Parasite ; Sleeper Cells ; Kingdoms of the Dead

by Ian Woodhead

  William sighed. He threw his purchases onto the bonnet of the land rover. His arm snapped out and she watched in amazement as her husband caught hold of the dark-haired boy’s wrist and savagely twisted it around. The boy cried out in shock. Samuel lunged forward.

  “Just one more muscle twitch from you, big guy, and I’ll have to break his bones.” Samuel slowly stepped away from her husband, glaring. “That’s so much better,” said William, smiling. “Now, I suggest you finish your business and leave as quickly as you can. I took the liberty of calling the police before I left the shop. I’m not sure how long you have before they turn up.” He released his wrist and shrugged at Georgina. “They had no Mars bars left so I got you a Twix instead. I hope that’s okay.”

  Georgina watched him collect the stuff from the bonnet of the car and climb into the back seat. The other car had already screeched out of the forecourt. She stared at her husband feeling more confused than ever.

  Chapter Three

  The body had not even cooled down yet. Ethan Naylor guessed that the rabbit had ceased its hopeless struggling just before dawn. He un-slung his rifle, crouched down and ran his black gloved hand along the rabbit’s fur. He clamped down on his excitement, knowing that a true hunter would never allow his emotions to show. Everyone knew that the woodland animals could detect the subtle chemical changes attributed to extreme emotion. He hadn’t finished in here just yet, he intended to take down at least one more animal before returning home.

  He allowed a big grin to strain the fabric of his camouflaged scarf, it was pretty cool though. Ethan had been after this bugger for over two weeks. He looked down at the mangled leg caught in his wire snare and wasn’t that surprised to see the beast had tried to bite off its own leg.

  “Did I not say that you would me mine?” he whispered. Ethan took off the gloves and used his fingers to dig the snare out of the rabbit’s flesh; it took longer that he expected, the loop was tight around the bone. Once he had reset the snare and covered it back up, Ethan brought his bloodied fingers up to his face. He carefully picked off the bits of dead leaf and lumps of grit before he placed his fingers into his mouth one by one. He left the blood on his thumbs and wiped off the sticky crimson residue under his eyes. Ethan nodded to himself, knowing that he had just honoured the dead rabbit’s spirit.

  In all the months of hunting in this part of the woodland, Ethan had yet to discover recent signs of other human activity. Being completely alone and at one with nature was the reason why he chose this forgotten area of the woods to hunt. In addition, he had no wish for any annoying kids or nosy dog walker to report him for using his modified air rifle in here.

  Ethan knew there were plenty of squirrels occupying the northern area; those fluffy things were practically tame. The rodents had a good life from stealing food from the picnic tables and a few of the town’s older residents regularly came into the woods to feed the little bastards.

  He couldn’t help but to pull down his scarf and runs his tongue over his lips. Squirrel made good eating, especially the ones fattened up on picnic scraps. Ethan resisted the temptation to head north. If he faced reality, the chances of him bagging a squirrel down here was slim to none. They never showed their faces around here nowadays, for a good reason, why chance having your head blown off?

  Maybe he should forget it and be satisfied with this beauty. Ethan decided to let it hang in the garage before skinning it in the morning. Once he’d jointed the meat, he would try to persuade his mum to curry it. She made an awesome curry. “It would taste even nicer with juicy squirrel flesh,” he whispered. Ethan took his washing line out of the inside of his combat jacket. He tied one end around the large rabbit’s body and threw the other end over a thick branch of an old oak tree just behind him.

  There was little point in taking stupid chances. Despite being fairly sure that no other humans would come around here in the short time he was gone, he still had no wish to discover that some dog or fox had come and steal his prize. “It’s better to be safe than sorry,” he murmured, hoisting the carcass up into the branches. Ethan looped the end of the rope around the trunk and tied it securely before picking up his rifle and starting towards the more populated side of the woods. “Fuck it, what type of hunter never takes a chance?”

  There was one other reason why Ethan avoided the top end of the woods. The three dickheads who dossed about at the repair shop had taken to spending a lot of their time in there. That was so not fair, he might not go into the northern area but as far as he was concerned, it was still his territory. Ethan never ruined their usual haunting grounds, why should try to they spoil his?

  “Maybe, just maybe, it’s because they can?” He sighed, knowing that he had hit the nail on the head right there. No idiot in their right mind would dare to say one bad word against those fucking psychos, especially that Samuel Lane. That thug really did have bits of his brain missing. Ethan once remembered watching him knock seven shades of shit out of their PE teacher because the fool had taken it upon himself to embarrass the lad in front of the whole class. Samuel had only been thirteen at the time.

  Ethan leaned against the trunk of a tree and jumped as a brown terrier leapt out of a bush several metres from his location. It raced along the path before disappearing back into the dense undergrowth. That had spoilt his adventure before he had even started.

  “What did you expect?” he muttered. That was a good question. What possessed him think that he would be able to get some peace to kill a few squirrels? There was nearly always somebody strolling along the path. The squirrels were not that stupid. They knew they were safe up here. Even the owner’s dogs had learned not to chase the little fluffy bastards.

  It just wasn’t fair, if Ethan had been able to get to the top of this hill, he’d be in range of the circle of picnic tables. Even without the company of humans to feed them, the squirrels would still be playing around the furniture, secure in the knowledge that they were quite safe.

  They would not have stood a chance. Ethan had modified his pride and joy himself. The air rifle was almost as powerful as a hunting rifle. He reached around and ran the tip of his finger down the barrel, suddenly remembering that he had left his gloves next to that tree. “That’s just fantastic,” he muttered. Everyone knew that you didn’t hunt without wearing gloves. Ethan watched the shape of another small dog racing through the trees beyond the tables. It was time to go back before somebody saw his pride and joy.

  Ethan stopped in mid turn when he detected the sound of raised voices. He dropped to the floor and slowly crawled to the top of the banking and thrust his head through a low-lying patch of heather. A young man in his twenties, wearing a bright yellow top and jeans was arguing with three very familiar figures. Judging from the excitable yapping coming from the dog, running rings around the four men, Ethan presumed that Mr Yellow top was the dog’s owner.

  Ethan winced in sympathy when the inevitable happened and Samuel swung his fist into yellow top’s face. The man staggered back and fell to the ground. Ethan winced again, everyone knew that Samuel had a powerful punch. Thankfully, the others didn’t run forward to put the boot in, they just stood there and laughed as if it was the funniest sight in the world.

  Yellow-top picked himself off the floor and beat a hasty retreat. “There’s no shame in knowing when you’re beat,” Ethan whispered. The three men called out some vaguely intelligible threats before stepping back onto the path and walking towards where he laid hiding. Where were the bastards going? He started to panic. They weren’t supposed to venture away from the main paths.

  Ethan wasn’t too thrilled with sharing his woods with the dog walkers but at least they were predictable. They stayed in the populated areas. He slowly scrambled back down the banking, keeping his eyes fixed on the approaching men. He did not like how this situation was progressing one bit.

  Samuel suddenly stopped in the middle of a clearing. The man dropped to the floor and lay on his back, resting his arms behind his head.<
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  “This will be just fucking perfect,” he said, laughing. “Karl, you greasy fuck, you can go get the beers.”

  “Why do I have to do it?”

  “Cos I fucking said so, Karl, don’t piss me off again.”

  “Why the fuck didn’t we bring them with us?”

  “Cos!” shouted Samuel. “Just do as you’re told. For fuck’s sake, it’s not that far to the car, you soft puff. Besides, they are my fucking beers; you ought to be thanking me for letting you have some.”

  This was Ethan’s worst nightmare. They had crossed the line by encroaching on his territory. How long would it be before they drank their own weight in ale and decided to go on a bit of a ramble? Ethan had to find a way of getting rid of them.

  “You could always pretend that they are squirrels.” There was no way of suppressing his rapid heartbeat as Ethan mulled over what was going through his mind. He took his pride and joy out of its sleeve and watched Karl Briers mutter his way back towards the main entrance. Samuel had ordered his other goon to collect some wood. “Oh just great,” he whispered. “Now they’re going to set my kingdom on fire.”

  Ethan lay down and pulled his pride and joy into his shoulder, watching Samuel sneer at Alex Corvin, when the goon brought back an armful of rotten branches. The scope brought the blond man’s ugly, rough face into sharp focus, making Ethan feel as though he was right next to him.

  If he were next to him, Ethan would have to show Alex the correct method of building up a fire. That dickhead was making a right mess of it. Maybe they wouldn’t be burning his woods down after all, they would never light that in a million years, not that they would be here for that long.

  He pulled the barrel down, inserted a pellet and snapped it closed. “It’s now or never,” he whispered. Ethan wasn’t worried of discovery, lots of kids in the village owned an air rifle, there’s no way the blame would come to him. He rested his finger on the trigger and took careful aim. Besides, who would be mental enough to shoot Samuel Lane?

  Ethan fired; giggling as his pellet slammed into Samuel’s pockmarked cheek. The man howled in agony. The last image Ethan saw before he hurried away was Samuel clutching his bloodied face and Alex running over to the man.

  “That’ll teach you,” he muttered, running as fast as he could, through the woodland. He saw that as a perfect way to end his expedition into the wilderness. That fuckhead will now stay where he belonged and leave his precious woodland alone.

  Ethan could still hear the man rage as he neared his tree. The gloves were still there, that was such a relief. He picked them up and started to undo the knots, thinking of how good this rabbit would taste.

  He suddenly stopped, the blood in his veins froze solid when he caught that crazed psychopath howling Ethan’s name.

  “That is not fair!” he gasped. “That bastard isn’t supposed to guess my name.” Ethan wildly looked around the foliage, trying to see if he could spot the bastard. He couldn’t be too far away, that manic voice sounded like he was almost on top of him. “Oh god, I am so dead.”

  His rabbit crashed into the leaf-litter as the rope slid through his numb fingers. Ethan crouched down, feeling hot tears running down his cheek. That Samuel and his two brain-dead goons really will beat him to death.

  “Does he know where I live?” Ethan was pretty sure that the bastard had no clue. He picked up the rabbit and slung it over his shoulder. If he didn’t know, then it wouldn’t take Samuel too long to find out. There weren’t that many houses in their village.

  “I could live right here, in the woods,” he whispered. “That dumb fucker would never find me.” It did sound like a reasonable idea, at least until Samuel had found somebody else to torture. Ethan nodded, warming to the notion. It wouldn’t be that much of a transition, he practically lived here already. Ethan had camped out in these woods lots of times before.

  “This could really work.” Ethan leisurely caressed his pride and joy’s long barrel. If that fool did try to look for him in here then Ethan would take great pleasure in giving Samuel another cheek wound. “I may even put one in his eye.”

  People like that Samuel only understood brute force. He caught sight of Alex Corvin’s dark blue jacket and ducked down, behind a bush. He thought the goons would have given up their search by now and buggered off back to one of the village pubs to plot their revenge and, in Samuel’s case, lick his wounds.

  How was he going to leave now? Ethan had to collect all his gear before disappearing. The other exit took him miles out of his way, close to the next village, almost five miles away. Ethan had no problem with walking back, he knew for certain though, that a passing patrol car would stop and ask about the suspicious looking leather case slung over his back.

  He watched the goon bash a patch of brambles with a thick branch. They sure weren’t in a hurry to leave just yet.

  “I know you’re still in here!”

  Ethan almost dropped the gun in shock when he saw Samuel’s bulky form step out from behind a tree just in front of where he was crouching. He was so close; Ethan could smell the bastard’s cheap aftershave. He hadn’t spotted him though, thank fuck.

  The man slowly turned in a tight circle. “If you do the honourable thing and come out from where you’re hiding, lad, I’ll probably only break your arms. Or you could stay where you are hiding away like some cowardly fuckhead and I’ll just find out where you live and kill you in your sleep. I might after fuck your mum to death as well. Don’t even think that I won’t, Ethan, you have known me a long fucking time.”

  Ethan ground his teeth in fury. How dare he accuse Ethan of being a coward. He was a warrior. Samuel was the cowardly bastard. It was so tempting to let his pride and joy have one more cosy chat with Samuel’s face.

  The goon spun around, muttering to himself as he made his way towards the woodland entrance. Samuel had obviously decided that Ethan wasn’t going to allow him pull off his arms. His mum raised no fools though. That Samuel and his idiots would just wait by the entrance for him to come out.

  He had no choice, Ethan just had to go the other way. There was no way on this planet that he would leave his pride and joy in the woods. He then remembered another route, Ethan looked behind him at the ancient trees, if he went that way the woodland gave way to some fields.

  “Fucking hell, I could go that way!” he said, grinning. He had stopped using that route a couple of months ago when the owner set his dog on Ethan. After enduring the traumatic experience of finding that Alsatian’s sharp teeth cutting into his thigh, he vowed never to go that way again.

  The old bastard used to live in the old cottage that butted the fields. Ethan had forgotten all about him dropping dead last week. No bugger would spill any tears at his funeral, saying that, nobody would turn up anyway. Apparently, the word in the village was that the new owner’s wife was a bit tasty.

  He waited until the last of those goons were no longer in sight before getting up and sprinting through the trees. As Ethan’s feet pounded the ground, he remembered that those caverns ran under here. The entrance to Colbeck’s not so famous tourist attraction was directly under the south-end field, about half a mile from that cottage.

  With a bit of luck, he would be able to scramble down the banking and run through the carpark without anyone seeing him. If Ethan stayed to the shortcuts and did a bit of garden hopping, he would be back home five minutes later.

  He reached the edge of the woods and watched a couple of grazing cows in the first field. Ethan decided that it was a good plan. All that was left now was to somehow explain to his mum what had happened. Samuel might come around and get a mouthy with his mum but he’d soon discover his mistake when she clocked him one. He wasn’t the only warrior in his family.

  Ethan leaped over the dry stone wall and walked through the wet grass, ignoring the cow’s curious gazes. He did feel a bit guilty about putting his mum in this situation but it couldn’t be helped. She’d understand, he hoped.

  The village skyl
ine appeared over the horizon. It didn’t make him upset to know that it was unlikely that he’d see it again for a few days. Ethan stopped by the edge of the field and looked down into the Cavern’s customer carpark, sighing when he saw movement down there. He caught his breath when Ethan noticed it was that fit lass who worked as a guide.

  He licked his lips, Ethan wouldn’t mind hiding in her bedroom for a couple of days. God, that girl was so tidy. He’d never understood how such an ugly fucker of a man was able to help create such a desirable angel.

  Ethan felt his rage build up when he remembered what his mum had hinted regarding her family, specifically, what her dad did to Alison when he got drunk. He hoped to god that it wasn’t true. “I’d protect you, baby,” he whispered. Ethan knew she was still unattached and had a few fantasies about asking her out.

  He saw a figure approach her. Ethan recognised the lad; he’d seen him around the village a few times. Dan wasn’t a bad lad, a bit of a show off though. Ethan’s jaw fell open when he saw him place his arms around Alison’s waist and kiss her, could this day of his get any worse?

  Chapter Four

  He clearly saw the green glow of jealousy rage in Terrence’s eyes when Alison took his hand. Dan could not care less what Terrence thought. As far as Dan was concerned, the best man, namely him, had won.

  “I’ll go get the drinks in, shall I?”

  Dan barely heard Colin’s disgruntled request. His whole attention centred on her hand, slowly caressing his thigh. Oh Jesus, where had this girl been his whole life? More to the point, just where had she learnt how to please a man? Dan would love to meet her teacher and shake his hand, then again, maybe not. He wasn’t so in love with the thought that someone had experienced the joys of Alison’s body before him.

  Her hand stopped by his pocket. She leaned closer and ran her tongue over his earlobe. “Dan, let’s slip out right now, while he’s buying the drinks. I know of a few secluded spots around the village where we won’t be disturbed.”