Nightfall
Page 13
Ben and Jeff walked down the hallway, headed for the R.A.’s room. As they started to pass Riley and Jeff’s room Ben suddenly stopped. He turned and looked inside the room. He could hear the radio still playing faintly and everything seemed to be just as they had left it…only it wasn’t. Mike was gone. The sheets, soaked in blood, were all that was left of where he had been laying. Jeff must have noticed the same thing because when Ben looked back at him he saw a look of horror in his eyes.
“Where’d he go?” Jeff whispered.
Ben didn’t say anything he only stared at Jeff for a few seconds more before turning back toward the direction of the dorm room.
About twenty thoughts tried to race through Ben’s mind all at once. The only one that struck him hard enough to stay was, Where’s Riley? He instantly moved into action, making his way toward the R.A.’s room. He peeked around the corner, Jeff not too far behind, and saw that the room was a mess.
“Riley?” he called out, his voice sounding so hollow from the hallway.
Carefully, he stepped inside. His shoes landed on scattered papers and books. The deeper he got into the room the more it looked as if a train wreck had happened inside. This is not right, he thought. This is definitely not right. And that was when he noticed a tennis shoe lying on its side, covered in blood.
“Oh God,” Ben whispered, covering his mouth.
He turned around to tell Jeff what he had seen only Jeff wasn’t there any longer. He was alone in that room, terrified. At least he had thought he was alone at first, but that was until he noticed a pair of glowing, red eyes watching him from the closet.
He tried to scream, cry for help or make any kind of a sound but his throat clenched up tightly. He opened his mouth but he couldn’t do anything. The eyes moved toward him and the figure moved into the dim light of the room. Mike, his wounds still fresh, walked toward Ben as if controlled. The life that had been in his eyes, whatever little he had had left after that creature had bit him, was now completely gone. Mike’s jaw dropped open and a horrible hissing sound grew louder like the sounds of cicadas in the summer. His arms stretched out, clawing at Ben.
Ben began to back up, his shoes slipping on the mess in the room.
“Mike?” he said in disbelief. “It’s me, Mike.”
The creature continued to move slowly toward Ben, Its face contorting with rage.
“Mike, please. Don’t do this. It’s me, Ben. Remember?” he said, trying to reach the part of Mike’s brain that held his memories. Ben was unaware that that part of Mike had died a little over ten minutes ago. His brain was simply a vessel for electricity-the power behind his erratic motion and a basic need to quench his hunger.
Ben’s feet slipped out from under him and he fell hard to the floor. Although the pain of his fall surged through his body he didn’t notice, he was too busy watching Mike as he reached out for him. Suddenly, a flash of silver drew his attention from the corner of his eye. A second later Mike fell to the floor beside Ben.
“Are you alright?” a voice spoke to him.
Ben couldn’t take his eyes off of Mike who was still stirring beside him.
“Ben? Are you alright?” the voice asked again.
Ben finally snapped out of it and looked in the direction the voice was coming from. Riley was holding a metal chair with a bloodstain on it, looking at him. Ben got to his feet, moving away from Mike as he began to claw at the carpet. They both stood and stared at their former friend, watching him try to get back up. Jeff ran into the room and looked over their shoulders.
“What do we do now?” Ben asked.
Riley raised the chair in the air again and started for Mike. Ben quickly grabbed Riley’s arm, forcing him to lower the chair.
“No!” Ben yelled. “You can’t!”
“If we don’t he’ll get one of us. We don’t have a choice,” Riley said, unflinching.
“Can’t we try and reach him?” Ben asked.
“It’s not Mike anymore, Ben. It’s one of those things.”
“How do you know that? It could be fever or…”
Jeff stepped in, placing his hand on Ben’s shoulder.
“Because Riley found one of them in another room,” Jeff said, shaken.
Ben turned to him.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“David Teegs.”
“He was supposed to be at the revival meeting tonight,” Ben said, his thoughts coming together slowly and the pain in his lower back now practically screaming at him.
“He must’ve left before we did, if he made it at all,” Riley said, still watching carefully as Mike clawed at the floor.
“He had been bitten, Ben. Badly. He apparently locked himself in his room,” Jeff said, leaning in to Ben and almost whispering. “Riley found him and called out after you had already come in here.”
Ben looked away from Jeff, fearing what he would say next.
“He came back as one of those things, Ben. They all do,” Jeff said, trying to get through.
Ben looked back at Mike who was now beginning to get up. Riley raised the chair into the air again. Ben turned away and walked out of the room. He entered the hallway and fell against one of the walls listening to the horrible sounds emanating from inside the R.A.’s room. With each swing of the chair Ben slipped slowly toward the floor until he was sitting down, his head buried in his knees.
This can’t be happening.
Ewen and Jennifer had crossed the first two lanes of Route 237 and were preparing to cross over the median when they heard them coming. The Dead had emerged from the woods just behind the gas station and were now heading toward them with incredible speed. They took off running.
When they reached the other side they looked back, watching the creatures begin their trek across the first two lanes.
“What are we going to do?” Jennifer asked him, panicked.
“Isn’t the chapel somewhere near here?”
She thought about it for a second and then nodded.
“I think it’s near the football field,” she said.
“If we can find it maybe we can hide out there for awhile,” he said. “Let’s go.”
They turned to run up the hill and Ewen ran right into an old police officer, still in uniform. His face appeared to be melting from under his hat. He let out a deep hiss and grabbed Ewen by the shoulders. Ewen tried to break free but the officer’s grip was too strong. He screamed out in pain as the officer leaned in to him, the stench of his breath filling Ewen’s airways. Jennifer raised her bat into the air and brought it down hard on the officer. It connected with his skull and sent him to the ground, twitching.
Ewen stood there for a second in shock before Jennifer grabbed his hand and led him past the officer’s body.
“Come on! Let’s get out of here!” she said, breaking him from his trance.
They began to run, disappearing over the hill as The Dead made their way across the median after them.
CHAPTER 20
It was ten o’clock and The Dead were still blocking the entrances and exits from the Romero Center. From inside, the once small group surrounding the radio had grown to over fifty students. They were all listening to the radio broadcast from WCLR, the campus station.
“The police have reportedly arrived on campus only to be attacked themselves, underestimating these… creatures, whatever they are. There is no word yet on how many have survived the attack but from some of the calls I have been receiving it doesn’t sound encouraging.
“All phone lines are down at the campus security office. I repeat: all phone lines are down reaching campus security.”
The hallways of dorm nine had fallen silent, except for the sound of Riley’s stereo as it received the signal from WCLR. Riley and Jeff sat on the bed and listened to the broadcast. Ben was still curled up, his head buried in his knees in the hallway. He hadn’t moved in over half an hour and the others were too scared to know what to say to him.
“A girl from Dorm 12 called in saying that the police had arrived, but were attacked as well. From her vantage point near the front of the campus she didn’t seem to think that many of them could have survived the growing crowds of creatures.
“There has been no word on how many have died tonight, where these things have come from, or if they can be stopped. Speculation and experience from those who have made it out of the Romero Center tonight has the only known way to stop the creatures as severe trauma to the brain. There is no way to confirm this, officially, however myself and several of the callers I have had this evening have experienced the same phenomena.”
The courtyard, just outside of the campus radio station, was showing signs of movement. A few of The Dead were making their way inside, wandering around and trying to find the source of Robert’s voice.
“A report came in about twenty minutes ago saying that the local news had just switched over to the emergency broadcasting network. This has not been confirmed however local news stations have apparently, finally, picked up the reports and are now covering the attacks.”
Inside the station the fluorescent lights flickered from out in the hallway, drawing Robert’s attention to the glass doors. He saw several of the creatures near them and his heart began to race.
“If you are anywhere near the vicinity of the courtyard here on campus do not, I repeat, do not come inside.”
The Dead began to bang on the doors, trying to get inside, smudging the glass with bloody fingerprints. The doors began to shake, the integrity of them becoming increasingly compromised. Robert watched in horror as one of the creatures threw a large rock at the door. It burst through the glass, sending shards of it sprawling out into the hallway of the station as The Dead walked inside. They turned to him, seeing the large window that separated them and they snarled.
“I don’t have much time left. The creatures have made their way into the campus station,” he said, his voice shaking with fear.
One of the creatures grabbed the large rock from before and walked back over to the window.
“This is my final broadcast. Stay where you are until help arrives and…” his voice broke, tears threatening to stream down his cheeks. “May God deliver us all.”
Robert shut off his microphone and backed away just as the creature threw the rock at the window. Cracks spread throughout the glass like frozen spider webs as the rock fell to the hallway floor. It hadn’t penetrated that time but Robert knew it wouldn’t be long before the creature tried again, and next time he wouldn’t be so lucky. He had to find a way out of there.
He quickly looked around the booth. As he looked up he saw a vent just above one of the CD racks. He slid the chair underneath it and stood on top of it. He reached for the grating and pulled as hard as he could. After several tries it broke loose, along with some of the sheetrock.
Suddenly the sound of breaking glass filled the booth and he looked over at the window to see one of the creatures reaching inside, trying to climb into the booth. Glass now peppered the audio board and as the creature climbed inside the pieces of glass dug in and out of Its skin.
Robert reached his hands inside of the vent and attempted to lift himself. He slipped and his feet landed back down on the seat of the chair. The creature was now completely on top of the audio board, crawling toward him. Robert tried the vent again, this time leaping into the air first to give him some more height. His arms immediately slid deeper into the ventilation shaft and he began to pull himself inside.
The creature slid off of the audio board and ran for Robert whose legs were now dangling from the ceiling. It grabbed hold of them and Robert began to swing them violently, trying to shake the creature loose. More of the creatures began to climb inside of the booth, all of them now trying to grab onto Robert’s legs. They pushed and shoved each other, while trying to get him out of the vent.
Robert pulled himself up once more, only this time when he did the ventilation shaft broke through the sheetrock and it fell to the floor of the DJ booth. Robert fell, almost as if in slow motion, toward The Dead. They were all watching him like a pack of ravenous wolves. They reached out for him as he fell, clawing at his clothes.
But something happened during his fall. The entire weight of his body fell upon the chair. His neck landed on the back of it and snapped instantly. The last thing he saw before he died was not the horrifying faces that awaited his fall but the brightest light he had ever seen. It comforted him in his last, brief moments before his life slipped away from him.
Outside, in the courtyard, more creatures had gathered. They wandered around the fountain and the area where the students used to study. The sound of Robert’s voice could no longer be heard from the speakers above the campus radio station. There was only silence now. Robert had gone home.
CHAPTER 21
The Seven Hills Chapel rested at the very back of the campus. It had been there long before the university, and once the chancellor and his financial backers had purchased the land they had all agreed to keep it instead of tearing it down. It was a part of history, at least as far as the land was concerned, and they all felt it would be a fine addition to what they believed was going to be a fine university.
In the early stages of the school, before the Romero Center had even been dreamed of, they used the chapel for their church services. The chancellor would speak every Wednesday night and the fewer than fifty students that were going to the budding university at the time would attend. It was within the first year that the chapel got its name.
One afternoon, while trying to do some repair work on the roof, several of the men decided to take a lunch break up there. The three of them sat on a flat area on either side of the steeple. As they ate their lunches one of them noticed the skyline. He pointed it out to the others and they all began to admire the view from atop the church. One of the men noticed the mountains in the distance and began to count them in utter amazement at how many he could see from the roof. None of them had ever noticed them from ground level. He counted seven and remarked, “They’re so far away. They almost look like hills from back here.”
The chancellor got word of the amazing view and the next afternoon two of the workers helped him to the top of the church so he could see it. He was so impressed by what the men had found that the only thing he could think to say was, “The Seven Hills of Mountain Valley.” Several weeks later, when ordering a plaque to put on the front of the chapel he simply told them it was called The Seven Hills Chapel. As a tribute to those men, who would later become board members in various aspects of the university as it grew, he placed three other plaques inside the little church with their names on them and the date they had worked on the roof.
Ewen and Jennifer finally made it up the hill, their legs threatening to give out as they listened to the footsteps of The Dead coming up behind them. They could see the small, white chapel just ahead, bathed in the moonlight. The electricity appeared to be off inside. It was the steeple with its silver cross perched on top that kept them going, even though their bodies and lungs had long since been ready to give up. Their eyes stayed on the cross, watching it get closer and closer the faster they ran.
They were coming up behind the chapel and could see an old door. As they approached it they heard rustling in the trees and the footsteps behind them getting closer. Ewen immediately tried the knob but it wouldn’t budge.
“It’s locked,” he said, looking at Jennifer in complete panic.
As if in sync with one another they both began to pound on the door, rattling its hinges as they cried out for help.
“Help! Somebody, please! Let us in!” they yelled.
After a few seconds of pounding they heard a voice, one t
hat Ewen swore he recognized.
“Go away!” the voice yelled back. “We can’t help you!”
Ewen and Jennifer continued to pound on the door.
“LET US IN!” Ewen screamed, the veins on the side of his face beginning to protrude.
They could hear something else, just beyond the door. At first Jennifer thought it was an animal whimpering but the longer she heard it the more familiar it became. It was a girl, crying.
“They’re after us! You’ve got to help us!” she screamed. “Please!”
Tears were starting to stream down Jennifer’s face from fear and exhaustion. She wanted to collapse but her fear along with the adrenaline pumping through her wouldn’t let that happen-at least, not now.
The voice spoke to them again, angry and frustrated.
“I said go away! We’re not opening this door!”
This time Ewen figured out whose voice it was. It was Trent Gordon from Mr. Foxcroft’s Bible lecture. Ewen’s rage flared up again, instantly remembering the embarrassment Trent had put him through. He raised his bat into the air just as Jennifer began to scream. He turned around and saw the large group of The Dead making their way over the top of the hill, no more than fifteen yards away. Ewen turned back to the door and swung the bat. It connected with the center of the old white door and dented the wood.