Day Zed (Volume 1): The Outbreak

by Charles Smith

  “Have you tried to resuscitate Simon at all Penny?” the operator asked.

  “No, no I have not I am too scared to”

  “Can I ask why Penny, you have been trained too”

  “It’s the colour of his skin, there is something wrong it looks like he has been poisoned” Penny informed the operator.

  “Is his body still warm Penny?” the operator then asked.

  “Yes, it is I don’t think he has been dead long, please hurry?”

  “Okay Penny, the ambulance is on its way, and should be with you shortly, would you like me to stay on the phone with you?”

  “No it’s okay, I want to sit with Simon, and wait, thank you” Penny informed the operator, before replacing the phone onto its stand. She then made her way back to the couch where she now crouched, and took Simon’s hand in her own, as she cried.

  In all the chaos since her arrival home, Penny realised that she had not turned on any light’s, she was sitting on the floor in the dark, she would need the light on for the arrival of the paramedics, she gently released Simon’s hand, stood and then made her way to the light switch, she flicked the switch to illuminate the room, not that she wanted to see the body behind her. As she turned she immediately jumped back, Simon’s eyes were now open, and he now looked straight at her, there was no movement, he just lay there and did not move. Penny could feel her heart beating faster, something inside her told her that what was happening was wrong, she had felt Simon’s pulse, he had been dead, and she had not imagined it.

  The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, Simon was now moving slowly, as if his limbs were not connected to his brain, he gradually after much trouble stood. He was just eight feet from her, all the time since his eyes had opened he had omitted a dull moaning sound whilst his mouth hung open, and he then ambled slowly towards her, she could see into what had once been brilliant blue eyes, the blue now replaced, replaced by dark black, whatever now stood in front of her, and moved towards her with its teeth snapping together was not her loving boyfriend Simon, this monster meant her harm, and she began to back off.

  Whilst concentrating so hard on the zombie in front of her she forgot about the coffee table behind her, and fell backwards with a thump, with no time to stand she edged back on all fours, until she reached the back wall, she was unable to move back any further. Just as it seemed that she would not be able to find the time to stand, and dodge past the zombies hands, she was saved, from somewhere in the house her black cat “Tiddles” waltzed in, oblivious to the fact that Simon was no longer Simon, and jumped straight to the back of the armchair, which the zombie now stood by. The cat seeking its usual attention from its owner brushed against him, and flicked his tail. This was enough to gain the short term attention of the zombie, and it made a grab for the cat, Tiddles hissed and scratched, but it was too late as Tiddles was held down and the zombie bent down and bit into his back. This action alone was enough to make Penny violently vomit; she then staggered to her feet, and ran out through the lounge door. She didn’t look back despite the screaming, and hissing coming from the cat. She threw open the front door, and run, not looking back, she could not drive away as she had forgotten her car keys which had been left on the floor in the lounge, Penny didn’t dare to go back.

  Penny did not even stop as the paramedic drove past her. Only when the car had come to a stop, did Penny dare to turn around, and watch for just the briefest of moments. The paramedic rushed from his vehicle, collected his back and then hurried to the front gate where he was met by what had once been Simon. Immediately the zombie attacked the shocked paramedic, caught unawares the paramedic went to the ground, clutching his hand where he had been bit, the zombie attacked again, and trapped him on the floor, as Penny began to run again she could hear the paramedic still screaming two streets away. Penny finally stopped running once she had run out of breath, and felt that she was finally far enough away for now, to take a rest. After regaining her composure she headed off, for the next half an hour she walked the streets, not really sure where she was going, as long as it was away from her house. Several sirens had split the peace of the night time air, and she wondered how many of those sirens now headed to her street. Suffering from shock, and her thoughts a million miles away, Penny didn’t see the minicab travelling down the road until it was upon her, with its horn blaring, as she had walked out in front of it. The taxi driver managed to bring the cab to as stop after an emergency brake procedure, narrowly avoiding the nurse he wound down his window to ask the woman if she was okay “Are you okay?”

  You walked out in front of me from nowhere, I nearly hit you” he added.

  “I’m sorry, I had things on my mind” Penny replied.

  “Do you need a lift somewhere? You look pretty shaken up”.

  “I could do with a rest, just for five minutes, to get my head straight”.

  “Jump in I am done for the night, take your time”.

  Penny hopped into the back of the taxi, and slowly but surely regained her thoughts, the thought that nagged away at her was, was it a dream? She had just returned from work to find her boyfriend dead, and then waking up as a zombie. She pinched herself to check, unfortunately she was still awake, and she had unknowingly witnessed the first case of the “Day Zed” outbreak.

  1st July, Chelmsford, Essex 2:45am

  From across the road Jim Barton had watched as first Penny had ran out of her front door and up the road, then as a paramedic car pulled to a halt outside, and was amazed when someone maybe Simon, had staggered out of Penny’s door and attacked the paramedic as he entered the garden. The uniformed man had fallen to the ground clutching his hand, after his assailant had bit off his finger. Looking closer Jim could see that it was indeed Simon, it just didn’t act like him, or move like him, and judging by his demeanour Simon was now a either a zombie, or a delusional maniac , his skin was a ghastly pale grey, and was smudged in places with large splashes of crimson, which Jim could only guess was blood.

  Whatever had happened to Simon did not bother Jim, as in the past Simon had always ignored him, and walked around with attitude that he was god’s gift to women, how an earth he had managed to capture Penny’s heart was beyond the streets secret pervert. He had admired his neighbour from a safe distance for the past five years, such a safe distance that she had never caught him watching her with his high powered lens telescope. Jim had bought the repossessed house, but had never done any repairs to it. He still had not replaced any of the doors throughout the house, which had all been taken by the previous owners, all of Jim’s time was taken up with watching Penny, and Jim didn’t have time to carry out any of the required repairs. Now as he watched the man who had ruined his fantasy, attack another man he couldn’t help, but grin.

  Several lights had turned on in neighbouring houses, and Jim could see the usual suspects partaking in their usual hobby of curtain twitching, all that had been awoken, had heard the paramedic’s screams for help as the zombie that had surprised him at the gate now climbed on top of him. The resident “Curtain Twitcher’s” now watched as they struggled, and the zombie appeared to be biting the paramedic. Wanting to be the hero Jim had telephoned the local police station and reported the incident out in the street as it began to unfold, only to be told that they would send someone round to investigate the matter, but at the moment they were dealing with an amount of similar calls across the County.

  The fight that the paramedic had valiantly put up so far began to fade, and the struggle was finally taking its toll upon his damaged hand, he had suffered multiple wounds from bites that had been inflicted upon him whilst fending the monster off. With luck going against the paramedic, the zombie fell to his side, and immediately took a bite out of the paramedic’s neck, as the zombie pulled upwards it tore a large chunk of flesh with it, as it chewed upon this morsel, the paramedic collapsed from an instant loss of blood.

  Jim moved away from the window to switch on the rooms light, as there were others now watc
hing from lit windows, he felt that he no longer had to watch from the cover of darkness like he usually did. On returning to the action outside, he had to rub his eyes to make sure he really was seeing the old couple from the bungalow opposite come hurrying out into the fray. Jim had never learnt of their first names, he just referred to them as “The Bishops” challenged their former neighbour in an attempt to save the fallen paramedic. Old lady “Bishop” had walked brazenly straight up to the man and started prodding him with her finger. The zombie turned immediately away from the paramedic and took a swipe at her. It was a misjudged swipe in terms of distance, as the zombie only managed to scrape at her. Unfortunately her far too flimsy night gown had become snared up in the attacking fingers of the zombie, and when she backed off, the gown easily tore from her body, much to Jim’s delight he was pleased to see that she wore nothing underneath. Jim thought that despite her age she still had a fit body, and he wasn’t at all disturbed to have a thought like that. Trying to protect the honour of his wife, her husband rushed forward armed with and old trophy spear from his army days, where he had been stationed in Africa. The second thrust of the spear connected with the zombie’s stomach, and it fell backwards as the husband pushed with all his might, the zombie struggled on the ground, trying to stand back up, despite the four foot long spear that protruded out from its torso.

  The husband and wife did not wait to see if the zombie got back up, and they were on their way back to their home when the paramedics hand shot out at the trailing leg of the husband. The Old man fell to the ground, and with frightening speed the zombie moved its head towards his leg, and bit a chunk from the ankle of the fallen man. As the wife screamed for help, and the paramedic attacked the husband, the speared zombie now stood back up and lunged at the wife. The spear still protruded from his stomach and as the zombie span round, the spear winded the wife and she was sent sprawling into the lawn. Her attacker went to drop on top of her, but the spear stopped it and for seconds he hung in mid air, struggling whilst the spear dug into the ground. Jim stood open mouthed at what was happening before him, the carnage that had happened so quickly, somehow just managed to get worse as each minute went by, and surprise, surprise, there were still no police in attendance.

  The neighbour attacking the old lady had slowly slid down the length of the spear; gravity had forced the weight of his body down the length of the shaft, the spear now dangled loosely out of its back. Somehow the zombie was still able to attack, it pulled its way up the back of her legs, and sunk its festering teeth into her right buttock, she screamed out in pain, unable to move as she watched her husband’s life ebbing away from in front of her.

  Other neighbours had began to run out, the Porter’s run out on mass, Eric the father was in his mid fifties and a formidable size, even after quitting rugby years ago he had stayed fit, he headed the charge armed with a baseball bat, flanked by his twenty one year old son Lee, and his Seventeen year old boy Jamie. Eric reached the speared zombie first and gave the hardest swing he possibly could with the metal coated bat, the bat connected with a sickening thud, striking the back of the zombie, the sheer force of the blow knocked the creature forward. The solid blow from the bat hadn’t seemed to hurt the zombie, and it sat straight back up before turning at Eric, a second blow rained down on its right shoulder, the snap that emanated from the joint, could only mean a broken shoulder blade. Still the zombie attacked, it now stood and lumbered towards Eric, his third strike struck the zombie just below its left knee, and the leg immediately buckled, broken from the strike.

  Whilst Eric had been attacking the zombie, his sons had attacked the former paramedic, and attempted to rescue their neighbour, who had not moved for some time. As they both rained blows down upon the paramedic with hockey sticks, they failed to notice their neighbour shuffled towards them, and did not realise until he had bit down into Jamie’s neck, of the danger that was now all around them. Out of blind rage Lee turned towards his brother who was already dying from his wound, totally forgetting about the fallen paramedic, who after receiving a multitude of blows was now standing upright behind Lee, and has he struck his brothers killer, he instantly felt rotting teeth biting down on his shoulder, penetrating his bed shirt, and then his skin. Witnessing his youngest sons death, and his elder son in trouble Eric ran to his remaining sons aid, and for a few minutes he managed to defend against the oncoming zombies, until stamina managed to desert him, eventually Eric was taken down by the two zombie neighbours, and the Paramedic. Lee had somehow managed to escape, and run back to his home, where his mother had ushered him in and locked the door behind them. After just a few minutes Jamie reanimated and began feeding upon the injured woman.

  For fifteen minutes, there had been no change outside, no more neighbours had attempted to help out, and it seemed as if they had learnt their lessons from the previous failed attempts. The only difference was that now there were six zombies outside. Watching them closely, chilled Jim to the bone as they just stood waiting for either a sound or movement to alert them to new prey. Jim stood transfixed in his window, unable to move, he definitely did not want to be their next meal. From the bottom of the road sirens could be heard entering the street, seconds later a police car pulled approached the house, finally the police had turned up. The two uniformed officers looked out of their windows, and as the six zombies, covered in blood, stumbled towards the car, they pulled back out into the road and drove away.

  “You cowards” Jim screamed out, just a little too loudly. The group of zombies heard him and now made their way up his front garden path. At first they banged on the front door then the window, but eventually one decided to shuffle off around the back, there were no obstacles for it to climb as Jim had not felt the need to replace the broken gate, and when the zombie reached the back it walked straight through the open back door, Jim had been hot and opened it to let in a breeze, he had simply forgot to close it with all the commotion that had been happening in the street. From his bedroom Jim could now hear the moaning and the shuffling, he hastily crawled under the bed to hide, and now wished to himself that he had bought some doors, rather than the high powered telescope he used to watch Penny with. He watched, from his position under the bed as the first zombie walked into the room, looking for him, but not having the intelligence to look under a mattress. It wasn’t until the second zombie walked into the first, and pushed it over onto the floor that it realised where Jim hid. As the zombie stretched its blood drenched arm, missing two fingers, from its hand under the mattress Jim screamed his last ever scream.

  1st July, Chelmsford, Essex, 3:15am

  Penny now sat in the back of the taxi, over the last few minutes she had told the story of the night’s incidents to the taxi driver; he had listened without questioning what she had seen until she had finished telling her tale.

  “Zombies walking around Chelmsford?” he had asked with raised eyebrows.

  “I know it sounds crazy, but when I checked his pulse he was dead”

  “Look love, you have had a hard night, maybe you just thought he was dead?”

  “My name is Penny, not love. No as a NHS nurse, I know he was dead”.

  The taxi driver pondered over Penny’s last statement then said to her

  “Well Penny, you have two choices, we can go back to check, or go to the nick and tell the police”

  “I would prefer the police station thanks, what’s your name?” Penny asked

  “Sorry you can call me Dave, the station it is”.

  The taxi drove straight to Chelmsford police station, Penny now stood inside the reception waiting for a constable to interview her and take a statement. Dave had accompanied the woman for two reasons, whatever had happened to her earlier had obviously been upsetting, and the second was despite her delicate state, Dave couldn’t help but notice how attractive she was, Dave had always been a sucker for a damsel in distress. After what seemed like an eternity a very young looking police constable responded to the bell, he looked very
flustered, he looked as if they had inconvenienced him, by disturbing him from something that he deemed more important, and that he didn’t have the time to talk to them.

  “Yes Madam, how can I assist you?” he asked.

  With much thought already gone into the answer, before he had even approached the desk Penny had decided to tell a slightly different story to that of the one she had told Dave.

  “It’s my boyfriend, I think he has contracted some sort of virus, maybe rabies, I came home from work, and he attacked me, and then he attacked my cat.”

  “What do you mean by attacked your cat?”

  “He grabbed it, and then bit a chunk out of it” she stated.

  “What’s your name and address please?”

  It wasn’t until Penny gave her address that they both saw a change in his expression, he hurriedly scribbled notes down, and asked them to wait for a minute, so that he could speak to his superior. He headed round the side of the frosted glass, and the pair watched his blurred outline talking to another, voices began to grow louder, and all the while phones rang in the background. Something was definitely happening, and Penny wondered if it was just her street that was an isolated affair, or that maybe similar things were happening elsewhere.