Disintegration

beaten-up double-decker bus had cleared the way for him and Sean today. The bus had blundered through scores of bodies and had forced masses of wreckage up out of the way leaving a relatively clear, yet still bloody and treacherous path through the mayhem. Up and over the bridge which spanned the flesh-filled canal—which seemed to be full of even more unfortunate corpses than it had been before—past the front of the supermarket and they were there. Sean stopped the bike outside the glass-fronted bowling complex.
    “What now?” he asked, anxiously watching a group of seven bodies which had just turned around and were moving toward them. He glanced over his shoulder and saw at least double that number were coming up from behind. Damn corpses must have dragged themselves up here to check out the supermarket after we left yesterday, he thought. He suddenly felt nervous and uneasy, but he didn’t dare let Webb see.
    “Go around the back,” Webb answered, his experience of both dealing with the dead and breaking and entering again proving invaluable. “there probably won’t be as many of them there. It’ll make it easier when we leave too.”
    Sean immediately did as he was instructed, swerving around the closest of the corpses and sticking a foot out to trip up the dumb creature. He turned right down the side of the building, focusing on avoiding another pocket of cadavers which had hauled themselves out from behind the building next door. They were everywhere. Surely they couldn’t all be here as a result of the noise they’d made yesterday, could they? Momentarily preoccupied with the dead, Sean jumped with surprise when Webb shook his shoulder.
    “Stop!” he yelled over the noise of the engine. “Turn around. Fire door.”
    Sean glanced over his shoulder, then stopped. Webb slid off the back of the bike and ran toward a dark blue fire exit halfway down the side of the redbrick building. The door was wedged open by a single skeletal arm which jutted up from the ground as if its dead owner was waiting to have a question answered. Insects gorged on its rotting fingertips, buzzing away as he yanked the door open and the arm flopped down. Sean immediately drove into the darkness, quickly abandoning the bike and running back to shove the body out of the way. Once they were both inside Webb pulled the door shut with a reassuring thump, plunging the entire building into darkness.
    “Get a light on!” he screamed, immediately aware of sounds of movement somewhere near.
    Sean panicked. “What light?”
    “The bike! Use the fucking bike!”
    Sean ran back toward the motorbike but was knocked off his feet by a corpse which, more through luck than judgment, smacked into him head-on. He recoiled at the appalling stench which immediately filled his nostrils, then tripped as the creature’s unsteady head rocked back with the impact, then fell forward again, butting him in the eye. The sudden dagger-sharp pain was intense and he collapsed, dragging the body down with him.
    “You all right, mate?” Webb yelled. “Where are you?”
    “I’m okay,” Sean hissed through clenched teeth, the sudden shock and pain now beginning to fade, “I’ve got it.” Lying on his back, he reached up and wrapped his gloved hand around the body’s throat, squeezing as hard as he could. He felt decaying skin and gristle give way as the pressure he exerted increased. Tighter and tighter he squeezed, putrefied flesh dribbling out through the gaps between his fingers, until the body stopped thrashing and slumped motionless on top of him. Webb managed to pick up the bike and turn on the headlamp, filling their corner of the building with light.
    “Nice one!” he laughed as he watched Sean pick himself back up and kick the cadaver away to one side. “You’re starting to get the hang of this!”
    Sean said nothing. He brushed himself down as he looked around, shaking his head to clear the numbness which remained from his assailant’s lucky head butt. His eyes were slowly becoming accustomed to the low light levels indoors. Some sunlight was seeping inside through the glazed front of the building, but most of the bowling alley remained disappointingly gloomy and dark. He’d hadn’t expected any different, but as they’d approached it had been hard not to remember this place as it had been when he’d last visited. He’d been here on a team building event with the design company he’d worked for on the Friday night before