As the Light Dies (54 page)

“
Is it open
?”
asked Gavin as he skidded to a stop as Dean turned the handle and pulled the door open.

“SHIT!”
gasped Gavin and Sam howled and scratched at the door.

Dean nudged Sam back with his knee closing the door and fished his keys out of his pocket and started trying them. It was too dark to tell one key from the other so he fumbled with each one.

As he desperately tried keys they heard the loudest creak ever as the wooden fire doors cried out under strain.

“
Shit Dean
,
C’MON!”
said Gavin.

“I’m trying man I’m trying!”

Ann was scared rigid. Halfway up the ramp behind them and behind her at the top of the ramp standing in the main corridor was Keith trying to look in all directions at once. The doors that they could hear being assaulted suddenly let out an almighty cracking splitting sound and the excited calls raging from the other side sounded much clearer. Sa
m’
s growl turned in to a savage bark and he scratched at the door again.

“
Here they come man
,”
said Gavin
,“
the
y’
re coming in any second now, the
y’
ve broken the door or the frame or something. Find that fucking key Dean
.
”

“I’
m fucking trying Gavin. It is pitch fucking black you know
.
”

There was a loud ear popping crunch from the weight-room. Sam whined and scratched the door again and then both brothers heard the satisfying click as the key Dean was trying fitted the lock. Dean locked the door and stepped back.

“
Thank fuck for that
,”
said Gavin backing up with him.

Dean pulled Sam back telling him that it was ok, the door was locked, that it was ok, trying to calm him down, but he still growled and whined. The cracks and snapping sounds continued, louder than ever!

“
Do you thin
k
that door will hold guys
?”
said Ann who was now right behind them. She and Keith had crept up on them without them realising.

“
I do
n’
t know but i
t’
s better than nothing
,”
said Dean. He just finished speaking when the fire-doors finally let go. They burst open in a spray of needle like splinters flying through the air. The group jumped and all four gasped at the same time. The calls reached an almost unbearable crescendo and then died off.

Sam went quiet then, listening intently. The group heard rapid scurrying sounds on the other side of their door in the darkness.

“
Oh shit wha
t’s
….”
Keith started to say and Gavin told him to shush.

They listened. All their eyes were fixed on the small square window.

Gavin whispered
,“
We should go now. The longer the
y’
re not trying to break through this door the better
.
”

Gavin looked at Dean and nodded back up the ramp indicating that they should head back up. Dean nodded in agreement and then the doo
r
BOOME
D
as something rammed it from the other side. They all jumped and Keith who was already semi-crouching fell flat on his back and bumped his head. Ann helped him back up as they moved back and the door boomed again.

Sam pounced into action leaping away from Dean barking madly at the door and scratching it to bits with his front paws. Dean hurried after him and grabbed his collar to pull him away and as Dean wrapped his fingers around Sa
m’
s collar a face slammed against the small window staring right at him!

Ann cried out in terror slapping her hands across her mouth and she looked away.

“
Oh my God
,”
said Keith
,“
are they all like...
.
”

“
Yea
,”
said Gavin.

Staring back at them with featureless black eyes and discoloured black and grey blotchy skin was Brian.

Ann whimpered
,“
Oh my God, I ca
n’
t believe it! Wha
t’
s happened to him
?
”

Dean looked on in silence slowly pulling Sam away from the door. Brian grimaced bearing his teeth and for a moment it looked like a sick psychotic smile.

Dean tried to speak to him. He said
,“
Brian, are you ok? Where have...
.
”

Brian started to gurgle! He made that sound that Gavin had described, the sound the
y’
d been hearing through the murk wondering what it was, while all of them doubted Gavi
n’
s story. The realisation that his tale might actually be true made the discovery even more shocking for everyone. Brian bit at the glass his blackening yellowish teeth banged and scraped on the glass. Ann could
n’
t watch anymore, hearing was more than enough for her, and she started to climb back up to the main corridor with Keith.

“
How
?”
she murmured
,“
How can this be
?
”

Gavin reached out to Dean as others started to thump against the door beside Brian.

“C’
mon
!”
he said
,“
We gotta go
.
”

But Dean was in a trance watching Brian repeatedly slam his face against the glass seemingly void of any pain, viciously snapping at them over and over. Both of his lips burst open and he repeatedly bit down on them as they flapped and got in the way of his gross teeth. He tore most of his lower lip clean off within seconds completely oblivious to doing so, and horrible black goo smeared across the glass
.
So that’s what it i
s
, thought Dean remembering the smears across the glass in the viewing doors. The door boomed again, and then again, and again. Dust fell down between the frame and the wall on the impact.

“C’MON
!
We gotta go man,
c’
mon
!”
said Gavin giving Dean a firm tug bringing him around
.“
The
y’
re doing their best to brin
g
thi
s
door down now. We gotta go
,”
he said.

Dean turned away from the window and looked at the others; their faces were pure white, and they visibly shaking waiting for him to tell them what to do.

“
Le
t’
s go
,”
he said and they let him pass giving him the lead. Sam reluctantly left the door and trotted along just in front of Dean.

“
W
e’
ll head up to the offices on poolside
,”
said Dean
,“
w
e’
ll try and buy some time, but we ca
n’
t stay here. We need to be ready to take off at a momen
t’
s notice
.
”

They hurried back up to the top of the weight-room ramp and as they approached the top they all heard the unmistakable
chink, chink, chink,
of something hitting glass.

“
Shit, the
y’
re at both sets of doors
,”
said Gavin.

“
Do
n’
t look
!”
said Dean
,“
just head straight for pool side guys, ok
.
Don’t look!”

Dean broke his own rule straight away and stole a glance as he reached the top of the ramp in front of the others. He wanted to see them, a whole person instead of just a head. He waited all of two seconds before a black silhouette burst through the ashy snow like it was a thick smoke and crashed against the doors!

Black goo squirted out from its head as it burst its lips and broke its nose, it was followed by another one to its right and then another, and another. He could
n’
t see if they were men or women but he was sickened by the ferocity and relentlessness of the attack. He had
n’
t fully believed his brothe
r’
s story before. But he was coming around to the idea and he was sure the others were too. Right now though one thing was certain, and that was that whoever they were, and whatever might be wrong with them, they wanted to get in, no matter what!

The others obeyed Dean and did
n’
t dare look back, Ann did
n’
t need telling in the first place, nor did Ken and Gavin had seen plenty to know what was happening. They ran up the ramp through the dark leisure centre and out of view as clogged-up throats screamed after them.

Dean lead them passed the abandoned reception and on up towards the Relaxation Suite and the offices. Guilt filled his stomach like h
e’
d eaten a block of lead. He felt like h
e’
d failed Brian by not being able to find him and help him
.
What the hell happened to him
,
he wondered
,
and where are the other two guys
?
As they reached the top of the ramp Dean hesitated before rushing in to the offices, he glanced around and said
,“
We should stay out here
.
”

“
What! No
!
We should barricade ourselves in to one of the offices
,”
said Keith.

“
No
,”
said Dean
,“
I do
n’
t think tha
t’
s the best thing to do. Think about it, out here w
e’
ve got good views over the pools, the ramps and reception. And look at the view we might get of the outside if the ash clears
.”
He pointed towards the giant wall of windows around the leisure pools
.“
Plus out here w
e’
ve got options to get outa here if we need to run. More options than if we barricade ourselves in to one room
.
”

“
H
e’
s right
,”
said Gavin butting in
,“I’
m staying out here. If we barricade ourselves in to one of those offices then w
e’
re stuck fast. You just saw that those things do
n’
t give up once they see you...
.
”

“
The
y’
re people
,”
said Ann.

“
Yea, whatever
,”
continued Gavin
,“
but ther
e’
s something seriously wrong with them. Remember the house I hid in with those poor people inside and then poor Eddy on the bus
.
”

“
Should we go back and try to reinforce the weight-room door then
?”
said Ann.

Dean shook his head
.“
No, w
e’
ll just stir them up even more if they can see us. W
e’
ll barricade the doors across to the dry side by Reception. We wo
n’
t be going back over that side now. That side of the building is lost to us now
.
”

Gavin nodded and said
,“
Sounds good to me
.
”

“
What about getting out of here
,”
said Ann
,“
I need to get back home I need to get back to my kids and Tim
.
”

Dean nodded at her and said
,“
Yea me and Gavin will want to do the same, we have
n’
t had time to talk about it yet but I want to leave for mum and dads first thing in the morning if we can and Ken will want to get back home as well
.
”

“
Yea, definitely
,”
said Ken.