The Undead | Day 25 [The Heat]

by Haywood, RR

  ‘With haste please, Mr Doku,’ Reginald said into the radio. ‘They are on the monorail and moving at speed.’

  ‘Where am I going?’

  ‘I’ll guide you. Aim for the south terminal.’

  Maddox was driving fast, but Reginald wanted him to go faster. I cannot drive, but I think Maddox was struggling because the gears were making crunching noises, and the truck was jolting. We also kept hitting infected which made Mr Howie pull faces as though we shouldn’t be doing that.

  ‘Jesus, Mads!’ he shouted from the roof.

  ‘What do you want me to do?!’ Maddox shouted. I thought he already knew what he had to do. He had to drive the truck.

  ‘Oh god. This is going to go pop,’ Mr Howie then said as Maddox swerved to avoid a thick crowd of infected and hit the tail end of the jet that had crashed into the south terminal.

  ‘Now straight ahead! Fast as you can.’

  I felt the truck speed up then Mr Howie, and Alan, and Maddox, all screamed when we went around a corner and drove into the back of another truck that was the same as the one we were on.

  ‘My f*cking heart,’ Mr Howie said as Maddox pulled back and got us going again.

  ‘And er, watch out for other vehicles,’ Reginald said in a strange tone of voice.

  Then we were out of the airfield and away from the infected. We could see the monorail ahead of us. It was raised up on high pylons. I could also see a lot of infected were on the top of the monorail platform running towards the north terminal.

  ‘Where?’ Maddox shouted.

  I understood what he meant now as I could grasp the context, and I knew what we needed to do. I told him to aim for the curve as that would be weakest. He drove fast through some more bushes while I studied the structure overhead.

  ‘Go back out and get under the next one,’ I said.

  ‘Fuck, Dave!’ Mr Howie said. ‘They’re right there. Jesus. Mads, do it. Go back out and in again.’

  Maddox reversed as the infected got closer to the point of passing overhead with more of them coming out of the south terminal train station. Then he veered off and went back in.

  ‘This is Dave. Tell them to lie down,’ I said into the radio.

  ‘Dave?’ Reginald asked. ‘Tell who to lie down?’

  ‘The people on the monorail. They must lie down.’

  ‘Dave! It’s Carmen. I’ll pass it on, but don’t wait. Blow it.’

  ‘They must lie down.’

  ‘Dave, It’s Henry. Blow it now!’

  ‘You are not my CO, Mr Henry. Mr Howie is. You made me stop working for you and told me to work for Tesco.’

  I don’t know why I said that.

  ‘I liked my old job, Mr Henry.’

  I don’t know why I said that either.

  ‘I was lonely. Mr Howie was my friend. He spoke to me. I liked my old job, Mr Henry. I was good at it, and I liked working with Carmen and Frank.’

  ‘Chaps! I’m sure this is important, and everyone’s feeling are valid but blow the bloody monorail up!’ Reginald said.

  ‘You made me lie to Mr Howie.’

  ‘Dave. I am sorry,’ Henry said. ‘Listen. We’ll sit down and talk about it when this is over, okay?’

  I said I didn’t need to talk about it. ‘I’ve said what I had to say,’ I told Mr Henry as Maddox, Alan and Mr Howie all stared at me.

  ‘Dave, we need to set the C4,’ Mr Howie said, but his voice wasn’t shouting or angry. He was quiet.

  ‘We don’t need C4,’ I said and took a grenade from my pocket and pulled the pin.

  ‘Fuck, Dave!’ Mr Howie said as he and the other two moved back several steps.

  ‘Run,’ I told them, because it is important to give clear instructions when handling explosives. But I didn’t need to say it as Mr Howie and Alan and Maddox were already running.

  I ran too then stopped to throw the grenade so that it landed underneath the fuselage containing the jet fuel carried on the back of the truck. I then counted in my head until it detonated.

  The fuel ignited and blew out with the force of the blast funnelled up by the solid concrete pylons either side. That meant the monorail platform took the brunt of the pressure wave and broke it with a fireball that went very high into the air.

  I like explosions.

  I like the colours and the noise, and I like the chemical changes that take place that make it happen. It’s not confusing or difficult like people are. You put things together and make them into something else.

  I watched cooking television shows when I was not working at Tesco. It was the same thing. You put ingredients together to make something else.

  I was lonely at Tesco.

  I was angry that Mr Howard and Mr Henry made me leave my job. But I didn’t know I had that feeling inside.

  ‘We’re getting engulfed!’ Clarence said into the radio.

  ‘Howie. It’s Reginald! I’ve just found a CP at the far western end of the runway in a fire training area, but the Saxon is getting swamped.’

  I like it when Mr Howie is under pressure. He never panics.

  ‘Mads, Books, can you two take the CP out? We’ll help the Saxon.’

  Charlotte

  We’d gained a false sense of security while we were on the runway.

  But just in the first few seconds of being closer to the north terminal we saw the difference because that immediate area was fast becoming the epicentre for both hordes, and without buildings or streets or structures it meant they were coming in from all sides.

  In fact, they were coming in so fast that as soon as Tappy drove along the length of the pier clearing them away more were pouring in behind us climbing over the broken bodies we’d just run down – and to make it worse, there were four physical boarding gates jutting out from the pier that created recesses between them which the Saxon couldn’t get into.

  And so, with no other choice, Clarence ordered us to debus and get rapid fire into the attacking horde.

  It was brutal from the second we alighted. The heat was bouncing off the tarmac and because of the numbers we were firing as we got out. There were seven of us and I know we each emptied a full magazine in one go. That’s over two hundred rounds fired within a couple of seconds, and I guarantee that every single round struck an infected. That’s how densely packed they were, and they just kept coming.

  ‘LEGS!’ Clarence then shouted as I caught a glance of him strafing the legs of the attacking horde.

  We all did the same to break shin and thigh bones and blow knee joints out. It sounds gruesome, and it is, but it normally slows a horde down as the ones coming after have to go over the ones in front.

  But that didn’t work either. Not this time. The numbers were just too great.

  ‘BODY PILE!’ Blowers shouted as we all turned to see them behind us stacking up in the middle by a curved section of the pier. ‘TAPPY! GET INTO IT!’

  We star burst to the side as Tappy drove in hard. Ramming the body pile aside to make the people fall and scatter as we put rounds in.

  I then heard an almighty bang, and we all snapped our heads over to see an enormous fireball rolling up into the sky just outside the airfield.

  Tappy then pulled out and drove on as we changed magazines and aimed into the infected charging towards us. But we just didn’t have enough guns, and the size of the area we were trying to defend was too great.

  ‘We’re getting engulfed!’ Clarence said into the radio.

  ‘Howie. It’s Reginald! I’ve just found a CP at the far western end of the runway in a fire training area, but the Saxon is getting swamped.’

  ‘They’re on the top of your pier,’ Joan then transmitted. I glanced back and up to see the infected were already clambering up over some smaller outbuildings attached to the eastern end of the pier.

  And a second later we felt and saw the whole horde suddenly veer and shift direction to aim for that eastern edge.

  We all ran for it. We ran firing and yelling with Clarence sprint
ing at the same time as firing the gimpy. The Saxon shot past us and rammed through the pile – which gave us all a fright as even the Saxon found the sheer numbers of bodies harder to get through. She still did it. My god that Saxon did it, but it faltered for a split second which made us realise how hopelessly outnumbered we were.

  That’s when we heard another engine and turned to see Maddox and Booker driving by in an armoured police van with the two of them wearing police hats. They swept by within a few feet of us. Gaining kills and giving what aid they could as they built speed up and drove off.

  ‘GET FIRE INTO THEM!’ Clarence ordered and we did what we could.

  But it wasn’t enough.

  It wasn’t anywhere near enough.

  Carmen

  It went south fast. In fact, it got so bad so quickly I was having flashbacks to Mogadishu.

  By then all the guards and Dawson, along with Henry and me, and Bash and Paula were all at the end of the bridge staring out to the absolute carnage the Saxon was in the middle of.

  I thought Hinchley Point was bad, but they came in waves whereas the Gatwick hordes were coming all at once and from every direction with a relentless surge.

  Then the infected started to body pile by the middle bulging out section of the pier below us. We could see it happening through the plate glass window, but the glass was strong and withstanding the pressure.

  ‘Fuck this!’ one of the cops shouted and started firing his rifle down the escalator into the windows. We all shouted at him to stop as Bash knocked the lad out clean with a vicious punch to the side of his head while his mates all gasped and looked on in horror.

  ‘No fire!’ Bash shouted while pointing outside. ‘No fire. No fire.’

  ‘Hold your fire!’ Henry ordered as we all turned back to see the bullet holes in the window as the spider web cracks started spreading out.

  That’s when we heard and saw the fireball go up from the monorail. It was huge and I think it really added to the nerves and fear the soldiers and cops were feeling. Then, a second or so later, Reggie started transmitting that he’d found another CP, but it was at the far end of the runway.

  ‘I’ll go for it,’ I said, spotting vehicles outside that I could use. Henry nodded to give his consent as Mads and Books called up to say they were on it.

  ‘Mads’ll sort it,’ Paula started to say but she cut off as we heard the sound of glass cracking and looked down to see more cracks spreading through the window the idiot cop had shot. Then we heard more creaks and bangs and realised the infected were now body piling over the smaller outbuildings attached to the eastern edge of the pier.

  I’ve never seen anything like it.

  It was like a shadow spreading from window to window as the pier started falling to darkness from the daylight being blotted out.

  ‘Hold,’ Frank said when one of the other guards looked ready to either fire or flee. ‘Everyone hold.’

  ‘They’re on the top of your pier,’ Joan said into the radio as we started hearing thuds and bangs coming from the roof and looked out the through the bridge side windows to see them on the pier roof and growing in number as that shadow grew and spread out. The gunfire outside was intense and fast, and we saw bodies flying off from being hit.

  Which is when the window the idiot cop had shot finally gave out and fell in with a crash and dozens of infected falling through into the pier.

  ‘Now we can bloody fire,’ Frank said as we finally opened up and started putting rounds in.

  But it wasn’t enough.

  It wasn’t anywhere near enough.

  Which is when Howie piped up over the radio.

  ‘Clarence! Clear them out. Clear them out. Paula, get away from that pier thing.’

  ‘Control to north side! Clear that bridge!’

  Paula didn’t hesitate. ‘MOVE BACK! THE SHOW IS STARTING!’

  I thought the show had already started.

  But it hadn’t.

  My god it hadn’t.

  Reginald

  We were about to lose the north terminal. There were just too many of them swarming in and using each other to clamber over. Two hordes. Tens of thousands of them and the whole airfield was still thick with them running across, all of them aiming for that one spot. For that small pier of four boarding gates.

  I was glued to my screen with the van starting to rock from Jess moving about in her trailer attached the back. I could hear her snorting and making noises, but I had no time to check on her because Maddox and Booker were in a police van racing for the far end. I could see the flashing blue lights, and I tried to find the other CP, but my eyes kept going back to the sight of that pier and the sheer number of human forms spreading across it. They were blocking the windows, and already on the roof.

  Then I risked a glance to the monorail and saw the survivors were still bunched up by the train station and not going out. I could only assume the fireball they’d seen had made them stop, but we just didn’t have the means or the numbers to get them going.

  And to make it more fun, it was right at that moment that one of the main windows on the pier went in with dozens of infected falling inside. Then, a second or so after that and more were veering for the breach while yet hundreds more were already on the roof and climbing onto the bridge.

  Damn it all to hell! I thought we’d lost the game right there. Let me tell you that, but see, I’d discounted Howie and Dave. And one should never do that.

  ‘Clarence! Clear them out. Clear them out. Paula, get away from that pier thing,’ Howie said into the radio as I turned the drone with an outward cry of surprise.

  ‘Control to north side! Clear that bridge!’ I shouted into the radio while watching Howie driving the fuel truck that Maddox had crashed into with Dave on the top holding a hose that was spraying fuel over the infected as Howie ploughed through them.

  Good god! One spark. Just one bloody spark. It was all I could do to watch as Charlie and Clarence and the others all ran for their lives.

  The driver’s door then flew open, and Howie leapt out while the truck rolled on and Dave ran down the end to leap free of the rear as they both sprinted away as fast as they could while the infected were already swarming up over the outside of the bridge, and yet hundreds more were pouring in through the broken window.

  ‘BLOW THE PIER!’ Howie shouted in his radio while running.

  ‘PAULA, HENRY. BLOW THE BRIDGE,’ I called into mine then I watched for what seemed like an eternity. By then the whole pier was thick with infected and they were already on the bridge and running across the roof.

  Then finally, I saw an orange flash. Then another and another and the bridge windows blew out in a series of charges going off that rolled down towards the pier until the last one seemed to ignite the fuel sprayed over the infected.

  The flames roared in an instant. Engulfing the infected in fire, but they just kept going. Heedless to the pain and their flesh melting away until the last charges detonated, and that pier seemed to lurch a foot into the air with a loud crack, which of course helped ignite the rest of the fuel that danced back all the way to the hose on the ground, followed swiftly by the fuel truck exploding.

  It was like a mini nuke with a huge bang and a mushroom shaped fireball killing every single living thing on that pier. Then the bridge blew apart and snapped off to drop to the ground, killing more infected as the heat and flames and the pressure wave went out, knocking hundreds more off their feet in all directions.

  Maddox

  Man, it was insane! Me and Books were in this police van with me driving and Books pressing buttons to make the lights flash and get the siren going. He even found a cop’s hat to put on.

  Ello ello ello, he said as I burst out laughing. Then he found another one and got it on my head while I ran more infected over. And it wasn’t like I was even trying to run them over. It was impossible not to run them over. Drive by the pier, Books then said. We’ll give them a hand on the way.

  I steered ov
er as we both saw thousands of infected all swarming up over the end of the pier. It was like watching a frenzied ant nest. It was so fast. We got a few down and saw Charlie glance at us, but we couldn’t stop and help. We had to kill the CP.

  I tried to speed up, but it was hard going because of the amount of bodies we were hitting. The Saxon was strong enough to take that sort of punishment, and the cop van was armoured, but it wasn’t anything like the Saxon.

  Bro. This is fucking relentless, Booker said with his cop’s hat still on his head. I nodded at him and tried to steer around a big fat guy, but it was too late, and he slammed into the bonnet and buckled the grill. The windscreen cracked and I could feel the steering came loose and figured he’d done some damage, but we were still moving.

  Then we heard the panicked shouts in the radio. I don’t mean panicked like people screaming. Not like that. I mean fast and loud to express urgency. They were doing that as we hit the runway. But the engine was making noises and I saw steam coming from the front and the temperature gauge on the dash was in the red.

  Just up there! Books said while pointing ahead. We booted it towards a row of hedges, and I could see a big airplane behind it. But it was an old one all covered in smoke stains and scorch marks. I saw the wings had been chopped off halfway along. I figured that’s where the airport fire services practised putting airplane fires out, or emergency drills or whatever.

  I’ll ask Reg where the CP is, Books said.

  Nah, leave it. I said. He’s busy. We’ll find it.

  Booker nodded as I burst out laughing at the police hat wobbling on his head. You look like a right cunt.

  And you don’t? He asked, flicking me the bird as the front of the police van went bang and the engine seized up. Fuck it. Come on fatty. He shouted as he grabbed his rifle and kicked his door open to jump out.

  I went after him with the two of us running the last hundred yards through the bushes into the fire training area to a whole load of infected all turning to face us. Seriously. There were dozens of them and there was this split-second when me and Books stopped, and they all stopped, and we were all staring at each other.