‘Bill! He’s not moving, we need to help him!’ she’d said, but the man had just looked at her with yellow eyes, and she’d realised he wasn’t there to rescue her, he was a monster. Just another monster wanting to do real bad things to her. Real bad things like had happened to her mum, to her dad.
She’d screamed and struggled in the man’s arms and shouted for Bill, but Bill hadn’t moved. Alice wondered if he was dead. Maybe he really hit his head too hard and he wasn’t ever opening his eyes again. Alice didn’t want that to be true, but if even her own parents could be taken, could leave her alone, why would this stranger be any different? What was so special about him that he’d go ahead and cheat death to come and rescue her?
She’d got strangely calm after that. Even when the man had taken her into the house that smelled like death and she’d seen the other monsters. The other people (and dog) covered in old blood and wounds. They all had the yellow eyes, and their skin was pale as a ghost’s. Alice thought that maybe all the monsters were actually dead people. Dead people infected by the yellow, infected by yellow devil spawn that made them come back to life as monsters. Had that been what happened to her mum? She wondered if her dad was out there even now, a monster inside him, looking for little girls like her to snatch and murder.
‘Are you going to kill me?’ she asked. The monsters didn’t reply, didn’t turn even to look at her.
Alice didn’t want to die. She didn’t think it was right that people as young as her should die at all. She hadn’t lived enough yet. She was supposed to have a lot more than that. It wasn’t fair for kids to just die. She saw an open door behind her and thought about running.
‘The dog will get you.’
Alice jumped and turned to see the mum looking at her, her left temple crumpled in like a hardboiled egg someone had bashed a spoon against.
‘Run and the dog will catch you. Sink its teeth into you. Make you scream, scream, scream, scream, scream—’
‘What do you want?’
‘To rise—’
‘To rise—’
‘The Hill will crack.’
‘So what if it does? It’s only a dumb hill!’ Alice realised she was starting to cry so made herself slow down her breathing, made herself pull back. She wasn’t letting no stinking monsters see her crying. They didn’t deserve to see that.
Alice wondered, if they did kill her, would she see her dad again? See her mum? Is that where they were now, in some sort of Heaven? Alice wasn’t sure that she really believed in that sort of thing at all. She wanted to. She wanted to, badly. Because if Heaven was real, then her parents were okay and she’d see them if the monsters decided to do anything horrible to her. The pain might only last for a very little while, and then she’d be with them again. If that was true, maybe dying wouldn’t be all that terrible, really.
But Alice wasn’t sure.
And even if she was, she didn’t want to die. She was too young, and even if she wasn’t, dying meant the monsters winning, and if Alice was sure about anything, it’s that monsters should never, ever win. She wished she could do something, that she could fight back and show these dumb old monsters that she wasn’t to be messed with, but what else could she really do? She was too small, too skinny, next to useless. Her own dad couldn’t do anything, and he was the bravest, strongest man ever, so what good would she be?
She wished he was here right now to wrap his arms around her and let her know that everything was going to be better than all right. That no dumb monster was going to touch a hair on her head. To hold her safe until all the bad things went away.
A movement in the corner of Alice’s eye made her turn towards the door. At first she saw nothing, but then something began to form. It was like a person was slowly fading up into view. It was a man.
Alice felt her stomach drop. It couldn’t be?
Couldn’t.
Alice’s dad smiled and waved back at her from the doorway.
‘Dad!’
Without thinking, she stood to run to him; then reality hit her like a bucket of icy water across the head and she froze.
She knew this couldn’t be real. Couldn’t be her really, real dad, could it? He went into that shop and never came back; if he was alive, if he was able to come back, then he would have. He’d never ever have left her there all alone. Abandoned her inside a car she couldn’t drive whilst monsters ran about outside.
Just a trick. Must be.
Must be.
‘Alice?’
Her dad’s voice! It was! She felt it.
‘Alice, I don’t know where I am; what happened to the shop?’
They must have done something to him, the monsters, the demons, that’s all! Took him away and hid him and now he’s escaped! Come back to her!
She looked to the monster family, but they’d gone. Melted away. Walked through the walls and left her alone; she didn’t know, all she knew was that they’d gone and her dad was there!
Was he? Was it really him? Couldn’t be? Could be. Couldn’t.
‘Alice, what’s going on?’
Alice only allowed doubt to flutter weakly past for half a second more, then she swatted it away and ran toward her dad as he crouched onto one knee, smiling, and held out his arms to her.
‘Alice, there you are! God, I’ve missed you!’
‘Dad!’
Alice ran to him; she ran so fast that the distance between them was eaten up like nothing at all.
‘Oh, Alice.’
‘Daddy!’
She launched herself into his arms and passed through him as though he was nothing but smoke, striking the floor beneath painfully.
‘Dad? Dad!’
Alice scrabbled back onto her feet and looked around in desperation, ‘Dad!’
‘What’s happening, Alice? Where did you go?’
He was in another room, that’s all, he was in the back now; Alice ran, ‘Don’t go, Daddy; I’m coming!’
‘Alice?’
She ran down the corridor toward the kitchen; his voice was coming from there, she was sure of it—
‘Alice! Quick, before the monsters come back!’
‘I’m coming, stay there!’
Alice ran through the empty kitchen (He was out back, that’s all, just in the yard outside) and threw the back door open, leaping out and down into the yard, ‘Dad? Daddy, where are you?’
Silence.
‘Dad! Please! Daddy!’
‘Oh, it’s always “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy” isn’t it? What about me?’
Alice turned to see her mum before her; one side of her hair was matted with dried blood from where Alice had struck her with Bill’s strange looking gun.
‘Mum…’
‘Such a little Daddy’s girl. Never a second thought or a kind word for your mum. For the woman that grew such an ungrateful bitch inside of her for nine months!’
Alice backed away, the stinging prickle of tears attacking her eyes. ‘I’m sorry, Mum. I’m sorry.’
Her mum advanced, face twisted viciously. ‘Would you have attacked your dad like you did me? Would you have beaten him across the skull so the skin split and the side of his face turned crimson with his own blood?’
‘Please, Mum—’
‘Always you and him against me, wasn’t it? You think I didn’t know about your special little horror nights together? Laughing and joking about horrible old Mum not being there to spoil your daddy-daughter time? When was our time? When did you ever want to spend time with me!’
‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry!’
Alice crouched and buried her head in her arms as her mum continued to advance. She was right. She was right. Why had she treated her mum so badly? She loved her mum. She did!
‘I love you, Mum!’
A hand crashed against the side of Alice’s face and she tumbled to one side with a cry. Tears escaping now, she looked up to her mum, who knelt beside her, eyes yellow, grin mean. ‘You know, when I first told him I was pregnant with you, your
awesome daddy wanted me to get rid of you.’
Alice felt invisible fingers squeeze her heart. ‘That’s not true.’
‘Said we weren’t ready for a kid to come and spoil everything. There was time for all that later. He even looked up where the nearest abortion clinic was.’
‘That’s not true!’
‘I had to talk him into it. Convince him that we should keep the sack of cells multiplying inside of me. Took me days to wear him down. And believe me when I say that “wearing him down” is the correct expression. I didn’t convince him. He gave up. He saw that I wasn’t going to do what he wanted. That I didn’t care what he said or what he did, I was going to have you.’
‘No!’ Alice’s whole body convulsed with the force of her tears. It wasn’t true. Wasn’t. Wasn’t.
‘If it had been up to your daddy, you’d have been scraped out and flushed down the fucking toilet.’
‘No!’
Alice leapt at her mum, tearing at her hair, scratching at her face, wanting her to just shut up, shut up, shut up! All the while her mum laughed and didn’t put up a struggle as she was torn to pieces like she was nothing but a rag doll.
Finally there was nothing but torn people strips on the ground, but still the mocking laughter refused to stop. Alice stood, staggered back, staring at the blood on her hands.
‘Tell her it isn’t true, Daddy. Tell her it isn’t true…’
Alice looked all around for any sight of her dad, but he was nowhere; instead the yard began to fade from view. The yard, the house, the torn strips of her mum, and in its place came the Hill. It was tall and steep and the thick grasses that curled over her feet were blood red. Other figures began to appear. All across the Hill, dark shapes emerging, as though a fog was lifting. Alice turned and turned as their number grew and grew. Dark, indistinct shapes with large unblinking eyes that stared, stared, stared at her.
Alice turned to run, to find her way blocked by a horror. ‘Alice, the Hill is going to crack.’
Alice staggered back; the creatures laughed and moved towards her.
‘Hello, Alice,’ a Yellow Man walked from nothing into view. He looked just as Bill had said: yellow skin, black, black eyes, and horns on his head. ‘I really must thank you for your assistance.’
‘I haven’t helped, I haven’t done anything!’
‘You will.’
The Yellow Man looked past her, down the hill; she followed his gaze to the wooden house at the bottom. The yellow which burst from its roof into the sky rippled and a finger of the stuff split away and corkscrewed towards her. Alice just had time to open her mouth to scream, before the pollen found her and surged inside, snuffing out the sound of fear before it had chance to emerge.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
…
…
‘Well, this is what you get, Bill.’
‘I can’t see—’
‘I tried to play nice, remember that.’
‘Alice! Where is she? Why can’t I—’
He opened his eyes and all he saw was the beast, the beast, the—
…
…
Bill’s eyes fluttered open, and for a second or two he was confused as to where he was. His head hurt. Actually, his almost everything hurt. He blinked and he saw Cali, reaching towards him, covered in the yellow pollen, terrified. Bill shifted in his seat and realised they’d crashed. Again. Twice in less than an hour. His insurance was going to go through the roof. He smirked at the idea, and then—
—a scream.
‘Alice!’
Bill realised he was alone, the passenger side door hung open.
‘Alice, where are you?’
Grimacing as his body demanded just to be allowed to sit in the soft seat for a little longer, Bill forced the door open, pulled out the police taser, and stood looking up and down for any sign of her.
‘Alice!’
Another scream, Bill twisted round; Alice’s scream was coming from Aileen’s house. He thought about the last clear thing he’d seen before the crash. Last clear thing he’d thought he’d seen. Paul, stood there, calm as you please. But Paul was dead, Bill had seen to that. The oar striking him across the head had seen to that. But Apoc Hill was home to monsters now, and Neil the police officer had already taught him that monsters don’t always stay dead.
‘I’m coming, Alice. Don’t be afraid.’ Bill said the words to himself only, as if to strengthen his resolve, then he walked towards a house full of the dead.
He expected to see a dog’s corpse in the hallway as he pushed the door open and took a step inside, instead all that was there to greet him was smears of dried blood on the floor, paw prints breaking up the pattern.
‘Alice?’
Bill heard movement from the living room, ‘Is that you in there, Alice?’
No reply.
Bill took a breath, then pushed the door open with his free hand, holding the taser out, ready. The door swung open to reveal monsters. Aileen, Paul, Simon. Bruno too. They looked at him with slack, sallow faces, eyes shining yellow and bright. The devil’s puppets.
‘Where is she?’ Bill asked.
‘Hello, Bill,’ said Aileen. No. Said the monster wearing Aileen as though she were nothing but a cheap suit.
Bill grimaced, ‘You might be using her voice, you might be using her body, but you’re not her. You’re not anything like her. Now I’m here to find and take back my friend, and if you want to try and do something about that, then we’ll see what happens, because I’ve had about enough of being attacked by you bastards.’
‘How’s Cali, Mr Reed?’ asked the monster that wore Paul. ‘I think we’ll be seeing her really soon.’
‘Really soon,’ said the monster wearing Simon. Bill felt a flash of fury, wished he could smash something into the monsters’ faces, scrub them off the Earth entirely.
‘I always liked you better than my husband you know, Bill,’ said the monster wearing Aileen.
‘You’re not the people I knew. You’re monsters.’
‘You’ll find Alice out back, Bill. You mind how you go, now.’
Bill backed towards the door, keeping his taser on the monsters until he was out of the room, before making his way swiftly through the kitchen and to the back door.
‘Alice! Where are you?’
He caught sight of her as he pulled open the door. A crumpled shape on the ground a few feet away, dusted with yellow.
‘I tried to play soft, remember that.’
‘No. Please, no…’
The world slowed down and fell silent as he ran, tried to run, toward her.
He knew.
He knew before he touched her.
He fell to his knees and lifted her head, turned her face toward him, brushing away the hair that covered her eyes.
‘Alice. It’s Bill. I came to save you, Alice. Came to save you from the monsters.’
She didn’t reply. Couldn’t. She already felt cold and empty.
Bill stood, lifting Alice with him; her head dangling limply back over his arm. She weighed so little it took no effort at all. He made his way around the house, he didn’t want to walk through it, couldn’t pass those monsters so they could gloat over what they had done.
The car stood where it had crashed. Bill placed Alice within, climbed behind the wheel, and on the third attempt, it started.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Bill carried Alice into his house and laid her tiny frame out on the couch. He tenderly brushed away the yellow pollen from her motionless, pale face.
‘I’m sorry, Alice. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I couldn’t…’
Bill cried heavy for a while, until the tears finally dried up and instead he just sat on the floor, back against the couch upon which lay the tiny, skinny corpse of a girl he hadn’t been able to protect, and he let the empty rush in and devour him.
He barely knew the girl, but she was innocent. As innocent as anyone can be. And this hell, this world turned mad, it had g
ot to her. It had pried her away from his care and snuffed her out like she didn’t matter. Had it happened because she was with him? It was him that the Yellow Man seemed to want. Him who he demanded things of. Had Bill protecting Alice been the reason she was now cold and dead on the couch behind him?
Was it all his fault?
Bill kept asking himself the question like he didn’t already know the answer.
There was a knock at the door.
Bill heard it for the first time, but he knew it wasn’t the first attempt to catch his attention. That someone had been knocking on that door for a long time. Minutes, hours… he didn’t know. But this time he really heard it.
In a daze, he stood. ‘I’m coming,’ he called out.
He sleepwalked out of the room and down the corridor, vaguely aware that this was stupid. That he shouldn’t answer, that he was as good as defenceless.
‘I’m coming.’
Bill opened the door and a tall, strange looking man in a wide brimmed hat stood waiting. His skin was coarse and cracked. It didn’t look like skin, it looked like bark. Like he was a tree that had pulled itself up out of the soil and decided to live as a man.
‘Hello, Bill Reed,’ said the man. His voice was smooth and deep and reassuring. ‘I am the Knot Man, and I have come to deliver the warning.’
Bill nodded, ‘Okay. I suppose you’d better come in then.’
He turned back into the house, and allowed the Knot Man to follow on behind.
***
Bill sat at the kitchen table. The Knot Man removed his hat and sat opposite. Bill studied the man’s strange face; it looked like it had half grown, half been carved out of a tree trunk. As he spoke, the face did not move, did not change expression. His eyes were two hollow holes, and his mouth a crudely sketched line that did not open and close as his voice rumbled out.
Apocalypse Hill (Apoc Hill Miniseries Book 1) Page 12