The Undead the Second Week Compilation Edition Days 8-14

by RR Haywood

  ‘Must be a big one to be able to kill them so easily.’

  ‘Alsatian! She said it was a big Alsatian.’

  ‘Was it one of ours? It would make sense if it was trained to take people down, but no…the police dogs go for the arms don’t they?’

  ‘Yes Sarge, they use the bite sleeves.’

  ‘Well it doesn’t matter, I suppose we can’t exactly ask it can we, open the gates please,’ she barks in advance of reaching the inner gate. The guards jump at her command, quickly wrenching the door back watching as the two officers stride through.

  ‘Debbie?’ Chris shouts from behind her. She turns round to see him striding through the gate behind her, his face looking very red and flushed.

  ‘Chris, did Ted bring you up to speed?’

  ‘Kind of, something about a dog killing the zombies but not turning,’ Chris glances back at Ted following in his wake.

  ‘Terri said a woman just turned up outside saying there was a dog outside her house all day and all night, it was killing the things but it didn’t turn.’

  ‘How many did it kill? How did it kill them? What was the time difference between the first kill and the last time she saw it?’ Chris barks the question as Debbie waves her hands to slow him down.

  ‘You missed your calling Chris, you should have been a detective…we don’t know that yet, we’re going out to speak to her now.’

  ‘I’ll get Doc Roberts and meet you out there,’ he walks off towards the vetting tents, walking straight into an examination being conducted by two of the medical staff on a man stood there naked with his hands over his privates. ‘Where’s the Doc?’ He asks in an urgent tone.

  ‘Which one?’ The older of the two medics asks pointedly.

  ‘The Doc, Doc Roberts…where is he?’

  ‘Having a break out the back but…’ he gets cut off by Chris walking past them, nodding at the naked man and pulling the curtain back to find Doctor Roberts sat in a chair in the sun a few metres away.

  ‘What now for the love of god?’ Doctor Roberts groans at the big bearded man walking towards him with a look of focus on his face.

  ‘Doc we got a woman just turned up outside…’

  ‘Another one?’ He replies sarcastically.

  ‘No listen, she said there was a dog outside her house before she got here, it was killing the things…’

  ‘I’m a Doctor Chris, not a vet…’

  ‘Just listen!’ Chris growls getting a hard look from the doctor, ‘the dog was outside all day and all night, killing the things…she told Terri it didn’t turn…Hey…hang on…’

  ‘Where is she? Come on man don’t stand there catching flies!’

  Swallowing a curt reply Chris takes off after the Doctor, rolling his eyes and muttering under his breath.

  ‘Is he all clear?’ Doctor Roberts demands of the two medics stood talking to the naked man.

  ‘Yes Doctor,’ they reply in unison.

  ‘Then what the hell is he still doing here? Get dressed man! This isn’t a nudist club.’ He strides past, the long tails of his white lab coat billowing behind him. Chris passes through the tent, nodding once more at the very confused looking naked man. ‘Open the gates please, come on I haven’t got all day…get them open! Well done, now where is she? Chris what are you doing back there? Keep up man, I thought you were in the army?’

  ‘Yes Doctor,’ Chris bites his tongue, ‘good god,’ he blanches in surprise at the long queue of people waiting to come into the fort.

  ‘Well? Are you going to stand there gawping all day?’

  ‘Sorry Doc, er…down there with the police officers,’ he leads the way. Walking past the filthy refugees sat in the shade of vehicles and drinking water handed to them by the guards walking up and down.

  ‘Debbie, is this the woman? Hi, I’m Chris and this is Doctor Roberts,’ Chris turns to the woman at a nod from Sergeant Hopewell, extending his hand at the terrified woman clutching a baby to her chest.’

  ‘Have I done something wrong?’ She asks worried at the sudden attention and feeling a sense of panic that maybe they’ll refuse her from going inside.

  ‘No, nothing like that love,’ Chris switches to a soft tone, crouching down and smiling gently, ‘you told Terri something about a dog?’

  ‘The dog? Yeah but he didn’t bite any of us, it was outside the whole time, we didn’t go near it I promise.’

  ‘That’s great, you’ve done nothing wrong love, really. We’ll get you inside very quickly I promise, we’ve got baby formula inside, clean water so you can get cleaned up and get some sleep. You must be exhausted?’

  ‘I’m okay, really I am…I can work and do things.’

  ‘It’s okay love, we just want to ask about the dog, tell us what you told Terri.’

  ‘Er…well it just turned up and stayed outside,’ she shrugs clearly very scared.

  ‘Chris, may I?’ Terri touches his broad shoulder gently motioning him to budge over so she can take over. He concedes, accepting that his big bearded face being thrust at her might be causing her more alarm.

  ‘This man is Chris, he kind of runs the fort, that man is Doctor Roberts, he’s in charge of the medical teams here. This lady is Sergeant Hopewell, she’s my boss and in charge of the police. The other man is Ted, he’s in charge of all the guards here. You’ve done nothing wrong, really. But what you told me about the dog is vitally important, do you understand? There is nothing you can tell us that will mean bad things will happen to you. Unless you’ve been bitten or scratched and you’ve already told me you’ve had no contact…’

  ‘No we haven’t,’ she replies quietly staring at Terri.

  ‘So you can go in the fort, but what you told me about the dog, I need you to tell all of us again? Be as detailed as you can and don’t leave anything out.

  ‘Okay, it was an Alsatian, I know them cos my uncle had one when I was younger. We was at home, me and the kids and those things were outside, all round the house and trying to get in. I thought we were done for, I really did. My car was out the back but I was too scared to go outside…I didn’t know if they was by the car or not as I couldn’t see the car from the house…’

  ‘Okay, that’s great,’ Terri nods in earnest.

  ‘It was sat in the shade on the other side of the road, opposite the house. It was big, really big, biggest dog I’ve ever seen. It started killing the things, jumping up and biting them in the throat…it did all of ‘em…one after the other until they was all dead.’

  ‘What happened next?’ Terri asks.

  ‘It came over to the house and I could see it were normal, you know, like a normal dog. It was hot and pantin’ so I put some water down in a bucket…’

  ‘Did it drink the water?’ Doc Roberts asks in an impatient tone and earning a very stern look from Sergeant Hopewell.

  ‘It drank all of it, I put more down then more things kept comin’ and it went out and killed them too, stayed there all day it did.’

  ‘You said it was there in the night too?’ Terri prompts, not wanting to lead the woman but aware that the impatient Doctor Roberts was stood right behind her tapping his foot.

  ‘The night was bleedin’ awful, they all got fast and howled they did. Started chargin’ the house and banging at the doors and windows. I was in the bedroom with my kids but I left the window open and heard everything,’ she sobs suddenly, the memory of her own actions still racking her with guilt. ‘I had a knife, I thought they was gonna get in and I…I was gonna kill my kids so them things couldn’t get ‘em. I could hear the dog outside, snarling and barking all night. I could hear it ripping them apart…I could hear the bodies as they hit the ground. Then the front room window got smashed and I held that knife to my baby’s throat,’ she cries harder, tears free falling down her cheeks. ‘That dog though, it must have kept ‘em out…I didn’t look until the morning and by then there was just dead bodies everywhere and blood, just blood and bits of body…’

  ‘Was the dog still t
here?’ Doctor Roberts asks, his tone softer now after hearing the awful account and seeing the grief pouring from the woman.

  ‘It was Sir, I put more water down and it drank again. It was covered in blood it was. We left then, in the car…I couldn’t stand another day in that house…’

  ‘Was that the last time you saw it?’ Terri asks.

  ‘No, I drove down the side road and stopped at the junction, it was still outside my house, just sat there wagging its tail, I shouted thank you and we went off. I wanted to take it with us but I was worried in case it turned or somethin’.

  ‘That’s great,’ Terri says softly, ‘did you see the dog’s eyes?’

  ‘Yeah it was right below the window, could see them clear as anything.’

  ‘What colour were they?’ Doctor Roberts asks as Terri rolls her eyes.

  ‘Brown, just normal dog colour.’

  ‘Not red? Did you see any red colour in the eyes?’

  ‘No,’ she shakes her head.

  ‘And that was in the daytime and the morning after the night, yes? You saw the dog’s eyes both times?’

  ‘Yeah like I said, I kept putting water down for it; it stared up and wagged its tail.’

  ‘You said the dog was killing the things, how exactly was it doing that?’ The Doctor probes.

  ‘What do you mean? It bit them, with its mouth…and was like shaking its head when it got ‘em down on the floor.’

  ‘So you saw the dog biting into the things, it made them bleed yes?’

  ‘Blood everywhere.’

  ‘Was there any blood on the dog? In or on its mouth?’

  ‘Course there was, the dog was covered in it…all over its mouth, down its chest, on its paws, dripping from its tongue it was.’

  ‘Thank you, we’ll get you through very quickly…just wait here please,’ Doctor Roberts nods at Chris and Sergeant Hopewell. They step away, going across the dirt lane with Ted and Terri and speaking quietly.

  ‘What do you think?’ Chris asks the doctor.

  ‘What do I think? I think you need to find that bloody dog and get it back here.’

  ‘Could a dog be immune to…whatever this is?’ Ted asks seriously.

  ‘No idea Ted,’ the doctor knots his bushy eyebrows in deep thought, ‘anything is possible. It could be that breed, a genetic mutation or that particular dog having some kind of anti-body that is resistant. When was this?’ He snaps back to attention directing the question at Terri.

  ‘She wasn’t sure, maybe the second or third day.

  ‘Could be dead by now, might have just been a delayed reaction…Chris, we need that dog here and I need fuel for the bloody generators so I can get my equipment running.’

  ‘If we find that dog you can have all the fuel, I promise you that much Doc.’

  ‘We need search teams…’ Sergeant Hopewell cuts in.

  ‘We need Howie and his lot,’ Ted replies, ‘they’ll find that dog.’

  ‘They’re out on scavenging runs,’ Chris says. ‘Doc, you tell me how much of a priority this is and I’ll get some teams out now…’

  ‘Without knowing more I couldn’t say, but based on that terrified woman’s account that is already a week old…’

  ‘But she said the dog was biting the things, that means it must have been taking their blood in…and it didn’t turn all night,’ Terri says quickly.

  ‘True,’ the doctor nods, ‘you’re right, Chris this is the biggest chance we’ve got right now. Find that dog. Bring any Alsatians you find back here. If they find that dog get it back alive at all costs.’

  ‘What if it’s dead?’ Chris asks.

  ‘Bring the body here, we can still examine it but we need it alive. If that dog is immune to the virus this is the best chance we’ve got at finding a vaccine or a cure. Find it Chris, find it and get it back here.’

  THIRTY

  DAY ELEVEN

  ‘How did you get on?’ I ask Clarence as he jumps down from the Saxon. A convoy of vehicles drives through the gates behind him. Estate cars mostly and a couple of vans. ‘Don’t answer that mate, I can see. Any contacts?’

  ‘A few shufflers but that was it, how’s it going here?’

  ‘Slowly getting there,’ I reply, ‘Norman was trying to get them to load everything self by shelf but I said to concentrate on the food first, then toiletries and finally everything else.’

  The vehicles pull up in the car park, doors opening and slamming as the lads and Lani drift back towards the Saxon. They all look so hot and bothered with sluggish movements.

  Loading the goods takes a while, first the lorry is filled up and moved out the way before the vans and cars get stacked with every type of food in the building. We’ll never fit everything in but we do well and vastly increase our stock. We can always come back tomorrow and take the rest.

  As the days drifts into evening we’re finished. Having to leave enough free vehicles and space in vans to transport the people. It’s a tight fit as we’re forced to squeeze them into every nook and cranny we’ve got. The vans are seriously overloaded, as are the cars but I don’t think the police will be out too much today so as long as we take it relatively easy we should be okay.

  Surprisingly, Norman and Geoff are extremely effective at getting everyone where they should be. Geoff was one word answers when we first arrived but then I guess anybody would be faced with what he saw coming down the road, but they’re both exceptionally polite and friendly. Listening to people while still getting them to do what’s needed. I can already see they’re going to fit in well at the fort.

  The Saxon leads them out of the car park, using our radios to acknowledge when the last one leaves so we can pause while they lock the gates. Then we’re off. Slowly driving a very long convoy back through the town and onto the motorway.

  ‘Everyone okay?’ I call out once we’re settled in.

  ‘Hot,’ Cookey answers quickly.

  ‘Fucking hot,’ Nick adds just as quick.

  ‘Damn hot,’ Lani then says.

  ‘What? You want the heating up? Okay, I’ll put it on,’ I reach out for the controls, not actually knowing which one to press or twist, the gesture is enough and I get a series of moans and groans in reply. ‘I think we’ve earned an evening off, maybe a swim, a couple of cold drinks…we’ll see if there’s any beer anywhere, what do you reckon?’

  ‘Is that a promise?’ Lani asks in a suspicious voice.

  ‘To the best of my ability I promise.’

  ‘We’ll hold you to that boss,’ Clarence joins in, ‘if anything else happens tonight I will…I will…’

  ‘What? What will you do?’

  ‘Cry probably,’ he grins ruefully.

  ‘Are we back out tomorrow Mr Howie?’ Cookey shouts up.

  ‘Probably mate, if not then I’m sure they’ll have something else planned for us.’

  ‘It’s not been a bad day though, considering,’ Tom adds.

  ‘True, on the grand scale of how our days normally seem to go this one has been quite good, apart from the heat.’

  ‘Is this heat from what’s happening?’ Cookey asks.

  ‘How the fuck would that happen you twat,’ Blowers snorts.

  ‘Well I’ve never known it this hot before and I’ve also never known a zombie apocalypse either…’

  ‘How can they be related?’ Blowers asks.

  ‘Actually, I was thinking about this,’ I call out, ‘with the sudden cessation of…’

  ‘With the what?’ Cookey interrupts.

  ‘The cessation…with all the vehicles suddenly stopping, the factories, the airplanes, no fuels being burnt off. Less gasses in the atmosphere or air? Maybe some kind of connection.’

  ‘Ha, in your face Blowers,’ Cookey yells gleefully, ‘Mr Howie said it might be so get fucked.’

  ‘But then again it also might just be a freak summer, global warming or the polar ice caps…’

  ‘Eat shit Cookey,’ Blowers retorts as Cookey groans. Lani laughs wickedly
at the banter, giggling away in the corner at the back.

  ‘Was it hot in Thailand?’ Nick asks.

  ‘I don’t know, I was a baby when we moved here,’ she replies, ‘no that’s not true, I have been there with my family and yes it’s hot.’

  ‘Hot like this?’

  ‘I guess so, it’s very humid and this is humid and sticky too, yeah I think it is.’

  ‘Can you cook Thai food?’ Nick asks hopefully.

  ‘That’s racist,’ Cookey blurts out.

  ‘What? No it’s not,’ Nick responds.

  ‘Just coz she’s from Thailand you think she can cook Thai food, what like every Chinese person can do egg fried rice.’

  ‘Piss off fuckwit, I asked if she could cook Thai food, I didn’t just think she could.’

  ‘Well can you cook English food then?’

  ‘Er…yeah,’ Nick replies sarcastically, ‘I can do a full English.’

  ‘A full English doesn’t count,’ Cookey retorts.

  ‘What other English food is there then?’ Nick demands.

  ‘Well, other English food, you know…’

  ‘Toad in the hole?’ Blowers suggests.

  ‘Fish and chips,’ Tom adds.

  ‘Isn’t Beef Wellington an English dish?’ Cookey asks.

  ‘I don’t think England is that famous for our cooking,’ Nick says thoughtfully, ‘anyway, ignore that retard, can you cook Thai food?’

  ‘Yes Nick I can cook Thai food,’ she replies laughing at the arguments.

  ‘Wow! I’m starving…I wish we could have a take-away tonight,’ he groans.

  ‘I think they’re closed,’ Clarence says.

  ‘Fucking zombies ruin everything,’ Nick moans, ‘I could murder a pizza.’

  ‘I thought you wanted Thai food?’ Lani asks.

  ‘Well yeah but…yeah okay I could murder a Thai take-away, a Chinese, an Indian….anything really.’

  ‘KFC?’ Blowers asks.

  ‘Shit chips at KFC,’ Cookey replies.

  ‘MacDonald’s do the best chips,’ Tom says.

  ‘Nah, my local chippie does the best ones,’ Nick sighs wistfully.

  ‘Ah well, I’m sure we can have some baked beans and tinned veggies served with instant mash potato,’ Blowers says.