by John Riley
‘SARAH!’ She ran to the store room and out.
21
The others were waiting for her in the car, Mary’s hands were tight on the steering wheel. She slipped into the back with the kids and put her seat belt on. Mary didn’t start the car.
‘What are you waiting for?’ Miles asked, ‘we shouldn’t stay for long.’
‘You should have just left him.’ The woman said through gritted teeth,
‘What?’ Sarah asked, ‘just leave him to starve in that thing?’
‘He knows where we’re going now.’ She stated in frustration,
‘He knows we’re going to a clinic, that’s all.’ Sarah snapped back,
‘For God sake will you two stop fighting!?’ Miles yelled, ‘Mary get the car moving!’
She huffed loudly but turned the key and the car rumbled to life.
‘I want to go home…’ Steven moaned quietly, Laura pulled him close to her.
‘When we get to the clinic park as close to the door as you can and we’ll get out at the same time.’ Miles commanded.
‘Yes sir.’ Mary pulled off and drove out onto the road. Sarah looked back forlornly at the factory, this was it she realised, she’d never see Daniel again most probably. She didn’t have the right to be sad, not really. Factories passed as Mary made her way carefully to the gate. They waited for a few minutes at the gate but no traffic appeared. She slipped the car through the gap and turned right, driving quickly down to the clinic. Miles was silent, Sarah figured he was disappointed by the blood not working. She hoped it was that and not the blood working. The road was quiet, nobody seemed to be out of their homes to either side and Mary parked up close to the side door with no trouble.
‘Ok.’ Miles whispered, ‘we need to move fast.’
The group nodded and unclipped their belts,
‘Three, two,’ He pulled his handle and charged for the door, ‘one!’
Everybody jumped out, slamming doors behind them. Sarah heard screaming and fists against glass but was too busy to look around.
Miles grabbed for the handle, pushing the door in and stepping out of the way. The others ran in past him and he span, closing it behind them.
‘You made it.’ a strong masculine voice stated. Sarah looked Nathan over quickly, noting the strong jaw and ear-length hair. He was taller than her, but shorter than Miles. He was also spattered with blood and his clothes were mud-stained.
‘Who are your… Friends?’ Nathan asked, his eyes staying on Sarah for longer than she liked.
‘They came for help,’ Mary answered, her lips pursed, ‘where are the boys?’
‘They’re upstairs.’ He said nonchalantly, ‘keeping watch for me.’
‘Are they ok?’ She asked, obviously trying to keep her voice steady,
‘Yeah fine.’ He waved a hand, ‘so…’ He drawled, ‘this is crazy, isn’t it? All these mentals around… How’d you all survive?’
Sarah looked to Mary, but the woman was busy trying to keep herself in front of the kids. She couldn’t believe how calm the man was being,
‘I... was out last night when they attacked the club I was in.’ Sarah said falteringly, ‘I met the kids this morning when their mother attacked us.’
Mary shot Sarah a withering glare but moved aside to show Laura and Steven. Nathan glanced at Steven but his eyes lingered a little longer on Laura, Sarah tensed but he looked back to her soon after.
‘What about the big guy?’ He nodded to Miles, ‘Hey fella, got a name?’
‘Miles,’ He replied, pushing his glasses up his nose and stepping forwards with his other hand out, ‘the kids are Laura and Steven, that’s Sarah.’
The two men shook hands briefly, before Nathan stepped back to let them through into the clinic room. They all shuffled awkwardly after him, nobody knowing how quite to take him. Mary wasn’t any help, she just seemed desperate to leave and her fidgeting set Sarah on edge.
‘So where do you figure into the tale?’ He asked, jumping up to sit on a counter and nodding at Miles.
‘My wife called and told me to meet her outside as a surprise.’ He answered slowly, ‘she’d become one of them, Sarah came out of nowhere and made me run.’
‘So, this was before you met the kids?’ Nathan asked Sarah and once again his gaze lingered on Laura,
‘No, after,’ She said, ‘I took the kids to one of the factories to hide and I had to go back out for food. Miles owned the shop I went to and…’
‘Lucky break.’ He said smiling, ‘so how’d you meet my Mary?’
‘I’m not yours Nathan.’ She spat angrily,
‘Woah Mary, I know I know,’ He laughed ruefully, ‘just a joke between us, haven’t gotten round to signing the divorce papers yet.’
Sarah looked away in disgust.
‘We met Mary when we brought Steven to the clinic.’ Miles said, his face expressionless, ‘He had cut his arm whilst running from his Mother and it needed stitches. Mary was kind enough to help.’
Nathan bounced down off the counter and sauntered over to Mary with his thumbs tucked into his pockets,
‘You were always one for helping.’ He said with a smile, she backed up a step. Miles made to move forward, Nathan saw it and laughed,
‘Calm down big fella,’ He swiped a hand up quickly to run it through his hair and Mary jumped, ‘nobody’s gonna get hurt.’
The man moved back to the counter and leant against it. Sarah felt like she was in a room with a rabid dog, everybody was on edge. She could see now why Mary felt the way she did about him.
‘So, why’d you leave the clinic?’ He directed the question at Sarah but Miles answered,
‘We told her we had food and supplies back at the factory,’ Miles settled back a little, ‘she wanted to get in touch with you and it made sense that we stick together.’
‘Does make sense. But that’s my Mary again, she’s a smart one.’ He said, Mary visibly bristled but didn’t respond this time, ‘That’s quite the story though… So now it’s my turn to tell you what I’ve been doing!’ He punctuated the change of subject with a clap that made everybody but Miles jump.
‘Yeah, how did you find out about the things without getting attacked?’ Sarah asked.
‘I didn’t,’ He smiled pointing up, ‘the boys went out early while I was still in bed.’
Mary looked shocked at this,
‘They’re fifteen!’
‘They’re fine, their friends are next door or near enough.’ He waved her concern away, ‘anyway they came running in shouting about their friends going crazy. So, I got some clothes on and decided to go take a look.’
He paused as they all heard movement upstairs,
‘I told them to keep still.’ He growled, Mary frowned at him, ‘I don’t want them getting seen by those things.’
The noises stopped and Nathan settled back down again.
‘So anyway, I went out and next door but one has smashed his car into his neighbour’s wall!’ Nathan grinned, saw everybody's lack of reaction and continued, ‘so yeah I stepped out of my drive and his neighbour’s thrashing around on the ground, blood everywhere, a real mess. Meanwhile next door but one, Freddie or Fergus or something; he’s on all fours hissing at me.’
He stopped to mime the action, dropping down onto the floor and hissing at Steven. The young boy clung to his sister and Nathan backed up before Miles could move.
‘Cute kid.’ He smiled, ‘so anyway I see Freddie and shit myself. He rears up like a grizzly bear and starts charging towards me. So, what do I do?’ He waited for a reply, none came, ‘I smashed my fist into his face! Never did like the guy. So, he drops and I go to move off and check on the neighbour. Suddenly Freddie’s got his arm around my legs!’
Nathan wobbled precariously like his legs were tied up,
‘I drop like a stone. Nothing I can do except roll out of it. I bounce back onto my feet and then I see the neighbour again; he’s up now and hissing like Freddie!’ He leant back with a
grin, ‘so at this point I’m like “screw this!” so I jump over Freddie, leg it down the drive and dive in to the house. I get back and the boys are holding the kitchen knives, good boys, so I take one off them and we’re waiting for the door to open. We’re waiting and waiting and then I’m like “what the actual fuck?” so I go and take a look out of the window and there’s Freddie and neighbour, in their PJ’s having a shouting match about the car!’
Sarah knew what had happened, they all did by now.
‘They’d puppeted and gone back to their lives when you disappeared.’ She stated,
‘Puppet?’ Nathan said slowly, ‘yeah they do look like that!’ He mimed a puppet movement with his arms out.
‘So, you saw them talking and you went back out to ask them what they were doing.’ Miles stated, folding his arms.
‘That’s it, that’s it exactly!’ Nathan laughed, ‘I stormed out ready to slap them for being dicks and suddenly they’re both turning on me and hissing again. This time I’m having none of it so I ran back to the house. Watched them do the twitchy puppet walk back to their spots… and start up with the argument!’
‘So, how’d you get out of the house to come here?’ Sarah asked,
‘Waited.’ He shrugged, there were more noises from upstairs and he sighed, ‘damn boys.’
‘I want to go up and see them.’ Mary said,
‘No problem,’ Nathan smiled, ‘but… it’s probably best if we don’t all go up at once.’
‘Why not?’ Miles asked suspiciously,
‘What if somebody comes in here?’ Nathan said looking shocked, ‘then we’re all stuck upstairs ‘til they go. No, I’ll go up with Mary and we’ll bring the boys down.’
Sarah didn’t like it. Nathan was a slimy, manipulative, wife beating piece of shit and she wouldn’t put it past him to “slap” Mary the second they were out of sight.
‘I’m coming too.’ She blurted, he looked her up and down,
‘Sure,’ He smiled, ‘that’d be fine. To be honest it’s more the “not being seen” that I’m most worried about. That big window upstairs won’t hold against those things.’
‘Let’s go then.’ Sarah said simply, Miles caught her arm as she walked past,
‘Be careful.’ He muttered, ‘I don’t trust him.’
‘Me neither.’ She smiled and followed the other two.
The stairwell was dark and she had to hurry to catch them up.
‘Thank you for keeping them safe Nathan.’ Mary said grudgingly,
‘I’m their Dad Mary,’ He said over his shoulder, ‘what did you expect me to do?’
At the door to the room he knocked and opened it. It swung inwards so the two women followed him in without seeing the boys. When they saw them they both froze.
Both of the “boys” were tied. Ropes held their arms behind their backs and tethered their legs together. A single rope attached to the window’s locking bar held them from rushing forwards, barely. Sarah was sure Mary had mentioned they were fifteen, but the two monsters before her were huge; barrel chested and taller than either of their parents. They strained madly against their bonds, gagged mouths foaming and champing. Both women snapped to life as the door closed behind them. They spun to see Nathan grinning like a madman, with the closed door to his back,
‘Well say hi to your boys then Mary.’ He chuckled.
22
‘What the fuck have you done!’’ Mary asked hoarsely, he stepped towards her brandishing a knife,
‘Hush Mary,’ He held a finger to his lips mockingly, ‘if you’re not quiet that slab of meat downstairs will come up and your boys will get… excited. Those ropes won’t hold for long y’know.’
Mary and Sarah turned carefully to keep both Nathan and the boys in view. It did look as though they were managing to strain a bit further than they had just seconds before.
‘What did you do Nathan!’ Mary whispered furiously,
‘You don’t like it?’ He asked in mock surprise, ‘I kept them safe Mary! Look at them, they’re healthy as bulls!’
‘You said you all stayed in the house.’ Sarah managed, fear was making her heart beat in her throat,
‘We did,’ He said, relaxing back and cleaning his fingernails with the knife, ‘but something about that neighbour getting up out of a pool of his own blood intrigued me…’
‘You son of a…’ Mary started,
‘Shut your stupid fucking whore mouth or I swear I’m going to throw you to your precious boys.’ He pointed the knife threateningly at Mary and she backed off, ‘you always were a hypocrite bitch. Telling me that going to the pub with my mates was hurting us, watching football rather than being with you was making us fall apart. So, I barely go out, I quit the games and then suddenly the brats are born and I may as well be fucking dead to you.’
‘They were our children!’ Mary pleaded, ‘what was I supposed to do, ignore them?’
‘We didn’t fuck for six months!’ He growled,
‘I had third degree tears Nathan!’ Mary sobbed, ‘I couldn’t touch myself for months let alone let you fuck me!’
‘You’ve got hands,’ He spat, ‘a mouth too. One that’s going to get you fucking killed if you don’t shut up.’
Sarah put a hand on Mary’s shoulder and the woman bit off whatever it was she was about to say.
‘So, what did you do?’ Sarah asked, keep him talking was all she could think,
‘Yeah, so as I was saying,’ He leant back again and folded his arms, ‘so the boys and I are stood at the window. Suddenly a car pulls up over the road and Freddie and his neighbour go berserk again. They beat the crap out of the poor girl that gets out of the car and the boys are just there with their mouths hanging open. Of course, she gets up after about half a minute and the boys are looking back at me like they’ve just seen a great trick.’
He uncrossed his arms and stepped towards the nearest monster, it swung its torso trying to hit him with its skull like a flail and he laughed.
‘They said something like “what’s going on Dad?”. Of course, I don’t know but I’m interested in finding out now. So, when they turn back to look out the window I crack their heads off it.’
Sarah saw Mary pale,
‘I knew you’d hurt them…’ She whispered,
‘Nah I just knocked them out.’ He laughed, swiping his left fist across and hitting the first monster in the temple hard. It didn’t flinch, but bowed and bucked worse than before. ‘Then what I did was drag them out the door by their collars and dumped them in a pile on the drive. A little bit of shouting had the monsters on them in seconds.’
Nathan saw Sarah look quizzically at the boys and then himself.
‘Oh, they used to be smaller,’ He said smiling, ‘I think something went wrong with them when they got changed, maybe because they’re young I don’t know. But yeah they’ve grown a little.’ He stepped back to the door as Mary looked to be thinking about making a break for freedom, ‘careful now,’ He waved the knife.
‘So, you murdered your children.’ Sarah spat, ‘Then what, surely they went back into the house when they were changed?’
‘They’re very much not dead,’ He said smiling, ‘just look at them. They look like professional wrestlers!’
He scratched his chin thoughtfully,
‘But yeah they did come back in.’ He nodded at the closest, ‘little Johnny got up first. Came back into the house like nothing had happened but I was waiting for him. The second he got round the sofa I smashed him in the back of the head with my kitchen stool.’ The disgusting man laughed, enjoying the memory, ‘he went down after one but didn’t stay down. I had to beat the brains out of him before he’d lie quietly.’
Sarah felt sick, she imagined this lunatic crushing his own son’s skull and enjoying it; it wasn’t hard to imagine.
‘Then I had my great idea.’ He grinned again, ‘so I figured that if they act normal when they can’t see you; why not blindfold them! Of course, his brother had appeared
at this point, good boy Jeremy. Took a little more to drop him but then they were both tied up and blindfolded. By this point I noticed the bajillion or so missed calls from you. So, I got the kids to the garage, kicked them into the car and drove here.’
‘Why?’ Mary asked suddenly, ‘why bring them here?’
‘Well isn’t that obvious?’ He pointed the knife at her and his grin dropped, ‘I was going to let them rip you apart.’
The rope that attached the things to the window thrummed suddenly and the room went quiet but for the muffled screaming from the boys.
‘Oh dear,’ Nathan said in mock fear, ‘doesn’t look like those ropes will last much longer.’
‘Miles will kill you when we don’t come down with you.’ Sarah threatened,
‘Is that so?’ He adopted a breathy huff, ‘Miles come quick, one of the boys got pulled out of the window and those fucking things are pouring in, we’ve got to save the women folk!’ He struck a pose with his knife like a gallant knight, then stabbed it forward, twisting it, ‘then one of those in the back as he runs past and he’s done.’
‘You fucking bastard.’ Sarah growled,
‘Nah that’ll come after I kill the snotty brat.’ He licked his lips, ‘the sister was Laura, wasn’t it? Little younger than I like but she’ll do.’
‘Sick perverted fucking freak!’ Sarah felt Mary’s hand on her chest, keeping her back.
‘You’ve already seen that they won’t kill us Nathan.’ Mary stated, ‘They change us, then we come looking for you and I swear to god I’ll fucking drown you so you don’t change.’
‘Oh, I know they won’t kill you,’ He smiled, ‘in fact, you’ll live a long, long time. And as long as you live you’ll have the memory of your perfect little children beating the shit out of you. Your wonderful little brats pounding your broken body ‘til your brains are spilling over the ground.’