The Common Cold (Book 1): A Zombie Chronicle

by David K. Roberts

  “Fucking bastard,” he said, and gave it a well-earned kick.

  A creaking door sounded, as the other one climbed down from the cab in search of the excitement. Before it, too, caused problems, Rob shot it in the head, and it fell to the floor, lifeless. He let out a sigh of relief.

  “Well, that seems to be all of those fast bastards for now, but stay alert,” he said. “There’s ammo and rifles in the back of this truck. If it’s got fuel, we might as well take it, and one other for back up. Let’s have a look at that pistol, captain.”

  Handing it over, Rob took it and wiped it clean. Playing with it, he pulled back the slide. Taking out the magazine clip, a few slug chips fell into the palm of his hand; one of the lead slugs had broken where he had sliced the cross too deeply, in his earlier haste on the plane. He cleared the cartridge out, and checked the rest. Re-assembling it, he offered it back to the captain, who shook his head.

  “I’m better with rifles. Thanks anyway. I’ll choose one from those lying around.”

  Seeing no further threat from fast Infected, BB shot the four remaining zombies; they still wanted to feed, and he saw them as a threat. It was also part of his healing process; he didn’t like to be surprised by anything, and in particular, not something that was planning to eat him.

  Daniel waved to Janet and the kids to come over. Together they began to collect all the guns they could find, without going out into the field. Sam saw the carnage and stood there, transfixed.

  “You’ll have to get used to such things, Sam,” Daniel said, his voice gentle. “The world has changed, and you will have to change with it.”

  “Can I have a gun?” he asked. Seems he’d already started the process.

  “Eventually. Right now, we have more important things to sort out. I’ll personally teach you how to use one, when we get to safety.”

  “Okay,” he said, accepting this offer. Turning around, he headed back to the others. Daniel took one more glance across the grisly field, and then turned back to join them.

  “So, if we split up, we can take two of these beauties,” Morgan said, slapping the fender of the nearest truck. “I want to head across to find my family. I’ve not been able to get through to them, and I have to know what the problem is.” The captain’s face looked drawn with emotional pain, he would clearly not rest until he knew.

  “Why don’t you come with us,” Daniel offered, “we’ll pick up Rob’s wife, and then we can all head to Boulder together. It’d be safer.” It was a good argument, strength in numbers was always a good thing, but the captain wouldn’t be swayed.

  “I’ll go with you, boss,” BB interjected. “Together we’ll be okay. You guys have at least two of you good with a gun; that splits us evenly, at least in that respect. Why don’t you make your way to Tom’s house afterwards?”

  “Tom?” Rob questioned.

  “My name is Tom, not Captain,” he said, smiling a little. “I think BB’s is a good idea. We can get into the mountains more easily from Boulder. I have a cabin a couple of hours from my place; we could all hold up there until we can sort something more, well, appropriate. I think this will be a long time sorting itself out, if it ever can.” That last sentiment was almost mumbled; Tom didn’t want to voice something he suspected might be the reality, in case he made it so.

  “Alright, give me your address,” Daniel asked, opening his smart phone. Writing it in, he also checked the signal. “We still appear to have a connection, so we can use that for now. Are there any special instructions for finding your house, Tom?”

  “It’s easy. When you’ve been to Castle Rock, drive back to this point, and keep going north, past the airport, well, what’s left of it. Go straight on, the road will take you around Denver proper. I doubt you want to go through town, there’s probably millions of those bloody things; the roads might be blocked, anything could be there. Anyway, at the end of the main road, you’ll hit the Denver Boulder Turnpike; follow it onto Baseline Road, that will lead you to Chautauqua Park. We live opposite, in a white painted house next to a pedestrian crossing. You can’t miss it.” His face softened as he thought about his house, and his family.

  As Tom spoke to them, Daniel recorded the directions onto his iPhone, although the instructions sounded easy enough to follow.

  “Okay, if you insist on doing this, we ought to head out now. We can probably be back together before nightfall.”

  “Do you want the green one or the green one?” BB asked, his spirits returning after his close shave; it appeared little would hold him down for long. Shooting the four zombies had certainly bucked him up.

  “We’ll have the one with the ammo in the back. Take yourselves a case or two. You never know when enough is enough,” Daniel offered. BB handed him back his pistol, which he holstered once more. The first officer had found himself a selection of weapons, and now resembled a walking armoury. Americans and their guns, Daniel smiled. At least now there was no argument about there being a bloody good reason to carry one.

  They checked both trucks for fuel, and made sure the engines started. They were perfect, and must have been stationed here and kept refuelled, because both had topped off tanks. One less worry on their journey, they probably had a five hundred mile range.

  Waving goodbye, they went their separate ways. Rob and Daniel tossed a coin to see who drove. Daniel won. It was a tight squeeze in the cab as, although it was enormous compared to anything he’d ever driven before, with three adults, two children and a dog, there was barely room to breathe. At least they’d be warm until they could get some proper winter clothes. None were dressed warmly enough to travel in the back.

  Chapter 25

  Castle Rock

  At first the journey was easy, as they made their way down the E470 Southbound; they saw only one other car moving, heading away from them at reckless, breakneck speed; it left them a little uneasy, wondering what the driver was running from. Both the roads and countryside were almost completely deserted, with just the occasional zombie wandering carelessly around. Perhaps the cold had reduced their violent tendencies, maybe their bodies were part-frozen. Maybe that was all just wishful thinking.

  Although the truck had a top speed of only fifty five mph, they rarely managed more than thirty; dodging abandoned cars was their limiting factor. After a while the journey became monotonous, the scenery flat and uninteresting.

  “So, Rob. Glad to be back home? Well almost,” Daniel asked, trying to break the boredom of the journey; it seemed fatuous that anything could be found boring during the most complete change to the world since dinosaurs were rendered extinct, but if mankind is capable of anything, it’s adjusting to a new challenge. The children had fallen asleep, leaving the adults to their varied thoughts.

  “Yeah, I’ll be real glad to see Sandy. I just never reckoned on having to come back to a shit storm. If you think about it, we’ve all spent years building up our own lifestyles, haven’t we? All that heart-ache and effort at work, travelling, and spending time away from each other. And what has it all boiled down to? You two have had to leave everything behind, including your country; chances are that living in the mountains will be the safest thing for us to do, so Sandy and I will have to leave everything behind, too.” He was staring out ahead of them, not really seeing the flat expanse as they passed it by. “If we get safely back to Sandy, I’ll never leave her behind again. On the phone, she was talking about this woman she met, when was it, Jeez, only yesterday morning. Apparently, her husband went off to work, when he should have stayed at home, all because he wanted to close a deal or something. Dumb ass. Sandy seemed to get on well with this Ella person, but then she got bit, and it all went to hell after that. Looks like all the decisions we make from here on in have bigger consequences than we ever considered before.”

  “Blimey, I hadn’t thought of it in those terms. I reckon you’re right, maybe the real change is that the world has suddenly become about people again, not possessions. The people I pity most are
the kids addicted to computer games and that sort of thing. It’ll be like weaning them off hard drugs. These two seem to be pretty cool, maybe they didn’t have much access to that stuff. Looking at their shoes, it appears that they didn’t have much to lose, other than their parents, of course.” He saw the look on Rob’s face. “Sorry, mate, not rubbing it in, just saying.” Daniel quickly changed the subject. “Anyway, the good news is that Sandra is okay, and we’ll be there soon. She sounds like she’s a real survivor.”

  “You have no idea.” Rob had kept her episode with the machetes and the child to himself, not easy conversation matter, really. He stared out the window, the conversation dying.

  Janet broke the mood. “God, this country is huge. Just look, as far as the eye can see, it’s just flat plains. It goes on for miles.” Her first time in the USA, she was looking out at ‘The Big Country’, and was beginning to see what it was all about. “Maybe there is somewhere here where we can start again.”

  “There’s enough room, even more now, I think,” Rob remarked.

  They drove on in silence, as mile after mile fell away behind them. Off to their right was a massive, diffuse column of smoke, the city was aflame. Lack of emergency services meant any fire, no matter how small, went on unchecked, until whole blocks were ablaze. It was nature’s way of righting an unbalanced ecosystem. They tried not to consider the numbers of people suffering underneath the smoke; to lose a city to fire meant either a massive loss of life, or, under these circumstances, the loss of life was being driven away from the threat of consumption. Migration of massive numbers of infected was the most likely scenario, and remembering Tom’s last advice before they parted company, suggesting they didn’t travel through the city, seemed to be particularly spot on.

  “What’s that ahead?” Janet asked, her voice a little strained. The children’s heads came up; they had detected her concern.

  Rob lifted his rifle, ready. Daniel slowed down a little. “Don’t,” Rob said, realising what they were seeing. Daniel sped up once more. They had left the rolling plains, passing by Buckley Air Force Base, with its white radar dishes gleaming on the horizon; they were now approaching a more built up area. Janet squinted, trying to identify what she was seeing.

  “Is that a shopping mall?” she asked, to no-one in particular.

  “Aurora Shopping Mall,” Rob replied.

  “Is it as big as I think it is?”

  “Bigger, most probably.”

  The shopping site clearly extended both sides of the main road, which was now teeming with people, wandering aimlessly in the ice cold weather, few dressed for the wintery conditions.

  “They are infected, right?” Daniel asked, unsure whether to slow down or not.

  Rob rummaged through the stuff in the glove compartment, left behind by the soldiers. He discovered a pair of small binoculars. Peering at the throng, using his latest toy, he smiled grimly.

  “Uh huh. They’re infected alright,” he announced. “Don’t stop, whatever you do.” The children whimpered, clinging to each other. Janet put her arm around them, and squeezed reassuringly.

  The cars were clustered more thickly in this section, and had effectively blocked both carriageways of the road. Driving down the emergency lane, Daniel could see a way through, clear of cars, but it was thick with the dead, all out for a bit of retail therapy. He was glad for the vehicle they were in; nothing would stop it, it was the ultimate 4x4. As they got closer, only a few seemed to take any notice of the approaching truck, most remaining oblivious. Perhaps the cold weather was freezing not only their limbs, but what passed for function in their brains. After all, if they were dead, they weren’t producing any bodily warmth. Like normal people, they must still consist mostly of water, whatever they were. The thermometer in the cab barely registered above freezing point, outside must be well below that.

  Oskar began to growl, his head lifting from his adopted sleeping position in the footwell. Rob put his hand on the animal’s head, calming it by rubbing its ears.

  With no options left, the lorry began to collide with the lumbering crowd, the thuds sickening in their frequency. It now felt like they were driving over rough terrain, as the bodies fell under the wheels. Penny screamed, and Janet put her hand to the little girl’s face, stroking her cheek, although which one received more comfort was open to question.

  Finally, they could see an end to the flood of shoppers. They kept on moving, Daniel pressing harder on the accelerator to compensate for the resistance he could now feel. The speed dipped slightly, but rather than panic, he held fast, and soon they were making better headway as the crowd thinned.

  “What’s that?” Rob asked, pointing. Running down the slope, just beyond the shopping area, were two people, women as far as could be made out, both wearing store uniforms. One was slim, and quick in her movements, the other very overweight, her face blotchy with the cold and the strain of moving fast.

  “We have to pick them up,” Janet cried.

  Rob looked behind him, and found the rear window to the cab could slide open. There was a corresponding flap in the canvas cover to the rear.

  “Don’t stop,” he said, “whatever happens. I’ll get in the back, and help them aboard.”

  Not waiting for a response, Rob launched himself through the opening, and pulled the window almost fully closed; they would still need to communicate. The temperature dropped significantly, so Daniel turned the cab’s heater to full power. He continued to edge closer to the women, slowing gradually, trying to time the women’s arrival at the edge of the road with that of the lorry.

  From behind the women, a screaming roar erupted, and a tattered, gore-covered zombie appeared, looking left and right, clearly hunting the fleeing girls. He was wearing blue overalls, torn in places, revealing badly injured limbs, the pain of which it was clearly oblivious; clearly he had been some sort of manual worker before his new desires took over, his arms muscled and capable. Seeing their pursuer, they both cried out in horror, the looks on their faces showing shock at being re-acquired so near salvation. They moved faster, Rob calling to encourage them over the remaining short distance.

  “Get to the back of the lorry, quickly!” he shouted. The zombie had seen what was happening, and ran energetically to get between his victims and their salvation.

  “Give me your pistol,” Janet demanded of Daniel. He passed it to her as she wound down her window and pushed the kids to the floor, next to Oskar. Firing shots at the zombie, some striking, most missing, she managed to distract it long enough for the exhausted women to reach the back of the lorry unimpeded. Rob hauled the slight one aboard easily, her enthusiasm to reach safety causing them to land halfway down the rear deck. Between them, they began to pull the other one off the ground, and over the tailgate, ever closer to sanctuary.

  “Drive, drive!” Rob shouted back to Daniel, who put his foot down, and the vehicle began to move more quickly up the incline. The zombie was now alongside the truck; it had attempted to attack Janet, but had mistimed that opportunity as the speed increased. Instead, it reverted to its original prey, determined to get at least one of them before they were plucked from his reach. The truck was going too fast now for it to catch them by running, so in a last ditch attempt, it leapt the eight feet separating them, a claw slicing into the woman’s leg before it rolled away, shrieking its frustration.

  Finally, both women were on board; all three of them lay panting on the flat bed, the larger one sobbing in pain as she clutched her calf. Recovering from the exertion, Rob tied the canvas down to prevent further possible access from outside. The truck had reached a good travelling speed now, still rocking occasionally, as the odd zombie found the underside of its wheels.

  “Hi, I’m Rob,” he began. “You’re Stacey?” Seeing her uncertainty at his apparent clairvoyance, he explained by pointing at her name badge.

  The smaller one, Stacey, looked shell-shocked; they must have been evading capture for quite some time; they certainly weren’
t dressed to be outside.

  “Yes,” she replied finally, her body shaking with adrenalin shock; hypothermia finally took over, and she collapsed to the floor. Rob managed to catch her head, preventing it from cracking on the steel grating. He propped her up against the wall closest to the cab, and went to check on the other lady.

  “Jackie, is that right?” Rob spoke to her; she, too, had a name badge. She just nodded, wincing and moaning at the pain of the scratch marks the zombie had left down her right leg. One of its nails had sliced deep. He helped her over to her friend, sitting them down together; their shared bodily warmth should help both of them, he thought. Looking around, he discovered a canvas tarpaulin folded up under one of the benches. Spreading it out, it easily covered them with plenty to spare.

  “It won’t make too much of a difference, sorry, but it should keep out the draughts at least until we get to our destination, about half an hour from now. All things being equal, of course.” He smiled, trying to reassure them with his confidence.

  He uncovered Jackie’s wounded leg, and looked at the scratches. Although most were superficial, one appeared to be very deep. It had not severed any veins or arteries, the blood only seeping rather than pumping. She had been very lucky, at least as long as a scratch couldn’t pass this disease on. That was a lesson still to be learned.

  “Let me see if we have something to bandage that,” he said, having found a first aid tin that had been covered by the wrapped tarpaulin. He rummaged through, and produced some cleaning agent and bandages. Returning to Jackie’s side, he squeezed her hand reassuringly. “I’ll have you fixed up in no time.”

  Wiping her leg clear of blood, and making sure the wound was as clean as could be, he tied the bandage tightly. She whimpered at the pain, but stoically accepted what he was doing. To his inexpert eyes, it was very clear that the deep cut would need stitches, but for now a tight bandage would have to suffice.