Honeybee

Chapter 12

The beast pounded at the door until the shattered glass eventually fell through. The youths looked on in amazement. In their wildest dreams they never thought anything like this would happen. They were under the impression that the government advice to stay indoors was just a precaution, not a necessity. And the riots were just protests to the chemical treatment of crops. The real situation had just presented itself to them and now they were scared beyond belief. Watching with wide eyes, they could see Jason letting off shot after shot with his tranquiliser gun. Everything was happening in slow motion. The darts hit the creature directly in the chest, one after the other. Instead of falling to the ground in a deep sleep, the beast became more enraged and let out a deafening scream as it grabbed the line of trolleys and flung them aside. The youths looked back at Jason who was shouting something to them but they were momentarily deaf. Fingers understood from Jason’s hand gestures what he was trying to say and grabbed a bottle of fire lighter. He opened the lid and squirted it at the creature as it belted out another scream. His friends followed suit and before long the creature was completely soaked in lighter fluid. The deodorant kid took out a couple of matches and struck them on the packet and then flicked them at the beast. They fizzled out before making contact with the flammable liquid. He pulled a can of deodorant out of his pocket, popped the lid off and struck another match. Slowly approaching the beast, he pressed the nozzle and lit the spray with the match. A huge flame shot out of the deodorant can and instantly ignited the beast with a Whoooop sound. The beast went crazy, swinging its arms wildly and letting out a deathly screech. Deodorant kid threw the remaining cans of deodorant under the beast and ran for cover. Nothing happened to begin with. It took fifteen or maybe twenty seconds until the gases inside the cans expanded to breaking point. Each of the cans went off with a boom blowing off the creatures’ feet, if you could call them feet, they looked more like the roots of a plant or small tree. The beast stumbled and fell hard to the ground and into the flames that surrounded it. It writhed around for a few seconds and then fell silent and still.

‘Is it dead?’ Fingers said.

Jason stared at the smouldering heap on the floor.

‘It certainly looks that way, kid.’

A screech echoed across the car park and Jason immediately looked up and stared through the broken doors and into the distance. Another Screamer was approaching, it was far off to the left but it wouldn’t be long before it was in the building just like its dead friend.

‘We need to get out of here. Can any of you drive?’ Jason said.

‘I can.’ said Deodorant kid.

‘Okay, we’ll make a run for it. Once you get to your car, keep driving. Do not stop. Keep going until it’s safe to get out.’

Another deafening screech resounded through the supermarket, this time from the right hand side. Then another screech. Before long there was a chorus of screams filling the car park. Jason counted six Screamers.

‘Well, I guess the front door is out of the question.’ He said. ‘Somehow, I don’t think we can kill all of these with fire lighter and aerosols.’

‘We could build a fire.’ One of the kids said.

‘We could. But how would we get them to walk into it?’

All of the kids looked blank.

‘Actually, it doesn’t matter. We’ll lure them in with the fire and then make a hasty exit through the back door.’ Jason said.

The kids went straight to work building the fire. They picked up anything flammable and piled it on top of the charred remains of the first Screamer. It quickly went up in flames and blocked the view of the cark park. The fire was enormous and Deodorant kid looked on with satisfaction. He had just enough time to see a Screamer approach through the door and then it was lost in the flames.

‘Okay kids. Run.’ Jason said as he turned and ran for the rear exit. ‘And remember, don’t stop. Keep driving.’

They burst through a door at the back of the supermarket and into the delivery and loading area. They quickly navigated their way through and found an exit into the car park. Smoke bellowed out of the front entrance and they could see the Screamers grouped around in a small semi-circle.

‘Let’s go.’ Jason said.

Running across the car park, they never looked back. Each person focused on getting to the vehicles. Half way across the car park, they split up. Jason heading to his pickup and the kids heading to a red Toyota. Jason flipped up his tailgate and leapt into the driver’s seat. Waiting until he could see that the kids were safely on their way, he started the engine and sped out of the car park. He glanced in his mirror just in time to see the front end of the supermarket collapse into the fire.