by David Whaley
“First off, are you talking about the UK government archives? Secondly, do you still think this can be stopped?”
“Yes, the archives and I don’t know if this can be stopped but I must remain hopeful. The documents may just lead us to Marcus and when we get to him we can then re-evaluate our position.”
“I agree with the latter but the word Secure in SRB should be a clue to the fact that it is impenetrable.”
“It’s not going to be easy, but power is out in parts of London and it is likely that the locking mechanisms, and whatever else is there, are electronic. If all else fails we will have to break through.”
Heather looked over at the enforcer still dripping with zombie brain matter that had been balanced against a desk in the corner of the room. Natalie read her mind.
“We will need more than that to get in.”
Heather nodded and finished off her recipe before placing it into a small metal box. She had decided against storing it in the fridge as it would no longer be used as a cure and therefore the cold chain wouldn’t matter as much, just as long as it didn’t get too hot.
“When do we leave?” asked Heather.
“0900 hours. Are you sure you want to come with us?”
“I’ve already told you before. I don’t want to stay here by myself any more.”
It was Natalie’s turn to nod, and like before, she knew it would be wasted energy to argue with her.
Heather and Natalie said their farewells and parted ways, Heather staying to clear up the mess she had made and Natalie to try and get some sleep no matter how much.
On the second floor and through the canteen doors, she saw Devlin shift as he made his head face the opposite direction, his head slumped into his crossed arms on the table with his back arched.
Leon was in a similar position but one of his arms stretching across the table and gripping the other side with his other arm supporting and cushioning his head from the hard surface.
Both Devlin and Leon were asleep.
Natalie glanced from them, to the balcony, back to Leon and onto his cigarettes placed on the table beside him with his lighter conveniently placed on top of it.
Natalie hadn’t smoked a cigarette in a long time and in fact gave up before she was of legal age to start. Then she remembered Bill saying that the apocalypse changes a man. No reason why it can’t change a woman aswell, she thought.
Natalie approached Leon’s body and leant across picking up the box of cigarettes and lighter in one swoop.
On the balcony, Natalie accepted the air that cooled her face as a friendly gesture from God giving hope to her soul. The truth was, despite the brave face, she was running out of hope and the breeze had restored something that told her that there was still something out there still unaffected, even if it was only the wind.
She pulled a cigarette from the box and struck the lighter four times before the flint ignited the gas allowing her to light the cigarette. The first few puffs where met with a cough and a splutter but her lungs soon began to accept the poisonous toxin within and she smoked like she had done all those years ago.
Looking out into the distance, a popular activity conducted by the group on the balcony, she assessed the devastation. Day by day there was a different scene, but a scene nevertheless, that proved that this disaster was far from over.
Natalie flicked her cigarette end over the balcony, a game she played with her friends when she was younger to see who could flick theirs the farthest, and she re-entered the canteen finding a quiet corner for her to use the wall as her pillow whilst settled in one of the softer chairs. She fell asleep not through trying, but through tiredness.
***
Natalie woke to the sound of hissing coming from the staff kitchen area and, whilst groggy, she went to investigate.
The sight that greeted her was one that was emphasised by smell and the sound. The hissing was coming from the oil spitting, and burning, in the frying pan whilst toast popped out of the toaster and eggs were cracked into the hot oil. On the work surface was a plate with freshly cooked streaks of bacon and thrown in the bin was the only bottle of ketchup. Good shot, she thought following the out of date ketchup being hurled across the room.
“Breakfast?” asked Devlin being the chef behind the food. “Tea or coffee?” The kettle flicked off to suggest the water was at full boil and Natalie held out a stray mug that appeared clean from the sink.
“Yes and coffee please, Devlin.”
“Sure thing.” Devlin accepted the mug and introduced the ingredients necessary for her choice of beverage.
“Where’s Leon?”
“He’s gone out with Heather for another bottle of ketchup. They should be back in a minute. Heather said she needed air and went with him.”
“They got a radio?”
“Think so.”
Natalie retrieved her PR from her the chair where she’d slept checking it was on the correct channel.
“Leon, receiving.” There was a short wait before Leon responded.
“Go on, Natalie.”
“Everything okay out there?”
“Everything’s fine. Heather got a bit spooked when we got approached by three animation until I took them out.”
“By your use of that term I assume Heather is fine and stood beside you.”
“She is but she is sat. We are on our way back.”
“All this for a bottle of ketchup?”
“I know but I was raised in Britain. We have ketchup on everything, plus I needed another box of fags ‘coz somebody took one last night.”
Natalie was stunned that he knew and the way he said it suggested he knew it had been her. She assumed he said this as a friendly attempt at humour, which worked, as he had many packets in the bag he obtained from the petrol station. Every chance Leon got he stocked up on cigarettes.
“Received,” said Natalie ending the radio transmission.
She looked at her watch which read 0804 hours and accepted the plate of food from Devlin deciding against having ketchup purely through hunger and the impatience to wait more than anything else.
She and Devlin sat and ate making small talk every so often. Natalie was surprised that Leon had left Devlin and her alone together after the last time but she guessed it was some kind of test which was confirmed by Leon’s entry into the room.
“Any incidents to report,” said Leon with a smile, a glance in Natalie’s direction.
“None,” she replied whilst Devlin shook his head. “You guys eat. Meet in the parade room at nine.”
A short while later and Natalie had finished her food taking her plate to the kitchen before heading to the parade room, awaiting the others, to start her briefing on the mission ahead.
Chapter 32
“We will be heading for the Secure Records Bureau, SRB in short,” started Natalie. “It is situated in Central London on St Guards Road. I’ve driven past it plenty of times.”
“Why are we going there again?” said Leon.
“Information. You’ve got to admit, we have kinda hit a brick wall here.”
Leon shrugged his thick shoulders in defeat knowing that it was either to do the suggested plan or sit around waiting for the zombies to consume them all.
“On to security. This shouldn’t be an issue. There was only ever security outside the stone doors. I read somewhere that the government often worried about the repeated opening of the doors could damage the documents that are centuries of years old. Therefore, they only ever opened the doors once a month with talk of it becoming once a year. Anyway, the security should be dead, undead or in hiding like everyone else in the UK.”
“I’ve never heard of this place,” said Devlin.
“It wasn’t common knowledge and only a few articles exist that speak of it. The government needed somewhere to store defunct documents but they need to be retained for historical purposes. Maybe they intended to release these documents into the public domain at some stage.”
&nbs
p; “Sounds creepy,” Devlin continued.
“Entry,” said Natalie ignoring Devlin. “The doors, as I said, are made of stone that are older than the documents they protect. The door is a solid slab of stone that will be extremely heavy. I considered the enforcer but it just won’t do. Any ideas on gaining entry?”
Each person looked at each other during the open forum but remained silent until Leon struck an idea.
“Well, the stone door shouldn’t be a problem. It shouldn’t have any locks on it. It will take at least two of us to push it though. As for the internal doors, they are likely to be more modern and the enforcer may work but just in case there’s a petrogen torch I acquired a while back from the garage at the petrol station Devlin and I went to. I thought it was a strange tool to find but took it in any case that should cut through steel doors or anything weaker. Bring the enforcer just in case though.”
“As I was saying to Heather last night, power is out in parts of London so if anything is electronic then let’s hope that that’s where the power is out. Now on to method. Simple enough; we go in and we get out. We examine the information back here but make note of the heading when we retrieve the docs. Understood?”
The group nodded in agreement.
“Finally, safety and formation. Heather insists on coming with us and so, when we get in, myself and Leon will head up the front. Heather, you will be immediately behind us. Devlin, you will take the rear.”
“You’re gonna need a gun,” said Leon handing Heather his own Glock pistol only for the gesture to be refused.
“No thanks. I don’t handle firearms.”
Leon didn’t argue. Like many times before, Heather wore an expression on her face that had at some stage told each of them her mind couldn’t be changed, also suggesting that she was perhaps a little stubborn.
“Okay. Any questions?”
It was an open forum again and Devlin raised his hand like a schoolboy would have done to acquire the attention of the teacher.
“You don’t need to raise your hand, Devlin.”
“Sorry but when do we leave?”
“Now.”
‘Now’ was a word that apparently wasn’t meant literally as the remaining three from the entourage had a comfort break by going to the toilet and Natalie gave in to the fact that that was probably a good idea. Heather put the kettle on further delaying their departure.
At quarter to ten, watered and relieved, they set off routing around the destroyed bridges to get to their destination.
Familiar sights greeted them on every street but at no point did they consider the extreme contrast in appearance of Oxford Street. It was a mess.
Oxford Street had once been the shopping capital of the UK. Once, brightly lit shops lined the pavements whilst the only untidiness on the road had been the pure mass of people trying to get by bumping into each other every so often. It appeared that Oxford Street was not safe from the same outcome that befell the stores in Lakeford. Shop fronts were smashed, the flashing ‘open’ signs flashing to a different rhythm through damage, the products for sale similarly pulled from the businesses leaving a trail of bread crumbs leading to the thieves. This trail suddenly ended with a dry pool of blood where they had met their end. The only persons present were the few zombies that lurked, others having made their way in search of food.
“My god!” said Natalie.
An eerie silence fell unto the vehicle vastly outdoing the silence on the outside, the odd moan from these stragglers and the crackle of still lit fires fuelled by the still burning vehicle nearby being the only welcome interruption.
Leon manoeuvred the vehicle at a slow pace along Oxford Street, each taking turns in looking left and right at the level of destruction. They also drove slowly to prevent alarming the enemy; there was no way of telling what type of undead these were be it walking, running or jumping. As it happened they were all three.
Previously they had tried speeding past the zombies in an effort to prevent their detection hoping they were too fast for them to be bothered. That didn’t work. On this occasion they were hopeful the slow and steady way of driving would prove more fruitful. This attempt also failed.
As they neared one of the zombies its head suddenly span towards them making a loud click as it did so and it jumped.
Leon was quick to react and immediately sped up, the acceleration on the X5 working wonders.
The jumper missed their vehicle and started running after them its mouth wide in anticipation of receiving some flesh. The remaining few had also been alerted and started chasing them down from ahead and jumping at the last hurdle straight over the BMW.
“At least they can’t judge their distances correctly,” said Leon in an attempt at light humour, the situation causing them to forget about the iconic road in which they were on. Neither man nor woman let out a smile at the joke as their minds were focused on the location of the zombies all behind them.
“Fuck they’re fast,” said Devlin. “They’re gaining.”
“We have to face them,” said Heather. “They will only cause more problems when we get to the archives.
“Fuck this. Hold on,” and with that command Leon shifted the vehicle into the highest gear accelerating away until he got to a patch of road with junctions that were wide enough for him to spin the car around by applying the handbrake coupled with a sharp turn of the steering wheel. He was then facing the enemy.
“This car has been and is my most favoured weapon so far,” said Leon with a smile.
Leon shifted the vehicle into first and revved his engine before settling on the biting point and releasing the handbrake. Then into second, and third.
Third gear is all he got to before he hit the zombies except one that jumped over them for the second time.
“Agile son of a bitch,” said Leon.
Leon again performed the same turn having continued to drive on through his missed target.
“One on one.”
Leon revved and wheel span off his line making for the target.
“I’m going to get you this time.”
Leon’s eyes narrowed and so did his vision. He was focused and astute, obtuse and dense. Red mist had taken over and he became mildly unaware of his surroundings and the people he was in company with.
He got nearer and nearer eyes narrowing even further as he did. Then there was a bang and the zombie fell to the floor ten yards before the vehicle had reached its target.
Leon slowed and looked around seeing Natalie replace her firearm to the holster. He didn’t feel the wind as Natalie had opened the window and didn’t see her in his peripherals look out. That’s the magic of red mist, he thought, not a common affect that Leon had prior to the outbreak, only since.
Natalie winked at Leon and he returned a smile continuing to drive to their intended destination.
At ten fifty they had arrived and sure enough there wasn’t a security guard in sight but there were zombies. Two, in fact and they had seen them as they drove past the road, not through it, deciding to park just around the corner in a zombie free zone.
“We are going to have to take them out silently,” said Natalie. “We still don’t really know what causes them to notice us. Me and Leon will do it.”
“No,” said Devlin. “Me and Leon will do it. You wait here.”
Natalie threw her head in the direction of St Guards Road and they set off.
Leon took point whilst Devlin hung back intentionally as not to tread on Leon’s heels and to provide a better view in case they were to be attacked from behind. Devlin did this on Leon’s instruction.
They met at the corner of the road and both peered in. The two zombies were facing them and they pulled their heads back. One of the undead had some kind of uniform on that gave him the appearance of a police officer and another quick look confirmed he was a police officer turned demon to provide security for the devil. The other zombie looked like a simple member of the public that had joined forces with the demonic o
fficer.
Blood dripped from both of their mouths, proof that they had had a recent meal and their stench could be smelt from the corner of the road.
Leon glanced around again and studied their patrol but there was no consistency to it and they would be required to approach them on their next turn away.
It wasn’t long and they started running at a crouch towards the zombies’ backs, Leon indicating with a single hand to his accomplice. This indication told Devlin that his target was the one on the right whereas Leon would be taking the one on the left.
Devlin grabbed hold of a brick as he ran with a slight scrape across the ground. They hesitated for a moment before continuing, their enemies blissfully unaware of what was to become their fate. Leon opted to remain empty handed.
At their backs, Devlin swung his brick at the side of his targets head causing it to fall to the floor and he embedded his weapon once more into its skull. Leon, simultaneously to Devlin, threw an arm around his own targets neck and, quicker than the zombie could react, he snapped its neck. Devlin used his brick for a third time on Leon’s zombie to ensure its death.
“Get the others and bring the petrogen torch with you,” Leon said.
Devlin ran off, quietly but fast, and waved his hand for the women of their group to join them where they greeted Leon at the stone door. Devlin ran past Heather and Natalie to retrieve the requested torch from the boot of the BMW before returning to the same door.
The men took charge again and heaved against the solid slab. As Leon said, there were no locking mechanism and it did take two of them to push but three would have made it easier.
Immediately beyond this was a small room with one other that Leon recognised as being from iron. The wall themselves were also made of stone and each breath was amplified throughout the room bouncing off them.
Leon took hold of the canister and the long torch that looked like something from a popular ‘80’s film and he realised he didn’t have any gloves. Instead, he used his jacket as protection. The torch lit up the room that had been darkened by Devlin and Natalie pushing the stone door closed but ajar. They must ensure they can still get out.