The Undead the Second Week Compilation Edition Days 8-14

by RR Haywood

  The concentrated pack sweep down street after street and every jerky step brings them closer to the goal. Minutes pass as they navigate the now deserted estate. The decomposing bodies left on the ground are trampled by hundreds and hundreds of feet pummelling the squidgy bodies into a pulp. Bare zombie feet get sliced and cut from sharp fragments of broken glass, blood seeps out only to clot and congeal faster than human blood. These bodies are already so more advanced than the human form; having gone days without food or water, drawing off the reserves within their own forms, sucking the nutrients from organs and pumping them round.

  Any sense of pain is gone. No remorse, no emotions, no feeling other than a burning desire to eat flesh. That’s all that drives them. Vivid images of juicy tender meat being bitten into flash through their rotten minds. Chemicals pumped into their bloodstream build their energy levels up. The dead hearts beat faster and harder, the eyes roll and twitch as they seek food. The ability to smell becomes heightened as they sniff the air in front of them, searching for the smell of fear, the smell of shit, the smell of piss, the smell of anything that means humans are near.

  The horde pour round a long corner and start up a slight incline towards the compound. One long straight road now and they’ll be there. That fence will fall with the combined weight of so many bodies slamming into it. They might shoot and fire their measly weapons but the taxi super zombie knows he will win the day and before the night is out, his hosts shall feast.

  Seventeen

  Jeff, after waiting for half an hour and feeling his patience wearing thin listening to the inane and absurd chatter of his fellow estatee’s, finally checks his watch and stares at the second hand. Willing it to move round to the twelve. Desperate to be off and moving but knowing they stand no chance without both groups converging at the same time.

  ‘Yeah so I said to our Millie she got to stand by ‘im, he’s doin’ a stretch and that’s hardly his fault is it, he’s doin’ the best he can bless ‘im and Millie she gotta wait, course she got the baby now and I know she ain't sure who the baby father is, he don’t know that but his dad got a BMW and she ain't gonna find no other boys with dads that got BMW’s so she gotta wait…’ And it went on. Aimless and pointless talking, wasting perfectly good air. That got Jeff thinking of what’s happened to the prisons? Surely they must be safe? Big walls, strong fences, plenty of food and tough men. No one allowed in or out. That would be bloody ironic if the only survivors were the inmates of the world. What if they broke out now? Hundreds of hard men rampaging through the countryside raping and pillaging everything and everyone in sight. That’s why he needs this compound now, the security for when the inmates all break out. In his mind, all the inmates are the denim trousers and white vest wearing prisoners of the American movies. Muscles on muscles, huge arms and shoulders, swastikas and random numbers inked into the shaven skulls. With a shudder he checks his watch and whimpers with desperation as the second hand ticks slowly round.

  He taps his foot. Smokes a cigarette, taps the stave against his leg. Stares at the night sky, takes his knife out from his belt and puts it back in again. Then, after leaving it for what feels like hours he checks the watch and nods with satisfaction. The time is here. The time for action.

  ‘Let’s go, no talking now…we need absolute quiet until I say then we charge like mad, got it?’ Faces shining from the moonlight all nod at him, he turns and leads the way. Pacing steadily and feeling the adrenalin purging into his system. Legs feeling a bit shaky and his hand holding the wooden stave trembles so he brings it across his body and pats it up and down in his spare hand.

  Estate survivors stretched out behind him, he turns and ushers them to move up and stay close together. Rolling his eyes as clubs get dropped and the nails sticking out of bats dig into other people’s legs causing remarks of complaint they move up the street and turn onto the main road that cuts across the front of the compound.

  Jeff knows that if this is timed right he will see the other half of the survivors at the junction, if there is a guard positioned there still, then that guard will shout down that there are two large bodies of people coming in from different directions.

  Smiling with anticipation, but also feeling scared he wills himself to keep going and lead these idiots. Once the two sides meet and charge at the fence, he can drop back in the chaos and stay safe somewhere deep in the ranks, or maybe even dart into one of the houses and wait it out to charge out triumphantly later when the nasty fighting has been done. That little shit Maddox should never have punched him like that. The little punk gangsta with those hard intelligent eyes, that deep voice and aura of power. Who the fuck does he think he is?

  Eighteen

  ‘CONTACT!’

  The boy and girl on the top of the tower spin round in alarm at the lad leaning out the window on the right and pointing down the side street. Hearts hammering they lean over desperate to see what’s coming.

  ‘CONTACT!’ The girl in the window on the left screams out, her high pitched voice sends their stomachs plummeting. Contact from both side streets at the same time? What’s going on?

  ‘Oh my fuckin’ god Darryl…’the girl lifts her hand to her mouth and points with a shaking arm down the road ahead of them. In the dark shadows a solid mass of staggering forms slowly comes into view. The distance and gloom too great to see the faces, but just from the jerky movements, the almost goosestep walk, the swagger of the upper torso…infected, hundreds of infected.

  ‘CONTACT ON ALL SIDES,’ Darryl roars into his radio, then realises he hasn’t pressed the button down, his shaking hands fumble and press it down as he repeats the words ‘CONTACT ON ALL SIDES CONTACT ON ALL SIDES…’

  ‘Fuck this,’ the girl mutters and lifts her rifle, pointing it vaguely in the direction of the army of infected and pulling the trigger. The loud retort bounces round the buildings. The first shot. The first bullet spins through the air and hits nothing but falls gently to the ground far in the distance.

  The gunshot sends a signal to all three sides. This thing is happening now. The element of surprise is gone. Charge. Make noise and charge.

  They do. Jeff with his half. The other half coming from the opposite direction and the army of infected. They all roar and they all charge.

  Nineteen

  ‘CONTACT ON ALL SIDES CONTACT ON ALL SIDES,’ the radio clipped to the side of Maddox’s trousers lying in a crumpled heap on the floor bursts to life. A gunshot rings out. The unmistakable sound of a rifle shot. With pure instinct flooding through his body, he rolls from the bed, grabs his trousers and starts dressing with lightning speed.

  Lenski’s heart races as she fumbles around finding her clothes and cursing quietly in Polish.

  ‘EVERYONE TO THE FRONT,’ Maddox speaks calmly firmly into the radio, ‘GET WEAPONS, GET READY AND GET TO THE FRONT, DON’T WAIT FOR ME.’

  ‘What is it?’ Lenski asks.

  ‘Don’t know,’ Maddox pulls his boots on and grabs the pistol from the cupboard top. Pulling the slide back and checking the ammunition clip as he moves quickly towards the door.

  ‘Get somewhere safe,’ Maddox shouts behind him and runs through the units and out into the humid night air. Gunshots sounding out from the gate. Roars and shouts of rage already reaching him as he races towards the gate.

  ‘WHAT IS IT?’ Maddox shouts at Jagger already on the top of tower and taking shots with his rifle.

  ‘ALL SIDES MADDOX, THREE GROUPS, INFECTED AND SURVIVORS….FUCKING CHAOS….’

  ‘WHAT THE FUCK?’ Maddox replies in shock. He grabs the first scaffold bar and pulls himself up the tower with ease. Reaching the top and staring out. The hardened man’s mouth drops open in shock at the sight.

  The road ahead is thick with infected pressing forward towards the compound. The road on the right is thick with estate survivors coming towards the compound. The road on the left is the same; survivors tooled up and charging at the gates.

  He takes it all in within a split second. The
left and right have planned a coordinated attack, planning to meet at this time to attack and take the compound. The infected are charging from the road opposite, also intent on taking the compound. They don’t know about each other. The two groups of survivors are screaming as they charge. Weapons held high as they sprint. Looks of confusion as they see the third group emerging from the central road. Who are they? Has Jeff got another group with us? Nope, they’re infected.

  Maddox watches with horror as the three armies commit themselves. The ones at the front couldn’t stop if they wanted due to the momentum of the people behind them.

  The last few seconds seem to slow as everyone realises what’s about to happen. Even the zombies look confused for a second. They emerge into the open junction keeping the shape of the road they came from. Then, seeing the two groups of humans on both sides they do a literal double take. A zombie in the lead wearing a white shirt, tie and name badge shakes his head in confusion, then smiles. The smile spreads into a grin as he howls. The howls are taken up by every other infected.

  The three sides meet in a devastating clash of utter terror. The estate survivors at the back, having no idea of the army of infected, and hearing the start of the battle, and being desperate to join in, all push forward and force the centre to become bogged with scrapping bodies. The rear columns of zombies, all hearing the battle, and all needing to feast, push forward and drive their undead bodies into the melee.

  Maddox shakes his head slowly; he raises his pistol to fire then slowly lowers it again. He cocks his head to one side, lifting the pistol again and sweeping it over the battling masses below him.

  ‘Who we shooting?’ Jagger asks him. Maddox turns to see the entire camp stretched out behind him. Bodies leaning out of windows of the houses and staring into the muddle massed battle. The cries of rage, terror, hurt, pain and glory ripping the air apart mere feet from them.

  ‘FUCK THIS…SHOOT EVERYTHING,’ Maddox roars out and opens fire with his pistol. Guns blaze out from all sides, behind the gates shooting through the gaps, muzzles flash and rounds pour into the mass of bodies.

  ‘SHOOT EVERYTHING,’ Maddox screams again, his eyes ablaze.

  Twenty

  ‘Yeah but I really didn’t expect there to be no vehicles anywhere,’ I reply wiping the sweat from my face and sighing.

  ‘This is a council estate,’ Lani continues, ‘they would have used them all to get away, or stolen them, or burnt them out.’

  ‘Yeah I guess,’ I glance about at the rundown houses on either side. We’ve spent the last half hour stalking through street after street searching for a vehicle, heading further into the estate. The long straight roads, the potted road surface, houses with peeling facades and windows grimy long before the outbreak started.

  We freeze and drop down, raising weapons to our shoulders at the signal from Dave, freezing on the spot and holding one arm up with a clenched fist. To their credit, Lani and Tom respond just as quickly as the rest of us, having been given instruction by Clarence while on the navy supply ship.

  Dave opens his fist then closes it again, repeating it several times and waving forward. Multiple contacts ahead. Dave glances round and I shake my head at him.

  ‘Can’t hear anything mate,’ I whisper across, Dave glances across the line at the rest all shaking their heads.

  ‘Something happening…’Dave cocks his head, ‘not sure what though.’

  ‘Keep going,’ I whisper back and we start off, moving stealthily behind Dave, weapons at the ready, fingers extended over trigger guards.

  Dave reaches the junction at the end of the road before us and instantly drops down to a crouch, lifting his rifle to his shoulder and aiming down to the right.

  ‘Scatter,’ I whisper. We crab across the road into the deep shadows on the sides and watch Dave as he stares down along the wider main road on his right. Dave lifts his hand and motions for me to come forward. I step out, keeping low and creep over towards him. As I gain the junction Dave motions down the road and I peer down to see the solid ranks of undead staggering away from us. Stretched fully across the road and taking every available inch, crammed and densely packed they rush forward clearly intent on getting to something ahead of them.

  I can smell them now, the stench of death. Decomposition, decay, rotten flesh from the hundreds of walking stiffs that must have staggered past this junction just minutes before. I motion for the others to move up and wait while they shuffle forward and gather round us, all staring down at the backs of the undead down the road to the right.

  A single gunshot rings out, followed immediately by the distinct sound of undead howling with an attack. More voices. Human voices that roar out and mingle with the undead roars. Screams and shouts. We look down the road and at each other, wondering what the hell we’ve bumbled into this time.

  The howls and screams bounce and echo of the buildings, the sound funnelling down the streets and coming at us from many directions. A single loud voice bellows out. A deep male voice then shots, many shots.

  ‘Rifles,’ Clarence mutters.

  ‘…and shotguns,’ Dave adds his head still cocked over and listening intently.

  ‘That lot are going at someone,’ Blowers says.

  ‘They are,’ I reply staring at the back of the massed horde, ‘the dirty fuckers are attacking someone.’ My voice comes out in a low growl as I feel the anger start to rise.

  ‘We got an advantage for once,’ Nick says clicking his safety off.

  ‘Yeah,’ I stand up. We all stand up. I copy Nick and flick my safety off and check my belt for the pouches of spare magazines.

  ‘Are we attacking them?’ Tom asks, we all stare at him, at the glint in his eye, at the desire and hunger we can see within him. Lani holds it too. A familiar grimace we’ve all come to know from so many battles together.

  ‘Yeah,’ I reply, ‘we are, spread out and form a line. Clarence can you fire that thing on the move?’

  ‘Yes boss,’ he answers as he hefts the weapon to waist height and holds the ammunition belt with one hand, ready to feed it in.

  ‘Clarence in the middle then, we hold the line and keep a steady pace.’ I step out and sense the others spreading out in a line. Like slow motion we stride across the blackened street, hearts beating, mouths dry, eyes staring hard.

  This isn’t our fight. We have no idea what’s going on. But here there are undead, hundreds of undead and they’re attacking something. People are firing back at them which means there are humans. That makes it our business right there. No one invited us to this fight but we’re here and we’ve slaughtered more of your kind than you will ever know.

  You have no idea what’s behind you. Six outright nasty bastards. One giant and one truly psychotic killer. Seven assault rifles and one big fucking machine gun. Seven men and one girl. Eight of us. Eight that stalk you. Eight that will kill you.

  ‘Dave?’

  ‘Yes Mr Howie.’

  ‘You ready Dave?’

  ‘Yes Mr Howie.’

  ‘Let them know we’re here Dave,’ we come to a stop and pause while Dave sucks a deep lungful of air in. I smile and glance left and right, we’re all smiling. We know what’s coming.

  ‘WE ARE HERE TO KILL YOU,’ Dave’s voice penetrates every sound, drowning everything else out. His bellow simply stops everything in its track…

  Twenty-One

  ‘What the fuck was that?’ Maddox screamed while quickly ejecting the shells from his shotgun and pushing two more in. The intense close quarter fighting has spilled across the junction as zombies and survivors fight, bite and die with utter savageness. The bodies smash into the gates as undead attack the fences and survivors frantically plead to open up and save them. As survivors get bit they drop, then come back a few minutes later.

  Maddox and his youths pour fire into them, but for every kill they get, be it human or infected, more pour in. The gates weaken and rattle with each blow as more heavy bodies slam into them. Rifles and shotguns f
ire, expending ammunition and Maddox knows that within a few minutes they will be out of shells and bullets. Just as he was about to give the order to pull back and try and get over the walls at the back of the compound a voice bellows out. The power and energy from it instantly ceases all action, everything stops, freezes.

  ‘WE ARE HERE TO KILL YOU…HOWIE IS UPON YOU AND HE BRINGS DEATH…TURN AND FACE US…TURN AND SEE THE FACE OF HOWIE…’

  ‘Who the fuck is Howie?’ Jagger whispers quietly.

  ‘I don’t know, but I hope he’s got a big fuckin’ gun,’ Maddox replies.

  Twenty-Two

  ‘WE ARE HERE TO KILL YOU…HOWIE IS UPON YOU AND HE BRINGS DEATH…TURN AND FACE US…TURN AND SEE THE FACE OF HOWIE…’

  The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. My breathing becomes faster and my heart beats faster. The wonder drug of adrenalin floods my system. I will talk to Dave later about his choice of taunting words but for now…for now there is us and you.

  They turn quickly as Dave’s voice staggers everything in sight and hearing. The challenge given, the gauntlet laid. We hold our thin measly line. Fingers pressing lightly on triggers as we face down another army of undead. They start to stagger, faster, quicker, charging. They roar and howl at the sight of the bodies standing calmly and waiting for them. I hold for another few seconds, just long enough to let them get a few feet away from whatever they’re attacking.

  ‘Down,’ I shout and as one we drop down to the crouch, magazines get placed quickly on the ground in front of us. They charge. They run now. Gathering speed.