by Maxey, Phil
Jess forced a smile. She had a killer headache but at least her shoulder had stopped complaining. “Yeah…”
Sheryl appeared from the gloom, the other two following. She walked to the side of her cruiser while Karl and Joyce got in. “If this starts to go sideways. We’re bailing. I want you to find your kids but I’m not risking my life or Karl’s or Joyce’s to make that happen. We on the same page?”
Jess nodded. “Umm… what’s the range of these radios?” She held up one that Sheryl had given her.
“They’re high-end so maybe ten or so miles.”
“I just want to try something…” Jess hit the transmit button. “Meg? Are you out there? Over.” Static came from the speaker. “Meg…” She looked at the woman impatiently waiting. “I had to try.”
Sheryl nodded. “It’s fine. It’s a crazy plan you came up with young lady, but hell, with how the creatures reacted earlier, it just might work.”
“It’ll work.”
“Let’s hope.” Sheryl nodded towards Jess’s radio. “Keep in touch.” She then pulled open the door to her car and climbed in, firing up the engine. Her window slid down. “Stay close behind.”
Jess climbed into Daryl’s pickup, sitting in the passenger’s seat, then placed the bag she had reclaimed from him on her lap. They watched the cruiser reverse out.
“She’s not wrong about this idea,” he said.
“You started us on this path.”
He followed Sheryl out of the lot and onto the two-lane road, which headed down a hill and into an already pitch black Forest. “Using you as bait though… What if you get trapped or something?”
Large homes with well-kept lawns, draped in shadows, slid by. “You still got any ammo left in the gun I gave you?”
“No…”
“Doesn’t matter. Just be ready to pick me back up. I don’t want to be made to wait.”
“I’ll be there.”
They drove through neighborhoods with single-story houses and front yards full of leaves. Jess tried not to notice the homes with open front doors. She needed this plan to work. Otherwise… she had no plan B. Karl was right, going from house to house, farm to farm wasn’t really an option, at least not in the time frame she had, which was perhaps a few more hours at best.
She swallowed her fear of what lay in wait for Sam and Josh when their time ran out…
An awkward shape the size of a large man, but twice as wide stood at the side of a house. She knew it was a thing, watching her, but kept it to herself.
Watch as much as you want. I’m finding my children.
She still couldn’t make sense of the thing’s obsession with her. Far from being mindless beasts, the virus had in fact left these mutants with a semblance of intelligence, but why they were using it to track her…
Rackham brought me back to Denver… But why?
She had some of the pieces. Her company, Rackham, how the creatures were behaving, but she still couldn’t see the complete picture, which she hated. Once she found Sam and Josh and gave them the vaccine she was going to have to figure out what was so special about Mrs. Jess Keller.
The small convoy moved into a much narrower road with homes sat behind metal linked fences. The headlights soon lit parking lots and bleak walls of warehouses and office buildings and on cue a sensation she had come to expect, crept up her spine and settled within the throbbing pain that was rattling her thoughts.
“I can feel them…”
Daryl glanced at her. “Feel what?”
She realized her mistake. “I mean… I can hear them, the creatures.”
They pulled onto a main road and slowed to a stop. Daryl tilted his head to try and hear what his passenger could, but couldn’t. “All I can hear is the V8.”
“Jess? This is about as close as we can get without stirring them up,” said Sheryl through the radio. “You better take the lead. Over.”
“Understood. Over.”
The buildings of central Rockston were now dark silhouettes upon a slightly lighter sky.
“You ready to do this?” said Daryl. She nodded. “Okay, then.” He pulled out and around the cruiser and drove forward at a good speed, checking to make sure Sheryl was following.
Large picturesque homes then parking lots flashed by, followed by stores with windows smashed, others reflecting the last vestiges of the day.
Jess did her best within the pain to calm her thoughts as Sheryl’s cruiser turned off behind and they drove past a large church. A memory or a flash of recognition entered and left her brain just as quick as the building slid past. They kept on going, the buzzing now more prominent inside her mind than the headache.
“There it is, get ready,” said Daryl.
A large radio mast towered above the other buildings in the downtown area. Their destination. The pickup skidded to a stop and she pushed open her door, getting out but leaving the bottles on the seat. She glanced back to Daryl.
“Good luck,” he said.
She closed the door and he immediately reversed. She swung her head around to the four stories of the radio station which sat on the corner of an intersection. Its block-like design dominated the older, smaller structures around it, which fanned out along the gloom laden side streets. The interior of her skull resounded with vibrations of what the building contained, not just from the creatures, but also from what drew them there. The generators in the basement, humming away.
A noise came from somewhere nearby but lacked any definite source. She flicked her head left then right, trying to spot the slightest of change in the shadows which consumed the surrounding streets.
Come on… you know I’m here… just like I sense you…
A crunching came from around the corner on her right, while a trashcan or something else with a metallic ring, clattered to her left, down the side alley at the back of the station.
“Yeah, yeah… come on…”
A screech rang out from above, high above, from the roof. A shadow was falling, filling the sky, about to envelop her…
She threw herself to her left without knowing where she would land or what she could collide with, anything was better than what was about to land on her.
It landed with a heavy thud, its inadequate lungs wheezing out breaths as skin and muscle stretched. She got to her feet and scrambled away, towards one of the broken store fronts, not looking back but felt the ground shake as she climbed through the clothes store’s jagged window. The thing walked forward on four legs, too large to support a human shaped torso. Somewhat at the top, a head lurched left, right, swinging to try and locate her. In the darkness of the store’s interior she watched the street and the things emerging from the radio station, moving in her direction.
It’s working…
She stepped back, feeling a hand and swirled around ready to defend herself, then realized it was a mannequin. Correcting its position she looked back out the front, seeing if the commotion had been noticed but the creatures continued filling the street. The original thing, the one that dropped from the roof, staggered closer, its stench now drifting inside. She was sure the smell was even stronger than before. The decay more prominent.
They’re dying…
It was only a brief moment of relief, knowing that the horrors which inhabited the streets and cities were perhaps going to be gone soon, but it helped contain her fear.
She held her breath and waited. The dark, awkward silhouette moved away, joining the throng in the street.
She turned, feeling outwards for a wall then felt along it, trying not to walk into anything. Quickly she found the store counter, then moving around it located a handle, which she turned, and moved inside the corridor, closing it behind. She clicked on her radio. “Sheryl? I think it worked. Are you able to get into the station? Over.” Static burst from the handset making her fumble for the volume, quickly reducing it. “Sheryl?”
“Yes. I’m here,” replied the older woman, whispering. “We’re getting close to the back of
the building. I can see the fire-escape. Where are you? Over.”
“In a store nearby. I’ll go out the back, over a block then loop around. Over.”
“Good. Over.”
*****
4: 41 p.m. Highway 63.
Heavy clumps of snow fell as Sam walked into Rufus’s kitchen. “Brrr.” She shivered, smiling seeing Landon, Rufus and Meg sitting at the table. Josh, Agatha, Toby and Helen were on the floor, playing with an old board game.
“Enjoy your walk?” said the former pastor.
She nodded. “Yeah, I just about turned into a snowman.”
“Try and stay inside now,” said Landon. “Now that it’s dark…”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes, fine. I know. Anyway I’m tired. Think I might just lay on the sofa and read until I fall asleep.” She looked at Rufus. “If I can still use that room?”
He nodded. “Of course. I’ve got some of the classics on the shelf in there.”
“I noticed.” She started to move away.
“Have you seen that young man? Lachlan?”
“Umm, I think he’s in the diner somewhere. Why?”
“No reason.”
She turned to her dad as if something just occurred to her. “Later I want to talk about how we’re going to find, mom. Okay?”
He smiled with a nod. “Get some rest and we’ll discuss it.”
She turned, taking a glance at her little brother and walked into the living room, closing the door then immediately moved to the window and flicked the latch across. Lachlan was waiting on the other side, his hands in his pockets, a backpack over his shoulder, another near his feet.
“Hurry! I’m freezing!”
She grabbed her jacket from the back of the sofa, slipped into it and climbed up, through and out of the window, pushing it closed best she could from the other side, then turned to him. “Come on, we have to get to my father’s car.”
They ran across the crispy white surface, onto the small path between the buildings and then onto the gravel to where the vehicles were parked. The old car that Landon took, sat beside Tracey’s and Rufus’s pickup. She looked across to the diner than back to the house. Nothing moved beyond the glows deep inside either building. She pulled the handle and opened the driver’s door, her senses attuned to anything other than the sound of the light wind, then leaned across, pulling down the lid of the glove-compartment. Reaching in she plucked the blue box from the small space and opened it, taking one bottle, then quickly took another, placing them in her pockets and placed the box back. She quickly got out and closed the door quietly.
“I don’t see why we can’t just steal one of these.”
A noise came from the back of the diner, making them both duck and crouch beside the large vehicle. Footsteps came and went.
“Even if we get the keys, they’ll hear it start up. We wouldn’t get a mile before they came after us. We have to start out on foot.”
He frowned, letting out a breath which quickly became a frosty white cloud.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
4:58 p.m. Rockston.
Jess knew that if the monsters’ eyes were anything like hers, then the pit of darkness she was trying to hide within, wouldn’t be much help. She felt along the cold brickwork, using it as a guide and peered out to the street. Snow was now falling, covering everything in a thin layer of luminous ice allowing her to more clearly see the sidewalks and stores. True to her word she had made her way a block north, keeping ahead of the creatures and then using a fire escape or two, moved across rooftops and came back down to the northeast of the radio station which to her brain appeared quieter, but not totally silent. The power generation in the basement still working.
She clicked the transmit button on her handset and waited. A similar click came from the speaker. One of the humanoid shadows increased in size, an arm waving. She had no doubt Sheryl couldn’t see her, but she could see the older woman and the other two crouching near a large trash container. She stood and sprinted across the parking lot, then the road and got to them quicker than they thought she would.
She crouched, wiping the ice particles from her face. “I think we should be okay.”
Sheryl looked at the youngest of them. “Joyce, you’re up.”
Jess could hear his heart racing. “O… Okay. We go up the fire—” He stopped as if hearing something the others couldn’t. Including Jess.
“What?” said Sheryl.
“Nothing I thought I heard one of the things.”
“The closest is a few roads over,” said Jess. She heard the pause from the others, wondering how she knew that.
“Up the fire escape to the top. That door should be our way in. Then we have to go back down, through the offices and the rack room to the studios. Hopefully one of them is still capable of broadcasting.”
Sheryl stood, a shotgun in her hands. Karl had a similar weapon and all four walked quickly into the alley, doing their best to ignore the smell from the refuse and then jogged beside the wall, reaching the metal steps and ascended. The staircase rattled, sending clangs into the air and Jess could hear increased screeching from the nearby streets. Three flights up, Joyce pulled the door handle and they all moved inside, where Sheryl switched on a light attached to her gun.
A corridor with framed certificates and vinyl records adorning the walls stretched away from them, with doors, some open, some closed.
Joyce ran forward. “This way.”
As the others followed, Jess listened to the night. The things had stopped aimlessly roaming. Their grunts, snorts and growls were growing closer. She closed the door and caught up, entering a stairwell then descended. She could feel the heat coming from the door to the room below before Joyce opened it. Banks of computing devices, from floor to ceiling lined the walls, with flickering red and green LED lights. He excitedly moved from one column to another.
“Yeah, yeah… this is good. Real good. Everything’s still functioning.”
“What’s this room?” said Jess.
“Where we process the audio and store the backups.” He looked to the only other door. “Now we go downstairs and hope the studios are still live. If they are, then it should be as easy as clicking a mouse button.”
Sheryl looked confused. “Why’s it still broadcasting?”
“I don’t know…” He ran to the other door and listened against it, but Jess could have told him nothing of any threat lay on the other side. He opened it cautiously then moved into the darkness, the others following.
The door on the landing below was open, a mass of something organic was lodged at the bottom.
“What the hell is that?” said Karl.
As Sheryl swiped the beam of light across it, it appeared to react. Festering bubbles grew and shrank while the rest started to quiver.
“The first studio is through there…” Joyce nodded to the opening and the darkness on the other side.
Jess stepped forward then—
The mass of tissue lurched at her boot making her jump back. It now had legs, its form expanding, stretching, becoming that of a large beetle. A blast boomed out, sending a ringing into everyone’s ears. Smoke rose from the end of the police chief’s double barrels. They all looked from her to the mess which remained of the creature, parts of which were still shuddering.
“If the things didn’t know where the humans are, they sure do now,” said Karl.
Jess moved into the room. “We don’t have long.”
Sheryl’s flashlight revealed a large glass window and a sound booth on the other side. Dark computer screens were on a desk behind an upturned office chair. Joyce opened the door, moving inside, doing his best to revive the computer. He looked up and shook his head, then moved back outside.
“We have to go lower,” he said. “To the studio on the ground floor. That must be the desk which is still functioning…”
“Okay, which way?” said Jess.
He nodded to the door, but his expression quickly changed to one of
disgust as Sheryl’s flashlight illuminated it. Jess turned and let out a breath at the same time. What used to be a door was now a blanket of skin and muscle, strands of which were already waving, reaching out.
“I don’t suppose there’s another—”
A screech reverberated through the walls. Jess looked to the others. “They’re close outside. They know where we are.”
Joyce started backtracking. “I can’t do this… we have to get out of here.”
“We came this far,” said Sheryl. “We might as well see if we can get this thing done. Is there another way downstairs?”
He sighed then nodded. “Yeah, follow me.”
They quickly returned to the stairwell and kept descending. For a moment Jess was back in Denver, lowering herself into hell. She paused on the steps as the others arrived at the ground floor.
“Hey! You coming?” said Sheryl, pointing the light up at her.
She nodded then walked down the remaining steps. The door looked normal. No strings of tissue or flesh. Sheryl turned the handle and pushed it open, thrusting her gun and light into the space beyond. Cubicles containing pots of brown mush, sat on desks with framed photos and damp piles of paper. “Looks clear. Now where?”
Joyce pushed past her. “The room at the—” Something crashed within the building making the floor shudder.
Jess ran forward, dragging the young man by his arm, his protests falling on deaf ears. “Where?” They both quickly arrived at another large glass window, this one lying in pieces across an audio console. Joyce peered over it to the room on the other side while Sheryl pointed the light in the same direction. A glow came from the side of a computer monitor. He pushed open the door to gain access and ran to the computer, shaking the mouse. The screen promptly lit up.
“It’s this one! It’s broadcasting…” He swirled around, finding a set of headphones and put them on. “An emergency message. It’s playing on a constant loop.”
Jess ran to his side, trying to make sense of what was on the digital display. “What do I do? Tell me?”