As the Light Dies (77 page)

He turned the overly thick handle and pushed the door. It was stiff. He had to push against it using his shoulder and before the quiet swoosh from the equalising air pressure had time to register with him letting him know what h
e’
d done. A loud ka, chink followed by rustling, came from the other side. Sam turned in to a ball of tense muscle by his side. Dean felt him and understood in that same instant that h
e’
d opened the kitche
n’
s walk-in freezer and the noise had come from inside.

His eyes opened wide. He told the others to back up as he tried to pull it closed again, but it was too late and the door was snatched from his hand, pulled inwards with force to reveal a big fat bald man that towered over them wearing kitchen whites and a long white waterproof apron that almost glowed in the darkness where it was
n’
t splattered with blood.

His black eyes, high above them like little black buttons squashed between his heavy brow and puffy

cheeks fixed on them. He opened his puffy discoloured mouth and bellowed at them with glee as he made his advance!

Dean Gavin and Ann backed up so fast they nearly stumbled over each other, and Sam reared up on his hind legs snarling and barking at the hulking chef, pulling against Dean as the chef swung one of his meaty arms at him! Sam shifted just in time, and the meaty trunk of an arm missed him by centimetres and smacked the thick freezer door and shook it in its steel frame!

“RUN!”
yelled Gavin and he charged along the back wall searching for another way out knocking all kinds of kitchen utensils out of his way and bashing his hands off things in the darkness making all kinds of noise and within seconds the swing door burst open, so fast that it popped its top hinge, and the infected people that had been stalking the restaurant rushed in screeching their morbid war cry filling the room with a sound like it was full of drowning kittens!

Their discoloured, wounded and bloody arms were outstretched waving in all directions searching and grouping for flesh in the darkness!

Ann caught up with Gavin as he smacked his hands blindly off of shelves and hanging utensils searching for a way out. Ann tried to look back, scared that they were leaving Dean and Sam behind. She just caught sight of them from the corner of her eye, and was relieved they were
n’
t too far back. Dean was racing along, following all the noise Gavin was making, dragging Sam with him as he tried to stand his ground to protect them. He was beyond control, he was hysterical, barking and howling like a wild thing constantly fighting against Dean, trying to rear up and attack the huge chef that Dean had unknowingly let loose, while Dean used all his strength to keep him just beyond the reach of the infected hulk.

Sa
m’
s reaction had Gavin in a state of horrified panic. H
e’
d never heard a dog bark or make a noise anything like it! He slapped his hands off every single surface he could, desperately searching for a way out, ignoring the stabbing pain in his hands and wrists.

His nerves got the better of him and he glanced around in to the darkened kitchen and saw that the darkness was alive with movement!

His heart raced even faster than it already was, threatening to beat its way out of his chest. Then as he turned back around both of his hands slapped off of a handle that jutted out from the door he could
n’
t see...
.
“GOT ONE!
”
he gasped stopping, and as he stopped Ann bumped in to him and he lost hold of it as she shoved him further along.

“FUCK!”
he cursed frantically searching for it again.

“Oh God!
”
pleaded Ann
,
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

He reached out swiping the wall with both hands in a desperate frenzy and grabbed on to it again. He fumbled with it trying to turn it in a blind panic and kicked at the door at the same time and the door burst open letting in muted light from outside.

H
e’
d found the exit.

“DEAN HURRY, I’VE FOUND THE WAY OUT!”
he yelled as Ann darted passed him making her way outside and as Gavin looked back in to the pitch black kitchen with the faint light from outside filtering in, he saw how full it was with infected people. They were everywhere, crashing in to everything and each other as they swept across the room searching for them. He saw that there was a large island of hobs and hotplates in the middle of the room separating the horde from Dean and Sam, keeping them safe. For now!

He looked at Dean, and yelled at the top of his lungs
,
“RUN DEAN! RUN!”

But Dean could
n’
t! Sam was holding him back, trying to protect him from the hulk from the freezer. He was right on top of them and yet Dean would
n’
t let go of Sa
m’
s lead.

“SHIT!”
said Gavin
.“
Hold the door
,”
he told Ann and before sh
e’
d even taken hold of it h
e’
d let go and ran back inside after his brother. As he ran back in, he slammed his shoulder in to the side of a tall steel cupboard and knocked it over blocking one end of the island so the infected could
n’
t get passed. Then he ran towards his brother swinging his torque wrench overhead as he did, and as he reached them he brought the wrench down and whacked the mountain of meat smack bang in the middle of his forehead as Dean slapped away one of its reaching arms as it reached for Sam.

The wrench had no effect! Surprised, Gavin tried again and hit their towering attacker in the middle of the forehead again splitting bone and caving in the ma
n’
s forehead! But it still had no effect, and before h
e’
d even fully retrieved his wrench, Gavin had to duck as the hulk took a swing at him!

He ducked just in time and the chubby hand flew through the air inches above his head.

Gavin grabbed Sa
m’
s lead with Dean and started pulling but it was nearly impossible. It felt like Sam was welded to the floor. Sam had
n’
t just lost it! It was
n’
t just a case of protection now, it was a case of pure and primal, animalistic survival!

The brothers worked together and gradually started pulling Sam back.

They were just managing to stay ahead of the hulk but it would
n’
t last, and they both knew it.

He was unrestrained and he was determined he was going to get them.

They hurried back engulfed in noise as the horde of infected people shrieked seeing them, now they were made visible by the light from the open door. They locked on to them like a swarm of killer hornets and began to close in! The brothers knew what was happening, they knew they were running out of time! They both yanked at Sa
m’
s lead as the hul
k’
s fingertips reached close enough to clip the end of Sa
m’
s muzzle! It was the first contact. Dean saw it and it frightened him; he could
n’
t lose Sam not like this!

Please God, not like thi
s
, he thought.

As they backed up, all too aware of the advancing group of infected people Dean caught a glimpse of a hefty looking meat cleaver lying on the island. He wanted to grab it but did
n’
t dare take a hand off Sa
m’
s lead, until Sam let out a painful yelp between barks. H
e’
d been hurt! And that was it, Dean took his chances and reached out for the heavy cleaver, and as he reached for it he saw the sea of infected coming for them from across the other side of the island. They were staring at him and Gavin with greedy, beady black eyes!

Gnawed and mottled hands reached out from the other side for his as he gripped the cleaver.

The island was too wide for them to reach him as he snatched up the cleaver and as he did he watched in horror as the figures started trying to climb up on to the island.

“SHIT!”
he cursed turning back just in time to see Gavin narrowly dodge a throat grab from the behemoth, and without any hesitation he lifted the cleaver high above his head.

“
DEAN! STOP
!
NO YOU CAN’T!”
Gavin yelled caught up with mixed emotions but Dean was
n’
t listening, it was all or nothing, he knew it was. He knew it was a case of kill or be killed.

He brought the cleaver down swinging as hard as he could!

The chef reached out for Sam oblivious to Dea
n’
s actions and the cleaver sliced through the sleeve of his kitchen whites and buried itself deep in to his fleshy bicep opening his upper arm right down to the bone where it dug in. The big guy did
n’
t flinch! Instead he reached out with his other arm and grabbed hold of Sa
m’
s neck! Sam howled and bucked wildly as he was lifted up off the floor!

“NOOOO!”
screamed Dean over the uproar from the infected as some of the infected started to climb up and over the island while others trailed behind the hulking chef coming around the island behind him. Dean heaved the clever from the ma
n’
s bone. He had to lever it a couple of times before it broke free from the bone risking being hit by the behemoth or caught by one of the infected coming up behind the hulk as they started trying to reach around him!

We’re not gonna make it! We’re not getting ou
t
, thought Gavin as Dean pulled the cleaver back and swung again. This time he took a side swipe at the che
f’
s thick neck as he held Sam.

The cleaver cut in to the ma
n’
s stubby neck, effortlessly slicing through the ample rolls of neck fat that opened up behind the blade like the wake behind a fast moving boat.

The blade slid through the infected ma
n’
s flesh with ease until it came to an abrupt stop and jammed at the halfway mark just as the tip of the sharp edge passed through the middle of the ma
n’
s Ada
m’
s apple. Black blood spurted from the gaping wound as Dean yanked at the cleaver trying to dislodge it from the ma
n’
s neck vertebrae desperately dodging groping hands that reached around from behind the chef.

“LET HIM GO!”
shrieked Dean as Gavin tried to pull Sam free, but the chef still had him in a death grip. Dean freed the cleaver and pulled back ready for another swing when the hulking man let go of Sam and dropped him to the ground!

Sam was back on his feet in a second and barking savagely but now his attention had shifted from the giant hulk in front of them to the fast approaching rabid figures closing in all around them!

Dean looked down at Sam petrified h
e’
d been seriously hurt and Gavin grabbed him from behind and hauled him back just in time as the hulk made a grab at him. Thick rubbery fingers brushed the tip of Dea
n’
s dust mask. Dea
n’
s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets!

“C’MON MAN!”
Gavin shrieked hauling his brother back and dragging Sam with them as the hulk started to slow down.

They knew they had to take their chance now, before it was too late for them, and they made a run for the door where Ann was waiting for them. Behind them the slowing hulk dropped to his knees as black blood glugged from the gaping wound in his neck, and he was toppled by the infected figures that had gathered behind him, they scaled him and moved passed him like a swarm of angry ants.

Watching horrified Ann was sure she could see hints of red mixed in with all that black as it poured from the hul
k’
s neck. Then with that thought on her mind the cluster of infected freaks clambering over him at that instant suddenly stopped in their tracks and turned their attention on to him, they swarmed him!

He was smothered in a flash as they rushed at him from all directions, even the ones that had already passed by him turned back and leapt on him, and they all began to dissemble him using nothing but their hands and teeth!

Wasn’t he fully infected
?
Ann wondered as she looked on completely astounded by it all, and by the speed of them. Everything was happening so fast. So fast that she had
n’
t seen the lone figure that had
n’
t joined the others honing in on the fallen hulk from the freezer.

It was locked on the two brothers and Sam and it ran straight at them!

Ann stepped aside as she held the door, making room for the brothers to pass when she saw the lone figure that had broken away from the pack and she screamed
,
“RUUUN!”
bringing more attention than she meant to.