A Dead Disappointment

by Birch, S. C.

  Other Lucy nodded, “They do have some. Or at least they did. I don’t know if they still will.”

  “How you know that?” asked Jack.

  Other Lucy waved her hand in front of her face, “Long story.”

  “Nyaha,” said Jack with a grin, “you’re saucy, aren’t you?”

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake, Jack!” shouted Emily, “Clearly she is but is now, like, really the time to be pointing it out or whatever?”

  Owen jerked his arms at the two, “No! How many times do I have to say it? I’m banning Brooker Fights!”

  Emily glared hard at Owen while Jack grinned at Other Lucy.

  “So,” continued Owen, “Other Lucy is going to lead us to the station. If anyone else knows how to get us there then even better. And after that we go to my cars and-”

  “We get the fuck out of Dodge!” Emily shouted.

  Owen felt his molars dig into each other, “Yes. That.”

  All sixteen of them made their way into the loading bay. Grace knelt by the shutters and started working on the padlock while everyone else waited with scarfs wrapped around their faces and readied their weapons. Lucy pulled open her bag and slid a talkie into Owen, Jack, and Daniel’s back pockets. She kept one for herself then gave out the car keys to Owen, Jack, and Cameron.

  “Got it.” said Grace as she stood up and away from the door. Daniel, Blondie, and Handlebar Moustache slid their fingers under the shutters and lifted it just high enough that people could climb under it. Jack and Emily were first out, followed closely by Cameron and Owen.

  They crouched out and looked around. The streets were still; empty save for numerous bodies littering the ground. All motionless. Lifeless wasn’t an adequate word to use. Owen ducked back through the shutters and waved everyone forwards.

  Being as quiet as possible they walked through the bright streets. Morning dew clung to the air, lingering over the dead. Owen and Other Lucy took the lead. She directed and Owen led the large group along. He kept slightly crouched. Knees bent by a fraction. His training came back to him. His shoulders stayed level and his legs did all the work.

  Owen looked back at the group. Everyone was staying as low to the ground as they could. Crouched. No one person moved upright. He watched as his fellow survivors collected ammunition and passed it to Daniel and Emily. Blondie and Handlebar Moustache each collected a rifle. They crept along, moving through the blood and viscera strewn streets until, ahead of them, they saw seven zombies huddled around a body. Their low snarls and grunts permeated the still streets as they rammed bits of a person into their face. Their teeth ploughed into the flesh in their hands and ripped it apart.

  Owen stopped. He turned to face the pack and pointed to go back the way.

  Emily quickly darted behind an upturned car. Jack, Cameron, Lucy, and Owen followed while the others took solace behind a bus.

  “What now?” Lucy whispered.

  “Gnnnnnnnwwwaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrr.”

  “I’m thinking.” replied Emily with what was more a stage whisper than a real one.

  Emily chewed the bottom of her lip as she slid herself along the car until she reached its end. She twisted herself around the car to watch them. The smallest of the undead group must have been only twelve years old. He slid his body forwards to the meal’s torso and tried to rip some off for himself. But one from the other side of the meal jerked forwards and hissed. It opened its jaw wider than should be possible and bared its teeth. The smallest one darted back, crawled to another part of the meal, and tried again.

  Gunshot sprayed far out in the city from them. Emily turned to face the noise; then spun back to the zombies. They had already craned their bodies around, contorted. They hissed and scrambled forwards.

  Lucy grabbed Emily’s shoulder and pulled her back behind the car. Then they waited, daring not to breathe for fear of being found. The putrid and rotting corpses hurtled past them and towards the gunfire. But only six past them. Again, Emily looked around. The smallest one was devouring the abandoned meal. He ignored the gunshots in favour of eating.

  “Rrrrrrrrrrrrrnnoonooooommhh.”

  Emily slid her hand behind her and pulled out the machete from her belt. She sprang from her spot and ran to a doorway.

  Cameron dove up, rested his gun on top of the car and pointed it straight at the child zombie.

  “Emily!” barked Jack in as much a whisper as he could manage.

  Emily heard and looked back.

  “You get back here right now!” Jack mouthed.

  “No!” Emily mouthed back (which was pointless since the scarf covered her mouth) before sliding out of the doorframe and along the building. She pulled away from the wall and crept forwards, low to the ground, and gripping her machete. Step by step, Emily closed in on the undead child. Her thick boots pressed down on a cluster of broken glass and crunched. She winced and shut her eyes. Well that was a fucking waste of time, she thought. But there was silence in response. Emily pried open her eyes. The undead child hadn’t noticed her. So Emily dove forwards and rammed her machete in his skull. She felt foul for it, he was after all a kid, but Emily forced herself to remember: he was already dead.

  “Don’t do that again!” said Owen as he and the others reached her.

  “Do what?” Emily asked as she stood on the balls of her feet and raised herself up. “Kill something without actually being in any fucking danger?”

  Owen didn’t have a response for that. She was technically right.

  “You know, Emily,” said Cameron, “that was such a zombie story cliché moment.”

  Jack, who had been glaring so deeply that the veins on the side of his head looked like they were about to pop, lost his fury and laughed.

  Emily thought about it for a moment and realised Cameron was right, “Oh my God! Totally was!” then she chuckled to herself.

  “Are you all quite done being nerds now? If so, let’s go.” said Lucy.

  “Rhyming.” Emily said.

  Lucy glared.

  They continued forwards until again, they hit a roadblock. Turning a corner, they found zombies blocking their path. Chewing, growling, and hunting. Owen waved everyone back and followed them around the corner where they pressed themselves against the building.

  “I counted eighteen of them.” said Lucy.

  “What do we do now?” asked Maeve.

  Nobody had an answer. They all looked around for something that could help them. Ahead of them, Owen saw an electronics store. If he could get in, turn everything on and get back again, then they could slip past the distracted undead.

  “That shop.” whispered Owen as he nodded forwards, “If we can get some music or something on loud then we can get past them.”

  “But that would bring them all our way.” said Cameron. “And we don’t know how many are there that we can’t see.”

  Owen thought about it, it was indeed a horrible plan. “Fuck.”

  “I see two ways this can go.” whispered Lucy, “Either one of us distracts them while the rest of us shoot or we just charge them with our guns. I can’t think of any other option.”

  “We go at them straight on.” said Emily.

  “No!” pleaded Red Blouse, “No we can’t do that.”

  “Other Lucy?” asked Jack, “How far till the station?”

  “It’s literally a straight run from here. About ten minutes away.” replied Other Lucy.

  “Is there any way we can double back?” asked Owen.

  “Well, I guess, but it’s nearly double the distance.” said Other Lucy.

  “Then we make a run for it and kill as many -” started Jack.

  But just then, a zombie rounded the corner. It stared at the survivors. Body twitching.

  “Oh shit.” said Owen.

  The zombie shrieked and threw itself forwards. Emily shot it permanently dead, but both noises caused a wave of screeches to sweep the streets. The dead screamed forwards. Appearing from everywhere, they all chased the noise.

/>   “MOVE!” Jack roared.

  Owen ran. He and the group sprinted through the streets. The snarls closed in. Their gargling shrieks ever closer. But still he ran, until, they appeared ahead. Charging forwards on all fours. Hurtling towards a meal with no other thoughts. Owen scrambled around a building and took the corner.

  Lucy fell. Her useless ankle gave way under the strain of the running-for-your-life and she fired her gun as the undead closed in on her. Their howls and snarls kicked her Fight on and she screamed back as she shot them. Maeve ducked down and tried to lift Lucy to her feet.

  Emily spun round to the screams and shot the descending horde. She ran back to Lucy and lifted her up with the help of Maeve.

  “Keep moving!” screamed Jack as he reached them and continued shooting.

  Cameron appeared and did the exact same.

  Daniel, Grace, and Owen

  Owen heard the gunfire and living yells from behind him and twisted his body around in a desperate attempt to help. But corpses threw their bodies from gaps in the buildings and blocked them. Owen fired. He stood his ground and slayed everything around his missing friends. But the undead flooded in at them. The five left behind vanished and all he could see was the raged undead and all he could hear was his own bullets and the snarls of the half hollowed out bodies closing in on him.

  “RUN!” Owen screamed as everyone travelled through the streets.

  They flew along the pavements, abandoning attempting to shoot anything, they just ran forwards. Owen’s entire body rang with pain. His feet felt like they were about to snap. The muscles in his legs burned. His head throbbed. But Owen kept running.

  And that’s when he heard it. The sound of thousands of bullets careering all around them and blades ripping the air apart. Owen felt it reverberate throughout his bones and vibrating through his teeth. The noise rang in his eardrums and ploughed through his head. The undead surrounding them were shredded. Torn apart and thrust to the ground.

  Other Lucy fell and blood flew from her belly.

  Daniel dropped down and threw her over his shoulder.

  Blue Eyes fell to the ground as blood streamed out of his back.

  Owen could see it ahead of them. A large, bricked building, with the blue and white sign. Nearly there. He felt something sharp embed itself in his arm. It pushed him forwards. But he found his balance and kept on running.

  Bullets flew all around them. The zombies swarmed them. Blondie reached the station first. He threw himself against the double doors and held them open while everyone else piled in behind him. He slammed the doors shut as Owen crossed the threshold and slammed his back hard against the door as the undead flew after them. The door shook as the corpses tried to barge their way in. Owen pushed all his weight into the door. He felt his feet slide away under him.

  “Help us!” he screamed.

  Mutton Chops ran behind a desk and started pushing it towards them. Grace spun round and helped to push. And as the desk hurtled towards them, Owen and Blondie threw themselves out of the way. The undead pushed into the door and started to fly forwards. But the desk slammed hard against the door and shut it. Arms and faces were severed and rolled around on the floor. Owen pointed his gun at the door and waited. Bullets raged on outside. The screams wailed out. And they waited.

  Cameron, Emily, Jack, and Lucy

  “What in the fuck are they doing?” asked Emily as she watched the helicopter fly around the sky above them. She was kneeling on a sofa with her chest and arms resting on its back, staring out the window.

  Jack leaned over the sofa and looked out the window, “Fuck me! They’re actually doing something!”

  Emily jerked her arm as she pointed to the ground below, “Look-look-look! They’re down there, too!”

  Cameron joined them and looked out the window, “God. They actually are.”

  Emily rounded on Cameron, “What, you think I was lying?” she spat.

  Cameron rolled his eyes. “No. I just mean because they haven’t done anything for days!”

  “Oh.” said Emily as she regretted getting angry over nothing. “Sorry.”

  Lucy, who was sitting on the floor of the wide living room they had taken solace in, spoke up, “Are they clearing the streets?”

  Jack nodded, “Yeah, looks like. Wait…shit!”

  Down below, a group of four survivors fled their safety, ran to a car and tried to climb in, but were slain as the soldiers claimed the car as their own.

  “They fucking killed them!” shouted Cameron.

  “Killed who?” asked Lucy as she tried to pick herself up.

  “A fucking family or something! But they were alive! Why would they do that!” yelled Emily.

  “What? Like normal people?” Lucy pulled herself up and started limping towards the window.

  “Yes! Normal, living, not-dead people! They just fucking gunned them down!” screamed Jack.

  Lucy shook her head and ran her hands through her greasy and matted hair, “Maeve? Are you okay?”

  “Yeah.” said Maeve from the bathroom.

  Jack slid down the sofa and looked around the room, “Why! Just why do we always end up locked in somewhere!”

  Emily twisted her head and looked down at her brother who was slumped on the sofa with a gun in one hand and his face in the other.

  “Do you think it’s safe to use the talkie yet?” asked Lucy as she joined the others on the sofa.

  Cameron shrugged, “Not sure. It’s been, what? An hour? They might be surrounded and trying to keep quiet.”

  “I know. God, I wish we had a fucking phone signal or whatever so we could just text them or something.” Emily looked back out of the grimy window. “Now what’re they doing?”

  Cameron turned and looked out.

  Jack grunted, “What?”

  “Looks like,” said Cameron as he watched them, “they’re rescuing soldiers and just leaving or killing anything else that moves.” he sighed and screwed up his face, “How did all this get so totally fucked up?”

  “I know. I mean, like, we killed loads before we got here. And they were soooo slow and easy. Now look at them.” said Emily. “Oh fuck…”

  “Shit.” muttered Cameron as he saw what Emily had, “We need to hide.” he spun round on the sofa and slung Lucy’s arm over his shoulder, “They’ve seen us. They’re coming.”

  Jack stood up, “Of course they are. Get into the bedroom. Kid!” he shouted at the hiding girl, “You need to come out right now!”

  Maeve bolted out of the bathroom and they all ran into the bedroom.

  The room was cluttered and dark. Lucy and Maeve slid themselves under the bed, pulling and pushing boxes to hide them both. The other three threw themselves into the empty wardrobe and slid the doors along the runners, pulling it closed. And they waited.

  They could hear gunfire and footsteps outside followed by “Clear.”

  Then undead snarls, followed by gunfire, and “Clear.

  Emily pushed herself into Cameron.

  Jack shook his head and glared at nothing.

  Maeve wrapped her hands around her knife while Lucy placed an arm around Maeve’s shoulder and pressed down on her, keeping her gun pointed at the foot of the bed.

  The front door opened.

  Footsteps moved through the flat.

  Maeve swallowed her sob.

  Jack pulled in his gun.

  Cameron did the same.

  Emily did something a little mad.

  She wrapped her hands around Cameron’s head and pulled him in fiercely.

  Cameron did something a little mad.

  He dropped his gun and kissed Emily back.

  Jack closed his eyes and gritted his teeth.

  Six footsteps entered the room.

  Jack pulled his gun up a little higher.

  One set of footsteps stopped near the bed.

  Another by the wardrobe door.

  The last by the window.

  Neither Emily nor Cameron noticed and con
tinued doing something a little mad.

  Then there was gunfire from the hall.

  “Clear.”

  The soldiers exited the room.

  They all continued to hide (or do something a little mad) until all they could hear was silence (and the grunting sounds of something a little mad).

  Jack slid open the door and left the wardrobe before looking at Emily and Cameron, “Think’s for subjecting me to that, guys.” he turned to the bed, “Out you come, I think we’re good.”

  Maeve and Lucy came out. But Emily and Cameron were still hiding.

  “Get the fuck out here right now!” shouted Jack.

  Then, finally, the last two reappeared.

  “Seriously, Em? What the fuck was for?” asked Jack who was now scarred for life.

  Emily shrugged, “What? Thought I was gonna die. Don’t judge me. You’d have done the same.”

  Jack thought about it for a moment and scowled before saying, “Still not happy with it, though.”

  “Well now you know how I feel when you get all fucking soppy with Grace!” replied Emily as she fluttered past everyone and into the living room.

  Jack glared at Cameron.

  And Cameron cocked a smile and shrugged his shoulders, “You did tell me to look after her.”

  “Waaaaaaaa!” shouted Jack as he pressed a hand on his ear and his shoulder to the other, “No! Not happy! Mate, you say something like that again and I will actually straight up murder you. I swear I will shoot you right in your smug face!”

  Cameron enjoyed his little bout of torment, “So we’ve upgraded from shoes then?”

  “Just! Shut up!” shouted Jack as he stormed out the room.

  Static emitted from Jack and Lucy’s pockets. Then a whispered voice came through, “You there at all?”

  Lucy twisted and pulled out the talkie, “Owen? Is that you?”

  “Oh, thank Christ! Where are you? Is everyone okay?”

  “Owen mate?” said Jack into his talkie, “Never mind us, what about you lot? Is Grace still there?”

  “No, not never mind us! Are you all alive?”

  “Not important right now! Are you three okay?” asked Jack.

  “It is important right now! Tell me if you’re all alright!” barked Owen.

  “Yes, we’re fine, Owen.” cut in Lucy.