by Stevens, GJ
Lowering the rifle to my lap as the minibus centred, we lurched to the right to an agonising call from Logan. Twisting in my seat, I saw his head far out of the window, his torso almost following but for the belt across his chest and his right-handed grip on the steering wheel pulling us toward the other wall and the same fate he’d just inflicted.
The minibus jumped, riding out of some unseen pothole as Logan’s head dipped to a squeal of pain and I saw for the first time the tense, dark fingers from the roof, hooked into his hair.
Lurching across the seats, I grabbed the wheel, pulling to the left, but Logan’s grip in his life or death battle was too strong. His right foot somehow kept clamped down on the accelerator and I knew despite the obvious danger, we shouldn’t slow for those behind to catch up.
“Help,” I shouted, but Alex had already jumped through the back seats and, to Shadow’s bark, she slid the side door open.
Air forced through the open doorway and with the huge stones blurring past, Alex leaned out, standing on the doorsill. With the wall close at her back, she peered up, eyes widening as she looked along the roof to the sound of a terrifying screech calling above.
“Rifle,” she shouted in competition to the rush of air and, leaning back in, she held out a hand, grasping into the cabin while I kept both my hands pulling the steering wheel as hard as I was able.
Beth lurched into my view, over the seats from the back, to grab the long gun at my side.
Taking the rifle one-handed, the other hand gripping the edge of the roof, Alex would have one shot, with no hope to contain the recoil from ripping the gun from her grip.
To Shadow’s barks, Logan’s desperate calls and Mandy’s angry screams to do something cutting through the rush of air, I stared to Alex as she pushed the gun high, her features contorting with the strain of raising the metal against the pressure of the rushing wind.
With the gun nearly high enough, Alex lurched forward, tensing as her back kissed the wall.
From somewhere, I found more strength, wrenching the wheel a little more to jerk us to the left just as the round exploded above our heads.
Twisting around to the sound of the rifle clattering to the road behind and desperate to see Alex still holding on, she climbed back in through the side door, grabbing Beth’s offered grip as a body flashed past the back windows.
The pressure at the steering wheel relented, and I corrected us to the right for fear I’d lurch us too far the other way.
Our speed slowed as Logan took stock, rubbing his head and I turned to Alex, watching her grimace as she slid the side door, shutting out the raging wind.
She looked up, but instead of catching my eye, her eyes shot wide at the windscreen. I turned just in time to see the darkness at the same time Logan slammed on the brakes.
A haze draped over my thoughts as a soft voice called from the distance.
We’d come to an abrupt stop, not soon enough to miss whatever blocked the way, but enough that the impact was so much less than it could have been.
An ache ran across my back. I’d held the wheel as we collided and I dared not think about how it could have been if Logan hadn’t spotted the darkening view through the wrecked windscreen.
We had no time for the dazed expression on each face to melt away; the creatures were still running to catch up.
Mandy pulled the seatbelt from her chest, her eyes wide as she stared, scowling as if it had been my fault.
Cassie sat up, blinking, her face bright red as if she’d been holding her breath.
Shadow whimpered from somewhere I couldn’t see as Alex turned to look out of the back windows, Beth reaching down to comfort Shadow.
I followed Alex’s look and saw the rifle laying on the road in the distance with the body beside it. My gaze couldn’t linger, instead looking to the crowd heading towards us at speed.
“Close the window,” I called, keeping my voice low. “Close the window,” I repeated when no response came.
Gasps called from inside the minibus as I opened the passenger door, dropped to the tarmac and ran off with my sights set on the gun.
32
LOGAN
Jess spoke before she’d left through the door. She’d repeated words, but the constant high pitch in my ears wouldn’t let me hear. Pain seared on the top of my head as I reached up to touch my scalp. Chilly wind blew across my face and she vanished to the sound gathering in the back of the minibus.
Close the window, were the words relayed as my brain caught up. Close the window.
I listened to the whispered sounds, but it was the low, unnatural moans which piqued my interest.
Turning to my right, my fingers found the winder and leaning forward to do as Jess had insisted, after one revolution I stopped to stare at the vision in the wing mirror.
Jess ran with an impressive speed from the minibus. My instinct feared she’d lost her mind and was leaving us to our own devices. Cutting us loose. Freeing herself for her own ends.
But she was running the wrong way. The dark figures were heading towards her at a speed that seemed to match, but in opposite directions.
Twisting in my seat, I turned to look back in the cabin, my gaze flitting to each of the faces as they peered back, unsure what was going on; Mandy wide-eyed and in a daze. Shadow looking up expectantly as if waiting for a command. And Cassie. Confusion covered her reddened features.
Tearing my gaze away, I glanced through the back windows to a dark shadow of a creature passing by Jess as she crouched to scoop something from the ground.
Someone asked if everyone was okay and all I could think of was what could have been if I hadn’t slammed on the brakes.
A gunshot exploded in the air and I peered back through the windows, but I couldn’t see Jess anywhere. My look fell on the creature who was so close I could make out its dishevelled clothes and the side of its face shaven of skin.
A second shot boomed out, and the figure lurched forward, bowing down, but it still ran, tangling itself in its legs before regaining balance and continuing its race.
“Down,” I shouted, as a round shattered the back window; an errant shot missing its target, I hoped. “Down,” I screamed, as I pushed myself into the footwell, but I couldn’t stay there; we had to get moving.
Not waiting for the next shot, I jumped up, wincing at the pain as I leapt over the seat to Cassie, barely looking through the remaining rear glass panel and the dark figure the other side.
Movement and that smell greeted me as I stumbled between the seats. I span around and looked to Alex, her face contorted as she moved with blood running in a slow drip from above her left eye.
Another shot rang out, quieter this time and a dull thud came from behind me, rocking the minibus on its suspension.
“Keep down,” I shouted, as a hand gripped tight to my leg from below. Snatching my foot from the grip, I looked up to see Mandy, her eyes wide and so white against the contrast of her face still caked in dried blood. She pointed, opening her mouth as if unable to get words out, towards where Alex grabbed at the side door handle.
“She’s fine,” I said. “It’s just a little blood.” I turned Alex’s way as the door slid open and she nodded back as she touched the tips of her fingers on the trail on her forehead.
“Move,” Jess called through the front passenger door, but she’d gone when I turned toward her voice.
Before I could seek her out, the side door slid wide, filling the cabin with sunlight as Jess guided Alex out to the road.
With Cassie’s legs quivering and my arm around her holding her up, I helped her to the road with her heat surging through my clothes as I peered at the estate car we’d hit, the last in a line snaking out of sight.
“Is everyone okay?” Cassie asked in a weak voice.
“I think so,” Beth said, getting out of the seat to follow.
I didn’t need to look along the road to know what caused the stench drifting on the breeze as Jess held Alex by the hand to guid
e her between the cars with the rifle slung over her shoulder.
Beth jogged past, joining Mandy walking between us with Shadow close, his nose to the air as we followed. With every step, Alex seemed to recover from the bang to her head. I wished the same would have been true for Cassie.
I followed Jess’s look, sweeping left and right as she hurried forward, releasing Alex’s hand when we found the white coach abandoned with its door wide at the head of the roadblock.
Alex turned, stopping to glare for a moment, not the only one of us fearing our current situation repeating. Her backwards glance looked beyond me, but I dared not follow; her widened eyes told me all I needed to know.
Alex let us catch up before tucking herself into the other side of Cassie so we could build our speed.
Setting off with a quickening pace, Mandy tripped, falling behind and forcing me to look back when Beth carried on forward, regardless.
Slipping hold of Cassie to clutch at Mandy’s wrist as she regained her footing, I looked away from the three ragged figures in the distance as they bounded towards us, quickly bridging the distance.
“Run,” I shouted, tugging at Mandy, but ready to let go if she remained stubborn.
“The camper,” Alex shouted.
I let go of Mandy’s wrist as she pulled back.
“Your choice,” I said, not slowing as I caught up with Alex and wrapped my arm back around Cassie to hurry her between the cars.
I didn’t glance back but I could hear Mandy’s steps and we were soon within touching distance of a VW minibus; a California with its side door wide and the driver’s door held open by Jess, but my alarm rose as instead of an empty road ahead, another car blocked the way to whatever held the cars back.
With hope Jess had a plan, I watched as she diverted around the wide-open door and out of view whilst we bundled Cassie into the back. Beth followed to sit by the window. Alex jumped through the centre of the front seats and into the driver’s position.
The engine started just as I dropped backwards to the road and I turned to Mandy as she stumbled forward to Shadow guarding the door as he panted.
With her breath pumping hard, Mandy came within reach and I grabbed at her outstretched hand, but my look fixed on a figure blackened and burnt to a crisp. Scorched from head to foot, it was unrecognisable as anything that should stand, let alone run with such a pace, almost skipping with the other two who looked human in comparison. Catching their stares switching my way, I turned, shivering at the sight.
Shooing Shadow past his reluctance to get in the van, I slid the door shut from the outside and ran to the next car, a BMW, to search for Jess and her plan. She stood at the block beyond the car with the rifle pointed down.
A shot went off, and I flinched away, slowing my run in horror of what she could be attacking. Another shot rang out, but I continued to walk toward her with a mix of intrigue and fear that she’d lost her mind. Then I saw it.
Instead of a giant cube of concrete, the road was blocked with huge square containers of water and the one beside Jess had holes spraying the clear contents out to blacken the road.
Jess turned with a glint in her eye as she let the rifle down, her gaze looking past me to bring the fear back. I turned, hopeful she’d considered all options in her plan, but looking through the window I saw the ignition of the BMW empty.
Shrill calls rose in the air and Jess raced around the passenger side of the VW, jumping into the seat as Alex revved its engine to push against the back of the BMW. It barely moved.
The VW’s engine note rose higher, and I glanced back as something high in my peripheral vision caught my attention.
There was no time to get to the VW before those things would land. The screams raced closer, reverberated through my head. To the sound of gunshots, I pulled open the BMW’s door, falling to the seat, just able to grab the door closed before the blackened creature slapped to the metal with a great call, its fists thumping at the window with such a force I couldn’t quite believe the window hadn’t given with the first hit.
Looking behind at the VW under attack, two beasts scratched and scraped at the doors and windows with its bumper pushing harmlessly against the car I sat in. Then I saw the gear stick in first and the handbrake pulled up. Pushing the button on the end of the brake, I grabbed the long handle to let it down and yanked the gearstick into neutral.
The car jumped forward, but the relief vanished under a shower of glass and a cloud of burnt flesh bursting from outside. Gagging at the new stench, I hit out toward the window with my hand balled, punching it square on the cheek. Its flesh felt supple, the black char coming away as it lurched forward, snapping its teeth when I withdrew my knuckles.
Knowing it outmatched me, I scrabbled over the centre console, glimpsing back as it fell through the missing window.
With no other choice but to get out, I cursed our speed building along the straight road.
Pushing the passenger door open, I paused, glaring at the tarmac rolling past, getting faster every moment I looked, but the fear dissolved when I felt a slap at my foot and I jumped out, hoping I wouldn’t land in the path of the VW still rushing us forward.
A shot rang out as I hit the road, glass shattering as I tumbled with no way to control my direction, only with hope I was rolling out of danger.
When nothing hit me, and I came to rest on my back with my legs tucked up to my chest, I unfolded hearing the VW’s engine so loud and pushed myself flat to the road.
The VW passed by, basking me in its heat and spray of exhaust.
Blinking, I sat up, trying to make sense of what had just happened, then saw the back of the camper racing away along the road with the BMW still at its front.
Climbing to my feet and with a sudden realisation, I looked back the way we’d come, but with relief I saw no creatures chased. The reassurance didn’t last when a blast of a horn drew me back to the VW heading off into the distance, swerving from side to side as if Alex were trying to dislodge the creature gripping the roof rails with the other bent over the side, its arms swinging down to hit at the windows.
I ran, watching as the VW grew smaller with the BMW veering to the right and disappearing through the hedge, down into what I could only imagine as a river when a great crash of water spewed into the air.
With the VW surging away, its movement became more erratic as it veered left then right and back again until someone, or something, launched out from the side of the campervan, landing in a heap to lay, unmoving on the road.
I sped, despite the ache pounding down the side of my body.
As the distance grew too great I slowed, gripped by despair at who the body could be as I watched the camper take a sharp turn to the right, flipping to its side, then rolling over and down the incline and out of sight with debris flying into the air.
I pushed myself forward to run again.
33
The world had fallen silent, other than the sound of my breath.
With pain screaming from my legs, I ran on, concentrating on the white vapour rising from where I’d seen the VW roll out of sight and the lifeless figure on the road.
Closing the gap, the column of smoke turned black, billowing to great clouds as I searched for any sign of life in the distance. I forged forward, gritting my teeth against the pain whilst dreading an explosion from beyond the ragged remains of the hedge.
Racing past the gap made by the BMW, I chanced a glance too late to see anything but the steep incline.
Still with no sign of movement from the slumped body or survivors where the van had crashed, I ran faster still.
With every second it soon became clear Beth lay on the road with bloody marks along her arm and her neck at a sharp angle; an angle incompatible with life, in the sense of what the word used to mean.
Pushing down the guilt of not getting close and checking for a pulse, I kept up my pace as I took a route wide of her body.
I didn’t have time to linger on the grief, arriving
at the hedge line moments later and the great gash in the foliage where the VW had busted through sideways, rolling to splinter branches, crashing through what had grown unhindered for so many years. Leaves scattered the route gouged in the soft ground, leaving behind plastic and glass shrapnel littering its path.
Before I followed the trail of smoke, I saw the unmistakable chrome bumper, twisted and mangled as it had been shed to the side to settle next to the remains of a pale arm.
I felt immediate relief when I saw an armless creature, a once human being, lying mangled in the churned earth. From his crushed skull I could just about tell he’d been a man, with thick eyebrows below an opening in his head where grey tissue leached to the ground.
Slowing to a jog, I peered down the bank. Picking my way through the metal debris, I saw the rifle with its barrel bent in the middle amongst flesh and foliage. My heart rate rose again at the sight of the remains of the camper at the end of the great track of mud down the bank.
The body of the VW sat upside down in the bed of a low river, the exposed underside billowing with smoke from the engine as its bulk partially dammed the slow flow of the water which refused to let the tragedy impede its journey.
With my fear not abating, I caught sight of Shadow paddling in the river as if in a daze, then shaking away the water before he scrabbled up the bank towards me.
I rushed forward, seeing the glass missing from each window, the white of the primer showing through the metal body in great swathes.
Movement caught my eye, pushing away the question of whether anyone could have survived. I gripped at the side door, unsurprised when it didn’t slide. Peering in, Cassie lay on the upturned roof in amongst the contents of spilt suitcases and bags from the previous passengers. Water pooled by her foot as it searched for a route around her unmoving body.