Clifton Falls (20 page)

All this commotion slowed down the process for the struggling sergeant. He knew he had to finish the job to complete his promise to a dying friend, but the vision in front of him had the power to prevent this from happening.
He froze, just for a split second, but it was enough time for the zombie to pin him against the wall. Wayne now found himself in a position where he shouldn’t have been. The zombie sunk saliva filled teeth into his throat, extracting juicy neck meat before the sergeant could adapt to the situation. Now, a fountain of blood escaped from the wound. It didn’t matter how many fingers were used to plug up the hole, the life fluid found a way through. Wayne’s face colour was now becoming a snowy white. He hadn’t expected this to happen. Time was running out for him to complete his promise. He shoved one hand into the sticky mess, while the other lifted up the gun. He knew the creature would soon be on him again and needed to stop it.
The zombie dived in for a second bite as Wayne’s breathing became uncontrollable. The weapon fired again and the back of the zombie’s head exploded thick, sticky residue all over the surrounding glass. The beast collapsed in front of him.
The other men arrived, but were too late to save him. They witnessed Wayne leaning against the far wall. He was bleeding a waterfall of liquid over his clothes, shoes, and the ground around his feet. “Can you hear me?” Mike said, rushing over to the brave, but foolish sergeant.
Wayne’s eyes remained open, but he’d breathed his last ounce of air. His lifeless body fell next to Jason’s. Chris now felt completely guilty because of his earlier actions.
Why do I behave like a complete, fucking arse?
He knew this thought would haunt him for a very long time.
Mike turned, glaring at the reporter. “You fucking, little bastard, this man would still be alive if you’d stayed with him.” Mike’s anger formed a large bubble and boiling point status was on the cards if it popped. He nearly lashed out with his fists. “God, I wish this was you lying here and not one of my men.”
“Look, this wasn’t my idea you know. He wanted to do this on his own. He was the one who told me to leave,” Chris replied, while trying to calm Mike down.
“You should’ve stayed and helped him.”
“I wanted to stay with him, really I did, but he said he’d made a promise to a friend and had to keep it.” There was a tiny pause before Chris spoke again. “Do you know what he meant by this?”
Mike lowered his head. He’d an idea of what it could be and now felt saddened by the thought. “I think I do.” His head lifted as he made eye contact with the other man. “Jason must’ve asked him to end it if and when he transformed into one of those monsters.” The chief wasn’t spitting hurtful words at Chris anymore now he knew it wasn’t his fault. “Hopefully this is the end.”
The disease spread through Wayne’s corpse at a much faster pace than usual and his body twitched slightly. Chris glanced at the dead sergeant. He wasn’t sure if he saw anything, so remained staring for a few more seconds. Mike noticed this and asked what he was doing?
“Maybe it’s nothing, but I could’ve sworn that I saw Wayne’s body move.”
Mike quickly explained the time period from human to freak and that there was no way it could evolve so quickly. He asked the other man again if he definitely saw something.
“I’m not one-hundred-percent sure, but look at it for a minute. If I’m wrong then I’ll apologize.”
Both men might as well have cracked open a bottle of bubbly and got the sandwiches out by the way they acted. They watched the blood covered corpse. Mike produced a winning smile because he thought he was right. He nudged the other man, letting him know that he waited for the apology to arrive very soon, but Chris tried to ignore him.
The body on the ground didn’t know that the men stared at it, and the eyelids now lifted, revealing creepiness in its features. This caused the men to jump back as a shivering sensation raced through their bodies. The sudden surprise gave the zombie time to climb to its feet.
“Move it. I’m going to shoot,” Mike shouted, grabbing Chris and pulling him out of the way.
The gun aimed. The monster didn’t seem worried, it just moved across the floor toward the men. The trigger squeezed, but no sound was heard and no bullet tore through the air. “Shit, my gun won’t fire,” Mike shouted.
Chris hovered behind the chief. His nerves had now played too many games and he didn’t want to face another zombie again. “Did you load it?” he asked.
“Ha, ha, ha, stop trying to be funny. Fucking, dick-face,” a stressed out chief shouted. Mike quickly checked, but no bullets were there. “I forgot. I rushed here and it slipped my mind,” the now embarrassed man said.
He had no time to do it now because the creature was swinging arms at him. After a few wild attempts, a hand crashed against the side of Mike’s face, forcing him over.
“Mike, are you all right?”
The figure that was sprawled out on the floor moved again. Mike staggered, but managed to return to his feet.
The zombie moved in the direction of the reporter while Mike shook off the attack on him. Chris now faced the beast. He had no choice but to go back to silly mode in order to give the chief more time. This was his way of dealing with the situation. “Hey, meatball, are you hungry?” The zombie reached out, trying to grab onto the taunting man. “Yeah, that’s right, I’m talking to you.”
Mike watched, as the reporter taunted the zombie with his stupid but effective approach. He then reloaded his weapon.
Chris now reached the end of the line. He was forced against a wall as the zombie closed in. Drool, mixed with darkened blood spilled down from beneath its lips as it staggered near to the little man. “Hey, Mike, I hope you come up with a plan pretty soon. I can’t seem to keep this sucker at bay for much longer.” Chris sniffed the air and held his nose. “Jesus, man, have you smelled this dead guy’s breath?”
The reporter was on the verge of wetting himself, but managed to keep up the comedy act. He glanced over, checking on the chief, and saw a gun pointing in his direction. “I would get the fuck out of the way if I were you,” Mike shouted.
Chris dived across the floor as a bullet tore through the dead guy’s right cheek, but the beast didn’t fall down. Instead, it turned to face the shooter. With eyes totally transfixed onto the man with the ammunition to blow it away, the monster went on a suicide mission and moved closer to him. Chris returned to his feet and brushed himself down. “Mike, what do you want me to do?”
“You just stay there. I’ve got the situation in hand.” He winked at the reporter. “Trust me.”
The zombie moved even closer to the chief. Mike lifted the firearm again, pointing it at the grotesque figure. He felt the same feeling Wayne had felt when faced with killing Jason. The closer the monster got, the harder it was to finish the job. His gun hand shook. A deep intake of breath was needed, but Mike could smell the same toxic fumes and so let that idea slip by. He placed both hands onto the gun as the zombie came close to touching him. “Sorry mate, but your time’s up.”
The weapon fired two shots in quick succession. Both bullets smashed into the zombie’s forehead before exploding the skull. Mike saw the sad eyes of the monster become weaker and weaker with every second that passed by. Very slowly the eyes closed tight and once shut, the zombie collapsed. “Are you all right, little man?”
Chris knew the chief found this moment tough to cope with. This was definitely one giant horror show, that’s for sure. “I’m great. It’s you that’s not.”
“I’ll be okay, I’m getting used to it.”
Both men must’ve had pencil rubbers brushing the horrible feelings away because how else could they get through this?
The struggling pair exited the room, heading back along the corridor in search of the way out. Chris grabbed onto Mike at least twice during this walk, as he was very close to fainting. This needed reporting quickly before more hospital staff witnessed the awful discovery.
Both men gave each other a necessary and needed hug. This could so easily have been their last day to be alive. If they were cats then at least five of their lives could’ve been wiped out by now.
Mike mentioned that he needed to pay a visit to someone urgently. The reporter knew exactly who that was and they both split up. The chief returned to his car, driving off in the direction of Susan’s house.
The light shining from her living room indicated that hopefully she was still awake. Mike parked the car and braced himself for another tear jerking encounter. He slowly walked up to the front door before knocking it. Susan had a rush of feelings spiralling up from her stomach upon opening the door. She knew why Mike was there long before he spoke to her. The woman’s face became pale. A hand covered her mouth, hiding the fact she was about to cry. She figured out that something had happened to her man and now the waiting was over.
“Hi, can I come in?” Mike asked quietly.
Susan’s eyes filled with fluid. A rippling tremble shot across her body as she led Mike into the house.
They sat down. Immediately she began to shake some more. Tears slid down her face. This made Mike’s speech even harder to achieve now. He knew she expected bad news, but couldn’t get the words out. She watched, waiting for the verdict, but Mike knew this was harder than facing an army of killer zombies.
“Mike, I need to know what’s happened to Wayne.”
He sat next to her, passing on a grief stricken glare. Lips quivered slightly and he became close to falling apart.
“There was nothing I could’ve done to prevent it. I’m very sorry.”
“He’s dead, isn’t he?”
“Yes, he is,” The chief said, as his eyes also filled with tears.
They both opened the floodgates as Mike embraced her. This moment lasted a good few minutes and needed doing in order to release their pain.
After the crying was over, Mike explained what’d taken place in that awful room, making sure not to go into too much detail about the horrific death of his friend and colleague. The pair talked for a while afterwards. Susan was extremely traumatised, but what could she do? Wayne knew the risks when he joined the police force. Any other kind of death and she’d accept it, but being murdered by a zombie didn’t seem real. She stood up and asked Mike if he wouldn’t mind staying the night, as she didn’t want to be alone. It was going to be a very, very lonely night now Wayne wasn’t going to be there anymore. Mike agreed to this proposal. He was very tired and didn’t really want to move off the settee. Now he didn’t need to.
“To be honest with you I don’t think I could’ve stayed on my own tonight either. You’re doing me a favour as well,” he said, smiling.
Something happened at that moment. An attraction was felt between them. Susan’s eyes locked onto his. Mike reached out, holding her hand. Her legs became trapped beneath his as she slowly bent over. Mike drew her closer to him by gently and softly pulling on her hand. Her body lowered even further, until her face reached a matter of inches away from his. Their eyes remained locked, but it was Susan who made the first move. She kissed Mike, planting a real passionate one on his lips. This kiss appeared to last longer than expected and hadn’t been written in Mike’s script. He eventually came to his senses, but the kiss had already happened.
“We can’t do this,” he said.
“I’m really sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”
“Well it wasn’t me. I definitely didn’t cum over you,” a laughing chief spluttered from his mouth. “Sorry, I don’t know why I said that.”
Mike released his hand, making it clear that the trauma brought them closer together. He then apologised and Susan grinned. “I’d best go to bed, on my own.” She received a massive smirk from the chief. “Night, I’ll see you in the morning.” Mike knew he would have to keep an eye on her over the next few months. The news about Wayne would tear anybody’s heart in two, and he owed it to the departed friend to do that.

TWENTY-FOUR
(FRIDAY)

Blake had been on the phone talking to Shane. Karen overheard the commotion from upstairs, so ventured down to find out what was happening. With her left hand rubbing against sleepy eyes, finally reached her husband.

“What time is it?” she said, while yawning.
“It’s early. There’s no need for you to get up yet.”
“The stupid phone woke me. Who was it?”
“It was that scientist again, the one who phoned me last night.” Karen wasn’t impressed by this news. She knew that if it wasn’t

for him then her husband wouldn’t be in such a mess. Blake had lost a considerable amount of money over this and people wouldn’t be dead now if it wasn’t for the fertilizer.

“What did that bastard want?” she said, while still acting annoyed.
“Calm down, love.” Blake nearly choked on his tea after hearing her violent speech. “He’s on his way over. We have to go to the factory to shut it down until further notice.”
“Why can’t you do that on your own?”
“He feels guilty and knows that it’s partly his fault.”
“No, not partly, it’s all fucking his fault. If it wasn’t for his stuff then you would be okay now and the whole town would still be normal.”
“Look, I know you’re annoyed at the situation, but please don’t cause a fuss when he gets here.” Blake lifted his bottom lip over the top one. “Do it for me.”
“I’ll try not to stick a stiletto heel into one of his eyes, but it’ll be difficult,” Karen replied, returning upstairs.
Blake wasn’t to know if she was serious or kidding about the shoe bit, but wanted her out of the way all the same.
Fifteen minutes later and a car pulled up outside the house. Blake shouted upstairs, telling Karen he was leaving. A nonswearing reply followed as he left.
He entered the vehicle and sneered at the driver.
“Sorry I took my time getting here. I’m still finding my way around this town, so you’ll have to guide me to your works,” said Shane.
“Yeah, all right,” said Blake. There was certainly an atmosphere between them.
Nothing was spoken during the journey, apart from the odd direction or two.
As soon as the car pulled up outside the factory gates, Shane tried again to receive a response from the uptight man. He tried to express his version of events but Blake wasn’t interested. Then, without warning, Shane shouted the next sentence. “How was I to know that the ingredient would bring dead cell tissue back to life in the recently deceased?” The scientist had spent the latter part of last night talking to Mike and studying notes, so knew that the Moltovenium was probably the reason behind the zombies. “It seems to work on those who have died within a nine month period. After nine months the bodies are too far gone and therefore can’t react to this.” Now he had Blake’s full attention. “It seems to recharge dead and decayed tissue, thus enabling the owner of the body to awaken. Well, that seems to be the closest I can get to an explanation.” Shane took a well-deserved breather before saying. “So how could anybody have known that?”
Blake’s face turned very pale. “No one told me that dead people were walking the earth.”
He was full of shock and tried in vain to take this information in.
“It took me by surprise when I found out. It’s frightening just to think about it.”
Blake switched his mind back to recent events. He was a sucker for thinking of the unimaginable, but was right about the fertilizer and Shane verified that now.
“If what you’re saying is true, then what would happen if this stuff made its way down to the cemetery?”
Blake had listened to Shane’s story and now the tables were being turned. He explained about the crazy storm from a few days ago. This would fill their heads for the rest of the day unless something was done about it, but would they actually do anything about it?
The factory gates were chained, padlocked, and a large sign was placed on it. This was enough information to explain the reason behind the closure. If Todd needed to contact his boss then he was only a phone call away.
Mike and Chris sat in the chief’s office discussing possible ideas. There was a bond developing between them now, but last night would haunt them until they too met their maker. Mike needed the other man to calm a few nosey people. A television report was scheduled and the news station asked for Chris again. “I trust you to put their minds at rest. I’m going to see Jason’s parents because they need an explanation.”
The chief produced a little giggle and Chris heard it.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
“I can’t believe I said I trust you. It’s just a shame that it took another major catastrophe for us to see eye to eye.”
“I know,” Chris replied. He didn’t want to feel like this, especially when he had to perform, so changed the direction of the conversation. “I’ll make sure the people are aware of the outbreak this time. I’ll drum it into them that they should remain indoors until this is over.”
“Don’t release too much information. I don’t want the commissioner getting involved in all of this. We have the virus contained in this town at the moment so I don’t want any outsiders coming in and taking the virus back with them.”
Chris patted Mike on the back before walking away.
“You have my word. I don’t want this spreading either. I’ll catch up with you later.”
Chris arrived at the news station at 8.45am. He had just fifteen minutes to come up with a good and realistic portrayal of events. He knew he had to be prepared for a lot of questions to come from the people inside the building so he took a deep breath as he walked through the main doors.
“Morning everyone,” he said, as he tried to produce a positive smile.
The first person to speak to him was the man standing behind the information desk. “Chris, what’s been going on down there? There’s stories flying around that the whole town has been taken over by demons.”
“Who told you that shit, Johnny boy? It seems to me that you’ve been smoking the weed again. That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”
“No, seriously, something’s gone on in Clifton Falls and it isn’t good news.”
This wasn’t a good sign for Chris because if Johnny had heard something then others would’ve heard the same.
“Hey, I’m going to be late for this newsflash. I’ll speak to you soon.”
Chris gave Johnny a wave before rushing off to the newsroom. He could still hear the other man’s voice shouting out more facts toward him as he walked along the hallway.
He dodged a few troubling stares as he moved toward the famous room. He felt the eyes from every person in that enclosure sticking to his skin like leeches. Chris knew he had to ignore the attention and remain calm until he’d done his job. He could hear his boss’ voice booming out of the wall speakers in the studio newsroom. “Are you ready, Chris?”
The reporter looked beyond the thick glass and noticed the big, bearded man. He then stuck up his thumb, indicating he was all set to go.
Thousands of households from across the area now sat, watching television as Chris gave his update on the past events. It was lucky for him that it wasn’t a questions and answers day, as he wouldn’t be able to cope with that. So far it was routine and the pressure of the news report was handled well, but he worried that some prick from the company would stop him at some point and ask a complete fucked up question about the zombies. There had to be one person in the city who’d leaked out the near truth story? If those questions came then he would be off like a rocket flying to the moon. Luckily, nobody interrupted him, and he was able to move on to the next story. It was about ‘Tammy’ the cat.
“The pet had been stuck up a tree for four days. The cat’s owner was delighted to be reunited with the feline after she’d given up hope on ever finding the animal,” said Chris.