The number of vehicles on the road grew as I approached the edge of the town. A small market town surrounded by moorland and occasional outcrops of gritstone. It looked much like a Victorian mill town in the centre with newer and more modern buildings on the outskirts.
Long rows of houses lined the roads with plenty of trees and greenery thrown in. We drove past housing estates that were swarming with the dead. Burnt out cars and dark stains covered the roads and gardens, evidence of the vicious fight someone had put up.
The roads were passable with just the occasional vehicle sitting abandoned in the road. It seemed the town was a little more prepared than the larger populaces and had maintained some sort of order for a while. It hadn’t helped.
I turned the car into a side street to avoid a large group of undead who were making their stumbling way along the road towards us. They showed no evidence of the agility of the zombie I had met at the service station and I hoped that was an anomaly and not an indication of what was to come.
One of the houses in the street had exploded outwards. Bricks and mortar covered the pavement and gardens on the opposite side of the road. The windows of the houses nearby were empty with shattered glass covering the floor. Burnt remnants of the valued belongings that had filled the house littered the street. It was likely not the first gas explosion since the start of all this and would not be the last.
Several burnt corpses lay on the floor before the shattered remnants of the house and I smiled as I realised that someone must have been besieged and had set off the explosion on purpose.
The street ended in a junction and I had a choice of left or right. Neither direction provided any indication that it would get me to the other end of the town any quicker and I banged the steering wheel in frustration at the thought of driving around a zombie filled town in circles.
“What’s wrong?” Emma asked in her quiet voice.
“Nothing to worry about, just trying to decide which way to go.”
“Why not ask someone?”
“Well... because there’s no one to ask” I said with quick glance back over my shoulder at her.
“What about her?” Emma pointed at one of the houses further along the street.
I looked to where she was pointing and was surprised to see a woman almost hanging out of her second floor window as she tried to catch our attention. A group of zombies were standing beneath her window and staring up at her.
With no jacket for added protection and only the few tools I had gathered as weapons against six zombies in the dim light of a cloudless night sky, it would be difficult but not impossible. I pondered for a moment as the woman continued to wave.
Ultimately I decided that I needed directions through the town and after my embarrassing performance back at the village I felt the need to kill something. I turned off the car engine and instructed Emma to stay quiet and still. I selected a steel claw hammer from the tools I had appropriated from the service station and climbed out of the car.
I jogged across to the woman’s house, doing my best to stay as silent as possible. The zombies were still staring up at the woman who fortunately had the good sense not to call out and draw attention to me. Just before I reached her garden fence I stooped down to pick up a broken piece of brick that had likely come from the house explosion.
The garden gate was open and I pulled it closed before lobbing the broken brick at the back of the skull of the closest zombie. The blow did no damage but it certainly gained its attention. A damaged face made all the more menacing in the dark night turned towards me and let out a moan.
It lurched towards me and came up short against the wooden fence. I darted in and whacked the hammer down on its head a couple of times until I heard a satisfying crunch and the zombie slumped down lifeless.
I had the attention of the others now and they were soon pushing up against the frail fence. I caught one on the temple with the first blow and crushed through the thin bone there and into the brain. The next required four blows against the top of its skull before it stopped moving.
With three dead zombies laying their dead weight on the fence and three more pushing against it, the low barrier finally gave way and the remaining undead fell out of the garden and onto the pavement.
While they tried to rise I managed to crush the skull of one. A kick to the head of the next as it started to rise knocked it over onto its side, but the third and final zombie was up and clamped onto my shoulder, its bony grip digging painfully into my soft flesh.
A desperate kick caught it low on the leg and almost caused me to lose my balance. Not daring to try another kick I swiped the sharp claw side of the hammer head across the zombies face and managed to pull loose one eye with a spurt of fluid.
Once again I wished that the zombies felt pain. It would make fighting them so much easier if they actually responded to having their eye removed from its socket. I tried again with the hammer and managed to pull away some skin for my effort.
I was becoming mildly concerned that I would lose this struggle. With limited choices remaining and the very clear thought that its companion would join the struggle any moment, I dropped the hammer and put all my effort into breaking free of its grasp.
The zombies hand came free of my shoulder and I jumped backward away from it. From the corner of my eye I saw that the other had managed to make it to its feet. I turned and ran back towards the car and saw with a quick glance over my shoulder that they were following.
With a rising excitement I reached into the car and grabbed another hammer and a long bladed screwdriver. Armed once again I turned back to the approaching zombies. One eye was closest and I leapt forward, brushing aside its attempt to grab me once again and driving the screwdriver into and through the empty eye socket straight to the brain.
As one eye fell I turned to the other creature, I ducked beneath its clumsy swing and struck hard against the side of its knee with the hammer. The zombie’s leg buckled and it collapsed to the ground. I struck down against it skull with the hammer several times until it was finally still.
I leant back against the car to catch my breath. The nearness of death was always a thrill and I turned and gave thumbs up to a wide eyed Emma to let her know that I was alright before heading over to the woman’s house.
She met me at the door. She had a bag packed and slung over one shoulder, faded jeans and what I would imagine to be a stylish leather jacket. Her dark hair was in a tight bun and if pressed I would guess her age to be mid thirties.
“Thanks for the help” she said by way of introduction.
“Happy to be of service” I said with a wide smile that I hoped looked sincere.
“I don’t suppose you would be willing to let me come with you?” she asked with a smile that was as false as my own.
“If you know the way through this town you are welcome.”
“Sure do. I was born and raised here so know the area like the back of my hand. Where you headed?” she asked.
“For the moment towards the north west, past Burnley and towards Morecambe” I said cautiously. Something was off about the woman she seemed too similar to myself. I didn’t think she was a serial killer but she was definitely not someone I would be able to trust.
“Sounds good to me” she said with another fake smile, “Name’s Candice.”
“I’m Ryan” I said and glanced behind her at the house, “You have everything you need from in there?”
“I sure do. Nothing much left in there anyway.”
“Well let’s get going then.” I said and led the way back to the car and did my best to ignore the itch that appeared between my shoulder blades at the thought of my exposed back being to her.
“Who’s the kid?” Candice asked as we reached the car.
“I’m Emma” said Emma as Candice took the passenger seat.
I started the engine and noticed that the calculating look was back on Candice’s face. I wondered idly i
f this was how other people felt about me. It was an interesting, if somewhat uncomfortable comparison to make.
We drove in silence, the only times Candice spoke was to offer directions or answer my questions of which road to take. We were soon out of the town and travelling along a dark road through the moorlands.
“I expected a lot more zombies back there,” I said to Candice.
“If you had gone towards the train station you would have found a hell of a lot more” Candice grunted in reply.
“What was so special about the train station?”
“Some idiot on the radio told everyone that trains were being used to get people to a refugee centre because the motorways were becoming blocked.” Candice said, “Anyone who hadn’t already tried to get out by road went to the train station. Dumb fucks that they were, they probably lasted about five minutes when the undead got there.”
I nodded and continued driving as silence fell once more. A look in the rear-view mirror showed me that Emma was fast asleep in the backseat. I kept glancing at Candice as she stared out of the window at the dark moors. She made me uneasy and I told myself that I would have to get rid of her as soon as possible.
“Turn left here” Candice said as we approached a junction. “This road will take us all the way to Burnley and just before we get there we can turn off and go around the town.”
“How long?”
“It’s about five miles and should be clear all the way.”
“Ok well if we see anywhere to spend the night, that will probably be a good idea.” I said with a look at the speedometer. I was barely travelling at more than a crawl as I daren’t put the headlights on and could only just keep us on the road in the darkness.
Candice looked over at me and nodded once before turning away with what I thought was a sneer. She evidently didn’t think much of me.
The clock set into the dashboard said it was almost midnight when I pulled into the side of the road.
“What are you doing?” Candice demanded.
“Getting some sleep.”
“I thought you wanted to find a house somewhere? Why are you stopping in the middle of the road?”
“It’s dark and starting to rain” I said with a gesture at the small drops of water that were appearing on the windscreen.
“Is it safe?” she asked.
“We are in the middle of nowhere, we will be fine.” I said and lay back closing my eyes.
I waited and counted out the minutes in my head. When I had reached ten minutes I opened my eyes and looked across at Candice. She had turned on her side, her bag held securely in her lap with her arms tight around it.
When I was sure that she was really sleeping I closed my eyes and tried to get some rest myself.
Chapter 7
“I need to pee” Emma said as she shook me awake. I blinked against the low light that coming through the car windows. A look towards Candice showed that she wasn’t yet awake and I saw no threats from outside the car.
I unlocked the doors and removed the keys from the ignition, placing them securely in my pocket before getting out of the car and letting Emma out. I looked around the area and found nothing but windblown grass and the occasional wind-farm in the distance.
Emma’s hand slipped into mine and I looked down at her in surprise. She looked scared and it occurred to me that while she hadn’t been in tears since the service station, she hadn’t mentioned her sister of parents either. I wondered if that was a sign of shock before putting the thought aside as something to ask Lily.
Since she showed no inclination to release her hold despite one attempt to pull my hand away, I gave up and led her to the side of the road and the crumbling remains of a stone wall.
“You can go behind there” I said and pointed.
“Is it safe?”
“It certainly looks that way” I said and when her expression didn’t change I added, “Yes it is safe and I will stand guard for you. Ok?”
Emma nodded and released my hand long enough to scamper behind the wall. I had no interest in watching her pee so politely turned my back and studied the horizon. It would be easy to consider the world was fine in this place.
The cold wind was definitely not appreciated but the moors had an almost desolate appearance that I found immensely peaceful. The light rain that had fallen throughout the night had passed along and though dark clouds filled the sky they were not releasing their stored rain water.
“I’m done” Emma said as she came around the wall and took a firm grip on my hand. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and led the way back to the car. She climbed in happily and I had a quick rummage through the food that Grace had provided.
A small package of tin foil was unwrapped to reveal some cooked chicken which I shared with Emma and then left her munching an apple as I went to relieve myself.
When I climbed back into the car Candice was awake and staring out of the window, still clutching tightly to her bag.
“You need to pee?” I asked and shrugged as she silently shook her head.
I set off driving and managed to get a reasonable amount of speed going since I could actually see the road. After a short while I saw a road branch off to my left but since Candice didn’t say anything I kept going.
Another side road passed and then finally we were at a junction. Candice told me curtly to take the right hand road before lapsing back into silence. Emma was quietly singing a song to amuse herself in the back seat and I was happy not to have to talk to anyone.
When the third turn off to the right came along Candice spoke. “Turn here and go straight on. We’ll need to go through the village of Worsthorne and then its straight north for a while.”
“What then?” I asked her.
“Then we reach the motorway, cross that and we can make it to the Forest of Bowland and through that to Morecambe on the other side.”
“The motorway will be a nightmare you should know that” I told her in annoyance.
“We don’t have much choice unless you want to head straight through Burnley.” She retorted.
I muttered a few choice words beneath my breath to keep Emma from overhearing them. The last thing I needed was her repeating a load of curse words when we finally made it to Lily and the others. I turned the car to the right and headed towards Worsthorne.
Narrow streets choked with leaves and the undead. Burnley must have been hit hard enough that the outlying villages had fallen, or perhaps someone from this village was infected elsewhere. Not that it mattered really if anyone was alive in Worsthorne, then they were hiding.
We passed through quickly with more than one new dent in the bonnet of the car. I was becoming concerned about the petrol level and I was convinced that we would need some fuel soon.
One more zombie bounced off the front of the car and we were out of the village and driving at speed along the country road beyond. I had to swerve around an abandoned car that had just been left in the middle of the road and the village passed out of sight behind us.
I was sure that more than one zombie would be following us down the road, but I was equally sure that we would soon outdistance them and in a short time we were approaching the town of Colne.
It was immediately clear that we would need to abandon the car. The roads leading into Colne were choked with vehicles and a great many zombies.
“Just great. Now what do we do?” Candice asked.
“Well I guess we abandon the car and walk” I said with a sigh.
“We can’t go through them though” she said.
“No. If we get out here and cut across the fields we can probably reach those train tracks” I said and pointed to the train that sat unmoving on the tracks in the distance. “From there we can see.”
“That’s a bloody stupid idea.” Candice said with a sneer.
“No one is asking you to come along” I said with a grin as I climbed out and opened the door for Emma.
“I really don’t care what you want. I have no interest in coddling you.” I said and allowed a sneer of my own.
“Please. I’m sorry; I won’t need you to coddle me. I promise.” She said, her tone changing from pleading to wheedling. It was almost entertaining.
“You won’t leave me will you?” Emma piped up with tears forming as she climbed from the car and I knew I was defeated, so did Candice who played on Emma’s’ fear.
“It’s ok kiddo, you can stay with me.” She said reaching out to take Emma’s hand.
“Enough” I told her sternly. “You can come if you must.” Before crouching down before Emma and saying “I won’t leave you, I promise.”
Emma seemed reassured and I ignored the smug smile that Candice wore. With Emma taking a firm hold on my hand once again, I led the way from the road and across the field. I had left all but one hammer and the small supply of food in the car. I could only carry so much.
Candice had irritated me and I knew from experience that it was a very short step from irritated to murder. As soon as I was able, I would rid myself of her one way or another.
We trudged across the unkempt grass covered ground that rose and fell in little waves. Small hummocks of grass and the occasional stand of trees dotted the area and to our right were the outermost dwellings of the town of Colne.
I wasn’t concerned about being seen or heard as we were far enough from the houses that we should go unnoticed. Zombies weren’t the most vigilant bunch and the few I could see on the roads beyond the houses were either just standing still or wandering around listlessly.
The train tracks were at the bottom of a gentle incline and with Emma holding tight to my hand I made it down to the bottom without falling flat on my face. A faint twinge from my ankle reminded me that it wasn’t fully healed and that I should avoid walking at odd angles.
When I came abreast of the train I pulled Emma to one side and covered her view with my body as much as possible. The last thing I needed was for her to get loudly upset. I stayed on alert as we passed. We were low enough that we would have to jump to see into the windows but from our angle I could see blood covered many of them.
Safety Lost (Killing the Dead Book 3) Page 4
