The Undead the Second Week Compilation Edition Days 8-14

by RR Haywood

  She senses the day drawing on and the high heat of the afternoon. The bushes are shaded which provides relief from the scorching sun but the air is still super charged and humid.

  By late afternoon she is unable to sleep anymore. Thirsty and hungry she moves out from her position and finds a suitable spot to deposit her scent. Moving off and searching through the soft ground for food or water.

  A shallow stream, shaded by tall trees provides a perfect spot to cool down and she wades into the water, drinking first and then lying down and letting the water flow past her. The running water turns a pale shade of pink from the blood stains as the dried gore softens and comes away from her fur. She drinks more and savours the chill feeling on her stomach and hind quarters. Still the sense of sadness burns within. She knew there was another pack in that den and she protected the little ones but they’re gone now too. Images flash through her memory, fleeting glimpses of her pack laughing and stroking her belly. The pack leader taking her out for a patrol and throwing things for her to chase and catch.

  Soft brown eyes blink as she whines softly and her ears dip down. Alone and hungry. She can find food and keep going but without a pack she feels desolate and aimless.

  Cooled and watered she rises from the stream and walks gently through the soft ground, using her nose to head back towards the hard ground. Keeping to the shadows she slinks down streets and roads until she finds a pile of the black things. Again she glances round out of habit, checking no one will tell her off and make noise. Her nose picks out the best choices and she rips the bags open, devouring any food left inside them. The wasteful nature of society means she again eats well and fills her stomach with left over meals and discarded food.

  The smell of the things is everywhere. The stench of them permeates the air and it’s already getting worse. Decay and dying flesh, rancid, awful and sweet.

  With nothing else to do she puts nose to ground and starts tracking their movements. Using that foul stench to hunt them down. She’s alone but she knows that her little one still lives somewhere, those things will kill her little one.

  She must kill them first.

  FIFTEEN

  DAY ELEVEN

  ‘Try that,’ Nick says flat on his back between Clarence and me with his arms stretched into the inner working of the Saxon’s electrical wiring system.

  ‘It hasn’t worked the last five times Nick,’ Cookey moans.

  ‘Just press play and try Cookey,’ Nick’s muffled voice calls out. The headphones of the IPod dangle just above his head as he cuts and splices things, his new tool bag open on his chest and a pair of wire cutters gripped between his teeth. ‘Have you pressed play yet?’

  ‘Yes mate,’ Cookey replies.

  ‘It should be working,’ Nick says, ‘Clarence is the PA system on?’

  ‘Hang on,’ he leans forward and checks the switches on the dashboard, ‘er…no it wasn’t, do you want it on?’

  ‘Yes please,’ Nick says frustrated but retaining a polite tone remembering who he’s talking to.

  ‘It’s on,’ Clarence flicks the switch and the sound of Missy Elliot booms out from the loudspeaker attached to the outside of the vehicle. Cheers erupt from the back and even Clarence’s face splits in a wide grin.

  ‘Fucking yes!’ Nick slides out and grins up at everyone.

  ‘Well done,’ I shout down over the sound of We Run This belting out.

  ‘What else you got on here?’ Cookey asks and fiddles with the IPod. The song ends abruptly as the opening for Eternal Flame by The Bangles starts up.

  ‘What the fuck?’ Cookey laughs.

  ‘I like it,’ Lani says defiantly.

  ‘You got some good stuff Lani,’ Cookey flicks through her playlists.

  ‘Only problem is we can’t really use it too much,’ I break the bad news, ‘we’d draw them for miles around if they hear it.’

  ‘Is that a bad thing?’ Blowers shouts up.

  ‘It is if we’re trying to keep a low profile and do a quick raiding mission.’

  ‘Since when have we kept a low profile?’ Clarence chuckles.

  ‘True,’ I nod and smile, ‘where now mate?’ Following the map we’ve headed north away from the coast. Going through villages and towns, all of them looking more torn apart and destroyed than the last. Burnt out vehicles and bodies littering streets, pavements and road. Signs of intense fighting everywhere and we see small groups of undead gathered in central places, turning to shuffle slowly as we drive past. Tom shouted if he should fire on them, the temptation was great but we decided to conserve our ammunition and just concentrate on getting to the first hospital.

  ‘Take a right, about a mile up the road now,’ Clarence advises as he examines the map and looks up to check local landmarks and road names. We’re in a built up area now. I’ve no idea what the town is and to be honest, it doesn’t make any difference to me. The area is built up and urban which means there was a high population density here. That means there will be undead aplenty and also that the hospital will most likely be overrun or looted already. It would only take one infected to get taken there by ambulance when the outbreak started.

  ‘Music off,’ I call out. Cookey switches the IPod off quickly and pushes it onto the dashboard. ‘Almost there, we’ll slow down for the last quarter of a mile. Switch on a keep a good look out.’

  I hear rustling and slight clanging noises as the lads get their rifles ready, checking magazines, pulling bolts back. Taking pistols out, ejecting the smaller clips and ramming them back home. Clarence twists round to watch them, looking at me with an impressed nod.

  ‘There it is,’ he points ahead to a modern looking building set back from the road. A big sign board indicates the route in for the various departments. We take the access road for the Accident and Emergency department knowing it will be big enough for ambulances and there-fore big enough for our vehicles.

  ‘There’s been some contact here,’ Tom shouts down.

  ‘Got it,’ I call back looking at the corpses in the mostly deserted car park. Several of them scattered about.

  ‘Looks like they were run over…several times,’ Tom commentates as we drive slowly down the access road.

  ‘Right outside a hospital too,’ Cookey mutters to a few sniggers.

  ‘Alex, you’re with me for the first clearance when we go in, make sure your rifle can fit on your back with the strap. We’ll be using pistols.’

  ‘Okay Dave,’ Cookey instantly switches to a respectful tone of voice.

  ‘Here we are,’ I slow to a crawl for the last short distance. Approaching the wide front of the hospital emergency department. Two sets of double doors stand open, the building looks huge. Really long and at two stories high we’re going to have our work cut out clearing it.

  ‘Have you got your radio’s on?’ I ask.

  ‘Yep, yours is clipped to your bag Mr Howie,’ Blowers answers, proving I didn’t need to ask.

  ‘Looks clear, there’s an ambulance over there…we’ll have that if the we can find the keys,’ Clarence points further down the road to wide parking bays marked up with Ambulances Only.

  ‘Right, Tom you stay on the GPMG. The rest spread out and check this area first.’ Bringing the Saxon to a stop I hear the back doors opening and sounds of feet jumping down onto the concrete. Blowers hands me my kit bag and rifle as I climb down and feel the heat of the morning hitting me like a brick wall.

  ‘Jesus, it’s fucking hot,’ I moan quietly. It feels like hot air from an oven.

  ‘This has got to be the hottest summer this country has ever seen,’ Clarence says shrugging his bag on and picking his rifle up, ‘I’ve known deserts cooler than this.’

  ‘Humid too,’ Blowers adds wiping sweat from his forehead. Walking away I see Cookey, Nick and Lani have already taken steps away from the building and are facing away, checking the view all around and holding their weapons at the ready. The vans have stopped a short distance away and I wave at them to stay put.
/>   ‘Howie to the vans, are you receiving me over?’

  ‘Lead van to Mr Howie, this is Pete, yeah we’re receiving you loud and clear.’

  ‘Howie to Pete and the other vans, hold your position. We’ll leave someone on the GPMG and start checking inside over.’

  ‘Pete to Mr Howie, okay, we’ll hold here over.’

  I nod at Dave who signals Cookey to head over. We start walking slowly to the entrance as Cookey pushes his rifle round and draws his pistol. Entering through the main doors we fan out into a line and look at the devastation. Blood everywhere, corpses mangled and rotten. Furniture upended, a wheelchair lying on its side, blankets and sheets scattered over the floor. To the right is a large waiting room with chairs bolted to the floor and a long reception desk. The corridor leads on into the emergency treatment rooms, and the curtained sections used by the triage nurses.

  Dave steps out front and motions Cookey to move by his side. Both of them have their pistols drawn and held out in front in a double handed grip. Dave turns and signals Clarence to watch the rear, the big man nods back and steps back a few paces half turning so he can maintain a clear view.

  The two men lead the way slowly progressing down the corridor, taking steady steps until they reach the first side rooms. Dave holds his hand up, fist clenched and we pause. He indicates the rest to keep eyes on the front and signals that he’s going to clear the room on the left.

  Heavy double swing doors with a solid metal strip across the middle section to protect the wood from being battered by beds rammed into them at speed. Dave pushes one side with his foot and indicates Cookey to push the other side open. They step in, holding the doors open with their feet and sweeping the pistols round the room. The doors swing close behind them with shushing noise. Two loud shots ring out and we grip our weapons tighter as the tension ramps up a notch.

  The doors swing open as they walk out, Dave motioning that one was inside and was taken down by Cookey. They cross the corridor and repeat the movements, pushing the door open and disappearing for a few seconds.

  Ten minutes later and we’ve only cleared the first main corridor and reached a crossroads with large corridors leading off left, right and ahead.

  ‘This is going to take too long,’ I whisper to everyone, ‘Dave you take Cookey and Lani left, Blowers you and Nick with me to the right, Clarence holds here.’ They nod back and we move off. Pistols drawn. We keep to the same method of room clearance of two going in to each room and the other remaining outside.

  We rotate round the pairings round, taking it in turns. Some of the rooms lead into offices and administration areas, those are cleared quickly. Other doors lead into smaller waiting rooms with more corridors going off to yet more smaller examination and consultation rooms.

  Bloody footsteps and smears indicate there has been undead here and most of the doors are simple swing doors without handles or locks, meaning they could be anywhere. The air smells stale and hot, tinged with the stench of decaying, rancid meat. We find corpses throughout the rooms. The bodies hacked apart by dozens of mouths and destroyed beyond possibility of coming back.

  Halfway down our corridor and we pause to pull water bottles from each-others packs and swig the rapidly warming liquid down. It does little to cool us and I can tell Blowers and Nick are as uncomfortable as I am. My back feels like there’s a hot water bottle trapped between my skin and the material of the bag. My face drips sweat from my chin and my top is sodden.

  Nick and I push into the next room; an undead turns slowly on seeing us. A doctor still dressed in a white lab coat but half his face torn off. He groans audibly as Nick fires a single shot into his head. Blood and brains splatter the wall behind him as the round takes the back of his skull off.

  ‘Shot mate,’ I whisper.

  ‘Thanks Mr Howie,’ he whispers back. Just a single room and we back out just as Blowers fires down the corridor at another undead exiting a side room, pushing the door open with his body and shuffling into view.

  ‘I think they know we’re here,’ he comments and exhales sharply blowing a spray of sweat from his upper lip.

  We move down and I hold while they take the next room. Another shot rings out and I hear more muffled shots coming from further down the corridor. I glance back to see Clarence aiming down the corridor ahead of him and taking a shot.

  ‘Hang on lads,’ I say as they walk out, ‘Howie to Pete, you receiving me?’

  ‘Loud and clear Mr Howie.’

  ‘We’ve got multiple contacts here, might take some time, over.’

  ‘Yeah we heard the shots, do you need a hand? Over.’

  ‘No mate, just bear with us.’

  ‘Roger that.’

  ‘Okay, crack on,’ I clip the radio back onto my bag strap. A squeaking noise comes from further down the corridor. We hold position with pistols raised and waiting as the noise draws closer. A door starts swinging open ahead of us, a few rooms down. An undead female dressed in a hospital gown and pulling a wheeled stand holding a now empty drip behind her. The fact that the wheeled stand is still attached and upright causes us to pause for a second. The wheels squeak annoyingly as she slowly ambles towards us.

  ‘We should put some blood in that drip bag, she’d be happy for hours,’ Nick comments then fires a single shot taking her in the throat. She spins back and slams into the wall, slumping down as fresh blood pours from her throat. The drip stand remains upright.

  We clear the rest of the corridor, getting frequent contacts until we’re satisfied the rooms are all clear. Strolling back down we swig water and change magazines. Dave reaches the main junction just ahead of us, Cookey and Lani both red faced and sweating heavily. Even Dave looks a little flushed, but only a little.

  ‘There’s loads of them,’ Lani remarks as we move down the corridor, stepping over the body that Clarence shot.

  ‘More than I thought there would be,’ I smile at her and she grins back showing her white teeth. She looks so beautiful with her glowing face and I can’t help but stare for a second.

  ‘More rooms,’ Dave mutters. ‘We’ll do the left you do the right?’

  ‘Okay mate, Nick you swap with Clarence for a few minutes.’ They swap round and we keep going.

  ‘Dave, Clarence, you okay if they start getting the equipment from the sections we’ve cleared?’

  ‘Makes sense boss,’ Clarence nods. I can see Dave would prefer to have the whole building cleared before they enter but that will take valuable time.

  ‘Howie to Pete.’

  ‘Pete receiving you Mr Howie, go ahead.’

  ‘Mate, we’ve cleared the A and E department and the main corridors up to the signs that lead to the x-ray section. Do you want to start in behind us while we press on?’

  ‘Yeah got it, we’ll come in now and get working.’

  ‘Roger that, take care, there’s bodies everywhere and it’s hot as hell in here. Tom you receiving me?’

  ‘Tom to Mr Howie, receiving you loud and clear, go ahead over,’ his training as a police officer shows clearly as his confident voice comes through the radio.

  ‘Tom did you hear the last? They’ll be coming in to start unloading. You stay put and keep watch there.’

  ‘Roger that Mr Howie, acknowledged the last, remaining in position until further notice.’

  ‘Right, who wants an X-Ray?’ I ask. Another set of double doors ahead of us and the more double doors to the right leading to the X-Ray section. You lot crack on, I’ll hold here.’

  Clarence nods back and goes to push the swing door open. It hits something the other side and bounces back at him. He frowns as the door starts swinging towards him, a clear groaning coming from the other side.

  ‘I’m too hot to piss about,’ he growls and slams one hand into the door. It bursts open with a loud thud as the body on the other side is sent flying backwards. He strides in and kicks the undead hard in the head, breaking the neck. Cookey stares in awe and looks back at Nick and Blowers both grinni
ng like idiots.

  ‘Nick, chuck us a smoke mate,’ I call out before he disappears. He drops back and hands me his packet and a lighter. I stick one in my mouth and light the end, savouring the smoke as I pull it back. ‘You having one?’ I ask him.

  ‘Is that alright?’ he replies and lights one up. Dave might not be very happy with us smoking on the job but hey, it’s hotter than a hot place on a hot day and it stinks too.

  ‘Good job with that IPod Nick,’ I breathe the smoke out and feel the pleasant tingle as the nicotine receptors get a hit.

  ‘Thanks Mr Howie,’ he nods back blowing smoke downwards and tapping the ash on the floor. I’m suddenly reminded of McKinney. We stood and smoked in a hospital in London a few hours before he got killed.

  ‘You okay Mr Howie?’ Nick asks as an involuntary shiver goes through me.

  ‘Yeah,’ I smile back, ‘fine mate. You okay?’

  ‘Starving,’ he says quickly.

  ‘You’re always bloody starving; I don’t know where you put it all.’

  ‘Nervous energy, I burn it off…that’s what I was told anyway.’

  ‘Boring in there,’ Cookey says coming back through the doors, ‘we were going to X-Ray Blowers to see how thick his head was but the powers off.’

  ‘Very funny,’ Blowers replies drily.

  ‘You two take the rear and have a smoke if you want,’ I stub my cigarette out on the tiled floor.

  ‘Thanks,’ Cookey pulls a packet from his pocket and hands one to Blowers as Nick and I push through the next double doors.

  ‘Well hello!’ Nick smirks at the sight. A wide open main reception area with stairs leading up. A café and newsagents on the far side and the hospital pharmacy off to the left. The metal shutters still firm and locked in place across the counter. The area doesn’t look looted but then I guess the horde of zombies here have kept everyone at bay.