by Aline Riva
“What happened?” asked Toby.
“We found a survivor...she didn't last long,” David replied, “But she gave us a lead on Mortiz, although I don't know what it means.”
Rick's attention was fixed firmly on David and Tara at the mention of his enemy's name.
“What did she say?” he asked.
“One word,” Tara replied, “I have no idea what it means, but she said Fearland...”
Chapter 3: The Road to Fearland
With the word Fearland as the only clue to go on, plus the tyre marks in the road, the only course of action that could be taken was to keep going, heading in the direction the victims of the massacre had tried to flee from. They drove along, down a wide empty motorway, until a turn off point came, up ahead the road was clear, but at the turn off that led to another road - here cars had been moved aside, as they had much further back in the journey. Someone had been clearing a path to enable travel on what would have been a route otherwise blocked by debris in the days of the mass panic when the dead had started to rise...
They took that road, turning off the motorway and heading down a wide road that was well signposted, and as they saw the signs pointing to Seascapeland, David and Tara exchanged a glance.
“What do you think?” she asked, “Should we check it out? I mean, a huge amusement park could be a ruin in these times or it could be a safe house...think about it, there could be others there like us!”
David nodded.
“It's got to have had secure fencing, it could still be secure in there.”
“Or over run with the dead,” she added cautiously.
“I guess there's only one way to find out,” he replied and took the next left, taking the road that led to the once thriving seaside theme park as the others followed on behind.
The car park was open and empty, save for a body here and there, partly devoured by passing undead. Cars had been left abandoned, but they were in short supply and looked smashed up. The large, towering gates and fencing around the enclosure looked undamaged – and the gates were firmly locked up, with a sign pasted across it stating Closed Until Further Notice. The sign had been slapped on those gates tall and wide at a crazy angle, as if done in great haste as the world went into global shutdown.
From the vehicle behind, Rick leant out of his open window.
“We can't get in,” he called to him, “Main gates are sealed. We might as well head back to the motorway.”
“But we saw the wrecks at the roadside,” David called back, looking to the car behind, “It was leading to this route...we need to see if there's another way in.”
Then he drove past the gates, following the road up to the far end, where the route turned at the side of the vast enclosure. Here the road carried on to a second parking area, and as he reached the pathway near the entrance he stopped, looking at the view that loomed ahead, his gaze was still fixed on it as he switched off the engine, and then as he got out of the car and Tara followed, the others pulled up and turned off their engines and got out, all looking to the second entrance to the amusement park:
There was a double doorway, and it was held together by a weak metal fastening that had snapped as the doors knocked in the wind. These doors had transparent panels and through it, one glance made it clear this was once the fun way inside – it led to a maze... the glass doors had outer doors, heavy, tall metal doors, but these had been left chained open, exposing the inner doors to the elements as the sea breeze whipped over the far off wall, making them clatter against the maze entrance.
But it wasn't just the prospect of entering an unsecured maze in these dangerous times that had made every member of the group stand still and look on in silence, above the maze was a sign that used to read Seascapeland. Much of the lettering had been covered over with black spray paint and above it, the place had been renamed in graffiti.
“Fearland,” Tara said, turning her head to look at the others as in the distance the sea glittered with sun rays and the breeze blew warm and salty, “Looks like we've found out what it means... but I see no sign of Mortiz. The place is silent.”
“Silent as the grave,” David added as he took a step closer, his dark gaze fixed on the maze entrance. Then he turned back to the others.
“We need to load up on weapons and supplies – we're going in.”
Far off on the other side of the vast park, past the circus tent and past the rollercoaster rides an old fashioned funfair and a zoo, another solid fence shut off the other half of the park. Beyond those solid gates, where the area branched off to more amusements to the right and the underwater walkway tunnels to the left, the place was far from empty. Guards dressed in black patrolled the fencing with swords sheathed at their sides to keep out intruders and fend off attacks from wandering dead, not that the dead here often attacked unless they were used for attack – Mortiz kept the majority of his undead army in a fenced off compound, the walls were solid steel and the windows set into it small and made of steel mesh, through those windows the living could observe the undead, all cramped up in the enclosure, all ready to feast on anything thrown through the hatch high above on the far side of the fencing. Close by, cages taken from the former circus had been brought down the the basement level of the former haunted house – now the structure was stripped almost clean of its former amusements, save for the odd glowing ghost set on the wall and skeleton dangling above. Here in the basement was the home of the elite of the undead – at least, elite to Mortiz as he kept his wife and young children caged, they were undead, of course... But to Mortiz, this was just a temporary state. He had gone beyond all sense of reason now, in the second cage he kept his close friend and his sisters, all undead just like the rest of his family, but as he stood there looking at them, as they looked back at him with hunger in his eyes and his children gnashed their teeth and growled and his wife's greying hands clutched at the bars and she glared at him, he smiled.
“My beloved family,” he said softly as he looked to the largest cage, “I have the scientists working on the cure. And if they can not create a cure, you shall eat them and I shall bring more scientists. This will not last forever, I swear to you. This ordeal shall come to an end.”
His wife gave a low growl as her hand darted through the bars, lashing out at the source of warm blood that stood before her.
Mortiz turned and walked away, heading for the lift as he nodded to the guards who stood nearby, a sign he wished them to keep watch – not because his family were undead, but because he wished them to be protected at all times...
Mortiz left by the lift, taking the ride to the top floor, as he stepped out, the armed guards stepped aside, allowing him to pass. In this room where the windows were barred, the place had been stripped bare and all that remained were tables and equipment as the two captive scientists worked together, heating liquids as they worked on formulas that nether held any faith in.
Carrie's face paled as Mortiz approached, she was younger than Adrienne, who was tall and slender with long fair hair and striking blue eyes. At least being abducted by Mortiz had led Carrie back to the woman who had trained her, who she had worked alongside. Adrienne was older, and seemingly wiser, too as she was not afraid of Mortiz – at least, she never showed it...
“How is the work progressing?” he asked in his heavy accented voice.
Adrienne turned away from the bench, facing him as she looked into his eyes – something Carrie still struggled with, the poor girl had never got over the shock of waking up here in this hellish place to see Mortiz take off his mask. To see the face of Samuel Lee, her former employer and owner of the SamLi Medico Corporation, had been a terrible shock. It seemed the wealthy businessman had made his own plans to cope with the take over by the undead – he had gathered a private army, taken over Seascape and even built up a laboratory here, hoping for a cure for the undead. But his plans were not with the aim of restoring peace and safety to this ravaged world – he simply wanted his wife, his children and
the rest of his family cured, nothing else mattered. Both Carrie and Adrienne knew that, because they had watched as he had fed the other scientists he had captured to his horde of undead while they were forced to watch, to serve a reminder of what failure would bring...
“The work is, as ever, slowly progressing,” she replied.
He looked to Carrie. She paled, the short dark hair that framed her face only seemed to emphasise that pallor as she started to shake.
“We are trying,” she whispered.
“Keep trying,” Mortiz reminded her, glancing to the work on the bench, “You may only try for so long...I require results.”
“And results take time,” Adrienne reminded him.
He nodded, then turned to leave the room.
“My armies hunger shall not take its time,” he replied as he headed for the door, “They shall not starve. Results, please, ladies...results, or I shall watch the undead tear you apart.”
“Sir...”
Mortiz turned to see a guard had just arrived by the lift.
“What is it?” he asked.
“We have intruders,” he replied, “The maze entrance has been breached.”
Mortiz smiled as his eyes glittered darkly.
“The maze is intended to be the rat trap,” he replied, “Keep me informed...If they make it past the maze, this might be fun...thank you.”
Then Mortiz stepped into the lift and was gone as the doors closed and the guards stepped in front of it, leaving the two women to continue working on a project that was yielding little result, work that would not delay their deaths for much longer...
“Oh this is great fun,” Rick said sarcastically as he followed David into the maze, “Here we are in a world with undead creatures roaming the earth, creatures that want to eat us – and you want to go and play in bloody maze! We could get lost in here. We could be stuck here for day we -”
“Rick...”
“What?”
The two men had just turned out of a dead end and taken the path up ahead as the others followed on, now they all slowed their pace as David looked back at Rick.
“You don't like the maze, do you?” David said in amusement, “Just admit it, maybe it's too small or too scary or too dim in here...”
“You think I'm scared?” Rick exclaimed, “I just think it's a waste of time! You want us to go and play in a fun fair!”
“I doubt anyone could play in there, it's all shut down. There could be survivors here.”
“Unless they got lost in the maze.”
David chuckled as he headed for another turn into maze.
“You are scared,” he said teasingly, “We're in the maze of doom!”
“Stop it!” Rick said to him, glancing left and right as the walls seemed to close in that little bit more as up ahead, shadows shifted as they moved along inside the dimly lit maze.
David had reached the end of another route, and as he stepped out and looked on ahead, the dark walls of the maze became narrower, but at the end, he saw daylight. He looked back to the others in triumph.
“We're in!” he called out, and from the shadows a creature lunged, its hands grabbing at his shoulders as it knocked him to the grounds and covered him with the stench of death. Its jaws snapped as it snarled and its ragged clothing stank of decay, then a shot rang out and the body jerked as the top of its head was blown clean off as stale blood and dried up brains spattered the wall of the maze. David shoved the lifeless creature off him and jumped up, brushing down his clothing as he looked back to see Toby lower his smoking gun as the others looked on in shock.
“Thanks,” he said, and Toby nodded in acknowledgement, then David breathed a relieved sigh, “That was too close... we need to keep together and keep aware... obviously this place isn't as secure as we hoped.”
A shriek echoed down the narrow corridor as from beyond it, another creature ran, this was female, with long hair wild and skin pale and grey with a dress in rags that flapped behind her as she dashed towards the living, hunger burning in its eyes. The daylight behind the creature was blocked out as more began to crowd in, David looked to Toby, then to Rick, and as they raised their guns so did the others, all taking steady aim, all firing shot after shot that felled each creature as it raced in from the other side of the maze, many shots blasted out and moments later the last shot had echoed about the maze area, the lights flickered, and five undead were down and staying down with bullets to the head.
As they lowered their guns, the group stood silent, listening, but no more sound could be heard from beyond the maze, nor was the view of the entrance to the park obscured, now they saw daylight, a green space, and beyond it, a ferris wheel.
“I think we're clear,” David said, keeping his sights on the end of the maze, “Keep behind me...” Then he slowly and carefully led the way to the exit, where daylight - and the unknown - finally beckoned.
Stepping out into the daylight after the close confinement of the maze came as a relief to all of the people who had travelled so far and never lost sight of the stench of death as it seemed to follow everywhere they went, it was all around, the world was full of it – but in the maze, that pile of zombie dead had stunk heavily, the smell had been over powering and to step out into fresh air after that ordeal had come as a relief to all as they left the maze entrance behind them. There was a pause as weapons were checked and they looked around at the wide open space before them that led to a colourful circus tent. It was striped and wide and towering, patterned in bold stripes that looked brightly vivid in the sunshine.
“Looks all clear,” Jason said, putting his gun away and glancing from the tent to nearby kiosks that had once sold hot dogs and popcorn. There was a pathway that led to a signpost set in the path near the side of the tent and it pointed up ahead one way and another to a branch that led off the main path. One part said Olde Tyme Fair, the other said Zoo.
“You can't be too careful,” David warned, still shaken from the attack in the maze as Jason went on ahead, towards the circus tent.
He turned back, the sunlight catching on the clear mask that covered the burns to half his face and as he smiled, his blue eyes sparkled.
“You might have got jumped in the maze, but I see no threats right now...it's almost normal here!”
“Then what the fuck are you doing here?” Rick said, casting him a frosty glance.
Jason stood there alone, ahead of the others, glaring in Rick's direction as behind him, the curtains to the entrance of the tent were closed but flapped in the breeze.
“What's that supposed to mean? If you've got something to say, just say it to my face, yeah?”
Rick gave a sigh.
“You should have kept quiet,” David said in a low voice as he glanced at Rick, “You've started something off here..”
“Good,” Rick replied, “I want an excuse to hit that sick fucker again!”
“Are you talking about me?” Jason called over.
Rick turned from David and looked to the man in the clear mask, casting his mind back to the woodland and what he had witnessed...
“Stop it...” he heard Lois say nervously, but Rick didn't bother replying, she had been plainly afraid in the maze and thankful to stay behind him as shots were fired, he loved Lois and would defend her with his last breath – but this was none of her business. This was between him and Jason...
“I was just saying,” Rick replied as he strolled over to join him with his metal hand slowly clenching into a fist, “It's almost normal here. You don't belong anywhere normal, do you?”
Jason had broken out into a sweat, shooting him that don't say this here look, which only served to anger him more.
“Don't know what you're on about,” Jason said quickly.
“I'm on about you and your little hobby,” Rick replied, looking back to see the others had walked over, and were all watching as the quarrel unfolded, “You and your liking for the infected, you sick little bastard!”
Rick's words had ec
hoed about the vast area beside the tent, and on hearing those words, Sandra had given a gasp.
“What the fuck?” he heard Toby say.
“Shut up!” David said sharply.
But Rick was happy to have an audience as he exposed the pervert in their midst.
“I feel sick travelling with you!” he said angrily, “After what I saw you doing with that infected woman in the woods...she didn't even know where her mind was, and you couldn't get enough of her!”
“What?” Tara said in horror as she looked to David, who gave a heavy sigh, shaking his head as he looked on sensing a major punch up was about to kick off. It hadn't really come as a huge surprise. Rick was an outspoken man and believed in being truthful. It had taken a lot of restraint for him to keep his mouth shut for the sake of the unity of the group and now they were here, together in this place, just them and a few undead corpses, it had become too much and he just couldn't hold back his disgust any longer...
“You're a filthy little pervert and I hate the sight of you!” Rick said angrily, stepping closer, now he was right up in Jason's face, glaring at him as his clenched fist remained at his side. Rick was taller than Jason, who took a step back, looking up at him as anger flashed in his gaze.
“Shut your mouth, it's nothing to do with you, it's my business what I do in private!”
“You're just a sick bastard!” Rick yelled, giving him a shove.
“Don't,” Jason said sharply as a warning look flashed to his eyes.
That flash of aggression was all Rick needed as the two men clashed, Rick grabbed him and aimed a punch, Jason ducked but not quickly enough as his fist connected with the side of his head, grazing it as Jason staggered back, swore through a gasp of breath and aimed a punch back, yelling out in pain as Rick used his clenched metal fist to block a blow that caused a shock wave of pain up Jason's arm as his fist collided with solid metal.