Dead Ahead

by Park, Grant

  “Oh thank fuck,” Caleb managed to whisper through a choked throat as he pulled his son close to him “I thought I had lost you there boy!”

  Brandon pushed away, holding him at arm’s length.

  “But I’m bit! The blood! I felt it bite me!”

  “I guess the old dear didn’t have her teeth in that day,” Caleb chuckled.

  “What do you mean?” the boy asked, confused.

  “The old lady, it was an old lady that got you”

  “Yeah?”

  “And I guess she didn’t have her false teeth in!”

  “But the blood?”

  “Hers, not yours! You didn’t get bit, son, you got gummed!”

  “Oh thank fuck!” Brandon pulled him back in and held on tight.

  “That was a close one son, we are going to have to be more careful in future, I can’t lose you, you’re all I got!”

  Caleb suddenly heard movement behind him. He spun round, grabbing the Nanigata, getting ready to strike, but he caught himself in his tracks.

  “What happened to you two?” Frank posed the question with a confused look on his face. “You look like you’ve been through the wars!”

  Caleb composed himself, reigning in his anger, pressing it down. He still didn’t know how Frank would react to any negativity from him or his son, after all, Frank still had the guns.

  “We have a bit, Frank. Nothing we couldn’t handle!

  “So I see,” Frank said with a smile. “Well that’s us past the fields and on to the wild yonder; things should get better from here!” He pointed up at the rough bracken covered hills towering above them.

  “Let’s hope so. Eh, Son?”

  “Yeah, let’s hope so.”

  They picked themselves up along with their packs and climbed their last fence, out and into the scrublands. Frank was right, it was harder going, but, once they had climbed to the top of the first hill, they could see for miles around, and there didn’t seem to be anybody in sight. The country almost seemed peaceful from where they stood, Caleb could nearly imagine that the murderous horde wasn’t lurking in every house and home in sight; well, every house, houses weren’t homes anymore, they were only death traps.

  Caleb stood, letting the cool wind wash over him, while the others rested; eating some other concoction that Frank thought ‘fitted together quite nicely’. The rolling hills reminded Caleb of their last few days before it had all began for him and his son, and in turn it reminded him of Sam.

  “This can’t be it! There’s nothing here!” Brandon exclaimed as they pulled up into the remote car park.

  “What were you expecting, the Ritz?”

  “The what...?”

  “Never mind, look, there’s Sam’s bike!”

  Caleb parked his burgundy Ford Escort beside the black Ninja motorcycle and started to unpack their camping equipment from the boot.

  “What took you so long?” Sam asked as he sauntered up.

  “We don’t all have the luxury of weaving in and out of traffic at a hundred miles an hour, you know?”

  “I wasn’t going one hundred miles an hour! I hit one sixty if you must know,” he said with a grin.

  “You’re going to kill yourself one of these days, you know?”

  “Yeah but if I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die laughing! What the fuck is that?”

  Caleb held up his bladed staff. “What, this; It’s my Nanigata!”

  “Your Naniwhatta?” Sam asked in a faux Chinese accent.

  “A Nanigata, ah Samisahn.” Caleb replied in an equally terrible accent.

  “It’s gonna be a good little trip into the hills buddy, you got the beers?”

  “I got beers, I got burgers, I got bacon, I got water, I got all that shit! I even got a cheeky wee twelve year old single malt, if you’re interested?”

  “Ha! Keep that whisky shit away from me, last time I drank that with you I couldn’t function properly for three fucking days! I’ll stick with the beers.”

  “Fair enough, all the more for me then!”

  “I’m just gonna chuck my bike things into the back of the car if that’s ok?”

  “Yeah, sure, you’re gonna have to help us with some of this stuff though!”

  “No probs!” Sam quite literally threw his things into the car and slammed the boot shut. “When you going to get rid of this piece of junk Cale? He said pointing to the car.

  “When it breaks down, it’s running just fine for now!

  “Yeah, for now...!” Sam grabbed a few random bags and headed across the car park towards the gate leading to the hills, he turned round and looked back at Caleb, “I got a good feeling about this weekend, Cale, I think this is just what we need after all the shit that’s going on back home. Yup.... A real good feeling.”

  That was where it happened, that very spot was where Sam fell to the husks a few days later. The same image popped into Caleb’s head that had done a thousand times before; Sam was screaming as they tore into his flesh, screaming for help as he drove away.

  Caleb wondered if Sam was one of them now, there was little doubt in his mind now that he was. Another wretched soul, cursed to walk the earth, tormented by the living; would Caleb even recognise Sam now? Had he been one of the poor bastards he had destroyed while running aimlessly around Appleby? He hoped he would never find out, he couldn’t spare one second of hesitation, that’s all it takes to get bit.

  “Dad...!” Brandon broke Caleb away from the distraction of his mind.

  “Yeah, Son...?” Caleb answered solemnly.

  “Here’s your soup. I think we’re heading off again in a minute.”

  The sun was still shining, but Caleb still felt as if there were dark clouds over him. Reluctantly he slung his pack, sheathed his machete and picked up the Nanigata.

  ‘Your Naniwhata?’ Sam’s voice popped into his head.

  Caleb almost smiled at the memory, but it was quickly quenched by other memories as they began to march on.

  For hours they trudged over the English hills; up one side and down the other, over scrub land and ditches, occasionally they would hit a trail, but they never seemed to be going in the direction they were headed. On they went, sweat beading on their foreheads from the incessant blaze of the sun, their water ran out fast and they had to stop to boil more from a stream; being unsure of how safe free running water was, they even dropped some purification tablets in which gave the warm water a bitter tang.

  The silence of the rolling hills was often broken by Frank’s mutterings to himself; Caleb tried to make conversation with the boy, keeping it light, but neither of their hearts were really in it, besides, the less information about themselves shared with Frank the better. The more time Caleb spent with Frank the more he was sure that they would have to ditch him at the next available opportunity, ‘if only I could get hold of one of his guns’ Caleb thought to himself.

  Unfortunately, Caleb was sure that leaving Frank behind would not be done easily; he seemed to think that they were now a team, and Frank saw himself as the leader.

  ‘He just needs a mission, a sense of purpose,’ Caleb told himself, ‘He needs to know that he has a reason to keep on going, other than the fear of becoming a husk. But my reason to keep on going is keeping Brandon alive, and Frank hasn’t been much use there so far, apart from when he first came along. If only I could get hold of one of those guns. I wonder what other goodies he has in that pack of his; I bet he has more grenades, maybe another pistol? Maybe he would give me a pistol if we got into trouble together, or would he just go mad with that rifle of his? He would probably end up shooting Brandon and me in the process! I need to gain his trust, maybe then he will give me a gun......

  Caleb turned round to look at Frank, who was already looking back at him with a slightly worried, untrusting look on his face. Caleb turned away.

  ‘Have I been talking to myself’ Caleb thought. ‘You’re talking to yourself right now you idiot! Naw, I mean out loud, like that nutter over there! Am I
losing it too? Keswick! Talk about Keswick!’

  “I think we should avoid Keswick!” Caleb burst out, louder than he should have.

  “I think you’re right.” answered Frank suspiciously.

  “There is a small town east from there just on the edge of the hills, Scale I think it’s called, I saw it on the map, can’t be more than a few farm houses, I think we should aim for there to bed down!”

  Franks eyes flicked up and back down, “Sounds good! Let me see the map, just to get my bearings. Caleb reluctantly pulled the map from inside his jacket and handed it back to him. “Ah, yeah, here it is. Scales! It looks pretty remote, good plan!”

  Caleb found his eyes being drawn towards the rifle as Frank looked at the map. ‘How far would I go to get that gun? Should I just take it? Could I just take it?’

  “I figure we must be round about here.” Frank pointed to a random spot on the map, “If we just bear east a little we should come right to it.... Caleb?”

  “What? Eh.... Aye! Just what I was thinking,” It took a few seconds to regain his thoughts, “At the rate we have been going we should get there before dark.”

  “I’m not sure I can keep this pace up!” Brandon put in.

  “I know it’s hard, son, but we don’t want to be stuck out here in the dark.”

  “It’s not that far! We’ll make it no prob’s.” Frank added confidently. “They told me we would!”

  Caleb’s heart sunk at hearing Frank talk about this mysterious ‘they’ knowing it would only install further doubt in the boy’s mind.

  “We had better get going then!” added Brandon sullenly as he trudged off down the hill.

  “Teenagers, eh?” said Frank as he bounced off down the hill in Brandon’s tracks.

  As he set off after them, Caleb felt his eyes fall on Frank’s shoulder again, where the rifle was slung.

  _________________________

  The Husky tore away from the farm, leaving a wake of mangled bodies in its path, oh how Ethan loved these machines. To be honest, it was just a relief to be free from that bloody compound, Michaels, Knox and all of their mindless disciples. If it really was brains that the zombies were after, that lot should get away just fine. It was just good just to be back on a mission.

  He really did hope they had made it out of the complex safely, he didn’t wish any of them dead, not least of all Cassie’s father. The man had always been kind and courteous towards Ethan; the world needed more men like him, hell, if the world had more men like him this whole situation could probably have been avoided.

  He looked over to Cassie, who was still crying. He wanted to comfort her, tell her that her father would be ok; but having gone through what they had to escape, he wasn’t sure he could. They had barely made it out of there alive themselves; god knows how Knox could have got the others out.

  He put his hand on her shoulder once more, “I’m sure he is ok, Cassie.” was all he could muster, and she just nodded to him through her tears and went back to watching the fields ahead.

  Ethan could see thick black smoke rising from the farm that they had left behind, but he dared not share the information with the others. He was pretty sure they all knew but they were just as reluctant to talk about it.

  As they passed from field to field the civilians took it in turns to open the gates while Ethan and the other soldiers manned the vehicles and roof guns. It was a good system; it kept them well clear of any zombies as the fences kept them out of the fields, and that was just what they needed after their ordeal at the farm. It was slow going though; it would have been much quicker to go by the roads but you just didn’t know how clogged they would be or how many zombies you would encounter.

  So they pressed on through the fields, crossing roads or rail lines as they passed them, eating as they went. Ethan wanted to keep pushing on; he wanted to reach the power station as soon as possible, he would have kept on going through the night if he could, but he could see that the civilians were getting tired; they weren’t used to the stress of combat and it was showing on their faces.

  It was around five o’clock when he found a place to stop for the night, according to the map they were near a town called Bowes on the eastern side of the Pennines, but far enough away not to be noticed; it was just a small house in the middle of nowhere, easy to sweep and clear, with a good few escape routes. Hopefully it wouldn’t have any zombies inside.

  “Jim, Con Man! You two sweep and clear, and remember to use suppressors. Gaz and I will prepare for a sharp exit should it be needed!”

  “Sure thing Big Man!” said Jim.

  Within seconds Jim and Conner were at the front door. “Doors unlocked, I’m going in.... Hallway is clear....”

  “....Breaking right.... Lounge, clear....”

  “....Kitchen on the left, clear....”

  “....Checking the back.... Bathroom, clear.... though there is quite a mess, something went down in here...!”

  “....Heading upstairs....”

  “....I’m right on your tail”

  “....Bedroom on the right cle.... Whoa...!”

  “....We got some activity in the Left bedroom...!”

  “Keep it calm you two, don’t take any unnecessary risks.”

  “Ha! You don’t need to tell me Big Man! A few shots in the middle, hinges and handle and I’ll take down the door. You be ready to take out anything that comes at us, Jim!”

  “Sure thing! Go for it!”

  “Ok! Go....” There was a short break in transmission, and then a high pitch screeching.

  “Oh fuck...!”

  “Shit! Ah.... Shit...!

  “What’s going on you two? Is everything all right?”

  “Yeah! We’re fine! It’s just.... Ah fuck, it was a couple of kids!”

  “They were already dead! But yeah, it was a couple of kids!”

  An air of shock hit the group, it was easy to think of the zombies as adults, they had seen so many of them that it was almost normal, but you didn’t think of the younger ones that must be scurrying around below and between the masses of adults, you didn’t think of them as what were once children; the horrors they must have seen before they became what they are. Ethan had to shake himself out of it.

  “Just you two come down. Gaz and I will take care of the bodies once we park up. If that’s ok with you, Gaz...?”

  “Uhh... yeah, ok...!”

  They reversed the Huskies up to either side of the front door in a V formation with their bumpers touching to form a barrier to the door as an aid to escape should they need to.

  Ethan and Gaz wrapped the mutilated bodies of the children in old sheets they found in a linen closet and delicately placed them round the back of the house out of sight. As Ethan entered the house he looked round at all the long faces of the people sat around the lounge, they had all just been dragged through hell from their safe warm beds in the bunker. Spirits were very low and it was his job to raise them.

  “Look!” As he spoke the downtrodden faces slowly turned his way, “I know how you are all feeling, I am feeling the same; you’re feeling that it was a mistake to leave the bunker, we had food, we had warm beds, we were safe there. And you’re right, we were! But we have just had a taste of what many people have been going through for weeks now, they have been out here fighting for their lives every day, and if they have survived through this hell for this long then I for one am willing to fight for them! Michaels wanted to take it all away, happy to hide in his bunker while the whole world imploded on its self, casualties of war he called them, collateral damage, willing to let them die the slow, painful death of radiation poisoning. I am not willing to let that happen.

  “Yes, we have lost some people, and I can’t promise we won’t lose more, but if we all stay alert and watch each other’s backs then I’m sure we will make it through this. Gary, Jim, Conner and I will do our utmost to keep you safe, but you have to do what we say when we say it.

  “What we are doing here is just and noble
, we are going to make it to Sellafield nuclear power plant, we are going to shut down the reactor and we are going to find somewhere that is safe, I have been thinking the Isle of Man, but if anyone has any other ideas I am open to suggestions.

  “For now, for tonight, we are safe. So I want you all to make yourselves comfortable for the night; I would like us all to sleep in this room together, so if you could sort out places for everyone to sleep that would be great, there is a double mattress in the upstairs bedroom on the right, keep well clear of the left hand bedroom, you don’t want anything in there.

  “I want noise kept to an absolute minimum, and when it gets dark it stays dark, no lights whatsoever. One of us will be on watch at some point all through the night so make one less bed than you think we will need.

  “I realise some of you may now be thinking that you have just fallen under the control of yet another militaristic tyrant, but I assure you that this is not the case. Once this mission is over, once I have all of you safe from these creatures I will step down from command and you can choose your own way of running things, but for now, I would like your full cooperation. If anyone feels that they would do better on their own then they can feel free to depart in the morning.

  “But for now, I am famished! I will go and sort out something to eat for everyone from the kitchen while you put the beds together. Con’ you’re on first watch.

  “Cassie, could you help me in the kitchen?”

  Cassie silently followed Ethan into the kitchen; he could still see the tears welling behind her eyes as she looked at him, such sad eyes upon a face so beautiful.

  “Can you help me look for food?” he asked her tentatively. Cassie’s only response was to start her search of the kitchen.

  “I got the tin cupboard over here! What have you got?”

  “Just some biscuits, crisps and some stale bread” she said softly.

  “I got some tinned fruit, beans, tomatoes and my favourite, Spam!” He held the tin of spam up as if he was in a cheesy American commercial, raising a slight smile from her which was quickly lost.