I hoped so as I had left her behind believing so. As we turned left at the roundabout at the bottom of the hill, we drove past a café/sandwich bar on the left with a white and blue skip lorry embedded in its glass conservatory/side extension. Soon after that we neared some multi story flats on the same side. From this distance, below a sign I couldn’t yet read, were three dangling blobs. As we slowly got nearer the sign was a bed sheet with ‘SAVE US’ on it and below that was the upper torsos of three people. The arms were still flapping, and the jaws were still moving up and down just eating air but there was nothing left of them from their stomachs downwards, no legs, no nothing. Where they were hanging was just above the balcony below and a zombie or two in that flat must have had a lovely fill of them until they turned.
Two large Doberman dogs shot out across the road in front of the X5 from a tyre repair place, making Sue swerve violently to avoid them, they were slowly followed by two stumbling zombie kids, one missing an arm and a big chunk of shoulder. Seemed even zombie kids like to play with dogs. We then passed the burnt-out fuel station I had seen on my first run into town.
‘Bloody rob dogging bastard!’ Exclaimed Camouflage as he saw the price sign.
‘Exactly my thoughts when I saw it on my way into town.’ I told him.
At the end of the road I told Sue to head straight over the roundabout and into the village. She did so but as soon as we reached the school...
‘What in the actual fuck is that!’ She said as she came to a halt. She had seen the tiny model of a school kid fixed to the railings by the school to slow people down. Me and camouflage laughed our heads off, he had obviously seen it before what with being a local, but it was a freaky sight all the same.
‘The school put them there to slow people down years ago.’ Camouflage told her. ‘Always freaked me out to be fair, but no more freakier than a real zombie is it?’
‘Having a laugh ain’t you?’ She said. ‘Way freakier than a zombie! Urgh I though some sick sod had tied them up there!’ She shivered and cringed and drove on. ‘That’s just proper wrong, children of the corn looking shit that is!’ We were proper rolling around laughing now.
As we rounded the corner the garage was straight in front of us, but so was nine zombies in various states of decay. We pulled up on the forecourt and they made for the X5. Me and camouflage made to get out.
‘What are you doing?’ Sue asked
‘Ummmm, to re-kill a few people in our way.’ I said sarcastically.
‘They won’t react to me. Stay quiet and out of sight and we will have no problem. might as well advertise us being here if the place is littered with bodies don’t you think?’ I looked at camouflage and he nodded his agreement. ‘Now, where are the keys?’
I pointed to the road sign. ‘There’s a stick with cord on it, in the pole on the road sign. Pull the stick and the keys will come out.’
‘Okay, leave it to me.’ She got out leaving the engine running and quietly shut her door. Two of the zombies walked right up to her but made no lunge, gesture, sniff, snarl or anything just turned around like a kiddie’s toy hitting a skirting board and then going off in a different direction. She got to the pole and went on tip toes to reach the stick. Her pert arse was stretching against her jeans as she did so.
Camouflage spoke up quietly. ‘Make sure you two are sleeping in another room Yeah? Don’t wanna be hearing shagging all night please, I’m a single man who has no such pleasures waiting for me when we get back.’ He whispered, whilst grinning at me.
‘That obvious?’ I asked. He just carried on grinning and nodded again.
Sue almost skipped over to the garage doors. Luckily they were still locked, and I knew that unless someone had gotten in through a window high up the wall or roof then it was going to be empty and safe. She unlocked them and while opening them she actually grabbed one of the zombies by the arm and guided him out of the way. I scooted over into the drivers’ seat and drove straight in; I knew there was room to do a six point turn inside rather than excite our friends outside. Once in and pointing the right way again with the doors securely locked we got out and emptied the boot and weapons.
Camouflage set up the comms, my batteries and inverter and gave Kev and Shaun a sit rep of what was brewing a bit further down the road from them. I got out the supplies of food and water from the X5 and set them up on their own table. Sue came back from the toilet, there was no water pressure and no electricity. That might have been down to the rolling black outs or could just be a breaker gone, I’d have a look in a bit. As for the water, we could do what I did at home, piss in the toilet and shite in a bucket, then throw it out one of the windows at the back. I went over to the ramp and removed the side panel and pulled out the food and water Sarah had hidden the first time we were there and put it all on the table with the rest.
Camouflage looked at the food on the table and pulled out a bag of goodies he had bought and added to it. ‘Pity we couldn’t have hung around for some of that Deer.’ He said. My stomach growled as he said it, I had forgotten about that.
‘Don’t suppose you managed to sneak a leg out with ya?’ I asked him.
‘I wish, though couldn’t have exactly roasted it in here could we?’ He was right, but I sure wanted some of that deer about now.
I showed them both around the place, the windows, upstairs and all the Lexan and plans from the bank robbers. Sue and I chucked our sleeping bags in the office for our sleeping area and then decided to help camouflage.
Camouflage was checking the weapons and gave both Sue and me a lesson in stripping and cleaning both the rifle and hand gun. He showed us the magazines and how to load them but also telling us that keeping them full all the time could kill the springs which could lead to stoppages so it was decided that until we had the ‘go go go!’ message or we came under attack we would only keep one mag full for each M4 and the rest empty until we were ready to go. It was all left out on the table with our chest rigs/tactical vests.
We had some hot food from a mixture of packets and cans, a few alcoholic drinks and chatting then it was off to bed... The bit of the day I had been most looking forward to. The way Sue took hold of my hand as we headed for the office told me she felt the same. Camouflage gave me a huge wink as he headed off to the other end of the garage where his sleep kit was, I just smiled back and closed the door.
Chapter 6
The next two days passed without incident or major news. One bit of news was the news itself on the radio. Someone had only gone found and rescued Steve Wright of Radio Two fame and then gotten him into Bristol. That received more cheers, comments and good wishes into the radio station than the finding of three members of the government! Though I hoped those that celebrated finding some of the cabinet had their balls turn square and go septic at the corners! He hadn’t been on the air yet but I’m sure whether he wants to or not he will soon be broadcasting to at least bring back some normality and a raise of morale amongst the population. We probably knew all the factoids there were to know about zombies but if he had anymore that were relevant to getting rid of them then I was all ears!
On the first morning the power was off at the breaker but flicking it on didn’t give any power until four hours later when it came on for three hours and then back off again. We amused ourselves by making all sorts of stuff when we had power and drinking tea when we didn’t. We cut and welded around forty spike clusters welded to one and a half foot long lengths of chain to throw under tyres, to puncture and then whip or wrap around the suspension and bodywork (a bit like the wires and nuts on the firework cables when they hit the rotors). They’d also make good swinging weapons to brain zombies at close range. Boys and their toys eh? We spoke to the school several times and although they had a slight increase in zombie activity on the road, none of them so far seemed interested in the school.
Early on the fourth day we were finally contacted by Bristol. We had them on speaker so we could all hear and no need for veiled speech this
time. They had read the notes, seen the video, tried the blood out for themselves and come up with the same results with it. What they were suggesting was that the carrier of the blood (nowhere in correspondence, the video or notes was Sue mentioned) Should go to a military facility not Bristol. Defence Medical Services (Whittington) to be precise. It was about 90 miles or so north of us and was the only facility close to us still operating able to deal with this sort of thing. They suggested that they can come and pick us up by helicopter around 12pm tomorrow.
Sues face went white! ‘I don’t fly. I’m like BA from the A-team. You are not getting me in a helicopter that’s for sure!’
‘You’d be in it less than an hour Sue, almost be as the crow flies, 90 miles straight there, honestly.’ Camouflage tried to assure her.
‘I don’t care if its only 9 miles, I can’t do it!’ She was pale and shaking like a shitting dog just talking about it. She then asked how big this helicopter was going to be if it was picking up me and camouflage too. I hadn’t thought, and nor had camouflage by the look on his face, that we would be going with her. We would go of course but it had never been spoken of that we would all go. We kind of assumed that we were taking her to the meeting point and then waiting for her to come back. I had never felt great with that, so I was feeling a little better about her going now. This obviously changed things a little and conversations went on for a little while (drugged milk and hamburgers may have worked for Hannibal to get BA on a plane but we had no such things around to do so ourselves) until we asked if they could pick us up in a vehicle. They didn’t like the idea too much, would rather that people were not on the ground as it were and the only people able to do so in the vicinity were based at RAF Brize Norton about forty miles away. We gave them the coordinates of the garage and waited with more tea in hand.
An hour later they came back to us. Be ready tomorrow for the same time, approximately twelve pm. They couldn’t give us an exact time as no-one knew what the roads held for them at present to get here, they’d have to suck it and see. The good thing was, we had just found out that there were two operational military bases more than we had known of before, the world was feeling a lot less big and empty again.
In the mean-time Camouflage had been off banging, cutting and welding when he had power to keep himself busy. I was still trying to convince Sue that a helicopter would be the best option for not keeping us out in the open for too long, she kept reminding me that Zombies paid her no attention and I kept reminding her that someone, especially some American people were and I wasn’t too sure but I feared the attention from the yanks more than the zombies at the moment. It wasn’t an argument just more of a circular conversation with slightly raised voices at times and far from pissing her off she was getting turned on so while Camouflage was still making noise and banging up on the mezzanine, we slipped off into the office to do some banging and make some noise of our own.
Later on whilst drinking yet more sweet tea to replace the fluids I had recently lost there was a gun shot from here inside the building. The cups of tea hit the floor and my bollocks as we both sprang up from our makeshift seats and headed for the weapons on the table. I had my 9mm Glock pistol in my hand and cocked in a flash, it was quicker to grab than the M4.
‘Fuck Yeah!!!’ Came a celebratory holler. ‘Don’t worry, it’s just me!’ Shouted Camouflage. ‘You guys have to come up and see this!’
I relaxed about thirty notches by peeling myself off the ceiling from the gunshot and boiling gonads double fright. ‘The only thing you are going to see is the wet patch in my groin from the Tea I spilt!’ I shouted back.
He was hanging over the mezzanine floor with a big grin on his face. ‘Ha ha, twat!’ He scoffed. ‘Come on! Come and have a look.’
We both went upstairs, I let Sue go first mainly so I could perv at her denim clad pert arse but also as I had to walk funny to unstick the hot, wet trousers from my now hot and wet testicles. On the table in front of him was four cylinders about the thickness of a shotgun shell but just over twice the length. He stood to one side and theatrically waved his hands over them as if to reveal their splendour. ‘What do you reckon?’ He asked with an eager child-like look on his face obviously very proud of what he had created in the time that the electricity allowed.
Sue walked closer to the table and took a cursory look. ‘Ummmm, yeah, great!’ Said Sue not having a clue about what he was showing her.
I had a bit more of an idea, I had seen programs over the years on the S.O.E (Special Operations Executive, they came up with mad ideas such as new weapons and ideas, weaponizing rats to blow up enemy positions etc. If it was mad but likely to work then they had probably tried it. This was one of their more sensible James Bond type things) in the second world war and they looked a bit like crude pen pistols. ‘Are they pen pistols?’ I asked.
‘Coloured star for you mate!’ He beamed. ‘Though these are 5.62 mm versions using ammunition from the M4. Makes them a bit bulkier and not as elegant but more effective.’ The one he had just fired was still smoking on the desk. Using his gloved hands, he undid it and shook the used brass case out, gave it a blow out and popped a new one in. ‘The two parts twist together with a quarter turn, then slide the spring with the bolt back to the locked position just before you want to fire it, jab it into what you want to shoot.’ He made a punching motion with it. ‘Like someone’s stomach or head then flick the bolt and it will then fire. It has no barrel so without any rifling it won’t be accurate or too effective over two or more feet.’
I picked one up, opened it and dropped out the round. I pulled the pin back and then flicked it. it worked like a charm. ‘That’s bloody brilliant mate! I really like it, though we have our new weapons...’
Undaunted by my mixed reaction he continued. ‘Yeah, but it’s small enough to conceal from a quick search, small enough to keep on you at all times, what if you were in a fight like the other day.’ Sue looked suspiciously at me, but I ignored her as he continued. ‘Had no weapons and the guy was winning when you whip this out and give him some lead? Eh? Even if you miss you have just fired a round out of nowhere at him. He is going to change his mind about attacking you as he doesn’t know what else you have up your sleeve, or he’s going to be crumpled on the floor, gut shot and slowly dying whilst you escape. Win, win I say!’
I was genuinely impressed, made mine safe and put it in my trouser pocket, Sue did the same and Camouflage was still beaming. ‘My dad taught me how to use a lathe and all the equipment when I was younger, if he hadn’t died of heart attack when I was a teenager, I'd have probably followed him into engineering instead of The Marines.’
‘Well, after yesterday there are a ton of people that don’t even know it, but they are glad, safe and secure because you went with the latter mate.’
That night we had a few more drinks than we probably should’ve had, but it was going to be our last time for a while from tomorrow. As Camouflage said, from tomorrow we were going to have to stay frosty until we reached the facility and we don’t know what we will find when we get there. We might not like it and what if they don’t let Sue back out? I hadn’t thought of that and nor had Sue. That worried me. What would we do if that was the situation? I also made a mental note to contact the school and speak to Sarah in the morning before we left here. In the mean-time Camouflage made his not too obvious excuse to leave us to it for the night and we slipped back off to the office, we didn’t want to lose advantage of a bit of sexy time whilst we had it.
Chapter 7
Sue was up first, milling around. I got out from under our crumpled sleeping bags soon after, put my clothes on and joined her as she was stood by the food table, gulping water and paracetamol’s down like they were going out of fashion. ‘Being bitten by a zombie doesn’t stop hangovers then?’ I asked smirking.
She looked at me, her cheeks full of water as she put the water bottle down and was about to swallow her tablets, shook her head to say no then swallowed. ‘Urgh, I h
ate tablets! And yeah, that’s one side effect that would also have been appreciated!’
‘Brekkie?’ I asked.
She nodded as she reeled from the bitter taste of the tablets. ‘Don’t know when we will next have such gastronomic pleasures so best fill up I recon.’
I left camouflage snoring for a bit longer as I started cooking, I'd wake him when it was ready. I thought about what I was going to say to Sarah if I could get hold of her or what message to leave her if I couldn’t. I had no idea of how many extra days I would now be away and didn’t want to lie to her. I also felt naked not being around the 90. Yeah, I had these two for company, Sue for a bit more than that, a kick ass weapon and was somewhere secure for the moment but as for later I was into the unknown without my vehicle, food, supplies, security, extra weapons etc. That 90 had saved my life on many occasions on its own.
The cooking smells must have reached camouflage as he sat bolt upright and completely awake in a fraction of a second. ‘Smells good. What’s the time?’ He asked.
‘About seven-ish. How’s your head?’ Sue asked him.
‘Mines fine ta, any tea on the go?’ As he pulled his boots on.
‘Daft question.’ I scoffed. ‘I’m surprised she hasn’t got a flask on the go for later to tide her over on the journey.’ That earned me a slap from Sue but made Camouflage and me laugh.
After Brekkie we packed up and dumped everything but the communication kit that we didn’t need back in the X5. Then it was on to loading the magazines for the M4s. A magazine for each weapon and four each for our vests/pockets. The Glocks were also loaded with one magazine and two extra each. I took some gas cannisters and pepper spray and clipped them into my vest. They had served me well over the past few weeks and a bit of a secret weapon that I’m sure if the army doesn’t know already then it could be valuable information.
The Reanimated Dead (Book 2): The Answer Page 6