Plague Of The Revenants

by Chilvers, Edward

  Kit drove fast around the grounds, hitting as many of the revenants as she could and I could see now that she was the one in the frenzy. “Settle down,” I instructed her sharply. “We can’t afford to total this truck as well. The revenants will be through and over the original one in a moment.”

  Just then my eyes alighted upon a small truck with a large machine gun, a Gatling gun of some sort I supposed, mounted on the back of it. we both saw it at the same time. “We can’t pass it up,” I exclaimed breathlessly. “You saw the slave camp, they never had anything like that. Mount it in the right place and we can keep the bastards away until the bullets run out. With these guns we are an armed encampment, with that thing we’ll be a fort.”

  “Just make sure you get back as soon as you can,” instructed Kit.

  I leapt out of the truck whilst it was still moving, rolled and hurried over to the jeep. The keys, to my great relief, were still in the ignition and when I leapt inside it started straight away. I noted a good few boxes of ammunition in the back as well. I reversed the vehicle and drove slowly towards the gate, taking care not to damage the bodywork as I went for I imagined we would need this truck to last a long time. Kit waited just long enough to see that the van started okay. I watched as Kit nudged our original truck out of the way. The revenants came forward to meet her of course but this time she drove at a careful pace; not too fast to damage the vehicle but fast enough so as not to get caught in the crush. I waited a few moments until she was through then drove out to follow.

  I was thinking about the gun, wondering if I could work out how it worked, if there was a key or something like that, whether it was in working order. After all, it would have been out in the elements a long time without any maintenance. All these worries distracted me and meant I did not see the danger until it was too late. I was not thinking about the declining fuel. There was no question I would not get home on this. I needed to find diesel, and fast. I vaguely remembered this part of the world from looting. There was a village nearby and I recalled seeing a country petrol station just on the outskirts. I drove straight there and leapt out. I put my shoulder against the door and it opened in a moment then hurried inside searching for the keys to the pumps. I found them in a set of drawers which I was required to smash open. I found a can to the side and decided to take it with me, went outside and started filling up the jeep.

  The revenant leaped on to my back and it I hadn’t have been so tense after the confrontation at the army base I may not have reacted fast enough and it would have sunk its teeth into my neck. The thing made to clamp down its hungry jaws upon my flesh. I seized hold of the petrol nozzle and forced it into the thing’s open mouth and squeezed the handle. The revenant let forth with an obscene choking sound and the fuel trickled out of its mouth but otherwise it appeared to suffer no ill effects. I reached for the lighter in my pocket, lit it up and tossed it in the revenant’s direction, stepping back as I did so. The results were instantaneous and singed my eyebrows as the inferno erupted.

  I was feeling buoyed and confident although at the same time this was tempered by the loss of Paul. Still, there was no more meaningful cause he could have died for. I was around a mile from the church when I saw it. Kit’s truck lay in a ditch. I slowed the involuntarily and stared at the truck with wide eyes. My heart sank. I tried to look for signs as to where she had gone, anything at all. But there was nothing. There were no weapons. It was all gone, everything. I did not need to guess what had happened. I went to examine the ditch and saw the grass had been stamped down, spied empty gun cartridges. The metalwork was strafed with bullet holes. Of Kit there was no sign, although knowing her as I did I doubted she would have gone down without a fight. It was clear the Elite had waited for her along this road then ambushed her as she came past. The trail stopped there. I went back to the truck and put my head in my hands. Paul dead, Kit gone with all the weapons. I realised now we had played right into the hands of the Elite. We had done their work for them and now there would be no stopping them.

  I drove on towards the church and farmhouse. I already knew what I was going to find when I got there. There were revenants on the road leading up to the church, more than I had ever seen in this area before. They had not put up much of a fight and I understood why. Reverend Thorpe would have seen there was no chance against many trained men and would have surrendered straight away. The lock had been broken off the bar of the barn and all the revenants had been let out. At least there were no bodies that I recognised as belonging to our own, but then again neither were there the uniforms of the Elite amongst the undead who now wandered freely around the farmhouse and church. They had done it to destroy us, had purposely infested our hideout so that nobody could use it again, thus they eliminated all the safe havens and potential threats leaving survivors no choice except to come to them and volunteer themselves up as slaves. Everything we had worked for was gone, our people carried off into slavery. Survival of the fittest, Blake had called it. I expected he was laughing now. I was not prepared to live a nomadic existence and I was not prepared to desert my friends. I did not at that point believe I would succeed but at the very least I would try. I had nothing except the gun turret truck, a knife and the machine gun I had taken for myself at the army barracks. Would it be enough? It would have to be. Blake had thought of everything. There was just one flaw in his otherwise perfect plan: he still didn’t have me.

  Night had fallen when I approached the racetrack. This time I was determined not to make the same mistake as before. I killed the headlights and drove slowly along the road. If anybody saw me this time there were in for a big surprise. Even in so short a space of time events had been progressing. The cottage in which myself, Kit and Paul had sheltered in the other day had been completely dismantled. This time I did not see so many lights from moving vehicles. The search, after all, was over. As I drove I realised my judgement was being clouded with anger once more. My axe and shotgun were by my side along with a small number of grenades, and then of course there was the Gatling Gun in the back. I considered myself a veritable one man army.

  Close to the base I slowed down and flashed my lights. Revenants approached quickly but this time I did not try to run them down but instead encouraged them to follow me until a medium sized swarm had built up. Revenants came out of the trees. I slowed more and allowed them to follow behind the truck. There were not many at first but there were enough. I took care to drive around the revenants. I did not want to hit them head on but this was not only because I was afraid of damaging the truck. I stopped the truck in the middle of the road and killed the engine. In a moment the swarm had surrounded me. In time a lorry pulled up. I watched as the lorry backed up, but its engine had already attracted the attention of the revenants, who now turned towards it with interest. The lorry stopped a hundred yards back down the road and seven men got out, guns at the ready. They did not notice as I slipped out of the truck, being too preoccupied with the revenants. Shots rang out, there came a shout. There were more of them than they had been expecting. It was not quite a storm but would do well enough for my purpose. I slipped out of the truck and sneaked to the back, getting in and behind the machine gun which I had made ready before setting out. As far as they were concerned it was just another routine knot of revenants needing to be taken out. Parked just around the corner as I was the men of the Elite had no idea that I was there. As soon as the guards emerged I opened fire on them with the Gatling, cutting them down where they stood. Afterwards I leapt high through the air, landing gracefully on the road beyond and made a run for the back of the lorry. The back doors were already open. I hurried inside, making as much noise as I could, encouraging the revenants inside. I ran into the truck and banged on the metal walls, encouraging the revenants to follow me in, as if they needed any encouraging. Just as the first revenant made a lunge I moved. I timed it perfectly. Just as they were about to pounce I stretched out my arms and leapt up to grab on to the cross bars of the roof of the truck then
swung my legs up and latched on to the other bars so I was in a crawling position. The revenants reached their hands upwards but it was all they could do to brush against me. This done I proceeded to climb backwards from an upside down position. The revenants were packed in tightly and could not turn to follow me. I made it to the other side then jumped out and quickly slammed the doors to the truck closed. A few stragglers came to follow me. I seized up the hammer and made short work of their skulls.

  The soldier had been bitten, for I had not killed him cleanly with the Gatling gun. I reckoned by the size of the bite there were about five minutes until he turned. I dragged him up and into the vehicle, propped him into the driver’s seat and drove off. I waited several minutes, watching the soldier intently. In time I saw his fingers stir and his head slowly rise. He turned towards me and opened his demonic eyes. His jaws and entire body stretched out. His foot went down upon the accelerator. The truck slowly started to love forwards. In time it gathered speed and careered into the fence with a mighty crash, tearing the metal work from the frames with a noise that I was satisfied must have woken up the entire camp with it.

  The guards within the perimeter saw the truck at once and now opened fire upon it, not knowing they were just wasting their bullets. I made my way back to the jeep, jumped inside and drove through the hole in the fence, pulled up at a reasonable distance and returned to the gun at the back. The lorry had smashed against an outbuilding and now the revenants poured out to attack. Guards were running all over the place. I started up the Gatling gun and started contributing my own brand of chaos, offering them no mercy and enjoying the sight of the bullets ripping right through the so called Elite troops.

  For the time being the revenants contented themselves with feasting on the stricken Elite but I knew this could not last forever. I leapt from the truck and charged towards the slave quarters as the screams of the guards echoed all around. The other survivors were there. Dev and Hammond came forward to greet me. Of Kit, however, there was no sign.

  “The church and farmhouse is overrun,” I said, and then turning to Dev. “Take everyone back to that row of council houses e looted with Stan the other week. At least we know the place is clear even though it’s bound to be a tight fit.”

  “What about defending ourselves?” Asked Hammond

  “Here,” I said to Dev, thrusting the gun into his hands. “Take this in case you run into any trouble.” I turned to Hammond. “Are you okay to drive?”

  “No problem,” replied Hammond with a relieved smile.

  I turned to see more and more revenants, for so long pinned back, no swarming into the camp. “Quick!” I said urgently. “Grab what you can and get out of here.” I thrust my gun into Dev’s hands. “Here,” I said. “keep them at bay whilst the others raid supplies. We’re going to need them if we’re going to take all these people back.”

  “They came so quickly,” said Thorpe. “We had no chance to resist, there were so many of them. If we hadn’t surrendered we would never have…”

  “You did the right thing,” I said quickly, anxious not to be drawn into a long discussion when there was still work to be done.

  The other survivors came from all walks of life and as with our own group ranged from the very young to the very old. I was determined we would accommodate them all somehow as I followed them outside.

  “You mean to say you did all this yourself?” Asked Thorpe, stepping out and regarding the chaos in wonderment.

  “And a few uneasy allies,” I replied, nodding in the direction of the revenants. “And for that very reason we need to cut this short.”

  “What about you?” Asked Hammond

  “I’ll join you in a little bit,” I told him. “I have some unfinished business to attend to first.”

  “You’re pushing your luck, you know that, Grant?” Called Hammond after me, but he was only half serious.

  I grabbed up a machine gun from one of the dead guards and moved forwards quickly, firing with pinpoint accuracy, cutting down both revenant and soldier who crossed my path. I headed into the grandstand area and through the narrow corridor, a prisoner no more. There was only one man I was looking for. I turned and charged into the restaurant area, now a mess hall for the troops. He was there, of course he was. Our destinies were always bound to cross. I knew straight away that this was the endgame. Only one of us was going to be leaving this room alive. “Do you not regret anything?” I demanded as I smashed the axe through the head of a revenant. “Have you no shame for what you are doing?”

  “Shame?” Laughed Blake contemptuously. “But we dear Grant we are both of us psychopaths. The only difference is I know how to control my urges and better channel them to my own advantage. But I do have one big regret as it happens, Grant. I regret not taking you with me that day I took off from the football stadium. Why alone I was formidable but the two of us together could be unstoppable! What do you say, Grant? It is too late for this shithole of course but they’ll be other survivors out there needing guidance and leadership. Just think about it, Grant, we could remake the entire world in our own image. We could be as chieftains running our own empire!”

  I laughed bitterly. “You must be out of your fucking mind,” I told him contemptuously.

  “What a strange time you picked to grow a heart,” laughed Blake mockingly. “You mean to tell me you actually care for those losers? I tell you they’ve been holding you back, man. You should have come with me. You can still learn.”

  “I shall stop you,” I retorted.

  “You think this will stop me?” Blake laughed contemptuously. “Men like me cannot be stopped, Grant, not in this world.”

  The revenants stumbled through the wreckage towards us but I was only half paying them attention as I circled Blake. When a revenant got in my way I dealt with it quickly and cleanly. I was, after all, an instinctive killer.

  “It is appropriate, do you not think, that in the end it should come down to just you and I?” Sneered Blake. “I could do with a worthy opponent to test my mettle.”

  “You will find that in me,” I vowed.

  “We were born for this world you and I,” said Blake. “We were born to kill, you and I, born to take charge in a crisis; natural leaders, natural killers.”

  “You kept those people as slaves,” I retorted angrily.

  “Those people were better off as slaves,” spat Blake. “It was not as if we kept them in chains but rather we protected them from the revenants. We did not keep them in chains, did not even lock their doors at night. They were free to leave at any time.”

  “Free to leave and walk straight into the arms of the revenants,” I retorted angrily.

  “But of course,” purred Blake. “You join our club, you play by our rules so to speak.”

  “This is all nonsense,” I spat. “You don’t care about grand ideas or saving the world, you’re just in it for yourself, for your own power.”

  “Well of course,” replied Blake. “But then again so are all the survivors. You try to work as a team and you’ll soon end up either dead, a revenant or a slave as your motley little group of misfits have discovered.”

  I smashed the axe through the air, decapitating the revenant in a single blow. At that moment Blake turned and threw the cleaver at me. I ducked, but not in time. The blade sliced the side of my cheek and sent me tumbling back on to the floor. Blake now seized hold of his golf club and advanced upon me. I looked up. The severed head of the revenant had rolled under the table and now stared at me with bulging eyes, its teeth snapping furiously. I reached out my hands in a gesture of surrender. Blake threw back his head and laughed. “A bit late for pleading now, don’t you think, Grant?” He sneered. “Then again scum like you always try every trick in the book.” I reached under the table and seized hold of the revenant’s head by the hair then brought it forward quickly and threw it into Blake’s face. The snapping teeth latched on to his cheek straight away. Blake threw back his arms, dropping the golf club as he
did so and staggered away as a jet of blood shot from the side of his face. I leapt to my feet and prepared to set off in pursuit but at that moment the double doors to the mess room crashed open and a whole horde of revenants poured in. I turned back towards Blake. He was backed against the corner now and although he had managed to rip the revenant’s head away from him he was now left with a hideous gash that had torn away half his face all the way to the skull. Leastways he was no danger to me anymore. I decided to let him turn, for it was surely the least he deserved. Right now I had more pressing matters to be attending to.

  I seized up box after box, charging back and forth, dodging revenants as I went, determined to gather up as much as I could so that we would never be threatened again. Of Blake’s body there was no sign. Had he been devoured by the revenants already? We would come back later. There were revenants here but not too many. Come back another day with the Gatling gun and we could clean up. We were set for a long time now. If only I could find Kit.

  I got into the truck and drove off. A noise sounded on the top of the cab and I looked into the hellish, vengeful eyes of the newly revenant Blake. The revenant’s arms went straight to my throat and I found myself wondering in that instance whether the undead really did lose all memory, for the hatred in the revenant Blake’s eyes were as nothing I had ever seen before. Blake was dead and turned, of this there could be no doubt. What was left of his face now leered at me obscenely but all the same I was certain some dark corner of his brain knew who I was and as I vainly grappled with him in the smashed up truck by the side of the road I became convinced that same part of him regarded his death as some fiendish new opportunity. He was positively relishing his new powers. I felt his teeth upon my neck, starting to squeeze my flesh. So we were to die together, I thought to myself. At least I had taken him with me, although this was hardly a great deal of consolation. An explosion of blood suddenly hit me, full in the face. I assumed it was my own but then I realised there was pieces of brain and bone mixed in with the gore. Also, Blake had gone limp in my grip. I pushed hard. The warden’s headless body rolled off me. I got up gingerly, not even noticing the effluence all over my clothes. It was then I saw Kit, shotgun in her hands. I reached my hand to my neck and was amazed to realise my flesh was untorn.