As the Light Dies

by M. D. Woodham

  “If they worked I would!”

  “Oh,”said Thom,“I forgot.”

  As they reached the busy main doors Andy looked at Collin,“Ready?”

  “Yea.”

  Then he looked at Thom and Thom nodded.

  “Ok then let’s go. Stay close at all times guys, I don’t think we’ll be able to see very far out there and I don’t want us getting separated ok.”

  Thom and Collin both nodded.

  Jimmy was standing guard. Andy asked as they passed by if he’d had much trouble.

  “Oh aye. Plenty,” he said,“and I can see me needing help before too long, so make your picnic a quick one.”

  “We will,”said Andy,“you’ll have an extra pair of hands as soon as were back ok.”

  “Aye, aye ok,”said Jimmy with a nod, and they left.

  The front doors had stopped working with the power playing up so Jimmy had jammed them open just wide enough for one person to get through at a time with their shopping.

  Good idea,thought Andy knowing that it would slow down any opportunists.At least until they break the glass that is, he thought.

  Andy went out first followed by Thom and then Collin. Andy hadn’t been wrong about the weather. Down in the loading bay Collin had been enclosed and semi protected but now he was out in the open and the wind buffeted him with all its force, and it was strong. He felt like he was being shot- blasted by ashy snow as he followed the other two through the car park weaving between the cars, with their heads buried deep in to their collars as the elements battered them, and for once Collin felt like the lucky one wearing the fluorescent waterproof trousers as well as the jacket. Even though they didn’t fit by a mile, they were slightly better at deflecting the wind than the fabric jackets from the freezer that Andy and Thom had, plus they were waterproof.

  As they weaved through the parked cars people weaved around them seeming to come out of nowhere making their way to or from the supermarket. Collin kept butting shoulders with people, he tried to look up, trying to see the people to avoid them but the weather soon forced his head back down again. He said sorry as he butted more shoulders but doubted anyone heard him, he couldn’t hear them. They trudged on weaving through the busy car park stepping over abandoned shopping baskets dumped in the snow and bumped in to the odd shopping trolley.

  Collin hoped that everything was going to be ok when they got there, he almost felt responsible, he wondered why he hadn’t he gone over to see if he could help like Mad Maggie said.

  I’m useless, he thought. Suddenly an engine revved and a pair of headlights blinked on and rushed towards from the right them blinding them with the glare.

  “WATCH OUT!” yelled Andy. The others realised what was happening and scattered, jumping in all directions as a jacked up 4x4 sped towards them.

  The driver slammed on the brakes and skidded to a stop narrowly missing Andy and the 4x4 stalled. The driver sounded his horn, holding it down for far too long as Thom slid off the bonnet of the car he landed on and stood in front of the jeep shaking. If Andy hadn’t shouted he’d have been flattened. They all would’ve been!

  Collin was helped up by a woman on the passenger side of the 4x4 who was packing one of the cars he landed between jarring his elbow!

  Andy stood up on the driver’s side of the 4x4 rubbing his hip. He’d crash landed on a stray shopping trolley. He looked down at his feet; they were just inches from the chunky tyres!

  “Woo,fucking hell man!” said Andy a little shaken.“You nearly ran us over. Slow down a bit buddy.”The driver lowered his window and looked at Andy. He was a big guy. He was practically overflowing from the confines of his driving seat. He had a full facial beard, it was grey and thick and frizzy. He leaned towards Andy out of his window and stared at him with beady little eyes.

  “You need to look where you’refuckingwalking. You aint my buddy and you wanna watch your mouth you little prick or being run over will be the least of your worries you mouthy little....”

  “Yea, yea whatever,”said Andy cutting him off. He could see Collin and Thom coming round to join him both still in one piece. Seeing they were ok he wasn’t about to waste any more time with this guy, he wasn’t worth getting worked up over.“You both ok?”he asked. They both said they were.

  “Ok, c’mon guys,”he said,“let’s go.”He turned on his heels and led on, ignoring the driver as he bellowed after them hollering abuse at them.

  “That’s right. Walk away you prick. I’ll put you all in the fucking ground if that’s what you want! All three of you, you....”

  They kept on walking not looking back infuriating the guy further. He leaned back in to his seat and thumped the top of the dashboard still cursing, while the guys ignored him and disappeared through the ash.

  They heard him trying to start his jeep behind them, he wasn’t having any luck, it wouldn’t start.

  He tried again, and again with no luck. He slammed his steering wheel and yelled,“C’mon you piece of shit!’and then he launched in to a tirade of abuse at his 4x4, it still didn’t start.

  “Not so fast now is he,”said Andy as they kept on walking.

  Eventually they came to a knee high fence. It was a short fence enclosing the car park meaning they were about to cross the entry and exit to the supermarket, they all knew the petrol station was somewhere opposite them literally feet away but none of them could see a single trace of it.

  “Be careful crossing guys,”said Andy,“we don’t want a repeat of back there.”

  Then almost as if on cue a slow moving car simply appeared through the dirty snow right in front of them and passed by them heading in to the car park. It didn’t sound healthy. It coughed and stuttered and backfired as it passed them.

  “More happy customers,”said Andy and he led on.

  The car disappeared out of sight, backfired and stalled.

  “The ash is starting to kill the cars,”said Andy,“just like in Norway. The supermarket genie isn’t gonna last much longer, and that’s if it’s even still running.”

  They took half a dozen paces and Andy stopped and said,“Ok, here we are.”

  “Eh!” said Thom looking around not seeing anything.

  A moment later after a few more steps they found themselves standing beside an abandoned car with the fuel hose still hooked in the filler cap.

  A shiver ran down Collin’s spine it was a spooky sight, especially remembering what he’d heard earlier. They moved along to the next car, this one was still hooked up to the pumps as well.

  The further in they walked the more they could see. Deserted cars lined the rows of pumps, just sitting there, doors open on most, and the boot on another. They were all abandoned!

  Cars were queued up behind the ones at the pumps; some were pointed almost aggressively towards the cars already at the pumps. Some cars were sat in a line down the middle of the forecourt between the ones at the pumps. They were in a queue ready to leave having fuelled up but hadn’t gone anywhere. The men moved on in silence passed the ownerless cars in bewilderment.

  “What do you think happened?”said Thom.

  “Dunno,”said Andy shaking his head as he carried on.

  They pushed on towards the kiosk nearing the end of the pumps and they found a blacked out Range Rover lying across the aisle blocking the forecourt. Andy thought it looked like the owner had been leaving after paying, then realised at the last second that they’d left something behind, so they’d stopped to run back in to the kiosk for whatever it was and hadn’t come back.

  As the men moved towards it they froze! The driver’s window had been completely smashed in from the outside, not one piece of glass was left in the frame.

  “Holy shit!” said Thom pointing and they all saw the caved in windscreen.

  They moved closer looking at the windscreen; it was sagging inwards like a glass hammock with an almost neat, near perfect circular hole punctured through the middle.

  A mass of trillions of tiny cracks littere
d the shattered glass. Andy suddenly waved at the other two gaining their attention then he nodded towards the ground at the front of the prestigious car.

  There was a fire extinguisher lying just under the front bumper, its bright red sides were badly scratched and the hose missing.

  “What the hell!” said Thom,“someone must have totally lost it!”

  Collin stared at the scene in disbelief; he’d never seen anything like it, in movies sure, but this was real. There was a shuffling sound of some kind up ahead through the murky ash, they all heard it.

  Andy crouched down and hurried forward, Thom and Collin copied him, hearts beating hard.

  “Who’s there?” called Andy. The shuffling sped up then they heard breaking glass.

  “Fuck off!”someone shouted.

  Thom suddenly became very nervous.“I think we should go back to the shop and call the police Andy,”he said,“I really do!”

  “No time for that now,”said Andy,“besides there’ll be some stupid waiting time like the ambulance. We’ve got a colleague in there to find,”he said and led on away from the safety of the Range Rover.”FUCK OFF!” shouted the same voice.

  Thom was just about to say something when a large shard of glass whistled through the air between him and Andy before it shattered off the side of the Range Rover.

  “Holy shit!” said Thom.

  “HEY!”yelled Andy, “give it a rest, we’re here to help!”

  The scurrying footsteps came rushing towards them getting louder. Collin didn’t know what to do or where to look. The sound seemed to come from everywhere, bouncing off the ash and snow all around them.

  Thom flinched going rigid and held his hands up over his face in defence. Andy was crouching, one arm outstretched reaching out searching for the person, his other arm was pulled back with his fist clenched tight ready to lash out if he needed to, he had no idea what to expect with the shouting and the flying glass! A silhouette appeared ahead of them, Andy tensed ready to punch and it broke in two. There were two figures running through the murk! Thom gasped and the silhouettes changed direction, they raced passed them beyond reach across to the other side of the forecourt where they turned off and raced down the side of the line of cars and kept going.

  “HEY STOP!”yelled Andy, but there was no reply, just the sound of rapidly retreating footsteps.“Right, c’mon,”said Andy,“let’s go inside.”

  They walked between another few cars and came to the kiosk. The three men stood side by side and stared. The kiosk looked like a war zone!

  All but one window had been shattered. There were glass shards absolutely everywhere, the two electric sliding doors were both smashed through with a blue gas canister wedged between the now glassless door frames, one of the steel frames was bent and buckled all out of shape. Andy looked at the other two and said,“Be on your toes guy’s, eyes and ears open ok, this is fucking serious! If you get separated or find something,anything,make some noise ok, lots of noise yea!”

  Thom and Collin both nodded their agreement and Andy stepped over the jagged edge of what had once been the main window, shattered glass crunched under his feet.

  What the hell happened here, Andy thought to himself looking around, there was debris everywhere. The two centre rows of shelves were lying on the floor, car air fresheners seemed to be absolutely everywhere, newspapers, magazines and burst cardboard milk cartons and fresh orange or apple cartons littered the soaking wet floor. Most of the food had been taken along with any drinks, what food or beverages were left had burst from its packaging in whatever frenzy that had happened. Andy couldn’t believe that this had been going on literally yards from all of them and they would be none the wiser if Collin hadn’t been out clearing snow and heard something, the thought sickened and angered him.

  “Thank God you heard something Collin,”he said.

  “Yes,”added Thom,“I can’t believe this was going on right under our noses and we didn’t have a clue.”

  “Exactly what I was just thinking,”said Andy. Then he called out,“HELLO?”

  Thom flinched not expecting it.“HELLO? Is anyone here?”he called again, there was no answer.“Hello we’re here to help. Is there anyone here?”Only the rustle of the wind answered him as it moved litter around.

  “We’re from the supermarket, we’ve come to help.”Still silence.

  “I don’t like this Andy,”said Thom,“I really think we should go back.”

  “No,we’d waste time going back, we’ll do what we came to do, and find our colleague eh.”

  Thom nodded.

  Collin followed the two men closely in silence, constantly turning and looking in all directions as glass popped loudly under their feet, and he stood on a long shard that cracked loudly under his foot.“SHIT!”said Thom spinning round to see what the noise was.

  “Christ Collin,”he said realising.“You just gave me a heart attack.”

  “Sorry, I can’t help it the glass is just everywhere.”

  Andy called out again but stopped dead in his tracks cutting his sentence short.

  “What’s wrong?”said Thom.

  “Shush,”said Andy,“I just heard something, listen.”

  Thom froze to the spot trying as hard as he could to hear what Andy had heard, but all he could hear was his own breathing and rapid heartbeat. Collin held still as well but couldn’t hear anything apart from the wind. Andy cocked his head slightly as if he’d heard something again and was trying to hear it. He looked at Thom with raised eyebrows and pointed at him and then tapped his own ear.

  “I can’t,”Thom started and Andy cut him off straight away.

  “Shit Thom I’m trying to be quiet, I just want you to listen and to tell me if you hear anything.”

  “Oh, ok, I didn’t realise, uh I can’t....”

  “For fuck sake Thom, be quiet!”

  Thom nodded quickly then shook his head to indicate that he hadn’t heard anything.

  Andy looked at Collin, who was already shaking his head. Andy nodded and moved deeper in to the shop.

  He reached the counter, the till had been badly damaged, the entire top casing made up of the key pad and digital price readout was in bits, and strewn across the counter, but the actual money tray was still intact, it was still bolted to the counter, still closed.Least of our worries at the moment, thought Andy as he leaned forwards and looked behind the counter. There was no- one there, he shook his head for the others and said,“Let’s go backstage!”

  Thom and Collin both knew that he meant they were about to go through to the back of the shop where there was a small store and staffroom.

  The security keypad for the staff door was hanging from the wall from its internal wires!

  “Oh dear, that’s not good,”said Thom as Andy reached out and tried pushing the door. It opened. Andy called in to the pitch black beyond.“Hello. Hello is anyone there, we’re here to help.Hello!” They waited anxiously for an answer but they didn’t get one.

  We’re beyond being able to help anyone, thought Thom.

  Andy looked back at both men and nodded once at them and then once at the door and the dark space beyond. Then he stepped through and disappeared in to darkness.

  Thom and Collin followed right behind him.

  Andy said,“I know the layout back here, so do you Thom. What about you Collin?”he asked.

  “No,”said Collin he’d never done a stint in the petrol station.

  “Ok,”said Andy,“It’s simple. It’s just one little corridor from left to right, the toilet’s dead ahead, there’s a small store along to our right and just along to the left is the staffroom ok?”

  “Yea ok,”said Collin.

  “Good,”said Andy, and then he called out again, but there was still no answer.

  He moved along the black corridor just a couple of feet and reached out with both hands, feeling for the wall opposite them. He touched it and started to slide his hands over the wall feeling for the toilet door. He’d hoped his eyesight wou
ld have adjusted better than they had, it was just too dark. He swung his left hand in a semicircular motion over the wall and side stepped to his left.

  “Jesus its dark in here,” Thom whispered and Andy’s left hand bumped off the toilet door handle and he grabbed it.

  “Ok,”he said,“I’ve got the handle for the toilet. Here goes.”

  “Ok,”said Thom.

  “Ok,”added Collin, and Andy balled his free hand in to a tight fist not sure what to expect after their brief meeting with the less than friendly strangers outside.

  He pressed down quickly on the handle and pulled the door open.

  The small claustrophobic looking toilet was empty. He closed the door.

  “One down, two to go,”he said.“We’ll try the staffroom first, and then we’ll hit the store room. C’mon.”

  Using his hands to follow the wall Andy led the three of them towards the staffroom trying not to trip or stumble over any of the debris. The other two watched their step as well, setting their feet down carefully and making sure it was on the level before putting all their weight on to it and moving on, they all had to go by feel because the corridor was as dark as a coffin.

  They reached the staffroom door. Andy found the handle.

  “Just opening the staffroom door,”he said, and he pushed the door open, just a little at first trying to see inside but it didn’t work, it was black.

  He called in.“Hello is anyone there? We’re here to help.”

  Nothing but silence met their ears.

  He pushed the door open all the way pushing back debris that had fallen behind it. Andy walked in keeping one hand against the wall at first to keep his bearings. His feet came in to contact with something solid on the ground, he tried to push it away but it was too heavy. He walked around it warning the others.

  After they’d all been in the staffroom for a few moments their sight started improving a little thanks to the tiny letter box shaped window at the back of the room. They were amazed at what they saw!

  The place had been turned completely upside down! The staffroom table was broken in two straight down the middle. Cupboard doors hung from their hinges. A smashed up chair missing three legs, lay on top of the work top, shattered bowls and plates lay in the sink, and anything else that wasn’t screwed down was either in bits or on the floor.