The Original's Return (Book 2): The Original's Retribution
Page 22
The ground was littered with the dead. The barman from the pub was dead, Knowles’ revolver in his hand. It clearly hadn’t done him any good as a large part of his throat was missing. Around the square, people were coming out of their houses, shock clear in their expressions.
“Get inside!” he screamed. Some of them ran back inside immediately. Good. A soldier with a gun could still have an effect, even here, even today.
One of the wolves was on top, tearing chunks out of the flesh of the other. Knowles saw Katie shake off a man’s grasp and pick up a weapon. She pressed it into the neck of the dominant wolf and fired, emptying the clip into the wolf.
The wolf fell off the other, the bullets ripping its flesh apart much more efficiently than it had been doing to the other wolf. The wolf yelped a couple of times, its limbs twitching as the bullets rained into it until finally it stopped moving. The bullet wounds had nearly combined to sever the Wolf’s head.
“Katie!” Knowles yelled. “Get back!”
She looked at him dumbly, then at the man who was holding Josh. She let the weapon fall to the floor and sank to the ground, resting a hand on the prone wolf.
“Get back!” he yelled again. She didn’t move.
He stopped a few feet from her, gun aimed at the wolf she had shot.
“Jack,” she said, stroking his fur. The big wolf was breathing raggedly. It blinked, its tongue lolling out of its mouth.
“Katie,” Knowles said, moving closer. “Bryant is not dead, please move away.”
“Jack,” she said again.
“He will heal,” Knowles said. I hope.
Knowles nudged Bryant with his boot. The big wolf didn’t move. Knowles felt himself beginning to relax. It was over, but at what cost? He knelt down next to Bryant and put his hand on the wolf. How do you check for a pulse on a wolf? Bryant’s head was held on by bone and strands of tissue. No way could he survive that. No way.
Bryant’s chest rose, ever so slightly, but it rose.
He was breathing.
Knowles looked at the man holding Josh. He was wearing blood-stained white overalls and standing in front of the butcher’s shop. Knowles thought back to the skeleton in the cave – where all this lunacy had started. He had never set foot in it, but his friends had. The skeleton without a head.
“Hey,” he called, “you got a really big knife?”
Epilogue
1
Knowles dropped two severed heads at the mouth to the corridor that led away from the main cave. The spiders were there, in force, but he didn’t think they would come out. He had returned what should never have been removed.
A unit stood in a rough semicircle behind him. They were all holding flamethrowers and aiming them into the tunnel. Every single man looked scared, and Knowles laughed to himself. This is a walk in the park.
Two other men were busy around the cave, digging shallow holes and putting explosives in them. Knowles backed away from the cave entrance. Spiders came out, swarming over their heads, but coming no further.
“Let’s go,” Knowles said. He clipped onto a rope and heard the motor kick in from above him. Seconds later he was back on the ground, and the rest of his team got out without incident. Knowles saluted the major that was waiting for him.
“Ready, sergeant?”
Knowles nodded. The major gave the order and the men ran back through the woods, heading for the adjacent field. Months before, one of Knowles’ men had been airlifted out of here. The first army casualty of this. Meyers. Knowles snorted. Who would remember him? So many dead, so many to mourn.
Two helicopters were waiting for them. Once they were in the air, the major gave the order. The ground erupted as all the charges went off at once. Then it collapsed back on itself, creating a crater in the woods. Given time, trees would grow again there and no-one would ever know what was under it.
The rest of the bodies had been incinerated, along with all the other wolves and their victims. The brass had thought it a good idea to keep the parts of the bodies separate, burning them at various locations around the UK. Burying the heads had been Knowles’ idea. Symbolic. Returning what we took. Now the inquests would begin. The world knew of the existence of the creatures and it was being discussed at a crisis meeting of the G8 leaders.
What a mess.
Knowles closed his eyes and tried to sleep his way back to Lympstone base.
2
A week later, it seemed that every house in Huntleigh was up for sale. Rumour had it that the MOD was considering buying the lot. Turn it into a training ground in case this happens again. Bit fucking late. Knowles sat in his car, outside the Stadler house. Removal men were carrying things out, all laughing and joking. Sighing, he got out and went to the door. Katie opened the door and smiled when she saw him.
“Sergeant.”
“Not for long,” he said.
She raised her eyebrows.
“I’m getting promoted. Head of a new unit. Somehow I’m a hero.”
She nodded. “A lot more people would be dead if it wasn’t for you.”
“I don’t feel like a hero.” He shrugged. “Maybe more would be alive if it weren’t for me.”
A cry came from the next room and Katie left, returning with Josh. “Where are you moving to then?”
Katie laughed. “Probably best you don’t know that.”
“I can always find out.”
She nodded, a wistful smile on her face. “Please don’t.”
“Most of your village seems to be on the move.”
“Yeah, can you blame them?”
“Listen, if you ever need anything-”
“I know. Thank you, Peter.”
“Everyone calls me Knowles, Katie, and I think you’ve earned that right.”
She smiled at him, and this smile was a bit more genuine and warm. “I think this is over, though. Now everyone knows, we’ll be able to deal with it, right?”
“That’s the idea.” He paused. “Listen, I don’t know if you’re interested, but we figured out where Michael’s pack came from.”
Katie shook her head.
“We have footage of him arriving at Dover. He had about a hundred people with him. We can track them to the train station, where they split. Some of them head to the bus-”
Katie shook her head again. “I don’t really care, Knowles. They’re all dead, right? His pack.”
“We think we’ve got them all, yes.”
“What about the other wolves. That woman, Jenny-”
“What about them?”
“They don’t all need to die, Knowles.”
“In your opinion.”
“That one in the pub. He saved us. He wasn’t like the others. The woman too. She came back. She saved-”
Knowles shook his head quickly. “Don’t finish that sentence Katie. He’s dead remember.”
She nodded, but not before glancing upstairs. A shadow crossed there, moving slowly. So that’s where he is.
“They’re not all bad, that’s my point.”
“That makes two in the hundreds I’ve met. That’s not good odds Katie.”
“It’s a start,” she said. “Besides, you knew three that were alright.”
“Yeah.” He reached out and stroked Josh’s head, then shook her hand. “See you around, Mrs Stadler.”
“I seriously hope not,” Katie said.
Knowles returned her smile and left.
Acknowledgements
Writing a book is a solitary task that involves many people. If you know any writers, then that sentence will make sense and if you don’t, well, trust me: whilst I wrote the words, the effort was not solely mine.
Tinu, Josh and Ethan – I cannot thank you enough for your patience whilst the various drafts of this were written. Tinu has now read this more than any other book, each draft slightly different from the one before. I think you need some kind of medal.
The beta reader team – Dad, Jer Fisher, Cath and Chris Kenny (Ok, first pag
e only, in Andorra, but you found a mistake so you’re in!), Richard Evans, Shani White, Tracey Evans, Nadine Marchant, Angela Peters and Katie Samuel. Many thanks are due to all of you: you have helped make this a better book.
The Smith family for the cups of tea during the tricky third draft. Unfortunately, it was too late to turn the hero into a dour Yorkshireman. Maybe in the next one!
Frank at gfivedesign for the cover, and Rowan Kendall-Torry for the image. Good job fellas and more beer coming your way soon.
Pat for technical expertise and advice. As always, any errors are mine. I still think it would have been cool for Jack to have been a human shield, however unrealistic that is. Ah well, maybe in the film..!
Finally, thanks to everyone who enjoyed the first book: I hope this lives up to your expectations. Please leave a review on Amazon and drop by on Twitter to say hi @joshfishkins.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22