Parasite ; Sleeper Cells ; Kingdoms of the Dead

by Ian Woodhead

  “Dan, we can’t stay here.”

  He silently agreed with his father, staying in this building was just asking for trouble, they all wouldn’t stay down there. Now that the woman was gone, Samuel had walked to the front of the stage. Dan hoped that woman was okay. He turned away and shuffled back, desperately trying to think of another place where they could lay low.

  His dad’s arm whipped out and grabbed Dan’s shirt. “Shit!” he hissed. “What is she doing down there?”

  Dan turned back and saw that Samuel had climbed down to embrace a girl.

  “We can’t leave now,” said his dad, getting onto his knees.

  “Don’t be stupid, dad.” Dan pulled the man back down. “In case you haven’t noticed, Chelsea isn’t alone.” Of all the lads to choose, why the fuck did she have to go for him? He clenched his hand, feeling the urge to go down there and punch that bastard. She was a pain in the arse most of the time but she was still his sister. He saw the hurt spread across his dad’s face. He didn’t want to think what he must be going through. “Come on, dad, we need to find somewhere else to hide.”

  “I can’t leave her down there.”

  Dan watched the man give his sister a soft kiss before he climbed back onto the stage. “Yes we can. Look, Samuel is a complete dickhead but he seems besotted with her. You know he won’t let anything happen to the girl.” Dan’s placating words made him feel like something he’d just stood on. What other choice did he have?

  His father closed his eyes. “If anything does happen to Chelsea,” he said, growling. “I’ll kill that boy.” He held his son’s gaze. “Not a word to your mother, okay?”

  Dan nodded, he wasn’t that much of an idiot.

  “Look at that,” said his dad pointing over at the double doors at the back of the room. “It looks like we have late arrivals.”

  Two young men looked over at Samuel who nodded back. They picked up their shotguns and slowly walked towards the doors. Dan’s stomach knotted, they obviously weren’t expecting anyone. He nudged his dad. “We should get back to the others. It’s time for us to go.” The two men stopped a few feet from the doors, pointing their guns in front of them. All eyes were fixed on those doors.

  Dan shuffled back and rolled over. His heart almost stopped when he saw a dozen human shaped figures crawling along the ceiling. He tugged on his dad’s shirt. The figures all stopped moving. He heard the unmistakable sound of somebody snapping back a shotgun’s barrel, and then the figures all dropped.

  The assembly room erupted into a cyclone of shrieking, blood curdling screams and panicked shouts. Dan rolled back and watched the things jump from villager to villager, biting and scratching. One of the men holding a shotgun staggered back when one of them ran towards him. The man shouted out a few unintelligible words before discharging his weapon. At close quarters, the shot literally disintegrated the creature’s torso, spraying liquid red gore across the room.

  Dan moaned when he saw three blood drenched villagers collapse. Like the ones already bitten, they writhed and jerked, weeping and crying out. Two of the creatures looked up; they saw the remains of their companion and ran towards the man, fumbling two more cartridges into the weapon. He didn’t even get a chance to snap the gun shut before they both fell on the shrieking man. Dan looked away, feeling sick. Thankfully, his screams didn’t last too long.

  He watched in amazement as Samuel dragged his sister into the back. Two other villagers saw the pair escape and tried to follow them. The two remaining creatures scrambled up onto the stage and pulled the two villagers back.

  Dan counted twelve people still standing up. He didn’t recognise any of them. They were all huddled together in the middle of the room, all quietly moaning and crying as the turned villagers now began to pick themselves off the floor. They formed a circle around the survivors and then all glanced over at the main doors.

  A collective soft groan erupted from their mouths. Dan almost moaned himself when he saw a huge man dressed in black push through the double doors. The man looked around the room; he laughed and walked over to the two blood-soaked creatures still mauling the man who had shot their companion. He kicked them away, pushed his hand into the hole in his stomach and pulled out a lump of offal.

  He dare not move. Dan knew that if he shifted just one inch, that bastard thing down there would know and they’d end up like the rest of the villagers. It had now found a larger body. He didn’t want to think what had happened to his friend, he only hoped that Terrence had now found peace. Some racial memory told him that his friend had been fully conscious while that monster used and abused his body.

  Dan couldn’t stand Samuel Lane and the thought of his dirty paws on his sister made him sick. Even so, he was so glad he had managed to get away before he’d seen what that fucker had done to the man’s dad.

  The monster snapped his fingers and two turned villagers ran over to him. They fell to the floor and started to paw at his feet. He bent down and wiped his bloodstained hands in their hair. “There are so many of you, this time,” he said. “The world has changed too much, I find it,” he paused. “I find it, uncomfortable.”

  He looked over at the survivors and walked towards them. The villagers parted, as he neared.

  A young man at the front, dressed in hiking gear raised his fists. “You have one minute to tell me what the fuck is going on.”

  The monster grabbed the man, pulled him away from the others and forced him to his knees. His mouth opened wide, the jaw unhinged like a grotesque snake, his victim’s brusque attitude just melted away, he now begged and pleaded for the monster to spare his life. His voice stopped when the thing fastened his jaws over the top of the man’s head then snapped his mouth shut. When the man fell forward, the contents from his open skull spilled across the floor. Dan watched three of the turned villagers fall on the hands and knees then lap up the mess.

  The monster smiled. “Okay, my flock, I’ve kept you waiting long enough.” He swept his hand around. “Enjoy my gifts to you.”

  Every creature dived on the screaming people. Dan choked back a sob and followed his dad back towards the door. They raced along the corridor, stumbling over the discarded books and toys. Dan looked up when he saw Alison and Colin run out of the room.

  “Oh god, I’m so sorry, Dan,” sobbed Alison. “You need to turn around, both of you. We have to get out of here!”

  His dad pushed past both of them and disappeared into the room. He heard his dad cry out before something heavy crashed into the other side of the wall. Alison grabbed Dan’s arm as he rushed passed.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said. “It just took us by surprise.”

  Dan snatched his arm away and followed his dad into the room. He saw him stood in front of his mother, who was slumped against the wall. He then saw the crumpled shape of another person on the other side of the room. He then saw the jagged teeth. “Oh god,” he moaned. “Oh please, not my mum!” His dad pushed him back when Dan tried to get to her.

  “No,” he threw Dan over to the window. “Get out of here,” he growled. His dad looked at the other two framed against the open door. “Both of you as well. Follow Dan out of the window.”

  Dan opened the window, trying to hold back the tears when he saw the broken chair leg held in his dad’s hands.

  Chapter Eighteen

  He snatched the shotgun out of the trembling hands of the old farmer and swung the gun around. Before he could smash the stock into the stupid bastard’s face, Samuel felt a pair of arms wrap around his body, pinning his arms to his chest. “Get the fuck off me, or I swear to god, you’ll be the next one that I fuck up.”

  “Oh god, Sammi, leave him be!” Chelsea ran between them and put her hands on either side of his face. “Please, Sammi, it wasn’t his fault.”

  “Wasn’t his fault?” he growled, shrugging off the other man’s arms. “Because of that docile turd, we’re down to just four of us.”

  He watched in disgust as his girlfriend picked
the daft old bastard off the floor. He must be mellowing out in his old age to allow some bird tell him what to do. The woman and the infected fucker lay side by side, on the other side of the road. It well fucked him off that he couldn’t even remember the woman’s name. Samuel knew that she used to work in the library during the week but that’s about as far as he knew about her.

  As for the infected fucker that took a bite out of the library girl, he knew the name of that cunt alright. Samuel looked down at its now dead face still contorted in rage. Samuel glared at the farmer. It had surprised him how easy it had been to kill the thing, it looks like the years of target practise had paid off.

  “Bring that bastard over here,” he said. He watched his girlfriend and Alex drag the struggling man over the road. If he could get Alex away from Chelsea, he’d thank the guy in person from saving their lives. There was no fucking way, he’d do that in front of his woman, Alex would probably think he was trying to fucking queer him up. Samuel looked back towards the road where they’d just run from. Still trying to wrap his head at how everything had gone to dogshit so fucking quickly.

  He was so pissed. Samuel glared down at this cowardly bag of shit, shaking by his feet, he knew that if he didn’t do something about the fury, he’d end up doing something really stupid.

  “You got this woman killed cos you dropped your fucking gun. Our Chelsea says that I’m not allowed to personally fuck you up.” He shrugged. “I ain’t gonna argue with her.” Samuel looked at the woman sprawled on the floor; he could see her eyelids flickering. He dropped to his knees, took off the old man’s boots and whipped out the laces.

  “Oh please, no, don’t do this,” pleaded the man as Samuel wrapped the laces around the old man’s wrist.

  Samuel tied the old man to the woman then stood up. “I think you have about a minute at the best, you fucker, before she comes around. I wish you lots of luck with those knots.” He picked up the shotgun and raced down the empty street, eager to get away from the pair of them.

  “Why the fuck did you have to go and do that?” cried Chelsea when he ran behind a wheelie bin and stopped to catch his breath. He closed his eyes, rested his head against the cold metal and grinned when the sound of the old man’s dying scream reached his ears. “This is survival of the fittest, babes. The old bastard had already fucked up once. His yellow act killed that woman. He did it once, he would have done it again.” Samuel opened his eyes and grabbed Chelsea’s shoulders. “You were both together, baby. It was just fate that kept you away from that thing’s teeth.”

  “Samuel, what do we do now?”

  He opened his eyes and looked at Alex. He had yet to ponder over their immediate future. Samuel’s blazing thought hadn’t allowed his mind to think past getting away from the church hall and then to dealing with the farmer. He looked down at his shotgun and tried to remember how many shells he had left. Alex had only fired off one shot; he should still have his share stuffed in those deep pockets of his.

  He peered around the bin and watched the turned farmer sit up. The creature then jumped to his feet, he howled before running back towards the church hall. Samuel knew for a fact that they sure as shit didn’t have enough firepower to take on the whole fucking village.

  “Do you think we’re the only ones left?” asked Chelsea.

  That question stuck fast in Samuel’s brain. He’d been pretty successful in getting most of the villagers together but he hadn’t got them all. Samuel pushed away the worrying thought that if he hadn’t bothered, then most of them would probably still be alive.

  “No, we can’t be the last men standing. Our path is pretty fucking clear. We get more armed folk to join our cause. If those fucks think they can take down me, they’re in for a fucking shock,” he growled. Samuel stroked the side of Chelsea’s face. “Don’t you worry, babes, we’ll make it through to dawn, you mark my words.”

  Alex snapped open his shotgun and inserted two cartridges. The youth snapped it shut and looked back towards the creature that he’d taken down before he looked back at Samuel. “Don’t you think we should try and find Karl?”

  Samuel took one deep shuddering breath in order to calm down. He was surprised that it had taken this long to mention that traitorous fucker’s name. “No, I don’t think we should find him. If you know what’s best for you, Alex, never mention his name ever again. That cunt ran out on us, everything went to dogshit after he had fucked us over.”

  He turned away from them and marched away, knowing full well that the pair would follow him like a pair of fucking lost puppies. Samuel saw some movement in a shop window. He stopped and squinted, in the dim glow of the streetlight directly above the window, it looked a bit like a face. From across the street, it was pretty difficult to tell.

  “Did you see that?” he asked.

  Chelsea shook her head. “All I saw was you storming away in a sulk.”

  Samuel refused to rise to that. He’d deal with her later. Right now, he had to keep his mood on a level, there was too much at stake to start going off on another rant. He turned back towards the shop, annoyed to see that the face was no longer there. “Come on,” he said, running across the street. Thinking about it, if that face had fucked off, it must mean that whoever was in there was hiding. If it had been a changed villager, it would have smashed through that window to reach them.

  He stopped by the door. “Chelsea,” he whispered. “I need you to open the door for me.” Samuel lifted his shotgun and watched Chelsea slowly turn the handle. She pushed the door open and stepped back. He nodded in relief, thankful that she hadn’t decided to go in there first. He stepped over the threshold, and waited for his eyes to get used to the shadowy passageway before he quietly walked along the passageway, keeping his ears open for any unusual sound. All he could hear were Alex’s huge feet scraping across the lino.

  Samuel winced every time Alex moved. The fat cunt sounded like a dancing elephant in a fucking window factory. If there was anyone in here, they were bound to have heard him them now. Samuel resisted the urge to slap Alex and hurried up to the end door. He pushed open the door and walked through, looking for any sign of the mysterious face. He was now in the front of the shop, behind the counter. There was nobody here. “Is anyone about?” he shouted. “Come on, don’t fuck about. I know you’re here, look we’re all in the same fucking boat here.”

  He spied movement at the back of the shop and watched a kid of about fourteen raise his head up from behind a stack of newspapers. Samuel was impressed at the lad’s hiding ability, he wouldn’t have known someone was hiding in here if he hadn’t spotted the face in the window.

  “Fuck me, Jacob, is that really you?”

  The lad pushed his shoulder length brown hair out of his face and gazed fearfully at them, Samuel watched the boy’s eyes dart towards the shotgun and lowered it.

  “We ain’t going to hurt you, kid, honest.”

  “How do I know that?” he muttered.

  “Look, for fuck’s sake, don’t give me that bollocks, you know who I am, it’s your Karl’s mate.”

  Chelsea pushed past him. “You really do have a gift for words, Sammi.”

  She smiled at the boy. “Hey there, Karl, don’t look so shocked. My mate’s younger sister showed me a pic of you on Facebook. She thinks you’re really cute.”

  Samuel watched in amazement as the kid’s features softened and that distrust just melted away. Chelsea ducked under the counter and slowly walked over to the kid.

  “Jacob, would you like to come with us? Don’t worry, we can protect you from harm.”

  He shook his head. “No, I ain’t leaving here. Besides, I can’t leave my friends and I don’t think they’d want to leave here either.”

  Samuel ducked under the counter, he smiled, knowing that he must have hit gold. He looked around the village grocery shop and wanted to kick himself. This must be where the rest of the villagers were hiding. That made so much sense. He couldn’t think of a better place to hide. “Can you
take me to them, Jacob?”

  The boy slowly nodded. “I can, but you’ll have to leave those on the counter.”

  “No fucking way,” said Samuel. I ain’t letting go of this baby, no matter what.”

  “Yes you are,” said Chelsea. “This isn’t a western.” She looked over at the boy. “Jacob’s okay and he hasn’t a gun.”

  “I’m sorry,” whispered the boy. “I meant no insult. It’s just that the others are terrified and if they see those shotguns, they’d all panic.” He leaned forward, “Most of the village kids are down there. We’re trying to keep them quiet.”

  Samuel sighed and carefully placed the shotgun on the counter, then motioned Alex to do the same. “You’d better take me to them, kid.”

  Jacob nodded and hurried over to a door on the other side of the room. “Okay, Follow me.”

  He led them into another room. The boy smiled at them before turning on the light and shutting the door. “He’s going to be so pleased.”

  He saw Chelsea’s eyes dart towards the ceiling. She screamed. He looked up and saw over a dozen of the creatures smiling down at him. He grabbed her hand then ran towards the door.

  “No, Samuel, I think not.”

  He skidded to a stop and looked into the face of his own father framed in the doorway. “Dad?” He stepped back as the man walked into the room.

  “You have done an excellent job, Jacob. You may go.”

  The boy ran past them all, giggling.

  “You’re not…”

  The man smiled, “No, I’m not your father, Samuel, although some part of him does exist in me.”

  He grabbed Chelsea and tried to push past the thing that had taken over his dad. Why the fuck did he leave his gun out there? He cried out as the all the creatures about him dropped down.

  “You can have the other one.”

  Alex shrieked as they all dived on the man.

  “I don’t need him.” He gripped their necks and brought them up to his face. “I’ll be taking my flock back in a few hours but I need my field full of livestock for when I return,” he said, grinning. “You two are very impressive. Be appreciative, you’re going to be spared.”