Blog of the Dead (Book 2): Life

by Richardson, Lisa

  More banging, this time down the whole length of the caravan. I clambered off the sofa, grabbed my knife and stood beside Misfit, while Clay threw off his blanket. He picked his gloves off the floor and held onto them by the wrist straps. I shifted the nearest curtain ever so slightly with my right forefinger and peered outside into the gloomy morning. Zombies … everywhere. Misfit put his finger to his lips again while Clay slipped his gloves on his hands.

  ‘What the fuck is going on out there?’ yelled Kay as she burst out of my old bedroom.

  ‘Shhh,’ said Misfit.

  ‘How the bloody hell did that lot get in here?’ she carried on, her axe clutched to the front of her body. Sean followed her out of the room, hurriedly putting a t-shirt on over his bruised torso, before grabbing his long coat from a hook by the door and slipping it on. In his right hand, he held his crowbar. The banging on the side of the caravan intensified now the zombies had heard Kay announce their breakfast was ready.

  Charlotte darted out of her room, all long curly hair flying, making her look like the Tasmanian Devil in full whirlwind mode. ‘Fuck,’ she said, coming to a stop next to me and peering out through a gap in the curtain.

  ‘The camp’s swarming with them,’ I said.

  ‘But how could they have got in through the fence?’ Kay asked again.

  I thought back to our little party last night … had the noise attracted so many zombies they’d been able to push down the fence panel?

  The caravan shook from the pounding it received and the door rattled in its frame. ‘I don’t know, but right now we need to concentrate on clearing them and getting the place secure again,’ I said. I spied a fire extinguisher on the side of the built in TV cabinet, needing something weighty to throw down on the zombies to prevent them from surging forwards when the door was opened. I dived towards it. But then I had a better idea and, sliding my knife through my belt, I wrapped my arms around the portable Cathode Ray TV. Nice and heavy in my arms. I carried it over to the door and nodded for Misfit to open up.

  As I predicted, the zombies surged forwards. I threw the TV set down at them, knocking the ones outside the door backwards and into the ones behind. Clay leapt forwards, out into the zombies, swinging his spiked gloved hands with a left hook then a right hook, into their rotting heads.

  I slid my knife from my belt and followed Misfit down the steps and out into the fighting arena. Cold grey clouds hung heavy in the sky above me. I slashed and stabbed zombies as they came at me – me, Misfit, Clay, Sean, Kay and Charlotte all naturally forming a circle, our backs facing inwards as we all moved as one, away from the caravan and into the centre of the camp. I could see the fence panel stood wide open, and more zombies staggered in from the track.

  I couldn’t even count the amount of zombies that lumbered towards us, all hungry for fresh meat. Rotten feet staggered through the glowing embers of last night’s fire without so much as a hint they felt the burning. One kicked at a discarded whisky bottle. I turned and saw Stewart press his face up against the window of his caravan while a hoard of zombies pounded against it from this side. Too many for him to battle through on his own. ‘Stewart,’ I said. ‘We have to get him out of there!’

  ‘We need to close the fence first,’ said Sean. ‘Stop any more zombies getting –’ Sean didn’t finish. At that moment we all heard a roar as a group of about ten HZs sprinted through the fence. More than half of them carried an assortment of weapons, from knifes to hammers and axes. ‘Shiiiiiit!’

  The HZs tore fearlessly through the zombies, shoving them out of the way to get to us as though they didn’t recognise the threat the zombies posed them. Some of the zombies turned their attention onto the HZs, but the force with which they burst into our camp made the HZs tricky buggers to get hold of.

  ‘Misfit, come with me to get Stewart. The rest of you hold that lot off,’ I said and I edged into the hoard, towards Stewart’s caravan.

  I grunted as I stabbed zombie heads, my blade moving rapidly – in and out – no time to think, or else I’d get swamped. More zombies turned and peeled away from the caravan to stagger towards me and Misfit. They were greeted with a blade between the eyes. With the bulk of the zombies thinned out, the caravan door swung open and Stewart emerged, guitar slung across his back and Samurai sword held in front of his body. He swung the sword from his left to his right, taking the tops of the heads off a few zombies before stepping down onto the patchy grass.

  ‘Come on,’ I called to Stewart.

  ‘I’m coming, pudding,’ he said as he sliced his way through the few remaining zombies between him and us, while I turned back to the others. Clay, Sean, Kay and Charlotte held back HZs and zombies alike, but one of the HZs burst through and launched itself at me. I raised my knife, but Stewart sprang forwards and as the HZ landed, its chest met with the sword blade. The smirk on its face fell as Stewart swiped the sword upwards at an angle, slicing open the HZ’s torso as it sagged to the ground.

  Me, Stewart and Misfit joined the others, forming a strong line of defence, each of us inching forwards with every slain zombie or HZ, intending to drive them out of the camp. I saw an HZ knock Charlotte onto her back. It dived on top of her and pinned her to the ground by her wrists. Charlotte wedged a leg between her and the HZ and kicked it off, springing to her feet, ready for it to come back at her. But the HZ fell into the ragged arms of the zombies behind it. One of them tore into the skin of the HZ’s neck, causing it to howl with pain. The HZ used its hammer to brain the zombie but, as it did so, another zombie bit into its arm. More zombies joined in and the HZ was overwhelmed, its hammer falling from its grasp as zombies devoured its flesh. Its inhuman cries rang out into the early morning air, and I heard it replied by a distant howl. More HZs were coming.

  ‘The fence panel,’ I shouted. ‘We need to get it closed. NOW!’

  Sean and Stewart both ploughed forwards towards the fence, slashing out at the HZs and zombies in their path, while moving quickly and nimbly in order to avoid the festering hands that grabbed for them. I followed, intending to keep the attackers back so Sean and Stewart could concentrate on getting the panel closed. When we reached the panel I saw the chain the padlock fit into had been cut.

  The sound of pounding feet and spine chilling howls preceded a group of seven HZs before they came into view from around the corner of the track, up from the main road. Sean swung the fence panel shut to block them but he hadn’t had time to lift the panel up and into the breeze block that usually secured its foot. He pushed against the panel as HZs began pounding it from the other side. Stewart helped him, leaning his right shoulder against the metal.

  I dived for the padlock, ignoring the useless severed chain and, with annoyingly clumsy fingers, I tried to thread the padlock directly through the bars of the fence panel. It would be tight, but I thought it would work. As the HZs pounded on the fence, the padlock jumped out of my fingers and fell to the ground. I picked it up, glancing over my shoulder, back into camp. Zombies and two HZs surged towards us from that direction. ‘Stewart,’ I called. Stewart turned and held his sword out in front of his body, ready to defend me and Sean from that side.

  I rammed the loop of the padlock back through the fence, but without Stewart’s weight against it, the panel shoved inwards from the force of the HZs on the other side, and the padlock fell to the ground. Sean pushed back with everything he had but an HZ used its knife to stab through the fence and into Sean’s right palm. Sean growled with pain but, with gritted teeth, refused to let go as blood trickled down the bars. I had the padlock back through the bars again, when another HZ smashed its hammer into Sean’s bloody fingers. This time Sean instinctively let go of the fence and the panel flung inwards. The force knocked me onto my back, and sent Sean flying. He crashed into the passenger door of the Mazda, parked up at the side to the right of the fence.

  The fresh wave of HZs poured into camp, the force of their attack scattering the line of defence Kay, Clay, Misfit and Charlotte had formed
about halfway down the camp. The four of them battled on regardless, doing their best to shunt the fight forwards, to drive the gatecrashers out.

  One of the new HZs launched itself at Stewart’s back, knocking him to the ground on his stomach, just a couple of metres from where I had landed. His sword slipped from his grasp and with the HZ straddling his thighs, he couldn’t move forwards to get it. I scrabbled to my feet. But before I could get to Stewart, an HZ dived into me, throwing me off my feet again and onto my back, winding me. The HZ sat on my stomach. I raised my knife, ready to drive the blade into its head, but the HZ grabbed my wrist in both its filthy, blood encrusted hands and pinned it back against the damp earth. With its weight across the front of my body, holding me down, it pounded my wrist against the ground, trying to shake the knife from my grasp.

  As I fought to cling onto my knife, I glanced to the right to see Stewart had pulled his guitar off his back and had managed to turn his body so he faced the HZ that straddled his thighs. The HZ ripped open Stewart’s shirt and, with its sharpened fingernails, it sliced open the soft flesh of Stewart’s belly. At the same moment Stewart swung his guitar forwards and slammed it into the HZ’s head. The wood smashed and splintered on contact. The HZ, unaffected by the blow, laughed – a shrill, sickening sound – and lowered its head to Stewart’s bloody stomach, fixing itself onto his flesh. Stewart cried out and punched the HZ in the side of its head in an effort to dislodge it.

  Frustrated it couldn’t get me to drop my knife, the HZ on top of me leant forwards and bit into my wrist. I screamed and let go of my knife. The HZ pulled its head up and, with my blood dripping down its chin, grinned at me as it chewed a piece of my flesh. I bucked and writhed under its weight as the first light, icy flakes of snow spattered my cheeks. But the HZ held me fast. Over its shoulder I saw Sean drop the bloodied, dead body of an HZ he’d just killed before striding over. He slammed his crowbar down onto the head of the HZ on top of me. As its head split open, its jaw went slack and the piece of my flesh dropped out of its mouth and onto my shoulder. ‘Ewwwww!’ I shrieked as Sean caught the HZ by its mattered hair before it fell forwards onto me.

  I scrambled out from beneath the body, while Sean dived towards Stewart, who struggled under the weight of the HZ that fed on his flesh. Sean used his crowbar like a cricket bat, slamming it into the side of the HZ’s head; brain, red blood and skull burst forth as the side of its head caved in with the impact. I heard the sound of howling and more feet pounding the track outside the camp. ‘Shit,’ I cursed under my breath as I realised more HZs were on their way. ‘The tower!’ I called out to the others. ‘Get inside the tower!’

  With no time to try locking the fence panel again, I dived towards the Martello tower. The others all made for that direction, now concentrating on killing anything in their way, rather than killing everything. Kay, Clay, Charlotte and Misfit got there first. Charlotte and Kay disappeared inside while Misfit and Clay waited at the door. Sean helped Stewart to his feet. Stewart clutched the bloody mess that was his stomach with his left hand as he swayed, trying to stay on his feet.

  Sean darted for the tower, bundling me in front of him, while Misfit held the door for us and Clay stood just outside the door with his gloves raised in front of his chest, ready to spike-box the hell out of anything that got close enough. I glanced back to see another wave of HZs approaching the camp’s entrance.

  Stewart swiped his sword from the ground, but before he could straighten up, a zombie lunged at him and bit into his shoulder. ‘NOOOO!’ I yelled. I became all feet and legs as I tried to stop and go back for him. Sean grabbed me by the elbow and Misfit dived forwards to grab my other arm and the two of them pulled me towards the door of the Martello tower.

  ‘It’s too late for him,’ growled Sean, shoving me inside.

  Before Sean slammed the door, I glanced outside and saw Stewart, Samurai sword in hand, rush towards the new wave of HZs as they poured into camp. A fearless warrior heading into his last battle.

  Entry Twenty-One

  Kay and Charlotte disappeared up the staircase. On the ground floor, Sean and Clay leant their weight to the back of the door and I drew the small bolt across the top. I hoped Stewart could keep the HZs back long enough while the rest of us made our escape. Misfit grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the stairs. I reached the top before I heard Stewart cry out. The silence that followed killed a piece of my heart, but I couldn’t think about that right then. Fists pounded against the door below.

  ‘What now?’ asked Kay, her eyes darting around the gloomy space. ‘We’re bloody trapped up here.’

  ‘That’s what I want them to think,’ I said. ‘But while they’re kept busy busting in that door, we can go this way.’ I headed for the back of the Martello tower where I had recently partially pulled a board from the window when trying to find a way out to search for Misfit. ‘Help me get if off,’ I said to the others.

  Everyone grabbed hold of a section of the board and we ripped it away from the window, sending dust moats swirling into the gloomy air. I hoped the track leading down to the road was clear of HZs, or we really would be buggered. Looking out through the flurry of sleet-like snow, I saw no sign of any HZs below. ‘We can get down to the ground this way,’ I said, pointing to the scaffolding outside the window. My words flowed fast; I knew the bolt on the door wouldn’t hold much longer. ‘Then down to St Andrews. GO!’

  Charlotte and Kay climbed out first. Misfit pushed me out next. ‘Right behind you,’ I heard him say.

  I crouched on the wooden walkway of the scaffolding while I waited for Kay and Charlotte to clear the drop. Once they had made room for me, I slid through the gap in the bars and lowered my body down, my feet dangling freely. Blinking to keep the gritty flakes of snow from my eyes, I found purchase on the windowsill below with the tip of the toes on my left foot, then my right. I let go of the scaffolding bars, my hands slipping over the bricks of the curved wall, wishing there was something to grip hold of. Balancing on the windowsill, I slid down to my knees, hooked my fingers on the concrete and lowered my body over the edge. Letting go of the windowsill, I dropped the last couple of metres until my feet hit the ground.

  The last thing I heard as I dropped was the sound of splintering wood and a bang as the HZs broke through the door. I clambered up the rubble, grasped a handful of the taller fence, using the chest height inner fence as a foothold to spring myself up, and hauled myself over to join Kay and Charlotte on the track. I heard Misfit yell, ‘RUN!’ and I glanced up to see him drop from the tower in a faster and more agile manner than I had done. Clay, his boxing gloves hanging around his neck, followed Misfit. Sean came out last, swinging down from the tower like giraffe playing at being a chimpanzee.

  Neither me, Kay nor Charlotte moved. We stared towards the tower to see the first HZ appear at the window and climb through after Sean. More emerged from the narrow gap around the side of the Martello tower, wise to our plan. I watched Misfit stab the front runner between the eyes before he turned and flew over the fence. His feet hit the tarmac and he tried to bundle me down the track ahead of him. I resisted and watched as Clay paused halfway up the rubble to turn and punch an HZ with his spiked glove, before clearing the fence and falling into line with us.

  ‘Didn’t you lot hear me?’ said Misfit. ‘Run!’

  ‘Sean!’ yelled Kay, ignoring Misfit. She pushed past me, Misfit and Clay, closer to the fence. Sean was still on the other side, three HZs cutting him off. He swung the crowbar at one, catching it on the temple. As the HZ crumpled to the ground, Sean darted between the other two and attempted to clamber up the rubble, but the HZs turned and charged at him. One dived onto his back and clung on, even though it was a good couple of feet shorter than Sean. Sean slipped down the rubble but managed to stay on his feet. He turned and brained the other HZ and tried to shake off the one on his back.

  ‘Sean, come on!’ we all yelled as we gathered on the other side of the fence and watched helplessly. Misfit reac
hed up and grasped the top of the fence, trying to haul himself over, but it was too high and he slipped back down.

  The HZ on Sean’s back tried to bite his neck but Sean grabbed a fistful of its hair to keep its jaws from his skin and slammed its back into the inner fence, pushing the chain links outwards so they met with the bars of the outer one. Misfit raised his knife and stabbed the HZ through both fences, right between its shoulder blades. This wasn’t enough to kill it with his short hunting knife. But the HZ threw its head back against the fence as it howled in pain and Misfit stabbed it again, into the base of its skull. The HZ fell silent and slid off Sean’s back. With more HZs climbing down from the tower, Sean scrambled up the rubble and flung himself over the fence.

  I turned and shoved Kay and Charlotte ahead of me. ‘Run!’ I yelled as I heard the sound of Sean’s feet hitting the track behind me.

  Charlotte grabbed hold of Kay’s elbow and pulled her down the track; she went willingly now she knew Sean had cleared the fence. I heard the HZs howl as they pursued us but I concentrated on pumping my legs as fast as I could, snow lashing my skin and making my cheeks sting. Misfit kept pace with me. I knew he could run faster but he remained by my side. Sean and Clay – his gloves back on – stayed behind me, ready to turn and fight. I resisted the temptation to look back. We didn’t have much of a head start and that knowledge infused me with enough adrenaline to make me feel like the Bionic Woman. Though a heart attack felt like a possibility too.

  Halfway down the road, I spotted a couple of lumbering zombies. They were left reaching for air as Kay and Charlotte sped past them. As me, Misfit, Clay and Sean darted by, I imagined the zombies left spinning like tops in our wake.

  Kay and Charlotte took the turning down towards St Andrews. I heard them both yelling, ‘Let us in! Let us in!’ By the time me, Misfit and Sean rounded the corner, I saw that the gate stood open, ready for us. Shane stood by the gate looking confused and panicked … he had no idea what was coming his way.