I then turned to my left to see the backs of the two ghouls that were desperate to get into my kitchen, at Clare. I hesitated slightly, shitting a brick, but then managed to grow some balls within a few seconds and took out the nearest one. I brought the crowbar on top of its head and the metal tool smashed into the skull, immediately making it drop to the floor, next to its three other ghouls who Clare and I had killed earlier with the short-lived steak-knife-weapon that was lying next to them on the floor.
The remaining one turned around and took one step forward. I gazed at it and lowered my crowbar. I furrowed my brow in thought when I glared at the thing. I suddenly recognised who it used to be.
In human form it used to be Jeremy Bateman, a schoolteacher from the end of my street. It was dressed in a cream, blood-stained dressing gown and had nothing on its feet. Jeremy was a family man, married with three young boys. I hoped that his family were safe, but feared the worst.
Snapping out of my short daydream, my eyes widened and raised the crowbar. Jeremy was dead, and had been dead for many hours, I guessed. I blew out my cheeks and used all my strength to destroy this thing with just the one strike.
As I brought the crowbar down onto Jeremy’s head, I closed my eyes. I knew if this were a human being, there would be more of a chance of spreading blood. But these things were already dead, and their blood was thicker, making the mess a lot less devastating than if I was performing this action on a normal person.
I opened my eyes to see the crowbar stuck inside the zombie’s head. I pulled at it and the bloodied tool came free once the thing fell to its knees and then went face down, smacking the concrete slabs. I wiped the crowbar on the lawn, and went to check the gate again. It was time to move the cupboard against it.
Still wearing my black jogging bottoms and black T-shirt, I took off my shades that never had a single speck of blood on them, and I went into the downstairs bathroom to wash my hands in the sink. Clare and Kelly gave me a hand with the tall cupboard, and placed the reasonably heavy furniture against the gate in case another mini invasion should take place in the near future.
Once that was done, I dragged the bodies that were near the kitchen window and dumped them by the tree where Abbie lay.
There were six bodies by the tree in all, and a part of me wanted to burn the bodies, but I feared that doing it would be like letting a flare off for the dead, telling them exactly where we were. Not only would it have been a stupid thing to do as far as the safety of myself, Kelly and Clare were concerned, other residents in the vicinity could also suffer if they turned up in their dozens ... hundreds, even.
After I had shut the patio door and locked it, I put down the roller blind to the floor, covering the whole door, and slumped on the couch. “I need a drink.”
“Tea?” said Clare.
I shook my head. “Beer. But I better wash my hands first.”
Chapter Thirty
Noticing my iPhone sitting on the docking station, Kelly spoke and nodded over to the phone, “Once the electrics go, ye can kiss tha’ thing goodbye.”
“I know,” was my response. “I don’t really want to think about that just yet.”
“Could I possibly use ye phone. If I go on my Facebook account I can get in contact with my family.”
“Of course you can. Help yourself.”
Kelly picked up the phone and spent fifteen minutes playing with it, smiling to herself, sometimes crying a little, and occasionally releasing a chortle. I assumed she was contacting her friends and family, but I never asked her and respected her privacy.
Once she put the phone down, she turned to Clare and I. We were both sitting on the couch, trying to read Kelly’s face.
At last, an excited-looking Kelly said, “Right, guys. Listen up.” Kelly straightened her ‘Easy Tiger’ T-shirt and we both waited what the rotund woman had to say. “I’ve just been chatting to my brother on Facebook. He runs ... used to run a junior football team. He lives a mile away and he, his wife, and two sons are comin’ to pick me up in the mini bus tha’ they used to use for the football team. There’s room for ye guys, if ye want it.”
Clare stood to her feet, her smile was wide like The Joker. “That’s excellent.”
Both women hugged each other and Clare made that excited squeal that only a woman could make and get away with. They both turned to see my reaction and their smiles slowly evaporated once they saw that my facial expression hadn’t altered one bit.
“Oh, what’s the matter with ye?” Kelly seemed annoyed that my glum features were ruining the ‘happy’ moment. “Ye look like someone’s just shat on your toast.”
I asked, “Where’s this brother of yours going to go with this mini bus?”
“I dunno,” Kelly laughed. “Who cares, so long as he gets us out o’ here.”
“Here. You mean this secure house with electricity, food and water?”
“Jim reckons there’s friends of his hiding out in the mall at Tenwood. It’d be perfect.”
“The mall?” I began to laugh. “Don’t you watch the movies?” I went into the cupboard and pulled out two old DVDs. “Which version do you want to watch? The 1978 movie, or the 2004 remake?”
“Yes, yes, I know. I’ve seen them both. I’ve seen more o’ those films than you’ve had hot dinners.” Kelly seemed unimpressed with my negative attitude. “I’ve seen Jaws as well, but it didn’t stop me from swimmin’ in the sea.”
I was too exasperated at Kelly for her stupidity and waved her away. “Well, you do what you want, but I won’t be going with you. It’s too dangerous.”
Clare said to me, “Just think about it. That mall has food shops, clothes—”
“My brother reckons his friends have already secured the building,” Kelly jumped in. “Nothing’s gonna get in. It’s electronically locked.”
I laughed mockingly, “He ... reckons it’s secured. He doesn’t know.”
“Ye can be a miserable prick if ye want, but we’re going.”
I looked at Clare and her face looked apologetic, but it appeared that both girls had decided it was time to leave, now that a supposed-better option had turned up.
I knew there was no talking to Kelly, so my attention turned to Clare. “So does this mall have water; water coolers even? Kelly says that the doors are electronically locked. So what happens if the national grid goes down? How would you keep secure, warm? How would you put fuel in the mini bus with no electricity? What do you think the pumps run on, solar power?”
I could almost see the doubt leaking into Clare’s mind, but she seemed more annoyed than thankful that I was adding some reality to this ‘dream’ of theirs.
All she wanted was a bit of hope, and here I was, pissing all over it.
“Well, I’m going,” Clare said adamantly, “whatever happens.”
“Fine.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I wish you all the luck in the world. You’re going to need it.”
“Right,” Kelly clapped her hands together, “he’s comin’ in an hour.”
We sat down on my leather couch, all three of us cupping our hot cups of tea that I had made earlier, the beer never happened. We remained in silence, and although it seemed that I was going to be getting the house all to myself again, I was a little angry with Clare. I felt a little used, but I also kind of liked her if I’m telling the truth.
It seemed insane to leave a secure house, but Kelly’s talk of leaving for a better place had convinced Clare she’d be safer. She was still in shock after the reanimation and then the destruction of Abbie, but that was an isolated incident compared to what could have happened out there if an individual were on foot and had nowhere to go.
I was sitting in the middle of the girls and looked both ways and could see that Kelly was excited to be leaving, but Clare was a little apprehensive. I think overall she thought that leaving would be in her best interests, but seeds of doubt had been planted, and I think that I was partly responsible for that.
The TV was off. The
main channels weren’t working anymore, but I still had Netflix if ever I wanted to finish off my Dexter series.
I looked at my watch. It was twenty minutes before the girls got picked up. I sighed angrily. I had started this nightmare alone, but was beginning to like the company, and now they were being taken away from me.
To the side of me I heard an intake of breath from Kelly and she said, “Ye can still come with us.” I could feel her eyes on me, but I never looked back. “I know it’s ye house, but I think this would be for the best, for all of us.”
I never answered her verbally; I remained sitting and shook my head.
Added Kelly, “I do appreciate ye takin’ me in, ye know. I just feel this would be better in the long term.”
“You want to be with your family,” I said, “I can understand that.”
“I’d love it if you came with us. I’d feel safer if you came.” This time it was Clare’s turn. “You’re not afraid to kill them. You proved that with Abbie and her brother, and they were just children.”
I shook my head in disagreement. “I wish you all the best, girls. I really do. But I’m here for the long haul.”
“At least give me ye number,” Kelly spoke. “In case ye change ye mind. I’ll also let ye know when we get there, to give ye piece o’ mind.”
I nodded and we swapped numbers, but she gave me her brother’s because she had no phone. I thought that it would also be good to keep in contact with Clare as well, to see how she was getting on.
“Friend request my brother,” Kelly added. “We can message one another and I can give ye our location if things change.”
As soon as I did this, I heard a hoot of a horn.
“Shit, he’s early.” Kelly stood to her feet and pecked me on the cheek. “Time to offski.”
Chapter Thirty-One
“You two ready?”
Both Clare and Kelly nodded to answer my question.
I opened the front door and peered out to see the bus outside with three of the dead slowly shambling at the end of the street. They were many yards away and I said to the girls, “It’s pretty much clear. Best of luck.”
I opened the door and Kelly and Clare left quickly, with Clare managing a small appreciative smile at me before she bolted for the minibus. I didn’t even see if they had got into the bus safely. I just shut my front door, then turned the lock on it.
I walked into the living room, picked up the three half-cups of tea, and walked to the kitchen to rinse the cups out. I was alone again, and I was feeling sorry for myself.
I walked back into the main living room and peered behind the roller blind into my back garden. Apart from the corpses by the tree, everything else appeared to be ... well, normal ... ish.
Quickly plagued with boredom, I walked out of the living room into the old living room—which used to be the main living room before I had the extension to the house. I peered out of the blinds and saw a few of the things roaming about, but that was pretty much it. There was nothing else out there to feel any kind of threat. I walked away from the blinds and remained in the old living room—or the back room—and I lay on the futon.
My head was banging—dehydration, maybe—and I had to close my eyes. What I didn’t envisage was that my body was so exhausted, I somehow managed to have a power nap. It was a power nap that my body needed, but with sleep comes dreams, and I had a terrible one.
In the dream I was lying on the futon, but I struggled to get up as if my back had been glued to the piece of furniture. And that wasn’t the end of it. I could hear the front door being rattled. The noise got louder and louder, and then a minute later I heard the door give way.
In normal circumstances I would have shot off of my couch, but I could hardly move. I then heard bodies clumsily spill into the reception area. I could hear faint groaning and the sound of feet dragging on my laminate floor. I thought to myself that there must have been three or four inside, and I made another desperate attempt to get off the futon, but to no avail. Then my heart jumped once the back room door gently swung open as the first one entered the room.
It used to be a female, bloated, bruised, and looked like it had already been feeding by the state of its face. It had a dressing gown on but the clothing was open and not tied, which revealed her overweight features as well as her large, drooping breasts that, like the rest of her body, were an unhealthy colour.
She was followed in by a child. It was seven, no less, and immediately headed towards me. I managed to push the thing over reasonably easy, but an excruciating pain could be felt in my right thigh as the woman’s teeth sank in and tore out a generous mouth full of bloody meat. I screamed in pain, but was ignored as she took a bite out of my stomach, just below the belly button.
Others shambled into the room, but I had woken up by then.
As soon as I woke up, my hands felt for my non-existent wounds. A smile developed on my face once my brain had registered that it had been a dream, and for a few seconds I was sure that the whole episode had been a dream. I walked over to the back room window and peered out.
It wasn’t a dream. It was really happening.
Although I was glad to be alive, I was disappointed that the whole zombie apocalypse was real. Before I had the chance to fall into a pit of depression, I was startled to hear an unusual sound coming from the living room.
I scrunched my eyes in confusion and then realised the futuristic sound was my ringtone from my mobile phone. I walked out of the back room and through the hall to get to the living room to see my phone sitting on the docking station.
I looked at my watch. I’d been out for twenty minutes. I guessed that the call was coming from Kelly’s brother’s phone, but it wasn’t Kelly that was on the other line.
Once I picked up the phone, I could hear Clare’s voice.
She was hysterical.
Chapter Thirty-Two
I took out my house keys out of the front door and peered out. It was reasonably clear, with the exception of a few zombies that could be cleared and outrun pretty easily. Despite feeling my bowels loosening, I left my place and began to run along my road.
Kelly’s brother had been carjacked, which meant that Kelly and Clare were on the grid-locked motorway, on foot. No one was allowing them into their vehicle for a safe refuge.
The beginning of the motorway was only a mile away, but I had already arranged to meet Clare and Kelly halfway, as they were heading back to my house on foot.
Clare had told me that Kelly’s brother had been dragged out of the minibus and beaten up by some men while his kids screamed inside the vehicle. Her brother and her family were taken in by a man driving a BMW, but there was clearly no room for Clare and Kelly, so her brother borrowed them his phone to call me.
Chapter Thirty-Three
I took the crowbar with me and managed to get out of my street with no fuss. The only thing that concerned me a little was that I had attracted the attention of a couple of deadheads, but at the pace I was going, they eventually slipped away from view.
I wasn’t the fittest, but the adrenaline seemed to be getting me through this little unplanned, physical mission I had been given.
At last, I could see the girls in the distance. The road that we were on was devoid of life, and I could count on one hand how many vehicles went past by the time the girls and I had reached the end of it, together. We all hugged wordlessly, and headed back to my house.
We turned into my street without uttering a word to one another and kept on walking. Kelly was in tears; Clare looked shell-shocked, and I finally asked Kelly, “Is your brother and his family safe?”
Kelly nodded. “I’m glad he managed to get in tha’ car. The kids were hysterical. Nobody else would let Clare and I in their vehicle.”
I added, “But Clare said the motorway is grid-locked.”
“Nothing’s movin’. We should ‘ave listened to ye.” It sounded like the last sentence pained Kelly, but I was in no mood or position to say ‘I tol
d you so,’ I was just pleased that they were still alive, especially Clare.
We saw two ghouls ahead in my street and, although out of breath, we managed to avoid them easily. I could see a fair few at the end of my road, but fortunately we didn’t need to run that far to get back to my digs.
We ran past a few cars and we crossed the road to get to my side of the street. My right hand was beginning to get clammy and I could feel the crowbar slipping through my palm. I swapped the weapon to my left hand and reached the pavement. We were only a matter of yards away from my house.
I looked around the whole area to see that there was at least a dozen in all. God knows how many in the town, in the country, even! There were also many front doors left ajar, which gave me the impression some had got inside, and there were more in the street from what my eyes could see.
My feet began to stop once my eyes clocked two of them on my drive. One was stumbling around, as if it had no clue why it was there. The other one looked like a female from the back and appeared to be staring, or at least trying, through the frosted pane of the front door. I gestured with my hand for the girls to keep back while I dealt with the problem.
The stumbler headed my way as soon as it saw me, followed quickly by the other one. My two-handed strike to its head was brutal and as it fell, the embedded crowbar went with it. I tried to pull it free and it eventually did.
Before I could take down Z no.2—the starer, I heard a scream come from behind me. Kelly had fallen over with one of them on top of her. I was torn between dealing with The Starer and killing Kelly’s attacker. I went over to Kelly and tried to pull the fiend off of her, but her screaming was attracting others as well as The Starer who was heading our way.
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