by Luke Duffy
Johnny realised that his legs no longer trembled and fear had slackened its grip on him. It was now replaced with curiosity. He knew the thing in front of him was dangerous, but he did not feel threatened by it. It seemed to be just as curious about him.
Johnny wondered what was going on inside its head. From his experience, whenever the dead saw a living person it became excited and more animated and aggressive. They always charged, smashing into and through anything in their path, snarling and moaning, grasping with their hands. This one did none of those things. In fact, it did nothing but watch him. It did not look angry or hostile, but by its very appearance Johnny did not feel as though it was exactly friendly towards him.
What remained of its hair lay flattened to its head in greasy dark strands. Its skin was the colour of leather with a green hue and it was stretched taut over the skull and the bones of its face. Its nose was nothing but a sunken dried up indentation and the mouth was in a perpetual grin as the lips had rotted away, revealing its yellowed teeth.
It wore what was once a green bomber jacket that was now mostly a dull grey from exposure to the elements and grime. The shoulders sagged and the cuffs had become tattered around the wrists.
The bony hands looked abnormally long to Johnny. The soft tissue had shrunk and clung to the bones of the fingers, leaving them looking like hideous talons with long broken and dirt encrusted nails.
The t-shirt beneath the jacket, though it was supposed to be white, was now grey also and torn, exposing the torso beneath. Johnny could see that the ribs were beginning to poke through the thin, decaying green flesh of the body and, eventually, they would be completely visible with just shreds of tissue clinging to the bone.
Johnny looked down at its feet. The boots looked worn and tattered, as though they had been travelling for miles. The soles looked ready to come away from the uppers and Johnny guessed that soon after that, the body would be pretty much crippled once the toes and heels wore away on the hard ground.
When Johnny looked back up, he saw that the body in front of him had followed his line of vision with its own eyes. It was staring at its own shoes. It looked back up at Johnny, as if questioning him on his thoughts.
"Sweet Jesus," Johnny slurred. He had never seen anything like it and he did not know whether to turn and run, or attempt a handshake.
The body made the choice for him.
In a move that left Johnny speechless and in utter disbelief, it raised its hand. Its bony and withered fingers folded inward until one remained outstretched in a point toward the exit and out in the street. With a slight tilt of its head, it nodded, motioning to the door, all the while keeping its eyes fixed upon Johnny.
Johnny's mouth grew slack and it took him a moment to stop his head from spinning. Here, in front of him, was a dead man that did not attack him, did not get excited when he saw living people and seemed to be capable of intelligence and even communication.
It was telling him to leave.
Johnny was unsure whether it was because the thing was territorial and saw the arcade as its own, or whether it was doing him a favour and telling him to get out of the area before more came.
It did not matter. It was telling him to get out of there and that was a hell of a lot more than what could normally be expected from the dead as far as Johnny was concerned. He turned and walked out, pausing for a moment to glance back. It remained standing in the aisle, watching him as he left.
Outside, Johnny headed for the outskirts and the suburbs, slow and careful as he always did when travelling through the town, but feeling more vulnerable this time, as though there were more like the one in the supermarket, watching him.
Again, he stole a backward glance and saw the corpse appear at the entrance to the arcade. It watched him for a moment, then turned and headed in a different direction.
Johnny continued to shuffle, headed for home. "Christ, I need a drink."
11
Steve and Helen arrived at the house to see that Gary and Lee's groups were already back. Jake was smeared in blood and grime. It looked as though he had been in a fight.
Gary was pacing, looking uneasy as he watched Steve approach. "I was starting to get worried. You have any luck?"
"Nah, we didn't see a thing. We double-checked our area, but there was no sign of them."
"Yeah, we did a couple of trips too, but we saw nothing. You think they could've got out?" Gary asked in wonder.
Steve let his hand hang at his side, hefting the weight of his hand axe. "I doubt it. Why would they want out? We're here, so they will want to be here too."
Helen shrugged her shoulders. "You'd think so, but none of them have been anywhere near the house and it's not like there's much else around here to occupy them."
"There's something not right here. I spoke to Claire just and she's seen no sign of them either. I half expected to see them banging at the doors when we got back." Gary was rubbing his bearded chin, as he always did when pondering something. "We've dealt with them plenty of times, and they always come straight for us. I've never seen them skulk away before."
"You mean, hide?" Sophie questioned raising her eyebrows. "You guys know more about them than I do, but from what I've seen, I wouldn't have thought they'd be capable of hiding or using their wits."
Steve looked up at the house and then back down at his feet. Something had been bothering him since Gary had told him about the sabotage of the fuel. Then, the rear gate had been opened and a horde of walking dead had been led right in. He knew that someone else was involved, but now , there was no sign of the dead within the park. It did not fit together in his head.
"Shit," Steve suddenly exclaimed, "they're still here!"
"Who, you mean the dead? Of course they are. We only found one of them and there was a whole bunch of them wandering across the field," Jake answered back.
"No," Steve shook his head, "not the dead, the shit head that let them in."
Every member of the group fell silent and glanced at each other with nervous eyes. The thought of the culprit being close by, or even amongst them, immediately filled them with suspicion.
Gary was the first to break the silence. "You mean one of us?"
Steve shrugged. "That's a possibility, but it's not what I meant. I think that someone has led them in and then guided them into the central areas, probably hoping that some of us would come unstuck at some point by running into them unexpectedly."
"Fuck, that's not good," Lee stated the obvious.
They headed up the steps to the house. Karen had ensured that the doors were barricaded as ordered and it took a few minutes before they were inside again. In the foyer, most of the survivors assembled.
The roof team, Claire, Jennifer and Lisa joined them. They were anxious to know what had gone on and if the dead had been dealt with.
Steve looked over at the children. There were only four of them remaining since a number of people had left after the Tony incident, taking their children with them. Liam, David, Sarah and Tyler, Carl's son, were sitting around the large oak table with a board game and seemed completely oblivious to the situation.
Sarah caught the eye of her father and came rushing across the spacious room, arms outstretched and a grin from ear to ear.
"Hey, Dad, I'm winning." She threw her arms around her father's waist and squeezed him tightly.
Steve reached down a ruffled her hair. "Great stuff, buddy, what game are you lot playing over there?"
"Risk," she beamed, "and I'm taking over the world. Liam and David haven't got a chance, Dad."
Steve smiled and looked across to the two boys sat at the table. Both were frowning and he could see that Liam was counting the number of troops Sarah had on the board and comparing them with his own. Steve had played the game on many occasions as a child and knew exactly what they were going through. Now, he found himself playing the same game, but with real lives and against a much stronger, yet unsophisticated, enemy.
"Don't let them g
ang up on you, though. If they join forces, they could batter you. You should do what I always did. Defend against one of them, and keep attacking the other until they're broken and have nothing to come back at you with," he said it with a smile, and the nostalgia that flooded back to him made him think of safer and happier times from when he was a young boy with less to worry about.
"Okey dokey, I better go back over there and do some butt kicking then." She turned to Sophie as she began to walk back to the table. "Can we see the animals later?"
Sophie went to answer, but did not know what to say. She looked across at Steve, hoping he could help.
"I'm afraid we won't be able to see them today, sweetheart," Gary answered, hoping there would not be more questions from her as he always expected from children. He knew they rarely took a simple 'no' for any answer.
Sarah was a typical child. "Why?"
"It's still not safe, Sarah." Steve avoided trying to sugar coat it.
He knew it was a different world now, with new dangers and the sooner Sarah was used to it and understood that it was not always possible to do the things she liked, the better.
"They are still here then?" she asked. At that moment, she seemed more grown up and accepting of the situation, understanding what her father meant.
Steve nodded, his arms folded across his chest and a grave expression on his face. He watched as his daughter seemed to accept it and turned back to her board game.
"Has anyone seen Carl or John?" Steve asked, looking round at the assembled members of the group. He had only just realised that they had not returned and he kicked himself for not noticing sooner. John and Carl were hard to miss, both as broad as doorways and Carl easily towering six feet four.
No one answered but all turned and eyed each other, questioning if anyone knew where they could be. They had all assembled, as planned, back at the front of the house. Only Lee and Jake had seen anything of the dead that had managed to wander into the park. One by one, they had returned, all except Carl and John.
Steve moved to the window and peered out to the park. "Well, does anyone know where they were last?"
"I heard a broken message from them about an hour or so ago, Steve," Claire offered. "They said something about being down at the gate and heading back here. I tried talking to them, but I think they were out of range. We heard hardly anything from any of you except Gary and I think that's because he was closer."
Steve nodded, concern etched across his face. "If they were down at the gate and heading back this way, then they should've been here ages ago."
Gary stood to one side, looking through the window, back into the woods and toward the administration area of the park. Jake could see that he was working something through in his head.
"What do you reckon, Gary?"
Jake's voice pulled Gary away from his train of thought. He turned to the others and focussed on Jake. "Huh?"
"What do you think, John and Carl, where could they be?"
Gary shrugged. "Could be anywhere, but if they were down by the gate and heading back here then it would've made sense to come up along the house road. Like Steve said, they should've been here ages ago." Gary placed his hands on his hips and turned to Steve. "I think we should start with that mate, and then if we have no joy, spread out further."
Steve agreed. "Okay, but we're taking a car." He turned to Lee. "You're with me. The rest of you," he eyed everyone assembled, "stay here. I don't want too many of us running around out there. We're already two men missing and I don't want us spending the rest of eternity chasing after each other. Jake, check the CCTV footage from the gate while we're gone and let us know if there's any sign of them."
Helen was about to protest, but Steve had already turned and began walking out of the door and toward the cars. He knew he would be in the doghouse for that move, but he would rather that happen than something happen to another member of their group whilst out looking for missing people.
Steve and Lee pulled away in the car. Gary watched them leave and turned to look at the others. He was worried.
"I don't think Helen is too happy with you, buddy." Lee spoke without taking his eyes away from the road as he steered them through the wooded area and along the winding track that led towards the main gate.
"Ah, you know how women are, mate. I'll get her some flowers or something."
Both men sniggered as they watched the trees on either side of the road pass by. They travelled at a slow speed, ensuring that they missed nothing. The road ahead of them snaked its way toward the gate and within ten minutes, they were clear of the trees, the main entrance was no more than fifty metres ahead of them.
The car pulled to a stop and Steve and Lee waited a moment, eyeing the undergrowth around them before stepping from the vehicle. They both moved slowly, their weapons in hand and ready for an attack. Steve moved out in front and towards the gate. The dead that were on the other side saw them and began to attack the bars. They seemed more aggressive than normal and Steve wondered if whether it was due to them seeing Carl and John recently.
Lee pulled the radio from his belt. "Gary?"
"Loud and clear, Lee, Jake has you on camera too."
Lee turned to the mounted camera on top of the wall at the side of the gate and gave a nod. He looked across at Steve who stood just a few metres back from the gate, intensely staring at the bodies that crashed against the barrier on the other side.
"You okay, mate?"
Steve did not answer. He was too concentrated on the dead.
"Steve," Lee placed a hand on his shoulder, "you okay?"
"Yeah, sorry mate," Steve turned to face him. "Was just wondering why these things keep turning up here." He nodded toward the bodies at the gate.
"Fuck knows. They probably like the view," Lee shrugged. "Anyway, I've spoken to Gary on the radio. He can hear me perfectly and Jake has us on camera. So I don't know what could've been the problem with Carl and John, unless their radio is playing up?"
"Could be, where to now then?"
Lee glanced about. "You tell me. We could go back up the track and head off towards the Info Centre?"
"Nah, I think we would've seen them ourselves earlier if they had headed that way. I think we're on foot from here, mate."
"Why?" Lee spun on him, an anxious look on his face.
"Because the only other option is that they must've gone cross country. They're somewhere in the south-west area I reckon. We would've seen something of them otherwise."
Lee knew that Steve was better than he was at working things out in his head but he wanted to know how he had come to that conclusion. He wanted Steve to spell it out for him.
"What makes you think that then?"
"Them," Steve turned and pointed at the bodies at the gate, "they're worked up more than usual. If something had happened from any other angle, John and Carl would have headed straight to the house. I think something happened here. It came from the area of the track there and they were chased back the way they had come, back along the south wall I'd hazard a guess."
Lee looked back at the bushes where the main access road disappeared into the wood and then back at the gate. "Are you having a Columbo moment, Steve?" He grinned.
"Leave the engine running, Lee. If we need to come back this way in a hurry, I don't want to be messing about with keys. I've a feeling we'll get our answers pretty soon."
Steve was apprehensive. They had only found one body during their search and he knew that Carl had seen at least five of them. Now, with Carl and John missing, he worried that their numbers could have increased. They headed towards the gate and turned right, following the line of the wall along the southern boundary of the park.
Gary's voice suddenly sounded over the radio. "Lee, it's Gary, you getting me?"
"Yeah, Gary," Lee snapped his fingers to get Steve to stop, "what's up?"
Steve turned and came closer so that he could hear what Gary had to say. He kept an eye out around them for any sign of the d
ead, or Carl and John, as he focussed his hearing toward the radio.
"Jake just showed me some footage that might be of interest to you." Gary sounded troubled. Even over the radio, they could hear the tension in his voice.
Lee frowned at the radio, "Go on, Gary."
"John and Carl were in the exact spot where you are now. They were attacked by four runners, Lee."
Both Steve and Lee became all the more nervous at the very mention of 'runners'. They looked at each other in alarm, then all around them, at the gate, the trees and the open fields that spanned along the length of the southern wall, expecting to see the dead charging towards them.
Steve grabbed the radio from Lee. "What happened, Gary, where are they now?"
"They ran, Steve. That's all we can see. They were standing by the gate, then they suddenly ran out of camera shot and four of the dead went after them. We couldn't see if either of them were caught, Steve. They headed away from the gate and toward the southern wall, the way they had come."
Lee looked up at Steve, his eyes suddenly widening. "That's exactly what you said had happened."
"Okay, Gary," Steve replied into the radio. "Keep the house locked down. We're going to do a search on foot from here. Let us know if you see anything."
"Will do, be careful lads."
Steve handed the radio back to Lee and nodded. "Well then, at least we have a starting point and we're on the right track."
"Yeah," Lee huffed as he tucked the radio back into his belt loop and raised his iron bar, "straight into the hungry bastards."
12
John sat with his head resting against the trunk of the tree. Carl lay on his back beside him, eyes closed and his hands folded across his chest. John wondered how he could seem so relaxed at that moment.