Ravage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel(69)

“Just take a seat, Clark,” she said to him, “and someone will fetch you a drink.” She nodded to Mike, who took the hint and headed over to the vending machines.

Shawcross busied himself by dragging Mick’s body along the carpet and then kicking and rolling him through the door back out into the corridor.

“Is there likely to be anybody else hiding in this building?” Annaliese asked him.

Shawcross looked around at her and straightened up. “I…don’t know. I would suppose not. Tom was the night guard, but as far as I know he’s the only one that works during the AM. And Bradley, of course, when needed.”

Annaliese sighed. Both now dead. Is this place really so safe?

Mike returned with a bottle of water and handed it to Clark, who took it with trembling hands. He looked up at Annaliese and then over at Shawcross. “This is so messed up. Charlotte can’t be dead. None of this can be real.”

Annaliese rubbed his back. “We’re all in this together. It’s not your fault.”

“We should be safe now,” said Shawcross. “Forgetting about Tom was a lapse in judgement, but there should be no one else. We’re safe, I’m sure of it.”

Annaliese nodded and then looked around at what was left of their group. “Okay, well in that case, I think it’s about time I finally got to know everybody.”

“This is Michelle from HR,” said Mike, pointing to a pretty blonde in a blazer and skirt. He then indicated to a skinny man in a tailored short-sleeved shirt. “And this is Greg from Sales.”

Annaliese nodded to the two of them and both of them nodded back. Then a middle-aged man with a greying moustache stood forward and took the floor. “My name is Alan, but could I just bring something to the group’s attention before we get too relaxed?”

Annaliese shrugged. “Pleased to meet you, Alan. What is it you want to say?”

“Well, it’s more of a question, really. What I want to ask,” he turned around and pointed to Charlotte’s dead body, “is what we’re going to do about her?”

“What do you mean?”

Mike’s eyes suddenly went wide. “He means she’s going to come back.”

Annaliese realised it was true. Based on what they had seen, Charlotte was going to come back.

And then she’ll try to eat us.





Chapter Twenty-One

“How should we do it?” Mike asked as he stared down at Charlotte’s body. Her neck had stopped bleeding and her flesh was starting to take on a bluish tinge.

“Why do we have to do anything to her?” Clark asked, still sitting on the sofa. He was staring into space.

“We have to,” said Mike. “She’ll get back up as one of them. Believe me, we’ve all seen it. You would have, too, if you’d been with us last night.”

“I was with Charlotte,” Clark muttered. “And now she’s dead.

Annaliese shot Mike a worried glance. She didn’t like where Clark’s mental state was heading.

We need everyone functional and sane if we have any chance of getting through this.

“Let’s just break another pool cue and ram it in her head,” said Shawcross crassly. “Seemed to do the trick with Tom.”

“It’s not about doing the trick,” said Annaliese. “It’s about being humane.”


“There’s nothing humane about any of this,” said Mike. “Maybe Shawcross is right. The pool cue was effective on Tom.”

Annaliese shrugged her shoulders. “Fine. Should I do it?”

“I don’t mind,” said Mike. “Do you want me to?”

Clark leapt up off the sofa. “Listen to you all. You sound like you’re haggling over the last beer in the fridge. You’re about to crack somebody’s skull open; and that somebody was my friend. I should have protected her.”

“None of this is your fault, Clark,” Annaliese told him again. “Lots of people are dead and none of us are to blame. We didn’t do this.”

Clark stood beside the pool table and picked up the remaining cue. He rolled the length of wood in his hands, examining it intently.

“What are you doing?” Mike asked him.

Clark smashed the cue over the edge of the table, making the rest of the group flinch. The thick end went hurtling across the room and left a dent in the far wall.

“Let me do it,” Clark said. “I owe her that much.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” said Annaliese.

“No offence,” said Clark. “But f*ck you. She was my friend. You didn’t even know her.”

Annaliese nodded and stood aside. Her opinion was that performing such a deed could make Clark’s emotional condition worse, but there was also a chance it could bring him closure. You never could tell when it came to people’s minds. They fractured in different ways.

Clark knelt down beside Charlotte and placed the jagged cue against her forehead.

“Turn her head to the side,” Annaliese told him. “The temple is softer. It’ll be…cleaner.”

Clark did as she suggested and turned Charlotte’s head sideways. The wound on her neck opened up wider and a fine spray of blood released itself. Clark didn’t seem to notice. He raised the cue high above his head.