Dead End

by Monroe, Kady

  “Body armour? Guns?” Matt said with a straight face.

  “You wish! No, and I’m afraid you are going to be very disappointed with what I do have now.”

  She moved across the room and started pulling multi-packs of toilet rolls off one of the shelves.

  “Um, I know we’re all nervous, but I seriously don’t think we need that many of those. Not yet anyway.”

  Jenny laughed again,

  “They’re for sitting on,” Jenny replied. “comfier than sitting on the floor and warmer too.”

  “Ah, Ok.”

  The packs were big enough to have their own carry handles, so Jenny gave a few to Matt. He secured them in his free hand, then said,

  “I tried to phone the police again earlier. They didn’t answer.”

  “Me too,” Jenny replied. “I’m probably being paranoid, but I don’t think anyone’s coming to help.”

  “I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

  It was a sobering thought.

  “What are we going to do?” she asked.

  “We stick to the plan we all talked about earlier, and stay here for now.”

  “Ok. Let’s not mention the police to the couple though.”

  “Agreed.”

  Jenny grabbed the remainder of the toilet roll packs before the pair of them returned to the others.

  The four of them settled in for the night. Tea, coffee and the sandwiches were consumed. The outside world was quiet, but around 10.30 pm the power went off and they were plunged into complete darkness when the security monitor died.

  “What happened?” Sophie asked.

  “Is it the fuse box?” asked Jack.

  Matt replied, “I think the power to this area has been cut off.”

  Jenny fumbled around the shelf below the counter-top and retrieved a torch, switching it on.

  “You don’t mean deliberately, do you?” Sophie asked incredulously.

  “I don’t know,” Matt answered. “Maybe it’s just a fault.”

  Jenny didn’t believe that but kept her mouth shut.

  “Have you got any more torches?” Jack asked her.

  She had to think for a moment, taking stock of shop supplies.

  “No. But there are boxes of tea-light candles on the third aisle. I’ll go get them.”

  When she returned, Jack was using his phone as a torch. Jenny opened one of the candle packs and Matt handed over his lighter to her. She lit a few and placed them on the floor between them. She switched the torch off to conserve the battery and handed the lighter back to Matt.

  “I'm scared,” Sophie said, then burst into tears.

  Once again, Jack was the one to comfort the girl.

  Within half an hour, the mini-mart was cold again. It’s going to be a long night Jenny thought and decided to get her coat for warmth. When she got up, all eyes turned to her.

  “It’s cold. I’m just going to get my coat,” she told them, taking the torch.

  “I’ll come with you, I could do with another smoke,” Matt said.

  “Ok. Grab some candles then.”

  He complied and went with her. She wondered if he wanted to talk to her without the others overhearing. But when they got to the staff room, he was silent and went about the business of lighting up candles and his cigarette. Jenny got her coat from the locker, put it on and picked up her bag too. If anyone came to help them, then she would have her own door keys and cash. She left Matt to his own devices and returned to the others.

  Hours went by slowly, and although she was tired, she couldn't sleep. Jack and Sophie seemed to have dozed off and Matt's eyes were closed, but she wasn't sure if he was asleep or not. She eventually nodded off, only to be rudely awoken by the noise of something bumping against the window shutter. Her heart jumped. She looked up towards the security screen, but of course, it wasn't on.

  The others were awake too and Matt intently stared at the window. Nobody said anything as the random bumping continued. Then Jenny definitely detected feet shuffling, before whoever it was outside, bumped against the window again.

  Sophie leaned forward and whispered,

  “They’re not trying to get in. Maybe if we ignore them, they’ll go away.”

  There was a consensus of nodding. They waited, and shortly after, the bumping stopped and all went quiet.

  It was still pitch black outside. Jenny viewed her watch by candlelight, dismayed to find it was only 3 am. Sunrise was hours away. She lit a few new candles. Then stuck her hands in her pockets, trying to warm them up, and settled back to wait out the rest of the night.

  Five minutes later, the bumping came back, but this time it was accompanied by a low moaning. The sound was sad and frightening at the same time. For a while, Jenny resisted the urge to take a peek. The others were all sitting forward with their backs straight. The moaning outside was joined by another, and from somewhere further down the street, a howl of rage pierced the night. Jenny shuddered as memories of earlier flooded her mind.

  The two who had been moaning were attracted to the howling. The sound of their feet shuffling away was welcome. Jenny decided to take the chance to try to see what was going on in the street. She got on all fours and slowly crawled towards the counter entrance. She glanced back at the others.

  “I’m going to look. Stay here and keep quiet.” She whispered.

  None of them said anything, so she carried on with her plan.

  At the edge of the counter, she carefully inched her face forward to look towards the window. Her eyes weren't accustomed to the dark yet, so she couldn't make anything out. However, she knew the shop like the back of her hand and made progress forward without bumping into any of the floor displays near the front. Her vision had now slightly adapted to the lack of light, but it wasn't enough. She gave up and turned herself around.

  It was then that the thick cloud cover cleared a little, allowing the moon's weak light to penetrate the darkness. Jenny hesitantly turned her head towards the window, afraid that she would see someone staring in at her. But the window area was clear. No shadows moved in front of the shutter. She scurried towards the door, determined to make use of the moonlight while it lasted. She raised herself to her feet and risked looking through the letter-box.

  The first alarming thing Jenny noticed, was the body of the woman lying in the road earlier had gone. The blood on the ground was smeared, and it looked like there were several bloody footprints around the dark pool.

  Did the infected take it? She wondered.

  For a few moments she could see nothing more, but then a figure ambled into view on the darker side of the street. It shuffled along the pavement, its head down. Jenny thought there was something familiar about its physique, and it wasn’t until it practically fell off the curb and tottered into the road, that she got a better view of it... Her... Ruth!

  Raising her lop-sided head, the dead woman uttered a mournful moan to the moon. Jenny ducked down, covering her mouth with her hand to keep a cry of horror from spilling out. Hot bile rose in her throat. She tried to control her breathing, attempting to take slower breaths through her nose. There wasn’t a single doubt in her mind that she had seen a dead woman walking.

  Through the gaps in the shutter, Jenny watched the old woman, in her bloodstained clothes, stagger forward a few paces up the street. Thankfully, she took no notice of the shop, and Jenny wanted it to stay that way, so she kept as still as possible.

  From somewhere on the right-hand side of the shop, came another moan. Jenny couldn’t see who had made the noise, but Ruth stopped and did an awkward turn to face the unseen companion. From the angle the old lady had stopped in, Jenny could see the torn skin of the woman’s neck. She watched as Ruth bared her teeth and then crunched them together, uttering another of her low moans.

  The companion stumbled into view, much too close to the shop for comfort. It was another woman which Jenny didn’t recognise. It was pretty obvious though that this person had died violently too. She limped, d
ragging one shoeless foot behind her. The moonlight caught her face, showing Jenny the ghastly sight of the woman's missing nose and upper lip. Her eyes were as clouded as Ruth's and even in the pale light, the woman's countenance was grey. Black veins branched across her skin. There was nothing natural left in either of these women. Jenny fought down bile again. The new woman moaned and limped on, her damaged foot sending her sideways to bump against the shutter.

  The moon started to disappear behind the clouds again. She would soon lose sight of the dead people outside. Jenny found herself torn between staying where she was until darkness cloaked her, or trying to return to the others while she could see. In the end, she stayed put, thinking if she couldn’t see the women, then hopefully they wouldn’t see her moving either. It seemed like an eternity before the moon was swallowed again and all the while she had been scared stiff of being noticed. But finally, the moment came, and she took it, keeping low, she hurried back behind the counter.

  As soon as she returned, Matt asked,

  “What did you see?”

  Jenny thought for a moment before replying,

  “I... None of you are going to believe me... I saw...”

  “What? Tell us,” Jack said.

  “I saw Ruth and another woman… up and roaming around.”

  Jack frowned and asked,

  “Ruth? You mean the same woman we saw earlier?”

  “Yes.”

  “Nah,” Jack said with a little shake of his head.

  “Who’s Ruth?” Sophie and Matt asked in unison.

  “Is she infected?” Sophie questioned.

  “Ruth’s dead. Jack and I saw her body in the street when we went to help the old man, and the dead person who was lying in front of the shop is gone too.”

  Another soft bump sounded from the window shutter. Jenny held her breath.

  When the noise didn’t continue, the other three’s eyes came back to stare at her. She leaned forward and whispered,

  “I’m not joking. Ruth is dead, but somehow, she’s out there shuffling about, and the other dead woman with her is the one who’s bumping against the shutter.”

  There was silence for a moment, but then Matt said,

  “Rubbish. You’ve got it wrong.”

  Jenny looked him right in the eye and replied,

  “Didn’t your dad say something similar about you earlier? I wish I were wrong, but I’m not. There are dead people walking about outside.”

  “Rubbish.”

  “If the moon comes out again, go take a look for yourself,” Jenny said.

  “She was definitely dead,” Jack said quietly.

  “How do you know for sure?” Sophie argued, “Did you check her pulse?”

  Jack snapped back, “You didn’t see her Sophie, she had her neck ripped out, so yeah, I’m sure she was dead.”

  “Shh, keep your voices down,” Jenny warned.

  Everyone went silent for a while, then Jack whispered,

  “Zombies.”

  Sophie started crying once more.

  In the following hours, there was a sullen hush between the four. Nobody could go back to sleep, and so far, the moon hadn't put in another appearance. Unfortunately, the passing hour allowed Jenny's mind to go over all the horrifying events again, reliving the sight of people running, screaming, being attacked, blood and death. And after seeing Ruth's reanimated corpse, Jenny thought of all the other bodies that looked dead in the street. The infected were bad enough, but the idea that all those fatalities might have risen, made her sick with an even deeper sense of dread and worry.

  She had been scared many times in her life, but all that paled in comparison to the fear she felt now.

  CHAPTER 4

  “Do you hear that?” Jack whispered.

  Matt, who was eating a chocolate bar, stopped mid-chew and listened.

  At first, Jenny didn’t hear anything, but then, yes, it was a vehicle getting closer.

  “Rescuers!” Sophie declared jubilantly.

  This was the first sound of rational people they’d heard since becoming trapped, and Jenny hoped Sophie was right.

  As the vehicle neared, it became apparent they weren’t the only ones hearing the noise. An alarmingly close barrage of moans and screeches rang out from the dark street beyond, alerting them to just how dangerous the outside world was.

  “How can we get out of here to get rescued?” Sophie asked.

  Matt got to his feet but appeared unsure as to what to do next. It was too dark to see much. He stood and listened, then said.

  “They’re going at some speed.”

  As the sound grew nearer, Jenny stood up as well and the teenagers copied the movement.

  “They’re coming down this way,” Jack said.

  “Headlights!” Sophie exclaimed and grabbed the torch from the floor. She switched it on and ran to the door, repeatedly shouting,

  “In here. In here,” while waving the torch at the street.

  Unfortunately, the light attracted a crowd of people nearby, who closed in on the shop and thumped relentlessly on the shutter. Jenny ran after Sophie, and pulled her away from the door, afraid the girl would unlock it and try to get out. Jack and Matt were right behind Jenny.

  The car shot past the shop, temporarily blinding them with the glare of its lights. Next Jenny heard the thump of bodies being hit and a screech of tyres, followed almost immediately by the sound of the vehicle crashing. They all heard metal compacting and ripping apart, along with the clatter of rubble falling as the car collided violently with a brick wall. A few moments later, a fireball lit up the street as the vehicle’s fuel tank exploded, sending debris flying outward, smashing windows close by. Jenny instinctively ducked down, as did her companions. Her ears rang while she comprehended the girl next to her sobbing and whispering over and over,

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

  Jenny took hold of the girl’s arm, and got to her feet, pulling Sophie with her. Once standing, the girl turned and hugged Jenny tightly for comfort, sobbing against her shoulder. The movement took Jenny by surprise and felt very awkward to her, she wasn’t used to anyone turning to her for solace. However, she put an arm around the teenager and looked towards the street.

  The metal screen was taking a battering from the dead and infected. They didn’t appear to be distracted by the noise or the fire. Through the slits higher in the barrier, she could see the upper levels of the terraced houses over the road lit up in the light of leaping flames. The smell of smoke and burning rubber was already penetrating the shop’s small air vents.

  The glow of the fire was dimly lighting the shop. Jenny glanced at Matt and Jack and could see they were both on their feet too. She noticed the look of disbelief on their stunned faces. They were getting their first glimpse of the dead... And the dead were staring back, more agitated than ever. The noise the horde made rose, and so did their attempts to breach the shutter. Jenny retreated, dragging Sophie with her, and just for a second, she saw something through a small gap in the crowd.

  As a group, Jenny and the others moved into the shadows.

  “It’s only a matter of time before the fire spreads,” Matt said.

  “I think it’s going to get here faster than that,” Jenny replied.

  “What?... Why?” asked Jack.

  “Some of the people in the street are on fire and they don’t seem bothered about it. I think they're heading towards us. If the fire spreads to other people’s clothes, we could have problems.” She paused, taking in a breath, before continuing,

  “The shutters won't burn, but the shop-sign above is wooden. If that catches alight, the fire might spread to the floor above or worse,” she answered. Then added,

  “The smoke will be bad, and I don't even want to imagine the smell.”

  The group were further back in the gloom, therefore, Jenny couldn’t see to read the expressions on their faces. She expected a rejection comment from Matt about dead people walking, but instead, he declared, />
  “Either way, we need to get out of here.”

  “How?” Jack asked.

  “The back door,” Jenny said, then explained, “The yard outside has a locked gate and high walls, just like the rest of the houses on this street. Hopefully, nobody climbed over into ours from the adjoining properties or the alley beyond the gate.”

  Sophie finally detached herself from Jenny, her voice trembled as she asked,

  “What if somebody did?”

  “We won’t know until we open the door,” Jack said, adding,

  “But if there is anyone out there, then we’ll just have to deal with them.”

  “He’s right,” said Matt. “If we stay here we either die of smoke inhalation or burn to death.”

  “But if we go out there, we could get infected or killed,” Sophie reasoned, then after a pause added,

  “I’d rather take the chance of escape. So where do we go once we’re outside?”

  Jack came forward and put his arm around her, just as Matt announced,

  “I live just up the road and around the corner. It’s doubtful that it’s any safer than here, but my next door neighbour is a white van man. I think we’d stand a better chance with wheels.”

  “What if he’s not there?” Jenny asked.

  “I already know he’s not home,” Matt replied. “But his van is.”

  “If it’s broken down, it’s not gonna be much good to us,” Jack said.

  “It's running fine and I can get the keys. My neighbour is away on holiday, not due back for another week. He gave me a set of his house keys in case of emergency.”