As the Light Dies (72 page)

Collin shook his head timidly
.“
I can see your point
,”
he said
,“
but the ash still has
n’
t cleared at all since last night like we all hoped
.”
He waved a hand in the general direction of the windows that were heavily clouded over
.“
My grandparents are both old and frail. If they decide to come looking for me at the supermarket i
t’
ll be really hard for them, and if
they even get that far
I’
m not even there anymore. The sooner
I’
m home the better, so that they do
n’
t have to come looking for me
.
”

“
Yea, I have the same problem with my mum
,”
said Leann
.“
Sh
e’
s not old and frail, but those sick people are out there, and, uh, well...
.
NO!”
she blurted
.“
I need to get home as soon as possible, and so does Collin
.
”

She stood up about to leave the table, and the main doors started shaking violently!

“SHIT!”
she gasped and spun around to look. Andy was up in a flash and ran passed her, headed for the front doors.

“
Stay out of sight
,”
he said as he ran up behind one of the thick pillars that littered the ground floor of the shopping centre using it as cover.

If it was a group of infected he did
n’
t want them to see him and draw others.

Andy ran between pillars working his way towards the doors as they continued to rattle with the occasional thump thrown in. As he got closer he saw a man, an uninfected man in jeans and a black hooded jacket hiding his face. Andy watched as he worked his way along the doors shaking them, trying each one individually, leaning against them, trying to force them open.

Andy slid around the pillar he was hiding behind and raced up behind the last one, the one closest to the doors as another three men dressed similar to the first, emerged through the ash to join him.

Andy looked at them wide eyed. One of them held a long piece of wood in his hands that he swung occasionally, and another constantly swung what looked like a cycle chain. He did
n’
t like the look of them. Collin traced And
y’
s steps, he was one pillar back from Andy, and he saw them too, and the sight of them unnerved him. Then without warning one of the new arrivals ran at the row of glass doors as fast as he could and jumped at the last second. He kicked the doors hard with both feet and made them shake violently as he fell to the ground flat on his back. Andy heard the others laugh at him
.“
Fuck you
!”
he said getting back up.

Andy looked back at the others, he saw Collin peeking around the next pillar along and Leann was across from them hiding just inside the doorway to a Travel Agents. They both looked at him and he mimed back to them to be quiet by pressing a finger over his lips. They nodded.

The same guy ran and kicked the doors again, they shook again but that was all.

He stumbled back managing not to fall this time as the others jibed him again
.“
You stupid prick
,”
one said.

“
Shut it before I fucking deck you
!”
said the guy wh
o’
d kicked the doors.

Then the guy with the long shaft of wood walked up to the doors
.“
This is how you do it you fucking idiots
,”
he said and he swung at the glass as hard as he could. Andy cringed as the wooden shaft raced towards the glass
.
THUD
!

The wood met with the safety glass and bounced back twice as fast as the guys swing and bounced out of his hands as the vibration buzzed up his arms like an electrical charge.

“Arrgh fuck!”
yelped the guy shaking his hands and rubbing his wrists as the others laughed at him.

“
Oh yea, tha
t’s
reall
y
how to do it
,”
said the one who tried kicking the doors.

Still rubbing his wrists and shaking his hands, the guy with the wooden shaft took a step back and started kicking the door repeatedly in a rage but had no effect.

“C’
mon
,”
said the first one to arrive
.“
W
e’
ll come back later with something tha
t’
ll definitely break the glass
.
”

There were a few moans of discontent among them and then one spoke up
,“
Le
t’
s check out the hardware place down the street and come back with some fucking sledge hammers
.
”

Some of the others chuckled, the one swinging the chain said
,
“No
w
that would be cool,
I’
m gonna pick up a new TV when we get inside, seeing as ther
e’
s a sale on eh
!
”

He laughed at his own comment and his ample belly bounced up and down, the others laughed with him.

“
Yea
c’
mon le
t’
s do that
,”
said the one wh
o’
d jump-kicked the doors and he took a few steps back limping slightly.

Feeling relief that they were about to leave, for now. Andy started to relax already trying to decide if he was going to wait for them and let them in, or leave before they came back. Then he heard a gasp from Leann. He turned to look. Leann was looking wide eyed straight across the foyer, out through windows that Andy could
n’
t see from where he stood. Collin was trying to see as well but he could
n’
t see either.

“
What is it
?”
said Andy quietly. Collin looked back at him shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders. Andy looked at Leann
,“
What is it Leann? She still did
n’
t answer. She just shook her head repeatedly.

“
Pssst, Leann, what is it? He tried again and finally she shot him a glance.

“THEM!
”
she blurted.

Andy looked back out at the thugs. They were leaving, making their way across Falcon Square towards the High Street kicking up the black snow as they went like they did
n’
t have a care in the world
.
Off to see what they can steal the little opportunistic pricks
,
he thought
.
But still, we can’t leave them out there
.
He ran up to the front doors calling over his shoulder to the others
.“C’
mon, we gotta get them inside
.
”

“What!”
said Collin.

“
The
y’
re gonna get killed
,”
said Andy
,“c’
mon, the
y’
re just little pricks out for what they can get tha
t’
s all, ther
e’
s more than enough room in here for all of us
.
”

He reached the doors and yelled through the glass while trying to pull out the frozen floor bolts.

“GUYS! HEY GUYS
!
Over here,
c’
mon run
!
”

Collin joined Andy trying to loosen the bolts but they were frozen solid. The group of young men turned and looked back at Andy and Collin trying to open the doors. They stood and watched for a moment and then started back towards them, staying close to each other and leaning in occasionally as though talking to each other.

“C’MON GUYS HURRY!”
yelled Andy managing to pull up one of the floor bolts.

“
GOT ONE
!”
he shouted and moved on to the next. Each door had four bolts, two along the bottom that sank in to the floor, and two along the top rising in to the ceiling. Andy was confident that if they opened all of the bolts on two joining doors the
y’
d be able to force the centre lock open by pushing against both of the doors. Andy looked up at the four young men. They were getting close now. He opened his mouth to call back to Leann when she shrieked
,
“ANDY! THERE’S LOTS OF MOVEMENT!”

“
Nearly there
,”
he called back, then he said to Collin
,“
They ca
n’
t know about the infected people
!
”

“
I do
n’
t think so
,”
said Collin managing to pull the last of the ceiling bolts free.

“
All done along the top
,”
he said.

“
One more here
,”
said Andy tugging madly at the last floor bolt when the jump kicker suddenly performed his two feet flying kick against the door Andy was working on and pinched his fingers between the door and the bolt.

“ARRRGH!”
Andy yelled out in pain reeling back holding his bloody fingers. He looked up at Collin
,
“Quickly
!
Get that bolt up
,”
he said. Collin turned and looked doubtfully at the group at the doors, the one who had kicked the door was sniggering and pointing through the doors at Andy as the others laughed. He saw Collin staring.

“
Open the door fuck face
,”
he said and the rest of them chuckled.

Andy saw Collin hesitating.

“
Never mind them just now
,”
he said
,“
w
e’
ll sort them out when the
y’
re inside, just get them in
.
”

Collin knelt down by the seized bolt; he had a bad feeling about this. As soon as he put his fingers near the bolt the same guy kicked the door again making Collin jump and he fell back on his arse. Laughter broke out among the hooded men outside and Collin looked up at them, he knew their type. H
e’
d spent all his teenage years avoiding guys like them, always on the lookout for them, and he had plenty of scares for all the times that h
e’
d missed them.

“C’
mon Collin
!”
said Andy urging him on.

Collin moved back towards the doors hesitantly. He glanced up at the guys and saw that one of them, the fattest one of the group was holding a Stanley knife.

Collin would
n’
t have noticed it if it was
n’
t for the guy impatiently pushing the blade out and then retracting it again, over and over. It was the movement that had caught his eye.

“C’
mon fuck face
,”
said the one standing at the front and he slammed his palm against the door and Collin realised he was keeping one of his hands in his pockets. He was moving something around, Collin could see it. He looked back at Andy who had been joined by Leann now as she came over to check his hand. It was bleeding quite badly.

“
I do
n’
t know if we should let them in Andy
,”
he said.

“
Christ Collin.
C’
mon the
y’
re in danger
,”
said Andy and he shuffled back towards the doors.

“
Do
n’
t kick the door
,”
he yelled to the gang as he reached for the bolt with his bloody hand.

Leann thought she saw a silhouette rush past behind the group; she was the only one to see it.

“
Oh God
!”
she said
.“
Andy please hurry
.
”

“I’
m trying
,”
he said.

Then the guy who was still pressing his palm against the door, totally oblivious to anything going on behind him and his friends leaned in towards the door and said
,“
Tha
t’
s right blondie, open the fucking door like a good little boy
!
”