Ravage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel(55)

“Well, none of that makes any sense without a plan to get us there. How on earth do we distract them?”

Annaliese stared down at Kimberly’s dead body. Then she looked at the frightened faces of the various strangers in the kitchen. “I’ll go out,” she said. “I’ll try and lead them away so the rest of you can escape.”

Shawcross frowned at her, but a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth suggested that he might actually be impressed by her suggestion. “That’s insane,” he said. “They’ll rip you apart.”

“Maybe. But these things have chased me once already. They’re fast, yes, but they’re also clumsy. If I know exactly where I’m going, I think I can stay ahead of them.”

“That’s all very well, but what do you do once you’ve led them away? You can’t run forever. Eventually you’ll have to shake them off.”

Annaliese thought for a moment before offering a suggestion. “Can’t I slip inside one of the bedrooms and lock the door behind me? I could climb through a window and re-join you all outside.”

“You’ll never make it,” Shawcross said. “Besides, I don’t have my keys. I was cashing-up the bar when the first attacks happened. My keys are still in the till.”

“I have my room card,” said a young guy over by the room’s industrial ovens. He had a bloody handprint on his light blue shirt but seemed in good shape otherwise. She put his age at about thirty by the style of his gelled black hair. “You can take it to get into my room.”

Annaliese took the card from the man and thanked him. “What number is your room?”

“Seven. It’s just up the stairs on the right. It’s not far.”

“Great. I’m sure I’ll be able to get there, no problems.

“You really want to do this?” Shawcross asked her.

She nodded. “A woman is dead because of me. Least I can do is try and get you people out of here.”

“Then, you should take a weapon.” He offered her the bloody meat tenderiser.

She waved it away. “It’ll just slow me down. Plus, I still think these people are just sick. I’m not about to bash somebody’s skull in unless there’s no other choice.”

“Sometimes there isn’t,” he said.

“Wait,” said the young man whose key card she had taken. “How will we know when the coast is clear?”

“You won’t,” she said. “Just come out five minutes after I leave and pray that they’ve all followed me.”

“The first sign of danger and we will return back here,” said Shawcross. “If everything is all clear, then we head out the front doors and regroup at the zoo. Hopefully Annaliese is correct when she says it’s safe out there.”

“It is,” she reconfirmed. “Like I said, there was just the man who attacked Bradley. I didn’t see anybody else.”

“Just be careful,” said the guy from room seven.

Annaliese smiled at him. “Thanks. What’s your name?”

“Mike.”

“Good to meet you, Mike. I’m Anna. I’ll see you outside, okay? Anything you want from your room?”

“There is actually. My wallet is on the bedside table. It would mean a lot to me if you could get it for me.”


Annaliese was confused, but shrugged in agreement. “Okay. I don’t think there’s going to be much need for your credit cards, but I’ll grab it if I see it.”

“Shall we get this over with?” Shawcross asked. He was standing next to the barricaded exit, leaning close to the doors and listening. “I think they’ve wandered off. I can’t hear them anymore, but who knows when they will wander back.”

Annaliese rubbed at her eyes and blinked. “Okay, I’m ready. I’ve had three hours sleep in the last thirty-six hours and I’m stuck in a low-budget horror movie, but I’m ready.”

Shawcross started sliding the fridge away from the doors, shuffling it a little bit at a time so as not to make a noise. Mike went and lent a hand and the two of them eventually moved it out of the way. They slid away a heavy table and flipped the latch on the door.

Shawcross looked at Annaliese. “You ready? Things get too dangerous, you come right back here and we’ll think of another way.”

“There is no other way,” she said. “We don’t know when help will get here or how long we can stay safe inside this kitchen. We have to get outside.”

Shawcross opened the door a crack and peered through the gap. “It seems all clear,” he whispered. “I think that when they lose sight of people they wander off and disperse. Then, if they find someone again, they screech. It’s almost like a rolling net. Spreading out till they find someone and then closing in when they do. At least for now the coast is clear.”

“They’re still out there somewhere, though,” said Mike. “So be alert.”

“Will do,” she said. Then she slipped through the kitchen doors and was in the dining room again. Blood still caked everything and the smell had become a sharp metallic haze in the air. Bloody streaks and dirty handprints covered the back of the kitchen’s doors where the mob had previously been battering to get inside.

But they’ve gone now. Where?