Still, now that he had nothing to lose, he also had nothing to fear. This house would be the location of his and Daniel's final confrontation and only one of them was walking out of here alive.
There had to be something in this house he could use to take down this fucker once and for all. The very moment he clambered to his feet, it launched another attack, smashing shelves and flinging kitchen utensils everywhere. It swung at him, sending pots and pans hurtling across the kitchen, cupboards fell apart, plates poured onto the floor and shattered beneath their feet.
Terry ran out into the corridor and dashed up the stairs, doing his best to disregard the pain from the bite in his leg. As he reached the top, he ran into the bathroom just opposite and opened up the drawers. There were lots of things here he could use, but whether or not they’d be effective was another question. He grabbed bleach, sanitizers and just about anything he could find, opened them and threw them down at the twitcher ascending the steps.
“Come on then, motherfucker! Let’s finish this!” Terry shouted, but it didn’t appear fazed by the poisonous chemicals, its empty angry eyes remained fixed on him as it slowly walked up the stairs. It was almost as though it were taunting him, moving slowly as though it knew it wouldn’t have to overexert itself to kill him. Fucker, it was underestimating him, Daniel was fucking underestimating him again.
Terry ran into a bedroom and slammed the door close behind him, knowing not what he would find in here that would be of any use.
He hopelessly rummaged through the drawers not expecting to find anything, but to his joy found exactly what he needed. Thank God for Venelisse Eau de Parfum! The Maude branded perfume couldn't have been a more welcome sight. Game on, motherfucker!
He pulled the kitchen lighter from his pockets, placed the tip a little away from where the spray would eject and braced himself for the lumbering fuck to walk right into hell.
He heard it approaching, but somehow still expected it to walk into the bedroom normally, forgetting that these were the same things that had flung themselves through doors and window panes that entire day, so when the door flew off its hinges, debris almost hitting him in the process, it caught him completely off guard and knocked the lighter out of his hand.
The twitcher lunged at him and he dived out of the way as it crashed into the chest of drawers behind him, smashing it to pieces.
Fuck! Where did the lighter go?
He scoured the floor looking for it. It had to be somewhere close by. He flung things across the room at the twitcher, which of course did nothing and it lunged at him again. He rolled beneath the bed and it got to its feet, lifted the bed with one hand and threw it aside as though it were nothing.
Terry spotted the lighter just beneath the desk chair. He dived across the room to grab it, but didn’t have a chance just yet stage a counter attack, for the twitcher charged at him, crashing into the desk and turning it into splinters.
Terry knew of only one way he might be able to slow it down. Getting to his feet, he pulled the bed sheets from the overturned bed and threw it over the twitcher, before toppling down a wardrobe on top of it. Neither of these would hold it down, but he only needed to suppress it long enough for him to attack. Arming himself with the lighter and perfume, he blasted small jets of flames at the twitcher, setting it, the sheets and the wardrobe on fire, but he didn’t stop there, he continued spraying, covering everything in the spray and in doing so, turning the room into one big flammable hellhole.
Initially the twitcher didn’t appear fazed by the flames, but not long afterwards its movement became more frantic as though trying to escape and it let out anear-piercing screech. Terry momentarily had to block his ears, before continuing his attack.
“Huh, don’t like that do you, you ugly motherfucker? Burn! Fucking burn!”
Its burning flesh filled the air and it lashed out at him, trying to prevent Terry from burning it any more.
Terry blasted it with fire until he could blast it no more and the spray emptied. The room was ablaze with flames and the twitcher was right at the heart of it, flailing its arms and trying to escape.
Terry knew that that wasn’t going to be enough, he needed more flammable liquids and he knew a few places they were likely to be. He ran out of the room and checked the other rooms, gathering hairsprays and throwing them back into the burning room. He backed off towards the stairs, spraying everything with either perfume, hairspray or deodorant.
The twitcher followed him out of the room, but so too did the flames.
“Where are you going, motherfucker? Don’t you like it? I thought you wanted to watch the world burn!” Terry opened a bottle of nail polish remover and threw that at it, before making his way back downstairs, where he found alcohol in a cabinet of the front room. What a waste of good whiskey.
He returned to the staircase to find the twitcher of Daniel slowly making his way back down the steps in pursuit of him. Terry opened as many bottles of alcohol as he could and doused the twitcher in them, engulfing it in explosive flames and knocking Terry back.
He scrambled to his feet and backed off, as it slowed down and eventually collapsed down the last remaining steps to the floor below, where it would remain, unmoving and burning to crisp. No more twitching, no more raspy breathing, no more shrieks, just perfectly still to the sound of crackling flames.
He slumped down next to the front door staring at it, half expecting it to get up at any moment. It was over, he was rid of that arrogant son of a bitch, not that throughout it all he ever wanted Daniel dead, but at least he could say look at this as a plus. His sense of relief and accomplishment was marred by the bitter fact that he too would miss out on the happy ending, so maybe this was karma at work again.
His attention was averted to a sound behind him and there stood Ria at the doorway panting.
“You... killed it... you actually killed it”, she mumbled.
“Ria, what are you doing here? I specifically told you to leave”.
“I came back because I was really worried, but you killed it, so it’s okay. We can go now, we can leave London together as a family”.
Terry went silent for a moment; his revelation would shatter her little heart. While mustering up the courage to tell her the truth, he made idle conversation.
“I thought of a name for this one, how does the Siamese twitcher sound?”
Ria sighed and sat down beside him.
“Princess... I don’t think I’ll be going anywhere. Looks like you’ll have to go on without me”.
“What? What are you talking about? There’s no time for jokes, dad, it’s almost time”.
He glanced towards her and saw the expression of concern written all over her face. Rolling up his trouser leg, he revealed the puncture wounds to his leg. Not only were they deep and still bleeding, the blood vessels surrounding the area of the wound had swollen, certainly not a normal sign.
“What happened?” She asked, staring at the wound.
“Got bitten, guess wanting to kill it and get away without a scratch was too much to ask for”.
“No, no, no…” She repeated, shaking her head and refusing to believe what she was hearing.
“I guess things didn’t go quite as I had planned, darling”.
“No, no, you’ll be fine, come on get up, we have to get to the others, we have to…” She began, getting up and tugging at his arm.
“Ria, if I go with you, I’ll be a danger to both you and the others and I don’t want that, it would be irresponsible”.
“So, I’m just supposed to leave you here and go? I can’t! I won’t leave you behind! You’re my dad, I can’t do that, I just can’t! I won’t let those things find and kill you like they did everyone else!” She began shouting with anger as tears began to stream down her little blood-stained cheeks.
“You won’t have to, I won’t let that happen”.
“So, what will you do?”
“Well I certainly don’t want to become one of those th
ings either, I guess I have no other choice”, he replied, lifting the lighter.
“What? No! I won’t let you do it! I won’t let you kill yourself!”
“This isn’t your choice to make, Ria! I have to do this to protect you all. The same way Daniel tracked me down is the same way I might track you down, you have to leave me behind, you have to forget about me”.
“But you promised!”
He pulled her to his chest as she wept.
“I know... I know. I’m disappointing you guys again”.
She pulled away.
“If you know that, why are you doing this? Why are you trying to make me cry? Why are you trying to break my heart?”
“Believe me, if I could find another means, I would. The last thing I want to ever be responsible for is making my princess, both my beloved children upset”.
“Maybe there will be medicine, maybe it can be cured, maybe…”
“Ria, you saw what happened today. I’m not the first and I certainly won’t be the last”.
She stared at him helplessly, before collapsing to her knees once more. Looking down at her lap, as tears dropped onto her knees, she shook her head.
“Then... then what am I supposed to do?”
“Run, get out of here, be safe and protect your family”.
“But that’s what you’re supposed to do, you’re supposed to be our dad, you’re supposed to be there as I grow up and encourage me and stuff. That’s what you’re supposed to do”.
“I know, I’m constantly a let-down... if it’s any consolation, you two are all grown up and stronger than I could have ever imagined, today you both demonstrated that to me more than any day before. George is stubborn and protective of those he cares about and you are headstrong and compassionate. Whether or not I played a part in any of that, you both found yourselves and the people you wanted to become, I couldn’t be prouder of you two”. He pulled her forward and kissed her forehead.
“Tell your mother I’m sorry for letting her down in the past and that I wish I could have had the chance to make it up to her someday. Tell your brother I love him, I always have and I always will. Tell him he’s a brave little boy and he’ll grow up to be a great man and tell him... forget it. He won’t want to hear my excuses and apologies and knowing him, he’d probably never forgive me regardless”, Terry sighed, then whispered, “I’m so sorry”.
Ria’s tears dropped onto his lap as she lost the fight holding them back.
“I can feel it... or at least I think I can. Get going, Ria, before the house explodes, I change or your mother doesn’t see you on time”, Terry instructed.
She pulled back from him reluctantly, her little face soaked with tears and the tissues stuck up her nose to stop the bleeding from the fracture. She stared at him, even with all the bruises and blood, as beautiful as the day she was born. He smiled.
“Get that nose seen to. Be safe. Don’t let your brother boss you about, don’t boss him about either. Look after your mum... oh, and take this”. He placed his phone in her hands.
Ria stood up, her mouth trembling.
“Go…” Terry said once more and she stared at him for another minute.
“I love you, dad”, were her last words before she ran out of the house, out of the drive and down the road, crying harder than she had ever cried in her life.
Terry’s chest felt tight as he stood up, stepped outside of the house and watched her disappear down the road, a type of tightness he had never felt before. Was this because of the infection coursing through his veins or the tremendous guilt of letting his daughter down? Maybe it was a combination of the two.
How he wished things could have been different and they were so close to being so, but as fate would have it, once again he was thrown a curveball he couldn’t catch. The pain of making his daughter shed tears on his behalf was unbearable and the effects of the infection only amplified the feelings of guilt.
He was beginning to feel hot and a little disorientated. Even without having ever experienced the symptoms personally, he knew he didn’t have very long left, so with that, he turned and stepped back into the house, using every bit of what remained of his consciousness just to maintain control of his body. He ventured into the kitchen and switched on the gas from the cooker hubs.
His hands trembled as he lifted the kitchen lighter to his face and ignited it. He stared aimlessly at the flickering flame for a moment, losing himself in its simplicity. For all of its intricacies and complexities, the simplicity of igniting and extinguishing was not a far scope reflection of life itself.
How many lives had been extinguished in but a single day? Just like that?
In his final moments he was beginning to understand that maybe he could be considered a murderer if the twitchers he had killed or at least attempted to kill were subconsciously still human.
“I guess I’m going to hell if there is one... then again, given what’s happened today, maybe there isn’t even room there anymore. Ha, look at me getting all philosophical”, he murmured and smiled to himself.
Just before the explosion, he twitched.
FINAL CHAPTER - EVERYONE: 8:30pm - 8 Hours, 45 Minutes since outbreak
Ria turned as she heard the explosion and knew almost immediately that it was her dad.
She stood there sobbing and watching the flames billow high into the night skies.
The entire day’s events flashed through her memories and she wished it had just been a normal lame day at the museums, looking at exhibits and eventually stuffing her face angrily with lunch. She wished it had just been a normal day spent bickering with her little brother, updating her measly 112 followers Chirper account about how boring and normal her day was and wanting to be spending time with Lacey and the guy she had a crush on.
Never in all of her wildest dreams and nightmares would she have ever foreseen a day as horrible and heart-breaking as today. She was battered and bruised, she had seen death right before her eyes, she could still see it vividly in her head and it made her shudder every time, she had been separated from her family members and forced to run from people or creatures that had developed a voracious cannibalistic appetite and to top it off, she had lost someone she cared deeply about just when they were about to escape and rebuild their lives.
Ria broke down, she couldn’t contain it anymore, it was all too much. How much more of this was she going to have to withstand? Would she ever recover from the trauma induced experiences she had had today? Would she ever sleep another night without the nightmares haunting her? Would her father’s face ever leave her mind?
Time ticked to two minutes past the half an hour, she was already 12 minutes later than planned, would her mother even be at the spot they agreed any longer?
She ran the rest of the way down Globe Road to Stepney Green sobbing and came to a stop close to the station. The place was swarming with twitchers.
What was she meant to do now and how on Earth would her mother know where she was? Had she left already?
Finding a secluded spot to avoid the light from the phone drawing attention to her, she checked the mobile and found a few texts from her mother asking where they were, followed by one last one a minute or two ago with the words, ‘We are going to leave, it’s getting dangerous. Let us know a better place to meet you’.
“No mum, don’t move, I can’t do this on my own, I can’t”, Ria whispered, fear induced tears welling up in her eyes.
What was she going to do? Where was she going to go?
Using her gunshot wounded arm, she texted her mother back, begging for her to stay in close proximity, that she was in the area and too terrified to move anywhere else, followed by a ping of her exact location.
Shortly afterwards her mother texted her back, ‘when you hear the car horn, head as quickly as you can towards where you heard it from and head to the car with the headlights on, we’ll have the door open for you. Move fast as it’ll attract every one of those things in the area, if you can't ma
ke it fast enough, don't take risks, hide and we'll try again or something else’.
Five minutes passed and they felt like eons, Ria began to wonder if her mother would ever show. Suddenly, she heard the car horn.
Poking her head up, further down the road she could see the car headlights, but that also meant that the twitchers were seeing it too. She couldn’t waste any more time, it was now or never, the one chance she had to get away.
She broke into a sprint, or at least the closest to it in her condition, sliding across the bonnet of cars and waving her phone in the air for them to see, but if they were seeing it, they certainly weren’t the only ones, for every twitcher in the vicinity had also seen her running.
If the screams and shrieks of the twitchers bounding towards her, jumping from car to car, smashing out of windows, pouring out of houses and crawling out from every nook and cranny, weren’t enough to motivate her to run faster, nothing would.
Her heart thumped as adrenaline and terror alone compelled her to keep moving, that track and field experience was proving its worth more than ever before.
The twitchers were drawing in on her now and she herself wasn’t all that far away from the car. Did they see her? She couldn’t hear them over all of the noise and she couldn't see them with the car lights beaming in her face. Did they see her? She couldn’t tell, she could only pray they could, because if they didn’t, the grisly alternative didn’t bear thinking about.
Suddenly the car begun reversing away from her.
“No!” She screamed, they were going to drive away from her, they hadn’t seen her! “Wait! Wait for me!” Could they even hear her? She could barely hear herself despite how loud and frantically she screamed out for them, hoping that by some miracle they could see her, hear her, but the car continued to reverse.
Much to her surprise the brakes of the car locked, sending it skidding backwards down the road, before the front spun out to face the opposite way. The back door opened and there she saw her mother calling out for her.
Cryptophobia (Book 1): Outbreak [Fear The Unknown] Page 23