“Good luck with this asshole, we will return. See you in a while, if there’s anything left of you” Richard called. I watched them jump into their cars and reverse, taking out a few zombies on their way but leaving most of them for us to deal with. Then Richard and his crew were gone.
My relief at their retreat was short lived however as it seemed like there were a lot more zombies than Will had estimated.
I heard a small buzz coming up behind me and turned to see Will and Adam coming towards us in a golf cart.
“Nice, we may need that as a getaway soon” I joked. Trying to make myself feel better. It didn’t work.
Before anybody could reply, Ben came running out of Mick’s house and towards us, calling out “Mick had an idea!”
Chapter 15
“Ok, tell us” Will said eagerly, I guess that he was all out of ideas, just like me.
“Mick says there’s a hill about twenty minutes West of here in a truck. On top of that hill is a hut but surrounding that hut is an extremely deep moat. The bridge is activated by remote. It was used for filming” Ben told us excitedly.
“Ok and how does this help us?” I was too tired and too horrified by the nights events to think clearly enough.
“Mick has volunteered to use the back gate to drive out of here and around the front making as much noise as he can to draw the zombies that way. He will cross the bridge and lead the zombies to fall into the moat”
“How did he even know about the zombies?” Adam asked
“He’s been watching out of his bedroom window using a telescope. The plan he’s been thinking about for weeks just in case he ever had to leave here.” Ben explained.
“No not Mick, he’s too ill. I will go.” Will said firmly.
“It’s because he’s not well that he’s chosen to go. In all honesty, he won’t last long here. We don’t have any way to help him. He had stage three lung cancer even before the outbreak and was given six months so he’s living borrowed time. I have to agree with him on this, he would be our best hope.” Ben told us, a grim look on his face.
“How’s John?” Lewis asked looking towards the house from which Ben had just came. As soon as the men had retreated, John had gone back home to sit with his dying friend.
“He argued at first, but he can see the sense of it” Ben replied
“Lewis come in, you there man?” came the voice of Andrew via the radio.
“Yeah, I’m here, what’s up?”
“I have an idea, meet me in the stunt set. First large building you come to” That was all he said, but the excitement in his voice was hard to miss. It had us all intrigued.
“Ok, I’ll stay here with Adam, and keep an eye on them” Will pointed outside of the gate. “G, you go with Lewis and check out what Andrew has found.”
“Ok no worries, I’d wondered where Andrew had gone”
“Ben can you go back in and check on Mick and John?” Lewis asked.
We each nodded and made our way quickly to where we needed to be.
Lewis and I jogged over to the stunt set, although I’d seen it from the exterior on my walk earlier that evening I hadn’t entered any of the buildings. I was going to save that for the next day.
Andrew was already at the door waiting for us. His eyes shone with excitement.
“Come on you two, I have something awesome to show you” and he was gone, back into the darkness.
My eyes met Lewis’s, he just shrugged and disappeared through the door.
I followed quickly knowing that time was of the essence.
The place was huge, with cameras and computers everywhere, there were green screens dotted all over the place in various sizes.
“Wow this place is awesome” I marvelled as I turned around in circles. Soft lights were on in here, I wasn’t sure why, maybe some sort of security measure running on a generator. I made a note to ask Mick about it later.
“You think that’s cool? You should see this” Andrews voice came from somewhere to my right.
I followed the sound of excited voices further into the room and into what looked like a huge storage room.
“Check this out!” now it was Lewis’s turn to sound excited.
I didn’t see what the big deal was, they were stood in front of a Porsche 911. Don’t mistake me, it was a stunning looking car, it had been painted in a deep purple, that seemed to shimmer. But we had bigger, sturdier cars out front that would hold up much better in the horde of zombies that we currently had surrounding the compound.
“And?” I was at a loss.
“Man, it’s a full sized remote-control car. Don’t you see?” Lewis was looking at me as though I was dumb and in this instance, I was being real slow on the uptake.
“No” I walked closer, foolishly thinking that by getting nearer I might have worked out what they were so excited about.
“we can control it from here. We can use the camera booms to get up high then use the remote car to draw the zombies away and into that pit Mick was talking about.” Lewis piped up.
Andrew was nodding along like one of those dogs you used to see in car windows.
Now I saw what they were getting at, I realised how great this find was, and then I had an idea.
“This is great, make your way around to the back gate, I’ll meet you there in a few.” I ran back out the way I had come and towards the food van.
Jimmying the lock on the back of the trailer that was attached to the van I gagged at the rancid odour of rotten meat. No generator for this then. Holding my nose, I took deep breaths in through my mouth.
I didn’t have to hold it for long as the item I was after was lined neatly by the door. There were six of them. I pulled out one and found out exactly how heavy they were. But that was good as it meant that they were full. A lot of huffing and puffing later, I had manged to get three of them off the trailer and had wedged the door closed.
The whir of the golf cart had me thanking the heavens for small things. John and Mick came slowly towards me, both with grim faces.
“What you up to George?” John asked pulling to a stop just in front of me.
“Yes son, I think you’re on to something there” Mick grinned at me. I couldn’t help but grin back. I hurriedly ran through my plan as I put the gas canisters in the back where the clubs would normally be.
John seemed to like it, Mick remained quiet. I hopped on the back to hold the canisters whilst john drove us to meet Lewis and Andrew.
“The car works great” Andrew called out.
“Ah this beauty, I’d forgotten she was here.” Mick said shakily getting out of the cart and hobbling over to the car. He tried to open the door but didn’t seem to have the strength. I trotted up behind him and opened it for him.
“Thanks” he mumbled and got into the driver’s seat.
“Guys” I gestured with my hands that they join me at the back of the car.
They did, Will and Adam jogging up just as I’d started to speak.
“Ok here’s my plan. Andrew gets up on the camera boom over on the left wall there.” I pointed roughly to where he could stand. “ Then he controls the car leading the zombies away. When he’s far enough away he can crash and boom” I pointed to the gas bottles.
The group started to nod.
“But there’s no guarantee that the canisters will blow? Or to how far the remote will work in the car.” Will, found two major flaws in our plan. Even Andrew looked dejected.
“No, it’s a good plan” Mick piped up still in the Porsche. “But instead of remote I’ll be driving it” he grinned madly and I think that he was looking forward to going out with a bang; no pun intended.
“But Mick-“ John started, I could hear the pain in his voice.
“But Mick nothing, you know I’m a goner anyway. I’m just an old man living on borrowed time. If I can help you guys and those lil ones back at the house then I will.” Mick had a no nonsense look on his face and his tone warned not to argue.
; John opened his mouth as if to argue but closed it again when Mick slammed the door to the Porsche closed. Damn for a man with no strength he sure did slam the door hard.
He held out his hand to Lewis who now held the remote. He looked to John who just looked to the floor. Mick cleared his throat loudly and Lewis quickly handed him the keys, looking like a guilty school boy.
“Mick, thank you” I tried to sound as sincere as I could. There was nothing more to say. Words could not have expressed how grateful I was to this man. He had only known our group for less than a day but was willing to give up his life for us, when he could have been living out his last days in the luxury of his home.
He just nodded grimly and saluted us. John stumbled to the car, unable to see properly in his grief. He hugged Mick tightly and whispered his goodbyes.
“It’s clear” Will called, he was checking through the back gate to make sure that out there wasn’t zombie infested also.
“It’s time” Mick called out, a slight tremor in his voice giving away the fact that he was a little scared. But then again when driving to certain death, what man wouldn’t be a scared.
He started the engine with a roar, Lewis, Adam and Will gave him a little nod as they quickly pulled open the gate. John and I got our guns at the ready just as a cover in case there were any stray zombies about.
Mick didn’t waste any time. He put his foot down and the engine roared, speeding out of the compound.
“Woohoo” we could hear Micks excited scream. He really did love the car.
Will, Adam and Lewis pulled the heavy gate closed again as quickly as they could, I kept my gun pointed at them just in case and John ran to the golf cart and was gone before we could stop him.
My eyes met Lewis’ panicked look.
“Go” I told him, and he was gone at a run, no questions asked. Andrew followed quickly behind with a small wave to us, probably going to check on Heidi and the kids.
I put my gun in my belt and ran towards the gate, helping Will and Adam to pull it fully closed and lock it back up securely.
“Let’s hope it works” he said looking through the peephole out into the darkness.
“Yeah, I nodded” we turned to walk back towards home and the main entrance.
By the time we got there, John was up on top of the ladder that Will had vacated with a pair of binoculars.
The horn from the car blared, “Come on suckers, come get me you filthy rotten animals” could be heard in between horn blasts.
I had to smile at Mick, he really was giving it his all.
“It’s working” John called down quietly.
“I’m just going to check on Cory” Lewis replied.
“I’ll go check on the girls” Will told me, clapping me on the back.
“Me too” Adam gave his goofy grin. I smiled back, warmth filling me inside.
“I’m going to wait here for a little while” I nodded up at John, the blaring of the horn was getting quieter now as Mick moved away.
I checked through the small hole in the gate and saw that our plan seemed to be working, the zombies had turned away from us and were following the sound of the car which I could no longer see.
Hope filled me, with just a small niggle in the back of my mind that hoped the noise didn’t draw more zombies towards us than it did away.
About thirty minutes later there was crackle on Johns radio which was turned down low.
We were now sat side by side on the ground in front of the gate, each exhausted and nodding off. Sleep threatening to take me over completely, despite the nap I had taken earlier in the smoking shed.
“Hey, its Mick” his voice sounded raspy but it could have just been the signal.
“Mick, it’s me John, how are you man?” John’s tone was rushed, he was worried about his friend and rightly so.
“I’m as good as can be. I’ve made it into the hut and have pulled up the bridge. It seems to be working, they are still coming at me and falling into the moat.” He chuckled, followed by a chesty cough.
“That’s good Mick. But, how are you?” John stressed the last word.
“I’m ok son, I’ll give it an hour. I have the car idling with the cd player running, to hopefully draw more in.”
“Thank you, Mick, I wish there had been another way” John dipped his head, I watched as silent tears hit the dirt in between his legs.
Placing my hand on his shoulder I took the radio off him.
“Hey, Mick it’s me, George. Thanks again man, you’ve saved our lives today. Is there anything we can do for you?”
“Hey George, nope I’m all good. Just look after John there. I’m going to keep a little battery in this thing. Over and out” he chuckled at the last bit and didn’t wait for my reply before turning his radio off.
“Want to go in?” I asked John quietly, keeping hold of the radio.
“Nah, not just yet. Can we just sit here for a while?” he sniffed, lifting his red, bloodshot eyes to meet mine. Almost pleading with me silently. My heart went out to him, we’d all lost our fair share of loved ones. Me? Well I’d had more than my fair share of loved and lost. I don’t think I could handle anymore loss at the moment or ever again.
I just nodded, he lay his head on my shoulder and I placed mine back against the gate. The night was relatively warm and it wasn’t long before I could feel my eyes starting to close again, John’s soft snores alerted me that he was sleeping and soon they lulled me to sleep.
Chapter 16
The low rumble of a small explosion jolted us awake. We were both on our feet within seconds, my heart was beating so hard I thought my ribs were going to break.
“What the hell?” John was scrambling up the ladder as I fumbled with the latches that held the peephole closed. My fingers were numb and not working properly.
“No, no no. Please God no” John begged the invisible higher power.
I finally got the cover open and looked through. A plume of smoke rose in the distance. So, my idea of the gas canisters worked. I was both happy that I helped even a little but I had what felt like a large lead weight in my stomach. Another life lost. How many more would we lose before we won this war? Would we ever win this war?
I watched as John slid down the ladder and snatched up the radio from where it had fallen to the ground when we were sleeping.
“Mick? You there? Come in Mick please?” John spoke into the radio but only got static in return.
“I’m sorry John, he seemed like a good man” I walked to my friend and hugged him tight. My arms barely reaching around his muscular frame.
“He really was” Johns voice broke and his shoulders slumped against me, his legs barley holding him up.
“Come on let’s get you into Lewis” I let him go and wrapped my arm around his shoulder, steering John towards his new home.
I saw him inside; Lewis and Cory were curled up in the corner of the massive U shaped black fabric sofa. They had pulled one of the grey tartan throws from the back of the sofa over them.
Lewis stirred as we entered the room, his eye met mine. I shook my head no. He closed his eyes briefly, then untangled himself from the young boy that they had adopted as their own.
I helped John to sit down on the opposite end of the sofa. Lewis moved to join him, not saying a word, just hugging his partner.
I grabbed the other throw and handed it to them, placing a hand on each shoulder. Not saying anything, there was nothing to say. Mick was an amazing man, who had selflessly given his life for us and our group. Words could never express the sympathy I had for John or the appreciation I felt for Mick.
But there was a time and place for those comments. Right at that moment I knew that John just needed Lewis to hug him tight throughout the night; giving him comfort that nobody else could.
I moved silently throughout their home into the large kitchen/diner. Picking up two bottles of water from the worktop I was a little surprised to see that they were flavoured water. Good old Mick. Nothin
g but the best for him and now for our good friends. Both the bottles were still, Lemon and Lime flavoured. I wasn’t sure if John and Lewis would like it but then again we couldn’t really afford to be picky these days; any water as long as it was clean was good.
Placing the bottles on the small wooden coffee table in front of the sofa, I earned small smiles from both men.
“I’ll see myself out, goodnight both. Should you need anything, you know where we are” I whispered.
Whispers of thanks from both of them saw me out of the door.
I strolled home, the sun was starting to come up. I looked forward to getting into my bed. It had been a long ass night.
I climbed the steps to the trailer and opened the door as quietly as I could.
Nia and Will were both propped against each other sleeping. They were sat on the sofa that was my pull-out bed.
I decided to sleep in Will’s bed for the night, or day as the case was. The front door clicked loudly behind me, causing me to cringe. I didn’t want to wake them, they too had experienced a long couple of days.
Too late, they both woke up, stretching and yawning. Both blessing me with small smiles, when they laid eyes on me.
“Sorry” I scrunched up my face trying to look sorry.
“Nah man, that’s ok.” Will grinned.
“We were trying to wait up for you. I’ve left a few blankets and pillows just there for you.” Nia smiled and pointed to a pile of dark coloured bedding on the chair opposite.
“Thanks” I yawned, desperate to snuggle up warm and close my eyes.
“Mick?” Will asked.
“No” that’s all I needed to say.
They both looked down to the floor, feeling the loss of Mick.
“Hey, you two. Get to bed and let’s get some proper rest”
Nia nodded, she got up sluggishly. Giving me a hug before slinking off to her room without another word.
“You stay with John and Lewis?” Will asked also standing up. His top and joggers creased badly from falling asleep in them.
George (Book 2): The Long Road Ahead Page 14