Clifton Falls

by L A Taylor

“I’m doing the bloody dinner. I haven’t got time to check on him. If he’s ill then fetch the vet in. It’s that simple.”

  “Where’s the number for the surgery?” asked Sid.

  “It’s in the phone book, under V for vets.”

  “Stop being sarcastic, you mad cow. This is an emergency.”

  Betty left him to it.

  Sid took another look. The frothing from Bruno’s mouth became worse. He put the call on hold to investigate the symptoms, walking outside to get a closer look at the poor animal lying on the ground.

  “Hey boy, I’m going to get you some help. You’ll be okay.”

  He noticed dark bloodstains stuck to Bruno’s fur. This convinced him that the dog had been attacked and was the reason he was drained of energy. He stretched out a hand to feel the stain, seeing if it was still wet, but as he did this Bruno’s eyes widened and sharp teeth appeared. Bruno produced a vicious growl that extended in volume over the next few seconds. This wasn’t a good time for Sid to be in this situation because Bruno was now a killing machine that was about to explode. Sid backed off as soon as the dog snarled at him. “Bruno, it’s me. What’s wrong with you?”

  Why did the man ask the dog a question? Maybe Sid thought Bruno was more intelligent than his wife? But even so, the poor mutt was never going to talk.

  The dog didn’t react to his voice. Instead, it remained growling and slobbering. Sid wasn’t going to wait around to see if the dog would bite him or not so ran back inside the house, slamming the door shut behind him.

  Betty had stared out the kitchen window during all of this but thought Sid was tormenting the dog. At first thought nothing more of it, but that changed when her husband rushed back inside with a frightened expression on his face. “Fuck. What’s up with the dog? He’s gone mental,” he shouted.

  “What’s going on? Why’s Bruno barking?” Betty asked, with one of her telling the man off for being naughty, smirks.

  “I don’t know, but there’s something wrong with him.” Sid closed in on his wife, wrapping hands around her face. “I swear; he was looking at me like I was a stranger. This isn’t right. I’m phoning the vet.”

  Betty worried, and now knew her husband wasn’t fooling around. “You do that and I’ll make sure the kids don’t go outside.”

  Bruno sniffed and scratched the bottom of the back door, but, after a few seconds of unsuccessful achievement, wandered to the side of the house, searching for another way in.

  Sid made the call, explaining to the vet the condition of the animal. The reply was swift, but to the point, everyone was to stay indoors until he turned up with the police.

  Betty again looked out the window, but Bruno seemed to have vanished. “I can’t see him, Sid.”

  “Keep calm. He can’t get in. Let’s just wait for the vet to arrive.”

  “What about the people outside?” she said.

  Sid’s hands rose. It was a sign to say that he’d no control over what was going to happen next with the dog.

  The children were told to remain in one of the bedrooms until further notice.

  Sid reached into the staircase closet and removed a putter from his set of golf clubs. It was more of a macho thing than anything else. Having a weapon ready to fend off an attack would make him look like a hero to his family, but deep down wasn’t sure if he could actually take a swing at the pet he’d raised for the last twelve years.

  Betty decided to keep as calm as possible. She’d a meal to prepare and nothing was going to interrupt dinner, so she returned to the kitchen.

  Five minutes flashed by when the sound of a police siren closed in. Sid moved to the front window, witnessing the vehicle pull up outside his house.

  Betty was looking down, busy preparing dinner, but when she heard the siren, looked up and saw Bruno glaring at her through the window. The dog was standing on its hind legs with its face pressed against the glass. Saliva dripped from the jaws. This startled her into retreating against the kitchen table. The blood-shot eyed dog faded out of sight again, leaving a running, dribble-stain on the glass. Betty thawed out, able to think again, but before warning her husband, the zombie beast crashed through the window, showering glass in numerous directions. She stuck an arm across her face to avoid being blinded by the flying debris, but once removed, frantically scanned the area for the window breaker.

  Luckily, Sid, the vet, and two officers entered the kitchen, witnessing the virus as it turned the dog into a flesh-eating monster.

  “Betty, are you okay?” the nervous husband whispered.

  She had a few cuts and scratches, but this didn’t prevent her from replying. “I’m fine. I just want all this to be over.”

  “You hang in there.”

  The ex-Bruno shook its head vigorously as if not knowing on which direction to take. The dog could aim for Betty, as she was alone, or it could charge the four men standing in front of it. Sid wasn’t prepared to take the risk on the creature attacking his wife so raised the golf club in an attempt to scare the animal into retreating. The sudden movement by the man of the house increased the dog’s temper and it rotated, facing the men. The slightly baffled and nervous officers removed firearms from their holsters, ready for an attack, but the former pet didn’t seem bothered that it could die. It had a hunger burning deep within its stomach and it needed to feast.

  All four men tried forcing it back but the animal swung a paw, attempting to scratch one of them as they neared. One touch from the venomous, razor sharp nails and the virus could spread again.

  The vet turned to Sid. “Look, the dog knows you better than it knows us. Get its attention while I insert it with a needle to make it sleep.”

  “But Bruno doesn’t like needles,” Sid replied in a sorrowful manner.

  The stare he received from the others sent enough daggers through his heart that could lead to a thousand deaths. He knew they weren’t impressed by his recent words. He wasn’t looking forward to doing this task but couldn’t say ‘no’ with Betty scowling at him.

  “I’ll try, but the dog doesn’t seem to know who I am at the moment.”

  “Just try your best,” the vet said, while removing the needle from his medical bag.

  Sid cautiously neared the glaring beast. “Bruno, mate, do you recognise me?”

  The dog stopped swinging. Maybe previous brain patterns had woken up the same memories as the other infected victims, allowing Sid’s voice to get through to the dog?

  The vet crept up to the side of the animal, but the beast’s eyes followed him. Bruno switched back into zombie mode, flipping around as the vet was about to insert the needle. Carnivorous jaws snapped at the man’s free hand and bloodthirsty teeth bit deep into the fingers, eliminating all of them. The now sobbing vet watched the bloodstained fingers peel away from his reddened hand before plummeting to the ground. The fingerless man screamed as the dog licked blood from its lips. The vet cowardly knelt down, arms covering his head while thoughts of this being the end of his life were sent crashing into his mind.

  ‘BANG’, ‘BANG’. Two shots were fired. Both bullets flew into the animal’s ribs and stomach. The beast rose off the floor, flipping over like a high-board swimmer somersaulting into the water below before landing next to the crying man. The creature was now covered in blood.

  The past few seconds had spooked everyone in the room. The officers watched the beast, seeing if it would rise again, but it didn’t move. The vet unravelled his arms. He stared at the lifeless animal before sluggishly returning to his feet, confusion and shock etched on his face.

  Four people now stared at the dripping, fingerless hand, but the vet’s recent cloudy mind had forced him to have a lapse of memory on the missing digits.

  “Betty, we need something to tie around his hand - quickly.”

  She was slow to react to the words from her husband because she was still staring at the scene. “I’ll get some bandages from the cupboard.”

  As blood dripped and eyes gazed at the
wound, nobody noticed the dog move slightly. It watched the movements of the people until it had the opportunity to pounce. The officers holstered their guns while the husband helped the vet. Sid was about to manoeuvre the injured man to a chair when the dog leapt off the floor and headed in their direction. Before anyone could do anything about it, the animal barged into them, knocking them over like skittles at a bowling alley. Sid smashed into the table, crashing the wooden object against the wall, but the vet, who somehow was the unluckiest person in that room, landed on his stomach next to the starving fiend.

  The nervous officers tried in vain to retrieve their weapons but weren’t quick enough. The crazed beast climbed on top of the crying man’s back as he gave the others one last, frightened look. He didn’t need to say “Help me,” the expression was proof enough. The fully transformed animal opened its mouth, sinking teeth into the back of the petrified man’s, shaking skull. It was a bit like someone biting into an apple. Crunching sounds were heard as teeth entered bone and a scalping-like effect from the sharp canines ripped a piece of the human’s head clean off. The beast turned to face the officers before spitting the unwanted piece out. It had no fear as its head went down again. This time the mouth aimed for the brain. The organ still moved as the animal snapped off chunks, absorbing pieces down the throat like it was sucking jelly from a spoon.

  The officers aimed guns again, but the animal just looked at them and carried on eating. It didn’t care what the men were going to do to it, food to this hideously deformed creature was top priority and nothing was going to interrupt its feed.

  ‘BANG’, ‘BANG’. Two more shots were fired as the dog swallowed more brain tissue. One bullet ripped through the left eye, shooting through the back of the animal’s head, while the other blasted into the neck area, spraying blood. A messed up facial expression could be seen as the ex-pet collapsed beside the dead man.

  The nightmare from this household was over. Sid and Betty looked on as flashes from the past few minutes entered their minds.

  How did this happen? One minute I had a pet, and the next it was a monster, Sid thought.

  Betty mentioned that there were two children upstairs so one of the officers left the blood-soaked kitchen. He stood at the foot of the stairs and shouted up to let them know that it was safe to come down. Alice and Ben slowly appeared at the top of the landing. They were still feeling petrified because of the noise, but the officer assured them that it was safe. “Are our parents all right?”

  “Yes, young lady, they’re fine. Are you both coming down to see them?”

  The other officer escorted the married couple from the horror show of a kitchen, and once out, shut the door to prevent the kids from witnessing what was in there. The children came down to an onslaught of comforting hugs from mum and dad.

  One officer stayed behind, stopping neighbours from peering into the house, while the other escorted the family to the hospital for a thorough check up.

  FOURTEEN

  News spread, and in the space of a few hours, the street where the Smythes once lived had become a centre for death. The neighbours became restless and needed fast answers.

  Doug, the remaining officer, became swamped as he exited the house of the recent murder, but whilst placing “no entry” strips across the front door and front windows was hounded by screaming townsfolk, demanding the truth behind what’d just happened. Everyone who’d witnessed the carrying of corpses from earlier had seen it happen again, so how could he hide the facts from them?

  Doug couldn’t keep the peace on his own, so required help before it became uncontrollable. He felt exhausted, pushing his way through the thickening crowd to make a phone call for assistance, but the racket was so loud that Susan couldn’t make head or tail of his words.

  “Doug, what’s going on down there? It sounds pretty noisy.”

  “I wouldn’t say it was pretty,” he said, while moving the crowd away from him. “Is Jason still there?”

  There was no time for chatting, the man required one thing and that was help.

  “He’s just finishing off the paperwork from earlier. Do you want to speak to him?”

  “Please.”

  “Doug’s on the phone,” Susan shouted to Jason.

  “You’d better tell him to get off before it breaks.”

  “Very funny, just speak to him,” she smiled.

  “Doug, what’s up mate?” Jason asked, as he heard many voices on the other end of the line.

  “I need your help. Can you get some backup and meet me outside the Smythes house? Talk to Craig, he’s at the hospital.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  Jason told Susan to contact Craig, (the other officer involved in the zombie dog murder), before leaving the building.

  Eight hours had passed since the first murder took place, but still there were no clues on how and why this was happening?

  Jason stopped the car outside the main entrance of the hospital and two men entered the vehicle. There was no Wayne for this mission. He’d been told to get some sleep. Mike needed him to be on full alert, so he tagged along with the other men.

  For a brief moment all three men thought about the same thing, and they sat with eyes closed. It was their way of showing respect to the officer who’d died earlier. Jason knew it could’ve been him lying dead in the morgue so he said a special prayer to the man upstairs. After a short period of quietness the car was driven to the next destination point.

  Doug had a stress free smile on his face when the other officers arrived, but as he moved closer to his workmates, the curious crowd followed, surrounding the officers as they left the car.

  Jason engaged his mind with one of his stupidly amusing thoughts. He was a car-boot junkie, and the sight of people swarming the vehicle like vultures on a Sunday morning released a memory of the last time he did one, so, instead of waiting for an order from the chief, rushed to the back of the car and lifted the boot. “Roll up, roll up, have I got some goodies for you people.” The other officers didn’t understand what he was trying to do, but not one of them said anything to stop his actions. “I’ve got some wicked bargains. Come, see for yourselves. Take home today some crazy creature comforts that’ll explode your brain.”

  He may’ve been babbling, but he received the full attention of the troubled looking street mob. Whatever it was he was doing, it was probably working. The people moved from the other officers and headed toward the man with the wandering words.

  “Can you please move away from the vehicle and go back to your homes. There’s nothing to see here,” Mike shouted.

  One of the nosiest members of the group pulled cash out of his wallet, thinking that the young constable was in fact selling some items. “I’m not going back inside until I get me one of those brainexploding creature comfort thingies.”

  Jason sniggered. Mike pinched the top of his own nose, shut his eyes, and composed himself for the next barrage of words to be aimed at the stupid neighbour.

  “Don’t be a fucking arsehole, mate, he’s playing with you.”

  The man sneaked a look inside the boot of the car then turned, showing Jason a very unpleasing glare.

  “Sorry pal, they’re all sold out,” the cocky constable said.

  A few of the group became boisterous and impatient, and one person stepped forward, approaching the officer in charge. “We’re staying here until you tell us what the fuck’s been going on?”

  The rest of the crowd screamed obscenities with every word this man said.

  “Sir, just calm down, I’ll answer your questions, but only if everyone remains cool,” Mike said.

  “You want us to remain cool after what we’ve witnessed. Are you joking? We’re all worried sick about our families. What’s going on, eh?”

  “I can understand your concerns, but I can assure you that whatever went on here today won’t be affecting you.”

  Mike tried quenching the situation but his quenching theory wasn’t working, as the angry ma
n kept up the stinging questions. He now feared an onslaught happening soon. If the ringleader asked the personal, distressing stuff and wasn’t getting the right answers, then the four officers could well be overshadowed. Mike needed to calm this crowd down because the leader’s voice was becoming very loud, attracting more people to join the crowd. This was giving the leader the confidence to insist on answers.

  “Just tell us something that’ll help us understand, but don’t even think about bullshitting us…”

  Mike hesitated. He was scrambling to think of words to appease this man and the constant pressure wasn’t helping him to come up with one of his get out of jail cards. The story he used on Blake was way too risky to try on this bloke because he could end up with a fat lip, so Mike said nothing. This silence made the man angrier. “Come on, we want answers,” he shouted.

  This kind of scenario should’ve been routine to Mike but even though he was the big chief, struggled to sort this one out and it bothered him. To make matters worse, a television reporter arrived on the scene. This wasn’t what Mike needed at this time. The most hated reporter, according to the police, was back. This guy would sell your grandmother to get a story. It didn’t matter what the investigation was, he’d find a way to get what he wanted. Mike watched every movement the reporter made and simply forgot about the other person. That was, until the leader of the crowd belted out his question again. “Are you going to tell us what’s going on, officer?”

  The reporter and his team zoomed in for some close up shots.

  “I do believe these people want some answers, Mike. In fact, the whole town needs to know what’s going on?” the reporter said. He loved every moment of this, and Mike knew it. “Don’t forget to comb your hair, as you’ll be going on air later.”

  Chris and Mike had become enemies in a war between police and reporters ever since Chris nearly lost the other man his job a few months earlier. He’d written a story about the chief for the local newspaper, but Mike wasn’t aware that he was writing everything about him. The sneaky man had included Mike’s younger days when he’d dabbled with drugs and alcohol. The story made the chief furious. There was no need for him to put that in, but Chris thought the locals should know what kind of law enforcement they had protecting them. Mike knew the real reason to why Chris wanted him sacked, it was because the bank robbers were still at large. Chris blamed him for their escape, and for the death of his mother at the bank.