I sat staring at the blood on my hands and clothes.
Becky calling my name roused me once again and I stood on the seat and climbed out of the Volvo. As soon as she saw me, she screamed.
“Oh, my God, Tom! Are you hurt?”
I was coated in blood. My clothes, my hands and my face were all covered.
“No, no, Darling. It’s not mine. It’s Daniel’s. They shot him as we were driving away.”
All eyes were on the few attending to Daniel. All crouching around his prone body. Two minutes of fervent activity later they all slowly stood as one and stared at his body. Dave walked away from the group, returning with a blanket which he laid over it.
The act, a clear signal to us all, that we had lost one of our own.
I stood staring at his corpse, the anger welling up inside me. We had all witnessed people dying since this began, but they had been killed by the undead. Screaming and fighting as they were overwhelmed, howling in pain as the first bites and gouges were taken from their living flesh.
Daniel had not died that way. He had been killed by a fellow survivor and that did not seem right. As a group, all we had done was help other survivors when we met them.
The harsh reality of the new world we lived in slammed home. It wasn’t just the walking dead we needed to protect ourselves from. Evil wasn’t just confined to them. Evil was still rife amongst the living. At a time when humanity needed to band together, to help each other to survive to see another dawn, there were some who did not see the world that way.
The group each showed their grief in their own way, we all had tears running down our faces, but some stood sobbing, baring their raw emotions to the world while others stood silently, grim faces betraying the rage and anger they felt.
Forty-two people and one dog stood in the sunshine on the M5 motorway. The blanket covered corpse of one of the group marked another day we would never forget.
Chapter Ten
Needing to reorganise, and with no zombies in sight, we pulled the vehicles into a protective ring. Shawn backed the tractor to fill the final gap and the rear door of the trailer swung open, the ramp lowered to allow those inside to disembark.
Simon told a few to stay on guard while the rest of us gathered within the protection the vehicles provided.
Geoff, wearing his armour and his mace resting on his shoulders, walked up to Dave.
“What are we going to do about those bastards? We can’t let them get away with this.”
“Fifteen minutes ago,” Dave began. “I was suggesting we find another way round them. It wasn’t worth risking any of us to try and fight through them.
Now though, I personally want to go and kill every last one of them to make them pay for what they’ve done. They cannot continue doing to others what they’ve done to us. I feel we have a duty to anyone who is still surviving out there to deal with them.”
He paused and looked around.
“But this needs to be a group decision. We still have a mission to complete and any delays could have consequences for those family members and friends we’re going to try to find.”
All eyes turned to Louise and Steve. They were the ones whose families we had promised to get to, and therefore, could directly be affected by any delays caused in getting to them.
Louise spoke first. Shawn was standing beside her and she took his hand, and wiping away the tears from her face, she spoke confidently.
“I don’t know if any of my family are still alive. I hope to God they are, but in reality, I think we all know that the chances of finding them living are very remote. I do want to try, though, because not knowing would be worse. If they’re gone, then I can deal with that, but a part of me knows that they most probably are, and is already grieving for them.
Daniel was one of us. Part of our new family, if you want to put it that way. His death cannot go unanswered and as Dave quite rightly said, they cannot be allowed to continue. We owe it to everyone still living to eradicate anyone we come across who thinks they can use the new shitty world we’re living in to cause suffering and death to others.”
I think we were all impressed by the eloquence and passion of her speech and we all remained silent for a few moments, digesting her words.
Steve spoke next. He put it more simply.
“Daniel was a great bloke. Those bastards need to pay for what they’ve done. I say we go get ‘em.”
I looked around, catching the eye of each one of them as they all silently nodded their agreement. The game had changed. Not only were zombies our targets, but survivors. Albeit ones that that had lost their humanity.
The planning began.
Simon and Dave spread a map out. The nearest exit from the motorway was about five miles behind us. Tracing the route back from the bridge that crossed the motorway above where the gang had constructed their camp, we could see the road did lead to that junction.
A frontal assault was briefly discussed. We could lay down an overwhelming amount of fire, but we didn’t know how many guns we’d be facing, and they’d already proved that at least one of them was a good, or maybe just a lucky, shot. That was deemed too risky.
The map showed that the road leading to the bridge ran parallel to where we were, and it was only a few hundred yards away across the fields adjacent to our current position.
Dave sent a small patrol out to investigate if the road could be accessed from the motorway. They returned, reporting that apart from the wooden fence that kept livestock from wandering on to the carriageway, the gates in the fields enabled access to the road.
When questioned further, they reckoned that not only the Volvo and the Land Rover would easily make it, but the van should too. The fields, baked by the long hot spell we were experiencing, sloped gently enough so it shouldn’t lose traction or get bogged down.
Gathering everyone around, Dave explained the plan.
I would take the lead in the Volvo and the van would follow me, breaking through the fence and making our way across the fields until we joined the road.
All the Marines would be included in the mission, supported by half of the knights and five others. They would pack into my car and the van.
The Land Rover would approach to within effective range of the barricade and open fire. This would hopefully get their attention and keep their heads down. Shane, who had proved to be a crack shot, would either fire at any target that presented itself from the Land Rover or disembark from it if a better position could be found. A knight would accompany him for protection from zombies.
Once we got close enough to the bridge, we would approach on foot. The knights would provide the protection, killing any zombies silently with their weapons to enable us to get into position without drawing attention to ourselves.
Dave and Simon would then reconnoitre forward to plan the final attack. A radio call telling everyone to cease fire, once acknowledged, would signal the start of the assault.
Everyone else would remain behind, sealed up in the tractor, trailer and bus. There was enough of them to defend both and if need be, they could start up and use their ploughs to destroy the undead if they became too numerous.
A simple plan, but one that needed separate groups to coordinate. Dave and Simon both expressed a high confidence in our abilities and in a successful outcome.
Once again, time would tell.
Fifteen minutes later, the buzzing of this hive of activity had come to an end. All were in their allocated positions. Weapons and ammo had been checked and double checked. The ones chosen to man the machine guns, both in the Land Rover and trailer, had received a crash course in how to fire and reload them from Jim and Simon.
Following agreement from the parents, the children who had begun their training on using the .22 rimfire rifles the day before were issued with them. All of the trained Marines and a good portion of the more experienced ‘civilians’ were going on the mission. Therefore, the addition of another five armed people in the trailer would off
er extra security, and peace of mind for those of us not going to be there.
After a final wave at loved ones and friends, we prepared to leave. The Land Rover drove slowly forward and disappeared from view over the crest of the road. Soon the harsh sound of the machine gun fire shattering the silence signalled it was our time to depart.
The van followed closely as I drove up the grassy bank that lined the motorway. Slowing as I approached the wooden fence, I aimed at the middle point between posts and kept going. The rails cracked and broke, the simple act of destroying something making me smile as we bumped across the fields, heading towards a gate in the corner. Finding none of the gates locked, we were soon on the road heading for the bridge. Driving slowly to keep the noise down, we crept towards the spot we’d picked out on the map as the best place to leave the vehicles to approach the final distance on foot, and we disembarked, standing in a group around Dave and Simon, waiting for our final instructions. Dave spoke quietly.
“Right then, guys and gals. Simon and I will check the lie of the land ahead.”
He pointed at Jamie who was wearing his full armour and had his axe over his shoulder.
“Could you come with us, please, to watch our backs and to deal with any undead? The rest of you wait here. I don’t need to tell you to stay alert. The amount of noise we have been and still are making will surely be attracting them from miles around. To be fair, I’m surprised none have appeared yet.
Jim, you’re in charge while we’re gone, so the rest of you, just do whatever he bloody tells you. Okay?”
Without further ado, he turned and with Jamie following, his armour clinking at every step, and Simon bringing up the rear, they set off down the road and disappeared around a bend.
Following Jim’s instructions, the rest of us who remained crouched in an outward facing circle. The only sound was the not too distant rattle of the machine gun interspersed with spaced single cracks from what must have been Shane sniping at any targets of opportunity.
I crouched, holding my rifle in the ready position as I had been shown, my trigger finger lying flat against the weapon, just above the trigger, ready for anything that might come towards us. I felt tense and glancing around, I was sure the others felt the same. We’d fought zombies dozens of times already, mainly from the relative safety of the vehicles, or on foot only when it was completely unavoidable, or when the odds were in our favour. This was the largest operation we had mounted, and it was against the living.
I didn’t feel any moral objections to what we were about to do. They had needlessly killed one of us and had, no doubt, in their hopefully short reign of terror, killed others or condemned them to die by stealing whatever possessions they had and refusing to offer shelter. At no other time in human history had mankind needed to work together, to forget differences, be they political, race, gender or whatever, to survive.
But despite all that, the bad side of human nature could override basic common decency. It didn’t take a genius to work out that there would be enough supplies and equipment lying abandoned in shops, warehouses and homes to keep the surviving population going for a long time. This was due to how quickly the virus had spread, but you just had to be brave enough and organised enough to go and get it.
Some, though, would still take the easy option and steal from others. These were the first of such scum we had come across and I was certain they wouldn’t be the last. How we dealt with others we found needed to be discussed between us when the time was right.
The sound of chinking armour drew my attention in the direction Simon, Jamie and Dave had left.
They rounded the bend at a full sprint, Jamie, even though he was carrying a full weight of armour, keeping up with them.
Breathing heavily from the exertion, Dave spoke.
“The situation has changed. There’s a massive horde heading down the motorway towards their position. I can’t tell how many, but they stretch back as far as I can see. There must be thousands of them. All I know is that it’s bigger than the one we faced back at the base. I don’t think their walls will keep them safe, there are just too many of them. Not that I care what happens to them. My concern is that they’re heading towards us.”
He looked at us.
“Anybody have any suggestions?”
My first thought was to get back to my family. If the horde was as big as Dave was telling us, we needed all of us together to protect ourselves.
“I vote we go back now. Their defences won’t hold against that many, so they’re done for. Let’s get the zombies to do our dirty work for us.”
Most nodded in agreement and started back towards the vehicles.
Dave, the knight, stopped us.
“Hang on, folks. Why don’t we help the zombies out a bit? We came here to kill those bastards. If we can knock a few holes in their walls and stop them escaping over the others, job done.”
Dave, the Marine, answered.
“So, you’re suggesting we use the zombies as a weapon?”
“Yes, mate. They did it a few times on the Walking Dead.”
“Are you are suggesting we adopt tactics from a made-up TV show?”
He laughed, “It’s not so made up now, is it? I do think we should watch the show again as a sort of training video. We’re living in the same world now, and most of what happened to them might happen to us. It should give us some good ideas.”
It was Dave’s turn to laugh.
“Right, then. All of my years of military experience are being overridden by some script writer in America? Oh well. I can’t think of anything better, so let’s get on with it. If we put our foot down, we’re less than ten minutes away from the others, so we’ve got plenty of time to do this and get back. Are we all in agreement?”
We all were, our anger at Daniel’s death fuelling our need for revenge.
“Simon, get on the radio and let everyone know what’s going on. Tell whoever is on the machine gun to stop firing. We don’t want any stray rounds coming our way, but tell Shane to continue sniping. From what I saw, they’ve already got a few of them and it’ll keep them concentrating in our direction watching us and not watching the way the zombies are coming from….”
“Watch out!”
Two zombies had approached unnoticed and appeared from around the side of the van, ten metres from where we were all gathered.
We all raised our weapons and took aim. Simon quickly shouted.
“Don’t fire, we need to keep quiet.”
“Don’t worry, we’ve got this,” Jamie cheerfully replied, “Geoff, with me, mate. I’ll take the one on the left.”
They both casually sauntered up to the pair. One looked to be untouched by any injuries so most likely succumbed in the initial stages of the virus spreading. His clothes were ripped and tattered, probably from his wanderings as an undead monster looking for his next meal. The other was a woman who was naked, her wounds visible for us all to see. Her neck had an obvious bite wound and her stomach had been ripped open so her intestines bulged out, hampering her progress as she kept stumbling on a trailing piece of gut.
Had they been husband and wife? Had the man turned first and attacked his wife as she slept beside him, infecting and turning her? The bonds of their relationship seemed to be somehow keeping them together in their new existence.
Jamie swung his axe, taking the woman’s head clean off her shoulders. Geoff swung his mace overhead next, the man’s head caved in and brains and blood sprayed out of his ears, nose and mouth.
I watched as they fell, their bodies falling on each other, the man’s arms lying across what might have been his loved one in a final embrace.
Simon got our attention.
“I’ll take the blame for that. Bloody rooky mistake, though. We stopped checking our perimeter when we were all having a lovely chat.”
He looked at Dave.
“Maybe we do need to watch the Walking Dead. I need to get up to speed on this zombie thing. Right then, let’s ge
t on with this.”
He took a radio out of his pocket and informed the others what we were planning to do and to get ready for our speedy return.
Once they had all acknowledged, we got ready.
The machine gun falling silent was our signal to approach the bridge, seeking shelter under some trees that would hide us, but give us a view of our target, and once in situ, we planned what to do next.
The horde of approaching zombies was clearly visible. They filled the motorway from side to side, hemmed in by the fences, and stretched back as far as I could see, easily numbering in their thousands, maybe tens of thousands.
It looked as if the entire undead population of a town or city had left as one mass, searching for their next meal.
I remembered watching a documentary a while before about migrating animals, and it said that sometimes the herds grew so massive that the ones at the back starved to death due to the lead ones eating all the available food as they cut a swathe through the land on their journey to fresh grazing. The similarity was eerie, but probably true.
All the available food sources in an area i.e. humans, had been exhausted where they were and now they’d gathered together and, as one, had started to move on to find a new source.
They were migrating, forming a massive and unstoppable tide of undead flesh-eating monsters. We’d already observed and agreed that they tended to coalesce, some primeval programming still left in the brain probably telling them that they could hunt better together in packs.
Would these individual groups eventually meet and form a super herd? Probably, I guessed.
We could, one day, find ourselves facing millions of them.
Our objective, Warwick Castle, needed to be reached as soon as possible. We didn’t yet know if it would be suitable. If it was, I imagined there would be a lot of work do to make it impregnable against an untold number. Time was of the essence and if it ran out and we weren’t fully ready, we could be in serious trouble with nowhere left to run.
The thugs hadn’t spotted them yet and were all, as far as we could tell, crouching behind the bullet-scarred barricade, facing the direction where the firing was coming from. Occasionally one of them fired a wildly aimed shot in that general direction. Not all of them were armed, but most did have either a shotgun or rifle. We were in a rural area, so one or more of them had either owned them or known where to get them from.
Zombie Castle Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 42
