There was silence again for a moment before Sean spoke. “I protected you your entire life, and now you’re turning your back on me. You’re a Judas, Ryan.”
“Just go away, Sean. Please!”
“I ain’t going nowhere, our kid. I’m gonna get you. I’m gonna get you all.” Ryan screamed as Sean’s face appeared in the broken window diamond. His flesh dripped away from his skull, a green and brown slop. Both of his eyes were gone, replaced by writhing insects, his nose a pair of sunken pinholes.
Sean was gone.
A monster had taken his place.
Sean backed away from the front door, a twisted grin on his unrecognisable face. He spread his arms out to the side as he retreated, almost like the whole thing had been a joke and no harm was intended. Inside the cottage, no one was laughing.
Brett started handing out knives, limping back and forth between them. “He tries to get in here, stab him. That’s not our mate out there. Sean’s like the rabbit – already dead. We need to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to us.”
“He isn’t dead,” said Aaron. “He was talking to us. It was him.”
Ryan nodded. “He was in there. It was him.”
Brett picked up a pair of knives from the counter for himself, the two biggest. “He’s no different to the cat lying on the road purring, not realising its lower half has been crushed flat by the tyres of a lorry. It might still be alive, but it’s temporary. Sean is beyond saving, we all saw it.”
Loobey was twirling a wooden-handled steak knife in his hand like he was trying to get used to its weight. “Sean’s gone,” he said, tears in his eyes. “I’d do anything for it not to be true, but it is. Sean’s dead whether he knows it or not, and I didn’t suffer months of torment to try and beat cancer only for a fucking fungus to get me. If Sean comes back, I’m planting this in his brain. I’d be doing him a favour.”
Ryan collapsed onto the armchair, which was still pushed up against the door. “I can’t believe this. We’re talking about Sean. He’s our mate and he’s out there. If there’s even a one per cent chance that he can survive this thing, then there’s no way I’m going to stab him. Can we just take a minute and think about what we’re saying?”
“What if one of us gets infected?” said Aaron. “Are we saying we’re all prepared to kill each other? Come on!”
“I’m not saying that,” said Loobey, “but I’ll defend myself if I have to.”
“If you have too,” said Ryan, seizing on the word. “So let’s try to avoid that, yeah? Sean is still outside and we’re still in here. There’s no need to get stab-happy. If we have to go outside, we can probably outrun Sean in the state he’s in, so let’s focus on that. Killing him doesn’t help anything, and what if we find out afterwards that he could have been cured all along? Can we live with that?”
Brett grunted. “Okay, fine. I get your point.” He placed the knives back down on the counter and leaned over it, scratching the back of his head. A sigh escaped him and he turned back around. “Look, Ryan, about what I said earlier…”
Ryan waved a hand and dismissed what his friend was about to say. “It don’t matter. There are more important things to worry about right now.”
“No, really, I’m sorry, Ryan. The truth is that our friendship meant the world to me. I didn’t use you, and I never expected to grow apart.” He chuckled. “Back in the day, I thought we’d be together forever, having barbecues in the garden with our kids and wives. Life seemed easier when we were young, but it’s not like that at all. It’s tiring and stressful, and it leaves no time for fun. I would love to hang out with the lads every weekend, of course I would, but…”
“But what?”
“But I want a career and a family and a big house in the countryside. I want some land to raise chickens and goats, and maybe even learn how to ride a horse. It might sound silly, but I don’t want to feel guilty about wanting those things. I don’t want to feel guilty for working hard.”
Ryan held up a hand to stop him. “I get it. I don’t have the right to tell you what your priorities should be. You can live your life however you want to.”
“I just want you to find your own happiness, Ryan. I want you to have the same sense of achievement that I do. I want peace and happiness for you.”
“Yeah, I want that too.”
Loobey cleared his throat. “What’s the deal with Sophie?”
Ryan glanced back towards the front door. The daylight seemed to be dimming already. He checked his watch and saw that it was now past four. How much longer before night fell?
And once again, where the hell was Tom?
Are you okay, mate? Are you dead?
Ryan shivered. He had left his friend’s question hanging in the air and Loobey was still waiting for an answer. With a sigh, he tried to avoid giving one. “You really think this is the time to discuss my engagement?”
Loobey shrugged. “It’s your stag do. If you don’t discuss it now, when will you?”
Brett folded his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Ryan, do you want to get married?”
“Yes! Or no. I’m not sure. Sophie is amazing and I love her. In fact, I can’t even imagine being with somebody else. Did I ever tell you about how we met?”
Loobey chuckled. “A goose, right?”
Ryan nodded. “Yeah, it started with a goose. That sodding goose.”
Brett chuckled. “A goose? I haven’t heard this story.”
“I was jogging around the lake down by the industrial estate,” Ryan began. “You know the one? Well, I must have jogged it a hundred times without a problem, but this one day, it was really
