The Spread: Book 1 (The Hill)

The Spread


Book 1 (The Hill)


Iain Rob Wright


Contents
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Quotes
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
CONTINUE THE STORY
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BOOK SUMMARY
An ancient land hides a new threat…
The Scottish Highlands; a sparse, mountainous region some say was carved by the gods themselves. Few places are as untouched as this harsh, prehistoric landscape. It is no place for man.
But nestled deep within the wilderness lies a cottage, and behind that cottage is a hill…
When a group of friends travel up from Manchester and hire the cottage for a weekend of boozy fun, they discover a threat far greater than the harsh landscape and unwelcoming weather.
Something deadly lies upon the hill.
And it’s waiting.


To the good old days. Thank God they’re behind me…


“A sickly little smile grew and died on his mouth like a fungus.”
China Mieville
“The younger brother must help to pay for the pleasures of the elder.”
Jane Austin
“Wherever I wander, wherever I rove; the hills of the highland for ever I love.”
Robert Burns


Chapter One
“Here they come, here they come!” Lightning surged through Ryan Cartwright’s veins as a car appeared in the distance, bouncing up the hillside. The lads were over three hours late, but that didn’t matter. They were here now.
This is gonna be legendary. No women. No work. No worries.
Disappointingly, Ryan’s younger brother, Aaron, didn’t even feign excitement. It had taken weeks of hard persuasion to get him to leave his video games behind for a couple of days, but he was making no effort to disguise the fact he didn’t want to be there.
Pasty-skinned and greasy-haired, Aaron looked very little like Ryan – and the differences continued beyond appearances. While Ryan was confident and athletic, Aaron was a loner who would benefit from a little more sun. Besides having the same chestnut brown hair and matching green eyes, they looked completely unrelated. All the same, Ryan was glad his little brother had come along on this weekend – it meant a lot – so he put an arm around him and gave a reassuring squeeze. “It’ll be a laugh, I promise.”
Aaron nodded. “Yeah.”
The approaching car was a sleek four-by-four, and in the weak Autumnal sunshine its opulent red paint shone like a thousand rubies. It crunched to a halt on the weedy gravel in front of the cottage, completely out of place against the ancient landscape. The engine grumbled and the vehicle went to sleep. All four of its doors opened.
Ryan met Tom at the driver’s side. His friend’s neat blonde hair had grown long, and a fuzzy goatee elongated his slender face. “Nice motor, mate. What is it?”
Tom grinned proudly, running a hand over the sleek red bonnet. “Alfa Romeo Stelvio. Drove it away from the dealership last week as a treat for having such a great financial year. Handsome, isn’t she? I’m actually considering breaking things off with Amanda just so I can spend more time behind the wheel. Would that be incredibly materialistic of me?”
Ryan chuckled. “I reckon so, yeah, mate. How are things going with Amanda, anyway? It’s been six months and you haven’t even introduced us yet.”
“I’m cautiously optimistic that she may be the one. We’ll have to grab dinner together soon.”
“I’d like that.”
Loobey rounded the Stelvio’s bonnet, his belly jiggling beneath a stripy jumper. A grin took up most of his face. “She didn’t run a mile when she saw Tom’s tiny knob, so that’s a good sign.”
Tom rolled his eyes but took the joke as intended. “I wanted to call her, actually, to let her know we’ve arrived safely, but I haven’t had a signal since we left the village. Is there a landline here?”
Ryan gave an apologetic frown. “Sorry, mate. We’re completely cut off out here. No signal. No landline. No Wi-Fi. We can head into the village tomorrow morning, though, to make a call, if that’s cool?”
Tom seemed to mull it over, both hands in his chino pockets. He was the only one of them not wearing jeans. “Hmm, I suppose that’ll have to be okay. Hopefully she won’t worry too much.”
“Treat ’em mean, keep ’em keen,” said Loobey. “It’ll only make her want you more.”
Ryan gave his best friend a hug. “How you doing, Loobey? I ain’t seen you, man! Where you been hiding?”
“Been proper busy, mate. Old man got a job tarmacking for the council and it’s been a right mad’un.”
“Well, at least you’ve got plenty of work. You look like you’ve lost weight.”
Loobey put his hands on his hips and gyrated. “Ain’t morbidly obese no more, me, just regular obese. Lasses can’t get enough.”
Ryan chuckled. “I’ll bet.”
Loobey definitely looked better for the weight loss, but something about him didn’t seem quite right. It was as if his bones were too big for his body. He’d shaved his head as well, which made his face appear pudgy and round.
Might have to break it to you later, our kid. It’s not a good look.
Sean and Brett moved from the rear of the Stelvio and joined everyone at the front. Sean was twitching like a maniac, as per usual, the human incarnation of ‘mad fer it’. His green eyes shifted left and right as he hopped on the toes of his blood-red trainers. “This place is proper mint. You could chop some poor bastard up here and no one would ever find the pieces.”
Next to him, Brett rolled his eyes behind his sensible black glasses. He was always the most serious of the group, but it only took a few drinks to loosen