Scorched Flesh

by Ian Woodhead

  The lad had probably long gone by now, I saw no reason why he’d stick around. The stalks had all changed and had gone to ground. No, this would be the last place he’d be inside. I reached the doors and followed Stu’s lead, and pushed my body through the gap.

  The vile smell hit the back of my throat as soon as I stepped over the threshold. I hurriedly lifted my coat over my nose before I took another step. Jesus, this was strong. The remains of the stalks were everywhere. I saw something else as well; something that I hadn’t been expecting. There was blood everywhere, and not just a few puddles either. It looked as if someone had sprayed a few gallons of the stuff against the shop fronts with a hosepipe.

  I thought of that white pick up truck once more, and felt my improvised breakfast of heated beans and corned beef wanting to make its way back up my throat. What if Stu had been right all along about folk making their way to the mall, only instead of joining up with fellow survivors, the poor bastards found the stalks, or the things they became?

  Whether Stu wanted to admit this, we really could be the only ones left alive in this town. For that matter, we could be the only people left alive in the country. Shit, what a depressing thought. I made my way over to the mall’s central fountain, taking care not to step in anything wet. From there, I should get a better view. I hoped Stu hadn’t gone far. The less time I spent in this human abattoir, the better I’d feel.

  I reached the fountain, and climbed onto the first white marble plinth. This horrible creation was a donation from some idiot who used to live in our town. He moved to the States, and made his fortune selling agricultural equipment. He even part funded this mall; hence the reason why this fountain was here in the first place. I have no idea who designed it, but they were obviously on drugs and had a strange sense of humour. It was supposed to be a representation of five mermaids, joined together. To me, it looked more like a mound of bread dough bashed with a rolling pin. The water was supposed to gush from their mouths. At least, I think it was their mouths.

  As I climbed, using whatever marble jutting I could grab, my coat fell back down, giving me yet another blast of the foul air in here. Believe me, my guts are very robust; they have to be, considering the type of work I do. Even so, this smell really was making me light headed. The air conditioning, just like the water in this fountain, no longer worked, and I doubted that it would ever work again.

  Just as my fingers were about to grab hold of a piece of marble that looked suspiciously like a bare breast, I heard the sound of footsteps coming from somewhere in front of me. Until now, I had no idea just how much the sound carried in here. The sound increased, and yet I still couldn’t see anyone. It had to be Stu though. If I heard him, he must have heard me climbing this thing. I hadn’t exactly been quiet myself.

  My assumption left me when I realised that it wasn’t just one set of footsteps. I dived into the fountain’s bath sized bowl, and ducked my head under the lip, trying not to make any sound, which was a difficult task considering there was at least an inch of wet coins under my body.

  Peering over the top, I now saw three people heading in my direction, and not one of them was Stu. In fact, I had no idea who they were, and from this distance, I couldn’t make out if they were still truly human. Shit, what the hell was I going to do now? I wished I had Stu’s gun. In fact, I wish I had Stu with me. He wouldn’t be cowering in here with only a bunch of coins for company.

  Two middle-aged men, both dressed in dark brown jackets, and a teenage girl hurried past me. They all were wearing surgical masks. My heart leaped, they had to be survivors like me, they just had to be. The turned humans wouldn’t care about the vile smell. The three of them stopped by the front of the mall, and each one gazed into a phone shop. They were talking, but from up here I had no idea what they were saying. It then hit me that I really didn’t have a clue as to how to tell apart the turned and the real survivors unless their faces started to melt.

  The two men exchanged a single look. From up here, I could only guess at what they were doing. They both nodded to the girl before running over to the phone shop and disappearing inside. They had to be looking for me. Stu’s words came back about how the striding monsters would soon search for us. What if these guys really were the turned, and they were doing the same job as the monsters, only in the daytime?

  Lorchester isn’t exactly big, and although I don’t know everybody, I certainly recognise a lot of people, especially those close to my own age. That girl down there fitted into that category, but I hadn’t seen her before. I would have remembered a pretty blonde like that.

  Last night, those two humanlikes had only turned just a few hours previously. The turned had now had a full day to have perfected their face melting technique.

  “Hello?”

  I had to clamp a hand against my mouth at the sound of her voice.

  “I know that somebody has come in here. We heard you. Please, show yourself. We don’t mean you any harm. We’re just like you.”

  Oh God, an angelic voice to match an angelic face. Comparing her to those hulking fucks from last night now seemed like an absurdity. My gut feeling was to trust her. Besides, even if she was lying, there was only one of them now. I’d already proved that I could handle myself. What did I have to lose?

  I shuffled about in this bath of loose change, and wrapped my fingers around the edge. Considering the amount of noise I was making, the girl must have heard me. Yet, as I was about to stand up to announce my presence, I saw her staring not at me, but over at the phone shop. Her comrades were returning, and they weren’t alone. The pair was dragging somebody else out of the shop, and by the way he was trying to grab the edge of the door, he had no wish to go with them. This guy certainly was one of the turned, that much I did know. The two men had caught Mark.

  “Do you think he’s the one we heard?”

  One of the men shook his head. His large hand was clamped around Mark’s neck, and he wasn’t being all that gentle either. I didn’t know what to do anymore, apart from stay where I was and watch. Where the fuck had Stu gone? The head shaker kicked Mark’s legs from under him. “There’ll be more of the bastards somewhere,” he growled. “We can’t have killed all of them.”

  Oh Jesus. I hugged myself tight. Now I knew where all this mess had come from. They were hunting the turned and wasting them. Head shaker took out a short sword from of his belt. So much for worrying that I might have to kill my best friend. These maniacs were going to do the job for me.

  I slowly stood up. No way could I allow them to kill Mark. I didn’t care that the monsters had infected him, it wasn’t his fault. “Leave him alone,” I shouted. “He’s not done you any harm.”

  The other man took the sword out of head shaker’s hand.

  “Come on, son. Down you get.” The man looked over at head shaker. “Tony, he’s one of us.”

  “How can you be so sure?” asked the girl. “I don’t like the look of him.”

  My guts rolled, and despite the dangerous situation, I felt spurned. How ridiculous is that? Hell, most of the human race had been turned into giant homicidal spiders, my best mate was about to be executed, and I felt bad just because a pretty face didn’t like the look of me. Christ, just how messed up was I?

  Mark lifted his head; he gazed at the young girl, then looked directly at the man holding the sword, and said “Allow us to end your suffering. Submit or struggle. It’s irrelevant to them.” He tried to stand up, only for both the men to knock him back down.

  I climbed down out of the marble bath, listening to a few coins hit the tiles below me. They seemed to have forgotten about me, the men were too intent on kicking Mark’s crumpled form. The only one who looked up as I neared was the girl. I held her gaze, looking for any spark of recognition. I saw nothing in those dead eyes but suffering. “Leave him be,” I said.

  “Why?”

  The two men had stopped kicking Mark. The pair of them glared at me. “Why?” repeated head shaker. “This fuckhead
murdered my wife.” He looked at the girl. “He stuck a broom handle into her dad’s eye.” The other man stopped directly in front of me. “Come on, man. Look, I get it, you know the dude, but that doesn’t matter not anymore. He could be your brother, your best bud. Fuck, he might even be your boyfriend. Take it from me, all that’s in the past, he’s one of them now. One of the enemy, and as soon as your back’s turned, he’ll stick a knife in it.”

  Mark turned to face me. “Hello, Travis. Submit. Let us end you. Let us end you before our masters arrive.” He turned his head up to face the ornate ceiling. “The flesh of us flows from them.”

  “Fuck this,” said head shaker. “Just kill them both. Be done with it, so we can get a move on.”

  “You lot are all fucking insane!” I screamed. “Just a bunch of maniacs. You look at this, look around you!” Fresh blood splashed up against my legs. “For crying out loud, how many of these creatures have you killed here?” Tears ran down my face. I looked over at my best friend. Although he knew my name, I saw nothing in those eyes. They were as dead as the girl’s eyes.

  “What are you talking about?” asked head shaker. “We’re not responsible for this. We’ve only been here for an hour. This mess was here when we got here.”

  Mark laughed. “The ones before you submitted.”

  “You fucker!” The other man lifted the sword.

  “Drop that right now!”

  I spun around. Walking out of a clothing shop next to where the men found Mark was Stu. His pistol was pointed straight at the man holding the sword.

  “Isn’t Saturday’s lottery jackpot good enough for you?” Stu looked directly at me and tipped an imaginary hat. “See, I said there’d be others.” He walked past me and stopped. “Come on, lower that weapon arm or lose your kneecap.”

  “Why the fuck should I do that?”

  “Unless you can stop a bullet, I’d say that you already know the answer.”

  “Kill them, Stu, They’ve already killed a load of the turned.”

  He shook his head. “Maybe they have. In fact, I’d be surprised if these guys haven’t had to protect themselves, but not here, not in the mall. They haven’t been here long, for a start.”

  The man looked at his companions before looking back at my new friend. “Wait, I know you now. You’re the guy who hangs around the back of the open market on a Saturday. You’re Traveller Stu.”

  Stu bowed. “At your service. Now that we’re all fast friends, I’d suggest that you drop the sword arm. Just don’t drop the weapon.” He reached into his pockets, brought out a length of cord, and threw it at me. “Travis, secure your best bud. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  I caught the rope in both hands. “How do you know?”

  “The truck’s engine is still warm.”

  We stood there, all six of us, looking at each other. The only one who looked remotely bored was Mark. He continued to stare at the ceiling whilst muttering that the flesh of us flows from them. I pushed past both men, confident that neither of them would stop me. Mark lowered his head, grinned at me, and held out his hands.

  “You can’t do this!” cried the girl.

  Stu nodded. “It’s almost as if you want my friend and me to leave you three alone.” He tested my bindings before pushing the gun back into his belt. “I don’t want to, but if forced, we will go. I’m sure there will be other survivors for us to rescue.”

  Head shaker burst out laughing. “Rescue us? You’re fucking crazy. Rescue us from who?”

  “You’re the driver,” he said, nodding at the other man. “You’d better pray that the keys are still in your pocket.” Stu grabbed the bound up Mark and propelled him towards me. “I’m rescuing you from the ones who made the mess that you lot are standing in.” He took out his pistol. “Travis, put him into the back of the truck, and don’t allow the others to hurt him.” Stu smiled. “Can you not hear them, lady and gentlemen?”

  A low rumble reached my ears. It was the sound of dozens of shoes, trainers, and boots hitting the mall’s tiles. Mark chuckled quietly. “The flesh of us flows from them.”

  My ears yelled out. I stumbled backwards, catching myself before hitting the floor. I tightened my grip on Mark’s wrist, and pushed him through the gap in the doors. Stu had dropped one of the approaching humanlikes, and the others simply surged forward, not caring that their feet were standing over one of their kind. The other three followed me out. Judging from their looks, neither of them had any experience with a firearm either. Another shot rang out, and I saw one more person, a child of around ten or eleven, disappear under the crowd.

  Remembering his orders, I kept hold of Mark, and ran towards the truck. Unburdened with extra baggage, my new companions ran past me, reaching their vehicle way before we did. My heart sank when the doors slammed shut, and the truck started first time. The bastards were going to leave us here. I let go of Mark, and raced across the road. If I could at least grab the back before they had chance to reverse, I might be able to swing my body into the back. There was no way that I’d let them leave us behind.

  So focussed on catching up with the truck, I didn’t notice that the light had dimmed. It was only when the passenger’s window wound down, and the girl stuck out her head. She yelled something at me before gazing up. She started to moan.

  “The flesh from us flow from them.”

  I jumped; I hadn’t heard Mark reach me. The two now faced the sky. I followed their gaze, and almost lost control of my bladder. Thousands of jet black triangles filled the sky. “It’s the end of everything.”

  “Move away from Mark

  I jerked my gaze down, to find Stu standing on the kerb. His pursuers were all grouped at the entrance of the mall. Every one of them were looking into the sky. “What’s the point?” I moaned. “We can’t fight this anymore.”

  He raised his pistol. “This is what they’ll all remember.”

  His gun shouted one more time, and Mark’s body slammed into the middle of the road.

  “Oh, fuck, you’ve killed him!”

  “Shut up, Travis, and help me get him into the back of the truck.” Stu thrust the gun back into his belt. “Move it! We don’t have much time.”

  ***

  They turned day into night. There really were so many. Stu had been right about the survivors not remembering much before their ships blocked out the sun. As we sped through our town, swerving past abandoned vehicles, they continued to arrive. Thousands upon thousands of them. If it hadn’t been for Stu, I don’t think any of us would have reached our destination. He’d been the only one who’d kept his cool; one second giving the driver directions, the next making sure that I kept pressure on Mark’s wounded leg.

  Can you believe that he took us back to the scrapyard? Of all the places we could go, Stu took us in there. As the truck wheeled past the piles of dissected cars, all I could hear was Mark’s continuous chant. He hadn’t stopped saying those words. There seemed little point in telling him to shut his mouth, it’s not like he would have listened.

  I know I haven’t told you much of what you don’t already know. I’m sorry about that, but I think that it’s essential that you know the background first. Believe me, what doesn’t sound that important could end up being the one thing that saves your life.

  Son, I can hear them. The extractors have just come back online. They’re recycling the atmosphere. They always do that first. You would have thought that by now, some of the prime aliens would have adapted themselves to breathe our air.

  Oh, that’s a funny one. Why would they bother doing that when they can just as easily adapt us instead? Fuck, my breath is starting to mist, and the fluid in these clear pipes have changed colour. I don’t have long left. When they get here, you can be sure that they’ll detect that I’ve tampered with the equipment. You need to listen to me, son. The next piece could be your saviour.

  I’ll resume my story several hours later, when I opened my eyes and saw, to my complete surprise, I’d survived
the night; we all had, even Mark. There was something else equally shocking too. The skies were completely clear, I saw no sign of those black ships, and I could have made myself believe that I’d imagined them. All that faded as soon as I stood up and gazed into the distance.

  ***

  I awoke to the sound of quiet chuckling. It was most unnerving. Not her voice, hell, I could listen to that girl all day, and never grow tired of it. It’s just that a few hours earlier I finally fell into an exhausted sleep, thinking that I’d never hear the noise of laughter ever again. To be honest, I didn’t think that I’d hear anything at all, on account of them coming for us whilst we slept.

  If the Black Sentinels didn’t melt us, then the aliens certainly would. Black Sentinels? It’s not my name. Mark came up with that to describe the spider things during his one brief moment of coherency.

  I don’t remember that much of last night. I didn’t speak that much, and neither did our new companions. I guess that now our oppressors had finally shown up, there was no need to say anything, apart from to await our death. After all, what chance did any of us have now? In fact, the only two people that were using their vocal chords were Mark and Stu, although my ex-best mate was just saying that same thing over and over. On the other hand, Stu never shut up, explaining what he believed were their tactics. Explaining something called ‘shock and awe’ tactics, while pointing upwards. Saying that they need us broken, as broken things are easier to sweep up.

  He’d even got a fire going, despite the protests from the two men. Once they had calmed down, Stu dragged Mark closer to the fire, and we all watched him in silence as he forced a funnel into Mark’s mouth, and poured a full bottle of cheap vodka down his mouth.

  The consequence shocked the hell out of me. I saw—at least I thought I saw— a part of the old Mark shine though, but that could have been my imagination. His spell from repeating that chant only lasted a minute or two, but it was enough for Stu. He said it gave him hope, it should give us all hope.