Alone (Book 2): Lone

by Prunty, Mercedes

  “Name, date of birth and book please”.

  “Just give me my fucking box”, a vile tone of voice creaked through the mesh wire, she looked to see a man in his late sixties had battered his way past all the mothers and fathers with small children to make sure he was at the front to get his food.

  “Book please sir, you know I cannot hand anything out until I have stamped your book”, she said calmly giving nothing away of how she was really feeling, she hated people like him that didn’t care if a child went hungry, she could see by his skin that he had once abused his body, his arms were littered with dots where he had once injected, a druggie, a junkie and a scum bag. She also knew why he wasn’t willing to give her his book as the greedy son of a gun had already had his rations this week and probably sold them for drugs and was now hungry so thought he would try his luck.

  “Just give me my fucking box you black bitch!” the venom in his voice was enough to make her want to jump through the wire mesh and rip his face off but she kept her cool.

  “Sir I need to see your book or no ration box for you!” she said almost sing song and taunting him.

  Finally he threw his book through the mesh, Monique picked it up and looked to see he had in fact already had his rations given to him by the other ration station round the corner yesterday, “Sir I’m afraid your book has already been stamped and you cannot collect anymore rations this week”.

  “You’re lying I just saw you stamp it, give me my rations you thieving black scum bag!”

  Shaking her head she reached for the button under her station which lit up a light calling for security, it was only a small battery powered light but they spotted her signal for help and seconds later a guard appeared taking the man’s book and sighing, “Come on out!” the guard was strong and swiftly took him away, the space was soon taken up by a young woman who was holding a baby in a fabric sling over her chest.

  “Name, date of birth and book please”.

  The woman handed over her book and said, “Michelle, sixth of the fourth ninety one…Hey look Miss sorry to ask but my baby has just been born and the doctor hasn’t stated I need more milk on my ration card yet to feed her, any chance you could slip another one in for me?”

  Monique looked over the woman’s card and indeed found that the doctor hadn’t stated about more milk, she felt torn, she knew the rules but she couldn’t let a new born baby go hungry, it could get poorly and … She slipped the milk out from her own ration box, she knew her mum would be upset they didn’t have any as she loved milky coffee but the guilt Monique would feel about the baby would be more than the guilt over black coffee. Placing the milk in slyly making sure no one saw she whispered to the woman and she pushed the box through, “Don’t tell anyone what I just done as we could both be in big trouble alright?”

  The woman nodded, she didn’t need to be told twice, “Thank you so much, god bless you”, and with that she turned on her heels clutching her box of treats and her new born baby. Monique’s heart went out to the woman, what must it be like to bring a baby into a world where there was hardly any food and pretty much no fuels to warm the homes to keep little ones warm? But before the woman could make it out through the door another almighty clap of thunder boomed in the skies outside sending vibrations through the old church, although it was different, too mechanical to be thunder, BOMBS! It was the planes with bombs. Everyone froze and waited to hear where the first bomb would drop but nothing, no noise, no bombs, instead a heavy flow of rain down poured from the heavens, maybe it had been thunder after all? Then the screams erupted outside, piercing the souls of all those inside the church, what the hell was happening?

  Everyone stood where they were watching as the guards raced towards the door to see what was going on, the people’s screams were of pain and fear, something was terrorising them but they had no idea what, the church windows were all stained glass and blocked up with wire mesh to stop people breaking in at closing time no one could see in or out. Then the rush of new bodies appeared at the door throwing the guards back with such force they had no way to stop them coming in, Monique could see people going flying, bodies being crushed and trampled on, the guards got up and tried desperately to stop the crush of people until the guards too started screaming out in pain, their blood began to pour over the old wooden floor sending everyone into a scared frenzy of panic. Blood burst from peoples necks as the crazed people screaming from the outside tore into people’s flesh ripping out throats and chomping down on other body parts. But what made Monique tense in fear was that the people from the outside didn’t look like people anymore, they looked awful almost alien, their flesh was melted like large melting chunks of human meat turning jelly like and slopping down onto the floor making people slip over in the mess. Their stringy skin falling from their bones, exposing raw and bloodied muscles and tendons, eyes had swam down peoples cheeks glistening with the inky jelly like gunge that had popped open. Their hair had all melted making it hard to see who had once been male or female, blending in with their melting and oozing skin.

  Monique stood frozen for a moment until she heard Ricky shouting, “Through the mesh, get the children through the mesh”.

  A rush of people crushed against the mesh as people tried to squeeze through, most ignoring Ricky’s pleas of saving the children, people were in it to save their own skin, the selfish and immoral trying to force their way through the small box sized holes, only then for something or someone to tear them away from the hole, ripping their legs off, chewing and chomping until there was just bloody rawness everywhere. Then her heart missed a beat as she spotted the woman Michelle with the baby desperately trying to get out through the main entrance, what was she thinking that was where all the madness had come from she needed to come this way to safety, Monique would help her she had to. Not thinking for her own safety Monique kicked the selfish adult who was trying to climb through her post out the way and squeezed her small athletic frame through the opening and out into the chaos.

  As she stood she nearly slipped on some blood and body tissue which lined the floors, she tried steadily and carefully to rush along to where Michelle was trying to get through, “Michelle”, she called out but it was no use the woman couldn’t hear her through the roar of the crowd. As she pushed and shoved her way through all the bodies she saw a glance of the woman’s terrified face as she tripped and fell down into the puddle of blood and mush, where everyone’s feet were trampling and crushing, “No!” Monique cried trying harder to rush through, she had to get to that woman she had to get to that baby.

  Reaching where she thought she saw the woman fall she knelt down trying not to get crushed herself in all the panic, “Michelle”, she cried out again through the sea of bodies and legs, just then she caught a glimpse of the woman’s broken and lifeless body, crushed and covered in bloody footprints, the neat little sling with the baby inside still wrapped around her chest but even as she shouted at people to stop, their idiot feet kept rampaging and stamping all over the woman’s lifeless body, the small bundle in her arms under the sling not moving, broken. Pouncing forward she had to see if the baby was still alive or not, whether she could help it or not. Lifting the sling slowly she cursed, “Shit”, she felt so numb and angry, “Shit fucking bitch conned me!”

  The baby was a baby but not a real one, it was a life sized doll of a new born, all set with its ‘Made in China’ stamp to the back of its broken plastic head. Cursing the stupid woman for making her give up her own ration milk and then risking her own life to try and save her and her fake baby she stood up and realised how deep in crap street she really was. There were two of the melted people near her tearing into a screaming man who flailed his arms out trying to hit the monsters off him but within seconds he fell quiet as they tore into his chest cavity and ate away at his lungs and heart, his eyes stared at Monique, stuck on pause glaring at her. Shaking herself mentally she thought for a moment to take point of the situation, she had to get to her locker for her thi
ngs and then get home to see if her family were ok, would it have reached them or was it just a thing that happened here?

  “Monique”, she heard Ricky’s voice yell out over the throng of bloody noise as mouths chewed and screams cried, “Come this way”.

  She began to force her way through the full army of people, suddenly strong arms gripped her body half turning she saw a madman had hold of her, his eyes wild with pain and melting into his skull, his melted lips exposing teeth and bloody gums which were trying to bite down on her throat, she let out a small scream before one of the security guards appeared and smashed the crazed maniac over the head with a metal pole leaving the body to collapse to the floor in a heap of melted meat.

  “You alright?” he asked looking around for a way to Ricky.

  She nodded, “Yeah you?”

  He nodded too before saying, “Damn bastard thing bit me but I think I’ll be ok”, his skin was fever hot as he grabbed her arm and steered her through the crowd to Ricky’s post who had his arms out already bashing people out the way to get her through, climbing back through she jumped down and turned to help the guard but he suddenly wasn’t him anymore, it was as if time slowed down as the guard was gone replaced by a bloody lunatic with wild eyes and frothing at the mouth, the poor guard who had been bitten he had turned into one of them, this was all happening too quickly. Ricky was at her side with a plastic chair and metal legs, he rammed it through the gap driving the metal leg home and sending the lunatic guard into the crowd with a red, raw hole spilling with droplets of blood as he tumbled back.

  “Come on to the back door we need to leave”, Ricky said gasping for air, the shock of smashing someone in the face and killing them spread over his older features.

  Monique rushed to her locker as they neared the door and struggled with the key as her hands were shaking so hard, finally the lock gave and she snatched up her things flapping her coat around her she noticed something and paused momentarily to look at it, the shoulders of the jacket had spotted burn or melt marks on them, not a lot but enough to burn through fully to the other side, what had scratched or burnt her coat? It wasn’t like that when she left home earlier she would have noticed…’the rain, oh my god the rain'. Her brain now screamed at her at what was happening, the realisation was sinking in the rain was dangerous like acid or something, it could melt leather and people. Shit the rain.

  “Ricky don’t open the door, don’t go outside the rain…” She cried out but it was too late Ricky and the few survivors he had helped walked straight out into the open air of the courtyard along with the dropping and hissing rain. Their screams came first then so did Tinny the guard who lunged at them all melted fierce and angry, grabbing a petite woman and tearing a chunk out of her arm as she lifted it to shield her face from the rain. Their skin all began to bubble and melt, dripping and swimming down their bodies like they had been just a painting and water had been spilt. Knowing there was nothing she could do for them now and partly out of fear for her own safety she rushed forward and slammed the door shut on them all.

  Turning back around she could see the situation behind her at the posts were not getting any better, all the people had been bitten, turned bloody and crazy and now all they wanted to do was smash their way through the mesh to get to her, to rip her to pieces to like she was part of the food in the ration boxes. The boxes! She thought and jumped forward grabbing some things out of the nearest one and ramming it all into her bag, she slung it over her shoulder and turned just as a loud smash erupted through the church, part of the wire mesh had been pulled down and the melted people were starting to cram in. Looking around she spotted the storage room door and lunged for it turning the handle and throwing it open before slamming it shut behind her, then she let out a sigh of despair there were many windows in this room but all had been blocked up to stop people getting in and looting the place and to add fuel to the fire there was only one door in and out and that was being crashed upon by angry melted bodies behind her. Fear began to grip her insides making her feel sick as she heard the angry hungry moans of the things outside, hitting the door so hard it rattled on its hinges, she knew she only had minutes if she was lucky until the door gave way.

  Then as she began to slide down the door to sob her life away her hair caught on the handle making her wince and look up, she spotted a loft hatch in the centre of the room, if she could just get up and open it she could hide up there until help arrived. Wasting no time at all she raced to a small but sturdy table that was sitting in a corner, pushing all the boxes and rubbish off it she dragged it to under the hatch, then charged around lifting strong boxes on top of it so she could reach up to it.

  As she climbed up the make shift ladder of boxes she just prayed that the loft hatch wasn’t locked from the other side somehow or that it wasn’t moulded stuck, her fingers hastily brushed the soft wood and she pushed up with all her might opening the loft hatch, climbing up the last few steps she hauled herself in just as the door gave way and the mob of melter’s came rushing in. Leaning down she knocked all the boxes down in the hope that they wouldn’t climb up then she shut the hatch leaning on top of it and cried. Hot tears rained down her cheeks as she tried to focus, she still needed to get out of here somehow and check that her family were alright but could she even get out? Would she just have to wait till help came? Would help even come? Would her family come looking for her? And would the rain ever stop?

  Siting up and wiping her face she took a peek around the room trying desperately to steady and focus her breathing before she hyperventilated. It was a very dusty and dark room which almost had the sense and shape of a tower steeple, wooden slats lined all the walls going up to the wooden beamed ceiling, a small stained glass window sat higher up towards the roof depicting an image of Jesus and Mary Magdalen, the window was caked in grime but she could still make out that the rain was falling although it wasn’t as full on now, it had calmed to a few normal splatters. The glass held up thought she could make out burn marks carving their way into the picture but it didn’t cave in, maybe the rain only really affected human flesh or things of a soft nature.

  She guessed she would just have to sit tight and wait a while until the rain subsided completely, she couldn’t risk running out there to get melted herself, she just had to hope Tyrone had them all holed up in their tiny flat keeping them locked in and the melter’s locked out.

  Sitting near a small wooden box she wondered what was in it, she had time to waste so she thought she might as well look, it was either that or start eating the food she had rammed in her bag and she knew better than to be greedy whilst bored. As she grasped the dusty wooden lid of the box she laughed to herself and thought it was probably full of all the old bibles especially seen as this was an old church, maybe she could burn them and make a smoke signal for help. At first as she looked in all she saw was a manky damp old blanket which was no use to her so she took it out and threw it across the room, glancing back in she laughed again as she spotted where Tinny had been hiding his tins of beer, there wasn’t loads left but he must have hidden them up here thinking they wouldn’t be found. Laughing to herself she lifted one out of the box and cracked it open, she took a swig of the vile tasting beer but gulped it down, she hadn’t realised how thirsty she was and this helped just a little if not to blot out the weirdness around her, she didn’t drink too much as she didn’t want to get drunk and make a mistake. She grabbed a couple and put them in her bag too, not too many though as she didn’t want to weigh herself down. She was about to close the box when she spotted something shiny underneath all the cans, it was a long blade with a strong handle with dark cord tied around it, the silver metal shimmered in the off light in the loft space, she didn’t know what Tinny had done with this blade as she spotted what looked like dried blood but she took it anyway, it could come in handy.

  Suddenly she heard the rain stop and the sun tried its best to shine through the window, as it did a beam shone down like the hand of god shimmer
ing over something metal on the floor. Getting up she wondered over to it feeling the weight of her now full bag on her back, as she got nearer she could make out it was a large ring hinged to the wood work for a trap door. Lifting it slowly it creaked with age with dust spraying up around her and tickling her nose, it knocked slightly as it reached the furthest it would go to, her breath came out slowly as she saw what the trap door revealed, a spiral wooden staircase that went down into gloom and darkness. Knowing she had no choice but to go and explore or risk waiting here and maybe no one coming to help her. She snatched up her new blade and glanced up at Jesus whose hand was shining the light over the trap door, “This better be a good sign”, she mumbled to him before taking a chance and taking the steps down into the unknown.

  The wood creaked as she padded down the wooden steps and every so often she would pause thinking she heard another noise but realising it was her own footsteps and breathing she could just make out over her hammering heart, it was raving away in her chest like a full on party which made the blood pound in her ears but she carried on. As she rounded the last corner of the stairs she found herself at a corridor, along one wall were two doors and along the other was just one, tip toeing as quietly as she possibly could she reached the first door and held her breath willing her heart to stop hammering for just a moment, she stuck her ear to the door and listened, then she heard them the wails and moans of the melted, this must be a door near to where the main ration room was which meant she had managed to go over and round to the other side of the old church. Sighing she moved on to the next one on the same wall, doing the same thing as before she held her breath and listened, nothing, not a sound came out. Taking a chance she gripped the handle about to turn it before almost screaming out as someone or something threw itself at the door moaning and gurgling, managing to stifle her terror that was now caught in her throat she breathed.