by Hatchett
There was another zombie stuck behind the reception counter, grunting at them and gnashing its teeth, but the three ignored it.
“This is a waste of time,” Temel muttered, as he tried to open the door which led into the main part of the building. It rattled in its frame but didn’t open.
“Shit, need a code,” he muttered.
Emre and Umit followed as Temel marched across towards the reception desk and the zombie which was still there and still grunting. He leant forwards and stabbed it in the head then jumped over the counter into a room with half a dozen desks and filing cabinets with files and paper strewn all over the place. There was also a fair amount of dried blood.
There were two doors leading off the room; one to a kitchenette on one side and the other leading into the main corridor.
Temel carefully opened the unlocked door to the corridor and, after looking both ways and seeing no immediate danger, stepped across the threshold.
He saw that the corridor was roughly three metres wide and curved. The further along the corridor he looked, the darker it became and the less he could see until it eventually disappeared. However, it seemed like it ran the full length of the building, at least one hundred metres from one end to the other.
Temel spotted doors leading off the corridor all along its length and there was also a bank of lifts on either side of a wide staircase leading to the upper floor. He noticed a dozen or so zombies further down the corridor but didn’t consider them a problem.
Umit and Emre followed Temel into the space and took a good look around themselves.
“We trying the doors? Umit asked.
“Nah. Can’t see the point. Let’s go upstairs and see if it’s any different.”
Temel set off for the staircase, stabbing an inquisitive zombie which had appeared out of nowhere.
They took the stairs two at a time and came to a landing with a heavy fire door with a glass panel in the centre. As before, Temel took a quick look through the glass before opening the door and looking both ways. This corridor was much brighter than the one below because it had a glass roof letting in the dull light from outside.
It seemed that the first floor was pretty much identical to the ground floor, with doors leading off it at intervals. Again, he could see zombies wandering around, but again, it wasn’t a concern.
“Come on, let’s go search a few rooms then we can get back to the rest of them,” Temel said unenthusiastically.
He eased open the door and entered the corridor, Umit and Emre following behind.
“Which way?” Temel asked.
“Left,” Umit suggested, and they headed in that direction.
They didn’t notice the zombies at the far end of the corridor turn at their noise and start shuffling in their direction.
Temel slammed open the first door he came to and, seeing it was just another office, continued on and ignored the zombie which had been inside. He did the same to the next room he came to and the one after that.
“This is bloody pointless,” he said, stomping down the corridor and ignoring a few doors before coming to a stop.
They had moved around the curve far enough to see double doors at the far end. They couldn’t tell what was through the double doors, but it looked more promising.
“Come on, let’s take a look,” Temel suggested, and strode off at pace.
As they approached the double doors, they could see that there was movement on the other side. Temel put his face up to one of the windows while Umit looked through the other.
It looked like some sort of war room, with blank screens covering the far wall and numerous desks on different levels facing them. A bit like an auditorium. There seemed to be hundreds of zombies in the space and there was debris and blood all over the place.
“Gotta be worth a look,” Temel suggested. “Looks important.”
Umit shrugged. If he were being honest, he didn’t fancy it and couldn’t see the point. But then he thought what Mamba might do if they described the room then told him they hadn’t gone in. Wasn’t worth thinking about.
“OK,” he agreed reluctantly.
The doors opened towards them so they both grabbed a handle, pulled the doors open and walked in.
They were greeted by all the zombies turning in their direction in unison and all three felt the hairs on the backs of their necks stand on end. Something wasn’t right.
A couple of the closest zombies reached for them and caught the three men by surprise. This wasn’t supposed to happen. The zombies should sniff and turn away but instead they were lunging forward.
Temel went to stab the first zombie but he missed, and his knife glanced harmlessly off the zombie’s head. The zombie lunged to bite Temel, but he just managed to get his other hand up to the zombie’s neck before the gnashing teeth could take a chunk out of his face.
Umit and Emre faired a little better, stabbing the zombies closest to them in the head without any fuss and watching them slump to the floor. Then they heard Temel shouting and quickly turned to see Temel wrestling with one of the zombies as others approached menacingly from the other side.
Umit sprang forward and buried his knife in the zombie’s head, catching Temel off balance and causing him to fall backwards with the zombie on top of him.
“Run!” Temel shouted, breathing heavily as he shrugged off the dead body and struggled back his feet.
Umit and Emre didn’t need telling twice and quickly turned and pushed open the double doors. They heard a scream and turned just in time to see another zombie trip over one of the dead bodies and smash into Temel’s legs, knocking him to the ground again.
Seeing Temel go down again, Umit and Emre hesitated, torn between going back to help him and running to safety. In the end Umit jumped forward and sank his knife into the zombie’s head then tried to drag Temel by his arm from underneath the deadweight. Emre joined him and grabbed Temel’s other arm and together they pulled.
As zombies closed in from either side, they managed to drag Temel free and help him to his feet. Then they all pushed through the double doors and ran for the stairs.
They ran around the curved corridor like their lives depended on it but stopped dead in their tracks as they came face to face with another dozen or so zombies coming from the other direction. Panic threatened to engulf them as they looked back and saw more coming along the corridor from the auditorium.
Temel looked around frantically and saw a door leading off the corridor with the sign for the women’s toilets in the centre. He quickly took three paces and slammed open the door and entered, Emre and Umit following close behind.
As Umit closed the door behind him, Temel came face to face with a female zombie. He was about to stab it when he realised that he must’ve dropped his knife in the ensuing panic and was too slow to reach for another weapon. He automatically held up his arm to ward the creature off and felt a searing pain in his hand as the zombie’s teeth clamped shut on it. Emre saw what was happening and plunged his knife into the zombie’s head and watched as it slumped to the floor.
Temel pulled his hand to his chest, his teeth gritted in pain and sweat and tears pouring down his face.
As Umit checked the rest of the room, Emre grabbed the dead zombie by the hair and dragged it across the tiled floor to help keep the door closed.
Once they were satisfied that they were alone and the noise from the corridor had died down, Emre and Umit crouched down next to Temel.
“You OK?” Emre asked, trying to see if Temel had been injured.
Temel shook his head slowly. He pulled his hands away from his chest and showed both men the rip in his gloves and a small trace of blood filling the gap.
“Shit!” Unit muttered with feeling.
“Doesn’t matter,” Temel replied slowly.
He leant over and showed them his side. His shirt had been pulled up, exposing flesh just above his hip. There was a bite mark and ripped flesh, with blood pooling in the wound.
&nb
sp; “Happened when I fell back there,” Temel explained, as tears filled his eyes and he started sniffing.
“Oh man!” Emre said, letting out a long breath.
“Don’t let me turn,” Temel pleaded.
Emre and Umit looked at each other in horror, knowing what Temel was asking.
“Shit, man!” Umit said. “You never know, you could be OK.”
Temel just shook his head slowly and reached for his pistol.
“Why don’t we wait and see what Mamba says,” Emre suggested.
“You know what he’ll do, and I don’t want that bastard taking any pleasure from shooting me. No. One of you have to do it. I can’t.”
By this stage, there were tears in both Emre and Umit’s eyes, partly for Temel and partly for what they were about to do. The two of them stared at each other across Temel until Emre nodded almost imperceptibly.
He took Temel’s proffered pistol and placed it against his friend’s head.
“I love you all,” Temel said, bowing his head.
With tears now streaming freely down his face, Emre pulled the trigger.
32
Day 22 – 11.15
New Eden
The men standing on the cars outside, stabbing away at the zombies circling the vehicles, heard the muffled shot and automatically looked towards the office building.
They weren’t worried, although Mamba was annoyed that the idiots inside might be wasting ammunition for no good reason, before they all turned back and continued what they had been doing. The body count on the ground was increasing with every passing minute, which was good news in one respect, but the bodies were making a nice little zombie ramp, which was bad news as it meant the rest of the bastards heading their way had a better chance of reaching them.
Mamba stood up straight and quickly looked around, his knives hanging by his side with blood dripping off the tips. He considered jumping a few cars along and starting again, but the five of them had already managed to clear most of the zombies that had come out of the hangar, so it wasn’t really worth the effort.
He was still looking around and thinking when he heard glass smashing and turned back to the office building. He looked along the front, struggling to identify where the noise had come from when he heard Emre shouting from the right-hand side of the building as he looked.
“What the fuck’s that dappy bastard shoutin’?” Mamba asked loudly.
Ahmed stabbed another zombie then stood up to look, telling the other three to shut up.
Faruk and Ismet did what they were told and also turned to look what was going on. Samir stabbed another zombie then did the same, but as he stood up and turned, his foot slipped on some blood on the roof of the vehicle and he slipped over, his legs hanging off the side as he scrambled to get back up. His hands failed to gain purchase on the first attempt and before he could try again, he felt a searing pain in his lower leg.
The other four turned in unison at Samir’s scream and saw a zombie biting into Samir’s leg, with others about to join in. Samir was slowly being dragged off the car by the weight of the attackers and there was nothing he could do about it.
“Shoot him!” Mamba shouted from four cars along.
Faruk was on the car closest to Samir and didn’t hesitate. He pulled out his Glock, took aim and fired.
As he pulled the trigger, the car was bumped from below and his aim was compromised. The bullet hit Samir at the top of his shoulder, smashing through his clavicle and down through two ribs before deflecting and erupting out of his chest where it was stopped by the combat vest he was wearing. With Samir’s screams growing in volume, Faruk didn’t hesitate and fired for a second time, the bullet hitting the centre of Samir’s head and splitting it open like a ripe melon. The screaming stopped abruptly, and Samir’s body was dragged off the top of the car and out of sight.
The four of them heard grunts and the sounds of teeth ripping Samir’s flesh apart.
“Fuck!” Mamba swore loudly, stamping on the roof of his car. He leant over and stabbed two more zombies in the head in a fit of rage, then stabbed two more. He then pulled out his pistol and emptied the clip, finishing off all the zombies near him.
As he reloaded, he turned to see the others staring at him, but they were all jolted by the sound of Emre still shouting from the building.
Mamba looked towards the broken window with murder in his eyes.
“What the fuck are ya doin’?” he screamed at the top of his voice and pointed towards the now-missing Samir. “Look what yer’ve fuckin’ caused!”
“Shut up Mamba,” Ahmed said, cupping his ear to try and hear what Emre was saying.
He didn’t see Mamba giving him a death stare from behind his back.
In truth, Mamba was stunned that Ahmed had effectively told him off, especially in front of the others. If anyone else had done that, they’d already be dead. Mamba seriously debated whether to put a round in Ahmed’s stupid head but knew that he couldn’t. After a few seconds, when he had calmed down a bit, he realised that Ahmed was probably right, not that he’d ever admit it.
He turned to look at Emre and tried to listen in to what he was saying, but he could only pick up the odd word. He took a look around and realised there were now only a few zombies scattered nearby so he jumped down off the car and ran towards the building.
Once he was directly below the window, he could hear what Emre was telling him and closed his eyes in frustration and annoyance. Two men down, and for what?
He was aware that the others had gathered behind him and turned to see that Faruk and Ismet were taking out the remaining zombies that dared to follow them. He looked back up at Emre.
“Ya need fresh blood ‘n guts. The other stuff musta bin old,” he shouted. “Might as well make use of Temel, he was a waste of fuckin’ space when he was alive so it’s ‘bout time he was useful fer summat.”
Emre looked horrified but eventually nodded and ducked back inside the room.
Mamba turned to Ahmed.
“Did he jus’ say they were in the women’s toilets?”
33
Day 22 – 11.30
New Eden
Emre and Umit exited the office building covered from head to foot in fresh blood and guts and shaking like leaves.
They wandered over to Mamba and the others, who themselves were slicing up the latest victims of Faruk and Ismet to freshen up their own camouflage.
“Took yer fuckin’ time,” Mamba said, scowling from his crouched position.
Emre looked like he was going to cry, with Umit standing directly behind him and out of sight.
“It took time to…deal with Temel,” Emre explained.
“Hope ya brought his gun ‘n ammunition, or ya goin’ back in ta get ‘em.”
Umit held out the items from behind Emre, making it look like Emre had four arms like the Hindu goddess Kali.
“What are we going to do now?” Emre asked.
Mamba scanned the area, and apart from a few zombies wandering aimlessly around the grounds, there didn’t appear to be anything of interest other than the buildings. Based on what Emre and Umit had found in the office building, and what he had seen in the hangar they’d gone into, he thought further searching was likely to be a complete waste of time and effort. He was bored and decided he’d had enough for one day. He looked around some more and spotted a number of transit vans in amongst the parked cars and decided it was time to cut their losses and get back to town. The Black Swan was calling in any case.
“We’re goin’ back,” Mamba ordered, heading towards the nearest transit van and checking it had keys in the ignition.
Ahmed helped Faruk, Ismet, Emre and Umit into the back before slamming the door and wandering around to the passenger side.
“Next time, remind me ta bring the fuckin’ machine guns when we go out,” Mamba said, as Ahmed climbed in and slammed his door. “Coulda massacred ‘em fuckers.”
“Ya couldn’t be arsed ta carry ‘em if y
a remember,” Ahmed replied.
“Yeah, but how was I ta know Basir’s jars of blood were shit?”
Mamba took one final look around before turning the key, slamming the van into gear and accelerating towards the exit. There were a couple of thumps from the back as the sudden movement caught the occupants unawares.
With all the excitement, the group hadn’t noticed a tiny brick building, like an outhouse, hardly wider than its heavily rusted metal door, sitting in a recessed and overgrown patch of ground near the right-hand side of the main office building, not that far from the toilet window Emre had broken.
The brickwork on either side of the metal door blended in with the office wall sitting behind it, so at first glance it appeared to be an abandoned entrance to the main building, and that was the whole point; the access door was hidden in plain sight.
If the group had wandered closer, they might have noticed that the small building was completely detached from the main building and that immediately behind the metal door, the walls and roof sloped down and seemed to burrow into the ground.
Even if they had noticed the building, it was highly unlikely they would have spotted the concealed CCTV camera sitting above the metal door, which, together with half a dozen more carefully concealed cameras in the surrounding area, had been tracking their every movement.
34
Day 22 – 11.40
Burlington
Sir James Curtis-Smythe watched the monitors showing the white transit van screech its way off the M.O.D. premises.
He had been called to the Control Room around forty-five minutes earlier, when a supermarket van had burst into the M.O.D. site and six thuggish-looking individuals had disembarked.
Sir James had been London’s Metropolitan Police Commissioner until the zombie outbreak had arrived in the UK. He, like a number of other senior and high-profile individuals had seen the writing on the wall and had fled to Burlington to escape the impending chaos. How long they were supposed to stay there was an open question as it would depend on what happened above ground, but he was well aware of the survivors at Heathrow and tried to keep on top of what they were up to. Indeed, he had once been Jack Robinson’s boss. Those were the days.