by Ryan Casey
“Well I apologise that you don’t have any family in the country to look out for right now, but this is—”
Something hard smacked the side of Riley’s face and stopped him speaking in his tracks.
He only realised what it was when he saw Jordanna smacking Ted in the face.
“Ow!”
“Listen — we aren’t going to get anywhere sitting around in here arguing over who cares more about who. Right now, all I care about is getting somewhere we can help my boyfriend.” She opened the car door and stepped outside.
“Where the hell do you think—”
“I’m going to take a look at the tanker,” Jordanna said. “My boyfriend used to drive one of those things. They usually leave a spare set of keys lying around. Idiots are always losing their keys. So you boys kiss and make up and I’ll see what I can find.” She slammed the door shut and jogged lightly over to the tanker.
Riley and Ted looked on.
“She… She’s mad. There could be one of those things out there. Does she have a death wish or something?”
Riley didn’t answer Ted. He scanned the area. The abandoned cars, some of their engines still rumbling. The crows landed on the roof of a car up ahead, deeper into the jungle of steel. They needed to be fast. It wouldn’t be clear forever.
Jordanna disappeared around the side of the tanker. Ted tapped his fingers against the handle of the door, like he always did when he felt guilty about something.
“Listen, I… I’m sorry for flipping. You know I care about helping your grandma out. It’s just…”
“I know. I get it. It’s tough. I understand that.”
Ted sighed. “And you. I saw your face in the elevator. You’re okay now, aren’t you?”
The tingling fingers. The frozen limbs. “Yes. I’m fine. It’s okay.”
“Well… If you say so. I thought those turns had stopped?”
“Bloody hell.”
Ted frowned and followed Riley’s eye-line over at the tanker. “Holy… She did it.” He wound the passenger window down. “You did it?”
Jordanna was leaning out of the tanker window. She had a set of keys in her hand and a smile on her face. “Told you I’d come good. Now if I can just start this up…”
“She did it,” Ted said, smiling at Riley. “She fucking did it. Clever motherfucker.”
As the engine of the tanker came to life, something else sounded. A high-pitched siren.
“She… Oh. Oh shit.”
Jordanna struggled around the tanker’s controls as the alarm whistled out from it. In this silence, it would echo for miles.
“Just reverse,” Riley called out of the window. “Reverse the tanker and we can get out of here.”
“It’s too late,” Ted said. He was focused up the road ahead at the mass of abandoned cars.
The crows flapped their wings and flew away squawking.
Between the cars, one by one, creatures began to rise.
In front of them. Beside them. Behind them. All of them shuffling towards the sound of the alarm.
“I guess… I guess this place isn’t so abandoned after all,” Ted said.
Jordanna started to reverse the noisy tanker, the siren roaring on. A small gap was forming on the right hand side.
But they were running out of time. The creatures — tens, hundreds of them — all staggering in the direction of the tanker. Soon, the gap would be filled with those things. They’d lose their only escape route out. The only route to Grandma.
“We’ve got to move, mate,” Ted said. “We’ve got to get over to that gap and we’ve got to drive before they get us.”
Riley started up the engine and put his foot on the accelerator. As he did, a group of the creatures diverted their path towards the car as it moved along the road. They were getting closer to blocking the car’s way out onto the country road. The broken wing mirror of the car caught Riley’s eye. The Punto couldn’t take many more collisions. They needed to go.
Riley slowed down as he reached the tanker. The creatures were a matter of feet behind them. Jordanna struggled with the tanker door and stumbled out of it.
“Come on!”
A thump hit the back of the car.
“Shit,” Ted shouted, spinning around to look out of the rear window. “Gotta move, Riley — now!”
Riley looked in the mirror and saw three of the creatures pressed up against the back of the car. A woman scraped her teeth against the glass, cutting her gums and cracking one of her teeth as she dug deeper and deeper into the glass.
“But Jordanna—” Riley said, accelerating forward slightly .
“We have to leave her,” Ted said. “We’ve got no choice.”
Riley’s heart raced as he looked out of the side window. Jordanna was standing by the tanker door. She stared into his eyes, shaking her head.
Between her and the car, a group of creatures blocking her way.
“We have to go!” Ted shouted.
A sickness grew in Riley’s stomach.
Jordanna’s bottom lip was beginning to quiver. A silent word emerged from her lips. “Please.” Tears were dripping down her face.
“I’m sorry,” Riley mouthed, as more creatures filled the gap beside the tanker. “I’m so sorry.”
He put his foot down on the accelerator and he drove down the country road.
He didn’t look back in the mirror, not until they took a right onto the roundabout and towards his grandma’s house. When he did look, he saw a swarm of creatures surrounding the tanker.
He didn’t hear any screams. Just the continual ringing of the tanker’s alarm, on and on and on.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The road to the countryside was relatively quiet compared to the main roads.
They passed farms and houses on their way to Riley’s grandma’s. Outside, they saw men and women — living men and women — pointing at one another, shouting orders, preparing for the arrival of the creatures in their own individual ways. Every now and then, a car sped past. The creatures hadn’t hit the countryside quite as hard, not yet. There were still living here.
But eventually, they would come. And he had to get to Grandma before that happened.
Ted stared out of the passenger window. He bit his nails and didn’t speak. Neither of them spoke, not since leaving Jordanna behind.
The final image of her eyes, teary and bloodshot, staring back at Riley. The silent word escaping her lips. “Please.”
They crossed the motorway bridge. On the motorway, cars were beginning to queue up, honking their horns at one another. The queue seemed to stretch on for miles. An untouched feasting ground for the creatures. They’d be coming. That’s what must have happened on the A6 main road. The majority of them had heard the pipping of horns and staggered towards the motorway.
“We did what we had to do,” Ted said. He continued to stare out of the window and bite his nails. His words sounded like he was thinking aloud, reassuring himself more than anybody else. “If we hadn’t done it, they’d have ended it for us all. We… We had to take that risk.”
Riley gulped. Jordanna was trying to help. She’d helped them get out of the gates back at the flat. She’d found the keys and moved the tanker. And how had they repaid her? They’d left her.
“We have to be tough. We have to make tough decisions.”
“But we can’t make too many decisions like that,” Riley said. “We need to be more careful in future. We need to hold on to our humanity.”
“If we’d held on to our humanity back then, we’d have all been killed. Just saying.”
Riley didn’t say anything. Ted had a point. All these people — all the ones who had turned — had they been trying to hold on to their humanity? Were they the ones who had failed to make the tough decisions?
“I don’t know how this started out and I’m not sure I care until it’s over. But one thing I do know is that we’re going to have to make tough decisions to stay alive, mate.” He pulled the gu
n out of his pocket and rested it on his leg.
Riley’s stomach turned. “The gun. You could’ve shot those creatures. You could have… You could have saved her.”
“Right next to a tanker? Have you ever even played a first-person shooter? That thing would’ve gone up in flames and swallowed us all. I had to make the tough decision.”
Riley gritted his teeth. “You don’t know that would’ve happened. Not for definite.”
“I’d rather not know than end up barbecued creature meat.” He turned back to the window and stared out of it. He didn’t look all that up for arguing anymore.
Riley looked in his rear-view mirror. A group of people dragging wooden boards up to their house, ready to block themselves in for days. Weeks. Months. As long as it took. They had to hold on to their humanity. They had to get through this with their sanity still intact. No matter what Ted said, they couldn’t fall any further down the dark hole.
He looked at the gun as it sat on Ted’s lap. They’d have to learn to use it properly. Protect themselves. But they wouldn’t leave anybody else behind.
He indicated to the right by force of habit and took a deep breath as he looked down the road.
Grandma’s house was on the left.
Riley stretched his arms out as he pulled up outside Grandma’s house. The engine cut out, leaving the area in silence.
“You want me to go in there first and just check?” Ted asked. He had a half-smile of reassurance on his face.
“It’s okay,” Riley said. He stared over at the all-glass front door. “It’s better if we both go. We can’t take any chances doing things alone. Not anymore.”
Ted nodded and grabbed the small rucksack of supplies. “It’s your call.” He opened the car door and climbed out, checking both sides of the car. All looked clear.
Riley got out of the car and closed the door as quietly as possible. He looked down the street. The leaves on the trees lining the pavements were crisping, falling to the floor. Cars were still in their driveways. The place was always quiet, as with every countryside suburb. But with everything they had experienced, Riley still wasn’t sure whether quiet was a good sign or not.
But they had to go into the house. They had to get to Grandma. See that she was okay.
“You lead the way, mate. I’m right behind you.” Ted lifted the gun out of his pocket. “Just in case. Agreed?”
Riley thought about protesting, but they couldn’t risk their safety. Very few people would be carrying guns around Preston. Not even the police were allowed. They had an advantage, and they had to use it. Just sensibly. Seven bullets. Seven bullets that had to save their lives, and nothing else.
Riley walked down his grandma’s driveway. Ted followed closely behind, his footsteps crunching against the gravel. The large gate in the driveway was closed. There was no sign of blood. No sign of anybody. Any thing.
As he approached the door, Riley noticed something was slightly out of place.
The realisation welled up inside him, trying to burst out. His heart started to race. He lifted his hand up and pushed against the door.
The door swung open with minimal effort. It was open.
Riley and Ted looked at one another. Ted had a concerned frown on his face. He raised his gun and tilted his head forward for Riley to continue.
The tingling sensation started to shudder through Riley’s hands and arms. No — not now. Embrace it. Embrace the fear and move on. Deep breath in, hold for four seconds… and out. He cleared his throat and pushed the door a little further open.
The hallway was empty. The grey carpet was untouched as ever. No footprints. No blood. A good sign.
Riley took a step into the house. “Grandma?”
No reply. No sounds.
He moved further into the hallway, crouching slightly to give himself some chance of escape if something leapt out at him. He reached for the handle of the living area door and pushed it open. Ted poked the gun around the corner.
The room was empty. The grandfather clock ticked and ticked and ticked in the centre of the far wall. An empty cereal bowl sat on the mantlepiece, milk settled at the bottom.
Riley nodded at Ted and they left the room. “Grandma? It’s Riley. Are you… Where are you?”
Still no reply.
“Maybe she’s gone,” Ted whispered, aiming his gun around the hallway and up the stairs. “I bet she rushed out of here. She gets on with the neighbours, right? Right?”
Ted’s words started to buzz out of focus as Riley stopped in front of the dining room. He stared at the handle. The tingling was engulfing his body now. His throat was swelling up. The door handle.
“Mate, what is it?”
Riley pointed at the door handle. “Blood.”
Ted squinted as if to object, but when he saw it, his face dropped.
The gold metal handle was covered with bloody fingerprints. The blood dripped down the side of the door and stained the patch of carpet below. Drip. Drip. Drip.
Riley held his breath and reached for the handle, covering his palm with his sleeve. They had to go inside. They had to find her. Even if she was… One of those. He had to know.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to—”
“I’ve got this,” Riley said. He lowered the handle. It creaked as he pushed the door open.
At first, he thought she was just looking out at the garden. Standing by the window and admiring the view, like she always used to.
But it wasn’t her. The body was too thin. The hair was too dark.
They turned around and gasped. Their dead eyes stared at Riley and Ted.
It was Grandma’s next door neighbour, Alan. And he had a piece of flesh stuck around his four remaining teeth.
Alan started to stagger towards them. Riley’s heart raced.
“Should I shoot? Mate — should I shoot?”
The blood on the floor. The drips of blood from whatever Alan had in his mouth. Small. Almost invisible.
Riley turned around and followed the trail of blood with his eyes. It was ever so light in the grey carpet. But he saw it now. It was there.
“Mate, seriously, should I… Ah, fuck it.”
One blast. Another blast.
Riley swung around. Ted’s hand was shaking. His eyes were focused on the dining room.
And Alan’s body was lying on the floor, blood pouring out of his head.
“I did it.” Ted panted. Exhaled sharply and lowered the gun, before raising it again. “I… I shot one of them. I… I did it. I… Hey… where are you going?”
Riley reached for the kitchen door. The trail of blood was beneath his feet. The trail that led to or from the dining room. He ran through the possibilities in his head, but none of the thoughts seemed clear.
He grabbed the handle. Turned it.
“Be careful, dammit.”
Riley opened the kitchen door. The first thing he saw was the wireless phone lying on the hard floor in front of him. It was covered in blood. Two numbers — ‘9 9’ — were input on the display.
But even more eye-catching was the widening trail of dark blood leading from it.
“Riley, I should really…”
Riley stepped into the kitchen. His hands dripped with sweat. His vision was blurred and a tension engulfed his body. Grandma. She had to be okay. She had to.
When he saw her body on the floor at the end of the wide trail of blood, he thought she was just taking a nap at first. Perhaps she’d had a bad fall. Perhaps the blood wasn’t hers — maybe it was Alan’s. Maybe she’d hit him and the blood was his. It couldn’t be Grandma’s blood. It couldn’t be.
Riley’s body weakened. He shuffled into the kitchen. He could hear her groaning slightly. See her body starting to twist around as it lay on the floor.
“Grandma, it’s—it’s okay. It’s me. It’s—”
Arms wrapped around Riley’s back. Stopped him moving forward. “Stay back,” the voice was saying. Ted. But it seemed so distant. They were so
close to Grandma. They’d come so far, and they were so close.
Riley struggled free of Ted’s grip. Grandma’s blood-drenched body started to turn even more in their direction. She was trying to say something. Wincing.
Groaning.
Riley shoved Ted back and rushed forward. His entire body shook. She was okay. She had to be okay. “Grandma, I’m here.”
When her eyes met his, he felt as if he had taken a bullet to the stomach.
Her eyes were grey. They stared not at him, but through him. There was a hole in the side of her neck. A chunk of flesh missing. A chunk of flesh around the same size as the one Alan had in his mouth.
She groaned some more. Reached her shaking hand out towards him.
Riley felt the arms around his back again. Heard the words, miles away. So far away. “Come on, mate. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Felt warm tears dripping down his face.
Ted dragged him backwards and pushed him into the hallway with all his weight. His eyes were red, bloodshot and welled up. “You know what we have to do now, man. You know, don’t you?”
“She’s… She might not be. We can help her. We can—we can save her.”
Ted grabbed Riley’s face and shook his head. Grandma continued to groan in the background. “We can’t. You know we can’t. I’m sorry.”
The words knocked Riley back. Ted was right.
Ted pulled the gun back out of his pocket. It shook in his hand. “I’ll do it. I’ll finish it. And then you can… you can say your goodbyes.”
“No.” Riley grabbed the gun from Ted, who pulled it back.
“You know we have to do it. We can’t… You can’t leave her in this state. It’s not—”
“I’ll do it.”
The words surprised Riley as they left his mouth. A weight lifted from his shoulders. Ted frowned and loosened his grip on the gun. “You… You’re sure?”
Riley took a deep breath in. Pulled the gun towards him. “Yes. This is… We have to make these tough decisions. To survive.”
Ted let go of the gun completely and patted Riley on his shoulder. “I’ll… I’ll be right here, mate. I’ll be right here. I’m sorry. I really am.”