Out of the Dark: An apocalyptic thriller (37 page)

     “Guys, this fucker has a big ass knife. It’s like a fucking sword. Someone shoot this piece of shit!”

     Kirby hauled himself up and lifted his gun back up. He squeezed the trigger three times in quick succession as soon as he got the molted, bloody carcass of the corrupted in his line of sight.

     The creature stepped back once when the punch of the bullets hit, but didn’t otherwise falter. With another groaning growl, what had once undoubtedly been a butcher finished pulling itself away from the deep freeze.

     “Oh, shit.” Armani shook his head as he echoed Molly’s curse.

     The bladed arm of the meat slicing machine in the back of the deli had been torn clean off. With a blade kept super sharp and thin for precision, the weapon would be a problem for anyone in close proximity. Armani wanted all of his group members to get
out
of that range.

     Ken backed away from the corrupted, which swung the creature’s attention his way. He gave a small whimper and ducked under one of the baking tables. Molly kept her eyes on the mutilated butcher and began backing away with the smallest, quietest steps she could manage.

     “Aim for the head,” Armani advised as Kirby raised his weapon once more. “Dave killed the other with a headshot.”

     Kirby nodded and let his breath out with measured slowness. He aimed for the stripped, misshapen head and fired once.

     The bullet struck the wall of the freezer behind the freak, pinging harmlessly off the metal.

     The creature shrieked at Kirby and raised the blade that was almost as long as the gun-holding man was tall. With one swing of the massive arm holding the weapon, the corrupted swept the blade through Molly at her midsection.

     The noise of the building seemed to disappear into a vacuum summoned by the blade as it passed through the clothes and skin of Molly Read. Bodies froze, and the blade even seemed to hang suspended as though it was merely an image caught in its descending arc by a high quality camera.

     Blood soaked the blade and dripped down to the floor.

     Gwen screamed, a sound that could have been sampled from someone being skinned alive in a fiery hell.

     Shocked from his stupor by Gwen’s grief-stricken wails, Kirby fired once, twice, three times. The second bullet found its way into one of the warm brown eyes of the gigantic corrupted and the third finished the scalping job the corrupted had begun, exposing brain matter which oozed a thick black fluid. As a cleaved in half Molly sank to the floor, the corrupted collapse, falling backward into the open freezer.

     Beneath the baking table, Ken Larson began to sob.

Chapter Thirty

     After grabbing three spare flashlights, Shane walked out to the vehicles with a stepladder in hand. He handed the extra gear to Darcy, who tucked them into the open spaces she had in the front seat. Shane kept one flashlight for himself and set up the stepladder in order to secure the first vehicle topper with rope he’d shoved in his back pocket.

     “Where’s Stephanie?”

     Shane gestured back to the store and began the process of securing the first topper. “She said this would go faster if she gathered the smaller stuff and I started getting these big bastards set up.”

     “Yeah,” Darcy said in an uneasy tone. She looked at the store and continued, “I just don’t know if splitting up is such a good idea.”

     “Storms are coming,” Shane reminded her as he finished with one of the storage units and stepped down from the ladder. He moved to his vehicle and positioned the stepladder next to it and began repeating the process.

     “But are you sure it’s safe in there? There aren’t any of those…those things in there, right?” Darcy kept her worried eyes on the doors to the store, hoping to see Stephanie push a cart out. Nothing seemed to move inside the store, and her apprehension turned from tingles along her scalp to a sharp pain in her neck.

     Shane hopped down from the step ladder and let his gaze follow the path of Darcy’s into the darkened store. Stephanie should have been back out with her second load already; that much he could admit.

     “Dar, get in the van.”

     Darcy traded one panicked look with Shane. She could see how hard he tried not to look worried, but the weight in his dark eyes made her heart pound with anxiety.

     “What do you mean?” she asked. “Why?”

     “Just in case.” Shane waved a hand back at her, shooing her into the driver’s seat of the van now topped with the storage unit. “Lock the doors but don’t turn it on unless you see something that makes you think you need to get out of here.”

     “How will I find you guys if I have to drive away?” Darcy protested as she clutched her coat tighter around herself. Whipping wind flung tiny pieces of ice thin as an underwater whisper into her eyes.

     “Drive straight. Head to the first unoccupied building on the right side of the road. Try to make it a gas station or convenience store or something, okay? It’s probably nothing. She just got distracted.”

     Shane’s convincing didn’t work on either Darcy or himself. She gripped his arm as he tightened his hold on the flashlight and prepared to return to the store’s interior.

     “Just be safe,” she insisted before releasing him.

     Shane nodded and jogged to the doors. He didn’t look back. He feared Darcy’s concern would exacerbate his and drain the last bits of bravery out of him. Not wanting to go back into the store but finding no alternative, he stepped inside.

     His flashlight swept back and forth over the aisles he and Stephanie had already visited. He saw one of two carts full to the top with the supplies they needed. Stephanie must have been filling the second, he thought.

     Stepping around the first cart, Shane made his way to the back of the store. The only thing back there they’d wanted to check out had been the camping foodstuffs. Shane had told Stephanie to come back out for him if he wasn’t back inside by the time she wanted to go to that area. His concern deepened.

     “Steph,” he called out softly. They hadn’t seen anyone else in the store when they’d first checked. He gambled on the fact that there was no one except his friend to hear him now.

     “Shane, back here.” Stephanie didn’t keep her voice lowered as he had. She sounded slightly out of breath.

     Shane trotted toward the back left corner of the store and found Stephanie kneeling down. Beside her was a short, stout woman wearing the collared, moss green shirt indicating she was an employee of the large store. She cried softly while she verbally relived the last two days.

     “I didn’t know what to do with them,” she said as Shane came upon the pair.

     He looked at Stephanie with accusation in his eyes. She shrugged at him and patted the shoulder of the hefty woman beside her.

     “Shane, I found another survivor. She’s like us.”

    
Not entirely
, Shane thought. Like Sam Walker, his wife, Laura, and the teen Austin, this woman was
half
-corrupted while Shane and the rest of his group were free of the blight. As at the Walker home, corruption of any kind made him leery.

     “We didn’t see you when we first came in; sorry.” Not trying to be rude, Shane left the question hanging in the air though he didn’t voice it specifically.

     “I was in the back. There’s a…an office and…” She cast brown eyes trembling with tears at the door marked, ‘employees only.’ “A holding area,” she finished in a voice so soft Shane could barely hear the words.

     “Coworkers,” Stephanie answered Shane’s inquiring expression. “She said she locked them in there when things went crazy and they started to change.”

     “How many?” Shane was instantly on alert upon learning there were more potential dangers unaccounted for in the store.

     “Three,” the woman answered without hesitation.

     Shane looked at the ‘employees only’ door and sighed. “Are they well enough contained that we can get what we need and get out of here?”

     “Would you just…leave once you get what you need?” the woman asked. Her voice trembled with anxiety and worsened when she saw Shane’s dubious expression. “Listen, um, I don’t want to stay here. I could help you out and, like, I don’t know… try to prove I’d be helpful if I came along.”

     Stephanie said, “Of course,” while Shane tried a more diplomatic, “We’ll see.”

     Glaring up at him, Stephanie addressed Shane. “We’re not just going to leave her here.”

     He looked at the door again. If the corrupted had shifted their forms to where she thought they were dangerous enough to be locked up, how had she managed to do it? The thought was the only thing making him doubt the legitimacy of her claim that she was a survivor just like them.

    
Not like us
, Shane thought,
not in the way that matters
.

     “We’ll see,” he repeated. “Come on. We still have a lot of stuff to get.”

     The three trips they made back to the vehicles got them loaded with all the camping supplies Shane had thought to grab and then some. The employee, whose name was Gina, pointed out several things Shane hadn’t thought about but would be incredibly useful. The small, battery powered washing machine she’d convinced him to take would undoubtedly be useful if their stay on the island was long term. She also advised him to pack up three portable toilets and grab as many boxes of heavy duty waste bags as were on the shelves.

     Both clothes washing and toilet needs were not things Shane had thought of for himself. Having Gina help them with their supply gathering was more advantageous than he wanted to admit. He found himself losing his skepticism in regards to Gina’s intentions with each trip to the car.

     Gina assisted Shane with roping the second topper securely to Shane’s vehicle. By the time they were all packed up and ready to go, the sky had become wrathful, swirling with dark clouds threaded through with veins of ice, and Shane had become converted to the thought that Gina joining their group would be beneficial to them.

     “I want to grab a few extra packs of batteries,” Shane told Darcy and Stephanie as he grabbed the over the shoulder bag he’d decided to carry on his person at all times. “Clear a seat so Gina can ride with one of us while I’m in there and we’ll get back on the road.” He looked up at the moody sky and tucked the bag close to him with a nod. “I want to get on the road ASAP, okay?”

     Stephanie smiled at him as she opened the passenger door of the vehicle she’d be driving. “Okay, Shane. We’ll be ready when you get back.”

     Shane made his way back into the store. He carried a flashlight in one hand and moved with more confidence than he had before. This stop had been a good idea. Not only had they gotten many things they needed, they’d found someone who was knowledgeable and helpful.

     On top of marking the important items off of his list, Shane had discovered the sporting goods store was flush with weapons. Everything from crossbows with bolts to hunting rifles and right on down to handguns; the store had a wide variety. Two hunting rifles and one crossbow with as much ammunition as he could stuff in were already in his vehicle waiting for him. He wanted a handgun to keep on his person and one for Stephanie, as well. He didn’t know if Darcy could shoot, but he’d seen Stephanie in action. The woman had made herself quite the self-sufficient and skilled individual.

     He passed the ammo on the way to the counter area behind which the guns were kept. Stuffing some of it into his bag, he made sure to grab 9mm bullets and a few boxes of .38 Special.

     Flashlight held between his strong, white teeth, Shane hopped over the back counter and used the key near the register to open the glass-faced gun safe. He selected the two handguns he’d had eyes on since the first time they’d gone into the store and tucked them into his bag.

     After a moment hesitation, he grabbed a third handgun. They could teach Darcy to shoot if she didn’t know how already. He swiped another pack of ammunition and loaded the weapon.

     “All set,” Shane breathed out.

     A crashing noise came from the rear of the store. Shane cursed as he realized the clatter of sound had come from the ‘employees only’ area. One or more of the corrupted had found their way out of wherever they were being held.

     Holding his bag so it was secure against his side, Shane jumped across the counter and began to run for the door. It was still daytime. All he had to do was get to the outside and he would be fine. He knew safety lay in the light.

     The door to the ‘employees only’ room burst open. A threatening sound he couldn’t identify pursued him.

    
Hissing?
he thought.
Something unfathomable slithering across the floor?

     He picked up his pace.  

     Once he hit the front doors of the building, he began to shout at the others.

     “Get inside and lock the doors!” he hollered.

     Even as Stephanie looked at him and asked, “What? What do you mean?” she and the others moved for the car doors.

     “I don’t think so,” Gina said as she took Darcy by the arm. “This one is for the Bringer.” Wherever Gina’s fingers touched the uncorrupted woman’s flesh, they changed. Fur coated the skin, dark red like scorched blood, and new black nails pushed out from her fingertips. They curved under, sharp like talons, and dug through the skin of Darcy’s forearm.

     “Ow!” Darcy cried out as she tried to jerk away from Gina’s fierce grasp. Her jerking only succeeded to wound her further.

     A long inhuman tongue, black and forked at the end, slid between Gina’s narrowing lips and licked around Darcy’s cheek. The stench coming from the other woman made Darcy gag even as she struggled harder to get away.

     Shane reached Darcy’s vehicle, where she struggled with Gina. The handgun he’d already loaded was in his grasp. Barely slowing his pace, he tucked the barrel against Gina’s head and pulled the trigger.

     Reptilian eyes, which now sat in an elongated, scaly face, changed in color to an acidic green. They went wide as the bullet penetrated the corrupted skull housing them. Darcy was able to pull her arm away when the talon-tipped hand went slack.

     “Jesus, Shane,” she managed to gasp out. Her arm convulsed. Her fingers closed into a tight, trembling fist, as though to capture the pain in her assaulted limb.

     “In the van!” he snapped. “Now.”

     Darcy ran around the front of her van and chanced a look back at the store.

     Glass shattered and crashed to the entryway’s tiled floor as three abominations of dark, scaly flesh charged through the closed doors.

     “But…the sun…” Darcy looked up at the sky. Clouds swirled around, so thick they seemed to be smoke drifting over a raging forest fire instead of the precursor to a winter snow storm.

     “Drive,” Shane urged Stephanie and Darcy as he hopped in his own vehicle, turned the key, and floored it. He ignored the dinging warning of the seatbelt indicator as he pressed the accelerator down hard and headed straight for the freeway.

     In the backseat, Leila continued to sleep.

     A high, ululating cry penetrated Stephanie’s snugly locked up vehicle as she followed Darcy onto the main road. She watched as Shane’s truck broke reckless speeds the two women struggled to match. They almost lost him as he took a sharp left turn and merged onto the vacant freeway ramp. A single abandoned Trailblazer sat with its emergency flashers blaring into the suddenly storm-darkened day.

     “Oh, sweet God,” Stephanie murmured as she checked her rearview mirror.

     From the direction of the sporting goods store, three winged atrocities followed behind them, flying so low to the freeway that they would snag their great taloned feet on the hoods of cars if there had been any others in the road.

     Stephanie looked down at her speedometer. Shane was still pulling away from her and Darcy, but the orange needle on her vehicle told her she had inched her own speed just upwards of ninety miles per hour. She liked to go fast, but she was afraid. Quickly freezing roads and the possibility of having to avoid stalled vehicles made the breakneck speed not only alarming, but dangerous.

     The creatures were grotesque and abnormal, far larger than their human bodies had begun their existence as. The strength in those impossible, powerful frames seemed to be monumental. Even still, their great beating wings and fierce calls faded into the snowy distance. They couldn’t match the speed of their flight to the speed of the vehicles fleeing them, and that knowledge served to calm Stephanie’s raging heart.

     Stephanie continued to check her rearview mirror in between dragging her green eyes back to the road and the vehicles she now kept easy pace with. After the three creatures had veered off in search of more vulnerable, less mobile prey, Shane checked his speed back to a more cautious sixty miles per hour.

     Snow rolled in, blanketing the freeway almost at once in a lacey blanket of cold whiteness. The storm had blocked the sun, Stephanie realized, and stolen their flimsy security when they were supposed to be able to move around freely.

     “Way to be a bitch, Mother Nature.” Looking around the inside of the car, Stephanie was almost glad she was alone. She still would have preferred some company but at least driving solo meant no one had to listen to her mutter gibberish at any given moment.

     Stephanie looked at the pack of walkie talkies on the seat beside her and wished desperately that they’d gotten a chance to pass them out and get them connected. 

     In the middle vehicle, Darcy had the same lament. She wanted to stop the van. Not knowing if they were far enough away from where they’d lost the three winged corrupted, she didn’t dare pull off to the side of the road without knowing full well it was safe to do so.

     Nothing was safe anymore. Not places or buildings or groups. Not even people on their own. Everyone who had one of those things inside of them–the shadows that had taken up residence in far too large a percentage of the population–was a threat to them. They threatened her life, and Stephanie’s, and Shane’s. Most importantly, they threatened the children.

     Even though Darcy’s arm ached as though Gina had used her claws to transfer some toxin or noxious venom into her system, she wasn’t willing to stop until Shane sent a sign that it was okay or the sun came back out. She couldn’t risk Dylan, who wailed in the backseat even when she put on music to soothe him.

    
Please
, Darcy prayed as she drove with her wounded arm resting in her lap. Every now and then, it tremored with stomach-clenching pain.
Please let the sun come back soon…

Part III - Destinations

Let the stars of twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day. Job 3:9

Chapter Thirty-One

     The lack of sunlight didn’t bother Sam Walker and his group. Though they weren’t entirely pleased with the storm or the darkening skies, they had no need to stop for extended periods of time; no need to pillage. They had the option of staying northbound with no traffic to fight through unless they had to stop for gas or to stretch their legs.

     Something like that would have to happen soon. Sam saw the gas gauge of his large truck hovering near the half tank mark. That meant the Aveo, which hadn’t had its gas full up, would be even lower.

     “Keep your eyes out for a gas station of some kind.”

     Austin nodded and continued to stare out the window. Sam had tried every conversational approach he could think of to get the kid to loosen up and lighten his mood a bit. Nothing had changed the dreary depression Austin projected. Sam sighed and spoke again.

     “You can get some things we didn’t have stocked in the basement or…where we’re going.” Though Trevor looked like he was asleep, Sam couldn’t risk the thing inside of him hearing about his plan for their destination. He’d tried keeping the cabin out of his mind, in case the creature in residence within his son could wander through his thoughts and pull out pertinent information at will.

     “Austin, can you think of anything you want to get?”

     Austin sighed and tried to turn ever closer against the passenger side window. “I don’t care.”

     The kid’s monotone, emotionless voice made Sam want to shake him, hug him, maybe go a few rounds with him if it would just make him react somehow. With a sigh of his own, he spotted a sign for a gas station and restaurant, three miles from the marker they were at.

     “There’s one,” Sam said aloud.

     Austin ignored him. Sam shook his head and furrowed his brow. It was going to be a long drive if they kept on like this.