by Stevens, GJ
I raised a brow. “Yes, you did,” I said. “And they singled me out to become the first human test subject.”
Toni looked away, but her reaction was so different to what I was expecting. Her arms had fallen to her side, but lifted to wrap around her stomach as she turned back.
“I thought I’d...” she started to say, but again changed her mind, taking a great breath before she spoke. “They knew about you. I had to tell someone. I couldn’t sit back. I had to call. They found me on the phone, beat me until I told them what I’d said. If you hadn’t come here, they were coming to get you anyway. Some sick revenge for my betrayal. I’m so sorry. I knew what they were going to do but I was powerless to stop it.”
A single tear ran down the purpling skin on her face as she barely reacted to the growing echoes of gunshots filling the background.
We stood, neither of us able to talk, neither of us listening to the litter of explosions and the chatter of the gunfire until, finally, Toni pulled in a great breath and let her arms fall as she straightened up.
“We have to go, or we’ll never leave this place alive,” she said, her gaze near, but she wasn’t able to look me square in the eye.
“I know why they'll kill me, but you? You’re part of the solution.”
“I won’t let them do anything to you. I saved your life and I'll do it again. I'll do it every minute of the day if you need me to. I’ve lost their trust. I’m a security breach and I have to be silenced for the greater good of the project.”
I turned away, ignoring her words, then felt her grip around my upper arm. She tugged, pulling me to the window.
“Look,” she said, and I turned to face the glass. The swarm was still there, but now lines of camouflaged soldiers streamed from trucks out in the yard, each looking left and right, their rifles levelled as they piled into every building.
A door burst open in the courtyard below, a creature leapt out, its hunched-over form the only sign of its humanity. The arc of its jump was a feat greater than an Olympian in his peak. Only tattered rags remained of its blue gown circling around its neck as dark veins spidered out across its skin.
Heads turned its way, followed by rifles. Soldiers dropped to their knees, their eyes peering through the scopes, but each gave an inexplicable pause. None pulled the trigger and I asked myself what they’d been told to expect as I watched on, rearing back as the creature tangled to one of their colleagues whose flesh flew from his face, ripped and discarded into the air.
My head shook as I took in the melee. I’d seen this before and worse already, but those images felt like I’d seen them through someone else’s point of view. Like on TV; my consciousness removed.
Taking this in for the first time, my body shook, panic radiating in waves. Only Toni’s hand held tight in mine stopped me from curling into a ball and giving up.
Machine-gun fire burst out from the side-lines, a frantic chatter of bullets exploding into the crowd. I counted three soldiers down before the creature and its victim took the brunt of the barrage. A hundred other rounds swiftly joined the onslaught, every soldier cutting them down.
I felt my breath heavy as I watched, Toni’s warm hand clutching at mine, but I couldn’t press back; my body so numb I thought I might collapse.
“You’d be dead if I hadn’t helped. You’ll be dead when they see you. We have to go. They can’t let you get out. You’re already their best chance. They’ll want to pull you apart and see why it worked when so many before you hadn’t.”
“But,” I said, turning away from the reforming line, soldier’s rushing in to check for survivors, “I’m not immune. It didn’t work,” I said in a low voice. “Before. Before,” I repeated, “I was like them. I wanted to do so much. The hunger felt so overwhelming.”
Her hand clamped tighter and she turned me around by the shoulder, peering into my eyes.
“No, you’re not like them. Won’t be. You’re alive. They’re dead. You’re human and I’ve given your body a chance to fight back. We’ve got to go. They’re in the building already.”
I stayed where I stood, unable to move as I watched her rush to the wardrobe, pulling out a rucksack while shouldering a rifle.
Beckoning me forward with the pistol in her hand, I paused while I asked myself why the hell she had a rifle in her wardrobe. I started towards the door as she pulled down the red outfit and stuffed it into the bag before opening the fridge, but with her back to me I couldn’t see what she’d pushed away.
As she took hold of the handle I stopped, hearing a noise the other side.
Toni heard it, too, and threw herself to the floor just in time for an explosion to destroy the lock and fling the door wide.
17
The metal handle stopped spinning as it reached my feet. With the noxious smoke dispersing, a stocky figure appeared at the door which was somehow still on its hinges. A gas mask wrapped around the figure’s face and a short rifle tracked up in our direction.
Toni leant back on her elbows where she’d fallen, her brow lowering as she stared at the figure taking tentative steps across the threshold.
His look shifted to meet mine. A deep but muffled sound came from behind his mask. The words seemed as if not meant for us.
He took a step forward, shifting the weight of the backpack on his back with his gun still on Toni.
Another figure arrived from behind. At first look they were identical.
A burst of gunfire lit up the corridor. Muffled shouts followed as if from all around.
Anger rose in my chest. These were the people who had done this. These were the people who had beaten Toni.
An urge to let my guard down built. I wanted the rage back, wanted the animal hunger to return so I could defend myself, defend Toni, despite the consequences. But I couldn’t feel it build.
The second man stood with his shoulder at the doorframe, peering around a shallow angle out into the corridor. The soldier in the room shouted something whilst shaking his head, but I couldn’t catch the meaning through the mask as his chest heaved with the effort.
Behind him followed a heavy chemical odour, the burn of plastic thickening the air. A great line of splattered blood criss-crossed his dark, earthy uniform as if an artist had flicked a brush.
The inside of his mask misted, the words muffled with the race of breath through the protruding filter.
Gunfire in the corridor wouldn’t let me concentrate. All I could do was stare back wide-eyed at his noise, shaking my head, the point of the muzzle snapping between us.
His hand stopped steadying the machine gun. Instead, he hurried to unclip his helmet, dropping it to the desk as he flicked his view between the two of us. His aim soon settled on me.
Holding the rifle in one hand, he pulled off the mask and dragged in air. His short dark fringe ran with sweat rolling down his red face and his bloodshot eyes flicked open and closed, frantic to rid the sting of salt.
Gunfire burst down the corridor.
The rifle’s report at the door surged through me and I flinched in its direction, not sure where I would see the gun pointed. The lack of pain could have been a delayed reaction, but no, the aim peered down the corridor and another volley rattled off as I stared, my feet fixed to the floor by indecision as to which threat they considered the worst.
I looked to Toni out of the corner of my eye. She seemed calm, locking eyes with the soldier as he shook his head, muttering under his breath.
“Stand up,” he’d been saying all along. “You’re coming with us,” he said, his words robotic, rehearsed, but with no conviction.
The unmasked soldier drew my attention back as he spoke whilst moving deeper into the room. With a high voice and pink features, he looked so young; so much younger than me. The shake in his voice betrayed his recent loss of innocence.
“Stoppage,” came the muffled shout from behind the other’s mask.
Our guy’s eyes lit up, face alarming and his head rearing back as he heard the click ec
ho from the rifle.
I glanced to see the solider at the door raking the slide at the side of the weapon, pushing forward and pulling back. Each of us watched as his motion grew more frantic, staring as he disappeared in a blur of movement, his scream quickly muffled to leave only the echo of the rifle hitting the floor.
I looked to the boy soldier to make sure he’d seen it too.
He stared back, reflecting my disbelief. I couldn’t tell if sweat or tears ran from his eyes.
Toni didn’t pause. Her hand pushed the pistol in a slide across the floor before grabbing at her rifle.
Our eyes locked. I knew she’d seen it. Seen it there, a shadow darting past the doorway, grabbing the masked soldier and he'd gone.
“Aim that weapon somewhere else,” Toni’s sharp voice boomed.
I turned towards her to see her standing at my side and I followed the aim of her rifle to the young soldier’s dripping face, his mouth hung wide, his face turned from the corridor. The gun dropping in slow motion.
Sound came from the corridor. A noise I couldn’t at first describe, but soon I recognised something heavy being dragged across the carpet.
The young man and I froze, the shake of his head his only movement, his eyes pleading in her direction.
Toni continued to point the rifle at him, motioning with her head towards the doorway.
“Do your job, soldier,” her voice bellowed like a drill sergeant.
His eyes unblinking, I could see his indecision. He gave no reaction to the dark mark appearing at his crotch as he snatched a look between the gun in her hand and the corridor, then to the window at his shoulder.
“Soldier,” Toni screamed, but he stepped to the glass and peered down, all with the noise in the corridor multiplying.
I watched his eyes go wide as he peered lower, watched as he let the short machine gun down on its straps.
Toni turned her gun to the rising activity beyond the door, but I couldn’t keep my stare from him as with the pant of his breath growing ever faster, he unclipped the top of his holster and drew his pistol whilst shaking his head.
“No,” I said, slowly standing with my hands reaching towards him. “What’s your name?” I whispered, keeping my voice as calm as I could, but he couldn’t take his gaze from below.
He shook his head and I glanced to Toni to see her stepping to the door with the rifle at her hip.
His gun was already under his chin as I turned back and I screamed for him to stop.
My breath caught, head numb as I dropped to my knees. Pressing my hands to my cheeks, the spent cartridge rang like a tiny bell as it glanced off the desk.
I heard his breath push out as he slumped to the floor.
In the corridor, the scrape on the carpet had stopped, replaced with an orchestra of drumming feet.
18
Without thought I rose. Toni was already at the door, slamming it closed before running to the other side of the ornate desk and hopping over where the soldier had fallen.
She pushed.
The heavy wood didn’t move until I came around the other side and leant down, heaving with all I could whilst trying not to look at the soldier’s legs. It was too late to unsee the spray of red across the ceiling.
I looked away as I pushed with everything I had. The desk built its pace towards the door, slamming hard to the wall. Both of us stared at the gap between the desk and the door, its feet protruding out further than its surface, giving a big enough gap for a hand to fit through sideways.
Silently we agreed nothing could be done and adding our weight to the wood, stared back to the window.
“Sealed shut?” I said, jumping as I finished my words, the door slapping hard against the wood and sending a wave of vibration through our bodies.
We turned around and pushed back, twisting again as the door held firm. My gaze fell to the floor and the sprawled body despite my command, fixing on the slow darkening of the carpet.
“And bulletproof,” she said, as I raised the pistol towards the glass, dropping my hand as I scoured the room for inspiration.
“Why the hell did you bring us up here?” I said as the realisation came that we were trapped.
“I need the vaccine,” she said. “You were in no fit state to move once I’d administered.”
I glared at her then surveyed the room again.
“I’ll check his bag,” I said, feeling the desk move with me as I leapt away, snapping back around to the door to make sure Toni had kept her hold.
I lunged back as another great smack of flesh thudded against the entrance.
The scream came next, but the effect was different this time. I felt numb to the emotion of the call, but couldn’t help stare past Toni with her fingers in her ears.
A pale, white arm came snapping through the gap, the skin along its length scraping against the door, bunching black veins under the surface as it drew back only to return and claw at the air.
Kneeling to the carpet, I held my breath as I crouched over the dead soldier. I tried to keep my survey from his head, huffing breath with the effort of turning him over.
Pinching the top of his small pack open, my fingers slid on the sticky blood. I was in, but found the pack empty of anything we could use.
Letting the body settle on its front, I jumped to my feet at the sound of Toni’s effort and ran to the edge of the desk, hunching my shoulders, slapping the wood hard and reclaiming what she couldn’t help give up.
Shaking my head, our eyes met, separating to take in the rest of the room.
“Come on,” I said in a hurry. “You’re the clever one. How do we get out of this?”
She laughed and I reared back.
“I’m serious.”
“You ain’t too stupid yourself,” she replied putting on a thick West Country accent.
I squinted back. “There’s no time,” I said, scanning the empty surfaces of the room whilst pushing hard against the desk. A realisation came as the door smacked against the wood. Bursts of gunfire no longer peppered the air.
“Sorry,” she said with a laugh. I could only reply with a shake of my head. “Bullet proof glass stops bullets, right?”
“What else?” I said to the odd question.
“The glass works because the lead in a bullet is actually pretty soft and spreads when they hit something that’s harder. A lot of the damage is done because they’re hot, often melting through their target.”
I nodded with excitement, but my energy drained as I spoke. “So we need something small, cold and hard?”
I could see the thoughts forming as she squinted around the room, her face straining in time with mine as we pushed against the desk to fight a renewed surge.
As the pressure released, the desk moved again and I pushed back as she leapt away whilst ushering me to shuffle along where she’d been. As I moved, I watched her open the right-hand drawer, sliding it out as far as it would go, the stop slapping hard as it reached its limit.
Her hand grabbed for a small pink fabric-covered box. I knew its contents before she jumped away.
Our eyes locked in the shared moment. She wore a small smile, her head tilted and brows ever so slightly raised. The battering at the door behind me couldn’t dismiss the memory.
The ring was my first ever gift for anyone outside my family. My one and only gift for her. I’d used all my money, my head in the clouds after I came to terms with being different to everyone else, different to everyone apart from Toni.
I was in love.
I’d fallen for her so deeply I couldn't imagine it wouldn't work.
When we realised it wasn’t meant to be, I told her to get rid of it. I didn’t want it back. She gave it to charity, so she’d said, telling me it meant nothing the first time we split. The only time we’d split. The only time we thought we knew what we were doing, a time when we thought we could see into the future.
But she’d kept it. She had it near.
As the confusion welled up in my
chest, warmth radiating from my heart, I watched as if viewing CCTV images.
She went straight to a floor cupboard, pulling a heavy weight from the bottom shelf and then a roll of surgical tape from another. Placing the ring on the worktop she let the weight drop from her hands before I could squeal in disbelief. I turned back from a renewed shove at the desk and saw Toni at the window, pulling the diamond from the mangled golden setting, glancing back, sorrow in her eyes, before taping the stone.
Yes, it was real.
I didn’t see the glass crack as she raised the weight and hit it over and again. I didn’t see it splinter before I had to turn, putting my hands at the edge of the desk to renew my effort.
Shrill screams radiated from the corridor, the wood moving towards me despite my weight’s insistence. I turned to see her bending down and saw a great slice along the fabric of her jeans, felt the rush of the breeze in the room, the floor littered with finger-thick clumps of glass.
I turned back despite her urges, saw three black vein-ridden arms at the door. I saw the door bending at the top. Saw what I thought was the wall swaying inward.
“Come on,” she said, but I couldn’t move knowing the desk would give. They'd overrun us in seconds.
With Toni back at my side, I gave all my effort to push against the pressure. She shrugged the rifle off her shoulder and pushed the muzzle through the gap, unleashing fury with a sharp pull of the trigger.
The first explosion numbed my ears. The second and the third left them ringing, but the tide relented and I could release.
A great breath pulled into my lungs; for the first time I smelt the stench, the soiled soup of sewerage from the corridor.
Toni dragged me away, pushing me towards the window. I had to skip over the body, had to steady myself as I landed on the glass, hoping to stop my bare feet from cutting to ribbons.
With her hands at my back, Toni helped me climb. The door creaked against the wood, but I couldn’t look; I couldn’t do anything but keep my eyes set on the horizon.
I was soon up and on the ledge, looking along the side of the building at the decorative bricks protruding just enough to give texture at a glance, but were surely not enough for me to balance my weight. Not enough to get me to the metal drainpipe and relative safety just out of arms reach.
