Clare tightened her fingers on the steering wheel. Her mind was spiralling out in a hundred different directions. She’d been frightened that the call with Beth had cut off because Beth’s home had been sucked into a quiet zone. But maybe that had been the wrong way of looking at it. What if I’m in a quiet zone?
Her heart hammered. She put pressure on the accelerator, making the tyres dig through the thin layer of snow that had drifted through the canopy.
Something heavy slammed into the side of her car. Clare screamed. Bloodshot eyes pressed against the glass on the passenger’s door. Long, scabbed fingers scrabbled at the glass. Terror overrode Clare’s wits. She stomped on the accelerator. The engine screamed and shot her forward. The creature tried to cling on but dropped away within a few feet. Then another one hit the other side of her car.
There wasn’t enough time to correct. Her car rose up onto the side of the road. A massive pine tree blocked her path. Clare tried to brake, but the tyres had left the ground. She was powerless to do anything except hold on.
The front of her car crumpled in a wail of twisting metal and breaking pipes. Clare’s jaw hit the edge of the steering wheel, then she was forced back into the seat as the airbag deployed.
It was all over in seconds. She was left gasping and shaking, staring over the deflating bag and through the cracked windshield at the mangled remains of her car’s hood.
“No…” Clare’s hands shook as she unclenched her death grip on the wheel. She felt dizzy. Shock blurred her senses, and it took a moment to feel the aches develop. Her neck hurt where her head had been wrenched forwards and thrown back. A rib stung, and her jaw felt sore. But there was nothing worse. It was a small miracle, considering the state of her car. She looked down at her legs and confirmed they were still intact.
She turned to look through her side window. She could see the road in both directions. Her car’s wheels had left imprints in the soft snow, clearly marking her trajectory where she’d veered off the path. There was no sign of anything else.
What was that?
She ran her trembling hand over her face then felt for the key. It turned in the ignition, but the car didn’t respond. She tried twice more before letting the key go. Her car was dead. Even if she could walk out of the forest, she was miles from any kind of civilisation. She needed some kind of rescue, but with the emergency response hotlines all busy, that could be a long time coming.
She had food and water in the car and would normally be prepared to hunker down for however long it took for someone else to drive down the road. But not that day. Not with that thing out there.
Beth would come for her. Clare shuddered at the idea of asking her sister to leave her bunker in the middle of a global collapse, but Beth wasn’t just the most reliable option—she was the only option. Clare looked for her mobile. It had flown out of the cup holder during the collision. She doubted it would help anyway. It hadn’t picked up any kind of signal since before she’d entered the forest.
She still had her shortwave radio, though. Tucked into its pouch in the boot, it would still work even if every phone in the area was dead.
Clare pressed close to the driver’s-side window, scanning her environment. There was nothing on the roads. She couldn’t see anything in the trees. She hated the idea of opening the door, but she doubted the situation would improve if she sat still. She set her jaw, braced herself, then threw open the door.
The temperature had dropped alarmingly since Clare had left home. She barrelled into the snow, skidded, and caught her balance on the side of the car. The only thing she could hear was her rasping breathing and the whistle of the storm as it ripped at the upper levels of the forest.
She turned towards the boot. Being outside the car left her feeling exposed and vulnerable. But she just had to grab the radio, then she could duck back inside into the car’s relative warmth and safety.
A noise jangled through the frigid air as Clare passed the rear door. She felt her heart plummet as she looked up. A shape crouched on top of the car. The man’s curly blond hair was bloody from where he’d smashed his head. His fingers were splayed across the cold metal, seemingly without feeling it. His bloodshot eyes bulged, and a trickle of red ran from his nose and across his bared teeth.
They made eye contact for a fraction of a second. Then Clare lunged back towards the open driver’s door. He swiped at her, his fingers catching her jacket and yanking her back. Clare screamed. She hit the ground and rolled away reflexively. An instant later, the man landed where she’d just lain, his bare feet thudding into the snow.
“No.” Clare scrambled back. A second figure emerged from the forest on the other side of the road. A woman. Her jaw hung limp as if dislocated, and it swung with every staggering step she took. Her head tilted to one side as she stared at Clare, and the drooping lips curved into a smile.
The man darted towards her. Clare threw out a foot. It connected with his chest but wasn’t enough to throw him back. His fingers dug into her leg. The nails were long and sharper than Clare had expected. Her pant leg tore, and Clare shrieked as nails shredded her skin.
She rolled and kicked her other leg. This time, it hit the man’s arm, bending the elbow in the wrong direction. He thrashed back, releasing her, and she crawled towards the car.
Her leg was on fire. The cuts weren’t deep, but the pain was intense. She reached the driver’s seat and used her arms to haul herself inside.
They were coming after her. Thundering through the snow, bodies contorted as they scuttled on all fours. Clare pulled her legs into the car and wrenched the door closed.
She was too slow. One of the man’s bony hands caught on the door’s edge, stopping it from shutting properly. Clare screamed and pulled harder, slamming the door on the hand. The fingers bulged and spasmed as she fractured bones. The pain didn’t seem to reach the man, though. His face pressed close to the glass as he hissed and smeared his lips across the window.
The twisting, spasming fingers horrified Clare. She leaned back in the car, half into the passenger’s seat, as she tried to use her body weight to pull the door closed. She couldn’t take her eyes away from the broken digits that still seemed to reach for her.
The second creature slammed into the driver’s door, and the impact nearly shook Clare’s grip on the handle. The woman and the man jostled for space as the woman began worming her fingertips into the gaps left around the seal.
Clare shook her head, silently begging them to stop, begging them to leave. The woman adjusted her grip on the door. Then she pulled on it. Clare didn’t stand a chance. The metal bent, distorting, as the two ghouls pried it open. Clare held her arm out ahead of herself, trying to shield her face, as they poured in through the opening.
There were fingers everywhere, scrabbling at her stomach, digging into her throat, and shredding her arm. Clare screamed and couldn’t stop screaming as the pain blazed through her like wildfire. Blood gushed. Dripping down her arm. Soaking her clothes. She beat at the creatures, but they didn’t seem to notice the blows.
Then a loud crack in the distance made them freeze. They turned their heads towards the sky, teeth bared in a snarl as they watched something Clare couldn’t see. A steady whmp whmp whmp floated into her consciousness. Helicopter blades. They were growing nearer.