Lord of the Zombies: Apocalypse (Lord of the Zombies Zombilogy Book 1)

by Parker, Des

  “Christ!” Simon screamed as the projectile missed him by inches, taking out a chunk of mountain behind him.

  Nick smiled, a wide grin, tinged with malice and just a little drool.

  “Sorry, just getting sighted-in. Do you want to surrender now, or once I’ve trashed the place?”

  Simon lolled his head, stuck his tongue over his lips to think, and shot back into the cave at a gallop. “Later,” he yelled as he disappeared.

  Dick watched him disappear inside the cave and cursed, “Fuck. I wish he’d tell us when he’s gonna do that.” He and Caroline bolted after Simon at full pace.

  Nick smiled widely; “Charge!” he yelled as he reloaded the rocket launcher.

  The remaining zombies around him surged forward, dragging Albert and Hettie along with them into the dark mouth of the cave.

  Nick came charging up the rear, the rocket launcher on his shoulder, victory within his grasp, as two zombies followed behind him carrying spare rockets in a long metal box.

  High above, closing rapidly on the cave, the vampire bats dived. Bob was leading, but Leticia was coming up fast from behind, like a kind of psychotic freight train. Bob glanced back and saw that look in her eyes.

  Even in her bat form, her eyes burned with unnatural hate. She had seen Caroline below and revenge was the only thing on her mind. Bob sideslipped to let her pass. There was no way in hell he was getting in the way of that.

  His two male compatriots escorted her, one on either side, and even though they were both much younger than Bob, they were still having trouble keeping up with Leticia. They were just in it for the fun and for a bite to eat; she was in it for the kill.

  They flew like nightmare black, three whispers of undulating darkness sweeping down from the sky, a silken cloak of impending death, nothing could stop them.

  Bob allowed himself to feel the exhilaration of flight as he dived. So intent was he on the thrill of it all, he did not see the white blur sweep out from the cave until it tore through one of Leticia’s wingmen, who vanished in a puff of black leathery smoke.

  Confusion swept through the coven. They were under attack. This wasn’t part of the plan.

  Aldaire and Leticia split and banked in opposite directions, their eyes wheeling around, searching for the threat as they spun around the sky, trying to stay out of the reach of whatever it was.

  The threat quacked menacingly and pivoted in mid-air, tearing back down towards them with feathered fury.

  The sisters were next.

  The blur was much faster and gained on them rapidly. They frantically changed direction, but the blur kept coming, chasing them up and down the sky. They wheeled and dived as it pursued them relentlessly, and then, they were gone in an explosion of black leather and screeches.

  Aldaire was panicking now. He was the youngest and always thought himself the cleverest. He was just not that clever at paying attention to his surrounds and ploughed head first into the dirt, knocking himself unconscious.

  Bob struggled frantically for altitude and thought he was clear, before he suddenly felt the whoosh of wind as the blur passed close by him, at what seemed like supersonic-speed. It threw him into a spin. He heard a faint quack and was hit from above by the pressure wave, knocking the wind out of him. He plummeted, landing in a heap on a heather-strewn rock and gave up the fight; no meal was worth this.

  Leticia was much smarter and more focused; she had a mission. No duck was going bring her down. She tore high into the sky. She could see the duck turn below her then rise toward her like some vengeful monster from the deep.

  Just as Mr Percival closed for the fatal strike, she turned back into human form and dropped like a stone. Mr Percival missed and gave up on her, thinking she was finished.

  Satisfied with his work, he spied a tightly bunched pack of zombies below and with a minor adjustment of his trajectory, dropped on them like death.

  Leticia was spinning over and over in the air as she plummeted, watching the battlefield wheel below with barely-disguised contempt. There was no panic in her thoughts, only a burning desire to destroy Caroline for humiliating her at the Manor.

  The ground was rapidly approaching; she only had a precious few seconds. She took one last look to make sure the duck had given up and, at the last possible moment, turned back into a bat, sweeping clear of the ground with barely inches to spare.

  She did not look back for her coven, they were finished and she didn’t need them anymore. She had her mission and nothing would sway her. She turned her dark eyes towards the cave and punched her speed to full military power, which, for a small bat, probably didn’t look all that impressive.

  Chapter 35

  The Last Redoubt

  Scott was busy in the control chamber when he heard a knock on the door over the open intercom speaker. He left Yonny, adjusting the flow regulators, trotted back down a short corridor and re-entered the main lab.

  The knocking was a little more frantic than he expected and he hurried over to open the outer door.

  Simon, Caroline and Dick tumbled through and, before he could close the door, a wall of zombies followed.

  “Oh hell, I only just cleaned up.” Scott murmured with annoyance as a zombie bounced off him and smashed into the planning table splitting into two unrelated chunks.

  Simon grabbed him by the arms. “We have to go deeper inside the complex. The zombies are coming.”

  “You were supposed to keep them outside.” Scott said as three zombies hurtled away from them and disappeared behind a desk with a snap.

  “That was never the plan.” Dick replied as he opened up with his gun and promptly ran out of bullets as zombies frantically grabbed at his clothes.

  “Oh, Fuck – that’s just a bitch. Now I have to do it the old way.” Dick yelled as he inserted the gun in a zombie and left it there.

  He punched another one in the face, got his hand stuck inside its head, which disconnected from the body, then swung the head around wildly to clock three more as the head growled at him with annoyance.

  Caroline weaved low and dropped three with her chair before she and Dick started backing towards another corridor off to the left, fighting off the zombies in front of them before Dick ripped the head off his hand and drop-kicked it through the face of another zombie.

  A look of alarm swept over Scott’s face as he ignored the zombies bouncing off him.

  “No, don’t take them that way. That leads to the library, I’ve got some really nice books in there -”

  He protested as loud as he could, but the roar of the outer door blasting off its hinges drowned him out. “Oh Fuck – what the hell is that?” He spluttered from the floor where the blast wave had flattened him.

  “That will be Nick,” Simon answered, picking himself off the floor. “He seems to have gotten himself a rocket launcher.”

  “Great.” Scott muttered. “Well I’m not cleaning up this mess.”

  Simon dragged him to his feet. “We have to go now. Unless you want a fucking big hole in your cardigan.”

  They set off at a run down the corridor towards the chamber.

  Outside the shattered door, Nick smiled smugly and turned to reload. Just ahead of him, Albert and Hettie were being herded by the remaining mob through the smoking ruins of the doorway.

  The two zombies carrying the long ammunition box gave Nick a fresh rocket and closed the box. Nick reloaded the rocket launcher and turned back to see one of his weapons-loaders suddenly vanish from view around a small side corridor.

  The weapons-loader staggered back into view, swayed a little, fell against the wall, and a small goat gnawed its way out of his chest.

  “Oh fuck.” Nick whispered as two more goats emerged from a side corridor and stared at him with expressions that were decidedly unfriendly. Nick hoisted the rocket launcher over his shoulder and started running towards the shattered door as the goats tore into the other zombie weapon-loader.

  The dust cleared in the main lab and Caroli
ne and Dick shambled to their feet, their clothes tattered by the blast wave and flying debris. Dick coughed and his mohair underpants slowly split in half and fell to the floor, disintegrating as they landed.

  “Oh No.” He whispered.

  Caroline looked at him and shrugged. “What’s the problem, you’ve got a second pair underneath.”

  Dick turned to her, his expression grave, his skin pale. “I took the second pair off last night. I thought I’d go commando for a while. I just like the feel of the wind beneath my wings.”

  Two zombies climbed to their feet and grinned.

  “Oh you Dick.” Caroline spat as she hurled the zombies away.

  “Move!” She screamed as she pushed Dick down the corridor towards the library, just as a small vampire bat wheeled in through the shattered door, passed over Nick’s head, and made a beeline after them.

  The other remaining zombies stumbled to their feet and Nick smashed the nearest one with the butt of his rocket launcher, the unfortunate decoy falling right in front of the goats as they gnawed their way into the shattered lab. The zombie groaned and the goats tore into him.

  “Get moving.” Nick yelled at the two zombies ahead of him, pushing Albert and Hettie forward with his rocket launcher and forcing them along the corridor where Simon and Scott had disappeared. Behind them, the goats decimated the remains of his undead horde.

  A few zombie stragglers set off after Nick. He had led them this far, surely he would not abandon them now. They really didn’t know him that well, and they were mown down by the pursuing goats, their exploding bodies completely ignored by their fleeing leader.

  Simon came to a large electronically controlled door. The door was open, there was a large room beyond and he could see some kind of large, hollow chamber in the corner. The chamber was made of strong bronze coloured metal plating with small portholes around the central hemisphere, and in the central face, was a large, heavy door. It was big enough for two people to work comfortably inside and reminded him of a spherical diving bell. Yonny was whistling to himself and he tweaked some knobs on a nearby console to the left, facing the chamber.

  Scott grabbed Simon and spun him round. “This is the last place we want the zombies. This is it. This is the heart of our work. They mustn’t get through.”

  Simon eyeballed Scott. He could hear the approaching footsteps. He knew Nick was coming. He made a decision. “Alright – I’ll hold them off. Lock the door.”

  “No – we need you to be the -.” Scott said, panic rising in his voice but Simon interrupted him.

  “You need me outside this door. Now get inside and lock the door behind you,” he said as he bundled Scott inside the room.

  “The door doesn’t lock.”

  “What do you mean the door doesn’t lock?”

  “Well, we only had one locked door and he blew it up.”

  Simon bit his lip. “Well, bar the door with something.”

  Scott brightened up, “Yes – there may be a broom in the tea room.”

  Simon looked into the large room with an expression of disbelief. “You have a tearoom in there?”

  “We spend a lot of time in there. Lots of late nights. We need the caffeine.”

  Simon shook his head. “Fine. I’ll have white with two sugars. I’ll be back in just a minute.”

  “Um Okay,” Scott said as he closed the door, just as the first zombies came into view.

  Simon stood his ground as the zombies arrived.

  Nick saw Simon and briefly forgot about the pursuing goats. Albert and Hettie were standing beside him, expressions of fear etched on their faces. Nick ignored them completely and raised the rocket launcher, his last rocket pointing directly at Simon’s head.

  “If I can’t have you alive, I’ll pick up the pieces and stick them in a doggie bag for later.”

  “Have you got a doggie bag?” Simon asked nonchalantly, not moving, not wavering.

  “Well fuck no – of course not. It’s just an expression.” Nick spluttered.

  “Well, why say it in the first place.” Simon replied, playing for time.

  “Because I’m fucking Lord of the Zombies and I can fucking say what I fucking like.”

  “And how’s that working out for you?” Simon asked, knowing what had happened to Nick’s army.

  “All right, so it’s not a fool proof plan. Needs a bit of work, I’ll admit – but hey, I’m here, you’re here, and I have a rocket launcher, so I’d say, on balance, I’m winning and you’re about to be a sandwich.” Nick’s lips curled up and he drooled.

  There was a patter of hoofs behind.

  Simon smiled. “Are you sure about that?”

  “What – Oh fuck.” Nick turned, lowered the rocket launcher, and used it to shove Hettie in the path of the goats, swinging the business end back towards Simon and reaching for the trigger.

  Hettie screamed. Albert let out a harrowing moan. In his anguish, he moved towards her, but Nick blocked his path. Albert’s rage exploded and he grabbed the barrel of Nick’s rocket launcher, swinging it back around towards the goats.

  Nick wrestled with him as the barrel turned high as Nick screamed when the rocket launcher went off, well, like a rocket launcher, the rocket slamming into the roof above.

  Nick slipped and fell in a heap as the ceiling came down around them. In the explosion of metal, plaster, and cable, Hettie threw herself forward, the goats missing her by a heartbeat, as all hell broke loose.

  A few seconds passed and the dust cloud lifted. Nick was flat on the ground, completely disarmed and barely conscious. The goats had been thrown a few feet down the corridor and staggered to their feet, unharmed, their eyes fixed on Albert as they slowly recovered their composure.

  Hettie sat up, turned her eyes towards Albert and screamed.

  She could see he was trapped. Wiring and cables from the ceiling had wrapped about him, holding him stuck against the far wall of the corridor as the angry, groggy goats slowly closed on him.

  Albert smiled weakly and looked over at Hettie, a smile of relief on his zombie face. She had been flung forward and he could see she was now safe behind Simon, protected from the goats.

  Hettie wailed aloud and, for the first time since the apocalypse began, Simon could see a remnant of humanity in these two remaining zombies. He staggered over to Albert and tried to free him but, without success, as the relentless goats closed in slowly for the kill.

  Albert gazed into Simon’s eyes, a single tear running down his cheek; Simon sensed the zombie’s resignation and acceptance of its fate.

  The goats were almost upon them now. Simon knew it was over for the zombie and, out of instinct and concern for a fellow creature, he did the only thing he could do to save Albert.

  He ripped off his cardigan and threw it over the goats, blocking their view.

  They sprinted forward and butted the wall instead of Albert, knocking themselves senseless in the process.

  Now Simon was completely defenceless, his face barely an inch from a zombie.

  Albert smiled, a half smile, a crooked smile, with far too many teeth and Simon thought for a moment he had fatally miscalculated. He had lowered his only defence because he thought he saw a benign intelligence behind those teeth.

  Albert raised his arms to Simon’s shoulders and pushed him back from the teeth, then started working on the cables again.

  Simon’s momentary alarm subsided, and with the two of them working in concert, Albert was finally free.

  Albert walked slowly over to Hettie, pulled her to her feet before putting his arm around her.

  They started to leave, but stopped briefly beside Simon and smiled, then disappeared back up the corridor.

  Simon didn’t know where they would go, or even if they would get out of the base alive, let alone the valley, but he suspected there was a lot more intelligence behind those zombie eyes than anyone realised, so he was reasonably sure they’d be fine.

  He shook his head, picked his cardigan off th
e goats, and put it back on.

  He looked benignly down at the goats who were just recovering from their momentary concussion.

  He smiled at them and they head-butted him in the balls.

  He fell down in a heap and landed on a groggy Nick, who hadn’t realised how close he’d been to a temporarily disarmed Simon.

  The cardigan-enhanced impact of Simon landing on him slammed Nick against the chamber door and knocked him out cold.

  In another part of the complex, Caroline and Dick were sprinting through the half-light. There was a leathery sound closing in on them.

  They came to a small door at the end of the corridor.

  Caroline shoved Dick ahead of her and they found themselves in a small, tastefully appointed library. It was quite a comfy room; wooden bookcases lined the walls and standing wooden lamps snuggled up to two large armchairs.

  In a corner, two smaller wooden chairs sat on either side of a games table with a lovely wooden chess set on top.

  The room was lovely, sweet, and cosy and also a dead-end.

  Caroline turned back towards the door and a black shadow blocked her way, uncoiling itself into the red dress, jet-black hair, and dark eyes of Leticia.

  “Shit,” Caroline whispered, putting herself between Dick and the vampire.

  “Oh Hi,” Dick said, with a goofy grin, not quite realising the danger of his situation.

  Leticia smiled, a snake-eyed smile, a vicious smile, a smile suggesting it wasn’t a smile at all. “How fitting that our final meeting should happen in a library.”

  Caroline sneered, “Why, are you thinking of reading a few lines before I splat you against the wall?”

  Leticia tilted her head and ran a finger sensually through her hair. Her eyes flashed at Dick and he felt his willpower waver. She was inside his head and it was nothing like their last meeting. This time, he could feel bits of him wanting to move towards her, to be part of her.

  Leticia’s liquid gaze passed over his entire body and her eyes lit up as her gaze passed down his torso. She noticed he was no longer packing anything, apart from his usual tackle, and specifically nothing made from mohair. She smiled wider, her fangs showing then she locked eyes on Caroline.