by Al K. Line
Everyone nodded, the reality sinking in fast. Suddenly everything was happening too rapidly and it was hard to think of a better way to deal with the situation.
"Be careful," said Cassie.
"You too," replied Mike.
Kyle grabbed the mace from beside him, plus a knife for good luck. Nodding at Mike they both got out of the vehicles, faces set in grim determination. Mike had a simple length of steel bar, along with a hunting knife in its sheath attached to his belt.
"Right, let's get this over with," Mike said. "Let's check out the front first, then we need to check the back before we actually move the RV."
"Let's go," said Kyle, trying to sound confident and keep his nerves under control.
They both approached the driver's side door cautiously, keeping as quiet as they possibly could. It was hard to see in as the cab was pretty high up and you had to step up to gain access to the cab. The windows were also basically blacked out to the sides and front with what was obviously dried blood. Mike grabbed the handle and counted down from three silently, mouthing the words to Kyle. He opened the door slowly, trying to keep it quiet. Inside was a bloodbath, but there was no sign of anyone in the front. There had obviously been two people inside, you could see smears of blood on the seats and small bits of flesh stuck to the steering wheel. The dashboard and the headrest were both dark crusty brown with congealed blood.
In the back was a different story entirely.
A TV was blaring away with white noise, knocked onto the floor but wires still connected, just a loud hiss as nothing was airing any longer. Static from the radio in the front was adding to the cacophony, the remains of the two people from the front were strewn around the rear carelessly. Two women and a teenage boy were just sitting idly, smeared in utter foulness. There was a small child with half of its head missing, the face almost chewed off. The skull had been cracked open then emptied of its succulent contents. Half her arm was gone, there was a thigh gnawed down to the bone. The three infected had obviously fed, but by the looks if it this had been about a day ago — the blood was bone dry and flies were congregating. It wasn't exactly a swarm, but bluebottles were buzzing around the room, adding to the noise that set Mike's teeth on edge and sent his stomach lurching from the grisly sight.
He took it all in in less than a second, which was how long it took for the scent of fresh flesh to register with the infected occupants. They were instantly in action.
"Shit," said Mike, jumping down and slamming the door as the infected burst into the front cab, missing him by a hair's breadth. All three infected were now in the front cab, frenzied and beating at the windows. Lacking enough reasoning to simply grab a door handle they pounded their fists and heads against the glass, bloodying themselves further — they would be out in seconds flat.
"Okay, quick, I will open the side door and distract them, you jump in the front then and just drive, we will catch up with you," Mike said hurriedly, already turning to run to the side door.
"I can't drive Mike, I don't know what to do, you will have to do it, I'll distract them." Mike stared at Kyle, confusion on his face and his urgency boiling over.
"You," he said, his voice rising alarmingly, "need to learn how to fucking drive!"
"Yeah, I know," Kyle said, exasperated. It really was beginning to be a bit of an issue. "C'mon, let's do this."
Kyle ran to the side door and yanked it open, shouting obscenities at the infected inside, hoping it would result in them coming after him. They did.
The three infected turned and were at the door in an instant. The foul stench of their feasting hit Kyle like a ton of bricks. Exposed innards of the victims were already beginning to decompose in the stifling heat of the vehicle. The stained clothes of the infected, covered in excrement and other bodily fluids (both theirs and their victims') washed over Kyle making him almost double over and retch. He ran. Ran in front of the vehicle, taking the monsters away from the girls, Tomas and Bos Bos. He really hoped that Mike would be quick to get the vehicle started.
Mike was in the motorhome in a flash, pressing the start button and pumping the accelerator pedal hard. It flared into life, engine revving. He slammed it into first gear, releasing the handbrake and changing into second instantly as the tires squealed propelling the vehicle forward.
Kyle was up ahead and running for his life, one of the infected women was right on him. She lunged, missing Kyle's leg by a stride. The other two were not much further behind. Mike smashed into them, his speed not high enough to kill them instantly, but they went down and they went under the vehicle. One got jammed in the wheel arch, the vehicle grinding as the wheel locked. Then the steering seized and he careened into the right hand ditch, smashing his chest into the steering wheel. The wind knocked out of him it took precious seconds to recover and get out the door.
Kyle had heard the thuds of the infected being hit and turned to see Mike knock over two of them and a third on the ground just behind him. He saw him getting out of the Autotrail — jumping into the Land Rover as Cassie pulled up beside him. Ven kept on going, swerved to avoid the woman lying on the road, and Kyle got in with her just as Cassie drove alongside the prone woman. Mike caved her head in with the length of steel he swung at her through the window.
Cassie pulled up alongside Kyle and Ven.
"Why didn't you run her over?" shouted Mike, drenched in sweat and with a large bruise on his head where he had smacked into the cab after the crash. His chest was killing him and he felt like he had seriously bruised his ribs.
"Because they aren't dead, are they?" Ven screamed. "If they aren't zombies then what if they recover. What if it wears off and everyone goes back to normal?" Ven was simply unsure about anything anymore. She couldn't bear the thought that she had killed Paul when he wasn't undead but might have gone back to just being regular Paul at some point in the future.
Mike stared at her, understanding crossing his face.
"Ven, you don't come back from something like this. Even if you did, would you want to? Knowing the things you had done?" Although even Mike was having doubts. He wished he knew more about just what it was that had really happened. Ven had obviously either seriously messed up with what she thought she was infecting people with when she launched the botnet, or someone else had seriously fucked with her shit and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. But how?
Ven began to cry, a silent sobbing that came from the depths of human sorrow, once again the guilt and confusion over what had happened rising to the surface.
"C'mon, let's go," he said kindly, panting and trying to get himself under control. "I don't fancy hanging around here do you? Who knows what all this noise has stirred up. But Ven, you have to remember that if we don't kill them they can follow us, right? And we absolutely do not want any of them knowing where we are going or trying to chase us. So if we get into situations like this then we have to deal with the infected. We come first now and we have to think about our survival above all else."
Ven nodded her head and got herself together, determined to be strong and hold herself in check. Keeping the sorrow under wraps until she was alone with her thoughts and had time to grieve for the world she had lost.
Mike looked in the passenger mirror as they began to drive off.
"Stop the car Cassie, stop it now."
"Why, what's wrong? I thought we had to leave?" said Cassie.
"Look in the mirror, that's why," Mike said, not believing what he was seeing.
The infected person that he had hit with the motorhome was still moving, crawling along the middle of the road, blood blackening the surface as his body twisted into positions impossible to achieve without multiple broken bones. He was ripped to shreds from the collision and the heavy vehicle bouncing over him. Bone jutted from his lower legs in shards, one arm horribly mangled, scrapes and deep gouges covering almost every inch of his body. His clothes in tatters.
"Motherfucker," Mike whispered. "That bastard is still alive. He can't be.
I ran him over with a goddamn motorhome, and look at the poor bastard, he should be dead!" All of Mike's former confidence about the undead being an impossibility withered away in an instant, what he previously believed was now appearing to be more wishful thinking than certainty.
Cassie just looked away, not wanting to even think about what either option meant. It was too much to take in and she just wanted to get the hell out of there. She put the car back into first gear and slowly pulled off, not wanting to see any more — hoping that Ven and Kyle had not seen the sorry sight they were leaving behind.
"Not a word to Ven yet Mike, she can't handle any more of this at the moment. Promise me, I really think it might tip her over the edge, especially after you convinced her that there were no such things as zombies, okay?"
"There can't be, can there? But yeah, I promise," said Mike gruffly, unable to fully grasp the fact that he may have been very wrong about what had happened. Or what might happen in the future if people really were undead and not just out of their fucking minds thanks to some crazy ass messages that had infected the Web.
Llad-dy
They made their way towards the barn, each of them lost in their own thoughts whilst also trying to keep a sharp eye out for any danger. Everyone's nerves settled a little at the lack of further attacks.
But out of all of them Mike was the least relaxed. He had been sure, after hearing Ven's story, that her and Kyle had it very wrong — that people had been driven insane, not died and come back to life. It made a mockery of everything that life meant, and he had been so sure of himself. It was an impossibility, you simply couldn't move about and walk and fucking eat people if you were dead. It made no sense, but then what did at the moment? Everything was for shit and there was certainly no doubt that after two days now there was no sign of people calming down and returning to normal. If they had been infected then it seemed like it was for good. If they were dead and risen again then that was something you certainly didn't come back from.
Mike tried to think about things logically on the drive to the barn, but it was hard. He thought back over what he was told happened to Ven's husband after he was infected, trying to recall what he knew about the whole zombie mythology. He knew that in Haiti a zombie was a dead corpse that was re-animated and under control of a master, beyond that he didn't really know much about it outside of film and TV. He had seen his fair share of zombie movies over the years but nothing for the last few. But he knew that they were always shuffling creatures with no actual thoughts of their own really. They never seemed to do anything but wander about slowly while people ran away from them or shot them in the head. The infected they were facing were certainly not slow, and they seemed to have at least some kind of basic intelligence, or were they just instinctual reactions to their environment? They certainly sprang into life if they thought there was the chance of a meal, that was for sure.
He had never pondered the workings of a zombie before, why would he? But trying to work it out got him nowhere. If they were alive then it all made more sense, bodily functions worked, it was why they were all so covered in foul smelling excrement. But if they were dead what happened? If they could walk and run at speed then did that mean that inside they were still functioning too? Would they rot? They always seemed to in the movies. It was what ultimately decimated the population of the dead wasn't it, the fact that they rotted away and were unable to move?
No, wait, they could run fast in 28 Days Later couldn't they? Yes, but... damn, were they zombies? It always seemed like it was a zombie movie. No, they were alive weren't they, just infected with insane hunger and totally rabid? But they could infect other people, could the undead they were facing infect you with the virus if they bit you? Too many damn questions and no real answers. Mike gave up, totally unsure about what to think, but certain that he wasn't going to take any chances if one came after them.
He would bash brains in and ponder the philosophical issues later.
###
"There it is," said Kyle, pointing to where Cassie had pulled over and begun turning into the open drive. "Llad-dy? Wonder what that means?" he said, reading the wooden sign hanging from the post and bracket at the entryway. The latest owners had no idea either, even though they had asked around the nearest village. The gardener they employed shook his head the few times they inquired.
"Not a clue," Ven replied, following Mike and Cassie in.
Swinging into the driveway the grounds were well presented, offering a great view of the barn once you swept around a curve. Old oak trees hundreds of years old, planted when the building was originally constructed to provide acorns and shelter for pigs and other livestock, cast huge shadows across the well tended lawns. There didn't appear to be any vehicles in sight but they weren't taking any chances, so Mike and Kyle said they would scope out the house before they all went inside.
It didn't take long for them to have a quick look through the numerous large windows to get a relatively good first impression that the place was in fact deserted. But there were rooms they couldn't see into so breaking in was the first priority.
The main entrance was a series of floor to eaves glass panels with a plain door set to one side. Mike quickly went to the Land Rover, rummaged around for a few seconds, then returned with a few basic tools Kyle had no idea about. Not quite professional lock picking tools, not suitable for any other purpose either, Mike had carried them with him on and off for many years — just in case. He couldn't get arrested for possessing them as they weren't actual illegal tools, but they did the job perfectly nonetheless.
They were inside in under two minutes. He still had it.
A short time later they had checked through the whole place, every room, cupboard and corner. Kyle even looked under the sofa.
Both of them appeared at the door beaming, they knew the girls were going to be pleased with what they had found.
"Okay, first things first, let's get these vehicles hidden. There is no point us making it obvious the place is occupied."
With there being no garage they pulled the cars to the back of the barn, at least they were out of sight of anyone coming up the drive. They then quickly unloaded just a few essentials they would need. Mainly baby items and weapons, you never knew when they would be needed.
The conversion was extravagant, obviously the new owners were not scared to spend money.
"Wow," said a very impressed Ven. It was the kind of place she would love to live in. "Pretty damn impressive or what?" she said, nudging Cassie in the ribs. "What do you think Sis?"
Cassie was not quite as easy to impress. She had grown accustomed to a simpler life, one where she knew how to live and function without too much technology, or too much glamour. This place was like a technophobe's worst nightmare. There seemed to be switches everywhere and it made her feel uneasy.
Once Ven explained the rudimentary concept of how it all worked she felt even less impressed. Everything from the blinds to the damn fire were run by remote control as well as optional switches and even apps for your smart devices. Underfloor heating made the place efficient to keep warm in winter, and the whole place could be made totally private via the push of a button that turned the glass into a one-way system.
"It's a bit much, isn't it?" said Cassie, feeling totally out of her depth. "Not exactly relaxing."
The others smiled, loving the sense of space and light that flooded in through the numerous fold-back doors, and the large floor to ceiling glass that took up one whole end of the building and served as the entranceway.
"You guys ain't seen nothing yet," a very excited Kyle said. "Wait until you see downstairs."
"But first things first," said Mike, all seriousness and straight to business. "This place is wired to hell with all kinds of gadgets and shit I haven't got a clue about. There seems to be huge remote controls for everything, and all manner of tablets and shit I don't know about but I'm sure you guys do." He made a point of looking at Ven and Kyle. "Main thing is don't fuckin
g use anything that could even be remotely connected to the Web. Find the WiFi and unplug it."
They looked around the room, next to the phone in a corner of the living area was a wireless hub. Ven pulled the plug, happy Mike was so on the ball. It was easy to forget just how precarious a situation they were all in. It would only get worse, a lot worse, she was sure. She was just so tired, and overlooking such important matters was not something that should happen.
"Found it," said Ven as she pulled the plug. "We should be fine now. Don't turn on TVs or use any form of remote control if it has any kind of screen on it. These kinds of systems they have here cost a lot, and who knows what they have going on behind the walls. Just don't be alarmed if some things kick in automatically, often heating systems for places like this will start up once they sense there are people in the house."
"Really?" asked Cassie, well out of her depth.
"It's what all the kids are doing these days Sis," Ven chuckled, still amazed at just how little her sibling knew about the modern world.
Mike and Kyle led the motley crew down through a very unpretentious and easy to overlook door, down what was obviously a set of very expensive oak stairs, complete with accent lighting on the risers, into a basement with a difference.
When the property was re-developed it needed completely new foundations as farm buildings were often originally built on nothing more than a few flat slabs of rock. These ancient footings could never be signed off as the basis of a habitable building. Never mind that the structure had stood for over three hundred years, modern building regulations were strict and as such the whole thing had to be brought up to the latest standards before the rest of the property could be developed and the plans realized.