by Smith, I. J
Gunshots were echoing as Jack and Frank stood shooting at the figures trying to slow them down. With the team now inside the shop, Jack looked up to the shop sign and noticed a metal shutter. “Frank up there!” Jack shouted, pointing at the metal shutter.
Looking up Frank also noticed the shutter, both ran to the doorway and reached up, grabbing the bottom of the shutter, with force they dragged it down shutting them all inside. The figures just walked into the shutter, banging and trying to find a way in.
Elle and Andrew lay Michael on a desk; they rushed round him trying to help. They pulled bandages from their kit and tried to push against his neck trying to stop the bleeding. Michael looked lifeless, he had no color in his face, and blood covered his uniform. Elle was trying hard to help, her eyes filled with tears and emotion over her face. Everyone stood looking as Elle tried her best to save her friend but it was too late.
She continued to try, shouting at Michael, Fight, damn you, fight,” she cried.
Jack walked over to her, “Elle,” he said gently. Jack put his arm around her shoulders as she cried.
“No, we have to help him,” she said.
“He’s gone,” Jack, told her.
She started to break down, Jack pulled her in close, and she threw her arms around him, burying her head into his chest as she cried.
As Jack and Elle stood holding each other, Frank looked over the shop, he could see it was a furniture shop. Tables, sofas, bookcases were all scattered around the shop. “Sara?” Josh asked.
Frank looked at Josh, “NO!” he simply replied. Josh turned and punched the wall; Bray fell back against the wall and dropped to the floor.
Elle had calmed down, she let go of Jack and smiled at him, “What the hell were those things?” She asked everyone.
Jack moved over to the front of the shop to look through the tiny holes in the shutter. “Cannibals!” Andrew shouted out, “They have to be cannibals, the virus must have made them crazy,” Andrew continued saying.
“WHAT!” Bray shouted out.
“CANNIBALS!” Josh shouted in a confused voice.
Frank stepped in, “Stop shouting, we do not know anything,” he told them. “Zombies,” a voice calmly said.
Everyone turned to the direction of the voice, looking at the front of the shop everyone knew it was Jack. “Come on be serious,” Frank, told him.
“Come on, zombies are not real, they are monsters in stories,” Andrew replied.
Jack turned to look at Andrew, “What else can they be?” he asked sarcastically. “They are probably just something that we have not thought of yet,” Josh spoke out in a scared voice.
“Frank shot that woman in the chest, I put one in her neck and she still kept coming, then I put one in her head and down she went,” Jack told them, while getting angry.
“Seriously Jack, stop it,” Frank told him. “Frank, her intestines were hanging by her fucking knees. So she is either a Zombie or she has taken dieting to a whole new level,” Jack replied in anger.
The room went quiet, Jack moved towards the team, “Come on we have all seen the film Night of the Living Dead, “Jack said jokingly, trying to make them calmer.
“So what do we do?” Elle asked. All the team looked at Frank, he looked uncomfortable, “Erm, I don’t know,” he replied.
Jack looked at him in anger. “We keep going; the plan is still the same. Get to the Doctor and wait for a ride out of here,” Jack told everyone.
“How are we going to find him with all those things out there?” Bray asked.
“He sent the signal, which means he is somewhere safe, we just have to get to him,” Jack replied. “That’s the plan,” Frank said aloud.
Jack was not impressed with Frank, “We need to move,” Jack told him. “There must be a back door out of this place,” Jack continued. Everyone began to steady their nerves and check their weapons. Andrew moved over to Michael’s lifeless body to get his gun he leant against the wall. Andrew stood over the body feeling guilty for not being able to help his friend; he leant down to pick up his bag.
A groaning noise echoed in the room, Andrew looked up as Michael’s eyes opened slowly; his eyes were all misty and bloodshot. “Michael,” Andrew spoke. Everyone in the room turned to see what was happening.
Andrew dropped his bag and moved closer to Michael, “HE’S NOT DEAD!” he shouted out. Andrew started to touch Michael.
“NO!” Jack shouted
. Andrew turned his head to look at what Jack was shouting at, with that Michael lunged at Andrew sinking his teeth into Andrews face. Michael sunk in his teeth and ripped a chunk of flesh from Andrews face; Andrew stood and turned to the group screaming in pain and blood spraying out. Looking at Andrew, his upper lip and most of his nose had been ripped from his face. Blood gushed down Andrews’s front.
“SHIT!” Josh shouted out.
Jack raised his gun, looking at Michael, who was now sitting up and started to stand up, within seconds a bullet shot through his head, Michael slumped backwards. Andrew fell to his knees screaming in pain. Elle started to rush to him, but Frank pulled her back.
“We have to help him,” she screamed. Josh and Bray just stood glued to the spot they looked at Elle. Frank held Elle back; she screamed again, “We have to help him!”
Then a shot sounded out, Andrew still on his knees fell back, the bullet hit Andrew in the head and the back of his head exploded sending blood and brain matter flying across the room. The room went silent as Josh, Bray, Elle and Frank all looked at Jack. He was standing with his gun held up pointed at Andrew.
Jack lowered his gun and looked back to the team, “Hesitate, you die,” he said in a cold manner.
“You... You. Killed him,” Elle stuttered.
“He was dead the moment that thing took a bite out of him,” he replied.
“You cannot know that, he may have been OK,” Elle replied. “Michael was bitten and he turned into a Zombie, Andrew was bitten and would have also turned into a Zombie,” Jack shouted.
Frank let go of Elle, “He’s right,” Frank told everyone.
The banging from outside got louder, Josh moved towards the front of the shop, “There are more of them now,” he told everyone while looking through the shutter.
“OK, we need to move,” Jack, told all of them. “Bray, with me,” he told Bray while walking to the back of the shop.
On the back wall, there was a fire exit. “Come on,” Frank told Josh and Elle.
They both started to follow Frank to the back of the shop to join Jack and Bray, but took one last look at their two dead friends. “I am going to open this slowly and I will go first, turn the safety of your weapons,” Jack told them.
Just as Jack was about to open the fire exit, Frank grabbed his arm. “I should go first, I am in command,” Frank told him.
“Frank, I’m good,” Jack reassured him. Jack pushed the bar; unlocking the door, the door opened and Jack crept out slowly with his weapon raised.
Emerging from the door, Jack stepped into the darkness. Looking around as he stepped out into a car park, the car park was not empty. Trucks and cars were scattered all round as Jack continued to move forward quickly followed by the rest of the team. The darkness was against them, restricting their view. Frank moved to join Jack at the front, “Anything,” he whispered.
A crash echoed from behind them, Bray turned with his gun ready. The fire exit door had slammed shut behind them. “SHIT!” Josh shouted.
Jack and Frank turned to see Josh about to fire his gun, approaching them from the right was a group of zombies. “Run, “Jack told them. “We should fight,” Josh replied.
“We don’t have the ammo or the numbers to fight them off, now move,” Jack told him.
Elle grabbed Josh by the arm, “We have to run,” she told him.
The team started to run from the zombies approaching them. Running between the cars, they reached the edge of the car park. Jumping over a small fence, they found themselves on a
road. At the far side of the road more zombies were coming, the team changed direction and carried on running. They approached a turn in the road, in front of them two zombies came into sight; Elle raised her gun and opened fire. She shot one straight in the head with her first shot. Before she took a second shot, another Zombie appeared from behind a parked truck. Catching her off guard the Zombie was about to get hold of her, when Jack appeared from behind Elle, he shot the Zombie directly in the head. Elle was shocked, but only for a moment, she quickly raised her gun and took her second shot at the third Zombie shooting in the head.
Josh, Bray, and Frank caught up Jack and Elle, “There is too many, everywhere we turn there is just more,” Bray told everyone in a panic.
Frank looked at their surroundings, “There,” he pointed to an old building surrounded by scaffolding.
“Do you think these things can climb?” Bray asked.
“Not faster than us,” Josh replied while starting to run towards the building.
As they reached the building, Jack turned, “OK, everyone up, I will cover you,” he told them.
Jack took a knee and held his weapon up, from the darkness more and more zombies emerged. Jack started to lay down cover fire. Elle started the climb with Josh quickly behind her. Jack was shooting ahead not seeing what was approaching from his side. Bray was starting his climb when he looked to the side and noticed a Zombie almost at Jack’s position.
“JACK!” he shouted.
Elle looked down to see the same Zombie, she also shouted, “JACK!”
Before Jack could turn Frank came running in, holding his gun high, shooting the Zombie.
Jack turned in shock, “Time to move,” Frank told him. Frank held out his hand to help Jack to his feet. “Thanks,” Jack said to him. They both ran to the scaffolding looking up as they climbed, they could see the others had already made it to the top. Climbing up, Jack looked down to see the zombies gathering with their arms raised.
“Finally some luck, they can’t climb,” Jack laughed. Frank also started to laugh a little. Reaching the top, Bray and Josh were ready to help them over the last bar.
Now safely on the roof, they looked around, making sure nothing was on the roof with them. Jack stayed by the edge and pulled his water canteen out, taking a long drink; he noticed a small hut in the middle of the roof. Elle walked back to Jack, “You OK?” she asked.
“Not really,” he replied, feeling the guilt of killing two of his friends.
“You did the right thing, “she told him. Jack looked into her dark eyes, as she continued to speak, “You saved us, you kept calm when we panicked, you were the one strong enough to do what had to be done,” she told him affection.
Jack looked uncomfortable, “I didn’t want to shoot our own people, but… just but!” he sighed.
Elle moved in and kissed Jack on the cheek, “Thank you,” she told him. “Don’t thank me for that, please,” he replied to her.
Elle smiled and took his canteen of water, “Do you mind?” she asked. Before he could answer, she had already taken a drink. Jack smiled at her.
“OVER HERE!” Frank shouted.
Everyone approached Frank, who was standing by the hut door. “What is it?” Jack asked.
“In there, I heard something,” he replied. All of them stood in front of this small brick building, looking at it they could see it was a storage shed.
“Are you sure?” Josh asked. A small creek came from the door; all the team raised their weapons. Jack pointed to Josh and Bray to move to the side of the door, he then pointed Elle to cover them while he and Frank was to open the door.
Frank stood to the side and grabbed the door handle. Frank stood still and mouthed the words, one… two… three, quickly opening the door a small figure rushed at them. The figure ran into Elle, taking her off balance the dark figure swung a metal pipe at her, catching her ankle as she tried to drag herself away. Jack rushed and grabbed the small figure, grabbing the metal bar from its hand.
“Don’t hurt me please,” a young female voice shouted. Jack held the figure while removing the hood that covered its head. Jack was shocked. He had uncovered a child, a young girl no more than thirteen maybe fourteen.
A second figure emerged from the storage shed, “Please, she didn’t mean to, please do not hurt her,” a young male voice screamed. Looking over to the second voice, a young boy stood there looking even younger than the girl did.
CHAPTER THREE
SURVIVORS
The sound of the zombies groaning and banging against the scaffolding echoed in the night, the team on the roof stood in shock at finding two kids. Jack still had a grip on the girl who attacked Elle, the boy stood in the doorway of the storage shed. Bray lowered his gun and walked towards the boy, but he backed off deeper into the shed.
“Please, leave him alone,” the girl, shouted while trying to struggle away from Jack.
Frank stepped forward, “It’s OK, we’re not going to hurt you,” he reassured the kids.
Jack let go of the girl and she ran to the boy, Jack turned to help Elle back to her feet. “You alright,” he asked her while helping her.
“Fine, just a bump,” she replied to him, smiling. They both turned their attention back to the kids.
“What are your names?” Frank asked.
The girl looked scared, but eventually she answered, “I’m Clare and this is Joe my brother,” she replied sounding scared.
“Hi, I’m Frank,” he replied her in a soft voice. Frank then started to point out and introduce the rest of the team, “The man next to you is Bray, the man by the wall is Josh, and they are Jack and Elle,” he told them.
Joe was hiding behind his sister, “We don’t have any food you can steal,” Clare suddenly said.
Bray looked disgusted, thinking of these kids scared of them and thinking he would hurt them. “Are you hungry?” Bray asked them. Clare looked and just nodded yes. Jack moved towards them and knelt down; he looked at the girl in front of him. She was covered in dirt and her blonde hair looked brown with all the dirt in it, he then glanced at Joe, no older than eleven, his clothes were just rags and his hair overgrown and black, they both looked starving.
Taking two bars of chocolate from his survival vest he offered them to Clare, “It’s not a trick you can have it,” he told them. Clare looked at Jack, she was frightened to take the chocolate, she tried to move but was just too scared, “Tell you what, how about I just leave it here on the floor for you and I will move away.”
Clare gave a small smile and with that, Jack put down the chocolate, got back to his feet, and backed off. Clare looked and then grabbed the chocolate, she gave a bar to Joe, and together they shoved the chocolate in their mouths.
“Looks like they haven’t eaten in a while,” Elle whispered to Jack.
“I can’t believe there are survivors here,” he said to Elle. Bray took out his water canteen and offered to the kids, they hesitated for a moment but took the water.
They drank it so fast, their mouths filled up and the water started to spill out, Bray just smiled at what he was seeing.
“Where are your parents?” Frank asked, deep down already knowing the tragic answer.
“Monsters…. They became… monsters,” Joe shouted out. “SSHHH...” Clare reacted.
“They will hear us,” she continued.
“Who will hear you?” Bray asked.
Clare looked at them, “The monsters, if you make noise, they will come for you,” Clare replied.
“How long have you been here?” Frank asked.
Clare still scared replied, “Three days.”
Frank looked back to Jack looking shocked, “How did you get here?” Jack asked them.
“We were looking for food and couldn’t return to the others when the monsters came after us, we climbed up here and hid,” Clare told Jack.
“OTHERS!” Josh shouted. Clare jumped in fear hearing Josh shout at her. Bray looked at Josh in anger.
“
Shut up,” he told him.
“Frank! We need to talk in private,” Jack said.
Frank agreed with a nod of the head, “Bray, look after them,” Frank told him. He walked over towards Jack and they both walked over to the other side of the roof.
Frank walked to the edge of the building and looked down; the groaning from the dead was louder, the creaking of the scaffolding made him wonder how much longer it would stand under the pressure of the army of dead. Looking at the rotting, living corpses made him sick to the stomach. “How did it come to this,” he muttered under his breath.
Jack stood beside him, “There is something I need to ask you, and I need you to be honest with me,” Jack told him.
Frank looked at him, “Go ahead,” he replied angrily.
Jack backed away from the edge, he sighed under his breath as if he was struggling with the question, “As Corporal, you would have been supplied all information for the mission. Frank, did you know there were survivors here?” he asked.
Franks face erupted in anger. “Fuck you Jack!” he snapped in reply. Jack stood his ground. “You think I would have brought us here if I knew, we lost people,” Frank said in anger. Frank started to walk away, but turned back and walked straight up to Jack, he pointed his finger at Jack’s face. “What about you?” he asked.
“What about me,” Jack replied calmly.
“Come on, you’re the one with the secret past Jack, you looked nice and cozy with Captain Jenkins. What exactly did she want to talk to you about in secret Jack after the mission briefing?” Frank asked him.
Jack laughed, “You don’t want to know,” Jack replied to him. Frank took a step back. “If I knew there were survivors and there were fucking zombies you think I would have let the team come?” Jack asked.
Frank looked at him in the eyes, “I know, sorry Jack, I know you would not have come here,” Frank said in an apologetic voice.
“I would still have come,” Jack responded.
Frank could not believe what he just heard, “You would have too, wouldn’t you?” Frank asked him.