The Undead the Second Week Compilation Edition Days 8-14

by RR Haywood

  Thunder comes first, a big, rolling clap that vibrates the house. The arrow takes less than a second to cross the distance. The head shot kills the man instantly. Second arrow nocked, drawn and loosed and as the other man turns, he too is taken out.

  Both down without any noise other than their weapons falling to the ground. With the two men kneeling, the weapons only dropped a couple of feet and the sound was hopefully lost with the thunderous booms from outside.

  Roy ebbs forward, the next arrow already nocked and under strain. Closer to the door, he can see the illumination is coming from a couple of big candles, one straight ahead and one off to the right.

  Take the candles and it gets dark, which gives him the advantage. As before, he draws another arrow to rest against his thigh and calculates the distance and any wind coming from the open front door.

  Whoosh and the candle is out. The arrow slices through the tiny wick and embeds in the wall beyond it. Second arrow up, he crabs out, taking the risk of exposure to go for the second arrow. Shouts and shots ring out, panicked shots from men holding the triggers too tight and jumping when the candle goes out.

  On the move he has to take a rapid shot, missing the wick but striking the actual wax candle. Roy sighs, not content with the scrappiness of his shot. The thing bursts apart which achieves the same aim, plunging the big hallway into relative darkness.

  He bursts out, the laser sight probing the blackness as he sweeps round. The night vision gives him a clear view of men star bursting in panic. With constant movement he takes the first shot, dropping a guard with a clear neck penetration.

  Nocked and ready, stepping to the side he hears a gunshot from the corridor behind him. Lilly, catching sight of movement fires into the darkness, knowing she will be adding to the confusion and hoping to hell she doesn't hit Roy.

  ‘NICK,’ Roy roars then fires again, another clean shot through the chest which takes a tattooed guard clean off his feet.

  ‘UPSTAIRS,’ Nick shouts back, ‘ABOUT SEVEN OR EIGHT OF THEM LEFT. A FEW UP HERE TOO, WE’VE GOT THE BOYS SAFE IN A ROOM.’

  ‘RIGHTO,’ Roy bellows, the young lad giving him all the information he needs. Noises fill the hallway, doors slamming, men running and shouting. A shot from close by but aimed into the darkness. Roy spins, drops and looses, the arrow taking the man through his groin causing him to drop the rifle he was holding. The second one hits his chest, straight through the heart. Moving again, Roy aims for the corridor as he hears Lilly crossing the hall in a dash for the stairs.

  Covering her run he pauses, hearing the thuds of her feet as she races up.

  ‘INCOMING NICK…DON’T FIRE,’ Roy bellows quickly. Straining, he hears her voice as she gets to Nick. Good, that’s her sorted. Now it’s just a hunt, the same as ever before. He switches the laser red-dot sight off and starts moving off.

  ‘Lilly!’ Nick gasps as the girl reaches the top of the stairs and races across the landing. Jacob takes aim down the corridor in case of anyone trying to take a shot.

  ‘Nick,’ she runs into his arms, throwing her own around his neck.

  ‘Billy’s in there, he’s fine…’ Nick says quickly, ‘I knew you’d come.’

  ‘Just me and Roy, the things attacked the fort,’ she blurts out, ‘Roy’s killed the men at the gate with his bow, and another few downstairs.’

  ‘Take this,’ Nick pushes the shotgun into her hands, gently pulling the pistol out of her grip, ‘you got that spare magazine?’

  ‘Here. What are you doing?’ She asks.

  ‘I’ll help Roy, you two stay here. Get the boys ready to come out if I shout to move, okay?’

  ‘Okay,’ Lilly nods.

  ‘Jacob, stay with her.’

  ‘Will do Nick,’ the older man replies. He was right, they did come. Someone called Roy has already killed all the men at the gate and a couple downstairs, with a bow?. Jesus, who are these people.

  Lilly breaks away. Pushing the door open she enters the dark room, ‘Billy? It’s me…’

  Billy reacts instantly and breaks cover to run across the room, throwing himself at his big sister. She drops to her knees, gripping him in her arms as she cries tears of relief into his hair.

  ‘It’s okay,’ she rubs his back, ‘we’re going to get you out of here, are you hurt?’

  Billy shakes his head, the sobs and utter terror rendering him unable to speak.

  ‘I need your help Billy, we’ve got to get all these boys over to the door so we can get out…will you help me? Everyone, come over here, we’re going to get you out to a safe place…come on quickly…’ gently she urges the boys out the dark and ruined room. Dead bodies litter the ground. Lilly gets glimpses as through the room. There are guards and two boys lying near each other. Another man, naked from the waist down, huge and frighteningly ugly, lies further away.

  Slowly, she coaxes the boys out from under beds and hiding in the corners, getting them all into a group by the door.

  Shocked to the core and utterly traumatised, the soft female tones of Lilly give the children just enough strength to respond and get into position.

  Shots ring from outside the door as Jacob fires down the hallway. Hearing noise, he doesn't take a chance but lets tip before taking a quick step back into the doorway to re-load.

  ‘Roy?’ Nick calls out rushing down the stairs with pistol held ready.

  ‘Over here,’ Roy replies.

  ‘Where?’

  ‘Bottom of the stairs and off to the right.’

  ‘I’ll go left then, don’t shoot me.’

  ‘I got the night vision, you don’t shoot me.’

  ‘Yeah, no promises,’ Nick mutters venturing off into the corridor. He clears room by room, exactly how Dave showed him. Pistol up and tracking where he looks.

  Roy does the same but not from training. He’s skilled with the weapon he carries and seen enough movies to have an idea of how it works. Room by room they go but no movement, no noise, no shouting now, nothing.

  Within minutes the downstairs has been checked, each room given the all clear. With only two of them and such a big house the chances are the men have hidden but it doesn't matter.

  ‘Get the vehicle round to the front,’ Roy whispers, ‘I’ll cover from here.’

  Nick runs off, out the front door and into the rain. The wind instantly hits him with such power it almost takes him off his feet. Bending forward, with one hand shielding his eyes, he fights to gain ground, moving gradually round the front of the house towards the corner.

  Seeing the silhouette of the Saxon from the forks of lightning, he heads towards it. Movement from the side door as someone bursts out running for the driver’s side. Pistol up, aimed and he fires two quick successive shot. The man is flung back against the side of the vehicle and slumps to the ground.

  In the Saxon and he starts the engine, pulling away to drive round to the front. Eyes stinging from the weather, his whole body drenched from the torrential downpour.

  Reversing to get the rear doors as close as possible, he jumps down and races into the hallway. ‘Ready,’ he murmurs.

  ‘Get them down, I’ll stay here,’ Roy whispers back.

  Nick vaults the stairs, rising quickly to the first floor where he sprints across the landing. Inside the room, with Jacob watching down the corridor, he finds Lilly waiting with a large group of terrified boys.

  ‘Vehicles out the front, we need to get everyone down and into the back…Jacob and I will cover you as you go down the stairs and we’ll come down behind you…Jacob, you hear that mate?’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘Lilly, you got to keep them fucking moving, don’t fucking stop…’

  ‘Okay,’ she replies.

  ‘Shit, sorry I didn’t mean to swear…. Right…Jacob you ready?’

  ‘Hang on,’ Jacob steps out and fires both barrels down the hall. Wood and plaster shredded, he breaks the gun and slams two more shells in, ‘now,’ he grunts, snapping the shotgun closed.

  Nick
steps out into the corridor, taking aim with the pistol as Lilly starts urging the boys out and across the hallway.

  Out they go, terrified, crying and sobbing but doing as told. Ushered across the landing and down the stairs.

  Roy, at the bottom, glances up to see the group descending. He crosses closer to the front door and checks outside as the first children reach the bottom.

  Filing past him into the rain, Lilly leads them to the back of the Saxon, helping them up and into the vehicle. One after the other they get heaved in.

  Nick and Jacob work a retreat. Facing back, they go gradually down the stairs behind the children. A noise from somewhere, a door crashes open and shots ring out. Jacob fires both his barrels knowing there is nothing to aim for but sending a clear message.

  As though waiting for him to use both his barrels, a man runs into view at the stop of the stairs already firing as another one joins him opening up with a double barrelled shotgun.

  Nick takes the first one out, taking two shots and having to re-adjust his aim, but the second man has dived out of sight.

  ‘WE’RE GOING,’ Nick shouts, ‘JUST LET US GO…KEEP THE HOUSE AND THE FOOD…KEEP ALL OF IT…LET US LEAVE…’

  ‘DON’T COME BACK,’ a deep voice roars.

  ‘WE WON’T,’ Nick replies, ‘NOT EVER…ALL YOURS…WE JUST WANTED THE BOYS…’

  Silence.

  ‘YOU GET MORE CHILDREN HERE AND WE WILL COME BACK,’ Jacob adds.

  There’s still no response but they get to the bottom of the stairs and out into the rain without further incident. Roy holds position inside the front door to protect his bow from the rain.

  The children are loaded up, crammed in but with enough room for Lilly and Jacob to squeeze in.

  ‘Roy,’ Nick runs back. The two men race for the front, Nick taking the driver’s seat as Roy clambers in beside him.

  Doors shut, engine ready, foot down and they’re away. No one speaks until they reach the gates and speed off onto the main road heading south.

  ‘Everyone alright?’ Nick calls out.

  ‘Fine, can’t believe we did it…’ Jacob shouts back.

  ‘Lilly?’

  ‘Fine, thank you…thank you for doing this,’ she says with earnest.

  ‘How’s Billy?’ Nick asks.

  ‘Shocked, not speaking but I don’t think he’s hurt.’

  ‘What was at the fort then?’ Nick turns to Roy, listening as Roy quickly explains the situation.

  ‘We’ll go there first,’ Nick says at length after listening, ‘if it’s no good we’ll head off.’

  ‘They had no weapons Nick, nothing other shotguns and there were thousands of them…’

  ‘Yeah,’ Nick replies quickly, ‘but they have Dave…’

  ***

  Sighting down the barrel he holds the rifle steady and breathes out, a long exhalation of air that brings his heart rate down. The boys being taken isn’t an issue, in fact life will be much easier without them. The Doc is dead and a high number of the guards have been taken down. A power vacuum has been created and one that Larson fully intends to manipulate to his advantage. A smaller team is much easier to manage.

  He could let them go but something tells him that young man won’t leave it at that. He doesn't know who Nick is, or the other man firing arrows so expertly, but he does know these are dangerous people and if they come back? Well, that can’t be allowed to happen.

  Steady now. Breathing easily he waits flat on his stomach in the deep puddle at the corner of the house. Absorbed by the shadows, unseen, and waiting. The powerful rifle is ready, the safety off. All he needs is one clean shot and that young man will be taken down.

  Watching as the children are loaded, the pretty blonde woman lifting them into the back of the vehicle. That idiot with the bow moving in and out of the front door and Jacob, that fucking traitor, he’ll pay for this.

  Ignoring the rain pelting his face, blocking out the driving wind and thunderous crashes, he applies the first miniscule amount of pressure on the trigger. Nick moves back and forth, scurrying left and right as he gets the children out of the house. The pattern has been set, as Nick moves out from the rear doors he can take his shot straight through the back of his head.

  The pressure on the trigger is increased. Breathing out in one long steady exhalation, he pauses, frozen in stature as his stomach drops through his arse.

  Swallowing hard he dares not move. The cold, hard press of the barrel firm against the back of his head brings everything to a halt.

  ‘Let them go,’ the voice says quietly from behind him. Larson nods, instantly moving his finger off the trigger he gently slides his hand away, showing the other person he will comply.

  ‘Can I get up?’ Larson asks. No reply but the firm prod of the barrel in the back of his skull gives the answer clearly. ‘He was a fake,’ Larson adds in a hoarse whisper, ‘the Doc, he was a fake…you hear that? We all put up with him and for what?’

  ‘Ssshhh,’ the voice sounds out, as the speaker watches the children being manhandled into the rear of the army truck. The way the rescuers lift those children with care, the way that blonde woman hugs the little boy so tight. The soft tones they use, the sheer violence they threw against those that did their children harm. These are good people and letting these children go now is the right thing.

  The Doc was a fake. They all went along with it for the promise of a cure or a vaccine, convincing themselves it was for the greater good. The children weren’t bruised or hurt, or were they? Not all injuries leave marks, not all assaults leave bruises. Things could have happened in his offices, and they all knew, yet chose not to challenge it.

  The last of the children are loaded in and the two people wait in the pouring rain as the Saxon pulls slowly away to navigate the long driveway.

  ‘What now?’ Larson asks, as the vehicle disappears into the gloom of the storm.

  ‘We all knew,’ the voice says sadly, ‘but we did nothing.’ The guilt hits with such overwhelming force that it instantly negates any hope of ever going away. You can’t be witness to something like that and then keep going like nothing happened.

  ‘Evil triumphs when good people do nothing,’ the voice mutters.

  ‘Wait!’ Larson detects the finality of the tone and screams out, twisting round in a final, desperate bid to save himself. The shot is so quick the sound doesn't even register, just blackness that takes all form of life away. Larson’s head is taken from his body as the first barrel of the shotgun explodes an inch from his skull.

  Tears stream as a heart breaks. There is no going back from this, there is no forgiveness. The barrel is pushed into the mouth as an arm stretches out to feel for the trigger.

  God, I am sorry for all my sins done here. I am sorry for what I am about to do. Please keep those children safe.

  Meryl sighs deeply. Holding the image of her own little boy firmly in her mind, she smiles sadly and pushes the trigger.

  Sixty One

  ‘Dave!’ My voice isn’t loud enough for him to hear me. He’s fighting close by but facing away from the last surge of undead heading towards the survivors huddled together near the vehicle ramp.

  With the sea bursting over the flatlands and Cookey back on his feet we know the battle is ours, with limited numbers they can’t possibly hope to beat us now but, as ever before, still they try.

  The sea pours through the gaps of the outer gate rapidly filling the alley. Already it is several feet deep by the gate and pushing out to both side. Water gets through the inner gate as the fort interior starts to flood.

  The rear gate went a little while ago and with the huge waves crashing against the back wall that too is rapidly flooding.

  Enough of them left to cause us a problem. Hundreds had gained the alley and are now climbing the wall to attack us, and have no learnt to stay low to avoid being plucked by the extraordinary strength of the gales battering us.

  Fear has frozen one group of survivors to the spot, huddled toge
ther on the floor I can just see them through the driving rain. Figures clinging on for dear life, eyes squeezed shut as they pray for it to end.

  The undead have seen them and a smaller group break away to start crawling at the group of people.

  I scream and shout but with the noise as it is, there is no way they can hear me. There are seconds to go before the horde reach them so with no other option, I get onto all fours and scrabble in desperation to cut them off. But it’s too slow. I’m too slow like this and I’ll never get there. Still screaming at them to get out the way, I risk moving on to two legs in an effort to get there faster.

  The very second my hands leave the ground, the wind hits my legs and flips me over like I weigh nothing at all. Somersaulting head over arse while screaming, my axe is gone, my knife dropped and I land smack amongst the horde.

  For a second nothing happens. I’m slightly dazed and they’re looking at me like where the fuck did he just come from.

  Flat on my back, surrounded by undead on their stomachs. Twisted, gruesome features leer at me and now the dried blood has been washed off and I can see them clearly. Their pallor is deathly, skin so tightly drawn you can see the cheek bones pushing against the flesh. Teeth bared, yellow and dirty. Hair, whatever hair they have left is straggly, lank and plastered to scalps from the torrential downpour.

  ‘Hi,’ I nod in greeting hoping maybe, just maybe, they’ll remember I’m the bloke that had the heart shoved in his gob and maybe, just maybe I’ve suffered enough and they’ll leave me alone.

  Not so. With growling hisses they start descending like the nasty, fetid pack of undead wolves they are. Sensing my solace, isolated and without a weapon they come in hard and fast.

  But hey, guess what motherfuckers? I’m immune so I can take a couple of bites. That changes everything. It changes the way I fight, it changes the fear I have of them, it changes my methods of attack and defence and it means I don’t have to be so careful about where their mouths are.

  Grinning like a twat I laugh into the air and actually relish the prospect of an all-out scrap. Their attention is on me now, not the terrified survivors clinging onto each other with their bloody eyes clamped shut.