Chapter Fifty Two
“What are we going to do?” Emily gasped in dread as the two women entered the bedroom, and closed the door behind them, and Alice raised a finger to her lips to silence the girl.
“We have to keep quiet” her voice was a whisper as she stepped closer to the girl and her younger brother, while Lauren hurried over to crouch beside Brandon as she sat with his legs crossed, a hand gently stroking Lexie as the dog lay beside him, its head resting upon his left knee, “There are ghouls on the stairs!”
“Is she dead?” Eric asked, “You know, the bitch!”
Emily snapped her head down towards her younger brother at his language but chose not to reprimand him, no doubt realising that it was a fitting description, even from a six-year-old.
Alice flinched as something heaved out on the landing, and gritting her teeth, she stepped back to the door, her ear pressing against it, eyes closing as she listened to what lay beyond.
Lauren stepped from the side of Brandon to move back alongside her, the face of the nurse twisting into a frown as she met her gaze, “Bad?”
“It’s not good” Alice forced a smile, her head shaking, a hand rising to point at the door, “They are coming up the rest of the stairs!”
“We need to barricade the door!” the nurse stated, taking a step towards it, her hands pressing against its surface as if she intended to hold it back while the others gathered furniture.
“We can’t” Alice shook her head, gesturing towards the closed door with her head, “They will hear it…our best bet is to get back out the window onto the pergola and close the curtains behind us…hopefully they won’t see us there!”
“What?” Emily glanced between them, her voice hushed like theirs, “Where are we going?”
“Out of the window” Alice turned to her, “There is a wooden pergola and some beams across the top, we can hide there…trust me, it’s safe”
“No” the teenage girl shook her head, “We’ll fall”
“Emily!” Eric moved to her side, head shaking as he stared up at her, “We can’t stay here, we’ll get eaten by the ghouls!”
Cringing at the simple horrific truth of his words, Alice nodded, a hand reaching out to gently rest upon the right shoulder of the girl, “He’s right”
“Shit!” Emily shook her head, wincing and Alice stepped back to lean against the door, forcing a grim smile as she stared back at the young girl.
“You need to go with Lauren” she whispered, nodding as she spoke, “I need you to look after Lexie and your brother, can you do that for me?”
“What?” Lauren turned to look at her, eyes wide behind her glasses, “What about you?”
“I’m coming but I will come out last!”
“Alice” the nurse shook her head, only to fall silent as her friend sent her a determined look.
“You need to go first, help Brandon out there, then Eric and Emily with Lexie…then I’ll come”
Another loud creak sounded somewhere beyond the door, the grunt of one of the ghouls sounding close behind it and as Emily clapped a hand over her mouth, Alice stepped away from the door to crouch beside Brandon, scooping the injured Lexie up into her arms and then nodding towards the open window, “Go on, quickly now!”
Casting her a look of concern, Lauren clambered back onto the windowsill and then stepped down onto the pergola, turning to reach back for Eric as the young boy followed her, completely unafraid.
Shaking her head as she looked through the window beside her, watching as Eric moved to sit down on one of the cross beams, legs dangling as if he were just sat at the park, Alice turned her head, watching as Brandon began to climb through the window to join the boy and Lauren. Frowning, the black young man sat beside Eric, his legs out before him, resting over the next cross beam, and Alice nodded at Emily as the girl stepped up to the window, “Go on, you can do it”
Emily paused, about to argue with her when something heavy bumped against the bedroom door, and it was all Alice could do to not cry out in shock and dread. Backing to the window, she turned, watching the door intently as she whispered to Emily, “You have to go now, they are right outside!”
It was all the encouragement that Emily needed, the teenage girl swinging her legs up high as she clambered up onto the windowsill, taking the hand of Lauren then paused, “You are coming?”
Alice nodded, watching as the girl moved to sit down on the pergola cross beams, and then she lifted Lexie up and through the window, passing her to Lauren, “Here you go”
“Get out of there now!” the nurse insisted, and nodding, Alice pulled herself up onto the edge of the windowsill, then froze in terror, her heart skipping a beat as the door handle turned a fraction of an inch then something struck the door hard, jostling it in its frame. Sat upon the window, heart in her mouth, Alice pictured the door crashing open and the horde of white-skinned ghouls surging inside to find her upon the windowsill, their grunts of excitement loud as they tore her to bloody pieces and ate them.
Just like they had done with Bethany and Freddy.
Just like they had done earlier with Valerie, Robert and the good-natured Doctor Green.
“Alice!” the harsh whisper of Lauren was loud in her ear as the nurse grasped at her, and forcing herself to focus, Alice climbed through the window, back out into the heavy rain as she lowered herself onto the pergola, then cursed and reached quickly back through the window, her hands dragging the heavy curtains shut before she closed the window tight behind her.
Almost at once there was a crashing sound from back inside the bedroom, and cringing, Alice dropped to crouch upon the pergola, her back resting against the wall of the farmhouse, her breathing ragged as she listened to the grunts of the ghouls as they charged inside the bedroom.
Beside her, Lauren sat with her legs dangling, the border collie clasped in her arms, while Emily, Brandon and Eric sat close by, their faces grim as they stared back at window they had just left, all five of them soaked to the skin by the heavy rain.
Turning her head, Alice glanced at Lauren as the young nurse sat beside her on the top of the pergola, the border collie clutched in her arms.
Reaching out, Alice gently stroked the dog’s ears, earning herself a lick in return and then she raised her eyes to meet the gaze of Lauren, a faint smile creasing her features as the nurse nodded at her, her voice a whisper, “I’m glad you’re back”
“Yeah, me too” Alice nodded, reaching out to put an arm about the shoulder of the nurse, tilting her head to the side as she rested her head against that the younger woman as Lauren leaned her way, her eyes closing as she sighed.
She winced as Lexie suddenly began to bark and snarl, and snapped her eyes open to watch as Lauren fought to control the animal as it leaned forwards, staring down through the cross beams of the pergola roof and Alice followed its gaze grimacing as she saw two ghouls standing directly beneath the pergola, staring up at them.
“Fuck” the whisper of Emily had Alice turning to meet the gaze of the young girl, her stomach knotting as she saw the girl raise her legs to rest them before her like Brandon had, her rain-soaked features twisted in undeniable terror.
“It’s OK” Alice whispered, removing her arm from Lauren’s shoulder as she sat forwards, nodding at the girl, “They can’t reach us!” Wincing, the teenage girl nodded, and Alice turned her gaze back upon the pair of ghouls.
As she did so, the larger of the two gave a grunt, one hand reaching up as if it intended to climb a post of the wooden frame but then snarled, grunting once more, louder this time, and Alice felt the hairs rise on her neck as even more ghouls began to appear through the heavy rain.
Grunting in excitement, their faces turning towards the five and the dog huddled atop the large wooden pergola, hands reaching for them, their presence sending Lexie into a new barking frenzy and it was all Lauren could do to hold her.
Alice cursed as the weight of the ghouls pushed against the wooden supports as they clustered
about, grunting and snarling in excitement and the pergola seemed to shift slightly, drawing a scream of terror from Brandon and the children.
Behind them, the bedroom window seemed to shake in its frame and turning, Alice stared back in terror, watching as the curtains were torn away to reveal a horde of white cracked faces staring back at them, their beige eyes wide.
“Go!” Alice shouted as she saw one of them lean forward to stare out at them, grunting angrily as its face struck the window, “Move now!”
Grimacing, Lauren rose to her knees, clasping the barking dog in her arms as she moved across the wooden grid roof of the pergola to where the children and Brandon were seated, Alice following suit then turning back to the window.
It shattered as a ghoul swung a fist into it, the glass falling through the roof of the pergola, and snarling in excitement as it saw them, the white-skinned creature clambered through the window frame and out onto the wooden cross beams.
It grunted as it took a mis step, one leg slipping through one of the open sections and it staggered off balance to fall upon the horde waiting below.
Yet more were in its place almost at once, clambering out onto the roof of the pergola, hands reaching towards where Alice, Lauren, Brendan and the children waited, Lexie barking at them as if daring them to come any closer.
In that moment, Alice knew that it was over.
There was no escape.
They were trapped both above and below by the ghouls and there was nothing but pain ahead.
Her heart broke then as she turned her head, seeing the fear upon the face of Emily as she hugged her younger brother to her, shielding his face from what was to come, her other hand clasping to the right hand of a sobbing Brandon, and then Alice turned her gaze to meet that of Lauren, nodding as she sighed heavily, “We tried”
The nurse nodded, somehow managing to give her a weak smile, “We did our best”
Alice suddenly winced, cringing in shock as the harsh blare of an ambulance siren sounded in the night, her head turning to watch as bright lights cut through the rain and the darkness around the edge of the building, the roar of an engine loud.
“Dog!” Alice almost sobbed as she cried out in elation, watching as the ambulance and the white van that they had taken from the village roared into view. Gathered in a group around the base of the pergola, the ghouls snarled in sudden pain as the headlights off first one and then another vehicle shone towards the base of the wooden structure, the fluorescent blue lights swirling around atop the ambulance sending the bestial creatures clasping hands to cover their eyes.
As the lead vehicle surged closer, Alice suddenly cried out in dread, thinking that her friend had steered too close to the pergola and had doomed them all but then the speeding vehicle struck the cluster group of ghouls hard, throwing them back from the wooden structure. Instantly the white van pulled up next to the pergola, crashing into those that the ambulance had missed, several going under the wheels, and leaning over the edge Alice saw the face of Bella stare up at her from the drivers window, voice loud through the crack in her window, “Get on the roof…hold on!”
“You heard her!” Alice turned, addressing the others with her, “Come on, let’s do this!”
Gritting her teeth, she turned to watch as Lauren stepped to the edge of the pergola and swung her legs over, stepping onto the roof and moving to sit down in its middle. Heart hammering in her chest, Alice turned to Brandon, “You next hun”
He flinched, head shaking but then Eric was nodding at him, “Come on dude, its easy look”
Without another word, the young boy stepped from the pergola onto the roof of the white van, and turned to gesture to Brandon, “Come on, you can do it, your my best friend!”
As if he were a different, more confident person, Brandon rose and stepped from the pergola to the roof of the van, sitting beside the boy, his legs crossing as he smiled sheepishly, and Alice reached for Emily, “Come on, its our turn”
“What if we fall?”
“Then we get up and run” Alice sent her a grim smile, then cursed as she glimpsed a hand of a ghoul reaching for the girl, those remaining on the roof of the pergola having reached them while they had been distracted, “Look out!”
As Emily ducked the reaching hand, Alice stepped towards her, snatched her hand and then turned to the edge of the pergola, “Jump!”
Cringing as the snarl of the approaching ghouls sounded right behind her, they both leaped forwards through the dark and the rain, landing upon the roof of the van, Alice crying out in dread as her boots slipped beneath her and she fell, slipping for the edge, only to stop sliding as Brandon grasped at her reaching hands, the strength of the gentle young man staggering.
For a moment, she hung there, her legs kicking wildly, half-expecting to be dragged from the van by the ghouls below and half-expecting to be attacked from those above, but then she was hauled back onto the roof to lay on her back.
Grimacing, staring up into the rain that was falling onto her face, she reached down with a hand, pounding the roof several times with a fist.
Instantly the van began to move, barely at a crawl but enough to put some distance between them and the pergola, and turning her head, Alice watched the ghouls atop it snarling, their primitive forms backlit by the bedroom behind.
Forcing herself to sit up, Alice moved alongside her companions, watching as the ambulance suddenly fell silent, the blue lights fading as it began to reverse from where it had stopped, turning itself around to pull up on the passenger side of the white van, the cabs level with each other. Peering over the edge of the van, Alice watched as the passenger window of both vehicles began to unwind and then Bella began to crawl from one vehicle to the other, before reaching back and retrieving her shotgun her vehicle, a hand rising as she passed it up, a grim smile on her features, “We are going to try and make as much noise as possible and lead the ghouls away from here…you guys stay safe”
“You’ll need the gun!” Alice shook her head.
“No, Dog has his” Bella nodded up at her, “The keys are in the van, when you think it is safe, get everyone in the van, block the entrance again”
Alice nodded, suddenly struck with concern for her two friends, “Be careful, I already thought we’d lost you once, I thought Bethany…”
Bella grimaced, “She tried…where is she?”
“Dead” Alice stated, “She’s deader than disco”
Bella didn’t even try to hide the satisfaction on her face, “Did you make her pay for Jiyaa?”
Alice nodded, smiling grimly, then turned her head as the ghouls atop the pergola started to drop down from it, others climbing through the window and doing the same, “You better get out of here while you can…please…be careful”
Bella threw her a wink, “You too!”
And then they began to drive away, the ambulance moving at no more than five miles per hour, the sirens and lights once more resuming, and shaking her head, Alice, Lauren, Brandon and the children watched as the ghouls began to follow along behind it, grunting and snarling.
Like a fluorescent Pied Piper of Hamlin leading some giant albino rats away to God knows where.
Chapter Fifty Three
Victor opened his eyes to the cold sunlight that was coming through the paper-thin space between the bedroom curtains, blinking several times as he lay beneath the thick duvet and layers of blankets, studying the dust motes as they danced lazily in the air. The house about him was cold and quiet, and he sighed heavily.
The generator had clearly gone off in the night.
They would have to go out and get some fuel for it today, as well as getting wood for the fireplace.
But that was hours away. Turning his face back towards the window he laid for what felt like an eternity, studying the thin strip of light once more, trying to work out what time it might be, then he turned his head as Bella moved beside him, muttering in her sleep, her face screwing up as she rolled against him, her face upon his ch
est.
Releasing a shaky breath, he put a protective arm about her, his fingers tracing patterns upon her back as they lay pressed together, their bodies warm beneath the duvet and closing his eyes, he cast his mind back to the night two days before.
Once they had cleared all of the ghouls that they could see away from the front of the farmhouse they had jumped in their respective vehicles and driven around the rear of the property to find the others from their group crouched atop the pergola, completely surround by snarling ghouls.
As he had driven at the lower group, he had glanced up, his eyes desperately seeking sight of Emily and Eric, realising as he spotted them that there were people missing from their number.
Grim faced he had crashed through the horde, crushing many, throwing others back to the ground, and then sat watching in his mirrors as Bella drove up beside the pergola, letting their friends clamber atop her van before driving off.
Grimacing, he had watched Alice nearly fall then manage to get back atop the van, and he had driven alongside them, allowing Bella to clamber in beside him in the front of the ambulance, and together they had driven away from the farm.
Back around the front of the farm they had gone, going in several circles before the house, the lights flashing and the sirens blaring and he had cursed as the ghouls had poured from the open front door of the farmhouse like fat white maggots bursting from an infected wound, their snarls and grunts loud as they had tried to encircle the ambulance, drawn by the clamour.
Then, when he was certain there were no more, Victor had driven off down the track, just fast enough to allow the ghouls to keep up with them.
For nearly an hour they had driven about the moorland, the windscreen wipers darting furiously back and forth, and without giving it conscious thought, Bella had slid along the seat to sit as close to him as she could, his left hand moving to rest upon her right leg, her hands holding to it. And so, they had driven in silence, bonded in grief, and perhaps something more.
Ghoul: The Beginning Page 31