FlanFic: Some time ago, in Ayr...
There was a heavy knocking on the door, which rattled on the hinges. 'I'll get it', Kiran announced, standing up. Katy put the video on pause, and stretched out her arms with a lazy grin. The door rattled again. 'Just a moment', called Kiran, grabbing the door handle. The door rattled again, more urgently than before. 'Hold your horses', muttered Kiran, turning the handle and opening the door. There was a man at the door, one who Kiran had never seen before. He was wearing a smart business suit, but his apparel was in contrast to his expression. He was pale and looked frantic. Sweat streamed down his face. 'Please, you have to let me in', the man pleaded in desperation. Before Kiran could reply, there was a terrible screeching, as if a car's brakes had been punched in the soul. In a blur of tattered clothing and bloody skin, the man at the door was sent flying sideways with a yell. There was a sound of an impact, followed by a grotesque sound which provoked images of tearing flesh in Kiran's mind. He slammed the door, and turned his back to it.
Breathlessly, he reached into his pocket and called 999. There was no reply, save a low monotone beeping. The phone lines were down. 'Katy?', he inquired, his calm voice betraying his racing mind. Katy appeared around the doorway, eyebrows raised. 'I think we have to leave', said Kiran slowly. Katy's expression rapidly became puzzled and concerned. 'Why?', she asked, as if it was some terrible practical joke. The door was hit with an impact so hard it almost fell off its hinges. 'NOW', yelled Kiran. The fear in his eyes and voice told Katy this was no joke. There was another huge collision from the doorway. She turned around and ran through the back of the house, swinging the back door open and stepping outside. She span around in the garden, looking for Kiran. 'Kiran?', she shouted. There was a deafening clang from the house, as if Odin himself were making an omelette. Katy furrowed her brow in concern. Suddenly, Kiran burst out of the back door with such haste that he almost fell flat on his face, and had to flail to recover his balance. With a slightly manic smile, he ran up to Katy, brandishing a frying pan in each hand. 'What are you-', began Katy, but her sentence was cut short.
There was another terrible screech, as another one of the creatures hurtled towards them. This one wore a ripped business suit. The bare flesh that was visible appeared to have bite marks on it, and parts of its arm were torn away altogether. Kiran's stomach gave a sickening lurch of recognition as he saw its face. It was the man from the doorway, but his eyes were black, and blood spilled from his mouth as he charged in their direction. Instinctively, Kiran raised the frying pan to shoulder height, and swung it as hard as he could. There was a sound that resembled a frying pan-shaped car crashing into a wall made of zombies (namely, a resounding clang, with an undertone of crunching bone), and the oncoming creature sprawled face first into the dirt. It gurgled once, then stopped moving.
Kiran looked up at Katy with his eyebrows raised. 'Well, there go my doubts on the plan', she said, gazing at the dead monster with a look of horrified curiosity. Kiran handed her a frying pan, whilst telling her the plan. 'The phone lines are down, so we're going to walk there. They've got to have a working radio, so we can call for help there'. Katy looked concerned. 'What if this is everywhere, Kiran?', she asked, 'what if we can't get through?'. Kiran shook his head. 'We can't afford to think like that', he said, and Katy nodded in agreement.
The walk to the police station was relatively uneventful. There was nobody on the streets of Ayr, despite it being a warm Saturday afternoon. Cars were parked haphazardly on the pavements and in the road. Alarms screamed and lights flashed, but there was nobody around to react to them. Kiran and Katy walked tentatively, frying pans raised, but nobody was around. In places, a substance that looked ominously like blood was pooled on the ground, and splashed onto walls. After an eternity, they reached the police station. Cautiously, Kiran nudged the front door open. The blue carpet on the floor was stained with blood, and there was smashed glass on the ground. Steadily, Kiran opened the door a bit further and stepped inside. There was a low growl, and a huge monster appeared around the corner. Its eyes had no irises, but were filled with malice nonetheless. At a glance, Kiran thought it must have been at least 7 feet tall, and 3 feet wide. 'NOPE', he yelped, quickly backstepping out of the open door as the monster gave a thunderous roar.
There was a series of impossibly heavy footfalls from inside the building, and Kiran dived into Katy, pushing her out of the way of the door, which were shattered to splinters a second later as the monster came charging clean through. It continued to charge blindly, and collided heavily with the wall of the building opposite the police station. Kiran and Katy both staggered to their feet as the monster stumbled back around to face them. 'It's as big as a tank', cried Katy in dismay. The """tank""" had recovered, and prepared to charge again. This time, Kiran and Katy both smoothly sidestepped out of its way, and the brick wall of the police station shuddered under the impact of the giant. Simultaneously, they swung their frying pans around to smash into the sides of the giant's head. It gave out a low, dazed bellow, and then collapsed. With a look of disdain, Kiran stepped over the body of the beast and into the deserted police station.
Inside, there was a metal door that had been knocked off its hinges, presumably by the huge monster. Inside, the strip lights on the ceiling flickered, casting the room into periodic darkness. Katy ventured inside, eyes peeled for any signs of movement. With an electrical buzz, the lights came back to life, revealing the contents of the room. Lining every wall were dozens of metal shelves and racks, each of which was loaded with firearms. Katy could have sworn that her bottom jaw struck the ground. She reached out and picked up the nearest handgun. It was sleek and black, and was satisfyingly heavy in her hand. She flicked open the cylinder release. There were 12 bullets inside. The safety was on, so she pocketed the handgun, and looked around. The room was packed to the brim; there were assault rifles, shotguns, pistols and what appeared to be a box of grenades, as well as dozens and dozens of boxes of ammunition.
Kiran came running down from the second floor, holding a radio in his hand. 'I got through to somebody!', he declared, 'they're sending someone in to pick us up just out of town, so we should hur-'. Katy looked on in amusement as Kiran's eyes widened at the sight of the armoury. He stepped in cautiously, as if he was afraid that every gun was going to go off at once. Slowly, he reached out, and grabbed a decently sized assault rifle. It felt formidable. Kiran slung it around his back, and picked up a heavy double-barreled shotgun. It was fully loaded, but Kiran grabbed a few spare clips anyway. He turned around to face Katy, who had picked up another identical handgun. 'Let's get a move on then', he said with a slight grin on his face. From outside the building came a loud cacophony. Katy spun around on the spot, suddenly alert. Silently, the two of them crept to the front door and peered outside.
The streets had become infested with zombies, all of whom were staring into the sky with dead eyes. The steady, loud sound of air being sliced was attracting them. A helicopter hovered around in the sky, descending to somewhere outside of town. Kiran swallowed nervously, holding his shotgun out. He glanced at Katy, who looked as anxious as he felt. Both of her hands were shaking slightly, and each of the guns she was holding was wavering. Without warning, one of the zombies in the street turned around to the face them. It gurgled menacingly, and suddenly all of them had turned to face the police station. Kiran looked back at Katy. She met his gaze with a look of renewed determination, then nodded. With one pistol in each hand, she rose her arms to shoulder height. Then, with a deafening bang, she pulled both triggers. The bullets found their targets, and two of the monsters collapsed on their knees as the metal tore into them. The other zombies began to run towards Kiran and Katy, who also begun to charge towards them head-on.
When they were within 15 feet, Kiran unleashed both barrels into the crowd of monstrosities. The shrapnel flew from the muzzle with incredible speed, and tore into the mob with devastating impact. Several of the zombies were taken out, but the rest continued to lumber on. Kiran fell back to reload, and Katy ran in front of him. Rapidly, she fired all of the remaining bullets into the horde. Every last round found a body, and more than a dozen fell to the ground, dead. Kiran fired the shotgun again, taking out the remaining zombies. They didn't even pause for breath, but sprinted over the bloodied corpses in pursuit of the helicopter.
The main road was empty still, and they were free to run straight down to the beach. The helicopter was waiting for them, just visible through a crowd of zombies. Without hesitating, Kiran slung his assault rifle back around to his hip, and sprinted into the crowd of zombies, sending lethal bursts of fire in different directions. Katy stood at the top of the beach and stared down at the scene below her. Kiran was surrounded in every direction by zombies, and Katy's heart rose to her throat as they closed in. Out of the blue, there was a shout from the heart of the crowd, and then the sound of continuous gunfire. Zombie after zombie hit the ground, dead. The sand was laced with streams of blood. Unable to watch anymore, Katy sprinted flat out down the beach. By the time she got there, however, every one of the zombies was lying on the ground, dead or incapacitated. With a sense of awe, Katy realised that Kiran had been spinning around, firing every bullet in his magazine. The ground was covered in spent shells, and the muzzle of the rifle was smoking. He looked up at Katy, swaying slightly on the spot. There was blood splashed across his face. He gave her a slightly dazed smile, and then fell over.
When Kiran opened his eyes again, he was in a helicopter. Katy was leaning over him, looking concerned. She gave a wide grin when she saw he was okay. Kiran's head pounded. 'Oh god', he muttered, 'I can feel every red blood cell in my skull'. 'Oh, quit complaining', chuckled Katy. 'Where are we going anyway?', asked Kiran, sitting up on the hard metal floor. 'London', replied Katy, 'someone's bound to be there, right?'. Kiran nodded in agreement, and then clutched his head in his hands as his head gave a twinge of resent in the sudden movement. 'Maybe you should sleep', suggested Katy. 'It's going to be a long journey'. The helicopter flew over Ayrshire, headed south. They didn't look back.
