Hand in hand, Sally and Sam drove on in silence, following the silver Audi. Both worried about what they would soon face, but both glad for the comfort given by the other.
~
They’d been on the move for over an hour before they started to approach the outskirts of Oxford. The going had been slow because of the cars, and in some cases, bodies, on the road. They’d seen a few infected, but Chloe had sped past them as fast as she could safely go, and Sam had followed suit.
Now as they drew closer to their destination, Chloe’s anxiety increased. Claire dozed obliviously in the back seat, but the conversation in the front seat had dried up, neither women knowing what to say.
Small talk seemed pointless.
When Lex had mentioned the weather, they knew they had reached the very end of possible conversation topics and had spent the last ten minutes in silence.
“Take a left here,” Lex said and pointed in the direction she had indicated.
Chloe duly obliged, glancing out of the rear-view mirror to make sure Sam and Sally were still behind. The road took them away from the lush countryside, and houses started to sporadically pop up, set back from the sides of the road. The further they went, the more houses they saw. There were no infected in plain sight, but from the abandoned cars and the smashed-out windows on some of the houses, it was clear that even this remote rural area had not avoided the carnage of the last few days.
Lex said nothing, other than occasionally giving directions. She felt sick at the thought of what she might find when they reached her house.
As the roads turned into streets, the feelings increased and she bounced her leg up and down, as though to remove some of the tension. The more populated the area became, the grander the scale of destruction. Now as well as the odd car or broken window, there were burnt-out shops, houses and cars. Front doors seemingly kicked in. Bodies scattered the pavements. Blood painted the streets, most of it dried, so she guessed that whatever had happened here had taken place a few days previously.
“Take a right here,” she said and held her breath as they entered the street that she called home. She relaxed a little, maybe the fighting, or whatever it was, had not reached the side streets.
There were still signs that something wasn’t right, the odd open door, a few smashed windows, but the destruction was far less apparent than it had been on the main roads.
“It’s the house at the end, the one with the blue door,” she pointed towards it.
Chloe followed the directions, she, too, feeling anxious and apprehensive. She came to a stop in front of a pretty detached house. It looked like it had been recently built despite the mock Tudor style timber adorning the upper half.
“Are we here?”’ Claire asked sleepily, the sensation of coming to a stop causing her to wake.
“Yes,” said Lex, and Chloe also nodded in ascent.
They unbuckled their seatbelt and took hold of their table legs before exiting the car. Sam and Sally also got out of their car and walked over to Chloe, Lex and Claire. Sam looked at them all holding their table leg.
“Shit,” he exclaimed, “forgot the shotgun.”
He jogged back to the car and opened the rear door, picked up the gun and ran back, not noticing that the door hadn’t fully closed when he had pushed it shut.
“This it then, Lex?” he asked.
“Yep,” she smiled. There was no sign of damage on the outside of either her house or any of the immediate neighbours’. Her parents’ BMW sat proudly in the driveway. It looked like a normal house on a normal day.
She ran up the front path and rang the doorbell. “Forgot my key,” she grinned as she waited for her parents to open the door.
The door remained resolutely shut.
“Maybe they’re sleeping?” Chloe said.
“Or in the garden?” Sam said.
“Maybe the doorbell battery is dead?” Claire suggested, instantly regretting the use of the word dead.
Worry lines creased Lex’s forehead and her smile faded into a frown,
“Hmm, maybe,” she said, not indicating which option she thought most likely.
A planter full or miniature red roses stood next to the door. She rooted around the base of the plant, cursing as a thorn cut into her finger. When she pulled her hand out, she was clasping a large grey rock.
“Don’t smash the fucking window,” Sam shouted in alarm. Then immediately went red as he realised that Lex had retrieved a key from a hidden compartment in the rock. “Well… it looked real,” he muttered in embarrassment.
Lex inserted the key in the lock and hesitated a second before turning it. Chloe rushed over to her, “Why don’t I go first?” she suggested.
“Okay,” Lex nodded, she looked down at her hands, where a patch of blood had welled up from a tiny cut. She wiped her finger on her jeans.
Chloe turned the key in the lock, then jumped at the sudden high-pitched screeching of a car alarm. They turned towards the source of the noise and saw the Honda’s light flashing as though at a disco.
“Shit,” Sam said and fumbled in the pocket for the keys.
“Shut it up,” Chloe shouted over the din.
Sam pressed the buttons on the key fob, but they did not have any effect. He ran over to the car and opened the driver’s door. Still, the alarm continued. He put the key in the ignition and the onboard computer lit up, showing an outline of the car, the rear left-hand door flashed red. He quickly moved to the door and slammed it shut. The alarm silenced immediately.
“Oops,” he said, “didn’t know that car alarms went off if the door is left open.”
“Only some do, generally the newer cars,” Chloe said through gritted teeth.
It was a genuine mistake, and Sam had tried to fix it as soon as possible. But that alarm was deafening and you could bet that any zombies close by were heading their way now. “We need to move quickly,” she said and ran back up the path, turning the key in the lock and pushing the door open.
A foul stench assaulted her nostrils as she stepped tentatively into the house. She wasn’t familiar with the smell of death, but this foul, putrid odour must come close. Lex tried to push past her as she paused in the doorway. She turned to her and said tenderly, “Wait here a minute,” then called out, “Sam, bring the shotgun and come with me.”
Sam nodded and jogged up to the door, Lex had taken a few steps back and was hopping from foot to foot, trying unsuccessfully to dispel the nervous energy that was threatening to engulf her.
Chloe stepped through the open front door, and Sam followed closely behind her. She turned to him and placed a finger on her lips. He nodded in response, understanding the need for silence. He, too, had drawn the same conclusion the second he had inhaled the stench permeating the house.
The front door led to a large entrance hall, where coats were hung neatly on racks, shoes placed carefully beneath them. Unopened letters sat on a small console table. Glancing quickly at them, Chloe saw that they were addressed to Lex. No doubt left there waiting for her to return from her holidays. The hallway split off in four directions, closed doors to the left and right. Straight ahead were the stairs, and a narrow corridor leading to an open door.
Chloe slowly turned the handle of the door to the left. It opened into a small room, with a desk and a sofa. Likely used as an office for one of Lex’s parents.
The room was empty and free from the overpowering smell of the rest of the house. Quietly closing the door, Chloe turned to face the door on the right. Again, she turned the handle slowly, but this time it opened onto a tastefully decorated lounge area. A large corner sofa dominated the room, a magazine lay discarded on one of the cushions, and the sofa faced on to a large screen television, which sat on an expensive looking mahogany stand.
Chloe exhaled, two rooms checked, two rooms empty. Once again, she pulled the door shut, trying to be as quiet as possible. Turning to Sam, she indicated the open door at the end of the corridor in front of them. It, too, must
be empty, they hadn’t been quiet enough not to attract attention, and the open door would have meant that an infected could easily have approached them by now.
She strode down the corridor and through the door. She stopped short at the scene that was laid out in front of her. It was a kitchen, white high gloss cupboards with a grey worktop. To the right was a dining area with a glossy white table and dark grey leather chairs. An opening next to the table led out to a conservatory.
In any other circumstances, Chloe would have admired the stylish and modern kitchen, but not today. A man was slumped over the dining room table, a pool of blood formed around him. Tentatively she walked over to the man and put her hand on his shoulder, flinching at the feel of the coldness beneath her palm. She forced the body upright, for no other reason than to understand what had killed him. A knife was protruding from one of his eyes. The other stared blankly back at her. A healthy, normal eye, no trace of the black inkiness that the infected displayed.
“He was alive when he died,” she whispered to Sam.
“Er, well, yeah,” Sam said, not really understanding how anyone could be anything other than alive when they died.
“I mean he wasn’t one of those things. He wasn’t infected,” Chloe replied, clarifying her previous comment.
“Actually, I think he might have been. Look.” Sam pointed to a gash that had been ripped out of the inside of his lower arm.
“He got infected and killed himself before he could turn,” Chloe said, and the courageous and selfless act astounded her. What would she do in the same circumstances? Would she be brave enough to kill herself to avoid becoming one of those things?
“So, assuming that’s Lex’s dad …” Sam said, pulling Chloe out of her thoughts. “Where’s her mum?”
They both turned towards the open kitchen door, expecting to see a female zombie coming at them. There was nothing, just stillness and silence. In unison, they released the breath each had been holding.
“Conservatory?” Chloe said, and Sam nodded in response.
Gingerly they headed through the opening into the large glass room. Wicker furniture with soft, inviting cushions adorned the room, and another TV stood in the corner. No signs of life, or of death. The room looked ordinary. If it hadn’t been for the prevalent smell emanating from the corpse, it would have been inviting.
“Upstairs?” Sam asked.
“Upstairs,” Chloe confirmed.
They headed back out of the conservatory, through the kitchen and then up the stairs. They came to a spacious landing.
A marble planter sat in the middle, with flowers, once colourful, now drying and wilting from lack of water.
Six doors circled the planter. All closed. Sam moved to the nearest door and opened it. He was greeted by a spotless room, with impersonal decoration, perhaps a guest bedroom. It was empty.
He opened another door. Likely to be Lex’s room, judging by the books crammed into every available space, no chick lit for Lex, medical journals and biographies filled the shelves. The bed had a pretty mint green duvet cover and a collection of stuffed bears. A picture sat on the bedside table, next to a mint green lamp; Lex, Claire, Sally and Paige, arms around each other, laughing. Chloe picked it up, removed the picture from the frame and put it in her back pocket.
Back on the landing, they headed towards another door and both spotted the blood stains on the polished chrome door handle.
“Ready?” Chloe asked.
“Yep,” Sam replied, lifting the shotgun and aiming it at the closed door at head height.
Chloe turned the handle and the door swung easily open, she jumped back, giving Sam space to shoot. He didn’t need to. Lying on the floral bedspread was a woman, her eyes closed. She looked peaceful, as though she was sleeping. The congealed blood on the side of her face contradicted the serenity of the scene. The source of the blood appeared to be her left eye. Evidence of a stream that had flowed, like tears, from her eye, following the contours of her face, and ending as a pool on the pillow. Her arms folded across her chest, in her hands lay a photograph of the family, smiling brightly on a day out.
Sam walked over to the woman and gently lifted her eyelid. The eyeball was missing, in its place a deep wound that must have been caused by a knife penetrating through to her brain.
He lifted the other eyelid and nodded in acceptance, as he saw the ink black eyeball staring back at him.
“She must have turned first and attacked him. He must have killed her and then himself,” Sam said.
“Yeah,” Chloe replied, “we can’t let Lex see them like t…”
Her words were cut short by Sally hollering from downstairs. “Chloe,” she shouted with desperation in her tone.
Chloe and Sam reacted instantly, both running out of the room and back down the stairs. Sally was standing in the open doorway, Lex and Claire close behind her, “They’re coming.”
Reaching the girls, Chloe looked past them out of the door. Hundreds of zombies were staggering up the road.
“Shit. Get inside, shut the door,” she hissed. “Maybe they haven’t seen us,” she added hopefully. “They’re probably just attracted to the sound of the car alarm.”
They piled into the house and Chloe pushed them through to the living room.
“What’s that smell?” Lex asked, her eyes wide, darting around.
“Ssshhh,” Chloe urged.
“It’s my parents, isn’t it? They’re dead, aren’t they?” Lex’s voice rose, nearing hysteria.
“I’m so sorry Lex,” Chloe whispered, “I’ll explain later, but for now I need you to stay quiet.”
Lex nodded, tears streaming down her face. She wanted to scream and shout, she wanted to see her parents, she wanted them to hold her and tell her everything would be okay. The pain was too much to bear. She collapsed to the floor, head buried in her hands and rocked to and fro. Claire and Sally were on her immediately, arms wrapped protectively around her. Sally stroked her hair. Claire stroked her back.
Lex did not feel them; did not notice the comfort her friends tried to offer her.
She just felt the pain. But she stayed quiet. Knowing that they couldn’t fight that many zombies. Knowing that she couldn’t draw them here and be responsible for all their deaths. Part of her didn’t care. She wanted to die. To join her parents. If she had been alone, she would have shouted and screamed and killed as many of them as she could before being taken. But she was not alone. They would not kill just her. So, for that reason alone, she whimpered quietly and didn’t let the rage inside take over.
Chloe edged over to the window that looked out on the manicured front lawn. The zombies were close now. They seemed to be aiming directly for the house. They couldn’t know they were in the house, could they?
She considered their options. The window would not last long if that many bodies pressed against them. They could go upstairs, less chance of being heard, but no escape route if those things got in.
The kitchen was the most sensible option, but… Looking down at Lex rocking on the floor, her shoulders heaving as she cried silent tears. They couldn’t let her see her Dad like that. Not only would it be too distressing for her, but she might also cry out and give away their position.
She cursed herself for not thinking to move the body. They were trapped there. There was only one option. She needed to protect these girls.
“Sam,” she whispered and gestured for him to come over to her. He did, relieved to be away from the three girls that he had been standing next to awkwardly. “I’m going to make a run for the car, then hopefully draw them away. As soon as it’s clear, take the girls to Sally’s. Don’t let Lex see her parents like that.”
Sam looked at her, his eyebrows raised, “There are hundreds out there, how will you get through them?”
“I’ll go over some of the gardens.”
“Chloe. For the record, this is a terrible idea,” he stated.
“I know,” she snapped back at him. “I don’t know w
hat else to do.”
“We could wait it out?” he suggested.
“If they hear us, they will get in. We can’t fight that many off.”
“We could go upstairs.”
“Sam, I’ve thought through the options. We go upstairs, we cut off any escape route. We go to the kitchen, Lex will likely not be able to keep quiet. We stay here, they will get in, and they will kill us.”
“I could go … ya know, instead of you,” he suggested, the words out of his mouth, before thinking through what he was offering.
Chloe paused for a second, Sam could go. Sacrifice himself instead or her. She shook her head. “Sam, I can’t do that. Even if you get through them, where will you go? You don’t know where Sally lives.”
“No, you’re right,” he agreed, trying to hide his relief.
Impulsively Chloe pulled Sam into a hug, “Thank you for offering though. I think maybe I was wrong about you.”
“Nope, you were right,” he said as he swapped car keys with her. “But I’m trying to be better. I’ll keep them safe. I promise.”
Chloe nodded at him with a smile, “You’d better, or I am going to be seriously pissed.”
He walked with her to the front door, the three girls oblivious to the conversation and the plan. “Do you want to take this?” he offered her the shotgun.
“No,” she shook her head. “I don’t know how to use it, I’ll probably end up shooting myself in the foot,” she joked. “Besides I have my trusty table leg.” She shook the wooden leg at him.
She turned to the door and quietly opened it, “Wish me luck.” She said and sprinted to the car.
Sam watched as the indicators flashed twice, and the door was pulled open.
He closed the door only when he had seen Chloe safely in the car. As soon as it was shut, he ran to the living room to watch from the window. Sally was in the doorway, blocking his way.
“What was that?” she asked, concerned.
“It’s Chloe … She’s gone to distract them, so we can get away,” he hurried to the window, but the view was poor.
Safe Zone (Book 1): The Greater Good Page 17