by Ryan Casey
CHAPTER ONE
Ivan wiped the sweat from his head as he walked down the stairs and stepped over Barney’s body. He swallowed the lump in his throat. Shame about what he’d had to do to Barney. But sometimes casualties were necessary to maintain the greater good. Sometimes, to keep order, you had to bypass order.
As he pushed through the double doors, he noticed a print of blood from his hand. Ted’s blood. He’d slit his throat because he had to do that. Ted had destroyed the security of the barracks. He’d compromised everything they’d worked so hard for. Why couldn’t anybody else see that Ivan had done what was necessary? Why did nobody else understand that?
When he stepped into the canteen area, lit up by a fluorescent light, he noticed five of his men were inside. Two of them — Gaz and Al — propped up against the door that led out into the courtyard. Stocky leaned against the back wall, exhaling rapidly as Pedro watched over him. Chef stood behind the canteen.
“What’s going on here?” Ivan asked.
His voice seemed to catch their immediate attention. They all swung around with fearful eyes as he walked into the canteen. Pedro examined him from head to toe. Ivan looked down at his body. His hands were covered in blood. His uniform was similarly soaked. Blood of necessary casualties. Necessary sacrifices.
“They’re getting too close,” Gaz shouted. He pointed at the window with a shaky hand. “The zombies — there’s too many of them. Way too many.”
Ivan walked over to the window beside Gaz and Al and stared outside. Guns were firing sporadic bullets around the courtyard. The grass was covered with corpses. Some dead. Some not so dead. The path to the gateway was completely blocked. The fat fuck had succeeded. The barracks was invaded.
“Ivan, I’m sorry,” Gaz said, “but we’re going to have to get a move on out of here if we want to survive. We can take the underground route. At least then we’ll have a shot at getting away. But we have to move. Quick.”
Ivan’s eyelids twitched. All the sacrifices he’d made just to secure this place. All the things he’d done — terrible things in the eyes of somebody from the old world. He hadn’t done all those things just to give it all up. They could fight for this place. The battle wasn’t lost, not yet.
He lifted his gun out of his pocket and moved over to the door.
“Ivan, what are you—”
“We’re going to go out there and we’re going to fight those things. We don’t have to lose this place.”
Al frowned and shook his head. “You’re mad. Even if we clear the yard, there’s the gates and the power. It’s gone. It’s all gone, and we—”
Ivan fired a bullet into Al’s head.
The rest of the room jumped back in shock.
“We’re going to defend this place,” Ivan said nonchalantly. He walked over to the canteen area and tapped his gun on the counter that Chef stood behind. “Where are the others?”
Chef straightened his back and raised his eyebrows. He stared directly into Ivan’s eyes. “What others?”
Ivan’s jaw tensed. The groans were drowning out the gunshots outside. Soon, they’d be the only ones left. They had to use what they could. Use bait. Human bait. “You know who I mean. Anna. Claudia. Chloë. Where are they?”
Chef gulped. His eyes watered. He kept focused on Ivan. Not many people could hold Ivan’s stare for too long. Not many people dared. Wise of them. “I guess they must have slipped away,” Chef said.
Heat worked its way into Ivan’s cheeks. The fucker. The disloyal piece of shit. After all this time — all the things he’d done and kept secret. The bodies. The food he’d cooked. All this time, and Chef was nothing but a weak piece of shit after all.
But still, he stood his ground. Stared back at Ivan. Didn’t budge, other than his twitching nostrils and quivering fingers.
Ivan stepped away from Chef and turned to the rest of the soldiers. They were still shell-shocked, staring down at Al’s dead body. The creatures were so close to them now. Probably a matter of metres away from the door. They’d see the fluorescent light. They’d have heard the gunshots and the voices inside.
But it didn’t matter anymore. Because Ivan had an idea.
“We—we need to go,” Pedro called. “Whatever’s happened is done. But we need to get out of here before they—”
A force rattled against the door. Gaz jumped back and ran over to the double doors of the canteen. He raised his gun and pointed it at the doorway, which continued to rattle as groans built up behind it. “Shit. Shit.”
Ivan looked back at Chef. Held his stare. “You were a good man, Chef. You did good here. Made some good food. Somebody I trusted.”
Chef didn’t respond, but he held Ivan’s stare. Ivan wondered if Chef had an idea of what was going to happen to him. He must have done to stay here. Defy him like this.
But that just made it all the more exciting.
“You know, nobody will remember you as a hero,” Ivan said. The door rattled on its hinges. The wood started to split.
“Guys, come on. Let’s just go,” Stocky shouted. “We need to get out of here some way.”
Ivan moved in closer to Chef. He could feel him breathing against his skin. Quick, nervous breaths. He could smell the fear from a mile away, like a rabbit staring back at a wild dog.
“Ivan,” Pedro called. “The door isn’t going to hold much longer. We need to go.”
“Oh, I’m coming,” Ivan said. “I’m coming.”
Then, he lifted his knife out of his pocket and stuffed it into Chef’s flabby leg.
Chef collapsed to the floor and curled to his side. Blood sprayed out of his chubby leg as he wrapped his fingers around it and cried out.
Ivan crouched down beside him. The banging at the door was joined by rattling at the window. Ivan pushed Chef’s bald head into the floor with as much force as he could. He smiled. “I’ll remember you, though, don’t you worry. I’ll remember you for what you’re about to do. The sacrifice you’re about to make.”
He lifted the knife and stabbed it into Chef’s other leg.
Chef cried out and gripped both of his knees as Ivan rose to his feet. He walked past the door as pale hands started to reveal themselves. He walked past the window which cracked with the weight and number of creatures trying to push their way inside. He stopped at the double doorway leading out to the corridor and took one last look at Chef, who tried to struggle to his feet as blood oozed out of both legs.
“I’ll remember you. Hero.” He pulled the double door shut as the window finally gave way.
As Gaz, Pedro, Stocky, and Ivan walked down the corridor, Chef screamed out at the top of his lungs.
A necessary casualty. A worthy sacrifice. Hero.
Riley stared down at Ted’s body. He tried to forget he was dead. Hoped that while he’d been preoccupied with fighting Ivan, he’d just come back to life.
But there was nothing left. Nothing.
He walked over to Ted and crouched down beside him. Ted’s eyes stared up in fear, but they were devoid of life. Empty shells. His final act a courageous one. Something that benefited the group. Intercepting the generator put everybody at risk, but at the same time, it gave them a shot. Ted had made the tough decision. He knew he might be putting himself at risk in the process, but he’d made that call. He’d died with that call.
Riley reached for Ted’s bloodshot eyes and closed the eyelids. He patted Ted’s chest. Tried not to notice the deep gash on his neck or the growing pool of blood on the floor. “It’s okay now,” Riley said. He patted Ted on the chest again. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Riley could hear voices downstairs. Shouting. Bickering. At least Anna, Claudia, and Chloë had a chance to get away. Perhaps Chef joined them. Although he couldn’t condone Chef’s actions, he’d helped them out. Hopefully. He couldn’t overlook him for that.
Rising to his feet, Riley noticed something dripping down his face and onto Ted’s white shirt. He was crying. A barrage of guilt crashed into him. If he’d told t
he group about what he’d seen in the freezer room earlier, then perhaps Ted would never have died. As it stood, Claudia knew about her daughter anyway. The other soldiers were seemingly manipulated into believing that the bodies in the freezer either weren’t there, or they were killed for their curiosity. Poor Barney.
A gunshot rattled through the building. It came from the canteen. Ivan would be back for him soon. He’d come back for him and he’d finish him. He looked at his chest. A bandage covered the wound. He was fortunate that the cut hadn’t been as deep as it could have been.
And then he saw Ted’s static body on the floor opposite him and he realised nobody was fortunate. Not at all.
Riley placed his head into his hands. He wanted to break down and destroy Ivan for what he’d done. Tears were streaming from his eyes, but they seemed weak considering he’d just witnessed the death of his best friend. He felt nothing but anger. Guilt and anger. The same emotions he’d felt when he’d got into that car all those months ago and he’d driven it into that wall, hoping to take his own life. The same guilt and anger as when he found out he was a father.
No. Don’t think about that. Not now.
Another gunshot sounded from the canteen. He could sense everything falling apart down there. Ivan turning against everybody, one by one.
Or maybe they were turning against him. He didn’t know. He didn’t particularly care. Not anymore.
He sniffed back his tears and took another glance at Ted’s body. The candle on the wooden table started to reach its end. Soon, he’d be plunged into darkness. If he squinted enough, maybe it would just seem like he was back at the flat again. Back at the flat or the Chinese restaurant. Back in the living quarters of the barracks when everything seemed okay.
All of that was gone now. All of that was false. Things would never be the same again.
He looked around the room in the fading candlelight. A third shot sounded, followed by a loud scream. He could hear something else. A door creaking, or a window cracking. The gunshots outside had stopped now. The soldiers out there had either died fighting or ran away. Riley wasn’t sure which fate was worse, after all.
He placed a hand on Ted’s leg. Quite fitting that they were going to die in the same room. But there was no coming back to life in here. It wasn’t a computer game. They didn’t get a second chance.
As he looked back at Ted, Riley noticed something poking out of his pocket. He reached over to it. It was the spanner he’d fought the creatures with back when they were defending the Chinese restaurant, before it burned down. Riley picked it up and turned it in his hand. Ted must have used it to interfere with the generator in some way. Riley avoided looking back at Ted’s greying face. He couldn’t see it again. Not now. The image would never leave him, anyway.
Footsteps echoed through the corridor downstairs. In the canteen, an even louder scream escaped the double doors. It sounded like Chef.
And it was soon drowned out by an army of groans.
“Out through the freezer.”
The voice sent goose bumps down Riley’s arms. Ivan. He was going through the underground route. From the sounds of things, he was trying to abandon his ship. He was going to get what he deserved. No — he didn’t deserve a thing. He only deserved to be eaten a thousand times. He only deserved sharp, snapped off teeth to sink into his skin and tear every piece of flesh from his body. He only deserved the worst death imaginable.
The candlelight flickered out. A plume of smoke rose from it. The room was engulfed in total darkness.
Riley gripped the spanner to his chest and he waited. It would be over soon. It would all end soon. There was no other way about it, not anymore.
Ivan stormed down the corridor. Riley was upstairs, but he didn’t matter right now. He’d go back to him later. He would find a new purpose for him. A greater purpose. He needed a change of plan. A change in his tactics. He’d been clumsy. Acting rashly and foolishly. He couldn’t afford to do that anymore.
“So we’re just going out of this place? Leaving through the passageway?” Gaz looked over his shoulder. The zombies were just behind the double doors. Soon, they would flood the corridor. Unless they got into the passageway fast, they’d be dead. And then undead.
Ivan stopped by the freezer room door. He stared inside. The bodies of his old colleagues stacked atop one another, legs and arms intertwined. He used to feel a sense of disgust for what he’d done. A sense of guilt and disbelief at his actions. But not anymore. He couldn’t afford to. There was a switch inside everybody’s heads — a switch monitoring how much a person can take. Ivan had switched that switch off.
If he flicked it on again, he’d die of grief.
Pedro looked inside the freezer room and turned away. His eyes watered. “They aren’t gonna like this, Ivan. They aren’t gonna—”
Ivan lifted his gun and fired at Gaz. He fired again at Stocky. Both of them were on the ground, clutching their chests as blood poured out of them and to the floor.
Pedro stared down at Stocky and Gaz. Fear drenched his face. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He looked at Ivan with uncertainty.
“What?” Ivan asked, reaching down and stuffing their guns into his pockets. Stocky and Gaz choked on their blood, struggling for their lives.
Pedro shook his head. Took a step back. “You… You just—”
“Killed them. Right.” He turned to the freezer room door. The frozen corpses were starting to look less like humans every time he saw them. A good sign. A sign that his skin was thickening.
Pedro took another step back. “But… They were… They were…”
“They wouldn’t have understood.” Ivan walked into the freezer room. The bodies were beginning to thaw as the door stood ajar.
The life disappeared from Stocky and Gaz’s faces. Gaz reached up his veiny hand towards Ivan, who stared down at it with pity.
The double doors swung open. A zombie stumbled through. Loose greying flesh dangled from its arms. Its teeth were yellow and rotting.
Pedro stepped back over Stocky’s body and stood just behind the freezer room door. He lifted his gun in the direction of the creature, which crouched down at Barney’s body and started to investigate. Another creature followed behind. A piece of Chef’s pale scalp dangled down its chin.
Ivan placed his hand on Pedro’s gun and pushed it down. Pedro flinched with the contact, and stared on with wide eyes.
“What are you…? What are you doing, Ivan? What the fuck are you doing?”
Ivan turned to the pile of bodies. It was unfortunate that he had to make this decision, but it was a necessary one nonetheless.
“We’re going to draw them in the freezer room with the bodies,” Ivan said. “Lead them inside using Gaz and Stocky. We’re going to feed them.”
Pedro shook his head. More creatures pushed through the double doors. “You’ve lost it, bruv. Gone completely fucking crackers.”
Ivan smiled. “Perhaps. But we’re going to lure them into this freezer room. We’re going to cut this wing off if we have to. We’re going to go out of the passage and then we’re going to bring Anna, Claudia, and her girl back.”
“And why would they come back?”
Ivan thought of Riley. He knew there would be a greater purpose for him in the end. A way of utilizing him to his full potential. “We have something of theirs. Something I think they want very much.”
“And when they get back here?” Pedro said. One of the creatures noticed him as he shivered beside the door.
Ivan puffed out a breath of cold air. “We’re going to kill Riley. And then we’re going to start from scratch here. We’re going to start a new civilization. It’ll take time, but—but it’ll be worth it. It’ll be ready for these creatures. We’ll teach them that way. And Anna, Claudia, and Chloë are going to help us build this new civilization.”
CHAPTER TWO
Riley wasn’t sure how long he had been bathed in darkness, but almost out of nowhere, a light em
erged.
He opened his eyes. The light came from the doorway.
“Get up.” It was Pedro. The light came from the tip of his gun. They’d come for him. Come to finish him off.
Riley gripped the spanner tightly and didn’t move an inch. He could hear movement downstairs. Shuffling feet. Throaty groans. Pedro must have come through a ladder in the generator room. The corridor sounded inaccessible with groans. And yet they were still trying to keep hold of this place. Still holding on to the tiny hope that somehow, things were all going to be okay.
“I said, get up.” Pedro grabbed Riley’s upper arm and yanked him to his feet, sending a shooting pain through his chest.
Riley stared Pedro in the eyes. They were dark underneath. The white had turned a shade of grey, protruding blood vessels popping through his eyeballs. “Why are you doing this?” He pointed to Ted. “You know what he is now. You know what he’s capable of.”
Pedro’s lip shook. He held his gun to Riley’s chest and sighed. “I… There’s no way out of here now. The courtyard’s taken. Downstairs is almost beyond saving. But Ivan. He’s…”
Riley grabbed Pedro’s arm. “I didn’t kill Barney. You know that.” He kept his hand on his arm. It was a risk in doing so. He had no idea what Pedro was capable of. But he seemed like a man with morals. Fragments of the Pedro he thought he knew were beginning to surface again. He just had to hope that version of Pedro remained. He just had to pray.
Pedro gulped. He lowered his gun. The creatures banged against the walls of the corridor. “Ivan’s luring the creatures into the freezer room. Luring them towards the—the bodies. And then he’s going to go out there and… Your friends. They aren’t safe. He’ll find them. He always does.”
“Wait — just slow down,” Riley said. Confidence was returning to his body. The will to act. The will to survive. “What are you saying?”
“He’s… He’s going to use you as bait. He’s going to use you to lure them back. And then he’s going to kill you and he’s going to… Anna, Claudia, Chloë. He’s talking about starting up civilization again. He can’t let go of this place. He’s lost it. He’s flipped.”
