Hairdressers and Zombies/Episode 2

“Hey, Lou you okay baby?” Andre asked as he answered his phone, recognizing the ring tone.

“No, you jerk! You promised you’d come and meet my parents! That was half an hour ago!” an angry woman yelled into her phone in a harsh whisper.

She was in fact stood in her parent’s toilet.

“Oh, well I couldn’t sorry. I got kept back at work and—“

“I don’t want to hear it! Just get here now, y’know I’m sick to death of making plans and—“

This time it was Lou who was interrupted, by the bleeping of her phone which indicated Andre had hung up on her.

He was tired of Louise now anyway; she was needy, selfish, getting pretty dull too.

So he followed the same steps the others received, he held down her contact option and selected block number.

He then deleted the contact from his phonebook.

There was plenty more fish in the sea was the saying.

Well if that was the case right now Andre had an aquarium to himself; a string of seventeen girls at the minute, not including one night stands.

The sad thing was seventeen was pretty average for him, but everyone had their ups and downs.

But for the past four years he’d never had less than ten girls at once.

As a matter of fact since college he’d always had four.

He planned to break it off with Tosh to, pretty girl, fine ass but like Lou, too needy.

Did she really think he was going to move in with her?

<p class="MsoNormal">No way.

<p class="MsoNormal">He first considered texting her and began typing:

<p class="MsoNormal">Hey Tosh,

<p class="MsoNormal">I’ve really had fun and really enjoyed spending time with you but it just isn’t working out. I think we both want different things and you

<p class="MsoNormal">He then stopped tying and began pressing backspace repeatedly on his blackberry.

<p class="MsoNormal">No, that’s too soppy, she’d want to try and work it out, and she’d probably leave work and try and find him now and he didn’t want to unnecessarily hurt her.

<p class="MsoNormal">A woman pushing a stroller went speeding past, knocking Andre to the side slightly.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Watch it! Just cause you’ve popped a little ‘un out doesn’t mean you own the street!” he yelled angrily.

<p class="MsoNormal">The woman didn’t respond, didn’t even look back.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Asshole” he muttered to himself.

<p class="MsoNormal">He then thought of a better way to do it, go visit her at work.

<p class="MsoNormal">That’s it!

<p class="MsoNormal">He could ask to have a word with her outside, tell her we’re finished.

<p class="MsoNormal">She’ll cry, sure, but she’ll have her co-workers to comfort her, saves him the time and effort.

<p class="MsoNormal">Hell the girl might get a day off for it; he’d be doing her a favour.

<p class="MsoNormal">That was when another person began walking toward him.

<p class="MsoNormal">He was staggering all over, as if his legs were made of jelly.

<p class="MsoNormal">His eyes were a musky white; the pupils had vanished in the cloud-like balls.

<p class="MsoNormal">“You alright, man?” Andre asked disgusted as the man continued staggering toward him.

<p class="MsoNormal">He was, maybe twenty, in a hoodie with a large number seven printed on the front.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Urgh...” he croaked.

<p class="MsoNormal">Andre noticed blood dripping from his mouth.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Ah, looks like you’ve been taking too much...Crack? Heroin?...Jesus, this is Breaking Bad shit” he laughed.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Urgh...” the man groaned again.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What the hell?” Andre hadn’t taken drugs, well none he saw as ‘real drugs’ anyway.

<p class="MsoNormal">He’d smoked some pot but Christ he’d never even heard of any drugs that did that to you.

<p class="MsoNormal">The man’s arms then tightly clenched Andre by his shoulders.

<p class="MsoNormal">His teeth now trying to chomp down as he was shoved back.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What the fuck man!? Fucking freak!” Andre yelled angrily.

<p class="MsoNormal">That was when the man lounged forward again, biting Andre in the side of the neck.

<p class="MsoNormal">He screamed in agony as he shoved the man again, further this time.

<p class="MsoNormal">The person fell against a bench, slicing their arm open.

<p class="MsoNormal">It then fell back, landing on the curb of a road by its neck.

<p class="MsoNormal">Andre heard the crack.

<p class="MsoNormal">He was stilling holding his wound, gasping for air in shock and pain.

<p class="MsoNormal">If it’d been a centimetre higher it would’ve punctured his jugular, he would’ve been long-dead.

<p class="MsoNormal">Frantically he started looking around the street he was in, spotting Turn Head’s Salon at the end.

<p class="MsoNormal">At that point ditching Tosh was the least of his worries as he dashed towards it, passing the sprawled out person who had bitten him.

<p class="MsoNormal">He looked down as he did and saw it was still chomping, although now unable to stand.

<p class="MsoNormal">Its head almost twisted a full three hundred and sixty degrees.

<p class="MsoNormal">Trying not to think about it or unable to, Andre carried on running.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blood pattered out in-between his fingers, leaving several small dabs of blood on the pavement below.

<p class="MsoNormal">They shone with a reflective glow in the sunshine.

<p class="MsoNormal"> <p class="MsoNormal">“Oh my god, oh my god, Andre? Andre?”  Tosh cried.

<p class="MsoNormal">She was now on her knees besides him, holding his head up toward her own.

<p class="MsoNormal">His eyes had now rolled back.

<p class="MsoNormal">He spluttered again, covering Tosh’s bright, happy face in a thin jet of blood.

<p class="MsoNormal">After coughing he fell back again.

<p class="MsoNormal">Annie continued crying; Joanne was still holding her head down and screaming too.

<p class="MsoNormal">Lucy ran behind Tosh and joined her mother and sister on the ground crying also.

<p class="MsoNormal">Kayleigh looked to Patricia for the answer in a quick glance of sheer terror.

<p class="MsoNormal">The spilt cups of coffee now mixed into the growing puddle of blood making it appear like an old polluted lake.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Call an ambulance! For godsake, someone call an ambulance!” Patricia yelled.

<p class="MsoNormal">Kayleigh frantically felt her pockets, of all the days to leave her phone at home it had to be this.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Mom!...I...” Annie cried, still unable to speak.

<p class="MsoNormal">Denise looked at the blood around her and pushed herself even further back than she was.

<p class="MsoNormal">Meanwhile Patricia, stepping over the blood and coffee reached the landline phone.

<p class="MsoNormal">Pressing in nine-one-one as quick as a flash.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Andre? Andre?!” Tosh cried loudly, the tears then flowed again.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Here, let me” Kayleigh said, seeing no other use for herself.

<p class="MsoNormal">She took a handful of tissues and pressed them against the bite in the side of his neck.

<p class="MsoNormal">They started soaking the blood at first but it was far too much, they all turned red, leaving her hands just as stained.

<p class="MsoNormal">Tosh then turned to Kayleigh.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Is..Is he going to—“

<p class="MsoNormal">“No! Just come on...Just keep his head up” she replied worriedly, doubting it herself.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Hello, I...What? It can’t be engaged! It’s the hospital! Shit!” Patricia yelled slamming the phone back down and re-dialling.

<p class="MsoNormal">Same result.

<p class="MsoNormal">Denise then looked down into the gloopy mess that now coated majority of the floor.

<p class="MsoNormal">Hearing Patricia’s fury and the craziness around her she reluctantly dipped her hand in, spotting the phone which had fallen from his pocket.

<p class="MsoNormal">She held it and using one, already blood covered finger, wiped the layer of blood of the screen and buttons.

<p class="MsoNormal">Six text messages were received as well as twenty three Facebook notifications and nine missed calls; all from the many girlfriends of Andre.

<p class="MsoNormal">She too tried ringing an ambulance, the same result again.

<p class="MsoNormal">Spotting the chair she was sat on earlier she did a small leap over the blood and sat on it.

<p class="MsoNormal">Her knees rose to her head so the blood didn’t fill her open top shoes.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Godammit!” Patricia cried, slamming down and re-dialling again.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Help him, please...Oh god, please” Tosh squealed.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m really scared, mom! Please! Let’s go!”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah...Please...mummy...”

<p class="MsoNormal">“No...Shh, just give  me a second...I...I need to think...shh” Joanne replied, trying to recollect her thoughts.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Damn it!”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Andre, can you hear me?” Kayleigh asked.

<p class="MsoNormal">“The person you are trying to contact—“

<p class="MsoNormal">“Damn!”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Mummy please!”

<p class="MsoNormal">“The person you are tryin—“

<p class="MsoNormal">“No!”

<p class="MsoNormal">“I can’t hear him! Is he still breathing?!”

<p class="MsoNormal">“The person you are trying to contact—“

<p class="MsoNormal">“How can it be engaged!!” Patricia screamed, slamming it down several times.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I...I don’t think so. I’m so sorry” Kayleigh said solemnly, resting her hand on Tosh’s back.

<p class="MsoNormal">Patricia this time let the phone drop.

<p class="MsoNormal">It hung by its capable like a bungee jumper.

<p class="MsoNormal">Tosh’s sobs and screams drowned out any other sound in the room.

<p class="MsoNormal">“No! No! NO!” she cried, holding his hand tightly.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh my god...He’s dead?” Denise asked stunned.

<p class="MsoNormal">The room fell into a deep silence, besides Tosh’s cries.

<p class="MsoNormal">Annie looked up at her mother, and she down at her.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I’ll...I’ll clean this blood” Kayleigh said still shaken up, breaking the silence which hung in the air.

<p class="MsoNormal">Denise, taking the cutting cloak from her shoulders handed it to her.

<p class="MsoNormal">Kayleigh was about to put it down when a hand grabbed her arm.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Put it over him....The little ones aren’t going to want to see him” Patricia said in a quick whisper.

<p class="MsoNormal">She rested it over the body; Tosh didn’t respond, she just held tightly to his hand.

<p class="MsoNormal">Denise, who always had her nose in other people’s business, began flicking through Andre’s phone.

<p class="MsoNormal">Half out of interest the other to take her mind away from the scene in front of her.

<p class="MsoNormal">Joanne now got to her feet; her two children followed her back to the row of waiting seats.

<p class="MsoNormal">“The new was right?! This can’t be happening! It’s crazy!” Joanne exclaimed.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What about dad? Do you think he’ll be okay?” Lucy asked.

<p class="MsoNormal">The thought of other people’s safety other than her own and her children hadn’t even crossed her mind.

<p class="MsoNormal">This could be the entire city, or the country, what if it’s the whole globe?

<p class="MsoNormal">“Dad’ll be okay...He will...won’t he?” Annie said, her voice cracking in her teary way once again.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Lucy, take your phone and keep trying to ring your dad till it works...Tell him to get his ass here and pick us up”

<p class="MsoNormal">Annie this time did not correct her mother’s cursing.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What if it doesn’t work?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“It will” Joanne replied sternly.

<p class="MsoNormal">Not continuing the argument further Lucy quickly began to dial.

<p class="MsoNormal">Denise’s eyes widened and widened as she continued reading Andre’s texts.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Lucy, can I have your cloak too?” Kayleigh asked.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Huh? Oh yeah”

<p class="MsoNormal">She unfastened it and threw it to her, not taking her eyes away from her phone.

<p class="MsoNormal">The call was dropped instantly.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Try again” her mother whispered into her ear.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m...I need to go wash my hands” Kayleigh said, her voice cracking as she sped walked out of the room into the back.

<p class="MsoNormal">Patricia glanced up before shaking her head and following Kayleigh; she then stopped and looked down at Tosh.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Can I get you anything?” she asked emotionlessly.

<p class="MsoNormal">Tosh rose her head, looked at her in silence for a second before lowering it back down.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Okay” she said as she continued walking.

<p class="MsoNormal">Kayleigh crept into the kitchen slowly; she placed her hands in front of her to clean.

<p class="MsoNormal">They began shaking, trembling as she looked at the blood.

<p class="MsoNormal">Tears then began filling her eyes as she took short deep breaths.

<p class="MsoNormal">She turned the tap on and rubbed them together frantically, the water changing for a pale blue to a pink.

<p class="MsoNormal">She then looked up in the mirror at herself which hung for the staff.

<p class="MsoNormal">It was old, tatty but like many things at Turn Head’s it did its job.

<p class="MsoNormal">She wiped her eyes, clearing the run make-up when she noticed Patricia behind her.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Are you okay?” she asked.

<p class="MsoNormal">Kayleigh tried to recollect herself.

<p class="MsoNormal">“N...No...” her voice cracked again and before she knew it tears were flooding down.

<p class="MsoNormal">“We’re going to die, aren’t we Trish?...I’m trying, trying to think of any way that won’t happen but it will...How can this be happening?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t know” Patricia replied more sympathetically than she had ever sounded in her entire life

<p class="MsoNormal">“He’s dead, Trish...Dead!...I watched the life leave his body, I had his blood all over me...Oh god, I can’t do this, I just can’t” she sobbed.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Well you’ve got to, not just for your sake but those kids too. They’re scared out of their minds, I am but we can’t let them know that, we’re the adults here. You can’t be spilling your guts and crying all the time...Not like Tosh”

<p class="MsoNormal">Kayleigh looked at her, stunned.

<p class="MsoNormal">“So that’s what this is about, her boyfriend’s dead and you still want to have digs at her? She’s crying, of course she is, you’d have to be insane not to be! Yet you still want to have little shots at her? Y’know why don’t you just finish it off, sink the knife in and fire her too while you’re at it?” Kayleigh said in a harsh whisper.

<p class="MsoNormal">She would’ve screamed it at her but Tosh had enough on her mind without hearing it; they all did.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Okay, Kay. Fine, I’m the bitch...Again! Yeah, I wasn’t checking in on you, I just came to talk about Tosh” Patricia snapped sarcastically, shaking her head as she left.

<p class="MsoNormal">Kayleigh scowled at her as she left before she continued to wipe her make-up.

<p class="MsoNormal">There was suddenly a large bang against the window.

<p class="MsoNormal">Annie and Lucy screamed clenching to each other.

<p class="MsoNormal">Kayleigh ran into the main room; make-up still smothered down her face.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh lord! There’s one outside, it’s disgusting!” Denise screamed, now backing away from the window.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Can it get in?!” shrieked Lucy from the ground.

<p class="MsoNormal">“No honey, it can’t. Just calm down, we’ll call the police when the phones come back on. It’s still silly, just a drug ring gone wrong or something, hun...All blown way up” Joanne said comfortingly.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Blown way up?! That boy’s dead on the floor! They killed him! Bit him! It isn’t blown up, it’s crazy!” Denise shrieked.

<p class="MsoNormal">Joanne was about to retaliate but heard her daughters cry once again

<p class="MsoNormal">Tosh didn’t even move, not a flinch.

<p class="MsoNormal">There was another large thump.

<p class="MsoNormal">Kayleigh entered, still shaken up, and sat beside the children.

<p class="MsoNormal">“You okay sweetheart?” she asked Annie.

<p class="MsoNormal">The little girl, so confident and full of energy less than half an hour ago was a terrified mess.

<p class="MsoNormal">She shuck her head.

<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s going to get in” she said coldly.

<p class="MsoNormal">The words sent shivers down Kayleigh’s spine.

<p class="MsoNormal">She looked up at the window for the first time, a man stood, in his mid forties.

<p class="MsoNormal">His ginger beard coated in blood, his teeth grinding against the window.

<p class="MsoNormal">The eyes, just as lifeless as Andre’s had turned.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Shit...” Kayleigh said to herself in a harsh whisper.

<p class="MsoNormal">There was another thump, even Patricia backed away at the sound of this.

<p class="MsoNormal">“The door!”

<p class="MsoNormal">When Patricia heard this her heart sank.

<p class="MsoNormal">The door, it was open.

<p class="MsoNormal">Of course it was.

<p class="MsoNormal">If it hadn’t been that man couldn’t have stumbled his way in and caused all this mess.

<p class="MsoNormal">It had been open all along yet the man continued to throw himself against the window, like the thought of trying the door was idiotic, pointless...

<p class="MsoNormal">Patricia had fallen out of shape around the age of twenty five; she just stopped caring.

<p class="MsoNormal">The weight had slowly crept up on her but why care? She wasn’t interested in a man, kids.

<p class="MsoNormal">She was happy the way she was.

<p class="MsoNormal">The gym was something she did for fun, not for her body.

<p class="MsoNormal">But you would’ve thought she was a gold medallist if you had seen her run for the door.

<p class="MsoNormal">Sprinting, she had a small slip on the cloak which lay on the floor, but managed to regain her balance without slowing.

<p class="MsoNormal">The bolt then slid, the chain hooked and the key twisted.

<p class="MsoNormal">She then rested her head against the door, catching her breath, although she was borderline exhausted the smug smile of ‘saving the day’ still managed to force its way through.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Can you, urm close the curtains?...I can’t focus with that thing looking in at us” Joanne asked.

<p class="MsoNormal">She was on her phone but had no interest in ringing her waist of space husband, the police on the other hand, she’d kill for them to answer.

<p class="MsoNormal">How can a police station be engaged?

<p class="MsoNormal">Then again how can hospitals keep dropping calls? More to the point how can any of this be happening?

<p class="MsoNormal">None of it made sense.

<p class="MsoNormal">Kayleigh walked toward the window, stepping around Tosh and Andre as she did.

<p class="MsoNormal">She swung the two covers shut, making the man vanish behind them.

<p class="MsoNormal">“He’s still there you know” Denise said in a harsh snap.

<p class="MsoNormal">Kayleigh looked at her puzzled but had no time to react as Patricia walked in, head now raised high.

<p class="MsoNormal">“We’re safe, I locked the door. They can’t get in, I made sure of it” she said, emphasising her part as much as possible.

<p class="MsoNormal">Annie actually began to calm down, she still cried but the wails had stopped.

<p class="MsoNormal">It was a start.

<p class="MsoNormal">Lucy had now completely calmed down now and sat beside her mother, both attempting to call out.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Great a door! That’ll stop them...You get ten or twenty of them pushing against it, pushing against that window, you think it will hold them then?” Denise asked angrily.

<p class="MsoNormal">Annie looked at her mother desperately.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Can you stop? Complaining isn’t going to make it better, my kids are already scared enough” Joanne asked.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I couldn’t care less  how your children are feeling, they’ll be a lot worse when the things get in here...I’m not waiting for that to happen, not waiting to get eaten alive...I parked my car at work, its only across the street—“ “No!” Kayleigh said stunned.

<p class="MsoNormal">“You can’t” Lucy added.

<p class="MsoNormal">“And why not? So I can sit around here? Listening to the cries of strangers until my last hour or two run out?!”

<p class="MsoNormal">“If you go out there, you’ll die...There’s one of them stood outside right now, image how many are around the street. You won’t make it, we’re safe here. Just give it a while and—“

<p class="MsoNormal">Patricia, the loudest mouth in the world was interrupted, something that had happened twice in her life.

<p class="MsoNormal">Once in college which resulted in the boy losing his left upper canine when punched.

<p class="MsoNormal">The other a mouthy bar maid, who got more than a mouthful of a drink thrown in her face seconds before Patricia was throw out of the place.

<p class="MsoNormal">It’s safe to say, she didn’t like it.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Safe? Safe?! We’re in a salon! I doubt they’re coming for a trim!...You heard the news, right? The dead are coming back to life! For Christ sake we couldn’t be any more unsafe, we’ve got a death sentence waiting to happen lying on the floor”

<p class="MsoNormal">Annie now sat beside her mother, when hearing this she pushed herself further into her.

<p class="MsoNormal">Wrapping both arms around her in a tight embrace.

<p class="MsoNormal">“We...we don’t know that” Joanne said looking at both Kayleigh and Patricia.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What would we do with him anyway? We can’t bury him yet” Kayleigh added.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Nothing” Tosh muttered “You’ll do nothing to him...”

<p class="MsoNormal">“I’ll tell you what we do, if you want it safe in here...You throw him out, let them things finish him off...Use him as a distraction even” Denise suggested.

<p class="MsoNormal">Joanne looked at her stunned, then at her daughters as if considering it.

<p class="MsoNormal">Patricia was about to give her the full blown reason why she couldn’t go out there.

<p class="MsoNormal">Using so many curse words Annie’s swear jar would be full enough to take them all on that holiday Joanne needed, probably pay off the mortgage on the house too.

<p class="MsoNormal">Before she could Tosh spoke again; at least she didn’t interrupt her.

<p class="MsoNormal">“He isn’t a distraction...He’s my boyfriend”

<p class="MsoNormal">“He’s dead! He’s nothing! And I’m sorry sweetie but he wasn’t your boyfriend either, not really. Not unless you were planning on settling down with a herd of other women anyhow—“

<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s enough!” Kayleigh yelled.

<p class="MsoNormal">Tosh lowered her head.

<p class="MsoNormal">“You’re lying” she muttered, holding his hand again.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Am I? I’m not trying to mean sweetie, I’m really not...But we aren’t safe here, and—“

<p class="MsoNormal">“He wasn’t seeing anyone else!” Tosh yelled furiously.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Really? This one’s to a girl called Kristen, I love you baby. Could be family? How about Paula? I can’t wait to be with you again, we always have so much fun, sexy. Or some girl called Erica, I want you now, I...Well I’m not going to read the rest in front of the children but—“

<p class="MsoNormal">“You’re lying! He wouldn’t! He loved me! He did!” she snapped, doubtfully.

<p class="MsoNormal">“No he didn’t. Not like you loved him, he was a cheat...I might be getting old but I bet he said things like, I love chatting to you on a night, I want your voice to be the last thing I hear or I can’t wait to be with you again, without you I’d be lost. Did he say things like that? Hm?” Denise asked.

<p class="MsoNormal">Tosh fell silent again.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Exactly, he isn’t worth the time; not yours love...Now we need to get going before things get worse here. If we go through the front door we could out run the one stood outside and—“

<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m not taking my children out there! With that thing!” Joanne replied.

<p class="MsoNormal">“No one’s going anywhere! Everyone just calm the fuck down!”  Patricia boomed.

<p class="MsoNormal">The room was silent as they all looked to her.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What we are going to do is block these windows up, the front door too. Use chairs, the tables, anything. Then—“

<p class="MsoNormal">“Then how will we get out! We’d be trapped!”

<p class="MsoNormal">Denise made the mistake of not only interrupting Patricia, she interrupted her when she was pissed off.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Well we might as well just give up then? Huh?! Or we could use the back door, you know through the kitchen...What do you think we’d have done in a fire? Think oh shit, might as well just put the kettle on and wait to burn to death? We block those windows and that door up; we wait here for rescue, keep trying to call out in the mean time” she replied bluntly.

<p class="MsoNormal">Not asking them, telling them.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What if rescue doesn’t come? What if the phones never work?”

<p class="MsoNormal">“Don’t be stupid! Of course they will, this isn’t the end of the world...It’s still only one of them, for all we know people are on their way now” This time it was Joanne who argued back.

<p class="MsoNormal">She was hoping if this argument would accomplish anything it would calm Annie down a little, if only Denise would shut up.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Right is that everything? Good” Patricia said, not waiting for an answer.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Joanne why don’t you take the kids out into the backroom, I think there’s still some cookies in the cupboard” Kayleigh advised.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah, thanks...C’mon” she replied, ushering her children toward the door.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Do you think they’ll be chocolate chip? I love chocolate chip!” Annie said excitedly, sniffling her snotty nose.

<p class="MsoNormal">When the door closed behind them Kayleigh got to her feet.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What are you thinking?! Those kids are terrified!” she snapped.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I was trying to help. We should leave” she repeated.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah, well we aren’t. Kayleigh start pushing the counter in front of the door, Denise you can grab the chairs...Tosh, do you want to help?”

<p class="MsoNormal">Both Kayleigh and Denise watched for her reaction, before Patricia glanced back, they both then began moving the stuff.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Are you okay?” she asked sitting down beside her.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Well...I’ve been better” Tosh said, wiping away her tears.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I know...Don’t really know why I asked that...Denise was right about one thing, if he’s done all of that to you he isn’t worth the time, not even now...Being dead doesn’t change them being a dick” Patricia said sympathetically.

<p class="MsoNormal">Tosh nodded her head.

<p class="MsoNormal">“I just feel so stupid...When he’d take calls all of the time, have to go to work early...When he was too tired to come over...I mean I offered to let him move in with me...I’m so stupid”  she repeated.

<p class="MsoNormal">“No, you aren’t. You’re too good. Too good for him, for this place. You don’t want to end up like me, Tosh. The work I’ve pushed into this, I haven’t had a life...You deserve better than spending your whole life wiping up hair and cutting smug pricks wigs who expect to leave looking like Marilyn Monroe when they’ve got a face like Michael Jackson”

<p class="MsoNormal">This made Tosh snigger to herself, the first time she had since Andre had died.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Just think about it” Tricia said, patting her on her back before joining Denise and Kayleigh.

<p class="MsoNormal">She smiled again.

<p class="MsoNormal">Letting go of Andre’s hand and looking at her own.

<p class="MsoNormal">Denise and Kayleigh continued pushing the huge counter, which Denise had knocked herself against early, in front of the large door.

<p class="MsoNormal">The man outside’s eyes followed them through the small gaps in the curtains as they walked past, Kayleigh glanced up at it before looking down again.

<p class="MsoNormal">No emotion was on his face, just the blank look.

<p class="MsoNormal">Like a haunted, tired old man who was just ready to sleep.

<p class="MsoNormal">Except he couldn’t, there was something still prodding at him to keep him awake.

<p class="MsoNormal">Just barely keeping him going, keeping him breathing...eating.

<p class="MsoNormal">Patricia then joined the women, holding a huge padded chair and resting it against the window.

<p class="MsoNormal">“You think this will hold them? Now the kids aren’t here” Kayleigh asked in a whisper.

<p class="MsoNormal">Although to be honest she was more worried Denise would hear it and it’d start her off again.

<p class="MsoNormal">“It’ll hold that one and if anymore joins him it’ll hold them too until rescue comes...It’ll last, just try not to think about it” Patricia replied.

<p class="MsoNormal">She smiled calmly.

<p class="MsoNormal">“What I said earlier, in the kitchen, I’m sorry I—“

<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh god, don’t...I can’t bear to think that if this is the end the last thing I’m going to hear is some soppy crap about us being stronger than friends, I know I’m great; I don’t need you to remind me” Patricia replied, smirking.

<p class="MsoNormal">Kayleigh did so back.

<p class="MsoNormal">Tosh was about to get up and join them when she felt the hand she had been holding early tighten around hers.

<p class="MsoNormal">She turned around stunned, looking at him as his eyes fluttered open.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Andre?” she said in a shocked voice, one then barely wiggled its way out of her.

<p class="MsoNormal">Sure she wanted to kill him, who wouldn’t.

<p class="MsoNormal">But he was alive.

<p class="MsoNormal">His eyes which had seduced so many had lost their natural charm and became blank, misty pearls, as dull and lifeless as the man outside.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Urgh...!” He finally managed to groan.

<p class="MsoNormal">The three women span around when hearing this.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh my lord, he’s one of them!” Denise screamed.

<p class="MsoNormal">She ran back, barging Kayleigh out of the way.

<p class="MsoNormal">Kayleigh tumbled down, striking her head against the counter with a loud thump as she went.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blood began to trickle down the top corner of her face.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Andre? Can you hear me?” Tosh asked hopefully.

<p class="MsoNormal">Patricia stood sturdy and stern.

<p class="MsoNormal">“Get away from him, Tosh! I don’t think that’s Andre!” she yelled, still keeping her own distance.

<p class="MsoNormal">Tosh turned and looked at her, a hysterical smile hanging on her exhausted face.

<p class="MsoNormal">“But it is! He’s alive! Maybe we got it wrong, maybe we...Look at him! Just—“ Tosh turned back and the smile quickly disappeared.

<p class="MsoNormal">She didn’t have time to blink, nor scream...

<p class="MsoNormal">He had sat upright and had flung himself toward her, she had turned around as he had and he had bitten into her face.

<p class="MsoNormal">Denise vomited as she looked away, hearing the crunch as Andre had pulled back; taking Tosh’s nose with him.

<p class="MsoNormal">It left a gaping hole in her once beautiful face which now looked like a fountain pumping blood rather than water.

<p class="MsoNormal">Shuffling back, Patricia continued watching, barely able to breathe.

<p class="MsoNormal">Kayleigh had begun to cry as she managed to regain her once dazed vision and made out the events around her.

<p class="MsoNormal">That was when Tosh let out her wails.

<p class="MsoNormal">Deafening screeches from hell; that’s how Joanne heard them as she once again held both of her shaking children.

<p class="MsoNormal">Andre then went down again, tearing straight through her throat.

<p class="MsoNormal">She was unable to scream again as her vocal box had just begun its journey down Andre’s bloody neck.

<p class="MsoNormal">Her eyes rolled back, similar to Andre’s and her body fell still.

<p class="MsoNormal">The thing that now filled Andre kept eating.

<p class="MsoNormal">Before throwing its head up again and staring at Patricia.

<p class="MsoNormal">Outside wasn’t much better, cars were scattered along the roads.

<p class="MsoNormal">Walking corpses staggered in-between them aimlessly, no goal, no motivation, nothing keeping them going.

<p class="MsoNormal">That was until the piercing screams came from the salon; like ringing the dinner bell for a pack of starving school children.

<p class="MsoNormal">They all began their slowly journey toward the salon which stood only a few meters away.

<p class="MsoNormal">The dead ones had joined together while weaving in-between the wreckages.

<p class="MsoNormal">They past a blood covered baby stroller and a woman lying beside it, her arm completely torn away and her intestines spilling out, they now laid across the pavement.

<p class="MsoNormal">It seems she didn’t fair to well either after meeting Andre that day, but no one was having a good day...No one...And it was likely it was going to get much worse.