by Monroe, Kady
Jenny couldn’t reach the screwdriver. It had rolled under the van. So she rushed to circle behind the remains of the burned woman and caught hold of it under the armpits. Using all her strength and retching from the smell and feel of the thing, she yanked backwards. She wasn’t sure if she managed to pull it off Matt, or whether she had just distracted it. Either way, it let go, and she found herself falling backwards with the zombie in tow. Keeping her senses and trying to keep her head from striking the ground, she rolled as soon as she hit the tarmac. She scrambled away from the body and got to her feet, panting.
Jenny barely had time to draw breath before Sophie ran, carrying the broom and screaming a war cry at the zombie. As soon as she reached it, she rammed the handle down into an eye-socket as far as it would go.. The squelch of the eyeball bursting was accompanied by a cut off moan.
Shocked and horrified, Sophie stumbled backwards, eyes wide, she gasped in a breath and put her hand up to her mouth. She stood there staring, along with everyone else, at the motionless creature.
“Oh,” she said in surprise, “I think I killed it.”
“No you didn’t,” Jack said, “It was already dead.”
Jenny looked at Matt with concern,
“Are you alright? Did it get you?”
He checked himself for wounds and found none.
“N... No, I’m Ok, I think,” he replied, “Are you Ok?”
“Apart from a sore backside, I’m fine.”
The group was startled by another moan and the rustling of bushes nearby.
“Leave the grill, whatever you managed to clear will have to do for now,” Jenny said, “Come on, let’s get out of here before we get attacked again.”
Everyone scattered to the vehicles. But not before Matt had retrieved the screwdriver and the broom. The latter stood propped upright at an angle in the dead woman’s disfigured head.
Maggie and Jenny entered the car as a second zombie staggered out onto the road in front of them. The van drove off and Maggie was quick to do the same, avoiding the dead man. He lurched forward as went past and slapped a filthy hand against Jenny’s side window. She reared back from it, but momentarily, the car was out of his reach.
CHAPTER 12
The convoy stopped at a parking spot at the peak of a hill. This time they wouldn’t be taken by surprise as they could see a good distance in all directions from their viewpoint, which overlooked a wooded valley below. The hill itself was barren. Grey boulders and rocks protruded sparsely out of the overgrown and windswept grass. In the distance, smoke from the village was still visible.
There were no other vehicles in sight. Matt parked near a lone weather-beaten picnic table. It squatted dolefully at one end of the car-park, along with an overflowing bin. At the other end, sat a pair of blue Portaloos. The doors to both chemical toilet units were closed.
“Apart from the usual, I hope there isn’t any nasty surprises waiting for us in them,” Maggie said, pointing to the blue eyesores.
“We’ll check them out first,” Jenny replied as she left the car.
Matt was out of the van, with the broom in one hand and a screwdriver in the other. He was eyeing the Portaloos with suspicion. Everyone else had stayed in their respective transport. Jenny walked towards the two loos, picking up a few stones along the way. Matt kept pace with her.
The pair of them stopped about ten feet from their goal. Jenny raised the first stone and threw it. She hit her mark. The stone bounced off with a hollow thud. No sound came in response, but Jenny wasn’t satisfied so she lobbed another larger stone. She got the same result again.
Taking a deep breath, she said,
“Ok, let’s go take a look. I’ll pull the doors open, you get ready with the broom.”
As she walked towards the toilets, Matt replied,
“Yeah, Ok, but get out of the way quick after each door.”
Jenny halted a few feet from the first door and threw another stone. It hit, bounced off and landed in front of her. They listened for a few seconds, then Jenny nodded to Matt.
She stepped forward and opened the door outwards, hiding behind it. Matt braced himself for an attack, but the cubicle was empty. They moved on to the next one and went through the same procedure. Much to their relief, nothing stumbled out from the second one either.
Back with the others, Matt set to work on cleaning the van grill. Jenny heard him gag once or twice as the others took advantage of the toilets. Jenny took sentry duty.
“That’s the best I can do for now,” Matt said as the others returned to the picnic area. He stored his gloves and screwdriver in the van.
“We’re going to have to find diesel somewhere,” he continued, lighting a cigarette, “the gauge is getting low.” Then seeing Maggie, he asked,
“How’s the car doing for petrol?”
“I have half a tank,” Maggie replied.
“We’ll try to find fuel for both vehicles then.”
“Petrol station pumps ain’t gonna work without electricity,” Jack said.
“Yeah, I know,” Matt replied, “I guess we’ll just have to try our hand at syphoning.”
Jack nodded and said,
“We’ll have to get some hosepipe first, maybe doctor any car we find along the way.”
Matt agreed.
With the discussion closed, the group's thoughts turned to food. Sophie jumped into the van and rummaged in one of the boxes. She handed out cartons of yoghurt to her mum, then found what remained of the bread. She sorted through some more items and drew out a pack of pre-packed ham slices.
"Did any of you pack the cutlery?" she asked.
Everyone looked blankly at each other.
"Oh great, what about a can opener? Anyone add one of those?"
More blank stares answered her questions.
"Better add those things to the shopping list then," Jack said.
Sophie's slumped her shoulders and declared,
"We don't have any crockery either."
"Looks like we're slumming it then," Jack replied.
"Don't any of you have one of those knife thingies, with all the gadgets on it?" Maggie asked.
Not sure who she was addressing her question to, everyone shook their heads.
"We should add those things to the list as well," Jack said, then added,
"and some decent weapons."
It was cold and drizzling, but the group ate their food at the table. It gave them security, being able to see their environment. Jenny noticed the clouds darkening, threatening worse weather to come. If she wasn't mistaken, the breeze was chillier than earlier too. When she surveyed her companions, she saw she wasn't the only one huddled over her cold food. To make things worse, she kept thinking about the village and then the attack later. She would guess she wasn’t alone in reliving the memories.
It was a silent and miserable meal.
When they finished, Matt went off toward the Portaloos. Jack used his crutch to hop back to the van, and Sophie and Maggie were chatting together. Jenny took it upon herself to stand guard. As soon as Matt returned, she swapped places with him and went to use the facilities. On returning, she saw the two other women had gone to sit in the car. Matt was having a smoke, so she jumped in the back of the van with Jack.
He was sitting on the mattress, looking at his mum's keys. He raised his head and gave her a weak smile as she plonked herself down beside him.
"How are you doing?" she asked.
"Ok, I suppose, can't help wondering if she's alive."
"We can only hope so,"
"I should have stuck around and searched for her. She might have been nearby."
"Jack, you know if she had been close, then she would have heard the van."
"She might have been scared, didn't know it was me," he said with a tremble in his voice. "What if we left her behind Jenny?"
“Maybe she got out before we arrive, Jack. Went with a neighbour or something and got to a refugee camp,” Jenny paused, “She
doesn’t know what happened to you either, so maybe she’s hoping you’ll arrive where she is.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Jack replied.
She rubbed his arm, not knowing what else to say to make him feel better. She had found the other slipper, but that didn’t mean his mum was dead. The blood on it could have been someone else’s. But of course, she didn’t know what happened to the woman, so unfortunately, she couldn't tell him his mum was okay. She guessed this was what they called survivor's guilt. He might wonder for the rest of his life about what fate befell his mother.
After a few minutes of silence, Jenny changed the subject.
"How's your ankle?"
"Not so bad now. The swelling is going down and Sophie has been feeding me painkillers."
"Good. You'll be back on your feet in no time."
"I hope so, 'cause you lot keep stealing my crutch," he said.
Jenny was glad to hear him joking and rewarded him with a smile.
"One day, that broom will be famous," she joked back.
He grinned this time,
"Uh-huh. The famous zombie killing brush."
“In the Zombie Killers hall of fame.”
“With a photo of Sophie next to it.”
The thought made them both laugh.
When Sophie returned to the van, it was to let them know she would travel with her mother this time.
“You’re still welcome to travel in the car,” she told Jenny.
“No, it’s Ok, go spend some time with your mum and I’ll look after Jack for you.”
“Are you sure? My mum said it’s Ok.”
“I’m sure, but tell your mum thanks from me.”
“Ok,” Sophie replied, giving Jack a peck on the cheek before going to her mum.
Matt had been standing outside and heard the conversation.
He slid the side door shut. Back in the driver’s seat, Matt employed the central locking and started the engine. They were off again.
CHAPTER 13
As they travelled, they saw a few suitable vehicles for fuel, but the dead were nearby making the task too dangerous to attempt. Matt was following signposts for the M1 motorway, and they weren’t far away from it when they found a used car dealership on the outskirts of a town. Jenny, sitting in the passenger seat, took a look around. By the appearance of the place, it would have what they needed. More importantly, there wasn’t a single zombie in sight.
Matt stopped in the middle of the road and evaluated the view for a few minutes. The dealership was situated in a quiet location, with no other buildings in sight. All the cars, and a few vans, of various size, were spread throughout the business’s ground space. A small off-white coloured Portacabin with wire mesh over the windows and a dark grey door seemed to serve as an office. It looked undamaged and deserted.
“What do you think?” Matt asked her.
“I don’t see a fence around this place, so we better keep on our toes while we do this.”
“Yeah, could get tricky if the dead or the infected show up.”
Jack hopped to the back of Jenny’s seat.
“Keys are probably in the office. Looks like you two will be doing a bit of breaking and entering.”
“So long as nobody’s home,” Matt said, analysing the area again.
“Well,” Jack said, “what are you waiting for, go do some criminal stuff and collect some tyre irons while you’re at it.”
Matt pulled the van over to the side of the road and parked. The car came to a stop behind them. Switching off the engine, Matt turned in his seat to speak to Jack.
“Maybe you should wait in the car while we go do this,” he said, “If something goes wrong, then the rest of you will be able to drive off.”
“Hey man, stop being so negative, nothing will go wrong.”
Matt gave him a long silent stare.
Jack squirmed a bit, then said with a sigh, “Ok, I’m going.”
Jenny explained the plan to Maggie and Sophie, and both her and Matt, got Jack stowed on the back seat of the car. Sophie undid her seatbelt.
“I’m coming with you to stand watch,” she said.
“Matt and Jenny can handle it, Sophie,” Maggie replied.
“Yes, I’m sure they can, but as the saying goes, two pairs of eyes are better than one.”
“And they already have two pairs.”
Sophie’s eyes narrowed,
“Mum, are you always going to sit back and let everyone else take the risk?”
Then she got out of the car, thankfully, not slamming the door.
“Ok, I’m ready,” she said.
Jack’s talk of tyre irons reminded Matt that the van had one. He retrieved it and locked up. The three of them scouted around as they approached the Portacabin. Nothing moved.
Sophie cupped her hands around her eyes in an effort to see in one of the windows. She turned her head from side to side, examining as much of the inside as she could.
“Can’t see anybody in there,” she said.
Jenny and Matt went to the door. Jenny knocked lightly and said,
“Hello, anyone there?”
No reply came. Sophie peered in the window again, but shook her head to let them know she had seen nothing.
Matt used the iron to break the door lock. The task made more noise than any of the three would have liked. Jenny and Sophie spread out at a distance from the cabin, scouring the plot. All was quiet. They rejoined Matt as he nudged the door open, keeping the tyre iron tightly gripped in his hand.
The door swung open into a modest run-down office. Even in the middle of the day, it was gloomy inside. Matt leaned in and flicked the light switch, but there was no power here either.
“We’ll keep watch out here while you search,” Jenny said.
As the women stood guard, they heard Matt using the tyre iron again to break into something. Jenny presumed he was opening a security cabinet where keys would be stored. Within another minute, he rejoined them, carrying two plastic Jerry cans. One was bright green, and the other a drab olive. Looped over his fingers were bunches of keys. Sophie and Jenny took one container each. Matt reached into his pocket and retrieved some more keys.
“They have registration labels,” he said, “so we won’t have to spend ages trying to find the right cars for the keys.”
“We’re getting diesel first,” Jenny said.
“Yeah.”
The group arrived in the space where the vans were parked. Those were the most likely to run on the fuel Matt wanted. Reaching the first one, a small navy-blue van, which had more than one rust patch on its bodywork, Matt located the appropriate key for the vehicle. The van was old and didn’t have an alarm, therefore, its driver door opened with only a quiet squeak of protest. Jenny was carrying the olive fuel can. She deposited it on the ground near the fuel cap.
Matt reached into the interior and popped the bonnet. They needed some hosepipe. As Matt vandalised the car’s water hoses, the women kept an eye out for interlopers. Having secured his prize, and flicked it around to remove water, then unlocked the fuel cap and grabbed the olive coloured canister. Jenny wondered if he had ever stolen fuel before, or if, like her, he’d only seen it done on TV or films. She kept her thoughts to herself and let him get on with the job.
“It’s a diesel engine,” he said, sticking the hose down into the tank and moving the canister into position. He sucked on the pipe and fuel flowed. Matt got the other end of the hose into the container, then grimaced and spat on the ground. Poor Matt, she thought, we should have brought a bottle of water with us.
A few minutes later, the flow stopped, and they moved onto the next vehicle, repeating the process until the canister was full. Matt put his thumb over the hose that was still protruding for the latest van, to stop whatever fuel it had left from spilling onto the ground.
“Give me the keys to the van and I’ll go and put this fuel in the tank,” Jenny said, “we might as well take advantage of getting whatever we can here since it�
�s so quiet.”
“Yeah,” Matt replied, fishing the van keys out of his jeans pocket and handed them to her.
The canister was heavy, but Jenny didn’t let that stop her. As soon as she had completed her task, she rushed back to the others, allowing Matt to use the same container again for the syphoned fuel.
They found four more vehicles that ran on diesel. Matt emptied them all and moved on to petrol engines. Most of the vehicles had alarms which gave off a loud beep when the door-lock disengaged, but still, nothing was attracted to the noise.
When the bright green petrol canister was full, Sophie took it and ran back to the car, returning to them as fast as she could. They continued the task until the petrol container was full for the second time. They could gather no more, so Matt removed the hosepipe and dropped the rest of the keys. He picked up a collection of six tyre irons he had gathered as per Jack’s request.
The mission had gone without a hitch.
Back in the van, Jenny offered Jack the front seat, but he declined, and told her he was comfortable on the mattress. She took her place in front and fastened her seatbelt while waiting for Matt to get back in the driver’s seat. He was rinsing his mouth and hands with water, but once done, he jumped in and got the vehicle rolling.
CHAPTER 14
As they drew closer to Junction 30 of the M1, they saw a build-up of abandoned and crashed vehicles. Matt slowed the van down to weave through the obstacles.