It'll Come Back... (6 page)

Kate and Louie halted by the jewellery store on the corner to check the High Street for any Dead.

‘It looks clear,’ said Louie.

Kate shot a quick glance over her shoulder to see Phil brain one of the Dead, while Lucy supported Edith across the road towards Wilkos at the other end of the street. More creatures staggered towards them from the gridlocked road they’d all just escaped from. Kate prayed they would reach the hardware store before they got cut off.

She had her own mission. She tore her eyes away, and focussed on the long High Street before her.

‘Come on, let’s get going then.’

As they ran through the city centre, Kate realised she couldn’t hear anything other than her pounding heart, her ragged breath, and the soles of her boots as they hit the pavement. All the sounds of people fighting for survival had gone. No screaming, no sirens – nothing. In the distance, she could see a plume of grey smoke rising into the air above the city’s skyline.

‘It’s just down here a way and to the left–’

‘Whoa,’ said Kate, cutting Louie off when she spotted a group of around fifteen to twenty Dead further up the street.

She grabbed Louie’s arm and pulled him behind a fruit and veg stall in the middle of the pedestrianised street. They waited a moment to get their breath, then Kate peered out from behind the weatherworn awning that covered the stall.

‘Did they see us… are they coming?’ said Louie.

‘No. No, I don’t think they saw us,’ said Kate.

‘Are you sure?’ said Louie. ‘There are so many of them. We’ll never be able to–’

‘Sssh, it’s okay. Stay calm and we’ll get through this.’

‘We can’t get through that lot. There’re too many, we’ll–’

‘Louie,’ Kate placed her free hand on the boy’s arm. She could feel his body trembling, ‘it’s okay. We’ll find a way round.’

Kate took another peek around the side of the awning before turning to face Louie. ‘If we’re quiet we can creep across and down the next left turning. We’ll still be heading in the right direction for your place.’

‘I can’t,’ said Louie. ‘I just…’

‘You can do it. Just take it slowly and stay quiet, okay? They’ll never even know we’re there.’

‘I just want to go home.’

‘And we’re going to get you there. I promise. Come on, Louie. We have to keep moving forward, there’s no way back and nothing to go back to. Forwards, okay?’

Louie nodded.

‘Good boy. Come on.’

Kate edged out first and Louie followed her. They each placed one foot in front of the other as though walking a tightrope with no net, though instead of a lethal fall beneath them, they faced being eaten alive by monsters. When they ducked inside a doorway on the other side of the street, Kate realised she had been holding her breath. She emptied her lungs slowly while she stood with her back bent forwards and her hands on her knees – the only way she could keep her trembling legs steady. She took a deep breath and straightened herself up. They’d made it across the street, but they still had to make it passed three shops before they could turn left.

With Louie following her, Kate edged her way out of the doorway and, keeping close to the shop front, she crept forwards.

We’re going to make it
, thought Kate as they edged along further.
We’re going to make it
.
We’re going to
– THUMP! – Kate screamed as a body hit the pavement just to the right of them. Whoever it was must have fallen from the window of the building to their left.

‘Fuck!’ Kate glanced up to see around fifteen to twenty sets of dead eyes snap in her and Louie’s direction.

The two Dead closest to Kate and Louie began lumbering towards them, both slow and stiff like their limbs had elastic bands, wound too tight, inside them. They were overtaken by five faster Dead, their agility and speed not far off that of living breathing people, suggesting that they’d not long turned.

‘SHIIIIT!’ said Louie.

Kate realised they wouldn’t get to the left turning before they were cut off, so she grasped Louie’s elbow and pulled him back across the street, the way they had just come from.

‘Up there!’ she said, pointing to a side street.

They emerged outside the Cathedral entrance and did a left, down another side street, trying as much as possible to keep heading in the general direction of Louie’s house. Kate could hear banging coming from up ahead, growing louder. As they turned a corner, she flung out her arm to stop Louie and they ducked into the doorway of a café.

Up ahead, Kate saw a mini ice cream van, the type usually surrounded by tourist at this time of year in Canterbury. Three Dead slammed their fists against the van’s glass windows that would usually be open so that fancy and over-priced ice creams could be handed down to its customers.

‘There’s someone in there,’ whispered Kate.

‘How’d you know that?’

‘Because why else would those dead things be banging on the windows?’

‘Because they’re dead and stupid?’

‘We have to help.’

‘No way. We don’t even know if there is anyone in there and even if there is, so what?’

‘So what?
So what
? What do you mean, “so what”?’

‘I mean, we don’t know them – why risk our lives for them?’

‘Do you really regard human life so low? I didn’t know you a few hours ago but that hasn’t stopped me from saving your skinny little hipster arse!’

‘I know, but–’

‘
But
nothing. There are only three… shit…’ At the sound of dragging feet, Kate glanced back the way they’d just come to see the Dead they’d escaped from in the High Street had followed them.

‘Let’s just get out of here while we can,’ said Louie.

‘No.’ Kate glanced back at the ice cream van. Another two Dead staggered from a side street and began banging on the windows. With four Dead on one side and only one on the other, the van began to rock under the pressure of the blows. Kate heard someone cry out from inside.

‘Come on!’ she said as she darted out from the cover of the café.

‘Kate, don’t!’ Louie called out after her but she ignored him.

She thrust the tip of the umbrella at a Dead’s head but she only managed to scrape off some of its rotting flesh.

‘Bloody stupid thing,’ she muttered at the umbrella.

She tried again, this time spearing the creature through the eye with the metal tip before yanking it out and swinging it to knock two more back from the van.

Out the corner of her eye, Kate saw a slim young woman with long brown hair piled up on her head stand up inside the van. She pressed her palms against the glass and watched as Kate speared another Dead, while the other three turned from the van and staggered towards her.

‘Kate, come on!’ said Louie as he glanced from her to the mob of Dead heading their way, while all the time side-stepping away from them in the direction of the clear street ahead.

‘Help me!’ Kate called to him. She glanced back the way they had come to see the mob only a few metres away. The faster front runners would be on her in seconds. ‘Louie, help me!’

Kate watched as Louie continued to shuffle in a sideways manner further away from her as the Dead headed towards her.

‘Shit, Louie!’ Kate drove the tip of the umbrella through the head of a Dead, wishing that she had a samurai sword instead so she could slice and dice numerous heads at once. She swung the umbrella at the front runners as they descended on her, attempting to keep them back.

‘Get out of there now!’ Kate yelled at the girl inside the van. ‘I can’t hold them off!’

But the girl stared at the Dead heading their way and she didn’t move. Instead she began to scream as more creatures staggered towards the van. The screams caught the attention of the Dead who made a beeline for the van. They slammed their fists against the glass.

Kate swung the umbrella, desperate to keep the Dead back so that she could get the girl out but the mob forced her back. She watched as the ice cream van began to rock once more from the blows it received and the girl ducked down inside. Kate saw the van tip over and heard the sound of the windows smashing. She gave the umbrella a hefty swing, intending to beat the Dead off so that the girl could get free of the wreckage. That’s when Kate saw the girl being dragged out through one of the windows by her hair. She screamed as the jagged glass that remained in place around the window sliced her arms and legs as the Dead grasped her hair and flesh and pulled until she was clear of the small vehicle. They swarmed her and began their feast.

‘NOOOO!’ screamed Kate. She stabbed a Dead through the ear and swung the umbrella at a few more that lurched towards her, but then she did the only thing she could – she turned and ran after Louie.

‘You fucking selfish bastard,’ she said to him once she had caught up with him. ‘Why didn’t you help?’

‘Because I knew that was going to happen,’ he replied. ‘I knew it was a lost cause. You’ve got to choose your battles.’

‘This one,’ said Louie, as they drew up to a picturesque terraced cottage.

Kate glanced up and down the street, checking for Dead while Louie fished his key out of his pocket and stuck it in the lock. Both directions remained clear. He unlocked the door but Kate placed her hand on the back of Louie’s before he could push the door open.

‘Careful,’ she said.

Louie nodded to her and he pushed the door open a few inches. He peered inside the gap, before easing it open enough to squeeze inside. He paused then, and he turned to look at Kate.

‘Could you stay? I mean, just for a bit, just…’

‘You want me to check inside for you.’ It had been a statement and not a question.

Kate glanced at her watch and was surprised to see it was already 12.45pm. The detour had eaten up more time than she realised. But she guessed she could take a quick look inside and still make it back to Wilkos by 1pm if she ran the whole way – possible now that the High Street should be clear.

Louie edged into the living room and towards a staircase at the back. ‘Mum? Sally?’ Louie called up the stairs. ‘Mum?’

There came a bang from somewhere upstairs and Louie turned to Kate, his eyes wide. ‘Mum? MUM?’ He began to climb up.

Kate grabbed his elbow and held him back.

‘Be careful,’ she mouthed.

Louie nodded and trotted up the steps. Kate followed him.

He stopped on the landing and the pair listened. Kate spotted three bedrooms on this floor and a smaller set of stairs at the end of the corridor. The noise came again. It had clearly come from above them. Kate expected Louie to make her go first but he darted off ahead of her, and she followed him up the staircase.

He reached the next floor and stopped at the top of the stairs. Kate heard him cry, ‘NO! NOOOO!’

She darted up and eased herself past Louie. She saw blood everywhere. Not just blood but body parts too – a hand lay on the floor in front of them, blood dripped down the peach walls, a leg lay twisted and half eaten on the other side of the room and on the bed sat a head, its flesh striped to the bone on one side. Its eyes moved and it fixed Kate and Louie in a stare as it snapped its jaws at them.

‘Mum! MUM!’

‘Ssssh!’ said Kate, holding him back. But too late – a little girl, around seven or eight, an arm clutched in her stiff fingers, rose and lurched at them from behind the bed. Her throat had been torn out. Blood dripped from her mouth, her eyes were wild and her teeth bared. She headed towards Kate.

‘Sally, no!’ yelled Louie and he dived in front of Kate, and caught his sister by the arms. He flung her back across the room, her little body smashing against the far wall.

‘Run!’ yelled Kate as the little girl sprang to her feet.

Kate and Louie tore down the stairs. Kate spotted patio doors to their left, wide open. ‘This way!’ she yelled, the little dead girl right behind them.

Kate flew outside first, followed by Louie, and she slid the door shut after him. The little dead girl slammed into the glass, leaving a trail of blood. She smashed herself against the glass again and again.

‘Stop it! Sally, stop it!’ cried Louie, putting his arms over his head.

Kate glanced around the small courtyard garden. ‘We have to get out of here,’ she said but all she could see were three tall brick walls enclosing them in the tiny space. She glanced at her watch – 12.55pm. She wouldn’t make it back in time but she would try and catch up with Phil and the others – they might not get far ahead.

‘Come on, Louie. We’re going to have to climb.’

Kate put her arm around the boy. His body remained rigid for a moment and then he clung onto her, wrapping his arms around her and he sobbed while his dead sister smashed her small body against the patio doors.

‘Louie, we have to get going,’ she said after a moment.

He stopped crying but he held onto her for a while longer, before pulling back and looking at her. His red rimmed, puffy eyes sought out hers. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

‘What for?’