“What, a beer?”
“A snow cone,” she answered.
“Mmm, not a bad idea, if it could come with an ice cold beer,” Jack said.
“All sounds good, if I could enjoy them whilst travelling in an air conditioned RV,” added Riley.
“Yeah, with a big TV,” said Justin.
Wells joined in, “Ha, that doesn’t sound half bad.”
A few hours later they reached the entrance to a large canyon with a wide path into the basin. They stopped as they entered the canyon, alerted by the sight of vehicles. In front of them was a line of vehicles, a few buses, RVs and pickups. They looked completely deserted, with years of dust and dirt build up, and no signs of life or the creatures in sight.
“What do you suppose happened to the people?” asked Madison.
“I’m guessing they ran out of gas,” said Riley.
“All at once?” she asked.
“Well, if they were rationing out, they’d all be finished up about the same time. They probably either continued on foot or put what fuel they had left into their best vehicles,” said Jack.
“Where do you suppose they went?”
“Probably the same place as us, Maddy. Wherever took their fancy, wherever they hadn’t been before,” he said.
“Hey, check out the Hummer! Always wanted one of those babies!” shouted Riley.
“Do you think we should check the vehicles for anything useful?” asked Justin.
Wells moved closer, “No, just look at them, they were thoroughly stripped by whoever left them. There will be nothing of use for us there, they’re just relics of the old world, statues for future species to remember us by.”
“He’s right, there’s nothing left for us here,” said Jack.
“That’s a crying shame, Jack, always wanted to drive a Hummer,” Riley said.
“Come on, let’s get going.”
They continued on, deep in to the canyon. They eventually reached a narrow rock corridor with high sides, with no end in sight. They stopped, looking to Jack for leadership.
“What do you think?” asked Riley.
“We didn’t come all this way to turn back did we?”
“You know we could become trapped if this corridor goes on for long,” he replied to Jack.
“Maybe it’s time we worried a little less, and lived a little more,” Madison added.
“Walking into a potential death-trap isn’t my idea of living,” said Riley.
Jack’s response to that was, “The whole world is a death trap, so how about we make the most of it?”
“Fuck it, I just don’t care enough to think about it anymore,” Riley snapped.
“Anyone else have a problem with the plan?” asked Jack.
They shook their heads and continued on into the bottleneck of the valley.
“You know this could lead anywhere right? A dead end is just as likely as anything else?” Madison asked Jack.
“Aren’t our lives a dead end?”
“I suppose.”
Twenty minutes later they reached an opening in the bottleneck, revealing thick scrubland. In the distance they could see the track narrowing again into a thin alley. They trotted casually though the opening, the lack of wind and the striking sunlight was already making them all feel weary and sleepy. Madison stopped and pulled her jacket off that was already open to allow air in, but was now stifling. They kept their base armour on in the days, a simple rule to keep them protected at all times, but the heat was simply too much, and nobody thought the worse of her for doing so.
“What the hell is that smell?” Justin asked.
“Not sure, but I don’t like it,” said Jack.
“Must be a dead animal nearby,” said Riley.
“That’s what bothers me,” was Jack’s quick response.
Madison caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of her eye, a bush rustling. She quickly turned to investigate, as a creature sat up, rising from the bushes. She quickly reached for her hammer as she noticed a second movement near the first.
“They’re everywhere, in the bushes!” she shouted.
Jack looked around as the dead rose from the scrub around them, evidently having been lying lifelessly under the carpet of greenery, as if waiting for food to present itself for them to pounce on.
“Get moving, now!” shouted Jack.
Madison kicked her heels in, launching forward as quickly as she could. Leading, she raced for the cavern before them at full gallop. They were moving before most of the creatures were on their feet, but the few between them and the opening were standing and lusting for blood. She lifted the hammer above her head swung it with a circular motion against the head of the first creature, taking it off its feet and flat onto its back. Her horse hit the next one as if it was a rag doll, trampling it under foot.
They reached the narrow cove and kept up their speed, knowing they needed to gain some serious distance on the horde that was close on their heels. Less than a minute later they reached a fork in the canyon, Madison quickly drew her horse to a halt as Jack stopped next to her.
“Which way do we go?” Madison shouted.
“Your guess is good as mine!”
“Left!” called Riley.
“Why?”
“No idea, it’s just what came to mind first, you got a better idea, I’m all ears!”
She looked at Jack with fear and uncertainty, they could be gambling their lives on a toss of a coin, worse still, both could be dead ends.
“Do it!” shouted Jack.
They continued on down the left fork, all praying that they had chosen wisely. A few minutes they met their greatest fear, a dead end with high walls. Madison pulled the reins around and immediately headed back the way they had come.
“Back to the fork,” she called.
At the greatest speed they could muster they raced back, but were again halted when they met a horde of creatures as far as they could see down the narrow cavern, past the point of the fork.
“Fuck!” shouted Jack.
They again turned their horses and raced back to the dead end, desperately trying to buy them a few moments to at least think. They arrived back at the end of the cavern.
“What do we do?” cried Wells.
“Only two choices, fight or climb,” said Jack. “If we fight we will almost certainly die. If we climb, we may not all make it and will have no horses and lose most of our gear.”
“Some chance of survival is better than none,” said Madison.
“So you want to live now?” asked her father.
“Yes! I want to live!”
“Alright, take only the essentials, and get climbing!” Jack ordered.
Each grabbed what they could, which was little more than their personal weapons, including the few firearms they had left, and some water. Madison slung per prized AK47 over her back. She had not fired it in seven years, reserving the ammunition for last resort scenarios. The survivors could already hear the groans and unsettling sounds of the horde approaching. Madison took to the rock face, beginning the climb.
The ascent was only a hundred feet but without climbing equipment, in a stressful situation, with gear on their backs and the ever impending risk of death, it was tough. Madison’s hands were sweaty, from both the heat and rush of the situation. Her grip was weak, but she struggled on. By the time they had made it just twenty feet from the bottom, the ground below them was flooded with creatures, howling and scratching at the walls in disappointment.
“Listen up! Take it easy. We’re safe from them now, the only concern is getting to the top safely, so don’t take unnecessary risks, go slow and safe!” shouted Jack.
Twenty minutes later they had only made another thirty feet. The heat was bearing down on them heavily, and their relentless enemy below would not be silent, they would not give them a single peaceful moment.
“Ahh! Shit!” Justin cried out.
Madison looked around to see him hanging by his hands
at the corner of a rock, his legs were hanging freely and he was desperately trying to find a grip.
“Justin, hang on, I’m coming!” she called.
“Maddy, no!” shouted Jack.
“We have to help him!”
“You will only risk yourself, now be quiet!”
“Please! Help!” shouted Justin.
“Justin, just relax, you need to gain your footing!” Jack called over to him.
“How?”
“There’s a ledge to your right, don’t swing for it, bend at the hips, use your feet to find it!”
Justin desperately tried to find the ledge with his feet, unable to get a good look at what he was aiming for. The man was already panting heavily, in part from exertion, and the rest from panic.
“I can’t find it!” he cried.
“It’s just to your right, you have to reach it!”
“That’s enough, I’m going to help him!”
Before anyone could respond to dissuade her from endangering more of their lives, Justin’s grip finally failed and he plummeted from the rock face.
“Justin!” screamed Madison.
The four left could only watch in horror as their friend landed on two creatures, crushing them to the ground. More zombies engulfed him until they could see nothing but an angry mob.
“Fuck sake, Jack. I could have helped him!”
“No, you might have been able to, and you may just have likely as ended up down there with him!”
“Enough! Let’s get out of this unholy place!” Wells said.
Finally, something they all agreed with. Feeling utter anger and disappointment Madison continued to climb, but faster, being the only way she could exert some of her feelings. It was another hour before they all made it to the top and finally were able to lie down to rest.
“My Lord, I wasn’t made for that,” said Wells.
“But you’re here aren’t you?” Jack asked him.
“But Justin isn’t!”
“No, Madison, and that is none of our faults. It’s those bastards!” Riley said.
Riley opened up the canteen of water that hung around his body and poured it enthusiastically down his throat, without any regard for the little they had left.
“Hey! Hey! Take it easy on the water!” Jack said.
“Why? We’re fucked anyway. No horses, no food, not a lot of water and just four people in a world of zombies. This is the end, we’re on borrowed time!”
“Then why didn’t you just give up and fall into those fuckers, let them finish you off?”
“No idea, maybe it would have been the right idea.”
“That’s enough, I’m sick of seeing and hearing those disgusting creatures, let’s get moving,” Madison said.
“She’s right, no point in dwelling on the past, let’s go forward,” said her father.
“Like we did the other night, when we lost seventeen people?”
“What other choice do we have?” asked Jack.
“Come on, enough fighting, I have had enough of it, let’s move,” Madison sighed.
The four survivors staggered to their feet and began moving, not sure where they were going or even why, but probably because going forward seemed better than facing a gruelling death. They walked for five hours, until finally Jack who was leading them stopped, turning to face the other three.
“Maybe Riley is right. Running isn’t getting us anywhere. It’s prolonging our miserable lives.”
“What other option do we have?” asked Wells.
“Well our water is finished, we’re tired, hungry, we can’t last much longer. Would you rather die out here, or fighting, go out with a little glory?” asked Jack.
“What is glory if no one lives to tell the story?” Madison asked him.
“God will see it, and know that we fought evil to the very end,” Wells replied.
“Fuck God, I’m up for a fight to end all fights. What about you Madison?” said Riley.
“I’m game, I’m sick of this life, sick of those blood thirsty bastards. I want to give them hell one more time, no running, no hiding.”
“All agreed?” asked Jack.
“Aye,” said Wells.
“Yes,” said Madison.
“Fuck yeah!” said Riley.
“Okay,” said Jack.
“So how do we do this?” Madison asked.
“Well I’m guessing that the horde will be on us before the sun goes down. So let’s sit, relax, conserve energy and enjoy our last moments without fear, dread or despair,” said Jack.
They sat down on the dusty hard ground, counting their ammunition and preparing their weapons. Each of them had only a handful of bullets left for the firearms they had so carefully preserved. They waited, all finally at peace with the world. For no matter what the next few hours brought, they would give it their best, knowing they had survived when millions had not.
Across the open plain they had travelled across they could see the horde approaching from a mile or two away, enough time to watch them stagger towards them for maybe less than an hour.
“Remember, however this goes we are God’s children, made in his image, and we have stayed true. We will be the ones to see heaven, not those disgusting beasts,” implored Wells.
The creatures were now just fifty yards away.
“Okay people, let’s give these bastards hell!” shouted Jack.
A hail of gunfire erupted, soon followed by the final battle of desperation.
CHAPTER 14
English/Welsh border, United Kingdom
“Hey buddy, hey, you ok?” came a faint voice.
Nick tried to open his eyes but everything was still dark and he could hear noise as though there was a party or something going on. His leg hurt but he couldn’t work out why. He lifted his hand and rubbed his face, feeling something slick on his cheek.
“Nick, come on, wake up fool!” shouted a familiar voice.
He struggled to open his eyes, just making out the shape of Max in front of him. He was being carried by several of the passengers and off to his right he could see the old Land Rover, still on its side and burning furiously. A pinprick of light flashed ahead and one of the people carrying him fell, dropping the wounded Nick to the ground. The impact hurt but if nothing else it shocked him and helped him focus. As he looked more closely he could make out several rusting, heavily armoured cars nearby.
“What? Who are they?” he asked, whilst Max dragged him to cover behind their own modified ambulance.
“No idea, some stupid fucking raiders I’d think. I thought they’d been wiped out years ago,” Max answered.
A short burst of fire clattered against the vehicle.
“Yeah, well, I think they’re back,” Nick grimaced.
A loud noise indicated the arrival of the last two vehicles in the convoy and as they arrived the gunfire increased. The raiders were certainly badly organised and had bitten off way more than they could chew. The armoured minibus kept moving forward, offering protection from gunfire as it raced up to the raiders. Once it was close enough the doors burst open and the passengers inside rushed out, all armed with various hand weapons and the odd firearm. It was over in seconds and with no more casualties.
Nick lifted himself up, holding onto the side of the ambulance as he looked about. There were several bodies on the road, one of them was face down, the other was Zack, he must have been hit in the crossfire.
“Fucking hell,” swore Nick, “we got this far, ten bloody years only to lose people to some pathetic local bandits.”
He looked at the vehicles, the van was certainly leaking fuel and the minibus was making a terrible grinding sound.
“They aren’t going to last much longer, we need to keep moving, come on,” he said as he hobbled inside the ambulance passenger seat.
The rest of the passengers climbed back into the surviving three vehicles and in less than a minute the much depleted convoy was back on the road, now down to just three battered and ba
rely running trucks. The ambulance led, followed by the minibus and van. They followed the road for a good distance until finally reaching the exit ramp that led to the port. Luckily for them the bridge was still intact, though it wasn’t easy to push past due to the large accumulation of rubbish and debris that the wind must have deposited. They finally descended the other side of the road and down to the portway.
As they rounded the corner Nick spotted the rusting sign for the marina and docks.
“Holy crap, we made it!” he exclaimed, barely believing it himself.
The road ran alongside the waterway though so far he could see no boats of any kind. The vehicles continued a few hundred yards further until they approached a large rectangular stretch of water surrounded by high concrete sides all around, it was the city’s main pleasure craft marina, even better, it had over a score of vessels remaining.
“Mother of God!” said Gary.
“I’m as surprised as you both,” said Jessica as she looked out at the sad looking boats.
“There!” shouted Nick, pointing to an open area that led to a jetty running out between the boats.
They slowed down and stopped just short of the jetty. Nick swung open the door and staggered out, followed by the rest in the vehicle. As the first headed down the jetty the other two vehicles arrived and formed up nearby. Gary scanned the area, checking for signs of the undead.
“Did you see how many there were when we passed over the bridge?” he asked.
Nick twisted his head.
“Well, I lost count, I think they’ve been lurking in the houses over there,” he pointed to the blocks of houses and apartments a few hundred yards back.
“You think they’ll come here?” asked Jessica.
Nick raised his eyebrows in surprise, “Are you kidding, of course they will. We need one or more boats and we need them in the next ten minutes.”
“Look!” said Jessica, pointing off into the distance.
Nick followed her arm until he spotted a small group of shadows waddling towards the marina.
“Jesus, they just won’t stop will they? Come on, let’s go,” he shouted as he headed off down the jetty.
Along both sides of the rotting wooden structure was a selection of boats with about five times the number half submerged or just below the waterline. Nick made for a rusting metal boat, slightly larger than a tug and orange with wear. It was the second largest vessel in the marina and its rust made it look the most worn of them all.
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