, the nasty bitch probably owns half of the city.”

“And yet here she is, running for her life,” murmured Tony. He knew real fear when he saw it. That woman was absolutely terrified. As for the man, well, from what he’d seen on that other world, they probably did this kind of thing every day. The pair of them ducked into an open doorway, and seconds later the darkness swallowed them. Tony still couldn’t move.

“Wait a minute,” Diane whispered, “I can hear more voices.” She pulled him further to the ground. “Oh fuck, look at them!”

Tony peered around the side of the car and saw another eight people race around the corner, each one dressed in identical, light blue jumpsuits. It then occurred to him that the others were wearing jumpsuits as well, only the dirt and mud covered up most of the yellow. Tony looked at Diane, hoping that she could supply a decent explanation. The woman shrugged.

“I don’t have a clue what’s going on,” she answered. “Nothing makes much sense anymore.” She moved closer to him. “Those idiots are definitely hunting those two though. That much I do know.”

He half-recognized two of the women lagging behind the three men; all of them were armed with high velocity pistols. They would come in very handy. “What do you want to do?”

Kenny pointed over to the corner. “I think we should follow their route backwards, it’s bound to go back to their dressing room or something.”

Diane shook who head. “What about those two? Surely we can’t let these five clowns kill them?”

Kenny nodded grimly. “Why the fuck not? Hell, I hope they all end up dying, those privileged fuckers don’t deserve to live. Besides, I do remember you telling me that she was a complete power-crazed psycho.”

“I know I did. I’m not arguing with you, Kenny. I want them to die too. Only who better to give us a better clue as to what the fuck is happening right now?” Diane slowly got to her feet and skirted around the side of the car. “Are you guys going to stay down there?”

Kenny looked at Tony before rolling his eyes. Tony guessed that this kind of conversation happened a lot between them. He followed Kenny towards the building, listening to the contestants bumbling their way through it. One thing was sure, their quarry would have no problems hearing them coming; neither would they have any problem in following them. Even so, he wasn’t too keen on any of them finding a bullet lodged in their brain. He caught up to Diane.

“This game that we’re playing, does it have zombies as well?”

She nodded. “Oh yeah, they all do. Hell, they add excitement to any game.”

He heard the deep sarcasm and decided not to pursue the subject. Tony listened to one of the women yell out. “That was directly above us,” he said, looking up at the rotting ceiling. Tony ran towards the staircase. He jumped onto the second step and turned around. Through the open doorway, above his head, Tony saw splashes of red coating the filthy walls. “Oh hell,” he hissed. Tony ran up the remaining stairs. As he approached the exit, he heard the familiar sound of wet chewing. It didn’t take a genius to work out what had happened here.

Tony edged along the wall, seeing the shape of two bodies come into view. The one sprawled on the floor belonged to one of the weather girls from Channel 27. He watched a gaunt corpse burying its head deep into her open chest cavity; she wasn’t going to be giving out any more forecasts. He ran into the other hallway, careful not to slip in any of her blood, and scooped up the dropped pistol. Tony pushed the muzzle against the side of the dead thing’s head and pulled the trigger, nodding with satisfaction as its putrefied, jellied brain splattered against the wall beside it. Tony then fired a single shot into the girl’s forehead as well.

He spun around, almost putting a round in Diane’s face when she bounded up the stairs. “I don’t believe that they just left her here,” he said.

“I do,” replied Diane, “they’re all idiots, but they pull in the audience, so what can you do?” She looked down in distaste at the two corpses before stepping over them. Diane pointed up at the corner of the wall.

“By the way, we’re now on camera.”

Tony instinctively looked away, thinking of his wife sitting down to watch this rubbish and seeing her husband on TV. “It doesn’t matter,” he replied. “The important job is to get your brother out of here.” He looked down at the two corpses. “She didn’t deserve that.” Tony frowned. “Come on, let’s get a move on. I don’t want the producers to rush in here and capture us.”

“I’m not even sure that will happen. I guess their ratings will have just gone through the roof with your surprise appearance.”

He looked behind to see Kenny slowly making his way up the stairs. “Are you okay?”

The man nodded. “Yeah, I think those two people have slipped the chasers. I think I saw them racing across the street.” He looked over Tony’s shoulder. “What happened here?”

His sister steered him back towards the stairs. “It doesn’t matter, Kenny.”

Tony followed them back down the steps. This time, he kept his ears and eyes alert. That dead thing could have jumped out on any one of them.

“There they go!” shouted Kenny.

He jumped down the last few steps and ran over to the window. The pair of them raced along the empty road. Tony shook his head in wonder. The woman wasn’t exactly a small lady, yet she had no trouble keeping up with the large man. It seemed so weird to see anyone well fed in a city where most of the population survived on rationed food. He secretly wished that a bunch of zombies would jump on her. After all, if it was right about her being part of the elite, she wouldn’t be a very pleasant individual. “Diane, I’m confused now. If she’s one of the main city leaders, what the fuck is she doing getting chased by a bunch of Z-list celebrities?”

“I think the celebrities are confused. They are supposed to be hunting zombies. That’s the idea of the game. The individual with the most kills, wins.” She leaned out of the window. “I’m guessing that those two must have travelled the same way that me and Kenny did. The woman has a jumpsuit on, remember.”

Tony bit back the sarcastic reply and silently sighed. “Yeah, I figured that already. What I mean is, why the hell are they still playing the game? You said that there are cameras everywhere, surely they must have seen who those dumb bastards are trying to take out.”

Diane bit her bottom lip. “Maybe we should just get out of here?”

“Getting out of this building would be a good start,” muttered Kenny. “We’re not alone.”

Tony spun around and saw three zombies lurch through the doorway above them. There were more behind them; the only reason they were following was because of the corpse on the floor. Five of them dropped to their knees and took over from where the now dead zombie had begun. “Good idea,” he said, hurrying down the rest of the stairs. They ran out into the street without looking back. The siblings turned right and ran towards the street corner.

His adrenalin helped him keep up with them as they approached the end of the buildings. Tony heard the zombies behind them but paid them little attention. Unless any of them happened to stumble, those things wouldn’t be able to catch any of them. Even if they did, Tony still had the pistol.

They all emerged into the middle of a huge arena, which belonged more in some kind of twisted ancient Roman town. He stopped and turned around. The sudden change in scenery caused him to wonder if they had just shifted again.

As Diane hadn’t even blinked at the sudden change in scenery, Tony assumed that this was still part of the game zone.

“From what I can remember, I don’t think the way out is that far from here.”

“What do you mean, you think?”

Diane sighed. “Kenny, it’s my flatmate who watches this shit, not me.” She pointed at a white stone jutting out of the corner of the building to their left. “Believe it or not, there’s a camera behind that false stone.” She grinned at Kenny. “I do remember some bits of trivia that fell out of my annoying flatmate’s mouth. They have hundreds of camera positioned around the gamezone, which they switch to as their quarry moves around the arena. If the action is on the other end of the gamezone, they won’t even notice us sneaking out.”

Tony just nodded, staying silent. Her logic was sound as long as they didn’t think about the girl’s gruesome death at the top of the stairs. Surely the studio would have highlighted that? That meant they would be following them. The cameras seemed like the easiest way of doing it. He squinted at the white stone fixed to the side of the building, trying to spot the lens up there. He walked closer, watching intently.

The girl ran over to him and guided Tony back to Kenny. She didn’t say a word, there was no need. Just behind them, he saw the celebrities running past the corner of the building. Two of them turned and fired.

“Don’t just stand there, Tony!” shouted Diane. “Get under cover.”

The siblings had already taken shelter behind the building but he couldn’t move. Deep down inside his bones, Tony felt a low vibration threatening to separate his body. He reached out and grabbed the corner of the stone and squeezed as tight as he could; the celebrities were motionless as well. They all must feel the same sensation. Tony knew what was about to happen, and judging from the panicking voices, those idiots had no clue.

Two realities were about to collide.

“What the fuck is happening?”

Tony took his eyes off the bodies to pull Diane closer to him. “Watch and you’ll see.”

A dark blue explosion of light rose out of the ground, next to the two men who had fired at them. A dozen decaying arms pushed through the whirling color and the men vanished, howling into the vortex.

“It hasn’t finished yet,” he murmured. The blue light shifted behind the remaining celebrities and grew wider. From where Tony stood, it was obvious that none of them had even noticed the phenomenon. They were all gazing at him as if he was the one responsible for the sudden disappearance of their colleagues. Their glares soon halted when they found themselves being pulled back into the light.

“This isn’t part of the game,” whispered Diane.

“No shit,” muttered Kenny. “That must be how we moved out of the other arena the first time. Look at them all, there must be hundreds of the things.”

“Yeah, and they’re all coming this way. The bastards must be able to smell us.” Tony pushed back the panic and turned around. He raced along the side of the building, hoping that Diane was right about this leading to a way out. The gaudy colors of the scenery were giving him a headache. “Are they still there?” He shook his head, of course they were, he could smell the rot coming from their putrid bodies. He daren’t think how many there were now.

“Are they from another world?”

Tony stopped and turned around. “Diane, didn’t you feel the effect on your body when that hole behind them opened up? Kenny was right, that must have been how you moved.” He nodded to the dead things. They hadn’t moved that closer to them yet. “I’m sure you’ve seen the vast hordes of corpses shambling across the landscape on television. Millions of them, all grouped together. It must be the same on the other worlds as well. I think one of your holes has emerged right inside one of these hordes.”

Diane paled, “You mean there could be millions of them about to come through?”

“It’s possible.”

“Fuck, as if we didn’t have enough to worry about.”

Kenny was not with them. Tony looked past Diane to see the back of his head, still peering around the corner of the building. “What is the fool doing?”

“I’ll go get him.”

He shook his head. “I’ll do it.” Tony ran past her and caught up with Kenny. “Come on, man, we can’t stay here.”

“We can’t go, not yet.”

The two other runners had made the unfortunate mistake of been seen by the dead things. They didn’t stand a chance. Tony turned away, not wanting to watch as four of the vile corpses closed in on their new victims.

“You’ve got to stop him!” Diane shouted.

Tony looked back to see that Kenny had ran right by him, racing across the asphalt and heading towards the man and woman. “You insane bastard!” He set off after him, watching hundreds of heads shifting their gaze away from their original targets and looking at Tony instead. A low collective moan erupted from the mouths of the growing horde, as Tony attempted to catch up with Kenny. At least ten of the things broke away from the main pack and began moving towards him. “Kenny, for fuck’s sake, we can’t save them.”

From his limited vision, Tony watched the big woman punch one of their attackers to the ground, while the heavily muscled man next to her sliced through the necks of two more dead men. His fighting spirit didn’t recede when the remaining zombie lunged at the man and bit into the side of his stomach. The man let loose a shriek that overwhelmed the zombies’ mass moaning. He brought his fists together and slammed them down on its head before it could bite him again.

The ten heading for Tony were now just a few meters away. He put on a burst of speed and caught up with Kenny.

The vibration inside Tony’s bones returned with a vengeance. He cried out and dropped to the ground, fully aware that those ten dead things were just a couple of feet from him now. He couldn’t move. It felt as though his whole body was coming apart at the seams. The smell of death now covered him like a decaying blanket; he was about to end up as food and there was nothing he could do to stop them. Tony couldn’t move a single muscle. His eyelids slid down, saving him the humiliation of seeing them bite into his flesh.

The inevitable agony of feeling all those ragged teeth never came, and the vibration died down. The only moans he could hear now were human, and they were coming from his mouth. He reluctantly opened his eyes and found the only dead that remained was the one the man had put down.

Diane reached down and picked Tony off the ground. “Are you alright?”

He wasn’t sure how to answer that question. Tony sighed and shook himself down before looking around the landscape. They were definitely alone again.

“They all just vanished, Tony. I saw you fall and I ran to you.”

Tony smiled, “Thank you. Wait, where’s Kenny?”

“Look behind you.”

Kenny crouched in front of the big man, inspecting the wound in his side. As Tony and Diane reached them, the woman looked up.

“Thank you for trying to help us,” she whispered.

Diane joined her brother. The thing had managed to bite off a small chunk of the man’s flesh. Tony watched the big man’s eyes flicker; he didn’t have long to live now. His size would help. Tony knew that if he’d been in his place, he would have already succumbed.

“Do you have a knife on you?”

He blinked before shaking his head. “Kenny, we really should go. I’m sorry but there’s nothing we can do now. We all know he can’t be saved.” Tony listened to the woman’s sobs get louder. “Honey, come with us, you don’t want to be around him when he changes.”

Kenny looked at him sharply. “So what?” he snapped back. “I was bitten too. You’re the one who called me the chosen one.” He pulled the man’s axe out of his hands and ran his thumb across the blade, hissing in pain. He dropped the axe then held his bleeding thumb over the wound.

“What the fuck are you playing at?” screamed the woman.

“I think I can save him,” Kenny replied. He looked at Tony. “You had all better move back in case this doesn’t work.”

The man opened his eyes wide and howled out in agony. His whole body convulsed. The woman tried to hold him down but she couldn’t keep hold. He flayed his arms out and Tony jumped back to avoid the big man’s fists. The man’s eyes closed and he settled down.

Instinct told Tony to run, to get away before the infected man woke up. It took a huge amount of self-control to keep his feet fixed to the ground. Diane jumped back as the man’s eyes opened. Tony saw none of the usual signs of death. He blinked a couple of times before staring in wonder at Kenny.

“You’ve just brought me back!”

He couldn’t say any more as the woman flung her arms around his neck. “I thought that I’d lost you!”

Kenny stood up. He walked over to the woman and held out his hand. The woman looked a little uncertain before she started to grab it. Kenny pulled his arm back. “No, you don’t understand.” Kenny dropped to his knees and placed his bleeding thumb over one of the multiple cuts on her arm. “I want to cure you as well.”

“I haven’t been bitten though. I’m not sick.”

“We all are,” Kenny replied. “You should know that better than most.” He looked at his sister. “Diane told us that you’re one of the people that runs the city?”

The woman slowly nodded.

“So why those were poor fools trying to kill you?”

Tony watched the woman’s features twist into a grimace. For the first time, he now saw exactly what Diane meant. The woman now looked like a hellish demon.

“That fucker Rossini wants me dead, that’s why,” she spat. The woman dragged herself to her feet and eyed Tony’s weapon. “Give me your gun,” she demanded. “I have someone to kill.”

He backed away, not intending to give his gun to anybody, especially her. “Not a chance,” he said. “I need this.” Tony spotted movement to the left of them. He spun around and saw more dead things shambling out of one of the buildings behind them, as well as a group of uniformed men running towards them.

Two of them raised their weapons. Unlike the now eaten celebrities, these guys wouldn’t miss. He looked at the gun in his hand before throwing it on the ground. He had no wish to get shot.

As the guards sprinted towards them, Tony’s guts whirled as the feeling of separation ran through his body one more time. “Oh please, not now,” he moaned. Tony jumped at the sound of an explosion of air behind him. He turned to see Kenny and Diane were still with him but the others were gone. “What the fuck happened?”

Kenny pointed at the wall. “They fell through that.” The man’s face suddenly grew pale. “Oh fuck, not him.”

Tony turned to see a large man with long pale hair walking towards them. He knew him. He’d seen Rossini’s face dominating the posters for a long time. He wasn’t too shocked to see that the sudden disappearance of the other two hadn’t fazed the big man.

“Hello there, Kenny. Did I not say that you were going to be my biggest star? You won’t believe the viewing figures.” Rossini nodded to one of the uniformed goons and the others grabbed the siblings and began marching them down the road. Rossini’s fingers wrapped around Tony’s arm when he tried to follow them. “Wait for one minute, you. I have a couple of questions first.”

Tony jumped when shots rang out and he saw three zombies hit the floor.

Rossini chuckled. “Calm yourself, young man. I have no intention of killing my new stars. You though. Well, you need to give me a very good reason as to why I should keep you alive.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out four large pills. The man nodded to himself. “Yeah, I thought you’d recognize them. We took them from your friend, Joseph. He refused to tell me what they were used for. Perhaps you will be a little more cooperative?”

Tony kept his mouth shut, hoping that this goon didn’t have the sense to decide to search his pockets. All he needed was for Rossini to release his arm for just a second and he would be out of there.

“Not too keen on talking?”

From what he heard, this fucker already had Joseph, and if he wanted to keep Kenny alive and as long as Rossini didn’t work out when made him so valuable, there wasn’t much more he could do. Tony gazed at the tablets in the big guy’s hands. He licked his lips, trying to think of how to play this.

“If I tell you, then you’ll have no use for me.” Tony looked at the wall beside them. “I’ve seen how you treat the people who piss you off.” He smiled. “That’s why you set those dim-witted fools on her, isn’t it?”

“It’s not a wise idea to assume the worst, young man. Prepare for it, yes. But try not to believe that’s your sole remaining option.” Rossini pulled Tony away from the wall. “Joseph was trying to reach out and find new unexplored worlds to visit. All the city elders knew that much, mainly because he wouldn’t shut up about it.” He held one of the tablets between his thumb and forefinger and crushed it. “I’ve had this analyzed already. It’s exactly what we expected to find.” Rossini then stopped and turned around. He pushed Tony towards a depression in the grass. The man bent down and picked up half a brick, which he threw into the air. The brick landed in the middle of the depression and a circular area of grass and soil dipped, revealing a deep hole.

“There’s quite a few of these dotted around my arena, Tony. Would you like to take a closer look?” He forced Tony’s head forward. “Look at them all down there, young man, just begging for me to throw you down to them. I’ve watched them take a human body apart, you know. People want to believe that it’s a quick death. Believe you me, it isn’t. The wild ones will go for the throat to make sure you don’t get back up. You see, they don’t want any more like them, all fighting for the same food supply. Down there though? They know you’re not going anywhere, so they’ll take you apart slowly, bite after bite.”

Tony strained against the man’s hold.

“Now you can assume the worst, young man.” Rossini picked him up as if he weighed no more than a small child, and held him over the pit. “This pit was reserved for Natalie and her Source World boyfriend. They have evaded me this time but they’ll be back.” He turned him around and leaned forward. “Now tell me what those fucking tablets do to you!” he screamed.

Tony saw movement behind them. He could hear the things below him, straining to reach his feet. Despite his predicament, he furnished the man with a slight smirk after making sure he had a firm grip on Rossini’s wrists. “I don’t assume the worst,” he said. “Look behind you, Rossini.” His smirk widened into a grin as the man yelped and stumbled back, bringing Tony safely away from the pit.

“Your guards are gone, Rossini,” he said, watching the huge group of dead things shamble towards them. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his remaining tablets. “You wanted to know what these do? Keep watching.” Tony pushed the two tablets into his mouth and chewed before swallowing. He watched the background begin to fade. “It’s such a shame that you crushed yours.”

Chapter Fourteen

Mortimer opened his eyes; it took him a few seconds for his view to solidify. His stomach and his head felt as though they had swapped places. “I want to die,” he uttered. Mortimer quickly turned his head and leaned over, waiting for his guts to realign. His eyes traced a single dark red trail along the filthy concrete floor. Mortimer followed it until the path stopped at a man-shaped bundle of clothes. “Please,” he moaned, “I don’t want to be here again.”

There was no stopping his gaze from following the clothing until he looked, once more, into the flat eyes of his dead brother. “It’s not him!” he cried, shuffling back until he reached the far wall. Mortimer then yelped out when a hand landed on his thigh.

“Why are we here again?”

Just the sound of his brother’s voice, even layered with trepidation as it was, had a cathartic effect on his frayed nerves. His heart still refused to slow down but now he could at least attempt to take stock of their situation without feeling like a lost lamb, hearing the sound of wolves howling.

Mortimer ran his tongue over his cracked lips. “Daniel, you scared the shit out of me.” His voice echoed through the dank cellar. His only source of light filtered down from the stone steps to the left of where they lay. The filtered daylight wasn’t strong enough to banish the long shadows cast from their decaying companions, but there was enough illumination to see that the enquiring voice did issue from his brother’s lips.

“Mortimer, why are we here?”

“Since when did I become the font of all knowledge?” he snapped. “Hush your flapping mouth and let me think.”

The arm attached to his body, as well as the pudgy hand now covered in black dirt, could not belong to anybody else but him. Like his brother, this truly was the real him down here. With his comfort barrier snatched away, Mortimer’s anxiety quadrupled. Without that glimmer of uncertainty that they could still be inside a digital playground, the lost lamb sensation threatened to take control. He’d be a fool to believe that wherever they were, wolves weren’t nearby.

“I don’t like it here,” whispered Daniel.

“I’m not that keen either, but it’s infinitely preferable to where we just came from.” Mortimer stopped talking and turned back, intending to ask Daniel if he felt any different. He couldn’t shake the feeling of belonging when he gazed around this cellar, no matter how bizarre that sounded. His question died on his lips when he saw his brother’s eyes, grown to the size of marbles.

“They’re not all truly dead.”

He hoped there’d be more time to prepare before the meeting with his first wolf. The stink of death increased and he heard a single low moan coming from the other end of the cellar. As Daniel whimpered, Mortimer frowned. He used his brother’s trembling body for support as he got to his feet, turned around and shook off Daniel’s hand.

“What are we going to do?”

Another hand, followed by a skinny arm, pushed up from between two bodies. “You idiot, Daniel.” He jumped over the bodies and grabbed the arm, wrapping his fingers around the wrist. “It’s Joseph. Don’t just stare, help me get him out from under here.”

With his brother’s help, they pulled the unconscious man out from under the corpses and dragged him over to the stairs. The man moaned once more but didn’t regain consciousness. “We ought to count our blessings, Daniel,” Mortimer said, pulling Joseph onto the first step. “Can you imagine appearing under a pile of corpses, unable to breath, feeling their weight holding you down? I’m glad the guy isn’t awake.”

“None of this makes any sense to me, Mortimer.” Daniel lifted Joseph’s face. “You know he only gave us the same tablets that Martin freaked out over. How did we both end up back home?”

This experience was turning into one serious head fuck. Daniel’s words circled his mind, each revolution confusing him more and more. He could still be inside that fucking device, hell, he might not have even left it. A game within a game? Why not? If the designers were able to construct such an elaborate scenario in the first place, it would be easy to fool the user that they had woken up, not once but several times.

“Could we still be sitting in our chairs?”

Mortimer looked into Daniel’s eyes, looking for any signs of real life. If he was still in the game, the original one, then this Daniel was just another digital representation, just like Joseph. As for the tablet they took to supposedly get them into another world, now that did sound contrived. How opportune was it that this Joseph had them upon his person? If this was a game, those pills would make a convenient plot device.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Mortimer shrugged then lashed out with his left leg, his foot connecting with Daniel’s shin.

“You fucker!” he squealed, dropping Joseph and jumping back.

He then threw a punch that Mortimer easily dodged. “Calm down. I was just testing out a theory. I wasn’t sure if you were really here or a collection of pixels.

“If you hit me again, I’ll stamp your pixels into the fucking dirt.” Daniel picked up Joseph by the shoulders and dragged the man up the rest of the stairs. “So let’s say we get out of this house and we’re attacked by a load more dead things. It’ll be okay if they kill us all, ‘cause we’ll wake up? You think about stuff, Mortimer. That’s always been your problem. Stop pulling it all apart and go with the flow. Fuck, it’s all we can do anyway.”

“How can you stand there and spout all that bullshit? Just look around you, for crying out loud. We both know this can’t even exist. It’s an impossible place and we both know it.”

“We can’t walk about with our heads in the clouds, hoping everything will turn out for the best. If we don’t work this thing out, we’ll both end up like Martin.”

“That’s utter bollocks. Martin ended up fucking dead ‘cause he did try to work this out.” Mortimer looked at his brother scornfully. Why was he even trying to have a debate with Daniel? He followed him up to the top of the stairs and pushed past the pair of them. Mortimer pulled open the cupboard above the microwave and pretended to look inside. The door provided a convenient obstacle so he wouldn’t have to look at his brother’s simpering face. As he tuned out Daniel’s continued bleating, Mortimer examined the contents of the cupboards.

“Shut up a minute, Daniel, and come here.” He leaned back and grabbed his jacket, trying not to get angry when the man flinched. “Look at this, come on. Tell me why this doesn’t look right to me.”

Daniel shrugged off his hand. “What am I supposed to be looking at?” He moved closer to the cupboard. “There’s nothing out of place, it’s just like I always remembered it. Mom’s well stocked cupboard, overflowing with goodies, strikes again.”

His reaction to the obvious abnormality here reinforced Mortimer’s theory that this really was only a digital representation of his brother. He silently sighed; but then again, maybe not. Daniel had never been that great at picking out the obvious. He lifted out a large square tin. “Nothing out of place, you say? Have you any idea what sliced beef is? It’s from a cow. Come on, who the fuck eats cow meat?”

“What are you talking about, Mortimer? That’s your favorite food.”

“Oh is it? Well how come I don’t know this?” Mortimer dropped the tin and jerked his head towards the ceiling. “Did you hear that?” he hissed.

His brother nodded. “Yeah, we’re not alone in here.” Daniel grinned. “Come on, let’s go explore.” He hurried over to the door. “Look on the bright side. If it is a bunch of zombies upstairs and they do snack on us, at least we’ll end up back on our couch.”

Mortimer shook his head, wondering if he could take out his brother with a couple of well-placed cow meat tins. He followed Daniel up the stairs, despairing at the fact that he was making no attempt at being stealthy. “You’re only saying that because you miss your Legos, you big girl,” he whispered.

Daniel chuckled. “I have a box of the stuff under my bed. It’s a win/win situation for me, Mortimer.”

They both reached the landing. Mortimer sneaked over to the bedroom directly above the kitchen. He glanced at his empty hands and quietly cursed. Why didn’t he pick up a knife while he was in the kitchen? If there were any dead things in there, he and his brother wouldn’t stand a chance. It was too late to go back now; besides, he’d already been in here once, the last time, and he hadn’t found any zombies. Mortimer stopped at the doorframe. Could dead things climb stairs in this world?

“Screw it,” he snarled, walking into the room.

“It’s just like I remember,” said Daniel, looking over his shoulder.

“How can you say that when we both know that this is supposed to be your room? All this gear belongs to Martin.”

“Don’t blame Daniel, Mortimer. It isn’t his fault.”

“How the fuck did you get up here?” Mortimer blinked.

Joseph smiled back at him and leaned back, resting the back of his head on the wallpaper. “I wasn’t sure if you’d both leave without exploring the house.” He idly entwined his fingers in the dark blue quilt cover. “I’m glad I stayed now. Come on in, it’s okay. After all, it is your house.”

“You haven’t answered the question,” said Daniel. “How did you get up here without us seeing you?”

Mortimer sighed. “It’s another Joseph, you idiot. Wait, how can this be our house?” He flicked his eyes at Daniel. “I mean, if we really are here, then doesn’t this house belong to the corpse lying on the cellar floor?”

“The other one that looks like me is here too, I can feel him.” Joseph clenched his fist. “How is he doing?”

Those eyes lost their familiar calmness, and iced-blue chips of diamond stared back at him. They were the eyes of someone who detested his other self. It took a lot of restraint for Mortimer not to ask how this Joseph could even know the Joseph from their world. “He’s out cold,” replied Mortimer.”

“Yeah, I figured that would be the case. This will be the first time he’s been brave enough to bring all of him over, instead of his diseased mind.” He stood up and walked over to the two men. “Guys, I’m sorry to break this to you, but this really is your home. You both belong here, in this world.”

Those cold eyes filled with warmth as Joseph delivered that earth-shattering news. It was clear the man believed his own words. “I don’t believe you,” Mortimer said, slowly. Even as the words left his mouth, Mortimer saw himself standing in this bedroom and looking through the crack in the curtains as the mobile euthanasia vans rolled past his house. He screwed up his eyes, wanting to block out the torrent of old images flooding into his mind.

Mortimer opened his eyes. He looked at his brother and then at Joseph, hot tears rolling down his cheeks. He now remembered the terror he felt at seeing his neighbors all dying from the flu, of watching his mother being pushed into the back of the van, and Homeland Security aiming their assault rifles at Martin when he tried to stop them.

“How much do you remember?” Joseph asked almost kindly.

“Just fragments,” he whispered.

“The flu virus almost wiped out our species. Despite all the horrors, we managed to keep going, to rebuild, and even started to repopulate. None of us believed it could get any worse.” Joseph laughed harshly. “Oh, how naïve were we? We weren’t the only ones who’d suffered an event of apocalyptic proportions.”

Mortimer nodded. His mind had started to settle down. His brother squeezed his shoulder.

“You OK?”

Mortimer nodded, slowly. “How about you?”

He shrugged, “It all came back, Mortimer, all my real memories are back in place.”

“What happened?” Daniel said, looking at Joseph. “I mean, what really happened, that part still isn’t clear.”

“As far as we know, there are three worlds, each one linked. The one named Source World was just like ours. By that, I mean normal, I suppose. Just like us though, they suffered a catastrophe. The dead rose up and ate through the surviving population like a starving fox in a henhouse. No matter what they tried, their shrinking population couldn’t stop this vile plague. They should have all perished.”

Joseph’s face crumpled up. “They would have all ended up dead if it hadn’t been for one man who saw a way out.” He shrugged. “The man was another version of me, another Joseph. He figured out a way to cross into other worlds, looking for other versions of you and your brothers. He knew that your blood held the key to a possible vaccine.”

“He didn’t visit this world first, did he?”

Joseph shook his head. “They couldn’t. This world and theirs are not directly connected. There’s another world that acts as a bridge. You know as well as I how twisted that place is.”

“Look out!”

Joseph swung around. Daniel’s warning saved his life as Joseph’s other self lunged for him, screaming while holding a large kitchen knife in his hand. Joseph dropped to the floor and rolled over to the window.

Mortimer rushed up to the screaming man, wrapped his large arms around the man’s chest and squeezed tight. He shook him until the knife fell on to the carpet. As soon as his brother scooped up the blade, he released the man and violently pushed him forward. “Stop that, right now.” The other Joseph spun around and glared at them. Apart from their identical faces, there was nothing that connected them. This wild-eyed maniac, with his stinking, ripped, and filthy clothes looked more suited to life lining up outside a medi-center on that other world.

“It’s all lies,” spat Joseph. “Everything he’s told you is utter crap.” He stood up and attempted to brush the grime off his clothes. “I look disgusting.” He shook his head. “He’s distorting everything, Mortimer. Come on, you know me.”

The other Joseph got to his feet. “You just came at me with a knife, my friend. Does that sound like the actions of a man who’s in command of his wits? Joseph, our other self came to you from Source World, begging for your help.” He looked across at Mortimer. “There was a sickness in their world long before the death virus spread through their cities. The Joseph that came through that gate didn’t spread either.”

He pointed at the other Joseph. “They did that. You see, the fuckers had already tortured the information out of our other Joseph and found out about the possible cure in your blood. They had all three of your other selves connected to drips and had already devised an inhibitor. All they needed now was to wipe out their local opposition.”

The other Joseph screamed out and ran towards Daniel. He wrapped his fingers in his hair and slammed the back of the lad’s head into the wall behind him before racing out of the door.

Mortimer ran over to his brother, sobbing at the sight of the huge pool of blood spreading out from under him. “No, this isn’t supposed to happen!” He gently stroked his cheeks, knowing he was dead. He lifted his head and stared at the stricken Joseph, his face wet with tears as well. “Please, tell me I was right and he was wrong. This really is a game and Daniel’s woken up to play with his Legos?”

Joseph dropped to his knees and placed his arm over Mortimer’s shoulder. “Oh God, I’m so sorry about this,” he cried. “I shouldn’t have tried to be so clever. I should have secured him when you arrived.”

He ran over to the bed and ripped off the cover and gently laid it over Daniel.

“Why don’t I feel anything, Joseph? There’s nothing inside me, nothing at all.” Mortimer twisted around. “What is wrong with me?”

“There’s nothing the matter, Mortimer. Believe me, the fact that you’re questioning your apparent lack of emotions shows that you’re more balanced than most people. Just look around you, look at where you come from, hell on every world, there’s death everywhere you look. We’re all anesthetized to it.” He wrapped his arms around Mortimer’s shoulders. “We had better get a move on, young man. There’s still an incredible amount of work left for us to do.”

“What about the other Joseph?” Mortimer felt his rage rising. He liked how it felt, even if it was anger, any emotion was better than feeling dead inside. “I want to kill the bastard.” He strained his neck, trying to see any sign of him through the window. He saw nothing. Had he expected the bastard to hang around outside, waving at them from the end of the garden? He’d be long gone by now. “Tell me how we ended up back here, Joseph.” Right now, he couldn’t care less but he though the sound of Joseph’s voice would help mute the screams detonating in his head.

“There are invisible lines that connect us to our alternate selves. When we shift from each world, we invariably end up close to each other. When the first Joseph shifted for the first time, he appeared in his other self’s laboratory. We’re all very good at comprehending the science, you know. I believe that if the first Joseph hadn’t constructed the device then one of us would have sooner or later.”

“You wish he had come here first?”

Joseph nodded. “It isn’t physically possible but yeah, I do. Together we would have solved both of our problems. That other Joseph and his other citystate founders unleashed the virus on their enemies, having no idea of the repercussions. Thinking they could sit back and watch the other citiystates perish. They died alright, and the corpses then converged on their city, the last remaining source of food on their blighted planet. Hard to believe that those fools didn’t think this would happen.”

“Jesus,” Mortimer muttered. “So they almost annihilated their own species?”

“I wish they had, then they wouldn’t have found us. They invaded our world, stole you three, and unleashed the virus. Our growing population was reduced to almost nothing. They then enslaved the survivors and put us to work in the food factories.”

Joseph walked to the door. “I really am sorry about your brother.”

Mortimer closed his eyes, still not sure why he wasn’t grieving. He kept gazing at the shape of his brother’s body under that cover, expecting him to start moving at any minute. “So what do we do now?”

“It’s simple. I want to close the bridge between here and the other world for good, but I still want to keep in contact with the Source World. I believe we can still cure this death plague. I just want the other world to be isolated so they can finish what they started and kill themselves off.”

“You said it was impossible though.”

“Not if we find another bridge.” The man placed both his hand gently on Mortimer’s shoulders. “Come, let me introduce you to my friends, although I think you’ll have already met them once.” He took him to the bedroom door and descended the stairs. Mortimer took one look at the cover before following Joseph.

His mind still overflowed with a thousand unanswered questions, but before Mortimer could even spurt out the first one, Joseph had already left the house. He rushed after him and found a crowd of people standing on the sidewalk. Joseph had been right. There were a few standing amongst them that he remembered from before. Unlike that time, Mortimer saw no hostility in their faces. He discreetly scanned their arms to see if he could find the body that he’d been inside.

He turned away. Why was he even thinking about that? He closed his eyes and tilted his head towards the blazing sun, feeling the warm rays massage his skin. The scent of flowers filled the air. Mortimer had forgotten the smell of the great outdoors. In the city, the stink of death coated everything, sometimes so strong you could taste it. Inside wasn’t much better; the air conditioning erased the stench of death but left a sterile environment.

“My brother should be buried here. He would have liked that. We can’t leave him to rot like the other bodies in that cellar.” Mortimer snapped open his eyes and sought out Joseph. He found him standing at the back. “Wait, why are those poor people still down there?”

“We weren’t allowed to touch them. We were – in a way still are – slaves to the masters of the city. The only reason why they are not here now is because they have other concern, and unless we find a way to stop them, they will be back. This time I suspect they’ll kill us all, especially since the other me is nowhere to be found.” Joseph looked grimly about.

Mortimer saw that they were all staring at him.

“At least we don’t need their tablets,” said Joseph, smiling at him. “Not now we have you.”

Chapter Fifteen

Their brief forced march came to an abrupt end when it felt as though the contents of his ribcage wanted to escape. Kenny knew that they were about to shift one more time. He refused to allow the unpleasant experience to distract him. This would be their only chance to get away. He could tell by the way his sister acted that she knew their location was about to alter as well. Kenny clenched his stomach muscles the best he could and prepared himself, praying that they wouldn’t land in the middle of a zombie horde.

By their captors’ reactions, though, the goons didn’t have a single idea what they were experiencing.

“Oh fuck, they’ve poisoned us!” gasped the huge blonde-haired youth who had secured Kenny’s arms behind his back. “Oh, this really hurts.” He leaned forward. “What have you done to us?” he demanded, spitting in Kenny’s ear.

Kenny kept quiet and suppressed a triumphant grin, dropping his mouth in awe as the fake landscape surrounding the five of them blurred out of existence. The three men cried out, their voices lost in the swirling vortex. Kenny felt the grip on his arms loosen. He fell down, feeling his mind slip as well when he saw there was no ground beneath his body. Kenny forced his head up, and through the kaleidoscope of swirling primary colors, he saw that Diane had not moved, yet her captor crouched behind her, crunched up into a tight ball.

He jumped to his feet, ran over to Diane and slipped his fingers into her limp hand. “We don’t have much time,” he whispered, starting as his voice sounded like it was coming from behind him. He shut his mouth, not daring to speak again. The vivid hues were losing their intensity.

Kenny pulled her away from the three guards, knowing that it wouldn’t take them more than a couple of seconds for their collective limited intelligences to decide that losing their prisoners would be more harmful to their health than stepping into another world.

The ground beneath his feet lost its spongy texture and solidified into rough rock. Kenny steadied his sister when she almost lost her balance. He turned to see the others had already regained their composure and sighed; he’d hoped for a few more seconds to get away from them.

“Where are we now?”

His gut feeling told him that they were back in the world where they’d last escaped from. The air smelled the same, and although they were now inside what appeared to be a cave, Kenny believed that they weren’t that far from that underground structure. He had no idea how he could even know this. Then again, considering what he and Diane had been through in the past few hours, he decided not to even bother looking for explanations anymore.

“We’re away from the goons,” he whispered. Kenny looked beyond her shoulder, just to check that they really were alone. “Right now, that’s all that matters.” He took her hand. “Let’s go see where this takes us, and keep your eyes peeled for those guards.”

“What’s so funny?” hissed Diane.

Kenny put his hands up and traced the beaming smile plastered across his face with his forefinger. He extended his arms and placed them flat against the walls of the harrow passageway and turned around. His sister’s face, contorted into worry, gazed back at him. “I’m not laughing, hun,” he replied. How could he even explain his mood to her? That, from out of nowhere this torrent of positive feelings had just soaked into his body, like a dry sponge dropped into a bucket of warm water?

“Come on, Diane. You of all people know how shitty my life has been recently. Just the fact that I’m still alive is a major fucking miracle.” He held his hand in front of his face, noting that his fingers now glowed. At least he had found out how they could see down here: the walls were covered in this stuff. “Diane, I’m cured. I’ll never have to have any more of that vile stuff in my body again.”

“And you can stop other people from turning into monsters.”

He nodded excitedly. “Exactly!”

“And yet, instead of being treated as heroes, here we are, running for our lives.”

“No shock there. They don’t know what I can do.”

“How much do you want to wager? You cured that man in front of a television camera, I bet half the capital saw it.”

Even the harsh reality of her words failed to dent his euphoria. “Fuck them, Diane. Look around you, we’re back in that other world now. These people will be grateful to have us.”

“Wait, are you saying that we’re back in the place we jumped out of?”

“Yeah, I’m sure of it.”

“The fuckers were going to rape me, Kenny.” She shivered and pushed him back. “These bastards are no better.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” he said, softly. He reached out and pulled her into his embrace. “I promise you that I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

“How are you going to stop them?”

“Would you want to upset the man who could eradicate the plague that’s destroyed their world?” He lifted her hand to his face and kissed it. “Focus on the certainties, Diane. Right now, the only one we know for sure is that those three guards are in here with us and they will not welcome us with open arms.”

He wrapped his warm fingers around her hand. “Are you ready to carry on?”

Diane sighed. “It’s not like we have any choice, is it?”

He shook his head. “No, not at all.” Kenny took five steps forward, before stopping again.

“What’s wrong, Kenny?”

“Not sure. Don’t worry,” he said, when he felt her stiffen. “I haven’t seen our three friends. It just looks as though the tunnel is turning orange.”

She peered over his shoulder. “Move forward! Can’t you see? We’ve found a way out, it must be a sunset, we can see!”

Kenny chuckled, “I told you not to worry. Come on then, let’s go see what this world has to show us.” He wasn’t under any illusion what they would see after they emerged into the open air. From what they’d found from their last visit, the walking dead dominated this world. Was it really a good idea to follow this route? No place above the ground would be safe from them. Then again, it wasn’t as if they had any other options. If those guards weren’t in front, then they had to be behind them.

“That’s not the sun,” he murmured. Kenny frowned, not sure of what he was seeing. He hurried along the passageway, watching the orange glow grow brighter.

“Kenny!”

The glow disappeared from his vision as his body jerked back. Kenny felt his sister’s arms encircling his chest. He blinked several times; the glow had lost some of its intensity and he now saw just how close he had been to falling to his death. This tunnel opened out into a vast, cathedral-sized cavern. He leaned forward; the path under his feet stopped at an abrupt ledge. He couldn’t see where the drop ended.

“That was close,” Kenny said. He turned around in her arms. “Too close, what the hell happened?”

“I only saw the danger when your body obstructed the light.” He looked behind him. “Oh, this is just unreal, Kenny. What the hell is this place?”

Kenny turned back around. The light had now faded altogether, giving him an unparalleled view of the cavern. Dozens of dark orange crystal shards hung down from the cavern’s ceiling. He tilted his head up, gazing in wonder at the spectacle. What were they? The ceiling had to be at least a hundred meters from where he stood and yet some of the thicker shards grew down, past his eye line, disappearing into the blackness.

“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my life,” he said, tracing the smooth line of the closest shard. The edge looked sharp enough to split light. He reluctantly took his eyes off the structures and looked to his left, smiling when he saw the path wound around the rough cavern wall. At least this wasn’t a dead end.

“Are you still feeling like you’re doped up, Kenny?”

He nodded. “Right now, I feel like we’re in the presence of God. This is part of the reason why these three worlds were able to connect, Diane.”

“How do you know?”

“It’s just a gut feeling that I have.” That felt like a lie. Kenny’s mind and body had altered when his other world sister had bitten him. The more he shifted through the worlds, the more his body adapted to the transition. It was as if he had become linked to all three worlds. Kenny smiled to himself, deciding not to share those thoughts with Diane. He had no wish for her to think that her brother was losing his grip on reality. His grin turned into a smirk when he realized that was just what was happening to him.

“Come on, Diane, we need to keep moving,” he said, taking her hand. Kenny stepped out onto the ledge and flattened his back against the rock face. “Are you going to be okay here?”

“I think so.” She followed him out onto the ledge. “You had better quicken your pace though, Kenny, I can hear footsteps.”

He looked past his sister and saw shadows on the tunnel wall. Kenny slid his feet faster along the ledge, hoping that those bastards wouldn’t be able to see the cavern and would tumble over the crevice. He moaned when he saw a head appear. It glanced at the crystal formation for a second before turning to face them.

Kenny saw the man slowly grin before squeezing his body onto the narrow ledge. The other two followed him out. Kenny moaned again and tried to increase his speed. Unlike him and Diane, the men were choosing their steps carefully; they had no other option. Each guard equalled at least three of Kenny in body mass.

“Why are you even doing this?” Kenny shouted. He saw them all look up in surprise. He guessed that none of them thought that their prey would ask them questions. “Look, can’t you see how dangerous this ledge is? Just go back and say you lost us. Who’s going to know? Come on, you all must know that there’s a good chance that you could fall here.”

None of them bothered to respond, not that that surprised him that much. They had their orders. Kenny pushed on, noticing that the ledge had started to narrow. Would those clowns attempt to cross that? “You had better watch your step here, Diane,” he whispered. “Our journey is about to become rather tricky.”

“It’s not like we can go back, is it,” she answered. “Stop worry about me, you’re the clumsy one. Just try not to take me with you if you do lose your balance.”

“Oh my, you are so compassionate.”

“Come back right now, and I promise we won’t damage you.”

Kenny looked past his sister. The three of them hadn’t moved forward. Kenny nodded to himself; perhaps they had more sense than he gave them credit for. The blond man’s face suggested to Kenny that he wasn’t finding this very funny. The man reached to his side and pulled out his gun.

“No more warnings!” he shouted, pointed the evil-looking device in Kenny’s direction.

Kenny sighed and turned away; he remembered what Rossini had said. These clowns wouldn’t dare shoot them.

“Don’t you turn your back on me, you little fucking shit!”

He yelped as a flake of rock close to his face fell into the abyss when one of the goons fired. His foot slipped. If it hadn’t been for Diane slamming her arm against his chest, he would have followed that tiny piece of rock. He couldn’t believe that they had actually fired on them.

The others followed Blonde Bastard’s example and steadily raised their weapons. It only took a moment for Kenny to realize that he should have kept his mouth shut. The man’s slow brain had eventually reached the same conclusion as Kenny. They wouldn’t be able to reach them; this ledge would not hold those guys.

“Fuck, Diane, we’re going to have to give ourselves up,” he muttered. “He missed once, but I doubt we’ll be that lucky twice.”

His sister wasn’t even looking at him. He gritted his teeth, watching them take aim. “Don’t sho…” An explosion of gunfire silenced Kenny’s words. He gaped in astonishment as the blonde man fell to his knees, dropping his gun. He fell forward, lying on top of his weapon.

Kenny twisted his head and found another group of men on the other side of the cavern, every one of them armed with rifles. “Where did they come from?” he muttered. The man at the front of the group took a step forward, brought his rifle up and pushed the stock into his shoulder. He felt his sister stiffen.

“Oh no, not him.”

Kenny took her hand. “It’ll be okay, I won’t let him touch you, I promise.” He saw that the man’s actions were enough to get the two remaining guards to stumble back, before they both spun around and fled back through the passageway.

“It’s going to be alright,” Kenny said. The man lowered his weapon and stood back to allow two very familiar people to show themselves. Kenny smiled to himself at the sight of the thick-set man standing next to the other Tony.

Kenny squeezed his sister’s hand. “Are you okay to continue?”

She took her eyes off the man holding the rifle and slowly nodded. “There’s no other choice, is there?” Her face darkened. “Just be sure of this though. Kenny. If he even leers at me, I’ll push him off that fucking ledge.”

The large man held out his hand. “I’m happy to see you two again.” He looked at the man standing beside him, then frowned at Kenny. “What happened to the one who looks like my Tony?”

Kenny shrugged. “I don’t know. We got separated and we lost him.”

“If he’s anything like my Tony, he’ll survive.” The big man nodded to himself. “If he does come through, I believe he’ll show up close to us, anyway. It looks as though we are all destined to be together.”

The man with the rifle clicked his fingers and his men ran past them. Kenny felt his sister cringe when her attacker squeezed past her. The big man frowned, switching his gaze from Diane to the man at the back of the group. “I heard there was trouble while I was away,” he said. “I think I can guess what happened, Diane.” He nodded at Kenny’s sister. “Mistakes were made, although one particular incident will not go unpunished. You have my word on that.”

The big man wrapped his arms around Kenny. “I owe you my life,” he said. “What is mine is now yours. As for your friends, my men will deal with them. Come on, I think you should follow us. I have something to show you that will blow your mind.”

He spun around and walked back through the entrance. Kenny took one last look at the unusual rock formations before he and Diane hurried after them, his statement about them always meeting up with the same people stuck in his throat. Kenny stopped dead and looked back at those formations. “Why haven’t I run into another version of me?” he said. “And how come you know my name?”

The man sighed. “I thought that you would have already worked that out, Kenny. The other Kenny died during the outbreak.” He walked back and placed his hands on Kenny’s shoulders. “Our Joseph made me promise to find you and make sure you were safe.”

“But why? I really don’t understand any of this.”

“Come on, It’ll be better if I just show you. This is going to blow your mind, son.”

“Hush down, Kenny,” whispered his sister. She took his hand. “He’s already told us that he’s going to answer your questions.” She paused and tilted her head. “Is that rain?”

Those crystal shards called to Kenny. Each one resonated with a unique song. He knew the others had left the cavern; even his sister had abandoned him. He didn’t care about such trivialities. The songs were all that mattered. Their calling compelled him to move as close as he dared to the edge of the precipice. Even under their spell, Kenny wasn’t stupid enough to allow their seduction to cover his senses with their beautiful voices. There was another voice demanding to join the choir. Compared to the harmony of the shards, this voice sounded like nails screeching across a school blackboard. His bones vibrated as the harsh voice continued to torment his ear. Kenny grounded his teeth and slammed his hands against the side of his head, cutting off all sounds.

The sea of silence was only interrupted by a soft splashing of raindrops into small puddles all around his crouching body.

“Where did you go?”

Kenny reluctantly raised his head. Although the drops of florescent liquid forming a hand-sized pool directly in front of his head was infinitely more appealing than replying to the voice, he knew his mission couldn’t end here.

“You said that I ask too many questions,” he said, watching the glowing rain. It felt rather pleasant to feel it land on his face. Kenny tilted his head back even further and opened his eyes as wide as they would go, needing to feel the warm liquid drip directly into his eyes. His desire never came to fruition as a black shadow obscured his vision before forcing him back up onto his feet and dragging his limp body out of the cavern and into another passageway.

With his back slammed against the rough wall, he found a deeply lined face staring into his. Kenny’s dreaming mind followed the wrinkles, seeing cracks in stone. Had the rock come alive? He heard a deep voice, presumably belonging to the cave monster, telling the blackboard voice a story about how some of their wildlife under the earth could affect how some individuals perceived the shards. Kenny closed his eyes, picturing himself dancing through a glowing forest of bright orange crystals.

“Please, I need you to snap out of it.”

“Is there any sign of activity?”

“Stephen, what happened to him? Seriously, I need to know the truth.”

Kenny heard the voices; they blasted through his brain like bullets, ripping holes in the comforting fabric of clarification that had settled over his tired body the moment the liquid in the cavern had begun to fall.

His lifted his eyelids, looking past the faces of Stephen and his sister.

Cave Monster and Blackboard Voice.

“Where am I?” The shard voices hadn’t left him; he didn’t think they ever would, not now, but their soft tones now competed with human sounds and mechanical interference. He blinked, enjoying the confusion rippling over Stephen’s rugged face. He did feel a twinge of guilt at the sight of his sister’s agonizing worry.

His world righted itself, showing him the interior of a grey-painted room. When he lifted his body off the cold, hard floor, evidence of his whereabouts wasn’t hard to spot. Where the rocks jutted out from the flat surfaces, they had either been painted over or covered with fabric, as if the designers were ashamed of the room’s origins.

“We haven’t gone very far, Kenny.” Diane’s face threatened to crumple. “You really had me worried, you idiot. As soon as all that water fell and you started to stumble, I honestly believed that you were having a fit.”

Kenny wrapped his arms around her body, noting that his wet clothing retained a little of the liquid’s fluorescent properties. “It’s okay, Diane, really it is. I’m fine. I guess my body is taking time to adjust, that’s all.” Even to his ears, his voice sounded false. There was nothing he could do about that. It was ironic that Stephen was going to show him something that would blow his mind and in the end, it was the very objects themselves that opened him up like petals on a yellow rose.

The other voices in this dull room belonged to strangers, except for one. Kenny offered a tentative smile at Stephen’s partner, standing in the middle of a group of young, dark-haired men. Her own smile, directed at Kenny, caused him to sigh with gratitude, pleased that the woman hadn’t come to any harm. The woman gave Kenny one final nod before she resumed her previous task.

“You’re not the first, Kenny. Those unique rocks have a power greater than you could ever imagine. Over the years, they have melted the minds of at least a dozen individuals.” Stephen leaned over Diane and pulled him to his feet. “I’m just glad to see that your mind hasn’t been turned into Jell-O.”

Stephen clicked his fingers and one of the young men wheeled a black chair across the tiles. It amused Kenny to notice how out of place this group of men looked in comparison to everyone else he had met in this world. With their pressed trousers and gleaming white shirts, none of them would have looked out of place sitting at one of the terminals on the floor where he worked.

“I think that what I do have to show you, Kenny, will turn your mind into Jell-O though. I hope you’re prepared.”

Stephen carefully picked what looked like a rock fragment off a metal desk to the left of him. “This is our good luck memento,” he said, smiling. “It’s the only piece that we have ever been able to retrieve.” He approached Kenny. “Open your hand please.”

He did as instructed and flinched when the man dropped the rock into the palm of his hand. Apart from the weight, Kenny could tell immediately that this wasn’t rock; it felt soft against his skin, like an overripe pear.

“Is this part of one of the shards?”

The big man grinned, while nodding. “Our Joseph used that to start up his project.”

Kenny gently touched the fragment, watching his finger sink though the surface. “Oh fuck,” he muttered, jerking his finger back, “it’s as cold as ice inside.”

“Yeah, I know, the fragment lost its warmth about a week after Joseph found it.”

“Oh fuck, it died!” Kenny buried his head in his hands. He looked up. Both Diane and Stephen’s bemused expressions told him that they had no clue as to what he meant. “It should have a voice!” he shouted, “a resonance!” Kenny stood up and placed the fragment carefully back on the desk and walked over to Natalie. He looked up at the black, loose-woven fabric hanging from the ceiling. His bones had already told him what lay beyond it. There were no jutting-out rock pieces concealed under this piece.

“This is what you wanted to show me, isn’t it?” One glance at the woman’s face told him he wasn’t wrong.

She looked across at Stephen before ripping the fabric away. Despite already knowing and preparing himself, Kenny still fell back, hitting the chair, awed by the sight of every shard filling his head with their endless harmonic tune. Kenny tore his gaze away and focused on the hard rock edge, seeing the stones formed into an arch over ten meters high and six meters across. From this perspective, the shards lined up, continuing the archway into what appeared to be infinity. “This is how Joseph was able to move from this world to ours.” The songs flowing from the shards would never be in sync. Kenny saw that now. That man had not found the fragment, as Stephen had claimed. He’d ripped it off one of the shards and it was their new frequency, their imperfection that had broken the skin from this world to the next.

“Is there any point in me talking, Kenny, you seem to know everything now.”

“I don’t know when your plague almost wiped out your population,” said Kenny. Shallow circles rippled across the skin of the shards. Their tune shifted frequency. He took two steps back, feeling the hairs on his head vibrate.

“It’s been at least a decade now, Kenny. Look, I’m not sure what any of this has got to do with anything. We need you. Joseph told us what you would eventually be.” Stephen gripped his shoulders, blocking the gateway from Kenny’s view. “We can shut off the gateway at any time, but if we did that, we would all be dead. It’s only the medication from your world that’s keeping us alive.”

Stephen’s fingers dug deeper. “Will you help us, please? If we don’t sever the cord, they’ll turn what’s left of this world into a charnel house; they won’t stop until they bleed us all dry.”

“How do they enter your world? Do their soldiers come through this gate?”

Stephen violently shook his head. “No, it’s one way only. This location is one piece of information that they were never able to torture out of Joseph. We have no idea how they travel here, the bastards just appear.”

“You might want to revise your information, Stephen. Look at the archway.”

The big man’s fingers gripped Kenny tight. “Oh fuck, I can feel the vibration!” He slowly turned his head. “No, no way.” Stephen ran over to the archway. “We have to get out of here, I mean, right now.” His fingers danced over several buttons on the fist-sized console embedded in the pillar next to the archway. “They’re coming through the gateway! It’s not possible, how did they manage to open it?”

A single scream ripped through Stephen’s frantic cries. Kenny spun around and ran over to his sister, grabbing her wrist and pulling her away from the wall. He felt the change in the air and knew what was coming next, and it wasn’t going to arrive through the archway. A pair of dead-fish eyes materialized next to a technician.

“Move out of the way!” The man had no chance; the rest of the dead thing appeared as soon as Kenny shouted out his warning. It lunged at the unwary man and bit into the side of his neck. Three more dead things appeared behind the first one and fell onto the shrieking man.

Every guard in the room opened fire, filling the small space with the deafening sound of automatic gunfire. They didn’t discriminate; the guards took out all four dead things and shot the technician as well.

“Not again,” cried Stephen. He left the archway and rushed over to Kenny. “Turn around, you idiot! There’s two more behind you.” Kenny moaned and grabbed Diane, pulling her back as the dead things rushed them. Stephen blasted the closest one in the head, then pushed the pair of them to the side and kicked the remaining zombie in the face. Kenny heard the crunching of teeth as it flew backwards, then watched Natalie rush over and stamp on its head.

“I’m so sorry,” whispered his sister, showing Kenny her bloodied arm. “The bastard bit me. It’s too late.” Tears ran down her cheeks. “I’ve failed you.”

“Stop that, right now,” he hissed, following the others over to the open door. Kenny pulled Diane out of the room and gently sat her down, leaning her back against the wall. Kenny jumped when the door behind him slammed shut. He looked at the survivors, horrified to see that there were only four of them left. Kenny nervously glanced both directions down the hallway, hoping that those things wouldn’t appear out here as well.

He turned back to Diane, pulling out his knife. Kenny sliced the blade across his palm and clamped the hand tight around the bite mark, praying that this would work. He heard two more gunshots but didn’t bother looking up. He should have known better than to believe that those fucking rotting bastards would only appear inside that room. The two survivors would be able to deal with them.

“I feel so cold,” Diane said.

He took off his shirt and wrapped it around the wound, pressing it tight, and kept his hand on her neck, waiting for her pulse to stop. “Don’t worry, you’re not going to die on me, Diane. I cured Stephen, I can cure you as well.”

The woman’s eyes flickered and her head slumped forward. “No, you’re not dead, please, you can’t be!”

He felt someone pull him up. Kenny tried to shrug off the grip but he couldn’t move.

“Leave her,” shouted Stephen. “I’m really sorry, but she’s gone. We have to go. There’s more of them coming this way.”

“I’m not leaving her!” Kenny shouted. “You go take care of them, I’m not going anywhere without my sister.” He cried out when the man point the gun at Diane. “Don’t you fucking dare!” he growled.

“Stop it, you know the fucking rules, we can’t have her rising!”

He screamed and thrust his head back, feeling it connect with something that crunched. His grip was loosened enough for him to fight his way out of the man’s grip.

Kenny wrapped his arms around Diane’s body, growing more desperate when he realized that he could feel her heart beating. “If you want to shoot, then go ahead and fucking shoot. You’ll have to kill me as well.”

Through the thick blood streaming down Stephen’s face, Kenny clearly saw the man sneer. He raised his gun.

“Don’t be a fool!” shouted Natalie, slapping the big man’s hand down. “Just look at her.”

Kenny spun around to sees that her eyes had reopened. He saw only warmth in those blues orbs. She smiled weakly before leaning to the side and throwing up. He pulled up and helped her get back onto her feet. Kenny hugged her tight. “Oh God, I thought I had lost you forever, Diane.”

“We’ll all be dead if we don’t get away from here,” shouted Stephen. The man wiped away some of the blood and flicked it onto the floor. “Look at them all!” He aimed his gun at the mass of shambling corpses filling the corridor, then sighed. “Fuck! Come on!” He turned and ran in the opposite direction.

Both Natalie and Kenny helped Diane along by grasping her under an arm, and they all followed Stephen. The big man skidded to a halt at the next doorway. He pushed it open and held it open as the others filed inside.

“We can’t go back, not yet,” he said, looking at Diane. “Not in your condition. Those things will shamble right past this door. The outer guards will deal with them; we’re only a short distance from the main entrance. Those dead things will have already tripped alarms.” He smiled. “Don’t worry, everything is going to be okay.”

Kenny had doubts about that but kept silent; he had other things to worry about. He guided Diane over to a chair and sat her down. “Tell me how you feel, Diane.”

“I’m just a little tired,” she whispered. “Thanks to you, I’m alive though, that’s the main thing.”

Stephen sighed. “I’m sorry about that, really I am.” He looked over at Natalie and shrugged. “I know you saved me, but I was out of it while you were doing your thing. I couldn’t believe that you could save her. I suppose two decades of built-in survival is hard to break.” The man pushed his axe under the door handle and walked over to Kenny. He leaned over and offered his hand. “Next time, I’ll listen to you, I promise.”

“There’re in here as well!” shouted Natalie.

Stephen turned and tried to dive away as two zombies lunged out of the shadows. He tripped over Kenny’s body and fell on him, forcing all the air out of his stomach. Kenny couldn’t breathe, he certainly couldn’t crawl out from under the man.

Natalie pulled the axe out from under the door and rammed the pointed end into the head of the zombie closest to Stephen. The big man rolled to one side. Kenny took in a huge lungful of air and crawled over to his sister, intending to pull her out of the remaining zombie’s reach. It literally fell on Stephen as he was still on his knees. He shrieked out as it bit into his shoulder just before Natalie cleaved the dead thing’s skull in half.

The bitten man staggered back, falling against the far wall. Kenny ran over to him, trying to open the wound in his hand. Stephen held out his arm.

“Oh no, I can fee…” His words just stopped.

Kenny watched, unwilling to believe his own eyes as the man’s body slumped to the floor. His skin bubbled up in huge, weeping red blisters and then ripped open. He grabbed Natalie’s arm as the crying woman ran past him. “Don’t,” he warned. Deep red flesh pushed out through the multiple rents in the torn skin before changing to a consistency of pork jelly.

Kenny spun the woman around and pushed her face into his chest, unable to take his eyes off the dissolving mess spreading out from the corner of the room. His sister caught her breath.

“That’s going to happen to me if I get bitten again,” Diane whispered.

The door bounced in its frame, then slowly began opening. Kenny ripped the axe out of Natalie’s hand before pulling the woman away from the door and over to his sister.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, shrugging off his hand. “Since when did dead things open doors? It’ll be our men, looking for us. We’re in here!” she called out.

The door opened wide. Kenny moaned at the sight of Rossini framed in the doorway, his grinning face looking like a skull mask. Beside him stood Joseph; he too shared Rossini’s grin. They both moved to one side to allow three armed men, all clad in black body armor, to enter the room. One of them pulled the axe out of Kenny’s numb hands.

“That’s most interesting,” said Joseph, looking into the corner. The man stood back, smiling as they were escorted out of the room. He pulled Natalie towards him. “What is it with you? Seriously, I mean what do we have to do to make you lie down and die?”

Rossini pulled out a pistol and pointed it at her head. “I can do that for you, Joseph. It’ll only take a little pressure with my finger.”

“Will you put that gun away, you stupid fat bastard? How will we get in that room without her codes?” He pushed her into Rossini’s arms. “If you want to do something, get her to talk.”

Rossini shrugged and pushed his gun into his belt. “Whatever you say, boss.”

Joseph growled, “And stop calling me that. While we’re at it, I thought I asked you to get rid of that jacket? It makes you look like a game show host.”

“I’m an entertainer,” snarled Rossini. “What else do you expect me to wear?”

“You look like a big fat clown.”

Another two men entered the room and stood beside Joseph. Kenny barely noticed the two new arrivals; he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. From what his colleagues had said about this Joseph, the guy had no power; he just stayed in the background. From what Kenny could tell, he stayed in the background all right. He stayed there and ran the whole operation.

The two new individuals hurried up to Kenny. He shivered at the sight of their dead eyes. The zombies showed more animation in their features than these two.

“Stretch out your arm, Kenny.”

He glowered at Joseph before he did as he was told, realizing that cooperation was his only option. He now saw that it didn’t matter what Rossini said or thought. He had finally met the true power.

“Have they told you that I’m infected?” he whispered to the tall grey-haired man who was trying to take his pulse. “It would only take a few drops of saliva to make their way into your mouth.”

The man’s cold smile froze Kenny to the spot. “We’re all infected, Kenny,” he replied. “Now I would advise you to do as you’re told. Your sister is very pretty, young man.” The man leaned forward. “Try to keep your dirty mouth in check and be compliant; otherwise, me and my colleague will play with her before feeding your sister’s body to a group of dead things.”

“Are you having trouble there?”

“Not at all, Joseph,” replied the grey-haired man. “I was just having a little chat with our friend.”

The other man stepped up to Kenny and pushed a needle into a vein on his arm. Kenny took a deep breath; the sharp sting brought back so many uncomfortable memories. He had truly believed that his days and nights of having needles pushed into his flesh were well and truly over.

“Well, do you have an answer for me?”

The two men released Kenny. The one holding the vial of blood pushed the glass container into a palm-sized machine and studied the display before giving Joseph a quick nod.

“I can’t be sure of this, Joseph, but the initial results do confirm your theory. This man does have a variant of the antigen in his system. I’ll need to run more tests to be sure though.” He looked at the grey-haired man. “As for whether it’s compatible with our existing vaccine, well, I really can’t say.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Rossini licked his lips. “Does he carry the ultimate cure or what?”

“Did you even listen to what he just said?” replied Joseph. “Try to be a little more optimistic. We just need to catch up with the brothers.”

“What if they’re dead, Joseph?”

Joseph shrugged. “Within the next couple of hours, we’ll be able to snatch as many Mortimers and Daniels as we want. Okay, take him back.” Joseph turned around and walked over to Natalie. “It’s been fun playing you, playing all of you. Now though, the game is closing.” He placed both hands roughly against the side of her head and turned her to face the locked door. “Give me the codes.”

“Fuck off,” she snarled.

Kenny bit his bottom lip and tried not to cry out when two of their guards dragged the other Tony into the room. They forced the man to his knees before Rossini rammed his gun into the back of his head and fired.

“Okay, let’s try this again. This time, if you don’t tell me the codes to your door, I’ll kill everybody in your world. Now, one more time, Natalie.”

“No!” she screamed. “I’m not going to tell you anything, you’re going to kill us all anyway! At least we all die knowing that you will perish with us!”

“You really are a very brave woman, Natalie. It is very touching, and I’m shocked to see one of the council members with so much integrity. Okay, get them out of my sight.” Joseph paused and walked up to Kenny. “You have jumped through every hoop I put in front of you.” The man laughed. “Natalie, it was him who helped us get inside here. He’s the only reason why you will all die.”

Chapter Sixteen

Only two weeks ago the two men before him had done their hardest to get him thrown out of the inner-core affiliation. Joseph’s blood had boiled at their impudence. If it hadn’t been for his breakthroughs, Reuben Chan and Cameron Blake wouldn’t have been sitting in their plush, leather-bound chairs located at the head of their table.

These two were the last ones on his list. It seemed only fitting that he’d reserved the worst fate for the last two members of the inner-core. His predatory grin displayed the warmth of a frozen dagger as he leaned closer to the monitor screen. Their arrogant smirks were long gone now; only silent screams remained.

Chained to a revolving drum suspended over one of Rossini’s zombie pits, the men’s naked bodies rotated once every minute. As each rotation completed, the drum dropped down one notch with a sudden jolt.

He had one last piece to dispose of and that piece stood right next to him, his eyes full of excitement. The fat fool reminded him of a spoilt kid watching a spider run in a circle right after he’s pulled off seven of its legs. Joseph wasn’t fooled by this man’s idiot savant expression though. Rossini wasn’t stupid. He’d proven that by somehow managing to take over Natalie’s controlling interests.

That freak now had way too much influence and power. Not that Joseph was overly bothered. He’d already devised three plans, all ready to execute when his partner had lost his usefulness.

Joseph held back his trademark, disarming smile. He needed to restrict his use of acting like the harmless, young scientist for when he really needed to fool this large freak. Right now though, he found it difficult to be able to read the man.

Mulling over Rossini’s recent irrational behavior took up way too much processing power. What a dilemma. Without the psychotic, egotistical individual’s assistance, Joseph would have never been able to pull this off. It irked Joseph to know that he still needed this maniac. He needed to tread lightly and take baby steps to dismantle Rossini’s powerbase and influence.

“You surprise me, Joseph. I know these pricks did everything they could to humiliate you in front of the others, so I know how much you hated them.” Rossini chuckled. “It just goes to show that you can’t judge a book by its cover.” He faced Joseph and tapped the monitor screen. “This tells me that despite your own put downs and efforts to humiliate me, you do possess a creative side, obviously not as refined as mine, but it is there deep inside you.”

Underneath those brusque words, Joseph clearly heard the threat. This fat clown had made plans of his own. He wanted to bite off his tongue; Joseph should have foreseen this outcome. The two terrified men occupied Rossini’s attention; perhaps he should dispense with his strategy and kill the bastard here and now?

“I’m impressed. They still haven’t given up hope.”

Joseph took his hand off his knife and watched the two men desperately trying to stop their hands from slipping off their sweat-soaked thighs.

The camera panned down from the chains securing their ankles, down their bodies. Joseph sighed heavily as the lens passed over their genitals. “I didn’t need to see that,” he muttered.

The camera paused on their wide eyes. “That’s a good shot,” said Rossini, “you can’t fake that look of pure horror showing in their fat faces.” He turned to Joseph and laughed. “I just have to see how our ratings are doing!” He beamed. “I’ve never seen the figures so high. Almost everybody has tuned in to watch these two fat fuckers die. Even the ones not in the comfort of their homes will be glued to the street-screens.” He rubbed his hands in glee. “I can’t tell you how exciting this is. I wish I was there though, presenting the show. With my charisma, I believe I could ensure everybody would watch.”

This man’s self-image defied description. Joseph took his eyes from the camera as it now moved further down the pit until the upturned faces of the dead appeared on screen. He shuddered and imagined how everyone else watching this would be doing the same, especially the ones who were related to the zombies. These weren’t wild ones, brought in from beyond the thick walls. The guards had captured these from within the city. Joseph squinted and leaned closer to the monitor, sure that the one in the middle, reaching up, trying to grab hold of the shrieking men, used to be one of the gate attendants from the building opposite Government House. “The only way we could increase ratings now, Rossini, would be if we strapped your naked body to that metal drum.”

The man’s fists trembled. Joseph decided that this would be an opportune time to allow one of his disarming smiles to brighten his face. “Relax, Rossini, you know I’m only playing with you.” He smartly spun around and walked towards the outside window, happy that the fucker had been put back in his place.

His time to die wouldn’t be that long now, a few days, if that. As soon as Rossini’s usefulness was at an end, there’d be no delay. No rotating drum for him though, the best he’d get was a bullet in the head, followed by feeding to the dead. It’s all he deserved. Apart from the two men slowly being lowered to their death, Joseph found the glorification of death most inane and bothersome. Rossini’s TV programs served as the sweet to the savoury dish of keeping the population under control. Pretty soon, the man’s pride and joy would be as irrelevant as Rossini himself. It amazed Joseph that the man behind him hadn’t realized that yet.

Stability was yet to return to the streets below. He watched a young couple race across the road, followed by a stray dead thing. Although he’d closed up all the reality fractures, not all of the off-world individuals had been dealt with, both human and dead. By the end of the night, that little matter should be close to finishing, at least with the dead. As for their visitors, well, they’d just have to adapt to their new life.

His only concern now was this damn regression. Nobody had been able to give him any satisfactory explanation as to why the tablets were failing to work on a minority of people, or why that minority was slowly growing.

The comments made by Natalie bothered him. They bothered him a lot. Sure, she knew as much about the regression as the rest of the inner core, it was just that her tone suggested that the traitorous bitch knew a little more than he did. He turned away from the window, wondering if he should have allowed Rossini to hang her from that metal drum as well.

One of the victims’ hands had slipped down. His body convulsed as two of the dead things fought to bite out chunks of bloodied meat from his dangling limb. Rossini shook his head in annoyance when a dead thing fastened onto the man’s wrist. His teeth clamped tight as the inside of the pit as well as two of the cameras were doused in blood.

“Damn it,” muttered Rossini, “change to the next feed, you fucking retards.”

Rossini’s anxiety over Joseph’s last comment had apparently been forgotten, not that Joseph minded. Another casual remark regarding the fat clown’s mortality would soon bring back the man’s unease. “If you have quite finished, we do have important work to do.”

It did occur to Joseph that Rossini’s involvement with the crucial work still to be done was, at best, minimal. Hell, the idiot’s only participation so far had been to hold a couple of test tubes for him. Any of Joseph’s many assistants would be able to do that. The truth was obvious; he still needed to keep a very close eye on the devious snake. Despite his rather average intelligence quota, many people had made the mistake of underestimating Rossini. He wasn’t going to be another one.

Another camera zoomed in on Reuben’s weeping eyes. Joseph’s heart lifted at the sight of the man’s large tears rolling down his cheeks. Revenge really was the greatest medicine there was.

“Two more minutes, Joseph, please? I need to see him die first. Look!” He pointed. “There he goes, he’s just given up. He’s lost his will to live. That relaxing of the muscles, coupling with the vacant smile, is an obvious sign that he’s getting himself ready to meet his maker. Trust me, I’ve seen this action so many times before.”

He sounded like a kid asking to stay up to watch TV for a few more minutes. Joseph smirked to himself. Rossini had never shown this side of his personality before. Sure, Joseph had suspected the man really did get off on all of this cruelty, but he’d been very careful not to let the insanity rise to the surface.

He walked over to Rossini, having difficulty reining in his emotions. He’d just had the most incredible idea. He was annoyed that he hadn’t thought of this brilliant scheme until now. “How many are watching, right this minute?”

The big man gazed down at the corner of the screen. “The count had dropped off a little. The thrill seekers are still hanging on, waiting for the man to drop his arms, but we’ve lost a percentage because he’s already given up on life.” Rossini shook his head and sighed heavily when the man did drop both his arms. “And there goes the ratings. I doubt that we’ll see those numbers again, it’s such a shame.”

“My original question was how many tuned in? I want the exact amount.”

“Our highest figure was just over half a million. That’s ninety percent of our population, although that figure could be higher. We lost a few of our inhabitants during your Shift testing and it doesn’t take the streetscreen viewing into consideration.”

“You do know there is potential to increase your ratings to billions. Once the convergence is over and the other worlds are under our control, it won’t take much technical wizardry to beam your shows to the other worlds. Just think of the ratings then, Rossini!”

“But they’re not even human,” he replied. “How can pale shadows even appreciate my work of art?”

Joseph hadn’t expected that response. Did Rossini really believe the propaganda that Joseph had hastily assembled once the news had broken about the first visit from Source World? Even back then, before their visitor’s plague fucked up most of their planet, Joseph had no wish to watch any of his personnel disappear through the gate, never to be seen again.

The situation became ever more urgent when they found the gate that led to Food World. All those vast stretches of unspoiled land, basking under blue clouds and hot sun, was enough to tempt even the most devoted of guards.

His ridiculous story of telling the travellers that they were about to enter a demon dimension populated by shape-changing monsters had scared the crap out of his intrepid explorers. Not that their reaction had surprised him; his soldiers were picked for their bulk and unswerving loyalty. They weren’t supposed to have too many brain cells. Rossini though, well … he’d thought the man had a bit more brains than his soldiers. It looked like he’d been wrong on that as well.

“It doesn’t matter,” Joseph replied, looking disgusted.

His loathing of his companion’s ignorance vanished when the alarms in Government House begin to blare through the building. He ran over to the doorway and cursed as the security door slammed down, trapping them inside.

“What the fuck is going on?” Rossini left the console, now showing a dozen screens of static, and joined Joseph at the door. “Get this fucking thing open. I need out, right now.”

The years fell off Rossini’s face, regressing him back to that of a small child. Joseph saw a terrified kid, pleading with his dad to check under the bed for monsters. He pushed that image away, not needing any irrelevant thoughts cluttering up valuable processing space. He spun around, wishing he could delete Rossini as well. The man was destined to be a nuisance until Joseph could figure out how the defense systems had been tripped.

The override had better work. A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead; he angrily wiped it away and forced himself to calm down. Unlike the fat fool behind him, trying to open the door, he could solve this simple problem through rational thought. He reached the main console and slowly typed in his personal code sequence, allowing the briefest of smiles to play across his face as nine images of the most important areas of Government House replaced the static. All he saw was more sheep-like behavior from the other members of the staff polluting the visible portions of the interior. He flicked his gaze from one monitor to the next until he stopped at the screen showing the secondary auxiliary generator. “That sly bitch,” he muttered. The panels of instruments that controlled the environment systems for the entire building were now just a collection of melted wiring, twisted metal, and a lot of broken bodies. There had been eight personnel in there overseeing the running of the systems. Not one of them had survived.

“Was it a bomb?”

Joseph nodded, not even bothering to supply a sarcastic answer. “It looks like our Natalie had more than one trick up her sleeve.”

“It’s getting colder in here.”

“What do you expect, Rossini? The environment controls are fucked. What do you want me to do, get you a fucking blanket?”

“No, you don’t understand. What about the experiment? You’re the one who said that your equipment needed to stay fucking warm!”

Frantic movement on the screen to his left caught Joseph’s attention. The canteen two floors above them had just erupted into frenzy at the sudden appearance of two dead things crawling out from under one of the tables. The panicking staff all ran over to the main doors. Joseph winced as one middle-aged man tripped and several screaming women trampled over his body in their desperate attempt to flee. The fat bastard was right. The cold temperature had reactivated his equipment. The holes into the other two worlds were reopening. Oh, this was not good.

“This is a fucking disaster, Joseph!”

He switched his attention back to the canteen, fascinated by how the staff were reacting to their new occupants. His saw that the dead things weren’t as clumsy as the ones he’d experienced before. They certainly had no sense of urgency in their movements, yet they weren’t all heading as one group straight into the middle of their food.

“Why don’t they fight back?” gasped Rossini. He stabbed his finger on the left of the screen. “There’s a whole tray of sharp knives there. Fuck, how stupid are they? Hell, I could take them out with a fork.”

The zombies started to fan out, creating a single advancing line. Their terrified victims, pressed up against the door, screamed as the dead things reached them. They abruptly changed from lumbering and slow as the zombies lunged at the humans. Joseph saw a ravaged dead thing of questionable gender sink its teeth into the cheek of a young blonde woman, then release her and take out a chunk of flesh from another woman’s thigh. The other dead things were employing the same tactic, merely wounding their victims instead of devouring them.

“Look at them go, it’s a feeding frenzy in there.”

Joseph shook his head. “No, they’re working to increase their number, to gain strength in numbers, attempting to ensure their survival. It’s just astonishing; I’ve never seen this behavior before.” He looked closely at the corpses. Judging from their condition, these things had been dead a long time. He’d put money on the fact that these could even be remnants from the original infestation on Source World. Their abnormal behavior worried him. Could they be learning how to hunt like a pack of predators? He shivered to himself. He fucking hoped not.

“They all acted like frightened lambs! The fuckers all deserved to die, none of them had a backbone. If I had been in there though, oh, things would have been so different. The dead things wouldn’t have stood a chance,” Rossini boasted.

The scene had quietened down. The zombies had now bitten every one of the people in that room, and thanks to them bunching up it had only taken them a few seconds. Rossini was right though, they had acted like complete idiots. Then again, Joseph had expected this. Despite the world they all lived in, the fear overloaded their systems, effectively shutting them down and blocking out any instinct to survive.

Rossini should have known this would happen as well, considering he was supposed to be a master of understanding the heightened emotions of his fellow humans.

“We’d better arm ourselves,” muttered Joseph, “they’ll be arriving in here shortly.”

“Here.”

His colleague handed Joseph a broken chair leg. He wasn’t surprised to see that Rossini had found himself a lump of metal piping. “Wait, I think you can do the braining, Rossini. It’s what you’ll be best at.” He gave him back the chair leg. “Here, you’re going to have to protect me, anyway. I still have to find a way to get those doors open.”

“Make it quick,” Rossini growled. He stepped forward and swung the wooden weapon into a shimmering figure appearing directly in front of them. The chair leg connected and a wet meaty sound echoed through the room. The sudden movement impressed Joseph; perhaps he’d been a little premature in judging Rossini. The fallen shape of a gaunt woman, who looked like she had died in her mid-twenties, stared back at him with her dead-fish eyes.

He’d been right. Those people in the canteen would have had nothing to worry about if Rossini had been in there with them. Joseph jumped as the big man ran forward and pushed the splintered end of the leg through the skull of another zombie that scrambled out from behind a computer terminal on the other side of the room.

There was no sign of the child now. Rossini had been given his role and he was revelling in it. Like an oiled machine, he attacked them and put the things out of action with the minimum of effort. Joseph returned to the console and attempted to shut out everything but the matter at hand, not allowing the distractions behind him to interrupt his processing.

He gazed at the multiple monitors, each one now showing no humans left breathing, before returning to the monitor showing the blasted console room. She had done a thorough job in disabling the whole of the internal systems; every door must have been triggered and locked. Joseph turned around, smiling. The woman wouldn’t have locked every door.

Rossini hadn’t noticed him grinning like a loon. The chair leg, now coated with a thick layer of black goo, was stuck in the head of a shrivelled-up old man. He had found a glass paperweight and had already stopped a young girl wearing the remains of a frayed yellow dress.

The big man’s grin did unnerve him just for a second, until Joseph realized that, like him, he’d found his focus. Joseph’s fingers played the console like a concert pianist reciting a piece of music. The answer was right in front of him, all Joseph needed to do was to allow his mind to readjust, to switch from administrator to scientist.

“Welcome back, my old friend,” he said, grinning while equations rolled out in front of him, giving him the answer to their dilemma in seconds. “Rossini, how many are in the room?” Joseph heard a single sickening thud.

“None now.”

“Then brace yourself, the lights are about to go out.” He didn’t give the man time to reply. Joseph fed in the last of the number sequence and the power in the entire building died. The overhead lights went out, plunging them into complete darkness.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“A system reset. Stop talking and listen. You can’t see them but you’ll hear their groans.” All Joseph could hear was the sound of his colleague’s panicking breathing. Was Rossini scared of the dark? Oh, this would be another valuable fault that he could file away. Joseph started to count; it would take a while for the systems to realign. He wasn’t too sure how long though, this had never been performed before.

“Hurry up!” hissed Rossini.

Joseph didn’t reply, as his ears picked up a wet sound coming from the other side of the room. They had company. He turned around, keeping one hand on the console. “Rossini,” he whispered, “there’s one of them in here, with us. I’m going to reach out and touch your shoulder so you know where I am.”

His colleague’s breathing quickened. Joseph slowly swung his other arm around until it connected with material. “There you go.”

“I can’t feel it.”

Joseph jerked his arm back and fell backwards when he realized what he’d just touched. Harsh bright light dazzled him and he watched as Rossini spun around and slammed the paper weight into the face of a fresh dead guard.

“It almost had both of us.” Rossini pulled Joseph back onto his feet. “Has that worked?”

Joseph kicked the dead guard and spat at it. “I couldn’t even smell you. That was too fucking close.” He slammed his hand down on the door release, nodding in satisfaction as the two doors quietly slid open. “We’d better get this mess sorted out, Rossini.”

Chapter Seventeen

His nostrils quivered at the familiar scent of his wife’s favorite perfume. Tony frowned. There was a hint of another smell as well, like sour sweat. It didn’t take him long to realize it came from his own body. Tony opened his eyes and stared at the living room ceiling. This position could only mean that he was lying on their table.

The light dimmed when Ellen leaned over his prone body.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, dear husband,” she said. “It’s been two days since you left for work.” Ellen chuckled. “I think that your lunch might be a little cold.”

He shifted his head to the side and saw another shadow just beyond his vision. As he tried to sit up, Tony found a strap over his neck. “What the fuck is happening here?” He struggled, finding his arms and legs were strapped down as well.

“They found you on Food- World, my darling husband. You were mumbling incoherently while rolling about in your own shit. Luckily for you, my soldiers found you before the dead things did. They also knew how important you were to me so they didn’t take you back to either Joseph or Rossini.”

Had the shock registered on his face? It must have; how could he have been so unaware just how deep her involvement with the elite really was. Ellen coughed and she fumbled in her pocket, bringing out three pure white tablets and pushing them into her mouth. Now he saw Ellen hadn’t noticed his shock. Her body had gone beyond needing the usual amount of medication.

While she busied herself with swallowing the pills, Tony tried to remember what had happened to him on that other world. Only fragments pushed through the fog. After watching Rossini’s fat face mash into a sea of pink, he remembered waking up inside a large mill, the sound of heavy machinery filling his ears. He then caught the words of two people talking. Tony had crept under the nearest machine and listened as one of the men explained how they were tainting the food meant to be shipped to this world with the bodies of their dead. Tony bit his bottom lip trying to remember what else. Nothing appeared though, no matter how hard he forced it.

It did explain why so many were getting sick though. It was the ultimate revenge. “Ellen, why have am I tied up like this, I’ve done nothing wrong.” He waited for her to regain her composure before opening his mouth again. “I’m your husband, for crying out loud!” He saw no warmth in those eyes. She was as expressionless as the dead thing that she was so close to becoming. He thought about Kenny and Diane and how devoted they were to each other. He had nobody close to him. It saddened him to think that his wife probably had never really loved him all that much, even to begin with. “Please, will you let me go?”

“There isn’t a hope of that happening,” she said, shaking her head. “You see, I know that you’ve been a very naughty boy, Tony. You’ve been holding back on me.” She leaned closer to him.

He had to hold his breath. Now he knew why she had covered her body in perfume, it was to mask the stench of rot. Her body had already started to deteriorate.

“How nice of Joseph and Rossini to commit the largest purge in the city since the start of the fucking outbreak! All of my allies are now dead. That fucking maniac even had two of them executed on live TV. Not that you’ll know about that.”

She stood back and Tony saw that shadow return; it belonged to a hard-faced goon clad in the traditional uniform of a government security guard.

“Thing is, my darling husband, there’s only a few of us left now, and to stand any chance of getting rid of those two fuckers, we need to know what you know. For a start you can explain to us how the fuck you traveled over to Food World without using the gates.”

“Get me out of these straps, you bitch. I ain’t telling you shit.” His pleasure at seeing Ellen stunned at hearing her meek husband bawl quickly vanished when the big goon casually backhanded him. Tony felt like he’d been smacked in the face with a lump hammer. He whipped his head back around and through his tear-blurred vision, Tony saw the goon pull his huge fist back. “No, don’t hit me again!” he shouted, fearing that one more blow would probably smash his jaw to pieces. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know. Just don’t hit me again.”

The meathead chuckled and winked at Tony before smiling at Ellen. “Yeah, I see what you mean now. The man really does have no balls.” He glared at Tony. “Right, this is your big chance to impress us. Make sure you don’t leave anything out either. I’m not in the mood for silly games.”

Tony’s stomach turned over when the meathead wrapped his sausage-sized finger around his wife’s slender hand. “No, you have got to be kidding. You and him? Oh fuck, that’s close to bestiality.”

“He’s just one of many, my dear. Oh, and it’s a good job that he doesn’t have a large vocabulary,” she replied, smiling sweetly. “Now, although I am sorry to see your fragile heart in two pieces, I would prefer you to start talking. Time is running out and we still have a lot to do. I don’t want you to get …” The woman coughed. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“You really don’t look too well, honey.” Meathead’s face was a mask of fury, the goon didn’t like Tony mocking his new girlfriend. As Meathead pulled his lips back to snarl, Tony saw the flecks of dried blood around his mouth. He also heard a quiet cough from behind his head. So, his lovely wife had brought more than the single guest into their apartment? That didn’t surprise him. “Hmm, let me think,” he said slowly. “You see I’m not entirely sure just what you want me to tell you. Considering you already know of the existence of the other two worlds. I don’t want to go over any subject that you already are very familiar with.”

“He’s making fun of us,” growled the goon. He released Ellen’s hand, then stepped up to the table and raised his fist. “How about I start by pulling off your balls first, you little shit?”

Tony grinned back at him. “You really don’t look too good, big fella.” The goon paused. “Honey, isn’t it strange how events have gone full circle? I felt similar to the pair of you this morning.” He sighed. “It feels like a lifetime away now, honey, does it not? I’m not a doctor, but I believe that you don’t have that long left. The tablets obviously aren’t working anymore, that much is obvious.”

“Please, let me kill him. His annoying voice is going right through me.” The man wrapped his thick fingers around Tony’s wrist and squeezed. “I could crush your bones as easily as snapping dry twigs.”

Tony gritted his teeth, not wanting this brute to see how much pain he was causing him. He then saw beads of sweat rolling down the guy’s face. It took effort, a large amount of effort to keep up the pressure. This man’s strength was failing, failing fast. “Go ahead then, if you think you can do it. Go ahead and crush my bones.” Tony bent his hand up and viciously pinched the flesh on the man’s own wrist, grinning when the man howled out in agony. He staggered back and crashed into the wall, holding his arm.

Blood spurted out from between the man’s fingers. Tony sighed, watching his tormenter slump to the floor. “You’re all falling apart.” Tony winked at his wife. “You’re all slowly dying.” Two of the other guards unslung their weapons. He laughed as the men pointed their guns at his head. “You’re both shaking. Give it another hour or so, neither of you will have the strength to even hold your big guns.”

His wife stepped up to the bed and started to unbuckle the straps. “This is what you want?”

She stroked her fingers along his exposed wrist. It took a lot of effort to stop himself from pulling his arm away. Her touch felt spongy as if she occupied the body of a three-week-old corpse left out in the sun. He was beginning to think that even if they all stopped eating the contaminated food, right now, it was already too late for them.

“You always said that one good turn deserves another.” She smiled.

The state of her teeth affected Tony even more than the disclosure that his so-called darling wife had turned out to be a low-life power-hungry slut. Ellen had always been so fastidious to the point of obsession over taking care of her lovely white teeth. Now they looked as though she’d swapped her mouth with a medi-center drop-out.

“And yet, just two minutes ago, you were quite happy to let your fat boyfriend beat the shit out of me?” He kept the tone of his voice steady, not bothering to allow himself to become angry. He had used up most of his emotions already, just by seeing how his own kind had treated the people in those other two worlds. Tony felt drained of feeling, just dead inside.

Maybe not quite as dead as his wife and her goons now felt though.

“Tony, you have no idea what it’s like being me,” she cried. “Look around you. Have you any idea how well I’ve kept you?”

“You make me sound like a pampered pet,” he growled. His anger wasn’t as extinguished as he’d first believed. “Just listen to yourself. You really can’t see that the people you work for have done any wrong, can you? You think enslaving two entire worlds is somehow an acceptable act?”

She shrugged. “We were at war, Tony, and our world won. Of course we should reap the rewards.”

“Why am I even bothering?” Tony slid his body off the bed and walked over to the two men behind the table. He snatched one of the guns out of the closest guard’s hand, not too surprised to find the skin on the man’s trigger finger slid down the digit like a sock.

“Okay, one good turn, you say?” Tony glanced at the slumped man. Judging from the lake of blood surrounding his large body, he must be close to death by now. It was tempting to hang around, just to see if he would rise as a zombie.

“It’s probably too late now but I would advise you to change your diet, eat less meat, definitely,” Tony said. He opened the apartment door and stepped out into the hallway. He closed the door, then fell to his knees and shook like a leaf, not believing that he’d gotten out of his apartment unscathed. How on earth had he managed to maintain his cool?

He yelped at the sudden sound of a single gunshot blasting through the thin door. He scrambled to his feet and ran towards the doors at the end of the hallway, guessing that one of them in there hadn’t been too happy about his helpful advice.

“What about me?” he asked himself, while pushing open the door. Tony looked down the empty stairwell, not wanting to think that what was happening to his wife and the others would soon be happening to him as well. Surely though, it would happen? He had never gone without food, and all that infected meat – he still refused to think of it as human – that he’d digested must have had some sort of cumulative effect.

Tony pinched the webbing between thumb and forefinger on his other hand as hard as he could. It didn’t feel like squeezing raw pastry, it felt like skin, just as it should do. “What the fuck is wrong with this picture?”

The closed doors painted him a similar mental picture of the tower block’s inhabitants all going through the same degradation. The moans and sounds of misery assaulted his senses, making him feel sick to the stomach. The simple fact was that everyone he knew would soon be dead. Judging by the rate of decay he’d seen with the big guy, by the time the sun came up there wouldn’t be much left of anybody apart from a pile of wet bones and scraps of rotting skin.

“This picture needs to change,” he muttered, trying to keep his equilibrium steady. “What can I do though?” Tony rushed towards the partitioned mesh, having no idea where he was going or what he would do when he got there. The booth was unoccupied, not that this surprised him. He skidded to a halt and looked at the gun held in his hands. “They need to get off this world, every one of them.” Tony turned back around, remembering the words spoken by his wife. How had those soldiers found him?

“They asked me how I traveled without using the gates.” Tony leaned against the wall. “What fucking gates?” No matter how hard he tried, Tony could not picture those three men carrying his unconscious body all the way along the dark streets and through these corridors, not in their condition. “They must have appeared in our apartment then, it’s the only explanation left.”

He raced back, hoping to get there before they all turned into puddles of lumpy soup. Tony slowed down when he saw movement. The door next to his swung inwards and his neighbor struggled out into the hallway. Her look of gratitude at the sight of him soon changed to utter terror when her eyes found their way to the large black rifle gripped in Tony’s hand.

“What are you doing?” she stammered.

As he took a step towards her, she squealed and jumped back into her apartment. Tony ran forwards and pushed the door wide. He dropped the gun and ran towards the woman, grabbing her around her waist. “Will you please calm down, Mrs. Sykes? It’s me, it’s Tony. I’m not going to hurt you.” He spun her around and wiped the tears from her face. “Come on, try to relax. I want to help.”

Her eyes flickered over to the bathroom. Tony guided her towards an armchair, wincing when he noticed her television was showing the grisly sight of a bunch of zombies fighting over lumps of meat in a large pit. He didn’t want to think about whom those vile things had just ripped apart.

He kneeled in front of her. “What’s in the bathroom?”

“Henry is,” she whispered. “There’s something wrong with him. He crawled in there ten minutes ago and refused to open the door.” She looked down at the ends of her fingers and moaned. “I’ve got it as well. I can’t feel my fingers anymore.”

Her flesh had already partially melted. Just like all the others, she was going the same way. Tony took her wrist and pulled her up, realizing that there was no way he could leave her here. He then saw a wet trail leading to the bathroom door. He shuddered, knowing that her poor husband was beyond any help that he could give him.

“It’s time to go,” he said, taking her towards the outer door. “I think I can help you, Mrs. Sykes.”

Her protests fell on deaf ears and they quickly stopped when Tony retrieved the gun. It felt as though he was dragging a terrified poodle. “Don’t worry about anything. I’ll get you fixed up.”

“What about Jacob? I can’t leave my husband, he needs me.”

Tony didn’t answer her. It seemed like the wisest choice. His door to the apartment stood wide open and two bodies were lying in the middle of the carpet. They were both dead. He caught his breath with grief when the one sprawled across the floor in front of a guard turned out to be his wife.

He stepped over her body, trying not to stare at her liquefying flesh dripping into the carpet fibers. The woman in his grip stopped, refusing to step over Ellen’s body.

“What are you going to do to me?” she cried.

Her terrified eyes stared deep into his. All he saw in there was complete fear. She had no comprehension of what was happening. Her conditioned, unsubversive mind saw the bodies and his gun and thought that all this was his fault.

“I told you to come over here, woman,” he barked, raising the gun. “Don’t make me say it again.” He felt like such a shit for scaring her, even if it did work. Mrs. Sykes gracefully jumped over the melting bodies and allowed him to pull her quivering body further into the room.

Tony skirted past the table and approached the only figure left in one piece, shaking his head in wonder at the sight of the big man still slumped against the wall. Although he showed more degradation than the others, somehow, the man was still alive; even more astonishing, he was conscious. He opened his eyes and lifted his head when Tony crouched down in front of him.

“Tell me how you jumped! he demanded. “Come on, I need to know how you did it.”

The man’s eyes glazed over. Tony fought the urge to punch him, believing that if he did that, his hand would probably disappear into his flesh.

“Please,” he whispered. “Kill me, Tony. Put that gun against my head and pull the trigger.”

“Your girlfriend is already dead, you know. So is the overman.” He ran his eyes up and down his degrading body. “Does it hurt?”

The goon moaned weakly. “Please, just end me, I can’t take anymore.”

“I think all of you have been very selfish. I mean, have you any idea of the mess you’ve made? You should have at least done this in the bath.”

“Fuck you.”

He placed the muzzle of the gun against the man’s temple, his gorge rising when the metal sank into the man’s flesh. It was like pushing a pen into wet clay.

“Do it.”

“I will as soon as you tell me how you jump from one world to another.”

“It’s already in your hand, Tony. The gate is built into the weapon. Disengage the side panel. It’s the grey block directly above the trigger guard.”

Tony followed his instructions, grinning when the panel slid back to display a recessed compartment with two black buttons next to each other.

“The one on the left will take you to the Source World.”

Tony stood back and took hold of the woman’s wrist, keeping his hold firm, without squeezing. Her flesh now felt like warm wax.

“You promised to end me!” cried the goon.

“I know I did.” Tony said. He turned the woman around, then raised the rifle and slowly squeezed the trigger. The goon’s head detonated, splattering stinking, wet slop across the wall. “I just didn’t want your mess all over me.”

“I’m going to be sick.”

“No you won’t,” Tony said, not unkindly. “Just don’t look.” He had the feeling that if she did throw up, half of her internal organs would follow her last meal as well. “Close your eyes, Mrs. Sykes, and don’t open them until I say so.” He hoped to fuck that this would work. Tony pressed the button and squeezed his own eyes shut as dazzling white light shot through his eyelids. He jerked his head down before tentatively opening them again. He smiled at the sight of bright green grass under his feet.

They had done it. There had been a nagging doubt in his head that the gun might have self-destructed, a safety measure to prevent unauthorized persons from using the device. He grinned and breathed in a lungful of clean but cold air, feeling the pure atmosphere of this world cleanse the foul dirt that clung to his insides like mud sticking to a wall. Obviously their extreme paranoia didn’t extend to their goons. He looked up at the beautiful blue sky. Even so, those people could have flipped over here at any time and just lost themselves in this unspoilt world and nobody would have been able to find them. Was their brainwashing that secure?

Tony blinked a few times, dismissing the thought. Who cared about them, he had more important priorities to worry over. He turned and watched the woman turn her head from side to side, taking in the landscape of endless green fields. He put his arm on her shoulder and turned her around. “I see you’re lost for words, Mrs. Sykes.” He looked at the clump of tall buildings to the left of them. Even from here he could see how the green had encroached into the city. The closest building had already lost the battle with nature. He squinted, leaning forward and staring at the vine-covered structure, sure that he had seen movement.

“Have we gone back in time, Tony?” Mrs. Sykes uttered, “back to before all those horrible dead things came to life?”

He lifted the woman’s hand to examine the ends of her fingers. The flesh had not healed, but it looked like the rot had stopped, at least for the moment. “When did you last take your tablet?”

“A couple of hours ago, I think.”

“And when did you have anything to eat?”

“I can’t remember. I’ve never been a big eater. Tony, please, I don’t understand any of this. What has my diet have to do with any of this?”

Being away from their vile world must have some kind of beneficial effect. He only needed to look at himself to see that. Perhaps being away helped the tablets to destroy the toxins present in the contaminated meat more efficiently. If that was the case, his sole survivor from his apartment building might even live, if she could get more tablets.

“No, Mrs. Sykes, it doesn’t look like a scene from the past, but the explanation is more fantastical. We’re on another world, a world very much like ours. There are dead things here as well, just not as many.”

“It’s so beautiful.” The woman stiffened and grabbed his arm tight. “Oh no, Tony, we’re not alone here.”

Three figures approached them from behind the closest building. He knew he’d seen movement. There were a number of men, women, and children, all walking out of open doorways. What an incredible sight. Although the buildings were obviously close to collapse, none of the people seemed to care. He looked beyond them, looking for any sign of dead people but saw nothing.

“What do we do?”

“Just relax,” he said, recognizing Joseph and Stephen. He gently pulled the hand off his arm. “They’re friends.” He walked over to the group, spotting another familiar face standing behind Joseph. He nodded a greeting at Mortimer.

“I need your help, Joseph,” he said. “Please, we have to get our people over here before they all die.”

Joseph shook his head. “Not a chance. This is what I want.”

He gaped at the man. “But these are just normal people, they’ve done you no harm. The ones that run the city are all dead. Please, show mercy.”

Joseph’s face gave nothing away. He stared at the woman for a moment before turning to Mortimer. “Take her back to the camp and make sure she’s treated well.” He stared at Tony. “I can’t help you. The process had already started and there’s no stopping it now. I’m sorry about your world, really I am but my priorities lie here, on my world.”

“But you’re going to kill them all, they’ll all die.”

Joseph nodded. “Don’t you think I don’t know that?” he shouted. “What else was I supposed to do? This is the fault of your people, not mine. Are you honestly trying to tell me that none of you had the balls to get rid of your corrupt regime? Fuck you all, thanks to your cowardice, those bastards almost wiped us out!”

“So this is how it ends?”

“No, it isn’t the end, this is a new beginning. We’re going to collapse the bridge to your vile world and open another one. I know what you must think of me, but I’m not the bad guy here.” The man held out his hand. “Tony, please stay here with us. There is nothing left in your world now but death.”

Chapter Eighteen

He ran to the far side of the room and pressed his face tight against the cold bars in an effort to see where the shouting was coming from. All Kenny could see were his two guards raising their blunt-nosed weapons and pointing them at the metal door that separated the cells from the rest of the building. The older of the pair, a thin man in his late forties, noticed Kenny staring and pointed his gun at him instead.

“I only have to apply a tiny amount of pressure and your lovely sister’s face will be covered with your warm brains.”

Kenny grinned back. “I’ve seen you around, you know. It took me a while to place your faces. It’s the uniform that threw me. You two are snipes.” Kenny chuckled. “They must be pretty desperate to trust you two scumbags with proper guns.”

The man growled and ran over to the cage and smacked the stock against the bars. “I mean it, fuckwit, open your mouth one more time and I will kill you.”

Kenny shook his head. “No you won’t, and we both know it. You touch us and Rossini will feed you both to the dead.” He cocked his head as the sounds of shouting got louder. “They’re coming to get you,” he said. “That’s my friends out there, on their way to fuck you up.” Kenny had no idea what the noise was. He did know that if he didn’t get him and Diane out of here, their luck would be well and truly over. Both of the men out there had been on edge ever since the lights went out. He figured that if he wound them up enough, then one of them might be foolish enough to open that cage door in order to dish out a beating. It was a long shot but he had no other viable plan.

“Shut the fuck up!” screamed the other man.

Kenny stuck his tongue out at him. That guy reminded him of the bastard who had been close to grabbing Kenny in that alleyway. They were of similar age. This dark-haired fool didn’t have the other snipe’s animal-like cunning though. “Is that one your son, buddy? I mean, you do look at lot like each other, you’re both fucking ugly for a start.”

His insults didn’t appear to be having any effect anymore. Both guards had left their positions and had rushed over to the door, each one taking up position at either side.

“Greg, as soon as they rush in, shoot that mouthy bastard and his sister.” The older guard chuckled. “We’ll tell Rossini that their friends did it.” He cocked his rifle and pressed his back against the wall. “Okay, get ready.”

Kenny saw the gleam in the boy’s eye. He ran over to where his sister lay and dragged her into the corner of the cell. Perhaps the boy’s bullets would strike the bars first, giving their rescuers time to kill the bastard before he filled them full of holes. The bolt on the other side of the door slid back. Kenny wrapped his arms around Diane. Even if he died, at least his sister would survive.

He heard the door slam back and the sound of automatic gunfire. Both Kenny and Diane screamed out, but despite anticipating the agonizing sensation of bullets thudding into his back, nothing happened. The gunfire deafened him. He looked into his sister’s eyes, seeing she was as confused as him. He turned his head and saw three dead things in the outer room. Two of them were already dead, but the other one had managed to grab hold of the older guy and had pulled him onto the floor. His younger partner sat in the corner, not moving, just watching the dead thing bite chunks out of the other man’s face. His mouth was frozen open with a silent scream.

Kenny saw another figure enter the cell and smiled with relief at the sight of Natalie. She shot the dead thing once in the head before walking up to the young guard and kicking his weapon out of his hands.

“If you move from that spot, little man, I’ll hurt you bad. Do we understand each other?”

The young guard nodded.

“I’m sorry I took so long,” said Natalie, rushing over to the bars. “Wait, where’s the lock?”

Kenny tapped the metal panel next to her waist. “I think it’s magnetic. Joseph swiped a card over that plate after he threw us in here.”

“So, why were they here then?” Natalie took a deep breath. “More to the point, why didn’t these doors open when I disrupted the power? Look, don’t worry. There’s more men coming from Source World. I’ll get them to open a hole into the cell so we can get you out before we collapse this bridge.” She turned around. “Hey there, little man, you don’t look so good. I don’t think any of them will last longer than a few more days now. It looks like the infected food has started to work.” The woman grinned. “It’s taken long enough, they’re been contaminating the supply for months now.”

“How long do we have before the other guards get down here?”

“Not long. Look, don’t worry. We’ll be long gone before they get down here.” She smiled. “We’ve done it. We’ve found a virgin world to bridge ours to Food World.” She pushed her hands through the bars. “It’s all thanks to you, Kenny.”

“Me, what did I do?”

“We have no idea what you did. Only that when we fought off their men and gained access to our gate, there was one more coordinate logged into the system. It checks out as well.”

“I don’t remember doing anything,” he muttered. Kenny thought back to being in that room, going over everything he’d heard. He had felt connected to the voices, that much he did know; he had no idea what the songs were, though, or for that matter, why they chose to sing to him.

“Don’t let it trouble you. This is it, we’ve done it. We’ll get you joined up with Mortimer and together you two can save the rest of us. You both carry different parts of the cure to this thing.”

“Kenny, move back!”

His sister ripped him off the bars as the cell door slid back. “How did that happen?” he said, looking at Natalie.

She shrugged. “It wasn’t me.” She ran over to the guard and picked him up, dragging the youth over to the desk. “Log into your computer and find out what’s going on.”

Kenny put his hands on Diane’s waist. “How do you feel now?”

Diane lifted up her arm. “Take a look, Kenny.”

As Diane pulled her hand away from the wound, pieces of her skin stuck to the palm of her hand. She hurriedly wiped it on her jeans. “What’s happening?” she whispered. “I feel like I’m falling apart.”

The flesh around the bite now resembled a bright red sponge, full of black ink. “I don’t know,” he replied. Kenny ran over to Natalie. “Wait, what do you mean by infected meat?”

The woman pointed at the now unconscious guard, lying by her feet. “Can you believe that he had no idea how to access this terminal?”

His body no longer looked solid. The end of the guard’s fingers now looked like candle wax, held over a naked flame.

“What the fuck is happening to him?”

“Do you think that the other worlds would just allow this one to occupy and plunder them without fighting back? Food World has been contaminating the supplies they sent over here for months now.” She grinned. “It’s amazing what gets past as safe when the chief medical officer just happens to be me.” She dug into her pocket and pulled out a large tablet; she placed it in Diane’s undamaged hand. “Here, swallow this. It’ll slow down the effects of the contamination. Don’t worry, As soon as my men get here, we’ll take you to Food World and Mortimer will cure you.”

Kenny jumped as the outer cell door slammed shut. He turned to Natalie. “How did that happen?”

She pointed to the now vacant cages. “It doesn’t matter. Look, here’s our ride out of here.”

The air inside the cages shimmered and the shape of four uniformed men solidified. Kenny’s smile faltered as he recognized the uniform of prison guards. “What the fuck is happening?”

All four of them rushed out of the cages, pointing their guns at their heads.

“Turn around and do it now!”

Kenny grabbed his sister’s hand then obeyed their command. He blinked at the sight of another door on the other side of the cell. He was sure that hadn’t been there earlier. Not that it mattered, it was an escape. He pulled his sister after him and raced towards the open door. As soon as both women were inside, Kenny slammed the door shut.

“Where are we?”

Kenny shrugged. “I’ve no idea, Diane. It doesn’t matter though, they can’t get us now.” He looked at their new surroundings, feeling a little confused. At first this narrow corridor seemed to be part of the prison, but if that was the case, why did it look like a hotel hallway? There was even green carpeting covering the stone floor.

“Please, not this,” whispered Natalie. She turned and slammed her fists against the door. “Let us out!” she screamed. Anything but this.”

“What’s wrong?”

She spun around. “I can’t believe I’ve been so stupid. Those bastards have been playing with us all along. Those cages opened for a fucking reason.”

The wall to their left grew transparent and Kenny saw two rows of empty seats on the other side of the partition. “It’s such a shame to see them empty,” announced a voice above Kenny’s head.

He looked up at the ceiling and spotted a microphone.

“There’s nothing more entertaining than watching live kills. Don’t you agree, Natalie? How does it feel to be in the game instead of just watching? I will miss you. I’ll miss the tiny squeaks you made every time some dumb fucker ended up dead. I’ll certainly miss how hot you got me, Natalie.”

“Let us out, Rossini!” screamed Kenny, “you’re lost, give it up, they’ve killed your audience.”

“Yeah, I will admit that none of us saw that one coming. Still, I don’t suppose it matters that much now. Thanks to some new info that I picked up not that long ago, I’ll soon have a brand new audience.”

Kenny slammed his hands against the wall. “Let us out, you insane bastard!”

Rossini’s laugh echoed through the speakers. “Greetings, competitors! You’re now in the private viewing hall reserved for the elite, for the founding members of our magnificent citystate. Only the brightest, the fastest, and the most versatile competitors have the prestigious honor of being chosen to play in this arena. The games are tough but the rewards are even greater. Good luck!”

“What is all this?” Kenny glared at the woman who stood shaking behind him. “Come on, this is your time to shine, honey!”

“I had to play my part! Can’t you see that, Kenny? It isn’t a club that you can just drop out off.”

“Leave it,” hissed Diane, standing between them. “Does it really matter anymore?”

Kenny took a deep breath and attempted to get a grip on his emotions. It shouldn’t matter what Natalie had done in the past to keep her real identity a secret. Right now, they all needed each other. He glanced past the two girls and studied their current location. There appeared to be only one way out, another metal door at the far end of this corridor, about ten meters away. “Okay, I’m calm. Natalie, what do we do here? How can we get out of here in one piece?”

She stared deep into his eyes. “I’m not sure it’s even possible, Kenny.”

“Don’t you dare give up,” he growled.

The woman shrugged. “How stubborn are you? They’ve been playing with us from the very start, why can’t you see that?”

“Yes you’re right there, Natalie,” replied Diane. “Right now, they’re watching us three fight amongst ourselves and laughing while slapping each other on the back, because they are oh so clever.” She looked up at the microphone and grinned. “Those grins will soon turn to grimaces when you start to shit out your internal organs. Natalie. Fucking snap out of it and find us a way out of here. Come on, you’re supposed to be the expert.”

She blinked and followed Diane’s gaze up to that microphone. “Kenny, there’s a metal panel, halfway down the corridor, on the wall. Will you be a sweetheart and fetch me the contents? Oh, and don’t walk past the panel. There are pressure pads hidden under the carpet.”

He nodded and followed her instructions, listening to Diane’s soothing voice explaining to the woman how important it was to turn their tactics around. He reached the panel and turned the small metal handle. The panel dropped down to reveal a fire axe, strapped to the wall with fabric straps. As he released the straps, Kenny recalled how Diane had used a similar speech on him on more than one occasion. “What do the pressure pads do?”

Natalie took the axe out of his hand. She grinned coldly and slammed the spike at the end of the axe shaft into the speaker. “Now they can’t hear us, at least not in here.” She gave the axe back to Kenny. “Get ready, young man. I’ll show you.” She walked up to the grey panel and turned around. “Can you see those two pillars at either side of the door? The pressure pads open them. Get ready.”

“Get ready for what?”

The woman just shook her head then slowly walked forward two paces. Kenny gripped the handle tight as the pillars slid back. Two dead things shambled out of their hiding places and lunged at Natalie.

“Get back!” he yelled.

Natalie stayed motionless as the zombies closed in on her. Just before they could reach the woman, their bodies jerked back and the dead things were dragged back towards the walls.

“Get them now, Kenny!”

It took him a second to notice the thick elastic cords wrapped around their ankles. “You have got to be fucking kidding me,” he said. Kenny ran forward and pushed the spike into the closest zombie’s eye, then pulled and swung the blade, the razor sharp edge cutting through the remaining zombie’s head. It dropped to the ground. Kenny jumped back as the elastic pulled the bodies back into the walls.

“What kind of sick fucker came up with that idea,” whispered Diane.

“This is Rossini’s private game,” said Natalie. “You have no idea how many unwary victims that trap has taken.” She walked up to the other door and tapped three times. “Be on your guard, the pair of you. Shit like that is nothing compared to what’s behind here. Don’t trust anything.”

The door slid back and a blast of cold air almost took Kenny’s breath away. “Are we outside now?”

The woman nodded. “Yeah, it’s a walled arena. Don’t let the lack of ceiling fool you though. There really is only one way through this maze.”

Kenny followed her through the door and stopped and gaped. They were now in a fairground. He blinked several times before allowing his eyes to jump from one ride to another. He’d been here before, back when he’d been just a child. Kenny had forgotten all about this place. He bent down and scooped up a handful of dirt, letting it fall through the cracks in his fingers. Until he was left with two objects in the palm of his hand: a plastic toy ring and a small bone fragment. “Natalie, please tell me that Rossini only forced adults to go through this arena?”

The woman stayed quiet.

Diane picked the ring out of his hand. She placed it in her pocket, then gently pushed him over to the other woman. “You’re the only one with a weapon, Kenny. You need to stay focused.”

He shook his head, then give his sister the axe. “I don’t have time for any more of this bullshit!” he screamed, marching past the pair of them. Kenny walked towards the huge carousel, watching two dead things crawling out from beneath it. “Is that the best you can do?”

Kenny ran over to the first one and jumped on its head, feeling the skull crush under his boots. His sister screamed but he ignored the noise; she could take care of herself. He grabbed the other dead thing and pulled it out from under the ride. Kenny picked it up and slammed its head into one of the metal bars.

“Enough of this bullshit, Rossini! We both know that you need me alive.” He glanced to his side, his eyes widening when he realized that the horses on the ride were more zombies, wired into the platform with the ornate poles pushed through their backs.

“The others were right. We really do all deserve to die!”

Kenny cried out in shock as a dozen floodlights blasted the area with intense white light. The carousel next to him begin to move. “You need me alive,” he hissed, watching as the other twisted attractions powered up. Kenny did his best to shut out the music accompanying the attractions, keeping his eyes fixed on one moving shadow walking past a Dodgems attraction. Why was he not surprised to see Rossini?

His arms were wide open, the light catching his gleaming face. The man laughed. “You really are an enigma, Kenny,” he shouted. “As soon as I get my audience back, you’re going to be my star attraction.”

There were over a dozen men behind Rossini, all of them armed. So much for his grand test. Kenny glanced over his shoulder. He didn’t think either of them had company. That soon changed. Natalie pulled the axe out of his sister’s hand. She jumped onto the carousel platform and ran through the attached dead things and jumped off, screaming. She swung the axe into the first soldier, the edge slicing into his shoulder. Then the woman ripped the gun out of his trembling hands.

“You’re a fucking psychopath!” she screamed, heading for Rossini. Natalie lifted the gun to her shoulder and pulled the trigger.

The man dropped to the ground and rolled to the side.

“I should have killed you years ago!” she fired again.

The bullet clipped the man’s shoulder. He screamed out in pain. The woman shouted out in triumph and fired again, but this time nothing happened. Rossini jumped to his feet and charged her. He snatched the gun away from her, gripped her head in his huge hands, then viciously twisted. Her body slumped to the ground.

Kenny took his eyes off the scene just in time to jump out of the way when another soldier came at him. He punched the man in the throat and ran back to Diane. “Time to go,” he hissed. Kenny jumped over the groaning man and pulled Diane through the closest door, into the hall of mirrors.

“What do we do now?”

He kissed the top of her head. “We do what we always do, we keep going and try to stay alive.” By the sounds of it, neither Rossini nor any of the men remaining had seen where they had gone. He grinned to himself. “Come on, let’s go see if we can find a way out.”

“What just happened?”

“He’s operating his own agenda. Even so, Rossini isn’t a complete idiot. The fat bastard knows that Joseph would slaughter him if he allowed me to perish. You two, though.” He sighed. “You two are expendable.”

“Do you think there’ll be any more traps in here?”

“I don’t doubt it, Diane, but I don’t think they’ll be active, not now. Rossini just wanted to scare the shit out of us. How’s your arm?”

She pulled back her sleeve. “It’s a lot better. I’m not sure for how long though.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out.” He said that with more passion than he believed. This world was going to shit. It wasn’t just this perverted fairground he had to escape from, he knew that if he didn’t get her off this world, she’d die, just like the rest of the people on this fucked up planet.

His heart jumped at the sudden sound of gunfire. It sounded so close. “Come on, we need to move!” he hissed. Kenny didn’t bother to add that he still had no idea where they were going to go. His distorted reflections glowered at him as he passed through the maze. Kenny tried not to look at them, wanting to keep his mind focused on the task of getting out of this fucking madhouse. He found himself turning his head every few moments to find another Kenny grinning back at him. He stopped and grinned back when he found one vital piece of information slowly slotting into place. “I can’t believe I’ve been such a fool.”

“What do you mean?”

Kenny wrapped her arms around the woman and squeezed her tight. “You really don’t want to know,” he whispered. “Just take solace in the fact that I think I can save you now, if we can get away from that fat psycho.”

Now that he had a goal, Kenny moved through the interior with drive, pulling his sister towards the exit. “There’s got to be some way out of here. I …”

Diane pulled him back and pointed at the wall by her feet. “There you go,” she said.

Kenny dropped to his knees and ran his fingers over the wood. “I don’t know what you mean, Diane.”

She pushed him aside and kicked at the wall, twice. The sound echoed through the tent. “There you go.”

Now he could see a spot of light shining through the wood. He pushed his finger into the crack that the toe of her boot had made, grinning when he discovered the wood crumbling at his touch. “It’s rotten!”

Diane got to her knees and joined him, tearing at the wood; the hole increased in size. “Shit, I think they’re in the tent!”

Kenny could hear their footsteps clearly now. He pushed his fingers further in. Although the wood was soft, old, and rotten, the thicker pieces would be easy to shift. The tips of his fingers were already bleeding.

“They’re going to get us!” Diane wept. She then pulled Kenny away from the hole and booted the damaged area again. An ear-splitting crack echoed through the interior and the section of wall fell in. She grinned at him, then dropped down and crawled through the gap. Kenny dropped to his knees and crawled in after her, acutely aware they were almost on top of him now.

Kenny followed his sister into a brightly lit hallway. The stark contrast between here and the other areas of the building dazzled him. It took him a moment to realize that they’d broken into one of the public areas of the government building.

He heard a commotion and turned to see Rossini trying to squeeze his bulk through the small hole. He was tempted to run back and kick the bastard right in the face. The temptation only left him when his sister dragged Kenny out of the hallway.

She pulled him over to a window. “Look out there,” she said. “Everyone is dying.” There were tears in her eyes. “There’s nothing we can do, is there?”

“Yes there is,” he replied, looking over at a large ornate door at the other end of the reception room. He knew it led to the television studio. He sighed heavily, grabbed her shoulders and kissed her cheeks. “You have to go now,” he said, “we both know that they’ll kill you if you stay.”

“What are you talking about? There’s no way that I’m going to leave you, not now.”

He grabbed her wrists and lifted them up. “Just like the others, you’re starting to degrade, Diane. Look at the tips of your fingers. I don’t want to lose you.” He pushed her away and ran towards the huge door. He pulled it open, darted inside and bolted it from his side, before racing down the corridor. He stopped directly in front of the first room he came to. Opening the doors, he saw Joseph holding out one of the devices.

“You took your time,” said Joseph.

He nodded. “It took me a while to figure it out.”

“Are you ready?”

He looked at the device, thinking of his sister and of all those people out there on the streets, all slowly dying. “Yes,” he said, taking the device out of his head. “I’m ready.”

Chapter Nineteen

It felt so good to feel the warm rain on his skin. Kenny opened his mouth and allowed a few drops to land on his tongue before he returned his attention to the congregation standing just a few meters from him and his companion. “This world is so clean,” he said.

Joseph grunted. “Ours is clean, Kenny, it’s just not as empty as this one.”

“Yeah, I remember you saying that there’s plenty of vegetation, just not many animals left.”

“How long did it take you to remember?” Joseph turned to him. “I was beginning to worry. I had a lot of time to worry, Kenny.”

“The main bits came back to me only minutes before escaping from the fairground. It hit me like a truck. I saw you standing over me, then crouching down and pushing a needle in my arm.”

The image of the chase crashed into Kenny.

It had been just eight days since the first sighting had been announced over the streetscreens. Kenny’s desire to continue looking for employment in the capital had vanished weeks before the first dead person had run rampant through the docks. His days had consisted of avoiding the patrols and hunting through restaurant bins, in the vain hope that they had thrown out anything edible.

On that fateful evening, Kenny’s luck had already taken a turn for the worse with the news that his sister wouldn’t be visiting him for another three days. His stomach had rumbled in protest, knowing that the prospect of a warm meal had been snatched away yet again.

His run of bad luck hadn’t finished with Kenny. He had decided to make his way towards the café section, deep in the inner zone, close to Government House. That area was well known for having the richest picking of anywhere else in the citystate. It was also the most dangerous place for anyone without a job or home to be seen. At the moment, Kenny hadn’t cared, the last meal he’d had was half a burger that he’d found discarded under a parked car. Although he knew it must have been there for at least three days, Kenny ate it anyway.

The sound of shouting had injected running juice into his legs as soon as he entered the café section. Instead of diving under a car and fleeing back the way he’d come, Kenny hadn’t moved, his legs refusing to budge as two men ran towards him. They both wore the uniform of the security force and yet both of them had looks of extreme terror etched on their faces. They both raced past Kenny as if he wasn’t even there. The next thing he’d seen was another figure walking towards him. This time, he did move as soon as the stench of rotting meat flooded his senses.

He turned around and ran into the arms of another one; it had fastened its teeth into Kenny’s neck.

“Joseph, tell me what happened? Why were you there? I mean, in the inner zone. More to the point, how did you find me?”

His companion sat down, tilted his head back, and closed his eyes. “God, how I have missed feeling the sun’s warmth on my face. It’ll be even better once we both cross over for real.” Joseph smiled up at Kenny. “You’ve traveled through the three worlds, that much I’ve already guessed. So you will have noticed how our other selves are attracted to each other?”

He nodded, thinking of Tony.

“Haven’t you figured that out yet, Kenny? Your body is immune to the virus. It’s always been immune. Only we couldn’t synthesize a cure. Your body lacked an essential protein, and …”

“Wait a minute,” he growled. “How can I have always been immune? What about all that shit I’ve pushed into my veins, keeping me from turning into a dead thing?”

“Kenny, I’m sorry, I really am, but you’ve never needed it. I arrived seconds after those two guards ran past you. I saw the dead thing lunge but I was too late to stop it biting you.

“Those two guards must have found their spine and came back. They put down the two dead things and were almost about to put a bullet in your brain. I distracted them, they gave chase, and before I shook them off and returned you had already gone. I searched everywhere. In the end, I returned to my own world. When I came back, I ended up in the lab that belonged to that world’s Joseph and after the fucker had tortured me, he locked me up.”

“You asked me if I was ready, Joseph. Well, I am ready. Now tell me why you have taken our minds to this world.”

“I don’t need to,” Joseph replied. “Look over there.”

Kenny followed the man’s gaze. Stephen, Mortimer, and Tony were climbing over a mound of rubble, heading towards a hole in the ground.

“Come on, you’ll want to watch this, it’s about to happen any minute.”

“What is, for fuck’s sake!” Kenny shouted.

Joseph stopped and grabbed Kenny. “When the power in the building was interrupted, I got out of my cell. Well, I didn’t stop to dance about in joy at being a free man.” He stared into Kenny’s eyes. “You are aware that they want to sever the bridge?”

“Of course I do, we have to stop them!”

“With luck, I already have. I made some adjustments to their plans. You see, I had no idea that they would contaminate your food. The city can’t be allowed to die, Kenny. No matter how these two worlds feel about it. I intend to bring them all here.”

“So we just sit back and watch as these events unfold?”

“Of course. Don’t you think you’ve done enough, Kenny? Just relax. For the moment, your work is over. Let the ants scurry about, believing that their work will save their two worlds. Come on, let’s go watch them, Kenny.”

The landscape blurred, becoming a medley of greens and blue. Kenny clenched his fists and waited. This transfer was nothing as stomach churning as a physical shift, but the wild confusion of colors still threatened to scar his eyeballs. A soothing dull yellow of subtle autumn colors dominated his vision before he had chance to shut his eyes.

The sharp cold hit him first, seeping through his body and settling on his bones. Kenny told himself that it wasn’t real, yet it didn’t stop him from shivering. He looked around, gaping at the very familiar structure. He shivered again but this time it wasn’t from the artificial cold. “Oh, I’m here again?” Kenny’s eyes stopped at where the archway should be. “Oh please, no. Not that!”

All that remained of those magnificent shards were a couple of blackened and broken stumps. He heard no songs; not one voice reached out to him. “What the fuck have those murdering bastards done to them?” he shouted.

Joseph grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back. “We are still on Food World. Relax. The shards that sang to you are still there.”

He couldn’t relax, although Joseph’s words did coat this vile abomination with a thin layer of sugar. He growled low in his throat which only increased in volume at the sight of the other Joseph standing with Mortimer and Tony, all crowded around a tall metal cylinder. At the top, Kenny saw a transparent casing with a piece of dull yellow shard glowing behind the covering.

“The idiots have all lost sight of the true goal of trying to save our fucking species. Their hatred towards your world would have doomed them all. They’ll soon get their chance to settle their differences though.”

He felt calm enough to speak. The sight of so much destruction had shaken him to the core. “What are they trying to do, Joseph?”

“They think a new beginning is about to dawn. A new world to explore. The idiots believe they’ve been able to establish a new bridge,” he replied, smiling. “They are now in the process of severing the link to your world. Just look at that intense expression on Joseph’s face. I hope I don’t look that stupid when I’m focusing on a difficult problem.”

“Wait, what do you mean they’re about to sever the fucking link!” Kenny yelled. What about my sister? Hell, we’re still there as well.”

“Calm yourself, Kenny. The other Josephs are just as clever as me but they only know as much as I allow them to. That Joseph tortured me for months, using my knowledge to build his machines. Both Josephs farmed the shards from their worlds, Kenny, placing them into their devices. Both believe that they open a gate that opens and closes. They don’t understand that the shards are the fabric that holds the worlds together. When they travel, their journey punches a hole through that fabric. The tear does repair, but the new flesh is so thin. These idiots are about to discover just how thin the new flesh is, Kenny. Every repaired tear is about to come undone.”

The surroundings bled into one blended shade of dark blue. Kenny thought that Joseph had yet another sight to show him, until a jolt of mind-searing agony detonated through his chest. Kenny shot up and ripped the black device off his head. Hot sweat poured down. He blinked several times, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dim light.

Kenny carefully placed the lifeless device on his lap and pressed the palm of his hand on his breastbone. Only the memory of the pain remained. What the fuck had just happened? He swiveled his head, expecting to see Joseph and hoping he’d supply the answers, but all he saw lying on the bed next to him was another black device.

“Joseph?” he called. “Where are you?”

He swung his legs across and carefully climbed off the bed, feeling his real aches and pains gleefully reminding Kenny that his body had mourned for the return of his mind.

He picked up the other device, noticed two spots of blood clinging to the inside, and dropped it. Joseph hadn’t informed him of his intentions prior to Kenny placing the device on his head. This certainly wasn’t part of the man’s plan, that much Kenny did know. He’d worked out enough of the man’s personality to realize that Joseph hadn’t finished showing off just yet; he hadn’t finished explaining how clever he had been.

Kenny watched one of the blood droplets fall onto the couch. Somebody must have ripped that thing right off Joseph’s head. So why hadn’t the same happened to him? Nobody else was in here with him, and the chair that he’d lodged against the outer door hadn’t moved.

They must be in one of the other rooms; it was the only other explanation. A couple of blood spots stained the side of the table standing in the middle of the room. Kenny walked over, gazing in bemusement at the piles of multi-colored Legos clumped across the surface.

What was this place? He’d been too hyped up to give the interior much notice earlier. It looked like a children’s playroom. The building blocks certainly supported that notion, until Kenny saw the crossbow and the crossbow-shaped outline drawn on the wall with red crayon.

Kenny discarded the purpose of this room. Like it really made a fucking difference? He had enough shit to worry about right now. Kenny hurried over to the interior door and pressed his ear up against the surface. No obvious sounds of movement or voices reached him but that didn’t mean that much.

He closed his eyes just for one second and thought about his sister still out there, probably losing her mind with worry. “Come on, Kenny,” he muttered. “Just open the fucking door.”

His cautious side refused to be browbeaten by a few hastily spoken words of support. Kenny rested his hand on the door handle, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not bring himself to open the door. “You fucking coward,” he hissed. He turned around and slammed his back against the door. What was it with him? He took a deep ragged breath, still feeling the sweat drying on his skin from when he’d been jolted back into reality.

Kenny reached for the crossbow, pulled back the bow, and slotted a bolt into the botch. He’d never fired one before but he didn’t think it would be too difficult. He then allowed a slight smirk to play on his face when he realized that he wasn’t being gutless at all. Not after he’d been through, today. He shook off the alien feeling, putting it down to a side effect of being under that device. Kenny kicked the door open and ran out of the room.

Several dead things looked up from their meal and growled at him. It took him just two seconds to recognise the partially eaten remains of his companion. Kenny yelled out and fired the crossbow, the bolt missing all of the zombies and burrowing into the wall. Every zombie slowly got to its feet and fanned out. Kenny saw the ones on the edge, flattening their backs against the wall and sliding towards him.

“You’re not supposed to be able to do that!” he moaned. Three in the middle then glared at Kenny and smiled before lurching forward. He dropped the weapon, spun around, and dived through the door. He didn’t need to look behind him to know that his pursuers were almost on his back. What the fuck had happened to them, how could they be so attentive?

He reached the outer door, grabbed the chair, picked it up off the floor and swung it around, crying out as the closest dead thing actually tried to duck under the object. Kenny smashed it over its head before rushing out of the door. This time he slammed it shut.

“Fuck you!” he screamed. “Rot in hell, you bastards.” Kenny moaned out in disbelief as the door handle turned. He reached out with both hands, holding it upright, stopping them from getting out of the room.

“It’s not been one of your better days, has it, Kenny.”

No, not him. He turned his head to see Rossini standing in the middle of the corridor with the other Joseph standing behind him, his hand placed firmly over Diane’s mouth. Kenny looked into his sister’s terrified eyes. “Please, don’t do this. Just let her go, let us both go.”

Joseph laughed. “Listen to you! Oh, you really are a funny man. You are not going anywhere, don’t you see that? As soon as you let go of that handle, those Source World zombies will be on you in seconds. Have you seen how fast those fuckers can move, Kenny? Oh, you’re going to be ripped into tiny little bits and there really isn’t anything you can do about it.”

“It’s ready,” said Rossini. “The coordinates have aligned.”

Joseph laughed. “Oh, that’s good news. It’s been fun!”

Kenny blinked, watching the three of them vanish. “You bastard!” he screamed. “No, you’re not leaving me here to die.”

The handle slid down, despite his best attempts to stop them. “You haven’t won,” he snarled. Kenny let go of the door and kicked it back, before spinning around and running in the opposite direction.

He charged down the hallway, painfully aware that the dead things weren’t far behind him. His body was close to collapse, he couldn’t keep this pace up for much longer, and with each faltering step they gained a few extra inches on him. Kenny’s adrenalin died at the sight of the barred metal door at the end of the hallway. “It can’t end like this!” he screamed. Kenny clenched his fists, then stopped and turned around.

“Come on then, you undead bastards!” he snarled at the two approaching zombies. “You won’t take me without a fight.” Kenny glared at the closest dead thing, a tall, middle-aged man with long, flowing white hair. “You’re going down!” He sent a silent prayer to his sister before running forward, screaming at the top of his lungs.

The End …?

Bright yellow light speared through his closed eyelids. He turned his head to the side and yelled out when he ended up with a mouthful of wet grass. Kenny snapped open his eyes and sat up. The fields stretched for miles in front of him, but this time, they weren’t empty. Thousands of people just like him were getting to their feet, looking around in fear and confusion.

Kenny spun around and ran towards the small collection of individuals standing in front of a small grey building. They had already seen him and were making their way towards Kenny. He growled low in his throat, wondering which one to smack first, wondering how he was going to find out where those two had taken his sister.

Woven in Blood

Book one

Sleeper Cells

___________

Ian Woodhead

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Second Edition

Copyright May 2013 by Ian Woodhead

Main edit by Malina Roos.

Love, hugs and kisses to Lori Hays for all the help she gave me while I constructed this story.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, scanning or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.

Please visit me here -
https://www.facebook.com/Ian.Woodhead.Author

Prologue

The light from the pale moon made the puddle of oil coated water shimmer like liquid silver. Cade McCrae took a deep breath and felt his heartbeat increase when he detected the faint scent of her perfume beneath the multiple layers of industrial stench. She had turned up; his girl had actually made true of her promise to meet him here. Cade wandered between the rusted shelves, gazing from left to right, desperate to catch a glimpse of Katy Barnes through the gaps.

He slowed down his breathing, not wanting her to sense his presence. He frowned, still not convinced that Katy hadn’t brought along company in the shape of her older brother. Cade checked his watch, noting that he had a few more minutes before he was due to meet her, just enough time to finish scouting the area.

Her scent now filled the air, overpowering the stink of ancient grease and oil. Cade caught sight of a cascade of primary colours blasting through the dull greys and browns. He dropped to the ground; keeping hold of the metal shelving, he had no wish to touch the floor and cover his fingers in the muck under his feet. He still expected to help the girl out of her clothes. The whole sexy ambience would fly through one of the many smashed windows if he covered her pretty clothes in black grease.

There she was and Katy had indeed arrived without an escort. He watched her look at her phone and sigh. Was she just checking the time or perhaps thinking of giving Cade a quick call? There were just a couple of minutes left before their appointed rendezvous time. Cade glanced towards the huge open hanger door to her right, just checking that there was nobody skulking outside. Even if her brother had decided to hide outside, Cade knew he’d still be able to lose him in this abandoned industrial labyrinth.  He knew this area like the back of his hand.

“Are you there?” she hissed.

He saw nobody about and his instincts told him that this really was the genuine article and the gorgeous blonde girl standing just a few metres from him really did want to see Cade. The girl wrapped her arms around her chest and shivered.

“Come on, I’m not mucking about, you’re supposed to be waiting for me!”

Despite his self-taught calming routine, Cade could not stop his heart from trying to beat through his ribs when he detected a tinge of annoyance and fear in her dulcet tones. He ran his tongue over his lips, tasting minty toothpaste before he stood up. “Over here.”

The girl spun around, fist raised, lips trembling and eyes as large as saucers as she screamed “You bastard! Do you get off from creeping up on people?”

Cade stepped over a chunk of decaying machinery and walked over to her, keeping his eyes on her bright blue eyes, which were full of indignation and fury but were still beautiful. He knew he’d never be able to stop looking into those delightful orbs, even if they were demanding an apology.

“Didn’t you hear me approach? He was making enough noise to wake the dead.” He knew her game; Katy expected him to come over all meek, to not stop apologising to let her walk all over him. Cade wasn’t going to let that happen; she was the most desirable girl in college and could have her pick of any boy. Yet, Katy chose Cade? It didn’t make sense to him, not at all, unless it was some bizarre tactic to get her own back for embarrassing her in front of the class this morning.

He checked his fingernails, making sure that no stray piece of dirt had decided to take up residence since he’d last scrubbed them clean before leaving the house. He stared up at the black sky showing through the rafter high above their heads. “You know, I wasn’t sure that you’d come.” Cade ate up the last few steps and stopped directly in front of her, drinking in her delightful scent He noticed the delicate touch of make up and her gloss red lipstick, was all this really for him? Or did Katy intend to meet another lad once she’d finished making him feel as worthless as something she had just stood on?

She placed her hands on his side, “You’re shivering.” Katy looked up into his eyes and sighed. “How can you be shivering when you’re so hot?”

Cade jumped when she moved both her hands slowly down the front of his body and cupped his crotch.

“What do you mean?” He stammered, feeling her probing fingers caress his balls. Cade moaned when Katy began to pull his zip down.

“You know exactly what I mean,” she replied. “You are going to be my little secret.” Katy’s fingers wrapped around his hardening shaft. She groaned herself. “Oh my, I never expected that, Cade. You’re more than a handful.” The girl giggled then unfastened his trousers. She hooked her fingers under Cade’s boxers and jerked them down to his ankles. “Oh yes. I’m going to take my time with you.”

“What do you mean by that?” He felt the summer breeze on his bare flesh and watched the girl ease herself out of her blouse. The sight of that black lacy bra, struggling to hold in her full breasts, helped to take away a large portion of his deep suspicion, but another of it remained for him to still believe that this was a trick.

“I mean that we are not going to tell anyone about our meetings, silly.” Katy returned her fingers to his now erect penis and pulled back the skin. “You do know that I have a boyfriend. She pulled him closer and drew the tip of his penis up her bare thighs. “We can stop right now, if this bothers you, Cade.” Katy ran her tongue over his lips. “I mean, we can just turn around and walk away. I won’t be hurt and we’ll never speak of this again. What do you want to do?”

She rolled her forefinger over his tip before bringing it up to her mouth. “It’d your decision, Cade.” She licked her finger dry and gazed down and his solid shaft. “Made up your mind yet?”

Cade nodded, he bent down and pulled up his boxers and trousers.

“You bastard!” she snapped. “What! Don’t you like girls or something?”

He zipped up his trousers and grabbed her wrist. “I thought you said you wouldn’t be hurt?” Cade saw a single tear roll down her cheek. He leaned over and kissed it off her warm flesh. “Katy, you misunderstand. I have made up my mind alright and I want to take you somewhere that isn’t so grimy.” He scraped the soul of his boot on the lump of metal beside him, watching the black slime slip back down to the floor. “Unless you want your pretty clothes covered in this shit.”

“But, but I thought.”

He brushed his lips against hers. He didn’t really care if Katy considered him to be her rough bit on the side, as long as she was not taking him for a ride. Cade didn’t believe that was the case, not anymore. There was no older brother waiting to kick the crap out of him and no vengeful boyfriend wanting to kill him. Cade ran his fingers down her spine, smiling when he felt her shiver. He intended to show this girl just what he could do with his equipment.

“Oh my,” she gasped, pulling away from his lips. “You sure know how to kiss a girl. Where did you learn that?”

Cade took her hand, covering her long fingers with his own. “I’m very good with my tongue, Katy.” He pointed towards a set of metal stairs, leading up to the next level. There’s an office up there. It dry, warm and best of all, there’s a clean mattress in the middle of the floor.” Cade pulled the girl towards the stairs.”

“You’re kidding me?”

“No, I’m not kidding you, Katy. I used to play here when I was younger. I started coming back here a few months ago, to get away from the shit going down with my family. Hell, I’ve even stayed the night a few times, going to sleep on that mattress, after getting stoned or drunk.” He sighed, wishing he hadn’t thought about his mum and dad. That last thing he needed right now was to have those two idiots in his head while he was about to bang this gorgeous girl.

“How the hell did you find this place? I didn’t even know it existed until you told me about it.” She stopped and wrapped her hands around his waist. “Wait, just how many girls have you brought here?”

“You are the first one,” he answered. It was true as well, he had never told anyone about this place, not even his best mate, Damien Myers. He traced the edge of her bra with his forefinger then pushed his hand inside to cup her breast. “Why me?” asked Cade, feeling his penis push against the fabric of his trousers, she gasped when he caught her hard nipple between his fingers.

Katy pulled his hand out. “Oh my, Cade, are you really that naive? I have fancied you for years, good God, half the girls in our class drool over you.” She pushed her fingers through his long black hair. “You’re kind, very hunky and unlike the rest of the morons our age in Willmouth, you don’t try to fit in. Admit it, Cade, you are unique.”

She reached behind and unhooked her bra strap, pulling it off and holding the material with her blouse. Katy giggled when he reached for her breasts. She slapped them away then ran over to the stairs. “Enough chatter, I need to feel you inside me.” She raced up them and leaned over the balcony, watching him climb the steps. “I’ve never been this wet, Cade.”

He reached the top and dragged the girl towards the office, trying his best to keep his hands away from those wonderful breasts.

“What are you grinning at, sweetheart?”

“I still can’t believe this is happening,” he replied. This whole situation was taking time to sink in but that wasn’t what had caused him to smile. Cade tried to imagine the look on Katy’s face, when she could have seen him two hours ago, locked in the bathroom, furiously masturbating. At the time he was still convinced this was all a wind up, but just in case it wasn’t, Cade did not intend to disappoint the girl by exploding as soon as she touched him.

Katy squeezed his behind. “Believe it, my lover.” She turned her head, chucking at the sight of the mattress through the office window. “Oh, this is very cosy, Cade. Why am I not surprised that you have a secret den? Am I seriously the only person to see this? I mean, what about your buddy?”

“I’m not gay, you know.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I know you too are best friends. Have you too never just hung out in here?”

“No, this is all mine.” She did have a point there; it had never crossed his mind to tell anyone, not even, Damien about this place. She was right, they were close, more brothers than best mates, hell, they even shared a birthmark. They both had a sickle shaped brown mark on their forearms. Damien had told him that his mum had one on her arm too. Cade didn’t really believe that though, his mate did have an annoying tendency to exaggerate on occasion.

She pulled him over to the mattress. “Lie down now.” Katy straddled his chest, grinning down at his beautiful face. “Take me now!”

Cade reached up and placed his hand on her full breasts, ready to pull them down to his mouth he stopped and shivered. All of a sudden he felt as though he’d just been pushed into a deep freezer. Cade pushed the girl off his body and sat up, yelping at the sight of a girl’s face staring back at him from outside the office.

Katy spun around and scooped up her blouse, dropping it over Cade’s hips. She crossed her arms over her breasts. “What the hell are you looking at?” she shouted. “Go on, get out of here!” She glared at Cade. “I thought you said nobody came here!”

He climbed off the mattress and pulled his up his trousers. “Nobody ever does come here,” he said, zipping himself up. Cade ran over to the door and looked out; he saw no sign of the girl.

“That’s the first time I’ve seen anyone in here.” Cade hurried over to the balcony and looked onto the ground floor. Where had she come from? He ran back over to the office, feeling annoyed and disappointed to see Katy had dressed herself.

“You might as well take me home,” she muttered. “I’m never going to live this down. That kid will tell everyone. I can’t believe that I was dumb enough to meet you here.” She collapsed onto the mattress. “That’s it, my life is over. Everyone is going to find out now.”

Cade looked down at this girl, trying to come to grips with his tremulous emotions. He felt like those sheets of toilet paper that he had used to wipe himself clean after his bathroom session. In Katy’s eyes, he really had been nothing but a bit on the side. Cade felt like a complete fool.

“Where are you going?” cried Katy as he spun around and marched out of the office.

He ignored her shouting and walked along the gantry, trying to see where that little girl had gone. He put aside Katy’s shallow emotions and concentrated on the main fact that this place was no longer his sanctuary. If that little girl knew about this place, who else knew? Cade had to find out. He’d no longer feel safe until then.

“Wait for me!”

He reluctantly slowed down and turned around, waiting until Katy was by his side before setting off again.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, sobbing. “I didn’t mean it to sound like that. “She pushed her fingers into his hand. “Cade, I was as randy as hell.” She squeezed his hand. “I’m still randy, Cade. Look, let’s go back, I still want you.”

He shook his head. “You don’t understand. I’ve been coming here for fifteen years. In all that time, I’ve never seen evidence of a single person setting foot in here. I’ve even laid traps for when I wasn’t around.”

Cade pulled the girl into his embrace. “I need to find out who she is.” He gazed into her eyes; he saw disappointment in them and nothing else. It then hit him that the girl was only using him as a vibrator replacement. He was only useful as long as he performed. Cade reached the end of the gantry and looked down towards the front entrance. Was she still in here? Crouched behind one of the many rusted relics, covering the concrete floor, silently watching them, just like he did with Katy?

“Come on, the brat’s obviously gone. She had probably just lost her doggy or something.” Katy spun him around. “Look if she does blab, I want to at least make sure that it something worth losing my social position over.”

“You’re not helping my confidence here, Katy.”

She giggled. “Stop being so silly, I don’t mean it like if it’s a bad thing. My life is really complicated. There are things that I’m not supposed to do. Letting some longhaired hunk fuck my brains out is probably right at the top of the list.”

Katy wrapped her arms tight around his neck. “Come on, Cade, I do need you. Don’t leave me like this. You have to sort me out as well.” She tried to pull him back over to the office. “Cade, are you even listening to me?”

Cade shrugged her hands off his arm and spun around. Katy just didn’t understand his anxiety. He wasn’t too sure that he understood either. These deserted buildings were obviously owned by somebody, they didn’t belong to him and yet, Cade felt that this was his territory, his own personal province.

“What’s gotten into you?”

He ignored her, she didn’t interest Cade anymore. All his desire for Katy had just vanished. The urge to find that little girl overwhelmed every other emotion. He hurried back towards the gantry, trying to list all the obvious hiding places in this one factory. There were loads of good spots to remain unseen. The sheer number didn’t faze Cade, he had all day.

“I mean it, Cade,” she cried. “If you don’t come back right now, I’m leaving.”

He shrugged, so be it.

Right now, he no longer felt comfortable in this building. Just the thought of two strangers trespassing on what he considered to be his personal space made him break out into a sweat. “I shouldn’t have brought Katy here,” he muttered, jumping down the last few steps. He’d have to check the floor first. Cade didn’t really think that the little girl would dare venture down into the network of tunnels beneath their feet. He hoped not anyway. Even after fifteen years, Cade still got lost down there. He was sure that he still hadn’t mapped that area fully.

It didn’t take long to check through the obvious hiding places, there was still another three buildings to search through yet. Cade wouldn’t be happy until he had found out where she had gone.

Katy hadn’t gone through with her threat to leave him; she was still on the gantry, leaning over the handrail, watching him search. Could she have been right about her looking for a dog? No, of course not, who in their right mind would allow a pre-teen kid take their dog out for a walk in the middle of the night?

The sight of a door slamming shut reached his ears. The noise came from below. Cade’s heartbeat speeded up, he felt an ice-cold finger run up his spine and for the first time in fifteen years, Cade wanted to leave this place and never come back. His body and mind screamed at him to follow his instincts.

“Cade?”

He turned to see Katy slowly make her way down the steps; her gaze was fixed on the open doorway on the other end of the factory floor. She had heard the noise as well. Katy hooked her arm into his.

“Where does that door lead to, Cade?”

He gazed into her eyes then dropped them to the floor. “There’s a labyrinth of tunnels under our feet.” He pulled her towards the entrance. “Wait, we can’t leave her down there!”

He stopped and looked over at the doorway, allowing her words to sink in. Of course, he couldn’t leave some innocent girl down there, what was he playing at? Cade didn’t understand what came over him. This was just stupid, what was the matter with him? He nodded then pulled out his mobile phone.”

“Are you ringing for the police?”

“No,” he replied, selecting the phone light from the menu. “I’m going to get the silly girl out of there.” He turned on the light and played the beam along the floor. “Are you still thinking of going, Katy?”

She allowed him to pull her across the floor. Cade took the silence as acknowledgment that she wasn’t going to leave him after all. The stone steps beyond the doorway lead down into the inky blackness. It had been a couple of months since Cade had last ventured down here, despite his absence; he could still make out evidence of other human occupancy. It appeared that he had acquired a lodger. Was she a runaway? That made sense although why anybody would wish to runaway to this shitty town was beyond him. There had been a few kids leaving Welbourgh to seek a future in the larger cities but to his knowledge, nobody had come here before.

He shone the torch down the steps, the light picking out a few discarded sweet and crisp wrappers. Cade made his way slowly down the stairs, feeling his anxiety lessen, the further he walked. The sense of belonging strengthened, in fact, Cade felt as though he never wanted to leave this place.

“What are you doing, Cade,” hissed Katy. “What’s wrong with your arm?”

He saw that he’d been scratching the area around his birthmark. “That’s weird,” he muttered. Cade bent down, picked up one of the crisp packets, and held the plastic under his nose. He could still smell the cheese flavouring. That kid must have dropped this. How long had she been living down here? More importantly, why hadn’t he realised that someday else was using his private retreat as a dosshouse?

He ventured further along the stone corridor, feeling the cold damp air settle on his lungs. He needed to get this girl out of here. Cade then stopped, looking in disbelief at a missing section of wall.

“What’s wrong?”

Cade shone the light along the wall, shaking his head. “That wasn’t there the last time I came down here.” The harsh white light clearly made out where the wall had swing back to reveal another corridor. He took one more step and ran his hand along the damp wall, allowing the tips of his fingers to explore the gaps in the stonework.

“Oh my god, Cade, just look at all that stuff!”

He cast his eyes across the accumulated piles of decaying weaponry, stacked up against both walls. This stuff must have been here for generations. He could make out the remains of large curved swords, numerous axe heads as well as a couple of large metal balls, covered in spikes. He turned around and gazed at the corridor walls before turning back to look at this uncovered section.

“It looks like the remains of an ancient castle.” Cade ventured inside, noting that another smell replaced the faint odour of mildew. It reminded him of meat close to turning. He walked between the two piles of decaying metal, heading towards a large metal door, set into the stones, a few metres from them.

“Look at that,” she whispered. Katy stopped, bent down and picked up another sweet wrapper. “Let’s go back, I have a bad feeling about this, Cade.”

He silently sighed in pleasure, gripping her hand tight and feeling her trepidation. Cade had no idea how he was doing it but, he could actually taste the girl’s fear. The sweet emotion just seemed to flow from every pore of her body. He turned around and held her at arms length, what an incredible sight. He could even see it, a thin cloud of dark green mist surrounded the girl obscuring her features. The stuff reacted when he opened his mouth, by rushing towards him. Cade groaned in pleasure as it enveloped his head, then entering his waiting mouth.

“What are you doing?”

He blinked, seeing her staring at him, her eyes displaying confusion and fear. There was no mist around the girl and he felt no different. He blinked again, not sure at all what had just happened to him. Cade looked behind them, almost expected to see a large cylinder, pissing out gas.

“I’m fine. I just came over all funny, that’s all.” He stopped in front of the door, placing his hand against the metal, wondering if he dare open it. That decision was taken out of his hands then the door slowly opened on its own accord.

Katy pulled him through the door. “Come on, don’t dawdle,” she said. “I want to find this kid.” She stopped and took a deep breath. “God, I don’t half feel weird.”

Cade, didn’t answer her. His emotions had not been right ever since they had walked through that doorway. That vague feeling of belonging here had increased tenfold, along this the resentment of knowing that he wasn’t the first one down here. This should have been his discovery; it wasn’t fair that Cade should find this place by accident.

“Are you okay?” she whispered. “You’re shivering.” Katy then squeezed his hand tight. “Look at that!”

Just above their heads, carved into the smooth grey rock were the detailed etchings of two ensigns. The one of the left was unfamiliar but he recognised the design on the right. He should do, Cade had been wearing the exact pattern on his arm since birth. Cade stood under the etchings, listening to his heart beating. It was so loud. His eyes dropped to his feet and noticed the patterns were duplicated on the floor as well.

“Someone’s coming,” whispered Katy. She pulled him over to the far wall and ducked behind a stone outcropping.

Cade bobbed down as well, his mind was in turmoil, none of this made any sense to him, but no matter what he did, Cade couldn’t shift the feeling that this hidden chamber had been waiting for him for over a decade. It was this place that had convinced Cade to keep coming here.

He caught his breath at the sight of another shadow climbing the wall. His elusive girl had finally made an appearance. He couldn’t understand why he felt the sudden urge to jump out of their hiding place, run over to her and carry the little bitch away from this chamber before she had chance to… Cade frowned, that last piece of information refused to make an appearance. He had no idea what the little girl intended to do.

Katy’s foot slipped, causing a pile of tiny stones to tumble down the slope. Katy gasped but the girl didn’t even register the noise. She just crouched down, traced her fingers along one of the patterns before sighing. It was such a sad, mournful sound, almost heart wrenching. She then shrugged off her tattered green dress and sat down cross-legged on the floor.

None of this made any sense to Cade. He gazed in confusion at this pretty little girl, wearing just panties, white socks and shoes, slowly rocking back and forth. He then saw something that made him start; the girl had a large birthmark on her left shoulder. It wasn’t like his though, the pattern was different. “Oh no,” whispered, Cade, when he realised that it matched the pattern on the floor and above the girl. He shook off Katy and stood up, suddenly aware of where they were and what this place was. Those patterns, gouged into the stone floor all led to the lip of that well. They were there for only one reason. He then saw the flash of metal in her hands. The girl held one of those ancient weapons. Cade screamed out, but the girl didn’t even flinch. She lifted the blade above her head and savagely slammed it down, burying the blade deep into her chest.

His limbs unfroze and he found his body lunging forward of its own accord, the girl see-sawed the knife down her chest, opening herself up, the two sections splitting apart like a huge set of bloodied lips. The girl’s robotic motions stopped and she dropped to her knees and slumped forward, her forehead cracking against the lip of the hole before falling into the abyss.

Cade stopped by the hole, unable to take his eyes off the sight of the pool of her thick blood flowing along deep gullies cut into the stone, the fluid dripping into the hole.

“Why the hell did she go do that?” Katy ran over to the rock, leaned over and emptied her stomach. “Oh God,” she blurted. “We have to get out of here, right now.” The girl stumbled over to the entrance, looking behind her when she saw that he had not budged an inch. “Cade!”

“That should have been me,” he murmured, feeling his birthmark itching. It felt alive, biting into his skin, like a thousand fleas, all needing to drink from that one area. Somewhere in the distance at what sounded like a thousand miles away, he could hear the other girl screaming his name. She didn’t matter, this had nothing to do with her. He crouched down and traced his finger along one of the furrows, feeling the remainder of the girl’s blood coat his flesh, it wasn’t an unpleasant sensation. In fact, the action woke up a memory that he knew wasn’t his. Cade closed his eyes and felt himself fall backwards.

***

The sound of the others screaming through the clan’s defenses chilled his already cold blood. He didn’t have long to finish the preparations. The Swarmer clan was going to rip him to pieces and feast on his flesh. He already knew of his fate, he would be their final meal, no matter what happened next. He could not fail his own masters though. The ceremony just had to be completed.

The girl in the corner had stopped her quiet sobbing. Had she, like him, resigned herself to her fate? He shrugged, it mattered not. Her life was unimportant. The Swarmers had reached the final barricade, even from down here, he could hear their screams of frustration to find their way to salvation blocked. Despite his master’s hastily built fortifications, it would not take them long to break through. There were hundreds of those evil things now, they would make short work of the wooden barriers.

As he summoned the shivering girl over to the well, he could hear the guards’ low muttering; they were getting ready for the final assault. Like the barrier before them, their weapons would only stop the Swarmers for a few minutes, just enough time for him to complete the task. The girl jumped at the sound of the wood splintering.

“It is none of your concern,” he hissed, forcing the naked girl into the kneeling position. “Put your head down, you stupid child! Hurry up, they’re nearly here.”

He held his dagger up, seeing his emblem stamped into the blade, they all carried the mark of the clan. It was in their blood to serve their masters, from birth to death. He gazed down at the trembling girl. He counted to three and hoped her body would contain enough blood to keep his masters alive until their next awakening.

He dropped to his knees, listening to the others giving their lives to stop the Swarmers from entering the temple before he had completed his task. Soon it would be his turn. He slammed the blade down, feeling the razor-sharp metal bite into the girl’s flesh. It pieced her heart through her ribs. For the girl, her death was quick and painless. He looked into the well, gazing down at the five undead pale faces looking up at him, their long yellowed fangs gnashing together, all waiting for him to throw in the girl. He looked up and glanced towards the entrance, sensing the final guard fighting like a wild bear protecting her cubs.

He pushed the body down, watching it tumble, the long serrated knives jutting out from the stone, slicing through her flesh.  He sighed and stood up. Hs task was now complete. The other clan would no doubt perform the same ceremony but he now knew that they were the first. No matter what happened. Their clan would survive the big sleep.

***

Cade snapped his eyes open, feeling somebody tug at his shoulder. He sat up, the vision still vivid in his memory.

He had failed his master, thanks to his lack of vision, the enemy, the Swarmer clan had received their sacrifice first. Those bastards would now waken and destroy them all. Cade pushed the girl away and crawled over to the hole. Maybe he wasn’t too late. Sure, the Swarmers would awaken, but they’d be slow, weak and defenseless. If his master awakened at the same time, both clans would stand a chance of surviving.

The jagged blades were still there, long strings of wet flesh dripping from the metal shards. All he needed to do was to cut himself then drop down. He scooped up the ancient weapon and sliced the blade down his lower arm.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Cade shook his head, trying to clear that hurtful voice ringing in his mind. He had no time for imaginary voices. He had to finish this before it was too late. Cade watched his own blood drip into the well then stepped up to the edge.

He cried out in agony and shock when something heavy slammed into his legs. He stumbled and fell back, landing on the girl’s body.

“What the fuck has got into you, Cade?”

The voice was not imaginary. The mention of his name cleared his vision and a young woman’s face swam into view. She looked so familiar but he couldn’t yet place her. Cade’s heart then skipped a beat when a mournful noise rose from deep beneath the well.

“They are coming!” He sobbed. “I didn’t stop them.” Cade then looked deep into the girl’s eyes. His mind, like his vision began to clear. “We are so fucked.” Cade hissed in pain, looking at the gash in his arm. He wanted me down there.” He shuddered at the thought of those blades biting into his screaming body before those things down there tore him into confetti-sized bloodied meat.

The noise from the well grew louder as more of them woke.

“I don’t know what’s happening!”

He looked at the few spots of blood, left from the girl. Just how far had she travelled to get here and just how had she been able to find a way into this chamber so easily? Was the other clan that strong? He then realised that he was actually jealous of her. “Fuck me,” he muttered. “I really am going insane.” He grabbed the girl’s wrist and pulled her out of the chamber. “Come on,” he hissed, if we don’t move now, we’ll never get out of here.”

Chapter One

Darlene Myers clamped her hand tight against her lips, trying not to burst out laughing. Her son had kept that one quiet. She approached his unmade bed, unable to take her eyes from Damian’s newest poster. Clad in a skin-tight black leather outfit, complete with a random collection of satanic trinkets hanging from her wrists and neck, the longhaired, blonde young woman cut an impressive figure. She wielded her long handled, double-edged axe with dexterity and expertise, if the pile of decapitated mythical animals lying around her feet was anything to go by. The only detriment to the whole panorama was the female’s impossibly huge breasts.

Even with good support, she would have trouble walking, never mind fighting. Darlene leaned forward and attempted the read the band logo splattered across the woman’s legs in a mixture of black and red ink. It looked like House of the Unholy, but she wasn’t willing to put money on her guess.

If it was House of the Unholy, the band had some serious misconceptions at how sexy women were supposed to look. Then again, what did she know?  Darlene was only a mother and according to her seventeen-year-old son, she was way past it.

She giggled. “If only you really knew, Damian.” Darlene turned and walked over to Damien’s dressing table and gazed into the long mirror, pleased at the trim looking thirty-six year-old woman smiling back. Darlene shrugged off her white t-shirt and pushed her hands up, under her black, bra, “Give me an axe and I’d show you how well a proper woman could handle herself,” she said, giggling, imagining the look on her son’s face if he happened to walk in right now. Darlene picked her t-shirt off the carpet and quickly dressed herself, looking at his poster one more time.

Her mood darkened ever so slightly at the thought of how her husband, Geoff, would react at the sight of what Damien had blu-tacked above his bedpost. He would not find the image so amusing, which was ironic considering he was just like Damien when she first met him all those years ago.

Okay, so all of this modern, extreme metal horrified Geoff but when he’s been Damien’s age, his taste in music wasn’t exactly mainstream. Hell, her husband to be even sported hair as long as Damien’s and a rather cute beard. Darlene so missed that gorgeous mane. When did he start to look and act so old?

“More to the point, sweetheart, how come you never noticed it?” She shook her head, vowing, one more time, never to grow old gracefully.

Why wasn’t her husband comfortable with Damian’s musical taste? Geoff preached to her on more than one occasion that he believed that anyone listening to metal just had to have something wrong with them. Geoff said that the only reason why he had tolerated Damian’s current passion was because he thought it was just another one of Damian’s silly phases. According to him, Damien went through a lot of silly phases. She didn’t find it all that surprising that he never used those remarks on their daughter, Elsie. In Geoff eyes, Damien’s twin sister couldn’t put a foot wrong and butter wouldn’t melt in her eyes. Then again, what did he know? The man hardly ever saw his kids nowadays. Even when he was at home, he was too involved with work to pay attention to anyone else.

Darlene pulled her son’s quilt cover up to his pillow, making note that she ought to get this lot in the wash at the weekend. She walked over to the door, taking one last glance at Damian’s walls. Over the last few months, he’d covered three walls with posters depicting scenes similar to the one she’d giggled at. Geoff would not find it funny, that much she did know.

“He’d go mental.” Darlene nodded to herself. Oh yeah, he really would go spare if he saw that poster all right. Considering that she was trying to keep the equilibrium, it might be a better idea to have a quiet word with Damian. He’d understand.

“He’d better,” she muttered. That last thing she needed right now was for anything to upset the apple cart. Darlene turned off the light and closed the door, wondering for the tenth time today why she didn’t have the guts to admit that her marriage was dead.

“Honey, are you up there?”

“No, I’m stood in the kitchen, you silly man,” she whispered. Darlene rushed along the landing and saw Geoff stood at the bottom of the stairs swapping his car keys from hand to hand. “Is it that time already?” she asked, smiling down into his distracted face. Even from up here, she saw that his mind was elsewhere. It certainly wasn’t where it should be, staring up at his beautiful wife wearing a very tight t-shirt and sexy black shorts. Darlene was very proud of her toned legs. By the looks of it, though, she was the only one.

He nodded, “Yeah, looks like it.”

At thirty-eight, her husband retained the looks that Darlene had fallen for sixteen years ago. Granted, a few grey hairs had made an unwanted appearance on that thick head of short brown hair and the pub lunches and lack of exercise had given Geoff a noticeable paunch, but he was still a gorgeous hunk. At six foot five, he towered over Darlene by a full foot.

“Come on then,” he said, looking at his watch. “Where’s my kiss. I don’t want to be late.”

Darlene silently sighed and walked down the steps, still keeping the smile fixed upon her face. “Of course not, sweetheart, we wouldn’t want that now would we?” Did the bitterness show in her voice? Darlene threw her arms around Geoff’s neck and brushed her lips on his. “Take me upstairs, Geoff,” she said, “I need you, I need you right now.” She dragged her hand down his spine and squeezed his arse. “Take me upstairs, sweetheart. I need to feel you inside me. Come on, I want you to fuck me raw.”

He untangled her arms and gently pushed her away. “Darlene, don’t do this to me, my little flower pot. You know I’ve got a presentation tonight.”

She closed her eyes and nodded, desperately trying not to allow his rejection to get to her. For crying out loud, did she honestly expect him to choose between work and his wife?

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. Darlene gave the man the accustomed kiss on his cheek before opening the door for him. “You try to have a good time at work, Geoff.”

He returned the kiss then gave Darlene an unexpected hug. “If I have enough energy left when I finish work, I’ll see if I can do something about your urges.”

Darlene kissed him back and grinned, wanting to punch the bastard in the nuts. He made it sound like she had something wrong with her, that wanting sex was somehow dirty. “I’ll be waiting for you, my little peanut.”

Geoff slowly walked up the garden path, stopping before he reached the gate to wave to Darlene one last time. She looked into the starlit sky trying to work out just when everything in her life turned to complete shit. Darlene gave him the customary wave and watched him climb into their family car.

“It’s time for fun now, girl,” she said, watching him turn the car, reverse and drive out of the cul de sac. “You ought to be grinning, feeling all sexy, your heart all aflutter.” She felt none of that. All Darlene wanted to do now was to just go to bed and stay there for the next fifty years.

At the same time as she whispered goodbye to the car’s headlights, the door to number twenty-eight opened. Darlene watched as Paul Spencer made his way through his own garden and crossed the road, heading towards her house.

Her affair with the young man who lived across from her was getting as tired as her marriage to Geoff. The danger of getting caught had worn off months ago. She tried to compete with Paul’s eager grin and found that she really couldn’t be bothered.

“He’s definitely not coming back tonight is he?”

Darlene shook her head, even their conversations followed the same nightly pattern. “No, Paul, you have me until the morning.”

He slyly looked both ways before Paul placed his warm hands on her side and slid them over her t-shirt before placing them on her breasts. “That’s good, cos I want to have you.” He groaned and rubbed his thumbs across her nipples.

She pulled him into the house and kicked the door shut. “Not out in the street!” she snapped, although, Darlene did have to admit, the thought of some nosy neighbour peering through their window and catching this young man caressing her tits did turn her on. “I’m not wearing any knickers, Paul.”  Darlene saw his hand automatically heading towards her thigh and slapped it away. “Not yet, not here.” She ran up the stairs and stopped in front of her son’s bedroom, watching him race after her.

“You want to go play in there, Darlene? But, I thought you said that room was forbidden.”

“It was,” she whispered, pushing open the door. “But, I need a change of scenery.” She wrapped her arms around his strong body and walked him into her previously prohibited area of the house. “Tonight has got to be different, Paul.”

The boy briskly nodded and chuckled, “Oh yes. I can do that, my darling. You bet, I can do that.”

Darlene fell back onto her son’s bed, trying not to sigh. She looked up at the poster, bloody hell, the lad was only a few years older that Damian. Paul’s bedroom was probably just like this one.

She’d just have to tell him tonight that the fun would have to end, it wasn’t even fun anymore. Despite her gentle teaching, Paul still couldn’t satisfy her needs. She received better and more rewarding climaxes from her hidden collection of secret toys. The boy’s equipment was definitely impressive but he lacked the skills to use it correctly. She closed her eyes. She’d give him this one chance tonight to prove her wrong. She sighed, knowing for a fact that the poor boy wouldn’t have a clue on how to try something different. Within a few seconds, the big oaf will be all over her, fumbling around, trying to rip off her clothes as quickly as could whilst telling Darlene just how lucky he was.

“Undress!” Paul commanded.

Darlene snapped open her eyes and stared at the imposing looking young man glaring back down at her. Now, she was seriously confused. Where did her shaky nervous man bugger off to? Gone were those eager to please puppy dog eyes. Paul’s trembles had just vanished. He stood there like a statue, as if carved from marble.  Darlene didn’t know who this man was, not that she was complaining. Bloody hell, this was exciting.

“Sit up, Darlene,” he said. “Start to undress. Don’t make me tell you again.”

She did as the man ordered, trying her best to suppress her smirking. “Of course, Paul,” she replied, putting a slight quiver into her voice. If he could put on such a magnificent performance, then so would she. This was so unreal, Darlene couldn’t stop trembling.

She threw the top onto the floor, daring not to tear her gaze away from Paul’s icy-blue eyes. Darlene reached behind her back and undid her bra strap, expecting him to jump on her at any moment. He didn’t move a muscle. She saw no excitement, no desire, there was nothing in his stare. It was like looking into a pair of doll’s eyes.

Her lacy bra landed on top of her blouse. Oh god, she so hoped that he wouldn’t slip out of character. This was such a fucking turn on.

Paul treated her to a quick smile before he slowly slid his index finger into his mouth. She pushed her thighs together and clenched every muscle in her legs in a vain attempt to stop the shaking. The man dropped to his knees and pulled his finger out of his mouth. Paul examined the finger before he slowly drew it down her cleavage. Darlene let out a guttural moan, she reached up and wrapped her fingers around Paul’s wrist, wanting, needing him to grab and massage her breasts.

He ripped her hand off his wrist. “Did I say you could do that?” Paul placed his hand on her knees and pushed them apart. “Keep still!”

She nodded, biting her lip. For the first time, Darlene wasn’t too sure that she liked this game anymore. The realisation that this man currently pulling her body towards his hips, could do anything to her and there was very little Darlene could do to stop him, took up residence in her head and refused to leave.

Paul then placed his hands around her neck and forced her forwards. She yelped. “Come here, you little bitch.” He snarled. “You’ve upset me and now, I think it’s time for you to learn your place.”

Darlene went cold inside; this game was getting out of hand, something was seriously fucking wrong with this picture. Paul shouldn’t be acting like this. What the fuck was going on?”

He scraped his stumbled chin against her ear. “Is this too much? I’m not overdoing this am I? I’ve never done this sort of thing before.” He glided his hand up her thigh. “I can be more gentle, Darlene.” Paul brushed his fingers against her clitoris and pushed two deep inside her. “Do you want me to be gentler, Darlene?”

She cried out and thrust her hips forward, grabbing the top of his jogging pants and yanking them down. She wrapped her legs around Paul’s thighs. “I want you to remove your fingers, Paul and fuck me.” She gasped. This was just incredible. He was taking way too long to comply.

Darlene snapped open her eyes. “Honey, what’s wrong?

He jerked his head towards the open door. “I thought I heard something!” he hissed. Paul jumped back, almost tripping up over his trousers.

Darlene sighed, “Yeah, my fucking passion flying out of the window.”

“I’m serious, Darlene. I think there’s somebody else in the house.”

She stood up and marched over to the open door, glaring at Paul. He hadn’t moved one inch, it didn’t please her to notice that the trembling boy had returned with vengeance. Fucking hell, and to think, even if it was for a moment, that she’d actually been scared of this big oaf.

Darlene gazed along the hallway, there was nobody there and the only sound she heard was Paul’s panting.

He sounded like a hot mongrel dog.

She placed both hands on her hips. “Well?”

Paul shook his head, “I did hear something, Darlene. Please believe me. I swear down, I did.”

“Well, go and look, you’re the big hard man, Paul.”

Darlene wanted to grab hold of the boy’s throat and throttle him for making her feel like a mother again. Paul was terrified. She honestly thought that he was about to start weeping.

“It’s not my house, Darlene. What if it’s your husband, or your two kids?”

She turned away from him, took a deep breath and held it while counting to five. Paul wasn’t the only one in the room who was now on the verge of crying.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, placed his hands on her shoulders. “I’ll go down to check, if you like, darling. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it to come out like that. It’s probably nothing anyway. I mean, aren’t Damien and Elsie are staying over at Jenny’s house for the weekend?”

Darlene didn’t even bother to reply. He already knew that Paul wouldn’t be stood here, in her son’s bedroom, if they were due back. “Look, Paul,” she said, not turning around. “I want you to…”

“You want me to go?”

She almost nodded. His slip back into his old self had ruined everything. It would be better if he did go home; all Darlene needed to do right now was to finish herself off then just get wasted on red wine.

“Darlene, I’m talking to you,” he snarled. “Don’t you dare fucking ignore me, you whore.”

She jumped, feeling the beginnings of a smile appearing on her lips. Perhaps this evening still had some promise. “Get those clothes off, Paul,” she whispered. “Then climb into bed and wait and for me.” Darlene picked up her son’s red dressing gown wrapped it around her body and hurried over to the bedroom door. “I’ll bring us back a bottle of wine,” she said, turning her head. “We’ll drink it together, after we have both satisfied each other. You are old enough to drink?” She giggled and dodged the thrown pillow.

“Don’t keep me waiting!” he shouted after her.

Like that was going to happen, she wanted to forget all about checking out the house for Paul’s imaginary noises, go back in there and dive onto his body. Darlene reached the top of the stairs, turned around and sighed. He wouldn’t be able to relax though, if she did that.

Darlene placed her hand upon the banister and made her way down. “Just how confused are you?” she whispered. Experiencing Paul dominating her had seriously turned her on. She grew wet just thinking about what other surprises that boy had for her. Where did that hidden desire come from? How the hell did Paul know what buttons to press?

She reached the bottom of the stairs and checked the front door. She sighed; it was locked, just like she had left it. Why was she even doing this for crying out loud? Darlene should just run back up those stairs, tell him there’s nobody here and get that big boy to fuck her brains out.

“He’d want to know why I didn’t bring the bloody wine.” She might as well check the other rooms, while she was here. Besides, Darlene still needed to get wasted but not before that virile young man had finished abusing her.

Darlene wandered into the living room, running her fingers along the spines of her husband’s many books. She found it a little strange that, Geoff had never suggested any bedroom role-play before. Darlene stopped and pulled a book out at random. The cover showed a large breasted blonde girl, dressed in tight leather and standing over a semi-naked muscular young man. “And I wonder where Damian gets his odd ideas about women from. Was it too much of a coincidence that the man on the cover bore a slight resemblance to Paul? Darlene threw the book on the sofa and headed towards the kitchen. She needed wine and she needed that boy to climb back inside her. “Perhaps I ought to buy a whip?”

“You have several already, my princess.”

Darlene’s shriek stuck in her throat at the sight of the huge dark haired man leaning against the refrigerator. No matter how hard she tried, Darlene could not find the will to tear her eyes from his deep hypnotic gaze.

“I thought that I’d truly lost you, that those filthy fucking animals had found you first.” The man held out his hand, he blinked.

The movement was just enough to break her paralysis. She turned around, trying to remember where she’d dropped her mobile phone. Oh Jesus, what was she going to do now?

“Don’t make me tell you again.”

She spun around, “Paul?”

The man shook his head, his arm was still outstretched, “No, my princess. It was me, on both occasions. The soft human beast, currently lying in your son’s bed had no idea that I was inside him. Then again, how could he?

“Who are you?” Darlene then saw the bottle of wine he held in other hand. “How did you know I wanted that?” Her initial terror had now passed, leaving behind only confusion and curiosity.

“Come here, my princess, allow me to embrace you and I promise that I will tell you everything.”

Despite her trepidation she crossed the few tiles between them and placed her hand into his. The man then yawned, revealing his oversized canine teeth. She panicked and desperately tried to break from his grasp. He leaned closer to Darlene’s neck.

“Don’t fret,” he said. The man then wrapped his other arm around her trembling body and pulled Darlene tight against him. “I’d never hurt you, my princess. I love and adore you I always have done, and I always will.”

“But I don’t even know who you are!” she wailed.

He tilted her head up and sighed. “I hid you amongst the beasts many years ago, my princess. I am sorry but, there was no other way.” He leaned forward and gently kissed her on the lips.

Darlene closed her eyes, feeling her passion rise when his other hand released hers, slipped under her dressing gown and cupped her breast. A raging fire detonated between her legs when he ran his other hand up her smooth thigh.

He then drew apart and wiped his bloodied lips. “Don’t stop!” she cried. “Oh my, please do that again!”

He sighed heavily. “Do you not think I desire this as well, my beautiful wife? We will, that I promise but not just yet.”

She leaned back against the counter and gripped the edge, waiting until her jellied legs were strong enough to take her weight. “Wait,” she muttered, running her tongue along her lips, she tasted blood. “Did you just bite me?”

The man pushed his own tongue out and licked his thin lips. He gave her the wine bottle. “Yes, I did bite you but, it was just a nip, my princess. Go take your bottle up to the beast. By the time you reach the bed, you will remember who you really are. You will remember that I am your real husband and you will remember just what we do to those human beasts.

She found her eyes closing, after what seemed like hours Darlene was able to open them. There was no sign of the handsome stranger. Darlene gazed at the wine bottle in her hands. Had she imagined him? The woman ran her tongue across her lips, tasting blood. No, he’d been here all right.

The sweet taste of her blood awakened a memory hidden from her for many years.

***

She stood in the middle of a blood-drenched field, surrounded by churned wet mud and scattered pieces of human flesh. The stench of decay lay heavy in the air. This was not a fresh battle. The smell invaded her nostrils yet; instead of it sickening her, she embraced the aroma, breathing in the scent, like a fine wine.

Darlene opened her eyes and found that she’d already climbed halfway up the stairs. The bottle held tight against her breasts. Paul stood at the top of the steps, gazing down, concern and worry was etched into his young face.

“You’ve been ages, my darling.”

“So troubled that you almost came down to make sure that I was okay?” Darlene slowly licked her lips, disappointed not to taste any more of her blood. Her tongue did find something of interest as she explored her mouth. Darlene’s own canines had grown, ever so slightly.

“I was just about to check on you,” he replied.

Just seven steps stood between her and the beast. The beast? It felt so natural to think of Paul as food. The memory of that battlefield rushed back into her mind, she watched herself stride over the many dismembered corpses, towards her husband, towards Amulius.

Her beautiful husband stood a few feet away from her, holding a long handled curved sword, covered in congealed blood. “It’s not here, Freya. The bastards have lied to us.” He spun around. “We need to move quickly, my princess. The Swarmers and their foul constructions are closing in. They’ll be here any moment.”

In the distance, she saw the vast cloud of approaching enemy vampires. The Swarmers had indeed brought their flesh dragons. Freya felt her weak human heart race at the sight of the monstrous vampire organic warriors, created out of vampirised pieces of their enemies.

Her huge husband swept her into his embrace. “We will meet again, my princess,” he growled, exposing his large teeth.

“You told me that I would be spared, Amulius. That you wouldn’t change me until the war was over.”

He nodded, “and I will keep my promise.” He looked over her shoulder. “The Swarmers have changed the balance, they have accessed the dark arts, forbidden to every clan. Just for the Deathgazer clan to survive, we must do the same. It could be decades before we see the outcome. By then you will be an old woman.” He bent forward.

Freya felt his teeth pierce her flesh and then she felt no more.

***

She opened her eyes and found that she now stood at the top of the stairs. Paul’s arms were resting on her shoulders.

“Darlene? God, what’s wrong with you?”

She smiled, enjoying watching his face change to terror when the boy saw the size of her teeth. The bottle fell from her hands and rolled down the stairs. “My name, food, is Freya.” She smacked his arms away and pushed the shocked man back, giggling as his back slammed into the wall behind him.

“Well, isn’t that a bit of a surprise, Paul, it appears that I’m a lot stronger than I thought.” She watched him slide down the wall, revealing cracked plaster and a couple of blood spots. “Oh dear, did that hurt?”

She crouched down in front of him and lifted Paul’s head up, relieved to see that he was only dazed. She’d never forgive herself if she’d already killed the boy. “I’ve been living a lie for over a thousand years; all that unaccountable time involved in so many banal relationships without knowing about my true destiny. He removed the veil from my eyes, Paul. Have you any idea of the misery that I’ve suffered?”

The boy didn’t answer. She looked through his eyes and skimmed across the surface of his thoughts. All she could pick out were confusion and terror; this was a waste of time. He had no idea what she was talking about, even so, Freya had to continue, she needed an audience, if not for him, for her to put the forgotten pieces back into their correct slots.

“The Swarmer clan had destroyed all the other clans. Only the Deathgazers survived the cull. Even they were down to their last few numbers. Those things wouldn’t stop until they’d exterminated every last one of the remaining vampires. Why should we humans have cared about monsters slaughtering themselves? We cared because our clan had looked after us and kept the towns prosperous. Allowing the Deathgazers to take their pick from the strongest men and desirable females was a small price to pay. If it wasn’t for the Deathgazers we would be crawling in the dirt, looking for scraps of food like the rest of the humans.”

She tilted his head to one side and stared in fascination at that huge artery pumping sweet blood up to his brain. “I was one of the chosen few, Paul. It was my destiny to become the wife of the First Father. If it wasn’t for the filthy Swarmers destroying the land, I would have helped to rule a dynasty that would still be feeding on you pathetic animals.”

Freya sank her teeth into his flesh and drank deep, gasping in pleasure as his hot blood filled her mouth. She would still take her place beside him. Freya would relish her role as loving wife and, as his adviser. Amulius needed to understand that the world has moved on.

Chapter Two

She was going to launch into yet another bitching session. Damien Myers didn’t need to even look at his sister to gleam that nugget of information. It was like sensing the onset of a major storm. As soon as Elsie’s mood took a dive and swung into the red, the hairs on his back stood at attention and, more often than not, Damien found himself burdened with a deep grinding headache.

It was pointless trying to stop the inevitable. Instead, Damien drained the beer from his can and laid back down, feeling the damp grass pressing against his shirt. He stared up at the star-lit sky for a few seconds before closing his eyes.

“What the hell is he playing at, Damien?” his sister poked his side. “I swear that damn Ben is so going to pay for this, you know. I’m not an idiot. It’s obvious that he just can’t be bothered to drive all the way up here. I tell you, I’m so going to smash his face in for this.”

Even with his eyelids shut, Damien could still picture the vast sea of stars blitzing the night sky. There weren’t that many delights left from being stuck at his Aunt May’s on a weekend but he had to admit that this was one of them. The advantage of being away from the town centre was that the view was awesome, even with his eyes closed.

“Will you just cool down your jets, sis? Will you at least give the man some time to get up here? It’s not exactly next door is it? Hell, even dad still makes the occasional wrong turn and he used to live here.”

“That’s cos dad is an idiot,” she muttered.

He smiled. “Just give him a few more minutes.”

The irony of the situation did not fail to amuse him. As Damien opened his eyes just a crack to see if his imagined star map matched the original, he recalled just how excited he had been when Ben casually informed the pair of them that he’d be bringing up a friend. By the smirk plastered all over Elsie’s boyfriend’s face, Damien just knew that the lad was going to bring up a female companion. A date for Damien so he wouldn’t have to play gooseberry.

No matter how many times that Damien had asked, Ben just refused to reveal any information, he kept his mouth firmly shut telling Damien that he didn’t want to spoil the surprise. Ben would not even reveal her name to him.

All those pent up hormonal feelings only invaded Damien’s psyche during daylight hours. When the sun went to bed and the moon and stars came out to play, he always found that his daylight worry and stress just faded away. Both he and his sister preferred the night; they had been like this since kids. The darkness was their friend.

He turned his head to face Elsie and frowned. Her normal night time placid self was absent tonight. This problem with Ben not showing his face was really getting to her. Come to think of it, she had been acting a little odd for the past couple of hours.

“Are you going to tell me what’s really wrong with you?” He lifted his body, turned to look at her and rested his elbows on the grass. “You’re not usually this weird.”

She shrugged. “There’s something in the air, Damien. Can’t you feel it?” she whispered. “It’s like there’s a storm coming.” Elsie sighed then quickly shook her head, “Oh, just ignore me, I’m being daft.”

He wasn’t too sure how to respond to that outburst. He did know that his sister was more sensitive than him and she was susceptive to unexplained events. Either that or she was just in a really bad mood and was looking for some excuse to explain away her feelings. Elsie had fallen deeply in love for this Ben. Damien decided to ignore her last comment and just slip into his usual brother routine. It seemed to be the best course of action.  “He will get here, sis. You know that. Think about it, you know for a fact that your Ben has been looking forward so to climbing inside your panties for the last few days. Wild horses won’t stop him from getting up here.” He ran his eyes up and down her well-proportioned body, trying his hardest not to leer and look like a perverted old man. Damien then ran his tongue over his lips and dramatically groaned. “Oh, he is such a lucky young man!”

“Jesus, Damien, will you please stop doing that? Have you any idea how weird and creepy that is?” she said, tutting in disgust.

“He nodded and giggled. “Ain’t my fault that I have a hot sister.”

“God you can be such a dirty fucker sometimes.”

The deep, grinding pain drilling through the back of his skull subsided just a tad when he saw the beginnings of a smirk appear on her face. Even after seventeen years of living together, it still felt so weird staring into his sister’s face. It was just like looking into a distorted mirror. His twin sister was the spit of him, apart from the fact that his dyed black hair hung past his shoulders and Elsie preferred her blonde hair cropped short.

“I don’t even know what Ben even sees in you. Let’s be truthful here, we both know that I received all the best bits from our parents.”

“You’re such a cheeky twat,” she retorted. “I thought you said I was hot?”

Damien laughed. “You are hot, at least on the surface. But you know that I’m right, sis. If you looked under the bonnet, anyone would see that you were just cobbled together from all the leftover bits.

“I seriously am going to punch you, Damien.”

“Don’t kid yourself,” he replied, shaking his head and happy to see that Elsie’s face now exhibited full-on grin mode. Damien grabbed two cans of beer from the carrier bag next to his hips and passed her one. “You’re just too weak to hit anything. It’s taking all of your strength just to hold that can. Hit me and you’d break apart into your constituent pieces. There’d be bits of stale spunk and fragments of rotting placenta scattered all over the grass.”

Elsie giggled. “You’re getting fucking worse, Damien.”

He nodded, happily. “I’ll take that as a compliment. Besides, I make you happy so stop being such a prude.” Damien spotted a new light, low in the sky, he sighed with relief what that new light doubled up. “You see. I told you to stop worrying,” he said, watching the headlights grow as the car approached the house. “You were getting your knickers in a twist over nothing.”

Damien shivered, he looked at Elsie and saw that the car had transfixed her, he blinked in surprise when she shivered as well.

“It won’t be long now before your Ben will have his tiny penis deep inside you. Admit it, lass, that’s the only reason why you were getting stressed out.”

His sister surprised him by refusing to bite. Was he losing his touch? Damien then found himself gazing at the approaching car as well. He couldn’t see if it was Ben’s car but that didn’t matter, although not many vehicles passed this way, even in the day, he knew that Elsie’s current boyfriend, Ben White, was in the driving seat.

His sister wrapped her fingers around his hand. “Admit it, Damien, despite all your piss taking and your constant crude remarks, you don’t really think that Ben’s a bad lad, do you?”

“You have been fucked by worse,” he replied, smiling when she viciously pinched the thin web of skin between his fingers.

“For crying out loud, Damien, will you please just give me a straight answer?” Elsie sighed loudly. “You know that I value your opinion above everyone else. Although I do sometimes wonder why I bother.”

How could he tell her the truth? Damien knew deep down that Ben was a decent enough lad, he was just a year older than the pair of them, had his own car, a decent job that gave him plenty of disposable income and Damien just knew that Ben doted on Elsie. He didn’t doubt that the lad would take care of his sister.

His reluctance stemmed from the fact that he didn’t want to see anyone turn her into a pet housewife, watching her priorities change to housework and doing the weekly shopping. Deep down, Damien didn’t want to lose her.

“You’ve gone very quiet, Damien. Come on, tell me, what do you honestly think of Ben?”

Damien shrugged before turning around to stare at the house. Who was he trying to kid? He tried to pretend that they were both a pair of rebels, what a load of crap that was. How many other seventeen year old kids stayed on a weekend at their aunties? He already knew the answer to that question, precisely none of them, they’d all be in the town centre, drinking their way through the pubs or having the time of their lives at house parties.

He used to look forward to visiting his aunt May, they both did. The woman hadn’t been able to have kids of her own so she always went out of her way to spoil them both stupid with sweets, unlimited television and lots of toys to play with. It used to be great coming to visit when they were kids, aunt May would give them anything they wanted. It wasn’t just the fact that she treat them like surrogate children, Damien was under the impression that spoiling them was her own way of apologising for her brother’s behaviour. Aunt May knew how much of a bastard their dad was to them at times.

They were getting older though and their needs had altered. The prospect of unlimited sweets and staying up until past midnight no longer had the same appeal.

“She’ll be sleeping for a while yet.”

Damien sighed. “She’ll never accept the fact that we’re not kids anymore, you know.”

“She will, it’ll just take time.” Elsie followed his gaze and smirked, “Right now, she won’t be bothering us tonight. I’ve made sure that she’ll sleep to at least morning.”

His stomach lurched, “Oh shit, what have you done?”

“Well, I didn’t want her to find me and Ben in her bed.”

He jerked up, aware that the car had stopped. “What the fuck have you done?” he hissed.

“I think you should cool your jets now, Damien. I just added some of her crushed up sleeping tablets to her mashed potatoes at our supper.”

“Are you out of your mind? You don’t know how that’ll affect her. That was so fucking stupid.”

“Oh hush your lips, you big girl’s blouse. Of course I know what they’ll do, it’ll keep her asleep. Don’t worry, I’ve done this before, I know what dose to give the woman.” Elsie got to her feet and waved at the two figures climbing the stairs and heading for their auntie’s huge back garden. “Ben might not have told you what he was bringing for you but he sure as hell told me all about her.” She sighed. “He’s not himself for the past few days, Damien and I did start to get some very odd ideas floating around my head.” She elbowed him in the ribs. Looks like I was wrong after all. I’m going to make sure that Ben doesn’t get any odd ideas.”

Were his eyes actually functioning correctly? Damien stared open mouthed at the young woman accompanying Ben up the stairs.

“You’re starting to drool,” his sister whispered. “Now you see why I wanted to make sure that aunt May stayed asleep.”

His first thought, once he had got past the black leather jacket straining to hold in her large breasts was that he had no idea who she was.

“Ben has found your poster girl. You make sure to thank Ben for bringing you a hottie.”

They were now close enough for Damien to see her face in detail. She was just gorgeous, and he was right, he had never seen her before. Their town wasn’t that small but he was sure he would have spotted a pretty young thing like her swanning around the area.

“Have fun with her, Damien.” She whispered, running down the grassy slope, towards Ben. “The bed is still ours!” shouted Elsie.

Damien leaned against a tree and watched his sister grab Ben’s hand then pull the lad over to the front door. He noticed that she didn’t even bother introducing herself to the new girl. His legs felt like jelly, the shaking increased as the girl neared. She really was a fucking stunner.

Her raven coloured hair was even longer that his, he longed to brush his fingers through it. Beneath the leather jacket, her black latex trousers just clung to her shapely legs, it looked like they were painted on her.

Elsie had her initial description perfect. She really did look as though the girl had just peeled herself off his wall. “I’d so like to peel that clothing off her,” he murmured. Damien wondered who he was kidding. “She won’t be interested in me.” As soon as that notion lodged in the back of his head, Damien’s bulge softened.

“Er, I’m sorry about my sister,” he stuttered. The girl slowed down then stopped a couple of paces in front of him. He felt his heart start to beat a little faster when her face softened into a smile. “Elsie isn’t normally that rude.”

He wanted to slap himself, after that, Damien would try to kick himself in the bollocks. Why the fuck did he have to go and spurt out with a stupid comment like that? It wasn’t the best of chat up lines.

This was so unreal, Damien had never been so tongue-tied before. He’d never before had any problem with charming members of the opposite sex, no matter how desirable. His mouth felt like the bottom of a budgie cage,

“Well, isn’t this a bit of a surprise?” she murmured, chuckling. “Ben did tell me that you were good looking but I thought he was having me on, you know? You really are a bit of a cutie-pie.”

The girl covered the last few strides, he blinked, not sure how she had done that. Damien swore that he hadn’t seen her move.

“You smell so different.” She leaned a little closer and breathed in. “Yeah, there is something about you.” She encircled his waist. I’m called Eleanor Slinta and you have confused me. That has not happened for a long time. Oh, don’t you worry, it’s not a bad thing.”

He fought the desire to push her away when he felt goose bumps spread under where she held him. The girl was freezing cold. “Would you like a drink or something, Eleanor?” Damien gazed down at the carrier bag. “Or perhaps a cup of tea or something, you seem to be a bit chilly.”

Damien’s awakened raging hormones drowned out the sensation of wrongness about this strange girl. Something deep inside his body was telling him to get away from her, to run as fast as he could. Damien suppressed that emotion and tried not to gasp as Eleanor dragged her long fingernail down the front of his shirt. Damien couldn’t help but yelp when she glided her long nails up the inside of his thigh.

“I think I’m going to enjoy the rest of this night.” Eleanor licked his earlobe and sighed, “I so need to find out why you are so different. Would you like me to taste you?”

“Oh yes please!” he gasped.

As soon as the girl released him and took a step back, he grabbed her jacket zipper and tugged it down, releasing Eleanor’s heavy breasts. Damien gasped again. She was perfect. Her contours were plainly visible through the gossamer veil of her black blouse.

She shrugged off her jacket then grabbed his wrists and placed Damien’s hands on her breasts.

“Oh fuck,” he murmured. He rubbed his thumbs over her hard pointed nipples.” I must be dreaming this.”

Eleanor chuckled. “You are so sweet.” The girl leaned forward and brushed her cold lips against his.

Damien stiffened.

“Sorry,” she said, giggling. “I know that I am not very warm. The heater in Ben’s car did not work.” Eleanor wrapped her arms around his chest. “Do not worry. I’m sure that you will be able to warm me up. Hmm, perhaps we could go find a quiet place to lie down?”

He nodded eagerly. “Oh yes please. You are so incredible.”

“The others have no concept of the pleasure that I get from milking the animals,” she said. “All those heightened emotions and volatile chemicals riding your body before you spit your germ so vitalises the experience.

Damien’s body shuddered, as her fingers travelled down his spine. He cried out even louder when he felt her teeth sink into the side of his neck.

The sharp pain was gone in an instant. Damien was so sleepy. The girl hadn’t moved away from his neck, but that was okay, it didn’t really hurt too much as long as he didn’t move. He felt his eyelids grown heavier. Everything was slowing down and Damien’s conscious thoughts were slipping away. The pleasant harmony of drifting into oblivion came to an abrupt end when Damien felt two heavy weights lands on his shoulders. He snapped open his eyes and saw two huge men stood beside him and Eleanor. They were both dressed in identical tattered leather trousers and tunics.

He couldn’t move his body. He then realised that there was another man stood behind him, digging his hard bony nails into Damien’s flesh. His mental apathy collapsed the instant that the two men ripped the girl from his neck. She fell back onto the grass. She smiled up at Damien. Thick red blood dribbled down her chin.

“Thank you,” she said, that was just exquisite.”

He watched her tongue escape from between her lips and, like a ravenous worm, licked the bottom of her face clean.

“What the fuck are you?” Damien slapped his fingers against his throat, moaning when they came away soaked in blood. “You’re a fucking vampire? You’ve got to be shitting me!”

He noticed the two men’s hungry eyes followed his hand until he wiped his palm against his trousers. “This is just so much bullshit.”

The figure behind Damien lifted his hands. When he turned his head, he saw the man had just vanished. Damien yelped when he looked back and saw there were now three men facing him. The middle one, smirked while the two others stood there with their arms folded.

“Get out of here, before I call the police!”

The man in the middle chuckled. “I think that it is way too late to cry for help now, boy.” He then glared at Eleanor. “You were told to just taste the beast, you spoilt little brat. You were not supposed to fill your greedy little face.” He then stared down at her exposed breasts. “We all watched how you allowed the food to maul your body, Eleanor. Does Desmonus know of your perversions? Maybe even he isn’t able to satisfy you?”

The girl growled, “You cannot tell me what to do, Caldis.” She got to her feet and snatched her jacket off the grass. “Desmonus is our First Father, you will treat him with the respect that he deserves. She shrugged into her jacket and zipped it up.

Damien felt a sigh of regret leave his lips.

Caldis spun around and broke into a deep laugh. “Look at what you have done. Your new pet is now enthralled! He took a deep breath then turned and tapped his two companions. They both nodded before sliding back, heading towards a slump of trees on the other side of the garden.

Damien tried to keep them in his vision but their serpentine movement threatened to give him a headache as he kept seeing them shimmer then appear to jump forward. He had never seen anything move in that way before in his life. Damien blinked and found that they were no longer to be seen.

“Were you too busy enjoying yourself with this beast to extract the required information?”

Eleanor sidled up to Damien. When she gave him a slight smile and a wink, he thought that his heart was about to burst.

“Don’t you dare question my judgment,” she hissed. “Desmonus put me in charge of this expedition. Just remember that. You and your two quarter-breed cast offs take orders from me. Of course I got what I wanted. He is just a stupid beast. They are not that hard to read. Even you, with some practice might eventually be able to pick out the occasional word from inside their animal minds.”

Caldis grunted. “Desmonus won’t shield you forever, you mouthy little bitch. You remember that. He’ll soon find another fine piece of firm flesh to change. You need to keep that in mind. You might have been his independent wife before the long sleep but now?” He cast his arm aside. “We have all seen that the beasts are a plague in this land. He can have of whichever piece of young flesh his lustful gaze lands upon.”

“You are so wrong, Caldis.”

He laughed again. “No I am not wrong. You are a spiteful, devious hag. The First Father will not put up with your tricks for much longer.”

The female just smiled, “maybe you do raise some good points, that none of us are indispensable. Does that include your good self as well? I’d wager that Desmonus has already made plans to remove you from the clan .” She leaned towards Damien. “They are in the trees, my new lover,” she whispered. Fall, roll and flee when they drop. I shall keep them occupied.

She hadn’t opened her mouth to tell Damien the last part. He watched her turn around and placed her body between him and the other one. Cade’s mind was in turmoil, unable to grasp the situation. There was something else too. Damien could feel his body reacting to the woman’s bite. The sensation of cold needles perforating his flesh speared out from the two puncture wounds. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling.

“There are only four beasts, including this one in the vicinity, and you were correct about this place being isolated, there is no other dwellings close by and the road is seldom travelled. I believe that it will serve our needs well.”

“For tonight, perhaps.”

She slammed her hands against her hips. Damien had managed to fasten his trousers and while he gazed at the girl’s firm behind, he felt the changes within his body accelerate, his strength returned and his muscles lost their ache. As his mind cleared, Damien realised that a hidden emotion had moved from dormancy. Behind his female shield, he suppressed a smirk, the girl was right about him being different and that disparity sought dominance. Damien welcomed it with open arms, now thankful that Eleanor had opened his gate.

“Should I be all that surprised to see that you have not changed, Caldis Autick? I must be a fool for believing that our long sleep might have distilled into you just a fraction of respect for our First Father. We would have all died if he had not saved us. Why do you continue to defy him?”

“I am the Swarmer Clan commander. It is my role to seek an alternative answer to his instructions.” Caldis drew himself up to his full height. “It is not my role to take orders from some ancient fishwife who is more devious than a snake with four heads.”

The girl just sighed. “And once again, I waste my precious breath talking to you. Even after all these centuries, we still bicker like young children arguing over a tasty treat. Although, I will admit that you have become worse after waking. Could that be because the mighty Clan commander has now just five warriors left to instruct?” She giggled. “Wait, my mistake. Desmonus has even taken three of them to explore that settlement. Oh, you poor sad vampire. He has only allowed you to play with these two slug-brained fools. I pity you, Caldis”

“You have no idea just how close you are to the truth there!” he cried. “Look at how these animals have spread across the land. It is not natural for them to breed like flies. We are Swarmers, Eleanor. Why are we not with him, in that settlement and feasting on all that bountiful flesh? Desmonus has forgotten why we exist. It is built into all of us to feed and infect until the surviving beasts are back to hiding in their filthy caves.”

Caldis’s two companions were now positioned in the tree above Damian’s head. Not only could he hear them moving about, he also sensed their excitable thoughts, they couldn’t contain their eagerness to drop on him and drain out the rest of his life-fluid. Just like the other male vampire, those two fools still believed that he was just a walking food container.

None of the males attempted to shield their thoughts. Oh, they still kept their personal mental static in place to prevent any of the others from worming into their heads but not from Damien. Then again, why should they guard against meat on the bone, an animal awaiting slaughter?

That beautiful woman stood before him had a clue of his linage, at least she did when his blood hit the back of her throat. Even if Damien was connected to their enemy, he still had the taint of the species running through his veins. He and his sister and always known that something set them apart from everyone else and now he knew, they were just like the four creatures around him, they were night hunters.

Damien felt his passion ignite at the sight of her well-defined body, they weren’t just hunters either. He shook away the thoughts of sex when he caught the thoughts of the ones above him, they were ready to jump and just awaiting the signal to kill him from Caldis. The man had more important subjects on his mind though. Caldis was to busy scowling at Eleanor.

He found that his skill of dipping into the other vampire’s mind was becoming much easier. Caldis craved for control of their tiny clan, eating Desmonus before forcing himself on the luscious female currently making Caldis feel so unimportant.

“You can fuck off,” growled Damien, “She’s mine.”

Eleanor spun around, “you just had to go and open your big, stupid mouth!”

He gazed in horror at her crimson eyes, set deep in her bestial face. The sweet looking girl was nowhere to be seen. Damien refused to believe that this nightmarish construct could be the same creature.

“Stop staring and run!” she screamed, looking up into the tree.

He didn’t need to follow the gargoyle’s terrifying eyes to knew that they were about to drop on him. Damien jumped back, twisted his body while sensing the two blood-crazed minds snap. He streaked across the grass, heading towards the house, knowing that they were all right behind him and gaining.

They were all chasing him now. Caldis’s mind, boiling over with fury drowned out all the other thoughts. Damien reached the front door and glanced behind him, the four monstrous creatures raced across the grass. He wrenched open the door and ran inside. Damien knew that it was a futile gesture as he slammed home the two bolts but he figured that it would give him a few precious moments so he could save his sister.

Damien ran past the open living room door, spotting his Aunt sprawled out along the sofa. He discovered that her life now meant nothing to him; all he desired to do was the get his sister away from this isolated house, to find somewhere safe and work out exactly what they were going to do now.

Why was he not horrified at the plain fact that he, like those fiends outside, now considered that sleeping woman as food? There were no emotional attachments left; she was just livestock to him now. If that sense of indifference applied to his Aunt, why was he so concerned with saving his sister?

The heavy wooden door shuddered in its frame, shattering the silence in the house. Damien sensed no change in her sleeping pattern, there was no chance of the new noises disturbing her, his sister was right about her not waking until the morning.

Damien took his eyes off her exposed thighs, he knew that the males outside would not be able to resist the sight of all that flesh. Her sleeping body would give him enough time to get his sister out of this house. He raced up the stairs and stopped at the top. The door finally gave in to their assault and just as he predicted they all ran into the living room, except for the female. She walked over to the foot of the stair and gazed up, seeking out his face.

This woman will not keep their lust quiet for long. Search for me, my new lover. We have unfinished business.

She turned around and disappeared into the living room. Damien hurried along the bedroom, knowing that the female had a point, he didn’t have much time to get her out of the house. He stopped in front of his aunt’s bedroom door, sensing the three vampires below, pulling, ripping and tearing off the remainder of his Aunt’s clothing.

The woman’s instinct for self-preservation finally rose to the surface and the burst of adrenalin flushed the drowsiness out of her body. Through her eyes, Damien saw two of them spread her legs wide as Caldis started to unfasten his trousers.

The last piece of Damien’s humanity screamed out, begging him to intervene and stop them from containing their vile act. He pushed that thought away and left the woman’s mind, cringing when she screamed out. Her noise came to an abrupt end and he guessed that one of one had pushed something into her mouth.

“She’s just meat,” he murmured, grabbing the door handle.

Damien pushed open the door and looked at the confusion at the empty bed stood in the middle of the floor. There was no sign of them. The couple had been here, that was obvious from the dishevelled bed covers.

“Where are you?” he hissed.

This didn’t make sense. Damien could even hear their thoughts.

“Elsie!

He dropped to the floor and checked under the bed before running over to the large wardrobe stood at the far end of the room. He pulled open the doors.

“What the fuck had happen to you?” screamed his sister. “Get away from me.”

They were both huddled at the base of the wardrobe, shaking like leaves. It took a moment for him the spot that they were both naked.

Damien caught his reflection in the small mirror bolted to the inside of the door. He looked back at the crimson eyes staying back at him

“You need to come with me.” he said.

Elsie shrank back into the wardrobe,

“I don’t have time for this nonsense.” Damien reached inside and effortlessly pulled them both out.

You need to change her right now, my lover. She’ll only want to take the food. Bite your sister. You need to turn her into one of us. It’s the only way that you’ll both get out of here in one piece.

Damien nodded. He wrapped his hand around Ben’s wrist and dragged him over to the door, fighting off his sister’s futile attempts to stop him.

“What are you doing, leave Ben alone!”

He could feel the others now slowly making their way up the stairs. Damien pulled open the door, threw him out into the hall the slammed the door shut, he leaned against the wood, ignoring the man’s frantic beating. Damien growled, feeling his blood lust rise. The sight of his naked sister was making him hard again. He violently pulled her over to him, sunk his enlarged canines into her throat, and drank deep.

Her warm blood re-energised him, giving him strength and vitality.  He sensed the others reaching Ben and dragging his screaming body down the hallway.

Damien suppressed a quiet chuckle and threw his sister’s naked body over his shoulder. He glanced across at the window on the over side of the bedroom, knowing that time was running out. If he didn’t make use of it, those things would soon be tearing into their flesh. Even with this knowledge, he couldn’t stop himself from opening the door, just a crack. Damien so needed to watch them.

The blood from Ben’s shattered body had coloured aunt May’s carpet crimson. The four vampires had pulled him apart, fighting over his meat like jackals scrabbling over a carcass. Damien watched Eleanor back hand one of the larger vampires when he pawed at her breasts. His emotions flared up and a low growl left his throat. Damien quickly pulled his head away and clicked the door shut when the female jerked her head up. He ran for the window, feeling like such a fool for staying so long.

It was time to return home, and time for their mother to explain exactly why she had kept this knowledge hidden from the pair of them.

Chapter Three

She twisted her hands into rigid claws and jerked both arms hard against the wall. Darlene screamed out in frustration as her fingers just pushed through the tissue-thin membrane. The thick gelatinous material beneath the skin coated her flesh and dribbled down her bare arms.

The crimson light below her body grew brighter as she continued to fall down the well. “Help me!” she cried, feeling the freezing cold jellied material slide past her elbows. Darlene clamped her mouth shut and forced her gaze away from the light under her feet. She frowned, watching the stuff around her arms thicken up, she now found herself immobile, unable to move her limbs as the translucent jelly started to harden like resin, Darlene’s velocity stopped and she just hang in mid-air, feeling like a fly caught in a web.

“I must be dreaming this,” she gasped, desperately trying to hold back the panic. Darlene stared at the curved, red wall in front face. It looked like the inside of somebody’s throat. It rippled out, like a stone dropped in water, and the flesh blistered, the skin expanding and growing towards her. Her struggling only caused the stuff around her arms to tighten. The bubble continued to increase in size, getting closer to her flesh. She choked back a sob as the bubble detonated, covering her face in dark red blood.

Darlene jerked, she arched her back and shrieked out in orgasmic pleasure as she felt her skin pores opened up and greedily absorbed the fluid running across her body. The influx of alien fluid rushed through her system, pooling at the base of her skull. She jerked again when the stuff stripped off the outer skin of amnesia, protecting her newest mental incarnation. The dozens of her layered past lives unravelled and filled her screaming mind with a thousand fragmented memories.

The dried fibrous material webbing her limbs, lost cohesion and Darlene dropped like a shell fired from a cannon. The intense crimson light filled her vision, blocking out every other detail. She shrieked out all her past names, each one triggering more recollections from her hidden existence.

She shot up in bed, opened her eyes then leaned over the side and vomited foul smelling, runny blood over her carpet. Darlene stayed still, allowing her delicate stomach to stop churning before she flopped back into the cold sheets.

Darlene fixed her eyes on the light shade, even in the low light; she had no problem in seeing the decorative dome surrounding the bulb. The fact that she could see better than a cat in the dark didn’t surprise her, why should it? Darlene now knew of her true nature, her linage and of her future role.

Darlene frowned, she still felt as weak as a human. “This is not right. I’m still not complete.” Darlene refused to believe that after even after her rebirth she still felt this fragile.

She coughed, tensing her muscles when another slight spasm rippled through her guts. She frowned, this wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Darlene was reborn. She’d shed all her previous lives and was ready to take her place along side her true husband. “So why the fuck do I still feel so weak? Am I not yet complete?”

“You left me down there for too long, you bastard!” She growled, feeling her fury rising. His second bite must not be enough to complete her. She’d spent too many lives, living amongst the flock. She still needed more of his blood.

Darlene growled and jumped out of the bed, “You should have finished it all those years ago,” she shouted, storming over to the door. “Where are you hiding?  You can’t leave me half finished!”

“I know where he’ll be,” she said. “He’ll be downstairs, waiting for me in the kitchen and expecting his faithful wife to go and run into his welcoming arms.” Darlene so desired to do just that. But, there was still a small part of her old self that was a little pissed off and annoyed to find that her husband wasn’t in the bedroom, waiting for Darlene to waken.

“He promised to embrace me,” she muttered, reaching for the gown that she left on the floor. Darlene stopped and stood back up. No, she wasn’t going to cover her body with that thing. She knew exactly what to wear.

If her real husband expected her to go looking for him then he could think again, nor would she cower down and beg him to complete the process. She looked over at the window, smiling at the gorgeous sight of the fat pale moon hanging over the rooftops. There were lakes of rich blood pumping through the veins of uncountable people just beyond these walls. All that unsuspecting food, running around the land, actually believing that they were lords and masters of all they surveyed. Of course they believed that nonsense. Their true masters only existed in legends and locked away in a deep area of their feeble minds. She’d have the pick of the crop, Darlene would be like a ravenous fox; let loose in a huge chicken coop.

That though, could wait until she had found some suitable attire. Their new queen desired to meet her subjects in good-looking clothing, preferably items that would not stain easily. Darlene reached her wardrobe and pulled it open, giving at her clothes collection and sighing, wondering what possessed her to even contemplate wearing any of this foul, shabby and offensive fabric. She gazed down at her beautiful body, admiring her full contours. Darlene grew wet at the delicious thought of that huge creature downstairs using her body in so many unimaginable ways.

“No,” she muttered, trying to calm down. “If my husband really was that needy, he would be here already.” Darlene slowly dragged her fingers down her breasts, lingering on her nipples, imagining his rough hands taking hold and squeezing. Her body responded to her touch by sending sharp needle of pain through her guts.

“Oh, that hurts.” Darlene reached out and grabbed the door handles, gripping them tight, trying not to fall. She craned her head towards the closed bedroom door, sure that she heard footsteps outside in the hallway.

“Help me?”

Darlene’s tear-blurred eyes found the door. As she shifted them down to the handle, just praying to see it swing down. “Please, I’m so to. I didn’t mean to…” An intense wave of solid agony slammed into her guts. She arched her back as the hot pain shot up her spine. Darlene let go of the wardrobe and crashed into the soft carpet.

The pain just washed through her body and left Darlene feeling as weak as a new-born kitten. “What is wrong with me?” She rolled onto her front and pushed her body up, slowly crawling over to the end of the bed. Darlene felt her hot tears drip from her skin and fall into the carpet weave, not that surprised to see her expelled liquid was the colour of deep red roses.

“I’m a little shocked to see my new talent works on you as well. I thought it only immobilised the humans, what a sad, pathetic creature you are.”

She slammed her jaws together, not even aware that her enlarged canines had sliced into her gums. The hot pain had returned. She cried out, not allowing it to beat her again. The ache from her complaining muscles drowned out every other pain as she moved her head, but she just had to see who had entered the room.

Darlene followed the large shadow that fell across her shivering body and saw a familiar looking figure framed in the doorway. She blinked in confusion, not sure if her eyes were lying to her. “Is that really you, Paul?” she whispered, unable to look away from the huge man blocking the light from the hallway.

He took a single step into the bedroom and chuckled. She caught her breath at the sight of her ex-lover staring down at her. His eyes had lost their innocence; all she saw in there now was cruelty and a tinge of pity. It came as a huge shock to sense only disgust oozing from him.

Darlene slowly crawled away from Paul, every movement was a struggle, the pain cut into her like shards of broken glass.

“You don’t look very happy to see me, my dirty little rabbit.” He opened his mouth wide, laughing at her quiet gasp. “You thought you had killed him, that I was your first meal. Oh dear.”

“You, you mean, you’re like me?”

She gazed up at her ex-lover. The man was massive, he’d gained another foot in height and he had filled out.

Paul shrugged. “You still haven’t got it, my dear. Oh yeas, it’s true that I’ve grown.” He winked, “Yeah, I did snatch that from your open mind, Darlene. But, I’m not like you, my sweet.” Paul ran over to her and flung Darlene onto the bed. “I’m much more than you though, you selfish bitch,” he snarled. “You’re looking at the finished product. You fucked up, Darlene, you’re pathetic. Neither human or vampire.”

He sat on the side of the bed, the springs complaining under his extra weight. “I suppose that I should thank you. You see, for the first time in my life, I am no longer have to cower before my father or hide from him in my bedroom while he took out his frustration on my mother.”

He leaned forward and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. “Did it feel good when you bit into the side of my neck and drank deep?” he sighed. “I can see from your eyes that it did feel good, it was better than anything else you have ever experienced, like a hundred orgasms combined with a thousand light bulbs exploding inside your mind. I know, because it’s how I felt after I had drained my father.” He giggled. “I’ll let you in on a little secret, the first one is always the sweetest. I’ve drunk from another four more necks since I killed that old bastard and none have come close to how he made me feel.”

The pain in her body vanished, leaving her feeling washed out and ravenous but she still believed she had enough energy to at least escape. Darlene felt his powerful mind slicing through her like an unstoppable tornado, ripping away her memories layer by layer. She found it unable to fight back, but she did find ways to block him from sections of her thoughts. The desire to escape was pushed into her secret fortress.

“Unlike me, my victims will not be coming back. You see, I ripped them into tiny little bits once I had drunk my fill. I can’t tell you how much fun that was. I once had a friend at school who used to get off by pulling legs and wings off insects. He’s in a home now. The freak moved up to doing the same to cats and dogs. I always thought that people like that should be put down.” He laughed. “And now I’m just like that, only far worse.” False concern flickered in his eyes. “How are you feeling, honey? You don’t look so pathetic anymore. Some of your strength is flowing back into your tired body, yes?”

Paul’s mental probes battered down the locked doors in her mind, eagerly drinking down the all of her locked up knowledge. He moaned softly. She moaned with him. “Shall we both find out what our new bodies are capable of?”

He grinned. “Oh yes.”

His mental probes left her, as he fought to climb out of his clothes. She waited until his lust had taken full control of the man before leaping onto him, her long teeth fastening onto his throat.

He roared out in pain and surprise, trying to dislodge her, but she held on tight, digging her nails deep into his flesh as her hot blood flooded his mouth. He spun around and slammed her into the wall. Darlene cried out as he thrust his head back, his hard skull crashing into her nose.

She fell off him, sliding down the wall. Darlene screamed out in frustration when she felt his long fingers encircle her ankle.

“I’m going to rip off your head for tricking me like that, you fucking cow!” he shouted.

She managed to throw her hands under her to stop her head from smashing against the floor. Darlene kicked out with her free leg, snarling when Paul caught that one as well. He pinned them down then crawled up her body. When she tried to push him off, he swung his fist and punched her hard in the stomach.

Darlene glared into his crimson eyes, sensing uncertainty. “Fuck you,” she spat. “It looks like you aren’t as strong as you thought.”

His blow just bounced off her hard flesh. Darlene bucked, giggling when Paul bounced off her body. She jumped to her feet and raced after the vampire who was trying to crawl under her bed.

“I can feel your slimy fingers trying to find an entrance into my head.” She stopped and watched him pull his body further under her bed. The temptation to remove the rest of his precious blood would have to at least wait until she had found something to wear. Darlene wanted the pain last a little longer. She just had no wish to feel his eyes crawling across every contour of her body.

She resisted the urge to shiver, walked over to her wardrobe and put the door between her and him. Now that she had beaten him into submission and gained the upper hand, some of the intense heat inside her cooled a little, allowing her to get her thoughts in order.

As she looked through her clothing, Darlene ran her tongue across her teeth, searching for any pieces of flesh that she might have missed. “This outfit is just perfect,” Darlene said, giggling when her probing tongue found a segment of his flesh lodged between her teeth.

Feeling more confident dressed, Darlene walked back to Paul, smiling as he drew his legs further under the bed. She crouched down, catching sight of his hooded eyes. The sight of his hot blood leaking out of him made her mouth water. It annoyed her to see it go to waste, soaking into the carpet.

“I’ve always loved you,” he whispered. Paul licked his cracked lips. “I still do, you know. Despite the weird filth that your fangs put into me when you first bit into my neck, I’ll always love you. The alien poison might paint over my humanity, but it will never be able to take that from me.”

“You’re lying, you just tried to kill me!” she screamed.

Paul shook his head. “The vampire in me craved vengeance and I hurt you, Darlene, but I would never kill you though.”

She thrust her mind into his, surprised at the ease on her entry. The dying vampire’s mind showed her whatever she desired to know. Through his eyes, Darlene watched him stumble out of her house. His confused thoughts, struggling to come to terms with the rapid and vicious change spreading through his shivering body at lightning speed.

Paul headed for home, his mind focused on his bedroom, the boy’s only sanctuary. Every other coherent thought unable to find purchase.

Both of his parents jumped out of their chairs when he burst into the living room. Their reactions to his grand entrance were Paul’s first anchor to base reality, a familiar situation that his swirling thoughts could hold on to.

His mother flinched, her terrified features, crunching up in confusion. It was only the reassuring glance from her husband that stopped her shaking. She finally settled back down in her chair and turned her attention back to the glowing television.

Paul watched his father act in his usual method by raising his voice and his fists.

Darlene blinked, the image of Paul’s living room faded away, leaving only the faint scent of stale tobacco and cheap air freshener. “What just happened to me?” she saw that his eyes were still closed. Without glancing at his large canines and ignoring his extra body mass, Paul could almost pass for that beautiful strong boy who once helped her get through the dark days when she turned to the lure of prescription drugs.

“Instead, you’ll now become addicted to human blood.” Paul’s eyes opened just a crack.

“You were able to read that?”

He nodded. “The thought was too strong to ignore.” He chuckled softly then stopped as his laughter turned into coughing. “We did have some good times though, Darlene.” He groaned then spat out a gobbet of deep red-stained phlegm. He then turned his eyes and stared at her. “He’s here you know, right now, waiting for you in the kitchen. You haven’t sensed him yet but I did, the bastard entered the house just as I caught your ankle.”

He coughed again. “Darlene, you have to finish me. It’s what he expects you to do.”

“What do you mean?” she cried. “I don’t understand.”

“Yes you do, Darlene. Your first husband is waiting for you downstairs. That fucker just knew that I’d come back to you. Can’t you see? I’m supposed to be your first full meal. You’ll only then attain your full status after you have turned my body into a dried husk.”

Darlene watched in fascination as he rolled out from under the bed and painfully lifted his body, sitting cross-legged in front of her. Paul really did want her to drink him dry.

“I can feel your cold touch in my head, Darlene. That is such a powerful gift.” He rested his hands on her arms. “My new talent only incapacitated the animals and the lesser developed vampires. You need to keep your talent hidden, my sweet. You can’t let him know that you have the power to steal thoughts from his mind.”

Paul’s whole body shivered as he slammed a clawed hand against the side of his blood soaked neck. He pinched the flesh between his fingers and yanked his hand back. The skin stretched like tight elastic before finally tearing. His thick blood burst from the jagged wound. Paul fell forward against her chest. “You have to drink from me,” he moaned.

Darlene couldn’t help herself. The sight of so much blood sent her into a frenzy. She pushed her face against the torn flesh, opened her mouth wide and guzzled down the hot crimson liquid. Spasms of ecstasy ripped through her body as the last of Paul’s fluid flowed down her throat.

Her gratification was ripped away when she felt her prize pulled from her teeth. Darlene blinked at the re-emergence of light in her eyes. She whimpered at the sight of someone dumping Paul’s body onto the bed.

“Amulius, is that you?”

Her vampire husband slowly turned. He bent down and wrapped his fingers around her waist. He then lifted Darlene off the floor. “You are not meant to play with your food, my wife.” The vampire threw her.

Darlene cried out as her back slammed into the wall. She opened her eyes, trying not to move while she watched the First Father grab Paul’s body by his arm and leg and carry it towards the bedroom window.

“Please no,” she moaned, “Don’t do that.”

Amulius dropped Paul’s leg and then punched his fist through the glass. He picked up the limp body and pushed it through the window. “I do not understand your concern, my wife. It is just forgotten meat.” He shook his head then walked past her and sat down on the edge of the bed. “You are experiencing the shock of the first bite. There is so much alien blood running through your body right now, my wife. Your mouth knows not what it vomits out. Be thankful that I know of your experience.”

“I’m going to force my fingers through your stomach and pull out all your insides, you fucking bastard freak.”

The First Father released a heavy sigh. He slowly stood up and walked over to her body. “It is clear that you have too much alien blood inside you.” He dropped to his knees, grabbed her ankles and violently jerked her towards him. Amulius leaned over, raised his arm and back-handed her.

The sudden pain of feeling his blow break her jaw, ripped through her face. The agony blocked out every other thought.

“Do not move,” he growled, moving up her body and pinning Darlene to the floor. “Your energy is needed elsewhere now.”

She couldn’t have moved, even if she wanted to. Darlene closed her eyes, trying to think of ways to kill the bastard that had just damaged her. Try as she might, her brain just wouldn’t show her any pleasing images. Darlene then found that the pain had lessened, but it hadn’t gone away, not completely. Without the discomfort, she now could actually feel her broken jawbone knitting together.

“All of that excess energy that was overwhelming your frail body now has a specific task. Instead of lashing out at your husband, it is healing you. Amulius climbed off her body and strode back over to the broken window.

“The most important lesson is to remember here is that abstinence is the way of the Deathgazer Clan. If you allow your passion to run rampant then your vampire essence will control your fate.” He picked Darlene off the floor and held her in his arms. “The vampire inside you only craves one thing and that is a constant supply of fresh blood. If you go the way of the Swarmer, the candle will burn twice as bright but your life will be measured in just weeks and months. You are a pure breed now, you’re my queen. As soon as we rid this new world of the filth, you and I will make this world our own and we shall reign together.”

Darlene smiled back, some of her fears had gone, only to be replaced by one more fear. She had not yet told him that she had two kids. How would her children fit into his scheme? How would Elsie and Damien fit into her new life now?

The first Father released her and walked over to the doorway. “I believe that you should collect a few of your cherished items. I will meet you on the floor below.” He smiled again. “Our new life will be so sweet.”

She watched him go then walked over to her bed. Darlene then ran over to the window and gazed outside, there was no sign of Paul’s body.

Chapter Four

Even with his eyes shut tight, Cade could not escape from the agony and fear twisted into their desiccated faces. An unpleasant amalgamation of the five victims that they had found so far etched their mark into his psyche.

“Oh God!” hissed Katy, get back over here, they’ve found us again.”

Cade snapped opened his eyes, grimacing at the dried up corpse staring back at him. He glanced to the side and saw three figures framed at the end of the alleyway. This was so unfair. He honestly believed that they had given those bastards the slip this time. Cade took a step back, catching the back of his foot on a brick. He stumbled and thrust his arms forward to stop him from falling backwards. Cade’s fingers clutched one of the bin bags beneath the corpse and he pulled it out from under it. Its head fell backwards, the heavy skull slamming against his wounded arm. Cade gritted his teeth in pain, watching the bandage soak with fresh blood.

As he pulled his arm back, the bandage slipped off, coating the thing’s head with his blood. A violent shiver travelled through the corpse. “No fucking way,” he uttered, watching his blood disappear into the leather-like flesh stretched over its skull.

Cade jumped away from the thing, gazing in utter shock as the corpse attempted to sit up. Katy scrambled out from her hiding place and pulled him behind pair of green wheelie bins. He watched their pursuers walk into the alleyway and resisted the overwhelming urge to grab Katy and run in the opposite direction. He daren’t move. Those fuckers would see them and be on him and Katy in seconds.

“Is it really them, Cade?”

He nodded back, knowing that she was just hoping that their visitors would turn out to be some tramps looking for a place to bed down for the night. Cade didn’t take his eyes off their progress. “Yeah, I can smell them.” He heard her next words catch in the back of her throat. Katy didn’t question his confirmation, not anymore. After over an hour of playing hide and seek in the town with these resurrected monsters, Katy had come to rely on his unnerving ability to recognise their enemy.

“Please tell me they haven’t spotted us,” she whispered.

Cade shrugged. He didn’t think so. They seemed to be more concerned over the corpse that was now trying to raise both its arms. He gazed down at the large kitchen knife tucked into his belt and swallowed hard. Even with the blade he knew the chances of trying to take down just one of those things were slim. The corpse had now managed to get to its feet and was slowly standing up. It turned towards the three approaching figures.

Cade gripped the knife handle, feeling Katy wrap some clean cloth around his other arm. The lead figure reached the corpse, ducked under its arms and pushed it back onto the bin bags. He held his breath, not wanting it to detect either of them. Cade watched it turn its head and gaze directly at their hiding position. It lifted its head and sniffed the air, like a hungry mongrel dog. He felt Katy tense up and caught her reaching for her own knife. If those things did walk over to investigate, Cade would ensure that he got at least one knife thrust into its chest before it ripped him apart.

“What are you doing?”

The lead figure shook off the corpse’s arms, pushed it back then spun around and faced its two companions. “Have you two not cleaned the shit out of your nostrils? There’s the sweet scent of fresh blood in the air.”

“Of course there is, Cranus, you docile fool. It is coming from us.”

“Healiod, both you and your slow brother have horse dung inside your heads.” Cranus reached out. He wrapped his long fingers around the corpse’s neck and lifted it up before flinging it viciously against the wall. When its body slammed into the bricks, it just fell apart like a large lump of dried clay. “Something caused that dried up dead thing to wake up, unless, you were stupid enough to leave some blood in the vessel.”

This was the first time that Cade had been close enough to see their pursuers clearly. He couldn’t get over their size, all three of them were built like American wrestlers and none of the figures was less than six foot.

It was the size of their wolf-like canines that made Cade’s blood run cold. He tried not to imagine the terrible agony of feeling those dagger teeth slicing into his flesh and ripping into him as if he was just a piece of tender steak on somebody’s plate. Despite all his earlier denials, there was no doubt that these things were vampires. There was just no doubt left inside him anymore. Cade thought back to that terrible vision that he’d experienced inside that cavern and now allowed the images to finally sink in.

Cade watched the three vampires turn their backs on him, still arguing. All three carried the same emblem, branded into their naked backs. The same mark stamped into that little girl’s arm and the same one on those invading vampires that had torn that man apart. Cade pushed the knife back into his belt and rolled up his sleeve, looking at his own mark.

“I belong to their enemy,” he murmured. “I’m just a fucking branded farm animal.”

“This is a bad dream and I can’t wake from it!” Katy peered over the top of the wheelie bin. “Oh my God, they are a bunch of blood-drinking fucking vampires.” She glared down at Cade. “Please tell me you saw their teeth?” The girl rubbed her eyes. “This really is too much to take in.”

He nodded. “Would you kick me if I said, I told you so?”

Instead of lashing out, her face just collapsed. “What are we going to do now?”

He pulled the girl into his embrace. He believed that he could smell her fear he held her hot body tight against his, feeling her shivers against his chest. He just hoped that some part of the old scornful and strong-minded Katy was still inside her somewhere.

This new and vulnerable Katy had been in this dangerous condition ever since they had managed to flee from the girl’s own garden just minutes before entering this alleyway.

Their cat and mouse game that they had played with the pursuing creatures had almost ended with this capture. Cade didn’t doubt that they’d both be dead if it hadn’t been for Cade’s strange, new ability to sense when any of them were close by.

After fleeing across half the town with those silent creatures close on their trail, Katy had just stopped dead, right in the middle of the road and begged Cade to take her home, insisting that it was only a few streets from where they were. He’d taken her hand then pulled her out of the street, gazing nervously behind them. They hadn’t spotted their pursuers for some time now and just hoped that maybe they’d given them the slip.

Cade had allowed the girl to lead him along the pavements, keeping close to the hedges, and not allowing his attention to wander. Katy looked ready to collapse and he knew that he wasn’t that far behind. Both physical and mental exhaustion wanted to claim him. Their unknown trackers had run them into the ground.

He watched her pushed open a gate and Cade had to find the energy to chase after her and stop the girl from running up the path. Once again, his senses had gone into overdrive as soon as they reached the house. Cade watched multiple shadows converge around a parked car in the driveway of a neighbour’s house.

They had been lucky to escape with their lives on that occasion.

“Katy, listen to me. I still think that we shouldn’t deviate from my original idea,” he replied. “We ought to go back to my house. My mum has got some serious explaining to do.”  Cade closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying not to think of what he’d do if she couldn’t explain why a bunch of vampires were now running around town.

“I don’t understand why they are chasing us, Cade.” She grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “Are you listening to me?”

He snapped open his eyes and pulled her hands away. “Of course I’m listening to you. While we’re on that subject, there’s something else that’s been troubling me. “Why haven’t they caught us by now?”

Her shakes came back with vengeance and Katy just wrapped her arms around his body. “Please don’t say things like that.”

Cade pushed that thought out of his mind, just hoping that it was just the fact that they really had been very lucky and not that these things were just playing with them. “I bet you any amount of money that my mum has one of these birthmarks somewhere on her body as well.”

“You don’t know?”

He shook his head. “No, I haven’t a clue. I mean I’ve seen most of my mum’s body, but not all of it.” Cade chuckled. “Bloody hell, just how pervy did that sound? Look, we’ll find out soon, we’re not that far from home.”

He rolled down his sleeve and looked over at the entrance. “I wish they could have stayed a few moments longer,” he said, watching the last of them leave the alley. “Don’t look at me like that, we might have found out what they were doing.”

“It’s fucking obvious, they hunting us down and killing everybody. Shit, this is dumb, why aren’t we going to the police?”

He sighed then slowly stood up. “If you recall, sweetheart, that was your idea?”  Cade walked over to the pile of dust and bent down to examine it. Going through the snatches of conversation that he’d managed to overhear, those things were feeding from the locals; that bit he’d already worked out. Cade guessed that after being stuck down a well for God knows how many years they were bound to be a bit hungry.

“We should go.”

“You still want to go to the police?”

Katy shook her head, “No, you’re right about what you said earlier, they wouldn’t believe anything we told them.”  She stood behind him. “Do you think my mum and dad will be alright?”

Cade stood up. “Sure they will, you already told me that they’re in bed asleep, I don’t think those monsters are breaking into people’s houses, they’re just picking off people in the streets.”

“I still think we still need to warn somebody,” she said.” Katy dug out her phone and looked around. “Oh Christ, I still can’t wrap my head over the fact that they are vampires.”

“Nobody will believe it, Katy. Just remember that.” He watched her features change from hope to disappointment. She thrust her phone into her back pocket and sighed. “I take it there’s still no answer?”

The girl didn’t reply. She just looked back at the mess on the floor before marching away from Cade. “Are you coming or what?” she asked. “I thought we were going to your mums?”

It pleased Cade to see some of her fire return; he suspected that they were both going to need the resilience to help get them through the rest of this night. He caught up to her, trying to think back to anything in his past that might have given him some clue to how he could be linked to these terrifying events. Perhaps he was just reading too much into this and his vision had nothing to do was some kind of racial vision handed down through the generations.

He felt his birthmark itch again. Cade grabbed the girl and threw her to the floor. He covered her with his body and hastily threw a few sheets of crumpled newspaper over his head. Through the gaps in the sheets Cade watched the group of vampires run past the opening. They were close enough for him the smell them. All four of the things stunk of the grave.

Cade counted to five until he climbed off her body; they were in too much of a rush to have sensed them. Even so, just how many chances did they have left before one of those things did catch them? He gently picked Katy up, then stooped back down and scooped her phone from the ground. “It must have fallen out of your pocket” he said, smiling.

Katy flung her arms around his neck. “Oh my God, they almost caught us! Please tell me we’re safe now?”

He pulled the girl back and shrugged. “Sweetheart, you know that can’t answer that.” Cade took her hand. “Come on, we’re safe now, at least for the moment. It’s not far from here.” His birthmark had warned him of their presence. As far as he was concerned, that just sealed the deal; his mother had some serious explaining to do.

Cade saw no sign of any of those things when he pulled Katy out of the alleyway and onto the main high street. They ran over the empty road, keeping his eyes open for any sign of them returning. He stopped a tall wooden gate and reached his hand over the top, trying to find the bolt. It had been over a decade since he had used this route to get back home. When he was nine years old, it seemed perfectly acceptable for him to cut through other people’s gardens in order to get back to his house. Then, though, he would have made short work of scaling a six-foot fence. He sighed when his probing fingers caught hold of the bolt. After a moment of cursing he managed to pull it back. Cade slowly pushed open the gate. He looked inside before leading Katy into the garden. He closed the gate and slammed the bolt home.

“Please tell me that your neighbour isn’t a dog owner,” whispered Katy.

“No, don’t worry,” he hissed back. “The old guy who lives here has a…” Cade suddenly stopped talking, his mouth dried up.

“Oh please, don’t tell me that it’s not those things again,” she moaned. “Cade, what’s wrong?”

He shook his head, wishing she’d be quiet. He then peered through one the gaps in the gate. “I can hear a car,” he replied, trying to calm his racing heart. Everyone knew that there were only two types of cars that cruised through the deserted streets of Welbourgh at this stupid time. He just hoped to God that is wasn’t a taxi.

Cade saw the blue lights on the roof and almost cried out with relief. “Oh, thank you, God,” he said, grinning like a loon. All their troubles would be over now. The authorities would sort these things out. Hell, he could now just step back and watch the police marksmen take them out with the minimum of ease. He didn’t care what powers these monsters had and how strong they were, those things were just flesh and bone. Hell, they’d been inert for a thousand years, they’d have no idea of the damage that modern weapons would have on their bodies.

“What the bloody hell are you playing at?” hissed Katy, slapping Cade’s hand away from the latch on the gate.

Cade couldn’t believe that she’d just done that. “Are you insane?” he growled. The police need to know about what’s out there. I bet they’ll have shotguns in their car. They’ll easily take them out.”

The girl looked at him as if he had suddenly grown a new head. “Cade, what planet do you live on? This is Welbourgh. It isn’t New York!”

The police car slowly rolled past their hiding place. Cade clearly saw the occupants, the driver looked asleep and his passenger was sipping from a thermos. The girl’s words whirled around his head, he had no idea where he got that idea from. Welbourgh wasn’t exactly the crime capital of the world. The closest these clowns had ever got to a major crime would be the same as Cade, watching it on television.

Cade’s stomach gracefully did a pirouette when he saw a shadow on the other side of the street grow. Oh hell, those things hadn’t gone anywhere. The bastards must have been watching them all the time, peering out from their own hiding place, alert for any movement.

“We are so dead,” he cried, watching the figures all leap over a low brick wall and silently run, in single file, across the street. Cade paused, seeing that they weren’t heading for their position. Their target was the police car. For some stupid reason, he hoped that their primitive brains wouldn’t understand what it was, that coming towards them would be some kind of metal animal. That idea slipped away when two of them leaped onto the car bonnet and peered through the windscreen.

They knew exactly what they had found. To them, this was just a big can of cold meat. All they needed to do was to find a way inside.

Cade prayed that they’d just slam their foot down and get the fuck out of here. Instead, just like he feared, the car screeched to a halt. As soon as the doors opened, the vampires leaned inside and dragged the men out of the vehicle.

The girl pulled him away from the gate. “Come on!”

Cade nodded, swallowing down the bile and feeling like a complete coward for not going over to help those poor men. He ran through the overgrown grass, heading towards the house. He still expected to hear the sound of at least one of those killers leap over the tall gate.

The only sound that reached his ears was the wet noise of chewing as those monsters ate through their victim’s bodies. The poor bastards hadn’t even had time to scream out.

Katy pushed past him and quickly glanced behind her. “You’re slowing down!” she gasped. “Hurry up, I don’t want to be next.” Katy vaulted over the front garden fence then turned around and pulled Cade over the fence. “I almost got us both killed,” she cried, collapsing into his arms. Oh fuck, those coppers are dead because of me! If those vampires hadn’t chased us, they would still be alive”

“How did you work that out?” he said, trying to calm the girl by running his fingers through her hair. “You wanted to check on your parents. It’s okay, anyone would have done the same.”

“No it isn’t. They’re not even there. I lied, Cade. They are both on holiday.”

Cade wiped the tears from her face. “Wait, I don’t understand.

“Shit, you really don’t get it, do you?” Katy pressed her lips against his. “It doesn’t matter. Look, can we just get to your house? I’ll feel better once we’re inside.”

“Don’t you mean safer?”

She shook her head. “I only feel safe with you, Cade.”

He took her hand, kissed her back and pulled the girl over the road. “That’s my house, the third from the left. Can you see the white door?” Cade jerked to a halt when he saw his front door was wide open. “Oh no, please, not here as well!” He let go of her hand. “I need you to wait here, Katy. If I’m not back out in the next few minutes, just get the fuck out of here. Go lose yourself in a big crowd of people or something.”

Katy grabbed him. “No way,” she hissed. “There’s no way I can leave you, Cade.”

“Vampires don’t just kill. We both know that. They change people as well. If there is one in my house and it does alter me, I don’t want to come after you.” Cade shrugged out of her hold, pushed her away from him and ran towards the house. He jumped over the gate and raced along the path. Cade knew that he should have listened to his own plan and just ran home as soon as they were clear of the industrial complex.

Cade reached the front door and looked back, grateful that the girl had actually listened to him and gone on her way. He knew that she’d be okay, that girl could look after herself. He had no doubts on that score.

His arm wasn’t itching. He took that as a good sign. Perhaps he had been too over-cautious. It could be something so simple like his mum had just forgotten to close it. He pushed open the door a little wider and stepped into the kitchen. Nothing looked out of place, apart from two bottles of wine standing on the kitchen top, next to the kettle. Cade walked over and picked up each one, shaking the bottles and finding them both empty. He frowned. His mum had never been a heavy drinker, unless they had a visitor while Cade was out.

If she had drunk both these bottles alone, no bloody wonder she had left the door unlocked and wide open. Dare he actually walk into the living room? The last thing Cade wanted to see was his pissed up mum, sprawled across the sofa, snoring her head off.

Cade looked over at the open front door, and sighed, now wishing that Katy hadn’t taken his advice. He so needed her right now. “What is wrong with me?” he muttered, grabbing the door handle. “You don’t even know the girl. My emotions are up and down like a prossie’s knickers.”

He yelped in surprise when a huge grey hand flew through the gap in the door, the long fingers wrapping around his wrist and dragging into the room. He blinked a dozen times, not believing what his eyes were showing him. The huge creature gripping him looked down and grinned. Cade’s bowels loosened when he saw the oversized canines pressing against the creature’s colourless, thin lips.

“How fortuitous to meet you at last, my son.” The monster bent his back and pressed his nose hard against Cade’s forearm. “All that fine fluid, flowing through your young body. It sends me dizzy with anticipation at the thought of consuming you, Cade.”

Cade’s attempts at getting this thing off him met with failure. The vampire’s vice-like grip didn’t budge. “Get the fuck off me,” Cade growled and jerked his head around the room. “Where’s my mum?”

“You have so many demands,” tutted the vampire. “You are so strong, Cade, and although you are technically family, if you do not cease your obstinate and insolent behaviour, I will gut you here and now. Your agony will be exquisite and it will you take many hours to die.”

He looked up into his vivid red eyes and felt all resistance flow from his body; he could not fight this monster. This was it, his existence was at an end. This thing was going to turn him into one of his kind.

The vampire laughed, “No, my son. You have no future, except for provisioning. You were my waking meal and even though I am awake, I still intend to finish you off.” He pulled up Cade’s sleeve and slammed his fingernails deep into his tender flesh.

Cade screamed out in agony, feeling the vampire’s chitin-like nails scrape against his bone. The vampire then slipped them out of Cade’s flesh and pushed his bloodied fingers into his mouth. “You are so sweet, my son. I shall regret being unable to consume all of you but, I need my army. I need to waken the others. You might be sweet but, you’re not very bright. It pained me to feel you so close to me for all those years.”

He was almost ready to pass out, the vampire’s remaining words were lost to him as he came close to falling into oblivion. Through his limited vision, Cade felt the presence of another figure enter the room. Although the pain hadn’t let up and the promise of unconsciousness was just seconds away, some part of his brain told him that the figure must be his mother. The vampire had already changed her and she, along with the monster holding him, would help to drain him dry.

He heard a deep bellow before feeling the grip on him loosen. Cade felt the top of his shirt tighten against his skin before something hard and heavy cracked against the back of his head.

“Cade, we need to move!”

Another bellow shot through his brain and Cade felt some of his wits return. He opened his eyes just a crack and saw the vampire on the other side of the living room. He screamed with rage before flinging himself against the living room window. The glass shattered, the vampire disappeared into the night, letting in cold air. He lifted his head and looked into the face of Katy.

“I thought you had gone,” he mumbled. Cade then saw another figure lying in front of the bookcase at the back of the room. “Mum?” he groaned, “Oh no, please, not you as well!”

Katy helped him to his feet. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”

“I can’t leave her!” he said running over to her prone body. Cade placed his hands on her arm, flinching at how cold she was. He caught his breath then slowly pulled her onto her back, trying not to cry at the sight of her face crunched into a bestial mask of pure malice.

She ran over to Cade, pulled him onto his feet, and led him towards the door. “Yes, you can, I’m sorry but she isn’t your mum anymore. That bitch almost had me when I came in here.”

He swallowed hard, grinding his teeth at the dull pain that now ran though both of his arms. None of this made sense. “Wait, I don’t understand, how did you stop her? Come to think of it, how the fuck did you manage to stop that thing from eating me?”

Katy smiled and kissed him, before dropping something into his hand. “I went through your kitchen cupboards first and look what I found.”

Cade looked down at the now empty tube of concentrated garlic paste in the palm of his hand. It took a great deal of restraint not to break out in hysterical laughter. Cade folded his fingers over the tube. “Sweetheart, you’re a fucking genius.”

She pointed to the torch thrown on the sofa. “I didn’t try the garlic on him, Cade, I shone that straight into his face. It appears that he’s not keen on bright light.” She looked at the woman on the floor. “You mum got the paste after she snatched the torch out of my hands.” She frowned. “We really need to go before he comes back, Cade.”

He looked across at his mother, watching her body twitch. His mum now felt like a stranger to him. Something had severed his emotional bond with the woman. He gazed at the wounds on his arms, wondering if that freak had infected him with something. Cade sighed. Why did he need to do that? According to him, Cade was born infected.

Cade walked back over and stared down at her face. There was no snarl now, all he saw was a peaceful looking woman who looked at rest. He then noticed the ugly red welt of blistered skin running across the underside of her arm. Cade guessed that was where the garlic paste hit her. He took one pace back when he saw her whole body shudder again.

“I’m so sorry, mum,” he whispered. “I don’t know what else to do. Please find some way to forgive me.” Cade kneeled down, grabbed her jaw and pulled in down, grimacing at the size of her canine teeth.

“What are you doing?” hissed the girl.

“I can’t let her continue now,” he whispered. Cade held the half-full paste directly over her open mouth. He counted to three then quickly squeezed the last of the contents into her mouth and jumped back when her eyes shot open. She sat up and screeched out in agony as hundreds of blisters bubbled up across her skin, before bursting apart, filling the air around the woman with a foul smelling red mist. Cade ran over to Katy, sobbing, not believing what he had just done. He allowed the girl to grab his wrist and pull him towards the front door.

Chapter Five

His own euphoria had long since left him, leaving Jalim Pyga desperate to fill his cavernous mouth to the brim with the sweet blood of some wandering beast. Just like the rest of the ones that were able to feast upon the offered flesh, he only managed to consume no more than a pathetic morsel.

“Do you remember advising me to veil my desires, Jalim?” His companion nervously coughed. “Well, should I not ask you to do the same?”

“I also told you that I would rip out your insides if I caught you sniffing around the inside of my head.”

“Jalim, please, I meant no disrespect. I did not intrude. Your craving for the blood is very strong. I suspect that even the moles beneath our feet would have picked up your thoughts.

He stopped his descent down the overgrown wooded slope and slowly turned his head, watching with amusement, as his fellow scout looked more akin to a frightened bunny rabbit than a ferocious vampire. Jalim reluctantly softened his features and bit back his harsh retort at the look of genuine concern etched upon the young vampire’s face.

It took him a few moments for his sluggish thoughts to make the right connections. In relative terms, Dylar Sallis, wasn’t long changed. A thousand years might have passed them by and, from what he had seen so far, their world had become an alien place. But, Dylar had only joined the Swarmer’s clan just a few weeks before their ultimate plan had gone disastrously wrong.

Dylar would, in due time, change his whole outlook and allow his recessive vampire blood to rise like oil in water. The inexperienced vampire would need to feast many times upon the blood of beasts for his true form gained prominence. Until that moment, Jalim would just have to tolerate this sallow excuse for a predator still thinking and acting like human food.

“I will take your words under advisement, Dylar,” he replied sardonically, attempting not to visibly sigh when his colleague beamed. Unlike him, the young vampire had yet to come down from his initial first tasting. When he did, the vampire would hit the ground with a tremendous crash. The after-effects of the first taste after the long sleep could even equate to the ecstasy rushing through their veins just after drinking from their first neck.

He swung his head back and gazed up into the tree canopy, watching the night creatures’ flit from branch to branch. Jalim listened to their minute hearts, imagining their minuscule amounts of hot blood running through their tiny bodies.

Despite Dylar’s nervous quip regarding the moles struck a chord. Jalim could sense very little activity under the earth. In fact, there seemed to be very little life inhabiting this forest. He knew why. That much had been obvious as soon as their clan had emerged into the open and gazed in confusion and infuriation at the impossible amount of human-built structures stretched across the horizon. The beasts had bred out of control, and as they advanced, the lesser animals had obviously decreased in numbers.

It made him sick to the stomach to find that their food now dominated the planet. How could that have happened? Their kind had not allowed that many breeders to flourish.

It would take them many decades; to bring the population under control, if that was even possible. These things were a plague.

He ground his teeth in frustration; there would be no chance of them regaining their dominance if their clan leader would not allow his vampires off the strangling leash.

“It is so good to feel the wind upon my face, Jalim. The scent of the animals and of the surrounding plants makes my blood sing.” The young vampire jumped up and snatched something out of the air. “This is just glorious.”

Jalim saw a piece of leathery wing poking though Dylar’s fingers and listened to the bat’s bones crush when Dylar squeezed his fist tight. He raised his hand and allowed the few drops of blood to land on his tongue.

“We should be running down the beasts, Dylar. This is not glorious at all. He has reduced us to the stage of mere parasites.” Jalim watched, disgusted, as his companion frantically licked off the animal’s blood from the palm of his hand. “Just look at you! That is just vile. Have you no respect?”

The other vampire just grinned. To Jalim, the fool just looked like some drunken youth who has just had his first taste of a virgin’s wet hole.

“He asked us all for just a few hours of patience, my friend.” Dylar threw the corpse into the undergrowth and took in another lungful of air. No, it really is glorious; he will make us all kings of this strange world, Jalim. The food will never end.” He ran over to him, his eyes shining. “Oh, how I wish I could have gone with one of the other two scout groups,”

“Are you not enjoying my company? Are you suggesting that I displease you in some way?” he growled, watching the vampire regress to that frightened rabbit. “Your stupidity and blind faith is the reason why we are stuck in the middle of nowhere while the others enjoy the taste of meat.”

He shook his head. “Jalim,” he said, “he promised that we would all taste together.”

“You really are so naïve, Dylar. When he said those words, our courageous leader was not looking at us.” Jalim stopped a tree stump and made his way towards it. “Go collect some wood and ensure it is dry.”

“Why, are you cold?”

“Of course I’m not cold, you foolish boy,” he snapped. Jalim picked up a broken branch and threw it at his head. “It is not just moths that flames will attract.” He sat down and waited for the boy to disappear into the foliage. Jalim then ran over to the spot where Dylar had dropped the bat, picked up its shattered body and attempted the squeeze out some more of its bodily fluids. A few drops hit his tongue and the quantity paled in comparison to what he intended to catch tonight but the taste did help his own blood cool down a couple of degrees.

“Why are you still allowing that fool to treat you like a whipped dog?” he muttered, the words felt alien to him. Even the thought of being responsible of the loss of cohesion within the clan was unheard of. The clan’s strength lay in number, even if he could count that number upon toes and fingers.

The last time a clan split, it caused the Great War, a conflict that almost annihilated every vampire on the land. Jalim sat back down and thought back to the last night before their leader and a few survivors all felt the urge to take the long sleep.

The few Swarmers remaining had all congregated behind the burning remains of their last fortification. He, Healiod and Cranus were watching their last flesh dragon tear into the enemy clan’s regiment of beast fighters.

The huge soldiers were an amalgamation of assorted animal parts, sewed together and given pseudo-animation with pure vampire blood. A steel exoskeleton, part cage and part support, ensured no Swarmer could take them down with brute force or human supplied weapons.

Jalim’s strength, like his companions had left him, his broken body, covered with countless bites, blade wounds and shattered bones. His blood could no longer heal him. The unthinkable was taking place, he was going to die here. His last flesh dragon disappeared under the bodies of the beast fighters. It shredded at least half a dozen before the three remaining fighters, ripped open the monster with their bladed weapons.

He wanted to close his eyes. The moment of reckoning had finally come to pass. The fact that he had prophesised this moment even as the new leader had announced his scheme to rid them of the clan menace, now felt like a bitter victory. Nobody could win this.

Jalim lifted his head and watched their last Swarmer army attack the three beast soldiers. It was like watching three wolves dive into a herd of goats. Their vampires didn’t stand a chance. Despite the beast soldier’s extensive wounds, their armour kept them on their feet.

It did not surprise him to see their glorious leader staggering out of the massacre and stumble over the piles of dismembered corpses, running to their position. “His actions have killed our clan. He is unfit to rule.”

Both Cranus and Healiod growled at him and warned Jalim to still his traitorous mouth.

Jalim opened his eyes. The stench of death from that ancient battle left him. Desmonus had destroyed their clan, and he was also responsible for allowing the enemy to tear apart his beautiful creations. He glanced through the trees and watched Dylar make his way back to where he sat. The young vampire had escaped the worst of the battles. It seemed ironic to think that before the ultimate plan, before their number was cut from thousands to just a handful. Not even a desperate First Father would have contemplated changing such a weak willed and soft bodied child into one of their kind. Even with the vampire blood surging through his veins, Dylar was a pathetic specimen.

“I think I have enough to start to good fire,” he said. “Do you really think this will work? I mean, it won’t attract him as well?”

Their leader had forced him into a corner. Jalim could not allow that fiend to ground him into the dirt. The Swarmer clan was his by birthright. He could trace his lineage all the way back to the time before the clans split in two, whereas that mongrel son of a diseased pig currently making a fool of him, was already set on the path to destruction.

He refused to accept that at least one of their enemies had awoken as well. He had just dismissed the thought of an enemy clan soldier walking through the landscape of this strange world, no doubt already recruiting. Regardless of what their leader had informed everyone of this not being so.  The others took his confident words as truth.

It did not surprise Jalim to find that the young vampire had already set about building up the fire. He worked with quiet efficiency. Jalim guessed that the boy intended to impress him with at least one skill that he had retained from his human life. Would he be able to convince Dylar to throw off the clan shackles? After all, the leader had recruited him. His vampire blood ran through Dylar’s system. Convincing this timid worm to climb from under the leader’s wing would be a difficult task.

Even so, Jalim would have to attempt it, if he could not turn him than he would have to dine on Dylar. His lips dripped with drool at that thought, killing their own kind was another sacred vow that they were all supposed to uphold. He turned his head, watching the moon shine through the leafless branches.

He was not as foolish as his leader thought. This wasn’t a scouting mission, it was banishment. Their leader expected them to just whither and die like old berries on the branch. Desmonus had no need for his skill, not anymore. He had always been jealous of Jalim’s ancient skill of manipulating the flesh. Desmonus believed that that dark art belonged in the past.

There was nothing out here to scout.

The boy sat back and gazed up at him. “There, as requested.” He turned back around and threw a couple of twigs into the small fire. “I was told never to speak of this, Jalim but, there are occasions when I do miss my human existence. I am sure that these thoughts are alien to you now, Jalim. I know you have being a vampire for countless human lifetimes.”

Jalim watched the flames dance over the twigs, keeping silent, waiting for Dylar to apologise. His proposition would gain weight if Jalim could drive a wedge between the young vampire and the one that turned him.

“Have I offended you?”

“How were you caught, Dylar?”

“It was my stupid compassion that snared me. We all knew just how dangerous it was to venture out of the house after dark. New rumours of Swarmer bands penetrating clan territory spread through the town ever day. I was, still am, a stupid youth. I considered these talks to be just gasps of bad air, expelled from the mouth of the market fishwives. We were under the protection of the clan, we gave in blood and livestock, we were quite safe.”

There were not many protected human towns that had not been hit by the Swarmers. Only the ones in the two inner domains could still boast full protection. The clans had just about given up out the outer domains and left the beasts to fend for themselves. Jalim had personally stripped three human towns for manufacture.

At the time, he had not been aware that their leader had risked everything to raid the inner domain towns. Then again, they kept Jalim out of all major operations, they just did not trust him.

“We all knew that the war was getting closer, even the elders believed that we should prepare to relocate closer to the castles. Despite it meaning that we would lose everything. But, even slowly starving was far better than either getting drained or ending up as part of the Swarmer flesh dragon.” Dylar added some more twigs to the fire. He turned his head to stare at Jalim. “I don’t understand why I am feeling hesitant to continue. He told me that these attached feeling to my past would leave me.”

“I’m guessing that he told you many stories, Dylar.” He leaned forward and ran a clawed finger along the top of the young vampire’s ear. “The passing of the night will not stop still, Dylar. Continue with your recollection.”

The vampire pushed the last twig into the fire. “It was my goat that got me caught. She was due to give birth at any time and, because she was my first one, I wanted to be with her. Both my parents had heard the nightwatchers sound the warning bugle. I had no idea though, both me and my sister were in the shed, alone with the goat, waiting and watching.”

Jalim felt a forgotten part of his anatomy stir at the mention of a female. “Why do you hesitate?”

“Two of them smashed through the solid wooden door with ease. I didn’t even have enough time to move out of the way before I was grabbed and thrown across the barn. The vampires might have been able to destroy the wood with their fists but my tender body slammed into the far wall and I felt something crack, it wasn’t the wood though, that sound came from within me.”

Dylar moaned softly. “The pain that rushed through me was unlike anything that I had experienced. Darkness swept over me and I urged oblivion to take the agony away. Before I did close my eyes, my last image was of the two vampires tearing off my sister’s rough clothing.”

He nodded to himself, Jalim would have liked to have been there, “Wait, was she pretty?”

Dylar nodded. “Yes, most boys and some of the men wanted her.” He shook his head and sighed. “I awoke, some time later, I felt no pain, I knew that they had fed on my blood while I slept. This fact did not bother me, nor did the sight of my sister’s mutilated body lying sprawled in the bloodstained straw. Can you believe that the sight of my headless goat lying by her feet caused me to break down and weep? The ones who had done this deed thought that me, weeping over some animal’s corpse was very amusing.” Dylar sighed. “I never saw anyone from my town again, the last I heard was that a few days later after they had escorted me out, the Deathgazer clan broke their decades old promise to protect the town and butchered every inhabitant.”

“He should not have turned you into one of our kind. You were too young. If I had been there, I would have slaughtered you, Dylar. Your blood would have given me such strength. Once I had finished, I would have enjoyed your sister before drinking from her too.”

Dylar frowned. “I find no comfort in your words, Jalim.”

“Did you expect to find any? I am not a wet nurse. You can take comfort in the fact that I would have allowed your goat to live. You need to come to terms with this one solid truth, Dylar. It troubled you to recall your final moments. This is because you are not made of the correct material. I look at you and I see a dreamer and a thinker. Your heart was full of compassion. Those faults are still inside you.”

The boy just stared at him. Jalim’s brutal words had left their mark on the boy, for once, Dylar had left his thoughts uncovered. His mind boiled with so many violent and conflicting ideas. Jalim had given the simple boy too much to contemplate. That suited him just fine. He kept his own thoughts shut and locked. It would not be a good idea for Dylar to uncover that his human emotions would, in time, fade like old smoke.

“I do not understand this. We are Swarmers. It is the other clan who adheres to such conservative ideals. At least, that is what he preaches.”

“He had distorted the original ideal to suit his own purpose, Dylar. The other clan corralled the humans, turned them into passive livestock and kept them as pet animals. They believe in restricting our natural urge to kill. How can that be normal? We live for the hunt and for the kill. Of course, we Swarmers still attempted to keep the line pure but we knew that the occasional throwback would join our ranks, such a thing could not be helped. The human should not be caged up and fattened for the eventual kill.”

The young vampire’s mind moved like leaves caught up in a blizzard. Had he tried to be too clever with this simpleton? “Dylar, tell me why we are here, in this wood.”

His companion shrugged then looked at Jalim as if it was he who was the foolish one. “You know why, we are scouting the area.”

“No, stop repeating his words and think for yourself. I have already explained this to you. There is nothing here to scout. He has banished us. He does not care about our wellbeing. All he is concerned with is that we do not poison the others with our thoughts. Can you not see that?”

Dylar slowly shook his head. “I have done no wrong.”

“He had always hated me as I remind the fool that if it wasn’t for more my ancient ability to manipulate changed flesh, he would not be the clan leader. He does not want you near the others because he does not consider you to be a true vampire.”

It pleased Jalim to see his words finally make their indelible mark upon the young vampire.

“Then, we are doomed?”

Jalim shook his head. “No, this is an opportunity. The humans have forgotten their true place, the beast really do believe that they are master of all they survey. Just recall our journey from the well to where we stand now. Their taint is everywhere. Even these woods were created by them, the trees are too regular for natural growth. They have cultivated the land just as the other clan cultivated them all those years ago. The beasts have bred like flies on a week old battlefield. Dylar, you still think as one of the beasts. I believe that we can use that to our advantage.”

“But…”

“Strike the reticence from your mind,” he hissed. Jalim opened his mouth, then slammed it shut again, his words drying up when he felt the vibrations of something very familiar and most welcome. He stood up and scanned the tree line, smiling when he caught sight of furtive movement, beside the large trunk of an oak tree in the distance. The fire had indeed attracted attention.

“Listen to me, Dylar. He severed our allegiance to the Swarmer clan when he banished us.” Jalim grabbed the vampire’s shoulders and spun him around. “Can you see him?” he whispered. “Tell me what you can take from that approaching meal.”

Dylar chuckled, “I can read his mind like an open book. Many of his thoughts are of concepts that I cannot grasp. I do know that he has already seen us. He is curious but not afraid. A strong streak of annoyance runs through his thoughts. The man believes that he is a hunter. He thinks that we are sleeping in the woods and that our presence will disturb the local wildlife.”

Jalim smiled. “Wait until he crosses the fallen tree, Dylar.”

“Than what?”

“Then, I want you to kill him. There is enough blood in that bloated body to keep us sated until we can find somewhere to roost. He will be our first kill. The first kill for our new clan.”

He drew back from the young vampire, surprised at how quickly his thoughts changed from confusion and panic to lust for hot, sweet blood. Dylar’s immature vampire senses had finally awoken, casting out his old, soft human feelings.

Jalim silently chuckled, “Welcome to the family,” he whispered. The human had not noticed the subtle change in Dylar’s posture. Had this supposed hunter never seen a carnivore tense before the kill? He should allow this dumb beast to continue walking towards his death but no, where was the fun in that?

He drew up to his full height and glared at the human, willing his own vampire senses to full ascendancy. Jalim felt his canines burst through his bloodied gums, filling his mouth with his freezing blood. He growled and clenched both his fists tight to stop him from ripping into Dylar’s back.

The man finally stopped walking towards them. He must be close enough to realise that it wasn’t reflection of the fire that he saw in the two stranger’s eyes, they were the colour of molten metal. Like a rabbit catching scent of a wolf, the human spun around and shot through the undergrowth. Dylar did not need Jalim’s counsel on what to do now. The young vampire emitted a single excited screech before chasing after the terrified human.

It took enormous willpower not to join in with the hunt, the chemicals flowing from the fleeing human smacked into Jalim, setting his nerves alight for the first time in over a thousand years. He staggered back and wrapped his long arms around the nearest tree and slammed his head forward, biting into the rough bark, just hoping that the fool would hurry up and make the kill. Jalim would share the blood but only after Dylar had brought down the beast.

The young vampire needed to remember this gift, this would be the bond that forged the allegiance of his new clan, this new world needed vampires that understood this strange land. The old ways belonged in that pit. This would be his world and anyone who got in his way would suffer the fate of that human hunter. Jalim pulled his teeth out of the hard wood, jerked back his head and looked at the full moon, sighing in delight at the sound of his companion bringing down his first kill. Jalim turned and ran out of the clearing when he heard the abrupt end to the man’s scream.

His clan would rise, made strong from the blood of the beast. He would not rest until the other two clans bowed down to him. “Before I crush them all under my boot,” he growled. Jalim saw his companion ripping the flesh from the dead man’s neck and burying his huge mouth in the open wound. He smiled at the young vampire’s inexperience. He still had much to learn, but not just yet. Jalim needed to regain his former strength; he needed to drink his until he was bloated. His vampire senses demanded it. This would be the first of many tonight. After they had finished with this one, he intended to take Dylar out of this desolate woodland and find a settlement. They had to work quickly to stand any chance of bettering their enemies. Jalim ran over to where his companion fed and dropped to his knees, the hot metallic scent of blood forced out every other thought. All that mattered to him now was to sate his overpowering thirst.

Chapter Six

Nothing in their posture indicated to Damien that his arrival had unnerved the strangers. Perhaps, in their eyes, it was perfectly acceptable to wander around the town centre, carrying a naked female in your arms. Or perhaps, they were just very drunk and hadn’t noticed the irregularity.

Damien didn’t recognise any of them, that fact did surprise him. Welbourgh’s metallers weren’t that large and Damien knew them all. He had no idea who these were though. The sour smell of cheap lager irritated his nostrils as he neared their makeshift encampment. Three large men all dressed in similar long black leather coats, rolling about the grass verge in hysterical laughter. Another scent caught Damien’s nose. These idiots were stoned out of their heads.

“Is it that time already?” he whispered. Damien felt like a complete moron. Of course it was, the festival posters were all over town, the sudden invasion of the metal bands and their thousands of fans, invading the several fields a couple of miles from the town had been the only subject on his dad’s lips for the past two weeks. He had even attempted to organise a protest, asking all the local shops to ban anyone wearing any kind of black leather clothing from their premises. His dad’s request had gone down like a mug of iced vomit. The town made a bloody fortune from the sudden influx of Goth kids, eager to spend their money on food and alcohol.

It appears that this advance guard had already started to enjoy the town’s hospitality. Damien slipped into a passage between two buildings and gently laid his sister down on bed of cardboard. He wrinkled his nose at the stench of sour sweat and stale urine emanating from the collapsed boxes under her body. It looked like he’d stumbled upon some vagrant’s home. This foul place was no place for his beautiful sister. He comforted his feelings by telling himself that it would only be for a few minutes until those clowns out there had given up their clothes. “And possibly, some of their blood,” he whispered, running his hand down her perfect body. Elsie looked so vulnerable, so desirable. He snatched his hand from her cold skin and stood up, trying to control the hot emotions rushing through his body.

Damien cut off the frustrated growl building up deep within him and turned away, hoping that he might be able to shut off this confusing lust if she wasn’t visible. He hurried over to the corner of the building and watched his potential three victims, continue their task of getting seriously fucked out of their heads.

“I need to get that girl some clothes before I really do something that I’ll regret.” Before he left the alleyway, Damien glanced back, wondering if he really would regret it. He shook the thought away, he needed to focus on his task.

He stopped dead when Damien spotted another figure further down the embankment, away from the others. His whole body flushed with blood at the sight of that firm body, encased in tight red leather, clinging to every contour. Her position signalled sleep, either that or she had fallen into a drunken stupor, a state that her companions were eager to reach.

This couldn’t have fallen better for him. The girl’s general shape wasn’t that different to his sister’s. Her clothes would fit Elsie like a glove. “And that dark haired beauty will fit me like a glove as well,” he murmured, chuckling. Damien watched one of the men stagger onto his feet, he was headed towards his location. He smiled, this would make his job a little easier.

“Where the fuck are you going, Trev?”

The small built youth, turned around, almost tripping up over his feet. “I need to go piss,” he slurred. “Don’t smoke all that shit, while I’m gone.”

He heard the others giggling to themselves as their companion stumbled his way towards the alley. He pressed his back against the wall, listening to this drunken idiot, attempting to whistle. The boy walked straight past Damien and stopped to unzip. He didn’t believe this, was this clown that blind? His naked sister was right in front of him and he hadn’t even noticed.

Damien sidled up close to the boy, feeling his young heart pump all that sweet blood through his body. His proximity was driving Damien wild. “Hello, Trev.” He whispered, clamping his hand tight over the boy’s mouth. “No, you’re not going to cry out.” Damien dragged his fingernails along the boy’s hot flesh, “You have no idea what you are doing to me,” he whispered. It was no good, all his tactics of extracting information regarding their female companion just vanished as the lust overpowered Damien’s rationality.

The boy’s thin film of flesh just melted away as Damien pushed his sharp teeth through the meat. He dropped onto the filthy floor, taking his food with him, wrapping his arm around the boy’s head, ensuring that the grip stayed secure.

As Damien feasted upon the boy’s blood, his emotions cooled enough for him to realise that like the artery in his neck, the boy’s thoughts were also open and very accessible. The vampire saw the female wrapping her arms around Trevor and kissing him on the cheek. At first, Damien believed that he was drinking from the girl’s boyfriend until the memory solidified and Damien saw the girl pull back, smile at Trevor before handing him a framed picture.

Trevor had just passed his driving test and his sister, Sandra had framed a copy of his certificate to give to their parents. Damien discarded that thought and ploughed through the dying boy’s brain, looking for any other snippets of information that he could exploit.

His mouth slipped from his neck when Damien found one dominant memory that rose to the top of Trevor’s mind. Damien saw himself standing in a hallway, covered in pale floral wallpaper. Once more, he saw through Trevor’s eyes. This time Damien watched a hand push against a dark blue panelled door a crack, to reveal a green tiled bathroom. The sound of splashing indicated that the room had an occupant. He moved to the side and stopped when the magnificent sight of Sandra’s shampoo covered hair and smooth back swam into view. Damien watched the hand push open the door a little more and he now saw the girl’s small breasts, dripping in soap bounce up and down as she vigorously rubbed the shampoo into her scalp. Her left hand then fell into the bath water. The girl’s legs spread a little wider and then Damien heard the boy let out an audible gasp.

Damien dropped the body, when the image of Sandra faded. He took a deep breath then glanced over at his sister’s body, somehow gratified that he wasn’t the only one in this little alley who concealed forbidden feelings for their sibling. In Trevor’s case though, his urges stemmed from the fact that while his sister enjoyed a healthy sex life, Trevor could only release his frustration with the help of online porn.

“You sad little man,” he said, gazing down at his pathetic body. “You are going to die without ever experiencing the delights of pleasuring a beautiful woman.” Damien then heard Elsie release a quiet moan and smiled. Perhaps Trevor may yet realise his desire before he did expire. After all, his sister did need to feed as well. There wasn’t much blood left inside the little man but it’ll suffice until he brought her one of the larger ones.

He dragged the body over to the cardboard, then punched Trevor hard in the chest, shattering his ribs. The force of the blow, helped to expel a little more blood from his neck wound. Damien scooped up some of the liquid and held his fingers over Elsie’s mouth, watching the thick fluid drip onto her pale lips. As soon as he saw her tongue push through her teeth and eagerly cleaned the fluid from around her mouth, Damien wiped the rest down her cheeks and along her arm, before placing the limb over Trevor’s chest.

Her vampire essence would complete the procedure. “Die well, Trevor, and thank me in the afterlife. You’re about to make a very beautiful woman very happy.” Damien retreated, watching his sister start to stir. He didn’t think it would have taken a long time for the predator inside his sister to detect Damien’s generous gift. Now that the sad virgin had quenched one of his thirsts, the boy’s delectable sister can now satisfy his other desire.

As he emerged from the alleyway, Damien smiled at the sight of the two other men slumped in the long grass. Evidently, their bodies had decided to shut down for the night and join their female companion in sleep. Well, he had plans to make sure that these visitors wouldn’t wake. He hurried across the road, keeping his eyes of their unconscious forms, ensuring that they were indeed dead to the world.

His beautiful Sandra had not moved from her position. Damien scurried down the embankment, unable to keep his lustful eyes from devouring every part of that beautiful body. He kneeled down above her, placing his knees between the girl’s head. Damien then gently stroked her cheeks and leaned over to kiss her warm lips. The taste of greasy takeaway food, combined with dope smoke made his stomach turn. He pulled back and wiped his lips.

Sandra groaned in her sleep and turned onto her side. Damien felt a little sick, not understanding where this ailment had come from. As she moved, he saw something flutter under where she had laid. He reached over and picked up a bundle of screwed up, grease-stained plain paper. He took a tentative sniff and the foul odour of spicy food, covered in garlic sauce, burned his nose. “You have got to be fucking kidding me,” he growled, tossing the offending object over his shoulder. “The sickness he felt, inside him came from what this woman had for her last meal.

Damien, placed his hands on her head and closed his eyes, her sleeping mind showed Sandra and her companions receiving abuse from a group of chavs slumped outside a takeaway. They all gave back as much as they received before staggering away, giggling. Sandra’s stomach begged her to ram the food into her mouth right now. Her brother and her mates were all telling Sandra to wait until they had got back to their site, explaining that the food would taste better washed down with lager. She was having none of that though. Sandra told them that she needed to be satisfied right now.

The tall youth stood next to Trevor had thought her statement was just priceless and told her that he’d be able to sort her out, but still, she’d have to wait until they got to the site. He was worried that one of the locals might have stumbled on their hiding place and made off with all their gear.

Sandra had laughed alongside the others. Knowing that before the festival was over, she would definitely be taking Nathan up on that offer. She knew that he fancied her to death, did it matter that they were both engaged? Well, not to Sandra. Granted, her Tommy was the sweetest, kindest and most generous man that she had ever met. The fact that his parents were loaded just sealed the deal in her opinion. The only downside was that her hunky man wasn’t the greatest lover in town and he certainly couldn’t satisfy her desires, no matter how hard he tried. Nathan’s girl just adored him and Sandra knew that he would do anything for his fiancé. He would never do anything to hurt her and despite his flirting, that included sleeping with Sandra.

He noticed that the girl’s inner-self began to react to his proximity, some dormant area of Sandra’s mind had already woken, knowing that the girl was now in mortal danger. It now struggled to alert the rest of her body, to warn that a predator was in her midst.

Damien watched her limbs jerked spasmodically. She would be waking at any moment, he couldn’t allow that, her alert mind would spoil his plans. He dived back into her mind and drew back from the torrent of concocted nightmarish creations currently flooding into her dreaming psyche.

“Sandra!” he hissed, shaking her arms. “It’s me, it’s Nathan.” Damien put his hand across her eyes. “Please, I don’t want you to make a sound, the others are fast on. I want you, Sandra. I want you more than I’ve wanted anyone in my life.” He sighed. “We’d both be seriously fucked if the others catch us together.”

“You sound so different,” she slurred.

Damien ran his fingers along her inner thigh, grinning wildly as she reacted to his exploratory hand by closing her legs and pushing his hand as far as it would go.

“The harsh smoke must have fucked with my voice.” He said. “Don’t let it concern you. I’m going to make you very happy, Sandra. Is that what you want?” He traced the outline of her groove through the material not that surprised to discover the girl wore no panties.

“I want you to keep your eyes shut tight, Sandra. We’re going to play a game. No peeking though,” he growled. “I mean it, one peek and that’ll be the end of our playtime.” He found the shape of her clitoris through the leather and pressed down hard then leaned towards her ear. “There’s a good reason why Georgia doesn’t like to let me out of her sight.”

Damien moved his other hand off her face. “Promise not to look?”

Sandra nodded. “Oh yeah, I’m good at keeping promises.”

“We’ll see about that,” he said, hooking his fingers into the top of the trousers. He ginned as she moaned out loud and lifter her bottom in the air. Damien pulled the leather down her very shapely legs. The flesh looked so much more delicious uncovered. Damien lifted her legs into the air and ran his tongue down, only stopping when he reached the top of her warm thighs.

“Please,” she begged. “I need to feel you inside me.”

He couldn’t ignore his own lust for any longer. Damien climbed off the girl and pulled down his trousers and boxers. The cold night air felt good on his solid penis. He knew that it wouldn’t stay cold for much longer. He fell to his knees and pulled her body hard against his.

She gasped as Damien entered her. He wrapped his fingers around her sides and settled into a slow rhythm. Grinning as she moaned loudly as he took his time to enjoy the girl.

The urge to bend down, puncture her skin and drink was almost impossible to ignore. As he thrust into her body and the girl eagerly responded by pushing forward when Damien slammed into her, his essence demanded that he dive down and open her neck.

Damien bit back a howl when he felt her so close to climax. His essence instinctively knew what she wanted from him. It took an incredible amount of stamina to ignore his own urge to drain the girl, so much so, he had not realised that he had given Sandra her first climax.

He saw the confusion in her face when her eyes shot open. Damien skimmed along the surface of her mind and only found her pleasure receptors turned on to full. Despite the fact that throes of ecstasy gripped her tight, he could not allow her to cry out a word to alert the others. Damien placed his hand over her mouth, not sure whether he should have done with it and just kill her.

Sandra smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I don’t care who you are,” she purred. “Oh my Lord, that was just incredible. Please, don’t leave me?”

He’d never expected this occurrence. Damien gently pulled the woman off him and gazed down at her beautiful and flawless body. “Take off the rest of your clothes, “he whispered, watching her happily comply. Just like that female vampire had enthralled him, he had done the same to Sandra. What an astonishing gift! He pulled her supple body into his embrace, relishing the feel of her soft flesh against his.

Damien had an obligation to fulfil though, and his conversation with his mother could not wait either. Damien needed to know what was happening and he just knew that she’d be able to fill in any missing details.

“Listen to me,” he hissed, pulling her away and standing up. “You need to leave this place. You need to do that right now. Forget the festival, forget your friends and just go.” He wiped away her tears. “Stop that, I know where you live, Sandra. I’ll come for you. I promise.”

He pushed the weeping girl away, scooped up her clothes and ran back up the hill, discovering that they were both still sleeping. His sister needed more food but he couldn’t take both. Damien chose Nathan and threw the drunken youth over his shoulder before running back into the alley.

He saw his sister before she saw him. Damien was so happy to see her awake. She spun her head at the sound of his footsteps and glared at him. She sat, huddled against the corner of the building, shivering with the cardboard wrapped around her body.

Blood, gristle and pieces of wet flesh wrapped around her visible body and soaked into her covering. Nothing remained of the boy save for a stripped and bloodied carcass.

Damien threw the clothes towards her. “I see somebody was very hungry. You know that all that red meat is bad for you. It won’t do your figure any good.” He smiled at his sister, trying to be relived to see her finally awake but he just could not get past what she had done to the boy’s body. He dumped the other one on the floor.

“I brought you another present, Elsie. I didn’t think that the first one would fill you up. It seems that I might have been wrong?”

She snarled at him, showing Damien her new teeth. They were a lot larger than his. She jumped up. Damien felt his own essence filling his body with adrenalin, urging him to flee, to turn away and race out of the alley before it was too late. Elsie leaped forward, moving at an impossible speed. She knocked him to the floor following Damien down, wrapping her fingers around his neck holding him in a vice-like grip. No matter how hard he struggled, Damien could not move her, his sister was far stronger then him.

“You have turned me into a fucking monster!” she screamed into his face.

Damien turned his head, feeling her hot spittle blasting from her mouth. He tried one more time to shift her hand off his neck.

“Those evil bastards killed my Ben, thanks to you!” she sobbed. “They ate him didn’t they?” She looked across at the bloodied skeleton and moaned aloud. “Just like I did with him. I ought to kill you for your stupidity.” She then looked over at the other body and ran her long tongue over her lips. “I ought to kill you but I won’t, I mean, you have brought me another gift.”

He felt her blood lust rising, he felt as he was lying under a pylon, charged with a million volts of electricity. Damien actually feared for his own life, he really had created a monster. He felt like a zebra under the paws of a lioness.

“If you hadn’t brought me him, Damien, I would have killed you and feasted on your dirty blood. Let me tell you right now though. If we do ever cross paths, I will kill and consume every part of your hateful body.”

She stood up and glided over to the groaning boy. “I suppose I should thank you for the clothes as well. Before you enquire, yes, I do know where you got them from. Maybe I’m being too hard on you? After all, you are only a man, just an eager pawn in the service of that woman.” She laughed. “You really don’t know how deep she has her claws into your flesh, Damien. Even now, I can feel the hag’s claws hooked into your mind. You’re just another one of her pet doggies.” She dropped to her knees beside the body.

“Now, get out of here before I change my mind.”

He staggered back at the horrific sight of her jaw unhinging like a huge snake. Her dagger-like teeth burst through her gums, filling her mouth with an array of razor sharp curved canines.

Damien ran out of the alley, reaching the embankment in seconds. Both the humans were not there. All he saw was a patch of flattened grass. He made his way down the slope and threw himself down, feeling like a building sized rack had just fallen upon his body.

Chapter Seven

The tribune that their collectors had caught in the far lands, beyond the great mountain ranges had brought their Gods and Demons to Freya’s settlement. Their transient bodies came and went like the seasons but their faith had stayed. It had taken just decades for the alien faith to take roots amongst the dwellers.

No local had dared to construct a temple to worship these strange beings but Freya had thought that the event would arrive. At least, she had used to believe in this until their very real demons had declared war.

Fear never left the hearts of her fellow dwellers, living under the black wing of their master, ensured that cold grip never vanished. Until the onset of this Clan massacre, most of them took solace in the fast that only the prisoners occupying the tribune cages could see the end of their life-thread with certainty. Now, most of the tribune cages had lain empty for weeks. The few pitiful specimens currently inside the few cages, strangers found raiding the crops or criminals caught disobeying the Enforcer’s laws wasn’t half the amount the settlement offered to their masters. Even dullest of dweller understood the consequences of handing over less than what was acceptable. Their master would just fill up the quota with the dweller’s elderly, sick or their children.

There was no other option though. Their collectors dare not stray far from the settlement’s perimeter. Their status no longer held immunity. Both clans picked off anyone stupid enough to travel the empty roads.

Freya sat up in bed, she pulled back the rough woollen cover and climbed out of her warm pit. The next few hours demanded a sharp mind, clear of and disturbing fripperies. Thinking like an old fishwife could only bring about uncertainty followed by disaster. Fretting about their situation would not bring about a magical change.

“Count your days well, Freya,” she murmured. “Just be thankful that it’s unlikely that you would end up in the tribune cage.” Freya stood up, removed her nightdress and played it at the end of the bed. Her dressing could wait for a few moments. The cool draft blowing in from her windows and playing across her naked body felt so divine. Freya stretched her leg muscles, bending down and running her hands along her flesh.

She glared at the fat pile of worthless skin sill in the bed and sighed quietly. Sometimes, she really did wish that she had chosen another path for her life. Freya cupped her left breast, allowing her fingers to caress the contours. What would it be like to actually have a man who would treat her like a real woman as opposed to some object whose only purpose was to make him eject his seed?

Could she find comfort in the absolute fact that no matter what happened this morning, at least she would be saved from occupying their woeful amount of flesh away to their master’s castle. She snatched her gown from the wooden hook behind her and quickly threw the material around her body.

They wouldn’t dare to take her, she was the Enforcer’s wife, the fat slug might be the one who made the law but Freya was the one who ensured that the collectors carried their duties with diligence.

She quickly tied the belt, watching in disgust as drool slivered down the fat man’s wet lips and landed upon the woven straw mat under his head. Perhaps, she had better revise her sense of value. Nobody was so indispensable in their master’s eyes. She, as well as the other dwellers, was painfully aware that their masters only saw them as livestock. The only reason why their settlement had flourished was because one Enforcer deep in their past had taken the decision to supply the vampires with tribune.

“Nothing lasts forever,” she whispered, attempting to tune out his loud snoring. As Freya bent down to pick up her sandals, the stale stench of bad beer escaped from the man’s mouth, the fumes almost knocked her sideways. Her own breath stayed locked inside her mouth as she retreated towards the door that led into the compound. Her heartbeat raced like a galloping horse. The foolish man had committed the unforgivable act of drinking the night before the arrival of their masters. They were all dead, the vampires would not take this insult lightly. Freya turned and ran for the door, not knowing what to do.

“Nothing lasts forever,” she cried. “We’ll all be lucky to last past this day.”

Freya pulled open the door and stared up at the early morning sun, warming her face. She glared at the group of five collectors sat beside their barn. It appeared that they were too engrossed in losing money in some dice game to have heard her open the door. Looking at the state of the forecourt, Freya wondered if she was the only person in the settlement who actually valued her life. Those lazy fools had not started on any of their assigned tasks.

She silently closed the door and tentatively made her way across the wet cobbles, avoiding the animal dung and puddle of mud. They had two carts full of fine sand, left over from the last visit from their masters, inside that barn. This courtyard was supposed to be clean this morning, ready for the sand to go down. It would take them more than half a day to ensure the stones were clean now. Half a day that they could have spent washing the tribune, making sure that not of the filthy creatures had rolled around in their own shit.

“There isn’t enough money in that cup to buy just one of you from tribune.” She snarled, gaining little satisfaction at the collective gasps coming from all of the collectors. How these idiots were able to catch anybody out beyond the settlement was a complete mystery to her. Were they that engrossed in their silly game not to have noticed her walking towards her?

“My husband had yet to wake.” She stepped back, her foot narrowly missing a pile of manure. “Perhaps, he will wake before this yard is clean. Perhaps, he won’t. You all know that you’ll be joining the tribune if this task is not complete.” Freya turned and hurried towards the compound, listening to them untangle their flailing limbs to try and make a start on their jobs. She knew that by now, her name would have less value than the foul residue spread across the courtyard. They would spend the next few backbreaking hours either imagining methods to kill her either that or ejecting their worthless seed into her holes, perhaps even both. It did not matter what they thought of her as long as they completed the task before the appointed time.

She did not need to look behind to know that five pairs of eyes were watching her as she opened to the door that led into the compound. It must destroy their very large self-esteem to have such a beautiful woman order them about like they were no more important than unruly children. As for worthless seed? Perhaps the opposite would be more appropriate. It was not a huge secret amongst the dwellers that the Enforcer’s wife could not give the man a child.

Even from the bottom of the compound, the faint moans echoing from the tribune, assaulted her ears. She examined her nails whilst walking between the dozens of cages, relieved that the collector had at least, cleaned up this area. Even the sand beneath her feet was fresh. Freya reached the first occupied cage and peered through the iron bars at the young girl that had made the mistake of trying to steal from their orchards three moons ago. They had no idea where she came from and questioning her had proven worthless, nobody understood a word she said. Normally, they did not give away females, no matter where they came from or whether they had transgressed their laws. A good healthy female of child bearing age could provide the settlement with more children, a commodity that they so desperately needed.

Like Freya, their healer had proven that this poor girl’s inside were not designed to grow new life. She watched the girl sleep, wondering if she even knew of her fate. If they were living in such frantic times, Freya would have allowed her to leave the settlement. The similarity to her first experience within this very same cage after the healer had declared Freya a burden to the settlement was too great to ignore.

“I do wish you had chosen another settlement to raid, child.” She whispered, holding the bars. The girl stirred. Freya saw the other five men further down the compound rise and approach their bars.

Your time with us will soon be other. I do not know what the master will do with you. Perhaps you may survive unchanged. I know that they do keep some humans as servants. If you prove your worth, that may still be your fate.”

There would be little chance of that happening. This girl, like the rest of them in here would end up divided up into rough cuts of meat, either to feed their soldiers or to use as spare parts for the Clan’s dwindling stock of beast fighters.

“If I could have born with your dull looks, child, my life might have gone down another path.” Her beauty had singled her out from the rest of the settlement’s children long before she had reached the age to wed. Only her overprotective father and wise words from her mother had allowed Freya to have any kind of innocent childhood. “I wish my body had not filled out.” she looked down at her large breasts, remembering how almost every man in the settlement had attempted to bed her. Many had succeeded. It hadn’t taken long before the Enforcer had noticed her promiscuity. His concern stemmed only from the fact that even after so many men had used her, Freya was not with child.

She sighed. “Perhaps not.” Freya turned away from the cage, knowing full well that if it had not been for the enforcer taking a liking to her, at least a lusting after her young, firm body, she would not be where she stood now.

Freya jumped at the sudden sound of a quiet sob, coming from the girl.

“Please, don’t leave,” she whispered.

Freya spun around and grabbed the bars. “You, you can talk?” she stammered.

The girl nodded. “Please help me, Freya. I don’t want them to eat me. I’ll do anything. I really am sorry for stealing your food.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “It had been days since I last ate. My settlement threw me out with the rubbish.”

She stared into the girl’s eyes, trying to find any untruth in her words. All she heard was quiet desperation. The other cages were very quiet, she knew that they could all hear the exchange of words. Freya also knew that despite what her feelings told her, there could be no possibility of her releasing the child. Even her status would not protect Freya from the wrath of the dwellers. Freya closed her eyes and suppressed a sob. She could not walk away and leave that girl in there, her conscience would not allow it.

“Listen to me,” she whispered. “Take this key, go lie back down and wait until the others have lost interest. If they see you unlocking the door, they will raise the alarm.”

As she turned around, the woman gasped in surprise at the sight of the five collectors stood at the end of the compound, with her husband stood behind them. Instinctively, she backed towards the cage, watching them approach. The looks upon their grim faces told her everything she needed to know.

“Did I not tell you!” giggled one of the collectors. “She is planning to let them all out. Just look at the male tribune. She has already been inside their cages. Your wife never leaves them alone.”

Her enforcer pushed past the men and strolled between the rows of cages, his eyes not leaving hers. “Should I even be surprised, Freya?” He ran up to her, raised his arm and slapped the woman’s left cheek. The force slammed her body into the cage.

“It is all lies!” she cried out, feeling hot blood drip from her split lips. “Those wolves do not care about the future of out settlement. As soon as the masters arrive, they will flee into the wilderness.”

“Now, you really are allowing your lying tongue to vomit fiction. The master would have stripped out settlement weeks ago if it wasn’t for them bringing in much needed tribune.” The large man pressed his face against the bars. “Little girl, I do have a present for you.” He took out a green apple from within his deep pockets. He turned and smiled at Freya. “The dice were kind to me, last night.”

She tore her eyes away from his stare and saw the girl reach towards the offered prize. “No,” she whispered.

He pushed her away from the cage, when she tried to get up, she found the collectors holding her down. Freya watched the girl slowly close the gap between her and the nodding man. His hand snapped forward and his fingers managed to grab the girl’s hair. The small key fell from her fingers and clattered onto the dirty floor when the enforcer slammed her hand into the bars.

“Looks like I owe you an apology,” he said smiling at the collectors. “Freya, I have enjoyed our time together but, the safety of the settlement must come before my needs. The First Father himself is coming to inspect the tribune tonight. Perhaps your addition will persuade him from stripping the settlement bare.”

Freya looked down at the broken child, watching thick grey liquid seep from her broken skull. “You are an evil man,” she spat. “I hope that the First Father eats out your black heart.”

The enforcer chuckled and moved away from the gate. He stooped down and picked up the key. “I think the only thing he will be eating out is you, my lustful but unfaithful wife.” He unlocked the door. “Amulius is going to be most happy with my tribune.”

***

The sudden movement jerked her awake. Darlene shook her head, watching that pivotal moment from her past life fade like old smoke. She took in a lungful of warm night air and gazed into the First Father’s crimson eyes. That was so vivid,” she murmured. “It felt as though I was actually re-living the event.”

He shrugged his great shoulders. “The time before my first bite has started to unfold. These memories built up your inner core, they helped to govern how you lived your many lives after I had to leave you, Freya.”

She smiled and ran her nail down his cheek. “Call me Darlene now. It’s the name I prefer.” It did feel strange to hear her old name fall from his lips. She realised now that, the name just didn’t belong to her anymore. “You still haven’t told me why you slept for so long, Amulius.”

It was not my intention to…” The great vampire blinked then slowly ran his thick tongue over his teeth, before chuckling. “Okay, I shall call you by that name, if, it pleases you. Darlene, I did not intend to sleep for all the countless sun-ups. Like the bear, our clan would only hibernate until our food supply had time to replenish. It would have taken just a few human generations for the beasts to refill the land.”

Darlene leaned back and watched an aircraft passed overhead, the light blinking regularly across the night sky. She turned her head and gazed at the back of her house, wondering if her true husband knew just how the human had filled the land, evidence of their work lie everywhere. She wasn’t sure if this ancient creature realised just what marvels that his prey had conceived of in the eons that he had slept. She feared that he wouldn’t adapt and underestimate them.

It wasn’t just the vampire who craved violence. Darlene closed her eyes, completely aware that she now considered herself a fellow vampire, a separate species to the human. She would just have to help her husband to adapt. One fact did stand out, their former meals would not be happy for their masters to try and impose authority.

“I just wish that, like that bear, my sleep was peaceful, Darlene.” He whispered. “My enemy could not afford to allow me to wake first. He took the extreme measure of invading my home. He and his surviving filthy clan had the impertinence to fall into my own sleeping pit.”

“I don’t understand. He had you. Why did he not put an end to you right there?”

Amulius shook his head. The time to fight had passed us by. Our only concern was to protect our bodies before the long sleep took us. Darlene, the mystics had activated the cycle. All vampires were to hibernate. There could be no exceptions. We were down to our last few, Darlene. Why do I need to explain this? You were there.”

She remembered wandering through blasted landscapes, the air thick with the stench of sour vampire blood and torn flesh. The scavengers were many, everyone fighting for the pitiful remains of what little human meat, they could find, buried under the mountains of inedible, infected undead flesh.

It took Darlene many weeks to actually find another living human survivor. “There were very little of anything left once the vampires had gone to sleep.”

He shrugged, “There were enough were left alive to allow the beast to recover enough to breed. We weren’t stupid enough to completely destroy our favourite food source. Also, if we killed them all, how would we ever awaken? Scattered amongst the beasts were others, like you, Darlene, who carried my mark. I was not the only one, my enemy had employed the same tactic.”

She looked at him sharply, unsure of what this meant. “I thought I was the only one, Amulius. Now, you announce that you have other wives?”

“Do you not know anything? Once we sleep, the only substance that will wake us from our slumber is the blood of a human that carries the Clan’s mark. I spent all those years, locked in a mental struggle with my enemy, each one trying to lure our respective thralls over to the well.” He sighed. “My enemy believed that if he slept beside me, his influence would be stronger. If appears that he was correct.”

The great vampire rose and pulled Darlene off the ground. “It matters not,” he growled, wrapping his thick arms around her waist. “The past is the past. We live for the moment and right now, this Clan needs new blood.”

Darlene nodded, smiling at him. She sensed Amulius trying to gain access to her secret thoughts, just a tentative brush, but it was there, looking for some tiny crack so he could gain full entry. “Make love to me, my beautiful husband,” she begged, brushing her hand over his crotch. There was only one part of her body that she would allow Amulius to enter.

His probe recoiled like a startled snail shrinking into its shell. Not that he had any hope of creaking into her mind. Paul was right; her mental powers were greater than his. Her husband had not told her everything. How did he wake? She felt him stiffen beneath her expert fingers. Darlene chuckled when a tiny groan escaped from her mouth. Perhaps, she shouldn’t be so harsh. After all, Darlene still hadn’t explained about her two children, that she wasn’t as infertile as she first believed. She wasn’t sure how the vampire would react to this stunning revelation.

“As much as I want you, my immediate concerns are more pressing.” He took her hand away and kissed it. “Food is abundant.” He flared his nostrils. “I can sense those filthy things amongst the herd, Darlene, but they have taken very little food.” The First Father frowned. “This does not make any sense, it was against their whole ideal. Why do they not swarm?”

She took his hands. “Look around you, my husband. The humans have not changed that much since out time. Only it’s other humans who have protected them from harm. Don’t compare these peaceful beasts to the cows in the fields. Their guardians will bite back and their weapons make the Swarmer flesh dragons look like drugged rabbits.”

He sighed. “Darlene, I am aware of how they have taken the materials around them and moulded it to suit their purpose.”

“Then why doesn’t it make sense to you?” she snapped. “If those things did follow their primal instincts and swarm, the authorities would have this town under a lockdown within an hour. The army would come in with helicopters and tanks and soldiers, carrying very big guns. They wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“It does not make sense to me, Darlene because I have never credited their First Father with that much amount of forward planning.”

Darlene kept her mouth shut, she didn’t think that reminding him that apart from her, none of his other clan members had survived. “If food is abundant, then why are we in my back garden, looking up at the stars? You’ve already told me that while they haven’t tried to convert the whole town in one night, they have at least made some of the locals into their own kind.”

An alien emotion briefly passed across his face before the man’s scowl returned.  Darlene blinked, not completely sure that she’d seen him look so hesitant. He stormed over to the back door, scooped something off the floor and returned to her location.

“What does this say?” he demanded, thrusting a torn piece of paper into her hands.

Darlene uncrumpled it and looked, in confusion at a full-page advert for some protein supplement to add to milk. “Amulius, I don’t understand, it’s just an advertisement. They’re trying to sell something that’s supposed to build up you muscles. Why do you look so distressed?”

“And why do you even ask me that question, Darlene? Have you any concept of our lineage? I am the last of the Deathgazers. I can trace my blood back to the first vampire. I am pure, I am undiluted.” He dropped to the ground and drew his legs up. All I see around me are uncountable hordes of mongrel humans.” He reached over and snatched the paper from her hands. “Nothing is what it seems here. You tell me that this human has taken some kind of potion to make him look like a prince? How am I supposed to recruit an army of vampires, when the food hides inside false bodies?”

“Welcome to the future, my husband. I do feel your pain. Such vast expanses of food and you have no idea where to start?”

He shook his head and sighed loudly. “We live for such a long time, Darlene. I cannot allow myself to choose the wrong specimens for fear that somewhere in the far future, my poor decisions will turn against me.”

She picked him off the floor and kissed him. “Amulius, if you don’t recruit tonight, you won’t have a future.” Darlene dragged him over to the back door. “Come on; let me be your guide.” Her own blood began to pleasantly boil as she looked at the smiling hunk holding the tub of protein powder against his toned chest and giggled quietly before she screwed up the paper and tossed it into the garden.  Darlene knew exactly where to take her husband.

Darlene pulled him across her lawn, looked to her left and spotted one of her neighbours leaning out of the window and openly staring at the pair as they scaled the high wooden fence that separated her property from a stretch of derelict land. It wouldn’t surprise Darlene if the nosy bitch had taken a few pictures on her phone as well. She landed in the knee-high weeds and turned around, watching her close the bedroom window. She decided there and then that woman would be getting a visit from her, later on tonight.

“What amuses you?”

She shrugged and took hold of his hand. “Oh nothing,” she replied grinning up at his confused features. “I think that it’s just taking more time than I thought to adjust to what I have become.” Darlene led him through the rubbish strewn ground, listening to him emit the occasional growl, followed by a sigh. “Are you okay?”

He shook his head. “I do not enjoy this place, Darlene. It is too crowded, My observations have shown me that the beasts are changing into vermin. Their filth is everywhere. They remind me of Swarmers too much.” He squeezed her hand tight. “I fear that their foulness will infect me when I feed.”

The white glow from the streetlights reflected from his wan face. Darlene jerked to a halt, spun Amulius and slammed his back into the fence overlooking the back of the shops in the town’s main shopping parade. “Wait, are you telling me that you have not tasted since awakening?”

The vampire took his time to nod. “I tracked down the remaining thrall and sipped from her but I have yet to feed, I mean properly feed.” He sighed again and gazed down at his feet. “I have not found a beast that does not disgust me, Darlene. I would rather die than to allow their foul blood to contaminate me.”

Darlene took a step back to look at him, was he serious? “Is it that important to you? I thought that blood was just blood.”

“Blood is the life, Darlene, it is also death. My death would last another thousand years if I willingly took inferior blood.” He squeezed his hands tight. “Take me to where you are leading me, my wife. Perhaps I will find what I seek there, although I doubt it.”

The blood that she took from Paul still flowed through her, she couldn’t understand his reluctance to feed. Darlene thought that after spending such a long time cooped up inside a well, without feeding, he would have rampaged through the town by now. She thought that if she was in his place, Darlene might have down that and damn the consequences. Darlene nodded to herself, deciding that he would soon drop this melancholy feeling once he saw where he was taking him.

She ran over to the fence and jumped up, climbing over the barbed wire running along the top with ease. Darlene so loved how her body responded to her desires now. She felt more alive now than at any time throughout all of her previous lives. Darlene ran through along the top of the brick wall and leaped into the corner of a carpark. She giggled at the sight of Amulius struggling to keep up. He managed to pull his bulk onto the wall then jumped down falling into the side of a red sports car. The grin slipped off her face. “Are you alright?”

He sighed again. “Perhaps I have been too hard on myself,” he whispered. “Perhaps I should have fed.”

She lifted him up, threw his arm over her shoulder and dragged the groaning vampire towards the large glass building at the front of the carpark.

“Where are you taking me, Darlene?”

“What is wrong with you, Amulius? I just don’t understand why you’re allowing your body to perish.” Darlene had no trouble in carrying the vampire over to the entrance of the building. She leaned him against the wall, getting very concerned over the speed of his deterioration. She believed that even in the last few minutes, his body mass had shrunk, was that even possible?

“I’ve already explained,” he slurred.

Darlene carried him through the double doors, blinking at the harsh white light that blasted away their shadows. Amulius hissed before covering his eyes. She gazed over at the checking-in desk, and in particular at the two large men behind the counter, both deep in conversation over food nutrition.  Perhaps her husband wasn’t alone after all with the obsession of keep toxins out of their bodies.

She sat him down upon a plastic chair, groaning in annoyance as he just slid onto the floor.

“I’m sorry, miss,” announced a young twenty-something, dark haired man. He glanced over at his older colleague. Who sighed dramatically. “But this is a member’s only club.” The man leaned over the glass counter. “And I don’t recognise either of you.”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said, smiling at the other man, his wavy blonde hair hid such a defined face. She judged him to be in his early thirties and he certainly knew how to take care of that gorgeous looking body. Darlene approached the desk, looking at both of them one by one, deciding which one to choose. She leaned to one side and saw the gym behind them wasn’t that full tonight but, Darlene still guessed that there was enough flesh in there to keep her husband happy for quite some time.

“Seriously, miss,” said the dark-haired man. “I really must insist that you leave.”

As far as she was concerned, his speech had just sealed his fate. “What if we wanted to join up?” she asked, grinning, watching some of his bluster vanish when he saw her large teeth. Darlene whipped out her arm and wrapped her fingers around his throat. Before the other employee had time to react, she lifted the struggling man off his feet, pulled him over the top and threw him hard. His body slammed into the concrete wall, beside the front doors and slid to the floor in a boneless heap. Darlene didn’t need to check the body to know that the impudent fool had said his last words.

She grabbed the other man by the arm and pulled him towards her. “Don’t struggle so, much,” she whispered. “You don’t want to end up like your buddy.” Darlene cracked his head into the counter when his struggles became troublesome. The blow knocked most of the fight out of his body. She sighed, gazing in desire at the pulse vein running across his neck. Darlene couldn’t stop herself from opening her mouth and sinking her fangs into his flesh.

Her husband’s quiet groan pushed through her own desire, reminding her of what she needed to do. Darlene pulled the man over to where her husband lay and rested the young man’s head on the vampire’s chest, then pushed two fingers into his wounds and hooked them before yanking them back out, his flesh ripped open and a torrent of warm blood spurted over Amulius’s cheeks.

The sudden chance in the vampire’s posture startled even her. Amulius lunged forward, his gums split open and huge pointed teeth filled his huge mouth. She sighed with relief when he tore through the side of the man’s throat, guzzling down the torrent of blood gushing from the wound. Darlene looked down at the lifeless lump of flesh beside her feet and wished that she hadn’t been so violent.

“It is like a forgotten nectar,” said Amulius, rising to his face. He stooped down, picked up the still bleeding body, and dumped it on top of the counter.” Perhaps I should have listened to you earlier,” Amulius said, wiping his mouth. He laid the body’s arms by his side and chuckled. “Oh, what delights this bright world has to offer!”

“Are you alright?”

He rushed over to Darlene and threw his arms around her body. “I have never felt better.” The vampire looked over her shoulder. “That was a waste though.”

“Amulius, will you tell me, what’s happened to you. I thought you were about to die a few seconds ago.”

“It’s the blood, my wife. The stuff flowing through his veins is so rich, unlike that watery stuff that I used to feed upon back before the great sleep. The cows really have got fat.” He pulled her over to the door that led to the main weight room. “Come, I need more.” Amulius opened the door and glanced back at the man that he’d left on the top. It will take his body just a few minutes to change, enough time for us to finish this.”

He ran into the room. Darlene gasped at how fast he moved. The vampire crossed the space between the door and the first treadmill in a blink of an eye, diving on a young blonde woman, she hadn’t even noticed until it was too late. He pulled her to the floor and bit into the side of her neck before he was up, in search of his next victim.

Darlene saw that the dozen or so people in this room had only just started to realise that something was seriously wrong. It wasn’t until Amulius had allowed his third victim to scream out when the remaining people all stopped their activities and ran en-mass towards the door. She targeted a huge six foot middle-aged man, waiting for him to get close enough for her to leap on him. Darlene ran her fingers through his grey crew-cut hair then bit into his neck, rolling off him as he dropped to the floor. She looked up and saw a young woman, just a couple of years younger than herself running towards her. Darlene grabbed her loose top as she passed, then threw her at the panicking crowd, all trying to get through the door at the same time.

The flying body took down all but one man who had succeeding in squeezing through the tight bodies. Darlene flew after him, pushing away the other dazed men and women. She ran through the open door and dived onto his back. Her sudden weight caused him to stumble. She wasted no time in sinking her teeth into his flesh. This time though, Darlene drank deep, enjoying the taste of his blood as it filled her mouth.

“You need to watch this, my wife.”

She stood up and walked over to Amulius as he finished biting the last human. He walked back into the lobby and gently placed his hand upon the chest of the man lying on the counter. “We have just made seven others in our shape, Darlene. Each of these seven new vampires has within them, the potential to end your life. We have to ensure that does not happen.”

Amulius opened the jaws of the motionless mouth, Amulius then held his wrist over his mouth and used one of his pointed fingernails to cut a deep line through the flesh, a few inches from the heel. Several drops of deep red blood dropped into the man’s mouth before the wound closed up.

“Listen to me,” snarled Amulius. “You are the First Son of the Deathgazer Clan. The vampires sleeping in this room are your children. Protect them, keep them safe and ensure they obey me at all times. Their misdemeanours are your misdemeanours. Keep them under control and you will be rewarded. Displease me and your children will feast upon your flesh.”

He spun around, laughed then grabbed her wrist. “We now have our first children, Darlene.”  The vampire pulled her into his embrace and ran his long fingers up her inner thigh. “Now, while the First Son is tutoring the other, we should find them some meat. They will be very hungry when they awaken.”

She growled in annoyance. “No, all that can wait, Amulius. I need you to give me your meat. I can’t wait any longer.”

“Yes can my wife and you will.” He threw his head back and laughed. “But only for a moment.” He grabbed her shoulders and dug his nails into her flesh. “Can you not sense the blood, Darlene? One of our enemies is right outside. There is a Swarmer in our midst.” Amulius ran over to the door. “Our children will have vampire blood for their first meal!”

Darlene ran over to him and followed Amulius out of the door and stopped dead in her tracks, gazing in utter shock at the sight of her only daughter sitting on the bonnet of a Land Rover. She looked up at Darlene, not in the least bit surprised to see her mother here.

Elsie slid off the bonnet of the vehicle and walked up to Amulius while keeping her gave fixed on her mother. “I blame you for my condition. My whole fucking life had been torn apart and it’s your fault.” She stopped before the great vampire and looked up and down his thick body. “So, I see my mother has a lover?” Elsie unfastened her blouse and allowed it to fall to the floor then threw her arms around Amulius.

Darlene screamed and ran forward, then found herself crashing into the side of the building when Amulius lashed out with his powerful arm.

“You can wait until I am finished with her,” he snarled.

Chapter Eight

The scene in front of him just didn’t make an ounce of sense to Cade. If his mouth dropped any further towards the floor, he’d be scooping up the discarded cigarette butts littering the pavement. The bunch of giggling teenage girls leaning against the window of the takeaway hadn’t noticed Cade standing behind a parked up silver estate car. Their gazes were all staring through the window, at a small group of teenage boys, arguing with an Asian guy behind the counter. “It all looks so normal,” he whispered.

Cade looked behind him, at Katy peering around the corning of the travel agents. She shrugged.

“Did you expect to find dozens more dried up bodies, scattered across the road?” she joined him behind the car, keeping her head below the roof. “Cade, come on, what do we do now?”

He listened to the girl’s harsh laughter, watching them tap on the glass. Cade always tried to keep his distance from this type of crowd. His appearance always brought out the worst in all of them. He sneaked a glance at the girl, realising that she would have fit right in with that lot, currently giving that poor shop worker a hard time. Even so, Cade still felt that it was his duty to go warn them, and beg those kids to go and lost themselves in a large crowd.

“My agenda hasn’t altered, Katy. I’m going to find those evil fuckers and end their existence. They killed my mother. I can’t allow them to take another life.”

She turned away from watching the others through the car window. “That’s great, it really is, Cade. The only question is how? We have no idea where they are now.”

He shrugged. “I know that I don’t have all the answers. I guess we keep walking through the town until my birthmark starts to itch, I suppose.” Even to his ears, that sounded lame.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Cade? I mean, it didn’t itch when you walked into your house.”

Was this girl even paying attention to him? He’d already explained the difference between the two clans. The image of his mate, Damien suddenly filled his thoughts. Oh hell, in all the turbulence, Cade had forgotten all about him and his sister. They had the same mark, the same brand as him. He dropped to the floor and dug out his phone.

“What are you doing?”

“Ringing up a mate,” he answered, punching in Damien’s number and holding the phone to his ear. His aunt lived a few miles out of the town; Cade reckoned that they should be safe out there. He sighed when the phone dropped onto Damien’s answering message. He pushed the phone back into his pocket without leaving a reply. It might be a good idea to make their way over there. Cade looked at the girl beside, he’d be better company than this chav.

Katy slid her fingers into his and squeezed. Cade felt the guilt of dismissing the girl crawl through his system, god, he could be such a twat. This chav had saved his life, for crying out loud. “Come on, let’s get moving.” He stood up and walked around the car then stopped dead when he saw that she had not moved an inch. “What are you doing?”

“I can’t go out there!” she hissed. “Those girls know me.”

It took him a couple of seconds to understand her meaning. Cade could not believe that he was hearing this. He marched up to her, resisting the urge to grab the front of Katy’s blouse and shake some sense into the girl. “Are you having a bloody laugh here?” he growled. “After all that we’ve been through, you’re still concerned about your social standing?”

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean it to sound like that. I…”

Cade spun around and marched away from her, crossing the road and heading towards a taxi rank. Her words had cut him deep. He honestly thought that there was something special between them. Hell, he should have known better. Despite everything that that had been through tonight, deep down, that girl would never change from being a shallow, idiotic and selfish little girl. The chances were that if their paths had not met, Katy would be with those other morons, outside that kebab shop tonight.

“Please don’t leave me here!”

He had every intention of doing exactly that. Cade should have stuck to his own kind. It shouldn’t take him long to get up to Damien’s aunt. If the taxis were still running that is.

Just before he reached the taxi rank, Cade turned around and saw Katy approaching the other girls. He sighed, wondering how long it would take her to point him out, after telling them all some stupid lie about him following her there or something. Cade forced back the hot tears of betrayal. He was such an idiot for going with her in the first place. He should have known better.

“Fuck them all,” he said. “You don’t need them, you certainly don’t need her.” He leaned against the lamppost and closed his eyes, gasping in shock when the bestial image of his mother filled his vision. Cade shook his head and groaned when his arm started to itch again. “Oh no,” he said. The shadows across the road from the takeaway grew darker and he watched two uniformed figures step out from behind a large van. They were the three men taken from that police car earlier. Cade didn’t need his irritating birthmark to supply him with that information. Cade could tell they were vampires just by the way they moved. Each one appeared to waver like ghosts across that road.

He saw that the girls outside the shop had already spotted them and were now banging on the glass. Cade thought that they must have already guessed what they were until he saw them all spin around and waving at the approaching vampires, smiling and giggling. Even Katy had joined in. Could she not see through their masquerade?

He jumped a mile when he heard the noise of a car engine approach. The car stopped beside him and the driver wound down the window.

“Where do you want to go, buddy?”

He shook his head and raced around the front of the taxi. “Get yourself home as fast as you can,” he said urgently, to the middle-aged man staring back at him. “Bundle your family inside your car and just get the fuck out of town!” Cade turned and ran back over the road, watching the three figures get closer to the girls.

“Don’t just stand there, Katy!” he screamed. “Get them all inside. “Can’t you see what they are?”

Her face changed to horror when the three vampires crouched and hissed at Cade. He watched her finally get his message and push the complaining girls into the shop. The three vampires changed direction when the shop door slammed shut. They now ran towards Cade.

“What the fuck is going on here?”

He turned around and yelped when the taxi driver grabbed him in a bear hug.

“I know your game, sonny. What the fuck have you been up to, stealing cars, I bet.” The man looked over Cade’s shoulder. “Probably something worse, judging by the looks of those three coppers.”

“Will you get off me, you idiot!” he screamed. The imagined pain coming from those three sets of razor sharp teeth cutting into his neck gave him the energy he so craved. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “You should have listened.” Cade brought his knee up hard, feeling it slam into the taxi driver’s testicles. He released his grip and fell to the floor, groaning in agony.

Cade jumped over the man and easily dodged the approaching vampires, he guessed that the man on the floor had distracted them, he was no longer their main target. He felt like the biggest coward on the planet for playing such a fucking dirty trick on the man but what else could he have done. It wasn’t his fault that the taxi driver didn’t listen.

Cade reached the takeaway and banged on the window, seeing all their faces pressed against the glass. They were all staring in disbelief at the sight of those policemen ripping into the poor man.

He watched the shop worker rush over to the door. Cade swallowed away here frustration, still not believing that he had pulled such a cunt’s trick in order to save his own worthless life. As if anyone would listen to him, demanding that they leave town like that.

The door opened and he almost fell back outside when Katy ran into his arms.

“Oh my fucking God, Cade.” She sobbed. “I’m so sorry. I really didn’t mean any of what I said.”

Cade held her tight against his body, feeling her rapidly beating heart against his ribs. He watched a thin youth, sporting a blonde razor-cut, dressed in full denim take one more look outside before he glared at Cade.

“Are you going to tell me who the fuck you are, what is going on and why are you touching up my mate’s girlfriend?”

“Shut the fuck up, Darren!” yelled. Katy. “You wouldn’t understand, even if I drew it out in crayon for you.”

The shop worker bolted the door and ran over to the phone. Cade listened to him shout across at his fellow workers in the kitchen. He had no idea what was being said but judging from the panic in all their voices, it wasn’t good. The shop worker glanced out of the window before staring at Cade.

“Real police don’t do that,” said the shop worker. He ran back over to the counter, ducked under it, and ran through the kitchen.

He hurried over to the one whom Katy and called Darren and grabbed the front of his jacket. “Now you listen to me, young man. Those things out there will eat you.” He pushed him over to the opening that led into the kitchen. “Your Asian friends have already made a run for it. I suggest you and your little friends do the same.”

“They’re coming over here!” said a young dark haired girl. “What are we going to do now?”

Darren took the panicking girl’s hand then pulled her into the kitchen. “Do what he says, you clown!”

Cade watched them all disappear into the next room. He saw the vampires stopped right outside the door and try the handle. He winked at them and showed them a single finger, laughing as they all roared back at him.

“Shouldn’t we be following the others?”

He chuckled and nodded, “Why? It’s not like they’ll come in here now, is it!” He pointed up at the huge plastic menu hung above their heads. He then pulled her into the kitchen and walked over to an aluminium container half full of brown powder. Cade dipped his hand into it and crumbled the stuff between his fingers. “Just look at their faces, Katy. I bet they all know garlic when they see it.” He watched them all turn and disappear into the night. “I thought so. I know of a couple of coppers that frequent the Hellraiser nightclub on the other side of town. They once told me that most of the station coppers live out of takeaway boxes, on and off duty.”

Katy ran passed him and peered into the next room. “The others have gone.”

“I just hope that, unlike that taxi driver, they do the wise thing and get the fuck out of the town.”

Cade spotted a large cleaver hung on the metal wall; he wiped the garlic off his hands then walked over and lifted it off the wall. He picked a tomato out of a Tupperware dish, placed it on the chopping board in front of him and slammed the cleaver down, watching the razor sharp blade slice the fruit cleanly in half.

“You can’t be serious, Cade.”

“Of course I am,” he said, grinning at the girl. “We need to tool up.”

“Yeah, but, are you honestly going to tell me that you could bury that blade into somebody’s neck?” She frowned. “Tomatoes don’t bleed, Cade.”

He shrugged then tucked the cleaver into his belt, before walking up the Katy. “I’m so sorry,” he said.

She sighed. “No, it’s me who should be apologising, sweetheart; I acted like a complete arsehole.” Katy brushed her fingers through his long hair. “I don’t always think before I open my gob, Cade.” She looked over at the kitchen doorway. “I know that none of my so-called mates would have risked their neck to come back to save me. That includes my now ex-boyfriend.”

Cade kissed her gently. “You wouldn’t be saying that if you had heard my thoughts after I’d left you.”

She giggled. “I bet you called me a right load of shitty names. It doesn’t matter though. I was still in the wrong.” Katy smiled. “Do you feel good about helping that lot get away?”

Thanks to his actions, those people in this shop had not suffered the same fate as that taxi driver. Maybe the more he saved, the crushing burden of guilt for allowing that man to lose his life would ease? Cade wasn’t that naïve, he did know that he wasn’t directly responsible for his death, just as he wouldn’t have been able to save his mum.

Katy suddenly leaned forward and kissed him. “Don’t blame yourself, Hun?”

He pulled her back. “How did you know what I was thinking about?”

“The shadow passing across your face was a bit of a giveaway, Cade. I mean what I say though, there’s nothing that you could have done.”

He sighed heavily, “I guess so.”

“No guessing so!” she snapped. “You need to stop this right now. Look, those things are not going to stop, just like we aren’t going to stop trying to destroy them, more people will die, Cade, no matter how hard we try. If you don’t nip this angst in the bud right now, it’ll consume you.”

“Don’t you think that I know this?”

She nodded, “Of course you do, I never thought otherwise, it still doesn’t stop you from thinking that you could have saved your mum, you know, like if you hadn’t listened to me, for example? Cade, I haven’t stopped thinking about it either.”

He pulled the girl back into his arms. “Oh fuck, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be; just listen to me for a minute. Even if you had ran home before that vampire had got there, then what? I mean, do you honestly think that she would have listened to you? And don’t give me that crap about she might have known something, because you didn’t. I reckon that this strain, this curse has been passed through your family for generations, Cade. It only activated in you because you went near those buildings.”

He shrugged. “I still might have been able to get her out of the house.”

“Okay, so maybe she had believed a crazy tale about vampires being real, Cade. How do you think he found her in the first place? It’s not like a thousand year old vampire would have looked her up on Facebook, is it?”

“So, you’re saying there’s nothing I could have done?”

Katy nodded. “If you had been with her, Cade, you would be dead as well, it’s that simple.” She swept her hand across the empty kitchen. “And, if you had died, then who would have saved all these people in here?”

Cade released her, hurried over to the shop front window and pressed his face against the cold glass. He gazed out into the dark street and allowed her words to sink in. He hadn’t thought of it in that way, Cade had been too busy allowing the guilt eat into his conscience like strong acid.

“It will never go away, Cade,” she said, embracing his back, “that’s normal, believe me, I know these things.”

“You do?”

“Yes, and if we survive this night, maybe I might work up the courage to tell you about it.” Katy gently tapped on the glass. “Right now though, we do have a job to finish? Those policemen are still out there, along with those fuckers who followed us back into town.” She shuddered. “I don’t want to think how many more of the townsfolk could be changed.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Okay, let’s get this done,” he replied grabbing the door handle. “It’s weird, I can’t seen any of them out there. Do you think they could have gone after the others?”

“No, that much I do know.”

Cade glanced back at her. “What makes you so sure?”

“It’s silent out there, that’s what. Have you heard anyone screaming? Both Tessa and Carol have a good set of lungs in their bodies. Believe me, Cade. If any of those vampire coppers were on their tails, half the town would have heard their bellows by now.”

Cade started to nod then stopped when he saw he face change to utter horror. The girl staggered away from the window. Cade spun around, just in time to see the three vampires running at full speed towards the shop. He turned and threw his himself over Katy’s body, managing to pull the cleaver out of his belt before the glass exploded inwards, filling the floor with shards of glass.

He rolled off the girl and pushed her towards the kitchen, hoping she’d be able to get to the other door before they caught her. One of them jumped over his prone body. Before he had time to shout out a warning, one of them stamped down on his wrist. Cade screamed out in agony, catching sight of one of them kicking the weapon to the opposite end of the shop.

The two vampires dropped to the floor and placed their knees on Cade’s limbs, pinning him to the floor. He glared into the eyes of the closest one, seeing specks of red liquid tainting both of his eyes. It took him just moments to realise that he knew this copper. Cade had seen him a few times in the centre of town, usually asking the local crowd of skateboarders to stop play around the pedestrian zone, outside the shopping mall.

The youths thought that his requests were hilarious, ignoring the man’s calm demeanour. The only obeyed the original request when the copper’s partner reluctantly left the comforting warmth of the patrol car to provide back up.

“So, you fancy yourself as a hero, do you?”

His partner smacked him the other vampire hard in the shoulder. “What are you doing, Frank? Stop it with the conversations and bite the bastard. Can’t you sense it?”

Cade watched the other vampire shake his head.

“He belongs to the other clan.”

Cade struggled, trying to toss the two vampires off his body. He caught his breath at the sudden sound of Katy’s scream blasting out from the kitchen. He’d lost her. That other one must have killed the girl. “Fuck you!” snarled Cade. He spat into Frank’s eyes then leaned forward and head-butted the vampire in the forehead.

Frank jerked back, his flailing arms catching his partner. Cade bucked his body. The movement gave him just enough leeway to shuffle out from under the pair. He jumped to his feet, his heart soaring at the sight of Katy still alive. Her condition would not stay like that for long; the remaining vampire’s face was just inches from her neck.

He launched his body at the vampire, crashing into his back. The momentum carried the pair off them over to the ingredient table. Cade saw his chance and thrust the vampire’s head into the tub of garlic powder.

The force threw Cade into Katy. He looked in astonishment at the incredible sight of the now headless vampire falling to the floor. His head had just detonated, spreading a thin layer of blood, brains, and tiny pieces of splintered skull over the back wall.

He heard the crunch of glass and looked up to see the other two vampires racing out of the shop. The dull ache in his wrist brought him back to earth. Cade coughed then stood up, helping Katy to her feet. “Are you okay, sweetheart? He didn’t bite you did he?”

She slowly shook her head. “No, I managed to keep him off me, at least for a few minutes.” Katy strode up to the body, bent over and patted him down. “Shit,” she muttered. “I kinda hoped that he’d be carrying a gun.”

The congealing scarlet mess dropped from the ceiling, covering everything in gore. Cade waited until most of the stuff had peeled off before he tentatively leaned across and grabbed the container. There wasn’t much of the stuff left. “We still need to get the other two.” He said. “Somehow, I don’t think they’ll be quite as arrogant after seeing what happened to their buddy.”

“Did you see their eyes?” she asked.

Cade nodded, trying to rub some life into his wrist, it didn’t hurt as much now. Luckily, his body recuperated quicker than anyone else he knew. He looked at his birthmark; finally understanding the reason for this apparent mystery.

“You know what? I think it’s a gradual process for them. Like growing up or something. Their eyes weren’t fully crimson and they certainly weren’t as strong as the others we encountered.” She ran over and picked up his cleaver. “I think you might be able to use this after all.”

He took the weapon from the girl and stared at the body.

“What’s wrong?”

“Clue me up on what can kill a vampire, Katy. You said you’ve seen most of the movies, just go through the basics for me.”

“What’s to tell? I thought everyone knew what kills them. You know, stake through the heart, sunlight, cutting off their head.”

“And garlic?”

She shrugged. “That depends on the movie, I suppose.”

“But we do know that it does work, just look around you, sweetheart.”

“Cade, until today, I thought that it was just vampires were all made up, like the fucking tooth fairy and Santa Claus. Watching my dad’s movies doesn’t make me an expert on the subject. I’m sorry.”

He chuckled, “You’ve done pretty well so far.” Cade held the cleaver up to the light, watching the rays reflect off the metal. “Did a cleaver put down any vampire in these movies, Katy?”

She looked at the floor and shook her head. “Not one that size, Cade. It’s great for tomatoes but I’m not sure it’ll be effective against them.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Size isn’t everything, you know.” Cade leaned over the body and wiped one side of the blade over the ragged hole.

“That’s just gross.”

Cade flipped the cleaver and repeated the procedure to the other side. He then picked up the container and emptied the last of the powder over both sides of the weapon. “There, now we’re ready. Let’s just see how brave these bastards really are.”

Katy grabbed the door handle and glanced back at him before pushing open the door. As he stepped outside , the distant sound of screaming reached his ears. Katy moaned quietly and looked back at him. He could clearly see her terror. Cade felt it as well. The realization of their dire situation was just beginning to sink in. Cade looked down at his bloodied cleaver, coated in the garlic powder and felt like the world’s biggest idiot.

What the hell possessed him to believe that he actually might stand a chance against these monsters?

Katy tapped him on the shoulders and he turned to see the taxi driver staggering towards them. He looked drunk and certainly didn’t seem to be that much of a threat. That thought died when the man caught their scent. The taxi driver shivered before he tensed up. Cade watched in horror as the man shot forward, coming towards them like a bullet fired from a gun. His gums just burst open and huge teeth, shaped like ivory tusks grew from the wounds.

He pushed the girl behind him and raised the cleaver, hoping to God that the stuff on the blade would have the same effect on him as well. He then blinked rapidly as a large blurred object collided into the demonic taxi driver, knocking him to the ground. He roared and jumped to his feet, striking out with his impossibly long arms.

Cade then saw a darker shadow materialise behind the taxi driver. The vampire shuddered before falling to the floor. He groaned just once before his body started to deflate while dark, foul smelling fluid pooled from the collapsing corpse.

“Hello there, Cade.

He took his eyes off the abomination and saw the dazzling image of a gorgeous woman standing above the mess, holding a long, silver, pointed pole in her slender arms. “Elsie? Is that really you?”

“Listen to me, both of you. This is your one warning. The First Father is most displeased and I suspect that if he even suspected that I was here, he would likely kill me as well.”

She suddenly shifted and Cade gasped when he found that there were just a few inches separating them. The girl lifted the cleaver out of his hands, chuckled then ran her long tongue over the surface.

“Such trinkets will bring down the degenerate Swarmers but your toys are useless against us, Cade. The First Father had laid title to this town. You need to go, get out of here while you still can.” She brushed her cold hand down Cade’s cheek. “There will be no quarter given to them. The Deathgazer clan will wipe filthy Swarmers from the land.

Cade blinked again and found himself standing in the middle of the road. Katy wrapped her arms around his waist. He could see no sign of his best mate’s sister.

“What are we going to do?”

Cade had no answer for her.

Chapter Nine

It upset Jalim to witness so much meat go to waste. He picked up his blade, held the severed head between his knees and scored a circle above the ears. These tools were so fine, it amazed him that these knives were so readily available. This world was so rich in everything. “Except for vampires,” he said, giggling. He licked the blood from the knife then set it back down before pushing three fingers under the cut skin then tugged it off, revealing a bloodstained shiny skull.

“What are you doing?”

Jalim wiped the blood from the top of the skull and rapped his knuckles against the bone. He then looked up at his companion, a little annoyed that he had been so engrossed in his task that he had failed to hear Dylar enter the room. “You were told to keep our new friends company.”

The other vampire shrugged while pushing the flap of skin around with his foot. “They have not woken,” he frowned. “Forgive me, Jalim, but I am not confidant that they will wake. All this seems so wrong.”

He swatted his foot away. “Do not allow those thoughts to enter your head.” In truth, Jalim did have his doubts as well. He had infected many of the beast back before the sleep. All Swarmers were required not to leave the beasts pure. Denying the Deathgazers their food was an effective method of killing them. Though beasts bitten by anyone other than the First Father just turned into undead ghouls, fit for nothing other than battle fodder.

Jalim clearly heard his companion’s thought. The other vampire did not think that Jalim’s idea would work. He could not chastise Dylar. Anymore than he could persuade him that the sun would never rise again. The only way that Jalim could turn his companion into a believer was by proof.

He placed the head on the floor, held it by one ear and picked up a small hammer. “This is how I used to activate my Flesh Dragons. I injected my own unique powders, dissolved into an alcohol solution directly into the head muscle of a captured human.” He smashed the hammer down on the skull, grinning at the sight of the large crack running across the exposed bone. “It takes a certain skill and many years of practice to do that, Dylar.” He carefully picked away the splinters and used the tips of his fingers to pull the skull apart.

“It is not supposed to make a single difference as to how you extract the beast’s head muscle. Although, I do believe that it will lost some of its potency if you do not handle the delicate organ with care.

“Did you keep any of your powders?”

“Yes, Dylar, because that is the one thing that I just had to drop into my pocket before we had to sleep for a thousand years.”

Jalim stood up and held out the one-half of the bone, which held the muscle and carefully walked over to the brick arch that led into the next underground chamber. Their five recruits lay exactly where he had left them, on his hastily built beds of salvaged wooden doors lying on piles of bricks. He could have just left them where he and Dylar had dropped them after finding the beasts huddled around a burning metal drum. Just like his fastidious routine with the skull, Jalim had to give this procedure ceremony.

“Will this work?”

He glared at the huge idiot peering over his shoulder. “It would not work if I was feeding your head muscle to the recruits, Dylar. Still your annoying, flapping lips before I hurt you.”

It pleased Jalim to see Dylar shrink away. It also pleased him to see the eyes of two of his recruits flicker under their lids. It might have been impetuous to believe that they had smelled the arrival of the muscle. More likely, the ghouls were just waking from the effects of the bites.

“They will not be ghouls,” he muttered, nearing the closest man. Jalim placed the opened skull beside the man’s head, intently watching for any signs of movement. He leaned closer and grinned as his first recruit opened his eyes. His expectation sank when he saw just a few crimson flecks floating in his pupils, the usual indication that they had created the lowest of the low, just another worthless ghoul.

“What can you see, Jalim? Has it worked, did we do it?”

He ground his teeth together and tuned out Dylar’s irritating noise. He had not yet given up hope. Jalim forced the ghoul’s jaw open then, with his other hand, he picked up the half skull and tipped it, watching the grey and crimson sludge drip into his open mouth. Almost as soon as he stopped pouring, Jalim saw the recruit’s pupils darken, it was as if he had poured the fluid directly into its eyes.

“I can’t remember the lines!” he snapped. Jalim ran over to the other vampire, frantically searching through his memories to when his First Father ordained him the First Son. “Hold this and do not tip it.” Jalim stared into Dylar’s deep crimson eyes, chuckling at the ease that he found the words that Desmonus had first said over Dylar’s prone body. “Thank you,” he said running back to the moaning recruit.

“Listen to my words,” he said. “I make you the First Son of the Dragonshine Clan. The other vampires sleeping with you are your children. You must protect them, and ensure that they obey me at all times. Their misdemeanours are your misdemeanours. Keep them under control and you will taste flesh daily. Displease me and your children will sharpen their teeth on your bones.”

He watched his new First Son run his tongue over the slight bulges of his growing canines, feeling a sense of nostalgic pride, remembering his first time, all those thousands of years ago. Jalim rushed across the Dylar and took the skull out of the other vampire’s hands then ran over to the next recruit.

Jalim performed the same procedure with the other recruit before handing the skull back to Dylar was had shadowed him. “Have you been watching my motions?”

His companion nodded, “Are you going to let me do the others?” The vampire caught his breath. “Oh, I’ll never forget this honour.”

Jalim just backed away shaking his head, wandering how long it would take the young vampire to cease behaving like a stupid puppy. He looked over at his new First Son and felt a genuine sense on kinship with his new vampire and a genuine sense of astonishment that his idea had actually worked.

The vampire raised his chest off the board; he blinked a few times before staring directly at Jalim. “I should hate for what you have turned me into. Yet, I only feel love and the desire to please.”

He watched his First Son climb off the board.

“Tend to your children, “he said, nodding in approval as the vampire obeyed without hesitation. “Focus on your duties, my First Son. Remember your previous life but do not desire it.”

The new vampire stopped, he spun around and burst out laughing. “Are you having a fucking laugh, son?” He stretched out his arms, spread his fingers and swivelled the arm around in a tight circle. “Well, bugger me. There’s no pain, none at all. “Until you sank my teeth into my throat, I had no future.” He sniffed, well, maybe I had, a future where I’d probably die this winter, alone and hungry with the rats chewing on my old bones like an ice lolly.”

His First Son took the skull from Dylar and crouched beside the remaining recruit, while Dylar hurried back to stand at his side.

“This is so exciting. May I ask you just one question, Jalim? Why are we called the Dragonshine Clan?”

“Is that not obvious? We were very lucky here. I still do not understand why my experiment has worked. I know that the Swarmer clan have been wrestling with this dilemma for many thousands of years. Although I know not of any record of another vampire using a head muscle to fix them, I am sure that it must have been used sometime in the past. I am a skilled alchemist, Dylar. The Clan used my talents to create such a vast array of terrifying creations.” He sighed, remembering his first experiments, all those years ago. “The Flesh Dragons were my best work and I do intend to improve on the design.” Jalim laughed at the sight of the other vampire’s startle face. “What, you thought I would stop? My new breed of dragon will stamp those foul clans into bloodied pulp.”

Jalim turned away and watched his new First Son tend to his vampires. In his haste to comfort them, the First Son had kicked the skull, spilling the last of the head muscle across the floor. He vaguely wondered if he even cared that his worn boots had flattened what remained of his colleague into the damp stone.

He turned back and noticed his colleague’s eyes fixed upon that broken skull. “Does something vex you?”

Dylar took his eyes off the crushed bone and hung his head. “Yes, I fear that we took them too easily.” He murmured. “They all saw us approach, I scanned them and saw, through their glazed eyes, two monsters. They did not care, they did not run. Even when we dived on their filthy bodies, none of them put up any struggle.”

“Do I have to explain their behaviour one more time?” he hissed. “To a man, they were all drunk on whatever foul substance passes for draft in this new age. Also, they were all broken men who had lost their clan. Their reactions were normal. Do not let this matter concern you.”

He expected his comforting words to calm down the fool, to stop him dwelling on this quandary. Yet, he sensed the vampire becoming more agitated as each second passed. It made no sense. Where did this sudden apprehension come from?

“I can not sense them, Jalim. All their thoughts are veiled to me. It is like trying to read that wall. They are new-born. My First Son used his mind to help my journey. We all shared our thoughts and the elders sent their own passive images to all of us new-borns.” He grabbed Jalim’s shoulders. This place is too strange, too hard to understand. Just look at your new vampires, Jalim.” He walked up to the nearest one and lifted his arm. “Have you felt the quality of this cloth? Even in this condition, the weave is finer than anything were could have worn before we slept.”

Jalim watched the young vampire draw in a rapid breath before running past him, heading for the large hole that the pair of them had knocked through so they could get inside these two chambers.

Once again, Dylar took on the features of some terrified rabbit, but this time, Jalim could not understand the reason.

“He had a bottle in his hands before I killed him. We need to find out what was inside.” The vampire climbed through the hole.

“Why are you acting like this?” he shouted. Jalim received no reply. His turned to watch his new clan, they were now all awake and sat in the far corner of the chamber, quietly taking amongst themselves. He would allow them to rest for the rest of the night before he took them on their first hunt when the sun dipped below the hills. Jalim looked over at his First Son and attempted to read his mind, expecting to sense a jumble of chaotic thoughts. He frowned, Dylar was correct, there was just nothing there, he tried the read the others and received the same result.

Jalim spun around and hurried after his companion. It pained him to admit that he had been wrong to believe that his colleague would sever his clan connection so easily. Swarmer blood ran through Dylar’s veins and he suspected that nothing would change that fact. He glanced back at his new clan and saw them all gazing at him, he could not read any of their expressions.

It did not matter, they were his new clan, this was a new world, the rules were bound to be different. He would learn to understand why their thoughts were shut away. Jalim clambered through the hole in the wall and caught sight of the back of the vampire. As he cleared the top of the steps, he expected Dylar to run forward and head for the main doors. Instead, he turned towards the cooking area of this abandoned building.

He needed to reach a decision with how to deal with the other vampire, preferably, before the sun did rise. At this critical moment, his new clan demanded a strong cohesion. He could not afford to have Dylar amongst them is his loyalty was divided, it would break up their bond.

Jalim reached the top of the steps and stopped listening to Dylar’s frantic activities in the next room. Whatever decision the arrived at, Jalim did not believe that the young vampire would flee back to the Swarmer Clan. He headed over to the rotten wooden doorframe, wondering just how powerful his new clan could be if he fed them on Dylar’s rich blood.

“I have found it!” announced the young vampire, running over to Jalim, holding a clear bottle out in front of him. “It is a noxious potion, Jalim. This vile potion must be…”

The vampire’s words died on his lips and Dylar jerked to a halt. He silently cursed his own stupidity for not covering up his thoughts. This could be difficult, what Dylar lost in intellect, he made up in brute strength.

Dylar held the bottle up to his face before he let it go. “How can such a well crafted object be so fragile?” he murmured, staring at the glittering shards of broken glass lying by his feet. “I was ready to accept you as my First Father, Jalim.” Dylar lifted his eyes. “Perhaps, even, I even hoped that I would be your First Son?” He advanced a couple more paces.

Jalim resisted the urge to flee, even as the young vampire’s mouth yawned wide and his teeth grew longer, pushing up through Dylar’s gums. “I know that it is in our nature to deceive, to scheme,” the vampire lunged forward, closing the gap between them. He grabbed Jalim’s shoulders and thrust his long nails deep into his hard flesh. “It is also in our nature to betray. We do enjoy that one, Jalim. We all have the ability to protect our fragile egos by detecting these traitorous thoughts in the minds of our colleagues.” He shrugged. “Well, to some degree anyway.”

Dylar leaned close to Jalim’s ear. “Your obsession to become a First Father has clouded your judgment. I was trying to help you, Jalim, to show you the error of your ways.” He suddenly pushed Jalim back, nodding as the vampire crashed into the wall. “I will not end your life. For a time, I saw you as my friend. The only one who showed me any worth since our wakening.”

He backed away, keeping his bright crimson eye fixed on Jalim. The ten deep puncture wounds caused him little discomfort, his only hurt originated from the dawning realization of how badly he had misjudged the young vampire. Not that he would ever apologise for his blunder, his pride would not allow that.

“I am not short on intellect, Jalim. Perhaps I am a little naïve in the ways of vampires but that is to be expected, I am not that long changed. I do know that I have been too trusting.”

“Did you snatch that thought from my mind?”

Dylar nodded. “Perhaps I misled you regarding my ability? With the exception of the First Father, I had no problem in taking thoughts from any mind, including those supposedly hidden away. At least, that was until you changed those six men.”

He leaped onto the worktable and clambered across until he reached a large broken window in the middle of the wall. “Despite your recent treatment of me, I still feel that I owe you two pieces of advice, even if, deep down, I know that my words carry very little weight.”

Dylar pushed the last few shards of glass out of the window frame.

“Your new clan does not need you, Jalim. They do not need anyone. Please, trust them even less than you trusted me.” He grabbed the window frame.

“Dylar, I do believe you said two pieces of advice?”

He climbed through the window, turned and gave him a single tight smile. “The Swarmer clan has found us. Every one of our colleagues are now around the side of this house, standing in amongst the weed infested garden, getting ready to enter.”

Jalim heard him drop and raced over to the window and leaned out, watching the young vampire race through the garden before scaling a high wall and disappearing into the night.

Was he lying to Jalim? Was he just trying to leave Jalim feeling somehow inferior before abandoning his new clan? He filled his lungs with dusty air. It did not matter. Dylar’s pathetic attempt to unsettle him would not work. “May we never meet again,” he growled, turning away from the window. His only regret was that his new-born clan would not be enjoying their first taste of sweet vampire blood tonight. Maybe he should alter his plans and allow them to hunt tonight. “It was the brains that did it.” He chuckled, “Of course it was.”

That was the reason why they could not read their thoughts. His extra supplement must have acted as a screen. “Yeah, I’ll allow them to taste flesh, before I let them sleep.” That made sense, if they dined on uncontaminated flesh, the food should flush out the chemicals flowing through their bodies. “Then I will be able to read them and all will be well.”

Jalim hurried through the house, eager to issue his new orders to the new-borns. He knew that Dylar’s comment about the Swarmers standing outside the house was just a hastily concocted lie, but it did not stop him from worrying that the vampire would eventually lead them to his roost.

“Let them come,” he growled. “Not that he believed that his old clan would seek him out, at least not tonight. There was not enough hours of darkness left for them to risk such a mission. “I am the First Father now. Let them seek me out.” Jalim nodded, satisfied with himself that all was now well. He reached the stone steps, looked towards the front door and just dared them to enter his domain. After a few moment, he smiled then made his way back down the stairs.

Jalim climbed through the hole and blinked in astonishment. None of his new vampires were in the first chamber. He slowly looked around the room and noticed that the mashed head muscle had gone too, only small pieces of skull remained, scattered across the floor.

He ran through the archway and discovered no sign of them. This made no sense, he knew that none of them had left the chambers, they could not have gotten past him. What concerned Jalim more was that he had told them not to move.

“New-born vampires do not have the capability for independent thought.” This did not bode well. He recalled Dylar’s ominous words and wondered if he should have listened to him. “Where are they?” he asked himself.

They had been in this chamber, Jalim saw the evidence next to his boots. The new-borns had feasted upon the headless corpse before making their escape. It took him a moment for his brain to comprehend that the now desiccated corpse was not the only anomaly in the chamber. Jalim spotted one of the doors lying on the floor at the rear of the chamber. He walked over, noticing rotten splinters of wood forming a trail over to the dark green door.

He shook his head, not believing their low level of mentality. Jalim slid his fingers under one of the edges and lifted it up, grinning at the sight of the uncovered drain. It must have taken significant strength to break through the thick metal bars sealed into the stone.

“And I gave those ungrateful worms that strength,” he muttered. He could see why they had to find something to cover up the mess, they had bent the bars out of shape. Jalim leaned over the hole and leered down, his night sensitive eyes could not detect movement down there. “Why did you not drop the body over the hole?” he whispered, dropping to his knees.

Jalim lowered his legs over the hole and grabbed hold of one of the broken bars before pushing the rest of his body through the gap. His feet dangled a couple of feet above a fast flowing stream of black water. He spun his head, Jalim’s ears caught the sound of a few rats, scurrying through the sewer system but he could not detect any sound that might come from his missing clan. Jalim looked up and squinted, sure that he could here the sound of footsteps above him.

“Dylar, perhaps?” He released the bar and dropped into the freezing water, glad that the level only came up to his ankles. He waded over to the edge and jumped onto the stone ledge, trying to see evidence of their passing.

“Had a feeling that you’d try to follow us down here.”

Before Jalim had time to locate the disembodied voice, multiple pairs of arms snapped out of the darkness and wrapped their long hands over both his wrists. He grunted and struggled but stopped all his movements when he spotted a faint human shaped mass, stepping out from a deep-set brick archway on the other side of the sewer tunnel. He sighed deeply when a pair of dark blue eyes, speckled with flecks of bright red glared back at him.

His first son left the alcove, jumped into the black water then climbed up the side of the banking. The figure approached Jalim then ran a single filthy fingernail down the side of Jalim’s cheek. “You don’t half look surprised to see us, buddy. You thought we’d just fucked off, didn’t ya! Me and the lads spent a few years down here, you red eyed freak. We know all the good spots to bed down and we can move real quiet too.”

He leaned in a little closer, then suddenly burst out laughing. “Oh my, ain’t that a fucking pisser! First of all yer mate does a runner and then you find that your precious clan have all turned on you and about to get real nasty like.”

Jalim gazed at him. “I should have listened to him. I should have just done one of you. I should have not been so optimistic.”

The tramp giggled. “You sure don’t half speak funny.” He sighed. “Now, don’t get the wrong idea about us here. It’s not that we ain’t thankful for these new gifts. I mean, I can’t remember the last time that I could move like this, at least not without feeling like all me bones were gonna split. As for this night seeing malarkey, that’s gonna come in handy, that I can tell you!”

“Don’t forget the mind reading bit, that’s a good un,” interrupted one of the tramps gripping his wrist.

Jalim quickly scanned him and still found that he could not read his thoughts. That did concern him. There were many new things that he had learned tonight. Jalim should not have been so impatient. He, of all vampires knew the importance of that virtue

The ex-First Son scowled. “Henry, what have I told you about flapping those lips?”

He reached into his coat inside pocket and pulled out a slim metal stick. It reminded Jalim of a broken spoon handle. He watched, astonished as the tramp pulled out a blade from within the handle. He marvelled at the implement, the beasts had invented so many ingenious devices. Jalim so needed to learn more.

“Thing is, we were all pretty wasted when you and yer big fat mate jumped us. I think you’ve already guessed that we sorta spent most of our time in that condition. Hell, why the fuck not? It’s not like we had anything else to live for.” The ghoul pressed the blade against Jalim’s cheek and drew it down to the corner of his mouth. “Thanks to what you two did to us, it appears that we all have a different addiction now.”

The burning hunger that he now sensed from the rest of the ghouls around him, ignited his own desire to drink. He forced his body to relax while watching this foul animal use the blade to collect Jalim’s blood before he swung his head back and opened his mouth. The ghoul visibly shivered and moaned out loud when his blood splashed onto the ghoul’s thick tongue.

“Oh, oh that sure does taste so fine,” he blurted, staring at Jalim with shining eyes. “I can’t tell you what a shock it is to actually taste something. My taste buds were pretty much wiped out years ago.”

Should Jalim had experienced and resentment or even disappointment at his current situation? He could not blame these filthy ghouls. These things were the lowest of the low. Their insatiable desire to feed on any living flesh knew no bounds. The ghouls had no cohesion to any clan.  Every vampire also knew or their duty to put these things down upon sight.

The other ghouls shuffled further to the sides and stretched him farther out while the remaining ghoul lifted the sharp blade and pushed the point into Jalim’s flesh, just below his right eye. “The others just wanted to attack you as soon as they saw your body drop into the water. It took some serious persuading to stop ’em from ripping you into little bits.”

“You are very generous,” he replied, grinning at him. Jalim opened his mouth, making a point to ensure the ghoul saw his large teeth. It did please him to see the filthy creature take an involuntary step back.”

“Are we doomed to spend our lives in darkness now that you’ve bitten us? See, I can feel the weight of the sun already, even though there’s another hour before it emerges.” He slashed the blade down again, opening up another long slit in Jalim’s flesh. “We’re going to make you last until the sun sinks again. Why not? It’s not like we have anything else to do.”

The ghoul paused. “Why are you smiling?” he said, frowning. “Have you any idea how much pain we are going to put you through?”

“You talk and talk when you should just cut and cut.” He thrust his legs forward, slamming his foot between the ghoul’s legs. The force knocked him back into the water. Jalim growled then pulled both his arms in, scattering the remaining creatures. He grabbed the nearest one, opened his mouth and ripped out a chink of his pale flesh from the side of his neck. He lifted the groaning ghoul above his head, laughing as the ghoul’s hot blood soaked his head and dripped down his face. He threw the corpse into three of the things who were advancing towards him, hissing and baring their fangs.

Jalim reached into the water and dragged out the wet ghoul. “There is so much to learn about this new and exciting world, my friend.” He wrapped his fingers around the ghoul’s throat and lifted the struggling creature off his feet. “I do enjoy sinking my teeth into an enigma. The ones that scream are my favourite ones.” He punched his rigid fingers into his guts, Jalim’s sharp nails easily puncturing the flesh. “Even now, I can feel your mind opening up to me as I feel my way around the inside of your ribcage.” He wrapped his fingers around the ghoul’s intestines, squeezed tight and pulled the offal out of his stomach. “There,” he gasped, feeling the walls of the creature’s mind finally collapse. Jalim pushed his way in, mentally grinning when he found exactly what he was seeking. He dropped the corpse into the water, watching it float away in the current.

Jalim opened his eyes and saw the remaining ghouls lying in an untidy heap just under the hole that led into the chambers. The reason for their quiet demise stood behind the pile of bodies. “Hello,” he said, nodding at Dylar. “So, you came back?”

The young vampire shook his head. “I never left. Why would I leave you, Jalim? You are all that I have left.”

“You told me that the Swarmers were outside.”

“Yes, just like I told you that I could not read the minds of these things. I lied about that as well. They were always going to betray you, I saw that as soon as I scanned their thoughts.” He shrugged. “I needed you to see that I am all that you have left as well, Jalim. You are proud and stubborn. This appeared to be my only way to prove that.”

“Do you want to see where these tunnels lead, Dylar?” He held out his arm, nodding in approval as the young vampire hurried over to take the offered peace offering. “You are my First Son. I will not allow the Dragonshine Clan to be just me and you, my friend.” He looked down in disgust at the dead ghouls. “Perhaps we cannot turn the beast into our kind, Dylar. It matters not, we shall create them instead.”

Chapter Ten

He pulled his hand back, gritting his teeth and trying not to shriek out in agony. Damien wrapped his shaking hand around his wrist and brought the back of his other hand up to his face, moaning in anger at the deep burns running from his wrist all the way down each finger. The pain began to subside but the damage was in no hurry to heal.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” moaned Damien, squinting in pain as he saw the dawn sun slowly eat away the shadows. “Just what am I going to do now?” Those burning rays has almost cooked him alive, they certainly made his hand look like he’d just dipped the flesh in strong acid. He knew that if he hadn’t dived under this pick-up truck, a stinking black puddle of slime, steaming away in the morning sun would have been the only thing left of his body.

Just one shadow remained beyond the safety of the truck, beyond that though, only death awaited Damien. His intended destination, a narrow alley, was just a few metres from this truck. He gazed at the back of his hand again, noting, with relief that, the deep ugly burns did not look so bad, even so, there wasn’t a chance of him reaching that alley without the sun turning him into black slop.

“You were a fool to go there,” he muttered. Despite her warnings, Damien had returned home, constantly on the look out for his vengeful sister. He’d found nobody there, although he’d found plenty of evidence of struggle and he’d found plenty of blood splats. Looking back, he found it strange to believe that the only sight that had really distressed him was the state of his bed. His newly enhanced senses had smelled his mother’s juices on the sheets. Some fucker had laid his own mum in his bed and it wasn’t his father.

The dozens of posters that he’d plastered across his four bedroom walls should have given him the first clue. Damien had stood there, his hand pulling the quilt over the sheets with their offensive stains while he gazed at his leather-clad beauty above his bed. The Countess Angelina adorned many House of the Unholy posters. The head of her vampire sect ruled over her mythical land with impunity. The band had even teamed up with a major American comic company to chronicle Angelina’s blood-soaked life in paper and ink.

Damien probably knew more about the vampire myth than anyone else in the town. He had still fled from that house though, despite knowing that if the morning sun’s rays caught him he’s probably end up melting.

“That much is a certainty, he muttered, watching in fascination as the damaged flesh began to lose some of its rawness. His body had started to repair the injury but it would the process wouldn’t be instantaneous. Watching the meat heal reminded him of the minute hand on a clock face.

He tilted his head back, trying to judge the distance between his trapped body and the promise of cool shade. It appeared to only be a few dozen metres. He’d be able to cover the distance within a few seconds, but even that short space of time was too long. That sun had almost boiled hand down to the bones after just a lightning quick exposure.

His idiotic decisions had put him in this ridiculous predicament. Damien knew that he shouldn’t have gone he also should have stayed in that house when he realised the time. “You could have grabbed the sleeping bag from the cupboard and crashed on the carpet. Hell, you knew you were alone.”

Even as the words left his lips, Damien knew that would have never happened. That house just stank of his most bitter enemy, his rival clan. His rational mind just couldn’t accept this division but Damien could not ignore his blood and these powerful new feelings that surged through his new body. Rationality just didn’t enter the equation anymore. “You have Swarmer blood running through your veins,” he muttered.

Instead of going off on this fool’s errand, why the fuck had he not tried to seek out Eleanor? After all, that’s what she had told him to do. “Yeah,” he sighed. “You’re at the beck and call of your new mistress.”

Was it the last bit of his rapidly shrinking human part of his mind refusing to bow down to the vampire’s sway? If that was the case then he might as well give up right now, because it wasn’t working. Hell, even thinking back to the erotic thoughts he had about Elsie made him feel like a guilty schoolboy. Fuck knows what the vampire would do to him if she found out about the girl on the embankment.

Damien suddenly snatched his foot away from the edge of the edge of the truck, whimpering as the burning sun grazed across his boot heel. “Why am I even fighting this?” he cried. “I belong to her, I’m Eleanor’s property.”

He whimpered again when something brushed past his feet. He leaned across and resisted the urge to break out in a fit of hysterical laughter at the sight of a black and white cat darting across the road and taking shelter under another car.

“Yeah, that’s right, moggy. This is my spot and don’t you forget it.”

He sighed, wishing that his owner could somehow find a way to recover her lost property without that hateful sun melting him like a tub of fucking ice cream. That was unlikely to happen, that woman and the rest of them were probably all asleep now. For some reason, Damien could shake the image of them all hanging upside down from the rafters in his aunt’s barn, like a bunch of giant bats.

The cat lay down and fixed its bright green eyes on Damien. He guessed that the cat just couldn’t understand why a human had decided to lie in the cat’s favourite spot.

“Why the glare, you ugly cat? I don’t want to be under here, you know. If I could get out from under here, I would do.” The animal didn’t seem that impressed with Damien’s apology. “Okay then, what would you do in my position?”

Damien vaguely wondered if he was finally losing his mind. He returned the animal’s hostile gaze. “Not that there’s such a thing as a vampire cat. At least I don’t think so. Still, it probably wouldn’t bother you. I bet all that thick fur would keep your little body safe.”

He blinked, wondering if he really was so stupid. He looked down his body. “It’s only your hands and face that you have to worry about, you fucking moron.” Damien gritted his teeth and called up all his reserves of bravery then pushed his foot very slowly out from the safety of the shade. He felt the heat immediately and although he imagined his foot bursting into flames, the flesh beneath the fabric stayed singe free.

“Fuck me!” he gasped, bringing his leg back under the car. It might not have harmed his flesh but the action still felt like the bravest thing he’d ever done in his life. He looked at the truck’s muck spattered undercarriage, his heart beating so fast. Damien wanted to burst into tears, he knew he wouldn’t be able to do this, there was no chance. Even now, he could feel that huge yellow ball getting higher and higher, as each second passed, it oppressive weight made him feel like someone was placing heavy rocks on his body, one at a time.

Damien then shrieked when he heard the one sound that he never hoped to hear. Someone had climbed into the cab and turned the ignition. The engine roared into life. He had maybe three seconds before the vehicle moved away. That sun would turn his body into a pool of steaming goo exactly one second later. He grabbed the top of his jumper then used his legs to shuffle down, watching the fabric more up his face until it reached his eyes.

With his vision now occluded, Damien couldn’t see the metalwork above him, not that it mattered. As soon as the truck moved, if he didn’t cover up the rest of his face, the sun would boil away his eyeballs anyway. Within his confined space, his managed to wriggle out of his leather jacket. Damien pulled it over his face, just as the truck began to move. His terror increased to extreme levels when he felt the hot rays warm up the leather. Damien struggled to his feet, yelping when he heard a distant voice shouting. The fear of someone running over to snatch the coat off his head was just too great to contain.

He pelted across the road, not remembering where the alleyway was. Damien cleared the tarmac just before another car raced down the road. He heard its brakes screech and just knew they had stopped to investigate. “If it’s the police, I’m so fucked!” His body slammed into a stone wall, he lifted the jacket just a crack and saw what looked like the entrance to the alley. He ran over to it, sensing those deadly rays lessen as he ran between the two buildings.

His eyes quickly adjusted to the gloom and he almost smiled at his lucky escape. Damien couldn’t yet break into a full smile due to the three pairs of heavy footfalls right behind him. His senses already heightened from the adrenalin calmly informed him that if they were here to assist, they would have shouted out by now. He stopped running and gingerly lifted up his jacket. Right by his side, he saw a boarded up door. Under the peeling black paint, there was two faded letters that could be a M and an A. Damien nodded to himself, finally working out where this alley led. He nipped into the alcove and pressed his body flat against the door. Right now, the morning sun wasn’t shining down here, he guessed that this alley would remain in darkness until this evening. He pulled the jacket from his head and waited.

The pursuers slowed down before stopping, just before they reached where he hid. Damien didn’t know who they were, he was confident that they wasn’t the law though, that fact given away by the cloud of tobacco smoke drifting into view. He grinned when the sound of a cough reached his ears.

“What the fuck was it?”

Damien leaned further back and waited to see that the owner of that voice would move into view. She sounded like a young teenage, perhaps about sixteen. He grinned to himself, hoping that her beauty was more appealing than her rough sounding voice.”

“I don’t know, probably a tramp of something. Come on, we’re going to be late for work.”

He listened to the footsteps recede then peered around the corner, watching the male take the girl’s hand before stepping back out into the sunlight. He didn’t like how he felt right now. It seemed as though the tables had turned and now he was the one to run and hide.

“Fuck them,” he muttered. “Fuck them all.” Damien turned and examined the ancient door. This used to be used by the market traders many years ago, before the council built the new extension. He still remembered he and a few of his mates trying to sneak in through this door when they were kids, convinced that mountains of goodies lay just beyond this door. They never did succeed. All the market traders used to stand here smoking away for the most of the day.

Damien found to his surprise that the wood easily gave away when he pushed his hard fingernails into it. “Bloody hell! I have got stronger.” He noticed a few bricks lying around the door and concluded that he wasn’t the only one who had tried to get through. A large piece of splintered wood dropped to the floor as he thrust his nails deeper. It did seem strange that the council would leave this door unprotected. There were three padlocks down the side of the frame but he reckoned that anyone armed with a crowbar would be able to get them off.

Another piece broke off. “It’ll be bricked up on the other side,” he muttered. “My luck can’t hold out for that long.” He crouched down, hooked his fingers under one of the loose boards, and pulled, almost shouting out at the sound of the nails pulling away. Dim yellow light shone out of the hole he’d made.

“Oh, this is just awesome,” he chuckled, pushing his arm through the hole. Damien reached up and felt along the gap. His fingers closed over a bolt. Moving his fingers along, he found a large padlock. Damien wrapped his hand around it and pulled. The lock came off and dropped to the floor and the door slowly slid inward.

Damien stepped inside and quietly closed the door shut and dragged a large table across the door to keep it closed. This place should be empty, it now opened just twice a week, thanks to the new shopping mall that some private company constructed across town a few years ago.

That meant he had the place to himself, it wasn’t due to re-open for a couple more days, so he’d be able to at least rest here in peace until tonight. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, gripping his leather tight. It took considerable willpower not to collapse onto the floor, curl up and go to sleep right here and now. Despite his confidence that the market was empty, he still needed to check it out, just in case the place had a caretaker or janitor’s office somewhere in the hall.

Finding the room occupied would be a bonus too, he ran his tongue across his lips and smiled at the thought of having just one final drink before he slept through the day, he believed that fate owed that much at least.

He wandered up the narrow corridor, heading towards a set of plastic curtains, a few metres away. Damien yawned. Perhaps, it might be better if he just laid down here, curled up against the wall. Why bother searching for food? If there was some sort of security in the market then, they were bound to spot his slumped body eventually. Damien slid down the wall, dropping his aching arms down. A tight smile played along his face when he noticed a old rusty hook screwed into the ceiling. “I ain’t no bat, though,” he whispered, allow his eyelids to drop.

His body craved rest, every muscle ached. The traumatic change wrought through his system now demanded some down time to allow time to adapt but, his mind refused to comply. Damien drew in a short breath, feeling like he’d just been dropped into the ocean.

Groaning, he lifted his eyelids and gazed in confusion at the thick translucent, plastic curtains. Decades of constant use had degraded the plastic, the scratches made it next to impossible to see what lay beyond.

“What’s stopping me from sleeping?” he whispered, wondering why he was keeping his voice so low. This was just ridiculous, what the fuck did he have to fear now? He instinctively glanced at the ceiling, glad that there were no skylights in this part of the market. He reminded himself to avoid those when he did enter the main area.

Something had prevented him from completely shutting down. Although his enhanced senses were still largely untested, Damien still trusted them to keep him safe, they hadn’t let him down so far.

He ignored the protests from his aching body and quietly got back on his feet, not taking his eyes away from the plastic. Now that his mind was focused on imminent danger, whether it was real or imaginary, those senses that he now relied on went into overdrive.

Every sight, sound and smell was checked, everything inspected with the utmost care, unwilling to discard anything that might pose a threat. He couldn’t work out what the hell was wrong with him until he took in a large breath. Damien sighed and chuckled. He caught the scent of a very familiar taint, the faint smell of slaughter. That’s what hadn’t allowed his senses to shut down.

Damien hadn’t really noticed it, at least not on the surface. The smell of raw meat along with all the other smells floating through the market aisles had always been present every time he set foot inside.

The hot deli stall had opened up right at the top of the market a few months ago. The smell of roasting chicken used to drive him wild although he remembered that the taste never matched the expectations. Elsie used to go crazy for the bakery located in the middle of the market. She really did have a liking for fresh-baked bread.

He approached the curtains, keeping to the side. Even she, just like him, would appreciate the rich scent of fresh blood that got stronger the closer he got to the plastic barrier. He knew that the single row of butcher’s stalls was situated beside these curtains. That delightful smell did not come from any cow though, that much, he did know.

His new vampire enhanced senses stopped him from bursting through those curtains. Even he didn’t need those to tell him that other members of his kinds had to be in the market. He flattened himself against the wall when his ears picked up the sound of footsteps dragging something heavy over the stone floor.

Damien then felt the light touch of another mind grazing over his. He blanked his thoughts, purposely bringing up images of fog laden beaches and misty twilights, not wanting the vampire to latch onto anything specific.

“Why have you stopped, Healiod?”

The sudden appearance of such a loud noise caused Damien to start, he hadn’t been expecting to hear such a thunderous voice. He saw the blurred outline of two figures right outside the curtains.

“I thought I felt someone else.”

The other figure growled. “Brother, you will feel me ripping off your tiny head if you cause me to drop this body again. Healiod, you are acting like some virgin boy on his wedding night. Stop your fretting, the First Father will be busy with his new toy at least until the sun sets.”

Damien didn’t recognise those voices, they weren’t the bastards that jumped on him and Elsie at his aunt’s house. He didn’t know they were from the same clan, his blood told him that much. They were his family now. He resisted the urge to scoff, like they’d accept a jumped up little turd like him into their clan.

He wished that he could see them, the temptation to try and read their thoughts ate into him, he so needed to learn more about these vampires. Damien believed that the one who had done all the talking so far was the closest blur to the plastic curtains. He concentrated on that dark shape and decided to take the risk. He closed his eyes and remembered how easy he found it to read the minds of those idiots up in that tree.

If they those vampires at the house had managed to catch him, Damien had no doubt that those fuckers would have torn off his limbs without breaking into a sweat. He had gained extra body mass, thanks to his feeding tonight, even so, those vampire must have been at this blood sucking business for centuries, they’ll be old hands at this game, if he went up against them. They’d have no problem in ripping up his body like it was made of wet tissue.

There was one endowment that he suspected that both of those clowns lacked in sufficient quantities. He didn’t have their brawn but compared to the ones that he’d already met, he was a mental giant, he was going to bet that the two in front of him were just as stupid.

Damien composed himself and focused on the moving shadows beyond the corridor. Without a pause, he found himself standing on the other side of those plastic curtains and staring at two of the largest males that he had ever seen. His heart almost ceased beating when the one still holding the body, suddenly swivelled his huge head and stared right at Damien. He got ready to run, clenching his fists and trying to remember the layout of this market, desperately thinking of any place where he’d be able to hide without these huge vampires finding him. Damien let out his held breath when the vampire’s eyes darted past him and focused on a fire extinguisher, bolted to the tiled wall, a few feet from where they stood.

The vampire then returned his gaze at his companion when he growled at him. Just looking at these two jokers, Damien knew that he hadn’t been wrong about them being able to pull off his arms and legs. Even the smaller vampire’s heavily muscled body strained against his black leather tunic. They both looked exactly how he perceived vampires to look like, built like fucking battle tanks, ugly as sin with an attitude to match. They could have stepped right out of any of his bedroom posters. In truth, they scared the shit out of him, their appearance also gave him hope, knowing that before long, he’d be able to match their bulk. Damien just hoped that as his body filled out, he wouldn’t lose his good looks.

“Am I carrying this alone, brother?” snarled the smaller vampire. “Healiod, are you listening to my words?”

Damien stared at the one named Healiod, his most prominent feature, after he got past his bulk, just had to be his hair. He wore it in a tight pony tail that stretched all the way down his back. Was the vivid red, his natural colour? Damien had difficulty believe that such a vicious looking monster would take time to dye it. He shrugged, then again, what did he know about these individuals apart from their lust for blood? He smiled, thinking that their lust was now his lust.

The smaller vampire didn’t seem share his brother’s love for hair, he had none. Elaborate tattoos covered his smooth dome. Apart for their preference for black leather, Damien saw no family resemblance. Perhaps, they were just clan brothers?

“I am listening to your words, Helix, but I find no interest in them.” He picked up the body’s legs. “Now, if you were to explain to me why you are shaking?”

Helix vigorously shook his head. “Your eyes need replacing. I am not shaking, my body is as still as this corpse.”

Healiod chuckled. “Even your head pictures are dancing, brother. I have known you for all of our tainted lives, both as human and as vampire. I know you better than you think, Helix. Perhaps even better than you know yourself. That though is not an idle boast, you have never been such a complicated creature.”

“You know nothing about me. Just for once, stop trying to berate my senses.”

“I have no clue as to what you are saying!” cried Healiod. “I say you shake and you deny it and call me a liar. How is that an insult?”

“Your insults are in how you move when we converse, they are behind every word that falls from your mouth.”

The large vampire sighed heavily. “Helix, your body quivered, that is what I saw. Tell me why?”

Damien watched the smaller vampire turn his head around the market. “I forget that your senses are not so finely tuned, my brother. It is simple, I can feel the presence of another vampire, may be another one of our clan?”

Healiod burst out in laughter. “You are such a fool. It is the First Father you sense. Even I can feel his presence.” He growled again, “Oh, for what I would do to enjoy those two human females he has with him.” Healiod glared at his brother. “I urge you to focus on our own task and not to allow your nomadic thoughts to stray close to his.”

“It was not his that I detected!” cried Helix.

The large vampire dropped the body and grabbed the front of his brother’s tunic. “Listen very carefully to my words, Helix. If Desmonus discovers that we have fed, not once but many times, he will punish us. If Desmonus discovers that we allowed our after feasting to change into ghouls, then he will gut us and order the rest of the clan to consume us. Is this how you wish to end your existence?”

Helix shook his head.

Damien’s head smacked into the wall behind his back. He snapped his eyes open, immediately aware of the passage of time. His internal body clock had never been that accurate until he had changed. He didn’t doubt the result. Somehow, his body had just decided to shut down on its own volition and over four hours had passed.

“Why the fuck don’t I feel any better then?” he muttered, flexing his arm, frowning at the stiffness in his muscles. He slowly got back onto his feet and approached the curtains, quietly confident that, like him, the other visitors had all found hidden niches to curl up and sleep away the daylight hours.

He glanced behind him, at the corner of the wall and felt the desire to return to see if he could sleep off some of this ache. “No, I can’t do that, there is still so much to find out.”

Damien knew that he probably wouldn’t get a better time to gain a little more information. From what he had found out already, he didn’t think it would be that difficult to sneak into their sleeping minds.

He pushed his way through the plastic curtains, instinctively cringing at the spears of sunlight, highlighting the walked-in grease and lumps of blackened chewing gum stuck to the paving slabs. He almost hissed at the hateful sight of all that daylight.

“For fuck’s sake,” he muttered, carefully edging his way away from the deadly rays and keeping his back pressed against the metal shutters. “I’ll need some sun cream. I think factor one million should cover it.” Despite his effort to make light of the subject, he knew that it’d take him a long time to get over the fact that he’d never feel the sun of his face again. That did suck big time. “So, I’m banished to the dark for all eternity.” Damien hurried through the butcher’s quarter, intending to make his way up to the top end of the market. He guessed that, just like him, the other vampires would rather keep the sunlight away from their flesh. He figured that they’d all gravitate towards the old part of the market, the old Victorian building was as gloomy as fuck. Not many traders operated up there now.

He knew of a dozen forgotten hiding places in the old quarter where a couple of sleepy vampires could catch forty winks. Not every stall had shutters, it wouldn’t take much effort to break through some of those thin wooden boards that covered the stall windows.

As he ran along the stone floor, heading away from the butcher’s quarters, he found it hard to clear the image of two evil vampires, sleeping in the middle of a floor full of soft teddy bears, probably sucking their thumbs.

It took Damien just minutes to reach the old quarter, he welcomed the gloom and the darkness, despite his earlier regrets about never feeling the sun, as he wandered down the dark aisles, he found his urge to feel warmth quickly diminish. He stopped beside a mobile phone repair shop and slowly turned in a tight circle, keeping his ears open, trying to detect any sounds. Apart from his own slight breathing, Damien couldn’t hear anything. They couldn’t have left, no way, that option just wasn’t possible.

He calmed himself down, those two vampires had to be hiding in here somewhere. All he had to do was to keep looking. Thinking about it, the idea of not being discovered made a lot of sense. Right now, those creatures were at their most vulnerable. The last thing they needed was a bunch of angry villagers, carrying burning torches, digging up their still bodies and tying them to a huge stake.

Damien shook away the bizarre image and hurried through the aisles, keeping his senses attuned for signs of their presence. He couldn’t feel their minds anywhere, they couldn’t have just left the place, where else would they go?

His probing senses suddenly flew back when their tentative touch brushed against a hurricane-like force. A mind infinitely more powerful than any he’d ever encountered. He fell against a discount clothing stall, trying to push his trembling body through the wood.

This mind could only belong to their Swarmer First Father. Damien caught his breath, remembering that he was his First Father now. This didn’t make any sense to Damien. He knew that the First Father was in the market, he sensed his presence ages ago but it hadn’t been that different from the other clan minds, at least not when the First Father was awake. Damien now saw the First Father’s true power. Whilst sleeping, the vampire’s roaming thought hunted down any suspicion. He dreaded to think how he rooted out any dissent amongst his clan. That sleeping mind was so powerful, just cracking with dark energy. Damien honestly believed that the First Father could literally turn any other mind into a lump of thoughtless mush, if he so desired.

He dropped t the floor and shut his eyes tight when he felt that incredible mind heeding towards him. Damien thought about the mist and fog again, trying not to cry out when the First Father’s cold mind brushed over his. Damien’s body broke out in sakes when he felt the mind leaving him.

Damien climbed up the front of the shop, feeling like he’d just walked through a tornado. The power in that vampire’s mind really did scare him. He now see why he couldn’t find the other minds. Their own survival depended on secrecy. He took a deep breath and tried again to locate them, now that the First Fathers mind had swept the area, perhaps they would feel that the coast was clear. He focused on their signatures, feeling something very cold close by. Damien grinned, he had found them, it was just a weak trace but he knew exactly where there were now. Frustration overcame him when he discovered that no matter how hard he tried, there was no way inside their thoughts. Of course not, Damien should have figured that out as soon as the First Father’s incredibly powerful mind left him feeling as weak as a baby.

“What a delightful surprise.”

Damien yelled out in shock when he felt a huge pair of hands land on his shoulders. He dropped to the floor and rolled, looking up at the sight of another vampire glaring down at him. The vampire’s face suddenly displayed utter astonishment. Damien felt the vampire’s mind attempt to process the fact that his food was another vampire, just like him.

There was no way that he was going to hang around until this idiot’s brain had shifted into first gear. Damien jumped up and raced down the aisle, listening to his pursuer’s furious roar.

What the hell was he doing? Damien just wanted to stop, turn and explain to this monster that he was part of their family now, he glanced around and saw this inhuman abomination gaining on him and knew that this evil bastard would not listen to any discussion, his pursuer didn’t see him as family, only as a tender morsel.

“Fuck you too!” he snarled. Damien jumped onto the wall and scaled up the brickwork, the hard tips of his fingers easily finding enough grip in the old mortar. Damien looked down, at his murderous expression and wanted to laugh at this ape’s comical expression. “Are you going to calm down?”

As he leaned a bit to far out, his fingers began to slip, Damien panicked and grasped out, his fingers finding and grabbing a length of thick material attached to the ceiling. The cloth came away in his hands and He cried out as daylight streamed through the previously blocked up skylight.

Damien let go of the cloth and tried to wrap his fingers around a thick pipe, but his fingers just would obey his commands, he spun his head around and watched in horror as the huge vampire below him jumped out of the path of the falling material and stepped straight into the sunlight streaming into the market. The result was just cataclysmic; his whole body just began to melt, like a candle in the path of an acetylene torch. The dying vampire scream slammed into Damien’s mind hard, he felt like he’d just been hit by a speeding truck. His fingers lost their grip and he fell, slamming into the hard concrete floor, narrowly missing the fatal sunlight.

He turned his head away from the sight of the vampire’s dissolving body, finding that he couldn’t move his legs, the fall must have broken his bones. He felt no pain yet, but he knew that delight wouldn’t stay suppressed for long. Damien felt the others waking up

Chapter Eleven

He couldn’t remember what had jerked him awake. Cade listened to the incessant bird chatter, trying to work out just how that noise was supposed to be restful. Right now, he’d give his right arm for a shotgun. Cade lowered his head, wrinkling his nose as his movement caused the soft heather under him to release more sweet scent. He decided that it must be the plants that brought out of his restless slumber, the smell reminded him, indirectly of his mother’s dressing table.

Cade slowly sat up and brushed pieces of plant out of his hair. He arched his back, feeling the bones crack; his muscles weren’t his friend this morning, that much was certain. Cade attributed his numerous aches from yesterday’s strenuous activities, not because he bedded down on an improvised bed made from heather and a piece of dry carpet that Katy found rolled up behind a wheelie bin.

He quietly chuckled to himself, remembering all those times when he and Damien had fallen into drunken slumbers at assorted house parties around the town. “I’ve never up next to such a hot girl before though,” he whispered, gazing in admiration at Katy’s smooth back.

His thoughts of desire paused when the girl suddenly jumped and gasp out. Cade snuggled closer and ran his hand through her hair. “It’s okay, sweetheart,” he whispered, leaning forward to kiss her cheek. She moaned again but didn’t wake up. He rested his hand on her shoulder and caressed her tense muscles. She must be in the middle of a dream, by the way she was twisting about and groaning, he doubted that it would be about fluffy clouds and unicorns.

“Baby?” He jerked her shoulder. “Come on, snap out of it.”

Katy yelped then her eyes snapped open. Her momentary confusion vanished when she saw Cade. The girl’s face broke into a soft grin.

“Hey there, handsome. Fancy meeting you here.” She reached out, grabbed his hair and pulled him closer. “It’s time you finished something.” Katy pressed her soft lips against his and kissed him passionately.

He could help but to respond when she wrapped her naked legs around his thighs and pulled him tight against her body. “Baby?” he gasped pulling his head up. “Sweetheart, I so want you, more than anything else but, we need to figure out what to do!”

She shook her head. “Hush, it’s daylight now, they’ll be sleeping and right now I can’t think of anything else but the feel you inside me.” She grabbed his head. “Now you listen to me, Cade McCrae. Somehow, we are still alive. How the fuck that happened is a miracle.”

He saw her eyes filling up and automatically wiped away her tears. “Everything is going to be alright, you’ll see.”

“No it fucking won’t!” she snapped. “When the sun goes down, those things will be back.” Katy grabbed his wrists. “We might not make it to see the next sun up.” She stared into his eyes. “Cos you’re not going to leave, are you?”

He shook his head. “No, I can’t leave. I can’t run away from this, Katy. They need to be stopped.”

She nodded. “Oh baby, please, let’s just get the hell out of town. I don’t want to die and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

He caught his ragged breath, looking into her terror struck eyes before rolling off her. “Sweetheart, what choice do we have? They aren’t going away. It doesn’t matter where we going, you can be sure that they’ll find us again. These fuckers are like a plague.”

Katy broke down. “But, it’s not our fucking problem!”

He shook his head, sure that he had heard the noise of a car engine. Cade sat up, gazed down to the bottom of the embankment, and saw over two dozen assorted vans and cars slowly winding along the previously empty lane. Cade turned away and looked into her beautiful eyes. “Baby, there is nobody else.” He leaned back down and kissed her softly on the lips the passed the girl her top. “Look at this, sweetheart.”

“Oh shitting hell, I’d forgotten all about them.”

Cade nodded, he had as well. How ironic was that? The annual Ichiban Metal festival was the only event that he and his fellow metal loving friends looked forward to. The rest of the town hated it, sure, they were grateful for the vast amount of disposable income that a few thousand seasoned metallers brought to the town but none of the locals could be comfortable with so much long hair and black leather mingling with the country tweed and beige jodhpurs. The festival was the only time when Cade actually felt normal.

“Babes, we need to find a way to stop those things before the sun goes down.” he pointed down at the motorcade. “Do you remember what Elsie said?”

“Yeah, something about this was their town?”

He nodded. “There are two clans here, Katy. We already know that. At first, I thought those bastards would start fighting again, right here, in this town.” He watched a dark blue van at the front, slow down then turn, driving into an open field. “That’s not going to happen.”

“How can you be so sure, Cade?”

The other vehicles followed the van into the field. He stood up and saw that the other lane beyond this field was already packed with cars. “The Swarmers are not as strong as the Deathgazers,” he said, remembering the images that flowed through his mind while he was by that ancient pit, last night.

As closed his eyes and felt his mind slipping back. The ground beneath his feet lost cohesion. He stumbled and fell. Cade’s eyes snapped open and he saw that a dozen wooden houses, built in a rough circle, had replaced the cultivated English countryside. He spun around, trying not to slip again and saw that Katy was no longer with him.

What was wrong with his body? Cade had a mild nauseous ache, nibbling at the pit of his stomach, but apart from that, Cade felt most chilled out. He could wrap his head around it, hell, his emotions should be spinning like clothes in a washing machine.

As he turned away from the ramshackle buildings, Cade discovered that he wasn’t alone. There were a group of men, women and a few children, stood, around a large black stone. They were motionless and mute. Curiosity got the better of him and he stepped out of the muddy puddle, sighing when he saw the state of his trainers.

Cade approached the group, noticing that none or them seemed the least bit interested in his presence. Unlike him, the people were all dressed in similar rough woven clothing. They all looked as though they’d stepped out of the middle ages. Beyond them, he saw a large barricade, built from tree trunks encircling the area.

Where the hell was he? Cade still found it hard to understand why he felt little emotion, unless this was just a dream? That could explain it. Perhaps this is where Katy had come to before he woke her up. It would explain why the people hadn’t seen him. He walked up to the nearest one, a young woman, about the same age as him. To try out his theory, he placed his hand upon her should.

He let out a yelp of surprise when the woman turned and placed her own hand on his. Cade’s emotions then hit him with the intensity of a speeding truck when she turned around and he gazed into the young face of his mother.

“Thank you, Dalain,” she said, giving him a tired smile. “I did not doubt you. I knew you would not shirk from your responsibilities.” She pushed him forward and pressed him back against the black stone. “The elder will see what you have done, this harvest eve as a sign that we are the ones for the Powers to favour.”

Cade looked at the sallow faces of the assembled people, trying to make sense of her words. The rest of the people had still not spoken. Then, like at the command of some hidden signal, they all looked up to the top of the large stone. He followed their gazer and saw, to his horror, that these savages had manacled a young girl to the surface. From here, he could see the blood pooling beside her mouth. He staggered back, pushing his way out of the circle. As he retreated, Cade saw that the blood wasn’t just localized around her mouth. The poor girl was lying in a lake of her own blood. Dozens of shallow cuts criss-crossed her thin body. At first, he assumed that she was dead, until her arms twitched.

“What the fuck have you maniacs done to her!” he shouted.

The woman who looked just like his mother took his arms and led him back into the circle. She didn’t seem to be the least bit bothered at his outburst.

“Get off me, you weird bitch!” he snarled.

The woman acted as if he hadn’t even spoken, “come, Dalain. They’ll be arriving presently. We need to ensure that you show fortitude in the face of their enemies.”

Cade now found his body moving of its own volition. He couldn’t stop himself from leaning towards the woman and kissing her gently on the lips. He then found his body walking past the gathered people and touching their shoulders as he passed each one. He then returned to the woman and gripped her hand tight.

The woman tensed. “They are arriving! I feel their lust and desire.”

The others all spun around, they gazed into the air and all moaned in terror before dropping to their knees.

“Remember the words of our First Father!” she shouted. “Do not run and do not make eye contact. The Flesh Dragons will go for our sacrifices but the Swarmers will divert their trajectory if they sense you.”

Cade then saw several black dots in the sky, getting larger as they approached. She called them Flesh Dragons. It didn’t take a great leap of deduction to realise just what was heading this way. Cade felt his own knee go weak as he started to make sense of their appearance. There were four of them, Dragons was a good description, the flying creatures were huge, the smallest creature looked about the same size of a business jet. They looked like a cross between some prehistoric flying reptile and a giant bat.

A single figure sat astride each creature. The distance now was close enough for Cade to make out their features. They were dressed in rags, similar to the people around him but their clothing looked more like the wing membranes of the animals that they rode. He watched them all fly over their heads, circle and then land atop the huge black slab.

The chained up girl wasn’t so quiet now. Cade tensed up and wanted to shut his ears at the heart tearing screams, bellowing from her mouth.

“It’ll be soon over,” murmured the woman, beside him. As hard as he tried, Cade could not get this body to respond to his demands. He wanted to get this evil woman off him and to slap the harpy before trying to help that poor girl. Her screams suddenly ceased as the huge creatures all dipped their long smooth necks to allow the armour-plated heads access to the girl.

He wanted to moan and weep when the noise of crunching and wet sounds of feeding reached his ears. Cade could only take solace in the fact that at least her end was quick and now her pain was now over.

Cade felt his head turn and saw, a little shocked that the woman was openly weeping.

“I know that they told me not to expose my sorrow. Why can I not, my husband?” she whispered. “Dalain, please don’t allow them to witness my tears. I think…” She drew in a sharp breath, turned away from him, and gazed and the surface of the huge smooth, black obelisk. “Dalain remove your eyes!” she hissed, “They’re ready.”

Cade’s eyes didn’t move. He saw the ground surrounding the terrified people rumble before, several huge, leather clad figures rose up. Cade felt the man’s mouth attempt to scream out as they all seemingly glided forward. He gazed into their bright crimson eyes, his blood just turned to water.

They all turned their heads, and gazed in his direction, simultaneously, their jaws yawned wide, sabre-sized canines burst through their bloodied gums. The nightmarish creatures took their lantern eyes off Cade and looked up towards the surface of the black stone.

A bone shaking roar burst Cade’s ears, His hands were clapped against his ears and he saw the others all dropped to their knees, crying out in pain. At first, Cade presumed that it was the abominations on the stone that had issued that noise, but then he saw the black-clad figures surrounding them closing their huge jaws.

The things above had seen them, and despite the frantic efforts from their protesting riders, the creatures all waddled to the edge of the stone and swooped towards the waiting figures. Cade watched the all remove a curved black metal blade as tall as him, from a hidden sheaf on their backs. The creatures assumed a defensive posture and as soon as the Flesh dragons were close enough, the creature swung their blades, cutting through the flying construct’s neck like a hot knife through butter.

The riders tumbled from their saddles, onto the rough ground, the most of the creature’s fell upon the shrieking figures, within second’s, the noise had ceased. The two remaining creatures replaced their blades and walked over to the woman, stood next to Cade.

“You have done very well, Listrulia. Thanks to your cooperation, the Swarmers have lost their advantage in this province.”

The woman bowed her head. “We are but willing servants, my First Father.”

The creature nodded. “You have served your tribe and your masters with due diligence and for that, I will allow you to serve me in another purpose.”

Cade felt powerful hands grip his arms as the other creature grabbed him. He saw the remaining people receive the same fate as the others took them as well.

“I don’t understand!” cried the woman, “What have we due to displease you?”

The creature sighed. “The need for flesh is paramount, Listrulia. We won this battle but the Swarmers are still eating into our lands like a viler cancer.” He nodded to the creature holding Cade. “Juan, ensure that you take him to my house, and see to it that the others go to the rendering chapel.”

Cade screamed himself awake. He opened his eyes and gazed into the eyes of Katy. “Bloody hell!” he gasped.

“I’ve been trying to wake you for over an hour!” she said, “What happened to you?”

He sat up and looked at the surrounding countryside. Even with that huge wooden barricade obstructing the view, Cade just knew that the village had been right here, in this spot. While he had been lost in another time, he saw that more vehicles had arrived. The fields below were packed.

“I don’t know what happened to me,” he confessed. “Somehow, I had found myself back to when these vampires ruled this land.” He shivered, thinking of those terrible creatures. That woman had called them flesh dragons. He just knew that they weren’t an animal born, those vampires had made them.

“What did you see?”

Cade took her hand. “Baby, you don’t want to know. Really you don’t. I have figured out what is going to happen though. All that lot down there will help to spread this vile plague across England.”

She shook her head, “Elsie said they were going to stay here.”

The clue is in the name, Katy. Back in out distant past, the Deathgazers looked after their livestock. Believe or not, most of the humans were happy with this arrangement. I’m guessing that arrangement went on for a long time.” He shrugged, “Why not? Their vampire masters protected them and made sure that their animals were well fed. Apart from the odd tribute, the humans could get on with their lives.” He then pictured the sight of those things landing one the stone slab and the look of disbelief etched on those villagers’ faces when the vampires dragged them away. It wasn’t that difficult to guess the purpose of the rendering chapel. “The Swarmers weren’t keen with this farming idea and just took what they wanted.”

Cade turned and gazed back at the town buildings at the back of the woodland. “The Swarmers had all night and yet, they only turned a couple of people? Since when does that make sense? They know their enemy is in the vicinity, you’d have thought that by now, every human in town would be hiding from the sun.”

Katy hurriedly dressed and stood up beside him. “It scares me that you know so much about them.” She rammed her bare feet into her shoes. “And these black outs fucking terrify me.”

Cade shrugged again, unable to find a way to calm her fears. His visions frightened the crap out of him as well. As each hour passed, he found yet another nugget of ancient history, suddenly worm its way into his mind. “Don’t be, forewarned is forearmed, I suppose. It just means that we stand a better chance.” Even with this new knowledge, he wasn’t sure just how much of a chance they did stand. The temptation to grab the girl’s hand, before getting the hell out of town was so hard to suppress. He dared not put down odds of not seeing another dawn if they did stay in town.

“Does your phone still work?” she asked.

“I have no idea.” He brought his phone out of his pocket. It felt so strange to feel it in the palm of his hand. Cade slid the on bar across and stared at his welcome screen. After what he had been through, these past few hours, gazing at the phone screen made him want to burst into tears. Everything on here now seemed so pointless. He remembered his frustration of not beating Damien’s high score on their shared online games and the insults that he traded with his mates on Facebook. He looked at Katy, realising that despite the fact that they both lived only a few miles apart, he had never met Katy online. Should that bother him? Cade nodded. “Yeah, it seems fine. Why do you ask?”

“This used to rule my life, you know. I spent more time on here than anywhere else.”

Cade couldn’t ague with that assessment. He suspected that most of them in town were in the grip of their small block of shiny plastic.

“So try as I might, I just cannot think of anybody who can help us out.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Christ, this just fucking sucks.” She angrily slammed her phone back into her pocket.

He took hold of Katy’s hand, then pulled her up the embankment. Cade saw a park bench, overlooking the park and guided her over to it. “What else did you expect?” he said sitting her down. “Just look at me, Katy. Just look at my appearance. I’m into all this vampire stuff and even I have nobody I could turn to. All my mates live in the States and yeah, they’re all as geeky as me.” He stared across the green, wondering just how the guys would react if he did tell them about the situation over here. He then sighed deeply, knowing that they’d just call him an attention seeking, dork. Course they would, hell, he’d do the same.

“Come on, honey, it’s time we made tracks, we have a lot to do today.” Cade pulled her up and wrapped his arms around her, “well, that’s if you still want to stay with me, sweetheart.”

“Cade, surely there must be someone in town that we could tell? I know you have lots of friends who dress like you.” She looked down the embankment; we have a town full of freaks now. What about them? They won’t all openly scoff at our story, will they?”

She gasped, “Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to call you a freak. It just kinda slipped out.” Katy ran her fingers through his hair, “you’re my special guy, Cade.”

Her word did sting, just a little. He wasn’t going to make a big deal of it, hell, the group that Katy hung around with called him and his mates a lot worse than that.

“I don’t think any of those will be able to help, honey.” The idea of asking some of the newcomers for help had crossed his mind already. It would be in their benefit, considering come nightfall, if he didn’t stop them, those Swarmers would be running through those fields, like wolves amongst sheep. “Just because they all dress like me and I’m sure that more than a few of them will have all the twilight books and all believe to be expert in the vampire myth.”

“There you go then,” he replied, smiling.

He shrugged. “It not real though, is it, al least that’s what everyone else thinks. Believe me, those down there are just as close minded as everyone else, Katy. Vampires don’t exist,”

“We’re on our own?”

It took him a moment to realise that she had included herself in that sentence. “We could spend the whole day trying to convince other people to help us, Katy.” He suddenly smiled. “I don’t believe I’ve been so daft!” Cade grabbed her and raced across the green. “I think I’ve just figured a way how to stop them.”

He reached the children’s play area and pointed to the row of shops opposite the main gates. “There you go,” he said, grinning. “There’s our secret weapon!”

She shook her head, “I’m not getting you at all. I’m sorry.”

Cade took her over to the gates and pointed at the gaudy, purple fronted building, on the end of a block of terraces. “It’s the only one in town, thank God.” He smiled at the girl. “Always full of women, obsessed with their appearance. The freaks, love it. I thought you would be very familiar with the place.”

Katy smacked him on the shoulder. “You cheeky bastard,” she giggled. “My skin is naturally brown. I don’t need to go to a tanning salon to get it topped up, thank you very much.” She looked back at him. “I still don’t get it, though.”

He covered his eyes with his hand then looked up. “UV light is supposed to the one thing that can definitely kill the bastards. Come on, let’s go shopping.” He ran through the gates and over the empty road, not believing that he hadn’t thought of this before. “All we have to do then Katy is to find where the bastards have bedded down for the night. That shouldn’t be too hard, there can’t be that many places to hide in this town, can they?”

Katy burst out laughing. “Are you serious? For crying out loud, sweetheart, there were a bunch of vamps hiding in the buildings that you told me that you knew like the back of your hand! Think of how many cellars there are in Welbourgh. Most of the houses are dead old. Then there’s the sewers and all the abandoned houses, not to mention all the outbuildings around the farms. We could search for weeks and not find them.”

Cade leaned back against the wall, “You really know how to put a downer on things.” He felt his euphoria slowly leave him. He tried to keep hold of at least one piece of his idea. “Okay, but at least we do have another weapon to use against them.”

“That’s if we can get inside, Cade. In case you haven’t noticed, the shop is shuttered up.” She walked up to a sign beside the door. “It doesn’t open today, sweetheart. I’m sorry. Look, if it’s any use, I have been in here before.” She held up her hand. “I only came in here with my mates. Anyway, I did notice that the place was full of beds, nothing small.” She walked up to him. “And nothing that came with batteries.”

The sun was now over the trees, somehow, they had already wasted a quarter of the day. He turned around, wanting the kick the crap out of the shutters, despite what Katy said, he knew that there must be at least one portable UV lamp in there. He took out his phone, looked up at the sign and punched in the number. “There’s one way to find out,” he muttered. “I bet the lady who runs the place will be able to help me.” He laughed. “Oh, don’t worry, I won’t tell her that we’re hunting vampires.”

Cade turned to look at Katy and saw her gaze was somewhere else. He saw two dark blue cars parked on the opposite side of the road. He was sure that they weren’t there earlier. The girl shivered.

“Are you okay?”

“Just turn around, Cade. Oh hell!”  She grabbed the wrist of his jacket and pulled him away from the building. “Run!”

He just managed to keep up to Katy’s pace as she raced down the empty street, her burst of speed surprised the hell out of him. He thought he was fast. Cade tried to grab the back of her jacket and jerk her to a stop. He just couldn’t believe that after everything that they had been through, she was fleeing from some idiots in cars, no way could they be that scary. Katy glanced over her shoulder and gasped, her face was full of terror. He heard the car engines start up.

Katy put on another burst of speed then ran around the corner of a large department store. There was still nobody about. The two cars were right behind them. Cade followed Katy through a set of sliding doors that led into the town’s bus station. Just like the rest of the town, Cade saw nobody about, not even any of the ever present security guards were in their usual spots. This just didn’t feel right.

The image of all the other town’s people, slumbering in dark places, hidden from the sun, just wouldn’t leave his mind. He shook his head, no, that was one thought that he refused to entertain. It was just really early, that’s all.

Katy was already at the other side of the station, peering through the glass doors that led into the bus station’s carpark. She didn’t appear to be too eager to leave. He spun around at the sound of car doors slamming shut. Two men must have seen them enter the bus station and were quickly making their way towards the doors. Cade leaned against a metal locker and watched them approach.

After what he had been through, so far, Cade point blank refused to let a couple of goons intimidate him. They reached the entrance and he now saw them in glorious detail. Cade inwardly groaned, He knew the pair of them. Not that was much of a shock, their town wasn’t that large, not many folk was strangers to each other, especially ones with reputations.

They were just a couple of years older than Cade. He remembered them from school, even back then the bastards were born with bad bones. Adrian Lloyd and Steven Lloyd used to fancy themselves as a pair of small town Kray twins. They used to terrorize him and his fellow metal loving pals, keeping up with the persecution all the way up until the pair of losers left to join the dole queue.  Cade grinned to himself and clenched his fists, that was a few years ago and time plus the regular workout at the gym had turned that geeky thin long-haired boy into a bloke who doesn’t run from anyone, least of all two old school bullies.

They had seen him, he enjoyed their expressions change from glare to shock. He guessed that they recognised him too, and that he had put on quite a bit of muscle since their last encounter. He nodded at them, He was so going to enjoy this. Cade took one step towards them then stopped dead. He glanced back and found out, to his horror, that the other pursuers must have slipped in through the other entrance.

What scared him more than anything was that Katy was actually talking to them, she didn’t seem to be in the least bit distressed. “What the hell is going on?” The two men rushed passed him, giving Cade the briefest of glances. He followed them, getting more and more confused.

He shouted out when they grabbed her arms and pulled Katy through the sliding doors. Cade raced over and found his way blocked when the twins both pulled out pistols from inside their jackets. “You have got to be fucking kidding me,” he growled.

Through the window, he watched one of the cars screech into the bus waiting area. “No way.” Cade glared at the grinning me. “What, like I’m scared of you two, fucking clowns?” He swung his arms up, catching their wrists. Their weapons both flew out of their hands. Cade shouldered past them and raced through the doors.

He reached the car just as two more goons bundled Katy into the back seat. “Get the fuck off her!” he shouted, ducking his head and peering inside the car. A young, dark-haired man, grinned back at him. Cade stood shock still, staring at the ghoul’s blood-stained eyes.

“Thank you for keeping my girlfriend safe, Cade,” he said. “Now fuck off.”

He found two pairs of hands jerking him out of the car. Cade found his arms bound to his body.

“He’s going to fucking kill us, literally, for letting you pull a stunt like that,” growled Adrian. “Best we make sure that it isn’t possible for you to do it again.”

He watched the car speed off while feeling the barrel of the gun digging into his ribs. Cade turned his head and glared at the man. “Is it true that you two still suck each other’s dicks?” He watched his mouth form an ‘o’ before he snapped his head forward and butted the man between the eyes. Cade snatched the pistol out of Adrian’s numb fingers and raced back through the bus station door, catching his breath when he heard the sound of the other pistol fire. He crouched down and run towards the other entrance, holding the gun tight, wondering what the hell he was going to do now.

Chapter Twelve

Beneath the strong smell of floor polish peppered with a hint of old sweat, Darlene realised that she could pick out their scent. She got to her feet and stretched, her fingers almost touching the storage room’s low ceiling. At either side of her, squashed up against the two walls, her husband’s new army of embryonic vampires slept. Darlene lowered her head, gazing down at the blond-haired, muscle-bound behemoth, curled up and sleeping like a giant baby, beside her feet.

He stunk. They all did, the smell coming from them reminded her of old road-kill on a boiling hot day, mixed with after-shave. Darlene straightened her back, looking down at this abomination, watching him pant like an exhausted dog. It bothered Darlene that the emotion she felt for her husband’s babies was repugnance. Why was that? This is what she wanted, to sit by her husband’s side while their children went out and brought this town to its knees.

“Only, I’m not at his side,” she growled, quietly.

Her foot strayed close to the blond man’s face and he responded by pulling his lips back and uttering a quiet growl, Darlene flinched and skipped back a step. She counted to three, enough time for her to regain her composure. She then growled herself, feeling a little foolish as well as annoyed that she had allowed this moron to startle her.

Darlene pushed her foot forward until her toes were touching his cheek, just daring the bastard to growl again, one more noise escaping his lips would give her the excuse she needed to rip the skin off his face. She felt almost cheated when he just whimpered before rolling over.

She crouched down and pushed her fingers through his thick hair, it felt greasy and her action released a sour smell of old sweat. Darlene wrinkled her nose. These enhanced senses would take some getting using to. “You dare to threaten me?” she hissed, feeling his whole body shake. The man still slept through her words but the emerging vampire sense within him recognised the threat to his life. Darlene grinned. That strong self of self-preservation would not allow this baby vampire to snooze through his imminent execution.

Darlene extended her finger, gazing in fascination at her fingernail; they were so long and tapered to form a spike. She hadn’t noticed that before. She’d never had much luck in growing her nails, the chore of housework saw to that. Darlene smiled, instinct alone told her that a bout of washing-up or vacuuming the front room would not dull these babies.

The new vampire was now fully aware of his predicament. That fact made evident when she saw him clench his fists. Her husband still had a decent looking body but it paled in comparison to this young hunk. Even so, she could not allow this upstart to think he could better her. Darlene placed wrapped her fingers around his wrist, marvelling at how easy it was to keep him subdued, despite his bulk; he still wasn’t as strong as she.

Darlene waited long enough for him to see that he was wasting his efforts before gently pressing the tip of her fingernail against his eyelid. He suddenly became shock still. “That’s so much better,” she soothed. “We can be friends, or…” she paused and made sure that he saw her lick her lips. “Or, I can scoop out your eyeballs and suck on them like juicy grapes.”

There was no need to start munching down on this poor puppy, the fear rising from his mind was sustenance enough. This puppy had no clue what he’d done, and the fact that he was powerless to stop Darlene, made her very moist. Just for that moment, she wondered if he had the equipment to satisfy her.

“Please mistress. I don’t know what I’ve said to upset you,” he said.

Darlene gazed into his pale eyes, noticing that the whites now contained a tinge of pink. “Maybe you don’t know, at least on the surface, my young friend. It doesn’t stop the taint in your system, seeing me as some kind of threat.” She wrapped her fingers around his throat. “You have no idea how much that upsets me.”

Without thinking, she took in a great lungful of air and found herself gazing at her image through the man’s eyes. What he saw, shocked Darlene to the core. Her furnace-fire eyes, drilled into the new vampire’s gaze, she felt his terror, pinning him to the spot. Gone were her smooth, flawless skin, her dark grey complexion now resembled the surface of the moon. Her blood cooled down, and Darlene saw herself shake her head. The next moment she saw the vampire’s face looking back her, his expression was a mix of confusion and alarm.

She twisted her head and saw that the others were now all awake, each one staring at Darlene. Only one of them had taken the step of standing up. She watched her husband’s first son take two steps towards her before stopping. He looked around. Darlene could almost hear him sighing, as if trying to weigh up his very limited options.

It was so difficult in trying to keep a straight face as the vampire neared her. His face was set, it looked like as was about to try to calm down a ferocious dog. It just looked so ridiculous considering his size. He made three of her, This was a guy who used to take his body building seriously. The vampire taint, running through his system was already working on his body, bulking it out even more. The guy was already larger than the First Father. She suspected that the taint had not finished with him, just yet.

Darlene heard the sound of a quiet splutter and turned back around. She had completely forgotten that she was still gripping the other vampire by his throat. She was vaguely fascinated by the new noises that were coming from his mouth, he sounded a bit like a mouse caught in a trap. She raised him off the blue, watching the colour in his face drain, the new vampire really did looked pale now.

“Please, mistress, let us discuss this.”

She sighed and reluctantly released him, not surprised by the fact that she had effortlessly lifted up a well-built man with just one arm. “What is there to discuss?” she replied, turning to glare at the other man who had stopped in the middle of the room. She didn’t think he’d dare to take another step towards her, just in case, he received the same treatment, his size didn’t intimidate her, Darlene had no doubt that she’d be able to handle him like a ragdoll as well.

“What’s to discuss?” she repeated, walking over to the vampire, watching him react to her presence by immediately forming a defensive pose. Unlike that blond-haired idiot, Darlene knew that he would do anything to stop her from treating him in such a belittling way, even if his actions did enrage the First Father. His only regard, right now, was for the others that were now under his care. The fact that this idiot just saw her as some pet for the First Father annoyed the fuck out of her. She might have claws and more dangerous than any guard dog, but she was still on a leash. She sensed the suspicion from all of them; that and fear.

Darlene brought both her feet together and flashed him what she hoped would look like a bright, disarming and very innocent looking smile. She took great satisfaction in seeing his whole posture change. How easy was it to take advantage of her feminine wiles? His initial confusion gave her the lever that she needed.

While his mind attempted to come to grips with her bizarre behaviour, Darlene jumped into his exposed mind. The illusion of time came to a standstill while she explored the corridors of the First Son’s thoughts. Darlene gained immense satisfaction from the knowledge that, just like the blond-haired vampire, this one had no idea that she was encroaching on his innermost secret thoughts.

Nothing was closed to Darlene’s inquisitive mental caressing. He just opened up like an unlocked door, showing Darlene everything he had. Before she became too deep, she had to check on one more thing. Like the blond boy, Darlene looked at herself through his eyes.

The image of a beautiful woman smiling back at the vampire shocked her rigid. Her inner monster was well and truly back in the box. What a metamorphosis. Her heart-shaped face had filled out in all the right places, defining her delicate bone structure. The only abnormality to this otherwise classic full model look were her deep crimson eyes and her enlarged canines. Not that the vampire had taken much notice, her large breasts had trapped his roving eyes.

The lust he felt for the soft skin beneath her tight clothing was driving the First Son insane with desire, it threatened to overtake his every other sense. He would not dare to try anything though, he wasn’t that stupid. The first Father might only see her as one of his possessions, but the head Vampire would tear of his face if the vampire tried to take advantage. The main reason, the reason that stopped him from doing anything and was his sole problem with her was that he suspected that Darlene was a lot stronger than she looked.

The First Son averted his eyes and Darlene then noticed the vampire who had mistakenly growled at her back in his original position against the wall. The look that he was giving Darlene could have peeled paint off the wall. His glare was pure poison. It didn’t escape her attention that his eyes had deepened in colour in the last few minutes, she did wonder if that was because of his extra bout of excitement.

Despite the First Son’s desire to rip off every shred of her clothing and take her like a rutting stallion, Darlene knew he felt the same way about her as the blond vampire. It wouldn’t surprise her if all the other newborn vampires hated her with equal intensity. Darlene fought back the hurt, tears and the irrational sense of self-loathing. She needed to discover why her presence caused such heated emotions. What had she done for them to hate her?

She had to dig a little deeper, that’s all. The trigger would be somewhere inside the First Son. Darlene pulled back and grinned when a picture of the man running for the bus exploded at the front of her mind. It felt so strange to witness this newly made monster doing something as mundane as running for a departing bus. He was called Colin Rushmore and until just a few hours ago, he was almost content with his life. His son, Steven, wasn’t following in his father’s footsteps and turning into a complete bastard like he did at the age of twelve; his job paid him well enough, his large circle of friends loved his sense of humour and he knew for a fact that half of his female friends so wanted to jump into his warm bed. The only thing stopping him from taking up with their numerous suggestions, serious or not, was that his warm bed already had an occupant.

The only part of his life that didn’t please him anymore was his so called ‘loving’ wife. Colin wasn’t completely sure, just yet but his guts told him that the sneaky tart had more than a couple of extra friends. According to what he had had from a couple of well-placed friends who frequented the gym, his dearest Sharon was a bit of a wild one between the sheets. That bit, Colin did find hard to believe. The woman had never been an animal with him in all the fifteen years of married life.

Darlene focused on the image of him taking a photograph of the woman out of his wallet. She mentally nodded, Darlene knew that woman alright. She thought her name sounded familiar. She’d also heard of the rumours of his darling wife being a little bit naughty as well. The last Darlene saw of her was a few days ago, being very familiar with some guy in the back of a taxi, outside the off license.

She pushed away Colin’s worries over his wife and dug deeper until he saw Colin in the gym upstairs. His defined muscles were shined with sweat as he ran on one of the treadmills. Darlene saw that Colin’s training partner, the man urging him turn increase the machine’s speed, was the blond man. Why did this piece of information not surprise her?

His name was Adam Davis and Colin had known the man since school. Now that did surprise her, Darlene had no idea that they were both the same age. The respect Colin had for his best friend could be a problem. The First Father would not tolerate any favouritism between the First Son and his other vampires.

Darlene then heard the man moan out. At first, she guessed that Colin had found out that she was deep inside his thoughts. That idea vanished when she saw that she wasn’t the first one to invade Colin Rushmore’s mind.

She gazed across his mental landscape, her focus drawn to the sight of a huge crimson block of gelatinous shiny matter, submerged into the surface of the man’s brain. Was this her own mind translating into imagery of that this represented, or was Darlene actually seeing the physical part of the vampire sense fusing to Colin’s body?

Thick red tendrils extruded from the central mass, each end finding a separate area of his flesh before drilling through the soft tissue. Against her better judgment, Darlene drifted closer to one of the tendrils, eager to learn more. The fact that what she was witnessing had already happened to her made Darlene feel a little nauseous but she quickly put that feeling into a box.

As she drifted closer, Darlene found to her horror that she had no other choice. That pulsing crimson mass was pulling her towards it like the moon pulled the tide and just like the vast oceans, she was helpless to stop it.

The sweet stench of wet meat engulfed her senses just before Darlene’s world turned red. The hoarse male voice, ordering her to get off the floor shocked her senses back to reality. Darlene snapped open her eyes, not knowing where she was. The only thing that assaulted her nostrils now was the smell of wet hay, missed with fresh horse manure. Darlene Gazed in wonder at five faces staring at her.

Darlene had no idea what had happened, this wasn’t the storage room, that much, she was certain about. “Amulius, what’s going on?” She stared at her husband as he looked around what appeared to be a primitive stable. He gave no indication that the head vampire even heard her calling out to him.

She then noticed another person in here with them, a young teenage boy, he only looked about seventeen. He was huddled in the corner, gripping a large metal blade. Darlene stood up and walked between the boy and the others, noticing that none of them had even looked in her direction. “I’m still inside Colin’s mind,” she muttered. Darlene leaned against a rough wooden wall, jumping when a thin horse skittered away from her. “This is way too weird.”

She had no idea who any of the others were, apart from the fact that, like her, they were all vampires. Darlene looked at the only other male in the stable. He didn’t seem that much older than the cringing teen. His blazing sulphur eyes found the terrified boy, the vampire yawned wide, exposing his large teeth. It took her a moment to realise that this was her Husband’s First Son. She remembered him now. Darlene also remembered that the boy used to frighten the crap out of her.

“Juan, I should be annoyed with you,” said the First Father. “As my First Son, I expect you to keep my treats under guard.”

Darlene chuckled at the sullen look that the vampire gave Amulius; she had been the recipient of that particular stare from both her own kids. This scene was from before the two clans slept through the ages, that much, she did understand. What bothered her was why was it inside some bloke who was born just few decades ago?

“I shall see to it that the ones responsible are punished, my First Father.”

Amulius pushed back the two female vampires and raced over to Juan. “No, you will take no such action, my son. It is you that is responsible. It is you that will be punished.” He snapped his fingers and the two females ran back over to the huge vampire, they hissed like angry cats at the young vampire before running their hands over the First Father’s torso.

Darlene wanted to throw up. If her husband expected her to act in such a demeaning way, then he had another thing coming. A very bad feeling began to creep into her bones. She watched the two male vampires tear into the screaming boy, while Amulius told his First Son that he will not taste blood for many nights and his wives will not be warming Yuan’s bed come the sunrise. Darlene was watching some form of training video. As stupid as it sounded, it must be the case. When the First Father said those words to Colin, he must have also implanted these memories as well.

She blinked and the scene changed again. This time, she did recognise the building; this was where those bastards had locked her in her own cage. She wondered down the corridor, gazing through the bars, none of the cages were occupied and this time, there were no other people in the building with her. By the looks of it, this place hadn’t been used in a long time. It did feel odd to be stood here, after so many years, even if she was only re-living someone else’s old memories.

Darlene spun around as the doors behind her crashed open. The First Father and Juan pushed through the opening, both struggling with dragging a huge man, clad in thick, rough- hewn armour. The figure suddenly roared. He slammed his arms back, throwing both vampires against the cages. They leaped to their feet and dived on the giant, each one clamping their teeth into his neck, the only part of him that wasn’t encased in the dull armour.

Watching them hang on to this creature reminded her of watching two big cats taking down a large herbivore. They both hung on, as each second passed, their victim slowed his movements until, after a couple more minutes his legs gave way. Both vampires jumped back as he crashed into the floor.

Juan ran over and helped the First Father back onto his feet, they were both panting, dripping in sweat and grinning. They walked back over to the fallen giant and pulled off his heavy, horned helmet, exposing the grotesque face of another vampire.

“The Swarmers are now deplete of berserkers, First Father,” said Juan. “Their defeat is inevitable.”

Amulius shook his head. “Do not underestimate their guile, my son. The reports from the outer villages, tell of huge Swarmer constructs, consuming every human in their path. I have also received tale of them using female warriors in battle.”

The look that the First Son gave the other vampire would have been comical if it hadn’t have been so tragic.” Darlene opened her eyes, she Amulius’s new First Son staring at her. All the other newborn vampires were giving her equal attention. She looked around the storage room, allowing the events of what she witnessed sink in.

No bloody wonder they all hated Darlene. They didn’t see her as a threat, the bastards were frightened of her. She walked over to the new First Son, watching him instinctively shrink away and she leaned closer. “I think your old pal over there, Colin, is in need of some help. I think I was a bit too rough on him.” She waited until he moved out of his way before walking over to the closed door.

Darlene looked at her watch and saw that she had only been down here for a couple of minutes. That just didn’t seem possible, it felt like she’d been down here for hours. Behind her, the newborn vampires spoke in low voices, just beyond her range of hearing, not that it mattered, Darlene knew they were discussing her.

She sighed and grabbed the door handle, Amulius had only asked her to go check on them, to see if they were all okay, while he extracted what information he could from her daughter. Back then, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable request. Even as the honey-tinged words dripped from his mouth, her previous anxiety with discovering that both her children had been vampirised, just evaporated. What was left of her human soul must have withered and died at the news. Not only that, her loving Damien was now in the other clan, one of the hated enemy.

Darlene had watched her beautiful daughter sidled up to her husband, her big blue eyes, catching the moonlight from the window above them. Not once did she believe that the First Father would do anything untoward to Elsie. It just didn’t even enter her mind that she had just left her beautiful young daughter with a lustful vampire without thinking of the consequences. She moved her hand away and turned around, gazing at each of the vampires, watching their lips move up until the tips of their teeth showed. Her sudden burst of anxiety must have reached every one of the monsters down here. They were all revelling in her naivety.

“Oh, don’t you worry, my mistress,” gurgled Colin, unable to stop himself from chuckling. “Our First Father will take good care of your loving daughter.” His friend held out his hand and Colin downward slapped it. “I know that you were fumbling around, inside my head, Darlene, and I so hope you found what you were looking for. You are no good to him anymore, my sweet. You might look young, but you’re almost as old as the First Father.” Colin drew himself up to his full height.

She watched in despair as the others stood up and huddled beside their First Son. All their eyes were now glowing deep red.

“See, I know that our First Father just sees you for what you are. You have given him a new sex toy and I imagine right now that he’ll be getting a lot of satisfaction out of her.”

The other vampires all laughed alongside Colin. Darlene knew that she’d have to trouble in confirming whether or not their snide remarks were true, she daren’t though, not knowing how she’d react if the head vampire was doing to her what he should have been doing to her. Even so, Darlene couldn’t stop a single tear from rolling down her cheek.

“He sees you as some old hag, a piece of garbage to be thrown out with the rest of the rubbish.” He smiled when one of the others handed him something. The vampire chuckled. “Yeah, you’re pretty fucking tough for an old bird and I reckon that you could do quite a bit of damage if we were just numbered maybe two of three.” He looked at the comrades. “But we ain’t. There’s a few of us here.” He showed her what the other vampire had passed him.

Her distraught face reflected off the shining metal blade of the katana.

“I’d forgotten all about this, Darlene,” he said, running the edge of the blade down the wall. “Now, I’ve given this some thought, as soon as I knew you weren’t trespassing in my brain, and I figure that the only reason why he sent you down here was so we could have some fun as well.”

The others murmured their ascent.

Darlene grabbed the handle, jerked open the door and ran through it, there was no way she could fight them all, despite her rage telling her that they wouldn’t stand a chance. The last image she saw before running from the room was the same stupid look etched on all of their faces. Those idiots actually thought that she would stick around and let them fulfil all their perverted desires with her pliant body, as if Colin’s harsh words had somehow knocked all the fight out of her.

As she raced along the dark corridor, heading away from the metal stairs that led back up to the ground floor, Darlene clearly heard the sound of their shoes slapping on the concrete floor. So, the bastards were giving chase? That was fine by her, with luck, they’d split up, giving her a better chance to take them out.

The noise of their pursuit got louder and Darlene didn’t believe that the bastards had split up. She sighed before slipping through a wedged-open fire door and then running through the first unlocked door she found. She needed to increase the odds in her favour, she needed some sort of weapon.

She found herself in another storage room, identical to the last one but without the murderous vampires with their blood raised to volcano levels. There was nothing in the room at all, the shelves had been stripped. The sound of their footsteps got louder. They were bound to check this room.

Darlene spun around, intending to get out of here, there was no way that she wanted to be trapped. As she grabbed the door handle, a freezing cold hand slipped over her mouth. She struggled like a fish on a hook but her efforts had no effect, the silent adversary was too strong. Darlene felt her strength suddenly leave her, knowing that the person behind her must be her husband, none of the other vampires had his strength.

“You look so beautiful,” murmured a familiar voice.

She choked back a loud sob at the sound of his voice; it took a great deal of effort just to stay on her feet. “Paul?” she gasped, spinning around. “But, I thought, well, I thought…”

He grinned back at her. “Oh wow, what a reaction! It looks as if these new bodies of ours can take a little more punishment than we thought.” He gingerly felt the inside of his ribs. “It still huts like a bastard though. The pain is lessening, as long as I don’t overstrain myself.”

Darlene clenched her fists, feeling her long nails dig into the soft flesh. The discomfort was enough evidence to tell her that this was no dream. “I just don’t get it, how on earth did you know where I was?” It took a lot of effort to get the words out. Her voice cracked with every word she spoke. “I really am so sorry for what I do to you, Paul. Will you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?”

He softly kissed her lips while running his fingers through her hair. “Darlene, there really is nothing to forgive. As to the small matter of locating you?” he chuckled. “We are both linked, remember? Your soul just blasted a path through the darkness. I would find you, honey, even if you were on Mars.”

Darlene couldn’t stop grinning. “Oh my, listen to the bard. Have you just eaten a dozen romance novels?”

He frowned. “I’m sorry. Does it irritate you?”

“Of course not, silly!” she cried, flinging her arms around him. “I still can’t believe that it really is you. Oh God, I’m so glad that have found me.”

Paul gently removed her arms “You need to listen to me, sweetheart. We don’t have a lot of time left.” He looked up towards the door. “They’ll be back here any moment. Paul pointed over to the far wall, “There’s a grate over there, Darlene. “That’s my way out of here.”

“Wait, you mean our way out?”

He kissed her again. “No, honey, if they catch me in here, those newborn vampires will kill me, I might have stood a chance if I was still in good shape. He sighed. My body still needs a lot of repairs doing do it first. Don’t worry, I’m not going far, I promise.”

Paul released her and ran over to the door, he opened it a crack and peered out. “Yeah, they’re coming back.” He hurried over to the grate, lifted the metal grate off and leaned it against the wall. “I need you to put this back when I’m inside.”

“No, I can’t!” she replied, shaking her head. “You can’t leave me here!”

“Listen to me. “You will come to no harm. They will return with the First Father.” He looked back at the rectangular hole in the wall. “I have heard much on my way back to you. Enough to realise that there is a good chance that me, you and your daughter could emerge as the top players in this.”

“Elsie?”

He nodded. “These ancient vampires really have no idea what they’ve unleashed upon this planet, Darlene. We can’t go back to the being human. We must accept that. It still doesn’t stop us from ensuring that we put these fuckers back in the ground where they belong.”

“What about Damien?”

Paul sighed, I’m sorry, he is lost to you. Even if you wanted to take him back, your blood wouldn’t let you. His blood certainly wouldn’t allow it. Now, you need to listen to me, sweetheart.”

Chapter Thirteen.

It looked as though his fingertips had left indentations in the metal. Damien took his eyes off the stone floor, thirty feet below him and ran his fingers along the girder again, trying not to chuckle when he realised they were just imperfections in the steel. He dipped his head, making sure that the vampires hunting for him were still out of sight. Damien couldn’t see any of them but he did hear a cry of anger, followed by what sounded like a pile of boxes crashing to the floor.

Damien slowly crawled along the underside of the girder, taking his time; he had no wish to slip. The roof of the butcher’s quarter was just a few feet away now. He should be safe in there, until the sun went down. Damien didn’t think the vampires would continue to trash the place, looking for him, would they? Damien inched further towards the roof, listening to the noises coming from the top end of the market. They didn’t seem to be giving up looking for him so far.

He let his legs dangle when he reached the roof, sighing with relief. Damien had never been that bothered about heights but, crawling from one end of the market to the other, on a roof beam was taking it a bit too far. He dropped onto the roof and dropped to his knees then leaned over the edge. Would his newly enhanced body have stayed in one piece if he had slipped?

From where he lay, Damien clearly saw the patch of black slime, still bubbling under the light from that hateful sun.  “How close was I to getting caught?” he whispered, suppressing a shudder. Like the plant that he was, Damien had just stood there, rooted to the spot, gazing down at the rendered down vampire. He could hear the sound of heavy footsteps yet didn’t move until the last possible moment. Damien had already discovered that, despite his previous fears, none of his bones were broken in the fall, he’d just given his body a few more bruises to fix.

Even looking back, Damien still believed that he had been so fortunate to get away. At first, he assumed that they hadn’t seen him sprint up the aisle, unless they had caught a glimpse of his shadow. Most likely, the vampires had heard him fleeing, he hadn’t exactly ran like a ninja.

Damien had jumped into the first hiding place that he found, an empty stall with a huge ‘to let’ sign bolted to the front. He knew that this place had been empty for years and judging from the rank smell of piss coming up from the bare floorboards under his knees, Damien guessed that he had also inadvertently found the market’s second unofficial toilet.

He had forgotten what they had even sold in this lot, he moved his knee off the damp patch, wondering why he was even thinking about shit like that. Trivialities left his mind when he saw the Swarmer leader step out into the aisle. He had his back to Damien but even that was enough to shock him rigid.

The guy couldn’t have been much older than Damien. Well, he didn’t look much older. Not only that, compared to the two great hulking monsters sanding beside him, he looked like a tiny child.

Even from where is hid, Damien felt the waves of fear rolling off the two huge vampires. How the fuck had that child managed to become their leader? Those two vampires could easily eat the wimp and still have room for ice cream.

He leaned further out, trying to catch their frantic conversations. They were too far for him to catch any of their words, Damien sighed then tried to use his embryonic talent to scan them, it was no use, they had clamped their minds tights. At first, he assumed that it was because they knew another one of their kind was close by until Damien felt the leader trying to read them as well.

Suddenly, the diminutive vampire snapped his arm forward and grabbed the bald creature by the throat. Damien’s jaw dropped when their leader effortlessly lifted him up, until the gagging vampire’s feet left the floor. How was that even possible? If was like watching some schoolgirl lifting up the back of a bus with one hand.

He needed to get out of this fucking market, like right now. His temperature began to rise and it felt like his heart was trying to beat its way out of his ribcage, what the hell was happening to him? Damien had never been so terrified. He wasn’t the only one who was acting strange. The vampire beside his dangling companion had dropped to his knees, he had his arms over his head and was weeping like an injured baby. His moans turned Damien’s spine to jelly.

Their leader released the vampire, stepping back as he fell and landed in a boneless heap. The heart-stopping fear that coursed through Damien’s body just died away, leaving him sprawled out on the floorboards, shaking like a leaf and feeling like he’s just been dropped into a snowdrift whilst naked.

“I know that you are close by, my little rabbit. I can feel your little hear beating away.” The Swarmer First Father raised his arms up towards the ceiling. “Remove yourself from your concealment. I just wish you to explain your deed. I might even consider allowing you to continue existing.”

Damien watched him take one step forward, his arms were just millimetres from that beam of sunlight. Damien watched the other two vampires cringe back, moaning. He did consider taking the leader up on the offer. After all, these vampires were now the only family he had left. There was nowhere else to go.

She then remembered that this strange looking vampire, currently doing deals with his life was shacked up with the female who had turned Damien. That wily vampire obviously had plans for Damien that no doubt involved him somehow, getting rid of their First Father. At least, that’s the impression that he received.

“I know what you are, my little rabbit. I’m guessing that you do too now. Perhaps one of my clan defied my orders, perhaps a Deathgazer turned you? It matter not, I will not take these irregularities into consideration. I just want to know how my First Son died. Are you going to show yourself? Your time is running out and so is my patience.”

Damien stopped in mid motion when the First Father turned around and looked towards the empty stall. He knew that he hadn’t been seen, not that it mattered. The First Father’s piercing eyes rooted him to the spot. He felt like he was gazing into eternity. The leader then blinked, severing the connection. Damien scuttled back behind the low partition, feeling his heartbeat increase again. That was just nightmarish, what the hell had he just seen?

The vampire’s eyes had glowed like a pair of sick green headlights. He now saw why he didn’t need to be as big as the other vampires, that thing could just suck out your soul with one evil glare. He took a deep breath, composed himself and slowly looked around the side again. The vampire hadn’t moved but at least now, Damien could actually look at the first Father without feeling like a rabbit caught by a large fox.

Damien found his mind leaving his body and heading for the First Father, while the vampire’s attention was elsewhere, Damien found it ridiculously easy to slip into the First Father’s thoughts.

It took Damien a moment for him to realise that he was no longer inside the market. He rolled onto his back and gazed up at the full moon, he smelled the scent of dead leaves under his naked body and felt the cold wind blowing over his chest. He turned his head to the left, catching sight of a young brown haired woman leaning over the crudely made wooden bridge, crossed a shallow stream. She held her hand in the fast flowing water, occasionally grabbing twigs as they floated past.

Deep down, Damien knew that despite how real this felt to him, his body hadn’t moved from that piss-stained floor. He fought back the panic and feeling of disorientation when the body that he now shared sat up and walked over to the stream. The body waved at the girl before kneeling down and gazing into the clear water.

A pair of intense green eyes stared back at him. Damien almost screamed, he was now inside the body of the Swarmer First Father, was he reliving a moment from the vampire’s past? The girl’s musical giggle reached his ears. That voice sounded so familiar. His head turned.

“I knew you would enjoy this,” said the vampire.

“Oh yes, Desmonus, I can’t thank you enough for this privilege. The other house slaves will be so jealous.”

The vampire jumped up and ran over to the girl. “Say just one word to anyone and I will hurt you.” The vampire sighed before he sat down and dangled his feet over the edge of the bridge. “Forgive me, Eleanor,” he said, sighing. It is not always possible to stop my volatile emotions from ruling my body.”

Damien had difficulty believing that this vision of loveliness was the same person who bit him. There was nothing about this Eleanor that caught his eye. Damien knew that if the vampire that he was currently occupying were to turn away, he’d have difficulty placing her face.

The girl placed her arm around his shoulders. “It is I who should ask for forgiveness, my sweet protector. I spoke without thought.” She kissed the back of his head. “Desmonus, whom of those tongue dancing fishwives, would even listen to some lowly servant?”

The vampire looked up into her large brown eyes. “You are such a beauty, my Eleanor.”

She jerked her head back, Damien saw tears in her eyes. He wondered if this vampire was taking the piss. He so wished he could access the vampire’s thoughts, he’d look to finding out what this Desmonus was thinking instead of just being some invisible passenger. Damien watched the girl wipe her eyes, wondering what it was about this girl that made him feel to antagonistic about her appearance. Was it because he had only seen her as a beautiful vampire? Eleanor leaned over and kissed the vampire’s nose. Damien did see that at least her teeth were in good shape.

“It still takes me time to believe that you do not jest with your words, Desmonus.” She smiled. “Even after two years, I still wake before the dawn bells, smiling at my fortune.”

Desmonus gasped when the girl leaned across and wrapped her fingers around the vampire’s flaccid penis. “If I am your shining night star, my love, then why does your rod bend so easily?”

She started to stroke him, squeezing then releasing as her momentum built up. She giggled when the vampire laid down against the wooden planks, his hands finding her large breasts. “Do not mock me,” he said, leaning forward. Desmonus ran his long tongue across her large nipples.

“Why would I mock my lover, Desmonus?” she said sitting down on his ankles. She lowered her head and flicked her tongue over his inner thighs. “Will you ever make me like you?”

Damien felt like some pervert peeping through a window, watching a couple copulate.

“I love you, my Eleanor, not just like you.” Desmonus sat up and curled his fingers through the girl’s hair. “Do not stop that, my darling.”

Eleanor abruptly released the vampire’s raging penis and stood up. “I want you to turn me, Desmonus. I want to be like you.” She stood astride him and gazed into his eyes. “You will soon find another girl to warm your cock, Desmonus. I am not a fool. I know that I am not the first girl you have used.”

The vampire growled and jumped to her feet, he wrapped his fingers around her wrists and pushed her over to the edge of the bridge. “You dare to issue demands?”

Damien could tell that the girl must be in a great deal of pain. The vampire was not gentle with his hold, yet despite this, she didn’t cry out. He inwardly sighed, hoping that they’d get this argument dealt with so they could get back to the sex part. The girl might not be much to look at but from what he briefly saw, she certainly knew how to use her tongue. Damien couldn’t wait to feel that tongue of her wrapped around his anatomy. He was sure that would take place, if he could find a way to appease her comrades.

“Desmonus, I love you.” She shouted. “And I suspect that you love me too.” She licked her lips. “You talk in your sleep, and I have heard muttering of dissent from your comrades.” Eleanor looked down at his fingers. “Please, you’re hurting me.”

“You will tell me everything that you have heard. You will do this now or I will let you go.” He picked up the girl by her wrists and dangled her over the stream.

“Do what you must!” she snarled. “I will not comply.”

The vampire shocked Damien by pulling her back onto the bridge and wrapping his arms around her shivering body. What sort of relationship was this? Did this girl get turned on by deliberately trying to upset this vampire? He looked at the ugly bruising that he had caused on both her wrists and sighed heavily.

“How do you intend to explain away these marks, Eleanor? You know that the house master will expect a convincing answer.”

She gazed into his eyes. “I do not care anymore, Desmonus. I just want to be with you. I want to be with you forever.” The girl flung her arms around the vampire’s neck and hugged him tight against her body. “I know you can sense my hot blood coursing through my body, Desmonus. It would take just one nip. I know you want to. Why do you deny your yearning? “

He pulled the girl off him. “You are right, Eleanor. I do love you. It is your warmth and tenderness that drew me to you.” He looked behind him.

Damien’s eyes went wide at the sight of a huge fortified wooden city on the horizon. He guessed that they were a good few miles from its outskirts. The place must be enormous. He had not seen anything like that in the history books. He guessed that it must be as large as any modern city, maybe even bigger. Was that where these vampires used to live?

“If you were to turn, all qualities would be lost. You would no longer be the woman who I fell in love with.” He brushed back her hair. “You seem to have forgotten that I am only the First Son. Although I have existed for almost as long as our First Father, I do not believe that I have yet gained the gift to turn you.”

“It has not stopped you from experimenting, Desmonus,” growled a male voice.

The vampire pushed her back and jumped to his feet. He spun around and watched four large figures step out into the clearing. For the first time since his confinement, Damien did feel emotion from his vessel as a huge blast of fury rushed through his body. Damien watched their ruby red eyes blaze. The vampires lunged and three of them grabbed Desmonus. The last vampire turned his head and pointed at the girl.

“Do not move, child. I shall deal with you soon.” He walked up to Desmonus and gently ran his long fingers down the side of his face. “It pleases me to find that your prophetic talent does not always deliver. It does not please me to hear that the rumours of your dissatisfaction and subsequent clandestine rebellion was not a lie.”

Desmonus spat into the vampire’s face. “You are not worthy of the title of First Father. You have reduced us all to the role of ineffectual Shepherds. Amulius, we are all slowly dying. We hunt the human, not farm them.”

The First Father threw his head back and roared with laughter. “Was that what you were doing with that girl, Desmonus? What were you hunting for?” He clicked his fingers. “Child, come here.”

Damien watched Eleanor get to her feet and slowly walk towards the group, a huge smile was fixed to her face. He wanted her to turn around and run for her life. Did the idiot not know what these things were? They were going to rip her into pieces and eat the silly bitch in front of her lover. It was obvious. Damien then mentally slapped himself, wondering if he had caught stupid disease. Of course they weren’t going to eat her, unless this Eleanor had a twin sister who took her name.

Amulius grabbed her by the hair and pulled her towards him. “Perhaps you do have an argument worth investigating, my former First Son. I see now that selected individuals, both human and vampire have taken advantage of my benevolent reign.”

He lifted Eleanor off the ground and shook her like a rag doll. Damien heard something inside the girl crack. Desmonus moaned when the First Father dropped the girl onto the grass, her head rested at an unnatural angle. Her neck was broken. “So it begins,” he announced. “We know the names of all your co-conspirators, Desmonus. Do you have anything else to say before we eat you?”

Damien felt another emotion rise through the vampire’s system, strangely enough, this vampire was feeling triumph. He didn’t get it, what was there to be happy about? The vampire chuckled. Judging from the expression etched upon the First Father’s face, he couldn’t understand Desmonus’s apparent need for jollity either.

“I do have some more words to say, you feeble-minded fool. My prophetic talent has never failed me.”

The trees around them shook as over a dozen more vampires dropped from the branches and landed in the clearing. Damien watched in fascination as the two holding Desmonus released him and charged the intruders. The First Father stumble back, almost stumbling over the girl’s broken body. He turned around and ran, disappearing into the trees. The vampire watched for a few moments as the intruders ripped apart the two remaining vampires, smiling as the leaf litter turned scarlet.

He dropped to his knees and gently lifted the dead girl up into his arms. “This is one event I did not foresee, Eleanor,” he whispered.

The vampire turned to the side. “We move tonight as we discussed. The First Father will return with enough bodies to end all our existences.”

Damien watched two vampires both lift their heads from out of the open torso of one of the dead vampires. Just that image alone made him reassess everything he knew about these creatures. He had never read or seen anything about them actually consuming flesh. He’d always assumed that they just drank blood.

“Let them come, they both said. They are all just as soft as the newborn lamb. Have we not just proved that?”

The others laughed with them.

Desmonus sighed. “And you two are proving to me that your heads are full of lamb’s wool. You wish to stay and fight three hundred of the First Father’s soldiers?” he stood up, lifted the corpse, and held the body against his chest.

“Will you be sharing her, Desmonus?” asked Healiod. The vampire whimpered when Desmonus growled. “I meant no disrespect. We all know that you had feeling for the human girl. It’s just that, well, she is just meat now. It would be impractical to allow her flesh to rot.”

Desmonus walked over to twelve vampires, his feet flattening the pieces of the two dead vampires into the soil.  “We are only thirteen. For our new clan to survive and prosper, we need to grow. My talent tells me that we shall do just that.” He gazed down at the girl’s face. “My talent also tells me that the time has now arrived to show you why you all risked your lives to join me in my quest to find our forgotten destiny. We are predators. Our ancestors lived only for the glory of the hunt.”

He opened his mouth and sank his teeth into the dead girl’s neck. Damien groaned in ecstasy as he shared Desmonus’s pleasure as her cooling blood slipped down his throat. The vampire abruptly released his grip and looked at the other vampire’s astonished faces before he licked his chin dry. “I know, even the First Father can not create our kind from a corpse.” He gently laid her down then readjusted her head until the sound of the bones in her neck cracked. Desmonus chuckled at the unbelieving faces above him. “Did you not believe that I had the power to create? That, like the rest of our kind, my bite would only produce ghouls?” He stood up and pointed towards the huge city beyond the tree-line. “Go now, leave me with her. You all know where to go.”

Eleven of the vampires slowly back away, their faces still displaying rapture tinged with incredulity. Only Helix remained stationary. “You are our new First Father,” he said dropping to his knees and bowing his head.

Desmonus nodded. “The clan of the Swarmers will scourge this land. This land will belong to us, the Deathgazer Clan will soon be extinct.” He looked across at the city. “Those pathetic creatures that defile the very name of our kind will not roll over like dogs and allow us to end them. You must remember that, Helix. Now go, allow a moment with our first true Swarmer.”

The vampire waited for Helix to catch up with the others before he tenderly brushed his long fingernails between her breasts. “You have always been the only person in my life for whom my talent has not worked,” he said. The girl’s eyes flickered. “Considering the enormous task that awaits our embryonic Clan, it may have been a wiser choice to throw your corpse to my new followers and let them enjoy your flesh. I do not need complications at this crucial stage.”

He now saw the Eleanor that Damien remembered showing through the girl’s plain looks. The transformation took just seconds. He watched her eyes open and felt the vampire groan out. He too saw what his bite had done to this woman.

“You will be at my side forever, Eleanor.”

Damien gripped the edge of the roof, lowering his head when he saw the two vampires pass below him. Both Helix and Healiod had not thought of looking up. He knew that if he was in their shoes, he would have considered the possibility that their target might not have just stayed on the ground. After all, the market was that large and, he suspected, that those two idiots will have travelled the same routes repeatedly by now. Damien slid further back, wondering why exactly why he relived that piece of Desmonus’s ancient past.

He waited until the vampires were out of earshot before he rolled onto his front, got onto his hands and knees and slowly made his way across the roof, heading for a hole cut into the wood, near the wall. Damien smiled when the dark interior of the first meat counter came into view. He knew that if he still had his human eyes, all he’d see was a rectangular hole of pure black. Damien reached the hole and lowered his feet before dropping down. That feeling of being like a pursued rabbit vanished, left him feeling, for the first time since running from the vampires, safe.

The wall beside him offered Damien a wide array of weapons that could help him even up the odds of surviving his inevitable conflict with the three vampires looking for him. He walked up the tiled wall and ran his fingers over a long bladed knife, with a serrated edge. Damien grinned and pulled it off the wall. This would do just fine. Perhaps with this acting as a deterrent, he might actually be able to explain his situation without those three bastards draining him like a sea sponge.

He walked over to the metal shutter and wondered what reaction he would receive if he rapped his fist against the metal. It wasn’t that much of a stupid idea. At least in here, he could keep his back against the wall. Okay, so he was trapped but he was in that position already, until that sun dipped below the horizon.

“You could just hide here,” he whispered. That idea did sound very appealing. If he waited until dark, sneaked out, and tried to hook up with Eleanor then perhaps he might stand a better chance of surviving.

“Hiding is what the food is best at,” hissed a voice.

He spun around and raised knife then slowly backed away. “What the hell?”

Desmonus emerged from between the space of two walk-in freezers. “You, my friend, are a mystery to me. Normally, I enjoy solving these unexplained enigmas.” He flew his arms out. “Right now though, I have enough mysteries to keep my already deluged mind busy for the next thousand years.” He laughed. “I suspect that all of these human achievements must have melted the tiny mind of my ex First Father. I had warned him over the perils of attempting to domesticate the human species.” The vampire’s green eyes glowed even brighter.

“I see you are surprised to find me in here, my little rabbit. You thought I was still out beyond this closed metal cage, still searching for you. Did you not discover my talent of prediction when you crept into my head and stole my thoughts?”

“You knew I was in there?”

The vampire shrugged. “Not at first, no. I just sensed the lightest of touches. You are very good, for an amateur.”

Damien tried not to look into his blazing eyes. He weighed up his choices. Although this monster hadn’t killed him didn’t make him feel any more secure. He got the impression that the vampire was just playing with him, like a cat tormenting a mouse. The vampire would tear into him; he decided that it was inevitable. He needed to rush over and push the razor-sharp blade that he held in his trembling fingers deep into the vampire’s heart, before that moment came.

“Why do you hold your weapon aloft, my little rabbit?” he ran his tongue over his thin lips “That piece of finely crafted metal do look very heavy. Oh yes, it is so hard to keep in held up. Can you not feel the strain that it is putting on your muscles? It is getting heavier and heavier.”

Damien gasped as the vampire’s soft words penetrated his confused mind. The weapon now felt as though he was holding a huge iron girder in his hands. He couldn’t help himself, Damien just had to drop it.

The vampire chuckled, he then bent down and grabbed hold of the bottom of the shutter and lifted in up to his waist.

Damien couldn’t hold it any longer, he cried out and let the knife fall through his fingers.

“We can not be good friends when you had that sharp knife help tight in your hands. I do understand your trepidation.” Desmonus kicked the blade away. “It would have been a tragedy if you slipped, my little rabbit.”

Damien glanced over at the half open shutters and his heart sunk at the sight of two pairs of thick legs showing through the gap.

“I would wish to know why my First son has been reduced to black slime. I am so hoping that you will be able to explain away our loss.”

“It was an accident,” he replied, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice. “Your First son chased me before I had time to explain my predicament. I didn’t want him to die.” Damien couldn’t help to tremor when he remembered how the vampire’s flesh just melted off his bones. “Nobody should suffer like that.”

The other two vampires had now pushed their bulky bodies under the gap and took position behind their First Father. Damien then realised just how big these vampires really were.

“I am not convinced that you are able to explain your predicament, my little rabbit. I do not know what you are. You act human and yet we both know that is no longer the case, not anymore.” He leaned closer and inhaled. “I can tell that you do belong to me, my little rabbit. You are a Swarmer. Yet how can that be? I do not remember biting you.”

There seemed little point in concealing the information. “I was staying at my aunts with my sister when your pals attacked us. The woman bit me,” he said, watching the vampire slowly gaze towards the floor.

Desmonus then chuckled. “That is a most intriguing answer. I do not doubt that your words do carry some element of truth.” He looked to the side. “Healiod, is Eleanor your First Father?”

The huge vampire shook his head. “No, and this worm must be lying. The power to change only comes from you. She can not create, none of us have that privilege.”

Desmonus grinned. “There, you see why I find you to be such an unnecessary distraction, my little rabbit? I can not explain your existence and that worries me. You see, I do not like you. I have never being comfortable in the presence of a thought thief. Your types are just not to be trusted.”

The First Father took a step back and patted his companion’s backs. “I believe the only solution I have is to deny you your existence. This is a new world, and the rules have altered, that much I discern. Perhaps I will meet more like you?” He shrugged. “If that happens then their fate will be the same as yours. My little rabbit now belongs to you two. Consider him a gift in reward for your loyalty.”

He tried to run but the two vampires lunged forward, wrapped their thick fingers around his wrists, and dragged him back.

“The rich blood from a fresh turned vampire tastes like nectar. It will even bring back those half-forgotten memories from your very first feed.

As Damien continued his hopeless attempt to break free, he caught Helix giving his companion a brief alarmed look.

“You are generous as you are wise, my First Father. You being unable to explain this worm’s existence worries me. Although we are both so eager to drain this thing, I am worried that perhaps his blood might somehow be contaminated?” Healiod looked back at Helix before smiling. “Perhaps the best solution would be for the worm to meat the same fate as our now melted First Son?”

The First Father burst out laughing. “Oh yes, I would enjoy witnessing that.” He pulled the shutter up over his head then bowed. “Healiod, lead the way.”

Damien tried one more time to slide his arms out from the vice-like grip. Healiod jabbed him in the side from his troubles. He cringed again when the vampire raised his hand, this time he just pushed Damien’s head down to get him under the shutter. Even from here, he could see that shaft of hellish, white light, at the end of the aisle. He needed to do something. His life was now measured in seconds.

ELEANOR! I need your help. Please tell me how to get out of this.

He sensed little chance of his pleas reaching the female vampire but he couldn’t think of any other way out of this mess. The two vampires dragged him closer to the stream of light. He saw that the other vampire’s mess had now stopped bubbling, all that was left of him was just a thin film of oil-like material splashed over the flagstone.

“Do you now wish you had stayed away?” enquired Helix.

You beg like a dog, Damien. I was wrong to think that you could help me. This is the best way to end. I shall have to find another.

No! Just give me a chance.

Damien gasped and tried once more to escape. Healiod hit him again, but Damien just pushed the pain away and doubled his attempt to stop these monsters from dragging him closer.

The First Father’s paranoia and suspicion rules his life. It helps him maintain power. Feed it, Damien.

“Helix thinks you’re going to make him First Son!” Damien looked at Healiod. “He’s going to kill you, Helix, if you are made up.” Damien saw the confusion etched in the vampire’s expression from the result of his lie. He scanned his mind then looked back at Desmonus. “They have already fed, First Father. That’s why they didn’t want me. They both defied you. They laughed at your inability to probe their minds, they…”

The air was blasted from his lungs when Healiod slammed both his fists into Damien’s guts.

“Still your lying tongue” he shouted, dragging him closer to the light.

Damien couldn’t do anything to stop them now, even if he wanted to. His whole body was beginning to shut down, that blow felt like all his internal organs were now flat against the back of his ribs. He then discovered that he was no longer moving. Damien gingerly opened his eyes to find the First Father standing over him.

“I suspect that you are just saying anything to stop them from ending you. Of course you are, although you are fresh, your essence would do and say anything to stop your body from dying. If what you say is true then point their evidence. Do not delay or I will complete the task myself.”

Damien saw the two vampire’s murderous looks and resisted the urge to give them the finger. He doubted that they’d understand the reference anyway. He slowly rolled onto his back, gritting his teeth at the agony flushing through his body. The First Father placed his hands on his hips and sighed. Damien pointed over to the back of a stall that sold second-hand books.

Helix surprised him by falling to his knees. “Please, First Father, do not punish us. The temptation to feed was just too great to resist. The thought thief is correct; we have fed on the blood of humans, despite you giving orders to fast.”

Desmonus bent down and lifted Damien onto his feet. “Maybe you do have some use. If you are able to stay out of my mind, then your existence might stay with you until at least we meet up with the others.”

Chapter Fourteen

He jumped back onto the pavement to avoid a green delivery truck from turning his body into a red stain on the road. Cade leaned against the wall of the library, trying to calm himself down. He watched the vehicle disappear around the corner, no doubt heading for the outskirts of town and then off to God knows where. “As long as it’s away from here,” he muttered.

Since his escape from those hooligans, Cade had seen quite a few locals, all heading out of the town, like rats deserting a sinking ship. He’d even asked a couple of people whom he knew by sight why the exodus. All he received in return were blank stares and replies that they were just going off for the weekend or they had a sudden desire to visit friends.

Cade waited for two more cars to speed past him before daring to cross the road. He kept his eyes fixed upon his target, convinced that the building in front of him was where those bastards had taken his Katy. He suddenly stopped in the middle of the road and grinned at that thought.  There was no doubt in his mind that she was his, no matter what some undead half-human twatface thought.

He hurried across the now empty road and looked over to the entrance to the town’s sports centre. Every instinct in his body told him that this was the place where that deviant had taken Katy. Hell, even from here, standing outside the door, he believed that he could smell their foul stench.

There was nobody around and the building looked abandoned. He knew that by now, the sports centre should be open and yet, when he tried the doors, he found that the place was locked up tight. Cade peered through the doors, trying to see if there was anyone around.

“It looks like all the employees have all decided to go on a day trip as well.” He sighed, unsure of what he was going to do now. Cade turned around and looked at the carpark, there were a few cars here, so there must be somebody in the building. The carpark belonged to the sports centre; nobody else used it.

There was one car parked in the corner that Cade did recognise. He wandered over to an ancient souped-up lime green Ford Escort. This car was a regular sight in this carpark, but not at this time though. The car belonged to one of the martial arts sparring partners, Colin Rushmore. He looked back at the building and frowned. It didn’t make any sense. Colin would never leave his beloved car here. He loved this more than he loved his wife. “Unless he was still inside?” Cade leaned against the side of the car and considered that possibility. Although it wasn’t unknown for Colin and his fellow weight training freaks to stay in their gym all day, they had never stayed all night. “Unless they had a lock in?”

He ran his hands across the roof and told himself that gyms don’t do lock-ins. He stopped by the boot and crouched down to inspect the lock. “Lock-in or not, you shouldn’t have left your car here, buddy.” He reached into his back pocket, pulled out a small penknife, pushed the thinnest blade into the lock, and savagely twisted it to the left. Cade chuckled when the lock popped open.

The boot swung up to reveal a black carpeted space, containing a green sports bag and a silver flask. Cade felt alongside the edge of the carpet until his fingers ran over a tiny metal clasp. He pushed that back and lifted up the carpet. He chuckled at the sight of Colin’s pride and joy.

“Just be thankful that it’s me who found this,” he said, gently lifting Colin’s katana out of its hidden pocket. “I’ll give you it back, my friend,” he whispered, closing the boot and locking it up.

He pulled the weapon out of its cover, marvelling at the quality, it really was a beautiful sword. “Oh dear, you poor ghouls really don’t know whom you’re messing with.” He replaced the sword back in the cover and strapped it to his back. For the first time since waking up, he actually felt like he could now defend himself. Although he wasn’t quite the master like Colin, he certainly knew how to wield a blade.

“That is where they have taken Katy, I’m sure of it,” he muttered walking back to the building. On his through the carpark, he spotted half a brick, lying close by the wheel of a Land Rover. Cade stooped down to pick it up, knowing that he now had his own key.

Three more cars sped past the sports centre and he noticed a couple of middle-aged women pushing a shopping trolley full of bedding, along the pavement. This place really was turning into a ghost town. How the hell were the authorities going to explain this mass exodus? He looked over to the right, past the town steeple, over to where the festival was due to start tonight, knowing that he had found his answer. He guessed that they would use them as some convenient scapegoat.

Cade knew that if he didn’t find a way to halt this then a few jumped up councillors, banging on about disturbing the peace would be the least of their worries. He peered through the glass one last time before he stood a step back and launched the brick at the window, hoping it wouldn’t bounce back. The brick shattered the glass and disappeared inside.

The noise of the glass breaking made his ears hurt and he knew that the sound must have travelled through the silent air for quite a distance. He shrugged, like he could give a shit anymore. He pushed out the last pieces of glass then pushed his way through the hole, being careful not to slice open his flesh on a couple of glass bits that he couldn’t move with his fingers.

As soon as he entered the cool foyer, Cade saw that he’d just walked into a whole boatload of bad news. The air stunk of death and the walls were coated with dried blood. Even without looking more signs of any more slaughter, Cade knew that this wasn’t where Katy had been taken. He pulled out the katana and took another step into the foyer, grateful for the comforting weight of the weapon.

Cade tried to slow down his breathing and watched where he stood, not wanting to give away his position. He glanced back at the broken glass and slammed his hand over his mouth to stop himself from falling about in a fit of hysterical laughter. He’d made enough fucking noise to wake the dead!

Apart from his own heavy breathing, he heard nothing, apart from the air conditioners, and the humming of the vending machines beside the doors. Cade then saw the first body, at least what was left of it. The girl looked as though she had fallen into a combine harvester. He bent down, picked up a heavy coat lying on a chair and placed it over the worst of the damage. Cade didn’t know if he should continue, he knew that these things had to be put down but his priority lay in rescuing Katy. He was her only hope. He didn’t doubt that she was living on borrowed time. He looked up at the wall clock, it was just back midday, there were still plenty of hours left before the sun came down. Cade backed away, heading towards the broken door.

He felt like the worlds biggest coward but what other choice did he have? Cade wouldn’t be able to live with himself if anything happened to her. “I’ll be back for you lot,” he hissed, averting his eyes from the mess on the floor. He had to come back. Cade owed it to that life of that poor girl whom those monsters had taken.

He yelped when he heard the sound of something crashing to the ground beyond the reception desk. Cade crouched and moved to the side, taking up position behind the coke machine. The interior was too dark to see anything, he daren’t yell out. A dozen different images of a group of blood-thirsty vampires cascaded through his mind. “Because that’s really going to happen,” he muttered, feeling the warmth of the sun on his broad back.

“Is there anyone in there?” he shouted feeling a little foolish for shouting into the dark room. Cade counted to ten before sighing, guessing that the wind blowing through the smashed door had probably knocked something down. “It’s time you left.”

He had already decided where to start his search. The first place he needed to go was back to her house, hell, there was nowhere else to start. Apart from where she lived, he knew very little about the crowd whom she hung. Cade had certainly no idea where her ex-boyfriend lived. Walking around the town for the next few hours, hoping to spot his car sounded like a fucking ridiculous idea. “You could borrow Colin’s car,” he said to himself, turning around to gaze into the carpark.

“Help me!”

Cade spun back around and ran over to the front desk, not caring if any of those things were around, he knew that voice. Where are you, buddy?” he shouted. Cade jumped onto the surface of the desk when he heard someone cry out.

“Is that you, Cade? Of fuck, it is! God, please get me the fuck out of here!”

“Are you trapped?” he shouted back.

“I just need you to help me. Please hurry up!”

Several thoughts went through his mind, pushing out the most pressing one of rushing in there to help his mate, Colin Rushmore. For a start, although that was his voice, it did not sound a bit like him. Cade detected something disturbing under that tone, as if his friend was laughing at him.

“Are you okay, in there?” He almost fell off the desk when three pairs of bright scarlet lights peered out from out of the darkness. Cade jumped back, watching in horror as three figures crept out from the dark room. He saw Colin in front, smiling at Cade. His huge teeth already stained with the blood of some poor victim. He held the sword out in front of him, determined not to be the next one.

“That’s my katana, you bastard! Give me it back!”

He didn’t believe he was hearing this. The sly oozing voice had just vanished. This monster sounded just like the guy he hung around with. Cade almost did just that. His lightening fast reflexes saved him from becoming another victim as the two vampires beside Colin lunged forward at incredible speed, their impossibly long arms reaching towards Cade’s body. He saw the long fingernails heading towards his tender skin at the last moment and jumped back, clumsily swinging the katana across their path. The blade missed them by inches but it did cause the three vampires to shrink back, hissing at him.

Cade growled in fury, not willing to take this crap anymore. He lifted the sword and ran towards them, gaining little satisfaction in watching the three of them retreat into the darkness. He saw their lantern-like eyes glowing from the far side of the room.

“Yeah, that’s right hide away in a dark room where the big hard Cade can’t get you,” he shouted. He remembered the tanning shop and decided there and then to go back there to see if he could grab a UV torch. The vampires wouldn’t be able to hide from him then. “I’ll be back,” he suppressed a chuckle, wondering he should have asked them if they had seen Sarah Connor. “Hey Colin, guess what? I’m going to steal your beloved car and scrape it along the side of a building then piss on the seats before setting it on fire.”

The resulting roar of anger, made Cade feel so much better. As he turned, tying to banish the sickening image of his mate, ripping into that girl like some ravenous jackal, he caught a tiny glimpse of something glowing just by his feet. Cade jumped back, realising exactly what it was. He cried out and thrust the blade forward, just as the concealed vampire jumped up. The tip of the sword pushed through the monsters flesh by a couple of inches.

The weapon felt so good in Cade’s hands. The carefully wound leather of the handle easy to grip, despite the copious amount of sweat pouring from his palms. He pushed the sword forward, expecting the hear him cry out but he’d been too slow, the vampire had already moved out of his range. “Come out and fight, you bastard!” he screamed into the darkness.

“Drop my sword, you twat, and we’ll consider it.”

He backed away, heading towards the doorway, swinging the katana slowly from side to side, still waiting to feel one of them jump on him from behind.

“Just look at the sexy Cade, boys. With his long dark hair, big muscle and swinging my Katana like a fucking golf club.” Colin chuckled. “I tell you what I’ll do, my friend. If you stop acting like Conan the Barbarian and put my bastard katana gently on the floor, I’ll see if I can convince my pals not to dine upon your pretty face.”

He couldn’t see anything and judging from the vampire’s mocking voice, Colin was moving around the room. Cade found the back wall and pressed himself up against it. At least now, they wouldn’t be able to circle him. “I didn’t come here to fight with any of you. Colin, I was only looking for my girlfriend.”

“Don’t you dare try to bullshit me, Cade. So you’ve suddenly found yourself a girlfriend over night? When the fuck did this happen? I thought you were still lusting after the barmaid at the Rose and Crown.”

Colin was now to his left, probably close to the doors that led to the swimming pool. It seemed so weird, listening to him now, he almost sounded like the guy who he used to train with every weekend. “I did meet her last night,” he replied. “As cute as a button. I don’t think you know her.”

“As cute as a button?” laughed Colin. “Listen to yourself, You’ve gone fucking soft, you’ll be spouting poetry next. Come on, spill it, what’s her name?”

For the first time since entering this dark room, Cade could now make out a moving shape at the far side of the room, he guessed that was where Colin was. He tried not to grin. He didn’t want these things discovering that his eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness. “She’s called Katy Barnes.”

“Oh, you have got to be shitting me! You’ve been screwing that tasty piece? Hell, if her ex finds out, he’ll try to stick my Katana right up your fucking arse.”

“Slimy looking bloke with short blond close cropped hair?”

“Yeah, Alvin Black, he’s a right little hooligan. He lives near the park in one of the big houses. His parents are fucking loaded…”

Cade didn’t bother to listen to any more, he knew exactly where he needed to go now. He edged along the wall, smiling while trying to find the other two vampire shapes. Apart from Colin, who he noticed was now closing in, he saw no other shape. “One more step, Col, and I swear, I’ll gut you.”

Colin just giggled but he did stop moving. Cade reached the doorway and ran back into the foyer. He cried out at the sight of the other two vampires leaping over the desk, and running towards him. Cade caught the blurred shape of Colin lunging for him from out of the darkness. He dropped to the floor and roiled to the left, bringing the Katana up, swinging it around. He heard the quiet gasp of one of them as he felt the metal slice into flesh.

He jumped to his feet and spun around, one of them leaped towards him. Cade brought the sword up then chopped it across. The vampire’s head just dropped onto the carpet as the razor sharp edge sliced through the flesh like a hot knife through a block of butter. Colin yelled an incoherent curse and slipped back into the darkness but the other one charged Cade.

The vampire then stopped dead and jumped back, chuckling when Cade blindly swung the Katana.

“You missed me, you little shit,” he snarled. The vampire then jerked his head over to the dark room before looking back at Cade. “Oh, you’re in for it now, buddy. Can you hear that? The First Father is coming. How fast can you run?”

Cade found that he couldn’t even move his feet. He looked over and saw Colin emerge from the dark room accompanied by another figure. Cade’s body refuse to obey his frantic commands to get the hell out of here. He watched the huge vampire stop beside the desk. He picked up the head that had rolled against the base of the potted plant.

“So, you are back, my son. I see that your mate is not with you? That is a shame. I so would enjoy meeting that one again.” He pushed his fingers deep into the bloodied stump. Your bothersome action has reduced my number by one.” He tilted his head to one side, then wrapped his fingers through Colin’s hair and pulled him back. “You are my First Son. Your irresponsible act had resulted in the death of a precious commodity.”

“Please!” gasped Colin. “What else could I do? He had a sword and believe me, that guy knows how to use it.”

Cade tore his eyes away from the struggling ex-friend and concentrated all his energy into trying to move his feet. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the First Father pushing Colin onto the floor.

“You have one more chance” growled the huge vampire. “Give me the correct answer and I shall not throw you to what remains of my clan.” He released Colin and pointed to Cade. “What do we do with him?”

He felt the aching muscles down the inside of his leg feel like they were about to snap like taught elastic, he persevered, feeding on the pain, allow it to flow through him, using it to fuel his anger. His efforts rewarded him by seeing his left foot move back by a single inch. Despite the agony his was suffering and feeling as though he had just completed a marathon, Cade tried to move it further back, ignoring the beads of hot sweat dripping down the side of his head. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the two remaining vampires, inch forward and swung the katana in a wide arc.

“You change him, First Father, we need to replace the vampire that he beheaded and he would be an excellent soldier.”

He slipped his foot back a couple more inches. The triumph for completing such a Herculean task, drained away when he saw the huge vampire look away from Colin and glare at Cade. The expression on the vampire’s face darkened when he saw that he had managed to move his leg back. He redoubled his efforts as both Colin and the First Father advanced.

“It makes me almost proud to watch you attempt to flee, my son,” growled the First Father. The fact that you have moved at all, just proves to me that you indeed have some Deathgazer blood flowing through your veins.” He suddenly bent down, picked up one of the crouching vampires and threw the body at Cade.

He fall back, his paralysis broke as the shrieking vampire crashed into his chest. By sheer will alone, Cade managed to keep the Katana in his hand, instinct telling him that if the sword had fallen, he would have no chance of surviving. The remaining vampires rushed him. Cade screamed when Colin dropped to his knees, landing on Cade’s ankles.

“Hush, you big baby,” laughed Colin. “What happened to no pain, no gain?”

Colin yelped as the other vampire fell onto his sword arm, pinning it to the carpet. The First Father slowly stood above him, smiling down at Cade’s groaning face.

“It is only after the bite when my Clan vampires realise their good fortune. It will be the same for you, my son. I feel your hatred and deep fear and although I find your curse unpleasant, I am willing to forgive your transgressions, it is just the way of things.”

Cade refused to concede to his fate. He took his eyes off the huge vampire and swung his other arm around his trapped body. He formed his fingers into a point and jabbed them into the eye of the vampire crushing his other arm. The monster wasn’t prepared for the attack. He shrieked and fell back. He tried not to throw up and the sight of the wet, grey jelly covering his fingernails and swung the katana down. Colin jumped back to avoid the deadly blade.

He ran between the First Father’s legs, heading for the safety of the sun. He screamed out when he felt one of them grab his foot. Cade saw only one way out of this. He threw the sword towards the door, sighing in relief when the handle punched through an unbroken pain of frosted glass, letting a new stream of sunlight penetrate the gloomy foyer. Cade left them release his leg has they all cried out in fear and retreated into the darkness. He got back to his feet and hobbled over to the door, not bothering to look back.

“Fuck you,” he shouted, feeling the tears of pain and stupidity flow down his cheeks. He reached the door, and groaned in relief as the bright sunlight warmed the top of his head. “I’ll be coming back for all of you.” Cade turned his head, glaring at the red lantern eyes, visible in the gloom. “You diseased abominations are living on borrowed time!”

Cade picked up his katana and hobbled over to Colin’s pride and joy. He drew the tip along the side of the car, grinning savagely at the thick line of shining silver left behind from the katana’s blade. He sat on the bonnet, admiring his handiwork. It was a childish act but it gave him a little satisfaction. He rolled up his trousers and grimaced at the ugly thick blue bruise wrapped around his ankle. No bones were broken but he knew that his walking would be severely impaired until the bruising faded. Even with his phenomenal metabolism, it would still take a while to feel halfway decent again. Those bastards really had worked him over.

He took out his phone and sighed at the time, a full hour had gone, it only felt like a few minutes since he decided to enter the sports centre. Still, at least now he did have some idea where to look for Katy.

Cade rolled down his trouser leg then slowly placed both feet back on the ground while keeping his weight on the side of the car. Between the sports centre and the edge of the park while he thought where that bastard lived, was about a couple of mile’s worth of urban urea to traverse. If he used the shortcuts, Cade reckoned it was less than a mile. There would be no chance of him using that route with a damaged leg though.

He took a deep breath and let go of the side of the car, sighing with relief when he didn’t crash onto the floor. Cade took a couple of experimental steps away from Colin’s pride and joy, nodding to himself. His body was already hard at work, repairing the damage; the pain wasn’t so bad now.

As he limped across the tarmac, heading for the road, Cade tried to ignore the dull ache that had wrapped around his anklebone. “Just take it easy, my son. You’ll soon be as right as rain,” he muttered to himself as he crossed the road. “Take the weight off your feet, drink plenty of fluids and rest up for a couple of days.” Cade silently told his overprotective imaginary nurse to fuck off

He walked passed a row of shops, all still closed and ducked into a passageway that led to the town’s main high street. His imaginary nurse must have taken the subtle hint as he could no longer hear the voice whispering to him. “You do know who that voice belonged to buddy,” he said. The sudden onrush of built up emotion just flooded through his body. He slid down the damp wall and pressed the palms of his hands hard against his eyes. Of course, he knew who that voice belonged to.

“I murdered my own mother!” he yelled, feeling the tears seep past his hands. Cade pressed his head against the wall, feeling the stone cut into the back of his head. He kept the pressure on, wallowing in the pain, feeling his hot blood dribble down his neck as the stone broke his skin.

“Fuck you all,” he growled. “I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to go home.” He suddenly caught his breath at the sound of a distant scream. Cade snapped open his eyes and stood up, looking back where he came from. From where he stood, Cade saw a couple of young men run past the entrance to the passageway. They were both carrying rucksacks. The mass exodus was still going on. Nobody would stop to see who had just screamed out, They all had their own agenda to fulfil. “Nobody cares about my pain either. Who’s going to help me?”

Cade took a deep breath and wanted to slap himself stupid when the image of Katy floated to the front of his mind. “Oh hell,” he said, wiping his eyes. What was he playing at? She had helped him, if it wasn’t for her, he wouldn’t have stood a chance last night. He hurried down the rest of the passageway, squinting in the bight sunlight when he emerged out on the pavement. Cade crossed over the road, heading towards another passageway that would take him to the far side of the park.

Katy needed him, as long as he kept that thought prominent, he knew that he’d be able to keep his grief from overwhelming him again. He’d mourn for his loss once all these evil bastards were dead. He looked up, surprised to see a Young dark-haired man gazing at him. As soon as Cade matched his gaze, the stranger turned his head and carried on walking the other way. There weren’t many people left in the high street. None were shopping, they all looked like they were in a hurry to get away. Cade looked up into the sky,

Deep down, they all must know just how little time was left for them. He had no idea how they knew or why he felt nothing. Cade walked past a discount store, moving to the side when a young suddenly stopped dead in his path. She glanced up, muttered an apology before walking around him. Cade stopped and turned to watch her progress. Should he have found it strange that the woman hadn’t said anything about his clothing? Cade reached behind him and ran his fingers down the katana’s scabbard, wondering when it became perfectly acceptable for some longhaired, muscle-bound young man to run around town with a huge sword on his back.

He ducked into the next passageway, glad to be away from those people. There might have been only a dozen or so and despite the fact that apart from that woman, he still felt incredibly claustrophobic. Cade ran through the open bin bags, suddenly realising that he and Katy had used this very passageway to get away from the vampires last night. He skirted past the body of a young man, not daring to stop and picked up a little speed, suddenly feeling like a several pairs of eyes were watching him as he ran past the old entrance to the market.

Cade ran out of there and darted over the empty street and leaped over the low stone wall and scrambled up the steep grass slope. It felt so good to be back in the park. His smile faded when he heard another cry, this one was from the other side of the park and Cade was sure that he knew who it belonged to. Heart racing he raced along the narrow path, listening as that familiar voice cried out again.

“Get off her,” he yelled when he saw the two men dragging the screaming and yelling Katy across the road, next to the park. They both stopped and stared when Cade reached the main gates. He watched them both pull out guns. He knew he wasn’t invincible but at that moment, Cade just didn’t care, he pulled out the Katana and charged them, roaring like some enraged animal. He watched them both falter, their postures changed again when Katy swung out with her free arm, hitting one of them in the back of the neck. They took one last look at Cade before releasing the girl and running back towards the house.

Cade almost fell back into the park wall when Katy flew into his arms, hugging and kissing his face.

“I can’t believe it’s you!” she cried, “You came back for me. Oh Cade, you have no idea how happy I am to see you.”

He gently pulled the girl off him and pushed her against the wall when he saw the same two figures coming out of the house with another person, Cade pressed his figure to his lips and ran back over the road keeping low. The two men had placed a thick grey blanket over the other person’s head and were leading him over to their car. Cade had no intention of allowing any of them to leave.

The men had reached the car just seconds before he had. Cade jumped onto the bonnet and swung the katana in a low sweeping arc, slicing into one of the men’s top arm. He jumped down and violently pushing the screaming man back. The other man took one look at the bloodied sword and released his grip on the other man, under the blanket. Cade pointed the blade at the shaking man. “Go on, I dare you, pull that gun out on me again.”

He shook his head, turned and ran in the opposite direction.

“What the fuck is happening here!” asked a muffled voice. Andy, Steven, where’ve you gone?”

Cade took one step closer to the man and gently grabbed the edge of the blanket. “You’re all alone now, fuckface,” growled Cade. He pulled the blanket off the man and jumped back as the flesh covering the ghoul’s head blistered then burst into flame. He turned around and walked back towards Katy, trying to ignore the stench of burning meat.

He wiped the blood off the blade it pushed the katana back into the scabbard. The injured man looked down at the small fire before backing away, once he had reached the back of the car, he turned away and ran down the street, still holding his arm.

Cade looked into Katy’s horrified eyes. “Now we know what sunlight does to them. I reckon you were right about UV lights doing the same to them. I think we had better go shopping.” Cade glanced at his phone. “We only have a few hours left, sweetheart. Do you feel up to it?”

Katy burst into tears, she ran across the road and wrapped her arms around his body. “Oh god, Cade. Please, let’s just forget about all of this, I want you to take me away from this nightmare. I can’t stand it any longer!”

Chapter Fifteen

Jalim dropped to the floor, held his breath and scurried across the beige tiles, desperate to get away. He slid under a desk, and flattened himself against the far wall. After making sure they hadn’t observed his movements, Jalim pushed his thin body through a hole in the wall, beside a metal filing cabinet. He slowly manoeuvred his body in the confined space so he could stand up and he finally breathed out.

Warm, musty air filled his lungs as he took in a much needed breath. He didn’t care about the faint smell of old damp wood. The rot was infinitely more desirable than the overpowering sickly sweet stench rolling off that woman. It had taken Jalim a few moments to realise that she had optioned to hose down her ample body in that foul chemical, at first he honestly believed that the humans had spotted him and were emitting some sort of defence mechanism.

When Dylar returned, he decided keep that piece of knowledge to himself. He felt enough of a fool already without his companion believing that Jalim had the brains of a senile horse.

He watched her for a couple of seconds, even from in here, Jalim could sense the extreme stress coming from the other occupant. When he originally found this hole, Jalim already knew that there were two humans close by. At first he assumed that they would be on the opposite side of the wall and made provisions to depose of them as soon as he broke through the thin plaster. As he pushed his body through his hole, Jalim realised his miscalculation when he saw the large window on the wall opposite to where he had come through. He saw a large female and a teenage boy engaged in an intense discussion. Jalim subtly adjusted his original plans. It looked as though he would be able to set out his intentions after all.

Jalim didn’t think that the woman’s noxious smell was the main reason for the boy’s obvious distress, although he guess that the fact that smelled as though she had bathed in the noxious chemicals did have a part to play in his discomfort. It appeared to Jalim that this woman was the boy’s leader.

The woman could be his mother for all he cared and Jalim cared not one bit. He had no interest in trying to unravel the mysteries of the humans’ intricate social structures. All he needed right now was for the aching pain at the front of his head to clear. Jalim turned around, leaned against the lattice of thin wooden strips and damp plaster, and attempted to tune out their irritating bleating.

He could not afford to allow this unexpected bounty to slip through his fingers because he could not operate properly. When the time came to move, Jalim would just have to hold his nose. Jalim grinned at the image of him forging into battle whilst holding his nose.

Jalim then saw a faint spray of plaster dust drift down in front of his eyes. He turned his head to watch his large companion squeeze his body through the narrow crevice between the old brick wall and the newer partition.

Dylar cocked his head then wrinkled his nose in disgust. He inched his way closer. “Do I smell roses, Jalim?” he whispered. Dylar pushed his hand under his nose. “That is revolting. What is this place, are the humans brewing vats of scented oil?”

Jalim ignored his question. The young vampire would discover the source presently. “Report, how many humans are left within these below ground rooms?”

Dylar took his eyes away from the hole in the wall and grinned at Jalim. “I sensed two females and one male. I do not know why they are in here. Their volatile emotions confused me. They were all terrified but did not know why they felt so disturbed.” He pulled his leather tunic up to cover his nose. “Perhaps they too are disgusted by that vile smell.”

Jalim pulled him away from the hole. “Learn to read the signs, my friend. The smell that is currently singing our nostrils emanates from a female, who is in a room beyond that hole.

“It is a scented oil then? I do not understand why it is so strong. Before I was changed, a few of the young pretty girls adorned their firm bodies with extracts made from crushed flower petals.”

“The woman is neither firm nor is she very pretty,” he replied, grinning. “Do not concern yourself with this matter, Dylar. Tell me, did you find the exits?”

He nodded. “Yes, I discovered two doors that, judging from the breeze, led up to the surface. I…” Dylar sighed. “One of the humans saw me. I had to kill him to stop him from giving away our presence.”

Jalim shrugged. “It was a risk and one that I expected. Do not let it concern you,”

Dylar sighed again. “I fear that it does though, Jalim. It could be the reason why they are acting so scared. You gave instructions not to upset their minds, that the chemicals released would taint your experiment.” He stopped. “Jalim, will you tell me what you have planned?” he licked his lips. “You are not going to attempt to change them again, are you?”

“Calm your fears, my friend. That is not my intention. Also, your action with the human who saw you is not why they act like a flock of sheep sensing a pack of wolves close by.”

“Then why, Jalim.”

He smiled. “I have just told you, Dylar. It has been a long time since our kind has stalked these lands, time has a tendency to scrape away the past, burying it beneath layers of half forgotten memories. But, the human is a versatile animal, Dylar, built with a very good sense of self preservation. Unlike the sheep, their mind will preserve a racial instinct, if that instinct is essential for the survival of their species.”

“They remember us?” asked Dylar. “How is that even possible?”

“You, like myself, were once human. Look at how the vampire essence has shaped us. No other animal is adaptable enough to survive a transfusion with the stuff that makes us what we are, Dylar. You will never see vampire wolves or, for that matter, vampire sheep.”

Dylar chuckled to himself.” I have never even considered such thoughts of vampire animals, Jalim. You truly are blessed with a diverse imagination.”

Jalim blinked, trying to work out whether the young vampire had just insulted him. Judging from the admiration spread across Dylar’s thin face, Jalim decided to take his words as a compliment. “It is just a matter of being aware of your surroundings and being observant, Dylar. The facts are there for all to see, it is just a case of knowing how to read them.” He reached out, wrapped his fingers around the vampire’s arm and gently pulled him down to the hole in the wall. “Observation is such a powerful gift. The two humans do not appear to be in the grip of terror. They are not wondering about, getting ready to flee. Why is that?”

Dylar shrugged. “Judging from the way they argue I guess that their hate takes precedence?”

“Exactly! The urge to escape is a thought that does not originate from their waking mind. If those two humans had not occupied their mental energy with the strong desire to kill each other, then they would be acting like the ones you witnessed earlier. You see, it is our re-emergence that has caused the humans to act like hunted deer.”

Dylar frowned.” I have to apologise for my next words, my new First Father. That does not make sense to me. Before I was changed, I lived close to the one of the Deathgazer’s outer fortifications. Our settlement prospered under the Deathgazers. We were settled and happy. The Clan war changed all that but, our settlement never acted like frightened animals.”

“You and your immediate family were fortunate to be born into one of the rare times when peace did dominate the lands.” Jalim turned back and gazed through the hole. Noting that, finally, the humans were no longer at each other’s throats. They now sat at opposite sides of the room, with their backs turned to each other. Although, they both were now quiet, the waves of hate coming from both of them were almost tangible. Jalim smiled to himself. If the female could provoke such a violent reaction as a human, just what extreme effect would the woman achieve once Jalim had finished playing with her? “Dylar, you have been told that I was a Deathgazer before I became part of the Swarmer Clan.”

His companion nodded.

“Yes, you were part of the group that broke away with our ex-First Father. My First Son never grew tired of regaling the newly changed with your tales of struggle and eventual dominance over the Deathgazers.”

This time, there was no mistaking the awe in Dylar’s words. Jalim had heard a few of the First Sons’ impressing the newly changed with their exaggerated stories. It did feel a little strange to find himself becoming part of a spoken legend. Jalim grinned, eager to see how his companion would react to his next few words. “Before I was a Deathgazer, I was the First Son in the Bonegrinder Clan and before that, I helped to form the BloodSpray Clan.”

“Just how old are you?”

“That is irrelevant,” replied Jalim, waving the question away. “You are correct that under the Deathgazers, the humans did enjoy a few hundred years of peace. They were given time to play and to breed. Before that though, there were many clans, all fighting each other and plundering the human populations for meat and for more recruits. It was fortunate, at least for the humans, that the Deathgazers came out triumphant.”

“And so the cycle begins again, then, Jalim?”

He nodded. His thoughts turned to the immediate future. The two clans would now be following their own agendas, He knew Desmonus better than Jalim knew himself. The First Father had already seen the changes that the human had wrought across the land and altered his plans accordingly, opting to wait. He was unsure on how Amulius would react though. The Deathgazer First Father would make it a priority to recruit, that much was obvious. Jalim saw that plan fraught with many complications. These modern humans would be difficult to control, especially for such a large amount at one time. To all the vampires just woken, the ancient past seemed just days ago. It will take them all time to adapt to this new world. Jalim applauded The Swarmer First Father for not acting like a ravenous fox in a hencoop; even so, the First Father will come up against the same problem when he did spread his wings.

“This cycle, Dylar, will end in wars that would make the Swarmer, Deathgazer conflict look like a fight between two drunken fishwives. That is my prediction, although, I am unsure of when this will happen. It could take weeks or it could take years”

The young vampire gazed at him with a mixture of horror and glee. “I am confused, Jalim.”

“Do you not believe that my words ring true?”

Dylar shook his head. “I do not doubt that. My confusion stems from your age. It is common knowledge that any vampire living beyond a certain age is able to change humans without creating foul ghouls. You must be the old vampire in the land. Why does this talent elude you?”

It took a great deal of restraint not to burst out laughing. “Oh, my young friend, and you tell me that you have never considered thought beyond the straight path? First, allow me to ask you one question. If our ex-First Father believed that I did have the gift, would he have allowed me to leave?”

Dylar shook his head. “No, of course not. Desmonus would have killed you and fed your parts to the rest of the clan.”  He shuddered. “I would have shared your fate as well. I do not think that he would have allowed me to leave alone.”

“He believed that my power to create his undead war machines stemmed from the rare spices and powders that I had collected over the centuries, aided with the hundreds of scrolls stored within the vaults under the Swarmer settlement. All lost when we had to sleep.”

“That is what I believed as well.”

My power, the main source comes from me, Dylar. The scrolls and the powders were there as a diversion. You are the only one who, in over ten thousand years knows of my secret.” He nodded to himself then pushed his body through the hole in the wall. Jalim helped the Dylar through. “Listen to these next words, my friend,” he whispered. The Dragonshine Clan will rule this land. It is our destiny. Unlike the other Clans, our soldiers will just one desire and that is to serve the Clan. Now, are you ready?”

Dylar grinned. “I am ready and eager, My First Father.”

Jalim ran over to the door that separated the two rooms, he suppressed the urge to rush through and opted to politely knock twice. “We need to go!” he shouted, injecting enough apprehension into the tone to make himself sound convincing. “The others have left, we need to leave!”

He heard the frantic scraping of a chair and stared and Dylar, pointing to the other door. “The boy will leave first. No bites just hold him,” he hissed. Jalim stood back when the door flew open. As he predicted, the teenage boy ran out and straight into the waiting arms of the young vampire.

“What, who are you people?” he cried.

Jalim peered through the window, satisfied that the woman had not moved then walked up to the struggling human. He sighed in pleasure at the sight of the human voiding himself. It was so good to feel that heart-spotting terror from a human once more. This one, unlike the others he had encountered tonight had the full use of all his senses and he had already noticed Jalim’s extended canines. “I think you have just answered your own question there, my pretty little boy.” He wrapped his long arms around the boy’s wrist and pulled him close to him. Jalim then dragged him over to the door, pulled it open and threw him back inside.

“Should you not lock it?” asked Dylar.

“Do you think they will come out?” He watched the woman’s hard face melt at the sight of the horror-struck boy pointing at the window with his shaking arm. Jalim felt like waving. “Dylar, do you think you are able to bring three of the other humans to this location without harming them?”

His companion nodded. “If they have not escaped, then the task will be simple. What about the remaining human, do we leave him be?”

“I have accounted for the remaining human, my friend. Now go, I have to prepare and although I have trusted you more than I have trusted any other vampire, there are some procedure that must remain known only to me.”

Dylar nodded, he turned and rushed through the door leaving Jalim alone with the two snivelling humans. I knew that they were both watching his every movement from the room. He stayed motionless, listening to them moving heavy objects around. He didn’t need to turn to know that they were trying to block the entrance, trying to stop him from entering. He counted very slowly to ten then walked over to the outer door and opened it, trying to see if he could hear his companion. He had been largely correct about that he was the main source of his power. He had still needed the powders and the scrolls to fine-tune his experiments. It had been so many generations since he had performed this procedure without his aids.

Jalim smiled, the recollection brought back an ancient memory from when he was still a young vampire, not long turned. Even then, Jalim knew that he was not like the rest of his clan.

The huge crevice in the ice sheet stretched for miles in both directions. Jalim watched the First Father of the Skullcracker Clan glare at the two enemy Clans on the other side of the crevice. The two rival clans returned the huge vampire’s glower, each expression from the twenty-one vampires twisted into the look of pure poison. Even though Jalim was at the back of the group he still could not stop his body from shivering.

If his Skullcracker Clan had not discovered these weapons forged from a time when the land was green then each one of his companions would now be on the clan’s travois, ready to be taken to their camps in readiness for skinning and eating. Jalim ran his fingers down the fine metal of his own weapon, his touch caressing the fine impressions made in this strange material. Although the temperature was now cold enough to freeze a human’s blood, Jalim still had no problem with operating this magnificent device.

He noticed that the two cooperating clans were ready to leave. He could not help but to breathe a sigh of relief. Even though they had managed to decimate their clan and claim the bodies of most of the fallen, Jalim was still glad to see them leave. He just hoped that his First Father would retreat from this territory and lead what remained of their clan to somewhere safer to a land where rival clans had not claimed.

From where he stood, Jalim could see his human mother and father, their naked frozen bodies lying below the corpse of three Skullcrackers. He glanced over at his First Father, wondering what was going through his mind. Did he believe now that it had been a mistake to venture into the unknown land? Thanks to his decision, their clan had lost every one of their human tribe. Their chances of surviving were now very slim. How many humans would agree to live under the protection of a clan that could not offer them it? His sombre thoughts stayed locked in his head. Jalim was not long turned. To openly display, such disagreement would not bode well.

“We might as well have joined the corpses. What chance do we have now?”

Jalim could not believe that those words had come from their First Son. He looked around the surviving Clan members, shocked at the others nodding their heads in agreement.

“Do your inner thoughts agree with your neutral expression, Jalim?”

He jerked his head towards the First Father, feeling his mouth go dry, not believing that he was addressing Jalim. He wiped the frost from his lips and looked at the others first. They all now stared at him, each vampire keeping their thoughts locked shut. Even the First Son stood like the copse of a long tusk, frozen in the tundra.

“You are my First Father,” he muttered. “I am just a lowly vampire. It is not my place to question your decisions.”

The huge vampire pulled down his fur-lined hood and walked between the remaining clan members until he reached Jalim. It took considerable self-control not to cringe when he placed his bear-like hand on Jalim’s shoulder.

“Thanks to my actions, it is possible that I have destroyed our clan, Jalim. We number just six and we only have left what we carry. Our food had gone and we can not even use our client tribe.”

Jalim thought very carefully before opening his mouth. He had no idea why the First Father was talking to him like an equal. It felt so wrong. “The Sabre-Tooth Clan was ready to move against us. We could not withstand another raid. Their client tribe had already taken our supplies for the dry season. The only reason why they did not attempt to wipe us out was because we had these.” He instinctively counted the bolts, sighing when he found that he only had three left in the chamber. Once they were gone, the weapon would be good only as a clubbing weapon. “We had to leave the valley.”

The First Father stroked his chin. “So, you believe that the Clan’s First Son is wrong to disagree?”

Jalim silently moaned, right now, he wished that that their enemies had killed him. It would be better to have them cut off his skin for tanning than to be in this position. What was he to do? “You made the only decision available, my First Father. Your desire was the survival of the Clan. We are few in number now but it is still preferable than the Sabre-Tooth clan flavouring their meals with our bones.”

The First Father laughed. Jalim smiled himself, glad that he had used the correct words. The smile fell from his face when the First Father turned and grabbed his First Son by the neck and lifted him up.

“Badan, you have failed me for the last time.”

The First father squeezed his huge fingers tight. Jalim cringed at the sound of the First Son’s neck bones crushing together. He watched in fascination as he dragged Badan’s now limp body to the crevice and dropped it down.

“You are now my First Son, Jalim,” he said turning his head. “What is your first decision?”

Jalim walked through the clan vampires, watching them take a step back as he passed them. He peered down the crevice, surprised that he could still see Badan’s corpse, the crevice was not that deep. “My first decision would be to retrieve that body, my First Father. We have no food and his corpse will help to sustain our weakened bodies until we find more supplies.” He looked across the desolate shite landscape, seeing nothing but ice and snow. Their situation was desperate. Even with the unexpected food bounty, it would take a miracle to stop the clan from going extinct.

“The role suits you, my new First Son.” He looked over at the remaining vampires. “Do you agree to follow Jalim’s requests as long as they do not clash with mine?” They all nodded. “That is good. Now, Jalim, would you be kind enough to retrieve that body? I am going to help the others construct a shelter. The sun will soon rise and I do not want to burn.”

Jalim fell to his knees and slowly lowered his body down until his fingers hung from a jagged rocky outcropping. He listened to the First Father directing the others in the task of digging out somewhere to sleep while the sun laid claim to the land. Jalim released his hands, dropping the last few feet.

He wandered over to the body and lifted the torso up, watching his head flop about. It was a huge shame to do this. This vampire had taught Jalim almost everything there was to know about their kind, perhaps a little too well. It was the First Son’s teachings that had helped him to make the decision regarding the disposal of the body. Jalim then jerked to a halt when he moved the body to the edge of the crevice and saw something move under the vampire’s thigh.

Jalim stared in astonishment as a pure white furred mammal ran back into a deep hole in the rock. His astonishment deepened when he saw that the animal had taken a large bite out of the dead vampire’s cold flesh. In all the time that he had lived, Jalim had never heard of any creature that could eat the flesh of a changed human. Their meat was supposed to be toxic to every living animal. Jalim got down on his hands and knees and looked down the hole. The animal was right there, staring back up at him.

“Just what are you then, my little friend?” He had no idea what it was, nor did he really care. He knew that warm blood ran through its veins and the meat was his for the taking. Jalim plunged his hand down the hole, gritting his teeth in surprise when the strange animal bit him. He felt the animal’s teeth scrap across the finger bone.

Whatever it was, Jalim knew that the beast had no fear of him and if he allowed it, the animal could snip off his finger. He tightened his hand, grinning at the sound of the creature’s tiny yelps. Finally, it went limp in his hand. Jalim pulled his fingers free of the hole, bringing his prize close to his face.

“You are an enigma.” He opened his jaw wide and pushed the animal in. He snapped his jaw shut, biting the animal in half. He crunched through muscle, sinew, bone and fur, moaning in ecstasy as the bloodied mush just slid down his dry throat. Aside from draining the last few drops of blood from the veins of their last human eight sun-ups ago, this was the only food that had passed his lips. Jalim rammed the rest of the animal into his mouth, eager to finish his unexpected meal before the other came back to see why he was taking so long.

Jalim chuckled to himself. He opened his eyes and stared into the empty corridor. It had been such a long time since he had given any thought to his early days. Even now, he had no idea of what kind of animal that he had foolishly consumed. He knew that he had never seen another one like it in all the millenniums of existence after the time of the great freeze. Eating that tiny beast had to be the reason to why he was so different to every other vampire that he had known. Just like that long forgotten animal, Jalim was a unique individual.

He slowly turned around. It did not surprise him to find that his two humans had pushed a piece of furniture against the window. He could sense both of them, flat against the wall, staring at the barricaded door, just waiting for him the push his way through. Like that strange animal that bit into his fingers, these two animals had also armed themselves with whatever was available.

Jalim heard the slow but heavy footsteps and walked over to the door that led into the other room. All the pieces were now in place. It was time to go to work. Jalim so enjoyed the next bit. The fact that his apprentice would be watching with wide-open, astonished eyes, only served to increase the excitement.

He had brought the three humans, just as Jalim had asked. All three were dazed. He watched the young vampire drop them in a heap beside Jalim’s feet. Blood dripped from the back of the blond male’s head. The matted hair, reminded him of a bird’s nest.

“He resisted. I might have hit him too hard, Jalim. He is still breathing though, although I am not sure of the damage I caused.”

“It does not matter,” he replied. In truth, Jalim had expected a small degree of damage to the humans. Whether they lived or left dead would not impede the procedure. It was just more enjoyable to watch if they were living and aware of their predicament. Jalim chuckled, “Dylar, you are about to witness a feat that no other vampire has ever experienced. Pick up the humans and follow me.” He charged the door. The thin wood splintered when he crashed into it. The two human’s sudden screaming blasted through his ears. To Jalim, the sound of their terror made him want to cry out in joy. He pushed away the heavy metal cabinet that they had slid against the door and stormed into the room, heading for the woman. He knew that Dylar’s presence would stop the teenage boy from trying to escape.

The woman’s incoherent pleas made him grin even more. He felt the change rushing through his system. His cavernous mouth opened wide. Jalim cried out as a double row of canine teeth burst through his gums, the bloodied flesh peeling back like rolled down sock.

He lunged forward and sank his hidden teeth into her thick neck, the woman’s shrieks cut short when he punched his fist into her stomach. Jalim stayed still, stroking the woman’s thick brown hair, waiting for the venom to take effect. Once he heard the familiar gasp, he pulled his teeth from her flesh and gently laid her on the floor.

Jalim hurriedly back away, pushing Dylar out of the room. He looked at the teenage boy and winked. “She’ll need you to care for her now,” he said, laughing. He pulled the bookcase away from the window. Jalim wanted to make sure that Dylar saw all of this. He then jumped over the dumped bodies and pulled the metal cabinet back, hoping that she would not attempt to move it out of the way. He just hoped that the offered meat would satisfy her first urge to feed.

“I don’t understand any of this,” said Dylar.

“Be quiet!” he snapped. Jalim dragged the vampire over to the window. He smiled at the sight of the other two females stirring. By the looks of it, the male would not be waking. It was a shame but not to much of a disappointment. The teenage boy was trying to wake the big woman. His earlier thought of hate had completely vanished. Jalim so admired how the human could alter his perception of another human in such a short space of time.

Dylar took an involuntary step back. Jalim’s arm snapped out and he pulled the young vampire back. Jalim shivered himself, even out here, where he knew he would be safe, the malevolence coming from his first creation scared the life out of him. The teenage boy suddenly jumped away, his eyes like saucers as the woman reared up, growling like an enraged wolf. She turned her head, her growl turning to an ear-piercing screech to the sight of the flesh around her arms expanding like pink balloons.

The three humans were now by the cabinet, desperately trying to pull it to the side, it was as if they had forgotten than the two vampires were still out here. The woman’s transformation was proceeding faster than any of his other subjects. Jalim just hoped that the reason was because of the woman’s size and the fact that, this woman had fed well, through her life. Her flesh was now beginning to harden. Until her first shedding, she would stay that shape and size. He could not stop himself from grinning. This Flesh dragon was already beautiful, the embryonic creature was already an impressive size. He watched her dagger-like teeth push through her elongated jaw. From where he stood, Jalim could not see the screaming humans, they were still trying to drag the cabinet away from the doorway.

“Dylar, witness this, my friend.” He swapped places and held onto the cabinet, watching the awe appear in his companion’s face. He heard all three humans suddenly shriek out, the pressure on the cabinet ceased and the only noises that Jalim could now hear were the wet sounds of tearing flesh.

“I have never seen anything so wonderful in my life, Jalim.”

He joined him at the window, watching his creation gorge on the offered meat. She really was a magnificent creature. The black scales now covering her naked body glistened under the artificial light. There was enough meat in there to help her insides expand into the large body. Once she had gorged, she should sleep for a few days to allow her transformation to finish. It would give Jalim enough time to start his own preparations.

“What do we do about the remaining human, Jalim?”

His Flesh dragon dragged one of the females over to the corner. She bit into the back of the woman’s neck before returning to the bloodied pool of gore on the middle of the room. “Look at that, Dylar. Did you see what she has just done? That woman still lives. Our Flesh dragon has disabled her to ensure that she cannot escape. Look, now she eats the dead flesh, knowing that her last meal will scream when she eats her.”

He slapped his hands on Dylar’s shoulders. “My friend, the other clans can do whatever they desire and they will do. They will scheme and plot, make allegiances with other clans and even humans. While the clans fight amongst themselves, we shall just bide out time, creating more of these beautiful creatures. When the time is ripe, my friend, we shall wipe this land free of every other clan.” He took a deep breath. “The Dragonshine Clan will reign supreme!”

Jalim released Dylar and hurried over to the door. “While she feeds, my friend, I suggest that we do the same?” He opened the door and allowed Dylar through. He took one last look at the window and let out a single deep contented sigh.

Chapter Sixteen

She ran over to the grill and pushed her fingers through the gaps. Darlene struggled to hold back the tears of frustration when she found that he really had gone. Paul promised her that he’d stay with her, that he wouldn’t let anything to happen. Darlene pulled her fingers out and brushed the tips down her dress.

“Come on, girl,” she muttered under her breath. “You’re acting like a pop star obsessed teen. He’s young enough to be your son, for crying out loud.” She knew all this, hell she’d said it to herself often enough. Even so, it still didn’t stop her from feeling like he’d just ripped out most of her heart when he did finally leave her. He had just hissed that the others were making their way back, before disappearing.

Darlene leaned against the wall, covering the grill with her legs. Her Paul hadn’t been wrong about them coming back.The bastards weren’t stopping and checking anywhere else, they knew where she was hiding. There was little point in wondering how the heck he had been able to sense their presence way before she had, from what she had learned from her very short time being in this state that they all had one talent.

They would be here any moment! She gasped as the cacophony of violent imagery escaping from the minds of the approaching vampires flooded Darlene’s already harassed mind. It took a considerable amount of endurance to ignore their crass and lustful ideas of what they wanted to do to her. “Fuck you all,” she snarled, Darlene forced every scrap of air from her lungs, thought of Paul stroking the back of her legs through the grill then took a deep breath and smiled.

She wanted them to see her smile as soon as those bastards stormed through that door, their excitement was reaching fever pitch and so were their fantasies. Their ludicrous ideas of what they thought they were going to do to her body became more comic strip, the closer they got to the door.

Darlene suppressed their escaping thoughts and focussed on the words that Paul had left her to recite. She saw the handle turn, it felt like she was watching the action in slow motion, this felt so stupid. The bastards were actually waiting for her to gasp or yelp at the fact that the big hard vampires had been clever enough to work out where she was hiding. The vampires had dampened their disgusting thoughts now. She watched the door open just a crack and felt a huge wave of confusion, tinged with disappointment flow through them all. She paused; there was just one vampire with the others, standing at the back. The shadowy mind had not joined in with their ridiculous fantasies.

It was a struggle to keep the smile fixed when Darlene heard Amulius telling them to stand aside. The door swung inwards and the First Father took one step over the threshold then stopped, placing his hands on his hips. What remained of his new clan crowded behind Amulius, the glee in their eyes, made her want to hurl. It sickened her to see the same expression displayed in each vampire. Both her kids used to look like that every time they had grassed on each other.

“What lies have vomited from their foul mouths, my husband?” she said, sweetly. It felt so odd to emulate his speech pattern but it did help to calm down those turbulent emotions threatening to break through her thin shell.

“I only asked you to perform one simple task.” He growled.

Her smile faltered, she saw the naked rage building up and suddenly wished that she’d ignored Paul’s gentle request and just got the fuck out of here. The other vampires slowly backed away, their own expressions changing to alarm and anxiety. His bright red eyes blazed with the power of the sun. Darlene stood transfixed like a rabbit caught in a hunter’s lamp. She felt like the vampire was stripping away her outer most thoughts, layer-by-layer, eager to pull out the reason for her disobedience.

Darlene slammed her hands against her ears and shut her eyes. “Get out of my fucking mind!” she screamed. Darlene heard something heavy hit the floor and snapped open her eyes to see Amulius slowly sitting up. Had she just done that? Darlene glared at the other vampires, they got the message and stayed motionless. Darlene ran over and helped him back onto his feet. It took a moment for his shaken mind to focus.

“Listen to me, my husband,” she said. Ignore my spat with the others, just for a moment. The others know where we are hiding.” She looked over at the other just turned vampires. Noticing that Elsie was missing and one of the new recruits was absent. “Wait, where’s the other one?”

“Oh, he lost his head,” replied Colin, chuckling.

The vampire’s laughter abruptly stopped when the First Father spun his head to face the thickset vampire. It amused Darlene to see what little blood left in Colin’s face just drain away, his arrogance quickly followed suit. It also worried her just how quickly Amulius had recovered.

“You are all to leave us alone. Bring Elsie to me. You must do this task now.” The vampire scowled at Colin when he didn’t move. “Do not make me repeat my words!” he thundered.

The vampires jumped, they turned as one and ran down the corridor. Darlene could feel the profound disappointment from all of them that the First Father hadn’t given permission to allow them to defile her.

As soon as the others were out of sight, the First Father slumped against the wall and sighed heavily. Darlene couldn’t believe the change, he’d gone from a huge monster to looking like a tired old man in a matter of seconds.

“They openly defy me, Darlene,” he said slowly, twisting his head to face her. “I am beginning to doubt my judgment, my queen. They told me of their treatment and I allow them to live.” He hung his head. I am no longer fit to be a First Father.”

Darlene’s brain went into meltdown at the sight of this creature whom she thought she loved just a few hours ago dissolve into a puddle of pity. She dropped to her knees and ran her fingers through his thick hair. She gently lifted his head and gazed into his eyes, it was difficult to tell, but she was sure that his fire had dimmed. “Give them time to adjust, Amulius. You’ve thrown these guys into a world unknown to them. Think back to the last time you recruited. Compare them to the ones you bit tonight. The guys who workout in the gym honestly believed they are better than the average Joe. I’m serious here, they are gym freaks. They don’t respond well to orders.” She felt such an idiot herself, it should have been obvious that they act in this way. Amulius had injected all of them with the equivalent of a dinosaur dose of steroids and teenage hormones. No wonder they were climbing the walls and wanting to fuck anything with a skirt.

“Listen to yourself, Darlene.” He covered her hand with his and squeezed it gently. “You still defend them, even after their disrespectful behaviour.”

Darlene hadn’t realised that she had until he mentioned it. “I’m just too forgiving.” It didn’t come as much of a shock to her that she’d already forgiven Amulius as well. Even so, now Darlene just didn’t know how to handle this situation. What was she going to do with Paul?

“You all live like corralled horses, is it no wonder that you do not behave as you should. My enemy has, for once not swarmed, attempting to change every human in his sight.”

Darlene suddenly remembered why Paul had begged her to stay and opened her mouth. She just had to tell him.

The First Father clamped his hand over her lips. “Hush, I know what your words will be. I know of this because I sense just a one of two individuals in various areas around this settlement, dreaming the deep dream. If Desmonus had swarmed, there would be hundreds more, hiding under this settlement, waiting for the sun to finish her slow journey across the sky.”

He struggled to his feet. “No, it will take me too long to adjust to this world, my darling wife. I also suspect that Desmonus will soon discover, to his horror, that the ones he changes will not behave as he desires.”

Darlene looked back into the storage room, wondering if Paul was still there. “What are you trying to say?”

He placed his hands on his shoulders. “The Swarmers will leave this settlement. That, I am sure of.”

She felt his powerful fingers dig into her shoulders. He then spun her around, slid his hands down her side, and rested them on the top of her firm thighs. “I think that perhaps we should follow the Swarmers plan and leave this settlement too. We can travel to a land far away from here.”

“What did you want to recite to me, my wife?” he asked, impatiently. “Hurry your words, they are returning.”

Paul’s words flooded back, so did the image of his tender eyes and soft kiss, while trying to calm her down and plead with her to follow this plan through. “There are four Swarmers just minutes from the sport centre, holed up in the market.” She looked at his confused face and realized that he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. “Four of our enemies are hiding in another building in this settlement, Amulius. There is a tunnel that will take us straight to them.” He just stood still, staring at her, not saying a word. “Aren’t you even listening to me?” she snarled. “We could end this right now.”

He sighed. “We would be sending our untrained, ill disciplined rabble to their deaths. The Swarmers are seasoned warriors; just one of them would devastate them.” No, I admire your enthusiasm, but it is too risky.”

Darlene walked over to Amulius and grabbed his crotch. “Have you lost your balls. I overheard them, they will strike as soon as it gets light.”

“They will attack us?”

For the first time, she actually saw a flash of life in his dull eyes. “They don’t have a clue that we’re here. They don’t care about us anyway, we are just small fry to them. There’s over a thousand strangers camping out in the fields around our town, it’s them who they’re going to go for. Their First Father will have his own army by this time tomorrow.” She took his hands. “You know that then, he’ll go after us. He’ll have no choice, we’re his enemy.”

“We spent almost two hundred years locked in conflict, my lovely wife. We fought over diminishing supplies, over food and lands. Our war spiralled out of control. It almost destroyed us, it almost made you extinct. In the end, the few scattered tribes of humans took to hiding in places unknown to us, we were starving to death.” He stroked the side of her face. “He will not go after us, we are, as you said, small fry now.”

“I can’t believe that you’ve just said that, Amulius. You must know, deep down, that they’ll hunt us all down. We both know how they operate. In a month’s time, they’ll be thousands of Swarmer vampires, every one of them, hunting us down! You might want to commit suicide, but I don’t!”

They both turned as the other vampires walked towards them, Darlene glared at her daughter. She clamped her mouth and clenched her fists, trying so hard to control the whirlpool of extreme emotions that flooded her body. None of the others had noticed the pain she was going through. Amulius’s new clan was too busy staring in utter lust and her beautiful daughter. Darlene watched her glide through the slavering vampires. She approached her mother and stopped in front of her.

“It’s so good to see you,” she said. The girl looked at the First Father. I heard your argument in the corridor and yes, “You’re right, those muscle-bound brain-dead dipshits wouldn’t last five minutes with those Swarmers.”

It took Darlene considerable restraint not to sink her teeth into the little bitch’s pretty neck. How dare she stand there, looking so sweet like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, pretending that everything was hunky dory? She blanked her and focused on her one main problem, intending to deal with her at a later date.

Paul had told Darlene that she needed to ensure that the clan stayed together and that meant she had to stay with them. He’d said that if the Deathgazers didn’t stop the Swarmers, then the vampire plague would spread like wildfire. She had looked into his horrified face, not understanding his dread at the prospect of the vampires running amok throughout the land. Even after gently reminding him that they were now vampires too, his alarm still remained.

She watched the First Father wander over to his new clan, conversing in low tones, he looked like a Shepherd trying to calm a flock of sheep. Darlene now understood Paul’s fear. The vampires were quite content with their lot. She now saw the First Father’s reasoning, there were so many humans now, the Swarmers would forget his clan, the impossible job of keeping the Swarmer’s own clan in order would take up their First Father’s time.

“Perhaps, there is a solution to this quandary?” he said, gazing at Darlene. “While I am certain that the Swarmers will butcher my new clan with ease, they would not stand a chance against my two beautiful vampire women.”

The girl placed her hands on Darlene’s shoulders, leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. Mum, loose the stress; I didn’t let the randy old bastard anywhere near me. Nod and tell him that’s a wonderful idea, mum. If not, he’ll kill us, right now!

She gazed at the First Father, digesting her daughter’s thoughts. Did she believe her? Before Amulius had his wicked way with her, she’d have just discounted her words as pure jealousy, just her daughter trying to drive a wedge between them, she had always been the more devious of her kids. Darlene watched the First Father’s expression, he was still waiting for her to reply. The one thing she did notice was that old man had gone away. She sighed again, of course he had, that persona vanished as soon as he got his fingers inside her panties.

“Only if you’re sure, Amulius,” she replied. “Are you not coming with us?”

He shook his head. “Go wait in the storage room,” he said to the male vampires. Amulius waited until they were out of sight before he turned his head. “Your strength, my beautiful wife, almost surpassed mine. Elsie has already proven herself in battle. You will triumph, of that fact, I am sure.”

Elsie dragged her mother into the storage room. Darlene watched the First Father turn and hurry after the others. “Just what the fuck is going on, Elsie?” she hissed. Darlene watched her pull off the cover. “Wait, how did you know about that?”

“The same way that I knew that your not so secret boyfriend, Paul, had told you what to say,” she replied. “Now come on, we need to get out of here before he realizes that he’s been had.”

Elsie dropped to her knees and pushed her head into the gap, followed by the rest of her body. Darlene hurried after her daughter, completely confused by the turn of event. As she pushed her way through, into the damp, dark brick tunnel behind the wall, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being manipulated or at least pushed around like some pawn in a giant game of chess.

Her daughter helped her on her feet before she bent down and replaced the grate.

“I have no idea why I did that. It’s not like they don’t know where we went. Come on, mum, we had better put some distance between us and them.” Elsie chuckled. “It really is good to see you again, mum.”

Darlene shrugged off her daughter’s hand. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what is going on.” She saw her daughter’s happy smile fall off her face.

“Mum, if we hadn’t moved right there and then, he would have ripped into you and torn your body into tiny pieces while his dogs had slaughtered me. He only allowed us to leave because he actually believed your bullshit story. As far as he’s concerned, he’s better off without us “

Darlene shook her head, unwilling to believe that.

“Sorry mum, but it’s true. I know you’re strong and I know you have a powerful mind.” The girl paused and ran her tongue over her lips. “I got mine from you, mum, I was also boosted up. Damien changed me then he bit me as well.” She laughed shakily. “If he knew just how powerful I was, he would have never let me leave, he’d have killed me on the spot. Well, at least he would have tried.”

She watched her daughter leap across the narrow channel that ran through the middle of the tunnels. A small rat scuttled between Elsie’s legs, scarper up the grime encrusted wall and disappeared into a hole a few feet above their heads. They both saw the animal and Elsie, just like her, didn’t even blink. They used to be terrified of rats and mice. Had her daughter ability to manipulate people around her improved since her change? Darlene tried to see into Elsie’s mind but just received static for her troubles.

“Mum, that’s very rude,” said Elsie, turning around. “I wouldn’t look inside you, unless you gave me permission.” She put her arms around Darlene’s waist. “He knows that he can’t control us, mum. Do you remember Mr. Anderson’s dog?”

She nodded. “Of course I do, that miserable old thing wouldn’t let anybody in the garden. It really hated anybody in a uniform. Oh, and kids, the dog couldn’t stand kids.”

“Damien used to deliver the old man’s newspaper there. He used to have to just launch it over the fence cos the dog just went batshit as soon as Damien got close to the property. Well, one morning he did just that and for once, the dog didn’t come out and try to kill him through the wooden slats. It turned out that the dog had decided that he’d had enough of not being able to kill any passing pedestrian and decided to attack its owner instead. It didn’t kill the old man but he was in hospital for a few months after the attack. That old dog is just like the First Father, mum. I have seen inside his head. All that crap about wanting to take you away from all of this was just fantasy, he certainly isn’t prepared to just sit on the fence and watch the Swarmers take over the planet.”

“So, what do we do now?” asked Darlene. When she looked at her daughter, she couldn’t stop the image of a queen sliding along a giant chessboard. Darlene was now just a pawn in this bizarre game, she no longer felt in control of anything anymore.

“We, I think its safe to assume that we’re no longer part of Amulius’s little gang now. Even so, I still think that we ought to follow the original plan to take out those bloody Swarmers. It makes perfect sense to get rid of the highest danger first.” Elsie glanced over her shoulder. “We can deal with that old perverted bastard another night. I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”

Elsie then slid her fingers up the damp bricks, stopping just below the small hole. The rat poked out its nose, it gave the vampire’s finger a tentative sniff before fleeing back inside the hole. “Did you see that, mum? Our flesh and blood is toxic to every other creature. The First Father even told me that the flies won’t even lay their eggs in our corpses. The only creature capable of digesting our bodies is another vampire.” She chuckled. “I can’t believe that, mum. I used to be terrified of the little bastards.” Elsie tapped the bricks. “I think the Swarmers are a bit like rats, you know. If we don’t stop them, they’ll be everywhere.”

“Honey, tell me about your brother, tell me what happened.”

She shook her head. “I can’t, mum. Look, all that matters now is that’s he’s just like one of them, he’s a dirty Swarmer.”

“I won’t accept that, Elsie. He’s your brother, for crying out loud. We need to save him.”

Elsie didn’t say a word, she didn’t need to. Darlene felt the anger flowing through the girl’s body. It was like standing under a power line. “I know he’s a Swarmer, but so were you, honey.  Maybe, if we found Damien, we could…”

“No mum!” she shouted. “His fate is sealed.”

“But he’s your brother!” she persisted. “If we both bit him, passed on our own blood, well it could work.”

“He killed my Ben!” she cried. The bastard dragged him out of my arms and threw his body at that pack of dirty Swarmers!” She choked back her sobbing. “I heard them rip him apart and all Damien did was laugh. I’m going to kill that bastard with my own hands.” She growled.

The girl spun around and marched away, leaving Darlene shaking like a leaf.

“I can’t kill my own son,” she whispered.

“You daughter is right, Darlene. He has to die.”

She spun around, gasping at the sight of Paul appearing from behind a brick column. He pressed a finger to his lips.

“Calm yourself, sweetheart. I don’t want Elsie to know that I’m here. I know how hard this is to accept but you need to believe me, Damien is no longer your son.” He looked over to the departing vampire. “Just like she is no longer your daughter. He’s a strong one, he could even make First Father. That means he’ll spread his dirty Swarmer blood far and wide. He just has to die.” He ducked back behind the column. “Catch up with her,” he whispered. “I’ll meet you at the end of this tunnel.”

She turned around and saw her daughter staring at her. “Even rats look after their young, Elsie.”

Her daughter sighed. “Not all the time. When they’re threatened, they’ll eat them. Look mum, I seriously doubt that he’ll be with that lot anyway. More than likely, he’ll have found his own little secluded spot to rest until the sun goes down. He might have even left town by now.”

Darlene bit back her reply about him never straying too far from home and followed Elsie through the dark brick tunnels. She so hope that her daughter was right about Damien. Deep down, Darlene knew that Paul and Elsie were right about Damien and her blood would no doubt compel her to lunge for him anyway. There was no other way.

“Oh, well would you look at that,” muttered Elsie. I did wonder when your absent boyfriend was going to make an appearance.”

Darlene watched her Paul climb out from a small tunnel a few feet off the ground and drop down. Landing into the shallow stream of dark water. She noticed that his movements were a lot more fluid now. It might have been a trick of the dim light, but she was sure that he’d also filled out a little bit since she last saw him.

“Elsie, I’m guessing that you knew about me and Paul before we all changed?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I’ve known for a couple of months now, mum. Oh, don’t worry, I didn’t tell anyone.”

Darlene didn’t know whether to cry or to laugh out loud. “Wait, how the hell did you find out? I made sure that we were very careful.”

“It was just the little things, mum. Call it a female’s intuition? Like the faint smell of aftershave in the room. I’m good with smells and I know what dad and Damien wear. There was also the shining expression in your eyes when I got back from college. Although, I think that the biggest clue was when I found his necklace in my bed. The one with his name engraved in the back of it.”

“Hello there, Elsie,” said Paul, when he reached them. “Who’d have thought that we would be meeting up like this?” He looked past them. “To be honest, I am surprised to see just you two. I expected to be hiding away as the Deathgazer Clan marched past me, ready to fuck up the Swarmers.”

Elsie smiled back at him. “Well, the plans have been altered. There just the pair of us here. Oh, and you, I suppose. That is, if you have the balls to go up against the other vampires.”

He stared at Elsie for a few second before he nodded. “There’s no other choice, is there?” Paul looked at Darlene. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Elsie climbed up the metal ladders bolted to the wall and used one hand to twist the handle on the cover. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head, Paul. We’ll protect you from those nasty vampires.” She chuckled before pushing up the cover and climbing out of the tunnel.

Darlene looked and Paul and smiled. “She means well and she’s right, we will protect you, hun, I will anyway.” She gently pushed him over to the ladders. “Go on, up you go.” She waited for him to clear the tunnel before following him up.

As she emerged into the market, the first thing she noticed was that darkness had already fallen. The second thin was that she was alone. Darlene frantically spun around and saw her companions racing down one of the aisles, heading for the main entrance. Darlene chased after them. It took her just seconds to realize that they weren’t alone. Directly in front of them was the largest vampire she had ever seen, he towered above Amulius. He was dressed head top foot in ancient black leather but his most distinguishing feature had to be his long mane of jet black hair. The vampire ran up to the entrance and burst through the window.

Darlene joined the others and watched the vampire join his colleagues. They all turned, and laughed at them before disappearing into the night. She sighed and looked down at the stone floor, spotting something very familiar. Darlene stooped and scooped up a small silver bracelet. “Oh fuck, she cried, recognizing the present that she gave to Damien two Christmases’ ago.

Chapter Seventeen

The sight of the clear night sky, filled with stars and a heavy moon made Damien want to run through the deserted town, laughing and screaming at the top of his lungs. He had never felt this good. It was the best high that he’d ever had.

“This is your first true night, my new First Son. Savour this moment. The sun is now your enemy but no matter, for the moon and her daughters will guide your senses to your forthcoming kills.”

Damien watched the brothers bow their heads and quietly recite a prayer. The sight of them praying caused him to just pause; he hadn’t expected them to do that. Was this the closest that these animals got to having a religion?

“Damien, why do you stare?” The Swarmer First Father walked up to him and placed his hands at either side of Damien’s head. “If the name of the noon and her daughters is invoked, it is wise to follow the actions of your fellow Clan members,” he whispered. Desmonus glanced at the brothers. “Their last First Son was also their priest. It is also wise to remember that although it is in their blood to obey, you could be presented with unwanted tribulations if they think you mock their faith.”

Desmonus suddenly released Damien’s shoulders and jumped away from him. The vampire then cocked his head to one side.

“First Father!” cried Helix. “What has he done to you?”

It didn’t escape Damien’s attention that those two clowns were glaring at him, with accusing eyes, automatically thinking that he was to blame for the vampire’s odd behaviour.

“This settlement is just too quiet,” he replied. “I hear only our voices.”

Helix shrugged his great shoulders. “Is that not how the settlement should be at this late hour? They sleep in their beds, or hiding from us, dreaming and hoping that they will wake in the morning unchanged.”

“I predict that many will not tonight, my brother,” added Healiod. “Especially those firm young maidens.”

Both brothers chuckled.

“Cease your lustful ramblings!” snapped the First Father. “I have already explained our situation to you twice now, is it that difficult to adjust your thinking? Just look at the buildings around us, do they resemble crude wooden shack to you? Perhaps it is time to block up the holes in your heads to stop your wits from leaking out.”

Damien suppressed a chuckle. He loved the way these guys spoke. He wondered how long it would take them to adapt and start to talk like him. Looking at these two brain-dead clowns, he guessed that it would never happen.

“Do you not remember how this land looked when we emerged from our long sleep, Helix? Even you asked me if they had woken on the moon. Remember how the lights on the ground really did feel like we were running through all the moon’s daughters?”

The town wasn’t completely dark, the streetlights were on but Damien now noticed that not one single shop was open. Metal shutters covered every shop window. “This isn’t right,” he muttered. Some of the shops ought to still be open, it isn’t that late. The pubs and the takeaway should definitely be open by now.”

“Damien I regret that some of the words you utter are unfamiliar but your meaning is quite clear.” The First Father leaned against the side of a green Ford Focus and stared at him. “I did not expect this to happen so quickly. The thought had taken up residence but I really did believe that time truly had scrubbed away our legacy.” He sighed. “I fear that the humans have fled this settlement.”

The brothers looked at Desmonus and then at each other. “Our legacy?” said Helix. “You mean that they remembered us? This should not surprise me, we used the human as food and slave for many generations. Our tales would have been passed from mouth to mouth for many generations.

“That is not what I mean. This is their inner minds, talking control of their brain and telling them what should be done. I do not think that they were even aware of their actions.”

“It’s a racial memory,” murmured Damien. “I’ve read about things like this before,” He looked up and down the empty street. “Never on this scale though. You guys must have really scared the shit out the humans in your time to make such an impression.”

Helix ignored him and marched over to the First Father. “If they have all gone, then how will we expand the clan? Without fresh bodies, the Deathgazers will destroy us for good.”

Desmonus moved off the car and stood behind Helix. “Follow this road, my son, can you not see that collection of tiny lights peering out from above the rooftops? I see you can. Helix, there are huge crowds of humans all bunched together in some fields beyond this settlement. There is enough meat there to last us for a long time.”

Helix eagerly nodded. “Oh, yes I see that now.”

Damien heard the noise of technicians starting to test out the sound system, he giggled quietly to himself when he saw the other vampire’s reactions. He guessed that they had yet to experience a metal festival.

“First Father, the riddle is solved. The people from the settlement are over there, my guess is that they are trying to work out what that dreadful noise is.”

“It sounds like a thousand fox cubs, all caught in wire snares, all screaming out for their mothers,” said his brother.

The First Father gazed at Damien. “Is he correct?”

Damien grinned. “Healiod is right about the bands, but right now their skivvies are just tuning up all the equipment. As for what Helix said? No way, the townsfolk stay well away from the festival, mostly they spend their time bitching about the noise and what effect it’ll have on the house prices or some shit like that.” He turned around and slammed the palm of his hand against the steel shutter. “It doesn’t stop them from keeping the shops open until midnight, trying to skim off as much money as possible from the visitors.”

“It does not matter then about the humans all running from their homes,” said Helix. “Our food has not gone anywhere!”

“You truly are an idiot,” snarled Desmonus. “This, I did not predict. It made sense to believe that the Deathgazers would act in their own pre-determined method of putting down their roots, changing a few of the humans then attempting to milk the rest like big fat cows.” He sighed. “Conflict is now inevitable, we fight for the same resource.”

The brothers both laughed. “We are still many and he is just one.” They looked at Damien. “We have already started to build and expand.”

“We waste time,” said the First Father. “If there is to be a fight, then we should join up with the others. I want to see the rest of my Swarmer Can. I am also eager to see Eleanor.” He looked at Damien. “I believe that she has some explaining to do.”

Damien conjured up the image of him sitting down to eat a huge plate of chocolate ice cream, covered in stale vomit and horse manure, just to stop his mind from dwelling upon Eleanor’s perfect breasts.

“Once our clan is complete, then we can begin our work.” He grinned at the brothers. “While I am aware that you two did not fully obey by rule of abstinence the previous night, you still were able to reign in your natural desire to swarm. Tonight, all your lusts, crazes and desires will be sated. If Amulius is there, remember, he is only one vampire, he cannot fight all of us.” Desmonus then walked over to Damien. “Now, my new First Son, perhaps it is time to discover why Eleanor took it upon herself to play the role of First Father?”

The vampire lunged at him. Damien’s quick reactions were no match for Desmonus’s lightning fast movements. He felt the vampire’s canines sink into the flesh on the side of his neck before his whole body locked up. Damien was helpless, he couldn’t move a single muscle, he wasn’t even able to blink.

His eyes lost the ability to focus and the view of the pavement and the First Father’s dirty black boots all dissolved into one blurred mess. The sensations of sight, sound and feeling left him. The only experience left to Damien was of thought, and the First Father was delving into that like a fat worm eating through black soil. He was powerless.

The vampire’s dominant probe stripped away every barrier, exposing all of Damien’s innermost thoughts.

Blazing white light exploded behind his eyes and he saw the image of his mother, followed by his father and then Elsie. The First Father was bleeding out every shred of knowledge from his mind, soaking it in like dry sponge plunged into water. The kaleidoscope of faces stopped when he was shown a full frontal view of Eleanor. The image wasn’t from his mind. Damien had never seen her like this before.

He couldn’t stop the sensation of arousal when the image suddenly turned her head and winked. The low light illuminated the vampire’s well proportioned body, hiding behind very thin sheets of green and purple gauze. He groaned in pleasure as she walked up to him, took hold of his wrist and placed his hand over her full breast.

Damien hooked his fingers behind the material and tugged it down, exposing the full beauty of her creamy white flesh. She released his wrist and dragged her fingernails down his chest. He lowered his head and watched her hand stop at his waistband. The woman then got down on her knees and unfastened his trousers, freeing his erect penis.

He watched her grip his shaft hard lift the organ up then slowly run her cold tongue along the underside until she reached the head. Eleanor giggled before she pushed his full length into her mouth. Eleanor held him tight with her powerful lips then slid him slowly out stopping when she reached his head.

The pleasure circuits in his brain blew when the woman somehow wrapped her long tongue around the tip and gently squeezed and caressing the sensitive flesh. She suddenly released him and stood up. “He knows now, Damien,” she whispered. “I should have realized that he would peel you like an onion. Worry not, my lover; this particular transplanted memory is hidden away. We will bide our time. It is one thing we have on our side.” She wrapped her arms around his naked body and pulled him tight against hers. “I must go; he is close to ending this. I will play my part, Damien, worry not.”

Damien cried out in shock when the world reverted to its former state of absolute blackness before his very sense suddenly returned to him. He couldn’t stop himself from screaming when he looked down and saw the town hundreds of feet above his body, rapidly reaching up to embrace him as he plummeted through the night sky. Damien shut his eyes, anticipating his body to smash into the hard floor any second.

The eye watering stench of rotten meat, combined with a sickly sweet smell of fermenting fruit suddenly filled his nostrils. Damien snapped open his eyes and found his body lying on the pavement, slumped against the metal shutter, the memories of his last few minutes, quickly fading away. He saw the two brothers grinning down at him. He then saw the First Father crouching beside him.

The vampire leaned closer until his mouth was a whisper away from Damien’s ear. “Even now, I feel your mind, desperately trying to hold on to your recent memories, yet, no matter how hard you want to hold them, they just slip away like smoke from a dying fire. No matter, I have what I need. The aroma still lingers, does it not?”

Damien nodded, unable to clear his nose.

“The thick crust of Eleanor’s alluring perfume is not often breached. She strives to maintain the reflection of the sweet young virginal maiden, Damien. Once you do break through, the reality is that Eleanor is just an ancient disease-ridden living corpse.” He stroked Damien’s ear. “You are but a puppy dog for her, a plaything, a child’s toy, my young rabbit. You are not her first, Damien.”

The first Father pulled him off the floor and leaned him against the metal shutters. “This world will give my devious little woman a medley of new playthings. You will not be her last embryonic vampire to fall for her silly games either.”

“First Father, can we chew on his bones now? It is more than he deserves for the trouble his presence has caused.”

Damien looked into Healiod’s blazing eyes. He knew that he wouldn’t have stood much of a chance if just one of them went for him, let alone two. Right now, Damien felt like he’d just been run over by a truck, what the fuck had just happened to him? He felt great just a few moments ago.

Even if he was outmatched, Damien wasn’t going to allow these bastards rip into him, not without a fight, even if the odds were insurmountable. He clenched his fist tight. As soon as that vampire leaned closer, Damien intended to push hid fingers into Healiod’s throat. Even as his brother and the First Father ripped into his flesh, he would have, at least, have the satisfaction of taking one of them with him.

He then remembered that Desmonus could have killed him at any time, unless they were just playing with him? Damien just wanted to go to sleep, he was confused and very tired.

“Damien is still your First Son, Healiod.” He turned around and grinned at the brothers. “You might find that your First Son could prove to be worthy adversary, perhaps you two should reserve your scorn and open ridicule?” He looked back at Damien. “Do you think it would be wise to see him lose his temper?”

Helix just sighed, “My First Father, I am just a lowly vampire, your word games just confuse me. I look at this pathetic creature. I see not a great vampire, just some wasteful human who was unfortunate to meet your wife. I mean no offence, First Father but, his presence makes my stomach churn.”

“And you feel the same?”

Healiod nodded. “Yes, my First Father, more so than Helix.”

Desmonus stepped back and winked at Damien. “Then if either of you are able to defeat this little rabbit then you can claim title to First Son. Damien, these two clan members enjoy throwing their opponents to the ground, standing on their backs, and then twisting off their heads. It is advisable not to allow either of them to get you into that position.”

He watched the two brothers separate, each one stepping to either side of him. Damien knew now that escape was not an option. He quickly glanced at the First Father, just waiting for him to tell his gorillas to back off. This just had to be another stupid test, surely, it must be, the bastard even winked at him.

Healiod growled and then lunged for him. Damien managed to duck just in time and rolled to the side, he heard the huge vampire crash into the metal shutters, he quickly turned to see him spin around. Damien saw the huge dent in the metal, it looked like the shop had just been ram-raided. He twisted his body, crying out when Healiod’s brother swept his legs out, catching Damien’s ankle. He stumbled but managed to thrust his hand down to stop his body from hitting the floor.

From the corner of his eye, Damien saw Healiod running towards him. These bastards were slow but he knew that it was only a matter of time before one of them would get hold of him and throw his body onto the pavement.

The First Father laughed, “He is like an eel. You two really are lumbering idiots. Cooperate and he will be yours.”

Damien glared at the First Father, he clenched both his fists, he’d had enough of this bullshit, “Fuck the lot of you,” he growled. “I just about had enough of your crap!” He turned and ran at Helix, pulling back his arm. He screamed out in fury and rammed his fist into the vampire’s nose. The result of his sudden assault caused Damien to screech to a standstill as his pile-driver blow shattered the vampire’s nose, flattening the nose flat. The vampire flew backwards, crashing into the side of the green car.

Damien looked at his blood-stained fist and then at Helix lying against the car, moaning quietly. His brother ran past Damien and helped Helix onto his feet.

“At this moment, Damien, I suspect that concern for the well being of Helix is not on your mind,” chuckled the First Father. “He will recover though, the damage is just superficial, his body repairs the damage, even as we speak. Healiod, your head has no so many holes as your foolish brother. Did it not occur, even to you that I would not give the First Son position to some pale blooded lamb?”

He marched over to the two vampires and clamped his hands on their shoulders. “Healiod, did you believe that whilst sleeping, Eleanor somehow attained the gifts given only to a First Father?”

The large vampire shrugged. “I know not what I thought. It is easier to accept the evidence before my eyes than to try and unlock the mystery. I am sorry, my First Father, even as a human, I did not dwell on issues too complicated.”

“There is no mystery, Healiod. It is just improbable. Your new First Son has diluted Deathgazer blood running through his veins.” He sighed heavily. “I see that even this revelation just skates over your befuddled mind. Think back to before we went to sleep. Do you remember a human female called Maisen?”

Healiod slowly nodded. “Yes, I remember her. She had thick long black hair and intense blue eyes. I also remember that her breasts were very large. She was one of the girls that you chose to pass on our bloodline.”

“Well, it was her descendant whom we feasted upon in the hole. It was her sweet flesh that reactivated the Swarmer Clan.”

Healiod burst out laughing. “Are you saying that our new First Son is nothing more than some forgotten waking meal?” He chuckled to himself then frowned. “Do you think that Eleanor would have known of how her bite would affect the human?”

“It is unlikely. Did you know that this mutation could cause a change in humans? I did not know of this. Our race has not slept like this since the time of the great freeze. I do not think that there is any vampire so long lived who would have being able to foresee this outcome.”

“What about Jalim? He was from before the time of the freeze.”

Desmonus spat on the floor. “He was a senile old fool,” he snapped. “That demented wizard had problems in remembering his own name on most days. Do not utter his name in my presence ever again.” Eleanor just saw an opportunity to make mischief and seized upon it, as she is want to do.”

The First Father approached Damien. “Now, it is time to finish your initiation into the Swarmer clan.” He held out his hands, palm up. “Clasp my wrists, then close your eyes.”

Damien followed his instructions, trying not to wince when the First Father’s fingernails dug into his skin. Before Damien did shut his eyes, he saw both brothers spin around.

“First Father!” shouted Healiod. “The other clan members approach.”

Desmonus nodded and smiled. Damien just knew that the First Father must have been aware that they were already on their way to join them, it was written all over the vampire’s face. He waited for Desmonus to turn around before trying to catch a glimpse of Eleanor. He saw the female vampire immediately. He couldn’t miss Eleanor, the girl simply shined compared to the thugs dressed in filthy rags who shambled behind her.

There were no sweaty palms, no raised temperature or were there any sign that his heart was about to make a run for it. Damien felt nothing for her, he didn’t even find the woman all that attractive. Damien sighed and turned his attention back to the First Father, wondering what he ever saw in the woman.

Desmonus’s face was an emotionless mask. “It is recommended that you do not allow your cock to grow whilst you are in her presence, my First Son.”

He shrugged. “Don’t worry about that. She really isn’t my type, buddy.”

“Eleanor is everybody’s type. Just look at how the others act around her, they follow her like puppy dogs.”

He did see what he meant; the other males in the clan all had their brains in neutral around her. “There’s no worries with me, Desmonus. I’m not in the habit of stealing another bloke’s girlfriend.”

“That is reassuring to hear,” he replied. Desmonus turned around and faced the four new vampires. “I hope that you were able to find somewhere to sleep in the new world while the hateful sun completed its journey through the sky.”

Damien saw how the faces of those three male vampires changed from shock and bloodlust to just shock as Healiod walked amongst them, whispering into their ears. It was difficult to judge Eleanor’s reaction, she didn’t seem to be all that surprised to see him still living.

He tried not to cringe when he remembered how he acted in the market, Damien guessed that he did kind of come across as some kind of love-sick puppy when he reached out to her.

It pleases me to see that you are still around, Damien.

He glanced at the woman and nodded just once, he should have told the First Father about their mental contact. If what Desmonus said about her was true, and he had no reason to doubt him, then her familiarity could lead to complications. The woman was still staring at him; she made him feel so uncomfortable. There was something at the back of his mind, it felt like he had a large fly bouncing around the inside of his skull. Damien gave her one last glance, Shuddering when Eleanor gave him a sly wink.

Healiod returned to tending his brother, the large vampire nodded to Damien as he passed him. Would they believe Healiod’s whispered words or would he have to prove himself once more. Damien was happy to do just that, if any of them did try their luck.

Desmonus turned back around. “Damien,” he whispered. “Look at them, they can not believe that such a week blooded specimen, such as yourself, is now their First Son. They will not believe Healiod’s words and they will not fully accept my decision. I do not blame them, their vampire essence is the true instigator in this scenario. You will have to prove your worth again.”

Damien couldn’t care less about what the others thought about him. If they still believed that he was that same terrified youth from last night, then they’ll see the error of their thinking.

He gritted his teeth again when the First Father grabbed his wrists once more and dug his long fingernails into his flesh.

“Oh, I am in hurting myself, as I know that my rough handling of your delicate body, causes you distress.” He mocked. “Worry not. My bite will soon drive out the last of your humanity.”

Damien didn’t like the sound of that.

“You were a mongrel. You have never been a pure human. How could you be like the rest of the herd when you have blood, tainted from my Clan enemy, running through your veins? If I was a First Father who could not adapt to a new situation, Damien, I would have killed you and then I would have killed Eleanor for attempting to undermine my position by upsetting the balance.”

Desmonus chuckled and dug his fingers deeper into his flesh. “I can adapt well, I see a challenge and turn it around and make it an opportunity. I have just finished off your change. Did I mention that you are about to die? Perhaps my Clan strain will revive you, perhaps not.” He shrugged. “If that does happen, then one of the others will be very eager to step over your corpse and become my second in command.”

The vampire’s boasting voice began to lower in volume before finally fading away. He felt his lungs contract, the movement was involuntary, he had no control as every scrap of air escaped from his mouth. He stared, fascinated as the breath solidified directly in front of his face. If looked just like a cloud of pale yellow candy floss, suspended a few face from the ground. He tore his eyes away from the occurrence and looked at the others, intending to ask if they had a clue what had just happened. He doubted that any of them would answer as they too, just like his breath, had frozen in mid pose.

“Okay, so this is so fucking weird.” They weren’t even blinking. He looked down, thankful that at least he could move his body. Damien lifted his hand then extended his index finger. “Just what did that clown pump into my neck? I feel like I’ve had my drink spiked with LSD.”

He prodded the cloud, yelling in shock and pain. He felt like he’d just touched the metal plate of a hot iron. “You bastard!” he snarled. “I bet you know what’s happening to me,” said Damien, glaring at the First Father’s frozen stare. The cloud then contracted and faded away

“Okay, playtime is over, guys. I would like this to end now.” Damien groaned, feeling a sudden sharp stabbing pain in the base of his stomach, the pain spread up, throughout his chest, filling him with thousands of needles, all pushing into his soft flesh. Damien fell to his knees, clutching his guts, tight. He jerked up his head and filed his lungs. The needles-like pain just vanished as the air that he took in, chilled his body down to freezing. He blinked slowly, watching the other vampires slowly start to shift.

Damian stared into the First Father’s eyes, watching the vampire’s glare change in slow motion to his big grin. He groaned and found himself close to falling when real time reasserted itself. Desmonus rushed forward and caught Damien, putting him back onto his unsteady feet.

“Welcome to our Clan,” said Desmonus. “It seems that your spirit was able to fight off the clutches of the moon and her daughters.” The First Father then pressed the fingernail on his index finger into Damien’s bicep.

Damien watched and grinned as bright scarlet blood ran down his bare arm. The First father had managed to push his nail and the tip of his finger into the wound before he pulled it back out. There was no pain. “Am I dead, First Father?”

Desmonus licked Damien’s blood off his finger then shook his head. “No, the dead do not bleed, nor do they talk. We exist in the void between.” He grabbed Damien’s shoulders and turned him to face the gathered vampires. “This is your new First Son of the Swarmer Clan. You are now his children. He will protect you, keep you safe and ensure that you obey me at all times. Your misdemeanours are his misdemeanours. This is your first and only warning, he will punish any dissent with impunity.” He pointed to Helix’s face. “Helix took the assumption that the First Son’s slight build was a sign of weakness. I suggest that you do not repeat his mistake.”

The new arrivals gave Damien the briefest of acknowledgment before something else caught their attention. They all turned as one, lifting their noses into the air. He had no idea what sort of game they were playing, nor did he really care. Damien looked at the crater that the First Father had dug into his bicep, noticing that the blood had already stopped flowing, it looked a bit like a miniature pool of red water now. He smiled to himself, now finding the tips of his canines were notably larger.

There was no doubting it now, he was one a them, Damien was a Swarmer vampire and… He suddenly caught the scent of something wondrous. His blood heated up, it felt like boiling water rushing through his veins. The others all now looked at him, despite Desmonus’s warnings, the Clan now looked at him, their bright shining red eyes, just waiting for him to give the order.

“They are yours to command,” hissed the First Father. He lifted his own head. “There are three of them and they travel towards the fields. The humans are not from this town. One is a female she is young.” Her spin his head. “Give the order, you fool! Your clan needs feeding. I need quick and quiet deaths, without alerting the main herd.”

Damien nodded. “Eleanor, take Helix and head north.”

“Have you lost your mind?” she cried. “They go west. I will not allow you to cut me out of the hunt.”

“For fuck’s sake, you stupid tart!” he growled. Damien charged up to the female and viciously pushed her back, watching with amusement as the other new arrivals jumped back when she crashed into the brick wall between two shuttered shops. “I’m not cutting anyone out of the hunt. They’ll take a left and cut through the side of the park. It’s dark, there’s no way on this planet that any lass will go through there at this time. There’s a large gate that will take your prey straight into the largest field. Eleanor, get to that before them and they’ll just fall into your arms.”

He looked at the others. “It’s my town, remember? I know the ground. Now go hunt them down.” He smiled at the sight of Helix picking her off the floor. She slapped away his arms before fleeing into the night. The other Clan members stayed together and raced down the street.

The First Father quietly laughed. “You will make a fine addition to the clan. Once we have fed on their blood, we shall endeavour to complete tonight’s task. Now, I believe that you should join Eleanor and Helix. I suspect that it will be them who claim the prize. I give the female to you, Damien. You are now a full vampire. Your body has lost all its natural heat. If you do not feed, your will begin to feel the insides of every bone in your body turn to ice, the cold will spread through you, until you do die the true death. Only human blood will halt the atrophy.”

He nodded then spun around.

Then go, feed from her or fuck her, I care not. Just ensure she stays dead once your needs are sated.

His ears only caught the last sentence. Damien raced after the two vampires, determined to catch up with them before they did catch those three humans. Desmonus was right, even now, as he ran, that coldness was already beginning to spread. He shivered then shook his head. “Stop it, you dickhead,” he muttered. “The bastard was winding you up.”

Damien leaped over a low wall, ran across a carpark and into the deserted bus station. He was right about the two should head towards the gate, he just didn’t bother telling them that there was a quicker route there. He ran out of one of the departure bays and saw two human shapes already at the top of the hill. “That’s impossible!” he gasped, when his vampire senses told him that the two Clan members were almost at the gate. Damien put on a burst of speed, groaning when he caught sight of the humans as well.

He ran up the embankment and stopped dead when he saw that Eleanor must have doubled back and lain in wait for the humans. She already had the girl. Damien watched the vampire press the girl’s head into her chest, muffling her screaming.

“She’s mine!” growled Damien. He saw Helix running after the remaining humans. “The First Father promised her to me. Give me the girl right now.

Eleanor growled back at him. “You’re just as bad as the others, Damien. I’ve invested a lot of my time into you. I know that none of my words will make sense to you. The First Father has been inside your head and thrown a few levers and pressed plenty of switches. I expected that. What I did not expect was this!” she screamed. Eleanor placed her hands at either side of the girl’s head and viscously twisted.

Damien clearly heard the girl’s neck snap. The vampire threw her at him. He looked down at gazed into the face of his Sandra. He glared at Eleanor. “What the fuck did you have to do that for?”

“Because she had what I wanted? Now, the harlot is dead. Now she is just a vessel to be drained.”

He fell to him knees and lifted her loose head. “I told you to leave here. Why didn’t you listen to me?”

“After all these uncountable years, it still amazes me that it does not matter whether you are human or vampire. If you are a male then you think only with your cock.” She walked up to him. “Do not waste her blood, Damien. Her heart is still but it will not impede your feeding.” She crouched beside him. “There are only two outcomes for you, Damien. By the time this night ends, either the First Father will tear you apart for betraying the Clan or,” she smiled, stood up and started to walk away. “Or, you and I will rule the Swarmers together.”

Chapter Eighteen

He needed to move, not too much, just a couple of inches would do it. Cade dare not even move his eyes, let alone move his backside. The spare battery in his back pocket would just have to dig into his flesh for a little longer. He so wanted to reassure Katy. Cade could feel the girl’s shivers through his own shirt.

The three figures had not moved. If it hadn’t been for his built-in early warning system, Cade feared that they both would have tripped right over them. He ordered his heartbeat to slow down, when he realized just how closed they’d come to getting ripped apart like wrapping paper on a Christmas present.

The spare battery felt like it was now trying to dig out a huge chink of flesh, he also felt his hand going numb. That did worry him; his torch was in that hand. If it fell to the floor, the chances are that the bloody thing would break. Cade risked a single, slow glance down to his hand. He didn’t even know if the torch would work. Oh, the UV light worked fine, for some stupid unexplained reason, Cade still believed that it wouldn’t have any effect on a vampire.

“Oh no, please God!” Katy whispered. “They must have seen us.” She started to shuffle back down the embankment. “We need to get out of here, Cade.”

He reached down and wrapped his fingers around her wrist. “We need to stay. You know what’s behind us; this is the only way out of here.” Cade looked away from Katy and focused on the three vampires in the distance. They had moved but, he didn’t think they were heading in this direction.

Katy had stopped struggling. It felt like he now held a rag doll. He gently brought her back up and rolled over, silently sighing when the battery stopped its journey into his body. Cade held the girl tight against him and brushed his lips against hers, thanking the gods when she responded and kissed him back. “Hun, we’re going to be okay. I promise that I’ll let nothing happen to you.”

He watched the ghost of a smile play over her lips before her apprehensive expression forced it away. He took solace in the fact that, at least, she wasn’t as traumatized now as Katy was just after they had left the park. He hoped.

The three vampires raced across the dark field at an incredible speed. It felt like he was watching a movie on fast forward. How did he hope to compete against creatures that could do that? They reached the gate that led into the next field and that all perched on the top, balancing like giant crows. Cade took a deep breath. This was it, if he didn’t move now, he just knew that those nightmares would have won. The field that those things were looking into was crammed with dozens of tents. Those festival goers wouldn’t stand a chance once the vampires started to work their way through them.

“I can’t just stay and watch this,” he whispered. “They’ll slaughter all of them. Either that or make even more just like them.” He slowly sat up and rested the torch on the ground, base up. Cade pushed the button forward and lifted up the torch, just a couple of inches and gazed at the grass under the beam, bathed in violet light.

He saw them drop into the field and groaned. It was now or never. He turned off the torch and scrambled to his feet. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to come with me. You should be safe here.” Katy stifled a cry. She looked behind her before getting onto her hands and knees. Cade helped her up. “Stay close to me, hun.” He passed her the torch. “At the first sign of them, shine the light in their faces.”

Even if the light didn’t burn them like the sun, the bright light could give them enough time to get away. Cade took Katy’s hand. “We’ll get through this, I promise.” Cade pulled her across the dark field, heading towards the gate. It took considerable effect not to break down into hysterical tears. How the hell could they get away from creatures that moved faster that any other animal on the planet?

Katy squeezed his hand. He looked back at her and saw another smile on her face. Cade squeezed back.

“You know the torch will work, Cade, she said quietly, after catching her breath. “It’ll be like a flamethrower to them.” She suddenly put on a burst of speed and pulled him towards the gate. “Come on, we have to get into that field before they spot us.” She reached the gate just before him and started to climb over. “Look, if they see us in the field, they’ll just think that we’re a couple of outsiders, we’ll stand a better chance of staying ahead of them.”

Cade nodded and followed her over the gate, not bothering to mention that no festival goer in their right mind would wear the style of clothing that Katy had opted to wear. She stood out like a sore thumb. Still, with luck the vampires wouldn’t spot that. He followed her over to the first tent, stopping dead when he saw the guide rope at the last minute. He crouched down and scanned the field, suddenly realizing that he had lost sight of them. Cade glanced at Katy, intending to tell her to be ready with that torch when he saw a huge shadow right behind them.

He reached out trying to grab her arm but it was too late. Another arm took Katy’s arm and dragged her screaming body away from him. She dropped the torch. Cade dived for it, fumbling with the button, trying to turn it on.

“No, don’t do it!”

Cade fell back and looked up into Katy’s imploring eyes. She reached down and snatched the torch out of his numb hands. The large man behind her rested his hands on her shoulders. Cade looked up into his blazing red eyes and paused, his instinct told him to kill the fucker, to slide the sword from his back and plunge it into the vampire’s face, and yet, Cade saw something he’d never seen before, this vampire was acting so, well so human.

“Please Cade. Don’t hurt him, Paul’s my step brother.”

He watched the huge vampire gently wrap his hands around her waist. It shocked him to see how relaxed she was now. This monster was her step brother? It made him realize just how little he knew about the girl. He stayed on the ground, not daring to move. Unlike Katy, he hadn’t forgotten about the two other vampires. He didn’t know where they were but they couldn’t be that far away, his senses were still screaming at him.

“That’s a big weapon you have there,” whispered a female voice right by his ear.

Cade stifled a scream when he twisted his head and found himself face to face staring into the blazing eyes of a beautiful blonde. He swallowed hard, sensing the last member of their trio on the other side of his shivering body. He felt like a gazelle surrounded by lions.

“I always told Damien that you looked like the strong silent type,” said the girl. She ran her freezing fingers down his arm. “God, I used to fancy the arse off you, Cade.” She stood up and pulled him onto his feet. “I still do.”

“Elsie?” He gazed at the teen girl, having enormous difficulty in comparing this deadly creature to the girl who used to give him the puppy eyes when she thought he wasn’t looking. Cade slowly turned and looked at the remaining vampire in the trio, not all that shocked to find Elsie’s mum looking back at him. He flinched when Elsie stroked his arm again.

“You need to relax, Cade. We’re not going to eat you,” said Elsie’s mum, chuckling. “Believe it or not, we all want the same thing.”

“If I do sense that you’re about to use your katana on any of us though, Cade,”

He saw Elsie move at impossible speed, before he had time to even blink; the blonde vampire’s hand was resting on Katy’s throat.

“Well, I think you can guess the outcome,” she replied, sighing.

Paul knocked her hand away. “Will you leave her alone, Elsie?” The vampire bent towards Katy’s head and whispered into her ear before he dropped his arms. He then walked over to Elsie’s mum and embraced her.

That knocked Cade for six; he assumed that the male would be shacked up with Elsie. He stared at the blonde vampire. “So, what do we all want?” The fact that he managed to speak without his voice cracking, amazed him. Just standing so close to these monsters made his flesh creep. Katy grabbed his hand. She then wrapped her arms around his back. He saw that her shivers had returned.

Paul picked up the torch, looked at Cade, he then passed it to Elsie. “Before you ask, yes, the torch will work.” He looked at the other two vampires before returning his attention back to Cade. “I’ve seen you around town and according to Elsie, you seen like a decent enough guy.” He looked over at Katy. “And you’re a vast improvement over her last boyfriend.” He grinned. “No offence, lass.”

Cade nodded. “Great, now I’m feeling all warm and cosy.”

“Pandora is well and truly out of the box, buddy. No matter what we do now, the vampire plague is going to spread across the planet. We can, however, attempt to slow it down.”

Cade looked at these three vampires, still trying to work out what they were playing at. “Yeah, that much, I have worked out. But, unless you haven’t figured this bit out, you three are vampires, or has that detail slipped your mind?”

“We can’t help what we are, Paul,” Darlene said.

“They’re closing in,” hissed Elsie.

Her mother nodded. “Look Cade, We’re running out of time here. We all know that we’ve changed. Just as I suspect deep down that you know that you have a taint of our blood running through your veins.”  She caught her breath and looked nervously at her daughter. “I can sense them too. Shit, they’re all here.” Darlene ran over to Cade and grabbed his shoulders. “Listen, if you want to help, then you can start by getting that big sword out and start using it.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “Oh wow!” she chuckled darkly, I see you have already tussled with Amulius’s new Deathgazer Clan. Are you ready for round two?” she pointed to the end of the field. “They’re over there, all ready to engage with the Swarmers. “

Cade looked at her in utter bewilderment. “Seriously, are you having a fucking laugh here?” He should have known this was coming. These jokers just planned to use his as battle fodder, as a diversion. “Look, Elsie’s mum. I was lucky to get out of that gym alive. Those fuckers will eat me and Katy for their supper.”

“”No they won’t,” said Elsie. “They’re not as fast or as strong as us. Also, I’m staying with you.” She snatched the torch out of Katy’s hand then flicked it on, pointing the beam at the floor. Elsie took a deep breath, then swept the light across her ankle.

Cade’s jaw dropped. He watched in amazement as the flesh on her leg bubbled up like grilled cheese. Elsie turned off the light and gave the torch back to Katy before limping over to the gate and slumping against it.

“See, it’s isn’t all doom and gloom, Cade.”

“Are you alright?” Darlene ran over and crouched beside her daughter. “What the bloody hell did you have to do that for, you silly girl?” Darlene glanced up at Cade. “You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone.”

Elsie sighed. “Give it a rest, mum,” she replied, grinning. “I’ll be okay in a few minutes. It really isn’t as bad as it looks.” She used the gate to get back to her feet and limped over to Cade. “You’ve not only survived the last day and night, you’ve also taken on our kind and beat them.”

She smiled at Katy. “This one’s a keeper, lass.” Elsie glanced down at her leg. “Fuck, that really did hurt. I wasn’t prepared for that. Listen to me, Cade. You’re not an idiot. The chances of all of us coming out of this unscathed are pretty slim. At least we do have a chance, if we sit back, we’ll all be dead or…” she licked her lips. “Or, we’ll be changed.”

Cade reached behind and took out his katana. “The handle moulded into his fist. It did feel good to hold it again. He knew that he was caught between a rock and a hard place here. No matter how sincere they sounded, there was no way that he could trust them. “So, let’s assume that the impossible does happen and we slay the ‘other’ monsters. What happens then, do we all live happy ever after?” He left the question hanging.

“We’ll cross that bridge when, if, we get to it,” snapped Darlene. “Look, we need to go, right now!” she kissed Elsie on the cheek. “Take care, honey.”

Cade found himself suddenly alone with Katy still holding him tight and the monster trapped inside the shell of this gorgeous blonde teen. He looked over to where Darlene had pointed, trying to see if he could get a fix on them. It was just useless, the vampire standing next to him just frazzled his radar.

“So, you still think I’m a monster?”

“Get out of my mind, Elsie,” he growled.

The vampire chuckled. “I wasn’t in your mind, Cade. That’s the whole point. You broadcast that one on all frequencies. Okay, I get it. You’re not happy about me being here. Just try to get over it, you big ape.” She looked at Katy. “That goes for you as well. Both of you should be thinking happy thoughts,” She pointed at the tent beside them. “Shelia has just finished off the last of David’s cans of Carlsberg. She’s a bit pissed with him, because he didn’t go into the town to pick up some more. She’s seriously thinking of letting the idiot snore himself to death and see if there’s any action going on.” Elsie sighed. Those thoughts and similar are what the other vampires will be picking up. Does this sink in or do I have to write it down?”

I’m not a complete idiot,” he hissed. Cade lifted his leg over the tent’s guide rope, trying to remember which bands were due to play here tomorrow and walked a little closer to where Darlene had pointed.

“There’s three of them hiding behind that portaloo.” Elsie suddenly streaked past him and ducked down behind the large orange tent just in front of them. “Fuck, they know we’re here!”

Cade’s adrenalin fuelled body shifted into over drive when Katy screamed out. As he spun around, her voice just ceased as two huge bodies slammed into her, knocking the girl into the side of the tent. Cade ran forward and punched the tip of his katana into the first shadow, grinning with glee as the body stopped moving.

Elsie dived on the remaining vampire. He watched in horror as her teeth split open her gums before she lunged her face forwards and bit into the side of the other vampire’s neck. She growled then jerked her head back, spraying herself and the tent with his thick blood.

She pulled him off Katy. “Sort out the other one!” she shouted.

Cade tore his eyes off the grisly scene, and spun around, the vampire wasn’t dead. He ran and tried to grab the handle of his sword but the vampire shifted his body then pulled out Cade’s Katana and threw it to the floor.

The vampire growled at Cade, “My turn, you shit.” The vampire swept his legs, knocking him onto the ground. “My first bite,” he said, crawling onto Cade’s legs.

He couldn’t even get off the floor, the fall had knocked all the air out of him. The vampire was now pulling himself up past his knees. Cade smelled the odour of congealed blood on the vampire’s breath. He frantically brushed his hands across the cool grass, trying to find anything he could use to stop this abomination from getting any closer.

“No you don’t!” snarled Katy.

Cade shrieked out when he looked up and saw the vampire literally turn into a small inferno when Katy, shown her torch straight at his body. He flung himself back and used both legs to boot the now smouldering ruin away from him.

“So much for the ‘big hard man’ image,” Elsie said, giggling. She helped him back onto his feet. “Now I can see how you’ve managed to stay alive, Cade. I should have guessed that your female back-up must have done all your donkey work.” Else stooped and picked up his katana. “Can you at least try to keep this in your hands? Without that, you’re just a cocktail sausage without a stick to the other vampires.”

Cade meekly took his sword from her hands then smiled sweetly, making sure that the vampire ‘heard’ exactly what he thought of her mocking tone. He saw her mouth opening and tuned out her voice, not wishing to hear anymore of her taking the piss.

As soon as he did relegate her annoying voice to background noise, Cade found that he now knew exactly where the remaining Deathgazer Clan were hiding. “Katy!” he hissed. “Give me the torch.” When she didn’t immediately respond, he just snatched it out of her fingers. He turned on the beam and shone it away from the portaloos, towards an old campervan.

“What are you doing?” shouted Elsie. “You’re going in the wrong sodding direction!”

He ignored her shouts. Cade trusted his senses more than her feelings. They hadn’t let him down do far. The purple light picked out the logo of a heavy metal band, sprayed onto the side of the van. “Oh, that’s ironic,” he muttered. “That’s Damien’s favourite band.” He dropped to the ground and shone the torch under the van, smiling when he saw three pairs of boots on the other side.

“Come on out, Colin, if you think that you’re hard enough!” he shouted. Cade stood up, keeping his fingers firmly wrapped around the sword handle. He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard the sound of shattering glass. The van door on the other side slid back. Cade didn’t know what to do, he hadn’t expected them to do that. Were they going to try and drive off?”

He turned around to see his companions running towards him.

“Look out!” screamed Elsie.

Before he had time to turn around, a huge object crashed into him. The torch flew out of his fingers and Cade saw the light beam spear through the dark sky, the violet beam twirling like a Catherine wheel before the torch crashed into the ground. The light suddenly extinguished. Cade just knew that the impact must have broken it.

Cade had remembered Elsie’s warning and had not relinquished his grip on the katana. He now screamed and swung the blade into this shapeless mound pressed up against his body. The blade just harmlessly bounced off the surface.

His confused senses finally reasserted themselves and Cade now saw just what had ran into him. He dropped down and rolled to the side before jumping back onto his feet. He jerked his head over at his mysterious attacker, just catching the sight of the vampire pulling the heavy carpet that he’d thrown over his head and body.

“You sneaky bastard,” he whispered. Cade slid to the left, as the vampire turned the other direction. He swung the katana, grunting in satisfaction as the sharp blade sliced into the back of the vampire’s neck. Cade pulled the blade out of the wound, then swung again, slicing through the rest of the neck.

He spun around and saw Elsie jumping on to Colin’s back. She bit him then leaped away when his thick arm reached for her. Despite the fact that he was three times her size, he was clearly outmatched at every turn. Cade saw the damage that Elsie had inflicted when Colin slowly turned. It amazed him that the vampire could even stand. She had ripped out half of Colin’s throat. Ragged strips of bloodied fresh hung down, brushing his shoulder like strips of scarlet fabric.

Elsie jumped back when Colin suddenly lunged forward. The vampire stumbled and crashed into the ground. Elsie than dropped to her knees and sunk her teeth into the other side of Colin’s neck Cade turned away, sickened.

He suddenly felt his heart in his throat when he realized that Katy was nowhere in sight. Cade ran over to Elsie and jumped over Colin’s prone body. He spun around. “Katy!” he screamed. “Where the fuck is she, Elsie?”

The vampire looked up. Cade tried not to flinch when she growled at him. Cade tightened his grip on the Katana handle, resisting the urge not to slam the weapon tip down on the back of her neck.

Cade looked around the dark campsite, trying to see anyone at all. He groaned in despair when he saw a crowd of people, all congregating at the edge of the field. Their panicked voices hit him like a blast of hot air. Cade just knew what that signified, the other Clan had arrived.

“Calm your feelings.”

He growled and spun around, glaring at Elsie’s face, just millimetres from his. “You’re the one who’ve lost her, you cold bitch!” he snarled.

She wrapped her fingers around both his arms. “If I so desired, Cade, I could squeeze my hands tight. Within moments, my fingers would have pressed through your skin and meat until the only thing stopping me from forming a fist would be your bones.” She closed her eyes. “Cade, it’s your rollercoaster emotion that’s your enemy. If I hadn’t taken out Colin, that big fucker would be chomping on you right now. There’s just the First Father left now, Cade.”

She released his arms and nodded over to the approaching crowd. They were running straight towards them, everyone of them screaming like banshees. Elsie pulled him into her embrace and turned around as the crowd ran past them, heading for the next field. He then felt the vampire spin him back around.

“They would have trampled you under their feet, Cade.” She said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him away from the two vampire bodies. “Come on, I know where she is now.”

She dragged him around the flattened tents, only stopping when they reached an old Ford Cortina.  Cade saw Katy’s body sprawled out on the car bonnet and ran over to her, weeping. “He’s killed her, oh god, the bastard has killed my Katy.”

“Amulius wouldn’t have done something so crude,” said Elsie, when she had caught up to him. The vampire hurried around the over side of the car and gently put her hands on the side of her head. She slowly turned Katy’s still face. “I think that your life had just got very complicated for you, Cade.”

He looked in horror at the two small puncture marks in the side of her neck. Cade threw back his head and howled.

Chapter Nineteen

Darlene threw the Swarmer corpse down beside the young man sill convulsing on the grass. She wiped the dead vampire’s blood from her mouth and dropped to her knees. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, looking down at the side of the young man’s neck. The Swarmer had certainly done a number on the kid. The front of his black t-shirt was now soaked with his blood. She straddled the boy, wrapped her fingers in his long black hair and lifted up his head. Through her tear-blurred vision, Darlene watched him open his eyes. The boy hissed at her. He must have sensed what Darlene was about to do, as his bucking movements increased in ferocity.

She slammed his head down, bursting into huge sobs when she heard the back of his skull crack open. Darlene wanted someone to do the same to her. “You’re at peace now,” she mumbled. Darlene tore her eyes from the boy’s accusing eyes and looked around the campsite. This was no campsite any more, it now resembled the aftermath of a battlefield. Paul ran over to her and lifted Darlene off the boy’s body. She saw that he’d already dispatched three Swarmer victims. He didn’t seem to be affected as bad as her.

Paul wiped away her tears and gently kissed her. “Darlene, you’re wrong, this is breaking my heart into little pieces, I’m just not letting the grief consume me.”

“You read my mind?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t have to.” Paul looked down at the corpse beside her. “If you hadn’t ended his life, he would have gone back home, killed his whole family and his friends.”

“Paul, I’m sorry. This is tearing me apart!” She followed his gaze down to the dead Swarmer. Judging from his ragged attire, Darlene guessed that she had just taken out one of the original vampires. Paul’s body suddenly shuddered. “Are you okay?”

“None of this makes sense,” he uttered, looking back at her. “He’s not the First Father, Darlene, he’s just some minor vampire. How was he able to change the boy?” He stiffened and pointed his shaking arm towards a long haired youth, dressed only in a black t-shit. “Oh shit!”

Paul released her and raced after the youth. Darlene now saw just how fast he was going. He’d been changed and was already running down his first victim, some young blonde girl; she couldn’t have been much older than fourteen. Darlene saw Paul reach the boy. He pushed the newborn vampire down, wrapped his hands around his neck and squeezed the together.

She looked in dismay as two huge vampires grabbed the blonde girl, as she raced away from Paul, and dragged her struggling body into a large tent. Another Swarmer ran past her. He turned around, growled then dived onto a blond boy. Within seconds the Swarmer was streaking away, leaving his victim on the ground, shaking.

Darlene couldn’t more her legs; she found her body frozen to the ground. Her mind could just not take in the overpowering sounds of shrieks, helpless screaming, as well as the hoarse growls of all the newborn vampires all emerging from their incredibly fast change in order to hunt down and change even more humans.

The blonde girl ran out of the tent. Darlene found her paralysis broke when the girl ran over to her. Darlene saw that the girl’s eyes were already beginning to acquire their scarlet taint. She swept her arm out, effectively clothes-lining the girl when she tried to run past her.

The two Swarmer vampires ran out of the tent and walked over to her. She lifted her foot, said a silent prayer for the girl on the ground, acting like she’d being demonically possessed, then slammed her foot into the side of her face. Darlene wanted to throw up when her shoe caved in the girl’s skull.

“I can smell the stench of our enemy in your blood, you foul witch,” growled the largest vampire. “If we did not have our set tasks, we would both enjoy filling your holes.”

Paul was just a few steps away from the bald Swarmer. She clenched her fists and glared at the vampire beside him. He had yet to speak. Darlene felt the wave of lust coming off the pair of them; these disgusting creatures would like nothing better than to abuse Darlene.

She saw that Paul was just a few steps away from the bald vampire. Darlene saw the hate in Paul’s eyes. Yet nothing else, he radiated no thoughts at all, it was like he was a ghost. Darlene clenched her fists tight, feeling her nails break the skin. The sensation of her freezing blood rolling down her flesh helped her focus on the two Swarmers instead of Paul’s imminent attack.

Darlene glared at the vampire beside the bald one. He had yet to speak but there was no need. Darlene ‘heard’ the vampire’s disgusting thoughts. His mind continued their implausible scenario, with him pushing his huge member inside her and the other one muffled her agonizing screams.

“Is that the best you can come up with, you sad little man?” Darlene said, smiling. She saw silent rage replace the vampire’s sudden shock. “Maybe that would have terrified the thick whores from your time, you medieval tosser. Your childish fantasy does nothing for me though.” Paul was ready to lunge. Darlene lifted her hand in the air and wiggled her pinkie. “Not when I know that you’re both hung like mice.”

Both the vampire’s roared. Paul wrapped his arms around the bald vampire’s neck and dragged him back. When the other one spin around, Darlene jumped and crashed into the other vampire. They both went sprawling onto the ground. Darlene wasted no time. She crawled onto the vampire’s back and sank her teeth into the side of his neck. She jerked her head away, gagging on the foul stench as a fountain of dark red blood exploded from the vampire’s wounds. Darlene choked back the revulsion and bit into the other side of his neck.

She climbed off his back and spat out some of the dead vampire’s vile fluid. “Why are we even bothering?” she cried, watching Paul end the other one’s foul life. “We stand no chance of stopping the Swarmers from spreading.”

Paul hurried over and grabbed her shoulders. “We put an end to the source, honey. We exterminated the vile bastards that slept for so long. You’re right that we can’t stop it. The plague was inevitable a soon as they climbed out of that pit.”

See sighed, looking around her. They were the only ones moving now, in this field. Darlene knew that they weren’t alone, about half the tents were still occupied, their sleepers having no clue that their drunken binges had undoubtedly saved them from changing into monsters. The newborn vampires and the survivors continued their struggle in the next field.

“Honey, look at me and you, especially you, Darlene. You’ve had this stuff inside you for centuries. We’re not acting like they are.”

“We did though.”

He slowly nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.” He took her hand. “And the stuff running through our veins is pure Deathgazer. These kids only have diluted Swarmer filth in their systems. Don’t get me wrong, this contagion is going to be bad, but it won’t be the end of the world. The authorities will eventually see what’s going on and they’ll stop it.” Paul pulled her through towards the field. “If we don’t put down the ones that caused this, we really will be facing Armageddon.”

Darlene knew he was right and tried to get to grips with her out of control feelings. “What’s wrong with me, Paul? I’m a vampire for crying out loud. I’m supposed to find all this blood, death and gore exciting!” They stopped by the dry stone wall that separated the two fields. Just like in this field, there were very few in number left now. Both the survivors and the new Swarmers were running away.

Paul shrugged his shoulders. “Honey, I’m not sure, perhaps, me and you are just different? Maybe, we are the start of a new clan?” he sighed, only time will tell, Darlene.”

“All you will be seeing is the death of your woman before you join her corpse.” Amulius stood up from behind a small tent. He slowly looked at the pair of them before wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. “This is a most interesting development, is it not? I am like I was from waking into this new place. My initial plans, tattered like a Swarmer’s cloak.” He moved like lightning.

Darlene jumped back but it was too late for Paul, the First Father had already caught him in his deadly grip. Amulius lifted him up by his throat, then threw the vampire behind him. Paul landed in an untidy heap and didn’t move.

“Do not worry, my traitorous woman, he is not yet dead. It is so surprising that he has survived for so long, the essence within him is most tenacious.” Darlene’s own scream was choked back when he moved again impossibly quick and put both his hands around her neck. “He will not die until I have dealt with you.” The First Father looked back at Paul. “I want to find out why that young vampire was able to evade my senses. It will be a useful talent to possess.” Amulius gazed into her eyes. “He wakes. Goodbye, my sweet Darlene.”

Darlene kicked out with her left foot, striking him in the ankle. The vampire grunted but didn’t loosen his grip. Amulius moved his head a little closer, opened his huge jaws. Darlene looked into that cavernous mouth, just hoping that he wouldn’t make the pain last. He then shook he head, slowly closed his mouth and started to squeeze his fingers.

She felt her vision fade as the vampire applied more pressure. Darlene heard a voice but could not make out the words, the noise of waves crashing against the inside of her head drowned out every other sound.

Her world went grey, there was no pain. Darlene’s senses just vanished as the greyness enveloped everything, only the sound of those waves reverberating around her skull held sway now. The sound of those waves increased in volume, until the noise was unbearable. Darlene’s senses flooded back, bringing an agonizing fury from deep within her body. She napped open her eyes, seeing that her entrance back from the dead, visibly shocking the First Father. She knew that his iron-like fingers had crushed her neck and yet she had not died.

“This is not possible!”

Darlene lifted her arms pressed them against her chest then snapped them forward. Amulius suddenly released his grip and he staggered back and fell over the low stone wall. Her fingers went up to her neck. She ran the tips of her fingers along the deep grooves that the First Father had left in her throat, feeling the flesh beneath her fingers expand and fill out. She tried to speak and found that task utterly impossible right now. Instead, Darlene ran over to the wall and looked over, expecting to see the First Father still lying there but he had disappeared.

She leaped over the wall and ran up the Paul’s still form, kneeling on the grass, taking his head and pressing it against her chest. Despite the First Father’s boasting, Darlene knew that he had really hurt Paul. She brushed her hand down his chest, he moaned when she felt the broken bones ripping though his flesh, under the fabric.

The Vampire looked up into her eyes. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to mend again,” he whispered, running his tongue over his cracked lips. “All my bones are broken again, Darlene. I’m so sorry, but this time, I really am going to die.” Paul sighed. He slowly turned his head. “You’re still here so I’m guessing you put down the First Father. I hope you made him suffer.”

Darlene so wanted to tell him that he was going to be alright, there was no way that she would allow him to leave her, not again. She brushed his hair to the side then bent down and kissed the top of his head. Darlene tried to move his face back but he wouldn’t shift. Darlene followed his gaze and saw the remaining Swarmer Clan heading in their direction. She choked back a gasp at the sight of her son next to the Swarmer First Father. He looked so different now; Damien was twice his original size.

Paul looked into her face and offered her a single sad smile. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out for us, Darlene. Well, at least now we’ll both die in each other’s arms.” The vampire closed his eyes.

They hadn’t spotted them yet, that much, she did know. Their vampire senses were far inferior to hers. Darlene grabbed the bottom of the tent by Paul’s feet and slowly pulled it over their bodies. She closed her eyes, found an opening in her son’s mind and dive inside.

Chapter Twenty

Damien felt something, like a cold breeze; rush through the inside of his skull. He looked sharply at Eleanor, wondering if the nosy bitch was trying to poke inside his head again. He dismissed the notion as ridiculous. There was no way that she’d be able to see his thoughts with him knowing.

“There he is!” cried Desmonus, pointing towards the horizon. “Just look at the dirty coward flee from the battle. It is the only virtue that he has left. You can run all you want, my friend. You can not hide from me. I shall find you, Amulius and I shall end your miserable life.”

“This world is a big place, Desmonus.” Damien studied the First Father, watching the man play with his fingernails. His outward exterior showed a vampire that had succeeded in making sure that his plans were fruitful, below that though, Damien sensed a great anxiety. As if he was waiting for something else to happen.

The First Father laughed out loud. “You still think like a human, Damien. Out timeline is not measured a days like those pitiful specimens. The Deathgazer Clan will become extinct, that fact is an absolute conclusion. Time is irrelevant.

“He’ll just find another set of human’s to restart his Clan.”

Desmonus shrugged. “I do not doubt that, Damien. Even so, just like his last attempt, his next effort will also end in failure. His blood as well as his ideas, belong in the past. This new world belongs to us, to the Swarmers. Thanks to you, Damien, our clan will purge this new land of all that stands in our way. The First Father closed his eyes and smiled contentedly.

He rubbed the side of his neck. The multiple bite marks had long since healed but the humiliation still remained. Just before they had reached the campsite, the First Father had ordered him to lie down. While sitting on Damien’s chest, Desmonus had then told the rest of the Clan to each take blood from his neck. He remembered the brothers taking great enjoyment in ensuring that their bites were very painful.

He took great satisfaction in hearing their death cries. Damien achieved a greater thrill in the knowledge that neither Eleanor of the First Father knew that they were the only original vampires left in the Swarmer Clan. This fact made him very happy. By drinking form him, he had become linked to each and every one of them. The only vampire that his still could not read was Eleanor and that was because Desmonus forbade her to drink from him.

Damien now knew that the dozens of new Swarmer vampire that the former Clam members had made would listen to him and him alone. He had his own army. Was this the reason why the First Father was so edgy beneath his triumphant exterior? Had he realized that he’d bitten off more than he could chew? He pushed the thought away, like he didn’t have enough to think about, without looking for devious schemes within even more devious schemes. If he wasn’t careful, he’d end up just like the bitch standing beside him.

He still needed to sort her out for what she did to him with Sandra. It wasn’t fair, why did he never have any luck with females in his life? The only one who hadn’t fucked him over was his mum and he didn’t think that it would be too long before that happened. Damien could sense her close by. Bumping into his mum was once meeting that he was not looking forward to. How the fuck would he be able to cope, knowing full well that she had Deathgazer blood running through her veins. He just have to kill her, there would be no other choice.

He felt the female take a step closer to Damien. She waited for Desmonus to turn back around, the First Father’s eyes continued to follow Amulius’s progress as he made his way across the dark field’s, heading for the forest. Damien looked at the woman, trying to work out what she was playing at. He shook his head. Damien had no idea what she was doing now. He silently sighed and blanked the bitch and watched the shadow disappear into the trees. Why couldn’t his mum had not gone with the Deathgazer First Father? He could still feel her presence. There was no obvious sign of her and Damien wanted it to stay that way.

“We should find the others,” said Amulius. Their absence is beginning to worry me now.”

Eleanor laughed. “Why should it, my First Father? You know where they will be. Each and every one of your Clan will be inside one of these little fabric shelters, with some young female. Human or changed. Perhaps in Helix’s case, even dead.” She chuckled. “Allow them a few more moments of pleasure, Desmonus. We both know that their responses will be sharper after they are sated.”

“It is one answer.” Desmonus wondered over to a flattened tent. He stopped and gazed at the fabric for a few seconds. “Eleanor, I sense a great sense of anticipation coming from you. At first, I just thought that it was just my suspicious nature coupled with your tendency to construct elaborate games.”

Damien couldn’t explain why but he felt a great deal of relief when the First Father moved away from that ruined tent.

“You are playing another game.” Desmonus looked directly at Damien. “Yes, I can see that now. He is your unknowing game piece. He chuckled. “That is very clever. I applaud you for your ingenuity.

Damien took one step away from the female. Something was happening here. He could feel both their emotions rising past the danger point. They were both staring at him as well. For the first time since bumping into these insane bastards, he actually wished the other Clan vampires were still alive.

The First Father suddenly ran over to him. “You mean that they are not?” He wrapped his fingers around Damien’s shirt collar and threw him down onto the ground. Desmonus straddled Damien and grabbed the sides of his head. “Where is my clan!” he screamed.

“Leave him alone! If it wasn’t for him, you wouldn’t have a new army.” Eleanor stopped her advance when the First Father expended his forefinger and held it directly above Damien’s eye.

“It is wise to stay still, my devious little fox. I shall deal with you once I have extracted the required information from his head. Although I have been inside once, I shall take a more forceful approach on this occasion.”

Damien didn’t need to read the First Father’s mind to realize that he meant his words. “All right!” he screamed. “Yeah, all your original Clan are dead!” The Deathgazers slaughtered the bastards. You know what else? I’m glad of it too.” Damien shut his eyes; he had just one chance left. The newborns would save him, they had to. Their only purpose was to obey his commands. Just like his was to obey the First Father’s word. Well, fuck Desmonus; he had no intention of losing an eye and probably half his brain just because the First Father had lost some of his vampires. “If you hurt me, you loony fucker, what’s left of your Clan will tear you apart!”

“You are but a blind lamb, cast into a wolves den, Damien. Even Eleanor would not try to turn the clan against their first Father. You see, I am the clan. I am their trunk. They are just leaves, hanging from a branch.”

Feed his paranoia. Give the bastard what he really wants.

He managed to catch Eleanor’s eye, trying to work out exactly she was trying to say to him. Damien was way too stressed out to think clearly. “I don’t know what you want!” he yelled.

Desmonus leaned a bit further down. “I want you to tell me why my clan is now dead and I want you to tell me what you are planning with the she-wolf.” He now pressed his finger hard against Damien’s eyeball. “Time for talk is over.”

Tell him the Deathgazers are in this field! Do it now, I can’t afford to lose you, my son.

Mum!

“There are Deathgazers hiding in this field.” He pointed at Eleanor. “She’s the one who’s betrayed you, First Father. She told them to kill your Clan.”

The First Father slowly climbed off his body and dragged Damien onto his feet. “You are worse than she is. Your lies become more ridiculous the longer I allow you to exist.” He threw him at the woman. “Do you see how quickly this one would betray you? You have ripped off more meat than you can chew, my devious wife.”

Damien found himself back on the ground when Eleanor pushed him away from her. Eleanor walked straight past him and wrapped her arms around the First Father’s waist. She then leaned forward and kissed Desmonus.

Tell them that you’re not lying about the Deathgazer Clan hiding, Damien. You only have one chance at this.

“If I’m lying, First Father, then explain where the others are.” He leaned onto his elbow. “You can’t explain it, that’s because they are all dead. The Deathgazers killed them all, just as they are about to kill you two.

Get them to move ten steps back, Damien.

He grinned at them. “I am your First Son, Desmonus. Despite everything, I still believe in the clan, I still believe in you.” Damien slowly got to his feet. “I’m supposed to get you to move ten paces back, First Father. By then, you’ll be in striking range of the enemy clan. At least, that’s what they ordered me to do.”

The First Father released Eleanor. “Just kill him, I tire of his games. We have work to complete.”

The female vampire ran over to Damien. He watched her jaw elongate, like a snake about to swallow a rat. He staggered back, listening to the First Father chuckle behind her advancing form. His amusement suddenly ceased when the ground below his feet erupted. Eleanor spun around and gasped.

“It is a Flesh dragon, oh, moon and daughters, not here”

Damian watched open mouthed as something very large equipped with claws the size of daggers burst out of the black soil. Those black claws pushed through the First Father’s writhing body and dragged the shrieking vampire back under the Earth.

“Just what the fucking hell was that?” asked Damien, not too sure if he had dreamed that. He looked at the disturbed soil, swimming in blood and knew that his eyes hadn’t deceived him.

“I was ready to share it all with you, Damien!” screamed Eleanor. “All I will be sharing with you now are my teeth.”

She ran forwards then her body just stopped a couple of feet from him. Damien watched her eyes dim before she fell to the floor. He looked at the man standing in her place, the tip of his sword, dripping in red. “Fuck me, Cade?”

The man nodded then raised his katana. “It’s best that you don’t sound so relieved to see me, my friend. You’re next.”

“Leave him be, Cade.”

Damien looked up to see his mother limping towards them. He glanced at his friend, then at his mum. “So where do we go from here?”

Epilogue

The house seemed so empty without the kids and Darlene. Geoff picked his way around the broken furniture, and avoided the blood stains covering the carpet and the bed. He filled his nostrils with the rank air. “This is not what I need right now.” He wondered over to the broken window, watching the sun peek through the trees on the horizon.

Dawn had revealed the true horror of last night’s violence, mayhem and slaughter in glorious colour. What survivors that were left now just wondered aimlessly along the town’s roads and pavements. To Geoff, they all looked like they had just lived through a World War Two air raid.

He had yet to check on the town’s annual visitors. Even from here though, he could see two columns of black smoke spiralling into the sky. It didn’t take a genius to work out that they had been hit pretty bad as well.

Geoff took out his mobile phone from his back pocket and speed-dialled a number that he had prayed that he would never need to ring. The receiver on the other end was picked up immediately.

“They’re out,” he said. “Both clans, probably.” He sniffed again. Deathgazers definitely.  Activate the lockdown, Brother General. Containment is now a level one priority. Scramble the missionaries and arm them. I’ll contact you again once more information is available.”

He pushed his phone back into his back pocket and walked over to the wardrobe, He had to assume that the rest of the operatives were dead or changed. Which, he knew, meant the same thing anyway. Geoff opened the doors, noticing exactly which dress was missing. He turned and walked back over to the bed and slumped down, putting his head in his hands. Despite his training and despite the possibility then he knew that this might happen, he still couldn’t stop the hot tears from rolling down his cheeks.

To continue in

Woven in Blood – The Hidden Order

Parasite

By Ian Woodhead

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright, March 2013 by Ian Woodhead

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, scanning or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.

Acknowledgements

Thank you so much to the lovely Lori Safranek for correcting all my stupid mistakes within the story. You’re awesome!

Chapter One

Dan Wilson shuffled in his chair; he instinctively knew that the bitch had swapped chairs yet again. She had given him her seat, the one where half the bloody thread was missing from the underside. He silently counted to ten, thinking of a calm blue ocean without wanting to drown her sister in the still water.

God, his sister’s stroppy attitude really had peaked today, what was her problem? Dan tuned out her diseased whining and concentrated on the important task of spooning the cornflakes into his mouth before they became too soggy.

As per usual, both his parents were going about their daily morning routine, acting as though everything was just peachy in their perfect household. For once, in his life, Dan was grateful that he could not detect any change. Any sign of a knowing wink or secret nudge would have meant that his dad had betrayed his trust and spilled the beans over what happened last night. With a bit of luck, he’d stay buttoned up and let Dan sort out his unholy fucking mess.

The fact that Chelsea had a swarm of bees up her arse this morning did give him a much needed distraction, he might be pissed with her chair swapping trick but at least she was acting true to form, being her usual predictable self. Right now, Dan craved routine and normality.

He was so tempted to lean across the table, fix the mumbling witch with his best concerned moo-cow eyes and ask her if he could help in any way. Her reaction to that would go down in the history books. Hell, she’d probably even fall off her stolen chair in shock.

After listening to her bitch on for a few more seconds, Dan still didn’t have a clue what was wrong with her this morning, knowing her, it could be anything from a cracked fingernail to the fact that her boyfriend didn’t end his Facebook conversation with a love heart smiley. It astounded him that somebody could be so mad at the whole universe every second of the day.

He had once compared Chelsea to a pineapple. Once you hammered through that rough, prickly exterior, you would discover a very sweet but insecure little girl who just wanted some love and affection. Upon reflection, Dan thought his analogy was bollocks and he must have been drunk when he came up with that crap. He smirked, unless it was a rotten pineapple.

“Are you laughing at me?” snarled his sister.

Dan held his sister’s penetrating gaze. The girl’s glare was strong enough to wilt every mate he had. She was very good at them. Dan believed that she probably practiced her look in a mirror. Those eyes didn’t make him wilt, watching her chew on that strawberry just made him think of a stupid, fat cow, grazing on grass. Even so, he wasn’t going to allow her to beat him. “Oh my god, Chelsea, have you seen the time?”

He pointed to the kitchen wall clock behind her, suppressing a giggle when she spun around and caught her breath. Dan so hoped that she wouldn’t have the sense to confirm the time on her phone, that would spoil everything. “Don’t you have a bus to catch?”

The blood slowly drained from his sister’s face. “Oh fucking bollocks,” she gasped. “I’m going to be late.”

“For crying out loud, Chelsea!” growled their dad, “What have you been told about the swearing? Enough with the F bombs.”

“I don’t believe this. Why didn’t anybody tell me I was late?” The girl jumped up, grabbed her bag and rushed towards the door.

“What time will you be home, dear?” asked their mum.

Dan listened to the front door slamming and let out a quiet giggle. He saw his mum hurry over to the kitchen window.

“She’s going to pull your head off for that stunt, Dan. You do know that.”

He grinned at his mum. “Yeah well, she deserves it. Chelsea has turned into a complete spoiled brat recently.” He picked up her half eaten bowl of fruit. “Look at this, she knows how bad our finances are and she doesn’t even appreciate what you do for her. You ought to let her have cornflakes like everybody else.”

His mum walked back to the table and took Chelsea’s bowl off him. “I know how it looks, dear, but you’re only seeing it from your point of view. There’s a lot of stuff going through her head at the moment.”

“Mum, she’s been a bitch for the last three years.”

His dad laughed from behind his paper.

Dan returned to his breakfast, this was a pointless exercise. All it was doing was annoying him. Still, it had been rather amusing watching that hard faced cow, suddenly turn back into a frightened little girl when she thought that she had missed her bus.

He didn’t care if his sister gave him some grief when she got back home tonight, like that would bother him. Hell, it was like water off a duck’s back these days.

It was tempting to hope that his prank had spoilt her day. Somehow, though, he doubted that. Chelsea already had a face like a smacked arse when he first clapped eyes on her dishevelled appearance as he gave her a cheery good morning. Her face dropped even further when he sneaked into the bathroom, before she had time to get in there.

“Can you try not to upset her too much, Dan? I know she’s been a bit hard on you recently but, you don’t exactly make her life easier.”

He stared at the wall clock, trying not to think of just how many occasions this week when she’d given him a hard time.

“By the way, I expect you to put that clock back to its original time before you leave this room.”

He sighed, “Mum, that’s not fair. How do you expect me to play Mr Nice guy when she treats me like something she’s just stepped on?” He watched her take the fruit bowl over to the counter top. “Come on, she treats everyone like that, including you two.”

His father put his paper down. “Son, you’re seventeen next. Your sister is just a year older than you are. I met your mother at the same age as Chelsea is right now.” He smiled over at his mum. “Just look at that angelic face, Dan, butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.”

She smiled back at both of them. “Why, thank you, darling.”

“At eighteen, she behaved a lot worse than your sister. Brash, abusive, argumentative, you name it, that little monster made her family a living hell.”

His mother opened the fridge and dug out a Tupperware box hidden behind two jars of pickles. “He’s right, Dan. I never got on with my own mum at Chelsea’s age. Looking back, I really was such a nasty fucking little bitch.”

Dan dropped his spoon into his bowl, shocked at her language. He never heard his mum say the F word until now. She unclipped the lid and poured the fruit into the box. Then put it back into the fridge.

“Like I said, there’s a lot going on inside that mind of hers. Please, Dan, just try to be a little more diplomatic.”

He watched her close the fridge door. “Mum, what did you just do with her breakfast?”

“Son,” said his dad, leaning forward. “Your beautiful sister demands fresh fruit every morning, all lovingly cut up with your mother’s fair hands. That stuff is expensive, so, she gets cheap frozen fruit from Lidl. We just don’t tell her.” He shrugged. “What she didn’t eat this morning will appear in her bowl tomorrow morning.” His dad picked up his paper and leaned back on his chair.

“No way,” he said, giggling. “That has got to be the funniest thing I’ve heard all week. How come she never figures it out?”

“It’s probably because, she never eats more than a couple of strawberries. If Chelsea is really hungry, she might nibble on a raspberry.” Her mother flashed him a sly smile. “Besides, there’s no reason for her to suspect anything. I’m her mother and she just knows that I would never do anything so deceitful.”

“Everyone has their secrets, son. You of all people should know that,” said his dad from behind the newspaper.

He looked over at his mum, watched her pull out Chelsea’s chair, and sat opposite him. She placed her hands on the white tablecloth, palms down, with her fingers spread wide. The woman fixed him with her most condescending face and sighed.

“Honey, is there anything that you’d like to say to me?”

Dan couldn’t believe that his dad had gone and betrayed him. He had promised that he wouldn’t speak a word, that their discussion was just between the pair of them. Then again, considering what he had just uncovered regarding his parent’s hidden talent for duplicity, why the hell should he even be surprised by this? Dan matched her gaze, wondering if he’d be able to trust the pair of them ever again. “Mum,” he said, pausing for breath. “There’s a bloody good chance that I have lost my job.”

She waved away his confession and slammed her hand down. “I don’t care about your bloody job, sweetheart.”

Dan jumped, feeling the guilt slide down his spine when he saw a tear drip down her cheek

“You can get another job anywhere in Colbeck. I want to know exactly what happened in those caverns last night, more importantly, that you really are okay.”

He gazed across at his dad who gave him a half-apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, son. She only had to look at me to know that I was holding out on her. I did put up a fight though, lad. In the end, she threatened to bust my nose if I didn’t cough up.” He shrugged. “You have no idea how painful her left hook is.”

Somehow, Dan doubted that. His mum probably just gave his dad one of her famous ‘you will tell everything’ looks. The one she was currently using on him. Dan sighed, knowing that resistance really was useless.

“Me and Alison found a dead body in the caverns yesterday,” he announced. Dan watched her mum’s eyes go wide and wondered just how much of this story she had prised out of his dad. Judging by her shocked expression, he doubted that he had told his mum bugger all, unless she was putting that face on.

“What were you doing down there in the first place, Dan?” His mum took a cup of tea out his dad’s proffered hand. “You work in the gift shop.”

He nodded. “I know where I work, mum. I said I was down there with Alison.”

His mum nodded thoughtfully before her face broke into a huge grin. “She’s such a lovely girl, does this mean that you two are an item now?”

Oh Christ, he hoped so, it was probably the only good thing to come out of last night’s disaster. Unless, their boss kicked them both out into the street, then Alison would probably never speak to him again. That would hurt him far more than losing the job in the cavern gift shop.

Looking back, Dan believed that it was a plan that could not fail. He had been trying to get off with Alison for over a month now, with no success. He’d tried every trick in the book, he’d even made some new ones up and it had got him precisely nowhere. His best mate, Colin Grave, thought his latest plan was destined to fail and advised him to give her up. He would say that though, Colin had been trying to get off with the girl for months.

Dan didn’t fancy the lad’s chances though. Although the ticket booth seller did see their tour guide more than Dan did, his chat-up lines were just horrendous. He’d told Colin many times that he could pull a rotten tooth out of a dead horse’s head with his lines.

He waited for the last visitors to leave and for most of the other staff to retire to the canteen before approaching Alison. “I need your help,” he hissed.

The girl sighed, “Dan, I’ve told you a million times already I’m not go…”

He stopped her before she had time to finish her sentence. “Yeah you’ve said, a million times. It’s not that, Alison. Like a dizzy sod, I’ve gone and left my phone in the caverns.”

She shrugged. “What can I do about it? Go see Mr Calhoun. He’ll get the keys for you.”

This wasn’t going as he planned. “Alison, come on, he’ll just tell me to wait until the morning. You know how awkward he can get. Please? Come on, I know you have a spare key.”

“So, you think it’s perfectly okay for me to put my job at risk?”

He stayed quiet, waiting for the realisation to hit her. Dan was probably the only person who knew the girl had her own key to the caverns. He’d spotted Alison going down there a few times when she thought nobody was around. Dan had no idea why but he had always intended to find out. This seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Her whole posture suddenly changed. A terrified young girl suddenly replaced the untouchable ice-queen that not one lad in the village had been able to melt. “Oh fuck, you know about the keys! Please, don’t tell anyone?”

He had not expected that outburst. Dan almost told her there and then that his phone was still in his back pocket and she was right about him trying to ask her out. Looking at her face, somehow, he felt that if he did, the girl really would never speak to him again.

She pushed past him and silently hurried through the building. Alison stopped as they reached Colin’s domain and looked back at him.”

He saw with some sadness that her ice-maiden face was firmly back in place.

“If Mr Calhoun catches us down here, he really will sack the pair of us. If that happens, you have no idea what I’ll do to you, Dan Wilson.”

She reached the gate and unlocked it. Dan imagined what he’d do if his phone suddenly went off in his pocket. He hadn’t thought this plan through correctly, the damn thing was still set to ring. Fuck, it would be disastrous if one of his mates chose this moment to ring him.

“Where did you leave it? I hope you know the exact spot, there’s no way that I’m spending too long in here to look for your stupid phone.”

His hand unconsciously grabbed the small box in his other back pocket. Right now, he just knew that, like his other plans, this one would not work, if anything, Alison would just slap him before leaving Dan down here. The ring would have to stay in his pocket. He’d just have to pretend that he’d found the phone and get out of here. Dan would be hitting the local pub a bit earlier tonight.

“It’s not far from here, Alison. Thank you for doing this, by the way. You have no idea how much this phone means to me.” He didn’t receive a response, not that he found that too surprising, she barely spoke to anyone. “Alison, I’ve found it.” He bent down and pretended to pick it up. His subterfuge was wasted on her, Alison hadn’t even noticed. The girl was too busy staring at an opening in the wall.

“If you’ve got your phone, shine the light at this for me,” she whispered. “Holy fuck, that is so weird, there should not be a hole here.”

Dan rushed over; he pulled the phone out of his pocket and activated the light. He passed Alison his phone, taking the opportunity to stand next to the girl. Her sweet scent of perfume sent his hormones into a frenzy of activity.

The girl’s frightened yelp, that immediately killed his desire. Dan followed the beam of light and saw a large pile of skeletons, stacked in an untidy heap in the corner of the cavern.

“Oh my god,” She gasped. “Wait here.” Alison gave him back the phone. “I need to get the boss.”

Dan’s mum stood up and placed the cup in the sink. “Your dad already told me how Mr Calhoun reacted, something about the bones being prehistoric and having to bring in some museum experts?”

“That’s what he said,” Dan replied.

“Well, there we go,” she said, smiling. “There’s no way either of you will lose your job. I’ve known that Thomas Calhoun since school. This will make his whole year.”

“Why?”

His dad laughed. “Calhoun is a money grabbing bastard, that’s why. This will bring the tourists to his caverns in droves.”

“Come on, you,” said his mum, addressing Dan’s father. “You promised me a trip to the market today. Make sure you lock up the house, Dan.” She leaned down and kissed his forehead. “Don’t you worry about anything, sweetheart.”

His parents left the kitchen and shut the door. Dan picked up his spoon and dropped it into the bowl as the shakes started up again. Dan hadn’t told his mum or dad the full tale. Nobody knew what else he had found in that previously hidden cavern, not even his co-workers.

He waited until their car had left the driveway before reaching into his pocket and bringing out a large gold ring. This wasn’t the one he intended to give to Alison, that one was still in its box in the pocket of his work trousers. This one had come from the finger of a corpse.

As soon as Alison had left to get the boss, Dan tentatively walked towards the bones, his morbid fascination was too great to ignore. Before he reached the first dusty skull, something else took his attention away from the rotting pile of ancient bones. To the left of where he stood, he noticed a tiny crack of jagged light shining through the wall. He swung the light over to the wall and could just about make out what looked like the outline of an archway rising up about three feet off the floor.

The section of the wall just slid in when Dan placed his fingers on it and a sudden burst of cold air, stinking of rotten meat breezed past him. Dan blinked and the next thing he remembered was looking down at a large body, bound in fraying cloth.

Dan had no recollection of what happened next. He just remembered opening his eyes and blinking at the harsh white light coming from Mr Calhoun’s torch. He was standing a few feet from the pile of bones holding something in his clenched fist. Dan had no idea why, but he neglected to tell either of them about his additional discovery.

He dropped the ring on the table and stared at the thing, in disgust. He needed to get rid of it. There was something about this old piece of jewellery that sent ice-cold shivers along his spine.

Chapter Two

Georgina Higgins tapped the horn, feeling like such a heel when the old lady in front of their Land Rover jumped. Her pity soon switched to annoyance when the woman in the middle of the road snapped her head around and gave Georgina a hateful glare. She watched the old woman shout off a string of silent obscenities before continuing her slow journey across the road. She clamped her mouth shut, to avoid returning a torrent of abuse. As if it was Georgina’s fault that she suddenly decided to step out into the middle of the road?

For the tenth time since climbing into the car, the archaeologist wished that she had listened to her good sense and not let that annoying husband persuade her from accompanying him on this pointless assignment. Georgina glanced into her windscreen mirror and watched him continue to pour through the beige folder.

Aside from the man’s scribbled notes and reference material, the folder contained about a dozen photo printouts. Georgina thought that her husband had just found out he had six months to live when he rushed into her office earlier on and threw the photos on the desk in front of her. He excitedly explained that some cavern owner had stumbled upon an earth-shattering discovery and they just had to check it out.

As he continued to study the photos, William hummed some monotonic noise, stopping every so often to catch his breath or to change the octave. He hadn’t stopped making that irritating humming sound since they left the museum carpark. William always did that annoying noise when he was overly excited. When they first met, thirty years ago, Georgina thought it was so sweet how he made such a silly noise whenever something excited him. At the time, she thought that it was his most endearing feature. Now, it just got under her skin and made her want to slap William around the back of his head with a blunt instrument.

“William, I’m trying to concentrate here. All I can hear is that stupid noise.”

He looked away from the photos. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, smiling at her. “Am I making that noise again? Oh dear, I don’t realise that I’m doing it most of the time. I can put the radio on if you like?”

He gazed back down and within a few seconds, his humming started again. Was he doing it on purpose now?

“Have you even considered the possibility that these could be photoshopped?” Georgina had spent a whole hour going through the photos, at first, Georgina had shared her husband’s enthusiasm, but her cynical nature won out in the end. Somebody must have gone to great lengths in digitally manipulating these images. It just appeared to be too convenient. Over the decades, Georgina had read about rare cave finds, of potholers stumbling over a few scattered bones form ancient hominids but nothing before on this scale.

“Of course I have,” he replied.

There wasn’t a trace of irritability in his tone. His calm and measured approach to life was another feature of William’s that, over the years, had begun to wind her up. No matter what she said to him or how she reacted, he just never got angry. The man stayed levelheaded no matter the motivation. Unless, of course, that motivation involved prehistoric bones, then William turned into an excitable boy at Christmas, waiting with baited breath to see what Santa had brought him.

William just lived only for his work, nothing else could get him excited, at least, that’s what she assumed up until a couple of days ago. It made her own discovery all the more painful to take.

“That is exactly why I suggested that you came along. You can conduct your own assessment. Okay, I admit, I may seem a little overexcited with this discovery but, I’m confident that your balanced findings will help to keep my feet firmly on the ground.”

“That’s it, there no other reason, William?” she replied, trying to hold back the angry tears and trying not to allow her voice to break. “Now that we’re alone, are you really sure that there is nothing else you would like to tell me?”

William just gave her reflection a slight smile and shook his head. “Nothing springs to mind, only that I’m happy to see you back and I think this time together, away from the rest of the museum staff will be good for the both of us.”

She watched him return to the photographs, he resumed his humming. Georgina gripped the steering wheel, watching her knuckles turn white. She had been building up to this confrontation ever since she had found out what the dirty old man had been doing while was she was away in Egypt.

What had she said wrong? Georgina had rehearsed her speech repeatedly. It didn’t make sense, the man should have confessed, he was supposed to blurt out that he had been sleeping with that mucky tart.

“According to the map, the next turn should be the one for the village of Colbeck, Dearest.”

Georgina slammed her mouth shut again, this time to stop herself from calling the fucker every name under the sun. She wanted to stop the car, pull him out of the back seat and punch the bastard straight in his cheating, lying mouth.

It was an open secret that the museum’s new research assistant, Trisha Campbell, was slowly sleeping her way through all of their young, male staff. For the obvious reason, Georgina somehow thought that at least her husband would be safe from her man-eating grasp.

For crying out loud, her William was about as sexy as a rotting tree stump and about as interesting as one too. What on earth could anybody see in a stick-thin fifty-eight year old balding man? The thought of that young naked body bouncing up and down on him made her want to vomit. Did he make that humming sound while she rode him?

“Don’t miss the turning, Georgina, it’s the next one.”

She should have stayed in Egypt, as she had planned, for another month. By that time, that bitch would have moved on to somebody else and she would have been none the wiser. Georgina indicated and turned into the next street. Georgina would have been none the wiser if she hadn’t found her husband’s phone down the back of the chair. The messages she found on there had shocked her to the very core. More than anything, William’s vivid imagination had knocked her for six. She had always found him to be a very boring lover and had never participated in any of the exploits he described to that woman.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am over this. I’ll go so far to say that we have just uncovered a new hominid species. Judging by their remarkable preservation, this species could have even existed side by side with our early descendants. Of course, we won’t know for sure until we get to the caverns.” William leaned forward. “Just put your scepticism to the side and think about this, Georgina. Just imagine if it really is an undiscovered hominid.”

William laughed, “Oh, I know that the cavern owner will want to take all the credit. He’s a business man, that’s only natural. You know though, as well as I, that we’re the ones who’ll receive the acknowledgment. We’ll be famous throughout the academic world, hell, we might even become media celebrities.” He sat back in his seat and sighed. “There’ll be no more begging for grants, no more brain-draining lecture tours and best of all, no more stuffy second class museum. We’ll be able to do exactly what we want.”

“It sounds amazing,” she said, frantically mulling over William’s words. She had been too eaten up inside to consider the possible outcome if these bones did turn out to be genuine. The humming moron was not wrong. The scientific community would be all over the pair of them. For the first time since yesterday, the woman smiled. She would be able to go back to Egypt to continue the dig. There would be no money worry and that bastard of a husband would be able to screw whomever he damn well pleased. She would be shut of him.

“Hey, sweetheart, I don’t know about you, William, but I could really go for a choccy bar and a can of coke.” It amazed Georgina that her voice didn’t break. That actually sounded as though she meant it. If he could lie and cheat, then there was no reason why Georgina could not do the same. She decided that she could play the dutiful wife at least, until they got the money.

He rubbed his hands. “Now that sounds like a sterling idea, I don’t believe I’ve had anything to eat since last night, too excited, I suppose.” He glanced at the GPS on his phone. “According to this, there should be a garage on your right.” He paused. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait until we get to the caverns first? We’re not that far from them.”

She shook her head, taking perverse pleasure in seeing his face drop. Georgina was just as eager as William was; she decided that upsetting the man, no matter how trivial, had to take precedence. “I’m sure you can wait just a few more minutes,” she replied, pulling into the garage forecourt. “This won’t take long.”

He nodded. “You’re right. We don’t want to look like a pair of eager beavers.” He unclipped his seat belt and climbed out of the car. “I’ll get these, my dearest. I’ll be back in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”

Georgina matched his smile with one of her own then watched him amble past the pumps and over to the shop. As William pushed through the glass door, she reached around, picked up the folder, and skimmed through the dozen photographs, trying to look for any more evidence that the cavern owner was trying to pull the wool over their eyes. Her cynical side told Georgina that it really was too good to be true. These kind of discoveries only happened in those crappy pulp fiction books that William used to read. Then again, according to her online research, last night, this village was in the middle of bloody nowhere, probably full of inbred thick locals who had still yet to discover mobile phones, never mind expensive image editing software.

She threw the pictures back on the seat. “I could do with stretching my legs,” she muttered.

Georgina unclipped her seatbelt, climbed out of the vehicle and took in a deep breath a country air. She wrinkled her nose, how was this stuff supposed to be good for you? All she could smell was cowshit, petrol and car exhaust.

She leaned over the warm bonnet of the land rover and watched a battered bright red ford turn into the garage. Bloody hell, and she thought that she needed to replace her land rover. Compared to that crimson wreck, her vehicle was in pristine condition. It looked as though it would fall apart any moment. If the rough road didn’t shake off the car parts then that raucous music would do the job.

Georgina could hear that grating too-loud music even before they reached the pumps. It really did beggar belief how none of these youths weren’t completely deaf by the time their teen years ended.

Having no children was one decision she had never regretted. Seeing those kids running riot around the towns made her wish for a simpler time when the youth stayed out of her way.

“Listen to yourself, Georgina” she scoffed. “You’re not that bloody old.” Come to think of it, wasn’t she very much like that at their age?

Two young men climbed out of the car. She guessed that they were both the same age of around eighteen. As they swaggered over to the pump, one word summed them both up. These guys were trouble. The two currently arguing whose turn it was to fill up, both fitted the stereotypical farm-hand image. She would have found the whole image rather amusing if it wasn’t for the fact that they both looked a little drunk and very mean. Their ugly, abusive language was beginning to overpower that god-awful music.

Georgina wished that William would hurry up so they could get out of here. She was starting to get very nervous. He was still staring at the confectionary selection. What was wrong with the man, how hard was it to pick a single chocolate bar?

She jumped at the sound of a loud whistle. Oh hell, they had seen her. This was all she wanted. William had now disappeared, he must have moved further into the shop. The two men swaggered towards her. Georgina watched them in the reflection of the side window. Bloody hell, the pair of them looked like over-sexed male gorillas. Did they even know how ridiculous they looked? That manly performance impressed nobody. How ironic was this? They were both driving to see the remains of cavemen when living specimens existed right here in the town.

“You’ve got some pretty decent looking legs for an old chick,” said the blond-haired man. “Are you going to turn around, miss? My mate here wants to see if you’re MILF material.”

“Fuck you, Samuel,” replied his companion, shouting over the sound of the blond-haired man’s harsh laughter. “I don’t go for grannies.”

Georgina clenched her fists and slowly turned to face the two men. She stared at the man who had first addressed her, taking in the oiled-stained bleached blue overall, straining against his thickly muscled arms. “Say, you’re not that bad looking for a brain-dead moron,” she replied, smiling sweetly. Georgina watched the guy’s face turn a bright crimson, he obviously didn’t expect her to retaliate. “As for your ugly friend though?” She glared at the dark-haired man, watching the amusement on his face suddenly drop off. “Judging by the way he keeps giving you the doe eyes, I think he’d rather fuck you, Samuel.”

“I’m so going to…”

“Going to what?” she spat, pushing her face into his. “Are you going to hurt me? Going to teach me a lesson?” She watched his anger falter, just for a second. “Do you think the newspaper headline of the local thug assaulting a harmless old woman will be good for your street cred?”

William chose that moment to leave the shop. She saw his frowning expression and silently cursed. These idiots would rip his skinny arms off.

“Can I help you two gentlemen?” enquired her husband walking past the youth’s car and stopping in front of the large blond-haired man.

“Get the fuck out of here,” spat Samuel, “before I tear your face off.”

“Do you speak to everyone like that?”

“Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“I’m her husband and I’d appreciate it if you two gentlemen went about your business. We are on a rather tight schedule.”

Georgina moaned softly, this was unbelievable. What possessed her to act like some trash-mouthed whore in front of these two thugs? Georgina should have taken the sensible option of climbing back into the land rover and locking the door. She held her breath when she saw the large blond-haired man formed his thick hand into a large fist. Her husband continued to patronise the pair, completely oblivious to the danger he was in.

“I’ll tell you what, little man. Why don’t you fuck off where you came from and we’ll take your bitchy wife and fuck her tiny brains out in the back of my car.” He leered at Georgina. “I bet you’ve never had three huge cocks inside you all at once.”

William sighed. He threw his purchases onto the bonnet of the land rover. His arm snapped out and she watched in amazement as her husband caught hold of the dark-haired boy’s wrist and savagely twisted it around. The boy cried out in shock. Samuel lunged forward.

“Just one more muscle twitch from you, big guy, and I’ll have to break his bones.” Samuel slowly stepped away from her husband, glaring. “That’s so much better,” said William, smiling. “Now, I suggest you finish your business and leave as quickly as you can. I took the liberty of calling the police before I left the shop. I’m not sure how long you have before they turn up.” He released his wrist and shrugged at Georgina. “They had no Mars bars left so I got you a Twix instead. I hope that’s okay.”

Georgina watched him collect the stuff from the bonnet of the car and climb into the back seat. The other car had already screeched out of the forecourt. She stared at her husband feeling more confused than ever.

Chapter Three

The body had not even cooled down yet. Ethan Naylor guessed that the rabbit had ceased its hopeless struggling just before dawn. He un-slung his rifle, crouched down and ran his black gloved hand along the rabbit’s fur. He clamped down on his excitement, knowing that a true hunter would never allow his emotions to show. Everyone knew that the woodland animals could detect the subtle chemical changes attributed to extreme emotion. He hadn’t finished in here just yet, he intended to take down at least one more animal before returning home.

He allowed a big grin to strain the fabric of his camouflaged scarf, it was pretty cool though. Ethan had been after this bugger for over two weeks. He looked down at the mangled leg caught in his wire snare and wasn’t that surprised to see the beast had tried to bite off its own leg.

“Did I not say that you would me mine?” he whispered. Ethan took off the gloves and used his fingers to dig the snare out of the rabbit’s flesh; it took longer that he expected, the loop was tight around the bone. Once he had reset the snare and covered it back up, Ethan brought his bloodied fingers up to his face. He carefully picked off the bits of dead leaf and lumps of grit before he placed his fingers into his mouth one by one. He left the blood on his thumbs and wiped off the sticky crimson residue under his eyes. Ethan nodded to himself, knowing that he had just honoured the dead rabbit’s spirit.

In all the months of hunting in this part of the woodland, Ethan had yet to discover recent signs of other human activity. Being completely alone and at one with nature was the reason why he chose this forgotten area of the woods to hunt. In addition, he had no wish for any annoying kids or nosy dog walker to report him for using his modified air rifle in here.

Ethan knew there were plenty of squirrels occupying the northern area; those fluffy things were practically tame. The rodents had a good life from stealing food from the picnic tables and a few of the town’s older residents regularly came into the woods to feed the little bastards.

He couldn’t help but to pull down his scarf and runs his tongue over his lips. Squirrel made good eating, especially the ones fattened up on picnic scraps. Ethan resisted the temptation to head north. If he faced reality, the chances of him bagging a squirrel down here was slim to none. They never showed their faces around here nowadays, for a good reason, why chance having your head blown off?

Maybe he should forget it and be satisfied with this beauty. Ethan decided to let it hang in the garage before skinning it in the morning. Once he’d jointed the meat, he would try to persuade his mum to curry it. She made an awesome curry. “It would taste even nicer with juicy squirrel flesh,” he whispered. Ethan took his washing line out of the inside of his combat jacket. He tied one end around the large rabbit’s body and threw the other end over a thick branch of an old oak tree just behind him.

There was little point in taking stupid chances. Despite being fairly sure that no other humans would come around here in the short time he was gone, he still had no wish to discover that some dog or fox had come and steal his prize. “It’s better to be safe than sorry,” he murmured, hoisting the carcass up into the branches. Ethan looped the end of the rope around the trunk and tied it securely before picking up his rifle and starting towards the more populated side of the woods. “Fuck it, what type of hunter never takes a chance?”

There was one other reason why Ethan avoided the top end of the woods. The three dickheads who dossed about at the repair shop had taken to spending a lot of their time in there. That was so not fair, he might not go into the northern area but as far as he was concerned, it was still his territory. Ethan never ruined their usual haunting grounds, why should try to they spoil his?

“Maybe, just maybe, it’s because they can?” He sighed, knowing that he had hit the nail on the head right there. No idiot in their right mind would dare to say one bad word against those fucking psychos, especially that Samuel Lane. That thug really did have bits of his brain missing. Ethan once remembered watching him knock seven shades of shit out of their PE teacher because the fool had taken it upon himself to embarrass the lad in front of the whole class. Samuel had only been thirteen at the time.

Ethan leaned against the trunk of a tree and jumped as a brown terrier leapt out of a bush several metres from his location. It raced along the path before disappearing back into the dense undergrowth. That had spoilt his adventure before he had even started.

“What did you expect?” he muttered. That was a good question. What possessed him think that he would be able to get some peace to kill a few squirrels? There was nearly always somebody strolling along the path. The squirrels were not that stupid. They knew they were safe up here. Even the owner’s dogs had learned not to chase the little fluffy bastards.

It just wasn’t fair, if Ethan had been able to get to the top of this hill, he’d be in range of the circle of picnic tables. Even without the company of humans to feed them, the squirrels would still be playing around the furniture, secure in the knowledge that they were quite safe.

They would not have stood a chance. Ethan had modified his pride and joy himself. The air rifle was almost as powerful as a hunting rifle. He reached around and ran the tip of his finger down the barrel, suddenly remembering that he had left his gloves next to that tree. “That’s just fantastic,” he muttered. Everyone knew that you didn’t hunt without wearing gloves. Ethan watched the shape of another small dog racing through the trees beyond the tables. It was time to go back before somebody saw his pride and joy.

Ethan stopped in mid turn when he detected the sound of raised voices. He dropped to the floor and slowly crawled to the top of the banking and thrust his head through a low-lying patch of heather. A young man in his twenties, wearing a bright yellow top and jeans was arguing with three very familiar figures. Judging from the excitable yapping coming from the dog, running rings around the four men, Ethan presumed that Mr Yellow top was the dog’s owner.

Ethan winced in sympathy when the inevitable happened and Samuel swung his fist into yellow top’s face. The man staggered back and fell to the ground. Ethan winced again, everyone knew that Samuel had a powerful punch. Thankfully, the others didn’t run forward to put the boot in, they just stood there and laughed as if it was the funniest sight in the world.

Yellow-top picked himself off the floor and beat a hasty retreat. “There’s no shame in knowing when you’re beat,” Ethan whispered. The three men called out some vaguely intelligible threats before stepping back onto the path and walking towards where he laid hiding. Where were the bastards going? He started to panic. They weren’t supposed to venture away from the main paths.

Ethan wasn’t too thrilled with sharing his woods with the dog walkers but at least they were predictable. They stayed in the populated areas. He slowly scrambled back down the banking, keeping his eyes fixed on the approaching men. He did not like how this situation was progressing one bit.

Samuel suddenly stopped in the middle of a clearing. The man dropped to the floor and lay on his back, resting his arms behind his head.

“This will be just fucking perfect,” he said, laughing. “Karl, you greasy fuck, you can go get the beers.”

“Why do I have to do it?”

“Cos I fucking said so, Karl, don’t piss me off again.”

“Why the fuck didn’t we bring them with us?”

“Cos!” shouted Samuel. “Just do as you’re told. For fuck’s sake, it’s not that far to the car, you soft puff. Besides, they are my fucking beers; you ought to be thanking me for letting you have some.”

This was Ethan’s worst nightmare. They had crossed the line by encroaching on his territory. How long would it be before they drank their own weight in ale and decided to go on a bit of a ramble? Ethan had to find a way of getting rid of them.

“You could always pretend that they are squirrels.” There was no way of suppressing his rapid heartbeat as Ethan mulled over what was going through his mind. He took his pride and joy out of its sleeve and watched Karl Briers mutter his way back towards the main entrance. Samuel had ordered his other goon to collect some wood. “Oh just great,” he whispered. “Now they’re going to set my kingdom on fire.”

Ethan lay down and pulled his pride and joy into his shoulder, watching Samuel sneer at Alex Corvin, when the goon brought back an armful of rotten branches. The scope brought the blond man’s ugly, rough face into sharp focus, making Ethan feel as though he was right next to him.

If he were next to him, Ethan would have to show Alex the correct method of building up a fire. That dickhead was making a right mess of it. Maybe they wouldn’t be burning his woods down after all, they would never light that in a million years, not that they would be here for that long.

He pulled the barrel down, inserted a pellet and snapped it closed. “It’s now or never,” he whispered. Ethan wasn’t worried of discovery, lots of kids in the village owned an air rifle, there’s no way the blame would come to him. He rested his finger on the trigger and took careful aim. Besides, who would be mental enough to shoot Samuel Lane?

Ethan fired; giggling as his pellet slammed into Samuel’s pockmarked cheek. The man howled in agony. The last image Ethan saw before he hurried away was Samuel clutching his bloodied face and Alex running over to the man.

“That’ll teach you,” he muttered, running as fast as he could, through the woodland. He saw that as a perfect way to end his expedition into the wilderness. That fuckhead will now stay where he belonged and leave his precious woodland alone.

Ethan could still hear the man rage as he neared his tree. The gloves were still there, that was such a relief. He picked them up and started to undo the knots, thinking of how good this rabbit would taste.

He suddenly stopped, the blood in his veins froze solid when he caught that crazed psychopath howling Ethan’s name.

“That is not fair!” he gasped. “That bastard isn’t supposed to guess my name.” Ethan wildly looked around the foliage, trying to see if he could spot the bastard. He couldn’t be too far away, that manic voice sounded like he was almost on top of him. “Oh god, I am so dead.”

His rabbit crashed into the leaf-litter as the rope slid through his numb fingers. Ethan crouched down, feeling hot tears running down his cheek. That Samuel and his two brain-dead goons really will beat him to death.

“Does he know where I live?” Ethan was pretty sure that the bastard had no clue. He picked up the rabbit and slung it over his shoulder. If he didn’t know, then it wouldn’t take Samuel too long to find out. There weren’t that many houses in their village.

“I could live right here, in the woods,” he whispered. “That dumb fucker would never find me.” It did sound like a reasonable idea, at least until Samuel had found somebody else to torture. Ethan nodded, warming to the notion. It wouldn’t be that much of a transition, he practically lived here already. Ethan had camped out in these woods lots of times before.

“This could really work.” Ethan leisurely caressed his pride and joy’s long barrel. If that fool did try to look for him in here then Ethan would take great pleasure in giving Samuel another cheek wound. “I may even put one in his eye.”

People like that Samuel only understood brute force. He caught sight of Alex Corvin’s dark blue jacket and ducked down, behind a bush. He thought the goons would have given up their search by now and buggered off back to one of the village pubs to plot their revenge and, in Samuel’s case, lick his wounds.

How was he going to leave now? Ethan had to collect all his gear before disappearing. The other exit took him miles out of his way, close to the next village, almost five miles away. Ethan had no problem with walking back, he knew for certain though, that a passing patrol car would stop and ask about the suspicious looking leather case slung over his back.

He watched the goon bash a patch of brambles with a thick branch. They sure weren’t in a hurry to leave just yet.

“I know you’re still in here!”

Ethan almost dropped the gun in shock when he saw Samuel’s bulky form step out from behind a tree just in front of where he was crouching. He was so close; Ethan could smell the bastard’s cheap aftershave. He hadn’t spotted him though, thank fuck.

The man slowly turned in a tight circle. “If you do the honourable thing and come out from where you’re hiding, lad, I’ll probably only break your arms. Or you could stay where you are hiding away like some cowardly fuckhead and I’ll just find out where you live and kill you in your sleep. I might after fuck your mum to death as well. Don’t even think that I won’t, Ethan, you have known me a long fucking time.”

Ethan ground his teeth in fury. How dare he accuse Ethan of being a coward. He was a warrior. Samuel was the cowardly bastard. It was so tempting to let his pride and joy have one more cosy chat with Samuel’s face.

The goon spun around, muttering to himself as he made his way towards the woodland entrance. Samuel had obviously decided that Ethan wasn’t going to allow him pull off his arms. His mum raised no fools though. That Samuel and his idiots would just wait by the entrance for him to come out.

He had no choice, Ethan just had to go the other way. There was no way on this planet that he would leave his pride and joy in the woods. He then remembered another route, Ethan looked behind him at the ancient trees, if he went that way the woodland gave way to some fields.

“Fucking hell, I could go that way!” he said, grinning. He had stopped using that route a couple of months ago when the owner set his dog on Ethan. After enduring the traumatic experience of finding that Alsatian’s sharp teeth cutting into his thigh, he vowed never to go that way again.

The old bastard used to live in the old cottage that butted the fields. Ethan had forgotten all about him dropping dead last week. No bugger would spill any tears at his funeral, saying that, nobody would turn up anyway. Apparently, the word in the village was that the new owner’s wife was a bit tasty.

He waited until the last of those goons were no longer in sight before getting up and sprinting through the trees. As Ethan’s feet pounded the ground, he remembered that those caverns ran under here. The entrance to Colbeck’s not so famous tourist attraction was directly under the south-end field, about half a mile from that cottage.

With a bit of luck, he would be able to scramble down the banking and run through the carpark without anyone seeing him. If Ethan stayed to the shortcuts and did a bit of garden hopping, he would be back home five minutes later.

He reached the edge of the woods and watched a couple of grazing cows in the first field. Ethan decided that it was a good plan. All that was left now was to somehow explain to his mum what had happened. Samuel might come around and get a mouthy with his mum but he’d soon discover his mistake when she clocked him one. He wasn’t the only warrior in his family.

Ethan leaped over the dry stone wall and walked through the wet grass, ignoring the cow’s curious gazes. He did feel a bit guilty about putting his mum in this situation but it couldn’t be helped. She’d understand, he hoped.

The village skyline appeared over the horizon. It didn’t make him upset to know that it was unlikely that he’d see it again for a few days. Ethan stopped by the edge of the field and looked down into the Cavern’s customer carpark, sighing when he saw movement down there. He caught his breath when Ethan noticed it was that fit lass who worked as a guide.

He licked his lips, Ethan wouldn’t mind hiding in her bedroom for a couple of days. God, that girl was so tidy. He’d never understood how such an ugly fucker of a man was able to help create such a desirable angel.

Ethan felt his rage build up when he remembered what his mum had hinted regarding her family, specifically, what her dad did to Alison when he got drunk. He hoped to god that it wasn’t true. “I’d protect you, baby,” he whispered. Ethan knew she was still unattached and had a few fantasies about asking her out.

He saw a figure approach her. Ethan recognised the lad; he’d seen him around the village a few times. Dan wasn’t a bad lad, a bit of a show off though. Ethan’s jaw fell open when he saw him place his arms around Alison’s waist and kiss her, could this day of his get any worse?

Chapter Four

He clearly saw the green glow of jealousy rage in Terrence’s eyes when Alison took his hand. Dan could not care less what Terrence thought. As far as Dan was concerned, the best man, namely him, had won.

“I’ll go get the drinks in, shall I?”

Dan barely heard Colin’s disgruntled request. His whole attention centred on her hand, slowly caressing his thigh. Oh Jesus, where had this girl been his whole life? More to the point, just where had she learnt how to please a man? Dan would love to meet her teacher and shake his hand, then again, maybe not. He wasn’t so in love with the thought that someone had experienced the joys of Alison’s body before him.

Her hand stopped by his pocket. She leaned closer and ran her tongue over his earlobe. “Dan, let’s slip out right now, while he’s buying the drinks. I know of a few secluded spots around the village where we won’t be disturbed.”

The last member of their quartet had just walked out of the gents. Dan watched him look over at their table. He gave them a strained smile before making his way over to Colin. “I don’t think either of them will forgive me for this.”

Alison squeezed his hand. “Don’t let it worry you. Colin’s a good mate, I suppose but I wouldn’t even think of him as boyfriend material, and as for Terrence Corvin?” She pulled a face. “Oh my god, there’s no way that I’d think of him in that way. The lad’s such a weird little creep. You ought to hear what his sister says about what he gets up to in his bedroom.”

Terrence worked at the body repair shop with his older brother Alex Corvin and two other lads. He was on nodding terms with Terrence’s brother and Alex’s mate but that’s as far as it went. The whole village knew of their reputation as troublemakers.

“You have no idea what I can do with the tip of my tongue,” she purred. “Come on, Dan, let’s go right now, I need to feel you inside me.”

Was he imagining this? Dan turned to look at his new girlfriend and saw lust in those mischievous looking green eyes; he tried to picture that cold fish from just yesterday and couldn’t believe that this was the same woman.

“Will you two fucking love birds just cut it out?” said Colin, slopping down Dan’s beer on the table. “You’re making me want to throw up. Can’t you do all that giving into each others’ eyes somewhere in private?” Colin sat down and picked up his own drink. He took one sip and grimaced. “Fuck a duck, the water in the canal tastes better than this.” He glared at Terrence. “We should have gone to the Drop Kick. I fucking hate this place.”

Dan bit the inside of his cheek when he felt Alison’s fingers massaging his crotch. Why was he still here with these two losers? He placed his own hand on top of hers. He so needed to leave.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that, Colin,” said Terrence.

“Don’t give me that innocent look. It is your workmates who taken it upon themselves to picket our fucking local.”

“I might work with them, but they ain’t my mates.” Terrence picked up his own pint and took a sip. “Look, okay so the beer is a bit shite but it is strong stuff.” He grinned at Colin. “I’m telling you, after another couple of pints, you won’t give a shit about what it tastes like.”

Alison moved her hand towards Dan’s pocket and he stiffened. His ring was in there. Dan entwined his fingers with hers and moved her hand to the side of his thigh. He felt the desire just flow out of him like a leaking hot water bottle. Dan gently squeezed her hand once, sighing when she returned the gesture.

“What are they doing outside the Drop Kick?” she asked.

Colin put his pint down. “Oh yeah, I forgot you were too busy eating Dan’s face to notice. I’ve already said, They’ve formed a picket.”

Terrence sighed heavily. “For fuck’s sake, Colin, they’ve just asking a few questions that’s all.”

Colin laughed. He leaned forward. “Dan, you ain’t going to believe this. You ain’t going to believe what Ethan’s done. He’s only gone and shot Samuel in the face.”

“Good,” spat Alison. “It would have been better if they killed the fucker.”

Dan gazed dumbfounded at her. He had had no idea Alison hated the bloke so much. “What’s he done to you?”

“His dad drinks with my dad,” she replied. “That and other stuff.”

Alison picked up her drink. Dan was dismayed to see that the ice-maiden had made an unwelcome appearance. “Are you okay?” he asked.

Some of the frost melted and she kissed him on the nose. “It’s nothing, Dan, I promise.”

Colin coughed into his hand. “Before you two start smooching again, I think it’s time you told us exactly what you saw in the caverns.”

Dan shrugged and sighed. He should have known this question would appear tonight. “We’ve already said what happened. The boss hasn’t fucking shut up about it all day either. Believe me; you’ve heard everything a million times already.”

“That’s bullshit, there must be something that you’re holding back and don’t give me that lost phone story either. I’m not buying that one.”

A thin sheen of translucent mist obscured Dan’s vision. Through this mirage of scarlet shade, he watched Colin’s mouth open and close in slow motion. Dan could not move any part of his body. He continued to observe his friend’s fishlike movements, while feeling a spot of heat that spread across his skin.

He screamed out in agony as he felt his whole body suddenly burning up. Like a tap, the pain just vanished, leaving him feeling as if he’d just been put through a wringer. Dan discovered that he could move again.

“That’s bullshit, there must be something that you’re holding back and don’t give me that…”

“All right!” Dan growled out. “You don’t have to say it again.”

“Say what again? Dan, just how much crappy beer have you had?”

“He’s drunk on love,” quipped Terrence.

Alison jumped to her feet and stared down at Dan. “I can move again.”

“You as well, Alison?” Dan pushed his hand into his pockets and held the ring tight. He had no idea what had happened just then but he sure as fuck didn’t want it to happen again, feeling the warm metal against his skin, helped to calm him down. His anxiety and confusion just drained away, leaving him as empty as Colin’s pint glass. Dan felt so good, almost stoned.

Do you want to feel like a god?

He slowly nodded, thinking that Colin was talking to him. Dan had no idea what the clown was talking about unless it was the start of a joke. He hoped so. Dan enjoyed a joke.

This bitch wanted you to fuck her and yet you chose to spend your time with these two infantile fools? Perhaps you are not what I require.

What the fuck was happening to him? He found that he had lost control of his movements. Both Terrence and Colin were staring at him as if he’d lost his mind. He would have shivered if he had been able. Perhaps he had lost it.

So, you two lumps of hot flesh want to know what I found? What I really found?

Terrence’s face broke into a smirk. “Did he just say hot flesh? Colin, is he coming onto us now?”

Dan had said nothing; he seriously began to freak out. What the hell was going on here?

I’m talking about forgotten trinkets and gem stones. I am talking about gold coins and precious metals. I can see the naked greed behind your dim-witted little eyes. There is another chamber behind the sacrifices.

He felt his hand squeeze the ring even tighter. Dan wanted to scream out in pain as he felt the sharp metal prongs breaking his skin. The hand pulled out and hovered over the table. The fingers opened and the ring rolled across the wood before clinking against Terrence’s glass.

The feeling returned to his body with vengeance. Pins and needles attacked his arms and legs. Dan stretched out and thrust his arms up into the air, groaning. He saw Colin pick up the ring and stare in amazement at the piece. He wanted to tell the lad to drop the bloody thing before it possessed him as well.

“Alison? Is what he says true?” Colin passed the ring to Terrence.

“I saw no other chamber,” she replied, looking curiously at Dan.

“This must be worth a fucking fortune.”

Alison turned Dan’s head to face her. “Is this true?”

He sighed. “Yeah, I suppose. There was something beyond that chamber.” He closed his eyes, feeling like his brain wanting to leak out of his head. “At least I think so, I must have blacked out or something.” Dan put his hand over hers, feeling like someone was squeezing his heart when she pulled her hand away.

“What the fuck are we still doing here then?” said Terrence, rolling the ring across his palm. “Let’s go have a look.”

“I agree,” said Alison, glaring at Dan. “We’ll have to break in but I’ve got a key to unlock the cavern gate.”

Dan felt her pull him out of the chair.

“On the way, you can explain what the fuck you are playing at.”

There was no way he would be able to answer that. Dan wasn’t sure what was going on. Alison pulled him across the lounge, towards the pub doors, the other two were already out in the street.

Where had that voice come from? He looked at the ring held tight in Terrence’s hand. A green gemstone caught the white light from a passing car headlight. He already knew the answer to that question.

He just wanted to sleep; Dan’s befuddled wits could not take in this situation. Closing his eyes and letting his whole body rest just had to be the best option. Was this even his body? Dan watched his feet stumble along the road as Alison pulled him along, she was speaking to him, asking Dan lots of questions but it all sounded like gibberish.

It really didn’t feel like his flesh, wrapped around his aching bones, as if Dan was wearing three large coats over a lycra body suit. The gibberish increased in volume as the others joined in. Dan just closed his eyes and smiled as the noises abated.

“Is he okay?”

“Dan, is there anyone in there, buddy?”

“We just leave him in the carpark until we get back.”

“Don’t be stupid, Terrence. He’s the only one who knows where the other chamber is.”

He felt harsh white light against his eyelids. Dan wondered if it was morning. His mum would be calling him down soon for breakfast. Chelsea would already be there, scowling at everyone and tucking into her defrosted berries.

“Why is he smiling?”

“Take the torch out of his eyes.”

What were his friends doing in his bedroom? Dan opened his eyes and saw Alison’s concerned feature looking back at him. Shit, the events in the pub flooded back, at least some of them did.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I think so.” Dan looked past Terrence and Colin and saw they’d brought him to the caverns. “Did you carry me?”

“No, you walked just like the rest of us,” replied Alison. “Only, you weren’t quite yourself.” She took his hand. “I’m sorry for getting mad earlier.” Alison wrapped her arms around his waist.

“You need to believe me; I honestly had no recollection of that other chamber until tonight.”

“I’ve heard of things like this before,” said Colin. “If you left me alone with a pile of skeletons inside a cavern, I’d probably go fucking loopy as well.”

“How do we get inside?”

Dan watched Terrence pull on the door handle. He scowled before peering through the window. He turned around and cast his eyes to the floor.

“Is there a back entrance?”

Dan shook his head. “No, there’s just a couple of fire doors around the back of the building.”

Terrence scooted over to the edge of the carpark and came back with half a brick. “Then, there’s no other choice.”

“Don’t be so fucking stupid!” hissed Colin. “We can’t break in.”

Terrence glared at him. “Yes we can.” He looked at Alison. “Did you say there were some experts turning up in the morning?”

She nodded.

“Then they’ll find the stuff and we’ll have lost out. Come on, man. You’ve already told me that the building isn’t alarmed. What can go wrong? Colin, you heard what Dan said. Just think about what you could do with a ton of cash.” He leered at Alison. “The chicks would be all over you.”

Colin gazed at Dan. “That is, if he’s not spinning out some bullshit story.”

“I don’t know,” replied Dan. “I don’t know what’s real and what’s not.”

Terrence opened his hand. “This is real,” he said showing them the ring. “This alone must be worth a bloody fortune. Come on, guys. I’m in debt up to my eyeballs, I’m not going to let this opportunity slip through my fingers. I mean, it’s not like it’s really stealing, is it?”

Dan looked at Alison. “You’ve been quiet, if we get caught; it’s not just our jobs that we’ll lose. We could be looking at some serious prison time.”

“What if there is more stuff in there, Colin?” she sighed. “You have no idea what I’d do to get away from my family.”

Terrence grinned. “It’s decided then, we go have a nosy.” He lifted the brick and slammed it into the window at the corner. “Colin, don’t just stand there, give us a hand to shift all this glass.”

“Shouldn’t we be wearing gloves or something?” Colin asked. “They’re bound to dust for fingerprints.” The lad nervously glanced towards the road. “That sounded a bit fucking loud. What if someone heard it?”

Terrence pulled a long shard of glass out of the window frame and placed it on the floor. “You already work here, you big plum. Your prints will be all over the place already. I’m the only one who’s taking the risk here. So shut up and stop fucking complaining.”

Dan watched them both clear away the glass. He did feel better, almost normal but his memory was still shot to buggery. None of the images that rushed through his head made any sense. He did know that this wasn’t a good idea.

Terrence was already inside, Dan watched him help Colin climb through the window. Alison pulled him over to the building.

“It’s your turn now,” she said.

Colin grabbed his arms and pulled him up. Dan allowed him to lift him into the dark room. He waited for a second until his eyes adjusted to the low light before making his way through the dark foyer. It felt so odd being inside the place where he worked, without any lighting. Alison put her hands around his waist. Dan felt suddenly guilty for not helping her climb inside.

“Are you ready?”

He nodded. “I suppose,” Dan replied, sighing. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Alison unlocked the gate and led them into the caverns. Dan had already activated the light on his phone and noticed the other two lads had done the same. She took the three of them to the hole in the cavern wall and climbed through. Terrence looked back at Dan and grinned.

“Are you ready for the life changing experience?”

Dan followed him inside and just hoped that he wouldn’t be able to find the hidden door. The others would be pissed off but it wouldn’t last. Besides, Terrence had appeared to have claimed that ring. That would bring him some money. That was fine by him. Dan didn’t wish to see the bloody thing ever again anyway.

He moaned softly when he saw the doorway clearly marked by a dim red glow outline. The others saw it too.

“That was not there before,” whispered Alison.

Terrence ran over to it, “who cares, it’s here now.” he placed his hand on the rock and yelped with excitement as the stone moved. “Fuck me,” he gasped, “This is better than Indiana Jones.”

The others eagerly followed Terrence inside. Dan stayed away from the wrapped up figure in the middle of the chamber, with his back pressed up against the rough stone. Both Colin and Terrence were walking around the body, picking up various pieces of jewellery, scattered around the body. They seemed oblivious to the figure by their feet; Dan could not pull his eyes away. He choked back a scream when he saw one of its fingers twitch.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” he gasped.

Colin staggered back; Dan figured that he must have noticed movement as well. The figure suddenly sat up and dug its fingers into Terrence’s legs. The lad screamed out in complete agony, his eyes bulged in his sockets. Dan caught Alison’s hand and pulled her back when she tried to reach Terrance.

“It’s too late!” Dan cried. A gut feeling told him that they had just lost their friend.

Colin staggered over to the doorway and fell through the hole. Dan kept hold of Alison and followed Colin through, desperately trying not to let the panic grip him. They both fell to the side as a huge figure pushed past the three of them and ran out of the caverns, growling like an enraged bull.

“Oh my god!” cried out Colin. “What’s just happened and where’s Terrence run off to?”

Dan pointed to the pile of mouldering fabric in the other chamber. There was no figure there anymore. “I don’t think that was Terrence,” he whispered.

Chapter Five

Mavis Corvin just could not shift that dreaded fear that she had used too much sugar in the mix. She stared at the dark red glutinous liquid, bubbling away in her saucepan and glanced at the timer. Mavis would have to take it off the heat in a few seconds. It would be a few hours before she knew if her raspberry jam would be a serious contender.

“I’m not too sure if I have done it right, Steven.”

Her husband looked up from his newspaper. “What are you talking about?” he scowled. “Oh, you’re cooking again, I did wonder what that smell was.”

“For crying out loud, Steven, I’ve told you a million times tonight already. I wish you’d start to pay attention.” Mavis didn’t even know why she was bothering. She watched his head dip down. The man had already dismissed his nagging fat wife.

She moved the pan onto the rear hob and marched over to their dining room table. She sat opposite him and glared at the newsprint.

Her friend, Mrs Briers had just happened to let it slip what her darling husband called Mavis while he got drunk with his mates in the Drop Kick. Not that it came as much of a surprise to her. Steven had little time for anybody these days, especially his wife. He’d had so much trouble trying to find alternative employment after losing his contract at the haulage company. Steven had found the odd job here and there and his cleaning job at the primary school helped but it was peanuts to what he used to bring home.

The man muttered behind his paper. Deep down, Mavis knew that her husband resented the fact that she was the major earner now. He also resented the fact that as long as the bills were paid, Mavis could spend her own money anyway she damn well pleased. “I thought you liked my jam.”

The man sighed. “You know I do, honey, it just seems, well because of the money situation, it just seems a little extravagant to be spending so much money on something you could get from the supermarket for a pound.” He put his paper down. “Mavis, I know for a fact that some of the other wives will be entering ready made jam for at the craft fair.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she snapped. “They wouldn’t dare do that.” The aroma of her cooling jam started to fill the kitchen. The annual Colbeck county fair was the one event that Mavis looked forward to all year. At least she used to. Her homemade jam had won first prize four years on the trot, until last year. That Mrs Naylor had the audacity to enter her own jam and the vile stuff slammed Mavis’s Apricot and plum jam into second place. Rumour had it that the woman was competing again.

Mavis stood up and hurried over to the cooker, breathing a sigh of relief when she found the jam had begun to set. This year, Mavis was determined to take back her title from that horrible woman.

He muttered again and slammed the paper on the table. “Mavis, what are we going to do about Adel?” Steven stood up and walked over to the door. “I’m going to have a word with her.”

“You leave the girl alone,” She snapped. “Okay, I’ll admit that, like you, I’m not too thrilled with our daughter seeing Karl Briers but, she’s old enough to make her own decisions.” She looked up at the ceiling and listened to the faint sound of music coming from her bedroom. “You sounded a bit like my dad just then, Steven. Do you remember how he reacted when I brought you home?”

“That was different,” he said. “I might have been a bit wild back in the day but I was a bloody saint compared that that thug who’s sniffing around our daughter.”

She dipped a wooden spoon and watched the mixture drip back into the pan. It looked like she had not messed up after all; this one would beat that Mrs Naylor’s horrible concoction any day of the week. Mavis watched Steven pace the floor like a caged lion. If she could sort out that woman, dealing with her husband’s bad mood should be a walk in the park.

“Are you sure that there’s nothing else bothering you?”

He shrugged. “Well, I’m a bit concerned over the lads. They should have been home by now.”

Mavis walked over to his chair. She pulled him into it and dug her fingers into his shoulders. “I won’t worry about Terrence and Alex. You know those two. About now, they’ll both be getting drunk with their mates. Like they do every Friday night.” She felt how tense he was. “Come on, honey, you need to relax. That boy is the spit of you, Steven.”

“Who is, Terrence?”

“No, I’m talking about our Alex. It’s uncanny how he behaves like you when we started hanging together. As for our Adel’s new boyfriend, do you honestly think Alex would let Karl treat her badly?”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“I know I’m right,” she said, kissing the top of his head. Steven had never been so concerned over his kid’s behaviour when he had his good job. Then again, the man was never in the house long enough to notice that he actually had kids. “Now, why don’t we go to bed? It’s been a while since we played.”

“What about the kids?”

“Baby, they are not kids anymore, they can look after themselves.” Mavis slid her hand down his back. “We have a lock on our bedroom door, you know.”

Steven giggled and stood up, “I think you have convinced me.” He took her hand. “Your dad never liked me did he?”

She leaned towards him. “No, not really.”

Steven jumped at the sound of a loud crash coming from outside.

“What the hell was that?” Mavis looked fearfully at the outside door. “Shit, I think someone or something is in with the chickens.”

“More like a certain young lad.” He growled. Steven ran back into the dining room and returned a few moments later with his shotgun. “This time, that Ethan Naylor has gone too far.”

“How do you know it’s him?”

He reached for his coat. “It’s always him, that’s why.” Steven snapped open the barrel and inserted two cartridges. “Don’t worry, Mavis. Don’t give me that look. I’m not going to shoot him, I promise. I am going to scare the shit out of him though. It is time that the little bastard found out what happens when he steals things from me.” Steven pulled open the door.

“Why load it then?”

He grinned. “Just in case it isn’t him, that’s why. Don’t worry, I’ll be back in a moment.” Steven kissed her gently on the lips. “I’ll be back to sort out my beautiful horny wife.”

She watched him from the door; Mavis pulled her cardigan tight around her body, it was freezing out there. Something was seriously wrong; those chickens were making a right noise. Had a fox managed to get in there? She hoped not. If it were that weird kid in there, at least he’d only make off with one, maybe two of her livestock. A fox would kill them all.

Mavis yelped when she heard his gun going off. “Steven!” she shouted. “What’s going on?” She pushed her feet into her slippers and hurried down the garden path. “Steven, are you alright?”

The blood froze in her veins when she heard an ear-blasting shriek coming from the hen houses. “Oh god!” she gasped, breaking into a run. “Steven!” Mavis stopped by the wide open door and saw the ground swimming in thick, dark blood. “Oh no!”

She peered inside, unable to take in the carnage wrought on the birds. Blood, gristle, flesh and feathers coated every surface, she saw no pieces large enough to identify. Mavis also saw that Steven wasn’t in here either.

She looked back towards the house when Mavis heard the sharp sound of the window shattering. Mavis jumped over the blood soaked ground and ran back towards the house. Her heart was trying to beat out of her chest. What the fuck was happening here? She ran through the door and shut it before going into the kitchen. “Steven, where are you?”

Mavis jerked her head towards the ceiling, somebody up there was moving about. Mavis pulled a knife out of the wooden block and rushed upstairs. “Adel, are you alright in there, sweetie?”

Her door was open slightly. Through the crack, Mavis caught rapid movement on her daughter’s bed, she ran in there when Mavis heard a terrified gasp from Adel. Her daughter was kneeling on the bed, wearing nothing but a pair of black stockings. Mavis’s mind slipped a gear at the sight of something that bore a passing resemblance to her son’s thick hands gripping Adel’s hips as he slammed into her whilst grunting and growling like an angry dog.

“This can’t be…”

She didn’t have chance to finish her sentence as a pair of thick hands circled her neck. She was spun around and came face to face with Steven. His crimson glowing eyes peered into hers. He opened his mouth and looked into a huge cavern full of sharp, splintered rock. Steven moved his face towards her.

“Leave her,” commanded a deep voice.

Steven sighed and turned her back around. The thing that looked like her son pushed Adel off the bed and she fell in a crumpled heap.

“You’ve killed my daughter, you evil thing!” she screeched. Mavis raised her hands, surprised to see she still held the knife. The woman frantically thrust the knife forwards.

The huge thing laughed and danced out of the way. His own hand flashed up and she watched him prise the blade out of her hand then throw it across the room. “You are a feisty one. I think I’ll keep you too.”

Mavis reeled back as it closed in. The monster wore her boy’s clothes, as he got nearer, Mavis gasped when she saw Terrence’s chest tattoo. This thing was her boy.

It ripped off her dress, then grabbed her hair and dragged her over to the bed. “A simple bite would do the job but I prefer to be more intimate.” He forced her head down. Mavis’s hysteric cries only subsided for just a moment when she noticed Adel resting her head on the bed, the girl’s crimson eyes staring at her.

Chapter Six

From where he stood, Ethan couldn’t see any part of his tent. He should be satisfied with the work he had put into disguising his new home but he just could not work up the enthusiasm to care about anything.

The news regarding the find in the caverns had spread all over the village. Ethan would have done anything to see those bones. He would have sold his mother to be able to spend some time down there alone with the remains of all those hunters. There was little chance of that happening. That Samuel Lane had made no secret over what Ethan had done to him.

Deep down, he guessed that most of the villagers would be privately applauding Ethan for having the balls to go through with something so audacious. Their combined sentiment didn’t exactly help Ethan out of this situation though. It was obvious that Lane wasn’t going to forget this incident anytime soon.

“I’m going to be stuck in here,” he murmured. Ethan sat down on a large rock and used a stick to draw numbers in the damp ground. The woodland didn’t feel like his territory anymore. This place now felt like a prison. He was all alone out here and away from all the activity in the village.

One certain activity that Ethan didn’t want to hear anymore was just how that lucky bastard, Dan Wilson had somehow managed to catch that Alison Clark. He did wonder how this fairy-tale romance would survive when her dad found out that he now had dual rights on his property. Ethan shivered, for the first time since he found out, he rather felt sorry for that lad. God knows how he would behave when he found out about his new girlfriend’s secret life.

He un-slung his pride and joy, removed the cover and pushed the rifle butt into his shoulder. Before he had collected the gear needed for a lengthy trip away from the house, Ethan had dug out his new scope and fixed it in place. Unlike his old one, this scope was a little more powerful, he didn’t often use it because it was bigger than his old one and had the tendency to snag the cover.

He swung the rifle to the left and stopped when he could just about make out the vague outline of stonework through the thick foliage. He grinned to himself. Ethan would have never seen the cottage from here with his old scope.

Ethan made his way along the narrow path that ran alongside the stream, keeping a firm hand on his pride and joy. He intended to get a good look at the new occupants of the cottage, mainly; he wanted to see if the woman was indeed as fit as the others in the village suggested.

There were, or course moral objections to his plan but he soon swept them aside at the thought of some cute mid-twenties woman slowly removing her clothes in front of the window. “You should be ashamed of even considering going down this route,” he muttered, leaping over the stream and scrambling up the other side of the banking. Ethan did feel slightly soiled but, it was harmless enough, more than likely, he wouldn’t see anything.

As he reached the top, Ethan saw all the upstairs lights blazing even without the use of the scope. “Please be in there.” He lifted the scope to his eye and found himself staring at a picture of Spongebob Squarepants

“I didn’t think it would be this good!” Ethan moved his rifle a little to the right. This scope was incredible, he actually felt like he was in that kid’s room. He found the white cot and saw a toddler, rolling a bright blue plastic rattle along the bars. Ethan took the scope from his eyes and blinked. “This is amazing. I wonder which room is hers.”

Before he could look through the other windows, Ethan heard the sound of a door crashing open. A couple of seconds later something heavy smashed through the toddler’s window and dropped to the ground.

“No fucking way!” he shouted. Ethan brought his shaking hands back up and managed to focus in on that shattered window. He moaned when he saw just that blue rattle in the cot. Ethan jumped up and sprinted out of the woodland, he crossed the road and leaped over the low fence and landed in their garden.

He saw the baby lying at an unnatural angle, on the edge of the lawn, close to the family’s car. Ethan opened the barrel and pushed in a pellet then snapped the gun shut. Whoever had done this fucking evil deed was about to die. He ground his teeth in fury, still not believing that anyone could have done such a heinous act. Ethan could not bear to look at that poor child as he hurried towards the front door.

Ethan stopped dead halfway across the lawn at the sight of a huge man, dressed in mud-streaked clothing stepping out from the house. The man’s blazing crimson eyes gazed down at the dead child. Ethan leaped to the side and crawled behind the garden shed. He knew that whatever that thing was, a human was a thing it wasn’t.

He shivered, unable to wrench his eyes away from the red-eyed monster as it slowly walked across to the child. It bent down and stroked his long fingers over the baby’s fragile body. Ethan softly gasped when he saw two more crimson-eyed figures run out of the house. Apart from the eyes, these two did look human. They dropped to the floor and crawled across to the monster, mewling like kittens. The thing slapped them away before turning around and running in the opposite direction. The remaining figures jumped up, crying. They spun around and chased after him.

Ethan took one deep shaking breath, trying to figure out what he had just witnessed. He brought the scope up to his eye, trying to see where they had gone but it was useless, all three figures had vanished into the night.

This was serious stuff. It needed fucking reporting. Ethan took a deep breath, feeling his very bones shaking. He leaned his rifle against the shed wall and took a step out into the open, keeping his gaze fixed on the black hills where those three figures had gone. He didn’t have a mobile but he guessed that the owners of the cottage must have a landline. Were those two people the owners? If that was the case, who killed their baby? His head spun with all these impossible questions.

He paused by the door and peered into the hallway. There was a phone right there but Ethan was reluctant to enter the house. He tried to work out just what he’d say to the authorities. “How the fuck would you explain this?” Ethan backed away, deciding to let somebody else ring this one in. There was no way he’d be able to convince anyone that he had nothing to do with this. The bastards would take one look at his combat clothing and the rifle. The fuckers would throw him in jail and swallow the bloody key.

Ethan hurried over to the shed, it was better to collect his rifle and get the fuck out of here. “Do you still want to sleep in your tent tonight?” He shook his head, there wasn’t a chance of that happening, he’d have to risk going home, just for tonight. Somehow, he doubted that Samuel Lane would come knocking in the middle of the night. He picked up his pride and joy; even if he did, Ethan would be ready for the bastard.

He couldn’t leave that poor kid like that though, he might have passed away but to leave the kid out in the open was just inhuman. Any of the night creatures could get at it. Ethan shuddered, what choice did he have? There was no way he’d be able to take the body into the house, not without leaving a shit load of evidence for the police to link him with the crime.

The baby would have to stay here. “I’m so sorry, kid. Honest, I reall…” The words died in his throat when he heard the sound of cracking and splintering coming from the dead child. He staggered back in terror when he saw the body jerking like someone was feeding a thousand volts into the body.

It sat up and swivelled its head until it faced Ethan. Twin spots of crimson lights rooted Nathan to the spot. He watched helpless and immobile as the creature awkwardly used its arms to push the legs bones sticking though its flesh back inside its body

The toddler jerked one leg forward. It stayed in that position for a moment before trying to move its other leg. Within a few seconds, it had appeared to have worked out a method of moving without falling over. It continued to stare at him, whilst drooling. Long ropes of bloodied saliva hung from both sides of its mouth. Ethan’s legs finally started to obey his commands when the toddler lowered its jaw to show off a mouthful of jagged pointed teeth.

Ethan reached for his pride and joy and stumbled away from the travesty, crying out as the thing turned and started to follow him, it was getting used to its unique method of locomotion and getting faster. He ran for the garden fence, confident that the thing wouldn’t be able to climb over it.

Despite his promise to go home, there was no way he intended to go the road way, those other three things went that way and he sure as fuck didn’t want to run into them. Ethan scrambled over the fence, crossed the road and slipped back into the woods. Now that he was surrounded by a familiar environment, he felt that he could try to at least calm down.

He scrambled down the banking, heading for his tent. He’d need to take his torch before heading home. Ethan thought that his gear should be safe until he came back tomorrow.

Ethan jumped over the stream and turned to look back up the banking. That baby was defiantly dead. He was sure about that bit. He scratched the back of his head, wondering if he might have imagined the whole episode. No, it really had happened.

That baby had come back to life and had chased him across the garden. “Well, you’re safe now,” he muttered. Ethan then saw a tiny shape standing up between two trees at the top of the banking. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

It walked forward then threw itself down the slope. “Oh, fuck this!” Ethan shouted. He turned and raced through the trees, not daring to look back. He didn’t need to, the creature was right behind him and catching up. It had obviously leaned how to move fast.

He ducked under a low branch but couldn’t stop himself from tripping up over a tree root sticking out of the hard packed ground. Ethan tumbled to the ground, his torch and his pride and joy slipped out of his hands.

Ethan saw the creature crawling through the undergrowth making straight for his fallen body. He rolled to the side and got back to his feet, crying out in pain when he found that he’d sprained his ankle in the fall. The creature was still drooling and growling. It stopped and lifted its arms up and folded back on its back legs. That thing was about to pounce!

The creature opened its mouth and gurgled in excitement. Ethan limped over to a dead tree, his eyes catching sight of a large flat rock. He heard the thing leaping for him. Ethan picked up the rock and turned around holding the rock in front of him. The toddler crashed into the stone and fell to the ground, dazed.

Ethan wasn’t about to allow it to get back up. He raised the rock above his head and brought it down as hard as he could onto the toddler’s head.

Chapter Seven

She felt her jaw crack as Georgina expelled the largest yawn so far today. It had been up against some serious competition, she hadn’t stopped yawning all morning. That didn’t surprise her, considering just how little sleep she had managed to get last night.

That fact did surprise her. Looking past the lumpy mattress, thin bed sheet and snoring husband, Georgina should have slept like a log. The bed was sheer luxury compared to what she was used to sleeping in at the digs.

It had been the unsettling and violent dreams that had kept her eyes wide open throughout most of the night. She hadn’t had such vivid dreams since the LSD incident back when she’d been a stupid student. With the bright sunshine warming her back, the whole notion of a middle-aged woman having a nightmare all seemed a little silly. For the life of her, Georgina could not remember a single detail of the dreams, only they scared the crap out of her.

Georgina locked the side door, walked around the back of the land rover, and opened the back to start unloading the equipment. She felt a little resentful to having to do all this donkey work alone. Her husband had conveniently asked her to drop him off outside a grocery store before she continued to their destination.

She gazed around the empty carpark, wondering why the cavern owner hadn’t turned up yet. He was supposed to meet them here five minutes ago. “What a great start,” she muttered. Thanks to their unpleasant meeting with those three idiots at the petrol station yesterday, Georgina had already taken a dislike to this shitty little village. What she had experienced since that meeting hadn’t exactly endeared her to this place. The staff at the hotel was surly and unpleasant, the locals just would not stop staring at her and now, the person who they had begged them to come wasn’t even here, knowing her luck, he probably would even show up.

Georgina pulled one of the arc lights out and leaned it against the car’s body. She shivered, for some strange reason; the woman could not shake the feeling that someone was watching her. She moved away from the vehicle and stared at the building behind her, wondering if somebody was inside and staring at her through a window. From where she stood, Georgina could only see the single window and that was around the side.

Her stupid imagination was playing with her mind again; she blamed that on lack of sleep. Georgina was about to carry on unloading the gear when her ears detected a rustling sound coming from a bank of thick shrubs growing along the side of the carpark. “Who’s there?” she asked. Georgina saw some small branches at the base of the bushes shake and a pitiful whine emerged from beyond the foliage.

It must be a dog or a cat in there, probably looking for something to eat. Her heart leaped when the whine suddenly changed to a deep growl. Georgina grabbed the arc light and held it out in front of her. That definitely sounded like a dog, a bloody big one as well.

The bushes then exploded into a frenzy of rapid movement, she listened with shock at the sound of what she thought was a large dog ripping into a smaller animal then, as soon as it started, the noises ceased and the bushes stopped moving.

Overcome with curiosity, Georgina put the arc light back and slowly walked over to the bushes. She crouched down and parted the branches. She reeled back as the vile smell of rotting meat assaulted her nostrils. She watched what looked like a white cat’s body deflate and melt as the sun’s rays bathed its body. Within seconds, all that was left was a bleached white skeleton. She had never seen anything like that in her life.

Georgina peered into the bushes, staring at the cat’s skeleton. She leaned in and picked up the skull and gazed at its teeth, they weren’t cat’s teeth. They were way too long and jagged. This was all too weird. Georgina pulled one of the teeth out and slipped it into her pocket, meaning to examine it later.

She turned her head and saw another car pull into the carpark. “Okay, so I was wrong,” she muttered, watching the large grey estate car park up next to her land rover. “It still won’t stop me from disliking this place.”

The man climbed out of the car, he smiled at Georgina and hurried over to her, grinning. “I’m so glad you could take time out of your busy schedule to have a look at our discovery,” he said, shaking her hand. “Are you alone? I thought there were two of you coming down.”

She nodded. “He won’t be a moment; William wanted to stop off at a shop.” She looked over to the entrance to the carpark and smiled. He’s here now,” she said, watching him walk along the path. The man had a folded paper tucked under his arm. Georgina followed the man over to the main gate, trying to keep up with his excitable chatter, her mind kept going back to what she had just seen in those bushes. It didn’t add up, who had ever heard of sunlight melting an animal? It must have been something else, Georgina had no clue what though and her sleep deprived mind refused to play ball.

“Here you go,” said William passing her an energy drink. “This should help you stay awake.”

She nodded. “Thanks.”

The man turned and shook William’s hand. “Thank you for coming.” He smiled at Georgina. “Thanks to both of you, I can’t tell you how exciting this is for us at the centre. Gosh, this will certainly put our little village on the map.”

She really disliked this little man, he creeped her out. Georgina suspected that beneath that thin veneer of naïve pleasantries, the man was a just another money grabbing shitpot. She may be wrong about him though, until her brain woke up and got to know him a little better, Georgina would keep her opinions to herself. Not that she’d share any of her thoughts about him with William. Despite his actions at the petrol stations and the fact that he’d been so pleasant and thoughtful, Georgina still believed he’d been naughty with that research assistant.

The man led her into the foyer. “Can I get you a drink or anything?”

William shook his head, “If it’s okay, we’d like to see the discovery first.”

“Of course!” he smiled back. “If you’d like to follow me, I’ll take you straight to it. I have closed the caverns down for the next few days, so you will not be disturbed. I’ll lose a significant amount of money, of course but I’m sure it’ll be so worth it.”

She was right about the man; he was a money-grabbing snake. It made her wonder just how far he would go to try to make money and whether or not the man really was trying to take them for a ride. She sighed and stared down at the floor, catching sight of the dirt. Was she was the only one who had noticed the muddy footprints running across the carpet.

Mr Calhoun ushered them towards a large metal gate, stretching across the entrance to the cavern. He inserted a key into the lock and pulled the gate open.

“Before we enter, Mr Calhoun, I’m a little confused about something.”

The man faced her. “Well, I’ll be happy to help, if I can.”

“You mentioned that the girl stumbled upon the cavern, close to this gate?”

He nodded. “That is correct, yes.” He pushed the gate open even further. “You can see it from here.”

“Has there been any instability in the caverns recently? You know, sudden rock falls for example.”

The man shook his head. “No, of course not, rest assured, our caverns are perfectly safe.”

Georgina nodded. “That’s okay then, if you’d like to lead the way?”  That settled it then. It had to be a bloody set up. Her suspicions were confirmed when the man led her into the cavern. William switched on his torch, started up his little humming motor and pushed past the pair of them. She stayed by the entrance and ran her fingers down the side of the hole, it hadn’t escaped her attention that there was no rubble of any kind near this hole, she doubted that the snake had cleared it away.

Her husband was crouched in front of one of the skeletons. “Georgina, come over here, you have got to see this!”

She was reluctant to enter this stupid cavern so obviously full of fake bones. Georgina glared at her husband’s back, not believing that he had fallen for this charade. She reserved the largest portion of disappointment for herself for actually believing that she had found a way to escape her cheating husband.

“Come on in,” he shouted. “This is just amazing.”

She turned on her own torch and ran the beam over the roof of the chamber, wondering what it used to be before the owner decided to pull this little gag. She could see no evidence of any electrical outlets and signs of paint or wiring. Georgina watched the snake gaze across at her husband; she wondered what was going through his mind.

Georgina shook her head and walked over to William. She might as well see what had got the man so excited. He’d probably found a price tag attached to one of the skeletons. She crouched beside him and William handed her a long finger bone. She rolled it along her fingers then brought the bone up to her nose. It smelled of old dust, mixed with something else, an acrid smell, resembling sulphur.

“One thing is clear to me, Georgina. Despite every evidence shouting at me that this is a set up, these certainly are real bones.” He strode up to the cavern owner. “I need to bring in higher authorities.”

The man smiled back, “Of course, I understand.”

“No, I don’t think you do, sir. You see, this could be the most important find this century. We are looking at the discovery of a new human species, given the preservation, this find could completely turn around our ideas on evolution.”

The man’s grin widened. “That’s sounds absolutely incredible.”

Georgina could almost see the snake adding up all the money this would bring him and his tourist spot.

“Not for you it isn’t,” continued William. “You see, there is no way that an entrance to this chamber could have magically appeared overnight. It really is impossible. That means that we are dealing with a contaminated dig.”

He walked back over to the pile of bones, leaving the owner standing with his jaw hanging open.

“William, how sure are you that these are genuine?”

He looked directly at her and grinned. “Oh, they are the real thing, Georgina,” he whispered. “Whether they originated from here or were put here is irrelevant.” He picked up a skull and showed her the jawbone. “We are definitely dealing with an undiscovered hominid and we are definitely going to make an absolute bloody fortune.

Georgina smile dropped from her face when she saw the shape of the teeth in the jawbone. She picked the tooth out of her pocket and compared it. The one she took out of the cat skull was a lot smaller but the shape and the wicked looking ridges were identical. Georgina stood up, picked out another skull, and saw the teeth were the same in this one as well. A cold shiver travelled up her back, wondering what it meant.

Chapter Eight

The cloudless dawn sky to the east looked as though God had attacked it with a scarlet paint set. Barry Hanson stopped his bicycle and gazed in wonder at the multitude of shades colouring the horizon. It were days like these where he so just loved his job as a paperboy.

Seeing such an awe-inspiring sight almost brushed away the unsettling notion that something terrible was happening in Colbeck. He mounted his bike and started to pedal, he ;should not have really stopped here. Jessup’s hill was just around the corner and if he didn’t get his speed up, he’d never reach the top.

Barry’s morning started out just as it was supposed to. His dad woke him, just before he left for work, leaving Barry a nearly cold bacon sandwich on the breakfast bar. The feeling and taste of congealed bacon grease coating his lips helped to keep him going as he cycled around the village on his early morning paper round.

The weird poo only began to hit the fan when he reached the last house, about half a mile down the road and close to the woods. He always looked forward to visiting Mrs Banks; the old dear always invited him in for a glass of orange juice and Barry could help himself to biscuits. He always thought that the extra fuel helped him climb this horrible hill.

As he climbed off his bike, dug out her Daily Mirror and Hello magazine, he saw that she wasn’t waiting for him by her garden gate. Her front door was wide open too. After a few repeated callings, he had left her deliveries on the doorstep and peddled away. Despite being practically friends, he never dare enter her house without Mrs Banks’s permission. He could go to jail for that.

Thinking back, Barry had seen nobody during his journey across the village, he knew it was early but he usually saw someone, whether it was the early morning dog walker or the postman. There had been no cars on the road either.

He reached the top of the hill, leaned his bike against the dry stone wall and used his hanky to wipe the sweat off his brow. The gradient had really floored him today. Barry turned around; he could see the woman’s rooftop from here. Maybe he should have gone in, just to check. She might have fallen and hurt herself. More than likely she had taken her poodle for a walk in the woods and just forgot to shut the door. He nodded, liking that idea. Barry could always check up on her after he had finished. There were only another three more papers to deliver.

“It’s downhill all the way home,” he said, grinning.

His delivery covered all the outlying houses and cottages in Colbeck. It was a real humdinger of a round but Barry relished the challenge, it was also the highest paid round and that was the real reason for doing it. As well as this paper round, Barry also helped at the garage on weekends and, if he was lucky, managed to work behind the newsagent’s counter after school.

Barry wanted a car. He was only fourteen but he always planned ahead ever since his parents started to give him pocket money. He had even helped to buy this bike. Barry tucked the hanky back into his pocket and mounted up.

It was the Biers farm next. Barry wasn’t too keen on delivering anything to that place. That pug-faced spawn of Satan lived there. Karl Briers took an instant dislike to Barry at primary school. Karl took great pleasure in finding new and exciting ways of making his life a misery. Two weeks ago, that boy had almost got away with stealing Barry’s bike. If it hadn’t been for the intervention of Karl’s father, he knew that he would have never seen that bike again.

“The only thing I’d like to deliver to that place is a letter bomb.” He muttered. The lad’s father might have forced Karl to give him back the bike but he only did it because the man knew that if he had not, then the newsagents would have cancelled his paper order.

He tried to calm his nerves as the farm’s outbuildings came into view. He’d do anything not to deliver to this rancid poohole. The place was so disgusting. Barry so felt sorry for their animals, they were all in such a sorry state. The only animals that the farmer looked after were his two German Shepards. They used to really scare Barry until he took the time to make friends with them. He waited when the farmer wasn’t around, of course. He wouldn’t have been too happy with seeing his two vicious guard dogs lolling around on the floor, wanting the paperboy to tickle their bellies.

The main house was just around the corner. He prayed there would be nobody about, especially that Karl. He slowed down, dismounted and dug through the sack for the man’s newspaper. Barry couldn’t hear any shouting, he took that as a good omen.

Barry stowed his bike behind a bush and slowly walked towards the main gate, keeping his ear open for any noise. It was a quiet as the grave though, even the smells didn’t seem so bad today. He stopped by the corroded steel gate, unlatched it and pushed it open.

This was so weird; it should not be so quiet. There really was no sign of life. Barry jumped over a muddy puddle and sprinted over to the front door, eager to get this nasty deed done and dusted. He pushed the paper through the letterbox and turned around, intending to run back to his bike.

Barry noticed what he thought was Fang, hiding under a scrapped transit van that the farmer used as a store for the winter kindle. He had always had a bit of a soft spot for Fang. He was the first of the farmer’s dogs not to try to bite him.

“Are you okay, boy?” he said, softly. The van was just past their sad excuse for a cowshed, but Barry daren’t shout, just in case somebody heard him. Besides, Fang had an amazing sense of hearing. Maybe he was mistaken; he saw no signs of movement. He tiptoed across the muddy drive, cursing as he overestimated the size of one puddle and ended up with the back of his trousers splashed with wet mud.

As he neared, Barry saw that it was the dog under there; he could make out both his ears and nose. “Are you okay under there, Fang? Come on, boy,” he said patting his knees. “I’ve no biscuits but I do have a Twix that you can have.”

He moaned softly when Barry noticed a sticky patch of blood, spreading out from under the dog’s stomach. “Oh no,” he sighed. “Oh no, what’s happened to you?” Barry daren’t go any closer, oh my, this was way too upsetting. He turned around and ran towards the house, not caring about the mud drenching his trousers. The farmer needed to know about this right now.

Barry reached the door and banged as hard as he could. He jumped when the door slowly opened. He peered into the filthy kitchen, there was nobody about. “Hello?” he shouted. “Is there anybody in there? It’s about your doggy, I mean Fang. I think he’s hurt.”

This was so not good. None of this was Barry’s business. If his father was anything like his potty son, then he probably beat the dog himself and if Barry didn’t move it then he’d receive the same.

He violently shook his head. That was just stupid. The farmer loved those dogs, he probably loved them more then he loved his son. Barry stepped into the kitchen, wrinkling up his nose at the smell of stale grease. He felt his own greasy breakfast wanting to jump out of his throat to join it. He hurried through the narrow kitchen and tentatively pushed open the end door and gazed into their family room.

“Is there anybody here?”

The room was packed with boxes full of useless junk. In the far corner next to the only other door was a metal table, overloaded with cans of spray paint, most still had the Colbeck repair shop logo stamped on the can. Barry just knew that Karl had not bought them. He saw no sign of life anywhere.

“This is none of your concern,” he whispered. Barry sighed and hurried out of the house, thankful to be away from that horrid place. If his mum saw the state of that house, she’d have a nervous breakdown. He turned around and saw his muddy footprints on top of the layers of muck already covering the tiles. They’d know that someone had been in here.

“Maybe they’ll think I’ve killed their doggy!” he gasped, wishing he’d never entered the house in the first place now. Barry closed the kitchen door, judging by their complete disregard for cleanliness, they probably wouldn’t even notice. He looked over to the van, unsure of what to do. He couldn’t leave the dog there, he just couldn’t. Barry hadn’t even checked to see if Fang was still alive.

“It’s not my problem,” he muttered, trying not to cry. Those other papers needed delivering and there was still the mystery of where Mrs Banks had got to. He rushed over to the main gate. At least Mrs Banks was kind to him.

He pulled his hand off the gate when Barry heard a single pitiful howl coming from behind him. “Oh no,” he cried out. Barry could not leave that poor doggy in this disease-ridden pesthole.

As he approached the van, he found that there was nothing underneath, no bloodied dog, nothing. He knew that the dog had been there, he certainly hadn’t imagined it. He raced around the side, thinking that perhaps, Fang had crawled away. There was nothing on the other side except more wet mud.

“I think I’m losing my mind.” Barry looked up, towards the cowshed and squinted, he did not believe this. The dog was in there. He could clearly see it lying in the straw, licking its legs. He grinned, it was obvious now, the silly dog must have knocked a tin of red paint on his back. He shook his head and smiled, not believing he had been so daft.

“The last papers await,” he said, walking over to the cowshed. He’d need to say hello to Fang before he left though.

As he approached the doors, he became aware of a very sour, rotting aroma coming from inside the building. Barry saw no sign of the dog. “Fang, where are you, boy?”

A single deep bark answered his cry.

That didn’t sound like either of the farmer’s dogs, he thought, frowning. The farmer only had the two. Barry shrugged. It had to be fang. He stepped into the cowshed, trying to catch sight of the dog.

The boy screamed when the doors slammed shut and he felt a multitude of hands pawing his clothes. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could make out over a dozen human shapes sliding along the floor like grotesque serpents.

“Did you like my dog impression, Barry?” inquired a soft voice just by his ear.

Barry spun around and shrieked at the sight of the crimson-eyed farmer smiling at him. This couldn’t be happening to him, it had to be a nightmare, Barry must have tripped up and was only dreaming all this.

“Woof.”

The man pushed Barry back. He yelped as he stumbled over a moving body. The others all suddenly turned and moved towards the boy.

“Leave him alone!” boomed another voice.

All the figures around Barry whined as one. They got to their feet and raced over to the far wall. He sat up and saw the farmer had yet to move away. A huge man jumped over a wooden wall and strode up to the farmer.

“I see you still have a drop of defiance running through your thin blood.”

The farmer backed away.

“I think it’s too late to show your humility,” replied the giant, closing the distance between them.

“I’m sorry!” said the farmer, dropping to his knees. He bent over and started to kiss and lick the man’s muddy boots.

“Enough!” shouted the giant. “Get away from me, you vile slug.” The man then turned to stare down at Barry. “You are not from my flock.” He took one step towards the boy, leaned down and picked up Barry by the front of his shirt.

“Please, let me go. I’m only a paperboy.”

The giant nodded. “I am correct, you are unsuitable. You cannot join us.” The giant gently placed him back on the straw.

The giant turned away. Barry scrambled back. He had no idea what was going on here but there was no way that he was going to stay.

“Unlike my brethren, you are an outsider.” He spun around and raised his arms in the air. “My darlings, you have been beseeching for sustenance? I offer the outsider to you. Go, go feed on the child.”

Barry shrieked as a dozen crimson-eyed creatures fell on his body.

Chapter Nine

When his eyes flickered open and the beige blur eventually coalesced to form an off-white artex ceiling, Dan became aware of two anomalies. He had no idea whose house he’d crashed in and last night’s memories had just vanished. Dan ran his tongue along his teeth and failed to find evidence of any leftover takeaway food, coupled with a lack of hangover, he seriously began to worry.

He slowly blinked, then stared at the light-fitting directly above his head, realising that the deep-seated fear had not just landed on him, that unease had been with him, clinging to his skin like an unwanted coat ever since he woke up. He now found that irrational panic exacerbating.

“What the fuck is wrong with me?”

Dan cried out when a slender arm suddenly landed on his thigh. He jerked around and saw a large mass of matted blonde hair sticking to the white pillow beside him. Just how much had he drunk last night not to remember pulling the girl of his dreams?

“You have already explored that country lane, you knob.” He spluttered, still not believing this. Even that unease lifted, just for a moment when he lifted the quilt and saw acres of firm sensual, naked flesh. He allowed his eyes to drink in the glory, while he wracked his memories, trying to locate the beginning of this drama.

No matter how hard he tried, nothing but a crimson mist jammed his thoughts.

“Fuck,” he sighed.

Dan slowly sat and gazed around the strange bedroom, looking for any object that might trigger his stubborn memories and allow him to actually remember if they really did make love last night. Their intermixed clothes were scattered across her carpet. He did notice the amount of dark clay adhering to the soles of both their boots.

Alison moaned in her sleep. Dan turned and automatically ran his fingers down the side of her face. He jumped when she cried out and gasped. Oh crap, the poor lass must be having a nightmare.

His own unease slowly crept back up his spine, making him shiver. Dan lay back down and wrapped his arm around her warm body. “Alison, wake up.” She moaned again before turning around to face him.

“Hello,” she whispered. “Please hold me, I’m so scared.”

He gazed into her dark green eyes and saw tears bleeding out from under the orbs. He blinked rapidly when he saw they were the colour of bright red arterial blood. Alison open her mouth, she choked back a terrified sob and violently pushed him back.

Dan fell back and landed face down on her pale green rug. The dam broke; he attempted to scramble under the bed, trying to stop the cascade of last night’s recollections overwhelming his mind. “What have we done?” he said, sobbing out loud. The terrible fear of what he saw flow into Terrence’s screaming body now gripped his heart with a freezing-cold iron fist.

“Get away from me, you monster!” she wailed, running to the door.

“Alison!” he shouted, looking over the edge of the bed. “Please don’t leave me here. I’m not a monster, it fucking controlled me. That thing climbed inside my head.” He shuddered and whipped his head around feeling his stomach wanting to eject the contents of his stomach.

“Oh god!” she whimpered.

Dan felt her arms wrap around his chest.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I opened my eyes, I didn’t see you,” she stammered. “I saw the face of that thing leering at me.” She squeezed him tight. “I dreamed about that dirty fucking monster all night. It was doing horrible stuff to me.” Alison buried her face in his shoulder and wept.

He took several deep breaths, listening to her soft cries. The need to comfort the girl helped him to adjust to their plight. His stomach began to settle and so had his missing memories. That unease had not moved though. It stayed with him, eating into his body, and making Dan question his very sanity. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Alison.” Hearing those words spoken aloud did alleviate some of the fear. The dark feeling lost some more of its potency when she slid around and gently brushed her lips across his.

“Thank you for not running out on me.”

Dan pushed her back. “Why would you even say that? I’d never leave you, Alison.”

She kissed him again. “I’m sorry; I guess last night’s nightmare still hasn’t left me. I feel like a frightened mouse, Dan.”

He nodded. “So do I and it isn’t just from what happened. I feel as though something has taken up residence in the back of my head.” Dan desperately tried to stop his tears from flowing. “Something very cold and fucking evil.”

“What’s happening to us?”

He shook his head, unable to answer her. Dan kissed her then slowly stood up and walked over to the window. He noticed a couple of people aimlessly wandering about on the street below. There was no purpose to their actions. They both looked as though they were still asleep. He knew the old man; he used to help out at the butcher’s shop until last year. The man always had a cheery smile and an ocean of silly jokes ready to dispense to anyone willing to stop.

The man just fell to his knees and rolled over, the double-glazing muted the sounds, but Dan just knew that the old man was crying. The other person, a youth with bleach blond hair stumbled past before running over the road and disappearing into the launderette.

When he turned back around, he found that Alison had already dressed.

“We can’t stay here,” she said. Alison looked at her wall clock, tutted then dug out her phone. “I’m not sure what time my parents are due home.”

“Does here not like guests?”

Alison now looked as though Dan had told her that he’d just slaughtered a basket of kittens. She hurried over, picked his clothes off the floor, and pushed the bundle into his hands.

“This is the first time I’ve been in my bedroom for over a week. Yes, dad does not like guests.” She kissed him once. “If he found you in here,” she dragged her eyes down his body.” If he found you in here with nothing on, he’ll try to kill you.”

“Okay, we can go to my house, if you like. We need to work out what to do.” He dropped his clothes on the bed and reached for his socks. “It’s okay, my parents are nice.” Dan bit his lip when he realised what he had just said. “Oh crap. Sorry, I didn’t mean it to sound like that.”

Alison sighed and sat on the bed beside him, she passed him his other sock and rested her arm on his leg. “It’s okay, baby.” She slowly caressed the inside of his thigh. “My dad is a fucking bastard and I wish he’d just die, and I want my mum to fall into his grave for letting him do what he does.” Alison stiffened at the sound of a door downstairs slamming shut.

“Hurry up,” she hissed.

Dan threw on the rest of his clothes, watching Alison rush over to the door. She pulled it open and peered through the narrow gap.

“They’re both in the kitchen. I think I can hear mum crying.”

He pulled on his boots, feeling guilty when some of the dried mud fell onto her carpet. “Is it safe to leave now?” Try as he might, Dan could not clear away the feeling that he’d just worked out the reason why this gorgeous young woman shunned any form of relationship. He hoped to God that it wasn’t true.

“They’ve shut the door. Come on, we need to go right now.”

Alison dragged him out of her bedroom and he quietly followed her down the stairs. As he reached the bottom, he heard the sound of weeping but it wasn’t a woman crying. He looked at Alison who in turn, gazed at the shut kitchen door. She shook her head from side to side before grabbing the cuff of his shirt and dragging Dan out of the house. She left the front door open and practically ran up the garden path. Alison kept glancing back.

“It’s okay, they’re not following us.” He followed her through the gate, running to keep up with her. “Slow down, I still haven’t fastened up my laces.”

She suddenly stopped dead, took one more look over Dan’s shoulder before leaning against a brick wall. “Why was my dad crying, Dan? That bastard has never cried not fucking once. Even when…” Her voice tailed off.

“What’s wrong?” He followed her gaze and saw a middle-aged man, sitting on a doorstep with his head in his hands. Even from where they were, Dan could hear him crying. He looked across the street and saw at least a dozen other villagers either crying or huddled against walls.

“Oh fuck,” she muttered, “They are all feeling what we feel.”

“Yeah, like we’re all sitting on death row.” He stood and took hold of Alison’s hand. “Now you know why your parents were crying.”

“Take me to your house, please.” She looked into his eyes. “Do you know a short cut, away from all these people?”

“Why?”

“Just look at them, Dan. Everyone is staring at us, that’s why. They know what we’ve done. What we have released.”

His blood ran cold when he saw three familiar young men striding towards them. Dan tightened his grip on Alison’s hand as Samuel Lane marched across the empty road and stopped directly in front of him.

“You have fucking killed us all, you stupid little shit.” The man glared at the pair of them. “Why couldn’t you just leave alone?”

“My family have joined him,” muttered Karl. He sighed. “They’ll come for the rest of us when it gets dark.”

Dan opened his mouth.”

“Don’t even bother trying to explain,” Samuel hissed. He turned around and pushed the other two across the road. “If I see you two again, while the sun is still in the sky, I kill you both myself.”

Dan dragged Alison away, heading towards the park, aware that every villager in sight was now staring at them. He didn’t need to be a mind reader to know that they all agreed with what Samuel had just spat out.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” she whispered.

“Look, don’t you fret, sweetheart. We can figure this out; we just need some quiet and a bit of time. I promise you that my mum and dad will stick with us.” He remembered the frightened face of that old butcher and suddenly saw the image of his dad hiding under the kitchen table while his mum had pressed her body up against the washing machine muffling her screams by pushing a tea towel into her mouth.

“We’re nearly there,” he said. “Our house is the last terraced one. Can you see the tall bright blue fence? I helped to paint that with my dad when I was about seven.” The sound of his voice distracted Dan from thinking what he would discover when he opened the front door. “You should have seen the state of me. “I looked like a tiny purple alien.”

“Wait!” she said, pointing to the side of him. “Look at that old woman. She doesn’t look like the sky is about to fall on her head.”

Dan stopped and watched the woman slowly stroll over to the lake in the middle of the park. She halted by the edge, opened a clear plastic bag, and emptied some bread crusts onto the water’s surface. Alison was right; she didn’t look as though she had a single care in the world.

“I know her. She moved into the house opposite ours about a year ago.”

“She’s not local?”

Dan shook her head. “No, my mum told me that their family moved up from south London.”

“Do you think it means anything?”

He gazed into her troubled face; no doubt, Dan looked as fucked up to her as he did to Alison. “I can’t think straight. Come on, I feel so exposed out here, let’s get to my house.” Dan led her out of the park and crossed over the street. There were a few more villagers close by, all huddled around a stationary milk float. After the glares they received earlier on, Dan had no wish to undergo that trauma again.

Mrs Crabtree, the old woman who lived two doors down, chose that moment to open her front door. She stood there, clad in her pink dressing gown and gazing in confusion at her doorstep. “Sweetheart?” she said to Dan as he hurried past her gate. “Have you seen the milkman? He’s not usually this late.”

He pointed behind him, flashed the woman a nervous smile and pulled Alison into his garden.

“There was nothing wrong with her either.”

“Yeah, I noticed that,” he said, reaching for the door handle. “Mrs Crabtree has lived in our village for over thirty years.” He opened the door and pulled her inside.

The aromas of cooking bacon and eggs for his father’s breakfast and the sound of his sister’s annoying moaning were absent. He looked up at the wall clock as he entered the kitchen. This time yesterday, they were all here. His unease gripped his throat, why should he have thought that just because he’d returned to familiar surroundings that everything would magically be all better?

His mum wasn’t hugging a kitchen appliance with a tea-towel stuffed in her mouth but he felt that, wherever she was, she probably wanted to do that. Alison hadn’t moved from out of the hallway. “It’s okay, you can come in, if you like.”

She ventured into the kitchen and looked around, her eyes finding a family snapshot of them on holiday at Butlins a few years ago. It was the only picture in the house where was Chelsea was smiling.

“You’re a proper family,” she murmured.

Dan hurried over and brushed his fingers through her hair. “And you’re now part of it.” He said, smiling. “My mum will adore you, Alison. You’ll see. As soon as this weirdness is over with, we’ll start from fresh.” He kissed her. “Everything is going to be all right.” Dan pulled out Chelsea’s seat and invited her to sit down.

“I’m going to check upstairs. I won’t be long.” Dan left her in there and rushed out into the hallway. Wondering where he had dug up all that blind optimistic rubbish. Deep down, Dan knew that whatever was going on, it was a bit more serious than some minor quarrel with the neighbours or getting involved in a pub fight. As each moment passed, that unease ate into him like a malignant cancer, threading its way through every part of his body.

He and every other local were going to fucking die. The monster that he had helped to release was coming for them all. Dan reached the top of the stairs and crouched down. Through the open kitchen door, he saw Alison tracing her finger along the lines in the patterned tablecloth. No matter what happened, he decided there and then that he would do anything to make sure that his girlfriend didn’t come to any harm.

“I’m not going to let anything hurt you, my sweet,” he whispered.

“Yet you let that fucking monster get inside my body!”

Dan spun around and staggered into the wall when he saw Terrence leaning over him. “You killed me, just like you have killed everybody else.”

He shook his head, refusing to believe that he was seeing this. “No, no way, God, I’m sorry Terrence. I didn’t mean any of this to happen.”

Terrence leaned back and opened his coat. “My body is bursting at the seams, Dan. I’m too small for the master. He needs a bigger body. Oh god, you have no idea how much pain I am in.” Terrence grabbed the banister. “I want him to leave me right now, that way, at least I’ll have rest.”

His taut skin, stretched tight over bulging muscle and bone, started to split. Pale yellow, foul smelling glutinous fluid seeped out of the seams and dripped onto the carpet, eating into the weave like strong acid.

“Oh no!” Terrence screeched, “He’s waking up, he knows I’ve disobeyed his commands.”

Dan watched in horror as Terrence’s body continued to inflate while he howled in agony. He slammed his arm over his face as the lad’s body detonated, spraying Dan in wet lumps of scarlet gore.

He yelped when he felt something touch his foot. Dan opened his eyes and looked in astonishment at his hands; he wiped his fingers down the side of his face. What the fuck had just happened? Where was Terrence and why was he now clean? There was no evidence that Terrence had been in the house at all.

His mum and dad stood in front of him. They held each other’s hands. Dan then saw Alison standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up at the three of them.

“I think we need to talk, son,” said his dad.

Dan slowly nodded, seeing the same haunted expression on both his parent’s faces. He wondered where his sister was.

Chapter Ten

He didn’t like any of this; the woods should not be so quiet. Ethan looked up through the tree canopy, trying to see any bird activity. It unnerved him to feel so alone in here. Despite hunting and trapping some of the wildlife, Ethan still believed that he felt a link to the animals. Unlike the rest of those retards in the village, Ethan was at one with nature, he respected his environment.

Nothing had moved, save for the small branches and leaves, swaying in the breeze, ever since Ethan had stepped back into the only place in the village where he felt comfortable. He passed one of the picnic tables, meaning to venture towards his domain, he turned, hurried back over to the table and sat down, staring along the gravel footpath. This area of woodland now felt as empty as his normal haunts. He’d seen nobody on his way to the woods and so far not one other person passed him in here.

“There’s no squirrels around,” he said.

Ethan had not mentioned anything about the events of last night to another soul. Who the fuck would believe him anyway? After his lucky escape from whatever the fuck had chased him, Ethan had taken the precaution of locking himself in his bedroom for the rest of the night. He had only sneaked back downstairs to raid the fridge when he was sure that his parents had finally gone to bed.

His mum and dad had kept him awake for a good few hours with their rowing. That was unusual; Ethan hadn’t heard them arguing for years. Through the bedroom door, he had managed to catch some of it. Apparently, his mum wanted them to move back to Manchester. Ethan was too stressed out with his own shit, to actually care as to why mum had a sudden change of heart. He always thought both his parents loved this quaint and pleasant little village.

The picture of Samuel Lane knocking on their door, with naked lust in his eyes, all ready to molest his mum had ran through his mind whilst listening to the pair of them shouting at each other. It had occurred to Ethan that perhaps that bastard had indeed been to his house while he had been out. That idea had gone straight into the bin, if that had been the case then Ethan would have been sitting down there with them, with his dad demanding to know the reasons for his actions.

His dad had always warned him that if Ethan even considered using his rifle on another human, no matter what the provocation, then his dad would be the one to call the police.

“You’re such a fucking idiot,” he whispered. Ethan picked his pride and joy off the picnic table and wondered just how he’d live with himself if this was ever taken off him. It did feel more than strange to be sitting in such a public area, holding his rifle. Then again, nothing that had happened to him since yesterday felt remotely normal.

“Come on, you coward. You know the real reason why you’re back in here.” Ethan jumped off the table. He placed the rifle back in its cover. It felt comfortable to have the weapon in his hands but he believed it would be next to useless against what had chased him last night.

He pulled out his granddad’s bayonet. Ethan had stolen this wicked looking piece of hardware from out of his dad’s private chest that he stored up in the attic, three years ago. Ethan hadn’t thought that he’d miss it. His dad hadn’t been up there in years.

It had taken Ethan a good few weeks to fashion a sturdy handle to compliment the blade, he had no wish to sully the superb design with a sawn off broom handle and a load of masking tape. Just like the animals he killed, Ethan knew that he had to respect his dead grandfather.

“I know you would have approved of what I did to your war trophy, granddad.” He drew the blade across the scarred table, cutting into somebody’s carved initials. His modified bayonet easily sliced through the wood. Ethan nodded to himself. He knew from experience that this could cut through flesh just as easily.

It was time to get this over with. Ethan set off away from the picnic tables, towards where he killed that baby thing. He could feel his pounding heart, cracks and whistles went off in the back of his head. God, he was fucking terrified of finding out what had happened to the creature thing.

Ethan had caught just a couple of hours of exhausted sleep in the early hours of this morning. After his parents had quietened down, and he’d filled his face with some left-over roast beef slices and some trifles, he spent the rest of the night trying to put the pieces together. He spent hours, trying to make sense of what he had seen and what had chased him in here.

He might as well have just banged his head against a brick wall. Every conceivable explanation felt as though he had just lifted the plot out of some crappy horror movie. Ethan stopped a few feet away from that large flat stone. “I know what I fucking saw,” he snarled.

The rock was right there, just where he had dropped it but there was no sign of what had chased after him. “I know what I fucking saw!” he repeated. Had the woodland night creatures made off with it? He sighed and forced his feet to move a little closer. As Ethan neared the stone, he did notice something not quite right. Some kind of black goo coated one side of some of the leaves close to the stone. It reminded Ethan of thick oil.

Maybe the oil was the thing’s blood and the woodland creatures did indeed run off with the body. Ethan walked up to the stone, daring himself to lift it up. There was no way that he was going to put his fingers anywhere near that rock. Instead, he pushed the blade under, levered up the stone and used the tip of his boot to flip the stone onto its other side.

Ethan threw his hand against his nose and jumped away as the rays of the morning sun ate into the flattened head, turning the bloodied flesh into bubbling blackened tar. He turned away and spewed up the remains of the scotch egg that he took out of the fridge before he left the house.

He slowly turned back, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. “It just fucking melted,” he gasped. Not all those ridiculous theories that his over-tired mind came up with at four o’clock this morning seemed so stupid now.

All that remained after the sun’s cleansing rays had scoured the area were a few bits of broken skull and some teeth lodged in the jaw. Natural curiosity overcame his fear when Ethan saw those wicked, pointed, ridged teeth. He crouched down and turned the bone over with the tip of his bayonet, watching the sunlight sear away the bits of meat still clinging to the jaw.

Ethan did not want to think what would have happened to him if this mutilated baby had managed to sink those pointed fangs into his flesh. Despite its size, he was doubtful that he would have been able to survive the assault. “Would I have really died though?” he wondered.

There was no way that the toddler could have survived that fall, that thing just had to be dead. He imagined that huge monstrous thing picking the kid out of his cot and slicing through his tender skin with a long fingernail before launching him out of that window.

It had contaminated the kid. That evil fucker was out there, spreading this weird sickness to the rest of the villagers. Ethan flipped over another bone piece, leaning back as the sun boiled away some more flesh. It all made sense now, no wonder he had seen nobody about, they must be hiding from the light.

He jumped to his feet. Why the fuck was he still here? Ethan had to get out of this bloody village before the sun set. The thought of all those locals behaving like that changed kid made his bowels loosen.

Ethan gripped his bayonet and snarled, just wishing for one of them to emerge from behind a tree and go for him, he’d show them not to mess with a proper hunter. Ethan then looked at the blade and sighed. He must be missing part of his brain to think that this would stop one of them. What use was his bayonet against something that couldn’t die?

For the second time in two days, Ethan cursed his decision never to buy into the modern obsession with mobile phones. He could have warned his parents’ right here and now. “If they would have even believed me,” he muttered.

The ambient light under the trees dimmed as a dark cloud drifted in front of the sun. The desire to leave this ominous place increased as he heard the woods around him come alive with the sound of leaves rustling and twigs snapping.

One by one, pairs of tiny crimson lights appeared in the undergrowth in front and to both sides of him. He didn’t need to turn to know they were behind him as well.

“Oh fuck,” he stammered, the realisation hit him that these lights must belong to the creatures that dined on that changed toddler after he had ran off. “I am so dead!”

A badger and two rats burst through the foliage directly in front of him. He slashed out blindly, catching one of the rats and slicing through the rodent’s body. The other two streaked towards his legs. The thought of those terrible teeth ripping through his flesh spurred him into action. Ethan leaped over the badger and squealed when the rat spun around and jumped at him. He jerked backwards and swung his leg, catching the rat in its underbelly. He felt the rat’s fragile bones snapping before it fell between two exposed tree roots, twitching its legs.

Ethan’s sudden movements acted as a trigger for the rest of the animals to explode through the bushes. He scrambled up the banking aware that the masses swarm of tightly packed furry bodies would soon be crawling all over him. There was no way that he’d be able to outrun the fuckers.

A gasp of naked relief escaped his mouth at the sight of that beautiful sun breaking through the cloud cover. He managed to reach the top of the hill, never before had he been so happy to see those picnic tables.

He turned around; panting and saw that the animals had melted back into the wilderness. Ethan raced for the gate, desperate to get out of this fucking place before the sun went back behind the clouds.

Chapter Eleven

There wasn’t a chance that Georgina would admit this to William, but she was now so glad her husband brought her along. Staring at all those bones made her feel like a starving cat locked in a fish market. This is what she lived for. Georgina suppressed a grin. She hadn’t felt that joyous buzz ever since her first Egypt dig over three decades ago.

As with all new discoveries, the uncovering of every new piece brought with it a torrent of questions. Until now, she had relished the prospect. Georgina turned over the femur. She took one more picture, before placing it back into its original position. So far, every question asked only brought on a flood of more bloody, seemingly unanswerable questions.

Georgina got to her feet and brushed a little amount of dust off her canvas trousers. It bothered her that the whole chamber was remarkably clean. “William, you said you’d have an answer for me ten minutes ago.”

Her husband stopped his hum in mid tune and peered over the top of his laptop’s screen. He frowned. “I think so, but I’m not happy with these results, despite running the test twice. I really should run it again before releasing the data. None of this is making any sense.”

“Releasing the data?” she spluttered. “Did you even say that, William? I am your wife, not a lecture hall full of kids. Will you just spit it out, as for not making any sense, nothing about this discovery makes any sense.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait for a few more minutes? I really should run it again.”

“Don’t you give me your over-cautious twaddle. I know how thorough you are, you wouldn’t have made a mistake once, never mind three times.”

“If you insist,” he replied. “But I’m not sure that you’re going to like this, Georgina. Give or take a couple of centuries; the bones that I’ve examined are about a thousand years old.”

Had she just heard that correctly? That meant that these skeletons weren’t even prehistoric. “That is surprising. Judging by the decay, I was hoping for the last ice age.”

“I’m going to run the test again anyway but I don’t believe the findings will alter significantly. Georgina, there’s something else too. You were quite correct. Apart from the anomalies regarding the dental structure, these bones are most definitely human.”

If they found a new species, the pair of them would be set up for life. The media would go crazy, at least for a few weeks. Even so, Georgina wasn’t about to give up her dream of going back to Egypt, not just yet. This was still a significant find and the strange teeth only deepened the mystery. The tabloids would just love that, she smiled to herself, especially if she showed some journalist the tooth she pulled out of that cat skull.

“I’m sure the lab results will confirm my findings.” He took another look at the jawbone in his hand. “It is most curious.”

“I can’t explain the teeth either.”

“No, it’s not just that, Georgina,” he replied, shaking his head. William stood up and hurried over to the opening, he looked in both directions before turning around. “I know that I said that our greedy cavern owner had placed all the bones in here. Looking at the evidence, I no longer believe that it the case.” He held up his hand. “Yes, I know what I said about this opening and I still stand by that theory. Even, so, I still think that all these unfortunate souls died in here.”

“I’m sorry; I can’t follow your thinking, William, where is the evidence to support this?”

William’s face broke into a grin. “That’s because you haven’t noticed the markings yet. Also, because you assumed the bones were older than you thought, the paradox hasn’t hit you just yet.” He rushed over and leaned over the woman. He picked up a skull and dropped it into her hands. “It’s been picked clean. In fact, I’m willing to wager that there isn’t a scrap of flesh left of any of these bones.”

She shrugged. “Why should that surprised you? According to your data, they are over a thousand years old. Time, moisture and animals would have removed all soft organic material.”

“Not all of it,” he said, shaking his head. “Can you not see how clean the chamber is? Plus, I’ve not seen evidence of any animal intrusion. If the wildlife had broke into this chamber, they would have scattered these bones throughout this chamber. I think that they ate each other. It is the only thing that does make sense.”

She paused, thinking about what he’d just said. He was correct, at least about the animals. Georgina then chuckled to herself “Oh dear, you haven’t thought that theory through. You must be slipping. What about the last person, did he eat himself?” Georgina shone the torch beam on the skull and saw the deep grooves. William was right, she had seen marking like these on the other bones but none were as deep as the grooves in this skull. She frowned; it would take an animal with considerable bite strength to leave that mark.

She sighed, yet more unanswered questions. She placed the torch on the floor while she put the skull back.

“What is that?” asked her husband. He dropped to his knees, grabbed her torch and shone it further into the crushed up bones. “I think I can see something,” he groaned, pushing his arm through the bodies. “Got it!” he grinned, triumphantly. William pulled his arm clear and opened the palm of his hand to display a large golden coin. “I can’t believe how heavy it is.” He passed the coin to her and pushed the torch through a gap in the bones. “There’s more of them in there, Georgina, a lot more.” He jumped to his feet. Come on, let’s get the rest of the equipment.”

She turned the heavy coin over in her hands, trying to work out the age. She had never seen anything like this before. The marksmanship in the design was far more advanced than anything she had seen before. “William, I don’t understand this.” She gave him back the coin. “This is modern, it must be, the technology to craft this did not exist a thousand years ago.”

“I know,” he replied. “I noticed that as soon as I pulled it out. Granted, a highly skilled metal smith might have, over time, produced a single coin.” William looked back towards the pile of bones. “I’m willing to bet that this coin isn’t unique.” He hurried over to the opening. “Come on, Georgina, let’s see what else we can find buried under all those bones.”

Georgina pocketed the coin, feeling its weight as she followed him out of the caverns and into the foyer. She saw no sign of the cavern owner, for that, she was thankful. Georgina shuddered at how that awful man would react when he found out about the valuable trinkets. Her husband made his way to the main exit. He seemed oblivious to the danger. Did he not realise that they were strangers in this village? They knew nothing about the owner, apart from the fact that he was planning on getting rich with the dig. “And my husband has scuppered that plan,” she said.

They really should call the museum and fill them in. The authorities needed to know about this right away. “Before an excitable rabble of villagers made off with a national treasure,” she muttered darkly. “Shit, I’ve left my mobile in my coat pocket.” Georgina glanced behind her before hurrying towards the door. She would ring them when she helped her husband bring in the rest of the gear.

That made sense; she hadn’t seen the other pieces herself yet. Georgina leaned against the door, blinking in the bright sunlight. She watched William unload the last few pieces of their equipment.

He picked up the remaining arc light and passed it to her. “Have you seen the owner about?”

Georgina shook her head. “I think he’s in his office, probably a bit pissed off because you shouted at him.”

“You’d better take this one back to the chamber and start to set them up. I’ll bring the rest of the gear inside. I’d rather not leave that chamber empty for longer than we have to.”

She nodded and hurried back, deciding to have a quick look herself before giving the museum a call. Georgina would feel a lot safer if she knew a few more familiar faces were on their way. “As long as they don’t bring that woman,” she growled.

Georgina laid the last of the lights next to the others that they’d brought in earlier. Why did she have to go and spoil her mood by thinking about that woman? For the first time in months, she was actually enjoying the company of her husband. Despite their major differences in their work method, the pair still made a great team.

She tried to imagine him engaging that dizzy bitch in conversation involving something a little deeper than hair colouring or which character on Coronation Street had just had a bust up. It would not gel. Georgina’s imagination just wasn’t that strong. Her husband needed mental stimulation as well as physical.

Georgina heard footsteps behind her and assumed that William had returned with the rest of the equipment.

“You can’t provide him with either, Georgina.”

She yelped and spun around and gasped in utter astonishment at the sight of Trisha Campbell standing over her. Tight black leather panties clung to her flesh like a second skin. Trisha wore nothing else. She stretched out her arm and showed Georgina the thin whip clenched in her tight fist.

“I wore this little number for your husband, the first time we met up,” Trisha giggled. “Of course, he had no idea until we got to my apartment and I took off my heavy coat. The woman crouched down. “Oh my god! You should have seen his eyeballs pop! Not surprisingly, the man came almost as soon as I released that monster from his pants. Okay, maybe not straight away, he did after a couple of rapid strokes though.” She giggled. “His eyes popped again when I licked his semen off my fingers.”

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Georgina gasped. How the fuck had she managed to get past William without him seeing? Oh god, unless he already knew about her! “Get the fuck out of here before I ram that whip right up your twat!” Georgina jumped up; she grabbed the closest heavy object and ran at her tormenter.

The woman just danced to the side, easily avoiding her clumsy movements. “Admit it, Georgina; you have failed as a woman. William told me that he still adores you, he loves you so much that it aches deep down.” Trisha ran behind the pile of bones. “You’d prefer to caress these dusty pieces of crap, rather than let that man satisfy you.” She sighed, “Oh god, he sure knows how to do that.”

“Why are you doing this to me?” Georgina threw the skull at her. “Get the fuck out of our lives!”

Trisha just smiled and slowly shook her head. “Not a chance. While you were busy examining dead things, William was busy examining me.” She squeezed her breast and released a long theatrical moan. “His huge cock was filling my wet hole every single night.”

Georgina screamed and ran at Trisha, jumping over a pile of bones. A thighbone, sticking out of the pile, caught her ankle. She stumbled and fell. An avalanche of falling bones tumbled down, burying the woman. Thick dust stopped her from calling out and she fell back, choking. All Georgina could hear was the sound of that woman’s manic laughter.

A set of strong bony fingers wrapped around her wrist. Georgina coughed and jerked back, the arm was just too strong. Weeping in terror, the arm pulled her free of the bones. Georgina blinked and wiped the dust out of her eyes.

“William?”

His concerned face stared back down at her. “There’s nobody else in here, Georgina, apart from the owner. He’s in his office, muttering. I saw him as I passed his office. Judging by the amount of glass all over his carpet, I think that he just had a bit of a tantrum.” He crouched down and used his hand to gently brush a lock of blonde hair out of her face. “Come on, you’re worrying me now. “What’s just happened?”

Tears streamed down her face, she couldn’t help herself. Just the thought of that tarty cow taking advantage of her husband was just too much. “Why did you have to go sleep with that dirty Trisha?” She sputtered out.

The blood drained from his face. “Oh fuck.” He reached towards her.

“Get away from me!” she squealed. “I don’t want you anywhere near me.”

He stood up and turned around. William walked over to the pile of equipment by the opening; he stooped and picked up his jacket. “I can only assume that you have been reading my messages, or at least some of them.” He pulled out his mobile phone and threw it over to her. “I think you had better read them all.”

Georgina caught his phone and looked into his pathetic looking expression, “Where the fuck is she?”

He shook his head, “I’m sorry?”

“The girl, William. That tart was in here just a moment ago. What have you done with her?”

He shook his head again. “Sweetheart, there is nobody here with us.”

“Don’t give me that shit. I saw her with my eyes, dressed in nothing but a pair of leather knickers and holding a whip.” She stopped herself when Georgina realised what she had just said. “Fuck,” she muttered, “because that can really happen.” She collapsed on the floor, wanting to curl up into a tight ball.

She felt him sit down beside her; he took the phone out of her limp hands. He then gently sat her up and rested the back of her shoulders on his chest.

“I’ve never been unfaithful to you, Georgina. You’re my wife and I’d do anything for you.” He opened his hand then placed the phone back into her hand. “Read it.”

She opened her eyes and skimmed through the conversation on the display, “Oh god!” Her hand flew to her mouth when she read the passage that she had first seen. She hadn’t looked at it properly. That had been sent from her, not the other way around.

“That went on for about a week. To this day, I have no idea how she managed to get my number. I’ll admit that yes, those messages did turn me on, Georgina. Despite her reputation, she is a very attractive woman and I was very flattered by her advances.” He sighed.

She read the last massage from him to Trisha, asking her to please stop sending messages.

“The girl went after one of the male janitors after I sent her that last one. As far as I know, they are still together.” He dug his fingers into her shoulders. “What happened in here?”

Georgina shook her head; she turned around and flung her arms around William’s neck. “I just slipped that’s all.” What had she just seen? It was far too real to have been a dream. She took a deep breath and buried her face into William’s chest.

“Come on, Georgina, let’s get this finished.” He lifted her head. “This find is going to make us both comfortably well off.” He looked beside her, smiled and picked up another gold coin. “This stuff is everywhere.” William lifted her off the floor and brushed her down. “Help me set up these lights; I want to see exactly what we have here.”

She smiled and walked over to the equipment. Suddenly, her life didn’t feel like it was coming to an end. Georgina bent down and stopped. She glanced over at the opening and saw the cavern owner staring at them. His gaze on her backside lasted seconds when he noticed the gold coins, scattered across the chamber floor.

“What the hell?”

William hurried over to him. He placed his arms across the chamber. “Mr Calhoun, I need you to go ring the museum and tell them to get over here as soon as they can.” He glanced back and followed the owner’s eyes. “Believe me, sir, what we have found here will make the bone discovery seem like nothing. You are now an incredibly rich man.”

“Is that gold?”

William nodded.

“There is so much of it.”

Georgina saw that the man was right. Until now, she just assumed that William had just been talking about a few coins. What she saw made her jaw drop. The amount here could equal the treasure found in all the Egyptian tombs put together.

“Can I hold a piece?” He looked at Georgina. “Just one piece.”

William shook his head. “Mr Calhoun? I really do need you to make that phone call right now.”

She breathed a silent sigh of relief when the man nodded and rushed back to the office. She wasn’t sure what he would do. The sight of so much wealth could make a man do some strange things. Although she had recently discovered that her husband wasn’t as meek as she had always suspected, Georgina didn’t think he would be a match for the owner, especially with this gold almost within his grasp.

“Georgina, I want you to get to the back of the chamber. I also want you to take an arc light with you.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Our friend has just run off in the other direction, Georgina. I’ve just seen the back of his jacket disappear around that corner. I have no idea what he is doing. I can only assume that he’s not going to do as I asked.”

She picked up William’s phone and rang the museum’s number. She then noticed the no signal icon and wanted to slap herself for not remembering where they were. “Oh, just great, “she muttered. Georgina gave the phone back to William.

“Don’t look so annoyed, dearest. I did the same thing. Come on,” he said, taking her hand. “We’d better make the call ourselves.” He led her out of the chamber and towards the man’s office.

They both shuddered to a stop when they saw the man running out of the darkness. His head was alive with the flapping wings from a dozen black bats, frantically beating against his skull.

The owner fell to his knees then fell forward. The bats flew back into the darkness just before the man’s mutilated head crashed into the floor. Georgina choked back a scream as the man placed his arms out in front of him and lifted his body off the floor.

She moaned in disbelief. That poor man could not still be living. The bats had consumed most of the flesh covering his skull. He took one shuddering step towards them. He then opened his mouth and Georgina saw that his teeth now resembled the ones in the chamber skulls.

“I refuse to believe this is real,” said William. “It is impossible that he should still be alive.” He took her hand then pulled Georgina back until he reached the metal gate. He pushed her thorough, hurried out himself and pulled the shutters across. “There must be a phone around here somewhere.”

“Fuck the phone,” she shouted. Georgina grabbed William’s coat sleeve and pulled him towards the door. “Let’s just get the hell out of here!”

They pulled open the door, raced out into the carpark, and found a group of large men stopping them from reaching their land rover.

“I thought I recognised the off roader parked down here. I should have known you two were a couple of scientists. Well, I’m sorry, but your test-tubes and white lab coats won’t be able to sort out this fuck up.”

Georgina felt her bowels loosen when two of the men grabbed her husband and pushed him against the wall. Samuel smiled at her. She choked back a quiet gasp when the man produced a thin blade and waved the knife in front of her face.

“You’re not so gobby now, are you?” He moved to the side and pointed at their Land Rover. “You or your daft husband isn’t fucking off just yet. As you have noticed, I’ve slashed all your tyres.” He ran up to Georgina and wrapped his arm around her neck. “You’re going to be a good girl. If you piss me off in any way, then my mates are going to hurt your bloke. Do we understand each other?”

Georgina managed to nod.

“Are you having lots of fun picking your way through our ancestor’s bones? You’re nothing but a pair of dirty vultures, we should kill you here and now. I would too, if I didn’t need you. You see, we know that it’s going to come for us tonight.” He shivered. “I don’t want to be turned into one of those things, no fucking way. I wanted to leave, like right now. Only, we fucking can’t. I bet you could leave though.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she gasped. “We’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Until we can work out what the fuck to do, I figure the only way to slow him down is to provide him with a pleasant distraction. You really are very pretty.” He mashed his lips against hers.

“It’ll be a real shame to let the fucking freak suck on your bones, lady,” he said, pulling away. “But, that can’t be helped. I don’t want to fucking die tonight.”

Chapter Twelve

This was the perfect way to end the worst ever day in Chelsea Wilson’s life. She glanced at her phone one more time not all that shocked to discover that the readout had only advanced another couple of minutes. Why should she be even surprised that he was late?

Chelsea leaned back against the stone bridge and glared in annoyance at the sight of a lone sheep, clipping away the long grass beside the road a few hundred metres from where she stood. “I hope some truck crashes into you,” she said, watching the stupid animal wander into the middle of the road. God, she was so mad with that boyfriend of hers. Chelsea ground her teeth in frustration, she was mad with everybody right now.

“Where the bloody hell is he? Wait, maybe he’s not even coming? Oh god, I know what he’s done, the bastard’s gone and fucking dumped me.” That made perfect sense; the dirty bastard had probably ended up in bed with one of Chelsea’s mates. She should have got rid of him ages ago. The bloke was just like his father.

The sheep had managed to get to the other side of the road without anything hitting it. Not that its feat was much of an achievement, in just over one hour, precisely no vehicles had passed Chelsea while she walked towards the outskirts of the village. She was used to not seeing much traffic around but even for this shithole of a one-horse village, seeing nothing moving at all was just unheard of.

Chelsea looked at her phone one more time,. This was just ridiculous, now the time seems to be going backwards. That reminded her. As soon as she got back home, that irritating brother of hers would be eating his food with a straw by the time she had finished beating the crap out of him. Chelsea was so going to break open his face for pulling that clock prank this morning.

She supposed that it could have been a lot worse. Thankfully, Chelsea had remembered that they had they had shut the college over in Chatsbury just before she ended up forking out the bus fare to get over there. Apparently, they were doing lecturer training sessions for the day, or some shit like that. Chelsea couldn’t believe that it had slipped her mind.

For the first time since this morning, Chelsea was at a loss at what to do next. It was pretty fucking obvious that the bastard wasn’t going to turn up now. She had no intention of going home. Chelsea blew that idea out of the water as soon as she remembered that it was her market day today. She was in no fit state to allow her mum to drag her round all the village’s crappy chops.

At the time, Chelsea believed that remembering that the college was shut had been her only piece of good news, until she remembered that Chatsbury was like ten times larger than her shitty village. Hell, this forgotten shithole in the middle of nowhere didn’t even have a decent coffee shop. “There’s nothing in Colbeck,” she muttered, “not even a reliable boyfriend.”

She had been waiting on the fucking stupid bridge, watching that fucking stupid sheep eat grass for over twenty minutes now. Why the hell Samuel wanted to meet her here was beyond her. Chelsea grabbed her phone, this was no good, despite his explicit instructions not to message him, she intended to do just that. Fuck him and his stupid rules. There was no way that she was going to spend another minute on here.

A single raindrop landed on the wall beside her, followed by a dozen others as the heavens opened. The sudden change in weather had just pushed away the last of her uncertainty. She raced down the old stone steps and took shelter under the bridge, just in time to escape the worst of the downpour.

“This is just not bloody fair,” she cried, watching in annoyance as her message to him bounced back. She leaned back against the curved wall and took a dozen steady breaths, desperately trying not to let the tears start to flow again. Until today, having a bit of a cry was something that other girls did. Not her, no way. Chelsea had never seen herself as some stupid girl who broke down in floods of tears whilst watching some crappy Disney cartoon. Yet, for these past few hours, that’s all she wanted to do. It was only her suppressed anger that kept these alien feelings from taking her over.

“Where the hell is he?” She sent the message one more time then walked to the other end of the bridge, silently cursing as she saw the rain was getting heavier. She was miles from anywhere and at least an hour to wait for the next bus. If one would actually turn up. Chelsea could not stay here for the rest of the day.

She sighed and rang his number, almost throwing the phone into the canal when she heard some automated voice informing her that her call could not be connected. There was nothing else for it; Chelsea would just have to walk back into the village. Home was out of the question but there was still the Dog and Duck. A few drinks and a hot meal would soon sort her out. She’d probably look like a drowned rat by the time she got the to the pub, but she didn’t really give a shit.

Chelsea pulled up her coat hood and climbed the steps back up to the road. If she kept a good pace, it wouldn’t take more than twenty minutes to reach the village. She walked past the sheep sheltering under a bush and hoped the stupid woolly thing died of a cold. Chelsea hated her life, she hated her family, her boyfriend, the crap internet connection and most of all, she hated the fucking rain.

The incessant stream of rain blocked out most of the other sounds, but even that could not stop her from hearing a sudden animal scream blasting out from just behind her. Chelsea spun around; she dashed to the other side of the road and felt the gorge rise up when she saw a large wet crimson mess spread out across the grass verge. Fragments of meat clung to the wooden fence behind the bush and she saw ropes of gore hanging off the foliage.

“Oh my fucking god!” she gasped. “What had just happened here?” That sensation of helpless fear that she’d done so well in staying suppressed now flooded through her body and tried to turn Chelsea into a shivering pile of boneless meat, demanding that she just lay under that bush, curl up in a tight ball and close her eyes.

With a will power that surprised even her, Chelsea turned back to face the road, trying to tell herself that she hadn’t seen several moving lumps just under the soil. Chelsea knew she had though, like rats under a blanket, all crowding around that red mess, sucking on the blood as it soaked into the ground.

“Shut the fuck up!” she screamed, “There was nothing there!” She ran into the middle of the road without looking back. If she did see anything under the earth, Chelsea just knew that her mind would snap like an overstretched elastic band.

Chelsea skidded to a halt once she figured that she was a safe distance from whatever the fuck she saw. She hurried to the edge of the road, just in case. It would be just her luck for some oncoming lorry to smash into her; at least it would be quick. The bastards always used this stretch of road like a racetrack when it pissed it down. She dared herself to look behind her. Not that was very reassuring; this downpour had reduced visibility down to practically nothing.

Through the rain, Chelsea saw a vague shape slowly coming towards her. Fear gripped her as the shape took human form. In her panicked dash, Chelsea had assumed that the things under the earth had killed and ripped that sheep to pieces. What if she had it all wrong, what if the shape coming towards her had been responsible?

She couldn’t move, her feet refused to shift from the wet road. That thing was going to rip her into bits and there was fuck all she could do about it. A huge scream built up in her chest, the momentum carried it up her throat. She saw a monstrous wet, human face, the contorted features bunched together in fury. Chelsea shrieked out in terror, knowing that she had taken her last breath.

A pair of thick arms reached out through the thick rain and wrapped around her waist, pulling her body into the embrace of a large warm body. “Come on, Chelsea; will you calm it down for crying out fucking loud. It’s me. Look, it’s your Sammie.”

Relief flooded through her body and she broke down in his arms, sobbing uncontrollably. “What the fuck is happening to me? I can’t think straight, I feel like my drink has been fucking spiked.”

Samuel pulled her up and took Chelsea to the side of the road. “You’re not drugged, sweetie. This fucked up scared rabbit sensation has got into nearly everybody, including me.” Samuel pushed her soaked hair away from her eye then leaned down to kiss her. “Just hush and calm that beating heart, baby,” he whispered after breaking away. “Come on,” he said, grabbing her hand then pulling Chelsea back up the road.

“Where are we going?”

“There’s a good reason why I wanted to meet you here.”

She saw not one trace of that sheep was left on the foliage; she wondered if Samuel had seen any of the stuff. He led her up to his car then walked her past it. “Baby, what are you doing?”

“Can you not see it?” he asked pointing to a large structure across the road.

“You mean the McMahon house?” She shivered. “Of course I see it.” Chelsea passed the place on the way to the bridge. She even stopped to watch a couple of pigeons walking along the top floor windowsill. Every kid in Colbeck knew about this place. Three decades ago, a husband, took his shotgun and blew away his three kids and wife before turning the gun on himself. To this day, nobody knew why he had done it. Until they opened the caverns, this had been the village’s only money-spinner.

“You brought me all the way out here to look at that?”

He shook his head. “Don’t be fucking stupid, come and look what we have, sweetie.”

The path to the front of the house had disappeared under weeds decades ago. The trampling of nosey tourists and generations of village kids had created a new path that cut through what used to be the lawn. Chelsea saw that the boards covering the ground floor windows were missing. She was sure the boards were still nailed over the windows when she passed the place an hour ago.

“We’re just a short walk from the village border now, Chelsea.”

She nodded, not really listening. Chelsea was just happy that he was with her and that she’d been able to push away that irrational fear that almost pulled her apart at the seams. Samuel led Chelsea over the crushed and flattened weeds, over to the first window.

“Both Karl and Alex are inside. They’ve got the fear as well. It was their idea to break into the house, neither of them wanted to stay inside the car while I looked for you.” He approached the window. “Are you still there?” He shouted.

Chelsea tentatively waved as Alex pushed his head through the opening. He saw Chelsea and smiled.

“Hey there, doll. I’m glad you’re okay.”

Did she have that haunted expression etched on her face as well? Alex looked as though he’d just seen Dennis McMahon kills his family with his own two eyes. When Karl came over, Chelsea saw that he looked no better.

“Is he okay?” asked Samuel.

“Yeah,” Karl replied. “He crawled under a table and hasn’t come out yet.”

“Let’s get this show on the road then, guys.” He took Chelsea’s hand. “Come on, Sweetie. I’ve got something to tell you.”

“Wait, who’s hiding under the table? What are you three up to?”

“Do you remember when the guy from the greengrocer’s split up with his wife last year and got pissed up in the Dog and Gun?”

“Of course I do,” she replied. “It was the only interesting thing that happened last year.” Poor Mr Harlan drowned his sorrows in a few shots of single malt before trying to wreck the pub.

“As per usual, our only resident copper jumped to the rescue and calmed him down.”

At well over six foot and built like the side of a barn door, not many villagers would be foolish enough to pick a fight with Darren Huggins. “Wait, are you saying that Darren is in there as well?”

Samuel nodded. “The fear took hold of him pretty bad. We found him on the other side of the village, trying to escape.” He took her back over the bridge and walked along the road until they reached the village border.

The rain had finally stopped. “Samuel, I’m wet and cold. Can we just go home? I don’t even know what we’re doing here.” Chelsea shivered and wondered if he’d mind if they sat in the car, just for a few minutes.

He squeezed her hand. “We’ll go after this, sweetie. I promise.” He nodded back “towards the house. “Look they’re here now.”

She gasped at the sight of the two men carrying the huge stumbling wreck between them. Samuel’s friends were a picture of health compared to him. “What’s happened to him?” His face and both his hands were covered in bruises and dried blood. “Oh fuck, no, Samuel, please tell me you lot haven’t done that to him?”

“No,” he replied. “He’s done that to himself.” Samuel nodded over to Alex. “Okay, boys, we’re close enough, let him go.”

They released Darren and jumped back as the man roared and raced towards Chelsea and Samuel.”

“Relax,” he said, comforting her. “It’s not us he running for.”

Darren ran past them and suddenly bounced back as though he’d just smashed into a thick glass window. He fell back onto the road and lay still.

“What the fuck happened?”

Samuel walked her past his body with his hand out in front of him. He stopped dead and sighed. “Babes, we’re trapped in here,” he said, turning and taking Chelsea’s hand. He pulled it over to meet his.

“That is not possible,” she gasped when her hand smacked against an invisible wall.

“Possible or not, it’s happened and we’re trapped in Colbeck.”

“I don’t understand any of this,” she sobbed.

Samuel led her back to the car. He opened the door and let her climb into the back seat. He went around the other side and climbed in beside her. She watched the other man roll Darren towards the verge before they made their way back to the car. Her boyfriend squeezed her leg.

“We are all scared because some fucking bastard has gone and killed us all. There was this thing lying dormant in the caverns, it’s been there for centuries and some cunt decided to let it out.” He turned and gazed into her eyes. “We all belong to it, Sweetie, every local can feel its touch.” He banged his fist against his chest. “We can feel it right here. “As soon as the sun goes in, that monstrous fucker is going to come for us, its going to come for us all.”

Chelsea listened to his words and just knew they were true. She watched the other two men climb into the front of the car.

“Baby, the strangers are not affected.” He looked out of the window. “If we round them all up and offer them to this thing, it might delay our capture.” He turned to stare at her. “I do have an idea you see, I think we can stop it.”

“How?”

“I’m not sure you’ll like it though.” He sighed. “You see, it was your stupid brother who let this bastard out and my plan involves him.”

“I don’t care what happens to him,” she spat.

Chapter Thirteen

He felt so uncomfortable under the combined stares of the other three adults sitting around the breakfast table. Dan knew that none of them bore him any malice. His parents had already explained that they already knew it was not his fault, and there could have been no alternative outcome.

Alison held his hand under the table; her proximity helped to ward off some of that helpless feeling of fright. “Could I have another coffee, mum?”

His dad leaned across the table. “Are you sure that you understand what I’ve just said to you?”

“Yeah,” he replied, sighing. “As far as the rest of the villagers are concerned, this is all my fault.” His mum placed her hands on his shoulders. He saw her smile at Alison. “Dad, can you please tell me what’s going on? I feel like I’m going out of my mind here.”

His dad took a sip of his drink. It didn’t surprise Dan to see a shot glass full of his last Christmas present from Chelsea. Alcohol hadn’t passed his dad’s lips for over two years. Dan had not been all that shocked that his sister had bought him a bottle of cheap brandy, not when Dan knew that the sly bitch was rather partial to brandy. Nobody had said anything about his sister’s absence. It surprised Dan to find that he hoped she was okay.

“Colbeck village is in the middle of nowhere. This fact, we already know. I’m sure every teen in the village doesn’t stop bitching about our remote location. I know I did when I was your age, and so did your mum.” He took another sip and grimaced. “Christ, this stuff really does taste like paint stripper. Do you see this bruise on my forehead? I got that last night. I was in your sister’s bedroom, standing on a chair and fixing up that shelf she has been nagging about for the last three weeks. As soon as you released that creature from the caverns, all these forgotten racial memories rushed into my head. I fell off and cracked my skull on Chelsea’s footboard.”

His mother placed a drink in front of him. She then poured some of his father’s brandy into the cup. “You’re going to need that.” She dug her fingers into his shoulders. “I’m so sorry, darling. I really am.”

“We are his property, Dan, his livestock. Every local born in Colbeck belongs to the master. He’s been sleeping for a thousand years and now he’s awake and he needs to feed.” His dad grabbed his glass with both hands and poured the rest of the liquid down his throat. “If we’re lucky we have a couple more days left to enjoy our lives.”

“What then, dad?” Deep down, he knew that his dad spoke the truth but, unlike him, Dan refused to believe that all was lost. There was no way that he would give up without a fight.

“Once he has you, he infects you, Dan, he injects something that changes you into lesser versions of him. Once he’s enthralled us, he’ll head back to the caverns, taking his livestock with him. With his taint running through your veins, dying from old age is no longer an option. The master will spend the next thousand years feeding on us.”

“How do you know all this?” Alison asked.

He shrugged. “Like I said, all these weird memories rushed into my head. It like I was actually there, back when the master awoke. I saw him take and feed on our ancestors.” He shivered. “Oh, Christ, I really do wish I had some fucking whisky.”

“But this monster can’t take all of us, can he?” Alison frowned. “I mean, if that was the case, how are we here?”

“A farmer doesn’t send all his livestock for slaughter, honey. He keeps the strongest back to replenish the herd.” His mother sighed. “That’s what must have happened a thousand years ago. I’m sure the same will happen this time as well.”

His mum sat down beside his father and poured a shot of brandy into her cup. She looked as though she had aged twenty years since he last saw her this morning.

“So that’s it then, is it, mum? We just all give up, lie on our backs and wait for this fucking monster to collect our bodies and put us between two slices of bread? Okay, so this thing ate our ancestors. That was centuries ago. The best weapon that those savages had was a crossbow and a spear. This bastard wouldn’t stand a chance against a tank or an assault rifle.”

His father nodded. “I’m sure you’re right there, son. Trouble is, do you have a tank hidden under your bed? I’m sure your mum would have noticed when she cleaned out your bedroom on Monday.”

“I’m not going to give up!” he snapped, jumping to his feet. “There must be some way of taking down this thing.”

Alison reached into her pocket, pulled out her phone and placed it on the table. “Most of us have a mobile,” she said, looking at Dan. “Our village can seem a bit backward at times but modern technology hasn’t completely forgotten Colbeck.” She scrolled down on her address book and stopped at a name right at the bottom. “I used to go to school with Donna Brightman. Her family moved to Leeds ten years ago. They weren’t from around here so they wouldn’t be infected.” Her finger just hovered over the call icon. “No matter what I do, I just cannot call her. Like there’s an invisible barrier between me and the call icon.”

Dan reached down and found that he could not press it either. “That’s just not possible.” He looked over at his parents expecting them to have ‘I told you so’ smirks plastered over their faces. Instead, all he saw was misery.

Alison slid her phone towards him. “Maybe there was something in the caverns that will help kill this thing,” she said. “Here you go, Dan. These are the photos I took.”

Unlike Dan, Alison’s phone had a top of the range camera built in. The pictures she had taken were so clear, it almost felt as though he was standing right next to that pile of bones. He enlarged the picture, focussing on a small skull, lying on the ground, a distance away from the other bones.

Dan’s eyes began to close, he felt the image grow, pulling him closer. His surroundings disappeared, all he saw was the rough rock surrounding him.

He sat, with the others, at the back of the cavern, watching the master seal up the chamber. Benedict shivered, he clamped his teeth together to stop them chattering. No matter how tight he pulled the woollen cloak around his thin body or how close he got to the rest of the flock, Benedict just could not warm up.

A collective groan of despair rose from the other eighteen survivors as their last glimpse of daylight vanished forever. Benedict closed his eyes, fell back against the floor and opened his mouth, feeling the howl of hopelessness blast out of his throat. All the others followed his lead. The background noise abruptly ceased, it took him a few more moments to realise that only he was making any sound. Benedict’s eyes snapped open and found eighteen pairs of lantern red eyes glaring at him.

Despite the complete lack of any light, he had no problem seeing the others or their master slowly threading his way towards him.

“You are now amongst friends.” He said. The master got down on one knee, bringing himself down to Benedict’s level. “There is no need to cry now, you’re safe here.” The man pointed at four of the men standing behind him, they scurried over to him. “Take a limb each and spread him.”

He struggled, screamed and tried to bite any of them who got too close to his slavering jaws. “Put me down!” he cried. The men continued their instructions in silence, fearfully glancing towards the master who gave them muted encouragement. They lifted him off the floor and kept him secured whilst holding Benedict’s arms and legs. “You said I would be safe!”

The master leaned over his body and used the sharp claws at the ends of his fingers to cut away the clothes. “So I did,” he replied. “You, my friend are the lucky one. Your agony will only last you for a few weeks. It will take me that time to reduce your flesh to a few gnawed clean bones. I want you to spare a thought for the ones you leave behind, Benedict. They will live with the knowledge that this is all they have to look forward to.”

The master gently dragged his claw down Benedict’s chest and torso, until he reached his groin. “I’m going to start with my favourite piece first,” he said, drooling. The master’s mouth opened, his jaw unhinged and his whole body crashed forward.

Dan’s eyes snapped open and he shrieked out.

“Oh my god!” gasped his mother. “I thought you would never wake up.” She said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “You’ve been out of it for over an hour. What happened to you?”

He leaned back in the chair and shook. The experience of being down there in that cavern was still vivid in his head. Benedict’s memories clung to his mind like hungry leeches. He saw raiders from the next village riding into the village whilst the men were away on the hunt. Through a seven-year-old child’s eyes, Dan watched three huge men rip his mother out of his sister’s terrified grasp and drag the screaming women to their horses.

Dan remembered his father taking Benedict on his first hunt, five years after the raid on their village. He gritted his teeth at the traumatic memory of that panicking boar slipping through the ropes and charging into him, breaking several bones and crippling him for years.

Dan felt the overwhelming tide of ecstasy when his wife to be first singled him out to be her mate and then wept as that monster brought death to their village, three months later.  He witnessed the grief and anger while watching helpless as a group of changed villagers raped, killed and then tore her body apart to eat her.

“Babes, come on, you need to snap out of it.”

Dan lifted his head, trying to stop the alien memories from engulfing his own. He looked at Alison’s concerned face, seeing the image of Benedict’s young wife superimposed over Dan’s girlfriend. He screwed up his eyes, opened them wide and rapidly blinked. Alison’s face cleared. Dan threw his arms around her neck and hugged her tight. “Oh baby,” he cried. “We just have to find some way of ending this fucking evil.”

He watched his mother run out of the kitchen and into the hall. Dan heard the front door open and the sound of Colin’s excitable voice. He wished he could stop all this torrent of conflicting emotions sandblasting his delicate mind. Dan needed to think his way through this. There must be a solution. The wall clock informed him that they still had a good few hours of daylight left. He needed to rest and relax.

“Thank god you lot are all right!” said Colin. “I would have got here a lot earlier, but I’ve spent most of the morning avoiding everybody.” He picked up a glass of water from the kitchen table. “Thank you, Mrs Wilson,” he replied. “You have no idea how thirsty I am.” He emptied the glass and gave it back to Dan’s mother. “We need to find somewhere safer,” he hissed, glancing towards the window. “Samuel Lane and his dickhead mates have worked up the locals into a right state. They already know that you’re the one that released it and they’re on their way here right now.”

Chapter Fifteen

In terms of fun tasks that Karl could have chosen to do today, this one rated a single notch above having to clean out his dad’s shitty cowshed. He knew that Samuel had somehow duped him into doing this. Oh yes, Karl may not be that blessed with a bucket full of smarts but he wasn’t that fucking dumb.

He slowly ran his fingers down the long barrel of his new gift, enjoying the feel of cold steel against his skin. Oh yeah, that Samuel certainly knew which buttons to press alright.

Maybe he shouldn’t have gone on all the fucking time to Samuel about how much he loved rifles? Thinking back, Karl had acted like a desperate queer, with wanting to shoot Samuel’s guns.

He sighed, then again, if that cunt of a dad hadn’t banned him from ever owning a gun in the first place, he wouldn’t have need to play with Samuel’s. Like that accident five years ago had been Karl’s fault?

If that stupid fucking retard of a brother hadn’t gotten in his way, the silly cunt wouldn’t have ended up with a bullet in his leg. Hell, it’s not as if Jacob had died or anything. Okay, so the dickhead now walked with a bit of a limp. It hadn’t stopped the randy little bastard from pulling the birds. For a fifteen year old, that little cunt sure knew how to get the girls.

Karl dropped down onto his makeshift seat. It wasn’t fair. Samuel could have at least given him something proper to sit on, this overturned milk crate was playing havoc with his arse. He kept a firm grip on his rifle, thinking back to that day, thinking of the panic running through his body at the sight of Jacob rolling about on the wet grass, clutching his blood soaked leg and howling in agony. His dad had battered the fuck out of him for that, yet it had been him who’d told Karl that he could go duck shooting on the canal in the first place.

Still, his dad was one of the others now, he’d become a changed thing, a fate that Karl had almost suffered last night. If it hadn’t been for his quick reactions and the fact that he never kept his bedroom window locked, Karl would have joined the others in the cowshed. At least he should thank his dad for something. If the old bastard hadn’t beat on him all the god damn time and chased him up and down the farm when he’d been at the vodka, Karl wouldn’t be so nippy with his legs.

“I wonder what happened to our Jacob?” That cunt sure as fuck wasn’t nippy in his legs. “Thanks to me,” he muttered. Shit, the bastard will be as sound as a pound. That kid sure knew how to look after himself.

Gun or no gun, Karl still knew that his buddy was holding out on him. Course he was, the cunt always did. Him and his flash new fuckpiece had something planned, probably a way to get out of this fuck up. Was Alex in on it as well? Karl weren’t too sure about that one. Although, he wouldn’t put hard money down on that little unknowable factoid.

For the life in him, Karl could not figure out what that sly fucker had up his sleeve, get the fuck out of dodge was definitely out of the question. They had already proved that with Darren Huggins. Karl had mentioned to Samuel about driving out. He’d received a right nasty glare for that idea. Samuel had asked him what he thought would have happened when the car hit that barrier at high speed. The car might have gone through but the bodies would have just detonated. The inside of the car would have looked like a jam factory after an earthquake.

At had to be something to do with that Dan Wilson kid.

Those bastards had all gone into the Dog and Gun about an hour ago, leaving him on fucking guard duty. Yeah, Samuel had pressed his fucking button, sweetened him up with the gift of a rifle and told him that he had an important job, according to him, the most important job in the village.

Karl had to guard the prisoners, and make sure none of the cunts escaped. Samuel had looked him in the eye and given Karl the serious look, he’d explained that if these fools had got out, the master would be picking the meat off all their bones as soon as the sun set. Thinking back, he wasn’t sure but maybe Samuel’s fuckpiece had smirked at that time?

He’d done a lot of thinking back while he’d been sat on his arse, twiddling his thumbs while the others had got on with important stuff. For a start, how come he was the only one who was still shitting himself? Oh, most of the time, Karl could keep that helpless feeling of flight under control. Most of the time, there were still occasions when it rose up, grabbed his throat and made him want to piss his pants. Yet, none of the others showed the slight trace of fear in their faces as they walked past him.

They were definitely up to something. The more he pondered, the more sure he was that they were plotting and he was not part of their plans. Karl turned and peered into the horse carrier. Through the metal slats, he saw that the miserable looking bunch, slumped at the back were all sleeping. He nodded to himself and checked the padlock yet again. There would have been no way that any of those jokers could have gotten out of that. What the fuck was he here for, tooled up to the eyeballs with a farmer’s shotgun and enough ammo in his pocket to start a small war?

He could be with the others in that warm pub; no doubt the beer would be on the house. Karl reckoned it would be a help yourself night as well, the landlord was in the cowshed with his dad. He threw himself back down on the crate. This was just not fucking fair. Did he not have anything useful to say? Did they think he really was so stupid?

Yeah well, as far as he was concerned, they could all fuck themselves. Samuel thought he knew all the answers just because he happened to know what was going on. Oh sure, a few of the others had picked up some bits. Mrs Whittaker, the cute blonde who worked in the bank, had told whoever would listen that she could put names to every bone in the chamber.

Karl hadn’t been too sure how that could have helped in their situation, but he didn’t say anything. Besides, she had nice tits. As far as he could work out, Samuel had more pieces to the puzzle than any other villager. The bastard had gotten his rocks off by explaining to everyone just what was going to happen when the monster had taken the villagers to that chamber.

Samuel had made sure that Karl had been present for that meeting all right.

The bastard didn’t know everything though. Not one person had asked the most obvious question. If that monster had depopulated their village back in the distant past, just where the fuck did the present population come from? Karl grinned at his own cleverness. For him, it was fucking obvious. A few of those medieval tossbags must have gotten away. Karl knew they wouldn’t have been able to get out so, that meant finding a fucking good hiding place.

Nobody knew this village better than him, that’s for goddamm sure. There were a shitload of places that he could hunker down. Hell, he bet that even the woods freak, Ethan, didn’t know about the old water pipe that ran under those woods. The pipe was massive, it could hold a bus full of people and still have room for a brass band and a hotdog stand.

Bollocks to it. Let those peacocks prance around, forming their clever plans and thinking they had this fuckup licked. Karl now had plans of his own. They were the ones who that monster would go for; they’d just pass ole Karl by. All he had to do was to find a secure spot and lie low for a couple of days. Nothing could go wrong.

Karl leaned back against the horse carrier; he took out a roll-up and placed it between his lips. He would need a few basic supplies, of course. He’d need enough food to last him for a couple days, plenty of beer, some more baccy and, if he could get them, a few porn mags.

“Is there any chance of a smoke, buddy?”

Karl slowly twisted around and blinked, well this was a surprise. It appeared that the egghead wasn’t as sleepy as he assumed. “I didn’t know you were a smoker. There were none on you when I went through your pockets.” Karl reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded photograph.

“I did find this though, hidden away in your wallet,” he said, opening up the picture and holding it up. “This is one fuckable gal.”

The old man nodded, “It’s my daughter and I’d rather you didn’t address her in such a degraded manner.”

Karl burst out laughing, he couldn’t help it, oh man, that had to be the best come back he’d heard in ages. “Do you seriously expect me to believe that?”

The man shrugged. “Believe what you want.”

“Well, I suggest you play nice, mister. You’re the one who’s begging for a cig and I’m the one with the gun.” He turned the pic around and gazed in lust at the twenty something half-naked blonde spread over a table. She hadn’t left much to the imagination. That tight blue short skirt just hugged that full figure and the thin t-shirt stretched over her braless torso gave him a raging hard on by just thinking about how sweet her large titties would taste in his mouth. He wouldn’t need those porn mags, the picture of this hottie would probably keep him going of a couple of days, then again, maybe not. Although, it was doubtful that this old bastard had actually fucked her, would he really want to wap off thinking that this decrepit old goat had shot his muck into her first? No, fuck that, he’d get some porn mags.

Karl threw the photo into the carrier and grinned while watching the old man try to catch it before it disappeared under the black water by the man’s boots. “Well, if that was my daughter, I’d lock the bitch away until she learned how to put some more concealing clothes on. Not that she is your daughter, I ain’t a total moron, you know.”

He passed through a roll-up when the man stood back up. “Look man, I’m really sorry about all this shit.” Karl lit the cig for him. “In all honesty, you really should have stayed at home. You picked a bad time to visit.”

“Just let us go, Karl. You know this is wrong.”

Hearing a stranger call his name, rattled him. Karl had no idea how the old man knew that. Unless Samuel must have shouted it out. That made sense; Samuel said the bloke and his MILF were scientists or something. Clever folk picked up on name remembering. Karl looked past him and watched his wife, she looked like she was sleeping. “I don’t get this, mate. Your woman is still pretty tasty and she’s got a decent set of tits on her. Why start boning some bird who’s just left school?”

The old man slowly smiled. He looked behind him before leaning against the bars. “I’ll tell you anything you want, if you release us, Karl.” He whispered. “Hell, I reckon that my wife will be so grateful, she’s bound to let you bone her. I know you like her.” The man sighed and softly moaned. “I’m telling you, mate, you haven’t lived until you experience that thing that my wife can do with the tip of her tongue.”

The temptation was right there, he could actually feel his hands heading for the key in his trouser pockets. He paused. “Wait, you wake up the wife, tell her that you’ve been fucking the slag behind her back.” He ran his finger down the metal bars and stopped at the gap by his groin. “Then you get the woman to kneel down in this pissy water and you get her to use the tip of her tongue on my cock.” Karl watched the man’s face turn as pale as the moon.

“Yeah, I thought as much. You really are full of shit. Just cos I’m a country local, you think you can use lots of big words to muddle up my head. Well, fuck you, mate. You’ll be dead soon anyway.”

The old man took a deep breath. “Shit. Look, I’m sorry. I’ll admit that I did try to take advantage. You didn’t have to give me this cigarette did you? I’ll tell you what. I know you’re about to leave, just let us go before you do. Nobody will know any better.”

He shook his head. “Not a chance, mate. You see, the bit about where this monster munches on you strangers to give us locals a bit more time? Well that’s one thing that I fucking do believe.”

He turned and picked up his rifle.

“Wait! As soon as you go, I’ll start to scream. The others will be down here in no time. I bet that you’ll be in this carrier with us so quickly, your feet won’t touch the floor.”

“Good threat,” said Karl, giggling. “They’re all in the pub with free beer. Do you honestly think they are in a fit state to force a big bloke armed with a rifle into that carrier?” Karl hurried away. He gave the dirty old man a single wave before he broke into a sprint. He needed to get out of the main village centre, just in case the old man did start bellowing out.

Karl heard no sounds; the daft bastard had probably gone back into his corner to cry himself back to sleep. He shrugged his shoulders, fuck them, fuck Samuel and fuck the rest of them. He needed nobody and now that his pa was gone, no fucker would tell Karl Briers what to do ever again.

Before he headed for that pipe, Karl still needed supplies. The supermarket in the middle of the village had just about everything he needed, but there wasn’t a chance of him going back there. The hardware store on the outskirts would have a few canvas rucksacks and a decent sleeping bag. As for the food, mags, extra baccy and other shit like that, he could always break into one of the cottages behind the shop.

Thinking about this, maybe Karl should get the food first. Breaking into some cottage with a sleeping bag stuffed under his arm was just dumb. He broke into a full run and charged past the rest of the buildings in the village. He saw the hardware shop just a few hundred yards from where he was. Karl crossed the road and jumped over a low wall, eager to get off the main road.

He wasn’t going to take any chances. He hadn’t heard the old man shouting out but despite what Karl boasted about, Samuel would not just forget about Karl’s job. Just one peek out of the pub window was all it would take for Samuel to see that he’d left his post. There wasn’t a chance in hell that Karl was going to get caught, not by the monster and certainly not by Samuel.

Karl ran through the gardens and leapt over the hedges and walls that separated each property. The hardware store was now directly in front of him. Karl slowed down and grinned when he saw just what he was looking for. Two gardens from where he stood, he noticed that some poor dear must have rushed out of her house without even bothering to slide her patio door closed.

Talk about a golden opportunity! He ran through the two gardens and stopped outside the dark house, wondering if it was safe to turn on a few lights. If the owner had forgotten to close the door then it made sense that they’d have no clue which of the house lights were on or off.

He left the light switch alone, not wanting to tempt fate. His plan was simple, he only wanted to see if there was anything to eat right now in here. After Karl had stuffed his face, then he could start to stock up.

A sandwich would see him through until he could get himself bedded down nice and safe in that pipe. Karl made his way into the kitchen and headed straight for the fridge. He paused just the once to open a few cupboard doors. The sight of all the tins jammed in the cupboard was just brilliant. Karl had struck paydirt in the first house. Just how lucky was that? He had expected to visit a few homes to get what he needed. He just hoped that the fridge was overflowing with goodies as well.

The internal light showed Karl all manner of cooked meats, slices of cheese, a few pork pies and a whole cooked chicken. “Fuck me,” he gasped. Karl took out the chicken and the meat and placed it on the counter top while looking out of the window, wondering if it may be worthwhile just to see if there was a rucksack in this house as well. Should he really tempt his good fortune?

There must be something in this house that he could use, even a canvas carrier bag would do the trick. Karl broke off a chicken leg and ripped off a lump of meat with his teeth while hurrying over to the stairs.

God, this chicken was well nice. He wondered who lived here. Judging by crappy floral wallpaper, the stupid ornaments and all the framed prints positioned on the wall leading upstairs that showed the Colbeck countryside, he decided that it must belong to some decrepit old woman. As he climbed the stairs, he adjusted his image of the homeowner. The woman couldn’t be that knackered, these steps were well steep.

He reached the top of the stairs and peered into the first room. He saw a pile of bulging black bin liners stacked along the far wall and a couple of old dining chairs next to the window. Somehow, Karl didn’t think he’d find exactly what he was looking for in the first room he looked in.

The curtains were drawn in the next bedroom but there was enough light to see a large rucksack in the middle of a double bed. “Well, thank you, God, Jesus and his slutty mum. My luck really is holding out.”

As he neared the end of the bed, his nostrils picked out the foul stench of rot. Karl padded along the edge and noticed a slumped figure in the corner of the room. He looked at the half-chewed chicken leg in his hand, guessing that he now knew what happened to the old lass who bought all the food. The empty bottle of pills was still clenched in the woman’s hand.

Karl took another bite out of the leg; this meant he didn’t have to rush anymore. He finished off the meat and threw the bone at the woman. “Life deals you shite cards sometimes, you stupid old bag. I’d have thought that at your age, you’d have figured it out by now.”

He reached for the rucksack, still not believing his good luck. The only thing he needed now were a stack of porn mags. Gazing at the sad looking body, he doubted very much he’d find any of those in here. Still, it was worth a look.

Alex had shown him more than a few websites that catered to that kind of stuff. He knew Alex got off on the sight of all that wrinkly flesh. It couldn’t harm to just have one peek under the mattress.

He pulled the rucksack off the bed, dived on the covers and threw the woman’s pillows on the floor. They pillows stunk of old perfume and menthol. Something told Karl that he was wasting his time; the only thing that probably turned on that dead bitch was a fucking new knitting pattern or a recipe for lemon cakes.

He rolled on his back and sighed, this was just daft, hell, he’d only be away for a day or too, surely he could give his libido a break for a few hours. “You’re one hot motherfucker,” he said, gazing at the ceiling. A scream caught in his throat when he saw someone, anchored to the ceiling, looking back down at him.

“Hello there, Karl,” Oozed the huge figure. “I sure hope you weren’t thinking of hiding away were you?”

Karl shook his head, wondering why he couldn’t move.

“I do believe you are lying to me. I can see the urge to flee in your eyes, my son. Don’t fret, I’m not too upset. Some of you do try to slip through my grasp, none so far have succeeded.”

The creature’s crimson eyes locked onto his, Karl felt as though the monster was stripping away his memories, layer by layer.

“I’m impressed,” he said, chuckling. “But, there are fifty-three of my furry little friends, shivering away and cowering inside that pipe. Now, I couldn’t allow all those little teeth to end your life” The monster then swung down, his feet still attached to the ceiling. “A good shepard keeps an eye on his flock.”

Karl shrieked in paralytic terror as the monster’s jaw opened.

Chapter Fifteen

She had heard every word of that conversation. Georgina’s quiet gasp at the mention of that photograph almost gave her away. Their guard’s harsh laughter had thankfully covered up her noise. That sense of betrayal returned with intensity when she realised that he’d blatantly lied to her. What made it worse was that, like a silly naive woman, she believed every sweet word that dripped from his betraying lips.

Her eyes might have been closed, but she knew exactly what that tart must have looked like in the picture. Somebody who doesn’t want anything to do with a woman does not keep a half naked picture of the woman in his wallet. When their guard spurted out his vile suggestion, Georgina almost opened her eyes, ran over to those bars, and pulled down his zip. That would have shown her cheating husband not to fuck with her.

When the man had finally left, she almost wished that she had used her tongue on that foul-mouthed man, he might have taken her with him. Georgina became bored of feigning sleep. She opened her eyes, stood up and walked over to the bars. She nearly swallowed her tongue in excitement when she saw that the idiot had dropped his keys by the side of the milk crate.

She spun around and saw Ethan staring at her. He waved. “Are you okay?” he whispered. He stood up and brushed the dirt from his trousers. Ethan hurried over to the bars and looked up. “We don’t have much time left. I don’t want to die.”

Georgina grabbed the side of his head and showed him the dropped keys. “We don’t have to die; all we need to do is reach them.”

The boy eagerly nodded. The apathy and dread just fell off him, his whole body invigorated. “Oh, thank fuck,” he blurted out. Ethan beamed at the woman. “I can get those, easily!”

The boy ran over to William’s sleeping form and carefully took the laces out of his boots, he then scrambled around on the floor until he found a small stone. Georgina watched him work, knotting them together and tying the stone to one end. He then ran back over to her.

“Um, this is a bit embarrassing but, can I have your bra please?”

“How can I resist an offer like that?” she replied, winking. Georgina reached under her shirt and unhooked the bra. After slipping her arms out of the straps, she passed it to Ethan.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “I’m sorry, but this will probably ruin it.”

She shrugged. What did that matter? Should it surprise her that she asked the boy for help instead of him? He was still slumped in the corner; Georgina had a bloody good mind to leave him in here. She’d love to see the look on his face if he awoke to find himself all alone with the sun slowly setting.

The boy had constructed a sling mechanism and grunting with determination, he pushed his arm through the slat, trying to get those keys. He hadn’t succeeded yet though. A small stone shifted to one side, close to her husband’s foot. Georgina watched in astonishment as a tiny mole pushed its tiny body out onto the floor and scurried along side William’s inner thigh. She had never seen anything like that before.

What was it doing? She was no botanist but Georgina was sure that moles shunned humans, even sleeping ones. “Ethan, I know this is a stupid question but, do you have friendly moles in your village?”

He stopped, looked at her curiously. “Why are you asking me that?” he replied. “There were some tame squirrels that used to beg for food in the woods.”

She pointed over to her husband, shaking her head as the mole jumped onto his lap and proceeded to clamber up the front of his shirt. It truly amazed her that William hadn’t felt anything, then again, he’d always been a heavy sleeper.

The boy gasped, “Oh fuck!” Her jumped up and ran over to him. As soon as Ethan’s shadow passed over the mole, the animal responded by squealing then using its powerful front legs to rip through William’s shirt and shred his chest.

William certainly woke then. He screamed out in agony and looked down; watching in disbelief as the animal used its powerful claws to rip though the man’s tender flesh, it pushed its snout into the raw wound. Ethan reached down, grabbed its back paws and pulled it out; the boy slammed it against the floor before jumping up and down on its twitching body.

She found herself thrown back against the bars when she tried to check on William.

“He’s gone,” hissed Ethan, holding her back. “Go near him and he’ll infect you too. Come on, you’re supposed to be a scientist, think about it.”

Georgina watched helplessly as William writhed about, across the dusty floor, while Ethan desperately tried to reach the keys. “We’ve got to help him!” When she moved again, he grabbed her wrist and pulled Georgina back.

“Please, lady. You need to believe me. If we don’t get out of here, right now, he’s going do to us what that fucking mole did to him!”

Her husband’s body jerked once before lying still. She moaned softly to herself, just knowing that he was dead. He saw the boy quickly glance over at his body. He cursed then went back to trying to reach the keys. She wrapped her arms around her knees and wanted to scream out. This was a fucking nightmare. Her nightmare then intensified when her husband started to move his fingers. She watched horror struck as his fingers dug into the hard packed soil as if it was soft sand.

William shuddered once then slowly lifted his head, keeping his eyes fixed on the floor. The man only looked towards them when Ethan cried out.

“Shit, I’ve got them!”

Georgina tried not to piss herself when William turned to look directly at her. His crimson eyes fixed the woman with a glare of pure hate. Georgina saw nothing of her husband left in those primal features. He got to his feet and started to advance. Ethan pressed the keys into the palm of her hand. He jumped up and silently charged into the man.

His sudden action took the creature totally by surprise. Georgina watched Ethan slam him into the back of the carrier before fumbling the key into the lock. The boy screamed out in pain but she didn’t turn around. She grabbed the handle and turned it, shouting in shock as the door actually opened. She spun around, swung her fist into the side of the creature’s head before dragging the boy off him and pulling Ethan out of the carrier.

She ran over to the door, trying to lock it before the creature could escape. As soon as she reached the door, the creature dived forward, smashing his fists against the door and laughing. The door swung back, catching Georgina. She fell back dazed.

“The sun’s gone in!” cried Ethan. “Get up and run.”

She heard his boots hit the ground and saw his face lean over, blocking out what little light that was left.

“I’m going to enjoy this,” he said.

She shrank back, watching his teeth change and elongate, sharp ridges formed along the surfaces. William’s mouth filled with blood.

“Oi, fuckhead!”

She saw him spin around, just as an intense blast of searing white light hit him in the face. It was as if somebody had scorched his head with a flamethrower. His flesh just melted and ran like boiling wax, down his shoulders. Ethan turned off the lamp; he packed it back into his rucksack before running over to help her up.

“I’m so sorry about William,” he said. “Look, we’d better find somewhere to hide. Those people must have heard that noise.” He looked up. “Besides, it’ll be getting dark pretty soon. You’ve seen what happens when the sun isn’t around.”

Georgina shook her head, “We are not hiding anywhere, lad. We find a car and get the hell out of here. We need to alert the authorities, Ethan.”

“I can’t leave! I’m a local. You heard what they said earlier about them not being able to leave. Georgina., I’m sorry, look, there’s no need for you to stay.” He fearfully looked towards the pub. “I can get you a car. Look over at that old Ford escort, parked outside the chip shop. That belongs to Mr Wilberforce. The door will be unlocked and the keys are in the glovebox.”

She shook her head. “No way, I’m not leaving you, Ethan.” She held him tight and kissed him. “You saved my life. We’re in this together.” Georgina looked at the boy’s rucksack. “How did you know that the light would do that?”

“I didn’t. I just couldn’t think of anything else to try, besides, none of them seem to be too crazy about the sun.”

“In that case, I suggest that we go back to the caverns. It’ll be the safest place.”

“I’m sorry; did I just hear that correctly?”

Georgina nodded. “Yes you did. We both know that those things are not hiding in there, if they were, my husband and I wouldn’t have got out alive. They’ll be out in the village tonight, hunting down the locals. Besides, if your lamp does that to them, imagine what a dozen arc lights with do.”

They both looked up towards the pub at the sound of a door slamming shut.

“Shit!” cried Ethan. “We need to move it.”

Georgina watched a large stocky built man in his early forties walk towards the horse carrier. She pulled Ethan around the corner and ducked behind a post box and waited for him to make the inevitable discovery.

“It’s Alison’s dad,” hissed Ethan.

Was she expected to know who Alison was? Georgina assumed it must be a neighbour or an old girlfriend maybe. She heard Ethan crawl away and watched the man slowly walk up to her dead husband. He didn’t appear to be all that moved by the fact that he now had no flesh on his head. It surprised her to find that she felt exactly the same; she felt no connection to him now.

He nudged the dead man’s body with his foot before peering into the horse carrier’s open door. The man then spun around. This time there was urgency to his movements. Now that he’d turned his back, she felt a little safer. They needed to get out of here.

“He isn’t going to tell on us,” said Ethan, pushing past her.

“What the hell are you doing?”

The boy stopped in the middle of the street and pushed the butt of a rifle into his shoulder.

“I’m going to drop the cunt,” he replied, taking aim.

She yelped as Ethan pulled the trigger and the man dropped to the floor.

“Got him,” he said. “This is so much more powerful than my rifle.”

Georgina grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the car he mentioned, hoping to god Ethan was right about the car keys and the unlocked door. She heard the pub door opening.

Chapter Sixteen

It took a big man to admit that he was past his prime. Tony Lane sat up, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and patiently waited for his fucked up eyeballs to remember how to focus. At forty-eight, Tony knew deep down that if he didn’t stop the binge drinking, he’d end up under the dirt before he clocked this decade.

He had no idea how much he’d put away last night, nor could he remember how much the session had cost him. Tony decided to wait for a bit longer before he weighed his wallet. His eyes presented him with bright yellow floral wallpaper, a fucking horrible multi-coloured carpet that made him dizzy and a neon-pink quilt cover.

“Oh fuck,” he croaked, when out of sequence fragments of last night’s activity knocked on his brain-door and jumped inside. There wasn’t a chance in hell of sorting out those memories into an order that he could understand, at least not yet. He sighed as a figure beside him shuffled closer to him.

None of those memories showed him just who he had fucked last night. Tony imagined his neck was an oiled ball-bearing and swung his head to the side. Pulling his eyes to the bottom of his sockets, he saw a slim human shape trying to cuddle up to his hairy body. Oh, this could be potentially embarrassing. Judging from the room’s décor, he’d gone and used his honey tongued words on another teenager.

Shit, that meant yet more cold stares and disgruntled looks for the rumour-spreading village fishwives. Whilst overflowing with ale, Tony’s schoolie radar must have just given up the ghost. All he saw were a pretty smile, nice tits and a willingness to climb onto his cock.

“Fuck,” he whispered, lifting up the cover. She looked barely old enough to drink, never mind performing bedroom sports. He dragged his rough hands down her side, not too surprised to see his cock stiffening when the girl beside him sighed and giggled in her sleep.

Tony pushed her dark brown hair back so he could find out just who he had picked up. Last night. The hope of finding a stranger who preferably looked over eighteen, flew out of the open window when he recognised the girl’s face. She was over the age of consent alright, thank fuck, but the good news stopped right there.

“You really have landed in the shit this time, Tony.” He quietly climbed out of the bed and looked on the floor, trying to find his clothes. He needed to get the fuck out of here and just hoped that his best mate’s pretty daughter was as pissed as he was last night. This was so fucking embarrassing.

He spotted his gear hung over a chair close by the door and hurried over, trying not to make a single sound. What the fuck was he playing at? The girl was just a fucking child, hell, he’d even changed her nappy and bottle fed her. Tony climbed into his boxers and allowed a smirk to play over his lips. He’d hadn’t done that last night of course, now that would have been weird and pervy.

Even so, why didn’t those warning bells go off last night? The bitch had come on to him a few times in the past, until last night, he’d managed to resist Emma Clark’s octopus like arms. Tony pulled his t-shirt over his muscular frame and nervously glanced back towards the bed, Now that he’d fully woken, he was absolutely terrified.

His terror increased when Tony saw just how late it was. Hell, they’d slept through most of the day. What the fuck will his wife think? She was used to him coming back home. He took his trousers off the chair, almost feeling his heart burst in shock as the chair tipped over.

“Get a grip!” he muttered. What the fuck was wrong with him today? Tony picked up the chair, slipped on his shoes and quietly opened the bedroom door. Apart from his own ragged breathing that he just couldn’t keep under control, he heard no other sound. The rest of the household were either still asleep or weren’t in the house.

He should have greeted this news with joy, instead it only increased Tony’s fear. Hot salty tears dripped onto the carpet, between his feet. Tony grabbed hold of the banister and squeezed tight, watching his knuckles whiten. He lifted one hand off the varnished pine, he formed a fist and swung it into the wall beside him. The plaster around the impact cracked. Tony had left a few spots of blood on the pale green wall but that didn’t matter.

Tony gritted his teeth while he dragged his damaged knuckles down the wall, leaving an impressive trail of blood. The intense pain and the burning soon covered over that alien sensation of wanting to hide, shivering under the stairs. Fuck that, he was Tony Lane. He was the biggest and nastiest badass motherfucker in Colbeck. He was scared of nothing and nobody.

Let daddy say his piece. Fine, so Tony had fucked his slutty daughter. So, he might have overstepped the friendship line, but that Emma had been begging for a taste of Tony’s cock for far too long.

“As for the wife, well she can fuck herself as well.” He punched the wall one more time before making his way down the stairs. Tony needed to stuff his face, god, his stomach thought he had cut his throat.

As he wandered into the kitchen, he smiled as the memory of a little more of his antics from last night finally decided to make an appearance. It annoyed him that the recollections were of some guy getting fresh outside the chip shop and not of him sorting out that Emma. He really did want to remember the sex bit.

Tony opened the fridge and pulled out a packet of cooked turkey. He opened the packet and pushed two slices into his mouth while looking for anything else to eat. Tony laughed when he spotted a scotch egg stuffed right at the back. It’s almost as if Emma’s mum knew he was staying. She knew that Tony loved them. He stood up and peered out of the window, watching the sun dip below the horizon.

Where the fuck was the girl’s parents? He found it pretty hard to believe that neither Steven or Christina hadn’t noticed Emma’s new addition. He could understand his mate not disturbing him but not Christina. If that bitch caught an inkling that Tony had been inside her pretty daughter, she’d pushed a shotgun right up his arse and given him both barrels.

“That Christina wouldn’t mess around.” The only thing that made sense was they hadn’t come home last night, either. Tony checked the door and found it locked with the keys on the inside, he still couldn’t remember much of last night. He certainly didn’t remember Emma locking the kitchen door.

No, they couldn’t have come back, if they had, Tony would have probably woken up in hospital with his arse full of grapeshot. He stuffed half the scotch egg into his mouth and walked to the foot of the stairs, pausing to look into the living room. He would just check the rest of the rooms before walking back into Emma’s room and climbing back into bed with her.

What’s the point of giving himself a headache, trying to remember what they got up to last night? If they had the house to themselves, they could do whatever the fuck they wanted to each other. Tony couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday evening. Christ, it was a lot fucking better than sitting on their tattered couch in his living room, watching the usual shite on the box. That cow of a wife would be there, right now, dipping her fat fingers into his chocolates while lost in some boring soap. She probably won’t even be missing him. More likely, she’ll be glad he wasn’t there.

Tony climbed the stairs and finished off the last piece of scotch egg. He tried to remember if Emma’s parents had something on tonight, nothing came to mind but that didn’t surprise him, his brain still hadn’t revved back up to first gear yet. “A quick dip into the girl’s sweet well will sort that problem out.”

Tony stopped outside her parent’s door and placed his ear to the wood, he heard no snoring nor any quiet conversation. He opened their door and smiled at the sight of their empty bed. That suited him right down to the ground. He turned around and grinned, wondering if Emma had ever done it in this nice big bed. Knowing her reputation, Tony guessed he’d be able to tick that box straight away. The loose bitch hadn’t done it with him in there though.

“I’ll soon alter that.” He left their door wide open and pushed open the girl’s door, smiling when he saw that she’d woken. Emma wiped her eyes and yawned.

“Hey there,” she said, smiling. “I thought you’d sneaked off back home.”

He shook his head, “Not a chance of that, baby.”

Emma giggled. “Good, then I think we should carry on from where we left off.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” he replied. “Maybe we could do with a little more room?” Tony gestured towards her parents open door.

“You’re kidding, right? The pair of them would have a fucking heart attack if they found out we had used their bed.”

Tony had to stop and think about that one, was this girl for real? “Sweetheart, do you not think they’d be a little more concerned about finding out about me?” Tony walked over to the bed and pulled off the quilt. “Oh, whoops, your quilt is on the floor, you must be so cold. Why don’t you let me warm you up?”

The girl leaped out of bed and flew into his arms. She ran her hands down his body until they reached his behind. Emma licked his chin. “I so need to feel you inside me,” she moaned.

He moaned too when she slipped both her warm hands inside his boxers and wrapped her fingers around his stiffening shaft. “Come on, you. No foreplay.” Tony grabbed her arm and dragged the giggling girl out of her bedroom. He pushed her onto the double bed and pulled down his boxers.

“Oh, fuck me, she gasped when Tony climbed onto the bed. “I don’t remember it being so big last night.”

He positioned himself between her spread legs. “Babes, we were both pissed out of our heads. I can’t remember anything what we did last night. I intend that we both remember this time. Now shut up and relax.”

Tony grew harder when he saw Emma look down before placing her lip between those pearl white teeth. He used his thumb to guide his penis inside her, releasing a quiet moan as the girl caught her breath. He pushed his full length into her, pinning her thighs to the bed when she bucked.

“Oh god, oh fuck, Tony!” she screamed.

“Oh yes, bitch, shout out my name.”

Emma suddenly sat up and slapped away his hands. “You need to get off me!” she gasped. “I don’t fucking believe this.” She rolled off the bed and ran over to the door. “Can’t you hear them?” she hissed. “They’re come back home!”

Tony pushed her out of the bedroom and snatched up his boxers before he followed her back into her room. “They can’t be home, Emma. Your kitchen door is locked and the keys are still inside.”

“I know what I heard. Look, just get into my bed, baby.” She kissed him softly. Don’t you think you’re getting out of it that easily. I’ll just go say hello and make us a drink. I won’t be long. Don’t worry, you’ll be safe in here. They know better than to come in here.”

Tony nodded. “Emma? How do you feel?”

She shrugged, “I’ve got a banging headache and I’m more nervous then I should be. I’m putting that down to having you in my room.”

He waited until she left the bedroom before sitting on the edge of the bed. That sensation of uneasiness had sneaked back into his system. It remained him of a gnawing mild toothache or an itch that just couldn’t reach. It was driving him batshit. The need to service this girl had started to leave him as well. For the first time in years, Tony wanted to fall back into his old routine again.

“Come on, you sappy old bastard,” he muttered. “Get a fucking grip on yourself.” Tony wandered over to the bedroom door and silently opened it, trying to hear any sound coming from downstairs. Just like last time, Tony heard nothing.

He frowned and almost called out Emma’s name. He shook his head, blaming his lack of judgment on this stupid sensation, this nervousness was even worse than when his father had caught young Tony stealing a tenner from his mother’s purse.

Tony leaned over the banister, catching sight of shadows moving from the kitchen into the living room, it bothered him greatly that he heard no noises. Where were the pleasant conversations? Her mum had a right gob on her, that woman didn’t know the meaning of shut the fuck up. Come to think of it, Emma promised him a cup of tea as well. Tony heard no evidence of cup clanking, nor had he heard the girl putting the kettle on.

This was just not right. He wasn’t about to dismiss this as another scaredy cat feeling, not this fucking time. He watched those shadows for another moment, becoming more and more convinced that none of them belonged to Emma’s mum and dad.

“Fuck this,” he muttered. Tony ran along the hallway and raced down the stairs, keeping his eyes fixed on that living room door. Nothing moved as he charged down the stairs. He looked into the living room and saw nobody.

“What the fuck?”

He went through the kitchen door, expecting to find Emma in there and again, the room was devoid of life, he shuddered as he turned and saw that the keys were still in the door. “Emma!” he shouted. “Where are you?”

Tony growled, this had to be some stupid teenage game, had the bitch set him up here? Had she secretly invited a few of her mates around when he’d left her bedroom? “Emma, I’m not fucking messing about here.”

He placed his hand against the kettle, not surprised to find it still cold. He felt his fury return, this would not end well. Tony didn’t like people fucking with him. “I’ll give you one last chance, Emma. I’m a reasonable bloke, if you come out from wherever the fuck you’re hiding and say sorry, we’ll forget this little prank even happened.”

The cupboard door by his leg moved, he jumped back before crouching down. He watched it open a little more. “Just what the hell are you playing at?” he shouted. “This is what kids do.” He grabbed the handle and pulled the door wider, crying out as Emma’s still body fell out and landed on his chest. Tony shrieked in terror when he saw that both her legs were missing.

“I had no choice,” growled a voice behind him.

Tony pushed the body off him, and he jumped up and ran over to the counter top. Tony pulled a knife out of the block and spun around, swinging the blade in a low arc. He found himself alone again; he gazed at his blood stained top before reluctantly following the blood trails until he found the girl’s mutilated body. “Come out, you evil fucking cunt!” he roared. “I’m going to pull your legs off.” Tony ran into the hallway and dived into the living room, looking for any place where this murderer could be hiding. The only area where he could be was behind the sofa. Tony picked up a large porcelain vase and threw it, watching the ornament fly through the air before dropping behind the sofa.

He heard it crash into the carpet. Tony saw movement, he raised the knife up, ran towards the figure and slammed the blade down, grinning with satisfaction as he drove the knife deep into their leg. Tony triumph was short lived as he felt two pairs of hands grip his clothes and drag his struggling body back into the kitchen. The fury dissolved when he saw three naked middle-aged women sat around Emma’s body. They fought amongst each other like starving jackals fighting over a kill. Tony watched one of them duck under a thrown punch then use the curved scimitar like talons on her left hand to rip through Emma’s soft stomach. The growling woman then pulled out some of the dead girl’s soft organs and raced across the kitchen leaving the remaining women to tear into the gaping wound.

Tony felt a hand grab his hair, the sight of those things eating Emma disappeared and his world exploded with intense white light as somebody slammed the back of his head into cold tiles.

“Do I have your attention now, Tony?” asked a deep voice behind him.

He groaned, trying to focus on the blurred pink oval shape over his head. “I’m going to fucking destroy you.” He growled.

The blurred shape found focus, Tony found himself gazing in revulsion at the distorted face of a teenage youth. The shiny skin fought to keep the meat below from bursting through. He saw a dozen repaired rips, under the chin, below the eyes and across the cheeks. The crude stitching moved and undid as this abomination smiled down at Tony. “You really do have plenty of spirit inside your large frame. I cry at the thought of all that anger just wasting away. It should be put to a more profitable use. Just not by you, my excitable little goat.”

Tony flinched when this thing brushed the back of his hand along the man’s cheek. He glared at some young girl, pinning his left arm to the tiles. Oh hell, he knew her. This was Mrs Waterman’s kid. She used to teach Samuel maths and history. What the hell had happened to her, god, he couldn’t even lift his arm. “Get off me, right now, kid.” Judging from the noise coming out of the thing’s throat, it was either choking or thought this was the funniest joke he’d ever heard.

“Yes, I have made the right choice with you.” The thing leaned even closer. “Three of my flock are consuming your mate and yet, I’ve yet to witness a single shed tear.”

“I’ll mourn for the poor girl once you and the rest of you fucking maniacs are dead.” He roared and tried once more to get them off his body.

“What do you want from me?”

“Mr Lane, I am a little insulted that you do not know. You should feel blessed. I need a new body and I have chosen yours.”

Tony then howled in terror as the creature slowly opened its mouth. He looked at all those uneven, jagged teeth, filling its ever-expanding mouth and felt his bowels let go. The creature sighed, lowered his head and fastened its teeth over the man’s face, muffling his shrieking.

Chapter Seventeen

Dan winced at the sound his mum’s body made as she tripped and fell against the bare floorboards. His dad rushed over and picked her off the floor. He brushed the dirt off her knees and sat her down next to Alison.

He hurried over to the open window and closed it, after checking to make sure there was nobody about. They hadn’t been followed, at least, Dan didn’t think anyone had seen the four of them escape from the house. He looked over at his mum and dad, watching them huddle. They would be still hiding from the others and stumbling through the darkened back streets of Colbeck, on the two-mile journey to the church hall if it hadn’t been for his parents.

His parents knew more short cuts and hidden footpaths then both Alison and Dan put together. It took a panicked dash through the village, avoiding their pissed off neighbours to realise that these two middle-age people had not always lived in his fucking kitchen.

“Mum, are you okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah, it’s only my ego that’s bruised. I’m too old for this shit.”

Dan looked around the old storeroom; it hadn’t changed in all those years. He looked over at Colin. “Good choice, we ought to be safe, at least until we figure out what to do next.”

He and Colin had once broken in here back when they were still in secondary school. His mate had somehow persuaded him that the single upper floor window in the church hall was where they stored all the chocolate bars. Colin had overheard this from his father so it must be true. After almost breaking their necks, ripping up and cutting open their arms on the barbed wire, the boys had found the room not much different from how it looked now. Apart from a battered table pushed up against the wall beside where Colin sat and a box full of dusty bibles, the room was empty.

“Wait, that’s different,” he said, walking over to the blue panelled door. The door had been locked, on their last visit. He crouched and ran his finger along the door’s edge, where the lock mechanism should have been.

“It looks like somebody really wanted to get in this room,” said Colin. “I reckon somebody had the same idea as us and didn’t have a key.”

Dan nodded and pulled the door open a little wider.

“Son, do you think that’s a wise idea?” said his dad. “Remember, we came here because it was somewhere secure, a room where we could at least be safe.”

“I know that but it’s obvious that somebody recently has been in here. Look, there’s still a few bits of broken wood on the floor. I think we should at least go have a look.”

He didn’t bother to wait for the reply. Dan knew that he was right on this one. He quietly padded out into the corridor, thankful that there was a single low wattage lightbulb hung from the ceiling. It didn’t give off much light but it was enough to see where he was going. There were more boxes in the corridor than in that room. He brushed past a pile of old banana boxes stacked with tatty paperbacks, plastic toys and ornaments.

He guessed that half of the villagers unwanted bits of crap were in these boxes, all ready to be dragged out at the merest whiff of a jumble sale or gala. Dan reached the end door and turned around to see the others were following him. He glanced at the boxes and guessed that after tonight, all this stuff would probably end up on a landfill site after the authorities had finished tearing their village to pieces, looking for clues as to what happened.

His dad nodded and Dan grabbed the door handle and slowly turned it. He heard the sudden distant shouting before he had a chance to open the door. For that moment, Dan contemplated just turning around and rushing back to that storeroom. In the end, the desire for information kept him from running.

The door led out onto the balcony, above the main hall. He opened the door just wide enough so he could crawl out. Dan made his way over to the edge and peered through two of the green painted wooden slats. There must have been nearly everyone in the village all crowded together in the village hall’s assembly room. What the fuck were they up to? He then noticed where the shouting was coming from. On the stage, at the back of the room, he saw Samuel and some old lady having a bit of a tiff.

“That’s Mrs Dando,” whispered his dad. “She’s the one who organises the church hall’s engagements. I guess she must be a bit pissed that the kid is muscling in on her patch.”

The old woman’s verbal protests increased when two of Samuel’s associates jumped onto the stage and dragged her backstage. What surprised Dan were the apathetic reactions from the other villagers. Only yesterday, an event like that would have kept the gossipers busy for weeks.

“Dan, we can’t stay here.”

He silently agreed with his father, staying in this building was just asking for trouble, they all wouldn’t stay down there. Now that the woman was gone, Samuel had walked to the front of the stage. Dan hoped that woman was okay. He turned away and shuffled back, desperately trying to think of another place where they could lay low.

His dad’s arm whipped out and grabbed Dan’s shirt. “Shit!” he hissed. “What is she doing down there?”

Dan turned back and saw that Samuel had climbed down to embrace a girl.

“We can’t leave now,” said his dad, getting onto his knees.

“Don’t be stupid, dad.” Dan pulled the man back down. “In case you haven’t noticed, Chelsea isn’t alone.” Of all the lads to choose, why the fuck did she have to go for him? He clenched his hand, feeling the urge to go down there and punch that bastard. She was a pain in the arse most of the time but she was still his sister. He saw the hurt spread across his dad’s face. He didn’t want to think what he must be going through. “Come on, dad, we need to find somewhere else to hide.”

“I can’t leave her down there.”

Dan watched the man give his sister a soft kiss before he climbed back onto the stage. “Yes we can. Look, Samuel is a complete dickhead but he seems besotted with her. You know he won’t let anything happen to the girl.” Dan’s placating words made him feel like something he’d just stood on. What other choice did he have?

His father closed his eyes. “If anything does happen to Chelsea,” he said, growling. “I’ll kill that boy.” He held his son’s gaze. “Not a word to your mother, okay?”

Dan nodded, he wasn’t that much of an idiot.

“Look at that,” said his dad pointing over at the double doors at the back of the room. “It looks like we have late arrivals.”

Two young men looked over at Samuel who nodded back. They picked up their shotguns and slowly walked towards the doors. Dan’s stomach knotted, they obviously weren’t expecting anyone. He nudged his dad. “We should get back to the others. It’s time for us to go.” The two men stopped a few feet from the doors, pointing their guns in front of them. All eyes were fixed on those doors.

Dan shuffled back and rolled over. His heart almost stopped when he saw a dozen human shaped figures crawling along the ceiling. He tugged on his dad’s shirt. The figures all stopped moving. He heard the unmistakable sound of somebody snapping back a shotgun’s barrel, and then the figures all dropped.

The assembly room erupted into a cyclone of shrieking, blood curdling screams and panicked shouts. Dan rolled back and watched the things jump from villager to villager, biting and scratching. One of the men holding a shotgun staggered back when one of them ran towards him. The man shouted out a few unintelligible words before discharging his weapon. At close quarters, the shot literally disintegrated the creature’s torso, spraying liquid red gore across the room.

Dan moaned when he saw three blood drenched villagers collapse. Like the ones already bitten, they writhed and jerked, weeping and crying out. Two of the creatures looked up; they saw the remains of their companion and ran towards the man, fumbling two more cartridges into the weapon. He didn’t even get a chance to snap the gun shut before they both fell on the shrieking man. Dan looked away, feeling sick. Thankfully, his screams didn’t last too long.

He watched in amazement as Samuel dragged his sister into the back. Two other villagers saw the pair escape and tried to follow them. The two remaining creatures scrambled up onto the stage and pulled the two villagers back.

Dan counted twelve people still standing up. He didn’t recognise any of them. They were all huddled together in the middle of the room, all quietly moaning and crying as the turned villagers now began to pick themselves off the floor. They formed a circle around the survivors and then all glanced over at the main doors.

A collective soft groan erupted from their mouths. Dan almost moaned himself when he saw a huge man dressed in black push through the double doors. The man looked around the room; he laughed and walked over to the two blood-soaked creatures still mauling the man who had shot their companion. He kicked them away, pushed his hand into the hole in his stomach and pulled out a lump of offal.

He dare not move. Dan knew that if he shifted just one inch, that bastard thing down there would know and they’d end up like the rest of the villagers. It had now found a larger body. He didn’t want to think what had happened to his friend, he only hoped that Terrence had now found peace. Some racial memory told him that his friend had been fully conscious while that monster used and abused his body.

Dan couldn’t stand Samuel Lane and the thought of his dirty paws on his sister made him sick. Even so, he was so glad he had managed to get away before he’d seen what that fucker had done to the man’s dad.

The monster snapped his fingers and two turned villagers ran over to him. They fell to the floor and started to paw at his feet. He bent down and wiped his bloodstained hands in their hair. “There are so many of you, this time,” he said. “The world has changed too much, I find it,” he paused. “I find it, uncomfortable.”

He looked over at the survivors and walked towards them. The villagers parted, as he neared.

A young man at the front, dressed in hiking gear raised his fists. “You have one minute to tell me what the fuck is going on.”

The monster grabbed the man, pulled him away from the others and forced him to his knees. His mouth opened wide, the jaw unhinged like a grotesque snake, his victim’s brusque attitude just melted away, he now begged and pleaded for the monster to spare his life. His voice stopped when the thing fastened his jaws over the top of the man’s head then snapped his mouth shut. When the man fell forward, the contents from his open skull spilled across the floor. Dan watched three of the turned villagers fall on the hands and knees then lap up the mess.

The monster smiled. “Okay, my flock, I’ve kept you waiting long enough.” He swept his hand around. “Enjoy my gifts to you.”

Every creature dived on the screaming people. Dan choked back a sob and followed his dad back towards the door. They raced along the corridor, stumbling over the discarded books and toys. Dan looked up when he saw Alison and Colin run out of the room.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry, Dan,” sobbed Alison. “You need to turn around, both of you. We have to get out of here!”

His dad pushed past both of them and disappeared into the room. He heard his dad cry out before something heavy crashed into the other side of the wall. Alison grabbed Dan’s arm as he rushed passed.

“I’m so sorry,” she said. “It just took us by surprise.”

Dan snatched his arm away and followed his dad into the room. He saw him stood in front of his mother, who was slumped against the wall. He then saw the crumpled shape of another person on the other side of the room. He then saw the jagged teeth. “Oh god,” he moaned. “Oh please, not my mum!” His dad pushed him back when Dan tried to get to her.

“No,” he threw Dan over to the window. “Get out of here,” he growled. His dad looked at the other two framed against the open door. “Both of you as well. Follow Dan out of the window.”

Dan opened the window, trying to hold back the tears when he saw the broken chair leg held in his dad’s hands.

Chapter Eighteen

He snatched the shotgun out of the trembling hands of the old farmer and swung the gun around. Before he could smash the stock into the stupid bastard’s face, Samuel felt a pair of arms wrap around his body, pinning his arms to his chest. “Get the fuck off me, or I swear to god, you’ll be the next one that I fuck up.”

“Oh god, Sammi, leave him be!” Chelsea ran between them and put her hands on either side of his face. “Please, Sammi, it wasn’t his fault.”

“Wasn’t his fault?” he growled, shrugging off the other man’s arms. “Because of that docile turd, we’re down to just four of us.”

He watched in disgust as his girlfriend picked the daft old bastard off the floor. He must be mellowing out in his old age to allow some bird tell him what to do. The woman and the infected fucker lay side by side, on the other side of the road. It well fucked him off that he couldn’t even remember the woman’s name. Samuel knew that she used to work in the library during the week but that’s about as far as he knew about her.

As for the infected fucker that took a bite out of the library girl, he knew the name of that cunt alright. Samuel looked down at its now dead face still contorted in rage. Samuel glared at the farmer. It had surprised him how easy it had been to kill the thing, it looks like the years of target practise had paid off.

“Bring that bastard over here,” he said. He watched his girlfriend and Alex drag the struggling man over the road. If he could get Alex away from Chelsea, he’d thank the guy in person from saving their lives. There was no fucking way, he’d do that in front of his woman, Alex would probably think he was trying to fucking queer him up. Samuel looked back towards the road where they’d just run from. Still trying to wrap his head at how everything had gone to dogshit so fucking quickly.

He was so pissed. Samuel glared down at this cowardly bag of shit, shaking by his feet, he knew that if he didn’t do something about the fury, he’d end up doing something really stupid.

“You got this woman killed cos you dropped your fucking gun. Our Chelsea says that I’m not allowed to personally fuck you up.” He shrugged. “I ain’t gonna argue with her.” Samuel looked at the woman sprawled on the floor; he could see her eyelids flickering. He dropped to his knees, took off the old man’s boots and whipped out the laces.

“Oh please, no, don’t do this,” pleaded the man as Samuel wrapped the laces around the old man’s wrist.

Samuel tied the old man to the woman then stood up. “I think you have about a minute at the best, you fucker, before she comes around. I wish you lots of luck with those knots.” He picked up the shotgun and raced down the empty street, eager to get away from the pair of them.

“Why the fuck did you have to go and do that?” cried Chelsea when he ran behind a wheelie bin and stopped to catch his breath. He closed his eyes, rested his head against the cold metal and grinned when the sound of the old man’s dying scream reached his ears. “This is survival of the fittest, babes. The old bastard had already fucked up once. His yellow act killed that woman. He did it once, he would have done it again.” Samuel opened his eyes and grabbed Chelsea’s shoulders. “You were both together, baby. It was just fate that kept you away from that thing’s teeth.”

“Samuel, what do we do now?”

He opened his eyes and looked at Alex. He had yet to ponder over their immediate future. Samuel’s blazing thought hadn’t allowed his mind to think past getting away from the church hall and then to dealing with the farmer. He looked down at his shotgun and tried to remember how many shells he had left. Alex had only fired off one shot; he should still have his share stuffed in those deep pockets of his.

He peered around the bin and watched the turned farmer sit up. The creature then jumped to his feet, he howled before running back towards the church hall. Samuel knew for a fact that they sure as shit didn’t have enough firepower to take on the whole fucking village.

“Do you think we’re the only ones left?” asked Chelsea.

That question stuck fast in Samuel’s brain. He’d been pretty successful in getting most of the villagers together but he hadn’t got them all. Samuel pushed away the worrying thought that if he hadn’t bothered, then most of them would probably still be alive.

“No, we can’t be the last men standing. Our path is pretty fucking clear. We get more armed folk to join our cause. If those fucks think they can take down me, they’re in for a fucking shock,” he growled. Samuel stroked the side of Chelsea’s face. “Don’t you worry, babes, we’ll make it through to dawn, you mark my words.”

Alex snapped open his shotgun and inserted two cartridges. The youth snapped it shut and looked back towards the creature that he’d taken down before he looked back at Samuel. “Don’t you think we should try and find Karl?”

Samuel took one deep shuddering breath in order to calm down. He was surprised that it had taken this long to mention that traitorous fucker’s name. “No, I don’t think we should find him. If you know what’s best for you, Alex, never mention his name ever again. That cunt ran out on us, everything went to dogshit after he had fucked us over.”

He turned away from them and marched away, knowing full well that the pair would follow him like a pair of fucking lost puppies. Samuel saw some movement in a shop window. He stopped and squinted, in the dim glow of the streetlight directly above the window, it looked a bit like a face. From across the street, it was pretty difficult to tell.

“Did you see that?” he asked.

Chelsea shook her head. “All I saw was you storming away in a sulk.”

Samuel refused to rise to that. He’d deal with her later. Right now, he had to keep his mood on a level, there was too much at stake to start going off on another rant. He turned back towards the shop, annoyed to see that the face was no longer there. “Come on,” he said, running across the street. Thinking about it, if that face had fucked off, it must mean that whoever was in there was hiding. If it had been a changed villager, it would have smashed through that window to reach them.

He stopped by the door. “Chelsea,” he whispered. “I need you to open the door for me.” Samuel lifted his shotgun and watched Chelsea slowly turn the handle. She pushed the door open and stepped back. He nodded in relief, thankful that she hadn’t decided to go in there first. He stepped over the threshold, and waited for his eyes to get used to the shadowy passageway before he quietly walked along the passageway, keeping his ears open for any unusual sound. All he could hear were Alex’s huge feet scraping across the lino.

Samuel winced every time Alex moved. The fat cunt sounded like a dancing elephant in a fucking window factory. If there was anyone in here, they were bound to have heard him them now. Samuel resisted the urge to slap Alex and hurried up to the end door. He pushed open the door and walked through, looking for any sign of the mysterious face. He was now in the front of the shop, behind the counter. There was nobody here. “Is anyone about?” he shouted. “Come on, don’t fuck about. I know you’re here, look we’re all in the same fucking boat here.”

He spied movement at the back of the shop and watched a kid of about fourteen raise his head up from behind a stack of newspapers. Samuel was impressed at the lad’s hiding ability, he wouldn’t have known someone was hiding in here if he hadn’t spotted the face in the window.

“Fuck me, Jacob, is that really you?”

The lad pushed his shoulder length brown hair out of his face and gazed fearfully at them, Samuel watched the boy’s eyes dart towards the shotgun and lowered it.

“We ain’t going to hurt you, kid, honest.”

“How do I know that?” he muttered.

“Look, for fuck’s sake, don’t give me that bollocks, you know who I am, it’s your Karl’s mate.”

Chelsea pushed past him. “You really do have a gift for words, Sammi.”

She smiled at the boy. “Hey there, Karl, don’t look so shocked. My mate’s younger sister showed me a pic of you on Facebook. She thinks you’re really cute.”

Samuel watched in amazement as the kid’s features softened and that distrust just melted away. Chelsea ducked under the counter and slowly walked over to the kid.

“Jacob, would you like to come with us? Don’t worry, we can protect you from harm.”

He shook his head. “No, I ain’t leaving here. Besides, I can’t leave my friends and I don’t think they’d want to leave here either.”

Samuel ducked under the counter, he smiled, knowing that he must have hit gold. He looked around the village grocery shop and wanted to kick himself. This must be where the rest of the villagers were hiding. That made so much sense. He couldn’t think of a better place to hide. “Can you take me to them, Jacob?”

The boy slowly nodded. “I can, but you’ll have to leave those on the counter.”

“No fucking way,” said Samuel. I ain’t letting go of this baby, no matter what.”

“Yes you are,” said Chelsea. “This isn’t a western.” She looked over at the boy. “Jacob’s okay and he hasn’t a gun.”

“I’m sorry,” whispered the boy. “I meant no insult. It’s just that the others are terrified and if they see those shotguns, they’d all panic.” He leaned forward, “Most of the village kids are down there. We’re trying to keep them quiet.”

Samuel sighed and carefully placed the shotgun on the counter, then motioned Alex to do the same. “You’d better take me to them, kid.”

Jacob nodded and hurried over to a door on the other side of the room. “Okay, Follow me.”

He led them into another room. The boy smiled at them before turning on the light and shutting the door. “He’s going to be so pleased.”

He saw Chelsea’s eyes dart towards the ceiling. She screamed. He looked up and saw over a dozen of the creatures smiling down at him. He grabbed her hand then ran towards the door.

“No, Samuel, I think not.”

He skidded to a stop and looked into the face of his own father framed in the doorway. “Dad?” He stepped back as the man walked into the room.

“You have done an excellent job, Jacob. You may go.”

The boy ran past them all, giggling.

“You’re not…”

The man smiled, “No, I’m not your father, Samuel, although some part of him does exist in me.”

He grabbed Chelsea and tried to push past the thing that had taken over his dad. Why the fuck did he leave his gun out there? He cried out as the all the creatures about him dropped down.

“You can have the other one.”

Alex shrieked as they all dived on the man.

“I don’t need him.” He gripped their necks and brought them up to his face. “I’ll be taking my flock back in a few hours but I need my field full of livestock for when I return,” he said, grinning. “You two are very impressive. Be appreciative, you’re going to be spared.”

Samuel saw those terrible teeth coming towards him. He tightened his grip on Chelsea’s hand then closed his eyes.

Chapter Nineteen

He ran his thumb along the sole of his boot, shuddering when he felt the huge craters that those things had bitten out of the rubber. Ethan wanted to cry, just thinking about how close that little brown terrier had come to changing him into a monster brought the tears flooding back.

“How are you doing, Ethan?” asked Georgina. She laid her arms on his shoulders. “We’re okay for the moment, I think.”

He nodded, wiping his face. Ethan continued to watch the empty street, not wanting to turn around. If he saw her lovely face creased up in anxious concern, he just knew he’d wouldn’t be able to stop weeping. “The DIY store is on the end of this road. I’m sure they’ll have some powerful lights.”

They had done so well in avoiding the creature’s hunting for any remaining villagers. Only once had those things caught sight of them. Georgina had been trying to restart their knackered car when Ethan spun around and saw one of them scuttling over a roof. It had seen him and leaped from the roof onto the ground just a few feet from their car. Without pausing to warn the woman, he took the lamp out and shone the light straight in it’s face, grinning as its flesh boiled away.

It seemed ironic that the local wildlife almost killed them. Georgina hadn’t been able to restart the car but it didn’t matter, the caverns were only a short distance away. They encountered no more of the things as they ran towards the carpark. They only slowed down and finally stopped at the sight of the thousands of small animals packed into the carpark, it was like a moving carpet of dark fur.

Dozens of the animals had broke from the main pack and scurried towards them, they had run back with Ethan sweeping the beam of light behind him as they raced back into the village.

“They’ll have some batteries at least,” said Ethan. Thanks to those bloody animals, the battery for his light was completely flat. If any of those creatures did spot them, Ethan didn’t know what he’d do.

“Okay, I think we’re safe, Ethan.” She got to her feet and leaned over the low brick wall that bordered the post office and a charity shop. She grabbed his hand and lifted him up. “Come on, Ethan, we need to get in that shop as soon as we can.” Georgina pointed at his lamp. “We’re helpless right now. Are you ready?”

He nodded and followed her across the street, feeling so exposed.

“How far now?” she whispered.

Ethan took her hand, feeling as if it was the right thing to do. “Come on, we’re nearly there.” He pulled the woman around the side of a telephone box and looked across the road, to a row of cottages, he saw no movement, although Ethan did notice somebody had left their patio door open.

“The store is over there,” he whispered. Ethan raced across the road, expecting one of those creatures to jump up from behind a garden wall at any second. He reached the front of the store and stopped dead. “Oh fuck,” he said, looking at the shattered window. “We can’t go in there now, it must be crawling with those things.”

Georgina shook her head then pushed her head into the shop’s interior. “I can’t see anyone,” she whispered, pulling her head back out. “I just think it will have been people like us, hunting for supplies.” She ducked into the shop, keeping hold of his hand then pulled Ethan inside.

He pulled the woman to the side and ducked down behind a freestanding display of emulsion paint. “I can see torch light,” he hissed. Ethan’s heart almost stopped when the woman jumped up.

“Hello?” she shouted, “Is there anyone there?”

“Who’s that?” answered a young man’s voice.

That sounded like Dan Wilson. Fuck, trust that mouthy little shit to survive. He slowly stood up and followed Georgina towards the torch beams, wondering who else was with him.

“Hey there, Ethan,” said Dan, walking towards him. The lad flung his arms around him. “I should have known the bastards wouldn’t have caught you. Heard about you and Samuel, dude.” Dan giggled. “Man, your bollocks must be full of concrete.”

“Either that or you really are fucking mental.”

Ethan turned to see Colin Grave grinning at him.

“It’s good to see you, man,” Colin said. “Hell, we thought that we were the only ones left. It’s good to see the both of you.”

Ethan felt an atmosphere of curiosity as the others gazed at Georgina. He felt her hand instinctively reach for his. Her friendship helped to dispel those awkward feelings when he saw Alison gazing at the pair of them. “Hi Alison,” he said. “I’m glad to see that you’re okay.” He wondered if he ought to tell the girl that he took care of her father.

“Guys,” Dan said. “Do you two have a plan?”

Ethan shrugged. “Apart from not to get eaten? To be honest, we don’t know what to do, anymore.”

Dan nodded. “Well, you’ve done well on the first bit.”

Ethan jumped back and raised his rifle when he saw a figure running out of the shadows.

“Relax, man. It’s just my dad.”

“We need to move,” hissed the man, grabbing hold of Dan’s shoulders. He quickly nodded at Ethan. “Come on, son, I think the bastards have followed us.”

Ethan heard the sound of something at the back of the shop crashing onto the floor. Georgina grabbed his arm. He turned and saw several figures climbing through the broken front window.

“We’re so fucked!” moaned Colin.

He lifted his rifle and fired into the crowd, grunting with satisfaction as one of the things dropped to the ground. Ethan fired again and cursed when the rifle failed to fire. Two of the things giggled and ran towards Georgina. He jumped forward, spun the rifle and smacked the nearest one in the side of the head.

The remaining one screeched and dived at Georgina. She snatched a screwdriver from the counter beside her and slammed it into the woman’s face. Ethan saw even more of them entering the shop and pulled Georgina away, they raced along the aisles, following the others.

Ethan grabbed Georgina back as one of them dropped down in front of them and landed on Colin’s head. He raised his rifle but Dan had already pulled the thing off his friend. Dan’s father slammed the creature’s head into the corner of the shelf.

“Leave him!” screamed his dad, when Dan ran over to Colin. “He’s one of them now” The man grabbed his son and threw the lad towards Alison.

Ethan gripped Alison’s hand tight and jumped over Colin’s twitching body, while keeping his eyes fixed on the ceiling, just hoping that no more of those things were hiding up there.

Dan frantically looked at his dad. “They’ve covered both exits.”

Ethan pushed Georgina towards the others then threw his gun at Dan. “Keep her safe,” he shouted. “I’ll be just a minute.” He tuned out Georgina’s crying, skirted around Colin’s body and ran back into the shop. Most of the other creatures had already left the shop. He had no idea why, Ethan was just thankful that they had. Two remaining ones snarled at him as he accidentally booted a mop bucket. “Fuck you!” he snarled, picking up the bucket and throwing it in their direction.

He saw what he wanted and leaped over the glass counter. Ethan reached up and snatched a pack of batteries. Fumbling with the plastic cover, he ripped the two batteries out and pushed them into his lamp. They fell onto him before he had time to switch it on.

Ethan saw their jagged teeth reaching for his face, He struggled, trying to kick them off, it was no use, the bastards had him pinned to the floor. The one sitting on his chest giggled.

“Goodbye, you chicken stealing bastard,” snarled Mavis Corvin.

The other one was sitting on his legs, thought this was hilarious. “We’re allowed to eat you,” he said, giggling.

His laughter abruptly ceased. Mavis snapped her head back. The crushing weight on his legs vanished. Ethan bucked and wiggled, he couldn’t shift the changed woman off his chest but it did give his fingers enough freedom for him to reach his torch. Ethan turned it on and shone the beam straight into the woman’s face, feeling so gratified as the flesh on the woman’s face just bubbled and dripped onto the floor.

“My mum said your jam tasted like fucking sugary vomit!” He looked up to see Dan pulling a garden fork out of the other one’s head. “Thanks for coming back, buddy.” Ethan helped himself to a couple more packets of batteries and picked up another lamp similar to his own.

“You really are a weird kid,” he muttered.

Dan helped him over the counter and they ran through the shop. He saw moving shadows everywhere but none of the creatures dared show their face, they weren’t idiots. Ethan saw the others standing on the first step that led upstairs. He gave the extra lamp and batteries to Dan’s father.

“You took a stupid risk there, son.”

Ethan shrugged. “No I don’t believe that I did, Mr Wilson. We have about five hours of darkness left. At least with the lamps we’ll stand some chance of making it through to see the dawn.”

Georgina pulled him towards her. “Well I think you took a stupid risk,” she sobbed. “Don’t you ever do that again.”

Dan backed into them, “Dad, get the lamps sorted. We’re not safe just yet.”

Ethan gasped as he saw dozens of the things climbing through the shop window, they didn’t move once they entered the shop. Dan’s father shut the battery cover shut and turned on the torch.

“Get up the stairs,” he hissed. “If they are all here, we should be able to get out the back. Ethan, they know you have a torch, they won’t go near you, protect the others. I’ll hold them off.”

“No fucking way, dad, I ain’t letting you be the hero.”

“I’m not that daft, son,” he replied. “They won’t come any further into the shop, not with me holding this.”

Ethan saw Dan’s whole demeanour change when another creature climbed into the shop and pushed past the other.

“Oh fucking no, oh please,” moaned Dan. “Not her.”

Ethan stepped back, watching Dan’s older sister slowly approach them, he so felt for the lad and his dad, he didn’t want to think what must be going through their minds right now.

“Stay where you are, Chelsea!” shouted her dad. “I’m not kidding about, I really will burn you.”

The girl laughed. “Oh, well fuck me, it’s just like one big family reunion, apart from mummy of course. Good work with that one, dad. I never thought you’d have the guts to murder your own wife.” The woman started to clap. “Now, here’s the deal. The ones who are local, if you come over here right now, I’ll just give you a little nip and your pain will be all over and done with.”

Dan’s father turned on the lamp. “I think you know my answer.” He stood up. “No more warnings.”

The girl giggled, “Take your best shot,” she said opening out her arms and walking towards him.

The man sobbed and shone the beam of light straight into her face. Chelsea just laughed before racing over to him.

“I’m one of the chosen,” she said, knocking the lamp out of his arms. She pulled his face close to her, opened her mouth and bit into his cheeks, ripping off a chunk of flesh. Chelsea dragged the shrieking man towards the others.

Dan ran forward, he snatched up the lamp and ran over to the howling creatures. He swung the light across their bodies, howling in grief while the smoking creatures tried to escape through the window. Dan picked up a metal broom handle and ran at Chelsea. She snarled at her brother and ripped the handle out of his hands before following the others out of the window.

Ethan and the others hurried over to the sobbing boy.

Alison dropped to her knees and wrapped her hands around his waist. “Oh god, I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

Dan looked at them. “I know how to stop this.”

Chapter Twenty

Nearly everyone he had ever known was down there, with the exception of his parents. Dan forced the tears back, he couldn’t allow the grief to smother him. He needed to keep his wits sharp, before he lost them forever.

They shuffled in single file, along the middle of the road, towards the direction of the caverns. Their wretched expressions filled his heart with despair. These poor creatures all knew what was to become of them, they truly were damned.

Eight other villagers flanked the long line, only arrogance and hate filled their expressions. Like guards escorting prisoners, they ensured that the line kept its shape and weren’t slow at dispensing punishment to anyone who slowed down. Dan ducked as Samuel passed their hiding place; his spotted his sister directly opposite the big man on the other side of the line. Dan had noticed that they both carried matching cricket bats, that was so sweet.

Dan wanted to throw up. They had a good reason to be smug, these bastards were the chosen breeding pairs.

“I can take Samuel out,” said Ethan. “It’s an easy shot and can guarantee that the bastard wouldn’t get up this time.”

Dan pushed the barrel to the side. “Use your head man. What would be the point of that? They’d all run over here and fucking eat us.”

The front of the line disappeared into the cavern’s carpark. Dan heard the sound of a single loud sob. Icy fingers caressed his spine when that pitiful moan abruptly stopped. He knew that voice it belonged to Steven Corvin. Like Dan, that man had lost his family too. The memory of that turned boy from a millennia ago slipped to the front of Dan’s mind. He wondered if Steven’s sudden cry had just pushed him to the front of that monster’s menu.

“That’s it then,” whispered the archaeologist. “They’ll all disappear into the caverns and that’ll be it, we’ll never hear from them again.”

He attempted to shake off the paralysing dread, smothering his bones, and pushed away all the mental excuses for not following this through. Dan picked up his dad’s lamp and crouched in front of Alison.

“Please, Dan,” she moaned. “Don’t do this, there must be another way. I don’t want to lose you.”

“There is no other way, sweetheart,” he replied. “We all know that.” Dan brushed his lips against hers. “I so love you, baby.”

Dan stood up. “Guys, no matter what happens to me, come daybreak, this will all be over. At least you’ll be safe.” He turned around and raced towards the Dog and Duck, this time he did allow the tears to flow.

He ran past the village pub and stopped, glancing behind him, making sure that none of the others had been stupid enough to follow him. After wiping his face, he sat on a low brick wall and opened Ethan’s rucksack. Dan took out the knife and the spare lamp then tucked the bag behind the wall.

From his vantage point, Dan could see the last of the villagers entering the carpark. He stood up, took a deep breath and ran after them. None of the fucked up animals that Ethan warned him about were visible, he shivered at the thought of a pack of changed tabby cats dropping out of the trees and ripping him to small pieces. He stopped at the main entrance; even from here, Dan could hear them moaning and crying in the chamber.

He saw no sign of his sister or the other ones that the monster had spared. That worried him a little; would they be guarding the chamber? Dad gripped the handle of his knife, that made no sense, guarding them from what, him and his fucking vegetable peeler?

Dan quietly entered the building, sure that the chosen ones wouldn’t have followed the turned villagers. It still worried him that he hadn’t seen any of them leave. He ran over to a vending machine in the corner and peered around the side, looking into the gift shop. It seemed like years since he last sat on that stool behind the till, bored out of his mind.

He saw nobody else in the foyer. Dan turned on the lamp and hurried over to the gate, wondering if he had the guts to kill his own sister, if the girl was still here. He stopped outside the chamber, listening to them all quietly weeping. Dan closed his eyes for just a moment, knowing that there was still time to leave. He knew the light had no effect on the chosen ones, there was a good chance that it might not fuck up the main monster either.

“Fuck it,” he muttered. Dan opened his eyes and ran into the chamber. The changed screeched in agony as the white light scorched them as he played the beam along the floor. He didn’t want to kill any more of them but he had no other choice when three turned villagers, standing by the hidden entrance leapt for Dan. He lifted the lamp and swept the light across their heads. As the bubbling headless bodies dropped to the floor, Dan spun around and found that all of the others had pressed their bodies up against the wall at the back of the chamber. He heard the occasional snarl but most of them just glared at him while sobbing.

“I don’t want to kill anymore of you,” he said. “But, I swear to god, if any of you fuckers do move from that wall, I’ll melt every single one of you bastards.” Dan raced over to the hidden chamber and pressed his hands against the stone, feeling the disguised door shift. His heartbeat accelerated when Dan saw the table in the middle of the room, covered in a clean white sheet. He set the beam to high intensity and slowly walked up to the table. He gritted his teeth, grabbed the corner of the sheet and whipped it off, shining the light down.

The grinning face of Samuel Lane stared back at him. The man abruptly sat up and knocked the lamp out of Dan’s trembling hand.

“Oh man! I so wish you could see the look on your face!” he said, laughing. “You see, we just knew you’d pull a stunt like this, now my dad wanted to take you out as soon as you entered the cavern.” He jumped off the slab, picked up the lamp and smashed it against the wall.

Dan held the knife out in front of him and back away.

“Oh yeah, cos that’s got me all fucking scared, you daft little turd.”

“Where is he?” screamed Dan. Oh, fuck, he couldn’t believe he had been so stupid. He knew where the monster was right now, that bastard would be back in the middle of Colbeck, hunting down his friends.

“Thing is, Dan, I don’t think our master is too keen on going back to sleep, not yet anyway. I told him lots of things about what’s happened since he last slept. Proper upset him, it did.” Samuel reached behind him and pulled out a short thick bladed sword. “This, you fuckhead, is a proper blade. Anyway, he’s fucked off and as soon as I’ve fucked you up, I’m gonna join him.” Samuel roared and charged Dan.

He dropped to the floor and rolled to the side when Samuel smashed his sword down. The blade missed Dan’s head by inches. He leapt back and threw his knife at the laughing man. It spun harmlessly passed Samuel’s ear.

“Oh, now you’re fucked,” cried Samuel, running at him.

Dan snatched up a fist-sized rock, he jumped out of Samuel’s way and slammed the rock into the side of his head. The man dropped to the floor, not moving. Dan kicked the sword out of Samuel’s hand.

“No fucking way,” he gasped, “It can’t be that easy.” The man had not moved. He ran over to the other side of the cavern and picked up his own knife. Dan mourned for the loss of his lamp. “How the fuck am I going to get out of here now?”

He picked up the lamps main body, and headed for the door, maybe they wouldn’t notice it was broken. Fuck, what other choice did he have? Dan had to get out of here. He pushed the door open and fell back in terror as the turned villagers pushed their way inside. None of them touched him, they all headed straight for Samuel’s stirring frame. Dan watched them, fascinated as they took a single bite each from the screaming man before falling onto the cavern floor. Before his eyes, the villagers lost their crimson eyes and their teeth returned to normal.

Dan jumped out into the outer chamber and raced through the building. As he reached the main door, he stopped dead, crying out in relief as dawn’s fingers lit up the roofs of Colbeck. Dan saw his friends stood at the edge of the carpark and ran towards them, flying into Alison’s open arms.”

“Is that it?” asked Ethan. “Are we safe now?”

Dan gazed at each of them in turn and shook his head. “No, the bastard wasn’t in there. I don’t know where he is.”

The archaeologist spun around and pointed at a blue range rover speeding through the village. “What do we do now?”

The End

.

Table of Contents

- Chapter One
- Chapter Two
- Chapter Three
- Chapter Four
- Chapter Five
- Chapter Six
- Chapter Seven
- Chapter Eight
- Chapter Nine
- Chapter Ten
- Chapter Eleven
- Chapter Twelve
- Chapter Thirteen
- Chapter Fourteen
- Chapter Fifteen
- Chapter Sixteen
- Chapter Seventeen
- Chapter Eighteen
- Chapter Nineteen