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    Pacifier 6: The Shadows Within
    Pacifier 6: The Shadows Within
    Pacifier 6: The Shadows Within
    Ebook112 pages1 hour

    Pacifier 6: The Shadows Within

    By G. Wakeling

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    About this ebook

    The apocalypse has come and gone. A disease, an infection, that blackened the Earth with horror. Then came Pacifier 6; a drug to calm the evil, to dampen the cravings for flesh and bone. Now you go to the store and pick out a zombie as if you were buying a new pet.

    But what happens when you realise that familiar faces still have feelings?

    Carl’s pulling himself back together, attempting to cope with the losses that life has dealt him. Amidst the horror of the past few months, he begins to realise that death isn’t necessarily the end; it can be the start of something new, something that has never been seen before. With everyone around him battling to keep society intact, Carl manages to see beyond the ravaged faces of those he once knew. There’s a new creature in the darkness, a consciousness that most have overlooked, and it’s waiting to reveal itself.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherG. Wakeling
    Release dateJan 31, 2013
    ISBN9781301612130
    Pacifier 6: The Shadows Within
    Author

    G. Wakeling

    Geoff Wakeling lives in London and escapes the smog of the city through his writing. Having released his debut novel, Inside Evil, on the tales of a mysterious world shadowing our own, Wakeling is now working on a science fiction saga in addition to possible follow-ups to his debut book. With a degree in Zoology, Wakeling is animal mad and has three cats, fish and five chickens in his London home. He is a keen gardener and conservationist.

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      Book preview

      Pacifier 6 - G. Wakeling

      Pacifier 6 – The Shadows Within

      By

      G. Wakeling

      Copyright © 2013 by G. Wakeling

      No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the author, except for brief quotations used in reviews and critiques.

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook 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.

      Huge thanks to Keith Draws for creating the artwork.

      Table of Contents

      Sheila’s Escape

      Daisy Chains

      To Catch A Cook

      Bread Books and Pastry Chefs

      A House of Shadows

      A Rogue Frother

      The End of Curfew

      A Misguided Rescue Plan

      A Kitchen Refuge

      About the Author

      Sheila’s Escape

      The winter had been the harshest that mankind had ever seen. No one knew the true origins of the infection, where the place was from which darkness descended onto the world and cast the blackest age that had ever befallen the human race. Stories stirred the rumours that the first fallen members of society had been created and released by fundamentalist terrorists wanting to cleanse the world of its sins. Those that wanted to start afresh with a new civilisation. The aberrations appeared in America, unleashed upon unsuspecting revellers partying as the Halloween season filled the streets with ghosts and ghouls. Amongst such faces, such costumes, the initial flesh ripping and bone breaking went unnoticed. But the isolated incidents weren’t contained, and soon America vanished beneath a sea of blood, cut off from the world, ostracised for fear of contamination.

      The first days and weeks were quiet, until disappearances began in London. Then, gruesome murder scenes caused steel stomached police chiefs to retch their guts out and run for cover. Loved ones and friends became swamped with the growing darkness, until they too disappeared beneath a carpet of raw and bloodied ripped flesh.

      Carl had been glad when the spring arrived, bringing with it renewed hope that not everything was lost. Soft breezes filled with warm air tickled his skin, and despite all that had happened, life went on. Plant shoots unfurled, creatures stirred, the culled human population found a new way to survive. It was still early March and the clocks had not yet changed, and as Carl’s squinting eyes began to open, morning light filtered through the gap in the curtains. It was the fresh, almost opaque, spring light that hadn’t fully developed into summer sun, and it dusted the room in a light ethereal glow.

      Crap, Carl groaned as he realised that whilst the sun brought contentment to his waking form, he’d grossly overslept. He glanced across at the bronze wind-up alarm clock that ticked beside his bed. 10.23am. If the creatures didn’t murder him, his mother would. Yet, still he didn’t move, allowing his head to sink back into the pillow for a few more seconds. He scratched his face and felt that the stubble on his chin was now almost as long as his short cropped hair. He needed a good shave.

      After a pause, just long enough to feel his body sinking back into sleep, Carl thrust himself out of bed knowing that the only way was to throw back the duvet and leap from his cocoon. The cold air shocked his skin even through the old vest and track pants that he’d been curled in, and with the early spring day finally breathing life into his soul, Carl staggered to the door.

      Mum? Carl called out, rubbing his eyes as he moved through the corridor and down the softly carpeted stairs. Mum?

      All remained quiet in the house, Carl’s voice the only disturbance to the stillness of his surroundings. Light filtered through the green and yellow glazed glass panel in the front door, spilling colourful patterns onto the light wooden flooring. The vertical glass window that ran up the side of the frame caused a blue sheen to glimmer. Blue for occupied. Green for vacant. Red for dangerous, do not enter, proceed only if you wanted your guts ripped out and eaten.

      Peering into the living room, Carl saw that it too was empty, devoid of any life apart from the small green budgie that sat and chirped in its cage by the window. It was a vicious little thing, and though his mother adored it, it would try and take Carl’s ears off whenever it got a chance to fly from its cage and gnaw with ferocity. Perhaps it too was infected, diseased. Perhaps Carl should simply reach out, break its neck and save his mother the constant worry that she wouldn’t be able to find enough seed. He pushed the thought away, knowing that he couldn’t ever actually do such a thing.

      Wandering further down the hall, Carl reached the white kitchen door, its numerous bolts intact and indicating that his mother was not inside. Fumbling with the locks, Carl slowly began to undo each one, removing the chain, using the small key that hung on the doorframe to open the padlock. He reached up and turned the latch at the top, before pulling back the large central bolt with a bang, and pushing the inward swinging door with a jolt.

      The kitchen was also empty. The large room had cupboards and worktops on every side but one, and large French doors led to a garden where steps ran up to a small lawn. The original glass was long gone, replaced several times in the past few months, and now thick bars were cast upon the outside of the doors, preventing anything from getting in. Or getting out.

      On the central island a large brown bowl stood. Beside it, a lump of dough lay on the countertop, half worked, but left to rise. Carl looked to the wall besides the cooker, to two thick chains which hung loosely from the tiles. They snaked their way over the expanse of cream ceramics like wrought iron vipers, the interlocking chains caught amongst one another so that they didn’t hang straight. On the opposite side of the room Carl heard a rustle, and he looked towards a shattered window and saw the spring breeze carry a small leaf through the air.

      Crap, Carl said with far more urgency than his awakening expletive had been. Running to the window, he saw that the glass had shattered outwards, sending shards of knife sharp material scattering over the patio table that lay beneath the sill. The bars that were normally in place to prevent such escapes, dangled below, hanging from the bottom ledge by the remaining two screws.

      Mum? Carl shouted, as he left the kitchen behind him and raced up the stairs. Without thinking he burst into his mother’s bedroom and saw that she lay quietly in her own slumber. Sheila’s out again.

      Beneath the duvet there was movement, and his mother’s tired and lined face appeared.

      Carl, she muttered as she licked her lips in a bid to restore some moisture to her dry mouth. What?

      Sheila’s out again, Carl repeated, a hand gripped around the door so as to ease his anxiousness.

      She’ll come back when she’s hungry, Karen said sleepily. What time is it? I was having the weirdest dream…

      Mum, she hasn’t had her shot, Carl interrupted, knowing the urgency of the situation.

      Oh, for the love of God, Carl, Karen snapped, her previously sleepy eyes now fully alert as adrenaline shot through her body. She sat bolt upright, before leaping out of bed and pulling on a turquoise dressing gown that hung on the back of a chair. I can’t lose Sheila. If she hurts anyone this time, then they’ll never give me another one. They’ll take my allocation away. She stared fiercely in Carl’s direction, and he felt the burn of her eyes on his face. You were supposed to inject her last night.

      I know, I know. I was going to do it this morning, but..

      But you slept in, Karen finished. Do I have to do everything myself?

      The pair hurried out of the room, Carl pulling sneakers onto his feet as he reached the bottom of the stairs. Karen reached down besides the hall cabinet and pulled out a baseball bat.

      You take the street, she said, passing the bat to Carl. I’ll go out back and check she hasn’t climbed three gardens down and eaten the Bareham’s dog.

      As his

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