by John Riley
Thinking about it was pointless, agonising over it didn't change the fact that Daniel had been turned into a monster and whether she had been nice to him or not, only had any sort of bearing on her life if it turned out there was a cure. She still found herself recoiling from the thought that these things were still people, but the thought of a cure gave her hope. She stared at Miles, head down and quiet as he had been for the last twenty minutes. This man had a wife, a child and presumably customers who frequented his store. All that depended on him, all that he depended on. All gone, possibly forever. What had she lost really in comparison; a love that in all likelihood wouldn't pan out and parents who wouldn't notice she was gone until they didn't receive her thank you note for the yearly birthday hamper.
Miles had stopped walking and she found herself passing him in a daze before he called out,
‘Hey, this the place?’ Sarah turned and saw him pointing at the metal bar she had mistaken for a stick before.
‘Yeah,’ She squinted at the top of the fence and then back at Miles’ bulky frame, ‘You ok to climb?’
Rather than answer, the man proceeded to do so, swearing at the barbed wire at the top as it scored him. He landed deftly and pulled the wire up on the bar for her to pass under.
‘I hope the kids didn’t bolt.’ Sarah said quietly,
‘You care about them don’t you.’ Miles stated. Sarah stopped mid-step to analyse her feelings. She did care. The argument that they could be the last unchanged humans didn’t stand with Miles here now. She respected Laura, couldn’t imagine how proud her Mother would be of her had she not a) lost her husband and b) not been turned into a monster. She was more than a decade younger than Sarah and dealing with the current situation a hell of a lot better. Sarah had begun to feel like something of a big sister to the girl.
Steven was a little young, Sarah didn’t have much in the way of a mothering instinct; a trait she supposed she inherited from her own disinterested Mother. He was strong in his own right though, smart enough to understand when to be quiet and when to do as he was told. Smart enough to run when his legs told him he couldn’t.
‘I do.’ It had been a rhetorical question but she felt protective and wanted Miles to know she wouldn’t just abandon them. He smiled, an honest one that however still didn’t reach the darkness in his eyes.
They started off towards the factory, Sarah making a beeline for the window. She couldn’t hear anything but that didn’t necessarily mean they were gone. Now they were back the tough questions had to be answered, what next being the most daunting. Sarah felt carefully for glass at the window ledge again and pulled herself up and in. Crouching in the darkness she let her eyes acclimatise as Miles jumped in next to her.
The kid’s things were gone.
Sarah's heart began thumping in her chest, if the kids had left they could be anywhere and would probably be killed or changed within the hour. She wanted to call out, but was scared to do so. Instead she walked quickly and silently to the hall and stood at the slightly open door to the main room.
She thought, hoped was more likely, that she could hear low murmuring coming from behind the door. Miles put a hand on her shoulder and she looked at his questioning expression. Taking a deep breath Sarah opened the door quietly and poked her head around.
Steven was sat on a giant nest of sleeping bags in the far corner of the factories main floor, just beneath the stairs for the catwalk. Looking around Sarah could tell that although he was in view from where she stood, anybody entering the factory from the main entrance wouldn’t be able to see him. She saw one of Laura’s legs poking out from behind Steven and assumed the girl was lying next to him, she breathed a sigh of relief.
‘I’m back!’ She said, stepping from the doorway and motioning Miles to follow, ‘I brought a friend.’
Steven’s head swivelled and he smiled, Laura appeared from behind him and put a protective restraining hand on his shoulder. Sarah looked back at Miles and noticed for the first time his torn shirt exposing the musculature on his chest, not to mention the crusted blood on his knuckles. He was a mess.
‘This is Miles.’ Sarah turned back to face the kids and held her arm out like she was unveiling a prize, ‘I had a little trouble with some… whatever they are, anyway Miles helped.’ Neither of the children moved or spoke, Sarah looked askance at miles and he smirked,
‘I brought food.’ He pulled the bag from his shoulder and held it before him. Steven looked once at his sister, she sighed and nodded and he squirmed down the sleeping bags and ran for Miles.
11
They had eaten. The food remaining would probably last another few days and Sarah was wondering now if maybe they shouldn’t have eaten so much.
‘So...’ She started, ’what are we supposed to do now?’
Miles had managed to ingratiate himself with Steven in a way that seemed almost magical to Sarah, they were both lying on their fronts, watching creepy crawlies scurry across the factory floor. Laura had warmed to him too it seemed, she wasn’t sitting protectively over her brother like a mother hen, instead she had taken to rummaging through the pile of stuff left by the owners of the sleeping bags, looking over to her brother only every now and then.
‘What do you mean?’ Laura replied as Miles picked himself up and dusted himself off,
‘I mean we aren’t going to be able to live here forever, what do we do now?’ Sarah said, directing the last of this at Miles. He scratched his chin, then shrugged.
‘I don’t know what we should do.’ He paused, glancing at Steven, ‘But I know what I want to do.’
‘What do you want to do Miles?’ Steven asked, he scratched his own chin and then crossed his arms as Miles had done,
‘I want to find out what happened to my family.’ The man replied, smiling down at his little copycat, ‘What about you guys?’
Sarah opened her mouth to answer, but realised what she wanted to do was hide in this room for the rest of her life. Or wake up. She closed her mouth.
‘I want to keep Stevie safe.’ Laura said calmly, ‘but we can’t just hide…’
‘I’ll help with whatever needs to be done.’ Sarah stated, much braver than she felt.
‘So, what do we actually know about everything that’s happening?’ Miles asked, he directed his question to Sarah but Steven answered,
‘The people are turning into scary monsters that try to trick us.’ He looked for confirmation from Laura and she smiled,
‘I had to tell him why we couldn’t tell Mummy we’re ok.’ She explained, she pulled her phone from her pocket and waved it, ‘he wanted to call her.’
‘It’s pretty much true though and almost all that we know.’ Sarah sighed,
‘Nobody has seen somebody get infected and turn?’ Miles asked tentatively.
‘No.’ Laura shook her head,
‘I’ve only ever seen people attacked as I’ve run.’ Sarah said, she knew Miles desperately wanted this to be a disease, ‘I’ve seen the monster versions later so I don’t know that they aren’t just copies of people.’ She looked apologetically at him and he shook his head.
‘I saw a documentary about these bugs that go into ants and make them climb trees to get eaten by birds and things.’ Laura blurted, ‘could it be something like that?’
‘Like mind control worms or something?’ Miles asked, disgust evident on his face,
‘Yeah, they live in bird stomachs but the eggs go out in the bird poo and the ants eat them and it’s like a massive cycle of grossness.’
Sarah scrunched her face and held her stomach. It was bad enough thinking Daniel was rabid, the thought his brain was filled with worms just made her want to scream. She shook her head vigorously and waved the thought away,
‘God, I hope not.’ She muttered, ‘But wait, how would that explain the healing?’
‘How does anything?’ Miles asked darkly.
Sarah didn’t know what to say, so she stayed silent. Apparently, nobody knew how to answe
r, they stood in silence for a few seconds and listened to the sound of a car driving past the factory.
‘I think we should operate under the assumption that this is a disease.’ Miles stated, ‘Something like rabies but mutated.’
‘Why?’ Sarah asked, ‘I get that you want it to be true but if it isn’t and we go out there to find a cure or whatever we could end up dead.’
‘Ok, let’s for a minute say it’s revenge of the killer body snatchers from Mars or whatever.’ He huffed, ‘We stay here and slowly starve to…’ He glanced at Steven, ‘Starve. Then eventually we leave and they find us. There’s no chance of us ever getting our lives back. At least if it’s a disease there is a chance! Better to go out and look for an answer, hope that we can fix this. Because if it turns out that it’s aliens, or demons, or mutant brain worms; we’re stuffed anyway.’
Another car passed in the silence that followed and Sarah reassembled her thoughts.
‘Ok,’ She nodded, ‘I don’t think it’s a disease but you’re right. So, what’s our first move?’
Miles sighed and shrugged.
‘If it’s a disease then going to the Police is pointless, they’re the first people who would have been infected; they must have been out in force last night.’ Sarah pointed out,
‘Same thing with the hospital then.’ Miles added. ‘Guess it’s going to be pretty empty in there before too long.’
‘What?’ Laura look confusedly up at Miles, ‘Why?’
‘Whatever this thing is, it heals you from any physical problems you have.’ He said, after pausing for a moment he seemed to change his mind, ‘Well, my wife could walk again anyway so it fixes severed spines...’
Sarah watched Laura to see her reaction so she missed the start of Steven standing and giving Miles a hug. Her estimation of Steven rose considerably, the kid was smart!
The car door slamming barely registered in Sarah’s mind until both Laura and Steven flinched,
‘Laura!’ It was the kids’ Mother.
How? How in the hell had she found them?
‘Their Mum?’ Miles asked pointlessly, Sarah didn’t bother responding. Laura was staring at her in wild panic, Steven had run to her and was clinging to his sister in terror.
Sarah acted.
‘Hide!’ She shoved Miles towards the opposite side of the factory floor, towards the enormous vat that dominated that side of the room. With one hand on each child she ran to the pile of sleeping bags, shoving first Laura and then Steven down behind them. In a flurry of motion, she covered them both with a couple of the bags and made sure they were out of sight, then she pushed herself in next to them, doing her best to keep hidden whilst still having a view on the factory floor.
She saw Miles scale the catwalk steps and jump with little hesitation down onto the rim of the vat. Up, dizzyingly high but beneath the catwalk he could barely be seen against the aging steel. Silence reigned as she felt for the hands of the children and held them tightly. She could hear the mother calling, faint as she passed around the back of the factory and then suddenly louder as she called through the open window in the store room.
‘Laura, Steven!’ There was the sound of tinkling glass as she climbed through the window, knocking some loose, ‘Laura I know you’re in there I tracked your phone!’
Sarah felt one of the hands tighten in her grip. Shit. She hadn’t thought about the phone. Laura squirmed up to Sarah’s vantage point and with her head to one side managed to lock her eyes on Sarah’s. They were huge, the whites standing out against pupils that seemed dots in comparison. Sarah could practically hear the girl berating herself in her head. They both turned their heads silently to watch as the woman who used to be the kids’ Mother entered through the door.
She moved daintily, careful where she put her feet. Whatever she had been before, she was beautiful now; the face wasn’t twisted in blind rage, but angular and perfect. Her nose was dead centre, her eyes perfectly perpendicular and wide, from where Sarah lay she could see how shockingly blue they were. What she had took for stockiness must have been posture before because now she looked thin and cat-like; a beautiful deadly jaguar, an angel and a demon rolled into one. The sight of her seemed to make time disappear, she moved quicker and surer than she should, seeming to take no time and all the time to reach the centre of the factory floor.
‘Laura baby I know you think I don’t love you anymore but you’re wrong,’ Even her voice seemed affected by the change, it was musical and seemed to flow softly into Sarah’s ears like warm honey, ‘It’s been bad since Greg died but I’m better now, I feel better.’
Sarah’s eyes flicked to Laura, the girl had gone pale. Sarah could see the pain on her face plainly. Laura, despite being stronger than she had any right to be, was faced with what she knew very well could be a perfect, non-heart-broken version of her Mother. A version of her Mother that would care for her again, lift the burden of looking after Steven, let her enjoy the last part of her childhood. Sarah felt her heart breaking for the girl.
‘I don’t know what it is but I got home today and I feel incredible!’ The gorgeous woman stood motionless -not just still but actually motionless- for a few moments, apparently listening, ‘Granddad has said the same thing, he’s out looking for you right now, out of the house!’
So, they’d got the kids’ Granddad too. Sarah saw tears on Laura’s cheek and decided immediately that she would never mention it. If they survived. Which was looking less and less likely.
She felt Steven’s little hand in hers, shaking. Laura’s hand was still tight and Sarah’s heart burst for them. Bad enough to have your fiancé looking for you with confusion in his voice, but to see your Mother hale and healthy, love and concern obvious in her voice. To see her stood before you better than she has ever been, wanting nothing more than to jump into her arms and let her hold you, but knowing full well that she would rip you limb from limb if you did… Sarah hurt for them, she hurt and she hoped she could save them.
Steven must have moved. Laura had been motionless and Sarah was barely breathing she was trying so hard to be still; but their Mother was moving towards them.
‘I know it’s been hard for you Laura…’ She was creeping towards them, lowering herself as though trying to catch a stray chicken. Sarah felt Laura move, the girl’s hand came away from hers and Sarah gasped. The next few seconds were a blur.
Laura stood, impeded slightly by the sleeping bags on top of her. Sarah stood too, managing to get to her feet first and see as the monster screamed with hands outstretched. The thing leapt from where it crouched and before Sarah could react it was between her and Laura on the pile. The thing turned on Laura first, directing a punch to the girl’s head that missed by millimetres, Sarah dove for it without thinking and monster and woman tumbled to the ground in a tangle of flailing limbs. Knowing the creature was stronger Sarah pushed it away and rolled, trying desperately to escape. She felt a hand like a steel trap grab at the flesh of her shoulder, a yelp of pain left her mouth as she was hoisted into the air and thrown bodily several feet across the room. She hit the floor, rolled several times and came to a skidding stop. Steven’s terrified scream made her head come up sharply.
The monster had Steven by the arm, lifting him into the air it pulled its other arm back but stumbled as Laura crashed into its middle. Sarah got to her feet shakily, the room was spinning and she couldn’t seem to get her legs to work properly. She watched in shaken terror as the thing snarled into Laura’s face, back-handing her to the floor. Steven kicked at the thing’s leg, screaming defiance and it turned at the waist like a viper, hissing and snapping at his face. Sarah took a step, random syllables streaming from her mouth in a yell. It grabbed the boy again, hurling him back and behind itself to land in a scarily still heap, then it turned its full fury on her.
Sarah had nothing left, sick with the effort of just standing she waited for the monster to come. It did, swinging both fists from the side to connect with her middle. She managed to tu
rn into the hit and rolled to the side, keeping her feet by some miracle. The next attack came at her high and she couldn’t seem to lift her arms to ward it off. One palm slammed into her skull with what felt like the force of a charging elephant, the other hit her already sore shoulder. Her knees buckled. She found herself slammed into a sitting position, her cheeks stinging from the collision. The shock slammed her teeth together painfully but she managed to dodge the follow-up attempt of the thing to straddle her by simple momentum. She watched as it stepped over her, spinning nimbly. It screamed again, eyes screwed shut, face pointed at the ceiling. It didn’t see Miles drop.
He loosed his grip on the catwalk above and dropped eight feet onto the thing. Both booted feet hit squarely on its shoulders and the monster bent at a sickening angle. Miles managed to drop to the floor in a roll, his glasses skidding to a halt in Sarah’s lap. At the end of his roll he jumped up and dropped his weight, skidding on one foot. From a dead stop he charged the creature, already obviously paralyzed from the waist down but still thrashing its arms on the floor. He jumped, landing both feet in a mortal blow to its chest. Miles tripped sideways, caught himself and skittered a few feet before stopping. The monster didn’t move.
Miles didn’t bother looking, using a hand for each he pulled the kids to their feet. To Sarah’s massive relief Steven was cradling his arm, sobbing, his hair a bloodied mess and absolutely obviously alive. Laura looked a little better, the right side of her face already beginning to swell.