We stopped outside the partially destroyed building and there was no movement. Eve didn’t wait for instructions. She got out of the Husky with a small bag of grenade rounds and climbed onto the roof. Esme followed her to back her up with the rifle and I was forced to stay in the driver’s seat in case we had to go in a hurry. Eve fired four rounds at the building and with the last one the remaining roof section collapsed. Climbing off the roof she threw the bag into the passenger seat and said, ‘I’m going around the back. Stragglers will be easier to handle now than if they get together in some random house.’
I looked at Esme who shrugged her shoulders and followed her. There were no signs of activity and there was no way very many had survived, so I beeped the horn and got out. My aim was far better with the familiar M9 than with the new rifle, so with Seven in one hand and the pistol in the other I followed Eve and Esme. Eve had to kick open the wooden side gate which stood firm between two posts with a dense bush on one side and a partially collapsed wall and a load of rubble on the other.
Before I was through the gate I heard Eve open fire, three or four bullets, then silence. I caught up to them and they were stood on a playground area immediately behind the building looking at the rubble. The area they were looking at hadn’t completely collapsed, and there were two Zeds trying to crawl out of a gap between a wall and what was left of the roof. There were a few other body parts on show here and there, some of which were moving, but none of which were making any progress. Eve looked at me and nodded her head in the direction of the two Zeds. I got up close, aimed carefully and shot them both as the others gathered around behind us.
Eve was in one of her silent and serious moods and I knew why. We had got used to kids among those we killed, but one of the Zeds I had shot was no more than ten. I still told myself I was putting them out of their misery, but with Andrea and Ted, and with the memory of what Dr Penfold had postulated as a possible future, it was getting harder. Eve mumbled, ‘We’re done here’, and walked straight back to the Husky and got into the driver’s seat. Esme and I dutifully followed and she set off before we got our seat belts on.
There had only been a handful of times that Eve had drunk herself into oblivion since I’d met her, but that was one of them. True to our musketeer promise we joined her, but I poured mine short and drowned them in mixer so I could help her in the morning if I needed to. We slept in the back of the other rig and I woke up early and scrounged us up some army breakfast rations from identical looking silver bags that only needed boiling for a few minutes to heat up. We had all day breakfast, BBQ beans, and pork sausages.
Eve woke up full of apologies and holding her pounding head. Esme hugged her and said, ‘It’s ok baby, it just means you’re still human remember.’
We sat silently while we ate and surprisingly it was Tim who worked out that we needed a break. He stood up and said, ‘I know I’m new to the group, that you don’t know me very well, and that I’m also new to the Zombie killing business, but I know every building on this base. I overheard someone say that we’d still have to go house to house to make sure it was clear, and I can help with that. Every soldier has urban assault training now, ever since the horrible statistics that have come out of various modern day conflicts about friendly fire. Although I’m sure you guys are better at the actual killing than I am, I can keep us organised if you want me to.’
Ben took up the torch and said, ‘That would be good Tim. These guys were first on the scene here and all by themselves to begin with, so we owe them a day at least. Let’s get to it.’
Everyone organised themselves into two groups and even Bill and Tony joined in. Mutt went with Bill’s group to help sniff out lurkers. One group would enter the building and make sure it was clear and the other would guard their rear and scout the immediate outside area. There were enough people and enough guns that they would be fine without us. It was predictable that within an hour we were bored, and Mandy was fine being left alone. She was getting to know Ted whenever he popped up for long enough to talk. She’d also been pretty good with a rifle when we’d been practicing. I guessed that the necessary confidence and steady hands of a doctor probably didn’t hurt.
We decided to take a walk around part of the perimeter. The base was big, so we took picnic supplies in what turned out to be a very comfortable army backpack. I had decided to go with the full Khaki getup, including helmet, and I felt like a real solder in a real conflict with my rifle in hand, camo gear on, and a pack on my back.
We walked silently for a while before Esme braved conversation to try and lift the mood, ‘You know I’m still a little jealous of what happened in the Husky yesterday, and you still haven’t told me about it.’
The corners of Eve’s mouth turned up and she said, ‘Well, it was your fault really. The view of your bum, the sound of gunfire, and the memory of how keen you were about that little scenario I suggested after the other night, just set me off. All Brad did was describe and expand the scenario, and let me go down on him of course.’
Esme giggled, ‘By all means correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m not sure he had much choice. You know how irresistible you are, especially when you’re rampant.’
Then she looked across towards the housing area in the distance and added, ‘This place is about as good as it gets isn’t it. It’s got space, houses, equipment, supplies, and everything we could possibly need. If we do ever come across other survivors, there’s space for them too. We can farm, raise any animals we can find, and it’s all inside a big fence with a tower to view it all from. We’d still need patrols and an alarm system, and the fence could do with a little reinforcement here and there, but I can’t think of anywhere better.’
I spoke before I could stop myself, ‘There is the whole prison scenario, or some really expensive gated community with a really tall brick wall around it and huge houses but…’
Eve interrupted, ‘Really, you know this isn’t Walking Dead right?’
I was too embarrassed to reply. Esme carried on, ‘There might be other good places and maybe others have found them, but we’ve found this place and we’re going to move here and live here. I’m not trying to play happy families with us living in some large five bedroom house, I’m not stupid, but why shouldn’t we have a little bit of normality, and why shouldn’t our child.’
I got it together and hugger her, ‘No reason at all, and you’re right. The moment this place is secure we should move everyone and everything here.’
Eve smiled at us both but seemed distracted, ‘That all sounds nice and I’m fully on board, really, but we spoke about this place having a radio or something but we’ve been too busy to ask about it. Why hasn’t Tim mentioned one?’
We carried on our walk and spoke about the logistics of the move. We passed a few small hangars on our walk south from the main gate and decided to investigate them on the way back. There were three hangars and a long thin building behind them. They were the closest thing on the base to where Eve and I had been at the garage, so we were pretty hopeful they’d be empty.
The hanger doors were shut but thankfully not locked. Inside the first hanger were three small, twin seater, single propeller aircraft. From the contents of the whiteboard and the gathering of chairs inside the hangar, they looked like training aircraft. There was also a large TV and DVD set-up and a cupboard full of training materials. We rifled through some of the materials and were surprised to find a 36 hour training program and that the planes had a range of just over 700 miles.
Eve’s eyes were wide and they flicked occasionally from side to side as she flicked through the leaflet about the planes. I sat next to her on a chair and said, ‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I assume you would have told me by now if you had had any flight training.’
Eve smiled but her eyes didn’t leave the booklet, ‘Of course, but they recon you can learn in 36 hours then move onto more advanced training. It’s not like we have to navigate if we follow the main road system. We don’t
have to learn to avoid other flight paths, or do anything fancy at all for that matter.’
I put my hand on her thigh and she turned to look at me with innocent eye’s that made her look twelve, ‘I think taking off and landing are pretty fancy and I don’t think the navigation is as easy as all that. Also, you could take off here in blue skies but end up in the middle of a storm where you’re going. I imagine a really small light plane is great for learning, but would get beat up in bad weather.’
Eve smiled, ‘I know, but you have to admit the possibilities are there. I wonder if Tim can fly, he is air force after all?’
Eve insisted on holding onto the training booklet and we moved onto the next hanger, it had two helicopters and also looked like a training centre. There were no signs of Zeds anywhere in any of the back rooms. The last hangar had three small jets and as we slid open the door I said firmly, ‘Not a chance, not ever, so don’t even go there.’
The long white building behind the hangars had a series of high tech classrooms with big screens and ceiling mounted projectors; I tried to fight off images from Top Gun. There were a few bodies making it unpleasant to be in, but no live Zeds. One of the larger open plan rooms had a particularly large screen and one of those simulators that moved around on pistons and made you sick, or at least made me sick. Eve walked over to the simulator, leant against it meaningfully, raised her eyebrows, and said, ‘I rest my case.’
I looked at Esme who said, ‘Don’t look at me, you’re the one who found her, and now you’re stuck with her.’
As we set off to walk back past the area where the three jets that had landed and shot up a load of Zeds, Eve stopped and handed out facemasks and gloves from her pack. Esme and I exchanged glances and Eve said, ‘I know I didn’t say, but I didn’t want to spoil the walk. I know it’s unpleasant to say the least, but there is a decent breeze and we’re more used to it than anyone else. I know we have plenty, but vehicles are still a massive resource for us, even if it’s just to get the fuel out of them. It’s much easier with keys and we don’t have to do all of them or the hard to reach ones. I figured as the others are going door to door we could contribute this, even if it’s just for half an hour.’
The time went slowly and the masks were only partially effective, but we did find a decent haul of keys. She wasn’t wrong that we needed every resource we could get our hands on. We had done better than we could possibly expect with the base, but scavenging never stops in an apocalypse. For a start, the army vehicles fuel economy was probably worse than the GT.
We had a couple of hours to lounge around before the others got back and it was nice to get to know Mandy a bit more. We’d never really spent any time with her and she was one of the most important members of the group. We could all be replaced, but her knowledge and training couldn’t. If we lasted months or years, she would probably save as many lives as any of us.’
Chapter Twenty One – Flying lessons
Everyone returned by about five o’clock and they all looked tired. They had been on their feet all day so I couldn’t blame them. Ben reported a few pockets of Zeds, but nothing that caused any drama. Mutt had been useful in sniffing them out. We organised supper and Eve sat next to Tim and said, ‘Tell us about the radio Tim. We figured in an emergency situation the bunker would have a radio capable of reaching other bunkers and that it would get powered from the bunkers generator?’
Tim swallowed his beans, wiped his mouth and replied, ‘You’re right, but it doesn’t work. When it all happened, someone will have pushed the bunker button that starts the generator and seals the doors so no one can get in from the outside without clearance from inside. It also sets off a repeating distress signal. Protocol is to make immediate contact with the base network and a central command centre in London that’s linked to the Governments bunker.’
‘The distress beacon started when the automatic emergency protocols kicked in, and after running through the bunker checks we started to try and make contact with other bases. Then the radio just stopped working and the distress beacon light stopped as well. It stopped shortly after the three jets landed so we figured their fire must have severed a connection to the control tower and radio mast.’
Before anyone could say anything else Eve jumped in with, ‘Can you fly Tim? We checked out the three small hangers with the training planes in and the booklet says someone can be taught to fly in 36 hours?’
Tim cocked his head, raised one side of his mouth and played with his hands in his lap, ‘Sort of. I joined up as a potential pilot so I went through basic flight school on the single props, but they never let me near a jet. I just couldn’t do the higher g-force manoeuvres without taking too long to orient myself afterwards. I transferred to engineering after that and never flew again, and that was over twenty years ago.’
He looked up at Eve rather mournfully but she was irrepressible, ‘So that’s a yes then, you can fly, and that means you could teach someone else to.’
Tim answered reluctantly, ‘I suppose. The Grobs are very stable and forgiving little planes so as far as taking off, landing, and cruising gently around in good weather, it’s really not rocket science.’
Eve looked at me triumphantly, ‘Ha!’
Esme leaned over in her chair towards me and whispered, ‘I know she can be smug as hell sometimes, and perhaps there’s something wrong with me, but when she is I just want her to throw me down and do me.’
I looked at Eve as I whispered my reply, ‘And knowing we’ve had quiet words but not knowing what they are will drive her wild, so I suggest we keep it that way. After all, she hasn’t properly told you about the incident in the Husky.’
Esme giggled gently, ‘Ok, but when it all comes out she’s going to know it was your idea.’
I imagined the scene and replied, ‘I can live with that.’
Eve looked at us both pointedly and I said, ‘Well I suppose that’s good news, apart from the radio of course. Tim, I assume you know something about where other bases are and the kind of gear they have? If there is a network of bunkers talking to each other then we need to be part of the conversation. People would already have to have been in bunkers with filtered air supplies not to get infected, so I doubt any government ones will have anything other than support staff in, if anyone at all. Flying anywhere near other bases and using the planes radio should allow us to contact them if we know the frequencies to use, but it’s not the priority.’
Everyone looked at me with expressions raging from confusion to shock so I carried on, ‘Finishing clearing this place and moving everyone here is the priority. We still have a hybrid in the area of the caravan base and people who would be safer here. It will take time to clear every building and house, so I suggest Eve, Esme and I go back home and organise the move while you guys carry on. It will be quicker to secure the base if everyone is helping out, and I think it would nice for them to know how successful we’ve been. I feel a little guilty knowing everything we currently know when they don’t even know if we’re alive.’
Esme spoke up in support, ‘Brad’s right. It was hell not knowing how they were when they left the first time, and that was for less than a day. We should leave first thing.’
After a little more discussion around the details, the plan was agreed. We made our excuses for an early night in the bunker to organise the weapons we would be taking back with us. As we drove Lulu over Eve said, ‘Don’t think I don’t know you’re not going to tell me what you were whispering about earlier.’
Before either of us could reply she added, ‘It doesn’t matter, I can live with that, but it’s not going to stop me flying.’
I replied with, ‘Me either.’
Esme blurted, ‘What?’
I said, ‘I’m going to learn too. More than one person needs to anyway and there are three planes. I’ve got just as much reason as anyone, and although I gave them up for a bad job, because compared to killing Zombies it was dull, I’ve also got a bunch of hours behind one of the mos
t realistic flying sims out there. I never got the whole controller set up but I know the principles and it was a pure sim, not a game as such. The reviews said some of the flying schools even recommend it as an introduction before lessons.’
After a long pause Eve said, ‘Good, that’s good, anyone who wants to should be able to learn.’ Esme remained silent.
We went straight to the weapons cache to organise the gear we wanted to take with us. The session Eve and I had talked about in the Husky was as good as I had imagined it would be. It felt weird at first, getting into an aggressive controlling role, and it was harder than I imagined not to lose myself in it and get carried away, but when I found the balance it was great. Having them both bent over and tied up next to each other, to have whenever I wanted, was awesome.
I did bring a couple of the thin plastic covered mattresses in too. There was almost no access to breasts when they were bent over the crates, although it was the perfect way to start. Telling them exactly what to do and watching them do it while they were either blindfolded, gagged, or both, was a thrill. Esme seemed particularly turned on by the hostage scenario. She came quickly when I pressed the gun onto her head made Eve kneel behind her and lick her.
When we moved to the mattresses I made Esme kneel and lean down with her gorgeous bum in the air. Then I tied her hands underneath her before tying a rifle between her knees so they were spread apart. It was just as well she was young and flexible. I took her with Eve on her knees right beside me, her head resting on the top of Esme’s bum while I fucked her. I stopped a couple of times to make me Eve lick and suck me, and it was wonderful.
When it was Eve’s turn I tied her hands behind her back and made her straddle Esme who lay underneath her. I started off behind her, squeezing her boobs and pinching her nipples mercilessly with one hand until she screamed every time I did it. I held the gun to her head with the other hand while shouting in her ear, ‘You’re not allowed to fucking cum bitch, not until I fucking say, but you can scream as loud as you fucking like.’ She screamed, but I could tell she was loving it.
Zed Days (Book 3): Zed Days III Page 20
