The engine burst into life and the keening of the Reapers hit the highest note I have ever heard. I got the lines and the boat pulled away from the dock. As they pulled away I had this ice ball appear in my stomach. This dread seemed to appear out of nowhere. I waved as the boat got close to the exit to the marina. Someone waved back at me, but they were far enough away that I couldn’t tell who.
Checking my mag and making sure I had a round in the chamber. I snapped the safety off and looked at the shore. ‘Right....’ I thought ‘that’s the easy part over with. Now time to start the hard part.’
Chapter Eight
How was I supposed to get past them, lose and chasing me. Then find somewhere to hide up till Rees and the others turn up. I crouched behind a barrel and looked up. Why weren’t they coming over the fence? They should have been able to jump that without any problem. Watching them, I saw two large males run up to the fence only to jump back before leaping over the fence. What was with that?
Slowly I stood and walked down the dock to the fence. I was standing in plain sight. The keening of the Reapers had hit such a high level, it hurt my ears. From where I stood, I could tell that there were only eight Reapers. The two large males saw me and ran toward the fence. The look on their faces said ‘Bugger it as to what was stopping us your food!’ I raised my rifle and fired off six rounds at them. Three rounds hit the male at the front. They struck in a small line from just above his groin up into his stomach. He went down screeching holding his claws to his stomach. Trying to keep its black intestines and stomach in. The other male had two rounds in the chest. One must have gone over his shoulder. Because a window smashed on the other side of the road it died before it even hit the floor.
I stood watching as the other Reapers slowly faded into the shadows of the alleys and side streets. Putting one shaky foot in front of the other I walked to the gate in the fence. Using my scope I looked into the shadows as best I could. All the Reapers had just disappeared. Time was moving and I needed to get out of there. I slowly pulled the chain and opened the gate.
I crouched and walked to the nearest cover, hunkering down beside it. I listened for any noise or movement. Nothing seemed to stir on the street or from the shadows. Why the hell had they pulled back? Shaking my head, I got up and moved to a side street. Moving to the corner, I slowly looked round the edge. To say I was paranoid was an understatement, I was shit scared. Seeing nothing in the back alley I crossed over to the next street. All the while my mind was wondering where the hell they had gone. It took me twenty minutes or so to move two streets. (I said, I was sacred shitless.)
After the first two streets, nothing jumped out at me. I started beginning to relax a small amount. If I was covering two streets every twenty minutes then it was going to be a couple of hours till I got to the meeting point. Surprise, surprise it wasn’t to be that easy. On the third street was a female Reaper, sitting in the gutter. From the Vauxhall Astra I was beside I couldn’t see what it was up to. I could hear a crunching noise, but that was all. The worst thing was that she was sitting in front of the alley that I needed. Moving slowly from one car to the next I kept the cars between myself and the Reaper until I was opposite her.
Her head suddenly raised and sniffed the air. Fuck! Slowly lowering my rifle, I pulled the bayonet from its sheath on my belt. I would have to take her out quietly or the noise would bring more of them. The good thing was she hadn’t begun to make any noise. Sitting there trying to figure out what to do. When I saw an empty drink can near the rear tire of the car I was hiding beside. I reached out and gently picked it up. Looking carefully over the boot of the car I saw that she had turned to look up the alley away from where I was.
I threw the can a couple of feet in front of me. The Reapers head nearly spun off, she turned that quickly. Her lips pulled away from her lips with a hiss. She launched herself over the road so quickly I hardly had time to get ready. She stepped on to the pavement looking away from me. (Thank god.)
Standing as quickly as I could and thrusting the bayonet toward where her head and neck met. At the last moment she turned toward me and the blade went into her neck just under her jaw. Thrusting from my hip the blow pushed my hand into contact with her skin. I don’t think any of us up until then had gotten close enough to a Reaper to touch it. But her skin was hot to the touch and the black blood that flowed over my hand seemed to boil as it came out. The look of surprise on her face shocked because the expression was so human looking.
We had made these Reapers into monsters, but forgot that they used to be people. The bayonet must have gone into her brain because she suddenly went slack and fell to the floor. I had to let go of the bayonet as the dead weight pulled my hand down. Looking round there was no other movement on the street. Bending quickly I pulled the bayonet from her head and shook the black blood off the blade.
Quickly crossing the street and going into the alley, I tried keeping to the shadows. My thoughts strayed to how Maddie and Jacob were doing on the boat. I had to stop and shake my head. I couldn’t be thinking any thoughts like that at the moment. The distraction might lead to those thoughts being my last. (As a human that is.)
I came to the end of the alley and to one of the main roads going through town. It was a wide dual carriage way with a fence running down the middle. I needed to get over this road and back into the alleys on the other side. Unlike any other road there didn’t seem to be any abandoned vehicles to hide behind. The other problem was that it must have been at least thirty to thirty five meters wide. Looking left and right along the pavement on my side there didn’t seem to be any other way across. (Shit.)
I couldn’t see any movement on my side, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any Reapers nearby. Might as well get this over and done with I thought and slowly headed across in a crouch. I reached the fence in the center and just managed to climb over. When (yup you got it.) I heard the keening of the Reapers. The noise seemed to echo off the concrete of the buildings. Making it hard for me to know where it came from. Keeping bent over I moved as quickly as I could to the other side. Turning just as I made it into the shadows of the alley, I saw three Reapers come out of the alley opposite. They stood with their heads raised and looking about. I kept my breathing steady the last thing I needed was to make some kind of noise and attract them to me. If that happened, I’d have to use my rifle and that would bring them from all over after me. They stood on the opposite side for what was maybe ten or fifteen minutes. Some kind of decision must have been made because two split off. One going to the left, the other to the right and the third Reaper stood waiting for the others to move from sight. I swear it looked across into the alley I was hiding in. It turned and headed back down the alley it had emerged from. I didn’t realize that I had been holding my breath and it exploded out in a burst.
I didn’t know when Rees and his group would get to our meeting spot. I also didn’t know if I would get there in time or not. I turned and got going heading toward the outer edge of town. Keeping to the shadows of the streets and alleys I made it a few streets from where I needed to hole up. It was then that I noticed the sky starting to darken. Looking up and the gray skies from earlier had now darkened to an almost black. If I didn’t move quickly, I was going to get soaked. There was a flash of lightening followed by a clap of thunder. I was caught off guard by what happened next.
Erupting from nearly every direction was a screeching and howling. (Yes, I did do a little pee pee.) I threw myself into a small garden and hid behind a hedge. The noise seemed to die down and I looked over the hedge. Nothing moved on the street so I got up to move. When there was another flash of lightening and another clap of thunder. The screeching and howling came again.
This time I didn’t take a dive or anything else. The noise calmed down again. Stepping onto the street I continued my journey. Looking round I could see movement in the darkened rooms of the houses I passed. But nothing came running out of any to attack me. What was keeping them inside? The
only thing that had changed was the storm that was coming.
Could the flash of lightening and the claps of thunder be keeping them inside? I decided to try moving a little faster and started to jog the last few streets. I finally got to the road that I was to meet Rees on. The rain had started to fall in heavy sheets. The flashes of lightening and claps of thunder were getting closer and closer together. I looked at the road stretching away from me. I needed to find a place that gave me a good view of the road and yet gave me some security.
Not far from where I stood was a small office unit it had some corner offices that overlooked the road. I jogged down to the office unit and tried the door handles. The door opened and I followed my rifle into the dark offices. I walked into a reception area with a desk, computer and telephone. The chair behind the desk had been tipped over in what looked like a struggle. Walking to the rear I found a stairwell and pushed open the door.
Following the steps up to the second floor I paused at the door and listened to the other side. There didn’t seem to be anything moving on the other side of the door. I dropped my rifle on its sling and pulled my pistol from its holster. I checked to make sure the safety was off and pushed the door open and stepped into the corridor. There was very little light and I slowly made my way to the corner offices facing the road. I came to an open plan office the outside of it was lined with management offices. I choose the one that was in the very corner opening the door and stepping inside. I closed the door behind me as quietly as I could.
Facing me were floor to ceiling double glazed windows. I sat on the floor behind the office desk looking out down the road. Pulling my pack off I opened it and took out a bottle of water and a bag of crisps. Turning the radio on I listened out for anything from Rees or his group. Settling down to watch the road I opened the water and took a large mouthful. I started to eat my crisps I could feel them slowly filled my stomach. This in turn gave me that warm comfortable feeling you get when you’re comfortable.
Sitting back I closed my eyes for what I thought was a few seconds. The sky was dark and the noise of the thunder felt like it was threatening to rupture my ears. I was crouched down in the darkness of a barn whimpering at every clap. The flashes of lightning stabbed at my eyes with a pain I had never felt before. In the barn with me were other Reapers all with their heads buried in their hands.
I was again in the body of the Queen Reaper watching through her eyes. Mathleic was sitting on the floor next his Queen.
He looked up between claps of thunder and said “Your Majesty, I have been told that we have seen the food you are hunting. It was near the large water where our food hides. There was other food hiding close by.” A large clap of thunder made Mathleic wince with a physical pain you could see. “They are bringing it here as we speak.”
I turned my head and looked at the doors in time to see two of the males pulling a man into the barn. Their skin was slick with water; they pulled the man in front of the queen. He was opening and closing his mouth and I could tell he was saying something. But all that was coming out were a garbled noise.
The male Reapers forced him to his knees in front of the Queen.
Standing the Queen looked down at him on his knees and said “This food will replace the one of ours that we lost. Our ranks must not shrink.”
Lifting her right claw I noticed a small bump near to where the wrist would have been. The man struggled even more when she walked behind him. He tried to twist and look behind, but was held fast. One of the males pushed his head forward. The Queen lifted her claw and a small needle came out of the bump. She pushed the needle into the neck of the man from behind. I saw what seemed to be the Reapers black blood getting injected into his neck.
He instantly stiffened and fell away from the Reapers grasp. Whilst she was doing this Mathleic had approached and was standing off to her side.
He looked down at the man as he thrashed on the floor and said “Be glad your Queen has given you this gift. You will forever be part of us and we part of you.”
The Queen looked up and cocked her head to the side.
“Walker you are there? Walker if you’re there, wake the fuck up!” said a male voice.
The corner office swam into focus with the voice coming from the radio in my hand “Walker, Walker! Mate are you there?”
I said. “Yeah, I’m here.”
“Thank god. We’re about three streets away. What does it look like?”
Chapter Ten
Looking through the windows the rain was coming down in heavy sheets. The dark clouds were giving the street outside the window an early twilight. I couldn’t see any movement out there. The rain had cut the distance to around ten meters.
“Can’t see anything past ten meters here any good where you are?”
“It’s the same here. We’ll put the high beams on when we are coming down the street.”
“How did looking for fuel, go?” I asked.
There was a crackle from the radio as a flash of lightening danced across the sky.
“We got a bowser it’s nearly three quarters full. We ran into some Reapers, but everyone is ok. How did it go on your end?” Rees said.
“It went great had a run in with some Reapers as well. I think the storm is affecting them somehow. I’ll tell you about it when you pick me up. I am in an office unit about half way down the street. I’ll make my way to the main doors and wait to see the lights.”
“Ok, we’ll see you soon.” And the radio went quiet.
Standing up I pulled my rucksack on and looked out the window. The rain hadn’t let up in and the flashes of lightning told me that the storm was not passing quickly. Lifting my rifle from the desk, I walked over to the office door. Opening the door slightly I looked into the open office.
Every now and again the lightning flashed in a stark flash of white light. Shadows moved on the walls and my mind started to play tricks on me.
That last vision had shown me that the Reapers were not a massive army, but a fluid pool of enemies. This might have sounded good on the face of things, but if they kept renewing their pool with the uninfected. Then it would be possible that we would never be rid of them. I didn’t know if it was just the Queen which passed on the infection or if all the Reapers had the ability.
Entering the stairwell, I moved down to the ground floor and looked out on the reception area. Nothing had changed since I entered the office unit. Moving to the front door I crouched down and looked outside. I could see the sky slowly getting lighter. The rain had started to ease and the flashes of lightning and claps of thunder started to get farther apart. If what my dad had told me the further apart they got then farther away the storm was. I looked down the street and saw reflections of light off of the buildings.
After a short while the shape of the Land Rover came round the corner. It moved in and out of the stall and wrecked cars. Steadily moving up the street toward me I leaned out of the doorway and using my rifle scope I had a look at the street. Seeing nothing but shadows and glistening puddles of water, I thought I would chance running down the street to meet them. Leaving the safety of the office unit I ran along the pavement and out on to the road. I must have gone about thirty meters when I heard the keening and the pattering of feet behind me. Looking over my shoulder ten Reapers seemed to detach themselves from the shadows of alleyways and darkened houses.
Committed to running I sped up and pushed myself into getting to the Land Rover. Rees must have been watching out as well because the loud roar of the Land Rover engine echoed off the buildings and businesses as whoever pushed on the accelerator. I was about twenty meters from the Land Rover when the front dipped and the screech of brakes stood out over the keening of the Reapers.
I doubled my efforts to get closer to the safety of the Land Rover and the extra weapons of those inside. The loud crack of the SA80 shocked me into looking up. Rees was leaning over the bonnet and firing aimed shots past me toward the crowd of Reapers coming up behind me. Becky clim
bed out and took aim with the hunting rifle; the cracking of the rounds seemed to rebound more than the SA80.
At about five or so meters I chanced a look over my shoulder to see the Reapers had paused about twenty five meters away. Slowing to a walk and then bending over at the waist to get my breath back.
Marc shouted “Shit Jay, get over here they're coming again.”
Looking back they had started to edge their way forward and split into groups. I noticed that my guess of there being only about ten was well off the mark and there were nearly twice, maybe even three times that amount. Going to one knee I lifted my rifle and aimed at the first Reaper I saw through my scope. He was an old one with no hair at all and the gray skin seemed to be stretched over his bones. I centered middle mass and pulled the trigger. I watched as the round caught him just under his right breast and the spray of black blood that exited from his back. As he fell I moved to the next Reaper and ended her life with a round through her throat that nearly took her head clean off. This went on for five or six minutes, the echoes of the shots bouncing off the walls. The shouts of us directing each other to the next target even Marc with the shotgun managed to get a few shots when the Reapers got too close to us.
Looking through the scope on my rifle looking for another target, I was disappointed that there were none.
Rees shouted “Ok, think we’re clear, let’s get out of here while we still can.”
I got up ran round to the back of the Land Rover and jumped inside slamming the door behind me. I had just managed to sit when the Land Rover lurched forward and began to pick up speed. The fuel bowser attached to the back of the car bounced over the bodies lying in the road. A few Reapers were still crawling around, but their black blood seemed to flood the road. After a few meters the road became clear and I looked out the back window. Watching us leave black wheel marks on the wet road surface. Shaking my head, I turned and looked out of the front windscreen.
Reapers Mist: Third in the Reaper Trilogy by Justin Gowland Page 6
