by Stevens, GJ
I stepped back as she turned my way, her face devoid of emotion and clutching the chair leg dripping with blood I hadn’t noticed her pull from the fatal wound.
“Are you okay?” I asked. Her vacant nod sent a chill along my spine and I couldn’t help but question what the hell had happened to her since she’d woken this morning. I’d only known her for a few days, but still we’d gone through so much in such a brief time. We’d grown so close, but now she seemed like a different person.
Mandy stood, moving to the furthest corner of the room and, sliding her back down the glass, she sat on the carpet.
“Take a breath,” I said to Cassie as she gazed at the creatures staring from the other side of the windows, clawing at the glass, their hands smearing blood and who knows what else over its surface.
“We need to move the bodies,” Cassie said, her tone flat. I nodded in agreement.
Somehow keeping the contents of my stomach in place, I took one arm of the blonde as Cassie took the other and with Alex holding the doors open, together we dragged it along the carpet whilst I looked anywhere but its skin, or the dark blood oozing from the wounds to mark out our route. After doing the same with the guy in the tuxedo, I hoped I wasn’t getting used to a new normal.
I couldn’t stop my mind wandering to the moment the creature burst through the skylight. Had it smashed the glass or had something else sealed their fate? Was the dining room full when the creature jumped from the roof and were the remains those that hadn’t got away?
With no way to know the answers and back in the other dining room, now clear of anything dead, I pulled a fallen chair upright and sat with Shadow resting his head on my knee.
Stroking along the length of his back, I felt as if I could calm if it weren’t for Cassie not able to keep still, continually walking the perimeter of the room with the chair leg she’d at least wiped of blood. I couldn’t watch her any longer and I moved around to behind the bar, finding Alex sitting up against the wall with the rucksack still on her back. Shadow didn’t follow.
No one spoke for what seemed like an age as if we each took the time to process what had just happened.
After a while, the quiet, punctuated with Cassie’s steps and the slow drum of hands at the windows, became too oppressive.
Cassie’s steps. The crunch of glass. The percussion at the glass in an irregular beat.
“Where did Jess go last night?” Despite my whisper, I felt Alex pull herself up straight and pause her breath.
“To the offices. Like I said. She brought back the cameras.” She couldn’t hide her high, defensive tone, and I paused to diffuse the moment.
“I thought I saw her early this morning.” When Alex didn’t reply I spoke again. “But the light was bad.”
I held my breath at the sound of the door opening, but relaxed at the thought of Cassie extending her patrol.
“What happened to Cassie?” Alex asked, and it was my turn to be surprised at the question, jolting me back to what seemed like a lifetime ago. About to remind her I’d already told them everything in the church, I remembered she was the only one not in the small room when I’d poured my heart out.
“We were in a car heading back to that hospital. There was a soldier with us. He’d been bitten, but we stopped the bleeding. We thought he’d be okay. That’s what she said we had to do. But...” I held my breath as I tried to force away from the direction my mind was taking. “But he wasn’t.”
“Who told you about the bleeding?”
“Doctor Lytham. He turned as I drove. I lost so many.” A dull thud banged at the glass in my pause.
“I’m sorry,” Alex said, her voice low.
“Everyone’s lost someone now. I’m sorry for everyone.” I stared at the row of glasses behind the bar, reminding me of a time long ago when the world had been straightforward.
“My people were already dead,” Alex said.
I nodded. “I’m sorry for that too.”
“I’m not. They didn’t have to go through this.”
“I guess,” I replied, and shook my head as my thoughts veered towards my parents and the image of them watching the TV cuddled up on the sofa.
“So this doctor fixed her up?” Alex asked, catching my look.
“There were seven of us left, and Shadow. He saved our lives. Well, some of us.”
“It helps to talk about it,” she said, and I guessed she was right.
“Andrew was my best friend.” I paused on the words. “Bitten, but he was too far gone.” I stopped talking as I heard the gunshot in my head, biting down on my bottom lip. I still hadn’t decided whether Doctor Lytham had been his saviour for putting him out before he turned or if she should have tried harder, tried anything to help him. “Lane. Commander Lane. A pilot from the helicopter.”
Alex frowned back.
“A story for another time.”
Her cheeks bunched and she raised an eyebrow. “Was he infected too?”
“No. But he’s dead. They’re all heroes. They’ve all done something selfless to get us where we are today.”
She gave another slow nod.
“I don’t know what that makes me,” I said. I didn’t need to turn to see her shaking her head.
“You’ve helped Cassie and us.”
I tried to hold my thoughts from racing off. “They gave Cassie medicine. A drink. It stopped her from dying.”
“What was it?”
I shrugged. “We had little choice and no time to ask. She was going downhill quickly. She drank it and fell asleep. She’d been drowsy ever since. You saw how she was. But today she’s like...” I stopped myself from saying the words out loud.
“Like what?” Alex said, forcing her voice lower. “She’s different, isn’t she?”
I nodded, but didn’t speak when I heard the door rest gently against its jamb. After listening to footsteps, Cassie appeared around the corner of the bar and stared at us, still covered in blood but I concentrated on the three tins of fruit in syrup in her hands.
“I found these,” she said in a low voice. “There’s a kitchen. You want them?”
I smiled back and nodded whilst taking the tins. “Thanks, Cass. You got some?”
She moved out of sight without reply and moments later the door settled back to the jamb again as I rested the tins on the floor.
“What was she like before?” Alex asked, and I turned to her as the memories flooded in. The time we’d spent scared for our lives in the wardrobe. When we’d walked alone to the village. When we’d almost kissed. The night she’d lain at my side.
“When did Cassie have the medicine?” Alex asked when the door swung closed, its hit against the jamb sending renewed slaps to the windows. “She’s different now. Isn’t she?”
“She’s been through a lot. We all have.”
Alex nodded.
“Yesterday. No, the evening before that. She drank it a little under two days ago,” I said and watched as her expression hardened. “What is it?”
Alex swallowed as if trying to make a tough decision. Eventually she shook her head and spoke, “Jess was bitten, too.”
I let the moment hang, my eyebrow raising as I spoke. “I think I knew,” I said, nodding.
Alex turned her head to the side, eyeing me cautiously as she waited.
“What did they give her?”
“I only know what Jess told me. They gave her something, then infected her.”
I reared back, sitting up straight, but didn’t say a word as Alex spoke again.
“They infected her and then gave her more of the stuff. She was supposed to keep getting doses, but the place they were keeping her got overrun and she escaped.”
“So many questions. Did it work?” I said, as Alex paused for breath.
“Only in part. She’s not unscathed.”
“What do you mean?” I added and then stopped as I heard the door opening. Before Alex could answer I spoke again. “Do you think they gave them the same thing?”
She shrugged, speaking in a whisper. “I think what they gave Cassie must have been better. A newer mix, perhaps? Plus, they gave it to Cassie after she was infected. Is that right?”
Mandy came around the bar and she stared at the tins.
“Help yourself,” I said and turned back to Alex as Mandy sat by her side and pulled the ring up to get at the fruit.
I wanted to ask so many questions. I had to know if we were safe around her. I had to know if it was Jess feeding on people. I had to know what she’d meant by not being unscathed. Would the same happen to Cassie? Was she safe to be around?
I stared at Mandy, willing her to finish slurping down the fruit and go back to where she’d been sitting on her own, but when I heard the door again, I gave up on answers for the moment; Jess had been fine around us, as had Cassie. So far, at least.
“What about you?” I asked, looking at Alex. “What’s your story?”
Alex spoke after a moment, collecting her thoughts. “I was heading home from a job. I’m a locksmith,” she said. “I saw those creatures in the road. Scared the life out of me. Then I literally bumped into Jess. I nearly ran her over.”
“Oh,” I said. “Funny that.”
Alex replied with a frown. “How’s that funny?”
“I almost shot Cassie when I first met her.” For a moment a grin pulled at the corner of my mouth, until I remembered the depth of my fear for what might have been.
Alex raised her eyebrows and gave a shallow nod. “That’s why you seemed so okay when Jess nearly shot you in the tunnel.”
I nodded.
“I assumed you’d known each other for ages. I assumed you were...” I stopped myself as I saw Mandy leaning into the conversation, her features rising with alarm.
“No,” Alex said. “I met her like the night after new year’s night. I think. How long has it been? I...”
“It’s just the way you are together...” I said, but stopped myself again. “Never mind,” I added when I realised it was something she didn’t want to talk about.
“And you and Cassie?” she said, turning the questioning back to me.
I paused, trying not to listen to the slap of hands against the glass.
“I don’t know,” I said, then turned, looking to the fast-flowing river rushing over the top of the bridge deck. “It was early days.”
“It is early days,” Alex corrected, and I twisted around with a smile.
A shot rang off somewhere in the distance, followed by the crack of glass. A second resounded in the air and Alex and I struggled up, rushing to our feet as a third shot came.
Coming over the top of the bar, we watched the creatures still on the other side, but they’d each turned away. I didn’t follow to where they looked; instead, I peered to the two glass panels spidering with cracks as a plume of plaster flew from the adjacent wall.
Baring her teeth in our direction, Cassie stood in the opposite corner as the windows seemed to flex from the downdraft of a helicopter as if directly above us.
50
JESSICA
“Jessica Carmichael,” the woman in the orange dress said with her eyebrows raised and breath heavy as she sat opposite me in the baker’s shop.
In her lap, a blonde-haired doll rested, its white dress spoilt with a splash of dried blood.
Giving a shallow nod, I leaned with my back to the glass door, watching her on the tall stool at a breakfast bar amongst the discarded plates and half-eaten remains of what looked like lunch.
With the buttery smell of stale pastries in the air, I couldn’t help but think how Alex might like to visit this place, despite the food being a few days old.
“Your leg?” I said, narrowing my eyes as I looked below the hem of her dress and the end of a bandage on her right thigh. Tall and curvy and with perfect proportions, despite her scowl constantly questioning in my direction, she looked cute enough that in another life I would have taken note.
“Just a scratch,” she replied with her knuckles white as they wrapped around the handle of a long knife angled down to the floor.
I knew if I moved, she’d walk right out of the door. I could see it in her eyes. She had a score to settle.
“What’s your story?” I asked, nodding toward the doll.
She stared back, blinking each time I spoke, and rearranged the hair of the doll in her lap as if it were a child.
Still she didn’t reply, looking to the window each time a shadow moved across. I didn’t look. I knew what ambled down the street. With each shadow I watched her brow furrow and her eyes narrow as if unsure why the creatures didn’t stand to the plate-glass windows, scratching to tear at my skin.
“You have kids?” I said, knowing the minefield the question presented.
She pulled her gaze from beyond the glass to meet mine. “A little girl. Five in May.”
I nodded, watching as she stroked the fake hair and a smile beamed, but just for a moment, her cheeks bunching as she rushed out her words. “She’s safe. With her gran.” I nodded again. “You have kids?”
Normally at this point in the conversation I would laugh and shake my head, dismissing the idea before changing the subject. But for the first time I didn’t reject the concept outright, and I felt like bursting with laughter, scared of the opposite emotion. You always want what you can’t have. It was out of the question now.
I shook my head and raised my chin.
“There’ll be a vaccine soon. Your daughter will probably be okay,” I said.
“How do you know?” she asked, looking up from the doll.
“They gave it to me and one of the women you saw me with,” I replied, nodding in the direction we’d arrived from. “And we’re both doing just fine.” I don’t know why I misreported the facts.
“How can I get it?” she said, letting herself down from the high stool.
I shook my head. “It’s not ready yet.”
“But...?” she replied.
“We’re the guinea pigs.”
She stared wide-eyed, a smile rising, and I heard the thrum of rotor-blades from outside. I turned back from the glass to where she still stared.
“They’re not interested in you. Are they?” she said.
I nodded just as the bass of the background sound rose in volume.
“But they are, aren’t they?” she said, looking to the ceiling.
I nodded. “They want to see how I’m getting on.”
“And to stop you telling people what’s happening.”
I raised my brow. “You’ve seen the broadcast?”
She nodded. “When will the cure be ready?”
I shrugged.
“Too late for me,” she said, and I watched as she lifted her dress, showing off the red stain on the white bandage just above her knee.
“But not too late for your daughter.”
She smiled, nodding as she took a step toward me.
“It’s suicide.”
“I’m already dead.”
I stepped to the side of the door.
“Thank you, Jessica Carmichael.”
“What’s your name?” I asked, raising my head.
“It’s Gemma,” she replied, nodding.
“Nice to meet you, Gemma. Go kick some ass.”
I pulled open the door and with the stench pouring from the street, she didn’t flinch, gritting her teeth as she charged a group of ragged creatures ambling toward us. Raising both arms high, the knife in her right and the doll in her left, she jabbed out with a high cry.
As the pound of a high-powered rifle shot filled the air, I turned, running the way I’d led Gemma from earlier.
51
LOGAN
It was as if the world woke when the shots came.
Rushing to our feet, we could do nothing but look on, switching my gaze between Cassie and the window with the crowd of creatures conflicted between those turning to the excitement at their backs and those who seemed intent on keeping the pressure on the wind
ows.
Cassie’s eyes stayed wide as she took slow, considered steps from the corner of the room, slapping fallen tables from her path with her teeth bared like an animal. Like one of them.
When the shots stopped, the crowd beyond the glass were in chaos. Each seemed to move its own way, either slapping to the glass to claw at the fractures or turning away toward some other call, only to knock into one of their neighbours. Beyond the movement, the crowd thinned with a blur of motion, sending bodies flying.
Before too long the glass darkened with thick, splattered blood rolling down the windows like lumpy treacle.
I didn’t need to look behind to know it was Mandy’s scream rising above Shadow’s bark when a body slammed against the cracked window, sending the glass tumbling inwards to slap against the floor. The body stayed motionless, no matter how hard we stared.
Renewed light came through the space where the glass had been and with it the stench, so powerful it woke us from our collective trance, turning us to the movement beyond the gap.
Every figure lay motionless, spread across the car park.
At first I thought the helicopter must have sprayed the crowd with bullets as it came to our rescue, but I hadn’t heard the whine of the weapons.
Cassie stopped halfway to the gap with a chair leg in her right hand hanging loose at her side as she peered forward, stepping sideways toward where I stood.
With footsteps at my back, Alex guided Mandy at her side. Shadow halted his bark. Coming alongside, I looked left then right, convinced we all had the same question in our minds, but before I could give it voice, the room darkened and we each turned to the bloodied figure at the space where the window had fallen in, standing motionless.
Jess.
I should have felt an overwhelming fear, and I did, but only that Cassie’s fate would be the same as Jess standing in front of us. A fear she’d soon be drenched in the blood of her victims, her hair matted to her face and barely able to make out her features as she stared at a group of humans not knowing if they would be next. Could she control herself as Jess seemed to? Could she stop her unfamiliar urges from ripping those around her apart?
