Dead Bones - Six Pack. The Ultimate Zombie Collection

by Ian Woodhead

  "Edward, get your arse over here and help me." Lionel looked up at Maddie while he placed cuffs on Bruce. “Do you want to fucking join him, or are you going to be a good girl?”

  She glared at the man, just wishing that the corpse he was standing next to would suddenly come back to life and bite off his cock.

  “I’ll take her home, Lionel, and meet you back at the courthouse.” David pulled her away from the three men. “Keep your mouth firmly shut,” he hissed.

  She caught her breath, trying not to cry out as the other two officers dragged her dazed boyfriend down the road.

  “You’ve nothing to worry about, the lad will be fine. They’ll just clean him up and leave him to stew in a cell for a few hours."

  “How can you be so sure?” she snapped. For all he knew, those bastards could be on their way to the wall. Lionel certainly had the authority to grant an execution.

  “Now you listen here, don’t you get all indignant on me. If he hadn’t run off at the mouth, he’d still be here. You know, as well as I do that we need to talk,” he sighed. “Please believe me, Maddie, he’ll be okay.” The officer pointed at the corpses lying by their feet. “Bruce is a good fighter, he’s useful. Okay, so he is a gobby fucker but that isn’t a crime and Lionel is not an idiot, the annoying sack of turds knows that nobody likes him. He won’t hold a grudge.”

  She rubbed her wrists when David finally released her.

  “Sorry,” he muttered, sitting down on an overturned metal bucket and watching them turn into the next street, leaving her alone with David.

  “What are we going to do?” Maddie asked, looking up into the man’s eyes. “Our Lady did prophesize that the dead would manage to breach our walls. You were there, David, you heard them too.”

  The officer sat beside her, “I take it that she has still to awaken.”

  “No,” Maddie rubbed her stomach, sensing this handsome man creeping a little closer to her body.

  “Do you not remember what I said about personal space?” she whispered.

  “Sorry.” The man stood up and wandered over to the repaired wall. “I’ll see if I can get this done properly. I’m not saying Bruce has done a poor job, I’ll see if I can at least acquire some better quality materials.

  “Why did you ask me if Our Lady was awake? You feel her warmth just as much as me.” Maddie abruptly leaned over her knees, wanting to vomit. She felt his hands on her shoulders.

  “Oh Jesus, are you okay?”

  She nodded. “I’m fine, it’s nothing.”

  “Maddie, I’ve told you before, I may be like you, tainted.”

  Did she sense a touch of loathing at being associated with her type?

  “I’m not as receptive to Our Lady’s touch as the rest of you.”

  Maddie leaned over again. “Oh fuck!”

  “That’s it, I’m taking you to our doctor.”

  “Shut up, David. I’ve just thought of something. What could have happened if they had taken me instead of Bruce?”

  His face drained of blood. “I didn’t think of that.”

  “Everything would have been over for all of us. We would have all been up against that wall in a few hours.”

  He shook his head. “No way. That will not happen,” he said, lifting her onto her feet. “I won’t allow it.”

  David moved towards the nearest body, picked up its legs and dragged the thing over to the nearest incineration point. She knew damn well that if that magistrate ever found out just how many of her kind had taken shelter in his precious community, that would be their fate too.

  Our Lady had explained to all the fellow tainted that he knew from the onset that their species must move beyond just trying to stay alive. He had brought stability to their miserable lives, given people a reason to live again, given them a routine. For that, the human community would do anything to preserve the peace that he had brought. She still wanted to scream out and tell them all that they were human too, they weren’t dirty fucking monsters. It just was not fair.

  David looked past her head and groaned. “Oh fuck, they have started to gather again.”

  She felt her pulse quicken, watching the dead slowly group together about half a mile beyond the barrier. Maddie counted just over a dozen so far with a couple more on the horizon heading for the main pack, twice the amount from the first attack.

  “Maddie, I need you to go get cleaned up and find as many people as you can who are capable of fighting. You’re going to need it.

  “Wait, what about you, David?”

  “I need to get back to the courthouse, Maddie. If they’re here, then they’ll be gathering everywhere.”

  “We need you here, David,” she cried. "Come on, you stupid man. This is the weakest area, the fuckers will swamp us!”

  He shook his head. “No they won’t. Look, I’ll send an officer with a crossbow; it will give you some breathing space. Maddie, I need you to be strong here. Focus for me. Get Terrence and Kyle to help, those guys can handle themselves.”

  “But they are tending Our Lady. We can’t leave her alone.”

  “Yes we can, she’ll be okay for a few minutes.”

  “Oh god, David, I’m getting so scared. Everything she warned is really happening.”

  The officer rushed up to her and placed his thick arms around her waist. She didn’t pull away, grateful for the comfort. “I don’t understand why they are just standing there. Why aren’t the bastards approaching?” she shivered. “It’s almost as if they are waiting for something.”

  “I think they are. The dead are waiting for the others to join them.”

  Maddie shook her head, “Don’t even say shit like that. Those things are just running on instinct, they are just mindless drones.”

  He released her and picked up his weapon. “Maddie, I’m only saying what I observe. Look, whatever we think won’t change our current circumstances. Go get help, Maddie,” he said walking away. “I’ll catch up with you later, and good luck.”

  “David, what if her other predictions are right?”

  “You mean about the three hunters?” David holstered his weapon and smiled at her. “I know that one won’t come to pass, believe me. Those things went the way of the climbers, they are extinct.”

  “You don’t really know that for sure.”

  “No I don’t, but you as well as everyone now know that one blade slice will finish them off. Come on, Maddie. You remember that one who tried to get in here a couple of weeks ago.”

  The memory rushed back to her. They had watched it approach the front gate, pretending to be human, begging to come inside. The thing tripped over a pile of bricks and just bled out all across the road.

  “There’s nothing to worry about, now go get changed.”

  Maddie put aside her worries and set off towards her home, trying not to think about the dull ache that had returned to her stomach.

  Chapter Four

  Thick black fluid oozed from the two trampled bodies lying in front of the fence. Dominic jumped back before the vile stuff could touch his muddy boot.

  “Oh heavens,” he cried. “I just don’t believe this!”

  “Dominic, what’s the matter, are you okay?”

  He nodded at the young adjustment officer, hoping that his reassuring smile would ease the boy’s anxious face. Dominic felt this overwhelming urge to just pat him of the top of his head and ask him if he wanted an ice cream. Good grief, he looked so young. "Sorry, it’s nothing to worry about, Nathan. I just stood on one of my cauliflowers and squished it.

  The officer sighed and surveyed Dominic’s devastated vegetable plot. “I don’t think you should worry too much. This whole area is now contaminated; we’ll have to torch everything.”

  Dominic shook his head, not wanting to listen to this. They could not do this to him. He then saw just how serious the kid was and wanted to weep. He was totally correct. The foul stuff leaking out of all these bodies would have contaminated everything.

  He woul
d have to start all over again. All that work he had put in, just ruined in the space of a few minutes.

  “I’m so sorry,” whispered Clarisse, putting her arms around his shoulders. “I know how much this garden meant to you.”

  The woman’s clumsy attempt at cheering him up was actually making him feel worse. “Thank you, dear,” he replied, trying to keep his real thoughts hidden away. The last thing they needed right now was this schoolboy officer to become suspicious.

  Just a few minutes ago, Dominic was so close to believing that their lives were about to end. If it had not been for their intense defence training, they would have stood no chance against the dead. Between them, they had managed to cut down thirteen dead things, but it just was not enough. A seemingly never-ending swarm of them were getting through and Dominic knew that it was only a matter of time before one of those horrid abominations bit him or Clarisse.

  Dominic could not believe his good fortune when he saw five hunky adjustment officers charging into the plot. Between the seven of them, they had reduced that horde to just one old woman, and she didn’t last longer than a few seconds.

  He’d felt more than a little insulted when all those handsome men left them, and this scrawny looking boy wearing a uniform too big for him had taken their place.

  “Well, if you ask me,” said the boy putting his hands on his hips and looking at what remained of Dominic’s carrots, “It seems a bit daft to have started growing stuff here in the first place.”

  “And just what is that supposed to mean?” demanded Dominic.

  The young officer slammed his gloved hand against the fence. “I thought it was bloody obvious. It was only a matter of time before those things remembered how to climb.”

  “Well, excuse me, Mr Smarty pants, but have you ever heard of a dead thing learning to climb?”

  The boy’s smirking face only annoyed him even more. How dare he laugh at Dominic? This child knew nothing about anything. He looked as though he had only just stopped feeding from his mother’s breasts.

  “Dominic, you have to stop this.”

  He pushed the woman away; he would do no such thing. “Have you any idea how much of my sweat, frustration, and tears has gone into this plot, young man?”

  “Dominic!” shouted Clarisse. “Shut the fuck up, you screaming homo. There are more of the bastards heading this way.”

  He twisted around and yelped at the sight of a dozen more of the things lurching towards the fence. Where the blinking flip had they come from? The field was devoid of the dead just a few minutes ago. Dominic picked up his weapon and ran to the fence, he saw the boy running over to the house.

  “Come back here, you cowardly bastard,” screamed Clarisse.

  The boy ignored her. He reached Dominic’s peas and snatched up a couple of pool cues that he had been using to brace the climbing plants.

  “These ends are already splintered,” he muttered, running back over. “Thank fuck for that.” The officer snatched the spade out of the startled girl’s hands and threw it to the floor. “Take this,” he said pushing one of the cues into her hand. “We stop them before they get to the other side. We let them in and we’re dead.”

  He rushed forward and jabbed his own cue through the fence. Dominic watched his improvised weapon punch through the face of the first corpse trying to scale the fence. It fell down when the officer pulled out the cue. He looked at Dominic, his face shining. He got the impression that the boy had just made his first kill. Unlike Dominic’s first kill that made him wretch, this little man was having the time of his life.

  “You see how easy it is? Turn that weapon around, Dominic and follow my lead,” he said, jabbing his cue into another one. “That’s two down for me already! There’s only ten more to go.”

  His pretend wife rushed up, thrust her cue through the fence, and pierced one through its neck.

  “Pay attention!” screamed the boy.

  Dominic spun around and gazed in disgust at the glassy eyed expression of one of the dead things pressed up against the wire. He moaned when he saw another one using the corpse’s body to scramble up to the top of the wire.

  Dominic jabbed the spike through the links, into the thing’s throat. As that one on the bottom collapsed, the other one fell to the ground like a rag doll. It immediately sprang up and rushed to the fence. Its burst of speed scared the hell out of Dominic, but it did not stop him from thrusting his weapon through its eye socket.

  He stepped back, panting, seeing that one was the last thing to fall. The field was once again empty, even the ones in the barn were no more. Dominic could feel the shakes starting to travel through his body, the trembling exacerbated when Dominic thought about that how quickly that last dead thing could move.

  Could he be so sure that it was truly dead? He gripped the fence, willing his body to stop shaking and watched it for any signs of movement. What was he doing? Of course, it was dead. He turned to face the others, intending to ask if they had seen the speed of that dead thing. Dominic found himself once again under the suspicious gaze of the young officer.

  The boy started to nod; he placed his hands on his hips and grinned. Nathan looked as though his mother had just given him his weekly spending money. Dominic glanced over at Clarisse, not sure what was going on. She was too busy staring across the field to notice the pair of them.

  “I thought that there was something dodgy going on here when I first clapped eyes on you two. It should have clicked when you started to mince about.” The boy ran his appraising eyes along Clarisse’s body, lingering on the woman’s large breasts. He licked his lips. “What a fucking waste.” He snapped his head around. “You are a man lover, Dominic.”

  “What are you talking about, you cheeky little boy?” he shouted, trying to stop the tears from welling up. Oh heavens, this little scamp had found out. What was he going to do? “I think it’s time you fucked off, before I really do kick your arse.”

  The officer giggled. “Is that the best you can do? No, seriously, was that your manly man impression? It’s too late; I’m not a fucking idiot.” Nathan smiled at the woman. “You poor thing, I can’t even imagine how bad this must have been, living with bender boy, I bet your twat will be full of cobwebs by now. You’re a fine specimen and you deserve a proper man to fuck you long and hard.”

  Clarisse growled. She dropped the cue, ran up to the officer and punched him hard in the face.

  “You’re just pathetic,” she spat. "You are just a vile, foul-mouthed sad little boy. You’ll never be a real man and, for your information, slimeball, my darling Dominic satisfies me every night.”

  The officer scrambled to his feet and backed away.

  “Yeah, that’s right,” she snarled, “Get the fuck away from here. Go on, piss off home and play with your skateboard.”

  Nathan had no intention of leaving. That fact made evident by him stopping directly under the kitchen window and looking over at Dominic with a huge grin playing on his face.

  “There you go, Dominic,” he said, rearranging his blue tunic and attempting to brush mud off his trousers. “That was almost convincing, it was a superb performance, a lot better than your pathetic attempt.”

  Dominic then found himself staring down the barrel of an automatic pistol.

  “The facts are these, Dominic. I fancy the fuck out of this woman and I intend to have her. I’m not a bad person, Clarisse. I know that right this moment, you may not think much of me but in time, that will change.”

  “Don’t you bet on that, you foul turd. I’m going to kick you in the sack, the first chance I get.”

  This was worse than a bad dream; it was a blinking nightmare. Where the flip had this jumped up teenager found a gun? No officers carried pistols. The deafening noise attracted the dead like flies to poo. Dominic waited for the officer to turn his head before taking a tiny step forward.

  The kid must have just found it lying about somewhere or taken it off a body. Dominic doubted that it was even loaded. It
could even be just a replica.

  “Move again, gay boy and I swear to god that I’ll put a hole in your head.”

  Dominic froze, trying not to look at Clarisse. From the corner of his eye, he saw her reaching for her spade. The little darling was about to give this horrid little boy a major headache. He watched Nathan waver slightly, still convinced that he was bluffing.

  “Just go away, please?” said Dominic. “We haven’t done anything wrong to you.”

  The boy shook his head. “Yes, you fucking have. I am an adjustment officer and I deserve special treatment. I deserve respect and more than anything, I deserve a woman.” He glared at Clarisse. “I deserve her.”

  This was just daft, even if he did have ammo, he wouldn’t shoot him in cold blood. Dominic braced himself, about to rush him. This had gone on long enough. He then gasped when two pistol shots echoed from behind the house.

  The officer smiled, he must have noticed his shocked face.

  “Mine is loaded too. We were all issued them earlier.” He cocked the pistol. “Maybe I should just shoot you here and now, considering you’ll be going up against that wall anyway.”

  Dominic shook his head. “That’s wrong,” he whispered. “I know the rules. It’s banishment, not execution.”

  “You just don’t get it, Dominic. You have been living in a house that should have gone to a normal person, eating our food, pretending to be like us. You’re just a fucking waste of skin, like all those things out there.”

  “If he dies, Nathan, I will slit your throat, you sick bastard.”

  “Wait, so what if I somehow manage to find a way for the puff to live, Clarisse? Do I sense an opportunity to make a deal here?” The boy blew Dominic a kiss. “I see a way for all of us to benefit here.”

  “Just don’t kill him, Nathan. If you want me to make you happy, I can do that. Just let Dominic live. You won’t believe what I can do with my tongue.” She cupped her breast and let out a moan. "Oh my god, I so want to feel your mouth around my nipples, Nathan. I’m getting hot just thinking about it.”