by Nick Harland
‘I would add something though. Currently we have all our eggs in one basket and that worries me. I’m sure anyone who lives around here has driven through the heavy industry estate that Jim worked in. It’s ugly as sin but most of the sites are like fortresses and some of the buildings are decommissioned now. Almost all the buildings have better perimeters than we have with barbed wire or razor wire on top of really high walls and they’re usually really secure huge brick buildings.’
‘The estate is also just across the river from the outskirts of the town centre for house to scavenging, and only a couple of miles away from the big shopping estate we haven’t been to yet. There is a massive DIY store, loads of furniture stores, plumbing and tool stores, and a huge supermarket, as well as a few places to eat. If we found more survivors who wanted to join us we should consider setting them up in Jim’s factory. If either of the groups got into trouble they would have somewhere else to go and we could trade and swap people if we needed their skills for a few days and generally help each other out.’
Jim spoke up, ‘Bill’s right. This place is good, and the vans are certainly comfortable, but the factory is more secure and it would be easier to defend if it came to it. It would take some work to make it comfortable, but there is enough open space inside for beds and furniture. It could become a really secure base close to good resources. We could rig up one of the heavier HGV’s like a tank with the metal and welding gear at the factory and easily smash into any of the huge shops on the trading estate rather than go in by foot if we wanted to. I was thinking we could put a big cage on the back of one that the Zeds could never get into and people could kill the Zeds from inside it, like a shark cage. It would be really scary to be in but I’ve heard the story about how busy a shopping centre can be.’
When no one else went to speak all eye’s turned to me. I said, ‘This all sounds doable but it’s a big decision. The bases are quite far apart, but I suppose with an HGV we could make sure the roads between them were completely clear and I think the radios have enough range for communication. Having somewhere to run to if things went south is certainly a sound strategy, but this is an important decision that could change things for all of us and it does represent a risk. Why don’t we vote. Hands up if people think we should be searching for others?’
Almost every hand went up and although I joined them, my stomach groaned and contracted inside me. I said, ‘Ok, that’s that. I think someone should go with the captain, any volunteers.’
Mark put his hand straight up and when he did, no one else did. He was a logical choice but it felt uncomfortable somehow. I made the most of it, ‘Mark has proven himself as a good fighter so he’s a good choice, it looks like the decision has been made.’
Esme spoke next, ‘If we’re going to the airport again a few of us should go and we should scavenge the village just outside it. It looked quiet. I wouldn’t be surprised if lots of retired people lived there so there should be less people per house and old Zeds are still slower than young ones. There were some nice looking cars outside the houses we passed on the road, so we might find a couple of four by fours to replace the SUV’s. People are going to have to start to learn to fight and it’s not going to get much quieter than that place. We know we don’t need the truck to clear any big accidents so we can be faster and take Mary and one or two of the SUV’s, depending on how many people want to come. We can scavenge while we wait for word from the captain and Mark.’
Eve looked at me and nodded. She said, ‘There is no pressure here, it’s only been a few days since you were in bad shape, but hands up who wants to come kitted up and ready to fight?’
Five hands went up including Marion who was the small marathon runner. She must have noticed my eye’s go to her and she said, ‘I know I’m small but I’m resilient and quick and one day we’re probably all going to have to fight, so I want to start now when its less unexpected.’
The remaining man and three other women’s had hands and up and the only one whose name I could remember was Gill. She was in her thirty’s and overweight but I figured she had as much right as anyone did.
I said, ‘It’s decided then. We should take three vehicles so there is enough storage space if we don’t find any better ones we can get started. We don’t know how long it could all take so we need to take a couple of days of supplies in case. Everyone needs to get kitted up with a weapon, decent clothes, and a helmet.’ Smiling I added, ‘Helmets are mandatory at all times.’
As the meeting ended and the group began to wander off I grabbed Bill, ‘Bill, I’d like you to stay here if you don’t mind. We have enough muscle and you’re the only welder and mechanic, you’re too important to lose. I know you can handle yourself but I also know it’s not exactly your calling.’
Bill nodded and smiled, ‘I thought you’d never ask. There is plenty I can do here. I prefer not to fight if I can avoid it.’
Everyone went to bed and it was common knowledge by now that Eve, Esme and I slept in the same van. We had a quiet night though, saving our energy for the next day. Esme was up early talking to Andrea for a while before we left. Sometimes Eve would join her but she looked pale and sad afterwards when she did. I don’t know if I was a coward or if it was because I was less connected than Esme and Eve, but I never joined them. They told me she had barely moved since she turned but would look up at a sudden loud noise. We hadn’t taken any samples yet, like she’d asked us to, no one could bring themselves to do it.
Chapter Eight – Axe Meets Skull
The convoy was ready early and we set off. We left Mutt behind with Bill for some extra muscle on base but he wasn’t happy about it with so many of us going and scratched at the door when I got into Mary. Bill had to hold him when we left. The captain travelled with us and the others divided themselves between the other two SUV’s, which now had mesh over the windows and radiator protection. We made good time to the airport, avoiding the flyover horde, and we all went inside together. The others were hesitant to go out onto the tarmac again and we took a wide path around the plane that had been their home. As we walked by we saw a couple of Zeds appear at the open door of the other plane but they didn’t try and jump.
It was a few minutes’ walk to the small hanger at the other end of the runway. Gill said, ‘We never investigated here, it didn’t seem necessary.’ Everyone held their weapons more tightly and Gill added, ‘If there is only one let me try, but back me up. I don’t want to be scared of them anymore.’
I glanced at Eve who smiled. Esme walked beside Gill and the captain nodded as he pulled the long metal door to the hanger open. The doors wheels rolled noisily in a groove cut into the concrete and there were only a few small windows high up in the hanger so it was full of shadow as the door opened. Everyone except Gill and Esme were taken by surprise when a Zed rushed out of the gloom.
Gill didn’t hesitate for a moment and went straight for one of the more advanced moves Esme had started teaching us. She was using a baseball bat studded with short nails hammered most of the way in so it wouldn’t get stuck and as the Zed reached for her she stepped to the side and span in a full circle holding the bat out so it had all the momentum the manoeuvre could grant it. She hit the Zed across the back of the shoulders staggering but not dropping it. Another came out a moment later and Esme took care of it. I went for the staggered Zed but Gill shouted, ‘No’ and stepped forwards and swung the bat again, this time hitting the back of its head sending it sprawling lifeless to the floor.
We watched as Gill stepped close to the still body and shoved it with her foot saying, ‘Sorry’ then, looking up, ‘I’m not afraid anymore.’ I would like to leave it there but that wouldn’t be the truth, she then proceeded to throw up like any self-respecting person who had just caved in the skull of their first Zombie would.
We put Mark and the captain on the plane and watched it taxi, gain speed, and take off. Luckily, there was enough room on the runway before it hit the captain’s weekday ride. It always
amazed me planes would take off when they were going so slowly. We knew we might only have a few hours so we made our way back the cars and drove the mile back down the road to the village.
‘Village’ might be a slightly deceptive word to describe the group of houses we were planning to scavenge. They were 1950’s builds by the look of them and mostly semi-detached or terraced, but there certainly weren’t enough to call a town. The first row of twenty or so houses faced the main road to the airport and on the other side of the road there were fields. In a way I was glad Mark wasn’t with us, in a way I wasn’t. We stopped in the cars at the beginning of the row and used the binoculars to try and see any activity, then we repeated the process with the next few houses. They all had nets or blinds and we didn’t see anything.
We got out of Mary and waited. When nothing happened the others got out too and we walked towards the first house. Marion said, ‘My turn to take one this time, if there are only a couple.’
Esme walked beside her, ‘Ok don’t worry, I’ve got your back.’
We gathered in a lose group outside the front door of the first house and still nothing happened. There wasn’t a car in the drive and I risked a peek with my face up against the window. I could see a few slithers of the front room between the vertical blinds, but I didn’t see any movement. I tried the door but it was locked. I nodded at Mathew who had been a labourer and had chosen one of the axes as a weapon. He set about the lock on the UPVC door. It was tough, but with five good strikes it gave way and Mathew stepped back. I kicked the door open but still nothing happened. Going into strange houses always freaked me out and I regretted not bringing Mutt. Houses were less dangerous always tense. I’d rather have a hundred Zeds out in the open where I could see them than a few hiding behind a door.
I said to Marion, ‘Don’t worry we’ll find you one to kill, but having one jump out at you from a hiding place isn’t an ideal first time. Let us go first.’ She nodded and didn’t seem too disappointed.
We carefully searched the house room by room; the tension was constant and unpleasant. It ended up being empty. I turned to the others and said, ‘We should scavenge while we can and it doesn’t take all of us to check a house.’
I looked at Esme, ‘Would you mind staying on guard here while Eve, Marion, Mathew and I check the next one?’
Esme smiled, nodded, and held my hand for a moment as I walked by. Eve and I had been with Esme for a few days and apart from the awesome sex, I was starting to have feelings for her; it was confusing. I had never felt like I did about Eve before and I knew it was love, even if it was a weird, high stress, post-apocalyptic, we could die any day, kind of love. I was beginning to feel the same about Esme but I wondered if it lessened what I felt for Eve somehow.
I was at a party once where a bisexual girl was telling everyone about the ‘commune’ she went to from time to time. She said everyone at the commune was what she called, “poly-amorous”, which apparently didn’t just mean screwing anything that moved. She said everyone there had more than one loving relationship. I thought she was nuts at the time but when I found myself in the same situation, poly-amorous didn’t sound so bad.
We went to the next house which had a shiny three year old Mazda in the drive; I wasn’t impressed. I tried the door with Eve and Marion behind me, ready with their weapons, but it was locked. Mathew stepped in and managed the lock in three hits this time; it was a good axe. I was about to open it when I thought I saw movement through the ugly, flowery, heavily frosted glass upper section of the door. I nodded at Marion who stepped back a step while Eve and Mathew gave her some space. Then I pushed the door open and ducked out of the way.
The Zed was quite old and although it did its best to charge it wasn’t very sprightly. I guess the aliens could make their host ignore pain and not need food or water, and we still had no idea how they managed it, but they couldn’t make muscles strong and joints flexible that weren’t in the first place. Marion stepped forwards and swung her nailed bat at the side of the Zeds head. It blocked but the bat still made a good contact, though not enough to kill it. It staggered and fell and I was glad to see Marion wasn’t complacent, she stepped and finished it quickly, without throwing up. We checked the rest of the house but it was empty.
By the time we’d moved onto the next house the others were busy loading up Mary with the contents of the first. We approached the third house and I nodded at Mathew who nodded back. I didn’t get the chance to say anything as the door flew open when were just stepping onto the drive and two Zeds surged out. I got in a front kick to stop mine, but with the weight of his axe Mathew didn’t have time to swing before a Zed was on him. He did well to keep his feet and duck his head down, as we had all been practicing during martial arts class, so the Zed ended up biting at his helmet.
Eve and Marion stepped forwards to help him but, in a rather confident move even if I don’t say so myself, I kicked my Zed again and held my hand up to stop them. Mathew was bigger and stronger than the Zed I was pretty sure he could handle it. Marion joined me in swinging at mine and with her distraction I got a good swing in that floored it.
As we finished mine I heard Mathew start an increasingly loud roar as he pushed the Zed that had a hold of him backwards towards the house. The Zed hit the frame of front door with Mathews full weight against it and he kept his head down so his helmet hit it full in the face as they came together. The Zed was dazed for a moment and in the space this created Mathew brought the Axe handle sharply up under its chin, knocking it off balance. He pressed his advantage and shoved the Zed using the axe handle until it finally fell onto the floor and he could finish it properly. As he let the axe drop he yelled, ‘You bastard!’
That was the first time I had seen what an axe could do to a skull. For a moment, after taking a second to mentally deal with the gore, I understood why games still favoured the axe as a top tier weapon. As I saw him have to pull the axe free however, I knew I was right in the first place. Weapons that got stuck in skulls weren’t ideal. I allowed myself a moment to enjoy the smug feeling but Eve must have noticed my expression and said, ‘Yes you were right, axes get struck, now let’s move on.’
We took a moment to collect ourselves and check Mathew was alright, but apart from taking a moment to get his breath he seemed fine. We checked two more houses and killed three more Zeds between us. Then there was a gap between the houses as the road bent so we decided to take stock and help out with the scavenging. The others were doing well, and as we had all the tools and equipment we could possibly need we stuck to food, drinks, and any practical clothing. We had a load of empty water bottles to fill but found that pipes didn’t hold quite as much water as we might have liked. We generally found more alcohol than we did other drinks but we took it anyway. I knew it would probably come to boiling river or rain water, as it seemed we could get hold of fuel more easily than water, but I was glad we weren’t there yet.
We were just finishing the scavenging when the radio crackled into life. Esme held it up and we listened, ‘Just checking in, we’ll be out of range soon but we’re doing fine. I’ll check in again when I’m back in range.’
Esme replied, ‘Ok Edward, all good here, let us know if you find anything.’
We were re-grouping after clearing the last house when Marion said, ‘This takes time and there aren’t any four by fours parked on this row of houses. Should we have a look around the rest of village and see if there is another shop or any better vehicles?’
I looked at Eve and Esme who nodded. I said, ‘Good idea, but I don’t think you guys saw what happened when we went down the street to the shop when we were taking you guys back from the airport. You saw a load of Zeds running after us when we retreated back to the cars, but you didn’t see that they seemed to co-ordinate their attack. When we were at the first house in a terraced row they all opened the doors and charged out at once, it was scary as hell. There are more of us now but we need to be careful, they’re getting sneaky. If one cha
rges, any others that see it seem to follow suit. It’s like they’re lying in wait. We’ll take the vehicles and check it out, but let’s be careful.’
Chapter Nine – Pickup
We saddled up and Esme, Eve and I led the way in Mary. It only took about ten minutes to drive slowly down most of the village streets; they were arranged in a grid. We found one old but solid looking Land Rover Discovery and one highly polished white Ford Ranger custom double-cab pickup with a useful metal rollback cover over the back. I have to admit I wanted it just to try it out and because it looked so cool. It was slightly raised with big sturdy looking tyres and had ‘4X4’ painted in big enthusiastic letters on one wing. There was also a small village shop and a backstreet garage that looked promising as far as welding gear was concerned.
I looked at Eve next to me, ‘I suggest we find out if we can find keys to the cars first. I don’t want to have to reload gear from one car to another if I can avoid it.’
Eve smirked, ‘I saw your face when you saw that pick-up, you want it don’t you, maybe even more than five minutes with my breasts.’
Esme giggled in the back seat, ‘That’s mean, asking a lout to choose between tits and trucks, especially when they’re both so beautiful. How about I talk over the plan with the others for a few minutes, and tell them we want to wait a couple of minutes to see if anything moves. They can’t see through this tinted glass and mesh so you can hold up your end of the bargain as long as Brad promises not to drive the truck for a week. Or, he can choose the truck.’
Eve giggled and wiggled in her seat to make her breasts wobble, ‘How about it big boy?’
