Ravage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel (11 page)

Dash sucked at his teeth.  “Oh, come on, girl, quit
playing coy.  A fine piece of ass like you must have had her fair share of
crotch rockets.  If not, then allow me to be the first.”

Jan put one of his meaty palms against his
fellow-prisoner’s chest.  “Take a cold shower,” he said.  “Or someone
will cut it off.”

Dash just snickered.

“Okay,” said Dave, clapping his hands together to get
everyone’s full attention.  “Everybody, spread out and check the sides of
the building.  We’re looking for a brick or anything else that could help
us get inside.”

Everybody set off at once.  Nick went to check over
by the cable car station with Pauline, who seemed like she could use the
company.  She looked exhausted.

“How you holding up?” he asked her.

“Well, the only thing keeping me going is the chance
that there might be food inside this building.  I’m hoping something to
eat might stop my stomach from churning so much.”

Nick hadn’t considered the possibility of food, but he
realised that he, too, was famished.  “I guess we could all do with an
energy boost,” he said.  “What’s your favourite food?”

Pauline looked at him.  “Really?”

“Yeah, why not?  Just making conversation.  I
can’t stand silence.  It’s so tense between us all that I feel like
somebody might spontaneously combust.”

Her lips cracked a smile for the first time since he had
met her.  It made her look younger.  “I know what you mean,” she
said.  “Well, I don’t really have a favourite meal, but if I did, I could
guarantee you that I wouldn’t find it inside that little burger bar.  I
like French food; cheese and red wine.  Delicious.”

Nick pulled a face.  “No thank you.  I like a
big hunk of meat.  Nice fat steak or a pork chop.  Caveman-style.”

He suddenly thought about the steak he was supposed to
have eaten the night before and felt his stomach roil.  The sight of that
bloody hunk of meat between his son’s teeth…

Stay focused, Nick.  No time to-

Something caught his eye.  “Hey, what’s that over
there?”  He pointed to a pile of debris up ahead.  It seemed like it
might have what they needed.  He and Pauline hurried over and began
sifting through the mess.

“They do a really bad job of looking after this place,”
Pauline commented as she kicked aside some rotten cardboard.

“I’d guess this place is making a loss.  Most
places are nowadays.”  Nick bent over and moved aside an old wooden
pallet, rotten to its core.  Spiders and woodlice scurried out from
underneath it.

Gross!

But amongst all the insects was exactly what they
needed. 

Nick picked up the grubby rock and examined it.  It
was heavy in his hand, but light enough to throw with a decent amount of
force.  “Perfect,” he said, holding it out so that Pauline could see it.

She nodded and agreed that it was perfect, so they
headed back round to the car park.  They caught up with Jan and the other
two prisoners outside the café’s front entrance.  Nick held the rock out
to them and smiled.

“Perfect,” said Jan.  “Give it here and I’ll get us
in.”

Nick handed over the rock and they all stepped away from
the windows.  Jan wound up like a pitcher and let the rock fly like a
baseball. 

One of the window panes shattered instantly, showering
the ground with shards of glass. 

They all cringed as the alarm went off.

It was loud.

Really loud.  

Dave and the others came sprinting from around the side
of the building.  “You stupid shits!” he shouted.  “Who told you to
do that?  You should have waited until I gave the okay.”

Nick bristled and clenched his jaw.  “Piss off,
Dave.”

Dave fronted up to him.  “
Piss off?
 
Who the hell do you think you are?  You’d still be on the side of the road
if it weren’t for me.” 

“We don’t have time for this,” Pauline shouted. 
“We have to get that alarm off before any infected people hear us.”

“She’s right,” said Jan.  “Back in one of the towns
we passed through, I saw a whole bunch of infected people head right for a
church when its bell started ringing.  Attracted every one of them in the
area.  We need to cut the noise, right now, or they’ll be here.”

“Don’t worry.  I got this,” said Dash, leaping up
onto the ledge of the broken window and disappearing into the shadows inside.
 Everyone else stood around anxiously, eyeing the treeline.  They
were all dreading the sudden rush of infected people hammering over the
concrete towards them.

The alarm was loud enough to travel for miles.

“This is not good,” said Cassie. 

Carl put an arm around her.  “It will be okay.”

Dave stomped back and forth furiously, clenching his
fists and heaving his gut in and out.  Jan and Renee were the calmest,
standing beside the broken window and staring patiently inside.

Margaret, Eve, and Pauline stood beside Nick, huddled
together, as if merely doing so was enough to keep them safe.  He patted
Margaret on her back and gave her a reassuring smile.

“What a racket,” she muttered. 

The shrill call of the alarm set all of their nerves on
edge – everyone was visibly close to panic.  If what Jan had said was
right, it could spell big trouble for them all.

We’re sitting ducks…

The alarm stopped suddenly.

There was total silence.

A moment later, Dash appeared at the broken
window.  He held what looked like a frying pan in his hand.  He used
the hard metal edge to knock loose the remaining shards of glass from the
frame, making it safe to climb through.  “Come on in, gangsters,” he said.

“Something tells me you’ve done this before,” Nick
commented.

“I don’t know what you mean, blud.  I’m just a man
that knows a few things.”

“Well, you did good,” said Dave.  “Is there any way
you can get the doors open as well?”

Dash shook his head.  “No can do.  Any keys
would be in the safe and my skills don’t go that far.”

“Okay,” said Dave.  “Then pass us out one of those
plastic chairs to help us climb over.

Dash disappeared back inside and then reappeared at the
window with a chair.  He passed it out to Dave who set it down on the
pavement. 

“Okay,” Dave said.  “Ladies first.”

They sent in Margaret to start; Nick helping her up and
then Dash helping her down onto his shoulder from the other side.  Eve was
next and hopped through relatively easily, followed by Pauline who stumbled and
half-fell inside.  Cassie went next and then the men followed.  Nick
went in after Carl, who went in after Renee.  Dave and Jan came in
last.  Jan was so tall he could have stepped over without the chair.

Inside, the room was shadowy, but not completely
dark.  The chairs and tables were neatly stacked and the floors were
mostly clear.  The café was still operational by the looks of things.

“Wonder why there’s no one here,” said Pauline.

“Makes sense,” said Nick, “when you think about the time
this all started.  My wife and son were sick before dawn.  I’d
imagine some people probably took longer, but it’s safe to assume that the
situation was pretty bad everywhere by 8AM.  This café probably doesn’t
open until nine or ten, so the staff wouldn’t have even started their commute
by the time the shit hit the fan.  I think most people were either getting
up for work or already on their way when they got attacked.  We all saw
the roads this morning.  It happened all at once.  It caught
everybody by surprise.”

“I think we can all count ourselves pretty lucky,” said
Dave.  “All of us managed to escape the situation before it got real bad.”

“We owe you big time,” Carl said to Dave.  “I don’t
know what I would have done if you hadn’t picked me up.”

Dave puffed up his chest proudly.  “Don’t mention it.”

“Do you think the power is still on?” Cassie asked.

Nick shrugged his shoulders.  “No reason it
shouldn’t be.”   He headed over to the wall and followed it along
until he reached a door reading: STAFF ONLY.  Beside it was a little
incision in the wall.  He sighed.  “The lights are operated by one of
those little fish key thingies.”

“Anybody got a hair clip?” Jan asked.

Pauline pulled one from her hair and handed it
over.  Jan took it to where Nick was standing and jammed it into the small
hole.  He fiddled the piece of plastic-coated steel for a few seconds and
then…

An audible
click!

The lights came on and everybody cheered.

“Excellent,” said Dave.  “Now, let’s hunt down a
phone.”

“There’s one through that door,” said Dash.  “It
leads to an office and a staffroom.  I saw it when I broke in.”

“Excellent,” Dave said again.  “I’ll go see if I
can reach somebody.”

Nick plonked himself down at one of the small restaurant
tables and slouched forward on his elbows.  His left arm cried out in pain
from his wounds, but it still felt good to be sitting indoors again.  He
had been beginning to feel like a nomad, trekking through the woods without
direction.  It was good to finally stop for a while and take stock of
things. 

Pauline took a seat next to him.  “Hope that alarm
didn’t bring any attention to us.  I don’t think I can face being attacked
again.”

Nick looked out across the empty car park.  “It
doesn’t seem to have brought anything.  We should be okay.  We might
even be able to stay here until the authorities get a handle of things.”

“You think they will?”

Nick wanted to be optimistic, but couldn’t find the
energy to kid himself.  “I don’t know,” he admitted.  “I don’t know
what there is for them to get a handle
on
.  If those sick people
can’t be helped…well, let’s just say that would be a lot of funerals to
arrange.  I have some of my own to attend to as soon as this is over.”

Pauline had an expression that suggested she was trying
to hold back tears.  “How could something like this happen, Nick?”

“Aliens,” said Carl from nearby.

Nick frowned.  “Huh?”

“Maybe it was aliens,” Carl repeated.  “As good a
theory as any.  I read once on the Internet that they have this big hole
in the desert in America that’s filled with all sorts of things we don’t know
about.  I bet it was aliens.”

Nick raised an eyebrow.  “Think I’d prefer to hear
something else as a reason.”

Carl shrugged.  “Terrorists, laboratory accident,
evil corporations, Mother Nature fighting back.  Meteor.  God
punishing us.”

“Are those all film plots or something?” asked Pauline.

“Maybe,” said Carl.  “My point is that something
this big doesn’t just happen.  It’s an insane scenario, which means it
make senses that there’s an insane cause for it all.”

“I guess you’re right,” said Nick.  “But I’d rather
keep my feet on the ground and my mind focused for now.”

“I know what you mean,” Carl nodded sagely.  Then
he looked at Pauline.  “You fancy helping me get the grills on,
darlin’?  I think everyone could do with some grub.  The power’s on
so there should be no reason we can’t get some chow on the go.”

Pauline shot up from her seat.  “Sounds good to
me.  I’m bleedin’ starving.”

Nick laughed and watched them wander off to the
kitchens.  Then his smile faded as he remembered all of the reasons
not
to be happy.

How can I even manage to smile with what’s
happened?  I should be ashamed of myself.  My son died only hours
ago.

 The staff door flew open with what sounded like a
kick and Dave re-entered the restaurant.  He was shaking his head and
seemed pretty pissed off.

“What is it?” Nick asked him.

“The phones are completely dead.  There’s not even
a dial tone.”

Nick sighed and rubbed at his forehead.  “I’m
beginning to think no help’s coming.”

“Nonsense!  The police must be dealing with this. 
Probably the army, too.  They’ll come eventually.”

Nick considered it.  It was a possibility, but
really they had no way of knowing.  “Maybe they will come, but what do you
plan on doing in the meantime?”

“We can stay here, keep trying the phones.”

“Alright.  Then we should get that broken window
covered up or we’re all going to freeze tonight.”

Dave nodded.  His jowls wobbled as he did so. 
“Good idea.  Please get right on that.”  Then he turned around on his
heel and marched away.

Nick snapped off a petulant salute.  “Right, away,
sir.”  Then he got up and headed through the ‘STAFF ONLY’ door to begin
his search for materials. 

The tiled hallway inside smelt faintly of lemony
bleach.  The chemical odour tickled his sinuses.  On his right was an
open door leading to a small staffroom and sofa.  Straight ahead was a
door marked ‘MANAGER’S OFFICE’.  Nick entered the room and looked around
the interior.  An old computer perched on a desk and a heavy safe lay
underneath it on the worn blue carpet.  Beside the computer’s monitor was
a telephone.  Nick picked it up and held it to his ear.  Like Dave
had said, the line was completely dead.  He didn’t know why he had even
felt the need to double-check, but it was nice to know that the man hadn’t been
lying about it.

I don’t trust that guy.  He’s got an ego the
size of the bus he was driving.

Nick looked around himself for something useful to block
up the restaurant’s window with and was glad when he was able to find something
right away. 

On the wall was a large corkboard, more than big enough
to cover the broken window.  He pulled at it and it came away from the
plasterboard easily; it was only held in place by a couple of loose
nails. 

He walked sideways with the corkboard, down the
corridor, and took it back out onto the restaurant floor.  Two minutes
later, with the help of Jan and Renee, Nick had gotten it positioned over the
broken window and held in place by a couple of stacked tables shoved up against
it.