by Maxey, Phil
“Going up there isn’t a good idea!” shouted Luci, noticing where his attention was placed.
He looked at her. “We ain’t getting out of here without some help!”
“They can’t get to us from Galveston in—”
“Not them, the Newgrove train! If I go back up, I can maybe get them a message! Get them here quicker!”
Luci shook her head in disapproval then turned to walk back inside. “Then I’ll go!”
“No, it has to be me!”
“I got a better idea,” said Sanchez. “I’ll go!”
“You need to get up there quick!”
He nodded, took two steps towards the glass window then stopped. He spun around then ran to the edge where it dropped down to the back of the trailer. Something growled and a claw appeared from the darkness before falling away. “Cover me! I need to get something from the trailer!”
“What?” said Luci. “What is so—”
He fired off a volley into the darkness, screeches came in reply, then lowered himself and dropped. Above, the others ran forward, Scott and Luci both swearing while Andy flooded the area below with as much light as he could from a flashlight. There was no sign of Sanchez but the rear door of the trailer was open.
“Come on! Quick!” shouted Luci at the trailer, bending over.
“There!” shouted Andy, his light’s beam sliding the twenty or so feet further and lighting the dark inset eyes of a mess of a face. Distorted human features extended even further as a mouth too large for the head which contained it, opened and snapped closed. The dark brown torso covered in ragged pieces of clothing was climbing the steps towards the trailer. Bullets dissected the air, slicing through the thing’s limbs, but it kept on coming.
“You got company!” shouted Scott, trying to figure out where to shoot the thing to put it down for good.
The trailer door pushed open wider and Sanchez stood with what looked like a backpack across his shoulders. He stood on the rear trailer ledge, his hand raised. “I can’t make it to the front. Pull me up!”
Scott threw himself to the roof’s surface, stretching his arm then hand lower as Sanchez jumped up to try and catch it, but the gap was too wide. “I… can’t… reach… you!” said the soldier.
The thing picked up speed, its lumbering body being propelled by ill-suited limbs. Luci fired again, projectiles cutting across its face, which appeared to heal as wounds appeared. “Why won’t this fucker go down!”
Scott crawled forward even more, his own body teetering over the edge. He didn’t hear the footsteps from behind, but a rope dropped past him.
“Here!” said Jess, lowering the thick cord she had taken from the first floor room.
Sanchez grabbed hold and she, Scott and Andy pulled him up, where he sat a moment catching his breath then pulled away from the edge, as something roared from below.
“Why was that pack so important!” shouted Luci.
He let out a breath, then got up and ran towards the broken window. “Not a pack!” he shouted, his words fading as he submerged into the shadows of the first floor room.
The barrels of Andy’s and Luci’s rifles jutted and darted left and right, firing short bursts at the shapes moving amongst the dark, but the numbers were increasing.
“There’s too many out here!” shouted Luci.
A heavy clump came from the front of the truck. Before anyone could react a spider-like form clambered on the hood, the windshield shattering. Scott ran right, along the roof but he arrived too late to stop the thing, climbing higher onto the cab then with one move, leaping onto the roof, causing him to skid to a stop. He immediately kneeled and fired. Bullets pinged off the boney protrusions which covered the dark body. It screeched in reply then lunged forward, Scott falling over his feet while firing. He turned in desperation for help but the three others with weapons were waging their own battles at other angry forms trying to get to the roof. Something heavy landed on his ankle, piercing the flesh then muscle making him cry out in pain. He whipped around ready to fire into the face of the thing almost upon him when a blur came from behind. A ferocious human shaped shadow smashed into the thing with such strength that the creature was hurled backwards, over the side of the wall into the darkness. It turned around, its features almost recognizable.
“Sam?” He said, momentarily forgetting the pain burning from his lower leg. Her body appeared to shrink and she ducked lower, taking him under his arm and helping towards the window. He looked over at the others. “Retreat! Get inside!”
Thirty-five flights above Sanchez swore repeatedly. He was too old for this shit. Not fighting monsters, but to be running up what felt like a hundred flights of stairs. He sniggered to himself.
Probably gonna have a heart attack before I get to the top!
His lungs burned as he tried to force the air into his mouth between breaths. He had long before dropped the AK-47. Now only carrying a radio, his chute and not much else. As his heart struggled to pump enough blood to his legs and arms he tried not to think about his plan. The one that came to him ten minutes before when he looked up at the tower and he stupidly volunteered to get to the top.
He swore again, slowing then speeding up again knowing that everyone’s life depended upon him succeeding.
He burst out the final door, staggering across the carpeted restaurant then with blurry eyes clattered into the glass door to the viewing gallery and pushed it open. A blast of icy air did nothing to cool him and he fumbled the radio from his belt and with some effort raised it to his mouth.
“Err… Train… Owen! Newgrove… Can you…” He swore again. “Come on! Newgrove… train… you out—”
“We… hear… Where… you? Over.”
“Dallas! We’re in Dallas! Near the main train station! How far away are you?! Over.”
“Entering… five… Over.”
“The creatures are in the city! We need your help getting out! Over!”
“Sit… Almost… Over.”
He scanned across the landscape from the concrete and steel buildings to the east, to the… A light sparkled to the north. He leaned on the handrail, straining his eyes, then held the radio aloft with his aching arm. “Scott! They’re here! They’re almost here. You read me! Over!”
“We hear you!” said Luci from the speaker. “The train is here? Over.”
“It’s maybe two—”
He felt the impact of the glass window shattering as his back hit it, before the winged shadow completely eclipsed him. The back of his head felt wet as he looked up at the ceiling of the restaurant.
“What the fu…” A huge mass moved outside the remaining windows of the restaurant. He had no idea if it could see him. Perhaps it was too dark where he lay. He slowly turned onto his front, lifting himself up and grabbed at his belt for the radio, but it was nowhere to be seen.
One of the windows shuddered as a wing or some other appendage knocked into it, then like nails on a chalk-board, scratched across its surface.
He kneeled then crouch walked across the carpet, away from the—
Static burst from the radio which had been just inches from where he landed. Before Luci’s voice came from it, two of the windows collapsed as the thing surged through them directly for the radio, crunching it with a claw. Sanchez turned and ran for the stairwell, but just feet from it the floor shook and instinctively he dived to his left behind a counter and stayed there. Keeping low. Daring not to move as the creature’s foul breath washed over him. This thing was fast. He wasn’t going to get to the stairwell and even if he did who would say it wouldn’t follow him in there. Into the confined space with no other ways out. He needed another option. Or maybe his first option. He rose up slightly, looking over the top of the molded counter and glass containers of rotting food. A cold wind blew through the openings to freedom. The creature spun around making him duck again. He knew he would only get one chance. His timing had to be perfect.
A high pitch whine came from what remained
of the radio, getting a screech in reply from what was only a few feet away. The thing thundered across the room, again trying to kill the source of the noise. Without hesitation Sanchez clambered around the counter side and sprinted for all he was worth, out, through the gaping hole, leaping from the ledge to the top of the guardrail and then jumped into the night.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
6: 34 a.m. Dallas.
“Sanchez! Are you there?! Over,” shouted Luci into the radio, as the others fired from inside the room to the awkward bodies making their way across the roof towards the windows.
Lachlan tilted his head. “What’s that sound…”
Sam could hear it more clearly and climbed on top of a counter, seeing above the things smothering the space outside. “It’s the train. It’s pulling into the station!”
All then saw the light streaming through the trees across the road, silhouetting the malformed creatures bearing down on them. The train’s heavy engine grumbled as it slowed.
“We’re here! Are you there?” said Owen from Luci’s radio. “The creatures are everywhere! Over.”
“We’re in the base of tower to your right! Over,” she replied.
Esther ran towards the stairwell. “I’m going up to see what he’s doing!”
“No! Wait!” shouted Jess. “You won’t make it back down! We don’t have time!”
A patchwork of neon streams spread out from the station’s tracks some ninety yards away.
“Can you get to us!” said Owen. “We can’t hold them off for long! Over.”
She looked at Scott, who was propped up against a pillar, his raised weapon firing in short spurts at anything that came to close to the smashed window. “Can we make it over there?” she shouted across the room.
“We have to!” he shouted in reply, firing off a volley again. He looked back at her. “The timers need to be set!”
She threw the radio to Jess then turned and ran towards the back of the room. “On it!”
Easter watched Luci run past her. “What about—”
“You guys might want to think about leaving. Over.”
“Sanchez?” said Jess in reply to his voice from the speaker.
“Tell him to get down here!” screamed Esther.
“I’m on the train with Owen and the others. We’ll try and clear a route for you, but you need to leave now! Over.”
The shock of his location only lasted a few seconds as the streaks of light from multiple automatic weapons converged on the trees, shredding leaves, wood and creature apart. Scott limped forward towards the stairs. “Down!” he shouted as others ran past him back to the ground floor. He looked back at the gloom behind the nearby corridors. “Luci! We have to go!”
She ran from the shadows, placing her arm beneath his to help him down the stairs and into a fury of noise. They hobbled out into the large space as across the room everyone began ducking under the jagged pieces of glass of the broken window to get outside.
“We’re coming now!” she shouted, walking with Scott best she could then helping him follow the others out into the chaos. As she crawled through she glanced back into the shadows at Millar’s body.
Andy, Vance and Landon led the group, using the front of the truck to cover their left as glimpses of claw and leathery skin surged from every other direction. A wall of mutated fury scrambled across the road, then up the steps, bullets tearing pieces from them but not stopping the things from progressing. Scott heard a noise from above and instinctively swung his weapon up into the sky and let forth a volley at the shadow about to land on them. It careered off with a screech, being lost in the horde.
The group inched forward but the army of creatures appearing within their flashlight’s beams was increasing. Exposed bones, covered in layers of muscles and moist skin, with claws and hooks, all combined together so it was impossible to make out one creature from another.
“Where are you!” shouted Sanchez from Luci’s radio, she almost not hearing him.
“There are too—” She fired at something with large trunk like legs and only a snapping serpentine head for a torso. It fell back into the dark. “— Many! We’re trying!”
Enclosed within the protection of the others, Sam stood with Lachlan. She could feel his shaking, smell his fear and knew they were going to die. No one was going to make it the eighty-yards to the train. No one was going to save Josh. The man that kept her in a bottle like a doll was going to win…
Her hand touched the cold metal of the truck’s fender and with it came the solution. She ran forward and pulled Esther back, the older woman spinning around thinking she was being attacked from behind. “The truck!” shouted Sam.
Esther immediately understood. She looked back at the others. “Everyone climb inside the cabin!”
Sam and Lachlan were the first to do so then Jess as Andy turned and with Vance and Landon ran and jumped up, squeezing between the seats to the back space.
“Come on!” shouted Esther as Scott with Luci’s help hobbled back, both firing as the things approached, then the former climbing inside.
Esther jumped up into the driving seat as Luci still fired with rage for her fallen friend, at anything getting closer. The older woman reached below the steering column, turning the key in the ignition that Sanchez had left. The engine fired, the powerful lights lighting the street making her heart skip more than one beat with what was now illuminated. A swarm of misshapen bodies covered every available space, in all directions. Esther placed it in gear and pushed down on the gas, the truck jolting forward. “Luci!” she shouted again, her door swinging open.
Luci turned, running back and jumped up on the door frame, then frantically pushed herself behind Esther’s seat as whoever had a weapon fired from the rear windows. “We gotta go. Less than two minutes!”
Esther pulled the door closed, while the truck surged forward, the heavy vehicle dropping down the steps onto the road smashing against the things that were clambering to get out of the way or gain access to the humans almost within reach. The windshield shattered as more than one claw smashed into it. Scott, in the passenger’s seat, saw the danger and pointed his weapon at the thing clinging onto the hood but his finger only produced a click from the trigger. Esther didn’t see the danger, her eyes only focused on gaining speed. The truck bounced up the curb as she aimed for the only gap between the trees, the wheels crumpling bushes and metal fence alike. A storm of bullets flashed past the windows on either side as the truck barged over then down a small mud bank and dropped quickly onto the first track. She slammed on the breaks but their momentum was too great and they kept moving towards the diesel locomotive.
“Shit… Shit.. Shit…”
Everyone braced for impact as they hit another track, this time though the truck skidded to a sudden stop, sending the cabin’s occupants flying forward, Esther and Scott only just managing not to fly through the cracked windshield. She immediately flung open her door, Scott the same but then pulled it back as something rushed from the darkness to his right. It smashed into the door, shattering the side window. As Esther jumped down, others joining her, the thing on the other side of the truck tried to force its claws through the broken window as Vance fired what remained in his magazine, causing it to roar and fall back.
A line of men and women were on the tracks, firing at the wave of things pushing towards them.
“Here!” shouted Sanchez from an open boxcar, just tens of feet away.
Jess’s hands were taken by her daughter who led and Landon who followed, each ducking while running as projectiles and screeches consumed their senses.
Sam whirled around, almost lifting her mother up by herself to Sanchez who helped Jess then Landon the rest of the way. Then doing the same for Lachlan and herself, while others ran to the boxcar behind.
“It’s going to blow!” shouted Jess to Sanchez, pointing in the direction of the tower.
His eyes widened and he jumped back onto the tracks. “Close it!” he shouted
as he started shouting frantically for the others to get on board.
Sam heaved and pulled the heavy door closed.
Jess looked at the ashen faces that filled the space behind them, most sitting near stacks of wooden and plastic crates. She turned to Sam. “Are you—”
The night turned to day for an instant and the floor shook before the explosion of noise canceled all other sound. Instinctively everyone crouched covering their heads, the Kellers crawling together.
The boxcar jolted forward as the rumbling increased, the iron and wooden structure rattling, shaking, tilting from side to side as if they were trying to navigate a turbulent sea. Cries and shouts were coming from all around, but the thunderous noise was incessant, drowning out the occupants’ pleas to live.
Jess held her loved ones close, not knowing whether the tracks were far enough away from the thousands of tons of steel and concrete…
The train picked up speed and a voice came from her radio.
“I think we’re clear,” said Owen. “We’ll be stopping once we’re outside the city to see to the wounded. Over.”
As Sam, Landon and many others unwrapped themselves from those relieved to be alive, Jess pivoted in her position near the door and tried to see through the tiniest of gaps back to where they had just been. Josh was in the city, she was sure of it and she couldn’t suppress the ache in her heart at moving away from him.
Sam threw her arms around her mother. “We’ll find him, mom.”
*****
7: 15 a.m. Dallas.
Finn paced back and forth, shaking his head. He stood on the fourteenth-floor of an office building in downtown Dallas, just a few blocks away from the city’s main station, which was bathed in a glow of flames and smoke which raged in the base of another building nearby. “Why don’t we finish it! They’re getting away!”
The other being in the open plan room with cubicles and rotting potted plants, stood in silence. His catlike eyes being able to see the sea of movement within the streets and parking lots below.