by Ryan Casey
She gripped the pistol, the handle sweaty in her palm.
She knew she had to hurt someone this time.
She ran until she reached the tunnel exit at the side of the MLZ. She’d found it one day when she was out here. Far, far away from the life inside the walls, far away from any existence. A little hole, too small for a monster or anyone big to push themselves through. Didn’t matter if they did, anyway. Because it was such a maze inside the alleyways of the MLZ. There could be millions of monsters walking the alleys on this side of town, nobody would ever even know about them.
Out of sight, out of mind, like Dad used to always say.
She missed her dad.
But she knew he’d be so proud of his strong girl right now.
Chloë crouched down by the opening. Lifted the gun and pointed it through it, just in case someone was on the other side, or something.
She stayed crouched down for a few minutes. Easing her breathing. Listening to her heart beat fast. Sweat dripping from her scarred head.
She waited and listened to the silence outside the wall.
The gunshots and the explosions far away.
But not too far away for her to get to.
To sneak inside.
To finish Mr Fletch and his people.
To make amends for all the people she’d hurt, all the pain she’d caused.
To stop the buzzing, once and for all.
She lay flat on her tummy and pulled herself through the hole.
She was halfway through it when something grabbed her arm.
She heard the groan. Heard the gasp. And then she saw it. Saw its rotting face. Saw the crack in its skull, its brain on show. Flies buzzed around it. Some little insects were sat on the brain, dead by the looks of things.
The monster squeezed her arm so hard that Chloë thought it might break.
Then she lifted the pistol.
Stuffed it inside the hole in the monster’s skull.
Mashed it around so that it split through its brains, so that icy blood fell down and oozed out onto Chloë’s hand.
The monster carried on moving its mouth towards Chloë’s bare arm.
Opened it as Chloë kept on swivelling the gun, not wanting to shoot it ’cause she didn’t want to attract any attention, she didn’t want to kill her plan before it’d even started.
The monster put its worn-down teeth on Chloë’s skinny arm.
Pressed its teeth into the bone.
And then it stopped.
Its mouth went limp.
Its teeth loosened.
Chloë kept on swivelling the gun, kept on gouging at the monster’s brains, right until she was sure, right beyond she was sure.
The monster fell to the side of her arm.
Let out a final gargle, the same kind Nana had let out when Chloë stood beside her hospital bed and cried.
Went rigid.
Went to sleep.
Gone.
Chloë stared at the monster for a few moments. Wanted to make sure it was really dead.
But no. She had to move. She had to get through the hole in the wall and she had to get close to Mr Fletch, close to his men.
She had to make him pay for what he’d done to Tiffany.
She had to make him pay for the things he’d done to so many people.
She had to make him pay. That was all that mattered. All she cared about.
She dragged herself through the hole. Pushed past the bloodied remains of the rotting monster. The sound of flies buzzing in her ear, but nothing as loud as the buzzing in her mind. The buzzing that told her what she had to do. That she had to do this. No matter what.
She emerged through the wall and stood up. Brushed herself down, wiped some of the blood from the gun onto her torn blue jeans. She stretched out. Looked around at the empty Manchester side streets. At the abandoned old buildings. At the weeds growing between the cracks in the roads that were once busy, once full of life.
A part of Chloë wanted to just run through those streets. Run away, keep on running forever. Because that’s all she wanted to do now. Run. Run, alone. Live her own life. Do things her own way. Be her own person.
But then she heard more gunshots rattle against the front of the wall.
Heard a voice echo through a loudspeaker, muffled and hard to identify.
She heard those sounds and she knew she’d have to wait before she ran again.
She turned, crouched. Crouched low against the road. Crawled right alongside the wall, keeping close to it, keeping as quiet and as swift as she could. Through the crashed cars and up on the hill that led down to the MLZ, she could see a few stray monsters waddling her way. Lying on the ground, she saw monsters that’d had their legs and arms chopped off, nothing more than torsos. Pained torsos still gasping and wriggling from side to side. Food for the starving dogs, the stray cats.
Eyes pecked out by crows.
But they didn’t see her.
She was invisible.
She was alone.
She kept on crawling around the wall until she saw the trucks.
Four of them had guns mounted on top of them. And sitting on the guns were four men. Men she’d seen back at the BLZ. Men wearing helmets. Firing up at the top of the MLZ walls. Firing anywhere they could to weaken the defences, to make it easier to get inside.
There were cages, too. Empty cages. Cages that the Orions had stepped out of. All empty. Chloë felt a little sickly about that. One or two Orions were bad enough, but twenty of them inside the MLZ … she didn’t want to think about what they could do. The damage they could cause. All the lives they could take.
But there was nothing Chloë could do about those Orions. Not right now.
The only thing she could do anything about was the man sitting in a truck behind the tank.
The man with the balding head. The glasses. The constant smirk that Chloë just wanted to punch away, rip away, tear away.
Mr Fletch.
Chloë turned her gun until she was focused on him. She could see bullet holes on the front of the vehicle, and she saw bullets hit the glass too. But nothing happened. They just bounced back off the windscreen.
Mr Fletch didn’t even flinch.
He just kept on smirking.
Chloë dragged herself closer towards the vehicles. She could see an opening at the back of Mr Fletch’s vehicle. The back door, partly open. If she could just get a good angle, she could fire through there. Shoot him in the head. Finish him.
Get her revenge.
And whatever happened to her after that … well, that didn’t matter anymore.
At least the buzzing sounds would be gone.
They’d be happy and they’d be gone forever.
Chloë crawled to her right. Crawled so she had a better position to aim at the vehicle, to fire at Mr Fletch. Every move she made, she swore she heard noises around her. Swore she heard whispers. Swore she saw eyes watching her.
But on she went.
On she moved.
She had to do this. She had to do this for Tiffany.
She had to do this for herself.
She kept on moving until she had a good angle.
Until she could see a crack in the back door.
Until nothing but distance was between her, her gun, Mr Fletch’s head.
She took a deep breath.
Lifted the gun.
Squinted, pointed it at Mr Fletch.
She waited a few seconds.
Waited until she was absolutely sure he wasn’t going to move.
Until she was absolutely sure she was aiming properly at him.
This is for Tiff.
This is for everyone.
This is for myself.
She touched the trigger.
Squeezed it.
“Don’t think so, kiddo.”
Chloë didn’t even get to look over her shoulder at the voice.
She just felt a crack against her head.
Pitch black darkness surr
ounded her.
CHAPTER NINE
RILEY
Riley stared up at the dark figure of the Orion above him. Listened to it grunt and click as it moved closer to him, as it opened its mouth, as its long slimy tongue stretched right down to his face and licked at the wound on his head.
As its friend joined it.
Their nails scratching against Riley’s chest.
Digging into his skin.
Piercing his flesh.
Riley didn’t want to give up. He didn’t want to ever give up. Because giving up meant failing the MLZ. Failing the people he cared for. Failing the people who’d died to get him to the BLZ.
No. He couldn’t fail them.
So he reached for the M16 on his right.
Tried to grab it.
The second Orion kicked it away.
Wrapped its hands around his arm.
Started to pull. Pull until his shoulder was on the verge of splitting out of his socket.
Pulled until pain kicked in, gradually getting stronger, more intense, more fierce.
Riley knew right then there was nothing he could do. Nothing to save himself.
But he still wasn’t ready to give up.
So he turned.
Looked the Orions in their eyes.
“I won’t beg,” he said. “I won’t fucking …”
Something happened.
The Orion on his right let go of his arm.
Turned around.
So too did the other Orion.
Both of them were transfixed on something ahead of Riley. Something in the distance. Wobbling their heads from side to side. Sniffing the air. Making grunting noises Riley hadn’t heard them make before.
Noises like confusion.
“Do it. Do it now, Riley!”
He didn’t place the voice. Not at first.
“Now!”
But he knew exactly what it was commanding him to do.
He stretched to his right.
Lunged for the M16.
Grabbed it, pointed it at the heads of the Orions, and he fired.
The first one fell instantly, its skull exploding black gunk the moment the bullets pierced it.
The second one turned around. Turned with redness in its eyes. Let out a furious cry and lifted its fist above Riley’s head.
Riley pointed into its mouth.
Squeezed the trigger.
Smashed its skull into pieces before its fist got anywhere close to him.
Riley backed away from the Orions. Breathed short, dizzying breaths. Covered in Orion blood.
He heard footsteps up ahead. Footsteps coming towards him.
“Riley. You okay?”
It was at that moment that he placed the voices.
That he placed the faces.
Tamara and James.
“Come on,” James said, dragging Riley to his feet. “Let’s get you off yer arse.”
“Glad to see you both,” Riley said. “Seen any of the others around?”
James shook his head. “You’re the first. But there’s somethin’ … somethin’ we need to talk about with—”
“Creatures,” Riley said, lifting his shivering hand and pointing at the small group of creatures heading their way from the right.
“Ah, fuck,” James said, letting go of Riley and stepping back. “Well, you’re the man with the gun. Do the honours.”
Riley lifted the gun. The creatures were still some way away.
He should’ve shot them right then.
Should’ve mowed them down.
But a thought wouldn’t stop niggling at his mind.
“The Orions,” Riley said. “They … they stopped. They got—got distracted. When you got here. Why was that?”
He saw James turn to Tamara.
Then he saw the look on Tamara’s face.
Saw her wide eyes.
Her half smile, like everything was fine, everything was going to be okay.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“In the alleyway,” Tamara said. “James … James and I. We were cornered. We were cornered and—and one of them came right up to us.”
“An Orion?”
Tamara nodded. “It—it pressed me right up to the wall. Got ready to bite. And then … and then something stopped it. Something made it drop me. Made it run away.”
She looked up into Riley’s eyes. Rested her hands on her stomach.
“My baby,” Tamara said. “I think … I think it’s something to do with my baby.”
Riley frowned. “But why would—”
“Back at the BLZ. They did something to it. I kept on wanting to believe they didn’t but they did. I know they did. I know they did ’cause I’ve felt the burning. I’ve … I’ve felt things aren’t right.”
She lowered her head.
“I … I think there might be one of them. Inside me.”
The news made Riley take a step back. “You don’t know that for sure.”
“The Orions won’t kill me,” Tamara said, looking back at Riley. “And what Mr Fletch said. About—about them being trained or coded not to attack his people or each other, whatever. Well, maybe … maybe they won’t attack me ’cause there’s one of them inside me.”
Riley cleared his throat. His heart raced. To his right, the crowd of creatures staggered closer. “Then … then what’s any of this mean?”
Tamara smiled.
A warm, natural smile.
Tears glistened in her eyes.
“It means I can stop them,” she said.
James turned to her then. “We’ve talked about this. You ain’t—”
“If they won’t attack me, I can lead them somewhere. I—I think they’re transfixed. I think they’re … protective. I think they’ll follow me if—if they think I’m in danger.”
“Tamara,” James said, “you aren’t—”
“I have to lead them to Doctor Ottoman’s office. To the fireproof room.”
Riley shook his head.
“There’s a stash of grenades in Pedro’s old apartment. He told me about—”
“Tamara you aren’t—” James shouted.
“I have to lead the Orions there and then I … I have to do what I have to do,” she said.
She didn’t have to elaborate.
Grenades.
The doctor’s fireproof room.
I have to do what I have to do.
James wiped his eyes. “Please, Riley. Please, man. Tell her she’s mad. Tell her she don’t have to do this.”
But as Riley looked into Tamara’s eyes, as the crowd of creatures continued their approach, Riley couldn’t tell her anything of the sort.
Because he knew she was right.
And she knew she was right.
“You … you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,” Riley said.
“I don’t want to do it,” Tamara said, tears flowing freely now. “Nobody would want to. I just—I just have to.”
“Fuck,” James said, shaking his head. “Fuck.”
Riley stepped forward. He wrapped his arms around Tamara. Held her close. “I remember the first time I saw you,” he said. “Wandering about with that manky hand of yours. Knew you were tough right from that first day.”
Tamara lifted her hand. Revealed the missing two fingers that’d just become a part of who she was. Something they didn’t even bat an eyelid at anymore, none of them. “A couple of fingers is nothing compared to losing your son.”
“You’re a good person,” Riley said.
He leaned in close to her. Couldn’t stop his lips shaking, the tears from pooling out of his eyes.
“And Pedro loved you very much.”
He pecked Tamara on the cheek.
Stepped away.
Half smiled at her, nodded his head, then turned to deal with the oncoming creatures.
James looked Tamara in her beautiful eyes and Riley saw the look in his face. The look of grief. The look of loss.
Tamara
stepped up to him. Put a hand on his face. Smiled. “Sorry we didn’t meet sooner, James. I really am.”
James shook his head. “I’ll—I’ll come with you. I’ll—”
She pulled his head close to hers.
Kissed him on his lips.
“No you won’t. You’ll carry on. You’ll carry on and you’ll make the world good again. Because that’s what you do. That’s what you are.”
She kissed him again, and this time James didn’t fight back, didn’t protest.
Then Tamara stepped back. Moved her good hand to one of James’. “Goodbye,” she said. “Guess I’ll see you in a world much nicer than this one.”
James didn’t say goodbye in return.
He just stood there shaking his head.
Stood there, cheeks stained by tears.
Stood there and cried.
Tamara turned around.
“Wait,” Riley said.
He walked up to her. Held out the M16. “Take this.”
Tamara smiled at him. Put a hand on her stomach. “Somehow, I think you’ll be needing it more than me.”
Riley nodded. Pulled the gun back.
“Bye, Riley,” she said.
And as she turned around, as she walked away, Riley found he couldn’t say goodbye either.
He couldn’t say a word.
He could only watch as she walked over towards her old apartment block.
Towards the grenades.
He could only watch.
“Riley. James. Thank fuck.”
Riley spun around.
His heart lifted when he saw Jordanna standing opposite him.
“Jordanna,” Riley said.
He ran over to her. Ran towards her as she crouched there, panting. Got ready to wrap his arms around her. To hold her close. Nothing more he wanted now. Nothing more he wanted in the entire fucking world.
But then she stood up.
Took a step back.
And Riley saw the fear on her face.
“No time for reunions,” Jordanna said.
“What’s—”
“It’s Chloë,” she said. “Fletch has her hostage. And he wants to speak with us. With all of us.”
CHAPTER TEN
JIM HALL
Jim Hall hadn’t expected the MLZ to fall at all while he was in charge; while he was alive.
Sure, the fear was always there. Always niggling away at the back of his mind, chewing at his sanity like an Apocálypsis-infected itself. But he never really thought he’d see things hurtle towards a dramatic conclusion. He just figured he’d be gone before anything really kicked off. As much as he wanted to be alive, as much as he wanted to survive, he wanted to be gone long before the MLZ. Long before his people.
