As the Light Dies (85 page)

“FUCK!”
blurted Dean trying to read the situation. He looked at the ceiling at the swinging light. He looked at the shops front windows and then he looked at the open door and said
,“
Ther
e’
s people upstairs
.
C’mon!”

The three of them made for the door and saw stairs leading upwards. Sam pawed at the bottom step eager to climb up ahead of them but Dean held him tight.

“
What the fuc
k’
s this all about? Wha
t’
s going on
?”
said Gavin looking at the stairs.

“
He must have family up there
,”
said Dean inching closer trying to see up the stairs, but it was no use, the stairway ascended in to pure darkness. It was pitch black.

“
Ah shit
!”
he said unable to see anything.

“
He is
n’
t gonna hurt us, h
e’
s just scared for whoeve
r’
s up there
,”
said Dean nodding towards the darkness.

Between the yelling and the high pitched scream from above and the clogged up howls from the infected, they all felt like they were being surrounded. They felt like they were being closed in on!

“
What should we do
?”
said Ann. Her eyes were on stalks trying to adjust to the new level of darkness.

Gavin looked at Dean
.“
Out the back, le
t’
s make a run for it
!”
he said.

Dean shook his head
.“
No! W
e’
re still safe in here for now. The infected are
n’
t trying to get in here. Not yet at least
!”
He pointed at the calm shutters, but he knew it was only a matter of time, maybe even only seconds.

Right then the ashy black snow twirled and spun as he looked at the plate-glass beyond the shutters as something moved passed at speed
.
Someone running
,
he thought.

He felt an enormous burden as he looked in Ann and Gavi
n’
s faces. Their fate was in his hands!

Images of Keith flashed through his mind, Keith stuck in the water flume, stuck in that blood drenched fiberglass coffin.

Forcing the thoughts of Keith out of his head he made up his mind and said
,“C’
mon
.”
And he nodded upwards in to the dark
.“
Le
t’
s go
,”
he said.

He let go of Sam, letting him charge up in to the darkness ahead of them, and he ran up behind him as fast as he could, calling for him not to run too far ahead as the three of them raced after him.

The stairs were steep, and seemed to reach out in front forever. They ran for what felt like too long until they crossed a half-landing where the stairs turned at a right angle and continued up in to the dark.

One by one they each bumped in to and then pushed off the sudden dead end that appeared in front of them and raced on. There was an enormous shattering of glass too close for comfort and Dean was certain that the sho
p’
s front window had broken.     

They carried on, there was no sense in going back to check, Dean just hoped that David had paid for a good shutter. They passed another half landing where the stairs turned again and this one had doors and a hallway leading away from it. But Sam passed right by without hesitating, following the stairs and bolting up them leading them closer and closer to the screaming.

As they pounded up the stairs each of them heard muffled shouting join all the noise. It sounded like David. The shouting was followed by another new sound. A banging of some sorts, metallic yet grainy at the same time. None of them said anything; they did
n’
t have the breath to spare.

Then, after a few more seconds that felt like long minutes of pounding up the stairs they reached another landing, this one much larger with another hallway and Sam bolted straight down it.

He slipped and slid on the laminate wooden floor as his claws searched for grip but found none.

Dean was sure they must be about to burst in on David and whoever it was that was screaming. But he did
n’
t think they would meet who was doing all the yelling. He was certain that was coming from next door. Sam suddenly darted right and disappeared through a door that Dean had
n’
t noticed in the dark. Sam nudged it open and raced up even more steps, still struggling for grip. These ones were
n’
t carpeted like the others, they were bare wood and Sam clattered and scrapped up them at lightning speed.

The screaming was loud beyond belief now. Dean knew their journey was about to come to its end! He was right. Sam disappeared out of sight ahead of them as he made it over the top of the stairs before them. The others reached the top just seconds behind him and found themselves in a large, wide open attic area that was being lit by some well positioned candles.

David was over by the wall that joined the building next door. He was stabbing at the wall with what looked like a curtain pole. H
e’
d chipped a large area of plaster off the wall and ripped out a bundle of insulation that surrounded his feet. In between stabs with the pole, he used the tip of the pole to scrape at the cement between the large bricks. Beside him on the floor screaming with all her might despite Davi
d’
s best efforts to calm her, was a little blonde girl.

Dean rushed over to David wanting answers. David saw them and paused. He looked up and said
,“
Sh
e’
s my niece, Sarah.
I’
ve told her about you guys. Sh
e’
s the one who banged on the ceiling, turned the kitchen dresser over then ran up here like I told her to at the first sign of trouble
.
”

Dean nodded and glanced over at Sarah and saw Ann was already beside her. She was just kneeling down beside the distraught little girl, putting an arm around her to comfort her.

Dean looked back at David
.“
What the hel
l’
s going on
?
”

“
Those things have gotten in next door! I did
n’
t even know they were in. My neighbours that is. They do
n’
t even live there. They were banging like crazy on the wall when I got up here, scared the hell out of Sarah. I think the
y’
re trying to break through
.
”

Gavin butted in
,“
Ther
e’
s no way the
y’
re gonna break through that wall, ever
!
”

Dean nodded and said
,“
H
e’
s right. What about the roof
?
”

“What!”
said David.

“
Windows
,”
said Dean
,“
ther
e’
s windows up here they could climb through
.
”

Dean saw the realisation wash over Davi
d’
s face.

“
I, uh, I do
n’
t know if they could
,”
he said.

“
The
y’
ll have to
,”
said Dean, and he rushed over to the side that faced the street, minding his head from the roof beams. Gavin grabbed a candle and followed.

“
Quick
,”
said Dean
,“
shift all this stuff
.”
And he started digging his way through piles of dust covered junk working towards the closest roof-light to the adjoining wall.

The three men worked fast shoving boxes of faulty watches and DVDs aside and pulling old wardrobes with broken hinges and book shelves riddled with woodworm out of the way.

“
Tell them
,”
yelled Dean struggling to be heard above all the noise
.“
Tell them to start clearing their way towards their nearest window. I
t’
s the only way. The
y’
re gonna have to climb across
!
”

David nodded and ran back over to the wall and started yelling through to his neighbours.

“
Iain, Sammy. Get to the window! Get to the window closest to me. I
t’
s your only chance. W
e’
ll never break through the wall. Get to the windo
w
NOW!”

Dean and Gavin reached the window and tore down an old moth-eaten curtain that was nailed to the frame. It came down in a cloud of grey dust. The window was as old as the building, and the frame was thick with layers of paint sealing it closed. There was no way the
y’
d get it open.

Without hesitating Dean thrust the end of his monkey wrench through the brittle glass and the ancient window disintegrated and fell out of the roof and in to the street below where it landed with a crash.

Ann was making progress with Sarah. Sh
e’
d stopped screaming but was sobbing uncontrollably. Ann rocked back and forth hugging her tightly in her lap.

Dean did
n’
t like what he saw when he looked out through the hole in the roof. The distance between Davi
d’
s window and his neighbou
r’
s was further than h
e’
d hoped, and the pitch of the roof was steep and covered with black snow. He did
n’
t like their chances!

Just finding the courage to climb out on to the roof was going to be a major hurdle, but at the moment there was no sign of them.

“
Who are your neighbours
?”
asked Dean.

David stared at him. He seemed to be lost for words for a second, dazed.

Dean added
,“
Are they even fit enough to even try this
?
”

David hurried over to the window still holding the battered curtain pole.

“
The
y’
re middle-aged
,”
he said hopping over junk
,“
they run the second hand book shop next door. They have done for years. Iain and Sammy, well, Samantha that is. H
e’
s ok but Sammy has an artificial hip after a car accident a few years back and sh
e’
s got a pretty bad limp
.
”

Dean was already shaking his head.

“
What! Wha
t’
s wrong
?”
asked David.

“
Yo
u’
ll see
,”
said Dean as David neared the hole where the window had been.

David looked out and let out a gasp. He had
n’
t realised what would be involved.

Dean waited for the situation to sink in for David. He listened to the gurgling howls. They were getting louder. Closer!

David looked down trying to gauge the drop that was maybe thirty five feet or so.

“
Oh my God
!”
he said.

Below him drifting in and out of sight there was a horde of raging infected people all fighting to get in to the book shop through the giant hole in the front of the shop that the shattered front window had left.

“
I know
,”
said Dean nodding, h
e’
d only glanced down for a split second but that was enough. He saw no point in wasting time staring. He saw what he needed to in that instant and knew a fall would be fatal even if the actual fall was
n’
t.

Dean wanted to start moving as soon as he could. He was worried that if they did
n’
t move soon, the
y’
d all end up trapped. He glanced around the attic, searching the clutter for anything useful. He saw Ann still nursing Sarah with Sam standing beside them, guarding them
.
Good boy
,
he thought as he searched, but nothing was jumping out at him, it was all just junk, apart from Davi
d’
s pump action shotgun that lay on an old cracked tea chest across from him. His spirits rose but then he remembered that it was
n’
t loaded.