The Farm

by Carter, Stuart

  Jed

  He drove away from the farm cursing his former friends, disgusted by their lack of loyalty. He’d always known that some of them were spineless but had expected the majority to stay behind him. He was shocked that even the useless slut had abandoned him. And Jose had always seemed smart. Jed had even asked him to defend him in the bullshit trial, but at the end of it he’d gone running off to worship the fucking farmers like a lost little puppy.

  Corners passed at dangerous speeds. Narrow roads, with lines of sight blocked by hedgerows were raced through recklessly. He didn’t keep it up for long. His instinct for self-preservation kicked in. He slowed down, and instead focused his rage on plotting revenge. Glorious scenarios passed through his mind, but he had to accept most were impossible with his own situation, and their well-guarded perimeter. But reality rarely gets in the way of dreams of bloodlust. He was distracted enough that the tank was nearly empty before he noticed it.

  At the next abandoned car he saw he pulled over, focusing his attentions on abusing all of the people he had left behind for screwing him over. As he got out of the car he spotted the bag stashed under the passenger’s seat. He grabbed it, and laughed at the stupid fuckers failing in their attempts to screw him over. A quick glance was enough to establish that he had his gun back, along with a few days of food. The stupid bitch who wouldn’t give him what he wanted was probably planning some pathetic little getaway with some dumbass farmer, and he’d got away with their stuff. He was laughing as he looked up and saw the ring of guns pointed at him.

  “Drop the bag.” He heard. He was in no position to argue.

  “We’re going to take your car, and we’re going to take your stuff. So long as you accept that, then we won’t waste a bullet on you… Hand over the keys.” The words were commanding, but the voice wasn’t. “Hurry it up, we don’t have long.”

  “Sounds like you guys are up shit creek. Maybe you should take me with you.”

  “You’ve got nothing to offer us. Just be glad if we let you live.”

  “You’re running, and I know what you’re running from. But they’re everywhere, and you’ve got nowhere to run to.”

  “And you’ve got some safe refuge I assume? Your current situation doesn’t fill me with confidence.”

  The fact that they were still talking told Jed that they were desperate and stupid. They wanted him to offer them some hope. He figured that they had recently been in a fight, and that they had lost it. He looked at the group. There wasn’t many of them, maybe twenty, but they were well armed, and it looked like they had nearly a car running per person. It might be a sign of their recent losses, but they were equipped to do some damage.

  “There’s a farm not far from here. They’re well set up to deal with zombies. Moats and barbed wire and shit. Pitchforks and tractors. They’ve got more food than they’ll ever need, comfortable beds and plenty of women desperate to repopulate the post zombie world. It just needs a few strong men to take it over. We could be fucking kings, and you’re here asking me for a few scraps of food. We take this farm we can piss all over the zombies, looters and farmers however the fuck we please.”

  “How far away is this farm? I assume that they’re not going to hand it to us willingly.”

  “I left about an hour ago. They won’t hand it over, but if we drive down in convoy, smash through the gates and kill off the leaders, the rest will fall into line. They’re sheep, desperate for the strong leadership we can give them. We go in hard and fast, same as with any woman, take control, and they will love us for it” He saw that he had them eating out of the palm of his hand.

  “My car’s nearly empty. Give me one of yours or a tank of fuel and I’ll lead you there. You can stop living like rats. Be real men again.”

  They seemed suckered in. He didn’t trust them, and they didn’t really trust him. He wasn’t given a car, and was put in the passenger seat of the lead car. He wasn’t happy about it, but he was low on options. As they approached the farm he had hoped to drop back into the chasing pack. As it was he hoped that the farmers would focus on the driver’s first. He knew that there would be a lot of casualties in this attack. The key thing was to pick off the leaders, and he knew that in times of danger they would put themselves on the frontline.

  They drove back as fast as he had driven away. He had to admit that on these roads the guy next to him was the better driver. Admitting that out loud was another matter. He pointed out every time the wing mirror touched the hedgerows, or the kerb was kissed. Repeatedly he told him that he needed to get his shit together.

  In sight of the farm they stopped and gathered. In their direction there was one narrow road available.

  “Is this it?” a voice asked.

  Jed pointed at the road. “It’s tight and narrow but it gets us where we want to be. We’ve got enough cars to smash through the gates and take over that hippy commune. So long as we don’t hesitate they can’t get their sights upon us. We just need to make some noise, fire a few shots, and the couple of guards they’ve got do a runner.” He started to make his way to one of the cars further down the line. “We need to get on and do this, quick and hard.”

  “Stop.” He was told. “You’re in the lead car beside Bob. Can’t have you lurking at the back when we need to take out the leaders quickly and you’re the only one who can recognize them.” The speaker was already getting into his own car, “Hurry up. They’ve probably already heard us. The longer we leave it the more likely your plan is to fail.”

  Jed could not read much into the man, but he was convinced that if this did not go well he would quickly pay the price for it. Backing down wasn’t an option. He had led them there, and had himself backed into a corner. He had seen how well the farmers could pick off rabbits. He was taking a big gamble on them lacking courage and lacking numbers at the gate to stop a rapid assault. They were no zombie mob lurching along on foot.

  A few seconds had them up to speed. The road was narrow. They could get two cars abreast, but at the speeds they were approaching they kept mostly to a staggered single file. The thunder of so many cars had become so rare it was deafening. They backed it up with gunfire and shouting. The ground to the gate quickly closed. He just started to believe his plan would work, when the head of the man beside him exploded. Blood sprayed out against a windshield cracked around a bullet hole. Jed reacted, trying to grab the wheel, but the car was already out of control. Only the wild path of the car stopped the next bullet from making him its target.

  The car was soon rolling. Soon slowing. Soon hit by the car that had been close on its tail. It was all too fast for him to pick out the individual incidents. The car ended up back on its wheels, with him alive. A glance in the wing mirror showed there was at least two other cars crashed, blocking the road. He clambered out of the car, dizzy and unsteady. The farm was close. Thirty meters at most. He raised his gun to fire at its defenders, and at that moment his life ended.

  Newcastle

  They drove slowly, each of them staring out of the window trying to spot any sign of danger. As they had left the farmhouse it had been obvious which way the chase had gone, and they could guess which way it had come from, so they avoided both directions. After a couple of hours they found a house to stop for the night. They had been driving mostly in circles. The landscape told Ruth that she was close to home, but she was yet to spot any place she specifically recognized.

  They spent the night saying very little other than what was necessary to organize their security and to agree a meal for the night. All slept uneasily, that night not just from fear, but from guilt at their cowardice in committing a humane killing. Normal morality was too far gone but they hadn’t had time to make sense of the new order.

  At first light they got moving, though all four had been awake long before it. They shared a couple of cans of timed fruit for breakfast, then loaded up the few things that they had removed from the car the previous evening. Before they left they had a look around the house,
picking up a few bits of food that were in the cupboards, and a few suitable weapons they found in the shed. They chanced upon an OS map, which Ruth inspected, finding the farm they were aiming for.

  “I don’t know where we are, but if we can find somewhere to give us our bearings I should be able to get us back there.” No one asked the question they were all thinking. Was there still somewhere to get back to?

  Ten minutes driving was enough to take them to some road signs which were enough to determine their location. An hour later they were approaching the farm down a narrow road. A dyke ran down either side to keep livestock in the fields and off the road. For the last half an hour Ruth had been seeing signs of home, and was increasingly worried about the home she was getting back to. For all she knew everyone she cared about was dead. Her thoughts swung wildly between a wonderful homecoming and the sight of all of her family brutally killed, or worse, infected and attacking her.

  As they turned the last corner her hopes were not raised. Five smashed up cars blocked the road. It looked too much like the village where Natalie had been killed. A conflict resolved without reason or compromise. Beyond that she could see a killing ground, filled with burnt corpses. Beyond that, no sign of life. Slowly she walked towards her childhood home. The others started to follow. She turned and stopped them.

  “Wait here close to the car. Be ready to drive away if it’s dangerous. I don’t like the look of this.”

  She carried on walking slowly. Thirty meters from the gate she was told to stop. It was at a point where the stench of burnt flesh was overpowering. She raised her hands, desperately happy that there was someone alive behind the gates to make demands. She looked around at the burnt bodies around her, cautious in case one of them moved. Without the brain being permanently destroyed they were still a danger. Hannah had taught her that much at least. It looked like someone had already taken the precaution of making sure nothing was going to move again. Fire hadn’t been the only weapon used. Some of them looked like they had been ran over by a tank. Their human form was barely recognizable. Some were so mashed together she couldn’t tell how many bodies it started out as. A few weeks ago she wouldn’t have been able to cope with the scene, now it barely registered as horrific.

  It wasn’t long until Ruth was recognized. Her initial challenger was too new to the farm to recognize her, but as she slowly stepped closer the second line brought her into focus. Her head was down watching her footing, but after a couple of glances up she heard a call, “Ruth is that you?”

  She looked up again, trying to see who had called out. It was a voice she recognized. “It’s me. I made it back.”

  The men in front of her were silhouettes against the sun. The voice she had heard before directed a shadow stood beside it to go and get her family. Then to her it said, “What are you waiting for. Hurry up and get in here… Your friends too.”

  She turned back to her friends still by the car. “Come on guys. We’re safe.” Ruth found it hard not to break into a run, but she was still crossing a battlefield, so restrained herself. The others were even more cautious, refusing to trust the words ‘We’re safe’ after all they had seen.

  It wasn’t long before they had all put the gates between themselves and the scene of recent carnage that they had had to walk through. By the time the other three were inside the barrier Ruth was already chatting with various people she obviously knew well, talking rapidly back and forth, trying to convey stories far quicker than was humanly possible. Once they had calmed down and started talking normally they would remember little of what they had exchanged in those opening minutes. The other three didn’t know what to do. They didn’t want to interrupt, but they were concerned that their only reason to be there was Ruth, and while they were the last thing on her mind they felt like uninvited guests at a party. The people around them had allowed them entry, but now stood around awkwardly, like they were waiting for an explanation of what linked them to anyone hosting the event.

  Slightly sooner than Lucy could start an awkward explanation of her link to Ruth, and therefore the farm, one of the people Ruth was firing off a stream of conversation to dislodged himself from the group and approached them, introducing himself,

  “Hi, I’m John, Ruth’s brother. Welcome to our home.”

  “Thank you.” Lucy replied. “Ruth has told us a lot about you.”

  He looked a little awkward, unsure whether to give the usual, ‘I hope it’s not all bad’ kind of line, but after some hesitation, skipped over it, instead saying, “They’re going to be talking for a while. While they catch up I can find you somewhere to stay and show you around a bit. Tell you something about where you’ve wound up.”

  Hannah looked towards Ruth for some reassurance that they were in safe hands, but she was too focused on her conversation. Ruth obviously felt she was safe, and having thrown her lot in with this group it was not the time to back out. There was a feel of security here. Order and strength. They had walked through two walls of defeated attackers outside the wall, and they were here welcomed in. She followed John as he led them away from the gate deeper into the farm, hoping that this was what Ruth had promised.

  Lucy was surprised to get to the farm and find not only that there were people alive, but also seeming to be forming a thriving community. Their drive through the country had left her convinced that the only surviving humanity would be huddled in lofts and cellars, hiding terrified from any noise, shooting first, and waiting to starve later when the Winter kicked in and the tinned supplies ran out. This looked like hope. It was a surprise to find herself so nervous around a crowd of people who seemed friendly. She had always felt at home socializing, but suddenly the rules weren’t clear. Ruth was here with them, but there were hundreds more people on the farm than she had described it ever since they met in Fresher’s week. She couldn’t deny that the place felt safe, or the people friendly, but trust was really at a premium these days.

  “There used to be a couple of dozen people here at most.” John told them, “Now we’re over six hundred. We wouldn’t turn anyone away that is willing to be a part of this, but we can’t offer the comfort we used to. It’s become more of a campsite than proper homes. We’ve taken over five of the neighbouring farms where they were overran, but the buildings aren’t enough for the number of refugees we’ve taken in. We’ve raided the villages around here and taken tents. I’m afraid that that is all we can give you… It might be flimsy in an attack, but we’re keeping the walls constantly manned. We’ve got plenty of dogs around, and they never seem to miss the smell of the infection. You won’t be caught in the tent unawares.”

  “Thank you.” Said Hannah. “This is the safest any of us have been in weeks… If you don’t mind me asking, what happened outside?”

  “It all kicked off really quickly. We heard several car engines near the farm. I took a few extra men to the gate to see what was going on. At first we couldn’t see anything, just heard the idling engines in the distance. Probably wouldn’t have noticed it at all if it wasn’t so quiet round here now. Nothing happened at first, and I was about to send a couple of guys to investigate. Invite whoever was out there in. Before I did there was a revving of engines, and a stream of cars raced around the corner and started charging towards our gates. They were accelerating fast and firing shots in our direction. We didn’t have time to think. Our gate is built to stop zombies. Not a car traveling at speed. There wasn’t any time to think. We reacted and shot the drivers of the two lead cars. They crashed and blocked the road. When the passenger climbed out of the lead car and pointed a gun at us we shot him too.

  After that the scene changed really quickly. The noise they were making drew in a crowd of the infected. They were turning to retreat with the road in front of them blocked and us lined up behind our wall. Suddenly they found themselves surrounded. We did what we could to help them. They attacked us, but they were still human. We could have reasoned with them, unlike the dead. We picked off a few of the zombies, an
d several of the cars broke free and fled from the fight, but others were overran.

  Within a few seconds all of the noise was coming from us, so we had the full attention of the infected. There was a lot of them. Far more than we’ve ever had to deal with in a single attack. We were well positioned, but when they have no thought for their own casualties, you can only shoot so many before they reach your walls. I told the guys to keep firing while I went to get one of the tanks.”

  “Tanks? Has the army got a presence here?”

  “The tanks aren’t really tanks. We’ve armoured up some tractors. They’re slow, and the armour if full of chinks, but not much will stop them. Against a tightly packed crowd running mindlessly towards a small group of defenders it was brutal. When I got to the gate there was just enough time to open it and let me through. The guys in the cars had distracted them for just long enough. I drove straight through the thick of the crowd. None of them made the least effort to get out of my way. The gunmen on the wall picked off any of them that got to close to the weaker parts of the vehicle. I drove straight over dozens of them, crushing them under my wheels.” He looked close to tears. “A few weeks ago I killed one of them by accident and it was the worst moment of my life. Now dozens of them is just an afternoon’s work.” He tried to pull himself together.

  “We burnt the bodies. We try to avoid touching them. I don’t know how easily the infection can spread. We needed to make sure all of them were permanently dead. As for the cars, we didn’t find any survivors. We took the fuel, but left them in the road. Any looters will need to approach slowly with them there. Hopefully it will discourage another reckless attack.”