by Ian Woodhead
The master gently dragged his claw down Benedict’s chest and torso, until he reached his groin. “I’m going to start with my favourite piece first,” he said, drooling. The master’s mouth opened, his jaw unhinged and his whole body crashed forward.
Dan’s eyes snapped open and he shrieked out.
“Oh my god!” gasped his mother. “I thought you would never wake up.” She said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “You’ve been out of it for over an hour. What happened to you?”
He leaned back in the chair and shook. The experience of being down there in that cavern was still vivid in his head. Benedict’s memories clung to his mind like hungry leeches. He saw raiders from the next village riding into the village whilst the men were away on the hunt. Through a seven-year-old child’s eyes, Dan watched three huge men rip his mother out of his sister’s terrified grasp and drag the screaming women to their horses.
Dan remembered his father taking Benedict on his first hunt, five years after the raid on their village. He gritted his teeth at the traumatic memory of that panicking boar slipping through the ropes and charging into him, breaking several bones and crippling him for years.
Dan felt the overwhelming tide of ecstasy when his wife to be first singled him out to be her mate and then wept as that monster brought death to their village, three months later. He witnessed the grief and anger while watching helpless as a group of changed villagers raped, killed and then tore her body apart to eat her.
“Babes, come on, you need to snap out of it.”
Dan lifted his head, trying to stop the alien memories from engulfing his own. He looked at Alison’s concerned face, seeing the image of Benedict’s young wife superimposed over Dan’s girlfriend. He screwed up his eyes, opened them wide and rapidly blinked. Alison’s face cleared. Dan threw his arms around her neck and hugged her tight. “Oh baby,” he cried. “We just have to find some way of ending this fucking evil.”
He watched his mother run out of the kitchen and into the hall. Dan heard the front door open and the sound of Colin’s excitable voice. He wished he could stop all this torrent of conflicting emotions sandblasting his delicate mind. Dan needed to think his way through this. There must be a solution. The wall clock informed him that they still had a good few hours of daylight left. He needed to rest and relax.
“Thank god you lot are all right!” said Colin. “I would have got here a lot earlier, but I’ve spent most of the morning avoiding everybody.” He picked up a glass of water from the kitchen table. “Thank you, Mrs Wilson,” he replied. “You have no idea how thirsty I am.” He emptied the glass and gave it back to Dan’s mother. “We need to find somewhere safer,” he hissed, glancing towards the window. “Samuel Lane and his dickhead mates have worked up the locals into a right state. They already know that you’re the one that released it and they’re on their way here right now.”
Chapter Fifteen
In terms of fun tasks that Karl could have chosen to do today, this one rated a single notch above having to clean out his dad’s shitty cowshed. He knew that Samuel had somehow duped him into doing this. Oh yes, Karl may not be that blessed with a bucket full of smarts but he wasn’t that fucking dumb.
He slowly ran his fingers down the long barrel of his new gift, enjoying the feel of cold steel against his skin. Oh yeah, that Samuel certainly knew which buttons to press alright.
Maybe he shouldn’t have gone on all the fucking time to Samuel about how much he loved rifles? Thinking back, Karl had acted like a desperate queer, with wanting to shoot Samuel’s guns.
He sighed, then again, if that cunt of a dad hadn’t banned him from ever owning a gun in the first place, he wouldn’t have need to play with Samuel’s. Like that accident five years ago had been Karl’s fault?
If that stupid fucking retard of a brother hadn’t gotten in his way, the silly cunt wouldn’t have ended up with a bullet in his leg. Hell, it’s not as if Jacob had died or anything. Okay, so the dickhead now walked with a bit of a limp. It hadn’t stopped the randy little bastard from pulling the birds. For a fifteen year old, that little cunt sure knew how to get the girls.
Karl dropped down onto his makeshift seat. It wasn’t fair. Samuel could have at least given him something proper to sit on, this overturned milk crate was playing havoc with his arse. He kept a firm grip on his rifle, thinking back to that day, thinking of the panic running through his body at the sight of Jacob rolling about on the wet grass, clutching his blood soaked leg and howling in agony. His dad had battered the fuck out of him for that, yet it had been him who’d told Karl that he could go duck shooting on the canal in the first place.
Still, his dad was one of the others now, he’d become a changed thing, a fate that Karl had almost suffered last night. If it hadn’t been for his quick reactions and the fact that he never kept his bedroom window locked, Karl would have joined the others in the cowshed. At least he should thank his dad for something. If the old bastard hadn’t beat on him all the god damn time and chased him up and down the farm when he’d been at the vodka, Karl wouldn’t be so nippy with his legs.
“I wonder what happened to our Jacob?” That cunt sure as fuck wasn’t nippy in his legs. “Thanks to me,” he muttered. Shit, the bastard will be as sound as a pound. That kid sure knew how to look after himself.
Gun or no gun, Karl still knew that his buddy was holding out on him. Course he was, the cunt always did. Him and his flash new fuckpiece had something planned, probably a way to get out of this fuck up. Was Alex in on it as well? Karl weren’t too sure about that one. Although, he wouldn’t put hard money down on that little unknowable factoid.
For the life in him, Karl could not figure out what that sly fucker had up his sleeve, get the fuck out of dodge was definitely out of the question. They had already proved that with Darren Huggins. Karl had mentioned to Samuel about driving out. He’d received a right nasty glare for that idea. Samuel had asked him what he thought would have happened when the car hit that barrier at high speed. The car might have gone through but the bodies would have just detonated. The inside of the car would have looked like a jam factory after an earthquake.
At had to be something to do with that Dan Wilson kid.
Those bastards had all gone into the Dog and Gun about an hour ago, leaving him on fucking guard duty. Yeah, Samuel had pressed his fucking button, sweetened him up with the gift of a rifle and told him that he had an important job, according to him, the most important job in the village.
Karl had to guard the prisoners, and make sure none of the cunts escaped. Samuel had looked him in the eye and given Karl the serious look, he’d explained that if these fools had got out, the master would be picking the meat off all their bones as soon as the sun set. Thinking back, he wasn’t sure but maybe Samuel’s fuckpiece had smirked at that time?
He’d done a lot of thinking back while he’d been sat on his arse, twiddling his thumbs while the others had got on with important stuff. For a start, how come he was the only one who was still shitting himself? Oh, most of the time, Karl could keep that helpless feeling of flight under control. Most of the time, there were still occasions when it rose up, grabbed his throat and made him want to piss his pants. Yet, none of the others showed the slight trace of fear in their faces as they walked past him.
They were definitely up to something. The more he pondered, the more sure he was that they were plotting and he was not part of their plans. Karl turned and peered into the horse carrier. Through the metal slats, he saw that the miserable looking bunch, slumped at the back were all sleeping. He nodded to himself and checked the padlock yet again. There would have been no way that any of those jokers could have gotten out of that. What the fuck was he here for, tooled up to the eyeballs with a farmer’s shotgun and enough ammo in his pocket to start a small war?
He could be with the others in that warm pub; no doubt the beer would be on the house. Karl reckoned it would be a help yourself night as well, the landlord was in the cowsh
ed with his dad. He threw himself back down on the crate. This was just not fucking fair. Did he not have anything useful to say? Did they think he really was so stupid?
Yeah well, as far as he was concerned, they could all fuck themselves. Samuel thought he knew all the answers just because he happened to know what was going on. Oh sure, a few of the others had picked up some bits. Mrs Whittaker, the cute blonde who worked in the bank, had told whoever would listen that she could put names to every bone in the chamber.
Karl hadn’t been too sure how that could have helped in their situation, but he didn’t say anything. Besides, she had nice tits. As far as he could work out, Samuel had more pieces to the puzzle than any other villager. The bastard had gotten his rocks off by explaining to everyone just what was going to happen when the monster had taken the villagers to that chamber.
Samuel had made sure that Karl had been present for that meeting all right.
The bastard didn’t know everything though. Not one person had asked the most obvious question. If that monster had depopulated their village back in the distant past, just where the fuck did the present population come from? Karl grinned at his own cleverness. For him, it was fucking obvious. A few of those medieval tossbags must have gotten away. Karl knew they wouldn’t have been able to get out so, that meant finding a fucking good hiding place.
Nobody knew this village better than him, that’s for goddamm sure. There were a shitload of places that he could hunker down. Hell, he bet that even the woods freak, Ethan, didn’t know about the old water pipe that ran under those woods. The pipe was massive, it could hold a bus full of people and still have room for a brass band and a hotdog stand.
Bollocks to it. Let those peacocks prance around, forming their clever plans and thinking they had this fuckup licked. Karl now had plans of his own. They were the ones who that monster would go for; they’d just pass ole Karl by. All he had to do was to find a secure spot and lie low for a couple of days. Nothing could go wrong.
Karl leaned back against the horse carrier; he took out a roll-up and placed it between his lips. He would need a few basic supplies, of course. He’d need enough food to last him for a couple days, plenty of beer, some more baccy and, if he could get them, a few porn mags.
“Is there any chance of a smoke, buddy?”
Karl slowly twisted around and blinked, well this was a surprise. It appeared that the egghead wasn’t as sleepy as he assumed. “I didn’t know you were a smoker. There were none on you when I went through your pockets.” Karl reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded photograph.
“I did find this though, hidden away in your wallet,” he said, opening up the picture and holding it up. “This is one fuckable gal.”
The old man nodded, “It’s my daughter and I’d rather you didn’t address her in such a degraded manner.”
Karl burst out laughing, he couldn’t help it, oh man, that had to be the best come back he’d heard in ages. “Do you seriously expect me to believe that?”
The man shrugged. “Believe what you want.”
“Well, I suggest you play nice, mister. You’re the one who’s begging for a cig and I’m the one with the gun.” He turned the pic around and gazed in lust at the twenty something half-naked blonde spread over a table. She hadn’t left much to the imagination. That tight blue short skirt just hugged that full figure and the thin t-shirt stretched over her braless torso gave him a raging hard on by just thinking about how sweet her large titties would taste in his mouth. He wouldn’t need those porn mags, the picture of this hottie would probably keep him going of a couple of days, then again, maybe not. Although, it was doubtful that this old bastard had actually fucked her, would he really want to wap off thinking that this decrepit old goat had shot his muck into her first? No, fuck that, he’d get some porn mags.
Karl threw the photo into the carrier and grinned while watching the old man try to catch it before it disappeared under the black water by the man’s boots. “Well, if that was my daughter, I’d lock the bitch away until she learned how to put some more concealing clothes on. Not that she is your daughter, I ain’t a total moron, you know.”
He passed through a roll-up when the man stood back up. “Look man, I’m really sorry about all this shit.” Karl lit the cig for him. “In all honesty, you really should have stayed at home. You picked a bad time to visit.”
“Just let us go, Karl. You know this is wrong.”
Hearing a stranger call his name, rattled him. Karl had no idea how the old man knew that. Unless Samuel must have shouted it out. That made sense; Samuel said the bloke and his MILF were scientists or something. Clever folk picked up on name remembering. Karl looked past him and watched his wife, she looked like she was sleeping. “I don’t get this, mate. Your woman is still pretty tasty and she’s got a decent set of tits on her. Why start boning some bird who’s just left school?”
The old man slowly smiled. He looked behind him before leaning against the bars. “I’ll tell you anything you want, if you release us, Karl.” He whispered. “Hell, I reckon that my wife will be so grateful, she’s bound to let you bone her. I know you like her.” The man sighed and softly moaned. “I’m telling you, mate, you haven’t lived until you experience that thing that my wife can do with the tip of her tongue.”
The temptation was right there, he could actually feel his hands heading for the key in his trouser pockets. He paused. “Wait, you wake up the wife, tell her that you’ve been fucking the slag behind her back.” He ran his finger down the metal bars and stopped at the gap by his groin. “Then you get the woman to kneel down in this pissy water and you get her to use the tip of her tongue on my cock.” Karl watched the man’s face turn as pale as the moon.
“Yeah, I thought as much. You really are full of shit. Just cos I’m a country local, you think you can use lots of big words to muddle up my head. Well, fuck you, mate. You’ll be dead soon anyway.”
The old man took a deep breath. “Shit. Look, I’m sorry. I’ll admit that I did try to take advantage. You didn’t have to give me this cigarette did you? I’ll tell you what. I know you’re about to leave, just let us go before you do. Nobody will know any better.”
He shook his head. “Not a chance, mate. You see, the bit about where this monster munches on you strangers to give us locals a bit more time? Well that’s one thing that I fucking do believe.”
He turned and picked up his rifle.
“Wait! As soon as you go, I’ll start to scream. The others will be down here in no time. I bet that you’ll be in this carrier with us so quickly, your feet won’t touch the floor.”
“Good threat,” said Karl, giggling. “They’re all in the pub with free beer. Do you honestly think they are in a fit state to force a big bloke armed with a rifle into that carrier?” Karl hurried away. He gave the dirty old man a single wave before he broke into a sprint. He needed to get out of the main village centre, just in case the old man did start bellowing out.
Karl heard no sounds; the daft bastard had probably gone back into his corner to cry himself back to sleep. He shrugged his shoulders, fuck them, fuck Samuel and fuck the rest of them. He needed nobody and now that his pa was gone, no fucker would tell Karl Briers what to do ever again.
Before he headed for that pipe, Karl still needed supplies. The supermarket in the middle of the village had just about everything he needed, but there wasn’t a chance of him going back there. The hardware store on the outskirts would have a few canvas rucksacks and a decent sleeping bag. As for the food, mags, extra baccy and other shit like that, he could always break into one of the cottages behind the shop.
Thinking about this, maybe Karl should get the food first. Breaking into some cottage with a sleeping bag stuffed under his arm was just dumb. He broke into a full run and charged past the rest of the buildings in the village. He saw the hardware shop just a few hundred yards from where he was. Karl crossed the road and jumped over a low wall, eager to get off the main road.
He wasn’t going to take any chances. He hadn’t heard the old man shouting out but despite what Karl boasted about, Samuel would not just forget about Karl’s job. Just one peek out of the pub window was all it would take for Samuel to see that he’d left his post. There wasn’t a chance in hell that Karl was going to get caught, not by the monster and certainly not by Samuel.
Karl ran through the gardens and leapt over the hedges and walls that separated each property. The hardware store was now directly in front of him. Karl slowed down and grinned when he saw just what he was looking for. Two gardens from where he stood, he noticed that some poor dear must have rushed out of her house without even bothering to slide her patio door closed.
Talk about a golden opportunity! He ran through the two gardens and stopped outside the dark house, wondering if it was safe to turn on a few lights. If the owner had forgotten to close the door then it made sense that they’d have no clue which of the house lights were on or off.
He left the light switch alone, not wanting to tempt fate. His plan was simple, he only wanted to see if there was anything to eat right now in here. After Karl had stuffed his face, then he could start to stock up.
A sandwich would see him through until he could get himself bedded down nice and safe in that pipe. Karl made his way into the kitchen and headed straight for the fridge. He paused just the once to open a few cupboard doors. The sight of all the tins jammed in the cupboard was just brilliant. Karl had struck paydirt in the first house. Just how lucky was that? He had expected to visit a few homes to get what he needed. He just hoped that the fridge was overflowing with goodies as well.