“I’m serious. Fuck ‘em. We never left them behind; they left themselves behind. It was their choice. I’m gutted about Kelly, but...”
“But what?”
“I guarantee you now that if we visit them in a few days, some might want to come back with us.”
“I hope yer right. I hope they all change their minds.”
“Even Terry?”
“He’s a loose cannon, but ... yeah, even Terry.”
The pickup increased in speed as they hit the Stafford Road, and Pickle looked to the side to see the four bikers close behind. Pickle’s eyes narrowed when he saw two figures in the distance, behind the bikers, approaching the roundabout, left of the garden centre.
Pickle got up and unsteadily moved to the back and began to bang on the roof of the vehicle, giving Drake the signal to stop. This was interpreted correctly, and the vehicle began to slow, the bikes obediently doing the same, and all vehicles eventually came to a stop.
“What is it?” was the question that Pickle was asked by Karen, Craig and Stephen Rowley.
Drake stepped out of the vehicle and also asked the same question. Pickle jumped out of the back of the pickup and told Drake to give him a minute, explaining very little to him or anybody else what was happening.
Pickle stepped slowly towards the two men, passing the four bikers. The two males were about twelve car lengths from Pickle, and then he stopped and waited for the two of them to approach him. They seemed unsure at first, but as they progressed further they recognised the man and waved.
The two men were Peter and Roger. The three of them engaged in a short conversation, and then all three walked back to the pickup. Pickle introduced the two men to the people in the back that hadn’t met them before.
“Room for two more?” Pickle looked over at a confused Drake, still standing by the side of the truck.
“Of course.” Drake went back to the passenger seat and shut the door.
Once Pickle, Roger and Peter had made themselves comfortable in the back of the pickup, the vehicle slowly moved away and the four bikers obediently followed.
“So, yer changed yer mind, eh?” Pickle asked both bearded brothers.
Both nodded and Roger answered, “We just didn’t see the point in the end. Our mother’s gone. She must be.”
“Peter and Roger were heading for Colwyn Place,” Pickle turned to Karen and began to explain.
“Lucky you spotted them when you did,” Karen said to Pickle. “Not sure Terry would have let them in, especially the mood he was in when we left him.”
“What happened to Vince?” asked Peter, nodding at Kindl’s wrapped up hand.
Vince looked like he had nodded off, and his head was lowered and shaking as the vehicle took bend after bend along the country lane.
“He was bitten,” Karen explained, still with her arm around his waist and pointed at Stephen. “And he had to think quickly and took some of his hand away.”
Karen’s response was followed by thirty seconds of quiet, until Roger broke the silence.
“So what’s this place like?” he asked.
“Ever been to Stafford Hospital?” she asked.
Roger nodded and said, “Yeah. I went there to get my tonsils out, about five years ago.”
“Well, that’s the place.”
The pickup was passing through Milford, and Vince’s eyes opened when the vehicle hit a small bump in the road.
“Hello, lazy bones,” Karen laughed. “You were leaning on my shoulder and dribbling. You got me all wet.”
“I usually do, Karen,” he said with a smirk and stretched his arms, giving off an exaggerated yawn.
“Christ, at least wait till you’ve woke up before you start with your crap.”
Vince looked at Roger and Peter, and then flashed Pickle a confused look. “How long have I been out?”
“Not long,” said Pickle. “I spotted Roger and Peter as we left, so we decided to pick them up.”
Vince began to rub his throat and moaned, “As soon as we get to Drake’s place I’m gonna get myself a drink.”
“Thirsty, chap?” Stephen asked.
“Mouth’s drier than a nun’s snatch.” Vince coughed and pointed over at Stephen. “Thanks for what you did, you know, with your Conan the Barbarian shit. It saved me.”
“No worries, chap.” Stephen then twisted his neck and grunted, making Vince wince with disgust.
Vince looked over at David and Stephanie who seemed to be in a deep conversation, and flashed Joanne a wink. “How’re you holding up?”
“I’m okay,” she said. “Bit gutted about Stephen and Danny.”
“Karen told me about it when we were waiting for Pickle.” Vince looked around at the morose faces of everyone in the back of the pickup. “You wouldn’t think we were off to a place where the facilities were top notch,” he said. “You all look like somebody has just stabbed your cat. What’s wrong? We should be excited.”
Nobody answered. Another two people had lost their lives, and Vince was cracking jokes as if he didn’t give a shit.
“Anyway,” Vince sighed. “I’m gonna try and get some shuteye to take the edge off. Maybe you’ll all be in a better mood when I wake up.” Vince lowered his head, folded his arms, and closed his eyes.
Pickle leaned forwards and reached over to Karen and squeezed her leg. “Yer okay?”
“I think so.” She took in a deep breath, leaned over to meet Pickle’s eyes, and flashed him a smile.
“I have a good feeling about this,” he said. “But I have a bad feeling about the folk back at Colwyn. Something’s bugging me about it.”
“Well, I hope you’re wrong about that.”
“Me too.”
Karen sat up and straightened her back. “I wouldn’t want anything to happen to Kelly. In fact, I wouldn’t want anything to happen to any of them.”
“Me neither,” he said. “We’ll check on them whenever we’re passing. If Drake ever wants to go on a run to or past Rugeley, I’ll volunteer and nip in, just to see how they’re doing.”
Karen nodded and said, “If a supply run turns up, and it means going into Rugeley, then I’d like to go with you.”
“Deal.” Pickle thinned his lips and produced a comforting smile for his young female friend.
“I just hope we don’t turn up and find something that we won’t like, especially if it involves Kelly.”
“I know what yer mean.”
Pickle leaned back and Karen did the same.
They were near; they were ten minutes away, and Pickle closed his eyes and moaned in delight as the wind ruffled his hair and stroked his face.
It was good to be alive.
THE END
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Very kind regards,
Shaun Whittington
Author’s Notes
Once again, guys, thank you so much for sticking with this series. The books seems to be getting less and less as the years tick by. It used to be three a year, but in 2017 it was just the two, so thank you all for your patience. It is much appreciated.
Over the last twelve books we have seen the Snatchers world expanding, ever so slightly, from town to town, and also a natural expansion of characters, but this world is about to become bigger.
In September, I released a novella called The Girl with the Flying Saucer Eyes. This piece of work is set in the Snatchers world, around December time, and features new characters and some surprise additions. Also, later on in 2018, I will be starting a new series called Ghostland.
Ghostland is also set in the Snatchers world, but will feature new characters, almost, and I’m hop
ing it will be at least a trilogy, hopefully more. But will Snatchers continue? Possibly.
Now our survivors are at the hospital, there are possible new characters to meet, more obstacles to endure, and possibly more enemies to confront, so I think there is many a tale to tell.
I don’t want to be patronising to the reader, as you guys know the books and characters better than I do, but for persons who only read the Snatchers series, and haven’t read The Girl with the Flying Saucer Eyes and have no intention of starting a new series like Ghostland, I would like to clear a few things up.
In Chapter Two we hear the name Hando. Now, this name has also popped up in the Snatchers novella, The Girl with the Flying Saucer Eyes, but the Hando character will appear in the new series, Ghostland, which is set in the Snatchers world, but twelve months after the outbreak occurred. The name Hando is also mentioned in Chapter Forty Three when Alan and John, the same two men that Paul Dickson saved in the last book and had also bumped into again when leaving Colwyn Place, are attacked by the dead.
In Chapter Six, when Pickle and Vince drive Roger and Peter back to Rugeley, Roger screams out the word Canavar when a dead being stumbles out into the road. This word is a nickname, like Snatcher, which will be used quite a lot in the Ghostland apocalyptic series.
We also briefly meet a female character called Yoler in Chapter Thirty One. This is the same woman that left a smitten Craig Burns high and dry when he returned from a walk in Milford and finds that not only has she departed, but has also taken his bag, leaving him a cheeky note. Yoler Sanders is a young, feisty female that can also be brutal if she wants to be, and she is a main character in the Ghostland series.
We see our survivors leaving an area once again, but this is their decision this time. In the past camps, Pickle and Karen have been to Spode Cottage and Sandy Lane, they’ve had to leave because it had become too dangerous, but in this case they had left because they had been given a better offer.
Colwyn Place still exists and still has survivors living there, and would probably feature in future books, but the characters that we have followed have moved on to a different town. I think it’s nice to remove and add some new characters and start in a fresh town, as it freshens things up a little. We spent the first nine books practically in the Rugeley/Brereton area, three books in Little Haywood, and now we’re in Stafford, which may cause more perilous adventures for our survivors.
Thanks again for reading, folks,
Kind regards,
Shaun
The Girl with the Flying Saucer Eyes: A novella set in the ‘Snatchers’ world.
Dead Dayz: A standalone zombie novel, which was boycotted and some parts were used in Snatchers 5.
Ghostland: Although not out yet, it will be the start of a new series which is based in the ‘Snatchers’ world, a year later.
All of these books can be found here:
UK: AmazonUK
USA: AmazonUSA
AUS: AmazonAustralia
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