Ravage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel(16)

The girl nodded. “Yeah, we have both in the office, but there’s a problem.”

“What?”

The girl nodded toward Mr Curtis. “Well, I’m looking at Mr Curtis, but where’s his wife?”

As if to punctuate her point, a far-off crash caused them both to turn towards the aquarium’s exit.

“Close by, would be my guess,” said Nick. The young girl started back towards the cupboard. He went after her. “Hey, you’re not going back into hiding. We need to deal with the situation.”

“You deal with it. I’m going to sit down on the vacuum cleaner with the door closed.”

Nick grabbed a hold of the girl, a little harder than he meant to. Fortunately, the show of force seemed to steel her nerves.

She sighed and shook her head resignedly. “Fine,” she said. “But can we at least get something to defend ourselves with?”

“Sounds good to me,” said Nick.

***

They found what they needed in the storage closet where the girl had been hiding. Nick removed the head from a broom handle to turn it into a weapon and the girl found herself a hammer.

“What’s your name, by the way?” he asked her.

“Eve.”

“Nice to meet you, Eve. My name is Nick.”

“What’s with your face?”

“I had a car accident. Hurts like hell. My car is in worse shape than I am, though. It was brand new. An Alfa Romeo.”

“Whoop-de-frikking-do. Can we just get this over with?”

They headed out of the aquarium and re-entered the rest of the store. Past the wind chime display and indoor plants was a greeting card stand. Beyond that was a maze of swinging benches and assorted garden furniture. Past all of it was a bottleneck leading to a totally new area.

“What’s through that archway?” Nick asked.

“The café and checkouts.”

Nick nodded and crept forwards, broom handle raised over his shoulder like a baseball bat. The area ahead was cloaked in shadow, lit only by the weak morning sunshine filtering in through the skylights. Through the archway, and to Nick’s left, was a quaint café – more of a cosy tearoom really. To his immediate right was the store’s checkout area.

He looked back at Eve and raised an eyebrow of concern. “Be careful,” he told her. “She could be hiding anywhere. These sick people have a habit of blindsiding you.”

Eve didn’t reply. She hung back and kept her distance.

The cash-tills up ahead were set into a booth with two long desks about four feet off the ground. Behind the booth was the store’s exit, leading back out to the parking lot.

“Hello,” Nick said in a raised voice, deciding it would be better to alert Mrs Curtis and see her coming than to have her sneak up on them. “Mrs Curtis, are you here?”

“What are you doing, dumbass?” Eve hissed.

“Trying to flush her out. Better that than she gets the drop on us.

Sure enough, Nick’s calls were met by the sounds of someone shuffling behind the tills. A woman sprang up from inside the booth and faced them over the counter. A stringy ribbon of flesh hung from her lower teeth like a strand of rancid dental floss.

“That her?” Nick asked.

“No,” said Eve.

Nick frowned at her. “No? Then who the hell is she?”

“I have no f*cking idea.”

A hungry growl spun them both around. There was an old lady in a blue frilly dress glaring at them from inside the café. Her face was pressed up against the glass as she growled at them. Apparently the café had not been so empty after all.

“That’s her,” said Eve. “That’s Mrs Curtis.”

The old woman threw herself through the partition window of the café and rose to her feet on the other side. It was like something out of The Terminator.

Now the two women flanked Nick and Eve from both sides. The lady inside the till booth leapt the counter and sprinted towards them. At the same time Mrs Curtis came at them from behind.

“Run,” Nick shouted, dropping the broom handle to the floor, realising it was useless.

Eve hurried after Nick and the two of them ran back through the garden centre’s main floor. Nick clattered into a chiminea a hundred yards on and almost tumbled to the ground. He only just managed to keep his balance and keep running. As he reached the automatic doors where he had first entered, he realised that they were not going to open. He and Eve were on the wrong side of the sensor.

“Damn it,” he said, glancing back over his shoulder at the two women clambering through the store after him.

“This way,” Eve shouted, dragging him by one of his coat cuffs. “There’s a fire exit.”

Nick followed Eve into the depths of the store. The two feral women were only a few steps behind them. The only thing keeping them back was their clumsiness. They bashed and stumbled into the various displays like drunks in a marathon.

Up ahead, Eve skidded to a halt. Nick almost went right into the back of her.

“What the hell are you doing?” he said. “Keep moving.”

“Look,” she said, pointing.

Nick looked to his right, towards the aquarium, and could not believe what he saw. Mr Curtis was back on his feet. His neck wound was so deep that his head hung unnaturally to one side. He was slower now, stumbling along like a new-born calf, and moaning hungrily.