Day Zed (Volume 1): The Outbreak

by Charles Smith

  “Time to start living” she stated whilst mimicking Morgan’s trademark sarcastic eyebrow

  Morgan laughed as he stood by the bed; Kathy approached him, and then pushed him to the bed, she quickly sat astride him, and Morgan didn’t resist at all. They moved together and passionately kissed whilst they ripped at each other’s clothing, soon they would collapse in an exhausted state and not wake until the morning.

  2nd July, Berwick upon Tweed, England, 9:00pm

  For the soldiers stationed on the defensive wall the last few hours had been more harrowing than any other experience in their lifetimes. The high walls that ran around the town were so high and steep that they were impossible to climb. Many of the attacking crowd had attempted to run at the wall and haul themselves up, and each had desperately failed. Some out of sheer frustration hurled stones or bottles at the men, nothing had reached them, they were so high up they couldn’t even hear the obscenities that were mouthed at them.

  The news had come through to them earlier that the first border had fallen, and shortly after that they had watched as the mortars tore at the landscape, when the landmines started to explode they readied themselves. With strict orders not to engage the hostile crowd in order to conserve ammunition all they could do was watch, and should anyone somehow make the climb they were to take the shot. From their vantage point they had seen the crowd spread across the land, and converge on the small town like locusts attacking a field of wheat.

  The zombie horde had finally caught up with the crowd, who had tried to flee to safety; the screams could be heard for miles in every direction. The people that were attacked had nowhere to run so they tried to fight back with their fists, such was the power of a horde this size that each person they attacked was dead in a matter of seconds, and as there was an endless supply of noisy prey in front of them they didn’t stop to feed for long. This meant that the people they attacked and bit reanimated at an alarming rate, in the first hour alone the horde had trebled in size. Judging by the distance they were from the wall and at the rate they were attacking people the soldiers would still have to endure a couple more hours of the torture. The screams and shouting grew in intensity as the horde grew nearer.

  Colin Harrington sat alone in his room, he was beaten, he had been right to not want the post he now held, and ultimately hundreds of thousands of people were dead because of the choices he and his predecessor had made. He knew that whatever they had done, that the outcome would have always been the same, but at least they would have put up some sort of fight for the people. He had dismissed his advisors the moment the crowd had reached the wall, because to him it was now all over. Some of the higher ranking Army officials had suggested evacuating the area in a helicopter, but Harrington had refused he accepted that the virus had won.

  He had asked the officials why they would want to go and hideout in Scotland, they couldn’t give him a satisfactory answer. Colin had one more decision to make and that was whether to authorise the release of a nuclear war head onto the horde that was nearing their position, reports coming back from New York suggested that the zombies that were not vaporised by the napalm bomb had gone on to attack more of the country. Even if the nuclear bomb worked the area would be a death zone for many years to come with the radiation levels taking over thirty years to reduce to a level where humans may survive. Colin loved his country so much that he knew he couldn’t authorise a strike.

  The screams from below had got worse and the horde was nearly upon them, the deep monotone moan escaped their lungs and hung in the air to torment the soldiers. The screams and the whimpering of the crowd below was painstaking to listen to, given the choice they would prefer to open fire and put them out of their misery before they were attacked. Fortunately they were too high up the wall to see the devastation that was occurring on the floor below them, and to the soldiers the sounds were enough to drive them insane.

  All that were left in the crowd now were thousands, and it wouldn’t be long before the zombies would be upon the group at the front of the gate. In order to escape they needed a miracle and one man now threw himself to the floor, hoping that he wasn’t being watched from inside the gates he hoped that all eyes would now be on the approaching horde. He had been carrying something wrapped in a bundle of rags and now he chose to unwrap it. Inside the rags was a mortar launch tube that he had removed from a soldier after clubbing him to death with a rock, he had thought that at some point the launcher would come in handy and he had even brought two mortars that he had found with him. He aimed the mortar at the hinge on the big metal gates and cleared the crowd from the mortars path; he dropped the mortar into its launcher and watched as at point blank range the gate disappeared as well as some of the wall. He was not at all slowed by the fact that he had killed fifty odd people from the point blank explosion; he was more worried about the tank as its turret searched for him. He reloaded the tube aiming directly at the tank as the turret found him, the man dropped his mortar shell into the launcher just before the tank fired, and in the two seconds after their action both were destroyed.

  The crowd surged forwards through the hole that the mortar had made, and were greeted by a barrage of semi automatic fire. The soldiers up on the wall had been ordered to rappel down and help defend the town. Still after thousands of rounds had been spent the crowd rushed forward, some fool had found a hand grenade on a fallen soldier and removed the pin, before he could throw the grenade his body was ripped apart from the assault rifle fire. The grenade dropped to the floor and rolled backwards to the wall, it then detonated and ripped a further hole for people to pour through. The last of the crowd poured through, and these were followed by the first of the zombies, the so called impregnable wall had now been breached. The soldiers in the square fired the guns into the crowd the zombies didn’t go down as easy as the humans had. Within ten minutes all of the ammunition had been spent, the zombies moved forward. The soldiers that came from the top of the wall were attacked immediately; some were still attached to their rappel lines others were just dragged to the ground whilst firing their weapons.

  All that was left for the remaining soldiers without ammunition was to run or hide, many chose to run. Of the few that hid some got lucky in that the zombies passed them by, others were stumbled upon and quickly died.

  Now at the end of the town sat Colin Harrington, he had just been informed that the front had fallen and the town would soon be over run with zombies, his advisors attempted to get him to leave with no success. Colin had given up running he had sent his advisors and the cowardly generals away, for all he cared they could escape in their helicopter it was of no concern to him. The screams from the town’s population grew as the zombies shuffled their way through the town, they destroyed every human life in front of them, they did not stop to feed upon their prey, as bullets fired at them still held their attention, they would not stop until all the noise had subsided. Finally the zombies reached the end of the town just one man stood before them just twenty yards from the front of the horde, they surged towards him as one and just before they reached him he stuck the hand gun up under his chin and fired. The noise had stopped and finally the zombies could stop to feed, in no time at all the town was stripped of all human flesh.

  3rd July, Chatsworth Plaza, London, 7:45am

  The three vehicles sat in a straight line, waiting for the retracting doors to power up so that they could open them. The group of nine were nervous about venturing out into the unknown, and now stood around the lead vehicle talking to one another and trying to calm each other’s nerves. Since the group had now grown from six to nine the future had begun to seem a little more positive, and with the military experience that the additional three people offered the group as a whole would now stand more of a chance whenever trouble arose.

  For the three of the facility staff to have abandoned their supposed posts they risked the threat of a court martial should the Army find them. That one factor had determined the vote when the group ha
d decided on their planned route. The overall feeling of the group was that wherever they went, that it should be away from London, and to stay away from any other city or Army facility. In smaller towns or villages they would struggle against the numbers of zombies, to go into a city and fight the numbers there would be nothing but suicide.

  With a large map sprawled out in front of them across a table, Jackson had immediately pointed out to an area on the map in Essex. His reserve unit had travelled a lot to this area on training exercises, the nearby towns were small, and each was either split by countryside or the estuary. The remainder of the group listened, and in turn each had given suggestions of areas they knew. After all of the nine had spoken, a vote was called for, Jackson’s choice won by a majority in the secret ballot. The only other votes had been for Kathy’s choice of the Lake District, and despite finishing second she was pleased that others had voted for her and listened to her opinion.

  The chosen route was a simple one, on exiting the bunker tunnel, they would exit a masquerade train service depot, and it was situated just before West Ham train station. The depot exit would deliver them onto the elevated train lines, which should be clear of any zombies and hopefully abandoned trains; from here they would travel the length of the tracks to Hadleigh.

  The countdown to the gates powering up reached zero, and the heavy locking mechanism retracted, all they had to do now was activate the remote door button that would instantly begin to retract the folding doors. Kathy out of habit went to salute Morgan, he immediately eased her arm down, gave her a wink and grinned, he finally bent forward and gave her a tender kiss on her cheek. Kathy at first was shocked by Morgan’s open show of affection, and then as it subsided she smiled.

  For the first time in a long time she was beginning to feel alive, for so long she had been a prisoner of her own making, and shackled by the responsibility she had for far too long let govern everything she had done. She had surprised herself when Morgan had managed to break through her hard exterior, she had been programmed to obey orders all of her life, and to be disobeying one for the first time ever left her feeling exhilarated. When her two colleagues had backed her decision to leave the compound she felt that she was able to justify her decision to walk away and leave the bunker forever.

  Over the past three days new bonds, friendships and even relationships had formed, Kathy didn’t really want to be in a separate vehicle away from Morgan, but with everyone else involved with one another, it made travelling arrangements awkward. She could have chosen to leave Daryl and Scott on their own and get in the same vehicle as Morgan, she wasn’t however ready to test her relationship with Dave yet, and wasn’t sure whether he would welcome her with open arms.

  The metal door had fully retracted and it was time for the three Humvee’s to leave. Kathy’s vehicle was lead, and slowly idled up the tunnel. They would now travel up a tunnel for a distance of two miles, until they came across another set of retracting doors leading to the outside world. In order to remain as safe as possible they would have to turn off their engines for a full hour once they reached the doors. This would ensure that any zombies attracted by the noise of the approaching engines, would become disillusioned, and wander off before they attempted to leave the Chatsworth bunker for good.

  Whilst driving through the lit tunnel Dave started to recognise sections of the patterned and coloured metal walls. Over half of the tunnel appeared to be constructed of replica fittings of those used at recent underground renovations. He had thought at first that he was imagining things, and when he thought more about where the money came from to build these bunkers the answer was obvious. Every government for the last ten years, and maybe more had seen every major development programme overspend by millions. Examples of this were the Channel Tunnel, Wembley Stadium, the Millennium Dome, and the Olympic Stadium, the list in fact was endless. All of the overspends must have been on legitimate materials, that were just massive over orders, and many of those over ordered materials must have been used to construct the twenty six bunkers.

  In no time at all even at the speed they crawled at, the vehicles reached their destination and they now sat outside of the exit doors. Kathy pulled the Humvee to a halt and got out, she moved straight to the second vehicle which Morgan was driving. By the time Morgan had stepped out of his cab Kathy had been joined by Daryl and Scott. Daryl gave Kathy a playful slap across the shoulder and immediately said to her

  “Make me a happy man and travel in the second car”.

  She smiled back at Daryl before refusing the request.

  “I can’t leave you two on your own”.

  Scott laughed at her answer and added.

  “We’ve seen enough of you to last a lifetime since our postings”.

  Daryl turned to Morgan and happy informed him.

  “Looks like you’ve got yourself a gunner”.

  Kathy gave up on the argument and shrugged towards Morgan who just smiled back at her.

  All nine of the group climbed out the armoured vehicles, and gathered together. They would be in radio contact with one another whilst on their journey, so they didn’t need to go over plans again. Instead the group used the time to hug and embrace one another.

  Gerard and Shanice had spent the night sleeping on top of a stack of empty pallets which were stacked next to the train service depot. It had not been comfortable, but the elevated station and tracks were safer than being at ground level. He had tried in vain to break into the depot, and after two hours he had given up. Gerard had conceded defeat that he and Shanice, would have to sleep out in the open just for the evening. Five minutes ago the sound of an idling engine below him had woke him up, yet now it was silent. He wondered if he had imagined it, but something deep down inside of him told him it wasn’t his imagination, and that it had indeed been an engine, and now he was sure that it was more than one.

  He gently woke Shanice, and helped her climb down to the ground, and they checked both sides of the tracks, which were clear. He hurried her to the edge of the station platform which was all closed up and locked. They now stood at the end of the platform, looking back into the distance at the depot doors. Before they left Gerard wanted to see what had made the noise, a running engine meant that others were alive. For a long time the father and daughter stood at the end of the station platform, Gerard had almost given up hope of seeing what had made the noise. Suddenly there was a noise as the large metal doors began to open, it took a couple of minutes for the doors to fully retract and as they did, three armoured Humvee’s exited the fake depot entrance, and began to head towards the train station. The first vehicles occupants were so preoccupied watching the tracks ahead that they nearly drove past the couple standing on the station platform.

  Daryl stamped down on the breaks and brought the Humvee to a sudden halt, he wound down the window, to check he had seen two people standing there to the side. Before he could say anything the girl, ran from the older man’s grip and ran to the window, the little pink ribbon tied in her hair fluttered in the wind as she approached Daryl. The man she had run from tried to call her back he seemed scared to approach the armoured jeep. The young girl offered Daryl and infectious smile as she reached the window

  “Hi honey, what’s your name?” Daryl greeted her

  “Hi mister my names Shanice, and that’s my Daddy over there” she said as she pointed at the scared man.

  “Well my name is Daryl, and this is Scott” Scott gave a little wave to Shanice

  “Tell me Shanice what’s your Daddy’s name?” Daryl asked her.

  “It’s Gerard”

  “Have you or your Dad been bitten?” Scott asked Shanice.

  “No we haven’t” answered Gerard as he approached the vehicle.

  “Well Gerard, Shanice it’s your lucky day we have two spare seats if you’d like to come with us?” Daryl offered them with a smile.

  Gerard paused he didn’t like the thought of a fleet of armoured cars creeping out of a secret entrance d
uring the middle of a zombie apocalypse. It took the other cars doors to open and the rest of the group to climb out before Gerard stopped looking for a sinister motive behind the sudden appearance of human life.

  “Yes we would like that very much” Gerard told Daryl.

  Shanice followed her father and greeted the rest of the group, she was glad that the world wasn’t just full of the “bad men”. Kathy invited them to jump in the front car with Daryl and Scott, and that they would be able to chat later when they found somewhere safe to stop. Everyone climbed back inside the Humvee’s and they were soon on their way along the train tracks heading for Hadleigh

  .

  Other Books by Charles Smith

  Coming in winter 2014

  The Bells of St.Clements

  Ted Nugent is a different type of modern day contract killer, and he will carry out his client’s every whim. Even if it means making you suffer for a long time before he completes the contract.

  Taking on a contract with six totally different targets for an unknown client, who wishes for a trophy to be left at each scene will earn Ted the name of “The Nursery Rhyme Killer” from the press.

  Will Detective Inspector Frank Porter apprehend Ted before he can complete the contract?

  Why does Ted have to leave a bell at each crime scenes, as requested by his client?