Outside the window, Charlie could hear things that conjured horrendous images in his mind. Usually at this time of night the streets outside would be still, warm and humbling; the chatter of smiling couples sitting outside cafes, the sound of soft jazz music floating from open windows, children playing on lawns and in parks. Yet tonight, the screams of men and women shredded the summer air like blunt razor blades. The smashing of glass, the wail of sirens from buildings and cars, the sounds of footsteps tearing through the streets, the dull yet distinct low crackle of a hundred fires billowing into the sky, all acclimatised to produce an atmosphere not unlike an apocalypse. The things that were happening outside were like something from a horror movie, things that truly belonged in nightmares. Out there, hell had come to earth. People stumbled through the streets, their eyes cold and lifeless; their skin, grey, rotten. And the noise they were making sent pure cold fear creeping through his very soul. No words, just moans that seemed reverberate from the very bottom of their lungs, rattling through their throats and filling the night air.
He sat there beneath the window, trembling with fear, wiping the snot and tears away from his face between muffled sobs. There was no way he was going back outside. Charlie had seen what those things did to people when the two of them had made a sprint for the garage. The guy he was with earlier had tripped on the kerb coming around the corner; Charlie had tried to save him, tired to help him back on his feet but those creatures were everywhere, there was just too many of them. He had made a run for it, desperately trying to ignore the screaming please from the man he had left to die. Except he hadn't just died. What they did to him made 'just dying' look like a blessing. Nothing could compare to the suffering he must have endured in his last moments. Because they ate him. They fucking ate him.
And now it was just him, alone, quaking with fear below the window in this dark garage, wishing the world around him would just disappear. Thinking of his girlfriend, praying to God that she was somewhere safe, and the same time condemning God to the deepest parts of hell for the obscenity he had put upon the world around him. Charlie wiped the tears away from his eyes once more and carefully unwrapped the shirt from his forearm.
Blood leaked slowly from the jagged teeth marks that punctured his skin.
It hurt.