The Undead the Second Week Compilation Edition Days 8-14

by RR Haywood

  ‘Hey,’ she rubs the nose, smiling in relief that the horse is now holding its own head up. Still lying down but at least it’s not sparked out now. She takes a cube and presses it to the horse’s mouth, letting the animal sniff it before taking the cube. The other one comes back and keeps nuzzling her, pushing her harder and harder until she relents and feeds it another two cubes.

  The lying down horse hasn’t died so she gives it another cube, watching carefully in case it starts reacting. Within a couple of minutes the upright horse is showing signs of a sugar rush, pawing the ground and tossing its mane. It becomes more demanding, pushing her roughly for more cubes. The eyes look quite wild now, big and staring. Too much sugar. She tries to ignore it but it persists, nuzzling her shoulder and then taking a nip at her collar bone. With a yelp she relents and feeds two more cubes before going back to the one of the ground.

  It too shows signs of reaction. Snorting more and kicking out with its legs, the eyes look sharper too, more focussed and animated.

  She feeds another few cubes and moves back just in time as the animal starts moving to get up. A slow action at first and unsteady on its legs, but it does it and gains its feet.

  Paula stands back grinning proudly as the horses rub necks and push against each other, both of them now appearing to be full of energy. They trot side by side to the water trough and start drinking, taking huge noisy sucks of water, tails swishing the flies away, flank muscles shuddering with tension and nerves.

  Something good just happened. Take the positive and feel good about it, she may have just saved the animals life. Paula strolls slowly towards the gate, watching the horses as they drink. As she passes they both lift their heads and start moving after her. She laughs at the sight or her two new friends coming to say goodbye. The big animals move in and start nuzzling her, pushing her about as they sniff for the sugar cubes. Taking a step back Paula tries telling them no, like a mother would tell a naughty child. But the horses are not children, they’re big powerful creatures that want more sugar and they know she has the sugar, so hand it over, give us the sugar now.

  Noses push against her, mouths grope and snort down her arms trying to push her hands up. She yelps in alarm as a big shoulder barges her back. The horses are suddenly not so nice, but very big and very strong. They push harder, demanding the sugar be handed over. One goes round behind her, pushing at her back. She tries side stepping but they don’t want her to go, not until she hands the sugar over. Pushed, shoved and barged. Lips pulled back to show dirty strong teeth that want to nip and bite until she understands that she will be giving that sugar over.

  ‘Bloody hell,’ Paula jumps back, one of the horses snorts louder and paws the ground. This time an aggressive act or one that Paula perceives to be an aggressive act. Being mugged by horses. The oldest trick in the book. Pretend you’re injured and when she comes over to help we’ll steal her sugar.

  She eyes the gate and accepts defeat, they know they can outrun her with ease so she upends the box and sends a little rainfall of glistening white sugar cubes falling to the ground. One of the horses sees the box and goes for it, knocking it out of her hand and sending her flying back. The other one moves in, scooping the cubes up. The box splits, showering Paula in the cubes as she falls to the floor. The second horse moves in, looking with delight at the little white squares distinct against Paula’s black clothing.

  Paula scrabbles back as the horse comes in for the bite, nipping at the cubes. She rolls away and gets to her feet, running for the gate while drawing her pistol. She runs into the lane, straight to the vehicle and glances back, convinced the horses are chasing her. What she sees are two majestic and gentle creatures grazing contentedly at the ground.

  She looks at the pistol and shakes her head, knowing she wouldn’t have shot them no matter what, but still impressed that she had the gumption to at least draw the weapon.

  ‘Bloody countryside is more dangerous than those things,’ she mutters, climbing back into the vehicle half expecting a herd of cows waiting to carjack her.

  Eight

  ‘That’s a lot of bodies.’

  ‘It is Mr Howie.’

  ‘Going to be a hot day again.’

  ‘It will be.’

  ‘How the hell we going to get rid of them all?’

  ‘Use a digger.’

  ‘What just scoop them away.’

  ‘Yes Mr Howie, we’ve got the fuel now…’

  ‘Dirty job though.’

  ‘It is.’

  ‘Too much for just us I think Dave.’

  ‘We can do it, Clarence can drive the digger, we can pile the bodies into a truck and drive them to the estate.’

  ‘Hmmm, still a lot of bloody work though, and all those tents will have to be taken out, they’re covered in blood and bits of body.’

  ‘You have a plan.’

  ‘Do I?’

  ‘You do Mr Howie.’

  ‘What’s my plan then?’

  ‘To get extra help.’

  ‘That’s my plan is it?’

  ‘Yes Mr Howie.’

  ‘Great plan Dave.’

  ‘And you’ll be asking Maddox and his group to move here.’

  ‘How the fuck did you know I was thinking of that?’

  ‘It’s obvious Mr Howie, we need help and they are the only other group we know.’

  ‘I thought you said you couldn’t understand people.’

  ‘This is different, it’s tactic and strategy.’

  ‘So what do you think then?’

  ‘What about?’

  ‘Fucking hell Dave…about the moon…what do you think about the moon?’

  ‘It’s held in place by the earth’s gravitational pull.’

  ‘Very funny.’

  ‘About Maddox you mean?’

  ‘Yes Dave, about Maddox.’

  ‘There are pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages. They are young, untrained, no discipline but also clearly very loyal and brave.’

  ‘True, lads, you alright?’

  ‘Morning Mr Howie, shit…that’s a lot of bodies.’

  ‘It is Cookey, we were just saying that.’

  ‘How we gonna get rid of them?’ Blowers asks.

  ‘I was thinking of getting some help.’

  ‘Who from?’ Clarence asks, then, ‘oh…them,’ as he makes the same connection as Dave.

  ‘Who?’ Cookey asks.

  ‘Who do you think?’ Blowers replies.

  ‘I dunno, who?’

  ‘Fucking hell Cookey, even I can work that one out,’ Nick sighs.

  ‘Work what one out? Who we asking…?’

  ‘Your mum,’ Blowers shakes his head.

  ‘My mum? She won’t clear bodies away, she never did the housework at home…who we asking?’

  ‘Jesus mate, are you still pissed?’ Nick asks.

  ‘Fucking wish I was,’ Cookey grumbles, ‘pissed with April and finishing what we started before Dave chopped her head off.’

  ‘I didn’t chop her head off,’ Dave adds.

  ‘If we find a tattooist I’m gonna get her name done.’

  ‘Cookey you dick, she was a fucking zombie.’

  ‘Fuck you Blowers, she loved me…Anyway, who we asking?’

  ‘Oh my fucking days, have you still not worked it out?’ Nick gasps.

  ‘No, who?’

  ‘Who else do we know?’ Nick asks him.

  ‘Nobody, they’re all dead or zombies…or dead zombies.’

  ‘So we don’t know anyone else that’s alive?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Living near here.’

  ‘No,’ he shakes his head with a look of concentration.

  ‘Living in a secure compound with big fences…’ Nick continues as we all stare at Cookey.

  ‘Big fences? What big fences?’

  ‘Young…’

  ‘Young?’

  ‘Fuck me…this is like pulling teeth…young and living on a fucking housing estate, guns an
d speaking like chav’s.’

  ‘Oh,’ Cookey grins, ‘them! Why didn’t you just say, yeah I get it now…sorry about that.’

  ‘Unbefuckinglievable,’ Blowers sighs again, ‘Mr Howie, I apologise on behalf of Cookey and his half a brain cell that is still in April’s knickers.’

  ‘Oh April,’ Cookey adds wistfully, ‘she loved me. So we gonna get Maddox then?’

  ‘Worth a go,’ I add with a smile, ‘there’s enough of them, and we got to get this mess cleared up somehow.’

  ‘So we are going to ask a bunch of children to clear away a thousand dead and mangled bodies?’ Clarence asks.

  ‘Pretty much mate.’

  ‘Fair enough,’ he nods, ‘just checking.’

  ‘But they’re chav’s, they’ll steal everything,’ Nick says.

  ‘What is there to steal?’ I ask him.

  ‘The stores will be emptied, the booze’ll be shoplifted, they’ll be hanging about on the corners with their hoods up and spitting everywhere.’

  ‘That’s racist,’ Cookey adds.

  ‘Fucking idiot, it’s not racism it’s stereotyping,’ Blowers replies.

  ‘You’re a racialist,’ Cookey nods at Nick.

  ‘You’re a twat,’ Nick promptly replies.

  ‘I don’t think we got much choice really, we can’t clear this away and manage it on our own. There’s only six of us plus the dog.’

  ‘How we going to do it then?’ Clarence asks.

  ‘We’ll have to go and see them, ask them nicely…that woman, what was her name?’

  ‘Er…Lenski or something like that,’ Cookey gives a serious answer for once.

  ‘Yeah Lenski, she was switched on…we’ll have to go together, I’m not splitting our team again so we’ll have to risk leaving this place empty.’

  ‘What if someone else comes while we’re away?’ Nick asks.

  ‘They’ll find a big empty fort with lots of dead bodies mate,’ I smile.

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘Stupid question,’ Cookey tuts.

  ‘Fuck you.’

  ‘Fuck your back.’

  ‘Fuck my back?’ Nick laughs.

  ‘Fuck it…I meant fuck you back.’

  ‘You want to fuck my back?’

  ‘I bet he does,’ Blowers adds with a grin.

  ‘Christ,’ Clarence shakes his head.

  ‘We might as well go now, nothing else to do,’ I say.

  ‘Can you give me ten minutes Mr Howie,’ Cookey asks quickly, ‘I think that food last night is making a big poo in my tummy.’

  ‘Urgh you fucking dirty bastard,’ Blowers grimaces.

  ‘I need a dump too,’ Nick rubs his stomach.

  ‘Thinking about it,’ Clarence shifts position, ‘that’s not a bad idea.’

  ‘I might as well go now too then,’ Blowers nods.

  ‘How many toilets are in that visitor centre?’ I ask, already starting to move away. The others clock my movement and start shifting position.

  ‘I said it first,’ Cookey starts running. We all do, flat out sprinting towards the centre, leaving Dave stood there shaking his head. Meredith bounds along barking in a high pitched tone at the sudden excitement.

  Cookey takes the lead but the rest of us are right behind him. Even Clarence keeping up as we spring along holding axes and assault rifles.

  Yelling and shouting at each other we watch Cookey turn and grin as he keeps the lead position. With a few metres to go he raises an arm in victory, just as Dave runs past him, goes through the open door and sprints down the short corridor to the toilets, scooting through and out of sight.

  Cookey yells out and runs through with the rest of us hot on his trail, he gets to the toilet door and bursts in, turning to stick one finger up at Blowers and Nick before disappearing out of view.

  ‘There’s only two cubicles in there,’ Blowers moans, ‘where you going?’ He adds as Nick jogs past, heading for the ladies.

  ‘Using the girl’s toilet, they’re always cleaner anyway,’ he shouts and pushes the door open.

  Blowers, Clarence and I all look at each other and start running for the last remaining cubicle in the girl’s toilet.

  ‘CONTACT,’ Nick bellows from inside. We rush through the door to see Nick inside stood a couple of feet back from one the closed door of a cubicle. ‘In there,’ he nods, holding his rifle up and ready, ‘the doors locked, must be someone inside.’

  ‘What is it?’ Dave bursts in, pistol in hand, followed by Cookey holding his trousers up with one hand and clutching his rifle with the other.

  ‘Someone in that cubicle,’ I motion with my head to the closed door. Dave drops down, looking through the few inches of gap at the bottom of the door; he looks up nodding and holds one finger up.

  Blowers creeps into the open cubicle and steps onto the rim of the toilet, lifting himself up to see over the wall. The rest of us stand back, weapons aimed and ready. Blowers peers over and quickly looks back at me, then down again before hopping off and standing there with a worried look on his face.

  ‘Who is it?’ Clarence asks after a few seconds pause, but judging from his face I can take a guess who is in there.

  ‘Lani,’ Blowers replies quietly.

  ‘Fuck,’ Cookey exclaims.

  ‘She’s taped up.’

  ‘What?’ I ask him.

  ‘Taped up,’ he repeats. He steps out of the cubicle so I can squeeze in behind him, passing him my rifle so I can lift up. Taking care not to grip the top of the plinth wall I lean over and look down.

  Lani sat on the closed toilet seat with thick tape wrapped round her ankles and knees. Her hands bound behind her back and more tape wrapped round her mouth and a blindfold tied round her head.

  ‘He’s bloody right,’ her head is already tilted up and cocked to one side as though listening intently and at the sound of my voice so close to her she starts murmuring being the gag.

  ‘What she doing in there?’ Clarence asks, ‘can I pop this door open?’

  ‘Yes mate, she’s wrapped up tight.’

  ‘Sure?’

  ‘Go for it, she’s sat down with tape round her legs, gagged and blindfolded.’

  Clarence leans his bulk on the flimsy door and gives it a tiny shove, popping the plastic lock off with ease. Stepping back he uses his foot to push the door open. The rest of them all try to peer in at the same time, leaning round the sides of the door at Lani sat there, completely immobile. Muffled sounds come from her as she rocks her body side to side then back and forth.

  ‘Ah fuck it, she’s gone,’ Clarence mutters with a sad tone, ‘look at her, poor thing.’

  ‘What we gonna do?’ Cookey asks as we all stand back from the cubicle and stare in at the writhing figure.

  ‘Kill her,’ Dave suggests in his usual flat tone.

  ‘We can’t kill Lani,’ Nick replies.

  Looking at her squirming now I can just imagine her getting free of the bonds and attacking us, launching like the others outside. Even so, it’s horrible to see and without the danger of an imminent threat it’s hard to make the decision to kill her, ‘it’s not Lani though is it,’ I say after a pause, ‘it’s one of them, same as Marcy and the rest, fucking diseased.’

  ‘Kill her then,’ Dave suggests again, ‘one to the forehead, quick and painless.’

  ‘She’s going nuts to get at us, look at her,’ Blowers shakes his head as Lani gets more animated, the sound of our voices must be driving her mad with hunger and I can just imagine the saliva building up behind that gag.

  ‘Why did they put her in here?’ Cookey asks.

  ‘Keep her away from us I guess, maybe Marcy thought I wouldn’t fall for her if I had Lani in view.’

  ‘Ah yeah, that makes sense,’ Nick nods, ‘bloody hell she’s gonna bust that tape in a minute, she’s going crazy.’

  ‘Infection must be driving her mad, telling her to get us, maybe it can hear us?’ Clarence says with his eyes locked on the cubicle.

  ‘W
hat the infection can hear us?’ Cookey asks, ‘how would that work?’

  ‘It seems fucking clever enough and its latest master plan just went tits up.’ I add.

  ‘I couldn’t kill her,’ Nick shakes his head, ‘not like this.’

  ‘Me neither mate, if she was attacking us I could but not in cold blood…not Lani,’ I reply.

  ‘Dave then,’ Clarence states, ‘or the dog.’

  ‘You can’t set Meredith on her,’ I look up at him.

  ‘Why not,’ he shrugs, ‘the dog doesn't care who it is…or rather who it was…she’d go for any of us if we turned.’

  In a sick way it makes sense, Meredith wouldn’t hesitate and isn’t hindered by emotions the same way we are and we all saw what she did to Paco that night.

  ‘Maybe it’s best then…fuck,’ we all jump back as she kicks out, slamming her feet into the door, balancing her backside on the toilet seat she thrashes out again and again with her legs bound at the knees and ankles.

  ‘Where is she?’ I ask looking round. Nick goes to the door and calls for Meredith, whistling loudly.

  ‘Nick hurry up mate she’s going nuts,’ Cookey calls out. Lani gets to her feet and bounces side to side against the cubicle walls, shuddering the thin ply-board with her lithe but powerful body. The growling gets louder, fiercer as she jumps and hops towards the opening and out into the toilet. We dart away keeping our distance.

  ‘Nick for fuck’s sake get the dog,’ Cookey shouts.

  ‘I’ll do it,’ Dave draws a knife as Lani drops to the floor and starts rolling back and forth across the floor. Yelling in alarm we have to jump over her body as she rolls into our feet, sensing the contact with us just makes it harder.

  ‘Hang on,’ Nick shouts and runs down the corridor.