They were slowing down. The poor fucking kids.
Snarling in sudden anger, he raised his gaze, eyes widening as he suddenly noticed that they were nearing the end of the field of wheat, another field of grass and sheep laying directly ahead of them, while to their right beyond some fences sat thick woodland, extending off in both directions.
“Right!” he shouted suddenly, releasing Moonshines right leg to gesture wildly with an arm as the girl glanced back at him, “Go right!”
Without hesitating, the girl angled her run, nearly dragging her younger brother from his feet as she changed direction, and ignoring the curses of pain from Moonshine, Victor grasped at his right leg once more and followed the children’s lead.
They reached it several metres ahead of him, the girl releasing her brothers hand just before it as she slid effortlessly through the centre gap of the thick wooden fence, he scrambling under the bottom beam, and then they were running again.
Gritting his teeth, Victor almost ran into the fence, swinging about so that Moonshine could drop down to the other side, grunting in pain, then cursed in dread as he saw the three figures rushing towards them through the wheat, two more charging on towards the field of sheep.
Cursing, Victor reached down to withdraw the knife from his belt, then grimaced as he realised he had no idea where it was. He had been holding it back on the A66, his attempt to stab the leading figure turned aside by its hard skin, and then the tanker had exploded, throwing him into the field.
Had he dropped the knife then? Damn it!
Turning his head, he glanced at Moonshine, seeing his friend gritting his teeth as he stared at the three creatures hurrying towards them, and for a moment their eyes met, the injured man wincing, his voice a whisper, “Go on, run mate”
“Fuck off” Victor grimaced, head shaking slowly.
“Seriously” Moonshine nodded, sweaty features pale, “You run, I’ll hold them off!”
Victor shook his head, smiling grimly, “You cant fight without an Xbox controller in your hand”
“Fuck off” Moonshine’s reply was a grim chuckle, and grimacing, Victor turned to stare at the three white-skinned figures as they slowed to a stop just metres before the fence, preparing himself to fight for his life, his eyes scanning the ground for something, anything he might use as a weapon.
Snarling, one of the figures stepped forwards, and Victor grimaced as he studied the cracked-white skin that covered its face and bald head, ridged uneven flakes that gave it the sudden appearance of cracked earth beneath the sun. Bending at the waist, its movements almost ape-like as it took two steps forward, the figure turned its head quickly from side to side, large breasts swaying within the confines of the red tee-shirt that it wore, and with shock Victor realised that the figure before them was female.
Grimacing, he turned his gaze upon the other two, judging both to be male from their attire, then took a shaky breath as the female took another step towards where he waited before the fence, ready to defend himself from her attack, only for the figure to snort and turn to look past him, her distorted features twisting in confusion.
Behind it, one of the other two grunted, and suddenly moved forwards to stand at the fence, just inches separating it from Victor’s body as it turned its head, seeming to look straight through the two Rangers, before snarling in apparent anger and stepping up onto one of the wooden beams. Not daring to breathe, Victor stared ahead, his grey eyes narrowing as he studied the features and movements of the female and the other male, realising with shock how primitive their behaviour and body language was, his brow furrowing as he studied their eyes, flicking to and from as if trying to latch onto something moving.
Was that why they appeared unable to see him and Moonshine? Because they were stationary?
Grimacing as he considered the children that he had just sent running off through the woodland, Victor released a shaky breath and then nearly cried out in shock as a frenzied bleating sounded from the field with the sheep. With a growl, the male that had been upon the fence leaped down and loped back several steps, head turning to stare at its two bestial companions, snarling at them until they began to move towards it, the trio standing in a small group, faces turned towards the distant bleating, grunting excitedly.
Then, without warning they began to charge across the field towards the sound, leaving Victor and Moonshine unharmed beside the fence.
“What the fuck?” the voice of the injured man was a harsh whisper, and turning, Victor nodded.
“Yeah”
“How the fuck are we still alive?”
Victor grimaced, head shaking, “I don’t know, but we are, now let’s go find those kids before those ugly fuckers change their mind and come back”
Chapter Eleven
“Fucking Hell, Dog” Moonshine’s coarse whisper had Victor turning back to study the man as he stood against the trunk of a wide oak, head shaking as he leaned heavily upon a large branch that they had found for him to use as a crutch, “I wonder how far they have gone?”
Victor grimaced, turning away from his friend to let his eyes drift over the surrounding woodland, blinking as the sunlight filtering down through the thick green canopy made his eyes water. He wanted more than anything to call out to the children, but he didn’t want to make a noise that would bring their pursuers back towards them.
The three that had chased them right up to the fence bordering the woodland had seemed unable to find them when they had stopped moving, indicating that their eyesight was in some way movement based, like that of a toad. Yet it was obvious their hearing worked perfectly well, and he didn’t want to bring them running, not when it looked like Moonshine was about ready to pass out on the ground at any moment.
As soon as Victor had clambered over the fence to join Moonshine beneath the trees on the edge of the woodland, they had begun walking, the shorter man refusing the offer of being carried.
That had seemed like hours ago when in truth, Victor knew that perhaps only ten minutes had passed, ten minutes which the pair had spent searching for the children and glancing back over their shoulders, expecting to see their pursuers.
He had so far seen neither groups, and while he was pleased about the absence of the latter, the fact that they had seemingly lost the children was like a large stone in the pit of his stomach, the weight of it growing with each passing minute.
Moonshine had suggested after several minutes of unsuccessful searching for the missing pair that perhaps the children had climbed a tree to escape from those that were following, maybe thinking that he and Victor had both been slain, but as they had searched the woodland, they had continuously looked up, searching the branches.
Yet they had seen no sign of the children at all.
For several minutes, Victor had become certain that they been attacked by more of the strange white-skinned people and torn to pieces, only for that theory to fade as he realised that in the quiet of the woodland they would have heard the screams of the children had they been set upon.
So, where were they?
“Are you sure this is the way they ran?” the voice of Moonshine had him glancing back once more.
“Yeah” Victor nodded, glancing at the woodland ahead once more, “The ground rises slightly on our left and drops on our right, this is the only level bit, I think they’d stick with it”
“Hark at Crocodile Dundee” Moonshine gave a sudden smile, “Or is it Daryl Dixon?”
“Abraham Ford” Victor threw him a smile, “Now come on, you son of a dick, let’s get moving”
Chuckling at his joke, Moonshine stepped away from the oak, leaning upon the makeshift crutch once more, the pair of them walking on in silence for several minutes, before Moonshine spoke once more, “I wonder where the farm is”
“Farm?” Victor sent him a frown, “What farm?”
“The one that owns the sheep” his friend made a face, then waved his free hand at him, “No, you are right, it could be anywhere couldn
’t it…it doesn’t have to be near here I suppose”
Turning his face, Victor studied the woodland once more, wishing that he could get a bearing on the sun so that he could work out which way they were going. It seemed like they were heading South, parallel to the A66 but he wasn’t sure, knowing how easy it was to get turned around in woodland, the uneven ground making it hard to keep one hundred per cent straight in a direction.
Could there be a farm somewhere nearby?
If there was then they would be able to call for assistance in finding the children, although there was every chance that the majority of the local emergency services were busy with the crashes upon the A66 and the white-skinned maniacs.
He grimaced as he suddenly considered the cause of their affliction once more. Could they be infected with some new strain of the old virus?
If so then he and Moonshine could be as well.
Swallowing the tightness in his throat, he turned to his friend, “Let’s stop for a minute, try and see if you can contact anyone on your mobile”
Leaning back against a tree, Moonshine fished his mobile phone back out of his pocket, “I’ll try, I didn’t have any reception earlier remember”
Shaking his head at his friend’s words, Victor turned his head, studying the land about them. Several feet beyond where they stood to the right, the ground began to slope considerably, what looked like a fast moving stream visible at the bottom through the trees and undergrowth, while to their right, the ground rose sharply.
“Nope…I’ve still got no signal” Moonshine sighed heavily, and casting a glance down at the stream, Victor turned to throw him an exasperated look.
“You probably fucked it falling in the water at Black Ling Hole Waterfall”
“I did think that earlier” Moonshine winced.
“Great” Victor grimaced, rolling his eyes only for Moonshine to shake his head, suddenly angry.
“Hey, don’t get shitty with me Dog, at least I have a fucking mobile phone…I mean, come on, who doesn’t have a fucking mobile…its 2020!”
“Me” Victor grimaced, his back teeth clenching.
“Yes, fucking you, you tit” Moonshine gave a shake of his head, a weary smile creeping onto his features, his anger fading almost at once.
For a moment, the two friends stood grinning wearily at each other and then Victor gestured with a hand, “Still, if you are right about the farm, we might be able to use their phone to call help!”
Moonshine gave a chuckle, “That’ll be nice”
Victor nodded, “Yeah, I am thinking all of it, police, ambulance, fire brigade…”
“How about the fucking X-Men” Moonshine grinned but it didn’t reach his eyes, “I’m not joking. Those crazy fuckers were biting people!”
“I know”
“People don’t just bite people” the injured man shook his head, fear creeping onto his features.
“I know” Victor repeated, nodding at his friend.
There was a moment silence and then suddenly Moonshine winced, “Mate, I am fucking scared”
“Don’t be daft” Victor began to walk, turning away from the fear in his friends eyes, recalling the same look in the eyes of his children, the memory sending a sensation like fire sweeping across his back. Gritting his teeth against the heat of the flames that his memory had conjured, telling himself that they weren’t really there, he turned back to tell Moonshine that they were going to be OK, then felt his stomach lurch as he saw the white-skinned figure rushing through the trees, what looked like a club in its left hand.
“No!” without thinking, Victor was rushing back towards his friend, time seeming to slow as he saw the white-skinned figure suddenly snarl, the club swinging in at the side of Moonshine’s head.
Unaware of the danger, seeing only his friend suddenly rush at him, Moonshine flinched, and took a quick step back away, and off balance he fell hard against the trunk of the nearest tree.
The end of the club swung past his face, the side of it catching him across his right cheek and screaming in sudden shock, Moonshine toppled to his back on the ground. Snarling, his attacker, twisted, the club rising once more, intending to bring it crashing down upon the face of the prone man, only to grunt in shock as Victor reached it, his right fist swinging up to hammer into its face.
Stunned but clearly not hurt, the figure, male by its dirty and blood-stained clothes, swung its club once more towards Victor, snarling as it did so, and with shock he realised it looked like a bone.
A human leg bone.
As the club swung in at him, Victor raised his right arm, deflecting the attack from striking him in the head, only for pain to shoot through the limb, his fingers going numb. With a snarl, his attacker raised the club once more and gritting his teeth, Victor rushed forwards, body slamming it backwards towards the steep slope downhill.
With a snarl, the figure stumbled under the impact, slipping from the even ground and then Victor cursed in shock as it grasped at him with its free hand, pulling him along with it as it fell.
They struck the ground hard, the pair of them rolling down the forest slope together, the white-skinned figure snapping its teeth at the bearded features of Victor as he fought to keep it away.
“Fuck off!” he snapped his head forwards as he rolled to his back, wincing as it felt as if he had headbutted wood, then grunted in shock and pain as they suddenly rolled sideways into a tree trunk, stopping their descent. Blinking past the agony that was coursing through him, certain that he had just broken some ribs, Victor stared up as his attacker rose to its feet above him, the club raised once more as it snarled excitedly, the sunlight flickering through the leaves above it.
Somehow, driven purely by pain and anger, Victor surged forwards, rugby tackling the white-skinned figure above the waist, and then they were rolling once more, their speed increasing as the ground dropped dramatically and then they came apart, inertia separating the pair of them.
Victor cried out in shock as he suddenly felt air beneath him, his arms and legs kicking and then he gasped as cold water wrapped about him, turning his clothes to a second skin, the sudden chill of the water stealing the air from his lungs.
For what seemed an eternity, he floundered, turning about as he tried to right himself and then he got his feet underneath him and broke the surface, the water coming up to his chest.
Almost at once the attack came, no club this time, but from fists, powerful blows that had Victor staggering back, his grey eyes streaming with tears as he felt his nose break under one of the punches, a second splitting his bottom lip wide.
With a roar like a man possessed, Victor swept his arms out before him, managing to turn aside several other clumsy but powerful blows and then he slid behind it, arms fastening about its throat and head as he crouched in the water, dragging the face of his foe under the surface.
Head bent so that he was almost staring up at the canopy of leaves above him, mouth clamped tight shut as the surface of the stream lapped at his face, disturbed by the thrashing of the white-skinned figure that he was attempting to drown, the figure that was already threatening to overpower him, Victor closed his eyes and pictured the night that his family had died in detail for the first time in years, picturing the faces of his children as he fought to get them out of the burning house, a raw primal scream escaping him as anger swept through his body.
Time lost all meaning to him as he stood there, all but sub-merged in the cold stream, screaming in pain and hate and guilt until he could scream no more, only then realising that the figure in his arms was no longer fighting to be from of him.
Blinking, suddenly numb both emotionally and physically, Victor released the white-skinned figure, watching as the stream collected it and took it away from him, meandering out of sight around a bend like an albino alligator. Then with what felt like the last of his strength, he climbed from the river and raised his head, staring up the slope at the worried features of Moonshine, and the stern features of the at
tractive woman that was now standing beside him in black jeans and a black and white chequered shirt, her silver hair shaven to the skin on both sides while the top stayed long, a shotgun held ready in her hands.
Great. Someone new. The more the merrier.
Chapter Twelve
Pushing himself to his feet on the bank of the river, Victor straightened, wincing as pain flared in his left side where he had struck the tree, and then began to walk carefully back up the slope.
His face was a throbbing car crash of pain, his broken nose and split bottom lip, sending waves of agony washing around his face each time he moved, just as each breath made his side hurt.
Yet thankfully, his hand was working again from where the club had struck him, the realisation that if it hadn’t been he would have been unable to defend himself and would now be dead settling about his broad shoulders like a shroud.
Grimacing, cursing at the pain the expression brought to his bearded features, Victor paused to cast a last glance down at the river and then continued upwards, meeting the gaze of the pair that were stood watching him climb in silence.
Moonshine was leaning upon the makeshift crutch once more, features tight with concern as he watched his climb towards them, and forcing a grim smile, Victor threw his friend a nod, then let his gaze settle upon the woman standing beside him, brow furrowing as he studied her.
She was tall, perhaps an inch or so bigger than Victors five-foot eight-inch frame, her form athletic and lean, a look of readiness in her brown eyes as she continuously glanced about.
But there was something else to those eyes, a haunted look of pain and loss, of having survived while others hadn’t, and as she turned to face him, Victor recognised it as the same look that he saw each and every time he looked in the mirror.
“Dog” Moonshine took a hobble forwards as he finally reached the flat area where they waited, a hand reaching out to pat Victor upon the arm, and despite his usual uncomfortableness with tactile displays, the bearded ranger felt moved.
“Hey” he nodded, wincing as he spoke, the fingers of his left hand rising towards his split lip only to frown at the woman as she suddenly spoke.
Ghoul: The Beginning Page 6