Demise of the Living by Iain McKinnon Page B

the
asphalt.
    There were a couple of cars in
the car park, but without the keys to start them, there would be no
way to manoeuvre them in front of the gate.
    Colin looked down at his
slip-on shoes and khaki shorts.
    No shoelaces. Not even a belt. Even a
tie would do the trick , he
reasoned.
    “Hell with it.”
    Colin grabbed the bottom of his
t-shirt and started pulling it up and off his torso.
    The fence rattled close
by and the moaning grew louder. By the time Colin had fumbled his
way out of the t-shirt the creature was at the gate. The air smelt
of iron from the fresh blood that gently oozed from its neck
wound.
    Colin stuffed his t-shirt
halfway into the space between links.
    He curled the fingers of his
left hand through the chain links and held the gate shut. He
slipped the finger and thumb of his right hand through the void in
the chain on the other gate and started plucking at the cloth of
his t-shirt. He couldn’t get enough of his fingers through the hole
to get a good grip of the material. Every time he tugged, the cloth
slipped a little and gave way.
    The gate rattled and
Colin looked up into the blank stare of the zombie.
    Something cold and wet touched
the fingers of his left hand. He looked across to see the zombie’s
fingers touching his.
    Colin jumped back in
revulsion. “Christ!”
    The creature heaved its lips
back and threw itself at the gate. With its mouth wide open, it
gurgled out a fluid-muffled scream. Spits of fresh blood cascaded
from its mouth.
    Colin took a step back to avoid
the sickening spray.
    The gate swung open and the
bloodied man stumbled in with his arms outstretched, grasping for
its prey.
    “ What’s going on?!” Mo
shouted as he rushed up beside the shirtless Colin.
    “ I need to get this fence
shut! Have you got the key?”
    The zombie snarled and lunged
at Colin. Colin easily sidestepped it.
    He said, “You get the gate
locked. I’ll keep this guy occupied,”
    Mo ducked round the
zombie as Colin, naked from the waist up, played rodeo clown,
shouting and waving his arms wildly.
    Getting to the gate, Mo pulled
out his set of keys and flicked through them until he found the
small brass padlock key. Before locking it, he stuck his head out
and looked both ways down the alleyway. Even though the refuse bins
blocked much of his view, it looked clear. He stepped back,
unlocked the padlock, slid the bolt across, and secured the
gate.
    Behind him, Colin was still
backing up the parking lot, keeping the creature’s attention.
    Mo shouted, “Gary, don’t just
stand there—help him!”
    Gary turned at the sound and
painfully started walking over to Colin.
    Colin caught the movement from
the corner of his eye and turned in time to see Gary raising his
arms to grab him.
    “Christ!” Colin spat out as he
threw himself out of reach.
    The sudden dodge made him
stumble. Losing his balance, he fell flat on his back.
    Insulated from the pain of the
fall by adrenaline and fear, Colin scurried away on his backside
until he could get to his feet again.
    “What’s up with you, Gary?!” Mo
shouted, keeping his distance from his colleague. He looked over at
Colin. “You okay?”
    Colin nodded.
    “Lucky they’re slow bastards,”
he said.
    “ Gary, snap out of it,”
Mo said. “What are you doing?”
    Gary, his eyes glazed
over, had switched targets and was now heading for Mo. Colin kept
the other crazed man focused on him by staying in his line of sight
and taunting him.
    “ He can’t answer you,
Mo,” Colin said, panting slightly. “He’s gone.”
    “What’s up with you?” Mo said,
backing up to maintain his distance.
    “He’s dead,” Colin said.
    “What? No way.”
    “It was on the radio. If they
bite you, you’ll get infected and become one of them.”
    “ What are we supposed to
do?” Mo asked. “We can’t just keep doing this until they get tired
of chasing us.”
    “ They don’t move fast. We
can make a run for the door and lock them out,”