M L Sparrow

 

Excerpt

 

“We need to call the police,” she whispered finally, her voice a painful rasp, her eyes raw.

“I’ll do it.” His grip on her didn’t loosen as he grabbed his phone from his pocket and punched in the three numbers, as if he thought she’d unravel if he didn’t hold onto her tight enough. Maybe she would. The shock had disappeared to be replaced by numb disbelief.

“I can’t get through,” he muttered, stroking her hair, “why don’t we go outside and try again?” She was about to nod in blind agreement, when the blaring of a horn from outside had her head snapping towards the front door. They both flinched in shock.

With his fingers curled around her wrist, Alec bolted for the door, dragging her along with him. On the doorstep he halted so suddenly that she stumbled into him, an audible gasp hissing from between his teeth. Around his arm she could see Hope sitting in the van, slamming on the horn, her face panic stricken as she looked towards them out of the window, but whatever she and Alec could see was blocked from Darcy’s view by his body.

She wasn’t sure she wanted to see, not with the recent horror still fresh and bloody in her mind, causing nausea to roll through her in great waves, but still she stepped around him and her breath caught in her throat.

What was happening? This had to be a dream. All of it had to be a dream, a nightmare from which she’d wake any minute. In the middle of the street another body was sprawled, its limbs still twitching and struggling as blood frothed from its head. Crouched over the dying man Mrs Neville, the frail, white haired old lady from down the road, dug arthritis riddled fingers into his cracked skull and pried the pieces apart to reveal a pink, fleshy organ still pulsing faintly with life. And then the old woman ripped into it, grabbing bloody handfuls and shovelling them into her mouth, smearing gore across her wrinkled face as she gobbled it down.

The world froze in dismay.

“Oh my God, oh my God...” Darcy chanted under her breath, gripping the back of Alec’s shirt tight enough to make her fingers ache.

“What the hell is going on?” Alec whispered, his face ashen as he stared at the gruesome scene before them. Locked in the van, Hope sat frozen and wide eyed for a minute before she started to panic once more, banging on the window and slamming on the horn, the sound a sharp shock to the senses as it split the silence pressing in around them, making her jump.

A hunk of brains still dangling from the corner of her mouth, Mrs Neville’s head whipped around, seeking out the cause of the disruption. She looked at Hope, who recoiled instantly, pressing back into the seat as the old woman slowly rose to her feet and took a slow, predatory step closer.

“Oh shit,” Alec muttered, “we’ve got to do something.” Unable to speak, her throat gone completely dry, she nodded, powerless to look away as Mrs Neville began to investigate the van’s front grill, almost as if she’d never seen one before.

Swallowing convulsively, she forced the words out in a whisper, “What do we do?” Glancing up at him, she saw the indecision glimmering in his eyes, before his expression hardened and he drew away to duck back into the house, appearing a moment later with two long golfing umbrella’s liberated from the turned over stand in the hall. On his phone he made a quick call, assumedly to Hope, because over in the van her sister started, looking wildly about her, before she searched around for something and raised her own mobile to her ear.

“Unlock the door,” Alec said curtly into the phone, nodding to her when she began looking around for them, “and put the key in the engine. Is it done...? Good.” Hanging up, he trust an umbrella into Darcy’s hand, ordering tightly, “Stay beside me.”

Holding her breath, Darcy followed close behind him as he hurried down the front path towards the van. Immediately, the old woman’s gaze swung towards them and Darcy stumbled at the sight of her eyes; they were completely awash with white. The very thing that separated humans from animals, the ability to reason with them, to communicate, was gone from her eyes, leaving only a blank light. Alec faltered too, but then he grabbed her wrist and continued forward, dragging her along in his wake. Cocking her head, watching them intently with those eerie eyes, old Mrs Neville stalked around the front of the van, blood dripping slowly from her chin.

“Shit, shit, shit...” Alec chanted under his breath, muscles tense as he paused, fingers flexing around the umbrella he brandished like a bat. They took another step. She lowered into a crouch, as if she were about to pounce. They froze.

“Back up,” he whispered, “slowly... Further.” When he deemed her a suitable distance away, he took a deep breath which seemed to shake his entire body for a moment, before he suddenly lunged forward onto his right foot. Instantly the old woman roared, a blood curdling, inhuman sound, and attacked.

It happened so quickly Darcy didn’t even have time to scream. As she flew at him, Alec swung the umbrella, hitting her squarely and sending her hurtling away. He didn’t wait to see if she went down.

“Run!” Hauling open the door, he shoved her inside and scrambled in after her, slamming the door just in time. Tripping in her heels, Darcy smashed her knee against the edge of the door frame, but the sharp pain barely registered as Mrs Neville flung herself at the closed door just as Alec violently thumped down the lock.

There was a lot of shuffling and cursing as Alec tried to scramble over them into the driver’s seat and even more swearing when he twisted the key and the engine stalled... twice, but to Darcy it was background noise; she was focused on the sight of the old woman clawing at the window, howling in rage. The sight was made nonetheless terrifying by her dentures sliding around her mouth, unhinged and lubricated by all the blood staining her fake teeth.

 

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