Sighing to myself I decided to make the old pier my first tourist destination, there looked to be an old fair ground at the end of it maybe there would be some clues there, well I had to start somewhere right? Welcome to Brighton I guess…
The once grand pier was a twisted wreck of metal, wood and empty donut and fast food huts, seeing the images of the food made my taste buds tingle with anticipation but I had no time to dwell on what I wanted to eat. The sea was trying and slowly succeeding in taking the manmade structure off its foundations and out to sea, chunks of metal had worn away, floor boards had fallen down into the surging water below me, each wave making it creak and groan. I thought about avoiding looking at the pier all together but then I would never forgive myself if I hadn’t looked and she was there or a clue as to where she was, I mean the men could have at one point made this their temporary home as they would only have to defend the front as I was pretty sure the creatures couldn’t swim, so there might be a chance however slim it might be. Taking the plunge I walked on cautiously wielding my rifle like a baseball bat, treading on the rickety old structure I didn’t feel safe at all, there were so many hiding places too like an old arcade place situated half way on the pier and the food huts, the bombing which levelled most of the city must have impacted on the pier causing it to strain, making a groaning noise as someone as light as me stumbled over it, the floorboards although some cement were buckled and twisted, deranged and dislodged from their original places. I could see the sea swirling beneath me in the large gaps just waiting for me to make a mistake and tumble into the water below.
Suddenly a dark figure crossed my vision out of the corner of my eye, turning just in time to see it run behind one of the small buildings, darting after it I forgot about the raging sea below me, sprinting as gently as possible I made it to where I saw the figure go to but it was gone. Raising the gun I edged forward using it to scan in front of me, again I saw it running to the back of the pier, “Stop wait!” I shouted after them.
But they said nothing and kept going, I felt a little foolish as I ran after them as it could be trouble but I knew it wouldn’t be a creature as they didn’t run that fast and even if they did they wouldn’t run away they would come right for me. I trembled with adrenaline as I approached the edge of the arcade closely reaching the decaying fair ground, the rides stood still almost swaying in the sea breeze that rocked the pier. Paper and bits of rubbish were strewn about, moulded to the floor boards or flapping slightly on poles attached to the rides as the wind caught them. I treaded carefully and slowly making my way across the now mostly open part in the middle of all the rides, one ride which looked like it had been a rollercoaster of some sort was bent and falling into the sea as the floor under it had partially collapsed in. Another ride the ghost train had all its carriages on the platform and sitting inside one of them was a decomposed corpse, it didn’t move and was mostly bones.
The shadow raced in the corner of my eye once again running behind what had been a water slide ride, I didn’t bother to shout out again as they obviously were very shy or nervous. I headed right for them turning round the small wooden hut which housed the controls for the ride, it was there I saw her…or it! My mind refused to see what was really there at first, the horror of the sight that became this poor soul in front of me was horrendous, her eyes had been sewn shut very crudely, her hair was torn from her raw scalp, tatters of meat lined her face revealing ripped muscle and pus leaking from the threaded skin where infection had set in. The clothes she wore made me think of the local hospital, it was indeed a hospital gown tied round her naked body with the gapping back which revealed more tainted skin underneath. I felt my mouth turn dry like cotton wool, a stifled scream was locked in my throat I couldn’t let it out in fear that she wasn’t the only one like this around. I had never in my whole life seen a creature or person so deformed by the hand of someone else. The stench that radiated from her was gut wrenching, she had soiled herself which had dried and crusted to her legs and to the back of her gown, now not only was I stifling a scream I was trying to stop myself from hurling up all over the place. Just then a breeze caught my scent and wafted it over into the direction of the creature, although she was sightless this must have meant her sense of smell was heightened as she immediately turned to me and opened her mouth, what came next took me totally by surprise. She screamed, screamed so loud it almost rendered me useless, I clamped my hands to my ears and fell to my knees. The noise was so ear splittingly powerful I could almost feel my ear drums shatter in upon themselves. I kneeled in shock for a moment not even realising she had stopped as the scream was still ringing in my ears, I only knew she had stopped when I spotted her blur of movement come rushing at me, knocking me back. I landed a few meters from where I had just been, I was now right next to the railings that were meant to protect you from falling in the sea but these were so rusted and broken I knew if she made me hit them I would fall right into the cold churning water below.
Standing as quickly as I could I took aim with my rifle immediately shooting although I didn’t even hear the bullet leave the barrel due to her scream deafening me not that my bullet mattered anyway as she must have had super hearing as well as heightened smell as she ducked just dodging the flying piece of metal. She screamed at me again but it didn’t affect me this time as my ears where already gone, shooting another then another at her but she just kept moving so super-fast that I couldn’t get a clean shot. Then she was upon me knocking the wind out of me as I crashed to the floor, I could feel the floorboards below me quiver and move under me, her jaws snapped wildly at my neck trying to bite her fury of infection into my flesh. Using all my strength I twisted my body so I could bring my knees up underneath her, I was only a few yards from the railings if I could just get her to it. Kicking hard I flung her frail but stupidly strong body in the general direction of the railings, she landed next to them but not on them enough to fall in but I had anticipated that and was already running at her, using the butt of the rifle I smacked her hard round the head, she stumbled back into the crumbling rusted metal, I couldn’t hear the groan as it gave way but I watched with a slight satisfaction as she fell into the sea below, the current of the waves smashing down on her and dragging her under hopefully drowning her so she was no longer in misery.
Feeling slightly more relaxed I turned round only to come face to face with her male counterpart which had been able to sneak up on me whilst I was in the process of fighting her. I didn’t have time to think as he lunged forward jaws gaping wide, razor sharp teeth ready to rip my throat out. I waited but the pain didn’t come, the burning feeling I had been expecting didn’t explode through my body, instead opening my eyes I found him dribbling blood at me from his torn and shredded mouth, with the sharp end of a blade sticking out from his forehead, just mere inches from mine. Shuddering from how close I had been to being impaled with that hulking monster I stepped back just as the blade slid out from its skull and the thing fell to the floor in a heap. Looking behind it I could see two faces staring at me, a girl and a boy both in their late teens like me, the girl was dark skinned with dark afro hair which had been tied into a bun, her torn clothes told me she had been through many battles recently as did her tired brown eyes and bloodied blade. The boy was maybe a year or two older but he looked just as tired as she did, his bronze hair looked very dark and dull compared to his very sickly pale skin, his blue eyes looked onto mine and I watched as both their mouths moved but I heard nothing. Panicking slightly I tried to show them I couldn’t hear them by pointing to my ears and shaking my head. The girl nodded at me then said something to the boy, he then tried to communicate with me using his hands it looked like he was saying for me to follow them. In a way I wanted to just jump aboard and follow them but I didn’t know them, how did I know I could trust them without speaking to them first? Would I ever be able to hear to speak again? I guess I wouldn’t know if they really where friend or foe but I had no real choice seen as my hearing was ca
put and I depended on that as well as my eyes to survive. Nodding I begrudgingly agreed to go with them, the girl linked arms with me not in a threatening manner but just to guide me as I couldn’t hear if trouble was near, although this made me panic, was there more of those things out there?
They both led me through the broken city, gently helping me over fallen buildings and making me step in certain places so I wouldn’t fall down deep dark holes that must have been cellars or basements to buildings, or maybe they were just craters created by the bombs that rocked the city all that time ago. They took me not too far from the old pier, we stopped outside of a crumbling hotel the front of it had been completely bombed down but the back and sides were up, it didn’t look very safe to be honest and my brain raced with the thought of the walls falling in and crushing me to death. Looking up I could see most of the old hotel rooms, the once lovely posh furniture was now weather worn and rotting away from the damp sea air, the wallpapered walls were peeling revealing broken and snapping wood work beneath it. Taking my other arm the boy held on to me whilst the girl let go and ventured in for what I presumed to be checking the place for any nasty’s, coming back she nodded and the boy walked me on into what would have been the lobby area. We reached the back of the hotel through a door from a kitchen area, at the other end was another door which had a padlock secured to it, the girl took out a key from her pocket and unlocked it she opened the door wide so me and the boy could enter. Some dark wooden stairs led down to what I guessed used to be the hotel wine cellar or basement, a large room with a few walls separating different sections. I could see a few mattresses had been taken from the floors above us along with a few other necessities, some old leather sofas which must have been in the main lobby at one point lined one wall with a large pile of books and magazines. Behind another section of wall was a makeshift kitchen area, boxes and crates had been piled up to create a work surface, a small fridge that was actually working was attached to a generator that sat with a blinking green light at the other end. A small camping stove along with some pots and pans had been neatly tucked away in another crate. The lights which were alight but dim were also connected to the generator.
After locking the door this side the girl came up to me and showed me to a mattress that I could rest on, she then showed me a small room right at the other end of the cellar which had a bucket and some toilet roll which had to be the bog judging by the smell. Thanking them both the best I could I sat down on the comfy mattress and it was considerably comfy compared to what I had been sleeping on, especially last night in that garage. I hadn’t realised how tired it had made me sleeping in the cold with the fear and panic that one of the creatures might sniff me out and find me devouring me whilst I slept. But the bed back at the house the night before had been the best and if I ever made it through this I was so going back there one day, I could see me and Tanya living there together quite happily. My little thought was interrupted as the boy come over and handed me a bowl of cold soup, I nodded thanks then he wondered off to his own mattress, he grabbed a book that was under the pillow and he began to read. Starting to eat I watched as the girl sat on the sofa and started cleaning the blood from her blade, her mouth moved as she chatted to the boy and I could see him talking back. I just wished I could hear them, I hated this feeling that I was defenceless because I couldn’t hear, I didn’t want to be a burden on anyone or be hunted by creatures far too easily.
After a while I decided to get some sleep, hell I needed it, closing my eyes I felt safe. Even though I had no clue who these people were I sort of knew deep down that I could trust them to watch my back whilst I slept, I just had a feeling, I mean why would they have helped me? Were they cannibals too just of a normal human looking kind? Nah don’t be stupid I told myself they are nice normal people and that actually want to befriend me not kill me, maybe!
I knew in my mind that soon they would find me a burden of sorts because I would have to tell them I wasn’t hanging around here with them, would they be mad and try to kill me then after they wasted time saving me? Sighing I forced the darkness to take over my brain, I switched off like a light and didn’t wake up for what must have been the rest of the afternoon and night. When I did wake up I noticed the lights had been turned off other than a small battery operated light in one corner, the other two were also asleep. The room we slept in looked quite cosy in this dulled lighting, I sat up and tried to find my bag, I still had some water in it and my throat was parched, snatching it up I took two huge gulps before a voice spoke to me, “Hey can you hear us yet?” it was the boys voice he had sat up on his makeshift bed and stared at me.
I nearly spat my water out, I hadn’t imagined I would be able to hear again after that creatures screams yesterday, “Oh my god”, I exclaimed holding my hands to my ears and gently clicking my fingers I could hear that too, “Wow I thought that thing had permanently deafened me”.
“Nah we call those things screechers, their attack is to make you lose your hearing temporarily so that you make more noise for them to track you down with”, the boy said smiling at me, “Is it back fully your hearing or is it still a little tinny?”
Listening hard I could still hear a slight ringing but I didn’t really notice it much, I told him this.
“Don’t worry that will pass within a day or two”, he said.
“I’ve never seen a screecher before and I’ve travelled around quite a bit”, I said to him.
He nodded at me, “Yeah we hadn’t seen them until we came here, I can’t prove it but I think someone experimented on some infected people at the hospital here when this place went to crap but we can’t be sure as we don’t go into the hospital”.
“Why not?” I asked him.
Then the girl spoke up, “Because something creeps us out about it, something there is not quite right, at night you can hear screams coming from it, might just be the screechers or it might be experiments. Either way we just don’t risk going in there”.
“How long have you two been here?” I asked them.
“A while, I got hurt and we needed someplace to rest up, we found this place and made it home. Even though I’m better now we don’t really want to leave as we know it’s relatively safe”, the boy said.
I knew from this that when I do eventually tell them I want to move on it wasn’t going to be an easy chat, “Um…well thank you both for helping me out back there, I’m Stacie”.
“I’m Darren and this is…”
“I can speak for myself, I’m Monique”, the girl jabbed Darren in the ribs as she spoke to me.
“Well thanks again”, I smiled.
“So Stacie what brings you to Brighton?” Darren asked me.
I shrugged, “Trying to find my sister”.
There was a silence for a few moments after I said that, I knew what they were thinking as I had been told by many others I had met, you shouldn’t risk your life trying to find loved ones that have gone missing it will get you killed, you will make very bad decisions, decisions that you wouldn’t make if you were just on your own. That was partly the reason why I stayed alone on my journey because people tried to stop me but I guess what they couldn’t understand was my need to find her, in a world where anything and everything was dead and gone they thought you should just live for the day but I couldn’t I had to live to find her, it was the only thing keeping me going.
“Well no offence Stacie but she’s probably dead”, Monique said bluntly, grabbing up her blade and looking it over, “She is either a creature or has been killed by someone for being a creature”.
I felt a tightness pull at the back of my throat at her abruptness, I couldn’t and I wouldn’t accept that not for Tanya!
“Hang on Monique that’s a bit harsh you haven’t heard the whole story yet!” Darren said to her but I could see in his eyes he too thought my cause was a lost cause.
“Go on”, she implied for me to tell them.
Sighing I started to explain all about what happened, “
Some men broke into the house we were staying at with some other survivors, they killed most of the people there other than a few they kidnapped. She hid me but let them capture her and lied saying I escaped. They all wore these armbands with the symbol of a gun inside a circle, I had heard and seen a few leads which told me they might be here…So here I am”.
“The Big Guns?” Darren said turning to Monique.
Her eyes dropped, she didn’t want to look at me. “She’s definitely dead then”.
“Wait hang on you know who they are?” I asked.
“Yes we know who they are. They are the bastards of the Earth, they kidnap, rape, torture and kill everyone they come into contact with. They killed my brother and his girlfriend right in front of me”, Monique said her voice cold.
Alone Page 6
