Parasite ; Sleeper Cells ; Kingdoms of the Dead

by Ian Woodhead

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she snapped. “They wouldn’t dare do that.” The aroma of her cooling jam started to fill the kitchen. The annual Colbeck county fair was the one event that Mavis looked forward to all year. At least she used to. Her homemade jam had won first prize four years on the trot, until last year. That Mrs Naylor had the audacity to enter her own jam and the vile stuff slammed Mavis’s Apricot and plum jam into second place. Rumour had it that the woman was competing again.

  Mavis stood up and hurried over to the cooker, breathing a sigh of relief when she found the jam had begun to set. This year, Mavis was determined to take back her title from that horrible woman.

  He muttered again and slammed the paper on the table. “Mavis, what are we going to do about Adel?” Steven stood up and walked over to the door. “I’m going to have a word with her.”

  “You leave the girl alone,” She snapped. “Okay, I’ll admit that, like you, I’m not too thrilled with our daughter seeing Karl Briers but, she’s old enough to make her own decisions.” She looked up at the ceiling and listened to the faint sound of music coming from her bedroom. “You sounded a bit like my dad just then, Steven. Do you remember how he reacted when I brought you home?”

  “That was different,” he said. “I might have been a bit wild back in the day but I was a bloody saint compared that that thug who’s sniffing around our daughter.”

  She dipped a wooden spoon and watched the mixture drip back into the pan. It looked like she had not messed up after all; this one would beat that Mrs Naylor’s horrible concoction any day of the week. Mavis watched Steven pace the floor like a caged lion. If she could sort out that woman, dealing with her husband’s bad mood should be a walk in the park.

  “Are you sure that there’s nothing else bothering you?”

  He shrugged. “Well, I’m a bit concerned over the lads. They should have been home by now.”

  Mavis walked over to his chair. She pulled him into it and dug her fingers into his shoulders. “I won’t worry about Terrence and Alex. You know those two. About now, they’ll both be getting drunk with their mates. Like they do every Friday night.” She felt how tense he was. “Come on, honey, you need to relax. That boy is the spit of you, Steven.”

  “Who is, Terrence?”

  “No, I’m talking about our Alex. It’s uncanny how he behaves like you when we started hanging together. As for our Adel’s new boyfriend, do you honestly think Alex would let Karl treat her badly?”

  “I suppose you’re right.”

  “I know I’m right,” she said, kissing the top of his head. Steven had never been so concerned over his kid’s behaviour when he had his good job. Then again, the man was never in the house long enough to notice that he actually had kids. “Now, why don’t we go to bed? It’s been a while since we played.”

  “What about the kids?”

  “Baby, they are not kids anymore, they can look after themselves.” Mavis slid her hand down his back. “We have a lock on our bedroom door, you know.”

  Steven giggled and stood up, “I think you have convinced me.” He took her hand. “Your dad never liked me did he?”

  She leaned towards him. “No, not really.”

  Steven jumped at the sound of a loud crash coming from outside.

  “What the hell was that?” Mavis looked fearfully at the outside door. “Shit, I think someone or something is in with the chickens.”

  “More like a certain young lad.” He growled. Steven ran back into the dining room and returned a few moments later with his shotgun. “This time, that Ethan Naylor has gone too far.”

  “How do you know it’s him?”

  He reached for his coat. “It’s always him, that’s why.” Steven snapped open the barrel and inserted two cartridges. “Don’t worry, Mavis. Don’t give me that look. I’m not going to shoot him, I promise. I am going to scare the shit out of him though. It is time that the little bastard found out what happens when he steals things from me.” Steven pulled open the door.

  “Why load it then?”

  He grinned. “Just in case it isn’t him, that’s why. Don’t worry, I’ll be back in a moment.” Steven kissed her gently on the lips. “I’ll be back to sort out my beautiful horny wife.”

  She watched him from the door; Mavis pulled her cardigan tight around her body, it was freezing out there. Something was seriously wrong; those chickens were making a right noise. Had a fox managed to get in there? She hoped not. If it were that weird kid in there, at least he’d only make off with one, maybe two of her livestock. A fox would kill them all.

  Mavis yelped when she heard his gun going off. “Steven!” she shouted. “What’s going on?” She pushed her feet into her slippers and hurried down the garden path. “Steven, are you alright?”

  The blood froze in her veins when she heard an ear-blasting shriek coming from the hen houses. “Oh god!” she gasped, breaking into a run. “Steven!” Mavis stopped by the wide open door and saw the ground swimming in thick, dark blood. “Oh no!”

  She peered inside, unable to take in the carnage wrought on the birds. Blood, gristle, flesh and feathers coated every surface, she saw no pieces large enough to identify. Mavis also saw that Steven wasn’t in here either.

  She looked back towards the house when Mavis heard the sharp sound of the window shattering. Mavis jumped over the blood soaked ground and ran back towards the house. Her heart was trying to beat out of her chest. What the fuck was happening here? She ran through the door and shut it before going into the kitchen. “Steven, where are you?”

  Mavis jerked her head towards the ceiling, somebody up there was moving about. Mavis pulled a knife out of the wooden block and rushed upstairs. “Adel, are you alright in there, sweetie?”

  Her door was open slightly. Through the crack, Mavis caught rapid movement on her daughter’s bed, she ran in there when Mavis heard a terrified gasp from Adel. Her daughter was kneeling on the bed, wearing nothing but a pair of black stockings. Mavis’s mind slipped a gear at the sight of something that bore a passing resemblance to her son’s thick hands gripping Adel’s hips as he slammed into her whilst grunting and growling like an angry dog.

  “This can’t be…”

  She didn’t have chance to finish her sentence as a pair of thick hands circled her neck. She was spun around and came face to face with Steven. His crimson glowing eyes peered into hers. He opened his mouth and looked into a huge cavern full of sharp, splintered rock. Steven moved his face towards her.

  “Leave her,” commanded a deep voice.

  Steven sighed and turned her back around. The thing that looked like her son pushed Adel off the bed and she fell in a crumpled heap.

  “You’ve killed my daughter, you evil thing!” she screeched. Mavis raised her hands, surprised to see she still held the knife. The woman frantically thrust the knife forwards.

  The huge thing laughed and danced out of the way. His own hand flashed up and she watched him prise the blade out of her hand then throw it across the room. “You are a feisty one. I think I’ll keep you too.”

  Mavis reeled back as it closed in. The monster wore her boy’s clothes, as he got nearer, Mavis gasped when she saw Terrence’s chest tattoo. This thing was her boy.

  It ripped off her dress, then grabbed her hair and dragged her over to the bed. “A simple bite would do the job but I prefer to be more intimate.” He forced her head down. Mavis’s hysteric cries only subsided for just a moment when she noticed Adel resting her head on the bed, the girl’s crimson eyes staring at her.

  Chapter Six

  From where he stood, Ethan couldn’t see any part of his tent. He should be satisfied with the work he had put into disguising his new home but he just could not work up the enthusiasm to care about anything.

  The news regarding the find in the caverns had spread all over the village. Ethan would have done anything to see those bones. He would have sold his mother to be able to spend some time down there alone with the remains of all
those hunters. There was little chance of that happening. That Samuel Lane had made no secret over what Ethan had done to him.

  Deep down, he guessed that most of the villagers would be privately applauding Ethan for having the balls to go through with something so audacious. Their combined sentiment didn’t exactly help Ethan out of this situation though. It was obvious that Lane wasn’t going to forget this incident anytime soon.

  “I’m going to be stuck in here,” he murmured. Ethan sat down on a large rock and used a stick to draw numbers in the damp ground. The woodland didn’t feel like his territory anymore. This place now felt like a prison. He was all alone out here and away from all the activity in the village.

  One certain activity that Ethan didn’t want to hear anymore was just how that lucky bastard, Dan Wilson had somehow managed to catch that Alison Clark. He did wonder how this fairy-tale romance would survive when her dad found out that he now had dual rights on his property. Ethan shivered, for the first time since he found out, he rather felt sorry for that lad. God knows how he would behave when he found out about his new girlfriend’s secret life.

  He un-slung his pride and joy, removed the cover and pushed the rifle butt into his shoulder. Before he had collected the gear needed for a lengthy trip away from the house, Ethan had dug out his new scope and fixed it in place. Unlike his old one, this scope was a little more powerful, he didn’t often use it because it was bigger than his old one and had the tendency to snag the cover.

  He swung the rifle to the left and stopped when he could just about make out the vague outline of stonework through the thick foliage. He grinned to himself. Ethan would have never seen the cottage from here with his old scope.

  Ethan made his way along the narrow path that ran alongside the stream, keeping a firm hand on his pride and joy. He intended to get a good look at the new occupants of the cottage, mainly; he wanted to see if the woman was indeed as fit as the others in the village suggested.

  There were, or course moral objections to his plan but he soon swept them aside at the thought of some cute mid-twenties woman slowly removing her clothes in front of the window. “You should be ashamed of even considering going down this route,” he muttered, leaping over the stream and scrambling up the other side of the banking. Ethan did feel slightly soiled but, it was harmless enough, more than likely, he wouldn’t see anything.

  As he reached the top, Ethan saw all the upstairs lights blazing even without the use of the scope. “Please be in there.” He lifted the scope to his eye and found himself staring at a picture of Spongebob Squarepants

  “I didn’t think it would be this good!” Ethan moved his rifle a little to the right. This scope was incredible, he actually felt like he was in that kid’s room. He found the white cot and saw a toddler, rolling a bright blue plastic rattle along the bars. Ethan took the scope from his eyes and blinked. “This is amazing. I wonder which room is hers.”

  Before he could look through the other windows, Ethan heard the sound of a door crashing open. A couple of seconds later something heavy smashed through the toddler’s window and dropped to the ground.

  “No fucking way!” he shouted. Ethan brought his shaking hands back up and managed to focus in on that shattered window. He moaned when he saw just that blue rattle in the cot. Ethan jumped up and sprinted out of the woodland, he crossed the road and leaped over the low fence and landed in their garden.

  He saw the baby lying at an unnatural angle, on the edge of the lawn, close to the family’s car. Ethan opened the barrel and pushed in a pellet then snapped the gun shut. Whoever had done this fucking evil deed was about to die. He ground his teeth in fury, still not believing that anyone could have done such a heinous act. Ethan could not bear to look at that poor child as he hurried towards the front door.

  Ethan stopped dead halfway across the lawn at the sight of a huge man, dressed in mud-streaked clothing stepping out from the house. The man’s blazing crimson eyes gazed down at the dead child. Ethan leaped to the side and crawled behind the garden shed. He knew that whatever that thing was, a human was a thing it wasn’t.

  He shivered, unable to wrench his eyes away from the red-eyed monster as it slowly walked across to the child. It bent down and stroked his long fingers over the baby’s fragile body. Ethan softly gasped when he saw two more crimson-eyed figures run out of the house. Apart from the eyes, these two did look human. They dropped to the floor and crawled across to the monster, mewling like kittens. The thing slapped them away before turning around and running in the opposite direction. The remaining figures jumped up, crying. They spun around and chased after him.

  Ethan took one deep shaking breath, trying to figure out what he had just witnessed. He brought the scope up to his eye, trying to see where they had gone but it was useless, all three figures had vanished into the night.

  This was serious stuff. It needed fucking reporting. Ethan took a deep breath, feeling his very bones shaking. He leaned his rifle against the shed wall and took a step out into the open, keeping his gaze fixed on the black hills where those three figures had gone. He didn’t have a mobile but he guessed that the owners of the cottage must have a landline. Were those two people the owners? If that was the case, who killed their baby? His head spun with all these impossible questions.

  He paused by the door and peered into the hallway. There was a phone right there but Ethan was reluctant to enter the house. He tried to work out just what he’d say to the authorities. “How the fuck would you explain this?” Ethan backed away, deciding to let somebody else ring this one in. There was no way he’d be able to convince anyone that he had nothing to do with this. The bastards would take one look at his combat clothing and the rifle. The fuckers would throw him in jail and swallow the bloody key.

  Ethan hurried over to the shed, it was better to collect his rifle and get the fuck out of here. “Do you still want to sleep in your tent tonight?” He shook his head, there wasn’t a chance of that happening, he’d have to risk going home, just for tonight. Somehow, he doubted that Samuel Lane would come knocking in the middle of the night. He picked up his pride and joy; even if he did, Ethan would be ready for the bastard.

  He couldn’t leave that poor kid like that though, he might have passed away but to leave the kid out in the open was just inhuman. Any of the night creatures could get at it. Ethan shuddered, what choice did he have? There was no way he’d be able to take the body into the house, not without leaving a shit load of evidence for the police to link him with the crime.

  The baby would have to stay here. “I’m so sorry, kid. Honest, I reall…” The words died in his throat when he heard the sound of cracking and splintering coming from the dead child. He staggered back in terror when he saw the body jerking like someone was feeding a thousand volts into the body.

  It sat up and swivelled its head until it faced Ethan. Twin spots of crimson lights rooted Nathan to the spot. He watched helpless and immobile as the creature awkwardly used its arms to push the legs bones sticking though its flesh back inside its body

  The toddler jerked one leg forward. It stayed in that position for a moment before trying to move its other leg. Within a few seconds, it had appeared to have worked out a method of moving without falling over. It continued to stare at him, whilst drooling. Long ropes of bloodied saliva hung from both sides of its mouth. Ethan’s legs finally started to obey his commands when the toddler lowered its jaw to show off a mouthful of jagged pointed teeth.

  Ethan reached for his pride and joy and stumbled away from the travesty, crying out as the thing turned and started to follow him, it was getting used to its unique method of locomotion and getting faster. He ran for the garden fence, confident that the thing wouldn’t be able to climb over it.

  Despite his promise to go home, there was no way he intended to go the road way, those other three things went that way and he sure as fuck didn’t want to run into them. Ethan scrambled over the fence, crossed the road and slipped back into the woods. N
ow that he was surrounded by a familiar environment, he felt that he could try to at least calm down.

  He scrambled down the banking, heading for his tent. He’d need to take his torch before heading home. Ethan thought that his gear should be safe until he came back tomorrow.

  Ethan jumped over the stream and turned to look back up the banking. That baby was defiantly dead. He was sure about that bit. He scratched the back of his head, wondering if he might have imagined the whole episode. No, it really had happened.

  That baby had come back to life and had chased him across the garden. “Well, you’re safe now,” he muttered. Ethan then saw a tiny shape standing up between two trees at the top of the banking. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

  It walked forward then threw itself down the slope. “Oh, fuck this!” Ethan shouted. He turned and raced through the trees, not daring to look back. He didn’t need to, the creature was right behind him and catching up. It had obviously leaned how to move fast.

  He ducked under a low branch but couldn’t stop himself from tripping up over a tree root sticking out of the hard packed ground. Ethan tumbled to the ground, his torch and his pride and joy slipped out of his hands.

  Ethan saw the creature crawling through the undergrowth making straight for his fallen body. He rolled to the side and got back to his feet, crying out in pain when he found that he’d sprained his ankle in the fall. The creature was still drooling and growling. It stopped and lifted its arms up and folded back on its back legs. That thing was about to pounce!

  The creature opened its mouth and gurgled in excitement. Ethan limped over to a dead tree, his eyes catching sight of a large flat rock. He heard the thing leaping for him. Ethan picked up the rock and turned around holding the rock in front of him. The toddler crashed into the stone and fell to the ground, dazed.