As the Light Dies

by M. D. Woodham

  The infected man spun around scaring Andy back and yanked the axe clean out of his hands with it still bedded deep in his back.

  He stood up screeching, spitting a mixture of Sebastian’s bright red blood and his own black and infected blood everywhere almost smiling. Then he lunged at Andy reaching out with both hands. Andy hopped back knowing he was in trouble and Dean’s thick blade flew out of nowhere and bedded itself deep in to the man’s head and dropped him to the ground motionless.

  “HOLY SHIT! THAT WAS CLOSE!”blurted Andy.“Thanks”he said and reached for his axe as Dean retrieved his sword and wiped it across the guy’s back.

  Dean was surprised that his mind wasn’t doing backflips over what he was doing, but it wasn’t.

  He wasn’t shocked by his actions at all. His mind was blank. It was numb!

  He didn’t even try to think about what he’d just done or what he was doing! Wiping the blade of a bloody sword clean on the back of the man’s dressing gown that he’d just killed!

  He couldn’t spare the time to get caught up with guilt and emotion. He knew it would catch up with him sooner or later. It would catch up with all of them!

  But right now he had to survive, they all did, or at least they had to try!

  “C’mon,”said Gavin.“They’re nearly on top of us!”

  Before he’d finished talking Sebastian started to groan!

  The groan morphed in to a gurgle!

  “OH NO! No! No! No!” pleaded Leann.“He’s infected.LOOK!”

  They all saw the tiny black veins reaching out from his wound, spreading across his body like roots, and they heard the gurgle.

  “We can’t help him,”said David still fiddling with his gun.

  “Holy shit!”said Collin finally able to speak.“They must pass the infection on, or whatever it is when they touch or bite you!”

  “But how can that be?”said Leann.“He should be dead. Look at him! JustLOOKat him! He hasn’t got a fucking neck!”

  Sebastian opened his eyes and started propping himself up on his elbows. Blood dribbled down his torso and started bubbling up out of his open throat as he gurgled like the other infected people.

  Then he locked eyes on them!

  His eyes were changing colour right in front of them. They were murky, like puddles of dirty milk. They were getting darker by the second. Turning black!

  Ann flinched and cried out as Dean brought his blade down and sunk it deep in to the centre of Sebastian’s head splitting it neatly in two all the way down to his lower jaw where the blade came to rest as it dug in to the gum.

  Within seconds they were all sprinting for the roundabout again knowing that Sebastian’s dad might still be waiting for him.

  The thought was horrible but they didn’t have time to think about it right now. All they could think about was putting one foot in front of the other as fast as they possibly could without falling over. Nothing else mattered. The chasing mass was gaining. The darkness was bearing down fast!

  The noise was incredible. Dozens and dozens of morbid calls coupled with hundreds of feet crunching through the black snow sounded like a hurricane. They’d gained a lot of ground. No one would be able to stop again. Not for anything!

  The women were out in front, lighter and faster than the men, and as they gained on the roundabout they started to veer off to the right in preparation for the turn. Not far behind Andy, Collin and David copied them. On the other side Gavin veered off to the left just ahead of Dean ready to take their planned exit and head for home while Sam ran down the middle still wanting to protect both groups.

  He was constantly checking both groups as he ran between them, then looking back at the horde and going berserk, barking and howling for a few seconds before running again and repeating it all over again.

  Andy shouted ahead to the women, telling them to keep right and not to stop for anything when two figures, a man and a woman, burst through the ash and pushed between the women knocking Leann to the ground and sending Ann crashing on to the bonnet of a car. She let go of Sarah.

  Before anyone knew what was happening David fired a shot finally getting the gun to work and he blew a football sized hole through the chest of the man seconds before it collided with him as he primed the pump action to take another shot.

  But he wasn’t quick enough and the man crashed in to him like a dead weight and knocked him to the ground. As he fell he fired by mistake and because of the angle, Dean was peppered with buckshot down the left side of his face!

  He screamed out, cupping a hand over his face as blood ran freely through his fingers!

  Gavin ran back ten paces and grabbed him and started pulling him with him.

  “C’mon!We can’t stop!”he said.“They’re nearly on top of us!”

  Dean didn’t hesitate. He knew it wasn’t an option.

  The shotgun blast hadn’t killed the infected man that collided with David and now David was pinned to the ground struggling to push the infected guy off without getting bitten. He used the barrel of the shotgun like a bar across the guy’s neck holding him back as he bucked and twisted trying to get at him. Then as he was trying to figure out how he was going to escape, the second figure, the woman who was completely naked landed on the back of the guy. The woman tried shoving the wounded man to the side but he fought her, so she thrust her hands through his gaping chest wound and groped at David’s chest and neck, but she couldn’t reach far enough to do anything, so she worked her way back until she found part of him she could get at. She grabbed hold of his left leg and went to work on his inner thigh. She tore through his trousers in seconds. Biting, snapping, pulling and tearing. Then she buried her face in his trunk of a leg and started to gorge on his soft tissue!

  David couldn’t scream. The pain was beyond that. Instead he vomited in to his brightly coloured ski mask from the mountaineering shop. He lost concentration for a second and the man leaned over and bit his gloved hand and tore away the fleshy part below his thumb. The second bite took his thumb completely! The woman worked fast like a starved piranha, she devoured his inner thigh before she moved up to even softer tissue, his genitals.

  David lost consciousness then, with one word on the tip of his tongue - Sarah!

  Then he was gone and he didn’t know any more when a moment later he was engulfed beneath the wave of infected people.

  It had happened so fast the others didn’t have a chance to help, none of them did.

  Andy had turned to run over but by the time he took three steps the woman had already landed on him and he could see how close the charging crowd was behind them. It would be suicide to try anything but running.

  On the opposite side Dean was in agony, bleeding from his face and blind in one eye, relying on his younger brother to guide him. And the women were still getting back up from their tumble.

  David was on his own from the start. They all ran. It’s all they could do. They ran for their lives, but Sarah was still out on her own ahead of everyone else. She was in the middle of the road running as fast as she could.

  As soon as Ann let her go when she was knocked down she took flight and she never stopped. She was oblivious to what was happening to her uncle behind her. All she knew was that she had to run. She had to run for her life and not stop. That’s what everyone else kept on saying, so that’s exactly what she was doing, running for her life and not stopping.

  She was concentrating so hard that she couldn’t hear everyone screaming her name.

  Sam was the only one fast enough to catch up to her, and when he did he kept her pace, letting her know he was there with her. He’d managed to pull his muzzle off and he was ready to fight. Ready to protect her, but he knew he had to get back to his master. He ran up beside her right side and started to lean against her. Pushing her, steering her to the left wanting to turn her around now that she was so far ahead. He was gentle with his actions. He didn’t want to knock her over. At least not yet.

  Ann and Leann were screaming for
her. Screaming her name over and over, but she didn’t stop or look round, she didn’t even flinch.

  She just carried on straight ahead as fast as her little legs would carry her letting Sam guide her.

  She never wanted to be without Sam. She knew she was safe with him by her side. She trusted the big dog. Andy and Collin called as well but with no effect. Even Dean tried calling to bring her out of her trance but she still bolted for the horizon. Which wasn’t that far away.

  “Fuck!” said Dean through gritted teeth holding one hand tight against the side of his face trying to stem the bleeding.

  “She’s lost it,”he said.“She isn’t gonna stop for any of us!”

  The black wave was right behind them. It was dense, the sheer number of bodies rocked stranded cars on their chassis as they passed by them groaning and gurgling at a feverish pitch.

  The manic screams from everyone for Sarah excited them and they sped up even more. Sarah passed straight over the roundabout without slowing as a woman wearing a shredded nightgown and one ragged slipper appeared through the ash racing straight towards her from the opposite direction. She was as black as coal with missing fingers and no cheeks or chin or lips. Her entire bottom jaw was exposed all the way back to her jaw hinge. She was extremely thin, beyond skinny. She looked like she had been shrink-wrapped to the bone with black polythene.

  “NO” shrieked the two women, but Sam was already in the air.

  He pounced through the air, crashed against the woman’s chest and tore out her throat in one fluent movement as he knocked her down. Dean watched amazed, he knew Sam would protect her but he was shocked at his ferocity. Sarah kept on running straight ahead as two men came through the ashy snow. They honed straight in on Sarah.

  Everyone was running for her now but they were all still too far back, all of them knew the two men would reach her first no matter how fast they ran.

  Sam saw the threat and tried pushing against her a little harder than before. He wanted to stop her, he knew if she kept on running like she was that while he dealt with one of the infected men the other one would probably reach her. She didn’t slow down. Sam gave up pushing her. He darted behind her and with one swift flick of his broad snout he hooked her ankles and brought her down!

  All members of the group were screaming for Sarah going out of their minds now that they couldn’t see her as more silhouettes appeared through the dirty snow ahead of them. Infected people were closing in from both sides now. Andy feared that they’d lost her!

  Dean hoped he knew better.

  With Sarah down, Sam bounded fearlessly, straight towards the two men out of view from everyone hidden by the deserted cars. He reappeared briefly when he pounced up and thumped against the first ones chest and knocked him to the ground. The man’s throat was missing before he landed. Sam spun around and raced after the second figure that ran straight passed him totally ignoring him over Sarah. Sam caught up with the mauled figure as he closed in on Sarah. He dived in front of the man and immediately crouched down. The infected man tripped over Sam and landed hard, then before it even registered with the infected man that he’d even fallen, Sam was tearing his throat out and pulling it out in front of him where he let it drop on to the ground leaving the man looking like he’d been squashed from above and vomited his stomach under the pressure.

  Behind him the woman was back up and approaching Sarah again!

  Her windpipe hung through the hole in her throat and dangled between her sagging breasts.

  Sam bolted over to her, darted around behind her and pounced up on to her back and ripped the rest of her neck away from the back exposing her neck vertebrae to the elements. As Sam fell back down he bit down hard on her exposed vertebrae and let his weight do the rest.

  The woman doubled back on herself and fell on her back where Sam shook her exposed neck like a smelly rag doll until he heard it crack....she went limp!

  Sarah was standing up again, but she didn’t run!

  She stood perfectly still stunned by it all. Watching as more shadowy figures emerged through the murkiness eager to meet her.

  Behind him the first man Sam had tackled was back up and advancing again and the second man behind him, was in the middle of getting back up. Sam knew this was a losing battle. He saw the new figures approaching and knew he couldn’t fight them all, and still protect Sarah. Not for long anyway. So he went to her. He nudged her away from the car she was standing against using his thick snout, crouched down and scurried between her legs and then stood up hoisting her up on to his thick neck. Then with her in place he turned and started back towards his master.

  At first Sarah didn’t hold on. Sam had to work extra hard trying to balance her, keeping her from falling off until she did slip a little. She flinched and her flinch shook her from her daze a little and she grabbed on tight. Sam felt her grab on and sped up knowing she had a hold of him.

  Ann called out in hysterics, screaming as she saw Sam run in the other direction carrying Sarah.

  “No Sam, this way.Come this way!”It didn’t work, so she tried calling Sarah.“Sarah, come over here sweetie.COME WITH US!”

  But it was no use. Sam was taking her to the closest port of safety and right now that was to his master and his brother.

  More figures were appearing every second following the noise, joining the two throatless men that still pursued them despite the wounds Sam had inflicted. A few seconds later Dean was reaching out for Sarah. He helped her down from Sam and knelt down in front of her and said loud enough so she could hear,“Sarah I know this is all horrible, and it shouldn’t be happening, but right now this minute none of us, not one, has time to be sad or scared or tired ok? Right now we have to run ok. We have to run and keep going and if we can do that we’ll be ok! I know you’re gonna get tired,I know you are tired.But we can’t stop ok, not yet. And I promise that me and Gavin will look after you ok, we won’t let anything happen to you I promise.”

  “And Sam,”Sarah whispered without looking up and despite everything Dean smiled under his mask.

  “Yea,”he said,“and Sam.”

  Right then Gavin cut down an infected man with his sword as he came charging at them. He practically decapitated the guy!

  Not bad, thought Dean. Then Gavin spun and dropped a tall athletic looking woman as she rushed towards him climbing over the top of a car.

  “DEAN!” he yelled as Sam leapt to action and tore out another throat then shook the person’s neck until it gave a satisfying crack.

  “I know,”said Dean standing up from Sarah. He looked across at Andy and the others. All four of them were hacking at infected with their ice-axes left and right!

  Andy looked at Dean. Dean nodded. Andy gave a nod back and raised his right hand and gave Dean the thumbs up. Then he turned and ran in the opposite direction calling after the others. Ann lingered for a second longer looking at the brothers and Sarah. Dean saw the torment on her face and he yanked his mask off as Gavin grabbed Sarah and said,“Make it quick!”as he started moving.

  “I will,”he said. Then he hollered over to Ann,“I’LL TAKE CARE OF HER. UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN!”Ann nodded visibly crying as Andy shouted at her to hurry. She half waved then turned and ran. Dean done likewise, he turned to run after Gavin and Sarah as Sam dived passed him nearly bowling him over.

  An infected guy Dean hadn’t seen was nearly on top of him reaching out for him! Dean jumped back as Sam landed at the guy’s feet tripping him over. With the guy down neither of them wasted any time with him. They both turned and took flight after Gavin and Sarah.

  *****

  Both groups ran in their own directions away from the roundabout as it was consumed by the wave of infected people with their black eyes, mottled infected skin and terrible wounds. Stopping at nothing, like a heavily polluted tidal wave hungry for living flesh.

  Dean, Gavin, Sarah and Sam dodged around a fallen level-crossing gate, then ran under the east bound railway bridge and made a beeline for the dual c
arriageway that sat atop an embankment.

  As lightning lit up the skies in an enormous light show Dean saw that the wave of infected behind them stretched at least two hundred meters back down the road. His heart banged like a drum seeing the mass, but something was happening, the infected had slowed, they were almost stopping. Some even milled around on the edges of the blood thirsty mass looking confused!

  Gavin had been right. Splitting up had caused confusion. Dean looked passed the infected and across the roundabout but couldn’t see Andy and the others, they were gone.They couldn’t have covered that much ground already, he thought with a heavy heart.

  He ran a little further until lightning struck again and he spun around and looked back again and this time he saw the outline of two people; a pair of heads watching from behind an abandoned car. There were infected all around them but hadn’t seemed to notice them yet.

  They’d gone to ground trying to hide.

  That’ll only work for so long, he thought.

  He looked back at Gavin and Sarah. They were already climbing the embankment up to the dual carriageway. Sam had left his side for the time being and was already at the top. He was checking the area was safe, Dean could see him looking this way and that, sniffing at the air.What a dog,he thought looking at the cars and trucks nose to tail on the dual carriageway as he started to move again and it gave him an idea. Dean couldn’t hear his heart beating anymore. He was numb with adrenalin as he sprinted over to the bank and started climbing yelling and screaming as loud as he could.

  “RUN GAVIN!Take Sarah andRUN!”

  Gavin looked back at his brother horrified and confused!

  “What the hell are....”Gavin started to ask but Dean yelled over him as he closed the distance.

  “Make some noise,”he said,“yell, shout, scream, do whatever it takes to get their attention. We’ve got to!”He looked at Sarah and said,“You too Sarah. You scream ok. Scream as loud as you can ok. just make someNOISE!”

  “OK,”said Gavin baffled by his brothers request but he did it anyway.

  He started hollering at the top of his lungs.“C’MON! HURRY! RUN! RUN! C’MON!”