by Luke Duffy
Steve climbed out first, sliding down the pipe as his feet scuffed against the rough brick. On the ground, he checked the immediate surroundings again, ensuring that they were still unnoticed. Helen began her descent and quickly reached the ground. They paused for a moment, listening for any sign of the dead.
"This way," Steve whispered as he moved towards the corner of the rear of the building. "We'll try and get back on to the road, find a car that we can get started and follow the link way back towards the park."
They reached the corner and paused, their backs leaning against the wall as they steeled themselves.
Steve glanced back at Helen. "You ready?"
She nodded in reply; her eyes were wide and her body tense as she prepared herself for more running and climbing, with the dead close on their heels.
Steve stepped out from the corner.
"Shit," he cried.
A wall of the walking dead was just metres away, making their way towards them along the rear wall of the building. Shoulder to shoulder, they staggered and lurched along as they followed the length of the supermarket. They saw him. Hundreds of pairs of eyes locked on Steve as his sudden animated movements alerted the dead to his presence. They wailed in chorus as they quickened their pace towards him.
"Back, get back, Helen," he shouted as he jumped around the corner, almost colliding with her. "We can't go that way. It’s wall to wall with them."
The pair sprinted back towards the front of the supermarket. Without bothering to stop, or even slow down, they raced into the open and onto the car park, unsure of what the situation was like out at the front store. It did not matter; it was their only other option.
Hundreds of figures shuffled around aimlessly on the tarmac between the static cars. A tightly packed crowd continued to push and shove one another at the entrance to the building as they piled into the interior. Some of the dead in the open spotted them as they ran out from the alleyway and began to stagger towards them. More of the walking, rotting corpses turned and followed as their moans alerted others that were close by.
Steve and Helen headed for the area of the dilapidated and crumbling building situated at the lower end of the car park. Helen chanced a glance back over her shoulder. The pursuing corpses that Steve had come face to face with at the rear of the supermarket appeared from around the corner of the building. A few that were more agile staggered out in front, groaning and reaching out with their arms, forcing their unsteady legs forward as they followed the living people.
They reached the derelict building and threw themselves around the corner, their feet crunching on the broken glass and rubble below them in the mud. Steve was breathing hard, his legs shaking from the adrenalin as his blood coursed through his veins. Helen ran at his side, her arms pumping as she ran at full pelt.
At the far end of the building, they saw a narrow dirt path that led between a clump of unkempt trees and high bushes, obscuring their view beyond. They raced towards it as the first of the dead appeared from around the corner behind them. Steve felt the long, thin reaching branches and rustling leaves swipe at his face as he ploughed through them, Helen close on his heels as she followed.
The path led them to a street that ran parallel to the supermarket. To the right was the city, and to the left it would eventually lead them back on to the link road that they had travelled along when they first arrived at the shopping complex.
Steve turned to his left without slowing, his sense of direction guiding him the way they needed to go. They could hear the moans and cries of the dead as they slogged their way through the trees behind them. The branches above shook and swayed as the pursuing creatures bounced from tree to tree in their haste to catch up with Steve and Helen, and the nesting birds squawked and flew from their perches in droves, flocking in the sky and circling above.
The street was empty and quiet and Helen could hear the deafening sound of their footsteps as their echo bounced from building to building. The sound of the dead behind them filled her with terror, spurring her on as she stepped into the lead, ahead of Steve.
As they approached the junction at the end of the street, Steve motioned for her to turn left towards the link road. She was just a few metres ahead of him and she began to angle her run towards the turn. Suddenly, she jumped to the right and sprinted away in the opposite direction as she neared the corner of the last building.
"Right, turn right, Steve," she shouted back over her shoulder without slowing her pace. "There are more of them coming."
Steve changed direction and followed in her wake, glancing back to his left to the street they had originally intended to turn into for their escape. Lurching figures were moving towards them, the bright sun casting the creeping shadows of the bodies towards the junction. There were not as many as there were behind them, but enough to stop them from considering that particular street as an escape.
Helen turned right at the junction and into the next avenue. They were headed in the opposite direction from where they had wanted to go, but they had little choice. They pounded along the road, keeping to the centre of the street and away from the houses that lined it. More of the dead appeared from the gardens and buildings to their left and right and joined in on the chase as they saw the living people sprinting by.
Steve's lungs burned as he tried hard to keep up with Helen who ran along in front of him, seemingly taking the exertion in her stride. She was much fitter than he was and he worried that he would eventually hold her back as he tired.
They approached another junction up ahead, the streets to the left and right, packed with the shambling bodies of the dead. Steve glanced back and saw the road behind him filling with them. They were cut off with only one direction to go.
They had to keep going.
They raced across the junction, deeper into the suburbs of the city.
25
Sophie sat staring out towards the northern part of the park from her vantage point on the roof of the mansion. The day had turned into a blustery one with white and grey clouds racing across the sky as the high winds swept them along, leaving just short intervals of sunshine as it peered through the gaps in the billowing cloud.
She hated days like this. It was as though the weather could not make up its mind. The sun never seemed to appear for long enough to warm the air around her, leaving her sitting there dressed in a thick parka as though it were winter.
She swept back the long strands of blonde hair from her face and turned to see Carl as he appeared at the door to the roof, carrying two steaming mugs in front of him. He slowly made his way across the gravelled rooftop, a look of concentration fixed on his face as he carefully avoided spilling any of the hot coffee.
"Ah, you must have read my mind," she smiled.
"I couldn’t leave you up here without a brew, could I? Besides, it's my shift soon so I thought I would come and have a natter with you first."
Sophie frowned at him as he passed her a cup. She wrapped both her hands around it, feeling the warmth radiate through the china mug as she blew at the steaming liquid.
"Why, is there something wrong?"
"You mean apart from the fact that the dead have decided to get up and walk and eat us, and half of us are missing and we have no idea where they could be? No, everything is just fine mate, couldn’t be better," Carl snorted and rolled his eyes in mock annoyance.
"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, Carl," she informed him in a tone of voice that reminded Carl of his grandmother.
"Bollocks," he huffed. "It actually takes more intelligence and fast thinking than shitty 'knock knock' jokes."
She smiled up at him, shaking her head in resignation and then glanced back over the wall towards the north.
"Where do you think they could be? Do you think they're okay? I mean, do you think anything has happened to them?"
Carl sat down heavily on the chair next to her, the wooden legs creaking under his weight. He sighed as he looked out across the open grassy plane
and took a loud slurp from his cup.
"I really don’t know, Sophie. They have been gone a long time now and they should have only been a few hours, but it's been two days."
Sophie looked down thoughtfully at the dark liquid in the mug between her hands. "What's your honest opinion though, Carl, do you think they're dead?"
He shot her a hard look as if she had just spoken a sentence of forbidden words, as though it was a sin even to whisper such a statement. His features softened when he saw the expression on her face. She was not prepared to mince her words or to avoid the reality or the possibility of Steve and the others having fallen victim to the millions of dead that roamed the land outside the walls of the Safari Park.
"I don’t want to think of that to be honest, Sophie. I know it’s a possibility, but I am just hoping that they have run into a little trouble and it's held them up."
"Me too," she replied. "I just can't help but think the worst though."
"You shouldn’t. We need to stay positive."
"But you're forgetting one thing though, Carl," she watched him expectantly, waiting for him to ask her to explain.
"And that is…?"
She smiled slightly, her unwavering ability to lighten the mood of a gloomy conversation radiating through to the surface.
"You're forgetting that I am an unflinching pessimist, Carl, and a pessimist is never disappointed."
Carl threw his head back, his coffee spilling over the sides of his cup and splashing onto his lap as he laughed. He had grown a great fondness for Sophie. Even though she was young and extremely pretty, they were not the reasons that drew him to her. It was the fact that she never failed to make him laugh. He could always count on her to lighten his mood and that is why he always insisted on joining her on the roof half an hour earlier than he was due to begin his shift. Just a few minutes of conversation with her would enable him to face the next four hours of boredom and frustration as he stood watch on the rooftop.
"Gary, we're coming back. Can you hear me, Gary?"
Sophie glanced up at Carl, excitement glowing in her eyes as the radio suddenly came to life in front of them. Carl snatched it up in his hand.
"Jake, is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me. We're nearly there. We are at the rear gate, we…" his voice trailed off in a hiss of static.
"Jake, say that again mate, you're breaking up."
Sophie stepped in closer and looked out from the rooftop in the direction of the rear of the park, expecting to catch a glimpse of the returning members of their group.
"I said, we are at the rear gate and we have a couple of injured people." There was a pause. "They’ve been bitten."
Carl's eyes grew wide as he took a step closer towards the wall that surrounded the roof of the mansion. He joined Sophie in scanning the horizon, searching for any sign of the others. His mind raced as he struggled to absorb the information he had just heard. He looked across at Sophie; the expression on her face betrayed her growing fear.
"Did he just say, 'they’ve been bitten'?" she asked.
Carl nodded, looking back down at the radio in his hand. "Yeah, he did. Sophie, go and warn Gary."
She turned and headed for the door. She could feel the sweat begin to seep from her palms and her mouth and throat turn dry. Just those few words, informing them that a member of their group had received a bite from the dead, were enough to make her tremble.
Carl raised the handset to his mouth again, "Jake, who…who has been bitten?"
There was no reply and Carl could feel his anxiety growing with every second that he remained without information.
"Jake?" he shook the radio in his hand.
The rumble of an engine drew his attention away from the static hissing radio and towards the north. He saw a thin glimmer of brilliant white as the sun peered through a break in the clouds and reflected from the cabin of a large vehicle. Slowly, the remainder of the vehicle climbed over the summit of the small rise that dipped towards the rear gate.
"Jesus," Carl mumbled to himself. "They’ve brought a whole tanker."
The zebra-painted Land Rover appeared over the crest of the hill and overtook the slow lumbering truck. It raced towards the mansion, bouncing in the air as it hit the small dips and folds of the undulating grassy plain. Carl could see the figure behind the wheel, Jake, struggling to stay in his seat as he was rocked and jolted with every bump. He was not slowing. In fact, from where Carl stood, it looked as though he was trying to speed up.
"Shit…"
The Land Rover screeched to a halt on the gravelled car park at the front of the house. Its wheels locked, but the momentum and weight of the vehicle caused it to travel a few metres further, flinging small stones and dust up all around it. Before the vehicle had come to a halt, the passenger, a tall and powerfully built young man dressed from head to toe in black, was already out and running to the rear of the Land Rover.
Gary and Sophie paused in confusion as they watched the newcomer dart from the blood and grime encrusted vehicle. They shared a look of uncertainty and dread.
"For fuck sake," the young man cried to them." Help me."
Sophie and Gary sprinted to the rear of the vehicle as Jake jumped from the driver's seat. He was pouring with sweat and looked as though he was about to collapse.
"What happened, Jake?" Gary asked as he joined the black clad figure at the back of the Land Rover.
The young man wrenched the door open as another stranger, smaller in build but dressed very much the same, sprang from the interior.
Gary gasped and jumped back with shock. The young man fixed him a menacing stare for a moment, and then turned back to the vehicle, reaching inside.
"Here, help us with them," he snarled.
Sophie let out a gasp when she saw the three limp bodies in the rear compartment. Involuntarily, she raised her hands to her mouth as she watched the two newcomers begin dragging them out by their legs. She recognised John, his deep red stained shirt torn and oozing blood from the numerous wounds beneath. He groaned as he was carried from the vehicle, his face pale and soaked with sweat.
The second body, she did not know. He was unconscious and a large dark tear in the skin between his shoulder and neck indicated the area where he had been hurt. From his appearance and stillness, she suspected that he was already dead.
Then, she saw Lee. His face bruised and battered, and covered in blood. He, too, was none responsive. Sophie felt herself fill with despair. She liked Lee, more than she allowed herself to admit, and seeing him now, injured and close to death, a flood of emotion that she found impossible to hide suddenly swept over her.
Jake pushed past them and began helping Gary lift out the second man.
"His name is Simon," he grunted with the effort of carrying the unconscious man. "He helped save us from the supermarket where we were trapped."
Gary did not reply. He stared down at the man as he helped Jake to carry him towards the main entrance. Simon was heavy in his arms and Gary could feel the muscles in his shoulders and back struggling with the strain.
Jake looked back and saw Sophie still standing at the rear of the Land Rover, staring at the body of Lee.
"Don’t worry about him," he shouted over his shoulder. "He hasn’t been bitten, just beaten up. Help us with the others."
Sophie took a careful step closer to the rear compartment of the vehicle and peered over the body of Lee. Though his face was covered in blood, she could not see any bites. The rest of his body seemed undamaged. Without realising it, she let out a sigh of relief. She reached over and checked his breathing. He seemed fine. Bloodied and battered, but nothing serious as far as she could tell. She turned towards the house and followed the others.
A heavy rumbling to her right stopped her in her tracks. She turned just in time to see a large white truck appear from around the corner of the house. A small scruffy man sat behind the wheel high up in the cabin, staring down at her as he manoeuvred the vehicle into the car park.
She stepped back tentatively, shielding her eyes from the glint of the sun as it reflected from the windshield.
"It's okay," shouted one of the new arrivals as he reached the door of the house. "He's with us."
Jennifer and Karen appeared at the large double doors, holding them open as the four men struggled up the few steps toward the foyer. Sophie followed them as she glanced back at the truck and the little bearded man as he climbed down. She recognised him from somewhere, but she could not remember where exactly.
People ran back and forth within the large entrance room of the mansion. Nervous voices bombarded one another with anxious questions as the four men laid John and Simon on the floor of the foyer.
The children were terrified. Jake caught sight of David and Liam, clinging to their mother as they stared in horror at the two wounded men on the floor. Their eyes flicked from one man to the other and the pools of blood that steadily grew beneath them.
"Jennifer," Jake called. "Can you take the kids out of here, please? I don’t think they should see this."
"What's happened to John, Mummy?" David asked.
Jennifer turned her sons away from the carnage and steered them towards the kitchen.
"Shhh, it's okay, don’t worry about them just now. Come on; let's see if there is any ice cream left. I'm sure Karen has some hidden away."
Jake watched them as they left. "Okay, help me get them to the store room at the back." He groaned and nodded his head towards the far end of the foyer as he began to scoop up the legs of Simon.
"Stop," Gary ordered as he held a hand out at Jake. "Why are you taking them to the store room?"
Jake straightened, a questioning look etched on to his face as he stared back at Gary.