Mark turned his head away from the sight, not caring if Chris lived or died. He heard Chris scream and multiple gunshots but Mark was only worried about his team. Any guilt he had felt for Chris’s team had disappeared.
Once they could no longer hear gunfire or the sound of any roaming zombies, Mark asked Luke to message Gaz to let him know they’d be coming in hot and would need to leave as soon as they got there.
No one spoke as they negotiated the trees, staying close to the road but trying not to break cover. Five tense minutes later, they emerged from the tree line and saw the van.
Hearing their approach, Gaz spun quickly with his bow and arrow drawn, his eyes wide.
“Whoa, it’s us!” Mark shouted, raising his hands.
“Shhh…” Gaz lowered his voice as he issued the command, turning away from them and scanning the surrounding area from his vantage point.
Sensing they were in danger, Mark instantly hushed and raised a finger to his lips to make the others aware. They quietly scurried towards the van, Jack only leaving the safety of the cab once they had reached it.
“There are a couple out here somewhere.” Jack whispered. “We keep seeing a couple of the thin ones but they keep darting back into the trees. It’s as if they’re hiding from us.”
Mark noted how scared he was and once they had opened the rear doors, told him to get back into the driver’s seat. The relief was noticeable as Jack relaxed his shoulders, dashing to the front of the van.
Ishaq and Mark helped Helen inside first. She winced as she stepped up into the van but whether it was to save face or to help them stay quiet, she didn’t make a sound. Luke and Cassie watched the tree line nervously, ready to shout if they saw anything suspicious.
Mark waved at Gaz to get down from the top of the van as Ishaq and Luke got in.
“Cassie, get in the van.” he whispered, noting her hesitation to get in.
Cassie continued to stare into the trees. “I think Eleanor’s made it.” She said without looking at him.
Mark’s heart sank. He hoped Cassie was suffering from post traumatic stress and it wouldn’t last. “She’s gone Cassie, I’m sorry but she’s not coming back.”
“She wouldn’t leave us. She promised she wouldn’t leave us.”
Mark didn’t want to have to force her into the van, fearing it could make her worse. He closed his eyes as he tried to think of what to say. “Cassie. You saw her. You know she’s gone.”
“No. She’s here! Eleanor! Elle!”
Alarmed, Mark opened his eyes to see Cassie running towards the trees. “Wait!”
Mark started to run but before he could reach her, a Scutter scurried out of the trees and pounced at Cassie, pinning her to the floor.
Cassie screamed but her scream was cut off as the Scutter bit into her throat.
Mark stopped in his tracks as he saw two more Scutters run out from the tree line and swarm on top of her. Horrified, all Mark could do was stare at the sight of Cassie being ripped apart by the three Scutters. He felt someone tug on his shoulder and he heard Gaz talking to him. Pulled back to reality, Gaz’s words began to make sense again.
“She’s dead, we need to go!”
Without dwelling on what had just happened, Mark ran back to the van with Gaz. He jumped into the back and pulled the doors shut. Gaz piled into the passenger seat and told Jack to drive. Everyone had heard the shouting outside but Jack still asked where Cassie was. Trying not to upset him, Gaz put a hand on his shoulder and told him to drive again.
The journey back to Ridgetown was sombre. The events of the day haunted everyone’s thoughts, each time Mark closed his eyes, he saw a different resident’s body and the guilt built inside him. He looked around the inside of the van and tried to imagine what the others were thinking.
Helen had her hands around her knee, occasionally looking underneath at the swelling that had started to turn a dark colour. She met his gaze and her face relaxed, she tried to smile but the best she could achieve was a neutral raise of her eyebrows. Her brow furrowed again as the pain returned to her knee.
Luke kept looking at the roof of the vehicle, blinking rapidly. Mark realised he didn’t often appreciate how much harder things were for him. Luke was a lot more sensitive than most people. Whereas Mark would wade into a fight with another survivor without thinking, he knew that Luke wasn’t like that. When it came to the fight or flight response, Luke definitely defaulted to flight. However, more and more, Mark saw him confront his fears head on. When he’d watched Luke fighting earlier, he really had been fighting for his life and he wondered if Luke had ever been in a proper fight before then. Luke was such a non confrontational person that he couldn’t imagine him being the type of person to get into a fight at school, or confront an aggressive drunk person in public.
Now Mark watched the sensitive side of Luke reacting to what had just gone on. He was fighting back tears and Mark wanted to tell him to let it all out, but Luke had his own reasons for trying not to look emotional and rather than bring attention to it, Mark moved on to Ishaq.
Even though he had known Ishaq the longest out of anyone in the group, Mark always found him difficult to read. Ishaq sat with his back against the wall of the van, head upright and not moving besides the occasional rocking from the suspension. He had his eyes shut but Mark found it hard to believe that he had fallen asleep.
“It’s not your fault.”
Ishaq’s voice was calm and quiet. He kept his eyes shut as he spoke and Mark wondered if he’d imagined the voice.
“Huh?”
“It’s not your fault. Any of it.” Ishaq opened his eyes and looked at Mark without turning his head. “I know what you’re like. It’s only a matter of time before you start blaming yourself for everyone’s deaths, thinking you could have done something different. But you couldn’t.”
Mark had been feeling guilty since the moment he realised Green team had gone after Ryan’s car. He wondered whether he’d put too much responsibility on them when he’d asked them to take over the raids while they were gone. Or whether he’d instilled a false sense of immortality in them with how he talked about Red and Blue teams adventures.
“I’m worried they felt like they had to get the car back out of some sense of duty. Like I would have expected it from them.”
“Give me a break.” Helen’s abrupt voice shocked everyone. “This has got nothing to do with you or how you failed anyone so cut the guilt trip. They got themselves killed.”
Mark was a little stunned and look to the others to gauge their reactions. Luke was open mouthed and he couldn’t see Gaz and Jack’s faces but Ishaq had closed his eyes again, returning to his half meditative state.
“They’re not to blame.” Mark began in a quiet voice.
“Then who is?” Helen interrupted quickly. “No one told them to come out here but they did. And now they’re dead.” There was a few seconds of silence apart from the noise of the van. Helen held Mark’s gaze with a stern look. She continued in a more empathic voice.
“And we’re here as well. Battered and bruised, nearly giving our lives to save them. The whole thing could have been avoided.”
In the front of the van, Gaz put his hand on Jack’s shoulder and Helen realised he must have been crying.
“I’m sorry Jack, I know you and Eleanor were close. I really liked her too.”
“It’s not that.” Jack whimpered, sniffing and clearly struggling to hold his tears in. “I’m mad at her too. She said she’d look out for me. She said she wouldn’t leave and I could rely on her. Just like my parents did. And now she’s gone, just like them. I wish I’d tried to stop them. If we’d argued, at least they might have stayed.”
Mark’s own guilt suddenly seemed selfish.
The mood stayed solemn for the rest of the journey. The return to Ridgetown less triumphant than anyone had hoped or expected.
Jack parked the van outside Mark’s house and left in the direction of the house he shared with Ele
anor. Mark nodded at Gaz who jogged after him and put an arm around his shoulder. Initially, Jack tried to shrug him off, but Gaz persisted and Jack allowed him to leave it.
Mark watched the awkward exchange and made a mental note to make more time for Jack over the next few weeks.
Mark, Luke and Helen headed to Gaz’s to meet up with the rest of Blue team, Scott and Dennis. They’d been briefed on the way back so didn’t make a fuss when Red team entered and settled into the living room. Ant and Maisie were with them as well as Liz, who had clearly been crying. Scott filled Mark in on Mo and Idris, Idris was more stable although it would be weeks before his hands began to heal in any real way. They made small talk until Gaz returned half an hour later, he let out a long breath and slumped into an armchair.
“How is he?” Mark asked.
“I think he’s in a bit of shock, said he wanted to get some sleep.”
“Poor kid.” Muttered Helen.
“I think he’ll be okay though. He’s tough. I’ve got faith in him.” Gaz looked nervously at Mark. “What do we tell Ridgetown about what happened?”
Everyone waited hesitantly for his response.
“We tell them the truth. We’ll gather everyone together tomorrow, I want as many people to hear it first hand without the rumour mill skewing the story. I’ll be diplomatic but explain Green team, with all the best intentions, acted on their own and got themselves into a situation that escalated out of control.”
There were a few nervous looks amongst the group.
“I don’t want to turn it into a heroes and villains scenario, I don’t want people looking for revenge or to flair up a war.”
“So we’re gonna let them get away with this whole thing?” Helen asked angrily.
“We’re not letting anyone get away with anything.” He threw his arms up in frustration. “Don’t forget we opened the front door for those creatures to get into their base. If Chris was their leader, he’s gone now, who knows what that will mean for their survival. Right now, we need to look after our own.”
Dennis stepped forward and interjected. “I’m worried that we’re seeing more different types of zombies. It’s like they're evolving quickly.”
Mark stopped himself from mentioning Chris using the word ‘lab’ earlier, worried it would enflame the temptation to strike back at the other survivors again.
Scott spoke up. “If there was another attack like last time with these new special zombies, I don’t know how we’d fair. The Outpost is a no-go zone and there’s still a risk of these people finding Ridgetown.” He didn’t like sounding so negative but felt like he needed to point out what they needed to prepare for.
“Okay.” Mark took charge of the situation again. “Tomorrow, meeting with everyone. Information sharing about the new zombies and start developing contingencies for attacks, zombies and humans. Gaz and Luke… I want you guys to start scouting for new locations.”
“New locations for what?” Asked Luke.
“Incase we need to leave Ridgetown.”
The room erupted in protest.
Mark sat on the table, legs dangling as people began to argue; Gaz refusing to acknowledge the idea, Luke refusing to believe he really meant it, Helen arguing that it made sense, Liz worrying that it would be impossible to move everyone.
Normally Mark’s faith in his ability to be a leader was at least held up by having a plan that he could stick to. Multiple ideas that all contributed to a larger goal, in some way expanding and improving Ridgetown. As he sat on the table, amongst his friends all arguing and the mourning that was building inside him, Mark experienced something he hadn’t felt in a long time. Despair. Despair at not knowing what was going to happen in the next few days, weeks or years. If any of them even lived that long.
Epilogue
Sharky stalked through the trees of the forest closely followed by Rachel, both of them wearing full amor and holding their semi automatic rifles in a ready position. The lab and surrounding area had been cleared without too significant of a loss of their people. They were on a mission to find Chris who no one had seen since he left in the direction of the other survivors.
They were close to calling it a day in the dying light when Sharky discovered an area of forest that was littered with bodies of Scutters. Silently, he signalled to Rachel to move to his left and loop around.He headed to the right and emerged from some disturbed bushes into an opening.
“Here” He shouted to Rachel when he was satisfied there were no loitering zombies.
Rachel returned to the area and found Sharky on one knee. Having placed his rifle on the floor, he was pushing the corpse of a spiked zombie off the body of Chris. Both bodies were covered in blood, the dark coagulated blood of the zombie and the thinner blood of Chris so mixed together that it was hard to tell which had lost the most. Chris’s body was visibly punctured in multiple places and, although a lot of the cuts didn’t appear too deep, Chris’s face was swollen and bruised. His eyes were black and his nose pointed at an irregular angle.
“Should we take him back to the lab or bury him here?” Rachel asked, trying to sound practical.
“We can’t just leave him to rot. We’ll take him back but first I’ll make sure he’s not going to reanimate.” Sharky pulled his handgun from his belt and placed it to Chris’s forehead. He cradled Chris’s head with his left hand.
“I can’t watch.” Said Rachel. She turned her head away, keeping her gun and body pointing towards Sharky should she need to intervene for any reason.
“I’m sorry pal.” Sharky whispered.
Rachel tensed as she waited for the gunshot. But it never came. She looked back at Sharky. “What’s wrong?”
“I think…” Sharky looked at her. His dead eyes just visible through his mask. “I think he’s still alive.”
Copyright
Ridgetown: Neighbours copyright © 2017 by www.philipradford.com
Cover design by P Radford. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any format without permission in writing from the copyright holders. For further information, email [email protected]
About the Author
This is Phil's fourth venture into sharing the scary world inside his head with the rest of the outside world. His first book, 'A Subtle Introduction' is a collection of four short stories that can be found in the Kindle store. His second book, 'Ridgetown: Rising' puts the reader in the middle of Ridgetown during the outbreak. His third book, 'Ridgetown' follows two groups of survivors in Ridgetown and their interactions with each other and the creatures they encounter. He lives in England, prepared for the Zombie Apocalypse, so that he can say “I told you so!” to a lot of people. For more information, please visit www.philipradford.com
Table of Contents
Title page
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue
Copyright
Ridgetown (Book 2): Neighbours Page 21
