Dylan clamped his teeth on Roxie’s nose, biting as hard as he could. Roxie began screeching and flaying madly in her seat. Amy shrieked and cried. Ollie shouted at Jeff and Maria, but they were still out cold. Streams of blood spilt down Roxie’s face and found its way into her month. Ollie heard the bone crush in the vice-like squeeze that Dylan was applying to her nose with his teeth. Then he was off her.
The tears running down Ollie’s face sent chills through Dylan’s back. “Fancy a guy like you crying over a slut like this? She’s only a woman.”
Roxie screamed and cried in agonising pain.
“Please, don’t hurt her any more. She…she’s all…all…”
“She’s what? Precious to you? The love of your life?”
“All I have left, please, don’t…I…” Ollie sniffled.
“Shut up, will you. You’re making me sick.”
Dylan unsheathed the knife, and brandished it in front of Roxie’s face, before showing the gleaming steel to Ollie. Dylan then turned back to Roxie, who yelled and spat at him. He took the knife and circled her breasts with it, before slicing her top open down the middle, revealing her bra. He cut through that too, exposing her breasts.
“Whoop, look at them. What a great set. A bit tiny for my liking, but perky as fuck. You’re a lucky guy, Ollie, butty.”
Roxie cried for Ollie, and he tried telling her that it would be all right. Dylan scoffed at their pathetic pleas, and began circling her left nipple with the icy steel until it was erect.
“Nice,” he uttered, more to himself than anyone else. He bent over and started sucking at the nipple, flicking it with his tongue. Then he bit. Not too hard; just hard enough to make her howl out and for blood to form and trickle down to her navel. Dylan poked his tongue into her bellybutton and licked, clearing it of blood, before running his tongue all the way up the crimson trail, stopping at her breast before continuing up to her lips, kissing her.
Roxie struggled and somehow managed to work her right foot free from the binding. She planted it hard in his crotch. The air wheezed out of him, and blew into her mouth. As he doubled, her knee met his chin, and his mouth snapped shut. Dylan collapsed to the floor, grabbing his balls as he cursed the bitch dead.
Roxie tried frantically to work her other foot out of the knots before Dylan could recover. Ollie found hope, and applied all the strength he could to the lock, yelling out to Jeff, who appeared to be stirring on the floor. Dylan could see that the upper hand was slipping away from him. He needed to get up, but he couldn’t. Tingling hurt kept him to the floor, and every time he went to move, a bolt of throbbing torture shot straight to his head, making him nauseous.
“Come on Jeff, get up. Please,” Ollie shouted.
Roxie’s other leg was free, but her hands were tied too tight. As much as she tried to rattle herself free, her bindings wouldn’t move. Jeff slowly gathered himself into a kneeling position. He was breathing heavy. Dylan had also managed to compose himself, and got back to his feet. Roxie tried kicking him in the face, to try to do more damage, but he was out of range and staggering towards Jeff. He booted the man in the ribs time and time again, until Jeff started coughing up blood. Jeff collapsed back to the floor, and Dylan rolled him over.
“Can’t have you running out on me, plane boy. I’m going to need you. You’re my ticket out of here.”
“I’d rather die, than help you.”
Jeff screamed out a torturous yell as Dylan punched the knife into his thigh, and twisted it.
“Now, now, Jeff. No need to be like that,” he said, smiling. “You will help me, I am sure of that.” He pulled the knife free and marched angrily back to Roxie. “Nice try bitch,” he said. “But that’s just cost you your life.”
He sliced one of her exposed nipples off; her mouth flew open in shock, yet no sound came from her. Grabbing her by the hair, pulling her head back, he ripped the blade across her throat. Blood sprayed right across Dylan’s face; he opened his mouth to try and catch some. Ollie screamed in his chair and cried floods of tears. He could hear Roxie gargling his name; flecks of blood spit out of the slash at her throat.
“How’d you like that, then, boy?” Dylan said. He gripped the hysterical Amy by the hair, and placed the knife to her throat. “This bitch is ne—”
He was cut off as the sound of Ollie’s lock breaking echoed in the room. Dylan looked at Ollie, his face pasty at the sight of all the chains falling off Ollie’s body. He stood up, just as Ollie came rushing at him, tackling him to the floor. Ollie’s weight on top of him was crushing. Dylan tried rolling Ollie off him, but Ollie was too heavy. Then Dylan felt teeth at the side of his neck, and had no time to try and stop Ollie ripping his gullet open. As Dylan lay dying, Ollie rained blow upon blow, upon him, breaking his nose, cheek bones and jaw before finally digging his thumbs into the man’s eyeballs, and gouging them inwards, turning them to mush. With each blow he yelled, shouted and cursed until he was breathless. He rolled off Dylan, and suddenly felt a wave of pain as he discovered his own knife poking out of his stomach.
Ollie tried to get up, but couldn’t move. He wanted to be by Roxie. So he crawled. Crawled until he got to her, and had her hand in his. But they were bound at her sides, and in his struggle to set one of her hands free, the last ounce of breath was taken from him.
Chapter 10
When Jeff came around, he immediately clutched at his ribs. None of them felt broken. He got onto his back, and stared up at the ceiling. He stayed like that, unable to move, for a little bit. When he found enough ability in his body, he moved. His eyes firstly fell on Amy. She had her eyes closed tightly. Tears rolled down from the closed lids.
“Amy,” Jeff coughed out. “Amy, Amy!” Her eyes remained closed. Then he saw Ollie on the floor. Dead. Roxie, too, was unmoving. A large pool of blood had formed under her seat.
“No, oh Jesus, no. Not them. Please no. God, no,” he cried out. He got to his knees and turned to Maria. She was still, but with no sign of visible injury. As he shuffled over to her, pain ripped through him from the wound in his leg. He stopped, and put his hand to the wound. It was leaking blood, and by the looks of the floor, he had lost a fair bit of the stuff.
He shambled over to their table and whipped the small, dirty cloth from it. He tore it to shreds, and tied some around his leg. He then moved back to Maria, and put his fingers to her neck. He felt a slight pulse there. She was alive. Jeff struggled over to Amy, and shook her slightly.
“Amy, please. Amy! Please, come on, snap out of it, please,” he said. He could taste his tears in his mouth. “We have to get out of here, now.”
Amy’s eyes opened, and she looked into Jeff’s. “He killed them both,” she blurted.
Jeff put his arms around the child, and hugged her close to him. “Shh,” he cooed. “It’ll be alright, I promise. But please, we have to get out of here.” He used Amy to help him to his feet, where he untied her. He looked down at Dylan. The man’s face was almost beyond recognition. His eyes were so swollen the eyelids could not be seen, his jaw hung loose in a shattered state, and a dent could be made out in his forehead.
Jeff pulled his gaze from the dead man, and proceeded to try to untie the child, but the knots were too tight.
“Please hurry,” she said, pitifully.
“Okay, I’m trying.”
He looked around for the knife, and saw it jutting out of Ollie’s gut. Jeff didn’t want to pull it free, so instead dug into his pocket, and pulled out a lighter he had picked up while shopping yesterday. He scorched the ropes binding the girls to the chairs just enough to make them fray, then snap. Amy sprung out of the seat and into Jeff’s arms. He looked over the girl’s shoulder, and saw Roxie slide out of her chair, and land on the floor next to Ollie.
Jeff pushed Amy from him, and looked her in the eye.
“Stand right here, and don’t move. Don’t look at the others, okay?”
She nodded and put her hands to her eyes to wipe her tears away.
“I need to wake Maria up. We need to get out of here as soon as we can,” Jeff said.
Jeff left Amy and moved over to where Maria lay unconscious. He shook her roughly by the shoulder; his leg and head burst with agony. The cloth he had wrapped around his thigh was soaked through with his blood. He could feel the wound throb and pump.
“Maria, Maria,” he shouted at her. “Please, wake up. We need to get out of here.”
He continued to shake her, and she finally stirred after a few minutes of trying. “Thank God.”
“Mmmm, my head,” she said, as she rolled onto her back, lazily. “What happened? How long have I been out?”
“I don’t have time to explain right now, Maria, but Ollie, Roxie and Dylan are all dead. The…”
She shot upright, intense shockwaves of hurt cutting through her brain, causing her to put her hands to the side of her head. “Jesus Christ, my head.”
“Maria, come on, we have to get out of here,” Jeff insisted, and pulled at her arm to get her moving.”
She slowly managed to get herself standing, and saw the state of Jeff’s leg.
“What the hell happened to your leg, Jeff?”
“I had a run in with Dylan.”
“Here,” she said, handing him one of the machine-guns to lean on.
“Let’s gather what we need, and get to the jeep.”
“Oh my God,” Maria shouted, and began sobbing.
Jeff caught hold of her by the shoulders, and shook her.
“Listen to me, will you. Get what we need.”
“But…Ollie, Rox…We can’t just…”
“We’ve got to try and keep it together, not just for our sake, but for Amy,” he said, raising his voice slightly.
They both looked at the young girl. Her head was bowed; her body shook with uncontrolled sobbing.
“Okay,” Maria said.
“That’s it. Come on,” Jeff said. “Amy, love, we just need to get a few things together, and we’ll be going. Just stay brave. You can do that, can’t you?”
Again the child nodded.
Maria helped Jeff over to the table, and sat him down.
“Let me have a look at that wound.”
“We—“
“We have enough time. If you get hurt too badly, then Amy and I will be stranded.”
He reluctantly sat down, as she fetched more of the shredded cloth.
“Amy love, come here, please,” Maria said. “Come and sit by us.” Amy sat down, and stared at the wall. Maria stroked her hair, and tried to soothe her. “We’ll be fine, I promise.”
“He killed my mam and dad, he did,” Amy said. “Just like he killed Ollie and Roxie.”
“Dylan?” Maria asked her.
She nodded.
“He was telling me and Ollie how he and his brother escaped from some lab around her.”
“Who’s Dylan’s brother?” Maria asked.
“The man that’s dead upstairs with my sister.”
Maria and Jeff looked at the girl, mouths agog.
“Shh now,” Maria said, stroking the child’s arms.
“I heard him mention a lab too,” Jeff said. “I was semi-conscious at that point. Apparently there is some sort of army barracks in the area.”
Maria turned to Jeff and slowly unwound the drenched cloth.The blood was still flowing badly. Maria mopped some of it away, and used a fresh piece of cloth. This one she tied very tight. Jeff screamed.
“Sorry, I know it hurts, but once we get to the jeep, you can take some painkillers,” Maria said.
He nodded.
“So what were Dylan and his brother doing at this lab, or army camp?” Maria said.
“I’m not totally sure, I didn’t catch…” Jeff started.
“He told Ollie that they were being used by the army to test some new weapon or something,” Amy said. “It involved viruses and things that were put into them.” Her lip began to tremble.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Maria said. “Come on, it’ll be fine. I just have to finish dressing Jeff’s leg then we can go.” She tickled Amy under the chin, and smiled at her.
She took a second strip of cloth, and did the same with that one as the first.
“I guess we will never know the full story,” Jeff said. “But my guess is that Dylan and his brother walked that virus, or whatever the hell it is, out of that facility.” He winced as the second bit of cloth was pulled tight, and knotted.
“It sounds that way,” Maria agreed.
“They did come out of the place with the virus,” Amy said. “That’s what he said to Ollie anyway. That they infected the town’s water.”
“Jesus,” Maria said. “So they started this mess. We better get the hell out of here, right now. Stay put, Jeff. I’m just going to pack up the things we used last night.”
“Okay, okay,” he sighed, holding his leg. “But hurry.”
Jeff took the time to check the magazine in the gun – it was half empty. He would need to get some more out of the crates before leaving. The Browning was nowhere to be seen, and the shotgun was out of shells. Roxie had used the last of them in the previous night’s attack.
Jeff cast his eye over Ollie, and the other two, then onto the knife. It would be handy to have, he thought. Jeff couldn’t see anything else amongst the dead that would be of any use to them.
Maria hurriedly gathered the stove up, and the radio, popping them into one of the holdalls. There didn’t seem to be anything else worth taking.
“Right Jeff, that’s all of it. Le—”
“Ammo; we need more of it.”
“Right, okay.”
“Is there room left in that bag?”
“Yes.”
“Put as many clips in there as you can.”
Maria stepped over to the ammunition crates, and lifted the lid on one of them. The sun was shining through the gaps in the big window, splashing the planks of the cottage with yellow beams. The heat that was rising in the place intensified the smell: blood, death and gun oil wafted around inside.
She took out a couple of clips at a time, and placed them in the bag, all the while trying not to look at the dead. She felt sick. Her heart sank at the thought of Ollie and Roxie dead. I wonder…Her thoughts were derailed as the sound of rapping on the front door interrupted her. It grew louder, and louder – tap, tap, tap, tap, tap…
Maria looked over at Jeff, his face ashen.
He cocked the gun.
She moved over to the door.
“Amy, hide,” Jeff said. “Open the door,” he told Maria.
“No…Jeff…I—”
“It’s okay, just slowly open it.”
Amy pressed herself to Jeff’s back.
“What if…if…it’s one of them?” Maria said.
“It might be a survivor, like us; they can’t come out in the day,” Jeff said.
She gulped, and her heart thundered as she went for the key. As soon as her fingers touched it – the knocking stopped.
“They can’t knock doors, either,” Jeff said, pointing the gun at the door. His hands shaking, his forehead bathed in sweat, Jeff started panting.
The locking mechanism on the door clacked as the bolts disengaged.
“Are you ready?” Jeff asked.
“Yes…”
The door burst open, flattening Maria against the wall behind her. Jeff fired – his shot found the thing’s shoulder, which did nothing to slow it down, let alone stop it. It got close, and jumped at Jeff.
Jeff held the gun out in front of him, and skewered the thing on the bayonet. It tried to claw at Jeff as he held it at arm’s length, which caused the strength in Jeff’s arms to weaken and buckle, bringing the thing closer to his face.
Maria closed and bolted the door, ran over to Ollie, and tugged the knife from his guts. His blood sprayed up into her face. She got behind the thing on Jeff, and plunged the knife into the kidney area, again and again. It screeched out in agony, before relaxing and slumping onto Jeff, who pushe
d the body off him. Amy was hiding under the table.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit…” Jeff repeated. “How the hell can it be out in the sun? I thought they couldn’t come out during the day?”
Maria just stood there, unmoving.
“And another thing, she must have opened the door to the truck and climbed through. Jesus, they are getting smart.”
Maria was unblinking.
“If this one was out in the day – then that means there are…” he trailed off, scared of what he was about to say next. “We have to go – now!”
Maria looked at him, and blinked.
“We have to.”
She closed her eyes slowly and swallowed hard. Then nodded, and spoke. “Okay.”
*
Jeff had reloaded both the machine-guns, and handed one to Maria. He had the holdall on his back, and was now climbing through the cab of the army truck. He’d told Maria to stay behind with Amy until he knew it was clear.
The heat inside the cab was extreme; the leather seats scorching. The field ahead of him was clear. The wood seemed quiet too. He checked the top of the wagon and found no-one lurking up there. Could it have been just a fluke? One of them just got brave and tried coming out in the daylight? Jeff thought. He called to Maria, telling her that the coast appeared to be clear.
Maria sent Amy through the cab first, and followed close behind. On the other side, Jeff helped Amy down, then Maria. She had Ollie’s knife tucked into the waistband of her jeans. Her machine-gun shouldered. In her left hand she held the pitchfork Ollie and Jeff had found out in the shed the previous night.
“Let’s get the hell out of here,” he said.
Jeff hobbled as fast as he could across the field, with Amy and Maria tight at his sides. He swept the area time and time again, making sure that there were no more of them. At the top of the hill, they looked down onto Twsc – nothing had changed; except the cars that had been burning were burnt out; so too were the buildings. They were in time to see one of them collapse into a dusty, smouldering pile.
“Jesus,” was all Jeff could say.
“Jeff!” Amy shouted.
He turned in time to see another thing running towards the three of them.
Walled In Page 10