by RR Haywood
‘I was thinking of that myself,’ Jonas smiles, nodding with enthusiasm, ‘it’d be good to have someone watching my back.’
‘I don’t like any other motherfucker in this pen Jonas, what’s the plan for the outside? You got any ideas?’
‘Yeah course, we stay local, go into the towns and have some fun, get our shit together and find some ground.’
‘Motherfucker,’ Randall exclaims with a broad grin, ‘that’s a good ass plan Jonas, we find us some pussy, get some liquor and live like kings.’
Jonas matches the broad grin, giving a laugh as Randall walks off laughing.
‘Dumb fucking cunt,’ the man shakes his head, still smiling.
‘Yep,’ Jonas replies.
‘What the fuck was all that about Randy?’ A muscular inmate sidles up to the big American, speaking quietly.
‘They got something cooking,’ Randall lowers his head, keeping his voice low, ‘once we get out they’ll go for me, Jonas probably got them shanked up and ready.’
‘Cunts,’ the man growls.
‘Get our boys ready, soon as we all get out we take Jonas and his fuck ass gang,’ Randall moves away before the quiet conversation can be noticed. The man stays still for a few seconds, watching the inmates work at the wall. He kicks some rubble at his feet, waiting for a minute before he seemingly thinks of something else he needs to do and turns to walk out the room, heading to the central canteen to spread the word.
‘Quiet, there’s one of Randall’s blokes now,’ the leader of C wing says quietly. The two men stand quietly, waiting for the pensive looking inmate to walk through.
‘He’s gone,’ the B wing leader whispers, ‘what were you saying?’
‘I said them two fuckers will stitch us up, fucking guarantee it,’ C wing says.
‘What Jonas and Randall?’ B wing leans in, frowning at the suggestion.
‘Fuck yeah, thick as thieves them two, I bet they jacked up that fucking meeting between them.’
‘Why would they stitch us up?’ B wing asks.
‘Fucking hell mate, ‘ave I gotta spell it out for ya? There’s what, like five hundred blokes here that all want to shag something, get pissed and eat tons of food…if this thing is as bad as everyone is sayin’ then how the fuck are five hundred blokes all gonna find something to fuck and eat?’
‘I get it,’ B wing nods, ‘they’ll cut the numbers down then?’
‘Fuck they will,’ C wing urges, ‘they’ll want the spoils for themselves won’t they, two big fuckers like that, they don’t want us about being a thorn in the ointment.’
‘Thorn in the side, or a fly in the ointment,’ B wing says.
‘Whatever, my point is they’ll fuckin’ ‘ave us soon as we get out, we gotta get in there first, you saw those looks between ‘em at the meeting, like fucking funny signals and shit.’
‘Yeah, yeah course I did,’ B wing nods confidently.
‘And did you hear Jonas, “so Randall what do you think of this plan?” They was in it together.’
‘Yeah,’ B wings continues to nod, ‘what d’you reckon then? We team up or something like that?’
‘Fuck yeah,’ C wing looks round before continuing with the conspiring, ‘we gotta do this mate, we’ll be fucking killed if we don’t, this is like life and death right here.’
‘Alright, get our boys tooled up then, when you wanna do it?’
‘Wait for them to make the move,’ C wing says, ‘but for fucks sake keep it quiet.’
In the day room of A wing, the men continue to attack the wall, increasing the size of the hole and working at the several layers of concrete blocks. With the light pouring through the hole the energy levels remain high as men whisper, passing information discretely, the hushed conversations are noted by everyone else as they too have their own scheming chats.
The inmates, desperate to show that nothing is going on act overly friendly towards each other, laughing at crap jokes, patting each other on the back with forced humour.
‘Jonas,’ the leader of D wing nods in greeting, standing back from taking his turn on the barbell and patting the dust from his blue prison trousers.
‘One of my boys just said B and C were having a nice chat,’ D wing remarks casually, rubbing his hands and sending a shower of dust particles falling to the ground.
Jonas lifts his eyebrows and turns the edges of his mouth down, tilting his head at the same time with a look of mild interest.
‘Proper little chat too, lots of looking about and funny winks going on,’ D wing continues, he smears the sweat from his face, grimacing at the greasy film now coating his hands.
‘Were they now?’ Jonas says quietly.
‘Aye, reckon they’ll be planning something nice for the rest of us.’
‘Don’t seem right that, two against everyone else,’ Jonas lets the words hang in the air.
D wing nods, staying quiet and unsure how to proceed.
Bloody hell, how the fuck did he get in charge, Jonas thinks, still, he could be useful. ‘They ain't the only ones that can team up are they?’
D wing nods slowly, nervously glancing about and acting overly casual, ‘Me and you then Jonas?’
‘I think we might have to,’ Jonas gives a sad smile, expressing the villainy of the others conspiring against them, ‘we don’t want to be left out in the cold now do we?’
‘No, no way,’ D wing shakes his head, eyes narrowing.
‘Just keep watch then, anything happens then we work together, and watch that fucker Randall, I don’t trust him one little bit, I reckon he’ll go for you quickly.’
‘Me?’ D wing looks surprised, taking a step closer to Jonas, ‘why me?’
‘You’re the one he fears the most, didn’t you see the way he was looking at you in that meeting, couldn’t take his eyes off you.’
‘Shit,’ D wing exhales, an angry expression blossoming across his face, ‘that dirty cunt.’
Jonas nods, looking at the man directly, ‘he is a dirty cunt, and he’ll come after you, you get him first and my boys’ll watch your back.’
‘Thanks Jonas, cheers for the heads up, we always got on well me and you Jonas.’
‘Old school, we gotta stick together.’
‘You’re a canny bastard Jonas, I’ll give you that,’ Jonas’s man says quietly as the D wing leader strolls away to get the message to his men.
‘Survival,’ Jonas replies, ‘we ain’t no different to any other fucking species.’
Eleven
‘Reginald, what are these three unmarked buildings on this map?’ Marcy hands him the book, watching as the small man peers closely at the point her finger indicates.
‘Prisons, those are the three prisons,’ he replies.
‘Prisons? Of course…they might still be alive, how many inmates do they hold?’
‘One of them closed just a little while ago so that only leaves two, this one is the sex offenders unit and the other is Parkhurst, a category B prison that mostly contained offenders serving long sentences with a small section on remand. The sex offender unit only has about two hundred or so, but the other one has approximately six hundred, but that fluctuates as the prison service has been closing many institutions lately so some of the others were doubling up…’
‘How do you know all this?’ She asks, mildly surprised at his depth of knowledge.
‘How do you not know this?’ He replies, ‘you lived on this Island too, it’s common knowledge if you read the local papers and attend the local meetings.’
‘Yeah, I wasn’t big on doing that kind of thing. We’re going for the prisons next, should be an easy acquisition.’
‘Did you just say acquisition?’ Reginald asks.
‘Yes, why?’
‘Oh no reason,’ he looks away.
‘What?’ She asks.
‘It’s a good word,’ he shrugs, ‘that’s all.’
‘Impressed you did it?’ She smiles, ‘not just a pretty face you know.’
‘Time is of the essence my dear, we are moving out now,’ Marcy steps away, staring down the street at the barricade. Her face barley flickers with concentration as the horde suddenly animate and start heading down the road towards the high make-shift wall. The first ones to reach it start work immediately, clambering to the top to start throwing items down. As the huge numbers join in the area becomes a hive of activity, thousands of pairs of hands all working together and in silence, taking the wall apart.
As the barricade gets smaller it reveals the vehicles used as the base, cars and vans parked end on end. The hosts make light work of pushing them aside, the sheer press of bodies sliding even the heaviest of vehicles away. A gap forms, large enough for several people to walk through side by side.
Marcy strides down the street, watching as the horde all cease their work and stand back to the sides, quietly watching her walk past with Reginald, the communicators behind them. The horde filter through, hundreds and hundreds of undead bodies shuffling through the gap in the barricade to follow their leader to the next target.
It felt good to be moving again, the action of progression. Marcy smiles at the thought, liking the phrase. Progression. That’s what they were doing, progressing. Building a firm base for their species to live and function. Her mind flowed to the end plan; the fort she had heard so much about. Howie’s fort. Darren had explained how it remained defended, how none of them had breached the walls having been stopped in their tracks on the ground around it. He also said it contained thousands of people, and she imagined that word would spread amongst the humans and many more would go there.
This wasn’t personal against Howie, nor any of them. But if that fort did have so many people then she needed to take it. Not in a full on attack like Darren did. No, something else, something subtle. The cities would still have many left in them, more barricaded areas like this one. They could be taken one by one, but that fort was something she could work from. A safe place where thousands of hosts could stay in safety.
The plan was there, gather as many hosts as possible and lead them to the mainland. But the next step was the prisons. Her face flinched at the idea of turning sex offenders. There was enough of the human traits left in her to feel the repulsion towards the nefarious predators that had inflicted so much pain on their own kind.
She would take them, the end result would be the same, she knew that. But how they were taken would be different. The regret she felt at the suffering the humans went through on passing through wouldn’t be there this time, these men could suffer slowly and die painful deaths. She might even take a few herself, just for the pleasure of seeing that suffering.
‘April,’ she calls out, her mind working ahead as she forms the next plans.
April jogs forward, falling into step beside Marcy, ‘Yes Marcy.’
‘Find me the prettiest girls we’ve got, make sure none of them have visible injuries, and none of them smell, then get them ready at the front.’
‘Yes Marcy,’ April replies, starting to drop back.
‘Oh and April, make sure they look good, use sunglasses or hair to cover their eyes, I want to see some legs too.’
‘Okay Marcy.’
‘One more thing April, you’re very pretty so you’ll be with them, make sure you’ve got some sunglasses or something for yourself.’
‘Thanks Marcy,’ April beams with pleasure, the other communicators hearing the compliment smile appreciatively at April, feeling genuine delight at the praise she received.
‘I am assuming, from that conversation, that you are intending to use the same method of entry again but on a larger scale. It would seem that you are going to take advantage of the men within the prison being sex offenders and also the fact they’ve been incarcerated for long periods to tempt them with our most aesthetically pleasing living challenged persons.’
‘Reginald, why didn’t you just ask if I was planning the same trick again?’
‘I did,’ he frowns in confusion, ‘may I ask, are you planning on leading this venture yourself, only that it does somewhat expose you to risk and I fear that we would be left without a leader should anything untoward take place.’
‘Untoward? In a prison full of sex offenders? Perish the thought.’
‘Marcy, it sometimes feels that you are mocking me,’ he says with his nose in the air.
‘Oh Reggie my dear, if I do then it’s with love not malice.’
‘It’s Reginald,’ the instant reply comes quickly from his lips, ‘I should advise that this plan is fraught with danger and urge you to find someone else to lead.’
‘Are you volunteering? You’d look good in a frock, I can get some of the girls to give you a make-over on the way if that helps.’
‘Good heavens I shall do no such thing,’ he exclaims, completely missing the sarcasm, ‘no I was rather thinking of April, she seems a steady enough girl with a good head on her shoulders.’
‘I’ll give it some thought Reggie but don’t be disappointed if I do choose to go in.’
‘By the way, I have meaning to ask you…’
‘You are just full of questions aren’t you Reggie.’
‘My name is Reginald, and yes, I am full of questions as I find it the most satisfactory way in which to establish information and thereby increase my knowledge, how did you turn the guard when you went in? There isn’t a mark on him.’
‘Robbie?’ Marcy laughs, ‘bless him, he was rather captivated by my boobs so I gave him a kiss, couldn’t have him leaving humanity with having never kissed a girl or felt a…’
‘Yes thank you! I get the picture Marcy,’ Reginald huffs, looking away with a dour expression.
‘Has that offended you?’ Marcy smiles.
‘And why would it do that?’ Reginald asks, ‘you foresaw the easiest and most logical method of gaining entry and in doing so reduced the risk to yourself, no I am not offended.’
‘You speak like that pointy eared bloke from Star Trek.’
‘Doctor Spock? I have had similar comparisons in the past and although I am a committed fan of both the series and the old movies, although I hasten to add, not the newer movies, I would not compare myself to Doctor Spock.’
‘Not offended then, maybe just a little jealous instead.’
She watches his face bluster at the implication, delighting in the easy way he reacts to the gentle teasing. ‘I was not jealous! I merely asked on the method you used to gain entry.’
‘Oh my mistake, you just looked a little jealous.’
‘I can assure you I was not, and am not, jealous.’
‘Okay, you can have a kiss too if you want.’
‘I do not want a kiss, thank you for the offer.’
‘Sure? Oh come here my little Reggie, give Marcy a kiss,’ she steps closer to him, laughing as he blanches away with a look of horror. ‘I know you want a kiss,’ she pouts her lips, pushing them out as far as possible.
‘I do not want a kiss,’ he protests.
‘I can do that controlling thing you like so much Reggie, I can make you kiss me!’ She laughs as he scampers away, yelping with fright.
‘Marcy, are these okay so far?’ April calls out, leading a small group of undead women from the bulk of the horde.
‘Wow,’ Marcy smiles at the sight of the gorgeous girls. All of them with long hair pulled down to hide any bite marks on their necks. Slim figured, fuller bodied, blonds through to raven haired and all of them with stunning looks, ‘very good, very very good,’ Marcy grins at April, she nods back, glowing from the praise.
‘Reggie, what do you think?’ Marcy calls out to the man now walking several metres away and pretending not to notice the girls.
‘Reginald,’ he says quickly, ‘oh…I see…yes I think they are…er…very er…suitable for the task you h
ave in mind,’ he stammers.
‘But are they kissable?’ Marcy asks with an edge to her voice.
‘Marcy…don’t you dare,’ Reginald warns, his voice rising in panic.
‘Girls, I think Reggie needs a kiss,’ she bursts out laughing as the gorgeous group, led by April, move towards Reginald, all of them smiling and showing him their charm.
‘Marcy, you’re stopping me from running away…this is not fair…let me run away…oh my, yes thank you, hello very nice to meet you, shall we just shake hands instead? No…oh right...oh another one…yes well this is very pleasant and yes hello to you too, oh another kiss…Marcy! This is intolerable…yes my dear I am very pleased to meet you, really there is no need to keep kissing me…’
‘Okay girls, I think Reginald has had enough for now, we don’t want him getting idea’s now do we,’ Marcy watches as the girls remove themselves from being draped over the small man, forming back into their group. Reginald walks slowly onwards, re-adjusting his skewed glasses, smoothing his hair down and plucking at his shirt sleeves, the whole action being done with a faraway look in his eye.
‘So what’s your verdict now Reggie?’ Marcy calls out, exchanging a grin with April.
‘Reginald,’ he says quietly, ‘I think they’ll do fine,’ he mutters.
‘Hear that April? Reginald gives his seal of approval.’
‘Oh I am very glad,’ April replies with absolute sincerity.
Marcy stares ahead, watching the heat shimmer on the road and, just as with the humans, she feels the oppression of the heat bearing down. Those inmates won’t know what’s hit them, she smiles gently.
Twelve
‘There is it you motherfuckers, there is the promised gate to the outside world, I said I would get you out and I mother fucking done it,’ Randall stands next to the man size hole in the wall, his strong hands rip the last section down creating a gap big enough for the largest man to get through.
Men stand with hands on knees, panting and dripping sweat onto the rubble strewn floor, chests heaving from the final frantic exertion. Nerves already frayed from the incessant scheming and whispered conversation, long looks and quick furtive glances, nods passed, hand s pressing against each other as weapons are passed from man to man. Razor blades pilfered from the tuck-shop, iron bars put ready in reach, dumbbells strategically placed. Every man within the prison knew something was going to happen. It was just a matter of when, and who would make the first move.