Aftermath.... (PainSister & DarkSister)

[DarkSister]

For a moment I hesitated in breaking my gaze, held captive by her eyes perhaps, or maybe captivated by the thin taste of the darkness that still lingered within me… faint but all powerful, just as her own taste lingered on my lips… I sucked on my lower lips discreetly for a moment before pulling my gaze free and spoke quietly to Trey…

“Which way?” … Trey didn’t answer he was too focused on the stairwell which rung with the sound of them as they flooded the lower reaches of the building… drawn by the gunfire and the smell of blood. I glanced at Trey, for a moment he looked lost in thought, drawn perhaps by the fearful consequence that we would end our days amongst the litter of corpses around us. I caught sight of her as she pushed past us and motioned towards the wall opposite, my eyes narrowed as I tried to work out what she meant… she moved further and tapped in frustration on the map she then turned away and set off towards the end of the corridor, I tapped Trey and motioned him to follow… I remained stationary for a moment consumed by the recent memories that had burned deeply, stirred only by the anguished howls as they reach a floor or two below us.

I reached the fire exit just as Trey shot away the lock, his heavy boot kicking hard against the heavy door. The air suddenly chilled as the fire door swung open, a thin wisp of smoke curling from the blackened lock, the force of the storm threatening to tear it free. I watched as she grinned at Trey and his almost sickening smiling response to the attention, my chest felt like it was suddenly struck by a crippling pain that threaded through my heart, why did this weigh so heavily on me, this sudden power she seemed to hold over me took me by surprise and I had to turn away… partly to free my gaze of the scene, but mostly so she hopefully wouldn’t see the expression on my face as my mask of reservation fell away and I suddenly felt so exposed and alone.

My eyes were turned towards the corridor we had just walked; thin shadows flickered on the walls of the stairwell as they rounded the last flight of stairs, I felt my grip tighten on the hilt of my knife as I stepped out onto the stairwell… the storm continued to crack overhead as my eyes searched for once familiar sights… in the distance the remnants of the parliament building was visible, flooded and derelict, I glanced back through the open doorway…seeing the shadows breach the corridor and take on a defined form as an angered and anguished horde entered the corridor.

Years of battling the elements had taken their toll on the steel stairwell, with each step we took the structure seemed to grind and crack… in parts rust had eaten great holes through it and the further we descended the greater the threat that it would give way. I found my gaze drifting past Trey and captured by the figure of her leading the way, even wearing my long coat I could see the seductive movements of her hips as she continued assuredly downwards… a sudden noise caused me to lift my gaze and cast it upwards… our scent had drawn them to the fire escape and they had begun to flood the unstable structure… I pushed hard against Trey’s back with the flat of my hand…

“Move it!” I shouted above the roar of the storm… our pace increased as the stairs began to creak and shudder around us… the frail metal barely able to withstand the vibrations of so many footfalls… on the ground below I could see that we had attracted attention, but they were as yet thinly dispersed. We rounded the last corner and sped down the last flight as the air filled with a twisting screech… the frame began to buckle around us, the air filled with showers of rust as the wails from above took on a more desperate air… I felt the structure shift hard as it pulled from the wall as it began to overbalance, the weight causing the staircase to topple… I drove forward at Trey as we three reached the last few steps; we fell into a sprawled heap as the last bolt attaching the steel to the building sheered and against the backdrop of the tortured sky the staircase pitched backwards, their shrill cries filled the air as they fell.

My eyes flickered to hers as I struggled to catch my breath, then my gaze lifted slightly as I saw shapes moving in the darkness ahead of us… the change in my expression registered with her as she followed the line of my sight… the lightning flared through the sky and lit up their faces, twisted by insanity and the disease as they closed in on us…