Six Days With the Dead (38 page)

Though, even if she searched the rest of her life she may never see her sis
ter again and deep down she knew it.

‘
Let’s see what we have to deal with at the Convent first, then we’ll get her back I promise, Liz. I promise...’ Charlie said, turning her face towards him and repeating it as he looked into her tear filled eyes, ‘I promise.’

And she knew he meant it, they would get Anne back.

****

When he had first heard the screams, Lars had pulled an unhelpful Penny into a small cupboard on the ground floor. Thankfully this cupboard, like many in Lanherne had a bolt on the inside, tha
nks to Charlie who had thought it a good idea. At this precise moment, Lars certainly agreed with him. At the sound of the first gun shot, Penny had started to hyperventilate, her shaking body giving over to the panic she was feeling. When the second shot echoed through the hallway, Penny went into overdrive. Even with Lars holding her tightly, and trying to calm her, her terrified whimpers soon developed into an uncontrollable wailing sound. In his desperation Lars contemplated somehow knocking the girl out but with his mangled arthritic hands he doubted he would have the necessary power. Deciding instead to hold a balled up rag over her mouth to muffle her crying, he prayed the sound wouldn’t attract the Dead. But his prayers had clearly gone unanswered, when the tragic corpse of Adrian came running down the corridor drawn to the sound of the living.

Skidding to a halt outside the cupboard door, Adrian
’s corpse knew that what he so desperately needed was just the other side of the thin wood. Smashing his fists over and over against the panelled door, it was a close thing which would fall to pieces first, the door or his hands. Already, the flesh on many of his now broken fingers had split, exposing more ragged flesh and bone with each pounding. As the skin over his knuckles tore, revealing the bone and cartilage beneath, a panel of the door finally cracked. Seeing this, added even more urgency to his frenzied attack, and he began to tear at the sides of thin split in the wood, losing what few finger nails he had left. The shards of wood piercing his bloodied palms and fingers went unnoticed, getting to the live flesh was the only thing his Dead mind was concerned with. With a cracking noise, the rest of the panel suddenly gave way, allowing his shredded and mangled hands to reach through to the terrified occupants. Penny’s uncontrollable screaming was constant now and somewhere in the back of Lars mind, he wondered if she was doing permanent damage to her vocal chords. Battering away the bloody Dead hands with little more than an old metal dustpan, Lars knew sooner or later the rest of the door would give way and that would be the end of it. He knew it was time to do something drastic. So as Adrian tried frantically to get a handhold on the living just out of his reach, Lars decided it was time to go on the offensive and grabbed one of the bloody hands as it came towards him. With all his strength he pulled the arm further into the cupboard and then with a fast motion he yanked the limb downwards, wedging the flesh onto the wooden shards. Knowing this would only hold the Dead thing for a few seconds, Lars quickly slid the bolt across before he grabbed Adrian’s other hand. With Adrian now temporarily held in place, Lars pushed against the door with a strength born purely of fear and adrenalin.

‘
Run Penny! Run!’ Lars screamed to the hysterical girl, once the door was half open.

Una
ble to comprehend an escape passed the Dead man clawing for her flesh, Penny continued to cower at the back the cupboard, fear blinding her to her only chance to live. Realising Penny wouldn’t be able to move on her own, Lars let go of one of Adrian’s hands momentarily so he could pull Penny to the open door. Even though she struggled like a trapped animal, Lars managed to thrust her through the open doorway. Falling to her knees, Penny looked up at the Dead man now focusing all his attention on her and began to kick her legs, trying to push herself away from him.

‘
Penny, for fucks sake! Just get up and run!... Run!’ Lars shouted at Penny, knowing he couldn’t hold onto Adrian’s arm much longer.

Something in the way he had shouted or perhaps the language he used, must have penetrated through her hysteria, her screaming stopped abruptly and sh
e looked at Lars, with something close to shock on her face. She then pushed herself to her feet, turned and ran. At that moment, Lars lost his hold on the remaining Dead arm and Adrian was free. Choosing to go for the closest meal, Adrian threw open the door and made a grab for Lars, knocking him to the cupboard floor. Locked in a life and death struggle, Lars tried to keep Adrian’s hungry mouth from him by pushing his own deformed hands beneath Adrian’s chin. Feeling what little strength he had left slowly evaporating, he knew it wouldn’t be long before the snapping teeth tore into his flesh. Then, suddenly, Adrian was jerked violently backwards, putting a small, but welcome distance between Lars and the Dead man’s teeth. Glancing quickly over Adrian’s shoulder, Lars couldn’t believe his eyes. Standing behind Adrian, a determined look on her face was Penny. She had grabbed hold of the back of Adrian’s jacket and was clearly straining to pull him away from Lars. As valiant as her effort was to save her teacher, Penny just didn’t have the physical strength to prevent Adrian eventually reaching his prize. Penny’s tear filled eyes briefly locked with Lars’ and something passed between them. Somehow Penny had clawed her way through her fantasy world back to the horrific truth of reality, only to fail the man who had cared for her for the last seven years. As Penny’s grip on Adrian weakened, Lars knew his time had come. With one last buck from Adrian, Penny lost her grip, falling backwards against the opposite wall. Now free, Adrian paused for all but a millisecond before pouncing on Lars’. This infinitely small pause was all that was need though, and with the sound of a single gunshot, Adrian’s head exploded sideways. With a rumble of footsteps, Alice appeared by Lars’ side, pushing the prone body of Adrian off of him.

‘
My God Lars, are you ok? Did he bite you?’ Alice said, turning Lars’ hands over in hers to check for bite marks.

‘
I’m fine, a bit shook up but fine…Pen…’ Lars’ words were cut short as Penny threw herself at him, knocking Alice out of the way.

‘
I couldn’t come back, I just couldn’t come back, but I had to, for you Sir, for you,’ Penny said, as she clung to Lars, weeping into his chest.

‘
Penny?’ Alice said, shocked that the girl was showing signs of being mentally present.

‘
Yes, erm..sorry, I don’t know who you are…?’ Penny said looking over to Alice, a look of confusion mixing with her tears.

‘
Alice, it’s Alice,’ she replied, taking a quick look up and down the hallway. ‘Look, you two need to find somewhere safe to wait this mess out. Come on, follow me.’

Alice led Lars and Penny back up the staircase to the sleeping cells. After tapping on Justin
’s door a few times, he eventually opened up revealing a tear streaked face, red and puffy.

‘
Justin, Lars and Penny will keep you company for a while,’ she said cupping his chin in her hands. ‘Nicky and Richard are still out in the fields with some of the others but they must have heard the gunshots by now. So, this will soon be over. Just keep quiet and still and you’ll be safe, ok?’

She said the last comment hoping Penny
’s sudden return to reality was a permanent one and she finally had some control. As Alice closed the door, she heard Penny whisper to Lars ‘Where are we?’

***

Imran walked slowly down the corridor that led past the Refectory and onto the kitchen.  Passing the open Refectory door, he stopped. It was not the huge amount of drying blood covering one of the tables or even the large spray of blood up one of the tall windows that gave part of the room a sickly pink glow that caught his attention and made his heart sink. No, there crumpled on the floor, matted with thick congealing blood sat a once cream Kufie cap. In that instant he knew his brother was no more. Choking back the pain that promised to overwhelm him, he knew he could not let his brother wander in his Dead state. He must find Mohammed and put him to rest, he owed him this service. Taking a deep shaky breath, Imran slowly closed the door on the carnage and carried on his search.

Michael
stood moaning in the kitchen, not that in his Dead state he knew what a kitchen was or even cared, but something had drawn him here. His Dead ears had detected a sound, a sound that would have made his mouth water, if only his saliva glands had still been working. Even now he could still hear it in this room, but nothing of interest seemed to catch his attention. From her hiding place in the cupboard under the sink, Sister Catherine could just about see one of the Dead man’s blood soaked shoes. She was sure it was her whimpering that had brought him to the kitchen, and even though she had her hand over her mouth, terrified sounds still escaped her. She had been coming from one of the bathrooms when she heard the screams and gunshots, if she had been thinking straight she would have darted back to one of the bathrooms, at least there, windows offered a route for escape. But she had panicked and now she sat squashed in the small cupboard, cursing her own stupidity. The Dead man took a step in her direction and despite her prayers for strength, another strangled cry worked its way through her lips and fingers. Michael looked down with milky eyes at the small cupboard door, moving slightly. Sister Catherine’s shaking fingers gripped the inside of the wooden frame, desperately trying to keep the doors closed, but unknowingly giving herself away. Sensing something to satisfy his hunger was near, the Dead man grabbed the door handles and with a pull that almost removed one of the doors entirely, he had finally found his meal. Screaming, Sister Catherine kicked wildly at the Dead face that loomed towards her. With living flesh now in his grasp, Michael tried to grab hold of one of the Sister’s kicking legs. Eventually, his fist closed around one of the terrified woman’s ankles and with a yank, she was pulled violently from the cupboard. Feeling the live flesh between his Dead fingers, Michael could wait no more. Opening his mouth wide, Michael darted in for a bite. Despite her hysterical screams and her struggling, there was nothing Sister Catherine could do to prevent his blood splattered teeth ripping into the flesh of her ankle. As Michael pulled back, tearing her skin and blood vessels, Sister Catherine’s screams raised in pitch to a sound of pure animal terror. At that moment, she knew she was as Dead as the thing with her flesh in its mouth. It was not the actual dying that terrified her so much, but that she would become an instrument of Death herself that she would attack her friends and pass onto them this abomination. No, she said to herself she would not let that happen. Empowered with a new sense of purpose, Sister Catherine kicked out with her free leg, hitting Michael full in the face. Even though he could not register the pain such a kick would have caused, it did throw him slightly off balance, allowing Sister Catherine the chance to twist her trapped foot from his grip. With part of her Achilles tendon torn from her ankle, she knew she would never be unable to stand upright to face him, but if she could just drag herself to the range she could use the metal poker as a weapon. Even if he continued to feast upon her as she made her way across the floor, she knew this Dead man, that she refused to think of as Michael anymore, must never leave this room. Sister Catherine certainly made a valiant effort. Throwing herself across the floor, she was almost halfway to the range already but the Dead man would not just let his meal crawl away from him. Pouncing onto her back, he tore at her clothes with manic desperation to get to the covered flesh. Sister Catherine had barely reached the base of the range before strips of her flesh were being ripped greedily from her back, exposing glistening muscle and bone, unnaturally to the world. Screaming uncontrollably and knowing now that her attempt had been fruitless, Sister Catherine hardly noticed when the Dead man slumped forward on top of her, lifeless. Imran pulled the hunting knife out of the side of Michael’s head and gently pushed him off the ravaged and blood covered Sister.

‘
Oh my God, Sister Catherine! I’m so sorry! I came as soon as I heard your screams,’ Imran said, not knowing what to do for the best.

If Charlie were here, he would perform the task but Imran did not know if he had it in him
to take the life of the woman lying before him.

‘
Imran, please, I know what this means… ’ Sister Catherine said in a whisper, trying to form the words through the waves of pains wracking through her. ‘Can you take me to the Chapel before I die? Please Imran… Please.’

Knowing what he should do, but unable to deny the woman
’s last request, Imran bent down and gently collected her in his arms. No matter where he held her, she cried out from the pain.

‘
You’re not going to die on me are you?’ he said looking down at the pale woman in his arms.

‘
N...No,’ she forced herself to say, as another spam of pain shot through her when Imran’s arm touched her raw bloody back.

Not wanting to waste any of the precious time Sister Catherine had left, Imran kicked open the kitchen door an
d began jogging through the corridors back to the Chapel. As he ran past room after empty room, he left a trail of Sister Catherine’s blood in his wake. When Alice stepped out of a room ahead of him, he briefly thought she was one of the Dead and realised he would have to drop Sister Catherine to protect himself.