Necrovoid

by Ian Woodhead

  “My mind is broken.”

  He raised his left hand, turned it around so his palm faced him, he spotted what looked like traces of purple wax stuck to his fingers. It smelled like lavender. How the hell had he got that stuff on his skin? The only person in this house burned scented candles was his...

  Jordan quickly made a fist. He growled to warn those volatile memories to stay the fuck away then smashed his fist into the wall. That hurt, that really did hurt but at least the pain gave him something else to focus on.

  The scratching had started up again. Christ, that cat be getting really upset by now! He frowned. He once only just escaped from a bedroom by the skin of his teeth when a dead thing crawled out from under the bed and try to rip off his face. Jordan couldn't remember which insertion that had been in. The last Necrovoid session probably, it did feel fairly recent.

  Necrovoid. Those two hours must be over by now! The sensenet lay between his legs. He didn't remember dropping it there. Then again, why should that surprise him? His memory had started to get a little flaky of recent. He had remembered to lock the side door like mum asked? That's one task that hadn't slipped his mind. Wouldn't it be hilarious if it turned out that his slutty sister really had stayed at some lad's house all night? How would she get in if all the doors were locked? Apart from smashing a window, she couldn't. That thought made him smile a lot.

  He picked up the sensenet and rolled it over his head. He was eager to get back into the game and show that Jenny just how useful he really was. That would start by getting out of that damn shopping mall, limping over to that shop and snagging the shotgun from the shop. This time he intended to find the shells. Jordan still believed they would be in the shop too. It's just a matter of looking more thoroughly. First though, the dead thing in there needed putting down. Killing it before the bastard got back up so it could drive Jenny and Harry to the hospital.

  Jordan frowned again. Forget the last bit, he just needed to get to that shotgun, so he could actually start rescuing Jenny instead of the other way around. It felt a little ironic to think that Necrovoid was starting to make more sense than actual reality.

  Fourth Insertion

  The shuffling came from the level below them! He rolled his trouser leg down, covering up the bruises. Thankfully, they weren't as bad as he first believed, which is bloody odd considering how much they hurt just an hour ago. How could that be possible? Sure, the painkillers had helped, but they only helped to numb the pain, they couldn't get rid of bruises. “Jenny, did you hear that?” He used her shoulders to stand up.

  She nodded. “I heard something. They couldn't have gotten through that window so quickly. Even if they had, the lower level was blocked off a couple of days ago. Do you think there's more in here with us?

  “Wait on, should I not be asking you that question? After all, you're the one who said earlier on that Barry and some of your other survivor pals had cleared out this place yesterday.” He held up his hand. “Sorry, that came out as a bit bitchy. Look, it doesn't matter, maybe your friends missed them on their search? I think we ought to be making tracks. I don’t like it in here. It feels too claustrophobic.” Jordan walked unaided, towards the sport shop exit. He felt a lot better now than he did when they first stepped foot inside here. The food had helped, certainly.

  He walked out, into the Mall's wide pedestrian way and leaned against the waist-high glass wall and waited for Jenny to catch up. One of the food outlet shops still had power, meaning everything was still working. Granted, Burger Giant had never been his favourite place to eat in the mall but when your selection is narrowed down to either that place or grabbing a tin of spaghetti the grocery store on the level above, you didn't complain.

  Two burgers, cooked by the lovely Jenny, and as much coke as they could drink made them both feel almost human again. The backpack, which he'd grabbed in the sport shop was now filled with enough food to keep him going for at least a week. Jenny had cooked another dozen more burgers. They had let them cool down while they ate their food. She explained that this might be the last time they eat fresh meat so it's best to take as much as they could. It made sense. The power in here wouldn't last for much longer, so there'd be no more frozen food to enjoy. From that point on, it really would be tinned food or dried stuff.

  Thinking about those burgers, made Jordan want to dive into the backpack and take another one. He resisted the temptation, promising himself that as soon as his fingers were wrapped around the shotgun, and they'd find the shells, then he would scoff one more burger.

  “What are you grinning at?”

  Jordan shrugged. “I’m not sure, perhaps it's because I'm still alive, with a full belly, my leg doesn't feel so bad anymore and let us not forget that I'm also in the presence of a beautiful woman.”

  “Are you getting high on those painkillers? That's probably the creepiest thing you've said to me so far.”

  The woman suddenly grinned then leaned forward to kiss the tip of his nose. “Keep em coming,” she whispered in his ear.

  Jordan so wanted to kiss her. He never got the chance as she got there first. Her soft lips pressed hard against his. Jenny held his cheeks and kissed him deeply He thought he'd gone to heaven. That exquisite sensation fell by the wayside when another sound reached his ears and Jenny pulled back.

  “What the fuck was that?” She leaned over the glass wall and her gaze darted from shop from to shop front on the level below them. “It sounded like a scream.” Jenny faced him. “A human scream.”

  “Yeah, I heard it too. You reckon there is somebody else in here with us? Another survivor perhaps?” Jordan moved a little closer to Jenny while silently wishing the sound that both of them heard was nothing of consequence. He wanted her to kiss him again. She smelled divine, sort of cross between lavender and cinnamon.

  “Wait here,” she said.

  Jordan grabbed her arm. “You're not thinking of going down there, are you?”

  The woman shrugged his hand off. “Of course not. At least not without you. Now, wait here.” Before he could respond, she ran back into the sport shop and returned a moment later, holding a metal pole as tall as Jordan. “I spotted this on the way out,” she explained. “I think it's part of a rail or something. Has some weight to it too.” Jenny hurried over to the escalator, close to Jordan. “Come on then, let's see what's down there.”

  “Yeah, sure, that's a good idea,” he muttered. “Let's go fight zombies. Hang on. What about me? What am I supposed to use, my cold burgers?”

  She turned around and grinned. “Don't you worry, my prince. I'll protect you from all the nasty monsters.”

  “I'm serious, Jenny. What am I supposed to do?”

  “Run away?”

  She reached the bottom while Jordan stayed right where he was, halfway up the escalator. There really was no need for this. In all probability, the noise will have come from a trapped dead thing. All she was doing here was exposing herself to needless danger. Just how the hell was Jordan supposed to protect the woman when she kept doing stupid stuff like this? It had occurred to him that if she hadn't done that stupid thing by rescuing Jordan from his dead wife, he would not to stood here having this conversation with himself. Let it be said that he wasn't the type of guy who let facts get in the way of a good sympathy whine.

  The woman entered the toy shop and vanished from sight. Jordan counted to ten before he made his way down the remaining steps. He couldn't just allow her to face danger alone, despite proving over and over that she was more than capable of looking after herself. Jordan followed her into the shop, while thinking that Barry probably thought he could look after himself too and look what happened to him!

  God, he hadn't been in here for years and yet, the place hadn't changed all that much. Jordan wandered past the shelves of games and toys for girls, remembering how excited he used to get when his mum took him and Susan in here every Friday afternoon, so they could pick out a new toy. The boys toys were right at the back of the shop, so
he had to wait for his annoying sister to choose something before his mum took them towards the stuff he wanted to look at.

  Jordan reached the checkout and climbed onto the desk, believing a higher elevation would help him located Jenny and the source of the noise they heard upstairs. In his haste to find Jenny and get out of here, his left foot caught the side of a large display full of interactive animal/human hybrid dolls. The display fell backwards, crashing into a shelf holding slime puzzles and magnetic football card collections. He winced at the noise. Jordan quickly stood up and turned in a circle, trying to see if he could see Jenny.

  “Oh no!” He spotted two young boys who had quite clearly passed to the other side, stalking Jenny. She was glaring at Jordan, mouthing something he couldn't make out but it doubted it was anything good.

  “There are two dead things right behind you!” he yelled. Jordan jumped off the desk, grabbed the heaviest looking object he could find, a large pink crossbow, then raced to the end of the aisle.

  Jordan rushed past the remaining girl's toys while pulling the crossbow out of the box. The thing was next to useless but it was better than nothing. He ran around the end of the aisle and straight in Jenny. There were no sign of the two dead boys. Jordan spun around. “Where did they go?”

  “Who? Look, this place is empty. I've gone around the shop three times now. There's nothing in here.”

  “Don't look at me like that. I swear down, the little freekazoid bastards are in here somewhere!”

  “You sound just like my little brother.”

  “Whatever,” he replied. “And you sound just like my...” Jordan. Caught his breath. “Never mind. Look, they're in here.” He skirted around her and headed for the boy's toys, not caring if she was following him. Jordan almost said she sounded like his sister. What the hell was he smoking? His mum and dad never had anymore kids after him. He stopped dead. If that was the case, who the fuck was Susan did he have such clear memories of his mum, who looked nothing like his mum, bringing him and her into this shop?

  “Shit, Jordan. Are you alright? You look awful!”

  He turned around, dropped the crossbow and wrapped his arms around her. “No, I'm not alright. I don't know who I am. Something weird is happening to me, I'm losing focus and getting so confused over just about everything.” He was about to tell Jenny about his non-existent sister as well as believing Barry was still alive when a small shadow passed over the fixture next to them.

  They must have climbed up the other side of the fixture! How had they done that without making any noise? Jordan dragged Jenny to the side just as the two kids threw themselves at them. He rolled over to the shelf base and lifted it up. Dozens of cardboard boxes containing model tanks and aircraft flew into the air. He held the metal base in the air before slamming the top edge over his head. The shelf sliced through one of their necks, almost severing the kid’s head.

  The other one went for Jenny but thanks to his warning, she was prepared for the attack. The remaining boy dived at her only to meet with the business end of the metal pole. She smashed it into the dead boy's shoulder. The impact threw him into boxes of construction sets. Jordan had already jumped back onto his feet and was about to shout out a warning but there was no need. The woman had already anticipated the dead boy's lightning fast recovery by following him down. She stood over the moving corpse, the metal pole already in motion.

  Jordan winced at the sound of the boy's skull cracking open. Jenny hit it again before dropping the pole. She staggered back into his waiting arms.

  “I don't think I can take much more of this insanity,” she said.

  Jordan gently stroked her hair. “Come on, let's get the fuck out of here.”

  Jenny took his hand then climbed over the fixtures, pulling Jordan with her. Once they were outside the shop, she looked over to the exit. “Jordan, do you still want to go to that shop you mentioned?”

  He nodded. Jordan was about to mention that the dead were not going to stop following them now but after looking into those haunted eyes, his warning words died in his throat. To be honest, Jordan hadn't given much thought about what to do once they did reach that shop.

  “You did good back there.” She turned around and softly kissed him. “You haven't lost focus, Jordan. All this is just,” she closed her eyes and drew in a large lungful of air. “It's still new for you. It's takes a while for your mind to attempt the acclimatisation, as well as trying to desensitise you so you don't end up wanting to stick a barbecue skewer through your own temples when you end up doing something like this.” She pulled him through the shop. “Come on. I need some fresh air.”

  “What are you talking about, Jenny? We already are outside.”

  Chapter Seven

  A couple of raindrops splashed on the top of his head, one after the other. Jordan lifted his head back and gazed into the dark and cloudy sky, unsure of how he'd gotten out of the house. He looked around his back garden, immediately spotting the cat, sitting on Mrs Spicer's shed roof. The remains of a starling lay at its feet.

  He turned to face the house and saw splashes of blood on the path directly outside the broken glass door. Were they from him? Jordan turned his hands around. “What the fuck have I been doing?” He picked three pieces of glass out of his palm, gritting his teeth in discomfort as the last piece refused to budge, not helped by the blood making his thumb and forefinger slippery.

  In the end, Jordan had to use his teeth to pull the final piece out of his flesh.

  “Oh, that really hurt,” he said after spitting the glass fragment onto the path. The cat meowed once then ran across the shed roof and jumped off into next door's garden.

  “Shitting cats,” uttered a voice coming from behind dad's greenhouse. His friend, Barry, stepped out, jumped over a row of roses and landed on the path. “Hello there, Jordan. How's tricks?”

  “How's tricks? How's fucking tricks? Is that all you have to say? What's going on? What am I doing outside?” He paused. His hands slapped the top of his head. “Wait on, where's the sensenet gone?”

  Barry looked down at his feet. “That'll be me, dude. I kinda took it off you and threw the bloody thing away.”

  “You did what?”

  “Look, man, calm your jets. Believe me, it's the best thing I could do.”

  “Give me it back, or so help me, I'll punch you into the middle of next week.” Jordan took three paces towards his friend, gaining an enormous amount of satisfaction when Barry retreated, only stopping when his back hit the gate. He could see the fellow nerd whom he'd grown up with, who had both suffered beatings at school. Who, after the pair of them had gotten utterly hammered in Barry's loft, declared his undying love for Jordan's sister. He only saw the man who killed his wife and daughter. “Where is it, Barry?”

  “What part of 'cool your jets' did not reach you, dude? Christ, just look around you, haven't you figured out what's going on?” Barry brought up his hands then pushed Jordan in the chest. “That game has been fucking with your head, man. Just like it did with mine.”

  Jordan was ready to hit him right in the chops until Barry ducked under him, ran over to the front door and dived through the hole. “Get back here, you little shit!” he raced after him, this time he scraped the bits of glass on the pavement with his foot before kneeling down and crawling through the hole.

  The lack of light confused the hell out of him when he got back onto his feet. “Where the hell are you, Barry?” A disc of bright, white light dazzled him.

  “Over here. Come on, follow me.”

  “Get that torch light out of my eyes, you retard!, when you've done that, give me back my sensenet and then fuck off out of my house.”

  “Ooh, aren't you the grumpy twat, all of a sudden. You know, anyone would think you're suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Do you not think that's a bit weird? What am I talking about? Of course you don't, at least, not yet.” Barry, clicked off the torch, he pushed it into his back pocket then hurried over to the end of the hall.
“I hope you don't mind me hanging onto this, I think it'll come in handy.” He ran up the stairs.

  “Get the fuck back down here, Barry.”

  “No, I don't think so. Why don't you come on up, Jordan? I have something that you'll really want to see.”

  Could he have hidden his sensenet down here? If that was the case, then why did Barry want him to go upstairs? There was only one way to find out. Jordan walked over to the foot of the stairs and slowly made his way up, deciding that if his friend didn't tell him where it was then he'd simply beat the shit out of him. That sounded like a reasonable deal.

  “I see you still have a face like a smacked arse, Jordan.”

  “Very funny, If you don't give me back what's mine then your face is going to be covered in blood in a second.”

  “Oh God. Listen to yourself. Man, why aren't you asking the proper questions? You know, like where are your parents? Why house your house in darkness?” Barry suddenly ran forward and pinned him against the wall. “What's wrong? Are those too hard for you? Okay, Let's start with an easier question. Tell why all you're bothered about is some stupid game while the world has literally turned to fucking shit?” Barry let him go. “You see, you're so focussed on Jenny, the shopping mall, and the need to get that shotgun, you're just not seeing what's happening outside of Necrovoid.”

  Jordan's jaw dropped. It took him a moment for him to get it together before he could respond. Barry beat him to it.

  “Oh, come on, man. What? You figured you were the only dude playing the game? I so wish you could see your face, man. You seriously look like you've just found out that your mum is a bloke or something.” Barry shook his head. “I know this is frigging hard. Hell, it took me a good few hours to get it out of my system.”

  “Get what out?”

  “The game, man. The game!”