The Common Cold (Book 2): A Zombie Chronicle-Cabin Fever

by Roberts, David K.

  “There’s a fish in the Ant-Arctic that has developed a glycol-based antifreeze in its blood so it won’t freeze in the super-cooled water. Maybe that’s what the virus or whatever it is does for them, keeping them functioning in all weather.”

  Rob thought about it. “Sure raises questions we ought to answer.”

  “Let’s talk more about it later with the others,” Danny suggested.

  “Yeah, let’s.”

  Finishing up their work they closed the doors to the warehouse in case any marauder came across it in their absence. Boarding their respective helicopters they lifted gently off the ground, carefully allowing the swing of the slung cargo to steady before gently easing their way back up into the mountains. BB’s helicopter swayed worryingly at first but he seemed to get the motion under control quickly. Rob confessed to Danny later that it felt like they were going to topple over at one point, and even Chuck appeared to have looked a little more than perturbed. BB said nothing as if all was well, so perhaps it was.

  Completing the usual circuitous route back to the cabins, the dropped their loads carefully in the agreed upon storage clearing before heading back down for a second load.

  *

  The transfer of materiel had been completed by early-afternoon. Now it was time to find something they could use to bore fence post holes. If Tom was right, all this sort of equipment was to be found on the west side of Beaver Lake in a storage building hidden by trees. Only one way to find out, but after some food and drink; to a man they were exhausted. It wasn’t the activity, it was the fact that everything they did, everywhere they went, was high risk; at any time their deadly opposition might just have developed a trick they hadn’t encountered previously or been able to anticipate and they would end up dead… or worse.

  Considering the size of the group, the fresh meat stock had run out quickly and for now they were limited to MREs - they would have to go hunting, and soon. The stock they had purloined from the warehouse did not include anything fresh apart from instant coffee and he wasn’t sure that counted as fresh anyway; at least they had a form of milk available to them. MR-bloody-Es, Danny thought. It didn’t matter how many times BB told him they had improved since his days in the military; in his opinion it was still disgusting slop that was to be endured only.

  They sat around in the main living area of the cabin, eating, drinking, and resting before their afternoon activities - this was likely to be much more physically demanding than sitting on a helicopter. Once again, the fact that everyone that had ventured out in the morning had returned in one piece was a panacea of the soul to those that stayed behind. The quality of food didn’t really matter; the conversation was good and often animated as the group grew comfortable with their fellow survivors.

  While the others had been busy collecting fencing from down in the valley, Tom had looked at the LRAD kit and decided it wouldn’t take long to assemble. With the usual simple instructions for the military in the field, it outlined in easy detail just how it was to be assembled and used. It came with its own mini generator and even had a stencilled instruction on the front of the sound unit informing the user that it was ‘THIS SIDE TOWARD ENEMY’. The only thing he was missing was an MP3 player. After all these years of seeing young people around him hooked up to their personal devices on what seemed to be a permanent basis, he was surprised to find that not one of them had a working MP3 player to hand. Every mobile phone carried by those he spoke to in the cabin suffered from dead batteries. Young survivors everywhere must be enduring their own personal hell from withdrawal, he thought, vaguely amused by the idea.

  “I’ve got my iPhone, Tom” Danny said between mouthfuls. “And it has a solar charger so I’ve kept it fully charged.”

  “Why? You expecting a call?” Tom chided.

  “No. It tells the time and has a couple of useful apps on it that don’t need a network connection.”

  “Sounds more like it’s something that comes from what’s now in the past, something you don’t want to let go of. Am I right?” Tom’s face showed that he understood and appreciated Danny’s conundrum.

  Danny’s shoulders slumped a little. “Yeah. I can’t just put it down and walk out of the cabin without it. I’ve carried a mobile phone with me for more than fifteen years; I never really gave it any thought before. Losing the connection is quite painful, so holding onto a charged phone has helped a little. I know it’s about as useful as an unloaded gun but I just can’t give it up right now.”

  “I get it. I’ve been flying for thirty years and never pranged an aeroplane before we landed in Denver. Walking away from the plane as it lay broken along the length of the runway made me sadder than I’d have ever thought, but in a way I was lucky, I had Laurie and the boys to worry about and it helped me break that bond.”

  “Without my phone I wouldn’t have been able to rescue Janet from the library back home. I wouldn’t have known where she was.”

  “Well, you’re together now, so try not to dwell on what-ifs. That way madness lies.”

  “I am trying; carrying the phone helps a bit. I’ll ditch it in time no doubt. I really don’t know what I would have done if I’d not been able to find her.”

  Danny sat up straight, shaking off the slough of despond that had suddenly descended upon him; he was better than that. “Apart from its useless features, it also has a kick-ass selection of music we can use for the LRAD, everything from deep bass to high treble, I’m sure we can figure out what works best to stop those bastards in their tracks. If we can make this thing work well, it could also be used for defence if we are found by marauders.”

  “You’re right. That has been at the back of my mind all along. In time, I believe groups of people will begin to organise themselves, and I imagine there will be less desirable ones amongst them. I want to be prepared for that.”

  “You and me both.” Danny looked at the empty MRE sachet he had been spoon feeding from and grimaced. “I’m finished with this stuff. How about we test that bad boy LRAD on some music?”

  Together they walked outside to what looked like a concert speaker standing on a heavy-duty tripod. It was flat on the business side of it. On the back of it were an on/off switch and a simple jack point with a cable that plugged directly into the earpiece socket on Danny’s phone.

  “What shall we test it on?” he asked.

  “How about a water filled plastic milk container?” Rob said, having followed them outside.

  “That might work,” Tom agreed.

  “I’ll get one.” Rob ran back inside and came out again a moment later carrying a two litre bottle filled to the top with water. He placed it about fifty feet away from the speaker and ran back to the safe side. Danny had been looking through his selection and came up with couple of tunes that had a mix of bass and treble.

  “Barra Barra - this one’s a good un,” he smiled as he set it up to play.

  “Don’t think I know it,” Rob said, curiosity aroused. “Who’s that by?”

  “Rachid Taha. You know the song from the movie, Blackhawk Down, you’ll recognise it alright,” Danny said, grinning.

  “We’ll start with a low volume at first,” Tom suggested, “it’ll give us an idea of how to use this thing and what it can do.”

  Tom lowered the volume and Danny pressed play.

  “I can’t hear anything,” Rob said.

  “Wait a mo’,” Tom said as he steadily raised the volume. Slowly faint chords of the song began to drift back behind the speaker. The plastic bottle began to vibrate; at first it was indiscernible but after a moment the label appeared to go fuzzy and Danny blinked his eyes to clear his vision. It didn’t work. Slowly the beat of the music shook the bottle so hard it looked as if an invisible hand had pushed it off the perch and away from the music.

  “Sweet,” Danny muttered. “That works. Let’s try another tune.”

  “Let me choose one,” Rob asked and Danny handed him the phone. After looking through the list he smiled. “Oh
-my-God. I can’t believe you have this one in your selection. As punishment you can go and get the plastic bottle and put it back in place.”

  Danny ran to the bottle and picked it up. It was quite warm. “Hey, Rob! Did you use hot water to fill the bottle?” he shouted back.

  “No. Why?”

  “’Cos it’s pretty warm now.”

  “Damn. I suppose the sound must be exciting the water molecules,” Rob said, surprised at this discovery. “I don’t think I would want to be on the wrong side of this contraption. But I reckon it should slow down the Infected, maybe even those travelling under the snow.”

  Danny had returned by now and so they turned it on again. Kylie Minogue’s dulcet tones were clearly audible as she sang ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’.

  “Ah, that one,” Danny said, looking shame-faced. “I downloaded that as a joke.”

  “But somehow you still have it,” Rob said, continuing to tease.

  As he spoke they were watching the bottle. It shook even harder than before and after a moment it burst, spraying water in a wide circle.

  “Jesus!” BB said, laughing. He’d just walked up behind them to watch their experiment. Tom switched it off and they ran over to what was left of the bottle. Touching it Rob recoiled; it was boiling hot. The water had been made to boil causing the container to burst under the pressure of the steam generated.

  “Looks like Kylie really excited your molecules, Rob,” Danny said smiling. “It looks like we’ve found the right tune for the job. I’m sort of looking forward to seeing what happens when we let Kylie loose on the heads of our real subjects. May not be all that pretty.”

  “And they use this for crowd control?” Rob said, looking at BB. Along with Zoë, BB seemed to have been the font of all knowledge about this LRAD device.

  “It’s used at much lower volumes of course, and it’s usually someone speaking to the crowd. With all the noise of protest, particularly violent protest, this thing lets the speaker’s voice right into their heads. They can’t avoid hearing it.”

  “Goddam,” Tom exclaimed. “This comes over real unethical to me.”

  “On the flip-side it can also be hitched to a helicopter for search and rescue. You can call out instructions over a huge area and get the attention of the lost person or persons, instructing them on which way to travel to be rescued. It has been used before with success.”

  “I guess what can be used for bad can also be used for good,” Rob agreed. “Not much of an issue now though, is it? We’re using it for defence so I can’t complain.”

  “I guess we ought to go and do some work now. We need to get those fence posts in the ground as soon as,” Mike had joined the party and seen the last demonstration. “For the record, I quite like Kylie Minogue.”

  “Takes all sorts,” Rob replied, grinning.

  *

  Janet, Danny and Tom sat in the front of the truck as they made their way over to the reservoir. Rob, Sandy and Sam sat in the rear, along with Oskar. Sam had been allowed to accompany them as they went in search of useful machinery; his young mind was craving something to do. He had started to tease his sister and was getting on everyone’s nerves so no-one argued when he asked to accompany them on this small expedition. It was either that or he was going to become the tethered goat staked out to attract the reanimated. Oskar had become his constant companion; the dog was also getting a little annoying, constantly craving attention; clearly he too was missing proper exercise. Staying in the cabin might be safe, but not necessarily from each other.

  “I really needed to get out,” Janet said, her relief evident. “I feel like I’ve been in there for bloody ages. It’s so nice to be outside.”

  “Know what you mean,” Sandy agreed. “I was going stir crazy.”

  “Sorry it can’t be a little more for you; I’m afraid this should be a pretty quick exercise, so you won’t be getting much outside time,” Tom said as he watched the tree-lined road, still wary of what might be out there. “At least you have a chance to see why Laurie and I chose to have a cabin up here. What with the reservoir for fishing, the views and amazing stillness, it was our little piece of heaven. If you sit still you can hear a fish jump on the other side of the water.”

  “It’s certainly isolated,” Janet agreed. “It’s so strange for us after living so long in London. Even at two in the morning you can still hear the rush of cars driving around; I’ve not heard silence like this ever, I think. And the nights are so dark it’s strange to me; we’re used to the street lights constantly shining into the house. At least we’re breathing better air for a change. It’s strange, but when we arrived I was a little worried at first; I kept feeling giddy and offside if I exerted myself.”

  “That’s because right now you’re about a mile and a half above the level you’ve been living at in London. Another three thousand feet further up and you’d start to need oxygen if you do anything more than sit around.” Tom explained.

  “Yes, Sandy told me,” Janet agreed. “You have no idea how relieved I was; I thought I was coming down with this damn disease.”

  Tom chuckled. “Don’t worry, I bet most of the others have been having the same sensations as you but you’re the only one to admit to it so far.”

  “At least I feel better knowing what it is.”

  At that moment, off to the right and through the trees, they began to see buildings. Their short journey was nearly over. Absent-mindedly Tom flicked the indicator stalk, indicating his intent to turn right and then realised what he was doing. “Years of habit die hard.” He laughed a little as he pulled into a drive in front of a largish building with a single, roller door that appeared to occupy most of the front façade of the structure. It looked like a car repair garage, only cleaner. “Here we are. Keep your eyes open, we haven’t cleared this far away from the cabin yet. Can anyone see anything of interest?”

  “No movement that I can see,” Danny replied as he heard Rob and Sandy step down from the back of the truck, rifles at the ready. Danny poked his head through the communication window into the back of the truck. “You okay, little fella?”

  “Sure am,” came the reply. Sam had taken to practicing his American accent, so far his South London accent still predominated but it made Danny smile to hear him try. He looked at the dog that appeared to have made himself comfortable on the blanket they had provided; clearly it had not detected anything untoward.

  “Good. Stay in the truck for the moment, we’re just going to make sure the area is clear.”

  “Sure thing,” came the reply in the pseudo accent.

  Everyone but Sam was out of the truck by now and had taken up defensive positions around it. They waited a while trying hard to detect the slightest movement in the undergrowth, but there was none. It seemed clear. The only other thing to worry about was the fact that the snow was deep in this area, no-one having kept it swept. There were no footprints or other disturbance in evidence in the virgin snow so it was reasonable to assume there was no-one around. Would the creatures slink around under the snow in anticipation of some unsuspecting breather wandering by? It didn’t seem particularly likely unless their behaviour was starting to mimic that of spiders. As they all peered intently around, each one of them imagined mounds in the snow making their way over to the warm flesh newly arrived. It was becoming difficult to differentiate between the imagined and the real.

  “Right. Let’s get this show on the road,” Tom announced, satisfied all was clear.

  “Sam, do you want to come out now? Bring Oskar.”

  The two jumped down enthusiastically and started to play in the snow.

  “Sam, please don’t. Stay near,” Janet asked, sounding just like a worried mother. Danny smiled to himself.

  “Bring Oskar over here, would you?” Tom called to Sam. Give the boy responsibility - that was how to keep him onside and within reach, not playing around. “Put Oskar’s lead on, Sam.”

  Following his instructions, the two came over to
Tom who had stopped at the side door of the building. “Let him have a sniff around, see if he thinks it’s okay,” Tom ordered.

  Oskar appeared to be enjoying the new smell sensations and christened the side of the building, dying the snow yellow. All of a sudden, he went still, ears pointed erect and stared hard at the door. He emitted a low rumble in his throat. Everyone saw the reaction and aimed their guns in the direction of the dog’s stare.

  “Good boy,” Sam whispered, holding the lead tighter.

  Without saying anything, Tom, Rob and Janet aimed their rifles at the door as Sandy turned the handle and pushed at it, stepping back immediately out of their line of fire. It creaked open but nothing moved. It was dark inside; what a surprise, Danny thought. After a moment Tom edged closer and peered in. Still nothing untoward. Rob followed Tom and the two entered the building, warily looking from side to side. Finding a light switch, Tom flicked it and this time the lights came on; the hydro electric supply must still be functioning. The others entered the building and closed the door; the light had reassured them enough to follow. The door had opened onto a cavernous interior, specifically designed to house large, wheeled machinery. There were all sorts of equipment here but right in the middle was exactly what they wanted: a tractor with an Archimedes Screw attached to the back, probably to sink exploratory bore holes for the water company.

  “Perfect,” Tom muttered. “I knew I’d seen them using one.” Suddenly he signalled for everyone to keep still. Seated on the tractor was a man. He was stationary but appeared to be making turning actions on the steering wheel, quite oblivious to the company he now had. Until the dog barked furiously. With a scurrying sound of paws slipping on the concrete floor, Oskar broke from Sam’s grip and charged at the creature. Slowly the man turned to investigate the sound.

  “Stop, Oskar! Stop!” Sam cried, but to no avail. The dog lunged at the creature, and they fell to the ground entangled. Danny ran over to the thrashing pile of limbs and pulled the dog off. He could see chunks of flesh in Oskar’s mouth and suddenly had the terrible fear that the animal would become infected. A shot rang out as Rob put the man down. Another creature came at them from the other side of one of the monster machines and Danny shot from the hip, clipping the side of the target’s head, spraying bone chips and gore in the bullet’s wake. The beast faltered before continuing its attack. Rob’s second shot saw it fall to the ground, greyish-green ooze splattering out behind it. Everyone looked around frantically trying to see if there were any others intent on joining the fun.