Parasite ; Sleeper Cells ; Kingdoms of the Dead

by Ian Woodhead

  He checked his fingernails, making sure that no stray piece of dirt had decided to take up residence since he’d last scrubbed them clean before leaving the house. He stared up at the black sky showing through the rafter high above their heads. “You know, I wasn’t sure that you’d come.” Cade ate up the last few steps and stopped directly in front of her, drinking in her delightful scent He noticed the delicate touch of make up and her gloss red lipstick, was all this really for him? Or did Katy intend to meet another lad once she’d finished making him feel as worthless as something she had just stood on?

  She placed her hands on his side, “You’re shivering.” Katy looked up into his eyes and sighed. “How can you be shivering when you’re so hot?”

  Cade jumped when she moved both her hands slowly down the front of his body and cupped his crotch.

  “What do you mean?” He stammered, feeling her probing fingers caress his balls. Cade moaned when Katy began to pull his zip down.

  “You know exactly what I mean,” she replied. “You are going to be my little secret.” Katy’s fingers wrapped around his hardening shaft. She groaned herself. “Oh my, I never expected that, Cade. You’re more than a handful.” The girl giggled then unfastened his trousers. She hooked her fingers under Cade’s boxers and jerked them down to his ankles. “Oh yes. I’m going to take my time with you.”

  “What do you mean by that?” He felt the summer breeze on his bare flesh and watched the girl ease herself out of her blouse. The sight of that black lacy bra, struggling to hold in her full breasts, helped to take away a large portion of his deep suspicion, but another of it remained for him to still believe that this was a trick.

  “I mean that we are not going to tell anyone about our meetings, silly.” Katy returned her fingers to his now erect penis and pulled back the skin. “You do know that I have a boyfriend. She pulled him closer and drew the tip of his penis up her bare thighs. “We can stop right now, if this bothers you, Cade.” Katy ran her tongue over his lips. “I mean, we can just turn around and walk away. I won’t be hurt and we’ll never speak of this again. What do you want to do?”

  She rolled her forefinger over his tip before bringing it up to her mouth. “It’d your decision, Cade.” She licked her finger dry and gazed down and his solid shaft. “Made up your mind yet?”

  Cade nodded, he bent down and pulled up his boxers and trousers.

  “You bastard!” she snapped. “What! Don’t you like girls or something?”

  He zipped up his trousers and grabbed her wrist. “I thought you said you wouldn’t be hurt?” Cade saw a single tear roll down her cheek. He leaned over and kissed it off her warm flesh. “Katy, you misunderstand. I have made up my mind alright and I want to take you somewhere that isn’t so grimy.” He scraped the soul of his boot on the lump of metal beside him, watching the black slime slip back down to the floor. “Unless you want your pretty clothes covered in this shit.”

  “But, but I thought.”

  He brushed his lips against hers. He didn’t really care if Katy considered him to be her rough bit on the side, as long as she was not taking him for a ride. Cade didn’t believe that was the case, not anymore. There was no older brother waiting to kick the crap out of him and no vengeful boyfriend wanting to kill him. Cade ran his fingers down her spine, smiling when he felt her shiver. He intended to show this girl just what he could do with his equipment.

  “Oh my,” she gasped, pulling away from his lips. “You sure know how to kiss a girl. Where did you learn that?”

  Cade took her hand, covering her long fingers with his own. “I’m very good with my tongue, Katy.” He pointed towards a set of metal stairs, leading up to the next level. There’s an office up there. It dry, warm and best of all, there’s a clean mattress in the middle of the floor.” Cade pulled the girl towards the stairs.”

  “You’re kidding me?”

  “No, I’m not kidding you, Katy. I used to play here when I was younger. I started coming back here a few months ago, to get away from the shit going down with my family. Hell, I’ve even stayed the night a few times, going to sleep on that mattress, after getting stoned or drunk.” He sighed, wishing he hadn’t thought about his mum and dad. That last thing he needed right now was to have those two idiots in his head while he was about to bang this gorgeous girl.

  “How the hell did you find this place? I didn’t even know it existed until you told me about it.” She stopped and wrapped her hands around his waist. “Wait, just how many girls have you brought here?”

  “You are the first one,” he answered. It was true as well, he had never told anyone about this place, not even his best mate, Damien Myers. He traced the edge of her bra with his forefinger then pushed his hand inside to cup her breast. “Why me?” asked Cade, feeling his penis push against the fabric of his trousers, she gasped when he caught her hard nipple between his fingers.

  Katy pulled his hand out. “Oh my, Cade, are you really that naive? I have fancied you for years, good God, half the girls in our class drool over you.” She pushed her fingers through his long black hair. “You’re kind, very hunky and unlike the rest of the morons our age in Willmouth, you don’t try to fit in. Admit it, Cade, you are unique.”

  She reached behind and unhooked her bra strap, pulling it off and holding the material with her blouse. Katy giggled when he reached for her breasts. She slapped them away then ran over to the stairs. “Enough chatter, I need to feel you inside me.” She raced up them and leaned over the balcony, watching him climb the steps. “I’ve never been this wet, Cade.”

  He reached the top and dragged the girl towards the office, trying his best to keep his hands away from those wonderful breasts.

  “What are you grinning at, sweetheart?”

  “I still can’t believe this is happening,” he replied. This whole situation was taking time to sink in but that wasn’t what had caused him to smile. Cade tried to imagine the look on Katy’s face, when she could have seen him two hours ago, locked in the bathroom, furiously masturbating. At the time he was still convinced this was all a wind up, but just in case it wasn’t, Cade did not intend to disappoint the girl by exploding as soon as she touched him.

  Katy squeezed his behind. “Believe it, my lover.” She turned her head, chucking at the sight of the mattress through the office window. “Oh, this is very cosy, Cade. Why am I not surprised that you have a secret den? Am I seriously the only person to see this? I mean, what about your buddy?”

  “I’m not gay, you know.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that. I know you too are best friends. Have you too never just hung out in here?”

  “No, this is all mine.” She did have a point there; it had never crossed his mind to tell anyone, not even, Damien about this place. She was right, they were close, more brothers than best mates, hell, they even shared a birthmark. They both had a sickle shaped brown mark on their forearms. Damien had told him that his mum had one on her arm too. Cade didn’t really believe that though, his mate did have an annoying tendency to exaggerate on occasion.

  She pulled him over to the mattress. “Lie down now.” Katy straddled his chest, grinning down at his beautiful face. “Take me now!”

  Cade reached up and placed his hand on her full breasts, ready to pull them down to his mouth he stopped and shivered. All of a sudden he felt as though he’d just been pushed into a deep freezer. Cade pushed the girl off his body and sat up, yelping at the sight of a girl’s face staring back at him from outside the office.

  Katy spun around and scooped up her blouse, dropping it over Cade’s hips. She crossed her arms over her breasts. “What the hell are you looking at?” she shouted. “Go on, get out of here!” She glared at Cade. “I thought you said nobody came here!”

  He climbed off the mattress and pulled his up his trousers. “Nobody ever does come here,” he said, zipping himself up. Cade ran over to the door and looked out; he saw no sign of the girl.

  “That’s the first time I’ve
seen anyone in here.” Cade hurried over to the balcony and looked onto the ground floor. Where had she come from? He ran back over to the office, feeling annoyed and disappointed to see Katy had dressed herself.

  “You might as well take me home,” she muttered. “I’m never going to live this down. That kid will tell everyone. I can’t believe that I was dumb enough to meet you here.” She collapsed onto the mattress. “That’s it, my life is over. Everyone is going to find out now.”

  Cade looked down at this girl, trying to come to grips with his tremulous emotions. He felt like those sheets of toilet paper that he had used to wipe himself clean after his bathroom session. In Katy’s eyes, he really had been nothing but a bit on the side. Cade felt like a complete fool.

  “Where are you going?” cried Katy as he spun around and marched out of the office.

  He ignored her shouting and walked along the gantry, trying to see where that little girl had gone. He put aside Katy’s shallow emotions and concentrated on the main fact that this place was no longer his sanctuary. If that little girl knew about this place, who else knew? Cade had to find out. He’d no longer feel safe until then.

  “Wait for me!”

  He reluctantly slowed down and turned around, waiting until Katy was by his side before setting off again.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, sobbing. “I didn’t mean it to sound like that. “She pushed her fingers into his hand. “Cade, I was as randy as hell.” She squeezed his hand. “I’m still randy, Cade. Look, let’s go back, I still want you.”

  He shook his head. “You don’t understand. I’ve been coming here for fifteen years. In all that time, I’ve never seen evidence of a single person setting foot in here. I’ve even laid traps for when I wasn’t around.”

  Cade pulled the girl into his embrace. “I need to find out who she is.” He gazed into her eyes; he saw disappointment in them and nothing else. It then hit him that the girl was only using him as a vibrator replacement. He was only useful as long as he performed. Cade reached the end of the gantry and looked down towards the front entrance. Was she still in here? Crouched behind one of the many rusted relics, covering the concrete floor, silently watching them, just like he did with Katy?

  “Come on, the brat’s obviously gone. She had probably just lost her doggy or something.” Katy spun him around. “Look if she does blab, I want to at least make sure that it something worth losing my social position over.”

  “You’re not helping my confidence here, Katy.”

  She giggled. “Stop being so silly, I don’t mean it like if it’s a bad thing. My life is really complicated. There are things that I’m not supposed to do. Letting some longhaired hunk fuck my brains out is probably right at the top of the list.”

  Katy wrapped her arms tight around his neck. “Come on, Cade, I do need you. Don’t leave me like this. You have to sort me out as well.” She tried to pull him back over to the office. “Cade, are you even listening to me?”

  Cade shrugged her hands off his arm and spun around. Katy just didn’t understand his anxiety. He wasn’t too sure that he understood either. These deserted buildings were obviously owned by somebody, they didn’t belong to him and yet, Cade felt that this was his territory, his own personal province.

  “What’s gotten into you?”

  He ignored her, she didn’t interest Cade anymore. All his desire for Katy had just vanished. The urge to find that little girl overwhelmed every other emotion. He hurried back towards the gantry, trying to list all the obvious hiding places in this one factory. There were loads of good spots to remain unseen. The sheer number didn’t faze Cade, he had all day.

  “I mean it, Cade,” she cried. “If you don’t come back right now, I’m leaving.”

  He shrugged, so be it.

  Right now, he no longer felt comfortable in this building. Just the thought of two strangers trespassing on what he considered to be his personal space made him break out into a sweat. “I shouldn’t have brought Katy here,” he muttered, jumping down the last few steps. He’d have to check the floor first. Cade didn’t really think that the little girl would dare venture down into the network of tunnels beneath their feet. He hoped not anyway. Even after fifteen years, Cade still got lost down there. He was sure that he still hadn’t mapped that area fully.

  It didn’t take long to check through the obvious hiding places, there was still another three buildings to search through yet. Cade wouldn’t be happy until he had found out where she had gone.

  Katy hadn’t gone through with her threat to leave him; she was still on the gantry, leaning over the handrail, watching him search. Could she have been right about her looking for a dog? No, of course not, who in their right mind would allow a pre-teen kid take their dog out for a walk in the middle of the night?

  The sight of a door slamming shut reached his ears. The noise came from below. Cade’s heartbeat speeded up, he felt an ice-cold finger run up his spine and for the first time in fifteen years, Cade wanted to leave this place and never come back. His body and mind screamed at him to follow his instincts.

  “Cade?”

  He turned to see Katy slowly make her way down the steps; her gaze was fixed on the open doorway on the other end of the factory floor. She had heard the noise as well. Katy hooked her arm into his.

  “Where does that door lead to, Cade?”

  He gazed into her eyes then dropped them to the floor. “There’s a labyrinth of tunnels under our feet.” He pulled her towards the entrance. “Wait, we can’t leave her down there!”

  He stopped and looked over at the doorway, allowing her words to sink in. Of course, he couldn’t leave some innocent girl down there, what was he playing at? Cade didn’t understand what came over him. This was just stupid, what was the matter with him? He nodded then pulled out his mobile phone.”

  “Are you ringing for the police?”

  “No,” he replied, selecting the phone light from the menu. “I’m going to get the silly girl out of there.” He turned on the light and played the beam along the floor. “Are you still thinking of going, Katy?”

  She allowed him to pull her across the floor. Cade took the silence as acknowledgment that she wasn’t going to leave him after all. The stone steps beyond the doorway lead down into the inky blackness. It had been a couple of months since Cade had last ventured down here, despite his absence; he could still make out evidence of other human occupancy. It appeared that he had acquired a lodger. Was she a runaway? That made sense although why anybody would wish to runaway to this shitty town was beyond him. There had been a few kids leaving Welbourgh to seek a future in the larger cities but to his knowledge, nobody had come here before.

  He shone the torch down the steps, the light picking out a few discarded sweet and crisp wrappers. Cade made his way slowly down the stairs, feeling his anxiety lessen, the further he walked. The sense of belonging strengthened, in fact, Cade felt as though he never wanted to leave this place.

  “What are you doing, Cade,” hissed Katy. “What’s wrong with your arm?”

  He saw that he’d been scratching the area around his birthmark. “That’s weird,” he muttered. Cade bent down, picked up one of the crisp packets, and held the plastic under his nose. He could still smell the cheese flavouring. That kid must have dropped this. How long had she been living down here? More importantly, why hadn’t he realised that someday else was using his private retreat as a dosshouse?

  He ventured further along the stone corridor, feeling the cold damp air settle on his lungs. He needed to get this girl out of here. Cade then stopped, looking in disbelief at a missing section of wall.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Cade shone the light along the wall, shaking his head. “That wasn’t there the last time I came down here.” The harsh white light clearly made out where the wall had swing back to reveal another corridor. He took one more step and ran his hand along the damp wall, allowing the tips of his fingers to explore the gaps in the stonework
.

  “Oh my god, Cade, just look at all that stuff!”

  He cast his eyes across the accumulated piles of decaying weaponry, stacked up against both walls. This stuff must have been here for generations. He could make out the remains of large curved swords, numerous axe heads as well as a couple of large metal balls, covered in spikes. He turned around and gazed at the corridor walls before turning back to look at this uncovered section.

  “It looks like the remains of an ancient castle.” Cade ventured inside, noting that another smell replaced the faint odour of mildew. It reminded him of meat close to turning. He walked between the two piles of decaying metal, heading towards a large metal door, set into the stones, a few metres from them.

  “Look at that,” she whispered. Katy stopped, bent down and picked up another sweet wrapper. “Let’s go back, I have a bad feeling about this, Cade.”

  He silently sighed in pleasure, gripping her hand tight and feeling her trepidation. Cade had no idea how he was doing it but, he could actually taste the girl’s fear. The sweet emotion just seemed to flow from every pore of her body. He turned around and held her at arms length, what an incredible sight. He could even see it, a thin cloud of dark green mist surrounded the girl obscuring her features. The stuff reacted when he opened his mouth, by rushing towards him. Cade groaned in pleasure as it enveloped his head, then entering his waiting mouth.

  “What are you doing?”

  He blinked, seeing her staring at him, her eyes displaying confusion and fear. There was no mist around the girl and he felt no different. He blinked again, not sure at all what had just happened to him. Cade looked behind them, almost expected to see a large cylinder, pissing out gas.