F is for Feral (A-Z of Horror Book 6) Read online

  BOOK SUMMARY

  Thirteen-year old Max is interested in only one thing: girls. Which is why his dreams come true when his lame caravanning holiday with his parents is lightened up by the arrival of three pretty girls his own age. They think Max is cute and want to hang out with him. It’s too good to be true.

  One of the girls wants to go to the nearby woods. It’s supposed to be haunted, ever since a girl died there. Max doesn’t care about that, though. He’s only interested in one thing: girls.

  They’ll be the death of him.

  “Other than dying, I think puberty is about as rough as it gets.”

  – Rick Springfield

  “They’re all gonna laugh at you.”

  –Margaret White, Carrie (1976), United Artists (based on the novel by Stephen King).

  -1 -

  Max was attracted to girls like a dog was attracted to a bright yellow tennis ball. Whenever he saw them he would get a fuzzy feeling all over and suddenly his actions and behaviour would become very deliberate. He wanted to be cool, wanted to be noticed. Which was why he jumped down off the climbing frame now and hurried over to lean over one of the adventure playground’s benches. There were girls coming.

  The three females were all about his age – maybe a year or two older – and were each beautiful enough to make his heart flutter. Two brunettes and a blonde with very large breasts. Max’s mouth went dry. He needed to get a drink, but no way was he leaving the adventure playground while there were girls around.

  At almost fourteen-years of age, he hated being dragged along on holiday with his parents every year, especially to a Hamley’s caravan park. His friends at school all went to Florida or someplace else that was hot, but Max’s family were too poor to leave England. The south coast of Devon was as good as it got. At least he had finally found some girls his own age, though. It might actually be time to start having fun.

  There were a couple other kids at the park, and when Max realised that he was the eldest of them all, he blushed. He must look such a loser hanging around the swings and climbing frame with a bunch of children, but there had been nowhere else to go. It was too cold to swim in the outdoor pool and the clubhouse wasn’t open until later. He’d started out in a small amusement arcade he’d discovered, but had run out of money quickly and been appalled at the age of the machines. There was even an original MK1 machine and that had come out before he was born.

  “Hey?” said the blonde, flanked either side by one of her brunette friends.

  Max froze. The girls had seemingly made a beeline for him. It had been exactly what he’d wanted, but it terrified him now that it had happened. He stood there like a freak, staring at the three girls with his mouth wide open.

  Say something, Max. Come on, man.

  Anything.

  Just say anything at all.

  Okay, I’m not saying anything. Why am I not saying anything?

  The blonde girl frowned. “I said, hey?”

  Max spluttered, coughed, then smiled madly. He finally managed to speak. “Hey, hi, hello. I’m Max.”

  All three girls chuckled. He wanted to die. Just fall down right there on the spot and stop existing.

  “Hi, Max,” said one of the brunettes. “My name is Hannah and this is Kerry and Shav.”

  Max looked at the second brunette – very dark featured with deep brown eyes – and frowned. “Your name is Shav?”

  She nodded. “My mother is Indian. My name is Shabnam, but everyone calls me Shav. Pleased to meet you, Max.”

  Max nodded at her and smiled, then he focused his attention on the blonde with the huge tits. She was Kerry.

  “So…” he said. “What’s up?”

  “Not much,” Kerry replied. “Just chilling, innit? This place is really lame.”

  Max folded his arms and laughed in as manly a way as he could muster. “Innit? Totally sucks, man. My parents dragged me here.”

  “Yeah, mine too. I begged them to go to Ibiza, but they said I would get drunk and disappear with boys. I would have, of course, but what the hell is their problem.”

  Hannah laughed. “I think all parents are lame. My parents are thinking of buying a caravan permanently here. That would suck so bad.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” said Shav. “I think it’s beautiful out here in the countryside.”

  There was a brief pause, then Kerry looked at Max and said, “You wanna get out of here?”

  “Okay.” Max was about to say that he needed to tell his parents, but thankfully stopped himself. Instead he said, “Where do you want to go? There’s nothing to do around here.”

  “We’re heading to the woods behind the putting green,” said Hannah. “Kerry said it’s haunted.”

  Max raised an eyebrow and looked at Kerry. “Who told you that?”

  She shrugged. “Read it on the Internet, innit. They say a girl went into the woods and got torn apart by a stray dog. It was in the news about ten years ago. I looked it up. Girl’s name was Sharon or something. She haunts the place now.”

  Max chuckled.

  Shav rolled her deep brown eyes to the side. “There are no such things as hauntings. Ghosts do not exist.”

  Kerry shook her head adamantly. “They so do. My auntie’s house is haunted. Lights turn on in the middle of the night and doors open and close.”

  “Maybe the electrics are faulty,” Shav suggested dryly.

  Kerry bristled. “Come on, let’s get going and we can see for ourselves.” She grabbed Max by the arm and pulled him, which sent a jolt of electricity through him that was pure excitement. A girl was touching him.

  They all headed away from the adventure playground, following Kerry’s lead. The blonde took them through a row of caravans until they came out at the park’s 9-hole pitch ‘n’ putt. An elderly couple in tartan bobble hats were currently on hole-4, but the greens were otherwise empty. The weather was drizzly, the temperature cold.

  “This way,” said Kerry, pointing to the treeline beyond the golf course. “I checked it out yesterday, but I didn’t want to go in on my own. I was too freaked. I reckon I heard the dead girl whispering through the trees.”

  Max puffed up his shoulders. “Don’t worry. I’ll look after you.”

  Kerry fluttered her long eyelashes at him and stood in a way that seemed to make her breasts larger. “You promise?” she purred.

  Max blushed. “Yeah, of course.”

  Hannah giggled and rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you two go in alone and get it over with. I’ll keep watch.”

  Kerry giggled. “You bitch.”

  For some reason, Shav looked a little annoyed but didn’t say anything. Max shared eye-contact with the girl for a moment and felt his heart beating fast. When he looked away again, Kerry and Hannah had already started towards the trees.

  They all entered the woods and started trouncing over the weeds and fallen twigs. Max lived in the city so he didn’t get to spend a lot of time amongst trees and grass, but he had to admit that he liked it. Now that he was walking amongst the thick trunks and vibrant green bushes, he found himself quite at peace. There was something calming about being surrounded on all sides by nature. It bought out something wild in him, a confident part of himself that usually lay buried.

  “So, how long you girls staying here for?” Max asked smoothly, hoping they wouldn’t dash his dreams by saying they were leaving tomorrow.

  “I go home Friday,” said Hannah. It was only Tuesday.

  Kerry nodded. “Me too.”

  They all then looked at Shav who merely shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll still be here when you all leave.”

  “I leave on Saturday,” Max said. “So I’
ll be able to see you girls off.”

  “Who says we’ll still be friends by then,” said Kerry with a cheeky smirk.

  Max stuttered. “W-well, I…”

  Kerry shoved him playfully. “I’m just joking you tool. Chill out.”

  Max managed to smile.

  They strolled casually, deeper into the woods. Suddenly it became like night. The trees were thick and formed a canopy overhead. Only thin shafts of light made it through now and the ground became a shadow. Max shivered, but tried to hide it.

  They came upon a small clearing with a large, fallen log. Max went to sit on it.

  “Don’t sit there!” Kerry urged. “That’s the log where they found the dead girl ripped to pieces.”

  Max grimaced and looked down at the log, but there was nothing unordinary about it so he sat down. Kerry was just making stuff up. “Doesn’t bother me,” he said. “Are you too afraid to sit next to me?”

  Kerry huffed. “No way.” She went and took a seat on the log right next to him, close enough that their thighs touched. The warmth aroused Max and he felt a tingling through his lower abdomen. When Hannah came and sat down on the other side of him, just as closely, he felt his breath quicken.

  Shav remained standing, a slight smile on her face. Max found the dark-featured brunette interesting, if a little unusual. She seemed very confident in herself, not eager to fit in or be cool like Hannah or Kerry.

  “When did your mother come to England?” Max asked her.

  Shav smiled, seemed happy at his interest. “When she was a young girl. My grandparents were both teachers and came over after the war to teach. They taught History. My family has always been interested in old things.”

  Max blinked slowly, finding History very dull. “Do you like old things? I think the past is boring”

  Shav stared at him intensely. “Old things have memories – things they have seen, stories to tell. It is new things that are dull and boring. They have no spirit.”

  Max didn’t know what to say, so he just chuckled and said, “I suppose so.”

  Kerry, on the other hand, was more defiant. “Old things suck, Shav. Give me my laptop and phone any day.”

  Shav didn’t say anything, just stared disapprovingly. There was an iciness to the girl that Max found unnerving. It must have been an Indian thing.

  “So, tell us more about the girl that died here,” Hannah asked Kerry, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

  Kerry scooped her golden hair behind her ears and grinned. “Okay, what I heard was that there was this fourteen-year old girl, Sharon, who was getting it on with one of the lifeguards from the pool. The guy was hot with a massive dick.”

  Max shifted awkwardly. “How would you know that?”

  “I dunno, I just do. Anyway, Sharon’s parents would have gone mad if they knew and the lifeguard would have lost his job and gone to prison, so they arranged to meet up in secret, in these woods. The lifeguard said he would bring beer and condoms so that they could fuck like animals all night. Well, Sharon was excited; I mean why wouldn’t she be? She was so excited that she couldn’t bear waiting, so she headed to the woods an hour early to wait for the lifeguard. She found her way to this very spot and hung around to wait.”

  “Then what happened?” Hannah asked eagerly.

  Kerry waved a hand. “Hold your horses. I’m not sure I should tell you. Your parents will come after me if you have nightmares tonight.”

  Hannah tutted. “It’s only me and my mum, and she’ll be on the prowl for a lifeguard of her own. She only comes on these holidays to pull. She’s gross.”

  Max laughed. “That is gross. I don’t even think my parents have sex anymore. My dad is a hospital administrator and is hardly ever at home, which is good because he’s an asshole. My mum isn’t much better, just does what she’s told. I don’t even think they really like each other anymore. I hear them arguing more often than I hear them having sex.”

  Kerry nodded at Shav. “What about you, Shav? Do your parents still get along?”

  Shav gave no expression, but answered the question without pause. “My parents are like animals. Every night.”

  Max whistled. “Damn! Indian women must be horny as hell.” Kerry and Hannah laughed, but Shav did not. She stared at Max and his skin crawled. He cleared his throat. “Sorry, that was probably racist.”

  Shav finally smiled. “That’s okay. I suppose my mother is a horny monster. Maybe I’ll take after her.” She flashed a sly smile at Max that made him gush and giggle involuntarily. God, he was such a loser.

  Kerry seemed to take offence to the flirting and placed her hand on Max’s leg and squeezed it to get his attention. “Anyway, back to my story. Sharon waited for the lifeguard in the woods at this exact spot where no sunlight makes it through the trees. In the shadows she thought she saw something move. She thought it was the lifeguard with a huge cock, so she smiled and ran towards the movement. But when she got there she didn’t find the lifeguard, she found a snarling beast. It wasn’t a wild dog like the newspapers reported; it was a demon from hell. It had a big long snout like a vicious dog, but the body of a woman, with great, long talons that it used to pluck Sharon’s eyes from her head.”

  “That’s horrible,” Hannah said, covering her mouth.

  Kerry sniggered. “Yeah, the poor cow ended up staggering through the woods, blind and screaming for help, but these woods are evil and swallowed up all the noise. Nobody heard her cries. Nobody came to help. She eventually made it back over to this log we’re sitting on, but the demon was right behind her, having finished chomping on her eyeballs. It tore open Sharon’s stomach and pulled out her intestines while she was still alive. When the lifeguard finally arrived an hour later, she’d had her entire insides ripped out. Nobody ever found them. The police blamed it on a wild dog and sent hunters into the woods, but no dog was ever found. They say that Sharon haunts the woods now, forever searching for her lost insides.”

  Hannah screwed her face up in disgust, but Max was laughing. He loved horror movies, and hearing spooky tales was a lot of fun. He didn’t even know if a girl really had died in the woods, but the way Kerry told the tale, she certainly seemed to believe every word.

  “If the woods are haunted,” said Shav, “why have we not seen the girl? We are here, aren’t we? Where is Sharon?”

  Kerry rolled her eyes. “She only appears around young lovers sneaking off into the woods alone. She blames the lifeguard for what happened to her so she takes out her ghostly vengeance on those who remind her of her fate.”

  “Good thing Max isn’t here to have sex with us, then,” Hannah said.

  Max blushed. “Yeah, good thing.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” said Shav. “Max seems like quite the ladies man to me.”

  “Is that true?” Kerry asked him, fluttering her eyelashes and doing that thing with her breasts again. “Are you a player?”

  When Max replied his voice was croaky. “I do alright.”

  Hannah wrinkled her nose. “I reckon you’re a virgin. Have you ever been with a girl, Max?”

  Max was angry at the accusation, despite it being true. He stood up from the log and folded his arms tightly across his chest. “I’m not a virgin. I’ve been with a ton of girls.”

  Hannah was laughing now and it made Max feel like running off into the woods and crying. In a single second these girls had reduced him to humiliation.

  “I bet he hasn’t even kissed a girl,” said Hannah.

  “You are being unkind,” said Shav.

  Kerry stood up from the log and ambled towards Max. For some reason, Max wanted to back away from her, but she excited him too much to move his legs. His heart beat faster as she got close to him.

  Without any warning, Kerry leant forward and put her lips against Max’s. Her tongue darted into his mouth and immediately he grew an erection against the zipper of his jeans. Still kissing him, Kerry slid one of her hands down to his crotch and squeezed. He moaned in shock and almost fl
opped to the floor, unable to take any more.

  Then she broke away suddenly and sauntered back over to the log where she sat down again. “Well, girls, Max certainly knows how to kiss. Maybe he’s telling the truth.”

  Hannah sniggered. “No way. He’s a virgin.”

  “I am not,” he once again lied. He’d never even kissed a girl until three seconds ago, but he wasn’t about to admit that. “I’ll prove it.”

  Shav looked at him strangely. “How would you prove such a thing, Max?”

  “I dunno,” he shouted. “You tell me.”

  Shav shrugged. “It is of no interest to me.”

  “Maybe you can show me your moves,” Kerry suggested with one eyebrow raised suggestively. “That would prove it. Show us what you’ve got.”

  Max swallowed a lump in his throat and looked at Kerry. “What, here, now?”

  Kerry shook her head. “With people watching? Ew, no. I mean tonight. My parents will be in the club later, watching the cabaret. You can come meet me here and show me what you got.” She winked at him.

  Max knew he was pale because he felt pale. His stomach begged him to vomit, but if he did that it would be the end of everything. This girl wanted to have sex with him, tonight! This was everything he had ever dreamed of. Wait until he told the guys at school. He would be a legend. Maybe Kerry would even let him take some pictures on his phone as proof.

  But another part of him was terrified. What the hell did he do? Kerry was a little older and obviously a lot more experienced. Max had never done anything with a girl, so how would he know if he was doing it right? Would he make a fool out of himself? Was it worth the risk?

  No question.

  Max shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t care. “Yeah, fine, alright. I’ll meet you at eight tonight, right here. Sure you can find it?”

  “I’m sure,” Kerry said, grinning.

  “You don’t have to do this,” Shav said to him, sounding more like a caring adult than a teenage girl.

  “Shut up, Shav,” Hannah chided. “What’s it got to do with you?”