Zombie Dawn: Outbreak

by Thomas, Nick S.

  “That was fucking cool, mate,” shouted Barry.

  “I’m starting to like this day,” replied Dave.

  “Time to go,” said Barry.

  “To the Batmobile!” shouted James.

  The three men were walking out of the room and into the corridor, but immediately stopped when they saw Sarah. She simply stood there, head down and motionless. She did however block the way to the stairs. The three slowly moved closer towards here, with no response. Finally in reach, Dave prodded her with the golf club, but still no response so he prodded harder.

  “Are you ok?” he asked.

  Sarah’s head shot up to look at the three, her eyes were frenzied, her skin mottled and wrinkled, congealed blood decorated her face.

  “Shit!” shouted Barry.

  James stepped forward, formed a type of martial arts guard, snap kicked to her stomach, making her keel forwards, then side kicked to her face sending her tumbling onto her back, but she simply got back up and drove forwards.

  “What the fuck mate, no time for kung fu, let’s kill this bitch,” said Dave

  Dave quickly lifted up the golf club and brought it down on to Sarah’s head, but she’d lurched towards them and the club hit her with the shaft, causing it to snap in half. The golf head flew across the corridor, Dave was left holding just twenty inches of the shaft. Looking up at what he had left, it had gone quite sharp when it snapped. He changed his grip and drove the golf club into her head, but missed the eye socket as intended, driving right through her cheek and into the mouth. She still kept shambling towards the three friends.

  “Mmm, fuck, shit, balls, uh, take both her arms and hold her down!” shouted Dave.

  The three men were backing up at the same speed Sarah was shambling towards them. Barry and James looked at each other with amazement.

  “Are you mental, mate?” said Barry.

  “Stop fucking around and do it, now!” shouted Dave.

  “Alright, alright,” said James.

  “And make sure you keep pressure on her arms to stop that jaw getting near any of us,” said Dave.

  The two started going forward and both grabbed at the arms, pulling her onto her back on the blood stained floor. She desperately fought to break free, but couldn’t do so. Dave walked up and stood over her body, putting both hands on the golf club handle protruding from her cheek, he wrenched it from the wound. Aligning the gore covered club handle over Sarah’s right eye, he shot it through the socket, driving down to the floor. Her body went instantly lifeless, blood dribbling out around the imbedded shaft.

  “What a shame,” said Barry.

  “What?” asked Dave.

  “Well she was the hottest chick in the building,” said Barry.

  “True,” said James.

  “What the fuck does that matter?” asked Dave.

  “Just saying, it’s a pity.”

  “Shut up you idiot. Right, what else can we use as weapons?”

  The men walked back into their old office, Jones’s still completely motionless with the monitor imbedded on his head.

  “In all honesty mate, this isn’t exactly the place to find weapons for fighting zombies,” said James.

  “So, you just want to lay down and die?” said Dave.

  The men shrugged, in part understanding the sentiment, but still unable to think how any weapon could be found there. Dave tipped a desk upside down, wanting to use the legs as weapons. However, now visible was the fact that the legs were welded into the frame of the table.

  There really was nothing of use in the room, the tables could not be dissembled without major power tools, the swivel office chairs didn’t have any legs or useful parts that could form weapons, and everything else was fragile.

  “Alright, we’ll just have to try and find weapons as we go,” said Dave.

  The men once more edged out of their hated office for the last time. They walked towards the end of the hall towards the stairs and over the body of their latest victim. Taking the corner, they found two zombies closer to the stairs entrance than they were.

  “Shite,” whispered Dave.

  Looking around for some useful implement, the only thing in sight was the reel of the fire hose attached to the wall. Dave grabbed this as the two creatures turned to look at them, their jaws opening at the sight of the men. Dave flicked the handle of the nozzle and the hose burst to life. Directing the water spray the creatures were pushed all the way to the back wall. The water threw them off balance, giving enough of an opening to reach the doors.

  “Right, ready to run?” said Dave.

  They nodded. Dave stopped the hose and all three ran for the stairway doors. The creatures were firmly on their backs from the blast, but already getting up. Fortunately, the speed that the men could run had them through the doors before the creatures were half way to them. Shutting the doors behind them they looked down, a toolbox lay on the floor. Clearly a repair man had been working there recently. Dave grabbed a bag of zip ties from the box and immediately used them to bind the door handles together. That would at least hold for long enough. He then rifled through the rest of the box. Dave passed a small crowbar to James, a long screwdriver to Barry and took a hammer in hand himself, this was the best equipped they could hope to be.

  “Fucking hell, mate. This is more like it,” said James.

  The three men, now feeling a little safer, continued on down the enclosed stairway. Two floors down they met three zombies slowly shambling up the stairs towards them. They stopped, looked at the beasts and then each other.

  “Let’s fuck some shit up,” said Dave.

  They ran down the stairs at the three zombies. Dave hit the first one dead on the forehead with the hammer, it quivered from the blow, its skull fracturing, leaving blood seeping down its face as is tumbled back down the stairs. James swung the crowbar like a baseball bat, smacking the second one’s face and causing the nose to burst, the force of the blow sending the creature tumbling back against the side wall. Before it could recover its footing, Barry leapt in front of it and drove the screw driver upwards into the eye socket and to the brain, imbedding it there permanently. Dave swung the back of the hammer around, embedding the forks in to the back of the skull of the third and final zombie, but it didn’t kill it. He kicked to its stomach, lowering its head, and allowing him to lever the tool out from its skull. Finally, he twisted the hammer around and smashed it down on the nerve stem whilst the creature was still down, it immediately dropped with force to the stairs.

  “Great, what do I do now?” asked Barry.

  Dave handed Barry his hammer, which his friend gladly took, though rather surprised. He looked down at the hammer with a big grin, and gave it a few test swings, feeling rather happy with himself.

  “Mint, mate, but what are you gonna do?”

  Dave said nothing, only pointed down the stairs. The two other men looked down at what he was pointing at, and all of their eyes lit up with glee. There was a ‘break in case of fire’ cabinet at the next level down, just thirty feet from where they stood, and all could already make out the familiar shape of an axe inside. Dave stepped slowly and confidently down the stairs until he reached the cabinet, stopped and looked in awe at what he was about to acquire. The two men joined him, looking at the weapon lying beneath the perfectly polished glass cover.

  “Barry, do the honours,” said Dave.

  Barry struck his hammer straight forwards and through the glass, shattering it into hundreds of little pieces. Dave reached in and took out the beast, it was a full sized, two handed fire axe, a comfortable heavy weapon. He held it up, admiring the broad, sharp edge.

  “Dave, stay there a second,” James said.

  James backed away from the Dave whilst fumbling in his pocket.

  “What are you doing?” Dave asked.

  “Just getting a photo, mate,” said James.

  Dave chuckled, but didn’t argue. He posed with the big axe whilst James snapped a picture with his iPhone. It
never occurred to any of them that they would likely never get the opportunity to post the picture to Facebook. However it didn’t matter, for just a few minutes they could forget about all the violence and world disaster around them, and relax.

  “Right, let’s move on,” said Dave.

  “In all honesty, mate, do you reckon we’ll have space to drive on the road, even if we do get to your car?” asked Barry.

  “I have no idea, but unless you just so happen to have a helicopter on the roof, it’s the best idea I can think of,” replied Dave.

  “We need a tank,” said James.

  “Well go and find one then, idiot!” said Dave.

  They continued on down the flight of stairs until they reached the ground floor. Dave crept up to the doors in the hallway to peer through. He looked around the open area but all was silent, he turned around to the others.

  “So how are we gonna get to the car?” asked Barry.

  “Right, we’re going out the front and around to the car out the back, ok?”

  “Why not take the back exit?” asked James.

  “Because none of us have used that route, let’s stick to what we know.”

  “Alright.”

  “You ready?” Dave asked.

  The two men nodded.

  “Right, let’s go.”

  Dave spun around to the sight of a zombie peering through the window at him. He squealed in shock as he fell back on to the floor. The doors swung open as the creature forced its way through, it was Liam from the stores. Dave scuttled back across the floor towards his friends.

  “Hit the bastard!” shouted Dave.

  “But that’s Liam!” replied James.

  “Fuck sake!” said Dave.

  Getting no assistance whatsoever from his friends, he got to his feet. Taking the axe in both hands Dave thrust the axe head towards Liam’s face. The blunt heavy tip smashed into his nose and crushed it into the face, blood splashed across his already dirty flesh. The creature tumbled backwards from the force of the blow, flailing about to try and stay on its feet. Now eight yards away, Liam had regained his balance and looked up at the men, hatred in his eyes.

  “Right, you’re having it!”

  Dave strode across through the open door towards Liam. Hoisting the axe above his head, he brought it down dead centre on Liam’s cranium. The heavy axe carved through the skull and all the way to the jaw line. The skull was split in two and parted either side of the axe blade.

  “Ohhh!”

  Barry and James shrieked in response to the brutal display before them. The two traipsed up towards Dave. Liam’s body toppled over onto its back, the axe now protruding from his head vertically. Dave put his shoe on to the parted skull and levered the blade from his victim.

  “Dude that’s sick, and yet, fucking cool!” said Barry.

  Dave breathed out slowly with relief. All those endless days of utter boredom had built up a mass of aggression that had finally poured out in a relieving display of violence. He now revelled in his newly found vocation.

  “Right, we have to get to the front doors, there will undoubtedly be more of our former colleagues on the way. They’re now dead, and will do all they can do rip your heart out, so I want to see nothing but utter raw fucking violence from you, proper Scarface shit!”

  The two men nodded. They looked up the hallway which would lead them to the atrium of the building. Footsteps rung out from beyond the corner and the unsettling sound of the creatures’ groans followed them.

  “Time to man up. Remember, strike to the head, hit hard and hit again until they drop. Now, let’s get some ownage!”

  The three friends strolled towards the corner of the hallway before them, moving with serious intent. The creatures appeared before them, two of the girls from reception. Dave led the attack forwards. The first zombie reached forward with both hands to try and take hold of him, but Dave smashed the axe head forwards into its stomach. It keeled over, allowing Dave to kick her in the face, knocking her off her feet. Not stopping to finish the first off, Dave continued on to the second. In one almighty horizontal cut decapitated the beast and imbedded the axe in the sidewall. The body was thrown against the wall from the force of the blow, whilst the head had already hit the ground. The remains of the beast bled down the previously clean white wall, before slowly sliding to the floor.

  Dave turned around to see Barry bringing his hammer down on the zombie’s head whilst she still lay flat on the floor. The strike cracked the skull, spurting blood out across the carpet, but he hit again, just to be sure. The hammer drove through the skull and imbedded into the brain. He prized the hammer head out, it was caked with brain matter.

  “This is rank, mate,” said Barry.

  “Well it’s a choice of taking or receiving,” said Dave.

  “Fair play,” said James.

  They were almost at the corner that would have them insight of the front doors of the building now, and hopefully to their escape route.

  “Reception is likely to have a few bastards there, so let’s keep cool and beat the shit out of them,” said Dave.

  The men nodded. They now set off around the corner. Taking the bend they saw the harsh reality of what they now faced. Between them and the doors were eight beasts, all of which had already turned to investigate the sounds of the three men’s voices. All the creatures were people they recognised, though had never uttered more than a casual greeting to.

  “This is like a free killing spree, where there’s nothing to feel bad about and no police to stop you, it’s like GTA for real,” said Barry.

  “Don’t get too excited, mate, you haven’t done the work yet,” said Dave.

  “Right, let’s get to it then,” said James.

  James stepped forward to get first blood. The closest zombie’s hands were outstretched towards him, but he beat them down with his crowbar. James then continued to hit the beast’s head until the neck snapped and the head was crooked. He hit again, causing the zombie to slump lifeless to the ground.

  “That’s how we do things down town bitch!” said James.

  Dave watched as Barry’s expression grew to an enthusiastic grin, before he set off on a path of violence. Barry swung his hammer with a horizontal strike that was powerful enough to break the jaw of his first opponent. The zombie spun around and tumbled to the ground. Whilst it was still flat on the floor, he smashed his hammed down on to the nerve stem. Dave was now content that his friends were pulling their weight, so entered the fight himself.

  There was not a lot of room to swing the axe now, with relatively low ceilings and his friends at his sides, so he lengthened his grip on the shaft. Reaching his first opponent, Dave smashed the front of the axe head into its knee cap, causing the leg to buckle and the beast to tumble face first to the carpet. Spinning the axe around, he struck down on the head with the back of the axe, all too aware that he couldn’t risk getting the blade stuck. The large flat back smashed straight through the cavity of the skull. The beast spasmed slightly and then went still.

  Barry turned to see a zombie bearing down on him, so in one move lifted the hammer from the head of his first victim and struck his second with the forks of the hammer, thoroughly embedding the tool into the zombie’s head. A third came at him, but his hammer was firmly stuck. He retreated, looking for anything useful. Finally, he looked up to see a 20 inch LCD TV mounted on the wall. He took hold of it and ripped it down. Lifting the TV above his head he crashed it screen first onto his attacker’s head. The glass shattered as the creature’s head drove through the entire frame and out the other side. The TV was now stuck around the beast’s neck like a large collar, but the zombie was still alive, despite the blood pouring from multiple gashes to its head.

  “Dave!” Barry cried.

  Dave ran to Barry’s aid. Unable to get a good strike in, he hooked the axe head around the zombie’s face from behind and then wrenched it backwards across the room. Whilst the TV collared zombie still stumbled back James to
ok a shot at it with the crowbar. The beast’s eyes went immediately lifeless as the heavy blow to the skull landed.

  There were now just three zombies left before the three IT workers. Barry lifted a CO2 fire extinguisher from one of the sidewalls and twisted the nozzle out ready to spray. He stepped forward and sprayed the extinguisher into the face of the beast, making it splutter and gurgle. Taking the opportunity presented, he took the bottle in both hands and smashed it into the zombie’s skull, knocking it to the ground. He hit it again, squashing the skull to the floor.

  With the axe slung over his shoulder, Dave stepped towards the next one. With the blunt end forwards he swung the tool like a baseball bat. The significant blunt trauma struck the beast’s collar, immediately breaking the neck. James ran up to the last zombie, kicking upwards between its legs. The strike had almost no effect at all.

  “Oh bollocks, that usually works.”

  The zombie’s arms took hold of his shoulders, but he thrust the fork end of the crowbar upwards into its jaw. The crowbar went straight through the soft wall of the bottom of the jaw and imbedded in the upper mouth. The strike didn’t stop the zombie in its tracks, who then forced James to the floor, trying to bite him, but being unable to due to the bar wedged through its mouth.

  Barry kicked the side of the beast’s head causing it to roll off of James. Before it could get back up he stamped five times on its face until the skull was fractured and blood expanded across the floor. Dave offered his hand out to James and helped him to his feet.

  “I’m fucking knackered now,” said Barry.

  “Yeah, GTA was way easier than this,” said James.

  “Let’s check the front doors,” said Dave.

  The three walked to the doors which were half frosted glass. The sun beaming through into the reception meant they couldn’t easily see out until they got close. Arriving at them a harsh reality was unveiled. Out in the street were hundreds of creatures shambling around the town. A hundred yards in front of the building a policeman was fighting with his truncheon, surrounded by a mass of creatures. He flailed wildly about for his life, but was quickly dragged down to the ground by the horde.