Z-Series | Book 6 | Z-Endgame

by Hatchett

  Issy wasn’t amused. It was obvious that whoever had caused the destruction had also drawn the cartoon, but the message implied the culprits had seen them leave. It was also a little eerie that they seemed to know the Chinooks would land back in that exact spot when they returned.

  “Who could’ve done this?” Issy queried aloud. “The only enemy we know of is Mamba and he’s miles away…unless those Turks from North London decided to come back.”

  “I think we can confirm it was Mamba’s doing,” Jack replied solemnly.

  Issy looked at Jack and saw that he was still pointing towards the section of metal panels. She couldn’t see what he meant at first, but realised he was looking from higher up. She took a few steps back up the ramp and it all became abundantly clear. Below the cartoon wall was more spray painting with the words ‘Mamba says Hi!’

  “Bastard!” Issy hissed. “How the fuck did he manage this when he’s miles away?”

  “It was Mamba’s doing, but it wasn’t Mamba himself,” Jack replied. “Otherwise, why would it say, ‘Mamba says hi’, like someone was speaking on his behalf? Mamba would’ve written something like ‘fucked ya up this time, arseholes!’”

  “Ok, so the question is how?” Issy said, thinking aloud.

  “We can worry about that later,” Jack replied. “I’m more interested in seeing who’s still alive and saving as many as we can.”

  Issy quickly turned to Jack, a look of horror on her face. With everything going on, she hadn’t even thought about Sarah…or…Andy…or…Gina and the rest of them.

  “Shit,” she muttered, clicking her earpiece, and seeing if any of them could hear her. There was no response, but she saw Bear and Irish glance in her direction with concern written all over their faces. Issy thought for a moment before turning and sprinting down the ramp.

  “Where are you going?” Jack shouted after her departing back, but she’d already disappeared into the crowd. He turned back to see that the soldiers were gradually creating some space, but they were heavily outnumbered by the zombies and levels of remaining ammunition would become a serious concern.

  Issy shot past her team, who were edging outwards from the Chinooks, and started running around the exterior of the Terminal towards the front entrance, pushing zombies over or stabbing them as she went. There was more damage on the Southern side and yet more on the Eastern side as she neared the front of the building.

  She sighed with relief at seeing her Panther parked outside the entrance, thanking God that no one had moved it.

  She stabbed and fought her way to the vehicle and climbed in, quickly moving to the rear and the machine gun situated on the roof. She found the trigger on the 7.62mm machine gun and started spraying bullets into the crowd of zombies, watching as they were torn apart and thinking about her friends and colleagues…and lover.

  As soon as the gun was empty, she jumped into the driver’s seat and started the engine. Then, mindless of the bodies in the way, roared away and turned towards Terminal 4 and the hotels. At this time of the day, she thought they were more likely to be at the hotel having a shower after a hard day’s work. Then she reminded herself that the attack must have happened at least an hour earlier, so they could easily have still been working. She slammed on the brakes and the Panther came to a screeching halt. Where would they be? Why weren’t they responding to comms? Were they hurt…or worse? Then she almost smacked her own forehead when she realised the Panther had its own radio system, rather than the more hi-spec ear comms.

  As zombies began to surround the vehicle Issy reached forward, turned the radio on and grabbed the handset. She pressed the button

  “Sarah? Gina? Andy? Anybody?”

  She let go of the button and heard nothing but static through the speakers, so she tried again.

  Nothing.

  She clicked her earpiece and replayed to Jack, Bear and Irish that there was no response from the others, and she was heading towards the hotel in the Panther.

  Despite some pleas for her to wait for backup, Issy was not prepared to waste time and threw the Panther into gear. Looking forward, she couldn’t see much except for zombies hemming her in from all sides. She slammed her foot down on the accelerator and the Panther surged forward, throwing zombies in all directions, and crushing those that fell beneath the vehicle, which suddenly gave her an idea. She clicked her ear comm.

  “Guys, just had a thought. If you can get to the maintenance area on the Northern Perimeter, you should be able to use the CAT snowploughs to wade through the horde.”

  There was a short silence before Bear’s voice came through her earpiece.

  “Good idea. I’m heading there now with my team. There are several vehicles left undamaged following Mamba’s previous attack. With hindsight, we should have used them on the first day of the outbreak.”

  “We didn’t think about it then, nor have any plan for getting to them,” Issy replied.

  Issy focused back on her drive to T4 and pushed down on the accelerator, heading towards the lights in the distance. There were zombies everywhere, lit up in her headlights and coming towards her like flakes in a snowstorm. But they were no match for the Panther.

  It was difficult to see where the tarmac merged into grass and vice versa, and there were a couple of occasions where the Panther met softer ground and threatened to skid, but Issy managed to control the vehicle and keep it pointed in the direction she wanted.

  Within a few minutes she arrived at the entrance to T4 and immediately saw that there was more damage to the terminal and that the lights she had seen from T3 were reflections of the fires raging across the site. It was clear that the electricity was out, so it would be even harder finding her way around in the darkness.

  She had originally intended to park the Panther and look to use the suspended walkway from the Terminal to the hotel, but she could see that one section of the walkway had crashed to the ground leaving a gaping hole in the corridor like an open wound.

  She put the Panther back in gear, deciding to take the road. She followed Stratford Road to the Terminal 4 roundabout and swung left into Snowden Road...which was blocked by cars, vans, and trucks. She remembered putting these barriers around the hotels to prevent the zombies gaining access, and even though she was in her Panther, she didn’t fancy her chances of breaching the barrier. The Hilton was only fifty metres away ahead of her, but somehow there were zombies in what should have been a safe zone. She looked along the row of vehicles and soon saw how the zombies had infiltrated the area; to her right thirty metres away there was a large gap in the barrier, with a big mangled truck lying on its side to one side. It was clear a bomb had been planted beneath the truck.

  Issy put the Panther in gear and turned off road, smashing through a roadside barrier as she headed for the gap in the barrier. She considered leaving the Panther in the gap to close it off, but when she got there, she realised that the gap was far larger than the Panther could cover. Instead, she continued across the Hilton’s grassy lawns and headed for the front of the building.

  She parked as close to the front doors as possible and immediately saw a man-made barricade pushed up against the doors and a few heads poking over the top to watch what was happening.

  Issy turned off the engine but kept the side lights on, swung around in her seat and looked for one of the blood and guts containers, intending to freshen up her cover. The space where there should have been a container was empty, so she climbed into the back to search some more, thinking that it might have come loose during the drive over and fallen to the floor. But she couldn’t find anything.

  Issy sat back on her haunches and considered her next steps. The blood and guts she was already covered in was relatively fresh, but she knew that it seemed to wear off quicker these days. There was only one way to be sure and that was using fresh supplies. She looked outside the vehicle and the zombies that had approached, attracted by the noise of the vehicle’s arrival, although many were already beginning to lose int
erest and were starting to wander off. There was one standing at the rear door on the driver’s side, staring through the glass at her. She moved across the vehicle, the zombie watching her movements with interest and gnashing its teeth against the glass, banging its head, and trying to grasp the Panther’s sides.

  Issy moved back to the door and eased it open, pushing back the zombie a couple of feet. She waited with the knife raised as the zombie stumbled, regained its footing, and headed back in her direction, this time aiming for the side of the open door. When it got in range, Issy stabbed it in the forehead and in one fluid motion dragged the body into the rear of the Panther, and quickly closed the door.

  She quickly slit the body from the throat down to the intestines, grabbed handfuls of guts and started covering herself. Satisfied that she was safe once again, she flipped over onto her knees and grabbed a few MP5’s from the rear of the vehicle and slung them over both shoulders. Then she grabbed as many magazines she could fit into her pockets then pulled out her knives, ready to leave the vehicle.

  Issy slowly climbed out of the Panther and made her way around the vehicle to the front doors of the hotel, stabbing half a dozen zombies on the way.

  By the time she reached the doors, a small crowd had gathered, and torches and candles provided some additional light to those of her Panther. Issy couldn’t make out any of the faces inside the hotel, but judging by the scraping sounds, the temporary, man-made barricade was clearly being shifted to the side.

  The doors opened a little and Issy found herself staring at a couple of gun barrels.

  “It’s me, Issy!” she said quickly, and the weapons were dropped, and the doors opened wider to allow her to enter.

  As soon as she was in, the doors were closed, and the barricade quickly replaced. She was approached by a two people, but she couldn’t see who they were because the torch light was directed straight at her face.

  “Issy! It is you!”

  “Sarah!” Issy replied, recognising the voice, and moving forwards to give the woman a big hug, the MP5’s rattling together on her back. “It’s so good to see you.”

  “You too,” Sarah replied, crushing Issy in her embrace.

  “Don’t I get a hug,” came from behind Sarah, and Issy looked to see Andy standing there with a big grin on his face.

  “Down cowboy, we’ve got work to do,” she replied, but couldn’t hide her grin and obvious relief that he was still alive and well.

  Sarah released her and Issy quickly handed her the first MP5 then passed another to Andy and a third to Travis, who was standing next to Andy. Issy smiled at him and nodded, and he returned the gesture.

  “Where’s Gina, Sean and Joel?” Issy asked, wondering where the rest of the Leaders were.

  “Gina and Sean are putting up some more defences on the other side of the hotel,” Sarah replied.

  “And Joel?” Issy asked, with a frown.

  Sarah shook her head sadly.

  “We think he was in T3 when it all went down. We haven’t seen or heard from him.”

  “We can worry about that later,” Issy replied. “He could still be there, waiting for our help. Why didn’t you answer the comms or the radio?”

  “Busy keeping alive and the earpieces were dead,” Andy said. “We knew you’d be back sometime, but not when, and we needed to make sure we were safe first. I don’t think anyone thought about radios the whole time.”

  “I’ll go and get some,” Travis offered, and headed off to the reception area.

  Issy tapped her earpiece and relayed the news to the other Leaders. She could sense their relief when they replied. Bear advised that he and his team were now using the CATs to crush the zombies and were looking to plug the gaps in the perimeter. Jack confirmed that he and Irish were pushing towards T3 to see if there were any survivors.

  Issy signed off and looked around the reception area and saw what looked like hundreds of people milling about. She turned to the others.

  “Right, time to fight back!”

  28

  Day 26 – 08:00

  Heathrow

  The Leaders sat in the lounge area of the Hilton as dull early morning light filtered into the room.

  The previous night had been long and hard for all of them and the rest of the survivors, and none of them had had any time to sleep. That would come later.

  Bear and his team had managed to close off the gaps in the perimeter, but they were just temporary solutions and wouldn’t last long.

  Jack, with Irish and Issy’s teams, had helped kill thousands of zombies as they fought to get inside T3. There had been few survivors, but the building was now more like a demolition site. The whole of the Command Centre area and Medical on Level 2 was gone, along with anyone unlucky enough to have been in those areas at that time. The Leaders suspected that both Joel and Tom Williams were buried somewhere amongst the rubble. Large sections of Level 1 were caved in with the weight of Level 2 sitting on top of it and was inaccessible. The ground floor was still there, but with the uneven weight of the two floors above, was clearly unstable and a high risk for anyone daring to go inside. It was only a matter of time before the whole thing crumbled to the ground. Zombies had been intermittently crawling out of the wreckage, some with no arms or legs, almost all with broken bones of some kind, broken backs or their heads lolling to one side. There was spilt blood and gore all over the place. It was not a pretty sight.

  After securing what they could, they had eventually made their way back to the Hilton, worn out but still determined to turn things around. But, for the first time there was stirrings of doubt that they would ever be able to turn Heathrow in the sort of haven they had once dreamed of.

  It turned out that Sarah and the others had been taken by surprise when the bombs went off. They had been in their rooms changing when the first explosion rocked the building and it was only later that they found out it had demolished the Premier Inn next door. However, it was the first bomb of many. Within seconds of the Premier Inn being hit, bombs went off at various points around the perimeter, including a couple that opened up the cordon next to the Hilton, allowing the massed zombies in and effectively isolating the hotel. They’d had no choice but to build barricades to keep themselves safe, but there was nowhere to go and nothing they could do.

  There had been other unforeseen problems, like a zombie found in one of the communal toilets, which had bitten a couple of the survivors before the situation was brought under control. Bombs had also taken out the walkway from T4, most of T4 and T3, and various cargo warehouses and hangers. It had been a well-planned exercise with devastating effects.

  Jack started the meeting, noting that Dave in Battersea and Daniel at the Tower of London were listening in on the radio.

  “Give me a brief summary of where we’re at,” he ordered. “Sarah?”

  “Gina and I have been trying to rally the survivors here in the hotel and get as many provisions as possible. We’ve accounted for just over two hundred and fifty people…which means…” Sarah paused.

  “That there are over a thousand that are unaccounted for,” Gina finished for her.

  “Any news on Joel or Tom? Jack asked.

  “Nothing,” Sarah confirmed.

  Jack closed his eyes and rubbed his nose.

  “Bear?”

  “Perimeter secure for now, but I’m not sure how long it will stay that way. There are still thousands of zombies outside and straining to get in. As long as the fires are still raging and parts of buildings are collapsing, there’s something to keep their attention.”

  “Your job is to secure the perimeter properly,” Jack ordered. “I’m sure we have more coaches and trucks that can be used as barriers. But be careful. We don’t know if these terrorists are still nearby or if they have planted more bombs ready to go off.”

  “If you see a shiny metal cannister, then run the other way,” Issy said, having seen one of the bombs a few days earlier before it went off.

  “Irish,
I want you to continue the internal clean up. Kill off any remaining zombies and burn them at the far end of the airport in the usual place.”

  Irish nodded, accepting the role.

  “Andy, I want you to take a team to try and clear the debris from the buildings and look for survivors.”

  Andy nodded.

  “Travis, Sean, your job is to find weapons and ammunition. The armoury has gone but we may find some undamaged gear, and of course we’ve stashed hauls all around the place. God knows, we need to find some, because we’re almost out of bullets after last night.”

  “Will do,” Travis confirmed.

  “Sarah, Gina, you continue with what you were doing. Gather new survivors, try and find help to patch up any injuries, gather supplies and get existing survivors to help,” Jack said, then paused

  “What about me?” Issy asked when it seemed like Jack had finished.

  Jack turned to look at Issy with a small smile on his face.

  “Your job is to track down the bastards who did this.”

  Issy smiled widely. It was exactly what she wanted to do, and she realised that Jack was well aware of that. She nodded.

  “Need anything from Battersea or the Tower?” Dave asked, over the airwaves.

  “Not for now,” Jack replied. “You should be alright in Battersea because I’m pretty sure they don’t know about you. But, Daniel, you better put the Tower on red alert because they’re aware of where you are and I’m sure they’ve got some scores to settle. Oh, it would also be good if you could let Hendon and Whale Island know what’s happened.”

  “Will do,” Dave and Daniel confirmed before they both signed off.

  “Any questions?” Jack asked.

  “Just one,” Bear replied. “Joel was our source for helicopters and equipment. Do we know the locations he used?”

  “Good point,” Jack acknowledged, looking around the group.

  “Most of the information was in the Command Centre,” Sarah explained, “but we know about the Aldershot barracks and RAF Odiham, assuming anything is left there.”