Snatchers

by Martin Holden

  Kris had already fully planned the evening in his head, ever since he sneakily heard Zoe speak to David on the phone. He had been ambling along behind her as he had done so many times before, head slightly bowed down, but super attentive all the same. She didn’t see him, she never saw him listening to what she said, and that was her downfall.

  He knew from what she said that she would be leaving around 10.30 that night, he knew that was his time, he needed to make sure he had thought of everything. This was the time that he could be all alone with her, and that excited him even more.

  The party was now in full swing and the drinks were flowing, people smiled and chatted as the band started to play their set – small groups of drinkers passed in and out of the bar to the outside garden, huddled together as they smoked their cigarettes against the cold night air.

  In amongst all this social interaction, Kris just faded away – no one missed him, no one even knew he had been there.

  Kris left the Hop House and made his way to the corner of John Street, and tucked himself into one of the alleyways, the dirty miserable, dark alleyway that no one ever went down, the alley that went nowhere and had no real purpose, except for tonight. Tonight it would become hell.

  “Clip, Clip, Clip” ... the sound of heels on cold stone in the darkness. Kris’s eyes sharpened, and he peered carefully around the corner. There was no one ahead and no lights or signs of cars anywhere …

  “Clip, Clip, Clip” … the noise grew louder as the shoes and their owner got closer and closer. Kris looked again, still clear and he stepped out into the half-light, staggering as if drunk and he rested against a lamp-post. This was his final check of his surroundings.

  Zoe was just a few hundred metres away from her tram stop, she had taken the short route through the older part of town. In terms of distance it was the better route, but it was much quieter, always deserted at night and that made it risky.

  She looked ahead, a homeless drunk was slumped against the lamp-post, he was leaning over as if getting his breath. He didn’t present a threat, he was slight in stature and could hardly stand up. She wasn’t worried, she looked straight ahead and carried on …. It was right at that moment that Kris struck.

  Zoe never saw it coming and within seconds she was unconscious.

  The position of leaning over against the lamp post was the perfect preparation for Kris, under his jacket he was taking out the large pad of cotton wool, doused in the specially prepared concoction that he had made that morning.

  As Zoe scuttled past, he swiftly swung around and grabbed her by the shoulders, his hand pressing the pad over her nose and mouth …. she didn’t make a sound, she couldn’t breathe, she was completely consumed … in a flash he felt the life drain from her limbs and her body became limp.

  Kris took her weight and pulled her further into the darkness.

  He was backing up into the alleyway, Zoe in his arms being dragged along. The “clip clip clip” of the shoes was now replaced with a very quiet scraping sound, as the tips of the heels ran over the paving stones.

  As Kris went further down into the darkness of the alleyway, Zoe’s fate was sealed.

  At the end of the narrow alleyway there was a large commercial bin, a small fence and a closed off gateway. It was a dead end. Kris dragged Zoe’s limp body around behind the bin and paused for breath.

  The pitch black was only pierced by the very pale street lighting of the main road. All was quiet, deathly quiet. No one came, no one had seen anything. Kris exhaled and his breath was a small cloud in the cold night sky. He started to calm down, recovering from the effort.

  Once his heart rate had steadied, his excitement began to grow and his mind was racing. He could barely contain himself now, turning more and more into the monster that he was. However, he hadn’t yet realised that the mixture he used for his concoction was too strong, so strong that within minutes of using it Zoe was dead.

  The monster was now released and he began his attack on the lifeless limp body lying there on the ground in front of him. He was remorseless and the attack was horrific.

  Moments later Kris enacted the final part of his fantasy and sat back on the cold wet floor in that horrible stinking alleyway. Again he waited until his heart rate settled.

  Kris, still at this point thought his victim would wake soon, so he needed to stick with his plan and his plan was prepared so he could blend back into the city without suspicion. All the urges and excitement had passed and he was cold and back to his methodical best.

  Zoe’s semi-naked, lifeless body had no more interest to him . He barely noticed her anymore, she had served her purpose and that was that. She would wake, he thought, and remember nothing. Just another unfortunate victim that the authorities would attend to. There were no cameras in that part of town, and the police had no DNA on their database that would match that on the crime scene.

  He had never been in trouble before and he knew if he kept his head, they could not trace him.

  Kris smiled to himself, slipped on the large scruffy overcoat and climbed the fence at the end of the alleyway and wandered slowly towards the pale light ahead. He kept his head down, only peering occasionally from underneath the hood.

  As he reached the street, he slowly poked his head out and peered left and right, no-one was around and he quickly ran across the road and hopped over the small fence and into the park opposite.

  From there it would be easy to make his getaway through the undergrowth and trees, and out into the humdrum of the city far away from that dark alleyway.

  As quickly as he had come, the monster was gone, gone into the night and he had left not a trace.

  x x x x x x x

  The hours passed..

  “Brrrrringgggg, Brrrrringgggg, Brrrrrringggggg” …. the front door bell in David’s house rang out.

  He sat up, slightly startled and on edge. Zoe hadn’t come home last night and after calling her and getting no answer he figured that the couple of drinks had turned into lots of drinks and she had slept it off at one of her friends. It wasn’t something she usually did, but it had happened infrequently in the past.

  “Buzzzzzzz, Buzzzzzz, Buzzzzzz” went the intercom.

  “Zoe is that you?” he blurted out nervously.

  “David Taylor?” asked the voice

  “Yes, that’s me,” replied David “who is this?”

  “Mr Taylor, this is the police, can we come in please”

  From that moment on, everything became a blur and nothing made sense. He could barely take the news in, he simply could not process the information the police officer was telling him.

  His life had been blown apart and nothing would be the same again. Just when they seemed to have everything, it had all been taken away and he was left with nothing.

  It’s a cruel world.

  Chapter 4

  Out of the Darkness

  David was a crumpled mess in the corner of the bar.

  The days, the weeks and the months that had followed Zoe’s murder were just filled with pain, despair and anger. It was all just too much for him.

  All the while, through every painful minute, David slipped lower and lower into oblivion. He was drinking heavily to take away the pain and was becoming more and more desperate.

  He had been in the pub since lunchtime and he was a mess. He seemed to be a mess most days now, a familiar routine of great sadness that had to be replaced by something, that something for the moment was the bottom of a Jack Daniels bottle. Sometimes two.

  Each day, he dragged himself out of his bed, usually full of a hangover and got dressed. In all honesty though he cared little about his appearance, he just reached out and put on the nearest thing he could get his hands on, usually the same old grey t-shirt, battered black jeans and black jumper. They needed a wash, but he wasn’t in the frame of mind to see that – they were clothes, functional things to wear, just clothes, nothing more. He couldn’t care if they were clean or falling to bits.


  Today was no different, same old clothes with a large and similarly grubby overcoat against the cold harsh wind. He had stepped out into the miserable rain and had wandered down to the corner of the alleyway where it all had happened. There he stood just looking until the pain and emptiness took hold and he could stand no more. Tears rolled down his grey face and he headed for the nearest bar.

  The police investigation had drawn a blank, there was no CCTV evidence available, other than some grainy images of Zoe leaving the Hop House and walking towards the tram.

  They had interviewed all the members of her management team who were with her that night and turned up nothing at all. Over time the investigation file was pushed further down the list of objectives.

  They had found her body in the alley the following day. A dog walker chased after his hound that had slipped its lead and gone up the alleyway, as he approached he saw the heels and ankles of a female body poking out from behind the bins.

  Cold, wet and as pale as death itself, the man suppressed the reaction to vomit and grabbed his mobile phone … “Police, ….. help me please ... I have just found someone; and …. I am pretty sure they are dead”

  David had long since given up, he had been given time off from his work to grieve, but the chance of him ever returning was fading with every shot of JD.

  Each day he visited the site, hoping he might spot something or someone, but he never did. And then he would hit the bar and the rest of the day would just fade away, as would his pain, temporarily just for a few hours.

  But tonight, it seemed worse, far worse.

  Tonight would have been Zoe’s birthday, they had so many plans, so many great adventures ahead but now the acute pain he felt consumed him.

  It was very late and he was beyond drunk. His hair was straggly and drooping down over his slumped body at the bar. He could barely speak, barely order another drink, but he did. And then he ordered another, and then another …

  Shortly after pouring the last shot down his throat he fell sideways off the stool and into a corner of the dark and grubby pub, people saw him fall but no one came to his aid.

  He lay there on the cold floor, barely able to focus on the small legs of the bar stool or the cigarette butts that surrounded him. He was lying amongst all the small spills of beer and the discarded wrappers that were in that corner with him on the floor.

  He sobbed. He was in despair, and his shoulders heaved, he was at the very bottom of his world.

  “Zoe, Zoe” he mumbled, “I need to see you again, and I need to know what happened”

  His eyes began to close and the light was fading from his mind.

  And then, without warning, sweeping silently across the floor with immense speed and accuracy the snatchers came for him and he was spirited up and he disappeared into the darkness.

  Chapter 5

  The Snatchers

  David opened his eyes, slowly and groggily, his head hurt, and he didn’t know where he was.

  “Welcome” said a strange comforting voice in the dark.

  “You are safe now, we are here to help you”, it was a voice David didn’t recognize, but it was calming and reassuring, although he still doubted how safe he was.

  He had no idea where he was, he had no idea who was holding him but above all he had an almighty hangover that made him feel ill. He didn’t try to fight it, he simply closed his eyes and drifted back off to sleep.

  Hours later, and feeling much better and rested, David opened his eyes again.

  The room was still quite dark with a neon strip light above his bed, the room was well furnished though, the bed was comfortable, and he did feel safe.

  There was just one door to the room and it was closed, but was it locked, could he leave?

  At this point he wasn’t sure what was going on. He slowly sat up in bed and looked around. He immediately noticed that his old grubby, alcohol-soaked clothes were gone, and he was dressed in a smart black t-shirt and black trousers. Next to the bed were a pair of black slip on shoes.

  He swung his legs round in the bed and put on the shoes and stood up. He still felt a little light headed and sat straight back down to compose himself. This time, he slowly stood up, that was much better. The mirror opposite reflected an image of a gaunt and haunted man.

  At that moment, the door opened and there stood a man dressed in all black and an attractive girl in a smart black suit. Neither spoke, both looked at him and smiled.

  David looked at them, backing away slightly, and said “Where am I?”, quickly followed up with “and who are you?”

  The man took a step forward, “Don’t worry, David, you are safe, and we are all here to help you”

  “You are in the safe room and we will explain everything to you when you feel up to it”

  “I feel ok now” said David “so why don’t you start right this minute”

  “There is a lot for you to take in,” said the man, “Why don’t we all take a little walk to somewhere where we can relax a bit more”

  “Hold on” retorted David “who are you?”

  “I am Rymer, and this is Geela,” said the man and the girl smiled gently.

  “We are members of the Snatch Team assigned to acquire you and this is our safe space, Snatch Team 1 we call it, or ST1 for short” the man smiled and gestured towards the door.

  David was wary and confused, “Am I still in Manchester?”

  “Not really in Manchester, but more sort of above and around it,” said Rymer “We exist in another place, not the place that you live in, but we are both connected, so kind of still in Manchester but not IN Manchester”

  David looked at the man, he was medium build, medium size and there was nothing about him to suggest he was in any danger – the girl looked friendly and professional too – he wanted to trust them but couldn’t understand what they were saying to him.

  They began to walk together, through the door and out of the room into a bright white corridor, white floors, white walls and a white ceiling. The white accelerated with more white lighting above.

  David stopped dead. “Ok, enough, what do you want with me”

  Geela spoke for the first time “David, we want to help you snatch and remove Zoe’s killer, we have identified him, and we are ready to strike”

  With that Geela spun around on her heels and strode purposefully up the corridor, stopping briefly to turn around and call David and Rymer towards her. “I am Geela and I am the commander of this team”

  David and Rymer followed, David still thought he may be in a dream or in a drunken mess in the pub and simply hallucinating, but if he was, it was the most vivid dream he had ever experienced.

  At the end of the corridor they turned left, and the room opened up, a large circular space with white seats in the centre and large full-length windows around the perimeter. Four other men sat on the seats, all dressed in black, ready and attentive.

  Opposite the corridor that they walked in from was another door that led into a black corridor, the complete opposite of where he had just come from. All looked a bit sinister in that direction. Geela saw David’s expression as he looked at that corridor, “that is the way to the holding cells” she said calmly, “that is where we store the snatched”.

  It shouldn’t have, but that comment reassured David, could he trust these people, did he have a choice?

  At this point in time he had no idea but with little option to do anything else, he decided not to resist, but rather wait to see what would happen next.

  He walked over to the seats and picked a spare place, sat down and threw his head into the comfortable headrest. He sighed and closed his eyes.

  Chapter 6

  In or Out?

  David opened his eyes a few minutes later and Rymer and Geela had now joined him on the white seats, in the middle of them was a large table, glass with visuals being projected onto and through it.

  “David, you need to stay calm, but this is the man that killed Zoe” said Geela and w
ith a swiping motion she summoned up an image that floated on the glass table in front of him.

  “His name is Kris Kelley and we have his location and his expected movements over the coming hours. Our team is ready to snatch him and bring him here for permanent incarceration” Geela looked right at him.

  David stared back blankly, trying to understand what he had just heard … “errr, what? … how can you do that and how do you know what happened?” He couldn’t really take it all in.

  “Our team here is made up of a mixture of people from earth along with a team of agents committed to cleaning up problems and issues when we see them.