by Paul Jenkins
THE DEAD OF NIGHT
IT’S NOT THE DEAD WE SHOULD FEAR!
Other short stories available on Amazon –
Hush
Hush II: The Return
The Burning Truth
The Burning Truth II: Vengeance
The Burning Truth III: The Final Flame
The Burning Truth IV: The Final Flame – Part II
Chapter One
It has been two month since the outbreak happened, three weeks since I had to take the life of someone close to me, someone who I loved dearly, my wife. Nobody knows quite how this ‘outbreak’ happened or where it started, maybe one day us survivors will discover what really caused this whole mess. One day people where living, laughing, and worrying about bills and money. Then over the course of a week things began to change. The recently deceased came back to life, even people who where fit and well suddenly took ill and passed away but within a few hours they came back, but not as you would expect, something changed in them. The only thing they wanted was the living. I know this because I have witnessed it all in the space of just two months. I watched as the world fell apart around us, I watched as people were ripped apart by these things those walkers, Zombies or whatever they are! We all laughed and planned what we would do in a situation like this, but I don’t think anyone expected it to happen. I also lost someone else close to me my son, it was for his own good, I told him that I would be fine that he was best off leaving this place. He was one of the lucky ones to be taken to a safe place somewhere I don’t know and maybe never will. All I know is that once the choppers left with the selected survivors the military left to, they got the fuck out. I only stayed behind to save a women and her child, no room left for me on the chopper. I lost the two people closest to me. The few remaining people were told that the helicopters would be back but after a month I knew those fuckers wouldn’t come back so I along with a group of survivors grabbed everything we needed and left this place, fuck knows where we are going maybe we will find a refugee camp. After weeks moving from town to town, we discovered it was easier to move during midday, we found it was easier than walking around in the dark of the night. Over the space of a week we lost two of our people, one was bitten, he chose to end his own life, and we left him with a pistol we found on some dead military guy. The other one was literally torn apart by a horde of them, we couldn’t do anything we watched as he died screaming in pain. Two nights ago we found a campsite, looked as though a horde of these things came though and destroyed everything. Rotting bodies lay beside tents three of them where walking around, their looked weak and hadn’t fed on anything since their turned. So it was fairly easy for our group to take them out we only stayed at the camp for one night then moved on again. Now we are heading north to an army base to see if anything is left that can help us, we have been walking for miles countless hours spent walking only stopping when the sun goes down. We have finally found some transport and have split into two small groups and taken the two cars we can now cover more miles a lot quicker.
Now to explain who I am and what happened to my wife, my name is Tom Johnson I served twenty years in the military, I completed two tours of Afghan’ on my second tour I was shot in the leg, I saw some horrible things whilst out there. I decided to leave the military a year ago and took a job as a paramedic. I meet Jess before I joined up to the army we got married and we had a baby in the fall of 05’ we named him Jack. Things were going well until two month ago when the dead began walking and feasting off the living, we had just arrived back from a weekend break and noticed that people had suddenly became ill and passed away, I seen a story on the news about a body that came back to life in the hospital morgue and tried to attack a doctor but when the body fell from the slab he landed head first on the floor and died…again. Two weeks later we were held up in our home as the recently deceased where roaming the streets I had to protect my family I heard over the radio that there was a camp not far from us and was taking people to a safe zone it was our only choice. I cleared a path to the car but Jess was bitten on her arm, we got half way and she became ill she had a fever and soon passed away. I carried her to a field and dug a grave for her, as I turned to Jack his eyes were fixated on the sheet that covered his mother’s body,
“She’s alive.” He said happily
As I turned around she sat up and the sheet fell from her head, her eyes milky white and skin was pale. She slowly staggered to her feet,
“That’s not Mommy.” I told Jack
He tried to run to her but I stopped him, “Go to the car.” I told him
I watched as he ran to the car and jumped in Jess slowly made her towards me tears filled my eyes,
“I’m sorry Jess.” I told her
I watched her stagger towards me I could bring myself to do it, but I had to, I thought about leaving her but would she have wanted this? I removed the knife from my belt and thought about an easy way how to do this, but to be honest there is no easy way. Jess was now inches away her arms reaching for me her jaw snapping, I somehow managed to get her to the floor without biting me.
I put the knife to her temple and closed my eyes, “Forgive me.” I said
I pushed the knife deep enough in and opened my eyes as blood spilled out onto my hand I watched as her eyes slowly closed I put her into the grave, threw the soil back into the hole and Jack and I made our way to the safe zone.
We arrived at the safe zone a day later and where welcomed inside by the Army, the Army informed the remaining people that two helicopters where leaving and they wouldn’t be returning. I looked around and counted the people, “How are we all going to fit on?” I asked them what I heard next shocked me it confirmed that what I was fearing when in an emergency this country would go to shit and fuck up the simplest of tasks.
“You aren’t.” replied one of them
After the first chopper left a group of us where standing by the second chopper I told Jack that he should go and be safe and I would catch him up, I gave up my seat for a mother and her daughter and she promised to look after Jack, it was hard, but we said our goodbyes and I promised him I would find him. When the choppers had gone I was left with five other people who had heard about the safe zone and like me, arrived too late these people where, Alice, Ian, Jackie, Mark and Josh.
One of the Army guys told us we’d find guns in a container he also told us to head north and only move during the day. Sure enough the guns where in the place he said they’d be we grabbed what we needed and at dawn we headed out making our way around the city, it was overrun. We stopped off at a few shops on the outskirt and stocked up on food and water we found a map and decided to check out locations up north that could be used for a so called ‘safe zone’ we then camped out for the night and began moving the next day.
We are came across an old abandoned junkyard so we secured the gate and set up camp for the night, we are now sat around an old oil drum that we lit a fire in, we managed to kill a deer on our way so we cooked it and have just eaten it,
“So Tom what did you do?” asked Alice
“I was in the Army for twenty year and I’m now a paramedic… well… was.”
“Cool, my brother was in navy, I was a dentist.” Replied Alice
Josh looked up and finished his deer, “I was a mechanic.”
“So maybe you could fix one of these up?” replied Jackie pointing to the old cars
Josh laughed, “Afraid not sweetheart, these have seen better days.”
Ian smiled and then spoke, “I used to work for the local paper.”
He then turned to Jackie and she wiped her mouth, “I ran my own little store selling electric goods.”
The group turned to look at Mark who hadn’t spoke yet, he sighed,
&nbs
p; “Well I had a pawn shop how do you think I came across this sword I have with me.”
“It’s pretty cool.” Replied Josh
“Sorry to darken to mood, but it was really brave, what you did at the camp Tom.” Said Jackie
Tom smiled and lowered his head, “I just hope my son is safe.”
“I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Replied Alice as she shot a look over to Jackie
“Sorry.” She mimed to Alice
Alice rolled her eyes and smiled.
Tom got up from, “I’ll go do a perimeter check and check for any weak spots in the fence.”
“I’ll come with you.” Replied Alice as she jumped to her feet.
Tom smiled and the two headed off they walked around the edge checking the fence,
“I’m sorry about Jackie.”
“Don’t be, she’s right, it was a brave thing I did but I always try to do best for Jack I just hope I made the right choice.”
“You saved the lives of two people and in return they promised to look after Jack.”
“I know I just hope he will forgive me.”
“I’m sure he will.” Alice smiled, “So, do you have any plans for when we get to this so called safe zone?” she said trying to change the subject
“I honestly don’t know I’m just focusing on Jack at the moment getting to him is keeping me going.”
It fell silent and the two were looking into each other’s eyes, Tom thought about going in for the kiss but was it too soon was it too soon after Jess, he smiled at Alice and she leaned forward and so did he, he gave into the temptation and the two shared a kiss. A moment passed and they both jumped as a zombie pressed against the fence, making a horrible sound, its jaws snapping trying to get to them Tom removed his knife and stuck it into the temple of the zombie he pulled out the knife and the dead creature slumped down against the fence.
“I can’t help but feel sorry for them.” Said Alice
“Me too, but I try to block it out and just look at them as the enemy but I fear that it’s not these things that are the enemy… it’s us we have to fear… the living.”
Alice put her head against Tom’s shoulder, “I have to agree with you on that.”
The two watched out into the distance and watched as the sun set behind the hills they looked over towards the city as it fell into darkness, the once busy city now silent, and full of the dead. They could hear screams from the city in the wind.
“We should get some rest.” Said Tom
“Do you want some company?”
Tom smiled and turned to face her, “Yes.” He replied
The two headed off towards Tom’s tent and made their way inside for the night.
A few hours later Josh was standing at the gate, he had been walking up and down for the past hour he jumped as Ian tapped him on the shoulder, “Jesus.” He said
“Sorry I didn’t mean to startle you.” Said Ian
“Is it that time already?” Asked Josh
“Yep, go get some rest.”
Ian was the last one on guard for the night he walked over to an old car and sat on the bonnet he removed a pack of cigarettes from his jacket and flicked open the lid, he had three left, he sighed and removed one from the packet he lit up and took a drag,
“I’ll be screwed when these run out.” He said to himself
He finished off the cigarette and got up from the bonnet he looked up at the night sky he was startled by a noise coming from behind the oil drums towards the corner of the yard, he removed his knife and slowly made his way over to the drums, he peeked over the drum and stepped back, “How did you get in?” he said to the zombie trying to crawl over the drums
He sighed and put his foot down onto the back of its neck, he stuck the knife into its head he removed the knife and looked behind the zombie he noticed that the oil drums where hiding a hole in the fence he walked over to one of the cars and opened the door the handbrake was off he then walked to the back of the car and began to push it, he stopped and moved the oil drums out of the way he made his way back to the car and pushed it against the fence, he stepped back looking at his half arsed attempt at blocking the fence,
“Ah, should do for the night.”
Ian turned away and stopped at the fence he could here screams in the distance,
“God, I’d hate to think what’s going on out there.”
He shivers at the thought of one of those things tearing the flesh from his body he sighed and leaned against the fence he watched as the sun slowly began to rise.
Chapter Two
Early that same morning Tom and Alice where the first to wake Tom had told Ian to grab some sleep before leaving, Tom and Alice were standing at the gates looking over the map, the weather was slightly warmer and there was a smell in the air of rotting corpses.
Tom pointed to the map, “I’m hoping we can pass by the mall hopefully it’s not too over run maybe we can pick up a few things.”
“You sure it’s a good idea?” asked Alice
“We don’t have to get to close.”
“It is worth a try.” She said
Josh stepped out from his tent, “God, it fucking stinks.”
The group turned to Josh and laughed, “Get used to it.” Replied Mark
“So where we heading Tom?” asked Ian as he stepped out from his tent
“I was hoping we could hit the mall, we could pass by to see how many of those things are around and if its overrun we’ll carry on if not we could take a look inside.”
The group all nodded
“Does anybody want to add anything?” he added
“We could do with some extra supplies.” Said Mark
“It’s worth a try.” Replied Jackie
“Great, we’ll head out now if everyone is ready.”
Everybody picked up their bags and left through the gates Tom suddenly stopped,
“Everything ok, Tom?” asked Mark
“Do you hear that?” he replied
“What?” asked Josh?
Tom turned to Alice, “Do you have those binoculars?”
“Yes.” Replied Alice looking confused
She grabbed the binoculars from her bag and handed them to Tom, he grabbed them and raised them to his eyes,
“I hear it now, what is it?” asked Ian
“Fuck!”
Everybody looked at Tom as he lowered the binoculars, something wasn’t right he turned to face the group.
“We need to get moving… now!”
“What is it?” asked Alice
Tom handed Alice the binoculars, “A fucking horde of those things heading this way.”
Alice took a look through the binoculars, “Oh, shit.” She said
“How far away do you reckon they are?” asked Josh
Tom turned to Josh, “About a mile, if we keep moving we can get ahead of them and make it to the mall then slip away again before they catch up.”
“What about trapping those things in there?” spoke Ian
“That’s a great idea it may take a bit of time and effort but if we can do it then that will get them off our backs for a while at least.” Replied Tom
“So we ready to move.” Added Tom
The group took one last look at the junkyard then turned around and headed down the road a lot quicker than they wanted.
About two hours into the journey the group come to a small building Tom decides to stop the group so they can have a rest. The group sit down on a wall,
“That horde should be miles behind us now.” Said Tom
“Why have we stopped?” asked Mark
“Just for a rest.” Replied Tom
“How long do you want to stop for?” asked Josh?
“I reckon about an hour at the most.” Replied Tom
“We should do a bit of scavenging?” said Ian
“Want to check out the building?” replied Tom
Ian looked back at the building, “Doesn’t look like we’d get much from it.”
“Ok.”
Tom turned to the group, “Everyone search the area don’t go too far from the area, Ian and I will check out this building.”
Tom and Ian made their way into the building they come across a zombie behind a window trying to get to them, “Get him on the way out?” asked Ian
“Can do.” Replied Tom
The two head towards a door at the end of the corridor, Ian grabs hold of the handle and slowly opens the door suddenly a two zombies burst through the door Ian quickly hits the first one on the head and the other falls onto Tom knocking him to the floor, Tom puts his hand on the throat of the zombie, the dead weight pushing down on him he manages to push the zombie off and Ian stomps on its head, “That was close.” He said
Tom got to his feet, “Thanks.” He said
They walked into the room and only found four bottles of water and two chocolate bars,
“At least we got some water.” replied Ian
Tom began to laugh, “And some chocolate.”
Ian left the room and Tom stopped he looked over to the table in the corner and noticed a packet of cigarettes he quickly picked them up and ran to Ian,
“Hey.” He said
Ian turned to face Tom, “For saving my life.” Said Tom holding out the packet of cigarettes
“Where did you get these?”
“There were on the table in that office.”
“Thanks.”
“No worries.” Replied Tom
The two decide to leave the zombie that was behind the glass and close the door behind them.
Meanwhile about two miles down the road the herd was approaching and had had now doubled in size there was hundreds of the dead, it sounded like a swarm of bees heading for the group. Outside of the building the rest of the group had met back at the wall and hadn’t found anything,
“We only found some water and chocolate.” Said Tom as he met up with the group
“We couldn’t find anything.” Replied Jackie
“Hey guys, we best get moving.”