The Undead the Second Week Compilation Edition Days 8-14

by RR Haywood

‘Here,’ Cookey bends down to lift her high.

  ‘HELLO LIONS!’ She waves calling out in a high pitched sing song voice.

  ‘Get her down!’

  ‘Sorry boss.’ Cookey lowers the girl to the ground.

  ‘Milly, you have to be quiet now,’ Lani urges.

  ‘They’re moving slowly,’ I watch the two groups slowly stroll towards us in no apparent hurry, ‘they’re probably used to people, must have seen them every day.’

  ‘Yeah, when they’re being fed,’ Lani states, ‘they might associate us with food.’

  ‘Do we move or stay still?’ Blowers asks, his pistol out and being held ready.

  ‘Move slowly and don’t make any noise,’ I whisper. We start moving slowly back the way we came, slow steps one after the other as we stay huddled together with Milly in the middle.

  The fence now looks much further away than it did a second ago, much, much further away. With the lions advancing from all sides, it’s our only viable escape route.

  ‘They’re coming but very slowly,’ Lani whispers. The two prides keep the same pace, seemingly intent on tracking us from a distance but with no effort to move in.

  ‘They’re flanking,’ Dave states as one lioness breaks away from the group to move off to the side.

  ‘Same at the back,’ Lani whispers, ‘it’s the lionesses that do the hunting isn’t it?’

  ‘I think so,’ I reply, trying to remember watching the documentaries.

  ‘Typical,’ she sighs, ‘always the women doing the work.’

  ‘Can we stroke the lions?’ Milly asks.

  ‘No,’ Lani replies, ‘Milly, you have to be really quiet now.’

  ‘Why Lani?’

  ‘Er…because we’re playing a new game,’ she whispers, ‘we are only allowed to whisper until we get back to the fence…do you think you can play that game?’

  ‘Yes,’ Milly whispers, ‘I like whispering, Dave, do you like whispering?’

  ‘Yes,’ Dave whispers.

  ‘Cookey, do you like whispering?’

  ‘I do Milly.’

  ‘Blowers, do you like whispering?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What about Mr Howie?’ Lani asks when she doesn't ask me.

  ‘Teachers don’t play games,’ Milly whispers, ‘teachers watch and say the rules and they have a whistle and write things on the board.’

  ‘Mr Howie likes playing games,’ Lani whispers, ‘is it okay if he plays with us?’

  ‘Okay, Mr Howie, do you want to play with us?’

  ‘Yes Milly, thank you.’

  ‘You are only allowed to whisper until we find the fence Mr Howie.’

  ‘Okay Milly.’

  ‘This seems to be working,’ Lani says, ‘they’re not coming in any faster.’

  ‘Flanking though,’ Dave reports.

  ‘Just keep going like this and stay together, we look bigger together,’ I whisper thinking about how herds of zebra and other prey animals stay as one.

  The progress is painfully, achingly slow. Shuffling along with whispered voices we gradually cross the open land back towards the slope. The lions stretch out into lines that gradually surround us. Other than that, they don’t speed up or try and move in, and they are walking upright too which gives me a sense of confidence as I thought they normally went into a crouch when they were hunting.

  ‘We might just make this,’ I whisper softly as the distance between us and them stays the same.

  ‘Where’s Clarence?’ Lani asks quickly, ‘didn’t he get over the fence?’

  ‘Clarence!’ I groan at the same time as Blowers takes a sharp intake of breath and Cookey swears.

  ‘What?’ Lani asks, ‘where is he?’

  ‘He’s er…about to ram that fence down with a car,’ I offer meekly.

  ‘What?’ Lani hisses, ‘why would he do that?’

  ‘Er…cos I told him…’

  ‘Why?’ She groans softly, ‘why would you tell him to ram the fence down on a safari park?’

  ‘We didn’t know it was a safari park,’ I protest.

  ‘What did you think it was?’

  ‘I don’t know! Did you know it was a safari park?’

  ‘No, but I figured a big fence would be used to keep something safe inside.’

  ‘Stop whisper shouting at me!’

  ‘I’m not whisper shouting,’ she whisper shouts.

  ‘They’re moving in,’ Dave cuts in. The lions pick their pace up, only by a fraction but enough for us all to spot the change.

  Then we hear the engine. The otherwise silent environment is gradually interrupted by the loud roar of a powerful vehicle coming towards us.

  ‘Shit,’ Cookey whines, ‘what do we do?’

  ‘Nothing we can do mate’ I reply, listening to the roaring getting closer. He must have chosen something big and heavy to get that fence down.

  A horrific metallic wrenching noise rolls around the open ground. The impact sends the lions scattering off a few meters. They drop low, then burst apart before coming to a standstill and watching nervously as the bloody great big four wheel drive comes slamming through the bushes.

  ‘Fight or flight,’ Lani says.

  ‘Yeah but which one?’ Cookey asks.

  ***

  Born into captivity the pride are used to seeing humans, but with high fences surrounding their territory, the vast grounds and the structure implemented by the expertise of the safari staff, meant the actual contact from human to animal was minimised in every possible way. The tours through the grounds were strictly controlled, with staff on hand to prevent any of the drivers or their passengers from opening windows to call out, shout or make any noise other than simply driving through.

  Music from car stereos was forbidden and repeated requests made for mobile phones to be switched to silent.

  Feeding was done by careful means of establishing where the pride were located before depositing the food in another location, thereby encouraging the animals to scour for it rather than become lazy and dependant on the humans coming to them with food.

  The owners of the safari park had also established another form of revenue that assisted with the incredible expense of keeping such a large pride of big cats. Arrangements were made with scientific study groups and film-makers that the pride could be used for observation and filming. Both groups were often intent on studying, or capturing footage of the cats when they hunted and caught their prey. At key times, when the park was closed to customers, live prey was released into the grounds. Sometimes this would be a single sheep or goat, other times larger numbers were released to follow the reactions of captivity bred lions that had become used to eating freshly killed carcasses provided for them.

  The results were highly interesting and established that whilst the entire pride was captivity bred, they still retained an ability to track, hunt and kill as well as wild lions could. The hierarchy within the pride proved to be the same as those in their natural habitats, so essentially, the cats hunted the same as they did in the wild. They separated and used multi-positioning flanking movement to ensure the prey was surrounded before the strike was done.

  To a certain extent, the hunting was carried out by the lionesses within the pride. With fourteen days passing since any food was provided, the entire pride was becoming hungry. A natural impulse which sent a chemical reaction through, them not entirely dissimilar to the undead. Feed, you must feed.

  King was aptly named. King of the pride and the star attraction for the safari park. He dominated the vast grounds and controlled his territory with extreme aggression. There were other males within the pride but they were kept firmly in check. King was the alpha, the leader. This was his pack and King knew his pride were hungry. His own hunger was gnawing away at his stomach, but the lack of nutrition had done nothing to diminish the solidly packed muscle on the animal.

  Legs like tree trunks and paws the size of dinner plates. Shoulders rippling with muscle and a thick mane that served to a
ccentuate his size. A beast of mythical proportions with a voice that matched his size.

  The movement was noted as soon as it took place. The cats have the ability to intrinsically know their environment, and the noise and movement of the humans had been spotted instantly.

  Without breeze or wind, it took longer for the scent of the humans to reach them. Humans were not part of their known food group and if not for the smells that drifted on the super-heated currents of air, they may well have just watched with docile interest.

  These humans, however, had been fighting and gone from battle to battle solidly for days. Their clothing was stained with the blood of the undead, a strong pungent smell that carried far and was easily detected. That tang of blood drew the pride into formation. As one, they started moving in, interested and watchful at first. Strangers on the grounds. Humans normally stayed well away and watched from afar, but these humans carried the smell of blood. Blood meant meat, meat meant food. Food was everything.

  That hunger prompted King to move with the pride. He was going to feast and be the first to do so. This was his territory and his pride so this was his food. He would take this prey down.

  ***

  ‘That definitely ain’t flight,’ Cookey comments at seeing the group of lions moving in towards us.

  ‘Radiator’s fucked,’ shouts Blowers, turning round I can see the steam hissing from the front end as the four wheel drive bounces down the slope, the rear wheels scoring plumes of dust into the air that hangs behind it like a dirty cloud.

  An almighty roar comes from behind as the big male lion starts the charge, his mouth open as he bellows, clearly telling the other lions we are his dinner time snack.

  ‘Oh fuck…oh fuck…’ Cookey mutters louder and louder as Milly giggles in delight at all the swear words being said around her.

  ‘IN,’ Clarence bellows out the window, slewing to a stop in a cloud of dust. We burst towards the vehicle wrenching doors open. Blowers scoops Milly off her feet, who laughs with absolute pleasure. Launching her onto the back seat he gets in, scrunching along as Cookey climbs in the other side. I go for the front passenger seat as Dave and Lani squeeze into the back and Clarence is already putting his foot down as the doors are closing.

  The lion launches at the side of the moving vehicle, still going slow and yet to pick speed up. The impact jolts the vehicle with a thunderous crash, rocking us on the already over-worked suspension.

  ‘Go. Fucking go!’ Blowers yells.

  ‘I’m trying,’ Clarence shouts back. The lions move in, one of them landing on the bonnet and swiping at the windscreen. Clarence jerks the wheel hard, veering to the right and the lioness loses her grip and slides off.

  ‘Radiator’s gone,’ Clarence informs us needlessly as he tries to peer through the hissing steam pluming out the front.

  ‘Just keep going,’ I mutter.

  Suddenly, I dive to the right as the big lion takes another go at the side. The energy from him drives one huge front leg through the window, shattering it instantly as it stretches inside. Meredith reacts instantly, lunging from the back to sink her teeth into the paw. The lion roars with pain. Trying to move with the vehicle it drops down, limping on the bleeding leg, while Meredith scrambles to get out the broken window. Grabbing a fistful of fur round her neck, I just about stop her going out, screaming for her to get back in the vehicle while she barks and snarls.

  She hates the things. They tried to hurt her little one so they have to die. They killed the man that was her pack and they try to hurt this pack. Killing the things is a necessity and one that is done for protection.

  Cats though? Cats can fuck off. She hates cats. She hates the way they leave their scent everywhere, and how offensive the stench is to her nose. The things she kills for necessity, but cats are done for blind, psychotic rage, an instinct buried deep that all cats have to be killed. Regardless of anything else, all cats must die.

  These are big but they smell like cats. They are cats. Big, nasty cats that want to fight. The urge to kill them takes over as she scrambles to get out the window. Getting her teeth into that big meaty leg was good but now she wants more. The pack leader is shouting for her to stop but he doesn't know just how much she hates cats.

  She really hates cats.

  Cats must die.

  ‘Fucking hell,’ I scream out trying to pull the dog back inside. ‘Help!’ Yelping out, I see hands stretching over from the back to grab at her coat, tail and legs as we desperately try to pull her back in.

  Another lion runs at the passenger window, or the gap where the bloody window was a few seconds ago. Meredith surges forward, fighting like crazy to attack it. The cat launches up with a wide snarling mouth full of horrendously big teeth. Meredith is there, head out and savaging as she bites and gnashes. The sheer ferocity of her attack sends the cat dropping back as Clarence veers to the side again.

  ‘What’s got into her?’ Clarence glances over with a pained look. The constant veering has plunged us into a swirling dustbowl that cuts our vision down and clouds the passenger window, ‘Can’t see a fucking thing,’ he bellows.

  ‘Keep going…just keep moving…MEREDITH STOP IT!’ I wrench her back with all my strength but she fights on, digging her paws into my legs and side as she tries to wrestle free. Blowers dives in between the gap of the front seats, his hands stretching out to grab and hold as we become tangled in legs, tails and bodies all wriggling and shouting.

  With Blowers on top of me and the others leaning forward to try and help, I catch a glimpse through the entwined mess to see Milly bouncing up and down on the back seat, clapping her hands and laughing with pure delight.

  ‘Shit!’ Clarence shouts having got a glimpse through the dust to see that we are heading further into the grounds and away from the slope.

  ‘You said a bad word,’ Meredith laughs, ‘everyone says bad words…shit…shit…shit…’ she screams out, half laughing at the same time.

  ‘Milly, stop swearing,’ I shout through the melee and the barking dog, ‘and everyone else stop bloody swearing too!’

  ‘Mr Howie said a bad word,’ Milly laughs.

  ‘Wait till she meets Nick,’ Blowers mutters through gritted teeth, somehow managing to get his arms wrapped over Meredith’s backside and interlocking his hands under her stomach. She pays no heed, no heed whatsoever to so many hands holding her back. She could easily turn and start biting us but thankfully she remains fixated on the lions still charging in.

  Smashing glass comes at the same time as a huge impact at the rear of the vehicle, showering Milly in the small glittering fragments. Blowers and Cookey, both leaning forward to grab Meredith, scream as the dog twists from our grip to launch and clamber over the back seat to get at the lioness sticking her head through the rear window.

  Bedlam. Complete and utter bedlam ensues as we all end up going with Meredith. She does the job and once more fends the cat off with a double row of big canine teeth that sink into a foot, before resuming her efforts to get out the back window.

  Six adults, one child and a bloody great big dog crammed into a four wheel drive that is now clunking and clanging with unhealthy noises. Not only that but those bodies within said vehicle are clambering, screaming and fighting to prevent the bloody great big dog from getting out.

  ‘Where are we?’ I yell out unable to see anything, half jammed through the gap in the seats and mostly buried under everyone else’s body.

  ‘In a safari park,’ Cookey shouts, still able to get a quip in despite the circumstances.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Clarence muffled voice comes from the front, ‘I’m looking for a fence or a way out.’

  ‘INCOMING,’ Dave dives on top of Milly as another impact from the driver’s side rocks the vehicle. Claws dig into metal panels, filling the air with a sound like nails on a blackboard. Another impact from the back, then another from the passenger side. Meredith spins as she catches fleeting glimpses of big cats lunging through the choking dust.
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  ‘I need a poo!’ Milly announces, ‘can we stop please?’

  ‘Not now,’ Clarence bellows.

  ‘Who are you? Milly asks with a tone that suggests she should know everyone.

  ‘Clarence,’ Clarence shouts as I get the full impact of Meredith into my stomach as she spins to attack another window.

  ‘My name is Milly, ‘Milly says happily, ‘I like lions and cats and elephants and…’

  ‘Shit!’ Clarence roars and I feel the vehicle lurch violently to the side followed by a massive impact to the passenger door.

  ‘You alright?’ Lani’s face appears next to mine except she’s upside down, or maybe I’m upside down. One of us is upside down anyway.

  ‘Fine, you?’ I reply casually while trying to keep my hands on the leg I am gripping and being constantly battered by the crazed dog’s tail.

  ‘Yeah you know,’ Lani smiles, ‘keeping busy.’

  ‘Oh that’s good,’ I grunt, ‘better to be busy.’

  ‘ATTACK FROM THE REAR.’ Dave’s voice fills the confined space. Lani disappears, whipped away by Meredith deciding she is now going to try for the back window again which means we all go with her.

  ‘This place is huge,’ Clarence informs us amidst the carnage of the rear section, ‘and we’re losing power,’ he adds.

  ‘Losing power?’ I yelp, ‘find a way out then!’

  ‘Yeah trying,’ he remarks.

  ‘Milly, go up front with Clarence,’ Lani shouts, ‘she’s gonna get squashed in the back here…axes and knives everywhere.’

  ‘Milly, come up here,’ Clarence calls out followed swiftly by a small, shoe clad foot squashing my face as she steps on me.

  ‘I want to drive,’ she settles on his lap safely nestled between the side impact bars of his gorilla like arms.

  ‘Maybe later, look for a fence.’

  ‘Cookey, get your arse off my face,’ I yell.

  ‘That’s my arse Mr Howie,’ Blowers shouts.

  ‘Not surprised,’ Cookey laughs as Meredith goes back to the front passenger window.

  ‘FENCE!’ Clarence shouts, ‘BRACE…’