Free Snatchers (Book 3): The Dead Don't Cry by Shaun Whittington

backwards. Causing minor damage, the jeep forced open the gates and Jack swung the steering round so the vehicle spun one hundred and eighty degrees and was now facing forwards.
    Jack turned to Johnny. "You okay?"
    He quickly nodded, and winced when he said, "I might have released a little wee."
    Jack slipped the vehicle into first and went forward. The dead, by the fence, had now moved away and had stumbled into the road. Jack knew that he would have to manoeuvre the motor carefully, in order not to cause too much damage to the new vehicle he had stolen.
    He was convinced that such a vehicle could mow down these things with ease, but he didn't want dents, blood and brain matter all over it so soon. He took his foot off the gas and weaved around the hideous things that desperately tried to claw at the sheet of metal that surrounded the two men inside.
    Jack was doing an exceptional job, until he accidentally hit the dead boy.
    The boy went under the vehicle and both men's backsides jumped up as the wheels went over the body. Although he was already dead, Jack immediately thought of Thomas and tried to shake it off.
    Johnny asked, "Where to now? Lichfield? Burton?"
    "I suppose the best thing to do is lay low. The longer we wait, the more chance, as time passes by, that these things might slowly die off and help could come our way."
    "Isn't that just wishful thinking?"
    "It is wishful thinking," Jack agreed with Johnny, and was in no way angry for his negativity, "but it's all I can think of right now, and I'm not spending another night in the woods, that's for sure."
    "I could imagine the sleep deprivation must have been murder."
    Jack nodded. "Especially when you're on you own, and you've go no one to cover your back."
    "So where to, if you think going back to mine will be too dangerous?"
    "I have one idea. Back to my ex's. That's all I can think of. Depends on how many of those things are there, I suppose. It's not far."
    "And if it's too busy there?"
    Jack shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno."
    That wasn't the answer Johnny was hoping for.

Chapter Fourteen
     
    Their journey had been mundane and unproblematic throughout, but now the only thing they had to moan about, apart from the obvious dehydration and hunger, was the stress the hill was putting on their thighs and lower back. They both eventually got to the top of the large hill, where five hundred yards of flat ground greeted them.
    The wind was predictably boisterous on this reasonably dry day, and Karen pointed over to a cluster of trees where the cabin should be. Their eyes couldn't see it at that moment, but Karen was convinced that behind those trees was an open area where the cabin was.
    Pickle looked around at the view and could see the back of the Pear Tree Estate of Rugeley. The streets seemed reasonably clear and he couldn't understand why. Unless everyone in that area had escaped, or had been slaughtered.
    Granted, his eyes could only clock half a dozen streets, but at the moment he couldn't see any signs of bodies strewn across the roads. There were fires in the distance, but he was hoping that the worst of it had already happened, because if this cabin was a pointless exercise, they were going to have to go to the edge of town to find somewhere to sleep.
    Karen was looking at the same area he was, and spoke up. "Looks fairly clear."
    "True," Pickle said, "and if that shack is still there and clear, we can stay there for as long as we can. The longer away from those things, the more chance we stand o' surviving, providing we get some supplies."
    "What happens if this cabin is empty? No food or nothing?"
    "Then we're gonna have to raid a few houses and bring the food back up here."
    Karen fired another question. "And if the cabin is inhabited?"
    "Then we move on, if they don't give us a bed for a few nights. I'm not gonna harm people to get what I want."
    Karen raised her eyebrows at her companion as if to say: Isn't that what you used to do?
    "Okay." He