“We’re going down onto the base. We’ve been talking all morning and decided we shouldn’t waste the day, so we came to fill you in and then we’re heading down,” Fiona told them. “The information they mentioned last night, it’s on a USB drive. We’re going to hunt for a working computer.”
“Mom, is that safe?” Sam sounded worried, but his mother chuckled dryly.
“Nothing is safe, so I won’t tell you that it is. It is necessary though,” she said.
“Your mom and I are going down there with Xin, Pete, Lucy and Frank. Bao and Harry are going to stay at the security desk, so they’ll be able to keep an eye on everything,” Zack clarified. “We’ll be back before it gets dark, and if you need anything before we get back you can go to the cabin, okay?
“Okay, but please be careful, daddy,” Lanie said, hugging her father.
“We’ll be back before you know it,” he told her.
Zack disappeared briefly into the RV to talk to Annette. When he reappeared, he was carrying his shotgun. Both he and Fiona already had their handguns holstered on their belts. Shania and Evan were called over and all the children hugged them before they left.
“Where are you going?” Shania asked.
“We’re just going to get some things that we need, baby. We won’t be long,” Fiona answered her. Shania accepted this with no further questions and pulled Evan back to their game.
The older trio watched as Xin and Pete got into a small, blue car that was parked nearby. Their parents joined Frank and Lucy in Harry’s squad car. With a final wave to the people they were leaving behind, the cars took off down the long track, kicking up a burst of dust and leaving it mushrooming outwards in their wake.
Time seemed to drag by after that. Shania and Evan basked in their boundless, youthful energy and Lanie wished that she could partake in their carefree, oblivious fun. What they had seen and the loss of their grandfather had no doubt affected them, but they didn’t fully understand and were shielded from the true scale of it. Jo passed the time chewing her finger nails, a habit that always arose in times of anxiety like this. If only the worst thing to happen that day had been the worry that their parents wouldn’t return.
A couple of hours after seeing their parents off, Sam rose to get a drink. He asked his sisters if they’d like one too and they accepted. Before he headed inside, Lanie asked Sam if he would look in on their grandmother. It was not even a full minute after he had entered, that he rushed back out, wide eyed and shell shocked.
“What’s wrong, Sammy?” Lanie asked, standing up and studying his face.
“It’s Nanny,” he stammered. “Something’s wrong with Nanny.”
“What do you mean?” Lanie quizzed him.
“I...” Sam looked at Jo and then Lanie. “I think she’s killed herself.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lanie frowned.
“Keep an eye on the kids, Lanie. Don’t let them see that anything else is wrong. I’ll go and see.” Joanne rose and placed a hand briefly on Sam’s shoulder as she passed. Then she made her way up the two steps and onto the RV.
It felt stuffy inside compared to the fresh air she had been enjoying just moments ago. Joanne made her way to the back compartment where Annette had been resting. Sam had left the sliding door open and at first all Jo could see was the white duvet that covered the old lady’s form.
“Nanny?” She called softly. “Nan?”
There was no response, so Jo made her way further through the doorway and around the side of the bed.
She drew back the quilt and was confronted by her grandmother’s pale, frozen face. It was obvious that Sam had been right; her eyes were open and glazed, her mouth was slack and unbreathing.
Jo gasped and her hand fluttered to her mouth.
“No!”
There was a large, seeping stain on the sheet beside the old lady’s head. The old woman had been sick after overdosing on her medications. There were a couple of empty pill bottles on the small table beside the bed, and one still clutched in the hand that was resting on the pillows.
“Oh, Nanny,” Joanne cried. “Why? You could have talked to us, we all miss him too.”
She sank to the ground and sat there for a while, just trying to wrap her head around the fact that both of her grandparents were now gone.
When the initial shock and horror had subsided a little, resentment filled the gap. Her grandfather had had his life snatched away from him, and yet her grandmother had just given hers freely. They were all fighting to live and the whole family were already mourning one tragedy, now she had given them another. Jo was startled from her weeping contemplations by Lanie’s voice calling her.
“Jo?” There was a pause. “Joby? Is everything okay?”
Jo took the empty bottle from the frail hand that clasped it. She took a final look at the blank face, framed with limp, greying hair and then she left the room and shut the sliding door behind her.
Lanie was leaning through the RV’s door.
“Is she...” Lanie trailed off as Jo shook her head and held up the empty pill bottle. Lanie never swore, but Jo definitely heard her this time.
“Oh, holy fuck!” She muttered under her breath, as her head retreated from the doorway. When Jo stepped off the RV she felt a wave of nausea and faintness wash over her and flopped into a beach chair.
“What do we do?” Sam asked with defeat. His face was still pale and wide eyed from discovering the body. “Is this our life now, just sitting around as the people we love die?”
“Keep your voice down, Sam,” Joanne cautioned him half-heartedly.
Lanie paced back and forth in front of the RV. Jo and Sam sat mutely watching the two children play. They were now just playing catch together, while Kenco ran between them, from one to the other, hoping to catch the ball himself.
Lanie stopped pacing. “I’m going to get mom and dad,” she announced.
“You can’t do that, it’s too dangerous!” Jo protested.
“I’m not staying here waiting for them whilst Nanny’s dead body just lays in there!” She spoke in a shouty whisper, portraying her frustration and still trying not to draw the attention of the children.
“They won’t be long, though,” Sam inputted nervously.
“Don’t start with that. We don’t even know if they’ll actually make it back!” Lanie’s voice got louder.
“Of course they will, don’t say that!” He retorted.
“Look, let’s just go to the cabin and tell those guys...” Joanne reasoned.
“Oh, yes. Let’s go and tell the cop that tried to arrest dad for helping him. He’ll probably think it was us if his past behaviour is anything to go on,” Lanie seethed.
Jo tried to tell Lanie that she wasn’t thinking straight, and that it was preposterous to presume that he would be anything other than sympathetic, but Lanie ploughed on. “As for the other one, the old guy, I just don’t like him, I get a funny feeling about him.”
Jo and Sam looked at each other but it was pointless trying to argue.
“I’ll come with you then,” Jo said with resignation.
“If anyone’s going, it’s me,” Sam countered.
“No, Sam. You take Shanie and Evan to the cabin and wait there,” Jo said sternly.
“Oh, and what do I tell them?” He asked sarcastically. “Yes, I just let my sisters go chasing off after our parents in a zombie infested hell hole...”
“Shut up, Sam. You don’t tell them anything. You say that it’s too hot outside and the RV is stuffy. Ask them if you can sit and enjoy the air conditioning for a while,” Lanie interjected.
It was with much reluctance that Sam agreed. The girls would head off on foot down the track after he had taken the children to safety. He insisted that they take Kenco with them.
Carrying Evan and pulling Shania by her hand, he led them into the cabin. He said exactly what he had been told to say and that was that.
The men, who had been watching the cameras, w
ere distracted from the sight of the girls leaving by Sam, Shania and Evan’s arrival. When Bao turned back and commented that he couldn’t see them, Sam told him that they were on the RV taking a nap.
However, Sam couldn’t hold back when he discovered that Harry and Bao were using a walky-talky to keep in touch with the other group. It seemed that Harry had brought them in from the police car and they were using them to communicate warnings to the group.
“Careful around the next corner, there’s one in a doorway on the left and then another one at the end of the road. Over,” Harry relayed.
After a momentary crackle of static Sam heard his mother’s voice.
“Thanks, Harry. Can you tell me how the area looks? We’re hoping to take five before we press on and head back. Over.”
Bao consulted the screens and told Harry to tell her they could afford a quick stop. Harry conveyed the message and the walky-talky fell back to its stagnant fizzing.
“You’ve been in touch with them all along?” Sam asked from the couch.
“Yes, of course,” Bao said, his eyebrows raising a little as he looked at the boy.
“Why didn’t anyone tell us?” Sam demanded.
“I thought that your parents would have mentioned it. It seems that they must have forgotten. What is the problem?” Bao asked, distractedly looking back to the monitors.
Sam gave up and told him. “Jo and Lanie aren’t in the RV.”
“I haven’t seen them come out,” said Harry.
“They never were in there. They went to get mum and dad.”
“What!” Bao spluttered, startling the small children.
“Nanny’s dead. Lanie wouldn’t listen...” Sam tried to defend himself from Bao’s guilt-inducing glare.
“I can’t get an eye on them,” Harry said, scouring the feeds. “Want me to call it in with the others, ask them to keep watch?”
“No, don’t do that. They need to stay focused. One distraction could get them all killed,” Bao told him. “I’ll go down and fetch them back. They can’t have made it the whole way down the track yet, not if you can’t see them.”
“Nanny’s dead?” Shania asked, as Bao headed out of the door. She and Evan both began to cry. Sam held them both close and Harry, unable to leave the monitors, sat back feeling useless and leaving them to grieve.
“Lanie, I don’t feel too good about this,” Jo told her sister, as they trekked further down the dirt road. They had been walking in silence, each lost in thought as Kenco lumbered along beside them.
“I wasn’t thinking straight,” Lanie admitted. “Maybe we should have gone to the cabin after all.”
“Can we just go back? Mom and dad will be back before dark, they said so. And they went with four other people, they’re probably doing fine,” Joanne tried hopefully.
“I don’t know. I just don’t know what to do,” Lanie sniffed wetly. She stopped walking and turned to face Jo, who was lagging behind a little.
“It’s going to be okay,” Jo told her, drawing level with her and hugging her sister tightly.
“I just want to keep it together for Evan. I need to be strong for him, but I don’t know the right way to deal with the mess that we’re in,” Lanie cried. Her tears dampened a patch of Jo’s sweater.
“Come on, let’s go ba--” Jo didn’t finish her sentence. At that moment, Kenco began to growl. It was a deep, warning growl rather than his usual happy woof.
The girls pulled apart and turned to see what had caught the dog’s attention. Much further down the track but rapidly closing the distance, someone or something was sprinting towards them.
“We don’t have weapons!” Joanne realised.
“Kenco, here,” Lanie commanded. The dog complied immediately, placing himself right in front of her. The girls began to panic. The closer the figure got, the more apparent it was that it was unfamiliar. The bubble of hope, that maybe it was one of their parents, popped instantaneously.
“Should we run, Lanie?” Jo asked.
Lanie nodded, but they were still stood there helplessly when they registered the sound of an engine approaching from behind. Glancing around, Jo saw that it was the big white van that had been parked behind the cabin. She offered up a prayer of thanks that Sam had not been able to keep his mouth shut. The pair turned and ran to meet the van. Kenco didn’t move and didn’t take his eyes from the figure, which was now close enough that they could see the look of greedy intent on its face.
The van skidded to a jerky stand still and Bao jumped out with his hand gun raised. The girls quickly sought the cover of sturdy metal.
The zombie was now not a meter away from Kenco, who growled a low warning sound at the thing. The corpse had its eyes on richer pickings, though, and was disinterested in the dog. It eyed Bao as he steadied his aim. He fired his shot but it missed its head and merely staggered his target. Another previously unnoticed figure caught his attention, staggering in the horizon and providing a distraction for the closest zombie, who threw itself upon Bao. A shriek rang out, as teeth tore at his clothes. While he wrestled the decaying, withered being, its approaching accomplice sped up, its sights set on the girls. Bao was too busy grappling his zombie and trying to stop it from tearing more than just his shirt open, to be able to help them. He tried to get an angle that he could deliver a killing bullet from, but the thing was moving too much. The second one was now close enough that Lanie could smell it.
The girls struggled to get one of the van’s doors open. They had tried the nearest door already, the passenger side, and found it locked. They ran around to the driver side and desperately threw open the door, sobbing with fear.
“Lanie, MOVE!” Jo screamed. She had looked up too late. The repugnant thing took her sister in its grasp. Kenco lunged at it, as the girl screeched in pain.
Jo watched in defeat, as her sister screamed. Bao tripped on a loose rock whilst trying to see what was happening to the girls. He fumbled around trying to reach his fallen gun and hold off the rabid, foaming creature.
“Help me!” Lanie squealed. Jo didn’t know what to do, but Kenco already had a mouth full of the Zombie’s leg and was pulling hard. His rippling muscles gave him an advantage, and the zombie snarled in frustration as it lost its grip on Lanie’s arm, gouging deep, red trails in her skin. Anger flared in the fiends eyes when the dog yanked again, shaking its head and pulling the struggling monster to the ground.
“Get my gun!” Bao thundered, still unable to reach it himself.
Lanie was shaking and showed no sign of moving, she just watched in fear. The dog was wrestling with what looked like a skeleton with skin draped roughly over it. It had a puffy, bloated stomach, probably stuffed with human flesh, and obvious strength despite its appearance.
Jo made a dash around the van. Bao looked to be weakening but his arms were managing to keep his attackers teeth just inches from his neck.
“Quickly, girl!” He yelled. She spotted the gun and raced to pick it up. As she rose, she heard a howl that could only have come from Kenco. Tears spiked her eyes and she spun her aim to the ugly miscreation that was looming over Bao. She fired a shot that penetrated one side of the creature’s neck and carried on out of the other side. A mist of blood was enough confirmation for Jo and she didn’t stay to be sure that it was dispatched. Jo ran back to where the howl had come from.
Poor old Kenco was trying his best, fighting to save his family. He had pulled several chunks from its neck, exposing the bone, but it was still very much alive. The zombie he was stood over had already clawed him badly in several places, now it reached up and thrust a hand at his stomach. With one quick movement a mound of intestine dropped out of him in a wet gush. They trailed over the delighted creature and Kenco collapsed on top of it. The zombie shrugged the body off of itself and lurched back to its feet.
The nightmare wouldn’t end for Jo, she looked down for only a second to pull back the hammer on the gun she held, and when she looked back up her sister was under attack again
. She heard two simultaneous screams, as Bao succumbed to the zombie attacking him, the one that she had failed to kill, and Lanie found herself back in the others undead clutches.
Bao was in a bad way. When the bullet had torn through his assailant all it had done was give it a quick shock. When it recovered, his strength failed him fast. His attacker had leaned right down and sank its teeth straight into his cheek. The agony was indescribable and the torrent of blood that gushed from it was astonishingly severe. The pain crippled him and his helplessness meant that death followed swiftly. The zombie held Bao’s head between its decaying hands before jerking it backwards, it repeated the motion over and over, cracking his head on the ground. Thankfully Bao lost consciousness long before his skull cracked like an egg shell. Upon hearing the satisfying crunch the zombie gurgled and pulled his victim forward. It used a hand to claw at the bloodied wound on the back of Bao’s head. Skin peeled backwards and shards of bone were visible beneath. The repulsive creature plucked out the broken fragments of skull, sunk its fingers into the hole, and used sheer strength to break open the top of Bao’s head. There was so much blood, as though a massacre of ten people had occurred rather than just one man. It kept snapping off shards of bone until it had made a hole big enough to just reach in and lift out the pinky-grey matter revealed underneath. With Bao’s brain in its hands it lost all interest in anything else. It got to its feet and staggered back the way it had come from, holding the brain like a prize and licking the sticky goop from it as it went.
Lanie panicked in the grasp of the hideous dead man.
“Shoot it, Jo, shoot it!” she shouted desperately. Jo was worried about hitting Lanie instead of the monster. It clutched her shoulders and leaned menacingly close. It was pressed against her, her arms between them pushing against its chest.
“I...” Jo was going to say she couldn’t, but Lanie let out a screech.
“Just shoot it!”
Jo couldn’t look, she aimed and then shut her eyes and hoped for the best. She let off three shots. The first sounded like it hit the van, there was a scream before the second one and the third followed fast behind. Jo opened her eyes.
Dying to Live Page 13