As the Light Dies (68 page)

Despite her height she was light and easy to carry, and the three of them made it to the top of the escalator in seconds. Collin looked over his shoulder one last time before they moved out of sight. Davie, the now ex bus driver turned dog food turned black-blooded monster, was still there thrashing violently at the window making more noise than ever, even though they were far out of reach and probably out of his view now. Collin hoped it would
n’
t be long before he lost interest and moved on. If he did
n’
t Collin knew that the
y’
d have problems, and sooner rather than later!

Andy led the trio through the deserted shopping centre and took them straight to the Starbuc
k’
s cafe on the second floor. It was an ideal spot, the lounge was L shaped and was situated on the corner of a junction between aisles with good views along three of the shopping centr
e’
s main aisles. The counters were closed off and locked but that did
n’
t matter to them, they were
n’
t in the mood for coffee. Andy and Collin cleared the space around the edge of the lounge, moving tables and chairs and more of the trough like marble plant pots like the ones the
y’
d used to barricade the doors on to the overpass. Once the
y’
d cleared the area they repositioned three of the caf
e’
s dark green leather sofas around the edge of the loung
e’
s boundary and faced them out, giving them each a place to sit or sleep and to keep look out on occasion and check the approaching aisles.

After sitting and calming back down again and keeping an eye on Leann for a while Andy nominated himself to take the first watch and he left Leann and Collin to settle down while he went walking the dark aisles checking and rechecking all the external windows and doors he could find while listening to the horrible calls constantly rising up from outside.

He wondered why they were calling out.

Had those infected freaks found another poor victim? Had they unearthed someone in hiding scared and confused? A shiver ran down his back at the thought and suddenly he was looking straight in to Tho
m’
s pleading eyes hoping and praying for help as infected people started eating him alive! Andy stopped dead in his tracks and fought the image trying to push it from his mind thinking of all manner of things, apart from anything that might have anything to do with Thom.

He shut his eyes tightly telling himself there was nothing he could possibly have done to save him. Absolutely nothing! If he had tried to drop down the steps to help him then he would have met the same fate
.
No
!
he told himself, there was nothing he could have done regardless of how much h
e
o
r
the others wanted to.

He forced himself onwards and as he walked he tried to occupy his mind by looking at the various shop displays as he passed trying to remember the things h
e’
d bought from them in the past. He tried to remember how much it had cost, how long it had lasted or who h
e’
d bought it for, but it was no good, with every new call that rose up from the darkness outside Thom fought for attention inside his head, staring up at him, pleading for help with those horrified eyes as his flesh was pulled and torn from his body by squared off human teeth as people bit and snapped their jaws devouring him. Andy moved on fighting his imagination with every call, welcoming the thunder when it came from above and drowned them out.

Before he realised where he was he came to the barricaded doors the
y’
d come through earlier.

He stopped beside them and listened before looking through the window, he did
n’
t want to stir them up again by making himself known to them if they were still there. He listened for the count of three rumbles of thunder and could
n’
t hear anything from the other side, the only sounds he could hear were coming from outside. Relieved he looked around the edge of one of the little square shatterproof windows and instantly jumped back from the door!

There was no movement from the other end, the windows were still intact and the doors still closed but where h
e’
d left the dead body of their infected attacker all that was left was a puddle of black goo- its blood - and leading away from the puddle of blood was a thick drag mark that led straight towards him and the barricaded doors.

He dared to lean in close and look down. He saw the gu
y’
s feet. A shoe had come off one of them and the foot he saw was shrivelled and black. There was no movement, the feet were motionless!

He backed up a little and waited, listening. He was astounded that even with his wounds h
e’
d still tried to follow them
.
This could be a big fucking problem
,
he thought while he listened and his emotions ran riot. He did
n’
t know whether he should be glad that he might not have killed someone. Or should he feel extremely guilty that h
e’
d left someone in such a terrible condition crawling around with wounds tha
t
he’
d
inflicted! After a short while of silence from the other side of the doors he turned to make his way back to their Starbucks camp and he heard a very light scraping noise. He froze and listened but the sound had stopped. He waited again, and when he did
n’
t hear anything else he dared to look back in to the overpass again as curiosity got the better of him. The ma
n’
s feet had moved out of sight!

Andy span on his heels and headed back to the cafe moving through the darkness as quickly as he could. Back at the cafe he sat quietly in the worn down wingback leather chair that h
e’
d pulled from the coffee shop and placed in the middle of the cross section of the aisles allowing whoever was on watch a clear view in all directions. He sat back while the other two slept watching and listening and thinking, thinking about what could possibly lay ahead of them.

Dean decided it was time to wake the others. Something was happening outside.

H
e’
d been on watch since five in the morning, and now it was just after nine.

It took everyone a while to get to sleep, and when they did it was only light and broken, but as time went by without incident they all relaxed a little more, bit by bit and now they all managed to sleep soundly, and Dean let them. He knew the
y’
d all need their strength to get home.

The change from night to day had
n’
t brought any significant changes outside and Dean reasoned that it would
n’
t matter if they left at nine in the morning or nine at night. It was more important they got some proper rest while they had the chance. As everyone slept he walked around poolside watching and listening. H
e’
d been walking along between the still waters of the river rapids and the wall of windows when he caught a glimpse of a shadow outside. He stopped, frozen to the spot, and looked out in to the thick mixture of ash and snow and watched.

The figure, (if tha
t’
s what he really saw) was gone in an instant. He stood there as still as he could and stared for a while, and after a few minutes when nothing else happened he carried on walking, passing it off as a trick of the light, feeling stupid.

He scaled the diving tower and sat in silence on the top deck. From here he could see the others as they slept, he could see down the ramp towards their barricade and he could keep an eye on the ever shifting view through the wall of windows. It was a good spot. He stared at the view beyond the vast array of windows, watching as the view constantly shifted, moving this way and then that and sometimes both ways at the same time until suddenly he caught a glimpse of another shadow.

He leaned forward and concentrated on it, sure that it was
n’t
jus
t
a trick of the light.

He watched the small patch of unmoving darkness amongst the whirlwind of movement outside as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end. Then the shape he thought he saw, evaporated in to the wind. He breathed easy leaning back again passing it off as just another trick of the light thinking he was looking too hard, actuall
y
wantin
g
to see something that was
n’
t there.

He began to relax again when he saw another shadow, and this time there was no mistaking it for a trick of the light. He leaned forwards and watched as the distinct silhouette stood just outside the glass as if looking in. Dean was so scared to move in case he brought attention to himself that he could hardly breathe. He looked at the shape clearly able to make out the shape of the head followed by the taper of the shoulders, and then the silhouette abruptly turned away from him and started running along the outside of the building. Dean sucked in air and suddenly it was joined by another shadowy figure running along beside it, and then another!

While they were facing away from him he took his chance and quickly dropped down to the next level, without taking his eyes from them. No change. They still moved away from him. They had
n’
t seen him. He dropped down another level then froze again as more figures emerged through the dirty snow! They stood very still, unmoving against the howling wind like headstones in a secluded cemetery. They were looking in, watching, waiting for him to make another move.

Sweat trickled down and over the small of his back
.“
Shit
!”
he whispered to himself through gritted teeth, watching them as they looked for him. His hands were beginning to hurt from holding the ladder so tightly
.
Can’t just wait here until they do something
,
he thought taking a deep breath
,
that might be too late
!

Knowing he had to warn the others, to give them all time to wake up and get ready to move if they had to, he dropped down the rest of the way to pool level moving swiftly, and then raced back to the others where they still slept soundly, oblivious to what might be happening. He sprinted up the ramp toward their makeshift camp as fast as he could; watching the windows as more and more silhouettes lined up against the glass all as still as the first.

He reached the others but did
n’
t wake them, not yet. He peered over the balcony for a moment, he did
n’
t want to alarm the others and wake them in to a mad panic for nothing, they were all well aware of the sick people outsid
e
an
d
next door. And besides, this could be the military, come to set up a rescue centre. They could be out there looking in trying to see if it was safe to enter, trying not to move as not to draw attention to themselves. He walked along the edge of the balcony watching figure after figure emerge through the ashen snow an
d
Sam suddenly joined him waking from his sleep. He looked up at Dean with his ears flat against the side of his head and his shackles up! He sensed it already! He hopped up beside Dean resting his front paws on the balcony railing and looked over. Then he started to growl
!“
I know boy, I know. I
t’
s ok
,”
said Dean, trying to keep him from barking
.“
I
t’
s time to wake everyone up boy
!
”

Sam responded with an understandin
g
WOO
F
.

As Dean turned towards the others he saw some of the figures out of the corner of his eye, maybe eight or nine, suddenly sprint around towards the back of the building at incredible speed and disappeared out of view
!
God, I hope they are military
,
he thought.

He opened his mouth to call out and wake the others when a thunderous bang down below stopped him. He spun his head around and looked down towards the flumes where he thought the noise had come from. Sam quickly swapped sides with Dean, dropping down, running around him and jumped back up a little further along the balcony trying to see what was going on.

There was another thud and Dean gasped
,
“Holy shit!”
He was looking in the right direction and his first thought was
,
it’s not military
.

He saw the clear outline of two widely spread palms thump against the turquoise outer shell of the fiberglass flumes, they were missing most of their digits.

Trying to find a way i
n
, he thought.

Dean woke Gavin first. All it took was for him to kneel down beside him and Gavin opened his eyes wide.

“
What is it
?”
he asked.

“I’
m not sure, but ther
e’
s lots of activity outside! I hoped it was help at first, but it is
n’
t
.
”

Gavin stood up and went to the balcony.

“
Shit
!”
he said
,“
they know where we are
.
Exactl
y
where we are
!
”

“What!”
said Ann sitting up wiping sleep from her eyes.

“
Ther
e’
s movement outside
,”
said Dean
.“
At first I thought it might be the military, but that was wishful thinking. They know that were in here, well
,
exactl
y
where we are, and I think the
y’
re searching for a way in
.
”

“What
!
How
?”
she blurted waking Keith.

He stood up so fast he nearly tripped over the towels he was using for blankets.

“
Wha
t’
s happening, wha
t’
s going on
?”
he blurted when there was an almighty bang that made them all jump, and Sam barked.

“Sounded like the offices,
”
, said Dean and he spun around and took off for the door that led through to the offices. The bang sounded again as he pushed the door open.

“
Shit
!”
he said pausing for a second as Sam snarled bearing his teeth and barked. The sound boomed louder as he opened the door. He was right, it was definitely coming from through here.

“
Be careful Dean
,”
said Ann as he walked in to the darkness with Sam by his side and Gavin right behind him.

Gavin glanced back at the other two and told them to pack up and be ready to leave any second. They both nodded and set to it as he let go of the door letting it close behind him.

As the two brothers and Sam walked along the dark corridor they heard what sounded like doors being rattled in between the loud bangs. As they moved along, the sounds got louder telling them that they were headed in the right direction. Sa
m’
s growls reverberated along the corridor in to the darkness ahead of the two brothers until they heard the strange calls start up and he started barking like a wild dog!

“Shit!”
said Dean
.“
What the hell are they doing now
?
”

“
Soon see
,”
said Gavin, and Sam darted ahead of them howling like a mad thing.

“Sam! Sam stop!”
Dean hissed running after him but Sam would
n’
t slow down, he ran straight to the fire door that led in to the rear stair well and leapt up against it barking uncontrollably and started scratching the door with both front paws.

“Whoa boy
,
whoa, Sam be quiet
,”
said Dean taking hold of his collar.

“
Here
,”
he said, handing Sa
m’
s collar to Gavin
.“
Take him for a sec will ya
?
”

Gavin took a hold of the collar and gripped it tight as Dean opened the heavy fire door and looked in to the stair well.

The calls were louder than ever, they echoed up to them through the darkness from the fire exit below them that opened up on to the staff car park. Dean looked back at his brother.

Gavin shrugged and puffed out his cheeks, as the onslaught continued.

”
The
y’
re trying to bust in through the fire exit down there
,”
said Dean.

“
Yep
,”
said Gavin nodding
.“
They know exactly where we are now
.
”

Dean shook his head thinking when suddenly Ann shrieked at them from down the corridor
,
“GUYS! GUYS COME BACK! HURRY!”

Dean backed out of the stairway nodding to Gavin to back up
.“
COMING
!”
he yelled and the three of them hurried back. Ann was waiting for them all geared up and ready to go with Keith who was just pulling on his goggles
.“
Ther
e’
s a lot of them out there guys, she said, the
y’
re trying the front doors
.
”

Both brothers could hear the front doors being attacked
.“
Shit
!”
said Dean as he trotted down the ramp a little way
.“
Already looked
,”
said Keith
,“
ther
e’
s loads of them
!
”

Dean saw that Keith was right; there was a group of silhouettes hustling around the front doors making all sorts of strange gurgle noises thumping and banging the doors, moaning with frustration when they could
n’
t get in. Dean ran back up to the others, he was about to tell Gavin to grab his stuff, but h
e’
d already started.

Dean started grabbing his own gear and asked Ann if she could start fitting Sa
m’
s makeshift dust mask. She said she would and set to it, and Sam stood perfectly still for her until she clicked the last clip in to place and he went back to growling and barking like a mad thing. Dean told the others as he pulled on his gear
,“
Ok guys, the rear fire exits out and so are the front doors
,
obviously
!
So w
e’
ll take the fire exit off the diving column ok
.
”