“And then?” Lucy-Anne said between them. But Sparky did not answer.
“They've stopped,” Jack said, but he held no hope that the things would not attack. They merely seemed to be formulating a strategy. The two that had been trying to get Hayden were conversing with three others in a language Jack could not imagine, gestures and loud clicking sounds replacing the spoken word. They spread out, three stalking forward while two others scampered back down to the level they had just emerged from. They had seen what Jack could do, and were spreading themselves out as much as possible.
Even if Jack and his friends did manage to start the car, they would have a gauntlet to run.
They're just people! Jack thought, wishing he could communicate, reach out to them. But “just” held no meaning anymore.
“Now!” Sparky said.
Jenna eased up on the clutch. At first Jack felt a resistance, then the vehicle jerked forward and he almost stumbled to the ground. Sparky grabbed him, and Lucy-Anne was already darting for one open side door. The car jarred forward, the engine coughed and growled, Jack caught a faceful of foul air from the exhaust, and then Sparky shouted, “Gas!” Jenna pressed on the gas and the engine roared.
“Yes!” Jack punched the air and ran with Sparky. Jenna slammed on the brakes and dropped out of gear, revving the engine some more. Smoke hacked from the exhaust.
And the creatures were coming. One each on the left and right, leaping across the roofs of parked cars, and one straight for the car. Jack was sure he saw sparks kicked up from their nightmarish limbs.
“In!” Sparky shouted. “Jack!”
But Jack waited until his friends were safely inside, his breath held and a shout ready to be unleashed. He did not want to kill, but if he had to…
Sparky was in and Jack darted for the door. His strong friend grabbed his arms and pulled, and even as Jack sprawled across the others’ laps in the back seat, Jenna gunned the gas and pulled away.
Hayden had climbed into the front seat and he cowered down, terrified. And his fear was good. If he'd been sitting up straight he might have died.
The creature must have leapt directly at the windscreen, jumping over the bonnet of the moving vehicle and using its two arms as spears. The windscreen starred opaque, Jenna screamed, but she did not slow down. Sharp insectile limbs slashed across Hayden's seat and shredded the headrest. The glass shattered and fell inwards in a shower of diamond shards, and Jenna punched the windscreen in front of her, clearing her view and spinning the steering wheel at the last moment. The Mazda's bumper scraped across a wall as the car slewed to the right, and the creature emitted an ear-splitting shriek as it was wrenched from the bonnet.
“Floor it!” Sparky shouted. Jenna pumped on the gas and the engine roared, and she spun the wheel again as they bumped onto the next level down.
Jack pulled himself into a sitting position between Sparky and Rhali, and Lucy-Anne was pressed against the door beside Rhali.
“Is he…?” she asked.
Jack leaned forward to look over the seats, terrified of what he might see. But Hayden stared up at him with wide eyes.
“He's OK. Jenna, you need to change gear.”
“What?”
“You need to—”
“I haven't got a clue how to drive so just shut up and let me get on with it.”
“Ease on the gas, foot on the clutch, slip into—” Sparky began.
“Shut the hell up!” she shouted. Remaining in second gear she drifted them wide into the ramp to the next level, rebounding from the wall again with a sickening crunch and a laboured screech of tearing metal.
“It's okay,” Sparky said. “We don't need the bumper. Bumpers are overrated.”
“Where the hell are those things?” Lucy-Anne asked. Jack twisted in his seat and looked behind at the shapes loping after them.
“Not finished yet,” he said.
“Mate, can't you do anything?” Sparky asked.