Esme leant over the seats and giggled, ‘Now now children, lets concentrate on the task in hand shall we. Where are we headed?’
I knew the answer immediately, ‘We’re going camping…’
Eve turned to look at me but Esme answered her question, ‘Forgive me baby, but I don’t suppose camping was high on your activities list. Or did shit head dump you in a forest with only a tiny tent and a penknife for survival training occasionally?’
Eve smiled but it didn’t last, ‘He tried it once but I was big into running at the time. I ran the eighteen miles to the nearest hotel then back again early the next morning. I looked suitably knackered from the running to make him think I’d stayed, and had to pretend my feet weren’t killing me, but I had a five star meal and bed.’
Esme giggled, ‘Nice plan. Brad’s referring to the big outdoors shop at the start of the estate. It’s not just camping stuff, it’s got loads of clothes and everything from climbing gear to mountain bikes. It’s on the corner of the estate next to a big carpet shop which shouldn’t be busy, and the whole ground floor is open plan. It’ll have a bit of a horde, but it’ll be worth it. Some plush rugs from the carpet place wouldn’t go a miss on the cold floor at home either. It won’t be summer for ever.’
It was nice that Esme had called the base, home. I guess being pregnant had already made her start to think differently. I radioed the GT, told them the plan, and we set off. The tipper truck stayed at the supermarket to help out with the carpark where it could.
The small carpark outside the camping store was almost full, and between us we took care of the ones outside with the cars. We had to slowly drive into parked cars to shift the Zeds who retreated between them. Then the GT charged them. It took a while but eventually we cleared the carpark. We stopped at the top of a lane outside the doors and Eve used the binoculars to scope out the inside. She said, ‘Well, I can see why we’re here, there’s loads of good stuff, but it’s busy in there. There must be at least a hundred downstairs and probably more, and there’s very little room in this carpark.’
Then Eve paused and I could see her re-focussing the small binoculars, ‘Wait a minute, somethings not right.’
Before she could say any more a wave nausea passed through me so strongly that I bend over in my seat, coughed and wretched. Every hair on my body stood on end and a cold sweat hit me making me feel dizzy. I’d never been a drugs kind of person but once, whilst quite drunk, someone convinced me to try a joint and it felt similarly awful. Someone told me later that having your first joint when you were drunk was pretty much guaranteed to be messy, and I never smoked again, or spoke to the person who had goaded me into it again. Eve dropped the binoculars and leant over and put her arm around me, her voice urgent, ‘What’s going on, are you alright?’
The feeling subsided but my stomach was still in knots. I sat back up and looked into shop, ‘What did you see? Whatever just happened was like sensing a Talker but a hundred times more powerful.’
Eve picked up the binoculars and said, ‘It’s hard to explain and I don’t understand it, you should look yourself.’
I tentatively took the binoculars handed to me and Esme reached over and put her hand comfortingly on my shoulder. Eve was never usually so reticent and alongside the feeling in my stomach, it scared me. The shop was full of Zeds but they were all as still as statues. Hordes were never still, there would be some temporarily still Zeds, but there was always movement, different Zeds shuffling around then being still again before others followed suit. This horde was motionless and organised into rows and groups.
The main group in the centre of the shop parted as I looked towards it to reveal three Zeds stood in a line. I couldn’t help but whisper, ‘What the fuck!’, when I saw that they were holding hands.
The Zed in the middle of the three looked different from the others and not like a Zed at all. Except for slightly pale eye’s it looked human, like an average height and weight middle-aged woman with neatly brushed black hair. What really freaked me out though, was that there seemed to be tears running down her face.
I was about to give the binoculars to Esme when the woman let go of the others two’s hands and raised her arm to point at me, or at the car at least, sending a more familiar wave of shivers through me as she did. She wiped her eyes before looking at the Zeds on either side of her. I couldn’t see her mouth move, but the Zed’s immediately shuffled off as if looking for something, other Zeds silently parting to let them through as they moved.
I stared transfixed as a minute later the woman’s two followers, accomplices, whatever, returned, one carrying a square of cardboard and one carrying a marker pen. The woman took the pen and in a disconcertingly human move, the Zed who had given her the pen turned around and she rested the cardboard on its back and began to write on it.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the unfolding scene but sensed Eve and Esme breathless and nervous beside me, urgently wanting to ask what was going on, but not wanting to interrupt me. I whispered as if talking more loudly would fracture the reality, ‘This is something we haven’t seen before, a leader of some kind that looks virtually human, not just a Talker. She’s writing something on some cardboard to talk to us. When I first saw her she was crying and holding the hands of two other Zeds.’
Esme whispered back, ‘What the hell….’
Eve added, ‘This could be a good thing though, right? Maybe we’ll get more than the usual, “You must die, we will kill you.”
My head was spinning and Eve wasn’t wrong, but then I thought of the times we’d come across Talkers, and of the two times organised hordes had attacked our base. The Talkers had had some common sense and some control over their hordes, and we’d almost been wiped out. I couldn’t say they were smart though, and it might have been different if they had been. This one was totally different and I have to admit, it scared the crap out of me.
As I finished my thought the leader held the cardboard up and it said in neat almost artistic bubble writing, “Talk, No Killing”.
As I repeated the words to the others Esme was on the radio to the GT relaying what we knew so far.
Chapter Eight – Hybrid
Eve looked at me speechless as Esme relayed what was happening to the guys in the GT. She was more than just speechless though, she looked dumbfounded, bemused even. I knew it was time to trust my instincts and take charge, and I hoped it would be enough. I said, ‘This could obviously be a trap but it could also be the best opportunity we’ve had to find out more about what the hell’s happening. If there is even a slim chance we could negotiate a truce of some kind, it’s worth the risk.’
Eve’s mouth opened but no words came out. Esme finished on the radio and said, ‘Brad’s right, this is risky, but has to be worth it. There’s no way you’re going into that shop though. We should meet in the car park where we both have escape routes and we should keep the engine running.’
Eve was still dismayingly quiet and I squeezed her thigh, ‘This is a good thing. It’s a chance to learn something.’
Eve finally spoke, ‘I know, I just have a feeling in my gut I’ve never had before. I’ve watched you almost die too many times, and I’ve watched us walk into stupidly dangerous situations before, but this feels different. The Talkers have almost got the better of us every time we’ve come across them, but this thing, this Hybrid, sounds ten times smarted than them. If you’re reaction when she reached out is anything to go by, then she’s also ten times more powerful, or at least her reach is. We’re on the edge of a huge shopping estate with shops full of Zed’s. How many could she summon to her if she wanted to?’
I had considered everything she said but having it put into words made it somehow more real. Esme’s ever enthusiastic face dropped and I spared a moment to think of the child growing inside her. I looked back at Eve and said, ‘I know, you know I know, but we still have to try. This is too important. I’m not going more than a few steps from Lulu and both of you are staying here.’
Esme wet to speak and I snapped at her, more harshly than I intended, ‘BOTH of you are staying here. You’re pregnant and if this goes badly two rather than one of us on the ground isn’t going to make a difference. I need you here ready to bat off any that try and drag me out of the car if I have to dive back in.’
Esme nodded but I knew I’d hurt her and had an apology to make later. Eve said, ‘OK, but if any of them so much as fucking blink wrong, you come running.’
I was about to reply when she cut me off and repeated more harshly, ‘So much as fucking blink, you understand?’
I smiled and nodded in reply and knowing that further conversation would only make us feel worse, I pulled the handle and got out of the car. As I got out, Zed’s opened the double doors of the shop and held them open. The Hybrid, which seemed as a good a name as any, walked towards the doors surrounded by a close packed group of Zeds for protection. The Hybrid was obviously taking a big risk too, even though she had the numbers. As I walked a step away from Lulu I re-set my mind to think of her more like a human, with all the associated feelings, than like a mindless Zed.
I took ten steps away from Lulu and the open rear passenger doors. It would be easier to launch myself into the back and have Esme grab me, although last time I’d had to do that I almost lost my legs and ended up dislocating my shoulder. Eve shuffled over to the drivers’ seat and I knew her wound wouldn’t stop her doing what was necessary.
The Hybrid walked out of the shop and as she did all the hairs stood up all over my body and stayed that way. I didn’t know if it was just the constant communication between her and the horde, or just proximity to her, but either way as it was distracting.
She stopped half way across the carpark, about thirty feet from me, and the Zeds in front of her parted so she had line of sight. She was still too far away to make out the details of her face, but the normality of her was as disturbing as if she’d been somehow deformed. She spoke loudly to breach the distance between us, ‘I want to see the guns. I want to see them put into the back of the cars.’ Patting the pockets of her trousers and turning slowly around she added, ‘As you can see, I have none. We cannot speak while you could kill me so easily.’
Her voice added to my ongoing dismay, it was musical and attractive, almost like a child’s in tone and pitch. My mind raced. She was right about the guns, but I didn’t feel like making the first concession when it was hundreds versus us. I wanted some time to collect my thoughts and desperately thought of something I could ask for in return. She was surrounded by Zeds and the ones behind her weren’t really necessary. The Zeds from the further reaches of the carpark had also wandered silently closer. I replied, ‘Ok, but you outnumber us fifty to one. Make the ones behind you go back to shop and’, I deliberately looked around the car park, ‘Send the others away.’
I saw her smile. I didn’t know what to assume, so I did what I had done from day one, I went with my gut. I assumed she smiled when she understood she wasn’t dealing with meathead idiot.
She didn’t need to reply and unnecessarily raised her hands and opened them up like a booming flower sending the Zeds away. I turned briefly back to Lulu and nodded. I saw the anger on Eve’s face at being disarmed but she did as she was told. I stepped to the side so the Hybrid could see. I hoped Eve wouldn’t try to be devious and I was glad, if a little surprised, when she didn’t. I guessed she knew if it went tits up it wouldn’t be firepower, but speed and metal that would save us. She held up both her guns and passed them to Esme, who took them, and keeping them visible, dropped them over the back seats into the boot. Then Esme took her rifle, a dependable Henry, and dropped it into the boot as well.
The Hybrid looked towards the GT and then back at me. I said, ‘They have no guns, none of them can use one.’
The Hybrid looked at me and said, ‘The glass is black and, as yet, we have no trust. May I send one to check, it is only reasonable.’
The thought of allowing a Zed to be face to face with one of us made my toes curl in my boots and I felt adrenalin flow through me. To my surprise the Hybrid added, ‘Do not be afraid, I will make it easy for you.’
For a moment my Zed sense pulsed and what followed made me re-evaluate the playing field. I also had to hold back the gall that rose from my stomach and burnt my throat. One of the Zeds from her left stepped forwards and a minute later a Beefcake came through the doors from the shop, bloated and ugly, its muscles straining at its dirty torn clothes. It plodded forwards and stopped in front of the Zed that had separated from the crowd. Then it held the Zeds head with one huge hand and slid the other into the Zeds mouth before brutally pulling it down, growling as it did so. The first move ripped the Zed’s lower jaw from its face, but it still hung lose on its chest, held by the skin and sinew of its neck. Although it wasn’t necessary, the Beefcake proceeded to put one hand against the unmoving Zed’s chest, then grab the detached jaw and yank it free. Without hesitating, the Beefcake walked back towards the shop, still holding the Zeds jaw.
I couldn’t help but look back at the Hybrid in disgust, and in reply to the question on my face she said, ‘They are all my children and I love them all, but some have more potential than others. Some will come to serve the rest only as sustenance, until we have dominance that is this one’s fate. In the meantime, the wound will not bother him and he is happy to serve. Does this allay the threat to your satisfaction?’
I was still reeling from what had happened and still fighting the keep my stomach contents down; I could only nod. I turned back to Esme and nodded. She nodded in reply and held the radio to her mouth.
The jawless Zed, its version of blood still oozing from the wreckage of its face and neck, shambled over to the GT. The four hockey guys stepped cautiously out of the GT leaving the doors open, each holding their still favoured hockey stick weapons. They stepped back in disgust as the Zed looked into the car and at each of them before wandering back to the pack around the Hybrid.
As the Zed took its place again the Hybrid said, ‘I grow tired of raising my voice, shall we meet in the middle?’
I was also impatient with having to raise my voice and wanted to see her eyes. I knew it was risky, but we had decided to take the risk, so I nodded and walked forwards down the lane between parked cars. The hybrid walked forwards too until we were only a few meters apart, neither of us willing to get any closer. I calculated it would only take me a few seconds to turn and run back to Lulu, but I knew if it came to that, at least five or six Zeds would be only a few steps behind me. If one of them was a Sprinter I might not make it, but the mark II versions of the freaks had started to stand out and I didn’t think there were any, in the group in front of me at least.
The Hybrid cocked her head and said, ‘Have you finished your calculations? You are slow, yet I sense something else, a potential, something hidden, something hard to describe. You would be a leader amongst us I think.’
The fact the Zed could apparently read my mind, or could at least sense the directions of my thoughts, was disconcerting to say the least. Before I could answer she added, adding to her upper hand in the negotiations so far, ‘Do not be so surprised, you can read me as well as I can you, you feel me as I feel you.
With that, my Zed sense pulsed again and my stomach turned. Before she could talk again and further her sense of control I said angrily, ‘You know I cannot. I feel you, but apart from knowing all you want to do is kill me and feed me to your dogs, I cannot read you.’
She went to reply but I cut her off, as she had been doing to me, ‘You called for this little chat and in the time that has passed since you did, we could have killed most of you and be on with our business, so why don’t you get on with it.’
The Hybrid smiled but I could see the impatience behind it and knew I had overplayed my hand. She said, ‘You know that is not true. You have survived so far, but we have only just begun, and you are still but a drop in our ocean. There are things you want to know and threats won’t make me tell yo
u them. You know that I’m in no danger here, that I risk only my, “dogs”, yet you speak to anger me. I know all I need to know about your kind, I am one of them, but also much more. You are desperate for knowledge however, and should I choose it, you know there is a good chance you, and perhaps even your friends, will die here.’
I risked cutting her off again and stuck to saying what came into my head without letting my emotions control me, ‘But you stand here none the less so there must be something you hope to gain from the situation, something you don’t understand, so perhaps the playing field is level after all.’
The Hybrid nodded in acceptance, ‘Yes, and I forgive you your earlier outburst, this must be very scary for you.’
She waited to see if I would cut her off again, but I had control now and knew that every word she spoke more than I did was a win. I ignored the patronising comment and waited for her to continue. She carried on, ‘You are right, we both have something to gain from this little game, or neither of us would be here. You have been brave so I will give you this. I feel you. I feel myself filling you. You are one of us, but yet you are not, the situation confounds me.’
I knew I had to give a little to get anything back and I saw no disadvantage in doing so. I replied, ‘Your host’s knowledge is limited isn’t it. You say you know all about our kind, but all you actually know is what your host can tell you. I know your host must have been smart or you would not have been able to manifest in her as you have done, but all you actually have is one person’s view of the world, one person’s knowledge. You seem to have a grasp of feelings, but I wonder how many concepts you might still be struggling with. I also know that you underestimate us and that as more time goes by you will realise your mistake. The human spirit is strong and unmeasurable. Although you dominate your hosts body, invade her mind, and you may continue to do so, that won’t be the case with everyone.’
Zed Days (Book 3): Zed Days III Page 7
