First Activation

We stood up and moved into a gap between two cars in the middle of the road. I caught a few brief glimpses of the car weaving towards us. It stopped around fifty yards from our position when the driver must have spotted us. Through the gap, we saw the headlights flash a few times. Our presence was being acknowledged.

Within thirty yards, I saw that there were two people in the car. It disappeared again to make its way around a van. I ran towards the car and reached the driver’s window. Inside, was a bald headed man with a red moustache in a pink t-shirt. Beside him, was a female passenger who was resting her elbow on the window frame and looking out the opposite direction. The driver’s window wound down about four inches.

“Thank God, you’re here. I knew you’d turn up,” I shouted.

A hunting knife shot through the gap and stopped about an inch from my eye. The space had just been just too small for the driver’s clenched hand to fit through. I jumped back and pointed the Glock at him.

“What the fuck are you doing? There’s three of us here!”

The car reversed back a few yards before the wheels spun and it came hurtling towards me. I dived out of the way and the car slammed into another vehicle. I heard a loud bang and looked up to see the driver’s window was shattered. The man’s baldhead fell forwards and rested on the horn, which let off a continuous blast of noise. Jack jogged up to the car, put his hand through the window, and pushed the drivers head sideways away from the wheel.

“What the fuck just happened?” Bernie said as he appeared beside me.

“He tried to kill Harry.” Jack replied as he reloaded the rifle.

“What about the woman?” I said.

“Did you notice that she didn’t actually move? I followed you and went to the other side of the car. By the time I had worked it out, the driver had already tried to stab you and was reversing.”

I still wasn’t sure exactly what Jack had worked out, so I walked around to the passenger window for a look. Inside, I could clearly see that the woman was a corpse. She was still in the same position as before, blankly looking out of the car with her elbow on the window frame. I nudged her; she was as stiff as a board.

This killer had used cunning and knowledge of the situation in his attempt to attack us, which meant these people were conscious of their instructions and could plan how to achieve them. Bernie had little doubt about what had happened after looking through the car.

“Well, that’s your Lea Ash. He was just like the others. Let’s get out of here and back to my place. That shot and the horn blast will have been heard for miles.”

“Back to your place then, Bernie, and no stopping,” Jack said.

We ran back to the car and Bernie started to pick his way back towards Elmhurst. I watched for signs of movement out of the window, but inwardly cursed the failure of our mission. It didn’t take long to arrive back at the vehicle blockade and Bernie stopped the pick-up close to the side of the road. We checked our weapons again and headed out onto the street in a half crouch, with Bernie in the lead and Jack bringing up the rear.

There was no escape from the mangled vehicles, corpses, and devastation, as we headed back to the safety of Bernie’s apartment along an alternative route. The dead seemed to cloy at me and I wondered if we could survive through constant attacks. Lost in my own thoughts, I jumped at the sound of gunfire and saw a puff of dust on the road about two yards in front of me.

“Quick, behind the car,” I shouted.

“For God’s sake, what now?” Bernie said.

“Someone is trying to kill us,” Jack replied dryly.

Bernie’s face was red; he said through gritted teeth, “I fucking know that.”

I looked around the side of the car and saw the girl we had trapped in the recycling bin appear from behind a mailbox. She was pointing a pistol towards us with both hands, and fired again. The round hit a tyre of the car we were hiding behind, and it quickly deflated.

“It’s the girl from before. She’s coming towards us with a pistol,” I shouted.

“We’ve no other options now. Shoot her, shoot her now,” Bernie replied frantically.

Jack started to shake and fumbled with his rifle. “I can’t, I can’t… fuck. Fuck!”

Another shot thudded into the cars bodywork.

“One of us will be dead if someone doesn’t do something,” Bernie shouted, grabbing my arm and shaking it.

I looked at Jack; he had his rifle on his shoulder and was looking at me.

“I am going to hell for this.” He stood up and fired before quickly sitting back down against the wheel of the car.

“Did you get her?” Bernie asked.

“Why don’t you see for yourself?” Jack said in a low voice.

Both Bernie and I stood up and saw the body lying in the road about ten yards away. I looked back down at Jack who was just staring straight ahead.

Bernie held out his hand for Jack to haul himself up with. “Back to my place guys, before anyone else turns up.”