The Farm

by Carter, Stuart

  The room was empty. It was a decent sized bedroom. There had been a fight there recently. A bedside table lay on its side, a broken lamp beside it, and several books. There was blood on the bedsheets, and on the carpet next to the bed. More blood was smeared on one of the walls, and was slowly congealing. On the floor was a green first aid box, with a pile of plasters and bandages next to it. Another open door led to an equally deserted en-suite bathroom, which had remained pristine. There was no sign that the people who had fought were still there. Tim assumed that one of them now lay dead on the kitchen floor, and that another was moving behind one of the other doors. He turned to go back and tell the others what he had seen, and found that they had already started to follow him up the stairs, emboldened by the lack of noise above them. They moved as silently as he had.

  Following Tim’s indication that it was safe, they all gathered in the bedroom, and locked the door behind themselves. Avoiding the patches of blood, most of them found somewhere to sit. It was crowded, and the room quickly became hot and stuffy. To start with no one spoke. They were all straining their ears to hear if they had been followed from their own flats, of if the other occupants in the house had registered their presence. From inside they could hear movement, a scraping across the floors and along the walls. From outside, very little. They were in an old building, with thick walls, more recently divided up into several individual houses. Sound did not travel far. After at least quarter of an hour passed, Jed moved beside Jose, and whispered to him,

  “So, what do you think we should do next?” All eyes turned towards them.

  “We wait here for a couple of hours so anyone that followed us has time to move on. Then we need to find somewhere better.” They both whispered quietly enough that most of the people around couldn’t hear, let alone anyone who may be outside the room. Still they were both nervous about the volume.

  “There’s too many people around here. We need to get out of London.”

  “London’s a big place. If it’s all like what we’ve just seen we’ll get torn to shreds long before we reach the edge.”

  “What if we nick some cars? The police have other things on their minds at the moment.”

  “They’ll be noisy. Could draw too much unwelcome attention, and we don’t know if the roads will be passable. On a normal day no traffic moves faster than the fuckers that are trying to kill us… Maybe if we find some rich hippies with electric cars to rob we can sneak out.”

  “Well we can’t stay, and we can’t walk out of here. I wouldn’t normally be seen dead in an electric, but desperate times and shit. The kind of rich fucks who might buy them and keep them charged are only a five minute walk from here.”

  “We’ll need at least three of them. And they’ll need to be charged. I don’t think they go far at the best of times.”

  “OK. So if we get these cars, where do we want to get to?”

  “We need to get somewhere where there aren’t many people. A couple of people we can deal with easy now we know what they’re going to do. A crowds a problem. From here it’s probably easiest to head towards East Anglia. Just empty farming country for miles out there.”

  “Not a bad idea. If we shoot the odd infected farmer there’ll be no one to hear and come after us.”

  “Getting there won’t be easy, but staying here won’t be either.”

  “Two hours rest, then we move.” Jed concluded. Some of the people around them heard enough to know the plan, others didn’t. Either way, there was no doubt that everyone would follow. No one wanted to go it alone in this new world.

  The next two hours passed with silence inside their room, and not much noise outside it. Occasionally someone in another room would crash into a wall or against a door. Each time it would prompt an increase in activity in the surrounding rooms, but nothing was heard from outside.

  When Jed determined that the two hours were over, he selected someone to lead the way into the house. Phil was carrying a knife that was of little use in the current situation. Jed told Becky to hand over her bat. She did so reluctantly, but preferred to lose the weapon than to take Phil’s place at the front of the group. Before leaving the room she saw that the broken lamp on the floor had a solid looking wooden base, and picked it up. It was far shorter than she would have liked, but it was better than nothing. She made sure that she was close to Jose as they left the room, with his arsenal of both a gun and a crow bar.

  Phil walked slowly forwards, the rest emerging in single file behind him. The coast was clear, but somehow his feet found a creaky floorboard that they had all managed to avoid on the way up. Everyone froze as they heard it, so loud in the surrounding silence. Immediately there was a surge of activity from either side of the landing. One door just rattled in its frame as a body crashed into it. The other swung open into the landing, its occupant falling to the floor behind it.

  The girl was back on her feet quickly. She would have been about twelve, close to her adult height, but with the skinny build of a child stretched upwards, but not yet outwards. She wore jeans and a loose fitting T-shirt There was blood around her mouth and smeared down her top. She charged at them with a crazed look that was becoming familiar. Jose found himself closest to her, with a space quickly opening up all around him. He stepped forward to meet her advance. She made no effort to avoid or block his swing. Her mouth was open ready to bite, but the crow bar crashed into her skull before she had the chance. Jose had not judged the speed of her advance well, and the connection had been made nearer to his hands than the bend at the top of the weapon. She was knocked to the floor, but not fazed by the blow. She immediately tried to get back to her feet to resume the attack, but Jose did not let her. He followed up his first blow with a far more effective second. Making the most of the high ceiling he raised the bar above his head, and brought it crashing down on hers, this time breaking through her skull.

  There was a stunned silence all around him. He felt accusing looks directed towards him for killing a child so brutally. He felt awkward until Jed broke the silence with a whisper, “She was one of them. It was her or us. Now let’s move before more of the infected show up and kill us all.” Everyone fell into line. Phil resumed his position in the lead, and the rest followed, looking nervously at the unopened door, behind which they could still hear movement. They tried not to make a sound, despite their cover being blown at such close range.

  They got back down into the kitchen. Phil circled the body that they had left on the floor and made his way to the window, keeping low enough to be out of sight of anyone walking around outside. Slowly he raised himself enough so that he see what was happening outside. At every instant he was ready to run back to the room they had spent a couple of hours hiding in. Seeing no threats outside he moved closer to the window to get a wider view. It was still all clear. He indicated this to the people following him. Jed was the only one to respond, indicating that he should move forward through the window.

  They couldn’t completely avoid the sound of crunching glass, but made no other sounds. In a couple of minutes all of them were standing outside looking warily around for anything moving. The street was clear. Jed whispered, “Jose. You know where we’re going. Take the lead.”

  Jose followed instructions, suppressing the urge to point out that Jed knew the way just as well as he did. Picking a fight felt more dangerous at that moment than leading the group through some empty streets. It was far quieter outside than he had expected. In normal circumstances there would be dozens of people milling around. Now it seemed that they were all either dead or in hiding. There was no way to tell how many were in each group, but the dead were seeming like a clear majority. When he thought about it, it was not surprising. Even though they were stupid, and in small numbers easy to kill once you knew what to expect, the outbreak would have taken everyone by surprise. It was basic human nature to look after others when they were ill or injured rather than to crush their skull with a blunt weapon, and that was all that the virus nee
ded to spread. Now the dead seemed to have reached a critical mass, and they did not fear a few casualties on their own side.

  It only took a couple of minutes to reach the wider streets and bigger houses, individual dwellings rather than the high rises that they had all grown up in. Normally the only reason to visit the area a bit of high risk robbery, or to fuck some rich girl who thought she was cool for slumming it. Both were one night stands. The police took nicking stuff too seriously in areas where people owned stuff worth stealing, and the girls weren’t worth talking to after they had displayed their physical attributes.

  Jose led the way to a house where he’d got laid back when he was fifteen. He had lost his virginity there, unfortunately the apogee of his sex life. None of the infrequent and short lived encounters since had come close. He had no idea if the girl still lived there, but he assumed not after so many years. The familiarity drew him to the house, and the knowledge that in the distant past the right kind of family lived there to suspect would now own an electric car. The inhabitants of the house may have changed, but the nature of the area and the home wouldn’t change so quickly.

  When he reached the house he tried the front door first. All the noise of a break in would be embarrassing if the door was unlocked. Thwarted at the front, he went through the gate into the back garden. He wanted to get out of sight of the street as quickly as possible. He felt that they had pushed their luck enough already travelling so far in plain sight. The rest of the gang followed close behind him, and the last through closed the gate. Jose advanced along the narrow passageway that led to the back garden. He nearly screamed as a small head appeared around the corner at about knee height.

  He relaxed only slightly as he recognized it as a dog. He expected it to attack, and had his crow bar raised ready to defend himself. The standoff didn’t last long. Rather than trying to protect the house, the dog seemed to decide that it was delighted to see them all in its garden. It approached with a wagging tail, pressing itself against Jose to be stroked. He complied briefly, wanting to keep the animal onside, and quiet, before shoving past it into the garden.

  It was obvious that it was a family house with young children. The garden was all lawn, with yellowing patches, and holes dotted about which marked the dogs activities within the area. Towards the back there was a set of swings and a little plastic slide. A wooden playhouse was set against the back fence. The dog was dancing around them all, trying to get some attention. He found Becky most willing to give it; the dog was on its back getting its tummy rubbed as Jose approached the back door. He was glad that it was out of his way.

  Checking through all of the windows the house looked empty. He tried the door, but it was locked. He looked back at what had become his audience, and whispered that they were going to have to break in.

  “What about the dog flap?” Becky asked. “Can someone fit through there? It’s made for a pretty big dog.”

  “You’re about the smallest.” Jed answered. “Give it a try.”

  She wasn’t sure she agreed looking at the two other girls with them, but had to accept that she had inadvertently volunteered for this task. Climbing head first through a dog flap into a house that was possibly inhabited with people infected with something that made them prone to cannibalism had very little appeal, but it suddenly felt like she had no choice.

  “Someone hold the dog.” she whispered to the group. Turning to Jose she said, “Give me your weapons. I’m not going in there defenceless.” He obeyed. It looked to her like he wanted to say something, but he remained silent. She told him to check the windows again.

  Squeezing through a dog flap in a short skirt, with fourteen people looking on had to be one of the least dignifying things she had ever done, but she was more concerned about what could be waiting on the other side of the door than the impression that her ass waving in the air would leave behind. The gun and the crow bar were posted through the flap first so she knew they would be in reach as soon as she had an arm through. With a final look at Jose, who confirmed that the coast still looked clear, she stuck her head and her right arm into the house. At that point the dog got excited and tried to follow. Whoever was supposed to be holding it forgot, so it raced forwards and tried to get through the dog flap alongside Becky. By the time it had been dragged back enough noise had been made to make sure that anyone inside the house would be on their way. She lay in silence for a couple of minutes waiting for something to attack her. Nothing did, so after another thirty seconds she was inside the house.

  Checking the coast was clear, she turned and unlocked the door, letting everyone else into the kitchen. “Where do you think the people that live here are?” Phil directed at her.

  “How the fuck should I know,” she replied. “As long as they’re not trying to kill me I really don’t care.”

  “Phil, that door looks like it leads to the garage. Check it out.” Jed intervened before an argument could start. Phil did as he was told, cautiously opening the door and peeking through it. He whispered back the word “Bingo.” A car sat there facing him, with a lead connecting it to the back wall of the garage to charge.

  “That’s a good start. Now we need to find two more.” Jed indicated. “You four, go with Phil. You four with Jose. Find another two of these. The rest of us will have a look around for some food.”

  They went back into the garden. Jose’s group was first to climb the fence into the next garden, so they slowly approached the back door. Behind them Phil took his team straight to the next house. They were moving as quietly as they could, but by the time they reached the door they could hear scratching on the other side as the occupants tried to get out to meet them. Jose checked through the window to see three people trying to get out. They saw him and switched their attention from the door to the window. The counter in front of it prevented them making too quick an exit.

  The five of them were all armed and ready. Jose whispered to them all to go for the head as he tried the door. To his surprise it was unlocked, and he nearly fell backwards as the occupants of the house charged through the opening. His inability to defend himself didn’t matter. The three tripped over each other as they piled through the door. Before any of them could get back to their feet blunt objects smashed into their skulls. Two of them survived the first blow and still tried to attack, but the second and third blows finished them off. Blood soaked into the lawn, but they didn’t hang around to watch it. They entered the house with the buzz of adrenaline and the thrill of victory, after coming out badly in so many encounters. In the garage they found a Chelsea tractor, perfect for doing the school run when there were a few leaves on the road, but hopelessly noisy for their purposes. They moved on.

  It was seven houses later before they found what they wanted. Eight more zombies had to be finished off in the process. In the fourth they had come across a ten year old girl. She was alone in the house, unsure where her family were. After a brief debate they took her with them. Jose already felt guilty about the family he may have exposed to the un-dead in the morning, and he insisted that they could not leave her there to her fate. No one argued much, assuming that if it was really a problem Jed would make the decision when he found out. She watched on with the rest of them as Jose turned on the car’s engine and checked how much charge was in the battery. The dial indicated a range of ninety miles. He sent one of his guys back to let the rest of the gang know while the rest of them stayed in the house. Looking around they found some well stocked cupboards and loaded the food in the boot.

  Things did not go so well for Phil’s group. After eight houses with no suitable vehicles they decided to split up to cover more ground. Tim led the second group, Phil the first. They had noticed that Jose’s group was not with them alternating houses anymore, so they assumed that they had found what they were looking for and discounted them when they were selecting targets. Tim, with the two others climbed over a couple of fences, into a garden occupied by an infected old man. He moved slowly, so they had little
trouble dealing with him. They had seen there was a double garage from the outside, but it was not immediately obvious how it was accessed. Every other house they had been in had had a door through from the kitchen.

  As they moved into the hallway a woman attacked them. She should have been as easy to deal with as her husband, but they were taken off guard as she crashed through a glass door to get to them. The broken glass slashed through her old body, blood soaking into her dressing gown, and splashing onto the walls. All three of them tried to back away from her, tripping each other up in the process. She was upon them before any of them could raise a weapon against her. Tim reacted first, kicking out at her ankles. He connected and she fell to the floor. They could all hear frail bones breaking. The old woman was the only one not to notice. She grabbed Tim’s foot, and tried to bite him through his shoe. He pulled his foot away, and saw that it was damp with saliva, but otherwise undamaged. As she tried to bite again he saw that she had no teeth. Before he had any time to dwell on this one of the other’s broke open her skull, releasing its contents across his legs. The blood was cold.

  “For fuck’s sake. Couldn’t you have let me get clear before you did that? My clothes are fucking ruined.” He got to his feet and tried to shake the shards of bone off his jeans.

  “I just saved your life. Where’s the gratitude?”

  “She had no teeth. She could have chewed on my shoe all day and not done any damage. Poor old cow. Help me find some new clothes. Mark, that door there should take you to the garage. Have a look if they have a car in there.” He went upstairs hoping that the old man had some clothes that might fit, leaving a trail of blood behind him.