by T. L. Frost
The light from the gaps between the boards covering the windows began to lighten. Carter looked out, trying to see the sky.
“I think the fog is starting to clear.” He said.
A bang sounded on the window he was next to, making him jump back in surprise. Jim came rushing downstairs, sticking his head into the kitchen, his face was completely pale, eyes wide.
“They’re here.” He said quietly “Hundreds… no thousands of them coming out of that damn fog!”
Carter grabbed his iron bar and waited, listening hard. Some moans sounded close by, the sounds of shuffling feet all around. Another bang sounded as something hit the front door.
“Do they know we’re here?” Asked Harriet in a whisper, her eyes terrified.
Carter just shook his head, holding a finger to his lips for silence. Bill took Harriet by the arm and led her away, taking her upstairs. The banging continued, more and more all along the front of the house, doors and windows shuddering slightly from the impacts. Through the slits between the boards on the windows Carter could see shadows moving. Some standing in place for a while, moaning as they came to the farmhouse blocking their path, others moving along the wall, flowing around the building. A few noises could be heard from the rear of the house now as some zombies spread out there, an occasional fist striking out. The front of the house became louder and louder, more bodies bumping into the door and windows, dust falling, clearly visible in the beams of light which now shone through the narrow slits, then it grew darker, the moans getting louder as bodies pressed up against the outside, zombies trapped by the increasing numbers, lashing out in anger, then a scream sounded, so close that Carter heard Sally gasp behind him. Fists started hammering on the door, the hasty barricade rocking from the impact. Carter leaned forward and pressed his shoulder against it, pushing back against every blow. Sally joined him, her weapon put aside as she pushed with both hands, helping to hold the barricade in place. Another scream, then another, the noise was so loud now they couldn’t hear anything else. A fist crashed through one of the nearby windows, cracking a board, hand grasping at the broken wood.
“Shit!” Said Carter “Stay here.” He said to Sally then took his iron bar as the hand continued to pull at the board.
Aiming between the boards with the tip of the iron bar, Carter gave one hard thrust, hitting something soft and yielding on the other side, an even louder scream sounded as something grabbed the iron bar he was holding. Carter tried desperately to pull it back but it was held fast as more and more screams sounded, so he pushed, hard. The bar hit something again and as it was pulled from the outside, Carter let it go, watching it disappear through the window, the screams that were there a moment ago seeming to move along the building and be lost among all the other noise. Pushing against the broken board now to hold it in place, Carter checked around him. Sally was still pushing against the barricaded door, sweat running down her face now from the effort and just as Carter was thinking of going to help her, Bill came back and added his weight to the door.
The morning wore on, seemingly endless, the noise from outside ebbing and flowing, sometimes screams could be heard in the distance, other times right outside. Jim came down after a while, checking everyone was ok.
“How many more of these things are there?” Asked Sally, fatigue clearly visible on her face.
Jim shook his head “Still plenty, but I think they’re thinning out a bit, hang in there.”
Sally just nodded and kept pushing back at the door which shuddered from impacts regularly. Carter kept an eye on her and Bill but they seemed to be holding up so far. A few minutes later Merrick appeared. Fetching some wood from another room, he used it to brace the broken window Carter was supporting.
“I think they’re moving on.” He said quietly as the noise from outside seemed to lessen a little “This side of the house has taken the worst of it.”
Carter nodded, resting his tired arms, and went to join Sally again, leaving Bill free to check on the others.
“Piece of cake.” He said grinning.
Then the door shuddered as something heavy hit it. Timbers groaned and cracked as more and more impacts hit the door, rocking the barricade behind it, Carter turned and pushed back as hard as he could as the bars and locks on the door started to give way, Sally helped, recovering quickly after she had been rocked backwards from the initial blow.
“What the fuck was that?” She said through clenched teeth.
Bill came running back to the door seeing it move back and inch, daylight suddenly visible around the frame. He grabbed his shotgun and loaded it, moving towards the door. Carter shook his head and after a moment’s hesitation, Bill put it down and added his strength to pushing back against the door. Slowly, agonisingly slowly, it closed, all three of them pushing with every ounce of their strength. Merrick appeared with Jim having heard the massive impact and with their help they managed to hold the door and reinforce it.
“What hit us, a truck?” Asked Carter, gasping for breath, sweat covering him now as the effort of holding back the door took its toll.
“Almost.” Said Jim with a grin “Biggest zombie I ever saw. Just as the others were thinning out, it got a good run up at the door, must have broken every bone in its body.”
After a while the screams from outside moved into the distance, moans and movement could still be heard all around the house though and they all stayed ready as Jim reported that the horde had mostly passed by. Carter checked the sun through the broken window, surprised to see it hadn’t moved far, it had felt like hours. They managed to rest for most of the remainder of the day, staying quiet and keeping lookouts at the upstairs windows. Finally Merrick started relieving people so they could get some sleep as night fell, though not many managed an undisturbed night, jumping awake at every noise. When the sun rose the next morning and they could see no sign of the horde, they went out to look around. There were still zombies around the house, damaged in the crush of bodies, or just stragglers following on, slowly behind the main body of undead. The survivors moved out quickly, smashing heads and destroying the brains of any that were still moving. Lookouts were quickly in place on top of the silo and Merrick headed off on foot to track the direction of the horde, coming back a while later to report it was still heading away from them. They spent the rest of the day clearing up, dragging bodies away to a pit, away from the house. By the time darkness fell they had reinforced the house again and were all exhausted.
“We made it.” Said Merrick looking around the group with obvious pride “The preparations and hard work we’ve put into this place saved us. We’ll look at improving the defences, be better prepared for next time, though personally I hope we never have a next time.”
A few murmurs of agreement sounded and everyone seemed relaxed, exhausted but relaxed.
“That’s a good idea but there’s something else we need to do first.” Said Carter as the others looked at him “There’s still the problem of that other group. The horde came from that direction but that doesn’t mean they were hit. I’d sleep a lot better knowing they’re not out there waiting.”
Merrick sighed and nodded “Yes, I’d almost forgotten about them… almost.”
Chapter 8
There was nothing moving at the farm, nothing living anyway. After checking the place out with some binoculars Carter had joined Bill back at the Landrover, signalling to move ahead. The gates at the entrance were gone, completely stripped away by the horde and as they drove down towards the house where the other group had been staying, they could see that the building itself hadn’t fared much better. Windows were broken, frames ripped out, doors smashed to pieces. The army truck and pick-up outside had suffered the same fate. Carter got out of the Landrover and checked the storage building where the older restored cars were kept. Its doors were smashed too, the metal twisted out of shape and pushed clear of the doorway, trails of blood and gore inside, everything turned over or broken. There were a few zombies about, brok
en and barely able to move, the ones that had been left behind by the horde. Carter took Bill’s shotgun and head for the rear entrance to the farmhouse as Bill drove around the building, using the big chunky wheels of the Landrover to crush any zombies he could see, running over them a few times to be certain.
The inside of the house was a mess. Furniture smashed to pieces, walls smeared in drying blood, there were even a few body parts lying around, though from zombies or the previous inhabitants, it was hard to tell. Carter headed upstairs, treading carefully and listening. A moan sounded as he reached the top and as he reached the bathroom door, a gnarled, decaying hand reached out. Carter raised the shotgun and smashed the butt of its handle into the zombie’s face again and again, until it fell, barely moving. Then he closed the door and checked the other rooms. They were all empty except one, the door closed, cracks visible in the wooden panels. Risking a quick look inside, Carter could see more zombies, three or four them, before he closed the door quickly and headed back downstairs again, the sounds of smashing coming from behind him. He risked a look in the kitchen, seeing it was torn apart like the rest of the house and then turned to leave as the zombies upstairs continued attacking the door holding them in.
A hand grabbed his ankle, sending him tumbling forward, the shotgun sliding away. Turning to his back, Carter saw a partially raised trapdoor thrown back and the snarling face of Quinn as he rushed from the cellar, leaping at Carter.
“Thought they’d got us all did you!” He shouted, a mad gleam in his eyes as he grappled with Carter’s arms “Take more than a few of them things to kill me!”
Carter fought back, the other man on top of him, pinning his arms. He rammed his knee up into his stomach, knocking some wind out of him but also making him angrier and as Carter tried to free his arms, Quinn suddenly released one and landed a hard punch on the side of his face. Carter saw a few stars but quickly recovered, moving violently as Quinn tried to hit him again, he grabbed Quinn’s arm and twisted as hard as he could, spinning the other man over onto his side, trapping his arm between his legs, hands gripping his wrist. With a sudden twist of his body, Carter snapped the other man’s arm and rolled away. As Quinn stood, using his good arm to pull himself up, another snarl on his face, Carter reached the shotgun, sweeping it up and cocking it. He had it pointed at Quinn before he had taken two steps. Quinn paused, looking up at the frantic sounds of the zombies which were still upstairs, then down again, glaring at Carter.
“Only one way out of here.” He said, moving to block the rear door as the sound of wood smashing was followed by screams and heavy footsteps thundering down the house’s staircase “And you haven’t got the…”
Carter fired. The shot hitting Quinn in the centre of his chest, knocking him backwards against the doorframe, blood covered his chest and poured down his front. Quinn stood for a second, mouth open in shock as if he was going to speak, then his legs gave way and he slid to the floor, rolling to his back. As blood pooled around the wounded man, Carter stepped over him, feeling a tug on the leg of his trousers. He stopped in the doorway as Quinn stared at him from his back, one arm outstretched, weakly trying to reach him. Then the zombies appeared, grey, lifeless eyes turning to fix on the two men near the door. Carter stepped back and slammed the door shut, one of the zombies crashing into it as they threw themselves forward. The wood shuddered with the impact then all Carter could hear was a pitiful scream and the sounds of feeding.
“Any of them alive?” Asked Bill as Carter climbed into the Landrover next to him.
“Not anymore.” Replied Carter with a shake of his head “This place is dead now, let’s get out of here.”
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Copyright
Text and Cover Picture
Copyright © 2018 T.L. Frost
All Rights Reserved
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Part Six: THE FARM
Part Seven: THE HOSPITAL
Part Eight: TOWER BLOCK
Part Nine: COMPOUND
Part Ten: HAVEN
Copyright