William runs around to the other side of the helicopter. The girl has moved faster than he thought: she’s already reached the helicopter and begins groping the metal. Her golden hair is thrown around wildly, tufts of it sticking to her face—or, rather, what used to be her face.
“Hey!” William shouts, kneeling down without even thinking about it first, and taking aim at the girl’s head. “Hey, you!”
She doesn’t really react to his voice; maybe she can’t hear him over the still roaring rotors. But she’s making her way slowly sideways towards him, so William concentrates on his aim.
Ozzy is whimpering in his ear, perched at his side, ready to jump at the slightest command.
“Stay, Ozzy,” William mutters out the corner of his mouth, closing one eye. “I’ve got this …”
The girl takes another few steps in his direction and finally gets close enough to sense William. She turns on him, and for half a second, William is taken aback at the sight of her up close. Then she reaches out both arms and comes at him swiftly.
He pulls the trigger.
The girl’s head isn’t flung back like he expected it would. Instead, she just jumps slightly, and William is certain that he missed.
But then he sees the crater right below what’s left of her nose—it’s easy to miss in the already bloody mess. Next, the girl’s legs give way, collapsing her to the ground where she stays completely still.
“Fuck, yeah!” William shouts, punching his fist to the air. He gets to his feet, then doubles over again immediately and with no warning whatsoever pukes up the sandwich he ate just half an hour ago.
He stares in amazement at the pile on the ground. His first thought is that the sandwich was bad and disagreed with his stomach. But then he realizes he’s trembling all over and that his knees are threatening to buckle beneath him.
Apparently, his body is reacting to the shock of shooting the girl even before his mind has had time to catch up.
Maybe it shouldn’t be so surprising; he never shot anything besides clay pigeons before. And whatever the dead thing in front of him had turned into, it had not that long ago been a human being. A young girl. A pretty one, probably. Someone he might strike up a conversion with if he met her in a bar.
And now he just blew her brainstem to jam.
The thought causes him to retch again, and he has to force himself to stand up straight.
He glances sideways at Ozzy who’s looking at him with curious concern. “Guess I’m not the ruthless zombie killer I thought I was,” he mutters, wiping his mouth.
He turns around and sees Nasira, Ali and Dan standing there, looking at him.
“Well done,” Nasira says gravely.
“Thanks,” William says. “I just—wait! The truck driver!”
He begins running back around the helicopter and almost collides with Sebastian and Josefine.
The fuel truck is still there, but the driver is nowhere to be seen.
“He took off,” Sebastian says, reading the question off of William’s face. “Soon as he saw the girl coming.”
“I was afraid he would take the truck,” William says.
“Didn’t even cross his mind,” Josefine says, pointing over her shoulder. “He just ran right down the road, probably headed for the base down there.”
“Might turn out to be a clever move,” William says, glancing around. “That girl probably came from the train. Which means a lot more of them can show up any minute.”
“Let’s get moving, then,” Sebastian says, running to the helicopter. “Someone go back up the truck. I need it next to the helicopter, right side facing her.”
“I’ll do it,” Josefine says.
William eyes her with surprise. “You know how to drive that thing?”
“I worked as a bus driver not that long ago,” she tells him, then heads for the truck.
William follows Sebastian, who’s already busy prepping the helicopter for the refueling. Dan, Nasira, Ali and Lærke are watching him anxiously.
“You guys,” William says, pointing at them. “You go keep an eye in every direction. Spread out, but don’t go too far. If you see anything or anyone, shout as loudly as you can. Got that?”
They nod in unison, then walk off in different directions.
William wipes sweat from his upper lip. He can still taste the puke in his throat. “Don’t we need to shut it off before we fuel it?”
Sebastian shakes his head without looking at him. “As long as we’re careful, this will work fine.”
“How long will it take to fill the tank?”
“Six minutes, give or take.”
William darts a look around, up and down the road, up the hillside and down the valley. Then he looks down at Ozzy, who’s eyeing him intently, as though he’s thinking the same thing.
They’re sitting ducks out here.
Just waiting for a horde of predators.
And six minutes is an awful long time.
TWENTY
The first dead person appears within thirty seconds.
Dan is the one to spot him as he comes stumbling down the hillside.
It’s a heavy, bearded guy wearing a torn Hawaiian shirt. Someone chewed away one of his man boobs, revealing the ribcage underneath. His beard was once grey but now it’s red as the guy has obviously been busy eating other people.
The hill is a little too steep for someone with limited motor skills, and the guy is falling more than he’s walking. It doesn’t seem to bother him, though, as it gives him a very speedy decent.
“There’s one coming!” Dan shouts back at the others, forming a funnel around his mouth with his hands.
Both the truck and the helicopter are still running and he’s not sure either Sebastian or William hears him. Josefine is standing a little farther down road, and Nasira and Ali went in the other direction.
“I see one over here, too!” Josefine calls out. “No, wait—three of them!”
Dan looks in her direction and sees a zombie kid—not much older than ten—and two grown-ups coming down the hillside in the same tumbling fashion as the Hawaiian shirt guy.
Then Ozzy barks, and Dan turns his head to see another two dead people approach the helicopter from above.
There are too many, Dan thinks, and then William shouts something and points up the hill.
Dan looks up, shielding his eyes to see the hilltop. What he sees takes his breath away.
A literal army of zombies is streaming out over the top, like lemmings headed for the abyss, their figures silhouetted against the blue sky. There are men, woman, children, teens and seniors. They pay no attention to the steep drop, but simply roll, stumble or tumble downwards.
“Get back over here!”
William is flailing his arm and waving the rifle back and forth, his words just barely audible over the whooping of the helicopter.
Dan puts two fingers in his mouth and whistles sharply at Josefine. He didn’t need to, though, as she’s already running back this way.
Dan runs to the helicopter and sees Nasira and Ali coming from the other way. Lærke is tiptoeing next to Sebastian, who is operating the thick hose running from the truck to the helicopter’s trunk.
“What do we do?” William shouts, apparently addressing Sebastian while looking up at the dead people approaching.
“I still need three minutes!” Sebastian shouts over his shoulder. “Keep them back!”
“There are too many!” Josefine shouts as she joins them. “We need to get inside the helicopter!”
“We’ll never get off the ground!” Sebastian shouts. “You’ll draw them all right to us!”
“We already are by standing here!” William chimes in, looking close to panic now. “Look, they’re thirty seconds away! We either bolt or I start shooting!”
“Don’t!” Sebastian cries out, rounding on him. “Don’t shoot! You risk blowing us all to hell!”
“What do we do then?” Josefine shouts. “Somebody come up with
something fast!”
No one seems to have any ideas. Dan realizes with a sinking feeling in his gut how unprepared they were going into this. They only had a plan for getting the fuel—not defending themselves against hundreds of zombies.
Then the first dead ones arrive at the road, falling flat on the asphalt or landing clumsily on all fours, getting to their feet and making their way to the helicopter from all angles.
Ozzy can’t seem to take the waiting any longer, and he lunges himself at the closest one—the guy in the Hawaiian shirt. Even though it’s a big guy, the German shepherd knocks him over and bites down on his shoulder.
But it’s of little use; three other zombies simply waddle right by and head on towards the helicopter.
Nasira steps forward then, letting go of Ali, who cries out in Arabic. She runs to a woman old enough to be her grandmother and shoves her hard in the chest, causing her to go tumbling. Even before she can make it back up, Nasira shoves the next one sideways, making him trip over his own feet. None of the zombies seem even remotely interested in her—it’s like she doesn’t exist to them—and she runs right up to a third one, kicking his leg hard out from under him, and he lands flat on his face.
Ozzy is as busy as Nasira, jumping each of the zombies one at a time, wrestling them to the ground, winning a few seconds with every takedown, as the zombies move cumbersomely to get back up.
“Here!”
William’s voice in his ear, as something hard is shoved into his chest.
Dan looks down at the large wrench Sebastian used just a minute ago.
“Make yourself useful!” William shouts.
For a second Dan thinks he wants him to help out Sebastian somehow, but Sebastian doesn’t seem to need any help, as the pilot is actually moving away from the helicopter, now brandishing a five-foot pole with a hook at the end—Dan saw him use it to open the hatch on the truck. He jumps forward and goes to work on the oncoming deads, catching them by their collars or necks and yanking them to the ground.
William has also joined the fight, turning over the rifle and using it as a baseball bat, swinging at the zombies. At first, he simply knocks them over, using the same strategy as the rest of the group, but within a few hits, he seems to gain confidence and starts swinging wildly, connecting with their heads and cracking open skulls.
Josefine must have been inside the helicopter briefly, because as she rushes past Dan, he sees she has armed herself with the heavy metal bar she used to knock out the guy who tried to steal the helicopter back in Denmark.
Dan stares at the scene in front of him for another second. He can’t help but marvel at the sight of the group all working together, moving in between each other, pivoting back and forth, knocking over or tripping zombies like bowling pins, everyone having each other’s backs.
Then he gets moving, jumping forward to club a boy not much older than himself who’s about to grab Josefine from behind. The wrench hits the boy’s jaw and dislocates it both audibly and visibly, sending the boy spinning halfway around before he falls over, his teeth spilling out over the road.
Dan doesn’t let himself think, but runs ahead to take a swing at the next one coming. This one is a tall, gangly guy. Dan aims high for his head but connects instead with his protruding Adam’s apple, crushing it and causing the guy to give off a strangled croak as he stumbles backwards, knocking over a woman trying to pass him, both of them falling down.
Dan spins around as he senses someone coming from behind. A guy looking like a grown-up Harry Potter thanks to his dark hair and round glasses reaches out his hands to grab him, and Dan swings the wrench blindly, hitting only the elbow of the guy. He backs up and takes another swing, but the guy is too close now, and Dan doesn’t get enough speed behind the wrench to knock him over, so the guy uses the chance and lunges at him.
Dan has time to think, even as he’s still backing up: This is it.
Right before the Harry Potter zombie can grab him, though, Ozzy comes flying from the left, jaws open wide, bloody foam spraying from his mouth, and he clamps down on the guy’s neck, knocking him over.
Dan blinks and looks around.
He feels dizzy, feels like things are moving in slow motion, like twenty minutes has passed when in reality it’s probably less than twenty seconds.
Everyone is still standing, swinging, jumping around.
But it’s getting increasingly difficult. More and more deads are joining the fight, cluttering the road, shoving each other to get ahead, slowly but steadily closing the half circle they’ve formed around the helicopter.
We can’t hold them off any longer …
Then, a shrill girl’s voice cuts through the noise: “Dad! It stopped!”
Dan turns his head and looks at Lærke, who’s standing by the hose connected to the helicopter.
Sebastian hears her, knocks over one last zombie by jabbing the rod in its eye and wrenching it to the side. He looks for the others and bellows: “We’re ready! Everyone onboard! Onboard now!”
Lærke and Ali, who are standing right next to the helicopter, both climb in through the open door as Sebastian dismantles the hose and lets it drop to the ground.
Josefine is the next closest, and she lowers her weapon and makes a run for it. So does William, calling for Ozzy as he runs. The dog is busy tearing at the neck of some poor woman, but he reluctantly lets go and heads back. Nasira, however, is far away, almost lost from sight in the crowd of dead people whom she’s still knocking over left and right.
Ali screams for her, and she hears him, looking in their direction.
“Come on!” Sebastian shouts, grabbing Dan hard by the arm as he passes him. “We need to go!”
“But Nasi—”
“It’s too late!”
Dan turns around and jumps up into the helicopter. Sebastian is the last one in, and William slides the door closed right behind him.
Unfortunately, a young guy manages to stick his hand inside right before the door can close all the way. His fingers grope eagerly at the air.
“Fuck!” William shouts, pushing hard at the sliding door. “Get him out!”
Josefine begins knocking the arm briskly with her metal bar, but that only causes it to wriggle even more.
Ozzy lunges at it, biting down on the hand, thrashing his head back and forth, and Dan sees the fingers being torn open like overcooked hot dogs bursting on the grill, one of them is even torn right off.
But the dead guy doesn’t mind—he just keeps trying to grab something and now he’s also shoving his head into the crack, as several more hands squeeze past him.
William is shouting, Josefine is shouting back, Sebastian is shouting too, and Ali is crying and calling his sister’s name.
Dan doesn’t hear the words; he’s suddenly thrown back to when he and Thomas tried to get away from Jennie by breaking through the hatch in the ceiling. He recalls how the zombie girl stuck her arm through the hole and no matter what Thomas did to it, she didn’t retract it.
“It won’t work,” he says, so low that no one hears him.
“Break it!” Sebastian shouts, making his way to the pilot’s seat.
“I’m trying!” Josefine shouts, shoving at Ozzy who’s still working the bloody hand.
“I can’t hold it!” William shouts, as the door starts slipping open farther due to the dozen hands wriggling themselves through the opening. The collected moaning choir of the zombie army now surrounding the helicopter drowns out the sound of the rotors, and Dan can feel how the machine starts swaying back and forth.
They’ll make their way inside within a minute. Or maybe they’ll tip the helicopter right over on its side.
“It won’t work!” Dan shouts.
Then he suddenly finds himself acting. He pushes Josefine aside, grabs the metal bar from her hands, steps over to William and jams the bar down hard into the slit of the door, jamming it from going either way.
“What are you doing?” William shouts. “I can’t fu
cking close it now!”
Dan ignores him, turning to Sebastian. “Get it off the ground! Now! Get it into the air, or we’re all dead!”
Sebastian looks at him for half a second, then sits down and starts operating the instruments with quick, certain movements.
Ten seconds later, the sound of the rotors grows more intense and Dan feels the helicopter begin to sway more violently.
“Fuck!” Sebastian shouts. “They’re all over the skids! Hold onto something, it’s going to be a wobbly takeoff!”
Everyone grabs something within reach, and Dan notices the door giving way a few more inches as the zombies apparently sense their prey trying to get away.
Then the helicopter gives a lurch and rises a few feet from the ground. Half the hands fall away instantly, the rest of them holding on desperately, digging their nails into anything they can reach.
But as the helicopter bobs and weaves and lifts farther up into the air, more and more of the zombies lose their grip and disappear.
Dan turns and looks out the window. Looking down at the sea of dead faces staring up at them, a forest of arms reaching hopelessly for the helicopter, he realizes they’re already twenty feet up.
Only two zombies are still holding on: the one whose arm is stuck in the door, and an old woman holding onto his shorts with vehement determination.
Then the guy’s belt gives way and the shorts slips off, sending the old woman sprawling down into the horde of zombies. The guy wasn’t wearing any underpants, and Dan can see his flaccid penis dangle between his pale legs as he tries desperately to grab hold of something with his free hand.
Now that the helicopter is freed from most of the dead weight, it rises faster, quickly leaving the ground and the zombie army behind. But the guy still caught in the door swings back and forth, causing the helicopter to sway dangerously.
“He’s still there!” Sebastian shouts. “I can’t fly with him hanging off the side! You need to do something!”
Dan grabs the metal bar and yanks it free. Then he pulls the door back, and the zombie falls. Dan slams the door shut.
“Holy shit!” William exclaims, looking out the window. “He landed on his fucking head! Serves him right!” He looks at Dan, grinning, then high-fives him hard. “You’re the fucking man, you know that? You just saved all our asses!”
Dead Meat Box Set, Vol. 2 | Days 4-6 Page 51
