Ward Z: Revelation Read online

  Turning to look back along the road, he saw that while the storm was still raging, the first rays of dawn were starting to show in the distance.

  “God Almighty,” he muttered, “I don't believe in any of that religious crap, but if by chance you do exist, feel free to convert me by sending down a fucking miracle.”

  Hearing a noise nearby, he looked back at the truck and saw that Karen had climbed out. She was struggling to get through the mud, but finally she joined him on what was left of the road.

  “The Great Memnon has sent the storm,” she said calmly. “He intends it to ease the path of his family.”

  “We're almost at the camp,” Freeman explained warily, still uneasy about the blank expression in her eyes. “I figure I can carry the rest of the gear.”

  “I'll come,” she replied. “I should be reunited with my brothers and sisters.”

  “And what exactly is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means that they are massing,” she continued, “and that the promised land is so close, I can almost feel its warmth on my face.”

  “I don't feel any warmth right now,” he replied, wading around to the back of the truck and pulling the tarpaulin aside. Grabbing a couple of torches, he tied them to his belt before pulling a spade down, followed by his rifle. After tucking some cartridges into his pockets, he headed back to the road and looked up toward the camp, where a few lights could be seen beyond the distant row of trees.

  “They're so close,” Karen said, making her way over to join him. “I can feel their life. The Great Memnon always promised that one day we'd emerge from the arks and find a feast waiting for us. There were times when my faith wavered, but I should have known that he was right all along. The Great Memnon knows everything.”

  “You're starting to seriously freak me out,” he replied, setting off along the road. “The first thing we do when we get there is we make sure everyone's okay, and then we go and take another look at those Leadenford Hospital bags. I've got a feeling that whatever's in those damn things, it's a lot more than just some old bandages.”

  “Leadenford was the genesis point,” Karen told him, keeping pace.

  “And what's that supposed to mean?”

  “It's where our new life began to grow. We couldn't blossom there, though. In order to blossom, we had to wait in the arks.”

  Stopping, he turned to her. For a moment, he felt as if he was starting to understand: Karen wasn't herself, and the words coming from her mouth seemed completely unfamiliar, as if someone else was speaking through her. In the back of his mind, he was worried that something had managed to take control of her body, but at the same time he told herself that no matter what else was happening, there was no way this his sister could possibly be a victim. They'd been looking after each other since they were children, and the thought that something could have...

  “Let's just keep going,” he said finally, turning and continuing the walk up to Camp Everbee, “and try to cut it out with all that pseudo-religious bullshit, okay? It's creeping me the hell out.” Rounding the next corner, he led Karen through the gate and past the coach, which had been parked a little way out from the main area, before heading around the side of the vehicle and stopping as he saw the cabins in the distance. Through the rain, he could just about make out several figures moving through the darkness.

  “Life begins,” Karen said, stopping next to him with a broad smile on her face. “Life refuses to be held back.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “I haven't heard screams for a while,” Lizzie said, standing close to the door. “They must have finished off the last of the other cabins. I guess that means they'll be coming for us soon.”

  “What do you mean?” Kirsty asked, still sitting on the bed with her damaged foot raised. “You don't think they've killed everyone else, do you?”

  Lizzie turned to her, but she couldn't bring herself to say the words.

  “Oh God,” Kirsty continued, with tears in her eyes. “You mean we're the only ones left?”

  “If you ask me,” Laura muttered, sitting in the corner and carving something into the wall, “it's better for it to end this way. It's more natural, kinda primal even. Who wants to waste away in a hospital bed when you can go out guns blazing, taking as many of the enemy down with you as possible?”

  “What guns?” Crystal snapped. “We don't have any weapons! If we go out there, we'll be slaughtered!”

  “If we stay in here,” Laura replied, “we're just sitting ducks. They're out there now, deciding how to come in and get us.”

  “What are you doing?” Lizzie asked, heading over to her and seeing that she'd carved her own name into the wood.

  “Friends forever, huh?” Laura replied with a bitter smile, as she handed the knife over. “If we're gonna make a last stand...”

  “Don't talk like that!” Kirsty blurted out.

  “We have to go out there before they come in to get us,” Lizzie explained, as she took a moment to carve her name next to Laura's. “That doesn't mean we're definitely going to die. We can make our way to the main office. There's a land-line there, right?”

  “And what exactly do we say when we get through to the cops?” Laura asked. “Do you seriously think they'll believe us when we tell them a bunch of killer squids have come out of the forest?”

  “Give me that,” Kirsty said, hauling herself up off the bed and hopping over to take the knife from Lizzie, before starting to carve her own name in the wall.

  “They're too quiet out there,” Lizzie continued, heading over to the window. “They're waiting for us to make our move.”

  “Why?” Laura asked. “They could just break in.”

  “Maybe they're playing with us,” Lizzie whispered, peering out the window as she tried to see what was happening. “The sun's starting to come up,” she added. “I don't see anyone out there.”

  “Do you think they just gave up?” Kirsty asked, holding the knife out to Crystal. “Do you want to add your -”

  “I'm fine,” Crystal replied with a withering smile, “thanks. And that's camp property you're defacing, by the way. Your parents each paid a small refundable deposit to cover this type of damage.”

  “Here,” Lizzie continued, heading over and taking the knife from Kirsty before starting to carve something else. “She was with us at the start, and she's still with us in spirit.” Once she was done, she sat back and looked at the words that had been carved into the wall:

  Laura + Lizzie + Kirsty + Beth forever.

  “Sentimental bullshit,” Laura said after a moment. “Still, at least it's something for people to find when they eventually come looking for us. I guess it'll make them think we made friends before we died.” Stepping over to Kirsty's table full of make-up products, she picked a few up and dropped them into her shoulder-bag. “These might be useful.”

  “Hey!” Kirsty said. “No stealing!”

  “I'm requisitioning them,” Laura told her. “Anything that might conceivably be used as a weapon, we have to take. Some of these chemicals seem pretty dodgy, especially the cheap Chinese rip-offs.”

  “I do not buy cheap Chinese rip-offs!”

  “We're not dead yet,” Lizzie said, interrupting them as she made her way to the door. “We can still get out of here. The only thing they're not expecting is for us to walk out.”

  “Is it time?” Laura asked, grabbing her crutches and joining her. “I guess it's time.”

  “It's not far to the main building, is it?” Kirsty asked, hopping over to them. “If we can make it there, we're safe. Right?”

  “Right,” Lizzie said, swallowing hard. “Maybe.”

  “Wait a minute,” Crystal butted in, “I'm in charge here and -”

  Lizzie reached up and unbolted the door.

  “No-one does anything without my say-so,” Crystal continued. “You girls are still campers here, and that means you have to listen to me.”

  “We are listening,” Laura muttered, “w
e're just not paying any attention.” She turned to Lizzie. “Ready?”

  “No,” Lizzie replied. “You?”

  “No.”

  “I'm not ready either,” Kirsty added.

  Taking a deep breath, Lizzie began to pull the door open, finally revealing the darkness outside, with rain still falling hard.

  “So far so good,” Laura whispered, with the knife in her hand.

  “Where do you think they are?” Kirsty asked.

  “Nearby,” Lizzie said firmly. “Very nearby. Probably listening to us right now, probably waiting to grab us.”

  “So what's the plan?” Laura asked.

  “The oldest one in the book,” Lizzie replied. She paused for a moment, before finally saying the word: “Run!”

  Hurrying out into the rain, she stopped and looked around for a moment as the others limped out behind her. Seeing no sign of Beth or the creatures, they all headed past the other cabins, limping at various speeds, until they reached the short open patch of grass that led to the main building.

  “I don't see them,” Laura said breathlessly.

  “I guarantee they can see us,” Lizzie replied, looking around before hurrying toward the building.

  “Maybe something happened,” Kirsty suggested, with a hint of hope in her voice. “Maybe they just... died, or something?”

  “Maybe,” Lizzie muttered, “or maybe they're just testing us. Maybe they enjoy the hunt.”

  “Out of my way!” Crystal shouted, pushing past the others and racing toward the main building.

  “It's okay,” Lizzie continued, hurrying after her but making sure not to get too far ahead of Laura and Kirsty. “Just don't panic, and try not to -”

  Before she could finish, she heard a cry from up ahead. Stopping, she saw that Crystal had dropped to the ground with a series of black tendrils wrapped around her waist, as if she was being pulled down.

  “Where are they?” Laura shouted.

  “They're everywhere,” Lizzie replied, looking down and seeing tendrils starting to rise up from the grass. “They're all around!” As a tendril reached out to her, she skipped out of the way, only to land on another of the creatures and slip. Feeling another tendril slithering around her neck, she tried to get up, but at the last moment Laura reached down and pulled the tendril aside before grabbing her hand and hauling her up.

  “She's in the door!” Kirsty shouted.

  Looking toward the building, Lizzie saw that Beth was standing in the doorway, watching with a faint smile on her face.

  “Round the back!” Lizzie shouted, jumping over another of the creatures as she led the others down the side of the building. Grabbing a trash-can, she turned and threw it at one of the windows, shattering the glass. Hearing a cry of pain nearby, she turned and saw that Crystal was stumbling after them with one of the creatures still attached to her neck.

  “This isn't working,” Laura shouted.

  “Get in!” Lizzie told her, before hurrying over to Crystal and grabbing the creature's tendrils. Pushing Crystal away with her other hand, she forced the creature loose and then tossed it to the ground, before taking Crystal's hand and leading her to the broken window, where Laura was already helping Kirsty to climb up and get inside.

  “Aren't we just going from one sealed room to another?” Laura asked.

  “This room has a phone,” Lizzie pointed out, helping Crystal through the window before hauling herself up just as a tendril lashed out and tried to grab her foot. Tumbling through onto the floor, she looked over at the door. “Close it!” she shouted.

  Laura hurried over and slammed the door shut, before turning to the others and shouting: “Where's the key!”

  Pulling a set of keys from her pocket, Crystal tossed them across the room and Laura quickly found the right one, locking the door and then sinking down to the floor.

  “Help me,” Lizzie said, making her way to the bookcase and starting to push it until it covered the broken window. Kirsty grabbed the other side and helped ease it into place.

  “It's been cut,” Crystal said, trying the phone on her desk. She turned to the others. “The storm must have brought the lines down.”

  “Or those things disabled it,” Lizzie suggested.

  “Do you really think they're that smart?” Laura asked.

  “Yeah,” Lizzie replied, turning to her, “I think they are. And I think they're learning fast.”

  “Now what?” Kirsty continued, limping across the room until she reached the sofa and eased herself down. Checking her damaged foot, she saw that mud and grass had become smeared into the exposed bone and muscle. “It doesn't even hurt anymore,” she said after a moment, turning to Lizzie. “That's bad, right? If it doesn't hurt, that means something's seriously wrong.”

  “We'll get you to a doctor,” Lizzie told her. “First, we have to -”

  “I'm in charge,” Crystal said firmly. “You're all just kids.”

  “Fine,” Laura said sarcastically, turning to her. “What's the plan, Einstein? You've done such a good job so far!”

  “Just give me a minute,” Crystal continued. “I... I need to come up with an idea.”

  “Twelve thousand tonnes of waste,” Lizzie said, reading from a document she'd found on the desk. “This wasn't just a few bags, this was an industrial operation.”

  “Give me that!”

  As Crystal tried to snatch the paper, Lizzie pulled it away and continued to read before turning to her. “Was this a camp trying to make extra money by taking illegal waste,” she said after a moment, “or was it a major dumping site using a camp to cover its tracks?”

  “Everything I did,” Crystal continued, “was designed to help people like you.”

  “And how did that work out?” Laura asked skeptically.

  “Until a few months ago, everything was fine!”

  “A few months ago?” Lizzie replied. “What happened a few months ago?”

  Hearing a bump against the door, they all turned in time to see the handle being turned, although the lock remained strong.

  “They're taking their time,” Laura said, limping forward on her crutches. “It's like they were desperate at first, but now they don't mind waiting.”

  “They're not hungry anymore,” Lizzie pointed out. “Now they're just hunting us for something extra.”

  “Kirsty!” a male voice called out suddenly, from the other side of the door, trying the handle again. “It's me! You have to let me in!”

  “Todd!” Kirsty replied, getting to her feet. “You guys, we have to let him in!”

  “It's not Todd,” Lizzie replied, staring at the door.

  “Didn't you hear?” she said, hopping across the room. “He's out there, those things are gonna get him!”

  “It's not him,” Lizzie said again, putting a hand out to stop her. “This is a trick. They're doing the same thing with him that they did with Beth.”

  “Kirsty, those things are everywhere,” Todd continued, sounding increasingly desperate as he continued to try the door. “They killed everyone else, but they missed me 'cause I only just came back up from the lake. I waited all night for you to come back, baby! I love you!”

  “It's not him,” Lizzie said firmly, turning to her. “You know it's not.”

  “I...” She paused, staring at the door. “I know,” she said finally. “It's okay, I'm not that dumb. I saw what happened with Beth. And he loved me? Yuck.”

  “Let us in!” Todd shouted suddenly, his voice filled with anger as he threw his weight against the door. “You're only delaying the inevitable!”

  “He's got a point,” Laura muttered darkly. “We were stuck in a little cabin before, now we're stuck in a slightly larger room with a broken phone. It's not a huge improvement.”

  “Where does that go?” Lizzie asked, looking up at a panel in the ceiling. “And keep your voices down so they can't hear us.”

  “There's just a storage space up there,” Crystal replied. “It's nothing.”

>   “It's better than standing here,” Lizzie continued, grabbing a chair and pulling it across to the center of the room. “It might lead somewhere, and there's a chance they don't know about it yet. If we can -” Before she could finish, they all heard the door starting to crack as Todd threw his weight against the wood. “That thing isn't going to hold forever,” Lizzie added, climbing up onto the chair and reaching toward the panel. “We're never going to be safe as long as we're at the camp.” She turned to Crystal. “Are there any vehicles we can use?”

  “There's the coach,” Crystal replied. “The one you came up on, remember? It's parked just a few hundred feet away down the road.”

  “And the keys?”

  “Kept in the coach.”

  “Then that's our way out,” Lizzie continued as she slid the panel aside and peered up into the dark crawlspace above.

  “How do you know they're not in there?” Kirsty asked. “I mean, they probably aren't, but you can't be sure. We might be going up into, like, a nest or something.”

  “I don't think they have nests,” Lizzie replied, staring up into the darkness, “but you're right, we don't know that they're not waiting for us. What we do know, though, is that in a few minutes' time they'll be through the door and this room will be crawling with the damn things.”

  “We'd have no chance if they ambushed us in there,” Laura pointed out. “At least in here, we could take a few of them with us.”

  “I haven't given up yet,” Lizzie continued.

  “I have.”

  Turning to Laura, Lizzie saw the sadness in her eyes.

  “We're all dying anyway,” Laura pointed out, “so why are we desperately trying to get away just so we can go back to civilization and end up in some hospital bed somewhere? Am I the only one who thinks this is a chance to make our deaths count? We can go out in a blaze of glory and take these bastards with us. All of them. We can save the world.”

  “You can't mean that,” Lizzie replied.

  “Can't I?” Laura paused for a moment, as Todd continued to try breaking the door down. “The odds of us actually getting away are slim, and even if we did, there's nothing waiting for us except drips and needles and pain and then death. If we stay here, we can find a way to draw every last one of those fuckers toward us and then... boom!”