In Which I Write A Short Story...

Some of you may remember that back in February I was planning on entering my first 'professional' writing competition, Mslexia's Short Story contest.  (To those of you who read and commented upon various drafts: thank you!!)  Well, I DID enter, which is quite something for me, and although I wasn't shortlisted I still feel a vague sense of satisfaction at the fact I actually took the plunge.  Since I am currently (still) procrastinating the "I-swear-it-will-be-finished-by-the-next-millennium-never-ending-steampunk-Jack-the-Ripper"-set novel rewrite, I thought I'd share my entry with you all.  Because I can.

So go on, little Short Story of mine, fly free.  Fly free!  Fly...oh for goodness sake, can't you leave without tripping over your shoelaces and embarrassing me?  Mind the lamppost!!  Yeah, this is definitely one of my creations...oh well...please feel free to throw stones at it if it comes near you...or, if for some perverse reason you like it, it will respond well to a light ruffling of its ears (as will its Author, coincidentally).

The Shopping Mall at the End of the World

He doesn't trust you...

I bit the thought back quickly. True though it may have been it was of no use to me now, and time wasn't exactly on our side.

He doesn't trust you, but he has to...

I glanced around, hoping it looked nonchalant enough.

“I'm not going to hurt you.”

My voice was paper-thin; the bruises round my neck made it hard for me to get enough air around my vocal chords to squeeze the words out, but if we were to both survive this I had to at least try. Clearing my throat, a noise so explosive it made it sound as though I were choking on a hairball, I spoke again.

“It's all right. I'm not going to hurt you. You have to trust me.”

The boy was wary. I didn't blame him; it felt as if the whole world had recently shifted on its axis and I wasn't sure any of us knew which way was up any more. There was a haunted look in his eyes; he must have seen some things, I realised. Terrible things. Things no child should see...

“Where are your parents?”

He started at that, holding himself rigidly erect. His arms wrapped around his body as if to keep himself together; too late, I realised what I'd said.

“It's all right,” I repeated, softer this time. “I won't let them hurt you...”

His little face crumpled then. He could only have been six or seven, this child, painfully thin and with the grubbiness which seems endemic in small boys. His eyes, though...huge pools of green nothingness stared out of his pale face, menaced by some unseen memory lurking within. He took a hesitant shuffle towards me, then another, and another; the next thing I knew his arms held me in a vice-like grip as he sobbed soundlessly somewhere in the region of my shoulder.

Feeling slightly perturbed by my sudden additional appendage, I risked a glance around the side of the counter. Directly in front of me was the window of the shop front; beyond it I could see the glass doors of the Lakeland Heights Mall, the view of the lake partially obscured by an abandoned truck.

If I ever find out who decided to open a shopping centre in the middle of the god-damn Apocalypse, I will personally grate him or her into pieces and feed them to the fish...

Amusing though the idea was it wasn't especially helpful in my current predicament. Instead I turned to the boy, trying not to wince at the thought of all the snot which was probably accumulating on my favourite jacket.

“Ok, kid,” I said softly, putting an arm round him and trying not to freak out myself. “Say, what's your name, anyway?”

“L...Lukas,” he mumbled, blinking at me through a haze of snot and tears.

“I'm Anna. Listen, Lukas, we can't stay here.” I hoped I sounded like I knew what I was doing. “It's too dangerous. We need to go, ok?”

Actually what I wanted to do was stay hidden, but that wasn't exactly an option. And I couldn't leave Lukas to his own devices; he was too young, he'd never make it by himself.

What I really want is to wake up and find this is all just a bad dream, but the chances of that happening got blown to hell when the world ended...

“It's going to be fine,” I said to Lukas, hoping I was masking my feelings enough. “Stay close, ok, and do as I say, and we'll get out of here safely.”

“P...promise?” he sniffled.

Oh great. Just what I need – the fine line between promises and outright lies...

To Lukas, however, I merely nodded.

“Scout's honour. Ok, kid, let's do this.”

I crouched down on my hands and knees, motioning for Lukas to do the same. Keeping him on the side of me furthest from the glass, I nodded towards the door at the rear of the shop.

“See that? That's where we're going.”

He nodded mutely, still looking terrified.

Now or never...

Keeping a wary eye on the window I edged my way towards the steel door, Lukas right beside me. The mall was deathly silent but I wasn't fooled. Those monsters were out there, somewhere. They were coming.

Jed...

The thought was as painful as Lukas' earlier death-squeeze had been, forcing the air sharply out of me with an unconscious moan.

He was out there, somewhere. He could be one of them...

I pushed that thought firmly from my mind. Jed wasn't stupid; he'd find a way to keep safe. No mindless killing machine was going to get the better of my boyfriend, that was for sure.

I had a sudden jolt of memory so forceful it made me moan again. The last time we went to the cabin...the cool mountain air so clean you felt like you were breathing pure heaven; the peculiar silence which was never really silent after all, only felt like it after living in the city...the day he asked me to marry him.

The day I hesitated...

I glanced down, realising my moans had spooked Lukas.

“It's ok,” I whispered, glancing over my shoulder. “Come on, help me.”

Between us we managed to get our fingers into the tiny gap between door and frame, hauling it open just enough to crawl through before closing it fully behind us. I'd seen my fair share of disaster movies. I knew what I was doing.

“Ok, Lukas, here we go.”

He looked astonished as I jumped up on one of the filing cabinets, ripping one of the vent covers off with my hands. Adrenaline gives you strength; when your life's on the line it could be the one thing standing between you and the Grim Reaper. And no offence to Death – I'd seen Bill and Ted, I thought he was pretty cool – but I wasn't ready to give up the fight just yet.

“What's up there?” Lukas asked.

“Vents. Can you get up here?”

He frowned, judging the height of the cabinet against his own small stature, and then nodded. Dragging a box of football helmets over he stood on top of it, stretching up so I could grab his hands and half drag, half swing him up beside me.

“Great job, Lukas. Come on, follow me...”

Scrambling up through the air vent I pulled him through as well, beckoning him to follow me. It was a bit of a squeeze but I managed it, crawling on hands and knees and trusting my instincts to take me back to where I'd started, before all this madness occurred.

We reached a junction in the vent system and paused while I tried to get my bearings. My contemplations were interrupted by a sudden gurgling sound. Lukas looked abashed.

“Hungry,” he muttered.

I felt a twinge of sympathy. I couldn't remember how long we'd been shut in this mall – it felt like months, but it couldn't have been – but I remembered feeling hungry. Jed and I had been on our way to the food court when it happened...

Jed...

I schooled my face into what I hoped was a reassuring expression. Mum always said my face was like glass; it was why I was never privy to my brother's exploits growing up. If they got caught lying to Mum they knew they had a fifty-fifty chance of getting away with it, but if I'd been in on the plot...well, my face gave away the truth even as my mouth spoke the scripted lie.

I felt another twinge. Mum, Dad, my brothers...where were they now? Which side were they on? My brothers were all athletic, I was pretty sure they'd be able to outrun anything which came after them, but Mum and Dad...I didn't want to think about it.

I stopped thinking.

Lukas' stomach growled again.

“Ok, kiddo, let’s get you something to eat...”

I knew we were close to the food court. I knew because when it happened, when the world ended, Jed and I were approaching the escalator. He told me to run.

I ran.

I ran and I ran and I didn't stop running, not until I got inside the sports store and managed to hunker down behind the counter. I saw nothing.

I heard things, though...

One of the vents above the food court was loose. I managed to lift it up, wincing as I took in the state of my broken, bloody nails.

How long have we been trapped here...?

Before I could reach for the answer my brain was already straining towards, my stomach gurgled. Lukas' growled in reply. We both giggled.

“Hold on a sec...”

I stuck my head out of the vent.

The smell of rotting flesh almost made me vomit. Beneath me the food court was like a mortuary, bodies trapped in their last rituals of normality, frozen in fear.

The kid can't see this.

The thought was fleeting but crystal-clear. Lukas could not see this. I didn't want to see it, but too late for that.

I turned my attention back to the matter at hand. Nothing was moving down below; that was a good sign.

I looked at Lukas.

“Close your eyes, kiddo. I'll go first then pull you through, ok?”

He nodded.

I dropped down out of the vent, landing on a table directly beneath us.

“Ok, Lukas.”

He wriggled forward and I stretched up, half dragging him through as we collapsed on the table.

“What's that smell?”

“Eyes shut, Lukas.”

“I’m still hungry.”

“Stay here.”

Hopping off the table I went behind the counter of one of the ubiquitous burger chains. The stuff looked reasonably fresh, so I grabbed a couple of bits for us both before towing Lukas out of harm’s way. He ate the lukewarm meat like he was starving whilst I idly gnawed at mine.

Think. I needed to think.

They'd come back, I knew they would. Besides, we couldn't stay in here forever. Food supplies would run out and the smell...yeuch!

People got out. Perhaps Jed...

“I need to find my boyfriend,” I said decidedly. “And Lukas...you have family, right? Grandparents?”

He nodded, and I made up my mind.

“Right. Grandparents. We'll find them.”

Lukas looked suddenly afraid.

“They're out there.”

“I know. But they'll be in here too, soon. We have to go.”

He hesitated. I couldn't blame him, but I wouldn't wait either. My survival instinct was kicking in.

Still, I was oddly gratified when he nodded.

We crawled slowly on hands and knees through the abandoned, silent shopping mall. The stench of death was everywhere; I hadn't noticed it before but now it was all I could smell.

We were making for the side entrance. The front of the mall was too dangerous but the side...I'd seen people get out that way as I ran. We could get out that way too.

We had to...

I found it easily. The door was shut. I turned to Lukas.

“When I open this door, run.”

Taking a breath I pushed down hard on the handle, forcing the door open. It swung outward; momentarily dazzled by the brightness of the sun I paused, but then I heard a noise and started.

They're here...

“Lukas! Run!!!”

He ran. I was right behind him, making for the nearby woods, when I heard them coming. That noise...god, it was so loud. How could those...things make so much noise?!

There was no time to think. I couldn't. I had to act.

“Run, Lukas!”

I didn't see him go. I stopped, turning round to face them. If I could distract them, draw them away, Lukas would stand a chance.

There was a pack of them behind me. They scented blood; they were moving in for the kill.

I'm not afraid...

My fists clenched. I wouldn't give them the satisfaction of knowing I was scared. I could hear moaning; a low keening noise which, I realised with a start, was coming from me.

I crouched down. Tensed.

“Anna?!!”

I looked up. That voice...I knew that voice. I knew the face, too; brown eyes filled with a sudden sadness as he looked at me.

“Oh no,” he whispered. “Anna...”

Jed!

My heart leapt and I jumped to my feet.

“Stay back!”

The voice wasn't Jed's.

The gun was.

The flash from Jed's shotgun dazzled me. The bullet, fired so close, entered my skull right between the eyes, lodging in the soft tissue of my brain.

Pain...

I could feel the bullet and then, so overwhelmingly it conquered everything else, I remembered...

The zombies attacking the mall. Jed telling me to run. The panic. The terrible screaming.

Being cornered.

Hands at my throat.

Being bitten...

With sudden clarity I realised the truth. The moaning. The smell of death. The hunger.

They turned me!!

I staggered forward, feeling the bullet working its redemptive spell.

My eyes cleared.

“J...Jed...?”

Jed's expression changed. I knew he saw it, the zombie leaving and the old me returning.

It was too late.

The moans, the screams...all was still.

Silence...

At last, silence...