Z Day: Survival of the Fittest

by Newton, Reece

  When we got to the tower we saw Gina still staring at the pool of blood, she looked so sad, the look of hope in her eyes which had slowly been decreasing was completely gone. She truly thought there was no hope left anymore. All we could do was hide from the zombies that were coming from London thanks to the man driving the train. He was only trying to save his family, and that’s good, that’s what any good man would do. I just wish he wouldn't have brought all the zombies with him. They would probably be in Clacton in a day or two, then we would be in trouble. Barry walked past Gina and went up the stairs. I could deal with seeing Barry upset but seeing Gina sit there with tears in, her eyes made me feel pain, a pain that I had never experienced before apart from my son dying, and it hurt. I sat next to Gina on the step and put my arm around her, she leaned her head on my shoulder. I told her that no matter what happened I would always be there for her, I don't think it made her feel any better but it was true. Barry ran down the stairs calling Brenda’s name, he said she was nowhere to be seen. He began shouting at Gina asking her where Brenda was but she was too shaken up to reply. We hoped nothing had happened to her, I don't think we could cope with another death, it was even starting to make me lose hope. Barry begged me to go and search the caravan park with him, I didn't want to leave Gina but I didn't really have a choice. I was starting to think of Barry as a friend and Gina as...... well, as a girlfriend. Barry thought Brenda might have gone back to her caravan but no one knew which one was hers. He passed me an axe and he took a hammer, this day was starting to get tiring!

  As we went to walk out through door Gina told me to be careful. She went to kiss me but backed away, I now know why (but I'll get to that a bit later).

  Me and Barry went to the caravan park, when we left the tower my hands went numb and I struggled to hold the wooden handle on the axe, the air was as cold as ice. I was worried as to why Gina hadn't kissed me, but I was too busy killing zombies and looking for Brenda to think about it right now. We opened a few caravan doors but all we found inside were zombies. In one caravan we found a man, he was still alive and reading a book on body language. He was so calm he had short black hair and was wearing a black leather jacket. When we opened the door he asked us to be quiet while he finished reading the page he was on. He stood up and just stared at us for a few seconds, he then said Barry was an accountant with a wife and child. He said his shoes were a year or so old and his hair hadn't been washed in a week then he looked at me but didn't say a word. He zipped his jacket and walked out the door he was quite a weird guy. when he got out the door he drew a pistol from his belt and began walking down the row of caravans, we followed behind him wondering who the hell he was. He saw a zombie ahead and without time to aim shot the zombie straight through the head, we tried to tell him more would come but he didn’t care he said his time on Earth was over now and when we looked a blue line started rushing towards his head he told us to run and as we did we heard a few gun shots from behind and when I looked back his body was lying there on the floor.

  Too many people had died, we ran back to the tower when we got there I told Barry not to say anything about that man to Gina she was so upset about Martin and Sally dying and now Brenda was missing too.

  Things couldn’t get worse, just the three of us left when we got back into the tower Gina handed me and Barry a bottle of water and then we all went up to the roof. We knew the days to come would only get worse we stayed up on the roof for about two or three hours, we watched the sun go down and stared at the stars we didn’t speak much that night but I came up with an idea to go to the airfield not too far from here and get a plane but where would we go from there? We didn’t know one place that was remotely safe after I told them the idea we discussed it for a while but we couldn’t think of one single safe place to go. The others went to bed and I stayed up for a bit to keep watch with a blanket we found in the tower, I got a few hours sleep up there but it was a bit too cold to sleep.

  When I woke up and went down stairs Gina and Barry were chatting about their lives and the family they had, I told them about my son I found it quite hard to talk about him, he was my whole life it was sad to think about him after Barry told us about his wife and kid and how his wife had been bitten so he went to get help but when he got back his wife had turned and his little boy had been eaten. I couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been for him to walk in the door and see that. Before I met Gina I wouldn’t have even felt sorry for him, probably hearing the story would have made me want to kill but Gina was changing me more and more every day. My urges had gone completely now (or had at least been put aside when Gina was around). Gina didn’t really say much about her family just that she was very close with them before she was put in the hospital I didn’t really know anything about her but I didn’t really want to ask in case she asked me I didn’t think she would like me much if she knew I was a killer. After discussing our former lives we all went upstairs to look out for any zombies, after a minute or so of being up there Gina pointed out a little girl walking along the beach. Me and Barry ran down the stairs and out the door to see if she was okay, when we got to the beach I ran up to her and tapped her on the shoulder to see if she was okay then suddenly she grabbed my arm and bit it. Barry grabbed her by the head and snapped her neck in one fast motion he then rolled up my sleeve to see the bite. When I showed him he was relieved, I still had the magazines duct taped to my arms he let out a cry of relief and began to laugh after being a bit shaken up I walked over to the zombie girls body its jaws were still moving and blood surrounded its mouth we started to walk back and I was very grateful that Martin had given us the idea to duct tape the magazines to us, even though he was dead he kind saved my life.

  When we got back we each had a small cereal multipack box each, they were tiny but we agreed one little box each a day no more I had cheerios, they didn’t taste to nice without milk but worrying about what cereal we’d had wasn’t the most important thing that was on our minds.

  We all sat on the floor down stairs for a while discussing what could have happened to Brenda and telling Gina about the little girl, we all felt quite sad and Gina said we should have a minute silence for the people we had lost and all those who had turned into zombies. We all sat together and closed our eyes and just thought about all the people we had lost, I thought about the people we were going to have to become to survive in this world, I knew it would soon be kill or be killed I was sure people would try to take our tower if there was anyone left out there. Soon after the minute silence Gina thought she heard something coming from outside I couldn’t hear a thing but Gina ran to the top of the tower so me and Barry followed both looking slightly puzzled.

  When we got to the top Gina looked around searching for whatever had made the noise, I didn’t see at first but Barry pointed it out there were tons of zombies coming this way from the caravan park (probably about 20 zombies altogether), this meant trouble, big trouble especially as there were only four of us here. They must have heard the girl scream or sensed we were here, either way we should really of had a backup plan in case we were surrounded or needed to get out of the tower and would be safe but we didn’t have a clue what to do then we remembered that Lynda locked herself in the reception box for the last few days, to tell you the truth I think we all forgot about her she hadn’t eaten in days.

  Barry ran down stairs and banged on the window to the room she didn’t open the door and it was locked from the inside. As I walked down the stairs I saw him kick the door open, I imagine it must have hurt they were quite sturdy doors. When he went inside there was blood on the floor, she was a zombie! She must have stabbed herself in the heart because a knife was jammed in her chest, once she had died she must have turned I guess. She ran towards Barry and he just stood there I pushed him out the way and gripped the back of her head then I pushed Barry out of the door with the other hand and quickly shut it. It was time I used my killing skills against these zombie, I used to kill instinctively but Gina put a stop to
that she wasn’t in the room so I managed to turn them on again. I smashed her head repeatedly against the wall then threw her to the ground, she was still trying to bite me. I stood on her chest and pulled the knife from it I then stabbed her in the head and walked out of the door and down to the bathroom where I washed my hands.

  I walked back over to Barry and told him we had more important issues to deal with, he wiped the tears from his face and told me I was right and went upstairs to find Gina and decide what we should do. Gina was at the top of the stairs and said she had heard everything and that I was right, we had more important things to do. We went upstairs and tried to think of a way we could survive this. I didn’t really care about my life though I would have taken a bullet for Gina any day and Barry was good friend but I still thought my life was more important I probably would have killed him by now if Gina weren’t here. We sat up on the roof wall all night watching them gradually getting closer to us, each of us prayed that they would just keep on going. After sitting on the wall for a while those things were just minutes away from the tower, Barry started pacing up and down with his hands pressed against his head then he sprinted around the tower he said he was looking for a brick or rock to smash a car window with. He had a plan to smash the window of a car somewhere along the road, the alarm would go off and the zombies would be drawn to it. We would throw molotov cocktails made from the vodka we took from the corner shop, once he told us the plan me and Gina helped him look though we all avoided the room Lynda’s corpse was in. After searching for a minute whilst the zombies were directly outside the door we found two halves of a brick and two or three big stones. We went back to the top of the tower, I took the first throw and missed the car it was all the way down the road and I’ve always been crap at throwing and…well, any kind of sport really (when I was in school I was always the one that was picked last in whatever sport we did) it didn’t bother me because I wasn’t the same as the other kids, while they dreamt of being footballers and cricket players I dreamt of being an accountant like my father, all the kids there bullied me for wanting to be like my dad and not a day went by without me wanting to plunge a knife through there hearts. I think I did kill one of them at a school reunion but it would have been good for him to have been here, he would have thrown the stone straight to the window no trouble. After Barry and Gina witnessed my terrible throw they decided to let Barry throw the rest, his throw was nearly as bad as mine the closest he got was on the top of the car and with only one half piece of brick left he gave it to Gina. Our lives were potentially in her hands now, she put everything she had into that throw and when I looked I couldn't believe it! She’d smashed the window and the car alarm went off, even from down the road the sound was deafening and after making a quiet sigh of relief we realized we had little time before they would be surrounding the car.

  Barry ran to the other side of the roof and he chucked me the bottle of vodka, I actually caught it, I was shocked. I unscrewed the top whilst Barry cut a piece of his t shirt off, he poured a tiny bit of vodka onto one side of his top and put the other side In the bottle making sure that the top bit was hanging out. He then looked over to the car and sure enough all the zombies from the park surrounded it and they clawed at the car trying to find someone to rip open, I lit the t shirt and a flame sat on the top, I handed it to Gina and asked her if she was ready and with teary eyes she replied “ not really”, she then threw the bottle directly onto the car bonnet and it caught light for a few seconds until the car blew up sending zombie body parts flying. I couldn’t believe we had survived there was one lesson I learnt from that always carry a lighter or some waterproof matches whether you’re setting a molotov alight or just need to light a cigarette it will always come in handy. After celebrating with a can of Guinness each we tried to think of somewhere safe, zombies from all over would have heard the explosion and would be heading in our direction along with the hundred odd zombies from London on their way. Surviving this apocalypse was proving to be quite a challenge. I put forward the idea that tomorrow morning we should go to airfield and look for a plane but Barry and Gina wouldn’t leave the tower incase Brenda came back so decided to stay, well until we’d run out of food at least. After talking we all fell asleep, I don’t know how the two of them got to sleep so easily the flooring was stone cold and the tower had no heating.

  We awoke the next morning to the sound of horses clanking, we didn’t have a clue why a horse would be here and for all we knew it could have been infected. Barry and I grabbed our weapons and opened the door to see what was going on. Outside there was a horse covered in blood with zombie limbs tied to it, on top of it sat a man who was also covered with blood, he had short black hair and a leather jacket just like the man at the caravan park had on. He said “I’m not infected don’t worry” and stepped off his horse and started to walk slowly towards us. As a zombie ran start past him and towards me he grabbed a knife from his back pocket and threw it at the back of the zombies head, it fell to the ground with the knife stuck in its head.

  The man introduced himself, his name was Dexter. He asked if he could stay with us at the tower for a few days, me and Barry didn’t have a clue what to say, he had just kind of appeared, a strange man covered in blood with his horse (which was also covered in blood) it wasn’t exactly normal but what was? After looking at each other for a few seconds I said yes but there was one condition, we would have to take all of his weapons from him. Barry looked kind of nervous, he stared at us and then began walking towards the beach, he shouted back to us “I'll think about it” a load of zombies just barged past Dexter and he kept walking forwards like they didn’t even know he was there, then Barry pulled me back into the tower. I couldn’t believe it, it was almost as though he was invisible but Barry was scared for our lives, he said we shouldn’t let anyone in, he said that Dexter could kill us or we could all become friends and then lose him as well but Gina and I agreed we should let him in and I thought I had more of a chance protecting Gina with him especially as he could just walk straight past zombies! We discussed it for a while and decided to ration the food and water and take his weapons so when Dexter finally came back he shouted out to us “you two in here?” then I opened the front door and let him in. As soon as he got in the tower he took his weapons from his belt and threw them to the floor then he asked us where he could stay. Gina came down the stairs and told him that we were all staying on the floor and she said to him that we were rationing food and water he said “I’m cool with that” and then said “now I got some good news and some bad, well good news first, if you put zombie blood on your clothes the zombies will just think you're one of them and won't try to bite you. Make sure you don’t get any blood in your mouth or you'll turn and make sure they’re zombies or it'll make them want you more. Now for the bad news, I came from a camp in Wivenhoe and well the people there were bad so I left and they've been chasing me ever since, lets pray they don't find me. I said if they did we’d stick together, we had more chance of survival with Dexter here even though we’d only known him for a few minutes. He didn't seem such a bad guy, he was like a father figure and to me that meant someone who would protect Gina but wouldn't flirt with her and that meant I could trust him.

  Me, Gina and Barry lay on the floor and told Dexter we were going to bed, he laughed and said “bed didn’t I tell you I’m being chased?” I replied “yes but you said you hoped they hadn’t followed you here” at this point he chuckled to himself and shouted “I don’t think you know how bad these guys are and in case you didn’t know hundreds of zombies also chased me down the train tracks, they weren’t after me, I was covered in zombie blood they were just charging down the tracks and in the middle of them pale fuckers were the men who were chasing me on horses so in case you haven’t been listening hundreds of zombies and some highly trained killers on fucking horses, now get up, prepare your weapons, we stay quiet for now ”. I said he could take his weapons now but he said no thanks got some of my main ones outside th
en he walked out the door and me Gina and Barry ran around looking for weapons. we gathered a pile of anything we could possibly use as a weapon. We ended up with a few knives, some bricks and some broken glass then Dexter came back in with an Army green shoulder bag. I showed him the pile of weapons we had and he laughed at us while taking his bag off of his shoulder he unzipped it and chucked me a single barreled shotgun. He gave Gina a pistol and he gave Barry a machete, Dexter kept the bag on his shoulder and got out an Army rifle. I’m not sure what it was called, I was more of a knife person I liked my weapon to be silent but deadly.

  Dexter led us out of the front door and we all went in search of zombies to try and cover ourselves in their blood just in case we had to leave the tower. After searching for a minute we could see the hundred odd zombies in the distance and two or three horses and men in the middle of them, Dexter managed to get a bit of zombie blood on him before we got back to the tower. When we got back Dexter untied his horse and gave it a hard whip on the back, it ran off down past the caravan park then we all went inside and tried to stay quiet just standing there waiting for what would happen next. Everyone looked so nervous, Dexter couldn't take having to wait he ran up the stairs and onto the rooftop, we all followed whilst he got on his knees and crawled across to the edge of the tower. He opened his bag took out some binoculars and pointed them at the men on horses. He sighed and put them down then grabbed a grenade from the side pocket of his bag and went to pull the pin. Barry grabbed it from his hands, he told him that they would know we were here but he said he knew these three men and they were the most dangerous men he’d ever had the disadvantage to meet.