The Reanimated Dead (Book 2): The Answer

by Wakefield, Trevor

  The Re-animated Dead: The Answer

  By Trevor Wakefield

  This book is a work of fiction (at least until the dead learn to rise again). Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Places and buildings have been changed to fit in the story and any resemblance to any person, living, dead or of course undead is purely coincidental.

  Massive thanks to my wife for her patience, help and encouragement. To my son Dalton, you carry on as you are, you make your mum and I very proud and very happy with your new words and discoveries, follow in our footsteps by all means, just make your own tracks.

  Find me on Face Book: Trevor Wakefield Author Page, for up to date information or even a chat about my books, don’t be shy, unlike the undead, I don’t bite.

  Previous books published:

  23/09/2019 The Re-animated Dead: Into the Cotswolds

  Chapter one

  I couldn’t believe it, a double and a triple take didn’t work. I know I was tired and hungover, but I certainly wasn’t hallucinating. I stared again; it was definitely Sue 100%. Alive and standing not ten yards away from me at the bottom of the little hill. She beamed a bright toothed smile at me, looked around making sure no-one saw what she was doing and pulled up her sleeve to reveal a grubby, once white, tube bandage then rolling the tube bandage up to her elbow uncovering a gnarly, purple, puckered up, healed scar. She had been bitten good and proper, the fucker on the floor of the shop even had her flesh stuck in his blood-stained teeth. I remember it like it was yesterday, in actuality it was only a couple of weeks ago. I had seen her bleeding profusely from the wound on her wrist as I walked into the shop and she was sat on the counter sobbing as her friend Jane led there dead next to the zombie.

  She should be dead, she shouldn’t be here waving at me while I feel and look like shite, it just can’t be possible. I last saw her almost two weeks ago and no-one I knew who had been bitten had lasted more than two days without dying and turning to the zombie side. I had offered to cut her arm off in the hope that it would save her life like it later did for Croc when Kev and I took his leg off last night, but she refused.

  ‘Close your slack Jaw Brian, it doesn’t become you and I’m happy to tell you that you definitely aren’t seeing things.’ She started walking up the little hill towards me. ‘Gonna put the kettle on then or what? I’m gagging, I’ve not had a proper hot civilised brew since I don’t know when.’ She asked still smiling.

  ‘Sure.’ I replied, still taken aback, my alcohol and sleep deprived addled brain still working hard to process how this can be real. ‘Sarah! Can you put the kettle on again please, we’ve got a surprise guest!’

  Sue stopped abruptly and, looking around again, frantically covered her arm up before proceeding any further. She looked straight at me quizzically. ‘Sarah?’ She asked in a part whisper suspiciously. ‘I thought you were, umm, single. You move fast.’

  I ignored her suspiciousness and incorrect assumption and waved her up the rest of the way. ‘Come on! You will see!’

  She ducked under the tarp and through where I hadn’t finished re-putting up the multi coloured wind break, and I pointed to a folded-out chair. ‘Sit down… I know I bloody need to!’ My mind was going twenty to the dozen, and it seemed the blood in my head had thickened and now needed three times extra force to pump around my throbbing head.

  Sarah ducked under from the rear of the tarp, stopped, and waved a slightly cautious and typical teen hello to Sue, then let us know that the kettle was on the boil on the gas burner and that she was off to find her friends and make sure they were all okay after last night. I hoped that, apart from the girl whose nose I broke with the butt of the pump action, that everyone that she knew or was friends with were okay. She had moved on really well the last few days from what little I saw and didn’t want last night to set her back.

  ‘That’s Sarah?’ Sue asked again intrigued. I sighed and indicated again for her to sit down as watching her pace around energetically now hurt my eyes as well as my head.

  I explained everything to her. How I met Sarah and her parents trying to break into my garage and steal my Land rover, zombie Zack her brother and what happened, that they stayed with me for a few days and their unannounced leaving, the situation with the Burger King Brothers, then seeing her mum and dads car again at the petrol station just minutes after leaving the shop where I met Sue, then her mum appearing and asking me to rescue Sarah from the ramshackle shed in the lane of the dead and then her mum being bitten and running off into a field. She seemed impressed that I had such adventures in such a short distance and time frame. I then gave her a brief rundown on what had happened since then when I remembered the kettle was still on the gas burner. I got up out of the chair. ‘How do you like your tea?’

  ‘Blimey, I get a choice? I like it, I could grow used to this.’ She laughed as she stretched her legs out in a mock getting comfortable move.

  ‘Got a few boxes of single serve UHT milk pots if you want milk but keep it on the low down, worth its weight in gold I reckon, and some around here have been a bit jealous of what some have and some don’t, if you know what I mean.’ She nodded in acknowledgement and then nodded again for milk. ‘Sugar?’ To which she held up two fingers. Milk and sugar in and stirred I bought the two steaming cups back to where we were sat and passed Sue hers. She smiled as she took it and cradled it against her chest as she smelt it then placed it on her lap to cool a bit. I looked at her expectantly.

  She looked back at me. ‘What? Have I got something stuck in my teeth?’ She rubbed a finger on her front teeth and then looked at it.

  ‘What?’ I replied. ‘Don’t fucking what me! You should be bloody dead! Well, undead at the very least! I am glad that you aren’t either one of those obviously, but I am in the massive need of serious sleep and rehydration after the shit storm of what happened last night and I’m giving both of those up to talk to you so please, please, start talking before I pass out from a hangover and sleep deprivation.’

  She laughed out loud at that. ‘Well, it certainly sounds like you’ve missed me, god, where the hell do I start?’

  ‘Well I can’t lie; I have often thought about you and how far you would have got before you turned to the zombie side, and I often think about whether taking your arm off would have worked? As for where you can start?’ I pointed at the cup in her hands. ‘I’ve a shit load of brew kit, plenty of UHT milk, no job that I have to get to, you are sat in one of my comfy chairs and if you need to you can piss behind that tree.’ I pointed behind the big Oak. ‘Kick me in the shin to keep me awake if I start to nod off, and we’ve got all day for you to start at the beginning and finish at the end, so…’ I theatrically gestured towards her with both hands. ‘Away you bloody well go.’

  Sue took a few hot sips of the sweet milky tea and started. She had to take a few diversions off the motorway and back on here and there but managed good time back home, at least allowing for zombies on the road, and got home early hours the next morning. She got Jane to her parents’ grave. She didn’t bury Jane as such but placed her wrapped body on the grave and covered it with wild flowers that she took from the field next-door to the cemetery. Despite being a grave yard she was unbothered there by the undead, unlike the Hollywood zombie films would have you believe and none of them were ‘Coming for you Barbara.’ By the afternoon though she had noticed a few odd things with herself and how she was feeling. Firstly she had not felt any adverse effects from the bite. No headaches, no shakes, no fever, no anything really and when twice she had been startled by a zombie it had shown no interest
in her whatsoever. Even as she beat one around the head with her police baton it never tried to fight back or defend itself against her, just seemed to have been set upon by an invisible force that it couldn’t act back against.

  After being incredibly exhausted and having to reluctantly succumb to sleep she climbed into the back of her BMW X5 for an uncomfortable night’s sleep, she was convinced that although what was happening was weird, she still wouldn’t wake up, alive and human at least, the next morning. But she continued to wake up every day since alive and apparently healthy. One morning she woke to plenty of zombie activity around her car but not one of them was interested in her. She got out and walked among them without raising any interest at all. She started taking risks by entering buildings with them in and being able to go wherever she wanted completely unmolested by them. By the fifth morning not only had she suffered no ill effects from the bite, but her bite site was clean and healing at quite a rate. She wandered around for a few more days taking it all in before concluding that she may have something inside her that could lead to a cure!

  ‘And so you came all the way back to see me!’ I joked.

  ‘Well I hoped you were still alive, what with being a professional zombie slayer and all that.’ She mocked. ‘And that I could find you. I knew from what you said that you would stay off the motorway and… I put a tracker on your 90.’

  I looked over at the 90 and then shot her a quizzical look as a memory flashed in my head. ‘I thought I saw you loitering around by the 90 when we came out of the shop. Never thought you’d be placing a tracker on it though.’

  Sue smiled her smile again. ‘We may have only chatted a little while when we met but I’m a good judge of character and I got the vibe from you that you were the sort of person who would go out of your way to help people. Looking around and hearing the story about Sarah, I think my intuition has been spot on don’t you think? I don’t know what compelled me to put the tracker on I really don’t. I thought exactly the same as you that I was going to die but was just compelled to do it and I’m glad I did.’

  ‘Sooo?’

  ‘Sooo?’ She repeated. ‘I think you are the kind of person to see what I want to do and also be the kind of person who can help make it happen.’

  ‘All that from our little talk in a convenience store?’

  ‘And your body language. Even if you don’t believe me, I believe you can.’

  ‘So what you are telling me, and I don’t deny it as you are sat right here as real as my only slightly disappearing hangover, is that you could possibly hold a cure that could help or even save mankind and you found me because you think I can get you and the cure to somebody who can turn your theory into reality.’

  Sue thought for a moment. ‘Yep. Pretty much, yes.’

  ‘Okay, where do we go from here then?’

  Sue just held out her cup and shook it. ‘Thought you had plenty of brew kit? I can’t talk on a dry throat.’

  I got up and took hers and mine back over to the gas cooker and boiled up again. I had an idea but would need to run it past Kev. Now that Brian was no longer with us, I assume that Kev would now be in charge of security and possibly things like this. With another brew done, a bit of thinking done, I put Sue’s brew back in her hand.

  ‘I’ve an idea but I need to speak to one of the chaps that helps run the place. He, like most of the people of the camp, had a bit of a rough night last night, I should imagine that he is asleep, which is what I should have been doing for the last few hours, I’m sure he will trust me but I don’t want to wake him just now so I suggest I hit the hay for at least two or three hours, you make yourself comfortable or wander around for a bit then I’ll have a quiet chat with him in a bit. Are you okay to meet him?’

  ‘If you trust him then I will.’ Sue said.

  ‘Okay, it’s a plan. Now I’m off to bed.’ I took off my t-shirt and my boots, then my muddy, bloody jeans and threw them all on my chair. Sue was still looking at me. I stopped and looked at her as I grabbed the side of the hammock. ‘That’s as far as I’m going, don’t worry… until I’ve had some sleep and a shower at least.’

  ‘That’s a shame, I was expecting a show!’ She smiled.

  I smiled back. ‘I’ll have to issue a rain cheque at this moment in time I’m afraid.’

  ‘Well, the tea and the rarer than hens’ teeth milk will keep me hanging on here for now at least, and I’ll sit here making sure no-one wakes you from your beauty sleep.’ She mocked.

  I gave her a two-finger gesture and a smile as I sat on the hammock, swung my legs in, threw the blanket over myself and head to dim the day light as much as possible whilst still being able to breath and crashed out into snore land.

  Chapter 2

  I woke up just over three hours later with a start. I reached for some water and re-hydrate and sank a litre in one go. I looked around, Sue was slumped in her chair asleep, her mug sideways on the floor between her feet, her breathing was heavy but not quite a snore. I could have easily gone back to sleep but thought I felt a whole lot better and that would have to do for now. I got out the hammock quietly and put my old clothes back on. I could really do with a shower and clean clothes, but we left the male shower and toilet facilities in quite a mess last night and I wasn’t sure that it had been cleaned up yet. I picked up the cup by her feet and took it to the back of the 90 and left it by the gas burner. I took the blanket from my hammock and gently wrapped it around Sue, she never stirred, and then headed off to Kev’s tent.

  At Kev’s tent I could hear him lightly snoring, I wasn’t sure if he had managed more sleep than me, but this was important and couldn’t wait any longer. I banged on the tent and the snoring stopped. ‘Kev!’ No snoring but also no answer. ‘Kev!’ Followed by shaking the tent.

  ‘Wha’ the fuck do you want?’ Came a shout.

  ‘It’s me Brian. It’s important.’

  ‘It had bloody better be mate, best bloody sleep I’ve had in days.’ He climbed out of his tent fully dressed and looked at me up and down. ‘Have you not slept yet? You look like hammered shite!’ He observed.

  ‘Three hours at most, had a visitor with somewhat of a surprise and a story you wouldn’t believe that has kept me up.’ He shot me a ‘what are you talking about’ look.

  ‘I could explain, and then explain again and again when you don’t believe me, but I think it would be better for you to hear this from the horse’s mouth as it were.’

  He bent down and put his trainers on, then stood up and motioned for me to lead the way. As we ducked under the tarp, Sue was awake and just throwing the blanket back on to my hammock, Kev then shot me a look saying, ‘If you have woken me up and dragged me over here just to introduce me to your new bird, then I am not impressed.’

  ‘Kev, this is Sue and to cut the story short.’ I took a deep breath as I could hardly believe it myself let alone saying it out loud and continued. ‘I think she may hold the answer to saving our world!’ I gestured towards her. ‘Sit down Kev, I’ll get the brews on, you’re gonna bloody need it believe me, and Sue will do the talking.’

  She talked for ages between draining her mug over and over, she really didn’t like talking with a dry throat, and two pee breaks for all of us – one at a time – behind the oak tree, explained the situation that I had walked into at the village shop, where she had been and what she had been up to, how she found that she could walk amongst the undead unhindered before showing him the scar on her wrist close up and I think she won him around.

  Sue and I both looked at Kev for a reaction when she finished talking. It came in two words. ‘Fuck me!’ Kev whistled.

  I looked at Sue then back at Kev. ‘Do you believe her mate?’ I asked hopefully.

  ‘Well, I must admit that it’s a bit far out there, but I trust you with my life mate and she is here with the scar to prove it, so what can I say? How do we go about proving if she?’ He looked at Sue. ‘Sorry, Sue, if you can be the cure?’

  ‘Well.’ I st
arted. ‘We have three bite victims from last night quarantined in the tennis courts. They are going to die anyway in a day or two. Could we not inject some of Sue’s blood and see what happens?’

  Sue interrupted. ‘Nothing like not testing on animals eh?’ She shifted in her chair. ‘I’m not a doctor as such but with what qualifications I do have I’m sure we can do some meaningful tests at least.’

  I looked at Kev. ‘We will need to record it on video. An old phone and memory card will do.’

  Kev replied whilst nodding his approval. ‘I know two of the bite victims from last night, let me talk to them, they are pretty reasonable and have nothing left to lose.’ He looked at Sue. ‘Might have to cash in a few favours to get the needles etc. but if I do are you okay to draw it yourself and administer[CW1][CW2]?’

  ‘I’ve got needles and everything else I need in the X5; I just don’t want to draw it and wait hours to use it.’

  Kev nodded in thought yet again. ‘Okay, I’ll secretly run it past them, and I think I know where I can get a charged phone and memory card too.’

  ‘Excellent!’ I chimed in. ‘Sounds like a plan! And keep Christopher out of it for now eh?’

  ‘Goes without saying chap. Not sure he would be too comfortable with us performing medical experiments on residents of the camp.’ He got up to leave. ‘I’ll be back as soon as possible and let you know if it’s a go.’

  After he left, I turned to Sue. ‘Do you think this can work?’

  ‘Firstly.’ She picked up yet another cup of tea and took a sip. ‘You my little slayer, need to have some faith and read up on some of the local history around here. In a little village about nine miles away called Berkeley…’ I knew Berkeley, or at least the turning off the A38 towards it. Sarah and I were ambushed by a gang there where we took a couple of arrows before having to shoot two riders on a quad and then ram them off the road to escape. ‘During the small pox epidemic of 1796 a Dr called Edward Jenner found that milking maids that had caught Cow Pox from the udders of milking cows didn’t seem to catch the Small Pox disease. Thinking that this might be somewhat significant, Dr Jenner one day got a girl with Cow Pox and a young lad called James Phipps, with his parents’ permission before you ask, who had neither Cow pox nor small pox together in a room of his house located just outside of the grounds of both Berkeley Castle and the Church. He scraped some fluid from one of the puss filled sores on the milk maid’s hand and then scratched it into the skin on the hand of the boy with his pocket knife.’