Zed Days (Book 3): Zed Days III

by Harland, Nick

  ‘We don’t want Andrea killed in the first volley and we hope the Hybrid will be keeping herself and her Talkers safe, and not close to big glass windows. When we radio you to drive into the carpark and start firing, it’s small arms only until they swarm, but it’s got to sound bad enough for her to want to run, so just empty your clips in the general direction and hit Zeds if you can, then pick up your rifles. Each vehicle has a designated leader and one person watching the sides and back. The single most important thing is not to get carried away and end up shooting each other, so make sure the vehicles are right up against each other when you stop so there isn’t room between them for any Zeds that get that far.’

  Time isn’t on our side and a Talker gathering more troops could find us any time, so it’s time to go. Good luck and see you on the other side.’

  We drove at the front of the convoy and Esme said, ‘It’s the best we can do. I know we can’t guarantee we’ll be able to save Andrea, but we need to try. I know they don’t feel pain as such, but it must be really hard to be aware of what you’ve become. I think she’d rather she was dead than all shot up and immobilised, and I don’t suppose we can fix broken bones on a Zed. If it comes to it, make it clean and I’d rather it was me.’

  Eve and I nodded and as we came into view of the pub Eve accelerated as we had to make it all the way around the pub to the back before she could escape. We saw the others accelerate up the short slip road to the pub carpark and we were committed. We heard shooting before we made it around the back but we were in position before the rifles and 50 cal’s started. I silently wished the group luck and I knew they were probably in far more danger than us. They were doing this for us, and for everyone that had died, when they could have stayed safe on the base, miles from the Hybrid.

  The back of the pub was ugly with a loading bay for trucks to pull up at and a small back door. We weren’t surprised to see two armed and armoured Beefcakes guarding the back door. We had opened the sky roof and Esme was up on her chair before me. For assault purposes she had gone for fire rate over accuracy and managed to drop the Beefcakes before I got organised. She also shot up the Hybrids trials bike that was ready and waiting by the back door. I was half expecting a grunt of satisfaction and a comment, but she was thin lipped and her aim towards the back door was unmoving. Eve was leaning out of Lulu’s window with an M9 in her hand, the other waiting on her lap.

  The noise from the front of the pub was intense and we heard the grenades go off. A cold sweat briefly flushed me as I wondered if any of the 50 calibre bullets could make it through to us, and I wondered if Esme or Eve had thought of that, and guessed that they hadn’t. Sometimes being able to see all the possible outcomes and scenario’s was a double edged sword. I figured as long as there was lots of gun fire we were winning. We didn’t have to wait long for the back door to explode open and for a stream of Zeds to rush out. We all took a second to check for Andrea before opening fire and dropping them. We turned our rifles clips around to full ones when nothing else followed.

  I had been feeling a constant flow of Zed sense since the start, but then it surged for a moment and I barked, ‘Freaks.’

  Esme opened fire into the doorway before the Sprinters even emerged and with me joining her a split second later the first two dropped before they could get free. They partially blocked the exit making it difficult for the next two. Eve shouted, ‘Mine’, and in the confined space without having gained any speed, she dropped them both, though she still had to use four bullets.

  Nothing followed the freaks and my Zed sense died to almost nothing. The shooting from the front became more sporadic in a way I hoped spoke of finishing off strays, rather than being overwhelmed. The waiting for something to happen was agony but we didn’t have to wait long before a voice came through the door. It lacked the smug air it had had previously and she knew she was beaten. She said, ‘I’m coming out but you won’t want to shoot. I’ve got your friend. She’s been very helpful and I know all about you and how much you love her. Her knowledge has added to my own.’

  Andrea came into view first and the Hybrid was holding her close around her waist with a large carving knife pushed into the skin under her throat, a slow stream of Zed blood running down the blade. As the Hybrid came out into the open, two Beefcakes stepped out either side of her. What happened next surprised all of us. It was hard not to react and let on, but with rifles in front of our faces the Hybrid didn’t notice any change in our expressions. Andrea smiled and winked. It was unmistakable, and it was her. How she did it without the Hybrid feeling it I don’t know, but I guess the Hybrid was pretty busy and probably shitting herself in fear.

  The Hybrid said, ‘I know Andrea is more important to you than killing me, so why don’t we come to an arrangement. Get out of Lulu, back away, and let me get in. Keep your guns down please. I’ll have one of my friends here hold Andrea for you and when I’m driving away I’ll have him let her go. The instruction to break her neck will be foremost in my mind and it will know to kill her if you shoot me. They can’t hold much in their warped minds, but they can hold that. You get Andrea and I get to escape, what do you think?’

  I could hear the tremor in her voice, the fear, and I was just rushing through all the possible outcomes when Andrea made it all very simple. Silently and deliberately she mouthed, ‘One, two, three’, while very slowly moving her arm up until it hovered over the Hybrids arm holding the knife. On three she grabbed the hybrids arm, pulling it down, and sharply tilted her head to the left. The shot was immediate and accurate and a hole appeared in the hybrids forehead. Esme and I took a Beefcake each and in the space of a second it was over. The shooting had also stopped from the front.

  Esme didn’t bother with the door and climbed out of the sky roof and jumped onto the ground running. As she did so Andrea put her hand up to stop her before I felt all my hairs stand on end as the Talker called for help and charged at Esme. Esme shoulder barged Andrea to the ground and Eve was close behind her. Between them they grappled Andrea and turned her over while I found something to tie her up with.

  As I was tying her up Andrea said, ‘Hi.’

  Esme giggled and replied, ‘Hi’, before the Talker replied with the predictable, ‘You will die, we will kill you.’ Even then the security in the Talkers voice was gone and it seemed to be soothing itself rather than threatening us.

  Chris walked up behind us and said, ‘Hi guys’. He scared the crap out of me. I admit I even made a very brief scared noise. Then he said, ‘Sorry. I was waiting a bit further back in case it went differently. I heard most of it. So it’s over then?’

  Esme and I helped Andrea to her feet and Eve replied, ‘Yes, for now at least it’s over. We all have a long way to go, including Andrea, and I’m not sure it’s going to get any easier, but we have friends on the inside now. If the Zed’s develop more, so will Ted and Andrea, and we have the airbase, but we’ve lost a lot of friends. I don’t know about anyone else, but for me there is only one priority. I’m going to learn to fly and I’m going to find more survivors.’

  I couldn’t argue with Eve’s logic, even though I knew her words came from a place of emotion. We all had to live with the fact we’d left the base and that we weren’t there when everyone needed us. I knew someone had to keep their emotions under control and that there were things to do before we returned to the airbase.

  I said, ‘I agree, but there are a couple of things to do first. None of us are going to like it, but it’s necessary. The old base is a mess, but it’s basically made of concrete. The vans inside will be gone and all the explosions from the gas bottles will have messed the place up, but they will have stopped the Hybrid going inside afterwards to check things out in case of any late explosions. The food was kept securely in a storeroom and separate from other supplies like spare batteries and gas bottles. A lot of the supplies could still be intact and although there might be a bit of Russian roulette opening cans with scorched labels, there’s too much there to let
emotions stop us going back for them.’

  Eve sighed, ‘Yes, yes, you’re right as usual and I’m sure I’ll thank you later, blah blah.’

  Esme started to say, ‘What Eve meant to say was….’

  But I put my hand to stop her, ‘I know, I know, I can translate this one.’ I knew my tone was irritable, my emotions had been stretched too far in too many different directions and I felt raw.

  We went back around to the front of the pub and the carnage and destruction was quite something. If any other Talkers or Hybrids saw it, they’d piss their pants. No one was hurt by Zeds at least, but the short controlled burst thing had gone out of the window and there were a few burns. It turns out 50 Cal’s casings are pretty hot when they shoot out and assault rifle barrels and casings aren’t that far behind. With everyone grouped up close so no one could get surrounded, it had been a hot few minutes.

  I looked at Eve and raised my eyebrows, partly in retaliation for her earlier comment and she said, ‘Ok, so maybe I should have mentioned that earlier. But…’

  Esme interrupted again, ‘Ok you two, enough bickering. You’re both fucking brilliant and today could have been different if it wasn’t for both of you. No one’s badly hurt and lessons have been learnt, now let’s get this over with. There isn’t much light left and I’d rather get out of here as soon as possible and never come back.’

  Esme had more to say to us as she drove us back to what was left of the caravan base. She made us both sit in the back. She was uncharacteristically harsh, ‘I’ve never seen you two like this and I don’t want to again. I know you both blame yourself for what happened but you both need to get a fucking grip. Neither of you have any more right than any of us to feel bad about it, so suck it up and tough it out. We still have people relying on us and we can’t afford to show them anything other than certainty and confidence, no matter how we feel inside. We did our best for everyone but we aren’t responsible, everyone knew the plan and everyone agreed. We need to do our best for everyone now, and this isn’t it.’

  ‘I love you guys and I know you love me, but I’m still the third wheel here.’ She held her hand up in expectation of what we would say, ‘Quiet, and listen, just for once. People see you two and they’re inspired. Even if they don’t have much to live for themselves, they look at you two nut-jobs and they see the possibilities, they see there are still things worth fighting for. It’s the same for me. If you take that away from them, from me, we’ll all be dead within a month. I know it wasn’t much but it was different, it was more than bickering, it was almost mean. Now hold hands, shut the fuck up, and remember that there’s only one reason you’re both still alive, to spend one more day, one more night with each other, and to be amazed every day at your unbelievable fucking luck, that you get to spend that time with me too.’

  Epilogue

  I was relieved to be right. It took time to clear the base but there was plenty of stuff left that was salvageable. We ended up making a few runs back and forth and towing back some of the nicer vans from the back lot. With the Hybrid gone, we also risked a couple of runs to the factory to clear it too. After all that had happened, we were all in at the airbase and no one even mentioned a back-up base again.

  The airbase was close, but not too close, to several villages and one small town. We had enough supplies that we had time to organise ourselves, and our security, before starting to scavenge again. We were thin on the ground, but it was enough. We went back to the moors and found more sheep, and a few scrawny goats on a nearby farm.

  We found where the cable joining the radio tower to the bunker was broken. Tim and Bill thought they might be able to fix it, but the work to dig up enough cable to give them the slack to do so was huge without a digger. After long debate, we prioritised learning to fly and other tasks to make the base more secure.

  We at least temporarily abandoned the perhaps naïve dream of living in relative normality in the houses on the base. There were too few of us, and apart from being used to living close together, we all felt more secure doing so. There was a large office building underneath the radio tower we made comfortable. Its largely concrete, small windows, 1940’s build, meant that with a little work it could be kept warm during the winter.

  Esme started to show and was banned from scavenging, spending more time with Mandy learning to be a doctor. She continued to spend time with Ted and Andrea who we eventually decided to keep next to each other, but not in the same space. We were worried during Talker time one of them might attack the other who wasn’t in Talker time. The gambit appeared to pay off and when they were both themselves, they encouraged each other. Their unique insight into each other’s situation allowed them to build a relationship of sorts.

  It wasn’t long before we could trust Ted to go out scavenging with us, and he almost always did more good than harm. We came across more Talkers, which always reminded me of the doc’s vision of the future, but he wasn’t quite right. We did find one more person starting to gain control over their occupier, but most of the Talkers remained loyal to the, “You will die, we will kill you” mantra.

  A few of us learned to fly the basic single prop trainer planes, but only Donald seemed to be a natural. Competition between Eve and I spurned us on until we became competent at least. Despite what Eve said after we lost everyone, we put off a mission to try and find more survivors, neither of us wanting to leave the group for any length of time to do soon. Eventually we couldn’t avoid the decision any longer, but fate is a truly weird and wonderful thing and on the morning we were due to leave, with Donald and Chris in the other plane, someone found us instead.

  We were literally walking across the airfield to leave, with everyone behind us to wish us luck, when two single prop planes similar to ours flew over the airfield. Then they turned around and flew over low enough that we could see the pilots’ faces. They landed a few minutes later and Eve and I put down our weapons, held hands, and walked over to them.

  There were four men in military fatigues, but so were we, so that didn’t mean much. They kept their weapons up and Eve squeezed my hand and whispered, ‘I don’t think they need badass cop or lout cop, just say what comes to mind.’

  I let go of Eve’s hand and we stopped about ten feet in front of the men. I smiled broadly and there was only one thing to say, ‘Hi.’