by Jacob Rayne
Vanessa hauled herself forward on her damaged leg. The pain was like nothing she’d ever experienced.
Simone was looking at her in dismay, her eyes descending to the oozing wound on her ankle. She looked concerned but was doing a half-decent job of hiding it.
Vanessa collapsed in a screaming, panting heap.
‘I’m sorry, girls. It’s just agony,’ she sobbed.
‘What shall we do?’ Simone said. ‘Shall we go on without you?’
Marla burst into tears at the thought of leaving her mother.
Simone grabbed her mother’s arms and pulled her to her feet.
Vanessa winced as a fresh wave of pain spread through her body.
‘Is it ok?’ Simone said.
‘I think so,’ Vanessa said. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here.’
Torch beams carved through the gloom behind them and they could hear the voices and footsteps of the cops who’d followed them in.
They hid in a darkened corner as the beams raked their position.
Simone let out a harsh gasp.
‘What is it, sweetie?’ Vanessa said.
She followed Simone’s trembling finger to a dark shape that lay just out of the reach of the torch beams.
As if it sensed that they had seen it, it let out a hideous cry that reverberated around the sewers and began crawling through the gloom towards them.
Marla let out a scream and set off in the opposite direction.
Vanessa screamed at her to come back, but collapsed when she tried to stand on her leg.
Duggan had figured that Joe Coache would eventually give up his present spate of common sense and go charging off into the woods with his brother and his redneck imbecile friends.
He wanted to protect Joe’s family; mainly out of a sense of duty – if he could save Stan Coache as he had saved Mark, it would go some way to relieving his grief and guilt over the death of his own son. He felt he owed it to Stan as he had helped Duggan to relive his son’s childhood – the happiest days of his life.
The way Duggan saw it, the joy those few minutes with the Coache family had given him were more than worth risking his neck for.
He noticed the smashed front door of the Coache house – the freshly touched up paintwork busted up into a few hundred pieces and spread across a ten foot radius of the yard. The flowers, which had so obviously been a source of pride to the family, now trampled and mangled. It saddened him a little, but more than anything it made him angry.
These things think they can just storm in here and fuck up the lives of normal people, he thought, as a red curtain descended in his mind.
All pretence of stealth – never a strong point with Duggan at the best of times – went sailing out of the window.
He flung the splintered front door open and moved into the house.
Joe Coache remained sobbing until the bathroom door was smashed to kindling. The creature’s horrible face poked through the hole, a few inches above his head.
He was so scared he couldn’t even look at it. He just wanted it to get it over with. The thought of shooting it did not even occur to him, so frightened was he. The creature smashed through the hole in the door and loomed above him.
He covered his head with his hands, not wanting to even see it. To cast his eyes onto it was to make it real. He just wanted the end to come.
A loud bang assailed his eardrums and forced him to look up.
Duggan stood in the doorway, a fresh coat of dripping gore running down his face.
The creature reeled back, missing the majority of the left side of its head.
Duggan darted in, sinking his hand into the hole in its head. Whatever he did made the creature cower. His free hand slugged the creature hard in the gut.
It doubled over, stunning Joe with the pained expression on its face.
Duggan maintained his grip inside the hole in its head and, in the finest school bully tradition, thrust the head into the open toilet bowl.
It fought hard, its screams creating a horrendous echo in the porcelain.
‘You can help if you like,’ Duggan said, briefly glancing over his shoulder to Joe, who was watching in stunned silence.
Joe fought his way to his feet and staggered across.
He helped Duggan to hold the creature’s head below the surface until it stopped thrashing and screaming.
‘Get ready to shut the lid,’ Duggan said.
Right on cue, the right side of the creature’s skull exploded in a vast spray of blood and gobbets of brain.
The moth creature made heavy thuds as it bounced off the inside of the toilet, leaving thick smears of blood on the white porcelain.
Duggan pulled the dead creature back.
Joe slammed the lid down.
The creature hit the underside of the lid hard enough to lift it a full three inches.
Duggan jumped on it, using his backside to keep the lid down.
‘Got any duct tape?’ he asked.
Joe nodded and pulled open the bathroom cupboard.
He pulled the tape from the roll and he and Duggan wound it tight around the lid until it was secure.
‘Well that was what these office types call a bonding experience,’ Duggan said, whacking Joe on the shoulder.
Joe nodded, mouth agape. The right words didn’t seem to be forthcoming.
‘I believe the words you’re looking for are: thank you,’ Duggan grinned.
‘Th-thank you. Really. I mean it. I owe you my life.’ Joe pulled him into a bearhug.
Duggan caught the scent of beer and stale sweat on the man’s clothes. ‘You’re welcome, man. But, I gotta tell ya, I came to save your kid. He made quite an impression on me.’
‘I noticed. He liked you too.’
‘I’m glad. He’s very similar to my boy in a lot of ways.’
‘I bet your boy’d be proud to have a hero like you for a dad.’
Duggan gulped and sunk into a stunned silence. A solitary tear rolled down his cheek. He backhanded it away quickly, hoping Joe didn’t notice.
‘What are you doing here anyway? Were you passing?’
Duggan shook his head. ‘No, just came to try and make amends.’ Then, in the blink of an eye, his demeanour changed. ‘So, where are they?’
‘Staying at Gina’s ma’s for the next few days.’
Duggan let out a laugh. ‘So I went through alla this for nothing?’
‘Yep. You saved me for fuck all,’ Joe laughed.
‘You’re one lucky son of a bitch, mind, Joe.’
Joe nodded, lapsed into silence. ‘I know. Seriously. Thank you.’ He fixed Duggan eye to eye with a stare. ‘I owe you my life. Whatever you need, man. Whatever you need.’
‘Just keep your eyes and ears open.’ Duggan whacked him on the shoulder. ‘And cut the mushy bullshit.’
Joe smiled. ‘You know what, Duggan, you’re not so bad.’
The sound of broken glass came from the street outside.
Duggan snuck a glance through the curtains.
‘There are more of them out there. I suggest we get moving.’
Kyle pressed on through the alleys. It was amazing – and disturbing – how quickly the mutants had wreaked havoc on the city.
Houses were already shattered remnants of their former selves. Many of them were ablaze. The rest were stained with gallons of blood as though territory was being claimed.
Rivers of blood ran through the gutters. The roads and yards were thick with mangled humanity. In places savaged bodies hung from windows or from doorways, eternal screams still on their blood-slicked lips.
If he had been more sentimental he’d have cried at the plight of the once-proud city.
But he had business to attend to and had no time for sentimentality.
He kept the crossbow aimed in front of himself, eyeing the shadows carefully.
A muzzle flash came from his left and he barely had time to throw himself to the side as the bullets shattered the brickwork where his h
ead had been. He landed in a pile of binbags that repulsed him with their cold, slimy feel.
He pulled his handgun, aimed it in the general direction of the shooter, his eyes scanning the gloom but seeing nothing.
A second bullet rang out, piercing the binbag and releasing a cloud of foul-smelling chunks of garbage.
‘Next one’s through your head,’ a voice said and he realised he hadn’t been lucky; the shooter had been aiming to miss him.
A cop emerged from one of the alleys.
‘You’re the most fucking wanted man in the states right now,’ the cop drawled. ‘And I’m gonna get one helluva bonus for taking you in.’
Kyle’s gun hand raised instinctively by a tiny amount.
‘Drop it.’
Kyle hesitated.
‘Now. Or I’ll put your knee caps out and you’ll have no choice but to come with me.’
Kyle reluctantly dropped his guns.
‘Any others on ya?’
Kyle pulled the handgun out and dumped it on the binbag in easy reach.
‘You think I was born yesterday? Kick that away now.’
Kyle complied.
‘Hands where I can see ’em. Don’t move a frigging muscle or you’ll spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair.’
Kyle’s pulse began to race.
The cop came in slowly, his gun aimed right in Kyle’s face.
‘Now, you’re coming with me. And no fuss. This doesn’t need to be any more difficult than it already is.’
Kyle shrugged. He planned on playing meek and hitting the cop with a haymaker when he got chance. He’d have to lower the gun to get his cuffs out. Unless he’d already called it in, of course.
A deafening gunshot rang out and the cop’s head sprayed over the neighbouring wall in a vast cloud of gore.
‘Got ya,’ a triumphant voice said from one of the neighbouring yards. ‘Ain’t I glad to see you, Mr Riggs?’
Kyle realised his situation had gone from bad to worse when he saw a grizzled man emerge from the shadows.
Duggan had discounted the police station as a destination as he knew the pandemonium that would be occurring there. The town hall seemed like a much safer bet.
He and Joe dodged a group of running villagers and hid from the creatures that chased them.
Once the group of creatures had passed, Duggan checked around then ran to the town hall.
The alarm was blaring, so it seemed a safe bet that someone was there.
Duggan hoped that it wouldn’t attract the hordes of creatures.
‘We’re fighting a losing battle here,’ said one of the handful of cops Chuck had bumped into on his frantic lap of the town square.
‘He’s right, let’s bail,’ said the wide-eyed cop.
Chuck saw their point of view but he couldn’t let the mutants overrun his town. ‘You go if you want to, but I’m staying. Who’s with me?’
Only two others, it turned out; the rest piled into their cars and fled.
‘At least run a few over on your way out,’ Chuck shouted.
The driver nodded at Chuck and reversed in an arc.
He drove fast into the group, crushing some of them beneath the wheels. He reversed back and did it again, crushing a few more. Then he drove away.
The second cop van followed him.
One of his colleagues took the fire engine, reasoning he’d be safer in there if any of the creatures stepped out in front of him. This theory was proved to be false when he rear-ended a crashed car and knocked himself out on the dash.
‘Just us then,’ Chuck said.
The two young cops who’d joined him both gave him a nervous grin.
‘Well, I say we find other survivors, try to stay together,’ Chuck said.
They set off, the horde of creatures close behind them.
‘Anyone in?’ Duggan shouted, braying on the door to the town hall. ‘It’s me, Duggan. I got Joe Coache with me.’
Jack Craggs’s face appeared at the gap in the glass, looking sceptical.
‘Shit, Jim, it is you. Get your ass inside.’
‘Thanks.’
Craggs pulled back the table and let Duggan in.
‘I’m afraid the alarm’s attracting them,’ Duggan said.
‘I thought it would,’ Craggs said. ‘We got a man trying his best to knock the damn thing off.’
‘Joe’s got my gun.’ Duggan said. ‘I just have my Taser.’
Craggs nodded. ‘Handy.’
‘Yeah,’ Duggan grinned. ‘Though I’d prefer a bazooka, personally.’
Craggs laughed.
‘Be careful, guys, these things will tear you a new un if they get the chance,’ Duggan said.
‘We know,’ the bedraggled men chorused, indicating their war wounds.
Duggan called all the men together.
‘Now the situation is this; these creatures are out to claim the town and anywhere else they can get their hands on. They’ll fight to the death, so we have to be prepared to do the same.’
‘Kay,’ said Pat Cook.
‘Now, our options are either to get out of town now or stay here and kill every creature that comes our way. Personally, I’d get the fuck out, but it’s your town, so I’ll leave the decision to you.’
There were three stays and three goes. The deciding vote fell to Craggs.
‘It’s an easy answer, really,’ he said, head bowed. ‘I’ve lived in this town all my life. It’s all I’ve ever known. But it’d be the height of fuckin stupidity staying here with those things on the rampage. I say we go, but lay low until the threat’s died down.’
‘Not to disillusion you all,’ Duggan said. ‘But this will probably get worse before it gets better.’
‘So do we go now?’ Craggs said.
‘Yeah. I vote go. Right now,’ Winters said.
‘Not happenin’, I’m afraid,’ said Joe, pointing to the window.
Outside the window dozens of creatures stared in at them.
Vanessa screamed when she saw the creature emerge from the darkness, in spite of her wish to be brave in front of her kids.
She raised the shotgun and fired a wild shot that managed to hit the creature somehow.
It let out a hissing cry.
It still wasn’t visible fully, they just saw a tangled mass of limbs and spikes. It was a small mercy.
Suddenly the tunnel became a maelstrom of sound and light, gunshots ricocheting off the walls and the creature’s armoured carapace, drawing sparks and chunks of brickwork that rained down on the terrified family.
The creature roared and, seemingly sensing the new threat, ran right past them. They smelt the stench of blood and death as it scuttled past.
The cops opened fire on it, which seemed to be an utter waste of bullets.
They saw the scene in second-long bursts of light from the muzzle flashes.
The creature approached in seemingly slow motion, sparks rising from its dark hide like miniature Catherine wheels.
The first guard lasted a matter of seconds; a dark spike pierced the hollow of his throat with terrifying speed. He fell, choking on the blood which poured from the ragged wound.
The gunshots picked up after this, making all other noise nonsensical.
They could tell the cops weren’t going to win, so they moved off as best they could while the creature was occupied.
Chuck’s idea bordered on madness, but it did hold an undeniable, if perverse, logic.
It went like this: the creatures were coming out of the woods and into town, so therefore the woods would be relatively empty and thus safer.
His two young companions decided there was no harm in trying it, certainly nowhere in town seemed free from the creatures.
They passed by Finn’s house, which was now a last bastion of defence for some of the town’s startled inhabitants.
Chuck ignored the house and moved into the woods.
Shotguns fired and screams came from the house as they passed.
A few of the windows were coated with dripping slicks of blood.
They pressed on.
Chuck’s plan did have some merit; although there were some creatures in the woods, it was significantly less than the town.
He smiled at his two scared companions and wound his way deeper into the woods.
Finally, one of Craggs’s men managed to knock off the blaring alarm. A little too late in terms of advertising their position to the creatures, but it was bliss to not have the brain-shredding noise.
‘OK,’ Duggan said, glad to not have to shout over the wailing alarm. ‘Get in position. Two of you go upstairs. Everyone else get ready. I’ll take out any that come in, but try and keep ’em out.’
The men took up their positions; Morey Winters and Tom Gooding upstairs, Duggan and Craggs by the front door.
Brian Cook manned the western wall of windows while his brother, Patrick, took the eastern wall.
James Noble manned the south windows. Poor Al Murphy drew the short straw and got to guard the basement entrance.
They loaded up and waited for the creatures to make their move.
‘Who are you and what do you want with me?’ Kyle said, his throat suddenly desert-dry.
‘I’m Captain Lance Abbott of the US Marine Corps and I’m holding a gun to your daughter’s head, son, so I’ll ask the goddamn questions around here.’
‘Of course, sorry.’
‘You speak when you’re fuckin spoken to, you god-playing son of a whore. Now, ’less you want this sweet little lady to be wearing her brains as a hat I suggest you tell me where this serum is.’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
Abbott clicked the safety off. ‘I’m not fucking around, sonny. World’s too goddamn dangerous to play games these days. First and only chance you’re gonna get.’
‘I’ll take you there, just don’t hurt her. Please don’t hurt her.’
‘That’s up to you, dickhead. Now lead the way. And pass me that crossbow, it looks mighty handy.’
‘I was on my way there anyway,’ Kyle said.
‘Speak when you’re spoken to, sonny,’ Abbott growled. His eyes flicked everywhere, in response to the screams and gunshots that tore through the night all around them.
