Dead End

by Monroe, Kady

  “Shit,” Matt said.

  “What is it?” Jenny asked.

  “We’ve got a flat tyre.”

  “You’ve got a spare, right?” Maggie asked.

  “Yeah.”

  Jack asked, “Is it clear outside?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Ok, let’s get it done quick then,” Jack replied.

  “Ok, the spare wheel-well is under the end of the mattress, so move that,” Matt replied, opening his door and getting out.

  Matt retrieved everything he needed for the tyre change and set to work on the rear right wheel.

  While he was working, with the help of Jack and Clive, Matt asked Jenny,

  “Would you mind topping up the tank?”

  “No problem” she replied and hopped into the back of the van to get the fuel container. But she didn’t find it. She could have sworn it was stored on the second shelf up, near the back.

  “I can’t find it. Where did you move it to?” she asked, peering out of the sliding door.

  “Huh? I didn’t move it,” Matt replied.

  “Oh… I...” Maggie said.

  “You what?” Sophie asked.

  Maggie looked sheepish and took a deep breath,

  “I moved it to the car with the petrol canister,”

  “What!” Matt growled.

  The woman was flustered and Jenny could see tears welling in her eyes.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know we’d lose the car, did I!”

  She rushed on, explaining herself,

  “I thought it would be better if it wasn’t sitting next to our food supplies, so I stuck it in the boot of the car.”

  She faced Matt earnestly, “I’m sorry.”

  Matt’s face looked like thunder. He let out a long exasperated sigh and said,

  “We’re going to have to find fuel now. I don’t want to be driving around here for another hour with the tank getting low.”

  “I left one of the empty canisters from the petrol station, behind some of the food boxes,” Maggie offered, obviously hoping the information would redeem her a little.

  Matt tutted, “And the hose?” he asked.

  Maggie’s eyes lowered, “Sorry,”

  “Great. Now we have to doctor another vehicle as well.”

  “I can do that,” Jack said, “it’s time I joined you lot and got my criminal wings anyway,” he paused and grinned, “I can syphon diesel too. I watched you the last time, so I know what to do.”

  He then glanced around, and pointed right,

  “Look, there’s a place over there with some vans in its car park. If somebody watches my back, I can do the business.”

  “We had keys the last time,” Jenny said.

  “Well, we’ll just have to find some this time too, or else...” he held up his tyre iron and said in his best villain voice, “we use force.”

  Clive added,

  “If you find something to put under the diesel tanks, you could pierce them and let the fuel drain out. Might be messier with spillage though when you go to try to get it in the fuel container.”

  Matt was having trouble with one of the wheel bolts and getting more annoyed,

  “Ok, if you’re gonna do it, then do it now while I get this stupid thing sorted.”

  Jenny volunteered to go with Jack and was surprised when Maggie announced she was going too. Neither Jack nor her turned the offer down as the more eyes on the look-out, the better.

  They decided Sophie and Clive would stand guard by the van, allowing Matt to work in safety, while the others gathered fuel. Maggie carried the fuel canister as they walked down the road. They approached a chain-link fence which continued onto the businesses on either side. The building they were interested in, had its side’s enclosed from the next plots with a three-foot trimmed hedge.

  A business sign stretched across the entire length of the small single-storey structure. Baxter’s Office Supplies it declared, with a swirly logo added on at the end.

  The open gates allowed easy access for the group. They headed for four black transit vans with the same business name and logo printed in white on their sides. Jenny investigated the austere front entrance of the building. It was locked. To its side, a tinted window was shaded with closed vertical blinds.

  Glancing back to make certain Jack and Maggie were alright, she walked to the side of the building and inspected the area. She could see six more parking bays, all of which, were empty. Down at the back of the property, was a high brick wall. Like the fence at the front, it extended into the next plot.

  Over the hedge was some kind of recycling business, its ground-space was much bigger in length than its neighbour. The front of that building was very untidy, with old tyres, piles of loose pipes and metal, plus bundles of squashed plastic which were formed into large rough cubes. A fork-lift truck was parked at an angle in one of the parking bays, adjacent to the hedge.

  On the far side, sat three huge yellow rubbish skips. They were settled in front of a chain-link fence which was a replacement for the hedge on her side. Jenny also noted that the front gates of the business were closed and padlocked.

  Jenny checked again to see how everyone was doing. Maggie was standing guard near the gate, Jack was on his knees looking under one of the transits. Back on the road, she could see Matt still struggling with the wheel nuts. Clive stood by scratching his head while Sophie stood in the middle of the road, watching for trouble.

  Jenny thought she heard moaning in the distance. She shivered and signalled to Jack with a psst. Once she got his attention she quietly told him,

  “The front is locked up, I’m going to look at the back. But if I can’t get in, then there’s a load of junk next door, maybe I can find something to drain fuel into.”

  “Uh-huh, Ok, but be quick,”

  “Will do,” she replied.

  She found no joy on either the side or the back of the building. There was a loading bay at the rear, however, it was locked up tight. So she awkwardly climbed over the hedge which definitely wasn’t one of her finest ladylike moments.

  She heard moaning again, only this time, it didn’t seem so far away. Once again, she glanced back to her companions. Matt was manhandling the new tyre onto the van. Clive rolled the old one away. But the moaning hadn’t escaped their notice either. Nervous glances exchanged. Jenny hurried to search around, finding nothing of use near the hedge, she went to the fork-lift truck and scoured that. Nada. In the hope of a result, she ventured further and looked amidst piles of scrap for anything that would hold liquid.

  She was getting annoyed because nothing in the junk piles was suitable for the purpose. Having reached the far side with nothing to show for it, she embarked on searching the rear.

  At last, she spotted the edge of a black roasting tin buried under an assortment of wire and pipes. From what she could see, it appeared to be in reasonable condition. Pleased with herself, she reached in to grab it and as she did so, back behind her, a vehicle alarm started emitting a high pitch warbling whine. Jack, Jenny thought.

  A few seconds later, she heard Sophie screaming a warning. Then Jenny perceived another sound she didn’t want to hear nearby, a large crowd of zombies moaning.

  Jenny hurried to return to the others, but when she tried to pull her arm out, her sleeve became caught in a tangle of wire. The more she pulled, the tighter it got. Flustered, she kept struggling to release the wire’s grip on her.

  She could hear the others shouting. Matt was calling for her. Sophie was screaming for them all to hurry up. Jenny was aware of the panic in the teenager’s voice and realised how panic was affecting her too. Her breath was shallow and quick. She had to make a conscious effort to slow it down and stop pulling her arm. After a few seconds, she was back in control, forcing herself to take time to use her free hand to untangle her trapped arm.

  As soon as she was free, terrified for her friends, she raced to retrace her steps. Running to the front of the building she saw the van would soon be
overrun, Matt was desperately tightening a wheel-nut while Sophie and Clive screamed out the group members names, urging them to run. In another moment, she saw Matt jumping into the driver’s seat and the van suddenly surged forward, then stalled. The sliding door slammed shut as zombie swarmed from all directions. Jenny could no longer see the van. It was surrounded by moaning, rotting bodies.

  In the meantime, Maggie was still by the gate, shouting and urging Jack to come on. Jenny was aware of the alarm ringing-out from one of the black transit vans. Its passenger door was wide open, and the bonnet popped. Jack had pried the door open and crawled between the seats to find the bonnet release, and at some point, he became stuck.

  “Jack!” Jenny shouted as she ran, “Jack! Hurry, get yourself out of there.”

  Jenny was running for the hedge when she saw the dead surging in Maggie’s direction.

  “Run Maggie!” she called out, “Run!”

  The woman heard her and for a few seconds stood where she was, torn between going to help Jack or running. Jenny could see Maggie didn’t have time to get Jack, and get out again.

  “Go!” Jenny shouted, “I’ll get Jack.”

  Maggie finally moved towards the street, but she couldn’t reach their van as the crowd of undead were between her and the vehicle. She had no choice but to run away from it, up the road.

  Maggie barely got out of the way before the zombies reached the gate and lumbered inside the business’s compound. Jack managed to extract himself part-way out of the van, but was still struggling to free himself. Even as she ran as fast as she could, Jenny knew she would be too late.

  She was only a few metres from the greenery when the dead reached him. He screamed as Jenny reached the hedge. The dead surged forward and arms reached out to grab her. She couldn’t see Jack but she continued to hear his harrowing screams of pain.

  “Jack!” she shouted again, but knew he wouldn’t be running to join her. There was nothing she could do.

  Bile rose in her throat and tears blurred her vision as she took a few steps back. Loud sobs broke out of her as she chanted,

  “No, no, no, please no...”

  Jack’s cries stopped. He was dead.

  As the zombies started to break through the hedge, Jenny heard the van’s engine revving.

  Grey filthy hands were reaching out for her, she stumbled backwards and tripped over her own feet. Vomit filled her mouth. Spitting it out to the side, Jenny turned over onto her stomach as something touched her foot. She screamed, and pushed herself forward. Then crab crawled back to her feet, nearly falling again before she regained a steady balance. Still sobbing, she ran for all she was worth.

  The smell behind her was overpowering, she gagged and feared she would throw up again. Then, for a moment, she thought she was hallucinating when she spotted a normal looking woman standing by the fence at the far corner of the lot. Then realised it was Maggie. The dead were staggering towards the woman. She would have to run again soon.

  Jenny sprinted for her and grabbed the chain-link fence between them. Tears were streaming down Maggie’s face as Jenny tried to climb, but it was high and she couldn’t get any purchase with her feet. After a few attempts, exhausted, she gave up and with a swift glance behind her, saw she didn’t have much time left.

  She squeezed the tips of Maggie’s fingers through the chain-links. The woman’s lips quivered as she said,

  “Jack?”

  Jenny couldn’t say the words, so she shook her head.

  “I’m sorry, Jenny,” Maggie said and let out a sob.

  Jenny nodded through her own tears, and hearing the van’s engine nearing, she told Maggie,

  “Go, look after them, and tell Sophie I’m sorry.”

  Maggie nodded, incapable of saying anything else.

  Jenny heard Sophie screaming,

  “Mum! Mum! Come on!”

  “Go, Maggie,” Jenny urged as she pushed herself off the fence, just as a zombie behind her slammed into the space she had vacated. It saw Maggie and wrapping its fingers in the fence, it bit the wire. The woman stepped back with another sob, then turned and ran for the van. At the same moment, Jenny reversed direction and headed along the side of the fence-line. If these zombies wanted to be fed, then she was going to make them work for it.

  Behind her, the noise of the van’s sliding door closing gave her comfort. She hoped what was left of the group would survive. Jenny dared a glance back in the direction of the van, but there were too many bodies blocking the view.

  She stuck to the fence route, running behind the large yellow skips and out the other side. The way back to the office supply lot was cut off by numerous dead. So she ran straight towards the back of the building where she had spotted the roasting tin.

  A seven-foot wall faced her and to the right was a large jumble of jagged scrap metal. She wouldn’t be able to go that way, which left the wall. Out of breath and tired, she could hear her pursuers catching-up. Tears were welling up again when she noticed a pile of haphazard black tyres stacked up against the wall in the far left-hand corner.

  As the fastest of the zombies reached for her, she pitched herself towards the tyres. The stack was unstable and climbing them was tricky. Not to mention, the dead were stumbling into the pile too, creating a moving phenomenon of bodies and rubber.

  Jenny lost her footing as hands grasped her trouser leg. She kicked out and managed to dislodge them. Gaining her balance again she climbed higher, making progress towards the top. What lay on the other side of the wall, was out of view from her vantage point. She scrambled further up, slightly out of reach of one insistent dead woman. She could see over the wall now where a shallow dirty stream was running between the wall and another on the other side. If she jumped, she would be trapped down there, unless she could reach a spot where the walls were low enough for her to climb over. And that wasn’t even adding the threat of zombies wandering down there, into the equation of her survival.

  The noise of the van distracted her. She thought they had gone, and for a few moments, hope rose and soared within her. Jenny looked back down the side of the lot and saw the van creeping by the fence with the dead thumping on the vehicle. She called out Matt’s name. He spotted her and she could see his mouth moving, calling her back.

  Unfortunately, the zombie woman stumbled and crashed into Jenny. Horrified, she found herself in an intimate embrace with a corpse trying to get its teeth in her neck. Jenny managed to avoid the bite, but the force of the zombie threw her backwards. Her lower back hit the wall and then she was screaming and tumbling with the zombie over the wall, head first.

  CHAPTER 20

  Jenny hit something on the way down and the next thing she knew; she was landing on something soft, and wet. She came to rest on her front. The wind knocked out of her on impact and she felt panic rising all over again when she couldn’t draw in a breath.

  Finally, she dragged in a noisy gasp of air and her body relaxed in relief. It was then she wondered where the woman zombie landed. She certainly hadn’t been deposited in the same place as Jenny. The sound of the other zombies was clear though. She believed all of them remained behind the wall, but she couldn’t be positive.

  She kept quiet and appraised the dark environment. Feeling the surface she was resting on, she determined it to be cushioned fabric. She was sprawled face down on a discarded sofa.

  Looking up, she realised it was one of a pair. Another sofa of the same design lay upside down on the bottom one. That explained why it felt like she was in a dark box, and also what she had hit. She had crashed through one of the upper sofa’s wooden struts. She could feel a length of wood lying under her sore right thigh. Her clothes started to soak from the wet upholstery below her.

  She strained to see around her, urned her head, trying to get a view of the sky. Black fabric, the covering of the top sofas underside, fluttered in the breeze. A woman-sized hole was sliced through its middle. It was a small comfort to her that if she couldn’t see out, then ho
pefully any wandering zombies, wouldn’t discover her either. She examined every gap to the outside, trying to find out if anyone was nearby, but her efforts revealed nothing. The view was too limited.

  She thought of Jack and had to clasp a hand over her mouth to keep from letting out a sob. She blamed herself for his death. Why had she wandered so far and taken too much time..? When she heard the moaning, she should have gone back immediately. How could she have been so stupid? She cried again, mourning her friend.

  Jenny didn’t move for some time. When she managed to get herself together again, she began to listen intently. She doubted the van was still there, and she had no chance of detecting its engine noise over the din of the zombies. Sadly, she knew in her heart what Matt thought he saw. The zombie was on her before she fell. He would presume she was infected or dead. In that case, her companions were gone.

  The thought of being alone terrified her, and more silent tears dripped onto the already wet fabric below her face. In spite of everything, she wasn’t anywhere near willing to give up. She knew her odds of making it alone in a zombie infested world were low. However, no matter how low she felt at that moment, or in moments to come, she would not let despair ruin her.

  She’d spent most of her life alone, in difficult situations, and relied almost exclusively on her gut instincts to guide her. They normally steered her alright. So Jenny decided right there and then, she would damn well put them to good use again.