Another shriek somewhere above—somewhere far too damn close—provided a better answer than Herb ever could.
“We won’t make it like this,” Herb panted, “not fast enough.”
“Where’s Burnley? And the police officer?”
“I lost sight of them about ten floors back. They’re fast. They might make it if we can draw the vampires away.”
“Draw them away how?”
“We’ve got almost thirty floors of office and retail space to lose them in. We can’t keep running in a straight line.”
Mancini grimaced in the dark, but he nodded.
“What about Jeremy?”
Mancini sucked in a lungful of air. “I don’t know. He fell behind,” he shook his head. “He’s too slow.”
Herb hoisted Dan on his shoulders, redistributing the weight of his limp body.
“We need to wait for him,” he said, but the words had barely spilled from his lips when he heard a man screaming just a couple of floors above. The sound was terrifyingly close.
“Too late,” Mancini said, and he kicked open a door which led into a wide, open-plan office space.
With a stifled curse, Herb took off after the American, leaving the main stairs behind, and leaving the door wide open for the vampires to follow.
He ran, pouring everything he had into the sprint.
Praying that when Conny and the others reached the ground floor, they would wait for him.
41
Jeremy was a shower man; he hated taking baths.
He couldn’t remember getting in this particular one—nor could he remember falling asleep—but he must have, because the water was freezing. He supposed it was time to get out.
But he was so tired. It would be so much easier to just lie in the cold water and snooze a little longer.
He shuddered at the temperature, and groaned.
Better get moving.
Strangely, he found that it was difficult to open his eyes. He must have been asleep for a long time, he thought distantly. His eyes were glued together by sleep. Even stranger, he found that when he tried to lift his hands to find the edge of the tub, they were almost impossible to move.
Come to think of it, he couldn’t seem to move any part of his body.
And since when do I take baths?
His eyes flared open, and for a moment he saw only darkness, and felt the freezing bathwater chilling him all over.
Got to get out, or I’ll catch a cold.
He tried to lift his arms again. This time, there was a little movement, but also a strange pulling sensation, like the water didn’t want to let him go.
What the hell?
With an effort, Jeremy lifted his head, peering down the tub toward his feet.
No tub.
No feet.
The darkness didn’t quite reveal the full horror, but it revealed enough.
Jeremy’s muscles were not cold because he was lying in a bath of freezing water. They were cold because the skin which normally kept them warm had been peeled away. His body had been opened up like a ripe orange, revealing the glistening pulp beneath.
He saw his own exposed ribs; pulsing organs beneath. It looked like a surgeon had expertly carved his torso from throat to groin.
Was I in an accident?
Why is the hospital so dark?
Where are my fucking legs?
Both of Jeremy’s legs were sheared off at the knees, like he’d been in some terrible car accident. Once, he had seen a motorcycle plough head-on into a car coming around a blind bend: the bonnet of the car had popped even as the bike rider flew over his handlebars, and the thin sheet of metal had cut his body cleanly in two. The biker hadn’t survived.
He tried to summon up a memory, anything that might offer some indication as to what had happened, but his mind felt spongey and unresponsive.
Come to think of it, his mind felt cold, too. How the hell was that possible?
He rolled his eyes up in their sockets, hoping to spot a doctor, wanting to scream that the anaesthetic he had been given wasn’t nearly powerful enough.
I’m awake, he tried to shout, but no words emerged from his mouth. In fact, he couldn’t even feel his jaw moving. It was almost like he didn’t have a jaw.
Maybe the doctors had wired it shut.
What kind of fucking hospital is this?
His head lolled back, the effort of keeping it lifted suddenly too much for him.
And he saw.
Not a doctor.
A nightmarish creature stood behind him, its fearsome red eyes narrowed in something that looked almost like concentration as it pulled back a long, sinewy arm. In its hand, a flash of something red and white; a terrifyingly enormous piece of bone, clutched between fingers that ended in long, curved blades.
That’s my skull, Jeremy thought, and he had the strange, almost irresistible urge to laugh.
The vision in his left eye suddenly just…switched off. Like someone had pointed a remote control at it and put it on standby.
Jeremy’s one remaining eye worked long enough for him to see those wicked talons reaching for the top of his head once more, pulling on something grey and soft.
Finally, as he saw the hideous monster’s maw opening—rows and rows of wicked teeth, worse than any shark—the darkness claimed him.
*
We’re going to make it!
Conny rocketed down the last set of stairs and onto the ground floor of the Shard, just in time to see Logan pushing on a revolving door which spat him out into the night. She wanted him to wait for her; wanted to scream at him that it might not be safe out there, but she caught herself in time. Whatever was outside the Shard couldn’t possibly be any worse than what was inside.
At the sight of the outside world, Remy picked up pace, pulling away from her easily.
She barrelled into the revolving door a few seconds after the German Shepherd reached it, and together they pushed themselves out into the cold night air.
The American woman whose gun Conny had taken was already outside, her hands on her knees, drawing in a deep breath.
“Where are the others?” she panted.
Conny turned back to the revolving door, breathing equally heavily, and shook her head.
“I don’t know. I thought they were right behind me.”
She gestured at Logan to move closer, and took hold of his arm, unwilling to ever let it go again. Her boy was dying, but he wouldn’t die tonight. Not if she had anything to say about it.
“I heard Herb shouting to find a vehicle,” Logan said through rapid, shallow gasps for air. “They’re slower than us, that’s all.”
Conny’s heart almost burst with joy at hearing her son speak. It was the first time she had heard anything other than the odd grunted word from him in weeks.
And all it took was the end of the world.
She almost burst out laughing.
“Okay,” Conny said, casting her gaze around the street until she spotted a large black SUV, “anybody know how to hotwire a car?”
“I do.”
Conny’s jaw dropped as Logan spoke, keeping his eyes pointed guiltily at the ground.
We’re gonna have to have a little chat about that, she thought, but she was already pointing at the SUV. “Go,” she said. “Get the engine running, bring the car over to the front entrance.”
“Are you crazy?”
Conny turned to face Burnley.
“You want to wait for them?” Burnley snarled. “They’re probably dead already. Do you have any idea how fast these things move? We have to get in the car and go.”
In the distance, Conny heard glass breaking. Logan, her innocent little boy, stealing a car.
She shook her head.
“Feel free to leave,” she said, “but if you want to ride with us, you’re going to wait. I don’t care how fast these things move. I’m damn sure they can’t outrun a car. We’ll wait until the last minute. If we see them, we go. Otherwise, we wa
it, understand?”
The American dropped her eyes to the gun which Conny still gripped in her right hand.
“Try it,” Conny said, as the SUV’s engine roared to life.
Burnley looked away, clenching her jaw in frustration.
Conny turned back to face the entrance to the Shard, peering through the glass into the gloom beyond as Logan brought the SUV over. When he pulled up, she gestured at him to move to the passenger seat, and took the wheel, her eyes never leaving the revolving door leading back into the building. Remy jumped onto Logan’s lap, and the boy hugged him fiercely.
Inside the vehicle, the radio was on at a barely audible volume, repeating a looped message. It took a few moments for Conny’s brain to pick up on one vital phrase.
“…twenty minute warning…”
Keeping her eyes firmly on the windows, scanning for any sign of movement on the street, she reached down and inched the volume up.
And felt her stomach drop.
The recorded message was warning that the military had pulled out of London, and that in twenty minutes, the air force was going to employ what it hoped was a last resort.
Dropping napalm onto the streets of London.
She fixed her gaze on the entrance to the Shard, willing the revolving door to spin.
Come on, Herb. Where the hell are you?
42
Sweat dripped into Herb’s eyes, making them sting, blurring his vision. The vampires had taken the bait, following the fleeing men into the office levels. Judging by the sound of the creatures tearing the rooms apart above, they were only a couple of floors behind, and were obliterating every possible hiding spot.
And still closing on the fleeing men.
Herb forced himself to creep along quietly, aware that if he made any noise that carried, his death would soon follow. He glanced at Mancini, and saw from the big American’s expression that he, too, knew that the plan to try and lose the vampires in the maze of offices was failing. They were simply moving too slowly, and there were too many vampires. Even with the creatures tearing the building apart as they went, it sounded like they were gaining ground.
On each level, Herb searched in vain for something that might serve as a hiding spot, but so much of the Shard was glass that it seemed impossible. He passed numerous offices and meeting rooms—many of which offered furniture that they could hide behind, or even supply closets which they could lock themselves in—but it sounded like the vampires were leaving no stone unturned. The Shard suffered the curse of most modern architecture: flimsy walls, style over substance. Perhaps unsurprisingly, whoever had designed the building hadn’t foreseen that there might come a time when people needed to use the skyscraper to hide from monsters which had crawled out of the lowest level of Hell.
“Maybe we could get back out onto the main stairs?” Mancini whispered.
Herb grimaced. That thought had occurred to him, too, but he had a nagging feeling that there would be one of them out there, blocking the main stairwell, just waiting for the humans to attempt to flee again.
“Too risky.”
He hoisted Dan on his shoulders again, redistributing his weight. Despite how light the guy was, carrying him for an extended period of time was beginning to sap Herb’s energy alarmingly.
Mancini scowled. “They’re catching us, Rennick. We’ve still got more than twenty floors to go, and it doesn’t sound like hiding is an option. Got any bright ideas?”
Herb shook his head grimly, and kept pushing forward, increasing his pace as much as he dared, wishing that the office levels were furnished with the same deep, soft carpet as the residential levels had been.
His mind ran back to the Oceanus; to carrying another man up, trying to flee the raging inferno spreading throughout the ship. He had carried that man until his muscles shrieked in agony, never realising that he was already dead. And now, here he was, trying to save someone else, and seeing failure looming before him.
He felt a scream of frustration gathering in his throat.
Didn’t let it out.
They were moving through the offices of what looked like a finance company. Judging by some party hats and half-finished glasses of wine, the people working there had been busy celebrating something when the world began to fall apart.
He snatched up a glass of white wine with his free hand, draining it in a single gulp, never breaking stride, and placed the glass quietly on the edge of a desk, blinking at the warm sensation spreading through his chest.
That, he thought, could well be my last drink.
Above, the still air in the skyscraper erupted to the sound of screaming. Human screaming. It sounded like there had been somebody hiding somewhere in the offices, and Herb had led the vampires right to them. He flushed guiltily as it occurred to him that whoever was dying up there might just slow the vampires down a little.
The scream ended abruptly.
Or maybe not.
He hurried toward the next set of stairs, and a sign which read 23rd floor.
And stopped.
To the right of the stairs, there was a large glass-walled boardroom, home to an enormous table. That room looked to have been the central point of the party the workers at the finance company had been having. A huge tablecloth was draped across the table, topped with plates of sandwiches and canapés.
He grabbed Mancini’s arm, halting the big man as he made for the stairs.
Mancini flinched, looking at him with wide eyes.
“The elevators,” Herb whispered. “We won’t make it on foot. We need to get down fast.”
Mancini frowned, casting a glance back along the offices. By the sound of it, the vampires were a couple of minutes behind them, maybe less.
“The elevators? The elevators are out of order, Renni—”
“But the elevator cables aren’t.” Herb pointed at the huge tablecloth draped over the boardroom table. “You know how to improvise a harness?”
“A harness?” Mancini’s eyes widened. “You can’t be serious.”
Herb just stared at him.
“It’s more than twenty floors, Rennick. And you’re carrying an unconscious man on your fucking back.”
“Exactly why we need to take the direct route,” Herb whispered, and made for the boardroom without waiting for a response. After a second, Mancini followed, as Herb knew he would. Herb’s idea was beyond risky, and might well end up killing them all, but it was the only idea either of the men had.
At least it will be a quick death.
He shrugged Dan off his shoulders and placed him on the floor before quickly scooping up the plates of snacks from the table and whipping off the huge white cloth. The material was thin, but if he tore it into strips and platted it, he thought it would take his weight—even with Dan on his back.
He began to rip the cloth, wincing at the noise of the fabric tearing, and nodded when he saw Mancini move to help him.
“We’ll tie Dan’s arms around my neck,” Herb whispered, “I’m gonna need both hands for this.”
Mancini shook his head.
“You really are crazy. Even if we can climb down the cable, we’ll be leaving the elevator doors wide open. As soon as they reach this level, they’ll know exactly where we went. I don’t think they’ll have any problems following us down.”
“We’re not going to climb,” Herb replied with an easy grin, “we’re going to slide.”
*
It took around thirty seconds for Mancini to secure Dan on Herb’s back, and probably another thirty for the two men to loop the improvised harnesses around their wrists. With each passing second, the noise of the vampires above increased in volume. They were almost certainly on the next floor now, Herb thought, tearing the offices apart.
He tied off the makeshift harness on his right wrist, leaving the other side loose.
“We’ll have to jump for the cable. Once you get a hold of it, loop the harness around your other hand,” Herb said. “Don’t tie it. I don’t th
ink you’ll have time to untie it when we reach the bottom.”
“And pray,” Mancini muttered bitterly.
“Sure, if it helps. Come on, we have to move.”
Herb ran for the nearest elevator, keeping his steps as light as possible, choking a little as Dan’s weight settled around his throat.
It was all so familiar.
Except that this time, I won’t let him die.
He grabbed the left elevator door, and nodded as Mancini grabbed the right. The two men heaved, muscles straining, and the doors opened a crack.
“That will do,” Herb whispered, almost screaming when he heard a crash that sounded almost loud enough to come from the same level that they were standing on. “If we’re lucky, they won’t fit.”
“They’ll just open the doors themselves,” Mancini whispered softly. “All this will do is slow them down for a second or two.”
Herb nodded.
“It might be enough.”
He leaned into the elevator shaft, peering down, and immediately wished he hadn’t. It was too dark—and probably too far—for him to see the bottom of the shaft, but he could see enough. Looking at the drop made him feel dizzy, but there was no time to dwell on it. The decision had been made. The vampires were almost certainly just a matter of seconds away from reaching the twenty-third floor.
The cable was thick steel, and it would require a long jump just to reach it.
It would be so easy to miss.
The image of his fingers grazing the cable but failing to find purchase popped into Herb’s mind, and a wave of nausea rolled through him as he imagined the fall that would inevitably follow. He would have several seconds to contemplate the ground as it rushed up to meet him. Time enough to contemplate his death, and all the terrible decisions which had led to it.
He grimaced, and shook the thought away, taking a few steps back to give himself a run-up, and checking that the bonds holding Dan on his back were secure.
Mancini watched him, a stunned expression on his face, as though he couldn’t quite believe that matters had reached such a desperate climax.
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