World Down: A Zombie Novel

by Walker, Callum Bennington Goldworth

  I marched up to him.

  “You’ve got five seconds to take that back you stupid shit!”

  I wasn't going to take any flak from him now. Something angered me about his comment, more than it should have. My mother could be dead, we were in the middle of a national emergency, and he joked about that?

  “Or what huh?” He said leaning up to me, haphazardly raising his chin. That did it for me. I grabbed his shirt and pulled forward to headbutt him, then I punched him in the face for good measure.

  “Ever say anything like that again, and I’ll knock your fucking lights out, grow the fuck up, you silly little shit.”

  “Blake, that's enough!” Thomas shouted.

  “Blake sit down, sleep, you're just stressed, we’re all stressed,” James advised.

  How could he say such a childish thing I thought, even in this situation, where the last time we even all saw our families could really have been the real last time we ever saw them.

  “What the fuck, Blake?” Jacob asked, looking perplexed, as if defending myself with force was off limits. My head felt funny, like I’d hit a wall.

  “Mason hasn’t grown up since year five,” Hussain commented as I walked off.

  There were some more arguments I couldn't care less about behind me as I sat to my bed. It was a small mattress, folded out, with a rough blanket to keep me warm. I slept, for how long I didn't know. It was a nice sleep, rough but calm, unlike the day I’d had on that motorway.

  I woke up to the singing and laughter of the other squads tent. But to my surprise it was night, dark outside, and I could hear trucks entering camp and the wailing of a child from the other side of the dreaded train station.

  I turned over to sleep, but couldn't doze off again. Something wasn’t letting me, so I rose up and found all of them, Hussain, Jake, James, Jacob, Maddison and Mason, all awake, aside from Thomas, whispering to each other from their beds.

  Jacob and Mason were playing cards with Hussain, while Jake and Maddison were gossiping to each other. James lay on his bed near me on his phone, not that he had internet.

  “Can't sleep, can you?” I asked them. Maddison and Jake looked to me, while the trio of card players had their eyes fixed to their decks.

  “Can’t on a night like this, there was a kerfuffle in the car park earlier, Richard’s men dragged this guy away, seconds later we heard a gunshot go off,” said James.

  “You think he killed someone?” I asked. They shrugged their shoulders and looked away as I rubbed my eyes.

  “I cant stop thinking about what I saw earlier today,” said Maddison.

  “What did you see?” I asked her.

  “these people that are infected, I’ve never seen such rapid growth of infection. It spreads like nothing I’ve ever seen before, it can take hours to completely cover the skin with growths of flesh that ooze blood and pus and water. It's bloody awful.”

  “Sounds like you're traumatized,” I said to her. She breathed out a sigh and then looked to Mason. “Then I had to see to that muppet over there, with his head, you did quite some damage to him.”

  “Yeah, thanks for that Lively,” Mason spoke. I thought of my family then, my dad, my sisters, my mom. I wondered if they were safe, what they were doing, if they slept well with a nice roof over their heads.

  “Blake, why are we moving to the airport tomorrow?” Jake asked, pulling me from my thoughts. “Thomas likes to take you with him in his meetings with the lieutenant.”

  “Important visitor from the capital,” I told him.

  “The capital?” Maddison questioned.

  “London's a hell zone right? Who the hell could it be?” Wondered Jacob.

  “We don't know that for certain,” I said to him. “No, he's right, I heard voices on the radio, it's gone to shit man,” Jake informed me with a hopeless tone.

  There was silence in the tent, for a brief moment at last, until Mason slammed his card down and won the game with a king card.

  “That's the double U for Mason!” He shouted in victory.

  I looked back to my bed, still warm and cosy, if albeit not my own bed at home. “I’m tired,” I said before I lay back down on my side, blankets covering my arms.

  “I want my dog,” James announced his presence from his bed. “Josephine.”

  “Jesus,” I said under my breath.

  “What the fuck?” Hussain turned back to him.

  “Your dog's name is Josephine?” Asked Jacob.

  “Yes. She is. And she's the most beautiful little terrier you'll ever meet,” Jake interrupted them. Jake being James' brother, of course they’d love the same dog.

  “Doubt that,” Mason quipped.

  “Shut up,” James ordered.

  “I wonder if I'll ever see her again,” Jake pondered to himself sadly.

  Maddison reassured him with a hug. “You will,” she said.

  “What about you Blake then. Don't you have a pet?” James asked me from his cocooned blanketed bed.

  “Yeah. Charles, he's my, erm… Cat!” I said to him.

  “How olds he now?” Asked Jake.

  “Nine. He's a good little companion. Would follow me everywhere when we first got him,” I told them both.

  “We? You mean your mom and dad?” Mason spoke, trying to belittle me. “At least I have a mom and dad who actually care about me,” I raised my voice at him.

  “Go on, tell us about him,” prodded Maddison, hinting at me to continue. She probably loved cats.

  “Yeah,” I said with a reminiscent smile. “He's a special guy. He'd always do this thing when we first got him. Every time I would wake up to go to school, he'd be there. Sitting opposite me, curled up on the pillow. Purring and snoring to himself, opening half a bruised eyelid to me, all cute and adorable. It was one of the things I'd always look forward to. Then when we all left the house, he'd be moaning and howling.”

  They all laughed. It was a nice moment, in contrast to everything else.

  “It was heart-breaking really. Listening to him crying as we walked away. Should have closed the windows, that's what I always told myself. I never did. I liked hearing my Charles one last time. Before I went out into the,” I paused before continuing. “The big bad world.”

  “That's a cool story bro. But cats can't cry,” Jacob said before turning over in his bed.

  “That's not the best part,” I said. “When I would get back from college. There would be this neat string of toys from his basket, laid on my bed. His little toys. And somewhere near them would be him, sleeping or running around all excited to see me.”

  “Aw!” Squealed Maddison and Jake.

  “Took him to the vets and they said he had separation anxiety. That he liked to keep his toys close when we weren't there.”

  “Wow. That's cute,” said Hussain.

  “Yeah. My Charles,” I whispered lightly.

  “One day I would love to see him!” Maddison exclaimed, just as Mason groaned from his side of the tent.

  “You will, hopefully, one day,” I said to her.

  She flashed a smile and leapt to her quarters. “Goodnight then,” she said to me.

  “Your sleeping?” Said James.

  “Yep,” she said lying down.

  “Goodnight,” I replied, smiling back at her.

  As I turned over, I couldn't keep the smile off my face. I thought, she likes me.

  “Goodnight!” A girlish voice cried out in the tent. It was Mason, being Mason. The tent sniggered and laughed with him.

  “Where's my goodnight Blake?” Jacob then asked in a wuss voice. I leaned across the floor for my boot and threw it at him, silencing their mickey taking for the night. I dreamt in my sleep of a long night full of fire and noise. The sky was set aflame, burnt with not a star in sight. It was hell, burning so much, the roar of the flames masking great explosions in the distance. There was no one here, I thought, until the silhouette of a man on his knees was revealed at the foot of the colossal fire, a toy bear in his
right hand, clutching it with half a care, as it slipped from his fingers and fell to fire beside him.

  I woke then, feeling the fresh morning air and a bitter cold breeze from the camp. I was fine and well and thank goodness for it. Whatever that weird dream was, I escaped it and resumed my old nightmare.

  “Rise and shine sleepy head,” James said to me as I raised my head. He was tying his laces on his boots.

  I quickly dressed in my military attire and donned my helmet and boots. Fetching my rifle from under my bed, I walked out to camp. The trucks were loading up.

  “Blake!” Thomas shouted my name. He came rushing over. “Blake, it's my mom, she's at the airport, she texted me, look,” he whipped out his phone from his pocket and showed me his messages.

  The messages read as follows.

  “Son, I’m safe, I’m at the airport, they want me to help with air traffic, half the staff are not here. Malorie is here with her husband too.”

  “I thought the internet was down?” I told him.

  “No, they got it back for a few moments early morning,” he said.

  Last text was sent last night at 3:16 AM. There were no other messages from her. Malorie was James and Jake's mother.

  “Malorie,” I said under my breath. I looked to Thomo. “Have you told Jake and James?”

  “Yeah, they say they haven't heard from them. James has tried calling and calling but no answer,” he said.

  “They want us to go now,” he then told me, glancing to the busy operation around us. I grabbed his arm.

  “Let's go then,” I said.

  As we walked to the vehicles, we noticed Hussain and Maddison, huddling together. She was comforting him.

  “What is it?” I asked. Before they could answer, some meathead with sunglasses on in October jumped across the car park like he was a swan.

  “Shake’s is afraid of a little blood, pussy hole!” He said, with a cocky smile, to Hussain I figured.

  “Hey! Take off the shades dickhead, middle of October,” I shouted over as he walked away, no one was going to say that to my mate. Although I must admit, it was really bad timing, as a host of soldiers from his platoon appeared out of nowhere to back the bully up.

  “Pussy’s got a boyfriend, that's sweet,” said Sunglasses as he came back for more.

  “You think he's a pussy for what he did, for what we do? You can manage death so easily, can you?” I asked him, bringing the tone of the confrontation to a less heated one.

  “Course, I'm no dumb pussy boy mate,” he said in a northern accent, bringing a bout of laughter from his friends.

  I stepped forward. “If you can get one of your boyfriends hiding behind you to say they can manage death without blinking, go into that medic post and look around at the death and the misery and the despair, then come back out and be fine with it, you’re either all full of shit, or your all psychopaths.”

  They fell silent. My words appearing to have moved them.

  “I’ve seen worse than you and your boyfriend, back off mouth,” he then said jumping up to his jeep.

  “It’s ok to be not ok with this shit.”

  I stopped myself for a brief moment, before finishing with a belated sigh.

  Sunglasses nodded, and then clapped his gloved hands together sarcastically. "Nice speech, pussy.”

  “Come on,” Thomas grabbed my shoulder, pulling me away. They weren't worth it.

  “What's got you like this?” I asked Hussain, he was still huddled down with Maddison.

  “I had a dream last night, a nightmare, about those people on the motorway,” he whispered.

  I sighed a deep sigh, remembering the horrifying bodies and melted faces. “Forget about that, your Hussain, your my friend, don't be plagued by shit like that,” I said to him while helping him up. “On your feet, we've a long day to take your mind off that.”

  We made our way to the trucks.

  “All aboard,” Mason joked as we jumped on the back. It was a five-minute journey on semi deserted streets. The monorail above us the station carried personnel from the airport to the camps at the train station, all the while churning and making machinery noises.

  When we arrived through a great fenced gate at the back of the airport, we finally found HQ.

  Hundreds of tents lay about outside terminals. A dozen helicopters flew in the sky, whizzing and whirling above us. A section of the runway had been used as a medic post, and the airport terminals had been repurposed as safe zones. While hangers that had been used to repair planes were now used as barracks for the command.

  As we stepped off the truck and put our boots on the ground of the runway. We saw countless body bags on the concrete floor near the fields surrounding the airport tower.

  But something else caught my eye, as civilians were being carried in through the fence.

  “Wait, is that?” I spoke aloud to Hussain and Thomas. I saw someone. Someone familiar on a truck about to leave. It was my mom. I couldn't be sure, but she looked like she was in a medical gown.

  “Mom!” I called, and she turned around, revealing that it was in fact her.

  “Blake?” She spoke. She looked so surprised, and so happy too. She ran and jumped off the truck to hug me.

  “Mom! What are you doing here? Where's dad, where's Jess?” I asked her, fearing the worst. If she was here, it could only mean they were gone.

  “They're safe, they're alright,” she said, which was a great relief.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked her.

  “I’m volunteering, like you,” she answered hopefully. Something about that answer didn't sit right with me. She then walked back to the truck with me.

  “Shouldn't you be with them?” I asked. “Lily? She will be upset?”

  “Don't worry about them,” she told me with a smile. “I’m so glad your ok.”

  “We’re moving out!” A soldier on the truck said as she was helped on. He tapped his hand on the side of the door to tell the driver to go. “What? Wait!” I told them as I grabbed the truck with my hands.

  “Private, we have orders, please take your hands off the vehicle,” one of them said.

  “It's ok,” mom said. “I’ll be at the medic facility, just over there” she said, as I let go. “It's going to be fine Blake! I love you,” she shouted, as the jeep wheeled away to the hangers.

  “Blake, come on,” I heard Thomas say from behind me.

  “I’m coming,” I franticly said, but I couldn't take my eyes off her, as she moved further and further away from me.

  Refuge - Day 9 - Rich

  Me, Jess, Lily, Gareth and Mike were together and ok, but there was no telling where it was safe and where it wasn't. We’d slept overnight in the car in a random field. It was safe here, but we had no food, no water, and no electricity, and all of our phones were dead. I still couldn’t believe Sarah had left her children alone. Did she even know that Linda was gone?

  “What are we doing here?” Asked Jess from the back seat.

  “Hiding, we could go home?” I proposed.

  “Dad,” Jess spoke gently from the back seat. I pulled out an old road map from my glove compartment and unrolled it. “We need to find somewhere out in the country, somewhere with food and water, not a lot of people, and maybe a generator of sorts,” I said with concern.

  I folded it over to see the entire Midlands.

  “Hotels,” said Gareth.

  “Yeah, there's hotels near the airport not far from here,” I responded, knowing the number of hotels and whatnot near here. Mike and Lily came back from their toilet break in the woods. They were both very distraught with Linda’s death, it was understandable, they were children. I worried about her. She’d been silent all yesterday.

  “There's a fishing company out in Warwickshire,” Gareth said in excitement as they jumped in.

  “In the countryside. Maybe we should head there,” he added.

  “I only have enough fuel for thirty miles at best,” I told him. “I’d rather
not waste it all on one journey when that journey might not be worth it.”

  “What about Susie?” Said Jess. I remembered Susie, Susie Davies, she was her best friend from primary school.

  “She's at home, in Stockley,” Gareth informed us in an uneasy tone.

  “We should go to her, she lives on a damn farm,” Jess insisted.

  “Ok,” I said, putting the sat nav coordinates in. “You know where it is when we get there, yes?”

  “Yes,” they both answered. We bumped on the grass driving back to the road to make our way to Sheldon. I turned the radio on. I was bored of the silence of the car, it was deafening.

  “Day three of the London evacuation. The prime minister has called for further caution and urged hope as hospitals break down and our streets become warzones. We are truly living in historic times, only a week after the riots that tore our nation in two, we face an epidemic of exceedingly catastrophic results.”

  “Do we have to have that on?” Asked Gareth in a petulant tone.

  “Yes, we do,” I answered, with an angry glance in my rear-view mirror. I changed the channel to a more public friendly network.

  “I saw the bridge, I saw the military fire at some innocent people,” said someone on the radio. “It's wrong, it's messed up, they ain't never done nothing to them, it's unjust, it's crazy.”

  Whatever they were covering on that channel sounded intense. I was glad I was far away from wherever that was. The report came back to the studio presenter.

  “We're just getting news now that the daily death toll has reached 123,456 with unconfirmed reports that this figure could be much higher,” her surprisingly calm voice announced. “Seventeen of our reporters have fallen victim to the illness thus far and all of them have sadly died."

  We drove past empty parks and houses, and a handful of busy cars. I turned off the radio as we came near to the neighbourhood Susie lived in.

  “It's around here, somewhere,” muttered Jess.

  I looked through the windows of some of the houses as we passed by. They were lifeless, soulless, one person even shut their curtains in haste, until finally we passed a red barn and many bales of hay, we were close.