The Purple Haze (6 page)

She imagined life as it was, sat at home, relaxing and drinking wine while watching her favourite soaps. She would meet up with friends frequently, go out dancing and generally just enjoy herself. Why would she want to tie herself to a man and lose all that? Yes, things were good for Yvonne. She didn't need men. Well, not before now. The fact that the corpses of her next appointment were lying there, flashing into her sight every time the blue flashing lights illuminated the room, made her realise she was in a trouble far worse than when she was just a hostage. That constant reminder kept her grounded in the here and now. Working her line of work it had to be taken with the job that there could one day be a robbery. She knew the training. Cooperate and give them what they want. Do not do anything that puts others or yourself at risk. What training was there for this? How should she react when for all she knew everyone in the town was dead except for the three men who only an hour ago had dragged her from her office and thrown her across the room?

She looked around the rest of the room. It was quiet. Even the men in the room with her didn't speak. She looked out the window and saw that nothing had changed, just that the blue lights were the only thing visible through that purple fog. Her senses became heightened when she heard a noise. She thought she had heard a sound from the counters. She looked at the thieves, thinking maybe they had heard it too, but they hadn't responded to anything, they just kept looking into nothingness. Maybe she was mistaken. “No,” she thought, “there it is again.” She stood up this time, looking at the security screens. The thieves reacted to her movement and looked around.

“
What is it?” Gaz asked.

“
You didn't hear that?” she responded.

“
Hear what?” asked Martin.

It was at that moment that everything erupted. In the intermittent blue lights Yvonne saw the screens drop and now a white light filled the room. She and the thieves were blinded. She tried to see beyond it but the light was too bright. Then there came a voice, loud and angry.

“
Armed police drop your weapons!” it yelled. “Put them on the ground, now!” Two gun shots were heard in quick succession. The noise made Yvonne fall to her knees in fear. She covered her face and waited. She had never heard such a commotion. Yells were exchanged, thuds were heard. She didn't dare look. She then felt hands on her. She panicked and lashed out screaming, but the voice she heard stopped her.

“
Yvonne? Yvonne, it's me Craig!”

She stopped and focused, and there standing in front of her was Craig. At last she was with a familiar and friendly face. She stood up and threw her arms around him. All the tension and emotion that had built up released in one go and she began crying out loud. For that moment she felt safe again, as though the ordeal was over. She looked over his shoulder and could now make out two police officers handcuffing the thieves who were led face down on the floor. They were swearing at the officers but the sudden ambush had caught them completely unaware. With the light flooding into the room you could have been forgiven for thinking there were more than just the two police officers there. They had surrendered and released their weapons. Apart from the swearing they seemed not to be resisting. They were pulled one by one to their feet and led to the corner where the two bodies lay and were sat down against the wall. The two officers then picked up the thieves' weapons and holstered them in whatever way they could. Feeling calmer now, Yvonne looked at Craig.

“
Are you okay?” she asked him.

“
Yeah, I'm not hurt. Are you okay?”

“
I think so, just in shock I think.” Yvonne paused a moment. “Where's Simon?” she asked.

“
He didn't make it,” Craig said glumly. He looked at Yvonne and saw tears form in her eyes. “When the alarms went off he tried to rush the robber with us but he shot him. I wanted to do something, but I froze. I couldn't stop it.”

Yvonne stopped him. “Hey,” she said, “there was nothing you could have done. At least you are alive, okay? That's what counts.”

Craig nodded silently. The two were interrupted when one of the officers came over. “Yvonne?” he said, pointing at her.

“
Yes, I'm Yvonne.”

“
Hi, my name is James. I'm one of the armed response officers who attended the incident. I need to ask you some questions. First of all, are you hurt at all?” the officer asked.

“
No, I'm fine. A little shook up, but I'm okay.”

“
That's excellent news,” said James, “I need you to tell me what happened to the couple in the corner. How did they die?”

Yvonne thought a moment, but she had no idea. “It was when that fog came. I was sat with them. The fog made me feel dizzy and sick, and I couldn't see that well either. Last thing I remember was the two of them screaming. They sounded agonising, like they were being eaten alive or something. I passed out after that. I don't know how long I was out for but when I woke up that was how they were.”

James nodded. “What about them three? Did they do anything untoward, other than the obvious?”

Yvonne shook her head. “No. Like you said, they just did the obvious.”

“
Okay,” said James, “From what you know, is there anyone else in the building that isn't in this room?”

Again, Yvonne shook her head. “Everyone else had gone home for the day.”

James nodded slowly. es nodd횀Okay then, I'll leave you two to catch up. I need to ask our friends over there a few questions.” he stood up and walked over to Mike who was standing keeping guard over the thieves. James looked at him and thought he looked the part. Considering he had been protesting about using a weapon just over fifteen minutes ago, he looked quite comfortable holding it. James pulled him closer. “How are you holding up?” he asked him quietly.

“
I'm okay,” answered Mike, “hanging in there.”

James whispered this time. “Good, keep it up. As soon they figure out you haven't held a gun before they might try and rush us. We can't risk that happening.”

James walked over to the thieves and looked at them. As he looked, he could see that they were just as confused as he was about the situation. He had thought that everyone was dead, and then he had met Mike. No doubt the thieves had thought in the exact same way. He felt kind of smug inside, seeing them completely bewildered and disorganised when he and Mike ambushed them. He quickly shook this feeling off though, as self-pride in this job could quickly get you killed. He sized them all up, thinking which one would most likely pose the most threat to him in a fight. Two were of medium build, one with dark hair, one blonde. The third was taller and more built than the other two. This had to be the leader.

James pointed his MP5 at him. “You,” he said, “what's your name?”

“
Martin,” the thief said.

“
Are you the leader of your crew?”

Martin looked up at him. “You could say that, but being leader isn't going to help much now, is it?”

James nodded his head, contradictory to what Martin had said. “It won't help you,” he said, “but it's definitely going to help me. I'm going to ask you some questions, and you are going to give me answers.” James motioned towards the counters. “Now, we've already spoken to your ginger nut friend in there, and he's told us a whole lot about what's happened here. He's actually pretty nice, really keen to talk. Told me the built fellow with the shaved head made him do it. Now, I want you to tell me what happened.”

Martin knew James was bluffing. He felt like he was trying to get him to tell him something about the fog as though he actually knew something about it. Martin's first thought was of Colin

“
How is Colin?” he asked James.

“
He's alive at least. He killed a bank clerk, so he's in some serious trouble for that.”

“
What? How do you know he killed him?” said Martin, unable to believe that Colin would do that to someone.

“
Well, he's got three bullet holes in his chest and he certainly didn't do that to himself.”

Martin felt bad. Nobody on his team had ever killed anyone. It was a rule of the crew. Only injure if you have to, never kill. He looked James in the eyes. “Maybe he did kill him, but let's cut the bullshit. What the hell is going on here?”

James lowered his gun and stared at him. He didn't even feel the need to carry on the bad cop act. It was obvious these men were just as clueless as him. He was about to say something when a gut wrenching scream suddenly broke the air. He shone his torch in the direction of the scream. The dark haired thief, who had been sat closest to the dead people, was the one that was screaming. James didn't know what to make of what he was seeing. He stood dumbfounded at the sight in front of him blinking repeatedly as though trying to get his eyes to focus properly. He saw that the dead woman was somehow moving and had taken hold of his leg, and had then bitten clean into his flesh, right through the boiler suit.

Martin saw the scene in the glow of the flash light. “Dave!” he yelled. The woman pulled her head up, taking a chunk of Dave's calf with it. The meat clung to the leg with strands of meat that snapped back as they broke like elastic bands being stretched beyond their limits. Dave yelled and writhed in agony on the ground as the woman began chewing the flesh, the blood dribbling down her chin and dripping onto her already stained top. James just stared in shock. It took him a moment to digest in his head what was happening. It was Martins voice that snapped him out of it.

“
Help him!” Martin yelled with a tone deep concern in his voice. James quickly moved over to the woman and kicked her to the floor. He grabbed hold of Dave and pulled him backwards away from her, a trail of blood forming as his leg dragged across the floor.

James saw Martin and Gaz trying to move away from the scene. He nodded to Mike and the two of them pulled the thieves up off the floor so they walk away from the woman. “Mike, put pressure on that wound,” he ordered. Mike pulled off his yellow jacket and used it press the wound. James looked back at the woman. She didn't react to the additional commotion. She just sat up slowly and continued to chew on the piece of Dave's leg. Her face was expressionless although hypnotised. The milky eyes didn't blink and just stared into the air as though focused on something, but still looking beyond everything in front of them. As he watched James became aware of more movement. The man, who just a second ago also laid there dead, was now starting to roll over.

“
What the hell is going on?” a voice said, and James then realised the words had escaped his lips unconsciously. He watched, actually afraid now, as the man slowly got up to his feet and looked at him with his milky, dead eyes. James couldn't move. He just stood there watching. He looked away to see everyone else around had the same scared look he probably had. He looked back at the man whose mouth opened and let out a soft, yet chilling, moan.

Nobody knew what to do. The man who had led there dead for the best part of an hour was now standing looking right at them. The woman he was with was now just about done with chewing on part of Dave's leg, and realising her mouth was empty, she now started to get to her feet. The movement was slow and clumsy. She supported herself on her hands until she got herself to a point at which her feet were flat on the floor and she was bent right forward, her hands still supporting her upper body weight. The she lurched back in a motion similar to that of someone throwing their hair back from in front of their face. It looked as though she over did this move, as she fell clumsily back against the wall, steadied herself and then pushed herself off it again to regain her balance. Now the two animated corpses stood there, mouths slightly agape, staring at the people in the bank.

James was still holding his gun, frozen with shock due to what had just happened. The woman was the first to move, taking a shaky step towards him, almost as a baby would who was learning to walk. Slowly she came, but step by step she got closer. James held his hand up.

“Stop right there,” he said in a shaky voice, the fear and dryness of his throat very apparent in the way he spoke. She didn't respond. She just took another step forward, staring at him the whole time with an expressionless face. James repeated himself, but she took another step, this time letting out a slight hiss and baring her blood stained teeth. Now the man was moving as well, taking the first couple of unsure baby steps like the woman did, but then built his pace to a shambling walk. James raised his gun this time. “Stop where you are!” he shouted, the fear still in his voice. The two kept coming.

“
Shoot them!” shouted Gaz, standing next to Martin and still handcuffed. The group took a step back as the dead edged closer.

James spoke again. “Stop or I'll shoot!” he said, but they still kept coming. James didn't know what to do. The sight of the woman eating part of Dave's leg and the fact that two previously dead individuals were now up and moving around freely had broken his confidence and force and he was left like a fish out of water. One more step and she would have him. Whether or not the previous events had happened, he couldn't shake the fact these were civilians. It wasn't in his job to kill civilians. He steadied his finger on the trigger. He stepped back and prepared to fire, but his foot stood right on the body of Conner and he stumbled backwards over it. As he looked up, Conner was now moving, as though disturbed from a long sleep. He watched as he sat up slowly, a long string of dribble pouring from one corner of his mouth. His eyes locked with the dead milky eyes of the thief as his lips pulled back and bared his teeth.