As the Light Dies

by M. D. Woodham

  Thom couldn’t speak, he tried to but only a faint whistle of air came out.

  The figure was a young man that Andy recognised form earlier when he’d been on his way back from the petrol station with the others having found Lara. He’d seen the guy fiddling under the bonnet of his car while his wife and kids sat patiently inside the car. Andy had tried telling him that his best bet was to start walking as soon as possible because all the electrical currents were starting to jam up from the effects of the ash and that the car probably wasn’t gonna be starting anytime soon.

  The guy had spun round and told Andy to go and fucking ram himself spitting in his face with aggression as he did, then he turned back around and carried on tinkering. Andy didn’t try telling him again, and now the guy lay on his back staring straight up at them; a different person.

  His face was badly discoloured; his skin was completely grey with deep black blotches all over, and his eyes were jet black. Blood was smeared across his mouth and chin. At first Andy had thought the guy must’ve slipped in the snow and burst his lip or something. But there was more to this than just a burst lip. He could feel it.

  The man’s eyes were totally black like shiny little marbles.“Look at his eyes,”whispered Thom finding his voice, then asked,“Is that blood?”

  Before Andy answered the man turned his head towards them and Thom backed up even further stepping down between two of the tills.“Oh shit!”he said.

  The man watched them with a blank expression over his discoloured face, not moving, just watching, staring with those blank black eyes.“God, what’s happened?”said Thom and then the guy appeared to smile at them. Not much but enough to notice the corners of his mouth curl up.

  “What the hell!”said Thom transfixed.“Did he just smile?”

  Andy nodded and the man started to roll over towards them like he was trying to face them. He brought an arm up and grabbed the narrow brick ledge along the bottom of the window and pulled himself up on to his side. The hand he used was in shreds. It looked like it had been through a wood chipper with pieces of flesh hanging from what was still left of the bony frame beneath. Andy’s eyes opened wide seeing the hand and Thom gasped. The man peered in at them with what Andy thought was a look of bemusement on his face and his torn jacket flapped open blown in the wind. Thom clasped a hand over his mouth and turned away.

  “OH MY GOD!”he yelped as Andy scooted even further back from the window and he bumped up against the back edge of a till. The man’s open jacket revealed wounds like neither man had ever seen or were ever likely to. Parts of his rib cage were visible in places through deep wounds across his chest and upper abdomen and below the base of his breast bone there was no stomach left. All that remained was a gaping hole where torn and ruptured insides hung out unravelling in to the black snow.

  “Ugh!”said Thom retching unable to look back. The man’s trousers had been pulled down a little and his groin and upper inner thighs had been gouged out. What was left clung to his partly exposed thigh and pelvic bones. All that was on display shook and quivered every time he moved or when the wind caught him. Andy couldn’t take his eyes away from the man’s groin, it just wasn’t there anymore! All that was left between the man’s hips was a bloody messy gouged out hole of torn muscle fibres and veins and some of his lower abdomen internals that had dropped down and sunk in to the meat basin where his genitals had been.

  Andy looked on in sheer horror, he wanted to look away but couldn’t, he needed to know what was happening. Needed to knowWhat had happened. He needed to understand. He just had to!

  He could clearly make out the man’s large intestine; he saw that it had large pieces missing that almost resembled comedy bite marks. It was just clinging together held by the smallest slithers of membranous tissue. It jiggled threatening to tear apart as he moved.

  “HOW THE HELL?”said Thom from behind finally managing to talk.... then he vomited over one of the tills and right then almost as though Thom’s gagging was a signal of some kind the guys throat started to move, jerking up and down, slowly at first like he was trying to say something and then speeding up wildly to the point that Andy wondered if the guy was actually suffocating, maybe even choking on his tongue until he started making a horrible hollow clicking sound, almost like a croak to start with that made Andy want to clear his throat.

  The clicks quickly got longer and deeper in tone,click, click, clug, clug, glug, glug, glug. He continued to smile and started to sit up looking in at them. As he pushed himself up Andy saw that his other arm was nothing but a bloody stump sticking out from his shoulder. He twisted a little pushing up with his one mauled arm and fell back down.

  He rocked trying to get his one arm back under him again to push himself back up, but couldn’t. He became agitated and then he rolled over face down and started pulling and clawing at the ground with what was left of his hand still making that strange noise.

  “What’s he....”started Thom when all of a sudden the man pulled himself away from his own legs. Thom chose the wrong time to try looking back.

  “HOLY FUCK!” he blurted and started vomiting again as the man dragged his severed torso right up to the window trailing his innards behind him and he started scratching at the glass with his bony finger tips.“Holy shit” said Andy scrambling across the floor towards Thom and Thom helped him up.“What the hell is that?”said Andy.“How the hell is that possible? It can’t be, it just can’t! It can’t even be fucking real!”

  Thom tried opening his mouth to say something when from out of nowhere a large figure dark like a shadow crashed against the plateglass right in front of them.

  As it rebounded another one came at the window with an enormous bang. The glass actually flexed under the pressure. Thom tripped over his own feet and stumbled to the floor with the shock. His face was pure white with terror. Andy hauled him back up.“Quick, c’mon,”he said,“they’ll break through if they keep at it, we’ve gotta go.”

  In a blind panic they ran back the way they’d come running along the length of the shop front behind the tills instead of down between the aisles and out of sight. As they ran Andy glanced at the windows thinking he saw movement and he saw one of the figures running along beside them just the other side of the glass. He couldn’t make out any specific details, all that mattered right now was that it was following them.

  As they reached the end of the tills and turned away from the shop front heading deeper in to the supermarket more figures appeared through the ashy snow and pressed themselves up against the front doors. Another almighty crash rang out.

  “Oh God!”murmured Thom as he ran with his heart racing ten times faster than it ever had in his life. They reached the staff door and they both glanced back, their stomachs burned with fear at the sight! The front of the shop was engulfed from end to end by looming figures, all of them silhouettes, all frantically slapping and banging at the glass after them. They’d seen enough, Andy kicked the door open and they both dived out of sight.

  Leann jumped up and Collin flinched and stepped away from the wall ready to run.

  “Holly shit!” said Collin,“what’s happening out there!”

  “You guys won’t believe what we just saw,”blurted Andy gasping for breath.

  “I think we will,”said Leann.

  “What did you see? What’s going on out there now?”asked Collin, looking at the two men with wide eyes. Thom stood in silence shaking all over constantly rubbing his bald head like he was trying to rub something off, unable to speak. Collin thought he was about to pass out, but Thom sat down against the wall like Leann had and put his head in his hands and carried on massaging his head.“C’mon what was it?”said Leann.

  “Well,”said Andy,“I think we can both say that we believe you guys now. I’m sorry I didn’t give you time to explain earlier, it’s just that....”

  ”It’s ok,”said Leann,“I wouldn’t have believed it either, and I know you had to go check.”

  Andy nodded.“O
k. Well you go first, finish telling us what happened to you guys earlier and then I’ll fill you in on what just happened to us.”

  Leann nodded and looked at Collin pausing and biting her lip. Collin nodded to her.

  “Ok,”she said finally,“I still don’t really know where to start but here goes.”

  “Maggie and Jimmy were both trying to explain to a group of people that we didn’t have any power and that the phones didn’t work you know. But they wouldn’t believe them, they started getting really agitated and angry you know, shouting and swearing and that. Anyway I’d just carried out a search of the shop floor for Maggie and I was just coming back to tell her the place was empty when I heard a strange noise. The others all heard it too because I saw them all look round to see what it was when from out of nowhere Kev, the truck driver guy dived right in to them from out of nowhere, and it was him making that weird noise, like he was gurgling mouthwash or something.”Andy nodded.“He was all black and blotchy for some reason, it almost looked like he’d been painted black and then stood out in the rain for it to wash off.”It was so strange! Anyway, he fell on the guy that was having a go at Maggie knocking him to the ground, he knocked Maggie down as well. So I started to run over to help you know, and I saw Jimmy drop down to help Maggie back up. Then the guy’s wife started shouting at Kev, telling him to stop, and get off her husband and then she started to scream.

  Jimmy turned to see what was happening as he helped Maggie and as he moved out of the way, I saw Kev smashing the guy’s head off the ground like he’d gone totally mad or something.

  The guy’s wife was crying, probably in shock holding her children trying to turn them away so they couldn’t see, but one of them, the biggest one, a boy, probably about eight or nine ran over to help his daddy and he started beating Kev on his back. You know, like little kids do. But the guy was out for the count on the deck with blood pouring from his mouth and nose and Kev stopped and reached out and grabbed the boy....”Leann had to take a deep breath there as her voice started to waver.“You’re doing ok,”Andy told her, she nodded, cleared her throat and carried on.

  “Kev pulled the little kid in close to his face....”Leann faltered again for a second, her lips pressed tight together and she wiped away a tear before trying again.

  “He bit a fucking chunk out of the kids face! He leaned in and bit him. He actually bit the little boy, and he kept on doing it, over and over. It was horrible, it was so, so horrible, it was nasty!

  The poor little kid didn’t even make a sound. I don’t know if he’d fainted and was just being held up by Kev or what but he didn’t make a single sound. Then Kev flung the little boy to the ground and started to bashhishead against the ground. The sick bastard cracked the little boy’s head open on the first go, split it right fucking open. The mum was absolutely hysterical at that point and that’s when Jimmy dived in. I know he would’ve jumped in sooner but he was dealing with Maggie while that all happened, and it all happened so fast.

  Maggie was kinda stunned, we both were. I think we all were. She just stood there like she couldn’t move you know. I wasn’t sure what to do. I mean it was all happening so fast. The woman fell to her knees hysterical holding on to her little girl in one arm and her baby in the other. Then Kev stood up throwing Jimmy off and turned around and grabbed him around the neck, I thought he was trying to strangle him. No-one else was doing anything so I went to try and help somehow. I don’t know what I thought I was going to do but I had to do something and as I took my first couple of steps Kev started head butting Jimmy really, really fast, over and over. He was using both hands to push Jimmy’s head out at arm’s length you know, and then bring him back again as fast as he could smashing Jimmy’s face against his forehead. He did it again and again and again! It was horrible. Every time they hit more and more blood splattered across Kev’s blackened face, then all of a sudden Maggie ran at them so fast I couldn’t do anything to stop her and she launched herself between them!”

  Leann stopped again, she was crying heavily now, and struggling to breathe.“It all just happened so fast you know. I just couldn’t do anything, it was so fast, I don’t know what I was meant to do?”

  “It’s ok,”said Andy trying to reassure her,“no-one would’ve known what to do in that situation.”

  She nodded and continued.“Kev dropped Jimmy and took hold of Maggie. He lifted her up in the air as she frantically swiped at him and kicked him but it didn’t do any good, it didn’t make any difference. He threw her to the ground and stood on her neck. It was horrible. Her eyes were bulging and she was gagging and choking. Then he leaned down and grabbed her by her belt buckle and lifted her up you know, lifting her up from her waist while he still stood on her neck. Then he started pulling at her waist. Pulling against her neck.”

  Leann lost control and burst in to a torrent of tears. Andy put an arm around her and she blurted out,“The woman with the baby and the little girl started walking backwards in to the ash, I wanted to go to her but I couldn’t, I just couldn’t. Kev was right there in the doorway, all I could do was watch and then someone took her. I swear I saw an arm wrap around her waist and drag her and the little girl and the baby out of sight in to the ash, I swear that’s what I saw, and there was nothing I could do, they were gone. Gone to who knows what fate!”

  “Maybe it was a friend of hers or something,”said Andy.

  “Yea, it could’ve been someone trying to get her to safety,”added Thom without looking up.

  “It wasn’t!”snapped Leann,“she was dragged out of sight! I know she was, and so was the baby and the little girl.”

  Leann paused for a few deep breaths for a second before she continued again.

  “I couldn’t think what to do, Kev was going crazy pulling at Maggie’s waist and every time he pulled he kicked down on her neck twisting his foot like he was crunching a bug and his boot was tearing the skin around her neck with the pressure.”Leann held a hand up to her mouth like she was about to be sick but she carried on.“Then he looked up at me and that’s when I managed to move. I knew I had to or I’d be next. There was a pallet truck just beside me loaded with grit salt that Jimmy had been spreading outside the front doors. I grabbed it and pushed as hard as I could ramming it against the back edge of one of the front doors and slid it shut before he could get in. Then I ran and hid. I didn’t mean to, I was running back through here to warn everyone but with all the noise he made I was sure he’d smashed through behind me you know and I just dived in behind the kids’ride- on car and the photo booth. I didn’t realise I’d even done it.”

  Leann’s sobs took over and she heaved violently trying to breathe through the tears.

  “That poor little boy,”she muttered,“he was only trying to help his daddy.”

  Andy hugged her tight and told her not to worry, there was nothing she could have done. He didn’t think there was anything anyone could’ve done going by the sound of things.

  Collin didn’t think it was going to be ok, he didn’t think it was going to be anything near ok, not for a long time....

  CHAPTER 20

  The group sat in silence, listening to Gavin as he finished telling them what had happened to him out on the road. When he finished there was an awkward silence that Ann was the first to break.

  “So you’re saying that people are sick or something and it’s making them attack other people?Even animals!”

  Gavin shrugged his shoulders peering out the window.“I don’t know! I’m just telling you guys what I saw.”

  The chain link fence still shook and rattled somewhere out there in the darkness, and the strange calls from the infected figures Gavin had just told everyone about drifted up to them.

  “So!Do you think it’s the ash that’s making people crazy?”asked Keith.

  “I don’t know what’s made them like this, said Gavin, but it’s gotta be related. People don’t just turn black and grey and start attacking each other.”

  Ann piped in,“I�
�ve never heard of people turning black¸ then turning on each other because of a volcanic eruption.”

  “This isn’t a normal volcanic eruption though, is it!”said Dean,“it’s killing everything electric, even batteries. All electrical currents are being killed off, and just look at the trouble the rest of Europe were having before we lost contact, that’s never happened with anything before, never mind a volcanic eruption. I noticed that all the conifers around the playing field are all dead as well, and they weren’t just dead, they were all really brittle, like they’d been in a fire or something. I brushed my hand over them and everything I touched just crumbled and fell to the ground....”

  Gavin cut in,“Yea I noticed that everything I passed was dying, or dead. There were big branches across the road all over the place, probably snapped off in the strong winds, and they were brittle as well. I caught a few with my foot as I stepped over and they kinda crumbled you know.”

  “Everything dies off at this time of year though,”said Keith.

  “Not if it’s evergreen it doesn’t,”said Dean.

  “Ok,”said Ann,“so the ash might be different to what anyone’s ever seen before....”

  “I’d say it’s a lot different,”said Gavin.

  “Ok.Whatever,” Ann continued,“but what I mean is, that the news said there’s been some really bad eruptions in the past, like in history and violence was bad then, so maybe you just got confused with the poor visibility.”

  Gavin was already shaking his head before she finished.

  “All I can go by is what I’ve seen,”he said,“and Iknowwhat I sawandheard in the house and in the bus. Besides what do you think is making that noise you can hear?”

  No-one answered they just looked out the window and listened.

  Gavin started getting up.“I’m going to get cleaned up,”he said.

  “Yea, me too,”said Dean standing with him when Sam suddenly burst in to a barking fit, hopping up and down on his front legs looking out the window.