As the Light Dies (28 page)

“Holy shit!”
blurted the reporter.

The figure leaned in close against her, it almost looked like it was sniffing her.

The reporter let out a heavy breath
,“
Oh no
!”
he said.

The figure moved towards her bloody face leaning in close almost like leaning in for a kiss!

“
It looks burnt
,”
said Collin transfixed.

“
Charred
,”
Leann added stealing a glance.

The figure moved its body away from the nurse slightly but kept its head close, up against the side of her face. For a moment the two rocked back and forth together.

Leann said
,“
Wha
t’
s going on? What are they meant to be doing
?
”

Collin shrugged his shoulders confused and then gasped as the burnt looking figure pulled its head away from the woman with her cheek clampe
d
between its teeth!

“Oh my GOD!
”
gasped Leann.

The nurs
e’
s skin stretched like a taught rubber band before tearing and ripping free as the figure tore her cheek off exposing her teeth and gums beneath! Her flesh quivered hanging in the figures mouth as it started to chew!

Collin had his hand over his mouth.

Leann turned away saying
,“I’
m not watching any more, i
t’
s a hoax or something, this is
n’
t real, i
t’
s stupid, I want real news
!
”

Collin could clearly see the things sinuous jaw muscles working trying to break up the flesh. It let the nurse go and she flopped back down over the window sill dangerously close to falling out and Collin could see where the river of blood that ran down her back had come from, there was a gaping wound that stretched to either side of her hips. Collin thought it looked like sh
e’
d actually been dug out. Then all of a sudden still chewing, the figure thrust a hand deep in to her side. Her limp body shook and the momentum carried her all the way over the side and she fell to the ground in a heap of entwined limbs leaving the blackened figure standing there for an instant with quivering flesh in its mouth and a clump of muscle tissue and body fat in its hand before it backed up and disappeared back in to the room!

Collin sat there stunned, it looked so real, he thought
,
but it can’t be, it just can’t be
,
he thought.

The reporter gagged. Leann heard and asked what had happened still looking away.

“
You do
n’
t want to know
,”
said Collin as she turned back and looked, curiosity getting the better of her. The camera zigzagged for a second until it found the crawling woman on the ground.

Sh
e’
d stopped crawling and was curled up in the foetal position
.“
Shit
!”
said the reporter
.”C’
mon lady, please keep going, keep crawling
,
C’mon! C’mon! C’mon, don’t give up now!”

He looked back up, the window was empty, he looked back down again and zoomed in as far as he could before picture distortion became too much of an issue. The curled up woman was still breathing, her breaths were very shallow and weak but her chest was still rising and falling, but she was already becoming hard to see through the wafts of ash enveloping her as she lay there.

The reporter pleaded
,“
Oh no,
c’
mon, not another one, please God what did we do to deserve this, wha
t’
s happened to us? Wha
t’
s happened to the human race
?
”

He willed her to move, to carry on crawling as he filmed her, begging for her to start moving again. There was a flurry of movement behind her. The reporter saw it and redirected the camera.

The movement was happening beyond the front door, inside the hospital. As the reporter worked the focus Collin made out a jostling movement in the darkness behind the hanging door.

“
Is that more of the charred...
.”
said Leann as the door slammed to the ground sending up a waft of dirty snow as a stream of darkened charred looking figures poured out!

“
Oh
!”
said Leann flinching.

The camera shook wildly
.
“
Oh shit!”
said the reporter.

“
What the hell
,”
said Collin
,“
ther
e’
s loads of them
!
”

A strange sound rose up coming from them; it was the gurgle like sound. The nurse on the ground heard them and tried to look, she suddenly stretched out wincing and yelping with pain as she forced her damaged body to move. She started crawling away desperately clawing at the ground in front of her, dragging herself forwards with tears running down her face.

‘She’s not moving anywhere near fast enough if she’s trying to outcrawl the shadow fi
g
ure
s’
thought Collin.

The reporter thought the same, he constantly willed her to move faster, to hurry up
.
“C’mon! C’mon! C’mon!”
he repeated over and over.

The dark figures were almost camouflaged by the dirty snow, they moved closer. Collin was certain they were getting faster the closer they got to the woman.

“
Yo
u’
re not going to make it
,”
said the reporter
,
“Sorry!”

The view suddenly became erratic, the screen bounced around in all directions. Collin could hear the reporter panting heavily and cursing.

“
H
e’
s running
,”
said Collin. It was hard to watch as the screen darted all over the place, it did gradually settle in to one steady swinging movement as the reporter ran from the scene but it was still hard to watch, everything flashed passed, they caught glimpses of the van, then a blur of grey as the camera swung with the reporters arm swing and then they caught a glimpse of the hospital behind him before they saw the grey blur again as his arm swung back to his front as he ran for it. The reporter sped up to springing pace and the camera movement became too fast to make out any real details, but they could still hear that weird sound, that gurgle as it grew, getting louder getting closer. Then the screams started!

The reporter stopped to look back, he was panting uncontrollably, the dead black trees framed the scene like a picture frame from hell, a picture of dirty ashy snow, thick and impenetrable creeping like a polluted smog filling the void between the dead trees seeping in to all the nooks and crannies seeking out life. The view was of nothing but swirling whirlwinds of dirty snow, but then there was! There was a faint movement, a subtle movement just visible through the sweeping motion of the ashy snow in the centre of the scene, it was fast and frantic and uncoordinated. It was savage!

“
The
y’
ve got her! The
y’
ve fucking got her, the poor woman
!”
said the reporter between breaths.

The screams were wrenching
.“
Poor woman
,”
he said again as he ran
.“
There was nothing I could have done
.
Nothing!”

He watched as he backed up a little further
.“
I think
I’
m ok
,”
he said
,“
I can hear the van
,
”

Collin and Leann heard it too.

“
That strange noise they make is everywhere
,”
said the reporter
.“
I thought it was the infected people but I was
n’
t completely sure until now. I knew
I’
d have to film this, no- one would ever believe me if not. God! I would
n’
t believe me if I did
n’
t see the film
!
”

“
Why is
n’
t he still legging it
?”
asked Leann.

“
H
e’
s watching
,”
said Collin
,“
bagging the story or whatever they say
.
”

“
Watchin
g
wha
t
though? I
t’
s just snow and ash. Just because we can hear those screams does
n’
t mean any things really happening. I
t’
s definitely a spoof. They do things like this in cheap movies where a smoking helicopter disappears behind a hill before it explodes, and no one actually sees it crash you know
.
”

Collin nodded. He knew all too well what kind of movies she meant, but this was different. It actually felt real
.“I’
m not so sure
,”
he said and they continued watching as the reporter backed up towards his van still trying to film the hospital behind him engulfed within the dirty snow.

The reporter was panting hard
.“
I think
I’
m ok
,”
he managed
.“
If they try and come after me again
I’
m nearly at the van,
I’
ll be driving in a few seconds
.
”

There was a darkening in the middle of the scene as they watched. An area in the centre was turning black, and it was growing outwards getting bigger!

“What?”
panted the reporter
.“
Ther
e’
s some...
.
Oh shit
!
...
.
I think it’
s
....
!
”

He panned round to check on the van, it was
n’
t far away. He looked back, the ash still grew darker until suddenly a rough outline appeared in the ashy snow, a form so dark it was like a line between day and night and the charred looking figures emerged through the ash. The rough line became heads and shoulders jostling for position moving quickly.

“
Whoa
!”
said Collin realising at the same time as the reporter what was happening.

Leann glanced down but was still too scared to watch constantly. The reporter turned and ran again turning the screen in to a manic blur again. In seconds they were getting in to the van.

“
They fucking saw me
!”
shouted the reporter resting the camera on top of the dashboard, pointing it out through the windscreen.

There was a mass of darkened figures making their way towards him, and they were gaining!

The camera was flung on to the passenger seat facing the inside of the passenger door and the reporter rammed the gear stick in to reverse and took off revving the engine. He called out to the camer
a’
s microphone
.“I’
m backing up.
I’
m practically blind I ca
n’
t see a fucking thing out of the mirrors and there are no back windows in this van. I do
n’
t know how far
I’
ll get, ther
e’
s nowhere to turn around. Lucks all
I’
ve got
.
”

The camera bounced up and down on the seat and slid around.

“
I just need to get this video up loaded and then
I’
ll make a run for it through the woods and then God help me
!
”

Collin and Leann could hear the va
n’
s engine revving up sporadically as the wheels kept losing traction in the snow and span up.

“
He must make it
,”
said Leann
,“
we are watching the video after all. I
t’
s definitely a hoax
.
”