by Nick Harland
To my surprise Michelle came back on the radio, ‘I will, I want to… I need to. Izzy wants to come too, Ben will stay with the kids.’
I replied, ‘Good. First we get out of the cars and wait for a few seconds before going anywhere.’
We all got out of the cars except Ben and the kids. Everyone held their respective weapons and looked stupid in their respective cycle helmets or hard hats. The Zed saw us and although it shuffled to turn and face us, it didn’t move.
I led the slow walk to the building and stopped at the small windowless door. Loads of the buildings on the estate were like brick coffins with one or two small doors, very few windows, and nothing to distinguish them from each other at all; it was depressing. I ushered the others to stand well back and Esme stood on the other side of the door, ready as I opened it. We didn’t want to walk down the side of the building to find a flood of Zeds come out of the front to cut off our escape route to the cars.
My heart still raced in that moment before opening the door but I welcomed it. I even imagined the adrenalin surging around my body, giving me speed and strength. I opened the door and Esme and I peaked in while Eve had her guns ready. I didn’t like what I saw and slammed the door shut immediately, saying loudly, ‘Beefcake.’
The building seemed to be some kind of dirty smelly metal workshop and I spotted some mobile welding gear which was a positive. On the negative side there was definitely a Beefcake, they were overgrown and distorted in the their mark two version, and there were at least seven or eight others. I wasn’t sure but I thought I saw one at the back jerk its head up and point at us before I shut the door.
Eve shouted, ‘Stand back’, but barely got the words out before the door flew off its hinges and fell with a loud slap onto the ground in front of us. Luckily the Beefcake fell on top of the door and Esme and I simultaneously caved the back of its head in. I was about to run back towards the cars when Eve shouted, ‘Wait.’
Everyone froze and to my surprise no more Zed’s came rushing through door. Eve, still holding both guns up in front of her, stepped slowly towards the doorway and Esme and I moved so we could see inside too, it wasn’t pleasant.
There was some open floor space towards the back of the building and the Zed’s had gathered into a group, except it was more organised than a group, it was a barrier. Behind the Zed’s we could just about make one out on the floor, its face half submerged in the smashed skull of one that lay next to it on the ground. As Eve stepped closer the one that was, I suppose it was feeding, jerked its head up to look at us through a gap in the wall of Zeds protecting it. It said loudly in that awful gurgling voice that turned my stomach, ‘Now you will die’, then it screamed, or yelled, or something between the two, and pointed at us. Even before it yelled, hairs all over my body stood up and the five Zeds in front of it charged towards the doorway.
Eve holstered her guns and grabbed Seven from her waist, she nodded at Esme and I and yelled, ‘Come get me you fuckers.’
Esme and I stepped back from the door so we couldn’t be seen and with the Beefcake between us and them the Zeds path towards us was hindered. Eve had done the math. With five of them, the downed Beefcake, the three of us, and the others if they wanted to get involved, we would be fine. The first Zed vaulted over the body of the Beefcake towards Eve and Michelle who had stepped beside her. They both swung their weapons and between them the Zed fell. Michelle’s shot may not have been the most accurate, or the one that killed it, but she didn’t hesitate or freeze which was a good start.
Esme, in an impressive gambit, swung at the open doorway the moment the first Zed jumped through and hit the next Zed to come through in the neck, its head whipped forwards violently, almost knocking Seven mark two from her hand; I’m sure I heard a crunching sound. It gurgled momentarily then collapsed in a heap; three more left. Tony stepped forwards with his nailed pickaxe handle and I nodded at him. The next Zed had to slow down to negotiate its way over its two fallen comrades before lunging at Tony. Although it stuck its arm up to block Tony’s attack, and he may have been older and out of shape, he was still build like the arse end of a tank and his muscles hadn’t entirely forgotten their years of work. The Zed fell to the side and I felt the all too familiar splatter of goo on my face.
Izzy shouted, ‘Me’ as the next one jumped nimbly through the door. Seeing Izzy step forwards and everyone else step back the Zed seemed to accept the challenge. I was nervous, Izzy can’t have been more than eight stone and although I might use the word lithe, the words strong or powerful wouldn’t register; the Zed was probably twice her weight. As the Zed surged towards her Izzy stepped to the side and swung the studded baseball bat she was carrying low. The Zed reached for her as she moved and managed to grab her with one hand but the bat hit its leg at the same time. As it fell Izzy twisted, now I can use the word… lithely, tearing herself from its grip. She was quick to finish it when it was on the ground, although it did take two strikes.
Esme smashed the last ones legs as in came through the door and feeling a little left out I finished it. Eve barely waited for me to extricate the pry bar from the Zed’s head before picking through the bodies and running into the workshop. She stopped in the centre of the large space, ‘Damn, it’s gone.’
Esme stepped through the door after Eve and added, ‘That’s not good.’
I was slow on the uptake but before I could embarrass myself with a dumb question Esme elaborated, ‘It knows we’re here now doesn’t it. They’re developing all the time, it could go find some friends and come back.’
I had gone inside, closely followed by the others, and Eve turned and nodded to Esme, ‘It might, but I don’t think it will be back for a while at least.’ Looking down at the Zed the Talker had been feeding off she added, ‘That’s twice now so it’s no coincidence, and we’ve only seen Talkers do it. What the fuck are they doing?’
Finally I had something intelligent to say, so I said it, ‘I think it’s too far-fetched to suggest they get smarter by eating brains, though who knows, but I do wonder what’s keeping them alive this long when most of them aren’t eating. We know they’re still technically alive and we know bodies don’t move without using energy of some kind. I wonder if the alien cells we’ve seen carry their own energy supply but are starting to run low. I’m sure I heard somewhere that the brain uses more energy than any other organ in the body, and it’s a pretty neat trick to control something as complex as a person, so the aliens are probably concentrated there. If the Talkers are using more brain capacity than the others, and they are obviously at the top of the Zed hierarchy, I wonder if they are starting to run low on supplies. If so they might eat the brain of one of the others to harvest the concentrated alien cells for more energy.’
Esme looked at me, mouth agape. Eve managed to control her jaw and said, ‘That’s fucking brilliant.’ It had been a while since she’d said it and it felt good. I may have blushed.
Izzy sighed and said, ‘When we get back someone is really going to have to explain a few things and catch us up. You guys seem to be ahead of the game in more ways than just Zombie killing and survival.’
Esme giggled, ‘Don’t feel bad, you guys did pretty well. We started with weapons, transport, and a science team, we should probably be embarrassed we’re not doing better.’
Tony said, ‘So what now?’
I replied, ‘Now we load up anything of use, like the welding gear and any metal bars or sheeting we can fit in the cars. We need to mark the door to say we’ve been here, then go find you guys a river to wash in.’
The rest of the trip was thankfully uneventful. It took some time at the river and although it certainly wasn’t a cold day, and people were glad to get clean, there was a lot of shivering. Both the kids cried, though Jo only cried a little before pinching her lips together and wading in. Jeremy had to be hand washed on the bank. We kept watch and I knew we were all thinking about the same thing, about our last visit and what we’d been doing before we left. E
ve and Esme conspired to tease me by walking passed me and touching me while we waited. Eve was even unoriginal enough to bend over and pretend to tie the lace of her walking boot.
Esme made it much worse by whispering in my ear, ‘Lovely isn’t it. I know that’s how you like to take her, and I know you love the fact that I like to watch you when you do. You get to take her from behind and kiss me at the same time. You get to hold her curvy hips with one hand and with me pressed up against you, you can feel my perfect round bum with the other. You can even take her from behind and kiss my breasts if you want to. That’s something men almost never get to do, take someone from behind but still have access to kiss tits.’
Eve got up and after looking at my crotch said, ‘Nice job Esme, I think our work here is done.’ Then smiling at me she added, ‘And you better stay there and not turn around for a few minutes, you could have someone’s eye out and there are children present.’
We got back to base and Bill was delighted with the new welding gear and the metal we had scavenged. We’d also found a couple of large hand held pop riveters and boxes full of rivets. Tony found a manually operated sheet steel bending machine that looked like a very expensive metal mangle to me. Before the next team went out Ben insisted we talk to everyone and tell them everything we knew about the Zeds, or aliens, or whatever they were. It took a while and there were as many unbelieving looks as there were questions, but we got there in the end.
Briefly, before the next group went out, Eve had a look at how well Chris could shoot one of the M9’s. She used the car like she had with us, but it was obviously too easy. Then she moved him right back from the car and put a few cans on top of it, and he still did well. She gave him the gun and I think Esme and I must both have had the same look on our faces when he walked off. Eve said, ‘Yes he can shoot, but no he’s not quite as a good as I am. He’s also untested in the field, but I see something in his eyes, something detached when he’s got a gun in his hand. I never had it, but I saw it in others. I was always off if….. I’d had a bad weekend, but they never were. I remember once one guy’s wife had run off with another man and he was normally out of the top ten. That session he kicked ass. I think Chris will be fine.’
Chapter Fifteen – Going it alone
I was nervous letting the other group go out by themselves, when we could have gone with them, but now there were so many of us the three of us simply couldn’t do it all. At some point other teams had to form and go it alone and there was no point in waiting. It was getting harder not easier and they would either make it or not; it was a harsh reality. We were sat on one of the couches having some lunch, spam on crackers, and Esme put her hand on my thigh, ‘They’ll be fine, and even if they’re not it won’t be your fault any more than it is anyone’s.’
Eve craned her neck and looked around. Then she put her hand on my other thigh, slid it up to my crotch and said, ‘You were very patient with our teasing earlier and I have to admit, you weren’t the only one to feel uncomfortable after Esme’s little rendering. I think we’ve got time for a quickie before the others get back and if it helps, I promise to be quite. I know things are different now.’
Esme slipped her hand over Eve’s and said, ‘About time, I’m gagging.’ In the rapidly fading clarity of my mind I wondered at how much Esme had changed in such a short time, but I figured we all had. Eve had even promised to be quiet!’
We were getting good at working around each other in the comparatively cramped space of the van and we were quickly naked. Eve pushed Esme down on her back on the bed and kneeling over her she said, ‘I need to warm up for a minute. You were great earlier, would you do it again? Describe what’s happening, it turned me on.’
Eve began kissing Esme’s neck and when Esme got passed her initial ticklishness she began to talk. Eve was right, it definitely added something we hadn’t done much of before. Eve moved down to kiss Esme’s breasts and I took over on her neck and followed Eve’s path down Esme’s body. Then, rather than describing what she was feeling and seeing, Esme changed tack and started telling us what to do by describing it.
She shuffled up the bed so she was almost sitting up, making Eve follow her. She said, ‘And now, although it’s difficult to drag himself away from sucking my gorgeous warm breasts, Brad is going to kneel behind you. He’s running his hand down the side of your body as he makes his way behind you and he can’t resist stopping for a moment to squeeze and feel your breast as he does. He absolutely loves the way your big breasts hang down when you’re on all fours and how they wobble when he touches them. He loves to cup them and feel the weight of them filling his hands and spilling over the edge of them because they’re so big.’
‘Now he’s behind you he can reach around you and hold both of your breasts. As he presses against you, you can feel how hard he is as he rests between your soft cheeks. While squeezing your breasts and admitting to himself he loves to jiggle them and feel them wobble, he can kiss that place on your shoulder blade that we both know is sensitive. Although I know you love to lick me, and it feels fucking amazing, you have to let me go now so we can make what I said earlier come true.’ Esme got up to kneel up next to me.
‘Now I’m pulling Brad’s hands away from your breasts and making him kneel up tall again. Now I can run my hand down the curve of your bum and because he’s right there touching you, I can hold him and feel you at the same time. It’s warm and hard and he shivers as I touch it. As I squeeze him he looks at me and I can see his eye’s wander down to my breasts and then onto my hips and bum. I’m still tingling from where you’ve been licking me but I’m also tingling from what I know is coming. I can’t help touching myself to remind me where you were and I can feel Brad tense as he watches me do it. I’m close enough that he can feel me and he wants to reach to hold and squeeze my breasts, but he can’t bear to take his other hand off your curvy waist and hips.’
Esme carried on as she had done earlier and although we knew we had to be quick, it was awesome with the talking. As we were dressing Eve said, ‘I think Esme deserves a treat later, anything she wants.’ I couldn’t disagree.
Our red faces and heavy breathing had more or less settled down when we heard voices from outside saying the others were back. There didn’t seem to be any alarm in the voices which was reassuring. We got up and walked outside.
Mark was just getting out of Mary and Chris was getting out of the other car when we arrived, they were both smiling. The others were close behind them. Chris said, ‘It’s all fine, only a few Zed’s in the building across the road from the printing place you said you cleared. I did shoot a couple just to see what it was like, I wanted to be sure. I hope you don’t mind?’
Eve replied, ‘Of course not. How was everyone else. Did different people get a turn. One of the others put her hand up and said, ‘It was hard to stop Mark killing them all by himself but yes a couple of us got a turn. I didn’t do so well and end ended up on my back with one top of me but the helmet saved me and people helped. I’m still shaking from the fear, or adrenalin, but I didn’t die and I think it’s like you said. I won’t be as scared next time.’
Mark swaggered towards us holding a studded pickaxe handle and said, ‘They were fine. Not many pickings in the building I’m afraid but it’s clear at least. We did find a decent sized trailer parked out the back, about twelve by five feet, but I wasn’t sure if we really needed it and none of us knew how to use the tow-bar properly so we left it for the time being.’
It seemed Mark had taken charge of the group and as Eve said the expected platitudes Esme looked at me. Although her young face was almost wrinkle free, a few lines gathered above her nose and either side of her mouth. She knew Mark was potentially foolhardy but he was a good fighter and we didn’t have many choices in that department. We put smiles back on our faces as the others walked towards us and went inside.
Our next trip out, compared to most at least, was dull. The building we hit was unoccupied and had almost nothing worth
taking. Everyone washed and we were back in no time. Mark was only too eager to go out again and stories of his exploits seemed to have travelled, even in the short time we had been gone. I grabbed Chris as the others were organising themselves and didn’t have time not to trust that he wouldn’t repeat what I said. Eve and Esme guessed what I was doing and covered for me, talking to a few of the others.
I said, ‘Please listen and don’t repeat this to anyone. Mark is a great fighter but he’s reckless and as likely to get everyone killed as he is to save everyone’s life. You seem sensible and the others respect your skills. Try and be the voice of reason and if the shit hits the fan make sure everyone runs to the vehicles. Wading in to a horde because Mark has bitten off more than he can chew will get you killed and we need you, understand?’
Chris looked surprised at what I said and took a moment to reply, ‘Ok I’ll bare that in mind.’ Then he walked off to join the group.
Eve, Esme and I went back to the couches and Ben, Izzy and few others were already there. Jim shuffled in his chair and said, ‘I’m concerned about what you said earlier. I’m concerned about base security. You put me in charge of it and I’d be negligent if I didn’t say something. If that Talker as you call them does go and find friends it wouldn’t take much to find the base. We’ve been scavenging and killing and I understand why, but I’m not sure it’s a priority. We have food and water and no one is going to die from being dirty, yet we’re dedicating a day to it.’
‘The improvement to the front fence is good but if I had a horde of Zeds I could command, and I wanted to get inside this place, I think I probably could. You could probably stop them, but you would have use a load of ammo to do so. Fire is good but it isn’t that hard to avoid if someone thinks about it. Fire doesn’t kill them straight off and they don’t seem to sleep.’
