Before Safe Haven (Book 4): Jules

by Artinian, Christopher

  Jules broke into a smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you as excited as this.”

  “Don’t you realise what this place is, Jules? It’s the answer to all our problems.”

  CHAPTER 9

  She looked back out to the square as the rain continued to fall and the smile on her face broadened. George was right; this place could give them all a new start. “And I suppose there are enough trees around to cut for firewood too.”

  Now it was George’s turn to smile. “That’s just what I was thinking.” There was a knock on a door further down the hall as one of the other groups continued their search of the premises. “Come on; let’s check the rest of this place out.”

  It took them half an hour to clear the ground floor; then they climbed the grand staircase and began their search of the upper level. The dorm rooms were impeccably decorated with only the finest furnishings. The odd poster adorned the walls to give them a more homely feel. All of the rooms had plenty of natural light, and in each room, there were four alcoves with a bed, desk, chest of drawers and wardrobe in each. The rooms were en suite and Jules could tell that she and George were not the only ones who were getting excited by the prospect of moving into the place.

  Ellen brushed her hand over a Spider-Man quilt. “I bought one of these for my nephew,” she said as her fingers suddenly clenched the material. “Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Spider-Man, that was all he ever talked about.” A look of melancholy swept over her face.

  Jules walked up to her and took hold of her other hand. “Your sister and her family might be somewhere now thinking that they’ve lost you. Nothing’s a fact until it’s a fact.”

  Ellen turned towards Jules and was about to respond harshly, but then she saw nothing but sincerity in her friend’s eyes. “You’re right. It’s just…”

  “Hard,” Jules finished her thought. “I know exactly how you feel. We all do. We’ve all lost people, but we’ve found each other, and what’s to say that the same thing hasn’t happened for our loved ones? What’s to say your sister and your nephew aren’t with a group like us, trying to find their way? Things won’t be this way forever, Ellen. Six months … a year from now, things could be very different. What we need to do is survive … build a life, a future. We already have a community and a place like this will give us the chance to thrive, get bigger, and, who knows, one day we might be reunited with the ones we’ve lost.”

  “Do you really believe that?”

  “You should know me well enough by now. I don’t take bullshit, and I don’t dish it out. Yes, I believe that.”

  Ellen squeezed Jules’s hand tighter. “Thank you.”

  “You don’t have to thank me. We look out for each other. That’s what we do.”

  “Come on,” called Justin from the doorway. “We’re way behind the others.” The mood became more and more buoyant as the four groups proceeded down the long corridor and turned onto the next. From the thick blue carpet with the school’s insignia printed into the design to the portraits of famous alumni that adorned the walls, everything about the place suggested opulence. The knowledge that this could soon be their home gave all of them a sense of excitement.

  “No fucking way!” Olly said as his group, and then Rog’s stopped outside a set of double doors. Ben and Jules’s teams caught up and they all stood back to look at the framed posters on either side.

  THIS WEEKEND

  A WORLD WAR II DOUBLE BILL

  SCHINDLER’S LIST

  DUNKIRK

  “They’ve got their own fucking cinema?” Jules said, barely believing her eyes.

  Rog stepped up to the door and banged on it with the palm of his hand. He waited a few seconds and when there was no sign of life, he pushed the doors open. Beyond it was pitch black and he immediately flicked on his torch. Olly switched his on too, and they stepped inside. There was a small foyer with a popcorn machine and a poster behind reading:

  ST. CHAD’S CINEMA CLUB

  RECRUITING NOW

  CONTACT MR WELLS FOR INFO

  The foyer split into two corridors, one to the left and one to the right. Signs, once illuminated, now just relics, pointed to ALL ROWS SEATS 1 – 15 and ALL ROWS SEATS 16 – 30.

  “You and Olly head that way,” Rog said, looking towards Ben, “Jules and I will go this way.”

  “Okay,” Ben said, “first round of snacks is on me.” He smiled.

  The two groups separated and more torch lights turned on as they made their way down the narrow passageways. Classic movie posters hung on the walls, and Jules kept looking towards George and the others as their faces expressed the same wonderment she was feeling. This place was a dream. Then, just like in a dream, everything began to feel a little cloudy, a little surreal.

  Rog tapped hard on the thick wooden door with the butt of his rifle and, at the same instant, a chilling cry macheted through the darkness. Everyone froze to the spot for a moment as the very marrow in their bones turned to ice. More terrified screams erupted and now their soaring wails had an all too familiar accompaniment as growls resonated through the corridor.

  Suddenly a hundred feet could be heard thundering down the steps from within the cinema. The looks of wonderment that had been on the group’s faces just a few seconds earlier had now changed to expressions of terror as the reality of the situation enveloped them.

  “Back! Get back now!” Rog shouted, pushing through the others and leading the charge back down the corridor. He ran around the corner to see Ben standing in the entrance. He was covered in blood and Rog brought his rifle up ready to shoot him, believing he had already turned, but Ben threw his hands up.

  “It’s me,” was all he managed as the screams continued to ring out. He turned back towards the left corridor hoping to see more of his team emerging, but all that came were despairing howls.

  “Where’s your weapon?” Rog demanded.

  “I dropped it.”

  “Where is everybody?” Jules demanded as she and the others joined Rog and Ben.

  Rog looked towards Ben and he knew in that instant that the younger man had no idea. He had seen it before with dozens of comrades. In most cases of fight or flight, people’s survival instincts would choose flight. “Come on, we need to get these doors shut,” he said, grabbing Ben by the arm and forcing him into the outer corridor. The others followed, but Jules remained in the foyer looking down the dark passage towards the sound of her screaming friends.

  “Olly, Max, Sara?” she said almost to herself as she stared into the darkness.

  George ran back into the foyer and grabbed her. “They’re gone, come on, we need to get out of here.” He started pulling her towards the exit when the first creature emerged from around the corner. It looked disoriented at first, but then its eyes focused on the two fresh pieces of meat tussling in the entrance.

  Jules’s mouth fell open. “Oh my God! It’s Olly,” was all she could whisper as tears began to fall down her cheeks.

  The creature, though, was not Olly. Olly no longer existed. The thing that rushed towards Jules from the darkness was a beast of pure malevolence. It was not the man who had playfully flirted with her when they had first met. It was not the man who had bravely brought in stragglers from the outskirts of the city and volunteered for every scavenger mission going. It was now a monster … a creature of hate intent on swelling the ranks of its species.

  It launched at Jules like a missile, its strange grey fingers stretching towards her as it flew. Jules could not move. She tried but she couldn’t. Even as George attempted to drag her, she felt as though she was cemented to the spot. It was only when something blurred in her field of vision that she woke to what was actually happening.

  Rog shoulder barged the Olly-beast and it went crashing into the popcorn machine, making a din that drowned out all the other sounds in the cinema. The momentum nearly proved too much for Rog, and he almost fell over, but he managed to gather himself just in time. “Move! Now!” he shouted towards Jules and Geor
ge, and this time Jules did move.

  She ran out of the main entrance into the wide, well-lit corridor. She looked towards Ben and gasped as the full horror of seeing him covered in blood from head to foot hit her. She glanced back towards the doors as Rog desperately tried to close them once more. The mechanism was slow and it required patience, but that was a luxury they could not afford. Justin went to help him, but before they could even get the first door shut, half a dozen beasts burst through, knocking Justin and Rog to the floor. The rest of the group watched dumbfounded for a few seconds as four creatures pounced on the two fallen men, ripping bloody chunks from their necks and faces.

  Jules’s was shaking; her tears were still flowing, but as she screamed the words, “Run! Run! Run!” everyone did.

  CHAPTER 10

  They did not look back as they tore down the corridor. They had seen at least two beasts heading after them, but they could hear many more as growls and pounding feet filled the wide hallway. Tears continued to pour down Jules’s face as Justin’s agonised shrieks ripped through the air.

  Another terrified scream sounded, and Jules turned to see Ellen dragged down to the ground by the grasping hands of three beasts, all catching her at once. Beyond her were dozens of creatures charging towards them and even more storming out of the cinema. All notions of this place being their new safe haven were gone now as the only thoughts became about escape and survival.

  Jules slowed as she watched the horrifying attack on Ellen and her friend’s pleading eyes as first one monster then another sank their teeth into her. Jules felt someone grab her arm, but she shook it free. There was no way they would all outrun these creatures, she needed to do something; after all, this was her fault. She was the one who made the decisions, she had brought everyone here. She turned her head back to the direction of travel and started sprinting once more. They had come here sixteen strong and they had lost ten in the blink of an eye.

  Ben led the group around the corner as Jules brought up the rear. They bounded towards the staircase at the end of the hallway as pure terror continued to drive them all as fast as their feet could carry them. The howls of pain had stopped for the time being; as thundering feet and animalistic growls filled the grand corridor Jules knew that the last screams had not yet been heard.

  She could almost feel the reaching fingers pulling at the cloth of her shirt as the fleeing group approached the mouth of the wide staircase. There had been awe in her eyes when they had climbed these steps but now she knew this building was no different to thousands ... millions of others worldwide. For all its grandeur, for all its luxurious decor and furnishings, it was nothing but a fancy tomb.

  Ben nearly lost his balance as he leapt from the top step. Jules could see George was tiring and there was no way that they could get down these stairs then back through the building to the waiting vehicles before being caught. This was it, this was her one opportunity. Jules watched her five friends negotiate the first few stairs then turned, backing down the top two steps herself and trying to maintain her composure as the marauding army of the undead came towards her.

  Two beasts were leading the charge, and as she heard Ben cry her name from the halfway landing, she swung the long crowbar like a baseball bat towards their feet. That was it—her one gambit. The monstrous pair collapsed, their momentum still forcing them in Jules’s direction. She turned back around knowing only too well it was just inches that separated them now and her gamble would either buy them time or bring her death that much closer.

  She launched herself from the step; her friends had already disappeared down the second flight. She spread her arms out like a bird, how she wished she could fly right now, but flying was not her intention, she was going to hit the halfway landing hard and if she stood any chance of this plan working, she could not afford to lose her balance. Before Jules’s feet touched the carpet, the sound she had silently prayed for erupted from behind her. Her boots finally found a solid surface, but it was not the smooth landing she had hoped for.

  The speed, height and force of her jump caused her to crash into the wall beneath the wide window. She prepared herself though and bounced back to her feet just in time to see the forward domino motion of the cascading beasts as they toppled over the two creatures she had brought down with the crowbar. Monsters were monsters and when they had chased her from the cinema she had only been concerned with escape, she had never even thought about who these ghoulish creatures had been in life, but now a wave of sadness hit her as she saw the toppling figures and realised these were the pupils of this school. Juniors and seniors alike they were just children whose lives had not even started.

  She was dragged back from her thoughts as the first tumbling bodies came towards her like giant snowballs gathering pace down a mountainside. Jules descended the second flight of stairs with more control this time, an ankle injury or a stupid trip would still mean the end for her despite the fact she had bought the group a little time.

  George was bringing up the rear of the group and he glanced back. His normally stoic features were contorted into a look of tortured anguish, but then he saw Jules and despite them all still being in mortal danger, relief swept over him. He slowed down and beckoned her to catch up. “Run! Don’t wait, run!” she shouted.

  George did as she commanded, and Jules gradually gained on the rest of the group until she had caught up. In between laboured breaths George gasped, “I thought I’d lost you,” and in that second Jules wanted to cry again. There were a hundred ways he could have said it but those five words made everything she had risked to save the rest of the group worthwhile.

  “Don’t celebrate yet, old man, we’re not exactly out of the woods.”

  They were fifty metres down the corridor when the drumming feet of an army began to reverberate once more. Jules turned her head to see the creatures storming towards them. The group had a decent lead for the time being, but she could tell George and at least two of the others were starting to feel the effects of the chase. “What are you doing?” George asked as Jules began to slow again.

  “I’m right behind you. Keep going and get those bloody vans started,” she said. Stopping by the side of a tall trophy cabinet, she tipped it over, causing the glass to smash and wood to splinter. She ran a little farther and there was a heavy wooden bench outside of an office. She dragged it round, so it was at a ninety-degree angle with the wall. The measures would not hinder the creatures too much, but it might give the group the few seconds they needed.

  Jules carried on running, and her heart lifted as she saw the kitchen doors swinging open as Ben burst through. She threw another look over her shoulder as the first beasts vaulted over the toppled cabinet. Others stumbled and more still negotiated their way around. The bench proved to be a more successful barrier, though. The first three creatures hurdled it with little effort, but the second wave ploughed into it, stumbling and falling, causing others to do the same.

  Jules turned her head back towards the kitchen doors and ran faster than ever now. She stormed through and sprinted towards the open back door, pulling trolleys into the gangway as she went, desperate to give herself and her friends every second, every micro-second. She felt the rush of cold air and rain against her face as the sound of the internal doors being barged open resonated behind her.

  Two of the vehicles were already moving away, but George had turned the box van around and opened the passenger door in readiness for her escape. He leaned across, pushing it as the wind fought against him to close it. The tortured expression Jules had seen on his face earlier returned as he looked beyond his friend to the doorway and the emerging beasts. “Run!” he shouted.

  “What the fuck do you think I’m doing?” she cried as her feet skidded on the gravel of the courtyard. “Get the fucking wheels moving,” she said as she dived towards the open door, sinking her fingers into the upholstery of the seat.

  George pulled back, engaged first gear and started turning the wheel as Jules’s legs c
ontinued to dangle out of the van. His left hand grabbed her jacket and pulled hard before he returned it to the steering wheel. “Are you—”

  “Aaarrrggghhh!” Jules screamed as she felt a hand clamp around her calf. “Faster, drive faster,” she said, turning her head to see what had grabbed her. A tall creature, probably a senior, had one hand around her leg as it ran, desperately trying to keep up with the increasing speed of the van. The other two beasts lingered behind it, ready to take its place should it fail in its mission to drag her out. Jules pulled her other leg back and kicked hard three times. The third strike was to the side of the beast’s head and for the briefest moment it was stunned, but that moment was all that Jules needed. She wrenched her leg free, shuffled up onto the seat and slammed the door shut while the three creatures continued to run by the side of the vehicle like zombie secret service agents keeping up with the president’s motorcade.

  George straightened the wheel and put his foot down, quickly working through the gears. The beasts began to fall behind, and as he and Jules looked in the wing mirror to see the rest of the undead army storming out of the doorway, they both breathed audible sighs of relief. Soon, the chasing horde had disappeared from view. The van slowed as it drove through the tall, black wrought-iron gates. George stopped the vehicle and jumped out, swinging the gates closed before latching them firmly together.

  He climbed back into the van and, as happy as they both were to have escaped, as happy as they both were to know that the other was safe, there was a deep sadness that cradled them. This had been the single worst loss they had ever suffered.

  Jules kept her eyes on the road. The other two vans were nowhere in sight. There was a part of her that understood that, but there was another part of her that was deeply disappointed. George had been the only one who had stayed back to make sure she escaped.