The Undead the Second Week Compilation Edition Days 8-14

by RR Haywood

  ‘Could say that,’ Paula smiles, ‘listen have you heard about them gathering and…’

  ‘Yeah everyone is talking about it,’ Cookey replies, ‘off to the east… have you seen them then?’

  ‘I tracked them to a town, then saw them moving out this morning…they’re heading this way now.’

  ‘Fuck…really?’ Blowers asks, ‘they’re already moving…how far away are they?’ He looks back to the estate.

  ‘Thirty, maybe forty miles back from us,’ Roy answers, ‘they’re on foot marching so…’

  ‘And you saw them?’ Cookey asks seriously.

  ‘Yes, thousands….never seen so many,’ Paula replies.

  ‘We got to tell Mr Howie, can you wait here for a minute?’ Cookey asks.

  ‘No they should come up with us so the boss doesn't have to walk down here…’ Blowers says through the window to Cookey stood the other side.

  ‘Good point,’ Cookey grins, ‘still a fucktard though,’ he adds quickly, ‘can you follow us please?’

  ‘Er now?’ Paula asks, slightly baffled at the quick insult thrown across them.

  ‘Yeah please, we need to tell them what you said, they’ll have questions and…’

  ‘Them? Who is them?’ Paula asks, ‘and who is this Mr Howie?’

  ‘He’s in charge,’ Blowers replies, both Paula and Roy switching their gaze from Cookey to Blowers.

  ‘Is the hospital full?’ Roy asks stepping out of the van.

  ‘Er…no,’ Blowers replies slowly, ‘it’s er…well it’s empty right now.’

  ‘Oh that’s good,’ Roy nods at the good news and the prospect of having a bed when they see just how serious his condition is, ‘so the doctors aren’t too busy either then I take it?’

  ‘Well er…you could say that,’ Blowers replies with a quick glance at Cookey who shrugs at the sight of the two shotgun butts poking out the top of the rucksack he pulls on.

  ‘We thought it was full up with all these people out here,’ Paula remarks as they walk down the side of the waiting vehicles, earning glances from the other survivors at the heavily armed black clad figures walking with the soldiers.

  ‘No, empty at the moment,’ Cookey explains, ‘we were out yesterday getting fuel and someone left a gate open…the things got in and er…well they got everyone,’ he says sticking the agreed account to be given.

  ‘Left a fucking gate open?’ Roy asks appalled, ‘who leaves a gate open? That’s just bloody stupid…how many got turned?’

  ‘Everyone,’ Blowers replies.

  ‘Well that was bloody stupid,’ Roy tuts, ‘so where are they now?’

  ‘Dead,’ Blowers gives the one word answer.

  ‘Did you kill them?’ Paula asks softly, noticing the incredibly rude way Roy speaks to them.

  ‘Yes,’ Blowers says with a hard look on his face.

  ‘Good for you but still a stupid thing to do,’ Roy tuts audibly, ‘bloody idiots leaving a gate open…’

  ‘They were our friends,’ Cookey says quietly.

  ‘So shut the fuck up,’ Blowers mutters.

  ‘Well I was just saying,’ Roy rolls his eyes as Paula looks at him aghast. She plucks at his sleeve, shaking her head and glaring at him as looks over.

  ‘What?’ He mouths.

  ‘Shut up,’ she mouths back.

  ‘I’d do as she says mate,’ Cookey adds on seeing the exchange.

  ‘Hang on…so the doctors got turned too?’ Roy asks with a fresh look of fear as Paula rolls her eyes.

  ‘Everyone,’ Blowers replies.

  ‘No doctors?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘We got a nurse now,’ Cookey says.

  ‘A nurse? You got a nurse?’ Roy starts to sneer then turns to see Paula holding a finger to her lips with a distinctly threatening look on her face.

  ‘Lani,’ Blowers calls ahead as they approach the front of the queue, she looks up and quickly takes in the two new arrivals. ‘These two just arrived, we need to speak to Mr Howie, they got some information he needs to hear.’

  ‘Okay, wait here…I’ll get him.’

  ‘I think we’re ready mate,’ I say to Maddox as we walk through the fort. The ground is still stained in places but it’s been well soaked with disinfectant and almost dry from the incredible heat. The fort looks a different place now with the tents and bodies gone, the blood and gore cleaned away. Agnes gathering all the brooms and cleaning equipment to stack them neatly into a room next to the stores.

  He nods as he scans the ground, then over at Darius and Sierra watching the line of youths carrying their supplies in from their vehicles. Tents already going up as the crews work quickly.

  ‘We are,’ he replies eventually, satisfied that nothing else needs doing before we can open up.

  ‘Howie and Maddox can you come to the front,’ Lani’s voice comes through the radio.

  ‘Coming, is it urgent?’

  ‘No you don’t need to run.’

  ‘Good, it’s too bloody hot for running.’

  ‘What now?’ Maddox sighs, ‘I’m starting to think we shoulda stayed in our compound.’

  ‘Fuck that mate, you stay here and we’ll have it…Get some peace and quiet, you alright?’ I shout over to Clarence and Dave walking amongst a group of kids holding assault rifles. The big man gives a thumbs up and I wonder at the slippage in morals as he trains child soldiers to do the work men should be doing.

  ‘Don’t worry about them,’ Maddox says, picking on my concern, ‘don’t be fooled by how they look, everyone one of them will kill without hesitating…they ain’t like normal kids.’

  ‘They can’t be that hard…not all kids from tough estates are like that.’

  ‘They ain’t all the kids,’ he replies quickly, ‘the estate was full of kids…these are the ones that didn’t have anything else…no family, no homes…parents on drugs or prison or dead…or just fucked off somewhere else.’

  ‘That bad?’

  ‘Worse,’ he stares at me, ‘they didn’t have nothing before this…what we got now is more of a family than any of them have ever known…they don’t play with toys or run about playing fucking kiss chase…they grew up fightin’ and stealing’ just to survive.’

  ‘Mr Howie,’ Lani calls out as we step outside. Two new people, one male and one female. The woman holding a black machine gun with a pistol on her belt, dressed in black combat trousers and a black vest and she looks hard.

  The man is dressed similar but in a long sleeve skin tight black wicking top, he looks fit and healthy with a rucksack on his back and the stocks of two sawn off shotguns poking up.

  ‘Hi,’ I nod across.

  ‘Mr Howie, this is Paula and Roy, they just arrived,’ Lani says.

  We shake hands and nod greetings, both of them staring at me with interest and I guess they must be like the others and have heard stupid things.

  ‘This is Maddox, he’s in charge here with me,’ I make the introduction, sensing Lani was unsure of what to say.

  ‘They’re on the move,’ Lani says quickly, ‘Paula said she saw them, where they were massing and saw them moving out this morning…coming this way.’

  ‘Right,’ I nod, ‘we need to talk, come inside…Blowers and Cookey, you hold here and don’t let anyone in until the crews have unloaded.’

  ‘Got it,’ Blowers nods

  I turn and lead the group through the inner gate to the front of the medical tent, nodding at a line of youths passing objects to each other.

  ‘You have to get checked before we go in, leave your weapons here…Frank!’ I shout out, he comes out and spots the two new people nodding with a quick thumbs up.

  ‘Send ‘em in, we’re all set.’

  ‘Why do we have to give our weapons up?’ Asks Paula,

  ‘Is that the nurse? Are you the nurse?’ Roy shouts as Frank disappears.

  ‘I am mate,’ Frank shouts out. Roy ditches his rucksack on the ground and without a further glance walks into the tent leaving
Paula stood there shaking her head.

  ‘Is he alright?’ I ask at the strange behaviour.

  ‘Only met him a little while ago…’ she checks to make sure he’s gone inside, ‘I think he’s a hypochondriac, keeps going on about tumours and lumps.’

  ‘Bloody hell, is he stable?’

  ‘Seems so,’ she says quietly, ‘I got trapped and he saved me with a bow and arrows, he was really far away and firing arrows…getting bloody head shots and they were running flat out.’

  ‘No way,’ I look at her with interest.

  ‘Seriously,’ she nods, ‘never seen anything like it…incredible, as soon as we got away he starts asking me to check his back and finger…but,’ she adds firmly, ‘he seems fine, hasn’t been threatening or anything.’

  ‘Your weapons will be here, no one will touch them. Or you can wait for Roy to come out, up to you,’ Lani cuts in.

  ‘No I’ll go now, something tells me he’ll be a while,’ she passes the black machine gun to Lani before pulling the pistol clear of the holster and passing that across too.’

  ‘They’re police issue,’ Maddox comments, ‘are you a police officer?’

  ‘Accountant,’ she replies, ‘through here?’

  ‘I’ll take you,’ Lani leads her to the tent.

  ‘What did they say?’ Maddox asks Lenski while we wait.

  ‘They say there is town on the coast, it er…it is…’

  ‘Isolated,’ Lani provides the word as she walks out.

  ‘Yes they use this word, the town is isolated and the things they go there…now they come here, but the man he say they er…thirty or the forty kilometres away.’

  ‘Miles,’ Lani corrects.

  ‘Miles,’ Lenski smiles.

  ‘Did they say how many?’ Maddox asks.

  ‘Thousands and the woman, she say they all march like in the army…’

  Pursing my lips I wait quietly, wishing Nick was here to hand his smokes around, then remembering Blowers and Cookey are only a few metres away and will have some.

  ‘Be right back,’ I jog off towards the gate, ‘one of you got a smoke?’ I ask the two lads stood there.

  ‘Here take my packet,’ Cookey offers a full pack over.

  ‘Just one mate or I’ll smoke the lot…er…you got a light?’

  ‘Here boss,’ Blowers pulls his from a pocket, ‘how long we got?’

  ‘Don’t know yet, not long though…we’re ready to get everyone in but I think we’ll be on the road before they all get settled.’

  ‘Can’t wait,’ Blowers grins.

  ‘Seriously?’ I ask him.

  ‘Seriously,’ he replies.

  ‘Me too,’ Cookey nods.

  ‘I’ll keep you updated, you alright out here?’

  ‘No worries,’ Blowers nods.

  ‘Could murder a coffee though,’ Cookey adds with a grin.

  ‘Leave it with me, I’ll get one up to Nick too.’

  Going back inside I ask Lenski to ask a youth to ask Agnes to see if she can get some brews on the go. Which is just stupid but we’re all still treading on eggshells around each other and not wanting to breach etiquette.

  ‘Mr Howie?’ A woman steps out of the medical tent, middle aged and serious looking, ‘I’m Frank’s wife, er…this lady is all clear, no bites or marks, no broken skin…she seems fine.’

  ‘That’s great, thank you very much,’ I smile as Paula steps out, noticing as she looks straight to Lani and her weapons before anything else.

  ‘Safe and sound,’ Lani hands them over.

  ‘You got a spare one?’ Paula nods at my smoke as she pushes the pistol in, ‘I lost mine.’

  ‘Ask the lads outside,’ I reply feeling a bit guilty.

  ‘You don’t look like a smoker,’ Lani remarks.

  ‘Only one or two a day, I stopped for years but…stuff it,’ she smiles.

  ‘You should stop too,’ Lani looks at me.

  ‘Tomorrow,’ I reply automatically.

  ‘Really?’ She asks.

  ‘Probably not,’ I shrug.

  ‘Roy still in there?’ Paula asks coming back with a lit cigarette.

  ‘Er…yeah he is,’ Lani replies.

  ‘Roy?’ Paula calls out.

  ‘Yeah, you alright?’ A muffled shout comes from inside the tent.

  ‘You coming?’

  ‘Yeah just getting checked.’

  ‘Roy, we need to get moving.’

  ‘I know…I’m getting checked.’

  ‘What are you getting checked?’

  ‘Er…you know…for bites and things.’

  ‘He hasn’t got any bites,’ Frank shouts.

  ‘Roy, your back is fine…and your finger…and your mouth,’ Paula calls out but with a surprisingly gentle tone.

  ‘Okay,’ he replies dully, ‘coming.’ He appears a minute later looking a bit sheepish, ‘sorry, just thought I’d ask.’

  ‘That’s okay, did he check them?’ He nods back, staring at her like a puppy, ‘everything okay?’ She asks with what appears to be genuine concern.

  ‘Fine,’ he nods.

  ‘Good, we will find some doctors Roy, I promise but we need to tell these people what we’ve seen.’

  ‘Yep, fucking right,’ he nods making us all start at the sudden swear word he throws out.

  ‘Good,’ Paula smiles at me.

  ‘Er…right…follow me,’ I turn and see Maddox looking at me with strange expression, and quite possibly regretting ever coming here.

  In the police office we find Agnes with the women she brought in, the gas stove heating two pans of water with a row of mugs all lined up. Clarence joins us as we pass him by, leaving the youths to grab a drink and a promise not to shoot anyone.

  ‘Need the office do you?’ Agnes beams, ‘we’ll be right out of your way, go on sit down and start your meeting, just pretend we’re not here, everyone having coffee? Good cos that’s what we’re making…did you two have any food?’ She glares at Maddox and me with a sudden intense look.

  ‘Er…’

  ‘Don’t be erring me,’ she tuts, ‘I said you should get some food and you promised me…right after your meeting I expect to see you next door in my stores…got it?’

  ‘Yes Nana….er…Agnes,’ Maddox says with a brief look of horror as everyone stares at him, ‘she reminds me of my grandmother,’ he adds to the ensuing silence.

  ‘You can Nana me all you like,’ Agnes beams. She organises the brow beaten women into carrying trays of coffee out, leaving a load of freshly brewed mugs on the side, ‘after the meeting you two…’she points at both of us.

  ‘We will,’ I reply and wait for her to leave before adding ‘Nana’ quietly.

  ‘Fuck off,’ Maddox shakes his head with a grin.

  ‘Nana?’ Lenski asks.

  ‘She’s just like her,’ he shrugs.

  We sit down and listen intently as Paula and Roy give their accounts, separately at first as they both explain who they are and how they survived. Then Paula explains how she tracked the zombies to the town and saw them moving out, getting trapped and saved by Roy and the final drive here, noticing the hordes waiting on the coastal road on the way in.

  ‘Tens of thousands?’ I clarify when she finishes.

  ‘At least,’ she replies, ‘I was on the hills above the town and it was completely full…every main road…every street…it was like a festival or something.’

  ‘And marching like that,’ Lani adds, ‘that’s just creepy.’

  ‘Telling me,’ Paula replies, ‘in perfect timing with you know…perfect space between them.’

  ‘Organised then, must be a strong leader,’ I look at Dave.

  ‘Military training too by the sounds of it,’ he replies.

  ‘Or the infection has learnt some new tricks,’ I add.

  ‘Did you know they can speak?’ Paula asks.

  ‘Yes, and they like kissing too apparently,’ Lani mutters.

  ‘Kissing?’

  ‘Don�
��t ask,’ Lani waves it away, ‘but yeah we’ve met speakers, talkers, biters, growlers, crawlers, gnashers, suckers and complete arseholes along our way.’

  ‘Did you do all those bodies in that area?’ Roy asks.

  ‘Yeah that was us,’ I reply with a sudden image of Sarah, Chris and everyone else being amongst them, ‘the plan was to burn them later but…’

  ‘We’ve been saying that for days,’ Clarence mutters.

  ‘Right, we’re going after them…’

  ‘What?’ Paula leans forward, ‘you’re going after them?’

  ‘Yes we are, this isn’t going to stop until we finish it…so we finish it,’ I add with a shrug.

  ‘Um, forgive me intruding but you’re convinced they are coming here then?’ Roy asks, ‘I mean of course it seems the obvious thing but there couldn’t be something else they are after maybe?’

  ‘No, no doubt about it…’ I start to reply.

  ‘They want us,’ Clarence cuts in, ‘or more specifically you,’ he turns to me.

  ‘Get off,’ I scoff, ‘don’t you bloody start that shit too.’

  ‘Why you?’ Maddox asks.

  ‘Long story.’

  ‘Another one? You haven’t told us the first one yet,’ he says to me with a fixed look.

  ‘Let’s just say that the boss has a special way about him when we’re fighting,’ Clarence says.

  ‘No let’s not just say that, let’s just say nothing and get on with it.’

  ‘Cards on the table here,’ Maddox snaps, ‘we agreed, whether they’re coming for you or us…or whoever the fuck…they are coming and that means it’s all our fucking business.’

  ‘Good point,’ I concede.

  ‘I don’t care if you think it’s a good point or not, you are holding back on us…if you won’t speak in front of these people then they can fuck off and you can tell me straight,’ he flares up, his eyes fixed directly on me.

  ‘Hey,’ Paula protests.

  ‘The most important thing is that we tackle them and cut them down before they get here…we take as many weapons and as much ammunition as we can carry and destroy them,’ I lean in, emphasising my point, ‘so who fucking said what to who…whatever has fucking happened before now doesn't fucking matter…what matters is we kill them.’