Page 82 of No Man's Land

“Here!” Alex stuck his hand back again, his fingers bloody and the vial only half full. It would have to be enough.

After wedging the cork back in, Josef grabbed the vial and shoved it into his pocket.

“On three,” he said. “Let it go and run for it. Back down the stairs.”

Alex grunted in agreement and yanked the knife out of the creature’s arm. “One,” he said, fisting his hand into the ghoul’s hair. “Two.” He lifted its head. “Three!” And slammed the creature face-first into the concrete floor, then leapt off its back.

Josef released its legs, snatching up the torch as he rolled to his feet.

“Go!” Alex shoved Josef ahead of him towards the stairs.

He went, snatching a quick glimpse of the ghoul struggling to its feet before he was pelting downstairs, Alex on his heels.

And the ghoul at their backs…

Josef was flying, but it wasn’t fast enough. He could hear the ghoul, smell it. Alex shoved his back. “Faster!”

Fuck.

He stumbled, missing a couple of steps, only keeping from falling by grabbing the handrail. His shoulder wrenched as he caught himself, momentum slamming him into the wall. He looked back, flashing the torchlight behind him, and caught the moment the ghoul launched itself at him.

Not at Alex, but at Josef.

In the madly dancing light, it appeared to fly like a demon, gored teeth and inhuman eyes flashing in the dark.

Yelling, Josef threw up his arms to protect his face, stumbling backward down the stairs.

And Alex launched himself forward, right into the path of the ghoul, taking the full brunt of its attack.

They went down together in a tangle of arms and legs, crashing past Josef and down the stairs. Alex gave a sharp cry as they tumbled arse over tit and slammed to the ground at the bottom of the stairwell.

By some miracle, Josef still had his hand torch. Neither Alex nor the ghoul moved beneath its dimming light. Alex lay beneath the ghoul which was splayed over his body. Torch in one hand, gun in the other, Josef hurried down the rest of the stairs. In the distance, he could hear the howls of other creatures. They didn’t have long.

“Alex,” he hissed, drawing closer. Alex lay sprawled on his back, head tilted to one side as if sleeping. Or worse. Josef shook his shoulder. “Alex!”

His eyes opened.

Josef recoiled from the pale eerie blue gaze looking up at him. “Go,” Alex said roughly. “Run.”

“Yes, come on!” He tugged at Alex’s arm, trying to pull him out from beneath the ghoul’s inert body. Fuck, was it dead? If it was, did that mean the blood was no good?

Alex hissed and shook Josef off. “I can’t,” he said in an odd, breathless voice. “Go.”

Josef stared at him. “What?”

“I can’t—”

“You bloody well can!” Josef dropped the torch and the gun, grabbing his shoulders with both hands and heaving.

Alex screamed.

“Fuck!” Josef all but jumped out of his skin. “What’s wrong?”

For a moment, the only sounds were Alex’s laboured breaths. Then he gasped. “Leg. Broken, I think.”

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

And then the ghoul began to stir.

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