As the Light Dies (20 page)

The further in they walked the more they could see. Deserted cars lined the rows of pumps, just sitting there, doors open on most, and the boot on another. They were all abandoned!

Cars were queued up behind the ones at the pumps; some were pointed almost aggressively  towards the cars already at the pumps. Some cars were sat in a line down the middle of the forecourt between the ones at the pumps. They were in a queue ready to leave having fuelled up but had
n’
t gone anywhere. The men moved on in silence passed the ownerless cars in bewilderment.

“
What do you think happened
?”
said Thom.

“
Dunno
,”
said Andy shaking his head as he carried on.

They pushed on towards the kiosk nearing the end of the pumps and they found a blacked out Range Rover lying across the aisle blocking the forecourt. Andy thought it looked like the owner had been leaving after paying, then realised at the last second that the
y’
d left something behind, so the
y’
d stopped to run back in to the kiosk for whatever it was and had
n’
t come back.

As the men moved towards it they froze! The drive
r’
s window had been completely smashed in from the outside, not one piece of glass was left in the frame.

“
Holy shit!”
said Thom pointing and they all saw the caved in windscreen.

They moved closer looking at the windscreen; it was sagging inwards like a glass hammock with an almost neat, near perfect circular hole punctured through the middle.

A mass of trillions of tiny cracks littered the shattered glass. Andy suddenly waved at the other two gaining their attention then he nodded towards the ground at the front of the prestigious car.

There was a fire extinguisher lying just under the front bumper, its bright red sides were badly scratched and the hose missing.

“What the hell!”
said Thom
,
“someone must have totally lost it!”

Collin stared at the scene in disbelief; h
e’
d never seen anything like it, in movies sure, but this was real. There was a shuffling sound of some kind up ahead through the murky ash, they all heard it.

Andy crouched down and hurried forward, Thom and Collin copied him, hearts beating hard.

“Who’s there?”
called Andy. The shuffling sped up then they heard breaking glass.

“
Fuck off
!”
someone shouted.

Thom suddenly became very nervous
.“
I think we should go back to the shop and call the police Andy
,”
he said
,“
I really do
!
”

“
No time for that now
,”
said Andy
,“
besides ther
e’
ll be some stupid waiting time like the ambulance. W
e’
ve got a colleague in there to find
,”
he said and led on away from the safety of the Range Rover
.
”FUCK OFF!”
shouted the same voice.

Thom was just about to say something when a large shard of glass whistled through the air between him and Andy before it shattered off the side of the Range Rover.

“Holy shit!”
said Thom.

“HEY!
”
yelled Andy
,
“give it a rest, we’re here to help!”

The scurrying footsteps came rushing towards them getting louder. Collin did
n’
t know what to do or where to look. The sound seemed to come from everywhere, bouncing off the ash and snow all around them.

Thom flinched going rigid and held his hands up over his face in defence. Andy was crouching, one arm outstretched reaching out searching for the person, his other arm was pulled back with his fist clenched tight ready to lash out if he needed to, he had no idea what to expect with the shouting and the flying glass! A silhouette appeared ahead of them, Andy tensed ready to punch and it broke in two. There were two figures running through the murk! Thom gasped and the silhouettes changed direction, they raced passed them beyond reach across to the other side of the forecourt where they turned off and raced down the side of the line of cars and kept going.

“HEY STOP!
”
yelled Andy, but there was no reply, just the sound of rapidly retreating footsteps
.“
Right,
c’
mon
,”
said Andy
,“
le
t’
s go inside
.
”

They walked between another few cars and came to the kiosk. The three men stood side by side and stared. The kiosk looked like a war zone!

All but one window had been shattered. There were glass shards absolutely everywhere, the two electric sliding doors were both smashed through with a blue gas canister wedged between the now glassless door frames, one of the steel frames was bent and buckled all out of shape. Andy looked at the other two and said
,“
Be on your toes gu
y’
s, eyes and ears open ok, this is fucking serious! If you get separated or find something
,
anything
,
make some noise ok, lots of noise yea
!
”

Thom and Collin both nodded their agreement and Andy stepped over the jagged edge of what had once been the main window, shattered glass crunched under his feet.

What the hell happened her
e
, Andy thought to himself looking around, there was debris everywhere. The two centre rows of shelves were lying on the floor, car air fresheners seemed to be absolutely everywhere, newspapers, magazines and burst cardboard milk cartons and fresh orange or apple cartons littered the soaking wet floor. Most of the food had been taken along with any drinks, what food or beverages were left had burst from its packaging in whatever frenzy that had happened. Andy could
n’
t believe that this had been going on literally yards from all of them and they would be none the wiser if Collin had
n’
t been out clearing snow and heard something, the thought sickened and angered him.

“
Thank God you heard something Collin
,”
he said.

“
Yes
,”
added Thom
,“
I ca
n’
t believe this was going on right under our noses and we did
n’
t have a clue
.
”

“
Exactly what I was just thinking
,”
said Andy. Then he called out
,
“
HELLO?”

Thom flinched not expecting it
.
“
HELLO
?
Is anyone here?
”
he called again, there was no answer
.“
Hello w
e’
re here to help. Is there anyone here
?”
Only the rustle of the wind answered him as it moved litter around.

“
W
e’
re from the supermarket, w
e’
ve come to help
.”
Still silence.

“
I do
n’
t like this Andy
,”
said Thom
,“
I really think we should go back
.
”

“No
,
w
e’
d waste time going back, w
e’
ll do what we came to do, and find our colleague eh
.
”

Thom nodded.

Collin followed the two men closely in silence, constantly turning and looking in all directions as glass popped loudly under their feet, and he stood on a long shard that cracked loudly under his foot
.
“SHIT!
”
said Thom spinning round to see what the noise was.

“
Christ Collin
,”
he said realising
.“
You just gave me a heart attack
.
”

“
Sorry, I ca
n’
t help it the glass is just everywhere
.
”

Andy called out again but stopped dead in his tracks cutting his sentence short.

“
Wha
t’
s wrong
?”
said Thom.

“
Shush
,”
said Andy
,“
I just heard something, listen
.
”

Thom froze to the spot trying as hard as he could to hear what Andy had heard, but all he could hear was his own breathing and rapid heartbeat. Collin held still as well but could
n’
t hear anything apart from the wind. Andy cocked his head slightly as if h
e’
d heard something again and was trying to hear it. He looked at Thom with raised eyebrows and pointed at him and then tapped his own ear.

“
I ca
n’
t
,”
Thom started and Andy cut him off straight away.

“
Shit Thom
I’
m trying to be quiet, I just want you to listen and to tell me if you hear anything
.
”

“
Oh, ok, I did
n’
t realise, uh I ca
n’
t...
.
”

“
For fuck sake Thom, be quiet
!
”

Thom nodded quickly then shook his head to indicate that he had
n’
t heard anything.

Andy looked at Collin, who was already shaking his head. Andy nodded and moved deeper in to the shop.

He reached the counter, the till had been badly damaged, the entire top casing made up of the key pad and digital price readout was in bits, and strewn across the counter, but the actual money tray was still intact, it was still bolted to the counter, still closed
.
Least of our worries at the momen
t
, thought Andy as he leaned forwards and looked behind the counter. There was no- one there, he shook his head for the others and said
,“
Le
t’
s go backstage
!
”

Thom and Collin both knew that he meant they were about to go through to the back of the shop where there was a small store and staffroom.

The security keypad for the staff door was hanging from the wall from its internal wires!

“
Oh dear, tha
t’
s not good
,”
said Thom as Andy reached out and tried pushing the door. It opened. Andy called in to the pitch black beyond
.“
Hello. Hello is anyone there, w
e’
re here to help
.
Hello!”
They waited anxiously for an answer but they did
n’
t get one.

We’re beyond being able to help anyone
,
thought Thom.

Andy looked back at both men and nodded once at them and then once at the door and the dark space beyond. Then he stepped through and disappeared in to darkness.

Thom and Collin followed right behind him.

Andy said
,“
I know the layout back here, so do you Thom. What about you Collin
?”
he asked.

“
No
,”
said Collin h
e’
d never done a stint in the petrol station.

“
Ok
,”
said Andy
,“
I
t’
s simple. I
t’
s just one little corridor from left to right, the toile
t’
s dead ahead, ther
e’
s a small store along to our right and just along to the left is the staffroom ok
?
”

“
Yea ok
,”
said Collin.

“
Good
,”
said Andy, and then he called out again, but there was still no answer.

He moved along the black corridor just a couple of feet and reached out with both hands, feeling for the wall opposite them. He touched it and started to slide his hands over the wall feeling for the toilet door. H
e’
d hoped his eyesight would have adjusted better than they had, it was just too dark. He swung his left hand in a semicircular motion over the wall and side stepped to his left.