by J N Wood
I looked back at the container, where the person was vigorously gesturing for us to come to him. I realised we didn’t have time to debate this, so I turned the engine back on and spun the steering wheel fully to the right.
When we drove over the first bump, I called out for everyone to hold onto something. It was a very bumpy ride. The field was full of peaks and troughs.
The occasional zombie started to thud into the side of the bus. The person on top of the container was still waving, but it was more like a side to side motion rather than a come to me gesture.
Is he saying here I am? Or telling us to stop?
Fuck knows.
My stomach lurched as the front of the bus suddenly dropped, coming to an uncomfortable and abrupt stop. My forehead very painfully slammed into the steering wheel. Panicked screams cried out from behind me.
I slowly lifted my all too damaged face, and put the bus into reverse. I very gently pressed on the accelerator, trying to bump us out of the ditch I’d fucking stupidly driven us into. We rocked backwards and forwards, but the bus wasn’t budging.
‘We’re stuck Chris,’ Shannon shouted over the cacophony of noise. The revving bus engine, the fireworks, and fucking Daphne and Celeste were overwhelming. ‘Everybody,’ she called out. ‘We’re getting off the bus and running to that container.’ She pointed over to the pale blue and battered shipping container, looking very much out of place in the field.
It was probably about forty or fifty feet away from us. Dark shapes sprinted across the grass, each one casting multiple shadows from the lights of the fireworks.
‘We have to go now,’ Shannon ordered. ‘No bags, only weapons. Let’s go.’ She looked at me, and then nodded towards the button to open the front doors.
I picked up the Brooklyn Smasher, and felt for my axe tucked into my belt. I had one last look at everyone, then out at the very strange shadows moving around in front us, and slammed my fist into the button.
Gee was out first, firing his crossbow before he’d even left the bus. Everyone else was following him out.
I was trapped in the driver’s seat, and letting everyone pass me, meaning I’d be getting off last.
Fuck’s sake.
Pete was the last person to pass by me, we gave each other a little nod and I followed him out, into absolute fucking chaos. I immediately swung my bat into the head of a charging zombie, before starting to run. Sandra was carrying one of the kids. I think Ali had another. I couldn’t see who was carrying the blond boy.
Gee had positioned himself between everyone and the oncoming zombies. He wasn’t even looking at the container, keeping his efforts entirely on stopping anything that got close to our group. He looked like he was slicing whole heads off with his huge knife. He was doing a fucking amazing job of protecting everyone, as usual.
I was so distracted by Gee’s heroics that I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing. My foot caught on something, sending me stumbling to the floor. I managed to roll and was back up on my feet almost straight away, although I ended up running in the wrong direction. Before I had time to adjust my angle, a shape moved in front of me. I swung my bat upwards. It connected with, and obliterated a zombie’s head. As I was bringing the Smasher back up, another blurred shape lurched towards me. I swiped at it, making contact with one of its knee caps. The leg snapped backwards in a very unnatural and sickening way, the zombie collapsing to the floor.
I quickly scanned the field for the easiest route through the scattering of monsters, lit up in reds, oranges, yellows and blues. Some of our group were already climbing up onto the roof of the container. I ran straight towards them, keeping the Smasher by my side. I shoulder barged a zombie out of the way, then another, and another, before body slamming one into the side of the container. It slowly and disgustingly slid down to the ground. Their lightweight and long dead bodies made it easy to push them out of the way.
Killing them is definitely getting easier.
Gee and Jack had their backs to the container, holding off the ever increasing threat of dead creatures. I spun around and slammed my bat overarm into the top of a zombies head.
Jack’s face looked like he was in pain from swinging his big axe, but he seemed to be dealing with it. He didn’t have much choice.
‘Where did you go?’ he asked me.
‘Got a bit lost.’
He shot me the briefest of glances between swings of his axe. ‘What?’ he asked.
I swung my bat, very luckily hitting three zombies’ heads with one blow. ‘It’s not really that important is it?’ I yelled.
The space between us and the bus was almost full of zombies. If we’d waited just a couple of seconds we wouldn’t have made it. I could see the bus actually rocking from side to side from the force of the zombies hitting it. We needed to move before we were overrun.
A scream echoed out from above me. I swung my bat into a zombie’s face, before turning to see Sandra staring wild eyed at the bus.
‘Steve! Max!’ Ali shouted.
Who the fuck is Max?
I spun around. Looking over the zombies running for us, I could see a human shape carrying something. It was crawling up the front of the bus. A few seconds later, the shape made it onto the roof. The unmistakable figure of Steve, carrying the blond kid, slowly turned around to face us.
Oh, that’s Max.
Sandra screamed out the word, ‘No,’ drawing it out for four or five painful seconds.
Jack grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back towards the container. ‘We can’t get back to them now! There are too many!’ he shouted.
I dropped my bat and put my back against the container. I interlocked my fingers together and crouched down slightly. Jack placed his foot in my hands and I heaved him up so he could catch the edge of the container.
I stepped away and punched an oncoming zombie in the face, and then elbowed another in the side of the head. Immediately after picking up my bat, Gee wrenched it out of my hands, using it to decapitate a zombie, splattering us both with its innards. ‘Go up now Chris!’ he ordered.
I turned back around to face the container, narrowly avoiding a charging zombie, but only because Gee stepped between us and took it out with my bat. I ran and jumped at the container, placing the sole of my right foot on its blue metal wall and trying to launch myself as high as possible. It wasn’t going to be enough.
Ali and Shannon caught my outstretched hands and started pulling me up. I glanced to my left to make sure Jack was okay, he was almost on the roof, being dragged up by Michael and Pete. Sandra and Theo were staring at the bus, screaming at Steve.
Once I was up, I spun around on my belly, shouting, ‘Hurry the fuck up Gee!’
Gee’s crossbow was on the floor by his feet. He was swinging my bat from side to side, taking out four or five creatures with each swing. Most of them seemed to be obsessed with the fireworks, but there were still plenty coming for him.
There’s no fucking way he’s gonna have time to make it up here before they take chunks out of him.
I was desperately trying to think of a solution, when he suddenly spun around, threw my bat at us, and hurled himself towards me.
Fucking hell. This is going to hurt.
Gee’s right hand somehow found mine, and I held on. At the same time there was a loud thud next to me, as Jack slammed into the container, grabbing Gee’s other hand. I couldn’t move at all, let alone try and pull him up.
‘Help us pull him up,’ Jack pleaded.
I felt at least two pairs of hands on my arms, and as one, we all heaved Gee up onto the roof. Michael and Ali stamped on, and then kicked the three zombies that were clinging onto Gee’s legs, eventually forcing them back into the gathering swarm below us.
I clambered to my feet as the Daphne and Celeste song was replaced by the Spice Girls, singing Wannabe. It was blaring out through the hidden loud speakers.
‘Why the fuck is that playing?’ I whispered.
‘Don’t move!
Just stay there!’ Pete called out.
‘I can’t!’ Steve shouted back.
‘Don’t move!’ Pete repeated.
The bus wasn’t level. Because I’d crashed us into a ditch, the front end was lower than the back, and it was angled to the left. It was being jostled around whenever more zombies joined the crowds around the right side of the bus. It seemed to be leaning more by the second.
Steve looked like he was struggling to keep his feet. Max was clinging onto him, his face pressing into Steve’s neck. Steve’s mouth was moving, probably trying to reassure the boy.
The field below us was now filled with the dead, and more were coming, all still illuminated by the seemingly endless fireworks.
‘What should I do?’ Steve shrieked.
I looked at Jack, and then at Shannon and Michael. They stared back at me, desperation in their eyes. We had nothing.
‘Stay real still!’ Ali shouted. ‘Don’t move and keep quiet. They’ll move on eventually.’
There was a loud scraping noise from under the bus. Steve momentarily fell to one knee, before regaining his balance and standing back up. A few seconds later the bus violently shifted beneath him, the back end rising slightly. He immediately fell back down to land on both knees. He lifted his face to stare back at us, mouthing the words, ‘Help me.’
‘Keep low!’ Pete shouted. ‘Lie down.’
There were several sharp intakes of air as the bus started to dramatically lean to the left. Steve placed his right hand down on the roof to steady himself. A few moments later, the bus leaned back to the right and stopped moving.
‘What can we do?’ Shannon pleaded. ‘Anybody? We need ideas.’
Steve very slowly got back to his feet. He gently prised the boy’s arms from around his neck, and lifted him high above his head.
What the fuck is he doing?
Even over the hissing, the Spice Girls and the fireworks, we could hear both Max and Steve, sobbing loudly.
‘What is he doing?’ Pete asked.
‘No fucking idea,’ I replied.
‘I’m coming!’ Steve shouted, and stepped towards the front of the bus.
‘You fucking what?’ I said.
‘No!’ Sandra screamed, followed by the rest of her family all echoing the ‘No.’
Steve moved closer to the edge, and the clawing hands of the dead. More and more zombies were making their way up the front of the bus. Because it was in the ditch, the roof was easier to get to from that end. Steve stepped forward and kicked one in the head. It toppled back into the crowds.
My hand fell to the holster at my hip, resting on my gun.
‘Guns. Who has a gun,’ I asked, pulling mine out of the holster.
Sandra, Michael, Jack and Shannon all pulled out hand guns, the rifles all left on the bus.
‘Who is a better shot than me?’ I quickly asked. Gee took the gun out of my hand. Ali leaned over and took Jack’s, he didn’t protest.
‘Aim for the ones on the front of the bus,’ Ali said. ‘And please be careful.’
Before the guns started firing, I just managed to shout, ‘Wait two seconds Steve.’ He can’t have heard me, as he just carried on.
The gunfire started, dropping the zombies closest to the front of the bus, and the ones climbing up. Some of the bullets pinged off the snow plough.
‘Careful!’ Sandra shouted.
Steve, with the boy still held aloft, stepped down onto the bonnet, using the fallen dead bodies almost as a staircase. He paused and looked to us, tears filled his eyes. He’d reached the point where he would have to jump down to the ground. It was only a couple of feet, but he was jumping into a swarm of zombies. There was a mass of hands banging and clawing at the bus in front of him.
I could only imagine how he was feeling.
There was one more barrage of gunfire, all aimed at the area directly in front of Steve. It hardly made a difference. The newly formed spaces were immediately filled with more zombies.
Shannon dropped to her knees and started banging her gun on the container. We all followed suit, banging whatever we could to make as much noise as possible. It did draw the zombies’ attention towards us, but only the ones between us and the bus, and they were already occupied by the fireworks. It wasn’t making any difference to the ones trying to get to Steve.
Along with several very audible gasps from the roof of the container, he did it, he did the unimaginable. Steve stepped off the edge, and into the dead.
He fell into zombies, his weight moving them out of his way. When he hit the ground he must have bent his knees slightly, or not landed on level ground, because the boy came precariously close to the zombies reaching hands. Like animals, they pounced on Steve, their hands clawing at him, and mouths biting into his torso. He immediately started screaming. Almost as loud were Max’s cries of terror. The sound was almost unbearable.
On the container, there were cries that sounded almost as full of pain as Steve’s. I didn’t look to see who it was. I just kept my eyes on Steve, and willed him on.
He was slowly moving through them, too fucking slowly. Steve was a tall guy, almost as tall as Gee, so at least they weren’t biting his neck and head. Ten agonisingly long seconds later, and he’d only travelled a quarter of the distance.
‘Close your eyes Max,’ Sandra called out between gasping sobs.
Steve’s screams were horrific, like nothing I’d ever heard before.
‘Come on Steve!’ I half heartedly shouted. I couldn’t see him making it much further.
I’m definitely turning away when they get the young boy.
The rest of the group joined in with my shouts, trying to encourage him as best as we could.
His arms didn’t looked they’d weakened at all. The kid was still high above him and the zombies’ hands. Steve’s face was contorted in pain, and tears coursed down his cheeks. He was now silent though. I had no idea if that was good or bad, but I guessed it was bad. His silence meant they at least weren’t all crowding around him. Some were staring upwards, watching the fireworks.
Hopefully that meant he wasn’t hitting as much resistance.
Theo was also sobbing, his breathing sounding erratic.
When Steve was about ten feet away, Gee said to me, ‘Chris, get on back.’
‘You what?’ I asked, shaking my head and looking around. ‘Get on my back? Why?’
‘Get on floor. Lay on back. Hang on edge. We hold you,’ he rapidly replied.
Lay on back and hang on edge. What the fuck does that mean? Hang on the edge?
Oh right, I think I know what he means.
Fucking brilliant.
I quickly glanced around at everyone. Jack, Gee, Michael and Shannon all stared back at me.
What am I gonna do? I can’t say no can I? Just look at what Steve is doing for that kid. Fucking Steve.
I got down on the floor and crawled to the edge, as close to where Steve would hopefully be, when and if he could ever reach us. I turned over and stretched out on my back. Gee and Jack put all of their combined weight down on my shins.
I fucking hate the zombie apocalypse.
‘Stiffen up Chris!’ Jack shouted.
I lifted my head to look back at him, really wanting to make an erection joke. ‘What the fuck are we doing?’ I asked.
Gee just stared back at me. Jack nodded, fear in his wide eyes.
‘Ready?’ Gee called out.
No, I’m really fucking not ready.
‘Yeah go on then,’ I muttered.
They started to slowly push me. I was soon edging out and over the fucking zombies.
Fucking hell. I should have done a lot more core strength exercises.
Only my legs below my knees were resting on the container, held down by Gee and Jack. The rest of me was hanging above the dead. My knees gave way slightly, only for a split second, but enough so my head lowered to brush against the reaching dead hands. I quickly straightened up as much as I could. My stomach and thigh
muscles felt like they were trying to tear their way out through my skin.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fucketty fuck. Hurry the fuck up Steve. I can’t hold out for much longer.
I arched my neck and looked back towards Steve. Our eyes met, and I immediately knew he wasn’t going to make it. From what I could see of his body through the zombies tearing and biting him, he was a mess, a terrible bloody mess. Large sections of him were missing and there was blood everywhere, splattered up onto his neck and face. I had to swallow back the impulse to be sick, and my eyes were glistening at the horrific sight.
How the actual fuck is he still conscious?
He mouthed the words, ‘I’m sorry.’
‘No Steve!’ I shouted, stretching my arms out towards him. ‘Just one more push and that’s it.’
He was only a couple of feet away. He could probably fall forwards and pass me the boy.
‘Come on mate,’ I shouted. ‘You can do it. You need to pass me Max.’
I saw the fight reappear in Steve’s eyes. With a roar I never imagined could come out of someone so close to death, he reached forwards and placed the kid in my hands.
As easy as fucking that.
However, the extra weight of the boy was a bit of a shock. I wasn’t expecting it.
Because I’m a fucking idiot.
I dropped down into the swarm. The moment I felt the dead beneath me, I was dragged over the top of them, repeatedly banging the back of my head on the hard skulls of the zombies. My arse and back were slammed into the edge of the container before I was heaved up onto the roof. I had at least managed to keep Max away from the grasping hands and biting teeth.
‘Steven!’ Pete was shouting. ‘Get up. Get back up. Please Steve!’
‘Please Steve!’ Theo cried out.
I turned around after Sandra had taken Max from my hands. Steve was being dragged under by the swarm. His arms were still raised, and his eyes stared upwards, like he was watching the fireworks. I couldn’t hear if he was making any noise over the shouts and screams coming from the people around me. After climbing to my feet, Gee patted me on the back and handed me my baseball bat. I looked down at the blood splattered Smasher in my hands, and then gazed at the scene around us. The Rodriguez family were all crouched down at the edge of the container, their hands outstretched towards the place Steve had once been standing.
