Ridgetown (Book 0): Rising

by Radford, Philip

  The two zombies eating it were far enough away to not notice me, as long as I didn't announce I was there. I assumed the victim had only recently died because I couldn't imagine the zombies passing a cold corpse and stopping to devour it, although everything I knew about zombies before this point was from games and movies so I was open to ideas.

  That first time I had left the house to deal with the very first zombies, I had noticed that a house further down the road was on fire. I was slightly comforted to see that it wasn't anymore, despite the front window being shattered and the surrounding wall being charred. I hoped that it meant someone inside had put it out and got to safety, I wondered whether I should try to establish contact somehow.

  For now I looked over the rest of the street. At the junction to the end of the road on my left, a car had plowed straight into the side of another one. Both cars were a mess, metal crumpled and glass everywhere. A body had been thrown clear from one of the cars and had left a sickening red streak of blood from where it had landed in the road to where it had stopped, face down. There was also a passenger door on the other car that was left open and had a trail of blood leading from it trailing off down the road, I couldn't see any other bodies though.

  It was only as I looked further into the distance that I became aware of the scale of the whole incident. The sky looked black with smoke, but not from one specific area, just in general. As I stared, I saw an explosion from behind some houses a few streets away. The bang made me jump, nearly losing my footing. I knew there were a few local shops round there, but couldn't think of anything that would create an explosion like that.

  Looking back along the street I was on, a car had also gone through a brick wall outside someone's house, through the garden and into the front wall of the building. Because it was quite far away I couldn't tell how badly it had damaged the wall or whether it had broken through into the house, I raised the binoculars to have a look when I heard a man screaming for help.

  The shouts were coming from the opposite end of the road, not screams of pain, but actual shouts for help. I looked down the street, trying to locate the source of the shouting and saw someone stood on top of a transit van. He was wearing jeans and a light-blue t-shirt, waving a jumper over his head, he didn't look very old but his face and clothes were dirty. There were two zombies reaching up the side of the van at him, he was slightly too high for them to reach, but only if he stayed in the middle.

  I was worried about his shouts attracting attention from the other zombies who were digging into the corpse down the road. I wondered if he was shouting for help from anyone specific or shouting just in case someone heard him.

  "Hey, you! Please, please help me!"

  I wondered if he was talking to me, he seemed to be looking in this direction.

  "You, on the roof!"

  Crap. A quick glance round confirmed I was the only person on a roof.

  "Please, do something! I can't run and my van's died. "

  By now one of the zombies down the road was starting to pay attention to him. As it stumbled up to its feet, the other one looked at it and also stood up. I needed to act fast and I needed him to shut up. I started signaling to him by making exaggerated movements with my arms. I pointed to myself and a walking movement then pointed to him. Then I pointed to him again and put my finger to my lips, pointing to myself with the other hand. I pointed to the approaching zombies and made the 'hush' action again. I hoped that he could tell what I was trying to communicate so far away, I tried to make sure my gestures were as simple and exaggerated as possible.

  "Okay!" He shouted, "I understand!"

  I sighed inwardly. I had the distinct feeling he was going to get us both killed, but I had to try to help him. I needed a plan and I needed one fast. I looked around desperately for inspiration. The roof of the bungalow sloped down quite low at the front, if I took the fold up ladders with me, I could throw them into the front garden and lower myself down. When I came back with... whoever-he-was, he would hopefully be okay climbing a few steps up the ladders to get up onto the roof. I could distract the zombies while he got down from the van by getting their attention and calling them away, but taking the drill gave me a weapon in case I needed to kill them. Although there were only two at the van at that moment, by the time I got down to him, the others that had heard him shouting would probably be there as well. Plus, if they were dead, it wouldn't be as much of a rush getting back on the roof. I also didn't want anything following us towards the house. Once back here, I had plenty of supplies for the both of us.

  I signaled to him again, holding up one finger as clearly as I could to let him know I would be one minute, then I lowered myself back into the house to get the drill. As soon as I was inside, I could hear him shouting again.

  "Hey, where are you? Come back! Please!"

  I decided at that moment, that as soon as I rescued this guy, I was going to punch him in the face. I grabbed the drill, a spare battery and replaced the posi drill bit that was in it for a decent sized metal drill bit. It looked sharp and mean and I dreaded to think how fast it would stop a zombie.

  I propped the ladders over my left shoulder this time and turned towards the study. As I did, I suddenly had a moment of inspiration.

  I looked at the bedroom window that opened out directly into the roof. The extension in the upstairs bedroom had a flat roof that stopped at the window, the study had kept the original roof shape meaning it needed a skylight window. Rather than lifting myself up onto the roof in the study, I could simply pass the ladders out of the bedroom window directly onto the roof and follow them out myself. I had visions of falling off the chair in the study and injuring myself worse than last time. Using the bedroom window hadn't even occurred to me before, I had been too linear in my thinking about using the study to get out. I needed to make sure I started looking at the bigger picture for an easier answer.

  I opened the bedroom window and placed the ladders outside carefully. As I stepped out, I accidentally kicked the ladders and they started sliding down the roof, I dived and grabbed them but started slipping myself. I skidded towards the edge of the roof with the step ladders held out in front of me, mercifully they caught on the plastic guttering and stopped me falling headfirst into the garden. I was glad I had been moving slowly because any faster and I would have ripped the guttering off the side of the house and fallen. I dreaded to think how much noise I had made but at least the guy on the van would have known that I was coming.

  I climbed back up to the peak of the roof and over the other side. By now the other two zombies had abandoned their meal and had also surrounded the van. The van was starting to rock and I could see the guy on top was struggling to keep his balance, apparently any noise I had made on the roof was not enough to distract them. I threw the step ladders onto the lawn below along with the drill so I had both arms free to lower myself down. In one smooth motion I turned to face the roof, knelt down and, holding onto the guttering, lowered myself down. As soon as I touched the ground I was face to face with a zombie that must have been outside the kitchen window.

  "Look out!" I heard the annoying man shout.

  The zombie had already lurched forward and I had grabbed its wrist to stop it grabbing me. "Thanks" I hissed through gritted teeth as I pushed forward to shift its balance.

  The push backwards gave me the break I needed to jump back onto the garden and pick up the drill. The zombie, having hit its back against the kitchen windowsill, had bounced back and was coming towards me again. I met it head on and drilled straight into the top of its head, holding it at arm's length with my left arm. It went straight into the skull as soon as I pressed the trigger, almost instantly the zombie went limp and fell to my feet.

  With my face spattered in blood, I jogged towards the van and the guy stood on the van roof. I stopped myself from running because I wanted to be careful. The drop down from the roof had shaken me up a lot more than I was letting on and I didn't want to let my carelessness get
me into trouble again.

  As I got near the van, the guy on top started thanking me over and over, I shouted to him in a hushed voice, "You're gonna have to be quiet. These things seem to be attracted to noise, so we don't want any more turning up." The guy on top of the van nodded and stayed quiet.

  The zombie closest to me turned and started to approach. I wanted it to come to me rather than me go to it, because that meant I could tackle them one at a time. It was an elderly woman and her clumsy gait made it apparent that something was wrong with her left leg, she dragged it along the floor like it could be broken but it was hidden beneath a blue and white long flowery dress. Half of her grey hair was matted with what was probably blood while the other half was still styled in a bun on top of her head, she looked like she had been at church when she was zombified, maybe she had been.

  As I waited for her to take a few more awkward steps towards me, I noticed she wore a gold wedding ring. I wondered if her husband was still alive, whether he had protected her when she was attacked. I wondered whether she had attacked him or if he was alive and didn't even know she was dead. I knew my dad would protect my mum with his life and vice versa, they were in good hands as long as they were with each other.

  I shook the image of the dream from my head and concentrated on the old woman, reminding myself that my carelessness had already nearly cost me my life twice so far. As she got close, she attempted to speed up. She tried to dash towards me but her left leg gave way. She tumbled to the ground and began to crawl towards me, now only a couple of feet away. The other zombie from the same side of the van had begun his slow approach towards me as well. With the other two zombies on the other side of the van, I decided now was as good a time as any.

  I walked forward and bent down. I pinned the old woman's neck down and drilled into the back of her skull, I felt horrible as I did it because of how I had given her an identity by trying to imagine her life story. I made sure I kept things simple with the teenage zombie that was approaching me, his baseball cap still sat tightly on his head. I knocked it off by lifting the peak with the drill and brought the bottom of the drill down hard on his head, at the same time I grabbed his polo shirt and pulled him sideways sending him sprawling to the ground, face down. I pressed down on his back with my right foot, bent over and drilled in a similar spot to where I drilled into the old woman. With both of them dispatched I glanced round to make sure there were no more waiting to surprise me and carried on towards the van.

  I spoke again in my hushed whisper, "Can you get down from there if I distract the other two?"

  "Yeah, I think so. I can hobble quite fast but not for very long." He sounded nervous but ready to move if I asked him to.

  "Okay, did you see where I dropped down from?"

  He nodded in response.

  "I want you to get over there as fast as you can once I get the other two zombies to move, don't worry about me or them but make sure to keep an eye out for any others that could be hiding. You ready?"

  Again he nodded.

  "Go as soon as they turn around."

  I strafed around the van, giving it a wide berth, and caught the attention of the two male zombies that were reaching up towards my new friend. They wore matching overalls suggesting they worked in a garage, one was much younger than the other which made me think he was an apprentice. I tried to stop thinking about what their back stories could be to stop myself from humanizing them.

  The van rocked as the man on top slid down the windscreen and lowered himself to the ground. Now I knew he was down and on his way to the house, I could get rid of these two. I thought about leaving them, but I didn't want them following us to the house. I also thought about running forward to meet them, but again, I didn't want to offer myself up to trouble when I didn't need to. I waited for them one at a time. When they reached me, I waited for them to lunge forward and simply slipped to the side. As they fell towards where I was stood, I drilled their heads. I still found the sound sickening, but because I knew what to expect, I was developing a tolerance to it.

  I could see white t-shirt guy hobbling towards the house as fast as possible, unfortunately he wasn't going as fast as I had hoped. I jogged up to him and caught up pretty quickly, I stayed just in front of him and looked back as I jogged. His eyes were wide and I could tell he was scared, at the same time I could tell he was very focused on me, probably to keep the fear at bay.

  "I'm Karl." He said suddenly.

  As we moved I told him my plan, "I'll go ahead and set up the step ladder so that as soon as you get there you can...."

  I was cut off by a blur of movement. He was gone. I stopped running and looked to my right, Karl was pinned down by another figure. The mystery figure held Karl's arms down at the wrists and bit ferociously at his neck. I had only just learnt this guy's name and he was the first person I had spoken to in two days. Now, his eyes still looked scared, but there was no life behind them, his mouth was open but he must have been dead before he even had chance to scream. I was in shock, I didn't know what to say or do, so I just stood there.

  This man, who I had rescued, was dead. His head was turned at an unnatural angle towards me while the thing on top of him crawled backwards and tore open his chest. I heard ribs crack as the thing on top snapped them open like it was opening a wooden crate. I felt like I was going to throw up and nearly started retching. This thing had come out of nowhere, it smashed into Karl like a train, sweeping his legs from under him and carrying him a good ten feet from where he had been stood.

  It looked like a zombie, but very athletic. It was bare footed in its three quarter length denim shorts and grey vest top. It looked muscular, not just because it didn't have much fat on its body but also because its muscles had torn through the flesh, I could see red tendons tensing as it moved. It moved quickly making its movements very jerky and sharp.

  As I took a step back, it stopped devouring Karl and looked up at me. Between its teeth was a thick piece of flesh that was still connected to Karl, making the torso twitch like a grotesque puppet. It looked so terrifying because it looked angry, its eyebrows furrowed and its jaw clenched. Its breathing was deep and slow, its stare chilling me to my core.

  I forced myself to turn my head enough to glance at the house that was now behind me, reluctant to look away from this thing incase it pounced on me. The house wasn't far but I would still have to put the ladder up and scale it when I got there. This thing must have leaped twenty feet in one jump judging by the speed it was going when it connected with Karl, I doubted it would have any problem getting onto my roof. Despite running seeming like a bad plan, I really didn't want to fight it.

  Every fibre of my body was telling me to run and hide, even though I knew this thing was going to chase me. There was no way I could win against this thing, it was so fast and it looked so strong. It was in a totally different league to the zombies I had been fighting and those had been scary enough. This thing looked terrifying and evil.

  My fight or flight response suddenly kicked in. And it didn't want me to fight.

  I slowly turned and started to walk away without taking my eyes off it. Within a few steps I had started to run, looking back as much as I could. Its head tilted to the side as I ran, was it listening? I reached the garden and started to put up the step ladders, across the road a female zombie banged against the living room window eager to reach me, but I didn't care. I was petrified that this thing was going to chase me and, as I climbed the first few steps, it stood up.

  It began to run, each stride seeming like a small leap. I was waist height with the roof but I knew that even if I abandoned the ladder and left it behind, I wouldn't get to either window in time, not to mention the fact that I had left both windows open, so I would have to dash to shut the other one as soon as I was inside.

  I could hear each step as its bare feet slapped the concrete. I looked down at my car and knew instinctively that I had the key because it was connected to the house key that I had clipped to m
y jeans.

  Before I could finish formulating a plan, the thing leaped into the air towards me. I knew it was coming fast and could see it was coming directly for me, I pushed off the roof, towards it, and sent myself and the ladder tumbling onto the garden lawn. I looked up and the thing had hit the edge of the roof exactly where I had been on the ladder, far from scrambling awkwardly up onto the roof, it had simply sprung up and was already looking down at me.

  Using my foot, I pulled the ladder up and held it in front of me like a lame shield. I was only five feet from my car but I knew I'd never make it before this thing ripped me apart. I slowly shifted my left hand down to my belt and felt for the keys, holding onto the drill with my right hand as tightly as possible.

  As I pressed the fob to unlock the car, the thing tilted its head at the noise of the central locking. I quickly sat up and got onto my knees, keeping the ladders between us. When I'd made it to my knees I got up onto my feet, still crouched down. As I got to this point I saw the thing lean back, slowly shifting its weight. I braced myself ready for what was coming next.

  It jumped towards me. I stood up as quickly as I could, meeting it with full force. I pushed it back as I had done with the zombie earlier on, pinning it against the window frame. Its head was framed by the top step and I used this as a target, I leant into it with my shoulder and pressed with all my bodyweight as I lifted the drill and got it spinning. It wriggled and pushed back, making it harder to keep in place and I knew I only had one chance. I punched forward, with the drill already spinning, towards its head. As I did, the thing ducked its head to the side and I sent the drill right into the kitchen window. It shattered as soon as I drove the drill into it and glass rained down on us with an almighty bang.

  I cursed and dropped the ladders, being forced back by the falling glass. The thing pushed forward and I used my body to keep the steps between us as we turned, shielding my face from the glass. We fell into the car, the thing sandwiched between the car and the ladders, leaning right back over the bonnet, taking away some of its strength. The steps knocked my shins as the thing kicked out, thrashing its arms at the same time.