Autumn

techniques. The main character had driven into a vast warehouse and now found himself alone. The lighting was sparse and moody and the overly dramatic orchestral soundtrack was building to an obvious crescendo. Then the music stopped suddenly and, as the hero of the film waited for his opponent to appear, the house became silent.
    Emma jumped out of her seat.
    ‘What’s the matter?’ Michael asked, immediately concerned.
    For a few long seconds she didn’t answer. She stood still in the middle of the room, her face screwed up with concentration.
    ‘Emma...’ Michael pressed.
    ‘Shh...’ she hissed.
    Oblivious and disinterested, Carl cocked his head to the right so that he could see past Emma who was standing in the way of the television.
    She looked frightened. Michael was worried.
    ‘What is it?’ he asked again.
    ‘I heard something...’ she replied, her voice low.
    ‘It was probably just the film,’ he said, trying desperately to play things down. His mouth was dry. He felt nervous. Emma wasn’t the type to make a fuss for no reason.
    ‘No,’ she snapped, scowling at him. ‘I heard something outside, I’m sure I did.’
    The film soundtrack burst into life again, startling her. With her heart in her mouth she reached down and switched off the television.
    ‘I was watching that,’ Carl protested.
    ‘For fuck’s sake, shut up,’ she barked at him.
    There it was again. A definite new and indistinct noise coming from outside. It wasn’t the wind and it wasn’t the rain and she hadn’t imagined it.
    Michael heard it too.
    Without saying another word Emma ran from the living room into the dark kitchen. She quickly threaded her way around the table and chairs to the window and craned her neck to see outside.
    ‘Anything there?’ Michael asked, close behind her.
    ‘Nothing,’ she mumbled. She turned and headed out of the room towards the stairs. She stopped when she was halfway up and turned back to face Michael. ‘Listen,’ she whispered, lifting a single finger to her lips. ‘There, can you hear it?’
    He held his breath and listened carefully. For a few moments he couldn’t hear anything other than the wind and rain and the constant rhythmic mechanical thumping of the generator. Then, just for a fraction of a second, he became aware of the new noise again. His ears seemed to lock onto the frequency of the sound and it somehow rose up and became distinct from the rest of the melee. As he concentrated the noise washed and faded and changed. In turn it was the sound of something being clattered against the wooden gate over the bridge, then another, less obvious noise, then more clattering and thumping. Without saying another word he ran towards Emma and pushed his way past her. She followed as he disappeared into their bedroom. By the time she entered the room he was already standing on the far side, looking out of the window in utter disbelief.
    ‘Bloody hell,’ he said as he stared down. ‘Just look at this...’
    With some trepidation Emma walked across the room and peered over his shoulder. Although it was pitch-black outside and the driving rain blurred her view through the glass, she could clearly see movement on the other side of the barrier. Running the entire length of the barricade were vast crowds of bodies. They had often seen one or two of them there before, but never this many. They had never seen them in such vast and unexpected numbers.
    ‘There are hundreds of them,’ Michael whispered, his voice hoarse with fear, ‘fucking hundreds of them.’
    ‘Why?’ Emma asked.
    ‘The generator,’ he sighed. ‘Even over the weather they must have heard the generator.’
    ‘Christ.’
    ‘And light,’ he continued. ‘We’ve had lights on tonight. They must have seen them. And there was the smoke from the fire...’
    Emma shook her head and continued to stare down at the rotting crowd gathered round the house.
    ‘But why so many?’ she wondered.
    ‘Think about it,’ Michael replied. ‘The world is dead. It’s silent and at night it’s dark. I suppose it just took one or two of them to see or hear us and that was enough. The first few moving towards the house would have attracted the next few and they would have attracted the next and so on and so on...’
    As the two of them looked down at the hordes of corpses, one of the creatures standing on the stone bridge spanning the stream lifted its emaciated arms and began to shake and bang the wooden