As the Light Dies (56 page)

Why the hell did I look down
!
he thought to himself taking a few deep breaths.

They continued moving forwards along the walkway and he started to think that Ken was right. Now that it was perfectly clear what the discoloured infected people would do if they caught you, coming out was as good as suicide!

Katie tapped his shoulder waking him from his thoughts and she pointed. Sh
e’
d seen the door handle. They walked over quietly and listened. They heard the faint sound of someone crying followed by scratching and slapping and then that damn gurgle. The crying turned to cursing for a few seconds as the person became more desperate.

It’s definitely a woman
,
thought Katie.

“
Fuck off! Fuck off you cunts
!”
came the voice.

Steve leaned around the door and looked down the corridor. His heart sank when he saw four figures gathered around the door.

He moved aside so Katie could take a look. After she had, she leaned back and looked at Steve with sad eyes
.“
What do you think
?”
he said.

“
We ca
n’
t go back now
,”
she said
,“
not now that w
e’
ve heard her trapped down there
.
”

She leaned back around for another look. She noted that the fire extinguishers were untouched and in place and how many bunk doors were open and how many were closed, potentially hiding surprises for them, and it was then that she saw the fidgeting torso on the ground. It did
n’
t have any legs
,
o
r
hips for that matter. It was just waiting for the others to break down the door so it could crawl in behind them and eat.

Have to watch our feet
!
she thought. Then she leaned back and told Steve.

“
Ok
,”
he said
,“I’
m ready to go in
.
”

“
You do know that w
e’
re gonna have to use considerable force
,”
said Katie
.“
I mean like
,
seriously
,
hit them. Hit them hard enough to put them down and make them stay down yea
.
”

Steve had to think about that for a second. He had
n’
t actually thought about that bit yet.

Then after two long seconds he nodded
.“I’
m ready
,”
he said again.

Katie nodded and said
,“
Looking at them, I do
n’
t know what w
e’
ll have to do to keep them off us. Going by their wounds and the fact that the
y’
re still mobile I do
n’
t think they feel much pain anymore, if any. And God help us if the
y’
re as fast as that big guy earlier
.”
She paused and then said
,“
Steve
?”
looking right at him.

“
Yea
!
”

“
We gotta be like caged animals in there, same as them ok. If we do
n’t
kil
l
them i
t’
s safe to say that the
y’
re gonna kill us, yea
!
”

“
Yea
,”
said Steve nodding.

Katie nodded at him and said
,“I’
ll go in first.
I’
m trained in combat, so hopefully tha
t’
ll buy you some time if you need it to do what you need to ok. All the fire extinguishers are still in place beside the bunk doors,
I’
ll take the first one on the left and you grab the one on the right ok. Most of the doors are already open, so we can check those bunks easily, but stay away from the closed ones, we do
n’
t know wha
t’
s behind them and we do
n’
t want to stir anything up that we do
n’
t have to ok, and I know it goes without saying but be as quiet as possible. I want to be on top of them before they know w
e’
re even here ok
!
”

Steve nodded
.“
No probs
,”
he said, and Katie immediately started a count down from three, and in what felt like the fraction of a second she reached the count of one and quickly stepped around the door and entered the corridor. Steve followed glad she was finding herself again, coming to terms with the fucked up situation and taking control. As soon as they entered the corridor, the noise coming from the figures filled their ears, horrible clicking and gurgling sounds bounced around in their heads.

Steve watched as Katie swiftly unclasped the fire extinguisher she wanted in one silent movement and took it with her. He looked opposite and saw the one he was meant to take just along the corridor
.
There’s mine
,
he thought moving on. The shouting and cursing from inside the room was keeping the infected figures occupied, and they carried on battering the door completely oblivious to Steve and Katie. Moving swiftly along Steve reached for the fire extinguisher and pulled it, it did
n’
t budge
.“
Shit
!”
he said under his mask and tugged it again trying not to make any noise, but it still would
n’
t move
.“
What the hell
?”
he cursed. He felt hot and clammy, beads of sweat formed on his forehead. He knelt down beside it quickly and pulled as hard as he could but it still did
n’
t budge
!“
Move you fucking thing
!”
he whispered through gritted teeth. He looked down the corridor at Katie who was still moving.

He wanted to call out to her but knew he dare
n’
t. He looked back at the fire extinguisher and leaned in close to it gripping it hard, about to give it a good tug and he accidentally nudged the door beside him. The door swung open far enough for him to see part of the bunk inside. He held his breath hoping the door did
n’
t bang against the inside, it did
n’
t. The bunk was absolutely drenched in blood! The floor was one big red puddle. He saw a person lying on the bunk, naked.

Steve looked for a second at the still body petrified it was about to get up and attack. He was lower than the bunk and all he could see was an arm lying along its side and the thigh and lower leg. It was
n’
t black in any way but it was extremely pale, even almost a milky white. He relaxed
.
Not infected
!
he thought.

He quickly checked on Katie, she was looking straight at him with a look in her eyes that said all it needed to. He quickly tugged the extinguisher again. Still no luck. He tugged again but still did
n’
t feel any movement.

“C’
mon
!”
he said under his breath and he tried working it from side to side trying to loosen it and he yanked the nozzle off by mistake and slapped it against the door.

“SHIT!”
he cursed. His breathing sounded thunderous under the mask as he sucked air in and forced it back out leaving him to guess just how loud the slap had been.

From the corner of his eye he saw the naked leg move.

Oh no
,
he thought
,
what if they make a noise
?

He started to stand up needing to tell them to be quiet and the extinguisher came unhitched.
Fucking idiot!
he thought remembering that yo
u
have to lift and then pull.

He glanced at Katie. She was on her way back towards him shooting him daggers with her eyes.

She stopped as he pulled the extinguisher free
.
At last
,
she thought.

Steve was thinking the same thing when he quickly snapped his head around seeing more movement out of the corner of his eye. The naked person was starting to sit up.

Shit
!
He thought
,
I’ve gotta stop them making any noise
.
He pushed the door open a little further and immediately wished he had
n’
t. He nearly swallowed his tongue. The pale milky body was smothered in large black boils that he had
n’
t been able to see before, and the
y’
d been badly mauled! The crotch and inner thighs had been devoured like the other bodies h
e’
d seen along with most of the gu
y’
s thick rounded belly and heavy chest, all gone, all the soft fatty tissue. Steve felt acidic bile rising up his throat, burning his throat. He was frozen to the spot. His mind simply jammed up and shut down.

How can this be happening? How CAN this be happening? WHAT’S happening
?
The questions spun around his head at the pace of a whirlwind, and the torso slowly rose up off the bed with a series of tiny jerky motions. Steve stared in disbelief unable to move
.
What the hell
!
he thought.

The torso was nearly all the way up, he would see the head. He would see thei
r
face
!
All twisted and contorted out of shape, or even missing! It was about to come in to view, it was about to look at him!

Can’t be happening, can’t be happening, CAN’T be happening
!
he thought.

The torso was almost vertical when the head suddenly lopped sideways pulled by gravity in to view. Steve stared unable to breathe. The back of the head had been bashed in, then the scalp peeled back and opened up like a rose in full bloom. As the head hung there something moved inside it! It was just visible through the open wound! Steve looked, his heart banging and crashing in his chest, acidic bile burned the inside his throat
.
But they’re dead
,
he thought
,
they’re dead! They’re dead, THEY’RE DEAD! They shouldn’t be moving, this is wrong, this isn’t supposed to happen
!

The body juddered and the head jerked, something sloshed around inside the skull, then slipped out and landed on the bloody floor with a dull splat. Steve was horror struck, vomit dribbled down his chin despite trying his best to hold it in, then Katie suddenly grabbed his shoulder and as she did, she caught sight of the sitting corpse. She looked down at what had just fallen to the floor. She gagged and instinctively reached for the door to close it. As her hand gripped around the handle they both saw the hand of whoever had a hold of the corpse move in to view over the corps
e’
s shoulder.

Black gnarly bitten off stubs smeared with blood curled around the corps
e’
s pale shoulder!

Before Katie had even started to pull the door closed a face sprung in to view.

Kati
e’
s heart stopped and Steve flinched back certain he was about to faint.

The discolouration gave it the look like it had just been dragged from a flaming inferno, the wounds added to the effect. Its nose and both ears and lips were missing.

It saw them both at the same time and its face, what was left of it tensed up forming a sickening smile for a second before knotting up in to a demonic grimace, then it began to gurgle.

Katie pulled the door shut as fast as she could, slamming it shut just as the thing crashed against the inside and started squealing like a trapped animal drowning in its own acidic bile.

“SHIT!”
they both called out together spinning to look back down the corridor.

Steve choked swallowing vomit and dropped his extinguisher as Katie lifted hers up over her head with lightning reflexes and brought it flying back down with both hands as hard as she possibly could smashing it in to the centre of the crawling tors
o’
s head as it tried to bite her ankle.

The extinguisher smashed its mutilated face in to the floor
.
“JESUS!”
yelped Steve realising how close she was to being bitten. The other four down the corridor were still beside the door but the
y’
d stopped battering it, they were looking straight at them now. The two freshest looking figures turned and fell in to a sprint straight towards them.