Zed Days [Book 2]

by Nick Harland

  Izzy looked a few years younger than Ben and had milky fair skin and light ginger hair, she was thin but not scrawny and held a small axe in one hand that was tarnished with blood.

  Esme came forwards and nodded, ‘I’m Esme but I think under the circumstances the introductions can wait until there’s a nice high fence between us and them. We’re ready to go but we have a broken window in the pickup which isn’t ideal.’ Looking over at the group she spoke up, ‘Can anyone help us fix a door window, our mechanic is back at base?’

  A large, sweaty, red-faced man who must have been retirement age walked over from the group holding a sledge hammer. It must have got the job done but it looked unwieldy to me. He said, ‘Give me a minute to grab some tools and I think I can help. It won’t be a perfect fit but I can get a smaller piece from one of these parked cars that will do until we find a replacement.’

  Their mechanic, whose name was Tony, made short work of breaking into a Ford focus and removing some door glass. He was more careful with the pickup and managed to get the glass in place and up so it was relatively secure, even if there were small gaps either side. I knew it wouldn’t last long if I got surrounded but I had no intentions of getting surrounded. While Tony worked we mingled a little.

  Of the twenty five there were six children between three and fifteen years of age. The fifteen year old was bigger and more muscular than I was and had a pick-axe handle studded with hundreds of nails as a weapon, in places there was still some flesh and bits of fabric stuck between the nails. I said, ‘Hi’ but he only nodded and didn’t meet my eyes. There were three spreading middle-aged men wearing the same colour football shirt who obviously knew each other and none of them looked in any kind of shape. I saw at least two more couples holding hands one of which clung to two of the younger children. I was glad there was at least one family that was still together but from the scared red-eyed look on their faces I wasn’t sure if they had lost someone on the plane or just weren’t coping well with the apocalypse; who could blame them really.

  As we were mingling we could hear and see Edward and the plane and he came on the radio, ‘I’m pretty sure we’ve got enough fuel to get home so we’re going for it. I can land outside the base and if we clear a little space on the road I should be able to take off again. I’ll prepare the others for your arrival, take care.’

  When Tony was done I said, ‘Right, we’re ready to go. It’s about 45 minutes and we know where we’re going. We have to take a few back roads as there is a monster horde outside the football stadium but it was all clear a few hours ago and we’re not stopping. We’ll lead the way.’

  Chapter Twelve – Rotten Eggs

  It was just starting to get dark when we got back to base and the plane was already there, about a hundred feet down the road outside. Edward and Mark met us at the gates. The cars parked inside the perimeter were starting build up and there wasn’t room for all of the ones in the convoy. After discussion we parked the three cars that weren’t going to be much use to us outside the warehouse opposite but managed to squeeze the rest in while still leaving space for a quick exit if we needed it. At some point we would have to drag out the cars we didn’t have keys for and get more organised. There were 43 of us now and when I did the math in my head I admit it brought me out in a cold sweat. I was glad our plan was to split up and set up a base in the factory but right then and there, there were still a lot of mouths to feed all in one place.

  The others had been busy preparing food when we told them we were on our way back and for the time being we had enough water or other drinks for a few days. It was just as well they had brought a few supplies with them and weren’t starving. I could sense the awkwardness as everyone met each other but the new survivors were good hosts and they had organised more vans. With everyone at the base for a few days at least we would use up most of our remaining leisure batteries but we had the solar panel plan pending to recharge them and give us another source of power. Suddenly everything seemed a priority, protecting some of the other cars with mesh, water, food, power, bedding, washing.

  I was stood in the middle of the social area with my head spinning with thoughts of what had to be done when Eve appeared in front of me, put her hands gently on either side of my face and kissed me softly with her full lips so I could feel the extra smooth bit just inside them. The rest of world monetarily disappeared and I was instantly calmer; she was a fantastic kisser. She said, ‘Calm down, you’re practically shaking. No one expects you to organise and be responsible for everything. Yes it’s going to be hectic for a few days at least but more of us is good, remember that. This is going to help us. With all these people working every day, imagine what we can do. And we have a doctor now, and many other skills beside. I heard there’s another electrician, and a carpenter, kitchen fitter.’

  Over Eve’s shoulder I could see Ben talking in a raised voice to the three men in the football shirts. They had obviously found the alcohol store. Each of them was holding a six-pack of beer cans and they were already onto their second. I heard Ben say, ‘We’re guests here and getting drunk the moment we arrive isn’t on, there will be work to do tomorrow…’

  One of the men cut him off, ‘Relax man. It’s just a few cans, you might be a milk drinker but this is our bread and butter.’ Holding and wobbling his beer belly the man added, ‘It’s made us the men we are. We’ll be fine tomorrow.’

  Then one of the others chipped in, ‘Yea, and who put you in charge anyway, we certainly didn’t, so give us a fucking break. That fucking garden centre didn’t have a single drop in it and it’s been bloody weeks. Now piss off and leave us alone.’

  Ben saw me looking at him, and I wasn’t the only one. As inconspicuously as I could I waved my hand to ask him to come over. He walked over and before he could speak I said, ‘It’s ok, let them blow off some steam tonight, we’ve all done it and they’ll be the ones suffering tomorrow, not us.’

  Ben nodded but he was still frowning, ‘I get that but they have been trouble makers since day one. We almost threw them out once for being so rowdy and once one of them hit one of the others who was just asking for some help. It escalated pretty quickly but they couldn’t fight all of us and promised to calm down. They were good for a few days after that but it didn’t take long before they were pissing everyone off again. This was without alcohol. The big one, Mitch, does all the talking, but the other two are quite capable of causing trouble as well.’

  Eve replied before I could and Esme stood by her side looking stern and staring over at the men. She said, ‘Thanks for the warning, I guess we’ve been lucky so far, we haven’t had that kind of trouble. If your lot know what they’re like hopefully they’ll steer clear and we can hang around a keep an eye on them. If there is any trouble we’ll sort it and then we’ll have to have a serious chat tomorrow. Now everyone’s eaten Bill’s showing everyone to their vans and we’re in pretty good shape here. Take your wife and get a decent nights’ sleep in a real bed, you deserve it.’

  Ben smiled, ‘If you’re sure you’ve got this. I’ll help out if we need to have that chat tomorrow. Most of the others seem happy for me to represent them.’

  Bill led the newcomers off and the three men straggled behind. Esme took us a little by surprise, ‘I fucking hate fucking drunk football fans. We’ve worked hard for what we’ve got and we’ve risked our lives every day. You can have my vote now, if they cause any fucking trouble at all they’re out of here and I’ll be happy to throw them out myself.’

  Eve raised her eyebrows and Esme came back from where ever the subject had taken her, ‘My dad liked football and used to take me to matches, it was fun. One day we were in the wrong place at the wrong time and a drunk fan broke my dad’s jaw, he was never quite the same after that, he was a gentle man. That was when I started Tai Kwando.’

  Esme walked off to follow the group and we followed her. Bill got everyone settled and almost everyone chose to go straight to bed. So we didn’t drain batteries unneces
sarily we asked people to share, at least two to a van. The three men were last in the cue and Bill was hesitant, ‘Could you three all sleep in one van as you know each other. It won’t be long before we get the other base set-up.’

  Mitch said, ‘I’m not sharing with these pillocks, they stink.’

  One of the other men punched the man in the arm playfully and replied, ‘I’d rather be a stinking pillock than a rancid…twazzock.’

  The first man punched him back, ‘What ever, but I’m not fucking sharing.’

  The first man turned to Bill, ‘Do you share a van?’

  Before Bill could reply Esme said, ‘I’ll be sharing with Bill. We all need to share to save the leisure batteries, it’s important.’

  The man replied with a sarcastic, ‘Wooooo. Well isn’t Bill the lucky one, though I like a little more to grab hold of myself.’ Then more angrily he added, ‘It’s a few fucking nights and there are plenty of vans. We’re not fucking sharing.’ He had bunched his large fists up and stepped one foot back, into one of the fighting stances Esme had been showing us. I guessed he had been in fights before but Esme didn’t show any fear. Personally my heart was racing and my palms were sweaty.

  Bill stepped in, ‘How about a compromise. You guys can have a van each but as I can’t see you going to bed just yet, or staying quiet, how about you take yourselves outside. There are a few very nice vans outside and that way you don’t have to worry about making some noise. It would be good if you agreed to only use the power in one of them though.’

  The leader of the men looked at his buddies and said, ‘Fair cop captain, we’ll take ourselves outside and then you don’t have to worry about us do you. We’d hate to disturb the kindergarten you’ve got going here.’

  Bill turned to lead them men outside and Esme followed them. We followed behind but Eve whispered in my ear, ‘Andrea’s out there. I think Bill’s forgotten.’

  It was too late to say anything as Bill was already opening the door and the cage was visible on the left. Bill stopped in his tracks a few feet outside the door but the men had already stepped out and had walked a few paces in front of him, looking around.

  One of the men saw Andrea in the cage and said, ‘What the fuck’s this? You’ve got a one as a pet. What do you use it for, target practice. The man walked over to the cage, weaving a little from the drink, and banged loudly on the mesh wall, ‘It’s not very lively is it.’

  The other two were close behind and Bill’s face dropped and he bowed his head, ‘Sorry, it was getting really tense and I forgot.’

  Eve said, ‘It’s ok, none of this is your fault, it’s none of our fault.’

  Eve went to grab Esme and said, ‘No, Esme’, but she was too late.

  Esme marched over to the cage and said loudly, ‘Leave her alone, she’s a friend and she’s not dead.’

  The men all turned to the challenge in her voice and pulled the pin in their grenade. Mitch said, ‘Well what do we have here, a fucking Zombie lover. You might not think she’s dead but she’s going to be in a minute, cos I’m not sleeping out here with that here. And while we’re on the subject, who the fuck you lot are to tell us where we’re going to sleep anyway….’

  Turning his head to look at his mates he added, ‘I think this place needs a bit of a shake-up of leadership, don’t you boys, and I’m certainly not taking orders from a fucking teenager. Now back off while we deal with this like adults.’

  We walked up behind Esme and we all knew the time for negotiation was over, but Eve tried one last thing, ‘Don’t do this. Even if she was by herself you’d loose and I don’t care how apologetic you might be in the morning, if you do this you’re out of here and on your own. You’ve been warned.’

  Esme whispered harshly, ‘They’re mine.’

  A second later Mitch turned, stepped forwards, and swung a powerful roundhouse punch at Esme. Esme blocked with both her forearms hitting the man’s bicep and forearm. The man squealed and his arm fell limp to his side. As the other two reacted Esme lifted her elbow and jabbed it into Mitch’s throat before twisting away and ducking a punch from one of the men and the reaching arms of the other. Mitch dropped making a gurgling sound and as Esme had come up slightly behind the man who had reached for her I knew what would be next. I watched with interest to see what her finishing move would be.

  She stamped on the back of the man’s knee dropping him to a kneeling position and stayed behind him so the other man couldn’t immediately reach her. She even had time to smile as she looked at the man still standing before slapping the man on his knees in front her on either side of his head, over his ears, really hard. He screamed and fell forwards holding his head and I winced, imaging how much that must have hurt and wondering if he still had any eardrums left, I suspected not.

  The last man panicked and lunged towards the nearest person who was Bill. Bill didn’t hesitate and his aim was spot on. He jabbed him in the face with a snap punch Esme had taught us all and he reeled back holding his nose, blood running between his fingers. Although the fight was over Esme was still in a world of her own. She stepped up behind the staggering man and using her other hand to reinforce the move she elbowed him brutally in the centre of his back. He collapsed like a poleaxed cow onto his stomach, apparently paralyzed, taking short gasping breaths without enough to air to even cry out.

  Mitch started to try and get off the ground but, probably as much to save him as anything else, Eve walked over and shoved him with her foot before stepping cruelly on his neck saying, ‘I don’t think so do you?’

  It was all over in a few seconds and I hadn’t noticed the back door open. Ben and a couple of others had seen at least part of it. When they lifted their jaws and stopped gawking Ben stepped forwards, ‘I was going to see if you needed any help, but obviously not. I’m so so…’

  I interrupted him, ‘This is no one’s fault but their own and tomorrow they’re gone. We’ll give them a car a couple of days supplies and I don’t care what they or anyone else say’s, that’s what happening.’

  Ben replied, ‘You’ll have no arguments from us.’

  His eye’s wandered as Esme walked over to the cage and without looking at anyone she said, ‘This is Andrea, she’s our friend. This was her choice after she was bitten and she’s not dead, none of them are. If anyone can’t cope with that they can leave too.’

  Ben looked at me and I nodded and said, ‘We’ll explain tomorrow but these things aren’t Zombies, they’ve been….colonised. As you know, some of them have begun to talk. We think that just like the fit ones can turn into Sprinters, and the big ones turn into what we call Beefcakes, the smart ones are probably the ones that end up talking. Andrea was smart as she was our friend. We’re not naïve and we know she’s probably gone forever but these things are developing every day and we think they have at least basic access to their hosts memories. If Andrea’s in there we want to give her the chance to fight it and come out again.’

  Ben and the others looked shocked and I knew it was way too much to take in all at once. He nodded and said, ‘OK. This is your place and we respect your rules. Obviously we have things to talk about tomorrow and’ looking down at the felled men, ‘you’ve obviously got this under control, so we’ll talk then. Good night.’

  Ben and the others turned around and closed the door. The three men were all groaning but making no move to try and get up. One of them started to say, ‘Sorry, we didn’t…’

  Esme crouched by the man and hissed, ‘Shut the fuck up, don’t say another word.’ Speaking more loudly so the other two could hear she said, ‘This can go two ways. If any of you says another fucking word, just one, I’m going to shove you out of the front gate right now and you’ll almost certainly be fat greasy Zombie snacks by morning. Or….you can be good boys and stay quiet and the moment the sun’s up we’ll shove you out the front gate with a pack of supplies and a car. Nod if you understand?’

  The man nodded and one of the others did too. Mitch didn’t move,
but stayed quiet. Bill shoved them into one of the oldest second hand vans and locked the door. He said, ‘I’m well rested so I’ll watch them for most of the night but it would be good to get a few hours’ sleep before sunrise if someone can relieve me.’

  I nodded, ‘Thanks Bill, I’ll relieve you later. I doubt they’ll be any more trouble tonight but come get us if they try anything.’

  We walked back to our van. Esme led the way and didn’t say a word. When we got inside and I shut the door Eve grabbed Esme in a hug and although she squirmed initially, she didn’t resist for long. Then she started shaking and tears started rolling down her face. Eve moved her to the bed and buried her head in her chest as she started to sob and cry. I didn’t know quite what to do but Eve looked at me and nodded towards the bed behind her. I lay down behind her and put my arm around her, she grabbed it and held it close. Eve looked at me and smiled an understanding smile, I smiled back. It took a while for Esme to cry it out and we knew she was crying for much more than what had just happened. We knew she was crying for it all. Eventually we fell asleep with Esme between us, and it was nice. We were a team and we were strong, even when we weren’t.

  I relieved Bill after a few hours and in the morning Ben and a few others helped Eve and I organise the ejection. Esme watched from the side-lines and didn’t say a word. The men tried to speak when we let them out but Eve said clearly and slowly like she was talking to a child, ‘Shut up. I’ll give you that one but you’ve been told. One more word out of a single one of you and we throw you out as you are. Be good, and you get a car and supplies. One.. more.. fucking... word.’

  After that the ejection went well. The men shambled and limped out of the gates with a pack and some care keys. Everyone was up and came to watch and there was an awkward moment after they drove away. Eve turned to everyone and said, ‘These were exceptional circumstances and we don’t do this lightly. We’ve never done it before, and I doubt we’ll ever have to again. I don’t know what this makes you think of us but we’re a team and we care about each other. We put our lives on the line for each other every single day and now you’re with us we’ll do the same for you.’