by Riva, Aline
“We need a weapon.”
“I know that,” he was waving at the zombie again, “There's a hammer under the sink along with some other tools. I saw it yesterday when I was looking for fabric softener.”
Joy laughed. It seemed like a stupid moment to laugh, but she couldn't help it as he stepped closer to the window, giving a little wave with his fingers at the snarling zombie.
”We're in the middle of a sodding apocalypse and you need fabric softener?”
“For my shirts,” he replied, “Just because the world's gone to shit, we don't have to look like shit, do we?”
She chuckled.
“You're insane, maybe that's why I'm with you.”
His eyes sparkled as he gave her a wink.
“I'll open the door. You be ready with the hammer. Try not to get eaten!”
Joy lifted the claw hammer and met his gaze.
“You try not to get eaten, too.”
He took a deep breath, stepping from the window to the heavy door.
“I'll try my best not to be zombie food!”
“You'd better try hard!”
“I guess that means you love me, Joy.”
Joy shrugged.
“It probably does!”
They exchanged a glance as amusement left their gaze, a silent look that conveyed the same message: Be careful.
Then Mickey banged a fist on the door.
“This way!” he yelled, “Food inside! Food, keys, anything you want!”
Joy took a sharp glance to the window as she clutched at the hammer. Half the bloody horde had just turned their heads...
He unlocked the door and wrenched it open. The key eater gave a roar, rushing in as a second zombie followed. Mickey threw his weight against the door, dragging the middle lock across as more creatures hit the door and it thudded and reverberated with the force. As he slid the top bolt, bony fingers dug into the fabric of his jacket and he slammed an elbow into the jaw of the zombie as it staggered back. The door was still rattling. Joy was trying to take a swing at the other creature. He slid the final bolt into place and heard a roar in his ear as the second zombie lunged again, throwing him to the ground. He landed on his back as a steak knife clattered from an over turned knife block and hit the floor. Sharp teeth snapped in his face along with the stench of death as he aimed a punch and heard a crack. The creature's jaw was swingling loose but it had him pinned as he put an arm to its throat, reaching out with his other hand, fingertips brushing the hilt of the blade.
Joy was on the other side of the room, backed up against the wall as the key eater snarled and lunged again. She swung the hammer and it connected with the zombie's head with a crack and a spray of old blood that spattered the wall black and shiny. The zombie swayed, a bony hand grabbed for her throat and Joy brought down the hammer again, as the skull split in two beneath skin and the eyes popped out of their sockets, and still the creature was standing, hand clamped about her throat as it pinned her to the wall. Joy made a final swing, slamming the hammer into the creature's skull. Skin split and blood and brains spattered out, spraying the wall and the ceiling as the creature fell.
Mickey had just grabbed the knife and as Joy raised the hammer to land it on the skull of the other undead, he plunged the knife through its throat, thrusting up into the brain. Black blood oozed from its mouth as Mickey gave it a shove and it rolled off him with a thump. He sat up, brushing down his clothing, before grabbing at the table for support and getting up, then hurrying over to the sink to wash the blood of the infected from his hands. Joy dropped the hammer and it hit the floor, sending more mess of blood and bone to spatter the ground. She was as breathless as Mickey as he stepped aside and she washed her hands and arms, then her face and turned to look at him.
“That was bloody close. They nearly had us.”
“But we're still here,” he replied, and his face was pale.
He was shaking as he grabbed a tea towel and dried his hands, then passed it to Joy. She was still wiping water from her face as Mickey went through to the staff area, then looked through the glass in the door.
“All clear!” he called out.
A short while later, both bodies had been removed to a small office at the end of the hall. From here, the other zombie was pushed outside near the pool house, and then the remaining creature was laid out on a roll of black refuse sacks, as Joy and Sage watched while River worked on the corpse and the others stayed in the staff room away from the stench, as Chris cleaned up the blood from the kitchen floor while Poppy directed him to be sure he missed nothing as the floor was cleaned with bleach. Mickey had gone off to have a shower after reminding Joy she had blood and something that looked like bone in her hair. She had nodded and said, after the keys were found. Lina was lingering by the door, ready to wrap the remains and drag it outside when the task was done as River knelt there with a knife in her hand.
River ripped the dress in the middle, exposing mottled, dead flesh, and then she sunk the knife deep and sliced a vertical cut. The belly rose up like a tiny volcano as guts spilled out. She reached inside wearing a washing up glove, feeling around with a squelch as her hand shifted rotting innards about. Then she closed her hand around the key ring and drew it out. The keys and cards were covered with blood, but they were intact.
“Got it,” she said, then she went over to the sink, dropped the keyring into water mixed with disinfectant, and then returned to the body, peeling off the glove and dropping it to the belly of the corpse.
“All yours,” she said, glancing at Lina, who took over as she began to wrap the body so it was secure to be moved without leaking on to the floor.
Moments later, the body was dumped outside along with the other zombie, and the door was closed again. The weather was warming up, they could hear the vague buzzing of flies as they swarmed about the stinking corpses even with the door closed.
“Now what?” said Sage.
River was putting on another pair of gloves to wash the keys thoroughly.
“Now we can thankfully get out of here with what food is still useful,” she replied, “The power's failing. The wiring is old here, in the absence of maintenance, we're living in a potential fire trap. We have to leave.”
“Preferably before the electronically sealed doors open up,” Joy reminded her.
The lights above flickered briefly and River looked upward.
“It could be isolated to a certain area, maybe lights and some power sockets... but we can't wait around to find out. It's too risky. We need to pack up what supplies we can use, and we can leave by the front entrance tomorrow.”
The thought of leaving was not a comfort to anyone at that moment as they stood there in silence as River washed the bloodied keys. If they had somewhere to go, it would have been different. But as things stood, they were about to pack up and head out on to the open road, back out there, where no where was safe...
“I'll start organising the packing,” Joy said, “We leave in the morning.”
Now the keys had been found and there was a plan in motion, the rest of the day was spent packing up food and supplies. They filled bags and boxes with everything that was useful, and as daylight began to fade, after more than an hour of working through a complex set of keys and pass cards, Joy negotiated her way through every locked door that led to the main entrance. Lina smiled as Joy swiped the card for the main door and nothing happened.
“Like this,” she said, and jabbed a four digit code into the key pad beside it. The doors opened up.
“I saw Jack do it, so I thought I should remember it, just in case,” she told her, then they grabbed the first of many boxes and began to carry them over to the parked vehicles.
As twilight fell, the air was filled with the electrical hum of the power that ran through the fence. This part of the outer section was safe, and they took their time, as Mickey and Chris joined them, then Sage and River lent a hand. Poppy tried to lift a heavy bag and Sage saw her sister struggling, and po
inted to some carrier bags filled with packets of dried food instead. They split the packing between the lorry, the van and the car. It had been tempting to load everything into the small lorry, but after losing the last one on the icy bridge back in winter, they knew better than to pack all supplies in one vehicle in case it was lost.
By nightfall, the vehicles were all loaded up and they were ready to leave come morning. But as the doors closed and they went back towards the staff quarters, feeling among the group was undeniable sadness at having to leave what had seemed to be such a safe place. But it had also been a place that taught lessons : Firstly, not to trust strangers at face value and secondly, there was the fact that no where apparently safe was guaranteed to remain that way, and the dead were not always to blame for that. This place was losing power and most of the food was gone because of the cold units breaking down. Then there was the threat of fire, and the risk of the power failing and the locked outer doors opening up to let the dead pour inside.
One more night was all they could risk here. They had to move on...
The place was silent gone midnight. Clouds part covered the moon as the spring breeze blew strongly, shaking the new leaves on nearby trees as the whistle of the wind partly masked the low moans carried about on the breeze as the dead milled about aimlessly in the yard, looking toward the building where fresh meat hid inside. Then the lights stuttered and went out. Sparks flew as old wiring sizzled and burned out and circuits failed. And the alarm that would have screamed warning of a serious security breach sat dead, all power cut off as doors began to click as locks slid back. A final gasp of dying power made the lights flicker on the ground floor again and then they went out, forever.
After the time it had taken to find the right keys and cards to unlock the maze of doors that led to the entrance, Joy had decided to leave every inside door leading to the entrance wide open. It meant they could simply get up in the morning and leave. They were sleeping in their clothing that night, ready to throw on coats and get the hell out at sunrise, but for now, everyone was sleeping in the staff quarters, unaware that the fence no longer had power and the adjoining gate had popped open, as the dead began to stagger and push impatiently, slowly streaming through to the next yard, where a door that led into the staff building was ajar. They stumbled in, moaning and wheezing and making low snarls, sniffing at the air as they made their way toward the living area.
By now, every building was flooded with the dead, the only door that was closed was the main entrance that led to the vehicles, because Joy had told Lina to shut off the card access in case of electrical trouble wiping the code, and had locked it with a manual key. The keys were still in the door, waiting to be opened up come morning. All guns had been packed into the vehicles, with choice weapons in the cab of the lorry and in the front seat of the van and the car. They had prepared to leave this place ready to face whatever was out there. But what was out there, had already come in...
Poppy sat up on her bed, giving a gasp as the wind whistled about the building outside and the new leaves were stirred by it. Then she heard a moan, and it sounded distant – but not outside. She got off her bed and hurried over to Sage, who was asleep on the other side of the room. Sage woke to her arm being shaken as her sister said her name over and over. She blinked tired eyes and looked up at her.
“What is it, Poppy?”
“I can hear the zombies! I think they got in.”
“No, no, they're outside,” Sage murmured as she closed her eyes again, “It's just the wind, it carries sound... go back to sleep.”
“Sage, Sage!” she said again, shaking her arm, “I heard a zombie outside here!”
She pointed to the closed door. A low moan sounded faintly. It wasn't outside. Sage sat up, shaking off sleep quickly as she got up and hurried over to the door. She pulled it slowly ajar and her eyes widened in horror at the sight of the silhouette of what could only be a zombie, it was at the other end of the corridor and sniffing at the air as it looked to the doorways close by. The others were asleep, they didn't know... She carefully peered the other way, seeing through a glass door as several more creatures made their way up another corridor... They were all over the building! And one zombie was in the corridor. One zombie stood between her and warning the others... She held out her hand to Poppy.
“We have to run,” she whispered.
Her sister looked scared as moonlight bathed the room and she looked up at her, shaking her head.
“Yes!” Sage added, “It's the only way out! Just keep hold of my hand, and if we get separated, you have to run to the others, okay?”
Poppy held her hand tightly as she nodded, then Sage looked out once more at the zombie that stood at the other end of the corridor, sniffing at the air. She dragged in a breath and burst out.
“Zombies!” she yelled, “Get up, they've got in, we're under attack!”
The zombie's head had snapped in her direction as teeth bared. She ran to the nearest door, pounding on it, then as Joy and Mickey opened up the door, they saw the creature and ducked back inside. Then River looked out, then turned back sharply, warning Chris of the lurking danger. The zombie was running towards Sage as Poppy held her hand tight and screamed. There was a snarl and more low sounds, then a scramble of heavy movement as others in corridor beyond heard the scream and turned in its direction. Sage darted across the hall into Mickey and Joy's room. Joy had snatched up a heavy bedside lamp as Sage pulled Poppy towards the wall. Mickey had just thrown on his long coat as the creature burst in.
“Better idea,” he said, and reached for an empty vodka bottle on the night stand and smashed it, then with expert precision, rammed the broken bottle into the head of the lunging creature. It gave a roar and slumped to the ground.
Joy looked at Mickey in surprise.
“I won't ask if you've ever bottled anyone before.”
“Best not to ask,” he agreed.
Joy pulled the bottle from the bloodied head of the zombie and made her way out into the corridor as Mickey followed and Sage led Poppy as they followed behind. A door opened and River hurried out, but Chris stepped in front of her, pausing to listen.
“There are more behind us, maybe two corridors back. And some up ahead, but they seem to be in two sections... I can hear them...”
The others could only hear vague moans, but as they made their way to the door and saw the next section was clear, Joy led the way as they ran across it. A sound from behind made Sage gasp, but as she turned back to see Lina had joined them, she breathed a relieved sigh. Lina drew a gun from her holster.
“As I am the only one who kept a weapon back tonight, I should go first perhaps,” she said, and then she hurried to the front to lead the others as they waited in the shadows. More creatures passed by a corridor heading deep into the building, and as she watched them leave, Lina spoke in a low voice:
“They are following our scent, where we have left it... the main staff building. That will distract many, but there will be others.”
“There are others,” Chris murmured as he kept a hand on River's shoulder for guidance, “I can hear them, a lot of them... up near the entrance...”
Joy thought about the many doors she had opened up.
“Shit, I bet they've got in either side of the corridor that leads to the outside!”
They all thought about that for an awful, silent moment: The corridor was narrow and had bars either side, bars left and right where the dead could easily reach through to drag the living closer to taste their flesh... The entrance would still be clear thanks to separate fencing and no doorways. But they would have to pass through that corridor to get to it... Joy looked about. No more shadows loomed up ahead. She signalled to the others, and then quickly led the way through the maze of unlocked doors as the sound of moans and snarls grew louder.
The journey was swift, and stopped in semi darkness as moonlight spilled in through the windows, lighting white on the faces of the dead and the terrible sight that m
et the eyes of the living:
The corridor was no more than twelve feet in length, and either side was barred. Through those bars, zombies were reaching through with dead arms flailing, snatching at thin air as they were crammed up against the bars, teeth snapping as more behind piled in. It was a short but deadly run to the entrance hall that was wide and safe where beyond, the keys were in the door and outside, the vehicles waited. They looked at each other, their thoughts on freedom beyond the corridor. Sage placed her hands on Poppy's shoulders.
“You can do this easily. You're little. If you duck down low and run along the middle, they wont be able to catch you!”
Poppy slowly turned her head towards the corridor, to the snarling dead with their arms stuck through the bars on either side as dead eyes set their sights on her..
“No,” she said tearfully as she shook her head, “No, they will eat me, Sage!”
Sage looked to the corridor and swallowed hard, then drew in a tight breath.
“I'll come with you, but you have to go first and run fast!”
