by Monroe, Kady
He kept the speed down while inspecting the properties on the right-hand side for any sign of the track.
“It’s about halfway along,” Jack said.
Driving on, Jenny saw the dead shuffling towards the sound of the van, and noticed how many front doors were wide open. Some had dark stains either on the woodwork, just inside the hall or on the front step. Very obviously spilt blood. It made her think of Ruth again. And she wondered how many other people had been killed or infected because they went to investigate the noise outside. Matt and her had done the same. She pushed the thought away, not wanting to think about how fast the virus was spreading.
Matt swerved the van to the left as a young man stumbled in front of them. He missed that one, but another approached from the other side. Matt couldn’t avoid hitting him. With a thunk, the man’s head hit the left side of the bonnet before his body was thrown off into the darkness. Jenny’s stomach churned.
They were nearly halfway along Sidlaw Crescent when the headlights caught a woman of about Jenny’s age in the glare. She observed the woman stumble from a house. The t-shirt she wore was ripped in half at the front, showing off the grizzly sight of the woman’s shredded abdomen. Strings of entrails hung down in front of her, but what was worse than that sight for Jenny, was the small boy who came out with the woman. One poor little mite, no more than four years old, wearing blood-soaked bunny pyjamas.
For a moment, Jenny thought the child had survived and almost shouted at Matt to stop but then noticed his hands ended in bloody stumps. His fingers were missing.
She felt like screaming and screaming until there was nothing left to come out, but she didn’t. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. When she opened them again, the van had gone by the house.
“This must be it,” Matt said, steering the van into a large gap between two houses. It did indeed lead to a dirt track which was wide enough for the van to drive along. But most important of all, was it was free of a road-block.
Much to Jenny’s relief, Matt steered onto the track, and the view of the houses in the wing-mirror soon faded into the darkness.
CHAPTER 6
Everyone was silent as the van bumped its way along the uneven track in the countryside. It hadn’t rained for almost a week, so at least they didn’t have mud to contend with.
After a while, Matt brought the van to a stop, put it in neutral and applied the handbrake.
“Why are we stopping?” Sophie asked.
“’Cause you all seem to have injuries that need looking at, and for the moment, I think we’re alone out here. We’ve got some time to sort you all out.”
“Do you know if there’s a first aid kit in here somewhere?” Jenny asked.
It was Sophie who replied,
“There’s one up on a shelve back here.”
“I’ll get it,” Matt said, undoing his seatbelt and jumping into the back. He touched a switch on the van’s ceiling and a dim overhead light came on. Next, he went to the shelf that Sophie was motioning to and retrieved the green case with the white cross on top. It was about the size of a lunch-box. Opening the clasps, he looked inside.
“So, who needs the doctor first?” he said with a hint of a smile.
“Are you really a doctor?” Sophie asked, missing the joke.
“Nope, but I’m holding the box, so I get the title.”
“Oh,” she said disappointedly, then added,
“Jack’s twisted his ankle. Jenny’s got a headache, and I’ve grazed my hands.”
“Ok.”
Matt rummaged in the box. He drew out some individually wrapped antiseptic wipes and gave them to Sophie,
“Clean up your hands with the wipes before you use these,” he said, handing over some different sized plasters. Rummaging again, he pulled out a pack of painkillers. He pressed two out into his palm and handed them to Jack.
“I’ll take a look at your foot in a minute,” he said.
Then pressed out two more painkillers and handed them over to Jenny, who had turned in her seat to watch the proceedings. He looked closely at her temple,
“That’s quite a bump you’ve got there,” he said reaching out to examine it, but Jenny drew her head away.
“It’s tender,” she said by way of an excuse, “But thanks for the pills.”
Matt hesitated at her reaction, but then reached into the first aid kit again and withdrew another couple of the antiseptic wipes. Handing the little square envelopes to her, he said,
“I can’t see any cuts, but it’s probably best if you clean that area up. We’ll just have to hope you don’t have a concussion.”
He turned back to deal with Jack as Jenny mumbled her thanks. They had no water to drink, so she swallowed the pills dry.
Matt tended to Jack’s ankle. Procuring a bandage, he asked while working,
“I heard an explosion, is that how you all got hurt?”
“Yes. The house that was on fire blew up. Good job we were outside too as the back door got blocked by burning rubble. We could’ve been trapped inside,” Sophie replied.
Jenny rubbed her sore temple with a wipe, surprised by the amount of black soot it removed from her skin.
“Well, I’m glad you’re all Ok. I was worried,” Matt said.
Jenny asked, “How about you, Matt? Did you run into any trouble getting home?”
“Had to avoid some sick folks, but luckily they didn’t spot me.”
“What about normal people. Did you see anyone?”
“Nope.”
She wondered if he lived alone. He seemed no more upset than when he’d left them to get the van.
“What about chasers? Did you see any of them, or was that what you meant when you said sick folks?”
“Nope, none of those ones,” he answered.
“I haven’t heard any of them howling since we were in the shop,” Jenny said. “I think maybe they moved on to look for other uninfected people because we’re only seeing the dead ones wandering about.”
Sophie, who had been checking her useless phone, looked up at Jenny and said,
“You mean it’s going to keep spreading, don’t you.”
“Yes,” she replied.
The group were silent for a while, then Sophie said to Jack,
“I’m sorry for being horrible to you earlier.”
Jack reached over and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close.
“It’s Ok. I know you were just scared. I was too.”
“Yes, but I took it out on you.”
“Don’t sweat it, Sophie. It’s done and dusted. All forgotten.”
She hugged him back and said,
“Thank you.”
Matt finished strapping Jack’s ankle.
“Anyone else need anything before I put this away?” he asked, holding up the green case.
When nobody replied, he set it back on its shelf, switched the light off and returned to his seat.
“I want to go home,” Sophie quietly said.
“Me too,” Jack agreed.
“Where do you two live?” Matt asked.
“We’re both from Meadow Hills. It’s not far from The Globe Estate,” Jack answered.
“Ok, I can try to get you there,” Matt said over his shoulder, then turned to Jenny,
“What about you?”
She wasn’t surprised the teenagers wanted to go home to find their families, and she knew Matt planned to go north. But what about her? Where was she supposed to go?
Looking down and fiddling with imaginary fluff on her coat, she replied,
“I... I don’t have any family around here. Maybe we’ll find somewhere safe on the other side of town, with other people, and I can stay with them.”
She could feel Matt’s gaze on her. But after a moment, he turned back to the windscreen.
“Ok, but if that doesn’t work out, you’re welcome to travel with me, ‘till we find somewhere you want to stay.”
“Thanks,” she said, raisin
g her head to give him a weak smile, but he wasn’t looking.
The sun was coming up on a new unpredictable day as Matt put the van in gear. Lowering the handbrake, he gently built up speed. Jenny watched as the shadowed countryside went by. It all looked so normal out there, with sheep grazing in a few of the fields. She was glad not to be surveying animal carcasses. What if sheep come back too she thought? Shuddering.
To distract herself, she tried the radio. Maybe there were stations broadcasting. The sound of static came through the speakers, so Jenny pressed the channel search button and waited to see if it would lock onto a signal. It didn’t. She tried again on a different frequency. Nothing. She turned the radio off.
It wasn’t long before the end of the track came into view, and to everyone’s relief, it was clear of obstructions. The track exited back onto a tarmacked country road. Empty fields stretched out around them.
“Which way?” Matt asked.
“Turn left and keep going till the T-junction. Then go right,” Sophie instructed.
The girl had moved forward to peer over Jenny’s shoulder. Matt took the directions and once they reached the junction, he turned the headlights off as there was enough light to see by. They were entering another built-up area.
“That’s the Globe Estate,” Sophie said, indicating to a housing scheme of multi-storey flats.
“Glad I don’t live there. Place is full of creeps,” she paused for breath and then continued,
“Take the sixth turning on the right, that’ll take us into Meadow Hills.”
Matt drove on as Jenny observed the concrete blocks of flats. All the windows were dark and lifeless. Bodies milled around at the base of the buildings. She didn’t need to be a brain surgeon to know the infected had already been out this far and were probably already much further ahead than they were. She watched the people on the ground, shuffling and lurching. Dead, no doubt about it.
While passing the second block, she saw dark smoke rising from a burned out car. The vehicle still smouldered as the dead wandered close to it. But the one thing she didn’t see, was any sign of living people. It scared her, but she concluded that there must be some, hiding away in their houses, like her group did at the shop. She hoped when they realised no one was coming to help, they would find a way to get out okay.
They drove by the estate quickly and within minutes, Matt was turning into another street. This one, lined on each side by a tall, well-trimmed hedgerow. No houses were visible, but Jenny definitely got the impression of entering a more upmarket area.
As they proceeded, Sophie doled out more directions to Matt, and Jenny got a quick glimpse of a cemetery entrance through her passenger window. She didn’t know what lurked behind the hedge on the other side of the road until a little further on. The hedgerow ended and a chain-link fence began. Then she could see a large playing field, with a playground at the far end. The whole area was quiet. Jenny wondered if the infected had travelled in another direction, leaving the residents here in peace.
That illusion shattered when Matt slowed the van down again. Jenny looked out the windscreen and saw a car lying on its back. Shattered glass lay around the tailgate window. The back end of the red Land Rover was caved in, like it had been rammed, or reversed at speed into something. The two front doors hung open like wings. Matt drove forward. Passing the wreck, they saw no occupants, but in front of the crashed vehicle, was a pool of dark congealing blood.
“We should check it out. There could be somebody hurt in the back,” Jenny said.
Matt muttered,
“How did I know you were going to say that.”
But he was already bringing the van to a halt and was undoing his seatbelt. Jenny ignored his comment and started to unbuckle hers. Matt noticed, and said,
“No. I’ll do it,” then gestured with open palms towards her, “unless you want to go ‘cause you still think I won’t help out somebody who’s hurt?”
Jenny felt guilty again for what she’d said in the shop and was about to tell him so, but he opened his door and jumped out. Closing it quietly behind him.
Jenny watched him in the driver’s side wing mirror.
He approached the Land rover cautiously, hunching and dropping his head lower in an attempt to see inside before he got close. He paused for a moment, looked up and down the road, then moved forward again.
“What’s happening?” Jack whispered.
Jenny whispered back, “He’s about to check inside.”
Matt inched forward, trying to get a better view of the Rover’s interior whilst reviewing the road at the same time. When he reached the nearest open door, he waited. A few seconds later, he put his hand on the upside down passenger’s seat and leaned into the car. Keeping a grip on the underside of the seat, he lowered his body in, to view the back-seat. That’s when the screaming started. Long high pitched screeching pierced Jenny’s ears. Matt stumbled backwards, landing on his rear and began scrambling away from the Rover.
Jenny was hardly aware of Jack shouting at her, “What’s happening? Is he Ok?...Jenny…
JENNY, IS HE OK?”
She hit the button to release her belt and shot over to the other door, opening it and leaning out. Matt did a roll onto his knees then got himself up, running to cross the distance between himself and the van. Jenny moved to let him back in. He slammed his door shut, hit the central locking button, and put the van in gear. The tyres burned rubber at the speed he demanded. His face was ashen as he constantly checked the side mirror. When he was convinced that nothing was following them, he slowed the van down and consciously made an effort to get his rapid breathing under control.
“Are you Ok Matt?” Jack asked.
“Yeah. I’m alright.”
“Was it a woman in that car?” Sophie asked.
“Yeah,” he replied, tightening his grip on the steering wheel.
“Did she get out? Is she chasing us?”
“No. The seatbelt was keeping her in.” Then he changed the subject. “How far is it to the next turn?”
About half a mile down the road, the homes of Meadow Hills came into view. It all looked so peaceful and quiet, but Jenny didn’t fool herself into believing everything was okay this time.
Matt took the turning Sophie had directed him to, and the first thing they saw was a collection of toppled wheelie bins and scattered rubbish all over the pavements and road. Monday must have been bin day for this area.
“They’ve been here,” Sophie said from the back.
Jack managed to get himself situated behind Matt’s seat. He was hanging onto the back of it, in a one-legged crouch.
For the second time in only an hour, Jenny saw front doors hanging open and blood on various surfaces, but she kept silent as she knew the same thing hadn’t gone unnoticed by the others.
“Keep going,” Jack said to Matt, “My place is coming up.”
Just before they entered the cul-de-sac Jack had directed them to, Matt braked to a halt. All the occupants of the van stared in dismay at the crowd of dead lumbering about in the middle of the street. Most were wearing the garments they had gone to bed in. These poor people were shocking to look at in daylight. They all had ripped clothing and wounds, bloodstains, pale skin covered in spiderwebs of black veins, and of course, cloudy white eyes.
Jenny found it difficult to take in just how many of them were in this little street. This crowd had to be twenty or thirty strong.
Almost as one, men and women, young and old turned their dead eyes towards the van and moaned loudly in unison. They began lurching forward, some quicker than others. Matt wasn’t interested in finding out which of them would win the race, and he certainly didn’t need persuading to get the van moving again. Only Jack protested as they drove away from the crowd.
“Hey, what are you doing? My folks could be alive back there!”
“Yeah, they might be, but we would be attacked long before we had the chance to find out,” Matt paused, dodging a wheelie bin in t
he road, then continued,
“They’re following us, so providing we don’t run into any more trouble, I’ll drive slowly, lead them away. Then we’ll go back and check out your house. Give me some directions that won’t lead us into cul-de-sacs or dead ends.”
“Just like the Pied Piper!” Sophie exclaimed, then added,
“I’ll direct you. I’ve lived here longer than Jack and I don’t want you leading those freaks anywhere near my house either.”
“Zombies,” Jack muttered.
CHAPTER 7
Sophie did an excellent job of navigating the Meadow Hills streets. They ran into no trouble, apart from dodging bins and the occasional stumbling body. Matt headed back via a different route to Jack’s street, leaving the crowd of pursuing zombies behind. But the occupants in the vehicle were still on edge, nonetheless.
“Which one’s yours?” Matt asked as they pulled into the now deserted cul-de-sac.
Jack pointed over Matt’s shoulder to a small semi-detached house on the left of the small road.
“Number six,” he said.
Jenny groaned inwardly as the van arrived. The door to the house was practically off its hinges. With the top fixture more damaged than the one below. The blue painted door hung at an odd angle.
“Oh no!” Jack cried and tried to hop out of the van before it stopped, but Matt still had the central locking engaged.
“Let me out!” Jack yelled.
Jenny jumped into the back to help Sophie as Matt disengaged the locks and got out of the van. He was at the side door before Jack pulled it open. If it hadn’t been for the three of them grabbing hold of Jack, he would have fallen flat on his face, and hurt his ankle even more in his haste to jump out.
