Snatchers (A Zombie Novel)

by Shaun Whittington

  The creature turned around to see Pickle entering the offices holding the shotgun the wrong way round. The butt of the shotgun hit it twice; its head cracked open and left a dark stain against the wall as it fell to the floor. Another violent crashing blow would have surely emptied the contents of the head, but Pickle temporarily refrained himself from doing so, unlike what he did with the female worker back at the Wolseley Arms pub.

  He stood back as Laz tried to recover his breathing, and this time instead of bringing the gun down, he delivered a blow by swinging the butt of the shotgun like a baseball bat, into the side of the head of what used to look like, a teenage checkout girl. What she was doing in the toilet, he didn't know. It lay motionless on the floor, and Pickle was satisfied that the incident wasn't quite as messy as it was back at the pub; he was now feeling nauseous after witnessing what had happened to young Grass.

  Almost in tears, the exhausted Laz staggered to his feet, and tried to speak but was finding it an arduous task.

  Pickle wiped the butt off the gun onto the office carpet and strapped the gun back around over his shoulder, the belt hanging loosely. "Where the fuck did she come from?" Pickle quizzed.

  Said Laz, "I dunno. She was in there when I went in. I opened the door to get out as soon as I saw her, but she grabbed me…"

  "This is fucking mental!"

  "Her fuckin' breath stunk." Laz tried to make a joke about a situation that had made him piss his shorts.

  "Not too sure they can actually breathe, aren't they technically dead? Must be the decay in the mouth area you're referring to."

  Laz looked out of the office windows and his saddened eyes glared at the middle of the balcony. "Fuckin' shame about Grass."

  Pickle sighed and smacked his lips together. "I'm gonna have to take responsibility for that one."

  "It's not your fault, Pickle!"

  "I should have checked the area properly. It was me that said all clear and I shouldn't have allowed two unarmed men go into that situation."

  "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. I just fucked off and he followed me."

  "Whatever; we'll talk about it later. We need to get out of here."

  The two men heard the groaning of the girl that was lying on her back.

  Fucker's still alive!

  An exhausted Pickle asked Laz politely to step aside, and pulled out his pistol from his belt and responded to the noise with two short sharps bursts of gunfire to the cranium from his Browning pistol. The back of the head began to re-decorate the beige carpet with the black oily liquid that ran out of its damaged skull.

  "Let's hope that this isn't a regular thing." Laz looked at his hands that were shaking violently and winced as he touched his right arm. He began to light up a cigarette.

  "Tell me about it," Pickle spoke, taking the cigarette directly from Laz’s mouth and took in a long deep suck, then handed it back to him. "Between the four of us, we wasted about forty bullets on twelve of those things. Jamie and KP had emptied their magazines and there was some still left standing."

  "Probably first time nerves. I know I couldn't do it."

  Pickle approached the window that was situated in the office, and looked out onto the car park. He could see six more shuffling about in the car park; all were spaced out and the threat seemed pretty low, but he didn't want to hang about, especially the way his inexperienced group fired their pistols.

  "Think we better leave," Pickle announced. "We've got company."

  Chapter Thirty Six

  It had only been a day and a half since the warning came through on the radio. At first he thought it was a hoax, or he had accidentally received a station that was broadcasting a science fiction audio book. The more he listened, the more the information was sponged by his disbelieving brain.

  This was no prank, and this was no audio book either…this was the real thing. It seemed ridiculous that something like this could happen.

  But why not!

  He thought about the documentary he had watched on malaria, which kills millions a year, one every thirty seconds.

  Hundreds of years ago it was the bubonic plague that killed twenty five million people across Europe, and another twenty five million across the globe. Just because medical science had moved on dramatically over the centuries, it didn't mean that man was safe from every living virus that threatened mankind.

  To Gary Jenson, it was the nature of the virus that unnerved him and had caused mass panic on his wing. Paranoid that the officers had known about this through the night and had left them to their own devices, the prisoners banged their doors with their fists, and he was one of them hammering the steel. His hands were still smarting from that panic-stricken incident. Some prisoners were irate, some even wept, as there was no immediate response to their torment.

  When Jamie Thomson finally opened his door, Gary's panic had subsided once he had time to think. He sat motionless on his bed and calmly slurped on his coffee that he had made five minutes before. He heard the excitement of the voices, as one by one the doors were opened, and after ten minutes, the wing fell silent.

  Gary didn't understand the excitement of the other prisoners that were being released. Sure, they were now free men, but free in what kind of world? Maybe they had family they wanted to see. Maybe they were confident of getting to their homes, being with their families, and remaining there until the virus had passed. Maybe after the virus had passed, they thought that they could start again, and live as free men. Despite it turning into a horrific world out there, Gary thought that the opportunity for most of the inmates was too much to resist.

  He, on the other hand, had other ideas. At first he wanted to stay. He thought he was the only one stupid enough to stay. The plan was to stay behind and hope in a matter of weeks that this…virus would blow over. He was too much of a coward to go out there into the unknown.

  He had a girlfriend, but aside from that the only family member he had left was his father, and the abusive drunken old man was a waste of space who Gary wouldn't piss on if the old man were on fire. Gary had already come to the conclusion that he would rather take his chances inside. Even more so once he stepped out of his cell.

  Now with his coffee in his right hand, he walked out of his cell and stood on the first floor balcony looking over the ground floor of the wing. The slider doors were left open, and the crack of light that spilled onto the wing near the canteen, suggested that the exercise yard door had been left open, too.

  Gary raised a wry smile once he had noticed this. In his own cell, he had a huge jar of coffee, plenty of cigarettes, tins of tuna, and bread. On the wings canteen, he knew they had cupboards of biscuits and sandwiches, and whatever else was left in the other cells from the inmates.

  He walked across the balcony and trotted down the steel steps with his mug still in his right hand. He walked the full length of the eerie silent wing ground floor to the slider, and peered into the other three wings. There was one inmate that he saw, who was strolling around the place on his own. He seemed to have the same idea as Gary. But what if there were others, many others, and they were still in their cells?

  Gary took one last gulp of his coffee and placed the mug on the floor and took the black liner out of the plastic bin. Fortunately, apart from some cans and a banana skin, the bag was empty, as the bin had been recently changed.

  He went round all the cells on his wing and was pleased to see every inmate, apart from himself, had left. He was unsure whether the rest of the wings were vacant and told himself that he would worry about that another day.

  He collected as much food as he could and put them in the black bag; this process took thirty minutes to execute. He had enough to last weeks, and felt he needed to do this on that particular Sunday before someone else beat him to it. He had spent most of his Sunday sitting around on his bed, smoking cigarettes, and waiting for other inmates from other wings from house block two to introduce themselves, but it never happened.

  It was now Monday af
ternoon, and the boredom was killing him. He couldn't possibly survive in his cell with no working TV. He had a working stereo, like other inmates had, but he felt it was too early to announce to the whole of house block two that someone else had stayed behind. He decided to do the inevitable and creep around the wings to see if there was signs of others. Initially, he was too frightened to do this, but he couldn't hide in his cell forever.

  Maybe they could work together. Or maybe they would kill one another over food in order to survive. That was the risk, he thought. That was probably why the remaining inmates were keeping themselves to themselves, as they didn't know who had decided to remain inside.

  Gary left his wing with ease, as each slider door of the wings were left open by the officers. It felt peculiar to leave his wing without the presence of an officer walking beside him. He walked through the opened slider door, went by the bubble, and peered into G and F wing. Although he never stepped inside, the wings were eerily soundless and this gave him a shudder. He entered E wing and like the others, it seemed desolate, but he knew that wasn't true, as he had already seen the figure on E Wing lolloping around. He could tell it was an inmate and not an officer, because they were all dressed the same, with their blue trousers and red polo shirts.

  Gary hesitantly walked around and decided that calling out was a bad idea. He gently walked up the steel steps to get to the first floor, trying to make as little noise as possible. All the cell doors were opened, and he peered in each cell. It appeared on this wing that everyone had decided to take their chances outside, except one. He didn't recognise the face but the poor young boy had decided that cutting his wrists was a better option than being out there, where humans were now considered food by certain individuals.

  Maybe he had no family to turn to, Gary thought.

  It never baffled Gary where the young boy could have got a blade from to make the insertions, it was sometimes easier to get drugs and weapons in prison than on the outside. He stared at the lifeless body; his face was light blue, he was curled up like a frightened hedgehog and the sheets were heavily stained.

  "Poor bastard," Gary uttered under his breath.

  He checked the last few cells and decided that he should return back to his own wing.

  "Damn shame," a voice appeared behind Gary.

  Shocked by the unexpected presence, he gasped and turned around.

  The man was in his thirties, stocky build and his head was shaved bald. The tattoos on his forearm suggested that he was in, or used to be in, a gang before being incarcerated.

  "Jason Bonser," he announced and held out his hand. "You might have heard of me."

  "Gary."

  The truth was, Gary hadn't been in prison long and didn't know who he was, but didn't want to say so. He felt that men like Jason Bonser thrived on reputation and the last thing he wanted to do was disrespect a gang member who was twice the size of him and inform him that he had never heard of him.

  Gary shook his hand, and Jason squeezed his very hard. He didn't know whether it was done on purpose to make a statement, or if it was natural. If it was natural, then Jason Bonser was as powerful as he looked as far as the strength department was concerned.

  "So this is it then." Gary smirked. "Just the two of us."

  "Three of us, actually," Bonser corrected.

  "Three?"

  "A guy called Kyle Horan is on the other wings checking the place out. We decided to lay low for a day, now we're seeing who's stayed behind. Not many."

  "What's he like?"

  "He's a good guy," Bonser appeased Gary. "He's one of my crew."

  "Oh."

  Gary wasn't sure that two members of the same gang and him, was a great combination. Nothing had been said yet, and already he felt threatened. What happens if they want him out the way? What would they do if they found he had a cell full of food? He wished he had stayed in his cell now, but with the two of them now starting to search the wings, he came to the conclusion that it would only be a matter of time before he would be found anyway.

  Kyle Horan finally made an appearance and bellowed to Bonser. "Well, that's been taken care of!"

  "Erm...Kyle." Bonser turned around to his colleague and pointed at Gary. Noticing him for the first time, Kyle stopped in his tracks.

  "A new guy," Kyle spoke, but his voice seemed mocking and a little threatening to Gary. "I don't know his face."

  These two individuals were hardcore, Gary had convinced himself. These two figures that stood before him were probably inside for gang killings, whereas he was in for stealing cars. If these two began to turn nasty, he wouldn't stand a chance.

  "So what cell are you in, Gary?" Jason asked him.

  He didn't have time to think. "H sixty-seven," he lied.

  "H sixty-seven? Let's have a look in your cell."

  All three walked onto H wing. Gary walked in front of the two menacing men and was certain that a blow to the back of his head was going to occur, but it never came. He took in a deep breath and walked into H sixty-seven.

  "Stand outside," Kyle demanded.

  At this point, Gary knew he was in bad company. These guys now weren't even pretending to be nice.

  They both searched through the cupboards and under the bed as well as the mattress.

  Jason looked over to Gary, who was standing by the side of the door. "What did you stay behind for? There's nothing here, no food or nothing."

  Gary shrugged his shoulders. "It just seemed too bad outside to leave, the radio mentioned people being attacked."

  "We have a stash of food," Kyle informed Gary. "But you're getting fuck all."

  This is it! This is the part where they're going to kick me to death. I'm another mouth to feed, so technically to them, I'm a threat. Come on, man. Think!

  Gary shook his head. "I don't want anything to eat. I just want to hide in my cell, and die peacefully."

  Bonser glared at Gary. "What?"

  "I have no family on the outside, so what is there to live for?"

  Jason and Kyle looked at one another and burst out laughing like a couple of teenagers. Gary kept his straight-face on, and stared intently at the two men trying to prove that he was serious about the words that had fallen out of his mouth.

  "This guy's crazy," Kyle snorted. "Once we've cleared the cells, I think we better stay away from this wing; the place will be stinking once he pops his clogs."

  "Well," Jason held out his hand, and managed one last chuckle, "I wish you luck, my friend, but I know I'd rather be out there than stuck in here starving to death."

  "I have nothing out there," Gary responded. "No family or nothing. Why didn't you guys leave?"

  The two men both smiled at one another, and Jason pulled out a mobile phone from his trouser pocket that had been smuggled in. Most dealers would try and get phones snuck in, most failed. "I've called people, family members, gang members, it's fucking gruesome out there. A lot of people are dead. The last call I made was a few hours ago this morning. I called my sister, she was hysterical and as I was speaking to her, the fuckers were trying to get in. I heard windows smashed and then the line went dead."

  "But you guys can't stay in here forever. Surely, the food will run out soon enough."

  "True, and that is when we jump the fence, not while this pandemic is at its highest. Why put yourself at risk? Hopefully, by the time me and Kyle get out, most of these fuckers will be dead or the army would have control over the country by then. I dunno, we just need to survive, and an extra mouth to feed is not what we need. But if you're convinced that sooner or later the world's gonna go to hell in a handcart anyway and would rather die slowly in your cell, then that's up to you, brother."

  Kyle grinned. "I could make it quicker for you, if you want."

  "No, I want to do it this way. It'll give me time to pray and think about my loved ones from the past," Gary spoke with conviction, fooling both men convincingly. "It's what I want."

  Bonser looked around the cell. "Well, there a
in't any food in here, so I suppose I believe you."

  "What if he's bullshittin'?" Kyle sneered. "I reckon he's only stayed behind 'cos he's too chicken shit to go outside."

  Gary screwed his eyes and bravely taunted, "So why are you still here, then?"

  Kyle never answered Gary, but his face was full of rage.

  "And if you decide not to die and leave?" Bonser snarled a little, whilst asking the question.

  Gary knew where Bonser was coming from.

  Gary was certain that apart from the extra mouth to feed, him escaping would also be seen as a risk for the two men. If Gary was out in the world, he would have information about a certain prison that was stocked full of food and now only had two inmates in there. That kind of information could be detrimental for Bonser and Horan, especially if the information reached armed bandits or other types of desperados. A full or a half-full prison would be impossible and suicidal to break into, but if the house block only had two prisoners left, it made them vulnerable.

  Gary finally answered, "I won't. Don't worry; if I wanted to leave I would have done with the rest of the cons. I'm staying, whatever happens. At least in here I get to choose the way I die. Out there is a different matter altogether. How many of the four hundred inmates will survive out there, if what they say on the radio is true?"

  Bonser gulped hard. "Not many...I suppose."

  "We're all gonna die." Gary was convincing with his act. "Might as well be in here."

  Both men nodded with satisfaction.

  Gary sighed, "Think I might go to the exercise yard for some air."

  "I wouldn't go out there, " Kyle chuckled. "It's grim."

  "I'll go anyway."

  The two men patted Gary on the back and headed back to H Wing's slider and strolled back onto E Wing.

  Gary could just about hear Bonser saying to Kyle, "I believe him. We'll check the cells on this wing for food in a few days. We have enough at the moment."

  Gary reached the ground floor, and breathed a sigh of relief. His real cell was H fifty-six which was across the balcony, and if the pair of them knew that that was his cell and found out that he had food stashed away in his toilet cubicle and under his bed, they would know he was lying and kill him for sure. It had now turned into a game he couldn't win. Better change the name cards on the door in case they come back.