Zombie Dawn Apocalypse

by Michael G. Thomas

The Land Rover reached the top of the hill and joined the old highway heading west into the abandoned countryside of Wales, followed by the blood spattered remains of the convoy. As the last vehicle past the hill a series of explosions could just be heard from the burning town as the last of the powder caught fire.

  CHAPTER 7

  Mexico

  Madison awoke from the heat and light glaring in her face, at least it was a natural way to wake up, even if it meant far fewer hours sleep than she would have liked. They hadn’t bothered with tents, the night having been warm, and they were all more concerned with enjoying themselves than setting anything up at all. Jack strolled up to her as she still lay half inside her sleeping bag.

  “Morning.”

  “Hey, Jack, so what’s the plan?”

  “Your father says there’s a good well in a village not too far from here, or at least there was a long time ago when he was there last, it’s worth a shot,” he said.

  “Really? That much water would be a godsend.”

  “Yeah, our stocks are looking a little low, and having enough water so we could all have a good wash would be great for morale,” said Jack.

  “Always the tactician, Jack?” asked Madison.

  “Of course, someone has to keep us alive.”

  He offered his hand out to help her up which she gladly accepted.

  “We’re heading out in ten,” said Jack.

  “Have we any idea on the size of this village and the number of potential zombies?”

  “Honestly, no, your father hasn’t been there in over twenty years, but I’m guessing a few thousand population before Z-day, so we might have a bit of a fight on our hands.”

  “Think that’s a wise move?” asked Madison.

  “Should be fine, just keep your eyes open and head in the game,” said Jack.

  “That’s really helpful.”

  “Yep, that’s what I am here for.”

  It took five hours of riding until the village was in sight. Madison rode to the front of the stopped column to where Wells and Jack were surveying the area.

  “How’s it look?” she asked them.

  “Not great, but it could be worse,” said Jack.

  “What are we talking about?” asked Madison.

  “Well it’s a closed cover well, should be clean, and about a couple of dozen zombies in sight, will likely be at least a few more of course.”

  “What do you think, Jack?” asked Wells.

  “Well, we need the water, and those odds aren’t terrible.”

  “Alright, then let’s do this, while we still have plenty of the day left,” said Wells.

  Jack turned back towards the column.

  “Listen up everyone, down there is all the water we could want, and it shouldn’t be too much of a fight to get it. So armour up, no subtlety here, we head down the hill and smash anything in our way. However, we can’t see everything, if for any reason the numbers are more than we expect, be ready to bolt, listen for my whistle. Dale, Greg, you stay here with the wagon. Everyone ok?”

  They nodded and groaned in acknowledgement as they prepared for combat, just as they had done countless times before, not a single novice fighter among them. Jack turned his horse around and pulled his hatchet from his saddle, kicking his heels in. The group trotted towards the village at a relaxed speed, knowing they didn’t want to rush into anything. As Jack reached the first creature, his companions behind, he swung the weapon down onto the creature’s skull. He kept at the slow pace so he had time to prize the blade form the zombie’s fractured head as he rode past. Madison quickly joined in with the violence and moments later they’d reached the well, leaving six bodies in their wake.

  “Riley, Joey, check the well out, everyone else, get this place cleared up!” shouted Jack.

  The horsemen trotted between the lane created by the small houses of the village, until they reached a fork where two creatures staggered towards them. Madison went faster, and without stopping swung her hammer ruthlessly into the face of the first with a heavy horizontal swing, before quickly recovering and striking to the other side as she rode past her two victims.

  “Alright, it doesn’t look too bad from here, get to the well, set up a perimeter. Take Billy and Lucy with you,” said Wells.

  Madison nodded in agreement, her two assistants turning to follow her. She reached the well, Riley was fiddling with some sort of a mechanism.

  “You two, you’re on guard duty, watch our backs!” she ordered.

  She leapt from her horse and tied the reins to a pole on the well’s exterior. It was a tall structure protruding from the ground and a full cover on the top. It was made of modern materials and clearly only a couple of decades old.

  “Any luck?” asked Madison.

  “Yeah, looks good so far,” said Riley.

  Before she could continue, she heard the joyous sound of water squirting from a tap, the water suddenly flowing out across the dry ground.

  “Fuck, yeah!” shouted Joey.

  “That’s a hell of a sight,” said Madison.

  Jack rode back to the well with Wells at his side. They stopped abruptly.

  “It’s working?” shouted Jack.

  “Bet your ass!” she shouted back.

  She pulled a small canteen from her backpack and filled it to the brim as the rest watched in awe and anticipation.

  “Alright, we’re still sweeping the area, but it seems fairly safe so far. Get the wagon down here, we’re setting up camp. There’s no reason we can’t spend at least a day or two here before moving out,” said Jack.

  * * *

  The survivors had spent a relaxing day with all the water they could ever have dreamed of. The last of the natural light faded away and the guards were on duty, whilst the rest talked until they slept. At 3am Joey, finishing his guard duty, strolled over to the camp and kicked Dale lightly in the side.

  “Come on you lazy bastard, time to go to work,” he said.

  Dale groaned, sweat running down his face, it had clearly been an uneasy sleep, something that was far from uncommon in the fatigued group of survivors. He turned over and rubbed his face and eyes, trying desperately to compose himself.

  “Come on, mate, get your act together,” said Joey.

  “Alright, alright, I’m fine, piss off,” said Dale.

  He fumbled to pick up his machete belt and finally began to wrap it around his waist and stand up. The extreme tiredness and heavy redness in his eyes should have been a tell tale sign to Joey, but it was dark, Dale kept his head down, and Joey was more concerned with getting some rest. Joey handed his lantern over to Dale, who stumbled off towards the edge of the camp. Joey watched him go, shaking his head.

  “What a lazy bastard.”

  Without any further thoughts, he lay down and got comfortable. Thoroughly exhausted from his shift, and with not a care left in the world, he quickly fell asleep. The other two survivors on duty were Jade and Greg, Dale’s brother. As Dale stumbled out to the edge of the camp he saw the folding chair that Joey had left from his shift. Glad to find a new place to rest he slumped into the chair, instantly feeling relieved.

  Twenty minutes later Dale woke up abruptly, being shaken on his shoulder. He sprang from his chair and quickly pulled his machete from his belt, the adrenaline creating a short injection of energy to his fatigued body.

  “What the fuck!” he shouted.

  Greg stood before him.

  “You were asleep, asshole. You know how serious that is, do you want to kill us all?” asked Greg.

  “Fuck you, I’m exhausted, and it’s all clear anyway,” said Dale.

  “Yeah, all clear by luck, you fucking idiot.”

  “What do you want?” asked Dale.

  “Nothing, except to know I can rely on you to do your job.”

  “Alright, I’m awake.”

  “Really? You feeling ok?” asked Greg.

  “Exhausted, but what’s new?”

  “Alright, stick with it,
stay sharp. You’ll have your turn to rest before long.”

  Greg wandered back to the other side of the camp, hoping his shock treatment would keep his brother awake, the adrenaline would certainly help. Dale stayed wide awake and alert for twenty minutes before the fatigue again overtook him, he relaxed further into the chair, his breathing slowed further, until it became a gasp. Dale felt his body slow down, more than just to sleep, he thought this must be the end, hardly a bad thing. The man took his last breath and then went limp in his chair.

  “Hey, asshole,” said Greg.

  Dale’s brother approached from behind the chair where he was sitting. His head was tilting over, asleep again. Greg was tolerant towards his brother, but only up to a point. He’d seen the result of negligence and laziness before, death and destruction. He quickened his pace and walked around in front of the chair. Looking down at Dale, his brother was completely out for count.

  “Wake the fuck up,” said Greg.

  When he got no answer, he grappled him by the collar and shook him. Dale’s eyes shot open, but before Greg realised what had happened to his brother, Dale seized his clothing and pulled him closer, biting into his windpipe and ripping flesh from his neck. Greg dropped to the ground, trying to shout out a warning to his fellow survivors, but unable to release a sound, the blood choking him.

  Five minutes later Madison sprung from a deep sleep, alerted by a scream of pain and fear. Jack woke at the same time to an abysmal sight, one that they had all feared for years. Three of their friends were screaming in either pain or shock, blood was scattered about, some in mouths of the standing, some on the clothes and flesh of others that were either lifeless or writhing in agony on the ground.

  “Jesus Christ!” shouted Jack.

  Jack grabbed for the whistle hanging on a ribbon around his neck and blew the high-pitched device, hoping to salvage at least some support and survivors. He leapt to his feet and grabbed his hatchet from beside his bed. He ran at the man he used to know as Greg, who had blood covering his shirt, a mix of his own and others. He spun the tool around and smashed Greg in the head with the blunt back edge, knowing he could not risk getting the weapon stuck. Greg dropped to the floor with the impact, the skull slightly splitting and leaking blood from beneath his hair. Jack hit again in the same fashion to be sure, striking the brain ferociously.

  Turning around to survey the situation, Jack could see Madison hitting out at the outstretched arm of what used to be their friend Dale. The second strike of her hammer burst the creature’s nose and forced it to stumble backwards. Before the beast could regain its footing, Madison leapt forward and dealt a deadly strike to the temple with a well-aimed swing, the creature falling to a lifeless mess. Madison and Jack looked around, a few other survivors had managed to get to their feet, but many were lifeless or bloody and wounded.

  “What do we do?” she asked.

  “We must purge all signs of the creatures!” shouted Wells.

  “You mean kill what, half our friends?”

  Jack sighed, he looked at his feet, not wanting to admit the situation to himself, let alone to Madison.

  “You know it has to be done, or we’ll all be dead within forty-eight hours!” said Wells.

  “So what do we do, kill at random?” asked Jack.

  “We need to divide the infected and the uninfected immediately,” said Wells.

  “How?” asked Madison.

  “Everyone, listen up, those without injury, step to my right, into the open, Maddy and Wells will check you over,” said Jack.

  Jade began to cry, she sat down, cradling her legs with her arms, knowing she was finished. Several of the wounded could do barely more than groan. Riley and Justin ambled over to where Jack had pointed, and Joey finally followed.

  “Maddy, Wells, check them thoroughly,” Jack ordered.

  It was a horrific situation, neither was comfortable with what had to be done. The father and daughter began checking their friends as if they were terrorists.

  “Listen up, you all knew this day was coming sooner or later. This world we now live in, it was insane to think we could survive, but we have this far, we have earned and fought for a longer life. No matter how much crap we have faced these last ten years we have maintained a community, and we have had some good times, we have maintained our humanity. For many of you that road has ended. Accept it, there is no shame in it,” said Jack.

  Jade, still weeping, burst out with sadness.

  “So what, you’re just going to kill us?”

  “If you have been bitten, you have two choices. Let us end your life before you become one of those fuckers, or you take a walk in the opposite direction, right now, and don’t stop until you can’t walk any longer,” Jack answered.

  “That’s it!” shouted Katy.

  “What do you want me to say? You all know the reality of this, the longer you stay around, the more you risk our lives. We will finish off those who cannot walk, as peacefully and quickly as we can, and then we’ll move off in a different direction.”

  “So this is it?” cried Jade.

  “I’m sorry to say, my dear, yes,” said Wells.

  “I’m sorry too, but we have no choice, and time is not on our side. First we must finish off anybody who is at risk of turning in the next hour,” Jack added.

  “How do we decide that?” cried Madison.

  “If they’re bitten and cannot stand, then put them out of their misery. If they’re bitten and can walk, either get them moving now or end it for them,” said Jack.

  Madison looked at Jack with a look of terror in her eyes. She had faced all manner of evil and hardship in the last few years, but never had she had to kill her friends on such a huge scale. As far as she was concerned they were the last twenty-two people in the world, to have to kill or let die over three quarters of them seemed utterly dire and beyond belief.

  “And then what, what are we going to do?” she asked.

  “Load up, head out,” said Jack.

  “With so few of us left?”

  “That’s what we have, we can’t change that,” said Wells.

  “Come on, we have to get this done, or we’ll all be finished,” whispered Jack.

  “Madison, you check Riley, Justin and Joey over. Wells, you’re with me, grab a weapon.”

  Wells picked up a hammer that was lying on the ground, Jack took up his two handed mace, a far better weapon when you had the space and time to manoeuvre it. Jack looked out across the bloody mess of the dead and wounded. None of those able to move had done so yet, not wanting to leave the community they’d lived and worked for.

  “Go on! Go!” shouted Jack.

  Those that could finally began to stagger away from the camp, eight in total, wandering into the wilderness knowing full well that they had a matter of hours to live, or at least as human beings. Jack lifted his crude club and smashed it down onto the head of his first victim.

  “Jack!” shouted Madison.

  He spun around, on edge and alert.

  “What is it?”

  “Get over here quick!”

  He rushed over, not sure what to expect, but already concerned by her long face. He reached her position as she pointed to Joey’s blood stained jacket. She lifted the jacket up revealing ripped flesh and blood beneath. Jack lowered his head in disappointment, yet another friend who was finished.

  “Hey, Joey, when did you get bit?” asked Jack.

  “What?”

  “That bite on your side, that just happen?”

  “What? I didn’t get bit!” shouted Joey.

  “That isn’t a scratch, Joey!” shouted Jack.

  “But I didn’t feel anything, I would have noticed!”

  “Maybe you were asleep, maybe with the adrenaline and panic you didn’t feel it, I don’t know, but the only way you got that injury is from a bite. I’m sorry, but your time is over,” said Jack quietly.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m not going to d
o anything, you’re going to take a walk and not come back.”

  “This is bullshit. Maddy, you don’t believe that do you?” asked Joey.

  “I’m sorry, but that’s the truth, nothing any of us can do about it,” she answered him.

  “This is fucking bullshit, so I am supposed to go and die somewhere?”

  “Afraid so, or let us end it for you quickly,” Jack said.

  “Well fuck this and fuck you!” shouted Joey.

  He threw down the iron bar he was holding and stormed out of the camp, mortified by his situation, and disgusted by his friend’s response.

  “That could have gone better,” said Riley.

  “Not really, how else can you tell a man he’s going to die, either alone and without fuss, or risk the lives of everyone around him? He’ll realise before the end that he made the right decision,” said Wells.

  “Not to be funny here, but now there are only five of us, how can we survive?” asked Justin.

  “We do our best, it’s all anyone can do, and all that God can expect of us,” said Wells.

  “And that’s done us a world of good so far.”

  Madison was about to agree with Justin, but stopped as she noticed an increasingly loud banging noise.

  “What the hell is that?” she asked.

  “What?” asked Jack.

  “Listen, that noise.”

  They all went silent, intently listening. The noise got louder and more frequent, a crashing noise, something that was truly worrying in a world with so few humans left. Jack grabbed his binoculars and walked twenty yards until he stood in what loosely resembled a street, staring down the line of dusty buildings. He raised his binoculars to his eyes and looked out for some sign of movement. At first he could see nothing, but then his attention was drawn to something that vibrated as he panned across the street. He focused on the front of the old church building, the doors shook, not through wind, but the force of creatures. He could see chains wrapped around the doors and secured with two padlocks, the doors thrashed against the chains, straining them.

  “Jesus fuck me Christ, this is not our day.”

  He ran back to the others. A look of dread on his face that the others had gotten used to understanding, they knew bad news would follow.