What is the next number in this matchsticks series riddle?

A man was telling some of his war stories to his grandchildren.
"When the World War I was on the verge of end, I was awarded for my bravery for I had saved a group of my men." He coughed and then added, "When we were fighting in northern France, an enemy soldier threw a grenade at us. Before it could explode, I picked it up and threw it away. For my act of bravery, right before the war ended, A General gave me a sword engraved with the words "Awarded for Display of Bravery and Heroism in World War 1"."

Hearing this, one of the grandson spoke up. "Grandpa, this is not a true story. It can"t be true!"

The truth is that it was not. How did the grand children know it?

I am a seven-letter word but if you remove four of my letters I will have one left. What word am I?

What is the next number in this series?

4,12,84,3612....

It was a dark stormy night and a couple were in a car driving madly to a city. The car broke down and the husband had to go get help from someone who spoke his language. He was afraid to leave his wife alone in the car so he locked the car before leaving. When he came back, the car was in the same state as he had left it but his wife was dead, there was blood on the floor and there was a stranger in the car. What happened?

A cricket has 6 legs, a squirrel has 4 legs and a spider has 8 legs.

In a local zoo, it was found that the total number of legs is 612. Also, there are equal number of each of the above animals/insects.

Can you find out how many animals are there in the zoo?

Can you find the company name in the pictogram below?

What do you answer even though it never asks you questions?

On my way to St. Ives I saw a man with 7 wives. Each wife had 7 sacks. Each sack had 7 cats. Each cat had 7 kittens. Kittens, cats, sacks, wives. How many were going to St. Ives?

Can you spot what's wrong with the following sentence?

PETER WAS ANGRY AT
HIMSELF BECAUSE HE
ACCIDENTALLY LEFT THE
THE KEYS TO HIS CAR
AT HIS FRIEND'S HOUSE.