by C. A. Earl
‘Fuck!’ she whispered loudly, immediately covering her mouth and wheeling toward the door. With a last look at the dozing child she wrenched the door open and crossed the hall to the boy’s bedroom, knowing that the window there faced the rear of the mansion. In seconds her worst fears were realised. The dead were in the back garden too. They were completely surrounded.
‘Fuck!’ she swore again, this time louder, and turned to throw herself back into the hallway. Clearing three steps at a time, she was halfway down the stairs when Ben, running up them, caught her in his arms.
‘It’s okay!’ he gasped, desperately trying to calm her. ‘It’s okay. They’re not even trying to get in! As long as we stay quiet and out of sight we’ll be alright. I think they’re just passing through. They’re all going the same way, out through the hedge at the back...’
Katie’s mind quickly replayed what she had only just seen from the second floor windows. In her panic she hadn’t taken it in at first, but her husband was right. The dead were just passing through...
‘Everywhere’s all locked up down there’ he continued, trying his best to reassure her. ‘The conservatory too. Seriously, we’ll be okay. Okay?’
Katie bit her lip and paused before nodding slowly. Ben looked over her head, peering up the stairs toward the landing.
‘Where’s Cassie?’ he asked.
‘Sleeping’ Katie replied, finally growing calmer. ‘Snoring, actually. She’s completely sparko.’
Ben gave an expression of mock jealously and then lowered his eyes to the floor. ‘Uh, that other soldier’s still alive but he’s hurt pretty badly. Internal bleeding, we reckon. Not sure how much longer he’s gonna last. We’ve put him up on the dining room table...’
Katie watched as her husband’s stance grew more awkward, almost as if he didn’t know what to say next.
‘Hey’ she said first, getting him to look up. ‘What about you? Are you okay?’
Ben sighed. ‘I don’t know. I’m struggling to get my head around this. What Ashley was saying about those soldiers-‘
‘I heard. I mean, the door was open a bit up there. I heard about Matt...’
Ben’s head tilted wearily to one side. ‘You heard? Then you know that he hadn’t seen Sandra or Jack at that place? Jesus, Katie. I know what my brother’s like but he wouldn’t have left his wife and kid behind. They must’ve been killed...’
Katie brushed a wayward strand of hair away from her face. ‘Come on, we don’t know that. Anything could’ve happened...’
Ben shrugged before glancing back up the stairs and then immediately back at his wife. His brow furrowed quizzically.
‘Hey, where’s Sarah?’
Katie scowled. ‘Huh? I thought she was with you. Shit, where-‘
At that exact moment a floorboard creaked on the landing above them and both Reillys looked up to see Sarah staring down from the top of the stairs. Still dressed in the baggy grey jogging bottoms and blue hoodie, the girl’s expression was uncharacteristically sedate - almost trancelike. Her constant trembling had finally ceased and her eyes, at one stage heavy with tears, were now glazed and emotionless. Feeling a little unnerved, Ben climbed one stair ahead of his wife.
‘Uh...hey, Sarah? Are you...alright?’
At first staring right through them, Sarah blinked twice before focusing directly on Ben. A couple of seconds passed and then she gave a single, slow nod. Katie gasped, unable to suppress her relief.
‘Uh’ continued Ben, again searching for his most reassuring tone. ‘I was just telling Katie; there’s lots of those things outside, but don’t worry, okay? They can’t get in, and as long as they don’t know we’re here I think we’ll be alright ‘til they go past...’
Sarah nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders and started to descend the stairs. Something made Ben shield his wife as the teenage girl grew near but if Sarah was aware of his defensive stance then she didn’t show it. Moving past without looking at them, she turned unsteadily at the foot of the stairs to walk along the hallway and disappeared into the living room.
Ben looked back at his wife and raised his eyebrows.
‘Weird. Where was she hiding?’
Confused, Katie shook her head. ‘Dunno. She must’ve been on the top floor. She wasn’t with me or-‘
Suddenly, her blue eyes widened and she pushed past her husband.
‘What is it?’ he asked, giving chase as Katie turned to stumble back up the stairs.
‘Cassie, oh God, please, no...’
Katie found the bedroom door closed - not as she had left it - and once more her heart began to pound violently. The child had been left alone for minutes; surely not long enough for Katie’s worst fears to be realised. Her head was spinning, her stomach turning over. She felt sick as she shoved the door open and rushed into the room with Ben hard on her heels.
‘Katie, what the hell-‘
Suddenly, Cassie Sommers sat up in bed, staring bleary-eyed at them in the dim light.
‘Oh, thank Christ’ gasped Katie, clearing the room in three strides to throw her arms around the little girl. Still half asleep, Cassie’s head flopped onto the woman’s shoulder.
Ben scratched his head, perplexed. ‘Katie, what is it?’ His mind began to whirl and then a few seconds later he caught on. ‘Oh Jesus. You don’t think Sarah would..?’
‘I don’t know!’ Katie hissed, clutching the drowsy child tighter. ‘She’s not herself. There’s just something about her now that I don’t trust. We mustn’t leave Cassie alone with her. Promise me-’
‘Bloody hell, Katie. I can’t believe-‘
‘Promise me, Ben. Look, I know what it sounds like but we just can’t take the chance. You saw her; she’s unstable. I’m just worried-‘
‘Okay, okay’ conceded Ben, holding up his hands. ‘I think you’re overreacting with this, but okay. One thing though; can we just keep this to ourselves for now? We can do without getting everyone involved...’
Katie nodded and gently laid the dozing little girl back down, noticing that a large square cushion was next to one of the pillows by her head. She flashed a glance toward a chair in the corner, to where she thought she had seen the cushion before. It was bare.
‘Katie?’ Ben asked again. ‘What is it now?’
Frustrated, tired but above all uncertain, Katie Reilly bit her lip. Was she overreacting? Had she blindly picked up the cushion when she tucked the child in? She just couldn’t remember.
‘Nothing’ she muttered. ‘Come on, let’s go downstairs. Let her sleep.’
When the Reillys entered the gloomy living room a few minutes later Katie avoided eye contact with Sarah. The teenage girl had taken a seat on a sofa in the corner and was staring off into space once again. Chris, oblivious to Katie’s suspicions, was peering through a small gap in the closed curtains. Ashley and Harry were nowhere to be seen.
‘They’re still going past’ whispered Chris, continuing to watch the macabre parade. ‘It’s like something is attracting them. The numbers are thinning out though...’
‘Good. Keep an eye on them but make sure you don’t get seen’ warned Ben. ‘This place looks secure but I don’t wanna test that out just yet.’
‘Got it.’
Katie reached out and touched her husband’s hand. ‘Where are the others?’
Ben sighed. ‘I’ll show you.’
Halfway along the hallway, Katie leaned in close to whisper to her husband. ‘We have to keep an eye on Sarah. I mean it, Ben.’
‘Okay, okay.’
The door to the dining room was already slightly ajar and Katie heard the groans from within moments before Ben pushed it fully open for her. Even so, she was not prepared for the sight that greeted her.
There, laid out on the large table, was the naked body of a crop-haired soldier, his goggles, mask and uniform lying in a pile on the floor along with his deceased colleague’s. Standing either side of him were Harry and Ashley and they both looked up as the Reillys entered. The Sc
otsman had finally changed out of the dressing gown back into his chinos and polo shirt, although the clothes still looked (and smelled) damp. His ruffled dark hair was sticking up in a way that would have been comical at any other time but right now the air in the room was thick with a sense of foreboding. Turning quietly around, Ben began to push the door to behind him when Katie noticed and made him stop.
‘No. Leave it open. We need to see if anyone goes upstairs, especially her.’
Ben huffed and rolled his eyes and leaned against the doorframe. Harry and Ashley said nothing but knew instantly who was being referred to.
Approaching the table, Katie winced at the soldier’s injuries. His swollen belly was covered in purple bruises of every possible shade. Even with her limited medical knowledge Katie knew that he was bleeding internally and that it was only going to get worse. Moving alongside Harry, she then noticed that all the fingers on the soldier’s right hand were broken and bleeding and were jutting out at different angles. She scowled at the big man.
‘Christ. You did that, didn’t you?’
Harry’s face was as emotionless as stone. Ashley’s, simmering with anger, was anything but.
‘I did. But the bastard still won’t talk.’
Katie sucked in her breath and glanced down at the soldier’s trembling face. He glared back at her, sweating and grimacing with pain, although there was something else behind his expression.
Pure, unbridled hatred.
‘Why are you doing this?’ she asked, looking over his bruised torso and noticing a tattoo of a bird on the top of his shoulder. ‘Why?’
The soldier continued to stare up at her, his lips moving more noticeably yet still not speaking. Running out of patience Ashley held up his spiked baton and moved his thumb over the button.
‘Let’s just fucking kill him.’
‘No!’ barked Katie, turning to glance at Ben standing by the doorway. He was looking down at the floor in shame. ‘Fucking hell’ Katie continued. ‘Is this what we’ve become now? Murderers?’
The room fell silent for a few moments until Ashley chose to voice a reply. This time he was much calmer, although his gritted teeth suggested that he was struggling to keep his anger in check.
‘Look, I’ve seen what they’ve done. So have you. This bastard and his army are responsible for killing pretty much everyone you and I have ever known. Now take a look at this one again. He’s done for. He’s gonna die anyway. So if he’s not gonna talk then we have to put a spike through his head and kill him now. Either that or we just tie him up and let him turn...’
The soldier flinched and his eyes widened. It was a reaction that did not go unnoticed, especially by Katie. Leaning over him, she lowered her mouth to his ear.
‘So that’s what scares you. You don’t want to become one of them, do you?’
Ben looked up from the floor as the soldier’s quivering mouth began to open. Blood bubbled at the back of the man’s throat as he struggled to speak.
‘Your world...is gone. Your time...is over. The phoenix will rise...and you will all burn...’
Katie’s eyes flashed to the man’s bare shoulder, seeing the tattoo properly for the first time, realising that it was in fact a depiction of a phoenix arching its wings while preparing to rise from a blazing ball of flames.
‘Who are you?’
Through his agony the soldier managed a cold, cruel smile. ‘We are the cure...to your cancer.’
Katie gulped, desperately trying to place the man’s accent. Undeniably British, there was something else there too.
Suddenly, the soldier’s smile disappeared and he started to cough, the sound becoming increasingly liquid. Foamy blood spattered onto his chin and torso as his entire body began to convulse, each spasm more violent than the last. His head twisted from side to side and his bulging eyes rolled back in their sockets.
Katie felt giant hands pulling her away from the table while Ashley also quickly backed away. The soldier’s body convulsed one last time and his head lolled over on one side, his bloody mouth expelling a final, gurgling breath. For the next six seconds the room was thrust into a sudden, chilling silence, after which Ben became the first to speak.
‘Jesus. Is he dead?’
Katie’s shoulders slumped and Harry released his hold on her. Even from behind Ben could see her nod.
‘Their uniforms are bite-proof’ Harry growled, seemingly unaffected by what he had just witnessed. ‘And we’ve got a couple o’ these now’ he added, holding up a second spiked baton.
‘And don’t forget the guns too’ gasped Ashley.
Katie looked into the face of each man, ending with Ben. Wandering unsteadily over to him, she sank into his quivering embrace while back at the table Harry pushed the tip of the baton against the dead soldier’s ear and pressed the raised button.
The Reillys flinched in unison as the spike ejected.
Shhhhkkkkk!
~ 5 ~
The impact of the soldier’s passing affected Katie most of all, enveloping her like a chill mist. For as long as she lived she would not forget his hateful expression or his dying comments about a ‘rising phoenix’, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that behind everything that had happened was some kind of bizarre, twisted ideology.
For the next few hours (while Ben watched over Cassie) she kept herself busy wiping the floors and surfaces where every drop of blood had landed. With the last of the zombies having long since passed, Chris kept a watchful eye at the far end of the back garden while Harry and Ashley removed the four bodies from the house and found a soft area of ground in which to bury them. Katie insisted that the two dead women were given separate graves to the soldiers, an instruction that was executed without complaint.
While cleaning the top floor rooms Katie began to notice a few things, the first of which was the sheer number of framed photographs dotted around the window sills. Most showed a young family in happier times and many also included a kind-faced old woman which Katie quickly realised was the creature that had been lurking in the garage downstairs. Katie wondered if the woman had been grandmother to the children in the photos and then started to speculate on what had happened to the youngsters themselves. After a few seconds she shook her head and told herself to stop wondering. It would do no good; they were most likely dead and that was that. Theirs was just another tale of woe among a million others.
Steeling herself for the messiest job of all, Katie pushed open the door to the en suite bathroom and was met by the warm glow of early evening shining through the broken frosted window. Harry and Ashley had long since taken the body away but a pool of blood remained on the tiled floor, as thick and as dark as treacle. Trying to ignore the acrid stench, she gave a heavy sigh and got to work.
When she had finished Katie took the time to have a proper look around the bathroom. Inside the cabinet she found mouthwash, face wipes, a couple of new toothbrushes and a box of plasters. There was a stiff bristle hairbrush too, and she wasted no time in using it to detangle the knots from her tousled hair while looking out through the broken window.
From her vantage point she could see right to the end of the back garden. There was a distinct trail where the zombies had passed through, churning the once grassy lawn into a wide muddy track tainted with blood and excrement. The back hedge itself was completely gone now, utterly destroyed by the unstoppable tide.
‘So much for that’ Katie whispered while pulling broken strands of blonde hair from the brush. Turning away from the window, she pressed her foot onto the pedal of a small bin and tossed the ball of hair inside. A split-second later the lid dropped back down - but in that fleeting moment something had caught her eye. She slowly crouched down and lifted the lid again. There at the bottom of the bin was an empty cardboard packet.
With her brow furrowing, Katie reached inside and lifted the packet out, taking a closer look before standing and sliding it into the back pocket of her jeans.
Then she headed downstairs.
>
The knock at the bedroom door was deliberately light but it still made Ben Reilly jump. He sat up straight in his chair as the handle turned and a dark shape slipped inside, moving silently across the floor toward him. His left hand reached out and fumbled at the closed curtains, creating enough of a gap to allow a shaft of golden light to scythe into the room. Caught within the blinding beam, Katie Reilly blinked and shielded her eyes.
‘Sorry’ mumbled Ben, pulling the curtains to while she moved slowly toward him, her vision gradually readjusting.
‘How is she?’ she whispered.
Ben snorted. ‘Can’t you tell? I think she’d sleep for a week, given the chance.’
Katie paused for a couple of seconds, long enough to hear the rhythmic buzz-saw of Cassie’s snoring from across the room.
‘Christ, she sounds like a navvy.’
Ben chuckled. ‘Yeah. I don’t think anything’s waking her anytime soon. What’s up?’
Katie reached into her back pocket and took out the cardboard packet that she had removed from the top floor. Flattening it out, she placed it in his palm.
‘What is it?’ he asked, unable to read the label clearly in the poor light. At that moment Cassie groaned and turned over in bed, mumbling incoherently before slowly settling down again. Tapping her husband’s shoulder, Katie gestured with her thumb toward the bedroom door.
Once out in the hallway, Katie led Ben across the landing and into the vacant boy’s bedroom. Now in brighter light, Ben looked down at the cardboard packet in his hand.
Katie sighed. ‘It’s Valium. I found it in the bin upstairs. It might’ve been there before but...’
Ben’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, shit. You think Sarah-‘
‘Yeah. Well, it would explain the spaced-out look.’
Ben looked at the label of the empty packet again. It read: 5mg/28 tablets.
‘Shit. If she’s taken all these-‘
‘Don’t panic just yet’ said Katie, grabbing his arm to stop him charging off. ‘You’re doing the same as I did; assuming that she’s taken them all. Look inside.’
