As the young boy moved over to stand beside Brandon, the pair wandering away across the parking area, the girl who looked to be near her teens shot their small group a look of suspicion and moved over to stand beside Dog and Bella, the pair speaking to her quietly and being answered with a nod. Beside Alice, Lauren turned, telling Brandon not to go near the edge of the parking area and to stay close by, and then Alice was turning her head studying the silver-haired man in the doctors coat that was exiting the ambulance, a border collie held in his arms.
“I took the liberty of making a splint for her broken leg from supplies in the ambulance” the doctor nodded as he passed the dog to Bella, the woman handing the empty shotgun to Dog first.
As the silver-haired woman kissed what was obviously her pet, hugging it to her face, the doctor spoke again, “I think with rest, she is going to be perfectly fine…but I’m no vet”
“Thank you” the silver-haired woman nodded, glancing up at the physician and beside her, Dog raised a hand, gently patting her upon the back, earning a smile for himself from the woman.
As the doctor moved to stand beside the teenage girl, and turned to face them, Alice let her gaze drift over them all, counting them one by one, and then nodded. They were eleven in number.
Eleven people and an injured dog.
“We’ve not met” she glanced up at the voice of the silver-haired man, smiling as she found him nodding at her, “I’m Doctor Alan Green”
“Alice” she told him, and he smiled, turning to glance at everyone else, raising his voice slightly.
“Are we all acquainted?”
“I’m Bella” the silver-haired woman moved her gaze among them, “I was driving the ambulance, I only know Dog, Doctor Green and the kids”
There was a mutter of greetings, and then the Scots woman stepped forwards, pointing to first herself then each of the others from the hospital with a finger, “Geri, Jiyaa, Alice, Lauren, Brandon, and that lanky string o’ piss over there is Marcus”
As Bella nodded at each of them in turn, Alice shot Lauren a glance, “What went on in there?”
“He’s a bit of a prick” the nurse muttered, nodding towards where the young porter was storming around the parking area with his phone held aloft, his face fixed with a mask of irritation.
“Where the fuck are we exactly?” he turned as they were studying him, a hand gesturing out over the drop, his head shaking, “What is this?”
“The North Pennines” Bella replied, watching the man carefully, her tone tight, and Alice felt her stomach knot as she saw Dog tense beside her.
Across the gravel parking area from them, the young man blinked, a lopsided smile creeping on to his features and then he gave a soft chuckle, his head shaking, “Well that tells me fuck all”
“She’s just told you that we are on the North Pennines” Dog’s head tilted to one side as he regarded the taller, younger man with a smile, but the light of it didn’t reach his sad grey eyes.
The young porter gave another soft chuckle, his head shaking as he held the gaze of Dog, “I wasn’t talking to you sweetheart”
“No, but I was answering” the broad-shoulder man passed the shotgun that he was holding to the doctor as he stepped past him towards the porter, his voice like ice, “Is there a problem”
The younger man seemed suddenly unsure in the face of the bearded mans presence, and he took a shuffling step back, the smile on his features not as confident as before, his right hand raising his mobile phone aloft, “I need to know exactly where we are so I can get someone to come and pick me up”
“Pick you up?” Dog shook his head, “Have you just been through the same morning we have?”
“Don’t you talk to me like I’m a bitch” the porter found a reserve of arrogance from somewhere.
“Then don’t act like one” Dog took another step forward, fists forming at his sides, and wincing, the doctor stepped alongside him, his free hand resting on the left shoulder of the bearded man.
“Come on, let’s not do this, please”
Dog nodded, his eyes holding to the porters for a moment and then he stepped back, glancing first at the doctor and then everyone else, “I’m sorry”
“Dinnae be” Geri snorted, “Ah’d have hit him”
Muttering under his breath, the porter cast them all a scowl and turned to walk away once more, staring at his phone angrily, and sighing, the Scots woman gave a sigh, “As much as ah hate to agree with tha prick, he does have a point…wha are we doing out here?”
As the majority of eyes moved back to rest on Bella, she gave a shrug, her tone defensive, “We had to on to the Pennines, there were abandoned cars everywhere, roads were blocked…every time we have considered stopping we have seen more of those things…they are everywhere”
“Ghouls” the voice of Brandon made everyone turn to face where he was standing kicking at the gravel with Eric, the young black man nodding wisely, “We are calling them ghouls now”
“OK” Bella nodded, smiling awkwardly, “There were…ghouls…everywhere…we couldn’t stop”
“It’s true” Alice felt the need to support Bella, turning to stare at those that she had known longer, her companions from at the hospital.
“Ach no, I wasn’t complaining like some” Geri shook her head, “Ah was just curious”
“How far do you think we have driven from Thames?” Lauren asked, Alice watching as the young nurse removed her glasses, cleaning them on her sleeve as she waited for an answer.
Before them, Bella glanced at Dog and he gave a shrug, meeting the gaze of Lauren, “Thirty miles”
“Oh” she seemed stunned, wincing as she pushed her glasses back onto her face and fell silent.
“So, what do we do out here?” Doctor Green handed the shotgun back to Dog and turned to look at Bella, his hands raising defensively before him, “Genuine question”
“I don’t know” she admitted, shaking her head slightly, and on the other side of the parking area, the porter gave a bitter laugh, having returned to the conversation, “Well, that’s great isn’t it…you drag us into the middle of nowhere and then have no idea what we are going to do next”
“Maybe we should have left you” Bella grimaced, her features twisting in sudden anger, “This isn’t a fucking game…people have been dying…my grandparents….these kids grandfather…Dog’s friend…if we hadn’t stopped to pick you up, you’d be dead too!”
“And we appreciate it!” without giving it conscious thought, Alice stepped into the middle of the argument, nodding at Bella, her tone sincere, “We really do…despite what he says”
Behind her the porter muttered something under his breath, and Alice grimaced, head shaking as she turned to look at him, “Mate, just shut up!”
“Fuck off” the reply came, and grimacing Dog took a step towards the porter, Geri doing the same, and the young man took another step back, shaking his head as he changed the subject, “Can anyone else get a fucking signal or a reply on their mobiles? Mine got through to my boyfriend but there was no reply…now there’s no signal”
At his words, everyone else but Jiyaa, Brandon, Eric and Doctor Green checked their phones, a chorus of negative replies answering the porter.
“Fuck this!” he span away, kicking at the gravel then turned to glare back at the group, “I need to get home, I cant be out here”
“We all need to get home” Alice replied, holding his gaze, “I have a business to run in Newcastle!”
Geri nodded, “Ah need to get back to my dogs”
Everyone else stayed silent, exchanging glances, and finally Dog broke the silence, his eyes drifting to meet those of Alice, “Driving here was a nightmare…the roads were utter chaos…I don’t want to begin to imagine how bad it would be trying to get to Newcastle”
“Maybe its not happening there” Alice stated, hating how uncertain her voice sounded, and beside her Lauren shook her head, wincing.
“This is madness…Brandon hasn’t
got any family…I cant look after him indefinitely”
At her words, Dog winced, glancing sideways at the Asian girl but she seemed not to notice, and Alice realised that the brother and sister must be in exactly the same situation as Lauren’s charge. Sighing, she turned to glance at Jiyaa, realising that the woman had wandered silently away to stand staring over the drop, her yellow sari blowing about her legs in the slight breeze.
Back at the hospital her brother had claimed that she had not been in the country long. Did she have anyone that was going to miss her?
Jiyaa turned as Alice studied her, their eyes meeting, and the woman smiled sadly, and turned away once more. Feeling sick with concern for both her, and everyone else, Alice turned back to face the others, “What do we do?”
“It’s going to get dark before too long” Bella stated, glancing about them at the moorland, then shook her head, “We don’t want to be outside on the moors at night, we need to find shelter”
“Could we sleep in there?” Geri asked, glancing at the ambulance, “Would we fit do ye think?”
“No” Lauren shook her head, smiling sadly, “We could barely all fit in there standing up on the way here…I don’t think that’s an option”
“Lauren is it?” Dog asked, waiting till the nurse nodded before he continued, “Lauren is right, we need to find somewhere much larger”
“Preferably something we can defend” the voice of Bella had them all exchanging concerned looks and she shrugged, “These things are everywhere”
“She’s right” Dog nodded, turning to point with an arm across the valley, “I saw a farmhouse over there, if we can find a road around there, maybe the owners will put us up for the evening”
“What if the owners have gone like everyone else has?” the voice of the porter was almost a whine.
Dog shrugged, his bearded features grim as he met the gaze of the young man that had tried to bait him earlier, “Then we don’t need to ask them for their permission”
“Fucking Hell” the porter gave a snort that was part sob and part anger, “This is mad”
“What’s that” Brandon turned, head tilting to one side as he stared off out of the parking area towards the long winding road that they had just traversed in the ambulance, “Do you hear that?”
“What is it?” Lauren asked, moving to stand beside him as he stood with Eric, staring off at the rise of the road as it wound through the moorland, and the autistic man shook his head.
“It sounds like dogs…or maybe bears”
“Oh God” the gasp of terror slipped from the lips of Lauren as she took a step back, leading Brandon with her, and stepping forward, Alice grimaced as she stared off down the road, the grim voice of Dog sounding from behind her.
“Everyone back in the ambulance, quick as you can, quiet as you can…come on, go, go”
Grim-faced, everyone did as he had instructed, Bella passing her dog back to the doctor, the Asian girl grasping her younger brother by the hand and dragging him to safety, Jiyaa sensing the meaning of Dog’s words as Geri grasped at her arm and led her back onto the vehicle.
Closing the side door behind them, Dog opened the passenger door and gestured to Alice, “In you go, lets get out of here while we can, eh”
She nodded, slipping back inside the ambulance cab, and he followed her, shutting the door behind them, Bella clambering behind the wheel.
In seconds, the silver-haired woman had the engine running once more, and was turning the wheel as she took off the handbrake and put her foot on the accelerator, moving as far towards the drop as she dared before putting the vehicle in reverse and moving backwards several feet.
“What are you waiting for?” Alice muttered as they stayed in the same space, lined up ready to drive out of the parking area, her eyes peering through a light rain as it began to fall, then Dog was pointing, his finger shaking and she cursed as she saw the small group of ghouls come climbing up over the side of the drop, maybe fifty metres down the road from the parking area, shambling like large white spiders onto the road before rising to stand, their forms hunched over like some form of primitive cavemen, many of them hardly wearing any form of clothing now.
“What the fuck” her words escaped in a gasp, her head shaking, “God help us all”
Behind the wheel, Bella gave a shake of her head, her voice thick with emotion, as she began to drive away, leaving the parking area and heading in the opposite direction, “I don’t think he’s listening anymore”
Chapter Thirty
It took over an hour of driving around the moorland, circling back upon themselves each time that they thought they had gone too far in the wrong direction, always keeping the distant village in sight before they finally found the small dirt track that led to the farmhouse Victor had seen from the parking area. Grimacing, Bella stopped the ambulance as Alice pointed, shouting as they drove past it, and then began to reverse down the narrow road, turning the wheel as she steered their vehicle onto the muddy track.
“Are we too wide?” Victor leaned closer to his window, peering out at the moorland beside his side of the ambulance, unable to see the road, and Bella gave a grunt of amusement, nodding.
“Almost”
“Oh Christ” Alice winced, reaching out to hold on to the dashboard before her as the ambulance rocked and wobbled as it drove over the uneven ground, and beside her, Victor grimaced as he considered how it must be for those huddled in the back of the vehicle who couldn’t see what was going on. Ahead of them, the track began to wind to the left, angling as it did so, and beside Victor the ground seemed to drop quickly away, the moorland sloping downwards as they climbed the steep hill, Bella’s curse causing him to turn his head to her, wincing as he saw the land beyond her window had risen sharply so that she was just inches from rock and peat.
He flinched as the wing mirror on Bella’s side struck the wall, and came off with a crunch, dropping out of sight between the ambulance, and the slope, a grunt of shock escaping Bella while beside him, the woman Alice was pale.
He understood her fear entirely.
If Bella was to steer too close to the wall they would come back off it and plunge over the steep slope on his side of the vehicle to crash below.
Turning his head, he stared west out of his window, refusing to let his gaze drift to see how high they were, his brow furrowing as he saw that the sun was beginning to set in the distance.
Despite it being only about four O’ clock in the afternoon, night was only just around the corner.
They needed to be off the dangerous track and settled in the farmhouse before the sun set.
If they weren’t then they were screwed.
“So what’s the plan” the voice of Alice, had him twisting in the seat slightly, meeting her gaze as she glanced between him and Bella, “Up here at the farmhouse, I mean, what are we going to do, just knock on the door and ask if we can stay?”
He winced, nodding, “When you word it like that it sounds bad…I’m not sure…Bella?”
The silver-haired woman turned from where she was steering the ambulance for a second, just that fraction of time making Victor wince in dread, but then she was studying the twisting track once more, shrugging, “I don’t think they are going to be in a fit state for us to discuss it with them”
“You think they will have turned into these ghoul things?” Alice winced, her voice strained and Bella gave a chuckle, her head shaking slowly.
“Is that really what we are calling them?”
Victor shrugged, “The lad Brandon seems convinced that is what they should be called, bless him, why not…it does kind of suit them”
“OK” Bella gave a nod, slowly turning the wheel right as the track turned and then began to level out, ground appearing again beside Victor’s window, “Ghouls it is…but yeah, it seems that everywhere we have been everyone is changing into these ghouls…why not here too?”
“We haven’t” Alice pointed out, forcing a smile.
“Not yet” Victor sighed heavily, and Alice sent him a worried look, face pale as she held his gaze.
“Go on”
He shrugged, his throat tight, “Remember the friend that I told you about earlier, Moonshine?”
Alice nodded, and he winced, turning to glance out of the window, “I was bringing him to the hospital, he’d broken his left leg…we ran into some ghouls on the A66 where we rescued Emily and Eric, but Moonshine seemed OK. Even after we’d met up with Bella and been to her farm and driven to the hospital he seemed OK except he was sleeping a lot…then within minutes he had turned into one of them…it was so quick”
Alice nodded, her voice tense, “That’s how it was with Jiyaa’s brother back in the hospital chapel, one moment he was OK, the next he sort of went unconscious, then he was one of these ghouls”
“She was there?” Bella asked, clearly disturbed by Alice’s tale and the young woman nodded.
“Yeah, she saw it all”
There was a moments silence then Victor gave a sigh, “So, that’s what I mean when I say none of us have turned yet…I guess any of us could”
“That’s a terrifying thought” Alice winced.
Victor nodded at her words, then turned to glance back at the metal wall of the cab behind them, suddenly imagining how bad it would be if one of those in the back had turned while they had been driving, and butchered all of the others.
No, surely, they would have heard the screams.
Wouldn’t they?
Feeling sick, he turned his head around as Bella stopped the ambulance and switched the engine off, “There she is, our home for tonight”
Almost five minutes slipped past as the trio in the cab of the ambulance stared out through the windscreen at the large farmhouse which sat about thirty metres from where they were parked, then Victor turned his gaze, staring out across the open moorland which it overlooked, knowing that if the situation were not so dire he would be mesmerised by the beauty of the view.
“Right” Bella turned to look at the pair of them as he glanced back, her features grim, “I propose we let the others know what we are doing then we approach the farmhouse with as many of us that feel up to it and see what the score is…we can spread out and have a look around”
Ghoul: The Beginning Page 17