Movement came from within and a familiar moan could be heard as we passed by the door. Dark shapes inside the train were moving slowly and pushing against the – thankfully – electronically operated doors. The mindless creatures had no inkling of how to open them manually.
Still we hurried along and out of their sight. I had no intention of fighting a train load of zombies and I was concerned that enough of them making noise would carry to others who were not stuck inside a passenger train.
“Why don’t we just cross over the track and head that way” Candice asked and pointed towards the trees that lined the opposite side of the banking than the one we had descended.
“You are certainly welcome to, but personally I saw enough houses behind those trees that I don’t really want to.” I said.
“You think following the tracks into the centre of the town will be better.” She sneered.
“I think following the tracks through town will certainly give us more options” I snapped back.
She crossed her arms across the ever present bag that was hanging from her shoulder and dropped a few paces behind.
We were soon at the edge of town and the first problem presented itself. The houses that backed onto the tracks were separated by an eight foot high fence made of metal railings, complete with spikes on the top to prevent climbing.
I had no intention of climbing into the gardens so that wasn’t going to be a problem, though the wide gap between the railings was. I cautiously approached the first garden and peered through the gap. Nothing was moving in the garden but the patio doors were shattered and blood covered the ground.
“Ok we need to keep low and move quietly” I said in a whisper. Candice nodded sulkily and Emma looked scared. I gave her what I hoped to be a reassuring smile. It didn’t seem to work.
We set off past the gardens slowly. We kept close to the trees and overgrown weeds at the opposite side of the track, while keeping a wary eye on the gardens. It seemed most of them were well tended and had sheds or bushes and trees to obscure the fence anyway.
While we saw the occasional zombie we seemed to pass unnoticed and we came upon a bridge that carried the tracks safely over the main road.
“It seems safe enough” Candice said thoughtfully.
“Perhaps. Stay low though, if we are seen crossing that, then we could very well have problems.”
The bridge had only a low wall on either side of the tracks and it was several hundred metres long. My back ached just thinking about crossing it while crouched over. I looked at Emma and felt more than a little resentment that she wouldn’t have to crouch so low.
With a sigh I led the way across. Emma still refused to let go of my hand and as irritating as that was, it wasn’t worth the screaming upset that I envisaged if I forced her to let go.
It was tough going and I felt a burning pain in my back before I was even a third of the way across. I added some stretching exercises to my mental list of things to do when I finally arrived at a safe place.
I paused at the half way point and risked a look over the side of the wall. I could see the river Colne in the distance as it wound its way through an industrial section of town. The streets were lined with zombies, most of them surrounding what looked to be an old mill. Its chimney stacks rising high into the sky.
Someone had painted “Help Us” on a banner and suspended it from the roof of the mill. I guessed it still contained people if the zombies were still trying to get in. I was grateful for the distraction they were providing as I certainly didn’t want those hundreds of zombies wandering around where they could notice me.
At a hiss from Candice I crouched back down and continued across the tracks. We were soon across and hidden from view by thick stands of trees and a tangled underbrush. We followed the tracks as they curved around towards the centre of the town.
“Great fucking idea” Candice snarled as we caught site of the train station.
It had a train with three carriages attached, pulled up alongside its platform and a great many undead standing on the platform. A few had fallen onto the tracks and were standing beside the train, staring off into the distance.
Beyond the train I could see what could only ever be called the end of the line. A barrier sat across the end of the tracks and after that was nothing but grass covered open space.
“Yeah great idea” I agreed with a sigh.
Chapter 8
“Well it could be worse” I said, more to myself than anyone else. If I were totally honest I would admit that I was at something of a loss as to how to proceed. We were fairly well sheltered by trees on either side of the tracks where we currently crouched.
Through the trees and down the banking to the right was a small parking area and the front entrance to the train station, also swarming with undead. To the left side across a grass and tree covered area was a housing estate. Ahead of us was out of the question. We would have no chance of making it past the train station platform.
I had no desire to head back the way we had come, so it was towards the housing estate and just beyond that was a large building that I very much wanted to see inside. I lifted Emma over the timber fence that was in place to stop people wandering straight onto the tracks and then climbed over myself.
“What’re you doing?” demanded Candice.
“This direction is our best option, keep quiet and try to stay close to the trees” I said as l lifted Emma into my arms and set off across the grass.
Emma had her arms wrapped tightly around my neck as I moved from tree to tree, tense and alert for any sign we had been noticed. Brown and red leaves crunched underfoot with every step and I was very much aware of the noise I was making.
Candice was noisily following, still holding tight to her bag and seemingly unaware of how conspicuous she was being. I tried to ignore her as I was fairly confident that if she attracted attention, I could outrun her.
A row of terraced houses faced the road. They had no gardens and their doors would open directly onto the street. Their doors had the only colour amongst the dirty stone and grey roof tiles. Windows were shattered with glass covering the stone paving slabs.
Out of the six houses in the row, four had doors thrown open to reveal scenes of carnage in the rooms beyond. A silver car replete with roof rack overburdened with suitcases had mounted the pavement and crashed into the front of one of the houses, pinning two zombies against the wall and they were there still, clawing at the car bonnet in an effort to pull free. The occupants of the car were absent and dark stains covered the tarmac of the road.
With no other zombies in sight I risked a short dash across the road towards the end of the street and the houses. A faint moan rose from the trapped creatures as I passed but soon faded behind me. At the end of the row of houses I paused before peering around the corner.
A dozen or more undead were standing at various points in the road. It didn’t seem as though any were close enough to be a real problem. All I needed to do was make it across the road, over some scrubland and then a short dash to the large building I had spotted.
Candice had finally reached us and asked, “Why’re you just standing here?”
“Keep your voice down” I instructed quickly, “There’s a group of zombies around the corner, we’re going to have to run for it.”
“To where?”
“Towards that building” I said and pointed as best I could with my chin. Emma was becoming increasingly heavy and I was sweating despite the chill.
“Why the hell...” Candice began but was cut off by Emma’s scream.
As soon as I heard the overly loud noise come from her, I spun to see what had caused the scream. A zombie had come out of one of the houses and was making its way towards us. Much of the flesh had been stripped from one arm which hung limply from its shoulders. Lips and nose were also missing and gave the creature a disturbing grin.
Candice had set off running as soon as Emma cri
ed and was already across the road and headed towards the building. With little choice I followed, Emma held tightly in my arms and her head buried against my shoulder.
Twigs snapped beneath my feet and the decaying remnants of bushes tried to trip me as the zombies from the street alerted by Emma’s cry, pursued us. Candice had already reached the building and stood looking from left to right as though she were unsure which way to go next.
I ran straight past her, my breaths coming in gasps and my lungs were burning. The moans of my undead pursuers were coming closer and I was very much aware of the fact that they could run tirelessly whilst I could not.
My one consolation was that I had been right. The building was an enormous shopping centre of some sort. I was hoping for a door that would open around the back of the building.
The first door had no handle from the outside and I passed it with barely a glance, further ahead I could see the open door of a loading bay. I ran into the open bay that was thankfully empty. I had to spend precious seconds prying Emma’s arms from around my neck so I could see what I was doing as I searched frantically for a manual release for the steel roller doors.
At the top of the door was a motor and at chest height on the wall beside the entrance were the buttons that operated the motor. I pressed one of the buttons in the faint hope that something would happen but as always, my luck was bad and the buttons had no power.
I couldn’t see a manual release for the door and realised that we were trapped. Candice was sitting on some concrete stairs that led up towards a raised area that surrounded the part of the loading bay where the trucks would park. A door was set into the wall at the back of the loading bay alongside yet another smaller steel roller door that was firmly closed and refused to open. With nothing else to try I picked up Emma and carried her to the door only to find it locked.
The moaning of the undead was coming louder and I kicked the door in frustration, which did little more than hurt my foot as the door seemed to be made of steel. I wanted to swear loudly but a look at Emma’s terrified face reminded me that I had to remain calm.
“Well this was a great fucking idea.” Candice snapped, her own fear was writ plainly on her face.
“Come here and hold Emma” I said.
“Why?”
“Because if you are holding her it will give me at least a fighting chance.”
She sneered but she took Emma from me. “Keep her turned away, this won’t be pleasant” I said as sternly as I could.
As Candice turned herself and faced the wall, holding the little girl against her chest so that she wouldn’t see the end come, I contemplated killing them both in the few moments we had left. It would certainly be a quicker death than any they would face at the hands of the zombies.
The arrival of the zombies decided for me, I would have to save my strength. I was almost sorry that I had led that little girl to a gruesome end. I lifted the claw hammer and advanced towards the undead as they came around the corner and into the loading bay.
I swung my hammer at the first zombie as it came through the entrance and caught it a glancing blow on the shoulder. I managed a second blow, this time cracking its jaw before dancing back out of the way of its clumsy lunge. My third strike caught it on the side of the skull and with a crunching of bone it was dead once more.
With one down and only another dozen or so to go, I was feeling optimistic as I moved across the loading bay, leading them away from the little girl.
Several more swings missed and I was really starting to miss my hatchet when I ran out of space to retreat as I bumped into the edge of the raised area and with one last swing at a zombie I turned and scrambled quickly to the top.
Most of the undead had followed me across the loading bay but two were trying to claw their way up the stairs, each getting in the others way. Candice with one look towards the threat heading her way dropped Emma and ran to the far end of the bay, as far from the approaching zombies as she could possible get.
I struck viciously at the head of the zombie closest to me as it tried to grab a hold of my leg, before running around the edge of the raised area. I reached the top of the stairs just as the first zombie made it to the top and I kicked out.
Bone crunched and the creature was knocked backwards into the second and I had a momentary respite before the rest of the zombies reached the bottom of the stairs. I kicked at another zombie as it tried to climb the stairs and struck the next with my hammer.
It wasn’t enough to stop them. I wasn’t able to do enough damage with one swing of the hammer and the zombies were coming closer. Arms were reaching over to grab at my ankles and I was rapidly running out of energy to give my blows any real strength.
“Get in quick!” a voice called from behind. I risked a look back over my shoulder towards the voice I had heard.
A bearded man stood holding open the door as Candice ducked through. A young woman was picking up the sobbing and hysterical Emma. The man gestured towards me as the woman brushed past with Emma in her arms.
I needed no further urging and I ran for the door, almost knocking the man down in my haste. It seemed that I wasn’t yet dead.
Chapter 9
The door slammed shut behind us and we were left in darkness. Emma was still sobbing and the young lady who held her was trying in vain to get her to stop. A torch, held by the bearded fellow was switched on and provided a narrow beam of light, revealing rows of shelving stacked high with pallets and cardboard boxes.
“Follow me” Bearded man said and led the way through what I could only assume to be the main stores department for the building.
Another door opened and we stepped out into a reasonably well lit concourse. Large windows set high into the walls and several artfully placed skylights allowed in a great deal of sunlight.
“What is this place?” Candice asked bearded man.
“It was an outlet store before all this began” he said.
“It’s safe at the moment” the young woman added as she struggled to hold a squirming and noisy child who seemed determined to escape her grasp. With a sigh she gave in and released her hold. Emma ran straight to me and wrapped her arms around my leg.
I awkwardly patted her on the head, glad for the moment her crying was muffled against my leg. I shrugged apologetically at the young woman.
“I guess I should say thanks for the timely rescue” I said to the man and woman.
“Yeah, no worries. You’re just lucky we were close enough to hear you.” Bearded man said.
“Come on, you can come and meet the others.” The young woman said before adding, “My name’s Julie and this is Akhtar.”
“Ryan and the little one is Emma” I told her and ignored her questioning look when I didn’t mention Candice who, after a pause introduced herself without looking at me.
Akhtar led the way and I let the others pass by as I pretended to fuss with Emma. When I was happily and safely behind everyone else, I picked the child up and carried her along. She seemed to be calming down a little at least.
The outlet store had one main corridor that ran the length of the building, ending with a large expanse of glass that formed the front entrance. Someone had thoughtfully built a barricade against the entrance, out of everything that hadn’t been nailed down.
Several departments were separated from each other by walls, giving each the appearance of being a separate store in a shopping centre. Various pieces of art adorned the walls, too high up to have been pulled down and added to the barricade alongside the potted plants and benches.
We were led into a part of the building that had been used as a cafe at one time. Most of the chairs and tables had been taken out and added to the barricade. Two more men and a woman were sat at the one remaining table. They turned as we entered the room.
The first man to stand up to greet us was tall and well built with dark hair and thick stubble on an otherwise pleasant face. He introduced himself as
Alan. The other man who called himself John was skinny and his overlong nose and beady eyes reminded me of a rodent. Beth was the name of the woman with auburn hair who was still wearing makeup despite the fact that the world had ended.
After the introductions were made, Beth offered to make Emma something to eat and disappeared into the kitchen. John followed along behind and we joined Alan at the table.
“So where are you from and what brings you here?” Alan asked after Akhtar had explained how he had found us.
“We are headed west to meet up with some friends” I said cautiously. I didn’t want to give out too much information to strangers. “How about yourselves?”
“When the proverbial brown stuff hit the fan, we found ourselves in here with a great many of the undead outside.” Alan said with a glance at his companions. “There were a lot more of us at the beginning.”
“It’s too dangerous to leave at the moment” Akhtar added.
“Yes it certainly is, though you would know that already wouldn’t you?” Alan said with a chuckle.
“Well it does seem to be getting worse out there.” I admitted.
“You can stay here with us if you want” Julie said, “No need to leave here. We have food and it’s safe.”
“No thanks. I think I shall keep going, though if you don’t mind I will spend the night here” I told her with a smile at Julie who looked crestfallen at my desire to leave.
“Sure thing, just pick a place to sleep. You might want to have a look around after you have eaten. This place is full of clothes and you look like you need some new ones.” Alan said jovially. He was beginning to irritate me. His good cheer seemed overly forced though I could of course just be being paranoid.
“That sounds pleasant actually” I said with a false smile of my own, “As soon as Emma has eaten we shall see what we can find.”
Safety Lost (Killing the Dead Book 3) Page 5
