by T. L. Frost
“Did you see anyone living over there?” Asked Barry.
Chris shook his head “Probably staying out of sight so those zombies don’t get worked up.”
“If there’s anyone still alive.” Added Barry.
“Only one way to find out.” Chris said, walking over to a flag-pole at the edge of the car park.
A sign next to it read ‘Raise the flag and wait for low tide, we will come to you.’ Chris checked around, seeing no danger, then checked with Barry and Lynne, who both nodded. He raised the flag, fastening it securely, then stepped back.
“How are they going to come to us?” Asked Lynn.
Chris shrugged “Maybe they have a boat or something.”
Then they all got back in the ambulance and waited. Eventually the tide started going out, the water level getting lower and lower until large areas of sand and rocky shoreline were revealed. Large tide pools scattered the area and birds flocked down to feed.
“Those zombies are getting worked up.” Said Barry as he watched the crowd at the barricade which blocked the causeway.
“It’s like they can sense people on the other side.” Said Lynn.
There was still no sign of anybody coming to help and the zombies began pushing against the vehicles blocking the road, the double decker at the centre rocked back and forwards on its suspension, some tried to spread around but quickly got caught in the soft sand, sinking to their knees as they struggled forward.
“Maybe there’s nobody there anymore mate?” Said Barry “That crowd of zombies might have scared them off.”
Chris continued scanning the area, checking along the coastline, the group of buildings on the main island and all the way up to the castle.
“There!” He said “Someone is coming.”
He pointed towards the castle and handed the binoculars to Barry.
“Fuck me!” He said as he watched “The sand won’t stop that.”
Lynn took the binoculars and looked, a smile appearing on her face.
“A monster truck.” She said “And it’s coming quick.”
The truck sped along the causeway, using the road until it had almost reached the barricade, then it turned off, circling away to the south a little, keeping some distance between itself and the crowd of zombies which started to spread south towards it.
“Grab as much of the food as you can and be ready to go.” Said Chris picking up a bag and quickly shoving tins into it.
As the truck hit the solid ground of the coast road its engines roared and it raced away from the approaching zombies, heading straight for the car park. Chris stepped out of the ambulance with the others following, just as the truck arrived. A woman looked around the area then jumped out and raced towards the flagpole, lowering the flag.
“Jump in the back quick!” Shouted the driver.
Chris checked around as Lynn then Barry climbed into the rear cage of the truck, then he joined them. The woman finished with the flag and jumped back into the passenger seat, turning and giving the new arrivals a smile.
“Welcome to Holy Island.” She said.
Then the driver hit the accelerator and sped around to the north side of the barricade, again leaving plenty of distance between themselves and the zombies. Chris, Barry and Lynn held on tight in the back as the truck sped along the bumpy, wet sand. Screams of rage and frustration sounding behind them as the zombies battered the barricade.
Chapter 2
The castle was an impressive sight, high up on a rocky outcrop, overlooking the island’s harbour. The road along the edge of the island rose sharply as they approached it, until the driver spun around and stopped. Everyone climbed out, the new arrivals looking around, clearly impressed.
“I’m Tom.” Said the driver shaking hands with everyone “This is Alice.”
After everyone introduced themselves, they walked to the main entrance, where a small door opened to let them in.
“Nice truck Tom.” Said Barry looking back “I bet that has come in handy.”
“Be lost without it.” Replied Tom smiling “Though it’s not mine, belongs to the professor.”
“The professor? Is he in charge here?” Asked Barry.
“Pretty much.” Said Tom “Though he’s not really a professor, just a nickname I think, very smart guy though.”
They entered through the small door, the area beyond was a hive of activity.
“We thought this place was deserted.” Said Lynn looking around.
“We try to keep everything out of sight.” Said Alice “Any activity draws more zombies to the area.”
They passed by the people, some waved, some smiled, still worried expressions showed on most faces.
“Looks like you’re packing up.” Said Chris after watching the people working.
“We are indeed.” Came a new voice.
“Prof, these are the new arrivals.” Said Tom introducing them.
“Nice to meet you all.” Said Merrick “Always nice to see some new faces.”
“Thanks for bringing us in.” Said Chris “But why are you packing up? This place looks pretty safe.”
“Ah yes.” Said Merrick “I thought so too, but the numbers of zombies at the barricade grows day by day. Every time we go out it seems to draw more of them here. If enough of them gather together they may break through.”
“But you’ve got a castle mate!” Said Barry looking around with a grin “I’m pretty sure they won’t get in.”
“Probably not.” Replied Merrick “But if they break through and surround this place we’ll be trapped, cut off from the mainland and the harbour below. Wouldn’t take us long to run out of supplies.”
“I can see that would be a problem.” Agreed Chris “Better to prepare for it than just sit back and hope for the best.”
“Exactly.” Nodded Merrick “We are hoping to go look at another site soon, there are more islands not far from here, the largest looks promising. Supplies will still be a problem but it has its own small jetty where we can keep some boats, gives us more options.”
“Good idea.” Said Chris “Anything we can do?”
“Anybody with sailing experience would be handy?” Said Merrick hopefully “We’re trying to save the fuel but nobody here can sail.”
“I was in the sea cadets when I was younger.” Said Barry “Was going to join the navy until I changed my mind and joined the army instead. Probably a bit rusty but I could handle one of them smaller boats.”
“Excellent.” Said Merrick “Go down to the harbour and look for Bill, he’s a local, knows where all the keys for the boats are kept.”
“No problem mate.” Said Barry.
“I’ll show you the way.” Said Alice and walked off with Barry.
“I’m a paramedic and Lynn here is a nurse.” Said Chris after Barry had left.
“Not real zombies then.” Said Merrick looking at the costumes they still wore with a smile “Tom, take them to Jim, he can show them around. Then get back on lookout, don’t want to be caught by surprise if that barricade goes.”
“Sure Prof.” Said Tom nodding and leading Chris and Lynn into the castle.
Merrick kept busy, checking preparations were going to plan, he wanted everything done as soon as possible, there were hundreds of zombies at the barricade and he doubted it would last much longer if the numbers kept increasing, though he tried not to let on just how worried he was.
“Stop frowning.” Said Natalie as she approached “You’ll get wrinkles.”
Merrick smiled “Hi sis, too late for that I already have plenty.”
“Well we can’t both have good looks and brains, better that I got them both than you.” Replied Natalie grinning “How is everything going?”
“Slowly.” He said “Slower than I’d like. One of the new people can sail a bit so hopefully that will save us some fuel, but there isn’t much left anyway.”
“We’ll manage.” Said Natalie confidently.
Merrick smiled “There isn’t mu
ch choice, we do or we…”
“Or we think of something else.” Said Natalie seriously “You’ve gotten us this far, we’ll have time to breathe when everyone is safe on the other island.”
“Maybe.” Agreed Merrick “But not much, it might buy us a few months, if we can get enough food, after that who knows?”
“After that we think of something else.” Said Natalie “Now what are we going to do about food?”
Chapter 3
They sailed south for a while, following the coastline. Luckily it was a fairly calm day, enough wind to sail by but not enough to test Barry’s skills as a sailor. They had left just before first light, trying to avoid being seen by the crowd of zombies at the barricade and it looked like it had worked so far. One or two people had bumps and bruises where the main sail had swung around suddenly as Barry changed course but no one complained. The boat was a small vessel, easily handled by Barry and Bill, who had chosen it. It had half a tank of fuel but they were saving that, relying on sail power for now. Bill had picked the boat with Barry’s help and together they had practiced for a day, Barry teaching everything he could remember to Bill. The engine had been run for a while to make sure it worked, then Merrick had joined them.
“Is it seaworthy?” He had asked Barry the day before.
“Yeah, mate, not a bad little boat, better than the ones I used to sail on.” Said Barry as Merrick climbed aboard.
“It looks big enough, but we need to get more people on, so it might be crowded.” Said Merrick looking around.
“There’s a small cabin, with some basic furniture below, we could rip that out.” Said Barry pointing to a small door in the centre of the boat “I doubt we’ll be doing any long distance pleasure cruises.”
Merrick nodded “Do it today, I want the boat ready for first thing tomorrow morning.”
That night as it was getting dark Merrick held a meeting of everyone in the castle, apart from the lookouts watching the barricade.
“We need supplies.” He said seriously looking around the small group “We could wait until we have relocated to the other island but I think now would be a better time. There are towns to the south big enough to have what we need, but not so big that they will be filled with thousands of those creatures.”
Frowns and concerned faces appeared throughout the room.
“Nowhere is safe out there.” Said Bridget who had arrived at Holy Island with Merrick.
“I know.” He replied “It will be dangerous, we don’t know exactly what we will find, but we need to scavenge what we can now.”
“Who will be going?” Asked Rob, another local who had made it to the island.
“Depends who volunteers.” Said Merrick looking around the faces again “I can’t make any of you go, but this needs to be done now while we have land access too, I plan to have the truck standing by as back-up in case anything goes wrong in town.”
Everyone was quiet, thinking about what Merrick was asking, they all knew the dangers out there. With a sigh Chris stood up.
“I’ll go he said.” He said “Lynn should stay here.”
Lynn stood and was about to speak.
“No you stay here.” Said Chris quickly “You’ll be needed.”
Lynn nodded and sat down again. Bill stood and volunteered.
“Well there’s only the two of us who can sail that thing at all.” He said, looking down at Barry.
“Barry?” Asked Merrick.
“Fuck it.” He said standing “Why not.”
The others in the room stood too and Merrick breathed a sigh of relief, they could easily have all refused.
“Tom and Alice will stay on lookout.” Said Merrick “Jim and Sarah can go, I’ll be going too.”
Natalie, Merrick’s sister stepped forward “No I’ll go, you need to drive that truck.”
Merrick was torn between saying no and knowing that there was no real other option.
“Ok.” He nodded “But be careful. All of you be careful.”
After the others had left Merrick gave jobs to the remaining people.
“Dan, you and Peter finish loading supplies into the two boats we have ready, Rob you help and show them how to operate the boats. I want everything prepared for when we return, just in case. Lynn, and Bridget look after the castle and help with the packing.”
A harbour with a small jetty came into view as the boat sailed on, a few fires were burning, sending plumes of dark smoke into the sky, lazily pushed away by the breeze. Chris checked it with his binoculars. A few fishing boats were tied up there, the buildings nearby looked like warehouses or businesses, zombies in bright yellow waterproofs wandered around slowly, heads turning side to side as they looked for prey.
“I can see a few zombies, not too many but those buildings are blocking the view.” Said Chris as he concentrated on the small town “Could be hundreds more or none, no way to tell.”
“Only takes one to see us then we’d soon find out how many mate.” Said Barry watching the town.
Chris nodded “Too risky, we would be spotted before we even tied the boat up. Keep going.”
They sailed on for another hour, the sun rising and burning away a light mist which had been clinging to the shore. Continuing around the coast they spotted another small harbour, this one with only a few pleasure vessels tied up. The buildings looked more like homes and small businesses, scenic streets filled with cafes and shops. Chris watched as they got closer but saw no signs of movement.
“What do you think mate?” Asked Barry “Looks ok from here.”
Chris waited, checking the view but saw no immediate danger, he turned and nodded to Barry who turned the tiller, pointing the boat towards a decent sized jetty. Jim ducked at the last second, just avoiding a blow to the head from the swinging sail.
“A little warning next time Barry!” He said.
“Sorry mate.” Said Barry laughing “Was concentrating.”
A few laughs came from the others but they turned serious again as the boat gently bumped into the end of the jetty where Bill quickly jumped out, tying the front of the boat in place before catching another rope and swinging the boat around, to face back out to sea.
“Barry, you stay here.” Said Chris quietly “I want this boat ready to go immediately. If we come running don’t spare the fuel just get us out of here.”
Barry nodded and he helped the others to climb onto the jetty. They stopped and watched but no zombies came rushing out.
“Ok.” Said Chris “If we see any zombies put them down quick, hit them in the head before they can scream and attract others, if there are too many then run. Get back to the boat as fast as you can.”
Everyone nodded agreement and the group slowly walked down the jetty to the seaside town. A lot of places were closed, locked up due to the flu outbreak, no point in a tourist location being open without tourists. One or two cafes and gift shops had managed to stay open though, tables overlooking the seafront in place ready for the next paying customer. They crowded into a small gift shop, trinkets and souvenirs were placed neatly onto shelves, books and leaflets on local hotels and sight-seeing tours were everywhere. Natalie stuffed a couple of maps into her pocket then they left, moving quietly and constantly on the lookout for danger. Chris called a halt.
“Can you hear that?” He said.
The others listened, breaths held.
“Moaning.” Said Bill “But not nearby.”
Chris nodded and led them on, Jim bringing up the rear. Moving further down the line of buildings, they could see a small bakery, door open, swinging slightly in the breeze, an ‘open for business’ sign in the window. They all stopped at a wide path leading into town, bollards blocking it to traffic so pedestrians could stroll along safely, it looked empty.
“Bill.” Said Chris quietly “Check out that bakery, be careful.”
Bill nodded and went forward slowly, keeping low as he approached the shop, the smell of rotten food strong as he got close. Crouching ne
ar the window he heard what may have been a foot step and waited. A minute later he risked a look through the window and immediately ducked back down, crawling slowly backwards.
“No good.” He said shaking his head “Place smells rotten and I saw movement in there.”
“Ok.” Said Chris nodding “Let’s go up this side street.”
They wandered around a few streets, more gift shops and a few private homes, until they spotted a café with its tables out on the sidewalk, a large green awning above sheltering them from the sun. They saw nothing as they approached, all was quiet though the moaning in the distance did seem to be closer. A look inside the café showed it to be empty, some tables and chairs knocked over, old food and drink spilled onto the floor. They went inside, Sarah closing the entrance and keeping a lookout.
“Through there.” Said Chris pointing to a door behind the counter.
It led to the kitchen, some rotten food lay around but not too much and it seemed the owner, luckily for them, preferred the convenience of tinned or dried goods.
“Bingo!” Said Natalie “This will do for a start.”
“You and Bill start packing it up, I’ll check the rest of the building.” Said Chris.
There was a store room next to the kitchen, half of which was a cold store which was now filled with rotten meat and vegetables, opening the door a little convinced Chris not to look further as the smell almost made him choke. More goods were stored in the other half, tinned food, cleaning materials, racks filled with cups, plates and everything else a café needed. Chris ignored it, leaving it for the others to take and went through another door. It opened onto the bottom of some stairs and he headed up quietly, the stairs creaking slightly as he went. There were more doors at the top and trying one, he found a bedroom, not much of use. As he turned and left he came face to face with the owner. A large fat man with pale grey eyes and skin covered in black patches.