‘What should we do?’ They really didn’t know what to do with him.
‘Should we lock him in there with them and put a chain across the door, like he was going to with us?’ Andy said.
‘No,’ said Liz, ’there are loads of doors, round the sides of the school. We would have been prevented from using them but what’s to stop him, just running straight through from front to back, out onto the playground and being with us in five minutes.
‘What shall we do?’ Andy mused. He looked at his surroundings after an answer. Liz followed Andy’s gaze. She knew immediately.
‘What about this? We'll lock him in that car he was sitting in, with the window open so he can breathe,’ Liz said. Andy grabbed Michael by his coat, walking round to the car. This car had previously belonged to the Headteacher, so was very comfortable.
‘Give me the key,’ Andy said. Michael reached into his pocket, the key had the BMW sign on it. He reluctantly gave it over.
Andy got in and switched the ignition on. He pressed a button with the window sign on it. The window cracked down two inches. Andy switched the ignition off, getting out of the car. ‘Now get in.’
He sat himself in the driver’s seat. Andy wound the chain tightly around him, through the headrest of the car seat and through the steering wheel. Liz put the padlock on. The chain was very tight. She threw the padlock key onto the back seat.
‘Your mates can rescue you, when it is dark,’ Andy said, putting the BMW key in his pocket. They shut the car door and followed Sue and the rest of them down into Friarmere.
Norman walked through one of the doors, out of the school hall, into the gym. In here, the former Music Teacher sat with all the little vampire children of Friarmere. They could not be trusted to be anywhere near the other children. Little vampire children were unpredictable and always uncontrollable. She was reading them all a story, which was not one that the school would have allowed generally.
‘They can have the run of the place now,’ Norman said. ‘Let them go. Run off their excess energy, little darlings. Fly little birds.’ They ran out of the room causing mayhem. A plague of deadly locusts.
34 – Cowboy Boots
It was four am in the morning and Anne was checking her kennels. Her five best trusted wolves. Her alpha pack had not returned. She had been so caught up with the fight, that she had not seen what had happened to them. Then she had returned to her house, surveying the damage to her face for a while. They had spoiled her looks. She would have to treat this with an awful lot of blood for it to repair successfully.
She doubted that they were trapped somewhere, so she had to assume that they were dead. If they were trapped, she would hear their howls from her house, wherever they were in Melden. Anne had more wolves. Lots more, but they were younger. Most of them were the children of the wolves that she had with her that night. She had young adult wolves, adolescents and even wolf cubs. Anne had been allowed five wolves as a Private Zoo. However, she had not mentioned that she had bred from this pack.
Her favourite wolf, her queen of the pack, Sophia had gone. She knew that for certain. Sophia had been protecting her mistress. Biting down on the hand of one of those people. She had surely perished. Tonight she would go back. She would keep going until she cut them out of Melden, one by one.
Wee Renee woke refreshed, even though last night had been terrible. Despite losing Rose and Natalie, she still felt like it was a victory. Anne had lost a lot more of her people, than their two. Plus a whole pack of wolves.
As she opened her eyes, blinking to the light, she noticed Pat was sitting in the armchair by the window. She had been awake for a while.
‘You awake, Rene?’ Pat asked.
‘Yes, I am just pulling myself together,’ she said. She hitched herself up, putting the pillow behind her, so she could see Pat.
‘What do you think about last night?’ Pat asked.
‘I wish it hadn't happened. Norman and Anne had divided us.’
‘I can't tell you how worried I am about the other lot.’ She was hesitant as she said, ‘are you ready to go back to Friarmere?’
‘Just try and stop me!’ Wee Renee replied enthusiastically. Pat released a breath she had been holding and nodded towards her.
‘It’s about bloody time I got my old Rene back. I was worried for a while.’ She sniffed.
They could hear banging around in the other rooms, voices and a toilet flushing. It was time to get up.
When the few that were awake were washed and dressed, Pat and Wee Renee got themselves together and went downstairs too. It would still be dark for a couple of hours, but they needed to make plans. Working ahead of the dawn would benefit them greatly today. Jennifer was very low in mood. She sat downstairs, eyes puffy, twisting a tissue in her hands.
‘I’ve not had much sleep. I’ve been thinking all night that Beverly is dead. I was stupid to let her go. Now I will never see her again.’ Jennifer was lost, desperate. This was the worst she had felt since all this had begun. Wee Renee recognised the feeling that she had had from the previous day.
‘Listen Jennifer, I can understand how you feel. It has been a long, dark, horrible night. You are bound to think the worst. But just for a moment stop and add it all up. We have all survived Friarmere. Just a bunch of pensioners and Beverly is a very fit young woman. Think of the people she’s with. All experienced in fighting these creatures. I would know if there was a problem, and there isn’t. You trust me don’t you?’
‘Yes I do,’ Jennifer said.
‘Then heed my words. Your girl is safe. Now wash your face, get your makeup back on and lets make some plans,’ Wee Renee said. Jennifer hugged her and went upstairs.
Our Doris, Terry and Kathy were still asleep, but everyone else was awake.
Brenda put the kettle on. The morning routine began. Bread was put in the toaster. Pat slipped Terry’s shoes on, and took Haggis half-way down the cul-de-sac for a tinkle, whilst Wee Renee stood watching at the front door, her machete ready. Brenda filled his bowl, by the time Pat returned and Haggis was soon guzzling his breakfast. There was an air of excitement in the room, but Wee Renee was still a little worried about Jennifer. They started to hear more noise upstairs. Floorboards creaked and there was the distant noise of Our Doris playing her Elvis CD whilst she got ready.
The other three were soon down. Terry and Our Doris felt amazing. The antibiotics were still working. Each day was an improvement. Our Doris had a let me at them attitude. Freddie was low. You could see he was in pain. His hand had an ugly look about it. The skin was pulled in round the centre of each hole, with what looked like dead tissue around it. Terry examined the area. They could tell he wasn’t happy with what he saw.
‘I am sure that those wolves are just plain old wolves,’ Terry said. ‘When did you last have a tetanus?’
‘I don't know,’ said Freddie. ‘Brenda! When did I last have a tetanus?’
‘I don’t know Freddie. Did you have one when you had your prostrate done?’
‘Er…no, no. I don’t know, Terry.’
‘I think that it is more likely, that it has given you a nasty infection, more than anything else.’ The skin around each bite mark was grey and so was Freddie’s face.
‘Anybody would feel the same you know, if they had been bitten by an enormous dog,’ Brenda said. ‘I will get him right, not to worry.’ Freddie realised, not for the first time, what a good wife he had.
‘Me and Pat have decided to go back to Friarmere on a rescue mission for our old gang and the kids. Does anyone want to come?’ Wee Renee asked.
‘I do!’ Our Doris unexpectedly said.
‘Are you sure?’ Brenda asked. ‘It is an awful long way over the tops. All in the snow too.’
‘I am,’ Our Doris replied. ‘I'll be taking my sword, rest assured. You'll come with me, won't you?’ she asked Haggis. He wagged his tail, stood up and wandered over to her, putting his head in her lap.
‘I won't be able to make it,’
said Freddie.
‘Too right you won’t,’ Brenda said. ‘Look at the state of you!’
‘We will catch you up, soon,’ Freddie said. Wee Renee shook her head.
‘Then we will have to stay too,’ Wee Renee said.
‘Why?’ Freddie asked, indignant.
‘Well the thing is, it really has to be all or nothing, doesn't it? Because this house now is not safe. She can get in and she knows we are here. If we leave you like this, with only Brenda to look after you, we are signing your death warrant,’ She said.
‘I am going to stay. I don’t think I can make it. I feel very weak. What about if you came and stopped in my house. We have cameras. A big gate. We can take as many weapons as we like, keep coming back in the daytime. Everyone knows where it is if they need to come back. What about that? They won't necessarily be looking for us there,’ Jennifer suggested.
‘That is a good idea,’ said Freddie. ‘Yes, I like it.’ Brenda felt happier about the whole idea of staying in Jennifer’s house too. No blood all over the carpets, more security, and they would have escaped from the place Anne would come back to.
‘Are you happy with that Rene?’ Pat asked.
‘Jennifer’s house is safer than here, I’ll give you that. But it does seem a little like catnip to her doesn’t it, with all the camera activity.’
‘I have to stay here in Melden. It can’t be here, that goes without saying,’ Freddie said. ‘Wherever we go, she will us find in time. I would imagine Anne is bandaging her face and wondering where her wolves have gone. She will definitely be out for revenge, but we are dealing with a weaker threat. I think Jennifer’s house, although stalked, is the safest place. The security it offers is without question the best in Melden. I am very happy to go there.’
‘I agree, Freddie, whoever says here. It is their best bet,’ Wee Renee conceded.
‘What are you going to do, Terry and Kathy? You are more than welcome to stay too,’ Jennifer said.
‘We'll go to Friarmere.’ said Terry. ‘We have already spoke about it. Sally is there. We need to help with the kids.’
‘I am going to do some more of that meat,’ said Wee Renee. ‘That was invaluable last night, wasn't it?’ They all agreed.
‘You've got all the wolves. There wasn't any more. We only ever saw five.’ Brenda said.
‘You don't know how many she's got wandering about. After all they aren’t exactly distinctive are they. If she had one Dalmatian, one Red Setter, and a Chihuahua, I would say yes. But they all look the same. What if she’s got a hundred, but she only takes five out at a time. Those kind of things, well…. they bloody breed like rabbits! There is also the chance that one of her human monsters will get so feral, that it will eat the raw meat too and then we are sorted. What if it drugs them and they are scattered round Melden one morning. All that it would take is one of you going round, putting them out of their misery. It all helps the cause,’ Wee Renee said. They all thought this made sense. Wolves or vampires, if drugging some was an option, they should take it. ‘I also thought that I would get some more meat, drug it and take it with us. You know, in case they pick up our scent. We will be very vulnerable in Bob’s Den. Last night the wolves were busy with us, so didn’t go after the others. But tonight, they might be on the warpath!’
Brenda made more cups of tea, setting to work on a mountain of toast. She had a look what would go off in their fridge. They would take this to Jennifer’s. Wee Renee and Pat came in. Pat said she would butter-up, which freed up Brenda.
‘Listen Brenda, do you think you could learn how to do this meat? It will be invaluable for you here in Melden,’ Wee Renee asked.
‘Yes. If you show me what to do and I write it down,’ Brenda replied.
Wee Renee told her what to do. She gave her half the drugs, which was still a lot. Wee Renee turned to her friend.
‘You know Pat, we weren’t expecting all this here. We don’t know what we are going back to. I’m taking the other half of the drugs to Friarmere. Maybe it will only work on someone like Michael Thompson. But if it does, it could save our lives.’ She left all the injectable antibiotics and painkillers, for Freddie.
‘Are you feeling better about it all?’ Brenda asked Wee Renee.
‘Yes I am, I feel stronger again. I had a day of weakness. But I have my faith and I think that at some point we will triumph. Nothing good is worth having unless you have to fight for it. I keep thinking about the war. They fought for a lot longer than we will fight this winter, and in worse conditions. They didn’t give up, ever. Victory will be ours in time.’
‘I piggin’ hope so,’ Our Doris said, who was now bustling around the house gathering items for the journey. She was putting them together on the kitchen work surface as she collected them. Our Doris now knelt down on the kitchen floor. A lot of banging and swearing went on as she was messing around in the bottom of one of her cupboards. She was trying to reach right at the back, and as she was rather short, with small arms, it was a struggle. In the end she bought out an industrial size flask, with a wide set neck.
She proceeded to fill it with five tins of vegetable soup. She made more sandwiches and cut up the cheese and onion pie from last night, then packed the slices back together. This crisis seemed to have infused new vigor into Our Doris. She then got changed into her travelling outfit which consisted mainly of her regular clothes. A turtle neck sweater, cardigan, skirt and tights. She laid out a union jack fleece, for under her coat and a pair of brown cowboy boots.
‘Aye, I like your style Our Doris, but I think you have underestimated how bad the snow is up there, on the tops. It will soak right though the leather on those boots. I think those might be ill advised.’
‘Yes, I get that, but it’s the only thing I can go for miles in because of my bunions, Wee Renee. I’m going to put carrier bags inside them, to protect me from the wet.’
‘Bless you. You’ve thought it through well. Ignore this old fool.’ Wee Renee said. Our Doris kissed her on the cheek.
‘I’m planning on making this trek a right laugh. Are you with me.’ Our Doris said.
‘I like what I hear.’ Wee Renee said and gave her a hug.
‘I tell you what always makes me feel like facing an obstacle. Putting some glitzy eyeshadow on,’ she laughed. ‘I don’t know why, but it does.’
‘Have you got any green?’ Wee Renee asked.
‘Oh yes, come up.’ They left the kitchen giggling like two schoolgirls. When they returned ten minutes later, Our Doris had a shiny, blue cream eyeshadow on, which she had generously applied with her finger. Wee Renee was sporting a small amount of forest green. ‘What do you think?’ Our Doris asked when she was fully dressed. Cowboy boots, pink earmuffs and her iridescent eyelids.
‘Dressed to kill!’ Pat said.
‘That’s the look I’m after,’ Our Doris said excitedly.
Brenda thought it quite amazing that the previous night Our Doris had lost one of her sisters, but their brains seem to be in survival mode. There had been certain errors made by Rose and Natalie that seemed to have eased their passing, unfortunately. If it made Our Doris feel better by dressing up and putting eyeshadow on, then that was fine.
Soon everyone was ready. Terry said he wanted to call quickly at the dentist and pick up various drugs that he thought might be useful, if they came across people who had been hurt or infected in Friarmere. Freddie struggled on with his coat. They had bandaged his hand very well out of Our Doris's medical kit that she had found behind the flask. Pat knew that the others were all right in Friarmere and would be until they got there. She also knew that they would find them and help them. It was a feeling she felt very strongly. If she hadn't, she would not have been able to carry on.
Our Doris had a large metal sledge in the garage. She said in bad winters she walked to the shop with it, dragging all her shopping back on it. It turned out to be very handy as they had to have quite a good amount of dog food on there and blankets. The others were
leaving the tarpaulin up in Bob’s Den. All they needed to take was something to keep them warm overnight. The sledge was packed full of blankets. Their own provisions they carried in backpacks. Jennifer and Brenda carried their belongings and some poisoned meat. Freddie was using his father’s stick just to walk. He could just about manage that. The mystery of the missing bung, which fitted on the end of the stick was solved when Wee Renee found it in Rose’s handbag. Very ominous. They dropped more meat into the two bowls either side of Our Doris’s drive and set off.
‘I like this weather, you know.’ Our Doris said. ‘It means that the boy racers aren't out causing a menace!’ The others laughed. Of all the reasons to pick, it was a strange one. Wee Renee wanted to call at the kebab shop and see if the man who worked there, Nigel, was still safe. Also, for his wellbeing, she wanted to advise him of what had happened last night, and the fact that they were setting off back to Friarmere.
The kebab shop was not yet open. She knocked on the side door. After a minute they heard someone coming down the steps from the flat. She put her mouth to the letterbox opening it and shouted.
‘It is alright, love. It’s only Wee Renee and party from the other night. We were in the kebab shop. You might remember us.’
The man immediately opened the door after he heard her accent, as she was the only Scottish woman he had talked to for the last five years. He asked them in, but they said for the moment it was too much fuss bringing everything in, and taking their hats and boots off. Very quickly Wee Renee summarised the tale and said they were going back. He listened and nodded without saying anything, taking it all in. At the end, she looked at him with her twinkling eyes.
‘What do you think of all that?’ she asked.
‘Would you like a hanger-on?’ Nigel said. They were quite surprised about this but very pleased as he looked like he could handle himself in a fight. He had stood alone against the mob in Melden previously, and bested them. They all nodded in agreement and he asked if they could give him about twenty minutes to get his belongings together. They walked back to the front of the kebab shop. It was time for Jennifer and Brenda to say their goodbyes. They had to go a little further on. Jennifer who was still quite sad wanted to call at the shop for more chunks of meat, if there were any left. But they might be back before Nigel was ready and they would see them again.
Silver Banned: Book 2 of the Saddleworth Vampire Series Page 24