The darkness was stifling. It permeated every conceivable crevice and space that I passed through as he tried to navigate the pitch black city of London. The power had been disrupted within a few hours of the invasion, causing all transport to shut down; even personal sky cars had been affected.
I tried not to remember the first days of the invasion, the screams of millions of souls dying millions of painful deaths had been deafening to the survivors. But those were the lucky ones… the ones that didn't have to see the aftermath of those initial days. The horrors that seemingly crawled from our worst nightmares coming to hunt us down like vermin.
I had been watching the restaurant for an hour, laying there on the rooftop opposite trying to work out a way to scavenge that wouldn't leave me open to bandits. I can drop down from here and work my way around to the back, hopefully I won't be seen and can grab some food without bringing any attention, I thought to myself. I didn't have any real combat training, just the fights I got into as a kid.
I crawled to the opposite edge of the roof, as quietly as I could, hung off and dropped down. There was a small thud as I landed, almost dropping to the ground on instinct to make myself less visible. I held my breath, waiting for the tell-tale sound of the husks… or worse, cannibals. Nothing, lucky, I thought as my breath escaped slowly through the small crack between my lips. I couldn't afford to fire a gun at night, they had too many advantages in the dark.
After waiting a few more heartbeats I made my way around to the back of the restaurant, skirting the street and creeping over the cracked, scorched tarmac. The back door had already been forced open and was left ajar. Not good, someone's beat me to it. I pushed the door aside slowly, my back up against the wall and peeking round to see the kitchen area. Pans were strewn across the floor and counters. Cupboard doors left wide open with their contents spilled over the floor.
I crept in slowly, wincing as every step I took sounded like a Mako tire rolling over gravel. If there was somebody here, they had to know I was too. I stopped at the refrigeration unit, opening it as quietly as I could. Stupid move considering power to the city had been down for weeks, everything was rotten and mouldy.
"Don't move a muscle," a female voice whispers behind me. The muzzle of a gun, probably a predator, pressed to the back of my head. "Not very stealthy for a scavenger are you?" the mystery woman hissed.
I raised my hands slowly, mind racing trying to think of how to get out of this. Wait, she wouldn't fire. It would . . . she's bluffing. "You won't shoot me. That loud noise would attract them here and you wouldn't risk getting caught by them," I said triumphantly, yeah she had to be bluffing.
"Well now that depends on if I have a silencer mod now doesn't," she goaded. "Now drop your pack, and the coat."
Fuck, if she was telling the truth she could kill me here and no one would know. I slowly slipped my backpack from my shoulders, dropping it at my right side, "Hey let me keep the coat, its freezing out there."
She pressed the gun harder against the back of my head, "I said give me the coat," she hissed. There was something strange about the gun's muzzle, it didn't protrude. There was no silencer mod, Ohhh she is sneaky.
"Ok, ok. I'll give you the coat." I went to slip the jacket off, taking my time before spinning on my heel and tossing it at her. I ducked quickly as she fired blindly on reaction, the noise reverberated through the kitchen and the restaurant, Great I was right but she still fired. We both held our breaths, hoping nothing had heard the shot ring out. Our hope was in vain as the high pitched screams sounded out all around us, They had been closer than I thought. "We need to run, now!" I growled, grabbing the woman's hand and heading for the back door. The screams were louder, they were almost on top of them.
We burst through into the darkness, I could hear them breaking into the restaurant. Their wails pierced through me like the old horror vids. We rounded a corner and ducked into an abandoned shop front. "That was close," I said after a few minutes of stillness.
"It wouldn't have been if you had just given me the coat," she hissed. Can't believe she is blaming me for her stupid bluff going wrong.
"Doesn't matter, we escaped with our lives . . . barely. Now mind telling me your name, oh would be bandit?" Might as well know her name.
"Names Amiee. And I'm not a bandit, just trying to get food and supplies for my camp," she huffed. Even in the darkness I could make out some of her features, she had pigtails and a heart shaped face. She was shorter than average, but not by much. The rest I couldn't tell without some light.
"Well Amiee, I'm Chris and it looks like we had the same objective. I was going to stock up on food after finding a medical centre that still had working medi-gel dispensers. Unfortunately the supplies are now in the middle of a herd of them," I said, slightly dejected as I nodded to the pack of husks now roaming the streets. Guess I need to cut my losses and head back.
"Well that's great," Amiee groaned, "I am not going out there with those Zambies. There's a shopping district not far from here." She got up and headed to the back of the store, "You coming or are you just going to wait for them to get you?" That was a change of pace, she tries to kill me then asks me to go with her.
"Are you asking me on a date to the mall?" I asked, trying to release the adrenaline and tension with a joke before standing up and moving to the back door. She stayed silent and I almost thought I saw her blush, which would have been cute if we weren't trying to escape a bunch of rabid zombie things.
"This is . . .uh just an alliance. We split what we find fifty fifty and can go our separate ways," she said almost stammering with embarrassment. Yeah she was definitely cute. We made our way out the back of the store and onto the dark streets, ducking through buildings to avoid the things that go bump in the night.
We reached the shopping district about thirty minutes later. I had to break into the door's manual override, unlocking it and pulling the doors apart. "Ladies with guns first," I said, bowing a little and smiling.
"You're sending me in first? A poor defenceless woman?" she replied, sounding slightly offended.
"You have a pistol and you aren't afraid to use it. I have first-hand experience at that," I said, reminding her that she tried to shoot me not an hour earlier. She looked down, her feet shuffling slightly.
"Not my fault. Someone put you in my way," she said quietly. "Anyway it's dark in there and anything could be in there."
She had a point . . . she also had the gun. "Ok I'll go first if you give me the gun," I suggested. If I was going in then I would need something to protect myself with.
She stared at me for what seemed like ages. I could see the distrust in her eyes, "Fine, but only if you promise not to leave me behind," she said finally, holding the gun out by the barrel. I took it and checked the amount of rounds I could fire.
"I promise. You can stay right behind me if you want, Amiee," I whispered, pushing the door aside. I activated the flashlight attachment on the pistol, sweeping through what looked like a storage bay. "Nothing here. Let's look around for something we can use. Amiee nodded, moving to the other side of the bay to search for supplies. I rummaged through storage bins, finding some thermal tape and battery packs.
"Fuck yeah donkey," Amiee practically shouted, "I found a crate of energy drinks." She turned to me, grinning as she held her find. She padded over, "Have you found anything?"
"Just these," I said, holding up the battery packs. I spotted a large rucksack in the corner of the room. I picked it up and deposited the battery packs and energy drinks. "Doesn't look like there is any food in here. We need to head up into the actual shopping area, hopefully we can find some preserved food or medical supplies."
We crept through the small corridors that lead from the storage room to a shop front, crouching low as we observed the open area. The sky had begun to lighten, the store they were currently hiding had sold general goods, No wonder there was no stock left. I peeked overhead and saw nothing out there, not a sign of life. I signalled Amiee to wait a few more seconds, just to make sure before I stood up and hopped the counter. "Let's see if we can't find a food court or restaurant," I said quietly, levelling the gun to use the flashlight to see clearer.
There should be a food court on the second level," Amiee responded, pointing to the map on the wall beside her. I nodded, taking the stairs across from us. The door creaked, sounding louder in the dead silence. We climbed the stairwell, taking it slow incase there was anything up there on the second floor. A skittering sound made Amiee jump, "The fuck was that?"
"I don't know but let's not hang around to find out," I said, pressing on and opening the door to the second floor. The food court was down at the other end of the building, the other stores abandoned and shuttered. I doubted we could grab anything of use from them other than clothes but we needed to get food and get out, it would be daylight soon and that meant the other reaperized creatures would be out in force. We kept low as we picked our way through some of the rubble, making our way over to the darkened store fronts. I shrugged the bag off and handed it to Amiee, "Here, hold this."
"Why? Shouldn't you, a man, do all the heavy lifting?" she asked, sarcasm dripped from every word.
If we get into trouble who is the one defending us . . . me, who is the one likely to stay behind to give the other time to escape? Me again," I answered her. "Even if we get into trouble someone needs to get the supplies out, and if I'm fighting and you need to escape then it makes no sense for me to hold onto the supplies."
"Makes . . . sense I suppose," Amie said grudgingly as she took the bag from me.
"Alright, let's keep moving," I whispered, making my way over to the dark front. The skittering sound was back, only for a second before it was gone again. It sent a shiver down my spine, causing me to stop in my tracks and look around. "You hear that?"
"Hear what?" Amiee responded. How did she not hear that? I shook my head and kept moving, we needed to find something good or this would be a wasted trip.
The air seemed to stand still, stagnant and filled with the smell of rot. I peaked over the counter, Shit, Cannibals. I tried to signal Amiee to head back when my foot crunched something underneath it. One of the Cannibals sat up, turning to see me staring straight at it. The howl was bone chilling, calling out to its brethren that it had spotted prey.
"Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuun," I yelled, firing several shots at the creature, the top of its skull peeling back as a round skimmed it. I grabbed Amiee, dragging her at a full sprint as the sound of howling and screeching came from every direction. We raced down the stairs, back out onto the ground floor and through the general stores storage bay, looking the door behind us. The back door was still open, the faint glimmer of hope that we could escape from. Picking our way through the bay we managed to escape to an industrial warehouse not to far away.
"Fuck, I thought we were dead then," I wheezed in the relative darkness. We had been lucky twice now. "Guess we should cut our losses and head back to our camps."
"Yeah, i don't feel like risking my life a third time tonight," she huffed, crouching down and looking through the bag. "At least the energy drink is ok," she chuckled.
I shook my head, looking out the window to see if anything followed us. I turned around to face her, stepping away from the shattered window. "Looks like we're in the clear…" I didn't finish my sentence, a soft whump sound came from behind me and sudden white hot pain ripped through my stomach. Amiee's face was covered in blood, wait my blood? I looked down, a long, black arm protruding from my abdomen clenched a long fingered hand. I was raised off the ground, a low wailing coming from over my shoulders, "Run," I gurgled, the blood already filling my throat before being hauled out the window by one of the nightmares that lurked the street.