Zombie Apocalypse Boxset [Books 1-2]

by Hatchett

  Daniel left the cottage to retrieve the truck. It was a cold, dull day with thick dark cloud blanketing the sky overhead. The cloud cover made the normally dark morning even darker than usual and there was a hint of rain in the air. Once Daniel had driven to the gate and they had all climbed on board, they went through the same exit process as the day before, only no one died.

  Instead of taking the same route as the previous day, Daniel took the truck along Tower Wharf, through East Gate and back up St Katharine’s Way. As they went along, they detailed what they could see for the benefit of those listening back at Heathrow, while they were tracked by satellite.

  Daniel knew there was a supermarket not too far away, so he went straight across the main junction heading North on the A1210. They had not travelled along this section of road before, so on several occasions Daniel needed to nudge other vehicles out of the way to gain further access. There were still thousands of zombies all around, although Daniel was doing his best to reduce the number by driving straight over them.

  At the next Junction, Daniel turned left into Mansell Street. This part of the road had once been a one-way street and Daniel was taking perverse pleasure from being able to drive up it the wrong way. He drove under the railway bridge which took trains to Fenchurch Street station, then had to skirt a traffic island to continue up Mansell Street. He was heading for a Sainsbury’s on the corner of Alie Street, but after a few hundred yards he saw a Tesco Express which he hadn’t realised was there.

  ‘These supermarkets seemed to just spring up overnight,’ he thought to himself. But, at least it meant they had two supermarkets to raid rather than only one, and they were just a stone’s throw away from each other.

  Daniel braked and took a quick look along a side street called Portsoken Street. It was narrow, but a Tesco van had managed to find a little room and park on double-yellow lines. He backed up a little and could then see a locked gate, which was obviously used for deliveries to and from the store. It was surrounded by a seven-foot high wall and, from the height of the cab, he could also see that there was a small yard which contained large bins and work trolleys and a door to the shop.

  “That looks perfect,” he suggested.

  Isaac looked where Daniel was pointing. “Yeah, could be, providin’ there’s nothin’ behind that wall. Then we’ve gotta open the door to the store and God knows what’ll be in there.”

  “Yes, but that’s going to be the same for any shop we go in. At least this one has some trolleys and an area where we can safely load the truck. I can get close to the wall and we can have a better look in the yard.”

  Daniel turned the wheel to the left and slowly moved the truck so that the passenger door was almost touching the wall. Shauna was sitting next to the window and quickly raised herself up, so she could get a better look around.

  “There doesn’t appear to be any zombies around,” she advised, straining her neck to make sure she had checked the whole yard.

  “Ok, let’s do it,” Daniel replied.

  “How we gonna do it?” Isaac asked but Daniel was already driving the truck forward and aiming towards the other side of the narrow road. He suddenly braked, put the truck in gear and slowly reversed until the corner of the truck was in line with the gate.

  “What are you doin’?” Isaac asked in confusion.

  “We need to break through the locked gate,” Daniel explained. He pushed down on the accelerator until the corner of the truck banged into the gate. The lock was no match for an armoured truck and soon broke with the gate swinging back and smashing against the wall before rebounding back into the truck. Daniel moved the truck forwards slowly and the gate followed its progress until it settled on its frame once again.

  “Side door or back door?” Isaac asked.

  Daniel continued to drive forwards before coming to a stop. He considered the options before deciding. “The back door will be easier for loading.” He then reversed the truck using the reversing camera and side mirrors until he was satisfied the back door was aligned with the gate. He continued reversing until he was sure the truck was only inches from the wall and turned off the ignition. The noise of the truck and the beeping noise made when reversing had interested all zombies in the local area, and they were now three or four deep around the truck, bumping into its panels and trying to reach for the occupants.

  Shauna was the first to climb over the seat into the middle section of the truck then followed Nelson and Zak into the rear. Isaac swiftly followed Shauna and Daniel brought up the rear.

  They all moved to one side to allow Daniel to open the door. “Thanks guys, you could’ve gone first, you know.”

  “You jokin’ man!” Nelson spluttered. “You need to clear the way.” Everyone laughed nervously.

  Daniel pulled his knife out and held it in his left hand while his right hand held his pistol; he had checked it this time.

  “Everyone make sure you’re got your knife ready, just in case. Ok, open the door,” he said to Zak. “Slowly!”

  Zak reached forward and opened the rear door with a click. It was like the previous day; applying pressure to the door also pushed open the gate at the same time.

  Daniel looked carefully through the gap as the door and gate opened, the gun in front of him. He scrutinised the industrial bins to make sure there was nothing lurking behind them. As the door and gate opened further, he moved the gun, so it was always pointing in the direction he was looking. He saw the side door to the shop then some trolleys. Once the door and gate were at ninety degrees, Daniel had to step down from the truck to look around them at the rest of the yard. Shauna had been right, there was nothing in the yard. Daniel let out a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding and moved a few paces into the yard. After the relative quiet of the truck the noise was loud and horrendous. All he could hear was the movement and gnashing and biting sounds coming from the zombies on the other side of the wall.

  Daniel heard a couple of people jump from the truck then heard a scream. He quickly turned to see that a zombie had a hold of Shauna’s arm and was dragging her towards the gap between the truck and the wall. Daniel dashed forward and brought his knife down on the wrist holding Shauna and sliced right through it. Shauna fell back and was caught by Isaac, the zombie’s hand still holding on to her arm. She started to panic, and Isaac quickly grabbed the hand and pulled it off her before lobbing it back over his shoulder and over the wall.

  Daniel investigated the gap between the truck and the wall. It was only about five inches but evidently wide enough to allow an arm through. At least there was no chance a body could get through.

  “Sorry Shauna, I should’ve backed it up further,” Daniel apologised.

  Shauna was crying, but the hysteria that threatened to engulf her a few seconds earlier had abated. She took a deep breath, “It’s ok, I’m fine.”

  “You remember to put the handbrake on?” Zak queried with concern. “Wouldn’t want the truck rollin’ away.”

  Daniel was pretty sure he’d done it automatically, but quickly jumped back into the truck to make sure. ‘Better to be safe than sorry’ he thought to himself. Yes, he had put the handbrake on. That scare with Shauna had made them all a little paranoid and were now starting to second-guess everything.

  “Let’s get going,” Daniel ordered. He walked to the side door to the shop. He tried the handle and found that it was not locked; obviously the gate had been a sufficient deterrent to would-be thieves.

  Isaac moved so he had a good line of sight into the shop as the door was slowly opened by Daniel. Zak joined him and they both had their pistols pointing at the gap. Suddenly there was a loud report as Isaac let off a shot, followed by another scream from Shauna. Daniel didn’t want to poke his head around the door to look but stopped opening the door and stared at Isaac enquiringly.

  “Zombie,” Isaac said matter-of-factly. “A dead zombie now.”

  “Well, I think we’ve just woken the neighbourhood, if we hadn’t already,”
Daniel commented sarcastically. Before he could go on, another shot rang out.

  “Another dead zombie,” Isaac explained without being asked.

  They waited for a count of thirty seconds, but no other zombies appeared, and they couldn’t hear any noise from within the building.

  Daniel cautiously opened the door wider and found a block of stone to wedge it open. The room was obviously a store room with shelves filled with goods but there was no lighting except for what was now coming through the door.

  With torches on, they slowly entered the store room, stepping over the dead ex-Tesco employees, shining the torch beams into every dark corner.

  “We might as well just take stuff from this room as it’s still nicely boxed,” Daniel suggested, “and it means we won’t have to take any more risks trying to get into the shop.”

  The other agreed, put away their pistols and knives and started carrying boxes of goods to load onto the truck.

  Within forty minutes they had filled the truck to the roof, but there was still loads of goods still sitting on the storeroom shelves.

  “Looks like we’ll be back here a few more times,” Daniel advised, “and that’s without taking any of the stuff from the shop.”

  Isaac closed the storeroom door and the group climbed back onto the truck and squeezed through the gap they had left for access to the truck’s cabins. As the back door of the truck was closed, the gate also swung closed, hopefully meaning the yard would remain zombie free for their next visit.

  37

  Day 6 – 16:30

  Tower of London, Inner Ward

  Daniel, Rhys, Isaac, Grace, Zak, Nelson, and Shauna were back in their cottage after another busy day.

  Daniel updated Rhys and Grace about the scavenging trips, not that there was much to say, other than Shauna’s scare and Isaac shooting a couple of zombies. His update didn’t take long, and in any case, he was more interested to find out what Rhys and Grace had been up to.

  “Well, ‘cos Rhys was feelin’ ‘sick’,” Grace started, “we thought it would be a good idea for him to get some fresh air. So, we did a circuit of the inner and outer wall ramparts and finished off with a walk around the corridor of the Outer Ward.”

  “Yes,” Rhys added with a chuckle. “My stomach cramps were so bad, and so constant, we had to keep stopping and going into some of the outer cottages ‘to use the loo’.”

  “Good job,” Daniel commended them. “Did you manage to spread the message and carry out the other jobs?”

  “Yeah, we spoke to most of the other Warders, and they will pass it on to everyone else.” Grace replied. “We also managed to get some of the hidden weapons and pass them out just in case they’re needed.”

  “We were particularly busy on the South part of the outer wall,” Rhys added. “We used the keys you gave us to unlock the outer wall gates as you requested; the Henry III Watergate between St Thomas’s Tower and Cradle Tower, and the East Drawbridge between Cradle Tower and Well Tower. We also unlocked the gates directly opposite them which gives access to the Inner Ward. Let’s hope nobody notices.”

  “Once we’d finished, we came back here to lie low,” Grace added.

  “That’s great,” Daniel advised. “Did you get challenged or questioned by any of the guards?”

  “We got a few questions and were challenged a coupla times,” Grace replied, “but mention Mamba and they soon back down. Anythin’ for an easy life!”

  “Well, we’re all set here for later,” Daniel advised. “Let’s put the kettle on.”

  “This is Jack,” came through their earpieces. “Good to hear everything is ready. Barring any problems, we should see you later.”

  “Have you heard from the Judge at all today, Jack?” Daniel asked.

  “Don’t be silly,” Jack replied. “He’s completely ignoring us at the moment.”

  38

  Day 6 – 17:00

  Heathrow Airport, Terminal 3

  Issy ran from Gate 3 of Terminal 3 to one of the Apache helicopters which was warming up on the apron. It had started raining and the blanket cloud above was looking darker by the second, bringing with it the start of an artificially premature end to daylight hours. It had been a busy day and there was still a long way to go.

  That morning, Dave had taken a Lynx and a Chinook carrying sixty soldiers and assorted weapons and equipment to the London Heliport on the bank of the Thames at Battersea. It was a purpose-built heliport which had previously been used for ferrying VIPs and business people around London and the country.

  The heliport was just over halfway to the Tower of London as the crow flies, a journey of around fourteen kilometres, which still left it a good ten kilometres short of the Tower of London. This was a good thing as it meant that no one at the Tower would hear or see any comings or goings from the Heliport. Once the site was zombie-free, it would give them an ideal forward base; it was a secure site, just like any other airport, but more importantly. it had access to the water and had a Crown Plaza Hotel adjoining it. As part of the plan, some civilians and soldiers would be stationed there going forwards.

  Dave’s job was to land the heli’s and clear the secured area and hotel so that there were no zombies and no access for any more to get in. It had taken him and his team most of the day to achieve this aim, and now that it was done, Issy could join them for the second part of the operation. Unfortunately, Dave had lost a couple of men during the exercise.

  The journey from Heathrow to Battersea took just under fifteen minutes from starting the Apache’s engines to landing.

  39

  Day 6 – 17:15

  Battersea Heliport

  Issy climbed down from the aircraft onto the ground as the engine was turned off and the rotors began to slow. They had needed to land the Apache on the pontoon which stretched out into the River Thames as there was no room on the rest of the apron; there were only four helipads which were designed for use by smaller helicopters so the Chinook at thirty metres long had taken up two of the landing pads.

  Issy walked along the pontoon onto the apron where soldiers were still unloading equipment from the Chinook and continued towards the hotel entrance where Dave had come out to meet her.

  “Hi Dave, how’s it going? You look tired.”

  “Knackered actually,” he responded, “but I’ll soon be able to put my feet up and hand over to you for the next stage. Fancy a drink?”

  “Lead the way.”

  Dave led Issy through the entrance of the hotel and, stepping around a few bodies lying in the way, turned right into a lounge which had one hundred and eighty-degree views of the Thames.

  “We don’t have power yet,” Dave advised. “The guys are rigging up a generator as we speak. So, it’s a cold one or a cold one?”

  “A Coke’s fine for me.”

  Dave helped himself to a couple of bottles from behind the bar, opened them and led the way to a couple of window seats either side of a coffee table, where he slumped down.

  “As you can see, the clean-up operation hasn’t really started yet. With night drawing in, we need to get the essentials done first, and nothing is more essential than the power. We’ve managed to throw a few of the bodies into the river and we’ve also loaded a few onto a boat that we’ve managed to acquire for you. The boat is tied to the pontoon.”

  “Sounds like you’ve got everything under control.”

  “We have now, but it was a bit dodgy at times; as you’ve heard, a couple of guys got a bit complacent and were overwhelmed by a group of zombies in one of the meeting rooms. We’ll also need to be careful when the power comes on in case there’s the odd one lurking in places we haven’t yet managed to search, like the lifts. How’re you feeling?”

  “I’m fine. I had some rest earlier and now I’m ready to go. I just wish this rain would stop because that could cause us a problem.”

  “So, what’s next?”

  “As soon as your guys have finished unloading the Chinook, it can go
back to Heathrow, taking some of the guys back at the same time. Then the other Chinook can fly here with my team on board and some of the civilians earmarked to stay here.”

  “The Chinook should be unloaded within the next half-hour or so,” Dave advised. “How many have you selected for your team?”

  “There’ll be thirty-eight of us in total; eight snipers together with two sub-teams of fifteen.”

  “OK, and what about those inside the Tower?”

  “They’ve done everything they needed to and will be ready in case we need any help.”

  “You needing help? That’ll be a first,” Dave retorted. He was about to say something else when one of the soldiers approached and advised that the Chinook had been unloaded and was ready to go.

  “Thanks, tell the pilot he’s free to go whenever he’s ready and radio through to Heathrow to tell them to send the other heli.” The soldier left to carry out his orders.

  “It’ll probably take the Chinook twenty minutes to get here,” Issy mused. “It’s a bit slower than the Apache.”

  “Why did you bring the Apache? I thought we weren’t going to use it.”

  “We’re not, unless we really have to. It was the only available Heli I could use to get here.”

  “Of course! The other Lynx is at the Tower.”

  “Not for long. Anyway, it makes sense to have one of the Apache’s here if we’re going to use the place as another base. Right, I’d better get organised.”

  Both Dave and Issy rose, and Dave followed Issy towards the pontoon to see if there was anything he could do to help.

  40

  Day 6 – 18:00

  Battersea Heliport

  The rain had started to ease up, but it was getting dark very quickly with all the cloud cover, despite what looked like a full moon hiding behind the clouds. It was already difficult to see anything without a torch and the sooner they got the power on the better as far as Issy was concerned. Her prayers were answered when one of the soldiers standing at the hotel entrance shouted that the generator would be up and running in a couple of minutes.