One More Dawn
Page 16
Sarah was stunned by the sheer sadistic thought.
‘But see that’s not the biggest thing,’ He said happily, ‘the thing you’ve not asked me is “what have I been doing all afternoon”.’
‘You told us.’ Sarah replied, trying to shield Mary from all three monsters in the room at once, ‘you brought them here and…’
She went silent. He hadn’t said what time he’d gotten to the clinic. She’d assumed he hadn’t been here long but if he’d arrived just after they’d left…
‘When we got here I was planning just to release these two,’ He nodded at the things straining against their bonds, ‘but when I pulled up I saw the side door open and the whole place turned upside down.’
They’d had to leave quickly and Miles’ barricade had just been dumped to one side. Sarah imagined it had looked like the clinic had been robbed.
‘So, I started thinking,’ Nathan put a hand in his pocket and pulled out his phone, ‘you’d been trying to call me for about forty minutes and that meant wherever you’d gone was a good distance away. There’s only one place you’d go when you’re scared; to your douche of a brother. So, I figured my plan could change a little; instead of bringing the trap to you, I’d bring you to the trap.’
‘Get to the point.’ Sarah mocked dangerously, Mary had gone very quiet and truth be told Sarah was getting increasingly worried about her. If the other woman did something crazy they could all be killed. Better that she finds a way to get them all out of the room, then they could deal with Nathan.
‘I don’t think you’re really in a place to be giving orders.’ He growled, the phone going away and the knife coming up, ‘but I can see that little Mary is close to the edge so I guess I can let it fly this once.’
He wasn’t wrong Sarah thought, Mary was shaking, her eyes glazing over and staring at the things that used to be her sons. Sarah had no idea what might be going through her head, couldn’t begin to understand the pain the other woman must be going through.
‘How about this,’ He leant back and smirked at them, ‘instead of telling you what I’ve been doing, I’ll just show you.’
Sarah didn’t have a chance to react, the man was too fast. In a blink, he had stepped towards the closest monster and slammed the knife down into the gap between the shoulder and neck. The blade sank to the hilt and the monster’s foaming mouth turned red around the gag. With a twist and a wrench, the blade came free and the monster fell away, something severely damaged enough to make it heave breaths on its knees. Mary exploded and tried to pull away from Sarah’s grip, but Sarah managed to pull her back.
‘BASTARD!’ Mary screamed, her arms flailing trying to reach Nathan. He laughed, planting a booted foot behind him and holding the knife up ready.
‘For hours Mary!’ He sang, ‘I’ve been playing with them for hours!’
He kicked the already rising monster in the face and it fell back again,
‘They’re like fucking yoyo’s!’ He shouted with glee, ‘you drop them but they always come back up!’
Mary had stopped fighting Sarah, the horror too much for her to bare. She crumpled into a heap, desperate to reach for her sons, but stopping short with self-preservation.
‘And here’s the cherry on the cake.’ Nathan squatted down to be on level with Mary’s destroyed form, ‘I never once let them take their blindfolds off Mary.’
Sarah froze. He couldn’t be telling the truth, there was just no way he could.
‘Do you know what that means Mary?’ He prompted, but seeing as her reaction was to cry out in anguish it was obvious she understood, ‘they felt everything!’
He stood up and laughed, huge booming laughs filled with mirth for the pains he had inflicted and was still inflicting,
‘Every fucking cut, every fucking punch, every fucking kick.’ He danced back to the door, ‘I was going to start taking fingers when I got your last missed call and decided that I needed to try this on you.’
Sarah felt sick. Standing in front of the door was a shining example of the absolute worst aspects of humanity. The two hulking monstrosities paled in comparison, simply casualties of the monster that was Nathan.
‘Sarah?’ Miles called from downstairs. Nathan turned his head to look at the door,
‘Well I guess that means my plan’s gotta change....’ He said with a smirk, moving towards the two women. Sarah couldn’t react properly, she felt slow and heavy. Nathan grabbed Mary by the hair with one hand and kicked Sarah back into the wall, she hit hard and just about kept her feet. He put the knife to Mary’s throat as he held her just off her knees by her hair. She was screaming, her hands scrabbling desperately at his as she tried to get to her feet. He smirked and time seemed to slow down.
Sarah watched as the monster Nathan had stabbed lunged for Mary. It was close enough to ram its head into her back, which it did with enough force to knock her forwards. Sarah saw her grit her teeth against the pain and throw her head with the momentum. Mary’s head collided with Nathan’s genitals. Hard. He folded in the middle in comical slow motion as the knife dropped from nerveless fingers. His other hand let go of her hair which left Mary free to scramble up and grab the knife.
‘You fucking dickles s wanker!’ she screamed, holding the knife in two hands and dropping down onto his rocking form. He yelled out in agony and kicked out. The kick landed and Mary was thrown off, but the damage was done. Sarah could see a ragged red wound in Nathan’s stomach between the fingers trying desperately to hold his insides in.
‘You fucking bitch you stabbed me!’ He had gone pale, Sarah first thought it was blood loss but then she saw where Mary was.
The other woman was behind the two bound monsters and was sawing at the rope holding them to the window.
‘Kill!’ She screamed, before charging Nathan with the knife raised. The monsters followed, still impeded by the ropes around them. Nathan dived to one side, hollering in pain as his injured stomach struck the ground. Mary followed awkwardly, almost tripping and narrowly avoiding being sandwiched between the door and her sons. Sarah put her hands over her ears and tucked her legs in to try and make herself smaller as the bizarre chase moved past her. Nathan tried to rise but grotesque chunks of his insides kept falling from him and Mary caught up, slashing at his back and then his hands as he turned to fend her off. He back pedalled and tripped, ending the chase. Mary fell forward with the knife, plunging it deep into Nathan’s chest. The pair fell in a heap, swiftly followed by the monsters as they slammed into them.
‘Sarah!’ She heard her name yelled and looked up in shock at Miles standing in the doorway. She scrambled to her feet and ran for the door but the things had heard him too. With Nathan dead or dying and Mary surely no better they had turned their attention on the new source of vital life; Miles. Their bonds all but gone they charged straight past the terrified Sarah, causing Miles to turn and run. She ran too, a little voice inside her told her she was running towards the monsters not away, but she ignored it; where else was there to go?
She heard Laura scream as she reached the top of the stairs and almost fell in the dark as she ran down them. At the bottom, she skidded to a stop. Miles had one of the things in a headlock and was pulling. The monster was easily his match in size and was flailing madly, forcing the big man to have to constantly rearrange his grip. But the sight that caused Sarah to freeze, the sight that made her heart stop and wish that she could just die, was the one that had made Laura scream. The second monster had obviously come in after the first, but for whatever reason it had chosen not to attack Miles. The second monster had chosen Steven.
23
Sarah stared in horror as the hulking creature held little Stevie by the throat with one enormous hand, pinning him to the wall effortlessly. Sarah could see the boy’s eyes bulging as he turned red, his tongue engorged and forced from between his lips. His tiny hands were clawing at the monster’s arm ineffectually and his legs were kicking out. The monster moved its head and screamed straight into
Steven’s face, the noise snapped Sarah out of her paralysis and she made to bolt for the thing, to kill it to save Steven. She hadn’t moved more than a foot before it pulled him back off the wall and slammed him, hard, into the counter. Sarah saw the boy’s limp body fall from the things hand as it turned to face her.
‘STEVEN!’ Laura leapt for her brother, the monster was distracted for a moment by both Sarah and Laura being so close and then Sarah was on it.
She knew she didn’t stand a chance. She leapt for its head, her knee coming up hard into its face. She hit dead centre and the thing rocked back, dazed for a moment. She fell back, her knee feeling like she’d rammed it into a wall. It shook its head and roared, throwing a punch that Sarah managed to half dodge. It clipped her shoulder and sent her spinning into the patient chair. The monster followed her, clawing at her like a bear. She scrambled on all fours under the chair and kept it between her and the thing. Sarah ducked a punch and dodged to the side, making it lumber around to try and get her,
‘Sarah!’ Miles shouted, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the monster. It lunged across the chair, impatient to get at her and she twisted, dodging nimbly around it and the chair both. Sarah saw Miles, he had Steven across his shoulder and was standing at the side door to the clinic. She couldn’t see Laura, but assumed she had already ran. The monster behind her roared again and she stopped worrying. She juked left and the monster followed, then she bolted right and around the chair. She felt it’s swing miss her as she passed and sprinted for the door.
Miles had left as soon as he saw her coming and as her feet touched the tarmac outside he slammed the door behind her.
‘We have to go!’ He said breathily, ‘where?’
Sarah didn’t have to think, there was only one place they could go now,
‘Factory.’ She croaked, pushing him towards the road. They both heard the crash of the boys hitting the door. The fact that it opened inwards was probably the only thing stopping them from breaking through. Miles stumbled over the kerb and down onto the road, not taking the time to check for traffic. Sarah followed just as blindly, her damaged legs forcing her jog into a lope. They heard the clarion call of screaming from the houses and could do nothing but hope the monsters stayed inside.
Miles reached the other side and made for the wall that hid the gap in the hedge, Sarah falling steadily behind. She caught up only once he stopped at the gap, his chest heaving, glasses askew. He took the time to push them roughly up his nose and rearranged Steven in his arms.
‘I’ll go through first.’ He turned sideways and took the brunt of the thorns on his back wordlessly, Sarah followed as close as possible as they forced their way through, all the while hearing the screams and hissing of the monsters on the street behind them.
They reached the path but couldn’t stop, afraid to be seen through the foliage. Miles started off down the path with a lumbering speed that Sarah couldn’t match and he was soon at the gate, not caring if traffic saw him. Sarah followed as quickly as she could and as she slipped into the gate she saw Miles already heading towards the relative safety of the nearest building. She sped up, ignoring her knee and ankle. Miles rounded the edge of the building out of sight ahead of her and she put on a final burst of speed to catch up.
Rounding the corner, she almost ran straight into him, he’d put Steven down and had his ear on the boy’s chest.
‘I don’t know CPR.’ He muttered, she pushed him and he moved out of the way. Getting onto her knees she saw Steven’s face for the first time since the monster had attacked him. His eyes were still bulged, a trickle of blood had come from his ear and his face was already ashen and pale.
‘It doesn’t matter.’ She said numbly, ‘He’s dead.’
‘Just try.’ He demanded, Sarah looked back at him, her hands holding the little boy’s,
‘He’s dead Miles.’ She repeated. Tears were falling down the man’s face.
‘God… God damn it.’ He croaked. He slammed a fist against the wall and cried out.
‘I’m sorry,’ Sarah mumbled, too numb to cry herself.
‘He can’t be dead!’ Miles pleaded, pulling his glasses off and wiping an arm across his face as he dropped down beside her, ‘He was attacked by one of them, he can’t.’
Miles meant he should have become one of the monsters. Secretly Sarah was glad that he hadn’t. As sad as it was to lose him, it was better that he had died than become a monster.
‘Nathan said his sons changed weird because they were young,’ Sarah stated, ‘you saw them they were massive. Maybe that’s why Stevie…’ She choked up. The tears started soon after, hot on her cheeks. She held a hand to the poor boy’s face and closed his eyes. Laura would be devastated.
‘Fuck, Laura!’ Sarah wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up, ‘I didn’t see her after we left did you?’
Miles shook his head, too choked up to respond.
‘We have to go Miles,’ She insisted, tugging on his arm, ‘we have to go find Laura, she probably… She probably went back to the factory.’ She pulled again and he shook her off, ‘We need to go. Come on!’
‘What about Steven?’ He managed, one of the little boy’s hands in his enormous ones,
‘We’ll…’ Her voice caught and she breathed out to try and hold back the tears, ‘we’ll have to leave him.’
The man closed his eyes and clenched his teeth around the sobs. When he opened them, he brushed Steven’s face with the back of a hand and leant in to place a kiss on his forehead.
‘Goodbye... Stevie.’ He choked, ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t, pr- protect you.’
Sarah looked away. Miles stood up and shook his head. Putting his glasses back on he looked dejectedly at Sarah,
‘Maybe the disease just doesn’t work on kids.’ He sniffed,
‘Maybe it’s not a disease.’ She said through gritted teeth,
‘Oh, come on Sarah we’ve had first hand proof of people being turned, not body swapped!’ He pointed back to the clinic angrily,
‘You mean Nathan!?’ She spluttered, ‘you’re taking the psychopath’s word as truth!?’
‘Just forget it, let’s go.’ He stormed off, leading the way.
‘No Miles you need to see that nothing is going to be ok!’ She rushed to catch up with him, ‘You tried your idiotic science experiment and it didn’t work. This isn’t a disease, it’s not a virus, it’s something we can’t comprehend at all and you need to stop acting like there’s gonna be some big happy ending for us all.’ She drew level with him and he stared down at her with hurt in his eyes, ‘all of us are going to end up like Steven.’ She balked for a moment but managed to continue, ‘and that’s only if we’re lucky!’
‘Lucky!?’ Miles stopped, they’d gone over a wide tarmacked area behind the first building and were roughly half way across it, right in the open, ‘he’s dead Sarah!’
‘Better dead than one of those fucking things!’ She spat back,
‘Holy shit we get it!’ He screamed, making her jump, ‘Dan was a boring prick and you were in a shit relationship!’ He pointed an accusing finger at her, ‘you’ve made it very fucking clear that you want to go and hide in a hole in the ground ‘til this shit just magically goes away but you know what Sarah, you’re the one with her head up her arse because it’s not going to go away!’
‘I never said it wo…’ She started, but Miles cut across her,
‘What did you think we would do Sarah!?’ He yelled, spittle flying from his lips, ‘Catch a boat to a deserted island and Swiss Family Robinson ourselves up a life?’
Sarah took a step back, stuttering with her lack of response. Miles stood with rage pulling his fists up,
‘All I’ve wanted to do is go back to my family.’ He growled, ‘Go back to my family and see if it works out. Not because they’re perfect, not because my wife can walk now, but because there is nothing else we can conceivably do.’ He lowered his fists, ‘say what you like about Mary, at least she had a plan.’
‘Yeah but her hiding place wasn’t a fucking death trap.’
‘You know what Miles?’ Sarah asked angrily, ‘fuck you. You’re acting like you’re just giving up but it’s bullshit because I know why you’re so desperate to go back to your wife; you feel guilty!’
Miles stepped back like she’d slapped him,
‘What?’ He mouthed quietly,
‘You heard me.’ Sarah turned her back on the man and folded her arms, ‘your wife turned into a handful after the crash and you couldn’t deal with it. So, you fobbed her off on somebody who couldn’t leave because it was his job and you made a new life for yourself where you wouldn’t have to see her.’
‘You don’t… don’t have a clue…’
‘How long would it have been ‘til you were seeing somebody else behind her back Miles?’ She span to look him in the eye angrily, ‘or maybe there already was somebody. A customer who flirted with you maybe?’ The man clenched his jaw but didn’t respond. ‘Don’t tell me I’m full of shit when you’re just looking for the easiest way to kill yourself.’
‘I… I…’ He closed his mouth, jaw set in a grim line.
‘Whether they kill you,’ She continued, ‘or turn you. You won’t be you anymore. No more guilt, or a fresh start.’ She pointed back towards Steven, ‘Stevie isn’t worrying about anything anymore.’
‘Sarah.’ Miles took a step towards her,
‘Just go Miles.’ She said quietly, ‘I’ll look after Laura if she’s there.’
He tried to put a hand on her shoulder but she side stepped awkwardly and he gritted his teeth again.