Collapse: Chapter 5

FIVE

The blood trail had stopped.

The last drip had fallen in the middle of an alleyway, in front of locked double doors. Peering through the glass, Seth could barely make out a kitchen. It looked like the doors led to a restaurant of some sort and from what Seth could make out through the murky portholes, it looked like a fairly classy one at that. He had tried to open the doors, but they hadn’t budged. He’d given up, not wanting to make any noise that would attract unwanted attention.

Seth didn’t doubt that he’d be able to find something in the alleyway to smash the doors open with, but he had no idea how many bandits there were in there. Even if it was just the three of them, one of them had a gun. If they knew he was coming, he’d have no chance.

He looked up. The building towered up before him, several stories tall. They’d probably be hiding in the rooms above the restaurant - he doubted that they’d be stupid enough to stand in the restaurant itself, where they were in full view of anyone passing in the street, and he couldn’t see them in the kitchen.

He would be able to enter through the front, as long as he was quiet. The windows probably would have been smashed long ago. An inner-city building like this wouldn’t have escaped the riots during the Collapse. It would be foolish to go in unarmed, though. They had the gun and, though less threatening, they also had the hammer. If he tried to take them down with his fists, he’d be destroyed in seconds.

Seth searched the alley. There were shards of glass lying around, but any big enough to do damage would be just as likely to cut him if he held them. A fire escape had collapsed on one side, leaving a pile of debris. Probably the best place to search. Rummaging through the pile for a few minutes, Seth pulled out a sharp, short metal pole. It’d do.

He almost reached the end of the alley when he heard voices. Lots of them. They sounded familiar...

Seth dashed back and jumped into a skip as the first of the lunatics walked past. He heard them talking, taunting each other, as more and more approached. There must have been dozens of them.

Then he heard a voice he’d heard before.

“I’m fucking bored of walking around, man,” came the voice of Machete. He was at the end of the alley, and by the sound of his voice, he was looking straight down it. “There’s nobody in this fucking city. I want to kill someone. I need to kill someone.”

“You need to get a hang on yourself,” someone said to him, irritably. “You bloody killed the new guy yesterday, and already you’re talking about murdering someone like you’re going through withdrawal.”

Machete gave an angry grunt. “You wanna be careful, buddy. I might choose you next if we don’t find some poor little shit soon.”

“You try it,” said the other voice, “I dare you.”

“You think you’re so fucking badass with your fucking rifle!” Machete groaned. There was a thump as he kicked over a dustbin. “At this range, man, I’d slice you up before you even raised that piece of shit.”

Kalashnikov must be there too, Seth thought. This was very bad, to say the least.

Kalashnikov spoke harshly. “Stop being a prick, or you’ll get yourself killed. We all want to kill someone, but at least we’ve managed to keep it under control for a few goddamn days.”

“You’re one to talk,” Machete shouted, “you couldn’t even hit that fucker running away in a straight fucking line at what, fifty meters?” A bead of sweat rolled down Seth’s forehead as he realised they were talking about him.”

“I told you. The piece of shit rifle jammed.” Kalashnikov said quietly. “Who was the one who got the shit kicked out of him by some faggot with a piece of wood?”

Machete roared and Seth heard his blade cut through the air. Then he heard Kalashnikov ready his rifle. The other lunatics muttered amongst themselves in anticipation. Kalashnikov and Machete began shouting at each other unintelligibly.

“Hey, hey, hey, shut up a second,” came a shout, so loud it drowned out the sounds of the coming fight, “I hear something!”

There was a sudden silence. Then Machete spoke up.

“Hey, you fucking pussy,” he said, clearly addressing Kalashnikov, “looks like this is your lucky day. I hear it, too. Down the alley.”

Seth’s breath caught in his throat. Had they heard him? If they had, that was it. It was over. There was no way he could escape them again. He was dehydrated and hungry.

He gripped the pole tightly. If he was going to go down, he’d go down fighting.

The first set of footsteps started down the alley. They were followed by another, and then another, until all the dozens of lunatics were walking slowly down the alley. A lump of terror rose inside Seth. This is the end, he told himself. He’d had a good run. Perhaps it’d be quick. Perhaps Kalashnikov would shoot him. He sure as hell didn’t want Machete to get him. He was really something else, even crazier than any other lunatic Seth had seen.

The footsteps reached the skip... Then passed him by.

What was going on? Seth was so sure that they had heard him. He remained frozen to the spot as the footsteps passed, then became faster. They were running now. Stampeding down the alley.

There were several screams as they reached the end. Only one of them was from the lunatics, Machete’s scream of pure joy.

He heard a burst of gunfire as Kalashnikov opened fire. There were more screams as he hit his mark. The lunatics began to shout.

“There’s loads of ‘em!” One of them shouted gleefully, “It’s like fucking Christmas!”

Tentatively, Seth poked his head out of the skip. He saw the last of the lunatics dash round the corner. Hardly believing his luck, he jumped out of the skip, landing on his feet as silently as a cat. He felt kind of bad that whoever they had caught had taken the fall for him. Perhaps it should have been him. But he couldn’t think about that now. He had to save the woman.

He jogged out of the alley to the front of the restaurant. Surely enough, the windows were smashed. Quietly and carefully, he stepped through the shattered glass.The restaurant became very dark near the back, the light of the sun barely reaching the smashed down door which lead to the stairs. He moved quickly to the door, continuing up the stairs.

On the second floor, he found the first corpse.

It’s chest was riddled with bloody bullet wounds. The second corpse lay a few steps from it, splayed up the stairs. A chunk of its skull had been blown away, and its brains adorned the stairs above it. The third body was slumped over the banisters, a hole straight through its neck, still dripping blood.

Seth moved on slowly. The acrid stench of death was everywhere. Countless more corpses were scattered around the halls. Blood was trailed along the ground, spattered up the walls. There were bullet holes and casings everywhere.

On the fourth floor he heard the voices.

“What the... What the fuck are we doing here, Eric?” Came Dan’s nervous voice.

“We need to find out what happened,” said Eric, his voice stable, “first my brother in the supermarket, and now this. Something’s got it in for us.”

Seth cursed. John had been Eric’s brother. Negotiation, he guessed, was now off the table. He drew the pipe in closer to himself and crept towards the door the voices were coming from.

“I don’t like this,” Dan said simply, “you saw what the graffiti said. ‘The Reclamation is Here’,” his voice shook violently, “these guys don’t sound like a joke, man. We should leave.”

“Did I say they were a fucking joke?” Eric asked angrily, “You are such a coward, Dan. Always wanting to fucking leave. If you hadn’t run out of the fucking supermarket, we might have been able to save John. You’re lucky I don’t kill you right now. It’s your fault my brother is dead.”

Seth looked through the keyhole. He could see Dan standing with his back to the door, clutching the hammer nervously in both hands. Eric was standing next to the woman, facing the door.

“Look, man, I’m just saying,” Dan stammered, “If there’s any of them left here, they might... I mean...”

“Shut up,” Eric said, making a strong effort to control his anger, “Ben is looking for survivors. He has the gun. He can defend himself. Once he comes back, we can leave.”

So the gun was out of the equation for now. This is at least one piece of good news, Seth thought. But what the hell was the Reclamation? He’d never heard of it before. Whoever  they were, they seemed to be packing military grade hardware.

He’d have to take his chance now. Ben could be back with the gun any minute. Dan wasn’t ready for an attack, and Eric was unarmed. Hopefully he could get the woman and escape before the gun was a problem again.

He burst through the door, driving his pole through Dan’s back. He gurgled. Blood bubbled from his mouth, spilling down his front. Then he collapsed. Eric gave a roar and darted forwards, and the woman screamed.

Eric was upon Seth before he could withdraw the pole, hitting him in the neck with a karate chop. Seth spluttered but pushed through the pain, grabbing Eric by the throat. Eric simply grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder. Seth landed hard on his back. The wind was knocked out of him.

“You piece of shit!” He roared, crossing over and dragging Seth up, “I bet you killed John, didn’t you?” He shook him, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. “It was you! You killed my brother, you fuck!” He sunk three quick, heavy blows into Seth’s stomach. Seth cried out in pain. Eric released him and he slumped to the ground.

“Look at you. You must have pulled some sneaky shit to take John down. He was better than me. You’re fucking pathetic.” He was crying properly now. He kicked Seth in the side. A surge of adrenaline pulsed through Seth. He kicked Eric in the groin, but Eric blocked him easily, catching his foot. He stood over Seth and began to twist his leg painfully. “I’m gonna fucking kill you. Slowly. For him,” he let out a sob, “for my brother.”

Seth shouted in anger and lashed out with his free foot. The kick caught Eric off guard, impacting with his jaw. Eric released his leg and stumbled back, and Seth pressed his advantage, leaping to his feet and charging Eric. He wrapped his arms around his waist, carrying him back and slamming him against the wall. Eric gave a cry of pain as Seth headbutted him in the face. The woman had fled to the other side of the room now, pressing herself up against the door.

Eric pushed Seth back and swept his feet out from under him with a low kick. He fell upon him, slamming punch after punch into his face. Seth felt his nose break and two of his teeth come loose.

Suddenly, Ben burst through the door. He surveyed the scene for a moment, then raised the gun, aiming at Seth’s head.

The woman pushed him to the side as he fired. The bullet smashed through the window next to them. Eric had stopped beating Seth. Screaming into Seth’s demolished face, he closed his hands around his neck and began to squeeze.

Then Eric’s head exploded.

Chunks of skull and brains spattered up the wall beside him, and he fell limp. Seth pushed him off in shock, then looked up to see the woman holding the gun.