The One Percent (Episode 3): The One Percent

by Heller, Erik P.

  The One Percent

  A Zombie Apocalypse

  Fantasy Serial

  By Erik P Heller © 2018

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This work is a work of fiction and all characters are entirely fictional. Any similarity to people, alive or dead is entirely coincidental.

  Please be aware, this book and serial contain, some bad language (not lots), toilet humour, British English spellings, plenty of Zombie gore, mild sexual references, supernatural fantasy elements, Americans, and other stuff that might offend.

  Actually, the American is OK so scrub that part.

  If any of those things is likely to offend you then my apologies in advance.

  Contents

  Episode 3

  Episode 3

  “Alright lads, we’re back,” the sergeant said.

  I must have been thinking non-stop all the way there, but I had no idea how long we had been in that truck. The sky was showing the first signs of fading towards dusk, so it must have been a while. An hour or more maybe. The truck rolled past some gates that looked distinctly similar to the main gates at Lanchcombe, down to the wall running away either side. They were closed rapidly by two soldiers, who then ran after the now slow-moving lorry as it crunched over a gravel surface.

  This was no military base.

  That worried me slightly.

  It worried me that we ground to a halt only a relatively short distance from the gates too. This wasn’t even a large estate. From what I could tell, it was more like an old manor house or something like that. I mean I wasn’t making comparisons for its own sake, I was more concerned that if the Groaners found a way in, they would be around the house in seconds.

  I know that should have been the least of my worries, but I didn’t really feel in the mood to speculate about what my future actually held.

  I was allowed to jump down with some help from the lorry, Mungo following to heel as the sergeant guided me, that is a euphemism for pulled me, towards what was a very nice but quite small house. Compared to Lanchcombe of course.

  It didn’t fill me with a lot of confidence that this was any kind of regular army unit or if it was, that its own base was usable, or they would have been there.

  “Where are we, Sergeant,” I asked.

  “The lieutenant will fill you in on all the details.”

  “Thank you, Sergeant. I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

  “Hughes.”

  “Thank you, Sergeant Hughes.”

  Sergeant Hughes didn’t say anything else until we had entered the house. It looked to be in a heck of a lot better condition than Lanchcombe was, and no mistake.

  “In here, sir. Take a seat. The lieutenant will be along shortly.”

  Sergeant Hughes deposited me in a large chair at a desk in what I can only assume was the owner’s study. If the place had an owner any more.

  “Sergeant, any chance we could lose the binding?” I said, looking over my aching shoulder.

  “No.” He walked to the door back out into the hall, stepped out, and closed it behind him. I could hear voices outside as he arranged a guard for the door, then, other than the sound of feet tracking across the floor outside, there were no more words.

  I looked around the room in the vain hope that someone might have left a nice sharp blade or a handy pair of scissors lying around like in the movies but no such luck. The desk was clear, with just a blotting pad on it, no computer or anything I might have broken to get a jagged edge or anything like that.

  I suppose if I’d have looked hard enough, I might have found something, but then I would have to get out. The one window wasn’t locked as far as I could see but the men guarding me had automatic weapons. They would only have to spray me with a quick burst and I’d be toast, an end that didn’t appeal one little bit.

  In the end, I suppose I gave up the fruitless exercise and instead tried to read the titles of the handsome leather-bound volumes present in the one bookcase in the room.

  I was finished doing that by the time someone turned up. I heard voices outside again, and the authoritative voice that was new, dismissing the guard and telling him to get some grub. Then the door handle turned and in stepped Brian Jacobs.

  “What?” I said, stunned as I was. Brian was still dressed in his civvies but was now otherwise fully equipped in army gear. He certainly didn’t look anything like the well-dressed butler cum personal assistant from Lanchcombe.

  Then it struck me. The whole thing had started to seem a bit weird. Daisy’s behaviour had struck me as odd and as I played out the events in my head, it hit me.

  When the sergeant had spoken to me earlier, he’d called me by my full name. Daisy didn’t know my full name, so the obvious question I should have asked, if I hadn’t been utterly baffled and in serious danger of crapping my pants, was how Sergeant Hughes had known? The only two people who knew that and could still be alive were Brian and my brother.

  “I know. Sorry about all of that.” He pulled a knife and stepped over, releasing the cable tie, and allowing some blood to return to my hands … eventually.

  “But … the horsebox Brian. What happened? How is everyone? What are you doing here? Not that I’m complaining, I’m pleased to see a friendly face and all, but why send out soldiers to arrest me? Why didn’t Daisy say anything? I have so many questions.”

  “I’ll answer all of them soon, Frank. First things first though, someone’s on their way with drinks. Do you need to eat?”

  I shook my head, I was too excited to eat.

  “OK. Second thing. Hughes told me you said the place you were in had guns? The boys picked up a few from you and the other two, but you say there’s more?”

  I was puzzled at that question. Surely the army had more than enough guns to be going on with?

  “Yes, there’s a gun room there. Shotguns mainly but some rifles.” I fiddled in my pocket and pulled out the keys. “That’s the keys to the shop and the gun room is this one,” I said, laying the keys down on the desk and pointing out the correct keys for the front door and the gun locker.

  “Excellent. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  The room fell silent again. I didn’t bother looking around. I just concentrated on rubbing my wrists and shaking my hands to try and rid them of the pain from the returning blood.

  The door opened again, and Brian came back in and sat down in the chair opposite me.

  “Sorry about that. I just needed to give the boys their orders to go and retrieve the guns.”

  “Haven’t you got enough already?” I said.

  “The rifles you saw were all for show, I’m afraid. No ammo. I think the lads you saw were in possession of one magazine with six bullets in.”

  “What? So, I thought I was about to get shot and all the time the guns were empty?”

  “Six bullets.”

  “Alright, six bullets, but essentially empty?”

  Brian nodded.

  “Why?”

  “Well, they took the rifles in case they needed to fight off any Groaners. Fixed bayonets are a decent weapon.”

  “But why no ammo? And why come for me as they did? If they’d have just asked me to come, I would have. Safety in numbers and all that.”

  “That was his idea, Frank.” Brian flicked his head at the still open door. I
looked over to see a face I could cheerfully have punched and kissed alternately.

  Jezza was standing behind the door, his head poking into the room. A wide grin was beaming on his face.

  “Hello, Francis Lanchcombe, badass saviour of women the world over.”

  “Gerald!” I can honestly say I’d never been so pleased to see him.

  I had completely forgotten that Mungo had followed me in until he let out a small yip. I reached down slowly to pick him up and sat him on my lap.

  “And this little fellow is Mungo. He seems to have adopted me.”

  “Mungo, this is Brian, and this reprobate is Jezza. My brother.”

  Mungo followed my hand as I pointed them each out. He growled at Jezza which I took as a sign that he was a dog of the absolute utmost impeccable taste.

  “Excuse me, sir.” A voice came from behind Jezza, so he stepped into the room to let the soldier past. He was carrying mugs of something that was steaming, a carton of milk, and a bag of sugar with a spoon sticking out the top all on a very elaborate looking silver tray. I didn’t recognise him from the team who had come for me, but he was dressed in the same uniform as the other soldiers.

  He placed the tray on the desk and stood to attention.

  “Thanks, Davis. That’ll be all,” Brian said. He seemed to have two voices. One he used with me; another brusquer voice he used with the soldiers.

  The young soldier closed the door on his way out.

  “So why?” I said as Brian handed me a mug and I poured some milk into what smelled like tea.

  “Revenge, Francis.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Revenge. Do you remember, back when we were kids, maybe seven or eight years old? You convinced me that aliens had landed in the back fields at Lanchcombe and you locked me in a wardrobe upstairs in mother and father’s room? You said it was for my own safety.”

  “Did I?” I knew I did. I’d laughed for a week and ribbed him about it constantly for the best part of a decade, but I knew if I admitted it, that he would do the same with me for a great deal longer.

  “You did, and you know it. I can see it in your face. This was my big chance to get revenge, so I took it. Have to say, your face, when they were escorting you in, was an absolute picture.”

  “So, all this, this farce was a joke? Surrounded by Groaners. Death and destruction all around and you thought you’d have a prank at my expense?”

  “Yes. For god’s sake, Frank.” He spat out the name with his usual invective.

  “Well, how the hell did you expect me to react? A few years, no, in fact even just a few days ago I might have seen the funny side of it—eventually—but people have died, Jezza.” I made sure to put some gusto into saying his name. “And I don’t just mean the man I killed, but what about Penny and Jean for god’s sake. People you know have died and you, and you,” I pointed at them one after the other, “have nothing better to do than play a prank? I’m sad that you stooped to this particular depth, Jezza, but you Brian? What puzzles me is how a serious person like you could have done this?”

  Both of them stared at me, saying nothing.

  “Your grace—”

  “Don’t start with all that bollocks, Brian, just tell me, what the hell did you think you were doing?”

  “I … I …” He took a deep breath and gathered himself. “I was wrong to do it. I think I must have been swayed by outside influences,” he glanced sideways at Jezza, “and the company of the armed forces where this type of thing is more common. I apologise unreservedly … Frank.”

  “And you?” I said, snapping my glare to Jezza.

  “I … I—”

  “Don’t you start too. Come on, Jezza, what in god’s name made you think this was a good idea in the circumstances?”

  I’d spent a good deal of my life pissed off with Gerald for one reason or another, but I couldn’t remember a time when I had been so bloody infuriated with him.

  “It just … did.”

  “You sound like a bloody child, Jezza. You acted like one too. Who else was in on this? Was Daisy?”

  Both shook their heads.

  “It was just the two of us. She tried to talk us out of it.”

  Why? And why hadn’t Daisy tried to talk to me, then, I wondered? I dared say I would find out.

  I knew I had to get this sorted out right then. Now we were all back together, there was no way I was going to flounce away on my own. I had to gain control of this situation and let it play out over time. I knew I couldn’t rely on Jezza at any time, but I hoped that Brian and I would be able to repair the damage eventually.

  “Right, so what was the plan once I got here?”

  Brian spoke up. “We were going to tell everyone it was just a prank.”

  “Bad idea. It would make you both look like idiots. Even bigger idiots I should say. What’s the situation here? Tell me how you got here. We need to come up with something that doesn’t upset the status quo. What happened when you left the farm?”

  “We headed for Newbury but as soon as we hit the outskirts it was clear we wouldn’t get through, just like Daisy said. So, we turned around and headed north. Katie was out of her mind, wanting to get out, screaming and yelling all the way but then she quietened down. When we got to the A4 she made a grab for one of the shotguns and started swinging it around, shouting again that she wanted to get out or be taken back. When Penny turned the wheel, the gun went off, accidentally I believe.”

  “She blew Penny’s head off?”

  Brian nodded, looking at his hands.

  “The horsebox overturned where you and Daisy saw it. Everybody was OK, so we all clambered out. Katie was hysterical, so I had to hold my hand over her mouth but as soon as I let go, she ran away. Jean ran after her five steps maybe before this Zombie grabbed her from behind a car. We all just ran, as fast and as far as we could until we were away from there.”

  “So, no Jean, no Katie, and no Penny?”

  “That’s right. We walked for about a day after that, cross-country to avoid the Zombies—”

  “Call them Groaners. I don’t like the word Zombies.”

  “OK, so, to avoid the Groaners. Then we happened upon a campervan parked up in a farm gateway on this little back road, so we took it.”

  “Leaving the rightful owners where they were?”

  “We offered to bring them too, but I think they were a bit scared of us, so we just took it. We were all panicked at that stage.”

  “Lucy said you kept eyeing her up, Jezza. That you were the leader?”

  Jezza just shrugged. Typical of him, all leering, and no action, but I made a mental note to watch him around Lucy anyway.

  “We drove off and came across the army lads a day or so later. They’d managed to get off their base before it was completely overrun and were at a bit of a loss of what to do. When I told them I was ex-army and a lieutenant, they sort of started to look to me for leadership.”

  “And what do you think they would think of your little plan to belittle me?”

  “They’d probably think I was a bit of a knob in all honesty.”

  “Mmm,” I said, “and they wouldn’t be the only one. How did you end up here?”

  “One of the lads comes from the little village up the road and knew about this place. I thought it might work as long as it wasn’t overrun. As it was it was just the owners in here. We buried them out back.”

  “How many?”

  “Six in all. Two parents, three kids, and a young nanny or au pair or whatever they call them these days.”

  “What’s the setup?”

  “We have food. Water is scarce. We’ve got a kind of canteen set up in the kitchen. The lads have been checking the wall to make sure it’s secure. We’ll need more food tomorrow with the extra mouths to feed. We need water urgently.”

  “Nothing in the grounds?”

  Brian shook his head again.

  “No good long term then.” I stopped to think about
what should happen. What I wanted to happen.

  “Right, this is how we play it. You two need to keep your authority intact right?” Both men nodded slowly.

  “So, you say you have held an impromptu hearing and found me not guilty. That it was justified through self-defence. That should just about keep everyone happy enough for us to keep moving. Jezza, you need to keep on leading the non-military folks. Brian same with you and the soldiers. Did you send them back to the shop for the guns?”

  “I did. They’ll be heading out in the morning now.” I checked out of the window to see that evening was almost upon us.

  “Right, you two get out there and tell everybody what we’ve said. Brian, tell some of your lads that you’ll be heading out to scout the village in the camper with them. I’ll just lie low for a couple of days but listen, we cannot stay here, wherever the hell here is?”

  “Why?” Jezza asked with a bit of a whine.

  “Because we can’t, for the same reason we couldn’t at Lanchcombe. No water or food, or at least not easily obtained. Landor Hall and Charlecomb House both have their own water supplies and huge grounds we can grow crops in, and there are no major towns or cities within twenty miles, more for Landor. Once we get stocked up with enough food for a long while, we can sit tight and start growing. That was the original plan and it’s what we’re sticking with. Agreed?” I stood up and leaned on the desk.

  “Agreed,” said Brian, looking relieved that his ordeal was over.

  “I suppose,” Jezza said begrudgingly.

  “Well, you’d better sound more enthusiastic about it than that. Go on. I’m going down to the canteen to see if I can get some grub for me and Mungo. Mungo come,” I said as I walked across the parquet wood floor to the door with Mungo clicking along beside me. I stopped and reached for the handle, then turned, looked at the two of them, shook my head, then pulled open the door, and left the room, stepping out into the entrance hall.

  Sergeant Hughes was on guard outside and looked a little surprised to see me set free.

  “They want to see you, Sergeant,” I said, flicking my head toward the study.