Dead Days (Book 3): Cassie

by Hartill, Tom

  I look up to see Damien running towards me. His face is waxy and pale.

  “Come on we have to go.” He hauls me up, fuck my ribs hurt, but at least I’m on my feet.

  Mike helps Larry up with a grimace, steering clear of the recently-returned contents of Larry’s stomach. We stagger away from the approaching creatures. They’re moving at a deceptively quick walk, closing the distance.

  We head down a side street past rows of terraced houses, our pace slowed to a quick jog. I spy a couple of people peeking out through curtains.

  They’re all older people.

  No kids at school or work to go to.

  Good time to be a pensioner I guess.

  “We need a car.” Mike says.

  I hate to admit it but he’s right. Those things aren’t far behind us and there’s bound to be more now.

  I feel like I can’t breathe.

  I suddenly want my mother.

  I feel tears fall down my cheeks. I don’t want to cry, I hate doing it, fucking loathe it but I can’t help it. The world’s turned upside down and I’m stuck in the middle of a nightmare with a bunch of strangers and all I want is to go home and lock the door and wait for the world to right itself.

  My life wasn’t remarkable, but it was mine and I liked it.

  Now it’s gone.

  I feel a hand on my shoulder and expect to see Damien, but it’s Mike.

  “Cass…”

  I look up at him.

  “Get a fucking grip yeah?”

  Before I even know I’ve done it, I’ve punched him right in the mouth. It hurts like hell and I cut my knuckle on his tooth but it’s fucking satisfying.

  It also brings me back.

  Mike holds his mouth and looks at me with wide disbelieving eyes.

  “What the fuck Cass?!”

  I stand up and wipe my eyes. Damien is smiling.

  “Let’s keep going.” I say. “We can’t be far from Alexandra palace. We can make it on foot if we have to.”

  “Maybe we can, but it’s a big ask, the shape you’re in.” Damien replies. “I saw you wince when I picked you up off the floor.” He points at Mike, “and his heads still bleeding. He needs stitches.”

  “The fuck I do, we can sort that out when we get to the safe zone, if Tess is there-”

  “-Then she’s safer than we are.” Damien says calmly. “We need a place to rest up, catch our breath.”

  Mike sneers at him. “What do you suggest? Start knocking doors?”

  “I think I can help there.” Larry says timidly. “There’s a walk-in clinic near here, they might have some supplies we can use, if they’re open.” He licks his lips. “I mean, we can probably break in if they’re not but…” He shrugs.

  “How far?” I say.

  “Ten minutes, maybe fifteen.”

  “Which way Larry?” Damien asks.

  “Well, quickest way is back where we’ve come from but given those things are still there we should probably circle around.”

  Damien nods. “Sounds good. Do you know the way?”

  “I think so.”

  “Then let’s move.”

  It actually takes nearer twenty-five minutes as we move slowly through the nest of lanes that lead to the medical centre. We can hear a few distant screams and at one point a squadron of helicopters pass overhead. We see a man running across the street clutching a briefcase and muttering to himself.

  Further along, two shaven headed men are looting a corner shop. They spare us a disinterested glance before returning to their task with grim efficiency. Damien makes a move towards them but I stop him.

  I like that he wanted to do something, but I’m hurt and though the feminist in me is ashamed to admit it, I need a capable man to make sure I get to the medical centre in one piece.

  Mike and Larry sure as hell aren’t going to cut it.

  When we finally reach our destination I feel my heart sink. The street is deserted, but the medical centre is a wreck.

  “Well this idea looks pretty fucking stupid now.” Mike says.

  He might be right.

  Damien looks at the shattered front windows. They are full length panels, so the inside is visible, if a little dark. It seems empty but there are bloodstains on the glass.

  Perhaps people cut themselves trying to get out?

  Or maybe something cut itself trying to get in.

  I shudder. There’s glass on both sides of the window so whatever happened here must have been pretty chaotic.

  And recent.

  “We may be alright.” Damien says, “If any of those things were here, they would have followed anyone running away. They probably wouldn’t stick around?”

  He looks to us for confirmation but I’m not so sure. It’s a nice idea but believing it might be dangerous.

  I almost tell him that we should leave but a stab of pain from my side changes my mind. I’m worried about my injury, much more than I was before, and if there’s something or someone in there that can help, I want to find out. Plus Mike really has lost a lot of blood and is looking pretty grey. That head wound is going to need a dressing if not stitches.

  “Let’s try it.” I say.

  Larry shrugs, and Mike nods in assent. He looks too sick to argue and that actually worries me a little.

  What if he faints?

  Damien gives me a smile and steps inside. I follow him carefully, avoiding the broken glass in the window frame, wincing at the loud crunch as I step on the shattered remains. I half-expect to see those, moaning, shambling monsters come bursting out from the doctors office or perhaps from behind the desk, but nothing happens.

  Larry comes through next, with Mike bringing up the rear. Mike stumbles into one of the waiting room chairs and sits down. He is pale and sweaty.

  “I think I might just sit here a minute. I feel pretty shit.”

  Half his face is now covered in drying blood, but the gash on his head hasn’t clotted over.

  “Larry, stay with him in case he passes out.” Damien says. “If any of them show up yell for us ok?”

  Larry nods, looking relieved.

  “Do you want to stay here too?” Damien asks.

  He looks frightened.

  “No I’ll come with you. Just in case.” I smile at him.

  “Just in case.” He repeats, winking at me.

  Christ, I finally meet a decent guy and all its taken is for everybody to start eating each other.

  “Let’s do this.” I say. I sound braver then I feel.

  “Yes ma’am.” He replies, giving me a cute mock salute.

  There’s corridor leading off behind a pair of fire doors. It’s windowless, the only light is a flickering halogen bulb overhead. It’s all too easy to imagine one of those creatures stepping out of the shadows and grabbing me.

  Maybe coming here wasn’t the best idea after all.

  “Stay close.” Damien whispers.

  He slowly pushes open the door. We step through carefully, trying not to make a noise.

  The sound of my breathing seems painfully loud. The only other sound is the flickering light bulb as it lets out a low, continuous buzzing.

  There are rooms on both sides of the corridor. Doctor’s offices, the names engraved on plaques.

  “Which door shall we try?” I whisper.

  Damien points down the corridor. “The nurse’s office is probably down there somewhere. That’s where all the basic supplies will be.”

  I nod, it makes sense. It’s always the nurse that takes your blood pressure or administers the flu jabs.

  As we pass a door on the left we hear a loud thump against it, rattling it in the frame. Damien turns with the pry-bar raised, waiting for something or someone to come bursting out.

  The thump comes again.

  Oh God please don’t let it get out.

  Damien licks his lip nervously and tries the door handle. He steps back in relief.

  “Locked.” He whispers. “Whatever’s in there isn’t ge
tting out.”

  “What if it works out how to unlock the door?”

  “I don’t think it will. They aren’t exactly smart, they just seem to run on basic instinct.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  He looks embarrassed. “Well, I guess I’m not, but they can’t talk or reason, and they don’t have much coordination. I could be wrong but I think it’ll batter itself to pieces on that door long before it thinks of trying the handle.”

  I jump as it hits the door again.

  “I hope you’re right. Let’s just keep moving ok?”

  We pass another door, this one open, but the room is empty. The office opposite that one is shut, the name on the door reads ‘Dr Kunal Singh’.

  The last door we come to is the nurse’s office.

  Damien Motions for me to stop. As he listens I see him turn pale. I hear it too, low wet smacking sounds. I don’t want to look.

  Damien squeezes my hand and looks around the door frame.

  I follow at his shoulder.

  There are two figures. One is female, laying on the floor, wearing a blue nurses uniform. The other is kneeling beside her, his back to us, a large hulking man in an orange boiler suit and fluorescent construction vest. There is a spreading pool of blood beneath him.

  Damien steps forward, but as he does his shoe squeaks on the linoleum. The construction worker freezes and turns his head. As his face comes into view, I see that he is chewing slowly. Though his cheeks bulge, he is making no effort to swallow, bloody chunks of flesh tumbling from his lips. His meaty fists are clutching a dripping loop of the nurse’s intestines, and I can see her entire midsection has been ripped open.

  I can smell the contents of her bowels.

  I can smell her shit.

  With that hysterical thought I vomit for the second time that day, the force of it sending bright, burning pain through my wounded side and I double over to the floor.

  I hear the construction worker-turned-cannibal growl and charge at Damien, who yells in surprise and horror as he is knocked flat on his back.

  My vision is blurred by tears and I feel like I’m going to pass out with pain.

  Damien has somehow got the pry-bar between him and the monster, and has it held horizontally under the construction workers chin, holding the creature just far enough away to stop it biting his face. Blood and flesh are falling from the things mouth and onto Damien’s face, making him gag. If he throws up he’ll either choke or lose his grip.

  The monster is much bigger and heavier than him, and there’s no way that Damien will hold him for long.

  I have to help him.

  I need a weapon.

  I see a syringe with needle still attached lying on the floor a few feet away and I drag myself towards it.

  Where the fuck are Mike and Larry?!

  I try to stand but the pain is too much. I reach out for the syringe, but as my hand closes on it I feel a sharp pain in my ankle.

  I look round into glazed eyes of the nurse, her hand clutching my leg.

  She’s one of them. How can she still be alive?!

  She isn’t.

  Don’t think! I lash out with my foot, connecting with her face. She keeps coming, that awful groaning sound as she moves closer. I kick her with my free foot again and again. I see her nose crunch to one side, I see two of her teeth break off, I see a fresh cut open on her cheek, but she doesn’t let go.

  She goes to bite my leg but I kick my foot out again and finally manage to wriggle free of her grip. I scoot backwards on my ass until my back hits the cabinet.

  Her eyes lock on my face and she drags her ruined torso towards me, her teeth clicking together.

  I have one chance.

  I stare straight into her eyes, keeping them locked on mine.

  I wait, she is almost close enough…..

  Wait….

  Wait…

  NOW!

  She goes to lunge as I thrust the syringe forward. It goes through her eye with ease, popping it like a grape, and deep into the brain beyond.

  She shudders and lets out a gasp, falling still.

  I rip the syringe free and crawl towards Damien. He is still pinned beneath the bulk of the construction worker, his face a deep red from the strain of holding its weight off him.

  The monster never looks at me as I stab the syringe into its ear. The needle breaks off in the creatures head but it’s enough. It stops moving and slumps forward. Damien uses the pry-bar to push it off him.

  He staggers over to a small hand-wash sink and washes his face furiously, wiping it with paper towels from the wall dispenser.

  “Are you ok?”

  He nods. “I think so….I mean none of it got in my mouth, at least I don’t think so, so maybe….are you ok?”

  “I don’t think so, I can’t get up.”

  He kneels beside me touching my forehead again. He looks concerned. “You feel a little warm.”

  His hand is cool, and feels good on my face.

  “You know, you saved my life back there.” He says.

  I blush, about to say something, but he stops me with a kiss. It’s not a romantic one, nothing more than a peck but still, it’s nice.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” I reply.

  “I’ll help you up in just a second, I’m going to grab the stuff we need so we can get out of here, ok?”

  “Ok.”

  I close my eyes and breathe. I don’t feel good, I’m all shaky and nauseas and I feel hot. I hear Damien rummaging around for a minute, then his arms are underneath mine, lifting me.

  He is careful, but it still hurts. I manage to get an arm over his shoulders as he stoops low to help me along. He looks pale and shaken, his shirt is covered in blood.

  I don’t imagine I look much better.

  As we reach the end of the corridor Larry opens the double doors, looking worried.

  “Are you ok?”

  Damien shoots him a look and Larry turns red. “I heard noises but…Mike fainted and I didn’t want to leave him-”

  “It’s fine.” Damien says coldly. “We’re fine.”

  “I’m sorry.” Larry looks so downcast that I feel a little sorry for him. He might very well have come to help if not for Mike.

  Christ even unconscious he makes life difficult.

  Damien helps me into a chair in the waiting room. Mike is slumped over in his, pale, but breathing steadily.

  “Anyone pass by?” Damien asks.

  “A woman ran past but she didn’t stop. Couple of cars too but that’s it, no monsters.” Larry looks down at the floor. “What do we do now?”

  Damien looks at me. “Can you make it?”

  I want to tell him yes, but I can’t, not feeling like this. I shake my head, feeling tears sting my eyes. Damien puts a hand on my shoulder.

  “That’s ok, we’ll figure something out.” He spreads the collection of bandages and dressings from the nurse’s office onto the seat beside him. He hands Larry a pack of thin adhesive strips. I’ve seen them on those rubbish hospital TV shows, when they use them instead of stitches.

  “Clean his face up and use these on the cut. We can’t stitch him but these should help. He’s losing too much blood.” Damien stands up. “I’m going to go and find us a vehicle.”

  “By yourself?” I ask.

  I really don’t want him to go.

  “The only one of you who could come with me is Larry, and I need him here to protect you.”

  I look at Larry doubtfully. He was probably a nice guy before all this but I have a feeling that if we run into trouble he might make a run for it. Sure, he might regret it later, but that wouldn’t help me would it? Or Mike for that matter.

  I’d never admit this but I actually wish Larry was the one unconscious. At least Mike has experience killing these things.

  So do I now.

  I think about the way the needle slid through the nurse’s eye and I suppress a gag.

  Damien
doesn’t notice. “Besides, it’s safer in here than out there, at least for now.”

  I nod reluctantly. I don’t want to stay here, but he’s right, I can barely move.

  I start to think about Tess again, wondering if she’s already dead, or if she managed to find a place to hide. Did she find someone to help her, someone capable like Damien? I hope so.

  I look up at him.

  “Just come back soon ok?”