by RR Haywood
‘What about the dead ones? What happened to them?’
‘Some died on their own and we chucked in another few bodies to see if they would eat their own or what would happen. But they haven’t touched the corpses. We put cups of water in there and they ignored them, then we chucked fresh and rotten animal meat in but they ignored that too.’
‘Do they change at night?’ Clarence asks.
‘They howl like the rest of them, and then get faster and meaner chucking themselves at the fence. We put a guard out to make sure they don’t break the fence down.’
‘Howie!’ Sarah comes running out of the door straight into my arms. The shock hits me hard and I hug her fiercely feeling tears stinging my eyes.
‘Sarah, oh thank god,’ I hear the others crowding in, she breaks free and hugs them each in turn and even Dave doesn’t object to the physical contact. Finally she grabs Clarence and throws her arms round his huge chest. He blushes bright red but returns the embrace lifting her clean off her feet in a giant bear hug.
‘Oh Howie,’ she says again when Clarence finally releases her, ‘we thought you’d be gone, we thought all of you would be gone,’ tears spill from her eyes as we hug again. ‘What happened at the end? Where’s Tucker and the others?’ She looks round and see’s the desperately sad looks of the lads.
‘They didn’t make it,’ I shake my head and feel tears falling down my own cheeks, looking over I see Blowers and Cookey have also gone red eyed and silent.
‘Howie! Dave! Thank god for that,’ Ted comes striding out of the door and clasps my hand with both of his.
‘Ted, oh it’s good to see you mate,’ I smile with genuine pleasure and shake his hand vigorously, ‘come here you bloody hero,’ Ted gives me a brief hug before breaking free to greet each of us in turn, shaking hands and seeing the tears falling from all of us. Lani stares bemused at the emotive re-union. Within seconds more of our group are pouring from the door, Sergeant Hopewell, Tom and Steven, Terri and more faces we last saw in the fort when they were running for their lives out of the rear gate.
I catch a quick glimpse of Dean standing there shrugging at his mate, both of them look worried and I know we should do as they ask but seeing our group takes over anything else.
Blowers, Cookey and Nick get treated like the hero’s they are, and I watch them crying with bitter sweet sorrow, relief, happiness heart wrenching sadness as we’re all bombarded with people asking who survived, women and children demanding to know if their husbands, fathers or brothers lived or died. To this group we are the returning heroes who survived something that none of us expected to walk away from. The horror and desperation we faced on that battle field we faced for them, so they would live and have a chance of freedom. They know this and the strain they must have been under since they left is huge, and to see us now brings those emotions out in all of us.
Sobbing and crying I try desperately to answer people as they ask about their loved ones but I simply didn’t know the names of all of the men we fought alongside. There wasn’t time to learn them. In the end Sergeant Hopewell and Ted assert their natural authority and start herding them back inside the door. As the crowd grows thinner a few of us are left standing close together, tears drying and I see Sarah hugging a crying Clarence as he tells her about the loss of Malcolm. Blowers, Cookey and Nick are all being patted and hugged as they talk of Tucker, Curtis and Jamie laying down their lives while Steven, Tom, Terri and Jane all listen intently.
‘You made it then,’ Ted says with fatherly pride to me.
‘Just about, it was awful Ted,’ I shake my head at the memory, ‘we lost so many, so many, I don’t know how to tell them,’ I motion towards the backs of the women and children filing back into the doorway.
‘They’re expecting it,’ Ted says bluntly, ‘we didn’t expect to see any of you again.’
‘Er, I’m sorry but I really would prefer it if we got back inside,’ Dean comes forward speaking politely.
‘Of course mate, I’m so sorry.’
‘No we understand we’ve heard all about you and what happened over there but we’ve kept this place pretty clear up till now and we’d rather keep it that way.’
‘Come through Howie, you’ll be amazed at this place,’ Ted starts ushering the others inside and I wait at the back to go through with Dave.
‘That was intense,’ I mutter quietly to him.
‘Good to see them all again though Mr Howie,’ Dave gives a rare smile, ‘your sister looks well.’
‘They’ve obviously been well looked after.’
‘Come through,’ Dean stands a few feet into the recessed area holding a thick barred gate open and motioning us to enter. We do as we’re told and enter a long tunnel. Dean pulls the gate closed and fastens thick bolts home on the inside then big padlocks at the top and bottom. Finally he steps in and then closes a thick wooden door sealing in darkness, a torch lights up within a few seconds and we watch him ramming more bolts home before squeezing past us and leading the way through the dark tunnel.
‘The battery was built back in the 1850’s but then during the world war’s they added more tunnels and bunkers. They used it for all sorts of secret testing back in the day, before the council closed most of them up and said they’d all fallen in or collapsed. We broke through when this happened and found nearly all of them were perfectly fine. There’s a whole network of tunnels connecting rooms and bunkers. We’ve managed to get loads of food and bottled water down here.’
‘Thank you for taking our group in Dean,’ the air is musty but it feels much cooler down here and I realise the winding tunnel is going downhill and getting a bit steeper every few metres.
‘We didn’t have much choice if I’m honest, they turned up making a whole load of noise and that Sergeant woman and your sister promised they would only stay for a few days…we couldn’t just leave them out there to die,’ Dean shrugs as he walks ahead of us. The dark tunnel turns to the right and opens into a large room illuminated by the glow of many candles and lanterns. The room is sectioned off with distinct bundles of bedding and clothing marking out separate sleeping areas. A cacophony of voices reaches us from the many women either sitting or standing around talking. Some children run about in excitement and others sit in forlorn shock looking pale and drawn. Faces turn to stare as we file through following Dean and the others ahead of him. Doors lead off to more rooms crammed with people sitting, lying or standing about quietly talking.
We follow Dean through more tunnels, these ones lit by hanging gas lanterns or strings of fairy lights strung up and connected to car batteries. We enter another large room again filled with women and children, and pass more, smaller rooms these ones clearly filled with local people who have had time to gather belongings from home or other places, bedding and soft furnishings, pictures of loved ones, shelves of books and children’s toys. There are more men here and it’s clear the best rooms have been reserved for the locals who got here first.
Dean shows us to a large central room stocked with tinned food and bottled water. A guard armed with a shotgun sits on a chair reading an old newspaper, he nods amiably as we pass into yet more rooms filled with food, water, cans of beer and spirits.
‘We’ve been out foraging and bringing supplies in every day. We’ve avoided this town and gone into the villages to raid houses, pubs, shops and anything else we can find. There’s a fresh water supply in here too, drawn from somewhere deep underground. We use that mainly and keep the bottles in case it runs dry or something. We’ve got a few nurses and a vet but no doctor yet, but we did manage to get into a couple of pharmacies and doctors surgeries and empty the shelves so we’ve got medicines, anti-biotics and penicillin. Bandages are boiled and sterilised then re-sealed and we allow body washes every few days on a rotation basis.’
‘How many have you got down here?’ I ask amazed at the effort that’s already gone into setting all this up.
‘We had a couple of hundred before your lot arrived so n
ow we’re bursting,’ he stops and looks back at me seriously, ‘will you be able to take them away today or tomorrow?’
‘Definitely mate, as soon as we can get them back to the boats and the tide is right.’
‘We don’t mind having them and we’ve got enough food and water but, well you know how it is,’ his voice trails off diplomatically.
‘I can imagine Dean, you’ve got a good set up here and why should you take in strangers.’
‘Sounds harsh and I apologise for that but survival is just that…survival.’ Through more tunnels and we reach another large room, this one clearly used by Dean and his family or closest friends. A large table and chairs in the middle and more doors running round the edge of the room, most of them closed but the few open reveal beds, easy chairs, and stacks of food and water. Sergeant Hopewell and the others are all standing in the main middle room waiting as Dave and I file in. One side of the table is reserved for Dave, Clarence me and the lads. We all sit down as trays of hot coffee are brought out from one of the rooms and placed on the table. Dean and a few members of his black clad group take seats opposite us, everyone else either grabs a free chair or leans against the walls. More people emerge until the room is nearly full with everyone waiting for our account. I see Lani watching us and I give her a smile and a nod, she must know some of the people down here already but I can see she’s positioned herself so she’s close to the lads sitting at the end of the table.
A silence descends after we’ve grabbed coffee mugs and taken a few sips, added sugar and stirred them round. The room feels hot and muggy with so many people crammed together and breathing in the confined area. Expectant faces stare at me, people want the full story and not just the snatched bits they got outside.
Taking a deep breath I start to relay the account from when they left the fort, the battle, the fighting and who I knew we lost, who survived, all the rows of injured people stacked up inside the fort when we came back through. I tell them how Darren escaped and how we figured they’d come here then how we saw Darren last night and the fight in the hotel. Clarence jumps in a few times when he senses me going quiet and trying to get my thoughts in order, Blowers too adds bits here and there. We explain the whole thing until we met Lani and started working our way along to here. At the mention of Lani’s name everyone turns to stare at her, she goes poker faced and nods once in greeting before staring out with the same expressionless face I’ve seen on Dave so many times.
‘So you think they’re massing now?’ Dean asks leaning forward.
‘Yes,’ Dave answers in his flat voice, ‘he will be turning as many as he can before it gets to night then he’ll come for us.’
‘How will he know where you are?’ Dean asks.
‘He must have access to local knowledge by now,’ Dave answers, he leans forward to stare at Dean, ‘I think from the way he controlled all of his people before, he must be able to get in their heads or something, and if he finds those things you’ve got in the tennis courts he’ll know you’re here.’
‘He can try all he wants, this place is locked up tight,’ Dean answers confidently, more of his group nod in agreement.
‘What about you?’ I ask, ‘how come you’re dressed like that?’
‘Believe it or not,’ he smiles, ‘I ran a zombie event in the park every year, Park of The Dead we called it, we got loads of people dressed up and took customers round on a sort of themed walk. We had uniformed soldiers as part of the show,’ he shrugs with a sheepish smile, ‘we figured we might as well put them to use.’
‘Bloody hell mate, talk about reality and fantasy merging.’
‘Yeah something like that,’ he laughs in good humour.
‘What weapons do you have?’ Dave asks and I almost chuckle at the scripted way he thinks. Fortification, defence, weapons, food fluid and rest.
‘Shotguns rifles and loads of ammunition, that’s it.’
‘Er…if this Darren is gathering loads of them zombie things to come here for them,’ one of the women cuts in from behind Dean, ‘why are we letting them stay here? I don’t mean to be rude but they’re putting everyone else at risk.’
‘That’s a good point,’ Dean turns to me, ‘if you go now we might be able to survive without being found.’
‘True…’
‘Won’t happen,’ Dave cuts in, ‘Darren is here now, even if we wait outside so he can eat us alive, he won’t stop at that.’
‘But if it’s you he wants,’ the woman asks in a blunt tone.
‘It is,’ Dave replies, ‘until he gets us then what? What do you think he will do then?’
‘But you being here is putting us at risk,’ the woman’s voice rises and several of her group nod in agreement.
‘It’s late afternoon now, the tide was in this morning so I’m guessing it’s out now. We have to wait until it comes back in before we can get the boats out. There’s nothing we can do until then,’ I try to explain politely, I can see her point and if I was in her place I would be thinking exactly the same.
‘It’ll be getting dark by the time the tide comes back in, and by that time he’ll have every fucking zombie here trying to get in, Dean do something,’ she shouts.
‘What? I can’t just kick them out, you heard what he said…the tides out so they can’t use the boats and we can’t leave them outside until night.’
‘And what about when they get here?’ Another voice shouts from the back, ‘what then?’ More voices join in with both sides arguing amongst themselves.
‘QUIET,’ Dean bangs on the table a few times until the shouting dies down, ‘I’m sorry Howie but they’re right, if you stay here and we get surrounded then we can’t get in or out until they either go away or die…and judging by the ones in the tennis court they’ll last a long time. It puts us all at risk.’ Silence descends again and the tension rises, it seems clear to me what we have to do. I look at Dave who nods in agreement then down the row at Clarence, Nick, Blowers and Cookey. They can see it too, what needs to be done and they nod back at me.
‘Then we’ll go and meet them,’ I say to a stunned room. Leaning forward I look Dean in the eye, ‘we’ll go and meet them before they get here but you promise me that you’ll get our people to their boats as soon as it’s safe.’
‘Howie no!’ Sarah shouts in shock, more voices join in but we sit there resolute knowing there is no other choice. We’ve come this far to protect them, why fail now.
‘Are you serious?’ Dean asks with a puzzled look.
‘Yes mate, we’ll go out and head them off. If we can find somewhere defensible and get them round us then like you said there’s no reason for them to come here and find you.’
‘That’s suicide Howie,’ Ted shouts angrily.
‘We can draw them inland,’ Clarence’s deep voice rumbles through the melee of noise, ‘if we lure them away from here and keep them busy for a few hours then it gives Dean a chance to get everyone to the boats in the morning.’
‘Sounds good to me mate,’ I nod back, ‘lads?’ I look down knowing what they’ll say but a twisted part of me wants this lot to see just how brave these lads are, and what the word sacrifice really means.
‘I’m in Mr Howie,’ Nick says with a smile.
‘Don’t even need to ask Mr Howie,’ Cookey gives a big grin then takes a nonchalant glance round the room.
‘It’ll give us a chance to fuck Darren up too,’ Blowers adds with a nod.
‘Dave?’ I stare at Dean and look along the faces of the people staring back in shock and confusion.
‘Yes Mr Howie?’
‘You up for another scrap mate?’
‘Do you need to ask Mr Howie?’
‘You’re not doing that again,’ Sarah shouts in blind anger, ‘not again Howie, you did it once and that was enough. We stay together from now on.’
‘She’s right Howie, all of you,’ Ted says firmly.
‘Er…may I say something?’ Lani suddenly speaks up, her voice strong and confi
dent, every face turns to look at her, ‘we’ve only seen them slow in the day but fast at night right?’ She looks round getting nods from most of the room, ‘but you said Mr Howie, that they can switch quickly and get faster during the day too, right?’
‘That’s right.’
‘But you also said that they don’t appear to be able to sustain that frantic pace for long, that it weakens them and makes them easier to kill, right?’
‘Yeah,’ I nod back at her unsure of where’s she going with this.
‘And you also said this place is locked up tight, right?’ She looks at Dean who nods back.
‘So why not let them come here and go crazy all night, really get them going and get them exhausted then when daylight comes and they get slow we go out and kill them, and like you said Mr Howie, if they’re still fast then they’ll be weaker.’ Another stunned silence fills the room.
‘Why didn’t you think of that Dave?’ I ask quietly.
‘Sorry Mr Howie…it’s a good idea though,’ rare praise from Dave but Lani doesn’t know him well enough to understand the raised eyebrows from the rest of our group.
‘Very good idea, but only if Dean and his group agree, if not then we honour their decision and take the fight straight to Darren.’
‘Agreed,’ Lani says with a nod then looks round at us all staring at her, ‘sorry, I just er…’
‘Dean?’ He nods several times deep in thought staring past me, ‘let me have five minutes to see what my…er….people think,’ he hesitates on calling them his people, like he is uncomfortable with the division of entities. Them and us, not just people but tribes distinct and diverse.
‘We’re all people,’ Sarah picks up on the mood, ‘we all have a right to life and we should work together not cast each other out, we wouldn’t do that to you if you came to our fort.’
‘She’s right,’ a man with a rich baritone voice steps forward, ‘I won’t stand by and watch you throw these people out and if they go to fight then I’ll go with them,’ he turns to address the crowd gathered behind Dean, his rich voice fills the room and he speaks like a barrister or someone used to addressing the public. ‘We can hide in here forever but going on what we’ve heard it’s only a matter of time before they come for us. Our children need sunlight and air, we need to plant food and think of the future, hiding down here won’t get that done. We need to accept this has happened and make decisions that benefit all of us, and when I say all of us I mean the people that are left and not just our so called group down here.’