by Chris Harris
Seconds later, the car slowed and Shawn said simply, ‘Well done mate, now let’s get out of here.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I looked up and realised that we were back at my car. Becky had got out and was running over to us. I managed to push myself upright and lifted myself off the boy, who was looking pale and shocked. He gave no reaction but just sat and stared straight ahead. Becky enveloped me in a hug.
‘We need to make sure he hasn’t been bitten!’ said Shawn, climbing out of the car. ‘And we definitely need to go now,’ he said, pointing down the road at the horde of zombies, who were still making steady progress.
As I leant into the car to pull the boy out, Becky pulled on my arm to stop me. ‘No,’ she said quietly. ‘Let me do it.’
I stood back and Becky crouched down in the car doorway. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but within seconds she’d managed to snap him out of his trance-like state and he’d got himself out of the car. Becky knelt next to him and gave him a motherly hug.
‘Shit!’ I said quietly to Shawn, ‘He might be infected. I never even thought. We could all have it now!’
‘Bollocks!’ he muttered. ‘I didn’t think about it either. Oh well,’ he shrugged, ‘It’s too late now, but we’ll need to be more careful next time. I’ve got some surgical masks in my Bug out Bag for this very eventuality.’ Noting my distress, he shook his head and chuckled, adding, ‘I’m the bloody prepper mate. I should know all this and I still forgot. Don’t be so hard on yourself. If we get away with it, and he’s not infected, then at least we’ll have learnt a valuable lesson!’
I nodded. ‘Where shall we go?’
‘Right, this is the best plan I’ve been able to come up with in the short time we’ve had so please feel free to add suggestions or correct me if you want. I think you should lead the way in your car because it’s bigger than mine and we might have to use it as a battering ram if there are any obstacles along the way. It’ll also stand up to knocking zombies over better than my car. We’ll try following the route we mapped out. If that route turns out to be blocked we’ll have to start making it up, but if we remain vigilant and stay away from the bigger population centres, we might be able to avoid the infected areas. I’ve studied how viruses spread as part of my prepping and it can’t have got everywhere this quickly.’
‘Why not?’
He smiled wryly and said, ‘Well we ain’t got it for a start. So that probably rules out an airborne infection. It’s most likely being passed by physical contact or contact with people in very close proximity, so that’s why we should use the surgical masks for the time being.’
The zombies were still about two hundred metres away. In fairness, this was still a hundred miles closer than any of us wanted them to be!
‘Let’s get going,’ I said hastily.
While we’d been talking, Becky had put the boy in the back of the car and he was sitting quietly between Stanley and Daisy. She walked over to us. ‘He hasn’t been bitten and he says he didn’t see anyone until the bad people hurt his parents and he ran away. I don’t think he’s been infected.’
Once more Shawn went to the boot of his car. He came back with another knife, some surgical masks and a two way radio. ‘The knife’s for you Becky, just in case, and I’ve got the other radio so that we can talk. The left turn’s just around the bend so keep checking your mirrors even though I should be right behind you.’ He pressed the call buttons on the radios to make sure they were both on the same channel, and passed the radio and knife over to me. We’ll put the masks on if we meet anyone else until we know for sure that they’re not infected. It’s not worth taking any risks.’
With no time to waste, as the zombies were getting closer all the time, we set off in the cars.
Once we were moving, Stanley and Daisy started asking questions again. Becky turned to them and said carefully, ‘Listen to me both of you, mommy and daddy need you to be very brave. Something’s turning people nasty and we need to get away from them. You mustn’t worry; you saw what a hero daddy was when he rescued Eddie. He won’t let anything happen to us. Now you need to be really quiet and let us concentrate so that we can find somewhere safe.’
I glanced in my rear-view mirror and saw that Shawn was right behind us. Then I looked at the faces of my two beautiful kids, filled with terror but trying hard to control their emotions. Finally I looked at Eddie, who was still looking too shocked to take anything in. He was a stocky lad, probably about Stanley’s age, with a mass of straight ginger hair which stuck up in places. His grubby, tear stained face was covered in freckles.
Who could blame him, I thought. He’s almost certainly seen his parents being eaten alive and only barely escaped himself and he’s been hunted by a pack of zombies.
‘Hi Eddie,’ I said gently. ‘My name’s Tom. How old are you?’
There was a long pause. ‘Ten,’ came the monosyllabic response.
All a bit much for your average ten year old to take in really, I thought. Oh well, looks like we have a new addition to the family.
I slowed down as the turning came up and we headed down a narrow single track road. I zoomed the map out on the sat nav so that I could get an idea of where we were and the direction we needed to take. We’d come down this road a few days before looking for a pub recommended on Trip Advisor, so parts of it were familiar to me.
As we rounded a corner I slammed the brakes on. A farm trailer was parked across the road, blocking our way completely. Shawn must have been on the alert because he managed to skid to a halt without hitting me. I sat there for a moment, gathering my shattered nerves back together.
I could see someone moving on the other side of the trailer, so I quickly donned my mask and made everyone else do the same. Then I stepped out of the car, my knife at my side in readiness. Before I closed the door I warned Becky to keep a look out and to shout if she saw anything.
Shawn, wearing his mask, joined me.
‘Hello! Is anyone there?’ I shouted.
‘Go away!’ came the response. ‘We’re not letting anyone through. For all we know you might be one of the terrorists.’
Shawn and I exchanged amused glances. ‘What do you mean, terrorists?’ I asked with incredulity.
A man came out into the open. He looked like a typical farmer and was wearing the standard boiler suit with a checked shirt underneath and green wellies on his feet. Nothing out of the ordinary, apart from the shotgun he was carrying.
‘We’ve heard about the attacks in town,’ he said, his face hostile. ‘And we’ve seen the fires they’ve started. We don’t want any of that element coming here so we’ve blocked the roads. There are no police close by so we’ve taken steps to protect ourselves.’
I stepped forward. ‘But you’ve got it all wrong; we’re trying to get away.’ I pointed at my car, ‘Look, I’ve got my wife and kids with me and another boy we’ve just rescued. Shawn here’s with us. We’re helping each other.’
The man gave no response. ‘It’s not terrorists,’ I persisted, ‘It’s zombies that are attacking. There are people turning into zombies and they’re ripping other people apart and eating them. Don’t ask me how, or why, but we need to keep going. The main road’s blocked and they’ll be heading this way soon.’
‘Please!’ said Shawn, ‘You have to believe us. They’ll be here soon!’
More people had appeared while I’d been talking and had been listening to what we’d been saying. Some of them also carried shotguns and one had a rifle.
The farmer shook his head and laughed. ‘How do you expect us to believe that? That’s ridiculous! You’re just making it up to try to get us to let you through. God alone knows what would happen then!’
Behind me I heard a car door open and close and I turned to see Becky walking towards us.
‘You need to listen to my husband!’ she said, her voice pleading. ‘It’s not terrorists or anything like that. I know it doesn’t sound credible but there are zombies. We’ve
already been attacked and we’ve just had to rescue that little boy back there. Back on the main road we all watched another young boy kill his father by biting into his neck. We found the assistant at the petrol station feeding on one of the customers! You’re right to want to protect yourselves, but please, you need to let us through. I need to get my children somewhere safe. If you don’t believe us just go back up to the main road and see for yourself. But be careful. Don’t go near any of them.’
They all turned and talked among themselves for a minute.
The farmer turned back to us, ‘All right. We’ll go and have a look. Why are you wearing masks?’
While I was explaining the trailer was hauled out of the way by a tractor. A man and a woman on a quad bike squeezed through the gap and roared up the road.
I realised that I’d been clutching my knife tightly throughout, and put it back into its sheath, which I’d clipped on to my belt. As I did so, I noticed everyone relaxing slightly.
‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘Forgot I was still holding it. It’s been a hell of a day!’
In less than a minute, we heard the quad bike returning. As expected, it was travelling much faster than it had done on the way out. It skidded to a halt right beside us.
‘Fucking zombies!’ the man yelled. ‘They tried to get us, but we turned around just in time. Jim Barker was one of them. He was covered in blood and half his arm was hanging off but he still tried to grab me!’
Everyone started shouting at once until the farmer finally had to bawl at them all to be quiet. He turned to us.
‘So it’s like ‘The Walking Dead?’
‘Yes,’ Shawn, Becky and I said together.
He released a few mouthfuls of expletives before turning to us again.
‘What can we do?’
Shawn seized his opportunity. ‘Well, believe it or not, this is something I’ve prepared for. First you need to let us through, then you have two choices. Stay or go, it’s as simple as that. If you stay here you’ll need to work together. Build barriers and fences; anything to stop them or at least slow them down. You can only kill them by destroying their brains so prepare yourselves for that and gather what weapons you have. I notice you have shotguns and rifles. Great! But conserve your cartridges and ammunition because once you’ve run out you’ll be in trouble. We’ve found out by tying one up and experimenting that they need to breathe, but as I’ve said, the best way to kill them is to target the brain. I don’t know how many you’ll be facing but we’ve only seen one car leave St Agnes and that looked as if it had to fight its way out. There could be thousands of the things heading your way. You’ve seen the fictional version, now you’re going to be living it. Oh, and we know they can see reasonably well and are attracted to noise, so bear that in mind.’
He paused to let it all sink in. The farmer turned to the couple on the quadbike, ‘How many were there?’
‘Twenty or so,’ replied the woman, ‘I didn’t stop to count them!’
‘First of all we need to get everyone together. They all need to know exactly what’s happening.’ He turned to us. ‘Sorry about not letting you through before. You might just have saved all our lives. Is there anything we can do to help you before you go?’
I shrugged, not really knowing what to say, but Shawn replied without hesitation. ‘Some water would be useful, or at least a container I can carry some in. I only have my water bottle and there are more of us now.’ He paused for a moment, thinking. ‘A tarpaulin would be good too, and maybe some better weapons. And if you could spare any tinned food that would be great.’
‘I’m sure we can sort most of that out,’ he said. ‘Do you want to come with me?’ He pointed to a farm building about a hundred metres away. ‘Just let me speak to the rest of the village first.’
He gave orders for the trailer to be moved and we pulled forward, thankful for the protection it offered.
While the farmer was waiting for everyone to gather, we took the chance to get the kids out of the car.
There are only so many ‘it’s going to be all rights’ you can say when you’re in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Stanley, who had always been very perceptive, and quick to assess any situation he was in, summed it up:
‘Dad. Those people we saw are dead aren’t they? If we don’t kill them, they’ll kill us so you need to show me how to do it. If something happens to you then I can still protect mommy and Daisy.’
The way he stood there, looking so small but trying so hard to be the man he wanted to be, brought tears to my eyes. I gave him a fierce hug. ‘Stanley, from now on I’m going to need your help. I can’t make things any easier but we probably will have to do and see some truly awful things. Things nobody should ever have to deal with. I’m relying on you to be my right hand man.’
He stood even straighter and seemed to grow a few inches in height, ‘What about Eddie dad, can he help as well?’
I looked over at Eddie. The poor kid was still traumatised but clearly yearned for approval. ‘Of course! I’m going to need both of you. You look like a strong lad Eddie. Do you think you could help us?’
Eddie looked at me and his face changed slightly. The haunted look started to fade and was replaced by a look of determination. He suddenly seemed more aware of his surroundings. I couldn’t help but wonder how many more people we would have to gather to us before this was all over.
The sound of a gunshot and a scream of ‘zombies!’ made me pull my knife back out of my sheath. Grabbing the children, I got them back to the safest place I could think of: my car.
I saw Shawn reaching for Stanley’s cricket bat and stopped him, saying, ‘Can I have that back please, I think I know someone who wants it.’
Becky was standing by the car with her knife in her hands. I opened the car and handed Stanley the cricket bat. Hunkering down, I looked at him and said, ‘I need you to have this son. If they get too close just hit them as hard as you can until they fall over.’
He grabbed it and nodded fiercely.
I ran back to the trailer. I could see that there were at least twenty zombies approaching. It looked like the same group we’d rescued Eddie from. I actually recognised a few of them; presumably they’d followed the quad bike back, proving the theory that they were attracted by sight and sound. They probably just kept on going, doggedly pursuing whatever caught their attention, until distracted by something else.
‘Aim for the head!’ I yelled, as I could see that, despite a few shots being fired, none of the zombies were down.
The man with the rifle took aim and fired but as far as I could tell, completely missed. Minute by minute they were getting closer. Someone else fired his shotgun and hit the nearest zombie in the arm. The arm hung gruesomely from the elbow by a scrap of skin but, undaunted, the thing kept coming.
Already feeling like a veteran, I looked at Shawn and said, ‘Shall we?’
He nodded.
I shouted, ‘Stop firing!’ over and over as we stepped past the trailer and stood facing the crowd of flesh hungry zombies.
I wasn’t thinking about the villagers. My wife and my children were behind the barricade and if any of them got any closer there was a chance they could get through. I needed to stop them now.
I lunged at the nearest zombie, stabbed it through the top of its head and pushed it away. I went for the next and rammed my knife through the side of its head. Much better; the blade passed smoothly in and out.
‘Stab them through the side; it’s easier!’ I shouted to Shawn, who I could see out of the corner of my eye was attacking those closest to him. The zombies had spaced themselves out nicely rather than bunching up. Very thoughtful of them because it made our job much simpler.
Stab push, stab push.
It wasn’t long before we’d killed them all. When there were no more left it took a few seconds for us both to realise that it was over. Panting with a mixture of terror and exertion and dripping with sweat, we gazed in shock at our handiwork.
The ground in front of the barricade was littered with crumpled bodies. The sound of cheers and clapping brought us out of our reverie. The sheer raw excitement and exhilaration of what we’d done hit us both. We’d just taken part in a mad stabbing frenzy and slaughtered over twenty zombies. We’d faced up to one of the most frightening things imaginable and come out of it successfully.
We were zombie killers. We were going to survive this!
We shouted and punched the air, primal emotions building up inside us. The villagers surrounded us, strangers we’d never met before congratulating us, grabbing our hands, and thanking us for saving their lives.
I looked down at myself and then looked at Shawn, surprised that we weren’t covered in more blood. Yes we’d been splattered with some when it had sprayed off our knife blades, but unlike in the movies where you couldn’t kill a zombie without being coated from head to toe in blood and gore, the truth was that zombies don’t bleed much.
Perhaps it was the fact that their metabolism was slower. Their heart rate and blood pressure were likely to be much reduced, as they only needed to move to get to the next meal and weren’t performing any of the highly complex tasks normally required of our bodies: tasks which tend to require substantial amounts of energy.
With the help of the world’s most powerful computers, scientists were just beginning to build humanoid robots capable of successfully replicating simple movements. Our remarkable bodies accomplish complex tasks using their matrix of brain power, muscles, tendons and senses, all of which enable us to balance from when we are about one year old, but that expends a lot of energy. A zombie didn’t need all those abilities so it made sense that their bodies slowed down to conserve energy.
CHAPTER TWELVE
As I walked back behind the trailer, Becky hurled herself at me again. I hadn’t been hugged that much for ages. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the zombie situation I’d have suspected her of being after something!