The Undead the Second Week Compilation Edition Days 8-14

by RR Haywood

  ‘Dave are you okay?’ I yell through the door.

  ‘FINE,’ Dave bellows back and I can see he’s holding ground and not given an inch yet.

  ‘They’re setting the church on fire trying to burn us out.’

  ‘ARE THEY? OKAY MR HOWIE.’ Nothing fazes that man. I could have told him Darren had an atomic bomb he was detonating and the response would have been the same. Back outside I watch as Clarence ties one end of the cable to the railings and drops it down to rest by the drainpipe.

  ‘I’ll go first,’ Lani says confidently, ‘I’m the lightest by far so let me try it.’ A whooshing sound reaches our ears and we crane over the side to see strong light now coming from the broken windows, illuminating the grassy area surrounding the church. Without another word Lani tightens the straps on her bag and wedges Steven’s axe down the back of it before climbing over the railings. Grasping the electric cable she starts lowering herself down. Rapidly dropping hand under hand and lowering herself into the darkness. Nick shines the torch down and we watch as she runs out of cable before reaching the bottom and switches her hands onto the drainpipe for the last few feet before she drops nimbly onto the roof. Smiling she gives a thumbs up.

  ‘Blowers, you go next and provide cover in case anything happens down there.’

  ‘On it,’ he copies Lani, shoves his axe down the back of his bag and climbs over the railings. With a grim smile and nod he takes the cable and starts lowering himself down, switching to the drainpipe as the cable runs out and dropping down onto the roof. Nick follows them, repeating the actions and straining with the effort of holding his weight on the thin cable. He takes longer to swap from cable to pipe but eventually with a thud he too drops down. Tom then Cookey go down easily enough until there’s just me, Dave and Clarence left.

  ‘Dave, we’ve found a way down. There’s an electric cable and drainpipe running down the side of the tower onto the church roof. There’s just me and Clarence to go, the rest are down already.’

  ‘I’ll hold them here Mr Howie, you go and I’ll catch you up.’

  ‘Dave, when Clarence shouts you start coming. Got it?’

  ‘Got it.’ He continues his killing spree which has slowed down remarkably from either him killing them all or because the fire is raging too much to send anymore up.

  Outside I stuff my axe down into my bag and climb over. Taking the cable in my hands I copy what the others did and start lowering myself down. The cable bites into my fingers and hurts but it’s just thick enough to grip and I use my feet to scrabble as I steadily get lower. The cable runs short as I’d seen with the others and I reach out to grasp the drainpipe which holds firmly and within a few seconds I’m standing on the roof with one foot either side of the apex.

  ‘Feel the roof Mr Howie,’ Cookey urges me. I drop my palm down and feel the warmth radiating through the rough tiles and the strong smell of wood smoke reaches my nose. Glancing over I can see plumes of smoke starting to waft from the empty windows. Clarence’s huge bulk straddles the railings and he starts dropping down much faster than the rest of us did. He’s either very experienced at doing this or he’s shitting himself that his heavy weight will snap the cable. At the same point as us he reaches over and shifts his weight from cable to pipe and continues his downward journey. A popping noise sounds out and a bolt falls to land between my feet, rolling off down the side of the roof. More follow as the drainpipe creaks under the heavy burden of Clarence. With a few metres still left to go it breaks free from the wall and swings down with Clarence still attached. He manages to get his feet underneath him, ready to try and land properly but the force of his weight sends him straight through the tiles. The others burst away desperately trying to avoid being crushed. Scorching heat rushes from the hole in the tiles and I crab forward to see Clarence clinging onto the drainpipe edged over the hole he made, his feet dangling above the raging inferno below him.

  ‘Hold the ends of the pipe,’ Shouting out I grasp one end and watch as the others snake over to stop it sliding off. Clarence does one mighty pull up and starts levering himself up, grabbing the sides of the roof and not risking his weight on the pipe any more than he has too. We grab at his arms and backpack, pulling his enormous weight out from the hole. The heat is intense and I can feel my face sweating already. The drainpipe starts to shift and slide as the edges of the hole crumble and give way. We dig in and with shouts of pure effort we inch him out bit by bit. The hole gets larger as Clarence strains and wrestles to get his upper body out enough to swing his legs up. Gradually he gets out and lies panting for a few seconds.

  ‘Are you hurt?’ I start to check his legs for burns but other than feeling hot there doesn’t seem to be any damage.

  ‘I’m okay,’ he rumbles back, ‘did Dave get down?’ On hearing his words we all look up to see Dave dangling from the cable with one hand and patiently waiting for us to stop pissing about. Clarence springs to his feet and grabs the drainpipe, clenching it between his muscled arms he leans it against the wall just to the side of Dave. Blowers and Nick brace Clarence as Dave nimbly swings out and starts a quick descent down the pipe, placing one foot on Clarence’s bald head he slides down his back to land with a wry grin.

  ‘Sorry about your head Clarence,’ he says flatly as ever.

  ‘No you’re bloody not,’ Clarence rubs his smooth head grumbling away to himself.

  ‘Time we weren’t here,’ I mutter quietly and start walking along the apex one foot either side and heading for the far end.

  ‘They’ve seen us,’ Dave bellows, well if they hadn’t they would have bloody heard us that’s for sure. ‘I’ll go first,’ Dave adds.

  ‘Piss off, you’re not having all the fun,’ I reach the end and look down. Too high to jump but I spot a grassy bank a couple of feet out from the end. Turning round I plant my arse on the tiles and draw my axe from behind me. Letting myself slide down the now very hot tiles I reach the lowest point and jump down to land heavily on the top of the grass bank. The axe falls from my grasp as I land and I don’t have time to go for it before the first of the undead lunge at me. Fortunately only a couple have made it round this end so far. I charge at him and slam my forehead into the middle of his face. Pain explodes behind my eyes but it does the trick and we both go down with me landing on top of him. My fists reign down smashing the shit out of his head before I jump back and draw the pistol from my belt. He’s up instantly and I fire several times into his face then lift the pistol and fire at the next one coming. He drops but more are behind him and coming fast. Dave drops to my side and instantly draws his knives.

  ‘Get your axe,’ and he’s off charging them with a deep roar. Changing magazines I re-holster the weapon and scoop my axe up before racing forward and joining my friend. We stand together hacking them down as more of our group slide down the roof and land heavily on the top of the bank, sprawling out with yelps of pain. A shotgun blasts out to my side and I see Blowers quickly re-loading and firing again. His shots hit home and burst heads apart as Dave spins about killing anything that moves. Cookey joins him, then Lani and more until we’re back together.

  ‘Which way Lani?’

  ‘Downhill please...’ Nick begs.

  ‘We need that road,’ she points to a junction off to the left and we start moving that way. Forming into a small circle we lash out as the horde keep charging at us. Blowers, Cookey and Nick use their shotguns for several minutes but even in the dark I can see there are still plenty of undead left.

  We keep moving and pick the pace up to try and stop them getting round behind us. They charge forward but their attacks are sporadic instead of concerted. Still we keep on as the church burns brightly behind them, flames licking out of the windows. They start to get co-ordinated and several attack at once. But with experience on our side we hack them down with our axes. Swinging out and gouging deep into their flesh. Killing with every few steps we take.

  Reaching the junction we start moving downhill but that just gives them
momentum in their charges and I can feel the weight of their bodies with every strike I make with my axe. My arms are burning and my legs shake and weaken with every step. I can sense everyone is feeling the same and the only thing that keeps us going is the fear of letting each other down. That and the bloody minded stubbornness of refusing to roll over and die quietly. They race past us and start trying to lunge in at the sides but for every desperate zombie face that tries to gnash and bite there is a dead zombie falling to the ground with its head cleaved open.

  Grunts of effort emanate from behind me and then I realise that I’m doing it too. Making noises like a tennis player going for an ace serve. Looking across I see even Dave is starting to look tired and his normally pale face is flushed red which just makes him look angrier than normal. Clarence stumbles from a powerful swing and almost staggers out from our tight circle. Undead rush him but Dave springs out and slices them down as the big man rights himself and falls back into the round.

  ‘That’s for stepping on your head,’ Dave shouts and even his voice sounds hoarse. Clarence doesn’t reply but focusses on the same thing we all are. Staying alive and keeping motion.

  We battle all the way down that bloody street. Leaving a trail of broken and mangled bodies in our wake but still they come. Darren must have pulled them from the church and kept them safe. Safe and waiting for us so he can grind us into the ground. But he doesn’t do that. For some miraculous reason our strategy works, using axes and shotguns we’ve stayed alive and even if we die now we’ve killed hundreds and hundreds of them again.

  ‘Sun,’ someone croaks and I realise it’s now much lighter than before. The only hope we’ve got of surviving is if they drop back when the sun comes up but Darren must see how exhausted we are. That we’re ready to drop. The sky lightens as we head further down the hill, closer and closer to the beach and pier. They drop back, keeping pace but holding off from attacking and I can sense a change coming. We increase our speed not knowing where we’re going or why we’re going faster but it gives us a sense of purpose and something to aim for. More undead gather into their front ranks and we realise they’re massing for a final attack. Preparing themselves for an offensive manoeuvre intended to finish us off.

  There, further up the hill I see Darren and that woman, pacing a safe distance behind their zombies and holding them off until greater numbers can stagger forward and join their horde. Dave and I both see him. We see that thing that has created all this death. Shotgun blasts sound out as the lads take advantage of the pause to get a few shots in. They do good work and whittle a few down. Cookey presses his pistol into Dave’s hands and the small man fires one handed getting a head shot nearly every time. He passes it back and another one is handed to him, he fires again, dropping more and suddenly their numbers are reducing.

  ‘Go into them,’ I roar and change direction. We start pacing forward letting Dave fire pistols and taking the advantage away from them. Shotguns blast and the pistol fires. They die in numbers they can’t afford to lose. The last remaining energy in my body surges into my muscles and we press home the attack. Darren realises we’re killing too many and he sends them in. One final battle and we fight. We fight hard. Our power is low and every strike or swing hurts more than anything ever imaginable but we stay on our feet and swing out with everything we’ve got. Clarence stumbles again and drops his axe, they charge but he raises his fists and starts punching out keeping them at bay. One of Dave’s knives leaves his wet hand stuck in the skull of a falling zombie but he presses on with one last blunt knife until it becomes nothing more than a useless tool and like Clarence he ditches it and takes to using his bare hands.

  My axe flies back and forth, lifting high and slamming down but I feel weaker with every second. Another swing but it gets caught mid-air in the strong grip of a female zombie, still fresh looking with hardly any decay on her yet. She pulls the axe clean from my hands and I draw my pistol and fire point blank into her face. She drops down and I pick my shots, taking time to hit the skull. I have to keep stepping to avoid being taken. My pistol clicks empty and I start using it to hammer into their faces. I punch and gouge and writhe like a bastard to avoid their dirty teeth. My knee rises again and again into stomachs and groins, lashing out in a filthy street brawl. I start to get overwhelmed until Lani lashes out with her meat cleaver, driving them down and saving my life. I see a house brick nearby and pick it up. It becomes my new weapon as I slam it into the face of anything that comes at me.

  Circling round I see my axe nearby and run to scoop it up, throwing the house brick hard at the head of a zombie about to bite into Blowers. Axe in hand I carry on swinging round as a glorious broad stripe of orange sunlight hits the pavement. The rays shine through the gaps in the buildings. Darren starts to lose control as some of them instantly slow to become the shambling daytime idiots. Others keep going but the fight is over. We know it and so does Darren. For the last few minutes we kill off the remaining zombies in a blur of tiredness that staggers me to the core.

  ‘FALL BACK,’ Dave’s hoarse voice yells and we start retreating. Letting the last few come at us instead of wasting our energy. Forming our circle we retreat. Stumbling like the daytime zombies now shuffling slowly after us. Lani leads us down a side street and then back down the hill. They keep coming but only one at a time now and they’re easy to finish off. As we turn to start moving down the hill two figures stand at the far end of the street. Darren and Marcy stand amongst their ruined horde and stare quietly as we back away.

  On seeing them I stop moving and stand still, staring back with my axe held down at my side. The others join me, spread in a line and staring back at the two figures. No one moves. They neither come forward nor retreat but stand watching us silently.

  ‘I want to go after them but I’ve nothing left,’ my voice is low and rough, barely more than a whisper.

  ‘They’ll run and none of us have the energy to chase them,’ Dave replies but I watch his hands slowly pulling a pistol from his waistband. He ejects the magazine and quickly glances down to see it’s empty. ‘I need a bullet,’ he whispers, ‘just one.’

  ‘Here,’ Blowers slowly digs one out from his pocket and passes it along the chain, hand to hand until it reaches Dave, ‘I was saving it for him.’ Dave gently slots the bullet into the top of the magazine and pushes it up into the pistol. He slides the top back and chambers the round. He stands with the pistol lowered and looks at the two zombies standing at the far end of the street. The distance is huge for a pistol shot. He holds still for a second before looking up into the sky and turns his head. His fingers flex on the pistol grip.

  ‘Which one?’ He asks.

  ‘Do you need to ask,’ I reply. He takes a deep breath and slowly exhales then moving with incredible speed he raises the pistol and fires.

  A solitary retort sounds out followed a split second later by one of the figures falling to the floor.

  Sixteen

  The day is going to be hot again. The air is listless without the slightest breeze. My rate of breathing has slowed and my heart gradually eases from the frantic work it’s had to do all night.

  There is blood on my hands and all down the front of my clothes. Sticky and moist. I can feel the wet material clinging to my skin.

  Here in this quiet suburban street on the Isle of Wight I look back at the long line of corpses littering the road. At the top of the hill the church blazes fiercely. Thick smoke coiling up high into the blue sky.

  ‘That was a good shot.’

  ‘It was.’

  ‘I can’t feel my legs.’

  ‘Your spine is broken.’

  ‘So this is it.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Do you want me to say sorry and beg for forgiveness?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘What do you want?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Then why are you watching me?’

  ‘Waiting for you to die.’

  ‘I might not die.’
<
br />   ‘You’re bleeding out.’

  ‘Am I…oh shit.’

  ‘Even you can’t lose that much blood.’

  ‘It doesn’t hurt.’

  ‘That’s a pity.’

  ‘She’ll come after you…’

  ‘I don’t care.’

  ‘I told her to go after you…she won’t stop…she’s better than me, stronger, clever, cunning…’

  ‘I don’t care.’

  ‘You can’t win this Howie.’

  ‘Neither can you.’

  ‘She’s got my blood and everyone she bites will have my blood.’

  ‘I don’t care…they’ll die just like you are now.’

  ‘I’m tired.’

  ‘You’re dying.’

  ‘Feel so….tired now…’

  ‘Die then.’

  ‘…I’m scared…I…’

  ‘Die quietly.’

  ‘Howie….please…’

  ‘What Darren? What do you want?’

  ‘Oh god I don’t want to go like this…’

  ‘Close your eyes Darren. Let it take you.’

  ‘No…please…’

  ‘Let it happen…’

  ‘I’m so sorry…I’m sorry Howie…oh god I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Me too Darren.’

  ‘Forgive me…please…’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Please…I…oh shit…I’m going…’

  ‘Darren…’

  ‘Howie…please…’

  ‘I forgive you Darren, rest now and let it take you.’

  ‘Shit…oh shit…I’m bleeding…Howie…’

  ‘Yes Darren.’

  ‘H…Ho…Howie…’

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘Fuck you Howie…’

  He dies with a smile on his face and just to be sure he dies fully and properly, Dave drops down and detaches his head with an axe and kicks it down the road. Marcy disappeared as soon as we started walking back towards them and with so much death and destruction it’ll be near impossible to track her. I know because I asked Dave and Clarence.