The Purple Haze (17 page)

Martin looked at her and put his hand on hers. “They could be okay,” he said in a calming voice.

Yvonne shook her head. “No, they won't be.” She paused to wipe away a tear. “Even if the fog didn't get them, those things will. They weren't violent people. I just hope that whatever end they met, they met it together”

Across the room, Gaz and Mike were in conversation. They had been talking about their pasts too.

“
Right,” said Mike, “so you went through university, of which your parents paid for, and you ended up a thief?”

“
Yeah, why is that so hard to believe?” asked Gaz.

“
Well, because people don’t do that. How could you do that to your parents and waist all that money?”

“
It's not like I had a choice. When I graduated there were about three graduates going for each graduate job out there. I just didn't get lucky and gave up.”

“
So how do you go from that to this?” Mike said.

“
To make money, obviously,” said Gaz, sounding patronising. “I looked at the social status of graduates who didn't go into their chosen fields and saw that most of them end up in dead end jobs or couldn't get work because they are deemed as either 'too qualified' or ‘not experienced’. It's a hard life out there for them. They coast through university, pretending to be all into politics and complaining about money because they think it matters, but once they get into the real world the shock knocks all the wind out of them. I was lucky in the sense that my parents paid off my student loans for me, but I wasn't going to sit on my arse in an office making a pittance.”

Mike laughed quietly at him. “So you got into this line of 'work' to rebel against society?”

“
No, I just needed to make money. But then it became obvious I wasn't ever going to get this kind of money doing anything else.” Gaz paused and looked seriously at mike. “You know, Mike? If you weren't a pig, I'd probably be able to like you a lot more.”

“
I'm not a pig,” said Mike, “I work in a warehouse that supplies motor parts.”

“
So why volunteer as 'rent-a-cop' then?”

“
Because I wanted to be a police officer,” Mike replied, “but I couldn't get in due to funding cuts in the force.”

“
Oh my God,” said Gaz, “we're the same.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Neither of us could get the jobs we wanted,” said Gaz.

Mike laughed slightly and nodded his head. “You know what, Gaz? You’re right.”

“
Of course I am,” Gaz said, and then he looked to see Martin and Yvonne walking over.

“
You two okay?” asked Martin.

“
Yeah,” said Mike, “we're fine.”

“
Good,” Martin said. “It's getting late, so I'm going to get some sleep.” He turned away and walked over to Colin. He crouched down next to him. “How's he holding up?” he said, looking at Dave.

“
I don't know,” said Colin, “he hasn't moved much. His breathing seems deep and he's sweating a lot.”

“
That's the fever,” Martin said. “Just keep an eye on him. Everyone will be going to sleep soon. Make sure you get some sleep too.”

“
Yeah, I will,” said Colin. Martin stood and walked away from him. Colin looked back at Dave and wished he could do something to help him. He kept staring at his chest to make sure he was still breathing. Even long after everyone else gone to sleep, he sat staring like this. It wasn't long before sunrise that tiredness finally got the better of him and he drifted into a deep sleep.

In the morning, Yvonne was the first to wake up. She stretched her arms up and tilted her head side to side to loosen her neck. She stood up and looked around the room. Everybody else was still sleeping. She took advantage of being the first up to get herself freshened up using some of the bottled water they had brought with them. After a quick wash, she went into the hall. The ambient light seemed different today. Something had changed. She moved to the window and lifted the blind slightly to take a look.

Outside, the world looked fresh. The trees and the grass were green and she could see as far as her eyes would allow her. The fog had lifted almost entirely now, leaving only a slight purple haze in the air. She took in the sight and savoured it. Having gone through the events of the past few days she had forgotten how beautiful things could be. She watched for a moment as the trees swayed in the morning breeze, making her feel the world was alive again and breathing in and out as a living animal would. As she looked upon the natural beauty, she was brought back to the reality of the situation at hand when she noticed a small group of the creatures had gathered near to the building. She watched them for a moment, but they just stood there, not moving except swaying side to side as though drunk and trying to keep their balance.

Yvonne felt she needed to get a better look to try and determine an exact number in the crowd. She let the blinds fall and moved into the office just off the hallway. She moved to the window and slowly lifted the blind. She looked and saw the group of creatures. There were many more than she thought, and others were moving towards them, shambling across the fields by the community centre. She moved her head around to see as best she could, and looked straight into the eyes of a creature. As though waiting for her, as soon as its milky eyes locked with hers, it was on the window in the time it takes to snap your fingers. Its first pound cracked the glass, making Yvonne recoil slightly, but the second pound was close behind. Its hand crashed through the glass in a deafening crash and latched onto the collar of Yvonne's blouse.

Yvonne didn't know what to do at first. She felt the hand grab her and begin pulling her towards the hole in the window, the sharp edges of the glass looking like an open maw of dagger like teeth. Her face was already close to it as she got her hands in prime position, palms flat against the wall and she began pushing back. The creature was incredibly strong and she found it hard to fight against it. Not knowing what to do, she found herself screaming out for help. As she did this she saw the group of creatures begin stumbling towards the centre. Panic set in and tears were rolling down her cheeks now. She didn't know how much longer she would be able to hold on in the grapple.

She screamed again as another hand grabbed her, but then she realised it had no sores or boils. The hand was human and she turned her head slightly to see it belonged to Gaz. He began pulling her back, and as he did more hands grabbed her from behind.

“
Pull!” she heard Martin's voice shout.

“
Gaz, get it off her!” Mike's voice rang out.

Gaz pulled harder in unison with the other two men, and as the creature's arm emerged through the hole, he pulled Yvonne's pistol from her belt and pointed it through the hole in the window. He pulled the trigger and with a bang the hand disappeared through the hole as the bullet hit the creature square in the face, knocking it off its feet and into the creatures approaching behind. Yvonne fell back as the pull suddenly gave in and Martin and Mike helped her remain on her feet. Gaz gave her gun back to her and looked out the window. As his face got close he saw a mass of hands came at the window, breaking the remaining glass and reaching in. He recoiled and the hands missed him, but this was no longer the only window under attack now. The windows on the front of the building leading into the entrance hall were heard breaking.

“
Get your stuff, now!” Martin shouted. The group ran back to the hall and saw Colin stood next to Dave, who was sat bolt upright. “Grab your shit, we’ve got to go!” Martin ordered them.

“
What about Dave?” said Colin.

Martin knew they had to move him. He was much stronger than Colin “Grab that MP5, I'll carry him.”

“
We need an exit!” shouted Gaz.

“
Kitchen fire exit!” Martin replied as he handed Dave the M4 and helped him to his feet. The group moved into the entrance hall and were met by a small group of creatures coming out of the office, there fronts all torn up by the glass they had crawled over to get in. The glass in the doors had now been broken through completely and creatures were starting to pull themselves into the building. Gaz was at the front of the group and opened fire a spray of bullets from his Mac10, but in his haste the bullets were scattered everywhere. Several creatures were hit but it was a wasted effort. They were stalled slightly, but by the time his gun clicked empty the creatures were coordinated again and moving in on them.

“
We have to get to the kitchen!” Martin shouted, “Fight through them!”

With no time to reload, Gaz dropped his Mac10 and switched to a pistol. He stepped forward, and learning from his previous mistake of rushing in, aimed carefully and shot any creature that came close to him in the head. Due to the volume of them, he was going through his ammo too quickly and was going to have to reload. As soon as the slide locked back on his pistol, he was quick in reloading. “Loading!” he shouted, and as he did Colin was behind him shooting at the creatures. Mike and Yvonne were shooting as well, but it wasn't long before Gaz was back shooting. The group moved toward the kitchen as a unit. They reached the kitchen door but the entrance hall was getting crowded now. The main doors to the building had buckled and the creatures were flowing freely into the room like a wave of death bearing down on them. Martin went through the door first with Dave, Yvonne following closely. Mike, Gaz and Colin backed up to the door while holding off the creatures with gun fire. Gaz's pistol clicked empty. “I'm out!” he shouted and moved through the kitchen door.

Mike backed to the door and grabbed Colin's shoulder. “Come on!” he said, and turned to go into the kitchen. He saw Gaz's face change to a look of horror. He looked back and noticed a creature that Colin hadn't noticed closing in on him. He went to react and shoot the creature, but the proximity to Colin meant he was as likely to hit him while speedily aiming at the creature. “Colin!” he shouted, trying to warn him, but Colin was too busy fighting off the horde. The creature grabbed Colin's arm and pulled him hard. Colin lost his balance and his hold on his gun. Mike and Gaz reached forward to grab him and Colin, his face drenched in terror, reached out to them. They reached as far as they could but he was pulled away from their reach faster than they could stretch. A creature reached out for Gaz's hand, forcing him to recoil, and as he did he saw the look of despair on Colin's face as the wave of creatures swallowed him up. Gaz didn't even hear him scream as he was pulled him back into the kitchen by Mike, who quickly closed the door behind them. There was nothing more to be done. Gaz was ashamed to admit it to himself, but he thought that as long the creatures had Colin to occupy them, it would buy the survivors some more time to escape.

In the kitchen martin had set Dave down against the cupboards. He stood up and looked around. He noticed Colin was missing. “Where's Colin?” he asked.

Gaz and Mike didn't give an answer. Mike just looked at him and shook his head. “What do we do now?” asked Yvonne.

“
We get out of here.” Martin said. He moved to the fire exit in the kitchen and slowly opened it. He looked carefully around and saw that any creatures out there were quite sparsely spread out. He turned back to the group. “Okay, we can make it. We might have to fight a few of them, but they are pretty well spread out.”

Mike nodded. “Everybody check your ammo.” The group checked to see that there guns were fully loaded. As they did this, pounding started on the door to the entrance hall.

“
Shit,” Gaz said, realising they didn't have as much time as he'd hoped they would.

Martin moved to Dave's side and went to pick him up. “Forget it,” Dave said, pushing Martin away.

“
Forget what?” Martin said, “We have to go, now!”

“
I'm not coming,” Dave replied.

“
Stop talking and get on your feet,” Martin said moving to pick him again.

Dave pushed him back again. “I'm only going to slow you down.” Martin carried on trying to get him on his feet. Dave shouted this time, “stop!”

Martin looked at him. “What are you going to do?” he said.

“
Buy you time,” Dave answered, “I'm dying Martin. This infection is spreading, and it's going to kill me.”

“
You don't know that,” Martin said.

Dave nodded his head, “It will, and you know it too. Otherwise you wouldn't have been talking about killing me.” Martin looked at Dave in disbelief. He didn't know what to say, but he knew he was right. “Don't worry,” Dave said, “just pretend the police caught me.” He held up his hand to Martin. Martin grabbed it and shook it.

Martin stood up and looked around at the rest of the group. They had gathered near the fire exit and had heard everything that had just been said. Martin looked back at Dave. “Take this,” he said, holding out his sawn off shotgun.

Dave looked a moment, and then took it. “Take this,” he said in kind, and handed over Conner's M4 assault rifle. Martin took the rifle and nodded. He looked at the kitchen door and realised that in all the pounding, the door was beginning to crack. “Get out!” Dave ordered.

Martin went to the rest of the group and they all left the building through the fire exit. As the door swung back closed, Dave managed to catch one last glance of them all running and dodging the creatures. There was no way they could have done that with him, and he felt happy in himself that they got away and weren't being slowed down by him anymore. They at least stood a chance of surviving. Dave came back to the situation at hand as another thud came at the door, the crack growing slightly larger. Dave looked around him and saw he was next to a cooker. He looked at the dials on the front and recognised it as a gas oven. An idea came into his head. He opened the oven door and moved all the dials to the maximum on position. He heard the sound of the gas flowing and covered his nose and mouth. He didn't want to black out before his chance came. He breathed through his sleeve as another thud came at the door, this time breaking off a section of. The milky eyes of the creatures gazed in at him, and they all let out a loud moan in recognition of the prey inside.