A far off snapping of twigs.
“Do you hear that?” Nick set off towards the sound. Jan was right behind him. After passing through several yards of thick trees and thorny shrubs, a figure became visible in the distance. Nick spotted the coloured-flash of their clothing.
He and Jan picked up speed, aiming for the stranger up ahead. Nick almost tripped over a half-buried tangle of roots at one point, but Jan managed to reach out and keep him on his feet. Less than a minute later they had caught up with the unidentified person.
“Eve!” he said, doubling over and wheezing once he knew it was her. “What…are you doing…out here on your own?”
“I came to find you. The others are going to move on if you’re not back in ten minutes.”
“That was dumb of you,” Nick admonished her. He straightened back up and tried to control his breathing. “Where’s the group now? Do they have…Margaret?”
“Dave took everyone down to the bottom of the hill, by where we first found this place. And, yes, Margaret found us. She’s with them.”
“They should have gone up the hill not down,” Jan said. “Less likely to be infected people up high, I reckon.”
Eve shrugged. “Dave said that it would be a waste of energy climbing up the hill. He wanted to go back the way we came in. He said it was the only place we knew was safe.”
Nick shrugged. “Whatever. Up, down. I don’t care. Let’s just catch up with them before they leave us high and dry.”
Eve led the way, taking them horizontally across the hill, and then slightly downwards towards the bottom. The screeches and wails of the infected had stopped now as the restaurant’s security alarm finally died out. Now the only sounds left was the pounding of their feet and the snapping of twigs and autumn leaves.
“They’re down here,” said Eve, pointing.
At the bottom of the hill, Dave and the others were gathered in a tight bunch. Margaret waved at Nick as they approached. “Thank Heaven’s you’re okay,” she said.
Nick went and gave the old lady a quick hug.
Dave had his arms folded impatiently. “We were just about to give up on you.”
“Thanks for waiting,” Jan said. “What’s the plan?”
“We head back into the woods we started in. We know it’s clear of infected because it was clear when we came through.”
“So was the car park,” Carl remarked. “But it’s certainly had a few visitors since then.”
“That was the alarm,” Dave said. “It brought them to us overnight. They obviously heard it from in the distance.”
“But Dash managed to turn the alarm off after only a couple of minutes,” Eve said.
Dave shrugged. “They must have just headed for it when it was going off and carried on in that direction when it stopped. When they hear something they must set off in that direction until they come across something else to distract them otherwise.”
“You mean someone to chow down on,” said Dash. He looked over at Jan. “What were you doing, anyway? Risking your life for this honky?”
“Let’s just get out of here,” said Jan. “I’m not in the mood for being hunted by those things; and it’s only a matter of time before one of them stumbles upon us.”
Carl screamed.
Nick stumbled backwards in shock as Carl crashed to the muddy ground. Someone had attacked him from behind and was now clinging to his back, arms wrapped around his neck.
“Damn it!” Dave shouted. “It’s that bitch.”
Nick looked down and could not believe it. The attacker was Kathryn. She was struggling with Carl on the ground and trying to sink her teeth into him. Her face was still swollen with the bruises Dave had inflicted on her, but her eyes were now bulbous white orbs leaking blood. Blood also poured from her mouth, so thickly that it was like her insides were melting.