The Undead | Day 25 [The Heat]

by Haywood, RR

  Dawson took us straight through to a secure area used as a junction leading to the three sets of boarding gates.

  One set was ahead of us giving a view over the eastern side of the airfield.

  The second set of boarding gates were off to our left giving us a short view of the southern side between the north and south terminals, and the enormous concrete forecourts and taxying areas.

  The third set of boarding gates were accessed via a corridor leading to a bridge high enough for commercial jets to drive underneath - and it was that bridge we aimed for. Being the highest point with the best view of the airfield. It took valuable minutes to reach it because of the size of the place, but we eventually we got up to see paned glass windows either side.

  There we stopped to draw air. All of us sweating hard. But then everyone in the airport was. That heat was brutal, and inside those metal buildings without the air-conditioning running it was beyond hellish.

  Paula looked around at the armed guards. Henry, Frank and I did the same. Counting bodies. Counting guns.

  A handful appeared to be police while the rest looked like either current or ex-military, and while we were looking for defence points, Joan went forward to stare out of the window to the air traffic control tower five hundred metres away in the centre of the airfield.

  A few seconds for us to take it all in.

  A few seconds and no more, that’s all we had because right at that second, every infected in the airfield suddenly turned to face the north terminal.

  ‘Hold your position!’ Paula shouted at the soldiers and cops starting to panic and draw back.

  ‘We need to seal this off!’ Dawson shouted.

  ‘I said wait!’ Paula said, turning back to the window as she grabbed her radio. ‘Control, this is north side. They’re coming back to life. Go for the Saxon. Repeat. Go for the Saxon… And Tappy? Make some noise, honey.’

  Reginald

  I’d checked Roy’s position on the drone then looked back down to the runway just in time to see the two CP’s both turning towards the direction of the north terminal. The old lady seemed to say something, to which the younger man replied as they both lifted their arms to point, and a split second later every infected in the airfield turned to face the north terminal.

  ‘Darn it!’ I said as I grabbed my radio, but Paula beat me to it.

  ‘Control, this is north side. They’re coming back to life. Go for the Saxon. Repeat. Go for the Saxon… And Tappy? Make some noise, honey.’

  ‘North side. This is Control. You are correct. They’re about to charge. Go for the Saxon!’

  46

  Diary of Charlotte Doyle

  Hot bodies in a hot tin can.

  ‘Control, this is north side. They’re back to life. Go for the Saxon. Repeat. Go for the Saxon… And Tappy? Make some noise, honey.’

  ‘North side. This is Control. You are correct. They’re about to charge. Go for the Saxon!’

  ‘Roger that,’ Tappy said as she faced forward and cricked her neck while we all waited for her to say it, and we smiled when she did. ‘The Saxon on the blacktop, speeding through the backdrop.’

  She gunned the engine as we all looked at Blowers while he, in turn, sat there with a fuck the lot of you expression.

  Then we were off and all leaning from the shift in momentum as the speakers outside hissed and crackled with the tuneful melody starting to rise.

  ‘BRACE!’ Tappy yelled as the Saxon battered through the fence. A clunk and a bang. We all tensed. We all braced, and we all sang the song as the Saxon powered into the airfield towards thirty thousand infected with Jon Bon Jovi Livin’ On A Prayer blasting from the speakers.

  I’ll never forget that moment. It’s seared into my mind. The distortion of the music from the awful speakers. Our voices all cracking and out of tune. Shouting more than singing. That heat. That awful heat. But despite the exhaustion, the fear, the dread, the frayed nerves and our heads thumping from the pressure in the air, we still did it.

  We still went in.

  I’ll always take pride in the fact that we did that.

  Reginald

  Good gosh it was thrilling to see. But perhaps not thrilling in an entirely pleasant way, because there was also dread and fear and worry, and the air pressure had become so intense my head was hurting.

  I took the drone high and watched until the Saxon drove through the fence. Only then did the scale truly hit me because the Saxon, which in my mind was always so big, suddenly looked very tiny.

  For a moment I was flooded with doubt, and I had to fight the urge to tell them to stand down and go back. I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t do it. It was a mistake. I’d made a mistake.

  ‘Haha! I can hear them!’ Roy transmitted. ‘I can bloody hear them! GO ON TAPPY! GET IN THERE. PRESS THE RADIO DOWN. LET US HEAR IT’

  ‘SHE SAYS, WE’VE GOT TO HOLD ON TO WHAT WE’VE GOT… IT DOESN’T MAKE A DIFFERENCE IF WE MAKE IT OR NOT...'

  Carmen

  Fuck me! Hearing them singing with the actual track playing in the background amidst the roar of the engine sent a jolt through all of us. It was like someone touched spark plugs to my heart. I even ran to the window and grabbed a pair of binos from the side to try and see the Saxon.

  ‘What the hell is that?’ one of the guards asked as the other armed men and women shared looks at the awful sound of singing and music coming through our radios.

  ‘That’s your rescue,’ Paula said.

  ‘Got it,’ I said. Seeing a blob in the distance at the far southwestern edge. ‘Jesus. It looks tiny.’

  ‘That’s what she said,’ Frank muttered as I rolled my eyes while Henry got to work bossing everyone around.

  ‘I can make that tower,’ Joan then said as we all turned to look at her. ‘It’s only five hundred metres away.’

  ‘The tower’s cut off, Joan,’ Henry said.

  ‘I don’t have clear line of sight from here,’ Joan said. ‘You heard Reggie, Henry. We slow the CP’s, we slow the horde. I need a door out,’ she said to the closest soldier. ‘Stop dithering! I can’t abide it. Quickly now.’

  A nod from Henry to Dawson. A nod from Dawson to the soldier and he rushed off, leading Joan away as we turned back to the airfield and that terrible sight of thousands of infected staring at us with drool pouring from their mouths.

  Reginald

  The Saxon was still coming in from the southwest and only just hitting the runway as I saw the distance it had to travel to the CP’s. Which of course, the Saxon couldn’t see due to the sheer number of bodies in front of them.

  ‘I can’t see the CP’s,’ Roy transmitted, and I watched with dread in my heart as the naked man and woman seemed to reach an agreement with both of them nodding as they started lifting their arms as though to give the go order to their hordes.

  I was about to transmit to Tappy to guide her to the CP’s when Marcy took the controller from my hands, and with a level of skill I was not expecting guided the drone over the top of the male and female.

  ‘Roy, it’s Marcy. Can you see the drone?’

  ‘My call sign is Robin Hood, but yes, I can see it.’

  ‘Ten inches left and right directly below.’

  ‘Roger that. Overwatch on…’

  She tilted the lens just in time to see Roy nock, draw and lean back. He fired one then the other as the two CP’s dropped their arms and the infected screeched as one. Tens of thousands of them all giving voice and bursting to motion as they started charging towards the north terminal with numbers that were so thick it looked like the entire ground was suddenly alive and rippling.

  My heart quickened. My chest felt tight. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. I’d got it wrong. So terribly, horribly wrong.

  And right at that point, when my fear was almost taking over, the arrows dropped and hit dead centre, which was the exact same second Marcy slapped the back of my hand with my battle swatter.

  ‘What the buggering hell was that for?’
I cried out, snatching a look up at her towering over me with my swatter held in her hand.

  ‘That was for earlier you little shit. Now get your head in the game. They need you. Do you want me to hit you again?’

  ‘No!’

  ‘I will hit you again.’

  ‘Don’t hit me again!’ I said as she gave me an arched eyebrow and grabbed her radio.

  ‘This is Marcy. The CP things are dead. Get the people out while Reggie looks for the next one.’

  She glowered down at me as I shot a look at the screen to see the infected all slowing as one to become sluggish and ungainly.

  ‘Joanie, go!’ Paula transmitted.

  ‘Find us the next CP,’ Howie said.

  ‘This is the north side. We’re commencing e-vac. Repeat. We are commencing e-vac.’

  I heard all of those transmissions and I knew time was vital and that I had to start searching, but for the life of me I could not take my eyes off Marcy looming over me with my swatter held in her hand. She didn’t do anything. She just breathed in and out without saying a word and yet, the strangest thing happened because I felt the panic fade away. Not all the way. Dear me. The fear never truly leaves, but it went back enough for my intellect to resume control.

  ‘Good,’ she said after a second. ‘Now stay calm and find the next CP.’

  ‘Where are you going?’ I asked as she moved to the door and slid it open.

  ‘I’m just getting some air. Find the next CP.’

  ‘Marcy!’ I said, intending to say she should help me look but she slammed the door closed, sealing me in as I tutted at another bizarre event and ignored what I thought it meant and instead focused on the monitor.

  Carmen

  That moment was off the chart for tension, but in a weird way, we were also very calm. We were committed to the plan, and it would either work or it wouldn’t.

  Then the hordes came to life, and we heard tens of thousands of them screeching as one as they started charging towards us. Fuck me. That was a sight.

  ‘Wait for it,’ Paula said, holding a hand out as though to keep us all still. ‘Just watch…’

  ‘Got ‘em,’ Roy said.

  ‘Yes!’ Paula shouted, making more than a few people flinch as the screeching cut out and the entire horde slowed to a shuffle with heads lolling about and feet scuffing the ground. ‘GO ON, ROY!’ Paula said, grabbing me to hug before she leant over to kiss Bash’s cheek. ‘Look at that! Just look at that!’

  ‘Incredible,’ Henry said with a nod at her.

  ‘Joanie, go!’ Paula said into her radio.

  ‘Find us the next CP,’ Howie transmitted as Henry waited for him to finish talking before he cut in.

  ‘This is the north side. We’re commencing e-vac. Repeat. We are commencing e-vac. Chief Inspector. Get them moving. Tell them to go and to keep going. They must not stop no matter what happens.’

  ‘Go on old girl,’ Frank then said into the radio as I turned to see Joan running through the shufflers with her guard still at her side.

  ‘Less of the old,’ she said without any show in her voice that she was running.

  ‘So. I mean. Just how sure are we that she’s not Dave’s mum again?’ I asked as Henry shrugged and Frank tilted his hand side to side. ‘I mean. She’s the right age. We need to DNA them. Speaking of which. I’m assuming that’s Dave on the gimpy we can hear?’

  Charlotte

  It was all very exciting. We’d gone in making lots of noise just as the two hordes snapped back to life and all turned and then started running off towards the north terminal. Fortunately, however, that’s when Roy dropped two nice arrows on their heads, and they went back to being slow and dribbly.

  ‘Tappy, stop,’ Howie ordered. ‘Everyone out. we’ll start reducing the numbers but headshots only! Preserve your ammo.’

  We shuffled out and set to work, and after the bloody awful day we’d had with every zombie and his aunty trying to eat us that lot were a walk in the park. All of them drooling and unable to control themselves beyond basic motor functions.

  ‘Don’t cross fire. Everyone aims in front of them. Dave will focus on the front of the Saxon,’ Clarence yelled as we selected single shot and started shooting them down with the louder GPMG strafing the front of the Saxon.

  Reginald

  I think the size of the endeavour and the build-up throughout that awful hot day had got to me. Which is why I had that brief panic-attack, but after a moment I was back to being in control and realising that our plan was working.

  We’d taken out two CP’s and bought time for the evac to start, which, by all accounts was underway.

  All we had to do was repeat the same thing.

  But the only way to do that was to wait until they all came back to life – because it would be the ones not in motion that were the new CP’s.

  I was already studying the screen and flying the drone northwards towards the buildings when I saw Joan with an armed man getting inside the base of the air traffic control tower.

  ‘WE’VE GOT MOVEMENT!’ Howie then shouted into his radio as I turned the drone and gave it height to see the whole southern and Eastern side of the airfield come to life with one horde re-animating as they started charging north.

  Charlotte

  It was fast.

  One second we were shooting stationary human beings, and the next the whole lot of them came to life and started charging as we compressed towards the back of the Saxon with the belief they were about to engulf us.

  Except they didn’t go for us. They were all heading north.

  Carmen

  We could see motion in the distance, and from that and the radio bursts we knew the horde closest to Howie was heading our way.

  Which is when the horde closest to us all came back to life with their own screeching howl, making us all flinch and tense as we prepared for a mass assault.

  Except they didn’t go for us. They all set off south towards Howie.

  Which is something we did not plan for.

  Reginald

  What a sight that was, especially when they started colliding. At any other time, it would have been farcical, but in reality, it meant the whole airfield was filled with too many bodies moving in too many different directions.

  ‘Damn it,’ I said as I grabbed the radio with a grimace. ‘North side. This is control. My apologies but you must prepare for incoming. Repeat. Prepare for imminent attack.’

  Carmen

  ‘Okay! Listen in,’ Henry called when Reggie gave us the good news. ‘We’ve got incoming. Stand fast and make ready. Do not waste your ammunition. Paula? Where is the most likely point of breach?’

  ‘End of this bridge on the southern side,’ she said without hesitation.

  ‘Understood. Frank, get a firing team at the far end to try and stem the flow. Do not draw back until you are instructed. Carmen, place charges on the bridge please. Paula, stay close to me. I need your expertise. Chief Inspector Dawson, make sure that last barricade is as strong as you can make it and get some firing points on the other side for when they breach. Has the evac started yet?’

  ‘We’re finding out now,’ he relayed between shouting into his own radio.

  ‘North side to control. Are the survivors leaving yet?’ Henry asked into the radio.

  ‘Negative. No survivors coming out yet.’

  ‘Chief inspector. It appears your survivors are not yet vacating.’

  ‘There’s some confusion,’ Dawson said, looking more stricken by the minute.

  ‘There really shouldn’t be,’ Henry said calmly. ‘Carmen. I’ll take over the charges. Please take Bash and encourage the survivors to start moving.’

  ‘On it,’ I said with a nod at Bash as we set off at a run back long the bridge and through the duty free stores and bars and areas still full of people trying to pack bags and gather belongings.

  Bash said something and made me look over to the side. I nodded fast and he rushed over to slam his elbow into
fire panel to break the glass and activate the fire alarm.

  Red lights instantly started to flash as sirens screamed out.

  It’s human instinct to fear fire. It’s built into us, and it was needed to create the panic those people needed to get going. They’d trample and stampede. I knew that. And I winced at seeing it start to happen. Some wouldn’t make it, but enough would. Darwin’s theory of evolution. Survival of the fittest.

  We ran on through the crowds while shouting the word fire until we heard it being repeated. A moment later we reached the gallery overlooking the main check-in area leading to the train station to see everyone screaming and panicking but still not running out.

  The people at the front were too scared to leave and the organisers and workers were too fucking stupid to follow orders, and so with a surge of irritation I ran off into the food area and booted things around until I found a bottle of vodka. I screwed the top off and got some over a hanging sheet used as a makeshift wall as Bash got his lighter out and set it on fire then used other rags to fan the smoke out into the air above the people all gathered below.

  I then fired a shot into a bookcase to get attention. It worked a treat with people turning to see and scream out at the thick black smoke. A second or two later and the whole lot of them were finally surging for the train station as we got the fire extinguisher and put the flames out while shaking our heads at the immense stupidity people have when they get into a large group with a herd instinct.

  And a few moments after that, and after wading back through the screaming, wailing, panicking people finally fleeing for their lives, we re-joined the unit on the bridge while gasping for air. ‘All done.’

  ‘Thank you, Miss Eze,’ Henry said with a simple nod. ‘Continue with the charges please.’

  A roll of my eyes. A gasp of air and I went back to what I was doing as the first shots rang out from the end of the bridge.