by Maxey, Phil
All eyes flicked to the two soldiers.
“You set explosives?” said Esther.
Luci ignored her question, answering Scott’s. “Everything’s ready! Get your ass down here! Over.”
The sound of the clapping of boots on steps came from the radio’s speaker. “Get the truck fired up! Over.”
Sanchez ran to the artificial exit and promptly skidded to a stop on the shards, then raised his weapon. The others ran forward.
“What did you see?” shouted Luci.
He shook his head. “I swear I saw something in those trees on the other side of the road.” He stepped over the threshold, his weapon still pointing at the swaying branches and bushes, all smothered in an almost absolute blackness.
A circle of light appeared as Millar focused his beam where they were all looking. The bushes moved.
“Th—”
Before Millar could finish a dark mass of limbs burst forth, surging across the four-lane road, past the back of the trailer and onto the bottom of the stone steps where it met a hail of gunfire. It raised one then two and more spindly hooked limbs, but fell with a slump to the ground.
“Where are you?” said Luci into her radio, panic evident in her voice.
A breath came from the speaker along with rustling. “Was that firing?”
“There’s something else out there!” shouted Tracey, looking to their left, to the north. Everyone strained to see the shapes moving amongst the dark.
Luci swore. “They’re already here!”
Sanchez ran outside, towards his truck.
“Get back!” she shouted, but he was already jumping down the steps. Millar sprinted after him, vaulting over the quivering creature as Sanchez ran down the side of the trailer, pulling the driver’s door open and climbing up.
“Look out!” shouted Luci walking forward, firing at one of the dark forms that had broken from the rest and was charging down the road towards Millar.
He turned and immediately fired, she and five others doing the same, but the shadows clung to the four-legged thing which was almost a blur and clattered into Millar, lifting him into the air as he fired down towards it.
Luci ran forward firing projectiles into the thing, which roared, dropping the soldier to the ground then spun around in anger. Another volley tore into it as parts exploded in red and it fell to the concrete. She with Landon ran to Millar as the truck started to reverse towards them. Shouting and screams, human and otherwise filled the air as the two of them lifted Millar, dragging him back up the steps best they could as neon streaks flew past them towards countless angry shapes moving their way.
With Vance and Andy they pulled him over the broken glass into the lobby as the trailer’s wheels bumped up the steps, reversing all the way until it slammed into the wall, covering most of the glass windows.
“Sanchez is out there!” shouted Esther from inside.
Just fifteen-feet away Sanchez looked out his side window at the things filling the street from both ends and the others stumbling from the trees. Pushing his door open, he started to jump down but things were charging up the steps. Grabbing the frame of the door, he swung around, climbing onto the hood, then climbed higher onto the cabin roof. A claw scythed at his foot, almost catching his boot which he pulled back just in time. He fired his weapon down into the creatures fighting to reach him, backing up against the wall above the windows. Spinning around without a second thought he jumped up, grabbing the bottom of the railings then pulled himself higher, clambering onto the first floor roof.
Below him, Scott, Jess, Sam and Lachlan ran out of the entrance to the stairs and into the lobby. Scott immediately spotted the trailer covering the way out, then ran to Millar, kneeling.
“We have to get to Sanchez!” screamed Esther.
Landon looked up. “I think I can hear something above us. Maybe he climbed up! I think he’s on the roof.”
Millar’s mouth opened and closed, but only blood came from his lips. Luci gripped his hand, which then fell limp and she immediately started to pump his chest. “Come on, man. Don’t give up!”
Glass shattered across the lobby as something awkward, lumbered through a jagged hole of one of the few remaining uncovered windows. A hail of bullets slammed into it as it screeched, falling backwards, then onto the dying remains of a large plant, collapsing, lifeless.
Vance and Esther ran forward, firing as more things tried to enter from the same hole, but Luci’s only focus was her friend. Scott put his hand on her arm but she shrugged it off. “He’s strong, I just gotta—”
Scott dragged her backwards. She turned on him with fury and bloodshot eyes.
“He’s gone!” he shouted.
Any protest soon left her as she looked across the room to what was almost inside the curved space.
“Everyone upstairs!” shouted Landon. Most of the others were already running towards a single door marked with ‘stairs to first floor’ and he followed them, just behind Jess and Sam, pushing the door open then surging up the narrow staircase and bursting out onto the glossy tiles and more entrances to the elevators. Vance and Esther almost fell out of the stairwell as well, behind him, the latter scouring the windows to the roof outside. A shadowy figure lit up as Sanchez fired his weapon into the street below, which was followed by roars.
Esther ran to the window, hitting it with her fist, shouting at Sanchez to move her way, but the sound from outside was deafening. She took one step back and fired, shattering the window. Sanchez spun around almost firing at the dark form emerging from the rows of windows, but quickly raised his weapon running forward.
“Get in here!” shouted Esther.
Inside, Lachlan’s eyes weren’t the only ones large with fear. “What are we going to do!” he shouted.
Most of the others were at the windows, looking at the street outside and the things flooding into it. Flashes of teeth and claws belong to oddly sharpened appendages came and went within the darkness, the noise of hungry things, incessant.
“Why did you set charges?” said Landon to Scott.
“A going away present for those things outside.”
“But we’re in here with the bombs!” shouted Vance.
Luci and Andy both standing on the roof, fired down into the street.
“I know!” responded Scott. “That wasn’t part of the plan!”
Jess with Sam were watching the movement outside. Jess trying to gain some understanding from the creatures just tens of yards away, looking for a pattern of behavior, something she could use to distract them. Sam was only thinking of tearing them apart with her bare hands, or whatever her hands would become when she let the rage overwhelm her.
“Conserve your ammo!” shouted Scott on the roof with the three others. As things leaped and jumped up at them from below, he looked up at the top of the tower.
“Going up there isn’t a good idea!” shouted Luci, noticing where his attention was placed.
He looked at her. “We ain’t getting out of here without some help!”
“They can’t get to us from Galveston in—”
“Not them, the Newgrove train! If I go back up, I can maybe get them a message! Get them here quicker!”
Luci shook her head in disapproval then turned to walk back inside. “Then I’ll go!”
“No, it has to be me!”
“I got a better idea,” said Sanchez. “I’ll go!”
“You need to get up there quick!”
He nodded, took two steps towards the glass window then stopped. He spun around then ran to the edge where it dropped down to the back of the trailer. Something growled and a claw appeared from the darkness before falling away. “Cover me! I need to get something from the trailer!”
“What?” said Luci. “What is so—”
He fired off a volley into the darkness, screeches came in reply, then lowered himself and dropped. Above, the others ran forward, Scott and Luci both swearing while Andy flooded the area below with as much light a
s he could from a flashlight. There was no sign of Sanchez but the rear door of the trailer was open.
“Come on! Quick!” shouted Luci at the trailer, bending over.
“There!” shouted Andy, his light’s beam sliding the twenty or so feet further and lighting the dark inset eyes of a mess of a face. Distorted human features extended even further as a mouth too large for the head which contained it, opened and snapped closed. The dark brown torso covered in ragged pieces of clothing was climbing the steps towards the trailer. Bullets dissected the air, slicing through the thing’s limbs, but it kept on coming.
“You got company!” shouted Scott, trying to figure out where to shoot the thing to put it down for good.
The trailer door pushed open wider and Sanchez stood with what looked like a backpack across his shoulders. He stood on the rear trailer ledge, his hand raised. “I can’t make it to the front. Pull me up!”
Scott threw himself to the roof’s surface, stretching his arm then hand lower as Sanchez jumped up to try and catch it, but the gap was too wide. “I… can’t… reach… you!” said the soldier.
The thing picked up speed, its lumbering body being propelled by ill-suited limbs. Luci fired again, projectiles cutting across its face, which appeared to heal as wounds appeared. “Why won’t this fucker go down!”
Scott crawled forward even more, his own body teetering over the edge. He didn’t hear the footsteps from behind, but a rope dropped past him.
“Here!” said Jess, lowering the thick cord she had taken from the first floor room.
Sanchez grabbed hold and she, Scott and Andy pulled him up, where he sat a moment catching his breath then pulled away from the edge, as something roared from below.
“Why was that pack so important!” shouted Luci.
He let out a breath, then got up and ran towards the broken window. “Not a pack!” he shouted, his words fading as he submerged into the shadows of the first floor room.
The barrels of Andy’s and Luci’s rifles jutted and darted left and right, firing short bursts at the shapes moving amongst the dark, but the numbers were increasing.
“There’s too many out here!” shouted Luci.
A heavy clump came from the front of the truck. Before anyone could react a spider-like form clambered on the hood, the windshield shattering. Scott ran right, along the roof but he arrived too late to stop the thing, climbing higher onto the cab then with one move, leaping onto the roof, causing him to skid to a stop. He immediately kneeled and fired. Bullets pinged off the boney protrusions which covered the dark body. It screeched in reply then lunged forward, Scott falling over his feet while firing. He turned in desperation for help but the three others with weapons were waging their own battles at other angry forms trying to get to the roof. Something heavy landed on his ankle, piercing the flesh then muscle making him cry out in pain. He whipped around ready to fire into the face of the thing almost upon him when a blur came from behind. A ferocious human shaped shadow smashed into the thing with such strength that the creature was hurled backwards, over the side of the wall into the darkness. It turned around, its features almost recognizable.
“Sam?” He said, momentarily forgetting the pain burning from his lower leg. Her body appeared to shrink and she ducked lower, taking him under his arm and helping towards the window. He looked over at the others. “Retreat! Get inside!”
Thirty-five flights above Sanchez swore repeatedly. He was too old for this shit. Not fighting monsters, but to be running up what felt like a hundred flights of stairs. He sniggered to himself.
Probably gonna have a heart attack before I get to the top!
His lungs burned as he tried to force the air into his mouth between breaths. He had long before dropped the AK-47. Now only carrying a radio, his chute and not much else. As his heart struggled to pump enough blood to his legs and arms he tried not to think about his plan. The one that came to him ten minutes before when he looked up at the tower and he stupidly volunteered to get to the top.
He swore again, slowing then speeding up again knowing that everyone’s life depended upon him succeeding.
He burst out the final door, staggering across the carpeted restaurant then with blurry eyes clattered into the glass door to the viewing gallery and pushed it open. A blast of icy air did nothing to cool him and he fumbled the radio from his belt and with some effort raised it to his mouth.
“Err… Train… Owen! Newgrove… Can you…” He swore again. “Come on! Newgrove… train… you out—”
“We… hear… Where… you? Over.”
“Dallas! We’re in Dallas! Near the main train station! How far away are you?! Over.”
“Entering… five… Over.”
“The creatures are in the city! We need your help getting out! Over!”
“Sit… Almost… Over.”
He scanned across the landscape from the concrete and steel buildings to the east, to the… A light sparkled to the north. He leaned on the handrail, straining his eyes, then held the radio aloft with his aching arm. “Scott! They’re here! They’re almost here. You read me! Over!”
“We hear you!” said Luci from the speaker. “The train is here? Over.”
“It’s maybe two—”
He felt the impact of the glass window shattering as his back hit it, before the winged shadow completely eclipsed him. The back of his head felt wet as he looked up at the ceiling of the restaurant.
“What the fu…” A huge mass moved outside the remaining windows of the restaurant. He had no idea if it could see him. Perhaps it was too dark where he lay. He slowly turned onto his front, lifting himself up and grabbed at his belt for the radio, but it was nowhere to be seen.
One of the windows shuddered as a wing or some other appendage knocked into it, then like nails on a chalk-board, scratched across its surface.
He kneeled then crouch walked across the carpet, away from the—
Static burst from the radio which had been just inches from where he landed. Before Luci’s voice came from it, two of the windows collapsed as the thing surged through them directly for the radio, crunching it with a claw. Sanchez turned and ran for the stairwell, but just feet from it the floor shook and instinctively he dived to his left behind a counter and stayed there. Keeping low. Daring not to move as the creature’s foul breath washed over him. This thing was fast. He wasn’t going to get to the stairwell and even if he did who would say it wouldn’t follow him in there. Into the confined space with no other ways out. He needed another option. Or maybe his first option. He rose up slightly, looking over the top of the molded counter and glass containers of rotting food. A cold wind blew through the openings to freedom. The creature spun around making him duck again. He knew he would only get one chance. His timing had to be perfect.
A high pitch whine came from what remained of the radio, getting a screech in reply from what was only a few feet away. The thing thundered across the room, again trying to kill the source of the noise. Without hesitation Sanchez clambered around the counter side and sprinted for all he was worth, out, through the gaping hole, leaping from the ledge to the top of the guardrail and then jumped into the night.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
6: 34 a.m. Dallas.
“Sanchez! Are you there?! Over,” shouted Luci into the radio, as the others fired from inside the room to the awkward bodies making their way across the roof towards the windows.
Lachlan tilted his head. “What’s that sound…”
Sam could hear it more clearly and climbed on top of a counter, seeing above the things smothering the space outside. “It’s the train. It’s pulling into the station!”
All then saw the light streaming through the trees across the road, silhouetting the malformed creatures bearing down on them. The train’s heavy engine grumbled as it slowed.
“We’re here! Are you there?” said Owen from Luci’s radio. “The creatures are everywhere! Over.”
“We’re in the base of tower to your
right! Over,” she replied.
Esther ran towards the stairwell. “I’m going up to see what he’s doing!”
“No! Wait!” shouted Jess. “You won’t make it back down! We don’t have time!”
A patchwork of neon streams spread out from the station’s tracks some ninety yards away.
“Can you get to us!” said Owen. “We can’t hold them off for long! Over.”
She looked at Scott, who was propped up against a pillar, his raised weapon firing in short spurts at anything that came to close to the smashed window. “Can we make it over there?” she shouted across the room.
“We have to!” he shouted in reply, firing off a volley again. He looked back at her. “The timers need to be set!”
She threw the radio to Jess then turned and ran towards the back of the room. “On it!”
Easter watched Luci run past her. “What about—”
“You guys might want to think about leaving. Over.”
“Sanchez?” said Jess in reply to his voice from the speaker.
“Tell him to get down here!” screamed Esther.
“I’m on the train with Owen and the others. We’ll try and clear a route for you, but you need to leave now! Over.”
The shock of his location only lasted a few seconds as the streaks of light from multiple automatic weapons converged on the trees, shredding leaves, wood and creature apart. Scott limped forward towards the stairs. “Down!” he shouted as others ran past him back to the ground floor. He looked back at the gloom behind the nearby corridors. “Luci! We have to go!”
She ran from the shadows, placing her arm beneath his to help him down the stairs and into a fury of noise. They hobbled out into the large space as across the room everyone began ducking under the jagged pieces of glass of the broken window to get outside.
“We’re coming now!” she shouted, walking with Scott best she could then helping him follow the others out into the chaos. As she crawled through she glanced back into the shadows at Millar’s body.