Free Demise of the Living by Iain McKinnon Page B

stop the spread, like amputating a foot to stop
gangrene. Only problem is, it’s too little, too late.”
    He bent down, slipped into the
driving seat of the car, and slammed the door shut.
    “Where are you going?” Stephen
said with panic in his voice.
    The police car’s engine sprung
to life and the vehicle started to pull away.
    Stephen ducked out from behind
the car door and round to the cruiser.
    “ Where are you going?!”
he shouted at the police car.
    The window unwound and
the police officer looked out at Stephen. He said, “I don’t know,
but I’m not staying here.”
    “What? What kind of an answer
is that?”
    The police car sped up and
disappeared down the road.
    “ What?! That’s just
shit!” Stephen shouted after it.
     
    ***
     
    Thunder rolled over them with a
palpable force. Shan slowed the bike and put a foot down to steady
it. A wave of hot air swept across them, scorching the moisture
from their eyes.
    The wind increased and with it
came the smell of burning.
    Karen hopped off the back of
the bike and stared dumbstruck at the rising wall of flame.
    “ What was that?” she
asked.
    Shan simply shook her head,
devoid of an answer.
    Karen stumbled forward, looking
at the now subsiding fireball.
    “ My house?” she uttered
softly. “My parents?” she said, still taking half steps towards the
explosion.
    “ They might be okay,”
Shan said, sensing her friend’s fragility. “It looked like it was
just beyond your place, up at the hospital.” She batted her
eyelashes, trying to coax the moisture back to her eyes. “They
might not even be at home. Your dad will be away at his work by
now.”
    “ No, he was working from
home. They’ve closed the office ‘cause of
this flu thing,” Karen said, still mesmerised by the rolling black
clouds.
    “Get back on and we’ll go take
a look. I bet they’re okay,” Shan said.
    “You don’t know that.” Karen
shook her head in short judders, her eyes wide open.
    “ Okay, I don’t
know—that’s why we’ll go look, okay?” Shan said, offering a hand
out. “Come on, Karen. We’re attracting some attention
here.”
    Karen looked around the
suburban street. She hadn’t been able to see all the turmoil from
the back of the bike, but now it assaulted her. Front doors wide
open, windows broken or sprayed with blood. Smoke from innumerable
fires tumbling into the summer sky. The smell of burning and the
taint of blood on the air. Screams, some distant, some terrifyingly
close.
    And then there were the
people. Some were running, looking as scared as Karen knew she must
look. But then there were the others, the shambling stiff-legged
people, their faces an alabaster canvas splashed with glistening
red.
    “Okay,” Karen mumbled, the
shock clutching at her throat.
    She straddled the bike and
wrapped her arms tight around Shan’s waist.
    Shan clicked the bike
into gear and began weaving her way past the gathering
rabble.
    The short ride to Karen’s house
was marred by a plethora of fresh obstacles. Derelict traffic jams,
sporadic fires, and the swelling numbers of seemingly hypnotized
people inexorably drawn to the sound of the passing motorcycle.
    Mounting the pavement, taking
short cuts across waste ground, and taking the dirt bike down paths
that would normally end up with a police pursuit and a spot on the
six o’clock news, Shan managed to bypass the blocked roads.
    Eventually the bike
stopped.
    “We’re here,” Shan said
softly.
    Karen’s nose filled with the
smell of burning. She stepped off the back of the bike to stand,
facing her house. There was a hot wind wafting glowing cinders in
the air. The lawn that only this morning had sported lush green
grass was now scorched black. The house itself looked for the most
part intact other than the shattered windows and the blackened
exterior.
    Karen took a step towards
the front door, but before she knew it she was running along the
path. She hit the door at full tilt and tried to open it,