by Stevens, GJ
Her head turned down, her comforting words silenced as the body went limp and her chest flattened. Chloe remained sat, Andrew and I sharing a solemn pause until we sank our heads.
It was Chloe's shoulders rising, her back arching which caused us to look up, to watch the woman in her arms seem to draw a long, deep breath. Chloe's head turned up with a wide smile, full eyes pouring with compassion and giving joy her prayers were answered.
Startled, I watched as the woman's remaining eye opened. The white was red, the lens milky and my legs forced me back as she lunged headlong at Chloe's hand lain on her blood-soaked chest.
Teeth found bone according to the sound and Chloe's arms shook as if electrified as she struggled to pull free.
I'm ashamed to say my instinct forced me to leap back. Isolating Chloe, I stared wide-eyed, helpless to the view of my friend's hand clamped in the mouth of an abhorrence grinding into her flesh.
8
The sight caused my brain to crash. The woman had been dead only moments before. Fear took control over my body, but the sound and sight of Chloe’s pain pulled me back as a second instinct countered my first. Anger overtook the fear.
Without conscious thought, my feet stepped forward into the stench, closing to the gurgle of liquid breath. Blood sprayed from the abomination's mouth.
Chloe's shock had gone, replaced with a searing scream. I watched as the woman’s mouth ground on Chloe’s hand like an animal.
With a lunge, my right foot connected to the head and my hands grabbed at Chloe's arm, but the grip held firm. A second kick did the same and Andrew was around the other side, his feet in on the action.
After longer than I feared, the skull gave way under the onslaught and the bloody mouth released.
With one arm under each shoulder, we dragged Chloe whimpering back to the car and the howl of stunned reaction to what they'd witnessed in the headlights.
The girls were frantic, tears streaming, but still they took control of Chloe, cradling her hand with such care. With the courtesy light on, I shouted for calm between the heavy breaths I could barely control.
The car filled with a tirade of questions demanding what the hell was going on, screaming out as they tried to make sense of our brutality. The words rolled into white noise which sent my vision swimming to the sight of my foot smashing at the woman’s face rolling in a loop in my head, doubt at what I had seen already creeping in.
The disbelief turned to fear that despite the state we’d left her in, she might come crawling along the ground to take a second bite.
I shouted again for them to hold back and for Andrew to get in the fucking car. With the doors barely sealed, I revved the engine, stomping the accelerator to screams of panic and coos of sympathy for the patient who lay across them on the back seat.
The car swerved left and right, my complete concentration fixed hard on the drive. Vehicles abandoned to the roadside flashed by in the headlights, the lines of bullets and smashed glass not overlooked.
I left the engine to roar. Left the pitch-black scenery to fly by the window to the cacophony of words until Andrew shouted, his voice clear of the melee and with a strange calm.
With his hand on my shoulder I let the engine dip from the red line. Let the engine decay to idle. Let the wheels coast. The inside calmed with the diminishing speed and Andrew pointed.
My gaze followed his finger and I saw the road ahead with my conscious mind for the first time.
Ahead stood a giant white warehouse, a dead supermarket. So rare was it to see these behemoth buildings without their lights blaring out twenty-four seven. The mood grew optimistic in the back as I let the engine build and turned into the car park.
Two cars sat in the wide expanse of tarmac, their bonnets up, abandoned by their owners.
Circling the shop took over ten minutes in the car. The place looked locked up tight, the doors sealed, shutters down across the front. Still, we hadn't spoken about what had occurred to hasten this leg of the journey and I wanted to keep it that way until we'd got Chloe's wounds under control and I’d had chance to figure it out for myself.
Toby agreed to stay with the car and sit in the driver's seat with the engine running, ready to pick us up at a moment’s notice.
Zoe insisted she came with us, so joined Andrew, myself and Matt as we got out at the rear of the building to examine the delivery entrance.
A small high window at the rear was smashed through within minutes, our success rewarded with an alarm we were all a little surprised to hear. I ventured in, rising on Matt and Andrew's interleaved hands.
Inside I found utter darkness, the rage of the alarm incessant and not helping to tune my vision to the pitch black.
Not knowing what I was to land on, I lowered myself down from the ledge and my feet found something solid. The porcelain of a toilet bowl I soon found out, as my foot traced its smooth edges.
Inside, the alarm was bass and high at the same time, assaulting not only my ears but my stomach as well. If I had eaten in the last day, I would have emptied my guts again.
The deep blackness was so complete. Touch alone got me through the cubicle and out of the wider room where the darkness seemed to only deepen, the last of the moonlight shut out.
I don't mind admitting I was petrified as the tone of the alarm changed. I guessed I was out into the main cavernous warehouse, but there were no lights to guide me, the emergency batteries having worn down the previous night.
Despair tightened its grip with the last of the light as the door closed at my back and my pace slowed further. Like a fireman in a smoke-filled room but less practiced, I waved my hands in front of me in methodical circles, fingers curled into my palms for protection.
My left fist caught a solid wall. So did my right and I realised I was in a corridor and not the main hall. My mood fell even further, head splitting with pain, peaking each time the klaxon cycled through its infernal rhythm.
Time pressed its urgency and I could sense Chloe's blood pumping from her injuries, her body draining with each step I failed to find some way to get her inside and her injuries dressed.
My knuckles rasped against something hard, a cold handle. Joy flared as I turned. The door opened, but I sank to my knees when the echo resounded deeper. The repetition was overwhelming, the noise pouring over me.
Tears rolled when light burst into being. A car smashing through from the outside. The room lit from the source of the attack, my hand unknowingly reaching for the gun.
9
Forcing my eyes wide, the roar of the engine died back below the siren's scream. As dust and smoke continued to billow from the sudden outburst, I watched silhouettes rush from the new opening. Heads turned wild, this way and that, searching something out.
The first figure carried another cradled in their arms. Chloe, I soon realised, in Toby's hold. With Lily at her back, a deep relief lifted my mood.
In the new light I saw I was in a side corridor, the group of three already out of view. Hurrying forward, the gun pushed deep once more, my despair forgotten to the shouts of my name just high enough to register.
I appeared in the angle of their vision and saw the relief on Toby's face and a pained, pale complexion on Chloe's as she lay on the floor.
Lily knelt in a stance we'd only just seen. Chloe's face was still intact, albeit grey and drawn. Our friends huddled around, each shouting calls trying to reach above the others, but we all knew the aim.
I watched as they scattered, leaving me transfixed on Lily forcing blood-red rags around the patient's hand, a pool already forming beneath.
Out of my daze, I split from the scene, helpless to react to the constant pour of blood. Instead, I raced off through the pristine aisles, the tops of the rows lit just enough to help navigation.
I returned with an arm full of torches, battery packs bulging from pockets. Back at Chloe's side, I listened to Lily's calming voice and caught sight of her hand clamped down, her fingers red with Chloe's blood.
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My gaze fixed to Lily’s breathless stare as she looked up.
Striding off once more, I found Toby by the medicines as he squinted in the near dark. His hands felt across the shelves. His face upturned as I pushed the lit torch into his fingers.
Still I headed on and found Andrew wielding a chair, attacking a tall metal panel by the front entrance. Despite his desperate swings, the alarm still screamed out and a rainbow of weak LEDs continued to dim with each pulse of the speaker.
I lit the panel with the torch beam and Andrew turned, his face alive with fright until he saw me and he said something I had no chance of understanding.
I was off again, but I only went a few steps before stumbling into a metal cage to the side of a promotional pyramid of six-packs of lemonade bottles. My knees slammed to the hard ground as I fell.
Retrieving the torch as it slowed its spin, its beam caught on a colourful explosion of light painted on the cabinet door and I made a mental note to search for the key when I had a chance to take a breath.
Hugging lemonade bottles in my arms, I nudged Andrew on my return. Understanding my plan without the need for explanation, together we took a step back from the panel, twisted off the caps and took aim.
To the scent of sweet lemons, the alarm died with a crackle to the speakers. I swear I could hear it resounding for hours after.
We hugged and drew deep breaths. Our bodies shook as we took in the silence, only to be startled by a loud bang reverberating from the back of the shop.
As we rose from our instinctive duck with the echo fading, we stared at each other before looking back to the alarm panel and its dark, empty reply.
Together we turned and took tentative steps toward the rear wall, watching closely for anything unusual in the dark. Our pace sped as the shockwave of sound didn’t repeat, slowing only as the torch found a double set of doors in the distance.
Journeying through the aisles, I looked to Andrew and he urged me on with his brow.
I stepped forward as we arrived, pushing the left door, my breath held. Leading with the beam, I passed it over bundles of cardboard packaging compressed in densely strapped pales, ready for the next delivery which wouldn’t be coming.
I searched on with the outstretched light falling on more doors either side, stopping only as it highlighted the square plastic yellow flash in the centre. My breath relaxed.
“I think it was just a breaker for the alarm. I guess it’s where the battery is,” I said, nodding towards the door.
Andrew stepped forward to take a look, but we both turned back to the main floor, searching out the raised voices of our friends.
I followed Andrew as we ran back to find lanterns surrounding Chloe, blankets under her head and covering her legs.
The car stood silent with the lights off, leaving just the chill of the night creeping through smashed-open fire exit doors. The front of the Freelander had been wide enough to punch through the doors, but not to get all the way through. The metal wings were caved in, wedged between exposed steel beams.
“It won't stop bleeding,” I heard Lily's voice, loud and clear. Dread made the emptiness of my stomach feel greater.
Andrew and I knelt, taking our place in the circle. Chloe's hand was packed hard with bandages. Toby ripped open fresh packets to replace the bloody rags piling up by her side. His face was a match for his wife's, a shared look of fear I couldn't linger on.
Standing, I took deep breaths before turning to the darkness as Naomi and Zoe rose to their feet, their torches shining down at the floor.
Andrew took steps with me. Matt followed behind. Our pace was slow with guilt raging in each step, a helplessness pounding in my chest.
I couldn't do anything to stop the bleeding. I couldn't look on. I knew it was time for the conversation.
It was Zoe who raised it first to mouthfuls of water taken from the aisle we'd drifted to.
“Well?” was all she said, but the meaning didn't need to be explained.
I turned, looked back and away towards the halo of light where our three other friends were holding vigil. We were far enough away they wouldn't hear, but still I kept my voice quiet.
“You saw it for yourself,” I said, knowing full well it wouldn't be enough.
Naomi was the first to pick it open.
“All we saw was you and Andrew going to town on that woman’s head. What the fuck happened?” she said. Her voice was hurried, but she kept her volume low.
Andrew and I shared a look. He nodded at me and I let the words out.
“She died,” I said, pausing for a moment. “Chloe was comforting her, you saw that?” I watched as nods replied. “But she came back. She bit into Chloe’s hand. She wouldn't let go.”
The huddle was silent.
“You thought she'd died,” Matt said. “You're no doctor.”
“She died,” Andrew said, stepping closer into our circle. “She would never have survived those injuries. Half her face was splattered across the road, for fuck's sake.”
“Mate,” I said, and he lowered his head. “Look. She seemed to be dead, but you're right, she must have been alive. She must have been defending herself. Her brain had been addled with pain, I guess. It was an animal instinct. Yeah.” I looked to the floor because I didn’t want to see their reaction. “I mean, there's no other explanation, is there?” This time I couldn't help but look around and watch the sunken faces as no one spoke.
“Don't say it,” were Zoe's words.
“Say what?” Naomi replied.
The silence filled the gap and we heard what sounded like Lily's gentle voice singing low in the glow of lanterns.
“Zombies,” Andrew said. Laughter followed from his words, but I watched his fixed expression.
Naomi and Matt's chuckles died back when they saw the rest of us weren't joining in. What Andrew had just said had already crossed my mind. It had been my only explanation, but the word grated against all common sense and there was nothing I could do to stop my mind racing to search for another explanation.
“Fuck off,” Matt and Naomi replied, almost in unison. Their volume fell back as they turned and walked away, only stopping as a great rattle of metal came from the wide shuttered entrance.
Within less than a second I'd put it down to the wind. Until it came again twice more in quick succession.
10
Zoe stared. Her gaze was intent on mine. Her shoulders rattled each time the shutter banged.
After the fifth, I lost count.
Naomi was the first to move, the first to turn to Matt then back to the rest of us as they re-joined the arc of our circle.
“You're joking, right?” Naomi said, looking to the shutters then back through the group. “You're fucking joking? You guys need to stop watching shit TV.”
We continued to stare forward, our eyes on Naomi. I noticed Lily's voice had quietened in the background.
“You wanna take your chances?” Andrew said, his eyes wide.
“With the fucking zombies?” Naomi replied. “Shut the fuck up. They're people, like us. People left behind in this fucking mess. They've heard the alarm and come to find help,” she said, raising her eyebrows. “If it was you, wouldn't you want safety?”
Everyone kept quiet. She'd made a good point, but she hadn't been there. She hadn't seen the milky eyes of the woman, her mouth in a death grip around Chloe's hand. She hadn't had to pulverise the woman's head to release her friend.
“But what if it's not? What if it's the military clearing the place out?” I replied.
Naomi took a step toward me, opening her arms.
“Break open the champagne. We've been saved and can get the fuck away,” she said, softening her voice, her eyes clenched.
“What if it's an invasion?” Matt asked, his voice low too.
“What? Not you as well. Do you think aliens have landed?” Naomi replied, the harsh rattle of shutters stopping the rest of her words.
“No, no,” Matt said, taking
his own steps forward so he could lower his voice as he shook his head. “Another country, I mean?”
Naomi's smile grew wide.
“And you reckon they're going to knock on the door?”
Our heads turned in unison. A fright ran through the five of us as Toby appeared around the corner; his head low, his gaze on his bright-red hands. A dark soaked bandage in his palm.
“What if it's a doctor?” he asked, his voice solemn. “It won't stop bleeding. She can’t have long left.”
Naomi turned and took a step before pivoting her head back, locking her gaze with mine.
“Your call,” she said, raising her brow. “When this mess is over, the decisions we make will be pulled apart. Perhaps think that over before you leave them out in the freezing cold.” She turned and headed back toward Chloe.
“Hey, unfair,” Zoe replied, her voice wounded as she took a step toward me.
“Is it?” I said, looking around the group and catching each gaze intent in my direction.
Naomi was right. Every decision would be picked at in detail, but when did I get appointed leader? If she cared so much then why didn’t she put herself forward to take control? Ever since she settled into the group, she’d become a vocal part of our dynamic. She was fun, for the most part, keeping us on our toes when the things we did had no consequences.
Before this shit, decisions were taken on a whim by whoever spoke up first or came up with the craziest idea. Was I now in charge because of the guy who’d run into the path of my car? Was it because I was the first to hear about the crisis? Or because I'd been standing next to Chloe when we watched the world change forever?
Was it because they thought I could handle the pressure, or did they, did she, need someone else to take the responsibility? Need someone else to take the shit for doing something wrong?
I drew a deep breath. Like it or not, which I didn't, they’d given me control and I had to do something.
