Zed Days (Book 2): Zed Days

by Harland, Nick

  Bill replied, ‘That’s why I think we need more vehicles, I don’t think we can go back the way we came, it’s just too dangerous.’

  We got back to Mary, told Andrea what had happened, and grabbed the rucksacks of supplies. By the time we got back the bedraggled survivors were huddled on the tarmac and Eve ad Esme were helping the captain down the stairs. Most of the survivors were women but there was the captain and three other men. There were also three children, two hanging onto what looked like their mother, the other one hanging onto an older women who I assumed wasn’t her mother. I didn’t have time to think about what they had been through.

  We approached the group and I said, ‘It’s safe, let’s get everyone into the departure lounge and get everyone some food and clean water.’

  Within ten minutes everyone was sitting in the departure lounge and we had jammed the doors open to let the air through. When everyone was eating we huddled. I said, ‘Bill thinks it’s too dangerous to go back via the dual carriage way and I think he’s right. We did some damage but there could be even more from the stadium now. He thinks we should go back down the road to the village to try and find another couple of vehicles and more food and water.’

  Esme said, ‘He’s right, with eighteen we would have to use the back of the truck and I don’t mind going in it and protecting others if we do, but it might be safer in other vehicles, even without the window protection. Punching through a window isn’t easy, even if you don’t feel pain. There’s bound to be some SUV’s and may be a four by four or two in the village.’

  Eve added, ‘Ok, but I think we need to talk to them about it.’ Then looking at me she added, ‘I think you need to do the talking, but I’ll introduce you.’

  Without waiting Eve turned around to face the expectant faces of the group, ‘We have a plan but we’re a team now so we welcome idea’s. Brad’s been our leader so I’m going to let him explain. I know he’s young but without him none of us would be here and we all trust him with our lives. He was the one who rescued us all and put us in the base, you should trust him too.’

  I felt my cheeks redden but I didn’t have much choice but to talk, ‘I’m not going to lie to you, it’s getting harder and harder to survive out there because the Zeds are getting slowly smarter and smarter. We had to drive through a massive horde on the dual carriage way outside the football stadium to get here but it’s too dangerous to do it again. The plan is for us to go and scavenge in the village to try and find a few cars and more food and water. Don’t worry, we have more back at the base for several days if we’re careful and with the vehicles and weapons we have, door to door scavenging isn’t too bad. Who thinks they’re in good enough shape to drive?’

  A few hands went up and a young woman said, ‘I can drive and I know the village and a way past the football stadium without using the dual carriage way. I was a hostess and lived in the village with my…..’

  Tears started to roll down her face and a woman sat next to her hugged her. I tried not to show the emotion I was feeling and said, ‘Thanks, that’s really useful, we had no idea how to avoid the dual carriage way and driving around aimlessly isn’t ideal. It would be useful to know where you’ve been scavenging so far and if anyone knows of any vehicles we can definitely find keys to.’

  The captain spoke up, ‘There were 160 on the flight when we landed. We knew something was up when the control towers went down. Then we began to hear the radio warnings before we landed. We could see straight away something was wrong but a violent argument broke out when we landed. People demanded to be let off the plane but we had no stairs so I deployed the emergency slide. Lots of people used the slide to get out and we watched as the Zombies came and as they fought with them and died. Over the next couple of days the food and water ran out so a group of men grabbed anything they could use as a weapon and went outside. The horde had wandered off. They grabbed the stairs. Then they fought their way into here, losing a few on the way, and we never saw them again.’

  ‘A couple more groups eventually had to go out until the airport was clear. We moved lots of the dead into a small maintenance building and set it alight to bury them and see if the smoke might attract help, but it didn’t. That’s when we found out that people who were bitten eventually turned. They were on the plane when they turned and a few more us died when it happened. We were down to about fifty by then.’

  We all turned to look at each other and Eve whispered, ‘Andrea.’

  The captain knew something was wrong and stopped talking. I said, ‘How long did it take for them to turn after they were bitten?’

  The captain replied, ‘Three of four days.’ Then he guessed, ‘You said you had an injured friend in the car outside, are they bitten?’

  Eve spoke before I could, ‘Yes she is, it’s coming up to three days and we didn’t know. She’s the first of use to get injured like that.’ Eve paused, swallowed, and took a deep breath, ‘She was a good friend years ago and she worked with Esme. They were together when we rescued them. We’ll make sure she can’t hurt anyone but you have to let us take care of her. If anyone tells her but me I’ll kill them myself, does everyone understand?’

  I was shocked at what she said and watched as the room nodded and the captain said, ‘We understand, no one will say anything. It’s not quick, there is a fever that gets worse and worse so there will be some warning. I can finish our story later. Eventually we got hold of some car keys and began scavenging, we cleared out the hotel but lost people doing so. Of course we’ve cleared out the airport itself. We sent out people in the cars we had, in groups of four, and one group made it back, but they went out again and didn’t come back after that. There are some live Zombie’s in the plane by the terminal, trapped after we took the ladder away. They might well have keys to cars in the airport parking. The cars we used belonged to people on this plane who had the keys. I can’t say how many might be in the other plane but it could be quite a lot, not all of them made it out when we moved the stairs. We’ve certainly seen some in the doorway from time to time.’

  I turned to the others, ‘We need to get out of here as fast as we can for Andrea’s sake.’ I looked at Esme and Eve, Bill stood behind them looking pale.

  Esme said, ‘I know Andrea’s going to turn but I’m not killing her. It’s only been three weeks and we still don’t really know what’s happening. If we can get her back to base we can lock her up. She thinks the Zeds are still alive and I believe her. I’m not….’

  Eve interrupted, ‘It’s ok, I know it’s probably hopeless but I don’t want to kill her either. Bill’s right about the cars and the captain’s right about keys on passengers, there’s bound to be some. How do we get in there and kill them quickly and easily? There could be quite a few from what the captain said.’

  I had one of my fucking brilliant idea’s but it wasn’t the time to smile about it. I said, ‘We move the stairs to the other plane and throw a petrol bomb in, that should make them come out.’

  Esme began to interrupt, ‘But…’

  I put my hand up, ‘You haven’t heard the brilliant bit yet. We tie a tripwire across one or two of the stairs with wire they won’t easily be able to see and if they survive the fall they shouldn’t be hard to finish off.’

  Eve grabbed my face and said, ‘My turn’, before kissing me then looking around at the staring faces and saying, ‘…Brilliant, let’s do it.’

  Chapter Three – Stairway to Hell

  We organised the trip wires and rolled the stairs over to the other plane; they were heavy. We all knew ammo was our most important resource and didn’t want to use any we didn’t have to. If there were lots of Zeds on the plane we needed to try to manage them without the guns. As we approached the plane we could see Zeds loom out of the shadows and it was a bit scary, more so than when they were in houses or out in the open. The unknown quantity inside was also unnerving. Esme had a petrol bomb ready as we pushed the stairs against the plane. Mutt stood beside us growling menacingly.


  The moment the stairs hit the plane the first Zed stepped onto them and started to walk quickly down them. The first trip wire was on the second step down and the Zed tripped and fell headlong down the metal stairs. Seeing it bang and crunch down the stairs made my stomach lurch with the thought of how much it would hurt a person to fall like that. The Zeds arm got caught on the way down and was hanging loosely off torn flesh and sinew by the time it hit the bottom. Other Zeds immediately followed the first and Eve barely managed to kill the first one before another came tumbling, then another.

  I didn’t manage to kill the second one before the third fell on top of it and the second trip wire at the third from bottom step was either covered or broken. Three more came before they stopped at the top and looked down at us. There was a writhing groaning mass at the bottom of the stairs by then and we finished the live ones before they could get up. The hairs on Mutt’s back stood on end and he barked a few times, frustrated he hadn’t had his chance yet. Then there was a strange standoff. We could see more Zeds in the entrance to the plane, only a few feet away up the stairs, and they could see us. They had worked out there was a trip wire.

  Then it happened again and it wasn’t any less creepy the second time. I noticed the hairs on my arms and neck stand up just before it happened. We saw a Zed in a suit push towards the entrance and stand at the top of the stairs. It looked very deliberately at the stairs, at us, and at the surroundings, more deliberately than the others had. Then it said in a similar guttural phlegmy voice to the one at the base, ‘We will kill you, you will die.’

  Its use of the same words as the one at the base made my head spin with thoughts about what that meant. Were they all linked, or did they all carry the same set of invasion plans? I heard Eve whisper behind me, ‘We don’t have time for them to be organised, keep it talking.’

  I heard fumbling behind me and the rasp of a lighter. Not being able to resist a little sarcasm I said, ‘So it seems, and your mates here made such a good job of it. Why don’t you come down here and join them you ugly alien shit for brains.’

  I heard Eve whisper behind me, ‘Almost ready.’

  The Zed looked at me, although with their largely white eye’s it was getting hard to tell exactly where they were looking. It said, ‘We will.’

  Then it started to retreat back behind the other Zeds and I whispered sharply, ‘Now.’

  I heard the lighter and ducked. I heard the quiet roar of the fire as the bottle flew through the air towards the door and looked up to see it hit one of Zeds in the chest before falling onto the ground. The bottle broke as it hit the ground and fire spread over the top of the stairs. The Zed at the front ran forwards falling down the stairs before it even hit the trip wire.

  Two other Zeds stood in the flames panicked, one came falling down the stairs and the other ran back into the plane and I smiled at the chaos it must have caused, if only temporarily. The pile at the bottom of the stairs was getting big now and we had to wait for the two that had landed to clamber over the bodies before we could easily reach to kill them. Mutt grabbed ones arm as it tried go get to its feet and I finished it. The other defended with a raised arm but Eve’s second hit was good and it rolled slowly down the pile to lie at our feet.

  We all stepped back holding our weapons tightly and I heard Esme say, ‘We should have brought another bomb, this could get interesting.’

  Bill started to speak, ‘I’ll go…’

  Then I heard a voice I didn’t recognise behind us, ‘I’ll go. I can’t fight, but I can do that.’

  I looked over my shoulder to see a woman run towards the departure lounge doors which were being held open by a couple of the others. All the survivors were pressed against the windows watching us with expression ranging from fear to horror on their faces. Then we heard more of a roar than a groan as a Zed from the plane ran from the top of the steps and jumped forward so it would land on the soft pile of bodies. It didn’t quite manage it and one of its arms hit the railing on the way down twisting it round and making it land awkwardly, half on the bodies and half on the stairs. We all watched as a line formed and Zed after Zed jumped towards us trying to land on the soft bodies.

  I saw Eve, Esme and Bill back away and I shouted, ‘No, we have to stay close, that’s what they want. If they get to their feet we’re in trouble.’

  I stepped towards the bodies, one foot on a fallen Zed, flailing the pry bar at the Zed squirming to get off the pile, not much caring what I hit. I felt myself losing control and embraced the madness. Mutt jumped beside me biting anything that moved. I started to shout and swear and as the Zeds jumped and the bodies piled up I bashed or stabbed at anything that moved. A moment later the others were beside me and through the adrenalin I heard Bill shout, ‘Just don’t get bitten.’

  With four of us hitting anything that moved, and Mutt doing what he could, we managed well for perhaps twenty seconds but then the pile was up the stairs and had spilled out onto the tarmac around us. Zeds were starting to landing safely on top of the pile and they were getting to their feet where we couldn’t reach them. They still had to get down from the pile though and I heard Esme say, ‘Wait for them and stay calm, we can do this.’

  There were four Zeds stood on the pile and I heard the guttural tone of the Talker from the plane, ‘Jump over the sides.’

  The Zeds did as they were told and holding the railings they vaulted over the side of the stairs onto the tarmac. Eve and I ran one way and Bill and Esme ran the other. I saw Mutt jump onto the pile and climb his way up it barking. On our side, one landed on its feet but still needed a moment to collect itself and Eve killed it before I could. The other fell over and I ran around Eve and finished it. I looked up and Mutt was slowly climbing the stairs towards the waiting line, growling. Mutts bravado made them pause for a moment which let us get our breath back before the Talker shouted, ‘Kill them.’

  More Zeds jumped for the pile and Mutt barely dodged as one landed next to him. He barely had time to jump over the side as another landed where he had been and others followed. Zeds started vaulting over the sides while others clambered down the pile threatening to surround us. I couldn’t see what Esme and Bill were doing but Eve and I were committed and had to engage the ones vaulting over our side.

  As we were fighting I could see Mutt try to harry the ones clambering down the pile of bodies but I knew it wouldn’t be long before we could be overwhelmed. The four in front of us needed our undivided attention and Eve didn’t have time to draw her guns. They were harder to hit at close quarters now they moved faster anyway.

  I finished the Zed in front of me only for another to replace it and I was getting tired. I started to think I would be dead soon when I heard the roar of a flying petrol bomb followed by the shouts of people charging towards us. It took a few shots to finish the Zed in front of me and as another landed a woman jumped on it before it could get its balance and it fell over with her on top of it. Then another woman started kicking it in the head. In the moment I had I looked up to see fire blazing at the top of the stairs and another bomb explode off the fuselage above the door feeding it further.

  With no more jumping over the sides I ran to the bottom of the stairs where the survivors were trying to fight the five Zeds there and losing. Eve followed me and Bill and Esme weren’t far behind. With survivors engaged with the Zeds at the bottom of the stairs it was hard to get a clear shot and we watched as Zeds fell on top of two of the survivors, one getting mauled on the neck, the other on the shoulder. We finished them quickly but the one whose neck had been bitten closer her eyes as blood ran freely between her fingers. Someone crouched by her and tried to help but a few seconds later her head lolled breathlessly to the side. Bill helped the other one up, tears rolling down her face as she looked at the bite on her shoulder and knew she was dead.

  I watched in numb exhaustion as the flames started to die down at the top of the stairs before a yell brought me back, ‘Help us, quickly.’

 
; Other survivors had gathered at the bottom of the stairs, under the plane, and were trying to pull them sideways. I ran over to the side of the stairs followed by Eve and the others and started pulling on the metal frame. Bit by bit the stairs moved and although a couple of Zeds landed on the pile as the flames died down, Esme was there to finish them. We pulled the stairs a few feet from the door so they stood at an angle and the Zeds stopped jumping. As the flames died completely the Talker appeared at the doorway and observed the scene.

  Then a shot rang out and a hole appeared in the Talker’s face. He fell backwards into the shadows and I turned to see Eve holster her gun. I nodded at her and she forced a brief smile, but the death and misery that surrounded us was overwhelming. Esme was the one to break the silence, ‘I know this is horrid but we still have a job to do. None of us want to be here for any longer than we have to.’

  Esme grabbed the nearest body from the pile and started dragging it to the side. Bill helped her and they quickly rummaged through its pockets before grabbing another. Eve and I followed their example and those of the survivors with the strength or stomach for the job did the same. When the gruesome task was done we had seven sets of keys and we regrouped in the departure lounge. All eye’s fell onto me.

  I said, ‘I’m sorry. We came to help and one of you is dead, and one of you is bitten. You saved our lives out there and..’

  The captain spoke up, ‘We would all have been dead within a week if you hadn’t come and we did what we had to. You said earlier we’re a team and so we are.’ Looking around him he added, ’I think we’re all ready to leave now, what’s the plan?’