Hellspawn (Book 1) (26 page)

“YOU ARE ALL DEAD, MAYBE NOT TODAY, BUT SOON. WE WILL FUCK YOU BLOODY AND THEN KILL YOU, JUST LIKE WE DID TO THAT FAMILY ACROSS THE ROAD!” HP screamed and laughed like a lunatic.

“What the hell are you talking about?” John demanded.

Archie had been emboldened by his friend’s outburst and their captors’ lack of action. “That was a fun night. We did her and the kid while the dad watched. Then we fucked him after. They didn’t much like the taste of bleach though. They kicked and gurgled a bit while their guts came up. The pathetic dad didn’t even struggle after his family were dead and we made him drink it. It was a bit disappointing,” Archie laughed. The true evil of the men was revealed, their faces were barely human as they regaled them with the horrific story. The family didn’t know what to do. They had assumed the father had killed his family and then himself which, however abhorrent, they could at last partway understand. This new revelation was nearly enough to destroy their will. How would they be able to live alongside such malevolence? Would they even want to?

“You fucking animals!” shouted Sarah as she slapped Archie. The depraved criminals had the upper hand and they knew it, so he just laughed harder. Braiden walked over to HP while the rest of the group reeled at the images they were conjuring in their minds.

“What the fuck do you want, you little shit? You won’t be so lucky next time. You will be arse raped before I strangle you,” HP roared with laughter.

Braiden leaned in, close to HP’s ear, “You think so, do you?” he whispered. Braiden then smiled and pushed him in the chest.

HP’s eyes nearly tore at the sides of his face as they opened wide in shock. Gravity and the little shove from Braiden caused him to tilt backwards towards the hatch. Unable to move his body or legs, he just gaped as his view changed from Braiden’s face, to the roof, and finally the hatchway and waiting zombies as he fell. The action had been so swift, the family was caught by surprise, even as his upper body vanished and was closely followed by his legs and feet. The dead were unlucky and bore the brunt of the weight as the child killing beast fell, decaying bodies crumpling under the burden. HP was unluckier, however. The angle of his fall, coupled with the zombies, meant he had landed with his bruised forehead and face pressed to the ground on one end with his bound knees at the other. The heavy chair provided excellent protection from the zombie teeth, and his back and buttocks were out of reach. The exposed sides of his face, head, and lower legs were not so lucky. The ravenous dead commenced peeling the flesh away in great strips with their sharp teeth. The inhuman shrieks started, and would go on for some time, as they gnawed on him. It was a slow way to go out, even for someone as deserving as he was. Braiden watched from the hatch, satisfied justice had been done.

John was horrified by Braiden’s actions, but for now he decided to press the advantage it gave them. “Not so funny now is it?” he shouted in Archie’s face, the gurgled shrieks of his friend being consumed below echoing in his head.

“Don’t kill me, I will stay away. I’m sorry for what I did, really I am,” Archie was blubbering, tears and snot ran down his face from the fear and he voided his bowels, which only added to the vile smell he exuded. Sam vomited when he caught the scent. The chaos was almost too much.

Kurt decided to get him out of there as soon as possible when he saw Braiden look over with dark intent in his eyes. He took his knife and cut the bonds, pulling Archie to his feet and dragging him to the ropes.

“Fuck off, now! And if I ever see you again, you will get it worse than him!” Kurt motioned to the attic hatch which still carried the ever fainter cries of HP as he succumbed. Kurt was glad when the rat faced bastard swung out and shimmed down the rope so fast he must have badly abraded his hands. He watched Archie leap over a few waiting corpses and run off gibbering into the afternoon light. Struggling to hold down the bile that threatened to jettison from his stomach, he turned to face the group. Braiden was looking at the floor and attempting to apologise as John berated him.

“Dad, shut up and leave him alone. Was what he did wrong? Before all this? Yes. Now, I’m not so sure. That fucking creature, I won’t call him an animal because animals don’t kill for fun, tortured, raped, and killed women and children. I only wish I had it in me to do it, but by God, we all better get prepared to kill. This fucking world will get a lot worse than this, I can assure you,” Kurt told them all and reluctantly they all knew it was the truth. Everything about the old ways was gone. Civilised behaviour would mean death where men like this were concerned. Weakness would be exploited and turned against them.

“I know it’s bad to kill, but I just kept seeing that mum and kid in the hallway. I’m sorry. You must all hate me now. Maybe I should go too,” Braiden said quietly, and then began to walk off to gather his belongings.

“Oh no, you don’t. Son, you are the bravest of all of us. You have the safety of this family in the front of your mind. I don’t even want to think of what they would have done to us given half a chance. Now you have given them reason to fear us. And, if we ever come against people like that again, we need to make them fear us or we will be killed or worse.” Kurt embraced the boy and was quickly joined by the rest of them. The deed was awful but necessary, and their morals needed to change quickly in case the three remaining wanted revenge.

Behind them the sounds of HP being flensed to the bone continued. Their decaying house guests were grateful, judging by the tearing and chewing noises that flowed through the hatch.

After raising the killing table and securing the ropes, the physically drained survivors had retired for the day, unwilling to do anything else. The evening meal was a drab affair. Their internal struggles to adapt to the events of the past hours were likely to haunt them in their sleep and food was not on their list of priorities right now. The noises of the dying scumbag had penetrated their subconscious. It would only take a single mistake for them to be at the mercy of the walking dead and they each wondered what their death would sound like. Braiden and Paige were the only ones who enjoyed the meal. It was the first time she had eaten in a week, or at least been aware of the food that was passing her lips.

“So where are you from?” Braiden asked her, trying to stimulate the group. The morose faces of his companions were beginning to affect his own emotions.

“Me?” Paige replied, seeing how silly the question was when the rest of the group was closely acquainted. “I’m from Chichester. I live near the Hospital… sorry, lived near the Hospital.”

“What do you do for a living?” he continued.

“I am, or was, a secretary at the hospital. I worked in the reception for the X-ray department,” she told him.

“So you are a doctor then?” Braiden questioned.

“Goodness no, I wish I was or I wouldn’t have been driving such an old, unlockable car through Lavant when I hid away. That day, I had to go and collect notes from a local surgery, which is something that doctors never do,” Paige laughed, but Braiden didn’t understand what the car not locking had to do with the conversation.

John was hit by a thunderbolt of understanding. The only old car he had seen on the road was the car with the infant. He was not there when she had her brief moments of clarity and mentioned the baby. He was only now seeing the true anguish that she was hiding from. John saw that Braiden was about to ask her about it, so he changed the subject, afraid they would lose her if she wasn’t ready to deal with the guilt and bereavement.

“I bet it was an interesting job at times, all those people you were helping.” John tried to steer it towards more positive discussion. After bringing it up, he thought of those people now, and the probability they were meandering around and ingesting people. It did the trick and she brightened with the memories of her office and work colleagues who had made the job a joy to do.

“It was crazy some days. We had the accident and emergency department down the corridor and any patients that needed treatment had to be slotted in around the booked appointments. It was quite a juggling act I can tell you.” She smiled and her beauty shone through. The sight of their silent friend now joining in and grinning lightened the mood and everyone felt the weight of the world dropping from their shoulders. Now that they had survived both the dead and the living, there must also be people like them out there. They just had to find them. Together they were strong and resilient, with more likeminded folks they could forge a new society.

The full bellies and improving frame of mind gave them a second wind. With the help of Paige, they gathered all the required supplies. John and Kurt completed the blockages to the stairwells and Gloria roamed back and forth ensuring no further surprises befell them. The final hour was done by candlelight and it was both eerie and a novelty, they felt like the Victorians who had existed like this their whole lives. Their eyes were gradually becoming accustomed to the lack of electrical illumination and their night vision was improving day by day, it could prove invaluable.

“Without power, we can’t build a door to block the attic. Any ideas?” John asked Kurt as they returned to the warmth of their home.

“Let’s just take the concrete blocks and lay them against the openings. They are heavy enough that it would take them too long to get through without us knowing. We can do something more final tomorrow,” Kurt suggested and they moved and stacked them against the holes.

They all gathered back at the bedroom. Paige had found a packet of dry powdered custard which she had mixed with water and was now simmering on the fire. The vanilla scent made their mouths water and they savoured each spoonful when it was served.

“The bug out bags are all done. They have enough water for two days each and there’s more in the suitcases. I thought about putting a tent in there, but with a choice of houses for us to bed down in, I decided against it. I have loaded the lightest food in the rucksacks and heaviest in the roller suitcases,” Sarah explained.

“Thanks love, we are as safe as we can be right now,” John told them. “But we need to decide what we are going to do if we need to run. Do we use the Land Rover, van or car?”

“The van would be the best choice. It is three quarters full of diesel and is a reliable old girl. She hasn’t let me down yet. It also has only three windows so it is more secure in the event of an attack, plus it can carry all of us in addition to the gear. None of the others could do that,” Kurt said.

“It wouldn’t hurt to try and take the Land Rover too, it may help us with the off road capability. The van wouldn’t cope with it would it?” John asked.

“Probably not. Ok, we will try and take both if we can, but the van is so much closer for us to reach,” Kurt compromised.

“When it is clear, we should cut a hole in the roof to use for access. We wouldn’t need to set foot on the ground that way,” Sam suggested.

“That’s a great idea, we can load some gear in tomorrow and use the window to reach it. That will give us a quick escape route. After today, I don’t think we can count on this place forever,” John said sombrely. This refuge had ensured their survival in the initial stages of the outbreak, but it was rife with weaknesses.

“Where can we go if we have to evacuate?” Sarah asked, knowing there was nowhere truly safe anymore.

“I think our first attempt has to be Thorney Barracks. If the Army still has a presence there we could help them and survive there. Failing that, the only other place that makes sense is the nunnery in Hunston. It is made of heavy stone and has at least two acres of land that is protected by a huge stone wall, thirty inches thick and nine feet high. It would give us room to grow food and the wall forms part of the house, so there is only one way in or out.” John had been thinking about this for some time, but Kurt found the glaring flaw.

“What if someone is already there? We can’t take it by force and it may not be sufficient to house too many people. Even if they were willing to accept us,” Kurt detailed his concern.

“What about Arundel Castle?” Sam asked and they looked at him. “It’s only a few more miles and it couldn’t be taken by a billion of those things. The walls are impenetrable. Once the drawbridge is raised, or destroyed if it doesn’t work after all these years, we are completely isolated. The grounds are at least twenty acres with water fed directly from the local lake. It has massive fields within. We could grow more crops than we could ever use. There is also a hidden tunnel that the castle used to employ to get runners out in times of siege. If we could find that, we can get in and not even worry about any dead at the gates,” Sam finished, out of breath. He saw the look they were giving him and shrugged. “I went on a tour with school. They gave us lots of information. I think I’ve still got a pamphlet in my bedroom.” He ran off to find it.

“I think we have a winner. If the other two options don’t pan out, we head for the castle. What do you all think?” Kurt asked as Sam came back into the room with both the information sheet and a school project that he had done as part of history lessons.

The high walls and construction were designed to repel invaders. The main building was at the top of steeply banked hills, which would be awkward for a normal person to traverse. For the rotting dead, they would more than likely topple and fall before they made it a few paces up. The entrance was via a massive oak door, cut into two sections and mounted on giant iron hinges. The access bridge was also mounted high on the grounds by means of a winding road, and this is what they would hope to remove, cutting themselves off.

“So we know where we are going, we just have several hundred thousand mobile corpses between us and our destination,” John finished, the true scale of the task was clear.

“Paige, are you still ok sharing a bedroom with myself and John?” Gloria asked.

“That’s fine, I am more than happy with it. Apparently I have done it for a week already,” She added, smiling.

The conversation was finished and the group went to bed, their thoughts returning to the near miss today and what was to come. None of it was likely to be easy. Their lives were going to be fraught with danger for some time to come, if not forever more.

John sat in a chair at the door of Kurt and Sarah’s room, absorbing some of the radiated heat of the fire as it left the room. He watched and listened for several hours until Gloria woke at her usual time and relieved him. She kissed him lightly on the mouth and held him close; the contact was well received after the day they had endured.