The BIG Horror Pack 2

by Iain Rob Wright

  “All we’re doing at the moment is giving them time to think. I say we hit back now when they least expect it.”

  Pauline shook her head. “Oh, bloody hell. I don’t like the sound of that.”

  “Me either,” Cassie said.

  “You’re right not to like the sound of it,” Nick said. “It’s dangerous and could get us killed, but what choice do we have? Shawcross put us in this position. Are we going to let him win? After surviving for this long, after all that we’ve been through, are we really going to let an arrogant pig like Shawcross determine our fate?”

  “Hell fucking no,” Eve said.

  “Maybe we should just surrender,” Cassie mumbled. “They haven’t tried to hurt me or Pauline. Eve might be safe as well.”

  Nick shook his head. “You can do whatever you want Cassie. No one’s forcing you to do anything. Just remember, Dash is with them. Remember when Dash tried to force you to do things you didn’t want to do?”

  Cassie’s eyes brimmed with tears. “That’s not fair.”

  “No, it’s not, and neither is you refusing to pick a side. It’s time for you to shit or get off the pot, Cassie. You have to pick a side, right now. Go out and join them or stay here with us. Once you pick, though, that’s it. This is about survival – not just about tonight, but for whatever comes next.”

  Cassie wavered for a moment, turning towards the window and then back towards Nick. Eventually she sighed, her shoulders dropping. “Okay, I’m with you guys.”

  “Glad to have you,” Nick said.

  “So how do we get out there without being seen?” Anna said. “If we try to funnel out the window they’ll pick us off easy.”

  Nick rubbed his forehead and formulated a plan as quickly as he could. “We deal with Shawcross the same way I dealt with those brain-dead zombies at the bottom of the hill. We distract him.”

  Chapter Forty

  “We’ll make him pay for Lily,” Nick said to Anna as he knelt beside her and rubbed her back. Before them lay the severed head Shawcross had tossed through the window.

  “It’s not Lily,” she said.

  “What? It’s an orang-utan, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, but it’s not her. It’s Brick.”

  Nick frowned. “Brick?”

  “Lily’s mate. He died when all this started. They obviously cut off his head to make me think it was Lily. This one has been rotting for weeks, though. The skin has almost turned to dust.”

  Nick straightened up and sighed. “Shawcross has lost his mind. What is he even fighting for?”

  “The self-esteem he’s always lacked,” she said. “He was a worthless wretch before all this. This is his chance to finally be somebody, one of the Lords like the ones who used to live in Ripley Hall. He’s starting as he means to go on. Power is not given, it is taken. That’s truer now than it’s ever been.”

  “Then I guess it’s time to go to war,” Nick said. “We’re all clear on the plan? Does anybody need to go over it again? No? Good. Let’s do this.”

  Rene handed Nick the bundle of keys he’d found beneath the bar. Nick was counting on one of the keys unlocking the hatch in the cellar. The rear of the building led into a fenced-off yard that hadn’t been barricaded or paid much mind to. It was a clear route out of the back of the building.

  He bid the others goodbye and headed down into the cellar. Heart beating fast, he climbed up the rear stairs and examined the steel lock fixed the door. There was one key made of a similar tarnished-grey as the padlock and he inserted it into the lock. It was a relief when it turned easily and he was able to shove the hatch cover upwards.

  The night flooded over Nick like a living creature, a cold black mollusc clinging to his skin. He quickly eased himself over the back fence and dropped down on the other side, wincing as his feet struck the pavement.

  He could hear Shawcross and his cronies conspiring around the front of the building. Nick crept away. If the plan was going to work, he needed to put some distance between himself and Shawcross.

  Coming up on his left was the park’s rollercoaster, the Hood. Its walled-off surroundings would provide good cover. There was a park bin nearby and kicked it over. The lid came loose and spun across the pavement, making an almighty clatter.

  “Shit!” Nick shouted as loud as he could. “Come on, they’ll hear us. Run!”

  He quickly hopped over the waist-high fence that surrounded the queuing area and crouched down beneath the elevated steel track.

  “They’ve escaped,” Shawcross shouted from the front of the restaurant. “Come on, I hear them over there.”

  Nick stayed hidden as he listened to the footfalls of his pursuers get nearer.

  “You a dead man,” Dash shouted. It really was him.

  “You’re supposed to be the dead man,” Nick shouted back. “I watched you die, blud.”

  “Can’t kill me, honkey. Hit a dozen branches on the way down, but I walked that shit off like a gangster. I lost my eye, though, and somebody needs to pay for it. You tell Jan he’s got it coming too.”

  Nick peered through a gap in the fence. Was Jan not with them? Then where was he?

  “He’s inside the rollercoaster enclosure,” Shawcross said. “The others must be with him somewhere.”

  Nick grinned. That’s right, you arrogant fool, do exactly as I expect you to.

  “Hey, Dash. When I’m through with you this time, you’ll stay dead.”

  Dash sucked his teeth, the sound cutting through the air. “Come on down, hard man. Let’s see what you got!”

  Nick laughed. “While I’m outnumbered? Don’t think so. When I take you down, it’s going to be just you and me.”

  “What do you mean…outnumbered?” Shawcross said.

  Nick bit his tongue. Had he really just given himself away so soon?

  There was a moment of silence before Shawcross shouted, “He’s not with the others. He’s distracting us. Back to the restaurant.”

  Nick had to do something. He shot out from his hiding place and sprinted after Shawcross. Dash was standing in his way, accompanied by Alan and Michelle.

  Michelle spotted Nick first and shouted a warning, which led to Alan leaping out to block him. Nick swung his rifle and clubbed the man out of his way. He had to push through to Shawcross.

  But before Nick got to the man he wanted, Dash hopped out and smacked him around the head with a shovel.

  Everything went dark for a moment and Nick found himself flat out on the ground.

  Dash loomed into view. “I’m not impressed, honkey.”

  Nick turned his head and spat a mouthful of blood onto the pavement. He felt a tooth come loose and spat it out. “Y-you pussy.”

  Dash broke out in laughter and stopped only long enough to raise the shovel so that it hung over Nick’s neck, ready to take his head off.

  Nick closed his eyes and waited.

  “Get it over with,” Shawcross said.

  “Say night, night, Honkey.”

  Thump!

  Dash staggered sideways, tripping over Nick’s prone body before slumping to the ground.

  Nick sat up and discovered Jan holding out a hand to him. “Get up, brother. Looks like you’re having a party, but no one invited me to dance.”

  Nick took Jan’s arm and leapt to his feet. He was dizzy from the blow to the head, but he was ready for a bloody good fight.

  Dash recovered and scrambled to his feet. There was a screwdriver sticking out of his left shoulder and he’d dropped his shovel.

  “Are my eyes deceiving me,” Jan said, “or is that ugly, one-eyed motherfucker, Dash?”

  “It’s him,” Nick said.

  “Survived so I could take you bitches out,” Dash grunted at them, making a grab for his fallen shovel.

  Nick tried to stop him, but Dash grabbed the shovel and backed off. Instead of fighting, he made a run for it, heading straight past Shawcross and disappearing into the shadows.

  Alan, Michelle, and Shawcross groupe
d together, keeping to a triangle and clutching their weapons tightly.

  Nick picked his weapon back up off the floor. “Just give it up, guys. It’s over.”

  “Nothing’s over,” Shawcross said. “There are three of us and only two of you.”

  “Maybe,” Nick said, his words slightly slurred as his mouth had started to swell, “but Jan counts as two, so we’re evenly matched. No one else needs to get hurt here, if you just give it up.”

  “You are the ones who should give up. You cannot win.”

  “I disagree,” Anna said, hurrying up from the restaurant. Pauline, Cassie, Eve, and Rene were with her, all armed. “After the day I’ve had, I’m quite happy to kill you fuckers right now.”

  Nick grinned at Shawcross. “I don’t think the Geneva Convention exists anymore, so if you want to be treated like human beings, I suggest you three put down your weapons.”

  There was a standoff for a moment, the air tense and vibrating. Then Michelle and Alan threw down their weapons and put their hands above their heads. Shawcross, however, kept a firm grip on his pitchfork and looked as defiant as ever.

  “Give it up, Shawcross,” Anna said. “It’s over. Michelle, Alan, grab a hold of him.”

  Michelle and Alan turned anxiously toward their former leader. “Come on, mate,” Alan said, reaching for the pitchfork in Shawcross’s hands. “We’re finished.”

  “Get off me!” Shawcross shoved the pitchfork at Alan and buried it right in his stomach.

  Alan rocked backwards, clutching his torso as it began to bleed. Michelle screamed as her friend’s bodily fluids spurted out onto the pavement. She reached for the pitchfork and yanked it free, but that only made the bleeding worse. Alan fell onto his side and let out a gurgling moan.

  Shawcross took off like lightning, taking advantage of the chaos. Nick, Jan, and Rene gave chase while Anna and the others tried to help Alan.

  Shawcross headed towards the front of the park. Nick did his best to keep up. The wishy-washy feeling inside his head prevented him from running full-speed and Jan, being so large, wasn’t a great sprinter. If they weren’t careful they were going to lose Shawcross. Luckily Rene seemed to be keeping pace.

  They chased Shawcross around the front of the park’s office block and past the open doors of the warehouse. Beyond was Ripley Hall.

  “He’s heading for the manor,” Nick said.

  “Isn’t it full of infected?” Jan said.

  “He’s got no place else to go. Let’s not corner him into doing anything stupid.”

  Nick didn’t like increasing Shawcross’s chances of getting away, but he was out of breath. Against his better judgement, he allowed himself to slow down. “Where were you anyway, man?” he asked Jan. “You saved my arse back there in the nick of time.”

  “A man spends long enough in a prison, he starts to appreciate solitude. I was just walking in the woods, enjoying the quiet.”

  “I understand,” Rene said.

  Jan looked at his fellow prisoner, dumbfounded. “You…you talk?”

  Rene shrugged. “Of course.”

  “Long story,” Nick said. “I’ll fill you in later.”

  “Fair enough.”

  Shawcross was out of breath. His running had slowed to a panicked stagger. In front of him was the dark spectre of Ripley Hall.

  “What are we going to do with him when we catch him?” Jan asked.

  “I don’t know. We’ll figure it out once we have him.”

  They entered onto the lawns of Ripley Hall and stuck close to the trees. Shawcross kept glancing back at them over his shoulder, but made no effort to increase his speed. He seemed broken and unable to flee from them any faster.

  Nick got close enough not to have to shout and said, “It’s over, Shawcross. You’re done.”

  Shawcross turned around to face them from the steps of the house. “It…would appear so…wouldn’t it?”

  “No one else needs to get hurt, brother,” Jan said. “Just surrender.”

  Shawcross shook his head and gave them an icy stare. “You really think I’m stupid enough to do that? You’d just kill me. You have no choice after what I’ve done.”

  “No more killing,” Nick said.

  “Then what? What do you plan to do with me?”

  Nick had no answer.

  Shawcross nodded slowly. “Exactly.” He took another step upwards towards the door.

  “What are you doing?” Nick said. “Get away from there.”

  “I’ve looked after this house like it was my own for ten years, did you know that?”

  Nick shook his head. “No, I didn’t. We’ll get it back one day. We’ll make it safe.”

  “I was in charge of a piece of history,” Shawcross continued as if he hadn’t heard Nick. “Lords have lived here, cousins to kings and queens. Powerful men with royal blood running through their veins. My job was to walk in their footsteps and respect their memory.”

  “Where are you going with this, Shawcross? What’s your point?”

  “My point is that you all fucked it up! You brought death to Ripley Hall. You tarnished its legacy and now you scuttle around like rodents, disrespecting the history of where you are, disrespecting my position as guardian of this place. You knocked me down, you violated me, you reduced me to your level. You have no respect for anything.”

  Nick shook his head and pitied the man. “It’s just an old house and a shitty amusement park, Shawcross. A cash cow. The integrity of this place was lost long before we arrived.”

  Shawcross took several more steps upwards, almost at the door. “Hold your tongue, peasant.”

  Nick put his hand up and started after Shawcross. Rene and Jan went with him. “Get away from there. The whole place is full of infected people.”

  Shawcross shrugged. His eyes were droopy and tired. He looked like a mad man and spoke in a faraway, dreamy tone. “It is full of my guests, and I would be grateful if you referred to them as such. I should go tend to them now, make sure things are in order. It’s check out time.”

  Shawcross headed up the few final steps to the house and placed a hand on the door.

  “Shawcross, just get back from there, please.”

  Shawcross laughed pathetically. “Do you know what I think, Nick?”

  “No, Shawcross, I don’t know what you think, but we can talk about it, okay? Just step down from there.”

  Shawcross shook his head and smiled grimly. He was no longer listening, talking only to himself. “What I think is that we are all fucked, and if that’s the case, I think I’d like to be with my house. It’s where I belong. I’m the manager, you see. Ripley Hall needs its manager.”

  Shawcross pushed open the door.

  “NO!” Nick shouted, sprinting forward even though it was already too late.

  The dead flooded out like pus from a pinched wound.

  They sprawled on top of Shawcross and pinned him to the ground on the steps. His flesh was mercilessly torn away by a dozen hungry mouths, but Nick didn’t hear the man scream. Shawcross remained silent as they tore him to pieces, but the look in his eyes was one of sheer terror. It looked like he was afraid of whatever came next. He had never managed to make it back inside his precious house.

  Nick grabbed Jan and Rene by their collars and shouted. “Run!”

  Chapter Forty-One

  “He’s dead,” Anna told Michelle. “I’m sorry.”

  Alan had bled out quickly. Anna suspected his celiac artery had been severed. Michelle was distraught.

  “Help me get her up,” Anna said to Pauline. “We need to help Nick. Who knows what Shawcross will try next?”

  Pauline and Anna each grabbed one of Michelle’s arms, while Eve and Cassie stood nearby.

  “Just leave me with him,” Michelle begged.

  “We’re going to look after you, Michelle.”

  They half-dragged, half-carried Michelle as they headed back towards the restaurant. There were noises coming from somewhere in the park
.

  Eve flinched. “What’s that?”

  “I know what it is,” Cassie said. She sounded close to hysteria and was clutching her knife close to her chest again. “I know what it is.”

  It was the moans of the undead.

  “The infected are here,” Eve said, terror in her eyes.

  “No,” Cassie said. “The infected scream, the dead moan.”

  “Who gives a shit? If they’re here then we’re screwed.”

  Anna struggled to hold on to Michelle, who had fallen into a catatonic state of shock. “Not necessarily,” she said. “The dead are slow. We might be able to cope with them as long as there’s not too many.”

  “We need to find Nick,” Eve said. “He might be in trouble.”

  Anna nodded and reaffirmed her grip on Michelle. “Okay, let’s get a move on.”

  They headed over to the restaurant, calling out for Nick and Jan along the way, but they found neither man and continued onwards. The moans of the dead persisted in the distance.

  “They sound closer,” Cassie said.

  “It’s coming from the house,” Anna said. “Somebody has let them out of Ripley Hall.”

  “Shawcross,” Eve said.

  “Probably. He’s crazy enough.”

  Up ahead were the park’s office building and the warehouse. The doors to the warehouse were wide open and sounds came from inside.

  Pauline stood still. “Is it one of them?”

  Anna wasn’t sure. It could be Nick, so she called out to him.

  There was no answer, but the noises abruptly stopped. Bradley’s truck was parked in front and prevented Anna from getting a clear view of the warehouse’s interior.

  “Hold on to Michelle,” she told Eve, then headed around the truck. The first thing she noticed was that the crates of fireworks, and some of the remaining petrol cans. The second thing she noticed was…

  “Dash!”

  Dash was bleeding from his shoulder and the stains on his tracksuit looked black in the moonlight. The half-healed wound of his blinded eye glistened.

  “Hey, baby,” he said. “You just in time for the show.”

  Anna stared down at the fireworks and then back up at Dash. “What are you doing?” she said. “Come out of there.”