Today I am pleased to bring you a brand new short story. The story is based on my second Witches of Pendle novel, A Woman Named Sellers, and is a bit of Halloween fun! In this piece we meet the novel’s protagonist Jennet Sellers, alone in her cottage, and surrounded by bloodthirsty zombies as they scratch and bang at her door…
Without any further ado, this is The Witches of Pendle… And Zombies
The sound began as it always did: quietly, a tentative scraping noise creeping into the night-time silence. Jennet sat alone in the dark, listening, her heart pounding in time with the rhythm of the fingernails as they were dragged again and again over the coarse wooden door. Putrid bile rose from her gut, bubbling upwards as the sound came again and again, louder and louder, building to a menacing crescendo.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
Fear overwhelmed her. She wished that she had the nerve to light a candle. She wished that the noise would stop. More than anything, she wished that William was with her. Like everyone else he had disappeared, leaving her all alone in their humble barn, forced to fend for herself. She tried not to think about what might have happened to him; she tried not to imagine those blade-like fingernails wrapped around his neck. She felt certain that he was dead, that she would never see him again. Despite her terror, she felt the warmth of tears pricking in the corners of her eyes.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
“Grace, go away!” she cried out, desperation ringing out on the quavering notes of her voice.
Scratch, scratch, scratch.
Thud.
Jennet jolted at the sudden bang, biting her lip hard to prevent herself from screaming.
“Stop it, Grace. Just go away!” she cried, burying her head in her hands.
It was hopeless. She knew it wasn’t Grace, not really. She had come to realise that whatever the creature was that stood at her door, it hadn’t been Grace for a long time.
Faces appeared like shadows at the windows. So many awful faces, their features contorted, their expressions rabid, their pallor ghost-white in the moonlight. Jennet swallowed hard. Ghosts – yes, that was exactly what they were. They were ghosts of her past. She forced herself to look at them, to recognise them. One by one, she breathed their names into the darkness. Grace Lund. Alice Holgate. Jennet Preston. James Device. Alison Device. Grand-mama. Mama…
They were no longer themselves, but she had known them once. She had known them and she had wronged them. She had betrayed them, she had abandoned them, she had caused them pain.
She had killed them.
Jennet swallowed hard. She had spent so many years trying to run from her past. So many years hiding, so many years denying who she was. But those faces at the window knew the truth. They knew, and now they were here for their revenge.
Faces became fists, a frenzied blur of hands hammering on the windows, the door, the walls. Jennet watched in horror as the wooden door shook violently, its rickety hinges straining with the effort of keeping those abominations outside. It wouldn’t be long until her defences were breached. It wouldn’t be long until they were inside.
It wouldn’t be long until they had her in their grasp.
Unable to bear it any longer Jennet screwed up her eyes, shutting them tightly. She clasped her hands together in prayer, trying to stiffen her resolve, trying to suppress her sheer terror at her impending doom. There was no escape from this. Night after night these creatures had come for her; they had taken the man she loved, they had trapped her and now there was no choice but to submit to her fate.
“Our Father, which art in Heaven…”
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“…hallowed be Thy name…”
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“…Thy Kingdom come…”
Thud. Thud. Thud.
“…Thy will be done…”
The cry of surrendering hinges forced Jennet’s eyes to burst open. Instinctively she fell backwards as a creature lunged for her. It looked like Mama – the same red hair, the same distinctive green eyes set unevenly on its thin face. But she knew it wasn’t Mama. It couldn’t be; Mama had died a long time ago, and it had been all Jennet’s fault. The creature grunted, its tongue lolling thirstily, blood pouring from its mouth, its nose, its ears. Jennet shrieked as it grabbed her, baring a set of wolf’s teeth, as sharp as knives, ready to sink into her flesh. She closed her eyes again. This was it, she told herself. This was the end. It would all be over soon.
The sound of a swinging blade swept past her ears, followed by a pained cry and a dull thump on the ground. The sound repeated again and again, all around her, echoing like music in the darkness. And then, silence. It took Jennet a moment to realise that the creature had relinquished its grip upon her, that all the banging and scratching had ceased. Even when she did realise, she didn’t believe it. This was her mind playing tricks on her, she told herself. Surely, she was dying. Surely, the creatures had won. In the darkness and the silence, she sat and waited, not daring to open her eyes.
“Jennet?” A familiar voice called to her. A voice she thought she would never hear again.
Jennet held her breath. It couldn’t be him. He was dead. She knew that he was dead.
“Jennet? It’s me. Open your eyes.”
He lit a candle and held it up to her face. “See? It’s me. It’s all over now.”
Her eyes flickered open, her vision blurry as it struggled to adapt to the candle’s glow.
“William? Is it really you? You came to get me?”
He smiled, that handsome, familiar grin lingering upon his lips. “Of course,” he replied. “I promised that I’d never leave you.” He shuddered, surveying the gruesome scene around them. “In the name of our Lord, what were those things?”
“My past, I believe,” Jennet murmured her reply.
William frowned. “Well they’re gone now.” He held out his hand, helping her to her feet. “Come on, let’s go.”
As they headed out in the dark night, Jennet glanced over her shoulder, casting her eyes over those shadowy ghosts one last time.
“The past is never gone,” she whispered to herself. “Just buried, that’s all.”
Don’t forget The Gisburn Witch and A Woman Named Sellers are available from Amazon and most other ebook retailers and are £1.99 until the end of October.