Almost on cue, Jamie’s voice came over the radio a few minutes later, advising Shawn that the turning we wanted was coming up on the left soon.
Louise’s voice came back almost immediately, saying there was a small group of zombies gathered at the entrance to the road we needed to take.
Dave stood up on the seat and looked behind, back the way we’d come.
“The ones behind aren’t in sight yet. We need to deal with the ones in front quickly and then maybe we’ll be able to avoid them following us.”
Daniel and Chet put down their zombie spears and grabbed their rifles. Dave, seeing this, turned to them.
“I think it’ll be best if we go quiet for this one, lads.”
He picked up the radio.
“Listen, everyone. The ones that are following us are out of sight for the moment, but as we already know, they will keep going until they find us. We need to get rid of all the ones in front of us as quickly and quietly as possible and get down the lane, so they lose our trail. I want to do it quietly just in case there are any others nearby. We don’t know how long we’ll be staying at this church, so the fewer we attract can only be a good thing.
Shawn, see how many you can get with the tractor and then we’ll finish them off from the Volvo. If you boys in the bus could get ready to kill any ones we can’t get to, that would be a great help.”
Dave’s quick and accurate assessment of the situation and the tactical plan to deal with it made perfect sense and everyone quickly acknowledged they understood what to do and the convoy continued.
We stopped when told to by Louise. The three vehicles pulled alongside each other on the wide road to watch Shawn once again use his vehicle as our main weapon against the undead.
A group of about thirty zombies had herded together at the entrance to the lane we needed to take. Maybe they were the ones left behind when they’d led them away from the church a few days ago and somehow, they knew that human flesh was close by and hadn’t joined the throngs heading towards Bristol, who must be continually passing as they were funnelled down the main road, following each other like lemmings.
They’d noticed us by now, and they started heading in our direction. Shawn waited until they were in the centre of the road before driving straight at and through them, spears thrusting from the trailer, claiming more as the plough on the front of the tractor pulverised them. He drove a short way and used the full width of the road and its grass verges to turn around and line up on the remaining ones, again thinning them out.
I saw him gesticulating from the cab and got the gist that he wanted me to have a go as he drove past us to turn around again.
With a shout of, “Get ready lads,” I drove slowly into the remaining ones. Dave, Chet and Daniel soon dispatched the ones they could reach with their spears. I turned around and made one more pass, aiming the car at the last few in the road, bumping over the remains left by the tractor. If I could see one lying on the ground still moving, I tried to aim so my wheels would run over and crush its head. The weight added to my car with all the extra protection we had built onto it made this easier. When I got my aim right, you could feel the car rise slightly as it rode over the skull and then drop suddenly as the skull caved in and its brains spread over the road.
One or two were still untouched at the edges of the devastation we’d caused in only a few minutes. Dave picked up the radio and told the knights to get ready, but to be careful and make sure any they stepped over were already dead.
Pulling out of the way so I could turn around, Marc immediately drove the bus forward so the knights could get as close as possible to the few who were still staggering towards us.
To an outsider, it probably looked like a well-choreographed and practised manoeuvre, it was all done so smoothly. To me, it showed again how well we worked together. The two groups had both survived and fought against terrifying odds before we joined, and now combined, we were proving a formidable force who could easily work together.
Marc stopped the bus and the doors hissed open. With no hesitation, Dave, Alex and Geoff exited and took a few steps forward and ended the existence of the few remaining zombies. As soon as they hit the ground, they turned their attentions to the ones lying mangled around them, destroying the brains of any still moving, before turning and hurrying back on board.
Less than five minutes after Dave had issued his instructions and with Shawn leading the way, we drove down the narrow lane that led to the village.
As Dave sat back down in his seat, he summed up our performance.
“Fuck me. I have never seen such unit cohesion from a bunch of FNGs before.”
“FNGs?” I asked.
“Fucking New Guys. We’re operating as if we’re bloody special forces or something, not a load of civvies driving around in bastardised Mad Max vehicles, including some chaps who like to dress up and pretend they’re King bloody Arthur. I doubt if I had the best of all the Marines I’ve trained in my whole career, that we’d be doing as well as we are.”
I chuckled, “I think you’re probably right, mate. But this isn’t some training exercise or even a battle, where if one of us gets hurt we can call for immediate support and medevac. We’re fighting together as a family where we don’t get any second chances. We have no back-up apart, from each other. If a mistake is made, one or all of us dies. It’s as simple as that.
“And that’s what’s making the difference, I think. I would do anything without hesitation to protect my wife and children, as would anyone else in this group, I imagine. But yes, I do agree the way we have and are getting through this is remarkable. Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine us doing what we’re doing. Not many days ago I was shitting myself, screaming in absolute terror as I tried to escape from the camp site we were on, thinking we wouldn’t even survive the next hour. Now, I must admit I’m reasonably positive about our chances, and I really think that if things carry on the way they have done, we’ve got a chance to eke out some existence from all this shit that’s happening around us.”
“I bloody hope so, mate. Something or someone made sure we all got together. It would be a damn shame if we wasted the opportunity by getting ourselves eaten.”
He stopped talking and stood up on the seat again.
“I can see the spire on the church, it can’t be far now.” He looked back at Chet and Daniel, who were also sitting down. “On your feet lads, it looks as if we’re getting close.”
As Jamie gave Shawn the last few directions, the atmosphere in the vehicle tensed.
What would we find? A few days ago, eleven people had been in the church. They were in a secure place and had enough food to last for some time, with no need to leave the sanctuary they had sought shelter in. But a lot could happen in a few days and sometimes fate didn’t not play fair.
Louise’s voice came over the radio as we entered the village green, telling us it all looked clear. It was a very picturesque place, a typical English village green, the church dominating the skyline with the pub facing it. The rest of the green was lined with pretty houses of all shapes and sizes.
It was one of those places you liked to drive to for a Sunday lunch or maybe a drink on a warm summer’s day. As you sat on the bench in the pub garden, you would look around and say to yourself it was where you wanted to live and then reach for your phone to check out properties for sale in the area. You would then wistfully look at houses you just could not afford before finishing your drink or your meal and driving back to real life.
On close inspection though, the abandoned cars littering the road, the barricade of vehicles blocking the entrance to the church yard and the corpses I could see lying by the church doors, shattered the rural idyll the village used to portray. It was quiet and peaceful, but it had an air of abandonment and panic.
The vehicles stopped in a line, facing the vehicular entrance to the church that Shawn’s friends had told us they had helped to block, using abandoned cars left by their owners as they f
led the chaos of the first day of the apocalypse.
A few zombies that had been shambling around aimlessly started to head in our direction. Before anyone could ask, the doors to the bus opened once more and the three knights stepped down, quickly dispatching the nearest ones. A couple more were further away so they stood ready, waiting for them to get closer.
While they were waiting, a shout from the church steeple made us look up. A man was leaning over the parapet, waving. Ian shouted up from the trailer.
“Bob, is that you? We told you we’d be back, we’ve brought some new friends along. If you wait while we deal with the last few heading towards us, then we will clear the barricade and get inside.”
The man high up on the steeple shouted he understood and disappeared from view, most likely descending the tower to come and meet us.
Knowing the last few zombies approaching would pose no problem to the knights, I climbed out of the Volvo and went to the trailer to steady the ladder Simon was lowering.
Good old Maud. I didn’t need to say anything to her. She was standing, looking over the side of the trailer at approaching zombies, cradling Sarah in her arms. As soon as I saw a child’s hand touch the ladder, she said softly,
“Now children, let’s wait up here until we get inside the churchyard. Then you can get down and help everyone. I need you to stay up here and help protect Sarah and me.”
Even though I couldn’t see my children, I heard a chorus of slightly reluctant agreements as they made way for the adults to descend the ladder.
We had a strange balance to work out between protecting the children at all costs, sheltering them from the constant horror we were experiencing, and preparing and training them to survive in the world we now lived in.
I’d seen Stan and Eddie lining the trailer sides, using a zombie spear to kill as many as possible when driving through a throng of them, but also in the same day playing tig in the yard at Willie’s farm, running around laughing and carefree. Basically, being children.
Their normal childhood had ended the second the outbreak happened, and they did need to be trained on how to kill them and to survive, as we all did. But I still felt better if they could be kept out of harm’s way whenever possible. The trick was to manage that, but still make them feel they were contributing to the group and part of the team we’d become. If they felt too overprotected, they might try something rash which could end in tragedy.
We wasted no time and started to push the vehicles away from the entrance. Dave asked a few to maintain perimeter security and to back the knights up if need be, while everyone else helped move the barricade. The many willing hands soon cleared the way and the vehicles drove up the drive towards the church. Again, with no prompting, the convoy positioned itself to protect the main church doors. Jamie left the van back slightly, so he could block the final gap when everyone had entered the church.
In the silence following the engines being turned off, the only sound was the squealing of protesting hinges as the ancient church doors opened.
Blinking in the bright sunlight, the inhabitants of the church filed out to meet us.
We now numbered forty-three and a dog.
Chapter Four
The last few visible zombies had now been killed by the knights and they were walking towards the church.
“It’s great to meet you,” I said to the group from the church. “I’m Tom. If we can first of all get the cars back over the entrance, we can all meet properly then.”
One of them stepped forward.
“Yes, absolutely. I’m Jim and I’ll introduce the rest later, but you’re right. Let’s secure the place.”
He then turned to Ian and chuckled.
“Bloody hell, mate, I know you said you’d try to come back, and I was really hoping you would, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine this. You lot have really got your shit together.”
Then I noticed the two we’d picked up earlier. They were standing slightly separate from everyone else and still looked in shock from all that had happened to them today. In all the excitement of reaching the church and now that the group had grown so large, they had inadvertently been forgotten. I walked over to them to rectify our mistake as the rest walked down to the entrance gates.
“Hi, I’m Tom,” I said, holding out my hand. “Sorry about not including you then, it’s all a bit crazy at the moment, as you can imagine.”
They both shook my hand and the woman spoke.
“Oh, it’s okay. I’m Nicky and this is my husband Chris. We’re just trying to take it all in. We thought we were done for until we heard and then saw you drive past. I can’t describe the relief we felt when you stopped and came to rescue us, we just can’t thank you enough. The guys on the bus have filled us in a bit on what you’ve been up to and it all sounds incredible.”
“I know what you mean. When we tell the story ourselves, we can hardly believe it, but here we are. Anyway, if you want to come and help us move those cars back, we can get a brew on and get to know each other better.”
They agreed, and we walked down to help the others.
Twenty minutes later, when we were all satisfied that the churchyard was secure again, we helped Maud and the children down from the trailer and trooped into the cool interior of the church.
The church looked very organised. A cooking area had been set up and the pews arranged to make a large communal seating area. One wall was lined with what looked like a sleeping area, with areas divided by blankets hanging off ropes to provide an element of privacy.
The church was everything they’d told me it would be. It provided a safe and secure refuge, with the bonus that the perimeter wall should keep all but a huge mass of the undead out.
As everyone sat down on the pews, I did notice that the three different groups, us, the knights and the church occupants, sat together. At first, the two new additions looked unsure where to sit, before sitting near to Marc, who had been driving the bus. I was sure a psychologist would see it as an interesting study on society and the bonds that people formed even after a short time together. Tribal could be another way to describe it. The three separate groups had worked together to survive and so the bonds they felt would be stronger than feelings towards the other groups.
Shawn was the exception. He had the recent emotional contact with us, but also a strong, much longer-term emotional attachment to the friends he had lived with for years. He did choose, though, to sit with our group next to Louise, who he had spent the last few days in the tractor cab with.
I wasn’t sure what the intentions of the church group were yet, but as Shawn’s friends were joining us on our journey, the two groups would quickly and easily merge into one strong unit; our survival depended on it.
The vicar had remained standing as we all sat down, and he took the lead now. He walked into the centre of the seating area and the chatter that had begun died down. He spread his arms in a universal welcoming gesture.
“Welcome, everyone. I can’t say how much pleasure it gives me to welcome old friends and new to the sanctuary my church has become.”
He turned to the group of knights.
“Without your help, I doubt any of us would have survived and now you’ve brought many new friends and some amazing looking vehicles. I’m desperate to know your story, just as I’m sure everyone else must be. But first, let us offer you some refreshments and food to officially welcome you.”
With that, he went and shook our hands in turn and blessed everyone with the sign of the cross.
Becky whispered to me,
“I’ll go and see if they have enough supplies, it’s not fair to use theirs when we have so much.” I squeezed her hand and replied,
“Good idea, love.” As Becky walked away, Dave called me over.
“I think we need to set an OP up in the spire.” I looked quizzically at him.
“Sorry. An Observation Post. I’ll ask that guy over there, I think he said his name was Jim. He’s one
of the coppers, I believe, so I imagine he’s their security expert. One person on watch at a time should do it and now there are so many of us, the rota won’t be hard to organise. Do you think the children will be up for it too?”
“Good idea, mate. I imagine they were doing it anyway. There was someone up there when we arrived, after all. Come on, let’s go and have a chat with him.”
Jim told us what they’d been doing for the past few days. They had kept a constant watch from the tower. Until more of the undead had started to drift into the village, they’d managed to scavenge some more supplies from neighbouring houses. Erring on the side of caution, they’d then retreated to the church and kept as quiet as possible. This worked and most of the zombies had shambled away, just leaving the few that we’d dealt with when we arrived.
Dave called to Jim, the Marine, and told him to grab a radio and go and take the first watch in the Spire, promising to send up some food and drink when it was ready.
With a, “Yes, boss,” he picked up a radio and his weapon and after a quick comms check to make sure the radios were working, followed the other Jim, who showed him the way to the Spire.
Becky had, with the help of a few others, unloaded some of our supplies from the trailer and was helping in the cooking area. The children had gathered in the area of the church that contained children’s books and games and were happily amusing themselves. They’d even taken baby Sarah off Maud and were playing with her on the carpet of the ‘play area’.
Maud, never one to sit still or take a break, was bustling around, and was introducing herself to all the church occupants. The smile on her face was infectious and her bubbly spirit and personality were a tonic everyone seemed to enjoy.
Again, I thought about how Maud had changed from the cowed, bullied woman who was unable to speak for herself when we first met her, to the woman she had become today. She was the matriarch of the group, constantly looking after the welfare of all of us, especially the children, and never afraid to put any of us in our place if we overstepped the invisible lines of behaviour she expected.
Zombie Castle Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 37
