by Ian Woodhead
Surprisingly to Aliza, other than the momentary loss of lung function, she was unhurt. After regaining her breath, she climbed out of the skip and took off running down the road. The unseen things were still chasing her. She could hear two distinct thuds from behind her as the monsters jumped off the ledge and into the skip.
Aliza ran past the corpses that littered the ground. Rounding a corner, she saw a pile of bodies in the middle of the road. Beyond them, there seemed to be nowhere to go. She cringed and took a deep breath before burrowing into the pyramid of bodies. The lifeless hands and torsos giving way as she camouflaged herself amongst the rotten dead. Her stomach lurched, and she felt as though she might vomit at any second. The only thing that smelled worse than a dead thing was a dead dead thing. After the final death, their bodies began decomposing at an astonishing rate. She held her breath as she watched the two hunters run past the pile. It seemed that her ruse had worked; they had been unable to sense her.
She began to relax, until she felt movement underneath her. One of the bodies was not yet dead. Without thinking, Aliza flew into a complete and total panic. She scrambled out of the heap and back onto the street. She saw the two hunters coming back for her, both of them grinning like the cat that got the cream. The two beasts stopped in front of her and looked her over as if she was a choice cut of meat.
They both suddenly stopped and looked up past Aliza’s head. When the first gunshot rang out, Aliza screamed and fell to the ground, placing her hands over her head. She saw one of the hunters fall to the ground. His eyes were vacant and the wound in the centre of his forehead oozed thick greenish bile. The other hunter wasted no time. He took off running down the road, followed by a second gunshot that hit only tarmac.
Slowly, Aliza looked up at the source of the shots. Standing there in the wreckage of a building was a man and a woman. The two looked back at her inquisitively, not betraying their thoughts or feelings with the expressions on their faces.
Without warning, the woman raised her gun to her shoulder, closing one eye to zero in on her target. She fired, and within seconds, the fallen hunter’s head exploded like a rotten melon. Aliza ducked down and turned away, not totally trusting the motivations of these two.
The woman lowered her gun and looked down at Aliza again. They were no more than twenty yards away from each other, and Aliza needed to know the truth.
"Who are you?" she asked the couple in what she hoped was a polite and respectful tone. The woman just continued to look at her, showing little to no emotion.
“Ernest, your son is gone.” The dark haired woman points to Aliza. “She believes that her child is in danger. Our goals have just changed. We need to get the baby and keep her safe.”
Aliza gaped at the woman. She had just read her mind, and that could only mean one thing.
"Oh my God, you're a hunter!"
Chapter Seventeen
Through pain-blurred vision, he saw Abel shaking as he ripped the bolt from his back and threw it on the floor. Noah watched him snap out his arm as if it were on a spring, grab Oliver by the throat, and casually start to squeeze.
“No, Abel!” he shouted, hurriedly hobbling over to the man. “Let the bastard go, we need this one alive.”
The big man sighed loudly. He gave Oliver's throat one last squeeze before dropping him to the ground. Noah slipped between them when he felt Abel about the boot the man.
“Listen to me, Oliver. Despite your monumental fuck up, I still may be willing to negotiate,” Noah said to the heap on the floor.
“Are you having a laugh?” shouted Abel. “They all need to die, starting with this bastard.”
Noah stared at his companion. He understood that the man was hurt; hell, so was he. In fact, this fucking bolt was really throbbing. Noah bent down and ripped it out, gritting his teeth.
“Abel, calm down.” He turned back to Oliver. “There’s a baby girl somewhere in the tower block.”
Oliver slowly nodded. He rubbed his throat and glared at Abel.
“Yeah,” he replied, coughing.
Noah grinned. “Oh yes, she’s the tower block’s only child, and you hope that she’s your one hope for the future of humanity?” He looked around the underground carpark. "She could be as well, you know. None of the kids survived and I think she is the only normal kid we have come across. Well, I want you to find her and kill the little bitch. Twist off her neck and throw the body out of a window.”
Abel started to laugh. Noah watched Oliver’s face very carefully. It pleased him to see traces of disgust and revulsion appear on the man’s expression. Clearly, this bastard’s humanity had not been completely extinguished. Unless the little witch could exert her influence over this bastard as well… he had not thought of that.
“I don’t understand. Why? I mean, she’s no harm, the girl’s only a baby.”
Noah grabbed the front of the man’s shirt and lifted him off his feet.
"Abel, could I trouble you for a second?”
His companion turned his head. It was painful to watch. Noah was seriously beginning to worry over Abel’s behaviour. He seemed to be so slow.
“Grab his hand, Abel. I want you to start biting off his fingers…starting with his thumb.”
Oliver struggled like a speared fish, and because Noah held him aloft, Oliver couldn’t even scream out. Noah listened with glee to his mental screams though, but even that troubled him. His unheard shrieking should have blown through Noah’s mind like a whirlwind but he really did have to concentrate to catch the terror.
He certainly heard Oliver’s mental cry when the other hunter put the man’s thumb in his mouth and bit down.
Noah counted to five before dropping the man. He crouched beside Oliver and placed the palms of his hands against the side of the Oliver's head, turning it to face Abel.
“Just look at him. He is really enjoying your flesh, Oliver. I noticed that you were very proud of your bite-mark. I am not sure why. It was only a tiny little scratch. Now, a hunter biting off your thumb? That is something you can use to impress your next group of subservient followers. If we allow you to live, of course. Your injury will make you a big hit with the ladies.”
Noah pulled him up and grabbed the flinching man’s arm.
“It does amuse me to see that your previous smug attitude has fucked off. Look at your wound,” he said bringing the arm up to Oliver’s face. "See how your tainted blood is already repairing the injury?”
It bothered Noah that this miserable fucker could recover so easily, but his injury was not knitting up at all.
“He didn’t need to bite my fucking thumb off!” Oliver whined. “I honestly don’t have an issue with killing that whiny little brat.”
“Oh no, you still get it, do you? My colleague bit off your digit because we wanted to. I’m still considering whether Abel should finish chewing off the rest of your fingers.” Noah felt Oliver stiffen as he leaned closer to him.
“Maybe not, you’ll need them to kill the kid. We could slowly rip off your penis instead. That seemed to work out well for Tim.” Noah grinned, purposely trying to build up Oliver's terror.
“There is no fucking way that I’m going to bite off his cock. But, I would like another finger.” Abel laughed.
Noah spun Oliver around and pushed him in the direction of the exit.
“You know what to do, fuck face. Kill that fucking brat, then come back here. Then, we can all drive off into the sunset.”
Abel spat out a small bone and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He waited for Oliver to push through the door before glaring at Noah.
“You must be having a laugh! We cannot stay here; we both need to fucking repair our bodies!"
“Of course I wasn’t serious,” Noah growled. “You are right, though. We so need warm meat.”
He collapsed on the steps, gave the wound on his thigh a closer examination, and grimaced at the mess. It was far worse than he thought.
A few months ago, he would no
t have even given a wound like this a passing thought, knowing that it would be healed within minutes.
“I’m hurting, Noah!” Abel whined like a huge child.
He did not bother replying. He got to his feet and hobbled over to the Land Rover. He opened the back door and saw just what he needed lying on top of a sleeping bag. He picked up the metal container and gave it a shake, listening to the contents sloshing inside. They had both feasted well these past couple of days and the pair should be stronger than ever. Noah closely watched Abel’s face, concerned that his colleague failed to pick up his thoughts.
“What are you going to do with that can, Noah?”
“I’m going to set fire to the squirrel’s store of nuts, Abel." He hobbled towards the door leading to the supermarket. “As soon as they see the smoke, our food will scamper straight down here.”
"I like that. It saves us wasting our time." Abel nodded, his face suddenly turning a sickened ashy grey. "Noah, I think there’s something wrong with me.”
Noah did not answer; instead, he focussed on unscrewing the metal cap. It seemed to be taking quite a bit of effort. He opened the door, poured the contents across the floor, and liberally coated the walls.
“This place will go up like a tinderbox.”
“What about the other two, Noah? Should we not tell them what’s going on?”
Noah took out a lighter from his back pocket. He crouched down with a grimace of pain and applied the flame to the petrol soaked tiles, watching it run across the floor.
“It’s too late now, Abel,” he whispered. “Come on, let’s wait for our food in the tower block.”
He painfully stood up and marched over to the other door, giving Oliver’s Land Rover one last look.
“We don’t need Oliver and we don’t need those two outside. Our goal is simple; we eat our fill, repair our bodies, take a rabbit with us, and fuck off to Manchester.” He watched the flames spread, the car park quickly filling up with thick black smoke. “We’ll be there by nightfall.”
Abel went through the open door, followed by Noah, who shut it behind him.
“I don’t think I can wait, Noah. I really am hungry.”
His companion seemed to be disintegrating right before his eyes. Noah pushed the troubling thoughts to the back of his head. He moved away from the door and opened his mind. Even with his reduced capacity, he could not fail to recognise a large presence of soft human bodies right above his head.
“There are a dozen of them right above us, Abel. It must be the canteen. I suggest that we start with them.”
"Oh yes." Abel sighed with pleasure.
The man sprinted for the door leading to the stairway. Noah managed to keep pace, noting the thick brown fluid seeping from Abel’s wound. He looked down at his leg and noticed thick fluid seeping from his own wound. For the first time in over a year, Noah began to get scared.
The pair made it to the same floor as the canteen, finally. Noah realized that as he rushed towards it, his limp was getting worse. He was caught off guard as an old man walked out of the canteen and locked eyes with them. The old man let out a terrified scream.
Abel rushed to him, his speed not so diminished as Noah's, and took him down in plain view of the others huddling in the canteen. Noah screwed up his strength and both of the hunters ran into the room and started to dine on their fresh meat.
Noah grabbed hold of a young man in his twenties. Although his grip was still strong, the young man almost squired from his grasp. Noah lunged and bit into the lad's neck, ripping off a chunk of flesh. Warm blood filled his mouth as he felt the strength flowing back into him. He dropped the boy in a heap on the ground and launched himself at a fleeing middle-aged man.
Suddenly, Noah felt his newfound strength draining from his body as if it was flowing out of the wound in his leg. He fell to the ground as his prey slipped from his fingers. Abel grabbed the man, just as he was about to gain his freedom. Without a word, he punched his fingers through the back of the man's skull, pulling out a chunk of greyish tissue.
Noah crawled over to the dead lad and buried his face in the neck wound that he had created. He began desperately chewing on his flesh, needing to feel strong again. He still felt so weak, but he seemed to be stabilising with every bite.
He raised his head after he had chewed completely through the boy's neck. To his dismay, he saw that the room was empty of living people. They only managed to kill four of them.
Noah wiped his mouth and watched Abel push a thick finger into an old man's eye socket, dislodging the eyeball. He put the orb between his teeth and bit down.
“The pain is going,” he said, looking at Noah as he grinned like an oaf, gelatinous pieces of eyeball between his teeth.
It surprised Noah to discover that his pain was now just a dull throb.
“We have to get the others.” He jerked his head up, looking like a wild dog on the hunt. “Wait, there’s somebody left.”
Abel groaned, "I need more meat,” he slurred. The man turned in a circle until he faced the serving hatch. “I feel heart beats.”
Noah got to his feet with little effort and watched as Abel rushed over to the hatch. Huddled in the corner was Andy, holding Diane tight against his chest.
“Don’t hurt us?” whimpered the boy, shrinking away from Abel’s outstretched arm.
There was nothing in Abel's thoughts but the aching need to feed. The sense of revulsion clicked in Noah’s mind. He could not allow this monster to hurt the girl. Noah picked up one of the hard metal chairs and smashed it across Abel’s back. He heard the bones in the big man’s shoulder crack.
Noah registered in his mind that the two humans were crawling to freedom, but he was so engrossed in stopping Abel from hurting the child that he did not care.
Abel fell to the floor with a thud, not moving. Noah sank to the floor; he looked down at his weapon and threw the battered metal chair across the room as the rage drained from him.
“What the fuck have I just done?” The pain in his leg returned with a vengeance. He rolled over clutching the injury, gritting his teeth against the agony. He could not stand up.
“I’m going to kill you all!” he shrieked. Noah reached behind him and grabbed the leg of the middle-aged man, pulling his lifeless body towards him. He heard a soft moaning and saw Abel begin to twitch.
“I’m so sorry, Abel. That witch made me do it.”
Abel sat up, his lifeless eyes staring ahead. Noah realized that Abel had gone. This thing in front of him had joined the teeming ranks of the dead. Crying out in pain, both from his oozing thigh and from the loss of his companion, Noah placed his hand on the side of Abel’s head and smashed it into the tiled floor.
“That’s to be my future, too.” Noah moaned as he turned back to the corpse of Abel's kill.
Noah pushed his hand into the man’s stomach cavity and drew out his steaming offal. “Not before I’ve killed all the others.” He stuffed the guts into his mouth, smiling as his strength came back.
Chapter Eighteen
Zara dragged the twitching corpse from out of the pile of bodies by its arm. Her condition surprised Ernest; she was so fresh, as if the woman had only just died. There were no visible signs of injury. She was rather attractive, apart from the obvious flaw that she was dead. Zara stopped and abruptly glared at him.
“Fucking hell, Ernest, are you that desperate?”
He reddened, forgetting just for an instant that this young woman was more than just human. He would have to guard his thoughts more carefully, especially the ones about Zara.
She pulled the dead woman across the road to the edge of the pavement, flipped the body over and stamped down hard on the back of its neck. He cringed at the crushing sound of its vertebrae under the sole of her boot.
Ernest turned away and gazed over at the newest member of their group. Maybe that thought was a little premature. She did not look ready to embrace them with open arms, despite them just having saved her skin. He could n
ot quite work out just how old she was. It was difficult to judge her condition under all of the grime that covered her body. Ernest guessed that she couldn’t be older than twenty-three or twenty-four.
“You’re another one of those things,” she spat, glaring at Zara.
Zara scraped the bottom of her boot along the kerb.
“I’m not going to deny it.” She nodded over at Ernest,” but he is as human as you are. Just like you missy, I saved his arse. Can you not even entertain the idea that not all hunters actually hunt?”
The new arrival’s acid-filled glower suggested to Ernest that Zara might be wasting her time with this one.
“So,” Zara continued. “You just prefer that I slit my throat, right here and now? Or maybe you would prefer to do it for me?”
The woman nodded. “Yeah, that would do it for me.”
Zara took one step towards the woman.
“Keep the fuck away from me!” She turned and bolted through the pair of them.
“Zara, should we not go after her?” Ernest asked, deferring to Zara.
Zara followed her progress before shaking her head.
“No, there’s not a lot of point. Her fear is too engrained; it will take some time for her to see the light.”
“Well, I accepted you, Zara,” said Ernest, smiling.
Before he could react, the woman rushed Ernest. Zara gripped his arms. He couldn’t move, she had completely immobilized him.
“Did you really accept me?” she purred.
“Oh, this is just orgasmic, Ernest.” She leaned closer, nuzzling her face into his neck. “I can hear your heart beat… beating so fast now…and all that blood rushing through your veins just millimetres from my fingers…making me salivate."