by Stevens, GJ
I followed the dark marks to the road, the red and white of skin left lying on the hard ground surrounded in oily puddles; what looked like pink kidneys discarded on the creature’s journey to the house only a few doors down and the only house where the door remained open.
“Now,” Toni said with a sharp twist in my direction.
I replied wide-eyed.
“The van,” she said. “We can make it.”
My heart raced even harder, lungs pulling shallow breaths.
“We’re saved,” said the man as he joined us at the window.
We’d turned away, but twisted back at his words. Mary pushed past me to get a look. I followed their overjoyed faces along the road to the scatter of soldiers, the vicar in the lead as they headed down from the church.
My heart sank and I gave a heavy breath when I saw their slow, slack-jawed movement. My stare caught as doors along the street opened and people ran from their houses, arms open in the soldier’s direction.
44
One after the other, people streamed from their houses, doors opening across the view. Whole families ran breathless, racing from safety, not caring for the bloody trail and the obvious danger still hidden beyond the door that had never closed.
The husband stepped away from the window with Mary following as he jogged to the hallway.
Both Toni and I grabbed a shoulder each and she stopped, eyes wide with fear as she looked back.
“They’re not what you think,” I said as I snatched a look at Toni. She stayed quiet as if unsure of the words to use. “Look,” I said, pulling the woman around as lightly as I could whilst pointing to the slow advance from the church.
As she turned, her eyes squinted out to the crowd of soldiers. Her gaze lingered for a moment before twisting to check on her husband.
As she returned to the view, I leant out of the window.
With Toni watching on and shaking her head I shouted, “No.”
An echo called back.
“Get inside, it's not safe,” I said, stopping only when Toni gently pulled me inside.
No one had responded. No one gave any sign they’d heard my words.
With the wind gone from my face, I followed Toni’s outstretched finger to a woman about our age.
She dragged a boy of maybe seven or eight behind her whilst she ran towards what she thought were her saviours. I urged Mary to look on, adding my pointed finger at the soldiers. I begged her to watch their walk. To see their hands empty and any weapons in sight hanging useless around their backs, despite the danger.
I urged her to look at their injuries, the blood crowding each face. I pleaded with her to take in the same pale, lifeless expression they all wore.
“Ray,” Mary screamed in the heartbeat when it all came together, and disappeared from the room to find him.
She came back with her husband behind her just in time to see the thirty or more soldiers heading towards the woman who’d only just slowed, her attention on the child kicking and screaming behind.
After a few paces she turned and saw the obvious. She slowed and let go of the boy’s hand. He’d known long before and took the chance to run, the desperation clear in his pace. He tripped over his feet, falling forwards and I wanted to race down the stairs to sweep him up.
I knew Toni would grab at my arm. Maybe there were enough people down there already to help. One of the ten or more of their neighbours who’d realise soon enough. They would soon understand there wasn’t a fairy-tale ending to this bulletin.
The first scream shattered the new calm moments later. The mother had held her ground, had stared on, still trying to get her mind to fix on what she saw.
Hands reached from the crowd of soldiers and fingers scraped out at her throat. A second and a third grabbed around her neck and she disappeared, overcome by the surrounding dead bodies stood on two feet.
Her pained screams cut through the forest of camouflage to remind us she wasn’t out of her misery yet.
I felt Toni’s fingers wrap around my wrist. She held firm, but not gripping tight. It was like she could read my mind. Like she knew I could run at any moment and leap from the window to my death. She knew I would hope to survive for long enough to do the right thing. To pick up the boy; scoop him into my arms, not turning like the others running for their lives.
A heavy thud shook the floor and broke my concentration. I could barely bring myself to look back and see the man lying on the carpet. No one else had turned, their eyes fixed forward on the boy and the encircling masses.
“Run,” I screamed out of the window as he vanished from our view. I pulled against Toni’s grip to get a better look whilst holding my breath. I saw his face between the forest of legs, his hands swiping as the creatures bent and stumbled over themselves to get at the child.
Toni pulled me back as he scrambled out. He was on his feet and running, his eyes darting around for the safety.
A moan called out from the floor at our backs, but still no one turned, each of us too busy urging the boy on as he tripped over his legs, sending his knees scuffing to the hard ground. The procession of ex-soldiers were not far behind.
A second moan called to my ears with a reminiscence; a sound I’d heard so much in such a short space of time.
Toni twisted her view and I watched at my side as her hand reached, pulling the gun free and pointing to the floor.
Our breath relaxed as we saw the husband’s wide-eyed stare. His mouth had turned to an oh as he recovered from his feint and looked up at the gun pointed in his direction.
Sharing a look of relief, Toni and I turned back, but my body tensed as we fixed on the snarling creature at the open door across the road.
Its leathered face dripped red from its forehead, blood falling from its chin.
I followed its gaze as it tracked across the road, its head moving in time with the fastest moving object in view.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I didn’t need to look to know it was about to pounce toward its target.
The running child.
45
Toni’s hand shot out of the window, the gun climbing high as she pulled the trigger, the sound like it would shatter the glass.
No one saw where the bullet landed. All eyes, including those bloodshot and bounded by heavy hanging lids, fixed upwards for enough of a moment. At least I hoped.
I couldn’t see the child.
I couldn’t take my gaze from the snarling creature whose legs were bent, primed and ready for the chase as he blinked, staring in our direction.
I couldn’t stop staring down its throat as it let out a scream, sending a shiver along my spine.
Only as it leapt into the air, covering half the ground between us in one great bound could I avert my gaze from the doorway, thankful we were the new target.
Mary didn’t see it that way.
With no time for her to let out a scream, she collapsed at our feet. If I had a spare second, I would have let out a great sigh. I would have mumbled under my breath, applauding her for playing up to the bloody stereotype.
Instead I had my energy fixed on grabbing for the handle dangling at the window and dragging it closed. Toni moved out the way as I slammed the double glazing hard into the frame.
I felt the wave of pressure as the glass flexed inward, the room dark for a moment as the creature’s bulk loomed across the pane. Blood sprayed either side with a slap against the window as its face hit hard on its second bound.
Its expression didn’t change as it hit, the hunger I recognised all too obvious in its curled features. With its will clear as it slid down the glass, blood smearing until its clawed fingers hooked to the sill.
I glanced to Toni and she looked back with a question on her lowered brow. We had it point blank with a chance that didn’t come often. We just had to sacrifice the safety of the house.
“We’re leaving anyway,” I said in answer to her look and she raised the gun before my last word. We turned, crin
ging back, ready for the sear of pain to our ears.
Instead she paused as we stared at the smear of its victim’s blood. The sounds of footsteps heavy on the roof coming a moment later told me why she hadn’t fired.
Our look headed out across the sea of soldiers heading in our direction, until our attention drew downward by a light but frantic call of a hand against wood.
We moved in unison, looking over the sill and saw the back of a little figure, hearing his sobs rising. His hand slapped in time with the noise coming from the front door.
I ran, not waiting for permission I wouldn’t get.
I ran, not being careful with my feet, ignoring the complaints of the husband only just rousing from the floor.
I ran, hearing Toni’s calls through the window. She was calling out the beast, distracting for a second time.
Leaping halfway down the stairs, I saw the boy’s tiny shape through the misted glass. With hands on the banister propelling me toward the ground floor in two great leaps, I caught the black shape fall from above to cast a dark shadow through the glass at the short figure’s back.
A great explosion filled the air, heard from outside and above at the same time. The shapes were too indistinct behind the misted glass to see anything other than their collective flinch. I didn’t know what I’d see as I pulled the door wide. Still, I raked open the wood without a pause.
The kid had turned his back to the door. I lunged my arm around his chest, drawing him over the threshold and into the warmth; into our safety and away from the creature who seemed fixed in an upward look.
As I scrabbled backward, my hand reaching for the door, its face turned down in what seemed like slow motion as its mass fell forward, pushing the door back open before it could slam.
I saw the bullet hole through its forehead. A smile appeared on my face as I stepped out of the arc of its death.
“Great shot,” I said under my breath to Toni, who must have shot from above, forgetting the kid folded in my arm.
At the same time, I caught a gust of foul wind and heard Toni’s shout from above, calling with urgency for me to close the door.
I hadn’t noticed the crowd edging ever forward. Their stumbling pace had brought them up to the garden path. I turned and ushered the kid up the stairs. I had to call for Toni to help him up as I turned to push the door closed, only to find the creature’s lifeless lump of a body had fallen across the threshold.
No matter how hard I pushed and shoved the warm flesh it wouldn’t move. No matter how hard I heaved at the door, shouting the air blue as I prayed to a God I hadn’t believed in since I was six, I just knew I didn’t have enough time to heave it out of the way before the crowd would be on me.
46
Sweat poured down my face as I pushed and pulled at the cooling flesh. Where had my newfound strength gone? The dead weight wasn’t moving quick enough.
As I looked up with each touch a new wave of its stench raked at my nostrils. I tried to listen to Toni’s calls, but they barely broke through the low moans vibrating through my chest.
I struggled on. What else could I do?
With one last shove against the limp shoulders, it gave but not enough. I looked up as light blocked from the doorway to see the first dead soldier trip over the step and fall across the threshold.
With defeat resting heavy, I turned and ran. Climbing the stairs two at a time. I chanced a glance over my shoulder just as I turned back to the bedroom. More of the horde had already fallen, tripping over the body I couldn’t move.
Another crossed behind, stamping along its former colleague’s spine, with its milky white eyes fixed in my direction.
Slamming the bedroom door at my back, Toni looked on, her eyes almost as wide as the kid’s tear-streamed face, her arms wrapped across his chest.
Shaking my head, I swiped my brow with the back of my hand and dabbed my eyes along my sleeve.
“I couldn’t move him, couldn’t shut them out,” I said, trying to hold back the exhaustion.
Mary was first to react, lifting from the silk sheets next to her husband, swapping dazed looks between each of us.
“Andy,” she said with surprise. “What are you doing here?” she added, lowering her brow.
The boy looked at me and then up to Toni.
“Come here.”
I saw the recognition as he pulled away from Toni’s grasp and he ran into Mary’s wide arms, while I leant my back heavy against the door and fixed my hand to keep the handle upright.
“What are we going to do?” I said, looking only at Toni.
She shook her head, turning to the window.
“We need to get out. We’ve got to get back before nightfall,” she said, turning back with her concern obvious.
I avoided her stare, looking over her shoulder at the sun hovering over the horizon.
“We might need to think again,” I said, raising my eyebrows. “In a minute those things,” I said, exaggerating the last word, “will be here and this door won't hold for long.” With my eyebrows raised, I wasn’t able to stop myself glancing to the child still buried in Mary’s arms.
Before Toni could speak, I lifted my hand, raising my index finger to my mouth as I turned my ear to the door.
“The window?”
Toni turned as I finished, peering over the sill and shaking her head.
“There must be over a hundred out there. Even if we survived the fall, there’s no way we could win a fight.”
“Toni,” I said, my voice sharp.
She turned, watching with a lowered brow as I gestured to the kid. She dismissed my concern with a shake of her head, pulling the clip from the gun.
I glanced to the couple’s wide eyes, staring on as Toni turned the clip lengthwise and counted the bullets.
“Fifteen rounds. It’s not enough,” she said, shaking her head.
She still had a lot to learn about being around others.
I looked towards the ground, straining my ears to noises somewhere beyond the door, when the squeak of the little boy’s voice cut through the air as he shuffled out of Mary’s embrace.
“Can they climb stairs?” he said, and we both turned in his direction, the couple looking on with bemused expressions.
I swapped glances with Toni, but I was the first to speak. “What do you know about these,” I said, slowing to a pause, “things?” I added, not able to find a better word.
“Zombies, right?” he said, without a change in expression.
I looked at Toni, holding her gaze for a long moment before shrugging and turning back to the boy, nodding.
“I’ve read a lot of comics. My dad has one of those survival guides and he lets me read it.”
I couldn’t help but look back at Toni for a second time, watching as she took a pace towards me. She pulled up the gun and aimed towards the door as I rested my fingers on the handle.
Air gurgled through my stomach, the sound radiating out into the room. Toni’s expression hardened as she turned away from my belly, fixing back to the door before giving a shallow nod.
She watched as I pushed down the handle.
47
I let the handle drop. Slow at first. Bracing for the heave of wood, I counted down the seconds in my head.
After more than I dared to wait, the force I’d expected hadn’t come. Hadn’t pushed back.
I gripped the handle tight, holding the metal down until it went no further.
Toni hurried me with her frown and I relaxed my hand, realising I still held the door firm with my back. The wood didn’t push against me, didn’t smash outward. Hadn’t forced me to the floor.
I took a breath, letting the ache in my hand dissipate.
Nodding towards Toni, she nodded back with her face full of impatience.
I pulled the door open, holding it firm and I backed into the shadow. Shame rolled over me as I hid behind the wooden barrier to expose the room to the horrors of the hallway.
With guilt crowding my th
oughts, emotion battling in my head, I realised Toni hadn’t fired. She hadn’t launched an assault on whatever came towards us from the other side.
I stepped slowly around the door as she stood with her face fixed with anger and the gun aimed into the void.
Their signature scent carried through the corridor, a low murmur vibrating along flaccid throats.
The stench of blocked toilets billowed out through the open door, but in the dim light their lifeless forms were nowhere as I peered into the darkness.
Glancing behind me, I saw the sun already hiding behind the houses opposite. Toni twisted, following my gaze, returning with a concern common these last few days.
I turned away, taking my first steps over the threshold.
She arrived at my side as I made out the scene, the writhing dark mass leading halfway up the staircase only just becoming clear. Hands clawed in the air. Jaws snapped open and shut, speeding as they caught my sight.
Although their bodies hid in the dark, the soldier’s fatigues doing their job, I could still see pale fingers scraping at the stairs carpet, clawing for traction.
Toni and I swapped a glance, but we both turned back to their slow advance; as if in competition, they rose towards us. Their progress unnerving.
Splitting, we ran to different rooms. I took the back bedroom, Toni the bathroom, but soon she arrived at my side, joining my lingering stare out of the window as I peered down the tiles of the extension roof.
Toni dragged the chest of drawers under the window, pushing me out of the way before I had taken my gaze off the tiled slope below. By the time the plan formed, she had already dragged a chair across the carpet to use as a step up and was urging me to climb with the point of the gun.
If it was a threat, I couldn’t tell. Had she left the gun in her hand in her urgency to get me to safety?
