“But what did he die of?”
“Maybe the same thing that was wrong with the woman we found.”
“It’s fucked up,” Magnus muttered.
Ralph averted his gaze to the floor. “I wish we knew his name. No one should die without a name, especially not a child.”
Magnus covered the boy with the duvet and retreated quickly. “What if the boy’s contagious?”
Ralph didn’t answer.
They returned to the landing.
Ralph looked up at the attic hatch. “So what was he doing up there? Hiding?”
“We’ll never know,” said Magnus. “There’s no need to know. Let’s just go back downstairs.”
“Someone should go up there,” Ralph said.
Magnus blinked. “What? Are you mental?”
“Think about it. Do you want to go downstairs knowing there might be someone else lurking in the attic? There’s that thing outside that crashed against the door, and the thing that was shrieking when we first arrived in the village. Those things, whatever they are, are outside. We need to make sure that we’re safe inside the house.”
Magnus sighed. “I’m not having you on my shoulders. You’re too heavy. We’ll need a stepladder to get up there.”
“Not necessarily,” said Ralph.
“What do you mean?”
“You get on my shoulders.”
“Fuck off.”
“We have to know if the attic’s empty. We might have to stay here for the night. Otherwise one of us will have to stand guard here all night.”
Magnus looked up at the hatch. “Bollocks.”
“Come on then.”
“How do you wanna do this?”
“Either you stand on my shoulders or I give you a lift up with my hands.”
“You choose.”
“I’ll lift you up.”
“Okay. Don’t let me fall.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
“No. Not at all.”
Ralph put down his knife, then crouched beneath the hatch and cupped his hands. “Ready?”
“No.” Magnus stepped forward, put his right foot into Ralph’s hands, and his other foot on Ralph’s right shoulder.
Ralph took his weight and wobbled; shifted his feet to steady himself. His fingers hurt under Magnus’s cheap trainers.
“Do it,” Magnus said. “Hurry.”
Lifting with his legs, Ralph hoisted Magnus up to the hatch; Magnus gripped the hatch edges.
Ralph shook under his friend’s weight. “You’re heavier than you look, you skinny bastard.”
“Maybe you’re weaker than you look, fat bastard.”
“Funny. What do you see?”
“It’s pretty dark up here.”
“Use your fucking torch then.”
“Shut up.”
Ralph held onto Magnus’s legs, keeping him steady. He righted himself. His strength held. He heard Magnus shifting around above him.
“What the hell are these doing up here?”
“What is it?”
Magnus lowered a set of keys in front of Ralph’s face. “One of them must be for the car out in the driveway.” Magnus pocketed them.
Ralph tried to ignore the musty smell of Magnus’s feet. Then Magnus’s legs began to shake.
Silence.
“I think I see something,” Magnus said, finally. “There’s something moving up here.”
“What?”
Magnus didn’t answer.
“Magnus,” he said, and didn’t like how his voice sounded.
“Oh fuck,” Magnus whispered.
“What do you see, mate?”
“Let me down.”
“What’s up there?”
“Fucking let me down, now!”
Ralph lowered into a crouch. Magnus stumbled onto the landing and into the wall. His face was white and his mouth was open.
“There’re two of them,” Magnus said.
Ralph picked up his knife, looked up at the hatch. The sound of shuffling footsteps.
“What’s up there?”
“You don’t want to know,” said Magnus. “We have to leave.”
“What the fuck is it?”
“Just move.”
Magnus stumbled down the stairs. Ralph turned back and saw a face appear in the open hatch and regard him with piscine eyes. He stared at the face until its mouth curled into a grey-lipped grin. He felt his bowels drop. He ran down the stairs, jumping the last two steps. Magnus and Joel were already removing the barricade from the front door.
“Hurry up!” Ralph said.
A soft thump upstairs.
“Hurry up!”
The attic’s occupants were on the landing. Shadows moved, reaching and long-limbed.
Ralph helped remove the Welsh dresser from the front door. It crashed onto the floor.
Magnus opened the door.
Cold air rushed into the house.
Joel and Ralph looked up the stairway.
Two figures stared back at them. A man and a woman. They were all limbs and bruises. Wounds like mouths on their bodies. Wet tumours and weeping cysts on their skin. Eyes shining in the torchlight.
“The boy’s parents,” Magnus said. “They were nesting in a corner of the attic.”
The monsters began to descend the stairs. Their movements were avian-like and twitchy, their eyes set upon the men with ravenous intensity. A hunger. A need. A desperate craving for something unspeakable. Their skin glistened wet and milky.
Ralph pushed Joel out the doorway. Magnus was trying to start the car.
“We’ve left our bags in the house!” Joel said.
“You want to go back in and get them?” Ralph growled. He shut the front door behind him.
From the house, the two creatures shrieked and wailed for them to stay, to come back inside.
Joel reached the car, jumped onto the backseat. He banged his head on the door frame. Ralph sat in the front passenger seat. He shut his door. Locked it.
“We have to leave this place,” said Ralph.
“What about Frank?” said Joel.
“He’s dead, for all we know.”
“We can’t leave him here. We could go back to where we left the woman.”
Ralph turned his head to stare at Joel. “We haven’t got time. He made his choice. Feel free to get out and start looking for him.”
Joel looked away, said nothing.
Ralph turned back and wished he hadn’t.
From all around them, out of the shadows and the dark gardens, pale mewling things rose from their hiding places and emerged into the street. They were people, but not people. Not anymore.
“Fuck me,” said Ralph. “This is nuts.”
Magnus was still trying to start the car. When he turned the key in the ignition, the engine only responded with a desperate chugging sound.
“Start, you bastard!” Magnus cried. He kept glancing up at the creatures approaching the car.
“Be careful,” said Joel. “You’ll flood the engine.”
“Hurry up!” Ralph said, watching skittering shapes moving across the street. “Come on!”
“I’m trying,” he said, and his voice broke. “I’m trying…”
“Try harder.”
Magnus banged his hand against the steering wheel; the horn blared. He exhaled, twisted the key so that the dashboard went dark. He waited, his eyes flicking towards the advancing things.
“What’re you doing?” said Ralph. “Start the fucking car!” He checked the rear-view mirror and saw the front door of the house open. The boy’s parents stepped outside towards the car.
Joel was whimpering.
“Just wait,” said Magnus.
“If you don’t start the car I’ll stick this knife up your arse,” said Ralph.
Magnus ignored him; he turned the key and the dashboard lights turned on. “Here goes…”
The parents clawed at the rear windscreen, attempting to gain entry. White tortured faces peered in at Joel and he screamed.
Magnus turned the key towards the engine; it spluttered, almost giving Ralph a coronary, but then growled and revved as Magnus pumped the accelerator. Magnus whooped, punched the air.