Dead End

by Monroe, Kady

  Matt reached into the back of the van, retrieving the broom he took from the shop. He handed it to Jack. Then whispered,

  “Here, use this as a crutch, and everybody keep quiet. Most of those things are back at a distance, but there could still be some lurking around here. Don’t let your guard down.”

  Jack took the broom and put the bristles under his armpit as the others looked warily around.

  Matt left the van running, but he clicked the lock button again. He wanted no surprises inside the van when they returned. Either that, or he thought someone might steal it.

  Jack, aided by his new crutch, was moving towards his house. Jenny shivered as she kept pace with him. Sophie hung back beside the van as Matt stood in front of the vehicle, taking a more thorough look around.

  Jenny and Jack reached the front door. Now closer, she could see dents in the wood. A lot of force was used to get it open. Fortunately, Jenny couldn’t see any red stains. But a moment later, on the laminated wood flooring of the hall, she spotted a woman’s single pink slipper. It was lying at the base of the staircase, against the right-hand wall.

  “Mum! Dad!” Jack called out, stepping through the doorway.

  A thump came from behind a closed door and an ominous moan preceded it.

  Almost whispering, Jack spoke again, “Mum? Dad?”

  The moan grew louder. Jenny couldn’t tell if whoever was in the room was male or female. Another thump came, but this time it was made by the person hitting the door.

  Matt and Sophie were now standing just behind Jenny and Jack. Sophie kept her back to her three companions, keeping an eye on the street.

  Jack startled the group when he shouted out, “MUM! DAD!” He limped forward and for a scary heartbeat, Jenny thought he would open the closed door. But instead, he manoeuvred himself around and headed back to the front door.

  Matt and Sophie moved out of the way to let him pass. The boy turned right and went to the large front window. He clasped his hands together against the glass and peered in.

  Within moments, a dead face slammed up against the other side of the window, making everyone jump. Jack stepped back quickly and fell backwards. Matt helped him up. They could see the anguish in Jack’s eyes and heard the distress in his voice when he said, “Dad.”

  The man behind the glass showed no recognition of his son and ground his teeth as he banged his palms on the glass.

  Sobbing, Jack shouted at his Dad, “Wh… Where’s Mm… Mum?”

  All he got in reply was another long moan and a view of his dad baring his teeth.

  Sophie went to Jack and put her arms around him, she was crying.

  Jenny and Matt looked around, making sure the shouting had attracted nothing unwanted. The area was clear. Even though Jenny was glad the dead hadn’t returned yet, she felt disappointed because no survivors turned up either. She thought the noise of the van’s engine would grab their attention. However, inspecting the nearest houses, she concluded the area was devastated. Doors and windows showed damage. Dented vehicles sat in drives, and the road riddled with litter, bins and blood. It looked like there had been a battle on the street.

  Listening to Jack’s heartache pained her, but she also thought it wasn’t helpful to be standing in front of the window, aggravating Jack’s late father, so she said,

  “Take Jack back to the van. I’ll take a quick look around the back.”

  “N... No,” Jack said, “I want to look too.”

  “If she were here and heard you shouting, she would have come to you.” Matt said, “Your mum’s not here Jack.”

  “Maybe she left me a note,” Jack said.

  “I’ll check. I promise,” Jenny told him.

  Reluctantly, with a dismayed look at his dad, Jack allowed himself to be helped back towards the transit van.

  Jenny stepped into the hall again, and did a quick scour for any sign of a message, but saw none. She could still hear the man in the living room slapping his palms on the window, so she quietly crept up the stairs. This is probably a stupid idea she decided, but carried on regardless. She reached the landing and found all three of the doors upstairs open. Two bedrooms and a bathroom. Jenny listened for movement before poking her head into the two bedrooms. She was surprised by Jack’s room. It was maturely decorated, and she didn’t even spot a games console. Certainly not what she expected. She looked around for a waiting note. Regrettably, she found nothing.

  Satisfied she had missed nothing upstairs, she returned to the lower level. Jack’s dad was moaning, but quieter than before. It sounded like he was still at the window. So Jenny tip-toed past, heading for another door at the end of the hall. This one was slightly ajar. She craned her neck and got a limited view of the kitchen. Pushing the door open, she noticed the mess on the floor. Pieces of broken crockery and glass lay scattered around the room, along with spilled coffee and sugar. Most of the clear glass had come from the back door which was standing open. Its upper window smashed. Her neck and shoulders were sore as she crossed the kitchen, avoiding glass. She reached the door and analysed the back garden.

  Directly in front of her was a small patio area decorated with a few plant pots. Whatever had been growing in them had died. The lawn beyond appeared well tended and the entire garden was enclosed by five-foot panelled fencing.

  Jenny leaned out the doorway and looked right. There wasn’t anything of concern to see as the dividing fence between the next house began only a short distance from the kitchen door.

  Looking left, Jenny’s attention alighted on a splash of bright colour lying on the slabbed path. She found the matching slipper to the one in the house. Ominously, the pink fur carried spots of coppery brown fluid. If this slipper did indeed belong to Jack’s mum, then it wasn’t necessarily true that the blood was hers. Jenny decided not to make an assumptions.

  She moved towards the corner of the house and crouched down to pass under the window. On the other side, she decided to look inside. Jenny inched forward, still crouching. Raising herself, she saw past the curtains and into the room. The room was divided into open plan living and dining areas. Jack’s dad loitered at the far end, oblivious to her. She had the opportunity to take a longer look. The room was blood stained and chaotic which had probably been caused by the man stumbling about.

  Jenny couldn’t see any sign of anyone else. Then, observing the man, she spied dark gore on his upper body. His back was ripped and bitten. Blood smeared the area, strips of skin hung tattered down his back and fell onto the top of his pyjama trousers. Soaking them red.

  She had seen enough and moved away from the window. She reached the end of the path and peered around the corner to make sure it was safe. It was empty except for the family’s dark green four-door car. Jenny noticed deep scratches all along the side of the car, and the driver’s window had been chipped. On the ground, just behind the front wheel, lay a set of keys. She picked them up but didn’t have time to examine them as Matt appeared at the edge of the drive, mouthing to her, “Come on,” and gestured with his hands for her to hurry up. She assumed the dead were coming. Jenny passed the vacant car, rushing back to the others.

  Matt held the passenger door open for her and as soon as she was in, he engaged the locks. He steered the van into an empty drive, reversed out just as quickly and headed for the cul-de-sac exit. A trickle of the corpses were back, stumbling towards them. Matt guided the vehicle past and took the direction Sophie pointed out.

  “Did you find my mum? Or a note?” Jack nervously asked.

  Jenny turned around in her seat to face him,

  “No, I’m sorry, but I did check the whole house and your mum wasn’t there.”

  Handing over the keys, she said,

  “I did find these though, right by the car.”

  Jack took them and said,

  “These are my mum’s. She got out of the house then!”

  “Yes,” Jenny replied.

  “So she could be alright... made a run for it and got somewhe
re safe?”

  Matt cut the conversation short when he asked, “Where now?”

  Sophie moved into place just behind the two front seats and began navigating again.

  Jenny looked back at Jack. “I’m sorry about your dad,” she said.

  He had tears in his eyes as he mumbled back, “Thanks.”

  Jenny’s head hurt as Sophie led them a merry dance around the housing scheme to avoid the dead. Jenny combed through her bag and found some Aspirin. She swallowed two.

  Sophie was true to her word in knowing her way around the estate. Eventually she anxiously pointed out her street. After what had happened at Jack’s house, Jenny knew Sophie would be dreading what she might find at home. Evidence showed the infected had been to Barns Street. But for the moment, they and the dead had gone.

  Jenny discerned the houses were all detached properties and spaced further apart than others they had seen. Sophie directed Matt to a two-storey red brick house close to the end of the street. It was a fairly boring, boxy building, as were most of the others surrounding it. All having four medium sized windows in front and the main door between the ground floor windows. The only feature of note at this house was the expensive silver car parked on the long gravel drive.

  “The house doesn’t look damaged,” Sophie said.

  “Let’s go then,” Matt replied.

  Jenny turned to Jack who was struggling to get to his feet. She jumped into the back to help him, then suggested,

  “Why don’t you wait here this time Jack, take a few minutes to yourself and plonk yourself in my seat. It’ll be much better than sitting on the floor.”

  “But Sophie might need me,” he said.

  “It’s Ok,” Sophie replied, “I’ll have Jenny and Matt with me, and I don’t want to have to worry about you either. You’ll be safer in the van.”

  “Stupid ankle,” he snarled but conceded that he would stay.

  Jenny helped him to the passenger seat as the others got out and started heading up the path.

  “If any infected turn up while we’re out of sight, honk the horn,” she told him.

  He nodded.

  “And hit the central locking once I’m out. Ok?”

  Jack nodded again.

  Jenny hurried after the others, catching up with them just as they neared the front door. Sophie was right. The house seemed untouched.

  The girl took keys out and quickly inserted a silver Yale one into the lock. It turned easily. She pushed the door open a tad. Withdrawing the key, the door swung inwards, displaying a moderately large entrance hall. Its white walls and marble tiles looked pristine.

  The three entered quickly and Sophie closed the door behind them. She hadn’t called out to see if anyone was home.

  Looking around at the modern art prints on the walls and up at the ornate crystal chandelier, Jenny felt like an intruder. Her little place was positively dingy compared to just this one room.

  Sophie moved forward and stopped at the bottom of a staircase which like Jack’s house, was on the right-hand side, but further back in the hall.

  The girl listened for a moment, then whispered,

  “It’s early. My mum might still be asleep.”

  “We should check things out down here first,” Matt said, “make sure there’s nothing lurking about.”

  Jenny agreed and was surprised when Sophie nodded too. Jenny thought the girl would be keen to get upstairs to see if her mum was alright.

  There was an open door to Jenny’s right. She went to it and viewed a dining room. An expensive wooden table and chairs stood in the centre of the floor. The veneer of the table gleamed in the light coming from the room’s front window. At the other end of the space, stood an arched doorway. Beyond it, Jenny saw a small part of the kitchen. Before proceeding to the archway, she took a look out the window. Apart from Jack sitting in the van, the street was still empty. She turned and made her way quietly to the wall edge of the arch. Sophie shadowed her, but Matt had vanished. She presumed he was checking out one of the other downstairs rooms.

  Jenny peeked around the edge to view the next room. The kitchen was fitted out with stainless steel units and black marble worktops. The glazed black floor tiles sparkled with flecks of silver, and just like the rest of the kitchen, they were spotlessly clean. Jenny nodded the all clear to Sophie, and they passed silently under the arch.

  She estimated the kitchen length at about twenty-feet. And halfway down, on the left, was another open wooden door, leading back into the hall, at the end of the staircase.

  At the far end of the room, a set of French-doors led out to a large conservatory. Jenny moved to them and glanced through the glass panels, admiring the comfortably furnished space. It was secure, undamaged, and spanned the length of the house. It had a nice view of the landscaped garden. She noticed the six-foot wooden fence, and two gates separating the drive from the back of the house. The garden area was unoccupied.

  Jenny turned the handle on one of the French-doors and found it locked. Satisfied, she returned to the door that led back out to the hall, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she met Matt coming the other way. Sophie also got a fright and grabbed onto the back of Jenny’s coat.

  “The rooms down here are Ok. Nothing damaged,” he said.

  Sophie let go again as both of the women let out a long breath.

  “Let’s check upstairs,” Jenny replied.

  They crept half-way up the stairs when an alarm went off above them. They stopped, tensely waiting.

  Sophie whispered, “That’s my mum’s alarm clock.”

  A second after, the noise was silenced.

  “She must be Ok,” Sophie stated happily, “A zombie wouldn’t switch an alarm clock off.” And with that, she zoomed past them and raced up the rest of the stairs.

  “Sophie!” Jenny whispered, but the girl disappeared from sight, and the sound of a door banging open was obvious. No disturbance ensued though. Still, Matt and Jenny looked at each other worriedly before continuing up after Sophie.

  CHAPTER 8

  As they approached the open door, they could hear Sophie sobbing. Then heard a woman’s voice ask her,

  “What’s the matter with you? And why are you so dirty? You’re going to mess up my linens.”

  Jenny and Matt entered the doorway to see a dishevelled dark-haired woman in a pink pyjama top, sitting up in bed. Her daughter clinging to her.

  Sophie’s mother spotted the newcomers and let out a shrill cry as she tried to back up against the padded headboard, unsuccessfully attempting to drag Sophie with her.

  “Who the hell are you?” she gulped in air before threatening,

  “Get out of my house before I call the police!”

  Sophie untangled herself from her mum and said,

  “They’re with me Mum.”

  The woman looked at her daughter with disbelieve.

  “What? And why do you have strangers in the house at this time of the morning, and up here of all places?”

  She stared suspiciously over Sophie’s shoulder at them,

  “Why are you upstairs anyway, didn’t anyone ever teach you to have manners in someone else’s house?”

  “Mum, they saved my life. Didn’t you get any of my messages?”

  For a moment the woman paused and looked deep into her daughter's eyes,

  “No... What do you mean, they saved your life?”

  The girl had collected herself, and with a glance back at Jenny and Matt, she told her mum about the infected and the dead. As she spoke, the woman’s face drew into a frown and her lips pursed together. When Sophie had finished speaking, her mother stabbed a finger towards the doorway. Her gaze, directed at Sophie, was withering.

  “Did they put you up to this?” then she directed her next comment to the strangers.

  “What the hell are you two filling my daughter’s head with. And aren’t you too old to be hanging about with a girl her age?”

  Her outburst continued as she grabbe
d a mobile phone from its charging base on the bedside cabinet,

  “Get out of my house right now, or I will phone the police!”

  Her fingers hovered over the phone’s screen.

  Matt was nervously eyeing the other doors upstairs as Jenny replied with a shrug,

  “Go ahead. You’ll be lucky if you even get a signal, never mind get anyone to answer your call.”

  “Mum, I’m telling you the truth,” Sophie said.

  Her mum ignored her and swiped the screen-saver up. Holding the phone up as if to give Jenny a better view, she said, “I mean it.”

  Matt spoke, “Sophie, should there be anyone else in the house, brothers, sisters?”

  “No. It’s just me and Mum.”

  “Ok, I’m going to check the other rooms then.”

  “Ok,” the girl replied.

  Her mother exploded in anger,

  “Now just a minute, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  But Matt had already moved away from the doorway.

  “Right, that’s IT!” Sophie’s mum said, as she pressed numbers on the keypad. She pushed Sophie out of the way as she hauled herself out of bed.

  “Get me my dressing gown, Sophie.”

  Jenny took a glance towards the other doors, Matt had done a quick inspection of all but one. She was relieved when he leaned back out of that doorway and she saw his shoulders relax. He gave a thumbs up and Jenny nodded in reply. She was glad they could relax for a few minutes as her head was still pounding and she felt exhausted.