The next morning, they were awoken by the old man. He said he had discussed the offer with his wife and they would provide three meals for Zack and the others if they barricaded the windows and doors for them. They gratefully obliged and set about their day of work, constantly being watched by the old woman who refused to be in a room alone with any of the young men. She kept an iron poker within reaching distance at all times to remind them that she didn’t trust them and their hospitality was purely quid pro quo.
After returning to the barn house for the night, Rhys had mentioned how the second meal of the day had been noticeably smaller than the first and the portions had dropped again for the third meal. Zack returned to the house and knocked on the door. The old man answered and Zack could hear the old woman in the background telling the old man that Zack couldn’t come in. Zack asked for one more night in the barn house if they went and got some food supplies for all of them the next day, reasoning that if they could stay in the barn house another night, they could spend longer gathering supplies during the day and leave early the next morning. The old woman had shouted for Zack to go away and the old man had said he would think about it.
The next morning, the old man came to the barn house and agreed to Zack’s suggestion. Saying that they could stay one more night if they brought food for them as well. Zack, Rhys and Jez agreed between them that they weren’t really going to look for too much for themselves, not wanting to be laden with too much stuff, but they would try to get as much nonperishable food for the elderly couple as possible. They returned later in the afternoon with a car full of supplies ready to give the couple as much as they needed and leave them alone. They found two zombies banging on the front door and could hear the elderly woman shouting for the creatures to go away while the man pleaded with her to be quiet. Jez killed both the zombies with a hammer and Zack shouted through the door that the zombies were dead. The old man opened the door gratefully and the woman burst into tears, retreating to the living room with her iron poker, unused during the siege.
Jez and Rhys unloaded the supplies while Zack added two brackets behind the front door so the couple could place a beam behind it. As they were about to leave, Zack heard a timid voice asking them to stay. The old woman peaked round the corner of the door and asked Jez, Rhys and Zack to stay at the farm with them. Surprised by her change of attitude towards them, they did.
The farm was home to the five of them for two months until a crawling zombie made its way into the field that the cow lived in. On his way to feed it one morning, the old man was caught off guard and savaged by the creeper. The old woman ran to help him, hearing his screams, only to succumb to the zombie herself when she became paralysed with fear, face to face with it.
Rhys got to them first and killed the creeper. The old man was dead and was beginning to reanimate when he got there. The old woman screamed in protest as Rhys took his hammer to her husband. Rhys carried her inside and Zack bandaged her wounds as well as he could. They all knew she didn’t have long left, including her. She asked Zack to put her out of her misery, wanting to join her husband before he got too much of a head start in the afterlife. She cried as she squeezed his hand and told him she was glad they had stayed for the past few months.
She told Zack that he reminded her of their son. Zack was surprised because neither of them had ever mentioned a son for the whole two months they had been there.
Zack, Rhys and Jez didn’t stay for very long after that. They roamed from town to village, not sure what they were looking for. They teamed up with other groups of survivors briefly but never got too close or stayed for too long. When they finally came to Ridgetown, it had only been a couple of weeks before the horde attacked. They had all become close friends of Ryan and his death during the attack had hit them hard. They talked about leaving, as they had done at the farm, but Mark had convinced them to stay. He told them how much of an impact they had made during their short time at Ridgetown and he was grateful for their efforts defending the estate. He told them that Ryan died to protect the people of the estate and they were welcome to stay part of it for as long as they wanted. They made the decision to stay and continued to get more involved with raiding.
“Zack, I was hoping to find you.” Mark jogged over and found Zack covered in fresh blood. “Is everyone okay?” He asked.
“We’re all fine. Took down a Leaper.” Zack replied matter of factly.
Mark was impressed. It helped reinforce his feelings that Green team would do a good job at stepping in to cover for Blue team while they were gone. “Well done! Sorry, that sounded a bit patronising didn’t it?”
“Not at all. We were lucky to spot the thing before it spotted us.” He stretched his limbs and leant on his staff. “Cassie suggested luring it into a low ceilinged building so it couldn’t leap very high. We were reluctant at first, getting it in a close quarters space seemed like a bad idea but it really seemed to sap some of its dangerousness. It didn’t have a lot of room to build up momentum either meaning that it didn’t charge at us very much. It was just swatting wildly at us without much success. Don’t get me wrong, there were a couple of close calls but by spreading out, we were able to fight with a bit of an advantage.”
“Brilliant! Stuff like that is invaluable to us, ideas for tactics. Let Gaz know and get the info online for everyone to see. Actually, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” Mark filled Zack in on the incident with the new special zombie and watched Zack’s face contort when he described Gaz and Idris’s injuries. “Don’t worry, they’re at the house recovering.” His reassurance did little to make Zack feel better. He was vague about Blue team’s mission, emphasising that they would be looking for more special zombies and asked if Green team were up to the challenge of taking on the main raiding roles.
Zack was enthusiastic to show that they were and said he would fill the others in and go meet Red team as soon as they could to discuss ideas.
Mark returned to his house satisfied that he had made the right choice. He reinforced the use of messaging to stay in contact and said that he would keep checking in to make sure everything was okay. Mark often felt conflicted about his leadership role within the community, the weight of responsibility could be crushing. When things were going well, being seen as a figurehead of the community was satisfying, when times were hard, the responsibility was too much.
Mark never demanded that people ran their plans past him before they embarked on any kind of mission, people just did it. He had to admit that he liked to know what was going on and it troubled him when he didn’t. He trusted people to make their own decisions and be responsible, always looking out for the community and taking it into account when planning their actions.
Gaz was reliable when it came to running raids. He always ran his ideas past Mark first, not for permission but for advice or simply a fresh pair of eyes to look at what he had planned and make any suggestions. Red team were making headway in becoming a team that other people went to as much as they went to Blue team. That was fine with Mark as he liked to see the community turning to other members of the community for help, that was the idea of Ridgetown. It was unfortunate that Red team wouldn’t be a fully functioning team for a while.
Green team, although relatively new, were ticking all the right boxes so far. Their enthusiasm was matched by their skills without them relying on one member more than the other and taking too many risks. They were honest about their mistakes and any close calls, learning from them and making sure not to repeat them.
Back at his house, Mark wasn’t sure what to pack for his stealth mission. The weather was getting cooler and the days were getting shorter. There had been a few sudden downpours over the past few weeks that had begun to cause havoc with some of the more amateur structures. It had served as a warning that Ridgetown wasn’t ready for a tough winter and increased the workload for everyone. Mark picked out an oversized black zip up hoody and black combat pants, also oversized so they would fit easily over a
ny body armour he wore. He picked another set of clothes to change into incase they ended up staying longer than they expected and threaded his favourite ice axe through the handles of his backpack.
Having a favourite axe wasn’t something Mark imagined having at any point in his life. A lot of things were different to how he pictured his life at this point when he was five years younger. He didn’t name his weapons, unlike Gaz, but he felt like the axe he carried was more reliable than most. It had saved plenty of lives, including his own. It had killed even more zombies. He’d broken into buildings with it and used it to climb. The longer Mark had the axe, the more occasions it came in useful. It was for that reason that an axe, if not an ice axe, was recommended as an integral piece of equipment for Ridgetowners.
With his gear packed, Mark left his house and waited for Luke and Helen. Mark sent a message to Gaz to say they were heading out. He replied by saying Zack was round and they were discussing their plans for the next couple of days. Feeling optimistic about how they would cope, Blue team headed to The Outpost.
Chapter 6
When Blue team arrived at The Outpost, Scott was eager to show everyone his improvised tracking device.
“What do you think?” He said expectantly, holding it up the way a child would present a painting to their parents.
The raised eyebrows and darting glances spoke volumes in the silent room. Behind Scott, Dennis gently shook his head and Ishaq bit his bottom lip, desperately trying to stifle a laugh.
“It’s erm… well…” Mark tried to choose his words carefully, “It’s… it’s…” He gave up, “It’s a pet collar taped to a magnet.”
Scott clutched the tracker to his body and frowned, clearly hurt by Mark’s scathing review.
“I tried taking the first one apart and fabricating something that would hold the magnet and the electronics, keeping it subtle and rugged enough to withstand being stuck to a moving train. Then Dennis said I was probably overthinking it, so I went with a design that was more basic.”
Ishaq let out a single, loud laugh from the kitchen, everyone turned and looked towards his direction.
“Ignore him.” Mark reassured Scott, “What you’ve got there is fine. We want something reliable which generally means simple.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Dennis asked.
“Dennis, I’d like you to come with me. I’ll need you to direct me to the bridge and stay with the car while I get as close as I can to throw it onto the train as it passes.” He turned his attention to Scott. “Is the magnet powerful enough to stick to the train while it’s moving.”
Scott’s face brightened up as he stood and walked towards one of the lightly barricaded windows, he removed the wooden board held in place by a brace and opened the window. Just in front of the small garden was a metal street light that stood nearly as tall as the house. Scott casually threw the collar towards the light and as it got close, it snapped into place sharply, stopping any further movement instantly. It stuck to the back of the streetlight firmly, approximately ten feet off the ground.
“Good. But I’m gonna need you to get that back down.”
Scott blinked a few times as he processed what Mark said, grin still plastered across his face.
“As Scott has put the tracker together and is the most familiar with it, it’s probably best if he stays here to follow the train as soon as the tracker’s on. At least then if it gets damaged we will have an idea how far they have gone or if they change tracks at any point until then. I just need a couple of bodies to go to the tip and let me know when the train sets off. Ishaq?”
Ishaq returned from the kitchen.
“You know how to get to the landfill, will you take Helen there?”
“No probs.” He replied.
“Luke, you stay here and work with Scott. It’s starting to get dark so I suggest we roll out now. I’ll take our car, Ishaq, you take Helen in yours. If the train isn’t there when you get to the landfill, we’ll wait for a bit and let us know if there’s any activity. Everyone stay in contact via messaging. We ready?”
Everyone nodded and began to get ready.
“Okay, let’s go.”
The drive to the landfill was quiet. Helen and Ishaq didn’t spend much time together alone. They didn’t have an issue with each other, far from it. However, the two didn’t have enough in common to keep a conversation flowing naturally for very long. Helen sometimes found conversation difficult enough with Luke, who she loved spending time with. Ishaq tried his best as well but the two were happy enough being silent with each other rather than trying to force an uncomfortable conversation.
Helen scoured the streets as they drove, looking for any special zombies or large hordes. They drove through the edge of the town past newer houses. Most had no vehicles outside, some looked barricaded. The clean brickwork of the houses contrasted the occasional smashed window or fire damaged building. Helen noted the occasional corpse strewn in a front garden or across the street without giving them much thought.
Within minutes they reached a dirt road that joined one of the recently laid streets, Ishaq turned onto it and drove slowly down the track. Fences on either side marked the boundaries of the houses’ property until they stopped and were replaced by trees. A large field with a football pitch marked onto half of it opened out on their right, the left looked like the beginning of a woodland. Further down the pot hole filled dirt track, it began to narrow and steepen. A brick wall on either side indicated they were approaching a bridge.
Ishaq slowed the car to a crawl as they approached the entrance of the bridge, eventually stopping and putting the car in reverse. Helen was puzzled as to what he was doing and felt slightly unnerved when he placed his left arm round the headrest of her seat. He turned towards her and Helen’s instinct told her to reach for her weapon. She resisted, waiting to see what he was doing and relaxed as he continued to crane his neck around and look out of the rear windscreen. She glanced in her wing mirror and saw a thin dirt track coming from the forest to their left. Ishaq slowly backed the car down it, far enough so the car was hidden on either side by the trees.
Helen felt embarrassed for worrying, however brief it had been.
“The landfill’s not far across the bridge so I don’t want to attract any attention as we approach. It won’t take long on foot and the car should be safe here. Unless anyone’s actively looking for it, it should be hard to spot.”
They got out of the car and Ishaq zipped up his black hoody, matching his black cargo pants. Helen looked down at her dark grey cargo pants and decided they were relatively stealthy and her leather jacket would cover her bright T-shirt if she zipped it up. She realised she hadn’t consciously dressed for the occasion but what she wore was quite appropriate. They were about to head across the bridge when Ishaq held up a hand, tilting his head to one side. Helen listened carefully and heard a rustling noise coming from behind the car. Ishaq nodded at her in acknowledgement and span around to face the noise, drawing a large hunting knife from his belt beneath his hoody.
Helen watched expectantly and Ishaq crept towards the trees. She began to worry that they had already been spotted and the other group of survivors were lying in wait. Ishaq ducked slightly as he approached the closest trees and disappeared from Helen’s view. She heard twigs snap and waited for the sound of human voices shouting.
An undead moaned for less than a second before it was abruptly cut short, followed by the thumping noise of a body hitting the ground. Ishaq reappeared soon after, wiping his blade on the front of his hoody. He gave another nod to reassure Helen everything was fine. He re-sheathed his knife and carried on walking past her.
“Let’s go.”
They moved quickly from cover to cover, ducking below the brick wall of the bridge and keeping to the edge of the path on the other side amongst the long grass and tree line. Ishaq guided them to the right, through the trees and up a slope that started gradually but quickly became steep to the point where Helen and Is
haq were leaning forwards enough to nearly touch the slope as they ascended. As they reached the peak, Ishaq wafted his hand downwards, letting Helen know to approach cautiously and keep herself hidden.
Helen wasn’t sure what she expected the landfill to look like but was surprised by the size of it. Over to their left was the entrance to the site with two barriers and booths that permitted entry, the area around them was lit up but it was unclear if there was anyone inside. Helen scanned the huge open area in front of her, the furthest boundary of the landfill being out of site despite them being higher and looking down. The whole area was littered with mountains of rubbish that were stacked tens of metres high.
“I think it must be a recycling plant as well as a landfill.” Ishaq whispered. “We noticed yesterday that some of the piles look like they are made out of a single material like metal or plastic.”
Helen gently nodded her head as she continued to pan across. There were multiple structures scattered around, varying in size from simple shelters made up from no more than a tin roof supported in four corners, to a couple of large hangar sized buildings further back. Most of the structures were portable cabins and containers that had been modified to function as office buildings.
Still trying to see the furthest boundary of the landfill, Helen realised that the furthest point she could see must have been a drop off where the ground suddenly stopped and dropped an unknown distance below. She assumed there would be a road that led down, currently out of sight from her vantage point. She was trying to spot any signs of life when her concentration was interrupted by Ishaq.
Ridgetown (Book 2): Neighbours Page 9