by Ricky Fleet
“Do you think it will come to that?” Jodi wondered.
Jonesy shrugged, “In my experience a leopard doesn’t change its spots.”
“So we all have to keep a close eye on him. I think it may be a while before he gets over the shock anyway,” Gloria replied.
“He did manage to kill a zombie,” Peter said with a grin, “Even if it was crippled and no real threat.”
“One down, six billion to go,” Christina added and their smiles died.
“That leads me onto my next point. We are secure within these walls, but I hadn’t given much thought to babysitting fifty more people. I will check their food supplies and add ours to it, I just hope they have enough to tide us over, otherwise…” he let it trail off. No one wanted to consider the possibility of a slow death from starvation after the hell they had been through.
“What about planting the vegetables as soon as possible?” Christina asked.
“With winter on us only a small selection will grow and they take months to reach full maturation anyway. We can only survive if we have enough food to last us until we can become more self-sufficient,” Gloria explained.
“Shit!”
“My thoughts exactly,” chuckled Gloria.
“We don’t need to wait around though, tomorrow we clear the grounds of bodies and start preparing the soil. One of the advantages of having so many people is they can share the load,” Kurt explained.
“I’ve been giving that some thought,” Peter spoke up, “I think we need to prioritize digging up any soil which has had their blood seep into it. Goodness only knows what it will do to our food but I for one don’t want to eat zombie carrots.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Kurt pondered, “I was hoping for rain earlier, but now I pray it stays dry. If it gets washed into the ground we could lose the whole plot, possibly for years.”
“I know we are all exhausted, but should we get it done today? It seems silly to leave it to chance when we have all the manpower we need at our disposal,” Jodi offered.
“Ok, we run it by the others when they arrive which leads me onto my next concern. What do we do if they refuse to cooperate?” Kurt was no warlord, willing to murder people to ensure compliance with his every whim. Fifty people meant fifty different personalities and the problems that would bring.
“I don’t think it will be a problem,” DB shook his head, “You broke Mr. Vincent without killing him which shows you are reasonable, but not to be fucked with. Denise, Patricia, Louise, and Stephanie are all strong women who already have the respect of the group. I think if you can keep them on your side and show that you’re acting in everyone’s best interests then we will be fine.”
“I hope so,” Kurt sighed. Being responsible for his family was one thing; the massive group in the castle was another.
“Without our intervention they would all be dead before the spring broke, that is a certainty. I sense a great swell of gratitude from everyone, even if they haven’t shown it properly. I can’t blame them.” Gloria stood and did a twirl, showing the dried gore and filth, “We must look frightful.”
“Not as frightful as the corpses outside they will need to move,” Kurt chuckled, “How on earth are we meant to get rid of them?”
“Until we can figure out a way of burning them, we could just toss them from the wall. The low temperatures mean they won’t rot too badly,” Peter suggested.
“Why don’t we drain the pool and lay them in there? At least they can’t contaminate the ground and will be easier to reach once we find enough fuel,” Christina proposed.
“That’s a great idea,” Gloria replied, “I just hope it doesn’t require electricity to work some sort of pumping system.”
Kurt shrugged, “If it does, then we will just have to dump them over the walls. My final query was how much do we tell them of the prison and our plans?”
“I’d say we be totally honest,” Sarah stressed, “We don’t want to start with secrets when we want their trust and support.”
“That was my thought too, love. Everyone else?”
The whole group affirmed their support for full disclosure. Sam and Braiden returned with piles of logs in their arms and dropped them to the side of the hearth. A hot bed had been formed and they topped it with the chopped wood before seating themselves.
“One thing that has been playing on my mind is what happens if those bastards survived and made it to the prison? We are not only talking about a rescue, but a possible attack at any time. There is no way they won’t attempt to kill us again,” Kurt pointed out.
“Surely they will be hunkering down for the winter too?” Sam asked.
“Never underestimate a psychopath. If they have any sense, they will attack us when we are at our weakest, which is the next few months. The zombies will be sluggish and that makes their job a lot easier,” Jonesy replied.
“In that case we’ll just need to maintain a watch on the bridges to the south. Shouldn’t be too hard.”
“No,” DB interrupted, “I’ve had a look at the field of vision and the central watchtower only covers about eighty percent of the surrounding lands. If I was planning an attack I could pick several points to get at the walls unseen. The bridges are swarming with the dead so the logical infiltration point will be from the north through the forests.”
“I’m sorry, I should have thought of that.”
“Don’t be.” DB patted him on the back, “If you want, I can arrange a sentry roster that will cover every weak point?”
“I’d appreciate that, thanks,” Kurt replied and saw Denise look around the entrance.
“Ok to come in, sweetie?”
“Yes, please do. I think we have enough seats for everyone.” Kurt waved them in.
CHAPTER 5
The room was filled with the chaotic noises of people jostling for a good position and once everyone was comfortable Kurt asked about Patricia’s absence.
“She is keeping a close eye on our mutual friend, just in case he does something silly.” Denise winked knowingly.
“I’ll bring her up to speed later then. Can you all feel the fire?”
A few members at the back shook their heads and Kurt ordered everyone to rearrange themselves. After a few more minutes of discussion and scraping of chair legs on the floor, they were all ready.
“Thank you for joining me. Now before we begin, have any of you had any communication with the outside world since the outbreak?” Kurt looked around at the worried faces who all shook their heads.
“In that case, I’m afraid I have bad news.” Kurt bowed his head in sorrow, “The world you once knew is gone. There are no governments in control, no armies waiting to take charge and fight back against the zombies. The dead have risen across the globe and there are only small pockets of survivors left.”
Denise’s eyes filled with unshed tears, “Even America?”
“No corner of the world is unaffected, I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you,” she replied, taking a deep, shuddering breath to compose herself. She was a strong lady and Kurt admired her greatly.
“What about our families?” came several cries from the crowd.
Kurt could only shake his head and look away from their distraught faces.
“Deep down, we all suspected that was the case when no one came to help,” Denise said, comforting a young lady to her side who sobbed uncontrollably.
“We made it, so there is always a chance,” Kurt suggested, but knew he was doing them no favours in giving them false hope.
“Do you know how it happened?”
“Didn’t you see any of the footage on TV?” Kurt’s mind flashed back to the unfolding horror.
Stephanie shook her head. “By the time we secured this side of the building, all we heard was that scientists were trying to find a solution. Then the electricity went out and we’ve just been laying low ever since.”
Kurt filled the group in on the experiment and the desperate attempts t
o unravel the mystery. Any hope they might have had ended at the revelation Porton Down had fallen and the army overrun by the swarming dead. Letting that sink in, it was a minute before anyone else spoke.
“Did you come across any other survivors?” asked the retired soldier who had fought alongside them earlier.
“Yes, but you won’t like the circumstances,” Kurt cautioned. “I intend to be totally open with you all, and I hope I can ask the same in return?”
Those that weren’t totally bereft nodded their agreement.
“Our group was larger before we made it to the castle, but we were betrayed by a couple who killed one of our own. If they made it out of Chichester they were headed to Ford Prison. During our journey, we ran into a man who had fled to the facility during the outbreak with his family.”
“So there are others after all?” interrupted a man.
“By all accounts there are about four hundred inmates and about a hundred civilians.”
Excitement was tempered by fear at the news and Kurt held his hands up for quiet.
“The prisoners have taken over the place and are holding the guards and locals captive. The man we met was helping them to construct tunnels which allowed them to raid the local area for supplies.”
“What if they come for us?” wailed an older woman.
Louise rounded on her, “So what if they do? We have all the protection we need now.”
“It may happen, but Louise is correct and we have well trained soldiers and weapons on our side. We won’t be taking any chances though and by tomorrow DB will have organised a guard roster. I don’t mean to sound demanding, but I expect to see everyone’s name on the list.”
“It’s the least we can do, sweetie,” Denise said loudly when a minority started to argue. Her stare cowed them and they reluctantly agreed. “You look like you have something else on your mind about it too.” Her police intuition was still sharp.
“I do. When the winter is over we will be making an attempt to free the people inside.”
“Why risk your lives for strangers?” asked a man and the withering glares silenced him.
“I understand your point, but with our species on the brink we need every able body we can find. If we can extract them safely then that kind of expertise will be invaluable. Imagine the ways we could extend our fortress if we had an expert in structural engineering.”
“I want in on the raid,” Denise said without hesitation, “I have led these kinds of operations in my old life.”
“We’d be happy to have your expertise as we plan, ma’am,” DB offered.
“I’d be honoured.”
“Excellent.” Kurt was happy with the way the meeting was going and moved on, “Remind me again how much food do you have in the castle?”
All eyes turned to a lady who introduced herself as Alina Ionescu. Her cheeks flushed and she looked around nervously for Mr. Vincent. “Not much, perhaps a week, probably less.”
“What the hell?”
“Why didn’t you tell us?”
“We thought we had supplies to last for months!”
The group were furious and she rose to her feet angrily, “Because as the head of security, Stephen told me not to! This amount of people eat more than you’d think possible. What good would it have done anyway?”
“We could have come up with some way of getting more!” Louise fired back.
Alina stood her ground and pointed at Kurt, “Until they showed up you were as scared as I was. How could we get out to find more food when we were surrounded?”
“Everyone calm down!” Kurt shouted. “In this instance I happen to agree with Stephen. There is no need to cause unnecessary panic with all the shit that is already going on. With our supplies on top, that should buy us another three days to come up with a solution. I’m not keen on the idea, but we’ll have to empty the local supermarket.”
“How will we get past them?” came another new voice.
“It doesn’t matter right now,” Kurt tried to sound optimistic. “At least we know we have to do it and we have a decent window to act.”
“What about the others?” asked Stephanie out of the blue.
“Others?” Kurt wondered, looking around at the group.
“We think there are some survivors in the cathedral,” she explained, “We have seen candles burning inside from the tower.”
“How have they managed without food and water? I’ve been inside the place when I was younger and there is nothing to eat or drink,” Kurt was perplexed.
“We’ve seen movement in the adjoining priory building; we assume they’ve kept quiet and managed to go unnoticed.”
“Who says they even need rescuing?” Louise asked. It was a reasonable question if they had made it this far.
“I’d be happier to know what their situation is before making a judgement,” Kurt replied. It was another burden to shoulder and he could feel the tension headache building. More people were in potential danger and his family could see the tell-tale grimace of pain on his face.
“One thing at a time, buddy. They are ok for now,” Jonesy whispered in his ear.
“Alina, you know the building pretty well, yes?” Kurt asked.
“As well as anyone,” she agreed, “Except for Stephen himself. He has studied this place for years and knows all its secrets.”
“Good. I will need your expertise so that we can isolate portions of the building in case of a breach.”
“You got it.”
“How is the castle heated? There are a lot of radiators on the walls.”
“The furnace runs on oil which is held in a large tank just north of the living quarters. Without electricity, the boiler won’t run though,” Alina explained.
“That’s fine. I think we have found our means of disposing of the corpses. Aside from that, how much firewood is there?”
“Tonnes of the stuff. The Duke and Duchess preferred the feel of a natural fire for the most part, but some of the older paintings required an even temperature at all times so the heating was used in those areas, just not the bedrooms.”
Kurt was relieved to hear they wouldn’t have the added danger of hypothermia during the winter months at least. Raiding for food was an essential task but they could worry about that in the morning.
“What about water?” asked Braiden.
“We have been using the well again since the pipes ran dry,” Alina replied. “It’s clean and we boil it to be on the safe side.”
“At least we won’t have to worry about that. Does anyone have any questions before I set out the first task?” Kurt looked around the room.
“What are your plans?” Louise asked.
“For now? To survive the winter with my family, and all of you, of course. In the longer term? I hadn’t given it much thought. Seventy million people in the UK, and most will unfortunately be zombies. I suppose we start to take our world back and destroy them all.”
“And how do you think we can accomplish that?” Denise was genuinely interested.
“Harsh language?” Kurt offered, and drew some chuckles. “I honestly don’t know.”
“You have guns!” shouted someone from the rear.
Jonesy turned in his chair, “Yes, but we don’t have anywhere near the amount of ammunition we would need to take them all out. And that doesn’t take into account the fact that only a head shot will keep them down. We’ll need to be smarter than that unless we can somehow reach the larger barracks at Aldershot.”
“Is that where you’re both from?”
“No, we were stationed at Thorney Barracks in Emsworth. Even if that place wasn’t a no go zone, they don’t have millions of rounds in the armoury anyway,” DB added.
“Did the zombies take it out?”
“No, something worse,” Jonesy growled and the group didn’t ask for further explanation.
“You mentioned ‘the first task’? What did you have in mind?” asked a woman cautiously.
“I won’t
sugar coat it. We need to clear all the bodies from the grounds and we need your help to do it as fast as possible,” Kurt replied and wasn’t surprised to hear howls of protest.
“We will help,” Stephanie declared, indicating the students who were all nervous but excited at the same time. Kurt had to stifle a grin at the youth’s fascination with all things gross.
“You can’t make us!” declared the woman who had asked the question.
“What’s your name?” Kurt asked.
“Jasmine,” she huffed and folded her arms defiantly.
“Well, Jasmine, that’s not quite correct. I could easily make you do it at the end of a gun.” Kurt scowled at her and her eyes bugged in fear. “But I won’t, because that isn’t who we are. What I can assure you of, however, is that if it rains before we can clear the filth from the grounds, then our chances of growing food within the safety of these walls is gone. Within a couple of years at best any canned and non-perishable food will be gone and we will need to be self-sufficient. If we can’t achieve that then we all die in agony of starvation.”
“I don’t want that,” she said meekly.
“Nor do I,” Kurt smiled supportively, “But we all need to work together to make a go of it. I won’t lie, it will be disgusting, but at least you can see them up close without them trying to eat you alive.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” she asked with a sickly expression.
“Yes,” Kurt replied without hesitation, “One day you will need to fight them face to face and you can get over some of that squeamishness straight away. I wasn’t given that luxury when I fought my first zombie.”
“Can I help?” a male voice called from the back of the room.
“Fucking Clive,” snarled Louise and shot him the finger.
“Of course, please join us,” Kurt waved him in.
Louise was furious and stood up so fast her chair toppled, “He got Maura and Greg killed today, have you all forgotten that?”
“I’m so sorry, I was terrified.” He slowed his pace and looked to the floor.
“I bet that comforted them as they were torn to pieces!” she thundered and strode from the room.