The exit sign glared, and Marla and Ellen charged outside into the bright glare of the sun. Without looking back, they kept running until they reached the jeep. Fumbling for her keys, Marla had to stop for breath and calm herself down. A glance back at the building showed the entrance spewing streams of people, all looking scared to death and half of the women were screaming. Opening the doors of the jeep, Marla motioned for Ellen to get in and then she slid into the driver’s seat, before locking the doors.
Without saying anything, she reached into her bag, pulled out her mobile phone and dialled 999. “Police,” she said when asked the nature of the emergency. “There’s been a murder inside the supermarket off Beryl Street... Yes... A woman murdered by a man... He was eat...” She paused. “There was another woman being sick. She looked as if she had the flu that is being reported in the news... No, I’m serious... Yes, the woman is dead. Everyone is running out of the building now, and he’s still in there... Okay. Yes, I can make a statement... No, I don’t want to wait here. There is something wrong with the man. He doesn’t look... doesn’t look... nothing,” she added, realising that what she was about to say could put everyone at risk if the woman on the end of the phone thought she was a crazy prank caller. “Yes, I can make a statement later today. It’s Marla Hardy. Thanks. Bye.”
“Please just drive,” said Ellen, gripping her hands together in an effort to prevent them from shaking.
“’Kay,” mumbled Marla, sticking the key in the ignition and checking her rear-view mirror.
“Do you think everyone got out?”
“Yes, I hope so. Ellen, please don’t cry. I’m driving. We’ll be home soon. Well, we’ll be at Tommy’s soon. Try to forget what you saw. I know that’s hard. Think about something else – anything.”
“What was wrong with him?” her sister whispered while looking sideways at her.
“I don’t know,” Marla replied.
“He didn’t look human.”
“I know.”
“But he was human.”
“Yes.”
“But he didn’t look alive. He looked like the man in my dream.”
Marla nodded, unable to speak. She glanced in the rear-view mirror again as they left the car park, half expecting the man to be running behind the car. Her nightmares were becoming real, but how? “You okay?” she asked, glancing at her sister after a few minutes.
Ellen was still looking down at her hands. She nodded without turning. Marla carried on watching her out of the corner of her eye as she drove them all the way back to Tommy’s place. They got out of the car in silence and made it to the front door of the showroom. It opened automatically. Marla clocked the place as she headed towards the back, almost bumping into Tommy as he appeared, walking in their direction.
“Want me to help you get your bags from the boot?” he asked, giving a big grin. “Waiting for the big, strong man, eh, girls?”
Marla stared blankly and Ellen burst into tears. Without saying a word, she strode over to the side door that led to the staircase up to the flat and disappeared inside.
“Something I said?” asked Tommy.
“I need a beer,” Marla replied. “Can you close shop for a minute?”
“I can just come out if someone comes in...”
“No, I mean can you lock those doors?”
Tommy frowned.
“I’d feel safer. I need to talk to you about something that just happened – something unbelievable.”
Tommy looked confused, but nodded all the same. After securing the doors, he flipped the sign on the door to show ‘Closed’ and wandered back. “Fire away!”
Marla shook her head. “Beer first or whisky... anything... I’ll take whatever you’ve got,” she added, waving her hands in the air, “because everything is so fucked up.”
“Ooo-kay,” Tommy answered, giving her an odd look and overtaking her to walk ahead.
At the makeshift bar, Marla sat down on a stool while he took a couple of beers out of the fridge. He clicked the tops off and set one down in front of her. From the other one he took a gulp. “Guess my customers won’t mind.”
Marla took a swig and blew out a breath before starting to talk. She was not sure how to say it, so straight up seemed the best way. “We just went to the supermarket off Beryl Street. Everything was fine. Everything looked totally normal,” she burst out, not stopping for breath. “Then we saw red liquid on the floor. I thought it was wine. Then we saw a woman who looked really ill. She had collapsed on the ground and was being sick. Then we saw another woman on the ground, but she was dead, and another man who looked so ill that he was as pale as a corpse was eating her.”
Tommy burst out laughing.
Marla stared at him.
“Don’t give me that look like you’re going to kill me,” he said, putting his beer down. “Are you annoyed at me or something? Is this because Ellen started crying?”
“No, you fucking idiot! I just told you that some guy smashed open a woman’s stomach and was eating her organs. There was blood all over the floor. Then he saw me and that scared the hell out of me, because his eyes were empty. He had no expression – at all. And I mean nothing. His eyes were bloodshot and his skin was really, really white...”
“Bloody hell!” exclaimed Tommy, realising from her face that she really wasn’t kidding. “Psycho! Did you ring the police? Did the staff stop him from leaving?”
“Yes, I rang them from the car. I said I would go down their police station and make a statement. But, listen, he wasn’t just a psycho. There was something wrong. His ear was missing and the side of his head was all bloody. Like really caved in, total mess. The skin was flaking off. If I didn’t know better and that it’s impossible, I would have said he was a corpse. He looked like one. And when he saw us, he got up and tried to attack us...”
“Hell, but you’re okay?”
Marla nodded. “Yeah, he was weaker than I thought. He seemed to have less power than I was expecting and he was slower. To me, his reactions were so weird, so off. He reacted too slowly. But he was eating the woman, I tell you. He had ripped her open – with what, I don’t know – and he was eating her organs. What kind of a man does that? And the worst thing is that it makes me think of my dream, because in it a creature who looked like him was trying to bite me.”
“Shit,” said Tommy, swigging his beer. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Neither would I, if I was you, I guess. We just ran. I pushed him over with the trolley and we legged it out of there. I screamed at the staff to run and that the guy had murdered a woman. I don’t know if everyone got out. I sat in the car and rang the police, and people were racing out of that building like it was on fire.”
“No wonder Ellen’s crying,” he remarked. “Poor kid.”
“I was terrified, Tommy. You know me, I don’t scare easily, but there was something wrong with this guy. I know it sounds mental to say he was dead, but he was like a corpse, but alive. As for that woman on the floor, she should have been dead – the middle of her body was ripped wide open. She couldn’t possibly be alive, but her body was twitching, like she wanted to get up.”
“Maybe it was just nerve reaction...”
Marla took another drink. “Do you have another?” she asked, putting it down.
“Sure.” Tommy got up and grabbed two more. “I’m happy to drink with you, but if I do, I shouldn’t really be serving people.”
“I don’t want you to open this shop,” Marla insisted. “I’m scared there are more people out there like that.”
Tommy stroked the side of her arm, but she pulled away and swigged her beer, before wiping the back of her mouth and staring up at the ceiling. Breathing in, she let out a deep sigh.
“I’m sorry this happened to you, Marla, really I am. Do you want me to drive you down to the police station?”
She nodded. “What do you think is going on?”
“I don’t know. This flu thing must be some virus, but as
for the guy in the supermarket, I don’t think that’s related. There’s the ill chick on the ground and then this guy murdered the woman. Don’t know how, but I think he’ll turn out to be some deranged bloke who has done it before. As for him being a corpse, of course he isn’t, but he might have looked like one.”
“The news!” gasped Marla.
“Eh?”
“Can you turn on the news?”
“Sure, but let’s go up to the flat,” Tommy suggested. “I want to check my laptop. Maybe there’s something on the internet.”
“Yeah, that’s a better idea,” Marla agreed, picking up her beer. “Mind if I take another one.”
“Help yourself. That fridge is always full.”
“Drink a lot, do you?”
“Nope, that’s why it’s always full,” Tommy answered with a cheeky smile. “You okay, honestly?”
“I’ll live,” she replied.
They headed up the stairs of the flat. The door of the bedroom in which Marla and Ellen were staying was closed. Marla stopped in front of it and knocked. “You okay, hunny?”
“Yeah, I’m alright,” a muffled voice called back. “I just need some peace and quiet for a bit.”
“That’s fine. If you want anything I’ll just be in the lounge here.”
“Thanks.”
“She feeling alright?” asked Tommy when Marla entered the room.
She nodded and sat down on the sofa, slotting the bottle between her knees. Tommy walked over with his laptop and sat down alongside her.
“Anything?” Marla enquired.
“Hold ya horses! I’m just starting her up.”
“Your laptop is a girl?” she asked.
Tommy grinned. “Of course. I’m not gonna let a guy sit on my lap now, am I?”
Marla shook her head, but could not resist a faint smile.
“There. Looks like I cheered you up already. I’m checking the UK news site I always use. Main headlines, nothing. Local news, nothing. Perhaps they haven’t got the story yet,” he added, looking up.
Marla drank her beer and raised an eyebrow. “Maybe… maybe not.”
“You don’t trust them at all, do you?”
“Nope, not after what happened to me when I was serving my country and all that.”
“Someone made a mistake back then,” Tommy stated.
“Yeah, a big one,” Marla replied. “Anyway, that’s history. I think I want to get out of London before the weekend. Like I said before, I want to see my mum. I’m even more certain now that there’s a virus and something is wrong. People are getting sick. What if the virus is making people kill like that? What if it makes you violent? We’re in the capital – I’d rather be somewhere with fewer people.”
“Why? What odds does it make?”
“Dunno. Less people seems easier to handle to me. I was never that keen on crowds either. And masses of people with a virus that makes them rip each other’s bodies apart, sorry, but... hey... on cue! I’m sticking with your dog!”
Tommy turned and grinned as Bob padded over to the lady in the room and gazed up at her with his big browns. Marla smiled and patted his head before tickling him under the chin. He stared back lovingly. Lucky mutt, thought Tommy, as he went back to his laptop. “Nothing interesting in the global news, but there’s been some more outbreaks of flu...”
“Where?” asked Marla, turning away from Bob, who proceeded to lick her hand and wag his tail to regain her attention.
“Various places – France, Italy, Portugal. All in Europe. That’s it. They are suspecting bird flu again...”
“Bird fucking flu my ass!” exclaimed Marla. “This is something else. I know it. It’s like my nightmares.”
“You can’t compare real life to a dream,” Tommy answered, and then shut up quick when he saw the look on her face. “Hmm, I’ll just check my email.”
“Yeah, you do that. I sometimes think your dog has more brains,” she retorted.
“You’ve only just met him.”
“Well, I’m a quick judge of character and I can tell he’s...”
“Hey, my mate’s sent me some email, saying ‘Urgent – watch this – man in supermarket’. I’m opening it.”
Marla sat back quietly and waited while stroking Bob, who now had his head resting on her knee. The beer had to find an alternative place.
“Fucking hell!” breathed Tommy, falling back in his seat. “What the..? No... What the..? No...”
“Believe me now that something crazy is going on?” asked Marla, feeling slightly superior.
“Jeez. I’m going to rewind it. I can’t believe... no... no... fuck... no... what the..?”
Marla got up.
“Where you going?” asked Tommy.
“To make a sandwich. Want one?”
He shook his head. “Not after that. Stuff it.”
***
There was a knock, which caused both girls to look up at the same time. “Come in,” Marla shouted out. The door opened and Tommy walked in, carrying his laptop. “Marla, you should take a look at this,” he suggested as he sat down on the edge of the bed. The sisters looked over his shoulders.
“Look, I’m not going to open it, but that video of the supermarket is all over the internet. It’s had millions of views already,” he told them.
“And it still hasn’t been reported on TV yet?” asked Ellen.
Tommy shook his head. “I’ve checked everywhere. Nothing. The government hasn’t made any announcement. I read about there being some official scientific meeting or something. Weird thing is that foreign governments are saying stuff.”
“Like what?” Marla enquired.
“Like one is announcing that following a spate of murders in one town, it has been sealed off. No one can enter or leave it. Basic lockdown.”
“I didn’t think they could do that,” said Ellen.
“Well, they have. That’s in one town, but they have reports of ‘flu’ outbreaks all over the place.”
Ellen sucked in her breath. “Oh, my God.”
Tommy nodded. “Nothing from America, Australia, New Zealand, Eastern Europe or Norway, etcetera though. Nothing at all.”
“I guess that will be coming,” Marla speculated, before lying on her back on the bed. She stared up at the ceiling, her thoughts racing. “I’m going to drive up to visit Mum today. Last I heard, our brother was travelling in Thailand. He was heading to Oz afterwards. Hopefully, he’s fine. She might have heard something. I need to email him.”
“Do it now,” advised Tommy. “Who knows what’s going to happen. I’d email now.”
“You’re right,” said Marla. “I’ll pack my laptop and message him from my mum’s. You wanna come meet her for old time’s sake? She lives in Four Lanes in Cornwall. It normally takes me about five hours or so to drive it.”
Tommy closed his laptop and thought about it. “I’ll stay here. I need to get my shit together, sort out some orders and this place... just in case.”
“Just in case,” echoed Ellen. “I wonder what that really is.”
“That’s the question on my mind,” said Marla, “but there’s no time to waste. I’m going to make a coffee, pack my stuff and drive to Mum’s. We’ll get there before dark easily.”
“Great,” Ellen answered. “And a coffee sounds good too.”
Tuesday night
Marla parked the jeep alongside the pavement outside a small, granite-brick cottage at the end of the main road. Ivy curled up the walls and over the white-painted door. The small front garden was neatly trimmed and full of colourful roses while an apple tree sat proudly. Opening the rusty gate, Ellen led the way up the short path, consisting of four round paving slabs with animals carved into them. Grinning, she rapped the cat-headed knocker and waited. Marla glanced up and down the peaceful village. Not a soul stirred, as was usual at this time of the night in this place that consisted of only four lanes at the top of a very steep hill. Even the bus service retired for the day at 6 p.m.
“How are you, Mum?” asked Marla, following her inside the house.
“Fine, fine, can’t complain,” she said. “I’ll put the kettle on. What would you girls like? Ellen, I got some juice too. I know how you love your juice.”
“Can I have a coffee, Mum,” Ellen answered. “I’ve gotten a taste for it lately.”
“Whatever you like, petal,” Hilda replied, disappearing off into the kitchen.
The sisters kicked off their shoes and placed them next to their mother’s before dumping their luggage on the floor in the corner.
“It’s nice to be home,” said Ellen. “Touch of normality, at last.”
Marla nodded. “I know what you mean.”
They wandered into the kitchen and sat down on two of the three chairs at the breakfast bar while they watched their mother prepare their drinks. “What have you been up to?” Marla asked her.
“Oh, the usual things,” Hilda replied. “I did a bit of gardening this morning as young Billy, Maureen’s son, came over to mow the lawn and then I watched a movie.”
“Do you get bored here on your own with Chris away?”
“No, it’s quiet, yes, but your brother has been emailing me to tell me what he’s up to. Having a whale of a time from what he tells me.
“Emailing? Are you using email, Mum?” asked Ellen, throwing a grin at her sister.
“Yes, I am. I’m not old and past it yet, you know,” Hilda joked as she set the steaming coffees down on the breakfast bar. “I have one of those computer things now. The library had a course on using them and Deirdre from the Women’s Institute thought it a great way for us all to keep in touch. Do you have emails, girls?”
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