Clifton Falls

by L A Taylor

  The uniformed men closed in on the frightened civilians, but Toby seemed sidetracked. He stopped to study one of the large, bushy hedges. George noticed and shouted. “What’s up?”

  Toby remained concentrated on what he was doing.

  “I thought I saw someone move in there,” he replied, pointing at the spot as he spoke.

  The old officer didn’t want them slowing down when the enemy was in sight, so he had to take control of the situation. “You catch up when you’ve finished your investigation.”

  “Okay,” Toby answered.

  George smiled and carried on walking. He didn’t believe there was anything to investigate but was willing to let the young man follow his own instinct, knowing Toby would catch them up soon.

  The young cadet neared the chosen spot, kneeling down to get a better view. A human figure entered his vision from within the greenery. Toby tried not to startle the mystery person, so whispered. “Hello, can you answer me?”

  The object moved awkwardly, as though it was uncomfortable stuck in this hiding place. Toby reached out a hand for the figure to hold on to. “Don’t be scared, I’m here to help you. Reach out and grab my hand. You’re safe now.”

  Little Kenny slowly reached out, but the hand never landed into position. While Toby concentrated on the young boy, a visitor closed in. It’d been standing behind some trees, waiting. Kenny had seen it, but was in too much shock to say anything. If Toby had stared deeply into the scared boy’s eyes then he could’ve witnessed the mirror effect shape of the frenzied, flesh hungry attacker coming toward him.

  The monster placed dirty, skin fading hands on top of Toby’s head, bent over and bit him, leaving the slightly paralysed young man bleeding. The boy clambered out of the bushes, running as fast as he could to escape the ugly, worm infested zombie, but never ran toward the other men, instead, disappeared again into the safety of the trees.

  Toby never moved when the creature attacked for the second time. The poor cadet remained petrified and shaking while teeth were embedded into his face. He fell down as the stinging pain ripped through him. He tried crawling away from the danger, but neither shouted or pleaded for help. In fact, did nothing but crawl.

  The people in the caravans banged constantly against windows to try to alert George and Kevin to the danger, but they thought the people were pleased to see them, so they waved at them.

  The zombie wasn’t letting this attempt at a kill pass by so reached out, grabbing onto the red-faced target again. With the deadly look of an evil, psychotic killer, the creature pounced, pinning the defenceless cadet without much of a struggle. Pointy fingers were inserted into the recent wound, stretching the skin until an avalanche of fluid escaped. Toby felt the torturing horror now and followed the movements of his killer with tearful eyes, but wasn’t to scream until another chunk of flesh was released from his body. The beast bit into the teenager’s leg, removing more tissue. This callous ripping sensation knocked the young man out of his sudden dose of shock.

  “OOOOOOOOOCH!” he screamed, as blood sprayed out of his mouth.

  This noise haltered the progress of the other officers, but it was all too late. They turned, staring as the attacker moved in to finish Toby off. Kevin made a move to execute the aggressor and without thinking, fired his weapon at different angles. He was very upset by what he now witnessed and wasn’t able to control his aim. His close friend was being brutalized by something out of this world, but he was too shaken up to even shoot straight.

  Suddenly, a bullet hit the monster’s head. This annoyed the beast and it turned, facing its enemy. George and Kevin stared at the creature. It returned to its feet and walked in their direction. Three steps later and the monster collapsed to the ground. Kevin turned, smiling at the old officer.

  “What are you grinning at?” George asked.

  “Who... Me? Oh, I’m just shocked at what you just did.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It took you just one attempt to put the sucker down. I’m a class marksman and I couldn’t get close to it.”

  “You panicked. That’s why you missed. You’ll get it together, trust me.”

  George patted the younger man on the back as their thoughts returned to the reality of what’d just happened.

  Kevin rushed over to Toby and could hear the tiny moaning sounds of a still breathing human. He sat down next to him, lifted up the dying cadet’s head and placed it onto his thigh. “You’re going to be okay, just hang in there,” he whispered.

  George used this time to contact the chief again. He left Kevin to comfort his friend while he explained, to the best of his knowledge, what’d happened. He blamed himself for this, so expected Mike to do the same. The saddened conversation drifted from what happened to Toby to how many zombies were still out there. Mike knew all wasn’t well and worried that they still didn’t know where some of the freaks had gone. He told George to remain there. He was going to talk to Craig before heading for the village.

  All George had to do now was keep an eye on the cadets while the night creatures kept their eyes on them.

  THIRTY

  Karen paced up and down in her living room as she anxiously waited for Blake to return. The time approached 6.00pm. She checked her mobile, knowing Blake would text her regularly if he was out for too long. There were still no messages, so she dialled his number. Blake’s usual ring-tone repeated and repeated, but no one answered. She then dialled the police station to be given the news that he was out with the chief. “Oh right. Do you know how long ago they went?” she asked.

  “I would say at least an hour or so,” said the novice at the station. “Would you like me to send a message out to him?”

  “No. It’s okay. I’ll be fine. I’m sure he’ll get in touch soon. Cheers and thank you for letting me know.”

  “No problem. Bye.”

  Karen closed her phone, but still felt very uneasy. She sensed something was wrong but didn’t know what to do about it. She’d felt like this before but her anxiety would dampen and Blake would come home, but this time was different, this time she knew she had to go find him to make sure he was all right. However, she wanted someone with her, someone who would drop everything at short notice, someone who was loyal to Blake, someone like Todd.

  Another phone call was next on her list of things to do.

  “Hello.”

  “Hi, Todd, It’s Karen. How’re you doing?”

  “Me, I’m great.” Todd sensed that something wasn’t quite right with this call. “Karen, what’s wrong? Is Blake okay?” he snapped.

  “I don’t know if Blake’s okay or not. All I know is he should be here with me, but isn’t,” she said, her voice beginning to tremble as she fought back the tears.

  Quickly, she explained about the graveyard and why Blake had gone there. She didn’t need more pressure developing and Todd knew she badly wanted to go.

  “So, do you want some company then?”

  “Yes, please. I could do with some company.”

  “I’m on my way to pick you up.”

  Todd took just five minutes to pull up outside the house. Karen saw him approach, grabbed her coat and left in search of her husband’s whereabouts. She sat down, shut the car door, and smiled at her chauffeur for the evening. “Thank you Todd for doing this.”

  He winked at her, and it was exactly what she needed.

  The cemetery looked like a wreckage yard as Todd parked the car near to the other vehicles. Karen scanned the area, but couldn’t see anyone in clear sight. There wasn’t even any police probing the vicinity. “I can see his car, but where is he?” she shouted.

  Todd remained positive in order for Karen to hopefully follow suit. “I wouldn’t panic, I’m sure he’s safe.”

  They stared at the abandoned police vehicle for the next few seconds, but weren’t aware that in between the two cars were the gruesome remains of the bloodthirsty, stinking zombies that Mike’s men had placed there. The ambulance men still had
n’t arrived to remove them. A few minutes passed and it was clear they weren’t going to find the answers sitting in the car.

  “Stay here, I’m going to look around. There may be some clues to help us find Blake,” said Todd, taking control.

  He left the vehicle. He cautiously walked over to Blake’s car, knowing that Karen’s eyes were boring into his back, watching every move he made. He cowered in confidence as he opened the driver’s side door. His bottle faded fast, but he did attempt to check the inside of the vehicle. All of a sudden Todd jumped up, banging his head on the roof of the car. Blake’s phone had gone off again and it’d startled him. For the next ten seconds all that were heard was the words, ‘I get knocked down but I get up again,’ being sung by the band ‘Chumbawamba.’ Todd looked over at Karen. She sat in the car with her mobile up against her ear, and an apology smile for scaring him was on its way. He picked up the phone, but saw nothing to indicate where Blake had gone.

  The other car was next, but he stopped suddenly after witnessing the pile up of carcasses. He saw that one was a uniformed body. This shook him so hard that he almost burst like an erupting volcano. This sickening and torturous viewing forced him back a few feet. Karen leaned her head out of the window to shout. “Hey, are you all right? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Everything’s good here,” Todd called back, lifting up his right hand. “You stay there. I’m just going to check out the other car.”

  “Okay.”

  He felt the burning of a sudden dose of fear, but knew he had to remain as sane as possible because he didn’t want to upset Karen. The poor man struggled to keep it together. The second vehicle received a very quick once over. Todd decided not to stay any longer so rushed back to his own vehicle, slipped into his seat and shut the door.

  “What’s wrong?” Karen asked, as he moved closer to her.

  “There’s been an accident.”

  Todd was looking at Karen as he spoke, but it wasn’t her face he could see, instead he visualized the mangled bodies from between the cars.

  “Did you see Blake?” she asked, shaking Todd when he didn’t reply. “Did you see Blake?” she now shouted.

  Todd couldn’t say anymore, didn’t trust himself to say anymore so just shook his head. All he knew was the quicker they found Blake, the better it would be. The truth was out there, not the stories, not what Blake had said to him, the bloody truth, and Todd wanted some answers. His wish was about to come true.

  A zombie appeared, standing in front of his car. The creature spread insect filled hands on the bumper and wasn’t looking happy to see humans watching it. A creepy, concentrated glare rushed from the zombie’s vision after staring at its own version of a Macdonald’s happy meal. All the contents were in the box but it had to get inside to taste it. The people inside the box however had other ideas.

  Todd turned the key, starting the engine. The car was reversed, leaving the zombie in a state of utter surprise as it ended up face down in the dirt. If the humans listened closely then they would hear whining sounds escaping from the beast as it re-adjusted back to its feet. A few seconds passed before the car stopped reversing.

  Karen and the creature made eye contact again just before the vehicle pulled away.

  “Jesus, what was that?” Todd shouted, as the car aimed for the road again.

  “I don’t know, but I don’t want to see another one.”

  The female’s view of the sick being was that she’d recognised it somewhere before. For the past three months Karen had fought a battle to forget about the bank robbery, but the figure definitely brought back memories of the gruesome murder to the lady. For a split second the memory window inside her head surfaced a vision of the poor victim, but Karen failed to believe that this weird looking person was the murdered body from the bank. She now frantically searched the back seat to see if anything had crept into the car.

  “What are you doing?”

  She stopped fidgeting when Todd spoke. “I’m sorry, I’m all right now. I’ve seen the movies where you think you’re safe and then a crazy, axe murderer pops up in the back seat, and just before you can say. ‘How did you get there?’ the killer’s stuck a sharp object through your seat and in your back.”

  Todd’s curiosity about this woman confused him more than seeing the crazy freak.

  She’d watched way too many horror flicks, he thought.

  “Karen, you’ve been sitting here the whole time, so surely you would’ve noticed a serial killer opening the back door?”

  Her nerves placed themselves back into the calmness box and the weird behaviour ceased. “I know what you’re saying, but I had to double check. Sorry.”

  She scrunched up her face to show the panic was over. Todd smiled. To be honest he was glad she acted like this, as it’d helped rid his mind of the scene in the car. He turned on the headlights and headed along the outskirts of the forest.

  As he drove along he spotted another police car by the side of the road. He slowed down, inspecting the vehicle before finally stopping behind it. He removed his torch from the glove compartment before once again evacuating his vehicle to check out the inside of another car, but saw nothing to help him further. He placed his free hand on top of the bonnet. It was still warm. Karen remained with an eager, watchman-like approach, and didn’t fancy getting caught out by anymore of what she’d seen at the cemetery. She noticed Todd glancing outwards toward the forest, but didn’t know why? There was a plan tapping at the man’s head, but what was it? He turned, facing the nosey female, but didn’t speak. Karen guessed that he needed her assistance and so left the car. “What’s up?”

  “Nothing really... I was just thinking that we might have to go through there, that’s all.” Todd pointed at his destination. “But I know you wouldn’t want to do that so I’ll forget about it.”

  Karen looked to where he was pointing. “Go in there. Why would you want to do that?

  “It seems to be the most logical place where the occupants from this car have gone to.”

  “Why didn’t you just say that? Let’s get in there. I’m not leaving until I find my husband.”

  She was extremely serious about this. Just thinking about Blake increased her bravery no end.

  “Okay, off we go then, but stay close to me. It’s a good job I have my trusty torch because it’s getting increasingly black inside there.”

  Todd waved the object in the air, laughing. It was definitely a nervous one, but Karen thought he was taking the piss out of her. “Todd, shut up. It doesn’t matter what you say because I’m not going to get scared off.”

  After those comforting words the couple walked onto the grassy verge and stepped into the creepy forest.

  After about five minutes of trekking through the undergrowth Karen realized this mightn’t be such a good idea after all. She wasn’t dressed for this kind of activity. She wore the wrong type of footwear and her heels sunk into the dampened grass. She thought long and hard about removing the shiny, red shoes, but decided not to after remembering how much they cost.

  “Todd, this is hard for me with these on my feet.”

  He turned, glancing at her footwear. “Hey, you can always take them off you know.”

  Karen wasn’t impressed by his remark.

  Had he not a sense of fashion in his body? She wondered.

  “I don’t think so,” she replied, huffing under her breath.

  “Well stop moaning then.”

  Karen released a massive sigh from deep within her stomach. Her attempt at receiving tender care treatment failed this time.

  The sharp sound of a cracking branch was heard and whatever made it wasn’t too far away. Todd quickly turned off the torch as the sound continued to close in. Karen wasn’t going to be able to take much more of this and he could see that. “Just keep calm and follow me,” he said, reaching out a hand. “No matter what you hear happening behind us, just promise me you’ll not look back?”

  She agreed to ever
ything he said and grabbed onto his outstretched hand. They tried running away from the area but paused very quickly, as the shoes were still hampering Karen. This time she kicked them off. They ran for a bit longer. Todd insisted that she should hide behind the nearest tree while he searched for the reason behind the noise.

  Karen’s stress levels increased to the maximum as she waited behind a tree. She was sitting in the dark, so every sound heard made her think the most evil and horrifying thoughts possible. She now had a covering of sticky-brown mud wrapped around her toes, along her feet, and even up to her ankles, but remained as still as she could, tucked at the base of a large oak tree.

  Todd risked his own life. He had to be certain that whoever made the snapping noises had either gone away, or was, or wasn’t one of the strange sightings that he’d witnessed. After a few minutes of constant squinting came to the conclusion that nothing was nearby.

  Karen heard something shuffle near to her, but her eyes could barely make out the shapes of the trees, never mind what was making this sound. She whispered Todd’s name a few times, thinking it was him, but the noise didn’t stop. She felt something hairy brush past her feet. It happened again within five seconds. Now she was worried even more. She frantically searched for her mobile phone again as the darkness scared her to the point of crying. The eerie noise sounded again and she knew there was something next to her feet. The phone was reached. She flipped it open, revealing a crazy V shape of light that made the oak tree stand out more than the others in the forest. She quickly shone the light at her feet and then she saw it, whatever it was. Looking gormless and ugly was a squirrel. Well, that’s what Karen thought it was. It had the resemblance of one, but the features were rotten and a maggot hung from its left eye. The small animal opened its mouth. Karen screamed, but before the squirrel could attack her, a rock landed smack down on its head, crushing it to death.

  “Hey, are you okay?” said Todd. “It’s a good job you shone the light at it or I wouldn’t have been able to see it.”