“Good show them to a room”, the woman replied and walked off.
“She in charge?” Monique said as the man led them to a block of flats and led them up to the second floor.
“Yeah that’s Mary she’s my wife so I wouldn’t mess with her”, he laughed, “So what’s your plan?”
“Plan?” she asked wearily.
“Well you look as if you’re trying to head somewhere, we spotted you going through the alleyway to prevent passing by us, not that I blame you with all the weirdo’s around of late but still…”
“Um well we need to get to Brighton as that’s where my family are”, she replied as he opened a door to a flat that already had two people inside.
“Brighton?” he laughed nervously, “Good luck with that kiddo, that journey ain’t no walk in the park”.
“I know but I have to try right?”
“Right I guess so, anyhow hope you don’t mind sharing this is Sue and Kyle and you guys are?”
“Monique and Will”, she replied.
Nodding to them he said “So how’d you plan on getting there? To Brighton?”
She shrugged, “A bus”.
“What you mean from the depot next door?” he asked.
She nodded, “Yeah they must have a working one and some fuel”.
He shrugged, “Dunno ain’t been in there yet to look, I’ll see what Mary thinks and maybe we can look. Might be an idea if we all leave this hell hole”.
Monique agreed, “That would be a plan”.
“Leave it with me, in the meantime have something to eat, there is a woman called Denise over in flat seven who has lots of food and she has cooked some meals to share out”. Then he left.
Monique looked over at Sue and Kyle, Kyle was about eleven with short cropped hair and freckles whilst Sue had to be his mother as she had the same colour hair and the freckles but she also had glasses.
“Hi”, she said to them but they just looked away shyly. She didn’t blame them this had been a shock to all of them, “What room is ours?”
Sue pointed to a door just past the kitchen.
Thanking her she walked over and opened the door, the room was a single with pink wallpaper, this was obviously not Sue and Kyle’s home and they like them had come here for refuge. Monique wondered what had happened to the previous tenants before blotting it out. She knew what had happened, everyone did.
Monique had been asleep, they had taken it in turns to sleep in the small single pink bed, the other one keeping watch over the bus depot and waiting to see if Mary had a made a decision about going in there but the screams had woken her up along with a nudge from Will.
“What’s going on?” She mumbled.
“Melter’s have got in, one bit Mary and now it’s all gone to pot”, Will said looking out of the curtain less window.
“We have to leave now before things get worse”, Monique said sitting up and grabbing her blade and bag, “Perhaps get Sue and Kyle and we can all go together?”
They hadn’t spoken much but Kyle was only a boy and Sue would want him out of the danger zone. Opening the bedroom door they found Sue looking out of the kitchen window into the street below watching as the horror of what was happening took shape, “Sue we’re leaving, we’ll gonna grab a bus and go, you and Kyle wanna come?”
Sue shook her head, “No”.
“Why not?” Monique asked looking around for Kyle before noticing his lifeless body unmoving under a pillow on the sofa, “What have you done?”
“He’s in a better place now and I will be soon”, Sue replied not even turning to look at Monique.
Will took Monique’s arm, “Let’s go she’s lost to us now”.
Monique started to walk but glanced over at Kyle’s body, she felt so angry how could a mother think of doing that? But there was nothing she could do now he was gone, smothered to death by the person who was meant to protect him but she guess in a way that maybe she had protected him in the best way she could, at least now he wouldn’t turn into one of the monsters.
They ran down the stairs keeping to the shadows and exiting silently via the door which stood ajar, a bloody smeared hand print ran up one side indicating that a melter had gotten in somewhere. Keeping an eye out they looked around them but saw nothing but they could hear the screams outside. Unless, a melter didn’t get in it was already here? Monique thought to herself, not that it really mattered as it had happened and she couldn’t undo it.
Keeping close to the wall they made their way outside and shimmied behind some old cars and dumpsters towards the bus depot, it was still shut and looked untouched, hopefully there would be nothing inside to jump out and tear them to pieces.
“Argh”, a strangled moan came from behind them.
Turning on the spot Monique found one of the men who had been human just hours ago was now hungering for their blood, he had blood pouring from a bite wound on his forearm, chunks were missing and she could see right down to the bone. He bared his teeth and stumbled forward, she shoved him as hard as she could and in blind panic nearly fell with him but Will grabbed her arm pulling her with him as he now charged across the road to the depot. He wasted no time in grabbing the door and hissing out loud as the door was locked. Thinking ahead he rushed round the side to a window it wasn’t very wide but it was low enough that they could both climb up and in smashing it they climbed in.
Once inside they both stood with their backs to the wall trying to catch their breath, “Thank you”, Monique whispered.
“For what?” Will asked.
“Saving my ass back there”, she replied.
“I didn’t save it I just…helped”. He sounded shy, almost embarrassed she had said thanks. She guessed it was down to the fact that this was life now helping each other, it was becoming just a reaction not a thought.
She didn’t press him anymore just simply said, “We need to find the lights”.
“Will they still be working?”
She shrugged, “Dunno, maybe big place like this might have some back up generator or a torch at least”.
As she looked around she could see how the large warehouse part of the building which housed all the buses was covered in a complete gloom, she could just make out the shapes of the buses sitting waiting. The gloom gave her a sense of fear which was creeping in, making her feel like anything could be waiting in the darkness for her and she wouldn’t see it.
They slowly and steadily moved, clinging to one another making their way down a small side corridor which led away from the buses but took them towards what they could make out as an office, which in the long run might be a plan as they would need the keys and where were keys normally kept? In the office. Reaching the wooden door with a glass panel which had small letters reading out manager’s office they opened it and stepped in, Monique had her blade at the ready waiting to slice anything that might walk out from the darkness to attack them. There was no sign of any life living or melted so they raced in Monique turned to keep an eye on the corridor whilst Will took to finding some lights and keys, he flicked on a switch which buzzed for a moment before illuminating the corridor, there wasn’t much power which meant although they had a backup generator here somewhere it wasn’t powerful or maybe didn’t have much fuel in it but enough to make the safety light flicker on and off. As the lights danced and flashed in front of her eyes she thought they were playing tricks on her, for a second she thought she saw a shape moving in the corridor but as the light flicked off and back on it was gone but it left her vision swimming a little, leaving a shadowy imprint on her exhausted and confused brain. Shaking herself mentally she knew it was just a trick of the light as there were no howls or wails like the other melter’s had done.
“Here I got some keys”, Will said sounding happy it sounded like hope, like they might just get out of the city. He opened a small metal cabinet which housed quite a few, he picked four and held them up, “50, 55, 75 and 76”.
Monique took 55 and 75 off him, she jus
t hoped one of these worked otherwise it would be back to the drawing board for them and most likely off by foot which in these circumstances could be a killer. Leaving the office behind them they ventured off into the now flashing warehouse where the buses were, they walked silently keeping their ears peeled for any movements that weren’t their own. Monique could feel her sweaty palms shaking making her set of keys jingle, breathing in sharply she tried to steady herself.
“I’ll check over here you go that way”, she said to Will who looked just as freaked out as her, “If we find what we need or run into anything nasty we shout, ok?”
Will nodded and said nothing just turning off to the left where she sent him, she turned to the right and walked over to a group of buses as the lights flickered all around her she could just make out the numbers on the screens, she came up to the first one which read 75 Lewisham – Croydon. Taking the plunge she opened the door and stepped on, nothing moved or came at her which made her relax a little bit so she opened the drivers cab and set the keys in the lock and turned it and nothing, the thing coughed and spluttered but it didn’t come to life, it was empty and dead. She was about to turn to leave to try the next one when she froze in horror, the light flashed off then back on and a half melted brown face was leering at her through the window, then the light flashed off again, panicking she slammed the drivers cab door shut in the hope it would protect her then as the light flashed back on she screamed as the brown face was looking at her through the cab door…it was Will!
“Holy crap you scared the shit out of me”, she spat resting her head on the Perspex glass.
“Sorry I did try to call you over but I guess you didn’t hear me”, he motioned for her to follow, “One of the buses works and has fuel, number 50”.
“Yeah I tried starting this one, guess the noise it made cancelled you out”, she breathed a sigh of relief and climbed out the cab.
“Um before we go I think we could use a hose”, Will said as he showed her the number 55.
She looked at him confused, “Hose?”
“Yeah in case we come by other vehicles that have diesel in them”, he replied.
“What like suck the fuel out?”
He nodded, “Do you know what one looks like?”
She nodded, “I think so yeah, look you get that thing started and ready to go and I’ll see if the office has a hose, if not we might be able to grab one on the way…Do you think it has enough to get us out of here?”
“Yeah out of here but past the outskirts of Croydon I dunno? Maybe it might get us through Purley maybe further the tank says half full but who knows if it reads right and whether half a tank is good”.
“Ok I’ll get a hose if there is one”.
“Be careful”, he warned.
“And you”.
Taking off back towards the office she finally began to feel a sense of hope, more than before, this meant they were going, they were getting away from here and she was going to find her family in Brighton. She hoped deep down inside that the weird rain had only happened here that the rest of the country was unaffected but in her gut she knew that couldn’t and wouldn’t be the case, something nagged at her that this was a full country scale attack. As she swung into the corridor she felt uneasy, like something was watching from the shadows, looking around her raising her blade she saw nothing but still felt freaked out, like eyes were burning into the back of her head. Suddenly she heard Will rev the engine of the bus, it roared in the warehouse and Monique now felt a sense of urgency as she knew the melter’s outside would hear it and come to investigate. Taking the handle she opened the office door and started rummaging around, she found what she needed near the desk, it looked like someone might have had the same idea as it was inside an emergency pack with a bottle of water and some biscuits. Taking the whole pack she turned around and thought to herself, they didn’t shut the door after getting the keys, they just walked out into the warehouse, so who shut the door? As she thought it she thought she saw a shadow flit through the door frame and out into the warehouse, had someone been in here? Was it human? Was it Melter? Panicking she ran out into the corridor, “Will?” She shouted out but the roar of the bus was too loud for her to hear anything else.
Then she spotted them, the bloody footprints that had walked towards the bus, gulping back a strangled cry of fear she followed them and peered into the bus, the keys were still in the ignition and it was still on and she could smell the fumes of the diesel in the air around her but Will wasn’t inside, looking on the floor she spotted some drops of blood next to the bloody footprints, it looked fresher than the darker footprints, following it she made her way round the front of the bus, the lights flickered off for a second and she was paralyzed with fear, then she could hear a shuffling noise, “Will?” she called out but all she got in reply was a stifled moan. The lights flashed back on and she screamed, the scarred and melted face she thought she had seen appeared close to hers, it was the face she had seen at the bus windscreen and now it was glaring into her eyes with its own forced open eyes as its eyelids had melted away making a string like effect running down its cheeks. All its body was melted and raw with blood pouring down to its toe’s making the bloody footprints that she had seen. It lunged for her wailing for her blood, she screamed pushing it away, a loud ‘chink’ noise sounded then the thing fell to the floor in a heap of broken skin and bones again Will had stopped her being eaten alive.
“Will!” she cried out rushing to him, he was covered in blood and had a chunk missing from his neck, he was holding a fire extinguisher and had used it to hammer the melted persons skull into to nothing, “No, Will”, she reached for his bloody neck.
“It’s fine it was bound to happen to one of us, I’m just glad it was me not you”, he smiled weakly then he stumbled and slid down the side of the bus, the fire extinguisher clattering out of his hands to the warehouse floor.
“No, no, no we were both going to leave, we were both going to get away”, she mumbled grabbing his top and moving it up to try and put pressure on the gaping hole in his neck.
“Monique stop, you need to go before they all get in, before I turn”, he said pushing her away.
“No, no, no this isn’t right you are coming with me”.
“Look this isn’t your fault ok, I got excited over the bus and didn’t pay attention the bastard thing must have been hiding in the shadows the whole time, he got me from behind as I was checking the tyres”, Will admitted.
But Monique felt numb inside, it was her fault in a way, she had seen the creature twice but had passed it off as her own imagination. Why? Why did she do that? She knew what the world had come to, she knew there were melter’s everywhere why would in here be any different? “But it is”, she whispered.
“No it isn’t, look you need to drive out of here and go, I’ll be fine”, he lied.
“No you won’t because you’ll die or turn into one of them”, she sobbed.
“I don’t plan on becoming one of them”, he mumbled.
“But…” She trailed off the look on his face said it all, “I can’t, I won’t”.
“Would you prefer me to turn?” he asked her.
“No but I can’t kill you”, she replied.
“I’m already dead!”
Monique collapsed to the floor crying, she hadn’t meant for him to get hurt, her own foolishness and believing she was seeing things had led to him getting bitten and now this, he wanted her to finish him off.
“Monique please don’t make me beg, I can’t become one of them”, he took her hand in his and she could feel it was clammy and hot, like he was already giving up his body to the fever.
“I can’t drive a bus!” she spat hoping he would come with her even for a little way until…
“Yes you can, its simple most buses are automatic now a days anyway, it’s just like a go kart put your foot on one pedal and drive and the other pedal is the brake. It’s not like there’s any police to pull you over now is there, or
too many pedestrians you might take out”, he laughed the last part a wheezing and agonizing laugh, “Oh and watch out for low bridges and don’t tip it!” His eyes began to glass over as if he was giving up.
“Look Will you need to know…I saw…”
“Go…GO!” he shouted the last part just as a loud bang erupted on the metal shutter, the melter’s knew they were here. He slowly stood up and grabbed his extinguisher.
“What are you doing?” She asked him.
“Well one of us needs to open the shutter right, and you need to drive and stay safe”, he gasped taking one slow step forward.
“No Will you wanted me to…”
“You still can, that bus is a killing machine in the right hands”, he smiled giving her a quick farewell hug and kissed her cheek, “In another life hey Monique”.
“In another life”, she whispered, she watched him painfully make his way to the shutter where a control panel sat with buttons, the lights flickered on and off then back on again and it began, he pushed the button. The metal screamed and shrieked as it moved and Will gave her one last look before turning to face to horde of melter’s.
Monique ran climbing into the cab closing the doors and finding the pedals, readying herself she prayed this worked. Slamming her foot so the pedal hit the metal the bus lurched forward and began to roll, it slowly began to pick up speed as she neared the shutters, she cursed as she saw about twenty melter’s trying to get in and grab Will but he swung the extinguisher and batted them off him. She honked the horn to say a final goodbye, Will turned and closed his eyes and accepted his fate, the bus ploughed into him, not at high speed but enough to knock him down and drag him under, she felt the bang and thump of his body being crushed by the wheels, she wanted to stop and check him, to say sorry, to be sick but she knew she couldn’t he was gone. Turning the wheel towards the weaker barricade in the road she sped up more crushing the horde of turned people with it and hurtling towards the barricade.
BANG!
She closed her eyes for a moment then opened them again seeing she had made it through the blockade, looking in the mirror for a split second she spotted Will’s broken and dead body mangled on the road, then melter’s rushed into view and he was gone.
Alone (Book 2): Lone Page 13
