by J N Wood
‘That’s right,’ I replied.
‘Okay, just making sure that’s what you want.’ She handed me some pills in a little plastic cup. ‘Here, take these. They’re painkillers.’
I threw them into my mouth, and swallowed them with my drink. ‘Not gonna try and stop me from leaving?’ I asked.
She shook her head, inspecting the multiple bites and scratches on my arms. ‘No I’m not. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to put a few stitches in these ones.’ She gestured to my arms. She could have been pointing at any of the many cuts and bites. ‘Won’t take long,’ she continued. ‘Your face though, I think I…’ She paused as her eyes roamed across my face. ‘Doesn’t matter, they’re only superficial. It will be fine.’
‘Okay, thank you.’
Just get on with it.
I stared at the clock on the wall, willing the medic to speed up. The minute hand seemed to be flying around much faster than normal. Thirty minutes later she was finished. A few incredibly painful stitches, and a lot of bandages, meant I felt I was ready to leave. I was desperate to get back, but also terrified to go back out there. I’d loved to have collapsed somewhere and fallen sleep. It would have been so very easy.
The medic handed me a Snickers and an energy drink. I started to pick up my dirty, blood splattered clothes to get dressed, but she placed a hand on my arm.
‘I’ll get you something else,’ she said. ‘Two minutes.’
She returned, carrying a neat little stack of folded clothes in her hands.
Jeans, t-shirt and a thick denim jacket. Perfect.
‘The stitches might, or probably will fall out if you start running around anytime soon. But I’ve at least done my job for now.’ She turned and walked away.
‘Thank you again,’ I called after her.
I’ve been gone far too long. Jack is gonna fucking hate me. If he’s still alive.
I quickly got dressed, picked up my baseball bat and started to walk back to the gate. I considered checking on Ali, but I didn’t know which tent she was in, and I couldn’t leave them out there any longer.
I ate the Snickers, and quickly knocked back the energy drink as I walked.
I was definitely not feeling one hundred percent.
The sun was starting to set on this terrible rainy day. Grey and angry clouds still rolled across the sky above me. The rain wasn’t as heavy now, but not looking like it was stopping anytime soon.
I again passed by the half of Blue Team that had been left behind. There was a lot more activity surrounding them now. They were handing out torches. I spotted Caleb, standing apart from them. He looked like he was involved in a heated discussion with another member of Blue Team.
My spirits lifted, I jogged over to him. ‘Caleb, what’s happening?’ I asked. ‘Is everyone back?’
He shot me a glance before looking up to my face, his eyes briefly widening. He then glared at me, annoyed that I’d interrupted him.
Prick.
‘I was just out there,’ I said. ‘Where is everyone Caleb?’
‘I don’t know for sure. We’re waiting until nightfall. Then I’m taking the rest of Blue Team out. We’ll kill the fuckers when they’re asleep.’
I stared at him, waiting for him to tell me he was joking. ‘You’ve left them all out there?’
The guy he’d been talking to stared at the ground, looking ashamed.
‘Yes, I’ve…erm…’ Caleb stuttered. ‘They’re fine, some of them are fine. They’re on top of a building.’
‘On top of a fucking…’ I took a deep breath to try and calm down. ‘The zombies aren’t gonna go to sleep you fucking moron. What are the bosses of the other teams doing? Where are they?’
The deep breath didn’t help.
He shoved me in the chest, forcing me to take two steps back.
‘Fuck off and wait with the others.’ He turned away from me and continued his conversation with the other guy.
What the fuck is going on here? This stoner dude is a fucking idiot. Fuck him.
I looked to the rest of Blue Team and pointed at Caleb. ‘Do not follow this fucking idiot anywhere. Ignore everything he says.’ I turned and walked to the gate. Looking up to the people on the ladder, I said, ‘Hey. Is it safe to go out?’
They both looked downwards, their eyes lingering on me for a moment, and then looked back outside the fence. The woman on the left ladder turned back to me and said, ‘Not safe in the slightest. But we’ll let you out.’
‘Who was playing the music?’ I asked her.
‘It’s the sheriff. He’s still going strong. What is that he’s playing now Tanner?’ She looked to the guy on the other ladder. ‘Sounds like Live and Let Die. McCartney or Guns N’ Roses?’
‘Is that a serious question?’ Tanner scoffed. ‘It’s obviously McCartney.’
Thirty seconds later, I was out and running across the thankfully, empty car park again.
Bolts slotting back into place sounded behind me. Then someone was shouting my name. I stopped and spun around. Royston Gayter was jogging towards me, a machete in each hand.
Where the fuck has he found them?
‘Alright Roy?’
He hesitated slightly, staring at my face. ‘Hi Chris, thought I’d come down and lend a hand. Who knows what’s going on back there?’ He gestured behind him with one of the machetes. ‘They’ve been sitting around, doing nothing at all. I just spotted you when they were letting you out.’
‘Have you seen anyone?’ I asked, stepping towards him. ‘Jack, Michael, Shannon, Gee or Pete?’
‘I think I saw Pete. He’s related to Sandra isn’t he?’
‘Yeah, where was he?’
‘He was back there, hanging around with a load of other people.’
‘Good. Hopefully he stays there.’
‘Am I going to regret coming out here Chris?’
‘Maybe. Come on, follow me.’ I turned and headed towards the alleyway.
Roy chased after me. ‘Chris, you look terrible. Are you sure you’re okay.’
‘Yep. I’m fine,’ I lied.
‘I’ve got water bottles in my bag. Do you want one?’
‘No thanks. Hopefully we’ll find some people still alive that’ll need them.’
‘They wouldn’t tell me how bad it is,’ Roy said.
‘It’s really fucking bad,’ I said, stopping and turning back to face him. ‘If you don’t want to come with me, then I’ll understand. But I could really do with the help.’
‘I don’t need the speech thanks Chris. Beth would never forgive me if I didn’t come back with Jack.’
‘Good. We’re just gonna get him, and a few others, then get back inside the camp.’
Inside the alleyway, body parts were strewn across the path. Dark stains were splattered over the brick walls of the school buildings. Apart from the decimated zombies we were now running through, the alleyway was clear. I’d assumed the swarms would be right up to the inner fence by now. I could still hear Paul McCartney singing. That must be attracting a lot of the zombies still.
The hissing was getting louder as we got closer to the end of the alley. I remembered that having a height advantage had fared us well so far today.
I stopped and turned to Roy. I raised my left hand and placed my finger to my lips. Then I pointed with the Smasher to the roof next to us. He looked up to where I was pointing, and then glanced down the alleyway. He slowly nodded in agreement.
Roy walked up to the wall, placing his machetes into his belt. He spun around to face me, crouched down, and interlocked his fingers in front of him. I stepped into his hands and he stood up straight. I reached up and grabbed the edge of the roof. With Roy pushing, and me pulling, I just about managed to clamber up. There were a couple of seconds when I was sure I was gonna slip, and come crashing down to land on him. Once I was up, I spun around on my belly and stretched my hand down, taking the Smasher from him as he passed it up. He stepped backwards a few paces, and then ran at the wall. We m
issed each other the first, and the second time, but I managed to grab his hand on the third attempt. He scrambled with his feet while I pulled him up, so he could grip onto the roof’s edge. Then I got up onto my knees and heaved him up onto the flat roof.
We were both out of breath at the end of all that.
We kept to the flat parts of the roof, not wanting to slip on the wet tiles on the steeper, more angled sections. From this vantage point, I could see the damaged fence. There didn’t seem to be as many zombies streaming in through the gaps. When we reached the edge, and looked out over the American football field, and the car park beyond, we both stopped and stared at the sight in shock and awe.
The reason there weren’t as many zombies trying to get through the fence, was because every fucking zombie in America was already through. It looked like a massive ant migration. They were all being funnelled in the direction of the quarantine area, and the sheriff’s container.
‘That’s a lot of zombies,’ Roy whispered.
I quickly scanned the area where the car park was situated, now completely covered with the shuffling dead. Before I’d left there was a lot of Blue Team on the building in the corner of the car park. That was now empty. Nobody was stood on any of the vehicles. I looked right, towards more of the schools buildings. There wasn’t anyone in sight, not from any of the teams. That didn’t mean people weren’t in the buildings. Jack and everyone else would have been hard pressed to get all the way over there though. When I looked to the other side of the swarming zombies on my left, there was just some kind of lorry park, a field with what looked like a disused runway, and then the heavily damaged east outer fence.
I hope Michael and Shannon got out long before I carried Ali out of that field. There was no way anyone could have survived around there all this time.
The sheriff was now playing Whole Lotta love, by Led Zeppelin.
I pointed over to the building on the other side of the alleyway. ‘Let’s see if we can get closer to the sheriff. Hopefully everyone made it to him. If they’re not with him, we’ll have to get into the school somehow, and check in there.’
‘Okay, good idea,’ Roy said.
The edge of the swarm was definitely getting closer to us. There must have still been some zombies coming in through the outer fences, and forcing them closer to the camp. It would only be a matter of time before they were at the inner fence. The sheriff couldn’t keep the music going forever.
We walked back to where we had climbed up. The distance between the two buildings wasn’t as far there. I crept over to the edge of the roof.
‘We can jump that,’ Roy said. ‘It’s only eight or nine feet to the other side.’
Standing at the very edge and looking at the gap, it seemed too far to me. I wasn’t sure if Roy’s extra couple of inches in height made any difference to his perspective.
‘Really?’ I asked him. ‘Why not just drop down and climb back up the other side?’
‘Because that other side is a little bit higher than this side, and we only just managed to climb up here. Also, the zombies are just at the end of the passage. Now that I know that, I’m really hesitant about going back down there.’
‘So you’re happy to jump nine feet onto a higher roof?’
‘Eight or nine feet,’ Roy said. ‘And yeah, easy.’
‘Okay, after you.’
He turned and walked until the flat section of the roof ended. He spun back around, and momentarily placed his hands around the handles of his machetes, still tucked into his belt. He let go of them and started running. I couldn’t help but smile at the expression on his face. It was a look of complete concentration. His eyes were fixed on the other roof.
Roy planted his right foot down close to the edge, and launched himself. He sailed through the air, his left leg stretching out before him. His left foot came down to land on the other side, but immediately slipped off. With a loud grunt of pain, his right shin collided with the side of the building. Luckily his momentum carried him through, slamming him face first onto the tiled roof.
He slowly got to his feet and forced a pained looking smile. He raised both his thumbs in my direction.
Fuck’s sake.
He beckoned me over whilst rubbing his shin. ‘Come on Chris.’
‘Are you taking the fucking piss?’ I hissed, staring down to the end of the alleyway. I was checking to see if any of the massive swarm had heard Roy nearly kill himself. ‘Are you okay?’ I asked, and pointed to his waist. ‘You didn’t stab yourself with your machetes did you?’
He quickly patted his hands over his hips and thighs. ‘Yeah I’m fine. Just make sure you jump a bit closer to the edge. I probably jumped too early.’
‘No you fucking didn’t. You were right on the edge when you jumped.’
‘Just jump further than I did.’
‘Just jump further than I did,’ I repeated, under my breath. ‘Here, catch my bat.’ I raised the Smasher and Roy stepped closer to the edge, I tossed it across and he caught it with ease.
I turned and walked to the spot Roy had started his run up. ‘Get ready to fucking catch me,’ I said to him.
I tried to get up as much speed as possible in the short run up. As soon as both of my feet were off the roof, I knew I wasn’t going to make it.
This is gonna hurt.
I didn’t even manage to plant one of my feet down. My left thigh crashed into the edge, swiftly followed by my right. My balls then seemed to take the brunt of the impact. I wasn’t sure what happened after that, but I opened my eyes to find myself lying face down on the roof. My feet dangled over the edge, and my testicles felt like they were in my throat.
‘I’ve crushed my bollocks,’ I moaned into the roof, my lips squashed against the tiles.
I got halfway up onto my knees and tried to suck some air into my lungs. My mouth filled with blood so I spat it on to the tiles.
‘See,’ Roy said. ‘We made it. Easy.’
The intense pain in my balls didn’t seem to be leaving any time soon. ‘Fuck you Royston,’ I mumbled. Sticking out my tongue, I tried to say, ‘I think I bit my tongue.’
He had a quick look, before screwing up his face. ‘Yeah, I think you did.’ He grabbed my arm at the elbow, and I let him lift me to my feet. He handed me back the Smasher.
‘Let’s try and get to the other side,’ he said. ‘See what the sheriff is up to.’
I nodded and gestured for Roy to take the lead. I hobbled along behind him. Welcome to the Jungle, by Guns N’ Roses accompanied us as we precariously made our way across the rain soaked roof tiles.
The fences that had once been around the tennis courts were gone. They were still technically there, but were now lying flat on the ground, trampled over by thousands of zombies. The sheriff’s container was still there, just with an incredible amount of the dead surrounding it.
Sheriff McCallany sat on top of the container. He must have thrown one of the plastic chairs up there. He was sat on the chair, leaning back on two legs, like he didn’t have a care in the world. A large umbrella, maybe even a parasol, was propped up against him. He held a bottle of whiskey in his right hand. The big eighties boombox I’d noticed the other day sat on his lap.
We waved at him to get his attention, still trying to make as little noise as possible. We were directly in his eye-line so it didn’t take him long to notice us.
‘Hey guys!’ he cheerfully shouted, making me flinch. ‘Any requests?’
Roy and I exchanged concerned glances, before looking back to the sheriff.
It didn’t feel right to shout with so many of the dead that close to us, but I shrugged my shoulders, and shouted, ‘More Tears for Fears?’
The zombies closest to us all turned their attention to us.
He placed the whiskey bottle down on the roof, and rummaged his hand around in a plastic bag behind him. He pulled his hand out and shook a cassette tape above his head, before exchanging it for the tape in the boombox. Mad World started playin
g. The sheriff gave us a thumbs up.
Roy turned to me. ‘Well, that was a bit surreal.’
‘The sun will be down soon,’ I said. ‘Let’s find a way into the school before it’s too dark.’
‘What about the sheriff?’ Roy asked.
‘We can’t do anything. He’s safe for now, and he seems to be happy enough.’
Roy pointed back the way we came. ‘Back to the passage?’
‘Yep, hopefully it’s still clear.’
I took one final look at the sheriff and waved. He lifted his bottle to us, before taking a swig.
Turning to catch Roy up, I said, ‘Yep, very fucking surreal.’
We reached the other side of the building where it overlooked the alleyway below, and turned right, planning to drop down further away from the eyes and ears of the zombie swarm.
Roy placed a hand on my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks. ‘Can you hear that?’ he asked.
I tried to listen for something new. ‘Hear what?’
‘Voices, I’m sure I just heard voices,’ he said.
‘I can’t hear anything.’
‘Jack, I think I just heard voices,’ somebody whispered from below us.
‘I heard that,’ I said, clapping Roy on the shoulder.
I crept over to the edge and looked down. The faces of Jack, Pete, Gee, Andruis and Matis looked back up at me. Their hopeful expressions instantly turning to smiles.
Apart from Pete, who looked like he’d just stepped out of the shower, they were entirely covered in dark brown coloured streaks.
‘Alright, what are you lot doing here?’ I asked them.
‘Looking for you,’ Jack said, his eyes shifting when Roy stepped alongside me and leaned his head out. ‘Roy, what are you doing here?’
I pointed down the alleyway. ‘Meet you down there, further away from the swarm.’
We hurried along the edge of the building until we felt like we were far enough away, and dropped down to join our friends.
Pete looked anxious. ‘Where’s Ali?’ he asked. ‘Jack said you brought her back. Is she okay?’
‘I think so. They took her to a medical tent. Don’t know which one, sorry.’
‘But she’s okay?’ he asked.