As the Light Dies (29 page)

Collin raised an eyebrow not so sure
.“
Maybe
!”
he said.

“SHIT!”
shrieked the reporter. The camera still faced the passenger door. Collin and Leann heard a door open, the sound of the engine got louder with the door open and so did the weird gurgles.

The reporter was shouting and swearing, he sounded far away. Suddenly a door slammed shut again
.“I’
m stuck fast, fuck it, not a chance
I’
ll get out
.
Not a fucking chance
!
Shit, shit
,
FUCKIN
G
shit
!”
He was practically shrieking, he grabbed the camera and looked in to it revealing his young smooth face.

“I’
m stuck, properly stuck. I wo
n’
t be legging it through the woods. I wo
n’
t have time, the
y’
re too close
!
”

He placed the camera on to the dashboard facing out the windscreen, and started to rummage in the back of the van while he carried on shouting
.“I’
m trying to find one of our mobile up loaders that still work so I can post this video, nearly everything dies as soon as it comes near the ash, but we had spares in the back here hidden away. Thank God we did
!
”

Collin and Leann heard thumps and crashes as he rummaged around some more.

“
You ca
n’
t see it but I taped the camera up to hell with duct tape when all our others started dying after we got here. I ca
n’
t believe i
t’
s held up for so long, thank God it has, the other spare did
n’
t last more than fifteen minutes
.
”

There was more rummaging as the camera kept watch, watching as the scene outside darkened
!
THUMP! SCREECH! THUMP!

Leann flinched at the ear piercing noises.

“SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! FUCKING SHIT!
”
shrieked the reporter
,
“THEY’RE HERE ALREADY!”

The van started to be pelted with thumps and thuds under a hail of black fists. The van started to rock side to side and as Collin and Leann watched the dark clump of heads and shoulders emerge, then separate in to figures, individual figures, lots of them. The van was surrounded!

“
I
t’
s horrible
,”
said Leann.

“
Yea
,”
said Collin
,“
i
t’
s kinda spooky eh
?
”

Leann nodded
.“
Not bad for a hoax
!”
she said
.“
I
t’
s a good idea I suppose. You know, playing to the weird conditions and that. It probably is
n’
t even in Norway
!
”

“
What news channel is it anyway
?”
asked Collin.

“
I
t’
s calle
d‘
Everything Th
e
REA
L
News Wo
n’
t Tell You
!”
said Leann.

They could still hear rummaging in the background. Something blinked on the screen making them both jump then there was a loud thwack as something hard hit the van!

“
Oh shit! Holy shit
!”
came the reporte
r’
s voice.

There was another loud thwack, and another. The van rocked side to side. Something moved across the bonnet in front of the camera
.“
Whoa
!”
said Leann flinching again.

One of the figures was standing on the bonnet. The bonnet pinged and popped under the perso
n’
s weight....then the figure slammed a foot down hard against the windscreen!

“
Oh shit, oh shit, damn it
!”
said the reporter as the loud thwacks continued from all sides.

The black foot slammed down again on the windscreen and this time cracks appeared racing away from the heel of the foot. The camera jerked and slid across the dashboard and fell down in to the passenge
r’
s footwell and faced the reporter. He was sitting awkwardly between the two front seats facing in to the back, behind him the foot continued to hammer down, the sound of cracking glass was getting louder
.
“YES
!
I’
ve got a connection with the camera
,”
yelped the reporter
.“
Now
I’
ve just gotta try and upload the video. God I hope this works fast
!
”

The windscreen made a nasty splitting sound behind him, above and out of view from the camera
.“C’
mon!
C’
mon! Hurry up you fucking stupid thing,
C’
mon!
C’
mon
!
C’MON!”

He reached out for the camera and grabbed it. He held it in his hands next to whatever device it was that still worked that would transfer the video to the internet. As he held it, it faced him looking passed him at the windscreen while he tried to upload the video. There were hands pressing up against every last piece of glass in the front of the van, the drive
r’
s window, the passenger window and the edges of the rapidly disintegrating windscreen were all blocked by discoloured searching hands grabbing and banging against the windows as he worked. There was another almighty thwack followed by the unmistakable cracking and this time splintering breaking glass!

The passenger window exploded inwards then and a bloodied black forearm smashed through. Collin jumped in his seat.

The reporter did
n’
t! He sat perfectly still, diligently holding the camera and whatever unit he had to send the video on line close together in a vain attempt to speed up the uploading of the video. Behind him the passenger window was filled with greyish black mottled arms reaching for his back like eager tentacles and the windscreen started to give way, it started sagging badly!

Leann and Collin could only see the lower part of the reporte
r’
s face, they saw a single tear run down his cheek as a badly cut, half- skinned black and grey mottled hand clasped around his left shoulder! He squeezed his eyes shut as the camera tilted back a little showing his face.

“
God I hope i
t’
s loaded
,”
he said as he was tugged by that strange hand, another hand burst through the drive
r’
s window and clasped around his right shoulder. He hunched forwards with nowhere else to go as the windscreen collapsed in to the cab falling in like a stiff and prickly blanket and a figure fell in behind it and climbed across the dashboard!

He dropped the camera, the view tumbled and he let out a whimper as those constant gurgles glugged from the iPad speakers!

Then the tape ended.

“
Wow
,”
said Leann
,“
that was nasty, way too intense for me. I do
n’
t do horror films
.
”

Collin was still transfixed. He was lost in his own thoughts for a moment, slowly he looked up.

“
Uh, yea. It was a bit full on eh. Pretty realistic eh
?
”

Leann frowned at him.

“
Uh, I mean for a cheap homemade film. An indie movie you know
,”
he said worried that she did
n’
t approve of his appreciation for the film.

“
Yea, I suppose so
,”
she said
.“
I honestly thought it was something serious, sorry. The caption did say that it was the unedited version tha
t’
s on the BBC news website.
I’
ll scroll down and see if I can find some real footage about wha
t’
s really happening. At least you enjoyed the mini movie
.
”

“
Uh, yea
,”
said Collin not sure if it was the right thing to say.

Leann leaned back across the table then shimmied back down a few spaces to where sh
e’
d been before Collin woke up. Realising his time with Leann was up he shrunk back in to his seat trying to think of something to say to keep the conversation going but he could
n’
t think of anything until he blurted out far too loudly
,“
Let me know if you find anything interesting
.
”

Leann looked up almost a little startled by his outburst
.“
Yea
,”
she said
.
“Interesting!”

She broke eye contact with him and looked back down at her iPad as she continued to scroll down the footage sh
e’
d downloaded.

Collin sat back in his chair feeling stupid for the sudden outburst wishing h
e’
d just kept quiet.

He thought about the video trying to push his embarrassment away by keeping his mind occupied. He could
n’
t believe that sh
e’
d wanted to show him in the first place, he was chuffed, but then he remembered that h
e
wa
s
the only other person in the canteen other than the injured truck driver sleeping in the corner. He let his mind drift back to the film, h
e’
d quite liked it, it was short and sweet and left just the right amount for the imagination to come up with itself showing just enough to get you interested, by using shadowy figures, not like the new movies, he thought, the ones that were all up front from the start leaving nothing to the imagination after the first five minutes.

He looked outside but could
n’
t! All he saw was a thick soup of dark almost black ash and snow.

A blizzard of ash
,
he thought
.
A black blizzard
!

The canteen door opened and Andy popped his head through and scanned the room to see who was inside. Leann looked up and said
,“
H
i’
ya
.
”

“
Hey Leann
,”
said Andy turning to look at Collin.

“
Collin
?”
he asked
,“
any chance you could come and help me and Thom when yo
u’
re finished your lunch? Maggie knows I need you so do
n’
t worry about her
.
”

Collin stood up straight away
.“
Yea
,”
he said as he started to gather up his things and pack them away as fast as he could
.“I’
m just coming
.
”

“
AH’ SHIT
!
NO WAY!”
Leann cried.

Collin and Andy looked at her!

“
Wha
t’
s wrong
?”
asked Andy.

“
My iPad just died
.
”

“Seriously!”
he said
.“
Yo
u’
re lucky i
t’
s lasted this long. Nothing else is working! Everything electrical has died and I mea
n
everythin
g
.
”

“
Yea, I know
,”
said Leann with a sigh as she folded over the cover.

“
Any news about wha
t’
s going on
?”
said Andy.

“
Nah. Was just looking with Collin but we ended up watching some sick hoax
!
”

“
Oh, ok. Never mind. See ya later
,”
he said and backed up through the door giving Collin a nod as he did. Candles flickered in their improvised drinking glass lanterns as the door swung closed behind him. Collin followed as quickly as he could leaving Leann with her dead iPad and went to help the guys in the store, where he toiled until Mad Maggie eventually decided that the
y’
d might as well shut up shop.