Her screams were short-lived. The embrace that enveloped her was warm and the body possessed a familiar smell. She gazed up into the distraught eyes of her father.
‘Emily?’ Hardly able to recognise her through the gore, Vincent desperately tried to wipe it away from her face.
The creature realised it had company and picked itself up, leaving Adam to bleed out as he gargled his last. It headed towards Vincent and Emily on the ground. It stretched out its arms and moaned, slobbering from its latest feed.
Ethan ghosted beyond his fellow survivors, wielding a twisted branch at his side. He swung it awkwardly when he reached the creature, but managed to connect with its loose jaw. Its body made a half-turn on impact and fell down. Before it had a chance to rise again, Ethan brought down the branch into its face, vertically, like a spear. He repeated the violent thrust four times, until its fragile skull caved in and its brain matter bubbled to the surface.
Still panting from their sprint to the lake, he fell over and crawled to the backpack Vincent had been carrying. He reached inside to retrieve the piece of fabric he’d been holding in his grasp during the seizure.
Vincent looked up from his daughter and realised what the fabric was. A pair of children’s pink underwear with a cartoon bear patch sewn on the front.
In the midst of frenzy, Ethan began to burrow into the loose earth with his fingertips.
‘Where did he get those?’ Vincent said. ‘Did he—’
‘No, he stole them from a clothes’ line back at the camp.’ Once the hole was deep enough, he threw the underwear into it and covered it over.
Vincent brushed Emily’s brown hair away from her face. She shivered, eyes fixed on her father. ‘It’s OK, sweetheart. You’re safe now. Everything’s gonna be fine.’
She didn’t respond to him. Although she was staring straight at him, her eyes seemed as dead as the thing that Ethan had put down. ‘I’m so sorry. Daddy should never have left you.’ He leaned over and kissed her forehead.
Ethan turned to face them, rubbing his hands together to get rid of the dirt. ‘I hate to be the bearer of more bad news, but judging by the clothes that thing’s wearing, it wasn’t an employee. Which means either it somehow got in here before it turned, or there really is a breach in the fence.’
‘Then we need to find out where it came from, right now,’ Vincent said.
Ethan got to his feet and gazed at the rotten body. A portion of flesh had been opened up on its flank. The cut seemed crude, like it had gotten snagged on something sharp. He looked beyond it in the direction they had come from, and noticed some of its entrails on the ground and a few splashes of red staining the grass. ‘It came from the woods, not far from where we were before.’ He turned back to Vincent. ‘Is she OK to come with us?’
‘I’ll carry her, but we can’t just leave him like that. He’ll become even more dangerous if we do.’
Ethan was trying to avoid facing the obvious, but he knew Vincent was right; they couldn’t leave him like that.
Adam was lying face-down in a pool of his own blood. He’d already stopped breathing and his left hand twitched involuntarily.
Emily remained unresponsive, and Vincent clung to her like he never wanted to let her go again.
‘I’ll do it,’ Ethan said, rolling his eyes at the thought.
‘Are you sure?’
‘You are otherwise indisposed right now, and I don’t see that redneck running to our rescue this time.’ He took a deep breath and blew it out quickly as he tried to psych himself up. He went to the bank of the lake and picked up a stone, about the size of a football. He could scarcely lift it higher than his hips, it was so heavy. He carried it over to Adam’s body, standing close enough for the growing pool of blood to lap at the toes of his shoes.
On the first attempt, he dropped the stone from waist-height. It struck the back of Adam’s head, leaving a dent in his skull. Dismayed, Ethan locked eyes with Vincent, but all he could do was press Emily’s face even closer to his chest.
Ethan rolled the stone and picked it up again. This time, he used all of his strength to bring it level with his chin, then threw it onto his target. The cracking sounds confirmed the job was done, that it had torn through the flesh and bone. Adam’s head opened up like a freshly beaten piñata.
He reeled away from it and fell on all fours, throwing up what little he had in his stomach. He tried to heave again, but nothing came up.
‘Come on, sweetie. We gotta go. It’s OK; Daddy’s got you.’ Vincent struggled to his feet, lifting his prostrate daughter with him. He walked over to where Ethan had fallen. ‘Are you OK?’
‘Do I look OK?’ Ethan replied.
‘Of course not, but we have to hurry.’
Ethan nodded and took one last look at the sticky patch of bile he’d left in the grass. They tried to run to the nature trails, but their fatigue and Emily’s dead weight conspired to hold them back.
Ethan collapsed against a tree, wheezing from the exertion. Vincent couldn’t feel his arms anymore. Emily hadn’t moved or spoken a word since they’d found her. Adam’s blood had dried in crusty patches around her hairline like a crimson halo.
Vincent pressed the back of his hand against her forehead and drew away, shocked at how cold she felt. ‘We need to get her to Salty.’
‘We have to go on, Vincent. We’re almost there,’ Ethan said.
‘You go. I have to do what’s best for her.’
‘What’s best for her is finding that breach so we can plug it. She’s just in shock. She’s…’ Ethan noticed that Vincent had been distracted by something. ‘What is it?’
‘Can you smell that?’
Ethan did his best to take in a deep breath through his nose. ‘It smells like ash.’
They ploughed on into the woods to the outskirts at the northwest corner of the facility. They saw the singed grass first, then the toppled tree burnt black by fire. It had smashed into the wire cables on one section, cutting some down and weighing down the rest until they almost touched the ground. Over by the nearest energiser pylon, a charred mess of bodies had been welded onto the surface of the metal.
‘Jesus. What happened here?’ Ethan asked, open-mouthed.
‘I think I can guess.’ Vincent surveyed the scene. ‘A bunch of the dead pushed themselves up against that part of the fence. It must have shorted out and caused a fire that caught hold of the tree, bringing it down onto the fence and taking out the conductors.’
‘At least we know how it got in,’ Ethan said.
‘Here.’ Vincent pushed his hip out towards him. ‘Grab the radio and let the others know.’
Ethan unclipped it from his belt and flipped the switch on the side. ‘Salty, are you there?’
After a brief hiss, a voice came back. ‘What are you doin’ on this channel? Where’s Vincent?’ The grizzled tones were unmistakeable.
‘Never mind about that. We need to talk. Something’s happened.’
‘I asked you a question, Twilight. Where’s Graham?’
Ethan shook his head and waved the walkie back at Vincent. ‘Arsehole only wants to talk to you. Do you want me to take Emily?’
Vincent didn’t answer. He was frozen just like his daughter, eyes fixed over Ethan’s shoulder. Before Ethan could ask him what was wrong, he heard the snap of branch wood behind him and got the distinct sense of being watched. He turned sharply, expecting to see one or more corpses stumbling to get to them. Instead, he saw two men who looked very much alive. The one on the left was smiling. He was black, short of stature and bald. The other guy was at least two hundred pounds and was sweating like a dog. He was not helped at all in dealing with the afternoon heat by his long, slicked-back hair and biker beard. They were both dressed head to toe in combat gear, strapped with bandoliers. The short guy had a six-shot revolver and the fat one was cradling a shotgun just beneath his bulging gut, and had a large black hold-all on his back.
The short guy’s grin widened, a twinkle reflecti
ng from his gold front tooth. ‘Well, shit. Ain’t this somethin’?’ he said.
Episode Five
Kill Switch
1
Vincent’s eyes darted between the two men. Even though they had only just reached the facility themselves, these men still felt like intruders. He waited for them to raise their weapons. He thought about reaching into his pants for the Beretta, but due to Emily’s current state of paralysis, there would be no way of getting to it in time.
Ethan had nothing to aid them in their defence either. All he could do was stay on his toes, ready to run.
‘Woah there,’ the short man said, raising his hands and dangling his pistol from one finger by its trigger guard. ‘We don’t mean you no harm. We’re just lookin’ for a place to lay our hats is all. It’s pretty funky out there.’
‘Where did you come from?’ Vincent said.
‘We got in through there.’ The short man pointed to the gaping wound in the fence. ‘But Kansas originally. The name’s Fukes, and this right here is my good friend Harley.’
Harley raised one finger from his right hand, then placed it back onto his shotgun. It was impossible to tell if he was smiling under his dense beard, but his eyes suggested not.
‘Aww, don’t mind him. He ain’t as mean as he looks,’ Fukes said. He turned to the damaged fence, observing the mass of broken cables and charred bodies with his hands on his hips. ‘You really should do somethin’ ‘bout that. It’s handy for us it was here though. We buzzed the main gate for a long time and nobody came.’ Fukes faced them again, gazing at each of them in turn. He gave off an air of confidence that was both disarming and dangerous in equal measure.
His inquisitive stare came to rest on Emily, still frozen in time.
‘She yours?’
‘My daughter,’ Vincent said.
‘She hurt?’ Fukes leaned forward to wave his hand in front of her face.
‘She was attacked.’
The stranger immediately withdrew. Behind him, Harley adopted a tighter grip on his weapon. ‘She bit?’ Fukes asked.
‘No. She’s in shock. I need to get her back to the others.’
‘Yeah. I heard your friend talkin’ on the radio. How many of you folks are there?’
Before Vincent could answer, Ethan butted in. ‘Two: the guy on the radio and Vincent’s wife.’
‘Ain’t you the lucky one?’ Harley said, staring at Vincent, his jaw wagging violently as he chewed on some bubblegum.
Fukes had zeroed in on Ethan after he spoke. ‘You a Brit, kid?’
‘Unfortunately, yes.’
‘Ain’t no shame in dat. Worked with a British guy once. Good guy – trustworthy. Those kind are hard to come by.’
Vincent checked Emily’s temperature again. Her skin felt like ice. He took one panicked look at the two intruders and whispered ‘I have to get her back’ to Ethan.
‘Sure,’ Ethan said. ‘Can you wait here while we go get our friends?’ he said to Fukes.
Fukes huffed. ‘I’d sure be grateful if we didn’t have to wait right next to this hole. You never know what might come strollin’ by.’
Regardless of how suspicious he was of the men, Vincent wasn’t prepared to wait any longer. He took off, back through the woods towards the centre of the complex, cradling the back of Emily’s head so as to not damage her neck.
He left Ethan standing alone. Both sets of steely eyes were now upon him, asking him to make a decision. ‘OK, follow me,’ he said. He broke into a jog to try and catch up to Vincent, and the men followed close behind.
Once they’d emerged from the treeline, Vincent had blazed out in front, walking at a pace that only Fukes was sufficiently in shape to match. However, he purposely hung back with Harley, who was struggling to carry his own weight and the heavy black hold-all over his shoulders.
Ethan glanced back and saw the top of the large bag bobbing around behind his head. Harley’s face was drenched with sweat, his skin bloodshot. Ethan was still holding the walkie in his clammy grip. He flipped it so it faced the right way and held it up to his ear. But before he could press the talk button, he heard footsteps pounding up beside him.
‘Hey,’ Fukes said, flashing his gold tooth. ‘I was thinking you don’t look like nature-preserve types. How you get inside?’
‘The other man we’re with, Jake. He used to work here.’
‘Lucky for him, so lucky for you, huh? This is certainly a sweet place to be right now – no doubt.’ Fukes pirouetted so he could get a panoramic view of the lake, the deer park, the solar farm, and everything else beyond. ‘Plenty of food, a place to grow crops, shelter, technology and those high fences. Hey, maybe later when you’ve found your buddies, me and Harley could give you a hand pluggin’ that leak.’
‘Yeah,’ Ethan said. He reached up to massage the back of his own neck and swallowed hard. ‘That would be helpful.’
‘Hey, you don’t look too fresh there, hoss.’
Fukes was right. Ethan had broken into a cold sweat and his skin had turned a queasy shade of grey.
‘It’s OK. I’m just…’ Everything was closing in on him. The whole preserve seemed like it had been reduced to the size of a basketball court. He felt sick to his stomach and his mouth was bone-dry. He closed his eyes and blocked out Fukes’s voice for a moment, taking deep breaths through his nose and out through his mouth. When he opened his eyes again, the walls of his world began to retreat and the wave of nausea passed.
‘You still with us?’ Fukes said.
‘When Vincent’s daughter was attacked, one of our own was killed.’
Fukes nodded. ‘And you had to make sure he wasn’t comin’ back again, right? Never gets easy, but it does get easier.’
Ethan had regained his wits enough to focus on Fukes, and was staring at him long and hard. ‘I’ll have to take your word for that one.’
‘Whatever, man. Just tryin’ to help.’ Fukes slowed down, dropping back to rejoin his counterpart so they could engage in a whispered conversation. He couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but Fukes glanced up and smiled at him.
He lifted the radio to his ear and pressed ‘talk’. ‘Salty, come in.’ Nothing but static. ‘For God’s sake, come in, you moron. I haven’t done away with Graham. He’s fine, but we have a problem.’ Ethan was so frustrated with the lack of response he entertained the idea of bouncing the walkie off a nearby rock.
Shortly after, the waves of nausea washed over him and his surroundings began to shrink. He closed his eyes and heard the distinct crack made by Adam’s skull again. Then he saw the blood – so much blood.
Much of the journey back was a blur for him, although he did recognise the severe orange hue burning from the edges of the solar towers. His vision sharpened when they got close to the Management Centre. He scanned for signs of the others, but it seemed deserted, door ajar like Adam and Emily had left it.
Vincent staggered on ahead and went inside. He ran down the steps in search of his own backpack and found it on the floor near the banks of computers. He took out a cotton blanket from it and knelt down, laying it across his lap. He wrapped Emily in it, pulling it tight around her up to her neck. Her eyes were still fixed, and a blank, expressionless face stared back at him. A wax sculpture of his daughter. ‘Emily, please don’t do this,’ he whispered. They were just words, but in the cool air of the facility, her eyes flickered and she inhaled her first deep breath since he’d found her.
Ethan used the handrail to help himself down the steps and to prevent himself from keeling over. ‘Still nothing?’ he said.
‘She moved her eyes. Where the hell are Kristin and Jake?’ Vincent said.
‘I tried them again. Nothing.’ Ethan winced as he got the flash again. He couldn’t get Adam’s shattered skull out of his head. To make matters worse, just then, their two unwelcome guests entered the building.
Fukes reached the edge of the stairs and surveyed the operational technology below – the flickering lights and
monitors. ‘This is some Star Trek shit, right here!’
‘Bet you can get porn on those things.’ Harley’s fat face was greasy with sweat. He flinched as Fukes jabbed his toe into one of his shins and glared at him.
Fukes left his counterpart to stew on his chastisement and moved down to where Vincent held his daughter in desperation. He rubbed his chin, tilting his head to one side as if he were a doctor assessing a new patient.
‘I seen someone act like this before. When I was a kid, there was this boy, Charlie, who lived in my neighbourhood. He was one of those quiet ones – timid as a mouse. Always clinging to his momma. The other kids would always make fun of him. Anyway, he had this little white rabbit – y’know, one of those freaky albinos with pink eyes. I think his momma got it for him ‘cause he didn’t have any friends. He used to spend all of his time with it.’
As anxious as he was about the men, Ethan couldn’t stay on his feet any longer. He slid to the floor, his back up against the side of the digital map table.
Harley plodded down the steps, relieving himself of the hold-all immediately after getting to the bottom. It landed on the floor with a weighty thud.
‘He used to take it to the local park and let it run around, but he’d always corral it, talk to it, that sort of thing.’
Harley sniggered, much to Fukes’s displeasure. The rotund man shrugged. ‘I still wanna hear about the bunny,’ he said.
Fukes continued. ‘One time, me and my buddies were playin’ in the park near to Charlie and his rabbit. An older boy from the neighbourhood showed up with his dog off its leash. Y’know where this is goin’, right? This dog was a mean ol’ bastard – had been in lots of fights, had a gnarly flap of skin where one of its eyes used to be.
Everything Dies [Season One] Page 15