“The first sign of danger and we will return back here,” said Shawcross. “If everything is all clear, then we head out the front doors and regroup at the zoo. Hopefully Annaliese is correct when she says it’s safe out there.”
“It is,” she reconfirmed. “Like I said, there was just the man who attacked Bradley. I didn’t see anybody else.”
“Just be careful,” said the guy from room seven.
Annaliese smiled at him. “Thanks. What’s your name?”
“Mike.”
“Good to meet you, Mike. I’m Anna. I’ll see you outside, okay? Anything you want from your room?”
“There is actually. My wallet is on the bedside table. It would mean a lot to me if you could get it for me.”
Annaliese was confused, but shrugged in agreement. “Okay. I don’t think there’s going to be much need for your credit cards, but I’ll grab it if I see it.”
“Shall we get this over with?” Shawcross asked. He was standing next to the barricaded exit, leaning close to the doors and listening. “I think they’ve wandered off. I can’t hear them anymore, but who knows when they will wander back.”
Annaliese rubbed at her eyes and blinked. “Okay, I’m ready. I’ve had three hours sleep in the last thirty-six hours and I’m stuck in a low-budget horror movie, but I’m ready.”
Shawcross started sliding the fridge away from the doors, shuffling it a little bit at a time so as not to make a noise. Mike went and lent a hand and the two of them eventually moved it out of the way. They slid away a heavy table and flipped the latch on the door.
Shawcross looked at Annaliese. “You ready? Things get too dangerous, you come right back here and we’ll think of another way.”
“There is no other way,” she said. “We don’t know when help will get here or how long we can stay safe inside this kitchen. We have to get outside.”
Shawcross opened the door a crack and peered through the gap. “It seems all clear,” he whispered. “I think that when they lose sight of people they wander off and disperse. Then, if they find someone again, they screech. It’s almost like a rolling net. Spreading out till they find someone and then closing in when they do. At least for now the coast is clear.”
“They’re still out there somewhere, though,” said Mike. “So be alert.”
“Will do,” she said. Then she slipped through the kitchen doors and was in the dining room again. Blood still caked everything and the smell had become a sharp metallic haze in the air. Bloody streaks and dirty handprints covered the back of the kitchen’s doors where the mob had previously been battering to get inside.
But they’ve gone now. Where?
Annaliese bent her knees and kept low. It was an instinctual movement and she instantly felt less exposed as she ducked down beside the room’s large mahogany table.
While she could not see anybody else in the dining room, her ears picked up the slightest sound of movement. It would not quite register what it was exactly, but it was regular, almost rhythmic.
She crept onwards, heading for the foyer, her wellington boots sticking to the tacky bloodstains on the stone floor as she moved. As a vet, she was no stranger to blood, but so much of it, and spilled so unceremoniously, was a little hard to handle. She had to take deep breaths in order to keep her stomach and bladder under control.
As she crossed the dining room, staying close to the table, the mysterious rhythmic sound became louder. Either that or she was closer to the source.
Tap, tap.
Tap, tap.
Annaliese rounded the corner of the table and stepped out into the open. There was an overturned chair in front of her, but it was too small to provide cover. She would have to just hope and pray that none of the sick people were in a position to see her.
Tap, tap.
The noise seemed to be coming from her right, over in the far corner of the dining room. As she looked over, she saw movement amongst the overturned furniture. She couldn’t help herself but take a couple of steps closer. Her curiosity demanded to know more.