As the Light Dies (83 page)

Lisa still buried and unable to take a breath or move, closed her eyes unable to watch any more. She wished to God that she had
n’
t seen what she had. She knew that for as long as she lived, sh
e’
d never ever be able to un see what she had seen. Then she started to vomit.

The rest of the children huddled around Mandy squealing like baby bunnies that had been trapped in a corner by a rabid Rottweiler; Mandy included.

The figures approached and Mandy backed up with the children but they had nowhere to go, nowhere to run. The
y’
d backed in to a corner.

Lisa squeezed her eyes tight as the discoloured figures closed in around them.

The last thing she saw was Mandy throwing herself at the blackened horde fists first and screaming!

*****

Eventually Lis
a’
s body forced her to breathe between vomiting. She still held her eyes shut but she could
n’
t stop her hearing, no matter how deep she pushed her fingers in to her ears.

Her head swam with horrific images that she tried her hardest to push from her mind but it was a losing battle. Surely they would find her soon she thought and she waited to feel a hand clasp around her ankle or around her neck, or suddenly grasp and pull at her hair.

Her thoughts made her clench up in to the smallest ball she could possibly form.

She felt wet. Was it blood running along the floor she wondered? Was she lying in the blood of those innocent little children? Or had sh
e
been bitten, but not realised it with all the adrenalin rushing through her veins.

She could feel her thighs getting wetter, and then her side that lay against the floor. She vomited again bringing up dark green bile. There was nothing left in her to come up.

Still she held her eyes shut. She tried to focus on Leann; nothing else but Leann. The first thing that she thought of was how as a little girl she was always asking when she could colour her hair. The girl had a fascination with colouring her hair and as soon as she turned fifteen her hair had seen all the colours of the rainbow, sometimes all at once. Tears ran down Lis
a’
s cheeks and she flinched with the sound of more breaking glass. It was extremely loud, and nearby.

More of them entered the hall through a newly broken window and icy cold air poured over her, chilling her body and freezing her where she was wet with innocent blood.

As more entered she was certain that she would be found any second and dragged out from under the chairs. Agonising cramp gripped her stomach as she tried to curl up even tighter, she wanted the ground to swallow her.

There was a clatter above her then and she felt the chairs on top of her shift.

Instinctively she opened her eyes expecting to see figures descending on her, but she did
n’
t.

Instead she saw the shovel lying across the chairs above her! Now her eyes were open and she saw that she was
n’
t under attack she glanced around quickly, deliberately not focusing on anything for fear of what she might see.

She could make out figures lying on the ground and what she knew had to be body parts scattered across the floor. She did
n’
t stop moving her eyes, did
n’
t let them settle on any one thing.

Feeling the cold breeze Lisa looked around to see where it was coming from and saw that one of the patio doors had been shattered
.
Probably with the shovel
,
she thought.

Feeling the added chill from the dampness she dared to check herself certain she would find herself enveloped in blood, but she did
n’
t. Sh
e’
d wet herself! Giving it no more thought she carried on scanning the hall, the screaming had stopped
!
No one left to screa
m
, she thought, and then without realising what she was doing, not believing what she was doing she started pushing her way up through the toppled chairs sending them falling to the floor all around her.

Figures turned to look. They were all either kneeling or sitting on the floor gathered around the little figures and one big one. They were devouring them!

Some even fought over what was left; the remains!

Blood smeared their hands and their mottled black faces.

Lisa grabbed the handle of the shovel as it started to slide off the chairs and kicked the rest of the chairs away from in front her. A figure close to her, one of the dads started to rise and Lisa swung the shovel with as much force as she could muster and hit it square in the face knocking it to the floor but before sh
e’
d even recovered from the swing the figure, a slim built man had already propped himself up on his elbows and started pushing himself back up on to his feet!

Lightning flashed and Lisa saw that half of his neck was missing and his collarbone was exposed
.
“SHIT!”
she cursed as she backed up towards the smashed door without taking her eyes from him when a scrawny woman bounced up on to her feet to her right shoving the last little morsel of flesh in to her mouth and dropped some as she stood up.

Lisa backed up quicker and could
n’
t help but look to see what the woman had dropped already wishing she had
n’
t as she did. Lying on the floor by the woma
n’
s feet was what remained of a scalp with blood splattered blonde ponytails with pink hair bands still attached.

Acidic bile rushed up her throat burning her as it forced its way up against the inside of her lips and dribbled down her chin. She held her stare with the woman regardless. If she made a move Lisa wanted to know about it. Movement caught her attention and she glanced at the man sh
e’
d knocked down as he closed the distance coming towards her! Then she saw more figures rise up out of the corner of her eyes! Broken glass crunched under her rear most foot and that was her trigger to run!

Lisa spun on her heels and took flight. She dove through the shattered patio door and out in to the icy cold black snow and started sprinting. She pumped her legs as hard as she could sucking in lung ful
l’
s of air. She dared a glance over her shoulder once as she crossed to the other side of the playground thinking it looked more like a power station coalfield than a playground now.

She was alone.

Why chase me when they have a feast sitting at their feet
,
she thought, hating every inch of herself for thinking of it like that. She glanced at the picnic bench that had Mandy worried, it had been abandoned. Beyond it she saw that the front doors had been forced open and nearby there was a long dark hump lying on the snow.

Poor Bill
,
she thought as she ran around the end of the building. She stole another glance back. She still had no followers - at least not yet.

She carried on feeling horrid. She was angry and upset, scared and relieved all at the same time.

She hated herself for not being able to help any of the children or Bill or Mandy.

She was angry that sh
e’
d fallen asleep earlier, thinking that if sh
e’
d been more alert instead of turning up in the dining hall sleepy eyed and slow just as the figures arrived she might have managed to save some lives.

I failed them all
,
she thought, and she hated herself for it.

She was afraid as well. Afraid of what was happening to the world around her.

She had a feeling that this was
n’
t just going to blow over like she first thought, there was more to this, much, much more than first thought. And along with those feelings, she was relieved to be out of the hall, away from the slaughter and with no one chasing after her.

I’ve got to find Leann
,
she thought
,
I can’t fail her. I can’t and I WONT
!

“
I know what
I’
m up against now
,”
she told herself as she ran
,“I’
ll be ready next time! Hold on Leann hun, wherever you are my sweetheart
I’
m coming for you,
I’
m coming
.
”

A few strides along she uttered between gasps for air
,“
God bless you children. God bless you all. And Bill and Mandy. And if you are there God, please, please help the rest of us that are left
.
”

She carried on ignoring her burning throat and lungs as she ran as fast as she could deeper in to the darkness....

Andy leaned back letting out a big yawn as he rested his hands on his full stomach.

He was tired from building and reinforcing barricades. H
e’
d done it alone, giving Collin and Leann some space to come to terms with things and think things over together, plus he wanted some alone time for himself as well. He thought and worked better alone.

After working on the barricades, he set to covering as many of the ground floor windows as he could, including the floor to ceiling glass. He used bedding sheets and pillowcases that he liberated from one of the house and furnishing shops. He fixed them up like rudimentary curtains using sticky tape to stop any infected people or animals from seeing in
;
or even looters
!

Then, once he was satisfied with his work, he broke into one of the shopping centr
e’
s mountaineering and outdoor pursuits shops and changed in to some fresh clothes that were more suitable for their new conditions. While in the shop he took the time to pack a rucksack with some essentials he thought might come in handy when the time came for them to leave and then he set about finding some food. Real food!

He worked his way around the shopping centr
e’
s small cafes, breaking in to them, trying to cause as little damage as he could as he looked for food and checked to see if the cookers still worked.

He found plenty pre-packaged sandwiches that already showed signs of decay, turning green around the edges, and none of the cookers worked. They were all electric.

It was
n’
t until he forced his way in to the M&S outlet that he found cookers that ran off gas. Delighted he set about checking the food stocks and found plenty that was still good to eat along the sho
p’
s own food aisles.

He heard the others walking the aisles looking for him. They were quietly calling out for him as they walked, and spurred on by his good mood from finding the food and the means to cook it with he jumped in to action.

They were worried. The
y’
d seen the broken glass and the forced doors.

They were starting to wonder if they were
n’
t alone in the shopping centre after all. They both wondered if something might have happened to Andy.

Neither of them said anything about their feelings to each other for the sheer fact that neither of them wanted to hear the thought out loud.

Andy suddenly appeared beside them startling them both!

He was standing inside the M&S main display window in the middle of their Christmas Wonderland display between an oversized cartoonlike Santa Clause mannequin and his cartoonlike reindeers grinning like psychopaths.

“Ho, Ho. Ho!”
he said with a chuckle
,“C’
mon, diners ready
.
”

Relieved that Andy was ok, and both feeling stupid for thinking the way they had, Leann and Collin made their way inside the shop and followed him to the shops restaurant where they ate.

Sirloin steak, pork chops and bacon, chicken breasts and even eggs and black pudding and baked beans were on the menu. Leann refused at first saying she was
n’
t hungry but Andy managed to persuade her telling her she needed the energy to keep her strength up. Especially if she wanted to make her way home to her mum with the conditions outside being what they were, and the added dangers that waited for them. Plus who knew when the
y’
d eat like this again, he told her.

“
The butcher shops are shut and the freezers ai
n’
t working
,”
he said
,“
the only meat w
e’
ll be eating soon enough will be what we kill
.
”

Leann gave in, and once she started eating and tasted the food she ate just as greedily as the others did, until eventually she could
n’
t possibly eat another thing. She could
n’
t even look at it.

Afterwards they chatted for a while bouncing ideas off each other until they were all agreed the
y’
d all leave together in a da
y’
s time. Maybe even in two days now that they had food and could cook it. They all agreed that the
y’
d load up with supplies and head to Lean
n’
s first because it was closest. Andy actually lived the closest to the shopping centre but his flat was in the opposite direction and he lived alone. There was no-one for him to go home for, and so no reason to try and go there. The
y’
d pick up Lean
n’
s mum, maybe even stay a night or two there to recharge their batteries before they carried on to Colli
n’
s grandparents with all the supplies they could possibly take with them from Lean
n’
s and the
y’
d all wait it out there until this all blew over. If it blew over!

“
Ther
e’
s strength in numbers
,”
said Andy
,“
and with our joint supplies and a little rationing w
e’
ll be able to see this thing through
,
hopefully.”

Leann liked the idea. She dreaded the thought of being holed up with her mum in their tiny flat with those infected maniacs outside, or looters
.
Even animals
!
she thought, remembering the infected dog on the bus.

Collin liked the idea of having Andy with them to help with things. He thought it would be good for his grandparents having him there. He would take most of the strain off his grandparents just by being the way he was. And he loved the idea of Leann staying over, even despite the situation.

With the trek in mind Andy sent them both to the mountaineering shop where h
e’
d changed and packed some gear. He told them to do the same and as they left to do just that, Andy called over to them
,“
Make sure you both grab one of these
.”
and he lifted a long black handled ice-axe up over his head for them to see. Leann raised her eyebrows and grimaced showing her dislike knowing all too well why Andy wanted them to have one.

“
Protection
,”
he said and she nodded knowing that ultimately he was right and she turned and headed for the mountaineering shop with Collin while Andy sat back and ran over the plan in his head trying to think of all the possible scenarios they might face while he enjoyed the feeling of being full. He doubted h
e’
d feel like this again for a while. If ever!