Alex Scarrow - Time Riders

I’m not alone.

She picked up her pace, not wanting to run in case it encouraged whatever was inside to comeout after her in pursuit, but too frightened to just walk.

She hummed a tune. A stupid over-cheerful plastic Bollywood song from her mum’schildhood. One of those tunes you can never get out of your head once it gets in.

She clattered her way across Times Square, her humming echoing off dark scorched and blastedwalls. She was passing the rusting skeleton of a vehicle, on to what had once been Broadway,when a creature emerged several dozen yards in front of her.

It stopped and stared at her with deep, dark, soulless eyes set in a pallid ash-grey baldhead.

She stopped humming.

It reminded her of a creature she’d once seen in an old movie from way back, a moviewith elves and dwarves and magical rings. One of the creatures she remembered in particular,though, was called Gollum . The thing standing in front of herreminded her of that. It stared at her, motionless. Its mouth finally opened to reveal bloodygums and one or two ragged teeth.

And it screamed.

The scream echoed off the tall ruins and was soon joined by other shrill voices joiningin.

Sal looked desperately around and saw other pale oval faces, each with dark eyes andtoothless bleeding mouths, emerging from hundreds of windows, like termites stirring from adisturbed nest.

And she screamed along with them.

Foster joined Maddy outside, surveying the broken and blasted city.‘Complete devastation,’ he whispered. ‘Something happened here a long timeago. And if it happened here, I can well imagine it’s happenedeverywhere.’ He looked at Maddy. ‘Perhaps some sort of a nuclear war?’

She nodded. ‘Oh God, what is it with mankind? Never happy unless it’s blowingsomeone up.’

‘I’m afraid that’s us as a species.’

Isn’t it just , she mused. Sometimes she felt disgusted tobe human.

‘Sal’s out there,’ said Foster quietly.

She looked at him. ‘She’ll be terrified. And she may have difficulty finding herway back. That’s a very different-looking landscape out there.’

‘I’ll just grab some things,’ he said, ducking back under the shutter.

A few minutes later he emerged from beneath the shutter door with a couple of flashlights, abottle of water and a shotgun in the crook of his arm.

Her eyes widened at the sight of it. ‘You think we’re going to needit?’

‘Best to be prepared, eh?’

She swallowed nervously then nodded. ‘OK. Let’s go find her.’

2001, New York

Sal was running as fast as she could amid the rubble and blocks of crumblingmasonry, long ago collapsed across forgotten streets. She kept stumbling, losing her footing,barking her shins, scraping and cutting her hands.

Behind her the creatures — there seemed to be dozens now — kept pace with hereasily. There was surprising agility in those frail and pallid bodies. They were small likeundernourished children, but with faces that were lined with age… or grief. Theyfollowed her, keeping a wary distance, not closing, not falling behind… just intenselycurious.

For now.

She glanced up at the street ahead, little more than an undulating bed of shattered blocks ofconcrete and protruding spars of rusted metal. The frames of buildings either side were theonly visual clue that this had once been a street.

If this was Broadway… once, then she knew she needed to turn left at some point, lefton to East 14th Street. That would take her east towards the river and the WilliamsburgBridge.

If it’s still standing.

Another glance over her shoulder and she saw one of them had closed the distance between themand was right behind her, a long pale hand reaching out ahead of it, its bald head cocked toone side, eyes curiously regarding her long black hair.

‘Oh God!’ she screamed. ‘Leave me alone!’

She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks and spun round to face it.

The creature drew up short of her, the others coming to a halt behind it. They fanned outeither side, all of them studying her silently with eyes wide, a burning curiosity written onall of their faces.

Sal reached down for a length of rusty metal piping. Lifting it up, flakes of rust crumbledaway. She wasn’t entirely sure the thing wouldn’t crumble to dust the first timeshe swung it at something, but all the same it felt good in her hand.

‘Stay back!’ she snarled, her voice shrill and high.

The creature closest to her stayed its distance, standing low, crouching almost like aprimate. The silence was filled with her ragged breath and the mournful wind; she had time tolook at it more closely.

A pair of expressive eyes. Clearly a human. But it seemed such a pitiful-looking human. Ifshe wasn’t so terrified, she could almost imagine feeling sorry for it.

The creature nearest her took a careful, measured step forward, extending one hand towardsher.

‘No! You stay back!’ she barked, brandishing the crumbling pipe.

She heard the thing whine, a keening sound, like some pitiful dog behind bars in a rescuecompound. The pale skin — stretched across lean arms and legs, stretched across ribs anda pelvic bone that protruded unpleasantly — was so ghostly white it was almosttranslucent. She could see the faint lines of violet arteries beneath. Its mouth, eyes andnose oozed a bloody mucus.

The thing wanted desperately to come closer to her. The hand stretching further forward,wanting to make contact.

‘No! I’ll hit you!’ she screamed again.

It cocked its head again. The almost completely toothless mouth opened and closed with a wetsnapping sound.

‘Oh! Ahhh-iiittttt-oooooo,’ it uttered.

It was attempting to mimic her.

‘You… you… you can speak?’ she managed in response.

‘Ooo… ooo… ooo-annng-zbikkkkk?’ it gargled.

She noticed something in its face. Intelligence. Perhaps a long-faded memory stirring behindthose milky boiled-fish eyes. This thing was human, or at least it had once been human, shewas sure of that.

‘My… my n-name is Sal,’ she said loudly, for the benefit of the othersbehind it, gesturing at herself. When she had introduced herself for the first time to Bob, hehad cocked his head curiously, his lips trying crudely to repeat her name. These creatures, onthe other hand, cowered at the sound of her voice. Their dead eyes seemed less curious thanBob’s. They mewled and whined among themselves.

Is that their language? The whining noise?

‘Sal,’ she said again, encouraged that her talking seemed to be holding them atbay for the moment. ‘I’m Sal.’

‘Annng-aahhhh.’

‘That’s right.’ She smiled. ‘Sal.’

The hand, still reaching towards her, was now only a few inches away. She wondered whether toswing her pipe at it or let it touch her. There was no way of knowing whether these thingswanted to communicate in some way or were just attempting to test how much of a threat sheposed to them.

If I hit it…?

Then she suspected some kind of pack instinct would take over. They’d be upon her inthe blink of an eye.

Let it touch. Let it make contact.

She swallowed nervously as the tips of its fingers eagerly stretched outand brushed lightly against her hair.

‘Hair,’ she said.

The fingers curled through the strands, flicked at them, played with them.

‘It’s hair,’ she said again, softening her voice, trying to steal the fearfrom it.

The thing’s mouth seemed to widen, stretch, exposing a few snaggled teeth emerging frombloody gums.

My God… is that a smile?

A soft sing-song humming vibrated up from the creature’snarrow bony chest into its throat. It became an almost childlike cooing. Like the contentednoise of a baby suckling a bottle.