Collin nodded. He knew all too well what kind of movies she meant, but this was different. It actually felt real.“I’m not so sure,”he said and they continued watching as the reporter backed up towards his van still trying to film the hospital behind him engulfed within the dirty snow.
The reporter was panting hard.“I think I’m ok,”he managed.“If they try and come after me again I’m nearly at the van, I’ll be driving in a few seconds.”
There was a darkening in the middle of the scene as they watched. An area in the centre was turning black, and it was growing outwards getting bigger!
“What?” panted the reporter.“There’s some....Oh shit!....I think it’s....!”
He panned round to check on the van, it wasn’t far away. He looked back, the ash still grew darker until suddenly a rough outline appeared in the ashy snow, a form so dark it was like a line between day and night and the charred looking figures emerged through the ash. The rough line became heads and shoulders jostling for position moving quickly.
“Whoa!”said Collin realising at the same time as the reporter what was happening.
Leann glanced down but was still too scared to watch constantly. The reporter turned and ran again turning the screen in to a manic blur again. In seconds they were getting in to the van.
“They fucking saw me!”shouted the reporter resting the camera on top of the dashboard, pointing it out through the windscreen.
There was a mass of darkened figures making their way towards him, and they were gaining!
The camera was flung on to the passenger seat facing the inside of the passenger door and the reporter rammed the gear stick in to reverse and took off revving the engine. He called out to the camera’s microphone.“I’m backing up. I’m practically blind I can’t see a fucking thing out of the mirrors and there are no back windows in this van. I don’t know how far I’ll get, there’s nowhere to turn around. Lucks all I’ve got.”
The camera bounced up and down on the seat and slid around.
“I just need to get this video up loaded and then I’ll make a run for it through the woods and then God help me!”
Collin and Leann could hear the van’s engine revving up sporadically as the wheels kept losing traction in the snow and span up.
“He must make it,”said Leann,“we are watching the video after all. It’s definitely a hoax.”
Collin raised an eyebrow not so sure.“Maybe!”he said.
“SHIT!” shrieked the reporter. The camera still faced the passenger door. Collin and Leann heard a door open, the sound of the engine got louder with the door open and so did the weird gurgles.
The reporter was shouting and swearing, he sounded far away. Suddenly a door slammed shut again.“I’m stuck fast, fuck it, not a chance I’ll get out.Not a fucking chance!Shit, shit,FUCKINGshit!”He was practically shrieking, he grabbed the camera and looked in to it revealing his young smooth face.
“I’m stuck, properly stuck. I won’t be legging it through the woods. I won’t have time, they’re too close!”
He placed the camera on to the dashboard facing out the windscreen, and started to rummage in the back of the van while he carried on shouting.“I’m trying to find one of our mobile up loaders that still work so I can post this video, nearly everything dies as soon as it comes near the ash, but we had spares in the back here hidden away. Thank God we did!”
Collin and Leann heard thumps and crashes as he rummaged around some more.
“You can’t see it but I taped the camera up to hell with duct tape when all our others started dying after we got here. I can’t believe it’s held up for so long, thank God it has, the other spare didn’t last more than fifteen minutes.”
There was more rummaging as the camera kept watch, watching as the scene outside darkened!THUMP! SCREECH! THUMP!
Leann flinched at the ear piercing noises.
“SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! FUCKING SHIT!”shrieked the reporter,“THEY’RE HERE ALREADY!”
The van started to be pelted with thumps and thuds under a hail of black fists. The van started to rock side to side and as Collin and Leann watched the dark clump of heads and shoulders emerge, then separate in to figures, individual figures, lots of them. The van was surrounded!
“It’s horrible,”said Leann.
“Yea,”said Collin,“it’s kinda spooky eh?”
Leann nodded.“Not bad for a hoax!”she said.“It’s a good idea I suppose. You know, playing to the weird conditions and that. It probably isn’t even in Norway!”
“What news channel is it anyway?”asked Collin.
“It’s called‘Everything TheREALNews Won’t Tell You!”said Leann.
They could still hear rummaging in the background. Something blinked on the screen making them both jump then there was a loud thwack as something hard hit the van!
“Oh shit! Holy shit!”came the reporter’s voice.
There was another loud thwack, and another. The van rocked side to side. Something moved across the bonnet in front of the camera.“Whoa!”said Leann flinching again.
One of the figures was standing on the bonnet. The bonnet pinged and popped under the person’s weight....then the figure slammed a foot down hard against the windscreen!
“Oh shit, oh shit, damn it!”said the reporter as the loud thwacks continued from all sides.
The black foot slammed down again on the windscreen and this time cracks appeared racing away from the heel of the foot. The camera jerked and slid across the dashboard and fell down in to the passenger’s footwell and faced the reporter. He was sitting awkwardly between the two front seats facing in to the back, behind him the foot continued to hammer down, the sound of cracking glass was getting louder.“YES!I’ve got a connection with the camera,”yelped the reporter.“Now I’ve just gotta try and upload the video. God I hope this works fast!”
The windscreen made a nasty splitting sound behind him, above and out of view from the camera.“C’mon! C’mon! Hurry up you fucking stupid thing, C’mon! C’mon!C’MON!”
He reached out for the camera and grabbed it. He held it in his hands next to whatever device it was that still worked that would transfer the video to the internet. As he held it, it faced him looking passed him at the windscreen while he tried to upload the video. There were hands pressing up against every last piece of glass in the front of the van, the driver’s window, the passenger window and the edges of the rapidly disintegrating windscreen were all blocked by discoloured searching hands grabbing and banging against the windows as he worked. There was another almighty thwack followed by the unmistakable cracking and this time splintering breaking glass!
The passenger window exploded inwards then and a bloodied black forearm smashed through. Collin jumped in his seat.
The reporter didn’t! He sat perfectly still, diligently holding the camera and whatever unit he had to send the video on line close together in a vain attempt to speed up the uploading of the video. Behind him the passenger window was filled with greyish black mottled arms reaching for his back like eager tentacles and the windscreen started to give way, it started sagging badly!
Leann and Collin could only see the lower part of the reporter’s face, they saw a single tear run down his cheek as a badly cut, half- skinned black and grey mottled hand clasped around his left shoulder! He squeezed his eyes shut as the camera tilted back a little showing his face.
“God I hope it’s loaded,”he said as he was tugged by that strange hand, another hand burst through the driver’s window and clasped around his right shoulder. He hunched forwards with nowhere else to go as the windscreen collapsed in to the cab falling in like a stiff and prickly blanket and a figure fell in behind it and climbed across the dashboard!
He dropped the camera, the view tumbled and he let out a whimper as those constant gurgles glugged from the iPad speakers!
Then the tape ended.
“Wow,”said Leann,“that was nasty, way too intense for me. I don’t do horror films.”
/> Collin was still transfixed. He was lost in his own thoughts for a moment, slowly he looked up.
“Uh, yea. It was a bit full on eh. Pretty realistic eh?”
Leann frowned at him.
“Uh, I mean for a cheap homemade film. An indie movie you know,”he said worried that she didn’t approve of his appreciation for the film.
“Yea, I suppose so,”she said.“I honestly thought it was something serious, sorry. The caption did say that it was the unedited version that’s on the BBC news website. I’ll scroll down and see if I can find some real footage about what’s really happening. At least you enjoyed the mini movie.”
“Uh, yea,”said Collin not sure if it was the right thing to say.
Leann leaned back across the table then shimmied back down a few spaces to where she’d been before Collin woke up. Realising his time with Leann was up he shrunk back in to his seat trying to think of something to say to keep the conversation going but he couldn’t think of anything until he blurted out far too loudly,“Let me know if you find anything interesting.”
Leann looked up almost a little startled by his outburst.“Yea,”she said.“Interesting!”
She broke eye contact with him and looked back down at her iPad as she continued to scroll down the footage she’d downloaded.
Collin sat back in his chair feeling stupid for the sudden outburst wishing he’d just kept quiet.
He thought about the video trying to push his embarrassment away by keeping his mind occupied. He couldn’t believe that she’d wanted to show him in the first place, he was chuffed, but then he remembered that hewasthe only other person in the canteen other than the injured truck driver sleeping in the corner. He let his mind drift back to the film, he’d quite liked it, it was short and sweet and left just the right amount for the imagination to come up with itself showing just enough to get you interested, by using shadowy figures, not like the new movies, he thought, the ones that were all up front from the start leaving nothing to the imagination after the first five minutes.
He looked outside but couldn’t! All he saw was a thick soup of dark almost black ash and snow.
A blizzard of ash,he thought.A black blizzard!
The canteen door opened and Andy popped his head through and scanned the room to see who was inside. Leann looked up and said,“Hi’ya.”
“Hey Leann,”said Andy turning to look at Collin.
“Collin?”he asked,“any chance you could come and help me and Thom when you’re finished your lunch? Maggie knows I need you so don’t worry about her.”
Collin stood up straight away.“Yea,”he said as he started to gather up his things and pack them away as fast as he could.“I’m just coming.”
“AH’ SHIT! NO WAY!” Leann cried.
Collin and Andy looked at her!
“What’s wrong?”asked Andy.
“My iPad just died.”
“Seriously!” he said.“You’re lucky it’s lasted this long. Nothing else is working! Everything electrical has died and I meaneverything.”
“Yea, I know,”said Leann with a sigh as she folded over the cover.
“Any news about what’s going on?”said Andy.
“Nah. Was just looking with Collin but we ended up watching some sick hoax!”
“Oh, ok. Never mind. See ya later,”he said and backed up through the door giving Collin a nod as he did. Candles flickered in their improvised drinking glass lanterns as the door swung closed behind him. Collin followed as quickly as he could leaving Leann with her dead iPad and went to help the guys in the store, where he toiled until Mad Maggie eventually decided that they’d might as well shut up shop.
Entire aisles in the supermarket had been cleaned out, there wasn’t a thing left down the fresh produce aisle and no tins of any kind down the tinned goods aisle. The bottled water and fizzy drinks isle had been wiped clean and bizarrely‘to Andy any way’so had the sweets and biscuit aisle.
The entire supermarket was practically empty, only the electrical appliances remained pretty much untouched.No surprise there, he thought.
Stacks of empty pallets and plastic bins filled with flattened cardboard boxes lined the walls waiting to be tidied away in to the store. Collin had never seen the shop floor so barren, and by candlelight it looked almost haunted. Mad Maggie got them to move all the electrical goods and all non food items that were left back in to the stores and out of sight in an attempt to put off any looters that might fancy their chances.
Maggie said,“If they can’t see it, then they can’t want it.”
Having the petrol station turned over and poor Lara chased out was bad enough she said, without having the supermarket ransacked as well.
When Maggie finally gave the word for them to go home Collin made his way through the supermarket heading for the changing rooms utterly exhausted.
Place looks derelict,he thought.
He heard shouting and looked up and saw Mad Maggie and Jimmy trying to explain to people that the supermarket was closed and thatNothe phones didn’t work!
It looked like they were having a hard time he thought as he pushed through the swing door in to the staff area hearing one of the people shout out,“Let us in you stupid bitch!”
In the changing rooms Collin leaned against his locker and slid down until he sat on the floor. He sat there exhausted, and closed his eyes for a second. The thought of having to walk home, a long way in these conditions, didn’t fill him with joy, so he took the time to relax a little. The soft waving glow from the candle on top of the lockers made him want to just curl up where he was and go to sleep. It was strange sitting in the changing room with only soft flickering candle light to see by.
A few minutes passed, he didn’t know how many and he said to himself,“Right! This won’t do, I won’t get home sitting here, better get going.”
He threw his bright coloured lookalike ski jacket on and wrapped his scarf knitted only days ago by his Gran around his neck, he pulled two fresh dust masks over his head resting them under his chin ready for heading outside, he checked he had everything, locked his locker, pocketed the key and picked up his duffel bag ready to go.
Standing up he arched backwards and felt a satisfying crack in his back, he let out a long sigh. He’d needed that all day, then he left. As he pushed open the changing room door ready to leave he heard what almost sounded like a shelf unit being dragged across the floor!
Oh great, he thought as the noise tailed off. He thought it sounded like Maggie and Jimmy were dragging one of the shelving units across the floor. Attempting to mock up some kind of barricade or something.
I’m not getting caught up in anything else. I’ve been here long enough already, he thought and he walked down the staff corridor towards the swing door and out on to the supermarket floor and instantly he felt uneasy!
He wasn’t sure if it was just seeing the shop floor the way it was or something else.
But there is nothing else,he thought. And that was it, that’s what was wrong. The front doors were closed and Maggie and Jimmy were nowhere to be seen.
“Too busy moving shelves, that’s where they’ll be,”he whispered to himself but wondered why he couldn’t hear anything. The shop floor was silent. It was so quiet Collin thought he could even hear the candles crackle as they flicked their soft uneven glow around the place.
Shaking off his childish fear of nothing he started walking briskly towards the front doors thinking that if Maggie and Jimmy were moving shelves now was the time to make a break for it before he got roped in to staying back any longer. As he passed through the haunted looking supermarket, a chill ran down his spine putting a spring in his step when suddenly that noise started again!
Collin flinched and looked up straight ahead towards the front doors where he thought the sound had come from, this sound was different though, it didn’t sound like shelf units being dragged. It sounded organic! If that was even possible!
No-one was there.
Strange,h
e thought slowing slightly as he glanced around looking for Maggie or Jimmy or anyone for that matter, but he couldn’t see anyone, not a soul. The place was empty, the place was deserted. He could feel his shoulders tensing up.
I’m being stupid, he thought and he pushed on angry at himself for getting spooked.
I’ll find out what’s going on in a second,he thought,and probably get roped in to something as usual.
The sound got slightly louder as he approached and it changed in tone, deeper almost, becoming like some kind of grumble!
What the hell are they doing? He wondered, growing more and more reluctant to find out.
Then the noise faded out and stopped leaving nothing but silence and the sound of his heartbeat. He hoped he’d be able to slip out without being noticed as he passed through the security barrier that had been wedged open with one of the little metal cages that usually stood at the end of the aisles filled with items that were on special offer.
He was close enough to see his reflection in the front doors walking back to meet him. His other self was surrounded by pure blackness that waited for the real him!
As he watched himself the blackness on the other side of the doors seemed to move!
His heart missed a beat!
God, it’s only the ash and snow wafting around,he thought.C’mon get a grip, I’ve gotta walk three miles out in that,he told himself relishing the task even less. He knew that his grandparents would be worrying about him, and in that instant he hoped that neither of them had attempted to come for him with him working so late, both of them were far too frail to be out walking in these conditions he thought but he knew it wouldn’t stop them. He adjusted his scarf tugging it tight and pulled his dust masks up over his mouth and nose and pinched the little alloy strip to hold them in place tight against the bridge of his nose....then he stopped dead in his tracks!
One of his boots squealed scuffing the floor as he stopped abruptly. His heart froze and he couldn’t breathe! He couldn’t move! To his left down between the children’s ride on Noddy car and the photo booth in the darkness a pale white face peered up at him shaking frantically!
As the Light Dies Page 18
