The dead spore collectio.., p.11
The Dead Spore Collection, page 11
The other woman ran to the side of the building. “How the hell do we get down from here?”
“We don’t,” said Harry.
“I wasn’t talking to you. What do you know about anything?”
“Harry’s right, Michaela. We stay here until it gets dark, then we go back inside. It’s okay, we only have to stay up here for another hour or so.” Monique carefully dropped the roof lid then put her arms around the two girls. “Are you two holding out?”
They both nodded.
Daisy looked at Jennifer. “What about Alice? Is she dead.”
Monique didn’t trust herself to answer that one, instead, she took the girls over to the head high brick column that stood in the middle of the roof and sat down. Those two would have still been alive if she hadn’t left them there.
Jennifer passed her a tissue. “Don’t cry.” The girl hugged her tight. “Thank you for not letting the monsters get me and Daisy.
Chapter Eleven
She remembered pressing the girl’s faces against her chest so they didn’t see that single infected creature running across the roof on the next building and then? Monique lifted her head. It must have been a couple of hours later when she opened her eyes to see the whole sky had taken on a subtle shade of red.
The two girls tried to calm her down because Monique was convinced she had let the clouds die, just like she had with everyone else.
Both Jennifer and Daisy were still sleeping, curled up together, a few feet away from her. There was no sign of Michaela. Harry turned away and smiled. She suppressed a yawn and smiled back. It was good to see the boy displaying one more facial expression. “Are you okay, Harry?”
“You might want to see this.”
She stretched her back then got onto her feet, grimacing at the multitude as her aching muscles loudly protested at this sudden movement. Her body might hate her now, but Monique’s mind certainly felt better for the long needed rest. Then the guilt of falling asleep kicked in. What the hell was she thinking of? How dare she shift responsibility to some eleven year old boy? Not after what had just happened. It should have been her who’d stayed awake and ensured their safety.
Monique joined Harry by the edge of the building, noticing Michaela by the side of the brick column, quietly making stone piles with the white gravel. Then again, maybe failing asleep had been the bet plan after all. Unlike her, Harry hadn’t gotten anyone killed.
“I can’t get over how many there are, Mon.”
The rotting dead filled every road, every one of them shambling in one direction. He had to admit, although this was such a terrifying sight, Monique couldn’t deny that the sight of so many turned her bones to water.
“The smell doesn’t seem to be so gross now. I don’t think they’re moving as fast either. Maybe they’re starting to seize up or something?” Harry idly played with the buckle on his belt. “I left you for a couple of extra hours. You looked as though you needed it.”
“What about you, honey. You must be exhausted.”
He shrugged. “I don’t sleep all that great nowadays. Besides, I did get my head down for a bit earlier. Don’t worry about me, Mon. I’ll be okay.” He took a step back from the edge. “So, you ready for a little recon?
“Okay. We might as we get this over with.”
“What about the others?”
They can stay on the roof. It’s the safest place for them.”
It no longer felt weird to treat Harry like an adult anymore. She reckoned that if the kids who’d survived this didn’t grow up fast, they wouldn’t grow up at all. The infected weren’t that fussy about the age of their meat.
“Mon?”
“Sorry, honey. I was just wool gathering?”
“You thinking about Geoff again?”
“What?”
“The guy was a complete dickhead. He thought he was some kind of hard man but in fact, he was a big pussy.”
Unreal, from the mouths of babes. “I take it you two didn’t get on? Wait, how did you know about what happened downstairs?”
“Watched it. Kinda knew something weird was going to happen on account of all those things gathering outside the hall, a few seconds before Danny went postal. Oh yeah, forgot to tell you. It was him who opened the door.”
Monique shook her head. This was just too much to take in. She asked Michaela to stay with the two sleeping girls then joined Harry at the lid. She gripped the underside. “Are you ready?”
Harry pointed his pistol at the opening then nodded.
She counted to three then pulled. Monique looked up at Harry who shook his head, not that she really expected any to be hiding in there. “Okay, this is going to be the tricky part?
“Do you want be to go first? I am smaller and quicker.”
“No, it’s okay, honey. I got this.”
If those remaining infected were likely to be anywhere then the bastards would be waiting for them in the next room, probably wondering how all those tasty humans vanished. Monique was hoping that they all scarpered as soon as the sun started to go down.
Monique reached the bottom of the ladder. There had always been one thing that had always troubled her regarding the dead and the infected. They were like sailing ships passing in the night. Just where did the buggers go when they weren’t either hunting down humans or shuffling along the deserted highways. They had to go somewhere did the dead pack their rotting bodies into the sewers when the sun came up? If that was the case, then where the hell did the infected go? She couldn’t picture each separate group calmly vacating their allocated sleeping spots to allow the other group to bed down. There was something none of them were seeing.
“Like ships passing in the night.”
She looked up at that starlit rectangle and gave Harry a reassuring smile. None of those things would be in there. Monique manoeuvred herself around, quietly turned the handle and pushed the door open a crack.. “Don’t be in there,” she pleaded. “Please don’t be in there.”
From her limited view, she saw a broken window, a lot of splinted wood but no creatures. Monique pushed the door open wider and found where all the bits of wood had come from, there was literally nothing left of the door. Monique carefully climbed out of the hatch and dropped to the floor and made her way over to the broken window, trying not to step on any of the wood.
The creatures must have thought, they escaped through the window. Whatever, as long as they weren’t in the church hall anymore. Monique went back to the hatch and waved the others down.
They had a lot of work ahead of them. First, they’d have to secure the building, properly too. Looking at what they did to that door suggested that nailing some plywood boards over the windows just wouldn’t do. They’d have to conduct some sort of service for the ones they had just lost as well. With luck it would help to give the little ones some kind of closure.
Harry, and the two girls joined Monique in the room. “Wait, what about Michaela?”
“She said she’s staying up there, until we sure it’s safe to come down.”
There really were no words to describe how Monique felt about that woman. So much for everybody pulling together. “Whatever. Okay, we all stick together, okay? Harry, there’s extra ammo in the next room. We should make that our next choice.”
“Agreed.” He stooped and picked up a splintered length of doorframe and tapped the point. He gave his gun to Jennifer. “Until we get some more ammo, you can keep hold of that.”
“Are you sure, Harry.”
“Hey, I’m a full year older than him, you know.”
Monique sighed, remembering her earlier thoughts. He was right. Who else was there now that the others had all gone? That woman still on that roof was going to be as much use as a chocolate teapot. “Harry, exactly what do you intend to do with that?” she asked.
“It’s silent but dead.” Harry replied. “A lot like one of Daisy’s farts.”
“That’s so not funny. I notice you didn’t say that to you, Jen.”
“Course not. I have his gun now. He ain’t that dumb.”
“For crying out loud.” This was going to take some getting used to. Despite everything her remaining companions had gone through in the past month and despite some of their apparent adult behaviour, they were still kids at heart.
“Look, ain’t it obvious, Mon? I can use this if one of those infected jump at us. Gunfire will only attract all the others.”
“Harry, we’re only going into the next room first, before all head off downstairs. Don’t get me wrong, it is a good idea but I’d still rather keep my gun if you don’t mind” Perhaps it might be best if she left these up here while she cleared up downstairs? Yeah, that made sense. Let them get some much needed sleep while she tried to make the place a little more habitable again. Monique could always wake up Harry when she needed help with blocking up all the windows.
Her future plans suddenly dried up when she saw the look on Harry’s face. “What is it?”
“I thought you knew about downstairs, Mon?”
“Knew what?”
He pushed past her, left the room and leaned over the balcony.
“Stay here,” she said to the girls and joined the boy. “Oh, you have got to be having a laugh!”
“I thought you knew,” he repeated.
The polished wooden tiles no longer existed. A living carpet of pink flesh now covered the floor. Twenty feet separated Monique and Harry from more infected she had ever seen. “Like ships passing in the night.” She staggered away from the metal railing, her back slapping against the green painted wall. Monique sank to the floor, her legs unable to support her weight.
“I don’t know what to do anymore,” she said to herself.
The boy joined her by the wall. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic bottle and tapped the base against her shoulder. “Take a sip, Mon. Don’t worry, it’s only water.” He crouched in front of her. “This is going to sound dumb, considering what’s just happened but I broke into the vending machine to get this. Thing is, Michaela caught me and she threatened to tell.”
Monique unscrewed the top and took a small sip, glad of the water lubricating her throat, even if it was warm.
“I guess she expected me to fall to my knees and beg for mercy, or something. The bitch didn’t expect me to ask her what she was doing in the kitchen in the middle of the night, holding a tin of ravioli.”
Harry looked like some post apocalyptic child soldier, with his sharpened stick clasped in his fist and his other hand resting over the pistol she gave him earlier., and thanks to his impromptu speech, At least one of her burning questions now had an answered. So it was Michaela who’d been helping herself to the group’s supplies, the girl who was currently still on the fucking roof, not giving a shit about anyone but herself.
Here she was, sat on this cold balcony, thinking that she’d totally failed in her task of keeping everyone safe, that, thanks to her stupid mistakes, only kids, some selfish woman and herself was all that remained of this group.
“Do you remember which cartridges you need to get for that pistol?”
“Of course I do. I’m not a total idiot.”
His tone suggested that Monique had somehow insulted the boy. That alone gave her some strength. “Good, then see if you can dig out another three boxes, then join me in the kitchen.”
She waited until he’d walked into the next room before getting back onto her feet. Monique moved a little closer to the edge of the balcony, watching all those monsters down there dream away the night. There were so many of them. These throwbacks from a forgotten time held the fate of humankind's future in their clawed hands. Monique and her fellow survivors had no future, they were an endangered species. Tonight had proved that.
Monique popped her head around the edge of the splintered doorframe and urged the two girls to come to her. She pressed a finger to her lips, pointing to the floor with her other arm.
Jennifer ran up to Monique, her eyes bulging at the sight of so many infected now occupying what was once the group’s sanctuary. She hugged Monique, her body shaking violently. She guessed that Harry hadn’t shared his observations with her either.
The other girl looked at the pair of them before she squeezed past Monique.
“Oh shit, she murmured. “That’s so not good.”
Daisy fingers intertwined with Monique’ fingers.
Did Daisy already know that this church hall no longer belonged to them? Had Harry already told her? She supposed it didn’t really matter. It wasn’t exactly a life or death scenario. She gave both the girls a reassuring smile, still silently wishing somebody was here to do the same for her, before turning her head to watch those monsters down there.
“Monique,” hissed Jennifer. “I think you had better taken the gun back.” She pulled it out from behind her blouse.
“Silent it is not.” Daisy leaned over. “You daft cow, the safety wasn’t even on. What would have happened if you’d suddenly fallen over and it had gone off?” The girl snatched the weapon out of Jennifer’s hand. “It would have sounded like a pissing bomb blast in here.” She flicked the safety on.”
Monique paled at the thought of that nightmare scenario. OH crap, that really was something she should have checked, instead of wondering if Harry had said anything to Daisy. None of them would have stood a chance in hell. She paused, apart from that Michaela.
“Well I wouldn’t have fallen down, I ain’t as clumsy as you.”
Monique got down to their level. “Girls, I have something very important to say. We need to get some supplies before we start to look for a new home.”
“Where are we going to go?”
“Don’t worry about that right now, Daisy. It’s not like we don’t have plenty of choices. First though, we really do need those supplies. Thing is, to get to them we have to…”
“I get it, We’ve got to sneak past those monsters down there.”
“Do you want to come with me or go back up onto the roof. Right now, that roof is the safest place in here.”
“I ain’t going back up there without you, Mon,” replied Jennifer. “That Michaela is a complete bitch. Nobody likes her.”
“Fair enough, but only if you’re sure. Now, you’ll both have to promise me not to utter a single word.”
They both nodded.
“Make sure you stay close to the wall. “Monique moved along the balcony, listening to a quiet medley of grunts and snores, with the sound of some of them changing position. She stopped twice, her hammering heart threatening to jump out of her mouth when Monique really did believe that one of those monsters had woken up and was watching their progress. In he mind’s eye, she saw one of that stood at the fair end of the hall, its long tongue running over its wet lips.
Monique managed to reach the top of the stairs. She turned around, and saw Daisy having trouble with this journey too. The girl was whimpering. It wasn’t loud but the noise was definitely audible. She pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “You’re doing great, honey, we’re nearly there.” Monique took the girl’s hand.
“We’re all safe as long as we’re quiet.” She slowly took the girls down the stairs, becoming acutely aware of how close they now were to those creatures. The odour they generated made her eyes water, it was like a mixture of ammonia and wet soil.
“There’s so many of them.”
She couldn’t disagree with Daisy’s observation. Monique reached the first door and forced herself to stop and turn to face them. She had to get her over-active imagination under control, and prove to it that there wasn’t any of those bloody things staring at them.
Monique gently pulled the girls around her body. “I need you to go in there,” she whispered. “She if you can find a couple of rucksacks. Try looking in the cupboard in the corner of the room, I’m sure they’re in there.”
Both Daisy and Jennifer vanished into her old room while she continued to watch her enemy. It did seem like the height of irresponsibility to bring those two with her, down into the lion’s pit, but after the last time, she just couldn’t leave them in the hands of someone she didn’t completely trust, even if it was much safer up there.
She almost jumped out of her skin when something brushed against her shoulder. Monique spun around to find Jennifer standing beside her, holding the two rucksacks. She regained enough composure to smile back before motioning the girls to follow her over to the kitchens.
Oh Christ! The sheer size of the infected male just inches from Monique took away the remaining will to move. She clenched the sides of her blouse, unable to take her eyes away from this sleeping beast. He must have weighed way over 200 pounds and yet she saw no one ounce of fat on his body. It’s obvious that he once spent most of his life in the gym and lived on protein shakes. Back before this happened, Monique would have scoffed at some such individual so obsessed in pumping up their body. During her club period, for some reason, she attracted the muscle-bound freaks like moths to a frigging lightbulb.
Monique shivered. Had this monster been one of the prospective pissed up knobheads who’d tried their luck at trying to get into her knickers?
Jennifer tugged at her blouse sleeve. “Please don’t stop now,” she begged.
The terror in the girl’s voice was enough to unfreeze her muscles. Monique edged her way past the monster and literally ran into the kitchen, her chest heaving. It took so much effort not to fall to her knees and burst into tears.
“Are you alright, Mon?”
She nodded. “Sorry, for a moment, I thought I knew that one, took me a little by surprise, you know? Don’t worry about it.” She marched over to the first cupboard and opened both doors wide. “Okay, let’s get this done as quickly as we can, she said, passing Daisy a handful of packet soups.”
“Can we take the hotdogs?”
“Sorry, honey, just the dried stuff. We daren’t take anything that’s going to add too much to the weight.”
