by D. P. Sloan
“Are you saying that them out there run?” Lee-Ann asked her with fear in her voice.
Katy nodded, “That’s what he said.” She bowed her head a bit.
“But, but,” Lee-Ann began stuttering, “Those things out there in the school grounds, they were just shuffling along not running! What’s going on?”
Katy shook my head, “I don’t know.”
Just then, they all heard glass break and turned their attention to the windows, down at the far end of the hall they witnessed glass cracking and an arm shredded by the sharp glass shards poke through a hole between folded chairs and desks trying to get in. Everyone screamed and moved away to the far end wall, apart from a fifth-year pupil, called Adam – he ran over, picking up a shard of glass on the way and started stabbing and ripping into the arm that poked through the glass.
“Arghhhhhhhhh,” Adam screamed, “die, die, die!”
He stabbed and stabbed until the arm severed off completely. The owner of the arm screamed and groaned in pain as blood sprayed everywhere. Adam stepped back as the arm fell to the floor, he smiled a wicked smile, “Well at least we know they feel pain!”
The rest of the room shook their heads before the one-armed man came crashing through the window, grabbing hold of Adam with his other hand and pulled him towards the window. Then more hands were on him, scratching, clawing, and tearing at him. Adam screamed for help, but all the students remained where they were as if they were all stuck in the same spot as if glued to the floor. Then Adam was pulled through the shattered window and disappeared into the dark night, screaming endlessly and then silence.
That’s when they all began running to where he was pulled through. They knew they couldn’t save him but they knew they weren’t going to let those things in.
“Get more desks, chairs anything. Charlene, you head to the woodwork department with Andy and get hammers, nails and woods lots of wood,” Mr Brown the assistant head teacher said with authority and both pupils ran out the assembly hall towards the woodwork department.
The groans and screeches continued outside as the dead banged at the windows and tried forcing their way in but they were not having any of it and banded together to stop the mass of the dead coming through our barricade.
It was going to be a long night.
CHAPTER 12
DECEMBER 10TH 2011 – EARLY HOURS
WALK OF THE DEAD
The Southern General was now a slaughterhouse. The sick and the injured had been feasted upon and were now wakening back up – dead. Groaning, screaming. Screaming for food.
All of the attacked, all of the dead began to rise amongst the blood, amongst the carnage. As the dead rose from the grounds of the hospital and down in the morgue, they made their way out of the hospital grounds, shuffling out onto the main road. The main road was deserted now. Cars, trucks, buses and lorries all deserted along the road as their owners ran away from the onslaught of the dead.
The rain was easing off now but the wind was still able to cut people in two.
People hid away from the oncoming attacks. The people that stayed in their houses, done the wise thing and bolted and barricaded their doors and windows, watching from the windows as they saw the carnage outside.
The dead now turned down into the Clyde Tunnel, heading down through the northbound entrance. The Southbound side was closed off completely, with vehicles blocking any way through. From the cars, people remained inside watching the oncoming group of the dead, not wanting to leave the safe haven of their vehicles. The doors remained locked, and they slouched down so the dead wouldn’t see them.
The groans and screeches for food bounced off the historic tunnel as they made their way through it. Then out of nowhere a siren rung aloud in the tunnel. The dead all stopped in their tracks, grouping together as they watched an ambulance trying to get through.
Inside the ambulance wasn’t paramedics it was simply civilians, trying to get away from the carnage on the streets, they crashed into parked cars not known that there were still people in the cars. They bounced off the side barriers, not being able to control the ambulance.
“Floor the fucker John!” said the passenger in the front seat, “let’s get as far away as possible from this city!”
The driver John put his foot down, bumping and crashing into more cars, before he lost control completely. The ambulance spun out of control, flipped on its side and rolled. Rolled over and over until coming to a complete stop.
The dead looked on.
The people in the cars looked on.
Petrol began to leak from the fuel tank of the ambulance, and then a small spark ignited the fuel which spread far and wide down and up the lanes of the tunnel.
The dead screamed in unison, “Fooooooooooooooooodddddddddddddd.” As a few seconds later, there was an almighty explosion as the fuel tank of the ambulance caught fire causing the cars surrounding it to catch fire as well. The people in the surrounding cars began to climb out of the cars, screaming and running, before the dead – led by Steve and Kenzie ran full pelt, groaning and screaming. The dead pounced on the living, ripping and tearing into their flesh, blood and visceral sprayed the roads and walls as each person that left their cars were eaten alive.
More cars caught fire and more explosions echoed through the two and half thousand-foot-long tunnel as more screams from passengers of the cars were caught up in the explosion.
Then……water started leaking from the sides of the tunnel and from the ceiling. The infrastructure of the historic tunnel had been damaged. Water started dripping slowly before it started raining down on the cars in the tunnel. The water began putting out the fires but also began to rise, flooding the tunnel, drowning who was left trying to escape. The dead continued eating the living as the water rose around them. The dead swimming amongst the vehicles heading northbound towards Partick, Scotstoun, Clydebank and Drumchapel.
As the majority of the dead left the tunnel, a rumble behind them made them stop, turn and look as the entrance and exit to the tunnel began to crack and crumble, water spilled out before coming to a halt as concrete began falling sealing the tunnel completely. It was now a watery tomb full of bodies.
The dead that survived all groaned loudly but then what seemed to be a louder groan came from the front of the pack – Steve and Kenzie ushered them to follow them.
Follow them to destroy another part of the city.
CHAPTER 13
DECEMBER 10TH 2011 – MEANWHILE
HIGH ABOVE THE CITY
“I don’t believe what I am seeing below me at the moment. This, this is crazy!” Andrew MacMillan said through the microphone and towards the camera, “I have just witnessed the dead rise from the grounds of the Southern General Hospital here in the Southside of Glasgow, blood – so much blood and body parts and the dead are now alive! I repeat the dead are now alive and walking out of the hospital grounds Eamonn!”
Andrew MacMillan was a reporter working for SKY News. When the story broke that something was happening in the city of Glasgow, he was appointed to head up there in the News Corps helicopter and get an exclusive shot of what’s going on. He wasn’t expecting to see dead people eat the living then the living rise from their deaths to attack and eat other living human beings.
Back in the studio, the news reader watched on screen with the rest of the news crew, watching in shock and awe at the scenes being beamed back to them.
“Andrew can you show us what else you see?” Eamonn asked.
Andrew nodded and told the cameraman to pan round. The cameraman acknowledged. He panned round showing the skyline of the city of Glasgow, smoked billowed from fires across the city, debris littered the streets, cars were abandoned and then they saw the dead leave the grounds of the hospital and head onto the main street.
“The dead are leaving the hospital grounds!” Andrew exclaimed, “I repeat the dead are leaving the Southern General. Where the hell are the emergency services?”
“Emmm Andrew,” the cameraman, �
�most of them are the emergency services!”
Silence was met from Andrew as the camera zoomed in on the dead heading along the road and down into the Clyde tunnel.
“They have now entered the Clyde tunnel via the northbound entrance. Oh, Christ there is hundreds of them!”
Back in the studio, Eamonn and the team sat in silence watching the events take place, then Eamonn spoke up, “Andrew do you know much about the Clyde tunnel?”
Andrew nodded to the camera, “Yes. The Clyde Tunnel was built to ferry the ongoing traffic congestion from the North side of Glasgow to the South side of Glasgow by going underneath the River Clyde. No fuel tankers or explosive carrying vehicles are allowed in the tunnel due to possibly being able to crack the thick concrete of the tunnel walls. Which would cause the tunnel and anyone to be trapped inside almost like a…….oh my God! Did you catch that on camera? Shit, shit, shit – I repeat there has been an explosion in the tunnel! There is smoke and fire billowing out of both the North and South entrances and exits. This is not good, not good at all!”
“Andrew can you tell us what’s going on?” Eamonn asked.
“It’s terrible Eamonn really bad, I believe we have it caught on camera,” Andrew began, “It looks like an ambulance going top speed was pushing through abandoned vehicles coming from the North and heading through the tunnel going South. It looks like it has caused a number of cars to crash into each other causing the fuel tanks to ignite. Oh, shit can you hear that? Can you hear the groaning and the screaming? Please God, please let it only be dead people that has perished in the tunnel, please no living people. Oh God the screams!”
“Andrew can the pilot get lower?” Eamonn asked, “Try and get as much as what is going on down there as possible?”
“What are you crazy?” shouted a voice off screen, “I am not lowering this helicopter, you can forget about that!”
“The pilot has spoken Eamonn,” Andrew told the camera, “and I am sorry I’m with him on this. In fact, Stuart, let’s get out of here!”
“Sure, thing Andrew,” the pilot said again off screen before an almighty cracking and rumble could be heard from below the helicopter. The cameraman panned the camera down as the studio watched the Clyde tunnel collapse and water pour into it from the River Clyde.
As the helicopter pulled up and away and headed back down South to England, the camera zoomed in on the Northbound entrance as through the watery grave that now encased the dead and possible more living people – people started to emerge.
The camera zoomed in a bit more as hundreds of people emerged from the collapsed tunnel, not people.
But the dead.
CHAPTER 14
DECEMBER 10TH 2011 – MID MORNING
While the undead waded through the water that engulfed the Clyde tunnel only to come through the other end making their way through the streets into Scotstoun and on up to Drumchapel following Steve and Kenzie, the other group of the undead were attacking BBC Television studios.
They entered the front entrance of the Television studios and were first met by security, who on seeing the crazed look of the group, shouted to other employees to run and hide. The undead were upon them tearing and biting their flesh, tearing at their faces, the legs and arms, tearing into their bodies.
No one was safe. Screams echoed loud across all floors of the building, windows smashed as people jumped for their lives only to splatter against the pavements below. Groans and moans bounced off the walls of the studios and the offices.
The undead tore through the building and also tore through the living, blood splattered everywhere, arms, legs and heads ripped clean off and either thrown to one side or feasted on in a corner. Those that managed to get out of the building ran to their cars only to be pounced on by others outside and eaten alive.
Total carnage engulfed the studios, there were no survivors.
The dead had taken over the building, over the streets, over the hospital and over the entire city.
As they finished feasting upon the BBC workers, the dead left the studios and began walking across the ‘Squinty’ bridge into the heart of Glasgow City Centre. The bodies that were left behind began twitching and literally all at once began to get back up to their feet. Bodies ripped apart, some with only one arm, some with only half a face, others with flesh ripped off their bones all moved together forming one big group and then headed out over the River Clyde into the City Centre to join up with the rest of the undead.
The once busy town was now deserted and over run by the dead.
The sound was eerie, in fact there was no sound whatsoever, no birds chirping, no dogs barking. The dead walked the streets of Glasgow, and ended up grouping together and walking for miles. They joined up with the Southern General dead led by Steve and Kenzie and they all continued walking for miles. It’s as if Steve knew where to go, where he wanted to go. There were at least a thousand-dead people walking the streets now, through Scotstoun, through Yoker up through Old Drumchapel and Blairdardie and finally venturing into the town of Drumchapel itself.
Steve stopped at the sign that read:
‘Welcome to Drumchapel’
Arching his head up to the sky he growled, “Hoooooommmmmmeeeeeee!” and began walking again while his army of dead followed behind him.
Kinfauns drive they walked as the same went for this town as the rest of Glasgow – deserted. Anyone that survived got out quickly, anyone that remained, hid out of sight once the dead attacked.
The hoard walked on through Drumchapel, passed Summerhill gardens on their right and headed up passed Kinclaven Avenue. As they neared the high school, Steve stopped, grunted to his followers, who all turned and followed Steve into the school grounds.
More groans of, ‘foooooooddddddd,’ came from the group as they joined up with the rest of the dead, who were continuing their onslaught on the boarded-up windows of the school while enjoying the terrifying screams of the school pupils inside.
CHAPTER 15
DECEMBER 10TH 2011 – EVENING
POLICE SCOTLAND HEADQUARTERS
PITT STREET GLASGOW
Chief Constable Brian Hughes stood at the front of the small office below the streets of Glasgow on Pitt Street, what sat in front of the forty-two-year-old father of two was around twenty officers, waiting on their boss to start talking about the incidents all over Glasgow.
“Right obviously you are all aware of the incidents all over the city,” Hughes stated.
Mumbling between all the officers began until one officer at the front of the small office spoke up, “Incident! As that what we are calling this? An incident? Sir there is people eating people out there!”
“I am aware of that officer,” Hughes replied, “but let’s all be professional about this – “
He was cut off by the officer, “Professional about this?” the officer began to stand up, “we can’t be professional, when what we all have literally read in books, played in video games or watched on the movie screen is now happening in our own city. The dead are coming back and attacking the living – eating the living. Then the living is dying before coming back to life and attacking other living humans. We can’t be professional; all you can grant us is weapons. Guns to shoot the bastards in the head!”
“Officer sit down now!” Hughes raised his voice getting higher.
The officer looked at his superior. Breathed deeply. Then sat back down.
“Thank you,” Hughes nodded then finished his talk, “The incidents all over the city have been well documented on TV. As you know our emergency services are stretched to breaking point and we can’t deal with everything or everyone at the same time, hence the fact we are down here away from it all.”
More mumbles from the officers before one piped up again, “Our families are stuck out there amongst all this and we should be out there helping not hiding away!”
“Listen!” Hughes yelled above them, “listen! The department of Health are working with the military for disease c
ontrol using the Health Protection Agency and Public Health Scotland.”
“What the Hell do you mean – disease control? Sir are you saying this is a disease that’s caused this?” the officer at the front interrupted.
Hughes nodded, “According to the department of Health, yes it seems that it’s a viral that has got into the air. Tests are still being done but yes, it is a disease, the health department don’t know what disease but I’m sure they will let us know sooner than later. In the meantime, we wait here where it’s safe.”
“Ahhhh fuck that I’m out of here,” the officer at the front stood up.
“PC Michaels sit down – NOW!” Hughes bellowed.
Michaels shook his head, “No Chief. Look I’m sorry but my wife is at home with my six-week-old son. I’m going and you can’t stop me.” He stormed passed his Chief and Hughes grabbed him on the arm.
“If you go Michaels then you go for good, you won’t have a job to provide for your family!”
Michaels shrugged out of the hold, “Don’t threaten me Hughes. Whatever the fuck is happening out there; is far worse than losing a job at the moment.” He pushed open the office door, headed along the corridor and up the steps to the ground floor; he walked through the reception and unlocked the front door.
On walking out onto the street, he noticed the silence like no other. Glasgow City Centre was simply not a silent place. It was as though it was New York City two – the city that never sleeps as well.
He turned right and walked down Pitt Street towards Waterloo Street. He bypassed the old BT building and then turned left walking along past the derelict site on his left, now being used as a car park; over the road adjacent to where he stood was a tall glass building with a unique red square in the lobby area. In Michaels’ eyes it was a rather striking building apart from one thing – the hoard of the dead surrounded the glass walls. Banging, scratching, and clawing at the glass walls. Michaels saw a man inside the building, and then he saw other people in the building.
