by Jacob Rayne
‘He’ll be headed for Taunton,’ Abbott said. ‘That’s where the other mutants were.’
‘I agree,’ Hammett said.
Jeffries frowned but didn’t say anything.
Rain began to slam into the windscreen, making visibility poor. Overhead, thunderclouds rumbled and roiled.
Jeffries steered the chopper towards Taunton.
Duggan didn’t like the look of the black, skull-faced spectre of death, but he took heart from the fact that it seemed to be injured. It was missing an arm and part of its torso and didn’t seem to be moving very well. Blood oozed down its armoured torso.
Still, he doubted it was going to be easy to kill the ominous creature.
It had already decapitated one cop who was midway through applying a Taser to the base of a mutant’s skull.
The mutant staggered back to its feet, its grin suddenly all the more mocking given the turn of events.
Mark fired his gun at the skull-faced thing, but it had little effect.
Its scythe came down, the tip sticking through a female cop’s chest. She didn’t even have time to scream.
Hank took off another mutant head, using a Taser to subdue the parasite attached to the skull.
Duggan helped a young cop struggling with his first kill, pinning down the squirming mutant while the cop shocked the back of his head.
A blow took Mark’s breath away and knocked him to the floor.
Mutants swarmed towards him.
From an upstairs window a projectile sailed down.
Glass smashed.
Fire blossomed.
The mutants kept on, ignorant of the flames that engulfed them.
Duggan saw Mark fall and he rushed over to help, blasting one mutant in the face at point blank range. There was nothing left for the creature to cling to, but it disappeared into the hole at the back of its host’s skull. One of the cops got it with a Taser.
Duggan lashed out with fists and booted feet, desperate to get to his adopted son.
A couple of the mutants were hunched over Mark, their bloody fingers on his face.
Duggan clubbed one with the butt of the gun and applied the Taser to the second. Mark held the jaws at bay and held the mutant until he stopped twitching.
Hank took off the head of the other.
The creature moved towards them, still fast despite its obvious missing limbs. It cleared a bloody path through the cops, heading for Duggan and Mark.
A deafening noise arose in the sky and a dark shape flew down, crashing into Subject I’s chest just as he raised his claw to decapitate Duggan.
The helicopter knocked Subject I into a pile of rubble. The chopper spun crazily for a second, the impact sending Jeffries dizzy.
Lightning lit up the sky, casting the scenes below in a nightmarish glow.
‘Get everyone outta here,’ Abbott roared over the chopper blades.
Duggan nodded. Looking around, it was clear to see they were on the losing side now that Subject I had turned up.
‘Dieee!’ a man shouted over the din being created by the chopper.
Duggan expected it to be Hank, the mad axeman, but he still stood beside him, staring up at the chopper.
They saw a skinny man running at Subject I with what looked like a harpoon gun in his hands.
The creature was getting up as he neared. He didn’t seem to care, just kept charging towards it.
Subject I let out a shrill cry that did nothing to slow the man’s charge.
If anything, he speeded up.
He jumped towards Subject I, dodging the swinging claw by mere millimetres, and wriggled onto its back.
‘This is for all the dead cops, but especially for Billy,’ the suicidal man screamed, his long legs gripping the sides of its body.
He jammed the harpoon gun into the back of Subject I’s head and pulled the trigger.
There was a whooshing sound of air.
Then the harpoon pierced the back of Subject I’s head, sending rivers of black blood coursing down its hide.
The man on Subject I’s back had time to laugh before he was hurled to the floor and carved into steaming chunks.
Subject I let out an ungodly screech as it struggled to remove the harpoon, but his arm wasn’t long enough to reach.
The chopper circled then set off back to the shelter.
Duggan acknowledged Abbott’s gesture to follow and started telling the cops to retreat.
Thunder rumbled overhead, sounding like God stamping his feet.
Subject I moved forwards unsteadily but with renewed fury.
It was like he sensed the end was coming.
Duggan put down a mutant who charged at him and Mark.
Subject I charged at the cops, swinging his claws, making blood and bodies fly everywhere it touched.
He neared Duggan and the biker froze, unable to think of how he could destroy the creature.
Lightning tore the sky, flashing down onto the metal spike in the back of Subject I’s head.
Subject I screamed and convulsed then took to the air, his black eyes glued to the helicopter carrying his target.
Duggan grabbed Mark and Hank and dragged them away.
The cops watched in disbelief.
Lightning struck again, and again it was drawn by the metal spike.
This time the power was much greater.
The spike lit up with energy.
Subject I’s head glowed for a brief second then disintegrated in a cloud of blood and black bone that showered down on the battling masses below.
He fell from the sky, blood spraying from the hole where his face had previously been, taking out a group of police as he landed.
Subject I’s death seemed to cause confusion and sadness among the remaining mutants.
This malaise lasted a few seconds, until they realised that Duggan and his friend were massacring them where they stood.
Then they began to fight with more heart than before.
Duggan realised that they were losing and told the bewildered party to draw back. A couple of cops agreed, but most were pig-headed and refused to run away.
Duggan shrugged.
Far be it for him to tell the cops how to act, even if their actions were suicidal.
More mutants crawled from the ruins of the city.
Duggan found a car, smashed the window and pulled the door open. He, Mark, Hank and the two sensible cops got in.
Duggan hotwired it – he’d done it many a time in his gang days – and floored the gas pedal, leaving the brave but ultimately stupid cops to their fate.
Jeffries’ hands shook badly as he tried to set the chopper down.
The end was all smashed in from its encounter with Subject I.
Steam rose from beneath the hood.
Rain streaked the shattered windshield.
‘Just set the fucking thing down,’ Abbott said.
Jeffries bounced the chopper off the landing pad twice, bringing hails of colourful insults from Abbott, but then he managed to land it.
Abbott called Duggan as they made their way down into the bowels of the complex to the shelter.
‘Everything alright?’ Abbott asked.
‘Yeah. We’re beaten and battered but still breathing,’ Duggan said.
‘What’s the state of play back there?’
‘Some crazy man shot the creature with a harpoon gun. The lightning hit it and smashed the head like a piñata.’
‘Fuckin’ A.’
‘It was impressive. But there are cops still up there. They’re going to die, no question. There are just too many of those things.’
‘No shame in a tactical retreat, soldier. You get here and we’ll get everyone sorted out.’
‘Thanks. We’ll see you soon.’
Sadie and Joyce had both filmed the scenes below with ever-increasing awe.
The battle had been spectacular, but the moment when Subject I’s head had burst was like nothing they’d seen before.
&nbs
p; ‘We’re going to make a killing on this,’ Joyce said.
‘We’d best get away from here before those things are finished with the cops.’
‘Yeah.’
They packed their cameras away and fled the building, doing their best not to look at the mutants who were pulling apart the fallen cops.
At the shelter, Jeffries entered the code on the keypad and the heavy concrete wall slid back. Abbott made sure to memorise the code, in case anything happened to Jeffries.
‘Where does that tunnel lead to, then?’ Abbott said.
‘It joins this shelter with several others across the US,’ Jeffries said. ‘One tunnel runs all the way to Chicago. Another goes to New York. And the last one goes to the Mexican border.’
‘And is that where the labs are?’ Hammett asked.
Jeffries tapped the side of his nose, a sly smile on his face.
‘Spare the drama and fucking tell us,’ Abbott spat.
‘They’re not far away. It wouldn’t make sense to have the labs linked directly to the shelters, as a breakout would mean the subjects had easy access to the routes to the shelters.’
‘True,’ Abbott nodded. ‘Speaking of breakouts, when are you calling your buddies to tell ’em to bring the hammer down?’
‘I see no need to just yet. The authorities seem to have control of the situation.’
‘Control?’ Abbott spat. ‘The biker just said the cops are all dead and gone. That’s not my idea of control.’
Jeffries’ reply was cut short by Abbott’s phone ringing.
‘We’re at the cigar shop,’ Duggan said. ‘On the way down now, just so you know.’
Jeffries fiddled with the monitor on the wall and managed to get a picture of the cigar shop entrance.
The picture showed Duggan, Mark, a female cop and Hank. A second female cop was slumped over Hank’s muscular arms.
‘Let’s roll out the welcome mat,’ Abbott grinned.
Jeffries’ face dropped. ‘We can’t let them in.’
‘Why the fuck not?’ Abbott spat.
‘That girl is unconscious. You know as well as I do that once the moth creature crawls into its home at the base of the skull there is a period of inactivity, during which the host is unconscious before waking up and causing havoc.’
‘And you know as well as I do that there were none of those goddamned moths flapping round out there,’ Abbott said.
‘We didn’t see any, but it doesn’t mean they weren’t there,’ Jeffries said, so smug that Abbott wanted to smack him in the mouth.
‘We’ll take the risk,’ Hammett said, approaching the door.
‘No we won’t,’ Jeffries said, aiming a gun at Hammett.
Abbott went for his gun, but Jeffries shook his head.
‘Sit down, Sergeant. There’s no need for you to die just yet.’
‘Those people are easy prey out there,’ Hammett said, taking a step towards the button that opened the door.
‘And we’d be easy prey trapped in here with one of those things,’ Jeffries said. ‘Take one more step and I’ll shoot, Sergeant Hammett.’
‘You wouldn’t dare,’ Abbott said. ‘I’d pull your balls out through your fucking throat, you skinny piece of horseshit.’
‘I would. Don’t try me,’ Jeffries said. ‘And you can’t kill me, Captain Abbott, because you know what would happen if you did.’
‘I’m willing to call your bluff, if you don’t put that gun down right now,’ Abbott growled.
‘Come here, Sergeant Hammett. You’re making me nervous over there so close to that switch.’
There was a knock at the door. The next camera along from the one blown up in the explosion showed the group in the corridor.
‘Don’t even think about it,’ Jeffries said. ‘I will kill you if you so much as look at that switch again.’
Hammett looked at Jeffries, stared him right in the eye, then stepped towards the button.
The gunshot echoed off the walls of the shelter.
Hammett fell, clutching a spurting hole in his stomach.
Abbott dived at Jeffries, shoving the gun to one side just as it fired again.
The bullet hit a bottle of water, sending the liquid inside cascading onto the floor.
Abbott’s right hand closed into a fist and smashed Jeffries in the face. The businessman and professional liar cried out and cupped his hands to his shattered nose.
Abbott wrestled the gun out of his hand and used it to club him into unconsciousness.
Then he ran to Hammett and tried to stem the bleeding.
Sadie and Joyce encountered their first problem at the base of the tower block; someone had taken their car.
‘Shit,’ Sadie shouted. ‘This is typical.’
‘Shh,’ Joyce said, pointing at the hordes of mutants who were still feeding on the dead cops.
One of the mutants looked round and saw them, but went back to his meal.
‘That was lucky,’ Joyce said. ‘Just keep your voice down. We’ll get out of this just fine.’
They crept along the street, keeping in the shadows.
The mutants were mostly hunched together over the dead cops, roughly fifteen yards away.
Others were eating bodies that lay along the street.
They’d have to pass at least five of the feasting freaks before they reached the cars at the other end of the street.
Sadie pulled Joyce into a shop doorway as one of the mutants shambled past, not three feet away.
They could smell blood and death on him.
He stopped for a second at the edge of the doorway, looking lost.
Then he turned and his black eyes stared right at them.
Abbott told Hammett to keep the pressure on the wound while he searched for something to stem the bleeding. Blood spurted from between Hammett’s fingers.
‘There’s nothing you can do, Captain,’ Hammett said, his voice weak and hoarse.
‘You’ll be fine, soldier.’
After a second’s thought, Abbott pushed the button to let the people into the shelter.
‘Any of you doctors or nurses by any chance?’ he asked.
The replies were all in the negative. The conscious female cop took a look but admitted that she didn’t have a clue what she was doing.
‘What the hell do we do?’ Abbott said, frantic.
‘Ain’t nothing you can do, Captain,’ came Hammett’s weak reply.
Abbott pressed a rolled up bandage to the wound, but this just smeared the blood over his hands as well as Hammett’s.
‘I think he’s right,’ Duggan said. ‘Looks in a bad way.’
Abbott tried and failed to stem the bleeding.
Hammett’s head fell forward, his eyes staring blankly at the floor.
Abbott wiped the blood on the seat of his pants and closed Hammett’s eyes.
‘Goddamn it,’ he said, his voice cracking. ‘Do you people mind giving me a couple of minutes alone with that sack of shit over there? Got unfinished business.’
‘Fair enough,’ Duggan said, leading his group outside.
Abbott stamped on Jeffries’ belly, making him wheeze back into consciousness.
‘He’s dead, you prick. You’ve killed him.’
Jeffries’ mouth moved but gibberish came out.
Abbott slammed a fist into Jeffries’ gut.
‘So what you’re going to do is call your friends and tell them to destroy your little genetics experiment.’
‘No,’ Jeffries wheezed. ‘Too much time… and money.’
‘The money doesn’t matter a brass pisspot compared to the lives that have already been lost.’
‘Please, this is my life’s work.’
The third punch from Abbott broke more of Jeffries’ ribs.
‘I can punch all day, got a real taste for it. You gonna make this call while you still got ribs that aren’t broken?’
Jeffries knew he had no choice. His chest already felt like it had been filled with broken
glass. He nodded.
Abbott watched him make the call, his magnum pointed at his head.
Sadie swung a haymaker at the mutant’s face. It connected hard, sending shockwaves up to her elbow.
The mutant stopped for a second, a look of puzzlement on his face.
Sadie dragged Joyce out of her doorway and they ran down the street.
The mutants ran after them, no longer fascinated by their cold, dead meals now that something warm and fresh was on the menu.
Sadie knelt and scooped up an electric cattle prod from next to a fallen policeman.
‘Got a bit of a chance with this,’ she said.
Joyce nodded.
As they ran towards the cars it became obvious to Sadie that they weren’t going to reach the row of vehicles before the nearest mutants caught up to them.
‘I think we’re going to have to stop and fight,’ Sadie said.
Joyce glanced over her shoulder and saw that two of the mutants were almost upon them.
‘I’ll shoot ’em, you shock ’em,’ Joyce said.
Sadie nodded.
The gun went off, blowing a big chunk out of the nearest mutant’s head.
Sadie ran in and jabbed the shock stick through the bloody hole in his skull, aiming for the shimmering section of the creature she could see.
As the stick made contact, the creature let out a cry. The man did too.
Creature and man shook.
Sadie pushed harder, jamming the cattle prod right in.
The man fell, the creature now grey and curled up in a ball.
Joyce took off the top of a mutant’s head, then Sadie rushed in, wielding the stick.
‘Sorry,’ Joyce said.
‘What for?’
‘This,’ Joyce said.
While Sadie tried and failed to figure out what her fellow journalist was talking about, there was another gunshot and Sadie registered a blinding pain in her leg.
She fell to the floor, screaming and clutching her injured limb.
‘It’s been a blast, Sadie,’ Joyce said. ‘But there’s no way the two of us would have reached the car. You take heart from the fact that my escape will help to spread the word about these things.’
She ran, leaving Sadie crippled and bleeding in the road.
