The Night Shift - Chapter Ten

Together at the End

Jennifer glanced over her shoulder, relieved at the absence of creatures behind her. There had been a few creatures that had turned to follow her after she'd been forced to abandon her Lancer. Eventually the damage done to the car had become too much and it had given out on her just as she was drawing near the mall. Jennifer had left the emergency lights on to clear most of the creatures away but a few had still lumbered after her. However after a few metres of intense sprinting it looked like she'd shaken them all off her scent.

Jennifer wished she hadn't lost the Lancer, it would've been a lot easier to drive straight into the mall rather than risk even a few metres on foot. She looked around the petrol station she found herself entering and was surprised by how empty it was. Nearest her was a Honda Civic, there looked to be a body by it. She raised her tire iron defensively and advanced towards the body. She wasn't sure what to expect but the sword hilt protruding from the creature's head was certainly a surprise.

Jennifer took a shaky breath and glanced around for some sign of who'd done this; but she could see that apart from the station wagon at the far end the petrol station was abandoned. Moving at a jog she approached the station wagon, eyeing up the open doors and checking for any signs of life. Once again not a soul in sight. The sight of blood upon a child's car seat in the back of the station wagon unnerved Jennifer; something told her the chances of this family still being alive were slim.

Moving much slower now Jennifer approached the bar that sat opposite the mall, as well as the cinema where she worked. There was something off, it was too quiet. Or rather, the noises she could make out weren't the sort she expected. She'd been hoping for the chatter of other evacuees or the sounds of vehicles on approach to the mall. But all she could make out were car alarms and the occasional howl of one of the creatures. It was strange how the howls seemed to be bouncing around, as if they were in every direction,

Jennifer had dropped her guard for a second which was long enough for the creature that suddenly lumbered out of the shadows. It knocked Jennifer to the ground and her tire iron was sent flying from her hand. It was upon her in an instant, teeth snapping for her throat. It was all Jennifer could do to hold it back, but she had no idea how long her strength could last. She screamed with rage, drowning out its howls, straining with every bit of strength she had to lift the thing off of her. She could feel in her arms that it was hopeless, she was buying seconds.

Then a hand grasped what remained of the creature's already bloody hair, lifting the snapping mouth further away from her. Jennifer scrambled backwards as quickly as she could, shakily catching her breath. Finally able to focus she watched as Carlton plunged a knife into the eye of the creature several times. It seemed like an age before he let the body drop.

"You okay?" a voice asked from behind her.

Jennifer spun quickly, landing a solid punch into Derrick's gut. He keeled over a little, spluttering with alarm. Unsure what to do Jennifer stood stock still for a few seconds before shrugging a little in Carlton's direction.

"He shouldn't have startled me," Jennifer said simply. "Sorry 'bout the punch."

Derrick waved her away as she offered a hand up, getting slowly to his feet. Carlton shook his head, trying not to laugh and failing slightly. He walked over and embraced Jennifer, happy to see her safe.

"Thank God it's you Jen," Carlton grinned. "World's gone to shit and you still make it."

"Are you that surprised to see me?" Jennifer teased half-heartedly.

"Yeah..." Carlton trailed off, staring towards the mall. "Yeah, surprised."

Jennifer finally realised why the noises she had heard earlier seemed so out of place. Right across the street swarmed a group of the creatures, beyond that she could see the shambling figures all across the mall car park. There were cars dotted throughout, blood decorated the windows and doors of the mall. A car had smashed its way through the entrance, it appeared to have kept going into the interior to smash through the grill door beyond.

"Oh my God," Jennifer whispered, feeling hollow at the sight before her.

"We saw it go like this," Carlton said, finding words just for the sake of speaking. "It was so fast. People didn't even realise it was happening until it was right on top of them. We saw this guy drive through a family right over there, isn't that right Derrick?"

"Yeah, they just went and killed them."

"I don't believe it's real," Carlton shook his head. "That doesn't happen here. But I watched a family get driven down; I stabbed that thing! This isn't right, how can any of this be happening?"

 "I don't know," Jennifer was shocked, completely lost. She had to focus but there was nothing to focus on. If there was a goal, a next step then she could just take it but she couldn't see what to do.

Keys.

"I have my keys," Jennifer had to stifle a triumphant laugh. The brothers looked at her, the pair equally confused by her outburst.

"Don't you get it?! We can still get inside Hoyts if we can get past those things. All I need to do is open up the stairs with my key and turn off the alarm once we're up top."

"Now that there's a good plan."

Jennifer spun at the sound of the voice approaching from the petrol station. A man with a nice shirt and jeans led the group. He was followed by a tall bearded man, a squat guy with a cap and a mean looking man with distinct mutton chops. The guy with the mutton chops was rough handling Marcus, who looked tired and wild from the sights he had just witnessed. Each of the four men were armed with a pool cue, all of them bloodied too.

"A fine plan don't you think, boys?" Nice Shirt called over his shoulder. "And it sounds like you could use a little help. Me and the boys, we like to help; call us saints or whatever. We helped out Marcus here, didn't we Marcus?"

"Fuck off," Marcus replied, glaring in Nice Shirt's direction.

"Help a fucker out..." Nice Shirt spat to the side. "Craig."

The guy with the mutton chops gave a sharp kick behind Marcus's knees, causing Marcus to fall straight to the ground. He cried out in a mixture of pain and rage, immediately starting to get back up before Craig cracked his pool cue against Marcus's skull. This time he fell and didn't get back up.

Jennifer had seen enough and stepped forward, her eyes burning with anger. She could feel Carlton and Derrick taking up positions either side of her. But a flick of the hand from Nice Shirt had his crew armed and advancing upon them, stronger and meaner.

"My Ma always said put your best foot forward," Nice Shirt continued. "Even if you're about to burn a man's house down to the damned ground, you look them in the eye and make sure they know who to curse. So the name's Jackson, and all of us? Well, we're all about to become best fucking friends."

*

Carson couldn't quite recall what it was like to breath in and out normally, at this point haggard wheezing had become the new normal. It felt like several hours since he and Isaac had left their family home behind them, in reality it had been just under half an hour. Over the duration of the run Isaac had urged Carson to keep moving, to ignore the sights and sounds around them. But there were lingering things he couldn't forget; the car that had driven halfway off the Styx Mill Bridge, or the clogging aroma of smoke as the Redwood bakery blazed to a cinder. The worst thing had been getting close to large groups of the creatures when they were feeding, the sight of that much blood had caused Carson to throw up all over his shoes. Twice.

There was a set of traffic lights up ahead that sat before a block of small shops; Northlands mall looming directly behind. Carson let out a strange strangled yelp which was about as close as he could get to a triumphant cheer. He fell to his knees in the middle of the intersection, leaning on the garden fork for support.

"Carson!" Isaac yelled, not so far behind. "Eyes up!"

Carson's eyes had started watering from the exertion of the run, he blinked a couple of times before glancing upwards to see the oncoming creature. The mouth of this thing was already bloodied from other kills and it let loose a deep guttural snarl at the sight of such easy prey. Carson yelled in a weak attempt at intimidating the creature before falling onto his back and letting fly a kick. He managed to connect with one of the creature's legs and it went toppling backwards.

Isaac leapt past from behind Carson, moving quickly and stabbing the creature with his long pruning blade. Both brothers stayed still for a long time, panting and trying to gather up some energy. Carson knew Isaac had killed a few of the creatures on the way there, he'd had to if they got too close but Carson hadn't realised what a drain that had been upon Isaac. Coated beneath an inhuman amount of blood Isaac looked tired, his eyes were constantly moving but weren't focusing. They needed to stop soon before their luck, and Isaac’s stamina, ran out.

"You can't just stop like that," Isaac finally spoke up. "You need to be careful, especially out here."

"I'm trying my best," Carson responded rather pathetically. "We're not all Rambo. I'm drained, we need to move to Hoyts and gather up for the evacuation."

"Are you kidding?" Isaac scoffed.

"What?"

"Look down there," Isaac pointed down the Main North Road towards the mall's carpark. "No one has been evacuated. I see a lot of cars but I also see a lot of those things."

"Maybe they're on their way."

"Or maybe there's no one coming."

Carson picked up his garden fork and got to his feet wearily, it felt like his leg muscles were already going to sleep on him. He rubbed his hands along them to keep the circulation moving, puzzling all the while over what Isaac had said. There was no denying that the creatures were in abundance further down the street; at this point the mall appeared swarmed. The evacuation team could be long gone or dead or it never even showed up. But while Carson could see the futility of the situation he also knew that it wasn't hopeless yet. Maybe Sasha and some of the others had made it to the cinema.

"Car moving in fast," Isaac pointed behind Carson.

Carson followed Isaac's gaze, squinting from the light of the oncoming vehicle. Determined to prove himself, or at the very least to give a good show of defending himself, Carson raised his garden fork above his head. Rocksteady he looked upon the oncoming threat with the heroic gaze of a spear wielding warrior.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Isaac yelled.

"I-uh," Carson stammered, his bravado immediately melting away.

"We've got to move," Isaac hissed, turning to move down a dark side street.

Carson grumbled a response of gibberish before making to follow after his brother. He yelled in alarm as the car that had been approaching stopped; blocking him from Isaac. The car was a banged up red Cynos with blood splattered all over the bottom of the chassis as well as the wheels. Carson raised his weapon, shaking a little at the thought of having to fight something that wasn't a monster. The passenger door clicked open and out stepped-

"Nolan?" Carson called, his voice sounding surprisingly far away.

Nolan grinned at Carson, but the usual light-hearted warmth wasn't there. Carson could see well enough that his mind was somewhere else. Nolan was trying to not put too much pressure upon his right foot, the evidence of bruising was clearly visibly below the hem of his pants.

On the other side of the Cynos Isaac was helping Reah out of the driver's seat, mumbling a few quiet reassurances. He was still alert, glancing about for the sight of any incoming creatures. From a quick look they were safe but if you looked hard enough you could see the figures that were shambling towards the intersection in the darkness.

"I'm surprised you're here," Carson mused as he walked over to Nolan. "Northlands is a bit out of your way."

"We came to meet my Mum," Reah piped up, eager at the chance to speak.

"Well that explains that," Carson muttered, moving to Nolan's side as a young woman holding a baby worked her way out from the back seat.

"Nolan's stray," Reah made a face as if she'd smelt a rotting corpse.

"I'm Natalie," the woman smiled weakly at Carson. "This wee rugrat is Bernie."

Carson crouched a little until he was almost at eye level with Bernie, who blinked back at him with equal curiosity. Bernie had tufts of hair that were already beginning to resemble his mother's ginger shade. Carson tickled the little guy's chin and Bernie kicked at the blanket wrapped around him in response.

"Feisty kid," Carson mused. "I'm Carson, the tall guy's my brother Isaac."

"Have you heard from any of the others?" Nolan interrupted.

"Sasha texted us," Isaac acknowledged.

"Us too. But we haven't heard anything since."

"What about your folks?" Carson asked, all concern and no tact. "Is Raewyn behind you guys?"

Nolan slammed the open passenger door closed then limped away a short distance. Carson shook his head at his own stupidity, what kind of dumbass question was that? Clearly something was eating Nolan up from the inside, it didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. Of course Carson had to go and open up that fresh wound.

"I didn't think," Carson mumbled to himself.

Reah walked past Isaac over to Nolan, the pair immediately started whispering at one another heatedly. Isaac raised an eye at Carson who shrugged, not surprised that the pair were fighting. Natalie looked at the couple quizzically then leaned towards Carson.

"They were completely silent all the way here after they saved me," Natalie whispered. "Are they usually like this?"

"Um I guess it really depends how badly one of them fucked up," Carson muttered back flippantly.

"Holy shit!" Isaac cried out, causing everyone to look. "That Ute’s ploughing through those things."

Isaac was right, a large white Ute was skimming past the mall from the south and heading straight towards their group. It was hard to make out much details of the oncoming juggernaut due to the blinding headlights. One thing that was very clear though was that any creature that lumbered into the Ute’s path was promptly swept under the bonnet with minimal impact on the vehicles speed. The Ute swerved to move beyond the Cynos but pulled to a stop when the driver noticed the group standing there.

The driver's door was thrown open and a muscular young man wielding a large wrench sauntered round the Ute to face them. Carson couldn't honestly believe his eyes; it was Jenon! Jenon was his girlfriend's brother and someone he had a lot of respect for. Even if he was a little intimidated by the guy at times.

"Holy shit, Carson?!" Jenon yelled.

At this exclamation the rear door of the Ute was flung open and Naomi sprang from the back seat, her eyes searching for her boyfriend. But Carson was already moving to embrace her, choking upon his joy. Getting to wrap his arms around Naomi was the only genuine feeling of hopefulness he had experienced that night.

"You're alive," Carson sobbed.

Naomi didn't speak, but Carson could feel her hot tears against his chest and knew how she felt. They were safe and together, nothing else really mattered now. He paused at the sight of the Master sword in her hands, the blood that coated her fingers seemed even more out of place. Naomi knew what he was looking at and just squeezed his hand to stop the flow of questions that were forming in Carson's head.

"We should move," Isaac broke the long silence, glancing nervously about the area. "They're getting too close for my liking."

"Agreed," Jenon spoke up. "Everyone climb in, get in the trailer if you have to. I'm taking us all out of the city until this thing quietens down."

"No way," Reah cried out. "My Mum and my brother and sister are waiting to be evacuated. That's why we're here."

"We just drove past that mall," Jenon responded. "If your family was in there then I don't think they had any hope of surviving."

"How can you say that?!"

"Look don't worry about it," Jenon was starting to lose his cool. "I came here for Carson and his brother, not the rest of you. Naomi get in, we're going now."

Jenon started moving towards the driver's door, his mind already made up. Naomi made to move toward the rear door before realising that Carson wasn't following. Carson was rooted to the spot by a sudden realisation - he didn't want to up and leave. This journey had been for something, there could be more people out there waiting to be saved. He needed to see the cinema just once, to be sure that none of his other friends were abandoned here.

"I'm not going," Carson blurted awkwardly.

Jenon paused mid-stride, taking a second to process what Carson had just said. He finally turned and Carson felt a flash of terror at the sight of Jenon's barely restrained outrage. Naomi was looking between the two of them, afraid to see what would happen next.

"Get in, Carson," Jenon said through gritted teeth.

"I can't," Carson responded, a tremble in his voice. "We're all here for a reason. We were told to evacuate here; others were too. I think we should go to the cinema and make sure no one else is coming before making a break for it."

"Don't be stupid."

Carson faltered slightly as Jenon advanced towards him, his anger growing. Isaac moved quickly to stand between Carson and Jenon with quiet confidence. Although still tense, his brother’s presence eases him. Isaac may be the only way able to subdue Jenon physically.

"He's right," Jenon’s gaze broke from Isaac’s at the sound of Naomi piping up. "Jenon we should check. We can't just abandon people we know are on their way."

The tension in the air was thick and all eyes were upon Jenon. No one was very sure what to expect from him, his short temper was clear to all assembled. But Carson knew better, Jenon looked tired and in pain; there was very good reason that Sam wasn't with Naomi and Jenon. If anything Naomi's calm words might just be enough to sway Jenon.

"Okay," Jenon finally grumbled. "Okay we go to the cinema for half an hour and then we're gone."

"Agreed," Carson nodded.

"Well then let's go!" Reah cried out impatiently, moving in the direction the Ute had come from. "It's just a short distance."

"There's no point going that way," Jenon scoffed. "The main drag might not have many of those things but the carparks are brimming with them. We'd be better off short-cutting behind the mall where there'd be less of them."

"Oh real smart. Run through the pitch black back streets."

"What the fuck-"

Jenon's outburst was cut off by the grey groping hand that appeared beneath his Ute and clawed at his leg. Everyone moved away in alarm as a creature with mangled legs dragged itself from under Jenon's Ute. Isaac lunged forward quickly and impaled the living corpse’s head with his blade. Carson grabs Isaac by the shoulder, indicating the sudden increase of creatures moving at them from the north. Everyone turned to flee but hesitated at the crossroads before them.

"Which way?" Carson yelled.

"Right!" Isaac replied decisively, slipping into the dark side street.

As a group everyone moved in synchronicity, darting after Isaac to the street beyond. However Carson hesitated a second, pausing to look back at the beasts that chased them. Is this it now? Run away and hide forever? He turned to follow and grimaced at the darkness; there was a reason everyone feared the dark, you didn't know what dwelled in the shadows. But a tug upon his hand by Naomi had Carson sprinting into the unknown, ignorant to the death that was about to befall them.

*

Alyssa struggled to get the dead weight of Michelle off her lap, she wasn't even completely certain that Michelle was alive. There was a lot of blood running from the gash on Michelle's forehead, quite a bit had stained Alyssa's pants. Moving Michelle gently up to the passenger seat, Alyssa almost cried with relief when she felt the gentle brush of Michelle's breath against her hand. She's alive, Alyssa grinned and allowed herself to lie against the back of her seat for a few seconds a close her eyes.

The growling brought her back to her senses and sent a cold feeling through her body, the creatures were almost certainly upon them by now. Looking through her window she tracked the approach of the shambling mass of creatures, they'd look so human if it weren't for the grey pallor of their skin or the misty quality to their eyes. Or the blood, Alyssa shuddered. The creatures were slow which was advantageous for her, but there was no way they'd make it on foot with Michelle out cold.

Almost absentmindedly Alyssa twisted the key in the ignition, to no response. She wasn't really surprised, the bonnet of the car was practically embedded in the street pole. She was going to have to drag Michelle out, there was no other way.

"Fuck!" Alyssa yelled slamming her hand heavily against the steering wheel.

Almost in response to her sudden outburst a car alarm sounded in the distance, a shrill burst that cut above the creature's snarls. Alyssa looked out to see where the noise was coming from; she thought she could see a vague flash of orange lights further down the street and even a figure darting away from the vehicle. The night had drawn quiet again, even the creatures had paused to sniff and hiss at the air. Alyssa took the distraction to slide deep down into her seat, out of sight from the window. She reached up and pulled Michelle down beside her, easing her gently against the handbrake.

The silence stretched on for one agonising minute, Alyssa dreaded each second now that her line of visibility was cut off. Then it came: the second car alarm. Another minute. A third car alarm. Thirty seconds this time and a fourth car alarm. The howls started up again and the creatures began moving slowly, but the sound of the pack was drawing further away slowly but surely. Eventually Alyssa sat back up, peering out to see the creatures moving in the direction of the car alarm.

"Oh my God," Alyssa breathed a sigh of relief.

Then a bloodied hand rapped against her window.

Alyssa let out the beginnings of a scream but immediately stifled it, biting her lip and grimacing at the taste of warm blood in her mouth. She pushed herself away from the door, covering Michelle's body with her own. This was it, this was where she joined her Mum and Sam and all the others; this was where she paid for that guy she'd killed. The creature knelt by the front door, pulled on the handle and slowly opened the door...

"What the hell are you doing on top of Michelle?" the creature asked smugly.

Alyssa had to do a double take; there was no way one of those things had just said her name, let alone talked. But as she looked at the details behind the grime and muck a familiar face began to appear. He had made himself quite unrecognisable, smattering himself with blood and flecks of gore but she knew that face alright.

"John you are fucking disturbed," Alyssa yelled, trying and failing to sound cross at John's crude remark. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Um," John looked around feigning confusion. "Saving you I guess?"

"We didn't need saving."

"Well now you're just hurting my feelings," John teased. "Come on, let's get moving."

"You'll need to help me with Michelle," Alyssa said. "She got pretty badly hurt when we crashed."

"Yeah we heard that from round the corner," John called, moving round the side of the car.

"We?"

"Yeah we. Me, Emma, Cordy, Chester and this bus driver guy. Didn't get his name."

"Oh. Just Emma and Cordy? What about Connor and um..."

"Will. They um, they're not- they're not here. They were at Dad's."

John trailed off, refusing to meet Alyssa's eyes, he just pulled Michelle's door open and got his hands under her armpits. Carefully he pulled Michelle out as Alyssa got out the other side, she moved quickly to him and helped take Michelle's weight. She knew why he'd gone quiet, hell she even understood why he'd lied about what had happened to his boys. Death wasn't something that any of them were going to be able to accept easily any time soon.

They moved fast, carrying Michelle across the road while sticking to the shadows as best they could. But they needn't have worried, the creatures were busy massing around a couple of the cars that were blaring alarms. As they approached the side street John was directing them to a figure joined them from the opposite direction. Alyssa wasn't so surprised to see another one of her co-workers, Chester.

"Good idea with the alarms," Alyssa remarked as he walked over.

"Thank ya," Chester gave a quick grin. "How's Michelle?"

"She'll be better when she comes to," Alyssa said, hoping it was true.

Now starting to get deep into the side street Alyssa could make out the forms of three figure ahead. There were two young girls who must be Emma and Cordy, both of them were coated in blood the same way that John was. She really did wonder why they had thought to do that but ultimately after the way John had responded to her earlier question she thought it was best not to ask. Standing over the girls wielding a bloodied hammer was an elderly bus driver. The driver was quite visibly nervous and looked awkward holding the hammer, John really had taken a risk leaving his girls with this guy.

"Daddy!" The taller girl ran at John, the smaller one following behind. If Alyssa remembered right the younger one was called Emma so the older one must have been Cordy. She let John move away to em brace his children and Chester helped her ease Michelle down onto the curb.

"Has she been out long?" Chester turned to Alyssa, looking inquisitive.

"Uh, maybe three or five minutes?"

"That's not good..." Chester trailed off at the sound of Michelle gurgling.

"She's gonna throw up, Move her!" The bus driver yelled frantically.

Alyssa immediately got beside Michelle, rolling her onto her side and pulling back as much of Michelle's brown hair as she could. A small glob of white and yellow bile hit the pavement followed by rolling retching noises; Alyssa gagged at the sight but kept her composure. Slowly Michelle rolled back over, leaning against Alyssa without quite sitting up.

"Hey," Michelle rasped.

"Hey," Alyssa forced a smile.

"My entire face fucking hurts."

"I'm not even a little surprised."

Michelle closed her eyes and started to roll off of Alyssa's lap, her head lolling. Alyssa hurriedly grabbed at her, holding her steady. It was very clear that Michelle had suffered a concussion in addition to the cut and bruising above her right eye. Finally Michelle snapped awake again, blinking as if there were a bright light shining upon her eyes.

"Fuck," Michelle groaned.

"We should move," John said quietly as he walked over. "Is there any way we could keep moving her?"

"Well fuck its John," Michelle burped. "Ugh...did I throw up?"

"We can't move her like this!" Alyssa hissed at John.

"I hear you but I have no idea how long this street will stay clear. We need to get somewhere safe and the mall is literally five minutes away, fifteen if we go slowly with her."

"I can go...I can go..." Michelle bobbed her head as if she were agreeing with John.

"Please Alyssa, I don't want to leave my girls out here."

"Well I don't want Michelle getting fucked up any more than she has been already."

"I understand that," John began slowly. "But there is a greater risk to all of us if we stay here. Look at it this way, if we get to the mall Michelle will be a hell of a lot safer there than she is here."

Alyssa looked down at the ground, anxiously trying to find the answers in the asphalt at her feet. She wanted to argue with John, she wanted to insist that staying here would be the better choice. But ultimately he was right, it was suicide to stay here. She slowly looked back up and gave John a curt nod of agreement.

"Alright then," John sighed with relief.

Alyssa ducked and got herself under Michelle's armpit, hoisting her up into a standing position. Almost immediately Chester was beside her, helping support Michelle from the other side. It seemed uneasy going at first but with each step Michelle seemed a little more certain of her footing. John grabbed the hand of Cordy and Emma, with Gaz trailing behind them all.

Well, Alyssa grimaced, not so far to go.  She almost fell as Michelle suddenly plunged forward, luckily between her and Chester they were able to get her back to her feet.

Not much further.

*

Jennifer snarled at Craig as he took another step closer, twirling her tire iron just enough to make him flinch back. Jackson and his friends had formed a wide semi-circle to trap Jennifer, Carlton and Derrick. There was a methodical calmness over all of them, as if they had done this a million times before. Jennifer felt small compared to them, like they could snap her in half if they got their hands on her. But she wasn't weak, and the first fucker to touch her was going to find that out the hard way.

She glanced at Carlton, who was still wielding his knife but had it concealed from the men who surrounded them. He was already motioning Derrick to stand behind them, clearly he didn't want Derrick in the fight without a weapon. There wasn't much likelihood that they'd be winning but they were game to give it a try.

"Come on," Jackson scoffed. "Let's be civil about all this. You take us to your cinema and we'll let you stay there. You have my word."

Jennifer frowned at the smug bastard, he was quick to realise that he wasn't going to be getting much co-operation from them. Behind Jackson there was movement; it looked as if Marcus was regaining consciousness thankfully. Trying to stay as quiet as possible he slowly got to his knees, there was nothing more than pain and confusion on his face at first but as he focussed on Craig his expression turned to pure rage. Jennifer could see that it was going to be now or never.

With a sharp cry she lunged forward with her tire iron, startling Jackson and giving her the advantage of surprise. Swinging her weapon with ferocity she aimed for Jackson's ribs; it was all he could do to bring up his pool cue to weakly block the blow. The sound of wood crunching was all Jennifer needed to hear to press on her attack, moving forward for another swing.

Jackson snarled, dropping one splintered half of his pool cue and grabbing at Jennifer's wrist, tilting her attack away from him. She staggered back, trying to escape him but he was too quick. He was upon her now, raising the other half of the pool cue and lashing out at her face. Once, twice. She blinked and shook her head, there was a roaring in her ears and she couldn't see anything around her. Jennifer reached out blindly and felt the cold, hard ground. A sharp kick sent her sprawling.

"This could've been so much simpler," Jackson murmured as he crouched over her.

"Back the fuck off," Carlton yelled from a distance, Jennifer was still trying to get her bearings.

"Shut the fuck up!" Jackson retaliated. "Shut the fuck up or I'll-"

The night sky exploded with noise, what sounded like gunfire. No, wait...actual gunfire. Jennifer shook her head and looked upwards, her surroundings slightly out of focus. But even in her disoriented state she could see the speck of lights incoming towards them, the lights of incoming aircraft. There were three of them cutting through the air, lights blazing through the sky and sweeping the ground below. Occasionally lights would flash from the sides, gunshots peppering the streets below.

"Jesus," Jackson breathed. "I didn't think they were going to come."

The aircraft began circling the mall and Jennifer could see there were about three helicopters altogether, two had Westpac insignia's upon them while the third was distinctly a different design. There was a cacophony of howls from the crowd of creatures assembled around the mall and the atmosphere seemed to shift immediately as the helicopters began their descent towards one of the parking garages.

"They're going to land right by us," Jackson sounded as if he were choking.

"They have a motherfucking Seasprite with 'em Jackson," The guy with the cap called out. "That's a military bird, better odds up there than down here."

"You guys don't get it do you? Jackson hissed menacingly.

"What's the problem Jacky?" Craig spat. "We're out of the shit, just gotta get up there."

Jennifer could see what Jackson had figured out, what Craig and the others hadn't yet. The military had made an impressive entrance, probably even killed a fair number of the creatures when they arrived. But what they hadn't really counted on was how truly horrific the herd around the mall had become; a herd that was likely to follow the loudest prey in the area.

"Those sons of bitches landed right by us," Jackson was practically spitting with rage now. "Now we'll have a few hundred of those fucking things coming right for us!"

And he was right. The shadows from the carparks down the street were moving, a heaving mass of hungry bodies searching for food. There were hundreds of them, shuffling closer and closer. Howls were rising from all directions, everywhere Jennifer turned her head. They were in the middle of it all and in a few minutes they'd be dead.

Written by Ciaran Findlay

Edited by Nicole Campbell and Blair Findlay