As the Light Dies

by M. D. Woodham

  “You’re safe,”she whispered as his feet cleared the edge of the tills, and he got up on to his knees thanking her and they both looked back at Andy.

  He was holding the steel pole out in front of him motioning to Collin, wanting him to catch it. Collin understood and nodded getting ready, he was petrified he was going to drop it or miss it and bring the infected down on them. Andy used three outstretched fingers to count down so Collin was ready at the same time as he was, and when there were no fingers left he threw the pole hoping that the rabid figured were too well occupied tearing up the tills to notice.

  Collin counted with Andy feeling sweat trickle down the small of his spine and then Andy threw the pole. Collin didn’t have time to think, he just reached out with both hands open wide and caught the pole quietly. The infected group didn’t budge from the till, they hadn’t drawn attention. Andy took a deep breath and double checked that it was clear enough for him to cross. Some of them had moved on to the next till along now though. One closer!

  Andy wondered if they could smell peoples’scent off them and that’s why they were so interested in them. Either way it was his turn to cross. He leaned forward to check and saw one of the figures suddenly stand bolt upright and sprint off, deeper in to the supermarket practically screaming its morbid call.Strange,he thought, relieved it hadn’t run in his direction. He knelt down ready to crawl across.

  It’s now or never,he thought when he heard more fast footsteps as another figure sprinted away in another direction.What the hell have they found?he wondered. He looked across at Leann and Collin watching him, huddled between the tills across from him and suddenly they weren’t there anymore. They were blanked out by a pair of booted feet that appeared right in front of his face!

  “RUN!” he yelled rolling on to his back and spinning around so his feet were now where his head was and vice versa, and he kicked his legs pushing himself away from the figure looking up at it in horror!

  Looking down at him with big bulbous black eyes was a mountain of a man, he was tall, he looked to be seven feet and heavy set with broad shoulders. His clothes were torn to shreds and he had a nasty wound just below his jaw that looked like a knife wound leaving his thick beard matted with dirty blood. Andy was momentarily frozen as he looked into the infected face of the man that had nearly run him Thom and Collin over in the car park. His mind went in to overtime trying to think of what to do, how to fight back now he didn’t have a weapon.

  The man dropped his jaw and called out alerting others with that fractured gurgle. Andy went to stand to try and make a run for it when all of a sudden the man’s head snapped over to one side and lay on his left shoulder.

  What!thought Andy. Then the towering man’s right shoulder caved in and Andy heard the loud snapping of bones and watched the man fall to the ground revealing Collin standing behind him at the other end of the steel pole. Andy jumped up and dived around the kneeling mountain and grabbed the pole.

  “Nice one Collin,”he said, then,“c’mon. It’s time we weren’t here!”and they made their run for freedom as calls rang out all around them.

  They darted between the tills, hopped the barrier and legged it along the hall towards the stairs. Andy saw Leann up ahead just as she disappeared around the corner.God I hope she makes it, he thought, and he looked through the floor to ceiling glass that made up the shop front and saw a wall of darkness moving along with them occasionally pounding the glass. Every time one of them stopped to pound the window it was trampled by the others that followed. And there were dozens and dozens of them!

  “SHIT!” he said, then he glanced back over his shoulder and saw the wave of discoloured figures charging after them pouring in to the hallway behind them. They sounded thunderous crammed in to the small space.

  Collin was starting to fall behind. Andy realised and grabbed him and pulled him along giving him a boost just as Collin felt something brush the back of his collar.

  “HOLY SHIT!” he yelled realising how close he’d been to being caught and tried his best to pick up his pace despite his shaky legs.

  They rounded a bend in the corridor and the stairs came in to view up ahead. Andy saw Leann just reaching the top.Good,he thought and dared to look back again. It would be no good trying to fend them off with the pole now he thought, there were far too many of them. The corridor was crammed from side to side, he’d be overrun before he even got to take his first swing.

  He just hoped that he and Collin could keep enough distance between them and the wall of rabid people chasing them until they were safe!

  They reached the bottom of the stairs and both men leapt through the air taking the first five steps in one go.

  “Don’t bother with the plant pots,”yelled Andy,“there’s too many of them to try and stop. Just concentrate on getting to the doors.”

  “Ok,”Collin shouted thinking it sounded like they were going to be trampled any second.

  The thought sent a shiver through his whole body. They pumped their legs as fast as they possibly could literally kicking themselves up the stairs.

  They crossed the last half landing, and started up the last flight of steps and saw Leann up ahead. She was looking back at them through one of the little square shatterproof windows inserted in to the overpass doors.Thank, God,thought Andy, she’d made it.

  Leann felt her tummy flip over when she saw them. She was ecstatic to see them both but they were about to be run down by the crowd crazed bloodthirsty figures right behind them. She could feel the floor vibrate under her feet from their stampeding feet! She opened one of the doors as she saw the blackened discoloured people pounding up the stairs right behind the two men and she screamed,“RUNNNN!”

  Everything seemed to go in to slow motion for Andy as he and Collin reached the last fifteen feet or so and all sound seemed to become muffled for some strange reason. He’d heard of it happening to other people but never really believed it could happen to the extent to which he was currently witnessing. He saw Leann waving her arms in slow motion calling to them to run faster and beside him he saw Collin running like a man possessed but he was almost comically slow. He looked terrified; his face was contorted in to a grimace as he tried to gasp for air but couldn’t breathe and his eyes bulged wider than wide!

  Then one of the rabid figures came between them!

  Andy saw it clearly; he looked at it with its darkened blotchy skin and its gleaming black eyes. Its face was a mass of wrinkles and creases as it cried out with ferocious glee through its torn lips and it reached for Collin’s neck!

  Its hand was missing three fingers and there were pieces of glass imbedded in its palm but its forefinger, its only finger just brushed Collin’s neck making him hunch forwards away from the infected talon; but it wasn’t enough! The infected person just caught on to his collar and tugged once before falling away again. It wasn’t much but it was enough to slow Collin down enough for the figure to gain half a step on him. Andy looked back at Leann, she was bouncing up and down now, and every time she jumped she seemed to float back down.

  Why am I seeing this? he wondered. He looked back at Collin to see him looking right at him. His face was pure white and his eyes bulged as the figure attempted to reach out again.

  Andy looked back at Leann, they were getting closer, but they just weren’t close enough!

  Then he felt the thing’s forefinger brush passed his neck followed by the thumb digging in!

  He instinctively reached for the arm and grabbed it tight and pulled it away from his neck and down by his side. The figure growled with frustration, and then all of a sudden the sound came back to Andy’s ears nearly blowing his eardrums and he flew passed Leann in a blur as everything sped back up again! Andy quickly realised that he’d made it in to the overpass corridor between the shopping centre and the supermarket and he was still holding on to the infected man’s arm.

  He’d brought him through with him!

  He skidded to a stop and used his momentum to swing th
e infected man around in front of him. It worked and he slammed the discoloured fiend against the wall with bone shattering force. The man crashed in to the wall and collapsed in to a heap without breaking eye contact once with Andy.

  He started getting up again almost instantly, grinning at Andy. Andy backed up fast, totally oblivious to what was going on behind him. He looked around searching for the steel pole that he’d had realising he must have dropped it. He saw it lying on the floor in the corner and lunged for it and grabbed it throwing a glance in Leann and Collin’s direction and saw that they were only barely managing to hold the door closed. Charcoal coloured arms reached in thrashing at the air around the edge of the door!“SHIT!” he cursed, he had to help them.

  He stepped towards them looking back towards the infected guy. There wasn’t time to help close the door. His infected friend was coming at him fast. He was hunched over with one arm stretched out reaching for Andy!

  Andy kicked out in panic and hit the man in the gut sending him stumbling back a few steps. He hissed at Andy catching himself as he hit the wall and immediately launched himself back towards Andy pushing off the wall with force shrieking at him. Andy grabbed the pole and brought it around in front of him in defence and struck the man in the chest with the pointed end by chance and stabbed him in the chest! Andy gasped in shock and tried to pull back but it was too late, the man was coming at him too fast and the end of the pole pierced deep in to his chest!

  Andy let go of the pole in shock and backed up horrified.

  “HOLY SHIT!” he yelped actually wanting to help the wounded man as his human instincts kicked in. The end of the pole Andy had dropped had dug itself in to the linoleum floor and wedged in like a spike and held the man in position. Andy attempted to take a step towards the man in a vain attempt to try and help him but the infected man jerked wildly and twisted from side to side fighting with the heavy steel pole and tried to reach Andy at the same time, but all he was doing was forcing the pole deeper and deeper in to himself.

  Thanks to the pole he couldn’t reach Andy, he was trapped in place by the imbedded pole.

  The man realised he was trapped and looked at the steel pole realising it was restricting him and he started thrashing at it with both hands trying to dislodge it wanting to break free to get at Andy and the others. Andy watched in shock as the man swiped at the steel pole shredding his own hands as he jerked and twisted, fighting with the pole.

  He looked at Andy snarling and thrust himself towards him in a desperate bid to reach him, causing the pole to push even deeper until eventually it protruded out through his back and tore through hid jumper, and yet he still pushed forwards forcing himself down on to his knees as he got closer to the end that was embedded in the floor!

  Andy saw thick black goo running down the bar in front of the guy seeping out of his chest and pooling where it ran on to the floor, and the end of the pole sticking out of his back was smeared all over with the stuff.Black blood! he wondered staring until he was dragged from his shock by Leann.

  “ANDY HELP!” she screeched at the top of her lungs. He spun around to see at least twelve arms reaching around the door waving and twisting in all directions with greedy hands clasping at mid air, searching for flesh. Andy bounded over throwing a glance back at his impaled attacker making sure he was still trapped. He was. Black goo sprayed out from his mashed hands as he bludgeoned them to bits swiping at the pole.

  Safe for now,he thought and carried on over to help with the door. Collin and Leann pushed against the door with all their might as the crowd of infected figures tried to force their way in. Leann had grabbed a couple of the ornamental plant pots before they arrived and they were all that was stopping the door opening any further. They just couldn’t close it with so many arms reaching through. Andy crashed against the door forcing it closed a little and jammed the arms in place holding them still for a moment.

  “Watch your backs!”He said nodding to indicate the infected guy fighting with the pole behind them.

  “Oh my God!” said Leann,“what have you done?”

  “Never mind,”said Andy,“let’s get this sorted first.”

  “There’s too many arms, we can’t get it shut,”said Collin as Leann used her foot to slide the plant pots back up against the door now that Andy had helped close it a little.

  Andy watched her and backed away!

  “HEY!What are you doing?”she yelped.

  “Just keep the pressure on,”he said moving towards the thrashing arms.

  He watched them for a second, thrashing aimlessly at the air hoping they’d get lucky and land on one of them if they didn’t manage to force the door open. He braced himself and then reached out and grabbed one with both hands and started forcing it back out!

  “Be careful!” shouted Leann as he pushed it back out, then quickly grabbed another and forced that one out as well. Then he had to stop the first one pushing back through again before grabbing another arm and forcing that one out, and then another. They were strong. It took both of Andy’s arms and all his weight to push one of theirs back. He used his foot to get rid of another arm, kicking at it repeatedly until he got rid of it. He didn’t want to touch it with his hands, it was half eaten and covered with black goo that he was almost certain was infected blood!

  The infected people were fast and strong but they didn’t have any co-ordination, they just thrashed blindly at the door until their arm eventually found its way through the gap. Andy forced another arm out and then had to fight frantically to pull his arm back when one of them grabbed a hold of his wrist and tried pulling him through!

  “ANDY!” shrieked Leann, as he shot back freeing his arm and as he pulled free he caught a glimpse of the impaled man behind them, he was face down on the floor now having worked his way to the end of the pole.He’ll be free soon, he thought and as soon as the thought crossed his mind the bar dislodged from the linoleum and toppled over like a fallen tree and freed him! He looked up straight at Andy locking eyes with him and started making individual hollow clicking sounds and started to crawl towards them! Andy yelled out with rage and started maniacally forcing the thrashing arms back through the door, he kicked and pushed as Collin and Leann kept the pressure on and gradually he started to make a difference, he was pushing them back faster than they were coming through but only just.

  “C’mon! Push! PUSH!” he yelled.“We’ve nearly got it.”

  Collin and Leann heaved as Andy grabbed the last arm and forced it out, and finally the door banged shut with Andy only just getting his fingers out in time. Collin quickly slid the floor and ceiling bolts in to place while Leann locked it.

  “Thank fuck!”said Collin panting as he turned around to see Andy rushing towards him at full tilt, he raised his arms in defence, baffled as Andy pushed him to the side and kicked the head of the infected man away as he reached for Collin’s calf with his mouth wide open!

  “Whoa!Holy shit!” yelped Collin jumping out of the way, as Leann shrieked,“Oh my God Andy! What have you done?” when she saw the infected man.

  The man clicked and gurgled at them, reaching for them with his dismembered, bludgeoned hands as they oozed black fluid. Andy ran around the man and grabbed his kicking legs by the ankles and started dragging him away from them, back down the corridor. The man tried to reach around for Andy but he was ready and kicked the reaching arms away. When he thought he’d reached a safe distance Andy let go of the man dropping his legs and rushed over for the steel pole and grabbed it struggling to get a firm grip of it through all the slippery black fluid and it slipped out of his hands! He grabbed it again and dropped it again!

  “SHIT!” he cursed as he reached for it again. He picked it up again, barely managing to hold on to it as the infected man started to get back up on to his feet. He was slow, slipping as he tried to push himself up with his slippery stumps for hands. The pole nearly slipped from Andy’s grip again.

  “Holy Shit!” said Collin, and he ran and grabbed one of
the ornamental flower pots from behind the door and lifted it up high, ready to throw it.

  Andy pulled his sleeves down over his hands and wiped down one end of the pole working as fast as he could as the infected man rose up and started towards him. He took a hold of the pole, and this time he managed to get a firm hold of it and without aiming, before he even looked up, he swung the pole hard like he would a baseball bat and slammed the bar off the side of the man’s head with one of his bludgeoned hands just inches from his throat! Leann and Collin cringed as the man’s neck let out a sickening pop and his head swung over to one side and bounced off his right shoulder as he fell back on to the floor. Andy didn’t stop there! He swung the pole up over his head and brought it down hard across the man’s chest.

  “Andy!” yelled Leann,“what are you doing?”

  Andy didn’t look he just swung the pole up over his head again, and pulled down hard as the man tried to get back up again! The pole landed between his head and right shoulder similar to how Collin took down the bearded hulk on the supermarket floor. His collar bone snapped and his shoulder blade split in two.

  “ANDY!” Leann shrieked again.

  Andy didn’t stop to look at her, but he yelled back to her over his shoulder,“Look at him!Just look at him!There’s no stopping him! Do you wanna end up like Thom?Or even one of them?You’ve seen their wounds! Some of them have been attacked already, just like Thom. It’s probably how they got infected.”He was practically screaming at her as he finished.