1st July, Chatsworth Plaza, London, 8:54am
Kathy now studied the group, as she has expected the trio had taken the directives set down by the government badly. Her aim was now to calm the situation, and explain to them some of the reasons why the government was taking the stance that it had. She had wondered since they arrived how they had come across a key card, but up until now she had chosen to ignore it. To Kathy they did not look like the professional’s that would be handpicked to reside in the Chatsworth bunker, and she should know Kathy had been handpicked all of her life. Her father had been a colonel in the army, and from a very young age she had been taught by him that she should excel in everything she partook in, as only the best would ever get noticed. As soon as she had been old enough she had been enrolled in the cadets, until she was old enough to join the forces as her chosen full time career.
Very quickly Kathy had become one of the chosen few, she excelled with all of her communications work, she was fluent in five languages, as well as being able to converse in a further five. At the tender age of twenty two Kathy had been promoted to a special operations unit, where Kathy would be in charge of all communication links. After just a year working on assignments for that group she was asked to lead the three man team that would be stationed at Chatsworth, she had jumped at the opportunity, and been at Chatsworth since.
“Before I answer any of your questions relating to the directives you have just read, I would like to know more about each of you please” Kathy informed them.
“Do we need to really go through this?” Dave asked incredulously.
“Yes we do Dave I want to know where you acquired the key card for a start”
“How do you know we are not three of the “professionals” that you have been waiting for?”
“It’s my father’s” interrupted Penny.
“And, your father is?” Kathy challenged her.
“Leonard Thomas the minister for health” Penny snorted back.
“And I’m a qualified NHS nurse, is that professional enough for you?” Penny sarcastically asked as she sent a glare towards Kathy.
Kathy studied Penny for a few seconds, the woman was telling the truth, and like Penny had argued she was actually a professional, her talents would come in use in the bunker.
“What about you two?” Kathy asked as she looked at the men.
“Oh I am just a taxi driver” Dave scoffed.
“I have been a reserve for two years, and enlist full time next weekend” Jackson offered.
“Well two out of three is acceptable I guess” Kathy replied with a grin, on her face. She had tested them, and was happy with the answers they provided her, and at least she could work with them. She knew that Dave would require more work than the other two, of the three he was the troublemaker. The fact that Jackson had military experience, secretly enthralled Kathy, she planned to take him under her wing, and train him. She hoped that something could happen between them, he was very cute, and if the population was suddenly thinned down she would want a mate of her own choice, and didn’t intend to just accept one. As Kathy eyed Jackson, she did not notice the look of contempt he gave her, Kathy was everything he hated in a woman, she wasn’t much older than him, and her attitude was of one of being a superior being, she looked down on the other two, and he was sure if she didn’t have a “thing” for him, that he would be treated with exactly the same contempt as them.
Kathy offered the trio a hot drink, which they all accepted, and then she sat down at the table with them to discuss what was happening. She went on to explain that each bunker had three operatives working in it, and each had their own specialities. Daryl was an engineer, who looked after all the day to day running of equipment, Kathy was in charge of the bunker, and looked after all the communications side of the facility. Scott who they were yet to meet looked after all of the transport compound and the munitions. Each bunker was run the same way, and would ensure that once the survivors were brought to the compound that jobs were issued to only the most suitable. She now gave the trio a chance to level questions at her
“So when do the chosen survivors begin to arrive?” Penny asked.
“Three hundred people have already been selected to live here, the Army will be despatched to offer them their position over the next couple of hours. They will then bring them here, and we would hope that within six hours, that all three hundred will be here”.
“It can’t work” offered Dave.
“The smokescreen of a curfew will only last so long, people will be driven from their homes, panic will set in and everyone will follow suit. The roads will be gridlocked in no time at all”. He added.
“I am sure the public will take heed of our broadcasts, and that the roads will remain unblocked, our people will arrive on time, and safely” Kathy replied, although she didn’t seem convinced by her own statement.
“Have the infection times been verified by our doctors?” Penny wanted to know.
“There is no set time, depending on the level of infection; it can take from one to three hours for the infected to die. In nearly all cases that corpse will reanimate within ten minutes of death.”
Kathy went on to explain to the trio, how quickly scientists were expecting the virus to spread, when she told them that London would fall after just three hours if people took to the streets in panic. At the moment the virus was not engulfing the country. As she explained to the group that whatever authorities had agreed upon doing, that it would never be enough, and that as a whole the country was not prepared to deal with a threat such as this. So far the immediate area around the bunker was quiet, the fact that the virus had been released on a Saturday had helped, and now the government has imposed a curfew there was hardly any public on the streets.
The group were asked to get some rest as they would be required to attend a meeting at mid day, at that meeting they would receive a live broadcast from the rescue teams deployed to pick up designated survivors informing them of all the up to date news. The trio headed back to their beds, and hoping to hear some good news they all tried to catch up on lost sleep.
Shortly after their break, the trio had made their own way to the command centre, all three of the bunker caretaker’s were there, and they were approached by Scott as soon as they entered the room. Offering his hand out to greet them each with a handshake, he introduced himself, and promised they could chat more after the two ‘o’ clock broadcast. A bank of televisions fitted to the wall showed live feed from various locations around the country, judging by action appearing on those screens the three heaviest infected areas were near the three main airports. Staff who had been on duty that night had unwittingly taken the infection home with them, and it had spread from there.
Penny watched one particular screen showing footage from a shopping centre in Stratford. She watched in horror as a group of five zombies triggered the automatic doors, and stumbled their way into the main entrance. Penny wondered why the centre was still open, and why would there be people in the centre when the curfew was in place, had they got stuck there? These abominations were so much more deadly in a group, than on their own. It was frightening to watch them attack as one, and they would claw at thin air, until they neared their prey and then attack together. With a person suffering more bites, the infection would course through their bodies quicker, if the infection didn’t kill them quicker, the multiple wounds they suffered would. This meant that as more and more succumbed to the virus, more and more would become carriers themselves at a much quicker rate. The sole security guard that had attempted to stop them at the entrance was soon overpowered, all five bent to the floor and fed, until he sat back up, half his face was now missing, but he no longer felt pain. He soon joined the other five in their quest to find someone else to attack.
By accident one of the group of zombies found the downwards escalator, as she shuffled onto it. The rest just stood, and stared as their brains could not comprehend what was happening, and as if by insti
nct they stood back from the escalators waiting. The she zombie snarled as she travelled the gap between the floors, and as she neared the bottom she fell in a heap, trying in vain to stand back up at the bottom of the moving platform. Some of the survivor’s saw this as a chance to escape and leapt for the escalators going upwards, some continued to run up the stairs whilst others stood watching the zombie still attempting to stand up below them.
The scream from above them, broke the transfixed from their stupor, as the runners had reached the top, and ran straight into the waiting group of zombies. They tried to turn and run, but were immediately trapped by more people arriving at the top, with nowhere to go. The zombies tore and bit out at the trapped survivors, the ones travelling up fell like dominoes, creating a pile of writhing, and screaming bodies for the zombies to sink their teeth into. Such was the tangle of bodies, that Penny was unable to work out how many were bitten, or how many had already died. Eventually the escalator was empty, and this allowed the bundle of people to get up and stagger, or run away, whilst the zombies fed from underneath. Several people escaped clutching at wounds, at least a dozen. At the bottom of the pile there were now three prone bodies, these were now clearly being fed upon, and it wasn’t until they sat back up and joined their zombie brethren that Penny could no longer watch.
Similar occurrences of attacks were happening all over London, and much as it was painful to watch, they could not tear themselves away from the horrors being displayed in front of them. What was apparent was that where all these incidents were occurring, there was no back up from either the police or the army. They had obviously followed orders, and withdrew from the immediate area. Penny looked towards Kathy and asked
“There must be something we can do?”
“There isn’t anything we can do Penny”
“You said we had guns”
“We do, and lots of them”
“Then why can’t we help?”
“We can’t leave the way you came in”
“Jesus that’s ridiculous”
“No that’s why we have protocols. It is a safety net to deter us from doing anything stupid”
“How do we get out then if we choose to leave?”
“There is an exit from the basement of the facility”
“Then why not leave that way?”
“Once you leave, you cannot return, we don’t have duplicate key cards” Kathy answered.
Penny for now surrendered her challenge, she wasn’t going to get Kathy to back down, it was obvious that the soldier was still hopeful of the government’s plan working, and that she would not disobey orders her orders.
A message came through to the command centre, that army personnel were now being deployed to collect each bunker’s designated survivors. Each bunker would receive live footage of teams that would be heading to their bunker. Two man teams were to be deployed, and they would be responsible for collecting four survivors each. Fifty vehicles would be therefore dispatched for each bunker. The command module that Kathy operated now offered her the choice as to which two man team she wished to watch feed from, having no personal preference Kathy opted for the first team to head out. She selected to watch Declan Coleman and James Morgan, who were just about to head out from their base.
1st July, Selhurst Park, London, 11:17am
The three requisitioned vehicle’s sped towards the exit of the base, personnel on the gates would open them briefly to allow the cars to escape, and then close them without letting any of the zombies in. Over the first few hours they had found only one of these tortured souls, roaming the street. It had approached the fence, and begun to claw at the metal links, and continued to do so in the hope that it could push its way through to feed. The lone cadaver had been dealt with quickly with a bullet, through its head. As every hour passed, more and more had begun to appear. Now there were over fifty clawing at the fence, the smell of decay was overpowering, and the Navy reserves stationed inside of the base wondered how many of those things it would take to topple the makeshift barrier they had put up just hours earlier. As more congregated at the fence, the more it moved with pressure, it wouldn’t be long.
It was a relief to those that had been selected to form rescue teams, as they didn’t want to remain there when the barrier did finally collapse. When orders came in to leave, and attempt the retrieval of so called “High Value Evacuee’s”. Whether they were nurses, doctors, politicians or even kids entertainers James Morgan couldn’t care less, he was just happy to be leaving the doomed base. The orders were simple, drive to the addresses on each assigned list, rescue that named person, and that person only. No family or spouses were allowed to accompany designated evacuees. Once the list was exhausted each car was to head towards the designated bunker, marked by co ordinates on their maps.
Morgan now drove the lead car, whilst his partner for the trip Declan Coleman sat shotgun with a rifle to hand ready for combat. The pair’s first target was just two miles away, a university professor who was a specialist in tropical diseases. Morgan took the next right, and watched in his wing mirror, as the other two vehicles went straight ahead; he and Declan were now on their own. Only five minutes into the journey, the two men were already struggling to negotiate the roads, despite the curfew the roads were awash with cars, and people walking. They were practically crawling along the busy roads, and this was just playing into the hands of the many zombies that now shuffled around.
Two zombies now made their way towards the car, and Morgan had two choices, he could get stuck in the road and run the risk of the car being blanketed by the dead, or drive up onto the path. The only downside of option two was that he would have to plough through the many people trying to escape the dead on foot. Pressing the accelerator pedal to the floor and throwing the car into gear, Morgan had quickly made his choice, as the first of many innocents bodies tumbled over the bonnet of the car. In his mind Morgan had rationalised that these people on foot would not have got far anyway, he had no choice.
The group watching their progress in Chatsworth Plaza flicked from one team to another, and found with every live feed that every group was experiencing the same problem as Morgan’s. Traffic was at a standstill everywhere, streets were congested with pedestrians trying to escape by foot, and the dead now on most streets were causing mass hysteria and panic. One thing was evident from the live pictures; no one was doing any travelling by car or foot with everyone trying to flee all at once they had nowhere to go. The government’s plan to keep people off the streets had failed, and now it had, with this many of the population on the streets all at once the virus would spiral out of control. Out of the ten sets of live pictures available to them, only one team moved that was the one with Morgan. Without hesitation Kathy switched back to Morgan’s camera, at least he was putting up a fight, and trying to do something, as the other nine teams just sat in amongst the bedlam.
Morgan and Declan had only managed to drive halfway down the street before they gave up on the idea of driving on the pavement, there were just far too many people on foot to make any headway. Realising that they had to abandon the car, they had pulled up next to a side alley that ran parallel along the length of back gardens that belonged to the long row of terraced houses, where the congestion was at its worst.
Morgan turned and signalled to Declan that, they were heading for the alley, once they had entered the narrow channel he continued to run, not having to look back, as he could hear Declan’s steady footfall behind him. The Army had surmised that the streets may become too congested, and that should this happen teams were to proceed on foot, invariably to stay away from areas with high volumes of people. Putting that plan into action was easier said than done, many had attempted to flee in their cars, and when that had failed many had joined the masses on foot.
All it had taken was a few people attempting to leave, their neighbours had then copied them, and their neighbours after until a snowball effect had occurred. It now meant that there were now more peopl
e trying to escape on the streets of London, than there were trying to stay safe in the safety of their own homes. In the distance Morgan spotted a block of garages that were connected to the rears of properties. If they were able to climb up onto the garages, they would then be able to climb up the drainpipes, and then onto the roof of the long line of terraced houses, from there they could run the entire length of the street in relative safety, compared to the dangers of the roads below. From the end of the terraced houses, they should exit somewhere near East Croydon train station, if they could get onto the tracks it would be a long walk to their destination of the Chatsworth bunker.
The two soldiers were just three hundred yards from the garages, and if undisturbed would be able to make it in no time at all. The alleyway narrowed, as they now ran down its length, with their equipment and rifles there was not much space either side of them as they made their way along it. After years of neglect the alley was strewn with discarded waste, and overgrown weeds. Morgan ran past one dense weed that blocked half of the alley failing to notice the zombie as he past it. Unfortunately at the exact time it had stepped out to pursue Morgan, it had inadvertently walked into the path of Declan as he was running past the bush. Declan tumbled over the cadaver, and fell to the floor entwined with the zombie, the zombie snapped at the soldier eager to taste his blood.
No longer hearing Declan’s footfall anymore, Morgan had stopped, and turned back, seeing Declan now struggling on the floor with what appeared to be a zombie, he ran back to help his fallen comrade. Declan was in trouble, he lay on his back, and was pinned to the floor by both the weight of his backpack, and the cadaver now writhing on top of him trying to bite down on his neck. With all his strength all he was able to do was keep the monster at bay by jamming his hand up under its chin, as its teeth snapped away. With his other hand free, Declan rummaged for his service knife and after a short while managed to free it and bring it up under the creatures jaw and thrust with all his might. The zombie stopped moving, and just hung trapped on the edge of his blade, thick black congealed tar like blood ran down the handle, and gathered at the hilt. Morgan arrived seconds after, and helped pull the now limp body off of the soldier, Declan turned to his side and vomited. As he helped Declan up Morgan asked him if he was okay.
Day Zed: The Outbreak Page 7