“Raaaa!” it howled almost deafening me in the small space between us. I could see that his face would be the last I saw. He lifted his arms and brought them down to try and smash me to pieces but I moved. In the tiny space I didn’t have much room to manoeuvre but I managed to get behind it. Using my strength I kicked the spine of the beast, my strength was a little excelled but not to his extent all it did was push him forward a few steps. He began to turn lifting his hands again and bringing them down, I ran up the wall and just jumped out the way as they hit the floor, the whole lift jumped and I could hear the cables twang with the force. My heart raced with dread and fear as it turned much faster this time to find me, its fist came down and smashed into the control panel making an alarm to go off inside the carriage causing the monster to lash out and screech at the sound making the whole lift sway and soon the lift began to slow down, looking up at the numbers I could see we were at level 17 still a good few floors away from the top but the lift was struggling now trying hard to lift us both up with the fighting.
As the monster screamed and thrashed around the lift came to a complete stop and now I was stuck in between floors, with no way out. Feeling fear push me on I studied the ceiling, at first glance it looked to be just small panels of metal welded together then I spotted one that looked like a hatch, maybe I could get out? But the beast wanted to test this theory before me, as I tried to run and move out of its way again its hand somehow got caught on my top its fingers twisted and stuck as it reached out for me, I struggled to try and get it off but it just annoyed it making it wail, then with such force it threw me up in the air but I was still attached to its hand. Its hand plummeted into the ceiling panels and a huge crushing sound boomed through my ears, a roaring pain filtered through my side as my body broke the surface of the metal. As it brought its hand back down I tore at my top and rolled off onto the lift roof, quickly moving from the new human shaped hole I felt the lift wobbly and groan as the creature tried to get up at me.
Standing up I cried out in pain, my hand instinctively went to my side and came away bloody. The pain washed and pulsed around my body making me feel faint but I knew I had to make sure I dealt with this before I collapsed. I poked my head over the hole and shouted down at the creature, its huge bulking head screamed at me before smashing both arms against the metal ceiling, its hands still balled punched and smacked everything in its path.
CHINK!
Looking up at the cables I could see that they were starting to fray, the normally strong metal had been well and truly weakened by this thing and by the lack of maintenance. I had to use this to my advantage, I had to make this thing die for good.
“Come on, come and get me!”, I cried out down the hole making the creature go ape, again it starting punching and hitting out, the lift swayed from side to side and I could hear the metal above me start to give. Just a little bit more and this lift would be on its way back down, all the way down.
I resorted to jumping up and down and screaming, Micah kept placing his hands over his ears and screaming wildly, he really didn’t like the loud noise. Then in one fail swoop he jumped up to try and catch me, his hand broke the surface of the metal again but he missed me as I shot off to the cable wires. I quickly tried to climb up them as I felt the huge feet of the creature land, the whole lift squealed with the harsh movement and I could feel the last few strands of the cables snap. One last twang of the coiled, roped metal and the lift shot off from below me and started to freefall down the lift shaft, the squealing of metal on metal made me grit my teeth, sparks flew from where the wheels could no longer keep the lift stable. The lift picked up speed and a whistling noise sounded before KABOOM!
The lift hit the bottom of the building before exploding loudly at the bottom, fire raged from the sparks before smoke started to come up the shaft, I really damn hoped that thing was dead because if it wasn’t after that then I don’t know what would kill it.
Looking above me I could see a maintenance ladder to one side, I used the rest of the cable like a swing rope and swung across to it, gripping the rungs I screamed as the pain in my side burnt like fire the below me. I steadied myself and then started the climb up, suddenly voices and a light appeared at the top of the shaft someone had forced it open to see what all the noise was. I spotted Callum’s face peer down at me from what must have been the top floor.
“Stacie what the hell happened?” he called down.
“A huge creature, I managed to get it in the lift but it was too heavy, it gave way!” I shouted up at them.
“Come on up”, he called down.
I tried my hardest to climb the rest of the ladder but the pain in my side was getting worse, I knew I was seriously hurt but I wanted to make sure everyone was safe. I reached the top and nearly slipped on my own blood that was pouring down on the rungs but Callum’s strong hand reached down and caught me, pulling me up to the floor.
“Stacie your hurt”, he said pulling up my top to reveal a gaping wound, a chunk of metal was embedded in my abdomen.
“Oh shit!” I said then I collapsed on the floor.
He pulled me close to him and held me in his arms which for the first time since I had met him felt truly right, this was where I belonged, right here, with him. “Stacie what happened to you?” I could hear the sorrow in his voice, he knew I was not going to survive this one.
“Toni had gone mad and injected Micah with my blood to see if it would cure him but it mutated him. He killed her smashed her to pieces, I thought if I could bring the thing up here then Ollie could have a chance of warning everyone so they could escape but my plan back fired and well I had to resort to letting it drop 17 floors”, I told him.
“You could have been killed”, he exclaimed.
I sighed, “Well I’m not going anywhere anytime soon am I so…”
“No you’ll be ok we’ll find another doctor, that guy who’s with the Prime Minister, he’s a surgeon he might be able to save you”, he said happiness floating in his voice.
I shook my head, “No Callum, I’m too far gone I can feel it, just sit here with me”.
“Ok”, his voice cracked with a hint of pain which made my heart feel strange, “Stacie I need to tell you something!”
I peered up at him.
“I…I’m the one…”
“I know”, I cut him off.
“What do you mean you know?” he asked me, “Did Monique tell you?”
I shook my head at him, “No she didn’t I figured it out, I know you let the creatures in and that’s why Tanya got taken from me but I don’t blame you Callum. You were trying to save the others, you did save some of the others and look how far you’ve got them and I know you will take them even further. They need you”.
“How can I go on without you?” he whispered in my ear.
“You will just have to, I need you to look after Cain, Ollie, Monique, Chantelle and everyone else. You are a natural leader and they all need you to be just that. These people need someone to tell them what to do and where to go but you don’t let the power go to your head you do it for the need to help. I need you to do it for me”.
He looked afraid, his eyes bled out the cry of heartbreak but there was nothing I could do I was dying and there was no way I could stop that.
“Well isn’t this just a sight for sore eyes”, The Prime Ministers voice rang out like a chill down my spine.
I turned my head to see her, she held Chantelle in her grasp who was crying and sobbing, and in her arms she held onto Cain. Cain was oblivious to the danger and just held onto his foster mother.
“What’s going on? Let them go”, I called out.
“Why?” she asked me.
I just glared at her, “Let them go”.
“Now, now Stacie I think we need to have a little chat me and you”.
She threw Chantelle to the side where Psycho was waiting to grab her, he held her close to him and sniffed her hair which made her whimper.
“What do yo
u want from me?” I asked her.
“I want to be like you”, she replied licking her lips, “I want to be strong and fast like you. See I know about you and your little boyfriend here not being cured, Psycho found the letter in your apartment. I want to bond with the virus and become powerful, I want to be able to rule over this continent not just a few people, hell to it I want the world!”
“What is it with you fucked up bits of shit and wanting to rule the flipping world?” I snapped feeling the anger rise inside me.
She flew at me in a rage, jumping onto me she punched me round the face until Callum shoved her off. As she stood I coughed up blood and wheezed, “I’m not invincible, I’m not immortal, I can still die and so can you whether you get infected or not”.
She kicked me in my side and I felt raw pain as the shard of metal ploughed deeper into my abdomen, “ARGH” I cried out involuntarily.
“Shame because I want to be immortal and invincible”, she then leant down and pulled out a syringe, Callum smacked her hand away but then Psycho took a chunk out of Chantelle’s arm with a small knife, she screamed with fear which in turn frightened Cain who was crying. “Sit down lover boy and leave this to us women hey”.
He knelt back down and watched hopelessly as the Boss took some of my blood in the syringe and then purposely injected it into herself.
“You’re stupid”, I said to her.
“And so are you”, she replied, “Psycho”
I watched as he pulled out a gun pushing away Chantelle and Cain and as she stumbled trying to not to fall with my sisters baby he took aim, I saw his trigger finger twitch. I didn’t think about the pain that roared through my entire body as I charged at him, I cried out with complete anger and rage, even when a new pain took over my body I still kept running. I raised my claws which burned as they tore out of my flesh from my hands and taking one last jumping charge I sliced them down through Psycho’s body, his torso split in half revealing his intestines, they slumped out over the tiled floor with a wet slap followed by the rest of his body.
I felt the raging animal inside of me come out, I could hear my creatures the Crushers crying out to me as they sensed my turn was coming, I was going to change and I couldn’t stop it. A pain coursed through my skull as I felt the Crush trying to invade my soul.
BANG!
A bullet shot out from behind me and tore right through my shoulder blade, spinning I saw the Prime minister with her gun raised at my chest, “Don’t be foolish Stacie, if you turn now you might endanger your loved ones”, her voice filled with amusement.
I went to say something to her but all that came out from my lips was an animal sounding growl which turned into a snarl as I focused on the Boss who was trying to edge nearer to Cain. There was no way on this Earth that I was going to let her harm the people that meant the most to me, I lifted my arms to show her how deadly my body had become then I managed to speak to her but my voice was hoarse and raspy, “You are the one that is foolish, injecting my blood into yourself will only mean one thing…that you too will turn and I will have to kill you”.
“Try it bet I can kill you faster with my gun than you can kill me”, she teased taking aim and shooting out a round of bullets.
My body’s movement was changing, I thought I had been fast before but I was even quicker now with the full change happening in the cells in my bloodstream. Within a flash I had run up a wall and clung to the ceiling with my claws, there was something surreal about it all but I guess once I was a complete monster I wouldn’t notice or care. The Boss looked shocked but still kept aiming at me until she ran out and clicked another clip into the gun, the time it had taken her to do that I had climbed down and was forcing Callum to his feet as he hadn’t moved since watching me change.
“Take them, go! Find Ollie, Monique be safe”, I said struggling to find the words but he got the message.
“Stacie I’m so sorry”, then he ran over to Chantelle and Cain taking hold of her arm, I took one last look at my nephew who was starting to calm down but still sobbing and jumping with every gunshot, then they were running for the stairs just as the Boss turned back to me and started shooting again.
I lunged for her across the room smacking her square in the chest but my claws had been facing away so they hadn’t pierced her, she cracked the gun over my skull which made a crunching noise. I threw myself off her and I felt my hand go to my head, right where she had hit me had dented in, not a lot a small dent but enough to scare the crap out of me. I couldn’t be one of them, I couldn’t be a Crusher, I didn’t want to be feared and I most certainly didn’t want the guilt of accidentally killing some innocent people that might come across my path. I needed to put an end to all of this, the end of the Boss’s reign and the end of me.
She started shooting again but missed me hitting the glass of one of the huge windows behind me, my eyes traced the trail of cracking glass as it snaked around the bullet hole, it didn’t break as it was reinforced but extra force might do the trick.
Then she came at me shooting and ploughing bullets deep into my chest, each shot edged me nearer and nearer to the window, the bullets that didn’t hit me smashed into the window causing more breakages and making it weaker still.
Then as I sat on the floor bleeding out she stopped, her posh high heeled shoes clinked as she walked towards me, her voice trill as a bird as she laughed at me, “Well the mighty Stacie, the one who I admired to be is not all she cracked up to be. Weak and stupid, unloved and dying, well let me put you out of your misery”.
“Suck on this bitch”, I roared and jumped to my feet, I sprang in front of her and wielded my claws like huge swords, then with one last purge of energy I flung myself at her. My claws tore into her flesh and her screams filled the air but that was soon shattered by the huge noise of glass skittering out of its frame and decorating the air like flickering specs of light, hundreds of glittering fireflies dancing around us as we soon started our own freefall to our own demise.
It had been the only way to make sure she never hurt anyone again and to make sure I never hurt anyone at all.
The wind whipped wildly at my hair as we fell, my claws still through her body and I was holding on for dear life, I wanted the impact to impale her more so she could never become a monster like me. I had the duty to expel this evil from the world but to do it I knew my own sacrifice was needed.
The noise of the wind whistling in my ears was a little comforting, blissful even like a miracle that needed performing it was going to take me. The chill of the air as we sped towards the ground enveloped me like a cool blanket, I wanted to wrap it around me forever. Turning my gaze I could see the windows and floors of the hospital fly past me in a blur of liquid movement and I watched as my short life flashed before my eyes.
My mother her golden brown eyes gleaming at me when I was about five years old, I had been to my first day at school and she had been so proud of me. My father his warm and loving face cradling me when thunder and lightning had crashed around in the heavens, his warm arms the best place I had ever been. My sister Tanya holding my hand when the news of the war hit, “We will keep each other safe, Sister’s together holding hands forever”.
“Sister’s together holding hands forever”, I whispered as I hurtled full pelt into the ground, this time the darkness took me and my last aching breath.
6 Months Later…
Monique stood at the edge of the large housing estate that had become their home for the last few months and for once it felt like this place could really and truly become a forever home. The homes where all occupied by loving and genuinely nice people, no nutters or crazy idiots that wished to take over the world with armies of super deranged creatures, they were just normal people that wanted to live and survive in a world torn apart.
As she turned her head she swooped her eyes over all the homes and took in the beautiful view of the park in the centre of the estate, the lake in the near distance and the people that had become her second
family. There was around a hundred people, men, women and children some of whom had come with Monique and Callum from their Brighton based camp and also people from the hospital. Some chose not to, after being ruled and bullied by the Prime minister they wanted to be as far away as possible from others but sometimes they would change their minds and come to find this new ‘sanctuary’.
Monique spotted Chantelle walk out of the home she shared with her adoptive son Cain who was growing up to be a lovable toddler, she had been told that he looked the spitting image of his birth mother but all Monique could see when she looked at him was Stacie. Which wasn’t a bad thing at all as she missed and adored that girl, Stacie had taken her own life to save everyone else, she knew she was turning and took it upon herself to not be a danger to the people she cared for but also to stop so many people from still being a danger, Dr Toni, Psycho, Micah and the Prime minister were all gone and that meant a sort of peaceful haze of a breeze had flooded over the world.
She wished so badly that Stacie could have been with them now to see how the world was beginning to repair itself.
“Hey Monique you coming?” Ollie asked from behind her.
She looked at the handsome young boy who was one of her best guardsmen, he had become such a strong young man.
“Yeah I’m coming”, she smiled and for the first time in a very long time Monique new she had people who cared for her, she had friends who she could try and grow old with, never again would she feel alone.
~
A lone figure stood in the hazy tree line watching over the new safe haven that the group of people had built for themselves. A tight hood hid the person from view as they peered over spotting the person they wanted to know was safe and well and when they saw them their heart pounded with the joy…
Alone Page 44