by RR Haywood
‘Oh you naughty boy…naughty naughty,’ she laughs at him, ‘did daddy know?’
‘Fuck off,’ the boy growls making Marcy laugh even more.
‘I’m not laughing at you big boy, I can see why she was attracted to you with those big muscles.’ Strangely I don’t feel the slightest bit jealous which surprises me, new age new rules I guess.
‘Did she slip in while daddy was at the golf club did she?’ Marcy steps closer, keeping her hands tucked behind her back and taking small steps. She lowers her head so she can look up at him, fluttering her eyelids and swinging her gorgeous hips. He tenses up as though ready to swing but I can see his eyes are fixed on her.
‘Oh Darren he’s so lovely….’ She turns to smile at me and I laugh with the absurdity of it, ‘can I keep him? Please let me keep him,’ she giggles and turns back to see him standing there looking confused.
‘Tell me big boy, is it true what they say about steroids?’ she slinks closer and closer to him until he could easily swing out and strike her, but he holds his pose and just watches Marcy with keen interest. She smiles at him and steps closer until she’s just inches from his towering frame. ‘Is it true?’ she says quietly and places one hand on the groin of his tracksuit bottoms. She rubs then grips hard, ‘oh it’s not true…they don’t shrink.’ The boy grimaces with a mixed look of pleasure and confusion still holding the bat up high.
‘Now listen big boy, I am going to bite you,’ she keeps rubbing his groin while she whispers in his ear, ‘it will only hurt a little bit and after that you’ll be mine…’ Amazingly he lowers the bat and stands there with his eyes half closed. She stretches up and starts nuzzling his neck, gradually applying more pressure as her hand kneads away. Suddenly she bites down and sucks in his blood, tearing a small chunk of flesh away. He jumps backwards and clutches his neck with a shocked look on his face, staring at her then at me. I step into the room and walk slowly towards him. He backs away in fear, knocking into a desk and sending papers and mugs onto the floor.
‘Take it easy, just let it happen.’ I speak softly and remember how I felt when they took me down in London.
‘Come on now be a big brave soldier for me,’ Marcy slides over to him and starts stroking his face as his legs buckle. He falls to the floor and stares up with a look of terror and despite his size he looks young and frightened. Marcy drops down and keeps stroking his face as his breathing becomes shallower. His eyes close and we watch with interest as he gently dies right in front of us.
‘Quick,’ Marcy urges me and I hunker down to suck at the wound on his neck, making sure his blood and my saliva get mixed together. Drawing back we both watch intently for a few minutes until he starts convulsing, twitching and his eyes spring open to stare out with that magical bloodshot appearance.
‘Welcome back big boy,’ Marcy purrs and for a second I think he’s about to answer but his jaw goes slack and he groans instead. The connection is there instantly in my mind and I can feel the devotion he has not just for me but for Marcy too.
Two more are taken from this house and we move on, going from door to door turning those inside and gradually increasing the size of our loyal horde. With each one turned I feel the connection instantly as they open their eyes and come back from the dead.
Our pace increases as we move down the streets feasting, killing and murdering without mercy. The hunger inside all of us never gets satisfied but with each fresh kill I feel a strengthening of mind and body.
‘Howie can get fucked now,’ I boast to Marcy as we turn the corner into the new tree lined street with a massive following of slack jawed drooling lovelies staggering behind us.
‘Yes my love, but not yet. We need more before we go after him,’ she replies in a gentle tone.
‘Look at these big houses with their big fucking expensive cars what good did it do them? The greedy fucking cunts with their greedy middle class jobs hiding away like pussies in their own filth and hoping someone comes to rescue them.’
‘I’ve got an idea,’ Marcy suddenly giggles, ‘wait here and keep them back for a minute.’ I make the horde slink into the side of the pavement and crouch down underneath a row of long bushes. They look fucking ridiculous all bending over in a long line. Marcy spits on her hands and wipes the blood away from her face then smiles at me before sneaking forward along the garden fence of the nearest house. I peer over and watch as she goes through the gate and gets halfway to the front door before she lets out a piercing scream and starts shouting for help while she falls down to the ground clutching her leg. Within minutes I can see curtains twitching and faces looking down at the beautiful woman writhing in agony on the ground.
‘Help, I’ve broken my ankle please help,’ she screams looking about frantically. The front door opens and two men burst out racing to her aid.
‘Are you bitten?’ One of them asks before they get too close.
‘No… I was hiding in a house down the road but I ran out of food, I panicked and started running and twisted my ankle, I think it’s broken,’ she groans but keeps her eyes narrowed and her hair covering her face so they don’t see her eyes. I think back to the little shop on the mainland when I pretended to be a survivor. Smiling I can’t help but start playing too.
‘Marcy?’ I call out in a strained voice, ‘where are you?’
‘Who’s that?’ One of the men asks quickly.
‘It’s my husband…I’m here love, I’ve hurt my ankle,’ she cries out. I run up the road pretending to be looking for her. When I see her in the driveway of the house I race in keeping my face down and stoop down when I get to her, examining her leg.
‘Oh baby are you okay?’ I ask with pretend concern trying not to laugh.
‘I think it’s broken,’ She wails, ‘these nice men were about to help me.’
‘Can you help me carry her?’ I call out still keeping my head down.
‘Yeah but quick, get her in quick before we attract attention,’ they come forward and bend down to start trying to lift her. One of them shoves his arm under her legs brushing her backside inadvertently.
‘Did you just touch my wife’s arse mate?’ I yell at him and he recoils in alarm. ‘Don’t touch my wife’s arse, what are you a fucking pervert? We come here asking for help and you start trying to touch her up you fucking cunt.’
‘I…I didn’t…’ he stammers.
‘He touched my tits before you got here, they both did,’ Marcy shouts.
‘You touched my wife’s tits!?’ I explode in anger.
‘What the fuck?’ They both stare at each other in alarm as I start laughing and hold my hand out.
‘I’m only joking mate, sorry I didn’t mean it but you should have seen your face…oh it was priceless.’
‘What the fuck,’ he repeats, ‘you’re fucking nuts mate.’
‘Talking of faces, have you seen mine?’ I stop laughing and look up at them both, showing them my red eyes and blood encrusted face. The blood visibly drains from their faces as they start inching backwards before coming to their senses and turning to run. It’s too late though as Marcy and I lunge at them howling with murderous laughter. We take one each; dragging them to the ground and tearing flesh open while the house inside erupts in screams. My horde reacts quickly, pouring through the gate and entering the house with howls and snarls. Sitting back on my haunches with my eyes closed I feel my zombies as they move from room to room finding more survivors and tearing them open. I let them have their fun but not too much and I make sure none of the bodies are too badly mangled.
Fucking wonderful, this is the most fun I have ever had. Marcy and I are both laughing as we stroll through the house together so I can get my saliva into the fresh corpses before they come back.
As the day draws on the heat from the blistering sun grows hotter and our horde grows larger with every pathetic bunch of survivors we find. And with every new kill I dream of finding Howie’s little piggy cunts and fucking them up.
Three
&
nbsp; ‘I still haven’t seen him,’ Nick turns slowly round scanning the area as we walk along the concrete path at the top of the beach. The golden sands roll gently downhill to the blue waters of the sea and the lack of humanity trudging up and down with their dogs and children have left the sands unmarked and virginal. Sand blown from the beach coats the road and pathway and I guess the council would normally have maintenance vehicles out every day sucking the sand up to deposit back on the beach. Already within this short space of time the world is forgetting that humans once lived here and nature starts its gradual reclamation of what was our world.
‘You won’t see him,’ I reply, knowing Dave and the incredible skills he has I would be amazed if he let any of us see him. ‘That’s him up there disguised as that lamp-post.’
‘No he was behind us in that litter bin,’ Blowers adds.
‘I think he’s kidnapped Lani without us seeing and has disguised himself as her,’ Cookey says looking suspiciously at Lani, ‘alright Dave?’ he adds with a nod. Lani smiles and like Dave it lights her whole face up.
‘I’m still bloody hungry,’ Nick grumbles after a few seconds of silence.
‘There’s a café further up there,’ Lani says.
‘I wonder if they’re open,’ Nick says.
‘Might be,’ Cookey replies, ‘they’ve got a daily special of brains on toast.’
‘They used to get loads of kids down here at night getting drunk and smashing things up,’ Lani explains, ‘the café put metal shutters on the doors and windows so it might be okay.’
‘They had gangs of kids down here?’ I’m surprised that somewhere as nice as this would have those kinds of problems.
‘It was awful in the summer,’ Lani says, ‘every kid on the Island would come over here. I used to go down here too,’ she shrugs, ‘nothing else to do really.’
‘What about the beach?’ Clarence asks.
‘What about it?’ Lani replies.
‘There’s loads to do on the beach and you’ve got lots of open spaces, countryside and forests.’
‘So?’
‘I grew up on a housing estate in London I would have killed to live somewhere like this.’
‘It’s pretty but boring,’ she says.
‘Are you from here?’ Blowers cuts in.
‘Thailand, my family came here when I was very young so I grew up here.’
‘I love Thai food,’ Nicks says clearly still thinking of his stomach, ‘there was a Thai restaurant where I lived.’
‘Is that the café?’ I ask seeing a squat brick built building a few hundred metres ahead. As we get closer I see the shiny metallic shutters on the doors and windows just as Lani said. The café is set on a grass bank and surrounded by rows of old style beach huts and flower beds sloping down to the sandy beach. In the contrasting tranquil beauty of the area the shutters look ugly and urban, a sign that all was not well in the life we thought was civil and ordered.
‘The towers just there,’ Lani points further up the beach to a Disney looking structure; a small single castle tower looking distinctly out of place.
‘Right I’m bloody famished, we’ll get in that café and get some proper food. Cookey and Blowers go round the back and see if you can find a way in. Nick you watch the way we came from, Clarence you okay watching ahead?’
‘Yes boss,’ Clarence replies striding a few steps forward to get a good view. Cookey and Blowers quickly peel off as Nick walks back a few steps and turns to watch the route we just took, leaving Lani and I standing together.
‘So you were in the army then?’ Lani asks after a few seconds.
‘Me? No I was a night manager in a supermarket. I worked with Dave; he was in the army a few years ago, Clarence too.’
‘Oh I thought you were. You look like you were in the army.’
‘Do I?’ I laugh quietly, ‘I guess that’s better than looking like a supermarket manager.’
‘But you’re in charge of them all?’ She asks with a serious look.
‘Well…kind of I guess that just sort of happened on its own. It’s weird really, how it came about. I was desperate to get to London to find my sister and things kept happening that slowed me down so I just kind of took over so I could do what I needed to get done…if that makes any sense at all,’ I shake my head smiling wryly at the memories of the last nine days.
‘Your sister? She’s with the group that came here?’
‘Yeah, they’ve got some good people with them so they should be okay.’
‘Mr Howie, the rear doors are shuttered too. We’ll need a vehicle or something to pull them off,’ Blowers calls out as he and Cookey appear from the side of the building.
‘Nick! Can you hotwire a car mate?’ I call out.
‘Older ones are easier than new ones Mr Howie, I’ve never done one but it can’t be that hard.’
‘Nick is brilliant with electrical things,’ I say to Lani, ‘he hotwired Tower Bridge in London a few days ago.’
‘We just need a car now,’ Blowers says joining us with Cookey.
‘There’s a car park up there,’ Lani points up the hill behind the café.
‘Is it open land or are there places for those things to hide?’ I ask her.
‘It’s all open, literally like a two minute walk. I’ll go with Nick if you want and show him.’
‘Take Blowers with you, Cookey you go a bit further up and keep a line of sight with them and us, I’ll take Nick’s position.’ They move off as I take over, watching the rear while Clarence stands solidly watching ahead and scanning round every few seconds. The beach is on my right with the pavement and then the road ahead of me. On the left is a high old stone built wall with huge tree branches hanging low. Dave must be behind that wall somewhere, he could be there now watching me. I give a little wave in case he is watching, then feeling stupid I stick one finger up and smile to myself hoping he’s not offended. But then I don’t think it is even possible to offend Dave, apart from that time I broke his shotgun in Portsmouth. I wonder how Chris is getting on, if he’s got our fort back up and running yet. It’s funny but already I’m thinking of it as sort of home, the place where we need to get back to. There’s no rules now, no society that demands we act or behave in a certain way. Any one of these lads or Clarence could just say fuck it and walk off to live how they want. But we all know we’re stronger together and there is an incredible bond between us already.
Lani’s words replay in my head, that I’m the one in charge. I don’t mean to boss them about but it just feels natural now and even with Clarence and Dave I can feel them waiting and watching for the decisions to come from me. Even when I defer to their skills and experiences it’s just a given that it will be me making the final decision. People are strange, the need to have that pecking order even when the world is ending. There could be hundreds or thousands of groups like ours with normal everyday people that had mundane jobs suddenly thrust forward and taking leadership.
The sounds of smashing glass followed by vehicle alarms rings out for a few seconds and I imagine Nick quickly releasing the bonnet clasps to detach the battery wires. The sounds cut off as expected and are followed a few minutes later by an engine roaring to life. I listen as the sound draws closer until an old red van comes into view bouncing over the grass and slewing round the side of the café with a grinning Nick at the wheel and Lani sitting next to him laughing. Blowers and Cookey come jogging behind it with Blowers yelling abuse at Nick for making them both run. The van comes to a halt and Nick gets out laughing and pointing at Blowers, Lani clambers down holding a thick tow rope coiled over one shoulder.
The lads piss about as they hook one end onto the shutters and fasten the other end to the van. Between them they work quickly and in good humour and I watch Lani joining in laughing and joking with them. With a gesture from Blowers she jogs forward and climbs into the driver’s seat and again I wonder at the pecking order of human life. Even amongst those few young people Blowers assumes the role of
leader and directs the others. They laugh and joke but even so, they do as instructed and without question.
‘Now Lani!’ Blowers shouts. The van surges forward with Lani at the wheel, the rope goes instantly taut and rips the shutters from the frame with a loud wrenching noise followed by a metallic clang as it bounces on the concrete ground. Nick and Cookey get to the door together and start synchronised kicks until the thick wooden door bursts open. They all cheer at the small victory and I watch with interest as they all instinctively turn to look at me, waiting for my response and the next instruction.
‘Brilliant! Well done, me and Clarence will stay here while you get some food, Lani make sure they don’t eat anything poisonous,’ she laughs and nods as they disappear into the café. Looking up I see Clarence smiling at me with a huge grin and I stroll over to him, making sure I’ve got a good view of the surrounding area.
‘She seems nice,’ I remark to the big man.
He nods back, ‘been through it by what she says,’ he replies.
‘I worry though mate, we’ve got this far thanks to Dave and you but what if something happens and we lose him, or lose you…’
‘You’ll survive as long as you stay together.’
‘Yeah maybe but we need to increase our chances, mate maybe you and Dave could give us some training or something. Not just in guns but with other weapons like knives or something.’
‘I’ve seen you fight,’ Clarence grins, ‘I’ve watched all of you fight, it’s wild but it’s brutal and it works. Training could confuse or restrain what you’re doing naturally.’
‘Okay…just a thought.’
‘What are they doing?’
Looking over I watch Nick and Cookey dragging a large wooden table down onto the middle of the path followed by Blowers carrying handfuls of drinks and food. Nick and Cookey go back inside and come back out within seconds carrying more grub until the table is laden with packets, bags and bottles of water and juice. Lani appears carrying a big bowl of fruit.