by Luke Duffy
Without a second thought, he turned and pulled Sarah along. She had become heavier, as if he was dragging her through treacle. Before any more infected could get closer, they had turned the corner and into a playing field that opened up before them. It was the start of the nature reserve.
They ran to the top of a small hill and stopped to catch their breath. Sarah was clearly shaken and in some shock. Steve stood panting with his hands on his knees. “Hey, remember what I said? You were bound to see something like that sooner or later.”
Sarah blinked, and looked in her father’s eyes, as though suddenly shaking off the trauma of what had just happened. “I know, Dad. Just didn't expect it.”
She was strong, and Steve could see that she would recover after a quick rest, though he did worry about the long term affects on her young mind.
“Okay sweetheart, I understand that. Have some water then we’ll get moving again. Hopefully there won’t be too many surprises between here and aunty Jen’s house.”
For hours they played hide and seek with people and infected alike. Hiding in bushes away from the tracks, or taking detours, they trekked through the wilderness. The day had turned into a hot one and Steve had to force himself to keep his jacket on. As far as he was concerned, it was more protection from attack. If it were up to him, they would be wearing suits of armour.
Sitting in the shade of a small wooded area, they rested and ate some cold beans between them. Sarah didn't feel much like eating but he insisted, telling her she needed to keep her energy levels up.
“Sit here buddy and keep quiet. I'm just gonna move back to the track to check that the coast is clear. I’ll only be a minute and you'll still be able to see me.”
Sarah looked scared but she trusted him and did as she was told.
Steve pushed on to the dirt path and came out into a small clearing surrounded by trees, the path leading back in to the dark shade on the other side. He crouched in order to see the horizon of the path and to make sure that he saw no silhouettes moving along it in the gloom of the trees.
Satisfied that it was all clear, he began to head back to Sarah. As he moved off the path and back into the trees, he looked back over his shoulder once more along the track. Silently, a figure was sprinting toward him. For a split second he squinted to help focus, then he realised whether it was dead, infected or a perfectly normal living person, he didn't need to know. It was running straight for him and he needed to get away from it.
He ran through the trees, branches clawing at his face, twigs snapping underfoot and tripping over roots. But he never slowed his pace. Now the figure was in the woods with him and he could hear its heavy footsteps and moans as if it was pleading with him to stop.
Steve searched with his eyes as he ran. He was disoriented and couldn’t find the spot where he had left Sarah. Panic gripped him. He couldn’t see her and he assumed he was in the wrong place. He couldn’t risk shouting for her to run in case she ran in the wrong direction and they became separated, or worse, she ran into the thing that was chasing him.
Reaching out for a thin tree, he swung himself round, never slowing, and used the tree as a slingshot. Gritting his teeth, he growled and raised the hammer. He could feel his aggression surge and the adrenaline pumping through his veins. For that moment he felt superhuman and he charged at the advancing ‘thing’ that wanted to hurt him and his daughter.
The gap closed and he threw a kick straight into the infected creature’s midriff, sending it reeling backward into a tangled mass of undergrowth. Still growling he kicked at its head, stomping on it to stop it from moving. He brought the hammer down with his full force and, again and again, he smashed it into its skull. He felt no desire to stop; he felt only anger, a personal vendetta against the thing. Only after the head was no longer recognisable as once having been human did he stop.
Breathing heavy, with his chest heaving and his arms shaking, he stood with the bloodied hammer in his hand; flecks of the attacker’s blood covered his clothes. He looked down at his bare hands, and wiped them on the back of his trousers.
Sarah was crouched not more than three metres away, huddled behind a fallen tree trunk, staring back at him. She stood up and looked at her father. He looked like a mad man, but she knew why. He was protecting her. She ran to him and flung her arms around his waist.
By late afternoon as the sun was starting to dip behind the tree tops, they made it to the quiet country lane where Marcus and his family lived. On one side was a high hedge with open farm land beyond. To the left was a short row of eight rustic looking quaint houses set back from the road and obscured by more high hedges, with the only gaps being filled with gates leading up the driveways and to the front doors. Behind the houses, a steady sloping hill and more farm land. It was pretty secluded and the chaos didn't seem to have touched the area yet out on the far outskirts of the urban area where it met the rural farmland and nature reserves.
Steve managed to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw Marcus’ house and the large Range Rover still in the drive way. He looked down at Sarah, who throughout the journey had never let go of his hand when they were walking. He smiled; she looked like she had been dragged backwards through a bush, and no doubt he looked the same. They were covered in mud up to their knees; twigs and blades of stray grass clung to their hair. Their clothes were ripped in places and it occurred to him that some farmer could mistake them for infected and come after them with his shotgun.
They hastened along the road and walked up the drive to the house. Gently, he knocked at the door and peered through the letterbox, calling to them for reassurance. No doubt Jennifer and the boys would be scared out of their wits.
They could hear bolts and chains being released and the door cracked open a little. Jennifer peered through with tired frightened eyes. She squinted in the light then, her eyes lit up once she was sure it was him.
“Oh, thank God Steve! I was so worried for you both.”
She opened the door wide for them to enter; she wasn’t looking at Steve anymore, she was watching over his shoulder, her eyes darting left and right. She quickly closed the door behind them and replaced the dead bolts. Only then did she seem to relax and release a heavy sigh as though she had been holding her breath the whole time that the door was open. She probably had been.
She looked tired and far from her normal glamour, but Steve could still see the pretty woman that was his brother’s wife. Jennifer had always taken great care of her appearance and her health but now, her mousy brown hair, normally flowing and shiny, was tied back in a tight and practical ponytail. Her jeans looked grimy and the walking boots, instead of her usual heels, made Steve realise that she was nowhere near as tall as she seemed. She wore no makeup and the varnish on her nails was flaking. Still, Steve had seen much worse from much younger women before the world went mad.
“How are you and the boys, Jen?” Steve tried his best to sound casual. “Have you spoken to Marcus?”
She smiled at him, then looked down at Sarah, stretching her arms out in the sign of wanting a hug. Sarah jumped to her and held her tightly. Jennifer looked back up at Steve. “We’re fine, the boys are upstairs. All this is a bit hard for them to understand, even for me, come to think of it. I've never heard of anything like this.”
“Yeah, me too. It’s a lot to deal with and probably a lot worse for a kid.” He ruffled Sarah’s hair. “So, have you heard from Marcus today?”
Jennifer stood up straight again and Sarah walked into the living room. “Yeah, sorry, I spoke to him a couple of hours ago. He told me about their plan. How are they gonna make it half way across the world?”
“You know Marcus, Jen, he's hard as nails and if anyone can, he can.”
She shrugged. “It’s not some army manoeuvre, Steve, and even without all this going on it’s virtually impossible.”
“Ah but think about it, Jen,” he interjected, “with all this going on, he has a better chance. With all the confusion, and governments, au
thorities and armies having the outbreak to deal with, he has more chance of getting through. They're gonna have their hands full with more important things than a bunch of blokes trying to get home.”
Jennifer nodded slowly. “Yeah, I hope you're right, Steve.”
“Don't worry, Jen. I'm here to look after you and the boys until he gets here. He said that comms could eventually be a problem with the networks failing, but I’ll make sure he knows where to find us. I’ll give him a ring in a bit once I've had a think of our next move and let him know we’re all together.”
They walked into the kitchen and made hot drinks for themselves and Sarah. Before long David and Liam made an appearance and they made no pretences about their excitement to see their uncle Steve. With one in each arm, Steve lifted them and hugged and kissed them. He hadn't seen them for a few months and he was surprised at how much they had grown.
“My God boys, you're gonna be big enough to beat your Dad up soon,” he said as he squeezed them, causing them to squeal and giggle.
He watched them as they crowded Sarah, asking her a million questions at once and then leading her into another room to show her the latest toys and gadgets that they had received from Marcus the last time he had been home and spoiled them.
“They both have the exact same eyes as Marcus, don’t they?” Jennifer spoke from behind him and he stared after them as they left.
He turned and gave her a faint smile. “Yeah, but luckily they take more after you.”
“Oh you're such a sweet talker, Steve, but I know you're full of shit. Those two boys are their Dad through and through. They even have the same swagger when they walk and the reports I've had from their school, they're a pair of tyrants on the playground.”
“Yeah,” Steve nodded, “that's Marcus alright. He was the tough nut out of the pair of us and he was never shy of reminding me of it as we grew up. The bastard used to organise fights for me to toughen me up, and if I didn't win, then I got another kicking from him.”
Jennifer was laughing. She hadn't laughed since forever, or so it seemed to her, and it felt good.
Steve decided that they should stay where they were for the night. With the light fading they didn't want to be caught out on the open road. Besides, they hadn’t come up with a clear plan on what to do next.
“Steve you okay?” Marcus’ voice on the other end of the phone was anxious.
“Yeah, fine bro. We’re at your house now. Jen and the boys are okay and so is Sarah. The kids are playing upstairs while we try to work out what to do next.”
Marcus sighed with relief. “Thank fuck for that, I was starting to flap. You going firm there for the night?”
“Yeah, it’s dark now so we thought we would stay and work out a plan. I still haven’t a clue where to go mate. It is nuts out there, Marcus. Me and Sarah were attacked a couple of times on the way here and I had to do them in with my hammer. I'm fine but I'm worried about how it will all affect Sarah.”
Marcus was silent, then, “Yeah, I know what you mean mate, can’t be easy for her. What about the farms around there?”
“Already thought about that one, Marcus, but the last thing we need is to stumble on a farm that's still occupied and some nervous farmer shooting at us.”
“Fair one,” Marcus replied.
“Besides, I want to get further away from the suburbs. If the towns and cities fall, then there could be thousands of them things wondering around here.”
Both were quiet for awhile. Steve decided to pass the phone to Jen so that the two of them could talk while he paced the room and thought. With his hands in his pockets and shoulders hunched, as he always did when pondering something, he browsed about the living room; his gaze stopping at the framed pictures above the fire. One in particular caught his attention, and at first he didn't realise why.
He reached out for it to get a better look. Marcus, Jennifer, David and Liam, all wearing the same yellow t-shirts, stared back at him with huge smiles. Steve looked closer at the picture and read the logo on the t-shirt that his brother wore.
“Shit!” He exclaimed, causing Jennifer to pause mid-speech and look up alarmed. “I need to speak to Marcus for a minute Jen,” he said reaching out for her to hand over the phone.
Holding it close to his ear he spoke in a fast excited voice, “I'm gonna take them to the Safari Park tomorrow.”
Silence from Marcus then, “You what, what the fuck you on about Steve?”
“The Safari Park.” Steve was getting louder and more excited. “I’ll take them there tomorrow.”
“Steve, you taking the piss, why take them for a day out? And the place is probably closed anyway with all this going on.”
“Exactly.” Steve actually enjoyed drip feeding the information and leaving his brother guessing where he was going with it. “Think about it, Marcus. The Safari Park is about seven miles from here, in the middle of nowhere, open spaces and it has its own walls and fences surrounding it.”
The penny dropped on the other end of the phone. “Ah right, good thinking. But others have probably had the same idea...”
Steve cut him off, “I doubt it, maybe one or two, but the majority of people wouldn’t think of the place. They wouldn’t akin it to safety during a disaster would they? I only thought of it when I saw the picture above the fire, and you hadn’t thought of it had you?”
“Yeah, that’s true....”
Steve was getting more worked up about his idea and butted in again. “Anyway, even if others have thought of it, it’s a big place and there's plenty of room for a lot of people. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the park staff headed there. They probably want to keep the animals safe, and at the same time, themselves. Because they know the area and being familiar with the place, that’s probably what they would do. I even considered going to the warehouse where I work, because it’s familiar.”
“Fucking hell, Steve, you're turning into a master tactician. You should’ve been a General. Good thinking bro. You reckon you can get there okay?”
“I suppose so. We can take the back roads, the country lanes. The only main road is the one leading into the main gate and even that isn’t that obvious unless you're reading the road signs. The actual main gate is set off from the road by a good one hundred metres isn’t it?”
“Right, do that Steve, and let me know once you're there and how it all looks. If it all seems good, that’s where I’ll head for when we make the break out.”
“Okay bro, I’ll give you back to Jen while I work it all out.” He handed the phone to a wide-eyed Jennifer and went looking for a road map.
8
In the weeks since the virus outbreak had hit the shores of Europe and America, and now with the plague mutating and reanimating the dead, civilisation steadily fell apart.
Before the information was released, that the bites from infected flu victims were infectious in themselves, many had become casualties through care. Nurses, doctors, family members and anyone who came into contact and was attacked by the violent strain, in turn, became violent and attacked others, eventually dying themselves and reanimating.
The infection spread quickly. Regardless of the situation and the attacks, many people still refused to believe that their friends and family would want to hurt them. The majority, feeling that the hospitals were overwhelmed, tried to treat their loved ones at home with blankets and soup. Entire households became infected and that lead to whole streets, districts and before long, towns and cities.
Areas were cordoned off and placed under quarantine. The infected within the closed off areas then attacked the people guarding them at the blockades. The virus jumped like a case of head lice in a room full of people standing shoulder to shoulder. It was almost like a small firework placed in a closed fist; with nowhere for the energy to be released, it exploded.
To begin with, the infected were still treated as being people with rights. So in the cases of people being attacked and in self-defence, killing the people att
acking them, they were arrested and charged with murder or manslaughter. At the beginning, confusion reigned. A lot of people became casualties; rather than just smashing the heads of the infected, they would try to restrain them.
Then the news broke, and it was announced by the Prime Minister and the various world leaders, that the dead were returning to life and attacking the living. Also released was information on how to deactivate the walking cadavers. When the brain was destroyed, the body was then rendered unable to reanimate. But there was never any official word on what the public were to do when confronted with an infected person.
The governments, in their haste to explain the situation had forgotten to pass new emergency laws on how to treat and deal with the infected. The average person on the planet is a law abiding citizen with respect for human life, regardless of its form. So when confronted with a walking corpse or violent strain of flu, they feared prosecution should they hurt or even kill their attacker. This avenue of thinking helped to escalate the situation and the spread.
To add to the problem, many people had friends or family who became infected, or even died through natural causes at home. Once revived, they could not reason that the thing that had just sat up and now shambled toward them was anything other than their wife, husband, son daughter or even best friend. Emotion and sentimentality became one of the deciding factors for humanity losing the war against the dead plague.
People all over the world refused to believe that the dead could return to life. Even though the various religions prophesised it, many still buried their heads in the sand unable to contemplate the situation. No one had ever imagined that people could die, then come back and attack the living. So, a lot of people pretending to be ostriches had their arses bitten off in the opening stages of the spread.