CLANG, CRUNCH, SMASH…KABOOM!
The door completely flew off its hinges and travelled in my direction, I just managed to duck down in the milliseconds it took for the large chunk of metal to fly over my head just scraping the end of my ponytail as it swished up when I lowered my body at the speed only the Crushers normally had.
I looked up to find a horror made abomination, I knew it had once been Micah but it was no longer the man that sounded and spoke so nice and polite this was a horrendous beast. Somehow his body had mutated with the virus, his muscles had bulged out from under his flesh causing it to tear and bleed, his eyes were wild with rage but they too had bulged out from their sockets causing them to look sore and bloodshot, his hands had balled into fists and by the looks of things he couldn’t undo them, the muscles had tightened so much that they were stuck. His legs were large tree trunks, swollen up and ballooned like incredibly large chunks of meat, the muscles there too had split the flesh open revealing sore and infected wounds.
He sniffed the air around him and screamed a wild and animal sound which ran my blood cold, it was louder and more gruesome than the other creature’s cries, he gargled at the end of the howl coughing up blood which dribbled off his tongue and splatted to the floor.
Without warning he ran forward howling again and swinging his huge arms with the balled up fists, I just about jumped out the way as his hands came down hard smashing the concrete walls beside me. I stood up to find him running at me once again, the wind whistled around him as his bulking body mass headed right for me, I ran as fast as I could and just as he sent his powerful arm down to pound my head to pieces I used the power in my legs to run half up the wall, I span in the air and twisted my body so I could reach for my rifle and smash him round the head with it, the loud clonking noise as they made contact didn’t make me feel any better. As I landed I looked up to see the hit had no effect on him and he was still coming for me, again I ran from him and I turned suddenly with my gun aimed at his heart, BANG! My shot rang out and echoed through the quiet corridor hitting Micah squarely in the chest right where I wanted, a small bout of blood blossomed on his chest like a flower opening to the sun but he didn’t feel it. He still walked and kept on coming like a creep fully intent on coming no matter what happened to him.
I felt the adrenaline kick in and move me out the way just in time as he ran and jumped, the thump on the floor as he landed was so solid and strong it smashed the tiles under his tree trunk legs. His stance, posture and strength reminded me of the Hercules monster that had tried to get me, Monique and Darren back at the old shopping centre but this one was not a manmade creation in ways that parts and extras had been added on, this one had just mutated with the virus, something in the infection had gone wrong or it had started to evolve to stop itself dying out.
Feeling the panic fully set in on what this thing might do to everyone if it got out, what might happen to those poor women, children and men that all lived and thrived upstairs and out in the Shanti town. This made my body lurch forward and I felt the power flush in me, I had to call the only things that I knew might be able to take it down, the only things that might be able to tear it limb from limb…The Crushers!
As I commanded them to come to my aid I felt the beast roar and come flying at me, I let out a scream that told the Crushers to do as I commanded, I knew they would hear it through me, I was their Alpha and they knew I was calling them. It sounded in no way human but I knew it would bring them faster if they knew their alpha was in dire need. It was a risk as some people might get hurt trying to stop them entering but if it meant saving the more I had to right?
The bulking thing in front of me paused for a moment confused by the scent of a half human, half creature being on my skin but with the full scream of a maddened creature. It sniffed the air around me once again before filling itself with pure anger and rage, then it charged at me its mouth opened fully and for the first time I could see how mutated its mouth had become. The tongue was elongated and stretched out of its mouth, it whipped from side to side as it tasted the air around me, its teeth had smashed and some had fallen out revealing large chunks of bone, it looked to be that he had tried to tear his own mouth and teeth out whilst he changed and long nail scratches lined the inside of his cheeks confirming my assumption.
I quickly reloaded my rifle and bent down to steady my aim, I clicked the clip in and aimed at the beast’s eye, my finger hovered over the trigger ready to shoot, it was as if time slowed down as my gun hung in my hands.
“Wait don’t shoot him!” a desperate cry came from behind me.
Doctor Toni Bennet stood at the corner I had come from, blood was splattered all over her hands and up the arms of her normally pristine white lab coat, the image of the late doctor Demetri hit me. She looked like she hadn’t slept for a week, her blood shot eyes staring wildly at me and at Micah.
I had lost the chance to shoot the beast and it came roaring like a tidal wave towards me, I shot across the corridor tripping on something wet as I nearly reached the doctor. I landed with a solid splat on the floor, I felt the wetness of something slightly warm on my hands, peering through the doctors legs I spotted what was making the floor so moist, the two guards that had been patrolling the lower levels had been stabbed multiple times, their throats had been slashed, their shocked mouths frozen in utter terror. Their blood dripped from Doctor Toni’s hands and sploshed down on the puddle on the floor making a loud drip noise which shook me inside, the poor woman and man’s faces stared into mine, their eyes screaming at me in their death to run, to hide and to kill.
“Toni what happened?” I watched as she moved her arm behind her back and pull something from behind her jacket, I grimaced as I saw it was a human arm, one of the guard’s arms. She threw the hunk of flesh at Micah and watched lovingly as the beast he had become growled tearing what was left of its teeth into the meat and chomping away to fill its stomach.
“I created a miracle”, she beamed from ear to ear, “I mean just look at him he’s beautiful”.
I turned to look at the horror chowing down on the arm of a human man, he didn’t look beautiful to me, “How did you manage to create…him?”
Again she beamed so happy I asked her such an important question, “I gave him your blood”.
“My blood?”
She nodded as if I should have known, “Yes of course your blood, your blood bonded with the virus, made it its own made you better, faster I wanted that for him and look at what I achieved”.
“But my blood was infected with a different form of the virus and he was infected with the normal form of the creature virus right?” I asked carefully not wanting to upset her.
She nodded, “Yes”.
“So he has a mixture of the normal virus, the Crusher virus and my blood which is rare?” I asked.
Again she nodded, “Yes and a few extra chemicals I added in for good measure and as I hoped it all mingled together”.
“You couldn’t have hoped for this, surely you would have wanted him cured or better yet dead. Dead and gone so he would no longer be in pain?” I said watching her face for any indication she might snap and lash out.
“I wanted him to be strong to help me fight the Boss and take her down and now he is powerful I can do just that. And he would not want to die, he would want to live as a miracle”.
“No he wouldn’t want that”, I exclaimed remembering my conversation with him.
“And how would you know what he would or wouldn’t want?” she hissed.
“He told me he would rather kill himself than turn”, I told her.
But she just laughed at me, “Well it doesn’t matter now does it what he wants as he is going to help me accomplish what I want anyway”.
“But how do you expect to do that? You can’t tell him what to do, he’s…got a mind of his own”, I was going to say a mindless monster but that might push her over the edge.
“You can control the Crusher’s right?”
She cut me off, “Then you can control him”.
“I don’t think I can he’s not a full Crusher he only has the watered down version of the virus from me”, I tried to explain but she was having none of it.
“Try…”
I looked back round at the mangled mess of a man, he had nearly devoured the whole arm and I could sense his attention was reverting back to me.
“Fuck you”, I spat and lunged forward knocking Toni flying and skidding in the pool of blood.
I stood and raced over her flailing arms which were trying to grasp me but I was just that bit quicker than she was, as I raced round a corner just to hear the wild thing howl I had an idea. If I could get that thing into a lift I could send it up to the top floor where the Boss and her goons had fire power that might be able to take it down, then I shook my self mentally. That would never work what if someone decided to call the lift and they came face to face with that? What if there was a way I could manually override it so it only went to the top? I had no idea about those sorts of things but a guard might if I could just find one that was alive and not going out to fight the army of creatures headed this way.
BANG…A bullet shot passed my head and imploded into the wall beside me, taking a glance I saw Toni with a pistol and she had it aimed at my head. She wasn’t a good shot and there was a chance she would miss again but I couldn’t take that chance. I took off at a sprint towards the stairs, I heard voices coming down and they sounded like guards. I was right as they came round the squared off corner there were five of them.
“Wait there is a mutated creature down here and the Doctor’s gone mad she has a gun!” I cried out to them.
They all took out their weapons and went ahead to try and tackle the problem but I knew they hadn’t succeeded by the gun shots, screams and gurgled cries. One of them came running back in my direction, his face pale and splattered with the drops of his friend’s bodily fluids. Reaching for him as he went for the stairs I pulled him into a small cupboard and wasted no time in questioning him.
“Can you override the lift?” I asked him.
He was shaking so violently and sweat poured off him in waves.
I got right into his face and cupped his cheeks so he had to look at me, “Can you override the lift?”
He nodded but couldn’t say anything, he lifted a special key from his pocket.
“Can I make it go to the top without it stopping at other floors?” I said hoping he would answer quickly as I could hear the creature devouring the bodies of the men but I knew Toni would be hunting for us, “Can it?”
He nodded, “You put the key in the lift where the buttons are and turn it clockwise until it points down, then it will only go to the top floor”.
“Ok I’m going to need your help, I need you to help me get that thing to the lift”, I commanded.
“No, no way am I going near that thing”, he stammered.
“Look all your friends would have died in vain if you don’t help me! Do you have family, friends upstairs?” he nodded in response to my questions.
“Right then we need to get the thing up to the top before it goes on a rampage and kills everyone you care about”, I told him.
He was shaking so much now and hyperventilating I thought he might pass out.
“Stacie?” a voice sounded behind me, “What’s happening down here?”
I turned to see Ollie staring at me, “Ollie get down”, I rolled forward and pulled on his arm throwing him to the floor just as Toni let out a spray of bullets which tore away at the walls and raining dust down on us.
Ollie rolled over and aimed a gun at Toni and shot a few rounds, he had Monique’s pistol, she must have given it to him to use instead of the big shotgun as I knew the guards done a weapon check for the others when they arrived so most likely his shotgun had been taken. Toni shrieked and ran behind a trolley, he kept aiming and pounding where she stood with ammunition.
I turned back to the guard only to cry out in frustration, he was riddled with bullet holes and dead to the world, blood had pooled at his feet. Cringing as I went to him I went for key which had fallen to the floor into the poor guy’s blood which made me want to throw up as it was still warm, a lot warmer than the blood from the first two guards she had killed.
“Ollie I need your help”, I said wishing I didn’t have to.
“Yeah what is it?” he asked his childish face looking too grown up, the things he had been through haunting his young mind but he was determined to help me and he was all I had to make sure that the thing didn’t get to the others before my Crusher’s got here to finish it off.
“I need to get that thing to a lift so I can send it to the top floor, then I need to tell everyone to get out”, but as I said it I could hear screams of terror from the floors above.
I sent of a quick flash of the electrical current, the feelers that told me what I needed to know. The screams were from the people on the outside of the hospital, there was a weakness in the walls and some of the army of creatures had gotten in and were killing innocent survivors. My heart hung heavy, I hadn’t been able to save them, I should have gotten them inside somehow. Then a few streets away just minutes from piercing the broken armour of the wall I could feel my Crushers coming to my aid but now I needed to give them new orders, I commanded them to attack the creatures that were attacking the humans, I also tried to add not to kill or harm the humans but whether that would count to them when blood and gore was flying I couldn’t tell, I just had to hope that I demolished this thing before they ran out of creatures to tear to shreds.
I watched in my mind’s eye as they reached the perimeter of the wall and began to climb over and pour in through the hole the creatures had made. More screams filled the air as people noticed the new threat, I could see a mother screaming in fear as she held onto her baby as a creature wanting to spread the virus tried to bite down on her as she shielded her child, then I saw through the eyes of the Crusher I seemed to have the best connection with that they tore their claws through the creature ripping it apart and spilling its rotting guts on the floor. The young mum looked at the thing that she now thought would threaten her before it then ran jumping high off a small hut and slicing its claws through the flesh of another infected creature as it landed.
I came back into the corridor with Ollie calling my name, “Stacie can you hear me?”
I nodded and smiled at him, “Backups just arrived”.
He looked a little confused by my joke, “Ok cool but how do we get that”, he motioned to where Micah was eating the guards, “Into the lift”.
“I need you to go and call the lift then I will try and coax it into it”, I said.
“And how are you going to do that?” he looked very alarmed.
“I have no idea”, I laughed and ran out into the corridor, the maddened doctor stood there like a nightmare, her face had twisted into something I can only describe as evil, her and the late doctor Demetri would have made the perfect couple, I couldn’t understand why she had turned him down.
She lifted her gun and started shooting at me but I was faster and took to a jog to keep her following me, I knew the noise would bring the beast to me but also I needed to give Ollie a chance to run to call the lift. Toni screamed at me in fury as she clicked empty, she threw the gun on the floor and it clattered to a stop at the monsters feet as it reared its ugly, putrid and disgusting head round to find us.
“Kill her!” she ordered the thing.
But the creature just took one look at her, she couldn’t control it and it had almost certainly forgotten who she was to it.
“Raaaaaaa!” the thing cried out saliva dripping from its blood covered mouth.
“Kill her! Kill her now!” she screamed at the thing, then she hit it with her fist.
At that moment time slowed down to a purr, a fraction of the speed normal time flowed at. What had once been the love her life was now a large, death defying cr
eature that was stronger than most of the things I had ever seen. It raised its balled up fists and howled loudly making the walls around us vibrate with the noise, it echoed around the corridors and came back to us after it had sounded full circle. Then too fast for my eyes to make sense of it, the thing brought down its heavy, muscled arms and ploughed its fists into the top of her skull, the noise of her knees cracking, her spine snapping and her whole body collapsing in on itself made me want to hurl. Her blood literally pissed out from any hole or broken gap in her skin possible, it sprayed up over the beast and rained down making a river connecting to the blood of the fallen guards. Micah then bent down to his once girlfriends corpse and began eating what was left of her, the sound of him chewing her skin was sickening to the point I really wanted this thing gone.
“Psst”, I heard Ollie behind me.
I looked over to him to see he had called the lift and it was ready and waiting. “Go…get the others out of here!” I whispered back to him.
He looked over at the body of Toni and his face paled considerably.
“Now Ollie…go!”
He took off at speed taking the stairs two at a time until I could see him no more, I span round to find the beast glaring at me, its swollen red eyes trying to tear me apart without touching me. I yelled at it and screamed, it shifted on its feet before taking the first step towards me, it was now or never. I ran to the lift and pulled the key out and placed it in the special lock I turned it to the right position. I let go to turn to make sure once the thing had entered I at least had a chance of getting out but the key flicked back to its original lock position. My heart sank as I realised I would have to stay in the lift to turn the key once the doors had closed, today was not my day.
Looking back the creature was nearly upon me and I had no choice but to keep calling it, it took the first step inside and I heard the cables groan with the extra weight. Slamming my hand on the button the doors started to close as the thing took its final step inside, as quick as I humanly and inhumanly could I turned the key and this time it locked into place, I pushed the button for the top floor and felt the lift move, with the override in place I knew I had maybe given everyone the chance to flee, to run and to leave here.
Alone Page 43