The Farm

by Carter, Stuart

  Those on foot were coming under extreme pressure. They were picking off the zombies closest to them, and the numbers were dwindling, but the remnants of the massed ranks were getting closer. Their awkward lumbering walk made them far harder to hit than was expected when the pressure was on. The gap between the two groups was closing, only a few meters now separating them. His tractor crashed into the midst of the zombie pack, just as the first couple got close enough to engage in hand to hand combat with his friends.

  London

  Mark didn’t try to protest as they drove away without him. His place was taken by the young girl that Jose had found, and the dog they’d found in the first house. When he was found in the garage there was no way of hiding the blood running down his neck. The charred corpse at his feet made it easy for them to guess what he’d done. He thought that they would kill him immediately, but he was spared as neither of them were willing to take responsibility for beating a friend to death. None of them knew what to say, so instead they focused on checking if the car was road worthy, and he bandaged up his own wounds. His friends wouldn’t risk touching him. They kept an eye on him, but otherwise did not acknowledge his existence.

  The vehicle was well looked after, and fully charged. They found Phil and returned to the first house where the rest of the gang was waiting. Everyone kept their distance from Mark. It was clear without a word being said that he wouldn’t be going with them when they left the city. After a few minutes the awkwardness of the situation got too much for him, and he watched the rest leave from the bedroom window of one of the neighbouring houses. He could tell that everyone’s spirits rose as soon as he left them.

  He thought that he could already feel the effects of the infection. It may have just been in his mind, but he was feeling ill, and he’d started to sweat. A deep feeling of lethargy was setting in. A fatigue that went beyond the activity of the day. It may have just been the adrenaline clearing out of his system as he succumbed to inactivity, but he had his doubts. Suicide was an option he would have considered if he knew a painless way to do it. Instead he lay on the bed and waited for the end. He didn’t know how long it would take, but he was sure that soon he would be one of the walking dead.

  The adoption of the young girl, who was called Rosa, was universally accepted by the gang. After what they’d seen, no one had any appetite to leave her to her fate in London. They weren’t sure they could keep her safe, but it seemed that she had to be better off with them than on her own. Rosa was less sure. She was scared of this group of strangers. She didn’t trust them, and wanted to be close to home so that her family could find her. They had left to go to the hospital after her Dad had been bitten by someone on the tube, but that was more than two days ago and they hadn’t come back for her. She had seen some of the terrible things that had been happening on TV. In the end she was more afraid of being alone than of the people that had found her, so she went with them willingly. They would not have forced her to join then, too afraid of the danger that a child’s screams could bring.

  The addition of the dog to their outfit was more controversial. Rosa knew the animal, and called it Bilbo. Some felt that it would be a danger. If it started barking it could draw half of London to them, and it would be an unnecessary drain on their food supplies. Others argued that it might be able to hunt for them, and might be able to smell out any approaching zombies. Jed soon cut the argument short with, “The rest of you can do what you want with that dog. It just isn’t coming in my car.” With that he set off for the garage, indicating that it was time for all of them to move.

  Becky immediately took ownership of the dog, and, by association, of Rosa. Jose joined them, and they made their way towards the car that his team had found. Phil and James followed to fill the vehicle, which had already been loaded with its share of the best supplies that they could loot. Tim led a group to the third car that Mark had first found.

  James got to their car first and threw himself into the driver’s seat. Whether he was the best person to drive was debatable, but, unlike Jose, he did have a driving licence. Legally that didn’t seem important, but it gave him enough of a case that it wasn’t worth trying to argue him out of his seat. The garage door was still closed, but rather than trying to open it Phil placed himself firmly in the passenger seat, calling shotgun as he did so. Becky was busy with calming the dog and Rosa, and seating them in the car, so Jose went to open the door. It was electric, normally operated by a remote control as the car approached. Without power it was a pain in the ass. He spent a couple of minutes going round in circles following power cables and wires, before he found the right thing to pull to release the lock from the inside and allow him to push the door up.

  When the door was a couple of inches off the ground he stopped to take a look underneath. The coast looked clear. Looking back at the car he saw everyone inside, and Phil shooting the remote that should have opened the door at him. He shoved the garage door slowly to the ceiling. It was well maintained, and moved silently. With their path cleared he took his place in the back of the car. Rosa was in the middle next to him, with Bilbo on her lap, looking happy to be surrounded by people. Becky, on the opposite side of the car caught his eye and smiled quickly. He wasn’t sure if she saw him return the gesture before she looked away.

  James started the engine. The lack of noise from it was weird, but welcome. They slowly eased through the garage door onto the driveway. There was no one on the street, but they all spotted the couple across the street trying to walk through the bay windows. They were both expensively dressed and seemed to look civilized despite the patches of blood and the crazed expressions on their faces. It may have just been the expensive location that enclosed them, but it was clear that they didn’t belong in the same world that the gang had just left. That didn’t make them any less dead though.

  They were on the street for several minutes, growing more and more nervous about being spotted, before either of the other cars made it out of the garages. The double glazing was good enough to keep the people inside quiet, but there were plenty of hostiles roaming the streets. Eventually the garage nearest to them opened with a crash, and Jed’s car emerged through it. He was driving, and lined the car up behind the one Jose was a passenger in. Tim’s car still did not appear.

  After a couple more minutes Jose whispered to James, “The fucker’s can’t work out how to open the door. Pull the car up next to the house, and I’ll go in and show them how to get out. Otherwise we could be sitting here for weeks.”

  James did as asked. Jose didn’t trust him to wait around if trouble came, but every minute they waited trouble got more likely. The quicker he got the convoy moving the better. The front door was locked as expected. He was moving towards the gate that led to the back garden before the door handle had stopped moving. Jose wasted no time as he barged through the gate into the back garden. He knew the area was clear, so there was no need to move cautiously. Speed was better.

  He got to the garage, and saw three men swearing and staring to kick the door, which responded with a deafening rattle.

  “Shut the Fuck up.” he told them in words just loud enough to be heard over the crashing of the door.

  They were surprised to see him, but the first to recover told him, “We’re trapped in here. There’s no way of getting the car out without electric. We need to knock the door down.”

  “You can kick it all day,” he told them, “You won’t get through.” A snide comment was about to be aimed back at him, but while he spoke he had already traced the cable that led to the locking mechanism. The abuse that was about to hit him was interrupted by the clicking of the lock being released. “Lift the door,” he told them. “Slowly and quietly.”

  He was surprised to see them obey, and to have the sense to look under the door as they opened it to make sure the coast was clear. He ducked under the door as it rose and ran to his own car. The others finished opening the garage door and ran to theirs. It occurred to Jose as he sat bac
k in the car next to Rosa that Tim had not moved from the car in the garage throughout. He hadn’t been trying to open the door with the rest of them, He seemed to have given up already.

  There was no time to dwell on the situation. They had been still for too long, and too much noise had been made. As Jose put his seat belt on, James told his passengers, “We got zombies coming from both directions.” There was still a fair distance between them on all sides, but the dead were already starting to run in their awkward lurching way.

  “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” Jose said.

  “I’m on it.” James answered, gunning the engine, to a disappointing lack of noise. They accelerated towards the approaching dead. The other two cars followed closely behind them. There were only four people approaching them. He swerved to avoid most of them, and protect the car, but the forth was hit solidly with the left corner of the car. They all heard the crunching sound as the headlight broke, and the car swerved dramatically. James wrestled with the steering wheel and got the car pointing straight again. They were down to one headlight, but it was no big deal. Jose looked behind and saw that Jed had taken the wheel, and taken the middle spot in their convoy. He was so close to the lead car that there was no chance of anything getting between them. He weaved through the zombies without damaging his car at all.

  The third car did not get through so cleanly. They didn’t react to the other car’s movement, and allowed a gap to build up before they moved. By the time they moved there were three of the dead on their feet in front of them, and a fourth crawling across the ground. Without being close enough to hear anything, Jose was sure that some reference to Grand Theft Auto was shouted as the car ploughed strait into the three walkers. There was no attempt on either side to avoid the collision. The light weight, fuel efficient, city run around was not designed to plough through crowds of people. The front end crumpled. Both lights shattered. A body was thrown up into the windscreen opening up a network of cracks across the entire pane of glass. It held, but it was ready to shatter at any second. The car slowed almost to a halt.

  Jose looked back and could see that the two of the dead had got a hold of the car and were slapping at the windows, but the engine was still running. The car lurched forward with all the acceleration that could be forced out of the small engine. It was enough to shake the grip of those clinging to the outside of the vehicle. He doubted the driver could see where he was going, and moments later saw the windscreen smash outwards under the impact of a crow bar liberated from someone’s garage. The car surged forwards to catch up with them. “Step on it.” he said to James. Moments later they were accelerating towards the outskirts of the city.

  Birstall

  Over the next hour the sound of fighting gradually quietened. From behind the barricaded door they couldn’t tell who had won. They stood quietly holding hands, not daring to make a sound in case it drew the wrong kind of attention. They had both tried looking through the peep hole in the door, but there was nothing to see. It had been silent for several minutes before Hannah whispered, “Do you think we should take a look outside?”

  “What if we run into people infected with whatever disease we’ve unleashed? We don’t know if the army guys managed to fight them off.”

  “We can’t stay in this room forever. We’ve no food, and if the worst has happened the electricity and the water won’t last long.”

  “If we wait a while the danger might pass. It might have already passed and the army are just clearing up.”

  “People might be hurt. You know how to keep them alive.”

  He hesitated in their whispered conversation. She thought he was just listening for movement outside. “I want to keep you safe.” he said. “I don’t know if I can protect you outside this room.”

  “I’m more worried about you. If we’re attacked you still can’t run properly. But if we’re cornered on our own what chance do we have?”

  “OK. You stay here and I’ll go have a look around outside. Try and find out who’s won this fight.”

  “Don’t be stupid. If either of us goes out it needs to be me.” She glanced around the room quickly before picking up a bag containing a pool cue. She opened it, removing the thick end of the stick. “Is there even a pool table within twenty miles of here?” she asked.

  “Is that really the question to be asking right now? I can’t let you go out there and risk your life.”

  She kissed him. “I can run, and you can’t so deal with it. Just be ready to open the door if I need you to.” With that she spun out of his arms, unblocked the door and stepped out before he could react. He stepped after her, cursing the stiffness of his legs. He started to go after her, but as he saw her jogging down the hall way he knew that he couldn’t keep pace. Following he could only slow her down, and put her in danger. He stepped back into the room and re-barricaded the door. He wanted to protect her, but the best he could do was maintain a safe haven for her to come back to. While he waited there was nothing to do but anxiously stare out of the peep hole at the tiny area of hall way that it revealed. Like Schrodinger’s cat, she could be alive or dead, but he could not open the box.

  She was gone for nearly two hours. Dozens of times he unblocked the door and got ready to step out, but each time held himself back. If he left could he be sure that they would find each other again? Would she burst into this room looking for sanctuary and find the way barred, or find that a new, hostile body had replaced him? He hated himself for not being out there instead of her, but knew there was no way he could find her and protect her. She was more capable of surviving out there than he was. But she’d been gone too long. If she was safe she would have come back to tell him what was going on. He had once again resolved to go out looking for her when he saw the approaching shadow through the peep hole. He was certain it was hers, and opened the door for her. She slipped through and he closed the door quickly behind her, piling everything he could behind it.

  She was out of breath and sweating. Her face was red and puffy. She was highly unfit, and a short run back to the room had demonstrated that far too clearly. Phil took her in his arms and held her tightly, hampering her efforts to get her breath back. Before he knew it she was crying. “What’s happened out there?” he asked.

  “We’ve lost. The infection has got everyone. I didn’t see anyone alive who wasn’t looking crazed. I got trapped and had to hide in a cupboard for an hour and wait for them to leave. They were eating the director. The one who gave that speech. They’re not human anymore.”

  He did not ask her anymore questions, assuming that she would tell him what she wanted to say, but was in no state to say anything else. He stroked her back, and the back of her head. Her sobbing gradually subsided. Throughout she had made very little sound, aware of the danger on the other side of the door. He kissed her forehead, and she looked up at him. Their lips met. There was desperation in their embrace. Neither knew how close they were to death.

  She did not recognize the steps that lead to it, but she found herself naked on his bed. He was above her, kissing her and caressing her body. It felt so good, but she supressed the moans that were welling up inside her. She felt his firm body, and the wiry hairs on his chest and dotted across his back. They were both silent as they explored each other’s bodies. There was a moment of pain as he entered her, but alongside it was a feeling too good to register the discomfort for long. She knew that she loved him. Knew that she would accept the end of the world in exchange for this moment. She wanted a lifetime with him, but the prospect of death was easier knowing that she had felt every part of him.

  It did not last long before she felt him tense up as he reached a climax. She wrapped her legs around him, holding him in place. She was not ready for them to separate. He seemed in no hurry to move, kissing her gently as a wave of endorphins washed through her. The chemical process was familiar to her, but the strength of the sensation took her by surprise. Biologically she understood every element of the process. Physically ther
e was little that she couldn’t replicate on her own, but there was no feeling that could match that of a man she loved inside her. All her life she had looked down upon those who were subjugated to their physical desires, as they looked down on her intellectual obsessions. Suddenly she felt that they had found some common ground. She knew that all of the things that she had previously held dear were still important, but there was still a place alongside them for love and lust. She wished that she had found Phil sooner to feel this, but the slightest moment was better than nothing, and she had had far more than that.

  Hannah felt him go soft and ease his way out of her. The separation disappointed her, although she knew it had to happen. He cuddled up against her. She reciprocated. Both knew that outside their door death awaited them. With that in mind it was hard to find anything to talk about. They didn’t try, just lying together in silence for a while. She wondered how long they could stay like that without food or water. She knew that it wasn’t long.

  After half an hour, of one accord they got up and pulled on the clothes they had so quickly discarded. While they had laid silently in each other’s arms there had been little sound from outside, but enough shuffling footsteps for them to feel afraid. They hadn’t talked as they had laid together, and they didn’t talk as they dressed. Enough understanding was there without words. She picked up the pool cue that she’d taken earlier. Phil looked around for another weapon that would survive at least one decent blow to someone’s head. After a minutes thought he went to one of his draws and found an Allen key. It took a couple more minutes to dismantle enough of the bed to remove one of its metal legs. It was shorter than he would have liked, but it had a reassuring weight to it. He turned and looked at Hannah,