As the Light Dies (78 page)

One of the mottled figures in the pile on the fallen chef looked up with raw pinkish flesh sheathed with mottled discoloured skin hanging from its mouth dripping red and black on to its chest. Ann stared at this and before she had time to think about what she though she was seeing it charged gaining even more attention.

Gavin burst through first with Dean practically on top of him and Sam beside them. Ann threw her weight behind the door to shut it but she was a fraction too late. An arm thrust around the edge of the door at the last possible second wedging the door open. She screamed.

Dean and Gavin both jumped back against the door but even with their combined weight the mauled arm still thrashed madly trying to grab hold of one of them while stopping the door from closing. Sam jumped up and scratched at the lone arm, he tried to bite it but the muzzle stopped him. Then another arm pushed through drenched with a mixture of black and red blood! The mixture flew from the fingertips as the arm thrashed through the air searching for them.

“HOLD IT!”
yelled Dean jumping back from the door.

“What the fuck!”
said Gavin wondering what the hell his brother was doing. Then Dean readied himself taking a wide stance and swung at the bloody arm with the cleaver! He swung the heavy blade like a hammer and sliced through the forearm cracking the bone. As he yanked the cleaver back out, the bone completely snapped and the arm dropped down hanging at an unnatural angle, held on only by a stretched flap of skin and a tether of uncut muscle.

“Oh God!”
yelped Ann. It was unable to thrash and reach for them anymore but the swinging hand still opened and closed frantically!

Dean swung again and severed the arm completely and the hand dropped to the ground!

Ann looked away in horror, grinding her teeth without realising that she was actually squealing
,
“Oh my God! Oh my God!
”
over and over.

“AGAIN!”
yelled Gavin, and Dean swung down hard on to the other arm as it thrashed and reached for them. He cut deep in to the bone near the elbow but the arm still thrashed violently. He tugged the cleaver free and swung again but missed and the blade skimmed the wall as the arm moved and sparks flew from the blade. He immediately swung again and caught the arm but missed the site of his first cut that he was aiming for, but the force of the blow was enough to break the already weakened bone and it snapped like the last one going with a loud crack.

Dean hacked it several times, chopping at the gnarled arm until it severed and fell to the ground and he jumped back against the door to help the others. They pushed and heaved but the door would
n’
t budge!

“Shit!
”
said Gavi
n
,
“
the
y’
ll all be against the other side any second and w
e’
ll be fucked
!
”

Dean moved to the edge of the door and realised that the stumps were still wedged there like fleshy door stops. Both of the infected figures on the other side were going berserk trying to break free
.“
Ease the pressure off
,”
said Dean.

“WHAT!”
said Gavin.

“JUST DO IT!”
said Dean.

Ann and Gavin readied themselves and on the count of three they quickly let the pressure off for a split second, then slammed their weight back against the door and it slammed shut.

“
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST
!”
blurted Gavin jumping back from the door.

Ann stepped back visibly shaking from head to foot. Dean touched her shoulder.

“
Ann
,”
he said
,“
i
t’
s ok
.
Were ok
.
But we gotta keep moving
.”
As he finished sayin
g
movin
g
the door started pounding from inside!

“C’
mon
,”
he said
,“
who knows how long i
t’
ll hold
?
”

Ann nodded her understanding and uttered a shaky
,“
Yea, ok
,”
and Dean saw in her face, despite the dust mask and goggles, that she was coming around again, and Gavin nodded eager to get going.

They found themselves in a small backyard area and they were walled in on all sides.

Looking around Dean saw that one of the surrounding walls, the one joining on to the neighbouring backyard was only about five feet high and climbable. The back wall was at least ten foot high and retained the steep dirt embankment beyond, that led high up to the plush back gardens of houses in the Crown area of the city and the third wall to their right doubled up as the exterior wall of a two storey extension to the next building along. Without any time to lose and no choice they ran over to the shortest wall and started helping each other over and in to the neighbouring yard, still heading in the same direction as before, only now they were behind the line of shops, restaurants and cafes that lined Castle Street instead of out on the street.

They helped one another over the many walls that enclosed the little private backyards, being careful not to make too much noise and draw any unwanted attention to them.

Dean knew that the
y’
d find themselves trappe
d
ver
y
quickly with the enclosing walls if they were
n’
t careful.

They dodged around garden furniture and rubbish bins. One of the yards even had a large neglected pond they had to avoid. Gavin almost did
n’
t.

The kitchen door, now several yards behind them, boomed repeatedly but it still held as they made their escape. Then as they dropped down in to another yard, Gavin slipped and crashed through a set of plastic garden furniture that had been left out.

He fell in to the table breaking it in half and sent the chairs around the edges flying.

“Jesus
!
Could you make any more noise
?”
said Dean helping him up.

Gavin held up his palms and said
,“
Sorry
.
”

Dean nodded
,“
As long as yo
u’
re ok!
C’
mon
.
”

They turned to climb the next wall along and they stopped in their tracks!

In front of them stood the second to last wall they had to climb. They had one more yard to cross before they landed on the tall, steep set of steps that climbed through a break in the shops and joined lower Castle Street to the Crown area higher up. From there the
y’
d slip back on to Castle Street and continue across town to the Eastgate Centre but the wall they now faced had an extra layer of bricks along the top, and on top of that there was a layer of upended broken bottles imbedded along the top in a layer of cement.

“What the hell!”
said Gavin
,“
it should be illegal to do that kind of thing
.
”

“
It probably is
!”
said Dean. Then thinking fast he ran back and picked up one of the plastic chairs.

As he grabbed one, he felt it flex too easily in his hands.

Too weak
,
he thought, and he quickly scrambled through the snow and grabbed another one and stacked them together. They fitted together nicely, he jus
t
hope
d
the
y’
d be strong enough to hold their weight.

Dean looked at the others
,“
W
e’
ll use these to climb over
,”
he said. Then he dropped his rucksack and started unzipping his jacket!

“
What about the glass
?”
said Ann
,“
and what the hell are you doing
?
”

“
Yea
!”
said Gavin
,“
what are you doing
?
”

Dean did
n’
t answer. He knew the
y’
d understand in a second.

He pulled his jacket off and flung it up over the wall covering the glass and he saw the realisation hit them, he nodded
.“
There
,”
he said
,“
i
t’
s not ideal but i
t’
s better than nothing. Just be careful not to put too much pressure on the glass ok. Now le
t’
s go
.
”

Ann went first helped by the two men, and she gingerly climbed over the top of the wall scared that the glass was going to pierce through Dea
n’
s jacket and cut her, it did
n’
t, and she dropped down on the other side unscathed. Next over was Sam. Gavin stood up on the doubled up chairs and took hold of Sam as Dean offered him up. He carefully lifted Sam over the top.

“
You ready
?”
he called over to Ann.

“
Go for it
,”
she said, and Gavin dropped him snugly in to her arms and then hopped over himself clearing the wall in one. Dean grimaced expecting a cry of pain from the other side as his brother landed. He was angry but relieved when he did
n’
t, then he set about climbing over. He straddled the wall with both legs praying repeatedly that his jacket did
n’
t tear while he tried to hook his foot through the spindles of the chair backs. Gavin watched his brother expecting him to just hop over, and when he did
n’
t he said
,
“What the hell are you doing now
?
You do
n’
t wanna sit like that for too long
.
”

Without looking over at his brother, Dean said
,“
How do you think w
e’
re gonna get over the other side
?
”

Gavin snapped his head around tracing their enclosing walls and saw that the jagged glass along the top of the wall encased the entire yard. He went quiet feeling stupid for not checking and waited by his brother ready to take the chairs from him when he passed them over.

Ann watched them as she waited nervously. She could hear the infected giving the kitchen door hell
.
They’d be through any second
,
she thought. She crossed her fingers on both of her hands willing Dean to hurry. Dean moved around gently on top of the wall trying to get his foot through the plastic spindles in the chair backs. He was starting to think he was going to have to drop back down and utilise the broken table somehow. Maybe break off a leg and use that to hook through the chairs and lift them over. All he was doing was pushing them further away, because his foot would
n’
t fit through the gap between the spindles.

He was extremely aware of the screeching gurgles and the constant banging against the door a few yards back when suddenly by chance the toe of his boot slipped through a gap in the spindles. He hoisted them up with his leg and grabbed them off his foot before he could drop them and swung them over the wall. Gavin took a hold of them, and as he opened his mouth to say something to his brother the back door to the restaurant kitchens crashed open! Dean jolted upright hearing the noise and felt sharp edges beneath him. He ignored them and looked back towards the kitchen yard. He could only see hazy movement through the ash but the sound alone let him know where they were and that there were lots of them!

The infected on their trail now numbered in the thirties, maybe more!

All the noise had drawn others as they called and screeched with their infected, broken vocal cords and crashed around. Dean dropped down beside his brother and Gavin said
,“
Shit Dean! It sounds like ther
e’
s a fucking army of them over there
!
”

Dean nodded
,“
I could
n’
t see much but it sounds that way huh? We better hurry, the
y’
ll only keep drawing more attention
.
”

They hurried across the bleak overgrown yard to the last wall. The polluted snow settled in what looked like large humps all over the yard where the weight of the snow bent over the unkept tall grass. Beside the opposite wall, Gavin levelled the plastic chairs against the wall ready for Ann to climb over, and then he froze.