by Jessica Ward
Once I was happy with my ensemble, we made our way to the first apartment. We all felt it was best to leave Duckface upstairs. She was more than happy to do this. After I gave her a lecture of what she can and can’t do I felt ok leaving her there. It was like having to negotiate with a child. I took my keys just in case, I still didn’t trust her.
The corridor below us was pitch black. The power was out so none of the lights worked. The only light we had was coming through the glass window on the entrance door.
Nick opened the corridor door leading to the ground floor apartments, and we all stood back. It was quiet, Nick and Andy wandered through, I stayed at the door, letting the limited light we had fill the corridor in front of us.
They stopped outside apartment 32. This was the infected man’s apartment. We knew he was outside, but how did he get out? Surely zombies can’t manoeuvre doors? We carried on towards the end of the corridor, we noticed light coming from the back door leading outside. It was a fire door so there shouldn’t be as much light as we were seeing.
We quickly realised the door wasn’t shut properly. Nick jumped into action and ran for the door. He stopped as we all saw a shadow move from one side of the door to the other, coming from the outside. He held the crowbar up readying himself for whatever was on the other side, and inched closer to the door. As soon as the door was in reach he yanked the handle and slammed it shut. Whatever was outside wasn’t getting back in.
We went back to the apartment 32, the door was left ajar. We stood outside a few moments listening for any movement from the inside. Nick slamming the door should have stirred anything lurking on the inside. It was quiet, so we let ourselves in.
The smell was the first thing that hit us. It was a damp rotting smell that powerful, we all had to take a step back. I took a deep breath whilst Nick and Andy pulled their shirts up to their noses, and we carried on inside.
In life, the old man must have been a hoarder. Cardboard boxes filled every nook and cranny, we had to step carefully to manoeuvre ourselves round.
“Mate, this place stinks, it’s a complete mess” Nick started.
“Eugh you’re telling me, think we should just move on, it’s full of shit we’re never gonna find anything” said Andy.
“No, we got this far, let’s just see what we can take, there Andy you take that room” I said pointing to the bedroom “Nick you take the living room and I’ll head for the kitchen”
“I’m not eating anything that’s come from that kitchen” Nick mumbled slightly disgusted.
I ignored them both. We needed to get supplies. We were low on food, water and had no weapons of any kind. Whilst Nick and Andy started sieving through the contents of the various boxes I made my way into the kitchen.
It was now obvious where the smell was coming from. Rotting vegetables covered the counter. Liquid was seeping out the fridge. It had formed a sticky yellow pool on the floor. I heaved.
“You ok in there?” Nick shouted to me, obviously hearing me retch.
“Yeah I’m fine, just go look for stuff” I replied eager to get out.
I quickly pulled myself together. I started checking the kitchen cupboards, looking for anything that hadn’t gone off. I managed to find a reusable Tesco bag so I started putting the various cans I found into it. I was able to find 4 cans of baked beans, a can of baby carrots, sweetcorn, tuna, a tin of spam and a tin of corned beef. I also found an unopened box of bran flakes and some cartons of fruit juice. It wasn’t a massive haul but it was something. At this point anything we could get our hands on was greatly appreciated.
In the meantime Nick and Andy were adding to the mess trying to find something of use.
Nick had found a battered game of Monopoly, along with a chess set and Cluedo. Not very helpful in terms of survival, but at least it would give us something to do. He had also found bandages, prescription tablets and few old books. Not a great find, but the medical supplies were welcomed.
“Guys, come and look at this” Andy shouted eagerly from the next room. We ran in to see what he had found.
He was stood inspecting a thick blade, it had an ivory handle and the pouch was also cased in ivory. It was the size of a Rhino horn. “Wait, there’s more” he said mesmerised.
He pointed to the bed. He had laid his findings across the edge of the bed. There were seven knives in total, all different shapes and sizes. All had an African feel to them, most had some kind of tribal print. They looked like they hadn’t been touched in years.
“He must have been a collector or hunter of some sorts” I pointed out. As we looked around the room we saw all different types of African artefacts. There were tribal statues, canvas of intricately painted lions and zebras, pottery and tribal masks. All of which were covered in dust.
“I think we better get this stuff upstairs” I said wrapping up the various knifes. “I think we’ve done well so far, let’s get this stuff back up and regroup”
So far we had only taken small steps, but its small steps such as these that enabled our survival so far. We didn’t go out attacking the infected we came across. We had to be tactical, our main aim was to stay safe and stay alive.
After we dropped our findings off in our apartment, we headed back downstairs. We were confident we had got what we could from apartment 32, so apartment 33 was next on the list.
“Let’s see what’s behind door number 2” Nick announced as he jammed the crowbar into the door.
“Try not to hurt yourself” I replied rolling my eyes.
When we finally got through the door, the apartment was evidentially more pleasant then the last. It belonged to an old couple.
Although the décor seemed considerably better than the last, this one also had a strange smell. It had an unusual old people smell, mixed with rotting meat. Imagine how a raw chicken would smell after a week in the sun, covered in flies. That was exactly it.
We continued down the hallway towards the living area. As we opened the door to the living room, all was quiet.
Everything was in tact, and for all intents and purposes was completely liveable.
We decided to check the same rooms as last time, to see what we could come up with.
I headed for the kitchen. Armed with my trusted Tesco bag I started checking the cupboards. The kitchen in this apartment was much nicer than the first.
Everything was in its rightful place; decorative plates covered the window sill, nothing was left out on the counter. The people that lived were obviously very house proud.
The kitchen cupboards were presented immaculately. All canned foods were stacked, labels facing forward. Cereals lined one of the cupboards; each different cereal was housed in its own Tupperware container keeping the food fresh.
I took everything I could get my hands on. It didn’t take long to fill my bag completely.
Nick had been slightly more successful in this trip. He had found a full first aid kit along with a mass of various prescription pills.
As I walked through to the living room, armed with a weeks’ worth of food I watched Nick as he stood with his arms folded, his hand resting under his chin. He looked deep in thought.
“What’s up?” I asked snapping him out of his day dream.
“Trying to work out where these people have gone babe that’s all” He replied, his posture never changing.
“Why are you so interested?” I pressed on.
“Well, the first aid kit here. Everything is there apart from what looks like a few large bandages” He pointed to the empty corner in the box. “This must have been used recently. When I found it, it was here on this table wide open.”
“Ok, well done Sherlock. But I’m still not following”
He shut the box. “Look, there’s a bloody handprint on top of the box. One of them could have got infected. If so, where are they?”
“I honestly don’t know” I replied. “But there’s no use dwelling over it. Let’s just grab what we can and move on. Can you carry the food
back, its heavy?”
“Are you ok in there Andy” I shouted to the bedroom.
“Yeah I’m fine, not a thing in here though. Just clothes and half an old blanket” came his reply. “I’m just going to check the bathroom, see if there’s anything in there worth taking, and then I’m done too”
He wandered over to the bathroom; he opened the door and closed it again after only a couple of seconds. “Nothing in there c’mon lets go” His voice shook. He was suddenly very eager to get out the apartment.
I took one look at him, “Andy, what’s in there?” I asked firmly.
“Nothing, let’s just go” he dismissed.
Nick and I looked at each other. We both made our way towards the bathroom door. We stood outside for a few seconds our ears pressed to the door.
When we were couldn’t hear anything Nick pushed the door open. We were both taken aback.
There hanging from the shower pole over the bath, were two dead bodies. It was the old couple that lived there. By the looks of it, they had made their own nooses and hung themselves, thinking that death was a far better option.
Unfortunately, shortly after hanging themselves, the virus must have kicked in. The couple hanging before us were clearly moving. Their necks had clearly been broken, and completely bent out of place, however this did not seem to faze them in the slightest. Black flies swarmed around them landing on their faces and in their eyes.
Seeing us stood in front of them must have excited them. They were fanatically moving their arms and legs, trying to get to us, not quite understanding they were stuck in mid-air.
The old woman opened her mouth, she tried to let out a screech but instead, black blood poured out her mouth and down her front.
The sight was horrific. We closed the door quickly. Andy was already springing into action. He had run into the living room and was currently attempting to manoeuvre an armchair in front of the bathroom door.
Nick turned and went to help him, while I went searching for a knife. The old couple had the same type of lock on their bathroom door as we did upstairs. The lock was easily overridden from the outside by a coin or a knife.
As soon as I found a knife I ran over and turned the lock. The boys pushed the armchair against the door, as we heard a loud thud from the inside of the bathroom.
“Shit, one of them must have got loose.”
We grabbed our findings and ran out the apartment, shutting the door as best we could on our way out.
As soon as we got back upstairs we immediately barricaded the door back up. Duckface, seeing our urgency put her fingers to her lips, and without saying a word helped us to barricade the door back up, placing each item against the door as carefully as possible. We all followed suit. Not quite knowing why we had to be so quiet.
Once the barricade was up we all walked into the living room, where the curtains were still drawn.
“I think we’ve attracted some attention” Duckface explained. “I’ve been checking out the windows while you’ve been gone, more and more keep turning up. I’ve stayed out of sight, but they keep coming” her voice was trembling.
I got up and went over to the bay window. Staying out of sight I peered out the side of the curtain.
The street outside seemed a lot more active than it had ever been. I counted 20 infected in total. So far they didn’t know we were here, and none were attempting to get into our building. I went into the kitchen to check the back, there were 8 of them milling around, 3 of them were scratching on the back door. This worried me even more.
“The noise we made downstairs must have stirred them up” Nick speculated. “The good news is we have more supplies, we’re still safe here and we have more food. That should last us about a week.”
We explained to Duckface what had happened in the old couple’s apartment. We told her that for now they couldn’t get out. How long it would hold them was anyone’s guess.
We needed to come up with a plan. It was now far too dangerous for us to go outside, and we had no idea what was lurking in the apartments next to us or above.
Chapter 5 – Making a Plan
“Oh god, what are we going to do?” Duckface whined. “There’s those things out there and in here now?” Her high pitched whinge went straight through me.
“I don’t know, we need to be sensible about this. If we leave here where are we going to go? And how are we going to get out” I replied cutting her off before she had a chance to carry on.
“What about our family and friends? I need to see if my parents are ok, and my sister” Andy said seeming worried.
“So do I, my mum and my sister are out there somewhere” I agreed.
Nick took the lead “We all have family we want to get to, but we need to think about us too. We need to keep ourselves alive, I’m not saying we don’t try and find them. But we need to make sure we stay safe, I’m not risking my life on the off chance they may or may not be there. If we’re sure there’s little danger than yes, but if there’s loads of them I’m not risking it” he said pointing outside.
We all sat there for a few minutes thinking, none of us said anything. We certainly needed a plan. We couldn’t stay in the apartment forever. It was getting more and more dangerous as the number of infected increased.
Duckface grabbed her phone. “I’m going to check my page, see if anyone’s been on lately” It was becoming clear her role was the communicator of the group.
We were all doing what we could. The boys were the brawn, they did the heavy lifting and more dangerous tasks not officially meant for girls.
I took on the supply inventory. I was the cook in the group so I knew exactly how long our food would last, and was able to come up with ways of making it last longer, combining different ingredients.
Myself and Nick seemed to be the leaders. We both had the most common sense, and the best survival instincts. We were already starting to work together as a unit, without even thinking about it.
“I think it would be a good idea, if we each packed an emergency bag and left it by the door. If something bad was to happen and we needed to leave in a hurry, we won’t have time to pack.” I suggested.
We all agreed this was a good idea, so I went about trying to find some suitable bags. After going through my wardrobes the best I could come up with were two decent sized Louis Vuitton leather weekender bags. I handed one to Duckface and kept the other for myself. They weren’t the most practical but they were a good size, and at least we would still go out in style.
I checked through Nicks wardrobes and came across a Nike sports bag and old Fila backpack. These looked much more suitable, so I handed them to the boys.
I made everyone a list of what to pack. It was best that everyone took their own supplies in case one of the bags got lost or compromised.
The list was as follows:
2 x changes of clothes
1 x hoody/coat
1 x pair of sensible shoes
1 x make up wipes
1 x pair of gloves
1 x Blanket
1 x sharp knife (wrapped in a pillowcase)
1 x set of cutlery
1 x lighter
1 x first aid kit
2 x bottles of water
4 x cans of food
I also added items for each individual person to carry. These included a can opener, crowbar, windup torch, various tools, weapons, shampoo, shower gel, biscuits and juice.
I quickly grabbed mine and Nick’s passports last minute.
Granted it wasn’t a lot, but it was all we had in the apartment. Once the bags were packed Nick started to put the bags by the door. He started pulling out all his fishing gear and piled it up with the bags.
“Babe, what are you doing with all your fishing stuff out?” I asked.
“Well if we go out on the road, we don’t know where we’ll end up. If it comes to it I know where all the rivers and lakes are, if we’re short of food we may need to use it”
He was right.
It may save our lives. There was a lot of stuff, but we should be just about able to carry it.
Saying that, I was surprised. I have never known anyone hate fish as much as he does. He loves fishing but has always refused to eat it. It never made sense to me at all. Why fish if you have no intention of eating it. I saw no point to it whatsoever.
We carried on planning our escape route. We had decided that when we left we would take two cars; at least if something happened to one, we could all hop into the other. We decided to take my car and Andy’s. Andy’s car was a Mazda CX-5 in blue. It was a crossover so had good boot space and was fairly economical. It would get us a fair distance as long as we reserved fuel. My car was a white Nissan Qashqi. It was the bigger of the two but again was fairly economical. Both these cars were very sturdy so seemed the safest options. Luckily both cars had nearly a full tank of fuel.
We had all decided to wait a couple more days, before planning an escape. We wanted to wait for the crowd of infected to go down and leave the area. Whilst they were outside we studied them. We needed to know how they react, and how they interacted with others.
Over the next couple of days we took turns sitting by the window, we kept a journal of all our findings, at least it was something to keep us occupied. We watched them round the clock, for hours at a time. Some of them stared into space, others walked around aimlessly, some walked following a set path. None of us could make any sense of them. They didn’t seem to sleep and their movements seemed sluggish and clumsy. Half the time it was like watching a child walk for the first time.
I watched one infected man walk carefully around each car and stop and stare into the road. He looked like a parking warden the way he was inspecting each car as he passed them, so I named him Walter the warden.
Boredom was getting the better of all of us. We spent countless hours playing Monopoly and Cluedo. In each game of Monopoly I ended up severely bankrupting every other player, but after a while even winning got boring. Andy and Nick had taken up playing chess; they both got really into it, and were always competitive.
