Dead World Rising (Book 1): Staying Human

by Petrova, Katerina

  'Where are you from Andi?' I could not help but ask, if there was even the slightest chance that I could find anything out about Nikkita I had to try.

  'I'm from Rosslyn in Scotland, when the outbreak first happened I went to Ripon to find my brother Bob. Bin with the old sod ever since,' she gave Bob a wry smile.

  'Being with you all these years hasn't been a picnic either woman,' he replied drily.

  I could not help but laugh at their humour, they were amusing people. I couldn't be sure as to whether Rosslyn was near to where Nikkita was, but I still had to ask.

  'I don't suppose you ever met a woman called Nikkita on your travels?' My heart began to race, I was fearful of the answer.

  Andi sat for a moment thinking, then her face lit up with recognition.

  'Tall girl, long hair?' She asked.

  'Yes that's her, do you know where she is?' I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. 'Last time we saw her she was in Leeds, trying to get back to her girlfriend. Though I'm not sure if she's still alive, we got trapped in a factory neighbourhood surrounded by dead ones. She made us leave her so that we could get away.'

  Andi looked sad as she told me the story, while I wanted to feel angry towards them for leaving her I knew that Nikkita would do anything to save people, even if that meant sacrificing herself.

  'If she is dead, I'm glad she died a hero.'

  I could not help but let the tears fall, while I had always hoped that she would still be alive the relief of knowing the truth was better than not knowing.

  Andi saw my tears and put her arm round me, Bob looked sympathetic.

  'You're Frankie, aren't you?' Asked Bob.

  'Yes,' I replied wiping away the tears.

  'We were with her for a while, she talked about you often. She missed you,' I was thankful for their compassion though it did little to ease my pain.

  We threw the dead bodies out back and locked the doors, we sat down in the living room and ate what food we had. We patched up the house and covered the windows and doors with sheets that we'd found in the bedrooms, there were three bedrooms in this house so we were fortunate enough to have a room each. This house was quite old, it looked like it had been frozen in the 1980's. Though it did have a cosy feel to it, I knew that I wouldn't stay here too long.

  I wondered how long Andi and Bob would be here for, for now I was just happy to have some company. We all took a room and I was glad to find that everything upstairs was still intact and untouched, I took the largest room which overlooked the garden.

  I took a moment to admire the view outside, clearly this house had once been a child's home. There was an old worn out swing set and see-saw in the garden, Emma would have loved this I thought sadly. The grass was still hard and icy, I wondered how long this cold spell would last for.

  Waking the next morning after having disturbed sleep I felt tired and a bit grumpy. Bob snored very loudly, it drove me nuts putting a pillow over my head did nothing to drown out the noise. I went downstairs to find Andi sat in the kitchen by herself, like the rest of the house the kitchen was in a severe state of disrepair. I pulled one of the tall metal bar stools from under the counter and sat down, I took out my half jar of peanut butter and began to dig in.

  'Morning,' said Andi, also looking very tired.

  'Did Bob's snoring keep you up as well?' I asked with as much politeness as I could muster. 'Always does, you get used to it after a while,' she replied sounding far too chirpy. 'I don't know how you put up with it, I nearly went in there and shoved a pillow over his head,' I said a bit too grumpily.

  We sat and talked for a while before Bob came trudging down the stairs, he had very loud footsteps. I rubbed my eyes in a hope that it would help wake me up, it was times like this when I missed coffee.

  'Morning all, how did you sleep?' He said cheerfully.

  'Terrible, man your snoring could wake the dead,' I replied laughing at the irony of what I'd said.

  Bob gave a hearty chuckle as he said 'Yeah sorry bout that, haven't been able to find any of those nose strips.'

  Darn it, I wished I'd known I saw some in a chemist back in Ashton I thought feeling annoyed with myself.

  'How do you handle having to sleep outside, doesn't your snoring attract the walkers?' I asked feeling curious.

  Andi chuckled at my question and poor Bob just kinda sat there looking embarrassed.

  'Fortunately we haven't had to sleep outside yet, we've always found somewhere to sleep,' she smiled at me as if I'd cracked a good one. I sat back in my chair thinking about what to do, I could go with Bob and Andi if I wanted to but I'd promised Cameron I'd get to his wife. It was a tough choice but in the end I decided to go and find Cameron's wife, I'd promised him I would and I wasn't one for breaking promises.

  I spent a few days with Andi and Bob trying to convince them to come with me, in turn they tried to get me to go with them. As it turned out they had children in the south and they had to find out if they were alive, I could understand why they had to go but I feared that in this decaying world I would never see them again.

  I told them of the house I had come from, and that there was still be food in the cupboards. They graciously thanked me before continuing on their journey. I told them where I would be in case they changed their mind.

  This world was far too dangerous for people to be alone, I could only hope that Cameron's wife was still alive. Cameron had said there was six others in the cellar, though Greenfield was more of a village than a town.

  There was only one supermarket and no town hall or bus station, I had been there once before the apocalypse though I doubted I would be able to easily find Cameron's house. I tried to remember what the village looked like and all I could remember was the supermarket and the pub next door to it, I sighed as I tried to picture more but was unable to.

  I really hoped I would see Andi and Bob again, they were good people and in this world there were too few good people left. Despite my problems with other groups I'd come across I really hoped to find a group of people that hadn't been turned cruel and nasty by this world, though all the ones I'd come across never seemed to last long.

  I kept dreaming though, for it was my dreams and hope that got me through each day and stopped me from killing myself.

  Chapter 7

  Frankie

  I once again carried on with my mission to get to Greenfield, I felt that with each passing day the chances of me finding these survivors was dwindling. I took Cameron's wedding ring out my pocket and looked at the shiny silver band 'with love, Jade' read the inscription. I hoped that I could find his wife alive. One thing I always stuck to was keeping my promises, I would get there even if it killed me.

  Worst case scenario was that they were all dead, though I prayed that it would not be the case. I came across a pub on the left hand side of the road, it seemed to be in pretty good condition it wasn't burned like most of the buildings on this road. I looked up at the sign 'The Farrar's' it read. I heard nothing from inside as I walked by, my bag was still quite full from all the supplies I still had. So I felt I that I had no need to investigate.

  It seemed the further into the countryside I got the cleaner the air was, back in the large town's and cities the air was still very polluted not here though, here the air was fresh and clean. I could smell nature, while in my old life I had never been a fan of going outside in this life I had found a new appreciation for the earth and its creatures.

  I came to a sharp right turn in the road, I remembered that Cameron had said the house was near a canal on a row with only a few houses on. I walked round the corner and under a bridge, I came to a cross road and didn't know which way to go. I could see a small bridge and the canal underneath, I had to decide quickly as it was getting late in the afternoon and I didn't want to be without shelter come nightfall.

  To the left I could see a long row of houses, the canal ran behind them. Looking to the right I could see a church and another set of houses with a lon
g road leading past the houses, straight in front of me there was the bridge and a dirt road that led to an even smaller row of maybe ten houses.

  As I thought about which way to go, I decided to find somewhere to haul up for the night. I went down the left street, it was very long and quite a wide street. The street sign read 'Shawhall Bank' I could not remember if Cameron said it was this was the right street, though I do remember him saying the road had the word 'bank' at the end.

  As I walked down the deserted street I could see that before the outbreak it was a beautiful place to live. The houses had big front gardens with flowers in, though they were long since dead. The street was so quiet it felt eerie, there were no animals wandering around, no walkers in sight it was like this place had been completely forgotten.

  I recognised the road I was on, if I carried on walking in this direction I would come to the pub and the supermarket, though this knowledge did not help me to find where I needed to go.

  It seemed strange that this place had been completely abandoned in every place I had passed on my way to here there was always a few people still around, I wondered whether or not it was a good thing.

  I checked a few of the houses along the road and found that inside they were too damaged to be used for shelter, one had missing floorboards from where people had used them as weapons, another house had a long since fallen family laying in their bed together.

  I could see the leftover Deadly Nightshade berries on the bedside table, I too had some in my bag. It was only to be used in extreme circumstances, when all hope was lost. Deadly Nightshade was a herb that could be used to kill yourself, for some reason it seemed to stop your brain from reanimating. I never could figure out why, though it did come in useful for those people who just couldn't cope with life as it was. I learned this after one my closest friends took it, I waited for two days for her to come back but she didn't. I don't know why it stopped you from coming back, maybe it put your brain into a coma as well as your body. Even in this world it was still reasonably accessible, it grew in a lot of forest areas and could sometimes be found on the side of the road.

  I wouldn't lie and say I've never thought about it, because I have but I didn't want to let my parents down. I understood the reason behind their choice, but they begged me to carry on. Given the fact that we had lost my brother a few weeks before all this started I didn't think they wanted to live with the loss of another child.

  I could not help but feel sad, this is what the human race had been reduced to, for so long we were the superior species no other life-forms could stand against us. To look at us now you would not think so, those that remained were either made inhuman by the events or too gentle to stand against the vile people that would take their supplies and often their lives.

  After walking for what felt like hours I came across a house that seemed to be untouched by the current state of anarchy. I peered in the windows and saw no signs of disruption, there was a thick layer of dust covering the furniture in front room. I did my usual routine of knocking on the open front door and waited for the familiar sounds of the undead.

  I waited but heard nothing from inside, I ventured into the living room to discover that for the most part things had been left undisturbed. I had to wonder whether or not the people who lived here had left as soon as things began.

  As I explored the rest of the house I noticed the peeling wallpaper, the dusty carpets and the old rotten food which was now home to many maggots, though I felt this house was safe enough to sleep in for at least one night it felt very cold as if it were lonely without inhabitants.

  I was thankful to discover that this house was never a child's home, I could do without seeing any more reminders of children for the time being. I found what looked like an old persons room, the old decayed body had been left to rot on the floor. I felt empathy for this person clearly her family had not been able to take her with them. I checked just to be sure that she was not just a sleeping zombie, though they did not keep to a long period of sleep like we do they still needed to shut down and recharge what was left of their brain power.

  Three and a half years after the outbreak I stayed with a group of army officers and scientists, we stayed in a mansion in Hyde and they were doing experiments to determine how the dead functioned. They had a basement where they kept a live walker, they set up video camera's in the room to monitor it. They found out that the undead did not sleep as such, they just rested.

  Part of their experiment was to see what would happen if they did not sleep and how long it took for the undead to starve to death. It was discovered that if it went went a month without sleep its body would decay at an accelerated rate, and would die without having to have it's brain destroyed.

  I had been with them for almost a year, it was the longest time I had ever spent with anyone. It only made their loss even more traumatic, the scientist had tried to come up with a cure but the place became overrun before they could get anywhere.

  Sadly when they caught their next test subject, they did not get time to find out how long it took for the dead to starve to death as the mansion became over run on day fourteen of their experiment, an officer named Eddie and I were the only survivors.

  Though he died a while later saving me from a group of slavers that had been scouting the area for fresh meat. I checked the dead woman and saw that she was just dead, there were tubes attached to her coming out of her arms. I saw the I.V bags attached to the metal stand, she must have been very ill. When this first started I would have been very horrified to see this woman left here like this.

  Now I understood, I would do the same thing if I knew I had some one with me who was seriously ill. I questioned for a moment as to why this woman wasn't a zombie, but as I looked around the room I saw the Deadly Nightshade berries on the dressing table.

  I buried the woman in the garden outside before settling down to eat a cold tin of hot dogs, I fortified the house before I collapsed on the bed letting the wave of exhaustion overtake me. I woke the next morning to discover that I was not alone in the house, I heard noises downstairs. Though they were not the noises of walkers, I readied my hammer as I crept down the stairs. I could hear voices coming from the kitchen. It sounded like there was at least three people in there, I listened closely in a hope to figure out whether they were good or bad.

  'This place looks like some one has fortified it,' said the first female. 'I know, I don't get it; this area has been abandoned for years. Why would anyone come here now?' Asked the second female.

  'I don't know, maybe they had the same idea as us,' the man had a very southern accent, maybe Cornwall.

  'Lets have a look around they could've left some stuff behind.' Listening closer the first woman had a Nottinghamshire accent. I had to decide what to do and fast, if they were coming upstairs I had to do something. Do I get out or do I confront them? They could be good or they could kill me. I was out numbered and alone, could they be from the house I'm looking for?

  I looked at the front door, I could not get to it without them hearing. I had no choice but to confront them.

  I went down the stairs and stood in the doorway to the kitchen.

  'What are you doing here, this my place,' I tried not to sound too threatening but I couldn't help it.

  They turned around to look at me, they didn't look like bad people but I couldn't be sure.

  'Sorry missus we didn't know, we are just looking for a place to stay for a few days,' said the man.

  'We didn't think anyone would be here, this place has been abandoned for years,' replied the woman with red hair.

  'Well I wasn't expecting to wake up and find anyone here, I'm staying here for a few days until I move on.' I still felt wary of them but I had to tread carefully in case they turned nasty. I sat and talked with them for a while, I found out that Dave was from Cornwall, Hayley the woman with the red hair was from Nottingham, and Izzy was from London. They had all met on the road, they shared their many stories with me and althou
gh I too shared my journey I did not tell them where I was heading.

  I couldn't figure out why but I had a bad feeling about them, Dave gave me the creeps. There was something really off about him, he just seemed very controlling with Hayley and Izzy. He kept calling them 'my pets' it was really unnerving.

  Dave was a large man with a predatory looking face, his white fuzzy hair and a long white beard made him look like santas evil brother. He had dark blue eyes and wore a black bobble hat that looked as if it was strangling his head, it appeared that unlike the girls he had not been short of food. He was only just taller than me and wore trousers that were too short in the leg, I felt uneasy around him.

  Hayley was a petite girl that was barely five foot, she was a quiet person that didn't speak out of turn. She had shoulder length red hair that she wore in French plait tied together with bright pink bow, she looked half starved and I wondered whether Dave had been stealing her food. Her clothes were miles too big for her, the dark blue jeans she wore would have fallen right off her had she not have been wearing a tight belt. Her skin was pale to the point that she looked ill, her grey eyes seemed to have sunk into her head.

  Izzy was a few inches taller than Hayley though she was still small, like Hayley she too looked seriously underfed. She had long brown hair that fell to the bottom of her back that was tied up in a ponytail, her big brown eyes were filled with a sorrow that touched my very soul. Her black leggings had many holes in and I could see a plaster over a small wound on her upper left leg, given that I did not see any black veins I wasn't worried.

  Both girls looked meek and timid, I wondered what they had been living with. As the days went by I became more and more uncomfortable with how Dave treated the girls, it was like they were his slaves and while he did not abuse them in front of me I suspected that he did when no one else was around.

  He told me that they were part of a large group, though he did not say where they were. If this was how the group allowed him to treat the girls I dreaded to think what everyone else was like, I'd heard of slave groups before and I had come across two. One was set up at Ryecroft Hall in Audenshaw, they collected woman and used them as slaves too.