by Morgana Wray
“An open mind is a healthy mind.” The psychologist would say, chewing on the edge of his flipping pen.
“Yes doc! Whatever you say doc!” I would respond mockingly.
For a smart guy, he really never picked up on the fact that I was taking the piss when I did that. Perhaps, he did and just did not give a toss. The guy always had his nose in his notes and barely looked up to acknowledge that the patient was there. He went through the cue cards- the usual stuff that he would say and that was it. I got a load of horse pills and was sent off to medicate. That was it. Once I left that door with the consultants name on it, I was on my own.
Let the drowning drown-that was how I felt they saw us crazy people. I wasn’t completely off my rockers, but I had my bad days. Who gives a shit about Doctor West. The world around me was seeming as crazy as it was inside my head, sometimes.
If our luck was that bad then we were all going to be royally screwed pretty soon and there would be no redemption, no coming back from that kind of screwed.
It thundered even more fiercely and Miss Maple shuddered with intense shivers running through her. I could swear that she almost squirmed in abject terror. She was definitely acting like a big baby. I felt some sympathy for her. I truly did. But I could not help but laugh at the way she jerked her shoulders around and slammed her eyes shut every time the skies flared up with flashes of lightening.
“Get Miss Maple to the bus! I believe she has had enough of this dreary weather!” I shouted in Diane’s ear.
She bobbed her head in the affirmative and hurried with the umbrella in her hand to Miss Maple’s corner. With hesitant steps, a shaky Miss Maple was guided by hand towards the bus. We all climbed into the bus. I had barely started the engine when I saw the same old woman I had nearly slammed into earlier.
“Goddamn it!”
“Get the fuck out of the way? I don’t want to have to run you over, do I?” I slammed my hands on the horn.
She just stood in front of us with her head bowed. She was unresponsive to any of my gesticulating. I tried to make the damn old trout shift her scrawny arse but she would not listen to my placations. Her thin legs were unmoving and stood still above the granite road beneath her feet.
“Bitch! Move the fuck out of the way!” I spat some bile at her, slamming the horn even louder.
I didn’t realize what was happening quick enough. I did not see the groups of people that were trooping slowly towards our honking bus. People had poured out of nowhere unto the road ahead of us. The skies had gotten dark and my vision was partially obscured by the blanket of darkness that had surrounded us.
“What the hell? Where did all these people come from?” I leaned forward against the steering wheel in complete dumbfounding awe.
“You think we should step out and talk to them?” Diane asked, leaning against my seat with her arms. “They might need some help.”
I scratched my head and mulled over Diane’s suggestion. The number of people out there was the equivalent of a small mob. If they weren’t friendly? If they had other intentions? How the hell were we going to make it back to the bus?
“We can’t be sure that they won’t attack us. I am not sure I want to risk making that call.” I shook my head disapprovingly.
“They don’t seem to be moving. They aren’t doing anything,” Diane said, pointing at the windscreen.
“That is what I am afraid of kid! Regular people don’t just stand there doing nothing! Those guys out there look like they’ve been brainwashed or something! That isn’t fucking normal!” I barked hysterically at Diane.
In the heat of our argument, we did not see Miss Maple exit through the door of the bus. I looked back to see a vacant seat with the pudgy Miss Maple missing from it.
“Where is she? Where the fuck has she gone?” I yelled.
“She must have snuck out while we argued! I swear I did not hear her walk past me!” Diane wiped her eyes. “She is massive! How could she have jumped over the seat!”
“Shut the door behind me! If I don’t come back in fifteen minutes, get yourself out of here!” I tossed the bus keys at Diane, jumping out of the bus.
I was armed with only a pocket knife. I hoped that would have sufficed if I was forced to defend myself. I was under no illusion that I had any sort of advantage. The small crowd had the advantage of numbers. I was just the guy armed with something not much better than a butter knife.
My life and limb were at risk and I was sorely aware of this. I meandered calmly through the crowd of people. I tried not to get close to them. Their dark eyes gave me the creeps. The statue-stillness of the crowd of people made me want to piss my pants even more. Guess it was that unsettling tension of not knowing when the axe would fall over one’s neck that haunted me the most.
I kept one hand in my pocket. I had hid the knife away but my fingers were firmly on the knife handle. I could hear some sobbing in the distance. I moved quickly towards the noise. I soon discovered Miss Maple shamelessly helping herself to some high calorie ice cream tubs. She had dug into several flavours.
I stepped into the large grocery shop where Miss Maple had chosen to take refuge. I shook my head and hissed at her in displeasure. “This is hardly the time for comfort eating. We should be pulling together. We might just be the only ones out there with our heads still screwed on straight.”
“Who cares? What does any of that mean anyway?” Miss Maple chuckled, as tears streamed down her face, blotching the eyeliners under her lower eyelashes.
“I know you’re torn about what you had to do back there. But you can’t have this, right now. You cannot slip into a meltdown. You just can’t.” I slapped my palm on the glass cover of the freezer in front of us.
Miss Maple pushed her tongue out at me childishly. Her fingers poked deeper into the ice cream tub that was nestled in the arches of her left arm. There wasn’t much care for the point I was trying to put across. There wasn’t much care for anything as far as she was concerned. The incessant giggles didn’t seem much like happiness to me. They looked more like the cold signs of detachment. Miss Maple seemed to be disentangling herself from anything and everything she should give a damn about.
What was the use trying to bring her back from the brink anyway? The school where she was somewhat significant had been rocked by explosive violence. There was a good chance that everyone in there was as good as dead if the violence in the clip we had seen on Emily’s phone had escalated. There was nothing as volatile as a group of people starting a fight. One guy drops and then aggrieved parties decide to do something about that one dead guy. That’s the lit matchstick needed to light up an engulfing inferno.
Right now, we were in the centre of that inferno. I had that bad gut feeling that things could only get worse, even though I wanted to think otherwise. I held my head up and didn’t frown. “Hey! You can get through this! We need you to get through this!”
“Why do either of you need me?” Some hiccups shot up Miss Maple’s chest. “You don’t need some ageing spinster, stuck in her old room and still crashing with her mom. Nope, you’re all better off without this waste of human skin. You guys should leave without me. I’ll only mess things up and get you killed.”
“That’s not true. You handled yourself well when you got attacked by those kids. We need that. Me and the kid-we can be indecisive. We need someone that can make those hard choices. Choices that would keep us breathing.” I placed my hands on Miss Maple’s shoulders.
She let her head fall into my chest and I stroked her hair reassuringly, as she broke down and cried profusely. Tears streamed down her chubby face. I let her push out all that pent up hurt. She had a lot of that weighing on her chest. I didn’t want that burden weighing her down. Beneath the soft exterior, was a steely and unbending side to her. I needed that from her. If she hadn’t been a teacher, she would have made a good soldier.
“This is good. We are getting somewhere,” I squawked creakily.
“We should get out of
here. Diane will probably worried sick by now.” Miss Maple tore herself away from my embrace.
She dragged me by the hand and hurriedly scurried past the row of freezers by our side. There seemed to be a renewed spring in Miss Maple’s steps. She had become buoyed with the feeling that she had some purpose. She was someone that needed to be needed and I had given her that in spades. We had almost reached the glass door that led out of the shop when I paused abruptly in my tracks. “Aren’t you going to pay for all that? You don’t want to be locked up for pilfering from Mr. Duncan, do you?”
“That tight fisted toad was out there amongst the gathering of people. They all looked pretty out of it. I don’t think that he will be throwing any lawsuits my way in the state he was in.” Miss Maple laughed off my raised concerns.
I could see the point in her logic. I decided to ignore her undignified pilfering of dairy product. She must have really have had a bad craving for ice cream to have dug in the way that she did. There was still a creamy moustache over her lips. I didn’t bother to wipe that off for her. I just chuckled silently to myself at how silly she looked.
“What? What are you looking at?” Miss Maple’s brows sunk as she stared intently at me.
“Get down. I heard something.” I whispered softly, gesturing to Miss Maple to make herself less visible.
Her bulky frame made that prospect a bit more tricky. She had to lay flat on her belly behind some tall shelves. I pulled out my pocket knife and dropped to my knee, holding my breath in anticipation. I knew I had heard footsteps. I wasn’t wrong. People gathered in front of the glass door. Their faces pressed against the glass. I could see blackened eyes, peering through the glass. Veiny hands, pressed on the glass of the door that led out of the shop.
CHAPTER 8
The group of people out there were the same people I had passed earlier. I was sure of it. They must have somehow awoken from their temporary state of stupor.
“They are blocking the exit.”
“What should we do? Any bright ideas?” Miss Maple tapped the steel shelf beside her.
“Nope, nothing! We should do absolutely nothing but sit tight until this blows over! They don’t know for sure that we are in here! They will leave when they get bored!” I spoke with some calm to Miss Maple.
I thought she had comprehended what I was saying to her. But she wasn’t staying put as I had suggested. Miss Maple had found her way to the back of the counter. I could hear some thrashing about of things behind the counter.
“Are you trying to get us killed?” I snapped at her angrily.
“Nope, just looking for this” Miss Maple smiled, pulling out a concealed shotgun from underneath the counter. “this is sweet.”
I crawled towards her, hiding away from the peering faces on the other side of the glass door. “Goddamn it, woman. Put that thing away and get away from that counter before you draw some heat to us.” I howled at her, as I advanced towards the counter.
“For fuck sake!” I groaned, as I almost slipped on some washing up liquid.
I had accidentally stepped on the cap and pried it open with the tip of my toes. I could have whacked my head really hard on the floor and knocked myself out. Maybe even given myself a nasty concussion. I heaved a small sigh of relief as I regained balance.
With both hands pressed against my thighs, I shot Miss Maple the most hostile, displeased look that I could manage to make. She shuffled back in panic and her feet somehow tripped on the alarm, letting out a loud ear-piercing buzz.
“Turn it off! Turn that fucking thing off!” I slammed my hands on my ears.
Miss Maple was catatonic in her response. Her mouth gaped wide and the side of her eyes twitched intermittently.
“I know. I am told I have that effect on women.” I joked, gawking at Miss Maple probingly, as my eyes scanned her from top to bottom.
I thought she was faking her complete melt down but she wasn’t. She seemed genuinely fucked up and completely awestruck, but not in a healthy way.
Her face looked absolutely in state of shock. Could I have spooked her that badly with my scrunched up face. I didn’t look that ugly and terrifying when I frowned, did I?
It soon dawned on me that she was not even looking at me. Her eyes strayed right over my shoulders. Miss Maple’s hands seemed to twitch on the trigger of the shotgun. Her lips were doing a small quivering dance on her spooked face.
“We are so screwed! We are screwed in more ways then one!” I gulped down some hot salvia when I turned to see that the glass door on the entrance had been completely blockaded by a mob of seemingly deranged black-eyed people.
Those of them that were close enough used their heads as battering rams, smashing their faces into the glass door. They appeared to prefer to do themselves some damage instead of simply using the door handle. They must have been really retarded or something. Either way, I didn’t care about their intellectual capability. I cared more about getting through the small horde, one way or the other.
“Snap out of it!” I slapped Miss Maple in the face.
She was soon awoken from her semi-entranced state. She cocked the gun and raised it up ready for some action. The first back-eyes to bridge the glass door got a hot round in between the eyes. Miss Maple seemed to be a better shot than I was.
“You are doing great! Keep shooting!” I yelled in Miss Maple’s corner.
My fists were in a tight ball, as I punched the air and cheered her on in a mixed emotional state of ecstasy and absolute numbing terror. I was afraid. I knew that much. It wasn’t a nice feeling, being outnumbered. Even if you were outnumbered by really retarded, drooling black-eyed people who would love nothing more than to rip you apart, limb from limb.
Their movements was sluggish but you could see the cold intent behind their eyes. The manic way in which they crashed into things and attacked anything that had a pulse showed nothing but how beastly they truly had become.
“They are people. There are people behind all the madness.” Miss Maple rolled her eyes in a moment of confused thinking. “I don’t think I should do this to them.”
“Keep shooting. These people are sick and they will kill us if we don’t defend ourselves. Keep shooting. That’s an order. “ I bared my teeth at the befuddled Miss Maple.
“That’s an order? I am not your fucking subordinate?” Miss Maple huffed at me, brimming with rage at my comments.
“We are not what we used to be anymore. Everything has changed. If you want to live-keep those bullets flying or you and I are dead meat.” Cold sweat dripped down the sides of my face.
A big roar ripped through Miss Maple’s widened mouth as she resumed her onslaught on our attackers. She got one of them in the chest, sending the lady flying backwards, smashing through some breakable items on the shelves.
The injured woman twitched on the floor for a short while and rose back to her feet, pushing herself up with both hands pressed against the floor. With her dress bloodied and a gaping hole in her chest, the black-eyed, crazed woman picked up pace and ran at us. She wasn’t even young. Her chin sagged and her chest drooped. As she got closer, her face became more familiar.
“Isn’t that Reverend Violet? She’s the sweet old Lady at St Domonics, Isn’t she?” I screeched.
Another shot came from the shotgun in Miss Maple’s capable hands. The bullet lodged itself in the side of the Reverend’s skull. She collapsed and smacked her face into some shelves. She did not get up from that.
“Aim for the head! They seem to stay down when you shoot them in the head!” I screamed on top of my voice at Miss Maple.
“Got it!” Miss Maple spat.
She took them down one after the other. Her shots were accurate and decisive. She hit our attackers when it mattered and where it mattered. There was blood leaking out of the skulls of the one’s that she had taken out. There was little comfort in the knowledge that we had taken some of them out. They still outnumbered and outflanked us. We didn’t have enough bullets to cut th
rough enough of them to make a clean break.
We would eventually become sitting ducks when the magazines ran out. And they were bound to run out pretty soon. Sooner then I dared to give thought to.
Like clockwork, the nozzle of the shotgun went cold. I knew there and then that we were out of ammo. I didn’t have to ask. Miss Maple’s face was dim and dull enough to read. She didn’t let that stop her from making her stand. She wasn’t planning on going down easy.
Miss Maple flew over the counter with great athleticism. She seemed pretty agile when it mattered and moved swiftly for someone her size. She slammed the butt of the gun into the black-eyes that dared to put their grubby hands on her. She cracked some skulls with much effort.
With blood sprinkled over her forehead, she roared a victorious roar. But she was far from done. The battle was just getting heated up. A really tall guy stepped in front of her. He growled menacingly in her general direction. There was nothing human about the wiry, threadlike network of blackened veins that seemed to be all over his neck and face. He resembled a badly mutated freak straight out of a comic book.
His eyes-those hollow, dark orbs beneath his brows-they were void of any sentiment and his arms were all bulked out. He was a beast on two legs but she put him down, anyway. He went falling sideways when she was done caving his temple in and dislocating his neck with one powerful swing of the shotgun into his face. I heard his bones go pop inside him.
It wasn’t as if I was having a light picnic and sitting on my hands, and stuffing my face with strawberries. I had my hands full with keeping the other black-eyes at bay. I stood on the counter, kicking as many as I could in the head. My knife found a home in the heads of the ones that were still standing. I made sure to get them in the softer parts of the skull. Somewhere where I could retrieve my knife easily. I stabbed the fuckers through the nose and eyeballs.
“You are going to have to do way better than that if you want a piece of this action! I won’t be making it that easy for you!” I sneered mockingly at our black-eyed assailants.