The Seventh Cross (working title)

Part 5

         

The dead shuffled ever closer to Kimberley and her trapped loves. Their glowing gaze tinted the world in crimson light and the night air thickened with the stench of rotting flesh. Kimberley threw her arm across her nose and mouth but the smell had infected her clothes and there was nothing to do but inhale the sour stench. A throng of flies buzzed and zipped around Kimberley' head while the dead's collective hiss drowned out the lapping water and croaking frogs. It sounded like an army of agitated snakes and carried all the connotations of a tolling bell. Time was up.

With a wail, Kimberley planted both feet either side of the window. The thinouted layer of the carridge popped and dented. She held her breath and reached through the window. She gripped Zander's hand, he wrapped his fingers around her wrist. Andrew's hand shot across the water like a sharks fin. The hand gripped her around the wrist. She was not strong enough to heave them both out; the pull of two desperate men drew her closer to joining them inside the carriage. Kimberly cried out as she peeled off the unwanted fingers from her wrist. The hand let go, seeming to understand and accept its fate. Then it snatched her. A vice grip around the forearm cutting off the blood to her hand. Kimberly stretched back with her free hand and drew the dagger she kept hidden in her boot, a harsh necessity of traveling the roads alone. With a mournful cry, she slammed the blade into the unwanted hand. The hand drew back and disappeared underwater. Dropping the dagger she clasped two hands around the one she was trying to save. Something popped. Kimberly hoped it was a leg coming free rather than a shoulder joint. Zander's face broke the water and gasped for air. His free arm slapped on the side of the carriage and squeezed himself through the narrow window frame. from the corner of her eye, Kimberly seen the dead horde surround the carriage in a half circle, their moans, their smell, the blood light in their eyes all demanded her surrender to madness. With little of the carriage left above water Zander's body finally squeezed through the window, his shirt buttons on ripped off in the process. They shivered and met each others eyes. Kimberley broke the stare and pointed in the direction of the bolted horses. Decomposed hands clawed at their feet. They shared a solitary nod and jumped off the carriage onto the lake bank. They crashed hard against the ground, their numb fingers bite deep into the muddy lake bank. The cold stole all the strength from her and her boots slipped from under her as she tried to progress up the bank. She caught sight of Zander digging into the mud with a branch and patted the ground. Her open palm repeatedly slapped mud, a cry of desperation welled in her belly. It was about to come out as a scream when her numb fingers tapped the hard circular shape of a branch. She grabbed the stick in both hands and speared it into the mud. She pulled and let her body slip up the mud. When level with the stick, she anchored herself in place with fingers driven deep into the wet earth and drive the stick into the mud once more. She repeated the process till the ground underfoot was firm enough to stand on. With solid ground underfoot, they scampered down the road.

The dead clambered over each other to get atop the carriage. Boots trampled on heads and hands pushed faces as they vied for human flesh. Undead arms slapped against the carriage and fingers squeaked along the sleek exterior as they hauled themselves up. The first made it onto the carriage and wasted no time, its boots put dents in the carriage's shell as it stomped towards the window. The steps boomed their echo out over the lake. The thing squeezed itself through the window and disappeared. The other unread hauled themselves onto the carriage, their numbers so plentiful they looked like a single entity. A many eyed nightmarish mass of limbs and heads. The partly submerged carriage succumbed to the weight and slid down the muddy bank into the water's depths. The lake consumed it greedily. A rush of bubbles broke the surface where it disappeared and the remaining dead waded their way into the lake after it. The world progressively lost its red tint as one by one the dead disappeared underwater. The red light underwater illuminated particles of lakebed sediment. The night fell still. Frogs croaked their indifference at all that had just passed. The moon shimmered on the lake surface and water sloshed over the steep, muddy bank as it had done for countless years. Andrew was gone. Eaten alive or drowned and its final thought would not be he sacrificed his life so those he loved could live. His last thoughts would be of a heart breaking betrayal.