by Park, Grant
They arranged their haul on the kitchen table and sat down. “I’m sorry that we had to leave him behind, Cassie. I really didn’t want to, but.... he insisted.”
Cassie looked up at Ethan in shock “He what?”
Ethan reached into his inside pocket and pulled out the letter he had been holding. “Your father gave me this before he left.”
Chapter
9
The Reaper
Tom darted through the bushes as fast as he could, he knew they were close behind, he couldn’t see them but he knew they were there. He was tiring fast, desperately looking for somewhere he could hide, a hole in the ground, a decent tree to climb, anything!
That had always been his forte’, hiding, that’s how he had survived this long, god knows he wasn’t a fighter, sure, he had killed some of them but the slow ones, not the big ones.
God they were fast, they didn’t seem to tire at all, the big ones. If he could just escape this time, he wouldn’t take any chances again, he would be good, he would stay hidden, sneak around out of sight, just stay hidden.
It was that bloody car’s fault, if it hadn’t being making so much racket those things would never have changed direction and stumbled upon him. But that was his only salvation now, head for the car and hope they saw him.
He burst through another patch of bush and something clipped his foot; he fell flat on his face, knocking the wind from his heavy chest. But what was that? It sounded like the rush of heavy water; if he could only reach the water then maybe he could cross to safety.
His weary limbs pulled him from the ground as something came bustling through the hedgerow behind him. He continued his sprint, ‘not far now, nearly there,’ he could see the water through the brush now, ‘nearly there!’
He felt its nails rack down his back as he neared the water’s edge, it caught his ankle and he fell again. It had him. He was too young to die! But it had him! His fingers clawed into the dirt as he attempted to drag himself forwards, away from the monster. He felt its teeth bite deep into his burning calf muscle, but he still dragged himself to the water’s edge. Another one landed on top of him and started feasting on his weary body, digging its way into his back, still he clawed his way forward.
He heard a loud ‘SNAP’ as it bit into his spine and his legs went limp. His arms started flailing wildly trough the water as he listened to the disgusting sound of the creatures gorging themselves on his body, and he felt their hands reaching deep within him, tugging at his insides.
Finally he gave up. All he could do was to stare into the deep water as it passed by, showing him his own reflection within the waters as they turned deep crimson. His body was turning numb, his mind cloudy, god he was hungry, and he could see his eyes change, no, those couldn’t be his own eyes, but they were, they were someone else’s eyes in his face, was that his face...? god he was hungry.
The body that the creatures were feasting on started to spasm violently beneath them, it let out a gut churning wretch and vomited its guts into the river; its hands swept through the water trying to catch any of the pieces before they were swept away but it failed in its task. Slowly they started to peel away from the corpse; their feast was past its best, they headed off to find more prey.
Realising it was being left behind, the corpse tried to lift its self to follow the others, but it soon realised that it was unable move. Trapped under the weight of its own body, it began to call to the others, but they paid no heed to its lonely gurgling wail, sending a vile pink mucus dribbling from its lips, it let out a last ditch attempt to call for help, but only succeeded in coughing up a particularly thick lump of deep red phlegm; the phlegm rolled down its chin and stretched down towards the water, jiggling there for a second before dropping into the fast flowing river.
The lump floated on top of the water as it was carried away; swirling round pools and rocks, occasionally getting caught in low hanging branches dipping their leaves into the water, but each time it would break free and wash away in the current. It followed the river for a time, joining it in its never-ending flow towards the sea, but the diseased lump of bile was never destined for the oceans. On a particularly slow stretch of water it circled the olive green neck of a plastic bottle and was sucked inside.
“Who does he think he is anyway?” stammered Coleman from the water’s edge.
“He thinks he’s Staff Sergeant Harry Knox, Coleman! And if I was you then I wouldn’t argue with him and carry on filling those canteens.” answered Del as he continued to scan their surroundings.
“Yeah, Harper, I know! But how can he be a Staff Sergeant if there isn’t even an army any more, eh? And if there ain’t no army then why are we following them two nutjobs?”
“Can it, Coleman! That kind of talk is gonna get you in trouble!” He had a point though. Why should I let anyone tell me what to do? He thought to himself. In fact, why should Eminem be in charge at all? He is by far the weakest link in the team, Knox should be in charge; then they could really have some fun!
Suddenly a size ten boot hit Coleman on the back: knocking him face first into the water that he was filling the canteens from, it was Knox. He grabbed Coleman out of the water by his collar.
“So you don’t think you need the army any more, eh, Coleman? Well maybe the army would like its equipment back before you leave; the army will take back that rifle you love so much, those clothes you’re wearing and those boots you’re shaking in. The army will leave you bullock naked, sitting in a puddle of your own piss! You know why, Coleman? Cause I am the fucking army; and you will do whatever the fuck I tell you to! Do you understand, Coleman?”
“Sir yes Sir!”
Knox dunked him in the water again and then pulled him up close enough to be spitting in his face when he asked again “Do you understand, Coleman?”
“Sir yes Sir!”
Knox dropped him back into the water “Fill those canteens, soldier.” Knox splashed his way out of the water in Harper’s direction. “You had better improve the way you keep watch, Harper. I don’t want to catch you daydreaming again, you get me?”
“I get you, Sir!”
Knox stormed off back to the land rovers; Harper looked round to see Coleman wiping the water away from the daggers in his eyes.
“The fuck did I tell you, Coleman? Fill those canteens! And chuck us one here: I got a tongue like a nun’s crotch!”
_________________________
It was getting dark, dangerously dark, as they stumbled down the steep hill towards the small group of houses at the bottom. Brandon could feel his legs getting more and more tired with every step, he felt as if he had been walking forever, words couldn’t describe the relief he felt as they all hunkered down behind the hedge.
“Ok,” Said his dad, “we are going to have to be as quiet as possible. It’s getting far too late to find anywhere else, so this has to be it. Brandon, stick to the back and keep lookout while me and Frank check the house, if you see any infected or husks behind us let us know and we will deal with them. Frank, you are going to have to use a knife or something, we can’t risk any gunfire drawing more of them; you might want to leave the rifle with Brandon, just in case.”
“I’m going to need it, mate, sorry,” Frank looked to Brandon as he said ‘sorry’ and attached a bayonet on to the end of the rifle. His dad tried to hide his disappointment as he watched Frank fix the blade.
“Ok then, let’s do this. Remember though, as quiet as possible!”
They all broke in to a crouched run across the grass, hopping over gnomes and other garden decorations on their way. When they reached the other side they bunched themselves together in the small doorway and listened for any signs that they had been seen.
Slowly Frank reached for the door handle, it turned with an uneasy creaking, “Locked....” he whispered.
Suddenly from behind the door came the thudding of someone running up the hallway
‘Thud, Thud, THUd, THUD,’ and then, ‘BOOM!’ as it h
it the inside of the door.
‘THUD, THUD, BOOM!’
‘THUD THUD BOOM!’ Brandon’s dad leapt away from the door, Naginata in hand
‘THUD, THUD, BOOM!’ He stared at the door intently, then launched the bladed staff at it.
‘THUD, THUD, BANG!’ The Naginata struck the door at the same moment as the infected did just around head height, rattling it in its hinges; silence returned, bringing intense fear with it. They all crouched down and waited for the other zombies to come, the silence they were met with was almost as terrifying as the moaning of the undead that they were sure they were going to hear, still they waited for them to come, but none did.
“You don’t suppose that that was the only one?” Brandon whispered.
“Looks that way, for now anyway.” answered his dad, “I don’t hold much hope for the morning though, that banging must have carried for miles. But if it comes to it we can just do the old swoop de loop, open the front and escape out the back trick.”
“We still have to get in the house though, mate.” Frank put in.
“Yeah.... We may have to put a window in if we can’t find the key.” His father stood up and put his foot against the door, he then gave a sharp tug of Naginata shaft to free the blade, as it was withdrawn they heard a loud thump from the other side.
Smashing a window was exactly what they had to do in the end, as quietly as possible they burst one of the small window panes and opened a window. They clambered in over the window sill one after another, landing softly onto the living room carpet floor. They shut the window again and found a reasonably comfortable seat each. They satisfied their hunger with cereal bars and other snacks as none of them could muster the energy to cook anything, that, and they were too much in fear of what may be lurking out in the dark. Slowly Brandon felt his eyes drawing closed and his body slumping lower onto the sofa. He had to sleep, though he feared to dream, he had to sleep.
“Brandon....” His father’s voice whispered to him.
“Brandon, wake up son.” He said again with a gentle shaking.
“What...?” Brandon said lazily, but as soon as he spoke his dad put his hand over Brandon’s mouth.
“S-h-h-h.... they’re here!”
Immediately Brandon was awake, he could feel the adrenaline rushing through his tired body, giving it a renewed energy, he hoped it would last.
“How many of them...?”
“I’m not sure, Frank is upstairs having a look but it is pretty dark out there. Look, son, I want you to take the map, if we get separated I want you to go to Lake Windermere, it’s pretty far, around thirty miles south of here, but it’s the safest place I can think of right now. Do you remember when we went there a couple of years ago...? It’s the one with the big island in the middle of it, the one with the big round house in it.”
Brandon couldn’t really see his face but he could hear the panic in his dad’s voice, there were more of them out there than he was letting on. “Yeah, I remember.” He assured his father even though he had no idea how he would get there.
“Good. I want that to be our ‘go to place’ should we ever get separated, remember, Lake Windermere!”
“Ok, Dad!”
“Ok, let’s get out of here!”
“Good plan,” Said frank as he walked into the room “There are quite a few of them out there, I can’t tell if they are the fast or the slow ones but at this point I’m not sure that it matters. I found the key to the back door so I suggest we head out that way, it is facing south so all we have to do is keep on running.
“You think your legs are up to it, mate?” Frank looked to Brandon
“I think so....” Brandon said stuffing his sleeping bag back into its place in his rucksack.
“Good, cause it’s still a long way to Kendal, we good to go?”
“Yeah, we’re good.” answered his dad, and they all headed for the back of the house.
They peeked out of the kitchen window to see if there were any Infected amongst the small throng of Husks gathered outside, but they just couldn’t tell, the light of the moon was too dim for the to see.
“Ok....” said Frank “One. Two....”
“Wait!” Said his father “I don’t want any gunfire....”
Frank exhaled sharply through his nose, “Look, mate, I think that all of them things that are gonna come here are here already.”
“We don’t know that....”
“And we are just headed off into the wilderness again; there won’t be any of them for miles around.”
“But we don’t want any of them following us!”
“There won’t be any following us if I shoot them all!”
“You can’t guarantee that!”
“Look, mate,” Frank moved closer to Brandon’s dad’s face “I am gonna do whatever it takes to stay alive, and if that means wasting every one of them fuckin’ things out there, that’s exactly what I’m gonna do!”
“Even if that means more of them catching up with us later...? You are not only putting your fucking life in danger, you are putting mine and Brandon’s life in danger too!”
The argument was getting so heated that Brandon’s fear of the husks hearing them was growing by the second. Just as he was about to ask them to be a little quieter, Frank dropped the volume of his voice, a little light caught his face as he scowled at Brandon’s dad and said menacingly.
“If you and the boy want to keep your lives out of danger...? Then you had better not get between me and my prey!”
With that, Frank just turned round, opened the door and started firing.
_________________________
It was glorious! Bodies tore apart before him by the light of the muzzle flare as he marched out of the house. He could hear the angels rejoicing above him with every grotesque demon he brought down.
‘Let them hear,’ Frank thought to himself, ‘let them all come, I will cleanse this earth, for they are the tide and the flood, sent by god himself to sweep clean the foul place they have made of his Eden, I am the turner of the tide. I am the reaper. Let them hear, let them come!’
He strode down from the house and on to the road ahead, embracing the flow of wretched creatures that slowly made their way in his direction, predominantly from the right. The Angels blessed him by sending the moon creeping out from behind the clouds as his rifle clicked empty. He changed the magazine and continued firing, occasionally stabbing one of them in the face with his bayonet while he reloaded, viciously kicking the body free of the blade; how he loathed these creatures, almost as much as he had loathed them when they were alive.
All too soon it was over; the road was littered with the rotting carcasses of the dead, glowing in the bright moonlight. His own thoughts were still ringing in his ears, ‘I am the turner of the tide. I am the reaper. Let them hear, let them come!’
Frank turned to the house, blinking away the deep green glow in his vision from the muzzle flare of his rifle; one half of him expected the others to be cowering just inside the door, like a couple of frightened mice, the other half expecting them to erupt into applause in shocked amazement at his proficiency at killing the creatures. What he witnessed couldn’t have been more different.
Caleb was spinning that stick of his with stunning accuracy at a large group of creatures that Frank must have missed; arms, legs and heads went flying in all directions, none of them even coming close to him. Brandon was ducking and weaving behind his father, brandishing his small axe and a large knife, darting in and out, smashing through the sculls of the mutilated bodies that were left stumbling in Caleb’s wake.
Frank stood in awe of them, his mouth hanging open. ‘This is why we have sent them to you.’ The angels whispered. Instantly he understood, ‘They are to be the first of my army, an army I will raise and lead to glorious victory over the tide of monsters unleashed upon this earth.’
All of a sudden, Frank was aware of the boy turning in his direction and launching his axe towards him. Frank dodged to
the side, though the axe was far from hitting him, and raised his rifle, but as he did he heard the axe connect with something behind him. Frank turned to see a creature looming over him, the axe had taken a good gouge out of its face, leaving a large flapping piece of skin dangling from the right side of its head; the creature, however, was still mobile. As it turned its one good eye down to Frank, he pushed the blade of his bayonet, still attached to the rifle, at a full arm stretch, up through the creature’s lower jaw and into its brain; blood and gore spurted from its mouth as it choked on its final groan and dropped to the ground.
“You ought to be more careful, Frank, that one almost got you there,” Caleb said with a smile as he walked by, heading off of the road and into the darkness of the hills beyond.
‘Dissention in the ranks already…?’ The angels spoke to him.
“That one will learn!” as Frank spoke the words he was aware of the boy next to him picking up his axe, Frank turned his head and their eyes met, the boy was frozen in time, one hand on the axe handle on the ground, the other on his knee.
A small cloud moved over the moon and they were plunged back into darkness. When it had passed, the boy was gone.
Chapter
10
Losing It
Cassie sat staring at the letter in her hand, unable to open it. Ethan had long since departed with food for the others, leaving two bowls of cold food for her that she couldn’t eat.
The sun was sinking slowly towards the horizon sending long dark shadows reaching for the kitchen windows. If she didn’t read it now she wouldn’t be able to until morning. Slowly she opened the envelope with her name written on it in her father’s distinctive handwriting, and unfolded the letter.
Dearest Cassandra