by Ian Woodhead
“I think we all can join in on the chorus of that particular song,” muttered Jeanette. “Well if you’re up to it, I recommend that we head off.” She picked out a golf club from Pedro’s cache. “This stuff is not stopping. If we don’t get to the exit soon, we might not be able to get out at all.”
Sierra looked at the collection of objects by Pedro’s feet. The lad had brought back a cricket bat, a garden fork and a cleaver. She grabbed the cleaver, noticing that the lad had already found himself a bowie knife. “I agree, we should get a move on, but I’m not going to leave the town, at least not yet.”
They both looked at her as if she’d just grown an extra head. Why was she not surprised that their reaction? “I was on my way to grab my son when the black shit covered me. I left him in my mother’s care.” Sierra had no idea why she felt the need to explain her actions. By the looks of it, the lovebirds had already made up their minds to abandon her.
“Oh hell,” replied Jeanette. “I’m so sorry, I really had no idea.” She looked over at Pedro. “We can’t allow our saviour to continue alone, hun.”
“No way.” The man walked over to a free standing board that displayed an aerial view of the shops within the mall. “Thing is, how do we find him?” Pedro started to scrape the white fibres expanding over the sign. “I know you’re a local, Sierra but I saw how disoriented you were when we got out of that tunnel. Even if your mother’s house is only a few streets from here, the chances are that we could walk right past it without even knowing.”
“Pedro,” warned Jeanette, “Enough with the negativity. This woman saved out lives. We owe her.”
“Just think about what you’re saying!” he yelled. “I know what she did for us, and of course I’m fucking grateful, but it doesn’t mean we should all go and commit suicide by going on a wild goose chase. Following her plan will be like stumbling blindfold through a giant hedge maze with a pack of wolves on our heels.”
Sierra looked at the cleaver in her hand, wondering if she’d feel any better if she slammed the business between his eyes. “Fine, I don’t need your help.” She spun around and stormed off.”
“Just listen to me,” he shouted after her. “If we head in a straight line, we’ll be at the edge within minutes. You heard the helicopters, Sierra. They’ll be able to find your lad before you know it.”
She carried on walking, not believing he could be so selfish, after all she had done for him, for both of them. The older woman might have been tempted to come but Jeanette wouldn’t leave her young bit on the side for her. Sierra gripped the handle tight and rushed towards the escalator, trying so hard not to burst into tears.
Her son needed a strong willed mummy, one that wasn’t going to allow a small thing like betrayal to get in her way. Hell no. A clear head and a will to overcome any obstacle in her path was what Sierra needed right now, considering what she’d endured since this morning, she had both of those in spades. Sierra was almost fooled into thinking that everything since meeting Ryan had been one huge perverted dream when she saw the entrance to the market, at the top of the metal steps. It looked completely normal, not a trace of any of the fibre. The illusion was only ruined when she looked back the way she had run, and saw the invasive material had now covered that free standing sign and was now creeping along the tiled floor, towards a shoe shop.
It didn’t surprise her to see that her two companions were nowhere to be seen, those two were probably already on their way towards the ground floor exit, eager to join the rescuers on the outskirts of Radfield.
She didn’t need their help. Sierra began to climb the escalator. She didn’t need the help of anyone.
***
Harvey O’Neil couldn’t believe his luck when the three of them split up. He coiled four of his appendages a little tighter around the mall lighting, watching the female intensely. Her weapon did worry him a little. Of the eight humans that he’d consumed so far only one of them had fought back, a middle-aged bald man who Harvey had run down in the underground car park. The man hadn’t gone without a fight. The bastard had managed to crack the shell casing, protecting Harvey’s three eight stalks and to make matters worse, the bastard had done that with both of his big fists.
What damage would that cleaver do to his body? He continued to pull off the white fibres growing up the wall and use his saliva to stick the stuff over his body. It concerned him somewhat that although he now resembled an organic armoured vehicle, this stuff wasn’t as robust as it looked.
The man had tasted very sweet though, so much sweeter than his other victims. He released two of his appendages and swung, like a monkey, his free appendages gripping the next light fitting. His movement went unnoticed and he was now directly above the panting woman. If it hadn’t been for the attack in the carpark, he’d be so tempted to let go and fall on her. His mother raised no fools though. He’d already had one wake up call, thank you very much. There was thirty feet of nothing separating his rigid shell plates from very hard red-painted concrete. It would only take her to move for that floor to gain yet another large splash of red.
He could wait for a little longer, at least until he was absolutely sure that the woman wouldn’t be able to hurt him. Harvey followed her as she entered the old part of the mall into the covered market. The next few minutes would be very interesting. He sensed another two hunters in there. He’d been aware of the every since he took shelter in the mall. Unlike him though, neither of them had fed yet, consequentially, their changed bodies had resorted to feeding off their own flesh, in order to stay alive. They were now the size of large dogs. If they didn’t eat soon, they wouldn’t last the night. Harvey didn’t care what happened to them but he would like to see what happened to their species once their food supply did run out.
Harvey was a realist, the remaining humans in town were now getting scarce. The slow, fat, young and very old had already perished. He remembered his first meal, his own mother. Harvey remembered her terror struck face, watching her eldest son change from a part-time bar tender into his present form. The ever-present aroma of scented candles (always sweet vanilla) quickly changed to the stench of shit as Harvey slid down the stairs and rested four of his newly grown appendages on her shoulders. When he had first changed, his rationality had taken a back seat, allowing his accelerated aggression full access to control his body. Harvey had bitten off the woman’s head, even before her bowels had finished. He had left the house looking for more meals, silently wishing that his brother, Brian had been in the house. He would have so enjoyed munching his way through that bastard’s body.
The woman below him was now leaning against the corner of a fruit and veg stall, looking down both intersecting aisles. He so hoped that his next potential meal wouldn’t look up. Although he’d already covered much of his body on the fibre (a genius move on his part.) He’d somehow managed to stop in an area of the ceiling where the carpet had yet to conquer. If the bitch did care to look up, she’d probably see what looked like a car sized snow ball stuck to the girders.
She was bound to know how to use that weapon, it made sense. No human would be able to survive for this amount of time without either being very lucky or having the constitution of Rambo, and Harvey really didn’t want that cleaver cracking him like ice on a lake.
The woman released a tiny gasp, causing Harvey to start, almost losing his grip on the three thick pipes running across the length of the market roof. He thought she’d spotted him. She bent her body forward and raced along the aisle, keeping her body close to the stalls. It hadn’t been him she’d seen. His smaller companions had made their move. They both folded over the counter of a video shop and dropped onto the floor. The chase was on. From his vantage point, he watched the woman run towards the south exit while her two pursuers took off, each one taking alternate routes. The woman would reach the doors a few seconds before the either of the two hunters but she would be in for a shock. That door was locked.
The speed of the hunter hunters took him b
y surprise too. What they lacked in bulk, they certainly made up in agility. Harvey secretly wondered if sheer desperation drove them on too. After all, if they didn’t consume this human, the chances of making past the next few hours would be very slim.
He dispensed with stealth and swung across the market roof as fast as he could, believing that none of the players below him would be aware of his approach no matter how much noise he made.
Harvey reached the far corner of the market. The entrance and the woman came into view. She had already found the door shut and from the look of how she was swinging that cleaver into the woodwork, she wasn’t too happy with this unfortunate turn of events.
The two other hunters streaked down the two aisles. She pulled the cleaver out of the woodwork and slammed her back against the locked door, held the cleaver out in front of her and growled. Harvey waited for another moment before swinging his longest two appendages downward, their momentum crashing into one of the hunters. He coiled them around it’s squealing body, lifting it towards his mouth. Harvey’s eight jaws retracted and his internal manipulators rolled out of his mouth cavity, each one gripping the edges of the hunter’s plates, prising them open so the tips in two of his appendages could push inside.
He groaned with complete delight as he tasted his first hunter. He had no idea that a member of his kind could taste so sweet. It took him just seconds to turn the monster into a dry shell. Harvey allowed the waste to clatter to the floor and he swung across the roof, the human forgotten. Right now, he needed to taste more of that sweet and tender meat.
***
Sierra almost dropped her weapon when that horrifying creature snagged one of the things running after her. She hadn’t once even though of looking up. Christ, that thing struggling in it’s grasp could have been her. What use would this bloody cleaver be against something like that?
She watched it shoot across the roof far above her. It’s next prey had already seen the danger and had already double-back, racing out of the market and back into the new mall. She didn’t allow herself to weep with relief, that thing had bought her a little time but not much, it had only taken it a few seconds to consumed that other monster, as soon as it caught the last one, how long would it be before it came back for her?
Sierra ran over to the remains of the monster and gingerly picked up the largest shell, thanking God that it looked as heavy as she imagined. She ran back to the door, held the edge and swung it at the glass, crying with happiness as the shell cracked the glass in the door. She swung it twice more before dropping it and using the cleaver to clear out the glass from the frame.
The sound of shrieks reached her ears. Sierra groaned and began to climb through the small hole, catching the sight of that huge creature swinging back along the roof. “No, oh God, please no.”
She had one leg through but she’d caught the corner of her jacket on the door on the other side. The creature sped closer to her. Sierra frantically pulled on the fabric, listening to it tear but still not enough to free her.
The monster dropped to the floor, its appendages, each one as thick as drainpipes. sliding towards her panicking body. “Leave me alone, you fucker!” She gripped the cleaver, feeling her hot sweat coat the handle. Sierra jerked and tugged, feeling the fabric tear some more. She screamed out in triumph as the door released her coat.
The screams turned to terror as two of its appendages forced their way through the narrow opening, heading straight for her open mouth. Sierra threw herself to the side, slamming into the wall. The two appendages curled like giant snakes following her down. Sierra wildly arched her arm, the cleaver digging deep into the monster’s bright green flesh. The creature shrieked, and flung the damaged appendage into the air, taking the cleaver with it.
Sierra jumped to her feet, ignoring the searing pain running through her chest and guts and bolted down the slope, the sight of daylight at the end of the passageway never looking more inviting. Her journey was cut short as she found her body crashing into the floor yet again. She managed to place both her arms in front of her to stop her face from kissing the concrete.
The monster had pushed two more of it’s tentacles through the smashed window, both of them were now wrapped tight around Sierra’s ankles and were pulling her closer and closer to the door.
“Get the fuck off me, you bastard!” It had pulled the appendage with her cleaver still lodged in the flesh through the door. Sierra twisted onto her back and attempted to sit up as the monster dragged her body along the floor. She knew full well that if she didn’t get those things off her legs, she wouldn’t last five seconds once she reached it’s open mouth.
Sierra dug her nails into the soft green flesh, finding it surprisingly soft, it felt like plunging her fingers into a block of lard. The monster’s started up its wailing. “Does that hurt? Fucking good! I’m going to…”
Two more appendages slammed into the side of her head, she fell back to the floor almost knocking her unconscious. The woman blinked hard, desperately trying to keep hold of her senses. The thing pulled her off the ground, hanging the woman upside down while it proceeded to rip open the rest of the door. Sierra turned slowly, the cleaver coming in sight but not within reach. She began to cry, knowing that this was the end of her. She’d never she her Danny ever again.
The splintered door fell off it hinges and hit the ground and the monster slid through the gap. It’s jaws slid back and gripped her even tighter. Sierra screamed herself raw as it pulled her closer to it’s mouth.
The appendages holding her legs jerked to the side and Sierra found her body swing. She saw her chance and heaved her arms forward, the tips of the fingers brushing against the side of the door frame. She used the momentum to swing again, this time her fingers found leverage.
Sierra used the last of her strength to press her fingers tight around the wood, crying out as the coils around her ankles tightened. She gritted her teeth and pulled her body forward, managing the wrap her arms around the frame. The pressure dropped off at the same moment she heard her attacker release a soft sigh. Sierra whipped her head back, finding it leaning against the wall, every one of its appendages, including the ones that had gripped her, now lay in a jumbled heap.
Two hands grabbed her side, and she yelled out.
“Hush, Sierra,” soothed a female voice. “You’re safe now. Its okay.”
She allowed the woman to pull her hands off the wood. The woman spun around and Sierra fell into Jeanette’s arms. “Thank you,” she sobbed. “Thank you for coming back!” Sierra watched Pedro pulling his knife out of the creature’s back and wiped the blade on his trousers,
“You’re welcome,” he said. “We’re still heading straight for the edge of town though. I’m sorry.” He sighed heavily. “Thing is, Sierra, the only reason we came this way was because the other entrance is blocked up.”
Sierra looked into the woman’s face and broke into tears when the woman nodded in agreement.
16. Pockets of Panic
Brian O’Neil straightened his tie one more time before taking a deep breath. Once his breathing was back under control, he pushed open the dark walnut double doors and entered the board room. The three forms sat on the long table before him didn’t acknowledge his entrance. Brian nodded at the nearest form, the woman beneath the knotted mass of white fibre had been dead now for over an hour. Unlike the remaining corpses in this room, she had died at her own hand, a cardboard packet containing extra strength pain killers lay by her expensive black high heeled shoes.
“Good morning, Jaime,” said Brian, as he walked behind her. “The new hairstyle does look good on you, by the way.” He stopped and turned around, trying to see if any of her lovely features were still visible. “I really am sorry about what’s happened to you, baby, really I am.”
He walked over to the next corpse laying sprawled on his chair. Dennis Bailey still looked human – as long as Brian didn’t look under the table. Both of Dennis’s legs had gone, the soft carapace now gr
ew over where the man’s groin used to be and three dozen wire thin, bright green tendrils, trailing down to the plush carpet. Brian’s mum raised no fools. He had already taken the boss’s illegal pistol from the locked drawer from the man’s private office. Just one shot had stopped the change in its tracks. At the time, he hadn’t been totally sure whether it would halt the transformation. It looked as though his luck had held out.
The managing director of Radfield electronics, the largest company in the town, and probably in the county, lay with his head resting on the thick polished table. He too had met his end with the gun held in Brian’s hand. Unlike the other two board members, there had been nothing wrong with Gilbert Mathews. Brian had murdered the bastard because he had an affair with Brian’s wife several years ago.
He turned to stare out of the window, the white stuff growing over Jaime blocked out every human built structure, suffocating Radfield with its fibres. The town’s perimeter lay about a mile from the seven storey building, apart from the shopping mall, The headquarters of Radfield Electronics had yet to find itself under the white fibre. It wouldn’t be long though now, the stuff had already reached the fourth floor.
Convoys of military vehicles had reached the outskirts of Radfield about an hour ago and since that time, they had already begun to advance into the town, fighting with the green monsters, and burning the fibre. He wondered how those men clad in their yellow body suits would react when they came into contact with the other stuff in Radfield, the black slime.
He had only seen it once, while he was looking for something to eat in the staff canteen. The normally noisy place was completely empty. He had assumed that like the rest of the people he’d seen, their employees had fled. His theory was turned on its side when he saw the black treacle-like substance flowing in one long line, from the back of the kitchens, heading towards the waste drain. There were lumps in the stuff.