by Thomas Hall
‘No more than we can handle,’ Darrel said. He sounded confident, but Beth wondered how he could be. It was one thing coming together when you were attacked and had no choice, quite another when you were actively seeking a fight.
‘I don’t know,’ she said.
It was a big town, maybe even a city, but she wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or not.
‘Prepare a team to go and look for supplies,’ she said. ‘We’ll need petrol and whatever food you can find.’
Beth turned away and walked back to the caravan where Dawn, Rachel, David and Noel were waiting for her.
Dawn was the first to come over. ‘Are we staying?’ she asked eagerly.
‘I don’t know,’ Beth said. ‘Darrell is checking it out now.’
‘What’s wrong with it?’ Dawn said, demanded was closer to the truth.
‘It might not be safe,’ she said.
‘Excuse me for saying so,’ Noel said, standing up from his seat by the small table. He was wrapped in a brown cardigan that she hadn’t seen before. ‘But is anywhere safe at the moment? A man died this morning.’
Beth considered it and realised he had a point. She was sending the bikers into the town with no idea how dangerous it might be. She turned away suddenly.
‘Beth?’ Dawn said.
‘Beth, I’m sorry if I misspoke...’ Noel said.
She ignored them both and threw the door closed behind her. She had to hurry or she might be too late.
Beth ran through the snow towards the jeep where Russell was standing talking to Colette.
‘Where is he?’ Beth said.
‘Where’s who?’ Russell said.
‘Darrel... the bikers... have they left yet?’
Russell shook his head. ‘They’re just ‘round the corner getting ready. What’s going on?’
She ignored him and ran around the corner shouting, ‘wait!’
None of them turned. The sound of their engines drowned out her voice.
She kept running, sure that she wouldn’t reach them in time and already trying to think of an alternative.
The first bike pulled away, she couldn’t see who was riding it. She kept going and managed to grab the back of the final bike just as it was moving off. She didn’t think she was going to be able to hold it as the engine churned and she felt her fingers slipping.
The bike jolted, turned suddenly to one side and slid to the ground. Before she even realised it was happening the rider was off and on their feet. They had to step over the bike as it skidded past them and, by the time Beth had recovered, she found herself looking down the barrel of Ellen’s gun.
Ellen was a dark haired girl who had come from Harmony and only joined the bikers after their escape from Eastern Bridge. She didn’t lower the gun as quickly as Beth would have hoped, and when she did it was with a look on intense irritation.
‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing?’ Ellen said.
‘I’m sorry,’ Beth said.
‘Shit,’ Ellen said, shaking her head. ‘You scared me. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout.’
Beth relaxed a little, but not completely.
Ellen walked over to her bike and picked it up. She inspected it but there didn’t appear to be any damage. She climbed on and then turned back to Beth. ‘Did you want something?’ she said.
‘I need to come with you.’
‘Why?’ Ellen said. ‘I mean... why?’
‘Because it’s not safe and I need to see for myself.’
Ellen looked as if she was going to argue but then her shoulders sagged and she gave in. ‘Climb on then, Darrel will be waiting for me.’
Beth walked over and got onto the bike. She’d been on them before but never with Ellen and she was startled by the speed of her accelerating.
The ride down the hill and into Carningsby took longer than expected, mostly because of the need to slow down and avoid obstacles. Beth kept a tight grip on Ellen as she was jostled along. Twenty minutes after setting off they slowed down and stopped.
Beth climbed off and found the other bikers waiting for them.
Darrel walked over. ‘What’s she doing here?’
‘I’m here to help,’ Beth said.
‘And how are you going to do that?’
‘If you want to stay then you need to let me look around and figure out if it’s worth it. For all we know zombies are pouring in and it’ll just be a waste of bullets to try and get rid of them. I’m not going to get in your way so you don’t need to worry.’
Darrel just looked at her and she wondered how pissed off he was.
Beth waited.
‘Ellen, stay with her,’ Darrel said. ‘Make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid.’
Darrel and walked away before she could say anything about his attitude. The other half dozen bikers were waiting for him. Once he’d started his bike, they roared off into the town to look for supplies.
Beth turned back to Ellen. ‘Sorry,’ she said.
‘Don’t worry about it,’ she said. ‘Where do you want to go?’
Beth looked around. She’d had a better vantage point at the top of the hill, but there was no way for her to see detail from there. She needed to get a better look at the way the town was laid out and what they could find in the way of defence. It would also be good if she could find out where the zombies were coming from.
‘Let’s just take a walk,’ she said. ‘You don’t mind leaving your bike, do you?’
Ellen shrugged and shook her head. ‘Lead the way.’
Beth could hear zombies nearby, a low drone that seemed to never change in tone. She expected to see them around every corner, but after ten minutes of walking she hadn’t seen any sign of the creatures.
‘What are we looking for?’ Ellen said.
Beth wasn’t exactly sure. Something that would make attacking the zombies worthwhile. Something it was worth risking people’s lives for. ‘We’ll know when we see it,’ she said.
They passed through a residential area. The gardens were overgrown, but not greatly so, the houses looked as if they might still have people living in them. Impossible, of course, but they looked ready to move into.
They found themselves walking towards a shopping centre and a part of her, trained by movies and TV shows, expected to see zombies massing there. Cautiously they walked over a bridge and found themselves in the middle of an abandoned mall. There was no sign of the zombies, although she could still hear them.
The river had burst its banks and flooded the front of some restaurants. The water had frozen and was now an opaque ice rink. Beth and Ellen stopped to look at it.
‘Maybe we should go another way?’ Ellen said.
Beth was happy to agree, but still curious. The windows of the mall were still intact, and there was no sign of looters. It was curious and, perhaps, worth investigating, but it didn’t make a convincing case for staying in the town.
They kept going. On the high street the snow was covered in a mass of footprints, which she assumed belonged to zombies.
The moans were getting louder.
‘Which way should we go?’ Ellen whispered.
‘Down here,’ Beth said, picking a direction at random.
On one side of the street there was the entrance to a department store, but it was no longer clear which one. The sign which had hung above it was now shattered on the ground and covered in snow. Opposite that there was a watch shop, a bakery and a building society. At the end of the street they reached a road and saw their first zombie.
The creature looked as if it had been old when it had turned; bent over and hobbling along, it didn’t turn to look at them, nor give any other sign that it noticed they were there.
It took Beth a moment to realise that Ellen had drawn her sidearm, she put out a hand to stop her. ‘Don’t,’ she said.
Beth followed the zombie, keeping about twenty metres behind and ducking into doorways, when they were available. Ellen came a few steps behind
her.
The creature was taking its time but, the more she watched it, the more she became convinced that it was going somewhere in particular. It wasn’t just stumbling around like some ancient creatures she had seen.
But where was it going?
Towards the other zombies, seemed the logical answer. The distant moans were becoming less distant with every step they took. At the top of the hill, looking down, the zombies had seemed to swarm all over Carningsby like ants. She would have expected to have seen dozens of them by now, but she hadn’t.
Was it possible that zombies had some kind of shared intelligence? Was the creature being drawn to other zombies for a reason?
The road curved around a street with nothing on it, except for a row of bars with different themes. Once they were around that corner she lost sight of the decrepit old creature amongst the mass of other zombies that were standing there.
Their combined moaning made it difficult to hear anything else. She couldn’t count how many there were, but she guessed it to be hundreds, if not a clear thousand. They were all standing in an area that couldn’t have been more than a hundred square metres and, luckily for her and Ellen, each and every one of them was facing towards a large red brick building.
They stood completely exposed in the middle of the road and, for a moment, Beth had the ludicrous idea that they needed to get out of the way before a car came along, rather than because, at any moment, one of the zombies might turn and see them.
Beth took a step back and grabbed Ellen’s hand. Together they backed away from the zombies, around the corner and into the doorway of an Irish bar.
‘What the fuck?’ Ellen whispered. Beth turned to look and saw that her eyes were wide.
She shook her head.
‘We have to go!’
Beth nodded but neither of them moved. They were a long way from safe, cowering in the doorway, but if they stepped back onto the street again they would be at even greater risk. Still, what was the alternative? They couldn’t stay there forever and the last thing she wanted, now, was for anyone to mount a rescue and come looking for them.
She nodded again.
‘Let’s go,’ Beth said.
She forced herself to walk away from the door.
Beth hurried through the street in the direction they’d come from, assuming that the danger was all behind her. The moment it struck her, the first thought that went through her mind was to blame Ellen for not noticing it.
She saw the world spin and landed with a heavy thud which knocked the air from her lungs. For a moment she could only lay there in confusion and but then quickly rolled onto her side and onto her front. She pushed herself up and at the same time pulled the gun from its holster. There was no one in front of her, but when she turned she saw half a dozen zombies and Ellen struggling to get away from them.
‘Help!’ Ellen screamed heedless of the fact that there were hundreds of zombies who would hear her.
Beth raised her gun tried to line up a shot which would take out the zombie holding Ellen, rather that Ellen herself.
Ellen continued to struggle and Beth realised that she wasn’t going to get the shot. She would either have to risk shooting Ellen or go in closer.
She checked that the safety was off and boldly walked towards Ellen.
The look of fear on the girl’s face was almost enough to make Beth check herself, but she couldn’t think of a better option. She went straight towards the zombie which Ellen was trying to get away from.
‘Close your mouth,’ Beth said.
Ellen did as she was told and then Beth pulled the trigger.
At such close range the effect of the shot was gruesome. She couldn’t see it, but could imagine the exit wound would be big enough to get her fist into. The zombie fell to the ground, releasing its grip on Ellen and allowing her to step away.
‘Hurry up,’ Beth said, grabbing her arm and pulling the girl after her.
The other five zombies were coming towards them and the gunshot would have alerted others to their presence. Beth started to move more quickly, dragging Ellen along.
They ran up the hill. Beth could hear more zombies massing behind them, but she didn’t dare to turn and look. A part of her thought that it probably wasn’t such a good idea, leading the horde back towards the convoy, but she didn’t see what other choice she had. The road was too open to hide and there was nowhere else they could go and hope to escape with their lives.
She turned a corner that led to another street. There were more undamaged shops and the white sheet of snow was unbroken which slowed them down. Finally, she looked back and saw that there weren’t nearly as many zombies as she had feared. Fewer than a dozen.
Beth grabbed Ellen’s arm and pulled her away from the road. The zombies weren’t the quick kind, but would be just as deadly if they got caught. The two women hit the wall of a yarn shop hard and their heavy breaths fogged the air. She pulled out her gun and Ellen did the same.
There was no point worrying about the noise now. Beth leaned out from the shop and aimed at the nearest zombie, squeezing the trigger and scoring a direct hit. The creature’s head exploded like a dropped egg and the zombie fell to the ground before being replaced by another.
They stood their ground and took out the zombies, one by one, until there was nothing to show for their efforts except a pile of corpses on the ground. Beth stepped away from the wall, exhausted and not at all convinced that there weren’t more of them hiding close by. But zombies couldn’t hide, could they?
‘Come on,’ she said to Ellen and led her past the pile of bodies, onto the main road that led them to the hill and back towards the rest of the convoy.
‘What about my bike?’ Ellen said.
They had come back via a different route and hadn’t passed the place where Ellen had left her bike. They also hadn’t waited for Darrel and the others at the rendezvous point, but she wasn’t so concerned about that. A large part of her was tempted to abandon the bike, but it wasn’t as if they carried spares. If they left the bike, then Ellen would no longer be able to ride with the others.
‘Be quick,’ Beth said.
Ellen nodded and hurried on ahead, Beth followed behind and kept her in sight.
CHAPTER 5
BETH WAITED HALFWAY UP THE HILL UNTIL SHE saw the dark shapes of the bikers coming towards her. She counted them off and was glad to see that they were all there. She watched a while longer and then turned and walked back to the convoy.
She and Ellen had returned almost an hour before and she had spent the latter half of that time worrying where Darrel and the others were. She couldn’t imagine what had taken them so long, but she knew better than to voice her concerns. Instead she’d gone to wait by herself.
At the top of the hill there was little sign of movement. The people who she could see were wrapped in heavy winter clothes and it was difficult to identify them. She headed back to her own caravan to make sure Dawn was ready to leave.
Inside it was warm. They had relaxed the rules on the heating but, anyone who thought about it, knew that it was a short term thing. A lot of people had been pinning their hope on Carningsby and hadn’t been pleased when she’d returned and told them they were moving on.
There was no one in the caravan which ought to have worried her, but after the rush and fall of adrenaline she’d experienced earlier in the day, she found it difficult to get excited about anything. All she really wanted to do was curl up in bed and go to sleep.
The door opened behind her before she’d even had a chance to sit down. Dawn stood there, wrapped in a fur coat.
‘Is everything alright?’ Beth said. ‘You look worried.’
‘Have you spoken to Russell?’ Dawn said.
Beth shook her head. She had seen Russell and told him about her decision minutes before she’d told the rest of them, he hadn’t been around since. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Go and speak to Russell,’ Dawn said.
She took a s
tep towards her sister. ‘Dawn? What is it?’
But Dawn only shook her head and then stepped out of the caravan, disappearing before Beth could reach her.
She found Russell standing beside the open truck. He glanced up, saw her, then looked away without speaking.
‘Darrel’s back,’ she said as she reached him.
‘So I hear,’ Russell said. ‘Brought enough petrol to keep us going for a while. I told them to run the heaters again.’
Beth nodded. She glanced into the truck, where all of their weapons were stored, and saw that it was looking a lot emptier than it had done earlier in the day. She turned back to Russell.
‘What’s going on here?’ she said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Don’t do that,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘We’re both adults. Just tell me what’s going on.’
Russell closed his eyes and sighed. ‘I’m taking some people into town to get rid of the zombies.’
Beth did her best not to over react but it was difficult. She had told everyone that they weren’t staying in Carningsby and she had given them plenty of good reasons why. ‘I told you we’re moving on,’ she said.
‘I know you did,’ Russell said. ‘But I’m going to sort out the zombies.’
‘Why?’
‘Because we’ve already lost one person to the cold and there’ll be more if we don’t find a warm place to settle. Darrel told me there’s plenty of houses down there, don’t even look like they’ve been touched.’
‘Don’t you think that’s odd?’
He frowned at her, slung a rifle over his shoulder and reached into his pocket for a pack of cigarettes. He lit one and blew smoke into the air. ‘Odd?’
‘All those houses just sitting there untouched,’ Beth said. ‘Isn’t that odd?’
Russell shook his head. ‘You haven’t been on the road for long, I forget that sometimes.’
‘So there’s plenty of places like this? Places that look like no one’s ever lived there?’
‘I wouldn’t say that, but there’s a lot of odd things out there. You learn not to look a gift horse in the mouth.’