by Birch, S. C.
Emily followed Cameron to the hall and stood back as she seen him sitting on the stairs. She waited till the conversation was over, then sat down beside him. Emily never spoke but held his hand and rested her head on his shoulder.
“Thanks for today.” Cameron said after a long while.
Emily squeezed his hand, “I’m sorry it turned out like this.”
Cameron sighed and looked down. “Don’t be. I think all things considered this was the best today could have been.”
“How they doing?”
Cameron reached for the chain under his shirt, checking it was still there. “They’re fine. Just missing mum and dad. They said that there’s a load of zombies outside, but they can’t get in the house. They’ve done the same as us, barricaded it up and stuff. And they have a lot more food than us.” Cameron said and let out one breathed laugh of relief. “And they have a dog that’s actually useful during all this. Unlike the lump we’re stuck with.”
Emily giggled and cuddled deeper into Cameron.
Owen owed them an apology. He knew it. He had overreacted massively earlier and now his friends were fractured.
“Daniel?” he said, “Can I borrow you a sec?”
Daniel nodded and followed Owen to the girl’s bedroom.
The two boys picked up the double mattress, but as they did Owen saw Lucy’s phone fall to the floor. He picked it up and put it on the window ledge. She didn’t need it just now. The boys carried the mattress to the library and dropped it on the floor. Then they grabbed the mattress from his own room and placed it beside the one in the library. That night they all slept in the same room. It was the first time in their adult lives this had happened. But tonight, they were together, which Owen felt was the only fitting apology he could offer.
Day Six
Owen was perched on the edge of the mega-mattress. He was the furthest from the door and had been trying to work out the best way to walk over everyone without standing on them or waking them up.
Owen reached for his phone and sent a message to his mum.
Owen: “Morning, mum, just checking everything is still okay.”
…
Mum: “Morning, my love. We’re fine. Some of the local men have been killing the zombies and driving food to the old people like me and your dad. The village life is something else, let me tell you. All is well here given the circumstances. How are you getting on?”
Owen: “That’s nice of them! Glad to hear. We’re doing all right here. No casualties or anything. Love you.”
Mum: “Love you too. Keep us posted and send my love to the twins. Bye x”
Owen climbed up to his feet as best he could and walked around the sleeping bodies to the door.
“Owen?” Lucy asked, her voice hoarse and groggy.
“Shh,” he said, then took her hand and helped her to her feet. Lucy let out a loud yawn as they descended the stairs and Owen led them to the dining room.
“Need a coffee?” he asked. “There’s no milk but if you need one I can grab it for you.
Lucy shook her head, “No, I’ll wake up in a minute.”
A zombie grumbled and pushed its rotting face on the window and left smears of blood and skin behind.
Lucy rolled her eyes, “Well, that’s just woke me up. We need to do something about them.”
“Nuuuuuhhhhuuuuuurrrrr.” said the zombie.
Owen shuddered, but was polite enough to allow the zombie to finish the call of its people, “I know we do. But it’s not going to be nice.”
“I don’t want to die in here…” Lucy slid her elbows along the table and propped up her head with her hands.
Owen sat back in his chair and watched Lucy for a moment. “I won’t let that happen. Promise.” he said, and he meant it.
“Rrrrrraaaaaaawwwrrrrrrr.” the zombie pushed its whole body against the glass window and started stroking it as he had become thoroughly excited by the sight of a third meal.
Daniel walked in and sat beside Owen, “We’re not going to die in here. Or out there.”
“You got a plan or something?” Owen asked. “Because I’ve got fuck all.”
Daniel nodded, “I do, yeah. We’re going to go out there, kill them all, and work out how they’re getting in. And we’re doing it today. We’re seriously running low on food and we can’t even attempt to get any while they’re all out there.”
“So what do you think we should do then?” asked Lucy as she lifted her head just enough to see the two across from her, “We can’t all just run out and start swinging and hope for the best. There’s a really strong chance of death that way.”
“I know. But I was thinking about it last night and I have a plan, kind of. What I think we should do is stay close together. Watch each other’s back to make sure we don’t get eaten. And as soon as we’re out we need to lock the door behind us so they don’t get in.” said Daniel.
“Waaaaaruuurrrrruuhhhhhhh.”
Owen shut his eyes and tensed his body at the zombie call, “That’s actually not a bad start.”
“I’m not finished yet.” said Daniel as he shuffled in his chair and squared his shoulders, “I was looking in your book last night and it says that they’re attracted to sounds. So if we get music on really loudly it might confuse them and make it easier for us.”
Lucy looked at her friend who usually struggled to work out a plan for what to wear most days, “Did you really think of this yourself?”
Daniel nodded, “I did, yeah. But there’s still more to my plan. We should wear as much leather or denim as possible, if we have any. Just stuff that it might be hard to pierce so we don’t get bit.”
“That is really good.” said Owen as he beamed at his usually dim friend.
Lucy looked at him the same way, “Yeah, Daniel, that is surprisingly great.”
Daniel smiled to himself, “Thanks. I was worried you would just ignore me.”
“Gwwwwwwaaarrraaaarrrrrrr.”
They waited in the dining room and one by one, the other four found them. Cameron was last in. He sat down looking worried and asked what was going on. And Daniel told him. He told them all The Plan. And just like Lucy and Owen, they agreed it was a good plan. Grace and Lucy cooked the last of their noodle reserves. Once they were done, Owen walked up the stairs and started stripping off his clothes so he could jump in the shower. Emily cornered him in his bedroom and shut the door behind herself.
“Well, hey there, good looking.” Owen said and pulled his jeans back up for a bit of modesty, “You here for the gun show?”
“Dude.” Emily said in astonishment, “You got fit.”
“Ha! Yeah, I had to for the movie.”
“I mean I’ve seen you naked before, but now…”
“What? When?” Owen asked, horrified.
“Loads of times. Anyway,” Emily flapped a hand in the air, “it’s not importa-”
“Well I think it is!”
“I don’t know! Like when you stayed at our house or something. It’s not like you have anything to be embarrassed about or that.” replied Emily. She grinned, winked, and sat on the bed frame.
Owen scowled hard, “You’re an actual pervert. You killed the joke.”
“Eurgh, whatever. Just shut up and listen to me. We need to go into your loft.”
“No, we really don’t. We never need to go up there again.”
Jack threw the door open and burst into the room, “Why’re we going into the loft? Woah. Owen, mate.” then Jack wolf-whistled.
“Christ almighty, can I get naked in peace?” Owen asked.
“Mate, what you worried about? I’ve seen you in your birthday suit more than once!” said Jack as he sat down beside Emily.
Owen groaned. “I swear to God you’re both fucking perverts.”
“Pft stop moaning, mate. So yeah, why’re you going into the loft?” Jack asked.
Emily shuddered, “We went up there and found some clothes.”
“And we are never going in ther
e again.” Owen said.
“We need to. There’ll be things that we can use as, like, anti-zombie armour and stuff.” said Emily.
“Oh, sweet.” Jack pounced up, poked his head out the door and shouted, “Everyone! We need you up here!”
Everyone wandered into Owen’s bedroom.
“Why are we here?” asked Cameron. It is an odd occurrence for seven (somewhat) grownups to be in one bedroom at the same time.
“Owen!” Daniel said, “Nice.” then he gave him a double thumbs-up.
“Will you please all leave so I can have a shower?” Owen pleaded.
He was ignored.
“We’re going up into the loft. There’s like a million clothes and shit up there we can use for our murder rampage.” said Emily.
“Well,” cut in Cameron with a cocked grin, “up is usually where a loft is found.”
Emily scowled hard at her smug friend, “I will seriously hurt you, Cam…”
“Maybe you should hurt him after we hurt them?” asked Daniel. But before receiving a response, he made his way to the hatch with Grace, Jack, and Lucy behind him.
Cameron smirked for a little longer before rolling on his heels and wandering away. And by that point Emily’s scowling was pointless so she heaved herself up and marched out the room.
Owen groaned and chased after them, “We’re not going up there!”
“But if there’s stuff that can help us then we need to.” said Grace.
Daniel grabbed hold of the cord and pulled it down, revealing the way into the eerie attic.
“Stop it! My house, my rules. Just don’t go up there.” said Owen.
“Why?” asked Lucy, “What’s so bad up there?”
Emily placed her hands on the ladders and started climbing up, “It’s shitingly creepy up here, you’ll see why in a minute.” then she disappeared up into the dark loft.
“Fine! I’m going for a shower. Don’t come in.” and with that Owen marched away.
Emily clambered around in the dark, fumbling at the walls, so when Cameron appeared behind her and pulled the cord switch and sparked the lights on he was oh-so smug about it. Emily glared.
“Was this a bedroom or something?” Daniel asked once he reached the top.
Emily finished glaring at Cameron and walked to the oil drums. “I think so. Can you give me a hand?”
Cameron joined her and helped heave off one of the barrel lids.
“What the fuck is this?” he asked.
“Okay,” Emily said, “when we were up here we found clothes and shit in these barrels. And, there’s…some kids clothes. But like, adults as well.” she pulled out an old looking corset, “And underwear…”
“What? Bullshit.” Jack marched over and looked in the barrel, “Fucking hell! Were people killed up here?”
“I don’t know, do I?” Emily snapped at her brother.
“Let’s just get this done and get the fuck out of here.” said Lucy.
“So, I’m just gonna nope right now.” Daniel said then ran down the ladders.
The rest of them opened the barrels, started scooping everything out and dropped it down into the hall. Once they had made sure that the barrels (which were most probably used to hide evidence) were filled with nothing but air, they all climbed back down and shoved their haul into the library.
“Owen? Technically this is yours so you get first dibs!” Daniel shouted up the hall.
“Thanks, but I actually have my own clothes here! Carry on without me!” Owen shouted back.
They looked through the mountain of clothes. There was just so much of it! But what they noticed was this: everything was impeccably clean. There was no dirt or stains on anything. It was all fresh and looked like it had just been washed.
“This is just soooooo not right. And some of it looks ancient.” said Jack while holding a pair of chaps, “Why the hell was it all up there?”
“I say again, how in the utter fuckery should I know?” said Emily as she rammed her arms into a leather biker jacket.
Cameron laughed. “And now the world’s wrecked I don’t think we’ll ever know.”
Grace grabbed a collection of clothes and hid behind the fort where she took of her skirt and slipped on a pair of dungarees.
“This is really useful, though. I mean look at all this stuff! Some of it is stunning!” said Lucy as she gawped at a delicate vintage dress.
Daniel started buttoning up a stiff shirt, because that was going to prevent a zombie bite somehow, and said, “That’s not going to help us, Lucy.” He did not see the irony in his comment.
“I know that! But still...” Lucy scanned the rest of the clothes and found a pair of brogues which she slid her bare feet into. They were a little big but needs must during an apocalypse.
Grace re-emerged wearing dungarees and a fur coat. She picked up her golf club and looked around for anything else she could use.
“Looking good, Grace.” Jack said and pulled up the collar of his leather biker jacket.
Grace smiled back, and then in her peculiar little way, left the room without saying another word.
“That clearly failed you.” Lucy said with a smirk.
Jack ignored Lucy’s jibe and continued to root around the little hill of clothes.
“There is so much leather here. Like, just loads of biker things and that.” Emily said.
“Yeah.” Cameron picked up one of the biker jackets and threw it over himself.
Lucy pulled on a pair of jeans under her dress, put on a black and purple corset, and a leather jacket.
“Seriously!” said Emily as she yanked up a pair of leather trousers over her shorts, “What’s with all this biker stuff? I’m not saying it’s not just like, unbelievably useful, or, like or, just awesome. But, like, the weirdness is just so, like -”
“Do you even know how to talk?” Cameron asked.
“Yes!” Emily shot at him.
“Well, sometimes.” cut in Jack.
Emily scooped up a ball of clothes and flung them across the room at the two teasing her. “Shut up!” she yelled.
Everyone met back up in the dining room. They sat and went through the rules one last time.
Rule one: always aim for the head.
Rule two: don’t leave the group.
Rule three: if you are bitten on an arm or leg, chop it off.
Rule four: if you are bitten anywhere else, destroy your own brain or get someone to do it for you.
Rule five: make sure the dead are actually dead. Double and triple kill them if need be.
Rule six: if all undead hell breaks loose, run back into the house.
Cameron put on some music from his phone and hooked it up to the speakers of Owen’s record player. The speakers danced into life, flooding the house and garden with music. And true to Daniel’s plan, the undead population from the front garden started to shuffle towards the source of the music. Cameron met his friends back in the hall beside the front door. They all looked at each other. The music so loud it would drown out any conversation. Owen nodded at his friends, then turned to the door. His heart started to race. He tightened his grip on his bat.
