Ravage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel (16 page)

“I don’t know.  But that woman over there is
dead.  He ripped her goddamn throat out with his teeth.”

“Pissing hell!”

The man stumbled towards them, quick and determined. 
Blood continued pouring from his eyes as though a faucet had been turned on in
his brain. 

Bradley wound up a punch and let fly.  His fist
connected hard with the man’s jaw and made a sickening
thup
sound.

But the man kept coming.

Annaliese was pretty sure the punch would have floored all
but a professional boxer, but the man in front of them was still
undeterred.  He lurched forward and managed to grab a hold of Bradley’s
collar.  The two of them collapsed to the floor in a heap. 

“
Argh!
”

Bradley yelled out in agony as the psychopathic man clamped
his teeth down on his hand, grinding and sawing at his middle and ring
fingers. 

“Help me,” he screamed.

Annaliese had to act fast.  She hunted around for
something to use.  Her eyes fell upon a small picket sign.  The
rectangle of cardboard read KEEP OFF THE GRASS and was set into the ground by a
short metal spike.  She yanked it free from the ground and pulled the
cardboard away from the spike. 

Bradley continued to yell out as he struggled with his
attacker, blood pouring from his trapped and ruined hand.

She pointed the spike at the crazy man.  Her hands were
shaking like loose leaves in the wind.  “Let go of him right now,” she
said, “or I’ll drive this right through your goddamn eyeball!  You’ll get
one hell of a lobotomy.”

The man ignored her and continued ripping and tearing at
Bradley’s fingers, almost seeming to moan in ecstasy as more and more blood
spilled from the wound.

“I’m warning you!” she said.

“Just get him off me,” Bradley yelled.  “Stab him!”

Annaliese saw no other option.  The man had received
his warning and wasn’t going to stop.  It was as if some wild fever had
taken over him, removing any powers of rationality.  The man was a vicious
animal.

I warned you!

She leapt forward with the metal spike and drove it into the
man’s shoulder.  It sunk easily into the soft flesh and sinewy muscle
between the trapezius muscle and collarbone, causing what should have been
agonising pain. 

But the man did not flinch.

Impossible.  No one can ignore that amount of
trauma.

Annaliese could not believe what was happening.  She
stood there, stunned and disbelieving.  Bradley’s screams became a faraway
echo in her mind as she thought back to all of the emotional horror she had endured
the last few years and how it had all led up to this final surreal nightmare
that topped them all in one fell swoop. 

Maybe I finally found my way to Hell.

Then she was back again, her moment of panic gone as quickly
as it had arrived.  Fear was just a response.  It could be contained,
even utilised.

Make it work for you, Anna.

She rushed forward and yanked free the spike from the man’s
shoulder, releasing a jet of blood into the air as the wound unplugged. 
At that same moment Bradley’s fingers finally came free, the gristle and
cartilage finally giving up their battle to stay connected to his body. 
Bradley wailed like a clowder of cats as his two fingers disappeared and were
devoured by his tormentor.

Annaliese took her opportunity.  The crazy man had
lifted his head as he came away with Bradley’s severed digits in his
jaws.  He was chewing the severed fingers ecstatically, even as she lifted
the spike in the air and pointed it at his face.

I can’t believe I’m about to do this.

But he’s left me no choice.

She brought the spike down hard, driving it vertically into
the man’s skull.  The sharp metal fought against thick skull bone but
quickly delved deep into the soft tissue beyond.

I just stabbed a guy in the brain… 

The man’s body went stiff.  His chewing stopped. 
Then he toppled sideways and lay still; a bloody mess on the dew-soaked grass.

Bradley shuffled away on his back, clambering as quickly as
he could from his now-dead attacker.  He held his injured hand out in
front of him as he stumbled to his feet and went deathly pale at the sight of
his missing appendages.

“Come on,” she said to him.  “We need to get you some
help.”

The two of them took off down the lawns towards Ripley
Hall.  There were several phone lines inside the manor where they could
call for help.  There was also plenty of comfortable space to get Bradley
settled down while they waited.  It would also give Annaliese the chance
to find out who the hell the man she just killed was and why he had gone so
completely berserk.

The manor house was lit up like a beacon in the grey haze of
the early morning.  Its numerous leaded windows glinted in the light of
dawn and several silhouetted figures danced and shifted behind them.

Have people been partying all night?  No wonder that
guy was crazy.  Twelve hours partying and drinking is enough to drive
anybody nuts.

Annaliese had to almost drag Bradley up the steps to the
front doors.  He was weak from shock and leaning on her for support. 
“Come on,” she encouraged him.  “We just need to get you inside and then
you can sit down.”

She reached out with her free arm and grasped one of the
door’s wrought iron handles.  She pushed down on it hard and shouldered
open one of the two heavy wooden doors.

The foyer inside was brightly lit by a crystal chandelier
and several wall sconces but, despite all the lights, the reception area was
deserted. 

To Annaliese’s immediate right was Ripley Hall’s grand
dining room and the kitchens beyond.  To her left were the function suites
and bar.  Straight ahead was the winding staircase that led to the two
upper floors and bedrooms. 

She headed for the vacant reception desk.  Behind it
was the door to the front office.  She tried the handle and was
disheartened to find it locked.

Where is everybody? 

Bradley flopped himself down on a nearby swivel chair and
closed his eyes as he fought against the pain he was in.  His finger
stumps dripped slick trails of blood onto the floor and began forming a sticky
pool on the tiles.

Annaliese banged on the office door.  “Hello?  Is
anybody in there?”

No answer. 

She turned around and put her hand on Bradley’s
shoulder.  “Just hold in there,” she told him.

“N-no…problem.”

She edged around the reception desk until she was back in
front of it.  The place seemed deserted, but she had seen people from
outside through the windows.

Where the hell is Shawcross? 

Shawcross was the manager of Ripley Hall.  He would
never allow the front desk to go unattended like this.  It was always
manned twenty-four hours a day.    

She palmed the service bell on the reception desk and waited
as its chime echoed off the walls and high ceilings.

Nobody came.  Even after ringing the bell several more
times.

“This is ridiculous,” she said.  “Somebody always mans
the front desk.  Where the hell is Shawcross?”

Bradley tried to focus on her, but his eyes were red and
irritated, almost like he had a bad case of hay fever.  “He must be
somewhere
. 
The guy never leaves.”

“Bit like you,” Annaliese said with a grin, trying to lighten
the mood.  Bradley looked awful and she didn’t want him going into panic.

There were noises from nearby.  The sound of shuffling
feet. 

Annaliese peered left and right, looking at both the
entrance to the function suites and the doorway leading to the dining
room.  “Hello?” she shouted.  “Hey, we need help here.”

“I…I don’t like this,” said Bradley in a voice thick with
phlegm.  Annaliese examined him for a second and worried about his
condition.  He was losing blood, but he still seemed far worse than he
should have. 

The shock must really be getting to him.

Someone appeared in the arched entrance of the function
suites.  It was one of the maids.  Annaliese could tell by the
woman’s green tabard.

“Finally,” she said, stomping towards the woman.  “I need
to call an ambulance and get my colleague somewhere comfortable.  Do you
have a key to the office?  I need to perform first aid immediately.”

The maid said nothing.  She just stood in the doorway
and stared at Annaliese.

“Hey,” she shouted.  “Can you answer me, please? 
I’m not kidding around here.  Bradley is hurt.” 

Still no reply. 

The maid continued to stand, staring at Annaliese
curiously. 

“Look, if you can’t help me, can you at least go and get
Shawcross?”

The woman stepped forward and Annaliese saw the blood in her
eyes.

Just like the man outside that attacked me. 

The maid screeched at Annaliese and raced across the tiles.

Annaliese was rooted to the spot for a second, not
understanding what was happening, but survival instinct quickly took over and
she leapt behind the reception desk, placing a barrier between her and the
charging woman.

Bradley screamed out from his chair.  “She’s like that
guy outside.  She’s crazy.”

Annaliese could make no sense of it, but she knew Bradley
was right.  The maid leapt over the desk and reached out to grab a hold of
her.  Without even thinking about it, Annaliese picked up the keyboard
from the desk’s computer station and smashed it over the woman’s head. 
Several keys came loose and a bloody wound opened up on the back of the woman’s
skull but, as Annaliese was now getting used to, the blow seemed to have no
effect at all.

It’s like fighting a brick wall.

Time to try a different tactic.

She grabbed a handful of the maid’s tabard and pulled her
across the desk, beaching the woman on her belly.  Then she yanked the
keyboard on its cord, releasing some slack.  She quickly wound it around
the woman’s neck and pulled the wire as tight as she could.  Then she
stepped away.

The maid tumbled from the desk and tried to straighten up,
but she was held back by the tangled wire around her throat.  The more she
pulled, the tighter the bonds became, and she was unable to move more than a
foot from the desk.

Annaliese grabbed the back of Bradley’s chair and started rolling
him across the foyer.  “What the hell is going on here?” she said. 
“Where the hell is everyone?  And why are people acting like maniacs?”

Several more bodies appeared in the entrance of the function
suites.  Annaliese could tell right away that the strangers were all
dangerous – all like the man outside on the lawn.  They snarled and hissed
like cobras ready to strike. 

Guess that answers my question about where everybody is.

The mob was a mixture of both staff and guests.  A
waiter was amongst them, his crisp white shirt stained dark with blood and
other fluids.  Most of the rest of the group were young revellers, no
doubt having come to Ripley Hall for a good time at their company’s
expense.  Somehow they had gotten more than they had bargained for.
 They were all now covered in blood and hanging chunks of their own flesh,
and the flesh of others.

All at once, like a demonic choir, the mob screeched at the
top of their lungs.  Annaliese became immediately aware of more people
behind her, at the top of the stairs.  She peeked over her shoulder and
saw that they, too, were covered in blood and snarling.

Bradley was weeping and cradling his head in his
hands.  “We are so screwed.”

They were rushed from both sides; one mob of crazy people
coming from the function suites; another from atop the staircase. 
Annaliese grabbed Bradley’s chair and raced him across the tiles towards the
only place she had left to run – the grand dining room.  She hurried
through the archway on her left.

The cavernous dining room was empty.  Its huge mahogany
tables and ornate chairs lay crooked and disturbed as if some great battle had
been waged there.  Blood coated everything.  Annaliese almost slipped
in a puddle of it as she sprinted across the room.  If not for Bradley’s
chair offering a handhold, she may have gone down on her face.  

The mob was coming up fast behind her.  They screeched
and wailed inhumanely as they leapt over chairs in their pursuit of her. 
If not for their wild lack of coordination, Annaliese would already have been
captured.

And that’s still exactly what will happen if I don’t find
somewhere fast.

Ripley Hall’s kitchens were up ahead, accessed via a pair of
swinging oak doors.  Annaliese raced towards them desperately, but the
effort of pushing Bradley in his chair was gradually slowing her down.
 The mad rush of bodies behind her was gaining.

They’re going to eat me alive.  I’m going to die
without ever having a clue why.

Suddenly the doors ahead of her opened.

A face popped out from the gap, leaning out from inside the
kitchen.

“Come on,” said the stranger; a woman.  “Quickly! 
They’re right behind you.”

Annaliese summoned a final burst of strength and leant
forward against Bradley’s chair.  She managed to pick up speed, but her
attackers gained distance on her with every step.

I’m not going to make it.  These psychopaths are
going to kill me.

I’m not going to make it.

Annaliese hit the kitchen doors at speed, using Bradley as
an unwilling battering ram.  The doors spilled open and the chair she was
pushing tipped over onto the floor.  Bradley went sprawling onto the tiles
and let out a moan.  Annaliese’s legs gave out and she went tumbling to
her knees right beside him.  The next thing she was aware of was people
scurrying around behind her, shouting at one another and pushing around heavy
objects.