Outbreaks

by T. L. Frost

  “Oh Fuck!” He said quietly.

  The crashing came again, louder and Tom looked out of his bedroom window which was over the entrance. A small group of zombies were there, trying to smash their way in. Rushing to the kitchen Tom grabbed a large carving knife, then back in the living room, he pushed the sofa up against the door at the top of the stairs. He waited. The crashing continued, sounds of splintering and wood breaking could be heard. Tom gripped the handle of the knife, his knuckles turning white with the pressure as he listened to more crashing and banging. Then it went quiet. He waited, ears straining for any sound but all he heard was the moaning of the zombies, no sounds of feet rushing up the stairs, or hammering at the door. Going back to the bedroom window Tom could see the zombies dispersing, occasional moans coming from them as they spread out, walking and searching for new prey. Tom breathed a sigh of relief, the door looked mostly intact. Moving through the flat Tom quietly moved everything that was left in his home and placed it with the sofa, blocking the door at the top of the stairs. Then he collapsed onto the sofa with a big sigh of relief, the knife still held in his hand as he relaxed and fell into a fitful sleep.

  Chapter 3

  Tom woke up the next morning feeling a lot better, his stomach rumbling in protest at being empty. His hangover was gone and everything that had happened seemed almost dream-like, as if he had imagined it all. That lasted for about two minutes, when he heard the first zombie moan outside. He got up, still in the clothes he had put on two days ago and looked outside. The streets were very busy, but not in a good way. Zombies walked around continuously, eyes searching, moaning as they went. There were even more of them than the previous day. His neighbours car was there, still covered in congealing blood. The passenger door was open and a body was laying on the ground next to it. It looked like what was left of the man Tom had seen running for his life yesterday. There wasn’t much left, his legs and one arm had been ripped off and he was covered in blood and gore. It wasn’t a nice sight.

  “What a mess.” Tom said quietly as he looked at the body, his empty stomach feeling a little queasy.

  Then the body moved. Tom watched in amazement as it lifted its remaining arm to grab the car door and pull itself up. The head tilted to one side as its blank grey eyes looked around.

  “Now that’s just wrong.” Said Tom having seen enough and moving away from the window.

  Breakfast was bacon and eggs. After not eating much the day before Tom was hungry. He piled it high and ate it all with lots of coffee. The zombies seemed a bit more active while he was cooking and Tom wondered if they could smell the food. He kept the windows closed just in case. His phone still had no messages, maybe the networks were down he thought, trying to avoid the thought that maybe there was nobody alive to reply. Switching the TV on again, and turning the volume off, Tom flicked through the channels. They were all quiet, even the news channel had no signal now. He had a small battery powered radio which he took with him when he went camping, it was an older type and still picked up the older transmission frequencies. Trying them all he got nothing until he tried the Long Wave frequency, a very faint almost inaudible voice could be heard as Tom held it to his ear.

  ‘…state of emergency. Everyone is advised to stay home and report any signs of illness in friends or family. Special army medical teams are being assigned the task of collecting them for treatment. Reports of illness are widespread and violence has erupted in places. The Government has advised all residents of the United Kingdom to avoid contact with the sick or dying. The Government has declared a national emergency and mobilised the armed forces. This is a state of emergency…’

  After that it kept repeating. Tom switched it off. Not much happened the rest of that day. The zombies were still everywhere and Tom kept as quiet as possible. The occasional scream could be heard, human and zombie, or sounds of crashing. In the distance some fires were burning. Columns of smoke rising in the still, spring air. He even heard some sort of vehicle in the distance once, followed by many moans and screams, faint and far off. Tom grew hungry again but when he checked what was left to eat he decided to wait, there wasn’t much. Night fell again and Tom once more drifted into a troubled, restless sleep. When he looked out of the window the next day not much had changed. The world was still filled with mindless creatures wanting nothing more than to eat people alive. Tom sighed, it looked like he wouldn’t be going anywhere soon. He also realised that since this had all started he hadn’t heard a single siren. No Police, Ambulances or Firemen. No army or any kind of emergency service had appeared. Making a sandwich for breakfast, Tom noticed the fridge light had stopped working.

  “Oh great, as if I needed anything else to go wrong.” He said as he took out the milk and switched on the kettle.

  Nothing happened and he tried the switch again. He tried the cooker but the electric hob remained cold. Tom went to the fuse box and checked it, everything seemed ok. There was just no power. Tom hoped it was a temporary cut in supply as he dug through his camping equipment and pulled out a gas stove. At least he could still have a coffee. The power stayed off all day and when night came the street lights stayed dark. Tom wasn’t sure which was worse, being able to see the zombies walking around or the total darkness. That night he didn’t sleep well again.

  After a few more days the power was still out. More fires raged out of control in the distance, though how far they were, Tom couldn’t tell. His phone’s battery died without any replies coming through and Tom began to feel completely isolated. What if he was the only one left? The zombies continued their walking and searching, there were less of them now as they slowly spread out, their constant moaning the only sound Tom had heard for days. Sometimes he would turn on his radio just to hear the emergency broadcasters repeated voice. All the while his food supply got lower and lower, even though he tried not to eat much. Eventually he was left with some beans, crackers and a tin of Spam. Tom ate the crackers and went to sleep that night still hungry.

  Chapter 4

  The next morning Tom woke with the sun rising. It was a clear, bright morning. Looking out of a window there were not many zombies visible. They seemed less active in the mornings, especially after a cold night. Going to the kitchen he took out the Spam and tinned beans. Time for a good breakfast, he thought, today was the day. He had to venture outside or sit and starve. It tasted unbelievably good. Thick slices of the salty tinned meat together with the beans eaten cold. Hardly any food for a few days and it was like a banquet. It didn’t last long though and he made a cup of strong, black coffee afterwards. Then he got ready to go out. He put on a thick jacket, maybe it would stop a bite, he didn’t know, but he wanted to be able to move fast. Tom had seen the zombies run and thought he was faster, though they never seemed to get tired. He didn’t want to weigh himself down, preferring the idea of running if he got into trouble out there. Then he put on his thick work boots, some gloves and finally a small backpack. There was a convenience store about five minutes away. That should have everything he needed, he hoped it wasn’t locked but pushed a hammer into his belt just in case then grabbed the kitchen knife. He was ready to go.

  Checking all of the windows, it looked pretty quiet outside, some movement in the distance but nothing nearby, the route to the store looked clear. Tom moved the furniture from the door at the top of the stairs, then started clearing away everything he had piled in front of the entrance at the bottom. He moved carefully, not wanting to make any sound and eventually it was clear. The door looked ok, a couple of splintered panels and a whole in one corner, but the locks had held, the weight of the makeshift barricade behind it had helped. Tom unlocked the door and slowly opened it.

  The first thing he noticed was the smell. A mix of rotten flesh and sewage was what it reminded him of. The outside of the door was streaked with drying blood, small strips of flesh stuck to the splintered, broken panels. Carefully pulling the door closed, Tom locked it. He waited, listening. Moaning sounded in the distance but it
seemed quiet in the direction of the store and nothing was moving on the narrow path leading that way. Still, Tom didn’t head that way, he went left, circling around. If he did have to make a run for it he didn’t want to lead a group of zombies right to his door, he doubted his barricade would hold if enough of them tried to get in. It became gradually brighter as he went, the sun rising on a fine, clear day. The walk to the store, which normally took five minutes, took him twenty. Passing one zombie in a garden with high fences, wandering around in circles as it looked for a way out. It looked safe in there but Tom had seen how they screamed and others came running when prey was spotted, so he took another detour.

  It felt strange to Tom, a route he had walked so often without thought, now filled with danger and possible death at every turn. A cold sweat ran down his back as he thought of what would happen if he was spotted and his heart pumped madly, pushing adrenaline around his body, ready for fight or flight. Moving around the streets where he had lived for several years, Tom didn’t see another living soul. It looked like humans weren’t the top of the food chain anymore. Well not living ones, he thought.

  He made it to the store, coming down a back road on the opposite side of the street before taking a quick look around a corner, to see the front entrance. The door was closed but the shutters were up. One of the windows was shattered, glass all across the pavement in front of it, splashes of blood all over. There was movement at the far end of the street. Two zombies walking across, another, at the broken doors to a pub, was sitting chewing something red and bloody. Looking around Tom couldn’t see another way to get across the street without a long detour. Taking a few deep breaths, he waited and watched, the two walking zombies reached the sitting one, grabbing for its food and they all tumbled into the entrance of the pub. Tom took his chance and ran. Crouching instinctively as he went, eyes wide as he crossed the street, running up the narrow alley next to the shop. The gate to the store’s rear entrance was unlocked and Tom opened it, moving quickly inside the rear yard, he closed the gate again, crouching next to a large waste container. Realising he was holding his breath, he let it out in a long gasp, breathing again as he listened for any sounds of pursuit. It was all quiet. Taking his hammer in one hand, the knife in the other, Tom stood and approached the rear door. It was unlocked and slightly open, blood stains streaked around the handle and the doorframe. Tom reached forward slowly with the hammer, hooking it around the edge of the door to pull it open, the knife in his other hand raised. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

  “Arghhh!” Said Tom, strangling the cry off as he spun, hammer lifting to strike.

  Behind him a terrified looking young woman jumped back, eyes wide.

  “What the fuck!” Whispered Tom.

  “Sshhh!” replied the woman, a finger to her lips as she grabbed Tom’s arm, dragging him behind some empty boxes in a corner of the yard.

  “Where did you…?” Began Tom, only to be silenced by the woman.

  “Quiet, they may have heard us.” She said, raising a hand in warning, and they both ducked down out of sight as Moans and shuffling feet could be heard in the alley next to the shop.

  They waited, listening as the moans got louder, something smashing against the metal fence separating the yard from the alley. Eventually it became quiet again, the moans getting farther away. The woman lowered her hand and risked a glance over the boxes.

  “All clear.” She said “Sorry I scared you, I just hadn’t seen anyone else for days and was so surprised…”

  “You didn’t scare me, just… surprised me.” Replied Tom “Who are you?”

  “Alice.” Said the young woman.

  “I’m Tom.” Said Tom, shaking Alice’s hand.

  They both looked down as they shook hands, struck by the polite greeting in such a strange circumstance. Alice laughed quietly and Tom smiled, shaking his head.

  “What the hell is going on, have you heard anything?” Tom asked quietly “I woke up one morning and the world had gone to shit.”

  “No idea.” Replied Alice “I live miles away, managed to find an empty house when everything went bad, but ran out of food two days ago.”

  “That’s why I’m here, been stuck in my apartment nearby for over a week.” Said Tom “Are there any of ‘them’ inside?”

  “I don’t think so.” Replied Alice looking at the rear entrance to the store “I’ve been hiding here for twenty minutes listening and it’s all been quiet. Then you appeared.”

  “Better get in there and see what we can find.” Said Tom nodding towards the store “Then we can get back to my place.”

  Alice nodded and they both stood, Tom going first, knife held ready, Alice following, pulling out an iron bar she had tucked into her belt. Tom stood listening at the door for a minute but heard nothing, then taking a deep breath, he slowly pulled open the door. A body lay just inside the doorway, or what was left of one. There wasn’t much left of it and Tom tried not to gag as he stepped over it. Looking around he could see it was a store room. Boxes and pallets everywhere, a lot of them knocked over and some covered in blood stains, especially near the body. There was another doorway leading to the shop, the door was splintered and ripped off its hinges. Broken pieces laying all around. Risking a quick look into the shop Tom could see that it was empty for now. A lot of the shelves were empty and some shelves had been torn down, evidence of some kind of struggle. The large broken window that Tom had seen earlier looked huge and vulnerable. Moans could be heard outside and Tom ducked back into the store room when he saw a shadow pass near the window.

  “We need to grab what we can and get out of here.” He said “I think there are more of them out there now.”

  Alice nodded and started searching through the boxes, shoving things into a large shoulder bag she was wearing, the strap diagonally across her and pulled tight.

  “Only take what doesn’t need cooking.” Tom said as he started filling his backpack.

  There bags were soon full and they headed back outside, checking the way was clear. It all seemed quiet and Tom led the way, stepping out through the yard’s gate, closing it behind them. Tom went first taking a longer detour, more moans could be heard coming from the street in front of the store and he didn’t want to risk crossing it again. They criss-crossed through the back streets, getting closer to Tom’s place. He turned to tell Alice they were nearly there, his mouth open to speak, then saw a zombie step out of the rear entrance to a house, it lunged for Alice, mouth open, a snarl on its face. Tom didn’t think, he just reacted, lifting the hammer he swung with all his strength. The blow caught the zombie on the side of the head, sending it smashing into a wall. The hammer stuck and Tom lost his grip as the zombie slid down the wall, arms and legs twitching as it left a trail of fresh blood. Alice jumped back startled, then teeth gritted, she stepped forward, smashing the head of the zombie with her iron bar several times. It stopped moving. Looking around them there was no sign of any more. Tom grabbed his hammer and pulled, grimacing as it came out with a wet, sucking sound, dripping blood and pieces of brain. They made it back to Tom’s place and both sighed with relief when they were inside, leaning against the locked door.

  Chapter 5

  They had the entrance barricaded again quickly and the sofa pulled up against the door at the top of the stairs again. Alice gave Tom a hug and he stood looking a little lost.

  “Sorry about that.” She said “I just haven’t seen another person for days.”

  “I know exactly how you feel.” Said Tom, awkwardly hugging her back.

  Alice wiped away a few tears and looked around.

  “Nice place.” She said.

  “Thanks.” Replied Tom with a smile “Make yourself at home.”

  Alice unpacked the bags in the kitchen as Tom made a tour of all the windows.

  “Looks quiet.” He said “Let’s eat.”

  They quickly had a meal of cold tinned stew with crackers followed by tinned fruit ready. Alice went to the living room
and started eating while she tried Tom’s radio. A few minutes later Tom joined her with two cups of hot strong coffee.

  “Oh wow!” Said Alice “Haven’t had coffee for days, not since the power went off.”

  “I’ve got a small camping stove, really would be the end of the world without a hot cuppa.” Said Tom smiling.

  Alice laughed a little then turned off the radio. She hadn’t found any signal.

  “So you said you lived miles away from here?” Asked Tom, sipping his drink.

  “Yeah I’m a sales rep. Was working my way around Cumbria when the flu hit.” Replied Alice “So many people getting sick so quickly, it just spread like wildfire. Never seen anything like it. So I decided to head back home, seemed a better idea than staying in a cheap hotel with everyone so ill.”

  Tom took their cups and made refills. Handing Alice hers.

  “So how did you end up stopping around here?” He asked.

  “I was driving all night, even though the weather was terrible. I think it rained non-stop all the way but luckily the roads were almost empty because of the flu.” Alice stopped, thinking back as she drank her coffee “When I turned off the next morning to get breakfast and some much needed caffeine I stopped at a twenty four hour burger outlet. I nearly didn’t make it out of their alive.”