The Undead the Second Week Compilation Edition Days 8-14

by RR Haywood

  ‘Put them in the shop front then, break the glass windows,’ Paula suggests.

  ‘No,’ Maddox shakes his head, ‘those are big bombs, the glass spreading out will do as much damage as the nails and screws.’

  ‘Okay, so we got the junction here covered…we can put bombs into the cars too?’ Roy asks, ‘no need to have an ignition on them as the fire will set them off.’

  ‘We’ll do that, then we put some bombs into the windows of the first section of the main road between here and the side street…that’s where we’ll have the first car battery and ignition point.

  ‘Brilliant,’ Paula smiles, ‘let’s get the first section done.’

  ‘Darius, what the fuck you doing here? I said you gotta stay at the fort,’ Maddox shouts at seeing the other youth walking through the crowd.’

  ‘Sierra got it, swear down she got it covered…her and Lenski told me to come, what’s happening then bro?’

  Maddox fills him quickly, Darius nodding as he looks to the sections pointed out by Maddox. Once finished they start working up the High Street. Youths driving the vehicles as Maddox, Darius, Paula and Roy work out where to place the bombs.

  They select the best positions, working out which store fronts to use before carrying the tubs inside to attach the wires and spool the cable out to run down to the next one. It takes time to cut and splice the wires with Roy double checking each one is set correctly. Paula worrying that the innocuous looking tubs have been set up wrong and will fail to go off.

  The afternoon sun beats down relentlessly into the street as they walk a few metres, pick another store then carry the IED inside to connect with wires before repeating it again.

  Roy grabs a battery taken from the parked cars on the junction and carries it to the first side road, getting it set up several metres back from the junction to give the crew some cover. By the time he’s done the second section is underway with more tubs stacked into shop fronts and more wires stretching out to the next side street.

  Maddox tasks Darius to select a small fast crew that can set the fire engine flame-thrower off then run round to the first side street, set the bombs off and then get round to the second side street for the same again.

  Darius breaks away, organising two small teams. He gets the first at the point on the shore where the beach-side fire truck will be positioned and then runs with them down the beach and along the front of the hotels, finding a way through to come out onto the High Street opposite the first side road.

  He gets that crew to practise the run several times, and find other routes in case something goes wrong. While they get versed he moves to the other small team and starts the process again. Running from the junction, round the back of the stacked vehicles to find a route into the service road. Mohammed’s efforts to block the junction are so good the team has to run further up to find a house, smashing the front and back door in to run through and out the back garden, into the service road and then along the back of the shops to the side road and the waiting car battery where Roy shows them how to connect the wires.

  Darius gets them running the route several times, telling them it will be dark with shit going down everywhere so don’t get fucking lost and fuck it up.

  The second section of the High Street is a repeat of the first, with solid hard graft underway. The youths not working on set tasks, busy themselves with dragging items out of the buildings to create obstacles for the horde. Long experienced with having running battles with the police and they know just how to make a long road hard to navigate.

  Slowly, they work up the road to the second side street, with Roy getting the second ignition point set up with another car battery. Darius then goes back to the first ignition team and gives them the good news that once they’ve set the first bombs off they have to go back into the service road and get to the second side road. They take it without complaint and with the boundless energy of the young they start practising that route too.

  With the first two sections rigged and ready, Jagger finds Maddox and the other two adults discussing the next set of plans.

  ‘Mads, we got the roofs done and we got the cocktails up there innit, we got rags and all the shit up good blood, we’s can get all the way down to the last building,’ he grins proudly.

  ‘Good,’ Maddox smiles back, ‘now do the same again on the second section…or find another crew to do it.’

  ‘Nah we do it bruv, this be like our thing…’

  ‘On you then Jagger,’ Maddox grins, ‘and find Darius, he’s getting a crew running from the junction to that first side road…there’s a fuck load of bombs in them shops so make sure they don’t set ‘em off until you clear.’

  ‘Got it bruv,’ Jagger shouts already sprinting away.

  ‘What we doing here?’ Maddox nods to the next section of the High Street, his energy seemingly inexhaustible.

  ‘Razor wire,’ Paula replies, ‘we get it coiled up at the sides with some rope stretched across the road that we lift up when we go past…they run into the rope and pull the wire in, works a treat.’

  ‘Brutal,’ Maddox says, ‘remind me never to piss you off lady. We’ll make sure Jagger has more cocktails on the roofs to throw down.’

  The next project gets underway, with Paula making the children first put the slash-proof gloves taken from the DIY store, before they start handling the rolls of dangerous wire.

  ‘With more batteries we can electrify that wire,’ Roy suggests, getting into the swing of things and revealing his love of car batteries, ‘like you did with that cattle grid.’

  More adolescents are sent back to the junction to find and bring back the batteries as Roy jogs off to get some wire from the electrical cable loom. The razor wire is man-handled into place, coiled in thick loops at the sides of the pavement as thick rope is attached to the ends of the wire and stretched flat across the ground.

  ‘How we gonna get the rope high enough for them to pull along?’ Maddox asks, looking down at the ground. ‘We can use the litter bins but it’ll sag down in the middle.’

  ‘Er…we’ll have to try the railings on that side,’ Paula points to the front of a hotel building, ‘and this side we can use a door handle or something, as long as we just loop properly then it shouldn’t tighten up when it gets pulled forward.’

  Another round of trial and error begins with the rope being played out while Maddox gets a load of youths to run into it, seeing each time where the rope is falling down or tightening up. Eventually it gets done right and practised several times before both Paula and Maddox are satisfied. Roy gets the batteries put in place and works the cable back to the steel razor wire. Several batteries are connected on both sides to ensure a high voltage is pumped into the metal.

  The sun beats a steady track through the sky, starting the descent as it drifts slowly but effortlessly down to give light to another part of the world. Shadows grow longer but the heat remains high as they work the main road metre by metre.

  The possibility of the undead swarming along the beach is considered and yet more youths are sent back down the road to block the hotel doors up and make it as hard as fuck for them to get through.

  The work is grindingly hard and made all the harder by the extreme heat. If society hadn’t of fallen the hospitals would be full of heat-stroke victims, the rail-lines would have found another reason to shut down and the tarmac on the roads would be melting from the constant vehicular traffic. Health and Safety reps within factories would be arranging tools down and walk-outs at seeing the mercury in the thermometers rise above the recommended work-place level. The newspapers would be headlining with the record breaking heat that beat the average high temperatures of the Mediterranean resorts. Sales of water would be rocketing as people heeded the advice to stay hydrated. Sun cream flying off shelves as the white pasty northern European skin turned pink and burnt

  But society did fall and the event did happen. So they work and they don’t complain as one street in a seaside resort of a
small town on the south coast of England gets ready to meet the largest gathering of undead yet seen.

  Thirty Three

  The infection knows the layout of every single road, street and track in the area. From the collective intelligence it knows the coastal road is the most direct route to the fort and it also knows that the movement of such a large body cannot go unnoticed.

  Those it seeks will surely be aware of the exodus, and as with before they will surely plan ahead to reduce the numbers and start cutting the host bodies down.

  One large body is easy to spot and easy to attack. Two large bodies are less easy to spot and less easy to attack, so the infection starts dividing its forces.

  As the front of the horde reach a junction, the infection orders those on the right side of the road to take that junction and those on the left side to keep going. The order is executed with perfect precision as the thick column divides in two. Not a step is missed, not a beat broken but they carry on. As the two branches separate and move further into their respective roads, the infection re-organises the host bodies to move up and retain the same marching pattern. What would take the communist armies of North Korea and China months to arrange as they organise an orchestrated march past of their leaders, so the infection does within an instant of reaching the diverging point.

  Two armies with the same objective and marching in the same direction become split as the inland road weaves further from the coast.

  The infection then holds the marching section on the coastal road until the next selected junction is reached and again it splits the army to filter off to the right, veering into the next inland road.

  Now three armies with the same objective and marching in the same direction and from a bird’s eye view you would see three thick columns still each possessing thousands of hosts march steadily towards the west.

  None of these armies have a leader. There is no Marcy or Randall, no Darren leading them. No Thomas to organise the fight, for the infection has realised the folly of trusting the human mind to understand every risk and counter risk.

  The army on the coastal road maintain the average marching pace understood by Dave. The other two increase the pace, commencing a double time sustained march. Chemicals, now far greater understood, are released into the bodies to sustain the expenditure of energy.

  More junctions are reached. More sections filter off to march away from the coastal road, and with each one the columns re-adjust to present the same ranking structure on each road. Some of those branches will converge later, some will meet and then separate as further junctions are reached.

  The fort is not the objective. There is no set location as the objective. The march is simply a way of drawing him out. He will learn of the march and attack. That is why the columns are split because Howie cannot attack all of them at the same time.

  The infection waits. Knowing he will come. Waiting for him to come and willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to get just one bite into Howie.

  Thirty Four

  ‘Look at them. Dirty filthy fuckers,’ my hands tighten on the steering wheel, ‘evil nasty bastards that just don’t know when to quit.’

  Meredith starts growling, picking up on the foul scent from the thousands of diseased bodies marching towards us. Slowing the speed down they’re still a good distance off but even so, they present a solid dark wall that snakes forward.

  ‘Make sure Meredith is tied up, she’ll run out if we open the back doors,’ Clarence twists round from the front passenger seat to watch Nick attaching a rope to her thick collar.

  Bringing the Saxon to a stop I commence a slow manoeuvre to turn round and present the back of the vehicle to them. With Meredith tied on the back doors are opened and Dave climbs up to take the first stint on the GPMG.

  After discussing the tactics it was agreed to just use the one machine gun fired by Dave until either something changes or the situation develops.

  ‘Dave, you got a lot of ammunition for the sniper rifle?’ Blowers calls up.

  ‘Yes, help yourself, ten shots each at a time, the most headshots for each round gets a prize.’

  ‘A prize? Seriously?’ Cookey is on his feet already, almost jumping up and down on the spot with excitement.

  ‘Ladies first,’ Blowers nods respectfully to Lani as Clarence and I exchange a quick glance. This might be the time we notice something different if she hesitates or shows any discomfort at killing the infected.

  ‘Why thank you,’ Lani says politely. Keeping the Saxon stationary we wait for the horde to get a bit closer before we open fire.

  ‘Hang on,’ Nick calls out, ‘how we gonna know what shots we get…Dave’ll be getting headshots too.’

  ‘Good point, Dave you’ll have to hang fire until we’ve done the first round,’ I call out.

  ‘Roger that, standing by…someone pass me the binoculars and I’ll count the shots…remember what I taught you, breathe steady and squeeze the trigger.’

  ‘I’ll keep at a steady five miles an hour so we’re just ahead of them,’ I say. Lani settles down on the back of the Saxon, lying prone with her shoulder against the butt of the rifle as she takes aim and gets prepared. With the doors open, Meredith stares fixed but seems to understand we’re not in immediate danger as she doesn't growl or bark, but just lifts her upper lip every few seconds.

  ‘Ready?’ I call out, ‘moving forward now.’

  With the horde getting closer by the second I gently press down on the pedal to ease the vehicle forward, once satisfied that we’re held at roughly the same pace they’re marching at I give the all clear and twist round to watch.

  The first shot is taken within a couple of seconds of twisting round, no hesitation, no apparent leniency.

  ‘Shoulder,’ Dave calls down, ‘breathe Lani.’

  ‘Okay,’ she calls back, settles for a second then takes the next shot, ‘got it!’ She cries out.

  ‘One,’ Dave calls down.

  ‘Nice Lani,’ Nick says quietly.

  She takes her shots, cursing when she clips a shoulder or arm, and getting a round of “oooh’s” when she gets a throat.

  ‘Six, not bad Lani…’ Dave calls down as she stands up and hands the rifle to Blowers.

  ‘It’s a lot harder than it looks,’ she says, ‘just the slight motion of the vehicle is enough to make it sway.’

  ‘Big distance though,’ Clarence says climbing from the front to watch Blowers take his go.

  ‘Ready?’ Dave calls down.

  ‘I am,’ Blowers replies.

  ‘All yours Simon.’

  The first shot rings out, a head shot that Dave reports down getting a round of cheers and a comment of a lucky first shot from Cookey in response.

  ‘Six,’ Dave counts the total score.

  ‘Same as me Blowers,’ Lani pats his shoulder.

  ‘Fucking watch this,’ Cookey boasts, ‘this is gonna be a straight ten. He lies down, grasping the rifle to snuggle in close. He goes quiet as he focusses on the scope, getting the movement of the vehicle in synch with the march of the undead.

  ‘All yours Alex…head shot… well done.’

  ‘Ha,’ Cookey mutters, waits a few seconds and takes the next shot, and the next… the first five shots are clear head shots.

  He takes the sixth shot while I try and keep the vehicle steady, twisting to watch the road then back to Cookey.

  ‘Head shot,’ Dave announces.

  ‘Six in a row,’ Nick calls out, ‘well done mate…keep going.’

  Cookey stays silent, picking his next target before pausing to get the sway then squeezing the trigger, a loud retort and another one drops down to be trampled from view.

  ‘Head shot,’ Dave says in the same flat tone.

  ‘Seven! He’s in the lead,’ Nick says.

  ‘Go on Cookey,’ Clarence urges, completely swept up in the competition.

  ‘Miss, shoulder,’ Dave calls down to a round of groans. The next two are close but Dave reports neither ca
n be counted as head shots and Cookey stands up with a broad grin, both pleased with his score and annoyed at himself for missing the last ones.

  ‘Nick,’ he hands the rifle over, ‘good luck mate.’

  We all flinch as the GPMG bursts to life with a quick strafe, turning to see a row of heads explode along the front rank, the visible pink puff as Dave scores an instant ten.

  ‘Dave,’ Lani chastises him.

  ‘Sorry,’ he calls down, ‘I fancied a quick go,’ which amazes me that Dave would do something like that and I can imagine the small wry grin on his face as he listens to the moans and groans coming up.

  Nick settles in and takes a full minute to get ready. Dave tells him he’s good to go and the first shot rings out, instantly blowing a skull apart as Dave shouts good shot.

  Nick works quicker than the others, his hand to eye co-ordination faster than the other three as he picks the target, adjusts for the motion and fires. Scoring eight solid head shots in a row much to Cookey’s annoyance, the ninth clips an ear which Dave allows as it counts as part of the head, again much to the annoyance of Cookey who says if he’d known that rule he would have shot all their fucking ears off, which earns him a quick reprimand from Dave for unruly conduct in a competition.

  The tenth is a straight miss, Nick standing up to glare at Cookey, ‘you’re fucking whining put me off.’

  ‘Clarence, you having a go?’ Nick offers him the rifle which he takes with a grin and waits for the others to move so he can squeeze his big bulk onto the floor.

  He scores a straight nine in a row, with solid shots dropping them quickly. The tenth shot rings out and another body drops down as Dave reports it was throat and not head.

  ‘Boss? Your turn, let me drive for a minute,’ Clarence says as he pulls himself up. We swap over and wait while Clarence gets the Saxon moving at a steady pace again.

  ‘Straight ten Mr Howie,’ Lani winks as I move past her.

  ‘Be lucky to get one, I’m crap at this,’ I grin back but take my place at the rear, settling down to pull the rifle in and relax my position before I look through the scope.