The Good, The Bad & The Dead | Book 1 | Once Upon A Time In An Undead World

by Grimes, A. L.

  The bang on the door accelerated his heart rate and caused him to snap upright. The action probably saved him. The thud acted as an undead alarm clock. As his body rose Lucy’s eyelids opened, gone were the bright brown eyes that flashed him most mornings. The beauty had gone from the orbs, replaced by death and emptiness. The colour had completely faded; ice white puddles stared at him. He was on his feet before she could reach for him. She began to right herself from her horizontal position, scratching at tiled flooring unable to gain any purchase. Frank stepped back and reached out blindly for the crowbar; his hand searched the desk. As the door burst open, he realised he had left his weapon jammed between the cupboard doors.

  ‘You’re fucking kidding me,’ he muttered.

  Entering the room was the heavyweight champion of the undead. His name tag said Andy, his waist size and height said problem. It was more of an unbalanced wobble than a walk from undead Andy, he was carrying at least three hundred pound. Lucy had managed to roll onto her side and was beginning to upright herself. Frank moved around the desk towards the crowbar. Andy countered the move and cut off the path, he had a huge black bite wound on his forearm. A bandage hung loosely from the injury, matted in a thick dark substance. The odour was strong and rotten. Gunge and other fluids dripped from his body onto the floor. Frank knew in a normal fight he would have the advantage over Andy despite the size difference, but Andy was all dead weight and he couldn’t afford to become trapped.

  As Lucy stood, Frank slammed the desk into her sending her to the floor again. He continued pushing until the desk had cut off Andy’s route. The obstacle didn’t deter the hulking dead man. Frank heard a commotion in the corridor. He looked around the huge frame of dead Andy and watched as several of the residents were making their way towards them.

  Speed and precision were needed. He slid across the top of the table and almost hesitated before deciding that Lucy no longer existed. He kicked with violent force that shattered most of her facial structure. The force sent her sprawling backwards towards the door. Andy let out a deep moan as he slowly changed direction. Frank waited for him to get closer. As he reached for him, Frank leapt over the desk and moved towards the crowbar. His plan would have worked if Andy hadn’t dripped a pool of body fluid onto the shiny floor.

  Frank’s left foot landed first and stable, his right skidded across the puddle of shit left by Andy. His hand left the stabilising table and he crashed to the floor landing heavily on his right side. His head cracked the floor and for a split second his vision clouded over. Andy’s triumphant roar jolted him. He wanted to move but his head and body disagreed.

  Through dulled senses he could see Andy moving towards him, Lucy was scratching about somewhere on the other side of the table and the advancing mob of geriatric undead was getting closer. He thought about Amy and how his immediate goal was to get to her. Frank shook the doubts and the ache from his brain. He raised himself to his feet and growled at the huge undead creature before him. ‘C’mon you big bastard, let’s see what you’ve got.’

  Whether through primal instinct or a memory still lodged in his undead brain, the dead Andy accepted and reached out. Frank’s instinct also kicked in as he lowered his head under the advancing arms. He fell to one knee and with as much strength as he could muster, he swiped the legs of the monster. Undead Andy staggered forward, struggling to retain balance, the next step forward landed in his own putrid puddle. Frank just managed to move as the huge creature crashed through the table.

  The impact tore away the side of the dead man’s face. His intestines ruptured as the weight of his colossal body drove into the hard floor. The dead man’s grey jog pants filled as his guts emptied their way out of his body. Frank covered his nose and mouth with his hand as the reek of bowel gas erupted. Shitting yourself would be a big deal to most but not Andy, he rolled about like a pig in shit.

  Frank had seen enough; he got to his feet and pulled the crowbar from the cupboard. With two hands he drove the pointed end through the back of Andy’s skull; it struck the floor as it exited his eye socket. His misery was at an end. Frank wrenched his weapon free.

  Lucy had been impaled on a broken table leg, her limbs flailing wildly. She hissed at him as he walked closer. As he raised the crowbar an elderly creature stumbled through the door. Her night dress was torn at the shoulder revealing a hideous infected hole. He walked past Lucy and caved in the skull of the dead resident. Three more were dispatched before he moved towards the exit. He peered out into the street; a handful of dead creatures shuffled past east other, ignoring the moans of each other’s pain and blocking his path.

  He again thought of Amy as he stepped into the early morning light. The creatures stopped and stared at him, moaning in unison and singing the same tune. He raised the crowbar and ran towards them.

  Frank stepped back into the rapidly declining world, he hadn’t been away from it and in fact he had narrowly escaped it. He had the aching promise he made to Lucy gnawing at him, her husband was either safe or dead and not a lot he could do about it. Besides if he was still alive and functioning did he really want to hear his wife had turned into one of the undead? Oh and by the way I left your reanimated wife impaled in an old folk’s home, bye.

  It wasn’t his problem; he had done what he could. His focus was on his own family. He speared the first undead he encountered through the eye. It fell to the floor. He ended several more as he exited the grounds of the place. His situation was a little fucked, in order to get back to the shop he had to navigate around a mob of starving dead people. The direct route was blocked, he could see a crowd well into its hundreds at the end of the road. He would have to take a slight detour and hope the side streets were less populated.

  He knew he could outrun and manoeuvre past them if necessary, what he didn’t want was to be surrounded. He decided to stick to the gardens of the surrounding houses, go around the crowd of violent cannibals and get back onto the main route as the dead thinned out that was the plan anyway. His original plan was to go for a run and open his shop but that had gone to shit.

  The gardens in the surrounding area gave him enough covering to remain undetected providing he kept low and close to the partitioning walls. The residential home he had left was housed on a corner, he was able to navigate to the next corner without any trouble. Although the circumstances demanded a need for stealth he still felt like a peeping tom, crouching behind walls and peering over fences. He was beginning to feel the morning chill gnaw at him, at least it was the only thing nibbling at his skin.

  He could see a few dead stragglers had wandered into the road he was about to cross. At the top of the road he could see the main group of the dead, they shuffled about aimlessly bouncing off each other. They looked lost, like they had forgotten their purpose for being there. He moved across the road, keeping low and using the parked cars as cover. He jumped the wall of another house and landed on the soft soil of the well-manicured lawn. The scene would have been picture perfect if the remains of the homeowner weren’t spread across it. The true brutality of these once humane creatures had now presented itself to Frank. He was quickly learning that they were a plague. Then it dawned on him, he looked out from his hiding place. The scene was similar in many of the homes, half eaten residents with blood and organs exploded across their own driveways – the place they expected to be safe.

  He moved through the garden to the other side. An alley way opened up as he moved over the wall. He decided to move up the alleyway to see how big the crowd was at the top. He made it to the top and peered around the corner. The crowd was thick and hungry. A couple of feet away a woman in a torn red dress stumbled towards him, she hadn’t seen him, but he wasn’t taking a chance. He began backing away keeping his eyes on the corner. His back nudged into something, it swayed, something inside rattled. He turned to catch whatever it was but he was too late.

  He watched as the stacked green tubs with ‘save the environment’ stencilled across the side crashed to the fl
oor. Beer cans, wine bottles and a lone plastic water bottle added the percussion to the bass of the falling plastic drums. To add to his misery the dead he thought he had sneaked past at the corner limped into the alleyway. He thought about storming towards them, there wasn’t many, but he couldn’t be sure what was around the corner. As the flash of red dress appeared, he was already under the chassis of the Ford Focus. He watched as the dead marched past his hideout.

  He held his breath at times as the flow of dead people walking about seemed never ending. He was surrounded on both sides, something he had wanted to avoid but as he was learning with the dead, they were very unpredictable. At least they didn’t know he was there, several inches away from being their next meal. He was lying with his chest pressed into the uneven ground, not much room for mobility. Something lumpy was pressing into his ribs, he fumbled for it. He knew before he seen it what it was, he smiled. Some poor bastard had tried to escape the pending massacre of civilisation. Whether he had been attacked or just dropped them in panic before fleeing Frank didn’t know or care. The emblem on the key confirmed it. He waited until the area around the car had cleared, then he went for it.

  He waited until he was almost on his feet before pressing the button that disengaged the central locking. The noise and flashing lights from the car alerted the dead. They turned and moved towards him. It didn’t matter he was inside with the central locking secured. He pushed the key into the ignition.

  Red dress appeared at the front, her face wasn’t damaged just mottled and angry. Frank jammed the car into gear as the car roared into life. The revved engine didn’t deter her, Frank never expected it to. The car squealed as he hit the gas hard and took his foot from the clutch quick. She rolled over the bonnet and spun to the side. He slid into the street as he pumped the accelerator and shifted gear. He ploughed through the remaining crowd and increased his speed.

  He passed the overturned car and headed for home. Every dead thing he raced past turned its head towards him, they moved in his direction. The smallest pub in Britain had a good crowd. So did the carousel outside Funland, some poor bastard was still seated on a horse as it continued to spin.

  Three dead creatures loitered outside the shop; he took two out with the car the other he gave a permanent headache. He pushed the button for the electric shutters and darted in before they reached halfway. Inside he took a well-earned drink and chewed on a chocolate peanut bar, his body welcomed the protein.

  He plugged in his phone and dialled her number. He was relieved to hear her voice…he asked lots of questions. The important answers she lied, and he knew it.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Leeds, Northern UK.

  Amy had told her father everything that had happened since their last conversation and most of what she thought was going to happen. She omitted the part about Professor Randall and her cohort moving towards her position. Although she didn’t really feel it was an omission, she didn’t think the dead people would have the intelligence to navigate three flights of stairs and several doors to get to her.

  She was certain her dad recognised the uncertainty in her voice. He did his best to reassure her that he would be on his way and that nothing or nobody would stop him from getting to her. He told her she only had to stay safe for another hour, two tops. He stopped her when she began to ramble about the fun times they had shared. He reminded her of who they both were and that she had a duty to protect the dumbass sitting next to her.

  A smile crept across her lips, Jack instinctively knew whatever had been said was about him and the chances where it wasn’t a compliment. He maintained his silence as he watched the tail end of the stumbling dead disappear around the corner.

  Amy ended the conversation with her father and moved towards the window. The dead had gone. ‘I know it’s unlikely, but my gut tells me they are heading this way,’ said Jack.

  For the first time Amy noticed true fear in his eyes. She had known his bravado was a front and an element of naivety but since he had seen his fellow student attacked, half eaten and back on his feet his fear level had increased.

  She rested her hand on his shoulder, ‘I think you’re right. They don’t know exactly where we are, but they have an instinct and maybe some cognitive process still firing in their dead brains.’

  ‘So what are we going to do, Frank is at least two hours away, if he makes it at all.’

  For a second her face twisted into a snarl, a snarl Jack recognised as he retreated from her moving hand. Her face softened as the truth of his words struck home.

  ‘You’re right, we are on our own for now and until I see my dad come crashing through that door that’s how we have to think.’

  Jack had grown accustomed to being proven wrong by Amy even though most was in jest. He had waited a long time for her to agree with him he just wished today hadn’t been that day. ‘Shit, of all days to have a theory proven, I wait until the end of the fucking world.’

  ‘We did say it would be a cold day in hell before you got one right,’ her smile helped break the tension and restored some positive thinking to her train of thought.

  ‘Literally,’ he said as a matter of fact. ‘Again, what are we going to do until your dad gets here?’

  She smiled, acknowledging his renewed positive attitude. ‘We’re going to survive, not just the next couple of hours but for the rest of the fucking day. After that, we’ll see what obstacles get in our way.’

  ‘I’m all ears,’ he replied.

  ‘Good, because you’re not going to like what I say next.’

  ‘You’re Frank’s daughter, I think I know where this is heading. And on the off chance we do survive, and Frank gets here be sure to let him know all the crazy stuff was your idea.’

  ‘Like he’s going to need telling,’ she winked.

  *

  Jack knew her idea would involve an element of danger; he didn’t realise how dangerous until he was stood in the hallway holding a cricket bat. ‘What type of girl has a cricket bat in her room?’ he asked.

  ‘It was a present from my dad,’ she smiled.

  ‘A present, really. Any other stuff, woolly jumper, pads, balls or were you just born with those?’

  ‘You want to go there now while you’re standing dressed in my clothes.’

  He opened his mouth to respond then thought better of it. ‘Have you ever used it?’

  ‘Never,’ she replied.

  ‘Is it brand new?’

  ‘I don’t think so, it was my dad’s.’

  ‘Does he play cricket?’ he had a nervous feeling he already knew the answer.

  ‘I’ve never known him too, why?’

  ‘No reason,’ he replied as he fingered the two splintered dents at the end of the bat.

  ‘Before you ask, he gave it to me as a precaution against unwanted attention.’

  Then it clicked, ‘The Irish lad on your landing.’

  ‘Yes, my dad got hold of him and told him if he made anymore remarks that I was to hit him hard in the bollocks with the bat then phone him,’ she smiled again. ‘He moved two floors up the next day and puts his head down when we pass.’

  ‘Not as thick as he looked then, hey?’

  They moved into the main corridor.

  *

  They moved along the corridor of the fifth floor to search for the living and to avoid the dead. The accommodation block was large, each floor had seven dorms with five individual rooms. Potentially they were going to meet some of the occupants on the way.

  Amy had instructed Jack to strike the bat hard in the centre of the skull of any dead creature they came across.

  ‘How will I know the difference?’ he asked.

  ‘If it’s eating anything other than junk food, hit it,’ she replied.

  She also drummed into him that the dead creatures were slower and clumsy but not completely useless, especially in a group. In fact in a group they were far superior. She held two kitchen knives. They both wore heavy coats and leather glov
es to protect against bites, movement was restricted slightly but not enough to lessen any blows.

  Their movements were quiet and precise. They spoke when needed and only in hushed tones. They approached the first door, their adjacent neighbours. Amy gave the door a slight nudge, it didn’t move – locked. She pressed her ear to the door. Inside she could hear the shuffling of feet across the carpet away from her, a slight thud then the shuffling came towards her. Whoever the poor creature had once been was now locked in a never-ending short tunnel of shuffling and thudding. She moved on towards the corner, Jack followed without stopping to listen.

  Amy peered around the corner, two more dorms on this side to go. The first dorm had a spread of crimson outside like someone had been dragged inside. She peered a little further. ‘Fuck, the door is open,’ she said to Jack.

  Jack began retreating. ‘Where are you going?’ she asked.

  ‘Let’s go back, I’m shitting myself.’

  ‘I know, that’s why you’re behind me,’ she quipped. ‘Don’t be such a fucking wimp, get over here.’

  He bumped into the back of her as she looked towards the door. She rolled her eyes and let it go. ‘Don’t move while I take a look.’

  He nodded his compliance. She moved forward slowly keeping her eye on the door. Her hand almost brushed the sticky blood splatter. She leaned into the doorway, blood had sprayed half the door and the connecting wall. At the end of the interior corridor at least three dead things shuffled about in the kitchen. She reached inside to pull the door shut and to trap the creatures inside. She heard the death groan before she saw the hand. As she grabbed the bottom of the door a dead creature took hold of the centre. The creature was in the corridor behind the door, as it struggled to reach through the others were alerted to the food that had been delivered to their door – something’s never change.