Nick laughed and watched them wander off into the kitchen. His smile faded as he remembered all of the reasons not to be happy.
The staff door flew open with what sounded like a kick. Dave re-entered and was shaking his head, seeming right pissed off.
“What is it?” Nick asked him.
“The phones are completely dead. There’s not even a dial tone.”
Nick rubbed at his forehead and sighed. “I’m beginning to think there’s no help to even call for.”
“Nonsense! The police must be dealing with this. Probably the army, too. They’ll come eventually.”
Nick considered it. It was a possibility, but they had no way of knowing. “Maybe they’ll come,” he admitted, “but what do you plan on doing in the meantime?”
“We can stay here, keep trying the phones.”
“Alright, then we should get that broken window covered up or we’re all going to freeze tonight.”
Dave nodded, his jowls wobbling. “Good idea. Please get right on that.” Then he turned on his heel and marched away.
Nick snapped off a petulant salute. “Right, away, sir.”
He got up and headed through the STAFF ONLY door at the back and started searching for materials. The tiled hallway smelt faintly of lemon and bleach and the chemical odour tickled Nick’s sinuses almost into a sneeze.
On his right was an open door leading to a small staffroom and sofa. Straight ahead was a door marked MANAGER’S OFFICE. Nick entered that room and looked around. An old CRT monitor perched on a desk and a heavy safe took up the wall behind it. Beside the monitor was a telephone, which Nick picked up and held to his ear. Like Dave had said, the line was completely dead. He didn’t know why he’d felt the need to double-check.
On one of the walls was a large corkboard. It was definitely big enough to cover the broken window in the restaurant. Nick pulled it down and took it outside. Five minutes later, with the help of Jan and Rene, the large corkboard covered the broken window, held snugly in place by a couple of tables stacked up against it.
“That should keep the wind out,” Jan said.
Nick nodded. “Hopefully. It isn’t the wind that worries me, though.”
Jan patted him on the back with a meaty slap. “Long as we lay low, I can’t see any danger.”
“Long as nobody makes the mistake of sneezing or coughing, you mean? Else you and Dave will smash their skull in.”
Jan gave Nick a look that suddenly made him feel threatened. “Listen, brother,” Jan said to him. “I may be a lot of things, but I’m not a killer. That lady was already dead. I believe that truly. Poor Kathryn is probably wandering around in those woods right this second, a raving loony looking to kill. There was nothing any of us could do for her except ease her suffering. Dave was trying to do her a favour.”
Nick huffed. “Funny, because it seemed to me like Kathryn was begging for her life. She didn’t sound grateful for any favours.”
Jan shoved Nick aside, sending him sprawling into the wall. “You seem to be forgetting I came around to your way of thinking in the end. Maybe next time I’ll just go with my gut, whether you like it or not.”
Jan stomped away like an angry giant leaving Nick to think about things. It was true that Jan had not been the one who had tried to kill Kathryn, but he was the one who had suggested it. He was a criminal when all was said and done. But he had sided with Nick when it counted, and Nick had chided him all the same. It felt like a big mistake.
Chapter Ten
It turned out that Carl and Pauline were able to rustle up quite the feast. A large freezer in the kitchen contained burger patties, hot dogs, mini-pizzas, and bags of frying chips. With a little bit of fiddling they’d managed to switch on the fat fryers and griddles, and within the hour everyone was eating more than they needed.
Nick felt bloated, but found that the act of eating cathartic. It allowed him to blank his mind of its troubles while he focused on a basic human need. At his table were Eve, Margaret, and Pauline. Carl, Cassie, and Rene sat at another table, while Jan, Dash, and Dave sat at a third. The women at Nick’s table all looked deeply satisfied as they finished off their French fries. They also had a variety of soft drinks in front of them, which they slurped readily, except for Margaret who was drinking piping hot tea. It felt like luxury. The day had been undeniably long.
“Nothing seems as bad after a good brew,” Margaret said. “It can get you through anything.”
Eve wiped her mouth with a napkin. “I bet you’ve seen some things in your lifetime, Margaret.”
“I have at that. Not nothing like this, though. This is Hell on Earth.”
“You think it’s the same everywhere?” Pauline asked, rubbing at her eyes and smudging her make-up.
Margaret nodded. “I do. There seems to be something very deliberate about all this. How could things degenerate so completely without being planned? Should we believe that there weren’t any doctors who picked this up early? That the Government had no warning at all? If that’s the case, this is either the work of very powerful enemies or a very angry God. And neither of those would release something this destructive solely on Britain.”
“So you think it’s happening in other countries, too?” Nick asked.
“At least in the Western world. If it were terrorists, as an example, they would have far more to gain by releasing this in America and mainland Europe as well as the UK. It would be a waste to focus it only on our tiny island. The spread of the disease would halt at our natural barriers – the coastline.”
While Nick thought about Margaret’s words, Dave took the opportunity to address everybody. He cleared his throat before he began. “Perhaps now would be a good opportunity for us to get some rest; see what tomorrow brings. We can turn off the lights and bed down wherever we can. Margaret, you can have the sofa in the staffroom.”
“Thank you.”
“We can hold a meeting in the morning to figure out what our next move will be, although I would suggest staying here until help finds us. Agreed?”
With no one taking exception, the group began shuffling around as they each tried to find somewhere soft to lie down. Margaret headed for the staffroom to claim her sofa while Dave claimed the tall-backed leather chair in the manager’s office. Nick decided to roll up his coat as a pillow and just bed down on the restaurant floor. Eve and Pauline did the same, lying down a few feet from him. The two women were beginning to feel like his responsibility. Or maybe it was just friendship developing that made him feel that way.
The three prisoners huddled up in the corner of the restaurant, making a bed from some aprons they’d found in the kitchen. Carl and Cassie separated off to sleep in the kitchen. Nick wondered if they’d formed a relationship throughout the day’s events, as they had become inseparable in the last hours. Carl was at least ten years older.
Nick lay back on his rolled-up coat and stared up at the suspended ceiling. The lights were off and moonlight spilled in through the windows. If it wasn’t for all the bloodshed, one might even have described the night as beautiful. Deana would have found it romantic, bedding down on the floor beneath the moonlight.
I miss you, Deana…
Nick closed his eyes and listened to the silence for what seemed like hours until, finally, the silence was replaced by the dozing snores of his companions. The last thing he heard before sleep was a soft whimpering coming from Eve as she struggled with the unseen terrors of her dreams.
***
Nick was back home again, standing in his kitchen as if nothing had happened. Deana stood in front of the sink with her back to him. She was washing dishes. The cooker was on, a spitting steak cooking over the flames.
James lay on the tiles in the centre of the kitchen, staring up at the ceiling blankly.
Nick moved towards his son, tried to speak to him and tell him to get up, but no sound came out of his mouth. When Nick pressed his fingers to his own face he realised it was because he had no lips. Only coarse s
car tissue lay where his mouth should have been.
Deana turned around and faced Nick and she too was mouth-less. Her eyes were wet with blood and crimson tears stained her cheeks. She held a claw hammer, which she offered to him now.
Nick was powerless as he reached out and took it. He held the heavy hammer in his hand and stared at it. Then he turned involuntarily on his heels as if suspended by invisible wires.
He knelt beside James’s body.
No, Nick wanted to shout, but could not.
James continued to stare up at the ceiling, blinking occasionally, but never moving.
Nick raised the hammer, staring into his son’s eyes the entire time, and then brought it down with everything he had. The aluminium head struck James right between the eyes, caving in the front of his skull.
Nick vomited, but with no lips, he was forced to choke on it.
He raised the hammer again and this time struck James in the mouth, shattering his baby teeth into tiny shards.
James choked and spluttered. Nick hit him again and shattered his jaw.
Nick wanted to die.
But he raised the hammer again.
Over and over, Nick swung the hammer, spraying blood and bone fragments, until there was nothing left of his son’s face but bloody pulp.
He looked over at Deana desperately, pleadingly. Deana looked at him. This time she held a carving knife. Powerless, Nick stood up and took it from her.
When he turned back around, James’s face was back to normal, untouched by the vicious blows of the hammer. He continued staring up at the ceiling.
Nick knelt back down beside his son and got back to work.
***
Nick’s eyes flew open. He was surrounded by darkness, a floating gloom. When he saw the moon through the windows, he remembered where he was – he remembered everything.
He sat up a little too quickly and thought he was going to throw up. Then he saw that the lights were on in the kitchen and could hear something too. Eve and Pauline were still sleeping nearby; their shapes clear even in the darkness.
Who was in the kitchen?
The sounds continued.
Nick got up quietly and crept towards the kitchen. He thought he heard someone weeping. He kept his footsteps careful and stepped behind the counter, sliding between the lined-up cookers and lengths of countertops. At the far end of the kitchen was an L-shaped corridor. The noises were coming from around the bend.
Nick sped up and rounded the corner quickly, not wanting to be too late to help if someone was in danger. He found Carl lying facedown on the floor. Then he spotted Jan standing over Cassie, who was cowering on the floor without her shirt.
Jan’s eyes widened when he noticed Nick and he quickly raised his hands in submission. “This isn’t what it looks like, brother.”
Nick snarled. “You have no idea what this fucking looks like.” He looked down at Cassie and shook his head in disgust. “Cassie, it’s okay. Come over here to me.”
For a second it looked like she might refuse, but then she clambered on her hands and knees until she was safely behind him.
Jan looked Cassie in the eyes, even as she cowered behind Nick. “You remember what we spoke about, sweetheart, okay?”
“You don’t talk to her,” Nick spat. “You don’t say a word to her, you understand me?”
“You got this all wrong, brother.”
“The only thing I got wrong was letting a bunch of criminals tag along with us. Soon as the sun’s up, you’re gone. When the others hear about this they’re going to lynch you.”
Jan laughed, his chest heaving. “Who is? You and Dave? Don’t make me shit myself!”
Nick shoved Jan angrily, but found himself swatted aside like a measly fly. Jan punched Nick in the ribs and sent him to his knees, gasping for breath. His lungs felt like they might explode.
Jan shoved Nick backwards with his boot, before glaring right in his face. “We’ll talk about this in the morning and we’ll see who gets lynched.”
Then the big man walked away, cursing under his breath.
Nick managed to catch a strangled breath a few moments later, followed by another. He rolled onto his side and shuddered in pain. He’d never felt so sure he would die, so impossible had it been to take a single breath.
After a while, Cassie helped Nick back to his feet. Her shirt was rolled up on the floor and she hastily put it back on and as she did so she seemed to remember that Carl was still facedown on the floor. She dropped to her knees beside him and patted his cheeks. “Carl, wake up. Carl…”
Carl moaned, his eyes fluttering open slowly. “W-what happened? My head feels like a Skoda parked on it.”
“I think you got struck from behind,” Nick explained. “It was Jan.”
“Motherfu—”
“Don’t worry about it for now,” Cassie said soothingly. “We can talk about it tomorrow. Let’s just get some sleep.”
Together, Nick and Cassie picked Carl up off the floor. He was still pretty out of it, but was gradually regaining his senses.
“What the hell happened?” Nick whispered to Cassie, determined to get to the bottom of things.
She shook her head. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“Jesus, Cassie. Don’t listen to that son of a bitch. He can’t hurt you. It’s okay, you’re safe. You can tell me what happened.”
Cassie huffed as they laid Carl on the floor beside the service counter. “None of us are safe anymore. We’re all screwed.”
Nick didn’t want to argue and Cassie obviously didn’t want to talk about what had happened, at least not yet. “Okay,” he conceded. “Get some sleep, then, and we’ll talk about it in the morning. Don’t go wandering off anywhere, okay? Stay close.”
Nick headed back to his spot between Eve and Pauline. He looked for Jan and the other prisoners and saw the three of them huddled together by the restaurant’s exit doors. Jan seemed to be having a heated discussion with Dash, but both lowered their voices when they noticed Nick looking at them.
Nick looked away and settled back down at his spot on the floor. He winced as he lay back down on his coat. His breathing was still laboured after Jan’s gut punch. The guy was big – huge – and if it came down to violence Nick wasn’t confident what the outcome would be.
“Hey,” Eve whispered to him. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Nick lied. “I’ll tell you about it in the morning. Just don’t go anywhere in the night without letting me know first.”
Eve shuffled across the floor so that she was only inches from him. “Okay,” she said. “Same goes for you. No sneaking off again without telling me first.”
“Deal.”
Nick stared up at the ceiling and wondered what the morning would bring.
Chapter Eleven
The alarm woke everyone.
Nick leapt to his feet in an instant, spinning around, disorientated and confused. Panicked.
“What’s happening?” Eve cried out.
“I don’t know. Something tripped the alarms.” Nick grabbed his coat from the floor and shoved it on quickly.
“I thought Dash turned them off,” Pauline shouted.
Nick saw that Dash, Jan, and Rene were still huddled in the corner by the doors. They seemed just as confused as everybody else, but that didn’t mean they knew nothing about what was happening.
He marched over to the prisoners and pointed his finger at them. “Did you do this?”
Dash shook his head. “Do what, honkey? Why would we set off the alarms?”
“I can’t imagine why you do most of the things you do. Why is it going off again? I thought you disconnected it?”
“Nah, man. I just smashed up the console and shut off the intruder alert. The alarm is still intact. I just cut the link between the broken window and the siren. It was an ancient piece of shit. Piece of cake.”
“So what set it off again?”
Dave stormed out of the ‘STAFF ONLY’ doo
r, shouting and cursing. “Why is the alarm going off again? And why is the power off?”
“There’s your answer,” Dash said. “If the power went out, the security system probably went over to a battery system. It tripped the alarm all over again.”
Nick sighed. “So what do we do?”
“Disconnect the battery power and the whole system will be dead.”
“We need to do it quickly before any infected people find us.”
“Nick?” Eve tapped him on the shoulder.
“Not now, Eve.”
“Nick!”
He shot her an irritated glance. “What?”
“I think we should forget about the alarm.”
Nick spun around to argue, but quickly found himself stunned.
Standing at the many windows of the café, peering in with their bloodshot, swollen eyes, were dozens of infected people. Hundreds of them.
Carl shook his head frantically. “What the fuck are we going to do now? Game over man! Game over.”
The mob of infected burst through the windows as one. Their bodies tumbled over the ledge clumsily, embedding themselves with shards of glass and hitting the floor in piles. They were like ants crawling over one another.
The room was closing in.
“Everybody get out of here!” Nick screamed. “Run for it!”
Everybody bolted, but there was no way out of the restaurant – all the doors and windows were blocked by the infected – so they made instinctively for the only barrier they could find: the fast food service counter.
“Into the kitchen,” Carl yelled. “There’s a fire exit at the back. I saw it last night.”
Everybody funnelled together and raced towards the back of the kitchen.
The infected screeched as they gave chase clambering over the counter behind them.
When Carl led the group around the bend to the fire exit, Jan leapt up in the air and kicked the push-bar across it and sent the door flying open.
The air rushed in from outside, crisp and cold.
“Everyone outside,” Dave shouted.
Jan held the door open and ushered everyone passed him. The infected were teeming into the kitchen and coming right at them.
The BIG Horror Pack 2 Page 10