As one, the dogs moved to stand before Bella, growling and barking angrily, the muzzles of both twisting as they vented their anger at the strange intruders into the home of their mistress.
“Shoot them!” Victor shouted, “Shoot them!”
She did, the boom of the discharging barrels loud in the confines of the hallway, and as Eric scream aloud in his ear, Victor watched as the figures were thrown heavily back by the payload, thrown from their feet to collapse into a pile.
“I’ve got it!” Emily cried out, the door suddenly swung open behind them, and without hesitating, Victor was charging from the kitchen, following the girl as she raced for the Land Rover ahead.
As they drew near, the rear of the vehicle opened wide, the voice of Moonshine urging them on.
They reached it in no time, Emily clambering up inside, and turning, Victor passed Eric to his friend, then turned back, watching as Bella charged towards them, the dogs at her side.
“Are you OK?” he threw her a glance as she let the pair of dogs jump into the back and shut the door, then passed him the shotgun, as she hurried around to the driver’s side. Grimacing, he turned, heading around to open the passenger sided door to clamber in beside her, “What is it?”
“They aren’t dead” her voice was grim, and he blinked, following her gaze as she turned to look at the door that they had just left, his blood turning to ice as he saw the trio of white-skinned figures emerge into the sunlight, crouching low as they screamed in hatred at the Land Rover.
As Bella gunned the engine, swinging the vehicle around in a big circle, Victor kept his eyes locked to the creatures, no longer human in his eyes, then they were racing past and away, leaving the primitive white-skinned monstrosities behind.
Chapter Eighteen
As the white-skinned figure surged forwards, teeth snapping at the air, hands reaching wildly, chaos broke loose among the elevator’s other occupants. With a curse, the security guard backed hurriedly into the control panel beside the door, the Scots woman named Geri doing the same, their previous confrontation forgotten, and on the floor in the centre of the elevator, Alice pushed herself to her feet, one hand dragging at the arm of the young black man that she had been trying to help the young nurse placate, trying to encourage him to move out of the way.
“Come on, Brandon!” the nurse urged as she too rose, grasping the man’s other hand, “Get up!”
“My book!” he screamed, shrugging both women away from him, his strength surprising as he dropped back to his hands and knees, fingers grasping for the book that he had dropped.
With a snarl, the white-skinned figure in the tracksuit rushed for the kneeling man, the screams of both young women loud as they saw its rapid approach, but then there was a flash of yellow as Jiyaa stepped towards it, her left leg stretching out to trip the enraged figure over.
With a grunt of shock it fell, crashing to the floor just a foot from the black man, and as if suddenly realising it was there, he screamed in terror and recoiled away, hands clapping his ears, “Ghoul!”
Snarling, it started to rise, and young black man scooted back, huddled in tight against the legs of Alice and the nurse, their small group of three pressed against the wall beside where Geri and the guard stood shouting in shock. With a cry of anguish, Jiyaa suddenly lashed out at their assailant with her brother’s knife as it tried to rise, yet the blade seemed to simply turn aside on its hard, cracked skin, and she grunted as it lashed out with a forearm, the blow catching her across the head, sending her crashing into the old woman that was stood behind her. As the two women fell to the floor, the knife dropped from the fingers of the Sikh woman, skittering away across the floor of the elevator to be suddenly snatched up by the grinning ginger man, “Got it!”
Heart racing, Alice watched as the creature that the man named Brandon had just called a ghoul, suddenly turned at the sound of the ginger mans voice, its milky beige eyes widening as it saw that he was now clasping the weapon that it had just been attacked with. Snarling, it surged to its feet and threw itself at him, the force of the impact crashing the ginger man back into the wall of the elevator and forward once more, the pair crashing heavily to the floor, the ghoul growling like a feral cat, the man screaming in pure terror.
“Get it off me...get it off me!”
Without hesitating the black woman with the short hair that had been standing with the arrogant man rushed to the struggling pair, her hands reaching down to grasp at the tracksuit of the enraged ghoul, screaming in horror as she tried to drag it from atop the sobbing ginger man.
With a roar, it reared up, turning its head her way as it snarled in hatred and grunting in triumph, the ginger man lashed upwards with the knife, and Alice watched in disbelief as the blade glanced off the exposed throat of the ghoul and continued on its way, slicing into the hands of the black woman, blood splattering them both.
Howling in dismay and shock, the black woman raised her hands before her, blinking as she stared at the deep cut that ran across them both, dark blood running from the wounds, and with a snarl of excitement, the ghoul threw itself at her.
They landed hard, crashing down onto the floor beside Alice, Brandon and the nurse, and the embalmer cried out in alarm as she saw the latter quickly reach down to drag the ghoul free from the black woman, only to stagger back as it lashed out with an arm like an iron bar, sending her crashing over the kneeling figure of Brandon.
She grunted as the back of her head hit the floor of the elevator, and cursing, Alice dropped down beside her, wincing as she saw the nurse’s bloody nose, her hands trying to drag her to her feet.
Somehow they made it, the pair of them leaning back against the door of the elevator, watching in dread as the ghoul suddenly dipped its head, face pressing against the shoulder of the black woman and she screamed in agony, her body thrashing beneath it as she fought to free herself from it.
“For the love of God, someone help her!” the old woman that had been knocked to the floor by Jiyaa cried out, and turning her head, Alice saw that they were both back on their feet, the Sikh having helped the older woman rise, yet her bottom lip was split and the bite on her arm from her brother’s attack was bleeding profusely.
Time seemed to slow as Alice turned her head about the elevator, taking in the terrified features of the bearded security guard as he stood beside the grimacing Geri, and the sobbing face of Brandon as he sat with his back to the wall beside the legs of the admin, hugging his book to his chest, and then she turned her face past Jiyaa and the old woman to study the pale horror etched expression upon the face of the ginger man as he sat huddled in the corner where the ghoul had first landed, his knees brought up before him, the knife held limply in his left hand, his eyes watching the ghoul savage his saviour.
“Help her!” Alice shouted at him, and his eyes met hers, his head shaking as he stared back.
“She’s your fucking wife!” the voice of the nurse grunted from beside the sobbing black man, as she shook her head, her left hand rising to try and stop her nose bleeding and Alice glanced back at the man in shock at her words, his refusal to get involved when she had just saved him even more galling now she knew their relationship.
With a grunt, Alice rushed forwards and swung her right leg, her steel toe-capped boot sweeping out in an arc to catch the ghoul hard in the side of the head just as she had kicked Opinder in the chapel, the impact throwing it from the black woman to crash against the wall of the elevator.
Instantly, the nurse was there beside Alice, the pair of them dragging the black woman to her feet and away towards the door, the embalmer wincing as she saw the ragged bite wound upon her bare left shoulder, blood running from it.
The elevator suddenly stopped moving, the sudden lack of motion making Alice giddy slightly, and she turned, staring in dread as with a soft chime the doors behind her opened wide.
Yet instead of the view of a dozen of more ghouls that they had been greeted with down in the foyer, there was nothing
but an empty corridor.
“Out of my fucking way!” the bearded security guard suddenly pushed past Alice and the nurse as they tried to support the semi-conscious black woman, the three of them nearly falling over.
“Prick!” the nurse shouted at him, and unsure whether to laugh or cry, Alice met her gaze, the pair of them practically dragging the woman they had rescued out of the elevator into the corridor.
“Move!” the ginger man was next, pushing over the figures of Geri and the old woman as the former attempted to help the latter from the elevator, the Scots woman cursing in anger as she landed hard and slid several feet upon the tiled floor, while the old woman lay groaning in pain. At the back of the elevator, the ghoul snarled and began to rise, and both Alice and the nurse cried out as it latched a hand to the right leg of Brandon as he attempted to escape into the corridor, helped by Jiyaa. With a grunt, the autistic man fell to his chest, a scream of terror escaping him as the ghoul began to drag him back inside the elevator, the unintelligible cries of Jiyaa loud as she clasped at his arms, trying to stop him from being taken. Without a word, both Alice and the young nurse were suddenly there beside Jiyaa, the three women, dragging upon the clothes of the autistic man as the fought to save him, their screams of denial loud in the corridor, while the ghoul snarled back at them in hatred.
With a soft chime, the doors began to close, Brandon screaming in terror as they touched his waist and began to open once more, only to start to close again, his eyes wide and Alice cried out in dread as she felt them all sliding, the strength of the ghoul staggering as it began to pull them.
Then without warning, the old woman was there, her wrinkled hands clasping to the closing doors as she stepped over both them and Brandon, her face etched with a look of raw determination.
Without a word, she seemed to throw herself forwards at the ghoul, hands reaching for it, and with a snarl, it released its grip on the autistic man, and grasped excitedly to the old woman.
With the opposite force gone from his legs, the three woman suddenly dragged the screaming Brandon out into the corridor, and cringing, Alice watched as the doors closed, her final view being of the old woman her beneath the ghoul, her eyes closed as it raked her with its hands, teeth bared.
As Brandon lay sobbing on the floor, his body curling into the foetal position, Alice rose unsteadily to her feet, joining the nurse and Jiyaa in staring at the closed elevator doors in shock.
Chapter Nineteen
“I can’t believe she’s gone” Lauren muttered, her throat feeling swollen with emotion, her eyes brimming with tears and as she blinked, several left her orbs and raced each other down her cheeks, dripping from her chin to the floor below.
It had all happened so fast, one moment she, the woman in the leather jacket and the Indian woman were desperately trying to drag Brandon from the clutches of the ghoul, and the next the old woman had thrown herself into its grasp.
She had saved them all at the cost off her life.
It seemed unreal, that one moment she could be there and then gone the next, and Lauren had to remind herself that she had actually known the old woman for just an hour, maybe even less.
Yet it seemed as if she had known her for years and had not been a stranger. She winced as she considered her words, head shaking slightly.
No, she hadn’t been just another stranger.
She had been Mary Kent from North London, wife of George Kent and she had been a hero.
Shaking her head, the nurse raised her gaze, studying the brown haired woman in the leather jacket once more, remembering that it was she that had come to her aid when the ghoul had struck her, and it had been she who had helped them drag the bitten black woman from the elevator while her husband did nothing to help.
Fighting back the wave of anger that coursed through her unchecked as she considered the cowardice of the two men, she turned her gaze from the brown haired-woman and studied the Indian woman on the floor beside her, wincing as she saw her studying the bite wound in her arm.
“Are you OK?” she asked, kneeling up and the woman glanced up at her, wincing as she shook her head, one hand rising to tap against her lips.
“She doesn’t speak English” the brown-haired woman announced as she crouched back down beside them both, “Her name is Jiyaa…I’m Alice”
The nurse nodded, smiling weakly, gesturing first to herself and then the young black man who still lay sobbing upon the floor, “I’m Lauren, this is Brandon, are you two a couple?”
As the woman named Jiyaa frowned, her head shaking as she glanced at the woman in the leather jacket, Alice gave a soft laugh, “Not quite, I have only known her about half hour…we met in the chapel on floor two… her brother…well, he became one of these things…we ran, its where we met up with Geri”
“Geri?” Lauren raised an eyebrow, then turned as Alice gestured past her to where the Scots woman was sitting up staring at the lift doors as if in shock, her head shaking from side to side.
“Are you OK?” the voice of Alice made Lauren turn away from the Scots woman to find her kneeling down beside the black woman that they had saved from the elevator, “Can you hear me?”
Rising, Lauren moved to join the pair, dropping down to crouch beside them, a gently touching the black woman upon the hand but she seemed oblivious to their presence, her wide eyes staring straight ahead of her, one hand clasped to the bite in her shoulder, her lips moving soundlessly.
“She’s in shock” Lauren nodded, turning her face to meet the gaze of Alice, nodding as she spoke.
“What can we do for her?”
Lauren winced, her head turning to study the signs hanging from the ceiling, realising that they were on the fifth floor of the hospital, the surgical unit, and then met the gaze of Alice again, “We need to keep her warm, clean her wound and stop the bleeding in her shoulder and her hands, the same with your friend’s forearm”
Alice nodded, turning to glance back and Lauren followed her gaze, smiling weakly as she saw Jiyaa sat beside the sobbing figure of Brandon as he still lay curled upon the floor, one hand resting upon his shoulder as she softly hummed, perhaps attempting to soothe the young man.
“Ye spineless fucking cunts!” Lauren flinched as she heard the bitter snarl, her head snapping to the side to watch in shock as the Scots woman that Alice had referred to as Geri pushed herself to her feet and turned to look past the women.
Grimacing, Lauren rose to her feet, Alice joining her, while Jiyaa stayed where she was with Brandon, still humming but her face troubled as Geri took six quick steps that brought her level with the badly injured black woman, a finger pointing off down the corridor, “Ye killed her!”
Releasing a shaky breath, Lauren turned, her nose wrinkling in disgust and anger as she saw the two men for the first time since they had barged from the elevator, the pair standing some distance on down the corridor, on opposite walls.
“Geri!” Alice took a step alongside the ginger-haired woman, her voice soft, “Come on, leave it”
“Leave it?” Geri was incredulous as she turned to stare back at the woman in the leather jacket, her head shaking as if she couldn’t believe what she had just heard, a hand gesturing off down the corridor once more, “Tha old lady just died because these wankers were too busy running!”
“Fuck off!” the taunt came down the corridor and grimacing, Lauren turned her head to see the bearded security guard waving a dismissive hand at the Scots woman, head shaking as he glared.
“What did ye just say?” the voice of Geri lowered, her head half turning to stare at him sideways.
“You heard me, you mad cunt…fuck off” he took a step towards her, still some thirty feet between them and with a snarl, Geri began to run forward, Lauren and Alice breaking into a run to stop her.
Grimacing, the security guard took a step back, but then suddenly the ginger man stepped away from the wall that he had been practically hugging, the knife that he had snatched from the elevator floor pointin
g towards the woman as he snarled, “Back the fuck off…I’m warning you!”
Cursing, Geri stopped her run, Lauren and Alice doing the same, and the ginger man gave a broad smirk, “Yeah, not so tough now are you!”
“Like you, you mean?” Alice turned to glare at him, “Wouldn’t do fuck all to help your wife when she was being attacked but you are quite happy to threaten three women with a knife”
“Aye” Geri gave a humourless chuckle, “He’s definitely a big man, ain’t he lasses”
“Don’t you laugh at me…don’t! the ginger man waved the knife before him, his features turning red as he snarled, “I am warning you…!”
Grimacing, Lauren turned her gaze from the man with the blade, glancing past him to where the security guard stood with the ghost of a grin twisting the corners of his mouth amid his beard.
“What are ye grinning about!” Geri suddenly seemed to notice it too, and she took a quick step to the side as if intending to try and go around the ginger man, but he moved to block her path.
“I’m warning you!”
Between Lauren and Alice, Geri bristled but stayed still, her gaze upon the security guard instead of the man before her, and grimacing, the nurse turned to stare back along the corridor at where they had left Brandon, Jiyaa and the black woman, relief touching her as she saw that her charge was now sitting up, cross-legged, his book on his lap, the Indian woman sitting before him.
She winced as the sound of footsteps sounded, and she turned, frowning as she saw the security guard walking away down the corridor, the ginger man following after him, and shaking her head, Lauren called out, “Where are you going?”
They paused, the guard sneering as he glanced back at them, “I’m getting out of here”
“What about us?” the nurse hated the needy tone in her voice, “We should all stick together, there is safety in numbers at the very least!”
Ghoul: The Beginning Page 10