As the Light Dies (14 page)

They were all mens voices h
e’
d heard carried on the wind and they were
n’
t happy.

Then he heard more angry shouting as the ringing in his ears started to ease
.“
Oh shit not another one. Were all gonna end up fucking stuck in here!...
.“C’
mon fucking move, get out of the fucking way...
.“
Its fucking dead,
I’
m telling you it wo
n’
t do anything
!
”

Then a car horn blurted and stuttered just like the trucks reversing horn, then it stopped and Collin heard someone say
,
“Ah’ shit
,
mines died as well
!
”

Suddenly the petrol station, what Collin could see of it, disappeared in to the murk, engulfed within the dirty snow. Collin stared and he could just make out one pair of car taillights, tiny little red dots disappearing and reappearing through the mash up of ash and snow and suddenly the petrol station lights came back on and he heard a couple of cheers but then the lights blinked out again. More shouting and swearing flared up! The lights came on again, but they flickered badly and went out again, permanently.

Collin could
n’
t even see the tiny red dots from the ca
r’
s taillights anymore. He held up a hand to shield his eyes from the mixing ash and snow, but all he could see was the continuous kaleidoscopic swirling grey snow. He became a little bit disorientated by the motion of the snow constantly changing directions right in front of him. He reached out and touched the side of the truck, it helped him to keep his balance. After a moment he thought h
e’
d better go and tell someone about the petrol station lights, he turned to go and as he did he heard more shouting, much louder this time. People were arguing, really going at it, then he heard breaking glass!

He stopped to listen again and got the shock of his life!

A shrill ear stabbing noise made him jump and cringe at the same time! A woman was screaming!

Gavin gave up taking route notes, not even Eddy could tell where they were at times
.
Eve
n
he missed a few of their turn offs himself and ended up having to back up and get the bus turned around again which had been interesting.

Twice while trying to get back on route after missing a turn as they made their way around the new route for the second time the bus had gotten stuck in the foul ashy snow, but luckil
y
almos
t
miraculously, help had come to their rescue within minutes on both occasions.

First up they had
n’
t actually missed a turn but had stopped to let someone off at the end of a track that disappeared in to the woods and they just could
n’
t get going again, the wheels just kept spinning up. Gavin jumped out to see if he could help them get going again while Eddy stayed put in the driving seat and not because he was the driver leaving the trainee to do the dirty work but because his arthritic knees were in agony playing up with the cold.

Anyway as luck would have it a snowplough heading back to base emerged through the ashy snow ahead of them and the driver pulled them free with his toe chain. Before the snow plough driver set off again he told Eddy not to bother carrying on any further than he absolutely had to.

He said that in places even he struggled to get through and that there were several routes that he simpl
y
couldn’
t
even attempt. He told Eddy there was word on the radio that even a tractor had got stuck trying to pull stranded cars free some place nearby and that the road was blocked, and would be for a while now that the weather was really starting to close in. Eddy shook his head and told him that because they had passengers on board going all the way to the end of the route they had no option but to carry on, they could
n’
t just turn and head back to Inverness and leave the passengers to walk the rest of the way.

So they continued, and half an hour later, just passed Kirkhill, Eddy missed a fork in the road.

He drove straight passed the fork without seeing it through the grey blizzard. Eddy had Gavin watching for their turns as well but they both missed it. The weather made it practically impossible to see anything out of the bus windows, the snow on its own was bad enough to see through and slowed them to a crawl, but with the ash thrown in the mix it was next to impossible, and it was getting worse. The snow was getting darker!

At first no- one on the bus noticed the snow turning grey. The shadow cast by the enormous cloud overhead had already turned day to night and the extreme lightning all around held every one
s’
attention for long enough until they stopped to pick up the first passenger since leaving the city. Eddy pulled up and when he opened the doors a cloud of ash blew in to the bus as a guy jumped on and he was grey from head to toe, nearly black in places. He was tall, wearing a thick parka and jeans, he brushed off the worst of the loose snow as he got on but as always, some remained and everyone saw just how discoloured the snow had become as it dropped from the guy on to the bu
s’
s dirty blue floor. The passengers picked up on it straight away murmuring to each other in worried tones
.“
Jesus
,”
said Eddy
,“
the snow turning colour or something out there
?
”

The man nodded as he paid his fare
.“
Yea, it started about fifteen minutes ago. I did
n’
t realise it either until I left the house to come and catch the bus. I think i
t’
s starting to get darker as well, it aint white anymore anyway tha
t’
s for sure
!
”

Eddy nodded, he was short for words; h
e’
d never seen anything like it. He looked down at the thawing grey puddle on the floor of the bus and then up at Gavin.

“
I think things might spice up soon sonny Jim
,”
he said smirking, then he shrugged his shoulders and they started rolling again. Within minutes there was no mistaking the discolouration of the snow. They were engulfed in a never ending cloud of dark grey ashy snow, and it was getting darker by the minute.

Because Eddy could
n’
t tell if the
y’
d passed the fork in the road after driving through Kirkhill he needed Gavin to get out and check
.“
No point in carrying on if w
e’
re on the wrong road
,”
said Eddy. So Gavin hopped out with the plan to walk along in front of the bus to try and figure out where they were.

“
Look for a road sign or something
,”
said Eddy as he left the bus for the second time.

Gavin found the verge beside the bus and started traipsing through the deep snow ahead of the bus using the headlights to light his way as far as he could but they did
n’
t stretch very far in the dirty blizzard. Everything in sight was grey! It felt so out of the ordinary seeing grey snow falling, smothering everything. Gavin thought it was kind of exciting as he walked through the safety net of the headlights and in to greyness. As he traipsed on the ash stung his eyes a little and the cold nipped his face and his ears. He tried shielding his eyes with his hand trying to see further ahead but it did
n’
t help. Occasionally he caught a glimpse ten feet or so ahead for a split second but that was all, before it closed in again in an instant. Trying not to slip or fall as he went he thought he could see something ahead.

He pushed on, and gradually a form started to come in and out of view through the greyness up ahead.

Might give me an idea where we ar
e
, he thought.

He aimed for it and came up against a road sign caked with dirty snow. He wiped the face of it clean and saw that it warned of a low bridge ahead.

This’ll d
o
, he thought sure that they had
n’
t passed under any low bridges earlier, he was
n’
t even sure if the
y
coul
d
pass under a low bridge
.“
Back we go
,”
he said aloud as he turned to head back knowing that Eddy was gonna be pissed.

Before he made it back to the bus with the wind fully in his face he had to stop to catch his breath. Facing in to the wind while striding through the deep snow was harder going than he thought it would be, and trying to breathe through the dust mask as it blocked up with the ash did
n’
t help.

He stood for a minute catching his breath slightly hunched with his hands on his knees. He tried brushing the dust mask to clean it, trying to make breathing a little easier when an almighty crash like steel grinding against steel exploded right in front of him!

He jumped back instinctively and slipped
.
“SHIT!”
he yelped in surprise as he landed on his knees, instantly hoping that his mask and the wind muffled his cry enough so that no- one heard him.

More noises followed as he got back up. Bending, grinding, straining steel!

He squatted slightly ready to jump or run if he had to
.
What the hell
?
he wondered.

Steel ground against steel, it buckled and popped making him cringe like when someone scrapes their nails across a blackboard. Then it stopped! Gavin popped his ears trying to restore them after the splitting noise. Then there was a heavy thump. Then another and another!

It was close by, too close. Gavin flinched, slipped again but caught himself and then a piercing screech rang out louder than before.

Gavin winced again wondering what the hell was going on!

It stopped again and was followed by another heavy thump, sounding both meaty and metallic at the same time. He flinched again almost taking flight this time as the metallic, meaty sound continued. It was almost creaking, like brittle steel under heavy strain. Gavin listened tense all over desperate not to be there anymore but at the same time he was desperate to know what the hell was going on right in front of him just a fraction beyond his line of sight. Staring did
n’
t help, the dirty snow was like a solid wall. His mind raced, he could
n’
t think what the hell was making the noise, his mind was coming up with all kinds of unlikely scenarios. Then there was a heavy shuffling thump, like something falling to the ground!

Then he heard what sounded like air being squeezed out of something. Something big, a tractor tyre maybe! His mind raced
.
Or someone!

Whatever it was- it was big. He waited, semi frozen to the spot listening for something else, anything but nothing came. He took a step forwards trying to see, trying to extend his vision but he still could
n’
t see anything, so he took another step, still no good, he took another and then another, and then he saw the verge, there was a break in it just in front of him.

He took another step and saw the outline of an old dry stone wall either side of the break in the verge
.
Field entranc
e
, he thought. Another step along and he saw the outline of a farm gate, a wide one made from horizontal welded steel bars. Not wanting to get any closer he leaned forwards this time keeping his feet planted. The gate was bent badly out of shape.

In the middle the bars were bent outwards towards him, stretched outwards like something had smashed in to it from the other side
.
Trying to get at m
e
, he thought and a shiver ran down his spine. He took another step and saw thick viscous black fluid all over the deformed bars starting to run and drip to the ground!

He followed the goo as it dripped looking down trying to think what on earth had just happened? What had just done this to the gate, and then he saw!

“
Holy shit!”
he gasped behind his dust mask and his eyes opened wide.

Half visible through the murk laying on the ground behind the gate was a huge muscular bull.

Gavin looked at it amazed, lean muscle bulged visibly through its thin skin, its meaty shoulder was made up of a mass of tight muscular knots barely contained beneath the thin skin.

Gavin moved his eyes along the body towards the head. The head lay on its side and one upturned bulbous black eye stared at him still glistening
.
WHAT
!
is all he could think as he stared at the eye as it slowly lost its shine as ashy snow settled on to it, the same happened to the glistening black tears that rimmed the eye, and the congealing blood that stained the short velvet like hair on its head as it wept from deep wounds across its wide bony forehead where bone was exposed in gaping tears that stretched from one side of the head to the other. The fat bulbous nose was a mangled mess of soft tissue looking like it had kissed a sledge hammer. It reminded Gavin of Sa
m’
s dog food when he forked it out of the tin and in to the bowl. The nose ring still hung in there bloody and bent out of shape. Lightning flickered over head illuminating the scene, Gavi
n’
s stomach turned over shaking him from his daze. He turned away starting to retch, he pulled his mask to the side and vomited.

A few minutes passed before he barely managed to regain control and he stood bent over holding his knees trying to breathe when he heard his name being called. It was Eddy.

“
Gavin
,
HE
Y
Gavin, are you ok
?”
Gavin stood up slowly, he tried shouting back and nearly vomited again. He took a moment as Eddy called him again sounding worried, he glanced back at the mangled gate for no particular reason and heard a deep moan followed by what sounded like heavy breathing. He turned and ran back to the bus as fast as his legs would take him.

“
Hey, sorry
,”
he said reaching the bus panting and he told Eddy about the sign, he kept quiet about the bull, for now. Edd
y’
s shoulders slumped he could
n’
t believe it afte
r
bot
h
of them being so careful watching out for the turn offs. Eddy could see that Gavin was a little spooked by something but did
n’
t mention it, he did
n’
t want to embarrass the kid thinking that the strange weather conditions had gotten to him
.
Easily don
e
, he thought. He knew where they were, h
e’
d driven down this road before when out on a Sunday drive with his wife
.“
Nothing we can do now
,”
he told Gavin
,“
gotta back up, ther
e’
s nothing but the odd field entrance down here and I aint trying to turn in one of them in this snow and w
e’
re too high for the bridge
.
”