by Smith, I. J.
“I don’t get why, what is there to see accept a burning building,” a male voice complained.
“We get told to go, so we go. Unless you want to tell The Boss otherwise,” the female replied.
An eerie silence followed, until a car engine started and drove away.
“That was close,” Alice commented.
Jack remained silent, picking up the bottles he walked back out into the street, making sure no one else was around as he walked. Alice quickly followed, worried about what he was planning. She watched as he approached an abandoned car, he lay on the ground and crawled under the car. He pulled the screwdriver from his pocket, “Alice, hand me the bottles,” he told her.
She watched as he punctured the fuel tank and began filling the bottles with fuel, filling five bottles up; he started tearing the cloth he got from the corpse ad placing a long piece in each bottle.
“You have done this before I see,” she remarked.
Looking up, he smiled, “I prefer C4,” he joked.
She knew he was not joking, and had no idea what to say in reply.
“So, how do you plan on getting us in there?” she asked.
Jack pointed to the ice cream truck, “We are going to play some tunes and lead all those dead fuckers in there,” he told her.
The look of shock covered her face, “You’re not kidding, are you?” she responded.
He walked towards the ice cream truck; Alice slowly followed him in disbelief of his plan. He placed the bottle on the passenger seat; Alice opened the back doors and screamed out. A zombie fell from the back of the truck landing on Alice; she tried reaching her knife, but was too busy holding the zombie away from her. Jack rushed to her aid, he grabbed the back of the zombie and placed his hand under its jaw, placing his knee against its back, he pulled, tearing the jaw and the upper head clean off the neck. He threw the body to the ground, Alice struggled for breath, holding her by the shoulder Jack reassured her. “You’re fine, it’s OK,” he tried calming her.
She wrapped her arms around him, her breathing calmed as she shook in fear. “Look, maybe you should stay here, and I will come back for you when it’s over,” he told her.
“I can’t, my husband is in there. I need to do this,” she told him softly.
Jack helped her to her feet, “I understand. Do you think you can drive this thing?” he pointed to the truck.
She smiled with gratitude; they both got into the truck and attempted to get it started.
Once the engine finally started, Jack told her, “Right, aim for the gap between the dead, and go slow.” They started to move towards the fight.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
RYAN
Rosita drove the gray truck down the street, the night sky made it impossible to see more than a few feet in front. Eddie just looked excited as they drove like it was an adventure. Rosita refused to turn the headlights on, just in case they were seen by their captors. As she drove, she kept hitting abandoned cars, as the zombies roamed the street. Rosita simply drove into them, blood spatters were now covering the windscreen, bits of flesh and bone became embedded into the front of the truck. Rosetta hoped they were close to the place where Jack sent them to find his friends.
Zoe stood in front of the metal shutter, she was taking deep breaths, “OK, let us get this done,” she spoke out. Leaning down, she pulled up the metal shutter, raising her gun she walked out from the store. It was clear; she pulled down the shutter behind her and walked out of view.
Elle and Bray quickly moved to the back door, they prepared their weapons waiting for the distraction. “You should stay here,” Elle told Bray.
“Not a chance,” quickly replied.
“You’re still recovering from a serious wound,” she tried telling him.
Bray chuckled, “Imagine how worse, my wounds would be if anything happened to you. Jack would kick my ass,” he replied with a smile.
Elle blushed at his response. “We should wake him and make him help us,” she looked to Mark.
“Don’t bother, he would just moan,” Bray remarked.
Glancing over to a still sleeping Mark, Elle frowned, “Do you know what his problem with Jack is?” she asked.
Bray looked hesitant to reply, “Erm, could be anything,” he replied.
Elle simply frowned more and focus her gaze on Bray. He sighed, “Back at the MI6 building, when we were overrun in the basement. David got trapped and Jack had to choose, him or all of us. He chose, he left him behind,” Bray told her with stress in his voice.
“He had no choice,” Bray reassured her.
“Then David should have been smarter, everyone cannot blame Jack for their own mistakes,” she replied in a stern voice.
Bray focused on Elle, “You two make a nice couple,” he remarked while gently opening the back door a crack.
She smiled, agreeing with him.
Zoe walked up the street, debris kept slowing her down. She needed move more slowly, she crouched down behind a car when she noticed a walking corpse dragging its feet up the street. She stayed low waiting for it to pass; she slowly crept further along the side of the car as the zombie passed her. She even held her breath to make sure nothing would attract it. The zombie passed and Zoe continued her journey along the street, keeping low to the ground the entire way. She reached the crossroad that led to the car park behind the stores. Once at the edge, she peeked around the corner to see a swarm of dead roaming and bashing against the bus Ryan was hiding in.
She stood with her back against the wall, the fear in her eyes shined like a star. Holding the gun in her shaking hands, “What the fuck am I meant to do,” she uttered to herself.
She was lost, trying hard to think of how to attract the dead, she knew she could shoot at them, but that would not guarantee them all coming towards her. She slapped herself on the side on the head repeatedly, “Think, think,” she repeated to herself.
Suddenly she smiled wider, “Of course, just have to be crazy like Jack,” she uttered thinking of the fight a couple of nights ago.
She jumped on the bonnet of a nearby car, climbing to the roof, she shouted out, “HEY, OVER HERE,” While waving her arms in the air. At that moment, she started singing, “Hakuna Matata! it means no worries for the rest of your day,” she sang out. While still waving her arms in the air.
“Can you hear that?” Elle asked Bray.
They both remained silent, listening to a female voice singing. “Is that a song from The Lion King?” he asked.
Elle laughed, “Great she is as crazy as Jack,” she joked.
They watched as many of the zombie started to roam towards Zoe, “OK! you ready?” Bray asked.
Simply with a smile she kicked the door open and run out to face the swarm.
The groaning and smell of rotting flesh hit them; with guns raised, they wasted no time getting into the fight. Bray fired a shot, the head of a zombie exploded. They kept firing, but there were too many of them. Soon they were being pushed back; they could no longer use their gun and turned to their knives to stay in the fight.
“RYAN, RYAN, GET OUT NOW!” Bray shouted.
Elle slashed her knife against the throat of a zombie; she kicked the corpse back into the swarm.
“RYAN GET THE FUCK OUT!” Bray shouted again.
Elle used her gun again, shooting out. Blood, bone and brain matter sprayed out in the air, a gunshot sounded out from the back of the swarm. Zoe had joined the fight; her ammo was low and knew they would not last much longer. She suddenly screamed out, “RYAN MOVE IT.”
Ryan was still sitting in the driver’s seat, his head rested on the steering wheel. He could hear people screaming his name; he looked towards the shouting, gunshots fired out. His name was screamed out again, he looked to the door it was still overrun with zombies. He kept thinking to himself, ‘what can I do,’ he lost himself in thought. He jumped to his feet, “Fear is a weapon,” he uttered to himself. He looked around the bus, a metal pole was connected along the roo
f as a handle, he grabbed it and pulled hard. He gave out a scream as he forced it from the roof. He fell backwards against some seats when the bar broke off, holding it in his hands he stood up. He moved to the doors, “Fuck it,” he murmured.
Opening the door, he screamed out, “FUCK IT,” again. He swung the metal bar smashing several zombies, but not killing any. They tried to grab at him. He decided to try and rush past them, as he did one grabbed him. It was an old man, his skin sagging, his eyes dead. As it tried to bite Ryan, Bray pulled it back ramming his knife into its brain. As the corpse dropped, Bray grabbed Ryan and pulled him back towards the door. The swarm moved on them, Zoe was cut off, she looked around. “Just go,” she told the others.
Elle continued to fight, refusing to let anyone else die, the swarm grew in number and they all feared it was over.
Bray thrust his knife into every brain that came near him, but gave out a wince in pain. Blood started to drip from his shoulder injury his wound had reopened. The pain began to become unbearable, he looked to Elle who indicated she was now out of ammo. She continued to fight with her knife. Bray glanced at Zoe, who simply shook her head, knowing they were not going to make it. All of them were now soaked in the blood of the dead they fought.
All was lost; they were now cut off from the door. They were beginning to tire and now it was only a matter of moments before they became overrun by the dead.
Ryan watched as these people were about to die, he felt so guilty. The way he acted, the way he showed how scared he was. The shame of trying to pull children from a helicopter to save himself, he knew he never deserved to survive and only wished these amazing people he watched fighting to save him, he could have called friends. Instead, they were about to die protecting a coward and for this he felt ashamed.
Two bright round lights suddenly appeared almost blinding them; Ell held a hand up covering her face trying to make out what it was. Zoe ran out of the way of the approaching light, a loud horn started beeping. Elle could make out a gray truck, “Jack,” she whispered. The truck rushed into the dead, splattering over the truck window, the buildup of bodies caused the truck to flip and land on its side. It slid across the ground, slamming into the wall hard, the zombies behind it popped like balloons when crushed. Blood and body parts covered the ground, only a few zombies remained. Zoe and Elle quickly rushed them, knives in hand and putting them down for good.
Bray and Ryan moved to the truck, Elle and Zoe quickly joined them. Noticing a picture of excitement on Elle’s face, Zoe placed her arm around her. A young bald man started to climb out of the truck, the look on Elle’s face changed to sadness. Ryan helped the boy down, he was down syndrome and simple spoke, “We helped, didn’t we,” he said while smiling.
“Thank you,” Ryan replied in a shocked voice.
Another noise came from the truck, Zoe and Elle rushed to help as a middle-aged woman tried to climb out of the truck. They helped her down and was shocked by her first words, “Elle.”
Looking shocked Elle looked confused at her, “Who are you and how do you know my name?” she quickly asked, hoping for the answer she wanted.
“I am Rosita and this is Eddie,” pointing to the young man. “A man, Jack saved us and sent us here,” she continued to tell them everything.
Back in the store, Paige still lay on the floor away from Mark.
Curled up in the corner, Mark began to move, a low groaning noise came from him, Paige quickly stood up and ran to hide behind a desk, this was a noise she was very familiar with.
Mark started to rise, he slumped, his body was limp. Raising his head, the eyes were dead, his skin pale and covered in veins. He groaned again, hearing the talking coming from outside, he started to drag his feet towards the voices. Paige looked, lowering her head and backing up behind the table further.
Outside, Rosita had told them about Jack heading towards the enemy with Alice.
“We need to help him,” Elle spoke up.
“Agreed,” Zoe, added.
Bray was the voice of reason, “I am sure Jack has it in hand, if he wanted our help he would have come and got us,” he spoke.
Elle looked angry, “So you stay here and we will go,” she snapped.
“With what,” Bray instantly replied.
“We have no ammo left, and by the time we got there I doubt we will even find him in time,” he continued to tell her.
The anger in her face grew, shaking her head in anger.
“Rosita, we have some food and water inside,” Bray told her, attempting to ease the tension.
Suddenly a loud noise like thunder echoed above them, looking up they all looked. “What the hell is that?” Zoe asked.
An explosion lit up the night sky, “What the fuck,” Bray uttered while moving closer to Elle and Zoe.
With everyone looking up, a scream made them turn. They looked to see Mark biting into Rosita neck from behind. Eddie panicked and crouched against the wall. As Mark tore the flesh from her neck, blood sprayed out. Tears ran down Rosita’s face, Mark carried on chewing her neck as if he was eating a burger. Bray, Elle and Zoe were about to attack when they were stopped in shock.
Ryan grabbed Mark and threw him to the ground, he hit him in the head with the metal pole he had in hand. Mark still groaned, he dropped the pole and began stamping on Marks head. “DIE! YOU FUCK! DIE! DIE! DIE!” he kept shouting out as emotion took over. The head crumbled all over the ground, even with Mark dead, he continued to stamp on him shouting.
Elle grabbed Ryan by the arm, she noticed the sad emotion on his face, his eyes were filled with tears. He looked into Elle’s eyes, “I’m sorry,” he uttered. She put her arms around him, knowing the pain of his own guilt; he was feeling was killing him.
Bray looked at Ryan’s shoes, covered in blood and brain matter, “You might want to clean them off,” He joked.
Rosita lay on the ground, struggling to breath, as blood poured out. Zoe tended to her, knowing there was nothing she could do, she pulled her knife and pushed it into her brain, killing her.
Eddie still crouched crying on the ground; Bray helped him up, “It’s OK, you’re safe now. We will look after you,” he tried to comfort him.
Instead, Eddie pushed him away, Paige appeared from the door, she walked over to Eddie and licked his face, as if she knew he needed it. Eddie smiled and stroked the dog.
That was the moment she knew Bray was right, they could not help Jack. All they could do was wait, and get the bus ready for when they get back.
They all went back inside of the store.
CHAPTER TWELVE
BURN
The street was spilt by zombies reaching up at the hanging victims; the flesh was being torn from victims. A hanging body had most of its head eaten, the skull was clearly visible as the zombie below munched on a chunk of flesh still covered in blood soaked blond hair. The group of zombies turned their attention to a noise rumbling past them, they groaned and began to move towards the noise.
A white truck covered in pictures of ice cream and lollypops drove along the street, attracting the attention of the dead on both sides.
“So, this is the brilliant plan,” Alice observed, while Jack sat in the back getting things ready.
Hearing her question, he simply laughed, “OK, now let’s get this moving,” he spoke to himself.
Moving to the front, he switched on the music that was once used to attract the kids, and now it was being used to attract the decaying corpses of the walking dead to follow them. The music was like a bad recording of ringing bells, the crackling from the speakers on any normal occasion would be embarrassing, but for this, it was perfect. The jingle echoed through the packed zombie streets, Alive drove slowly resisting the urge to put her foot down and drive away from them.
The color from her face drained as she looked into the side mirror and seeing they were now being followed. Looking ahead, she could see the entrance of the Multi Story car park, the burning oil barrels lit it up. Taking a big gulp,
she spoke out, “This is either Brilliant or insane.”
“Amazing how often they go hand in hand,” Jack simply replied.
“Keep the headlights off, and stay slow until I tell you,” he also told her.
The fear in her face was now apparent, looking at her, he knew he needed to calm her down, “So your husband, what is his name?” he asked.
She gave him a puzzled glance, “What, you really think this is the time,” she snapped.
“Why not,” he joked in reply.
Before she could respond shouting could be heard ahead of them, the men guarding the entrance had noticed the truck and the zombies following them.
“OK, NOW!” Jack shouted, indicating for her to put her foot down and speed through the entrance, stopping for nothing. Hitting a burning barrel on the way through, it was sent flying through the air, gunshot suddenly could be heard. Several pierced the windscreen, Jack pulled Alice down to the floor. They were not inside and placed his hand on the accelerator, while with his spare arm covering Alice. Speeding through the ground level car park, they crashed hard into parked vehicles. Jack smashed his head against the dashboard, reopening the cut on his head; Alice looked to him as blood dripped down the side of his face.
Quickly moving to the back of the truck, “Stay in here until I say otherwise, OK,” he told her.
He took out the matches from his pocket and set light to two of the glass bottles filled with the fuel; he kicked the back doors open and jumped out. Shouting surrounded him, Zombies started to roam in from the outside, a large man with a long-sharpened blade ran for him. Jack stepped forward throwing the glass bottle at the man, hitting him in the chest flames engulfed the man. His screams were a harrowing noise; Jack pulled his rifle around from his back and wasted no time. Dropping to a knee, he started shooting at the approaching people.
With his ammo, low Jack always knew this would end up being a fight by hand, with the ammo clip emptying. As shots were fired in his direction, he rolled to the ground, making him a hard target to hit, several men ran at him. Jack got to his feet, turning his gun and using it as a bat, hitting the man with a long beard directly it the jaw so hard, several broken teeth hit the ground.