George (Book 1): The Long Road Home

by Scarlet Le Clair

  We checked out all the cupboards with me opening the doors and Will standing behind me, gun at the ready. There was nothing but equipment in them. We checked all of the other exterior doors and found them safe and secure with push bars to open from the inside.

  Will gestured for Adam and Amelia to come in and close the door. “Upstairs next, I'll go first, then George, Amelia next and Adam on the rear again.” There was one set of stairs in the middle of the back wall and the fire pole at the far end in the corner of the room.

  We ascended the stairs slowly and quietly, listening for sounds of movement but all was silent. The stairs like the room downstairs were all steel grey.

  The door at the top of the stairs was already open, so when he reached the top Will just stuck his head in. “Seems to be a rec room,” he said, his voice was barely above a whisper.

  “Yes it's where they have breaks, and go to when they are on duty,” I replied. “There should be some sort of kitchen here too.” My brother in law was a fireman and we often took the kids to visit their uncle at work.

  “Yeah there is,” he said moving slowly into the room and doing a 360 turn. “There are also four other doors up here not including the roof access and door for the stairs. So far all seems quiet. There is some writing on the door over there though.” He nodded to a door out of our sight. “Everyone come in but leave that door open a moment just in case we need a quick exit.”

  We all joined him in the spacious room and looked around. All at once the smell hit us.

  “Eeewww, what is that smell?” Amelia asked.

  “That would be the smell of the dead I’m assuming. It seems like a dead, decaying, kind of smell don't you think?” Will asked.

  I looked around, there were two enormous windows that took up most of the opposite wall. In front of the right window were two big black leather sofas that sat opposite each other and looked extremely comfy. Behind them were two doors I assumed were the bedroom areas. Opposite them in the far left corner was the fire pole. The walls up here were all bare brick.

  To our right just as we entered the room was a small kitchen area with a black granite breakfast bar.

  “Which doors shall we check first?” I asked looking back and forth towards the two sets of doors. They were opposite each other, one to the left of us and the other set to the right of us. Both sets of doors were red with silver turn handles.

  “I don't like the look of this one,” Will said walking towards the door with writing on it. “Oh no, Adam, George come here either side of me ok? Amelia you stay where you are and get ready to run.” Will didn't seem like he was the type of guy who would panic but there certainly was an edge to his voice at that moment.

  As I came up behind Will I could read the writing, it said - ‘Do not enter, infected inside,’ it was scrawled across the door as if written in a hurry. The door handle was tied with string to the handle of the next door to prevent anything from opening it from the inside, a crude but effective method to the door to see if we could hear anything. The only thing I could hear was the beating of my own heart.

  “Do we open or keep it closed?” I asked.

  “I would rather clear it out, just so we can have peace of mind and feel safe staying here,” Amelia admitted.

  Will nodded. “Right let's untie the string, you three keep back, I'll throw open the door and you lot get ready to shoot, ok?”

  “Ok,” the three of us mumbled, knowing it needed to be done but not wanting to do it.

  He slowly untied the string from the other door handle but held onto it tightly. There was a muffled bang from behind the door. Myself, Adam and Amelia took a few steps back. Will seemed to be deep in thought.

  “Uh Will?” I asked starting to get a bit nervous. Another loud bang emanated from behind the door.

  “Before we open this one, let's check the one on the left, hopefully it's clear. Amelia can you hold this?” Will asked holding up the string. “Keep it tight, if anything pulls on the door handle give a shout but do not let go of that string. Boys, guns out,” he said looking from me to Adam and back.

  Amelia nodded nervously but took the string and held it tightly. Her hand was shaking and her knuckles were turning white from holding it so tight. It made sense, we knew there was something behind the door that was still being held by Amelia and the string, but we didn't know what was behind the door that he had just untied the string from.

  He stood to the side of the door, Adam and myself were positioned in front of the door, guns at the ready. I had barely used my gun and I was very nervous.

  Will looked at us and whispered, “1, 2, 3.” At the count of three he flung open the door and stuck his head inside. He moved in slowly looking behind the door first and then moving forward cautiously.

  Adam immediately moved to the opening of the door as back up and I stayed where I was. Partly because there was no more room by the door and partly because I was scared.

  Will made a gesture to Adam that I could not see very well, but Adam started to move towards Will and gestured to me over his shoulder to come closer.

  When I got to the door I could see the whole room. It was the toilet area. There were three shower cubicles on the right wall and opposite them on the left wall were four toilet cubicles, three wash basins were against the back wall. The walls were painted a pale blue and the floor had grey tiles. Will stood in front of the third cubicle at the far end of the row. He put his finger to his lips to indicate to us to be quiet, he pointed at the door and held up one, two, three fingers. On three he pushed open the door quickly and pointed his gun.

  “Nothing,” he said, relief showing all over his face, he started to laugh a crazy laugh that was so funny to see and hear that both myself and Adam started to laugh too.

  It felt good, none of us knew why we were laughing, we just were.

  Amelia forgetting why she was holding the string came to see what was going on and why we were laughing so hard. “What are you guys laughing at?” She had a confused smile on her face.

  “We don't really know,” Adam said in between breaths and laughing.

  She watched us for a few moments with an amused smile on her face. “Well I'm going to raid the kitchen.” She smiled at us and left the room. We started to follow her out slowly, still chuckling to ourselves, when she screamed. “Stay away from me!” she called out. “I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it.”

  The three of us ran out of the room, I was first, but in my rush to see what was going on I tripped over somebody's foot and landed hard on the floor. Slightly winded I rolled onto my back to apologize to the person I had fallen over, only to see said person falling on top of me. The man was wearing a firefighter uniform, a dark blue polo shirt and trousers. “Will, Adam, Zombie!” Amelia screamed.

  The zombie’s face was now very close to mine, I could hear the click clack of his teeth as his jaw moved up and down trying to bite me.

  “Ahhhh,” I called out, in my mind I was so scared I couldn’t form a word.

  The zombie’s right eye was hanging from the socket and it was dragging its way up and down my cheek. I felt so sick, I tried to get from underneath him.

  “Gee, try not to wriggle about so much, I'm trying to shoot the dude,” Adam called out.

  “Kinda hard not to move, when a zombie is trying to eat MY FACE!!” I shouted back.

  “Amelia come and hold this door closed,” Will called out. He had closed the door the zombie had come out of incase there were more. All this had happened in seconds but to me it felt like hours.

  Adam was still jumping from foot to foot trying to get a good aim at the zombie and my arms were aching really bad, I was losing strength.

  Out of the corner of my eye I could see Will walking quickly but calmly towards me, I instinctively closed my eyes. I heard a sickening thud as Will’s baseball bat connected with the side of the zombie’s head. The zombie rolled off me, it wasn't dead though, I could still hear it growling and moaning at us. My arms
dropped to my chest grateful to be free of the struggle. The blood spatter on my face felt cold and sticky rather than warm and I was thankful that I had closed my mouth tightly when I closed my eyes. I could hear Will breathing hard as he repeatedly hit the zombie in the head until it stopped moving. I still had not opened my eyes or moved from the spot where I had fallen and each time the bat connected with its head I felt a splatter of blood hit my face and neck.

  “Here you go, dude. Clean yourself up.”

  I jumped at the sound of Adam’s voice right next to me as I had not heard him walk up to me. He had handed me a damp towel and I wiped my face, ears and hands.

  “Thanks,” I said to him gratefully, I covered my face with the towel and sighed. The towel smelled damp and musky but it was a hundred times better than zombie blood and gore. I just wanted to get home to my wife and kids and for the tenth time today I contemplated just leaving and trying my luck at getting back to them on my own. But then I thought of Nia and all of the other prisoners back at Deacon's and I knew I had to try and help them. Distance wise, I was closer to the warehouse than I was to my home. I would give them until the next day and then I was leaving. Enough was enough, I had been without my family for too long.

  “George? You ok man? Did it bite you?” Will asked. He held his gun tightly, it was not aimed at me but he had it ready just in case.

  I shook my head no and attempted to get up. My arms and legs were so shaky I was having problems getting to my feet.

  Will held out a hand and pulled me up, then studied me. “You ok?” he said a look of genuine concern crossed his features.

  “Yeah just a bit shaky that's all.” I nodded my head, and moved to the kitchen counter to lean on.

  Amelia walked over to me with a small smile on her face and handed me a nutrition bar. “You look like shit George … eat this it will help to steady you.”

  As I ate the bar, Adam and Will checked out the other room. Amelia was holding my gun ready in case anything else managed to get by the two men and come running at us. I think it was just to make her feel safe. Adam came back through the door first and looked a little whiter than when he first went in, in fact he almost had a green tint to him.

  Will came out immediately after. “Adam help me move that body out this room, will you please? Then we will find some way of blocking off the door. George, could you see if there are any large rubbish bags in the kitchen cupboards? We need to bag up the bodies and move them outside,” Will asked.

  “Bodies??” I asked as I looked through the cupboards. I saw the black rubbish bags under the sink and pulled them out. Will explained to Amelia and I that in the room was another body but there was not much left of it. Most of it had been eaten, presumably by the guy who just tried to eat me. He said we should get rid of the bodies before they decayed any further. I ripped a few bags off and handed one each to Will and Adam and kept one for myself. Will and I went into the room and dragged the badly eaten body into my bag there was so little left of it that it fit in the bag by bending its legs behind it. I could not tell if the body had been male or female as the majority of it flesh was gone and there were no clothes on or near the body. This room was being used as a small gym area. There were two running machines, a cross trainer and two weight benches. The body was in the middle of the floor but there was blood and other bodily fluids everywhere, the smell was overpowering.

  Will started to drag the body in the bag out through the door and towards the fire door just as I started to throw up. Will chuckled at me and continued to drag the body towards the door. Once I had finished throwing up I joined the other three in the kitchen. Will and Adam were busy finishing putting the body of the zombie who attacked me into two black bags and Amelia was looking out of the large window. She kept off to the side just in case somebody or something was out there looking in. Will and Adam carried the body over to the fire escape and put it with the eaten body. I had not noticed the fire escape before now, it was right at the back of the room on the same side as the door to the stairs we had walked up earlier. There was a window to the right of the door that Adam was looking through now.

  “All clear,” he said walking to the door and pushing the emergency bar down to release the lock and opening the door. Will stuck his head out checking for any unseen enemies and when he could not see any he dragged the body to the small balcony and threw it over the edge. He then grabbed the other one and threw that over the edge too. “Both landed in the rubbish bin, so they will not be visible from the road should anyone come looking,” Will said looking from Adam to Amelia. To me he said, “We need to hurry and check these other rooms and the kitchen cupboards for supplies, especially cleaning ones for the floor in here, then get back to the warehouse.”

  I nodded my head and started to walk with him towards the doors on the other side.

  “I’ll check the kitchen for supplies,” Amelia said.

  “I’ll look for something to block off the gym door with,” Adam said.

  The two of us walked to the doors on the right hand side of the room and chose the left door first. Will opened the door with myself covering him. The room was quite bare, with only two sets of bunk beds, a wardrobe and a small waste bin in it. The walls were grey painted brick and bare. There was a small window at the back of the room which let in little light.

  “Clear,” Will called and walked over to the wardrobe. “Just extra bedding, towels and a few sets of clothes here.” He let me know.

  I turned and went back through the door and to the door on the right. This time I was first, I tried not to show my shaking hand as I turned the handle and flung the door open and … Nothing, the room was empty of bodies, living or otherwise. It was the chief’s office. There was a desk near the back wall on the right. Two comfy looking arm chairs were on the left and a large dead plant in the corner. There was a nice coffee table in front of the arm chairs. I walked in a bit further just so that I could see all angles of the room. “All clear in here,” I called out to Will.

  Adam walked in followed by Will. He sat in the desk chair whilst Will sat on the armchair to the left and I on the one to the right.

  “Jackpot,” Adam called out to us holding up a bottle of whiskey he had just found in one of the desk drawers. “Is it new?” Will asked. Adam nodded his head yes. “We will take that for Deacon,” Will said getting up and taking the whiskey out of Adams hands.

  Adam was not happy but I think he knew the more goodies we had to take back to Deacon the better mood he would be in, and just maybe he would not question us as much.

  We all went back into the main room and Amelia came to meet us to show us the supplies she and Adam had found.

  “I found a few tins of soup in the cupboard and some ‘bread in a tin’ whatever that is, and also a half-eaten jar of peanut butter. We will be fine,” Amelia told us smiling. Trying to be brave but the smile did not reach her eyes which showed fear. “Also Adam found a mop and some bleach so I'll start to clean up now.”

  She had taken off her dirty, ripped top and had replaced it with a thin, long sleeved, black top.

  “Thank you for lending me your jacket, you’d better have it back” she handed me back my jacket, which I put back on.

  “Yeah we really need to be getting back, we have been away too long as it is,” Will said to Adam. “You should have enough food and water to last a few days and hopefully we will be out of there and back to you with the others by the time you run out. Just keep your eyes and ears open and keep a low profile.”

  “It's…. Well I'm sure Adam can explain, Gee let's get going. Adam stay safe bud.” He grabbed Adam into a bear hug.

  “See you soon,” Adam said, his voice was thick with emotion but nothing showed on either face I'm assuming man code would not allow it.

  We walked back down the stairs. Closing the door at the top behind us.

  We moved slowly to the front door which had no windows. And then to the left where the garage doors were. There were two huge do
ors which were used to let the fire engines in and out. Each door had six small windows in it, two rows of three windows. Will looked out of the first door, and I went to the second door. I looked for any sign of movement, dead or alive. Seeing nothing around, not even a cat or a dog I turned to Will. “See anything?” I asked him.

  “Nope, everything's quiet, you?” he replied.

  “No not even a dog. Wonder where they’ve all gone to?” I asked myself more than him.

  Will walked back to the main door and opened it slowly, sunlight poured into the room. He took a step outside, gun in one hand and car keys in the other. He looked from side to side scanning every shadow and doorway of the stores opposite but couldn't see anything. I followed him out with my backpack on my one shoulder and slowly made my way to the car. Each step I got closer to the car and safety I imagined hordes of zombies running straight at us, but there was nothing, not a sound. I got into the passenger side of the car, Will was already in the driver’s seat and starting the engine.

  I locked my door, I don't know why, I just felt safer with the door locked. We travelled in silence for a while, scanning the surrounding areas. There were no zombies or animals or other humans that we could see. My mind kept returning to the gruesome bride from earlier.

  The town was completely deserted, like a ghost town.

  “Where are all the zombies? This is freaking me out, I'm not sure whether to be happy or worried about the lack of people, dead and alive,” I said looking at Will.

  “I was just thinking the same thing. We haven't even seen many dead bodies lying around, although there are many blood stains and signs of struggles.” Will nodded at a house we were passing. The front door was hanging on one hinge and had blood smeared all over it. The path leading up to the door had a reddish brown stain leading up to it and there was a car crashed into the post box outside. We drove on once again in silence both trying to figure out where all the zombies had gone.