by J N Wood
Chapter 28: Dancing
The night had been a cold one. My body wasn’t adjusting well to the constantly changing sleeping patterns. I’d probably had about three or four hours at the very most.
Everyone looked as miserable as me as we sat on the walkway, eating cold food out of tins. I counted myself lucky at getting a chilli con carne. Jack’s lucky dip looked like a gloopy macaroni and cheese, a repeat of the meals we’d shared in the Colorado Mountains three weeks ago.
Mine would have definitely tasted better heated up.
We’d left all of the fuel, matches, lighters, and a lot of the blankets and water, hidden away under the tractor. That way, when the helicopters arrived to lure the zombies into the woods, we wouldn’t have to worry about climbing down whilst carrying everything.
The morning had consisted of us staring at the wall being constructed. We repeatedly went over our plan while we waited. It was approaching midday before anything of note began to happen.
We had opened the blinds covering the windows, just a tiny amount, so we could see through the thin gaps, and over to the border.
Theo had the binoculars in front of his face, his free hand pointing out towards the wall. ‘There are things happening,’ he excitedly said. ‘They’re rolling some kind of big machinery over to the edge of the wall. The zombies are moving around a lot more. They’re crowding around that part over there. Look.’
We all peered out, listening for machinery, or for the helicopters.
‘Can anybody hear anything,’ Jack asked.
‘Shush Jack,’ Beth scolded him.
We stood in silence for at least a minute.
‘Shite,’ I whispered. ‘Maybe they’re not coming this time. They’ll come eventually.’
‘Wait,’ Roy said. ‘Listen.’
We all leant further over the barrier of the metal walkway, trying to get as close as possible to the windows. Eventually the sound of distant helicopter rotors reached my ears.
‘Everyone get ready,’ Ali said.
My chest suddenly felt tight, excitement, fear and nerves starting to rush through me.
‘You all know what to do,’ Ali continued. ‘Theo, you stay here and watch the direction of the smoke. Pete, Beth, Sandra and the boys, you’re by the open window, where we came in.’ She locked eyes with Pete. ‘Peter, do not take your eyes off Theo, and wait for his signal. The rest of us, let’s go and make some fire.’
Ali, Jack, Roy and I stared out of the windows at the back of the warehouse. Firstly, we were waiting for the helicopters to fly over, and secondly, for a lot of zombies to walk past us.
The sound of the helicopters was getting louder and louder, increasing the levels of anticipation within our group. We heard them as they flew overhead, sounding like they were right on top of us. We couldn’t see them at first, because they were actually way over to our left. They were so loud it just sounded like they were closer.
They flew away from us, the tall grass below them being blown in every direction.
‘Come on zombies,’ I said. ‘Where the fuck are you?’
The first of them started to appear, some running, some walking, most looking like their time on this Earth was almost up. They were all staring up at the noisy machines in the sky. Their numbers gradually increased, until they were streaming around the farm house and surrounding buildings, moving further into the fields behind us. It only took a few minutes for the numbers to thin, and the incredibly slow stragglers to appear, crawling or staggering past us, still staring at the sky. They were truly fascinated by the helicopters.
We all looked back across the warehouse to Theo. Three flashes from his torch meant we were clear to go.
We climbed down as quickly as possible. Roy was the last to touch down on the lane, sending dust flying as his feet hit the ground.
As we all slipped on the dust masks, Ali said, ‘Two gas containers each, and don’t forget water, some matches, and a back up lighter just in case.’
We collected up everything we needed and headed out together into the grass.
After we’d gone about thirty feet, Ali said, ‘Roy, this is you.’
Roy stopped and started unscrewing one of his jerry cans.
Another thirty feet, and we left Jack to do the same. Thirty more and Ali stopped. I carried on until I felt I’d ran far enough.
This is all fucking guesswork on my part.
I unscrewed both of the jerry cans. I then walked backwards in a wide zig zag pattern, emptying both cans as I went. When they were empty, I counted to thirty, just to make sure the other three had definitely finished. I stepped back from the petrol soaking into the dirt, lit a match, and threw it to the ground. The flame fizzled out before it hit the ground.
Fuck off.
I quickly lit another. This time I let it burn for just a little bit longer, before releasing it. It hit the ground and the fire was instantaneous. The flames started to travel away from me, through the grass and along the path I’d just taken. I was very briefly transfixed by the zig zagging flickering flames, until I remembered we were supposed to be sticking to a plan.
I turned away from the flames, and ran back towards the farm buildings. When I thought I was in Ali’s general location, I started saying her name.
I heard her calling for me, but I couldn’t see her anywhere. I eventually found her standing way over to my left.
She was very aggressively gesturing for me to come to her. ‘Chris, get over here now,’ she said.
Bollocks, I’m probably stood in her petrol. Maybe my zig zag pattern had been too wide?
I quickly ran over to her. Once I was behind her, she lit a match and dropped it to the ground, lighting the trail she’d left.
We ran together, looking for Jack. I spotted him in the distance almost straight away, peering through the grass towards us. Upon seeing us he lit the match he had ready in his hand, and dropped it. The orange flames danced away, seeking the path of the petrol. The three of us moved on, to search for Roy.
Roy was also ready and waiting. He had his trail alight before we made it to him. He stood and watched us running towards him, while the fire spread out behind him. We all sprinted back to the buildings together.
When we made it back to the tractor, everyone was already down on the ground and getting ready.
‘It’s working,’ Theo said. ‘There’s already smoke everywhere. The workers are all leaving as well. They’re not wearing masks. It’s really working.’
‘Okay,’ Ali said. ‘Don’t get overexcited.’
Max and Jonah were wearing the swimming goggles. As Seth was the biggest of the three, he was wearing one of the snorkelling masks. Sandra was wearing the other.
With all the fire and smoke behind them, it was a peculiar sight.
Everyone had their dust masks on. Pete and Theo were soaking blankets with water and then placing them over the boy’s backs.
‘It’s cold,’ Seth complained.
‘Sorry Seth,’ Pete said. ‘It soon won’t be.’
Pete then picked Seth up. Theo picked Jonah up, and Sandra was carrying Max. I passed one of the wire cutters to Ali, and the other to Jack. So I could carry the Smasher, I’d strapped the large bolt cutter into my backpack.
‘Now or never,’ Ali said.
The sound of hissing made us all spin around. They were coming back.
‘Now,’ I said.
We ran around the buildings and down the dirt track that led to the fence. Black smoke filled our vision. We were coughing already, and we’d only been going for twenty seconds.
The smoke certainly was working. Although it also meant we couldn’t see the fucking fence.
I could hear that flapping noise again, the same noise I’d heard outside Roy and Sarah’s destroyed house in Mountain View, like wet towels being blown around on a washing line.
One of the kids started screaming. He must have been able to see the burning flames running towards us.
I glanced over m
y right shoulder. A flaming zombie was running straight for Pete and Seth. I changed direction to intercept it. I ran as quickly as I possibly could, trying to get to it before it could get anywhere near the kids.
Ali was slowing, moving off the track, also aiming to cut the flaming attacker off.
‘Keep going!’ I shouted to her. ‘Get everyone to the fence.’
She spotted me running behind her, towards the burning zombie, and the fires behind it. She very briefly hesitated, before getting back onto the dirt track and running along with everyone else.
I tried to bend my approach, so its flaming body wouldn’t just slam into me immediately after I hit it. The Smasher was poised over my shoulder already. I swung it and connected with its chest, or shoulder, or something. I closed my eyes as hot sparks flew everywhere, hitting my face and neck. The burning creature was thrown backwards, slamming the back of its head into the ground when it hit the ground. Flaming parts of its skull scattered behind it.
The denim jacket the medic had given me was alight in numerous places. I ripped it off and threw it away as I ran to catch the others. In a panic, I patted my hand all over my hair and beard, trying to extinguish any flames that I hadn’t noticed.
I couldn’t see anybody. With my painful eyes half on the dirt track beneath my feet, and half on trying to find them, I continued.
Through the smoke I ran, trying to blink away the stinging tears. I spotted Jack up ahead. He was waiting for three zombies to come to him. Parts of their clothing were ablaze. His axe crushed the head of the first one to reach him. It fell to the ground, only its legs were on fire. Then he turned and swung the axe, taking the other two zombies’ heads clean off with that one swing. Their burning bodies slumped to the ground and skidded past him on the dirt track.
He patted himself down, before looking up to see me running towards him. He lifted his axe in my direction.
A fireball emerged from the smoke, only a few feet away from Jack. I pointed to it with the Smasher as I ran. He managed to turn and swing the axe. He hit the fiery thing right in its centre.
It was like a firework exploding. Tiny flickering fireballs went everywhere, hitting Jack like sparks. He immediately dropped his axe and started rubbing his head with his hands. There were little flames all over his clothing.
Without slowing, I let go of the Smasher and took my bag off my back, quickly pulling out the thick blanket I’d placed in there. The flames were rapidly spreading across Jack’s entire body.
‘Roll on the ground Jack!’ I shouted. ‘Get on the fucking ground!’
He must have heard me, because he immediately dropped to the floor and started rolling in the dirt. I made it to him and covered him with the blanket. Some of the flames wouldn’t go out, so I basically had to whip him with the twisted up blanket. Once they were all extinguished, I pulled a bottle of water out of my bag, and emptied it over his head.
‘Get the fuck up Jack,’ I screamed close to his face.
I got to my feet, ready to fight off anything coming for us, with the bolt cutters if I needed to. All I could see was smoke. My eyes were feeling incredibly hot.
I offered Jack my hand, he took it and I pulled him up.
‘Pick up your axe,’ I told him, then ran back to get my baseball bat.
Ten seconds later, with the Smasher back in my hand, I was running alongside Jack, hopefully in the direction of the others.
‘Are you okay?’ I asked him.
‘Yep, just a tad warm,’ he replied. ‘I might not have any skin left by tomorrow.’
We very nearly ran into the fence, just managing to stop before we ran face first into it.
‘Check the fence,’ Jack said, running his hands over the bottom of it, near the ground. ‘They must have come through here.’
I could hear flapping again. I turned to see three more fiery zombies heading towards us. These three weren’t entirely engulfed, and only one of them was moving quickly. The fires must have been destroying their already weakened states.
‘Keep looking Jack,’ I told him, and ran towards them.
I slowed as the faster one neared me, and then swung the Smasher into its knees. Both legs disintegrated and its top half flew past me. A burning arm stretched out for my face, making me lean back and almost fall over.
I quickly pulled out my other water bottle, and squirted it onto my left thigh, which seemed to have caught fire at some point. I stepped away from the burning arms trying to reach me on the ground. They were dragging a flaming head and torso closer to me. I headed towards the other two fiery creatures.
‘Chris,’ Jack shouted. ‘Fuck those two, let’s get out of here.’
I turned around to find him, but he wasn’t where I’d left him. ‘Where are you?’ I shouted.
‘Over here,’ Ali shouted.
I followed her voice and waited for the smoke to shift. They were both standing together. Ali was in Canada. Jack was still on this side of the fence, holding a section of it up, and waiting for me to get through. I stepped around the burning creature still trying to drag its way to me along the ground, and ran towards them.
I ducked my head down to squeeze through, then reached back through the gap Ali must have made, to hold it open for Jack. He followed me in.
Into Canada.
‘Is everyone okay?’ I asked Ali.
‘Yeah, they’re all fine’ she said, already turning around to move. ‘Come on, we have to go, there are soldiers here.’
We ran through the construction site of the border wall, over concrete sections lying on the ground, and around wheel barrows, and stacks of plastic pipes. Everything appeared out of the smoke when we were almost right on top of it.
‘You need to jump here,’ Ali told us. She then launched herself over a three foot wide hole, and again over another similarly sized hole.
Jack and I followed her, jumping over what looked like the foundations for the wall, and then running through more of the swirling smoke, which seemed to be never ending.
‘Wait,’ she said to us, holding her hand out. ‘Under here, now.’ She got down onto her belly, and crawled under what looked like a huge mobile crane. We swiftly followed, not knowing what she’d seen or heard.
We stared out from underneath the massive machine, the black smoke swirling around us. Sunshine was trying force itself through, almost looking like it was dancing with the smoke. One of the silent jeeps zipped past in front of us, shining a floodlight towards the fence behind us. Only the bright white circle of the floodlight was visible once it had passed, it was still aimed in the direction of the fence. The sound of boots hitting the ground rang out.
‘Keep low,’ Ali whispered. ‘Let’s go.’ She crawled out, and we dutifully followed her into the blackness.
I flinched and ducked my head down even lower when the gunfire started.
‘Keep going,’ Ali hissed. ‘I don’t think they’re shooting at us.’
‘Shite,’ I called after her. ‘Have we let burning zombies into Canada?’
Jack moved up so he was alongside me. ‘They’ll take care of it. We only made a small hole. Just keep running.’
The smoke had been thinning as we ran through open fields. I glanced behind me, nobody was following us. A thick wall of black smoke covered a large section of the border.
We really couldn’t have done a better job.
Ali pointed ahead of us, towards woodland at the edge of the grass field. ‘Everyone should be in those woods somewhere.’
‘What do you mean? Somewhere?’ Jack asked her.
‘I had to tell them to keep going, soldiers started to arrive. I told them to wait for us as soon as they entered the woods. They’ll be looking out for us.’
Chapter 29: Two Weeks Ago
Beth ran to Jack when she saw us, almost throwing herself at him when they met.
We’d found them hiding just within the tree line. They’d found us really, calling out our names as we neared the edge of the field.
&
nbsp; When Beth finally let go of Jack, she ran her fingers through his hair.
‘You’ve burnt some of your hair off,’ she told him.
He stepped away from her slightly and looked down at himself. ‘Burnt some of my clothes as well.’
‘Come on everyone,’ Ali said. ‘We need to get further away from the border. I don’t know if the soldiers know anyone alive made it across, but let’s not risk hanging around.’
‘Anyone alive? Did the dead manage to get through the fence?’ Sandra asked.
‘We don’t know,’ Ali replied. ‘Come on. Let’s get further into the woods before we take a break.’
As we walked, Roy passed around bottles of water to anyone that needed it. I certainly had. My throat felt like I’d been swallowing razor blades. I drank some, before pouring half the bottle over my face, desperately hoping to relieve some of the pain, in and around my eyes.
It worked for about twenty seconds, the pain soon returning after the water had drained away.
After an hour of trekking through the trees, we stopped to eat something and rest for five minutes. I threw on a fleece we’d found in the camping shop. The adrenaline, combined with slowly cooking in the fields, meant I’d still been quite warm after throwing away my frazzled jacket. I’d started to cool down after sitting down to eat something. Charles’s beef jerky was still on the menu, so I was eating some of that.
Ali was eating something disgusting looking out of a tin. ‘We haven’t really discussed what we’d all do if we made it across.’ She looked up and smiled. ‘Well, we made it.’ Her eyes were glistening as they slowly moved around our small group, taking us all in. She was probably thinking about the people that didn’t make it. I certainly was.
‘I’m going to try and get to the east coast,’ I said. ‘And then swim to England.’
‘We’re going to do whatever we can to help Chris get to the east coast,’ Beth said, smiling at me. ‘And then try and stop him from swimming across the Atlantic.’
I returned the smile.
‘I’d like to come with you Chris,’ Roy said to me. ‘All the way back to England. Although preferably not by swimming.’