The Undead the Second Week Compilation Edition Days 8-14

by RR Haywood

  ‘With my bow,’ he nods, ‘some people will probably find that weird but I like it…it cuts them down which means less danger.’

  ‘No, I agree, I was doing that in my town too.’

  ‘Oh really? With a bow?’ Roy asks hopefully.

  ‘God no, I was setting traps all over the place, used wire and petrol, broken glass…god all sorts of things.’

  ‘And them?’ He nods at the rifle then at the pistol on her belt.

  ‘Not really,’ she replies, ‘they were for defence only.’

  ‘Ah, like my sword and shotguns…I only used the bow for hunting though.’

  ‘You’re really good at it, I can’t believe those shots you got.’

  ‘Thanks, so you get many? At your town I mean?’

  ‘The whole town,’ she says proudly, ‘took me long enough but I did it.’

  ‘The whole town you say? Well done,’ he nods with genuine admiration, ‘er…would you like a cup of tea? I’ve got lots of herbal ones…camomile and peppermint…’

  ‘Coffee?’

  ‘I have coffee,’ he replies.

  ‘I’d love one if that’s okay, er…’ she glances out the windows, ‘is it safe here?’

  ‘Good point,’ he checks the mirrors, ‘I always like using empty fields myself, preferably with a good line of sight all around.’

  ‘Me too,’ Paula smiles, ‘I had a different field every night,’ she adds as he pulls away.

  ‘Oh I didn’t, I had one I used for a few nights and then changed, so you didn’t stay in your town then?’

  ‘No,’ Paula says quickly, ‘went back every day until I got them all.’

  ‘Oh, I went in the day for supplies and the night for hunting.’

  ‘In the night for hunting?’ She asks with surprise, ‘that’s dangerous isn’t it.’

  ‘Got night vision glasses,’ he explains, ‘and if you know how to move and hide, then run and find a new position it’s amazing the damage you can do.’

  ‘Wow, and that didn’t scare you?’ She stares at him again, suddenly thinking of the fear etched into his face when she looked in his mouth and at his finger.

  ‘Not really,’ he replies honestly, ‘to be honest they don’t really bother me that much, I was er…never what you would call a people person so…this looks good, alright with you?’ He asks as they broach the entrance to a big field.

  ‘Perfect,’ she looks round, ‘drive into the middle though so we’ve got a good view.’

  ‘Okay, yeah so er…the zombies don’t bother me so much.’

  ‘Zombies,’ she laughs, ‘I always called them the things, couldn’t bring myself to say that word.’

  ‘Well that’s what they are,’ he comments, bringing the van to a gentle stop and already hopping out.

  ‘I guess so,’ Paula replies as he comes round the front and draws the sliding door back, ‘oh wow Roy, this is really nice.’

  ‘You like it?’ He asks with real pleasure at the compliment, ‘I got all those batteries rigged up so I have power, got loads of food and supplies…’

  ‘Is that a Kindle?’

  ‘Yes, all charged up too, downloaded hundreds of books the night it started.’

  ‘Really, that was good thinking…I was trapped in an office with a drunk rapist.’

  ‘Oh god really?’ Roy asks with shock.

  She hesitates, realising what she just said. She doesn't know this man, he could be as dangerous as Clarke for all she knew. But then he didn’t seem dangerous, in fact he seemed completely the opposite and none of the alarm bells were going off, plus he hadn’t looked at her chest once yet despite the tight top she was wearing.

  ‘Er…’

  ‘Awful, fucking awful,’ he tuts and shakes his head again she glances at him. The way he speaks so calm and mild mannered, polite but yet swearing too. ‘I hope he didn’t hurt you.’

  ‘Not really,’ she shrugs wishing she never mentioned it.

  ‘Do you take milk and sugar? Only got the powdered milk I’m afraid although I do have a book I downloaded on how to milk a cow…so if you see one do shout up and we can get some fresh milk.’

  ‘Okay,’ she laughs, pleased at the change of subject, ‘doesn't it have to be pasteurised?’

  ‘Oh I wouldn’t worry too much about that,’ he replies clicking the small travel kettle on. Again she feels confused at a man so worried about any mark on his body yet apparently prepared to drink unfiltered milk fresh from a cow.

  She watches as he takes the compound bow he left on the floor and carefully places it on the wall before checking his arrow supply and re-stocking the quiver from a big bag.

  Leaning in she glances at the various bows hanging down, then at the bag containing the butts of the sawn off shotguns, the long barrelled one he draws out to rest against the side of the van and then the sword.

  ‘That’s the sword then is it?’ She asks, ‘may I?’

  ‘Please do,’ he replies turning his attention back to the drink making.

  ‘Very nice, have you used it much?’ She weighs it carefully in her hand, eyeing the length and thickness of the sharpened blade.

  ‘Quite a bit, mainly in the day when they’re slow…having said that did you notice the changes in them over the last few days?’

  ‘Definitely, bloody hard work too. In end I had to plan for them being like that all the time.’

  ‘Hmmm, me too,’ Roy replies, ‘don’t know what caused it, I figured it must be the infection inside of them, you know…trying to make them work harder or find more people to eat.’

  ‘Did you know they could talk?’

  ‘Really?’ Roy asks in a shocked tone handing her a mug of coffee over, ‘no…I can’t say as I ever spoke to one, other than to tell it to fuck off or something.’

  She glances at him again, at the way he swore so fluently yet the contrast between the politeness and the swearing was almost jarring.

  ‘They do, I met one called Thomas…’

  ‘Gave you his name did he?’ Roy remarks, ‘well that is strange. Have much to say?’

  ‘Not really,’ she replies, ‘asked me to go peacefully, said he would get me…that sort of thing, left me a nice note though.’

  ‘A note? You don’t say? What did it say?’

  ‘Just telling me to find others of my own kind and lead a peaceful life,’ she laughs as he rolls his eyes.

  ‘Well what would he know?’ Roy comments drily.

  ‘But,’ she say quickly, ‘he did hint at something big happening and now of course I know what he meant.’

  Roy nods sipping his then reaches in to grab a folding chair to open on the grass a short distance away, he goes to sit down then stands back up and offers Paula the chair. Shaking her head she sits on the edge of the van, ‘there are thousands of them, and all heading this way…well I mean that way,’ she points back the way they came from, ‘and what you said about the fort makes sense, we should warn them.’

  ‘Of course,’ Roy replies, ‘which makes me wonder why we’re sat here drinking tea when we should be doing just that.’

  ‘True,’ Paula nods and takes another sip of the coffee, ‘although I was trying to get some traps down to slow them up…that’s when I got trapped.’

  ‘Traps?’ Roy prompts.

  ‘Electrified a cattle grid with car batteries and put some tacks down…that’s as far as I got.’

  ‘Good try but it won’t stop thousands, the juice will drain with the first few.’

  ‘Oh it was only a stop-gap, you know…just to buy a little time but I didn’t realise that town already had a load, didn’t check properly which was stupid of me.’

  ‘Yes it was,’ Roy replies matter of fact, now a completely different man compared to the nervous wreck a few minutes ago. ‘Are they all on foot?’

  She nods swallowing her coffee before answering, ‘marching, all in perfect time and in perfect rank too.’

  He blanches at the news, nodding as though thinking deeply, ‘th
at is worrying.’

  ‘Scary too, seeing them do that I mean, do you have a map?’

  ‘No, sorry…didn’t really need one.’

  ‘Mines in my car,’ she grimaces, ‘how far do you think the fort is?’

  ‘Not sure…maybe thirty miles…could be more.’

  ‘So it will take them sometime to get there, if you’re right about the distance.’

  ‘If I’m right,’ he concedes, ‘but certainly not less than twenty miles anyway.’ She notices his steady gaze and the way he moves his head as though constantly listening for sounds. He still hasn’t checked her chest out or stared in any weird way. Thirteen days of hell and he seems completely normal, well as normal as any bow and arrow using, sword wielding hypochondriac can be.

  ‘Plan,’ she states firmly, ‘we get there and warn them, unless we find anything else on the way that they could be after…then come back and start cutting them down. There’ll be other villages, towns and places I can get things set up…the further the distance to the fort the more time I will have…Maybe find some supplies and…’

  Roy watches her far stare off into the distance as she speaks. He didn’t like people. He didn’t like any people as a rule, unless they were doctors but the way she spoke to him in the front of the van; well she sounded just like a doctor. She even touched his finger the way a doctor would. He knows she isn’t a doctor but she’s here and she was kind and understanding. Just the few words from her took the anxiety down to a level he barely felt. It was there and it probably always would be but she had suppressed it the same way a visit to the doctors normally did.

  And she hasn’t looked at him like a freak, not once. No snide comments or spiteful remarks yet. She seemed confident and sturdy of mind and more than that, she oozed independence with a skill for self-survival, not clinging to the ordinary rules of society but carving her own path. Choosing a different route to everyone else, fighting back for the sake of it and not for the glory. Roy detected the pride in her when she said she’d rid her whole town, not boastful but pride in the sense of doing something that she knew was good.

  ‘We have to get going,’ she stands up quickly with a sense of urgency. The few minutes of talking with another human being and drinking coffee have brought her mind back to full alertness and made her realise just how desperate the situation is.

  Without thinking she starts packing the van away, her mind whirring as her hands start working automatically. She holds her hand out for his cup, which he hands over without a word and picks her rifle up to carry back to the front.

  Loaded up and ready they drive off. Heading to the fort to warn of the zombie army marching their way.

  Twenty Three

  ‘He’s all clear,’ Clarence says as he steps out of the medical tent, ‘the wife and daughter have been checked too, they’re getting some screens put up so they can just use that tent.’

  ‘Nice one mate, he seems alright.’

  ‘Unflappable, mind you twenty years in a London hospital emergency room will do that.’

  ‘Fair point, what you grinning at?’ I ask Maddox as he steps through from the inner gate with a huge grin on his face.

  ‘Have you see this?’ He points over his shoulder. We walk over and step through into the fort. Darius and Sierra are marking out the ground for the crews and beyond them stands Agnes, tall and proud with her hands on her hips directing children holding brooms, brushes, mops, buckets and others carrying bright yellow plastic bags and wearing disposable latex gloves to pick bits of body off the ground. Several hoses are already spraying water onto the stained ground as Agnes directs the youths to get their backs into it.

  ‘Shit,’ I exclaim quietly, ‘I didn’t mean for her to get the ground cleared.’

  ‘Well she’s doing it, and they’ve all been fed,’ Maddox replies.

  ‘Your lot don’t mind doing what she says then?’ Clarence asks.

  ‘They’re shit scared of her,’ Maddox laughs.

  ‘At least this heat will dry it out quickly and…’

  ‘Mr Howie,’ Blowers interrupts me walking through the gate with Cookey right behind him.

  ‘Alright mate, what’s up?’

  ‘We were speaking to some bloke that turned up and he said his town emptied out overnight.’

  ‘Do what?’ I ask confused at what he means.

  ‘The zombies,’ Cookey adds with an apologetic nod to Clarence, ‘he said all the zombies went overnight, just walked off…then we started speaking to someone else…

  ‘Who said the same thing,’ Blowers continues, ‘different village something like twenty miles away…they kept hearing them every night but not last night, when they got up this morning the whole place was empty.’

  ‘Seriously?’ I ask looking at them both.

  ‘Yeah,’ Cookey nods emphatically, ‘we went down the line asking people and they all saying the same thing…’

  ‘…that’s why so many are coming now, cos the things have fucked off so they can get out and do one to here.’

  ‘Howie?’ Lani calls from the other side of the gate.

  ‘In here,’ I shout back, watching as she steps through with Lenski and Dave.

  ‘Did they tell you?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘We just checked with some more, nearly all of them are saying the same thing, and others saw the lines walking away.’

  ‘Lines?’ Maddox queries.

  ‘Lines of the things, walking off together…explains why we’re getting so many people here.’

  ‘It does, where they going?’ I ask.

  ‘East,’ Lenski replies, ‘everyone they say the same, the things they go that way,’ she motions towards the east.

  ‘Massing,’ Clarence rumbles, ‘There can’t be that many left though.’

  ‘Darren brought loads here and we killed them all, plus all those last night and yesterday,’ Cookey says.

  ‘Darren?’ Maddox asks.

  ‘Another long story…’ I start to say.

  ‘I said this before,’ Dave adds flatly, ‘Darren brought his from London and picked them up on the way. That Paco and the dog killed high numbers in their town which tells us there are still high numbers within the population zones, the numbers we’ve killed are nothing compared to the general population.’

  ‘Fuck,’ Blowers adds, ‘they’re gonna be coming for us again.’

  ‘Really, they come here?’ Lenski asks.

  ‘No doubt,’ I reply, ‘they just don’t fucking give up do they.’

  ‘I don’t feel anything, nothing…if they’re all being pulled somewhere then…’ Lani looks down at the ground as though thinking hard.

  ‘I not understand,’ Lenski says quickly.

  ‘Later,’ Maddox cuts in firmly with a nod to his partner, ‘we got any idea of distance or location?’

  ‘Nah nothing,’ Blowers replies, ‘fuckers are just marching off and going east.’

  ‘Right,’ every pair of eyes snaps to me, ‘Clarence, you take Dave and start showing the crews how to use the assault rifles…’

  ‘What about Lani?’ Dave asks.

  ‘What about Lani?’ Lenski asks with another look between us.

  ‘Lani got turned yesterday, she was infected…we all saw it but she isn’t showing any signs of it now…’ I explain rapidly.

  ‘Immune?’ Lenski gasps.

  ‘Don’t know, not sure…anyway…Get those crews trained to shoot and Maddox, you get a couple of your people to guard the armoury, we get this ground cleared up quickly and those people inside as fast as possible…’

  ‘Wait,’ Lenski shakes her head, ‘Lani is immune? This is amazing…’

  ‘It is but we’ve got a lot to do,’ I say hurriedly.

  ‘I might be, we don’t know anything,’ Lani adds.

  ‘Listen,’ I snap, we can talk about it later, ‘we get the ground cleared and those people inside as soon as humanly possible, Lads make sure the Saxon is fully loaded and ready to go, make sure Ni
ck knows what you’ve just told me…’

  ‘Why the rush?’ Clarence asks.

  ‘We’re going after them that’s why,’ I look at him, then at the others, ‘we’re not waiting for them to come here, I’m fucking sick of it…we’re ending this.’

  ‘This madness,’ Lenski replies with a glare, ‘we have the big walls and the guns, we wait they come here and we shoot them yes?’

  ‘Not this time,’ I shake my head, ‘these fuckers can fuck off and get fucked.’

  ‘Well said,’ Clarence grumbles.

  ‘I’m in,’ Blowers nods, ‘about time we fucking had them.’

  ‘Good, we get this place sorted and we go out, we take as much fire power as we can and fucking slaughter them.’

  ‘We got that second GPMG too,’ Clarence says.

  ‘Yeah we’ll take that.’

  ‘We’ll take some crews with us,’ Maddox adds.

  ‘Not us mate,’ I shake my head at him, ‘you got to run this place, we’re doing this.’

  ‘Oh not again,’ Lani sighs, ‘here we go.’

  ‘What?’ Lenski asks struggling to keep up.

  ‘Howie picking a fight with some massive horde again and not letting anyone else play.’

  ‘He do this before?’

  ‘Ha, loads of times,’ Cookey grins, ‘and it’s fucking great.’

  ‘I’m coming,’ Lani glares at me.

  ‘No fucking way,’ I reply with Clarence and the lads all saying the same thing.

  ‘Not happening Lani,’ Clarence says.

  ‘You said that last time,’ Lani replies, ‘and I still went…you…’

  ‘And you agreed that if we took you with us you’d do as I said when I said it,’ I snap at her, ‘if you’re immune then we don’t take the fucking risk…’

  ‘And if I’m immune then it doesn't fucking matter if I get bitten does it?’ She growls.

  ‘Ooh she’s swearing,’ Cookey mutters taking a step back.

  ‘Howie’s right,’ Maddox cuts in, ‘it would be stupid to risk you.’

  ‘So me and the dog stay here?’ Lani asks pointedly.

  ‘Lani and Meredith are both very good fighters, ‘Dave states then stares round with a blank look.

  ‘Leave Lani here and I’ll bring some crews,’ Maddox says.