Introduction Contents Characters Download Echoes Autumn Autumn: The City Autumn: Purification Autumn: Disintegration Autumn: The Human Condition Home

WEBB
(Day One)

    'I ain't interested, mate,' Webb mumbles as Crawford flings the car around the corner. 'I don't do stuff like that anymore. I told you, I ain't getting involved in that sort of thing no more.'
    'You're a fucking wimp,' Crawford hisses, flicking his cigarette butt out of the half-open window. 'It's safe as houses, this is. You ain't going to get any grief, and you ain't going to give me any grief either.'
    'That's what you said last time. Look what happened then you bloody idiot.'
    'That was Kenny's fault, nothing to do with me.'
    'Kenny was stitched-up. Everything to do with you I heard.'
    'You heard wrong then.'
    Crawford cranks up the volume of the stereo. It drowns out the sound of the engine and the modified exhaust which makes the car sound more like a bike. The windows are rattling with the noise. They stop at a red light. Some old woman looks at Crawford and shakes her head dispairingly. He waves his finger in the air at her and mouths 'fuck off.'
    'Thing is,' he shouts to Webb as they start moving again, 'if you don't do this then Al's going to get mad, and you know what he's like when he's mad. It ain't gonna be my fault if he comes knocking at your door asking why you let him down...'
    'He's got better things to do,' Webb sighs. 'He ain't gonna knock at my door.'
    'You're right. He won't knock, he'll just smash the fucking thing down.'
    'No he won't.'
    'He will. You heard about what happened to Smith when he pissed Al off after that fight at The Gallery? Saw his brother last week. He said Smith still can't feed himself, even though... Shit!'
    'What's the matter?' Webb asks. Crawford's looking in his mirror. Webb turns round and sees there's a police car on their tail. 'Just take it easy,' he says, 'you ain't done nothing wrong, have you?'
    Crawford's sweating.
    'This is one of Al's cars,' he says nervously.
    'And?'
    'Well Al don't buy his fucking cars, you know what I mean?'
    Webb looks round again, just in time to see the blue lights on the roof of the police car start to flash.
    'What you gonna do?'
    Crawford looks scared. Big man's not feeling so brave now.    
    'What you gonna do?' Webb shouts again. There are sirens now.
    At the last possible moment Crawford crosses from the inside to the outside lane, squeezing through a gap between two cars moving at different speeds. He turns right and does a U-turn across the other carriageway, doubling-back on himself and leaving the police stuck in traffic. All they can do is watch him disappear.
    'Nice one,' he says under his breath. He puts his foot down and really starts to move. The streets are busy. He weaves around parked cars and pedestrians and almost knocks a cyclist off his bike. The cyclist shouts something after him but he's long gone.
    'They're still following,' Webb says. He can see the blue lights behind them. They're not giving up. They're way back but they're getting closer. Crawford's having to fight his way through the traffic but it's moving out of the way for the law and the gap between them is getting smaller. 'What you gonna do?' he asks for the third time.
    'Back to Al's,' he mumbles.
    'Fuck off,' Webb protests, 'I'm not going to Al's'
    'Looks like you are.'
    'Fuck off! Let me out!'
    'What you want me to do? Just pull over and drop you off...?'
    'Yes!'
    'With the fucking police right behind me?'
    'Yes!'
    'Fuck off!' he spits again.
    The police car is right up close to them again now, blue lights and flashing headlights filling their mirrors. Crawford's trying not to panic. He can't think straight. Does he head back towards Al's and lead the police to him or does he keep going back into town and try to lose them? Does he just dump the car and run? There's another gap in the traffic. He swerves left and takes a fork in the road and drives up and over a curved fly-over which leads right into the heart of the city.
    'You fucking idiot,' snaps Webb, 'you're taking us right into the city centre. You'll never get away from them there. They're gonna have your bollocks, mate...'
    'Our bollocks, mate,' he corrects him as they begin their descent. Down through a short tunnel under a busy interchange and then back out into daylight. They hit the centre of town and the rush hour queues. Halfway down Temple Street and the already crawling traffic slows to a sudden stop. Crawford slams on his brakes as they hit the back of the queue. The mirrors are filled with flashing lights again and Webb panics. He gets out of the car and starts to run along the pavement, crashing into people. Everyone else seems to be walking the other way. Crawford's about to get out and follow him when he stops. There's a pain in his throat. A sudden, sharp, searing pain like a knife. He starts to cough. He can't breathe. He panics more than before now, and suddenly the police officer that's hammering on his window isn't his biggest problem. He's choking. He can taste blood in his mouth...
    The first policeman turns round and looks back at his colleague who's just fallen out of the patrol car. He's lying on his back in the middle of the road, writhing around in agony. A couple of passer-bys have started to move towards him but before they can do anything they're suddenly grabbing at their own throats, mouthing silent screams of terror and inexplicable pain. Both police officers are down now. The first now lies in the gutter, his body convulsing, gripped by oxygen-starved spasms.
    Webb keeps running until the people around him start dropping to the ground. He slows down but keeps moving, weaving through the carnage, side-stepping the bodies as they fall, not knowing what else to do. He looks back over his shoulder and sees that everyone else is down. Crawford's not moving and neither are the police. Neither is anyone else. He's the only one still on his feet.
    Webb stops walking and his bottom lip starts to tremble like a kid that's just been shouted at by the hardest teacher in school. All around him people are dead or dying. Cars are crashing into each other. Everything is stopping and falling apart. It doesn't make any sense.
    He smells food and his belly starts to grumble. He's standing next to a burger bar. Everyone's dead inside and the food in the kitchen is beginning to burn. He's fucking terrified but his mouth is starting to water and he needs a drink. Maybe it'll help to calm his nerves, he thinks. Maybe it'll help him think straight. He goes into the burger bar, picks up a tray and helps himself to everything he can find behind the counter. He steps over dead staff as he grabs a load of burgers, fries and drinks. He leaves the restaurant and walks back towards Crawford's car, looking up at the buildings on either side of the street so he doesn't have to look down at the bodies. He puts the tray of food on the passenger seat then gets behind the wheel. He can't drive but it doesn't matter. He doesn't know where he'd go if he could. He shuts the doors and locks them then winds up the windows and turns the music up so loud it hurts. The food and the noise stops him thinking about anything else.

 

 

Next  ·  Previous

Introduction  ·  Contents  ·  Download  ·  Home

 

Visit the INFECTED BOOKSTORE
Buy signed AUTUMN paperbacks and download the sequels at lower prices than anywhere else on the Internet!