As the Light Dies (64 page)

Collin nodded and looked around the place searching for something they could use right now.

The place was clean, totally untouched. Leann wandered over to the balcony and looked down in to the internal courtyard and at the other levels below. They all knew that if there were any infected people loose in the shopping centre, that all the noise the
y’
d made trying to open the doors would have drawn them out, but she wondered if there were any stuck behind counters, or locked in offices.

“
Do you think there could be any sick peopl
e
stuc
k
in here somewhere
?”
she asked.

Andy shrugged his shoulders
.“
I do
n’
t know. Could be. W
e’
ll have to be extra careful opening every door. W
e’
ll stay together all the time, until we suss the place out ok. Now, first things first, le
t’
s block the doors
.
”

Andy approached one of the long white marble troughs filled with imitation flowers that sat at the top of the escalator. Collin had already tried moving one but could
n’
t manage on his own.

“
I
t’
s way too heavy for me
,”
he said as Andy walked over.

Andy nodded and said
,“
Good, just what we need
,”
and they set to moving the heavy chunk of marble. Both of them had to use all their strength and their combined weight to slide it across the floor. They gouged deep grooves out of the linoleum floor as they pulled and pushed it in to position and once there they set to moving the second one as Leann dragged a couple of benches over for good measure and some stray rubbish bins.

“
Tha
t’
ll do
,”
said Andy standing back
.“
I
t’
ll hold them back long enough for us to know that the
y’
re here. Hopefully w
e’
ll find something else to use when we look around
.
”

“
Ther
e’
s more of those marble trough things on the next level as well
,”
said Leann.

“
Oh yea
,”
said Collin
,
“you gonna carry them up the stairs?”

“
I was just saying
,
”

“
Ok you two
,”
Andy cut in
.“C’
mon. Le
t’
s go and see what we can find
,”
he said as he started walking
.“
Look out for any current newspapers or magazines that might be lying around. We might learn something new about all this. We might even find other people in here doing the same as us
.
”

“
Would
n’
t they have come to help us
?”
said Leann.

Andy shook his head
.“
Probably scared we were a group of sick people trying to get in
.
”

“
Oh, yea
,”
she said feeling a little silly for not thinking of that already. She followed Andy the rest of the way in silence as he led her and Collin through the dark shopping centre to the wide, glass sided flyover that passed over the eastern trunk road into and out of Inverness that passed along in front of the supermarket.

Leann stopped and gasped looking down at the front of the supermarket.

The view was faint and fuzzy but it was clear what they were looking at. There were dozens and dozens of cars just sitting there with bonnets up and doors open, even boots.

Dark shapes were lying around them, and in them!

“
Do you think the
y’
re, dead
?”
asked Leann.

Andy nodded slowly, watching until there was movement near one of the cars.

“Look! Look
!
Over there
,”
said Leann pointing.

Andy and Collin looked and they both saw it.

There was a car, probably a jeep of some kind sitting with its bonnet and all its doors open, and beside it one of the dark shapes was moving!

“
Ther
e’
s someone down there
,”
said Leann
,“
We have to go and help them
!
”

“
Hang on a minute
,”
said Andy
,“
we ca
n’
t see enough to know if the
y’
re sick or...
.”
he stopped mid sentence as the figure they were trying to watch suddenly rushed over to another car. It paused for a moment before rushing to another car where it started to pull something out of it.

“
Wha
t’
s it...
.”
started Leann, and then she saw!

They all did!

The figure they watched through the murkiness pulled a silhouette from the car, another person
.
“They’re trying to help!”
said Leann pleading, when from out of nowhere another figure came rushing in to view and stopped the figure they were watching. It looked like they were starting to fight!

“
Wha
t’
s going on
?”
said Leann.

Andy just shook his head in response as the wind rushing passed the flyover carrying the sound of their feverish calls up to them.

“Oh!”
she said and looked away as several more hazy figures all seemed to pop up at once, and they all rushed towards the previous two! Even though the view was poor it was obvious that they were all infected and the first one they had been watching had found someone hiding in one of the cars
.
“Oh, shit!”
said Collin
,“
this should
n’
t be happening. I
t’
s wrong. I
t’
s all just wrong! If this is some biological attack I hope we nuke the bastards
!
”

“
Who knows
,”
said Andy
,“
whatever it is i
t’
s not...
.”
he was cut short by Leann calling out.

“
Look at this
!”
she gasped pointing out the opposite side of the overpass in to town.

Andy and Collin hurried over to look and clearly visible right below them, facing them, was a single deck city bus. It had jumped the curb and crashed in to a bus shelter shattering its windscreen and practically flattening the shelter and the street lamp that stood behind it. The lamp leaned over at a steep angle, so steep that it looked like it had been frozen in time, in mid fall.

“
Wow
!”
said Collin.

As they looked around, beyond the bus they saw a row of abandoned taxis further along with their doors open and bonnets up, and just beyond them only just visible from time to time on the other side of the street was another vehicle that looked like it might be a 4x4, had crashed in to the side of a key cutting shop. Andy thought that the scene looked like an apocalyptic movie set.

“SHIT!”
said Collin
,
“look at the bus. Look at the bus!”

Andy and Leann looked but could
n’
t see anything. Nothing had changed. Collin shuffled along the glass so that he was as close to the bus as he could be and he crouched down peering under the hand rail.

“
There look
,”
he said
,“
oh my God look
!
The driver’s still in the cab!”

Leann stopped in her tracks lifting both hands to her face, she could
n’
t bear to look.

“HE’S MOVING!”
cried Collin.

“WHAT!”
said Leann moving a little closer. Andy looked down at the cab but could
n’
t see anything no matter how hard he looked all he could see was the dirty ashy snow filling the cab now that the windscreen had gone; that was until something moved!

He hurried over beside Collin trying to get a better look, then he gasped taking in a sharp breath.

“
I can see him
,”
he said.

“
Me too
,”
said Leann looking over his shoulder, curiosity getting the better of her.

Behind the steering wheel something moved up and down in the shadows.

“
H
e’
s stuck
,”
said Leann.

“
Do you think...
.”
Collin started saying when the thing they were watching moved upwards and this time, instead of only rising so far and falling back down again it kept on going, it kept on rising further and further up. None of them could move as they watched, as the driver was about to break free and reveal himself.

“
Ah
!”
said Andy
,“
i
t’
s just a dog you idiot
.
”

Leann exhaled a sigh of relief, but it was short lived. The moving thing revealed itself to be a large dog but not the friendly type. Its fur was matted and stuck to its body like it was wet, and it had painful looking open wounds in its hind legs and along its belly and neck. It pulled back and they saw something dangling from its mouth! It jerked its head back opening its mouth gathering up whatever it was and ate it.

“
God, it does
n’
t look like i
t’
s got any eyes
,”
Leann whispered.

Andy nodded and said
,“
The
y’
re black. I
t’
s infected
!
”

The dog jumped down from the drive
r’
s cab and disappeared behind the dashboard causing them all to gasp in horror. Leann almost screamed. The driver was slumped back in his seat! What was left of him!

“Oh my God!”
cried Leann looking away and backing up from the window fighting the urge to gag.

“Oh man!”
blurted Andy jolting back and standing up.

“
Poor guy
,”
added Collin staying where he was just staring. The driver had been mauled beyond all recognition, his throat and neck were one big open wound and just a little of his balding scalp remained with thinning matted black hair. Then the dog reappeared as it hopped off the bus grabbing their attention. It lifted its nearly fleshless snout up in to the air as if searching for a scent.

“
It can still smell
!”
said Collin and right then the dog must have caught a whiff in the air and it darted around the front of the bus ran down the side of it, crossed the road and disappeared in to the black snow. Collin leaned back on his calves. Lightning flickered illuminating the scene revealing the full extent of the carnage!

Collin and Andy saw that every window at street level had been smashed and debris from within the various shops and outlets littered the street where the
y’
d been turned inside out by looters. A crow that had flown away startled by the infected dog came back and it perched on a rounded hump in the snow just below the overpass, just under Collin and it continued to pick at it. There was a small damp patch of disturbed snow where it repeatedly pecked and its beak was bright red. Collin looked at Andy disgusted by it. Andy frowned and shook his head flashing a look towards Leann.

Collin nodded understanding, and did
n’
t say anything, instead he asked
,“
What are we going to do? I mean, what are we eve
n
suppose
d
to do? Even the fucking dogs are infected
!”
then he lowered his voice and added
,“
maybe even that fucking bird
!
”

Andy nodded and said
,
“Yea
,
and God knows what else! W
e’
ll have to check this place out, check it from top to bottom and make sure i
t’
s safe. Then, if we can, w
e’
ll stay here the rest of the night and wait for morning. I
t’
s all we ca
n
do
!
Maybe the ash will ease up and clear enough for us to be able to see, and we can try to go home
.”
He stopped for a second and then added
,“
Tha
t’
s if ther
e’
s even a home left
!
”