The Purple Haze (13 page)

“
Yeah,” said Dave panting, “I just need to catch my breath.”

James surveyed the garden they were in. It was the same as the others, only now nothing was coming for them. The alley by the side of the house was completely clear. “Just stay here while I check the street,” he said. He moved slowly down the alley, his gun stock resting against his shoulder, the sights at eye level, ever ready for any sudden attack. He moved on and reached the end of the alley way. He pressed his front to the wall and leaned out to see what would be ahead of the group. At first glance he saw one of the creatures, and recoiled around the corner. He waited a few seconds, waiting for it to attack, but no attack came. He carefully leaned out again to get a better look. He looked at the creature and it was just standing there, looking right in his direction. James stared at it a moment and it appeared to stare straight back, but as it turned away from him in a clumsy, shambling way, he noticed a white cane hanging from its wrist. “Blind,” he thought to himself. He waited for the creature to turn away from him fully. It began slowly shuffling away from him, attracted to the noise of the other creatures still trying to chase the group through the gardens. He looked up to the other end of the street and as far as he could see the way was clear. James slowly moved back to the group, careful not to make a noise that would attract the blind thing round the corner.

“
Is it clear?” asked Martin.

“
There's one there but it's blind,” James relied.

“
What do you mean blind?” Gaz asked.

“
Blind. It’s got a cane and everything. If he we go slowly and quietly he won't know we are here.”

The group followed James up the alley way to the street, Dave being very careful not to make a noise with his crutch. James did the same as before and leaned out. He saw they creature had moved about seven or eight paces away from the alley. James motioned the group to move and they did, as quiet as possible. Once Dave was out and on the street, James moved out himself, still watching the creature. Inside he couldn't help but feel slightly sorry for it. Not only had it lived a hard life devoid of sight as a person, now it was a mindless walking corpse doomed to wonder aimlessly with only sound to guide it. He quickly shook this feeling off though when the thought of becoming a meal for it entered his head. He turned away and quietly followed the group up the street.

Chapter 9

The road so far had been easy going. The group had managed to move a good distance, and had left the housing estate behind. They were now walking through a field following a public footpath. Nobody had spoken for at least half an hour. They were afraid to talk in case their voices attracted any unwanted attention. If they needed to drink, they would drink and if they needed to eat, they would eat, but everything was done in silence. The grass around them wasn't too long, about thigh high, so they could walk through it easily if they had to, but it obscured their view after about fifteen feet, so they had no way of telling if anything was lying in wait for them. They were moving okay though, and even Dave was getting good at moving quietly despite his injury and was able to keep up with the steady pace of the rest of the group.

Eventually it was Yvonne who broke the silence. She couldn't stand it, it made her feel too intense not talking. “Why haven't we seen any other survivors?” she asked.

Mike shrugged his shoulders. “Can't tell you for definite. I guess in all the confusion, people wouldn't have known to stay away from the dead. Anyone with a loved one would try and talk to them and wouldn't catch on to what was going on until it was too late.”

“
But what about any people who were alone? We can't be the only ones in the whole town that survived this.”

“
We're probably the only ones with guns, Yvonne,” Mike said, “at least I hope for our sakes that we are.”

The group continued to move on. The field around them was usually very green, a place for families to come and enjoy picnics or walk their dogs, but due to the sunlight being softened by the fog, it looked quite dull and depressing. Picnic benches could be seen sitting empty among the grass, and the group also passed a small play park with a slide and some swings, but all looked eerily still, the laughter and excitement of once playful children now forever silenced. They listened to the air around them as they moved, and noticed no wind, no birds. The scene only added to the intensity of the situation for Yvonne.

“
How much further is it?” she asked, sounding like she had been spooked.

“
It's not far,” said James, beginning to tire now of her constant questioning, “once we are through this field we have to go down another residential street, then it's at the end of that street.”

“
Can we please go a bit faster?” she said.

Martin turned to her and put his hand on her shoulder in a comforting way. “We'll be fine, okay? Don't worry,” he told her.

Yvonne didn't find much solace in his words, but the touch against her shoulder made her feel safe. She tried to shrug it off, but after all this time as a single, independent woman, she had been thrust into a strange world where she knew she needed these men to keep her safe. She could fight if she had too, but alone she knew she would die. She looked at each of them and tried to figure out who she could rely on in a tough situation. The only ones she felt she could trust were James and Mike, but she also knew Martin would help her, if she needed it.

The group kept moving forward and after a short amount of time, they were clear of the field. They went through a wooden gate at the end of the foot path and found themselves in suburbia again. The street they were in was newly built and was just one of several streets, part of a mass building project for affordable housing. They surveyed the street before they moved on, but they couldn't see anything that was a cause for concern. They pressed on, knowing that the community centre was close. Safety was in their reach. Feeling this, the group seemed to move quicker, and then they saw a road sign directing them to the community centre.

Their moods were instantly lifted. They were thinking out loud, asking questions like “how much food will they have?” and “will there be soldiers to help us?” They approached the community centre with such optimism, and then finally it was there. All at once, their hearts sank. There was nothing. The building was simple and purpose built, but it looked closed up and locked. There were no supply trucks providing food and no soldiers with weapons to defend them. James was the first to speak out. “No, this can't be it.”

The group moved forward, James moving faster ahead of them. He was hoping that his family would have come here. It was what had kept him going. Although he knew them to be illegal, he had provided his wife with a police scanner shortly after he took up his position in the service. James knew that after the fog hit, if she was able to she would have scanned the frequencies and picked up the same emergency message he and Mike had earlier that day. He got to the door and tried it. It was locked. He moved to the windows, looking through each one as he went. He saw nobody, neither living nor dead. His mind raced and he started to feel something he wasn't used to feeling, the feeling of panic. “Where the hell is everyone?” he shouted. “They should be here! The radio said to come here!”

Mike tried to calm him down. “It was recorded and playing on loop. Somebody could have set it going and been killed by those things.”

“
But they should be here!” James shouted.

The group looked uneasy. They had noticed James' had been, for the most part, in a bad mood, but they had put it down to the fact that he, as a policeman, was having a hard time working armed with criminals to survive. “Who should be here?” asked Yvonne.

“
My wife and kids,” he replied. “They have a scanner that could have picked up that emergency message. They would have come here.” His voice was shaky now and his lip trembled slightly. They could see he was trying to keep himself together.

“
I'm sure they're fine, mate,” said Mike, “but we need to get inside.” He pointed up in the air in a gesture to make them all listen and alerted everyone to the moans coming from somewhere they could not see. The fog was still quite thick and something was moving in it, the moaning probably attracting more.

James looked around. He took a deep breath and held it for a second, then expelled it. He looked at the faces of the other survivors and saw they were concerned both for him and the fact that there was a possible mass of walking corpses coming for them, probably attracted by his shouting. “Let's get inside,” he said. James pulled a lock tool from a pocket in his flak jacket. “Trade secrets,” he said, and went to work picking the lock. The moans grew louder, and it was clear that there were more of them. The group were nervous, but it didn't take James long to get the door open. As soon as it was, the group filed inside and James closed the door behind him. Almost as though the click of the door was the sound of a switch turning on inside him, James was back on the ball. He quickly glanced around the entrance hall and took in what was around them. There was a doorway to a kitchen, a doorway to an office and a doorway to a hall, big enough to hold about one hundred people. The windows were all fitted with Venetian blinds. “Close all the blinds,” he ordered.

The group sprang to life and began closing the blinds. Gaz went into the office and pulled the draw string on the blind, but before it closed he saw a small group of shambling figures just on the edge of the fog. He couldn't figure out if they were coming towards the building or just wondering aimlessly. He pulled the string and the blind closed. He went to the hall were the rest of the group had gathered.

The hall was big and rectangular. Luckily it had no windows, but was lit by sky lights in the ceiling, and the floor was lined with plastic chairs similar to the sort that would be found in a primary school classroom. The group sat down and listened to the outside world. The moaning was quiet but still audible. Some of them looked nervous.

“
Don't worry,” said Martin, “They can't get in here. As long we keep away from any windows, we should be okay.”

The group sat for a while, not knowing what to say to each other. All of them had been hoping for some kind of aid relief when they got here, and their spirits were crushed, but none of them felt it as much as James. He felt lost inside. He probably shouldn't have let himself believe it, but he was looking forward to seeing his family here. He felt stupid for believing it and inside he was beating himself up. He didn't know what to do.

They sat in silence for a while, just listening to the moans outside, no one knowing how close the creatures were or how many of them there were. The only thing giving them hope was that they hadn't heard any scrapings against the windows or doors. They circulated water and food amongst themselves, but still nobody spoke. By the time anyone did speak, it was nearly night fall and the room had grown dim.

“
I'm going to take a look around,” said Martin, “see what might be useful to us.” He stood up to leave and went back into the entrance hall. He looked around and decided that the kitchen was the best place to start. It was small but had plenty of cupboards. He checked them all and found nothing of great use. They had plenty of tea and coffee but no bottled water. He tried the taps and to his amazement they worked. He tried the water and it tasted fine. He moved to another room, this time the office. There was a computer in there on a desk and a couple of chairs. He searched the desk but again failed to come up with anything. He sighed with disappointment and went back to the hall.

The rest of the group were still sat in their chairs, some eating, others just sat still. Dave had been sitting still for a while and went to move. When he did he felt the pain in his leg, and he winced slightly, but managed not to make any noise. The pain was different now, feeling prickly as opposed to just throbbing, but still with the occasional stinging sensation as it rubbed against the material of the bandage. He used his crutch and got on his feet. “I'm going to find a toilet,” he said. He hobbled away from the group and looked around. He noticed a door with W.C. on it and went in.

The window in there had no blind, but was frosted and too high for anything to look through it. It was still light enough for him see himself in the mirror. He moved closer and examined himself. He looked pale and his skin was clammy. He leant his crutch against the sink and while leaning against the wall, he carefully removed his bandage. He got to the end of it and moved it away, and when he saw his leg he had to stop himself screaming. The redness of the blood seeping from the hole had been replaced with a pinkish coloured puss, and the blisters that had formed immediately around the bite had burst. However, as he rolled his pant leg further up, he saw that the blisters had spread, and were now up past his knee and half way up his thigh. His leg looked like one of those things outside. He didn't scream, he just quietly sobbed into the sleeve of his boiler suit.

The rest of the group were still in the hall. “What are we going to do now?” asked Colin

“
Well,” replied Mike, “it's getting dark now so I think we should stay here tonight, figure out what we are going to do in the morning.” He looked at James, expecting a reaction from him, but he just sat there, staring into space and not responding to anything.

“
James?” Mike said. James didn't move. “James?” Mike repeated, this time moving to shake James. James snapped out of his trance immediately, making Mike recoil and Yvonne jump. He looked at them with a slightly bewildered look on his face.