A Dead Disappointment

by Birch, S. C.

  Cameron slowly placed himself in front of Emily and raised his gun a little.

  “What? Listen to yourselves!” shouted Lucy as she limped forwards, “What you’re saying is just fucking insane.”

  “It is!” screamed Blondie, “What are you all talking about?”

  Owen inched forwards, grabbed Lucy’s arm, and pulled her back behind him.

  “We only need a drop.” said Panting To The Point of Passing Out Man, “Just a small cut on your arm or something. That’s all we need.”

  “Just a taste.” grunted Looked Like He Was About To Kill Someone.

  “Well.” said Jack as he slid further back, “It’s a shame that’s not fucking happening.”

  Owen could feel the cold metal in his hands as he slid them along the gun and to the trigger.

  “Yes it is.” said Clutching Her Chest And Looking Grey.

  Daniel wrapped both hands around his gun and pulled it up by inches.

  “Reeeeealy not.” said Jack as he pushed further back.

  Then there was another rumbling. The building shook. Dust fell from the ceiling. The lights flickered.

  Lucy slid her hand into her pocket and checked for ammunition, but it was empty. She removed her hand as slowly as she could and gripped her shotgun.

  “If. We. Have your blood. We. Can all. Walk out of here. Alive. Just. Slip. Past. The. The. Rotters.” panted Clutching Her Chest And Looking Grey.

  Skin And Eyes Void Of Colour took a step towards Jack with one stooped shoulder, a knife, and a smirk.

  “Back up.” Jack said. He brought his gun up and pointed it in the face of the approaching man. “No fucker is going to drink my fucking blood!”

  “You sure about that?” asked Black Ooze Seeping From His Eyeballs.

  “Yes, I’m fucking sure!” barked Jack.

  “Everyone stay the fuck away from my brother!” Emily screamed and darted forwards.

  “And who’s going to stop us?” asked Clearly Furious About Something. “You?”

  “ME!” Emily pulled up her gun up to face them.

  “Please!” cried out Can’t Be Older Than Sixteen, “Please, everyone!”

  “Come here.” said Owen and jerked his head.

  The girl with brown hair tied back, a hooded jumper, and a backpack ran to Owen and hid behind him.

  Lucy limped to her, pulled a butterfly knife from her pocket, and handed it to the girl, “Stay with me.” she said.

  The girl nodded and held the blade in her hands.

  Then a rumbling. The building shook. Dust fell from the ceiling. The lights flickered.

  A woman in an anorak shrieked.

  “Blondie and Blue Eyes, get over here.” said Daniel.

  The two men walked over to Daniel and stood beside him. They had obtained new weapons. Blondie had a long kitchen knife and Blue Eyes was wielding a solid looking brass candlestick.

  “Owen mate?” shouted Jack without ever taking his eyes off the deranged souls in front of him, “Remember what we were talking about last night?”

  “What was that?” snarled Skin And Eyes Void Of Colour.

  Owen remembered. He pulled his gun up higher.

  “What were you talking about?” asked Totally Deranged Teenage Boy as he swayed while trying to keep upright, “Answer us right now!”

  Owen felt each breath he took in and let out. The cold of the gun in his hands. The solid ground on which he stood. He could hear the three behind them breathing, one of whom sounded like she was crying.

  “You absolute bastards.” screamed Totally Deranged Teenage Boy, “I’m going to kill you!”

  “Not before me.” growled Black Ooze Seeping From His Eyeballs.

  From the back, snarling burst out from the Raged Old Woman. Owen darted the gun and himself towards her. She was hunched over, her body curled into herself and twitching. Then she arched back so violently her spine looked as though it had snapped. Her screeching was not human. Her body jerked and convulsed. Her joints seemed to dislodge themselves before snapping back into place. Then she sprang forwards.

  Owen fired at her. She fell and skidded along the tiles, leaving a trail of black slime behind her.

  Everyone raised their weapons.

  “Why would you do that, you fucking animal?” asked Twitching Her Whole Body Painfully.

  Then, Could Barely Stand flew for Daniel. Blondie dove forwards and rammed his knife into the face of the fresh zombie.

  Thirty-four people were stood in that shop. Twenty were not infected. Fourteen were about to turn. Eighteen were about to die.

  Three fresh dead screeched out. Their cries travelled to every corner of the shop. Owen locked his body forwards and pulled up his gun. He and the others fired out and the three dropped.

  The City rumbled.

  The ground shook.

  The building shuddered.

  Five turned. They spread apart like a disease and reached for the nearest heartbeat they could find.

  Guns fired out.

  Screams filled the shop.

  Three undead died again.

  One sank its teeth into a breather’s neck.

  The other into a stomach.

  Bullets flew around.

  They shattered the tiled walls and ripped apart the aisles.

  The noise rang out.

  The wails rang louder.

  Screams pierced the air.

  Blood pooled on the floor.

  Bullets followed the screams in mania.

  The final six had turned.

  Owen fired his gun wildly. Bullets tore them apart. Their bodies jerked back as they were shot, but still they charged forwards until a bullet found their face and they were launched back, trailing congealed blood behind them. They had been humans mere moments ago. When this all started it took three days. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours. Their skin wasn’t rotting yet. It was just grey. Their eyes had lost all colour. Black slime filled their mouths and ran from every orifice.

  “We need to get them out of here.” said Cameron as he slid past Owen and to the corpses, “In case whatever turned them goes into the air.” (Fight)

  More people than Owen wanted to count for where crying. Their cries sliced the shop, crashing into the cracked tiles and echoing back.

  Daniel walked to Cameron and grabbed a zombie’s ankles while Cameron grabbed its arms. (Fight)

  “Oh my God.” Jack said as he walked to the counter. (Flight)

  Grace stood in the middle of it all, shaking, clutching her coat. (Flight)

  Lucy took the young girl’s hand and led her into the staff room. (Fight)

  Other Lucy collapsed to the ground and sat, silent and broken. (Flight)

  Emily marched forwards, stabbed everyone who had been attacked in the head, then helped drag the bodies. (Fight)

  They and a few others hauled the corpses away and out of sight.

  The tiles and grout smeared with blood and ooze.

  Walls had been sprayed red.

  Lights were flickering.

  Lucy hobbled through the shop with the young girl and collected some blankets and cushions. They started shoving the chairs and tables out from the Staff Room and draped the floor with their goods.

  “What’re you doing?” asked Owen. He was leaning into the doorframe with his arms folded. How long had he been there, he didn’t know. He still felt a little numb.

  “I’ve made a bed.” replied Lucy. Her voice quivered and shook as much as her hands while she spread the blankets across the floor.

  “Is now the time?” asked Owen.

  Lucy stopped. She looked up at Owen from the floor, “I…I don’t know what else to do.”

  Owen leaned away from the door and walked towards Lucy. He sat down beside her.

  “I really want to go back to the fort.” Lucy gripped her hair.

  “Me too.” said Owen. He saw her smile, but it wasn’t real. Her eyes were filled with tears and her smile was shaking. Owen wrapped his arms around her
and held her close.

  Jack was clinging onto one of the counters and was slowly shifting his weight from his feet to his hands and back again. He wasn’t sure what to do, what to think. He just couldn’t do anything. He felt a hand grab his arm.

  “Jack?” his sister asked.

  Jack had nearly lost his sister a lot over the last twenty-four hours. In fact, he had nearly lost her a lot over the last…well, he wasn’t sure how long it had been anymore. It infuriated him. After all, Emily was the most important person in that room. Everybody else came second to her. And that’s when Jack’s Fight came back.

  “Emily.” Jack said to her and only her, “From now on you stay beside me all the time. I mean that. Don’t ever leave me.”

  And that’s when the other Brookers Fight really kicked in.

  “No.” Emily replied.

  And his face lit up with rage, “Yes!” he barked.

  And her face lit up with the same rage, “No!” she barked.

  For non-identical twins, they shared a lot of common traits.

  “And why in the hell not?”

  “Because I’m not letting you worry about me and forget to look after your stupid fucking self. From now on,” Emily waved her outstretched finger between the two of them, “we look after each other. Whatever else happens, you and me, we do this. Like the motherfucking Brookers we are. We make sure everyone else gets through this, but we look after us first. Deal?”

  And Jack, in that moment, had never been so proud of his sister. Never so impressed. And never so astounded. He nodded a little, “Deal.”

  “Good! I’m gonna get Grace. You gonna be okay?” Emily asked up at her best friend.

  “Just give me five minutes and I’ll be back to normal.” Jack replied.

  Emily looked at Jack like he was an idiot, “I really don’t think five minutes’ll do that. Maybe like, five months, or something.”

  Jack let one, short and breathed laugh escape him in agreement. “Then give me five minutes and I’ll, I don’t know, I’ll do something.”

  Emily pulled her brother in for a hug before disappearing through the shop.

  While people died inside that shop, people died outside. So much Moonshine had been destroyed throughout the whole of Britain: The Decrepit Rock that the undead multiplied exponentially. And around the whole world for that matter. They died quicker. And came back to motion quicker. They were faster, stronger, more resilient, more deranged. And extreme measures were starting to take shape. The Prime Minister was locked with everyone left alive and important in Ten Downing Street, trying to come up with a solution. The lab where they had been synthesizing a vaccine was overrun. Their two immune “volunteers” had died. Three scientists had been evacuated and taken to Downing Street, but the rest turned into the creatures they had been experimenting on. Everything was lost. Now, they had no chance of creating a vaccine for the living, they had lost numerous strongholds, and, of course, Fight or Flight overpowered them.

  So two things happened; the military started throwing survivors into cages, and the Prime Minister and his advisors started working out how to eradicate the threat.

  The survivors locked in cages were forced to drink Moonshine. This way, if they died, they were behind bars and were in theory harmless. But if they lived, then the Government had those that were immune, or ‘Clean’. And if they had people who were Clean, then they could experiment on them in an attempt to create yet another vaccine.

  On the other side of things, eradicating the infected, known as ‘Saving The Country’, had also started to move forwards. Fighter jets and helicopters were ordered to sweep the air and kill everyone they saw. Alive or otherwise. While soldiers were ordered to sweep the streets, carrying out the same orders. The Prime Minister in his infinite wisdom didn’t care that survivors would be killed. He had still managed to save loads of them. So what did a few hundred thousand trapped in the streets matter?

  Day Eighteen

  The group of survivors in the shop had two options. They could either attempt to find a way up and through the shop, into the flats above and escape that way. Or go out through the loading bay. It was a large, concrete room with almost no lights and one, large metal shutter for lorries to come in and out. It led straight out onto the streets. And the problem they were faced with was this:

  If they went up, there would surely be less undead, but there was a chance they would get stuck and be just as trapped as they all currently were.

  If they went out, they had more options for escape, but would be surrounded by the undead; they didn’t know how many were out there, nor how far they had mutated.

  And so, in the early hours of Day Eighteen, everyone debated. Everyone talked. Everyone was asked their opinion. But they still hadn’t reached a conclusion.

  “Is that really our only options?” asked Blue Eyes.

  Emily nodded, “Seems like. Unless anyone else can think of something.” she looked around the other survivors, “Anyone? Anyone at all?”

  “Can’t we just wait here?” asked Anorak.

  “Wait here for what?” asked Handlebar Moustache

  It should be known here that Owen didn’t want to know any of their names. Using a pseudonym kept them distant. If they died, which they likely would, it would be easier for him to cope.

  Anorak shrugged and pulled her body in, “Rescue maybe?”

  Blondie leaned forwards with his knife in hand, “Rescue? From who?”

  “Listen,” said Owen, “we all know nobody’s coming. We need to leave. Right now. If you want to stay and wait for rescue then you’re more than fucking welcome.”

  Red Blouse sighed and dropped her shoulders, “Can’t we please just leave it another day? Just in case someone does come for us?”

  “You can.” said Jack, “But we’re leaving.”

  There was a long silence while everyone came to terms with things.

  Lucy was sitting with the teenage girl who was watching everyone talk and looking almost unafraid, “What’s your name?” Lucy asked.

  The girl looked at Lucy, surprised that anyone was talking to her, “Me?”

  Lucy nodded, “Yes, you.”

  “Err, I’m Maeve.” she said.

  “Maeve, I’m Lucy. I want you to stick with me for the rest of this, okay?”

  Maeve nodded. She was sat with her legs crossed and her fingers stroked the little, folded knife.

  “Soooo, what we doing then?” asked Emily who was growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of doing anything.

  “I vote the streets.” said Jack as he lifted his arm in the air.

  “I’m with dick bag.” said Emily, then she was smacked in the face by a flying packet of cigarettes.

  “I vote we go up.” said Daniel, “It’s got to be less dangerous.”

  “I’m the same.” said Other Lucy.

  “I abstain. Whatever you guy’s think is best, I’ll go with that.” said Ginger Man.

  Cameron spoke up, “Streets.”

  Mutton Chops stood up with a metal bar in his hand, “Yeah, I say we go out, too. I mean, it’s going to be more dangerous, but if we can keep quiet then in theory we can get out of here with no problems.”

  “But we don’t know how many Rotters are out there. If we go up then we can walk across the roofs and leave that way.” said Blue Eyes.

  Anorak nodded under her hood, “That sounds best. I vote up.”

  “I agree. Let’s go over the roofs.” said Blondie.

  Red Blouse whimpered, “I vote for going up as well.”

  “We both vote we go out.” said Lucy.

  Maeve nodded.

  “We should go up.” said Grace, “Remember what happened last time we were outside?”

  “But, Grace, listen out there. It’s completely silent.” said Jack.

  Grace shrugged, “Don’t care. I vote we go up.”

  Handlebar Moustache nodded and missed that Grace had spoken, “You’re right, kid. It is quiet out there. W
e should go out.”

  “It’s a draw.” said Cameron, “Owen, your choice then.”

  “Shit.” Owen mumbled as he hung his head and looked at his feet. One option had the greater risk but the higher chance of success, and the other had a far greater chance of survival, but, as he saw it, a minuscule chance of escape. And, as mad as it was, the thing that made Owen choose either way was his oldest friends. The twins and Cameron voted out, so did he.

  “We go out.”

  And everyone either nodded, sighed, grumbled, shook their heads, or suppressed their tears.

  “In that case,” said Daniel before anyone else had a chance to cut in, “this is what’s going to happen. We have a shotgun and a rifle for whoever wants it.”

  “Shotgun!” said Lucy as she remembered she had one in her belt, “Em, can I get some ammo for mine?”

  But she needn’t have asked for anything. Jack picked up one of his rifles (it was largely selfish of him to have two) and handed it to Lucy.

  “I’ll take a shotgun.” said Mutton Chops, “I actually know how to use one a little.”

  “Of course you do.” said Jack to the man who looked like he belonged in a biker gang.

  “Okay,” Daniel said and pulled back the zip on the gym bag. “you take this and mind she,” he said and pointed to Emily, “has the ammo for it. Anyone else want one?”

  Nobody spoke up while Mutton Chops took his new weapon.

  “Okay,” continued Daniel, “if you decide that you want one just ask me.”

  Lucy handed her old shotgun to Maeve and whispered, “If you need to, hit them with the back end of this.”

  “Keep in mind,” said Cameron while the whispering happened, “we need to get as much ammo as possible. So if you see any soldiers or anything, take their ammo and give it to Emily.”

  “But what if they’re covered in Rotters or something?” asked Red Blouse.

  Owen sighed, “Then obviously you don’t go near them.”

  “Same goes for guns.” said Emily, “If you find any just pick them up and use them.”

  “So where we going?” asked Jack.

  “Err, Police Station first, I think. It’s a wild fucking long shot but they might have gas masks and I think we managed to work out that the zombie-making stuff is in the air.” said Owen.