by Luke Duffy
At a safe distance and altitude, and together in unison, they banked back around towards him. He stopped and watched them as they approached. They twittered and whistled cheerfully, circling in the sky above. They remained out of reach as they swooped in at the swarm of insects that hung in the air around him and followed him everywhere he went.
Andy did not attempt to catch them in any way; he just watched them, mesmerised by their colours and movements. Andy liked the birds; he did not know why, he just did.
He had been travelling along the same stretch of road for days. There was no noise there, apart from the wind and the birds, and the clouds of insects that hung around him, buzzing incessantly. Andy was alone, exactly as he wanted to be.
The highway looked deserted except for the clusters of static vehicles and scattered detritus that littered the carriageway here and there. There was very little that drew his attention, other than the wildlife, and he preferred the open roads to the cities.
The cities were lifeless and dull, and swarming with the foul creatures that he feared and hated.
Andy continued to watch the birds until they had had their fill of the flies above him and they fluttered away towards the tall trees in the distance. He turned back to the road and continued his long, slow shuffle towards the horizon, his shoes scraping against the hard surface of the road and his arms swaying gently at his side.
He meandered between the cars and trucks, and now and then he would stoop to pick something up from the ground that caught his interest. He still carried in his hand the sparkling jewel-encrusted necklace that he had found lying there twinkling in the bright sunlight at the side of an abandoned car. The colours that it formed as the light bounced through it intrigued him, and for a long while he had stood holding it up to the sun, grunting and gasping as he studied the prisms that formed as its rays shone through the dazzling jewels creating and small rainbows.
Up ahead, there was movement. He could see a number of figures in the distance as they slowly moved about on the road. Andy stopped. He did not want to join them or have them follow him; he wanted to be left alone.
For a while, he hid himself behind a large overturned truck and waited for them to move away. He stood there, shuffling around in small circles and staring at his feet and when he peered out from his hiding place again, he saw that they were still there. They had not moved on as normal and they were clustered around a broken down car that sat in the middle of the road. They were not attacking it or trying to gain entry; they just stood there and stared at it.
Andy could not understand why, but he felt the urge to move forward and investigate what was happening. He could feel his curiosity grow and something inside his decayed mind encouraged him to walk towards the small group in the road. They paid him no attention as he approached and they continued to sway on the spot where they stood, or stagger and stumble around the vehicle, watching whatever it was inside that had caught their interest.
He stopped and studied the group. They were vile to look at, their emaciated bodies looked frail and their clothing hung from their bones. Their skins were a mixture of colours, browns, greens, blues and even black as some of them had baked in the sun, causing their skin to roast and blisters to form.
The air was thick with the hum of insects and Andy's very own eco system joined in with the buzzing flies as he approached, creating a dark cloud that swarmed around the vicinity of the car.
Lowering his head, he studied himself. He looked down at his shoes and followed the length of his own body, finishing off by holding his hands out in front of him. The dark, shrivelled skin that covered the bones was broken here and there, giving him a glimpse of the drying tendons beneath and the white bones of his fingers. Brown clumps of congealed and almost dry blood seeped through the open wounds in his flesh. Regardless of how much he attempted to protect himself, he still sustained minor injuries and they would never heal.
An emotion rippled through him that made him throw his hands back down to his sides. He regretted having examined himself because it did nothing but remind him that he was very much like the lurching, disgusting creatures that he saw before him staggering about around the broken down vehicle; the very same things that he avoided, even though he knew that he was one of them.
He still wanted to see what it was that was attracting them. He took a tentative step closer toward the group. They still paid him no attention and their backs remained turned towards him. He took another step, this time more boldly and deliberate; still none of them turned in his direction. He briskly moved forward and reached the first of the figures. The body was in his way and blocking his view of the car, so Andy reached for it, grabbing it by the material that hung from its shoulders. He pulled hard and the body came back towards him.
It let out a moan and attempted to turn to see what it was that had removed it from the spot where it wanted to be. As it turned, Andy forced it to the side, heaving it away from him and stepping past. Now he was close to the rear door of the vehicle, closer than the others were.
He stooped and peered in through the window.
A young child, still strapped in her seat in the back of a large family sedan, was the thing that had caught the interest of the others. She sat there, staring back at them, her misted and flattened eyes showing no sign of life. One of her arms was missing along with much of the flesh from her neck and shoulder that was now nothing more than a festering pulp of green, rotting soft tissue and discoloured bone.
In comparison, much of her long blonde hair remained. It was in stark contrast to the remainder of her face and still looked full of life as it flowed in the breeze that blew through the smashed windscreen. The long golden strands fluttered and swept around in front of her, framing her pale and lifeless face.
He watched her curiously, and she watched him in return as he stood on the other side of the door. Andy's brow suddenly raised and he felt something stir from within; grief gripped him as he stared back at the small child strapped in the seat. She was not supposed to be that way, just as he was not supposed to be the way he was. A long poignant moan rattled up from his throat, gurgling and crackling at first, before it became a steady pitched and deliberate note.
The child opened her mouth slightly, as though to join him in chorus, but no sound travelled past her crushed and torn throat. She turned away and looked down at the interior of the car around her, and then brought her lifeless eyes back to Andy, with a hint of an expression of helplessness etched across her face. She could not move and she did not attempt to break free of her bonds. She would remain the way she was, sitting there forever.
Unexplainably, Andy saw the same emotion in her as he felt at that moment. She made no communication with him, but he knew she was sad. She did not want to be there, to be that way. He turned to look at the others around him. Their unblinking black and flattened eyes remained locked on the child as though they were hypnotised by her, but she paid them no interest and stared back only at Andy.
Something registered in his mind. He suddenly knew what he had to do. He reached down for the handle of the door and pulled. With a creak it fell open, a swarm of flies suddenly taking to the air as they were disturbed by the sudden change in pressure and movement.
Andy looked down at the sparkling necklace he held in his hand and reached out toward the child, the jewels shining and twinkling in the sunlight. She stared at the piece of jewellery hanging from his hand for a brief moment and then reached out for it.
Her cold fingers touched his and she looked straight in his eyes as he handed her the gift. Andy felt something else at that moment; it could only be affection, and sympathy for the sorrowful creature that sat before him, staring back at him with its large dead eyes.
He stepped back as the child focussed its interest on the colourful row of sparkling diamonds in her hands. He moved off around to the rear of the vehicle in confusion, unable to understand the sudden multitude of different emotions that bombarded him. He stopped and loo
ked back through the rear window at the child. Another pang of compassion hit him and he turned away.
His mind was flitting with numerous different visions, none of them clear, but he knew and understood what it was that his faltering brain was telling him to do.
He turned away and walked to the side of the road. He began scanning the overgrown tangles of weeds and long grass, and then he saw it. He reached down and hefted the heavy rusted lump of iron. It was jagged and filled with bolts. He could feel its weight and he raised it in his hand and swung it to the side, testing it. It cut through the air with a whoosh as he let it swing back to his side.
He looked back at the car, and then began to walk towards it.
The child was still watching the multitude of colours that the crystals created when he appeared back at the door. She looked back up at him and then down at the heavy object that he clutched in his hands. For a moment their eyes locked, and her cold pale face seemed to soften and flood with life.
For a long moment, Andy and the little girl stood, watching one another. He felt some kind of bond with the little creature and she felt the same towards him. They were both capable of thought and reasoning.
Again, he saw the sorrow in her eyes; the sorrow that told him that she did not want to be that way.
Andy hesitated. Something made him want to turn away, but her eyes were locked on his and he could not leave her in that way. She shifted slightly in the seat, dried encrusted blood cracked as she peeled herself away from the material, and as Andy saw the ripped and torn flesh around her shoulders and neck, an image of how things used to be flashed to the front of his mind.
He raised the heavy metal in both hands above his head. With all his strength, he brought the pointed tip of it down towards the child. He crashed it down on to the back of her head with all of his force behind it. He felt the hard bone of the skull crack and collapse as the metal forced its way through. The child jerked suddenly and then slumped forward.
She was dead.
Andy stood with his hands still clutching the shaft of iron that protruded from the poor creature’s head. Blood and thick green and yellow liquids oozed out around the wound. He paused and looked at the others that stood around, all curiously watching him now.
He turned his attention back to the child. He placed one hand on her head, and then heaved the shaft of iron free. It clattered against the surface of the road as he discarded it to the side and he laid the body back in the seat, noticing that she still clutched the necklace in her small delicate hands. He paused and hung his head. He felt remorse for what he had done, and then he remembered the contrast of the little girl and the creature she had become.
With both arms, he wrenched her from her restraints, pulling her into the sunlight and holding her close to his chest. The other figures around him closed slightly, curious to see the child but keeping their distance from Andy.
He looked down at her delicate face and saw beauty. The same kind of beauty he saw in the birds and the flowers and swaying trees. She was not like him, or the others that stood or staggered about, wretched and repulsive to look at. He remembered children, their beauty and their innocence. He looked at the creatures around him and snarled, baring his teeth.
Carrying her limp body in his arms, he staggered to the roadside. He whimpered and moaned hoarsely as he walked, his body wracked with grief. He looked for a patch of grass, one that seemed the most peaceful and attractive.
Finding the spot, he placed her down, gently lowering her head so that it did not bash against the ground. He folded her arms across her stomach and wrapped the jewels that she still held, around her small fingers. He reached over and carefully closed her beautiful staring eyes, finally laying her to rest.
The others had followed him and now stood watching him as he took such gentle care of the dead child. Andy stood and turned. He watched them as they watched him. Some of them looked at him and at the body of the child alternately, as though attempting to reason with his actions. They moaned quietly and grunted as they stood and stared at him, cocking their heads as they studied him and one another.
Andy turned away and continued his slow shuffle towards the distant horizon. One by one the bodies in the road watched him as he walked away, and one by one they moved off to follow on behind him.
The low rumble of engines in the distance behind him stopped him in his tracks. He lifted his head and slowly turned to look back at the road that he had been travelling as he honed in on the direction that the noise came from.
The ones that stumbled and staggered along behind him also stopped. They stared at him, watching in expectation then they slowly turned when they, too, heard the noise. They stood there, their shoulders slumped and their hands hanging at their sides as they watched for the source of the sound.
The road was empty, except for the abandoned vehicles that littered the carriageway here and there. A few birds fluttered from one car roof to the next, screeching and twittering as they did so and scrounging whatever morsels that were available within the wrecks, but there was nothing else moving.
Andy recognised the sounds, though. They were the noises that the fast moving ones made. The others that were still the way that he had once been, beautiful and graceful and not ugly and wretched like he was now. They moved in cars and trucks, and they were fast and dangerous. He feared them just as much as he feared the ones that were like him.
In the distance, weaving between the abandoned cars and approaching fast, he saw the shape of a moving object. It was a truck. The engine was loud and it roared towards them, causing alarm to rise up inside Andy. He felt as though he was trapped and something bad was about to happen to him.
He could not get away from them and they would catch him if he tried. Desperately, he looked about at the area immediately around him. He caught sight of the tall trees across the field in the distance, but they were too far away. He looked back at the approaching truck and he saw that it was closing in fast.
An overwhelming urge for self-preservation gripped him. His instincts spoke to him and forced his faltering mind into action. The prehistoric core of his brain now took control of his decaying body.
His eyes scanned all around and his head swivelled as he searched for somewhere to hide. There was a large dip where the road met the open fields and Andy moved towards it. It was overgrown with long grass and as he stumbled down the small embankment, his feet sunk in the shallow stream that ran along at the side of the road. It squelched as the water sucked at his feet and he struggled to lift his legs free or walk as the water reached his knees, while the weight of his body caused him to sink. The water and mud bubbled and sucked at him, holding him in place and rendering him unable to move and vulnerable.
The others, not realising the danger that was headed directly for them, raised their arms and wailed excitedly when they saw the approaching vehicle. They stumbled straight for it, their clumsy steps causing them to stagger and sway as they grasped at the air between them and the soft, living flesh that they yearned. They wanted it and their cries and moans grew in tempo and volume as they watched the vehicle close the distance.
The noises that the figures on the back of the truck made only added to the atmosphere of anticipation for all. They shouted and hollered to one another and the truck turned slightly, aiming straight for the lurching figures in the road that reached out towards them.
They were close now.
Andy was in the ditch, crouching and watching the road as he saw the truck closing in on the others. The vehicle smashed into a dark shambling figure that stepped out in front of it. It hit with a loud crunch as the steel grill at the front of the truck smashed into bone and launched it through the air. The body crashed to the floor some distance away with a thud and bits of flesh being slung in all directions as the broken and jagged bones tore through the skin.
The truck stopped and those on the back began to jump down, hooting and shouting as they did so. The fast movers approached and b
egan to attack the slow moving and lumbering creatures that approached them. They beat them to the ground with ease and smashed their skulls with clubs, scattering their brains and dark, coagulated blood across the road and cheering as they did so.
The creatures were not deterred; they continued to lurch toward the soft flesh that danced about before them, only to be pummelled to the tarmac one after the other.
Not all of them were killed. Some were grasped by the neck with long poles, guided and pushed, then thrown in the back of the truck where they were chained against the sides. They tugged at their restraints, growling and snarling at the figures that moved around them. They reached out at them, clutching with their fingers as they tried to get hold of the warm living flesh.
When they attempted to lunge forward, their heads were snapped back by their chains as they were pulled taut, dragging them back against the side of the truck. They wailed and moaned incessantly as they tried desperately to reach their tormentors who remained just beyond their grasp.
Andy was stuck. He could not move from the mud. His instincts urged him to move away and avoid them, but he was unable to. He looked down at the sludge that held him fast. A growl of frustration escaped from his throat as he attempted again to lift his feet.
There was a noise in front of him. Andy looked up and saw two of the beautiful fast movers standing at the top of the ditch in front of him. They looked down on him, and then shouted across to the truck. More came over and joined them as they stood for a moment watching him. He felt fear tugging at him. He wanted to run, but he was trapped.
Two of them carefully approached down the small embankment, a pole held out far in front of them with a noose hanging from the end. Andy cowered away from it, swatting at it with his hands in front of him as they tried, repeatedly, to loop the noose around his neck. They shouted at him and hit him on the head with the pole, laughing with each other. He did not want to get in the truck; he wanted them to leave him alone. He just wanted to walk away.