by Matt Shaw
I cautiously walked down the corridor, back towards the shop’s floor. Every couple of steps I felt as though something caught my eye but every time I looked there was nothing there except another shadow cast by one of the many products on the metal shelving units which lined the wall. As per Ethan’s cautionary words of advice I kept away from the shelves though just in case there was something lurking there behind one of the products.
Ethan pushed in front of me and took the lead despite knowing that I wanted to do this for us. I couldn’t help but think that he did this for selfish reasons as opposed to actually being a gentleman. Perhaps he was ready to sacrifice himself if anything came running towards us- to give me the time he thought I’d need to get away? I’m not sure. Regardless, he was in front now and I wasn’t about to argue with him.
I watched as he twisted the door handle which separated us from the main part of the shop. I could have sworn that I had left that open. Must be on a spring, or something. Probably closed when we were hiding in the freezer room - the noise of the closing door drowned out by the ever present, and irritating, alarm ringing loudly. I’ll be glad to be away from this store. The noise was enough to drive anyone insane. He looked at me before he gently pushed the door open. I waited for him to give us the all clear.
“Anything?” I asked.
A slight delay before he stepped onto the shop floor. I could do nothing but follow, despite not knowing for sure that the coast was clear.
D A Y T H R E E
R U I N E D
The majority of the freezers were still open. They had defrosted. The products within appeared soggy. Definitely ruined. Small puddles of cold water on the tiled floor of the shop. Slippery underfoot.
“I can’t see anything,” he said. “Can you?”
I looked down the aisles, as we walked by them, and shook my head. Had they even chased us into the shop? I could see outside. A darkness had swallowed up the once blue sky as night-time settled in. I could feel, on my bare arms, that the temperature had dropped significantly. Still warm but not hot. If this was any other day, you’d think it pleasant. Any other day. If only.
“Look!” Ethan pointed to the corner of the store, up by the window. We both froze. There, right in the corner, was a large ball of spiders all of which were huddled together.
“What are they doing?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “Keeping warm perhaps?” He took a can from the shelf, next to where he was standing, and threw it - as hard as he could - at the ball of spiders.
“What are you doing?” I screamed. When you see a hornets’ nest, you don’t start poking it with a stick. You walk the other way. This is what we should have been doing. I prepared myself to run but didn’t need to. The can connected with the ball of spiders but they didn’t scatter as I thought they were going to. Instead, the spiders on the outer of the circle dropped to the floor - dead. But they didn’t die from the can hitting them. They had already been dead.
The spiders formed a tighter circle and I watched, in amazement, as the spiders on the outer part of the circle seemed to shake and suddenly wither up, folding themselves into tight little balls with their legs tucked under their body.
“The ones on the outside are dead?” I asked.
“It would appear so,” he said. But, yet, they’re somehow keeping the others warm.”
I didn’t bother asking how. He knew as little as I did.
“At least we know we’re safe for now,” he said. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was disappointed. “Come on,” he urged me out of the shop, all the time keeping an eye on the spider ball. Outside he turned to me, “They must shelter like that, just before the temperature drops, and then stay like that until the temperature rises again. At least we know why we didn’t see many of them when we were driving away from the camp,” he continued. All guesses, of course, but it did make sense.
“We need to go back to the camp,” I told him. “We need to tell them what we know. It might be important.”
He nodded, “I know.” I could tell from his expression that he was as apprehensive as I was about returning to the camp. I only hoped that the soldier wouldn’t remember what we looked like. I mean, what are the chances? The amount of people coming into the camp - he couldn’t remember all our faces, surely? “Over there,” he nodded towards a car, parked up by the side of the road. Together we hurried over to it. Straight away I knew it wouldn’t do the trick though. It hadn’t been abandoned. It looked as though it had been carefully parked up. Not like other cars we had passed on by whilst being on the roads. Naturally, when we got there, the doors were locked. “Fuck!” he shouted. He looked around for another car.
“We need to find one in the road. One that was left in the traffic jam when the army started to take people,” I told him. “Chances are, the keys will still be in the ignition if the car has just been abandoned. People getting snatched up by the army, with the promise of safety, probably wouldn’t be in too much of a hurry to lock their cars up.”
He paused and looked around. “Makes sense,” he said. “Okay, there were some cars in this direction.” He started to walk back the way we had originally driven down. He walked straight past what had been our car. I watched him. He went straight past it, without looking in its direction. I wish I had been as strong. The sight of his daughter, crushed between vehicles, with her body broken by the impact and the birthing of the spiders will haunt me forever. I didn’t look in the back of the car. I felt like I should have said something to him but I couldn’t. What could I say? Nothing would have brought them back. Nothing would have taken the pain away. Nothing could be done. It would just hurt him. The fact he walked past without looking - just showed how strong he was. What happened in the freezer, just after the accident, a slight wavering but he’s back on track now? I hope so.
He took the lead down the road, in the direction in which we had originally come as we both knew we had recently passed by some abandoned cars. And - more importantly maybe - we’re heading in the opposite direction to where the explosions had been coming from. We stuck to the middle of the road - just as we had done when we walked to his house earlier in the day. It made sense as it was easy to see things coming at us - although we both suspected we were safe from the spiders. At least, for now.
Over the hill - cars parked in the distance. Abandoned really.
“Promising,” Ethan said. More to himself really but I still found myself agreeing with him. We quickened the pace, again following his lead. Neither of us had thought through what would happen if we didn’t find a car with the key in the ignition, or close-by at least. I mean, it had crossed my mind but...I tried to put it out again. The camp was miles away. Too far for us to walk to before sunrise anyway - there was no way we’d make it. Not before...Don’t think about it.
We reached the first few cars. I skipped to the second car whilst Ethan looked into the first.
“Nothing!” he called out.
“Nor here,” I replied when I realised that the second car was locked up. If only one of us had the necessary skills to hot-wire a vehicle - a dodgy trait which would definitely have come in handy right about now.
Ethan hurried past me, towards the third car. In turn I overtook him and ran towards the fourth; a hint of desperation obvious from my hurried paces as panic started to set in. How hard would it be to hot-wire a car? I thought. Perhaps we should just cut our losses and have a...
“Here!” he called out. “There are keys.”
I looked up to see if he meant it or whether he was playing a cruel joke. I knew, deep down, that this wouldn’t have been the case but...I don’t know what’s what anymore. He waved me over. I didn’t need a second invitation and rushed over. I instantly froze when I caught sight of what was on the other side of the glass windows. Two bodies. One in the driver’s seat and one in the passenger’s. Male and female. The female was in the driver’s seat. Both of them had the same contorted, twisted expressions on th
eir faces. Victims of a bite.
Ethan opened the car door, on the driver’s side, and the girl slumped out - onto the hard concrete road. He jumped back as though he expected something to come spilling out, along with the body. I automatically knew what he was worried about. Didn’t take a genius. Even less of a genius was needed considering I was worrying about the very same thing.
“They might be in there,” I told him.
“Open the passenger door,” he ordered me. I didn’t wait to be asked a second time. I opened the door and the top half of the second body slipped out. The whole thing would have come out, like the other body, had it not been for the legs being trapped in the footwell. “Just give him a tug,” Ethan said. I looked at him with a horrified look on my face - hoping that he would notice and take hold of the body himself - but he wasn’t paying me any attention. He was too busy peering into the car - carefully looking for any traces of spiders.
“They’re tiny,” I told him, “what if they are under the seats?”
He shook his head, “You saw them in the shop. They were grouped together. A ball that size, it wouldn’t fit underneath the seat...It’s fine.” It wasn’t fine. It was reckless. He jumped into the driver’s seat and twisted the key in the ignition. With minimum fuss, the engine spat into life. “Come on,” he said.
I looked around. I don’t know why. Perhaps a quick check up and down the road to see if there were any better options on the horizon. There were more cars. Maybe we could have found one which hadn’t been home to an infestation attack? I went to voice my opinion but was drowned out before I could even start.
“Do you want to come or not?” he asked. “Just drag the body out and leave it in the road. This is our best shot. You know it is.” Was it? The more time I spend with him, the more I’m starting to realise that my best shot was to have stayed behind in the camp. Yes, we have potentially made an important discovery which may help people but...what use is knowledge if you’re dead before you can share it? He revved the engine - an act of impatience as opposed to keeping the car from stalling. Another quick look around. There was no one else to be seen. If I stayed, I knew I wouldn’t survive. Not alone. We needed to stay together no matter how odd some of the decisions may have appeared. Two pairs of eyes are still better than one. Besides - he was in the car - nothing had bitten him yet. I don’t think they’re picky as to who they bite and who they ignore. I took hold of the deceased person’s arm and gave them an almighty tug, pulling them free of the car. A funny little squeal escaped my throat when I released him and he slumped to the floor. It doesn’t matter how many bodies I’ve seen over the last couple of days - it’s something I’ll never get used to. And I don’t want to either. The moment I become cold to it is the moment I’ve lost my humanity. “Come on,” he continued pushing me, “it’s fine - get in the car. We need to get going.” I peered into the front, where I was about to sit. I then peered into the back. Both areas seemed clear as far as I could tell. Ethan let out a heavy sigh as I lowered myself into the passenger’s seat. I’m not sure if it was relief or exasperation. Before I had even closed the door, the car started to move - a quick three-point turn, using the whole of the available road space, so we could head off in the direction of the camp.
I looked into the rear-view mirror. More specifically, I looked at the wreckage from our earlier transportation. It was getting smaller and smaller as we began to put distance between it and us. I shot Ethan a look. He still hadn’t looked back.
As he navigated the cars, all parked in a row, I couldn’t help but ask him whether he thought the soldiers at the camp would remember us. His answer, “Probably”, didn’t fill me with much confidence. But how mad would they likely be if we go to them with the key to putting everything right again? Surely a get out of jail free card. I hope.
* * * * *
I woke with a start. A bad dream. I’m surprised I dozed off, let alone had an actual dream. I wish I hadn’t, though. I feel as though my body is coated in sweat.
“You okay?” Ethan asked. I looked over at him, still in the driving seat. He was concentrating on the road in front of us. It was pitch black outside now. Full headlight beams illuminated our path. Some country road that I didn’t recognise. “You were making some strange noises,” he continued.
“Sorry,” I said. I’m not sure why I was apologising. I couldn’t help the noises I made during my sleep. It’s not as though I was doing it intentionally. “I must have dozed off.”
“Out like a light a few miles back,” he pointed out. “Haven’t seen you sleep properly so I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“I wish you had.”
“Bad dream?”
“Yes,” I said - keeping my answer short. It wasn’t the sort of dream I wanted to relive by telling him all about it. I just wanted my brain to forget about it - like it did with most dreams that I had, soon after waking. I had a bad feeling my brain wasn’t going to let me forget these images though. A bad dream featuring the kids that I saw die, back in the school. The sounds of the screams. The orders from the soldiers, trying to get those who hadn’t been bitten out into safety. Images of dead children forever burnt into my subconscious. My brain won’t ever let me forget that, even if it wanted to. When one has seen Hell, how does one put it out of mind? You don’t. “Where are we?” I asked him. I hoped that a different angle of conversation would at least distract my mind from the horrors that it was trying to play back to me.
“About ten miles from the camp. I think. If I’m being honest, I wasn’t really paying attention when we left. I just wanted to get out of there. Think this is the right way though.
Comforting! I thought.
“Any signs of...Anything?” I asked. I didn’t just mean signs of the spiders. I meant human life too. All this traveling and we’d hardly seen anyone on the road. It was as if they had all long since fled - either snatched up by the military or by their own method. Either that or they were dead and we just hadn’t looked close enough to see their corpses. Not that I needed to see anymore death.
“In the last town,” he said, “I saw some of the spiders. They were formed into balls, next to property windows, just as they had been back in that shop. Definitely their way of keeping warm.” He paused. “No other people though. On the plus side,” he quickly changed the subject, “I haven’t seen any evidence of recent bombings so...That’s good, right?”
“I guess.” I took a deep breath. “I’m scared.” It was the first time I had said it out loud. The first time I had admitted to someone, anyone, that I was actually frightened. It actually felt good to get it off my chest, despite knowing he couldn’t really do anything to make me feel any better. I didn’t expect him to say, or do, anything either. I just wanted it heard.
“So am I,” he admitted. I wonder if he felt the same amount of relief that I had felt with my confession.
“What do you think they’ll do?” I asked.
“The army?”
I nodded, “Yes.”
“I don’t know.” He went quiet again as though thinking through all of the different possible outcomes. I watched his face intently - trying to see a flicker of hope in his expression...Trying to see if any of his possible outcomes included a happy ending.
There was no glimmer of hope.
“They’ll be able to pass the information on though, won’t they? I mean...It will help?” I just wanted a little reassurance from him that we were doing the right thing. Even if it meant he had to lie to me. I’d be happy with a lie right about now.
“I don’t know,” he said again. Way to reassure a girl. He yawned and shook his head.
“Want me to drive?” I offered.
“No, thank you. It’s fine. We’re nearly there.” He shifted in his seat as though he was getting himself a little more comfortable before concentrating on the final leg of the journey.
We both fell into an uncomfortable silence. Hard to tell what he was thinking but I was worrying about what kind of rec
eption was going to greet us back at the camp. I looked out of the window and concentrated on the passing scenery in an effort to think about something else. Rows and rows of trees and bushes with blackness between them which made it hard to make out anything else.
“I think you should stay in the car,” said Ethan, after a couple more minutes of silence, “when we get to the camp.”
“Oh?” Clearly he had been using the uncomfortable silence to consider our welcoming committee too.
“Just until we know how they receive us. The way tempers were flaring, when we left, I just want to be safe...Make sure no one holds a grudge.”
I hesitated and then tried to rest his mind, just as I had hoped he’d have rested mine for me earlier when I needed calming, “They probably won’t even remember us,” I told him. “The amount of people they see, I’m sure they won’t remember two faces...” What I was saying may have been true if I hadn’t been the one helping them out by taking names of people who were new to the camp. Had I just blended into the background, like other survivors, it would have been easier to slip back in unnoticed - or, at least, pretend to be new people who just happened to stumble across the camp in the middle of nowhere. “We’re not even in the same vehicle,” I continued. “I think we’ll be okay.”
