As the Light Dies (99 page)

“
Sh
e’
s lost it
,”
he said
.“
She is
n’
t gonna stop for any of us
!
”

The black wave was right behind them. It was dense, the sheer number of bodies rocked stranded cars on their chassis as they passed by them groaning and gurgling at a feverish pitch.

The manic screams from everyone for Sarah excited them and they sped up even more. Sarah passed straight over the roundabout without slowing as a woman wearing a shredded nightgown and one ragged slipper appeared through the ash racing straight towards her from the opposite direction. She was as black as coal with missing fingers and no cheeks or chin or lips. Her entire bottom jaw was exposed all the way back to her jaw hinge. She was extremely thin, beyond skinny. She looked like she had been shrink-wrapped to the bone with black polythene.

“NO”
shrieked the two women, but Sam was already in the air.

He pounced through the air, crashed against the woma
n’
s chest and tore out her throat in one fluent movement as he knocked her down. Dean watched amazed, he knew Sam would protect her but he was shocked at his ferocity. Sarah kept on running straight ahead as two men came through the ashy snow. They honed straight in on Sarah.

Everyone was running for her now but they were all still too far back, all of them knew the two men would reach her first no matter how fast they ran.

Sam saw the threat and tried pushing against her a little harder than before. He wanted to stop her, he knew if she kept on running like she was that while he dealt with one of the infected men the other one would probably reach her. She did
n’
t slow down. Sam gave up pushing her. He darted behind her and with one swift flick of his broad snout he hooked her ankles and brought her down!

All members of the group were screaming for Sarah going out of their minds now that they could
n’
t see her as more silhouettes appeared through the dirty snow ahead of them. Infected people were closing in from both sides now. Andy feared that the
y’
d lost her!

Dean hoped he knew better.

With Sarah down, Sam bounded fearlessly, straight towards the two men out of view from everyone hidden by the deserted cars. He reappeared briefly when he pounced up and thumped against the first ones chest and knocked him to the ground. The ma
n’
s throat was missing before he landed. Sam spun around and raced after the second figure that ran straight passed him totally ignoring him over Sarah. Sam caught up with the mauled figure as he closed in on Sarah. He dived in front of the man and immediately crouched down. The infected man tripped over Sam and landed hard, then before it even registered with the infected man that h
e’
d even fallen, Sam was tearing his throat out and pulling it out in front of him where he let it drop on to the ground leaving the man looking like h
e’
d been squashed from above and vomited his stomach under the pressure.

Behind him the woman was back up and approaching Sarah again!

Her windpipe hung through the hole in her throat and dangled between her sagging breasts.

Sam bolted over to her, darted around behind her and pounced up on to her back and ripped the rest of her neck away from the back exposing her neck vertebrae to the elements. As Sam fell back down he bit down hard on her exposed vertebrae and let his weight do the rest.

The woman doubled back on herself and fell on her back where Sam shook her exposed neck like a smelly rag doll until he heard it crack....she went limp!

Sarah was standing up again, but she did
n’
t run!

She stood perfectly still stunned by it all. Watching as more shadowy figures emerged through the murkiness eager to meet her.

Behind him the first man Sam had tackled was back up and advancing again and the second man behind him, was in the middle of getting back up. Sam knew this was a losing battle. He saw the new figures approaching and knew he could
n’
t fight them all, and still protect Sarah. Not for long anyway. So he went to her. He nudged her away from the car she was standing against using his thick snout, crouched down and scurried between her legs and then stood up hoisting her up on to his thick neck. Then with her in place he turned and started back towards his master.

At first Sarah did
n’
t hold on. Sam had to work extra hard trying to balance her, keeping her from falling off until she did slip a little. She flinched and her flinch shook her from her daze a little and she grabbed on tight. Sam felt her grab on and sped up knowing she had a hold of him.

Ann called out in hysterics, screaming as she saw Sam run in the other direction carrying Sarah.

“
No Sam, this way
.
Come this way!
”
It did
n’
t work, so she tried calling Sarah
.“
Sarah, come over here sweetie
.
COME WITH US!”

But it was no use. Sam was taking her to the closest port of safety and right now that was to his master and his brother.

More figures were appearing every second following the noise, joining the two throatless men that still pursued them despite the wounds Sam had inflicted. A few seconds later Dean was reaching out for Sarah. He helped her down from Sam and knelt down in front of her and said loud enough so she could hear
,“
Sarah I know this is all horrible, and it should
n’
t be happening, but right now this minute none of us, not one, has time to be sad or scared or tired ok? Right now we have to run ok. We have to run and keep going and if we can do that w
e’
ll be ok! I know yo
u’
re gonna get tired
,
I know you are tired
.
But we ca
n’
t stop ok, not yet. And I promise that me and Gavin will look after you ok, we wo
n’
t let anything happen to you I promise
.
”

“
And Sam
,”
Sarah whispered without looking up and despite everything Dean smiled under his mask.

“
Yea
,”
he said
,“
and Sam
.
”

Right then Gavin cut down an infected man with his sword as he came charging at them. He practically decapitated the guy!

Not ba
d
, thought Dean. Then Gavin spun and dropped a tall athletic looking woman as she rushed towards him climbing over the top of a car.

“DEAN!”
he yelled as Sam leapt to action and tore out another throat then shook the perso
n’
s neck until it gave a satisfying crack.

“
I know
,”
said Dean standing up from Sarah. He looked across at Andy and the others. All four of them were hacking at infected with their ice-axes left and right!

Andy looked at Dean. Dean nodded. Andy gave a nod back and raised his right hand and gave Dean the thumbs up. Then he turned and ran in the opposite direction calling after the others. Ann lingered for a second longer looking at the brothers and Sarah. Dean saw the torment on her face and he yanked his mask off as Gavin grabbed Sarah and said
,“
Make it quick
!”
as he started moving.

“
I will
,”
he said. Then he hollered over to Ann
,“I’
LL TAKE CARE OF HER. UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN
!”
Ann nodded visibly crying as Andy shouted at her to hurry. She half waved then turned and ran. Dean done likewise, he turned to run after Gavin and Sarah as Sam dived passed him nearly bowling him over.

An infected guy Dean had
n’
t seen was nearly on top of him reaching out for him! Dean jumped back as Sam landed at the gu
y’
s feet tripping him over. With the guy down neither of them wasted any time with him. They both turned and took flight after Gavin and Sarah.

*****

Both groups ran in their own directions away from the roundabout as it was consumed by the wave of infected people with their black eyes, mottled infected skin and terrible wounds. Stopping at nothing, like a heavily polluted tidal wave hungry for living flesh.

Dean, Gavin, Sarah and Sam dodged around a fallen level-crossing gate, then ran under the east bound railway bridge and made a beeline for the dual carriageway that sat atop an embankment.

As lightning lit up the skies in an enormous light show Dean saw that the wave of infected behind them stretched at least two hundred meters back down the road. His heart banged like a drum seeing the mass, but something was happening, the infected had slowed, they were almost stopping. Some even milled around on the edges of the blood thirsty mass looking confused!

Gavin had been right. Splitting up had caused confusion. Dean looked passed the infected and across the roundabout but could
n’
t see Andy and the others, they were gone
.
They couldn’t have covered that much ground already
,
he thought with a heavy heart.

He ran a little further until lightning struck again and he spun around and looked back again and this time he saw the outline of two people; a pair of heads watching from behind an abandoned car. There were infected all around them but had
n’
t seemed to notice them yet.

The
y’
d gone to ground trying to hide.

That’ll only work for so long
,
he thought.

He looked back at Gavin and Sarah. They were already climbing the embankment up to the dual carriageway. Sam had left his side for the time being and was already at the top. He was checking the area was safe, Dean could see him looking this way and that, sniffing at the air
.
What a dog
,
he thought looking at the cars and trucks nose to tail on the dual carriageway as he started to move again and it gave him an idea. Dean could
n’
t hear his heart beating anymore. He was numb with adrenalin as he sprinted over to the bank and started climbing yelling and screaming as loud as he could.

“RUN GAVIN
!
Take Sarah an
d
RUN!”

Gavin looked back at his brother horrified and confused!

“
What the hell are...
.”
Gavin started to ask but Dean yelled over him as he closed the distance.

“
Make some noise
,”
he said
,“
yell, shout, scream, do whatever it takes to get their attention. W
e’
ve got to
!”
He looked at Sarah and said
,“
You too Sarah. You scream ok. Scream as loud as you can ok. just make som
e
NOISE!”

“
OK
,”
said Gavin baffled by his brothers request but he did it anyway.

He started hollering at the top of his lungs
.
“C’MON! HURRY! RUN! RUN! C’MON!”

Sarah stood beside Gavin holding his hand wondering why they were making so much noise, nothing made sense anymore. Sam stood rock steady beside her and that reassured her, made her feel safe.

Gavin looked down at her
.“C’
mon Sarah
,”
he said
.“
Make some noise
.
”

Then he carried on yelling.

Completely confused and after a few long seconds Sarah took a deep breath and started to scream. And for the next few minutes, Gavin wished he had
n’
t persuaded her. She was so high pitched, she was splitting his head in two. Below them dozens and dozens of infected figures started to move in their direction following their screams and shouts.

I hope to God this is what Dean wants
,
thought Gavin, barely taking a breath between yells.

*****

Andy peeked around the back of the delivery van he hid behind with Collin and watched as the scattering of infected people that had passed them by without seeing them started to make their way back passed them, towards the roundabout. Towards the others and all the noise that they were making.

“
What the hell are they doing
?”
whispered Collin.

“
Drawing them away from us
,”
said Andy
,“
the
y’
re giving us some space
.
”