by Hatchett
When Jack had clicked off the phone, he poured another couple of whiskeys, handed one to the Major, and sat back in his chair.
“That went well,” he remarked sarcastically.
“I suppose its only to be expected,” replied the Major. “Everyone is running around like headless chickens, trying to verify the reports they’re receiving and implementing their unusual orders. In their shoes, I’d be doing the same thing. It’s not every day you get told to shoot down planes and sink boats, especially if they’re friendlies.”
“Yes, orders given to them from the top; the very people who have now deserted and gone into their burrow.”
“There’s not much we can do except try and secure the airport and look after ourselves for the time being. We can try and contact other groups of survivors later. I think we’ll find that the law of the jungle is going to take over, so we might not want to advertise ourselves too much.”
Jack pondered that for a few moments, savouring his whiskey. “Yes, you’re probably right,” he agreed, then turned and looked into the Security Command Centre, to the various screens showing nothing but chaos.
65
Day 1
14:30 GMT
Heathrow Terminal 3
Each of the Crews had left Level 2 except for Issy’s Killing Crew of fifty-five and the Perimeter Crew of fifty.
“Listen up!” she shouted, and everything went quiet. She could see from the faces of the men and women in front of her that they were eager to start their task, but at the same time were unsure and a little afraid of what they had signed up to. For many, this was their first real taste of action, albeit they wouldn’t be fighting the type of enemy they would have expected.
Issy took the group through what they knew about the zombies, with Dave chipping in from time to time.
“The key thing to remember is that the zombies react to noise, so we need to go about our business as quietly as possible. That means no shooting, especially indoors, unless it’s as a last resort. We all have Heckler & Koch SA80’s with bayonets, but no silencer. So, detach and use your bayonets. A few of us have borrowed MP5’s from SO18, and although they have silencers, they still make a noise. If there is a shot, everyone needs to move towards the noise to provide support. We will be using knives, so we’ll be up close and personal with the monsters - I warned you earlier that it would be messy. Being up close, you’ll have to be extremely careful not to get bitten. If you do get bitten, we’ll have no choice but to take you out as well. One final thing, we know from Gina that the zombies seem to ignore people covered in blood and guts. Therefore, as an added precaution, I want everyone to get dirty and cover themselves using the bodies on this floor. You’ll have to take it in turns to smear each other’s backs. I did warn you it would get messy, didn’t I? Right, let’s get started.”
Dave looked at Issy to see if she was joking about getting smeared with blood and guts but was not altogether surprised to see her walking towards the growing pile of bodies by the lift, put there by the Clean-Up Crew. As she moved, she produced a jar of vapour rub from her pocket and liberally applied the menthol smelling gel to her nose and upper lip before passing the jar on to Dave with a sly smile. She then reached down, dragged one of the bodies off the pile, took her bayonet and sliced it straight down the middle. She then replaced her knife and bent over to get handfuls of intestines and started rubbing herself all over. The rest of the two Crews had watched all this in absolute silence, not really believing what they were seeing.
Issy turned and screamed, ‘What are you all waiting for?”
Rocky strode forward. “Would you like me to do your back?” he grinned lasciviously.
“Make the most of it soldier boy!” responded Issy, “it’ll be the only chance you get to put your hands on me without getting them broken.”
Rocky reached down and paused. He went a little white in the face before gagging at what was in front of him.
“Looks like I need a real man,” Issy commented to howls of derision thrown in Rocky’s direction. Dave stepped forward, bent over, and grabbed a handful of guts to rub over Issy’s back. She then returned the favour. Other soldiers were beginning to accept the situation and were coming forward, although with far less bravado than there had been from a few yards further back. However, once they started, they all got into the spirit of it and a gut throwing fight soon broke out to howls of laughter.
Once they were finally ready, Issy looked around at the mess. The Clean-Up Crew would have their work ‘cut out’ Issy thought to herself with a smile.
Issy then separated the soldiers into teams of five or six and gave them an area to cover. “Keep close to your teammates,” she ordered. “We meet back here in forty-five minutes or so. Good luck.”
Issy moved with her team of five to the top of the stairs. There was nothing in sight, so she opened the glass panel to allow her and her team to move down the stairs to Level 1. She waited for another couple of teams to descend before she gestured that she would head towards the ground floor and that the teams should spread out, some going through the rest of Level 1 and some to follow her to the ground floor. Dave gestured that he would keep his team on Level 1 and headed towards departures.
Twenty teams moved off in various directions. Issy saw Dave’s team leading the way towards departures and saw them take out the first few straggling zombies before carefully and quietly entering the main hall. She noted that the zombies had looked at the soldiers but not really reacted to their approach, which was good news. The last thing she wanted was to be chased back up to Level 1 or 2 with thousands of zombies trailing after her. She heard Sarah congratulate Dave on his team’s first kills; Sarah was obviously watching on the security cameras. Issy found the nearest camera and smiled at it with her thumb up. “Have fun Issy,” she heard through her earpiece. Issy’s smile grew wider.
66
Day 1
14:45 GMT
Heathrow Terminal 3
Issy, her team and half a dozen other teams slowly descended the next set of stairs towards the Ground Level. They couldn’t see much other than the wall directly opposite. Some of the teams would head towards check in and secure the entrances, some to Arrivals, and a couple of others to Baggage Reclaim and Customs, which was where Issy and her team were heading.
As she reached the penultimate step a couple of zombies turned the corner and approached. Issy held up a hand and the teams behind her stopped. With some trepidation and sweat beginning to form on her brow, Issy allowed the two zombies to approach, her knife held at her side, ready for action. The zombies closed to within a couple of feet, their pearlescent eyes scanning around and noses twitching as if they could smell something but couldn’t quite work out what it was or where it was coming from. Issy held her ground as one of the zombies gently bumped into her and started to move off in the other direction. Issy realised she had been holding her breath and slowly let it out as one of the beads of perspiration travelled down her nose and dropped to the floor. Issy carefully wiped her face on her sleeve before taking a step after the retreating zombie and plunging the knife into the back of its head. The dead zombie fell to the floor, the noise causing the other zombie to look their way. Within a few seconds, the second zombie had turned back in the direction it was originally facing so Issy moved behind it and took it out the same way. She then beckoned the teams to follow before turning the corner and walking into the Baggage Reclaim area.
There were zombies everywhere. Thankfully, a couple of the baggage carousels were still moving, the noise helping to mask any noise made by the teams as they moved forward. Issy could see bags and some bodies going around the carousel like some sort of macabre fairground ride. The soldiers started stabbing zombies, blood squirting in all directions, the floor becoming slick with the liquid. ‘More for the Clean-Up Crew,’ Issy smiled to herself.
The soldiers made satisfactory progress, spreading out in a line to make sure they didn’t miss any zombies and didn’t m
istake each other as zombies, though at least they were wearing the same clothing. The main difficulty in moving forward was trying to avoid slipping or tripping over discarded luggage and the bodies they’d already dispatched.
As they neared the middle of the Baggage Reclaim area, a woman’s voice from one of the baggage desks suddenly shouted “Help, over here!”
Issy looked towards the sound as did most of the zombies in the area. ‘Not a great idea,’ Issy thought to herself as the zombies began moving in the direction of the desk.
Issy signalled to her team to wait as she quickly backtracked and found a quiet area. She clicked her microphone and said “Sarah, are you there?”
“Here Issy.”
“Can you use the speakers ASAP to alert anyone hiding that we’re on the way and not to make any noise as it will only attract the zombies?”
“Will do,” replied Sarah. A few seconds later, Gina’s voice came over the speakers, explaining that the army was trying to clear the building and that any survivors should stay where they were and keep very quiet.
The noise from the speakers stopped the zombies in their tracks and saved whoever was at the baggage desk. The zombies looked around for the source of the announcement but, of course, they could not find it.
Issy re-joined her team and gestured that they should continue with their operation. It didn’t take long before they had cleared the area to the baggage desk.
Issy climbed onto the counter, swivelled, and let herself down on the other side. She held a finger to her lips to indicate silence then looked around the area. She found two women sitting on the floor towards the back of the room, both dishevelled with tear tracks running down their faces. When they saw Issy they began to get to their feet and Issy could see they were about to talk. She quickly gestured that they should stay where they were and keep quiet.
Issy moved across the floor to the two women, crouched down and whispered, “Stay here, nice and quiet. I’ll get a couple of my team to come and take you to safety.” With that, Issy made her way back to her team.
Issy gestured to two soldiers to follow her to the quiet area she had found a few moments ago. As she walked, her earpiece crackled into life and she heard Sarah report that the Medical area on Level 1 had been secured. She added that Harry Williams, the airport’s MD, had also been found along with his Personal Assistant.
Issy got the two soldiers in a huddle and told them that they needed to act as a protection detail for any survivors they found. She told them that if they needed help, then they should commandeer soldiers from the other teams. She told them about the two women at the baggage desk and ordered them to help move them to either medical on Level 1 or to the safety of Level 2. As the two soldiers moved off in the direction of the baggage desk, Issy re-joined her teams, who were busy taking out more zombies while they waited for her.
Issy looked at her watch. They had about twenty minutes before they needed to get back to Level 2. She surveyed the large Baggage Reclaim area. The teams had managed to clear around half the room but there was still a long way to go. Issy noticed that the carousels gave access to the area and realised that all access points, however small, needed to be closed. That meant the carousels would need to be turned off but, for the time being, they were useful background noise. Issy gestured that the bodies on the carousels needed to be taken care of, just in case. They would then clear the rest of the room. Turning off the carousels and boarding up the gaps could come later. Issy and the teams around her set to work.
With a few minutes left until they were due to re-group, Issy again surveyed the room. She was knackered; the earlier stress of coming face to face with zombies for the first time, together with the physical effort of stabbing so many was taking its toll. She could see that the soldiers around her were also in need of a well-deserved break. She held up her hand and slowly the teams stopped what they were doing and made their way towards her. They had managed to clear most of the room but there were still quite a few zombies left and more were trickling into the area from the direction of Customs and the Arrivals Hall. These would have to wait. She gestured that everyone should move back upstairs and they all trooped off in that direction.
67
Day 1
15:15 GMT
Aldershot
Thanks to Bear and Irish and their team, Joel and his heli pilots of twelve plus twenty supporting soldiers had managed to get onto the three Chinooks without incident. Their departure had caused some interest from the zombies in the area, but they had been taken care of by Bear and Irish, who had then returned to Level 2 to temporarily help with the clean-up.
The journey to Aldershot had been relatively simple. They hadn’t really expected any other air traffic and despite a surprise near Blackbushe airport towards the end of their journey, it had been straightforward.
It had been amazing to look out of the window and see what was happening on the ground; all the roads seemed to be at a standstill, there were accidents all over the place. There were people, probably zombies, milling around the cars, streets and in a few instances, in the middle of fields.
The army airbase at Aldershot was huge and spread out over different areas around the town. There was also a significant amount of open training grounds in the area. Joel had directed the three heli’s to the part of the base which housed the armoury, and on first inspection from the air, it seemed unusually quiet.
There were several soldiers hanging around the area when the Chinooks came in to land, and the noise from the Heli’s attracted a few more. Joel was the first one off the heli, quickly followed by more of his Crew, all of them with their guns at the ready. They spread out quickly and stationed themselves a few metres from the heli to set up a perimeter with three-hundred-and-sixty-degree coverage. The soldiers on the other heli’s did the same once they had landed and the doors had opened. Joel was flanked by two of his Crew as he moved forwards towards the soldiers they could see. A Private who had been sitting on a low wall smoking a cigarette stood, crushed his cigarette underfoot, and made his way towards the new arrivals. Joel didn’t recognise the man which wasn’t a surprise; it was a very large base with thousands of personnel.
“Captain!” the Private came to attention and saluted a few feet in front of Joel.
“Private,” Joel acknowledged as he returned the salute. “What’s going on here?”
“We’ve seen and heard reports and there’s zombies all over the place. Luckily, we’re safe in here behind the rows of mesh fencing. Some of the barracks have been overrun; some were taken by surprise and some weren’t as prepared as they thought they were. As you know, even though we’re the army, we don’t go around with loaded guns, unless of course we’re on guard duty.”
“Where is everyone else?”
“Most have gone out to try and support other barracks and the people in the town. We’ve heard a lot of shooting, but that seems to have died down over the past half hour. None have yet come back.”
“What’s your role?” Joel asked as more of the onlookers gathered around.
“We look after the armoury,” replied the Private.
“Who’s in charge?”
“Good question. Our commanding officer has disappeared and other than a couple of Lieutenants, you’re the highest ranked officer that we’ve seen for hours.”
Joel explained where he had been and what he was planning to do. “How many of you are there?”
“There’s about a dozen of us here,” replied another Private, “and there’s another fifty or so just down the road. We’ve been in regular contact with them.”
“There’s no point you lot standing around here doing nothing, so, if you want, you can come back with us. In the meantime, get a truck and go and pick up the others down the road.”
The Private and one of his colleagues ran off to get one of the MAN transport trucks. Another couple of soldiers went towards the gates, ready to open them. There had been very few zombies in this area, and mos
t of those that they had seen had continued on their way down the road. A couple of the soldiers had taken some pot shots and there were a couple of bodies lying in the middle of the road, still oozing blood, and being pecked by local birds.
Joel told his Crew to stay where they were while another Private introduced him to a Lieutenant who then showed him around the armoury. It had exactly what they needed; a variety of guns including shotguns, General Purpose Machine Guns on tripods, Grenade Machine guns, Heavy Machine Guns and various other support and guidance weapons. It also held a variety of personal equipment such as body armour, radios, and other sorts of communications equipment. More importantly, the armoury held row after row of ammunition for all the weapons.
“Where are the armoured vehicles kept?” Joel asked. Although he’d seen them all over the town, he’d never known where they were stationed.
“We have some stuff around the back but not much. Most of it is at another site,” came the reply.
Joel left the armoury to see what else was around. He followed the Lieutenant to the back of the building where he saw a few tanks and assorted other fighting vehicles together with logistics vehicles. Most these vehicles were far too heavy or too wide for the Chinooks or were simply of no immediate use to them. The only practical fighting vehicle was an armoured Panther patrol vehicle. It weighed seven tons and had a 7.62mm L7 General Purpose Machine Gun and a night vision sighting system. It looked a little like a customised Hummer and if he decided to take it, it would have to be underslung from one of the Chinooks. Not ideal, but it was worth a thought. The other vehicle which might be useful was an All-Terrain Mobility Platform (ATMP) or Supacat. This had six wheels, three on either side, and looked like the buggy which the Banana Splits used to race in the old 1970’s TV show. It could be used to move up to two tons of equipment so again, it was worth thinking about. Joel and the Lieutenant arrived back at the Chinooks just as the truck returned and slid to a halt. The soldiers who had been picked up jumped down from the back and made their way over to where Joel was standing.