“Good luck,” Mo said as he shut the gates.
He turned and walked back to the loading bay. On the ground lay Gary and the dishevelled stranger.
The pair had started to give off an awful reek. It was a tart smell, like something starting to rot in the back of a refrigerator—the kind of smell that stopped you breathing through your nose and forced your tongue to the bottom of your mouth to try to escape it.
“Can’t leave you lying there,” Mo said, struggling against the aroma.
He looked up into the open loading bay. There was no one left. The moment Mo had shut the gate, knowing they were again safe, the others had gone back inside.
Mo spotted a metre-tall roll of white, translucent plastic packing foam. Short of any other material to use as a shroud,he fetched it and went about wrapping the bodies.
***
“What are we going to do with her?” Karen asked.
Shan shrugged.
“We can’t leave her out in the corridor,” Karen said.
“Why not?” Shan asked, not really paying attention.
Karen listed off, “Cause she’ll start to stink the place up. ‘Cause she’s a health hazard. ‘Cause she’s a human being and deserves some dignity.”
“Kyle said she got AIDs from shagging that Math teacher,” Shan said, rubbing her hands against her jeans.
“What? That’s bullshit,” Karen said. “And you’re just trying to avoid the point. We need to do something about her body.”
“Well, you can. I don’t give a fuck.”
“No, Shan, we need to do it. If we don’t do it now she’ll start decomposing and it’ll get worse. This is getting done. Now come and help me.”
“Can’t make me,” Shan sneered.
Karen put her hands on her hips and glared. Shan was right; Karen couldn’t make her.
Karen stood for a moment, desperately trying to think of something to say that would convince Shan to help, or at the very least, a parting jibe that would cut at her.
Nothing came to mind.
“Fine, then. Fuck you.”
Karen turned and exited the first aid room.
She walked the short distance to where the body of Miss Alvarez lay. The blood had congealed and lost its sheen. It was darkened and browner in colour.
Karen had pulled down a black curtain from the drama class and draped it out alongside the corpse. The plan was to roll the body into the cloth, wrapping it up and hauling it outside.
She knelt down by Miss Alvarez’s body and wrapped her hands around her slender ankles. The flesh was warm and sticky. Karen lifted the legs up, surprised by the weight, and swept them onto the black curtain.
Next she walked round to her side with the intent of pushing her onto the makeshift shroud. The blood had spread out like a halo from her wound. It soon became apparent that unless Karen stood in the pool, she wouldn’t have the leverage to tip the body over.
Instead she walked round to the other side and knelt down on the curtain. She bent in and took hold of Miss Alvarez’s hand, and pulled. Her floppy arm whipped round with far less resistance than Karen expected, but as she heaved, the whole body simply slid towards her, rumpling the cloth.
Karen jammed a toe into the body’s chest and tugged. This time the torso started to rise up and over.
A moan slipped from its lips and Karen screamed, jumping back.
Miss Alvarez slumped forward and landed on the curtain. The moaning ceased.
Karen felt the rough brickwork of the wall at her back and her heart hammering against the front of her chest.
“What is it?!”
Karen turned round to see Shan standing at the far end of the corridor.
Karen returned her focus to the body on the floor. She pointed at it and said, “She... she moaned at me.”
Shan marched down the corridor to stand over the corpse. She put her hands on her hips and looked down at the body.
Without warning, Shan whipped her foot back and kicked the dead teacher in the head. Her skull ricocheted to end up looking up at the ceiling.
“She’s still dead,” Shan said.
She walked away.
“Where are you going?!” Karen demanded.
“I need the toilet.”
“Wait—what?” The toilets are at the other end of the corridor.”
“I know,” Shan replied. “I’m going to take a crap on Principal Wood’s desk.”
Karen screwed up her face and shook her head. She shouted, “There’s something wrong with you!”
Karen cringed immediately after the last syllable escaped her lips. She had seen Shan beat girls for less.
Shan walked on, turned the corner, and left Karen’s view.
Her reply echoed back to Karen from the unseen corridor. “Whatever!”
Shan’s glib retort did nothing to allay Karen’s rising fear. Shan had always been wild and spirited, but as the world fell apart there was nothing to constrain her belligerence. Now her behaviour was more reckless and dangerous and Karen didn’t think it would take much for her friend’s allegiance to dissolve.
Chapter 11
School Run
“Look out, you’re going to—”
The sound of meat and metal colliding cut off the rest of Colin’s statement.
“You hit him deliberately,” he said.
Billy hit the water spray and the windshield wipers. The wiper blades squeaked their way over the grimy glass, pulling scraps of bloodied flesh with it. It took a few good swipes and a liberal amount of water before the view was clear again.
“What am I supposed to do?” Billy said. “The road’s too narrow too dick about.”
Colin sat back in the seat, deflated. Out of the side window he could see the looted shop fronts, burnt-out cars, and decaying corpses, some lying still, others shambling towards the car.
“Where do we go from here?” Billy asked as they came up on a junction.
“South. Your right,” Colin said.
“I don’t know why we didn’t think of this before!” Thomas exclaimed.
“Think of what?” Colin asked.
With that, the car was filled with the strumming of a guitar and the wheezing of a harmonica.
“What the hell?” Colin asked.
“Where’s the button?” Thomas muttered to himself.
The nasally vocals cut off and were replaced by static hiss.
“Hey, I was listening to that,” Billy complained.
“Fuckin’ boo-hoo,” Thomas said. “Ask John for a copy of the CD when we get back.”
“The radio—of course!” Colin sat forward again.
“Ah, here it is,” Thomas said triumphantly.
The thick blue digital figures on the display whirled forward for a second before clicking to a halt.
“Turn it up,” Colin said over the headrest.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Thomas replied, flicking the volume control round. “Shut up—that’s it!”
A measured female voice came across the speakers. It was cold and steady with no hint of emotion.
“…a package of initiatives presented to the government by a combined military and scientific think-tank...”
“Is that a computer reading that?” Colin asked.
“Shut it!” Thomas barked.
“...by the Defence Secretary within the hour. The government has declared martial law. As of O-five hundred hours this morning, lethal force has been authorized when dealing with civil unrest. Persons not complying with a military order can face summary execution…”
“What?! They’re shooting people now?!” Colin asked.
“I don’t know—I’m trying to listen to this fucking thing!” Thomas shouted. “Now shut the fuck up!”
“Turn it up. I can’t hear it for you two,” Billy said.
“...operating under a shoot-to-kill policy between these hours. Under the state of martial law, the government has issued orders to call up reservists and off-duty military personn
el to report to their nearest base regardless of service branch…”
“She just keeps saying the government; who’s actually in charge? Who’s giving the orders?” Colin asked.
“I’ve fucking warned you, shut the fuck up!” Thomas exploded, scrambling round in his seat to flail at Colin.
“Cut it out, you two, eh?!” Billy called.
He stretched over to increase the volume, but Thomas’ thrashing around knocked his hand and the radio dial went tumbling to the floor.
The radio hissed aggressively.
“Ah!” Billy screamed. “You battered my fingers, you clumsy fuck!”
The car took a wild swing to the right, then heavily to the left as Billy over-compensated.
“The radio? You’ve knackered the radio.” Thomas’ complaint was drowned out by the screech of metal.
“Christ!” Colin squawked as he was thrown across the back seat.
As the car continued driving forward, the screeching grew more high-pitched and the car’s movement more sluggish.
“What the hell? Are we caught on something?” Billy said as he pushed down the accelerator.
The engine revved and a pair of blood-stained hands slapped up against the right side rear window.
“Christ! They’re on the car!” Billy shouted.
The smell of rubber and the screech of tyres was increasing.
“You’re going to burn the clutch out!” Thomas warned.
Hands started banging against the rear window and the sound of moans rose above the shrieking cacophony of mechanical noise. Then abruptly the screeching stopped as the car jerked forward.
Still trying to recover his balance, Colin was thrown forward in the seat in front of him.
“Okay, okay! Everyone calm down!” he shouted.
“What the hell was that?” Thomas asked.
“No damage done—we just got hooked up a little,” Billy said.
Colin looked across at the door he’d been sitting next to. The glass had a seismic crack sprawling out from the bottom, stretching all the way to the top. Moreover, the door sported a crease, a raised line that widened and deepened the further back it went. The plastic moulding was cracked and white with stress.
Colin let out a gasp of spent breath and shook his head.
“Don’t think John will be too pleased with what we’ve done to his car,” he said.
“We? Was all this dick’s fault,” Thomas said.
“Me?!”Billy snapped. “If you hadn’t been throwing a hissy fit—”
“Ho! Guys!” Colin said loudly. “We’re almost at the school. Let’s focus, okay?”
The pair in the front of the car stayed silent. Colin sensed it wouldn’t be for long.
“Take a left down here and it’s at the end of this road. You can't miss it,” he said.
“Where’s the knob gone?” Thomas asked, his head darting around.
“We can find it in a minute. We’re almost at the school,” Colin said.
“What kind of shitty radio has knobs these days anyways?!” Thomas exclaimed, his head between his knees, scanning the footwell.
“It’s a retro design statement. You can clearly see the thing’s digital,” Billy said, pointing at the LCD display.
“Guys, pay attention. It’s just up here,” Colin said.
“Get your hands off—I’m driving,” Billy snapped, batting Thomas out of his way.
“I’m looking for the knob to fix the radio,” Thomas snapped back, peering at the driver’s footwell.
“I think it fell on your side,” Billy said.
“Look, we’re here! Forget about the fucking radio!” Colin barked. “I’ll nip out and open the gates.”
“Hold on there,” Billy said. “Three of them at the gate.”
“One each,” Thomas suggested.
Billy held his hand out. “I’ve got a better idea.”
He slapped his hand down on the horn.
The zombies turned at the noise.
“”Over here, you fucks!” Billy shouted, his head halfway out the window.
“What are you doing?” Colin asked nervously.
Billy honked the horn again. The trio of creatures lumbered away from the gates and closer to the car.
Shifting the car into reverse, Billy backed up from the pursuing creatures.
“Hold on,” he said.
He slammed the gearshift into first.
The car sped forward and slammed into the three ghouls.
Billy pumped his fist and whooped, “Steee-rike!”
“That’s your cue to get the gates,” Thomas said to Colin.
“Shit,” Colin huffed.
“What is it?” Billy asked.
“The door’s jammed,” Colin hissed, pulling at the handle.
“Give the keys to Thomas,” Billy said.
Colin shook his head. “I’ll just slide across—”
“Give him the keys, quick! Don’t fuck about,” Billy ordered.
Thomas’ hand was flat out between the front seats.
Colin slapped the key into his waiting palm and Thomas was out of the car.
“The lock is stiff! Don’t be too gentle with it!” Colin shouted out of the open door.
“Close the door,” Billy said.
“What?”
“Stretch over and pull the door closed.”
When Colin failed to move, Billy snapped,“Fuckin’ close it! We’ll drive through and Thomas can close the gate behind us.”
“Uh, sure.” Colin stretched over and shut the door, then clambered into the front seat.
Thomas rushed up to the sturdy black gates. It only took a few seconds to find the seating for the key and throw the gates open wide.
Billy drove through at a speed Colin found unsettling. There was a buck as the car bumped over some pulped body part and slip of the rear tyre as it lost traction on the viscous innards. Colin felt sick rise in his throat. He was accustomed to entering the car park with students and other teachers milling around. Billy’s kamikaze speed served to highlight the difference between those halcyon schooldays and the end of the world.
“That it there?” Billy asked, separating Colin from his thoughts.
“What? Oh, the mini bus. Yeah,” Colin said, swallowing down the fresh bile.
Billy brought the car to a screeching stop in front of the bus.
“What you waiting for?” he asked.
“Huh?” Colin grunted.
“Get out and get her started,” Billy said.
Colin stepped out of the car.
“What’d you do that for?!” Thomas shouted from down the car park.
“What?” Colin asked.
“Fuck off like that?!Could you not have waited two seconds for me to get back in the car?!”
“Stop whining,” Billy said, climbing out of the car. “Besides, the exercise is good for you.” He turned to Colin. “Now get this thing started and let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“Yeah, just a minute…” Colin hesitated. “That’s Jenny’s car!”
He walked over to the red car parked up behind the mini bus.
As he walked around the bus, Colin let his fingers drag across its paintwork. He felt a thin film of sludge against his fingertips. The bus had only been sitting out here since last Friday, but already there was a thick layer of grime on it. Colin didn’t think it had been used. The dirt was the accumulation of the soot and ash that the last few days of chaos had swept up into the atmosphere.
He stopped dragging his fingers over the bus and looked down at the black film that he had dredged up. At Jenny’s car he went through the same procedure, ploughing a furrow through to the clean.
“Feels greasy,” Colin said.
Billy walked up behind Colin and ran his finger along the paintwork. He rubbed his fingers together and looked out over the playing fields.
“What was that building over there?” Billy asked, pointing at a burnt-out ruin.
“Old folks’ home, I
think.”
“Fat,” Billy said, wiping his hand on his shirtsleeve.
Colin walked over to the driver’s side of Jenny’s car and tried the handle. It was locked. He shaded his eyes and peered inside.. There was an empty fast food drinks carton and a couple of discarded wrappers, but the interior was otherwise empty.
“She must have been here a few days,” Colin announced to Billy and Thomas.
Billy was tugging at a limb wedged under the wheel arch. It could have been an arm or a leg from all that Colin could tell. He didn’t want to look too closely to find out for sure.
“Come on, stop playing detective and let’s go!” Thomas shouted.
“That’s why they were at the gate?” Billy asked.
“Why what now? Who cares? Come on!” Thomas said urgently.
Billy stopped tugging at the body part and straightened up.
“There’s someone in here,” he said.
“Jenny,” Colin said, quietly at first. He cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted at the school, “Jenny!”
“Quiet now,” Billy warned.
Colin felt Billy’s blood-soaked hand on his wrist, pulling his arm down to his side.
“Don’t make too much noise. It attracts them,” Billy said.
Colin looked down. The blood—or whatever it was—from Billy’s hands had transferred to his wrist. He could feel the hairs on his arms plastered to his flesh with the tackiness of the macabre fluid.
Colin tugged the tail of his t-shirt across the mark and wiped it clear as best he could.
“This Jenny…” Billy said softly. “She special to you?”
“No,” Colin blurted without thinking. “I mean yes. I mean, I’d like her to be.”
“Okay, let’s get inside and take a look around,” Billy said.
“What the hell for?” Thomas asked.
“Colin here wants to find his girlfriend,” Billy said, slapping Colin across the back.
Colin felt the fabric on his back pull away slightly with Billy’s wet slap. He shuddered, thinking of the revolting transfer undoubtedly left behind.
“Fuck her,” Thomas said.
Colin had already begun walking towards a side door.
“Come on, he’s going to look for her whether you like it or not,” Billy said. “He has the key for the bus.”
Demise of the Living Page 16
