Should Have Killed The Kid (16 page)

Sprinting down to where the gunfire and screaming echoed up seemed a good idea compared to what he'd just seen behind him. At least that's what Dave thought until he made it down another flight and saw the face pressed to the glass window on the door explode before his eyes, painting the entire panel red.

'Arrggh!' he screamed and tripped, dragging the kid down as he sprawled and started skidding down the stairs, the door blowing off its hinges in his wake, smacking into the far side of the stairwell, cracking the concrete as the shadows started to pour forth.

'NOOOO!" Dave started to scream louder but a moment later he felt a little ridiculous as Monty stepped down onto the landing and his other hand shot out, emitting a second glowing shield to supplement the first one. Dave struggled to his feet, his breath like hot knives in his side as he helped the kid up and they set off again, hobbling at the pain that flared in his ankle with each step.

'Keep moving,' Dave heard Monty roar and glanced back to see that although the shields appeared to block the shadows, they definitely allowed the blood to stream through. It hit Monty in a torrent and the glowing light grew brighter and brighter until Dave was forced to look away.

The smell was horrendous as a few more floors blurred by and Dave quickly found out why. He saw the landing completely covered in blood and gore while he was halfway down but momentum carried him onwards and his feet went slithering as they hit the slickened surface. He let go of the boy, his arms cart wheeling for balance as simultaneously his surrounds hit him full force. The glint of bones from amidst the piles of fleshy wreckage. The dripping meaty stalactites that hung from the roof and the underside of the stairs above. The contrast between the thick syrupy blood and the claggier mince that it was riddled with.

Oh fuck.

The only thing that stopped him dropping to his knees was the thought that he would land in it.

'WHERE ARE THEY?' Dave screamed. Whether to Monty or not, he wasn't sure. Before he got an answer the door in front of him banged open and his query cut off into a shriek while more gunfire echoed throughout the stairwell. This time in deafening close proximity from the four soldiers stumbling out of the door, their already shoddy uniforms even messier now; all shredded and coated in blood. Even the brief glimpse Dave caught was enough to tell him they weren't faring too well. Wet rents glittered from various parts of their bodies, leaking thick red blood that made Dave wonder how they were even still on their feet, let alone moving backwards, firing off round after round into the open doorway.

Not that the bullets seemed to have any affect whatsoever on the shadows. Dave saw them rushing for the soldiers even as one turned and screamed when she spotted him. She fired her gun and Dave shrieked in chorus with her, though the soldier must have realised her mistake the split second before her finger tightened on the trigger. The shot went wide, thudding into the concrete wall behind him, sending whining ricochets that had Dave holding his breath as they bounced around the stairwell.

It took Dave a second to compose himself. Then a split second more to realise that he recognised the soldier who stood before him holding her gun one handed while blood coursed down her other from two nasty looking gashes. She was the same one who'd given him the pack of cigarettes. Only now her eyes were wide with terror. The muscles along her jaw pulsing. The blood misted across her features only adding to her crazed look as she stared with pure unadulterated panic from Dave to the boy who was finally having a reaction to events around him, making some weird hacking noise while he stared wide eyed around the blood soaked landing, his brow furrowed.

The soldier screamed something but Dave couldn't hear it over the deafening roar of gunfire. She resorted to pointing and Dave felt the bottom of his stomach go into freefall. He turned to look behind and saw the shadows flood the landing of the stairwell just below him. When he looked back the shadows were also at the threshold of the door into the stairwell swooping forward even though the soldiers were unloading round after round into their midst.

‘Fuck!’ one of them screamed when it became clear it was over and they ceased firing, bracing for the final charge though as he lobbed his gun into the midst of the shadows, Monty’s voice boomed out across the landing.

‘NOW THAT’S MORE LIKE IT!’

For a split second there was a flood of misting colour as the surrounding blood lifted from the concrete and hurtled toward the old man while he backed down the last step, the glowing barrier still in place. Still holding back the shadows.

‘CLOSE YOUR EYES!’ Monty screamed as the shadows reached the first of the soldiers, just crossing over his outstretched legs. Immediately there was a glint and the thigh exploded into a crosshatch of jagged wounds.

Dave obeyed though he barely got his lids closed before a blinding glare obliterated everything. Even through closed eyes, it seared into his eyeballs and Dave reeled, unsteady and off kilter while the cries from the soldiers let him know they were caught off guard too.

He shook his head and as the glare faded, risked opening his eyes. Colours sizzled and kaleidoscoped across his vision, mixed in with dancing black motes and Dave had to shake his head again to clear it.

It finally returned to a semblance of normality just in time for him to see Monty hurtle past, heading down the next set of stairs.

‘Come on,’ Monty hissed as he dashed by and Dave only spared a second’s glance back across where the soldiers stared in open mouthed shock after the old guy before following. The tide of shadows appeared to have disappeared from behind them and even the area through the swinging door was clear of darkness – though Dave didn’t linger to see how long that lasted. Instead he trod the dry husks – the only remains of the gore that had coated the stairwell – and followed Monty as he charged down the stairs toward the oncoming tide of black, one hand stretched out before him, more of the strange light streaming from it.

There was a split second of panic as they approached the oily horde and they swelled up to greet them but they obediently parted to allow them passage, streaming around the edges as Dave wheezed and tried to keep pace. Behind him, the slap of boots told him that the soldiers had recovered enough from their shock to at least realise what their best chance of survival was.

Another stairwell passed in a series of adrenaline filled bursts. Then Dave almost ground to a halt as he realised he’d forgotten something kind of important.

THE KID!

He risked a glance back and almost collapsed in relief when he saw that the female soldier had dropped her gun and was now carrying the boy, held against her chest in a hug.

How the hell she could lift him and still move was beyond Dave. In his current condition, Dave doubted he’d make it more than half a dozen steps before he keeled over. But she was moving and moving
fast
, another flight of stairs and she’d probably be overtaking him. Another of her comrades kept hot on her heels, though the other two soldiers were not fairing so well. Hampered by his shredded leg, one of the soldiers started to lag more and more behind, despite his comrade’s best effort to help him along. Dave could see them slipping further and further back from the trailing glow that fanned out like a comet trail behind. Further and further toward the diverted shadows that amassed in their wake then set off after the group like an avalanche picking up steam.

Dave wanted to scream at Monty to slow down but panic jittered his entire body and he barely had enough breath to even keep moving. He couldn’t stop glancing back though, even when he knew their fate was a forgone conclusion.

And sure enough, a couple of more stairs passed and then he glanced back and they were no longer there. Swallowed up by the roiling horde of black that flowed like ink, gaining a little with each set of stairs they passed down as the glow started to shrink.

The landings blurred by until Dave could barely even think he was so exhausted. The only thing pushing him on was raw adrenaline and Dave wasn’t certain if even that was going to last much longer. Each step made him feel like he was about to vomit.
Don't know how she's doing it,
he thought when he glanced back and saw the soldier was still hot on his heels. To add insult to injury, she didn't even look that puffed and that was while carrying the child with an injured arm.

The second bright light from Monty came without warning and caught Dave completely off-guard. He almost careened into the wall while he shook his head to clear the after effects.

A little warning wouldn't go astray,
he thought, straggling to a halt and swaying, his rubber legs on the verge of collapse. The thought was soon forgotten though as he saw Monty and did an abrupt double take. The old man's recovery had only been temporary it seemed. He now looked even worse than when he'd first appeared on the roof. His image flickering so rapidly Dave thought it might give him a seizure. All hunched over; sweat cascading down his face, Monty looked as though he'd even lost weight in the flight down the stairwell. His clothes seemed baggier and his face looked like the skin was getting too loose. Like it was sagging clear of his skull where it shouldn't be.

He only noticed that the surrounding gunfire and screaming had ceased when he saw the shadows starting to amass once more on either side.

'What's...' He couldn't even finish the question he was wheezing so bad.

Monty seemed to get the point anyway.

'Blood... I need more blood. There's only so many other prisoners... here and I've pretty much exhausted my supply at this end...' Dave's swimming vision made it difficult to tell but it looked as though Monty was starting to shrivel before his very eyes. Slowly but surely, dropping a little more weight with every passing second. 'I can’t keep this up without more... it's already starting to eat through... my own.'

Monty waved a glowing hand in an arc above his head as the other hobbled up and gave a long grunt that let Dave know it hurt like hell.

A dome settled around them seconds before the shadows swamped them, blotting out the light.

Then for a long few seconds, there was only darkness and the harsh wheezing of their breath. Someone, Dave didn't know who, whimpered slightly but he barely even focused on that as another sound started to rise around them. A plink, plink, plink that sounded like someone tapping on glass with a nail.

Over and over and over. Plink, plink, plink. Dave heard all the harsh breathing sharpen in response.

He actually roared a garbled scream as a snap of fingers sounded and the interior of the dome burst into light. He blinked against the sudden glare and then quickly shot glances around in every direction. Solid walls of blackness greeted him on all sides. As he gaped at the bizarre sight, the source of the tapping became clear. Glints shifted and danced through the swirling black mass and each time they rebounded from the barrier Monty had erected there was a sharp plink of contact.

Dave swallowed as he imagined the damage they would have done if the barrier wasn't in place.

He scanned across the others who stood staring around in similar confusion and turned to Monty. The old man held a shaking hand outstretched and in the palm a small flame flickered and guttered, illuminating the interior of the dome.

'How…how …how… are…you doing…that?' Dave managed to stammer out between gasps while his brain reeled trying to comprehend why, of all the things he'd witnessed Monty do, he was finding the flame the most amazing.

'It's the…blood. You can do anything…if you…have the blood.' Monty sounded even worse than Dave felt. 'And I…I need the…blood. I…I …can't get…us out of…here …without it.'

Monty's image flickered badly but even so, Dave could see that the old man wasn't looking at him. His eyes were fixated over Dave's shoulder where the male soldier continued to stare around, muttering, 'fuck, fuck, fuck,' under his breath while blood oozed from a couple of deep gouges that crossed one arm and bit deep into his chest.

It was easy enough to divine why Monty was staring and Dave started to feel his stomach churn.

His eyes flicked across to the lady soldier. She crouched and slowly put the kid on the ground, her wide eyes locked onto the darkness surrounding them. He looked back just in time to see the other soldier abruptly start to convulse, gagging and choking as he did so. A second later, the man's eyes rolled up and he crumpled to the ground and his choking abruptly ceased.

It happened so fast that it was over by the time Dave managed to force out a, 'No!'

The blood started to flow thicker from his wounds, easing across the concrete floor.

'Perfect,' Monty gasped and Dave stared from the soldier to the old man in horrified shock as he swooped over to the fallen body.

'What are you doing?!' The lady soldier had spun at the other soldiers choking and started forward to intercept but stopped dead in her tracks as Dave tried to restrain the old man and simply passed straight through the flickering image, stumbling until he hit the barrier and bounced off to crumple in a heap on the ground.

'What the hell is going on?' The soldier stayed frozen as Monty started to drain the blood from her fallen comrade. Whether shock or simply the knowledge that it was futile pinned her to the spot, Dave didn't know. He just stayed on the ground and tried his best not to watch the blood splashing over Monty.