The Purple Haze

by Gary Richardson

  In the morning, Yvonne was the first to wake up. She stretched her arms up and tilted her head side to side to loosen her neck. She stood up and looked around the room. Everybody else was still sleeping. She took advantage of being the first up to get herself freshened up using some of the bottled water they had brought with them. After a quick wash, she went into the hall. The ambient light seemed different today. Something had changed. She moved to the window and lifted the blind slightly to take a look.

  Outside, the world looked fresh. The trees and the grass were green and she could see as far as her eyes would allow her. The fog had lifted almost entirely now, leaving only a slight purple haze in the air. She took in the sight and savoured it. Having gone through the events of the past few days she had forgotten how beautiful things could be. She watched for a moment as the trees swayed in the morning breeze, making her feel the world was alive again and breathing in and out as a living animal would. As she looked upon the natural beauty, she was brought back to the reality of the situation at hand when she noticed a small group of the creatures had gathered near to the building. She watched them for a moment, but they just stood there, not moving except swaying side to side as though drunk and trying to keep their balance.

  Yvonne felt she needed to get a better look to try and determine an exact number in the crowd. She let the blinds fall and moved into the office just off the hallway. She moved to the window and slowly lifted the blind. She looked and saw the group of creatures. There were many more than she thought, and others were moving towards them, shambling across the fields by the community centre. She moved her head around to see as best she could, and looked straight into the eyes of a creature. As though waiting for her, as soon as its milky eyes locked with hers, it was on the window in the time it takes to snap your fingers. Its first pound cracked the glass, making Yvonne recoil slightly, but the second pound was close behind. Its hand crashed through the glass in a deafening crash and latched onto the collar of Yvonne's blouse.

  Yvonne didn't know what to do at first. She felt the hand grab her and begin pulling her towards the hole in the window, the sharp edges of the glass looking like an open maw of dagger like teeth. Her face was already close to it as she got her hands in prime position, palms flat against the wall and she began pushing back. The creature was incredibly strong and she found it hard to fight against it. Not knowing what to do, she found herself screaming out for help. As she did this she saw the group of creatures begin stumbling towards the centre. Panic set in and tears were rolling down her cheeks now. She didn't know how much longer she would be able to hold on in the grapple.

  She screamed again as another hand grabbed her, but then she realised it had no sores or boils. The hand was human and she turned her head slightly to see it belonged to Gaz. He began pulling her back, and as he did more hands grabbed her from behind.

  “Pull!” she heard Martin's voice shout.

  “Gaz, get it off her!” Mike's voice rang out.

  Gaz pulled harder in unison with the other two men, and as the creature's arm emerged through the hole, he pulled Yvonne's pistol from her belt and pointed it through the hole in the window. He pulled the trigger and with a bang the hand disappeared through the hole as the bullet hit the creature square in the face, knocking it off its feet and into the creatures approaching behind. Yvonne fell back as the pull suddenly gave in and Martin and Mike helped her remain on her feet. Gaz gave her gun back to her and looked out the window. As his face got close he saw a mass of hands came at the window, breaking the remaining glass and reaching in. He recoiled and the hands missed him, but this was no longer the only window under attack now. The windows on the front of the building leading into the entrance hall were heard breaking.

  “Get your stuff, now!” Martin shouted. The group ran back to the hall and saw Colin stood next to Dave, who was sat bolt upright. “Grab your shit, we’ve got to go!” Martin ordered them.

  “What about Dave?” said Colin.

  Martin knew they had to move him. He was much stronger than Colin “Grab that MP5, I'll carry him.”

  “We need an exit!” shouted Gaz.

  “Kitchen fire exit!” Martin replied as he handed Dave the M4 and helped him to his feet. The group moved into the entrance hall and were met by a small group of creatures coming out of the office, there fronts all torn up by the glass they had crawled over to get in. The glass in the doors had now been broken through completely and creatures were starting to pull themselves into the building. Gaz was at the front of the group and opened fire a spray of bullets from his Mac10, but in his haste the bullets were scattered everywhere. Several creatures were hit but it was a wasted effort. They were stalled slightly, but by the time his gun clicked empty the creatures were coordinated again and moving in on them.

  “We have to get to the kitchen!” Martin shouted, “Fight through them!”

  With no time to reload, Gaz dropped his Mac10 and switched to a pistol. He stepped forward, and learning from his previous mistake of rushing in, aimed carefully and shot any creature that came close to him in the head. Due to the volume of them, he was going through his ammo too quickly and was going to have to reload. As soon as the slide locked back on his pistol, he was quick in reloading. “Loading!” he shouted, and as he did Colin was behind him shooting at the creatures. Mike and Yvonne were shooting as well, but it wasn't long before Gaz was back shooting. The group moved toward the kitchen as a unit. They reached the kitchen door but the entrance hall was getting crowded now. The main doors to the building had buckled and the creatures were flowing freely into the room like a wave of death bearing down on them. Martin went through the door first with Dave, Yvonne following closely. Mike, Gaz and Colin backed up to the door while holding off the creatures with gun fire. Gaz's pistol clicked empty. “I'm out!” he shouted and moved through the kitchen door.

  Mike backed to the door and grabbed Colin's shoulder. “Come on!” he said, and turned to go into the kitchen. He saw Gaz's face change to a look of horror. He looked back and noticed a creature that Colin hadn't noticed closing in on him. He went to react and shoot the creature, but the proximity to Colin meant he was as likely to hit him while speedily aiming at the creature. “Colin!” he shouted, trying to warn him, but Colin was too busy fighting off the horde. The creature grabbed Colin's arm and pulled him hard. Colin lost his balance and his hold on his gun. Mike and Gaz reached forward to grab him and Colin, his face drenched in terror, reached out to them. They reached as far as they could but he was pulled away from their reach faster than they could stretch. A creature reached out for Gaz's hand, forcing him to recoil, and as he did he saw the look of despair on Colin's face as the wave of creatures swallowed him up. Gaz didn't even hear him scream as he was pulled him back into the kitchen by Mike, who quickly closed the door behind them. There was nothing more to be done. Gaz was ashamed to admit it to himself, but he thought that as long the creatures had Colin to occupy them, it would buy the survivors some more time to escape.

  In the kitchen martin had set Dave down against the cupboards. He stood up and looked around. He noticed Colin was missing. “Where's Colin?” he asked.

  Gaz and Mike didn't give an answer. Mike just looked at him and shook his head. “What do we do now?” asked Yvonne.

  “We get out of here.” Martin said. He moved to the fire exit in the kitchen and slowly opened it. He looked carefully around and saw that any creatures out there were quite sparsely spread out. He turned back to the group. “Okay, we can make it. We might have to fight a few of them, but they are pretty well spread out.”

  Mike nodded. “Everybody check your ammo.” The group checked to see that there guns were fully loaded. As they did this, pounding started on the door to the entrance hall.

  “Shit,” Gaz said, realising they didn't have as much time as he'd hoped they would.

  Martin moved to Dave's side and went to pick him up. “Forget it,” Dave said, pushing Martin away.

  “Forget
what?” Martin said, “We have to go, now!”

  “I'm not coming,” Dave replied.

  “Stop talking and get on your feet,” Martin said moving to pick him again.

  Dave pushed him back again. “I'm only going to slow you down.” Martin carried on trying to get him on his feet. Dave shouted this time, “stop!”

  Martin looked at him. “What are you going to do?” he said.

  “Buy you time,” Dave answered, “I'm dying Martin. This infection is spreading, and it's going to kill me.”

  “You don't know that,” Martin said.

  Dave nodded his head, “It will, and you know it too. Otherwise you wouldn't have been talking about killing me.” Martin looked at Dave in disbelief. He didn't know what to say, but he knew he was right. “Don't worry,” Dave said, “just pretend the police caught me.” He held up his hand to Martin. Martin grabbed it and shook it.

  Martin stood up and looked around at the rest of the group. They had gathered near the fire exit and had heard everything that had just been said. Martin looked back at Dave. “Take this,” he said, holding out his sawn off shotgun.

  Dave looked a moment, and then took it. “Take this,” he said in kind, and handed over Conner's M4 assault rifle. Martin took the rifle and nodded. He looked at the kitchen door and realised that in all the pounding, the door was beginning to crack. “Get out!” Dave ordered.

  Martin went to the rest of the group and they all left the building through the fire exit. As the door swung back closed, Dave managed to catch one last glance of them all running and dodging the creatures. There was no way they could have done that with him, and he felt happy in himself that they got away and weren't being slowed down by him anymore. They at least stood a chance of surviving. Dave came back to the situation at hand as another thud came at the door, the crack growing slightly larger. Dave looked around him and saw he was next to a cooker. He looked at the dials on the front and recognised it as a gas oven. An idea came into his head. He opened the oven door and moved all the dials to the maximum on position. He heard the sound of the gas flowing and covered his nose and mouth. He didn't want to black out before his chance came. He breathed through his sleeve as another thud came at the door, this time breaking off a section of. The milky eyes of the creatures gazed in at him, and they all let out a loud moan in recognition of the prey inside.

  Dave could smell the gas coming through his sleeve now, and the smell was choking him. There was another thud, and the door buckled and gave in. The creatures came towards him, their horrid and disfigured hands reaching forward, and their faces, dead to any sign of emotion, lurched forwards with exposed teeth. Dave raised the shotgun and aimed it at them. As soon as the one leading the group touched him, he pulled the trigger.

  * * *

  The other survivors had made it a few hundred meters by now and were clear of the creatures. They hadn't had to fire a single shot and were able to dodge them all as they reached out for them. It was the sound of a massive explosion that stopped them in their tracks. They looked back and saw the community centre ablaze, the roof mostly blown off and several burning creatures lay squirming among the flames around the building. The group stood for a minute or two and watched the building burn. Martin looked at the group. They all looked tired from the attack and sorrowful at losing Dave and Colin in the process. Martin looked back at the building and silently said his respects to his fallen team mates. He turned back to the rest of the group.

  “Come on,” he said, “leave them to burn.” The group continued on their way.

  Chapter 12

  The four remaining survivors had been on the road for nearly an hour. The sounds of the horde that attacked them at the community centre were long behind them and the road so far had been a mixed bag of sneaking round small groups of creatures and despatching of the odd one by hand, up close and personal. The four of them were tired. They had slept the night before but it wasn't good sleep, and on a reduced amount of food and water intake, the most basic of human operations felt like a chore. Moving one foot in front of the other to walk or lifting a water bottle to drink felt like a workout. If running was the means of escape in any given situation, they would only be able to handle a quick jog at best.

  The area around them had become less densely urbanised. The long road had a few housing estates running off it, all quiet streets that would be the kind of place someone would want to raise a family. The areas seemed nice, even under the ominous vale of the purple haze and with some creatures lingering around the houses. Luckily, none of these creatures saw them. They continued forward and found themselves at the brow of a hill. Farmers’ fields were either side of the road and a stream ran under the road and wound its way through the fields. A country lane ran off the main road they were on, surrounded by dense foliage, and ahead they could see a lonely building next to the road.

  Martin pointed at the building. “We'll see if we can stop there for a rest.”

  The group acknowledged with muted grunts and nods, and then they pressed onward. As they came to the building they saw that it was a small roadside café. There were obvious signs of creatures having been here, but none could be seen now. Whatever it was that had held them there was no longer of any interest and they had moved on to God knows where. Despite the carnage, the area seemed very quiet. The group looked around and moved towards the building. Gaz reached the window which had been shattered outwards and blood covered the window ledges on the outside. After what he witnessed at the community centre, he knew these were the signs of creatures dragging themselves over the jagged shards of glass and tearing up their midsections.

  Gaz peered through the window and looked around. There were no signs of life anywhere. Nothing moved, and a foul odour crept out through the window. He screwed his face at the smell and he turned to signal the other survivors to come closer. They moved around to the door of the café and Mike put his hand on the door handle. Martin and Gaz held their weapons ready. Mike opened the door slowly, and they were greeted by nothing. The view inside mirrored the view Gaz got whilst looking through the window. The stale muskiness of rotting food and dried blood felt as though it was searing their nasal passages. They went inside and looked around. Tables and chairs had been overturned and there were blood trails everywhere. If this was the first time any of them had seen this kind of sight, they would have been horrified, but the past few days had left them desensitised to any kind of carnage. The group walked slowly through the mess, and Yvonne noticed a door marked ‘staff only’. She cautiously approached and looked through a porthole window and was looking into kitchen. “Shall we check the kitchen for food?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” replied Mike.

  The group moved over to the kitchen. Martin put his face to the porthole and looked around the best he could. He couldn't see anything. He pushed the door and hit something with it. Not thinking much of it at first, he tried to push it again, but then the door was pushed back in his face, hitting him square in the nose. He staggered back holding his face and the rest of the group jolted back in surprise. The group watched as the door slowly opened outwards, and a creature wearing a chefs’ uniform came stumbling out, its lips curled back and bearing its teeth like a dog warning off a threat. It moved forward slowly and clumsily, its milky eyes locked on the group as a whole. Once it was clear of the door, it stopped and looked at them, swaying gently from side to side. Suddenly, and with a surprising surge of speed and strength, it came lunging at them, arms stretched out ready to grab whoever it got first. The group were quick to react and stepped back quickly, but Martin was still slightly dazed by the impact of the door between his eyes. Before he could react, it had grabbed his boiler suit by the open front and fell against him. Pinned beneath it Martin was helpless. The open mouth came closer to his face, with the smell of rotten meat bellowing out of it like a kettle, but then suddenly the head jolted sideways. Martin looked up to see that Gaz was holding a broken chair leg like a baseball bat. He swung aga
in and knocked the creature sideways onto the floor. He struck it again, and again, and again, each impact making a skin crawling sound, like a squelching shoe mixed with the cracking of knuckles. When he stopped the skull had split open and diseased remains of brain fell from the open cranium, and a thick, dark red pool began forming in a circle around it.

  Martin steadily got to his feet and shook off the pain in his face, then quickly checked himself for bites. Seeing he was uninjured he let out a quiet sigh of relief. He looked at Gaz who was standing over his kill, looking at it closely. “Did you see its head come apart?” he said. “How awesome was that?!”

  “Thanks, man,” said Martin. “Bastard almost had me.”

  “Don't worry about it,” Gaz replied. He walked over to Martin and patted him on the arm, “I've got your back.” He continued to the kitchen door again and opened it. The door swung freely this time and Mike and Gaz entered the kitchen. They looked around and saw the remains of another member of staff on the floor. This one wasn't a creature, but had definitely been killed by the chef that just attacked them. Blood pooled around the remains, which couldn't be recognised as male or female due to the extent of the savage nature in which it had been attacked. They could tell it was a member of staff only by the shredded clothing strewn about it.

  They moved around the kitchen and found what they were looking for, food in cans, such as beans, hot dogs and fruit pieces. Gaz opened the bag he was carrying and began filling it with as many cans as he could comfortably carry. Mike found more bottled water and did the same. They left the kitchen with their haul and found Yvonne and Martin sat at a table they had up-righted and pulled chairs around. Mike and Gaz left their bags near to the exit and went and joined them. Before they sat down they looked around again, also looking out the windows to be sure there were no more creatures lurking around.