The Night Shift - Chapter One

Jennifer

We cannot be saved. We can only survive.

It was always silent at midnight. There was barely anyone on the streets and the lights were out in every house Jennifer drove past. It was very still, the city felt asleep. And all Jennifer could think about was how she wasn't and that maybe she was blasting Taylor Swift a little too loudly. In truth she didn't much care how shamelessly loud her music was, it had been one hell of a night and she was more than glad that it was finally over.

Jennifer had spent her past four evenings managing the cinema complex at the Northlands Mall uptown, each night running past eleven. Now she just felt fatigued and craved her bed waiting for her at home. Annoyingly after only a few minutes’ drive from the mall her little silver Mitsubishi Lancer had caught a puncture and she'd had to stop in the middle of the street in the pitch black of night to fix it, not knowing what horror was out there in the shadows. She'd grabbed a tire iron, car jack and spare tire and fitted out the fastest repair job of her life. She wasn't entirely happy with it and she'd tossed the tools for her car in the front seat in her rush to get back on the road. But now that she was putting the mall behind her she was starting to forget her rushed tire change and had turned to thoughts of home.

The music blaring from her car speakers was suddenly interrupted by the quiet noise of a text alert. Jennifer cast a glance down at her phone and saw it was from her Mum. She couldn’t help the small smile that came to her face; knowing her Mum it was probably a joke about abandoning her at home with the rest of their crazy family or an update about some antic her brother had gotten up to. Keeping her eyes fixed on the road she reached over and picked up the phone, disconnecting it from the aux cable and hushing Taylor Swift mid-chorus.  

Jennifer swiped her Mum's text so that it was brought up on her screen. She was immediately confused by it and didn't understand why her Mum had sent it at all. The text merely read 'Don't come home!' Don't come home? What could possibly have happened to have caused her Mum to tell her that?

Suddenly a blinding light made Jennifer turn to see an oncoming Hilux cross lanes and careen right into her. Immediately she lost control of her Lancer as a section of the bonnet crumpled and the car was sent spinning. As the world spun about her she heard a noise like the sound of glass smashing and bone breaking followed by a heavy thud on the bonnet of her car. She moved her head towards the direction of the noise but this only resulted in her head being whipped into the driver-side window. She lost consciousness to the sounds of bloodcurdling howls and high pitched screams.

*

A dull thumping noise brought Jennifer to, it seemed to be coming from directly above her. Her vision was blurred so she could only make out a vague humanoid shape throwing itself at her windscreen. Her head throbbed and she could feel warm blood running down the right side of her face. The shape still hadn't quit; she must be badly trapped if her rescuer was that eager to free her. A sudden thought struck her and in a panic she thrashed in her seat, but stopped when she was satisfied she could still feel her legs.

Suddenly the sound of glass cracking made her look back up at the shape. Her windscreen had begun to crack and her rescuer seemed in a frenzy now. Yet she couldn't figure out how they were breaking the windscreen as she couldn't make out a tool or object in their hands. Suddenly the figure brought their head down upon the windscreen again, causing more cracks and tearing off some of their flesh in the process.

Jennifer screamed at the sight of this and her eyes snapped back into focus as fear and adrenaline rushed through her. Crouched over her windscreen was a humanoid female with pale skin that had been torn in several places along with the remnants of her clothing. The woman's eyes had turned a cloudy grey and looked down at Jennifer with a feral hunger. Her jaw hung loosely from her face and as she snarled she revealed a mouthful of bloody teeth.

Once again the creature threw it's head down heavily upon the windscreen; much more and it would be through. Jennifer looked past the glass to the see the Hilux pushed up against her car. There was a large hole in the windscreen where the creature had been thrown through. Strapped into the driver's seat was a man, groaning quite audibly and rubbing a large bloody patch on his neck.

Another crash of the creature’s head and a small hole appeared, driving the thing further into a frenzy.

As the glass of the windscreen was frantically ripped away Jennifer began hyperventilating and searched her surroundings. Her head still ached with pain and the sudden intensity of the situation was making it hard to keep focus. Her eyes finally settled on the tire iron which she grabbed just as the creature broke through and gnashed at her with it's teeth. Jennifer pulled back and swung at the creature wildly with her tire iron. She glanced the tire iron off the side of the creature's head which only served to antagonize it more. As it ripped it's way through the windscreen Jennifer let out a whimper and brought the tire iron down on the creature's head so quickly that it sunk in through the skull. The creature shook briefly then slumped forward dead.

Jennifer sat staring at the creature's body, petrified, breathing heavily. Finally she pulled the tire iron out of the skull and yanked her door open, falling out of the car. She scrambled away from her car, eyes fixed on the dead body, not sure what to expect. But the body remained still, not so much as a twitch.

As she stood up she could hear distant screams coming from all around her. Whatever had just happened it didn't seem to be isolated, this was an outbreak and she was standing right in the middle of it. She needed to get somewhere safe, fast. The screams coming from all around her were getting closer. This was unreal, a nightmare come to life.

A noise invaded Jennifer's panicked thoughts, a buzzing coming from the ground below her. She looked down to see her phone on the ground near her, it must have fallen out of the car with her when she worked her way out of the door. Jennifer hastily pushed herself against her car, crouching so as to remain out of sight. She tapped the screen and held the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" Jennifer whispered,

"Jen?" A scared voice replied in a hushed tone.

A short sob escaped Jennifer at the sound of her mother's voice. She gripped the tire iron tightly until her knuckles were bone white. She wanted nothing more than to be home, she was alone out here and in more danger than she'd ever experienced.

"M-mum?" Jennifer stammered. "I'm okay Mum, really. I'll be home in a few minutes-"

"No!" Jennifer's Mum yelled, a frantic urgency gripping her voice. "Whatever you do, please don't come back here. Please Jen, stay safe and know that-"

The line went dead and Jennifer was left with the absence of her mother and the cold realisation that she wasn't going home again. She didn't know what was happening but suddenly the screams that were so far away before didn't feel as far. Now they felt far too close to home.

Jennifer cast one last look at her cellphone screen and was surprised to see another text notification, one that must have come in before her Mum called her. She opened it up and saw that it was from Sasha, the head of the cinema complex and Jennifer's boss. The text read; Everyone meet at Northlands Mall. It's a government meeting point for evacuation. Bring family. Jennifer frowned, she wasn't so sure that she had any family left to bring, looks like she was going to have to chance the mall on her own.

She propped herself up back onto her feet using the tire iron and looked at the shuffling, advancing outlines down the road heading towards her. If she didn't leave now then she never would. Grabbing the creature that had become wedged in her windscreen she slowly pulled it out, wincing at the sight of the flesh that clung to the glass. Finally heaving the body to the ground she climbed back into her Lancer and keyed the ignition. It wasn't too far to get back to Northlands but something told her that it was going to be a long drive.

Written by Ciaran Findlay

Edited by Nicole Campbell and Blair Findlay

Illustrations by Daniel Humpage