by Hatchett
The six-storey warehouse had been converted into flats, with shops and restaurants on the ground level, and sat next to the Tower Bridge Hotel on the Southern side and other flats to the North; the top floors of both buildings were higher than where they now sat.
The distance from Stepney to Tower Bridge was just less than two miles as the crow flies, and their zip trail had been as close to this as possible. However, whilst travelling by zip could be quite speedy over short distances, they were slowed down every time they needed to gain height or when they needed to set up a new zip. The trip from Jubilee street had taken them a further six hours although thankfully they had come across some industrial buildings with long roofs which had speeded up part of their progress.
The group were exhausted, both from the physicality of the journey and the constant tension. There had been little talking since Jubilee Street, most of them going through the sequence of events which had led to Knock’s death. They were lessons which would not be forgotten in a hurry.
Mamba had just finished updating the Judge then walked across to where Nelson, Isaac, Grace, and Zak were huddled to borrow the two sets of binoculars. He then motioned for Ahmed and Skelly to join him at the Western wall.
“I’ve told the Judge that we can’t go any further tonight; its gettin’ dark and this part of the journey will be the most important. The Judge is ready to send more of the gang when we give the signal,” Mamba advised. “We need to check out the options now, so we don’t waste time in the mornin’.”
Mamba told Skelly to tell the others that they were sleeping on the roof before handing a pair of glasses to Ahmed. “Let’s take a look,” he ordered.
Mamba put his set of glasses to his eyes and scoured the Tower. There was a light wind but very little sound except for the steady grumbling of zombies far below them. There was no traffic; all cars, vans, lorries and buses were stationery in the middle of the roads or crashed into bollards or shop fronts. The street lighting was off; the only light came from some of the windows of the Tower Bridge Hotel and a few other buildings in the surrounding area which obviously had their own emergency generators.
“We need to work out how to cross and what we need to do when we get there,” Mamba instructed. “We can’t shoot a line straight across ‘cos it’s too far and we can’t walk across ‘cos there’re too many zombies.” Both men studied the surrounding area through the glasses for the next few minutes. As they looked, the rest of the group joined them and looked at the Tower in the quickly fading light.
“Any ideas?” Mamba asked.
“The shortest distance between this buildin’ and the Tower is to our left, towards the river,” Ahmed mused aloud. “If you look down you can see a coupla double decker buses have hit each other, roughly in the middle of the road and halfway between this buildin’ and the Tower.”
Mamba shifted his glasses as the others looked in the direction Ahmed was referring to. They decided to pick up their kit and move towards that part of the roof for a better look.
Once they were settled, Mamba and Ahmed, studied the buses from much closer range. Both buses contained zombies on both floors. What they hadn’t noticed from further along the roof was that the wall on the far side of the road had been smashed by a hard-sided articulated lorry which had obviously gone through it and dropped down fifteen feet or so onto its side in the grassy moat between the road and the Tower wall. This was now a dry moat which centuries earlier had filled with river water when there was a high tide. The dry moat was now filled with zombies instead, none of which could escape due to the high outer wall all around. Looking into the Tower itself, they could see hundreds of zombies milling around the various courtyards or wards but couldn’t tell if the entrances were still open or closed. What they could see was that the ramparts of the outer wall were relatively clear.
“Our best bet would be to get onto the roofs of the buses then from there to the lorry and then scale the wall,” Ahmed suggested.
Mamba considered this for a few moments, and not seeing any better option, agreed.
“Let’s get some food then sleep. I wanna be up at first light. We need a coupla guards at all times.”
“I’ll do it first,” Skelly announced.
“Me too,” added Dodge.
“Ok, three hours max,” Mamba agreed.
As Skelly and Dodge went to sort out their gear, Smiley asked, “What about gettin’ some proper food and drink from somewhere around here?”
“Not worth the risk,” Mamba replied. “Remember what happened to Knock.”
The group settled down and were soon chatting amongst themselves. Even though it was just early evening, they were all tired and one by one they climbed into their sleeping bags to get some sleep. Thankfully it wasn’t too cold, but Isaac and Grace decided that two bodies were better than one and squeezed into the same bag.
Zak lay on his back looking up at the stars, listening to the sounds all around him. It was weird being in London and not hearing traffic noises; the sound of planes overhead, engines running, and horns being blasted by irate drivers. If he listened carefully, he was sure he could hear the lapping of water from the River Thames just a few metres away. The one pervasive sound that could be heard was that of the zombies; from where he lay it was a muted hum of despair which could easily drive you crazy if you weren’t careful. He closed his eyes and swiftly fell into a deep sleep.
12
Day 3 – 6:30
Mansard House, St Katharine’s Way, London
Zak opened his eyes, wondering if it had all been a bad dream and that he would find himself in his bed back in the Green Park Estate. The stiffness in his back told him otherwise. What he wouldn’t give to be sitting on the sofa in the lounge, eating some cereal, drinking coffee, and listening to the sounds of Isaac banging Grace. Was that just two days ago? The thought of food made his stomach growl, so he sat up and reached for his bag. He pulled out a cereal bar and quickly unwrapped it before devouring it in a few mouthfuls. He looked around and could see that others were slowly coming around except for Isaac and Grace who were hidden and unmoving inside their sleeping bag. It was beginning to get light and thankfully there was no rain and little wind.
Mamba was up and about looking wide awake and ready to go to war. He walked among the group nudging those who appeared to be still asleep with his boot. When he got to Isaac and Zak he squatted down and pulled up the side zip of the sleeping bag.
“Cooey lovebirds,” he shouted, making both Isaac and Grace jump with fright. They quickly scrambled up and out of the sleeping bag, rubbing sleep from their eyes. “Just as well you two weren’t up to no good,” Mamba added with a leer, Ahmed chuckling behind him. “Time to get to work people,” he added as he stood back up.
The group worked the stiffness from their bodies as they rose, put away their sleeping bags, took a drink and prepared themselves for the next stage in their journey.
Ahmed had taken the harpoon to the wall and was considering the best part of the bus to aim for. Mamba and Skelly joined him and between them they decided to go through the roof of the nearest bus; it would make the zip slightly steeper, but it also gave them a better chance of hitting the target in the right place. Ahmed lined up the shot and fired. The arrow hit the roof dead centre and continued going for some time.
Isaac and Zak had joined them and began scouting the area. Neither could resist looking where the arrow had gone and they soon tracked it; it had gone straight through the roof of the bus, through the body of one of the zombies, pinning it to the floor of the upper deck, then on through the floor into the lower deck before anchoring itself in one of the seats. Ahmed put the harpoon down, tugged on the zip to get it taught then anchored it to the roof of the building.
“Who’s first?” Mamba queried.
Fish stepped forward before anyone could say anything and nodded his head. He clipped his pulley to the zip and manoeuvred himself into a sitting position on the wall.
“
Just take it nice and easy,” Mamba advised.
Fish nodded again and slid off the wall. The zip was steeper than any they had been on to date and Fish picked up speed at an alarming rate.
“Use the fuckin’ brakes,” Mamba screamed, and Fish quickly grabbed the pulley with both hands looking for the brakes. He managed to find the lever, but it was too late, and he smashed down onto the roof of the bus. His momentum caused him to bounce off the roof, leaving a big dent behind, before cartwheeling over the far side. He was brought to an abrupt stop by his pulley and was left hanging with his face pressed up against an upper deck window with several zombies looking at him from inside the bus. Fish was hurt but one look at the zombies had him scrambling for purchase so he could get back onto the roof of the bus as fast as possible. As he did so he heard a twang and the next thing he saw was his pulley flying over the edge of the bus and he himself was airborne, falling to the ground and the many zombies there who had been attracted by the noise.
The group could hear Fish’s screams coming from the other side of the bus, but there was nothing they could do. Fish was out of sight and they couldn’t even put him out of his misery by shooting him.
“Most noise I’ve ever heard him make,” Mamba commented, to laughter from the older members of the group and disbelief from the younger members. “Who’s next?”
“I’ll go,” Grace blurted to the surprise of everyone around her. Even Mamba was surprised and if people didn’t know him better would’ve sworn that he actually looked a bit concerned. But, he couldn’t show her any favouritism so accepted her offer with his usual aplomb.
“About fuckin’ time you did somethin’ girl,” he said turning away.
“Should I put down another line?” Ahmed asked.
“What for?” Mamba asked. “It wasn’t the fuckin’ line, it was that stupid bastard forgettin’ to use the brakes. Don’t forget the fuckin’ brakes!” he remarked in Grace’s direction.
“Don’t worry, I won’t!” she snapped back before attaching her pulley to the zip. She sat on the wall and smiled back at Isaac who looked as if he might be sick. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Mamba was pretending not to look.
Grace eased off the wall, applying the brakes immediately. This helped steady her descent and everything looked fine until she had reached halfway when suddenly her line dropped eight feet and she screamed. The rest of the group were all panicking, looking over the wall trying to figure out what had happened. Grace was still attached to the zip but was stationery, dangling halfway to the bus and at about the same height. Hundreds of zombies were directly below her, looking up and trying to reach out to her.
“The arrow came out of the seat on the lower deck of the bus,” Zak advised, looking through the glasses. “It looks like it’s now caught on the ceiling of the lower deck, or the floor of the upper deck, whichever way you want to look at it.”
“Can you pull yourself along the wire?” Ahmed called out to Grace.
Grace tried to grab the zip, but it was out of reach. “I can’t reach it,” Grace shouted back.
“Hold on,” Ahmed shouted. He turned to the rest of the group. “All of you grab the zip and start pullin’ when I say so.” Everyone, including Mamba quickly got a hold of the zip. They looked like a tug of war team ready to start a match.
“Start pullin’ slowly!” Ahmed ordered, looking over the wall to see what was happening. The line tightened and was soon being pulled back up onto the roof of the building. As it did so, the zip’s height increased until Grace was once again higher than the bus and gravity began to pull her along. “Stop!” Ahmed shouted to the group as Grace picked up a little more momentum and eased onto the roof of the bus. She quickly undid her pulley and turned to give Ahmed a ‘thumbs up’.
Ahmed turned to the group with a smile and could see that they were all relieved, even Mamba was showing outward signs of relief, the first emotion other than anger or rage that Ahmed had ever seen from him. “Grace doesn’t weigh much so we need to check if the zip will hold,” Ahmed advised as he turned back to look over the wall at the bus. “Pull with all your strength!”
The group pulled and thankfully the arrow in the bus held firm. Ahmed arranged for the zip to be re-secured on the roof and the group moved back to the wall to watch the next person go down.
“I’m going next,” Mamba advised but Isaac had already attached his pulley and was pushing off from the wall. “Arsehole,” muttered Mamba under his breath but he was slightly relieved that the dumb shit had decided to put his own life on the line first. Mamba and the rest of the group watched with interest as Isaac descended the zip with his grip firmly on the brakes at all times. He slowed into a perfect landing on the bus and into the waiting arms of Grace.
“I was shittin’ myself,” Grace whispered into his ear.
“You weren’t the only one!” Isaac whispered back.
“Come on you fuckin’ time wasters,” they heard Mamba shout as he left the wall. Isaac quickly unclipped his pulley and bag and he and Grace moved along the roof of the bus to get out of the way. Isaac considered that it might not be the end of the world if Mamba did a Fish and fell off the roof, but his optimism was short-lived as Mamba made a safe landing. Mamba unclipped then moved to the edge of the bus where Fish had fallen and looked down.
“Will you fuckin’ look at that!” shouted Mamba in delight. Isaac and Grace cautiously moved to that side of the bus and looked down to see what Mamba was talking about. At first, they couldn’t see what he meant until Isaac spotted Fish, or what was left of him; he was standing and gnashing his teeth, half his face torn away and blood all over him, two pearlescent eyes staring intently back up at Mamba.
“You want me fucker?” Mamba screamed before taking out his pistol and shooting Fish in the head. “There you go, have it!”
Mamba looked around. There was plenty of room on the bus’s roof for them all to come down, but any problem and they would all be in trouble. He took out his walkie-talkie to speak to Ahmed.
“You lot stay there for a mo and send down the tools,” Mamba ordered, and a few seconds later one of the bags came down the zip with another line attached to it so that Ahmed could control its descent. Mamba grabbed the bag and took out the harpoon. He looked around again and decided that there was no point in using the second bus; it was just an additional complication he could do without. Instead, he looked towards the articulated lorry lying on its side about twenty-five metres away and twenty-odd metres below where he was standing. He aimed the harpoon and shot an arrow into the side of the trailer before pulling the zip tight.
“Get a hook into the roof,” Mamba ordered Isaac. Isaac looked in the bag and retrieved a hook and tools and proceeded to fix it to the roof of the bus. When he had finished Mamba secured the zip.
“Off you go then Pinky!” Mamba ordered.
“What?” Isaac asked.
“Get your arse down to that lorry!” Mamba replied with a glare.
Isaac slowly clipped his pulley onto the zip and moved to sit down, his legs dangling over the side. Suddenly he felt his leg grabbed and squeezed and screamed ‘shit’ before managing to pull his leg free and scoot back into the middle of the roof.
“What the fuck’s the matter with you, you fuckin’ baby?” Mamba snarled.
“S-something grabbed my leg!” Isaac spluttered.
Mamba smiled and slowly stuck his head over the side of the bus. He saw a hand sticking out of the ventilation window and chuckled. He contemplated whether to hack it off but couldn’t be bothered, so he carefully placed his hand on the sliding glass panel and slammed it across into the wrist of the zombie below. The hand was instantly retracted, and Mamba slammed the window shut.
“There you go Pinky, all sorted,” Mamba said with his trademark sly smile, “next time you need your arse wipin’ just let me know, now get fuckin’ movin’.”
Isaac’s breathing had returned to normal and he moved back to the edge and took a quick lo
ok over to make sure everything was ok. He didn’t trust Mamba; he was the sort to pretend he’d sorted something out and just leave things as they were just for the fun of it. Isaac re-positioned himself and set off, again holding on to the brakes and using them frequently. He prayed to some unknown God on the way down and his prayers were answered as he landed without any further drama. He unclipped his pulley and moved out of the way as Mamba came down with the equipment bag.
Mamba radioed Ahmed and told him to start sending people down before he moved along the side of the trailer. He looked at the castle wall, now just a few metres away, but there was still a sea of zombies in between. The first issue he could see was that the wall was far higher than where he currently stood. The second issue was that shooting a horizontal zip line into the wall wouldn’t be high enough to avoid all the zombies below if someone was dangling from the line. He turned three hundred and sixty degrees surveying the area and noted that more and more zombies were starting to congregate around the lorry; they had been attracted by the noise and the sight of people moving around. As he looked back towards the bus he saw that hundreds of zombies from the road were falling through the gap left when the lorry had crashed through the wall and were plummeting ten metres down to the grass below. It was like an avalanche of bodies, bones being broken as they landed. Mamba stared in fascination as the zombies got back to their feet with arms and legs at angles they were never designed to go. A couple had obviously broken their necks as their heads were lolling about with no control.
Mamba laughed and turned his attention back to the problem at hand as Grace landed on the lorry and moved quickly away to join Isaac. After a few minutes he decided that there was only one way of getting up the wall. He picked up the Harpoon and shot an arrow just slightly above horizontal before securing his end with a hook into the side of the lorry. He then strapped the harpoon onto his back, sorted his bag and then attached the equipment bag and himself to the zip. Rather than sitting on the edge of the lorry, Mamba lay down and hooked his feet over the zip and began pulling himself along the line. After a few minutes of huffing and puffing he reached the castle wall and carefully pulled his dangling bag towards him. As Isaac and Grace watched on, Mamba withdrew a hammer and pitons then proceeded to insert the pitons into the wall, some below him and some above him, until he was satisfied. All the time, hundreds of zombies were just two of three metres below him, reaching up in vain to try and grab hold of him.