Paul raised a sad smile. Bentley's comment had reminded Paul that both of his parents were dead. "That's also a long story."
"Bentley!" Kyle called out. Little Kyle Dickson ran at the bulky man and they both had a quick hug. Paul's heart warmed when seeing this. This had been the first time in a while that he had seen his son smile, and considering what had happened yesterday morning, he wasn't sure how long it'd be before Kyle would crack his face again. Bentley's appearance seemed to have done the trick.
"Where's Laura?" Kyle asked. Paul was thinking the same.
Where is Laura?
Bentley's face suggested that the news wasn't good. He lowered his head and said with no hesitation, not thinking that a small child was near him, "We were attacked during the night. Laura was taken and the camp was completely overrun."
"Oh God, Bentley." Paul had his hand over his mouth. "I'm so sorry."
"When I saw her being taken down, I ran away, stole a car..." Bentley had to pause and his tightening throat prevented him from going any further with the story.
"You don't have to explain." Paul looked at Bentley and nodded to his son, making Bentley realise that his story wasn't for infant's ears anyway. "But for what it's worth, I'm sorry."
"Yep, so am I."
"She seemed a great woman."
"She is...was."
Kyle grabbed Bentley by the hand and asked if he wanted to play round the back, near the corner of the hedge.
Before Bentley could answer, Paul stepped in and said, "You can't."
"Why not?" huffed Kyle.
"Because I think some of the men were patching it up."
Kyle look baffled and responded, "I thought they already did it, daddy."
"Argumentative little tyke, isn't he?" He looked over to Bentley, then sighed, "It doesn't matter. You're not going." Paul whispered in Bentley's ear. "We were attacked yesterday and I think a lot of the grass is still stained with blood. Both human and..."
"Why are you two whispering?" Kyle sat on the sofa and had his arms folded.
"Never you mind, big chap."
Bentley leaned over and whispered in Paul's ear, "Does he know?" Bentley was referring to the demise of Julie and Bell Dickson, Kyle's mother and sister.
Paul knew exactly what he was talking about and nodded sadly. He looked over to his son who was sitting on the sofa. "Taking it reasonably well."
The elation of Bentley's arrival had soon died and Paul had a question to ask the big man. "How did you get in? Vince doesn't just let anybody in."
"Make me a brew and I'll tell you all about it."
Paul clocked the bulk underneath the bottom of Bentley's T-shirt. "You still have Glen?"
Bentley sniggered, and pulled up his shirt to reveal his Glock that was sticking out of the front of his jeans. "I do indeed."
*
Lee James made himself comfortable in Vince's caravan that he had owned for many years, and took a look around. "Hasn't changed much."
Vince chuckled, "We've spent many a night in here, getting pissed."
"Ah, the good old days." Lee was leaning back and had his hands at the back of his head, reminiscing.
"Tell me about it."
With Pickle being made to hurry when he was talking to his old friend, Bentley, he decided to say something to the two men before they went off on a tangent. "Are we gonna talk about old times or are we gonna talk about the future?"
"Touchy, this one." Lee cackled, and turned to Pickle. "What's up, son? Been a while since you've had your oats?"
Pickle took one step forward, nearer to Lee's presence, and said calmly, "Yer wanna know what yer would look like with no teeth in that cheeky gob o' yours?"
Lee lost his smile, and went to stand to his feet to square-up to Harry Branston.
"No." Vince placed his hand on Lee's shoulder, gazing hard, keeping him from standing up. "Trust me. You don't wanna do that." He then turned to Pickle and tried to joke, "Just relax, my little piranha fish. Okay?"
Pickle bobbed his head once, still glaring at Lee.
Lee took a few seconds to relax, but when he did he apologised to Vince and Pickle, then began. "So what's your proposal?"
"I'll be straight with you." Vince ran his fingers over his badly scarred face. He had a little stubble and was needing a shave.
"Please do."
"Back at the garden centre you said we could join anytime. I want to merge with your camp."
Lee look baffled. "You can't really merge—"
"Okay, okay. Maybe I didn't explain it well enough." Vince paused for thought and cleared his throat. "I want to join your camp, along with our people, even though they ain't been asked yet. We have about thirty persons here now, we have cattle, supplies aplenty in the Spode cottage. We have those two HGVs, obviously, a few more vehicles..."
"I don't know."
"I'll be honest with you. We need you more than the other way around, but together we could be stronger. There is some dangerous shit out there, and I'm not just talking about the Rotters."
"I know." Lee laughed, "A couple of weeks ago we were on a run and were shot at by some greasy fuck, a couple of his pals and a ginger-haired woman."
Vince gazed at Pickle, then turned his attention back to Lee, sure that he was talking about Gavin, his sister and their thugs. Vince said with a smirk, "They shouldn't be a problem now."
Lee was still deliberating Vince's proposal, and was chewing his bottom lip while thinking. "What about your people? What if they don't want to come to my camp?"
"I'm sure they will. After yesterday morning's attack, I think they'll gladly move."
"And if some refuse?"
"As harsh as it may sound, they can stay here and ride it out without my help. I'm sure that won't be the case, though."
"Oh." Lee's eyes widened as if he had just remembered something. "I meant to ask, do you have a John Waite on your campsite? Or has he..?"
"No he's still alive. Why?"
"Bentley has only been with us for a short time. He turned up with a lady who was on her way to your own camp to see her father, but we told them it was very dangerous. Her name's Helen Waite, John Waite's daughter."
"Well, they can be reunited once we've all up sticks," Vince said with a smile.
"Back to the proposal." Lee nodded and added, "I've got no problem with it. We can put it to a vote when I get back, but they should be fine."
"What's the actual Sandy Lane set-up like?" Karen asked. "All we've seen are the cars and barriers in place at the Globe Island."
Lee explained, "The bottom of the lane is blocked, and it goes right up to the railway bridge. All the side streets off the lane have been taken care of. It was a mess at first, but there are no more Wasters, and more than enough houses to dwell, as most people left or died in the first week. So we have one blockade at one end of the lane, and another blockade at the other end."
Karen said, "What about Draycott Park? That's only hundreds of yards from the railway bridge blockade."
"What about it?" scoffed Lee. "We didn't want to bite off more than we could chew, if you pardon the pun, but the railway bridge to the Globe Island is as far as we go. It took us weeks to sort that out. As for Draycott park, the odd Waster is spotted in the distance by our barrier guards, but there hasn't been much trouble."
Vince added, "You okay for water? We already have a well on the campsite."
"We're sorted for everything, but the cattle would be excellent. We could put them on the Lea Hall football pitches for grazing, and make some kind of similar set-up you've got here."
"Back to Draycott Park," said Karen.
Vince jumped in, "Karen, we're not discussing Draycott Park—"
"Gonna shut the fuck up for a minute?" she snapped at Vince with demonic eyes, embarrassing the supposed-leader of the camp, then turned her attention back to Lee. "Whether your people vote no or yes—"
Lee interjected, "They will vote yes."
"I need permission to enter
your camp, so I can cut through and get to the other blockade by the railway bridge. I need to get to Draycott Park, back to my old home."
Pickle looked confused and asked, "But why? Why would yer want to go back somewhere where yer used to live. Yer told me weeks ago that yer never wanted to go back."
"That was weeks ago, but I need to see Gary. I suppose I need some kind of closure, whatever the fuck that means. It's been bugging me for a while."
"Are yer sure?" Pickle looked concerned for his friend. She had only lost Shaz the day before, and now she wanted to see her reanimated fiancé.
"Yes, I'm sure. It's about time he was put out of his misery, unless someone has already been there and done it already. I just need to be sure." She then smiled and groaned, "It would also be nice to wear some of my own clothes."
"You can cut through the camp by all means." Lee looked a little embarrassed about what he was going to say next. "But I don't think the majority of people in our place will be happy to give you protection when going into that area. But like I said, we've spotted the odd one now and again. I don't think hordes are that common in this town anymore."
"She won't need protection from your lot," Pickle spoke up. "I'll be going with her."
"And so will I," said Vince.
"Okay." Lee raised both hands in defeat. "If you really need to do this, then do it."
Karen admitted, "I was never bothered about it before. I suppose it was too dangerous in the early days anyway, but if it's possible, I would like to put him to rest. It just doesn't seem right, or respectful, to leave him in the house, if he still is in the house, shambling about."
"So..." Vince gazed at Lee while he finished off his drink of water. He noticed that the other three had hardly touched theirs. "When do you want to arrange a visit so I can meet the people, and of course get Karen to her old house and see what's what?"
Lee James said, "You probably already know some of them from way back. Remember Luke John and Nicholas Burgess?"
Vince nodded. He had had a few run-ins with both men back in his drinking days. "Remember them? Luke broke my nose in the kebab shop for pushing in the queue."
Lee laughed, "That was four years ago. I was there, remember?"
Vince's last question wasn't answered at all, so he decided to ask again. "When do you want to arrange a visit?"
"Nothing too arrange."
"What?"
Lee sat upright, straightening his back, and said, "Why don't you three come with me once we're done here. I can leave Bentley here to continue catching up with that man and boy and then he can go and guard the camp as well."
"I'll get Jasmine to stay there with him," said Vince. "Just until we come back."
"We won't be long," Lee reassured Vince. "You lot and Karen can go to Draycott while I'm having a talk with my people."
Vince looked concerned and considering what had happened yesterday, he had every right to be. "Why don't I just go on my own, and you." he looked over to Karen, "can do your...closure thing another time. We need some bodies here to guard the place."
"I want it done as soon as possible." Karen looked adamant. "On my own, if I have to."
"You'll do no such thing." Pickle then turned to Vince and said, "We'll be as quick as possible." Pickle placed his arm on Vince's shoulder.
Vince began, "But..."
"Look," snapped Karen. "The reason why Shaz and the rest died was because some daft kid brought them here, not because of the lack of guards on the barrier."
Vince nodded. "Okay. But we'll be quick as fuck, and I'll tell everyone before I go what's happening and to stay indoors."
"Bentley has a handgun on him. They'll be no problems." Lee added, "When you get there you can have a quick look round, and you can meet some of the guys that run the place. Then you can take Karen back to her house."
"Guys? So it's just men?" Karen spoke with disappointment in her tone.
"There're women too that run the place. I just use guys as an expression." Lee laughed and placed his hands in the air, "Calm down, Karen. I don't want you going all sisters are doin' it for themselves on me. We're a good mixed bunch."
Karen smiled apologetically. Already she had come to the quick conclusion that Lee James was a good man, a genuine man.
Lee got to his feet and announced, "I'll let Bentley know what we're doing. We can leave in my truck for the two-mile trip. Agreed?"
All three slowly nodded, releasing no words from their mouths.
Underneath, Vince felt sadness. He was leaving the camp. He was leaving his home.
Chapter Fifty Two
"The next thing...we were surrounded."
Bentley took a sip of water and was telling Paul what had happened to Laura a few days ago. Kyle was in the bedroom, playing Star Wars with the coat hangers, pretending they were X wing fighters.
"But where did they come from?" Paul was baffled. He had seen Bentley's set-up for himself, and when he was there, it looked solid.
"I have no idea." Bentley sighed and his eyes began to fill. "We woke up in the middle of the night to see dozens around the barbed-wire fence. Laura was the first to step outside, to see what was happening, and as soon as they saw her there was no stopping them."
"Fuck."
"Tell me about it. In such numbers they went through the fence as if it were nothing. Laura was taken down before I had chance to put my clothes on. As soon as I stepped outside, what looked like, a hundred corpses walked towards me. It was so dark that it was hard to tell. Laura was nowhere to be seen. Didn't even have time to take anything with me, except this." He patted his Glock.
"So you've left everything?" Paul looked aghast. "Everything you have collected and worked for?"
Bentley nodded sadly. "Shotgun, food...everything! I ran away, stayed in a house for the night. When I was in this house, I came across the car keys for the vehicle in the drive, so I took it when it was time to leave. I met a woman called Helen Waite..."
"You should have stayed in the house."
"There was no food."
"So what's this camp like?" asked Paul. After the disastrous episode yesterday, Paul was pleased that another opportunity had arisen. He thought Vince's camp was decent, but a lot of residents were shocked from the previous events and confidence over the safety of the campsite was at its lowest.
"It's a good set-up." Bentley seemed in decent spirits, considering he had just recently lost his partner. Paul thought that this behaviour was strange, but didn't dwell on it. Bentley added, "Lee's done a good job, but with you lot on board it can be better."
"I'm just sick of running."
"Same here." Bentley laughed, "but it's better than dying."
"And you think they'll definitely let us in?"
"They'll have a vote, just like they did with me and Helen, but to be honest...they need more people. As you know, me and Pickle go back a long way. And from what you've told me about Vince and Karen, it shouldn't be a problem. Getting more people is good for the camp, but if they're fighters, then that's even better."
*
The vehicle had cleared the top of the hill and the four people, Lee, Vince, Pickle and Karen, were heading towards the Ash Tree pub. They went straight across a roundabout and Karen peered out of the passenger window, sadly reminiscing about the events that had occurred over the last five weeks or so.
She thought about Gary, and the foot massage he would give her whenever she came off nightshift. She thought about the beginning of the apocalypse and that creep, Oliver Bellshaw, and how he tried to attack her when they were both hiding in the woods. She broke his nose and slammed an axe in his knee for his misbehaviour.
She then began to think of others who had perished: KP, Jamie Thomson, Janine Perry, Davina Pointer. She could see the frightened faces of Jack Slade and his small group when they flagged her down when she was in the prison van. Only hours later, the people from that group, Lee Hayward, Kerry Evans and Thomas Slade had all perished.
She lo
oked on as they passed a building that used to be a business called Thorn EMI many moons ago, and her mind continued to race.
Shaz entered her thoughts.
This was near the area where Shaz and Karen were walking through, a few weeks ago. She reminisced about the pick-up truck that had crashed, and then the Snatchers appeared from everywhere, splitting them up. Shaz and Karen had stayed the night in a building that used to be a soft-play business. The next morning, after going through Brereton Park, Karen and Shaz had heard screams from two young girls. One of them died and the other was eventually taken to her aunt's up the road. Karen had forgot their names. One of them was called Heather.
She thought about Jack and the way he had died. She was sad, and even felt for young Harry Beresford who was thrown into a shed full of those things. And now there was the massacre at the camp.
It seemed that there was never a week without a tragedy wherever she was, and Karen was unsure if the danger and killings were going to get less and less the more the weeks passed by. Only time would tell.
"You okay?" asked Pickle; he was sitting next to her and could see she was becoming upset.
"Not really."
"You want to pull in for a minute?"
She shook her head. "No."
Once the truck reached the barrier, Karen could see that it was just cars lined up horizontally. On the right side was a six-foot gap, and a six-foot by six-foot square gate was placed there to fill the gap. It was nothing special, but it could be improved...in time. What they did have was plenty of guards; there was four at the barrier, but no gun could be seen. All four held either a large blade or a baseball bat.
As soon as the pick-up truck was spotted and Lee was noticed, the gate was pulled back manually by two men, and Lee drove in. "Okay," he admitted. "The security isn't as good as yours, but those two HGVs at your camp will be a blessing."
Lee drove along Sandy Lane, and as the others looked around, they could see it was just how it used to be before.
"How many people have you got here?" asked Vince.
"A hundred or so. It's not a lot. That's why you can't see anyone."
Snatchers: Volume Two (The Zombie Apocalypse Series Box Set--Books 4-6) Page 75