Alone

by Prunty, Mercedes

  A groan from his lips made me cough out a cry of despair as he arched his back and pushed his arms to the floor to lift himself up, turning his face to me I cried out in shock that he was still able to move, the blast had burnt him badly, one side of his face had melted into a mulch, one eye had slid down his face to his cheek, the white of it dripping down onto his lab coat, his mouth curled into a sneer showing his melted lips and gums, his teeth shattered into points cutting into his bottom lip and sending pools of blood to his chin, his hair melting, then the image of it running down his face into his mouth as he gargled out a roar of fury…My mother her long brown hair melting, running down and penetrating her eyes, screaming in pain, running at my dad to kill him…one whole side of his body was smouldering, his skin and flesh burnt to a crisp, the smell of burnt and cooked meat wafted around me making me want to gag. Lifting himself to his feet he turned to me, skin dropping to floor like jelly…Jelly like bodily fluids littered the streets as the acid rain burned down from the skies, people running with half skeletal bodies as their bodies melted before them… No I had to push the images and thoughts away I couldn’t cave in and let my walls down yet!

  The water from the sprinklers rained down on him like the acid rain had done to so many, causing the skin to become unattached from his skull and flopping to the floor making a squelching noise, how could he still be standing?

  Then I saw them, he held two syringes in his hands one empty and one full with the dark fluid that he had been going to use to turn Ollie. The mad doctor had injected himself with the infection in the hope of outliving me to destroy me. Snarling something incoherent at me he took one step, then another, then another before throwing himself into a run, aiming the syringe right at me I felt utterly useless and so mentally tired as the handgun clicked dry I knew I didn’t have time to run…freezing on the spot as I knew I would end up a creature, the images of my mother flooded my brain making my body paralysed, waiting for the entry wound to come I embraced my coming doom.

  BOOM!!!

  The doctor flew backwards as a gunshot impaled into his chest sending him to the centre of the room surrounded by glass, water and blood, gurgling his last breath he stopped before lying still…dead!

  Turning in a panic I was stunned to see little Ollie standing there holding the doctors shotgun which must have been blown to the side of the room in the blast, shaking but with a determined look on his face he said four words, “That’s for my sister!”

  ~

  Doctor Demetri felt the burning pain as he ran towards her with the virus now pumping through his veins, he knew soon he would be fully turned but so would she once he got his hands on her. The once so innocent looking girl he had spotted from his roof top sanctuary, the one he knew he wanted to help but she would be the one who would inevitably destroy him, taking all his hard work and burning it to the ground. The thought of his precious work, his precious army being murdered by her hand was too much for him to take and he set off charging at her ready to infect her when out of nowhere the little red haired boy appeared. One half of the two brat brigade leant down and grabbed his own shotgun and blasted him in the chest, he felt the wind flow out of him before falling to the floor. His heart finally gave out under all the stress of being burnt and shot, stabbed, sliced and smacked then as his eyes fluttered shut he saw her, Toni. Her long dark hair covering his face and body, concealing him in a blanket of her, she hadn’t wanted him to die, she had wanted him and now she could have him. They could finally be together…

  ~

  Turning to Ollie I felt so thankful he had come back, he just saved my life and as I opened my mouth to say something the roof above us creaked, a sound of buckling metal and crumbling timbers boomed around us, then the ceiling gave way crashing upon the mad doctor, the fragile building which had been attacked by bombs, weathered by storms and then abused by the strange doctor couldn’t take the strain anymore, the floor which the ceiling fell upon too gave way crashing to the floor below and hopefully crushing all the Screechers to death in its path. Now the ceiling was gone I could feel the heat of the flames lick at me trying to capture me, they poured in like hell itself consuming everything within seconds, the building around us groaned and I knew it was time to leave, spinning and grabbing Ollie’s hand I yanked him out of the now burning room leading him towards the stair case, just before we could reach it another part of the ceiling structure collapsed blocking our way.

  “What now?” Ollie asked me looking afraid, like he shouldn’t have come back up to help me and in a way I wish he hadn’t, I wish he had stayed away and run, run to a sort of chance at life, at freedom.

  Looking around I spotted the one thing I knew Ollie could cope with, the vents, pointing to him I said, “Go!” Nodding he ran throwing off the cover and bundling in me right behind almost pushing him along as I heard another part of the building collapse. The heat from the flames was penetrating the vents and my palms hissed at me from the burning hot metal but I ignored it pressing on. Ollie seemed to know the way so I didn’t question him when we came to forks in the path, he just turned quickly down another one, he had mastered the art of vent crawling flying down them, I tried to keep up but he had to keep stopping for me to catch up, even though I protested telling him to just go.

  Hearing the hospital crash and burn around us but not being able to see what was happening was making my heart do crazy things in my chest, skipping beats, making up new sequences like a drum and bass beat making me feel light headed and panic stricken but I just used that as a new energy to keep me moving. Feeling the burn in my muscles I knew we must have gone down most of the building by now, we had taken so many twists and turns, taking a slide down the occasional part if the was angled just right. Suddenly part of the building tore away from its structure landing just in front of us and crushing the vent, ripping that part clean off we had a view of one of the floors, reading level 3 I hoped that meant we were just three floors up and we didn’t have basement levels to contend with.

  “Go, jump down we have to run from here”, I said urging him forward, doing as I said he jumped down looking around as I followed.

  Standing up from my slightly awkward landing I looked around to trying to find a safe exit but all I could see was broken building debris, dust and some broken bodies which must have been here a while considering the stench of this floor, spotting the sign for the stairs I grabbed his arm again and ran, both of us dodging flying bricks, lights, glass, doors anything that the old hospital could throw at us it did, it was as if the hospital was alive and trying to stop us, trying to keep us here in this hell hole forever. Reaching the top of the stairs I looked up, the flames had spread and fast, they were tearing down the staircase like there was no tomorrow which for this place there wouldn’t be. Pushing Ollie on we took the stairs two at a time, windows flew past us as we charged as fast as our legs could carry us, a couple of the windows smashed as we ran spraying us with shards, the hospital even trying completely unfair tactics to stop us leaving.

  Level 2, flying past that sign we carried on running, my breathing had turned to a blur I don’t even remember taking my last breath all I know is that my body was using nothing but adrenaline to run. Reaching level 1 I nearly jumped for joy as I saw the exit sign, turning we ran Ollie being young and super fit was in front of me, his little arms pumping pushing him faster towards the door he reached it before me pushing and shoving it but it wouldn’t budge. Reaching him I saw the chains that held the doors together without asking I grabbed the shotgun from his fingertips, he backed off a little knowing instinctively my plan, taking aim I shot the chain, it snapped under the pressure of the round, ramming the door together it flew open into only what I could describe as the best sun rise I had ever seen, flame reds rocked the sky, burnt oranges spread over the sea and the distant horizon, echoing its picture over the calm seas. Not bothering to stop we kept running as far as we could get.

  CRACK, CRASH, BOOM!

  The building had f
inally let itself go now we were out I could feel the rush of air building up behind us as it toppled down to the ground, spotting an old bus which had been burnt and rusted to the ground I pulled Ollie behind it ducking down with my arms holding him tight. The ground shook violently and the building crashed into the ground, dust filled the air around us, clogging up my lungs and my vision, the bus moved ever so slightly but where it had melted into the ground and had become a small building in its own right it didn’t give us up to the demented and twisted evil building.

  A few minutes passed with the dust starting to settle giving the streets that had once surrounded the hospital a fine layer of dust cloaking the city in a greying rubble blanket. Standing up I finally took that breath I had needed for an age, the dusty air filled them but my brain still danced in happiness as small dusty parts of oxygen pumped to it, leaning against the bus I brushed some loose strands of hair that had fallen into my face, looking at Ollie I smiled, he had just been through the most horrific time, losing his sister, killing a crazed monster and escaping a mad house but the first thing he said to me was, “Wow I feel like an action hero”. He was so young and still so innocent, losing the people he loved hadn’t made him horrible, it had made him want to try to live.

  “Yeah you were, thank you Ollie, for saving my life back there”, I said scuffing his hair.

  “No problem, it’s what Sian would of wanted. She pushed you out the lift because she knew that she couldn’t look after me anymore but you could, losing you would mean letting her down. Plus I like you, your my friend”, he replied hugging me.

  Hugging him back I now realised how grown up he was, he had helped me because he knew his sister wouldn’t let me save her because she had wanted me to be the one to look after him, like an unwritten contract I knew I would always look after this little person now for as long as I lived, I owed it to her and to him. He also had taken to killing someone very well but then again we lived in an age of monsters and things that go bump in the night, to not be able to kill is what could kill you.

  “What do we do now?” he asked looking at me.

  “We leave this place for starters”, I replied looking around to see which would be best to go, then I heard it, the voice…

  “Stacie!”

  Chapter Four …

  “Stacie?”

  Standing just past the bus was Monique, she looked dirty, soggy and extremely tired but happiness was spread over her face when she realised it was me, rushing to me she hugged me then pulled away and looked behind me but her face fell a little, “Oh who’s this then and where’s Darren?” she asked smiling at Ollie but giving me a heart ache of a look.

  “This is Ollie”, Then I shook my head at her, “Darren didn’t make it”, I whispered feeling so bad, so guilty that it burned in my chest not just because I had been forced to kill him but because if they hadn’t met me then Darren might possibly still be here.

  The look in her eyes showed me her heart was snapping in half literally breaking in two. I half expected her to sink to her knees and sob uncontrollably but she didn’t, her face stoned over locking away any emotions she held, then stepping back she glanced over at where the hospital once stood, “We need to go back to our shelter and rest, tomorrow we leave here…for good”. She turned away from me and began to walk back towards the seafront.

  Like two little lost sheep me and Ollie followed keeping quiet as we could both sense she didn’t want to be spoken to right now. Keeping a hard look out as I could see Monique’s mind wasn’t in keeping safe on the journey back to her sort of home but it was if all the creatures knew they left us alone as we made our way through the broken waste land of the city. The Sun had started to rise high in the sky but it wasn’t the happy sunrise I had predicted as behind it in the distance were storm clouds, ready to come back to batter the coastline.

  Reaching the basement hideout she unlocked the door opening it so we could all climb in, as she locked it back up behind us she then pushed past going straight to the makeshift toilet room and shutting herself away, I heard a few sobs come from her and I think she also vomited but I left her be as I knew she needed the time to gather her thoughts.

  I gave Ollie what had been my bed the other night, then grabbing and looking through my bag for food I took whatever I had which wasn’t a lot. I headed to the kitchen area and raided the make shift cupboards to see what we had as I knew we all needed our strength for tomorrow. I found an old tin of peaches, opening it I passed it to Ollie urging him to eat, he then smiled at me, “I have food in my bag I stole it from the doctor’s kitchen”.

  Passing it to me I opened it to find some packets of rice, two tins of tuna, some stale popcorn and a bag of chocolate disks, “Wow you managed to steal this from him?”

  He nodded, “Yeah when Sian and me first got to the hospital we went to the kitchen”, he said jogging my memory he had told me before but lack of food and water had made my brain stall a little now, “Sian had more food in her bag but…” he trailed off.

  “It’s ok if you wanna talk”, I said to him gently, I didn’t want to upset him but I also didn’t want to make him think that because Monique was upset he couldn’t be too.

  “I’m ok, I know she’s gone somewhere better now, better than here”, he smiled his young eyes glowing with such knowledge of the grown up world but keeping his cool as only a child could.

  I nodded, “Do you mind if I use your food, I’ll try and cook us a nice dinner up?”

  “Yeah I’m starving”, he grinned.

  “Ok well eat the peaches and get some rest, I’ll wake you up when it’s ready”.

  He smiled tiredly quickly munching the peaches before turning over to try and sleep.

  I felt so bad for him he was such a sweet kid and now he was having to go through the heartbreak of losing his last family member, the one person who really looked out for him and loved and cared for him. I knew deep down I knew about the pain he was feeling as I had lost most of my family and even though I didn’t know if she was alive or not I had grieved for Tanya as if she was gone, that way I hoped that if I found her to be gone it wouldn’t hit me so badly. But then who was I kidding of course it would, she was all I lived for but now I had Ollie to think about too.

  Sighing I headed over to the small cupboard area to hunt for the camping stove and pans, I also spotted some bottled water I could use to cook the rice. Slowly boiling the water up on the stove and adding the rice I sat thinking as I waited for it to cook, I stirred it until it was almost ready then I added some tuna, might sound a little odd but when you never get to eat decent meals anymore this sort of concoction wouldn’t put anyone off. Grabbing some half broken bowls I served up three meals, I took Ollie’s to him gently nudging him. He wasn’t asleep just lying there in a trance, his eyes glued to the wall deep in thought.

  “Ollie mate you ok? You need to eat something”, I said stroking his hair.

  He shook himself back to the room and I could see he was going to cry, “I miss her so much already, what do I do without her?” he asked me looking so afraid.

  “You fight as hard as you can to stay alive, you can’t make her sacrifice be in vain. I will be here for you to look out for you. That missing her feeling will never go away but you might just learn to cope with it a little day by day”, I said trying to sound supportive and strong for him.

  “I’m glad we met you”, he said to me.

  “I’m glad I met you both too”, I smiled.

  “Sian didn’t mean to be so…rude. Sometimes she just…didn’t trust adults or bigger people. Most of the adults we knew were all crazy anyway without being infected”, he said

  I nodded, “I know I’m beginning to think that about adults too”.

  “But you are an adult”, he said.

  “Not quite but even when I reach being a proper adult I think I’ll stay with a child’s mind that way I’ll do much better than the others”, I said.

  He smiled, “I hope so I don’t want to l
ose you”.

  I wanted to say it would be fine that he would never lose me but I couldn’t as it wasn’t the truth, he might. I might wake up one day and it could be my last and I would never know, “Look Ollie I will be with you for as long as I can but if anything happens to me you must be strong and fight on. We never give up without a fight”.

  “I know that’s why I had to help you back at the hospital, I couldn’t let that horrible man kill you”, he replied.

  My mind flash backed the moment he shot the doctor, looking at him I could see that the fact he had killed someone hadn’t settled in yet but one day it might and I just had to hope he had walls strong enough to help him cope, “And I’m grateful you did help me, it shows that you can fight when needed. Sian would be proud of you”.

  “You think?” he asked.

  I nodded, “I’m sure of it! Now eat your food before it goes cold”.

  He smiled and thanked me for the food, I turned back to the other two bowls and took one for Monique and walked to the makeshift loo to let her know. Knocking on the door I heard no answer, I knew she wanted to be left alone she needed to grieve for Darren but she also had to eat.

  “Monique I’ve made some dinner, I’ll leave it by the door for you”, I said.

  Turning away I grabbed mine and sat down to eat the food, the taste of the rice and fish was an explosion of senses in my mouth, food had become so boring now with just the rabbit I hunted or the stale things I found around but this tasted great. My mouth watered as I took in another mouthful and another I tried not to shovel it in as I wanted to savour such nice food but I couldn’t help it. A noise sounded from the toilet as the door opened a crack then I saw Monique poke her head out but she just grabbed the food and hid back away. I felt so guilty as she had lost her friend because of me, if I hadn’t come along they would not have tried to help me and they would not have been at the shopping centre at that time to get ambushed by the doctor. Yes he might have come across them later on in their lives but it wouldn’t have been now, they might have moved on to another town before he got to them but no, I came along and now he was gone.