Tap, tap.
She took a moment to check behind her as she took another step. The last thing she needed was to be jumped from behind. When she turned back around, she finally spotted the source of the noise. It was a sight she wished she could un-see.
She put a hand to her mouth and felt her eyes water. “My God.”
Ten feet away, lying amongst a pile of broken chairs was an infected person. It was one of the slower ones – one of the dead ones? It was lying on its back. Perhaps a male, but it was hard to know for sure. His face was a half-eaten mess, only the chomping jaws still left intact. The tapping sound was coming from the man’s thrashing legs. They had been stripped clean of flesh from above the knees downwards. The exposed bones of the foot and ankle were clicking against the stone floor as the decimated figure tried to move. With each attempt to get up, his withered legs folded uselessly beneath him.
Tap, tap.
Tap.
The torn-apart man finally spotted Annaliese and let out a pained moan in her direction. It was almost like a plea for help, but she knew what would happen if she got too close. The body dragged and clawed itself across the floor, trying to get at her, but its progress was snail-like. As long as Annaliese kept moving, the body would pose no risk.
She crept onwards, trying to shake the disturbing images from her mind. The doorway to the reception hall was just up ahead. She could see the front doors of the foyer that led outside to the grounds. A voice in her mind urged her to just make a break for it; get outside on her own and run for help. But then she remembered that the others would be coming out in five minutes. They were counting on her to clear the way.
I have to do this.
Okay, here goes nothing.
Annaliese straightened up and stepped out into the foyer. She prayed with every ounce of her spirit that the space would be empty, just like it had been when she’d first entered with Bradley.
That was not the case, though.
When she stepped into the reception area, there were at least a dozen infected people staring directly at her. All as one, they let out a scream.
And then they came for her.
Chapter Fifteen
Annaliese was surrounded on all sides. Infected people came at her from behind the reception desk, from inside the function suite’s entrance, and from atop the staircase. The only place left to run was back towards the kitchen, but she knew she wouldn’t make it. They had the jump on her.
A stocky man in a navy blue jumper came at Annaliese from her left. He snarled and growled like a pit-bull. He collided with her so hard that she went hurtling back into the dining room. Her foot struck something and suddenly she found herself off-balance. She looked down to see that the body with the skeletal legs had managed to crawl across the stone floor and reach her. She’d stumbled right into its grasp. The decimated man was now clawing at her leg, trying to bite down on her ankle. If not for her thick wellington boots, he might have succeeded.
The stocky man in the blue jumper came at her again. She managed to kick her leg free from her attacker on the floor and hop aside just in time. The stocky man went crashing into the dining room table and tumbled to the floor.
More were coming.