As the Light Dies

by M. D. Woodham

  “C’mon, we’ve gotta go,”she said leaving the axe where it was, it was bedded in too deep for her to waste any time pulling it free. She offered Steve a hand and pulled him up.

  “Thanks,”he said as she ran off up the corridor telling him to help his friend. He saw that Katie was standing up. He went to her.

  “Katie,”he said,“I thought you were....”

  “So did I,”she said cutting in, then they hugged.

  Steve looked over her shoulder and saw the other two infected figures, the slower ones lying on the floor in puddles of black goo further along the corridor.Thank God, he thought as Katie took his hand and they started back along the corridor after their new friend as she called them, telling them to hurry.

  The redhead stood outside the bunk door that Katie had slammed earlier shutting the horribly mauled infected person inside as Steve struggled with his extinguisher.

  The door had cracked from top to bottom down the middle with the continuous pounding from inside, the noises coming from the other side were horrendous.

  “I’m Jen,”said the redhead,“you guys got a plan?”

  “Yea,”said Steve,“we came to help you. We heard you earlier, we were gonna launch in....”

  “One of the lifeboats huh!”said Jen. Steve nodded.“Same idea I had,”said Jen watching the cracking door closely as Steve and Katie caught up to her.

  More horrible calls rose up behind them! They all turned around and saw a group of infected men rounding the end of the corridor all jostling amongst themselves for a position at the front. When they caught sight of the three of them their calls erupted like battle cries and they started to race towards them violently shoving each other out of the way and simply trampling over each other as they rushed towards them.

  “GO! GO! GO!” yelled Jen turning and running for the exit door. As they made a run for it the mauled figure trapped behind bunk door finally burst through in to the corridor in a frenzy of flailing arms and morbid screams desperate to reach them, it stumbled over some debris from the shattered bunk door and was trampled beneath the human stampede racing up behind it.

  Steve just saw it happen looking back as Jen slammed the door behind him.

  They raced blind along the walkway straight in to another group of infected people that had gathered following the calls. Jen swung her crowbar overhead as she ran and brought it down hard piercing the top of an infected female engineer’s head with the curved claw and before the female had even started to buckle Jen side kicked another figure, a guy twice her size, and hit his knee dropping him to the steel grating as she snatched back her crowbar letting the infected woman collapse and then pulled the same move on the kneeling guy and buried the cold steel shaft of the crowbar deep through the top of his head.

  Katie gasped seeing Jen work so fast and so unforgiving, and before she knew what she was doing, she was swinging her extinguisher through the air. She smacked an infected guy against the side of his head forcing him off balance for a second, and he fell to his knees, then Steve moved forwards and kicked the fallen man through the railing where he fell to the sea below. The door boomed behind them, as Jen despatched another two figures with her crowbar at lightning speed.

  Calls rang out from below them, and fingers pushed up through the steel grid reaching for them. Katie cringed feeling the digits snap under her feet and then the door crashed open behind them and the calls from the chasing mob erupted bearing down on them! Steve looked over his shoulder and saw the gang of rabid followers spewing out on to the walkway, dozens of them charged straight out and straight over the edge, forced over in their blind charge and the sheer number of them rushing out and after them! Jen didn’t need to look around, her ears told her all she needed to know.“HOW FAR?”she yelled.

  “Be there any second,”said Katie,“we’ve got a man keeping guard on one of the boats.”

  The calls from behind them reached an all time high.

  “Right now would be good,”said Jen.

  Steve looked back again at the rolling mass of discoloured bodies chasing them down, and they were gaining.

  “OK, WHICH ONE?” yelled Jen as the line of lifeboats came in to view through the ash.

  Thank fuck, thought Steve coming up behind them.

  “WHICH ONE?” Jen hollered looking at the dirty orange capsules and not seeing anyone.

  Katie desperately looked for Ken but couldn’t see him. She searched the hatches looking for one that was already open but there weren’t any!

  “KEN!” she shrieked,“KEN, WHERE ARE YOU?”

  She knew they weren’t in the first one but she couldn’t remember which one.

  “THERE!” shouted Jen pointing at an open hatch. Katie took off sprinting towards it thinking she was going to kick Ken’s ass all over the inside of the lifeboat for slowing them down. She jumped up the ladder and raced up to the hatch. Part way up she glanced back to check on the others and practically turned white when she saw the human wave rolling towards them. She spun back around and carried on climbing as fast as she could as Ken eventually dared to come out to try and help them. Katie caught a glimpse of his silhouette.

  “You’re a bit fucking late to signal us now you fucking coward. You confused the fuck out of us,”she said climbing up on to the lifeboat. Ken reached out to her and she took his hand giving it a good squeeze.“Thanks for nothing,”she said as he hauled her up hurting her arm. She heard Steve calling, practically screaming!Oh God no, she thought.

  “What’s wrong....”she started to ask reaching the top. She looked at Ken searching for an answer before she could gain her balance and turn around, and she got it.

  Before she even blinked Ken thrust his infected face at her and sank his teeth deep in to her throat as he held her in a lovers embrace. Katie didn’t make a sound, she couldn’t, her vocal cords were in shreds, they were in Ken’s mouth and in his hands as he ripped her neck wide open and looked inside at the goodness!

  Jen dropped back down the ladder realising what had happened and grabbed Steve.

  She had to literally drag him out of his trance as she ran to the next lifeboat along and launched herself up the entry ladder. She had the hatch open in seconds and dropped down inside. Steve followed but stopped short of the hatch looking back at Katie. He watched hopelessly as Ken defended her from the other infected wanting her all to himself. He tugged and tore at Katie’s scalp pulling it away bit by bit, scalping her through brute force, exposing her skull ready to break through in to her brain.

  Jen was calling him but he just couldn’t really hear her, he was lost in a trance losing his mind by the second to all the madness and violence before him. Jen reached out and grabbed his collar with both hands and yanked him up in to the lifeboat practically strangling him as she did. As he was hauled up unable to breathe he saw Ken kneel down and start gnawing at Katie’s exposed skull before starting to slam her head off the railing around the hatch!

  Leaving Steve in a heap Jen jumped up to close the hatch but a discoloured wounded face flashed in to view through the hatch blocking her, it looked straight at her with its beady black eyes and clicked excitedly.

  “SHIT!” she cursed, and in that split second the hatch was completely blocked off by an eclipse of discoloured infected faces. Their clicks and gurgles rebounded inside the lifeboat at a deafening pitch.

  “Oh no!” said Steve coming too from his daze. A mauled hand curled around the lip of the open hatch, then another hand, and another and then two torn up arms shot in at them repeatedly clasping at the air. They were trapped, there was nowhere left for them to go now!

  “HOLD ON!” hollered Jen as she dived across the capsule and yanked the release leaver....

  CHAPTER 22

  “You’re saying that there’s more than four or five!”said Leann.

  Thom’s mouth dropped open,“More than four or five!”he said,“there’s a whole fucking crowd out there,” he blurted.

  “Hey, c’mon, calm down,”said Andy a
s Leann shook her head in disbelief.

  “What are we going to do?”she asked looking at the others.

  No -spoke for a minute. They were all trying to process each others stories until Andy spoke.“Something really bad is happening out there! Maybe it’s the ash! Or maybe we’ve been plunged in to war and someone’s released some new biological chemical weapon or something and we just don’t know it yet....”

  “Earlier,”Leann cut in,“just before my iPad gave up I saw some horrible videos on YouTube! I didn’t watch them but they were there. I watched that one with Collin that we thought was a hoax you know but there were others just like it. Lots of them!”

  “Where were the videos filmed?”asked Andy.

  “The one I saw with Collin was supposed to be from Norway, and the others were from all over. Sweden, Finland, Germany, England, even Aberdeen.Everywhere!Like I said though, I didn’t watch them, not after the one I saw with Collin. I thought they were fake you know. Made by stupid little arseholes just trying to scare people. Trying and outdo the last video on You Tube you know, trying to get more hits than the last video. I wanted real info, real news. Not what I thought was a bunch of hoaxes, so I didn’t play any of them. All I really had time for after watching the video with Collin was to check some of the headlines and look at the headline photos anyway because my iPad died just after we watched that video.

  “What pictures did you see?”said Andy.

  “There were pictures of smashed up supermarkets and crowds of looters stealing and fighting somewhere down in England. There were some photos from inside hospitals as well, that were mega over crowded you know, and they were being lit by candles. One of the breaking news headlines kept popping up saying something about the ash having some kind of negative or opposite reaction to things.Whateverthat means! Then I caught something about Nuclear power plants having to shut down and that’s it, my iPad died.”She paused for a second to think then said,“Maybe those horror films weren’t fake eh?”

  Andy nodded and said,“I think we can assume they were real, maybe not all of them but probably most of them, especially after what we’ve all seen outside our own doors!”

  “What!So you think that this is happening all the way across Europe?”said Thom.

  “Yea, it looks that way,”said Andy,“and I think it’ll spread. At least everywhere the ash falls, and God knows how farthat’sgoing to reach.”

  “Can it really be the ash?”said Leann.

  “Well,”said Andy,“there hasn’t been any unrest between Europe and any other countries that I’ve heard about. That’s why I think it’s gotta be the ash.”He almost stuttered then, and then he said,“Of course it’s the ash! Just think about it, everything that we’ve seen or heard about it is strange! At first they said it’s some new volcano and immediately there’s arguments all over the place between scientists saying that itisorisn’t, and then as soon as the ash starts falling everything in that area goes to fuck! Even the military fell to pieces with all their equipment jamming up! First in Norway and then everywhere else! It’s infecting people as well, making them sick somehow. Probably something to do with that opposite or negative reaction they were on about on the news headline that you saw.”He pointed at Leann.“The real question though,”he continued,“iswhat,is the ash if that’s even what it really is?”

  They stood in silence again thinking this over until Thom spoke.“I’ve gotta get home,”he said,“I’ve got to feed my cat.”

  Andy looked at Thom with raised eyebrows and was about to say something but thought better of it and instead he said,“We all need to get home, and the sooner the better.”

  As he finished he pushed the swing door open slightly and listened.

  “What are you doing?”said Thom edging back.

  “Shush, just listen,”said Andy.

  There was nothing to hear! The shop was in silence!

  He pushed the door open a little further and looked out. The others stood there anxiously waiting to hear what he could see. Andy leaned back and let the door close gently.

  “Well!” said Thom.

  Andy chewed his bottom lip and shook his head.“There’s loads of them out there! They’re all pressed up against the front of the shop like statues. They’re not moving!”

  “They’re watching, waiting for us!”said Thom.“Do you think that the glass will hold?”he asked.

  Andy shrugged.“I dunno. It is safety glass, but there’s a lot of them building up out there from what I can see. They’ll be putting a lot of pressure against those windows.”

  Thom pushed passed Andy and pushed the door open to look for himself.

  “Careful,”snapped Andy,“don’t stir them up again, not now that there’s so many.”

  A second later and they all heard Thom whisper under his breath,“Oh my God!”

  He let the door close slowly and turned back towards the others.“You can almost hear the glass creaking under their weight,”he said,“we’ve got to get out of here.”

  Andy nodded and said,“I know. The trick will be not to panic!”

  He raised his eyebrows at Thom who pressed his lips together and rolled his eyes.

  “Ok, Andy continued,“everyone get their stuff ready to leave ok, anything you don’t need, leave in your locker.”

  “Where are we going to go? I mean how are....”started Thom, but Andy cut him off.

  “We’ll find a way!”he said,“Just get your gear and plenty of masks, we’re gonna need them.”

  They all hurried off to do as he asked and regrouped a few minutes later ready to go. Andy handed out bottles of water he’d liberated from the canteen, then he used his vending key and opened up the vending machines in the corridor and urged them to fill their bags. It wasn’t ideal but it was better than nothing, everything left in the canteen had to be cooked and right now that wasn’t an option.

  “Is this really necessary,”said Thom,“I mean it’s not like we’re going across....”

  “Just do it Thom,”said Andy and before Thom had the chance to say anything else Andy said,“Ok guys, let’s go,”and he led the way heading towards the stores along the corridor lined with empty offices. As they walked they all adjusted their safety goggles Andy had given them and pulled the drawstrings tight on their dust masks making them fit snugly. They came to the stores and Andy led them straight to the back door.

  “Right,”he said, turning to face them.“I’ll go out first and take the lead ok! You guys stay behind me and keep close. I’ll head up to the top of the loading ramp and check the coast is clear ok, and if it is we’ll make a run for it, coz I really don’t think it’ll be long before those front windows give way and none of us wanna be in here when they do. I live the closest to the supermarket so we’ll head for my place first ok, use it as a stepping stone ok.”

  Both Collin and Leann nodded. Thom opened his mouth to say something but Andy opened the door before he could get a word in and the cold wind rushed in at them peppering them with black snow.

  Andy looked around, quickly checking the area, then he nodded to the others and left the building descending the steel stairway in to the loading dock. Because of the way they’d been standing Collin was next down the steps with Leann right behind him and then Thom taking up the rear. Collin was glad to have the goggles on, not only was it easier to watch Andy’s back, it stopped the ash blowing in to his eyes like fine grit. He led Leann and Thom along keeping close to the retaining wall trying to keep Andy in sight while also keeping his distance like Andy had said. It wasn’t easy. He stopped when he thought they’d reached the halfway point up the loading ramp and watched Andy’s silhouette drifting in and out of sight slowly bobbing along in front of them until after a few seconds his hazy silhouette stopped moving.

  “He’s there,”said Thom muffled by his mask. Collin nodded in agreement without taking his eyes off Andy. Andy had reached the top, he leaned around the end of the retaining wall and searched the car park checking the way was clear. They wat
ched anxiously as Andy’s faint silhouette seemed to flicker as it constantly disappeared and reappeared through the ash.

  “I think we need to get a little closer,”said Leann,“we can barely see him!”

  Then Thom muttered something that Collin couldn’t quite hear but guessed it was something similar so he moved on slowly. Thunder crashed overhead despite none of them seeing any lightning and Collin felt Leann flinch behind him through her hand on his shoulder, it made him smile and for a welcome split second he forgot all about his frozen fingertips and the cold wind battering him and blushed, until he realised that Andy’s silhouette was on the move again bobbing up and down faster than before, and getting bigger.

  “I think he’s coming back,”said Collin.

  “What!Why?” said Thom.

  As Collin opened his mouth to answer Leann said,“Listen!He’s saying something!”

  They all tried to listen but it was nearly impossible with the wind rushing passed their ears, all they could do was watch as Andy’s outline jerked frantically from side to side as he approached them. Collin thought he caught something on the wind but couldn’t quite make it out. He cocked his head to one side and cupped his ears to block the wind but it was no use, the wind was to overpowering. Andy was on them in seconds bounding towards them, and just before he reached them Collin saw movement behind him.