by Ian Woodhead
Chapter Six
It took a few minutes for Peter to realise that they were in the shit up to their necks now. He looked into his wife’s eyes, a little annoyed to see that Jackie was coping better than he was. “Why didn’t you mention this earlier” he whispered, “like perhaps before we landed?”
Jackie turned away, and he watched the woman push her head through the metal bars and gaze down at the corpses gathered in the park. “There are even more of the fuckers now, Peter. Do you think they know we are here?”
“You haven’t answered my question.”
“What was the point?” she replied, pulled her head back and scrambling over to where he lay. “Besides, I honestly thought you knew. Now hush and let me take a look at that leg.” Jackie unwrapped her temporary bandage. “It doesn’t look so bad now; you’re going to be lucky, I won’t have to amputate.”
He winced when she pressed her fingers around the wound. Peter looked behind him. From where he lay, he could just about make out the shape of their helicopter. There were only three skyscrapers between them and salvation, but considering their situation, it might as well be in another city. “We have to get back.”
“So you keep saying, Peter. I know that too. Do you think I’m happy about being stuck in this godforsaken place as well?” She re-wrapped his bandage and walked back over to the balcony. “I’m open to ideas.”
She had casually mentioned that if they don’t radio in, there would be no reinforcements. The others would assume that they had succumbed to the corpses, the others would cut their losses and pretend they knew nothing of the raid. If he had thought it through, he should have known the others would cover their backs. There was also the problem of dealing with that monstrous abomination that had snatched the sergeant and come within an inch of taking his wife. “Do you think it’s still over there?”
Jackie shrugged. “How do I know?” She spun around and ran over to him. “I don’t know what to think anymore.” Jackie threw her arms around his neck. “This is a complete fuck up.”
Peter hugged her back, “We’ll get through it, sweetheart. Come on, we haven’t done so bad.”
“Apart from you fucking up your leg and there’s a million zombies and a four-armed human spider wanting to eat us.” She gazed into his eyes. “How are we going to get through it?”
“It’s way faster than us, Jackie. That thing can scale up the side of a building like an insect on speed. We should already be dead by now.” He slowly raised his knee and used the wall to help him up. “I honestly did believe the super-zombie tales were just fairy tales, you know.” He choked back a sob. “Do you know why? It wasn’t the tales of them running or about crazed zombie kids climbing up walls.” He shivered. “That was bad enough, but I kept hearing stories that these things could worm into your minds and they could find their prey with some sort of telepathy.”
Jackie shivered. “Wait, so now you’re telling me that it knows exactly where we are hiding?
He tentatively applied pressure to his wounded leg, silently grateful that Jackie was correct about the injury not being as bad as they both assumed. “Hon, I know how kooky it sounds, but it does make sense. That’s why our sergeant started to behave as he did. That fucker must have been on the roof when we landed. It mesmerised Dawkins and observed us. It probably had no idea what or who we were. As soon as it judged us to be harmless, it attacked.”
“So, we need to get back to the helicopter as soon as we can? Okay, I get that bit. How do you plan on getting past all those things?”
Peter turned around and hobbled over to the balcony. “I don’t know, all I do know is that it’ll come for us next, Jackie, as soon as it’s finished munching down on the sergeant.” Peter picked up his stick that Jackie had found for him before they climbed up to the top of this tower block and headed over to the top of the stairs. “And like a bunch of stupid rookies, we dropped our weapons.”
Jackie walked over to Peter and put her arms around his waist. “If we hadn’t, those dead things would have eaten the pair of us. What other choice did we have?”
He sighed, knowing she had a point. While fleeing across that rubble strewn road he had made the mistake of looking back to see where the dead things were. The next thing he knew was getting a face full of asphalt. Jackie had dropped her assault rifle and grabbed his shoulder. “At least we know they‘re not very good at climbing steps.”
Peter laughed, “Oh hell, yeah that’ll work.”
“What will?”
He hobbled back over to the window and pointed down onto the street. “Can’t you see it? London is an old city. I’m guessing that, just like New York, they’ll be dozens of Victorian tunnels running under the streets. If they can’t climb stairs, they sure as fuck won’t be able to climb down a ladder.”
“Wait, are you serious?”
Peter nodded. “You’re the one who said you were open to ideas. Can you think of a better plan?”
Jackie shook her head. “No.”
He put his arm around Jackie, “Come on then, sweetheart. Let’s get the hell out of Dodge.” She placed her foot on the next step down. “We need to find you something other than me to help you walk.”
“We can see if any of those doors on the level below are not locked.” Peter allowed her to carry him down the stairs, trying not to wince in pain when his foot landed wrong. This was just unreal, why could he not have twisted his wrist instead of his ankle? Peter remembered the jokes that went around the ships about all the Brits needed to do was to walk swiftly to escape the shambling dead things. He yelped out when they reached the landing and his ankle cracked against the wall.
“Sorry,” uttered Jackie.
He gritted his teeth while she pulled him over to the first door. “You go check to see if you can find anything, babes. I’ll just lean myself against this wall for a bit and try not to pass out.”
Jackie hurried over to the first one. “Don’t move.”
“Funny girl.”
He watched her try the handle and muttered a curse when she found it locked. Jackie tried the next one and nodded as the door swung inwards. He waited for the woman to disappear before sinking to the floor; he whimpered as waves of intense pain washed over his leg. So much for him believing he had just sprained it. The bastard bone must be broken. “This is just terrific,” he muttered, laying his leg gently over his other one. “His plan on traversing the sewers looked about as effortless as walking through that crowd of dead things without any of them biting out chunks of his body.
Peter yelped out again when he heard a sharp shriek blasting out of the open doorway. “Jackie?” He attempted to stand up, crying out in agony and frustration when he fell back to the floor. He saw his wife run through the door, looking back in terror. A shuffling corpse followed her out. Its attention shifted from her and Peter.
It looked down and moaned out. Peter screamed as it stopped by his feet and just fell forward. He thrust out his arms in defence, catching it in mid fall, the thing’s snapping jaws narrowly missing his wrist. “Help me!” he yelled. Get it off!” It only weighed as much as a small child, but in his weakened state even that was too heavy. Peter felt the muscles in his arms begin to shut down as the dead thing struggled in his grip.
He saw Jackie reach for something by the wall; he had no idea what she was getting, and he dare not take his eyes off his attacker. He suddenly felt it go limp in his arms when something large and red flash past his eyes. A geyser of stinking black slime splashed over his chest.
“Oh my god, Peter, are you alright?”
He shakily nodded and pushed the foul creature off him. “No, I’m not alright, I think I’m going to be sick.” Peter looked at the fire extinguisher that she held in both her hands. “Thank you, Jackie, that was a good shot.”
Her smile slipped from her face. She looked past him towards the door. Peter’s heart went into overdrive when he watched two more shufflers emerge from the apartment. They both ignored him and heade
d straight for his wife. She growled and swung her weapon, catching the first one in the side of the head. It fell against the wall. Jackie charged the remaining zombie and slammed the base of the fire extinguisher into the thing’s forehead. The thing joined its companion on the floor and lay still.
Jackie fell to her knees and dropped the fire extinguisher. “Oh God,” she said, sobbing. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”
Peter sat up and looked at the bodies lying around them. “Thank you.” He placed his hand against her cheek. “That was just awesome, darling. You’re stronger than you think. I just need you to keep those emotions in check for just a few more minutes. It will be over as soon as we reach the copter. We’ll radio for help, and if anything does try to have a go, we’ll just use the onboard weapons to blast it to pieces.”
Jackie nodded and helped him up.
“Look what you accomplished with just a fire extinguisher; just imagine the damage you could do with the onboard weaponry.” Peter grabbed her shoulders. “I do need something other than you to help me walk, baby. This is fucking torture.”
“Okay, wait here, Peter. I won’t be a second,” she said running back into the apartment.
“Hey, don’t forget your zombie killer, darling!” he shouted. Peter glanced at his watch, trying to work out how long it had been since that monster had snatched the sergeant, and more importantly, how long it would take it to eat the man before it came back for dessert.
“Here you go.”
He whipped his head around and saw Jackie holding a sweeping brush. She had even wrapped a towel around the bristles. Peter nodded in approval. “Brilliant, thank you. It will serve as a weapon as well.” He looked over at the fire extinguisher. “Maybe not as well as what you found, but I’ll cope.”
She reached behind her and showed him a very large kitchen knife. “If you think that I’m lugging that bloody thing around with me, you have another thing coming.”
He turned the brush upside down and wedged the brush end under his shoulder. He grinned to himself, remembering playing pirates when he was younger. “What do you think, Jackie? Hey, you should have brought me an eye-patch and a stuffed parrot to perch on my shoulder as well.”
She smiled. “Can you move?”
Peter hobbled over to the bottom of the stairs and grinned. “Yeah, it doesn’t feel too bad. The best is yet to come though. We still have to get out of the tower block.” He peered over the railings. “Wait, now, that’s weird. Jackie, they have all gone,” he said, looking back at her.” He placed his makeshift crutch on the next step down then hopped onto the step with his good leg. “Come on, sweetheart, let’s gets out of here before those things come back.”
Jackie jumped down the first few steps and got in front of him. “Where have they gone?”
“Who cares, let’s just move it.” He followed her down, moving as quickly as he dare. There was only one more flight of stairs to go before they reached the front entrance. From this angle he could see most of the streetscape was empty of the things. This was just what they wanted, their path to freedom was completely clear. They’d be back to safety within the next hour.
Jackie reached the bottom and helped him clear the last few steps. “This is so not right. I could have sworn that this place was packed with the things.”
He followed her over to the doorway. “Maybe they all had to go home for their dinner, Jackie? Look, don’t worry about it. We don’t have a clue how these things behave, and I’m sure there’s a good explanation.”
His wife sighed before walking through the open door. He joined her outside, noticing that the air wasn’t quite as fresh as it was on the roof. Peter could now smell a tinge of decay mixed with the scent of flowers. He then noticed scraps of brown flesh caught on the shards of broken glass in the building’s shattered window and realised that was where the stench was coming from. Peter couldn’t shake the image of dozens of the shuffling monsters all pushing their way through the window desperate to get away from here.
“It’s time to go home, Jackie,” he said looking past her, satisfied that the coast was still clear. “Jackie?” Peter turned around, wondering why she hadn’t replied. He gasped aloud when he saw the monster was back; it quickly clambered down the side of the building, its eyes fixed on Peter. “Don’t just stare at it,” he shouted. “Run!”
His wife grabbed Peter’s arm and dragged him across the road, and he saw she was heading for and open shop doorway. “Over there, “he shouted, pointing at a drain cover. “If we go into another building, we’ll be trapped.” She turned direction and pulled Peter over to the drain. Peter whipped his head back and saw it charging towards them. “Oh fuck!” It was too late, the thing effortlessly scooped up his shrieking wife, jumped over his head, landed on the roof of a van, then leaped onto the side of a bank, and clambered up towards the roof.
Peter sat down heavily, listening to her screams gradually fade away, not believing that he’d just lost his wife. He wasn’t given any time to mourn; as soon as the thing was out of sight, he saw the dead things emerge from every building, including the one that Jackie had suggested to hide in. Peter pushed his fingers in to the slots in the manhole cover and heaved the lid up. The stench coming from the hole filled his nostrils and made him want to throw up. “I’m so sorry, Jackie,” he screamed, as he pushed his legs into the hole. Peter grabbed the rungs on the metal ladder bolted to the wall and made his way down, keeping his eyes on they disk of blue sky. As he reached the bottom, he saw an emaciated face peer into the hole, blocking out the sunlight. It didn’t follow him down, though.
He breathed a sight of relief then turned around. Peter cried out in surprise when he saw a scruffy youth right in front of him, holding a cricket bat.
“I’m sorry, man,” said the stranger. “I have my orders; you’re not allowed to live.”
Chapter Seven
Patrick wrapped his warm fingers around her hand. It felt so good not to be alone anymore. For the first time since the old world died, Patrick actually felt as though he was whole again. Allison accepting him as her lover had filled that gaping hole missing from his life. He could sense that Allison felt the same way as well, and that made him even happier.
Their life would have been so perfect if it hadn’t been for their current dilemma. For the countless times since embarking on their journey, he silently cursed the council for ordering them on this trip.
Patrick raised his head and watched their other companion dart out from behind an abandoned van, run over to a red hatchback, and crouch behind the driver’s door. He couldn’t work out why Trevor was being so cautious. Both Allison and Patrick had already sent out their mental probes. There was just nothing in this area. The closest dead person was over a mile away, and it was trapped in a cellar.
The council had told them to listen to their scout. Apparently, he was in charge of this expedition. It made no sense why. Trevor was only a dullard, if there were any dead things close by he wouldn’t even realise until it was too late. Patrick mentally shrugged; even if it didn’t make any sense, he was sure that the council had their reason. He turned onto his side, then pulled Allison on top of him. He wasn’t going to argue with anyone; while Trevor was busy thinking he was important, Patrick could spend more time with Allison.
“Do you think he’ll give us enough time to play?” he asked, feeling her nipple under her thin blouse harden as he brushed his palm across.
“Will you behave yourself?” she hissed, pushing his arm away. Allison planted a single kiss on his cheek. “The dullard is already making his way back.” She gently squeezed his crotch before letting go of him. Can you please calm down your raging hormones, Patrick? You know that you have me for the rest of our lives. I am not going anywhere.”
He lifted his head and watched the man make his way back to them.
“Right, I’ve found an empty house on the other side of the road. It has a strong door and good locks; it’s safe enough. We can r
est there until first light.” He sat between the pair of them and stretched his legs. Even so, I still think we should keep a watch, just in case.”
Patrick just nodded back, wondering if Trevor had forgotten all about their abilities.
The man took a deep breath. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m knackered. As soon as first light breaks, we can carry on. I don’t think we’re far now. I think it’s only about ten miles from the outskirts of the city.”
Patrick got to his feet and lifted Allison up. “Cool, well, as keeping watch was your idea, it’s only fair that you go first.” He took hold of the girl’s hand. “I’m sure you understand.” He dragged Allison away from the man before he had time to raise a protest. Patrick headed for the first house. He didn’t care if this was the place that Trevor had meant. Patrick had unfinished business to finish.
“Patrick, don’t you think that was a little rude of you?” she chuckled, “and a bit surprising.”
He grinned back and shook his head. “It wasn’t rude at all. He knows that we can sense danger. Come on, why do we need him in the first place? Anyway, he doesn’t have to be a mind reader to guess what we’re going to be spending the night doing.”
“Yeah, we’ll be sleeping.”
“Seriously?”
Allison giggled. “No, of course not.” The girl pulled him into the house and dragged him up the stairs. “Come on, let’s finish what we started.”
His eye traced the contours of her well-proportioned body through her tight clothes. He felt his penis hardening at the thought of her expert tongue taking him once again to the edge of ecstasy. She led him into the first bedroom and pushed him onto the double bed. She ran her tongue over her lips.
“Make yourself comfortable, Patrick, I’ll be right back,”
Patrick watched her leave the room, guessing that Allison probably needed to pay a visit. He sighed and lay back on the soft pillows, vaguely wondering what happened to the original owner of this bed. That thought vanished when the bathroom door clicked shut. This was going to be just awesome. What Allison had done to his body when she had joined him after the council had finished with her was just mind-blowing, Not for one second had Patrick realised that sex could be so pleasurable. Their ability to connect had increased the bliss hundredfold. Sharing minds as well as bodies was one talent that he knew the dullards had envied. After what that girl had done to him, he now understood why.
