Clifton Falls: A Zombie Story [Part 1]

by Taylor, Lee Andrew

  “When did he die?” he asked, pointing at Jason.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?! Are you deliberately trying to annoy me?”

  “Just look!”

  Wayne slowly glanced at Jason.

  He almost collapsed after seeing Jason’s face covered before scratching his head in disbelief for not hearing a nurse enter the room.

  “But, he can’t be.” Wayne closed in on the glass chamber and touched it. “No one’s been here but me…He must have done it himself…”

  But those words weren’t convincing Chris.

  “…See,” Wayne continued smiling. “It’s how he likes to sleep, with the covers over his head…He’s fine. Just fine.”

  “Why don’t you go in there and find out?”

  Wayne shook from the words as he glanced at Jason again; his heart pumping fast after thinking that Chris may be right.

  “I can’t…It’s out of bounds until a cure is found for him.”

  “Just look at him!” Chris shouted, banging on the glass. “He’s dead…I know he is.”

  Wayne grabbed Chris around the throat, pushing him against a wall as tears rolled down his face. But he still wouldn’t admit that Jason may well be gone.

  “Just leave it,” he said, cursing under his breath. “He’ll be okay.”

  But Chris shook his head.

  He was angry that Wayne attacked him, but after seeing more tears fall, knew this wasn’t the time to retaliate.

  “You got a girlfriend?” he calmly asked, putting Wayne on the spot.

  “Why you askin’?”

  “I just figured, if I’m goin’ to stay with you for a while, I may as well get to know you.”

  “But you don’t need to stay…You can go.”

  Chris held up his hands. “Hey! I’m not here as a reporter or as your enemy. I’m here because Mike is worried about you….He’s so busy trying to find an answer, so I volunteered to come here.” He then put his hands down to say, “So, is that okay with you?”

  Wayne just mumbled at him as he sat back down before glancing at Jason, hoping he would move. But he didn’t.

  “Okay. I will play along.”

  “Cool,” Chris replied, sitting next to him. “So, do you?”

  “Yeah, but it’s early days…Not many people know.”

  Chris smiled.

  They chatted for a few minutes until Wayne felt less agitated. He was pleased that Chris was trying to distract him.

  “Thanks,” Wayne said, shaking the man’s hand.

  “For what?”

  “For making me smile…For being here at this moment in time…For not being a complete twat.” Wayne almost laughed. “Why don’t you pick one.”

  “Can I pick all three?...”

  Now Wayne was laughing.

  “…So, can we bury the hatchet and become friends now?”

  “I’d rather bury the hatchet in your back than become friends with you,” Wayne replied, looking away. But a second later he was smiling again.

  Chris knew he was joking and so the tension wall between them tumbled down.

  “Would you like a cup of coffee? I need to stretch my legs,” Wayne said, lifting from his seat again.

  “Yeah. That would be great.” Chris watched Wayne walk towards the door before shouting out, “Two sugars please!”

  Then Wayne left the room.

  Chris stared at Jason again, noticing his head move from beneath the sheet. He felt spooked as it continued before Jason gurgled to send his mind spiralling out of control.

  He must be still alive if he’s gurgling – right?

  I bet he can’t breathe under there.

  Chris panicked; not sure of what to do next.

  He knew he should go and find Wayne but Jason was moving frantically to soak up all his attention.

  “I need to help him.”

  He scratched his head and neared the glass door, but held back after remembering what Wayne said – ‘The room was out of bounds’ – Chris knew it was a forbidden zone and that no one was allowed to enter but the more Jason moved, the more anxious he got. He needed to get in there.

  He heard more gurgling sounds from beneath the sheet; the noise sounding like a starter pistol to get him to move as the door was finally opened. He sweated as he slowly neared the bed, shivering as the body writhed more aggressively before reaching out a hand to pull the sheet from Jason’s face. But, as he slid it down past the nose, the dead man’s eyelids shot open like a roller-blind to reveal bloodshot, milky eyes.

  Chris jumped back, grabbing his chest from the sudden fright. But he wasn’t anticipating Jason to be one of the living dead. He just thought that the sick man had woken up.

  “Wow, man, you scared me,” he nervously said, calming down again. “How are you doing? ...I bet you’re hungry?”

  But the risen corpse just glared at him, sitting upright to reveal gnashing teeth.

  Chris cringed as the sheet lowered past Jason’s arms; the colour now a pale grey to worry him into backing away.

  “Hey, buddy. Are you alright?” he anxiously asked, thinking the drugs being pumped into Jason was to blame. “Do you need a doctor?”

  But it was taking longer than it should for Chris to believe that Jason was one of those things. He’d not seen one before, but, as he eyeballed this latest one, his nerves exploded.

  If this is what one of the walking dead look like then it’s fuckin’ scary.

  His mind went blank and he couldn’t move.

  He stared at the door before swiftly watching the creature, hearing it snarl as it slowly lowered its legs onto the floor to aim in his direction. Chris gulped as it closed in but he still couldn’t move. He squinted as the zombie’s eyes lit up, its mouth dribbling as its toxic breath almost knocked him to his knees. But he was now able to move.

  He backed away, close to reaching the door, but the creature swiped hands at him; opening and snapping its mouth as if already tasting its first meal. But it didn’t frighten Chris anymore and he didn’t want to leave.

  He smiled at the monster, enjoying the life-threatening moment; his adrenaline flowing just from the excitement of being caged with something that wanted to rip him to pieces. He knew that one false move could end up with him being bitten but the sick and twisted side to him was relishing the chance to live on the edge.

  “Come on you piece of shit,” he said, taunting the zombie. “Do you think you can kill me?”

  He wagged his tongue, showing no fear as he laughed in the creature’s face, but, even though it kept gaining on him, he still wouldn’t leave the room. He just moved in circles, allowing the thing to follow; its nose twitching after smelling his fresh meat.

  It moved at a quicker pace, startling Chris into losing his footing. But he quickly rolled under the bed before the beast could strike. It whined like someone had taken its food away before angrily smashing hands onto the bed, but the sound of Chris chuckling as he rose from the other side reignited its passion to attack.

  ***

  Wayne closed in on the door, carrying two cups of coffee, but he heard shouts coming from the room; the sound making him nervous as he rushed to get inside.

  What is that prick up to? he thought, barging into the door to spill coffee over the floor as he entered.

  But, as soon as he saw Chris inside the forbidden room, the cups dropped to the floor.

  “What the fuck are you doing?!” he shouted; not noticing the reborn Jason until a growl spooked him. “It’s dangerous.”

  “I’m just havin’ a laugh with it,” Chris replied, dodging the zombie’s attempts to grab him. “That thing won’t catch me…It’s too slow.”

  Wayne’s hatred for the other man brewed up again. And it wasn’t just because he was up to his old tricks of pissing people off. The man was a fool, but to see him disrespect Jason, alive or a dead version, was too much to take.

  “Are you fuckin’ crazy? That thing will kill you.”

  The zombie stoppe
d and looked at Wayne, drooling as it tried to speak. It moved closer to the glass, placing hands onto it; its face sad to bring tears to Wayne’s eyes, as he too placed a hand against the pane.

  “I will do it,” he whispered, reaching for his gun.

  But he stalled after tears dripped down the creature’s face.

  He followed the movement of its mouth to guess what it was trying to say, but, what he thought it said confused him.

  “…You want me to kill the reporter instead of you?”

  Chris overheard him and panicked.

  “Hey! Don’t listen to that thing…It’s dead, remember?”

  But the zombie snarled.

  It turned and faced Chris before picking up the pace again; its teeth showing to scare him.

  “I’m outta here,” he blurted out, leaving the room quickly. “It’s all yours.”

  Wayne watched him race out of the door like a sprinter in a race as the sound of his shoes crashing against floor tiles faded in the distance. But the zombie smacked a fist against the glass to grab Wayne’s attention. It growled at him as if wanting him to make it dead again, but he was struggling to enter the room to kill it. He sighed as he whispered the word - ‘sorry,’ but the word made the beast angrier. It lifted the bed and threw it against a wall, snarling like a hungry lion as Chris returned with Julie, but her nerves poured out emotions she couldn’t control and she shivered on the spot.

  “Why’d you bring her here!” Wayne screamed at Chris, keeping one eye on the creature. “She needs to get out.”

  “She wanted to come…Honest.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know…You ask her.”

  Wayne shook his head at Chris before cringing at how trembly Julie was. “Just stay with her…I’ve got this.”

  He slowly raised his gun and walked towards the glass room, watching to see if the zombie would strike. But it just let him enter.

  “Be careful,” Chris popped up to say, disturbing Wayne’s focus. “Just don’t make it mad…”

  Wayne cursed under his breath as he aimed the gun, but his hand shook to worry the others. They knew he wasn’t able to shoot the ex-officer just by the look in his eyes.

  “…Just do it!” Chris blasted, comforting Julie. “Before it sees you as food.”

  But Wayne couldn’t put the beast down.

  Chris moved closer to the glass, banging on it to receive the zombie’s attention, but its glare startled him to almost back away. He breathed in deeply as it whined at him; its head tilting before showing teeth. But Chris just copied the noises like he was rehearsing for some kind of double-act.

  Wayne watched Chris closely, wishing he was the zombie; knowing he would easily put him down without having a second thought.

  “Stop messing about,” Wayne said, aiming the gun at Jason again. “I’ve got this.”

  But the zombie suddenly lunged at him, gripping his arm. It threw him through the glass, shattering it to pieces as he landed on top of Chris, both unconscious as the creature walked barefoot over the sharp particles to reach Julie. But she just let it attack her; her bravery to escape long gone as the beast extracted its first morsel of flesh.

  She stood dazed as blood poured from her face, not screaming as the zombie tore out her eyeball; staggering and gritting teeth as it tore flesh from her neck.

  Chris staggered to his feet; his head throbbing as he saw the beast bite into Julie again. He showed no fear as he dived at it, but it quickly swung a hand, hitting him across the mouth to knock him back to the floor. Chris glared at it, feeling frightened at how quickly its strength and speed increased after eating its first meal.

  Julie fell next to him to freak him out to want to scream. Her face a bloody mess that made her unrecognisable.

  The zombie chewed on her eye as Chris kicked out to keep it at bay. He had never been as scared as this in his life.

  He rose off the floor and grabbed a chair, smacking it against the beast’s back. But it took the hit and snarled to leave Chris holding the chair like a lion tamer. He looked pale as he moved it towards the creature, seeing it back away to give him room to attempt another strike, but this time the chair broke against its head.

  “Wait!” Wayne shouted, spooking Chris into lowering what was left of the chair. “I made a promise to Jason that I would finish him if he returned like that, so move aside…”

  Wayne slowly climbed to his feet but winced after seeing glass stuck in his leg; nervously aiming his gun at the zombie’s head as Chris rose a chair leg.

  “…I said WAIT! …If you don’t get the hell out of this room now then I’ll kill you instead and give the zombie your job. I’m sure nobody would tell the difference between the pair of you…”

  Chris was lost for words as Wayne turned the gun on him.

  “…I don’t want to hurt you but that thing over there used to be my partner, so, I think I should deal with this on my own.”

  Chris finally took the hint, knowing now that this meant a hell of a lot to Wayne. He backed away towards the door but Julie’s zombified corpse gripped his leg, scaring him into almost falling into Jason.

  “Get it off me!” he bellowed, pushing Jason away from him. “I thought it took longer than this before they transformed?”

  “It does – or it did,” Wayne replied, feeling puzzled to see Julie looking menacing so fast. “Just shake it off…”

  Chris stamped on her head until she let go before a sudden blast from Wayne’s gun splattered her brain. It frightened Chris into backing against a wall.

  “..Now leave me to finish this.”

  Chris was close to fainting as he left the room; his ears ringing as another gunshot fired. Then, seconds later, Wayne limped out to join him.

  To be continued -

  About the author, Lee Andrew Taylor:

  Lee lives in Bedworth, Warwickshire, England.

  His novel - CLIFTON FALLS - was originally released as ZOMBIES (Morgue of the Dead) around 2011, but he changed the name to the movie script version. He has since split the novel in half to rewrite it as a 2 part story. He hopes to release part 2 before the end of 2021.

  Lee has also written a novel based on the old saying – “Night, night, sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite.” It’s titled – BEDBUGS (Can you see them?)…It’s a sci-fi style, alien, horror story about man-eating insects and is available for sale from Amazon Worldwide.

  http://mybook.to/Bedbugs

  Lee’s other released novel is a story about “Killer Rats.” Titled - The S.T.A.R.S. PROJECT – Science testing aimed at a rat’s survival)

  It’s also available from Amazon Worldwide.

  http://mybook.to/thestarsproject

  Lee also writes movie scripts, with 9 written to date. And he’s also written a Sci-fi, horror, TV pilot for a British Production Company.

  To keep TABS on Lee’s progress please LIKE his Facebook author page –

  https://www.facebook.com/mrwritermanauthor