by Smith, I. J.
“You moaned at me for playing with the toys,” he stated to Alina.
Looking up and smiling like a child in a candy store, the blood soaked her face. Alina stood up and walked to Kane, not saying a word she grabbed him and pulled him close for a powerful kiss.
“Surely, I’m entitled to some fun too,” she told him.
As the sunset and the night sky appeared, the woman crawled along the ground, leaving a blood trail behind her. Her hair hung by loosed skin from her head, her face was covered in deep cuts, tears rolled down her face, stinging her as they ran into open wounds. She looked up to see the chained zombies groaning and reaching out. She pushed herself up to her feet, glancing back to see Kane and Alina kissing. She looked back at the zombie and uttered, “I am free,” as she walked into their path. The dead immediately bit into her shoulder, as she screamed in pain, Alina looked to watch as the dead tore her apart. Looking close Alina could make out she was smiling. As the flesh was torn from her bones, the woman for the first time since the outbreak felt free.
“Shame, she was fun to play with,” Alina muttered under her breath.
Kane showed no emotion, “We have new toys to play with. Come on,” he told her.
Together they walked back towards the stairs.
Frank still hung from the chains; blood continued to drip to the floor the wound on his hand that was now missing two fingers. Zarina was still naked and shook from the cold.
“We are going to get out of here,” he reassured her.
Zarina did not move, but uttered a response, “We’re dead.”
Frank looked at her, “are you in pain?” he asked her seriously.
She glanced at him, “What do you think,” she snapped in reply.
Frank was in agony, he had lost two fingers and his face was swollen, bloodied and bruised. “Good, he replied.
She looked at him in anger, she wanted to shout at him, but what was the point.
“A friend I serve with once told me that if you feel pain, then you’re still alive, if you’re alive then there is hope,” he told her.
She struggled to give a smile, “There is no hope, besides, who told you that shit,” she softly replied.
Swinging his body round on the chains to face her he started to talk, “The same man who is going to kill all these bastards.”
She gave a grunt as she replied, “Then he is stupid, he is walking into hell and we are already dead.”
Frank gave up, he hoped deep down Jack was OK after he was hit by a car and that he was leading the team out of the city. He closed his eyes, thinking of his team, thinking how much he wanted the chance to be the leader they needed. However, Frank knew they were better off in Jack’s hands, after all, he was the one with the skills, and he was the one crazy enough to thrive in this new world. Selfishly, he hoped he was wrong; he did not want to die here today.
The noise of people walking back in the area made Frank alert, he opened his eyes as a blood-soaked Alina approached him.
She leaned into him and whispered into his ear, “I want Jack.”
Staring at her, he simply replied, “The day is coming, when you are going to beg me to kill you.”
Before she could answer, Kane pushed Alina out of the way and punched Frank in the face again, this time a tooth fell to the ground followed by a bubble of blood. As Kane attempted to his him again, Alina grabbed his arm. “Stop, there is a better way to get this idiot talking,” she told him.
Alina slapped Zarina across the face; she loosened her chains and grabbed her hair as she pushed her head towards the Zombie chained behind them.
“You are going to talk, or you are going to watch this pretty girl have her face eaten in front of you,” Alina demanded to know.
Zarina screamed, as she was forced closer to the zombie in front of her. Her eyes filled with tears as the stench of the rotting corpse got stronger. Her screams were like a dagger in Frank’s heart, he did not know what to do. The open jaws of the corpse were inches from her face, when Frank shouted out.
“OK, just leave her alone!” he shouted.
Alina pulled her back, “I’m listening,” she replied happily.
“MI6,” he sadly said.
Kane looked at him, “He is lying,” he spoke out.
“The code 3174, we have been here for months, watching and collecting data on the virus. We are part of a fifty-strong team, military and scientists,” he told them. Alina and Kane looked at him, waiting for him to continue. “Great Britain is abandoned; there are no plans for anyone coming back. We were due to leave in a few weeks, so Jack will be there. He will now be leading my Section out of this country,” he finished.
Kane smiled wide, “Then we are the rulers of this country now,” he spoke happily.
Alina looked less convinced, “King Kane don’t get too excited yet,” she remarked.
“Oh, come on, I will send a team to check it out tonight,” Kane told her as he left the area.
Alina looked at Frank with a puzzled expression, “If you’re lying, no more games I will just kill you,” she told him sternly.
Alina placed Zarina back in the chains and quickly left to join Kane.
“Thank you,” a scared voice whispered.
Frank glanced at Zarina, “Don’t thank me, all I did was postpone the inevitable,” he replied.
They both went silent.
CHAPTER TEN
CALM BEFORE THE STORM
Jack and Alice walked carefully along the street, the looming of the night sky made it hard for them to see the dangers that were ahead of them. Jack gripped his machete tight, waiting for the moment he would need to use it.
“Any chance I could have a gun?” Alice asked him.
With his attention firmly focused on the mission, he abruptly said, “NO.”
Raising her eyebrows at his response, she stopped walking. It took a few moments for Jack to notice she was no longer following him, he turned to her, “We need to keep moving,” he told her sternly.
“Not until you tell me what your problem is with me,” she demanded to know.
Rolling his eyes in frustration, “I don’t have a problem with you, I have a problem with the situation,” he replied.
Alice sighed, “That makes no sense,” she added.
Shaking his head, he replied, “I understand the dead walking around, I really do. But what I have trouble understanding is how those evil bastards were able to gain so much power over everybody.”
The anger in her eyes grew, “That is easy to say for you, we were left here, you were not.”
“I’m not saying it was not bad, but how come no one stood up to these guys before?” he asked.
She moved closer to him, “You don’t think people tried. How do you beat people who have no morals that will rape and kill without a second thought? An evil that uses the living as bait,” her eyes filled with tears as she spoke.
She wiped her eyes, “But I suppose you know exactly how to beat them,” she finished saying.
Alice waited for Jack to reply, but was shocked when his face turned to anger and he raised his machete swinging it past her head. Before she screamed, she looked to see his machete crashing into the head of a decaying corpse over her shoulder. As he pulled back his machete, Alice breathed heavy and looked Jack in the eyes. He suddenly spoke, “You beat them by being eviler than they are.” Alice looked in shock as Jack continued his journey.
She started to follow him again when he suddenly spoke out, “I don’t have much ammo, only about 30 rounds for both guns, and I’m going to need all of it to help the innocent,” he told her softly. He pulled a hunting knife from his vest and handed it to her, “Otherwise, I would happily give you a gun,” he finished.
Alice took the knife and gave a hint of a smile, they both continued on their journey in silence.
Back at the furniture store, Elle and the others were concerned about Ryan; he had bravely drawn the zombies away buying them time to escape. Elle stayed by th
e back door, she pressed her ear to the door waiting for the groaning of the dead to lose interest and drag themselves away. She was suddenly disturbed by shouting in the store.
“WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!” Bray shouted.
Zoe stood in front of him, “It’s impossible, we do not stand a chance,” she replied.
“So, we just leave him to die then,” he replied angrily.
Elle stormed towards them, “Shut up the pair of you, we are not leaving him out there. So that is final, stop arguing and start thinking,” she snapped at them both.
She looked over to Mark, who was sleeping in the corner, “Nice to see someone relaxing,” she remarked loudly in a sarcastic voice. In the hope of waking him, he did not make any sign of movement.
“There may be a way,” Bray remarked while looking at the security shutters that covered the front entrance.
Paige lay on the floor near the front door, her head raised as everyone looked towards her.
Zoe looked confused as she made a remark, “How.”
It suddenly dawned on Elle what Bray was thinking.
“It’s clear outside, one of us goes outside, circles around the block and causes a distraction,” Bray spoke out.
“You are nuts,” Zoe replied with a look of shock on her face.
Elle simply smiled, “Sounds like a plan,” she happily said.
Zoe was the voice of reason in the room, “Wait just one minute, this is the kind of crazy thing Jack would do,” she told them.
“Well, Jack is not here right now, so I need to step up,” Bray replied to her.
Zoe shook her head in disbelief, “You are injured idiot! if you get attacked you wouldn’t last too long,” she actually laughed when she finished speaking.
“Look, we cannot always rely on Jack to do the dangerous, insane stuff, I’m going,” he barked back.
As the conversation continued going back and forth, Paige kept moving her head to the person talking. Just by her impression even, she looked confused.
Elle shouted out, “I will go!”
Quick to respond Zoe spoke out, “No, I will. You and Bray are the military; besides I am used to running in this hell hole.”
Bray was about to say something when Zoe jumped in first, “No arguments.”
The room went quiet for a moment, Zoe moved to the metal shutter looking outside, “OK, get everything ready, we need to get this done,” she told them.
Bray and Elle both gave a small smile towards Zoe, as they readied their weapons.
Alice hardly spoke to Jack as she followed him towards the Trinions car park. They turned a corner and Jack stopped suddenly, walking up behind him she looked to see what had made him stop. She looked around, the emotion in her face was obvious, her lips trembled and her eyes started to fill with tears.
Jack looked ahead to the evil, there was a long street covered in zombies, they all stood groaning reaching up to the sky. It did not take long to realize why, bodies hung from street lamps. Hung from their feet dangling above the dead.
“So, this is how they keep their place safe,” Jack remarked.
He looked around the street, cars scattered the road, an ice cream truck caught his attention. He could not help but think of the children running after it, as its bell rang attracting them to the sweet ice cream treat. Now they were hung from street lights as a distraction to allow the others to move around freely.
Jack punched the wall in anger, making his knuckles bleed, “we need to get ready to get this done,” he whispered. Alice was silent, she was feeling sick. Jack took her hand, “Are you OK?” he asked softly.
She closed her eyes, a tear rolled down her face, “How can anyone be this evil?” she asked him.
Jack gripped her hand tightly, “Because they are soulless monsters and I promise you that tonight they die,” he told her, trying to comfort her.
She placed her arms around him and cuddled him tight.
“Come on, this way,” he said. Still holding her hand, they rushed across the street and into a building.
They approached a broken down old building, scaffolding surrounded one side of the building. The store front was open to the elements. A ladder was attached the scaffolding and Jack took the lead and started the journey to the roof. He knew from this position he would have a great vantage point on the enemy stronghold.
At the top, Jack was stepping on the roof when out of the darkness, something grabbed his ankle, he looked to see the remains of an arm, half the flesh was gone and bone was visible. The skeletal hand gripped Jack’s ankle, but there was no sign of the rest of it. Moving slightly Jack noticed a hole in the roof, the body of a Zombie was hanging from a cable in the hole. The Zombie was no risk to him, he could see the legs of the zombie were tied with rope, he knew instantly this was a victim. They obviously tried to hang him from the roof, but failed when the roof collapsed. They had just left this poor person hanging to die slowly. Before Jack could put the zombie out of his misery, Alice stepped in and used the knife Jack had given her; she cut the zombie’s hand away. The Zombie continued to groan, as they both walked away from the hole and to the far side of the roof. A construction table still sat on the roof, tools were scattered all over the roof. Several empty glass bottles also scattered the roof, as they reached the other side of the roof Jack leaned down behind the ledge to look at the enemy camp.
Alice joined him, she crouched down beside him, the night sky was now full. He looked towards the Multi story car park; he could see large oil drums burning away. This lit up the entrance to the car park, Jack could see three people standing guard, their only weapons were metal bars and knives. Jack gave a half smile, thinking the weapons they held were nothing serious to him. Alice noticed the smug grin on his face, “You’re not even scared are you,” she observed him.
Jack gave a bigger smile, “Completely, but I think I just figured out how we are going to do this,” he said with confidence.
Alice looked less than convinced as she looked out over the zombie infested street, “How exactly are we going to get anywhere near them?” she asked.
“First thing first, we need all the empty bottles we can find,” he told her, while standing up and grabbing the bottles closest to him.
Looking confused Alice just did what he said and started gathering bottles. Jack also picked up a screwdriver and rummaged through a toolbox, he pulled out a half box of matches. “Brilliant,” he uttered.
Alice brought the bottles she gathered to him, “Here, this is all of them,” she told him.
“Great, now I need some rags,” he told her.
They both looked around, nothing that could be used was found, Jack then turned his attention to the hanging zombie. He walked over to the hole. As he looked down, the decaying head looked up at him, deep down Jack felt sorry for it. He pulled his machete and moved closer to the hole. A creaking noise echoed and suddenly Jack fell through the roof, the cable that held the zombie up also held Jack. The zombie tried attacking Jack; he still had hold of his machete when Alice appeared, worrying about Jack. She watched as Jack tried to raise his weapon, his arm was caught up on the cable, the zombie grabbed him, the decaying jaw tried biting him, Jack knew he could not get his arm loose in time, so decided to cut the cable instead. Both Jack and the Zombie crashed to the ground hard, Jack winced in pain, the zombie grabbed Jack’s vest and dragged itself onto him. Grabbing it by the neck, he pushed it in the air and swung his machete against its skull, cracking it open and piercing the brain. The zombie slumped to the ground; he threw the corpse to one side as Alice came running into the room.
Jack pushed himself back to his feet, groaning in pain. Alice touched his back, “Wait, take it slow,” she warned him.
“I don’t have the time to take it slow,” he replied in a painful voice.
Jack shook his head, trying to shake it off. “Did you bring the bottles?” he asked.
Alice looked shocked by his question, “Funny enough, NO! I was more concerned about
you, and not the bottle, stupid me,” she replied with a sarcastic smile. Alice walked away back outside to get the bottles.
Jack just shook his head again, he looked down to the dead corpse, “Sorry buddy,” he uttered. Pulling out a small knife, he crouched down and started to cut the blood-stained shirt from the body.
Alice stood on the roof collecting the bottle she left behind. “Where are the bottles,” she said in a voice impersonating Jack. She was about to leave the roof when a loud noise rumbled, it sounding like thunder but stronger. Before she knew it, Jack rushed back to the roof, he looked up to the sky. It was a noise he was familiar with, suddenly a loud explosion sounded out. Looking around the flames of the explosion lit up the night sky.
“What the hell was that,” Alice spoke out.
Jack stood frozen to the spot; Alice noticed the frowning expression on his face. “What is it?” she asked.
Not responding, he looked out over the rooftops towards the burning building in the distance. He knew what is was, the MI6 building they took shelter in had been destroyed. He suspected it might happen, but hoped he was wrong. It now meant the people that sent them here wanted them dead.
“So, it begins,” he murmured.
“What!” Alice replied, concerned.
“No, nothing. We should get moving,” He replied.
Jack took some of the bottles and left the roof, once at the bottom he looked around for danger. Alice was curious to what his plan was. “So, what are we doing?” she asked.
“Sshhh,” he responded.
He pushed Alice back into the darkness; the scuffling of feet could be heard. Then the sound of talking between a man and woman, Jack placed the bottles down on the ground.
“Wait here,” he told her.
As he started to walk, Alice grabbed his arm, he turned to look at her, she simply shook her head, ‘NO.’ Hesitant, he backed up back into the darkness; he stood in front of Alice making sure she was covered by him. The talking continued, “We need to check out the explosion,” a female voice spoke.
