‘Well . . . it’s embarrassing!’
‘How is it embarrassing?’
‘I don’t know them, do I? What if they say no or tell me to piss off?’
‘Inside this fence, if the worst that can happen is you get told to piss off then you are doing pretty good. Outside, the majority of the population want to eat you so what’s worse? Piss off or getting ripped to shreds? You’ve faced zombies with me so kids your own age will be a piece of piss.’
‘But I don’t want to.’
‘Go on. You’re making the camp look untidy and I’ve got things to do.’
‘I can help!’
‘No doubt but I’d rather you make some friends and chill with them for a bit.’
She sighed and slowly got out of the swinging hammock, got to her feet and sighed again.
I pointed in the direction of the taps. ‘Go on, you’ll have fun.’
She walked off down our little slope, head hanging, stomping her feet and disappeared amongst the tents in what must have been a short cut to the taps I didn’t know about yet.
I pottered around for an hour or so and then decided I’d better go and meet Kev and see what it was he wanted to show me.
I started walking towards the guard towers and saw Kev walking towards me arguing with Christopher. I couldn’t hear what they were arguing about and by the time I had reached them Christopher was walking off.
Kev reached out and we shook hands. He knew what I wanted to say. He just looked over at Christopher waddling off and said. ‘One stubborn bastard that one.’ And shook his head.
He clapped me on the shoulder and pointed back the way I had come. ‘Have you seen the CDT technology rooms?’
I hadn’t. I had done a perimeter walk but not really thought about scoping out the individual classrooms. It was around the back of the main building and comprised of several classes with roller doors leading out to a little car park (suppose they had to get out what the kids had built). One of the roller doors was up and a 2.5 tonne Luton bodied van with a tailgate lift was parked outside. It had window grills, big beefy bumper with protection for the radiator and a winch. Kev didn’t stop at the van. He walked straight into the workshop/classroom and I followed.
Inside was a mobility scooter on steroids. It was your common red mobility scooter with a full-on cage and Perspex screens, I assume to protect the driver, and was towing three trolleys of the type that supermarkets roll onto the shop floor full of stock to fill the shelves. The back one looked much different to the first two though.
There were a few guys I recognised and a few I didn’t working on it. They seemed like they were in a normal factory workshop, working away but with jovial humour and piss taking banter. If it wasn’t for what they were making you’d be forgiven for forgetting there was a zombie apocalypse.
Kev was eager to show me around it. ‘Full cage protection for the driver, spotlights, double battery packs and adjusted speed controller for a bit more speed and towing capacity.’
‘What are you going to use it for?’ I asked. ‘Luring zombies away from an area?’
‘Good guess. It won’t be its primary job, but it will be part of it. There is a Sainsburys supermarket half a mile from here. It’s been raided by survivors obviously, but everyone went for the easy pickings – crisps, cans etc. Well we are going for the flour, sugar, rice, cleaning and hygiene products, salt etc. We have the security and facilities to cook actual meals whereby people on the outside have to eat and run.’ He paused for a moment. ‘The place is overrun with zombies so . . . ‘
I knew where he was going with this. ‘I’m in!’
He smiled. ‘Not wanting you on this.’ He pointed at the cages and browsing chariot. ‘We’ve got three guys for this but need a few more guys on the outside of the supermarket to help lure the zombies out and secure it.’
‘Mind if I take my 90?’
‘I was hoping you would. Strength in numbers and it’s not just zombies we have to worry about. I’ve heard people in other towns have gotten hit on their way back from raids. People letting others do the dirty work and then taking them out on their way home.’
‘When are you planning for?’
‘Meet us.’ He gestured at the guys working. ‘tomorrow at the main gate at 10am if that’s alright?’
I gave him a thumbs up. I waved at two of the guys I knew and walked out of the classroom. Best get back and brief Sarah that I’ll need the 90 tomorrow and will have to break down some of the camp in the morning.
Chapter 17
The next morning, we were up early. Sarah tidied up her bed allowing me to collapse the roof tent. I just rolled the tarp and hammock back to the Oak Tree; they would be going back up as soon as I was back and left the wind breaks as they were. I doubted anything would go missing, especially as Sarah would still be hanging around the camp. I marked thee two drivers side tyres with small sticks in the ground. It would make it so much easier to reposition the 90 ready to put the tarp etc back up on my return. It would also stop Sarah from ripping the piss if I were to keep shuffling back and forth to get the right distance from the tree again.
I took out some food and bottled water for Sarah along with some ingredients for damper bread. She had seen me make it several times before and there was nothing to it. I gave her a rundown of what I wanted her to do, also gave her a spare police radio to go in her bug out bag that I had hidden in my pee bush. The smell would keep a casual searcher away from looking in there at least. She knew not to use the radio and bug out bag unless she needed to contact me, and the shit was being vigorously chopped up by the fan again whilst I was away foraging.
Jumping into the 90 and turning the key it jumped into life first turn. Not bad for being stood a few days. I waved through the grills to Sarah and rolled gently down the grassy hill to the tarmac road and turned right. Twenty yards on I was at the back of the convoy. I got out and jogged to the front. I hadn’t missed the briefing luckily. Including Kev there were fourteen of us. Kev was handing out sheets of paper to the four blokes that got into the Luton then turned and addressed the rest of us.
‘Alright lads, cheers for volunteering. As you all know everyone here is currently surviving on whatever food they bought with them. Some bought quite a lot with them and others – me included are left with pretty much sod all. We could have asked everyone to pool their food, but I can’t see that working and before people start thieving off each other a few of us thought it best that we raid the local shops. We will be starting with Sainsburys today and if it all goes to plan then we will then hit Lidl and possibly Tesco etc.’
Kev pointed to a group of five chaps with MP5s and pistols. ‘You guys will cover the picking crew, clear the aisles and provide protection as you already know.’ They all nodded. He pointed at me and three others. ‘You guys and me will form a perimeter with our vehicles and fight off any advancing undead townsfolk.’
I noticed Kev and the other three had weapons be it rifle, shot gun, handguns and Kev with his MP5. He looked at me. ‘I’ll sort you out when we get there if that’s alright?’
‘I’ve got a bow and crossbow, as long as they aren’t coming too thick and fast, I can hold my own.’
He gave me a thumbs up. ‘Right lads let’s roll out. No unnecessary risks okay? Let’s all come back as we are please!’
With that we all loaded up, Christopher opened the gate and we all rolled out onto the main road. Next to the school was a large recreational ground, petrol station – whose prices weren’t as inflated as the greedy sod with the burnt-out garage we passed the other day – and a social club. Around the corner was the town centre proper and a large Sainsburys next to a swimming pool and gym complex.
I heard the bangs momentarily before my radio burst into life.
‘Contact!!! Contact!!! We are taking gunfire!’
The convoy stopped and people started jumping out of vehicles. Another burst of static and the radio kicked in again.
‘It’s tho
se bastards in the HRV! Three of them from what I can see!’ I didn’t know who it was on the other end of the radio but assumed it was the guys in the Luton van as they were out in front.
The frequency of the bangs intensified as both sides now traded shots. I was behind Kev’s Police Mitsubishi Pick up and just about still on the main road. Looking left, the carpark wall stopped and was replaced by a scrawny hedge and rose bushes from the corner onwards.
Fuck it! I was the only thing close to an armoured vehicle our group had, and the other guys had one too. If they got to it and got away it would be a pretty shit day for us. Time to get to the front and give some cover or at least divert their fire and attention. Swinging the big wheels left and stamping on the accelerator I mounted the curb and burst through the sad excuse for a border hedge, just missing the two cars abandoned behind. I didn’t rev the nuts off the 90 for several reasons, I didn’t know the car park lay out, there were a lot of awkwardly abandoned cars around and…. I hoped they wouldn’t notice me sneaking around the perimeter of the car park towards the shop.
I navigated back around to the other side of the store front and could see their HRV. It was parked nose first towards the shop with its tailgate open facing me the other side of another hedge. Now was the time to rev! With only a twenty-yard run up I buried the accelerator. The turbo whistled as it sucked air through the snorkel and as I approached the kerb bordering the hedge a zombie stepped out in front of me from behind an abandoned van. Too late, my right foot was buried as she stepped to the kerb moments before my front wheels hit it too. The bonnet edge caught her in the stomach, her top half now flat on the bonnet and staring at me through the windscreen, the wheels hit the kerb and launched the front of the 90 a good two feet up in the air as it ripped through the hedge.
When the rear wheels hit the kerb a second or so later and launched airwards the front came crashing down but the uprated suspension took it in its stride. As the 90 was on its second bounce forward the zombie disappeared under the 90 and as the driver’s side door of the HRV opened a figure dived out onto the floor. The 90s beefed up winch bumper hit the driver’s side rear quarter with an almighty force! It pushed the HRV at least three meters into a pedestrian protection bollard outside the store. This little HRV that had given the town and school so much shit over the last month was no more.
Luckily, I had braced for impact and was belted in. I had no intention of sparking myself out on the 90s non air bag equipped steering wheel but knew I’d feel the bruises and strains later on today.
The figure that had hit the floor moments before was now picking himself up. He had a sawn-off pump action shot gun. As I reached behind my seats for one of the shot gun pistols, he fired, and lead shot rang off the Lexan screen and window frame. His next shot wasn’t for me but for the broken and smashed bag of bones that was left of the zombie crawling out from under the 90 towards him. That distraction was enough to allow me to crack the door and cover him with my weapon. He soon realised his mistake and stood there looking at me. Shotgun at his side, he hadn’t even re-cocked it after the zombie shot, so I knew I had the drop on him.
To my right Kev appeared, MP5 in the shoulder already aimed at the lad. ‘Everything okay? He asked warily.
‘All under contr…’ The bloke turned towards Kev before I could finish speaking and raised the gun. Kev had no idea that it wasn’t loaded and reacted with training. A three round burst ripped from his MP5. The lad had no chance. The first bullet caught him in the centre of the chest, the second just below the throat and third in the philtrum (the piece of skin between the nose and the top lip. He did almost half a backward flip on his way down to the tarmac.
Kev was on him straight away, searching his pockets. He pocketed a few items, cigarettes, lighter, gum and found a leather pouch full of shotgun shells. He took a handful for himself and shoved them into his pockets, turned to me and said. ‘Sneaky fucker, both me and Bryan said you’d have a weapon or two concealed.’ I was going to apologise but he threw the pouch to me. ‘This is between you and me yeah?’ If Christopher or anyone else finds out, shit will hit the fan so keep it on the low down. As for this.’ He picked up the pump action. ‘It’s going into our armoury.’
‘Fine with me mate.’ I replied relieved.
As he stood up Kev pumped the shotgun and an empty shell fell out to the floor making a hollow clonking noise. He stopped and looked at the guy on the floor, with his head held low he asked. ‘Did you know?’
I lied. ‘No. I didn’t shoot him as he wasn’t aiming at me like he did to you.’
Kev remained standing with his head held low for a moment longer. ‘The other two escaped down the end of the car park into a brownfield site. Used to be a huge factory a few years ago. I’ll start the vehicle cordon, tag onto my vehicle when you are ready yeah?’
‘Righto mate, with you as soon as possible.’ Kev then left; shoulders still slumped. Can’t have been a great feeling for him knowing he had just dropped someone whose gun wasn’t loaded. Luckily there was no legal system or court to try him, and in the kill or be killed age we were now in he had just done what he needed to protect his life. I went around the front of the 90 to inspect the damage. My passenger wing was all shapes of fucked up. The plastic arch was split and, on the floor, trying to escape from anymore vehicular abuse that I might throw at it. The alloy wing top plates had burst from their rivets and were flapping around like a sixty-year-old strippers’ tits! The headlight was intact thanks to the mangled guard doing its job, but still looked more boss eyed than Steve Buscemi in Mr Deeds. The winch bumper was again slightly modified but fuck it. If I survived the rest of the day then I’d have something to occupy myself for the next few days.
The HRV though was utterly mullered! The back drivers side wheel was now in the back seat even though it was still connected to its suspension components. The driver’s door was now too big to fit the readjusted door aperture and the bollards it was pushed into rearranged the scaffold bar bumper quite significantly. No air bags had gone off on the dash, so I assumed they had disconnected them. Nice safety devices to have but would have been incredibly annoying in a vehicle that was going to take big knocks daily.
After reversing the 90 away from the HRV wreck I drove it the 100yards to the back of Kev’s Mitsubishi pick up. We were parked in a five-vehicle semi-circle consisting of me, Kev’s, police 90, Suzuki SJ, and a police Volvo estate. I got out of the passenger side which was now on the inside of the cordon and undid the check strap on the door so that it would fold back against the wing, same as the guy in the police 90 had done.
Kev was up the line chatting to the other guys. I got out my crossbow and recurve bow along with all of my arrows and bolts and led everything out across the bonnet. |Machete was strapped to my belt and the pump action and pistols were hidden but within reach if needed.
The HRV gang had done us quite a favour as there were already 10 dead zombies outside the shop entrance and no doubt several more inside. I didn’t feel too bad about crashing their show as the rucksacks they escaped with were pretty full looking and our haul was for a community not just three armed robbers. The team of five and the browsing chariot train had already gone in and I had only heard three shots so far.
Despite being a town of over ten thousand residents, zombie movement around us so far was tiny. Six or seven loitered about 80yards or so away. They were coming closer but not at any speed to worry about just now. The lads with the rifles will easily drop them when they pose any threat.
I sneakily counted my shotgun shells in the leather pouch. Eighteen. Not to be sniffed at. With these and what I had left I now had forty-six shotgun shells. Quite pleased with that.
Three more shots came from inside followed by some shouting. Not panicked, but instructional. The guy at the Volvo and John at the Suzuki – I was now going to call him Suzuki Guy, a lot cooler than John- had dropped the six as they got to twenty yards out. These guys carefully planned and co-ordinated their shots
, no wasted rounds. Three were coming in my direction from the pool complex. I waited until they were thirty yards out and chose the re-curve bow, knocked an arrow up, took careful aim and loosed it. The first shuffling target caught the 32” arrow in the right side of her forehead. She spiralled like a Ballerina that really wasn’t in the mood for practice today before landing in a crumbled heap. Her swimsuit wearing friend took the next one to the tip of her right ear and into the head. My shots were off by about 3 to 4 inches, it must be the wind spiralling around the pool building and I’d need to take account for that. The young kid with them was missing a complete arm!
Another two shots to my left. The guy from the police 90 and Suzuki guy had both taken another one each down.
Taking the crossbow, I walked around the 90 to the one-armed kid. As I got closer the kid started to growl at me which I hadn’t heard before. I remembered Zack and how fast the little shit was so gave this kid no chance to pounce, just raised the crossbow and got him right through the bridge of the nose. I quickly retrieved my arrows and bolt as another two guys took out two more approaching us. No need to search the bodies, they were pretty much naked as it was.
As I got back into position Volvo guy added another two to his tally. Kev was at the shop door watching the browsing chariot come out with its first load. The five guys must have still been in there clearing the aisles. The driver, two pickers and the Luton driver quickly emptied the cages, grabbed a quick drink and went back to it. The Luton driver was left stacking everything, but I could also see wire baskets on the floor of the van that he was sometimes putting cans etc in.
I shot Kev a quizzical look. ‘We might have taken on the job of collecting food and supplies for everyone, but Me and Bryan don’t expect anyone on this team to risk their life for no extra reward. We will all get a basket each that Christopher won’t know about and possibly some booze, though priority is the food first and foremost. All I ask is that you keep it quiet, don’t want people coming on this team for future missions for the extra food and not pulling their weight or putting us in danger.’
The Reanimated Dead (Book 1): Into the Cotswolds Page 14