Lazarus Read online

  He stood and took a step closer to the door and felt Maddie tense. She tugged him gently back and he wished he could see her face. He turned and trod as carefully as he could manage to the back end of the little corridor. Something rustled near his feet. Maddie took a sharp breath.

  He skimmed along the walls with his fingertips, his arms stretched as far as they could, aware of the soft mumblings of voices now behind him. He felt three areas along the wall where his fingers dipped forwards, the grooves of door frames like valleys as they fell and rose. Two to his right, one straight in front. He gave the nearest door a gentle nudge and it opened. He poked his head inside, instantly greeted by the smell of bleach and innocuous chemicals. More than likely a store cupboard lined with shelves, no escape.

  “Lucas…” Maddie whispered as quietly as she could muster. He felt her palm growing moist.

  The voices outside were growing louder now and were joined by the clinking of bottles. Lucas thought of the men they passed on the way to the gas station, mouths coated in beer froth, brows furrowed. It couldn’t be them, though. They had to have been over a mile back.

  Suddenly there was a voice. Loud. As if the man was stood right next to them. “Careful, shitbag! I only got one set of clothes.”

  Laughter.

  Lucas tried the next door but it was also locked. The nudge of the handle against the lock clicked loudly. Sweat began to build beneath his arms.

  Two down, one to go. Dear God, please be behind door number three—

  “Now where are you going?”

  Footsteps outside the door. Light poured in through the vertical slit where the door opened. A man on the other side, looking back at his crew. Lucas could see a long portion of his body, pretty boy hair combed to the side, mud-stained jeans, a dark blue shirt with a dark stain by his stomach. The man wiped at the stain and spoke through gritted teeth. “Looking for some towels or something. Can’t walk around with shit on my shirt, can I?”

  Lucas tightened his grip and walked backwards towards the final door. His hip knocked into something which he saw now was a mop, oddly angled in its bucket. To Lucas and Maddie the sound was colossal, but it seemed the man wedging the door open and preoccupied with his conversation missed it entirely. Lucas nudged the door with his foot and was relieved to feel it open. He slunk through with Maddie, now able to see the shoulder of another man behind the confectionary stand.

  They both breathed a sigh of relief as they managed to shut the door behind them. Maddie slipped her hand from Lucas’ and covered her face for a minute, steadying herself. Lucas took a step back, aware they weren’t quite out of the woods and saw a bolt lock just above the door handle. With painfully slow movement he twisted the lock, waited a moment to see if the man outside had heard, then, when it didn’t seem he had, he turned to find Maddie studying the room for a sign of escape.

  They were in a large bathroom – one cubicle, one urinal. On the far wall a window – translucent from a thick layer of yellow grime – allowed just enough light to see by. The room was small, with avocado-coloured tiles, chipped in places, with suspicious stains on the floor.

  “Where now?” Maddie whispered, making her way over to the window. It was too small for her body to fit through, let alone Lucas’. But she lifted the long latch handle and gave it a budge. The window held firmly in place.

  “Light switch anybody?” came the man’s voice on the other side of the door. A second later, a ‘click’, and a thin line of yellow appeared around the bathroom door.

  Lucas scanned the room from bottom to top. He spotted a loose tile above the cubicle on the ceiling. A black hole leading into the roof space. He caught Maddie’s eye and nodded his head in the direction of the gap. Perhaps at some point, someone had already used this as an escape route. The gas station attendant? Perhaps a customer stuck in a similar predicament to the one they found themselves in now? Lucas had imagined that the escape through the air vents had only ever been something people see in films, never in reality. But he couldn’t hide a smile at the thought that he could be working his way through the square metal tunnels very soon.

  He pushed at the cubicle door but it wouldn’t budge. The noise of the door against the metal locks was much louder than he anticipated. He heard another voice outside the door and froze when he saw the door handle wiggle up and down. Slow at first. Then a couple of desperate turns as the man realised that the thing was locked. The door handle rattled again. “Hey, Slim. Help me with this, would you?”

  As Lucas and Maddy desperately scanned the room for their options there was more movement just outside the door. The one that the man called Slim spoke now in a voice oddly effeminate. “Don’t be a pussy.”

  Lucas pulled Maddy to the side of the door by the first cubicle and pointed to the missing ceiling tile. He could just make out the wires and plumbing hiding there. It would be a tight squeeze, but he reckoned they could fit. Without any other options, they kind of had to.

  A slam against the door. Quickly followed by a second. The simple bolt lock loosened as the wood holding it in place already started to splinter. Another slam. This time it sounded like boots against the door and the bolt splintered further. It wouldn’t hold much longer.

  “Go, Maddie. You first,” Lucas whispered as he nudged the cubicle door open and waved her on. The plan being to climb the cistern and work their way up into the roof space. But Maddie wouldn’t move. Lucas nudged her forward but she recoiled, turning with a face of disgust. Lucas saw it too, and felt his own stomach turn. Folded over the toilet seat was the bloody form of an adult man. His shirt stained with blood, his neck shredded and exposed. He stared at their feet with cold eyes, empty and dead. Knelt in front of the man was what could only be described as a young child. Lucas could only see the back of his head as it bobbed and flicked about from side to side. The moment reminded Lucas of a wild dog tearing at a hunk of meat.

  There was a large bang against the door outside, the sound making them both jump. Even the boy turned, then. And it was with horror that Lucas saw the boy’s mouth caked in blood. A large chunk of the man’s arm clamped between his teeth.

  28

  “Daddy… I need to peeeee…” Myles groaned from the back seat, his Nike baseball cap low over his forehead.

  “Just hold it in a bit longer, buddy. We’re almost there.” Duncan smiled back at the cheeky face in his rearview mirror. “And remember, the sooner we’re there, the sooner we can get ourselves warmed up and ready to go. The Gremlins won’t know what hit them.”

  He watched Myles struggle in the back seat, tugging on the seatbelt until it locked into place. His face had been growing steadily redder as the landscape blurred by the last few miles, and instinct told Duncan that if he didn’t get off the road soon, then he’d have to deal with another one of Myles’ little accidents leaking onto his leather seats. And that was the last thing he needed. It was the day of the big tournament after all, and Duncan, in his excitement to watch his boy take up the bat at the Greensboro youth stadium, forgot to pack extra clothes. You know, just in case.

  Idiot.

  The thing was, that ordinarily Duncan would have stopped a few miles back at the Sunoco gas station. However, common sense had been screaming at Duncan to continue driving. He didn’t like the look of the strange yellow tinge that was dripping down his windscreen. A couple of times already he questioned whether or not they’d call off the game. That was the last thing he’d need. To drive for over an hour on a weekend just to drive back with a beaten down kid that hadn’t got his chance to shine on the pitch.

  But it was summer. The sun would come out soon and it’d be cleared up quicker than a toupee in a hurricane, right?

  Duncan checked the LED clock on the dashboard as Myles let out a low whine. He supposed they were making great time. What was the harm in a little pit stop?

  Duncan indicated, though there was no need. The road was surprisingly empty for the time of day.

  The minute Duncan opened M
yle’s car door, Myles leapt out and went to run. Duncan caught his wrist and the boy twisted around to a jarring stop, Myles strained to continue running. Duncan laughed, “Straight through those doors by the looks of it. Just ask the guy behind the counter first, wouldn’t want him to think we’re robbing them.”

  Myles smiled, then sprinted inside, the automatic doors parting like Heavenly gates. “I’ll wait by the car!” Duncan called, watching the station attendant smile and point through the door at the back. Myles disappeared from sight.

  Duncan was proud of his boy. For a kid that had, only a year ago, been worryingly shy, avoiding making friends and keeping himself to himself, he had really come out of his shell this year. It would be a huge surprise to his mother when she came back from her tour in whatever Eastern European country the military were involved in now, to see just how much he’d grown. It had been her idea to try baseball in the first place. ‘Find a local team, let him watch, see if it sticks.’ And that team turned out to be the Ohio Ocelots, junior league team, Division 2. Not the best of the best, but certainly not the worst by far.

  They watched a game. One game. Duncan remembered pulling up to the gravel car park, opening the door to the excited shouts and cries of the teams as they warmed up on the pitch, a large crowd of parents watching from the sidelines behind the mesh fence. At first, he had been concerned by how quiet Myles had been. But that one game was all it had taken for Myles to find a new passion. He spent most of that game with his nose poked through the fence, cheering with every bat, every catch, every home run (not that there were many in junior league, let’s be honest). He couldn’t get enough of it. The pace, the cheers, the running. A month later and Myles was verging on star player, every spare second with the team, or over at the batting cage.

  Yes, indeed. Doreen would be proud. Duncan looked at the fresh picture of the three of them in his wallet. If only he didn’t have to wait another week before he could call her. Before he could see her pixelated face on the receiving end of a whacked-out satellite phone. He missed her beyond words but he’d never tell her that. The last thing he’d want would be to lay on the guilt at her leaving. Their family being separated for a few months was just one of the duties of the job. And he wouldn’t change a thing about her for the world.

  It had been ten minutes since Myles had headed into the station. Duncan checked his watch and looked around, noting just how empty the gas station was. He presumed that he had raced ahead of early morning traffic, but it was verging on 11am. There were still cars that filtered along the carriageway at slow intervals but none pulled up. None besides himself and the large black Hummer with tinted windows with what looked like a sleeping driver sat in the front. Perhaps they were also waiting for the toilet? Or maybe they were just another parent on their way to Greensboro and their drive had been even longer. He didn’t recognise the number plate and strained to see the driver’s face.

  Another few minutes and Duncan began to worry. He headed inside, gave a nod to the attendant.

  “My boy come back through yet?”

  The attendant shrugged, returned to his magazine.

  Duncan let himself through the door that he now saw held a small sign that read ‘Staff Only’, and made his way inside. He knocked on the bathroom door, and waited a few seconds, before letting himself inside.

  Barely able to hear the sound of his son’s growls.

  29

  The kid was young, couldn’t have been much older than eight, maybe nine. Lucas couldn’t take his eyes off him as he tucked into the flesh of the dead man. Spaghetti strings of veins and arteries threaded between the boy’s chew toy and the man’s body. But it was those eyes, those cold… vacant eyes that seemed to bore into Lucas that made his blood turn cold. For a moment, the world stood still. Even the threat of the men on the other side of the door momentarily vanished.

  And they could smell it now. Not just the stink of rigor mortis, but at some point – presumably around the time the boy had bitten through those vital arteries – the man had shit himself. Combine that with the rot of decomposition permeating through every pore and you’ve made yourself a hell of a nauseating bouquet. It was almost overpowering and Lucas wondered how they hadn’t noticed it before.

  Another crash on the door outside, Lucas turned to see the wood bow inwards, a large crack appearing in the top corner by the hinge.

  The boy growled, a hellish sound from deep within the bowels of its throat. Lucas noticed that, at the side of the toilet, caught between the porcelain and the wall, was a baseball cap, previously green, now crimson with blood. The white letters: ‘Ohio Ocelots’ barely showing through.

  Was that the man’s? Or was it the kid’s? He supposed it didn’t matter. What really mattered now was backing away without disturbing the boy’s eating. He was a hungry little thing, and though he watched both Lucas and Maddie as they slowly backed away, he seemed oddly satisfied with his meal. The sounds of slurping and crunching almost as loud as the commotion outside.

  Lucas held his arms behind him and felt Maddie’s body. He guided her backwards until they were free of the cubicle, then turned a ninety round the corner until the boy disappeared from sight, their staring match broken by the thin cubicle panel. Lucas felt an overwhelming desire to vomit, but he somehow managed to hold back.

  Now’s not the time Dixon. Get your shit together.

  They stood in the centre of the bathroom looking longingly at, first the ceiling, then the small window, wondering what the hell their chances of escape were going to be. To Lucas’ dismay, he saw a tear fall from the corner of Maddie’s eye and pulled her into an embrace.

  “Don’t give up yet. We’ll get out of this, I promise you now.”

  Maddie nodded.

  “We know you’re in there!” came the man’s voice from the other side of the door. “Make this shit easier and unlock the door, we only want to talk.”

  Yeah, right, Lucas thought. That’s why you’ve been charging at the door and alerting your cronies. To make a truce and meet some friends.

  At the sound of the man’s call, the kid began to growl. Lucas imagined his head whipping wildly in confusion, the animalistic rage taking hold at the intrusion of voices. Thick, coagulated blood painting the inside of the cubicle from the man’s arm.

  Another thwack against the door. This time it sounded like they’d found an instrument to help their cause. Maybe a box, or a fire extinguisher? The crack grew larger, and this time the kid screeched, his own cry a much higher frequency than the adult ones Lucas had heard before. Maddie gripped Lucas tighter, burying her face into his shoulder. A second later and the kid stepped out of the cubicle, for a moment seeming surprised to be free.

  “Easy now…” Lucas crooned. He clutched Maddie, held her face into him, and retreated until he felt the cold tiles of the wall against his back. The door was to his right. If they managed to open the door, it’d swing right against them and smash him in the face.

  “What the fuck was that?” A deeper voice now. The fear coating the words.

  “Enough of this shit,” came the first man again.

  Lucas had about a second to decide what to do. He felt his gun against his hip and pictured the triumphant scene as the boy’s head exploded in a wash of gore against the grimy tiles. But, if he shot the kid, then it was an outright cry for battle and he wasn’t sure how many bullets were left in the clip. Would there be enough to take on the men outside? He hadn’t even managed an accurate headcount. What if they just kept on coming.

  Besides, could he shoot a boy?

  In a flash of inspiration, Lucas reached forward, unlocked the door, held Maddie, and waited.

  The boy screeched and ran towards them, only a few feet away now. There came an almighty roar from the gas station corridor, followed by a loud crash as the door swung open and the men spilled inside, one by one, some of them crashing on the floor. The door was painful against Lucas’ hands as he held them out enough to stop the worst of it crashing
into their bodies. There was an ‘oof’ from the bathroom floor, followed by a half second of silence.

  Lucas heard that screech again. Exclamations of panic coming from the men. Lucas leaned his head to the side, just enough to see around the edge of the door at the tableau of five men piled on the floor, the feral boy stood with arms wide, legs bent, ready to strike.

  Whether that was all of them, Lucas didn’t know.

  “What the fuck!”

  The boy lunged at them like a feral jaguar. Lucas felt Maddie weeping into his collar and was helpless to watch as the boy sunk his teeth into the neck of a stocky blond man with several ear piercings. He screamed in agony as the teeth tore into the flesh. The others were repelled backwards in fear, eyes wide and fixed on the boy who mounted the blond man, tugged at the flesh, whipped his head back and shook the entrails of viscera in the air. The image made Lucas think of a tech roadie yanking on a cable box.

  “It’s got me… it’s got me, help!” The blond man clutched his neck, reaching out to his pals who had yet to regain their momentum. The boy tucked in for a second bite, spurred on by the delicious flavour of this man’s blood. “Do something!”

  Waking as if from a nightmare, the man that Lucas recognised as the first of the group they’d seen, stood up, pushed off from against the wall, and kicked at the boy with the heel of his boots. The kid was thrown across the room and there was an audible crack as though a bone had shattered in his body. It didn’t stop him though. He immediately got back up, diverting his attention at the brute who attacked him, snarling along the way.

  “What’s happening?” Maddie whimpered, the words almost drowned by the growls and shouts as the men finally came round and took on the feral. “Can we leave?”

  “Yes. We’ll get out of here, don’t worry.” He tried to exude a confidence that he didn’t feel.