7
RICHARD HONEYWELL
“They’re trying to come inside,” shouted David.
“Daddy. The monsters are coming.”
A huge car wheel came flying through the broken office windows and collided with Aaron. It hit the lad so hard it destroyed his face completely.
This is it, thought Richard. This is the end.
Corporal Martin jumped up on a desk and started barking orders. “Everyone into the second-floor stairwell. To the fire escape.”
Richard grabbed Dillon by the hand and raced out of the office. People stepped on his heels in the rush, but he didn’t look back—didn’t care who was with him. All that mattered was that he was first, which meant he and Dillon had the best chance.
Then he saw the demons piling up the stairwell from below, and he wasn’t so sure anybody had a chance.
Dillon cried out.
David from somewhere said, “Shit.”
Richard tried to turn back up the stairs, but the huddled masses bore down on him and forced him lower. The burnt creatures surging upwards howled with eagerness, their love of slaughter undiminished since the last time he had encountered them.
“Daddy, they’re going to get us.”
A burnt man made it up to the balcony six feet below where the stairs twisted back on themselves. He glared up at Richard with hungry eyes gnashing his teeth. Richard shoved Dillon behind him, but could not retreat. The panicked bodies on the stairs formed a wall. The burnt creature raced up the steps, half-a-dozen of its vile brethren following. Richard prepared to fight with feet and fists.
He prepared to die.
Part of him welcomed it.
Except for Dillon. He had to fight for Dillon.
The burnt man leapt up the final few steps, reaching out for Richard, but then broke apart in mid-air amidst an ear-piercing explosion. Wet vileness spattered Richard’s face. He blinked in surprise.
Over the din of screaming people, Corporal Martin yelled like a tribal war chief. He held a shotgun in his arms and cocked it for another shot. “Let them have it, lads.”
There was an almighty clatter of gunfire, and the demons on the stairwell tumbled backwards, limbs tearing, torsos splitting. Blackened blood ran down the steps like tar.
“Move, move, move,” the Corporal ordered.
Richard realised he was now holding up the pack and in danger of being knocked down the stairs. Grabbing Dillon, he continued retreating, descending the stairwell, feet slipping in demon blood. Sporadic gunfire followed as the soldiers behind leant over the landing rails and took pot shots at the enemy reinforcements flooding into the downstairs lobby.
The survivors reached the second-floor stairwell and spread out. The soldiers moved up and took point, allowing Richard to fall back and keep Dillon out of harm’s way.
“Everyone, stay behind me,” said Corporal Martin. “Out the fire escape and down the ramp. David will unlock the bus and then we all file in.”
“There’s too many of them down there, we’ll never make it,” someone said, even though they'd all discussed this escape plan for weeks.
“Man up,” said Carol. “Don’t quit before we’ve even started. You have a dozen strapping young soldiers looking after you. You’ll be fine.”
“I need to get to my dad,” said Alice. “He’s at Portsmouth. I need to go.”
David patted her back. “We’ll get you there, lass. I promise you.”
“Let’s get moving,” David barked. “We have more than demons to worry about. There’s a goddamn angel out there, and a…” he couldn’t complete the sentence. Richard glared at him.
“The monster that killed my mummy,” Dillon finished.
Corporal Martin kicked open the fire escape and poked his shotgun out, scanning left and right. “All clear. Let’s move our arses.”
The soldiers filed out onto the metal catwalk that flanked the east side of the old building. Parked directly at the bottom of the ramp was a city bus long enough to hold seventy or eighty squashed up bodies. Best-case scenario, they might fill it with sixty. If anybody died in the next two minutes, it might be much less.
They needed to get on that bus quick.
Richard moved Dillon onto the ramp, and other survivors spilled out onto the catwalk around them. They started moving as a group, trying to stay quiet, but unable to stifle their cries of terror. A surge of demons appeared from around the front of the building, and the cries turned to screams. As if they somehow knew what the survivors were planning, the demons immediately surrounded the bus, severing their escape route. Part of the horde broke away, heading up the ramp towards the survivors.
The soldiers fired, cut the demons to pieces before they even got near, but already men were having to reload. They couldn't stay here out in the open for long. But what options did they have? Richard shook his head. They were screwed.
“Grab the chain,” said Corporal Martin. “Somebody, grab that bloody chain.”
Richard remembered the contingency plan and couldn't believe that he'd almost forgotten it. There was a chain, a relic the soldiers had gathered from a nearby museum during one of their scavenger hunts. It was made of iron. The chain had been set up as part of their escape plan.
Richard leapt towards the railings of the fire escape to grab it now. It hung from several curtain hooks secured against the steel railing with thick tape. More demons ran up the ramp. More bullets kept them at bay. The ammunition wouldn't last forever.
This has to work…
Richard wrapped both hands around the iron chain and yanked. The other end was attached to the rear bumper of the parked bus, and the chain leapt into the air. The demons unlucky enough to get in the way caught fire—incinerated in seconds. Those able to, backed off rapidly, leaving a gulf between two separate sections of the enemy army. One section—the smaller section—was squashed up against the news office building. It was these demons that presented the biggest threat, for they lay in the survivor's path between the brick wall and the iron chain.
Corporal Martin and his men focused their fire on this group and thinned their numbers quickly. The massive majority of the enemy remained on the other side of the chain, yet were unable to pass—roped off like a crowd outside a nightclub. Richard’s days as a police officer, dealing with drunken revellers fighting and shagging in alleyways suddenly came back to him. Contrasted with what he was doing now, it was almost something he missed.
“Okay,” Carol shouted amongst the huddled bodies. “Get to that sodding bus, and get there now!”
The soldiers led the way, smashing their rifle butts against any demon brave enough to peel away from the wall. On the other side of the chain, a hundred demons spat and hissed, but were unable to attack. The smell of burnt flesh and faeces fouled the air when a burnt creature with sliced open breasts was dumb enough to try to grab one of the soldiers. Its arm crossed over the chain and burned to dust.
“They can’t hurt us,” said David. “Just keep moving.”
The group of frightened humans moved along the channel towards the bus, like sheep scurrying between pens. Muffled screams escaped some of the survivors, because even though they were safe, they were not fearless. Richard felt the sweat pouring from Dillon’s palm as he led him through Hell. Even if they reached the bus, what then?
The vehicle's back door—a fire escape—had been left ajar, but secured with a padlock. David produced the key, and once the door was open, the survivors began to push and shove and panic.
“Stop,” shouted Corporal Martin. “Stop pushing.”
A woman in the crowd tripped and fell beneath the iron chain. A burnt man fell on her and started carving open her chest. Blood gargled in her throat. Carol grabbed the frightened man who had caused the women to trip and slapped him hard across his shocked face. “Wait your turn, or I swear we’ll leave you behind.”
Corporal Martin gathered people onto the bus—the crowd more orderly after having seen a woman fall to her death. Ri
chard pushed Dillon ahead of him and shoved him up the back step, then squeezed in after him.
“Out the way!” David shoved his way through the bodies in the aisle. “I’m the one with the keys, so let me to the front or we aren't going anywhere.”
“Last person in,” said Corporal Martin from the back. The bus was so packed people could barely move, but at least now they had walls and glass between them and the demons.
The engine rumbled to life as David turned the key.
Outside, the demons moved away from the iron chain and started throwing themselves at the sides of the bus. The soldiers threw open the narrow top windows and poked out their rifles, firing into the crowd.
The bus began to rock on its springs.
They needed to make their getaway now, or they wouldn't be going anywhere.
David shifted into gear. “Hold onto your butts.”
The bus jolted forwards, and those in the aisle staggered and fell. Richard held onto Dillon, but he himself fell onto Carol’s lap.
“I knew you’d been eyeing me, Richard,” she said, “but now is not the time. Come on, Dillon. You can sit on Auntie Carol’s lap. Your dad's too heavy.”
Dillon did as he was told, a dazed expression on his face.
“I’ll be right back,” Richard said to Carol, then waddled up to the front of the bus, stepping on toes and bumping elbows with passengers on either side. A soldier glared at him, but he kept going. He wanted to see what was happening.
In the driver's seat, David gripped the steering wheel tightly. He didn’t blink, even as he careened into a pack of demons—the bus lurching and crunching their bodies beneath its large tyres. Richard clutched the back of David’s seat to hold on, and it made the man flinch.
“Richard! You bugger.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” The bus lurched again, crushing yet more bodies. “If we don’t get out of here soon, we’re going to bust an axle. There's too many of them.”
Richard wished it wasn't true, but the demons filled the street like swarming insects. Where had they all come from?
“Just try to avoid them if you can.”
“Yes, thank you for that, Richard. What wonderful advi—” More bodies beneath the wheels. “God’s sake. What? Oh, please, no.”
Richard glanced through the cracked windscreen that was one or two more impacts away from shattering. Standing in the middle of the road, Skullface stood impassively. Behind him, the massive angel who wanted to see them all dead: Andras. A pile of fresh human corpses lay at the angel's feet—survivors dragged out of their hiding places and butchered. Their corpses were being displayed like trophies—and as a threat.
Even without a face, Skullface was clearly laughing at them.
Richard put his hand on David’s shoulder and squeezed hard. “Floor it!”
David winced. “What?”
“Put your fucking foot down, David.”
“We’re doomed either way, so what the Hell. Hold on to your hat.” He stomped on the accelerator and pushed back in his seat as the engine roared. He up-shifted and picked up speed—the bus's engine beefier than either of them had probably expected. Skullface remained standing in the road. The angel moved behind him, ready to meet the bus's charge.
David glanced back over his shoulder. “Richard, are you sure about this? I don’t fancy ending up as a human pizza slice.”
“Go faster.”
"Oh, bugger it."
The bus rocketed.
Skullface raised his arms on either side. At his feet, the human corpse pile began to move. Arms and legs straightened. Bloody jaws gnashed. Then, all at once, the human cadavers leapt up and wailed in agony.
“Zombies,” said David. “Bloody zombies.”
Richard cursed. “Our dead are being used against us. Our enemy gets stronger as we get weaker. There really is no hope.”
“Fuck that,” said David. “Our bacon's not burnt yet.”
The bus neared eighty and began to complain. The engine whined. The bolted seats, struts, and fixtures groaned. The vehicle had reached its limit. Skullface, Andras, and a squad of newly raised corpses stood in the middle of the road, defiant and unafraid.
David growled, in fear or anger, Richard didn’t know, but it was time to put his plan into action. He grabbed the wheel.
“What are you soddin' doing, Richard?”
“Just keep your foot on that pedal.”
David removed his hands from the wheel and allowed Richard to take control. The bus kept its speed. Skullface and Andras stood their ground.
They would not move.
This was a game.
David closed his eyes. “Nice knowing you, chap.”
Richard squeezed the steering wheel, eyes wide open and glued to the merciless beasts ahead.
“Richard!”
“Hold on!” He yanked the wheel hard to the right and the bus whipped sideways, throwing everyone inside against the windows. Screams filled the cabin, and grew louder as the wheels on the right left the road. The view through the windscreen tilted forty-five degrees. Skullface and the angel disappeared from view as the bus turned sharply and began to tip.
“Foot off the accelerator,” Richard shouted. “Get your feet up!”
The bus skidded on its two remaining wheels, teetering at the point of catastrophe.
The screams grew louder, escaping even the soldiers now.
Richard shouted, “Step on it again, David. Hit the accelerator.”
The back of the bus swung around, striking Skullface like a giant baseball bat and clipping the angel's knees. Both demons bellowed in a glorious mixture of pain and surprise. Richard chanced a quick look to his left and saw Andras crashing to the ground like a falling oak.
The bus’s tyres squealed as they bit the road. The interior rocked back and forth.
The engine squealed.
Then the view through the windscreen stopped tilting and the world fell back into a horizontal frame. All four wheels gripped the road, and the bus's springs bounced hard enough that they risked snapping.
Gradually, like a calming ocean, the bus reacquainted itself with gravity. The vehicle had lost half its speed but was once again heading along the road, this time without any obstacles ahead.
The screams inside the bus stopped, replaced by shocked silence.
Richard let go of the wheel and slumped against David's chair. “Get us out of here.”
“Where on earth did you learn to drive like that, old boy?”
“Advanced Driving for Police. Never tried it in a bus before though.”
8
GUY GRANGER
Guy waited for dawn, as the birds were still sleeping when he first opened his eyes. Inside the Captain's cabin on the Hatchet, he switched on the light and got dressed, but before he left, he picked up a picture that lived on his desk. The photograph had been taken at the Lewiston Fair when Alice was 3 and Kyle a few years older. Guy and Nancy stood on either side of their kids with bright beaming smiles. The happy American family. Now Kyle was dead, Nancy most likely too, and home was just a memory. No more fairs. No more beaming smiles.
But Alice was alive. He had spoken to her, heard her voice.
I’m coming to get you, baby.
There was a knock on the door as Guy had been about to open it. He found Skip waiting for him in the passageway. The old chief gave him a thin-lipped smile. “You ready to get going, Captain?”
Guy frowned. “Are you intending on joining me?”
“Of course. I signed on to serve you, not the ship. Besides, I don't think I could take orders from Tosco.”
“But what about the things you said yesterday? You said the men deserved to stay and fight or go back home.”
“Aye, and I still believe that. My choice is to help you find little Alice.”
Guy felt warmth fill his tummy. “It will be dangerous out there.”
“Aye, but anything willing to eat my leathery old hide is welcome t
o it.”
Guy laughed and patted the old man on the back, but then changed his mind and decided on a hug. “Thank you, Chief. At least I’ll have one person with me I can trust.”
“Let’s get out on that deck and meet the sun. Might be our last chance. Looks like the morning might bring a storm with it.”
The two men strolled out onto the rain-soaked aft deck in time to catch the sun rising beyond the stern. The silent ships filling the harbour cast long shadows across the shimmering water, but Guy’s attention was taken by something even more beautiful. Standing to attention on deck were two-dozen men and women. Most were sailors, but a few were civilians.
“These are the folks with no one left to fight for,” said Skip. “Except for little Alice. Finding out she's still alive after having travelled so far to find her… well, for some of us, it makes it all the more important to see things through to the end. We’re coming with you to save your little girl, Captain.”
At that, the small assembly saluted in agreement with Skip's assertions.
Guy had tears in his eyes as he stepped forward. “I thought Alice was the only family I had left, but I was wrong. Let’s go and find our baby girl.”
The sun rose fully to the sound of cheering.
RICK WATCHED the sun rise from the small all-hour coffee shop that operated in Portsmouth's main barracks. There he sat nursing a hot chocolate. He’d never had much of a sweet tooth, but ever since Daniel… changed him… he'd developed a raging appetite for sugar. He felt like Jeff Goldblum in The Fly. Maybe it was a part of Daniel's personality.
Am I even me anymore?
Rick knew he was dying—and had been dying ever since the moment he came back from death. Daniel hadn't saved his life that day his skull had cracked open, only postponed its end. The angelic power inside of Rick was too much for his human body to contain, and every morning he woke with another small piece of him rotting away. Even his fingers, now grasping the hot chocolate, had grown twisted and gnarled. He could barely feel the scalding heat through the plastic cup. He was cursed. Cursed to die piece by piece.
Extinction: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel (Hell on Earth Book 3) Page 7