by Ryan Casey
Riley nodded at the corridor. Wasn’t sure if anyone but Jordanna saw him. He expected Chloë to be crying, but she seemed the calmest and most composed of the lot of them.
“We go that way,” he mouthed.
Andy shook his head. Mouthed something back, which Riley didn’t understand.
“Don’t have a choice—” Riley started.
A grunt. A grunt to their left. The sound of flesh being chewed up stopped. Nothing more than blood dripping from the feasting Orion’s mouth to the floor, the constant dizzying siren of the alarm.
Riley didn’t want to look in its direction. He didn’t want to stare into its eyes.
But like all things forbidden in life, Riley couldn’t help but glance.
The first thing that struck him about the Orion was just how human its eyes were. He’d seen them before, sure. Been fucking bitten by one for heaven’s sakes. But he didn’t remember their eyes being this vibrant. This … individual.
He stared at them, and the Orion stared back at him.
Footsteps of the other two Orions got closer behind.
Riley’s heart picked up.
The staring went on.
And then, “Run,” Riley said.
He was the first to follow his own words. The instant he moved, the Orion from the left plunged towards him. He heard gasps further back too—the growls of the other Orions, hungry in their pursuit. He heard their long black fingernails scraping against the floor. Their teeth snapping together in hunger.
And as he ran, as he sprinted to the right as quickly as he could, Riley was convinced this was it. This had to be it. The moment where his luck ended. The moment where his life was cut short.
He barely had any sense of his surroundings. Three doors beside him. Dead end at the bottom of the corridor. Fuck. He had to try one of the doors. Could be anything inside them, anything behind them, but he had to try.
Or he was dead.
He slammed into the door on the right.
It swung open.
Pitch black in there.
Not even the red glow of the alarm light.
But fuck. What good was hiding in the pitch black?
What good was anything now the Orions were onto them?
What good was—
He heard something. Something in front of him. Something in the darkness.
Then he saw its human eyes in the red glow. Smelled its decaying flesh.
His knees went weak.
Another Orion.
He slammed the door shut and ran further down the corridor. He didn’t want to look over his shoulder, didn’t want to see the Orions pursuing him, pursuing his friends. He hadn’t heard any screams so they had to be okay.
No. He couldn’t just pretend to be certain. He had to be certain.
So he swung around with his gun in hand and pointed it at the first Orion he saw.
It was just inches from Jordanna. Nipping at her heels—literally.
“It’s too strong!” Andy shouted, waving his hands and shaking his head. “Too fucking strong!”
But Riley couldn’t just give in.
He had to try something.
He pointed at the Orion’s head and he fired three shots.
It jolted back at first. Fell away, black blood seeping out of it. Riley remembered taking the Orion down on the motorway. It went down okay. Manageable, just like the zombies. Fast, sure, but manageable.
But this Orion didn’t stay down.
It stood back up.
Turned its attention to Riley.
As too did its friends—the two friends that had been joined by the one from the room Riley had barged into just moments ago.
Riley ran back and hit the tiled wall. Fuck. Dead end. Dead fucking end.
Andy, Jordanna and Chloë joined him. They stood there. Stood there in the red hue as the Orions approached, as they closed in on their prey, as their gasps got louder and their eyes got hungrier, as their nauseating dead flesh got closer.
Riley grabbed Jordanna’s hand.
Closed his eyes.
Pointed his gun at the Orions.
And for the first time in a long time, he prayed.
CHAPTER FOUR
Riley squeezed his eyes together and waited for the Orions to swarm around him.
He’d stared death in the face so many times now. All those years ago, when he’d tried to take his own life. Crashed a car into a solid wall.
Then multiple times since the start of the dead days. Being trapped in the Barracks. The boat crash. Being fucking bitten. He was used to it. Accustomed to accepting his own mortality. His own fate.
The difference between every death-staring experience was how much more Riley wanted to live every time he was certain he was going to die.
He squeezed Jordanna’s shaking hand. Pushed back against the wall. Listened to the alarm sirens scream out, the red lights flashing in front of his eyelids, ingraining in his consciousness.
He felt the Orions getting closer.
Smelled their rotting flesh just inches away.
Prepared for the crippling bite of their piercing teeth, so close, so close …
And then he opened his eyes.
He wasn’t sure why. Wasn’t a conscious decision—wasn’t a choice to stare death in the face, anything like that.
He opened his eyes because he knew he couldn’t give up. He didn’t want to die. He couldn’t accept death, not even if he felt the life trickling out of his body, out of his veins. Not even though the cure was still regressing, he was still dying.
Just not yet.
The Orions stepped closer.
Their teeth chattered together.
Their humanoid fists tightened.
Their eyes stared, hungry, but more conscious than the creatures outside the walls. More intelligent.
Riley stared them in the eyes and he waited.
“It’s gonna be okay,” he said. And he really believed it. That was the funny thing. He actually believed himself when he said those words, even if death was only a couple of inches away.
“Please, Riley. Please.” Jordanna. He didn’t know why she was begging. Didn’t know what to say to reassure her. Just about the weakest he’d ever seen her.
Andy was swearing.
Chloë was quiet. Still. Serene.
Riley swallowed a heavy lump in his throat as the first Orion stepped right up to him.
Looked down at him.
Stared him in the eye.
“It’s—it’s gonna be okay,” he said.
And he felt a tear roll down his cheek. A tear that represented his will to live. His unwavering desire to stay alive. Not just for himself, but for the ones he loved. For his friends. For his family.
And as he squeezed Jordanna’s hand, he really, truly believed they’d find their way out of this.
Somehow.
The Orion reached its hand out.
Grabbed Riley by his throat.
Tightly.
Lifted him up the wall.
Opened its wide, ghastly mouth, blood-laced saliva dribbling down its chin.
The first thing Riley thought when the Orion moved in for a bite was how fucking sad it was. What a sad fate these Orions had. Because Mr Fletch said something about consciousness. Something about a semblance of who you once were still being inside these Orions.
The next thing he thought was fuck oh fuck oh fuck.
And then he heard the blast.
Felt the intense blow of heat.
Heard the scream.
He didn’t know what had happened. Just that the Orion had dropped him. That he was on the floor again.
And that the corridor was lit.
No. Illuminated. Not by lights, but by …
That’s when he understood.
He shuffled back to the wall. Reached into his pocket for his gun. His neck felt like it’d been stretched twice its normal length, but he was alive. He was alive, somehow, and that’s all that mattered. No—what ma
ttered was that Chloë was alive. Jordanna was alive. And Andy was alive. He was one of them too now. He was part of the family.
The Orions were scuttling around, scrapping and screaming. Flames filled the corridor. Flames that looked intentional. Sounded intentional. Riley remembered his time in the tunnels with Alan Mixter all too well. The roaring noise that flamethrower made. How effective it was at dealing with the creatures.
Well, it seemed to be doing just as good a job with the Orions.
Riley lifted his gun and fired at the burning Orions, as did Andy, Jordanna, Chloë. The bullets were much more effective in dealing with their flame-encrusted bodies. So much so that chunks of them fell away, and the look in their eyes was one of fear, one of pain.
A look of human realisation.
The same look that Riley must’ve had on his face the many times he’d stared at death.
Oh fuck, this is it, this is over, this is where my pointless, irrelevant life comes to a close.
In flames and screams.
The four of them fired at the Orions until they were nothing but chunks of meat on the ground. The flames fired down the corridor. Someone was firing a flamethrower, helping them out. Or maybe not. Maybe this was a part of the lockdown. Maybe the doors unlocking and the Orions escaping was an accident after all, and maybe Riley and his friends were destined to burn to death rather than be torn and eaten to death.
Burning sounded more appealing, to be fair. Just.
When the Orions fell to the floor, their gasping bodies still twitching, their burned lungs struggling for air, Riley saw the group beyond them. Three silhouettes. One tall and muscular, the other smaller and thinner. And a third. Long hair. Decent build.
They stepped closer to Riley. He pointed his gun at them, as too did Chloë, Andy, Jordanna.
“Who are you?” Riley shouted.
The three people didn’t reply. They just stepped closer. The one in the middle was holding the smoking flamethrower. His face was becoming a little clearer, but still not clear enough to make out his features.
“Stand down or we’ll shoot,” Riley said. He knew these people had saved his life—saved all their lives—but he didn’t want to take any chances. Nobody could be trusted. Intentions had to be questioned. Always.
“I’m serious. If you don’t—”
“I’ve seen your shootin,’ man. Not gettin’ myself too worried.”
That voice. Riley recognised that voice.
And then …
The three people stepped closer.
Their faces became clear in the glow of the flames.
Riley lowered his gun. As too did Chloë, Jordanna.
“Nice to see you gettin’ all cosy around ’ere but we’ve gotta shoot,” James said.
Beside him, Tamara stood.
Beside her, Ivan stood.
Only Ivan hadn’t spoken a word.
He probably couldn’t speak a word.
Because his mouth was bleeding.
His lips were coated in red.
And several sharp teeth—Orion teeth—were wedged into his gums.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Should be a vent around here somewhere,” Andy said. “Though that probably got locked down too.”
“We have to try something,” Jordanna said, walking beside him. “Not too keen on sticking around this place much longer.”
Andy looked up at the flashing red lights above. “Yeah. Yeah, me too.”
Riley walked beside James. In front of them, Ivan. And behind, Chloë. A part of Riley wasn’t too keen on Chloë lingering behind them. He’d seen some of the things she’d done. Stabbed people in the back. Killed people. Anna.
She was dangerous.
But right now, she was in the same boat as the rest of them. She had the same agenda as all of them.
Having the same agenda as Chloë was always a good thing.
“Not turned yet?”
Riley looked around at James. His shoulder-length blond hair was clumped with dirt and sweat. His white shirt was split at the neck. There were bruises around his collarbone. Bruises that told Riley he’d been through the ringer in this place too.
This idyllic haven.
“Not quite,” Riley said. “Still clinging on.”
“Not exactly the paradise we had in mind, huh?”
Riley thought back to everything he’d lost. To Pedro. “Don’t need to keep on reminding me.”
“Hey, don’t mean to do that. Just … just can’t help but thinkin’, y’know. What if we hadn’t come here—”
“If we hadn’t come here then Mr Fletch would still’ve found a way to get to us,” Riley said, agitation creeping into his voice. His cheeks warmed up as they walked down the corridor. The red lights were driving him mad, making him dizzy as hell. “He’d have found a way to let those Orions out. Least now we might have a chance of stopping him.”
“You really believe that?”
“What?”
“That we can stop him? I mean I’m all for optimism, all that. Just I’m more bothered ’bout gettin’ outta this place in one piece, not fussed about destroying the toys of a mad professor. Y’know?”
“Sometimes you’ve got to take a man’s toys away when he’s getting greedy with them.”
“Wow,” Jordanna said, looking back at Riley. “Inspirational words, Martin Luther. Got any more rallying speeches?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Keep looking ahead. Never know what might jump around the next corner and tear you to shreds.”
Jordanna tilted her head. “Not quite as catchy. Prefer your more subtle stuff.”
She looked back, but Riley could see the hint of a smile on her face.
In the direst of circumstances, he felt good. She was smiling.
That was what life was all about now. Not seeking some idealistic version of how you want the future to be like Mr Fletch was doing. But making the most of the bad times. Enjoying every little moment of humour, every smidgen of joy.
Because you never knew when it was about to be torn away.
Literally.
“What they do to you anyway?” James asked.
Riley stared at Ivan as he walked ahead. He hadn’t said a word. Still couldn’t quite get his head around the fact he was here in the BLZ with them. He wanted to ask him his story. Ask him how he ended up here.
But those teeth. Those sharp, Orion teeth that had been wedged into his gums …
He didn’t need to ask him.
He knew exactly what had happened to Ivan.
Exactly what he’d escaped from.
“Oh, the usual. Pinned down, told something was happening in my best interests. Then, y’know. Tied up. Almost drilled to death.”
“Sounds pretty usual,” James said.
“Yep. What about you?”
He scratched the back of his head and Riley saw another bruise. This one was on his right wrist. “They … they roughed me up. But not enough, y’know? ’Cause I’m still here.”
“We all are.”
“Tiffany’s not.”
Chloë’s words shook Riley out of his relative peace—as grim as the circumstances were.
He turned around.
She was standing still. Her bottom lip was quivering. And although she was still faded, still in the dark, he could see her tears glistening in the light.
“We’ll find her,” Riley said. “I promise you we’ll—”
“She’s dead. I … I saw her. Saw her lying there. Lying there ready to—to be one of them. One of the new monsters.”
“Chloë, she might not be—”
“No. She is. I … I’ve got to get it. Mum always … Mum always told me it was better to just—just accept the bad things or something. So I didn’t sulk about them. So me and my … my sister don’t sulk about them. Didn’t sulk about them.”
And after everything that had happened, Riley wanted to walk over to Chloë and hug her. Hug her for being brave. For opening up. For fucking connecting with reali
ty once again after all the shit storms she’d been involved in, that she’d instigated.
But there was still a distance there. Still a reluctance. Still an invisible wall, a barrier between them.
“I’m sure we—”
“Hold the fuck up,” Andy said.
Riley spun around. Prepared himself to be faced with another Orion.
But no. There was nothing there.
Nothing but a ventilation shaft.
Andy turned around. His teeth glowed in the red light. The glow of a smile.
“This is it. This is our way out. Our fuckin’ way out.”
Riley walked ahead of the group. Stopped beside Andy and looked at the ventilation shaft. It was a small opening. Pretty tight squeeze, even for a skinny guy like Riley.
“Claustrophobic too?” Jordanna said, stepping up to Riley and crouching down by the shaft.
Riley gulped. “Too?”
“Seem to have every phobia in the book.”
“Well that’s not true.”
“It’s—”
A rattling noise behind them. The sound of footsteps echoing down the corridor they’d come from.
A shadow.
A shadow in the red light getting closer.
“We’ve gotta move,” Andy said, crouching down to the ventilation shaft and yanking at the grating.
“But what about Steve—”
“I’m not givin’ up on Steve,” Andy spat. He struggled more with the shaft. It didn’t seem to be budging or coming loose. “Just … just get down here. Give me a lift.”
Riley crouched down. Grabbed the corner of the ventilation shaft grating. It was sharp and stabbed the ends of his fingers. “It’s too fucking—”
“It’s not,” Andy shouted, pulling at the grating some more. Jordanna was helping them now, as were Tamara, Ivan and Chloë. “It—it can’t be. Or we’re—”
A gasp from behind.
A familiar bloodcurdling gasp of an Orion.
“We really need to hurry,” Andy said.
“So you keep saying,” Riley said.
He pulled at the metal shaft. Behind him, as he put everything he had into pulling, all his strength, he heard the Orion stepping closer. Smelled its decaying flesh.
Not now. Not after coming so close, again. Not now.
Jordanna looked over her shoulder, tugged at the grating. “It’s not gonna budge.”