Tabitha (52 page)

A second shopping trip
turned up some warm thermal socks and a couple of first aid kits, but Tabitha
couldn’t help but wonder if she was getting this stuff together for someone
else’s sake. She didn’t need socks or first aid kits; she hardly needed
anything really. Was there really any point dragging all that extra weight
around, just in case she met someone who needed help? It was a moral dilemma.
Surely it was better to travel light though, and any little extras would soon
add up. She couldn’t just cart extra weight around on the basis of
just in
case.
She had to conserve her energy in a survival situation, like that guy
on TV had always said. Tabitha dropped the socks and first aid kits, and broke
into the stationery shop for a pad and pen. She’d need to write a shopping list
to get down to the bare essentials.

As
she headed off down another street in search of the next item on her list,
Tabitha stopped and stared at a certain shop. It sold lingerie in the windows,
along with more intimate products on the shelves inside. Tabitha forced the
door open and stepped into the gloom, fishing around in the dark for phallic
objects of interest. She was gone for a while.

When
she emerged blinking into the bright sunlit street, Tabitha sighed and smiled
and felt much more relaxed. One more purchase had been added to her haul,
having passed the quality test. She dusted her jeans off, picked up her
shopping bags, and studied her list for the next shop to break into.
She fancied a
change of clothes. Something full-body; something dark and tight. She plundered
the next shop along for some going-out makeup; coloured her lips sex-red.

A couple of
minutes’ walk down the street, Tabitha found her next stop. Forcing up the
shutters and punching the locks to pieces on the dead sliding doors, she pushed
them apart and went inside the darkened shop. This was where all the cool
people used to come; shopping for the kind of clothes she couldn’t afford and
was convinced she wouldn’t look right in. A sore resentment rose up inside her
then; she thought back to the unkind glances when she’d been in places like
this before. Tabitha didn’t get much further than the first rack of dresses
before she walked back out on principle, punching the glass doors into crashing
shards as she stepped back outside.

Tabitha felt
more at home in the sports shop. She’d always liked places like this,
surrounded by tracksuits and walls of trainers. Swimwear, sportswear, bike
gear, weights. They were beautiful. Hypnotised, she rifled through crowded
racks of weatherproofs and helped herself to a brand new coat. A blue-grey
parka with plenty of pockets, and a white fur trim on the hood. The coating on
the fabric looked so warm, so waterproof… she felt a tingle come over her.
She’d never appreciated a good coat quite so much as she did now. Tabitha
looked at the price tag, as if it mattered. She couldn’t have afforded this, no
way. She tried it on, and swapped it for a smaller size. It was warm and comfy
for winter; reassuringly heavy. It was just so deliciously weatherproof.
Looking around at the dim sunlit clothes racks on the walls, Tabitha even had
her pick of the best base layers mankind had ever produced. This place was
heaven.

Admiring her new
coat in dark shop windows, Tabitha headed on down another artificial street. A
gadget shop stood out to her; they always did. So much plastic crap; so
enticing. Wrenching the door open, she wandered into a gloomy grown-up toyshop
crammed with office talking points. Everything had batteries in; nothing
worked. Nothing except a little plastic flower by the open door, only four or
so inches tall, swaying solar in its pot in the pouring sunlight. Tabitha
couldn’t resist it. She boxed it back up and crammed it into her coat pocket,
wrestling the zip shut over the plastic case.

Next on her list
was the outdoors shop. Taking down a rucksack from the racks, Tabitha rubbed it
against the skin on her wrists to feel the fabric. It felt dry, coarse. The
material whispered against her skin, and creaked quietly against the back
padding where she squeezed it. She did like a good rucksack. The rubbery
plastic coating inside still smelled faintly of the factory. There was even a
zippy pouch inside. She stood there for a little while, running the zip slowly
back and forth with an empty mind and a vacant stare, listening to the sound.
Losing herself to grief and trauma for a second, before she pulled her mind
back to the task at hand. It was a good rucksack.

Next Tabitha
busied herself with a tour of the shop, bagging anything else in her new
backpack that she’d need to survive outdoors in the spring. She’d missed a lot
off her list, actually. Map, hat, binoculars. A working torch, in case her old
one from the village gave up. A spare compass with a glow-in-the-dark needle. A
couple of micro-fleece tops, two sturdy water bottles, and some runners’ energy
bars for survivors. She could always throw them away later if her bag got too
heavy.

Browsing the
army knives on display in a solid glass cabinet, Tabitha punched the top into
shattered pieces and plucked the most impressive models from their stands. She
bagged a chunky army knife first, with more fold-out tools on it than she knew
what to do with. She wondered if she could even get the thing open with her new
fingers, and whether in fact she needed it at all now that she had claws. Maybe
it’d still be useful. The second one she picked from the glass was a folding
knife, solid and sharp and silvery in the daylight from the door. Definitely
worth bagging, even just as a back-up to her claws. She took a belt from the
racks and buckled it around her waist, wishing she had a big old hunting knife
to put on it. If there was one thing she’d need out there come the spring, it’d
be a big sharp hunting knife. She had Blake and the army to thank for taking
away her old one, notched and rough, and crusted with dry silver blood around
the handle. They’d taken her hoodie too, the bastards. She loved that hoodie.
They’d been through so much together. Though she had to admit, the expensive
new athlete’s base layer from the sports shop would look a hell of a lot
tidier.

‘Well, I think
that’s everything,’ she sighed to herself, taking one last look around the
shop. She may as well try on her new outfit she supposed, while she was close
to the sports shop. It seemed to take days to get around this place, and her
legs felt too stiff and sore to come all the way back here tomorrow if her
clothes didn’t fit. Tabitha pulled off her top and jeans and swapped them for
the fitted base layer; a breathable grey one-piece that looked almost like a
wetsuit. Definitely the kind of darker, tighter clothes she’d had in mind. It
seemed more hard-wearing than she’d first thought too, now that she’d zipped it
up. There was some kind of rubbery mesh in parts, tough and fitted. She liked
the fit in the mirror, and tried on her new blue-grey parka over the top. She
noticed the fresh shop smell of them; a world away from the musty clothes she
was used to. Surreally clean. With one last look in the mirror, and a final
glance around the shop for anything she might have missed, Tabitha decided to
call it a day on her shopping trip.
Maybe she shouldn’t have gone for
that run though, she told herself. It was making her hungry for blood. She
pushed the thought from her mind and shouldered her new rucksack, heading
outside into the bright white street. She froze to the spot then, and stared
down the street on her left. She’d heard a noise in the distance. An echoing
faraway crash, like a big steel shutter falling down.

39

By the time she reached
the home store Tabitha could hear clattering spiders and stomping footsteps
through the shopping centre in the distance.
Heartcore
hammering, she jumped at a shrill metallic screech off down a street to her
right. When she peered around the doorway into her new home she saw a trail of
destruction. They’d already been here. A huge black shape moved around at the
back there, sniffing loudly. It roared and flung her sofas across the store,
destroying tables and chairs. Terrified, Tabitha turned and ran. There were
silver spiders clustering down the street behind her too. And then came their
screeches. They’d seen her.

‘Shit!’
she growled, looking back. They were gaining fast. Tabitha threw off her backpack
and broke into a sprint up the street. Feet pounding, vision shaking, she
sprinted past blurred clothes shops and the wishing fountain. The spiders burst
down the street after her, a tumbling silver tide at her heels. She turned to
look as she rounded a corner. Something came ploughing through the chittering
mass, tossing them into the air. A hulking black monster; a carbon copy of the
one she’d killed in the city. Its white eyes were fixed on her. Tabitha just
ran when she heard it roar. She didn’t look back any more; she just had to get
to the far doors. She heard it come smashing down the street behind her like a
tank, destroying the shops with primate swings. Its roar filled the place and
froze her blood. Tabitha heard benches flying as she ran, booming through shop
windows at her back. It was getting close, and the spiders behind it. She
sprinted round the next corner on her left, through double doors and past the
restaurants. She remembered seeing an exit on the far side of the food hall,
right down the next street there. The horde crashed and clattered behind her,
climbing over themselves to get into the side street after her. Legs burning,
Tabitha ran down the street into the dome of the food hall. She hurtled past
the open-plan bar where she’d been just last night. The horde smashed through
it behind her in a deafening rush, tables and chairs flying. Ahead was the huge
glass ceiling of the food hall, spilling light down on the chase. Tabitha’s
legs ached for rest but adrenaline kept her dosed, kept her running for her
life. She felt her
heartcore
pounding, humming like a
generator as she ran down the marble steps into the food hall below. She
spotted the exit, there in the distance. Suddenly the glass ceiling exploded
high above; a deep thundering boom that rained shining shards down all over the
tables and chairs. Tabitha jumped with fright as a huge grey shape crashed down
into the food hall, dark and reptilian. Just like the monster that attacked the
castle. A dragon. It turned and raised its huge head, white eyes staring at
her. Took a breath in. The horde tumbled and burst down the steps behind her,
led by the hulking black monster. Tabitha leapt away. The horde took the full
force of the dragon’s firestorm breath, screaming in the melting white flames.
The dragon was indifferent, turning to watch Tabitha escape. She looked back
over her shoulder and ran for the doors, smashing the glass and desperately
tearing a hole through the big steel shutters. Outside in the car park she
gasped at the cool fresh air, drowning her lungs in it. There was a massive
crunching crash up above her, as the dragon climbed back out of the roof. The
chittering noise grew louder behind her, back inside the food hall. She saw
silver legs emerge from the hole she’d made in the shutter. Then there was a
crash inside, and the whole shutter collapsed as the hulking black monster
dragged its half-melted body outside. Tabitha saw her chance. She ran back and
leapt onto its shoulders; flicked her claws out and buried them in its big
head. It screamed and flailed when she pulled an armoured plate away. She
plunged her clawed hand in through its skull and deep into its brain with a
burst of blood, and the monster dropped dead on the ground. She felt a spider
needle stab her leg. She spun around and sank her claws into the spider’s body,
and pulled it apart in a slopping gush of silver blood. Her punch to another
went right through its head. A kick to a third stunned it on the ground, and
she stomped its brains out. The dead monster bled a silver pool around her,
reflecting the white sky. Tabitha glimpsed a shape move across the reflection,
high above. A cold shadow passed overhead. The dragon was hunting her.

Exhausted,
Tabitha ran for her life. White fire tore up the car park at her heels, and the
dragon swept overhead with a dirty static growl. It spun around low in the air
and belched an albino inferno. Tabitha dived and rolled across the tarmac to
dodge the searing heat at her back. She looked back at a thundering noise to see
the wall of the shopping centre implode and topple into ruins. Another monster;
another frantic swarm of spiders. She had to get out of the open, find another
building to hide in. A supermarket adjoined the shopping centre, further off
down the car park. Hopefully too tight and cramped for the dragon to follow her
inside. Tabitha ducked down and ran as the creature flew overhead. She leapt
away from another fiery blast and beat out the flames on her jacket sleeve. The
supermarket grew larger and larger as she sprinted desperately for the doors.
She stopped herself against the steel shutters with a bang, and turned to see
the dragon circling the car park towards her. Its white eyes flared, trailing
light as they picked her out against the doors. Breathless and panicked,
Tabitha sprang her claws out and carved a hole in the metal shutter. The dragon
wasn’t slowing down. Tabitha tore her way inside the supermarket. Climbing in
through the hole, she looked back to see the dragon diving down towards the
doorway.

Inside
the supermarket Tabitha sprinted down the main aisle to find a place to hide.
The smell of rotten meat in here was unbelievable; buzzing clouds of flies
filled a couple of aisles as she passed by. There came a crash then, sudden and
deafening, like a plane ploughing through the front wall. The dragon roared in
a digital rush and stomped into the store, and tore the front desk apart in its
jaws. Tabitha watched it from the corner of an aisle nearby. Its big
stretched-rectangle wings curled around into half-pipes; curved hollow legs
with two square toes apiece. It stalked down the main aisle and sniffed at the
dusty gloom, searching for her with pale eyes in the dark. Tabitha dragged
herself away from the corner and ran down the aisle, far from the dim daylight
that crept through the front wall of windows. She hid when she heard it coming.
Down at the far end of the aisle the creature’s huge head prowled past, smooth
and square and stubby-snouted. Tabitha hid away from its searching eyes. Once
it moved on, she ran. She heard it smash through the side of an aisle in the
main supermarket strip, raining down metal shelves and sacks of barbecue
charcoal in a rustling racket. The dragon roared when it heard her hidden
footsteps running for the front doors. It bounded back to the demolished
doorway, cutting off Tabitha’s escape before she could get there and staring
around the store for any sign of her. As she backed away down an aisle,
Tabitha’s elbow caught a display stand. A jar of sauce dropped and cracked open
on the floor, echoing through the store. Tabitha cringed,
heartcore
racing. She heard the creature’s prehistoric footsteps, massive and metal,
cracking the tiles as it walked. She ran from the sound, hiding away around the
far corner at the end of the aisle. Wait – suddenly its footsteps were off to
her left. Further into the store. It had passed her by. Tabitha peered around
the next aisle; saw nothing. Where was it? Could she make a run for it? Tabitha
crept out from her aisle and looked up and down the gloomy main strip. There
was a groaning metal creak above her. The creature peered over the top of the
shelves above the aisles and saw her there. Tabitha gasped and ran. The wall
exploded behind her in a white blast. Then the far wall at the end of her
aisle. She ran past fridges that burst into pale flames behind her. Their glass
doors blew in jagged shards and
shotgunned
the
opposite shelves. Tabitha screamed and fell to her knee, and hurriedly pulled a
shard from her thigh with a silvery squelch. The dragon crashed over the top of
the aisle and drowned the shelves in flames, throwing Tabitha to the floor. She
crawled away from the blinding blaze and the vast creature stalking through it,
and leapt away from another burst that destroyed the floor at her feet. Tabitha
scrambled and ran. Another flaming belch hit an aisle like a bomb blast; a
thundering assault to destroy her hiding places. Tabitha could only run and
dodge the collapsing shelves, and jumped away as lights and air conditioning
pipes crashed down from the ceiling. The dragon roared again, and destroyed
everything in its path to get to her in the heart of the store. It had
overtaken her though, searching the dim grey aisles all around it.

Tabitha
stopped running and backed up breathless against a shelf. The dragon had run
past her and lost her, and now it was roaring into the empty gloom trying to
find her. Tabitha saw her chance, and ran back for the front doors. The
creature turned its head at the sound of her footsteps, and scrambled after her.
As Tabitha ran for the doors the shelves erupted into a thundering tide behind
her. The creature crashed down and cornered her against the wall, a good fifty
yards from the doorway and the holy daylight outside. It had her pinned in this
dark dank meat-stench hell. Tabitha stared up at it and felt adrenaline fill
her alien veins. If she was going to die now, she was going to take the bastard
with her. The dragon belched a gout of white fire and torched the wall; a
slow-motion napalm tide as she leapt away. As the flames bloomed and burst
super-slow behind her, Tabitha sank her rough black feet into the tiled floor
and pushed it away beneath her. She leapt for the dragon like a cornered rat,
pushing the floor away again and sprinting between the monster’s arms. As the
bright glare of the flames died down, the dragon stopped tearing into the wall
and realised she wasn’t there. Tabitha flicked her claws out and grabbed onto
its back leg, climbing up the grey scales and leaping up onto its hip. The
dragon roared like thunder and twisted its body round, and crashed its side
against the flaming wall to shake her off. Tabitha was already up on its back
though, claws in deep, and clambered and crawled her way between its shoulders
to get to its neck. To its head. Gritting her teeth as she climbed, Tabitha
imagined burying her claws deep in its big eyes. All her grief and anger and
burning hate drove her on, gripping its neck with her claws. Jolting and
shaking, the dragon charged for the doorway. Tabitha lost her footing on its
neck and slipped, and slammed her tailbone down on a smooth dipped scale
between its shoulders. She sank her claws into its scales and held tight as the
creature burst through the doorway in a dustcloud, leaping into the blinding
sunlight. The dragon growled and launched itself into the air, folding its
curved arms back out into wings. Tabitha screamed high over the car park as the
dragon twisted and turned in the sky, trying to shake her off. The rushing wind
roared in her ears. Suddenly she lost her grip on the scales and felt
weightless above the dragon. She was free falling. Tabitha flailed her hands
and grasped desperately for the scale she’d been sitting on. She hit the
dragon’s back again as it climbed in the air, and regained her grip between its
shoulders. The creature levelled out and went into a steep dive, plummeting
towards the car park. Tabitha’s stomach twisted like she was on a
rollercoaster. She held on tight to a curved lip at the front of the scale she
was sitting on. She felt two hand grips there that shivered at her touch, and a
harness snapped around her waist and shoulders. Suddenly she was strapped to
the scale like a saddle, spinning and screaming high in the air. Something
caught her eye then, between the handles in front of her; a glowing white
circle emerged on a bony bump on the scale. Panicking, she slammed her palm on
it and the whole saddle sank down inside the creature’s body. It was a cockpit.
She looked up to see two armoured scales close up the hole above her head,
shutting out the sky.

‘What…?’
she mumbled, breathless in the silent dark. Her chest was pounding. Was she
safe? All that fighting for her life, was it over just like that? Her mind was
a jarring chaos, high on adrenaline. One minute she was about to be eaten by an
alien dragon, and now she was sitting inside her would-be killer like a pilot
in a ship. Heads weren’t meant to wrap themselves around stuff this strange. A
dim white glow grew inside the cockpit then, and the saddle shifted and changed
into a seat beneath her. Dots and circles glowed to life on a console in front
of her, jutting up like a bony grey ribcage. She wasn’t being thrown around in
her seat any more, or straining her body against the harness to stay upright.
The dragon had stopped struggling. Or was it a ship? She didn’t have a clue.
She just sat there silently for a while, getting her breath back. Trying to
work out what the hell had just happened.

Slowly
the walls grew brighter, and Tabitha saw that she was sat in a nest of curving
metal shapes around her. She reached for the ribbed console and pulled it
closer, and pressed gingerly at the glowing white seeds on it. They were hard
like cartilage though, a kind of leathery gel, and made noises like they
weren't keen on being pressed. There was a purple symbol glowing gently on the
console too; an ornate lotus the size of a beermat. It had a strange figure in
the middle, like a fallen-down seven with a dot on top. It didn’t do anything
when she pressed it; maybe it was the maker’s badge. An alien brand. Sitting
back in the seat she noticed a blue patch dead ahead, just past the ribbed
console, growing on the wall in front. The more she looked at the blue patch
the bigger it got, until the edge of a cloud appeared. She realised then that
she was looking out at the sky, through a window that wasn’t there. In a few
more seconds the sky had replaced the front wall of the cockpit and filled her
vision entirely, and she looked down and screamed. She saw the car park and the
shopping centre way down below. But she couldn’t see her arms or legs. Just the
wide world and the gaping vertigo view, hundreds of feet below. Tabitha freaked
out and struggled in her seat, and all of a sudden she was back in the cockpit
again.