The Dead Walk The Earth (Book 4)

by Luke Duffy

  “You utter fucking cunt…” Al snorted with anger, as he gave the gate one final and forceful tug.

  They looked up to the ceiling, hoping there may have been a skylight, or trap door, anything that would give them a glimmer of hope. Nothing. The ceiling was solid and provided no way out for them. There were no windows in the room apart from a tiny slit just below the line of the ceiling that neither of them would stand a chance at squeezing an arm through let alone their whole bodies.

  The door continued to shake and rattle under the dead assault. The sound of splintering wood and the creak of nails being prised from the frame rang out through the murky room as the door began to give under the combined weight of the creatures that were mercilessly battering at it from the other side.

  “Shit, we’re fucked, Tommy. They’re coming in. The door’s going to give. We’re fucked, mate.”

  Without a word, Tommy reached into one of his pouches and pulled out a beige, shapeless lump that was wrapped in cling film. They glanced at one another and understood what needed to be done. Together, they moved towards the rear of the room and the iron bars that thwarted their escape. All the while, they kept an eye on the door leading back out into the shop front as it creaked and groaned in protest.

  “How much do you think?” Al asked.

  “I don’t know,” Tommy replied, shaking his head and staring at the object in his hand. “I’m no expert at this.”

  “Fuck it, use half, and we’ll just have to hope for the best.”

  They pulled the doughy material into two pieces and pressed the plastic explosives up against the locking mechanisms of the barred gate. Next, they began to unravel the cord, attaching it to the detonators embedded in each piece of explosives.

  “Grab the mattress.”

  “The mattress?”

  “Yeah, the frigging mattress. Hurry up.”

  Al turned and did as he was told, pulling the filth stained mattress from the disintegrating barricade and then standing for a moment, holding it under his arm and unsure of what to do with it. He glanced at the metal bars, at the explosive charges, and then down at the mattress in his hands.

  “I don’t think this is going to help, mate,” he said casually, and with an air of scepticism for the plan that they had put into motion.

  “It’s better than nothing,” Tommy grunted back at him, as he carried out a final check on the detonators. “Unless you want to just stand there with your fingers in your ears?”

  Tommy made his way across the room towards Al who was still standing with the mattress under one arm and watching him intently. Unravelling the detonating cord and pulling the primer from his vest, Tommy snatched the puny mattress from Al and threw it into the far corner.

  “Get down behind it. I don’t know how big this thing is going to be. It’ll probably take the whole building down, but I doubt we’ll know much about it.”

  The door beside them cracked, and the lock buckled. The boxes and crates shifted slightly as the lower half of the frame was pushed away from the wall, their glass contents clanging against each other from inside.

  Behind the mattress, the two men hunkered down, tucking their knees into their chests and burying their heads into their torsos like turtles. They stole a breath and then exhaled, ready to hold it and avoid having their lungs explode from the pressure wave of the detonation.

  “Ready?”

  “Just fucking get on with it, will you?” Al grimaced, shutting his eyes tight beneath the rim of his helmet.

  Tommy hit the trigger and the air was suddenly sucked from the room. At the same time, a blinding flash that lasted for just a fraction of a second, bathed everything in an intense white glow. A crack like the sound of thunder going off just above their heads threatened to smash the skulls of the two men as the shockwave ripped through the small enclosure, fracturing the walls and the foundations of the building. The pressure was immense, knocking the air from their bursting lungs, and squeezing their bodies to the point that their bones threatened to break. Their brains rattled around within their heads, sending them spiralling towards unconsciousness and disorienting them as their ears ruptured from the weight of the explosion. They felt their bodies being pressed into the wall behind them, and then simultaneously pulled away by an almighty force as they howled and clung to the flimsy mattress.

  Dust, smoke, and debris flew in all directions, slamming into the walls and door, and burrowing into the feeble shield that the men used as their only protection. The barricade was flung apart. Bottles cracked and cans burst, adding to the storm of shrapnel. The door that held the swarm of dead at bay buckled and caved outward as the pressure wave blasted its way through the room at lightning speed, searching for a way out, and passing through the point of least resistance.

  The ravenous bodies beyond were flung in all directions, scattered throughout the store, and sent crashing into the shelves and walls. The assaulting corpses closest to the barricade disintegrated as their withered frames succumbed to the enormous shock of the detonation. Parts of them were hurled far and wide, their splintered bones acting as secondary shrapnel, and causing more carnage as they flew at high velocity through the air.

  With their ears ringing and their vision dancing, the two men pushed the mattress to the side. Writhing on the floor, they both fought hard to regain control of their senses, coughing and groaning while trying to climb to their feet. Using the wall and one another for support, they grabbed for their weapons, readying themselves to fight off any attackers that managed to continue the assault. The room was filled with dust and smoke, adding to the already dark surroundings and making it impossible for the soldiers to see where they were going or find their bearings.

  “I can’t see a fucking thing,” one of them hollered through the darkness, reaching out and trying to feel for his friend.

  “This way,” the other groaned.

  Together, they staggered through the chaos, kicking bottles and other debris across the floor as they stumbled towards where they hoped was their exit. They moved with their hands out in front of them, feeling their way along the walls, and hoping that they were not headed back towards the main part of the shop.

  Through the swirling dust, they began to make out a faint glow. It was the doorway that led out to the rear of the building. It had been ripped from its hinges along with the bars and a large portion of the wall. With all the coordination that they could muster, they swayed and lurched towards the gaping hole. The dim light of the moon showed them the way, growing brighter as they drew nearer. Behind them, as they slowly and clumsily made their escape, the groans of the dead and the sound of shuffling feet began to emanate from the store front again. The infected were returning to the offensive.

  Outside, while tripping over large clumps of brick and the remains of the door, Al and Tommy found themselves in a small and narrow yard with high walls. They turned to their left, following the wall of the building, and hoping to find a gate that exited to the rear and onto an adjacent street.

  At the far end, they found nothing but a huge tangle of thorn bushes and weeds blocking their path and the exit from the yard. With no other option, they began to climb, using an old corroded dustbin as a step to help propel themselves upwards while clutching onto the vines and grimacing as the thorns pierced the leather of their gloves and cut deep into their palms. Struggling with their balance and coordination, and unable to focus their eyes properly while their ears still rang with the deafening bells of the blast, they hauled themselves to the top of the wall. Once they were both safe from ground level they paused for a moment, catching their breath and checking their surroundings.

  “Jesus, my head feels like it’s up my arse.”

  “It fucking is, you prick. What the fuck were you thinking, Al?”

  Al did not reply. He felt ashamed for the mistake he had made. At the time, he was sure that his actions would cause no harm, but he had been proven very wrong. They had very nearly been killed twice within the l
ast five minutes, and they were far from being out of the woods yet. He grunted and shook his head violently, attempting to force his senses back into some sort of order

  In each direction the wall continued, running across the backs of the stores and businesses along the main street and paralleling an alleyway to the rear. The bricks at the top of the wall were wide enough for them to walk along, but in their current state, still reeling from the shock of the explosion, they both doubted that their balance would be up to the task.

  “I’m not too keen on the idea of walking along this tightrope. Half the bricks are probably loose, and I feel like I’m shit faced.”

  “What choice do we have? We can’t drop into the alley, we’ll be trapped,” Al stated, looking down at the dark channel to their left, and then at the jagged remains of the rear door to the shop on their right.

  From within the dust that continued to swirl through the air, and they could hear the voices of the dead. Then the first of them emerged from the doorway. The dark and shadowy figure staggered on unsteady legs, its knees buckling with every step. Its black sunken eyes locked on to the two men atop of the wall, framed in the moonlight. It increased its efforts to close the distance. The reanimated corpse stumbled and lost its balance, tumbling to the side as one of its wrecked legs gave way from beneath it with a sickening crunch. More bodies spewed out from the ruined store, trampling over the first as it writhed on the ground, and began advancing on the wall at the rear of the yard.

  “You really are a prick,” Tommy spat, and began to push himself up, carefully correcting his balance before helping his friend to his feet, and then turning to begin their precarious walk along the narrow bricks.

  “Yeah, I’m sure you’ll soon forgive me the next time it’s your turn to fuck up,” Al grumbled under his breath as he began to slowly walk the wall.

  They left the yard filled with the walking dead behind and steadily advanced along the narrow bricks, stopping periodically to adjust their balance before continuing. They frequently scanned the alleyway below them and the rows of yards that they passed, checking for unseen dangers as the moans of tortured souls cried out from behind them. It seemed to be taking them forever as they tiptoed by the dark pits of the buildings to their right. Most of the yards were devoid of anything moving, but a few contained the wails of the dead from within their blackness. At these points, the pair involuntarily increased their pace, wanting to get away from the clutching hands that slapped and clawed at the walls beneath their feet.

  A hundred metres further on at the far end of the wall, they paused and squatted low to the bricks that they were perched upon. There they remained, still and silent, watching the streets and buildings all around them. A road was running across their front, joining onto the main street just thirty metres to their right. The noise from that area was enough to chill their blood as thousands of the infected headed for the ruined store. The city was stirred up. The explosion had attracted every walking corpse for miles around, drawing them into the area. From all directions, ghostly figures lumbered out from the shadows, headed towards the throng of animated cadavers that had piled into the road where the smouldering store sat. The air buzzed with the sound of their conjoined voices as they moaned and howled with excitement.

  “There it is,” said Tommy in a whisper.

  To their front, roughly seventy metres away, a large building rose up from the ground like a huge, black monolith. As they squinted through the pale moonlight, more detail became apparent, and they were able to identify the entry and exit ramps leading into the multi-storey parking complex. The individual floors were visible, the pale grey concrete facades that separated the levels contrasting against the dark interior spaces above and below them. In the low light, and the circumstances, it looked terrifying.

  “What about any defences?” Al asked from over his shoulder. “Can you see if there are any or if they’re still intact?”

  “Not sure, mate,” Tommy replied with a shrug and a shake of his head. “But I can’t see any of these sacks of shit coming from there, so maybe the place is still secure. I suppose we’ll only know when we get there.”

  With every caution, the pair descended from the wall, lowering their legs and hanging by their hands, allowing their bodies to settle before they dropped onto the floor of the alleyway. On the ground, they waited for a moment, tucked away into the shadow of the wall and double checking their surroundings and the street ahead.

  Out to their front, a number of festering bodies ambled along the road, but there were none close by. Most of the dead in the area had already made their way into the adjacent street and only the stragglers remained, dragging their crumbling carcases along the pavements and tarmac, hoping to join in the frenzy taking place in the next street.

  Al took the lead and crept forward from the shelter of the alley and out into the street. He walked in a crouch, keeping his rifle tucked in close to his hip. A silhouette to their left, just ten metres away, let out a series of grunts and gargles when it saw them. It began to stagger towards them, its legs wobbling and threatening to collapse as it raised its hands and began snapping away with its jaws.

  Al stepped forward, and with the butt of his rifle raised, swung the weapon down. It impacted against the creature’s head, cracking the parched bone of its skull, and breaking the leathery flesh of its face. It let out a huff as its jaw fell free from the rest of its head. For a short moment, the body remained standing upright in the street with an almost surprised look on its heavily decomposed face. Then, the brain having been splintered by the fractured cranium, it dropped. The noise of its delicate bones as it hit the floor rattled through the street, sounding like a sack of hollow logs being dropped on to a hard surface.

  The further they walked into the open, the more of the adjoining avenues they could see. Behind them, a mass so dense that they were packed into the street shoulder to shoulder, pulsed and throbbed with the pushing and shoving of the dead as they fought to get closer to the source of the disturbance. The pair of them gingerly crept silently toward the parking garage, headed away from the crowd at a snail’s pace, and doing all that they could in order not to attract any attention.

  Ahead of them the parking building loomed, casting a long shadow out over the smaller buildings around it, and revealing nothing of what lurked within its black recesses. Soon they were within its shadow, still moving slowly as their eyes nervously scanned the area around them. Corpses were still appearing from other streets, following the noises created by their fellow infected, but the two living men remained unnoticed, for the time being.

  A clatter rang out behind them as one of the meandering bodies collided with an overturned shopping cart. Al and Tommy froze, slowly pivoting around and facing in the direction of the threat. There, the emaciated body of a woman ambled through the wreckage of the street, snorting and growling as she dragged her feet along the weed covered tarmac. She did not look in their direction, but kept her gaze fixed on the ground beneath her feet. Al nodded to Tommy, and they continued forward.

  They drew closer, scanning along the length of the huge parking building with the barrels of their weapons pointing in whatever direction they looked, ready to fire should the need arise. At the slipway, they began to see the corpses of dozens of bodies, decayed to the point where they were nothing more than bones covered with scraps of clothing, and being slowly overwhelmed and swallowed up by the tangles of weeds and moss that had begun to creep over them through the years.

  At the ramp, they saw the barricades. Made from large trucks and vans, their tyres destroyed and rendering them completely immobilised and virtually impossible to move, the defences put into place seemed to be still intact. Three or four heavy trucks were pushed up to the gap of the entrance ramp, sitting flush with the walls, and with no gaps that could be exploited. From what Al and Tommy could see, nothing could get by them or force them out of the way.

  Over at the exit ramp, they saw a similar set of defences. The
re was no indication that the blockades had been breached and beyond them, in the gloomy interior of the parking levels, there was no sign of the dead, only the hollow moan of the wind as it blew in through the open levels of the parking complex.

  “Doesn’t look like they got in here,” Al surmised as he scanned the darkness, looking for the smallest hint of movement within the ground level parking bays.

  All around the perimeter of the building, the remains of men, women, and children lay scattered and piled together where they had fallen, many years before. The two soldiers paused and looked up to the roof of the building, realising that these bodies had been the result of people firing down from the rooftop. For the living, with strength, agility, and intelligence, it would be easy to enter past the obstacles. However, for the hordes of dead, the parking complex with the heavy and immovable vehicles blocking the entrances was an impenetrable fortress that could not be breached.

  They waited for a few minutes, watching into the blackness of the parking area, and ensuring that the ground level did not contain a thousand corpses lurking in the darkness and watching them with hungry eyes. The building was as silent as a tomb. Not even the squeak of rats came out from the darkness.

  “Okay,” Tommy began in a hoarse whisper and moving towards the nearest barricade. “Time to get in and see what’s what.”

  He wanted to get off the street. He felt exposed and open to attack, and he wanted to get into cover. He turned to grab the attention of his cohort, and saw that the Al’s eyes were fixed on something else. Something behind them. He turned, following the gaze of his partner, and saw a wall of black and grey, spilling out from the street where they had entered into the store. The dead were advancing towards them. At just a glance, it was clear to them that the mass of bodies knew the two living men were there, and they were making a beeline for them.