As the Light Dies (94 page)

Dean grabbed a hold of Sa
m’
s collar wanting to quieten him before he drew too much attention, and as he wrapped his fingers around Sa
m’
s collar that singular infected call h
e’
d heard with Andy, boomed out at them all from the darkness making Sarah cry out. Before anyone said anything one lone figure appeared from the shadows halfway down the aisle.

It stepped out of the darkness and stood in the middle of the aisle.

Sam jumped and bucked going wild as Dean held on to him and the figure slowly raised one arm and pointed at them both as it called out, making that bellowing, almost thunderous noise alerting the other infected people elsewhere in the centre.

“SHIT SAM, C’MON WE GOTTA GO!”
yelled Dean pulling Sam back, trying to turn and run after the others wh
o’
d already taken flight following Sebastian.

But Sam was hysterical and Dean could
n’
t budge him.

“
Sam, for fuck sake, le
t’s
GO
!
Everyon
e’
s ok, the
y’
re all running away look
.
LOOK!
”
he said forcing Sa
m’
s head around to see the group leaving as Gavin screamed back glancing over his shoulder
.
“C’MON DEAN, FUCKING RUN!”

Sam groaned snapping out of it and looked back at Dean.

He gave Dean an urgen
t
WOO
F
and tugged towards the others.

Dean let him go knowing it was safe to and that the
y’
d both be quicker running solo, and they sprinted after the others as an army of infected figures poured in to the aisle behind the shrieking one, following its call to arms. Dean chased after the others as fast as he could, knowing his life depended on it. The heavy sword swung madly from its shoulder strap, thumping the wall one second and scraping the floor the next. Members of the group constantly looked back at him, checking he was still there. The look on their faces when they saw what was coming after them, bounding along behind him told Dean all he needed to know. He ran like h
e’
d never run before, repeatedly telling Sam who kept pace with him to keep on going. He was scared that h
e’
d try to stand his ground again. But he did
n’
t, not yet at least, his close encounter with the terror dog had taught him enough to know that the discoloured noisy people were
n’
t normal anymore.

Raucous gurgles and thunderous footsteps chased them, echoing and bouncing off the aisle walls and shop windows. To Sebastian up front, it felt like they were being surrounded.

Suddenly Sam spun around and barked like he was out of control, bouncing up and down on his front paws spitting strands of saliva everywhere. His outburst only lasted for a few seconds before he span back around and ran after Dean but Dean now knew that the infected were gaining. He knew that he was losing ground to the monsters.

He yelled at Sam, telling him not to stop again when ahead of him the group darted right and disappeared around a T junction. As they passed the turn several of them glanced back at him to make sure he was still running and making sure he saw which way they were going.

“
Go on
!”
he yelled
.“I’
m coming
.
”

They disappeared around the corner of a perfume shop at break-neck speed with squealing trainers struggling for grip on the linoleum floor. Dean took the corner a few seconds behind them. He looked at the window of the clothes shop opposite the junction using the plate glass as a mirror. A chill raced down his spine!

The reflection was a mass of movement chasing after him and Sam. The aisle was packed from wall to wall and nearly from floor to ceiling with infected people as the faster ones continuously scrambled over the top of the slower ones, trampling them without a second thought. Some were even deliberately knocking others to the ground to get one step closer to the front, kicking legs out from under the ones in front, or ramming them against the wall.

Dean rounded the corner and looked ahead at the others following Sebastian and he hoped that this fire exit he was running for was
n’
t much further.

The infected were gaining and he was sure that this aisle, as long as it was, was a dead end. He was sure of it!

Panic nipped at his heels telling him that this was all wrong, telling him that Sebastian had taken a wrong turn. Telling him that they were all about to become trapped!

He knew that if they had doors to go through and locks to fiddle with, they were done for!

He was so caught up with this thought that he did
n’
t realise he was gaining on the others, and fast! Beginning to realise, but doubting his eyesight he thought
,
If they have stopped, they’d better be damn fast with those keys
!

Gavin stepped away from the others and waved at him confirming his thoughts.

“HURRY!”
he yelled. Then movement caught Dea
n’
s eye.

He looked passed Gavin and up. Someone was climbing the wall! As he ran and he watched he realised they were all climbing! He could
n’
t understand it. Climbing on what he wondered.

As he ran he saw them climb one after the other following Sebastian. Then David caught his attention as he walked towards Gavin leaving the group. He stepped passed Gavin, he worked the pump action mechanism priming the gun. Behind him Dean saw Andy lift Sarah up to someone before starting to climb up himself.

Gavin yelled for Dean to hurry again as David urged him to start climbing
.“
Yo
u’
ll only slow us down if we have to wait for you to climb up in front of us
,”
he told him. So Gavin started his climb constantly looking back at his brother.

“C’MON!”
yelled David
.“
Yo
u’
ve got some space behind you, but not much
.
”

Then he raised the gun.

Dean pumped his legs as fast as he possibly could practically kicking the ground with each stride as the noise behind him gradually crept up on him, reeling him in. As he came closer Dean realised how they were climbing. There was a cluster of small letterbox shaped alcoves in the wall where multi coloured LED lights usually shone, constantly changing colour. There were sets of them scattered about the building that he knew in that instant, h
e’
d walked passed countless times oblivious to what they really were. They formed a ladder in the wall that led up on to a ledge that ran along the line of roof- lights. One of the roof-lights doubled up as a door and Sebastian had opened it, letting everyone out on to the roof.

As soon as Dean and Sam were within a close distance David started firing passed them, lighting the place up with the muzzle flare and completely deafening them in the confined space.

“
Sorry boy
,”
Dean told Sam
.“
You are
n’
t gonna like this
.”
And as he neared the camouflaged ladder he leaned down and grabbed hold of Sa
m’
s mane. He gathered up as much flesh and fur as he could with one hand and lifted him up, half swinging him using their forwards momentum to send him up towards Gavi
n’
s open arms. Sam did
n’
t utter a single sound as Gavin reached out and caught him.

“START CLIMBING!”
David hollered between shots backing up.

Dean started climbing, concentrating hard on where the foot-holes were when hands reached down and grabbed the loop on top of his rucksack. They pulled hard and simply hauled him straight up on to the ledge. It was Andy and Gavin. Then without a word they pushed him through the open roof- light on to the roof where the others were waiting, all masked up and braving the freezing wind and the pelting black snow.

Sam let out a triumphan
t
WOO
F
seeing him as Sarah cuddled in to him.

Behind him Andy and Gavin reached down and hauled David up and out still shooting. Andy shut the roof-light and turned the handle down in to the locked position.

“
Where to now
?”
he said looking at Sebastian
.“
We ca
n’
t hang around, those things are already climbing over each other to get up here
.
”

“
This way
,”
said Sebastian turning around, and he started walking.

Everyone followed him as he trudged through the deep snow that had settled on the large roof, leaning in to the bitter wind as it rushed passed nipping at any exposed skin.

Andy saw where the roof followed on over to the supermarket, across the roof of the overpass and he thought of Thom and instantly felt an enormous guilt for not being faster. For not saving him.

A slapping noise caught his attention making him turn back.

Infected hands were slapping against the bottom edge of the roof light the
y’
d come through.

“SHIT!
”
he cursed
.“
We have to hurry guys, the
y’
r
e
alread
y
slapping the roof-light. They know exactly where we came through
.
”

There were upset and scared murmurs among the group as they sped up urging Sebastian on.

The large expanse of roof was mostly flat apart from the long semi-circular sections of roof-lights that stood several feet above them at their peak and ran the length of the shopping centr
e’
s main aisles like big glass tubes. They were black with ash and reminded Collin of giant man eating worms h
e’
d read about in some sci-fi novel once. He kept the thought to himself feeling bad for still being able to fantasise despite the situation.

Sounds came up from the street carried on the wind. Crashing and banging followed by infected gurgles.

“
They know w
e’
re up here
,”
said Dean
.“
Listen. The ones on the street know w
e’
re up here
.
”

There was a whimper from someone in the group quickly followed by shocked gasps. Andy soon saw why. The
y’
d walked out from behind a break in one of the tubular sections of roof-light and they could see across town. An enormous fire was ablaze in the middle of town lighting the area around it. It was breathtaking in its size.

Smaller fires raged on scattered elsewhere across the Highland city lighting up other areas of town.

“
Here
,”
said Sebastian. He was holding on to a railing that disappeared over the edge
.“
We can climb down here
,”
he said
.“
There are other ladders, but the
y’
re back in the direction of the infected.

Andy looked down and saw where the ladder joined a fire escape down the side of the building and dropped in to an alley, but even though the alley below was clear the end that gave on to the street was swarming with infected chasing the calls from the ones already in the building.

He shook his head about to lean back when he felt a vibration through the railing.

He looked down again and followed the fire escape section by section, tracing it down the side of the building until he saw a group of maybe three or four people on one of the grated steel landings.

All of them looked like they were in uniform, and all of them were infected!

Must have been some of the very few that made it in to work
,
he thought.

Looking for a second he thought about how they might have gotten there and came up with the scenario that they mus
t’
ve tried to escape. The fire door mus
t’
ve closed behind them locking them out, the street migh
t’
ve been overrun, or they migh
t’
ve been too scared to move. Either way, they were definitely infected
.
Poor bastards
,
he thought turning back to Sebastian shaking his head.

He did
n’
t say anything. He did
n’
t see the need to if they were
n’
t going to use the fire escape.