"Tell her to come over... don't warn her or I'll shove this sword through you." I saw him nod slightly.
"Climb over now Shirley." The guy whispered shakily.
"Okay... I'm coming." She said as I heard her struggle.
It took her about ten minutes to climb up. When I saw her body, I knew why. Shirley was a huge girl who looked about fifteen stone or so. She seemed quite antsy. She shivered and made rumbly noises with her breath as she desperately struggled to climb. She turned with her back to us and then she toppled, heavily onto the grass.
"Owch." She whispered as I saw her short, huge body.
She was laying flat on her stomach. I could see a mop of blonde curls in the freezing darkness. She wore muddy, dirty jeans and a shabby duffel coat that looked too tight on her. These two fatties look like they can't even handle themselves. I just knew they were going to be harmless, but I still would not take any chances.
I watched Shirley struggle to get up. She hadn't noticed myself and the others who had started to come out from their hiding places. She saw my sword and she immediately tried to scramble away.
"Hey!" I shouted. "Where do you think you're going? There's no where you can go lady." By now Lydia was by my side, so I made a gesture for her to go get Shirley off the ground.
"Get up." I heard Lydia's voice. She sounded angry.
"Okay... I'm getting up." Shirley answered in a shaky voice.
"Let's bring these two idiots over here. Aiden... help Shirley over there... looks like she can't get up." I said trying not to laugh, but I wouldn't let on that fact as I wanted to appear violent and angry to these two idiots.
"Sure," replied Aiden as he walked over and helped Lydia pull Shirley up.
I could see Shirley's enormous figure now. She seemed out of breath and unable to stand. Her face was dirty. I could smell a sweaty stench coming from her.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked Charlie.
"Umm... she's just not used to this kind of thing and... and her weight is a problem. She used to be in a wheelchair, so she's still getting used to walking around." The guy said as he stood there trembling for his life.
He was wide and enormous too, but short and stocky.
"How comes she hasn't got her wheelchair now?" I asked.
"Well... when we ran out of food she didn't eat hardly anything, so the weight just fell away from her and suddenly she just got up." I thought it was a fair story and somehow, I knew I believed him.
"So, what's your name?" I asked him.
"Charlie... Charlie Diggle and that's Shirley Diggle... she's my wife." I nodded feeling a little at ease about them.
"So, did you think you could raid us Charlie?" I asked feeling a laugh coming on.
"Ummm.... well... Shirley thought so and since she's lost a bit of weight she is more eager to live than she's ever been in her life, so I wanted to go along with what she said because... well... I was proud of how much she'd changed... especially with all that's happening around us." I nodded feeling like I could probably like them more now. I slowly, withdrew my sword away from him and released my hold around his neck.
"Okay Charlie... come with us. Hey... Lydia, Aiden... bring Shirley to the barn."
I saw Charlie and Shirley look at one another as their expressions turned to fright. I could see their eyes well up with tears and it got to me. I didn't want to frighten them, but I knew I had to for the sake of them doing something stupid again.
We walked into the barn and Lydia lit up a lantern to give us some light. Aiden, Joe, Lydia, John and myself held our weapons in tow and I knew that Charlie and Shirley thought we were going to do something awful to them. Of course, it wasn't my intention to do anything, but talk to them.
"So where are you from Charlie?" I asked gently.
"Bristol... near the city... it's... it's bad there now and... and those horrible things are crawling around everywhere." He said as his trembling voice stuttered.
"So how did you get away from there?" I asked.
"Well... it was Shirley who was the bravest... she killed a few of those things and we escaped... I don't even know how." Charlie said.
"I see... so you had a stroke of luck it seems... is that it Charlie? Would you say it was luck or courage?" I said as I watched Charlie's dark, haired head nod.
"I suppose it was luck, but Shirley got me through it... I didn't even know she had it in her. She killed them all while I stood and watched." Charlie answered.
"Okay... what about you Shirley? How many creatures have you killed?"
"Ummm.... about five I think."
"And what did you kill them with?" I asked.
"I had a knife and Charlie had a gun that I used twice." Shirley explained as her voice trembled.
"So, why did you come here?" I asked wanting to find out more.
"Well... we saw the place in the distance and then... when we discovered we couldn't get near to you guys... well... we decided to climb over the fence... we didn't mean anything by it... we just need some help and some food... we haven't eaten properly for a while you see." I watched as Shirley smirked. I thought she was going to
