Monsterland (An Apocalyptic Horror) Read online

  Monsterland

  By

  Shaun Whittington

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright 2015

  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

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  Monsterland is a work of fiction, and many of the events in the book occur in real places. However, in these areas I have taken the liberty of exaggerating certain things that suited the book. Other places that are mentioned may not be real at all, so if you are from the area that I have written about, try not to be too upset that I have twisted a few things.

  This is a book about the beginning of the apocalypse, so it does contain tension, gore, and scenes that could upset individuals, especially scenes involving children. It needs to be as real as possible, and in reality nobody would be exempt from such an unforgiving world.

  Thanks,

  Shaun.

  MONSTERLAND

  Prologue

  As soon as the first scream from outside pierced her ears, Kate Dickinson ran to her bedroom window to see what was happening. She looked out onto her street and was smothered with confusion.

  What was going on? Was it some kind of riot? Or a gang battle of some kind?

  She had no idea.

  There were dozens of people running through the street and some continued to pass through, but others turned and ran at the main door of some of the houses, trying to smash their way in. Most were successful first time, but others threw themselves at the doors time and time again until they were finally open. Kate could see one had ran at a bay window and went through it first time.

  At the end of her street she could see a family had arrived just back from a shopping trip. The car pulled up on the drive, and the two young daughters got out first and were standing patiently by the side of the car. The parents exited the vehicle, opened the boot and began taking out their groceries, completely oblivious to what was going on.

  Three seconds later five of the running individuals ran at the family with ferocious speed and took them down, making Kate Dickinson scream out in horror. The parents were on the floor with one individual on each parent, biting into their faces. The two young daughters stood in shock and were soon taken down by the other three. Their screaming was short-lived, and Kate saw that the five attackers soon moved away from the family, who were now all lying on the floor with their bloody injuries, and went away, possibly looking for another victim.

  Kate was then taken aback when she saw the family, that had been attacked, return back to their feet and began to run themselves, now alongside the ones that had just attacked them.

  "What the..?"

  Kate squinted in confusion at the bizarre scenes that she was witnessing, but she didn't have time to question what was going on in her street. She heard a cry coming from the next room.

  She gasped, "Connor."

  Kate went into the next room and saw that her two-year-old boy had woken from his nap. She lifted him up and could feel his hot body against her clothes. It was just the two of them, now she had finally got rid of that cheating rat, and she squeezed him hard as the melee outside could still be heard.

  "Oh, Connor," she cried and kissed his hot forehead. "What is happening? What is happening, my baby boy?"

  Connor's eyes were closed, the side of his face resting on her shoulder, and she walked back into her bedroom to assess what was now occurring in her street. She had locked the front door, but after witnessing some smash their way through a few doors, her confidence was low.

  She thought about going downstairs to get her phone and try and ring the emergency services, but that idea was soon thwarted once two of the things from outside had clocked her presence in the bedroom and ran towards her house.

  Still holding a sleepy Connor, she yelped when a loud bang was heard downstairs.

  They're trying to get through the main door. Oh Jesus, they're trying to get through the door.

  She closed her bedroom door and sat in the corner of her room. Connor had fallen back to sleep and Kate decided not to wake him. She didn't want her boy distressed.

  The noise was heard again and this time she could hear that the main door had given way.

  "Go away." She looked up to the ceiling and begged, "Please God, make them go away. Make them go away."

  She held onto her son as the sound of running could be heard on the ground floor of her house. The stairs were next.

  She shivered as the feet began to pound along the first floor, and she jumped when her own bedroom door crashed open and could see two of them staring at her, both males. Their eyes were red, bloodshot, and the one on the left had had his cheek bitten into. The one on the right had fresh blood over his chin, and growled at the woman.

  Connor began to stir and opened his eyes. Kate held him tighter and screamed, "What do you want?"

  They ran at her and attacked her and her little boy.

  Screams, from both mother and toddler, filled the room and blood was spilt in a frenzied fifteen second attack. She had taken three bites to her arm before the intruders ran away. Connor's injuries were too severe to recover from. His throat had been ripped out, and he bled out over his 'In the Night Garden' T-shirt and the bedroom's carpet.

  Kate then returned to her feet a minute later, but she wasn't the Kate of old. Her eyes changed colour and she ran out of the room, heading towards the exit and into the street.

  Chapter One

  Sunday 3rd June

  The drive from County Durham had been a long and arduous journey. It wasn't as if Gordon Burns had driven for a long while, or that he was feeling tired, but as soon as he came across the country road and entered the start of the Pennines, his boredom had multiplied. He was certain that it was a beautiful part of England once it was drenched in sunshine, but his overall goal was to get home to Gretna and get away from this miserable place.

  The heavens were open and the grey clouds lashed down as much rain as they could, making the drive along the windy lanes a treacherous journey. He slowed down as his vision was becoming impossible. Even though the windscreen wipers were at their fastest speed, his paranoia of slipping off a hill and crashing the car never left his mind.

  The car was now reasonably high up, and what alerted and unnerved Gordon Burns was the fact that there were no crash barriers along this huge stretch of road. If he did indeed crash on this night, he was aware that if he could not get out of the car, he could be there for a very long time before any kind of help would turn up.

  Gordon Burns was forty one years old, and was returning home from his Nan's funeral. It was hardly a shock; she was eighty-eight when she dropped in a heap in her living room, and he always had a soft spot for the old dear.

  When he arrived at the small town of Wingate for the funeral, he was bombarded with the usual questions from his aunties and uncles. All were asking why he never kept in contact; why he wasn't married, and what was the deal with him and his dad. His dad was the son of his Nan, and was someone he had never really bothered with since he was ten years old, since the divorce from his mum.

  Gordon's mum had been dead for ten years, thanks to cervical cancer, and his dad, his aunties and uncles, and a cluster of cousins, may as well be dead as well, because since Gordon Burns had moved to Gretna fifteen years ago, he never bothered with any of them, and vice versa.

  Gordon was a mail man in a jewellery office and had taken a few days off for the funeral. He was due holidays anyway, and onc
e he heard about his Nan he decided to take the week off and return on the fourth of June, Monday.

  Gordon had now arrived at an incline and although his knowledge of the Pennines was poor, he was pretty certain he was driving up a mountain rather than a big hill. The steep incline of the road seemed to be endless, and he was pretty sure his Mazda was eventually going to stall and conk out due to the severity of the climb. He dropped the car into first and had to make do with climbing the incline at a snail's pace.

  The darkness was growing as the evening aged. Black and grey clouds threateningly hung overhead, and once the car got to the brow of the huge hill, Gordon blurted out the words, "Fuck me," once he looked to see how high up he was.

  Despite the lashing rain, he could see the view was incredible, but frightening at the same time. Now over the brow of the hill, the car went on a straight decline, but only for a hundred yards. Once the car reached the bottom of the lane, he followed the road to the left and smiled when he saw that this part did have crash barriers. The whole point of this expedition was for a shortcut back to the M6 North, which would eventually lead Gordon back over the Scottish Borders and into Gretna, but he was now beginning to regret the advice that was given to him by his Uncle Jimmy at the funeral that the Pennines was a quicker way to the M6.

  He looked back up to the sky and sighed. Darkness had finally arrived.

  He looked at his watch. 8pm. The goal was to get through the Pennines before it got really late, but the weather and the paranoia of driving off one of the hills made him reduce his speed. He did toy with the idea of staying the night at one of the pubs in Wingate, but he was bemoaning the amount it had cost him already with the petrol he had had to use.

  As the weather continued to hurl everything it had against Gordon's Mazda, more speed was reduced as darkness grew. His full beam was making no difference to his vision, and he even contemplated on pulling over and waiting until the rain had died. But there was nowhere to pull in to, and he didn't want to leave his car stationary in the middle of The Pennines where it was quite possible that another vehicle could plough into the back of him.

  Maybe he should stop and keep his orange hazard lights on.

  He decided to go on.

  Once his driving continued through the awful weather, his headlights picked up, fifty yards away, another vehicle that was sitting stationary on the long and empty road. Although his journey had been a lonely and monotonous one, the sight of the vehicle unnerved him. He dipped his headlights, preparing the car to come to a stop.

  Gordon could have easily have driven around the car that was situated to the left, but his conscience wouldn't allow this. He slowed his car down, and once it eventually came to a stop behind the other vehicle, he reached for his jacket on the passenger seat.

  He tried to see what make of car it was, but the lack of light made this impossible. But he could see the backs of a driver and a passenger.

  He then stared and wondered if he should go out at all. He was losing his nerve. What if it was a couple having sex in the car? he thought. But why would they put their hazards on?

  He decided to investigate.

  With his seatbelt off, he still struggled to get his jacket on with the little room provided, and the rain still continued to beat down so hard that it sounded like a hundred birds were pecking the roof.

  He opened the car door to feel the water from above drenching his hair already. His jacket provided no hood, so he unzipped it and pulled the back of the coat over his head to protect his already-drenched hair. He then stood for a minute and wondered what the hell he was doing. He had no idea what or who was in that car, but he was certain there were people inside that needed help, although he was a little perplexed that neither person left their car to greet him.

  Gordon walked towards the driver's side and could see blurry figures inside. Gordon tried the door and as soon as it opened, the female sitting in the passenger seat released a frightened yelp, as she had no idea who Gordon was.

  "It's okay." Gordon held his hand up to let the female know he was there to help, if he could, and pulled down his coat to reveal his face. Gordon could see the male driver was breathing heavily and was holding onto his left shoulder and neck. "Didn't you see my headlights from behind?"

  She shook her head.

  Gordon asked, "What's wrong?"

  The woman sniffled, and it seemed to take an age for her to get her sentence out. "My husband was driving and this man came out of nowhere."

  Gordon looked confused and looked around in the rain; all he could see in front of him was darkness.

  "Er..." Gordon began to scratch his sodden hair. "What man?"

  "He must be a few yards in front of us." She pointed into the darkness, which Gordon thought was a pointless thing to do.

  Gordon cackled in frustration. "Where?"

  The woman stared at him and Gordon could see her struggling to gulp. She slowly raised her right arm and pointed towards the middle of the road. She was clearly shaken. "Over there."

  "Okay. When did this happen?"

  "About ten minutes ago. It was like hitting a brick wall. My husband thinks he's broken his neck and he can't move."

  Gordon smiled warmly, took out his phone from his trousers and was about to dial the number for the emergency services, but was interrupted by the woman's voice again. "I think the man that we hit might be dead."

  The male driver tried to say something to Gordon, but the woman shushed him and said, "Don't try to talk, darling. Don't move at all. Your neck could be broken."

  Gordon couldn't see any sign of the body, but he could hear a faint growling noise coming from the darkness somewhere.

  Gordon asked the woman to put her full beam on. She had no idea where it was, and he assumed she was someone who couldn't drive as she was unfamiliar with the ancillary tools. Gordon went back over to the car itself, opened the driver's door, smiled at the injured male driver sitting motionlessly in his seat, and found the stick for the full beam. He pulled the stick back and the full beam came on, but the only thing the lights lit up was more road. Nothing else could be seen.

  "Get in," she said. "You're getting soaked."

  He opened the back passenger door and got in to take a break from the driving rain. The female passenger turned to face him; she went to say something, but she seemed too upset at what had just happened. In her eyes, her partner was in a bad way, and they may have also killed a pedestrian. A pedestrian at this time of the day, in the middle of the Pennines? It didn't make sense to Gordon Burns. The whole scenario seemed surreal.

  "I can't see anything out there," Gordon said. "Are you sure you hit a person? Not an animal of some kind?"

  The woman, who hadn't introduced herself, nodded. "Definitely."

  "Well, the lights aren't picking up anything."

  The woman asked, "What about further up?"

  Gordon was exasperated and took a look at the man who was still nursing his neck.

  Ignoring her query, Gordon asked the woman, "Have you rung the paramedics?"

  The woman nodded. "They're on their way." She then asked her question once again. "What about further up? Maybe the body's further along the road."

  Gordon sighed, "I'm not walking any pissing further. We'll leave it to the experts."

  She nodded in agreement. "I perfectly understand. It's very scary out there."

  "I'm not scared," protested Gordon.

  She gave him a thin smile and said, "That's fine."

  Gordon puffed out his cheeks and snapped, "Right. Just a quick look."

  "No, I wasn't—"

  "A quick look," Gordon snapped, and opened the passenger door.

  He stepped back out into the rain, pulled the back of his coat over his head, and then began to walk forwards.

  After a minute, he looked behind him to see that he had walked about fifty yards, but there was still no sign of a body. Even if someone had been struck by a vehicle going 100mph, he was sure that the body wouldn
't be pushed that far forwards.

  He looked to the sides of him, but his 'investigating' was futile. He could not see a damn thing! He took his phone out and used the flashlight app. He walked near the edge, asked himself what the hell he was doing, and shone the weak torch downwards, but it wasn't picking anything up. He shook his head and turned on his heels, making his way back to the car with his head down, eyes looking at the floor. His clothes were sodden, and he was selfishly beginning to wish he had driven by the car now and left them to it.

  "Anything?"

  "Shit!" Gordon placed his hands on his chest after his fright and began grinding his teeth—something he would do on some occasions whenever he was nervous. He thought she was in the car and had no idea she had got out and was standing ten yards behind him.

  "No. Nothing," Gordon answered.

  "He must be somewhere."

  Gordon was beginning to lose his patience with this woman. "When the ambulance comes, they can find him."

  "But what if someone else comes by, drives past us, then drives over him if he's still in the middle of the road somewhere?"

  Gordon never answered her query verbally, but he nodded his head. She had made a good point.

  He huffed and decided to walk back along the road, away from the cars. He turned around and placed his hands over his eyes from the glare of the full beam. The further he walked along the road to find the alleged victim, the less light there would be coming from the car that was now many metres away. He knew that if he continued, he'd be back in the darkness, in a countryside that was more eerie than the Yorkshire Moors.

  The darkness hid the treacherous drops to the sides, so he tried to keep as central on the road as possible, but it was difficult, as there were no white lines in the centre of the road. He thought that there should have been a sign as people entered, The Pennines: Drive at your peril. Gordon was aware that it was an area in England that was meant to be driven through during the day so people could take in the breathtaking scenery. But his journey began in the evening, in the awful weather, and he was certainly paying for it now.