Clifton Falls

by L A Taylor

  A quick shake of the head and Wayne was back to reality again. He had to avoid being sucked in by what the beast used to be and needed to un-knot the ropes of emotion before being trapped inside other thoughts that would distract him. The monster’s expression quickly changed again as it moved closer to Wayne, but he wasn’t ready for it and couldn’t shoot the beast. Chris sensed something was wrong so yelled out to rotate the monster’s attention away from the now shaking man. “Hey, come over here you sack of shit.”

  The shouting wasn’t having any effect so it was time for plan B. Chris tapped the zombie on the shoulder.

  What was he doing? Wayne thought.

  Whatever he was doing, it was working. The dead man turned around, acting totally surprised. If the two guys weren’t in a dangerous position then this scenario would’ve been quite comical.

  Chris put on a show for the hungry beast and went back to pulling faces, and making strange noises. Wayne watched as the other man copied the throat sounds that every now and then spilt from the creature’s mouth.

  “Chris, stop messing about and get out of there.”

  “All right, all right, I’m going. I just wanted you to see that there’s nothing to fear.” He pulled one more stupid face before finishing his sentence. “Now I’m going.”

  Wayne needed the reporter to stay clear of the area. He had to shoot the creature and didn’t want the stupid man getting in the way.

  Chris’ stupidity could end up being his downfall as he wasn’t focused enough on the thing in front of him. He tried passing but allowed himself to be caught by the beast. An eerie hand gripped onto his jacket. Chris swiftly strived to shake it off, but the enemy’s grip remained tight.

  “Fuck off. If you want to touch somebody so badly then touch yourself...”

  Wayne couldn’t believe that the other man still pissed about with the monster even though he was close to death. He had to rescue him.

  The zombie threw Chris against the wall, so Wayne jumped on it, wrestling the beast, but he too was brushed to one side with great ease. The zombie saw the chance of freedom and headed for the escape entrance. It somehow didn’t seem interested in biting these men, maybe because it knew them – Or, had a better idea? Wayne dived onto the zombie’s back again but ended up back on the floor.

  Chris returned to his feet. His head was a bit sore after cracking it against a solid surface, but his focus was still on full alert.

  “Chris, you have to stop it from getting out of here.”

  The reporter now realized the full extent of what needed to be done. Maybe it was the knock on the head? But he now understood that this was no game and very serious. He picked up a chair that was situated next to the bed and instantly aimed it at the creature’s head, crashing wooden legs against the back of the skull with an almighty ‘SMACK’. This sent the monster sprawling across the floor. Wayne and Chris watched as the zombie shook off the attack and returned to its feet. Chris lifted the object again, hoping this attempt would be the last one. “Right, if that didn’t bother you then this one will.”

  Wayne gripped onto one of the legs just as the chair was about to be struck against the zombie again. “Wait.” he shouted. A look of complete bewilderment came from the reporter, but he could tell by Wayne’s distraught expression that there was a reason behind all of this. “I don’t want it to be done like this.”

  “What do you mean not like this?” Chris replied.

  “I made a promise to a dear friend, and I need to fulfil it.” The zombie was in a position to strike, but didn’t. The expected bash on the head never arrived, so what was going to happen next? “This is between me and Jason. Go outside and wait for me.”

  Wayne made it clear that Chris wasn’t invited.

  “Fuck the help, man. I’ve got the beast in my sights. This’ll be the end for the shit,” said Chris, who was now high on adrenalin.

  Wayne wasn’t impressed by his ignorance and needed to stop him. “I said no. If you don’t get the hell out of this room now then I’ll kill you instead and give the zombie your job. I’m sure nobody would tell the difference between the pair of you.” he shouted. Chris was lost for words to reply to that message. Wayne reached for his gun, pointing it at him. “Look, Chris, I don’t want to hurt you but that thing over there used to be my partner, so I think I should deal with this on my own.”

  Chris finally took the hint, knowing now that this meant a hell of a lot to Wayne. He produced a quick smile before racing out of the room.

  Wayne and the zombie stared at each other before Wayne made an effort at finishing off his old friend. He nervously aimed the weapon at the creature, but his ex-partner seemed to crumple with despair. However, Wayne wasn’t falling for it a second time. “I’m sorry for doing this mate, but you did ask me to. I just hope you find happiness in the next life.”

  The docile fiend quickly changed from being a staring corpse, to a frantic lunatic, as the sight of the gun triggered its memory button. It pounced again. This time it wasn’t going to stop and both bodies straggled across the room. The gun fired a bullet into the ceiling before finally dislodging away from Wayne’s grip. He managed to stop the monster from tearing at his face but the corpse swung at him, connecting a hand against his nose and forcing an eruption of reddened liquid to pour out of his nostrils. Wayne grabbed hold of the zombie’s striking fist. He then placed a leg behind its legs, forcing it down until the monster lay on its back. Now he’d gained the upper hand. He lashed out with his left foot, booting the zombie in the face before picking up the gun, but as he was about to fire, the zombie was up again, closing in at a higher speed than normal. Wayne swung a fist, but the monster got lucky and snapped jaws onto the incoming hand. The bite ripped away skin from the knuckles. This attack caused Wayne to panic and the gun never fired. He now became trapped in a mixture of mind-games as the likeness of his friend looked at him.

  Something else interfered with his movements now. Wayne heard faint noises closing in from down the hallway. Mike had gone to the hospital to keep an eye on the reporter, but upon reaching the reception area had been surprised to see a terrified Chris rushing up to him, grabbing onto his arm and telling the story at twice the normal tempo. Both men now raced down the corridor to save Wayne from the new recruit to zombie-hood.

  All this commotion slowed down the process for the struggling sergeant. He knew he had to finish the job to complete his promise to a dying friend, but the vision in front of him had the power to prevent this from happening.

  He froze, just for a split second, but it was enough time for the zombie to pin him against the wall. Wayne now found himself in a position where he shouldn’t have been. The zombie sunk saliva filled teeth into his throat, extracting juicy neck meat before the sergeant could adapt to the situation. Now, a fountain of blood escaped from the wound. It didn’t matter how many fingers were used to plug up the hole, the life fluid found a way through. Wayne’s face colour was now becoming a snowy white. He hadn’t expected this to happen. Time was running out for him to complete his promise. He shoved one hand into the sticky mess, while the other lifted up the gun. He knew the creature would soon be on him again and needed to stop it.

  The zombie dived in for a second bite as Wayne’s breathing became uncontrollable. The weapon fired again and the back of the zombie’s head exploded thick, sticky residue all over the surrounding glass. The beast collapsed in front of him.

  The other men arrived, but were too late to save him. They witnessed Wayne leaning against the far wall. He was bleeding a waterfall of liquid over his clothes, shoes, and the ground around his feet. “Can you hear me?” Mike said, rushing over to the brave, but foolish sergeant.

  Wayne’s eyes remained open, but he’d breathed his last ounce of air. His lifeless body fell next to Jason’s. Chris now felt completely guilty because of his earlier actions.

  Why do I behave like a complete, fucking arse? He knew this thought would haunt him for a very long time.

&
nbsp; Mike turned, glaring at the reporter. “You fucking, little bastard, this man would still be alive if you’d stayed with him.” Mike’s anger formed a large bubble and boiling point status was on the cards if it popped. He nearly lashed out with his fists. “God, I wish this was you lying here and not one of my men.”

  “Look, this wasn’t my idea you know. He wanted to do this on his own. He was the one who told me to leave,” Chris replied, while trying to calm Mike down.

  “You should’ve stayed and helped him.”

  “I wanted to stay with him, really I did, but he said he’d made a promise to a friend and had to keep it.” There was a tiny pause before Chris spoke again. “Do you know what he meant by this?”

  Mike lowered his head. He’d an idea of what it could be and now felt saddened by the thought. “I think I do.” His head lifted as he made eye contact with the other man. “Jason must’ve asked him to end it if and when he transformed into one of those monsters.” The chief wasn’t spitting hurtful words at Chris anymore now he knew it wasn’t his fault. “Hopefully this is the end.”

  The disease spread through Wayne’s corpse at a much faster pace than usual and his body twitched slightly. Chris glanced at the dead sergeant. He wasn’t sure if he saw anything, so remained staring for a few more seconds. Mike noticed this and asked what he was doing?

  “Maybe it’s nothing, but I could’ve sworn that I saw Wayne’s body move.”

  Mike quickly explained the time period from human to freak and that there was no way it could evolve so quickly. He asked the other man again if he definitely saw something.

  “I’m not one-hundred-percent sure, but look at it for a minute. If I’m wrong then I’ll apologize.”

  Both men might as well have cracked open a bottle of bubbly and got the sandwiches out by the way they acted. They watched the blood covered corpse. Mike produced a winning smile because he thought he was right. He nudged the other man, letting him know that he waited for the apology to arrive very soon, but Chris tried to ignore him.

  The body on the ground didn’t know that the men stared at it, and the eyelids now lifted, revealing creepiness in its features. This caused the men to jump back as a shivering sensation raced through their bodies. The sudden surprise gave the zombie time to climb to its feet.

  “Move it. I’m going to shoot,” Mike shouted, grabbing Chris and pulling him out of the way.

  The gun aimed. The monster didn’t seem worried, it just moved across the floor toward the men. The trigger squeezed, but no sound was heard and no bullet tore through the air. “Shit, my gun won’t fire,” Mike shouted.

  Chris hovered behind the chief. His nerves had now played too many games and he didn’t want to face another zombie again. “Did you load it?” he asked.

  “Ha, ha, ha, stop trying to be funny. Fucking, dick-face,” a stressed out chief shouted. Mike quickly checked, but no bullets were there. “I forgot. I rushed here and it slipped my mind,” the now embarrassed man said.

  He had no time to do it now because the creature was swinging arms at him. After a few wild attempts, a hand crashed against the side of Mike’s face, forcing him over.

  “Mike, are you all right?”

  The figure that was sprawled out on the floor moved again. Mike staggered, but managed to return to his feet.

  The zombie moved in the direction of the reporter while Mike shook off the attack on him. Chris now faced the beast. He had no choice but to go back to silly mode in order to give the chief more time. This was his way of dealing with the situation. “Hey, meatball, are you hungry?” The zombie reached out, trying to grab onto the taunting man. “Yeah, that’s right, I’m talking to you.”

  Mike watched, as the reporter taunted the zombie with his stupid but effective approach. He then reloaded his weapon.

  Chris now reached the end of the line. He was forced against a wall as the zombie closed in. Drool, mixed with darkened blood spilled down from beneath its lips as it staggered near to the little man. “Hey, Mike, I hope you come up with a plan pretty soon. I can’t seem to keep this sucker at bay for much longer.” Chris sniffed the air and held his nose. “Jesus, man, have you smelled this dead guy’s breath?”

  The reporter was on the verge of wetting himself, but managed to keep up the comedy act. He glanced over, checking on the chief, and saw a gun pointing in his direction. “I would get the fuck out of the way if I were you,” Mike shouted.

  Chris dived across the floor as a bullet tore through the dead guy’s right cheek, but the beast didn’t fall down. Instead, it turned to face the shooter. With eyes totally transfixed onto the man with the ammunition to blow it away, the monster went on a suicide mission and moved closer to him. Chris returned to his feet and brushed himself down. “Mike, what do you want me to do?”

  “You just stay there. I’ve got the situation in hand.” He winked at the reporter. “Trust me.”

  The zombie moved even closer to the chief. Mike lifted the firearm again, pointing it at the grotesque figure. He felt the same feeling Wayne had felt when faced with killing Jason. The closer the monster got, the harder it was to finish the job. His gun hand shook. A deep intake of breath was needed, but Mike could smell the same toxic fumes and so let that idea slip by. He placed both hands onto the gun as the zombie came close to touching him. “Sorry mate, but your time’s up.”

  The weapon fired two shots in quick succession. Both bullets smashed into the zombie’s forehead before exploding the skull. Mike saw the sad eyes of the monster become weaker and weaker with every second that passed by. Very slowly the eyes closed tight and once shut, the zombie collapsed. “Are you all right, little man?”

  Chris knew the chief found this moment tough to cope with. This was definitely one giant horror show, that’s for sure. “I’m great. It’s you that’s not.”

  “I’ll be okay, I’m getting used to it.”

  Both men must’ve had pencil rubbers brushing the horrible feelings away because how else could they get through this?

  The struggling pair exited the room, heading back along the corridor in search of the way out. Chris grabbed onto Mike at least twice during this walk, as he was very close to fainting. This needed reporting quickly before more hospital staff witnessed the awful discovery.

  Both men gave each other a necessary and needed hug. This could so easily have been their last day to be alive. If they were cats then at least five of their lives could’ve been wiped out by now.

  Mike mentioned that he needed to pay a visit to someone urgently. The reporter knew exactly who that was and they both split up. The chief returned to his car, driving off in the direction of Susan’s house.

  The light shining from her living room indicated that hopefully she was still awake. Mike parked the car and braced himself for another tear jerking encounter. He slowly walked up to the front door before knocking it. Susan had a rush of feelings spiralling up from her stomach upon opening the door. She knew why Mike was there long before he spoke to her. The woman’s face became pale. A hand covered her mouth, hiding the fact she was about to cry. She figured out that something had happened to her man and now the waiting was over.

  “Hi, can I come in?” Mike asked quietly.

  Susan’s eyes filled with fluid. A rippling tremble shot across her body as she led Mike into the house.

  They sat down. Immediately she began to shake some more. Tears slid down her face. This made Mike’s speech even harder to achieve now. He knew she expected bad news, but couldn’t get the words out. She watched, waiting for the verdict, but Mike knew this was harder than facing an army of killer zombies.

  “Mike, I need to know what’s happened to Wayne.”

  He sat next to her, passing on a grief stricken glare. Lips quivered slightly and he became close to falling apart.

  “There was nothing I could’ve done to prevent it. I’m very sorry.”

  “He’s dead, isn’t he?”

  “Yes, he is,” The chief said, as his
eyes also filled with tears.

  They both opened the floodgates as Mike embraced her. This moment lasted a good few minutes and needed doing in order to release their pain.

  After the crying was over, Mike explained what’d taken place in that awful room, making sure not to go into too much detail about the horrific death of his friend and colleague. The pair talked for a while afterwards. Susan was extremely traumatised, but what could she do? Wayne knew the risks when he joined the police force. Any other kind of death and she’d accept it, but being murdered by a zombie didn’t seem real. She stood up and asked Mike if he wouldn’t mind staying the night, as she didn’t want to be alone. It was going to be a very, very lonely night now Wayne wasn’t going to be there anymore. Mike agreed to this proposal. He was very tired and didn’t really want to move off the settee. Now he didn’t need to.

  “To be honest with you I don’t think I could’ve stayed on my own tonight either. You’re doing me a favour as well,” he said, smiling.

  Something happened at that moment. An attraction was felt between them. Susan’s eyes locked onto his. Mike reached out, holding her hand. Her legs became trapped beneath his as she slowly bent over. Mike drew her closer to him by gently and softly pulling on her hand. Her body lowered even further, until her face reached a matter of inches away from his. Their eyes remained locked, but it was Susan who made the first move. She kissed Mike, planting a real passionate one on his lips. This kiss appeared to last longer than expected and hadn’t been written in Mike’s script. He eventually came to his senses, but the kiss had already happened.

  “We can’t do this,” he said.

  “I’m really sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

  “Well it wasn’t me. I definitely didn’t cum over you,” a laughing chief spluttered from his mouth. “Sorry, I don’t know why I said that.”

  Mike released his hand, making it clear that the trauma brought them closer together. He then apologised and Susan grinned. “I’d best go to bed, on my own.” She received a massive smirk from the chief. “Night, I’ll see you in the morning.” Mike knew he would have to keep an eye on her over the next few months. The news about Wayne would tear anybody’s heart in two, and he owed it to the departed friend to do that.