by Jacob Rayne
67
Cursing, Will realised that the dead bitch had somehow managed to escape.
‘Maybe she didn’t come here,’ Frank said.
‘How do you explain that then?’ Will spat, pointing his stubby fingers at the body on the landing.
Frank shrugged.
‘Ah shite,’ Will shouted, thumping the butt of the shotgun into the wall.
‘What?’
‘We’ve left that little faggot on his own. He’ll be miles away by now, probably on the blower to the pigs again. Fucking hell.’
Frank parted the blinds that looked out onto the front street. ‘Nope. The fucker’s on his way back to the car. Dunno where he’s been but he looks as white as the dead whore.’
‘Cocksucker looks scared shitless. Let’s go see what the score is.’ Will shouldered the shotgun and marched downstairs.
Brian groaned when he saw Will and Frank on their way towards him. He realised he’d blown his opportunity to escape.
His mind was reeling from what he’d just observed in the graveyard.
He wanted to keep it a secret from Will, as he knew how unbelievable it sounded. Still, their company was better than being on his own.
I wouldn’t last very long on my own with her, he thought.
Neither would they, his mind countered. The other big lads didn’t.
‘What’ve you been up to, knobhead?’ Will growled.
‘Nothing,’ Brian said.
Will smacked him upside the head. ‘Don’t lie to me, you little prick.’
‘Really, I saw nothing.’
Will stared Brian in the eye and cracked his knuckles.
‘All right, I saw the girl.’
‘Now we’re getting somewhere. Where did she go?’
Brian gulped.
‘Where did she go?’
‘I’ll show you,’ Brian said leading them towards the graveyard.
When they got there, Brian was strangely relieved to see the gleaming pool of blood, all black and slick like freshly spilled oil, a sliver of the moon winking at him from its surface. If nothing else it proved to him he wasn’t losing his mind.
‘Fuck happened here?’ Will spat, lowering the shotgun.
‘The dead girl came in here. She attacked two men. Killed one of them. Then she ran that way.’ His trembling finger pointed left down the main street.
‘Come on then, let’s go find her. That much blood about she’s gotta have left a trail,’ Will said.
‘You’re right, Will,’ Frank grinned.
Brian gulped.
‘Come on, ya big jessie,’ Will said, shoving the shotgun into Brian’s back. ‘’Fore this place is crawling with pigs.’
68
The main street was covered in huge blood spatters, headed in the direction Brian had indicated.
‘We’re on the right path, lads,’ Will said, a grin on his face.
The blood spatters continued down the main street for roughly three hundred yards before turning off behind the butcher’s.
‘Somewhere round ’ere,’ Will said, hearing wet chewing sounds from the shadows in front of him. ‘Get your weapons ready.’
As they stepped round the corner the first thing that struck them was how much blood there was.
The man’s torn carcass was shredded from groin to sternum, with seemingly every organ and artery’s scarlet payload spreading across the tarmac or spattered across the face and torso of the pale girl who shovelled pieces of flesh into her gnashing jaws with an enthusiasm rarely seen.
The second thing was how different she looked. She hardly looked human now, as though the act of killing and eating like an animal had stolen her humanity.
As her eyes flicked onto them they noticed that they were white, pupil-less orbs.
Still, they felt her gaze crawling over their skin.
She hissed, sending glistening clouds of gore spraying out from her lips.
Her stance was threatening in the extreme, every muscle seemingly clenched in preparation to hurl herself at the three men who had the audacity to interrupt her meal.
‘Nice tits, sweetheart,’ Will said. ‘But I’m still gonna have to blow you into next week.’
His finger tensed on the trigger.
The girl snarled and leapt at him.
The shotgun discharged, startling all three of the men. It hit the girl at close range, knocking her back like a huge invisible fist, and taking off most of the left side of her abdomen in a cloud of flying blood and bone shards.
Will roared and punched the air in victory.
But his eyes widened when the girl was still standing, still running towards him.
He lined up another shot, but her palm hit the gun and the blast went uselessly up into the sky.
Her weight hit him, knocking him off his feet. She hissed and roared above him, thick strands of blood dripping from her jaws to spatter his face. He cried out in dismay and lashed out.
Frank moved in too, catching her a good one in the ribs with his steelies. He felt them crack, felt the cold flesh give a little.
She turned, hissing, and darted towards him.
‘Fuck this,’ he shouted and fled the nightmare scene.
While Will frantically tried to shove shells into the gun, the girl set off in the opposite direction to Frank.
‘The fuck you waiting for?’ Will asked Brian. ‘Get after her.’
69
Carla felt like a failure as she ran from the gunmen.
She’d feasted, slaked her thirst, for now, although she had a feeling that this hunger was going to be insatiable.
Instinct told her she’d come to regret not finishing off the men, but they’d been too well armed. Her body was awash with agony.
She ran, knowing she was being hunted, knowing the men with guns would finish her while she was weak. She’d fight to the death but was fully aware of how vulnerable she was.
It would be a struggle to survive, especially if the men with guns had the sense to tell the other people in the town about her.
‘I think she went in here,’ Will said.
‘I don’t think it’s our night, Will,’ Frank had said, ashen-faced, but Will had used his selling-rice-to-the-Chinese smooth talking to make him change his mind.
Will pointed out a derelict church which looked a likely hiding place.
‘Go on, Brian, get yerself in there,’ he said, gesturing with the shotgun.
‘Fuck off.’
Suddenly Brian’s lips were being mashed into his teeth, his legs buckling, his arse hitting the floor with a force that sent shockwaves down his legs.
When he regained his senses he realised that Frank had slugged him one.
‘Watch your fucking lip,’ Frank scowled.
‘You beat me to it. Little prick needs to learn some manners,’ Will smiled. ‘Now get your skinny arse in there and scare her out. Take Frank’s knife.’
Brian took a deep breath and snatched Frank’s knife out of his hand.
For a thrilling second he contemplated ramming it up to the hilt in Will’s gut, but he knew he’d never take both him and Frank.
Instead he gulped and moved over towards the doorway, his knees knocking together hard enough to give him a stagger.
The door to the church almost fell off its hinges when Brian pushed it.
Not even a chance of sneaking up on her now, he thought.
He saw a shape in the corner, hunched double and shivering as if it was in pain, and knew instinctively that this was the girl.
He approached cautiously, his eyes glued to her convulsing form.
When he was far enough in from the doorway that he figured Will wouldn’t hear, he whispered, ‘I hate those guys. They made me come in here. I don’t want to hurt you but I will defend myself if I have to.’
The girl said nothing, just continued to shiver and moan.
‘Listen, they’ve got guns. I think you could really get hurt here. I know you’re fast but…’
> A chill ran through him as the girl looked up. Her pale, inhuman eyes and her vicious fangs drew his gaze.
She could have me torn to shreds within minutes, he thought with a gulp.
‘I’m just going to leave you to it.’
‘Help me,’ the girl whispered. It was the first time he’d heard her speak and it caught him off guard as he didn’t think she was capable.
‘I’ll help you kill them,’ Brian said, his voice suddenly much more forceful than he’d have thought. ‘Just don’t hurt me.’
The girl shook her head, her eyes glued to his.
She stood, touched her hand to his face and caressed his cheek.
Her touch was cold, even colder than he’d been expecting, especially with the smear of blood she left on his cheek.
‘I won’t hurt you.’ With the final syllable, her tongue flicked out of her lips and over the blood on his face.
‘I hate those guys,’ Brian said.
‘What’s going on in there? You found the bitch yet?’ Will bellowed.
‘No, still looking,’ Brian shouted, before telling the girl to hide.
She nodded and shuffled off into the darkness by the doorway.
Will’s shotgun poked round the doorframe. ‘You’re fucking useless, lad,’ he said, then coughed and spat on the floor. ‘God it rams in here.’
I’ll be glad to watch you die, Brian thought.
Frank poked his head round the door, looking gormless. You too, Brian thought. He glanced into the gloom and thought he felt the girl’s eyes on him.
Will started furiously kicking things around, trying to uncover her in the most unlikely of places.
‘I don’t think she’s in here,’ Brian said, leading them towards the far door. ‘But I did hear something coming from over there.’ He pointed in the opposite direction to where the girl was hiding.
When he was sure Will was distracted enough by his search, Brian readied the knife in his hand.
‘I don’t see shit,’ Will said.
‘Over there,’ Brian said, ‘near that old wardrobe.’
He readied the knife, but found the thought of using it unspeakable, even on someone as appalling as Will.
In the end it didn’t matter; the girl darted in from behind them and tore Will’s windpipe loose with one deft pluck of her clawed hand.
He fell gurgling, choking on the blood that coursed down his throat.
Frank moved towards the girl.
Now that conscious thought had been taken out of the equation, Brian found he could attack.
Acting purely on instinct, he hurled himself at Frank, knocking his strike wide and sending them both crashing to the floor.
Frank had at least three stone on Brian – most of it muscle – and he had already gained the top position and begun to rain punches down.
The first blow further mangled Brian’s lips, sending more blood cascading into his mouth.
The second smashed his two front teeth, the gleaming shards sticking in Frank’s knuckles.
There was no third punch as the girl had landed on Frank’s back now and was digging her fangs into his throat, already feasting on the blood that raced from the lacerated arteries.
Frank didn’t scream, just let out a low moan as his throat was rended and his life force greedily guzzled by the girl on his back.
His eyes were already growing glassy, his mouth hanging open.
Blood poured down his neck and plastered his shirt to his chest.
Brian was too stunned to do anything, just watched the girl continue her feast of flesh and blood.
70
When she had reduced Frank to a steaming bag of bones, the girl turned to Brian.
Her blood-covered breasts drew his stare once more.
Though he knew full well what she was capable of, he longed to touch them, to put the swollen nipples in his mouth and suck for all he was worth.
He longed to lick every speck of blood off her body.
‘Then why don’t you?’ she said with a smile.
He started, unable to figure out how she could have read his mind.
‘It’s a gift we have,’ she said, a playful smile on her lips. ‘It’s how I knew you weren’t going to double-cross me, that you really wanted to attack your colleagues. And I can tell that you want to be one of us.’
‘I’m not certain, it’s just a thought I had.’
She nodded wisely, moved closer to him. ‘I need to heal, but when I’m fixed up I’ll give you everything you’ve ever wanted.’ Her hands cupped her breasts, smearing blood across her bare flesh.
He gulped. ‘I can help you, if you want. I can get you some more victims, so you heal quicker.’
She laughed at his eagerness. ‘Only if you want to. You’ve done enough as it is.’
‘I’ll do it.’
Brian wandered the streets, looking over his shoulder occasionally to ensure he kept track of where the girl was hiding and also to avoid anyone coming to investigate the gunshots.
The last thing he wanted was to lose her after everything they’d been through together.
He saw a man leaning against the wall, noisily splashing his boots with foul-smelling piss.
The man was whistling to himself, enthusiastic but absolutely tuneless. He broke the whistling to mutter, ‘Sad but True-aa,’ then began laughing to himself.
Out of his fucking skull, Brian thought.
While the man continued to piss like a racehorse, Brian pulled Will’s knife from under his coat.
The blade seemed to wink at him as it caught the moonlight.
It’s time, he thought.
He looked round himself, seeing no one.
The drunk was shaking out the drops.
Careful, more than three shakes is a wank, Brian thought with a grin.
The grin faded at the thought of killing the drunk.
It wasn’t the idea of being responsible for someone’s death, as he was certain that would be more than worth the discomfort.
It was the thought of fucking it up and letting his beautiful charge starve.
She may even get angry and tear him into bloody strips like she had his ill-fated colleagues.
He shuddered at the thought.
Vowed to do this to the very best of his ability.
As the drunk’s zip came up, Brian came out of the bushes, hands in pockets, whistling a merry tune.
71
‘Evenin’,’ Brian said, adopting a drunken swagger he hoped looked realistic.
‘Evening,’ the drunk said back.
‘Just wanna piss,’ Brian said. ‘Got fined eighty fucking quid last week for pissing out the back of the town hall. Nearly spent alla my beer money.’ He let out a laugh that he hoped made him sound blasted.
‘Aye. Know that feeling. Had that one a few times myself. Bastards.’ He let out a chuckle too.
Just get it over with, Brian thought, before he invites you round for a pint.
‘Say, you got a smoke on ya?’ Brian said. ‘Her indoors is trying to get me to quit, so I have to sneak them where I can.’
‘Aye,’ the man said, reaching in his pocket and pulling out a battered pack of John Player Specials. His grubby hand, still stained with chilli sauce and kebab grease, Brian noted, disappeared into his pocket in search of a lighter.
Now or never, Brian thought. Surprising himself with his piece of mind, he pulled the knife and lunged forwards, jabbing it into the drunk’s stomach at close range.
The man’s eyes went like saucers and he had a truly disbelieving expression on his face. A thin stream of blood ran down from his lips as they worked soundlessly.
This is easier than I’d thought, Brian dared to think.
No sooner had he thought it than the drunk was swinging a hard right at him, running past him and screaming for help at the top of his lungs.
Cursing, Brian ran after him.
Brian soon realised that he wasn’t going to catch the drunk due to his adrenaline-fuelled
burst of speed.
He disappeared into the distance, still bellowing his distress to anyone in earshot.
Brian knew he could follow; it would just be a case of going after the trail of blood, but sirens had already began to blare all around him.
Seemingly every street was bathed in flashing blue lights. He’d certainly made things hard for himself.
His heart braying against his ribs, he concealed himself in the bushes at the side of the nearest house.
He couldn’t believe the way this night was turning out.
A cop rushed past Brian, headed in the direction of his ill-advised attempt at killing the drunk.
Feeling like an utter failure, he briefly contemplated running home and forgetting all about the beautiful yet terrifying woman who waited for him.
He shook his head to clear it of this folly, knowing he would never forgive himself if he left her to die. And he was sure she’d come looking for him if he did leave her.
Also, there was a part of him that longed to see her again, to feast his eyes on her naked form once more.
It was more this than anything else that made him creep from the bushes, nervously eyeing the cop who was standing at the mouth of the alley talking into his walkie talkie.
His breath coming in fast ragged bursts, he backed away.
Only when the cop was out of his eye line did he turn and walk away.
The streets between him and the place he’d left the girl were awash with blue lights. He saw roughly half a dozen cops on the streets ahead of him.
He cursed and snuck back into the shadows.
Brian tried to figure out how he could get back to the girl, but he was stuck.
The way he saw it, he had three options; wait it out until the cops went, try and remain inconspicuous and just walk back in plain sight, or sneak back.
The third option seemed the most likely to work – not to mention the quickest – so he scanned around him and moved into the alleys to his left.
There was a cop at the mouth of this alley too. Brian cursed as he was almost spotted, ducking behind a wheelie bin as the cop turned and moved closer.
He realised he was spotted when the cop’s torch beam landed upon him, temporarily blinding him.
