“Please” he nodded, wincing as he moved his seat further towards the table, and still standing beside the doorframe, Alice let her gaze drift over the tight shiny skin of his broad shoulders, wincing as she recalled from the night before that his upper back was burned exactly the same.
“Are you joining us?” she winced as Dog suddenly addressed her, and stepping away from the door, she moved to sit down at the table beside him.
“I’m sorry”
“What for?” he gave a soft chuckle, and she winced once more, her eyes drifting to his skin.
“Oh” he gave a nod of understanding, then shrugged, “You didn’t do it to me…its fine”
Alice shook her head, “I meant for staring”
“I know” he gave another chuckle as he met her gaze, “I’m joking, seriously its fine…I’m fine”
“Apart from the broken rib and nose” Doctor Green nodded from the other side of Dog, a stern look creeping onto his features, “And as I have advised, you need to rest or you’ll make it worse”
“The doc is right” Robert Naughton nodded, head shaking as he made a face, “Val’s brother, Jack, broke a rib back in the nineties when we all went on holiday to Scarborough and…”
“Whitby love” his wife chuckled from over beside the counter where she was making Dog his drink.
The farmer groaned, eyes rolling, “Whatever, my point is he didn’t rest and he made it worse, he ended up with pneumonia didn’t he Val?”
“He did” she nodded, head shaking once more.
“I appreciate your concern” Dog nodded at both the doctor and the farmer, then smiled up at Valerie as she placed a cup of tea before him, and another before Alice, the farmers wife joining them all as they sat around the wooden table.
“I forgot to ask if you wanted a tea dear, sorry, if you don’t want it that’s fine, just leave it”
“Oh no, I appreciate it, thank you” Alice wrapped the cup with her hands, enjoying the warmth, and then the farmer’s wife sighed, head shaking.
“That was my fault…the curtain”
“No point blaming yourself, Val” her husband reached out, bumping her shoulder gently with a large fist, “Nothing happened…everything’s fine”
Yet despite the support of her husband, Valerie shook her head, her features grim, “I do it every single morning, I come in here…I open the curtains so I can see the sun coming up, and then I make a drink for myself, Robert and the lads, ready for when they arrive…oh God, they are really dead aren’t they”
As she gave a stifled sob, her husband reached out and placed a hand atop hers, squeezing gently, surprising Alice with his tender nature considering his size, and looking suddenly uncomfortable, Doctor Green glanced at her and Dog, “So, what does today bring do you think?”
Alice and the bearded man beside her exchanged glances and then he shrugged, “Well, once everyone is awake I think we need to make sure that ghoul is dealt with and that there are no more lurking about”
Alice nodded, noticing Doctor Green’s eyes drift down to the bandages about Dog’s chest, his lips parting as if he were going to remind him that he needed to rest then chose to stay silent instead.
“Well, as I told the others last night, I think you were out for the count at the time, we have two shotguns here, you have your own, and I have a lot of shells. We can head out and have a scout round when the sun comes up”
“You will do no such thing, Robert Naughton” his wife sent him an angry glare, dragging her hand from under his to point at him, “Your leg isn’t working well yet, the last thing we need is you falling over and getting hurt”
Her eyes were brimming with tears by the time she had finished and wincing, feeling awkward, Alice leaned forwards, “I am sure we can find three people to do it…Dog is clearly going to ignore orders to rest, and I am sure Bella will want to help…I can go with them…if you trust us with your guns that is”
The burly farmer gave a chuckle, “Trust you? We let you all stay here, of course we trust you”
“Robert is right…we trust you, and you are all welcome to stay here as long as you need”
At her words, Alice winced, and beside her Dog gave a chuckle, “What’s that look for?”
Turning her head, she held his gaze for a moment and then sighed heavily, glancing back at the Naughtons, “I really appreciate the offer, and I know that it might be safer here, but I need to try and get back to Newcastle…I have a business”
The bearded man grimaced at her words, glancing at the others present and she nodded, guessing the arguments he was about to push her way, “I understand that its going to be difficult, I saw the roads when I was sat in the ambulance cab with you and Bella yesterday…but I think I can make it, I have to at least try, right?”
“Are you sure?” the soft voice of Doctor Green dragged her attention, and she shook her head.
“No, not really…but I don’t have a choice, I dropped everything to drive down to Thames to visit a friend in hospital” she stated, wincing as she pictured Sarah once more, then sighed, “I have to get back to work…maybe order has been restored by now…have you tried the radios and television again?”
The Naughton’s exchanged glances at her words, and beside Alice, Dog gave a frown, “What is it?”
“There’s nothing now” the voice of the farmer was grim, “We turned the telly on this morning and there’s nothing…the radio is the same”
A heavy silence descended upon the table as the five of them sat exchanging glances and then Robert gave a sigh, shrugging, “As said, you are more than welcome to stay but if you need to go you can take the car Roger and Terry use to come here each morning, sadly they don’t need it now"
At his words, Valerie rubbed at his hand beside her, smiling sadly, and Alice shook her head, “Oh, I don’t think I’d feel right taking their car…what if the police and everything is back in order…I’d get done for theft”
The farmer blinked, lips moving as if confused and then he gave a sad chuckle, “No lass, the car is mine, I lent it to Roger so they could get to work up the hill. They would never have walked from the village to come to work, the sods”
As she nodded in understanding, Dog leaned forwards, “How far is the village?”
“Ten minutes in the car, but to walk it’d take you about an hour and a half” Valerie answered him, raising her cup and sipping at it for a moment before arching an eyebrow, “Why?”
As Alice watched him, he gave a shrug, “If we are going to be staying here then it is only fair that we try and find supplies and stuff to help…if this is going to drag out then it makes sense to do”
“Drag out?” Valerie sent Dog a shocked glance, and then stared at her husband, “Robert?”
For a moment, the large farmer held her gaze in silence and then he nodded, “He’s right Val, we don’t know how long this will drag on for”
As she winced, her head shaking, the farmer turned to Alice, “I’ll take a look at that car for you once the sun is up and we know this place is safe, and make sure that its road worthy enough to get you to Newcastle”
Taking a deep breath, Alice nodded at him, her stomach tight as she forced a smile, trying not to think of the long and dangerous journey she had committed herself to, “Thank you”
Chapter Thirty Four
“Maybe we should have waited until the morning before doing this” Alice turned to glance at Geri, just under twelve hours later, as they drove away from the Naughton’s farm in the car that Robert had provided them with, Marcus sat in the back.
“Nah, this is the right choice” the porter leaned forward between the seats before the Scots woman could answer, the young man stifling a yawn with a hand as he sat back, “The sooner we are in Thames the better”
“Ah hate ta admit it, but he’s right” Geri shook her head, gesturing to the porter, “We couldna stay at tha farm forever, hen
“Yeah, I guess” Alice nodded, casting Geri a weak smile, “It
just feels weird leaving them all behind”
“I don’t see why” Marcus gave a sneer, and she glanced at him in the rear view mirror, “You don’t know them, not really, they are strangers”
“So are you” Alice answered quickly, her tone defensive and in the back of the car, the porter gave a grunt and lay down across the seat.
“What tha fuck are ye doing?” Geri turned from the passenger seat to throw him a glare, “You cannae lay down, put ye fucking seat belt on”
“Oh fuck off and let me sleep” he grumbled, his tone irritable as he rolled to face the back of the seat, “You wake me up when we get to Thames”
Grimacing, Geri turned back to stare at Alice as she drove, her voice loud, uncaring that the man in the back could hear her, “I swear tha lazy prick has done nowt but fucking sleep today!”
Turning to throw her new friend a smile, Alice nodded, steering the car along the road that they were driving on, realising that Geri was correct.
Shortly after Robert had offered her the use of the car earlier that morning, Lauren, Bella, Jiyaa and Geri had stumbled into the kitchen, half asleep and Valerie had begun making drinks for everyone before starting on cooking everyone some food. The children and Brandon had awoken just over an hour later, Emily carrying the border collie downstairs to give to Bella.
Yet of Marcus there had been no sign until just before half eleven when he had sloped downstairs, moaning he was cold and hungry.
By that time, Alice had been out on a scout around the farmhouse with Dog and Bella, each of them holding a loaded shotgun, although she had told them both that she had never fired one.
For almost an hour they had searched the area without success, and Alice had realised that as places to hide went, the Naughton farm was in a perfect location. To the south facing front of the farmhouse, thirty feet from the front door was a drop that fell away a good hundred feet to the valley below, a glance over the edge revealing the twisted body of the ghoul named Roger that Dog had pushed over the previous night, the sheer face of the drop appearing unscalable without equipment. Beyond the west of the farmhouse, the land ran on for a hundred feet, housing a couple of large barns filled with a variety of old machines, and a couple of cars, before it too dropped away to the valley, while behind the farmhouse, and its large garden area in the north, the land rose sharply, rising to about sixty feet in a wedge of land that edged around the building to the east and bordered the climb to the farm, that road being the only access point available.
For nearly ten minutes, the trio had stood in a group discussing the topography of the farm, Bella stating that it was in defensive terms a dream. It was highly unlikely that anything, even a ghoul, was going to be able to climb up from the valley below, while the rise at the rear looked equally difficult to scale, meaning that anything that fell down from above was going to be in no condition to cause them much of a problem.
If they managed to block the road, the only access point then they should be able to keep the building secure, especially when taken into account that the creatures seemed only able to see moving targets with any real skill, rendering them useless at night. With three shotguns, a load of shells, their wits about them and the hospitality of the Naughtons, they were safe as anyone could possibly be given the situation.
Feeling positive about the safety of the group, the trio had continued scouting about the land, then turned as one as a rasping snarl had come from one of the large barns, all three shotguns rising.
Slowly, casting each other grim looks, the trio had approached the barn in question, their steps cautious, deliberate, and before long they were standing before its wide opening, staring in at the ghoul, naked from the waist up, dirty jeans on its legs as it was lying upon its stomach, hands reaching under an old red Cortina Mk2 that was parked there on flat tyres, and covered in rust.
Grimacing, the three of them had watched in disgust as the ghoul had suddenly slid back out, one crusted white hand curled around the body of the largest rat that Alice had ever seen, the rodent screeching in a mixture of terror and pain.
Without hesitating, the ghoul had sat down with its back to the drivers door of the car and raised its arm, shoving the head of the rat inside its open mouth. Fighting the sudden urge to vomit, Alice had stood beside her two companions, watching in horror as the ghoul had suddenly clamped its teeth down, head shaking as it bit off the head of the rat, blood pouring from its mouth.
Grimacing, Dog had moved towards the ghoul, the shotgun pointing at its face, and with a snarl it had seen him and tried to stand, snarling around the bloody gobbets of meat in its mouth
The retort of his shotgun had been loud as he had discharged it at almost point-blank range, throwing it back hard against the car behind it, to then bounce off and fall to its face on the ground.
“Fucking hell!” Alice had grimaced, spinning about, fully expecting the noise to bring others out of hiding, then turned back to stare in utter disbelief at the ghoul as it had tried to rise.
Without a word, Dog had stepped forwards and brought the stock of the shotgun down hard upon the back of the ghoul’s head, dropping it back down to the floor, and then tossed Bella his weapon. She had caught it with her left hand, her right clasping to the stock of her own weapon, and Alice had moved alongside her, the pair of them watching as Dog had dragged something from a pocket and crouched quickly down beside the ghoul. Dumbstruck, Alice had watched as he had dragged the ghoul’s arms behind it and then fastened them together with a set of handcuffs, before rising to his feet and stepping back away.
Nearly a minute had dragged by as the trio had stood studying the ghoul as it seemed to rouse itself, body tensing as it tried to bring its arms around before it but with no success, and then Dog had move back beside it, hands dragging at its body as he rolled it over to lay upon its back.
Instantly, the ghoul had sat up, hands cuffed behind it, teeth snapping at the air, and grimacing, Victor had taken his shotgun back from Bella and hit in the face again, throwing it back to lay squirming upon the ground. Shaking his head as he studied it with a grimace, he had held the shotgun in his left hand, while his right dragged a pair of shells free from a pocket. Grimacing, Alice had stood watching as he had emptied the old shell casings, and placed the new ones in their place, snapping the shotgun shut as he took aim at the ghouls face, then froze, his brow furrowing as he stood staring down at it.
“What is it, Dog?” Bella had asked, moving closer.
He had turned at her voice, holding her gaze for a moment before looking at Alice, “You said that when you were in the hospital you saw one of these that was open for an operation, right?”
She had nodded, moving closer to the ghoul as it lay on its back, snarling up at them, and Dog had frowned, “You said the internal organs were tough like their skin but the heart was still soft?”
“Yeah” she had grimaced, nodding at him, “Why?”
The bearded man had turned his gaze back down to the ghoul, the barrel of his gun moving down to poke gently against the left side of its chest, the voice of Dog intrigued, “Look at that”
Stepping closer, Alice had stared down at the ghoul, her eyes drifting from the crusted and calloused white skin of its features, down over its neck and shoulders and across its chest, the skin there the same as upon its altered features, and then she had given a soft gasp as she had seen the circular patch of clear skin, no bigger than a two pound coin, situated over the ghoul’s heart.
“What the fuck is that?” Bella had grimaced, her head shaking as she had crouched down to study it, “Is it a wound or something?”
“I don’t think so” Dog had stood staring down at it with a grimace, “It looks like a weak spot in its armour if you ask me…like the soft spot on top of a baby’s head”
As the women had both turned to stare at him in surprise, the bearded man had shaken his head and glanced about the barn, before grunting and moving to one of the two workbenches within it, returning with what loo
ked like a rusty old kitchen knife. Moving back to them, he had passed Bella his shotgun, and then as she had risen and stepped aside he had crouched beside the ghoul, one hand resting upon its forehead, holding it down while he placed the point of the rusty blade against the smooth patch of skin.
For a moment, Dog had stared down into its milky eyes and then he had sighed, his head shaking slowly, “I’m sorry”
Without another word, he had driven the blade downwards, the rusty knife sliding down into the body of the ghoul like a hot knife in warm butter.
Instantly the ghoul had sagged, resistance gone from it, legs and body going limp like a puppet whose strings had been unceremoniously cut.
The rest of the day had been a whirlwind of activity as they had returned to the farmhouse to inform the rest of their companions of the new weakness that they had found in the ghouls, followed by Robert heading from the building to check over the Land Rover that she, Geri and Marcus were now driving through the night in.
“So, what do you think we will find” the voice of the Scots woman dragged Alice from her thoughts, and turning her head, she cast Geri a curious glance, then glanced back at the road before her, wincing as she steered the Land Rover around a bend that was tighter than she had expected. Beside her, Geri gripped at the dashboard before her, staying silent, and then as Alice straightened the vehicle up on the next stretch of straight road, she gave a shrug, “Do you think that this really is everywhere?”
“If it is we’ve made a really bad decision leaving the farm” Alice tried to chuckle but the sound came out awkward and off key and she winced.
“Aye, ah was thinking that myself” Geri nodded, then turned to throw a glare into the back of the vehicle as Marcus gave a sudden grunt, “Shut up”
This time, Alice’s chuckle was real, and she shook her head, then cursed as raindrops began to spatter down upon the windscreen, “Oh great”
“Wonderful” Geri clapped her hands together, and turning quickly, Alice saw her shake her head, “Rain…what else can go fucking wrong?”
Ghoul: The Beginning Page 20