The Common Cold (Book 2): A Zombie Chronicle-Cabin Fever

by Roberts, David K.

  BB worked the winch bringing the two to the door.

  “They can’t get in the door!” he heard the young girl shout up to him.

  “Okay!” he called back. “Tell them to hold on tight and I’ll find somewhere to put down.”

  Looking ahead as he travelled away from populated areas he saw a white blob of open space about a mile ahead.

  “Tell them we’ll be a minute or so,” he shouted back into the cabin. The girl nodded and began to shout the information to the two women.

  After thirty seconds he could see the area clearly now; it had a high chain-link fence surrounding it and he breathed a sigh of relief. This was a safe place to land; there wasn’t a living - or otherwise - soul in sight. Another fifteen seconds and he began a descending approach and landed in the centre of the clearing having first scoured the area to ensure there was no immediate threat, no Infected that could put them at risk.

  Shutting down the systems, he rushed back into the cabin. His wife was standing on the ground outside and he jumped out, landing heavily and literally fell into her arms. Zoë stood guard as the two held each other, oblivious to the rest of the world. He had only fucking gone and done it.

  Chapter 6 - Whatever Next?

  Danny was sitting with Rob; they had turned the settee around and were now staring out of the main window at the frozen lake. The dog was by Danny’s side enjoying an ear rub; Oskar had taken to Danny and wouldn’t leave his side, possibly because his was the first non-zombie face it had seen on the plane. Although the dog was another mouth to feed, he was invaluable as the kids loved him and his devoted presence was helping them come to terms with the loss of their father at Rob’s hands - although that incident was not forgotten and now never mentioned, both Sam and Penny were easier in Rob’s presence. In the pitch darkness at the airport Oskar had also alerted Danny to the Infected that wandered all around them, invisible in the inky blackness in the minutes before their eyes could adjust to the starlight. It was quite probable he would be worth his weight in gold as an alert system - only time would tell.

  It was about seven in the morning and the dawn was well under way. Outside it was well below zero and looked it; hoar frost had made a large part of the window opaque and the greenery outside had turned white. Nothing stirred except small birds searching for insects or the final grubs of autumn in the undergrowth; when it snowed there would be even slimmer pickings for them. Thinking about their upcoming and inevitable hard times Danny suddenly understood the benefits of hibernation and envied animals capable of the practice. Although it was a crisp, clear morning, clouds were already beginning to form; it looked like a cold front was on its way from the east and would be with them by lunch time. It would almost certainly bring snow with it.

  “I wonder how BB’s getting on,” Danny remarked. It had been just over an hour since the man had left on his rescue mission.

  “I don’t imagine he’ll get there much before about lunch time. After six hours of flight, he’ll be knackered.” Rob liked to use a number of English expressions he’d picked up while working in London; he said it helped make his business travels worthwhile.

  “I hope the GPS service continues to work a while yet. Otherwise his return journey will be interesting; with this snow coming all the landmarks he could use as an alternative will be completely covered; how he will see the fuelling points I have no idea.”

  “Fingers crossed then, eh. Probably better off in a helicopter than a plane, I reckon. At least he can fly low and look at signs.”

  The women had taken over the kitchen and had begun to cook a full breakfast and the lads could hear chattering and the occasional laughter; it was amazing how calming the normal smell of cooking was to everyone in the cabin, even Jackie seemed to have overcome her injury and was helping out.

  They would need the energy provided by a good breakfast today; the first thing to do was to make sure the whole area was clear of the undead. At some point they would also have to set about fortifying their domain. If those bloody creatures could survive the sub-zero weather, and BB’s quick and dirty test seemed to prove that, they would eventually make it up here, but hopefully not in large numbers or life would become very difficult.

  “You know, I’ve been thinking about our predicament, Rob,” Danny continued. “I think we are going to have to do some serious planning. Pre-packaged food isn’t going to be something we can depend on to survive. Eventually it will become hard to come by and inedible. We don’t even know how many people survived this thing.”

  “Know what you mean, it worries me too. Not the lack of food but the scavengers. Chuck told me about the two fellas that attacked them in Bolder before they came up here. It’s not likely they’ll be the only ones.” Rob lapsed into silence for a moment. “On another subject, when we were driving here, how many survivors did we see? None.”

  “I know, it’s really weird. I don’t want to be one of just a few survivors of the human race. With luck a lot will probably be in hiding and trying to keep warm. I hope.”

  “Yeah. How much of the population do you think might have survived?”

  “That’s a question and a half. I don’t even know how the hell we didn’t succumb. Based on what we saw in London at least eighty per cent or so were turned. But it could be less, I just don’t know.”

  “Remember you said it was possible the air filtration system in the data centre might have prevented me from being infected?” Danny nodded in reply and Rob continued. “What if there’s loads of us techies out there that have survived because we were in clean rooms at the time? You realise this could mean the rise of the Nerds, don’t you?”

  Danny laughed. “Sorry, don’t think your optimism is valid; if we’re dependent on nerds that would mean we become extinct as a race; with a nerd ratio of about ten blokes to one woman, the odds are stacked heavily against us. Kidding aside, you may have a point. Perhaps there are survivors in major buildings because they didn’t breathe the original strain in.”

  They fell silent again.

  “Jesus, I’ve just had a thought,” Rob said turning to Danny. “Do you know it’s only been about three and a half days since all this began? It feels like bloody years!”

  “Bugger. Such a short timescale for such a big change. No wonder I feel knackered. We haven’t stopped since I came in to the office after the New Year break.”

  The dog’s ears pricked up and he emitted a low growl.

  “Oh, no!” Rob exclaimed. Danny saw it at the same time. A man had walked into their field of view. Judging by the fact that his whole left arm was missing and there was a gash down the side of his face that appeared to have frozen, the man was obviously infected.

  “How the fuck is he walking?” Danny wondered. “He looks frozen solid.” The man was stiff-legged, his distal joints almost completely inflexible; it was a miracle he could stay on his feet at all.

  “Dunno, but he isn’t going to get away,” Rob said reaching for his weapon. Danny followed suit. They still had the Heckler & Koch plastic rifles purloined from the two zombie police officers back in London. Rob liked the way it fitted into his shoulder when he used it, whereas Danny’s attachment to his came from the fact that it was easy to use and had saved him on many occasions in the last few days.

  Donning their coats and gloves they both stepped outside; England rarely got this cold and the sudden chill made Danny’s skin tighten as his blood disappeared deep into his body in response. They looked around, concerned that there might be more where this one came from but it seemed to be alone as it purposefully made its way along the track. They decided to follow it to its destination, if it had one. The walkie-talkie crackled. It was Chuck.

  “Where you boys goin’?” he asked.

  “We’re following this walking popsicle,” Rob answered quietly. “We won’t go far but this one seems to have somewhere it needs to be so we thought we’d check on it.”

  “Want some company?”

  “No, we’ll
be fine. Just want to make sure there isn’t a group of them holing up somewhere nearby.”

  “Okay. See you soon. Breakfast will only be a few more minutes.”

  The thought of food made Danny’s stomach grumble. Detecting the slight sound, the wounded man stopped and turned slowly. The two followers stopped dead in their tracks as it surveyed the area, trying to find the source of the noise. After a moment it turned back and continued on; its hearing might be spot on but its eyesight was clearly failing in the cold, or maybe the temperature meant that the boys weren’t kicking off enough living human smell to be detected at this range; not feeling the need, neither had used aftershave this early in the morning. It continued its journey for a few minutes more until it rounded a bend in the path.

  Nearing the corner the lads split up and took opposite sides of the track. Slowly they rounded the bend using the ice-covered scrub to hide their progress. A group of people, all appearing to be in their late teens or early twenties, were standing together, apparently huddled for warmth. Concerned for their safety, Rob was about to call out to them, warning of the approaching danger. At the last moment he held back; there was something strange about the group. The way they were so still, no-one was flapping their arms to stay warm, no breathed vapour rose from them at all.

  He looked across at Danny and shrugged his shoulders. Danny looked at him quizzically, from his position he couldn’t see any great detail. Slowly he edged forward and then he too went still as he realised what he was seeing. Looking back at Rob he signalled them to retreat to a safe distance.

  “How in God’s name did they get up here? They can’t have walked up from Denver.”

  “My guess,” Rob replied, “is that they are staying, or rather were staying, in one of the cabins at the main lake. Perhaps they were on a hiking trip when they succumbed?”

  “What are we going to do with them? We can’t leave them, that’s for sure, there’s too many.”

  “And they may have fast ones with them we haven’t seen just yet.” That thought chilled them both more than the early morning temperature.

  “Let’s get back to the cabin and plan this properly.” Decision made they hurried back, casting frequent, nervous glances over their shoulders as they went.

  Entering the cabin, they stomped their feet to return circulation to their toes.

  “Chuck,” Rob called. The man walked out of the kitchen. His cheeks were rosy with the warmth generated by the cooking; Danny was envious.

  “What’s up?”

  “We just found a crowd of them around that corner to the west,” Rob explained, sotto voce, not wanting anyone else to hear. “We came straight back as there might be fast ones protecting them. We need to get them all.”

  “How many do you reckon?”

  “About twenty,” Danny piped up. “They don’t appear to breathe.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “No vapour from their breath. We should have seen something from a crowd that large, especially on a cold day like this.”

  “Were they going anywhere, do ya think?”

  “They just seemed to be standing there,” Rob replied. “The guy we followed walked up to them and just stood there. They didn’t make a sound.”

  At that moment Janet walked out of the kitchen. She noticed the tense looks on their faces.

  “What’s up?” she asked.

  “We found some of them,” Danny replied.

  “A lot?”

  “Quite a few. We need to deal with them.”

  “I think we can eat first,” Chuck suggested. “You’ll need the energy.”

  “It won’t take long. It’s all ready now,” Janet encouraged.

  Tom came out of their bedroom; he’d been spending time with his boys, explaining as best he could the situation as it stood.

  “Problems, lads?”

  “Nothing we didn’t really expect,” Rob said. “We’ve found some undead we need to deal with.”

  “Okay. We’d better get the others up and ready. Better if we do this in force I reckon.”

  “I’ll get them,” Danny offered and began to walk away. Janet pulled him to one side.

  “Have you seen Angela?” she asked.

  “No. Why?”

  “I think she might have wandered off with the sergeant and his kid. They aren’t here either. There’s something strange about her, some of the others have sensed it too.”

  “Okay. I’ll ask the Captain; see if he knows anything about the sergeant and the woman.” He kissed her gently and walked off to the room the helicopter crew were using. All he found was the captain and the co-pilot. Bill had removed his dressings and was squinting at Danny as he entered.

  “Hey, Danny,” Bill said, effectively announcing that he could see, at least partially.

  “Hi guys. Breakfast is ready. We also have a situation to deal with and it needs as many of us as we can muster.” He looked at the empty bed. “Where is the sergeant? Is he with Angela? She’s missing too.”

  “Angela? I don’t know,” Mike replied. “Cliff was gone when I woke. I thought he might be out there.”

  “Perhaps they’ve gone for a walk. Not that it’s a good idea. We’ve just found a group of Infected; that’s the situation I was alluding to.”

  “Really? In this cold?”

  “Yep. Anyway, come and get something to eat and we’ll go out and find the missing pair and the child. I wish they hadn’t gone out without letting us know. Bloody selfish of them.”

  Janet and Sandra had made up sausage sandwiches so that they could eat their food more quickly. The smell was wonderful and soon Danny’s irritation at Cliff and Angela was replaced by a feeling of warmth as the food had the desired effect. It was amazing how simple things made such a difference under difficult circumstances.

  “So, what are we going to do?” Danny asked the gathered audience. “We have some twenty or so zombies in a group over there and we have two missing people.”

  “I say we go after the Infected first,” Chuck stated. “I suspect Cliff and the religious girl are in another cabin and almost certainly safe. If not, we still have a large number of the undead to deal with or they will become a bigger problem for us if they split up into smaller groups. This group may not be all of them; we have to be sure. That, and determine if there are any fast ones that can still move quickly in this cold; we have to sort that out as a priority.”

  “I agree,” Mike said, backing up Chuck’s approach to the situation. “Cliff can handle himself and Angela seems assertive enough that she probably can too.”

  “What about his child?” Janet interjected. “It’s alright if they bugger off on their own, but what about the safety of his daughter?”

  “I think we have to trust Cliff to look after her. After all, she is all that’s left of his family. I know I would in the same place,” Mike finished.

  “So it seems to be settled then,” Danny spoke. “We deal with the Infected first, and just have to hope Cliff can look after his daughter and Angela. At least for now.”

  “I know this sounds sexist as hell, and I don’t want to get anyone’s back up,” Tom began awkwardly, shifting from one foot to another as if uncertain he should continue. “But I would feel happier if what we’re about to do is a men-only piece.”

  The three younger wives started murmuring their dissatisfaction at this suggestion and Tom’s face reddened with embarrassment, fearing a mutiny. Ethel just sighed.

  “Please, please, let me explain,” he tried again. “It’s more than just that; we can’t have anyone that’s not proficient with a weapon in this hunt. We don’t know what’s out there, how many, or if there are any fast ones. We have very little information on what’s waiting for us outside. Meanwhile inside here we have four children that need looking after while we do this. I don’t want to have to be watching out for anyone who isn’t used to handling themselves. Sorry but I include you, Laurie, in that number. I am sure Rob and Danny probably feel the
same.”

  “Have to say I agree,” Danny said, bravely. There was a stilted and awkward silence before Rob finally chimed in to defend the men’s position.

  “I know you are great with a gun, Sandy - and a machete it seems,” he said looking across the room at his wife. “But I don’t want to have to worry about you while we’re out there. And I will, you know. It was such a long shot getting back to you at all that I don’t want to risk losing you any more than I have to. It’s going to get pretty crappy in the future but for now I want you safe.”

  Sandy looked over at him and smiled. It was a smile that perhaps should have frightened him. “Jeez. Men,” she began. “You do know we could argue exactly the same point about you men, lover. But alright, I get it. I’ll stay in here - this time. Ladies, will you stay too? I don’t think their egos will stand the strain otherwise. We can get on with our knitting; I have a sweater to finish.”

  Danny felt powerless, suddenly sensing a Lysistrata moment coming on, getting the feeling that the women would be very prepared to withhold their favours, or worse, unless the situation was rectified quickly. He for one wanted his marriage to last beyond this one day.

  “I’d truly like to see Zoë’s reaction to such a suggestion,” Sandy commented.

  “Only if you men,” Janet acceded, emphasising the word ‘men’, “promise to train us up on using guns as soon as possible. How else will we reach your lofty standards?”

  It was clear from the looks on the women’s faces - all of whom had endured significant danger to get where they were at this very moment - that they agreed with Janet’s sentiments. They all wanted to do their bit; it had taken centuries for women to be seen as equals and none of them wanted to step backwards in time, especially in a crisis. Otherwise they would not be relegated to the side lines every time a threat came up, which was likely to be frequent in the new world order.