As the Light Dies (75 page)

Dean and Gavin followed her as she led them through the dirty snow to a small cafe come restaurant. The big front window had been shattered.

“
Great
,”
said Gavin
,“C’
mon
.
”

He stepped over the sill but Dean grabbed his collar holding him back.

“
Tread carefully
,”
he said
,“
the broken glass will be noisy as hell
.
”

Gavin nodded and thought again about where he was to place his foot.

“
Shuffle
,”
said Dean
,“
do
n’
t step through the broken glass
!
”

It worked, Gavin barely made any noise as he moved through the brittle glass. Ann went next copying Gavin and then Dean followed cradling Sam in his arms to save his paws. They moved as quickly and as quietly as they could to the back of the restaurant constantly searching for anyone else that might be inside, infected or otherwise.

“
Shush boy i
t’
s ok
,”
said Dean reassuring Sam whining quietly in his arms and they all sat down on a red vinyl bench behind a table at the back, facing the front of the restaurant.

They sat quietly watching the front of the restaurant as the shuffling and the moans drew closer! Ann grew uneasy, she was sure the
y’
d been seen, she felt like a sitting duck. She looked around for another way out but saw none.

The shuffles were loud now
!

We’ll see them any minute
,
thought Gavin staring back through the wrecked restaurant. Dean noticed Ann fidgeting with her hands, he reached out and held them.

“
Shush boy, i
t’
ll be ok
,”
he whispered in to his ear and then the infected people started to walk passed.

Every last one of them was badly discoloured, black with grey blotches or a very dark shade of grey with varying patches of darkness. On some, veins were clearly visible running all over them like little black highways on a road map. As they passed the trio noticed the mauled hands and forearms, nearly all of them had wounded hands.

Some of them wore clothes that were fully intact and unscathed while others were torn to shreds and others were half naked exposing horrendous wounds.

Ann could
n’
t believe what she was seeing, none of them could, not even Gavin after his earlier experience. A man walked by in the horde then and caught their attention; he was a hefty man and he was completely naked. He was dark grey from head to toe, almost black but not quite. He was covered with black blotches and black veins criss-crossing his entire body and he looked like h
e’
d been eaten alive. His groin and abdomen had been devoured, his hands were fingerless and both of his meaty upper arms had been gnawed to the bone. He turned towards them knocked by one of the others and Ann caught sight of part of his ribcage where his fatty sagging chest had been cannibalised. She shut her eyes tight and fought the urge to vomit only just managing to hold it in, she had to, their lives depended on it!

Their discoloured faces distorted as they called out their weird and primitive call, nearly all of them were smeared with blood
.
Red blood
!

It covered their necks and chests and ran from their mauled hands up passed their forearms. They looked like the
y’
d been diggin
g
throug
h
bodies.

Dean was astonished that they were all still mobile despite their wounds. They all seemed oblivious to them. He thought to himself that if their wounds had
n’
t killed them, which in nearly all cases he saw should have done, or at the very least incapacitated them, then by now most of them should have bled to death. He could
n’
t get his head around it! It was all out of kilter, unnatural.

I’m stuck in a nightmare
,
he thought
.
We all are!

With no choice but to wait they did. Hating every last little detail of what they saw but unable to take their eyes off what they w
e’
re seeing in case one of the de-humanised figures should happen to look their way.

Eventually the droning gurgles began to lessen and gradually the group began to thin out. The horrific looking figures passed by in less bulk, taking up less and less of the street outside until after several long minutes they passed by in small groups. The groups began to shrink until they were passing in twos and threes, and then in twos and ones, and then just in ones until they were all gone.

After a moment of frozen silence Ann let out a deep breath that she had been holding for what felt like forever and drew in air through her gritted teeth. She felt ill and stunned at what sh
e’
d just seen.

“
Wha
t’
s happened? I mean what on eart
h’
s wrong with them
?”
she asked, more to herself than to either of the brothers.

“
I think this proble
m’
s bigger than we thought
!”
said Gavin
,“
bigger than anything we could ever have thought of
!
”

Dean nodded and said
,“
Most of them should
n’
t even be alive with those wounds, never mind up and walking around looking for us
!
”

“Hunting us!”
added Gavin and Dean gave him a firm jab with his elbow shutting him up and then he whispered to them both
,“
W
e’
ll wait a few minutes. Make sure i
t’
s safe and when w
e’
re sure, w
e’
ll try again ok
.
”

The other two nodded their agreement and they sat in silence waiting for his word. Each of them scared and confused until after what felt like an hour Dean said
,“
Ok. Le
t’
s give it a go
!
”

Ann nodded and eased herself out from behind the table and Gavin followed with a resoundin
g
“Yep,”
when suddenly Sam went rigid in Dea
n’
s arms. Sam was tensing every muscle he had!

“
Hang on
,”
said Dean knowing something was wrong. The others froze and looked at Dean as Sam started to growl. He wriggled in Dea
n’
s arms trying to hop down as Dean tried to calm him down. Dean dropped back down on to the bench worried h
e’
d lose his balance and make a noise as he struggled to hold Sam as he continued to try and get loose.

“
Wha
t’
s wrong
?”
asked Ann. Gavin looked at her and signalled to her to be quiet as he took hold of his torque wrench and pulled it from his belt. Sa
m’
s actions told him everything he needed to know. Dean held Sam tight desperately trying to keep him quiet as a hazy shadow appeared through the murk directly outside!

None of them could breathe!

It started growing darker, becoming more solid, seeming to come towards them!

They watched from the back of the restaurant as another two silhouettes joined the first from either side.

“
Shit
!”
Ann whispered under her breath unaware sh
e’
d even said anything. Sam was wriggling like a fish out of water making Dean work hard to keep hold of him. Dean looked at the shadowy forms, they were thin and short
.
Children
?
Dean wondered
.
Infected children
?

The first silhouette began to come through the murkiness towards them revealing itself.

It was a dog! A German Shepherd like Sam, only bigger, much bigger, and it wa
s
infected
!

Its entire muzzle had been torn away leaving its vicious looking teeth permanently exposed.

Its eyes were clear for all of them to see, and they shone black just like the infected people.

The other two forms, that had to be dogs, stayed where they were just out of sight as the one in the lead, obviously the leader of the pack walked closer. It placed one heavy paw through the broken windowsill and it crunched as it landed on the shards of broken glass. It stared at them!

Ann and Gavin stood bone rigid while Dean fought to keep hold of Sam.

It made a clicking sound from deep within its discoloured wounded chest and that was An
n’
s trigger. She spun around and ran towards the very rear of the building triggering a reaction from all three terror dogs. Gavin cursed and leaned over and hauled Dean holding Sam, up of the bench and spun around and chased after Ann. Sam was proving a real struggle for Dean, Dean knew Sam would put up a good fight to protect them but against these dogs who knew how he would fend, even without his muzzle on. The clicking sound turned in to a high pitched mix up between a whine and an infected gurgle as the dogs leapt in to action and charged!

Ann saw a door marked TOILETS and went for it out of panic but then as she turned she saw another door marked STAFF ONLY with a small circular window over the sign. She changed her mind and ran for that one hoping that it would lead to the kitchens and then to a back door.

“THIS WAY!”
she yelled glancing over her shoulder. The brothers were close behind her, Dean had dropped Sam and was dragging him along behind him. The three terror dogs leapt through the front of the restaurant whining and gurgling. The leader darted straight towards them down the centre of the restaurant dodging between the scattered tables and chairs as the other two terror dogs that resembled big Dobermans leapt up over the tabletops and started coming at the group from either side hopping from table to table, but they struggled for grip and slid around on the smooth vinyl table-tops.

One of the dogs slid off and fell down between tables sending chairs flying, then a fraction of a second later the second dog did the same, screeching with frustration as their leader chased down the fleeing group!

Ann thrust open the staff only door and jumped inside the pitch black kitchens. She waited by the door holding on to it, ready to slam it behind the brothers and Sam and stop the dogs from getting in. Dean and Gavin reached the open door just as the leading dog reached Sam.

It jumped up on its rear legs like a bucking horse with its fleshless mouth wide open trailing strands of dirty black saliva from its long teeth! Sam pulled against Dea
n’
s grip howling and barking uncontrollably as the mauled terror dog fell down on him!

Dean yelled out
,
“NOOOO!”
just as the bulky end of Gavi
n’
s torque wrench came rushing up from under the terror do
g’
s mouth and smashed its lower jaw to pieces! The terror dog fell on Sa
m’
s back still trying to bite him despite its lower jaw hanging like a loose hinge. Its mouth did
n’
t work, so the dog clawed and scratched at Sam showing no signs of any pain from its shattered mouth, but Sam was able to shrug it off and Dean kicked it, landing a solid blow to its breast bone and sent it sliding across the black and white linoleum floor. Before it came to rest the other two dogs leapt up over the last two vinyl benches and dived through the air towards them howling their infected call.

Gavin snatched Dea
n’
s collar and yanked him and Sam back through the door and passed Ann and yelled at her to
,
“SHUT IT!”

Ann thrust the door closed and to everyon
e’
s horror the door swung passed the frame without catching, and it swung wide open on the other side. They had
n’
t realised it was a two-way door.

It happened so fast the three of them could
n’
t do anything but watch in horror as the door swung all the way around on its two way hinges and let one of the leaping dogs fly straight through!

Gavin was quick to act and smashed his torque wrench down on the back of the do
g’
s neck as it landed. There was a loud crack and it dropped to the floor. The second leaping dog crashed in to the outer edge of the swing door as is started to swing closed again.