by Glynn James
"Minions?"
"The dead ones that walk again."
"The same as the ones in The Corridor?"
"Yes, some, but others are different. The plague carriers, the ones that make the humans sick and die and become one of them. They are also here. Somewhere."
It was a haunting sight walking through the streets of the city. As we made our way towards the tallest buildings where there was even more wreckage, I saw countless ruined and empty shops. The remains of a long dead civilisation were everywhere I looked. I've never seen so many skeletons. In places they littered the streets or lay crumbling inside rusted vehicles.
We searched some of the shops as we passed, but there were no supplies to be found anywhere. Everything of value had been picked clean a long time ago.
Worse than the remains of the dead were the bodies that hung from lampposts and buildings, strung up by ropes or chained to fire escapes. I suspected that these people had been executed, and it made me ache with wondering who they were and why they were slain so brutally. Were they looters? Were they criminals that the local populace put down, taking the law in to their own hands when civilisation began to fall apart? Had something more monstrous done that to them?
I guessed that I would never know.
By the time it started to get dark we had travelled quite a way into the city, and the tall buildings stood around us on either side of the road. Immense, empty shells covered in the same creeping plants, rows upon rows of glassless and hollow windows, gaping holes of darkness that could hide all manner of hideous creatures or haunting scenes that I really didn't want to see.
Day 40
I had expected to be woken during the night by the noise of a fight, but there had been nothing. Whether or not the Maw had been keeping any danger away, I didn't know. I still thought that I would have heard something. DogThing's warning about the plague walkers had me on edge. It had all of us on edge. The closest I can think of to his description were the very first zombies that I encountered during my first days in The Corridor. They had been different to many of the creatures that I had seen after that. Most of the zombies in The Corridor were more like twisted and tortured abominations than the walking, rotten things that I now envisioned occupying the dark recesses of every building in the city. I was just waiting for them to come pouring out of the darkness, groaning for my blood, or whatever it was they hungered for.
It rained heavily, a torrential downpour that pummelled the ground and the buildings around me. The street outside had become a river that ran strongly enough to sweep a man away. Water poured through gaps in the structure around me, leaving few places dry. The Maw that shared the building that I had chosen to sleep in had made their way up onto the second floor. I joined them, huddling against the wall next to one of the empty spaces where a window would have once been. There was no way that we would be able to leave whilst this weather kept up.
How could the street be so dusty and dirty if it rained like this? Shouldn't it all be washed away?
Day 41
The rain stopped during the night, and when I awoke this morning most of the flooding had subsided. Somehow all of the water that had deluged the city overnight had drained away. As I leaned out of the window and looked up the street, I could see that there were small pools dotted about everywhere, but most of the flooding had gone.
I hauled my pack onto my back and set off down the stairwell, then out into the road. DogThing had slept on the stairs not far from where I had made camp for the night, and he shook his head groggily before following me out.
"Everything good?" I asked as I passed him on the stairs.
"Good."
I noticed that Rudy and Adler were not there. When I had gone up the stairs to the second floor, they had stayed out on the road. I sat watching them from the window for a while and the river obviously made no difference to them. They seemed to find great amusement at being able to stand in a torrent of rain that must have been more than a foot deep, the water rushing past them at an incredible speed. I vaguely remember them still wandering around out there when I finally drifted off to sleep.
I looked in either direction and called out a few times, but there was no answer.
Should I have kept moving and hope that they were somewhere nearby? I hesitated, and stood in the middle of the road as DogThing sat on the broken pavement a few feet away.
Finally I saw them, far away, down the road, as they came out of one of the buildings. Rudy stopped and waved at me.
After a few minutes I caught up with them at a crossroads in the street. The road opened up into a large square, surrounded by buildings that might once have been huge shops. All around the square were smashed up and rusted vehicles, many with the skeletons still sitting in the seats. It was something that puzzled me. What had killed these people so fast that they hadn't even managed to get out of their cars? I wondered if that wasn't the case, and that they had locked themselves in their vehicles to avoid what was outside.
The fronts of many of the empty shops had crumbled and collapsed, spilling out broken masonry, and dry, splintered wood onto the paved ground. I shivered as I noticed a pair of skeletal feet sticking out from underneath a pile of bricks just a few feet away from me. Had that person been crushed, or had they died long before the building covered them?
Rudy and Adler were staring wide-eyed at something that I couldn't see until I got nearer to them. As I approached, it appeared as though they were looking into open space, but then I got closer and the object of their fascination came into view.
It was a hole.
This one was nothing like any of the tiny holes that I had seen after the storm in The Corridor. This was much larger, big enough that I could have walked through it if I chose, but the view on the other side caused me to step back.
Flames burned in the dark place beyond the hole and the fire was so violent that I was surprised that it didn't lash out at us. An endless blaze of inferno rippled across a landscape that was blackened and scorched.
I heard a quiet growl behind me and glanced back to see that DogThing had caught up. He was shuffling around uncomfortably.
"Strange isn't it?"
It was Adler. Rudy was just standing there shaking his head.
"The heat doesn't even travel through to this side, but I wouldn't want to step through it."
I wondered how long they had been standing there, watching the fire burn, and it occurred to me that I hadn't known that Adler and Rudy could even feel heat or cold.
"When did you find this?" I asked, stepping sideways to see if I could see more of the landscape at a different angle.
"Last night whilst you were asleep," said Adler. "Rudy and I decided that with the entire Maw pack around, you were safe to be left alone, so we decided to take a wander, have a look around. There are more of them, dotted about, holes, I mean, but this one is the biggest by far."
"They all seem to lead to the same place," said Rudy.
"This burning place," said Adler.
I peered through the hole again, trying to make out any kind of detail through the flames that might have given me a clue as to where it was, but I couldn't recognise any of it. Visibility was so distorted and blocked by the fire that seemed to be consuming everything.
Then I saw movement amongst the flames. It was distant, but it was there.
"What's that?"
I pointed.
"Oh, yes. There is that as well," said Rudy. "We couldn't figure out what it was. It hasn't come close enough for us to make it out amongst the flames. It's been wandering around all the time and I'm certain I saw it through one of the other holes, but Adler doesn't think that possible. Not the same one."
Adler shrugged. "That the holes are all connected to a single other place is curious enough, but that they could all be close enough to show the same location just seems a little unlikely."
I took a step back, a feeling of loathing somehow creeping under my skin. Something was very wrong wit
h what was moving around in there.
"How in hell's name does anything manage to survive in that?"
"It is quite feasible that a creature could exist, whose make up and physiology is so different to ours that the fire could be their natural environment. It would be highly irregular, but not entirely impossible."
The creature, if that was what it was, was now moving closer to the hole. I could make out a humanoid shape, but it didn't move like a human would. It stumbled around and its steps were jerky and sharp.
"It's coming nearer," said Adler. "Maybe we will see it this time." He stared through hole, oblivious to the danger that my instincts were now screaming about.
Stumbling, clumsy steps carried the apparition slowly towards us, until it was within a few feet of the hole, and then the horror of what was staring back at us took hold of me, and by the reactions of Rudy and Adler, they saw it too. I took yet another step backwards as I heard the growls of DogThing getting louder behind me.
"James, get away," stuttered Rudy as he backed away from the hole.
Adler didn't move. "Wait, we don't even know if the creature can even get through the hole, or even see us."
It could see us. Or in the very least it could see me. The skeletal inferno was staring directly at me with piercing, cold, white eyes that I felt would burn their way into my soul if I stayed there much longer. It was so humanlike that I swore it might once have been a person, except all that remained now were bones, blackened but somehow glowing. Was this hell itself that I was staring at? Was this the fiery abyss for those who were to burn forever as their punishment? Was the creature staring back at me through the hole once a living person who was now condemned to burn forever?
Then it stepped through the hole.
"It might not be hos..." said Adler, but he was cut off as the searing heat burst from the creature and blasted into our world, behind me I heard the sound of something catching fire and over to my left a few pieces of scattered wooden debris turned black and burst into flame.
The heat was staggering.
I vaguely heard Adler shouting over the tremendous noise that erupted all around me. A shape moved past me quickly. It was Rudy, heading away from the flames and the heat that now seemed to be engulfing everything.
Then it was gone, leaving the crackling sound of the fires that were already burning around us.
I opened my eyes, stunned, and looked around. Adler and Rudy were standing a few feet away, looking as shocked as I felt. DogThing was crouched by my side, panting, with steam rising from his fur. I was crouched on the floor.
"That was close."
Over near where the hole had been was a leg, or at least the blackened and glowing bones from a leg. Smoke was rising from it like it would a camp fire that had just been put out.
I looked down, frowning, and I noticed that one of my guns was lying on the ground next to where I was now kneeling. Somehow I had collapsed to the ground, and in my left hand I held the compass key tightly, so tight that my knuckles were pale and blood now trickled down my arm.
Something had happened as I fell to the ground. As much as I tried to comprehend it, I couldn't. Somehow I had acted on instinct once again. Without even thinking about it, I had pulled out the key and closed the hole.
I wished that I could remember how.
For a while, no one said a word, and I was aware of the Maw moving around us, but my mind was cloudy and confused.
Finally I got a grasp of myself.
"I'm going to bottle up some of the rain water and then we should head out again," I said. "I'd like to get out of this place today if we can."
Rudy nodded.
We didn't get out of the city that day. Weaving in and out of the ruins slowed me down and about five miles or so later through the ruins of the city we found a building that still had some doors intact, so I made camp again and blocked up the door, leaving DogThing on guard outside. I tried to persuade him in, but he was stubborn. As the sun began to drop behind the skyline of the city, the rain came again, and the streets flooded as they had before.
Still no sign of any of the plague walkers.
Day 42
I woke up with a stinking headache, wrapped the towel that I'd been using as a pillow around my head and sat there, sweating, hoping it would go away, or someone would come and take me away. Eventually I gathered up my stuff and pulled away all of the junk blocking the doorway. DogThing was on the hood of a rusted car just across the street and was already sitting waiting for me when I finally managed to unblock the door and step out onto the street.
Adler and Rudy had been investigating some of the buildings during the night and I followed them down the road to a run-down supermarket that still had an almost intact front. The main door was rusted shut and I pulled hard on it for about five minutes before it broke free and nearly fell on me.
It was dark in there, but there was just enough light coming in through the broken windows that I was able to pick my through rows and rows of shelving and stacks of old goods. The place stank of old, dried up food and something even worse that I didn't try to identify. The floor was littered with broken glass and bits of ceiling tiles that had cracked and broken, bottles were strewn across the floor. Everywhere I stepped there was something to avoid.
At the back of the shop was what they had brought me there for. Most of the tins of food on the shelves were cracked and useless, but on one of the top shelves was a whole row of canned soup, untouched and potentially still edible.
I looked up and down all of the aisles and finally found what I was looking for next. Near the front of the shop, hidden behind a collapsed shelf was a stack of small, wheeled shopping bags. They were the kind that came with a handle to pull them along with. I took the least damaged, and threw my old rucksack into the bottom, and then wheeled the thing back round to the cans, loading it with everything that looked useable.
Also found a small box of disposable cigarette lighters and a stack of musty but still clean towels.
Then I noticed the hardware section of the shop. There were knives, cutlery, cooking pans, everything, stacked up high. By the time I pushed the trolley back out onto the street the trolley was nearly full. It would slow me down even more trying to haul this thing through the ruined streets, but I wouldn't last very long otherwise.
Rudy and Adler had gone back outside during all of this and were waiting for me out on the street.
Rudy grinned as I stepped out into the sunlight.
"We thought you'd find a lot of stuff in there. We really did look all over the place, but a lot of what we found didn't look to be much use."
"We also found a few things that we are best avoiding," said Adler. He pointed up the street to a huge shop front that looked like it might have been some kind of furniture store. "In there, on the second floor are dozens of what look like zombies. They are just lying around on the floor or standing still looking into thin air. They didn't notice us, though we didn't try to go too close. We didn't want to wake them from whatever slumber they were in."
Plague walkers.
"Right," I said. "Let's get out of here then."
"How far do you think it is to the edge of the city?" he asked, as I walked away.
I was just about to answer that I had no idea, when I heard a clattering noise nearby.
I span around, looking to where the noise had come from, but there was nothing there.
DogThing sniffed the ground, but looked puzzled.
"I can't sense anyone."
Another noise right behind me, near where several cars were parked along the side of the road.
I reacted too slowly and a moment later I was standing in the middle of the street with the end of a double barrelled shotgun pointing at my chin.
"Easy now," said the stranger. "Nobody do anything rash and no one needs to get hurt."
DogThing growled and crouched down low, ready to pounce. Adler and Rudy stood perfectly still, both with shocked expressions. I coul
d hear the movement of the Maw around us as they surrounded us, but it made no difference. I was still at the mercy of whoever held the gun.
I couldn't see all of his face, only his eyes. He was wearing what looked like a long leather duster coat similar to my own and a brown Stetson hat that was worn and ripped. He wasn't carrying just one shotgun, but two, both of them double barrelled, both of them pointing straight at me.
He shifted his weight and looked slowly around.
I just stood there, perfectly still, with a handgun in each hand, but neither of them pointing in a direction that was useful. I wasn't aware that I had even drawn them.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I think I'll be the one who asks the questions for now if you don't mind. Now if I pull this away from your face are you going to be nice? One flick of this trigger and you won't have a head anymore, but that isn't what I'd really like to happen."
"Then what do you want to happen?"
Something moved on the edge of my vision. It was distant and barely noticeable, but I had to fight back the urge to turn away from the man that now held me at gunpoint. Something was moving towards us, and fast, but it seemed that no one else had noticed it.
"Danger is coming."
"Well, I was kind of hoping that we could sort this out amicably..." he said, but was cut off mid sentence as I shouted.
"Get down!"
I dived to the side as the kre'esh tore between us. I had only just in time recognised what was approaching. It was so fast that I almost hadn't reacted quickly enough, but I dived one way and the stranger leapt back towards the nearest car. The kre'esh barrelled across the road and collided with some of the Maw, sending them all, including the kre'esh, tumbling to the ground.
Then everything went crazy.
The air shifted around me and I rolled sideways, coming back up just as another kre'esh bolted through the space that I had just occupied. I wasn't fast enough with my gun, but the stranger was, and as the creature raced towards him, he lowered a shotgun and blasted it from barely three feet away. The creature exploded into a mass of flying body parts that splattered the ground and the car next to me. I looked directly across at the stranger, who was now leaning, wide-eyed against one of the car wrecks.
