rummaged through, “I take it your friend here is human?”
Steven had gone with the last assault rifle and clip we had, “Yeah, why?”
We formed a circle facing outward, well, a triangle, “They don’t tend to bother me too much unless Marcus is nearby.”
The shotgun cocked as Harry gave me a jab in the back, “After everything that you’ve put me through John I am not letting you ditch me.”
We continued to move around, scanning the area, “Wouldn’t dream of it mate, do a head count Harry. Steve, where’s Marcus?”
I could hear Harry counting under his breath, he got up to fifteen when I stopped listening, “I’ll take you to him, it’s not far.” Zeds had started testing the boundaries and were coming closer now, “Twenty seven, we need to leave.”
One darted toward us and I felt the shock-wave from the shotgun to my left as Harry put the first down, “Follow Steve, we’ll get the power later, Steve, get us out of here.”
One came for me and I swung the butt of my rifle hard into its head. I faced Steven who had his gun up to his shoulder and was now letting out bursts into the group in front of him, “This way!”
We covered his back, they weren’t sniffing any more, they were snarling and sprinting after us, “Pick up the pace Steve, I am not dying in a bloody shop.”
The lights shut off right as an electronic crackle came from ahead of me where Steve had brought a walkie-talkie to his face, “Marcus get the doors open, I’ve got John and his… friend. The lights have cut out and we’re being followed, be there in thirty.”
As my vision adjusted to the piercing dark I wished that the ability would leave me, there were a lot more than twenty seven now, “Let’s go!”
Steve had started to run, “I can’t see anything John!”
I had a tendency to forget that Harry wasn’t a vampire, “Listen to his feet hitting the floor, we’re getting out of here, just don’t panic.” I looked at him, the terror dancing on his face as he fired into the darkness. Lighting up hundreds of faces, he gave up with running backward and sped off toward Steven.
As soon as the lights had turned back on I decided I was done looking backward as well and just ran, the guys were far in front of me as they turned left. ‘Worried I’ll leave him behind huh?’
Hands were moving in on me as the snarled voices poured into my ears. I reached the corner and saw the open maintenance door with the guys on either side, guns raised high. I sprinted for the door and turned when I reached it, firing at the horde.
“Get in! I’m right behind you.”
Click, slide, clink, bang, I started stepping backward.
Click, slide, clink, bang. Hands grabbed my back and pulled me in, slamming the door shut in front of me. I turned to face everyone. Harry was grabbing his knees panting, Steven was still glaring at me from under his hoodie.
Then at the end was Marcus, smiling weakly, a bandage wrapped around the top of his head. He’d grown out his facial hair as well and was wearing baggy cargo pants, a white t-shirt, which was only just visible under the thick brown jumper. “Hey John, how’s things?”
I shuffled my bag off and dropped my gun on it, “Quiet, you’re the first survivors we’ve seen in days, you?”
He shrugged, “Been worse, at least we’ve got some good weather.”
I walked over and hugged him, “I’m sorry Mark, I tried to catch them, I promise, I tried so hard.”
He returned the hug and we split apart, “Who’d you lose?”
I scratched the back of my head, “Kyle, the rest got away with the chopper. I… slipped.”
I noticed Harry and Steven had walked off and were chatting away, “Who’s the new guy?”
I chuckled, new guy. “That’s Harry, met him on day one, we’ve kept each other out of trouble for a while, where can I dump my stuff?”
Marcus’ frown coupled with a slam at the door reminded me, “We’re not staying are we?”
He shook his head, “I wish we could, but you saw how many there were, even with that heavy door they’ll still eventually rip it off its hinges now they know food is in here.”
I bent over and put my gun in the duffel then slung it over my shoulder, “What’s the contingency plan?”
He shook his head again, “There isn’t one, this is a back room, which-” He pointed to the creaking metal door, “Is the only way in or out, had its benefits, but not so much anymore. We’ve got about ten minutes before they get in. So let’s take a seat, have a few drinks and let this nightmare be over, eh?”
I could see the mournful eyes past the false smile, “I’m sorry Marcus, I’m sorry I didn’t bring them home.”
He wove me off, “No-one blames you, after this we’ll all be going home, to Valhalla, home for the eternal warriors.”
I began walking with him through the storeroom, “You’re Irish, I’m British, I’m pretty sure they save the seats in Valhalla for the Norwegians, and those who died in battle, not those hiding in a safe room until they get ripped apart by other people.”
He laughed under his breath, “You’re probably right, but still, anywhere has got to be better than here.”
He clapped me on the shoulders, I was fuming that he’d given up like this, “There is nowhere after this Marcus, we live, we die, make here work for you because this is it, and I’m not giving up yet. Harry! Get over here, we’ve got some work to do!”
I shook Marcus off and grabbed one of the shelves when Harry came from around the corner, “What is it, what are you doing?”
I pushed it onto the door, the items stored on it shaking and dropping to the floor as it grinded, “Surviving, these guys have decided that they want to take their chances with an afterlife.”
Harry started dragging a filing cabinet to the door while Mark just watched us, seeing only a lost cause, “Don’t be like that John, we’ve lost, there’s no coming back from this, surely you must know that, we’ve al-”
I dumped another shelf on the door, “You’ve all what? Given up!? Decided it’s too hard so you’re just going to quit? Life is hard! Now help me or get out of the way, I’m not dying like an animal caught in a trap.”
I expected many things, but not the smile I got, “Steven! Get over here, and close the bottle, we’re getting out of here.”
Running
“Steven, Harry! Hold that door, they get through and it’ll be me ripping you limb from limb!”
I was knocking over the shelves that sat along the wall looking for an escape, “There’s nothing back there John, maybe we could go through the floor? You bring any explosives?”
I nodded, “Yeah, about five hundred grams of C4 and a grenade, but there’s no guarantee they aren’t down there and I don’t know how much damage we could do to the floor’s here, they’re pretty thick…”
I’d been in that shopping centre before; I had to have made a mental map of the place at some point. After closing my eyes for a few seconds there it was, “How far is the elevator-shaft from here?”
Mark pointed to the wall on my right, “Right there, elevator’s dead though, it dropped down the other day, heard it in our sleep.”
I scratched my neck, the cables would still be alright though, “Relieve Steve, send him over.” He watched me for a few seconds, seemingly not to have understood what I had said before running over.
I went to the wall and started knocking on it, listening to the faintest echo coming from the other side, “What do you want?”
Steve had come over to stand with me, “Let’s open this wall, improve the flow of the room.”
He tapped the wall, “This one right here? Do I look like a sledge hammer to you?”
A chuckle escaped as I shrugged, “Little bit.” I slammed my fist through the wall. Okay, there was some concrete… a lot of concrete. To be perfectly honest a tear did come to my eye.
Steve nodded, clearly not noticing the high frequency noise I was letting out, “Got it.”
<
br /> We began tearing the wall down, pushing chunks of concrete down the shaft while coating ourselves and the floor in dust, “Hurry it up guys!”
I started shoulder barging the crumbling white and grey mess. Steve began doing the same but we weren’t in sync. “Stop for a second.” We took a step back, “One, two, three!”
As the word left my lips we charged into the wall, well, Steve went into while I went through, only just catching the steel spun elevator cable, immediately drawing blood as I slid down slightly,
“You ok John?” My blood was acting as a lubricant, causing me to slide down another foot causing a sharp hiss of pain to come out of me.
“Yep, I’m just dandy. Send the others, don’t grab the cable!” I looked around the claustrophobia inducing space, my blood sliding down the cable and onto my clothes while panic was quickly set in.
‘Think think think. Push the pain away, find a way out.’ Footfalls came from the floor above me as the others were now running to the shaft. Harry peeked over, the duffel now dangling over his shoulder.
“Be down in a second!” The sound of metal bending and smashing against the floor was quickly replaced by snarls and roars as one by one my friends leapt down the shaft.
“No!” ‘Great job John, you’ve made your friends kill themselves.’ But my mourning was eliminated as three loud thumps echoed up to me attracting my gaze and revealing I was only a few feet from the ground. “Oh, that’d be about right.”
I released the cable as a zed grabbed onto my back, its teeth centimetres from my neck as I
The Mulligan Planet Page 24
