I Dream of Zombies (Book 2): Haven

by Vickie Johnstone

  “That’s the government and army for you,” remarked Tommy with a dry laugh. “There are always secrets. Have you spoken to Caballero about this?”

  Marla shook her head.

  “He seems a decent guy.”

  “What about Jakob? What does he say about all this?”

  She sighed. “I haven’t told anyone.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, I believe everything you’ve told me. I’ve known you long enough to trust you, and I hope you trust me, especially after all the crap we’ve been through. But I know this place can make you stir crazy, paranoid even, and the things we’ve seen… well, it’s enough to crack you up.”

  “You think I’m imagining things?”

  “I didn’t say that. I’m just saying that maybe you could look at it from a different angle. Robert was having some serious issues and wasn’t in a stable frame of mind when you interviewed him. He got people killed when he released those freaks.”

  Marla stared at Tommy for a second and then nodded. “Maybe… maybe you’re right. I’m probably over-thinking everything, blowing it out of proportion.”

  He smiled. “I don’t want to sound harsh, but you know… we saw people lose it in warzones.”

  She looked back at him in silence, biting her lip as she contemplated what to say next, but he beat her to it. “I should really go and collect Ash,” he said. “His mum has plans and I said I’d look after him. I’m holding her up and I’d like to keep on the right side of her.”

  Marla nodded. “That’s okay. My head is too confused to make sense of all this and I should probably just sleep on it.”

  “Me too,” he agreed, standing up to leave. “Just try not to worry too much. It causes wrinkles, you know!”

  “Cheers, Tommy, I love you too!”

  Her laugh made him smile as he left the room, glad to have cheered her a little. But his own smile faded quickly as he made his way back to his room, deep in thought.

  Wednesday, 31

  “Right,” said Commander Caballero. “Now that everyone is here, I won’t be accompanying you on this particular patrol, but I will be leaving you in the capable hands of my second-in-command, Will Acre. Will, take over,” he added, stepping back to lean against the wall.

  The tall man with blonde, spiky hair gave a smile and a wink. “I trust you’re all okay with that decision,” he said, half-jokingly. “Go easy on me, guys… and girls. We will be taking one of the Panther CLVs with a general-purpose machine gun and a Land Rover RWMI, each one manned by a crew of three: driver, soldier and gunner. In the middle will be a Vector and the bus.

  “I will be in the Panther at the front with Ian and Marcus. Marla, Sylvia and Tommy will be in the Land Rover. John, Leroy and Elliott, you’ve got the Vector. Martinez and Jake, you take the bus. We’re taking extra fuel in the back of each, as usual. The plan is to head into Amesbury again. It’s a high residential area and the vicar we rescued tells us there are more survivors there. Any questions?”

  Everyone looked at one another and shook their heads. It was the usual routine; nothing out of the ordinary, apart from the dead.

  “So, pick your weapons and make your way out to the vehicles. If you want to take anything extra and bag it, go ahead,” Will continued. “Better safe than sorry.”

  He turned to Caballero, who stood up and made to leave. “I’ll be heading back to my office, so I’ll see you all for a report on what you find in a few hours. Good luck everyone.” He nodded to his soldiers and left the room.

  Marla packed some extra ammo for her Glock into her small rucksack and picked up a SA80 assault rifle. Tommy eyed her choice and went for the same. “Copying me?” she asked.

  He laughed. “You just have good taste.”

  She raised her eyebrows before picking up two handfuls of magazines and slipping them in her bag. “I guess we should get going,” she added, heading out behind the men.

  Tommy grinned to himself and followed.

  ***

  As the Panther slowed down and parked by the side of the road, Tommy followed suit and cut the engine of the Land Rover. He glanced out the windscreen and watched as Will, Ian and Marcus stepped on to the pavement checking their guns.

  “I guess we join them,” said Sylvia, opening the passenger door.

  Marla nodded and followed her out while Tommy exited the driver’s side. Martinez, John and Leroy wandered over while Elliott stayed in the Vector and Jake on the bus. Tommy surveyed the area. It was distinctly still.

  “As you can see, it’s pretty quiet, but it’s only 10.23 a.m., so it’s to be expected,” said Will. “There are a few zombies about – there’s one just over there.” He nodded and everyone turned to see the remains of a corpse crawling along the pavement opposite. It was only a torso, a head and one arm, but it still struggled to make its way towards them. “Harmless, but if it gets too close, we can put it out of its misery,” Will continued. “We have a few places to check. Over there are a library, a small supermarket and various warehouses. There are bigger supermarkets in this town, but Caballero told me to focus on this group. The administrator asked if we’d collect more books for our own library at Haven, so I agreed to this. We’ll do it if there is no risk and we have time, but first we should check that food place. If I was a survivor, I’d think of camping out there. With me?”

  Everyone nodded. “Okay,” Will continued, “let’s go. Jake and Elliott are staying here. They’ll move into the Panther and the Land Rover, because they’re armed, so if you can give me your keys, Tommy, I’ll pass them over with mine. Right, I’ll just be a sec and we can be off.”

  Marla watched him walk over to the bus and the Vector. She raised her eyebrows at Tommy and he smiled. They seemed to be on the same page where Will was concerned. The guy seemed cocky. Sylvia gave her a querying look, but Marla just shrugged. Martinez, John and Leroy shared a joke, and then Will was back and gestured for them all to follow him towards the small supermarket.

  The surrounding car park was desolate. A few cars sat idle here and there, abandoned, some with their doors open, their long-gone drivers not having made it into a parking space. One had crashed into the back of another. Upturned trolleys lay scattered while rubbish blew intermittently. Marla scanned the area, but nothing non-human stirred.

  The boots of the guards echoed on the concrete as they made their way to the entrance of the building. Tommy gestured to some messages taped to the front wall. Photos of faces of every age, sex and race gazed out among torn sheets of paper mentioning where people were hiding out while others asked if certain people had been seen anywhere at all. Held on by scraps of tape of various colours, they fluttered in the wind. So many phone numbers and addresses, thought Tommy. Safe enough as he was pretty sure the freaks couldn’t read. Wondering how many of these message writers had found one another, he sighed and turned to see what Will was doing.

  “That’s sad,” said Sylvia to Marla. “All those people separated.”

  She nodded. “I was thinking the same thing. They didn’t stand a chance here. Tragic.”

  Will strode up to the glass doors at the front, but they didn’t open.

  “No electricity?” asked Ian.

  Will shook his head. “That’s not it. There is. The Grid is still working – so far, anyway. Someone must have locked it up. I can see steel shutters behind the glass. Let’s check around for any open doors. I can’t see what’s inside.”

  He led the way around the side of the supermarket to the rear where a set of double doors was secured with a padlock. Pulling the chain towards him, he created a gap between the doors. Inside was darkness.

  “So someone either locked this to keep something out or something in,” Marla stated.

  Will frowned.

  “Here,” said Martinez, taking a torch out of his jacket pocket and shining it through the gap above Will’s head. “See anything?”

  Will gazed inside, straining his eyes to see as far as possible. The floor in front of him look
ed clear, but the room stretched quite a way back. It was a storage place and all he could see were shelving units and boxes. He peered to the right, pulling the chain as far as it would go to enable him to see at a sharp angle: nothing unusual. Shuffling his feet, he angled his body to check the left as Martinez turned behind him to shine his light in that same direction. There was a flicker in the glow and scratching, soft but distinct.

  “Shit!” gasped Will, stepping backwards as a shadow moved in front of him. A rush of decayed flesh and dried blood filled his lungs, and he heaved as the thing bashed its rotting head against the doors, its tongue spilling out of its split gash of a mouth. It wound two gnarled hands through the gap; the knuckles bare bone, the fingers twisting, reaching. Martinez whipped his knife out of his trouser pocket and stabbed the cadaver through the centre of its skull. It fell heavily against the door and stayed there. “Are there more?” he asked.

  Will brushed himself down and pushed the creature’s head with the butt of his rifle. There was a dull thud as the body fell to the ground. “I can’t see anything in there, but then it’s too dark.”

  “If there were more inside, we’d hear or see them,” said Marla. “They tend to move like sheep toge...”

  “Yes,” Will cut in. “We know how they move. John, do you have the cutter?”

  The guy immediately opened his rucksack on the ground and passed it to Will, who clipped the chain. He handed it back and nodded to Martinez. As the two men prepared to open the doors at the same time, everyone else stood back in position with their weapons ready. Will nodded again and the doors were opened ever so slowly until they flattened back against the wall. The room beyond came into view. It was dimly lit, the furthest side unclear in the darkness. The far walls were concealed by shelving units, and the floor space was taken up by metal trolleys and racks, cardboard boxes and plastic sheeting covering goods of various descriptions.

  “It seems very neat and orderly,” Tommy remarked, “almost as if people just left it.”

  Will raised an eyebrow and nodded. “Let’s check it out,” he suggested, stepping over the body of the dead thing.

  The men followed behind, with Sylvia, Marla and Tommy bringing up the rear. Tommy pulled the doors together until they gave the appearance of being sealed from a distance. He hoped the smell of the freak inside would conceal the presence of humans.

  Will walked between the supplies, checking the labels on things. “If this place is clear, we should try to take some of this back. We can pack it on the bus.”

  “Good idea,” Martinez agreed. “Shame we can’t take the beer.”

  Ian nodded and winked at John, who grinned. Marla wondered if they would try to steal some on the way out. Nothing would surprise her and she couldn’t blame them really. Some days she really missed a good strong pint. Before she started salivating at the thought, she glanced up at the ceiling and tried to focus. It soon became apparent that the room was empty of dead-lookers. The only one appeared to be the guy whom they met earlier. Marla assumed he’d worked here and been locked in when his workmates realised he’d been bitten. She bristled at the thought.

  There were two doors, one red and one black. Will listened at both of them and gave a shrug. “I can’t hear anything,” he whispered, “but without a map of this place, it’s anyone’s guess what lies behind these doors, seeing as they’re not marked.”

  “Maybe one leads on to the main floor where the food is,” John suggested.

  Will smirked, as though thinking the guy was not the most intelligent in the shop. “I’ll see if any open,” he muttered. “Brace yourselves, ladies.”

  Striding to the right-hand door, Will pulled on the handle. It was locked. Tutting, he walked back to the other door and tugged on that handle. It gave straight away. Beyond was a short corridor, along which hooks lined the walls. Some coats hung here and there, and an umbrella idled. There was another door at the far end. Will strode towards it and everyone else followed, except Tommy that is, who waited behind with the door wide open in case a swift exit was necessary. He looked back at the double-door exit, almost expecting something to walk through them.

  “That’s handy. There’s a key in this one,” said Will. Keeping his guard up, he turned the handle of the door at the end of the corridor while everyone waited in total silence. It was as if everyone sucked in their breath at the same time. The door swung open to unveil the dingy main floor of the warehouse. All the lights were out. Will stepped inside and held the door open so that everyone else could file through. Tommy quietly closed the first door and walked the length of the corridor. Once he passed Will, the guy closed the door without making a sound. In unison, the soldiers raised their guns and surveyed the place. It was so quiet and still, and then it wasn’t. In the distance darker shadows flickered in the dimness, accompanied by a low hum in the air.

  “Oh my God,” muttered Sylvia, moving closer to Marla. “You see?” She noticed that Will had already clocked them.

  The supermarket was divided into lanes between high walls stacked with foodstuff and freezers. From where the group stood, they could see all the way down two of the lanes, as far as the dim light allowed. Walking towards them were two lines of the dead, shuffling together, bumping, as they made their way towards the smell of human flesh, newly awakened by the aroma.

  “What do you think?” asked Marcus, raising his gun. “Can we take them?”

  Will blinked. “Can we take them?” he mimicked. “Are you fucking kidding me? Both aisles are chock-full of shit-for-brains zombies, and look over there to the right – there’s more of the fuckers. It’s like the Stepford Wives, but uglier. Hell, no, we’re not taking them – we’re leaving now! Everyone get back! Out!”

  Sylvia pushed Marla towards the door as Ian opened it, and they ran inside, down the corridor and back into the relative safety of the storage room. Marla heard heavy footsteps behind her as everyone else followed. Will was the last. He locked the door to the supermarket floor and sprinted back to the storage room. On entering it, he ordered, “Barricade this door, so we can at least take supplies from here.”

  “Right, sir,” said Ian as he started to drag a shelving unit. Seeing his slow progress, Martinez pushed it from the other side. Taking their cue, the rest of the group moved other units as quickly as possible until they were sure the place was secure.

  “I think that’ll do,” announced Will, rubbing his hands together. “Everyone, grab a trolley and start taking this stuff out to the bus. Be as quiet as you can. It’s still early in the day and don’t shoot unless it’s life or death, because gunshots will bring every ugly fucker in this town over to us to say hello. Got me? Just use your knives – gruesome, but effective.”

  Everyone nodded and did as they were told.

  ***

  “Right, let’s get cracking. I want to be home with a hot cup of tea by 4 p.m.,” insisted Will, resting on the butt of his rifle. “I’m not too keen on this idea either, believe me. The idea of going into a library for books is beyond me, but this is what we’ve been asked to do, so here we are. Don’t take any risks and if there are any zombies in there, we’re getting out fast. I’m not risking my life for Little Mouse on the Prairie or War and pissing Peace, and I don’t imagine any of you lot want to do that either. We’ve seen enough action for one day. The administrator can get off her bony arse and get the books herself if she wants them so badly!”

  “I second that,” said Martinez, flicking his cigarette to the ground. “I don’t read anyway.”

  “Why doesn’t that surprise me?” asked John, prodding him in the ribs. “You just look at the pictures.”

  “Cos he just reads skin mags,” Ian joked. “Big collection, I hear.”

  “Really?” asked Marcus. “How do you get them? You got some secret supplier?”

  “Guys,” grumbled Sylvia. “Come on! This ain’t the locker room.”

  “She’s got a point,” commented Will with a laugh. “Come on, the sooner we get this
done, the sooner we go home. This time I want two men to wait outside as it’s later in the day. Any sign of ugly fuckers, come get us. Volunteers?”

  John pointed to Jake. “How about him? He’s too ugly for ugly.”

  “Fuck you!”

  “Guys! Seriously?” Will groaned.

  Marcus and Ian put their hands up, to which Will nodded. He then led the way over to the entrance of the library. The front consisted of two wide windows. Looking in and seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Will found the main door unlocked. Shrugging to his soldiers, he opened it while everyone else readied themselves. As the door opened, Will peered inside to the left and right where the building led off in two directions down corridors lined with bookshelves. The main area stretched ahead with the librarians’ desks and service area in the centre. A couple of upturned chairs made him wary. Everything else stank of normality. Nodding to the others, he walked inside the building, holding the door open for Martinez who took it. One by one, everyone entered.

  Will closed the door without making a sound. Taking a few steps forward, he gestured for everyone else to follow his lead. When they reached the group of desks, he stopped and scrutinised the room. Marla listened out, but the place was soundless. She noticed how the items on the desks were arranged neatly, as if the librarians were about to come back. A book lay open alongside someone’s membership card and a pair of glasses sat there, waiting. She pointed them out to Tommy.

  Will picked up a stapler and let it drop to the floor, anticipating a response if they had company, but none came. After a few minutes, he smiled. “Seems to be clear, so let’s split up and get this place covered quickly. John and Leroy, collect the boxes from the bus, come back here and leave them by the entrance, but with the exit clear in case we need to leave in a hurry. Then I want you to head off to the left there. You’ve all got lists of the books we need, so use your brains.”

  The two guys nodded and left the building in haste. Will then turned to the rest of his team. “Sylvia and Tommy, I want you to take the right,” he told them. “The administrator wants books for the children and educational stuff – check your lists. Marla and Martinez, you’re with me. We’re going straight ahead. Everyone, any sign of trouble, just fire your gun and we’ll all come running to wherever you are. Don’t take any risks, as I said before. These are books goddamit and, really, who gives a shit?” He shrugged and strode ahead.