Snatchers (Book 14): The Dead Don't Hate Read online

  Snatchers 14: The Dead Don’t Hate

  By

  Shaun Whittington

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright 2020

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  The author uses UK English

  The fear of death is more dreaded than death itself.

  Publilius Syrus

  Snatchers 14: The Dead Don’t Hate

  Chapter One

  September 8th

  The prison van was deemed perfect for the Amerton Farm trip. Two WOE bikers had returned from the farm and the owners, Mr and Mrs Greendale, both agreed that coming back to Stafford would be a safer option for themselves.

  Drake didn’t care about the health and well-being of the couple in their twilight years, and deep down they knew that. All he was interested in was the fifty to sixty hens they possessed on their land. Every other animal they used to have had died by their own hands to survive, apart from the cows. The four cows that they possessed in their humble farm were killed by the dead.

  Mr Greendale woke up one morning to find over twenty of the dead in the field and devouring the cows. The dead left on their own accord, once there was nothing left to devour.

  It had been known for days that a potential trip was on the cards, but with the couple confirming that they wanted pastures new, it was time to pick them up as well as their produce which would benefit the camp greatly. Even before he left, Drake had asked two of his guys to set up a pen of some sort, in the patch of grass, near the large shed that had been painted by David MacDonald days ago.

  Drake didn’t want to take too many people to Amerton, but he also wanted the trip to go without a hitch. Drake, Vince and Pickle were in the front of the van, whereas Mildred Huxtetter and young Stephanie Perkins were in the back. Not only could the girls give the guys a hand, but if ever they were car jacked on the road, Mildred and Stephanie would be waiting in the back as the potential jackers opened the doors of the van. They were insurance, but could also keep the Greendales relaxed on the trip back to Stafford Hospital, as they weren’t as intimidating as the men in the front of the van.

  “Thankfully this thing has holding cells,” Drake began, as Pickle started the vehicle. “We can put so many hens in each cell. At least they won’t be flying about on the way back.”

  “Can hens fly?” Vince questioned. Pickle was driving, Vince was at the passenger window, and Drake was in the middle.

  “Um ... I think so.” Drake scratched his chin, unsure of his answer.

  “I’m sure they can.” Pickle turned onto Gaol Road and released a small chortle. “Maybe not far, but...”

  “Right, that’s enough,” Drake moaned. “We’re not even out of Stafford yet and you two are boring the cunt off me.”

  “Let’s change the subject then,” said Pickle, and then took a peek at Vince to his left. “For the last couple o’ days I’ve been hearin’ a little rumour about yer, Mr Kindl.”

  “Oh?” Drake smiled.

  “Is that right?” Vince shuffled in his seat uncomfortably and looked agitated, as if he knew what was coming.

  “Aye, I have,” Pickle said further.

  “Well, do tell,” Drake persisted.

  Pickle looked at Vince, and Kindl hunched his shoulders and said, “Come on then. Spit it out.”

  “If yer really want me to.”

  “Jesus Christ!” Drake stormed. “Hurry up! I’m getting bored of this!”

  “According to some o’ the guys,” Pickle began. “Vince and Joanne Hammett are a bit o’ a thing now.”

  Vince released a sigh and said, “We’re just enjoying each other’s company. That’s all.”

  “You and Joanne?” Drake scoffed. The thirty-seven-year-old ran his fingers over his shaved head. “How the fuck did you manage that?”

  “We just get on,” said Vince. “No big deal.”

  Pickle was told to take a left by Drake, and once that was achieved, he fired another question at the man he had known for three months. “How come yer never said anything? Yer the kind o’ person to brag about things like this.”

  “Just...” Vince paused and tried not to bite. “Just drop it, Pickle, will you? Please.”

  Pickle noticed Vince was unusually serious and decided not to probe further. He had no idea why he was so sensitive about being with Joanne, but for whatever reason, he wasn’t comfortable talking about it.

  “If I’ve said something to piss yer off,” Pickle said. “Then I apologise.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” said Vince. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

  “Another ten minutes and we’ll be there,” said Drake, gazing out of the window. “I’ll keep you right.”

  The prison van was in the centre of the road and went by the sign for Amerton, and the vehicle passed three Snatchers that were on the left side of the road. Their rotten hands managed to slap the van as it passed, but there was no harm done.

  Chapter Two

  Mildred Huxtetter and Stephanie Perkins sat on the floor of the van, inbetween the open holding cells that were to the side of them, and started to tell one another about where they were from and the perils they had to endure at the beginning. Both stories were similar, and the subject of Drake popped up.

  “I know you’re a bit young for all of this,” Mildred began, “but I do think he’s kind of hot.”

  “Who?” Stephanie queried with confusion. “Drake?”

  Mildred nodded. “There’s just something about him. I can’t quite put my finger on it.” Mildred was bisexual, but chose not to share the information with the youngster.

  “Ew.” Stephanie screwed her face in disgust. “I’m only fourteen. Change the subject.”

  “Okay,” Mildred laughed. “So what’s happening with you and young David these days?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, he obviously has a crush on you.” Mildred giggled and teased further, “Are you two gonna be boyfriend and girlfriend?”

  “Shut up!” Stephanie said with a smile. “He’s just a friend.”

  “If you say so.”

  Mildred smiled and turned to her left and could see the teenager now with her knees up and her head down, resting on her knees.

  “Tired?” Mildred said.

  Stephanie waggled her head slowly, keeping her head on her knees, and said, “Not really. It’s this journey. Making me feel sick. And the fact that we can’t see where we’re going doesn’t help.”

  “Paranoid, eh?”

  Stephanie nodded.

  “Can’t say I blame you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Mildred smiled and shook her head. “Doesn’t matter.”

  Stephanie raised her eyebrows and lifted her chin, urging Mildred to explain what she meant.

  Mildred ran her fingers through her hair and groaned, “Okay. A month or so back...” She paused. “I met up with some guy. You’ll probably know yourself, when you’re on the road you tend to bump into people. Not all bad people.”

  Stephanie nodded, and b
riefly thought about Elza and Ophelia.

  “Anyway, me and this guy got picked up by a nice elderly couple. They were escaping their town of Tamworth and were on their way up north somewhere. I think they were heading to Warrington.”

  “Why there?”

  Mildred pulled a face and said, “Never asked. We told them that we were heading to Stafford and got into the back of their van. We tried to go for a sleep, but that didn’t last long.”

  “Why, what happened?” Stephanie impatiently asked.

  Mildred was reluctant to tell her female companion the rest of the story. Maybe it was a bad idea. She had been told that Stephanie was a warrior, but she was still only fourteen.

  Stephanie persisted and Mildred told her a short summary of what happened. Mildred informed Stephanie that the pair of them had woken up and the vehicle came to a sudden halt and her head banged against the side. They could hear voices outside. An argument took place and it sounded like the elderly male, the driver, was refusing to leave his vehicle. Screams followed and then there was silence.

  Mildred and her male companion remained still, too scared to move, and eventually they heard talking and footsteps. The doors to the van opened and four men could be seen.

  A male, a large bald fellow, appeared to be the leader and addressed Mildred as sister and his gang members as brothers when speaking. He told the pair of them to exit the vehicle and no harm would be done to them. They wanted the van. The leader introduced himself as Hando and seemed to have his eye on the young woman. Right there, she knew she was in trouble.

  She stepped out first and she could see the driver and his wife at the side of the road. Both had been stabbed to death, and Mildred made a decision right there to make a run for it. If she hadn’t, she would have ended the same way eventually. She was convinced of it.

  She ran into the nearby field and took a look over her shoulder once. She was being chased by a guy wearing a Chelsea football shirt. She faced the front and ran as hard as she could, wincing once the screams of her male companion could be heard. She didn’t witness it, but she knew he was being knifed to death.

  Mildred paused with her story and looked at Stephanie for a reaction. There wasn’t one.

  “Do you think that was a selfish thing I did?” Mildred asked Stephanie.

  The fourteen-year-old shrugged. “You had to do what you had to do. If you had stayed behind, you both would have been killed. You could have been beaten, raped, before they killed you. All three, and probably in that order.”

  “Survival of the fittest,” said Mildred, followed by a nod. “Although I felt for Daniel, my pal for a while, and that nice old couple.”

  The two girls remained silent and their bodies juddered when the van went over a bump.

  Stephanie looked at Mildred in the dusky area of the van and Mildred asked what was wrong.

  Stephanie began, “That story you just told me...”

  “What about it?”

  “That hasn’t helped with my nerves,” Stephanie sighed.

  “Sorry.”

  Chapter Three

  Karen Bradley had had very few visitors since the clinic had been officially opened, but she wasn’t complaining. The lack of clients meant she had more time to roam, although, in truth, she was bored a lot of the time and also felt a little rejected that she wasn’t invited to the Amerton Farm trip.

  She was aware that her trips out were going to be limited because she was a health professional, and thought that this was the beginning of the end for her, as far as going out on runs were concerned.

  She went out of the clinic and told the guard by the door that she wouldn’t be long. She decided to visit Stephen Rowley. It had been five days since his ankle was caught in an animal trap and had damaged his skin and broken his ankle, and she wondered how he was doing. She went to the ward where he slept and found the place empty, so decided to head outside and get some air, seem as though nothing much was happening.

  She walked by the large shed and looked up to see Findlay waving at her.

  She waved back, was about to walk over and have a chat, but a voice to the side of her caught her attention. She turned and could see Darren walking over to her.

  “How’s it going?” she asked him.

  He hunched his shoulders with a smile and replied, “Okay, I guess.”

  “I was looking for Stephen, I was wondering how he is.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about him,” Darren chuckled. “He’s fine. Just seen him talking to Gerry by the greenhouse. Probably getting bored to death about cucumbers.”

  “Sounds about right.” Karen smiled. “I bumped into him yesterday, and he stood and gave me a lecture on greenfly and how harmful they could be.”

  “At least he cares.”

  “I suppose.”

  Darren winced and rubbed his belly.

  Noticing this, Karen asked, “You okay?”

  Darren smiled. “It comes and goes.”

  “Are you sure? I can—”

  “I’m fine,” Darren snapped. His face immediately looked apologetic and he flashed Karen a smile. “Nothing to worry about. Really.”

  “If you say so.”

  Karen heard her name being called out from behind and turned to see Joanne Hammett approaching. Darren told Karen that he would speak to her later and left her alone with Joanne.

  Joanne ran her fingers through her blonde hair as she approached Karen, and seemed nervous, awkward.

  “You okay?” Karen asked her.

  Joanne nodded and looked behind her before she opened her mouth, suggesting to Karen that she had a private question to ask her.

  “Is there something you want to ask me?” Karen chuckled.

  “Yes, there is.”

  “Well, I’m all ears.”

  Joanne took in a deep breath and took a quick peep over her shoulder again. “I’m starting to see someone in here.”

  “Oh, do tell.” Karen’s intrigue was strong, but she could tell by Joanne’s face that she didn’t want to reveal who her lover was. Joanne’s awkward silence continued and Karen decided to persist no more and asked, “What are you actually after? What can I do for you?”

  “I know it wasn’t high on the list when it came to supply runs...” Joanne paused and her silence began to niggle at Karen. Before Karen could open her mouth and tell Joanne to hurry up, she continued. “I was wondering if there’re any condoms in this clinic thing you’ve set up.” Joanne immediately blushed.

  “Yeah, there is.” Karen brushed her dark hair behind her ears and added, “It is not very professional of me to ask this, but … fuck it, I don’t really have a proper job anymore.” She giggled. “Who is it?”

  “I’d rather not say,” Joanne responded, and Karen decided not to push anymore. It wasn’t any of her business.

  “Okay,” said Karen. “I’ll grab a pack for you.”

  “Thanks so much.”

  “I take it you haven’t done anything yet.”

  “Well, we tried. I already had one old condom on me, but he struggled.”

  “Struggled. What do you mean?”

  “Well.”

  “Getting an erection? Maintaining one?”

  “I don’t know,” Joanne huffed and didn’t want to elaborate. “He just struggled. Let’s leave it at that.”

  Karen was confused and urged Joanne to follow her back to Ward 22, where the clinic was based. The two of them walked side by side and Joanne decided that Karen deserved some kind of explanation.

  “It’s not quite happening yet, and I don’t know why,” Joanne explained in short. “But it will.”

  “Probably just nerves.” Karen smiled at Joanne and teased, “It’s been a while for a lot of people and, if you don’t mind me saying so, you’re a very attractive woman, Joanne, if the problem is premature ejaculation.”

  Joanne smiled thinly, unsure how to respond to Karen’s remark.

  “And you definitely don’t wanna tell me who it is?”
/>   “I’d rather not say,” said Joanne, and then joked, “Anyway, being a health professional are you allowed to ask me that?”

  “Health professional?” Karen scoffed. “It’s not as if I’m getting paid to do this anymore.”

  “No perks at all from Drake?”

  “Nope.” She shook her head. “It’s just something that’s stopping me from becoming bored out of my tits.”

  Karen and Joanne waved at David MacDonald as he walked by, and both entered the outpatients building, heading for Ward 22.

  Three minutes later, Joanne had left with condoms and Karen sat behind her desk and wondered what to do next. He had only been gone for a little while, but she was already missing Pickle.

  “Christ, I’m so bored.”

  Chapter Four

  The van slowed down as it reached a set of broken traffic lights, and Drake instructed the driver to take a left down a country road.

  “Another mile and we’ll be there,” said Drake.

  Pickle looked to the side and could see an unusually quiet Vince Kindl staring into space. Pickle wasn’t sure if he was missing his son Brian, who had been killed a few years ago by Kevin ‘Knuckles’ Murphy, or Rosemary, his on and off lover, or was thinking about the people that they’d lost in general over the three camps that they had stayed in. Or was something else on his mind?

  Pickle decided to have a word with Vincent once the two were alone together.

  The van pulled up by the large wooden gate, which was the entrance to the farm, and Drake told the two of them that he would go out alone and talk to the elderly couple, as it would look less threatening.

  Drake left the van, after squeezing past Vince, and headed over to the gate. Vince shut the passenger door that Drake had exited and both men sat in silence, watching Drake. Like most country lanes in the West Midlands area, the farm that used to be open to the public was surrounded by fields and fences, and not a single house could be seen near it.