The Lost & Damned 1 by Keira Michelle Telford

Author:Keira Michelle Telford [Telford, Keira Michelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780987870148
Amazon: B0073YF1LY
Barnesnoble: B0073YF1LY
Publisher: Venatic Press
Published: 2012-01-30T03:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY

We Go ‘Boom-boom’

Deep in the heart of Willowbrook woods, Silver stares distrustfully at the ruins of an Old World mental institution, now almost completely reclaimed by nature.

Stone built, the walls are intact. Ivy creeps in through the gaping holes where panes of glass used to be, and spreads like living wallpaper throughout the interior. Every inch of the exterior is completely covered, and the roof collapsed under the weight of it a long time ago.

A breeze whispers through the trees and Silver almost gags.

The stench of rotting human flesh is pervasive, and the corpses are everywhere. Some have been dumped by the entrance to the building, while others have been left half-covered in the shrubbery and the weeds. Many more are rotting even deeper in the dense cover of the evergreens, never to see the light of day again.

Ripper victims, mostly.

The woods have been an illegal dumping ground for Ripper trash for decades. Aborted fetuses are also tossed here, if they’re too big to be flushed and not sold as a delicacy to the meat shops. Still born babies are frequently thrown from moving vehicles, tumbling down into the darkest parts of this wasteland. Likewise, hideously disfigured newborns—suffocated before they could even draw their first breath—are abandoned here without a care.

And that’s not all.

Murder victims are disposed of under the cover of nightfall, as are the bodies of the elderly. Their flesh is too bland and tasteless to be sold as food, and if they’re left in the city they attract vermin. Out here, they serve some purpose at least.

The Lurkers aren’t picky.

They’ll snatch up any fresh meat, no matter if it’s mutton or lamb, and they’ve roamed these woods for almost a century. They’re human, but barely. Pale from lack of sunlight, they’re feral remnants of humanity who scavenge the woods for food, willing to kill anything that trespasses into their domain.

Lacking human language skills, after generations of wild breeding, they can only grunt and snort the most basic of vocalizations. Able to construct crude tools from shards of sharp rock and stripped branches, they’re armed and vicious—they’re natural born hunters.

Surveying the scene, Jax shrugs her shoulders. “Well, he’s dead. Let’s go.”

She tries to get back inside the truck, but Silver blocks her way.

“We don’t know that yet.”

Jax accidentally steps on the skeletal remains of a human newborn, and crushes the skull. Disgusted, she kicks it away into the undergrowth. “You see anything alive around here? This is an organic waste dump, not a social club.”

“Fair enough, but he might not be alone in there.” Silver conceals her fear. “Alice might be with him.”

“Then she’s just as dead as he is.”

“Maybe, but I still need to know. If this isn’t a rescue mission anymore, then I need to start thinking about payback.”

Alex doesn’t like the sound of that, but he says nothing.

“I don’t care.” Jax lights up a cigarette. “I’m not setting foot in there.”

“Your feet will go wherever I tell them to,” Silver snaps at her.

“Na-uh. Not this time.

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