Charlie snorted, wiping his nose in his sleeve. 'But we don't. And if we get caught using them we'll be prosecuted for–'
'Protecting ourselves in a zombie apocalypse?' Theo asked, raising an eyebrow. 'We're at war now, boy. Here the law means nothing. Between us, we've technically killed about half a dozen civilians tonight already. Take a day off, law student.'
'Take a day–?' Charlie peered around, exasperated. 'You're still in character? If anyone needs to take a day off, it's you! My girlfriend just died, I haven't smoked in ages, and you're telling me to take a day off! We're already in this mess. The last thing we need is to get arrested, too!'
'Fine,' I chipped in. 'You take the axe. Theo and I will take the guns. Is there any ammo?'
He nodded. 'Already loaded. We have six shots each. Shoot wisely.'
Charlie grumbled but took the axe, testing its weight.
'Well,' he said, a little dishevelled, 'what're we waiting for? Let's get going. The Hummer isn't gonna come to us, is it?'
As Charlie headed for the door, I leaned in close to Theo, lowering my voice. 'Keep an eye on him,' I suggested. 'He's not stable right now. We don't want him doing anything stupid.'
'Okay,' Theo responded as Charlie unbarred the door.
'Quick!' We bolted after him.
BOOOOOOOM!
The rifle's kick almost dislocated my shoulder as I took my first shot; I hadn't anticipated its explosive power. A few feet away, the left half of a man's face bloomed with a flower of scarlet gore. He dropped to his knees and fell still.
'Nice shot!' Theo encouraged me, using his own rifle as a club.
A few paces ahead, Charlie swung his axe like a golf club, splitting faces from chin to forehead. Already, three corpses lay strewn around him, vacant carcasses, emptied of their tainted demons.
'Hole in one!' Theo commented, quite literally.
I noticed that a gap had opened up ahead and yelled, 'Into the woods!'
I didn't know exactly how many people lived or worked near Bleakmoor, or even if it was the first place to be infected by the outbreak, but I was certain that most of them must have been affected by the contagion. Upwards of fifty living corpses were in my direct eye-line, shambling along the road and loitering in the darkened outskirts of the woods. Most of the new recruits looked like they had been construction workers. They wore boots and high visibility vests. I wondered how many workers Necroville's American buyers had drafted in to clear the site. Would they have been stationed nearby?
'Babe! I knew you'd come around.'
My stomach churned when I heard those words. Glancing across the street, I watched helplessly as Charlie did the unthinkable and strolled towards an unmanageable horde of bodies. It was only when I saw Cathy's smashed facial features emerge from the herd like a lion from long grass that I realised what had pushed him over the edge.
'NO!' I screamed as loudly as I could. My throat cracked but I didn't care.
Charlie moved closer, trailing the axe behind him. It was only when a grasping, dead arm dug into his shoulder that he realised the true extent of his naivety. Eyes bulging, he tried to raise his axe. Too late. Bodies piled on top of him, their skin grey and slimy and covered in mud. Pinned to the spot, he screamed, unable to do anything but watch as their probing fingers perforated his abdomen. Cathy dribbled black bile onto his chin as she lowered her face to his. Only his legs kicked frantically after that. No sound came from him. She had severed his windpipe. The only screams he could make were inside his own head.
Shouting curses from trembling lips, I reluctantly abandoned him and headed for the treeline.
'Will!'
I turned.
Theo had scaled a boulder next to the road. His rifle was trained on me.
'There are too many in the woods,' he informed me, a hellish moat of demons gathering around his rock like souls in the River Styx. 'Someone needs to stay behind and provide cover. That person is me.'
'Theo,' I croaked incredulously. I could tell what he was doing by the look on his face, and I didn't like it. Not because I didn't want to live – of course I did – but I didn't know if I could live with myself afterwards if I made it out alive. 'Come on. Don't be stupid. People don't do this crap in real life! Jump now and you'll make it. We'll make it, together.'
'Just stay near the path, in the light where I can see you. If both of us go, neither of us will live,' he reasoned, his voice shaking. His bad American accent had evaporated. This was the real Theo talking. Behind him, a haggard figure clawed its way onto the platform. Just as it ascended the boulder, Theo drove his boot into its face and sent it flailing into the darkness. 'I know I can't act, Will. If people tell you something enough times, it'll sink in eventually. But, you know what? It's my passion. The only thing I've ever wanted to do. And if I can't act like a hero, then I'm sure as hell going to be one in reality. Have a good life, my friend. I'll see you after the show.' After that, he bowed theatrically and snapped his rifle into place.
On any normal day, I would have laughed at his last line. Ruined his moment. Dashed his dreams. Brought him back down to Earth. But not today. Instead, I clacked my feet together and saluted him like a real soldier. He did the same. And then I vanished into the night.
Sprinting alone through the woods was the scariest sensation I had ever experienced. The first few seconds were the worst. I felt like one of those helpless children in an old German fairy tale, darkness encroaching, sinister creatures hiding at every turn. At school I had learned that the original drafts were nothing like the sugar-coated modern versions. Almost all ended in the grisly death of a child.
Bolting towards my first obstacle, I ducked under an arm. For an instant I glanced up, disgusted by my attacker's slimy features. His nasty expression was made even more frightening by the green hue of the lamps. The blood on his face glistened. He grimaced and reached down, ripping at my hair, almost scalping me. As he did so, he leaned in, his breath feverish on the back of my neck. Then his head snapped back and his nose exploded. He slumped, assassinated.
Theo had my back.
Remembering my mission, I hauled my own gun up and slaughtered two targets myself, adjusting my balance to compensate for the rifle's kick. There was no time to look back as I raced on, but I sensed two more thuds as bodies hit the deck. Another two victims claimed by my protector.
Three shells left.
Listening to the rhythm of my breathing, I cursed my poor fitness as the terrain inclined nearer the visitors' centre. The ching! of bullets ricocheting told me that I was now out of Theo's range. Two bodies shambled towards me, dragging their feet. I ignored them, instead gazing back at my friend. He was nothing more than a distant shape now, a dark angel haloed by foggy light.
'Argh!' I heard him roar.
Others had mounted his rock. Together they overwhelmed him, necklaces of drool sparkling under their rasping chins. I turned away when I saw him tumble into the crowd with a ghoul on each arm, knowing that he wouldn't want me to see him dismembered. But that didn't mean I felt nothing. I was cold, but not soulless.
Possessed by rage, I charged at the two corpses nearest me, bludgeoning one with the butt of my rifle then beating the other until its face was unrecognisable. I only stopped when I caught sight of myself in a puddle, caked in filth, wearing a monstrous expression that resembled my enemies.
Emerging into open land brought with it new challenges. It was darker away from the green lamps and the claustrophobic canopy. Pitch black, in fact. The only images I could see in the impenetrable blackness were the glowing red digits of the visitors' centre's clock. It read '2:14'.
Patting myself for the Hummer's keys, I stopped short.
The keys!
A shudder ran through me. How could I have missed that most fundamental detail? Theo had died defending me, but both of us had forgotten that he had kept the keys to the Hummer. Without them, I would have to run miles with an ocean of bloodthirsty killers on my tail. An
d the chances were that I would tire long before they ever did. I wanted to sneak back and find the keys, but that was too dangerous. I had no option but to keep moving forward and improvise a backup plan while I ran.
At the beginning of the game, I had run through an empty patch of land, no more than forty paces long. If my internal compass was correct, the stretch was right in front of me. But as my vision adjusted to the minimal light, I realised that it wasn't empty any more. The short clearing, bordered by two unscalable, plywood fences, contained at least another hundred zombies. Most were dressed as construction workers – they must have been stationed nearby, after all. Further back was too dark for me to scrutinise, but I knew that even more hid there because their groans echoed from the hollow as if the night itself had developed vocal chords.
There were channels of empty space between them, but they were thin, and constantly shifting. Although none of the predators had spotted me yet, passing through their jostling ranks unnoticed would take nothing short of a miracle. I glanced down at my rifle, hoping that the three remaining shots would be enough to keep me alive when they piled in from all directions.
I gulped. The task ahead was nothing short of a living nightmare, but I knew what I had to do.
'One...' I breathed, gearing myself up to burst into action before fear held me back. 'Two...' I began to jog. 'Three!'
Now charging at full speed, I entered the gauntlet of monsters, knowing that one slip was all it would take for me to be eaten alive.
PART FOUR: FINAL TURN
Plunging into the sea of bodies, I was instantly overwhelmed by their heat and foul stench. Inside it was impossible to see anything beyond the next step. Glancing off a sweaty torso, I dashed onwards. I didn't know that there was a monster in my face until we were already eye to eye. There was barely enough time to react and dodge before wriggling hands shot in my direction. I was horribly aware of the commotion rippling through the crowd. Close by, corpses had noticed me.
My adrenaline spiked as avenues tightened and channels began to dry up around me. A bottleneck was developing. Gaps opened up and I shifted through them, scurrying hastily like a rodent through a room full of mousetraps. I was making progress, but I sensed that breaks were becoming less frequent the farther I travelled.
'Ssssssssss,' hissed a slender woman blocking my path, right before I pulled the trigger on my rifle and her head exploded. That really set the crowed going. A wave of snarls and moans erupted all around.
'Oh, God,' I whispered to myself. Their hot, sweaty masses pressed closer, attracted by the commotion. They were closing in faster than I had anticipated. And in all of the confusion, I suspected that I might have been doubling back on myself. Vital seconds slipped by until I found myself trapped against one of the clearing's high side-walls.
There was no way out. The plywood barrier was totally flat with no handholds to climb. Slalom skidding, I skirted to the left, following the ridge. A ghoul dived for me – so caked in mud that it was genderless – but I stabbed it in the face with my gun and the weapon went off in my hand, raining pieces of flesh and skull onto the mass like nightmarish confetti. Reaching back, I felt another wall. I had hit a corner! A forest of grasping fingers blotted out the moon.
'Argh!' I screamed. My heart raced, anticipating the end. All I could do was close my eyes, cower, and wait for it all to be over.
Then my shoulder knocked against something hard and smooth. I frowned. The second wall wasn't made of wood; it was metal. I hadn't noticed initially because it was so dark. Reaching up, I felt for something – anything – that could help me. My fingers closed around a curved, metallic object. A handle! I pulled it. A door clunked open and I clambered in, slamming it behind me. Immediately, the raucous din of moans became muffled. Slumping in a chair for some time, I hyperventilated in the darkness, soaked in sweat. Hands slapped on a glass window next to my face. I was in some sort of vehicle. A truck, perhaps? Not that it mattered; it was essentially a prison. Even if I miraculously found keys in the ignition, nothing short of an army tank could plough through a field of compressed bodies that deep.
Devoid of emotion, my hand closed around the barrel of my gun. I sat there for over ten minutes before I plucked up the courage to make the next move. Stalling didn't matter. Time was all I had left.
One bullet, I thought, realising that my true escape route was never going to involve the Hummer. At least it'll be quick. Raising the barrel, I opened my mouth and forced the cold metal inside. Immediately, I choked. It tasted disgusting. Rotten flesh was glazed all over the snout. I vomited down the side of the seat, glad that I couldn't see myself, and then rested my head on the dashboard, defeated.
Vruuuuuuummm!
My forehead had pressed a button. Like a spaceship, the entire cab illuminated. Floodlights on the front of the tall vehicle dazzled the whole scene. Surprised, I peered out. The zombies stared back, unblinking. There were several hundred in total. Seeing me all lit up behind the glass screen drove them wild. Dishevelled and frantic, they thrashed against one another. Weirdly, in all of their grime and fury, they resembled a crowd at a heavy metal festival.
In front of the cab, a giant appendage that was attached to the vehicle rose into the sky. It was huge, powerful-looking, and possibly deadly, like a massive robotic mosquito. I realised what I was inside: it was the excavator mulcher – that clunking behemoth I had seen when I arrived. Someone must have left the keys in the ignition. And – despite my earlier pessimism – I felt a surge of hope. If any vehicle could help me, it was this one.
My face brightened with a cruel smirk.
'Hell yeah,' I whispered.
I laughed through the tears, recalling the arm disintegrating whole trees into pale dust as if they were sand sculptures. Toggling the controls, I felt the cabin shift through space. Its tracks nudged forward and back again, crushing bodies as it moved. Guts splashed up the treads as my victims' bodies popped under the pressure. After some tinkering, I learnt which levers controlled the arm, raising the massive, bladed fist. But it wasn't until I found the button that ignited the thunderous attachment that my whole body tingled with excitement. The set of churning blades began to rotate.
'Here goes.'
I lowered the arm.
The euphoria was instant. As soon as the metal fist made contact, the bodies exploded like water balloons. Swinging the arm in a wide arc, I beamed. Like a hellish gardener I went to work, mowing the field of human faces. I couldn't believe how easy it was. The mulcher was an unstoppable creature, sucking in corpses and spraying them back at their comrades, liquefied and harmless. Getting caught up in the moment, I cackled. The levers vibrated in my hands. They felt like raw power. Behind the reinforced screen, it was like playing a video game, almost fun.
It was unclear whether the zombies could comprehend exactly what was happening. They snarled and clambered over their mangled comrades as they had been before. However, there seemed to be an increased urgency in their movements that made me think that perhaps their minds weren't completely detached from pain and fear.
Heads exploded. Limbs sailed through the air. Bodies vanished altogether, sucked into the clanking abyss. When I cleared some room, I shunted the platform forward, squashing a handful of ghouls that were too close to reach with the shredder. Truthfully, I thought I had escaped doom. With less than thirty feet between me and the road out of Necroville, I was confident that I had lucked out in the most monumental way possible. Then two things happened: 1) I saw Charlie – he was staring up at me dumbly, his flesh bitten to pieces, half his face hanging from his skull like a loose mask where his girlfriend had ripped it with her teeth – and 2) the excavator mulcher jammed, whirred, and shattered a tread, rendering it immobile.
Yet again, I was stuck.
The mulcher's arm continued to work, but the remaining zombies were too close for me to use it to kill them. Peering at the visitors' centre, I groaned. It was almost within touching distance. D
etermined, I began looking for anything – absolutely anything – I could find that might get me out of this mess. And then I saw it.
A pickup truck was parked next to the wooden cabin. I had seen it on the way in. Zedd, Amanda's elderly assistant, had hung the keys on a hook near the centre's door. Would they still be there after he left work for the night? I decided to find out.
Tucking the rifle into my belt, I wound down the excavator's window, just enough to fit through. Gnarled hands snatched at my overall but I kicked them away, clambering awkwardly onto the vehicle's high roof. Stragglers who had not been annihilated by the shredder growled, their arms drawn to me like plants to the sun. I looked down and gulped. There were about forty left, far fewer than before but still too many to tackle alone. Amongst them, Charlie's corpse smirked up at me with nefarious eyes.
I mounted the mulcher's mechanical arm before I could change my mind, and tightrope walked quickly enough along it for a crowd not to form under me. The beam carried me higher then arched lower after the middle hinge until I was about seven feet off the ground.
'Not much further,' I told myself, my heart shooting into my throat when I wobbled and almost fell.
Six more steps. Three more. Two.
As I neared the shredder, I took out my rifle and fired. My bullet tore through the arm of a zombie that tried to mount the shredder ahead of me. He dropped into the mud.
Now! I thought, and dived.
But as I jumped, I slipped. My body crashed into the smooth metal and my legs swung over the side of the arm. Feeling the familiar squeeze of hands on me, I shrieked. Glancing down made it even worse. Charlie was under me, his fingers clamped around my ankles. Realising that there was no way to shake him off, I let go of the mulcher's arm and landed on top of him. Both of us sprawled. Bright colours flashed in front of my eyes. I felt a sharp pain and realised that I had hit my head on the way down. By the time I recovered from the wooziness, he was already on me.
'Argh!' I yelled, pushing his face away from mine. In the corner of my eye, I saw ambling figures dragging their mutilated bodies in my direction, eating the space between us.
Necroville_The Necroville Series Page 3