As the Light Dies

by M. D. Woodham

  “What!” said Gavin not understanding.

  “Just as you were fucking about playing with dead things and yelling out I caught a glimpse of someone. They were looking in through one of the side windows, and Christ did it scare me, I nearly shit myself! Then they were gone. Just took off in to this weird fucking snow.”He gestured at their surroundings.“I tried calling them but they didn’t come back. You were yelling out, falling over at the same time so I don’t know if they heard me properly or not, but they knew I was there, and they still took off. Hopefully that means they aint too bad eh. I tell you something though, even though I only caught a glimpse of them whoever they were, man or woman I couldn’t tell because they were filthy. Covered from head to toe! Kinda mixed up between black and grey! Looked like they’d just spent a month underground shovelling coal you know. But I think I musta hit em hard coz there was blood all over them. Looked black coz of the ash you know, but itwasblood!”

  Eddy went quiet again thinking about what had just happened, going over what he’d just told Gavin, then said,“Anyway they couldn’t be that bad eh, not if they could run off like that. I even think that they kinda smiled at me before they took off for some fucked up reason. But whatever, I’m a happy camper, if they can run off they aint too bad eh. Hit by a bus and able to run off, probably already home fixing themselves up in the kitchen eh, musta just brushed‘em huh.”

  “Yea, must have done,”agreed Gavin still staring at the dead cow.

  “Fuck knows what they were doing with this though,”said Eddy seeing the faint prints through the cow’s guts.

  “Yea,”said Gavin nodding,“what the hell do you think they were doing? The damn thing’s been torn to shreds!”

  They both looked at the prints in the snow, the shin and knee prints were clear and they were surrounded by the mangled cow guts and its blood.“Jesus Christ, they were right in there,”said Eddy. Gavin just stared shaking his head, this was just too weird, especially after his earlier encounter with the bull.

  “They almost look like human bites,”said Eddy pointing to the gouges in the neck and then at the ones along the side of its belly. Gavin had to admit that they did, even from where he was standing.“And look,”he said,“the brain’s....”

  “Yea I know, I know,”said Gavin cutting in. He didn’t need to hear anymore.

  “Maybe it was some homeless guy or something,”said Eddy,“whatcha think?”

  “What! A homeless guy eating a dead cow! No way!

  “Could be, you never know, he might have even killed it! I’ve heard of some strange things in my time Gavin I tell ya....”

  “And done what with the brai....”Gavin was forced to stop there as he started puking again.

  Eddy screwed his face up at the noised Gavin was making and said,“Who knows? Whatever happened, it looks fucked up eh, like the yanks say it’sFUBAR!C’mon, let’s head back to the bus.”Rigidly Eddy started heading back, he groaned with every step as his knees burst in to stabbing pains with every footfall. Gavin joined him and sure enough beside the bus they found an area of mis-shaped snow starting to fill in with new snow, but they could still see vague foot prints that came out of the darkness and stopped up against the side of the bus!

  “That’s where they stood Gavin,”said Eddy.“Have a quick look at them will ya, see where they come from, or where they go. My knees are likely to kill me if I try. Literally.”

  Gavin nodded and walked around the prints they’d found trying not to disturb them and followed them as best he could but they were already faint and nearly impossible to see if it was even someone’s tracks at all. They seemed to curve around and start coming back towards the bus from where Eddy saw them. They curved around to the other side of the bus. Gavin followed them until they just disappeared, the wind was stronger around the other side of the bus and it had smoothed out the tracks but not before Gavin was absolutely certain that the person had doubled back for a second look at Eddy!

  *****

  Back on the bus Gavin told Eddy about the prints.“Must be my good looks,”said Eddy laughing as Gavin struggled with the door again.“Never mind it Gavin,”he said,“just leave it. The worst of the wind is on the other side of the bus, c’mon, just get in.”

  Gavin climbed in leaving the door an inch short from closing.

  “Fuck knows what were gonna do now that the bus has stalled!”Eddy told him as he rubbed his knees vigorously. Gavin could see the pain in his face, it reminded him of his dad who suffered with arthritis. Eddy tried the ignition just in case they’d be lucky, but their luck was out as far as the engine was concerned, nothing happened the key just clicked in the ignition.

  “Yep, were definitely stranded,”said Eddy and he slammed the steering wheel with both hands, before trying the ignition another couple of times out of desperation. Still with no joy.

  “You never know,”he said.

  Gavin felt awkward all of a sudden, the realisation that they were actually properly stuck was dawning on him fast.

  A few minutes passed and Eddy sat back in the driver’s seat.“Oh boy,”he said calming back down.“That’s it I’m afraid Gavin boy, we’re not driving any further in this tub.”

  “We can’t be too far from Inverness now?”said Gavin.

  Eddy sighed rubbing his knees.“No, I suppose not, but there’s no way I’ll be walking anywhere. My knees are in fucking bits.”He finished the last word through gritted teeth.

  “Maybe I can walk ahead and get some help”, said Gavin“try and use someone’s phone you know, if the landlines are still working that is!”

  “Ha!Don’t hold your breath for the depot to send someone out. Not anytime soon anyway. You know I had to wait six hours once last winter for someone to come out and pick me up. Crazy huh! I was frozen solid by the time they got to me, I ended up with the flu and two weeks off. God only knows how long we’ll be stuck out here in these weird conditions. Mind you, maybe because the conditions are so weird theywillsend someone out pretty quick. If they’ve got a running motor that is. Who knows?”

  Gavin was nodding,“I fucking hope so,”he said.

  “Huh yea but don’t hold your breath,”said Eddy,“the phone lines probably aren’t working.”

  “How close are we to town then?”asked Gavin.“Maybe I could walk back to the depot.”

  “We’re probably just short of six miles,”said Eddy.“Were on the main westerly route so all you’d have to do is stay on this road and keep going and you’ll come to Inverness. There are houses scattered about the place if you wanna try and find a phone you know. There are big places, all set back from the road so you’ll have to look for their driveways you know, fancy gate posts and that.”

  Gavin nodded, his spirits had been lifted a little. He knew he could cover six miles, even in these conditions but he knew by the way Eddy moved in his seat that he really couldn’t walk any distance- a bus length at most.It was gonna have to be a vehicle ride for him,thought Gavin, and the chances of that looked slim.

  Gavin rummaged through his bag pulling out his fresh dust masks and took a swig of his water and prepared for leaving the bus yet again. Eddy told Gavin that he felt bad with him having to go out again, and alone because of his cranky knees. Gavin told him to shut up and that it was fine, and that he just hopped the landlines were working.

  It only took Gavin seconds to get ready, he felt like he’d been off the bus just as much as he’d been on it today. Eddy eased himself out of the driving seat so he could try and push the entry door closed behind him.“You shouldn’t have to walk too far before you find somewhere bud,”he said.

  “I’ll be fine,”said Gavin.“I’ll be as quick as I can ok.”He was trying to rush things along a little seeing how painful Eddy was finding it just to stand there waiting for him to go for help.

  Gavin pulled his masks on and shoved the door open and hopped back out.

  “Whoa!”he said slipping a little as he landed.

  “Careful!”said Eddy lookin
g at him.“You need to stay in one piece if you’re gonna get us help.”

  Gavin nodded and tried to help Eddy shut the door again, but they still couldn’t close it all the way.

  “I think the frames bent,”said Eddy,“just go Gavin, it’ll be fine,”he said waving at him to go as he struggled back up in to the driver’s seat.“That’s all we can do Gavin, now get going.”

  Gavin nodded and turned in to the oncoming wind and started walking, tucking his head down in to his collar like before and making a conscious effort to breathe evenly as he started his trek through the black snow. The new masks made breathing easier, but he knew they’d start to clog up soon enough. The going was hard, the snow was getting deeper all the time and now even the shallow parts reached halfway up his shins. Just taking one step was hard.

  Aint gonna be any vehicles coming this way,he thought as he pushed on making good use of the clean masks, being able to breathe. His plan was to try the first house he came to, find out if the phones were still working and if not, then see if maybe whoever lived in the house could help him get Eddy up to the house and out of that damned bus. If that didn’t work out, then he’d keep his head down until he made it back in to Inverness even though he worried that no vehicle would be able to get even remotely close to Eddy.Maybe someone will get close enough that they’ll be able to stretcher Eddy part of the way, he thought, and hoped.

  One thing was for sure, and that was that Gavin staying in the bus with Eddy wouldn’t help either of them one little bit.

  After a short while he lifted his head to see where he was going and how far he’d come. The vague outline of hedgerow and a cluster of bare trees stood out beside him weighed down heavily by a thick blanket of black snow. He looked back at the stranded bus, he couldn’t see it anymore, it was out of sight already.God I hope people open their doors to me,he thought,poor Eddy’s in for a long wait if they don’t!

  He trudged on hoping he’d only have to make it to the first house, for Eddy’s benefit as much as his. He thought about how uncomfortable and how cold Eddy would be if he ended up having to traipse all the way in to town, and even then he might have to trek around town before he found someone that would be able to help.

  Gavin knew his best bet was to find somebody nearby that would help in some way, he had to.

  He tried looking up, there was nothing to see so he pushed on and he thought about Dean, he wondered how he and Sam were doing.Bet he’s gone in to work,he thought before his thoughts turned to their parents.Dad will most likely be crippled up with his arthritis,he thought,and mum will probably be struggling with her asthma.

  With that last thought about his parents he realised that he didn’t just have to help Eddy, he had to get home and help his parents, maybe even his brother. He felt guilty for not having felt the need to help them sooner, and suddenly he felt like a hefty weight had been placed across his shoulders.

  He picked up his pace. He looked up and saw the hedgerow closest to him on his left shimmering in and out of view. Everything else was just a swirling dirty mess rushing towards him. Thunder sounded over head, so loud it hurt Gavin’s ears, he flinched and bit his lip.

  “Damn,”he said licking his lip then lightning struck, one enormously thick bolt shot straight down from the heavens and before it touched down it opened up in to eight branches that raced each other to the ground - some of those even branched out again! Impressive thought Gavin, then straight away another bolt shot straight down and this one broke in to too many branches to even try to count before they disappeared in to the ground somewhere up ahead.“Wow!”he said as he pushed on again licking his lip. The wind buffeted him so hard he had to raise a hand up to protect his face. He went like this for what felt like an absolute age having to swap arms when they got tired until eventually he stopped and looked up using both hands to shield his eyes and looked around.

  He couldn’t see the hedgerow anymore, just thick black snow racing past in all directions. He tried to pan round searching for anything but there was nothing. It was a little disorienting, he felt like he could be in the middle of a field. He took a side step, then another and found the verge. Relieved but disappointed he carried on mindful to keep a check on his breathing, he could feel it getting heavy. He tried to brush his masks down turning his head to the side as he did hoping the wind would help his effort and something just beyond the verge caught his eye.

  He stopped what he was doing and looked up, but whatever it was had gone again.

  Tree?,he thought. He stared for a moment as he flicked his masks a couple of times with one hand and shielded his eyes with the other, but nothing appeared.Just a shape in the snow,he thought, thinking his mind had shown him something that wasn’t there. Let him think he saw something in the black blizzard, because he was so desperate to find somewhere just to be able to get out of this bitter cold wind for a few minutes even if it was just to find out that the phones weren’t working.

  He turned to carry on, then stopped! Just in case it wasn’t the ash playing tricks on his vision he took a couple of steps towards the verge mostly out of desperation than anything else and to his surprise a tall brick pillar appeared through the murkiness!

  “YES!” he said delighted looking it over as he moved closer. He saw that an iron gate was hinged from the pillar reaching out in to nothingness with its bottom half buried. Touching it Gavin ran his hand along the top of the iron gate brushing a pile of black snow to the ground until he felt the split in the gate where it joined another. He looked up and he saw the other pillar opposite, it was only a vague form but it was enough to let him know he was in the middle of a driveway and not to the side of one.“Ok,”he said,“over we go,”and he climbed over and started walking up the drive as quick as he could with his heart thumping.

  He bumped in to a wooden slatted fence that lined the driveway so he reached out and took a hold of it and used it like a banister hoping it would lead him to a house. Head down he trudged through the snow following the fence up the steep driveway as it snaked its way along curving one way and then the other. He had to work hard and he was panting hard as he climbed the steady incline buried under deep snow until after a while Gavin begun to wonder if he was going to come to a house after all.

  How long can a driveway be,he thought when an enormous gable end of a large stately house appeared directly across from him like a mirage. It was gone in a second. His heart pounded heavily in his chest.God it’s a big house,he thought and he let go of the fence and crossed over to the big house. Lightning struck somewhere behind the house illuminating its silhouette. It was simply enormous, it reminded Gavin of an old haunted house he’d seen in some late night horror movie once with multiple old stone chimney stacks on top and peaked windows high up on a possible third floor. He came up against the fence on the other side of the driveway. He traced it along a couple of steps until he found another iron gate that was hinged from the side of the house that lead on to a footpath leading along the front of the house to the front door.

  He opened the iron gate with a squeal of protest from the cold hinges and hurried along the path desperate to get inside and make a call to the depot and start to sort out the mess he and Eddie were in. Then before he’d got halfway along the path towards the front door that strange sound he heard earlier rose up behind him back the way he’d just come!

  Gavin stopped dead skidding a little. It was guttural and shrill, he didn’t like it, an image of the torn up cow flashed through his mind, he remembered he’d been kneeling in it. He pushed the thought away feeling his stomach turn over. He looked around in all directions but saw nothing! The sound rose in pitch making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and then it cut off!

  An icy chill ran down his spine and he shivered. He didn’t like it, it didn’t sound right, it didn’t feel right! He had the creepy feeling that he was being followed, watched even!

  His nerves got the better of him and he turned and ran for the front door. It loomed large
through the ash as he got close. There were wide carved stone pillars either side of the wide front door and thick chunky granite steps leading up to it. Gavin was just pressing his foot down on to the first step when the sound rang out again; closer this time! He flinched and looked back and just caught the vague outline ofanother big house across the other side of the driveway before it disappeared again, eaten by the ash. He stood perfectly still listening to the sound, concentrating on it trying not to think of it as someone trying to scream with a mouthful of blood, or someone following him!

  The sound started to tail off until eventually it was gone.Maybe it’s a gate swinging in the wind,he thought. Doubting it was a gate he started to turn back towards the stately front door when anothertwo almost identical sounds joined the first as it tailed off. Gavin froze rigid!

  There’s more than one,he thought.I am being watched!

  “Shit!” he whispered to himself without realising. He stared back down the path towards the other house that was still hiding. The noises definitely sounded like they were coming from that direction and there were definitely three of them. They rose and fell in pitch at different times.

  “Fuck this!” he said and he ran up the thick steps to the front door slipping twice as he did on the smooth granite. He reached the large door and knocked, frantically banging his knuckles against the hard wooden door. Then he waited....no one answered!

  After five long seconds he knocked again bruising his knuckles through his gloves as those strange unnatural sounds behind him got louder, closer....“Christ c’mon,”he said knocking again as he imagined semi mutilated figures crossing the driveway towards him, following the noise he was making as they tried to scream with mouthfuls of blood bubbling and gurgling up from their saturated blood filled lungs!

  “C’mon c’mon!Fucking open up!” he said practically thumping the door.

  Suddenly aware that his knocking might sound aggressive from inside, he called out,“Hey, uh, hi, I’m a bus driver and I’m stuck, I need to use a phone!”