As the Light Dies (27 page)

Thunder rumbled, booming loudly from all directions bouncing off the dead trees on either side. He carried on trudging through the bizarre mix of ash and snow, and as he got closer, the basic outline came in to view and stayed there. A giant black silhouette appeared with dozens of chimney stacks along the roof that had what looked like turrets on some of the corners.

“
Wow! Some hospital eh
,”
said Collin and Leann nodded as they heard another bang that was followed by a strange noise.

Leann sucked air between her teeth
,“
What was that
?”
she asked, and as if the guy filming the video heard her, he said
,“
Tha
t’
s the strange gurgling kind of sound people keep making: the ones with the ash sickness. Things have calmed down from this morning, I could
n’
t get near the place, I would
n’
t dare. I did
n’
t need to get too close to know what was happening. They were all fighting each other, fighting like maniacs. I could see patients and doctors through the windows, lots of them, probably all of them, and they were attacking each other! I know how that must sound. I still ca
n’
t get my head around it
!
”

“
They were biting, kicking, punching and swiping at each other. There were screams coming from everywhere. I managed to use the zoom on the other camera and I caught a glimpse of a group of people around a hospital bed
.”
The reporte
r’
s voice became very high pitched as he struggled to continue, and he blurted
,
“They were fucking attacking the person tied down on the bed!”

Leann looked at Collin with a raised eyebrow
,“
Really
?”
she said.

Collin shrugged his shoulders.

The reporter took a few deep breaths then cleared his throat before he continued.

“
Then one of them must have seen me because they started to run after me, every last one, and some of them were even naked! They looked like the
y’
d been playing in the damned snow. They were black and grey from head to toe. Discoloured like the trees.

Thank God I was far enough back to make it back to the van without being caught. I do
n’
t know what they would have done if the
y’
d caught me. I think the
y’
ve gone insane
!
”

“
Then all last night there were screams ringing out through town and that weird gurgle sound the discoloured people keep making, the ones with the ash sickness or whatever it is, and it sounded like people were being attacked. All around town. All night long. It was terrible. I felt completely helpless. I still do
!
”

“
It was worse than reporting from Bosnia with mortar shells going off all around you, and bullets whizzing past your head. It really was. At least over there you knew what people were fighting for. The sick people are an unknown
.
”

Another thump sounded nearby and then a gut wrenching scream rang out!

The reporter flinched and hunched down low.

“Oh shit!”
he said as glass smashed somewhere.

He scurried forwards still crouching and as he got closer, the hospital became clearer.

Broken windows littered the giant building and one of the heavy looking thick wooden front doors had split from the frame and hung at an awkward angle in the doorway.

“Jeez!”
said Leann
,“
look at the place! I
t’
s been wrecked
!
”

There was an ambulance sitting outside with the drive
r’
s door open.

The camera zoomed in on the ambulance focusing on the drive
r’
s door. They saw that the door glass was shattered. There was a spider web of cracks spreading from one side to the other and from top to the bottom. There was a bloody mark in the centre of the spider web with a mark that ran down the glass and over the white door until it finally dripped of the bottom of the door on to the ground. The camera panned down and the dirty snow under the door almost glistened.

“Blood!”
said the reporter.

He panned along following what looked like a trail that led away from the open ambulance door and the bloody mark like a stain in the already dirty snow.

It looked like something had been dragged away from the ambulance.

The mark disappeared at the foot of the front steps. There was another loud bang much louder than any before.

“
Shit
!”
said the reporter and the camera shot up to the row of windows on the second floor.

There was another bang, followed by a fast rattle. The camera shot across to another window on the next floor up, this one was
n’
t broken, yet. The reporter
s’
breathing was loud and uneven.

A deafening scream rang out making the reporter swear. Collin and Leann both jumped. Leann looked at Collin and chuckled nervously. The reporter lost sight of the window for a moment as he moved. The view on screen darted across the front of the hospital until it found that third floor window again and as he did something moved inside the room, in the darkness.

They all saw it
.“
Shit
!”
said the reporter
,“
Oh shit, shit, shit! I
t’
s still going on
!
”

Leann looked at Collin puzzled
.“
What was, uh, did you see that
?”
she said.

“
Yea
,”
said Collin answering slowly fixated the screen. It moved again.

“
Oh Christ
!”
said the reporter. The camera was shaking in his hands. There was another bang and this time it repeated, then again, and again.

“
What
,”
started Leann when a shrill scream suddenly drowned everything out.

The reporter ran over to the cover of the trees slipping and sliding, nearly falling a couple of times as he did. He crouched down beside the trees semi hidden still watching, focused on that window.

The screams continued, it sounded like two people were screaming not just one.

The banging continued over and over, frantic!

“
OH God! I have no idea wha
t’
s happening in there, but I think that two people are in there and I think the
y’
re trapped
!
”

“God help them if it’s anything like I saw earlier!”

“
What the hell is going on
?”
said Leann.

There was a flurry of movement behind the window. Black silhouettes moved across the black room, the banging and rattling intensified and a strange guttural gurgling noise rose up joined by an almighty creaking cracking sound!

“
Tha
t’
s that sound again
,”
said Leann.

Suddenly a blonde woman was flung backwards against the window. Leann and Collin both flinched. The blonde woman was in a nurs
e’
s uniform, she was pressed hard up against the window, something dark curled around her neck.

Then she was gone pulled in to the room, in to the darkness. High pitched frantic screaming poured from the iPa
d’
s speakers joined by the gurgle, almost overpowered by it!

Someone started shouting
.
“NO! STOP! STOP IT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHATS WRONG WITH YOU?”

Another nurse appeared at the window. This one had dark hair, she banged at the window trying to break the glass, her forearms were bleeding badly, blood smeared across the glass as she bashed at it. She managed to crack and then break the window. It was old brittle single pane glass and it split in to two large shards, she was absolutely hysterical grabbing and pulling at the broken glass with her bare hands slicing herself to ribbons! Leann winced at the thought and balled her own hands in to fists. A darkened arm wrapped around her waist similar to what had happened to the other nurse.

It pulled her away violently. As she disappeared from view she dislodged a fragment of glass from the window and took it with her.

“They’re fighting for their lives up there,”
said the reporter as the banging and crashing continued amongst the hysterical screams and strange guttural sounds.

“
I do
n’
t think I can watch this
,”
said Leann
,“
I thought it was real news you know, not some homemade horror film, shit! I do
n’
t like horrors
.
”

“
Yea, i
t’
s gotta be a spoof
,”
said Collin still fixated on the screen.

The dark haired nurse reappeared in the window her hands in tatters, bright red with her own blood. The blonde one appeared by her side and seemed to be kneeling, it was clear her neck had been badly wounded, her head was cocked over to one side and blood ran down over her shoulder. They pushed and pulled at the window frame together trying to break the cross member.

“
I wish I could help them
,”
said the reporter
,“
maybe if they could jump on to the ambulanc
e’
s roof, then down to the ground I might be able to get them to the van and get away
.
”

There was an almighty crash, both women spun around to look then spun back to the window and carried on trying to dislodge the cross member. The look on their faces as they turned back was of sheer terror! The dark haired woman jumped without hesitation. Leann gasped!

“Holy shit!”
said the reporter as the woman took the plunge.

She landed with a bone crunching thump between the ambulance and the hospita
l’
s mangled front doors. The reporter gasped and then kept whispering
,“
Please be alive, please be alive, oh God please be alive
!
”

She lifted her head.

“
Oh yes
,”
he said
,“
thank you God.
C’
mon lady, crawl
.
Crawl!”

He panned up quickly and Leann snapped her head away
.“
Oh my God
!”
she said. The blonde haired nurse was drooping over the window ledge like a rag doll: she looked dead. But then her body jerked! Collin flinched. It jerked again then fell limp; it was like someone was trying to pull her back in to the room. Then she began to shake, only slightly at first but then building up until her body was shaking wildly. Collin thought she looked like she was having an epileptic seizure. Then he saw a river of blood appear, it ran along her back from a wound somewhere out of view. It ran between her shoulder blades along her neck and in to her hair where it found its way over her scalp to her forehead, then dripped to the ground with nowhere else to go.

The camera shot down to the nurse on the ground, she was trying to crawl.

“
Shit woman hurry up
!”
said the reporter still whispering. He looked back up again at the other nurse and caught a greyish black arm reaching out from the room. It grabbed her shoulder!

Collin gasped with Leann this time.

“
Tha
t’
s an infected hand
,”
said the reporter
.“
Tha
t’
s what they look like when they get the ash sickness
!
”

It paused on her shoulder for a second before reaching over to her neck wound.

The dark fingers picked at the torn flesh digging under the torn skin.

“
Ugh! What the hell
?”
said Collin, he could
n’
t believe what he was seeing.

The hand slid back to her shoulder again and grabbed on and started pulling her back in to the room. When the nurse was pulled so far back her torso was pulled upright and leaned against the inside of what was left of the window. She almost looked like she was looking out the window for a second. Then a dark figure appeared beside her, emerging from the darkness!