As the Light Dies (98 page)

Sebastian thrashed wildly, trying to push the infected man off but he was too fast and too savage. He bit Sebastia
n’
s fingers off as he tried to defend himself by pushing the infected man back. The man bit down on anything close enough to bite. The man forced Sebastian's arms down against the ground pining him there, then leaned in and bit down hard on Sebastian's neck and started tearing out mouthfuls of neck muscle and windpipe. Sebastian screamed as blood gushed from his neck saturating the infected man as he fidgeted around on top of him excitedly. Sebastia
n’
s blood ran back in to his torn wind pipe and turned his screams in to gurgles!

The infected man thrust Sebastia
n’
s head to one side and buried his face in the wound practically drinking the gushing blood. The women were helpless to do anything, they were frozen with fear.

The man leaned back with a long shaking piece of Sebastian caught between his teeth, some piece of his body never meant to see the light of day!

Sebastia
n’
s body shook and twitched underneath the man. The women could hear him still trying to breathe through his semi-eaten windpipe. Air whistled through the jagged hole and bubbled and popped as blood poured in restricting the air flow.

The ma
n’
s attack was relentlessly brutal. It was almost like he was trying to dig a hole through Sebastian with his teeth. Then he pulled back and turned his attention on to Sebastia
n’
s face.

First tearing back skin and flesh from the Sebastia
n’
s gaping neck wound, clawing at it with his hands stretching and pulling and tearing skin and flesh. For a sickening second it actually looked like he was trying to peel Sebastia
n’
s head!

David reached the scene just in front of Dean, Gavin and Andy. H
e’
d sprinted all out, frantic with worry that something had happened to Sarah.

When he arrived he gasped behind his mask when he saw Sebastian.

He searched the scene making sure it was safe to fire, raised the gun and pulled the trigger....click! The cartridge jammed!

“FUCK!”
he cursed and started furiously rattling the gun as Dean and Gavin came bounding around the other side of the bus with Andy.

“Holy shit!”
said Gavin as Andy swung his ice-axe over his head and brought it down hard, sinking the jagged blade deep in to the infected attackers back just below his right shoulder blade.

The infected man spun around scaring Andy back and yanked the axe clean out of his hands with it still bedded deep in his back.

He stood up screeching, spitting a mixture of Sebastia
n’
s bright red blood and his own black and infected blood everywhere almost smiling. Then he lunged at Andy reaching out with both hands. Andy hopped back knowing he was in trouble and Dea
n’
s thick blade flew out of nowhere and bedded itself deep in to the ma
n’
s head and dropped him to the ground motionless.

“HOLY SHIT! THAT WAS CLOSE!
”
blurted Andy
.“
Thank
s”
he said and reached for his axe as Dean retrieved his sword and wiped it across the gu
y’
s back.

Dean was surprised that his mind was
n’
t doing backflips over what he was doing, but it was
n’
t.

He was
n’
t shocked by his actions at all. His mind was blank. It was numb!

He did
n’
t even try to think about what h
e’
d just done or what he was doing! Wiping the blade of a bloody sword clean on the back of the ma
n’
s dressing gown that h
e’
d just killed!

He could
n’
t spare the time to get caught up with guilt and emotion. He knew it would catch up with him sooner or later. It would catch up with all of them!

But right now he had to survive, they all did, or at least they had to try!

“C’
mon
,”
said Gavin
.“
The
y’
re nearly on top of us
!
”

Before h
e’
d finished talking Sebastian started to groan!

The groan morphed in to a gurgle!

“OH NO
!
No! No! No!”
pleaded Leann
.“
H
e’
s infected
.
LOOK!”

They all saw the tiny black veins reaching out from his wound, spreading across his body like roots, and they heard the gurgle.

“
We ca
n’
t help him
,”
said David still fiddling with his gun.

“
Holy shit
!”
said Collin finally able to speak
.“
They must pass the infection on, or whatever it is when they touch or bite you
!
”

“
But how can that be
?”
said Leann
.“
He should be dead. Look at him! Jus
t
LOO
K
at him! He has
n’
t got a fucking neck
!
”

Sebastian opened his eyes and started propping himself up on his elbows. Blood dribbled down his torso and started bubbling up out of his open throat as he gurgled like the other infected people.

Then he locked eyes on them!

His eyes were changing colour right in front of them. They were murky, like puddles of dirty milk. They were getting darker by the second. Turning black!

Ann flinched and cried out as Dean brought his blade down and sunk it deep in to the centre of Sebastia
n’
s head splitting it neatly in two all the way down to his lower jaw where the blade came to rest as it dug in to the gum.

Within seconds they were all sprinting for the roundabout again knowing that Sebastia
n’
s dad might still be waiting for him.

The thought was horrible but they did
n’
t have time to think about it right now. All they could think about was putting one foot in front of the other as fast as they possibly could without falling over. Nothing else mattered. The chasing mass was gaining. The darkness was bearing down fast!

The noise was incredible. Dozens and dozens of morbid calls coupled with hundreds of feet crunching through the black snow sounded like a hurricane. The
y’
d gained a lot of ground. No one would be able to stop again. Not for anything!

The women were out in front, lighter and faster than the men, and as they gained on the roundabout they started to veer off to the right in preparation for the turn. Not far behind Andy, Collin and David copied them. On the other side Gavin veered off to the left just ahead of Dean ready to take their planned exit and head for home while Sam ran down the middle still wanting to protect both groups.

He was constantly checking both groups as he ran between them, then looking back at the horde and going berserk, barking and howling for a few seconds before running again and repeating it all over again.

Andy shouted ahead to the women, telling them to keep right and not to stop for anything when two figures, a man and a woman, burst through the ash and pushed between the women knocking Leann to the ground and sending Ann crashing on to the bonnet of a car. She let go of Sarah.

Before anyone knew what was happening David fired a shot finally getting the gun to work and he blew a football sized hole through the chest of the man seconds before it collided with him as he primed the pump action to take another shot.

But he was
n’
t quick enough and the man crashed in to him like a dead weight and knocked him to the ground. As he fell he fired by mistake and because of the angle, Dean was peppered with buckshot down the left side of his face!

He screamed out, cupping a hand over his face as blood ran freely through his fingers!

Gavin ran back ten paces and grabbed him and started pulling him with him.

“C’mon
!
We ca
n’
t stop
!”
he said
.“
The
y’
re nearly on top of us
!
”

Dean did
n’
t hesitate. He knew it was
n’
t an option.

The shotgun blast had
n’
t killed the infected man that collided with David and now David was pinned to the ground struggling to push the infected guy off without getting bitten. He used the barrel of the shotgun like a bar across the gu
y’
s neck holding him back as he bucked and twisted trying to get at him. Then as he was trying to figure out how he was going to escape, the second figure, the woman who was completely naked landed on the back of the guy. The woman tried shoving the wounded man to the side but he fought her, so she thrust her hands through his gaping chest wound and groped at Davi
d’
s chest and neck, but she could
n’
t reach far enough to do anything, so she worked her way back until she found part of him she could get at. She grabbed hold of his left leg and went to work on his inner thigh. She tore through his trousers in seconds. Biting, snapping, pulling and tearing. Then she buried her face in his trunk of a leg and started to gorge on his soft tissue!

David could
n’
t scream. The pain was beyond that. Instead he vomited in to his brightly coloured ski mask from the mountaineering shop. He lost concentration for a second and the man leaned over and bit his gloved hand and tore away the fleshy part below his thumb. The second bite took his thumb completely! The woman worked fast like a starved piranha, she devoured his inner thigh before she moved up to even softer tissue, his genitals.

David lost consciousness then, with one word on the tip of his tongue - Sarah!

Then he was gone and he did
n’
t know any more when a moment later he was engulfed beneath the wave of infected people.

It had happened so fast the others did
n’
t have a chance to help, none of them did.

Andy had turned to run over but by the time he took three steps the woman had already landed on him and he could see how close the charging crowd was behind them. It would be suicide to try anything but running.

On the opposite side Dean was in agony, bleeding from his face and blind in one eye, relying on his younger brother to guide him. And the women were still getting back up from their tumble.

David was on his own from the start. They all ran. I
t’
s all they could do. They ran for their lives, but Sarah was still out on her own ahead of everyone else. She was in the middle of the road running as fast as she could.

As soon as Ann let her go when she was knocked down she took flight and she never stopped. She was oblivious to what was happening to her uncle behind her. All she knew was that she had to run. She had to run for her life and not stop. Tha
t’
s what everyone else kept on saying, so tha
t’
s exactly what she was doing, running for her life and not stopping.

She was concentrating so hard that she could
n’
t hear everyone screaming her name.

Sam was the only one fast enough to catch up to her, and when he did he kept her pace, letting her know he was there with her. H
e’
d managed to pull his muzzle off and he was ready to fight. Ready to protect her, but he knew he had to get back to his master. He ran up beside her right side and started to lean against her. Pushing her, steering her to the left wanting to turn her around now that she was so far ahead. He was gentle with his actions. He did
n’
t want to knock her over. At least not yet.

Ann and Leann were screaming for her. Screaming her name over and over, but she did
n’
t stop or look round, she did
n’
t even flinch.

She just carried on straight ahead as fast as her little legs would carry her letting Sam guide her.

She never wanted to be without Sam. She knew she was safe with him by her side. She trusted the big dog. Andy and Collin called as well but with no effect. Even Dean tried calling to bring her out of her trance but she still bolted for the horizon. Which was
n’
t that far away.

“Fuck!”
said Dean through gritted teeth holding one hand tight against the side of his face trying to stem the bleeding.