Ridgetown (Book 2): Neighbours

by Philip Radford

  The driver’s door was yanked open and Zack used all his energy to dive forward at the figure that stood in front of him. The figure jumped backwards and Zack fell out of the car, grasping at the figure’s pants as he fell. He tried to hold on but the pain in his shoulder was too great and he let go, hitting the floor with his face.

  Zack expected to die any second and rolled onto his back. He looked up at the reflective faceplate of the figure and tried to make out any features beneath it.

  The figure stood over him. It looked straight down without speaking, holding the gun in front of it’s waist.

  Zack expected the figure to say something. When it didn’t, his fear grew into a fury. The figure had just murdered two of his friends and shot him. Momentarily forgetting the pain racking his body, he felt a surge of energy. He sat up as quickly as he could and rolled on to his knees. Just as he looked up to stand, the figure kneed him in the face.

  Zack was sent sprawling backwards into the gravel. His vision blurred as his eyes watered involuntarily. The cracking sound that came from his nose sounded horrific and his nostrils instantly blocked with blood. Before he could gather his thoughts, the figure stepped forwards and slammed the butt of their gun into his face. Zack’s world went black.

  Chapter 10

  Gaz sat on top of the van while Jack stayed in the driver’s seat, ready to start the engine at the first sign of trouble. Gaz reassured Mark that the risk of sitting in the open on top of the van was outweighed by the extra visibility it allowed.

  The claim did little to settle Mark’s reservations although most of his time was being spent worrying about Green Team. Mark looked back at Gaz who waved as Mark led the others through the trees towards the industrial estate.

  After a few minutes of navigating the forest as carefully and quietly as possible, Luke’s phone buzzed in his hand. He read the message, whispering for everyone to stop.

  “It’s from Cassie, she say’s they’re in trouble.” He paused before reading the next line. “She says Rhys and Jez are dead… And maybe Zack.”

  There was silence as everyone looked at each other, realising their fears had come true. They looked to Mark for what to do next.

  “Cassie’s still messaging, she’s still alive and still able to use her phone, that’s good news. She didn’t mention Eleanor so I’m gonna hope she’s okay too.” He looked at all of them with a grim expression. “Now’s not the time to get distracted by who we’ve lost or what’s been done, we have to concentrate on who needs our help. The time for grieving is later.”

  The speech was reminiscent of the speech he gave when Ridgetown was overrun by the mob. It wasn’t insensitive but it kept people focused on the mission.

  “If her phone’s on again, does that mean you can find it?” Mark continued.

  Luke scrolled through his phone. “Yeah. She and Eleanor are marked on the map, I’ll share it with you all now.”

  Mark checked his phone as Luke spoke and saw two markers appear on satellite image he had been using to navigate their way through the woods.

  “Okay, they’re to the left of the building so we’ll head there first. If we can find them first we might be able to get them to safety before we try and help Zack.”

  “What if it’s a trap?” Ishaq asked.

  “We don’t really have the luxury of another plan.” said Mark. “We’re gonna have to hope that it’s really Cassie that sent that message. If not, we’ll have to act on the fly when we get there.”

  They carefully stalked through the woods as quietly as they could, Mark leading the way. They crossed the single carriageway, dimly lit through the trees, quickly and moved back amongst the foliage. Luke worried that their brief exposure may have been noticed.

  As they approached the area marked on their phones, Mark risked breaking their silence.

  “Cassie, Eleanor. Are you there?” He whispered as loudly as he dared. The others stayed slightly further back incase it was an ambush.

  “Here.”

  The hushed voice came from his right. Mark walked over to a thick tree and found Eleanor and Cassie behind it. Cassie stumbled over to Mark and gave him a hug, holding him tightly. Eleanor was kneeling behind a thick bramble with her bow lay on the ground next to her, she lowered her binoculars as Mark approached.

  The others followed Mark into the break in the trees and Cassie released Mark, dashing over to Helen and giving her an equally solid hug.

  “They’re dead.” She whispered, burying her face into Helen’s shoulder. “We heard the gun shots and the next thing we knew, they were dead.”

  Helen wasn’t comfortable with such close interaction, she wasn’t sure how to react to Cassie apart from by giving her a pat on the back.

  Sensing her awkwardness, Luke stepped forward and placed an arm around Cassie, carefully guiding her from Helen towards himself.

  Helen was thankful for the rescue and gave Luke a friendly smile as he looked at her. Helen walked over to Mark and Eleanor to get a better handle of the situation and planning their attack, a more comfortable situation for her to be in than the one Luke had rescued her from.

  “They killed Zack as well?” She asked Eleanor.

  “No, I think he was shot and beaten unconscious but they took him inside. We didn’t want to do anything else until you guys arrived because….” The words trailed off as she looked between them before shrugging in frustration. “I didn’t know what to do. Everything went wrong so fast. I know we shouldn’t have come and I’m sorry, I should have known better and spoken out.”

  Mark put a hand on Eleanor’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault. It was just bad judgement.”

  “I wanted to go in after Zack and try to get him out but I didn’t know where to start.” She glanced back at Cassie who was still crying on Luke’s shoulder. “Seeing them murdered broke Cassie, I couldn’t take her with me but I couldn’t leave her either. I’ve never seen her like this before.”

  “We’ll give her a rest when we get back to Ridgetown. For now let’s just concentrate on getting Zack back.”

  “How are we gonna do that?” Asked Helen.

  “No more games. I’m just gonna walk straight up to the game and demand they give him back.”

  “Do you really think that’s wise?” Asked Eleanor.

  “There have been enough misunderstandings between us. I’m not forgiving what they’ve done but I’m not going looking for vengeance either. The main thing at this moment in time is getting Zack back without any more lives being lost.”

  “Mark. Mark!” Luke interrupted the conversation, holding his mobile out in front of him.

  Helen glanced back, looking for Cassie who seemed to be more stable than before. Ishaq was speaking to her and had a hand on her shoulder as he spoke, more of a comforting gesture than supporting her.

  “Gaz has sent a message, he’s heard noises.” Luke continued.

  “What kind of noises?”

  “Hissing noises. Didn’t you and Helen hear those small zombies hissing? He said they haven’t seen anything but definitely heard a loud hissing noise heading in our direction.”

  “To be heard without being seen, there must have been a few of them.” Said Helen.

  “We need to do this fast.” Mark said, loudly so Cassie and Ishaq could hear him. “Ishaq, you and me are gonna go to the gate and demand they give Zack back. Everyone else hang here, keep an eye out for any incoming zombies, there could be a horde on its way. Eleanor and Helen, stay alert with your bows.” He paused while everyone processed what he was saying. “When we get Zack back, or if anything goes wrong, everyone heads back to the van.”

  Ishaq and Cassie joined the others in the clearing.

  “Ishaq, you okay with this? I don’t know how it’s going to go down but I figure me and you are the ones Chris has spoken to face to face.”

  Ishaq started nodding as soon as Mark started to speak. “Always brother.”

  “Right then. Well, there’s not much to the p
lan so let’s go for it straight away”

  Ishaq and Mark headed back the way they had come through the trees and joined the road that led to the industrial estate when they felt they were far enough away not to be spotted. Mark’s idea was that approaching from the road would give Chris and his gang ample time to see them coming before they arrived at the gate and also not give away the position of everyone else. If they strode out from the trees where they were stood, the others wouldn’t be very hard to find.

  Although trying to look as unthreatening as possible, Mark and Ishaq weren’t suicidal. They carried their axes, ready for any zombies that could be lurking in the trees, keeping them on show. Mark swung his forwards and backwards by his side, occasionally aiming for a piece of overgrown grass. Ishaq carried his over his shoulder as if he was a miner returning home after a hard day’s shift.

  As they approached the gate, Mark was slightly surprised that they remained shut. He was convinced the group inside would have seen them coming by now, he could only think that they wanted to see what he and Ishaq were going to do next.

  They stopped at the electric gate and waited. Waited for anything. A voice, a light, the gate opening, anything. Nothing happened. Mark looked at Ishaq who simply shrugged, still wearing his goofy smile in an attempt to look as friendly as possible.

  Mark reapplied his smile and walked over to the intercom at the airlock. He pressed the buzzer and looked up at the camera above him. He pressed it again without waiting very long, leaving his finger on it for much longer than required. A voice answered his second buzz.

  “You’ve got some nerve.” Chris’s voice was instantly recognisable, the tone had the same venom as when they had last spoke.

  “We don’t want any trouble. We just want our friend back.” Mark dropped the smile, thinking it may come across as confrontational to Chris’s obvious distain of him.

  The gate opened and Ishaq waited for Mark before stepping through. As soon as they were inside, Mark looked to his left and saw the ground stained red. He felt rage run through him as Jez’s death suddenly seemed very real.

  Death felt like the wrong word. Mark settled on ‘murder’ and tightened the grip on his axe.

  Ishaq looked at the car that was facing the containers on their right. He felt sad that the situation they were faced with could have been avoided so easily. He could imagine why Green team had decided to do what they did but wished he could have seen them before and talked them out of it. The car was replaceable, Jez and Rhys weren’t.

  Half way to the building, the shutter of the vehicle lock slowly opened, stopping Mark and Ishaq in their tracks.

  Stood within the vehicle lock was a figure in the full combat gear that Mark now expected from Chris’s group. The mask hid their identity but Mark had a feeling that it was Chris. In their hands, an assault rifle casually pointed to the floor but no doubt ready to fire in an instant.

  Next to the masked figure was Zack, hands bound and face beaten. Zack didn’t speak when he saw Ishaq and Mark, he simply bowed his head as if to acknowledge what his actions had caused.

  It made Mark angry to see Zack in such a state and in his peripheral vision he could see Ishaq inch closer, eager to rush over to their friend.

  “Let him go. This stops now.” Mark shouted. He tried to sound authoritative without being aggressive, the situation felt highly volatile and he wanted to take control as quickly as he could.

  The figure shook their head and stamped around in a small circle, betraying their frustration. They pulled the mask from their face, revealing Chris’s furious face underneath.

  “You’re unbelievable, you know that?”

  He pointed at Mark with the mask still gripped tightly in his hand. He shook his head again and threw the mask in Mark’s direction, it landed a few feet in front of him.

  “As soon as I saw these clowns sneaking about, thinking they were being so covert, I knew you’d sent them.” He shook his head again and put his free hand on his hip.

  Mark kept his gaze locked on Chris but stayed very aware of where his gun was pointing at all times.

  “We watched as they trespassed and tried to steal your car back. As soon as this one…” He pointed at Zack with his gun.

  Zack winced in fear but stayed silent. Ishaq took a step forward but Mark held him back.

  “As soon as this one went straight to the glovebox and got a tool set out, I knew you’d sent them to get the car back.”

  “It’s not like that.” Mark’s frustration was evident in his voice. “I didn’t send anyone.”

  “More lies! They’re not your people then?”

  Mark was beginning to worry about how unpredictable Chris was. “Yes, they’re with us. But I didn’t send them.”

  “Oh, so they just found our lab?”

  Mark tried his best to keep his face neutral at the word ‘lab’ and became concerned that Chris was starting to show signs of becoming unhinged. His movements were erratic, his shoulders were high and that slip of information seemed something out of character from the brief interaction they had shared earlier.

  “No, they followed the car.” Mark tried to explain.

  “What? That car?” Chris pointed, holding something in the palm of his hand.

  Instinct made Mark and Ishaq look in the direction Chris was pointing. They had barely had time to look at Ryan’s car when it exploded.

  The bang was loud, making Mark and Ishaq jump in surprise. They both covered their heads and ducked even though there was nothing to offer any cover. Mark felt heat rush into him like a wall although it only lasted a few seconds. He lowered his arm from over his face and saw the burning wreckage of the car. Ishaq had either been knocked off his feet or lost his balance, Mark watched him push himself up from the floor, uninjured in any discernible way. Had the blast been stronger, it would have killed Mark and Ishaq without anything in the way to protect them, it seemed the explosion was just powerful enough to destroy the car and make a point.

  Worried the explosion was a distraction, Mark spun back around to look at Chris.

  Chris stood straighter than he had been doing, he seemed calmer and held the gun in both hands instead of letting it point to the floor. Zack was scrambling back up to his feet, clearly not expecting the explosion any more than Mark was.

  “Car’s gone. So you can go now.” Chris said in a calm voice.

  “Not without our friend.” Mark hoped Chris would be easier to reason with now that he was more settled.

  “Why? So you can all come up with another plan of attack?”

  “I didn’t realise you were killers.”

  Mark was stunned at Ishaq’s outburst. He looked at him in disbelief but Ishaq continued to look straight at Chris with an accusing gaze. As Mark looked back at Chris, he saw Chris getting angry. Mark mentally prepared himself for whatever was about to happen. The gap between himself and Chris was too much for any kind of attack without Chris shooting first, either at Zack or him, or both.

  The world would have seemed silent if it wasn’t for the ringing in Mark’s ears from the explosion. As one second turned into two and two turned into three, Mark realised Ishaq’s accusation had brought a sense of sobriety to Chris who seemed to be close to the edge of a psychotic episode.

  “For all we knew…” Chris spoke quietly and slowly through gritted teeth, “These people were trying to destroy our defences and make us vulnerable to an attack by the rest of you or a horde.”

  “They were an innocent group of people that, thinking they were doing the right thing, tried to return something that was ours. Something that had sentimental value.” Ishaq imitated the tone Chris was using but slightly softened it.

  “Innocent? They…”

  “Yes innocent.” Ishaq cut Chris off mid sentence. “They weren’t trying to hurt you, they weren’t trying to steal from you, they weren’t even threatening you. They were just trying to get something back that was ours. And you killed them.”

  The knot in M
ark’s stomach tightened when Ishaq threw in another accusation. Despite how it sounded to him, Chris seemed to be thinking deeply about what Ishaq was saying. He kept his jaw clenched but didn’t speak.

  Ishaq threw his axe to the floor in front of him. “Let him go, we don’t want to fight you.”

  Chris kept his eyes locked on Ishaq. After a long pause, he finally spoke.

  “Go.” he muttered to Zack.

  Zack looked at Chris with a look of confusion.

  “Go, and don’t come back.”

  Zack looked at Ishaq and Mark with wide eyes as if asking for permission. Mark nodded and Zack walked towards them.

  “Thank you.” Said Mark.

  Chris walked back into the vehicle lock and pressed a button on the wall. Slowly, the large shutter began to lower.

  “The next time I see you. I’m going to kill you.” Chris said coldly.

  Suddenly Chris’s head jerked up and he raised his rifle. “Who’s that?”

  Mark spun around to see Luke running towards the open gate, he was waiving and shouting. Mark couldn’t hear what he was saying at first, the ringing drowning out his shouts. Mark focused as hard as he could on the words and just about made them out.

  “The Scutters are coming, we need to go!”

  Mark turned back to Chris who had also heard what Luke was shouting. Chris was crouching as the door was lowering even more.

  “I knew it! I knew it was a trap!” He shouted to no-one in particular.

  Mark tried to call out to Zack but before he could get the words out, Chris had fired his gun three times.

  Zack’s body jerked forward and blood sprayed out from his body as he fell forward.

  Ishaq dashed forward to catch him but Zack’s body hit the floor before he had covered the distance. Ishaq knew he was dead because he didn’t even try to break his fall by putting his arms out. He saw the bullet holes in Zack’s back and head as he got closer. Feeling helpless, he threw his axe as hard as he could. It sailed through the air and harmlessly bounced off the closing shutter.