Parasite ; Sleeper Cells ; Kingdoms of the Dead

by Ian Woodhead

  He reached his brother, grabbed the man’s collar, and pulled Daniel off the sidewalk. The first grey face appeared out of the blackness. Mortimer pushed the stock into his shoulder, took aim and fired. The roar split the sky. He didn’t bother congratulating himself on the fact that the top of his target’s head had just disappeared in a crimson cloud of gore; another dead thing had already shuffled past the fallen zombie.

  “What are we going to do?”

  He glanced at his brother’s terrified face, then looked back at the dozens of dead things shambling out of the shop windows. Daniel moaned.

  “There’s more of them over there!”

  The fear in his brother’s voice was tangible. He dare not answer him for fear that his voice might break as well. Daniel wasn’t wrong. He now saw movement in windows and open doorways all around them. They didn’t stand a chance of stopping every one of them. Mortimer tapped his brother sharply on the top of his arm before turning and pelting down the street, staying in the middle of the road. He glanced back once to make sure that Daniel hadn’t decided to stay.

  His brother was right behind him, waving the crossbow at the dead things shambling after them. There seemed little point in wasting his breath informing Daniel that the zombies didn’t really understand threats.

  There were about a half a dozen already in front of them now. He didn’t believe they posed much of a threat though. Mortimer raised his shotgun and fired once, watching the head of the closest zombie, a middle aged man, explode. Two more emerged from an alcove and joined the rest. He sighed, maybe he just ought to keep his big mouth shut.

  “They’re getting closer!”

  He turned to see his brother had stopped. He was bending down to pick up a bolt that had fallen. “Christ!” he muttered. Mortimer ran back and grabbed the man’s arm. ”Leave it,” he hissed. “We need to move. Stay with me, don’t stop for anything!”

  He ran straight for two dead things while spinning the shotgun. He lifted it up by the barrel and swung it hard at the first zombie. The stock crashed into the side of its head. Mortimer jerked the weapon back, grunting in satisfaction as the barrel slammed against the other one’s neck. It wasn’t down but the movement had given the pair of them a clear path through.

  “Where are we going?”

  Daniel wasn’t the only one who thought he’d been here before. The sense of belonging had increased with each passing moment. He knew exactly where to go. “Just hush and keep up, Daniel. Keep your head about you, for Christ sake.”

  There were a few more dead things in front of them, not many though. It looked as though they had left the bulk of the foul creatures behind them. Even so, he wasn’t going to allow his optimism to overtake his mood just yet. Mortimer slowed down to allow his brother to catch up. “I need your crossbow,” he said. “Swap, just don’t fire it. The last thing we need is to get them excited again.”

  Reluctantly, his brother passed him the weapon. Mortimer notched a bolt and pulled back the bow. “Can you see that white building in the distance? The one that’s next to the …”

  “Next to the clock tower, where the newspaper office is.”

  Mortimer slowly nodded. “Yeah, that’s the place.”

  “How do we know where to go?”

  The dead things were catching up again. Glancing over his brother’s shoulder, he guessed that there were now at least a hundred bodies making their way towards them. Yet, looking at his brother’s expression, Mortimer was more concerned about how they both seemed to know where to go in this city when neither of them had ever been here before. Mortimer had no answer himself. Unlike Daniel, his practicality had taken control. “We’ll figure that out later.”

  He raised the crossbow, aimed, and fired, taking out an old woman that was getting too close for comfort. He ran forward and pulled the bolt out of her forehead. “Follow me,” he said, wondering why he was even bothering to speak, considering his brother must know exactly where they were going now. He ducked under the arms of another one, jumping at the sound of a meaty dull smack. He spun around to see Daniel standing over the zombie that Mortimer had just avoided. His brother was grinning from ear to ear, holding the shotgun like a caveman gripping a club.

  “Good man,” said Mortimer, turning back around. He raced across the street, happy to see there weren’t any dead things close by now. His target was just in front of him. Mortimer ran around a delivery truck and stopped under a metal fire exit, waiting for his brother to catch up. “Daniel, climb on my shoulders and try to grab the end.” He kneeled down and gritted his teeth while his brother placed his dirty feet beside his head.

  “I’ve got it!”

  “Yeah, great,” he muttered. “Then get off me, you heavy bastard.”

  His brother jumped off him and pulled the ladders down. Mortimer looked behind them, watching the horde get closer. He shook his head. It was a horde now. It looked as though the whole city had turned out.

  “There won’t be much of us to go around,” said Daniel, grinning.

  Mortimer looked up, seeing Daniel was already on the next set of steps. He quickly followed him and, with Daniel’s help, they pulled the last set of ladders back up to their original position. “How do you feel?”

  Daniel shrugged. “Well, apart from not being able to shift that increasing feeling that I’ve been here before, I feel pretty good.” He grinned and pointed to the crossbow. “Do you mind if I keep the gun? I promise I won’t fire it, honest.”

  Mortimer sighed. “Yeah, because the last thing we want is for the zombies to know that we’re here.”

  Daniel chuckled. “Yeah, that would be very bad. You know something? I think you’re right, this is better than playing with Legos.” He raced up the next flight of stairs and leaned over the railings. “The view from up here is awesome. I can almost see the camp.” He looked back at Mortimer. “I’m hungry.”

  The dead things below them were hungry as well. The last thing Mortimer wanted to do right now was to push a pin into Daniel’s happiness bubble, but he might have to. If they didn’t find anything to eat in here, chances were that they might not get out of here alive. Those dead things were not going anywhere anytime soon. They knew that their food was in here, and the one thing that all those foul monstrosities possessed in vast quantities was patience.

  It could be a couple of days before they were able to escape. Mortimer watched his brother grinning away. It did make him feel good inside to actually see Daniel do anything than snarl or sneer. He’d almost forgotten what his twin looked like with a smile plastered across his face.

  Daniel reached the roof and disappeared from view, leaving him alone with his thoughts. “If only Martin was here to see this,” he mumbled. Mortimer watched the crowds of the dead continue to approach the building and, for some weird reason, he actually had the feeling that the rest of his family were in that mass of animated bodies. Just like the ‘been here before’ feeling, this new thought would not leave him.

  The rest of their family were dead alright, but their demise had occurred over two hundred miles north of here, way before the time of The Change. Their parents had perished in a car accident two years before the world turned into complete shit. For the last few years until all this happened, it had been their brother and his girlfriend who had kept an eye on the younger brothers. Sure, they’d still lived in the same house that they’d been born in, but the painful memories of their loss had given them all deep scars. Their older brother had always been a bit dominating, but at least they’d been able to have a bit of a laugh with him. He’d got far worse after Mom and Dad had died. Although, for some unknown reason, it had been Daniel who had taken the brunt of Martin’s mood change.

  Mortimer raised his eyes to the edge of the building, spotting the top of his brother’s head coming into view. It was the old Martin who would have loved to see Daniel smile. He took a deep breath and yet again wished things had turned out differently, that none of this raising the dead shit had happe
ned.

  “Hell, while you’re at it, living in fucking fantasy land, why don’t you wish that Mom and Dad hadn’t died in that crash.” He continued up the stairway, wondering how his parents would have coped with The Change. He looked back and felt himself choke up. They’d be with that lot down there.

  “Are you coming, or what?”

  Mortimer raced up the last set of steps, wondering if he should be grateful at the sight of Daniel’s shining face. At least when the bastard was miserable, he wasn’t so annoying.

  “Come on, I’ve already found our way inside. It looks like we’re not the only ones who have been here.” Daniel ran across the roof, heading towards a raised skylight. “I think we’ll be safe here. I peered down and I can’t see movement.”

  Should he feel confident in the fact that, all of a sudden, Daniel had turned into the survival expert? Mortimer followed his brother to the skylight and took a look for himself. The first thing he saw was a rope ladder, fastened to the thick metal pipe that ran across the roof before disappearing into the side of a large tank at the other side of the building. Mortimer grabbed the ladder, braced himself, and gave it a sharp tug. It felt secure, at least enough to take their weight.

  He looked into the building, judging it to be at least a fifteen foot drop. If that ladder didn’t hold them, that drop could easily break their legs. He wondered if Daniel realized that, out here, any kind of injury could kill the pair of them.

  “Pass me those pieces of stone next to your feet, Daniel.” He held out his hand and watched his brother carefully pick up every one, including the stones too small for the purpose intended. Mortimer dropped the smallest ones down first, followed by the large pieces. He heard them clatter across the hard floor and waited, keeping his ears open for any sound indicating that they might have company down there. Mortimer notched a bolt into the weapon and pointed it into the hole.

  “Why does this place look so familiar?”

  Mortimer tuned his brother’s voice out, then leaned into the hole. He put the crossbow down and grabbed the edges while lowering his head further down. The skylight led into a large storage room. He smiled at the sight of over a dozen tins stacked on a metal shelf located at the far side of the room. He saw no movement; there wasn’t anywhere for anyone or anything to hide either. “Brilliant,” he said. “It’s safe.” Mortimer picked up the crossbow, slung it onto his back, and started to climb down the rope ladder. “Daniel, wait until I’m on the floor before following me. Don’t forget your gun.”

  “Is it safe?”

  “Totally safe. It looks as though we might get a meal out of it as well.” Mortimer reached the bottom and released the rope. It took a great deal of resistance not to run over to that shelf to see what the goodies were. He dared not leave Daniel though. If the ladder did break, at least the big lunk would have a soft landing.

  He took one step back and gave Daniel some room.

  “It smells musty in here,” said his brother as he placed both feet on the floor.

  “It’s better than it stinking of bad meat,” Mortimer replied, walking over to the shelf. “It means that we’re safe, at least in here.” He picked up the first tin, sighing when he saw the label had long since worn away. It could be anything from dog food to rice pudding. He gave the contents a shake. It didn’t sound too liquidy. Even so, he was still none the wiser. “Here you go, Daniel, catch,” he said, throwing the tin at him. “What do you think is inside it?”

  Daniel caught the tin and shook it as well. “I’ve no idea. Why don’t we just open it and find out?” He dropped to the floor, placed the tin in front of him, and pulled out a large knife.

  Mortimer quickly checked out the other tins before joining him. “Go on then, get it open, let’s see if the gods are shining down on us today.” His stomach growled and his mouth began to water as soon as the sweet scent of fruit reached his nostrils when Daniel punched a hole in the top of the tin.

  “Oh Jesus,” gasped Daniel. “It’s full of strawberries!” He looked across at his brother. “Do you mind if I taste first?”

  Mortimer squeezed his stomach muscles together. “You can have the tin, Daniel, I’ll grab another one.” He frowned. “It might be best if you take your time eating them, though. It’s been a while since you’ve had anything so rich.” Judging by his actions, his brother hadn’t heard a word that he’d just said. Daniel was too busy using his knife to rip off the top. Mortimer hurried back over to the shelf and picked up anther tin and shook it. If this one was full of dog food, he fully intended to throw it at his brother.

  He pulled out his own knife and pushed the tip into the top. Mortimer chuckled. There was meat inside but it wasn’t for a dog or a cat. He’d just found a tin of steak. He looked over at his brother, currently holding his tin up and greedily gulping down the contents. It was such a bizarre sight, considering that back before The Change, Daniel hated fruit, especially strawberries. He carefully pushed the blade into the metal at the edge, sawed off the top and peeled the metal back.

  Mortimer dug his fingers into the brown mush and scooped out a generous portion, then pushed it into his warm mouth, groaning in ecstasy. If it wasn’t for the hundreds of dead things around this building, Mortimer could quite easily name this the happiest day of the past four years. He scooped out another fingerful of food and opened his mouth to receive the joyous bounty while counting the rest of the tins. The twelve remaining tins should keep them happy for at least a week, if they could find some water. He shook his flask and sighed when he worked out that it was already half empty.

  He looked back at his brother and saw that he was already eying the other tins. “Shall we see what else is in here?”

  Daniel grinned. “Hell yeah.” He hurried over to the door. “It’ll be ironic if it’s locked.”

  Mortimer passed his brother his tin. “Here, finish it off.” He un-slung the crossbow and crept over to the door while keeping his finger on the trigger “Get ready,” he whispered, reaching for the door handle. He counted to three and turned the handle then pulled. A gust of more stale air hit him in the face when he pulled the door open. He coughed when the disturbed dust particles went down his throat. He saw no movement out here and there was no evidence that any dead thing had been down here either.

  Could they have actually found a decent place to rest up? Something like this, a safe hideout, would mean he’d be able to stay longer in the city to look for resources. Until the discovery of this place and those tins, he’d been close to giving up on the city, believing it to have been cleared out by other groups years before. Obviously, the city had seen its fair share of plunderers, but now at least he knew that some places had been left untouched. “All ready for me to plunder,” he whispered, grinning to himself.

  He followed the dust-covered corridor, glancing at the framed prints of images of an old city from last century screwed to the wall. It took him a few moments to realize that this place must have been an old mill that had been converted into industrial units some time in its past. Judging from the prints on the other wall, this was a printing works.

  “Hey Daniel, didn’t you used to work in a printing place?” He glanced behind him and saw his brother was once again not taking any notice of what he was saying. Daniel was too busy staring at a picture of three dogs playing pool. “Hello, Earth to Daniel, is there anybody inside?”

  His brother slowly turned and looked at Daniel. “Yeah, I heard you. I heard every syllable. I now know why I knew there was a toyshop in the next street.” He hurried forward and pushed past Mortimer.

  “Wait up, what are you doing?”

  Daniel didn’t slow down.

  “For fuck’s sake, you idiot, wait for me. We don’t know how safe it is.” He sighed and ran after his brother, watching him disappear around the corner. He skidded to a halt, almost colliding with Daniel who was gazing at the floor. There was evidence that this building had been occupied sometime after The Change. He looked at the burnt patch of gre
en carpet that showed a blackened area of floorboard.

  His brother kicked over a tin. “Now we know who put the tins on that shelf.”

  “Why did you run off?”

  Daniel pointed to a black panelled door on the other side of the corridor. “Go through there, Mortimer, and look at the wall behind the large antique desk that’s going to be in there, next to the window.”

  Mortimer gave his brother a long hard stare, trying to work out what his game was. He then saw tears in Daniel’s eyes. He turned and grabbed the door handle and pushed. The door swung open and the first thing that hit him was the faint smell of pine.

  “It’s air freshener,” whispered his brother over his shoulder. “Mr. Warner’s office always stunk of it. The fat old bastard loved the smell. It used to make me sick. Who’d have thought that the smell would still be here?”

  Mortimer saw the large desk by the window, just like his brother had said. He looked back at him. This time, Mortimer saw nothing that he recognized. “Do I want to know how you knew?”

  His brother pointed to the wall. “I’ve already told you. Go have a look at the pictures. This is seriously going to freak you out.”

  With his heart thudding, Mortimer did as Daniel asked and walked over to the wall. There were over a dozen pictures hanging on the dark, wood-panelled wall, but Mortimer knew exactly which picture he was supposed to be looking at. Directly in front of him, he saw one gold-framed picture that showed three lines of people. Mortimer guessed, looking at the uniforms, that this was an employee shot. On the back row, standing on the far left, was his brother, Daniel. He looked back. “This is impossible!”

  Daniel shrugged. “Tell me about it.” He walked over to the window. “Impossible or not, there I am, in that picture. Now I know you, Mortimer. You’re already pushing this weird turn of events to the back of your mind, no doubt thinking of a way out of here.” Daniel nodded to himself. “That’s good, no, it really is, ‘cause right now, I think my mind is on the verge of detonating. I haven’t finished either. There’s one more thing that I need to show you.” He looked out of the window one more time. “Believe it or not. I know how to get past all those dead things.”