As the Light Dies (96 page)

“
Hey wha
t’
s up...
.”
Collin started to ask turning around. The sight stopped him mid sentence.

As they all stopped to look, Dean grabbed Sa
m’
s collar and held on to him feeling him tighten up.

“
I
t’
s ok boy, were gonna be ok boy
,”
he said not wanting a repeat of earlier.

Dean was
n’
t surprised by what he saw. Not after what h
e’
d already seen. But it did unsettle him even more than he already was, which he thought was an impossibility now.

“
Ther
e’
s your answer
,”
said Andy looking at David.

David nodded solemnly watching with the others as the infected horde walked straight off the supermarke
t’
s roof!

They watched in horror as the infected people plummeted to the unforgiving concrete below, landing in all kinds of painful looking ways. As more and more fell, faster than they could move out of the way, they began to build up as they started landing on top of each other with bone crushing force. Looking back from this distance Andy and the others saw that the rooftop was alive with silhouettes.

They were flowing towards the front of the supermarket where they poured over in a waterfall of human bodies from the same point the
y’
d all dropped down from.

“
The
y’
re following our every step
,”
said Sebastian, more to himself than to anyone else.

Some of them bounced off the canopy, cracking their heads on the thick glass before they continued down in to a heap on the ground. The fall was
n’
t stopping them. It was
n’
t stopping any of them. Some were reduced to crawling, but most of them were back up and walking within seconds.

Some limped badly, while others were forced to drag a leg behind them, but they still stood up and pushed onwards. They still came after them. Relentlessly pursuing their prey. Their numbers in the car park were growing fast. They started to fan out from the building filling the car park like feeler ants searching for a minute trail or the slightest scent.

Collin looked on dumb struck
.“
How
?”
he said.

“
Who knows
?”
said Andy
,“
Everyone get moving, and slowly. No sudden movements, no noise. W
e’
ll pick up the pace around the bend ok? Hopefully their falls will slow them down enough so that we can make up some ground
.
”

They started moving again desperate to put some distance between themselves and the relentles
s
infecte
d
. They trudged along as quickly as they could mindful of any noise they might be making and after a few minutes Andy looked back. The
y’
d rounded the bend and were out of view from the supermarket and i
t’
s overrun car park.

“
Ok
,”
he said breathing easy
.“
W
e’
re out of sight, pick up the pace
.
”

They did. They walked fast kicking up snow with each step. They were nearly jogging along in the centre of the road.

Dean was more desperate to get home than ever and right now Sam was
n’
t helping. He was having a real struggle keeping Sam in check and he was getting worse by the second.

“
Wha
t’
s wrong with him
?”
said Sebastian
.“
If he makes a noise w
e’
re done for
.
”

Dean looked up at Sebastian and said
,“
He senses somethin
g’
s wrong
.
”

Sebastian let out a quiet laugh under his breath and said
,“
Yea, like they say in the movies
,
no shit!”

Dean did
n’
t like Sebastia
n’
s tone
.
“No,”
he quipped
.“
It means they must be gaining on us
.
”

“
Oh
!’
said Sebastian and looked over his shoulder. The road was clear, for the time being.

They carried on, stretching the distance out as much as they could, while they could, with their heads down and their hoods and collars up in an attempt at deflecting the bitter wind, and the blasting snow that was the wrong colour. They started passing the cit
y’
s huge gas tanks on their left nestled between the high wall and the railway tracks.

Andy was pleased. They were making good progress, and th
e
infecte
d
cries when he heard them on the wind, still sounded distant. This was good. He was hopeful.

But with the gas tanks on their left he knew that the steep embankment on their right would give way soon. At first to a block of flats that then led on to a line of other buildings that faced on to the road comprising of bed and breakfasts and small hotels amongst the odd private house. He knew the
y’
d have to go back to being extra careful from there on out. If there wer
e
infecte
d
in these buildings, previous house guests now infected waiting for their breakfast to walk passed outside. Any noise they made could bring them pouring outside in pursuit.

Maybe we could climb over the wall and hug the tracks for a bit
,
he thought.

Then something rustled on their right, up the embankment. Andy tried to look around discreetly, not wanting to alert the group. He was trying to home in on where the sound came from hoping h
e’
d see what made it. He saw Dean and Gavin looking as well. Dean pointed towards an area of the embankment.

Andy opened his mouth to ask something when Sam howled and started barking like a mad thing! He was trying to pull against Dean. Moving towards the bank rearing up on his hind legs as Dean held on to his collar yelling at him.

“
What is it
?
WHAT THE HELL IS IT?”
said Sebastian as something moved swiftly through the darkness brushing passed the undergrowth along the embankment.

“Ah’ shit!”
cursed Gavin, and David twitched priming the shotgun, this was
n’
t good!

“
GET READY
!”
Dean shouted and just then three low slung forms appeared through the dead shrubbery making their way swiftly down towards the road.

Sarah started screaming!

The forms were infected dogs, two were big muscular, powerful looking dogs and the third resembled a greyhound, thin and nimble. All three were badly mauled. They were pitted with savage bite marks and crisscrossed with what looked like knife wounds. One of the muscular looking dogs was missing a back leg. All that was left of the missing limb was a quivering flap of fleshy skin. The second muscular dog had one long flesh wound leading from its missing right ear all the way down to the tip of its muzzle. It looked like someone or something, had grabbed a hold of its right ear and pulled, literally tearing its scalp and the top of its snout off in one long continuous tear of flesh. Even its nose was missing.

The greyhoun
d’
s most notable wound was around its already very narrow waist where deep bite marks gave the impression that its rear legs were only just holding on to the rest of the body via sinuous threads of flesh and muscle. All three dogs leapt to the road in unison.

The three-legged dog landed short not having the same power as the others with its missing leg.

It landed in the bank of ploughed snow along the edge of the road. David was quick to react. He swung his primed shotgun up under his arm using the shoulder strap and in to his hands and fired from the hip. He aimed a han
d’
s width below its head as it tried to climb out of the piled snow. Muzzle flare scorched the air and lit up the bank. There was an explosion of black snow as compacted buck shot sliced through the ploughed drift unhindered and the base of the do
g’
s neck simply disappeared dragged inwards in to its chest cavity by the buckshot as it raced in between its front legs on target.

The dog dropped to the snow and rolled on to its side, the head rolled away from the body still attached by a slither of short haired skin. But that was all....the monster stayed down.

Out of sight around the bend behind everyone, the noise alerted the mass of infected people trying to pick up a lead. They all turned towards the gunshot and formed a solid wave of morbidly discoloured bodies and began their charge.

The group could
n’
t see them yet but they heard them as their frantic calls rang in their ears and filled them with dread, and without realising it the group became separated by the dogs.

The dogs worked so fast that it had already happened before anyone even realised what the dogs were trying to do, and by then it was too late!

Andy Ann and Collin were confronted by the greyhound. Its teeth permanently exposed through its mostly lipless snout snapped at them sending black spittle flying everywhere.

Andy and the other two pulled out their ice-axes and started swinging them out in front of themselves trying to ward it off.

In the other part of the group Dean and Gavin drew their swords, Sebastian extended his security baton and Leann unfolded her pink ice-axe and they formed a protective square around Sarah while David who by sheer luck had avoided being herded at the last second tried to get a clear shot on either dog, but he could
n’
t. The dogs were staying in too close. Any shot he took right now would definitely injure someone, and that was a risk he was
n’
t willing to take....yet!

Gavin was the first to try taking a swipe at the large dog but the dog was fast and dodged him.

Then as the weight of the sword and his swin
g’
s momentum carried him around, the dog tried to come in at him behind his swing!

Sebastian and Leann both called out but Dean was ready for it and he took a swipe. He missed the dog as it dodged him as well moving fast, but he saved Gavin from getting bitten. Just.

The sound the dogs made was the same horrendous mix between an infected gurgle and a painful howl that the brothers and Ann had heard before. It terrified Sarah.

David was shouting at everyone to try and draw the dogs out to give him a clear shot. He pointed the gun in all directions frantically trying to find a clear shot he could take, but it was no good. The dogs stayed in close almost like they knew he would
n’
t take the risk. As Andy swung his ice-axe he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and looked. The horde had rounded the bend!

He saw them at the same time they saw him with the others and their gurgles deepened, they were coming fast!

“SHIT
!
W
e’
ve gotta move or w
e’
re dead
,”
he said. Then he yelled out
,
“DAVID!”
and he ran at the greyhound screaming and thrashing his axe from side to side trying to push it in to open ground.

The dog dodged left. Andy went left. The dog dodged right. Andy went right.

Andy kept on trying to chase the dog back only just managing to dodge the do
g’
s own advances on him as he did. The greyhound was fast. It stayed just out of And
y’
s reach and pounced in behind every one of his swings gunning for him. Andy had a few close calls.

“C’MON MAN!”
Andy yelled at David urging him to move in and take a shot.

David moved this way and that, trying to get in to a good position to take a shot but it just was
n’
t working
.“I’
m fucking trying
!”
he said through gritted teeth as he jumped from one foot to the other. He decided to charge at the dog himself, hoping that if the dog decided to go for him, h
e’
d have room to shoot.

The dog backed away from him at the same time as it dodged a swipe from Andy and David managed to work his way up behind Andy. He took aim but Andy moved in his way flinching back avoiding the dog as it lunged at him!