Snatchers: Volume Two (The Zombie Apocalypse Series Box Set--Books 4-6) (80 page)

"There're a few of us in charge," Lee said with a smile. "And
I'm
one of them. We work as a team, and important decisions are made with a voting system."

The passenger door suddenly flew open, making Lee and the rest turn around. The bulky man stepped out of the vehicle and yelled, "Shit! I thought I recognised that ugly face!"

Pickle clapped his hands together and bellowed, "Well, bugger me with a hedgehog! Bentley Drummle!"

"Fuck's sake," Karen huffed. "This is like Surprise, Surprise."

Pickle and Bentley hugged for, what seemed like, an eternity, and asked each other how they were doing and how they had survived so far. Bentley had told Pickle that despite being right that a disaster was around the corner, his plan and small camp had barely lasted a month as they were set upon by the dead, killing his Laura. Pickle told him a shortened version of being let out of prison and KP dying, and about Karen's heroics.

"Anyway, I knew yer were still kicking about," Pickle informed his former inmate, his hands on both of his shoulders, still flabbergasted that he was right in front of him.

"Yeah?" Bentley scratched at his dark hair. "And how did you know that?"

"We were talking about yer a couple o' days ago."

"We?"

"Me and Paul Dickson."

Bentley stood aghast. He squinted his eyes, looked to the side of him to think for a couple of seconds, then turned to face a smiling Harry Branston. "The guy and the little boy are here?"

Pickle nodded and gave off his famous left-eye wink. "They told me what you did for them. We found them at a crossroad, their car all smashed up."

"I thought they were going to see his mum."

"Right!" Lee exclaimed, interrupting their chat, and added sarcastically, "Are we all done?"

Both Pickle and Bentley nodded their heads sheepishly.

"I wanted to make a proposal." Vince spoke before Pickle and Bentley decided to rekindle their banal chatter.

"Sounds interesting." Lee folded his arms and looked to the ground. His eyes scowled and suddenly pointed to his right hand side, losing himself for a few seconds. "You know, it was around here when we found that bitten man. Remember?"

Vince sighed, "Lee, I'm trying to talk to you. This is important."

"Sorry." Lee held his hands up apologetically. "Continue."

"Like I said, I need to have a chat. Why don't you and your guy come in. Bring your car in, and we'll talk. I think this will benefit both sets of people from our camps."

"Well in that case," said Lee. "Lead the way, my old friend. And don't worry about the motor. I'll just leave it there. Nobody's gonna steal it."

The car was left outside the barrier and all five went through the cab doors to get to the front of the campsite. Vince was the last to go through, and stood with the rest of the group.

"You got a caravan to discuss this proposal?" asked Lee.

"I can't leave the barrier unguarded," protested Vince. "Especially after what happened."

"It'll be fine, " Lee laughed. Lee beckoned everyone and said, "This will only take five minutes, and I could do with a drink. Come on, let's go."

Vince turned around and made sure the area was clear, as it was going to be left unattended for a few minutes. This had been the first time that he had done this, and it made him nervous. He then clocked Jasmine Kelly. She was walking around in a daze, and although she had recently lost her mother, Vince called over to her and asked her to stand at the barrier and watch out for anything untoward, and that he'd be in his caravan. She agreed to do this.

Vince guided the way, with the other four behind. "We'll discuss my problem in my caravan."

"You do what you want," Bentley scoffed, then turned to Pickle. "I have people to see. Which caravan do the Dicksons stay in?"

Pickle pointed ahead. "They're a bit fragile after yesterday morning."

"I won't be long."

Chapter Fifty One

Paul and Kyle Dickson both jumped when they heard a rap at the door.

"It's okay, big chap." Paul kissed his son on his head and said, "It might be Vince to see how we're doing."

Paul approached the door and could see through the frosted glass a huge figure standing behind it. He opened the door with zero reluctance and stood and stared at the man for a few seconds, his brain trying to register who was in front of him. He burst into laugher once he realised it was Bentley Drummle. Both men hugged and Bentley stepped inside without asking permission.

Paul asked, smothered in puzzlement, "How..?"

"It's a long story." Bentley waved him away. "Later. What about you? How did you get here? I thought you were going to your mum's."

Paul raised a sad smile. Bentley's comment had reminded Paul that both of his parents were dead. "That's also a long story."

"Bentley!" Kyle called out. Little Kyle Dickson ran at the bulky man and they both had a quick hug. Paul's heart warmed when seeing this. This had been the first time in a while that he had seen his son smile, and considering what had happened yesterday morning, he wasn't sure how long it'd be before Kyle would crack his face again. Bentley's appearance seemed to have done the trick.

"Where's Laura?" Kyle asked. Paul was thinking the same.

Where
is
Laura?

Bentley's face suggested that the news wasn't good. He lowered his head and said with no hesitation, not thinking that a small child was near him, "We were attacked during the night. Laura was taken and the camp was completely overrun."

"Oh God, Bentley." Paul had his hand over his mouth. "I'm so sorry."

"When I saw her being taken down, I ran away, stole a car..." Bentley had to pause and his tightening throat prevented him from going any further with the story.

"You don't have to explain." Paul looked at Bentley and nodded to his son, making Bentley realise that his story wasn't for infant's ears anyway. "But for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"Yep, so am I."

"She seemed a great woman."

"She is...was."

Kyle grabbed Bentley by the hand and asked if he wanted to play round the back, near the corner of the hedge.

Before Bentley could answer, Paul stepped in and said, "You can't."

"Why not?" huffed Kyle.

"Because I think some of the men were patching it up."

Kyle look baffled and responded, "I thought they already did it, daddy."

"Argumentative little tyke, isn't he?" He looked over to Bentley, then sighed, "It doesn't matter. You're not going." Paul whispered in Bentley's ear. "We were attacked yesterday and I think a lot of the grass is still stained with blood. Both human and..."

"Why are you two whispering?" Kyle sat on the sofa and had his arms folded.

"Never you mind, big chap."

Bentley leaned over and whispered in Paul's ear, "Does he know?" Bentley was referring to the demise of Julie and Bell Dickson, Kyle's mother and sister.

Paul knew exactly what he was talking about and nodded sadly. He looked over to his son who was sitting on the sofa. "Taking it reasonably well."

The elation of Bentley's arrival had soon died and Paul had a question to ask the big man. "How did you get in? Vince doesn't just let anybody in."

"Make me a brew and I'll tell you all about it."

Paul clocked the bulk underneath the bottom of Bentley's T-shirt. "You still have Glen?"

Bentley sniggered, and pulled up his shirt to reveal his Glock that was sticking out of the front of his jeans. "I do indeed."

*

Lee James made himself comfortable in Vince's caravan that he had owned for many years, and took a look around. "Hasn't changed much."

Vince chuckled, "We've spent many a night in here, getting pissed."

"Ah, the good old days." Lee was leaning back and had his hands at the back of his head, reminiscing.

"Tell me about it."

With Pickle being made to hurry when he was talking to his old friend, Bentley, he decided to say something to the two men before they went off on a tangent. "Are we gonna talk about old times or are we gonna talk about the future?"

"Touchy, this one." Lee cackled, and turned to Pickle. "What's up, son? Been a while since you've had your oats?"

Pickle took one step forward, nearer to Lee's presence, and said calmly, "Yer wanna know what yer would look like with no teeth in that cheeky gob o' yours?"

Lee lost his smile, and went to stand to his feet to square-up to Harry Branston.

"No." Vince placed his hand on Lee's shoulder, gazing hard, keeping him from standing up. "Trust me. You don't wanna do
that
." He then turned to Pickle and tried to joke, "Just relax, my little piranha fish. Okay?"

Pickle bobbed his head once, still glaring at Lee.

Lee took a few seconds to relax, but when he did he apologised to Vince and Pickle, then began. "So what's your proposal?"

"I'll be straight with you." Vince ran his fingers over his badly scarred face. He had a little stubble and was needing a shave.

"Please do."

"Back at the garden centre you said we could join anytime. I want to merge with your camp."

Lee look baffled. "You can't really merge—"

"Okay, okay. Maybe I didn't explain it well enough." Vince paused for thought and cleared his throat. "I want to join your camp, along with our people, even though they ain't been asked yet. We have about thirty persons here now, we have cattle, supplies aplenty in the Spode cottage. We have those two HGVs, obviously, a few more vehicles..."

"I don't know."

"I'll be honest with you.
We
need
you
more than the other way around, but together we could be stronger. There is some dangerous shit out there, and I'm not just talking about the Rotters."

"I know." Lee laughed, "A couple of weeks ago we were on a run and were shot at by some greasy fuck, a couple of his pals and a ginger-haired woman."

Vince gazed at Pickle, then turned his attention back to Lee, sure that he was talking about Gavin, his sister and their thugs. Vince said with a smirk, "They shouldn't be a problem now."

Lee was still deliberating Vince's proposal, and was chewing his bottom lip while thinking. "What about your people? What if they don't want to come to my camp?"

"I'm sure they will. After yesterday morning's attack, I think they'll gladly move."

"And if some refuse?"

"As harsh as it may sound, they can stay here and ride it out without my help. I'm sure that won't be the case, though."

"Oh." Lee's eyes widened as if he had just remembered something. "I meant to ask, do you have a John Waite on your campsite? Or has he..?"

"No he's still alive. Why?"

"Bentley has only been with us for a short time. He turned up with a lady who was on her way to your own camp to see her father, but we told them it was very dangerous. Her name's Helen Waite, John Waite's daughter."

"Well, they can be reunited once we've all up sticks," Vince said with a smile.

"Back to the proposal." Lee nodded and added, "I've got no problem with it. We can put it to a vote when I get back, but they should be fine."

"What's the actual Sandy Lane set-up like?" Karen asked. "All we've seen are the cars and barriers in place at the Globe Island."

Lee explained, "The bottom of the lane is blocked, and it goes right up to the railway bridge. All the side streets off the lane have been taken care of. It was a mess at first, but there are no more Wasters, and more than enough houses to dwell, as most people left or died in the first week. So we have one blockade at one end of the lane, and another blockade at the other end."

Karen said, "What about Draycott Park? That's only hundreds of yards from the railway bridge blockade."

"What about it?" scoffed Lee. "We didn't want to bite off more than we could chew, if you pardon the pun, but the railway bridge to the Globe Island is as far as we go. It took us weeks to sort
that
out. As for Draycott park, the odd Waster is spotted in the distance by our barrier guards, but there hasn't been much trouble."

Vince added, "You okay for water? We already have a well on the campsite."

"We're sorted for everything, but the cattle would be excellent. We could put them on the Lea Hall football pitches for grazing, and make some kind of similar set-up you've got here."

"Back to Draycott Park," said Karen.

Vince jumped in, "Karen, we're not discussing Draycott Park—"

"Gonna shut the fuck up for a minute?" she snapped at Vince with demonic eyes, embarrassing the supposed-leader of the camp, then turned her attention back to Lee. "Whether your people vote no or yes—"

Lee interjected, "They
will
vote yes."

"I need permission to enter your camp, so I can cut through and get to the other blockade by the railway bridge. I need to get to Draycott Park, back to my old home."

Pickle looked confused and asked, "But why? Why would yer want to go back somewhere where yer used to live. Yer told me weeks ago that yer never wanted to go back."

"That was weeks ago, but I need to see Gary. I suppose I need some kind of closure, whatever the fuck that means. It's been bugging me for a while."

"Are yer sure?" Pickle looked concerned for his friend. She had only lost Shaz the day before, and now she wanted to see her reanimated fiancé.

"Yes, I'm sure. It's about time he was put out of his misery, unless someone has already been there and done it already. I just need to be sure." She then smiled and groaned, "It
would
also be nice to wear some of my own clothes."

"You can cut through the camp by all means." Lee looked a little embarrassed about what he was going to say next. "But I don't think the majority of people in our place will be happy to give you protection when going into that area. But like I said, we've spotted the odd one now and again. I don't think hordes are that common in this town anymore."

"She won't need protection from your lot," Pickle spoke up. "I'll be going with her."

"And so will I," said Vince.

"Okay." Lee raised both hands in defeat. "If you really need to do this, then do it."

Karen admitted, "I was never bothered about it before. I suppose it was too dangerous in the early days anyway, but if it's possible, I would like to put him to rest. It just doesn't seem right, or respectful, to leave him in the house, if he still
is
in the house, shambling about."

"So..." Vince gazed at Lee while he finished off his drink of water. He noticed that the other three had hardly touched theirs. "When do you want to arrange a visit so I can meet the people, and of course get Karen to her old house and see what's what?"

Lee James said, "You probably already know some of them from way back. Remember Luke John and Nicholas Burgess?"

Vince nodded. He had had a few run-ins with both men back in his drinking days. "Remember them? Luke broke my nose in the kebab shop for pushing in the queue."

Lee laughed, "That was four years ago. I was there, remember?"

Vince's last question wasn't answered at all, so he decided to ask again. "When do you want to arrange a visit?"

"Nothing
too
arrange."

"What?"

Lee sat upright, straightening his back, and said,  "Why don't you three come with me once we're done here. I can leave Bentley here to continue catching up with that man and boy and then he can go and guard the camp as well."

"I'll get Jasmine to stay there with him," said Vince. "Just until we come back."

"We won't be long," Lee reassured Vince. "You lot and Karen can go to Draycott while I'm having a talk with my people."

Vince looked concerned and considering what had happened yesterday, he had every right to be. "Why don't I just go on my own, and you." he looked over to Karen, "can do your...
closure
thing another time. We need some bodies here to guard the place."

"I want it done as soon as possible." Karen looked adamant. "On my own, if I have to."

"You'll do no such thing." Pickle then turned to Vince and said, "We'll be as quick as possible." Pickle placed his arm on Vince's shoulder.

Vince began, "But..."

"Look," snapped Karen. "The reason why Shaz and the rest died was because some daft kid brought them here, not because of the lack of guards on the barrier."

Vince nodded. "Okay. But we'll be quick as fuck, and I'll tell everyone before I go what's happening and to stay indoors."

"Bentley has a handgun on him. They'll be no problems." Lee added, "When you get there you can have a quick look round, and you can meet some of the guys that run the place. Then you can take Karen back to her house."